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TwoMorrows.Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com
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by JOHN WELLS
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Dedication Dedicated to the memory of my parents Don and Darlene Wells, who believed in me then, and to my friends Sharon Hemm and Mike Tiefenbacher, who believe in me now. Writer: Editor: Logo Design: Layout Design: Cover Design: Proofreader Publisher:
John Wells Keith Dallas Bill Walko David Greenawalt Jon B. Cooke Rob Smentek John Morrow
TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com • 919-449-0344 email: store@twomorrows.com Second Printing • January 2015 • Printed in China ISBN 978-1-60549-045-8 American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64 is © 2015 TwoMorrows Publishing, a division of TwoMorrows Inc. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical. Photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. All reproductions in this historical overview of comic books are copyright by the respective copyright holders, and are used here strictly for historical purposes. Attempts have been made to properly attribute copyrights for use in this book; if you are a valid copyright-holder and have not been properly credited, please contact TwoMorrows so that this can be corrected in any future printings. The viewpoints expressed in the text are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TwoMorrows Publishing. Mutt and Jeff TM and © AEdita S. de Beaumont. The Beatles TM and © Apple Corps Ltd. Archie, Betty, The Black Hood, Fly-Girl, The Jaguar, Josie, Little Archie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats, Veronica TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Family Circus TM and © Bil Keane, Inc. Bullwinkle TM and © Bullwinkle Studios. Beverly Hillbillies TM and © CBS Broadcasting Inc. Casper, Hot Stuff, Stumbo, Richie Rich, Wendy TM and © Classic Media, LLC. The Shadow TM and © Condé Nast. James Bond, Doctor No TM and © Danjaq LLC and United Artists Corporation. Adam Strange, Aqualad, Aquaman, The Atom, The Atomic Knights, Bat-Girl, Batman, Batwoman, Bizarro, Blackhawk, Blue Beetle, Bonnie Taylor, Captain Atom, Dr. Fate, Doll Man, The Doom Patrol, Eclipso, The Elongated Man, The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, The Haunted Tank, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Hourman, Johnny Cloud, Johnny DC, Johnny Thunder, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, Kid Flash, King Faraday, Legion of Super-Heroes, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Mad, Martian Manhunter, Mera, Metal Men, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, Rip Hunter, Robin, Scribbly, Sea Devils, Sgt. Rock, Solomon Grundy, Space Ranger, Spy Vs. Spy, Strange Sports Stories, Sugar and Spike, Superboy, Super-Chief, Supergirl, Superman, Tomahawk, Tommy Tomorrow, The War That Time Forgot, Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, Yankee Doodle, Zatanna TM and © DC Comics. Cracked TM and © Demand Media, Inc. Buck Rogers TM and © The Dille Family Trust. Beagle Boys, Donald Duck, Ludwig Von Drake, Mad Madam Mim, Mickey Mouse, 101 Dalmations, The Phantom Blot, Uncle Scrooge, Wart and the Wizard is TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Tarzan, Korak is TM ≠and © ERB, Inc. Cave Kids, Fred Flintstone, Huckleberry Hound, Magilla Gorilla, Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, Yogi Bear TM and © Hanna-Barbera. G.I. Joe TM and © Hasbro. The Fly TM © Joe Simon. Thirteen (Going On Eighteen) TM and © The John Stanley Estate. Blondie, Buz Sawyer, Dagwood, The Phantom, Popeye TM and © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Ant-Man, The Avengers, The Black Widow, Captain America, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange, Dormammu, Fantastic Four, Fin Fang Foom, Giant-Man, Groot, the Howling Commandos, Hawkeye, The Hulk, The Human Torch, Iron Man, J. Jonah Jameson, Linda Carter, Magneto, The Mandarin, Millie the Model, Patsy Walker, Rawhide Kid, The Scarlet Witch, Sgt. Fury, Spider-Man, The Sub-Mariner, The Thing, Thor, The Wasp, Willie Lumpkin, Wonder Man, The X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Miss Peach TM and © Mell Lazarus. Creepy TM and © New Comic Company. Three Stooges TM and © Norman Maurer Productions, Inc. Pogo TM and © Okefenokee Glee & Perloo Inc. Peanuts is TM and © Peanuts Worldwide LLC. The Aliens, Doctor Solar, Freedom Agent, Little Monsters, Magnus Robot Fighter, Mighty Samson, Space Family Robinson, Turok TM and © Random House, Inc. Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton. Alter Ego TM and © Roy & Dann Thomas. Sad Sack TM and © Sad Sack, Inc. Bugs Bunny, Gay Purr-Ee TM and © Warner Bros. The Spirit TM and © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. Zorro TM and © Zorro Productions, Inc. Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Zorro TM and © Zorro Productions, Inc. Gay Purr-Ee TM and © Warner Bros. Adventures of Jerry Lewis, Ben Casey, Back Cat, Bonanza, Clyde Crashcup, Combat, Dobie Gillis, Drag Cartoons, Fightin’ Five, The First Family, Gabby Gob, Ghost Stories, G.I. Juniors, Goodman Beaver, Gunmaster, Kid Montana, Konga, Leave It To Beaver, Midnight Mystery, The Outer Limits, Sick, Tales from the Tomb, Teenage Hotrodders, Three Nurses, Toka, Treasure Chest, Unknown Worlds, Yak Yak, Young Doctors TM and © respective copyright holders.
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Table of Contents Introductory Note about the Chronological Structure of American Comic Book Chroncles......... 4 Note on Comic Book Sales and Circulation Data......................................................... 5 Introduction & Acknowlegments................................. 6 Chapter One: 1960 Pride and Prejudice. .................................................................. 8 Chapter Two: 1961 The Shape of Things to Come................................................... 40
Chapter Three: 1962 Gains and Losses...................................................................... 74
Chapter Four: 1963 Triumph and Tragedy. ..........................................................114 Chapter Five: 1964 Don’t Get Comfortable. .........................................................160 Works Cited.......................................................................214 Index...................................................................................220
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Notes Introductory Note about the Chronological Structure of American Comic Book Chronicles head as most Direct Market-exclusive publishers chose not to put cover dates on their comic books while some put cover dates that matched the issue’s release date.
The monthly date that appears on a comic book cover doesn’t usually indicate the exact month the comic book arrived at the newsstand or at the comic book store. Since their inception, American periodical publishers—including but not limited to comic book publishers—postdated their issues in order to let vendors know when they should remove unsold copies from their stores. In the 1930s, the discrepancy between a comic book’s cover date and the actual month it reached the newsstand was one month. For instance, Action Comics #1 is cover dated June 1938 but actually went on sale in May 1938. Starting in 1940, comic book publishers hoped to increase each issue’s shelf life by widening the discrepancy between cover date and release date to two months. In 1973, the discrepancy was widened again to three months. The expansion of the Direct Market in the 1980s though turned the cover date system on its
This all creates a perplexing challenge for comic book historians as they consider whether to chronologize comic book history via cover date or release date. The predominant comic book history tradition has been to chronologize via cover date, and American Comic Book Chronicles is following that tradition. This means though that some comic books that were released in the final months of one year won’t be dealt with until the chapter about the following year. Each chapter, however, will include a yearly timeline that uses a comic book’s release date to position it appropriately among other significant historical, cultural and political events of that year. By Keith Dallas
d TM an
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Comic
A new generation of 1960s comic book fans was simultaneously enthralled by the new superheroes of their generation and their mysterious predecessors of the 1940s. 1963’s Justice League of America #21 and 22 satisfied that craving by uniting the JLA with the long-lost Justice Society in an award-winning two-part story by writer Gardner Fox and artists Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs. Justice League of America, Justice Society of America TM and © DC Comics.
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Notes
TM and © DC
Comics.
Note on Comic Book Sales and Circulation Data publishers; instead they sent to the publishers notarized affidavits of the number of unsold copies they destroyed. In essence, an “honor system” was in place that relied on the newsstand distributors to be truthful about the number of copies bought by consumers and the number of unsold copies being destroyed.
Determining the exact number of copies a comic book title sold on the newsstand is problematic. The best that one can hope to learn is a close approximation of a comic book’s total sales. This is because the methods used to report sales figures were (and still are) fundamentally flawed. During the 1960s, most comic books sold on the newsstand would print an annual “Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation” in one of their issues as was required by the United States Post Office for all periodicals. These statements divulged—among other information—a comic book title’s average print run, average paid circulation, and average returns from the newsstand. The data in these statements were as accurate as the publishers could provide. The publishers certainly knew how many copies they printed, but they relied on the distributors to inform them of how many copies were sold on the newsstand and how many unsold copies were being “returned” for a refund. Most distributors actually didn’t return unsold copies—or even stripped covers of the unsold copies—back to the
“I wouldn’t take the Publisher’s Statement numbers to church,” former Charlton and DC Comics editor Dick Giordano advised in Comic Book Artist #1 (Spring 1998). “I’m not sure where they came from but I’ll tell you one thing I know for sure—because I can’t get in trouble. At Charlton, they just made them up.” While that publisher is an extreme example, Giordano’s caution is welladvised. American Comic Book Chronicles then recognizes the flawed nature of newsstand circulation data but is resigned to the fact that it is also the only data available and will consider it a close approximation of a comic book’s total sales numbers.
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“The 1960s?” I said. “But most of the comics that I grew up with were published in the 1970s. I wasn’t even born until 1964!” So went my first argument when Keith Dallas and Jim Beard approached me about covering that most pivotal decade in American comic books.
INTRODUCTION & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
But that, my friend Mike Tiefenbacher argued, was a plus since I’d be less likely to write a book rooted purely in nostalgia. He feared that I’d regret passing up this project. As editor of The Comic Reader during my formative years, Mike had an enormous impact on how I look at comics, and his opinion carries a great deal of weight with me.
“The
comic book industry was reinventing itself”
And it’s not as if I was unfamiliar with the decade that preceded my personal Golden Age. From Uncle Scrooge’s clashes with Magica DeSpell to the Justice League and Justice Society’s battle with the Crime Syndicate and the Avengers and Fantastic Four’s tumultuous pursuit of the Hulk, I experienced many of the 1960s’ great moments in reprint form in my first ten years. Truthfully, the thing that was really intimidating me was the sheer scale of what I was being asked to undertake. Outside of the 1938-1942 period that gave rise to Superman and his ilk, there may be no five year block in comic book history that’s seen more major creations unveiled in such a short period of time than 1960-1964. From the Justice League of America to Sabrina the Teenage Witch to Spy Vs. Spy to virtually every major character in the classic Silver Age Marvel Comics pantheon, the list is breathtaking. The comic book industry was reinventing itself, occasionally influenced by a small group of fans and collectors whose opinions and encouragement were reshaping the form and content of what they read. That older readership would become increasingly important as inflation rocked the comics buyers’ world. The first across-the-board price increase in comic book history took place in the fall of 1961 and those teenage and young adult collectors—with greater disposable income than traditional younger buyers—were poised to become the new target audience. None of this happened overnight, of course, but the seeds were planted here. The efforts of some of those fans—many of whom have gone on to reshape the post-1960s comics horizon— helped make this book possible. From Malcolm Willits’ correspondence with Uncle Scrooge cartoonist Carl Barks in the early 1960s to Jim Amash’s interviews with a plethora of greats in Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego magazine into the 21st Century, a wealth of documentation exists for anyone wishing to explore comics history. One is advised to remember, however, in many cases, the creation of comic books that were commited to memory by fans was just another job for the professionals who created it. If their recollections of issues published decades ago are fuzzy or contradict other accounts, those creators are no more or less fallible than the rest of the human race. That said, these interviews and memoirs are the primary resource available to archivists and are excerpted throughout this volume with that caveat.
Adam Strange TM and © DC Comics.
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I was aided immeasurably in the course of my research by several men who experienced the 1960s comic book explosion first hand. Mike Tiefenbacher eagerly reviewed each chapter as I wrote them, offering valuable input and corrections as well as standing ready to do research when needed. Carl Gafford, best known as an industry colorist and editor, also provided key insights and additions. His “This Month In Comics” feature, an ongoing and regularly updated part of CAPA-Alpha since the 1990s, primarily focuses on the 1960s and its monthly breakdowns of what was published during the decade was an incredible resource. Perhaps best known to fans as the editor of many officiallysanctioned DC and Marvel indexes of the 1980s and 1990s, Murray Ward has a razor-sharp memory for 1960s comic books that leaves me breathless. His notation of minor details that might have slipped my notice and his ability to catch errors that everyone else missed have placed me deeply in his debt. Gene Kehoe, editor and publisher of It’s A Fanzine, provided further insights and came to my rescue several times when I needed to track a particular source. His willingness to supply scans from his own collection at the last minute is also greatly appreciated. Likewise, Mark Waid was a huge asset in gathering images for this book as was Rick Norwood, whose generosity in response to my Buz Sawyer inquiry will not be forgotten. Sam Kujava, along with digging into his own collection when needed, provided further feedback on my manuscript as did Robert Greenberger. I’m also indebted
The Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
to John Adcock and Bill Schelly for their willingness to identify specific sources. Dan Stevenson’s “Year-By-Year Title Listing,” prepared for APA-I, was tremendously useful and enabled me to see at a glance exactly what issues—and how many—were on newsstands in a given year. A number of websites became familiar friends in the course of this project, most notably The Grand Comics Database, Mike’s Amazing World of Comics (overseen by Mike Voiles), Don Markstein’s Toonopedia, and John Jackson Miller’s The Comics Chronicles. Thanks also to Gary Brown, Bill Field, Paul Levitz, Russ Maheras, and Daniel T. Miller for their contributions in the course of my research. Finally, thanks to Keith Dallas for inviting me to write this book in the first place and to David Greenawalt for bringing it to life. Their meticulous editing and design make me look far better than I could have achieved alone. And thank you for reading this book. Whether the comics of the first half of the 1960s are among your most favored memories or something that existed before you were born, I hope you’ll come away with a broader understanding of what made this period so significant and memorable.
Ludwig Von Drake is TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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1960
Pride and Prejudice
In 1960, comics were unavoidable. Outside of snobby holdouts like the New York Times, every newspaper worth its salt had a healthy representation of what parents liked to call “the funnies.” A handful of recent comic strips like Pogo, Peanuts, Dennis the Menace, and Marmaduke were even showing up in paperback collections on book racks. Kids magazines might feature a comics story at any time and Boy’s Life had maintained a clutch of recurring features like “Scouts In Action” and Dik Browne’s Tracy Twins. Older readers might gravitate to the automotive-themed CARtoons or the subversive black-and-white comics magazines like Mad and its recent rival Cracked.
Will Eisner, the innovative genius who produced the weekly Spirit comic book section for newspapers between 1940 and 1952, now headed up the American Visuals Corporation. Built around the fact that comics were a powerful educational and commercial tool, the company counted the United States Army as its best-known client. In the pages of a monthly magazine titled PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, Eisner was charged with conveying technical information to soldiers about the upkeep of their weaponry, vehicles, et al. Even some members of the clergy seemed to give the form its conditional blessing. David C. Cook’s Sunday Pix featured a serialized adaptation of the Bible amidst other recurring features in a weekly Sunday School pamphlet while the biweekly Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact comic book was distributed at Catholic parochial schools. Evangelist Oral Roberts’ organization was producing a subscription-only monthly comic book of their own titled Junior Partners. And certainly, the traditional four-color comic book was readily available at every newsstand, grocer, drugstore, and candy shop. Many California-based fans—among them writer/historian Mark Evanier—speak of buying their comics at liquor stores. However much those might have sounded like dens of iniquity, the 1960 model was actually more of a small convenience store. The price was certainly right. The typical 32-page color comic book still retailed for 10-cents, the same price that an issue had been in the 1930s. Significantly, though, those bygone comics had generally boasted 64 pages. Two decades of inflation had necessitated that most magazines raise prices but comics had held firm, cutting back the page count to hold the line at a dime. By 1960, most comics carried around 25 pages of actual story content with the rest given over to advertising. Dell Comics was a notable exception in mostly eschewing advertising, but the pricetags on their covers had ominously read “Still 10-cents” since 1958 (following regional test-marketing of a 15-cent price-point).
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As ubiquitous as comics were, there was a line of demarcation between two of the primary formats, one even made by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham in his notorious 1954 tome Seduction of the Innocent. For a quarter-century, color comic books had been looked upon as the ugly stepchild of newspaper comic strips—at best, a simple-minded counter8
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his own comic strip. Throughout the 1950s, he’d managed to sell two strips— My Friend Irma (with artists Jack Seidel and Dan DeCarlo) and Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs (with the late Joe Maneely)—but both ended quickly. On December 7, 1959, Lee and DeCarlo launched a humor strip starring young mailman Willie Lumpkin in the hope that the third time would be the charm.
part; at worst, an active threat to a child’s mental development. Ah, but it was adults who bought the newspapers that carried comic strips and, regardless of the content of an individual feature, the daily funnies had a built-in level of respect which their lowly sibling could never aspire. Comic book artist Carmine Infantino had experienced that first hand when he joined the comic strip-centric National Cartoonists Society: “Even there, the newspaper strip artists commanded the most respect. I think the advertising cartoonists and comic book artists were only allowed in because the club needed the dues money. Especially during and after the Congressional hearings, we were actually ashamed to tell people what we did for a living. Joe Orlando used to tell people he drew children’s books.” (Infantino 44-45) Ask any comic book artist of the era and chances are that they’d tried to sell at least one comic strip concept into syndication. A successful strip and placement in key metropolitan newspapers could mean a small fortune in profits, far more than any of them were eking out in comic books. To cite one example, 1940s/1950s comic book artist Irwin Hasen had successfully transitioned into newspapers with his Dondi strip in 1955.
Many artists— Although signed by Charles Schulz, the Peanuts among them Faw- comic book was produced by Dale Hale. Peanuts is TM cett Comics’ Marc and © Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Swayze, E.C.’s Johnny Craig, and Green Lantern creator Mart Nodell—had long since opted to abandon comics in any traditional form for a more lucrative career in advertising. On the other hand, when artist Pete Morisi became a New York police officer in 1956, he maintained his comic book work as a secondary source of income. Aware that the NYPD would frown on moonlighting, Morisi opted to use only his initials (first PM and later PAM) if he signed his stories at all.
There was no guarantee, of course, particularly for the adventure and science fiction comic strips that were giving way to an up and coming breed of contemporary humor strips like Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey, Johnny Hart’s B.C. or Mell Lazarus’ Miss Peach. Murphy Anderson spent 11 months on the struggling Buck Rogers comic strip in 1958 and 1959 before deciding that the headaches weren’t worth the money. Meanwhile, artist Jack Kirby found himself in a legal nightmare over royalties on the Sky Masters strip he’d created with writers Dick and Dave Wood that obligated him to take better-paying jobs from comic book publishers Archie and Marvel while he continued to draw the strip.
The comic book industry was becoming, if not an old-man’s game, at least a middle-aged man’s one. [Women, notably DC Comics’ Aquaman artist Ramona Fradon and Dell Comics President Helen Meyer, were rare exceptions.] With only ten active color comic book publishers in the eastern U.S., there was a finite amount of work to go around and it went to people already within the industry. Even Murphy Anderson’s year-long absence on Buck Rogers put him
Even Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics company man who’d hired Kirby back, wanted nothing more than to create
Original Sunday page for August 21, 1960. Courtesy Heritage Auctions. Willie Lumpkin TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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1960 TIMELINE A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events. February 29: The Family Circus, by Bil Keane, debuts as a daily newspaper cartoon with a distinctive circular format.
January 22: Aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste, Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy lieutenant Don Walsh set a world record when they descend 10, 911 meters (35,797 feet) into the Mariana Trench, the lowest point on Earth. The event is referenced later in the year in Superman #139.
JANUARY
March 6: The United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War begins to escalate with the announcement that another 3,500 troops will be deployed to the region.
FEBRUARY
April 1: The final episode of the LucyDesi Comedy Hour airs on CBS, bringing an end to the groundbreaking comedy that began in 1951 as I Love Lucy. A month earlier, star Lucille Ball had filed for divorce from Desi Arnaz.
MARCH
April 22: Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould receives the Reuben Award for 1959’s cartoonist of the year at the National Cartoonists Society 14th annual ceremony in New York City. Other winners include Wally Wood (comic book category, Mad), Dik Browne (newspaper strips, Hi and Lois), and Jimmy Hatlo (newspaper panels, They’ll Do It Every Time).
APRIL
February 18: The Winter Olympic Games begin in California’s Squaw Valley Ski Resort, the first time the sporting event has taken place in North America since 1932. Airing on CBS, the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies are produced by Walt Disney.
February 1: A quartet of black students stage a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s department store lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The incident inspires further peaceful demonstrations elsewhere in the Southern United States.
March 28: Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby revive the Rawhide Kid comic book with #17, recreating the character’s look and background. It’s the first time that the collaborators will work together on an ongoing character.
Superman, Green Lantern, Justice League of America, Hawkman, and Aquaman TM and © DC Comics. Family Circus TM and © Bil Keane, Inc. Rawhide Kid TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
at risk when he tried to return to National Comics (better known as DC) and found every assignment filled. “For nearly two or three months,” he recalled, “I was nearly workless” (Anderson 60).
May 24: Following a successful tryout in the Showcase comic book, DC’s Green Lantern #1 goes on sale.
May 11: Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, now using an alias and working as a foreman at a Mercedes-Benz facility in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is captured by agents of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet.
M AY
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May 1: An American Lockheed U-2 spy plane is shot down by the Soviets, leading to the capture of its pilot (and CIA operative) Francis Gary Powers. A summit meeting in Paris later in May collapses in part over President Eisenhower’s refusal to apologize for the incident. In August, Powers is convicted of espionage against the Soviet Union and sentenced to a prison near Moscow.
June 23: DC’s Superman Annual reprint collection inaugurates a long-running string of 80-Page giants.
June 16: Psycho, an Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation of Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel, makes its theatrical premiere. An artfully staged sequence in which actor Anthony Perkins’ character Norman Bates stabs Janet Leigh’s Marion Crane becomes the best-remembered part of the movie, which will become the top-grossing picture of the year.
EC Comics line of titles aimed at a more adult audience. Serendipitously, publisher William M. Gaines had assented to editor Harvey Kurtzman’s desire to convert their 10cent satire/parody comic Mad to a 25-cent black and white magazine format in 1955, a move that instantly bought the title more respect and success (and incidentally freed it from Comics Code scrutiny). A grinning, big-eared mascot named Alfred E. Neuman (his credo: “What? Me Worry?”) quickly became the public face of the magazine on its covers.
If things were tough for established creators, they were impossible for newcomers. Fresh out of college, Neal Adams arrived at DC’s offices in 1959 with sample pages of a war story and their Adam Strange feature and high hopes of a place in the company. As he tells it, things didn’t play out as he expected:
Following Kurtzman’s 1956 departure, Al Feldstein became the magazine’s new editor, and the next few years saw regular material by cartoonists Don Martin and Dave Berg, along with work by writers Gary Belkin, Frank Jacobs, Al Jaffee, Tom Koch, Paul Krassner, Sy Reit and artists Bob Clarke, Mort Drucker, Joe Orlando, Wally Wood, and George Woodbridge.
“I couldn’t get past the front door. They sent a nice man out named Bill Perry, and it was as if my old school had given him a tape recording of what to say, ‘You’re wasting your time, you’re a very talented young man, you should do something else, blah, blah, blah…’ He wasn’t even allowed to take the samples in to the editors. Then, strangely, he quietly apologized.” (Schumer 20)
By 1960, Mad was the best-selling comic book in the United States, with its yearly average of 1,048,550 per issue even slightly surpassing Dell’s four-color Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories as well as DC’s Superman (Miller).
It’s a Mad World Only five years had passed since the content of comic books had come under scrutiny by a Senate subcommittee. The establishment of a Comics Code Authority—whose standards expressly banished most of the grisly excesses of all crime and horror comics—also nearly wiped out the entire
The magazine’s anti-establishment attitude and skewering of everything from TV shows to politics had made it a household name. Fred Astaire donned an Alfred E. Neuman costume for a dance number on November 4, 10
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July 11: “Alley Oop,” a novelty song by the Hollywood Argyles inspired by the V.T. Hamlin comic strip about a time-traveling caveman, is the number one song on the Billboard Top 100 chart. The tune, originally performed by Dallas Frazier in 1957, is also covered by both the Dyno-Sores and Dante & the Evergreens during 1960.
J U LY
NOVEMBER 8: John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States in a narrow victory over Richard Nixon. The 43-year-old Kennedy is the youngest man ever to be elected to the office and the second youngest (after Theodore Roosevelt) to serve there.
August 25: Justice League of America #1 arrives at newsstands and becomes the first successful superhero team comic book since All Star Comics dropped the Justice Society and became All Star Western in 1951.
July 11: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s classic story of race relations in the 1930s American South, is published. It is subsequently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for 1960’s best American novel.
August 1: The Beatles (consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Pete Best) first perform in Hamburg, Germany.
AUGUST July 25-28: Sitting Vice-President Richard M. Nixon is nominated for President at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Henry Cabot Lodge is tapped to run as Nixon’s Vice-President.
July 13: At the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy is nominated for President of the United States. In his acceptance speech, he talks of the challenges of the “new frontier” that are ahead for all Americans.
September 5: At the Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, the gold medal in lightheavyweight boxing is awarded to Cassius Clay of the United States.
1959 TV special and Tony Randall reenacted several of Mad cartoonist Don Martin’s gags for NBC’s Four For Tonight broadcast on February 24, 1960. Superstar comedian Sid Caesar (Your Show of Shows) had even written four pieces for Mad, culminating with “The Jackie Talented Story” in #55 (June 1960), and penned the introduction to 1960’s hardback Golden Trashery of Mad. Gaines was more than capable of generating press coverage on his own, as in September of 1960 when he gathered many of his staffers for an impromptu trip to Haiti—where he’d discovered that Mad had exactly one subscriber. Arriving at his door, Gaines and company begged him to re-subscribe (Jacobs, 250-251). Mad had also found a valuable means of keeping the best of its earlier comics in print by reformatting them for paperback collections. “The Organization Mad” and “Like, Mad” became the eighth and ninth additions to the
DECEMBER 10: Disney’s live-action Swiss Family Robinson (starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, and Tommy Kirk) premieres and eventually becomes the secondhighest-grossing film of 1960.
September 25: John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon appear in the first live televised Presidential debate. Not yet cognizant of how his physical appearance would translate on film, Nixon refuses to wear make-up and seems sickly and ill-at-ease to many TV viewers, even as radio listeners believe the Vice-President has won the debate. OCTOBER 13: For the first time, a home run determines the winner of baseball’s World Series. Thanks to Bill Mazeroski, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Yankees 10-9.
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER October 3: The Andy Griffith Show premieres on CBS, quickly making stars of its title character as Mayberry sheriff Andy Taylor, Don Knotts as bumbling deputy Barney Fife, and Ronnie Howard as Andy’s son Opie.
September 19: “The Twist,” the Chubby Checker song that also inspired a dance craze, is the number one song on the Billboard Top 100 chart.
September 14: OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is formed by the nations of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Bugs Bunny TM and © Warner Bros. Fred Flintstone TM and © Hanna-Barbera.
DECEMBER 5: In its Boynton v. Virginia ruling, the Supreme Court declares any segregation on public transportation in the United States to be illegal.
October 2: The Bugs Bunny Show, a compilation of Warner Bros. theatrical short cartoons, begins on ABC as a weekly primetime series.
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER 10: In the Brave and the Bold #34, writer Gardner Fox and artist Joe Kubert reintroduce Hawkman, the third 1940s hero to be modernized.
DECEMBER NOVEMBER 26: Disney launches the first of its annual Christmas newspaper comic strips, short stories that conclude each December 24. The initial tale (“Peter Pan’s Christmas Story”) is written by Frank Reilly and drawn by Manuel Gonzales. NOVEMBER 24: Long-standing DC back-up character Aquaman becomes a leading man for the first time in Showcase #30, the first of a four-issue run.
September 30: The Flintstones, a prime-time animated cartoon from Hanna-Barbera, debuts on ABC. The series overlays the personalities of the cast of Jackie Gleason’s Honeymooners characters with those of two families living during the Stone Age.
series in 1960. That same year, Alfred E. Neuman costumes were available for the first time at Halloween. While the latest pocket books were reprinting material from 1956 and 1957, the magazine was up to the minute. TV series 77 Sunset Strip (starring teen heartthrob Edd “Kookie” Byrnes), The Rifleman, and Lassie came in for mockery in Mad #52, #53, and #59 respectively, as did folk music (#52), beatniks (#53, #57), monster movies (#53), violence on TV (#58), and the Summer Olympics in Rome (#56). Elizabeth Taylor’s fourth marriage—this time to Eddie Fisher— earned her a personalized comic valentine in a feature in issue #53, also featuring Cuba’s Fidel Castro, F.B.I. chief J. Edgar Hoover, and labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa. Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev appeared on the back cover in a Kelly Freas-painted Kodak film ad parody that showed the pictures of top secret facilities he’d snapped during his 1959 visit to the United States.
The ubiquitous advertisements being churned out for print and television were fertile territory for the Mad men, and ad parodies were a staple of the magazine, both on Freas’ color back covers and the black and white interiors. Issue #54’s “My Fair Ad-Man” (written by Nick Meglin and drawn by Mort Drucker) not only tackled the advertising geniuses of Madison Avenue but presented the story in song (all based on tunes from Broadway play “My Fair Lady”). It was the first musical parody in Mad’s history. Another musical sequence (“Mad Comic Opera”) appeared in #56, featuring scores of comic strip characters—including Dick Tracy, Tarzan, Dagwood Bumstead, and a voluptuous adult Little Orphan Annie —realistically rendered by Wally Wood. Alfred E. Neuman entered the 1960 U.S. Presidential campaign in issue #55, where a (real) ad offered a kit (including a button, poster, hat, et al.) for one dollar to support his candidacy. Elsewhere in the issue, a magazine
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take-off took jabs at the political scene while issue #56’s spotlighted the Democratic and Republican summer conventions with every major Presidential candidate and others stumping for Neuman. Issue #60, prepared before the November election was decided, was released as a flip book with a different cover on each side. “Mad congratulates John Kennedy upon his election as President,” one side declared. “We were with you all the way, Jack!” On the other side, the same message was delivered to Richard Nixon. As with any successful series, there were imitators and Mad was no exception. Major Magazines’ Cracked—introduced in 1958—was the most enduring. Edited by Sol Brodsky, the magazine offered janitor Sylvester P. Smythe as its answer to Alfred E. Neuman. John Severin, a versatile artist best known for his textured realistic work on western and war comics for EC and Atlas, was a natural fit for the caricatures that movie and TV parodies required and became the magazine’s most prominent creator.
Writer Frank Jacobs and artist Wally Wood conceived a “Comic Opera” for Mad #56 while painter Bob Clark hedged his bets on 1960’s Presidential election winner in Mad #60. Mad TM and © DC Comics.
Where Cracked was content as a mimic, Sick took its title as a mission statement. Published by Crestwood Publications (whose color comics imprint was Prize Comics), issue #1 (September 1960) declared itself “a grim collection of revolting humor.” Financed by Teddy Epstein and packaged by industry legend Joe Simon, the magazine was built on the more tasteless, politically incorrect humor dispensed by stand-up comics like the controversial Lenny Bruce. The comedian is said to have bought 100 copies of any issue of Sick featuring excerpts on his routines that he then mailed to prospective clients (Simon 177). Discussing Sick #1, Simon wrote:
“I found a humor writer named Dee Caruso who had been writing comedy routines and one-liners for some of the leading theatrical comic personalities. Dee got some of his collaborators together and they wrote the entire book as if it were a routine for a stand-up comedian such as Don Adams or Joey Bishop, both of whom had bought Dee’s material. Transforming these ‘wordy’ routines to eyecatching graphics was a problem but our artists got into the spirit and did well.” (Simon 175) The magazine was initially distributed by the Hearst Distribution Company to great success, as Simon explained: “The sales of the first issue were spectacular. We were very happy with our product and with the Hearst distribution. Teddy stayed with Hearst for three very profitable issues and then switched to PDC (Publishers Distributing Corp.). PDC offered a much bigger advance payment. The sales under the new distribution dropped. Even so, Sick maintained a profit for over a decade until we sold the title.” (Simon 178) Elsewhere, Mad creator Harvey Kurtzman was also trying to create a slick humor magazine with a unique voice. His previous post-Mad efforts Trump (1957) and Humbug (1957-1958) had been critical successes but financially unsustainable. Help! #1 (August 1960, from Warren Publishing) proved more enduring than its predecessors
Mad’s foremost competitors featured cover artists like Jack Davis and Joe Simon. Cracked TM and © Demand Media, Inc., Sick, TM and © respective copyright holder.
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but resembled a comic book the least. Recalling the magazine to Gary Groth, Kurtzman said: “We did Help! with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of naiveté, and I had some great people working with me. Harold Hayes sent me Gloria Steinem—yes, the Gloria Steinem— who’d come fresh from India where she was working on some sort of deal for the government. Gloria was this incredible person, bigger than life. She would get all these movie stars to pose for Help!—for the covers. She’d get ‘freebies’ galore. The thing I learned from Warren is how to fill your pages with freebies. You know—or you should know—those inexpensive ways of filling up space. We’d fill our magazine with stock shots which we’d get for nothing from the movie publicity departments, and then we’d do tricks with them, print captions on them, print them out of context, touch them up funny. So our total budget was $2 and we put out a magazine.” (Groth 93) Help! was more of a hybrid, a celebrity-driven vehicle that hoped to draw in an older, hipper reader who responded to the up-and-coming comedians of the day and appreciated more risqué material. With photo covers featuring comedians like Sid Caesar (#1) and Jerry Lewis (#3) and interiors featuring fumetti (photos doctored with captions or words and articles), actual comics were only part of the equation. Nonetheless, Kurtzman’s favored artistic collaborators Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, and John Severin were well-represented in the magazine. Kurtzman also made a point to reprint samples of artistic brilliance from generations past, whether cartoons from 1920s issues of the humor magazine Punch or episodes of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo In Slumberland from the early 1900s. As time passed, the magazine would also become a vehicle for a radical new generation of cartoonists.
produced the comics that bore the Dell insignia, not only hiring the writers and artists but publishing the completed issues at their Whitman printing plant in Poughkeepsie, New York. With offices in both New York City and Los Angeles, Western also arranged to license the various cartoon and theatrical characters from their respective owners, but it was Dell that decided which of them to publish and what their publication frequency would be. Dell then paid the printing costs and made arrangements for the comics to be distributed to outlets across the country. In 1960, Dell’s president was Helen Meyer. Although only recently promoted from vice-
Dell Comics Are Good Comics The foremost comic book publisher in the land was Dell Comics, whose line-up included some of the most recognizable properties in the United States: Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, Little Lulu, the Lone Ranger, Tarzan, Zorro, and many more. In 1960, they published 377 separate comics (Stevenson), more than any other company, and two of its titles—Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories—charted average circulations over one million copies per issue. Only EC’s Mad surpassed them (Miller). Part of Dell’s success stemmed from a long fruitful partnership with Western Printing and Lithography. It was Western that actually A trademark of Dell’s adventure comics were their often stunning painted covers by artists such as George Wilson and Mo Gollub. Tarzan is TM and © ERB, Inc. Turok TM and © Random House, Inc.
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president, she had long been a force to be reckoned with at the company and is credited with having won the comic book rights to the world famous animated Disney characters in 1940. Western may have produced the comics but they did so only at Meyer’s discretion, and she had a well-earned reputation as a tough negotiator. Like nearly all magazines of the era, comic books were offered to retailers on a returnable basis. Publishers estimated the number of each issue to print and the key to a given title’s success or failure came down to how many of those comics were ultimately returned as unsold. Dell’s expectations had been high and they looked at the 90% sell-through of a title like Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories as a benchmark. Western’s 1950s-1960s editor Matt Murphy recalled:
where (with artist Dan Gormley) he introduced an unnerving little girl named Oona Goosepimple whose demeanor and haunted house created an indelible image in readers’ minds. Likewise, Dell’s two best-selling titles justly owed a great deal of their success to writer-artist Carl Barks. Best known for his creation and stewardship of Donald Duck’s wealthy Uncle Scrooge, Barks also produced a Donald Duck lead story for each issue of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Like most comic books, Dell’s stories carried no writer or artist credits but many observant readers had recognized Invigorated by his first contact with devotees of his work, the “Good Duck Artist” Carl Barks used an idea from a fan as the basis for Uncle Scrooge #33’s “Billions In the Hole.” Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
“Dell’s rate of return was around seven to twelve percent early in the business. They sold the bulk of two million Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse comic books on an alternating basis each month. When Helen Meyer would tell me that a given title was returning better than twenty percent, I knew its days were numbered.” (Murphy 18) A measure of Dell’s power can be found in the fact that they were unscathed by the 1955 implementation of the Comics Code Authority. When nearly every publisher agreed to have their content previewed for offensive content by the Code, Dell declined. Citing its own sterling reputation and internal standards, the company believed the wholesomeness and integrity of its product spoke for itself. A parental pledge in each issue reiterated that point, declaring that “Dell Comics are good comics.” At times, they could be great comics, as in the celebrated work of writer John Stanley and artist Irving Tripp on Marge’s Little Lulu. Working with a handful of premises ranging from the gender warfare between Lulu and frequent nemesis Tubby to the outrageous stories of Witch Hazel and Little Itch that Lulu told to pesky Alvin, Stanley was able to come up with endless variations over the years. Leaving the feature in 1959, Stanley had moved to the Nancy comic book, 14
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the distinctive style of the best of the duck tales and attributed them to “the Good Duck Artist.”
Dell also maintained a small group of comic strip-based titles, all of them consciously revolving around children like Carl Anderson’s pantomime feature Henry and Jimmy Hatlo’s Little Iodine. (Beetle Bailey and Popeye were the exceptions to the rule.) Pete Hansen’s working girl feature Lolly received its latest spotlight in Four Color #1086, albeit billed as “Lolly and Pepper” to emphasize her kid brother. Jack Mendelssohn’s “Jacky’s Diary”—drawn in the primitive manner of a child—also made a 1960 appearance in Four Color (#1091). Elsewhere, the quarterly Tip Top Comics included new stories featuring the decades-old “Captain and the Kids,” Ernie Bushmiller’s “Nancy,” and relative newcomer “Peanuts.” Charles Schulz’s ten-year-old Peanuts was awarded its own ongoing comic book in 1960 while the long-running Nancy title was renamed Nancy and Sluggo with issue #174 (January-February 1960) to reflect the popularity of her scruffy boyfriend.
With a career in the Disney comics dating back to 1942, Barks conceded that he was going through a dry spell. In 1959’s Uncle Scrooge #26-28, he’d resorted to reworking old stories and old Scrooge himself was gradually becoming mellower. Serendipitously, several fans made contact with Barks in 1960 and, while the artist would later regret the loss of his privacy, it was a development that seemed to snap him out of his malaise. The rest of Western’s writers and artists continued to labor in anonymity, whether artists like Paul Murry (Mickey Mouse) and Tom Gill (Lone Ranger) or prolific writers like Del Connell, Gaylord Du Bois, and Vic Lockman. Western stalwart Paul S. Newman was ultimately recognized for having produced more pages of comic book stories than any other writer in history. Long after his retirement, Newman expressed the downside of working in anonymity:
Interest in United States’ burgeoning space program was reflected in Four Color #1083’s “Men Into Space” (based on the one-season TV series) and #1148’s “I Aim At the Stars” (an adaptation of a movie about rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun). Carl Barks, incidentally, devoted a story to the anticipated era of space travel in “Island In the Sky” (Uncle Scrooge #29: March 1960), wherein Scrooge considered keeping his fortune in an asteroid.
“The lack of credit didn’t allow guys like me to build up a constituency. And I didn’t own anything I wrote—fine print on the back of the check covered that.” (Calhoun 19) Dell and Western’s Achilles Heel was arguably the fact that they didn’t own most of the features they worked on, either. A rare exception was Turok, Son of Stone. Created in 1954, the series’ eponymous star—joined by younger brother Andar—was a Native American from centuries past who was trapped in the mysterious Lost Valley populated by scores of prehistoric creatures. The duo’s efforts to survive and find a way to escape Lost Valley sustained the series until 1980. Even more remarkable was the fact that Paul S. Newman wrote the series from 1957 (when he succeeded Gaylord Du Bois) until the end, joined by artist Alberto Giolitti (himself a part of Turok since issue #24 in 1961). Turok, like many of Dell’s ongoing comics, had first appeared in Four Color, an umbrella title for a multitude of features, whether movie and TV adaptations or test runs for various licensed cartoon characters. A glance at the 91 issues of Four Color dated 1960 offers a glimpse of some of the TV series (77 Sunset Strip, Peter Gunn, Leave It to Beaver, The Real McCoys) and theatrical films (The Time Machine, Pollyana, Spartacus, North to Alaska, Swiss Family Robinson) available in 1960. Even squeaky clean teen idols Annette Funicello and Ricky Nelson were featured in two separate Four Colors (#1100 and #1115).
Yogi Bear, the star of a segment in the animated Huckleberry Hound Show, headlined his first two comic books in Four Color #1067 and #1104 on his way to a title of his own in 1961. Later in 1960, Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody, Boris, Natasha, and company made their comics debut in a pair of issues (#1128, 1152) devoted to the animated Rocky and His Friends. Perhaps nothing revealed the general type of TV programming of the year more than Dell’s westerns. More than two dozen different western series were airing on television during the 1959-1960 season in primetime or syndication. Eighteen of those shows—including Bonanza, Rawhide, and Wanted: Dead or Alive—received one or more issue of Four Color in 1960 while nine others—among them Gunsmoke, Maverick, and The Rifleman— starred in ongoing Dell series!
All Together Now Dell’s closest competitor in sales was National Comics, later commonly known simply as DC. Taking those initials from its long-running Detective Comics title, DC was the publisher that had taken a chance on Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman in 1938 and unleashed the concept of the costumed superhero onto a generation of children. The
Popeye TM and © King Features, Inc.
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For kids too young to recall the Justice Society, the concept of a comic book starring DC’s biggest names in a single story was an incredible selling point. Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics.
story as the Justice Society of America. Introduced in All Star Comics, the JSA became not just a hit but a model for several other teams of heroes. But trends are cyclic and the Justice Society faded away after All Star #57, replaced without warning by All Star Western #58 in 1951. But now it was the cowboys’ turn to ride into the sunset. Even as Schwartz gamely tried to shore up DC’s two Old West titles, he began to consider the next step in his budding line of superheroes. Having just completed a three-issue introduction of an updated Green Lantern in Showcase #22-24, the canny editor decided to up the ante: if one superhero was great, how about seven? costumed hero craze had sputtered out by the end of the 1940s but Superman himself was still very much a contender, his eponymous comic book selling an average of 810,000 copies per issue in 1960. The most significant event of 1960, technically speaking, began in 1959 when DC’s The Brave and the Bold #28 (dated February-March 1960) went on sale on December 29. Like the company’s Showcase title, the Brave and the Bold series had been converted to a tryout vehicle for new characters who might be spun off into their own comic book. And like Showcase, B&B’s
first three issues in the new format (devoted to a quartet of adventurers called the Suicide Squad) were judged a flop. Showcase #4, in 1956, however, had introduced a modernized version of the Flash and lit the fuse on a superhero comeback. With B&B #28, editor Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and penciler Mike Sekowsky took things to the next level by reviving the superhero team. Nineteen years earlier, Fox and visionary editor Sheldon Mayer had conceived the idea of taking several of their individual superhero heroes and putting them together in a single
In short, he’d introduce a modern Justice Society, composed not just of the Flash (now starring in his own title) and Green Lantern (surely soon to do the same) but long-standing headliners Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Rounding out his team, he looked to the characters who filled out the back pages of Adventure Comics (Aquaman) and Detective Comics (the Manhunter From Mars). The only thing that Schwartz wasn’t crazy about was the team name: “To me, ‘Society’ meant something you found on Park Avenue. I felt that ‘League’ was a stronger word, one that
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Snapper Carr—named for his finger-snapping habit—was a loyal ally of the Justice League for the better part of a decade. Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics.
readers could identify with because of baseball leagues [and] I decided to use it in the revival.” (Gruenwald 33) The early years of the Justice Society had a set format that consisted of individual chapters involving each member sandwiched between a prologue and epilogue featuring the whole gang. Shrinking page counts eventually necessitated that the heroes break into small units for the middle chapters. Schwartz and Fox tried it both ways in the first story, with favored newcomers Flash and Green Lantern each granted solo chapters. Over the course of 26 pages, the team successfully took down their first (or was it?) adversary, a gargantuan starfish from outer space that attempted to brainwash and enslave the human race. Schwartz credited the story’s title “Starro the Conqueror” to a favorite old science fiction story by Ray Cummings, “Tyranno the Conqueror” (Gruenwald 36). By the end of the story, the fledgling JLA had picked up an honorary member, a high school student named Snapper Carr who provided the crucial clue that Starro could be immobilized by exposure to calcium oxide (or lime). In a book full of square adults, DC exec Whitney Ellsworth believed that a reader identification was called for and requested a hiptalking character modeled on teen
idol Edd Byrnes’ character Kookie on the 77 Sunset Strip TV series (Murray, “Three Easy Pieces Starring Julius Schwartz” 27). Other DC titles tapped the 1950s teen culture—a story in Jimmy Olsen #43 (March 1960) also played off Byrnes’ Kookie persona and referred to the actor by name—but only Schwartz wound up with a permanent houseguest. Absent almost to the point of invisibility in B&B #28 were Superman and Batman, who received a princely four panels apiece in the story and were missing from the cover entirely. DC’s two foremost characters wouldn’t take part in a JLA story in any meaningful way until the series debuted in its own title. Even then, the duo was kept off of nearly every cover until 1963, represented as tiny figures on the few that they did appear on. Schwartz later explained:
them that Superman and Batman were DC properties— not theirs!” (Gruenwald 35) Missing altogether was Green Arrow, a character who (along with Aquaman) had been continuously published since 1941 (as short back-up series in DC’s anthology titles) even as every other costumed hero short of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman faded away. Mort Weisinger’s decision to expand the length of the Supergirl stories in Action Comics in 1960 (starting with #262) created a domino effect that sent former Action back-up Congorilla to Adventure Comics and jettisoned its Green Arrow feature. GA continued to appear as a backup in World’s Finest Comics but the
“Mort Weisinger, who was the editor of the Superman magazines, and Jack Schiff, who was the editor of the Batman magazines, felt that the heroes might become overused and it would take away from sales on their books. In due time (Editorial Coordinator) Irwin Donenfeld suggested that I put them on the cover to boost JLA sales. I told him the other editors’ objections, so he reminded 17
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Young fans immediately lobbied for newcomers Adam Strange, Supergirl, and Kid Flash to join the JLA even as further heroes like Rip Hunter were debuting. Justice League of America and Rip Hunter TM and © DC Comics.
simultaneous loss of one of his berths and his absence from the JLA wasn’t exactly a vote of confidence. Whether the failure to include Green Arrow was a response to his fading fortunes or simply, as Schwartz later asserted, a case of a character who had been inadvertently forgotten, the Ace Archer inspired letters from multiple fans as early as the letter column in Brave and the Bold #30 who insisted that he join the team. Illustrating a book composed of multiple superheroes was a daunting proposition, one that Schwartz assigned to veteran artist Mike Sekowsky. Possessing an idiosyncratic art style, Sekowsky drew characters who often contorted themselves at odd angles and his style contrasted sharply with the graceful work of “prettier” artists like Carmine Infantino and Gil Kane. But those qualities made his pages unique and he had a gift for strong layouts and clear storytelling, details that were essential on
a book with such a large cast. Still, the relative merits of Sekowsky’s work would be an ongoing bone of contention for many JLA readers. Sekowsky’s interior pencils were generally inked by Bernard Sachs, but his covers were embellished by Murphy Anderson. When inker Frank Giacoia left DC for Dell in 1959, Anderson happily accepted the assignments that opened in his absence. As inker (and sometimes penciller) of the JLA covers, Anderson brought a slick, textured uniformity to characters designed by multiple artists and made them look as if they belonged in the same universe. That quality was particularly evident on Anderson’s cover for Justice League of America #1, where attributes of Aquaman artist Ramona Fradon, Martian Manhunter illustrator Joe Certa, and the Flash’s Carmine Infantino were plainly visible on each character’s face. As Schwartz anticipated, these latest
creations were on the fast track for their own titles: “Irwin Donenfeld used to get reports of how the magazine was doing. He wouldn’t give us the final figures, but he would say ‘up six,’ ‘down three,’ and so on. So all the Brave and Bold ‘Justice Leagues’ had ‘up,’ ‘very good,’ ‘excellent.’ When the final one came in, he didn’t give me a number. You know what he gave me? […] An exclamation point!” (Murray, “Three Easy Pieces Starring Julius Schwartz” 11) Green Lantern #1 premiered in May and Justice League of America #1 followed in August. Both titles avoided actually putting a “#1” on their covers, however. In the opinion of DC’s Irwin Donenfeld, distributors and retailers had more faith in a title with a proven track record implied
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Grandly headlined house ads like these fanned the flames of DC’s superhero revival. Justice League of America and Green Lantern TM and © DC Comics.
New Blood
by a higher issue number. A first issue, he believed, would be viewed as a gamble that some might not wish to take. (There was also, it seemed, not a particular amount of sentimentality over anniversaries. The 100th issues of House of Mystery and Our Army At War each passed without comment in 1960.) The return of the Flash had come out of nowhere, his first appearances slipping by many who might have been interested in the new/old hero. On the heels of Green Lantern’s debut, the house ads for The Brave and the Bold #28 brought something new: an-
ticipation. For a generation too young to remember All Star Comics, the concept of a comic bringing together characters who normally worked alone was mind-blowing. Justice League of America would prove to be influential in ways the Justice Society never was. It didn’t merely create the model for scores of superhero teams in the decades to come or even, ultimately, lead to character crossovers becoming mainstream rather than a novelty. It would, quite unwittingly, be the catalyst for both an entirely new kind of comic book and the organization of comic book fans into a force to be reckoned with.
The success of Green Lantern and the Justice League of America was the strongest evidence yet for DC that costumed heroes were once again a growth industry. Still feeling their way in this new frontier, the company’s editors and writers struggled with what other elements of the first superhero explosion to bring back. In 1959, a resurgence in teen sidekicks and counterparts, culminated with Kid Flash (The Flash #110: December 1959-January 1960) and Aquaman’s new partner Aqualad (Adventure Comics #269: February 1960). Next, two DC editors would ask the question of whether comic relief—a staple of many successful 1940s hero strips—still had a place in 1960. The answer was a resounding no! Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls had been college students/adventurers who were a fixture of the Wonder Woman series from 1942 to 1950 before new writer/editor Robert Kanigher dropped them from the series. In WW #117 (October 1960), he decided to bring them back, albeit as little more than an audience for the Amazing Amazon’s exploits. A pair of follow-up stories in 1961 were much the same and Kanigher promptly sent them back to limbo.
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Elsewhere, Julius Schwartz decided to try a revival of the Three Dimwits, a thinly-disguised version of film’s Three Stooges who’d aggravated the original Flash during writer Gardner Fox’s tenure on the series. Fox, who’d had no involvement in the presentday Flash series to this point, was invited to pen a story in Flash #117 (December 1960) starring a new version of the trio. Reaction in the subsequent letter column was almost entirely negative. However much pseudo-science was involved, Schwartz’s series had a serious, sometimes scholarly tone further augmented by generally more realistic art. Slapstick had no place in that world and readers were quick to declare that comics were no laughing matter. The lone dissenter in that letter column, incidentally, was a young man named Roy Thomas who’d originally suggested the revival. Schwartz had greater success when he played things straight. In Green Lantern #2 (September-October 1960), writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane established aircraft mechanic Thomas Kalmaku as the only person privy to the fact that test pilot Hal Jordan was secretly Green Lantern. In this pre-political correctness era, Hal obliviously dubbed his Alaskan pal “Pieface” (as in Eskimo Pie), a nickname that endured into the 1970s. That detail aside, Kalmaku functioned as an admirable confidant throughout the decade, eventually marrying and starting a family while Hal futilely pursued Carol Ferris.
Olsen that Mort Weisinger had introduced in 1958. When Quality went out of business in 1956, DC had begun licensing its most successful titles— notably Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, Heart Throbs, and Robin Hood Tales—but passed on poor Plas, which had been all-reprint since 1955. Licensing the character for recurring guest appearances—even if it had occurred to Schwartz or Weisinger—would surely have been judged a waste of money. When DC gambled, it preferred to do so cautiously. The Showcase tryout title had been a remarkable tool for determining whether a prospective series might sell on an ongoing basis. Its track record of success had been almost 100% since the Flash debuted in issue #4 back in 1956 (failing only with issue #5’s Manhunters Around the World). Following up on a two-issue tryout in 1959, time-traveler Rip Hunter returned for a second visit in Showcase #25-26
before making way for a team of divers called the Sea Devils in #27-29. Tonally, the strips were worlds apart, although both coincidentally starred quartets composed of two men, a woman, and her kid brother. Each series was awarded an ongoing title in 1961. The news wasn’t as good for spelunker Cave Carson and his two partners, whose “Adventures Inside Earth” failed to click in The Brave and the Bold #31-33. None of the teams had the timeliness of the Atomic Knights, however. Created by writer John Broome and artist Murphy Anderson for Julius Schwartz’s Strange Adventures #117, the series began in distant 1986 and posited the aftermath of a nuclear war. Crawling from the wreckage, soldier Gardner Grayle gathered a group of like-minded citizens (including the requisite woman) to help him maintain order amidst looters, profiteers, and other threats. Discovering that ancient suits of armor were
Elsewhere, Schwartz, Broome, and artist Carmine Infantino reevaluated a character they’d first envisioned as a villain. In the course of working up “the Mystery of the Elongated Man” (Flash #112: April-May 1960), the team realized that red-haired Ralph Dibny had greater potential as a hero and set him up as a recurring guest who returned for the first time in #115 (September 1960). What was intriguing about the Elongated Man was the fact that he could stretch himself to incredible lengths like both Quality Comics’ fabled old character Plastic Man and Elastic Lad, a recurring alter ego of Jimmy
The Atomic Knights TM and © DC Comics.
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uniquely impervious against atomic weapons, the sextet put them on and became a symbol of hope. A decade into the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the prospect of an atomic showdown was a frightening possibility. A generation of school children had been instructed to “duck and cover” should they see the flash of a nuclear blast in the hope that the fetal position would protect them. That spirit of hopefulness pervaded the Atomic Knights. In later years, some would deride the series for presenting an overly optimistic picture of a post-nuke world. As was typical of a Schwartz-BroomeAnderson product, the Atomic Knights conveyed a strong sense of believability even in unlikely situations. That and the sense of community and optimism in the face of an unthinkable disaster helped make it one of the most fondly remembered features of the early 1960s. Rotating with the already-established Star Hawkins and Space Museum, the Atomic Knights appeared in every third issue of Strange Adventures until the end
of 1963. DC’s western titles were fading fast but its war titles—at least those edited by Robert Kanigher—were entering a creative resurgence. Kanigher’s introduction of series starring Sgt. Rock (in Our Army At War) and Gunner & Sarge (Our Fighting Forces) during 1959 had proven an unexpected boon for the title’s sales. The veteran writer-editor already had an exemplary team of writers and artists in his stable—including signature artist Joe Kubert—but was coming to realize that anthology comic books filled with unrelated episodic stories were slowly fading in popularity. Consequently, in addition to building up the supporting cast in Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company (notably with the introduction of Bulldozer in OAAW #95), Kanigher set about establishing distinctive features in his other combat titles, each set during World War Two. All-American Men of War #82 featured the premiere of an Irv N ov i c k - i l lu s trated series about Native
American pilot Johnny Cloud. Elsewhere, starting in Star-Spangled War Stories #90, Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito replaced the Mademoiselle Marie feature (starring a French Underground leader) with the unconventional “War That Time Forgot,” a series that brought a succession of military men to a mysterious Pacific island where primeval creatures still roamed. In comparison, the Andru & Espositodrawn T.N.T. Trio strip dealing with soldiers from Dog Company (beginning in G.I. Combat #83) seemed undistinguished and Kanigher began to look for an enduring replacement. The incredible burst of creativity at DC during this time was such that every single creation would eventually be looked on fondly by someone. Even the seeming flops like Cave Carson or World’s Finest #113’s Miss Arrowette would be revisited in the 1980s and 1990s. The villains created in 1960, whether the Trickster (Flash
Artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito (“War That Time Forgot”) and Irv Novick (“Johnny Cloud”) were staples of the DC combat line. “The War That Time Forgot” and Johnny Cloud TM and © DC Comics.
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readers who’d been around long enough to recall when their father Corky came into the world in 1928. Comic books were another story entirely. Here, the prevailing wisdom was that the audience was composed almost entirely of children who’d outgrow the medium and be replaced by a new generation within a five year span. When he revived and modernized the Flash and Green Lantern, Julius Schwartz had been confident that few if any readers would even realize that earlier versions had existed as recently as 1950. Schwartz extended that viewpoint from characters to concepts. Many of his Justice League of America covers from 1960-1963 were based on the covers of comic books that he’d edited years earlier. The Brave and the Bold #29, for instance, flipped the image of the Justice Society fighting a giant robot that had appeared on 1948’s All Star Comics #43. Superman editor Mort Weisinger sometimes did the same but drew on the pulp magazines he worked on prior to coming to DC. The monster from the March 1940 issue of Startling Stories actually showed up twice in 1960, both times in issues of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen (#43 and #47). Weisinger didn’t stop with covers. Beginning in 1959, he began to regularly revisit stories he’d edited years earlier (mostly but not exclusively from Superman-related features) and assign a writer-artist team to produce a new version. In one way or another, whether stronger internal logic or greater room to develop the plot or simply a more contemporary art style, most of the stories benefited from the makeover. Moreover, Curt Swan and Stan Kaye drew Superman Annual #1’s tantalizing cover. some of the updated tales ultimately Superman TM and © DC Comics. held greater historical significance by introducing new characters into the burgeoning Super#113) and Captain Boomerang (Flash #117) or Amazo, man mythology. In four separate 1961-dated issues, Clark Professor Ivo (Brave & Bold #29), Despero (JLA #1), and Kent’s friend Pete Ross and future Legion of Super-Heroes Kanjar Ro (JLA #3) or Multi-Man (Challengers of the members Star Boy, Mon-El, and Sun Boy would all debut Unknown #14) or the Antimatter Universe of Qward (Green in stories that were actually rewrites. (Weisinger’s fellow Lantern #2-4) would be revisited again and again, not just editor Jack Schiff would recycle plots himself, as in Blackin comics but in animation. DC, like the other companies hawk #155’s rewrite of 1959’s Batman #122.) of prominence in the 1960s, was unknowingly building a vast library of properties that would sustain them in the Ironically, in their days of writing fanzines in the 1930s, increasingly lean decades in their future. Weisinger had once chastised Schwartz to “be original” when he unconsciously used a phrase that the former had Twice-Told Tales used in one of his articles (Schwartz/Thomsen 136). In later years, the veteran editor would proudly refer to himself With comic strips, it was a given that many readers had as “B.O.” Schwartz, using cover art images to inspire new been following their favorite features for decades and stories but never rehashing an old one: woe to the newspaper editor who decided to test their loyalty by trying to replace their favorite with a newcomer. “I also will not allow a plot to be done if I know it’s When Adam and Eve Wallet were born in the April 21, 1960 been done before. Or if it’s too similar to anything Gasoline Alley strip, for instance, there was a fair amount of we’ve been done before.” (Peel 40) 22
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Dusting off old stories was hardly restricted to DC. Stan Lee would periodically have old scripts revised at Marvel, including having Jack Kirby redraw a story in 1961’s Rawhide Kid #23 that he’d originally done a year earlier in #17. Dell had recently had Paul Murry redraw 1930s-era Mickey Mouse serials “The Bar None Ranch” and “An Education For Thursday” (originally by Floyd Gottfredson) in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #229-233 (October 1959-February 1960) and #237-241 (June-Oct. 1960), respectively. Uncle Scrooge’s Carl Barks succumbed to the temptation three times in 1959. In a letter to John Spicer in 1960, Barks wrote: “The mind is not a bottomless well of new ideas, and mine is about pumped dry. Recently I have revitaminized some of my old plot formulas around new gimmicks or vice versa in a desperate attempt to keep ahead of the deadlines. This mechanical formulation of my stories may eventually supplant my old method of writing by inspiration.” (Blum 5) The most-far reaching example of twice-told tales in 1960 took a well-established industry format and used it in a way that few had considered. Throughout the 1950s, Dell Comics had revived and popularized a package that had fallen by the wayside after World War Two. They offered 100-page special “giants” that were packed with new comics stories. Sporting a 25-cent price tag in an era of the 10centers, the thick issues were a seductive attraction for kids and their hard spines made them look more like “real” books to parents. Archie soon began using the format for annual editions and specials as did Hallden-Fawcett for Dennis the Menace spotlights. Even Charlton briefly ran several giant issues in 1958. DC, despite having pioneered the format in 1939 and 1940, was curiously late to the party. A full-page house advertisement in its August 1960-dated comics held a picture of a Giant Superman Annual, the Man of Steel front and center with chains bursting from his chest while ten vignettes of his friends and family were on either side of him. “See Superman’s first exploits!” the copy screamed. “Read the first Supergirl story! Learn how Jimmy Olsen met Superboy!” And more. For young Superman fans of the era, it was the promise of pure bliss and the “80-Page Giant” (as DC would soon dub their format) delivered.
Bob Oksner’s realistic but comical style made him ideally suited to draw the Dobie Gillis TV tie-in. Dobie Gillis is © ???.
Along with Superman Annual #1, DC also used the summer months to burn off the final issues of books that had otherwise ended in 1959—Flippity and Flop (with #47), Peter Porkchops (#62) and The Three Mousketeers (#25)— effectively ceding the funny animal market to Dell Comics. Also going down the tubes were five licensed titles—Sgt. Bilko’s Private Doberman (#11), Sgt. Bilko (#18), Pat Boone (#5), A Date With Judy (#79), and TV Screen Cartoons (#138). Hoping to tap a bit of the teen audience, DC replaced Bilko on the schedule with The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a Bob Oksner-illustrated series based on the popular TV series starring Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver.
In an era before a comic book back issue market existed— indeed, when used comics were thought to spread disease via their germ-infested pages—the chance to read older stories was an incredible opportunity. DC was also quick to see the value in the package themselves. Every comic book story they produced was done on a work-for-hire contract. Every page reprinted in Superman Annual #1 had been bought and paid for in years past and the company was under no obligation to pay the writers and artists a second time. The notion that creators should be paid a reprint fee wouldn’t become policy until long after 1960.
Along with Dobie, DC’s humor line was now composed of three other licensed books: The Adventures of Bob Hope, The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, and The Fox and the Crow. Sheldon Mayer’s trailblazing Sugar and Spike—revolving around two tots who spoke in translated baby talk—was the lone original humor comic DC published.
Released in June during the peak comics-selling season when kids were out of school, Superman Annual was a huge success. Issue #2 (“An all-star line-up of the greatest super-villains ever published”) went on sale in November. Though it didn’t meet the definition of an annual schedule (nor would future issues), no fans ever complained. And if other publishers sniffed at the fact that DC was selling reruns, they were surely privately calculating the benefits of drawing on their own libraries of old stories.
Cultivating a dedicated core readership through the book’s letter column since 1956, Mayer often penned stories per reader request. Presciently, one such story in #30 (AugustSeptember 1960) involved Sugar and Spike encountering a particularly artistic baby at the beach. When the child’s father was revealed to be a character named Scribbly, longtime fans immediately recognized him as the teenage 23
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cartoonist whose adventures Mayer had written and drawn in the 1930s and 1940s. In contrast to Julius Schwartz’s revival of the Flash and Green Lantern, Mayer brought his character back as the same person, just older and wiser. Scribbly wouldn’t be the last.
Superman Family The DC standard-bearer remained Superman, the nexus of a cottage industry of titles that included his eponymous title, Action Comics (with a lead Superman story and closing Supergirl tale), Superboy (“the adventures of Superman as a boy”), Adventure Comics (also featuring Superboy), World’s Finest Comics (home of Superman-Batman team-ups), and the selfexplanatory Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen and Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane. With the exception of Jack Schiff’s World’s Finest, the entire group was edited by Mort Weisinger. Most DC titles of the day featured three short stories per issue and, even allowing for titles which weren’t published monthly, that amounted to anywhere from nine to twelve plots a month that Weisinger had to deliver. Starting in 1958, when he’d taken full control of the titles, the editor had resolved to expand the mythology beyond the benign episodes that typified the Superman stories. Under Weisinger’s direction, a team of writers (including Robert Bernstein, Otto Binder, and Edmond Hamilton) and artists (Jim Mooney, George Papp, Al Plastino, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Curt Swan) unleashed an unprecedented burst of new elements that could each be mined for an unlimited amount of story ideas. A modernized version of Superman’s arctic Fortress of Solitude was introduced, brimming with wonders and accessible only by turning a gargantuan golden key in its door. Within its confines was a bottle containing the shrunken city of Kandor, home of refugees from the Man of Steel’s homeworld of Krypton that Superman had rescued from the alien Brainiac. Chunks of red kryptonite— altered meteorites that had strange ever-changing effects on any Kryptonian touched by their radiation— became a particularly fertile source for tantalizing story hooks. In 1958 and 1959, Mort Weisinger
Sheldon Mayer created Sugar & Spike two decades after conceiving Scribbly. Scribbly and Sugar & Spike TM and © DC Comics.
experimented with many of these concepts. He transformed the Superman newspaper comic strip into a virtual laboratory, having one writer script formative tales involving Brainiac or the imperfect chalkskinned Bizarro for the funnies while another tackled the same idea in comic books. Three separate scripters ran with the concept of red kryptonite before Weisinger settled on the idea that the altered chunks of Superman’s home planet had a different effect on him each time he was touched by their radiation. Before committing to the game-changing introduction of Superman’s teenage cousin Supergirl in her own series (Action Comics #252: May 1959), Weisinger twice fiddled with prototypes of the character in Superman #123 (August 1958) and #128 (April 1959). And if, for some reason, a rich vein risked going untapped, Weisinger had devised a means of catching it by establishing letter columns in all of his comics in 1958. It was thanks to reader reaction there, the editor later revealed, that a trio of heroes from the future called the Legion of Super-Heroes (Adventure Comics #247:
April 1958) were brought back for an encore meeting with Superboy (Adventure #267: December 1959). Such world-building continued in 1960. The Legion returned again to meet Supergirl (Action #267), Jimmy Olsen became “the Wolfman of Metropolis” (Jimmy Olsen #44), and a two-part Bizarro story gave Superman’s imperfect double both a bride and an entire cube-shaped planet on which to set up housekeeping (Action #263-264). The Bizarro story was an example of Weisinger’s increasing embrace of long-form storytelling. For a number of reasons, most comic books of the 1950s consisted of several short stories—often three—divided between 25 pages of a 32-page issue. As early as Superman #113 (May 1957), Weisinger had explored the possibilities of combining those three episodes into a single book-length “3-part novel.” Superman stories were typically dense affairs, with anything more than rudimentary character development crowded out by the plot points compressed into each panel. The expanded stories didn’t entirely change
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that but they did allow for a bit more breathing room and the occasional quiet moment. At their best, the stories could have moments of genuine tenderness and pathos. The first Bizarro story (Superboy #68: October 1958) had ably demonstrated that and reader reaction convinced Weisinger that this, too, was an avenue worth exploring. He was helped immeasurably by a writer who unexpectedly returned to DC in 1959, someone whom Weisinger would later describe in a 1974 interview as “the best emotional writer of them all.” (Lage 17) His name was Jerry Siegel, and he was the man who co-created Superman. Siegel and artist Joe Shuster had sold Superman to DC in 1938 but eventually had cause to regret that decision. A lawsuit over rights to the character ended in a 1948 settlement that obligated Siegel and Shuster to cede any claim on either Superman or Superboy. Cut off from DC, Siegel spent the next The origin of the Superboy-Luthor feud was illustrated by Al Plastino. Superboy and Lex Luthor TM and © DC Comics. decadetryingandfailingtocreate a new hit. He still found the occasional writing assignment from other comics companies Luthor, who’d coincidentally time-traveled to 1865 himbut there were fewer and fewer of them. Author Gerard self. Catching Superboy unaware, he used red kryptonite Jones relates the story of how Siegel’s wife Joanne, in to make it impossible for the young man to move. Hearing desperation, finally sought out Jack Liebowitz and begged the hubbub following Lincoln’s shooting and watching a him to give her husband a job. Faced with the threat of tear stream down Superboy’s cheek, Luthor suddenly comnewspaper headlines about the plight of Superman’s prehended what the hero had really meant to accomplish. co-creator, DC’s publisher relented (283-284). Nearly overcome with guilt and shame, the villain fled back to 1960 with the horrifying knowledge that “Lincoln’s Whatever misgivings Weisinger might have had over blood is on my hands.” Liebowitz’s decree, they were quickly dispelled by the string of classic stories that Jerry Siegel delivered. On In Lois Lane #23 (published in December but dated February the heels of a tale that retroactively moved the origin of 1961), the girl reporter was repeatedly frustrated in her magical imp Mister Mxyzptlk back to Superman’s boyhood efforts to write a feature story about a young woman (Superboy #78: January 1960), Siegel did the same with named Lena Thorul. With Superman’s help, she learned the Man of Steel’s greatest foe. “How Luthor Met Superthat Lena was, in fact, Lex Luthor’s younger sister and had boy” (Adventure Comics #271: April 1960) revealed that the been raised with no knowledge of her true family history. future enemies had started out as boyhood friends, Fearing Lois might inadvertently bring the connection to each invested in the other’s success until the Boy of Steel light, Luthor used his super-science to sabotage her story. accidentally caused Lex (a name established here for the Touched by his desire to protect his sibling, Lois agreed to first time) to lose his hair in a lab accident. A later generakill the article and Lex waved an uncharacteristic “thank tion would sneer at the fact that the bitter rivalry began you” to her and Superman as the story closed. over something as minor as vanity, but the tragedy of Siegel also inaugurated another Weisinger innovation: the friends-turned-enemies was an idea rich with possibilities Imaginary Tale. Over the years, the occasional story had to be explored in the years ahead. teased the possibility of Superman and Lois Lane getting Siegel’s story was the first of a triptych in 1960 that forced married. A 1949-1952 run in the newspaper strip even readers to reevaluate their image of Luthor as a twofeatured a Clark Kent-Lois Lane marriage that was ultidimensional bad guy. In Superboy #85, the young hero— mately revealed as a dream. Weisinger tested the waters still unschooled in his limitations—decided to travel back once more in Lois Lane #15 (February 1960) with a fullin time to prevent the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. length story that implied rather strongly that the couple By chance, the young hero crossed paths with the adult had gotten hitched before the ultimate revelation that 25
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they were look-alikes. Aware that readers loved the idea of a Superman-Lois union but unwilling to mess with a successful formula by making it happen, Weisinger and Siegel conceived an occasional series-within-a-series that posited what might happen if the Man of Steel and the girl reporter were wed. “Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent” debuted in Lois Lane #19 (August 1960) with sequels in #20 and #23. It “could very well happen in the future,” the opening caption suggested, “but perhaps [it] never will.” Batman editor Jack Schiff, incidentally, had beaten Weisinger to the punch by five months. Issue #131 (April 1960) had featured “The Second Batman and Robin Team,” a tale by writer/ co-creator Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff. Looking into the future, they saw Bruce Wayne retired and married to former Batwoman Kathy Kane while their son Bruce Jr. became the Robin to a second-generation Batman played by Dick Grayson. The story turned out to be speculative fiction written by Bruce and Dick’s butler Alfred and would inspire a sequel as early as #135 with three more episodes set in that world eventually following. Weisinger envisioned something bigger than a single alternate future series, however. Recalling the full-length story in 1959’s Superman #132 in which a computer imagined Superman’s life had Krypton not exploded, Weisinger opened up the Imaginary Tale to explore all possibilities, not just romantic pairings.
Later “imaginary tales” also explored the prospect of Superman and Lois Lane as parents. Superman and Lois Lane TM and © DC Comics.
Siegel was particularly adept at the longer three-part novels, starting with “The Two Faces of Superman” (Superman #137: May 1960). Hinging on the concept of an artificial duplicate of the infant Kal-El who arrived on Earth simultaneously, the story followed the ill-fated doppelganger as he was raised by an unsavory couple who were the antithesis of Clark Kent’s beloved adoptive parents. Moving the two characters from infancy to youth to adulthood, the story had a sweep that went beyond any of the full-length Superman stories to date. The conclusion, wherein “Super-Menace” finally realized how his values were warped and destroyed himself and his so-called parents in a fit of rage, was as shocking as it was tragic. It was Siegel and artist Wayne Boring’s epic “Superman’s Return To Krypton” (Superman #141: November 1960) that many look as on a career high point for each creator. Deep in outer space, an accident thrust the Man of Steel decades into the past where, in the requisite “strange twist of fate,” he found himself stranded on the planet Krypton on the eve of the marriage of his parents Jor-El and Lara. Powerless under Krypton’s red sun and stronger gravity, Superman kept his true origins a secret while befriending his parents and desperately seeking a way to return to his own time before the planet exploded. Aware that everyone around him was fated to die, Superman otherwise avoided forming close friendships but finally fell into a passionate romance with actress Lyla Ler-Rol. Filled with a new sense of urgency, the Man of Steel resolved to prevent the planet from exploding, regardless of the implications for his own future. In the end, the matter was taken out of his hands when an experimental rocket unexpectedly fired the hero into space, enabling him to regain his powers and return to 1960. Unaware of her lover’s fate, a weeping Lyra looked into the sky in a panel devoid of captions or word balloons.
The adventures of a second-generation Dynamic Duo became a recurring feature. Batman and Robin TM and © DC Comics.
Superman stories could often be silly, with the characterization of players like Lois Lane or Lana Lang, in particular, altered to meet the demands of a particular plot. And certainly, 26
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those held a special appeal in their own right. Episodes like “Superman’s Return To Krypton,” for all its melodramatic trappings, were proof that they were capable of more. Whatever satisfaction that Siegel took in his revitalized work on Superman was mitigated by his editor. By nearly all accounts, Mort Weisinger was a tyrannical boss, prone to belittling and verbally abusing every writer and artist under him. The man who created Superman was not exempt. Nor was John Sikela, who’d begun as one of Joe Shuster’s assistants in 1940 but was fired by Weisinger following his completion of the Siegel-scripted Superboy #82. Much later, however, the now-retired editor had nothing but praise to offer: “Jerry, whom I consider the most competent of all the Superman writers, established the foundation for the series. What his successors did was just embroidery, including my own contributions.” (Lage 18)
Artist Wayne Boring created indelible images in the “Return to Krypton” drama. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
Superman’s return to Krypton was also told in an alternate 1960 newspaper continuity penciled by Curt Swan. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
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Archie Adventures Archie Comics was the first to pick up on the fact that superheroes might be making a comeback. In 1959, they’d contracted with Joe Simon (briefly joined by his former partner Jack Kirby) to produce two new titles for them, The Adventures of the Fly and The Double Life of Private Strong. Conceptually, both concepts were derivative. The Fly—a boy transformed into an adult hero—echoed 1940s hero Captain Marvel, while Private Strong (a.k.a. the Shield) recalled Simon and Kirby’s Captain America. According to Simon, DC didn’t see the latter that way. From their perspective, the Shield was obviously a copy of Superman and they sent Archie a “cease and desist” letter. So Private Strong ended with issue #2 (Simon 200). The Fly, however, continued well beyond Simon’s four-issue commitment, albeit with less dynamic art from Bill Vigoda (#5). The artist, by then more accustomed to the Archie humor style, was succeeded by John Giunta with #6-10. Ironically, the character was immediately transformed into a superhero far more like Superman than Private Strong had ever been. Clad in yellow and green rather than red and blue, the Fly completely escaped the notice of DC’s lawyers.
John Giunta drew the revival of the Black Hood in Adventures of the Fly #7.
Between issues #4 and #5 (January and March 1960), youngster Tommy Troy became adult lawyer Thomas Troy but still possessed a magic ring that could transform him into the Fly at a moment’s notice. Each issue contained three tightly-plotted stories built around a tantalizing hook (such as Thomas Troy defending a man in court while the Fly was trying to convict him) with a gradual accruement of a mythology that included a Lois Lane-type girlfriend/ secretary named Donna Morse and the use of chlordane (a real-life pesticide component) as the hero’s personal kryptonite. The parallels to the Superman formula were no coincidence. The un-credited stories in The Fly were being written by Robert Bernstein, who was simultaneously selling stories to DC’s Mort Weisinger. Bernstein was less successful in conveying the sense of wonder and importance that gave impact to the best of Weisinger’s Superman stories. In the middle of The Fly #7, the hero shared a case with the Black Hood, a policeman turned costumed hero. From a historical point of view, the story was a milestone, one that brought back a character unseen since 1947 when Archie was still known as MLJ. In the script
The Black Hood TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc. The Fly TM © Joe Simon.
itself, the team-up was almost matter-of-fact, the Black Hood simply acknowledged as a hero from another town rather than one who was being revived. Still, Bernstein had ventured into virgin territory and had no idea how much readers would be fascinated by the thought of bringing back a character created before they were born. If the intention was to emulate the popularity of the Superman-Batman team-ups in World’s Finest Comics, the stories in Fly #8 and #9 were more on the mark, at least in terms of heroes created in the same time frame. Private Strong quietly resumed his double life to join forces with the Fly in both issues before the Black Hood returned in issue #10.
The personal voice that Bob Bolling gave to Little Archie made the title a critical hit. Little Archie TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
While a modest hit, Adventures of the Fly was ultimately just Archie’s effort to keep a toehold in the superhero genre should it actually take off again. Taking stock of its other niche titles, the company decided to end the 16-year-old superhero/funny animal title Super Duck with #94 (December 1960) and closed the book on the Dennis the Menace-styled Adventures of Pipsqueak (formerly Pat the Brat) with #39 (July 1960).
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cut off of one of my pages. I said, ‘What happened?’ They said, ‘One of the artists did this transition where Tommy Troy turns into the Fly and it’s not very good. You did this real nice piece so we’ll use that, if it’s OK.’ I said, ‘That’s great. That’s terrific.’” (Offenberger)
Archie’s real focus was on what they did best: the teen humor titles that were referenced in its very company name. The core of the line remained Archie, Archie’s Girls, Betty and Veronica, and Archie’s Pal, Jughead while satellite titles like the surreal Archie’s Madhouse (which began in 1959) pushed the boundaries. Bob Bolling’s Little Archie, launched in 1956 and featuring the cast as younger kids, was arguably the most critically successful.
That panel ran in Fly #4 but all of Adams’ subsequent work for Archie consisted of half-page filler gags that ran in Archie’s Joke Book and Pep Comics. Although the artist appreciated the work, he was not being used to his full potential. Leaving Archie, he went into the commercial art field.
A new title called Life With Archie had been tested in 1958 and 1959 but didn’t acquire a distinct point of view until it was promoted to an ongoing series with issue #3 (July 1960). Published under the “Archie Adventure Series” imprint like The Fly, the book placed the Archie cast in longer, more serious action stories with scripts by veteran writer Sy Reit and art by Bob White. The adventure premise sustained the title for over thirty years before it was finally cancelled.
Keeping the Presses Running In terms of sheer output (if not sales), Charlton Comics ranked third behind Dell and DC with 280 issues of its various titles published during 1960 (Stevenson). Where the two major companies split the various publication aspects among separate cities, Charlton both printed and distributed its comics from its Derby, Connecticut base while paying its editors, writers, and artists some of the lowest wages in the industry. Indeed, the voluminous comics line existed in part simply to keep the presses running non-stop when they weren’t printing magazines featuring song lyrics. Dick Giordano, a Charlton artist and editor from 1952 to 1967, viewed it as a missed opportunity:
On the flipside was Jughead’s Fantasy, another Reit-scripted addition to the adventure line that imagined Archie’s pal as a knight in shining armor or a hardboiled private eye. It made it to issue #3 (December 1960) before the plug was pulled. There was no small amount of irony in the fact the Archie Adventure Series imprint arose at the same time that Neal Adams was trying to get a job in the comic book industry. Unable to get a shot at DC, the artist later to be known for his dynamic realistic style looked to Archie about the possibility of working on Adventures of the Fly. Approaching Joe Simon, Adams was informed by the veteran cartoonist that getting into comic books was a waste of time. But the artist persevered:
“If they wanted to go head-to-head with DC Comics, quality of the artwork, quality of the stories, quality of the printing and distribution, they probably could have done it at two-thirds of the cost that DC was paying. And if they had done that, they really could have turned the comic book publishing business on its ear. But they chose to be junk dealers, they really did. I mean that in a literal sense: They thought they were producing junk, they thought of all of it as junk, they didn’t think there was any
“I started to do samples for Archie and I left my Fly samples there. A couple weeks later when I came in to show my Archie samples, I noticed that the pages were still there, but the bottom panel was
Better known for his yellow and orange costume, Captain Atom started out in blue. Captain Atom TM and © DC Comics.
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foreground, and I wanted action of the cars, and unlike most of the other artists in the field that drew from memory or imagination, I researched my cars, rules, and race courses. If I drew a Ferrari or a hot rod, I wanted it to look like them!” (Cooke, “Jack Keller On Wheels” 80)
reason for them to be serious about it…the music magazines were making the money.” (Cooke, “The Action Hero Man” 34) Instead, Charlton’s staff accepted that work in the comics industry was scarce and learned to churn out material as fast as possible to keep the presses humming. Joe Gill, who spent nearly his entire career with the company, became one of the most prolific comic book writers in history and estimated that he produced 100-150 story pages per week. He’d been hired at a rate of $4 per page but was forced to take a pay cut in 1955 as Charlton tried to recover from a flood that devastated its printing plant:
There were also titles that evoked popular characters from other companies without coming quite close enough to invite charges of theft. Atomic Mouse recalled Mighty Mouse, Timmy the Timid Ghost brought Casper to mind, Li’l Genius made one think of Dennis the Menace, and teen humor title Freddy was clearly inspired by Archie. My Little Margie, one of Charlton’s few licensed titles, had survived long after its namesake TV show’s 1955 cancellation in part by modeling itself on Archie’s Katy Keene and inviting readers to submit fashion designs that Margie would wear in stories.
“I began working for $2 per. Doing 100 pages a week, then more, working under two different names so the owner wouldn’t go into shock at the amount I was making. We’d get a 25-cents a page raise each year. So, you ask, why not leave? I liked living in Connecticut. Each Friday, the editor handed me a shopping list: X pages of romance, Y pages of war, Z pages of westerns. Whatever he wanted, I wrote.” (Gill, “Captain Atom” 31)
Along with Margie, Charlton’s other ongoing licensed title of 1960 was Lash Larue Western, a series carried over from Fawcett Comics in 1954 and headed toward cancellation in 1961. The one-shot Best of Marmaduke reprinted panels from Brad Anderson’s popular newspaper panel about an oversized dog and his family.
In 1960, those three genres comprised the majority of Charlton’s output. There were eight war titles (Battlefield Action, Fightin’ Air Force, Fightin’ Army, Fightin’ Marines, Fightin’ Navy, Submarine Attack, U.S. Air Force Comics, War At Sea) and a dozen westerns (eleven after Masked Marshal ended with #7’s January 1960-dated issue). And in an industry where romance comics had faded from a post-World War Two boom to a modest niche category, Charlton published fifteen ongoing love titles, even adding two (High School Confidential Diary and Teen-Age Confidential Confessions) over the course of 1960.
Charlton’s best-remembered licensed comic of the year was also one of the most unusual. Konga #1 adapted a movie more than a year before it was released to theaters! Working off a shooting script, Joe Gill was joined by artist Steve Ditko in relating the story of a chimpanzee who was transformed into a giant gorilla, mind-controlled by the wicked Professor Decker, and killed in the end. Konga owed a clear debt not only to King Kong but to the general spate of monster movies and revivals that had proliferated in the late 1950s. The comics adaptation was also successful enough for Charlton to release Konga #2 in 1961—after the movie was released—with Gill and Ditko reviving their misunderstood monster and continuing his story in an ongoing series.
In Hot Rods and Racing Cars, Charlton essentially had a genre all to themselves, one that benefited from A respectfully-shadowed President Eisenhower the enthusiasm of its artist Jack christened Captain Atom. Keller. Best known at Marvel for his Captain Atom TM and © DC Comics. work on Kid Colt, Outlaw, Keller had approached Charlton in 1958 and convinced editor Pat The lighter tone of Ditko’s Konga contrasted with the Masulli that he was the right man to draw the adventures moodier, stylized work he was providing for Charlton’s of racer Clint Curtis and his Road Knights. In time, he five science fiction and supernatural titles (Mysteries proved himself capable of writing those stories, as well: of Unexplored Worlds, Space Adventures, Space War, “I thought that I wanted to see different stories, Strange Suspense Stories, Unusual Tales). The artist was because I was researching all these things. The simultaneously drawing stories for Stan Lee’s suspense and scripts that had been submitted to me earlier were monster titles at the better-paying Marvel Comics, but his a bit limited in subject variation, and many of the collaborations with Gill were special. Ditko later wrote: shots I had to draw didn’t offer me the situations “Joe may have been partly responsible for my long stay at Charlton. (Actually, Charlton left us and the
I wanted to draw. I wanted to make them more dramatic. Too many shots had spectators in the 30
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Monsters Unleashed
comic field.) I know Joe’s scripts made my stay and the work enjoyable and worthwhile.” (Ditko, “First Choice” 31)
Like Charlton, publisher Martin Goodman’s Atlas Comics had been a trend-watcher that glutted the comics racks with variations of any halfway successful genre or concept. From 1951 to 1957, no company published more issues per year than they did. The bubble burst when Atlas’ comics distributor American News went out of business, forcing Goodman to approach Independent News—the distributor of its rival DC Comics—for a life preserver. Independent News agreed to the deal…with conditions. Chief among them was the requirement that Atlas publish no more than eight comic books per month (or sixteen titles total, published on an alternating bi-monthly schedule).
Gill and Ditko’s most enduring creation was born in 1960. Noting the first signs of a superhero revival at DC and Archie, editor Pat Masulli asked Gill to create a costumed character for Charlton. With no more specifics than that, Gill tapped into the Cold War climate of the era and devised a character who could take on the Communists as effectively as Captain America did against the Nazis twenty years earlier (Gill, “Captain Atom” 31).
The story began in Space Adventures #33 (March 1960) in a typically compact nine-page episode. Trapped in a nuclear rocket as it was launched into outer space, Air Force After 1957, the company no longer Captain Allen Adam seemed to have called itself Atlas, and the Indepenno chance for survival. Cutting bedent News symbol (IND) appeared Although Steve Ditko drew the interiors of Konga #1, tween scenes of Adam’s helpless in the absence of an official company its cover was by Dick Giordano. ground crew and the pilot himself, name. “Because of tax laws that Konga is © respective copyright holder. Ditko carried the crisis through the favored small publishing houses, detonation. And yet, Adam did survive, reintegrating his Goodman used different corporate entities to print his molecules, returning to his base, and arranging to have comics, for example Kid Colt, Outlaw was published by his body shielded with an experimental metal that would Leading Magazine Corp., Battle by Male Publishing Corp., block all radioactivity. No one even attempted to explain and Strange Tales by Vista Publications, Inc.” (DeFalco 78). how the pilot survived such a thing. On page eight, PresiTemporarily prohibited by Goodman from buying any new dent Dwight D. Eisenhower dubbed the nuclear man Capstories until their inventory was used up, editor-writer Stan tain Atom and dispatched him to stop a nuclear missile Lee gradually moved forward with a core group of artists. tampered with by a Soviet saboteur. (The hero’s costume In 1960, about half the line consisted of comics aimed at was depicted as light blue and brown in the first story but girls, some humorous (A Date With Millie, Kathy, Millie the the cover showed Cap in yellow and orange, a color scheme Model, Patsy and Hedy, Patsy Walker) and some romantic that was official as of the second installment). (Love Romances, My Own Romance). The balance included Captain Atom would seem to be a magnificent propaganda four westerns and four monster/science fiction titles. Battle, figure for the United States, but the government preferred the company’s lone war comic, was cancelled with issue using him as a secret weapon. In the stories that followed, #70 (June 1960) to make room for a revival of the humorous Cap checked in on a Russian cosmonaut and thwarted misMy Girl Pearl. Later in the year, the eight-issues-per-month sile attacks when he wasn’t crossing paths with alien visirestriction began to lift a bit, allowing for months where tors from Venus and worlds beyond Earth’s solar system. nine or eleven issues were released. All told, the company Episodes of the series were reduced to five-page install[referred to hereafter as Marvel] published 103 comics dated ments with Space Adventures #35 but mitigated somewhat 1960 (Stevenson). by two Captain Atom stories appearing in #36 and #37 (exJack Kirby, who’d had a bitter falling out with DC over a panded to three with #38). dispute with editor Jack Schiff, returned to Marvel in 1958. Years later, Joe Gill had nothing but praise for Ditko’s work With former partner Joe Simon, the artist had been one of on the series and at Charlton in general: the superstars of the 1940s comics industry, with the creation of Captain America and the entire romance comics “Everyone began working faster but Steve Ditko genre only two highlights among their scores of credits. A refused to do poor work to make more money. fast, prolific penciler, Kirby instinctively knew how to lay The art he produced at Charlton was of the same out a page to get the most bombastic effect. quality he did for others. Steve had a handicap. He couldn’t junk his principles. Steve functioned in a By 1960, Lee had begun to appreciate the talent he had in shop where mediocrity and underachievers were Kirby and had him drawing the covers for nearly every rewarded. We all came to work for far less than the Marvel action title, including Gunsmoke Western, Twogoing rates but we did it because we were handed Gun Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Kid Colt, Outlaw. Wyatt Earp was our assignments each Friday along with a check cancelled with #29 (June 1960) specifically to make way for what we’d done the week before and left alone.” for a revival of Rawhide Kid (with #17) that allowed Kirby (Gill, “An Editorial” 3) to draw an interior western series. Much like DC’s recent 31
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superhero revivals, Lee and Kirby took the name of the old character but little else. The adult blond gunslinger was recast here as a red-haired eighteenyear-old man in black who’d been falsely branded an outlaw. Displaced by Wyatt Earp’s cancellation, its artist Dick Ayers found a new role as Kirby’s primary inker, giving a rough-hewn texture to Rawhide and many of the stories in the science fiction/fantasy titles. Lee and Kirby had also stumbled onto a trend that wasn’t particularly being exploited in comics: giant monsters. A staple of late 1950s movie matinees, such creatures—some misunderstood, some malevolent—were an ideal fit for the unlimited budget of comics, particular when illustrated in Kirby’s larger-than-life style. Giant creatures had begun popping up on the Marvel science fiction/fantasy titles throughout 1959 and had solidified into the regular cover features on Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, and Tales to Astonish by 1960. For all intents and purposes, the four titles might as well have been a single series. Sporting Lee-created names like Grottu, Orogo, Gorgolla, Droom, Dragoom, Sporr, Bombu, Gorgilla, Groot, and Krang, the creatures typically received the opening slot in a given issue. Kirby penciled the bulk of them with Don Heck illustrating a good share of the rest.
most of the remaining stories. Lee’s brother Larry Lieber served not only as an occasional artist but also a writer when his overtaxed sibling was unavailable. For the sake of conservation, Lee and company played with stretching characters across two consecutive issues as with the Genie (Tales to Astonish #8-9), the Living Robot (Tales of Suspense #8-9), Zetora (Journey Into Mystery #57-58), and Totem (Strange Tales #74-75). Later in the year, the idea evolved into sequels, beginning with Taboo, who debuted in Strange Tales #75 and returned in #77. During the same time frame, Lee began to break away from the common format that consisted of four short stories in a given comic book. The
October 1960-dated westerns (Kid Colt, Outlaw #93; Rawhide Kid #18) marked the start of expanded 13-page two-chapter lead stories. Kirby monster stories began to intermittently follow suit, starting with Journey Into Mystery #62’s “I Was a Slave of the Living Hulk.” (The Hulk name was one that Lee seemed especially partial to, having popped up in two earlier stories, as well.) Attempting to streamline the creative process, Lee developed an idea that bypassed the need for detailed scripts with scene descriptions. Ditko described the system in 1990: “Briefly, in regards to our working method, Stan provided the plot ideas. There would be a discussion to clear up
Artists Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby generally worked separately but the former inked the latter on the cover of Tales To Astonish #13. Groot TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Lee complemented the large scale cover features with at least one story per issue by Steve Ditko. Stylistically quieter, but no less impressive than Kirby, Ditko’s work had a sense of isolation and foreboding that Lee played to via ironic fantasy tales capped with twist endings. With Kirby and Ditko as his staples, Lee relied on Don Heck and Paul Reinman to draw 32
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out as the fastest way to work. It also gives us the best results.” (“Excerpts From the 1975 Stan Lee Panel” 13) As innovative as the Marvel Method was, Stan Lee saw it in 1960 simply as a timesaving tool in a job he was simultaneously bored and embarrassed by. He craved the respectability of being a published novelist or the creator of a successful newspaper comic strip that would allow him to quit his day job. The significance of the techniques he was developing and the artistic partnerships he was forming would only be apparent in hindsight.
Harvey Toons Jack Kirby’s pencils of the early 1960s were often inked by Dick Ayers, as on these covers. Tales To Astonish TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
anything, consider options and so forth. I would then do the panel/page breakdowns, pencil the visual story continuity and, on separate paper, provide a very rough panel dialogue, merely as a guide for Stan. We would go over the penciled story/art pages and I would explain any deviations, changes and additions, noting anything to be corrected before or during the inking. Stan would provide the finished dialogue, for the characters, ideas, consistency and continuity. Once lettered, I would ink the pages.” (Ditko, “An Insider’s Part of Comics History: Jack Kirby’s SpiderMan.” 33) The plot-first concept was not unprecedented, but full scripts had always been the overwhelming form in which most comics stories began. Indeed, Lee still wrote complete scripts for most of his artists at the outset save for Kirby and Ditko. In time, though, the so-called “Marvel Method” would become the new standard at the company. Lee expanded on his motivations during a panel at the 1975 San Diego Comic Con:
“It started out as a lazy man’s device—or maybe a guy who just didn’t have enough time—but we realized this was absolutely the best way to do a comic. Because any artist who really belongs in this field—and of course our artists do—is a storyteller himself. He tells stories with pictures; he has imagination, he knows continuity, he knows how a story should be told. So he just knows what the general plot is, the idea is: Let him go home, let him draw the things that he thinks are the most interesting. […] “So following the basic plot, the artist draws it. Then, when the writer has to put in the copy, just imagine how much easier it is to look at a drawing and suit the dialogue perfectly to the expression of the character’s face—to what the drawing represents—than to try and write perfect dialogue when you’re looking at a blank sheet of paper, trying to imagine what the drawing will be like. So it worked
As 1960 dawned, Harvey Comics had embraced the fact that its humor characters defined the company. Founded in 1939, much of its success had come from licensed properties and that extended to the likes of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey. They’d all begun as animated characters in Paramount Pictures’ Famous Studios cartoons and made their earliest comic book appearances in issues published by St. John. Harvey picked up the license in 1952 and began to supplement those core characters with new creations like Hot Stuff the Little Devil or preexisting ones such as Little Dot, remodeled in the new Harvey art style. In 1959, the company bought the Famous characters from Paramount outright and profited when the old theatrical cartoons were rebroadcast on television as Matty’s Funday Funnies. Sponsored by Mattel, the Sunday afternoon show exposed the re-branded “Harvey-Toons” to a wide audience. Coinciding with the October 11, 1959 debut of Funday Funnies on ABC, Harvey added a new corporate mascot to the upper-left corner of all its comics in issues dated January 1960. That image—a cheerful harlequin springing from a jack-in-the-box—would be a staple of the Harvey line for years to come. Furthering the relationship
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between Harvey and television, TV screen iconography was added to left side of many covers, spotlighting the various characters appearing within. During the latter half of the 1950s, a series called Harvey Hits had functioned as a title where characters without their own comic book could receive an occasional spotlight. Among them was Wendy, a red-outfitted friend of Casper who’d debuted as a supporting character in the friendly ghost’s title in 1954. Between 1957 and 1960, the magical girl starred in seven issues of Harvey Hits that culminated in the publication of Wendy, the Good Little Witch #1 (August 1960), an ongoing series that ran into 1976. Richie Rich #1 (November 1960) starred “the Poor Little Rich Boy” who’d been introduced as a back-up feature in 1953’s Little Dot #1. Richie had received a pair of Harvey Hits tryouts in 1957 and 1958. By this point, the essence of the blond youngster was well-established: he was impossibly wealthy to the point that he took money for granted but disregarded social class and enjoyed playing with pals Pee-Wee Friendly and Freckles, along with girlfriend Gloria Glad. Notably missing, though, was his “perfect butler” and adult shadow Cadbury, who’d first appear in 1961. In his absence, Richie #1 depicted a more generic butler named Hawkins. Illustrating most of Richie #1 was Warren Kremer, one of Harvey’s most prolific artists, and the man who cocreated the character, even naming Harvey aggressively promoted its new releases through frequently re-used house ads. Hot Stuff, Stumbo, Richie Rich, and Wendy TM and © Classic Media, LLC.
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and Jack O’Brien contributed the bulk of the Sad Sack stories while George Baker himself was still on hand to draw covers.
The Harvey line included more than just its trademark kid comics. Sad Sack TM and © Sad Sack, Inc. Mutt and Jeff TM and © AEdita S. de Beaumont.
him after his son Richard. Along with the company’s other key personnel— including editor Sid Jacobson, writers Lennie Herman and Jim Miele, and artists Sid Couchey, Howard Post, and Ken Selig—Kremer worked in complete anonymity. In 1985, by which point the writer-artist was working for Marvel’s Star Comics line, Kremer reflected to interviewer John Benson on the belated fan recognition of his earlier work: “I never knew any of that when I was at Harvey. We always did the best we could; we always put out what we thought were good stories, and good artwork. And it’s paid off. I find out now from my peers and from kids that write letters and all, now that they know I’m at Marvel. God, the stuff that they say, it’s unbelievable, the years that they loved Richie and they loved Casper. I never knew it. Had no way of knowing it. Because first of all they didn’t know who drew it and they didn’t know who to write to, so if they wrote a letter it was just to the Harvey company, and half the time you never saw them.” (Benson 48-49)
Another Harvey success story had been Hot Stuff, the Little Devil, a comic book that premiered in 1957 and starred a pint-size crimson demon in a diaper who wasn’t quite as bad as he’d like everyone to think. Launched cold without so much as a back-up feature or Harvey Hits tryout, the series caught on quickly and was promoted from bi-monthly to monthly frequency in 1959. With demand for the character still high, Hot Stuff Sizzlers #1 (August 1960) became the first spin-off series for the character. Published as a 25-cent giant, the book began on a quarterly schedule and continued through the end of 1973. Although Hot Stuff and Wendy became two of Harvey’s best-known characters and Richie Rich, virtually a cornerstone of the company, no single figure seemed to be more successful in 1960 than Sad Sack. Originally the star of a comic strip created by Sgt. George Baker, the comically downon-his-luck soldier had premiered as a Harvey comic book character in 1949. By 1960, Sad Sack Comics had spawned three ongoing spin-off series—Sad Sack and the Sarge, Sad Sack Laugh Special, and Sad Sack’s Funny Friends—along with periodic issues of Harvey Hits featuring “Sad Sack’s Army Life.” Writer-artists Fred Rhoads
Compared to other publishers, Harvey still had a creditable selection of titles based on newspaper comic strips. Adventure titles Dick Tracy, Joe Palooka, and (in the occasional issue of Harvey Hits) the Phantom were struggling, but the humorous Blondie Comics and its Dagwood spin-off (based on Chic Young’s famous feature) were still going strong. Consequently, when Dell dropped the license for the Mutt and Jeff comic book (having previously picked it up from DC), Harvey leapt in to continue the series with #116 (February 1960). Later in the year, they enthusiastically added a spin-off Mutt and Jeff Jokes series as a 25-cent giant series only to cancel it after three issues. Unlike Blondie, whose gags about work and family had adapted to the times and remained relevant, Mutt and Jeff (created in 1907) seemed a bit dated in 1960, more appealing to the people publishing Harvey Comics than those reading them. That said, the primary Mutt and Jeff comic book survived for nearly six years before being cancelled for good with #148 (November 1965).
Elsewhere On the Newsstand The remaining publishers of fourcolor comics in 1960 were a modest bunch, generating as few as twelve issues in the case of Oral Roberts (its Junior Partners title) or Hallden (whose various Dennis the Menace titles featured the critically-praised work of writer Fred Toole and artist Al Wiseman along with reprints of Hank Ketcham’s daily panels). Prize’s twenty comics included the long-running Black Magic suspense title but were otherwise devoted to the love genre with Young Love, Young Romance, and the short-lived Going Steady that began and ended in 1960. Gilberton’s more literary 27 titles included Classics Illustrated, Classics Illustrated Junior,
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As generous with his fortune as Disney’s Uncle Scrooge was stingy with his, Richie Rich had been around as a back-up feature in Little Dot and occasional lead feature in Harvey Hits since 1953. By the time, “the poor little rich boy” got his own comic book, he was nearly fully formed, as seen here on the cover and first page of issue #1 (November 1960) by artist Warren Kremer. Within a few issues, the generic valet pictured here was replaced by “perfect butler” Cadbury, created by writer Ralph Newman and named after the candy bar. Original art scans courtesy Heritage Auctions. Richie Rich TM and © Classic Media, LLC.
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a pattern. You find something that’s gone over or something that’s been a big bomb.”
and The World Around Us (Stevenson). As prolific as they were, even Charlton’s Joe Gill or Marvel’s Stan Lee or Dell’s Gaylord DuBois and Paul S. Newman couldn’t write everything their respective companies published. At ACG (short for the American Comics Group), its writer/editor Richard Hughes likely came closer than any of them, percentage-wise. In 1960, ACG released 34 issues divided between five titles (Stevenson). My Romantic Adventures was the token love comic, its companion Confessions of the Lovelorn cancelled with #114 (June-July 1960) and replaced on the schedule by Unknown Worlds #1 (August 1960). The latter joined Adventures Into the Unknown and Forbidden Worlds as a purveyor of lightweight, twisty suspense, fantasy, or science fiction tales.
“[…] Some of the stories I’m most proud of have been suggested by fans. Covers have come in over the transom, by fans who’ve sent in a little sketch, and I said, ‘Why don’t we have a story based on that?’ We make it our business to encourage the ones that have a flair, and we think can reach us sometimes but, every so often, we get an exact bulls-eye. Here is a great idea or a great cover, a great springboard for an imaginary story.” (“Ghost Writers In the Sky,” 28-29) In 1960, Robert Kanigher and Julius Schwartz introduced their own letter columns, the former introducing “Wonder Woman’s Clubhouse” in WW #115 and the latter adding “JLA Mailroom” to the final Justice League tryout issue of the Brave and the Bold, “Flash-Grams” starting in the Flash #112, and “Green Lantern’s
Hughes wrote a considerable chunk of them, disguising that fact with a variety of colorful pseudonyms like Shane O’Shea or Kurt Schaffenberger was a prolific cover artist for ACG. Zev Zimmer. Noted for his sense Unknown Worlds is © respective copyright holder. of humor, the editor took the gag Mail Chute” in GL #1. of a large writing staff a step further by actually devising biographies for many of his aliases in letter columns. Unlike the short inquisitive missives in his fellow editors’ The mere presence of credits at all was unusual for the books (some of them faked to promote upcoming stories), era but Hughes consistently provided them. The names of Schwartz favored thoughtful, more articulate letters from the ACG artists were, of course, genuine and included Pete older readers who were clearly teenagers or young adults. Costanza, John Forte, Paul Reinman, John Rosenberger, In 1961, he even began awarding the original story art Kurt Schaffenberger, Ogden Whitney, and Al Williamson. to the best letter writers in a given column. Recalling his Hughes even had them include caricatures of themselves days as a young science fiction fan with Mort Weisinger, and the (mostly) fictional writers for the splash pages of Schwartz hoped to foster that same sense of community each story in Unknown Worlds. among comics fans by printing their full addresses so that they could contact each other.
The ACG titles were never the most successful in the industry but they had a charm and craft about them that many readers found endearing. Moreover, Richard Hughes maintained letter columns in his titles for a decade, building a relationship between ACG and fans that editors at other companies were only beginning to appreciate.
Even before his letter columns had begun, Schwartz had encouraged the budding new generation of fans. Acting as a middleman, the editor put Gardner Fox in touch with a passionate Justice Society fan named Jerry Bails in 1953, which resulted in the writer selling the young man his bound collections of All Star Comics in 1959. And in the fall of 1960, when a 19-year-old Missouri college student named Roy Thomas inquired about buying issues of All Star himself, Schwarz directed him to Bails. In doing so, the editor had created a monster, albeit a benevolent one. Kindred spirits Bails and Thomas resolved not only to do everything in their power to make the new Justice League of America comic book a success (up to and including Bails sending pseudonymous notes of praise to the letter column) but to lobby for revivals of further 1940s heroes.
The Rise of Fandom A small but important element of DC’s best-selling superhero comics was reader engagement. Mort Weisinger had instituted letter columns in all of his books in 1958 with Jack Schiff following suit in Batman during 1959. During a panel at the 1965 New York Comicon, Weisinger made no secret of their impact: “I think letters are the heart and blood, the lifeline of, DC Comics, as I see it. You have, in television and radio, your various Trendexes, your Nielsen ratings. I think we can tell long before we get our circulation reports as to how a story or an issue or a cover has gone over from the letters. There’s
Over fifteen years later, by which point a good percentage of comics writers were actually former fans, Schwartz downplayed the influence of such lobbying: 38
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“If you sell 100,000 copies of a single issue, ten percent of that is 10,000, one percent of that is 1,000 and one-tenth of one percent is 100, which is more [letters] than most books receive per issue! So you’re hearing from less than one tenth of one percent of the readership. Fan letters are interesting to read but an editor cannot afford them undue importance. That’s not to say fandom is wrong, but unfortunately it is not they who are going to make or break a magazine.” (Gruenwald 36)
Ross Andru and Mike Esposito drew the Wonder Woman letter column header. Wonder Woman is TM and © DC Comics.
Nonetheless, Schwartz was astute enough to realize that the comic books that DC was having success with in 1960 among the entire readership were the same ones that this small sliver of fandom was rallying around. Determining what might succeed or fail was always a gamble and it didn’t hurt to have another barometer to determine what the Next Big Thing would be.
student named Don Thompson (attending with his girlfriend Maggie Curtis) was envisioning a different kind of fanzine, as he told Bill Schelly: “We got together at the banquet at the [convention] … and we talked with Hal Lynch and Will J. Jenkins. And we were talking about comics. We had not seen Xero, which was being distributed at the convention. We didn’t meet [the Lupoffs] until later. We said, ‘There ought to be a fanzine about comics.’” (Schelly 20)
That same year, a handful of fans—beginning with John Spicer, Malcolm Willits, and Larry Ivie—began to approach Carl Barks by mail, peppering him with questions and making him conscious of the fact that he was in a dry spell. While he’d grow tired of the intrusions on his privacy, the Good Duck Artist did gain a new burst on enthusiasm from the contact. Though initially hesitant to consider ideas from fans, Barks did accept one from Ron Leonard that was included in “Billions In the Hole” (Uncle Scrooge #33: March 1961) and two from Joe Cowles: “The Candy Kid” (Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #263) and “Master Wrecker” (WDC&S #264).
Many in the graying generation of comic book writers and artists viewed their jobs as simply a job. Even the absence of credits wasn’t necessarily a bad thing since some were embarrassed to be associated with comics at all. The escalating interest in their work and their very identities was to have a transformative effect on the comics creators on the 1960s, instilling a sense of pride in their work that hadn’t existed before. Moreover, however unlikely it may have seemed to most leaders in the comic book industry, it was this younger generation—both the fans and the casual readers—whose influence and tastes would determine the success stories of tomorrow.
This subset of fans interested in the background and inner workings of their favorite comic book series was still small. Only EC Comics’ classic line of 1950s titles had inspired enough devotion to spur devotees in publishing fanzines— amateur, cheaply-printed publications that were devoted to their favored subject. It was within science fiction fandom that a new kind of fanzine would be born, ones targeting the costumed heroes of the past and present.
On November 8, 1960, 43-year-old John F. Kennedy was elected the 35th President of the United States over Richard M. Nixon. It was a narrow victory and one that hinged at least in part on the charismatic, media-savvy JFK’s comfort with and understanding of the still young television medium. Kennedy’s age—he was the youngest ever elected to office—and even his Catholic faith were viewed as liabilities when he entered the election, but his win left many with an optimistic sense that anything was possible.
In 1960, science fiction fan Dick Lupoff had aspired to publish a fanzine of his own that he ultimately named Xero. Noting that the interests of sf fans were diversifying, Lupoff believed that an article on comic books was entirely appropriate in his fanzine and penned “The Big Red Cheese,” a nostalgic love letter to Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel and his extended family. He published the piece in a department entitled “All In Color For A Dime.” Lupoff later recalled for Bill Schelly:
In accepting the Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention on July 15, 1960, Kennedy spoke of the New Frontier that lay before the United States. These were the challenges of prejudice and Cold War and technology and science that he implored every American to step up to and help surmount. The United States, he emphasized, could not be allowed to become “a tired nation” content to embrace “the safe mediocrity of the past.”
“I invited all and sundry to contribute articles to the [AICFAD] series. The response was just overwhelming! Because nobody was paying any attention to comics in those days, especially to old comics. There was this whole generation of people walking around who had grown up on them, so once the spark was lit, things just took off!” (Schelly 19)
The challenges facing the comic book publishers were, by comparison, inconsequential but they were real nonetheless. Even as Kennedy was asking the citizens to take pride in their country, the best of the 1960s comic book writers and artists would have to look within themselves for more personal work and fresh approaches if they wanted the industry to survive.
Hauling their 100 copies of Xero to Pittsburgh’s World Science Fiction Convention during the 1960 Labor Day weekend, Dick Lupoff and his wife Pat created a sensation when they appeared as Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel in homemade costumes. At the same convention, a college 39
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1961
Shape of Things To Come The
In 1961, now moving an average of 1,209,918 copies per issue, Mad broke the previous year¹s virtual tie with Uncle Scrooge to become the best-selling comic book in the United States and never looked back (Miller). Much like baseball player Roger Maris, who broke Babe Ruth’s home run record the same year, it was an achievement that would be acknowledged only grudgingly. The Babe, critics argued, had made his record in a 154 game season. Maris did it in a 162 game season. Likewise, some would say, a real comic book was in color and packaged in a rectangular format. Mad, on the other hand, was a black and white magazine. No matter. William Gaines’ team continued to skewer television, politics, advertising, and more, laughing all the way to the bank as they fiddled with the issue-to-issue features. Dave Berg’s “The Lighter Side,” a series tackling a different subject each issue, began in Mad #66 (October 1961) while a pantomime feature dubbed “Spy Vs. Spy” debuted in #60 (January 1961). Focusing on a pair of beak-nosed spies, one dressed in black and the other in white, the feature had a distinctive look and, as the first installment revealed, a creator who’d endured considerable peril before drawing them.
Antonio Prohías had gained equal parts fame and infamy in his native Cuba for his anti-Castro cartoons. Fleeing the country on May 1, 1960, the cartoonist eventually made his way to New York City. On July 12, 1960, he showed up at the Mad offices. Observing that anyone who didn’t support Fidel Castro was automatically classified by the Cuban leader as a conspirator, the cartoonist had begun to play with the whole spy concept. Speaking to a Miami Herald reporter in 1983, by which point “Spy Vs. Spy” had been running in Mad for more than two decades, Prohías declared that “the sweetest revenge has been turning Fidel’s accusation of me as a spy into a money-making venture” (Prohías, 14). The world was becoming a scary place in 1961. On multiple fronts, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was heating up. Russia had won the race to put the first man in outer space. Communist-controlled East Germany began erecting the Berlin Wall to prevent further defections to the west. In October, the Soviets created the largest explosion in recorded history when they detonated a 58-megaton hydrogen bomb. And the ongoing war between North Vietnam’s communist forces and South Vietnam was a dark cloud on the horizon.
CHAPTER TWO ACBC1960-64 2015.indd 40
Closer to home, a C.I.A.-sponsored attempt at removing Castro backfired in spectacular fashion. The botched Bay of Pigs invasion not only helped the Cuban leader silence insurgents but pushed the country directly into an alliance with the Soviet Union. 40
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Within the continental U.S., the struggle of black Americans to turn back the entrenched racism of much of the southern states had turned violent. In the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling that banned the segregation of blacks and whites on interstate buses, groups of black men and women dubbed Freedom Riders organized a series of bus trips to defiant states like Alabama and Mississippi. Inevitably, the activists met opposition from forces that included the hooded white supremacists known as the Ku Klux Klan, who firebombed one bus and attacked other riders with baseball bats and chains. Certainly, the news wasn’t all bad for the United States. President Kennedy’s ambitious Peace Corps initiative was conceived as a means of improving America’s image on the world stage. The program would send volunteers throughout the world to help beleaguered communities and hopefully cultivate a better understanding between cultures in the process. And if Russia had put the first man in outer space, the U.S. could at least boast having the second and third men to do so. Moreover, President Kennedy vowed that the United States would put the first man on the moon by the end of the decade.
Original art for Antonio Prohias’ first Spy Vs. Spy page. Courtesy Heritage Auctions. Spy Vs. Spy TM and © DC Comics.
For all that, most Americans went on with their day-to-day lives, preferring not to dwell on things that didn’t affect them or which they couldn’t change. From the perspective of new Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow, too many people were already taking refuge from such issues by flopping down in front of the TV. In a speech on May 9, he delivered a sharp rebuke to the commercial television industry that he characterized as overrun with mindless, often violent content: “When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspa-
pers—nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland” (Chase 360).
A month later, James V. Bennett, director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, added his voice to the crusade for programming in the public interest. Much as comic books had been targeted a decade earlier, violent television shows were now blamed by Bennett for an upswing in juvenile delinquency. In the short term, the rest of the year saw a surge in political documentaries on TV and, thanks to nervous producers, “the 1961-1962 season got under way with the largest number of one-year contracts in TV history.” (Chase, 360) In the midst of the debate, Pogo cartoonist Walt Kelly was commissioned by the govern-
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1961 TIMELINE
April 17-19: A Cuban invasion primarily launched from southern Cuba’s Bay of Pigs and meant to oust Fidel Castro ends with the defeat of rebels trained by the C.I.A. and supported by President Kennedy. In the aftermath, hundreds of people who acted against the government–both Cuban and American–are executed and Castro moves towards an alliance with the Soviet Union. May 4: Challenging segregation in the American south, Civil rights activists known as the Freedom Riders begin a series of interstate bus expeditions.
A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events.
January 3: The United States severs diplomatic ties with Cuba, the latest in the U.S.’s responses to the small country’s nationalization of American businesses within its borders.
February 23: Batman #139 features the debut of Robin’s teen counterpart Bat-Girl while Justice League of America #4 belatedly adds Green Arrow to the series.
April 21: The commemoration of the centennial of the United States’ Civil War begins with a series of reenactments throughout the country, scenarios reflected in comic books such as Life With Archie #10 and Superboy #91 as well as a few short-lived newspaper strips like Jack Davis’ Beauregard (which began April 3).
January 20: John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th President of the United States.
JANUARY
January 25: One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney’s animated adaptation of Dodie Smith’s 1956 children’s book, arrives in theaters and eventually becomes 1961’s top-grossing picture.
FEBRUARY
MARCH
February 12: Motown Records celebrates its first millionselling single, the Miracles’ 1960 hit “Shop Around.”
March 1: President Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps, whose volunteers would travel abroad to assist disadvantaged communities and promote cultural understanding between themselves and those they helped.
May 5: During the Freedom 7 mission, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard becomes the second man in outer space and the first American. His colleague Gus Grissom becomes the third man in space on July 21. May 8: Apartment 3-G, an Alex Kotzky-illustrated comic strip centering on three young women, makes it debut and becomes the third successful newspaper “soap opera” created by psychiatrist Nicholas P. Dallis (following his earlier Rex Morgan, M.D. and Judge Parker). May 25: President Kennedy announces his intent that the United States put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
APRIL
M AY
April 12: After his spacecraft completes an orbit of Earth, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is recognized as the first human being to travel to outer space.
April 25: Illustrator Ronald Searle accepts the Reuben Award for 1960’s cartoonist of the year during the National Cartoonists Society’s annual gala. Other winners include Bob Oksner (comic book category, Adventures of Jerry Lewis), Dik Browne (humor newspaper strips, Hi and Lois), Leonard Starr (story newspaper strips, On Stage), and George Lichty (newspaper panels, Grin and Bear It).
March 11: At the American International Toy Fair, Ken is introduced as the boyfriend for Mattel’s two-year-old Barbie doll.
JUNE
June 16: During a European tour, renowned Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to France.
February 5: Animation sensation Yogi Bear is the star of a new comic strip overseen by Gene Hazelton. The Atom, Bat-Girl, the Flash, Green Arrow, Justice League of America, Supergirl, Superman TM and © DC Comics. 101 Dalmations TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Yogi Bear TM and © Hanna-Barbera. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
ment’s Children’s Bureau to produce the Pogo Primer For Parents (TV Division), a 24-page pamphlet essentially advocating that parents pay attention to what their children were watching and not use television as a babysitter.
been replaced by the young husband next door, complete with a pretty wife and adorable daughter. The youth of John, Jacqueline, and Caroline Kennedy made the First Family accessible to the American public in a way that hadn’t existed before. Three-yearold Caroline was a weapon that no one could withstand, whether a reporter in the White House press corps or Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Newspapers feared television less for its content than for being a direct competitor. Recalling the October 1961 launch of the Flintstones comic strip, animator and cartoonist Gene Hazelton noted that “editors were hesitant to run a Flintstones comic strip. They [the characters] were from television; TV was hurting newspapers and they were worried about competition.” Despite those qualms, Hazelton continued, “the strip really took off” and was even “voted one of the top five comic strips in the country” at one point (Province, 87). The line between entertainment and politics had begun to blur during the 1960 Presidential campaign. The image of the President of the United States as a grandfatherly figure had
In 1961, Walt Kelly’s famed Pogo comic strip was syndicated to around 600 newspapers. Pogo TM and © Okefenokee Glee & Perloo Inc.
A testament to the public’s fascination with the toddler can be found in the fact that Charlton Comics actually published a Caroline Kennedy comic book in 1961. Moreover, the respectful barrier that had traditionally (if not exclusively) existed in the portrayal of sitting American presidents in children’s comic books had begun to break down. As recently as 1960, President Eisenhower had appeared in episodes of Charlton’s Captain Atom series and DC’s Superman #134 with his features judiciously shadowed or obscured. It was startling, then, to see President
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September 27: The Alvin Show, a cartoon starring Ross Bagdasarian’s Alvin and the Chipmunks, begins its primetime run on CBS. An hour later, Top Cat, an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based in part on the Sgt. Bilko character from the Phil Silvers Show, makes its own debut on ABC. September 27: Primetime medical dramas establish a foothold after NBC’s Dr. Kildare (starring Richard Chamberlain) revives a character previously featured in a theatrical (1937-1942) and radio (1949-1951) series. ABC’s Ben Casey, featuring a surgeon played by Vince Edwards, premieres five days later on October 2. July 20: The Flash #123 goes on sale as the modern-day Flash meets his 1940s namesake on a parallel world later known as Earth-Two, setting the stage for a multitude of character revivals in the years to come.
October 1: At the end of a baseball season that saw New York Yankees baseball players Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris challenge Babe Ruth’s 1927 record of 60 home runs in a single season, Maris hits his 61st. The landmark is tainted by criticism that Ruth’s achievement took place in a 154 game season while Maris’ occurred in 162 games.
July 27: Showcase #34 introduces the Atom, a modern, doll-sized version of the 1940s hero.
October 2: The Flintstones spins off into newspapers in a new comic strip illustrated by Gene Hazelton and Roger Armstrong. October 3: The Dick Van Dyke Show debuts on CBS, its eponymous star cast as Rob Petrie, the head writer of a comedy-variety TV show and husband of Laura (played by Mary Tyler Moore).
J U LY August 8: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1 goes on sale, laying the foundation for Marvel Comics’ transformation of the entire superhero genre.
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
August 13: Construction begins on the Berlin Wall, an infamous barrier created on orders of the Soviet-dominated East German government to prevent further emigration to democratic West Germany. September 14: Superman #149 features a renowned “imaginary novel” that details the circumstances surrounding “the Death of Superman.”
November 11: Catch-22, Joseph Heller’s satirical book about bureaucracy and self-contradictory military logic, is published. The story is subsequently recognized as one of the greatest English-language novels of the 20th Century.
December 2: Cementing his country’s ties with the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro announces that Cuba will adopt socialism.
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
September 28: Shrinking incredibly, scientist Henry “Hank” Pym becomes “the Man in the Ant Hill,” a story by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Tales to Astonish #27 that will be resumed as the Ant-Man series later in 1962.
November 6: Fading country singer Jimmy Dean revives his career as his “Big Bad John” begins a five-week stay as Billboard’s number one pop song in addition to claiming the top spots on the country and easy listening charts.
DECEMBER December 28: Action Comics #285 caps an eight-month serial with a full-length story in which Supergirl’s existence is revealed to the world.
October 18: West Side Story, the theatrical adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical, premieres with Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer cast as the doomed lovers Maria and Tony. The film is ultimately the year’s second-highest-grossing production. October 16: Sam’s Strip, a newspaper comic by Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas, debuts. The fourth-wall-breaking feature professes to show the behind the scenes world of comic strips with frequent appearances by past and present comics characters.
Kennedy and his wife unflinchingly depicted in Lois Lane #25 (May 1961) with Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his own wife behind them. JFK would pop up in more Superman stories during the year, capped in December’s Action Comics #285 when the President and First Lady greeted Supergirl at the White House. Nikita Khrushchev had a cameo in that story, too, following on the heels of a tale in Action #283 wherein the
Russian and American leaders were each impersonated by shape-shifting aliens (resulting in two panels where Superman appeared to be slapping each dignitary into unconsciousness).
ences hadn’t morphed into a lightweight TV talk show (as in Gary Belkin and Mort Drucker’s “Jack Kennedy Show” in Mad #65) but things were definitely changing.
The confluence of the Kennedys’ youth, good looks, and glamour with the increasing dominance of television coverage of the Presidency and the First Family had placed them in the same strata as other celebrities of the day. The President’s press confer-
That shift was implicit in comics dated October, 1961. Marvel’s Patsy Walker #97 put John and Jacqueline Kennedy amidst the likes of rock-androller Elvis Presley, musician/TV host Mitch Miller, and actress Elizabeth Taylor. Elsewhere, a story including a JFK cameo in Jimmy Olsen #56 was followed by another in which Superman’s pal seemed to meet many of the major starlets of the day—Marilyn Monroe, Tuesday Weld, Gina Lollabrigida, Brigitte Bardot, Jayne Mansfield—before revealing them as celebrity look-alikes.
Curt Swan and Stan Kaye drew Superman’s out-of-context assault on Kennedy and Khrushchev.
Celebrities (and world leaders) may have been fair game but the charged topic of race relations was essentially off-limits in 1961 outside of the admirable Jack Schiff-written public
Superman TM and © DC Comics.
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humor series’ cast, even featuring him in regular stories of his own. In the context of the stories, his skin color was irrelevant. It was a vision of the world as it ought to be rather than as it was. Curiously, a Sgt. Rock Rock war story in DC’s Our Army At War #113 (December 1961) took the same approach. Cut off from the rest of Easy Company, soldier Jackie Johnson had been blinded while the hands of his companion Wildman were burned. Faced with oncoming German soldiers, the two men worked together, Wildman directing Jackie’s gunfire until they were safe. The remarkable detail of the 13-page tale (by writereditor Bob Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert) was this: Wildman was white and Jackie was black. It was a remarkably underOur Army At War #113’s understated message of racial harmony was reinforced by stated example of racial harmony (one a public service page in the same issue. that also ignored the fact that the Army Sgt. Rock TM and © DC Comics. was segregated during World War Two) service pages appearing in DC’s comic books. The installbut also something that wouldn’t be repeated in the series ment appearing in December 1961-dated issues (“People anytime soon. Jackie eventually returned as a series reguAre People”) flatly dismissed prejudice, declaring that “no lar in 1965, subsequently appearing in a few more pointed one race is superior to another.” pieces on racism. The January 19 and February 2 issues of Treasure Chest of The military comics from every comics publisher were Fun and Fact (the bi-weekly comic book distributed to Cathstill principally focused on World War Two though other olic parochial schools) advocated racial harmony. The twoconflicts showed up frequently. By contrast, the militarypart “Saint For Racial Integration” (written by Sister Mary based newspaper strips were nestled deep in the presentAmatora, O.S.F.) recounted the story of Benedict the Moor, day Cold War culture. Terry and the Pirates devoted its final a black holy man of the 16th Century whose healing power 1961 continuity to a sequence involving a Russian ballehad earned him sainthood. The final caption noted, “Since rina that was likely inspired by ballet star Rudolf Nureyev’s 1954, the Third Order of Franciscans in the United States earlier defection. The recent Sino-Soviet split that saw has been working to obtain Christlike relations among the Russia at odds with the communist government of Red races under the patronage of St. Benedict the Moor” and China figured into a Steve Canyon sequence. And in Buz urged its young readers to promote “interracial charity.” Sawyer, following an adventure in which the Naval hero fought Red Chinese agents in Hong Kong, took the action Since the 1950s, Harvey Comics’ Little Audrey comic book directly to South Vietnam. In the midst of a small besieged had quietly featured a black boy named Tiny among the 44
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village, Sawyer witnessed terrors like barbed spikes in rice paddies and random murders of civilians by guerillas.
“When I was a kid, I loved going to the movies. When I say a kid, I mean 10, 11, 12 years old. And there was one movie I’d seen, I remember nothing about it but the name. It took place in China, I believe, and the name of the movie was Chu Chin Chow. Now I have no idea what it meant—I don’t know if it was somebody’s name of a country or a city, but I never forgot that name. Those three words just stuck in my memory: Chu Chin Chow… and that particular meter, that beat, somehow led to Fin Fang Foom.” (“Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Interview,” 21)
In 1961, the war in Vietnam was still of little interest to most people in the United States, but Sawyer creator Roy Crane demonstrated from the start of the story in late May that he understood why the government had such an interest in the conflict. “The Soviets don’t want peace in southeast Asia,” an intelligence officer told Sawyer in the May 29 strip. “They want southeast Asia. Nearly half the world’s population lives there. The area around South Vietnam is the rice basket of the Orient, and of vital strategic importance. If it goes to the communists, so may the rest of Asia—Thailand, India, Japan, even Australia and New Zealand.”
Elsewhere, Treasure Chest tackled the subject of the Soviet Union in a ten-part series entitled “This Godless Communism” (beginning in the September 28, 1961 issue) and illustrated by highly-regarded comics industry veteran Reed Crandall. The first installment, preceded on the inside front cover by a letter from F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover, painted a terrifying picture of a communist-dominated United States. Early in 1961, a pair of Crandall stories also touched on the space race with a history of rocket development set at the U.S. launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The space race and “the Commies” were at the root of the most significant comic book of 1961.
It was no accident that Crane (via his ghostwriter Edwin Granberry) sounded like a spokesman for the U.S. military. Discussing the comic strip in a 2010 essay, historian Jeet Heer wrote of the cartoonist’s “uncritical adoration” of the Navy: “In creating Buz Sawyer, Crane repeatedly turned to the Navy for approval and ideas. He received special clearance to visit naval bases (and during the Cold War he was allowed to see ships and weapon systems that were classified ‘top secret’ to civilians). While working on plotlines, Crane would send his stories to the Navy to make sure they were accurate and acceptable.” (Heer xii) Perhaps the most famous of all of Marvel Comics’ creatures from its monster era—in a story by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Dick Ayers—was born directly from the Cold War. Strange Tales #89 (October 1961) told the story Fin Fang Foom, a sinister, ancient dragon who was awakened by a young scholar in Formosa to fight the Red Chinese intent on overrunning his country. Once the beast was successful, Chan Liuchow duped Fin Fang Foom into returning to his slumber. Lee later explained the origin of the creature’s strange name:
Fin Fang Foom would return in later decades to fight the Living Colossus, Thor, Iron Man, and others. Fin Fang Foom TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Birth of a Universe
pages that remained of the story, the novice team defeated the Mole Man, leader of a group of monsters from deep inside the planet (and who’d have been right at home in Journey Into Mystery or Tales To Astonish).
At a glance, Fantastic Four #1 (dated November 1961 and on sale in August) seemed to feature the latest of Marvel Comics’ monster stories, what with a giant green creature rising out of the earth while a lumpy orange creature called the Thing barreled toward him from the corner. But there were more players on the cover than monsters. An “Invisible Girl” was held aloft by the green monster while a stretching man called Mister Fantastic wiggled free of ropes. And flying into the fray was the flaming Human Torch, sporting the same name as the hero who’d been one of the company’s stars in the 1940s.
For the book’s creative team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the year had been discouraging up to that point. Each had dreamed of escaping the comic book ghetto for the lucrative world of newspaper comic strips and those dreams were independently dashed in 1961. Kirby’s Sky Masters daily strip—launched in 1958—was cancelled with the February 25 episode, ending a feature that had previously embroiled the artist in a bitter legal battle with DC Comics editor Jack Schiff. Lee’s own Willie Lumpkin (drawn by Dan DeCarlo) concluded its own 18-month newspaper run on May 6.
An opening eight-page sequence introduced each of the principals, allowing them moments to demonstrate their respective abilities in colorful fashion before a five-page flashback explained how they came to be. Hoping to send an experimental rocket into outer space, gray-templed scientist Reed Richards had already persuaded his girlfriend Susan Storm and her teenage brother Johnny to join him on the maiden voyage. Only burly Ben Grimm—whom Reed wanted to pilot the craft—was balking. Insisting that they didn’t “want the Commies to beat us to it,” Sue called Ben a coward and goaded him into taking the job.
In later years, Lee would often talk of the epiphany he had at this point. Lamenting his lack of success in breaking away from comic books, the writer-editor’s wife suggested that he was looking at the problem from the wrong angle:
As the pilot feared, the rocket was hammered with cosmic rays as they left Earth’s atmosphere and the quartet narrowly survived a crash landing. In short order, the effects of the cosmic rays were clear. Sue turned invisible, Reed gained elastic powers, and Johnny turned to flame with no harm to himself. Their powers had an on/ off switch but Ben’s did not. Transformed into a freakish orange rock-creature, Grimm—the only person who’d questioned the mission—was dealt the harshest blow. He was permanently trapped in the form of a monster. Making a pact to use their new abilities for the good of humanity, each of the group placed his or her hand atop the others’ and cemented the formation of the Fantastic Four. In the dozen
Jack Kirby’s iconic cover layout for Fantastic Four #1 has been recreated by dozens of artists since 1961. Fantastic Four is TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“Joan was commenting about the fact that after 20 years of producing comics I was still writing television material, advertising copy and newspaper features in my spare time. She wondered why I didn’t put as much effort and creativity into the comics as I seemed to be putting into my other freelance endeavors. The fact is, I had always thought of my comic-book work as a temporary job—even after all those years—and her little dissertation made me suddenly realize that it was time to start concentrating on what I was doing—to carve a real career for myself in the nowhere world of comic books.” (Lee 16)
stand that I.N. was well-known for its golf outings back then.” (Uslan 42-43) Returning to his office, Goodman ordered Stan Lee to create their own version of Justice League of America. Lee, of course, grasped the problem that his publisher did not: the JLA was composed of characters that DC already published in individual series. But Marvel was currently publishing no superheroes and their 1954-1955 revival of 1940s stars Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner had been a bust. Consequently, Lee decided to fake it: On the cover of FF #1, the copy screamed the names of the Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, and Invisible Girl and declared they were “together for the first time in one mighty magazine.” If readers inferred from this that the quartet had previously appeared elsewhere, so much the better.
Lee’s course of self-improvement did not take place overnight but Marvel publisher (and Lee’s cousin by marriage) Martin Goodman serendipitously provided him with the vehicle where it could take place. Always on the lookout for a new trend that his company could capitalize on, Goodman had paid attention when an industry insider at a golf game confided that DC’s Justice League of America title was proving to be a big success. The fateful golf player was sometimes recalled as DC executives Irwin Donenfeld or Jack Liebowitz but filmmaker-historian Michael Uslan later asserted (via an account from DC executive Sol Harrison) that the person in question was actually part of the Independent News distribution group.
Working from Lee’s two-page plot, Jack Kirby broke down the story into a 25-page adventure. The origin sequence— including the vivid page where the would-be astronauts were peppered with cosmic rays—was, in some respects, a larger-than-life version of Kirby’s 1956 co-creation for DC’s Showcase #6: the Challengers of the Unknown. Like the FF, the soon-to-be Challs had also survived a crash (albeit of a plane) and united as a group of specialized adventurers. The Challs were eventually followed at DC by other specialty quartets like the Suicide Squad, the Sea Devils, and Rip Hunter’s group of time-travelers. Each of them tweaked the formula for added reader identification by including a female member among the four, with the latter two teams also adding a teenage brother for kid appeal. Whether or not they were aware of these later groups, Lee and Kirby adhered to the formula with their own Susan and Johnny Storm.
“As the distributor of DC comics, the man certainly knew all the sales figures and was in the best position to tell this tidbit to Goodman. Now, why would Goodman be playing golf with the head of Independent News? I.N. was distributing ‘Marvel’ then, as well as DC, under a ‘take it or leave it’ arrangement that severely limited the number of comics Goodman could publish monthly. Of course, Goodman would want to be playing golf with this fellow and be in his good graces. It would absolutely be in the best interests of his business. In addition, I under-
Likewise, perhaps unknowingly, the duo followed the lead of DC editor Julius Schwartz in taking the name and concept of a 1940s character and recreating him with a new history. The Human Torch had originally been an android 47
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who eventually acquired a kid sidekick named Toro. The new Torch was not only genuinely human but occupied a middle ground between his predecessors. He wasn’t yet an adult but was far enough into his teens to have a driver’s license and tinker with hot rods. Mister Fantastic conjured up the image of another old comics hero, albeit one not owned by Marvel. Quality Comics’ Plastic Man had been a hugely successful strip whose hero’s ability The Fantastic Four’s in-fighting was a huge departure from harmonious teams like DC’s Justice League. to stretch into any shape had Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. pointed the series in a comeStarting with two June 1961-dated issues (Patsy Walker dic direction. In the years since Plas’ cancellation, DC had #95 and Journey Into Mystery #69), it took a significant step created two stretchable heroes of their own (Elastic Lad toward a uniform corporate identity when a small boxed and the Elongated Man) but Mister Fantastic would prove “MC” began appearing on each cover. more prominent than either of them. Restricted to a finite number of titles through their distribution contract with Independent News, Marvel put much of its faith in the monster comics that were driving its sales. Tales of Suspense was promoted to monthly frequency with #13 while Kid Colt went bi-monthly. Rawhide Kid, benefiting from its Lee/Kirby creative team, pushed the boundaries of its genre, pitting the western hero against a living totem pole (#24) and a costumed villain called the Bat (#25). My Girl Pearl and Two-Gun Kid were cancelled altogether while new titles Linda Carter, Student Nurse and the latest monster book (Amazing Adventures) were launched.
What made the Fantastic Four unique was not its derivative qualities, but what Lee and Kirby did with them. Kirby’s art had a rough, blue-collar feel that distinguished his characters from DC and Archie’s more white collar heroes and the polished sheen of their own illustrators. The FF wore no costumes and had no hidden sanctuary nor did they keep their real names a secret. Most startling was the fact that they didn’t entirely get along. Trapped in a hideous body, the Thing cloaked his appearance beneath sunglasses and a trench-coat, regularly bemoaning his fate and erupting in violent fits of rage with little provocation.
A point of distinction beyond the monsters in Amazing Adventures was a Lee/Kirby-created mystic named Doctor Droom (whose debut was inked by Steve Ditko). He was, the first issue explained, a Caucasian doctor who answered a summons from a Tibetan lama, demonstrated benevolent heroic qualities, and was granted sorcerous powers by the dying mystic. The story climaxed with a racially insensitive scene in which Droom was transformed into an Asian because it was “an appearance suitable to [his] new role.”
Ultimately, Lee had taken his company’s most successful features—if not characters—and placed them in a single comic book. The Thing and Mister Fantastic brought both the misunderstood creature and the brilliant scientist templates from Marvel’s monster comics. And the Invisible Girl, beyond being a gender reversal of the iconic Invisible Man, represented the girl comics that were half of the Marvel line. While that formative first issue was still conventional and even silly in some respects, the series would evolve into something unique. As Justice League of America combined characters, Fantastic Four distilled the voices and concepts honed in Marvel’s westerns (heroes perceived as outlaws), science fiction books (monsters and widescreen action), humor series (comedy), and romance comics (soap opera) and used them to reshape the superhero genre. In the fine print of the indicia in each comic book, Martin Goodman’s company still seemed to be published by multiple entities.
Illustrated by Al Hartley, Linda Carter melded the humor, romance, and medical genres. Linda Carter TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Six issues into the series, Lee abandoned both Doctor Droom (who’d be revived in 1975 as Doctor Druid) and the direction of the comic book. Published the same month as Fantastic Four #1, the reinvented Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 was a clear manifestation of the writer’s insecurities about the juvenile nature of comic books. Trading the Kirby monster stories for a book full of more cerebral Steve Ditkoillustrated fantasy and science
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fiction thrillers, Lee identified its contents as intended “for the more mature reader” and described the comic book as “the magazine that respects your intelligence.” The writer’s admitted template was Rod Serling’s critically-acclaimed Twilight Zone, up to and including the TV series’ logo which inspired Amazing’s own revised logo.
The High Cost of Living (With Comic Books) With the significance of Fantastic Four #1 only apparent in hindsight, the biggest story for comics buyers in the hereand-now of 1961 was one that had swept the industry by year’s end and hit every consumer in the pocketbook. Starting in 1958, the price tag on Dell’s comics had read “Still 10-cents.” By the early months of 1961, that ominous phrase was now affixed to all of DC and Charlton’s titles, as well. Since four-color comic books were born in the 1930s, the opening price-point had consistently been 10 cents. For a quarter-century, the industry had held onto that price even as the page count had shrunk from 64-pages to 32. As a letter from the editors in the February-1962-dated issues of all DC’s comics explained, inflation had affected every retail sector in that time: “Over these past years the cost of producing our magazines has steadily risen. We have to pay more for art, engraving, paper and printing. You, too, have to pay more for most of the things you buy. U.S. Post Cards, which used to cost only 1¢, are now 3¢. Sodas and telephone calls were a nickel, now they are double that, ten cents. Hot dogs also were a nickel, now they are at least a dime, 15¢ in most places. Everything costs more today than just a few years ago. Your parents have to pay more for food, clothing and rent.”
DC’s aggressive full-page “Still 10¢” advertisement capitalized on rival Dell’s unilateral price increase to 15¢.
of the Unknown, Wonder Woman, House of Mystery, and Our Fighting Forces. Likewise, Marvel titles such as Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Kid Colt Outlaw saw a notable up-tick in sales and even Archie’s Adventures of the Fly logged a small increase.
Effective with issues dated February 1961, Dell raised prices a stunning 50% to 15 cents. The rest of the industry was keenly aware that a price increase was inevitable but most also seemed to appreciate that, by making the first move, industry leader Dell had left itself vulnerable. Suddenly, the comics from every other publisher—holding fast to the dime price—looked like a value by comparison and they counted on reaping additional sales before bowing to the inevitable.
Most of Dell’s figures are unavailable for comparison but a look at the sales of its number one comic book are telling. Uncle Scrooge, whose sales had exceeded one million copies per issue in 1960, saw a precipitous 15% drop to 853,928 after 1961’s price increase (Miller). In a desperate appeal to brand loyalty, the company’s Aprildated issues included a center-spread announcing the creation of the Dell Trading Post. By clipping and collecting the Dell Comics logo stamp—including the 15¢ price, readers could send them in for a variety of prizes. A baseball glove, for instance, could be had for five stamps…plus $2.00. “The more you save,” the ad declared, “the bigger your selection can be.” Failing in its goal to maintain sales, the Trading Post was subsequently only remembered due to Carl Barks’ complaint that the initial advertisement led to pages being cut from tales in Uncle Scrooge #34 and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #247.
DC rushed a full-page “Still 10¢” ad into its Maydated issues. Although comic book circulation reports are spotty and often unreliable, a review of the subsequent average figures for 1961 suggests that the rest of the industry’s efforts paid off (Miller). All of DC’s Superman titles— already in the midst of a creative peak—posted increases over 1960 as did comics as varied as The Flash, Challengers
Former DC and Marvel colorist Carl Gafford notes that DC had placed its 10-cent price “in black type in a white box so that a separate price could be slugged in at the printers (years later, publishers did the same thing to differentiate UPC codes for Direct Market and Newsstand Editions).” He added that DC also test-marketed both 12 and 15-cent
Uncle Scrooge TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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30th, and those statements also showed the sales for the issues closest to the filing date. Anticipating a sudden drop-off in sales after the price increase, IND set the price change for the first month after the deadline so as not to broadcast to advertisers the huge drop-off in sales.” (Gafford) DC, as noted, had included their own letter of explanation to readers and took the opportunity to take an oblique swipe at Dell: “Although some of our competitors are now charging 15¢ for the same size comic magazine that we produce, we feel that 12¢ adequately covers our rising production costs, and is therefore a better value for you.” Carl Gafford observed that “it’s impossible nowadays…to describe how devastating that two-penny increase was for readers. It hit home fast: my 50¢ allowance that could buy five 10¢ comics could now only buy four 12¢ comics, so my purchasing power was cut by 20%!” Dell’s 15-cent price was even worse, he continued, “and this was on comics that appealed to a younger audience (Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. cartoons) who were the least able to afford such an increase!” (Gafford). The decision to go to 15-cents was almost certainly a factor in another development that would end Dell’s dominance as a comics publisher just as surely as its price tag. Western Publishing was increasingly at odds with Dell over such profit matters and the possibility of severing all ties was not out of the question. Such a move would be devastating on two fronts: Western held the comics licenses to every major cartoon property they packaged for Dell. And they printed them in high quality fashion on their presses at the Whitman plant in Poughkeepsie, New York. In order to survive, Dell would have to create new properties, hire creators to produce them (a responsibility formerly held by Western), and find a new printer.
When DC was finally forced to raise prices, it was obligated to run an unprecedented letter of explanation to readers.
Bracing for the worst, Dell began developing a strategy for surviving the possible split. Licensed comics later unofficially characterized as “New Dell” began to surface as early as issues dated September 1961, mingling on comics racks with the Western-produced Dells for another year.
price-points in select locations during 1961 with grim results. “In some of the house ads for DC books,” Gafford continued, “the price box was blank (an indication that perhaps there was some debate as to which month to start the price hike)” (Gafford).
Operating with a smaller budget than they had with Western, the “New Dell” comics lacked the sharp printing they’d had with Whitman. Forced to go with a less powerful distributor, they were also harder to find. And where the Western TV and film adaptations had sported color photos, Dell’s version of the same were mostly hand-colored black and white shots.
Effective with their December-dated issues (mostly on sale in October), DC, Archie, and ACG finally raised their prices… but only to 12-cents. Harvey and Marvel followed suit with their January 1962 issues, Prize with its February comics, and finally Charlton with its April editions. Hallden, whose lone ongoing title was Dennis the Menace, placed a large “Still 10 Cents” banner over the Thanksgiving image on issue #55 (dated January 1962). With issue #56 (March 1962), the series was 12-cents like all the rest, a state of affairs explained in the interior “Memo from [publisher] Harry Slater.”
They also provided a welcome venue for comics creators who weren’t getting work from other publishers. Ken Fitch, whose credits dated back to DC’s New Fun #1 in 1935, wrote scripts for the licensed Mike Shayne, Private Eye #1 (November-January 1961/1962) as well as adaptations of movies like Thief of Baghdad (Four Color #1229), Tammy Tell Me True (FC #1233), and Lad: A Dog (FC #1303). Other soon-to-be Dell mainstays included Edd Ashe (initially on Mike Shayne), Luis Dominguez (beginning with Four Color #1255’s World of Aladdin movie adaptation), Jack Lehti (FC #1234’s Phantom Planet) Gerald McCann (Four Color #1227’s Morgan the Pirate), and Tony Tallarico (starting with FC #1231’s Danger Man, based on the United Kingdom TV series). Sam Glanzman, a mainstay of Charlton’s war
“DC’s distributor Independent News (part owned by DC owner Jack Liebowitz) carried the clout to get most of the industry to conform,” Carl Gafford wrote. He further speculated on the precise timing of the price hike: “The companies had to file Annual Statements of Ownership with the Post Office to continue their second-class postage privileges for subscriptions with the deadline for those statements being Sept. 50
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comics, was hired to draw Dell’s new Combat title.
devotion as Thirteen. Surviving through 1967, the book was briefly revived for three reprint issues in 1969 and 1970. Discussing the feature’s appeal in a 2009 collection of Thirteen’s first nine issues, cartoonist Seth declared that “unlike every other comic book trying to cash in on the Archie craze, Stanley seems to have made a point of not copying their formula.” He noted that Val and Judy had a genuine friendship rather than a Betty and Veronica-style rivalry. Nor was there the large cast of supporting players like those in Archie’s world. “Typically,” Seth continued, “Stanley has set up a very small world where he can play to his great strengths as a writer: setting up stock situations and wringing variations out of them” (Seth 11).
For the most part, the strongest creators in the old Dell’s line-up—men like Carl Barks, Gaylord DuBois, Carl Fallberg, Russ Manning, Paul Murry, and Dan Spiegle—were lost since they actually worked for Western. The prolific Paul S. Newman managed to work for both, writing for some of Dell’s new series while continuing to script others like Turok, Son of Stone for Western. Most happily for Dell was the decision of John Stanley— renowned for his writing on Little Lulu and Nancy and Sluggo—to remain with them. He immediately began developing new series in the hope that some of them would click with the post-Western audience. One of his first was Linda Lark, Student Nurse #1 (October-December 1961), a melodrama that marked a departure from his usual humor work. Illustrated by John Tartaglione, the series sported painted covers that suggested a romance novel more than a comic book.
Despite the ongoing feud, Dell’s Western-packaged titles were still a going concern in 1961. Carl Barks continued to write and draw the lead Donald Duck story in every issue of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories as well as the bulk of the material in Uncle Scrooge. Still in the midst of a dry spell (by his standards), the “good duck artist” looked to the past for inspiration in a few instances, rewriting a Donald Duck story from 1943’s Four Color #29 for Uncle Scrooge #34’s “Chugwagon Derby” (June 1961) and reworking a 15-yearold rejected Christmas story for a non-seasonal tale in WDC&S #248 (May 1961).
Around the Block With Dunc and Loo (illustrated by Bill Williams) and Thirteen Going On Eighteen (drawn by Tony Tallarico and later Stanley himself) represented both genders of the teen humor genre with handsome (Dunc) or pretty (Val) kids paired up with more normal pals (sloppy Loo and chubby Judy). Each series also opened itself up to kid humor with stories in each issue focusing (in Dunc and Loo) on Li’l Petey or (in Thirteen) the younger Judy (as Judy Junior, who terrorized boy-next-door Jimmy Fuzzi). Like most of Stanley’s work, each series earned considerable critical accolades. Commercially, however, they faced the joint hurdles of being unknown quantities in comic books priced higher than the market norm.
Barks scholar Geoffrey Blum also observed that the growing fandom surrounding the artist was having an effect: “A sense of community began to evolve from this flurry of correspondence. Barks found that he was interested in the nosings and burrowings of his fans and helped consolidate them into a network. It was not just that their attention flattered him; the possibilities for research intrigued him. Previously he had worked in a vacuum, never stopping to analyze the cartooning process, never making an effort to complete a file of his own publications. Suddenly both matters seemed important. He began making checklists of stories and putting one
None of Stanley’s later series for Dell inspired as much
Original artist Tony Tallarico drew the first two issues of Thirteen before series creator John Stanley succeeded him. Thirteen (Going On Eighteen) TM and © The John Stanley Estate.
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(Barks and Summer, 317) Geoffrey Blum described Magica as the cartoonist’s “most frequently used and fully realized female.” Describing her as variously “a mother figure” or “a seductress” or “a crone,” Blum noted that “she melds and intensifies stereotypes which the artist drew on for years, ones that might otherwise have stayed scattered more discreetly among a variety of characters” (Blum, “The Meaning of Magica” 24). Excited by the possibilities of the sorceress, Barks ultimately used her nine times between 1961 and 1964, leaving a rich character for future writers to mine in the years ahead. Just as the Barks’ duck stories remained a constant, the three-part Mickey Mouse serials by Carl Fallberg and Paul Murry that closed each issue of Comics & Stories still ran Among Carl Barks’ visual influences for Magica de Spell were glamorous Italian actresses Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren. unimpeded. Issue #246-248’s “MoonUncle Scrooge TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Blot Plot” depicted a space race quite different from that in the real world, one that found Mickey fan in touch with another so that the two could and Goofy racing into orbit to stop a gang intent on using compare notes and flesh out their collections. And “a fantastic dye” to black out the moon. he started thinking about other comic book artists. Who were they, where did they work, and how did Four Color #1183 (March 1961) adapted Disney’s latest they live?” (Blum, “Letters From the Duck Man, Part animated movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Late in Three: A Sense of Fandom” 3) the year, a 28-page storybook based on the same film was offered as a premium to anyone signing up for a subscription to Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories.
Barks’ perceived malaise indisputably lifted in Uncle Scrooge #36 (December 1961). In “The Midas Touch,” the cartoonist introduced one of the series’ greatest adversaries…and its only recurring villainess. Strolling into Scrooge McDuck’s office, the black-haired Magica de Spell plainly identified herself as a sorceress and requested some of the coins from his treasury. “Coins which have been touched by very rich men possess rewarding powers,” she insisted, and by melting them into an amulet and wearing it, she would be become “rich, rich, rich!” Scrooge dismissed it as superstitious bunk and tossed the so-called sorceress a handful of change to humor her. It was only after she’d left that the world’s richest duck had inadvertently given Magica his Old Number One, the first dime he’d ever earned and a symbol of his good fortune. Scrooge, too, could be superstitious.
Meanwhile, the weekly Disney anthology series moved from ABC to NBC under the new name of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. The premiere September 24 episode also included the debut of a new member of the animated Disney pantheon: psychiatrist/lecturer (and relative of Donald Duck) Ludwig Von Drake. Introduced virtually simultaneously in comic books with an appearance as a teacher in a Huey, Dewey, and Louie tale (Dell Giant #49) and short stories in Dell Giant #52 and #53, the character was spun off into an ongoing Ludwig Von Drake title by early fall. Four Color once again provided a diverse album of the era, spotlighting teen idol Ricky Nelson (#1192), TV westerns like Rawhide (#1160, 1202, 1261) and Bonanza (#1221), sitcoms such as The Danny Thomas Show (#1180, 1249) and Leave It To Beaver (#1191), action series 77 Sunset Strip (#1159, 1211) and The Detectives (#1168, 1219), fantasy TV show The Twilight Zone (#1173), and live-action Disney films The Absent-Minded Professor (#1199) and The Parent Trap (#1210). Along with issues devoted to the classic Disney, Warner Bros., and Walter Lantz cartoon characters, there was also a good representation of newcomers Deputy Dawg (#1238), King Leonardo (#1242), Pixie and Dixie and Mister Jinks (#1196), and Rocky and His Friends (#1166). Issue #1186 even ventured into Mad territory with an unusual humor issue called Yak Yak (written and drawn by former and future Mad artist Jack Davis).
What ensued was the first of many manic chases with Scrooge, Donald Duck, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie desperately trying to recover that first dime even as Magica, apprised of the coin’s singular power, fought just as hard to bring it to the edge of Mount Vesuvius and melt it into a charmed amulet. In contrast to many of the traditional Disney villainesses, Magica was a glamorous beauty. As Carl Barks explained, that was by design: “Disney had witches in just about every movie they made, at least it seemed that way to me. So I thought, why not invent a witch? If I made her look kind of glamorous, with long sleek black hair and slanty eyes, instead of one of those fat, hook-nosed old witches, she could be an attractive witch.” 52
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Four Color’s output ranged from recognizable stars to less common originals such as Jack Davis’ Yak Yak. Bonanza, Leave It To Beaver, Yak Yak TM and © respective copyright holders.
Four Color #1271’s Yogi Bear Birthday Party (illustrated by Harvey Eisenberg) was the first full-scale HannaBarbera character crossover in comic books. A TV special with the same name but an entirely different plot (a pastiche of This is Your Life) aired in syndication in October 1961 with crossover appearances by all the Kellogg’s sponsored characters from the Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and Yogi Bear Shows plus the Kellogg’s cereal icons. TV animation superstars Yogi Bear and the Flintstones were each spun off into their own series, their first issues stamped #4 (October-November 1961) and #2 (November-December 1961) respectively in acknowledgement of the Four Color comics that preceded them. (Flintstones #1 is generally
considered to have been 1960’s Dell Giant #48.) The series effectively replaced Roy Rogers and Trigger, the comic book devoted to the film and TV cowboy. Published by Dell since 1948, it ended with #145 (SeptemberNovember 1961). Interest in Dell’s kid-based comic strip properties was clearly on the wane. Henry ended its 13-year run with #65 (April-June 1961) while Tip Top Comics—which began in 1936 and had been published by Dell since 1957—was cancelled with #225 (May-July 1961). In Four Color, Lolly and Pepper returned for another issue (#1206), and Dondi made two appearances, one based on the movie adaptation (#1176) and the other the comic strip itself (#1276). The Dondi film—starring David Janssen, Patti
Page, and child actor David Kory— opened on March 26 to uniformly bad reviews and quickly faded from view. The concerns over the 15-cent price point seem to have caused both Dell and Western to question the long-term viability of the traditional 32-page magazine format for comics. With the Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters as test subjects, Dell decided to see if comic books could be sold in a larger, more durable format. In a 2000 article, Murray R. Ward described the result: “In the spring of ‘61, Dell released Huck and Yogi Jamboree, a blue cardboardcovered book about the size and dimensions of one of the crossword puzzle books they also published, containing 116 pages of black-and-white
Several bookstore releases from Dell and Western rethought the format and price of traditional comic books. Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear TM and © Hanna-Barbera. Ludwig Von Drake TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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stories and artwork, The two stars, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, got equal billing, and each was featured in several stories spiced with a slightly more sophisticated humor than was usually found in a ‘normal’ Dell comic aimed at youngsters, as well as a few stories adapted directly from the cartoons.” (Ward 52-53)
Schwartz-edited hero modernizations at DC. Meanwhile, at two successive National Cartoonists Society Awards ceremonies in 1961 and 1962, Bob Oksner (illustrator of DC’s Adventures of Jerry Lewis) was named Best Comic Book Artist of 1960 and 1961. After Oksner received the second citation, a photo of his plaque was added to the cover of Jerry #73 (November-December 1962) and a feature inside paid homage to the artist and his achievements.
Priced at $1.00, the book was followed around six months later by Flintstones On the Rocks in the same format as Huck and Yogi but with red covers instead of blue. Meanwhile, Dell also experimented with a larger tabloid-format series of books dubbed Golden Picture Story Book that contained considerably fewer pages (48) but ran its comics in color and sold for 50-cents. All told, there were four of them, two representing Hanna-Barbera (Huckleberry Hound Chuckleberry Time and Yogi Bear Yummy Tummy Stories) and two from Disney (Babes In Toyland and Wonderful World of Ducks).
Though recognized at the time by neither older fans or professional cartoonists, Mort Weisinger’s Superman titles all posted increases over average 1960 sales. Much of that success could be attributed to the editor’s unceasing nurturing and expansion of the hero’s growing mythology. Cementing that history was “The Story of Superman’s Life” (Superman #146: July 1961). Assembling details that had been added piecemeal to Superman stories over the past decade, writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino produced the most definitive Superman origin account since 1948 and the first to acknowledge his career as Superboy. (During 1961, incidentally, an Adventures of Superboy television pilot starring Johnny Rockwell was filmed but failed to be green-lit as a series.)
Murray Ward noted that all of the books “previewed several strange innovations which would pop up again in the early Gold Key comics: borderless panels, square or non-existent word balloons, simple straight lines in place of balloon pointers, etc. Apparently the editor was attempting to make the comics look more like the coloring and activity books which Western also published.” (Ward 53)
The history and lore of Superman’s lost home planet of Krypton was plundered relentlessly. Writer Robert Bernstein and artist George Papp created An irregular series starting in Mon-El in a revision of a 1953 Superman tale. Superboy TM and © DC Comics. Superboy #87 (March 1961) saw the teen hero use a Memory Prober to recover memories Ward believes that the books were ultimately too different from his infancy while Adventure Comics #283 (April 1961) for the retailers stocking magazine racks. The dimensions introduced the pivotal concept of the Phantom Zone. Scripted of the books resembled neither comics nor magazines and by Robert Bernstein, the story built on a realm called “the seem to have been deemed too much of a headache to deal Empty Doom” that had first appeared over a decade earlier in with. the 1950 movie serial “Atom Man Vs. Superman.”
DC’s Award-Winning Year Staying the course—both in price and direction—helped DC prosper in 1961. It was, all told, an auspicious time for the company, and a year in which the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Coinciding with that event, Harry Donenfeld stepped down as the business’ President, succeeded by Publisher Jack Liebowitz. Donenfeld’s son Irwin remained as Executive Vice President. The company name, per the bullet in the corner of each comic book’s cover, still said DC with “Superman” above it and “National Comics” below it but, with the transition, the corporation was officially renamed National Periodical Publications.
The Zone was a ghostly dimension where Superboy’s father Jor-El had imprisoned Kryptonian criminals as un-aging spirits. Having ironically survived their world’s destruction while their law-abiding kinsmen did not, Phantom Zone villains like General Zod and Dr. Xadu possessed all of the powers of Superboy and none of his morals. That sort of threat was followed up on quickly in the months and years ahead, starting with a story in Adventure #289 wherein the evil Jax-Ur escaped to Earth to impersonate the Boy of Steel’s adoptive father. In ways large and small, the Phantom Zone figured into more than 50 stories during the 1960s alone and increased its profile further via the 1978 and 1981 big-budget Superman movies.
The infant superhero fandom movement, when it subsequently voted on the best of 1961 in the first Alley Awards poll, ignored characters like Charlton’s Captain Atom, Archie’s Fly, and Marvel’s Fantastic Four and virtually handed the wins in every single category to the Julius
A 1953 story from Superman #80 served as the basis for a more moving update in Superboy #89. In this 1961 account, the Boy of Steel discovered an amnesiac teen whom circumstances suggested might be the hero’s own older brother. Dubbing the stranger Mon-El, Superboy was 54
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initially euphoric about the fact that he finally had a friend in whom he could fully confide and relate to. The budding friendship came to an end when—suspecting that Mon-El might be plotting against him—Superboy unwittingly inflicted his would-be brother with a lethal dose of lead poisoning. Recovering his memories in the shock, Mon-El revealed that he’d been a space-traveler who’d merely visited Krypton and that lead was fatal to his people. With no cure in sight, a grim Superboy projected Mon-El into the Phantom Zone to arrest the effects of the poisoning and vowed to one day discover a cure. Elsewhere, the burgeoning Legion of Super-Heroes made increasingly frequent appearances along with a burst of new members. In rewrites of stories from 1953’s Adventure Comics #195 and #191, respectively, Otto Binder introduced Star Boy (Adventure #282) while Robert Bernstein put the spotlight on Sun Boy (Adventure #290). Jerry Siegel had previously introduced Sun Boy along with Bouncing Boy, Brainiac Five, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, and Triplicate Girl in Action Comics #276, where Supergirl officially joined the team. It was also Siegel, following up on a teaser in Superboy #86, who established the existence of a Legion of Super-Villains in Superman #147.
Lena Thorul, a psychic who was— unbeknownst to her—Lex Luthor’s sister debuted in Lois Lane #23 (February 1961) before being revived as one of Supergirl’s friends in 1962. In Superboy #90 (May 1961), Clark Kent’s own best friend Pete Ross (introduced in #86) took on a greater role when he discovered his pal’s secret identity. Rather than cause Clark any distress, Pete nobly resolved not to tell him he knew and began to secretly help Superboy as circumstances dictated. By the time the Bizarro World series debuted, Superman’s imperfect For anyone who duplicate had acquired a wife and a son. Superboy TM and © DC Comics. might have missed the fact that Superman’s imperfect ance, though, and Weisinger began duplicate Bizarro was part of the to envision a new direction. Startgrowing fraternity of misunderstood ing in Adventure Comics #285 (April monsters, Superman #143’s “Bizarro 1961), “Tales of the Bizarro World” Meets Frankenstein” (really, an actor) debuted as a full-on comedy strip. drove the point home. The tragic Following a first installment drawn underpinnings of the character were by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye, the fading with each successive appearseries was illustrated by John Forte. Possessed of a slick, cartoony style, the artist tended to draw figures who were rather stiff, but it was a style that perfectly suited the grotesque Bizarros. Scripted by Jerry Siegel, each episode reveled in the reverse-logic expressed in the Bizarro Code:
“Us do opposite of all earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!” On Earth, for instance, a student might give an apple to their teacher. On the Bizarro World, they gave her a snake. Always eager to encourage reader interaction, Weisinger invited kids to send their own comical “Bits of Bizarro Business” that he ran in the letter column.
A canny ad for the Bizarro World not only played up its dual horror and humor aspects but encouraged reader interaction. Bizarro TM and © DC Comics.
The Bizarro series left two casualties in its wake. The long-running Congorilla feature (which had begun as Congo Bill in 1940) came to an end
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with Adventure #283 (although the character made a final surprise cameo in Action Comics #280’s Superman story). The similarly long-lived Aquaman, whose series had been alternating with Congorilla, was also served with an eviction notice but found new lodging in Detective Comics. Unfortunately, that resulted in the cancellation of that series’ own venerable back-up Roy Raymond, TV Detective (1949-1961) effective with #292.
the announcement of Supergirl’s existence. (Most of the world, anyway. Lex Luthor was none too happy nor was Premier Khrushchev, who grumbled that “it must be a capitalistic hoax.”) By the end of the issue, Supergirl had even met President and Mrs. Kennedy on the White House lawn. And privately, the Danvers happily accepted the news that they were the adoptive parents of “the World’s Greatest Heroine.” All told, it was very much a feel-good comic book.
No Weisinger series was more progressive in 1961 than Supergirl, nestled in the back half of Action Comics. With 23 years of history behind him, Superman was firmly in the grip of a status quo in the minds of the general public. He could not suddenly change his costume or marry Lois Lane or quit his civilian job at the Daily Planet. The teenage Supergirl, with a mere two years in existence, was not so entrenched. With Jerry Siegel and artist Jim Mooney at the helm, the Girl of Steel’s world was upended by the end of 1961—for the better.
It was a remarkable event on two fronts. The sweeping status quo changes (which also included a more adult hairstyle for Linda, voted on in a reader poll) were amazing in themselves. What was equally surprising was the length of the story. Conventional wisdom held that most comics buyers were casual readers and, as a consequence, stories continued beyond one issue were generally avoided. There were exceptions, of course, none more prominent that the traditional three-part Mickey Mouse serials that ran in Dell’s Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. And Weisinger himself had begun employing periodic two-part Superman stories in earlier issues of Action. Still, an eightissue story was a significant departure of a sort unseen in comic books since the 25-chapter “Monster Society of Evil” and six-part “Cult of the Curse” serials that appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures during the 1940s. Impressively, Action’s average sales per issue increased by 27,000 between 1960 and 1961.
Since 1959, Supergirl’s existence had been unknown to the public as her cousin Superman trained her in the use of her superpowers. Wearing a brown wig, she spent her days as Linda Lee at the Midvale Orphanage and strictly avoided being adopted. As Action #278’s story opened, Superman was finally prepared to introduce Supergirl to an unsuspecting world only to discover that her abilities had mysteriously vanished. Convinced that her No Superman story life as a super-herofrom 1961 was ine was over, Linda better remembered didn’t resist when a than the one that couple named Fred appeared in Superand Edna Danvers man #149 (Novemadopted her. In fact, ber 1961), exactly On the eve of going public, Supergirl endured final hurdles instigated by the evil Lesla-Lar. the Girl of Steel had Supergirl TM and © DC Comics. a year after 1960’s been targeted by a celebrated “Supervillainess named man’s Return to Krypton.” It was the latest of Weisinger’s Lesla-Lar from the Bottle City of Kandor, beginning a “imaginary novels,” one that opened with Lex Luthor’s lengthy series of adventures that saw her powers shift and stunning declaration that he’d gone straight and created return before the crisis was finally resolved. nothing less than a cure for cancer to prove his intent. With The climax came in Action #285 (dated February 1962 but the backing of an optimistic Superman, Luthor was freed on sale in December 1961) and was as much a love letter to from prison and set about creating new scientific breakthe character as to her fans. Superman himself graciously throughs. And the moment that the Man of Steel genuinely accepted co-star status in the lead story before the celebrabelieved that his old foe had reformed, Luthor strapped him tion concluded in the regular Supergirl feature. The first to a table and bathed him in green kryptonite radiation. half of the issue largely dispensed with a traditional plot, With a kidnapped Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White surrendering to page after page of the world’s delight over 56
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forced to witness everything, Luthor taunted the dying Superman with the knowledge that his entire reformation had been a ruse leading to that moment. Officially, the story was entitled “Lex Luthor, Hero” but virtually every fan remembers it for the title that appeared on the cover and third chapter: “The Death of Superman.” Fittingly, the writer who took Superman out of the world—even in a non-canonical story—was the same one who helped bring him into it: Jerry Siegel. Joining Siegel was penciler Curt Swan (inked by Sheldon Moldoff), the artist who’d come to define the 1960s-1970s Superman. The Man of Steel’s co-creator was often praised for the emotional content of his stories of the early 1960s, and this story was a testament to his strengths. Mourners from around the world—even other planets—filed by Superman’s body as it lie in state. Familiar characters like Lois, Jimmy, and Krypto tearfully looked down and said their goodbyes. And finally it fell to Supergirl to capture Luthor so that he could be brought to trial within the Bottle City of Kandor. Like the ongoing tribunal in Jerusalem of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann (which began on April 11, 1961), Luthor’s trial was broadcast live around the world. Convicted to eternity in the Phantom Zone, Luthor smugly believed that the Kandorians would set him free in exchange for his offer to enlarge their city. They coldly refused: “We Kandorians don’t make deals with murderers!” Flying through the sky afterwards, Supergirl sadly recalled how much she’d craved operating publicly. Instead, she choked, there was only “great sorrow at the passing of the strongest, kindest, m-most powerful human being I’ve ever known! Sob. M-my cousin Superman…”
In 1961, the assassination of a beloved public figure and a state funeral were concepts that youngsters knew only from history books. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
The reaction was immediate, one that Weisinger acknowledged in the letter column of Superman #151. “Never in the history of Superman-DC Magazines have we published a story which has won such overwhelming praise as ‘The Death of Superman,’” he wrote. “We have been flooded with tributes from children, teen-agers, servicemen, parents and teachers.” In the decades that followed, fans would frequently cite the story as one of the best—if not the best—Superman stories of all time.
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Heroes High and Low
new series opened. They were, in an unheralded milestone, the first married superheroes in comic book history.
Julius Schwartz, DC’s other hitmaking editor, entered 1961 with the expectation that his ongoing modernizations of 1940s superheroes would continue to soar. His next subject would be Hawkman, a hero with wings strapped to his back who’d starred in 104 issues of Flash Comics from 1940 to 1948, appearing on the cover of every other issue (alternating with the Flash). Surviving as a member of the Justice Society in All Star Comics for a few more years, the character had been gone for a decade when Schwartz decided to revive him.
Visually, Katar Hol had black hair (as opposed to Carter Hall’s blond hair) and his headgear once again resembled the head of a hawk, complete with beak. (In the final days of the original series, that look had been replaced with a simple cowl.) Meanwhile, Hawkgirl (formerly a brunette) was given red hair, a tribute to the editor’s wife Jean.
When Schwartz revived the Flash in 1956, he’d assigned the art to Carmine Infantino, the man who’d last illustrated his solo series. He The original Hawkman had did the same with Hawkman, origins rooted in the distant past, selecting the feature’s final illusestablished in his first story as trator Joe Kubert for the revival. In having been the reincarnation of the intervening years, Kubert had an Egyptian prince. With memoblossomed into an extraordinary ries of his earlier life revived, artist with a lush, impressionistic antiquities collector Carter Hall style that would eventually win had adopted weapons of the past him acclaim among fans. Much like crossbows and quarterstaffs of Kubert’s work at DC since the to use in his fight against 20th The New York/New Jersey Lincoln Tunnel inspired Joe Kubert’s backdrop on the first Hawkman cover. mid-1950s had been on Robert Century evil as Hawkman. He was Hawkman TM and © DC Comics. Kanigher’s various combat series, joined by Shiera Sanders, herself however, and he would soon find himself typecast as a the reincarnation of the prince’s lover and soon to become “war artist” in the eyes of some readers. his crime fighting partner Hawkgirl. The unsuspecting Schwartz prepared a three-issue tryout for Hawkman that ran in The Brave and the Bold #34-36 (February-March to June-July 1961) with new villains Matter Master and ShadowThief introduced in the latter two editions. Historically, it would be the first Schwartz series to list writer and artist credits on the first page of every story, something carried over to the Atom feature than followed later in the year. Emboldened by the burgeoning comic book fandom movement, the editor also took the unprecedented step of sending photocopies of B&B #34’s origin story to select Hawkman and Hawkgirl were comics’ fans (Jerry Bails, first married superheroes. Ronnie Graham, Hawkman TM and © DC Comics.
For his revival, Schwartz dismissed the musty reincarnation aspect and, as he’d done with Green Lantern, placed the character squarely in the space age. Tapping Hawkman creator Gardner Fox to write the modern version, he joined him in working out the details. The new heroes would be Katar Hol and Shayera, police officers from the distant planet Thanagar whose hawkthemed outfits (included anti-gravity belts) were law enforcement uniforms. Arriving on Earth in a spacecraft that would subsequently orbit the planet, the duo was in pursuit of a shape-changing fugitive named Byth. Through the efforts of their newfound human confidant (Police Commissioner George Emmett), the duo established cover identities as Carter and Shiera Hall, curators of the Midway City Museum (giving them access to ancient weapons they could use in tandem with their advanced scientific devices). With their mission completed, Hawkman and Hawkgirl received permission to remain on Earth and study its own criminology methods. The couple was quietly trailblazing in one respect. In the various superhero features that Gardner Fox had written during the 1940s, he’d bypassed the secret identity game typified by the Clark Kent-Lois Lane-Superman triangle. In Fox’s strips, the girlfriends knew all about their heroes’ secret lives, even if they weren’t full partners as Hawkgirl was. It seemed entirely natural, then, that the new Hawkman and Hawkgirl should be husband and wife when the 58
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ditch effort to save All Star. In #117, a full-fledged superhero series joined the book in the unlikely form of Native American champion Super-Chief while Johnny Thunder found himself opposed by a Robin Hood-styled female bandit named Madame .44. It was ultimately too late to stem the tide. All Star Western, the title that began as All Star Comics in 1940, ended with #119 (June-July 1961), its Johnny Thunder tale’s cliffhanger ending not resolved until 1980’s DC Comics Presents #30.
Ron Haydock, and Roy Thomas) both to solicit letters of comment for a column in #35 and to spread the word throughout the fan community. What no one expected was the divisive reaction to Kubert’s art. Schwartz’s letter columns were mostly devoid of any criticism but a letter from Richard Weingroff in 1962’s B&B #44 touched on some of the issues. Kubert’s “method of making the panels extremely dark,” he wrote, were fine for Sgt. Rock war stories but not so much for superheroes. Nor, he asserted, did the Hawks “have the handsome features of such DC stars as Green Lantern, Flash, or Supergirl.” For years, DC’s adventure comics (outside the war genre) had defined themselves with increasingly slick artwork and Hawkman’s departure from that house style was evidently jarring to some.
Three months later, All Star writer Gardner Fox and Johnny Thunder artist Gil Kane filled the void in their schedule with a new series debuting in Showcase #34 (SeptemberOctober 1961). Up to this point, Julius Schwartz’s 1940s revivals had strictly been headliners so the decision to focus on the Atom—a second-tier character remembered primarily through his association with the Justice Society—seemed an odd choice. In truth, DC wasn’t so much bringing back the Atom as they were Doll Man.
Ultimately, while the three Hawkman issues hadn’t done badly, they failed to generate the sales necessary to award it an ongoing title. Still, Schwartz had faith in the character and his creative team, buoyed further by a “Save Hawkman” movement spearheaded by fan Mike Vosburg. In 1962, the editor resolved to try again.
Published by Quality Comics, Doll Man had been a scientist named Darrel Dane who could shrink to the size of, well, a doll. Created in 1940, the character headlined a comic book well into 1953 and long after nearly every costumed character was gone. When Quality closed its doors a few years later, DC continued its successful titles like Blackhawk and G.I. Combat but passed on buying Doll Man and company in the belief that they were relics of a bygone era.
Schwartz was simultaneously dealt another defeat when the last of DC’s western comics rode into the sunset. In 1959, the editor had introduced a John Wayne lookalike named Matt Savage in Western Comics while rebooting the longrunning Johnny Thunder in All Star Western with a revised origin. Neither paid off. After Western Comics was cancelled with #85 (January-February 1961), Schwartz made a last
Gil Kane, for one, assumed otherwise. The original Atom had merely been a strong college student named Al Pratt whose name came from his short height. How much better might the character be, he speculated, if he’d had the powers of Doll Man, a character he mistakenly assumed was now owned by DC: “I needed some additional work when I was doing Green Lantern and knew DC owned the Atom. I also knew that they now owned the Doll Man title, so I created a new character based on the two. I made up a series of drawings and submitted them to Julie, who submitted them for final approval from [DC publisher] Jack Liebowitz. I got the OK for it, and that was it. We were off and running.” (Cangialosi, 25) As Roy Thomas detailed in a 2000 article, the particulars were a bit more complex. Influential fan Jerry Bails had begun to lobby for a revival of the Atom himself—also using the Doll Man template—and had recruited friend Roy Thomas in developing a pitch to sell DC. Meanwhile, Bails continued to correspond with Gardner Fox and, in one letter, concocted the story of a supposed poll of neighborhood kids who expressed Neither super-heroics nor sex appeal could save All Star Western from cancellation. All-Star Western, Johnny Thunder, Super-Chief TM and © DC Comics.
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the desire to see the Atom revived if he were “real small” (Thomas 7). By the time Bails and Thomas had solidified their own pitch, they were informed by Schwartz and Fox that a new Atom was due to be published later in 1961. This modern-day Doll Man was scientist Ray Palmer, who’d been using matter from a white dwarf star in an effort to shrink objects. Trapped in a cave-in with his girlfriend Jean Loring and a group of schoolchildren, Palmer was forced to use the shrinking process on himself with the expectation that he wouldn’t long survive. A freak variable saved his life, and Palmer resolved to make the best of his new lease on life as the red-and-blue costumed Atom. The six-foot Palmer would initially shrink to six-inches but Fox and company added stunts to his repertoire that Doll Man could never have achieved. One popular bit enabled the Atom to dial a party on the telephone, shrink to microscopic size, and pop out of the receiver on the other end. With no real limit on how small he could become, the character would eventually travel to subatomic worlds, as well. Schwartz himself christened the leading man, naming him after his friend and science fiction editor Raymond A. Palmer. Injured in a childhood accident, Palmer had suffered spinal damage that stunted his growth and left him shorter than five feet even
as an adult. Just as Schwartz’s wife inspired the color of Hawkgirl’s hair, the former Jean Ordwein was also the namesake for Ray’s lawyer girlfriend Jean Loring. Unlike Hawkman, the Atom was very much in the DC house style, with Gil Kane’s pencils given a fine sheen by Murphy Anderson. In April of 1962, five months after the third and final tryout in Showcase #36, the first issue of the ongoing Atom comic book went on sale. Still, Hawkman’s relative failure had cast a pall on Schwartz’s revivals. Recalling a February 1961 conversation with the editor, Jerry Bails would later report him saying that even the Atom feature had been delayed slightly because DC’s management feared “flooding the market with costumed heroes” (Thomas 14). Although the Atom would end Schwartz’s streak of modernized heroes, he now had a healthy roster of ongoing titles to work on. Justice League of America introduced villains such as alien conqueror Kanjar Ro (#3), criminal scientist Doctor Destiny (#5), and the luck-themed Amos Fortune (#6). And of greatest interest to many fans, issue #4 featured “the story you’ve been waiting for” and a correction of Schwartz and Fox’s oversight when they created the
series: Green Arrow joined the Justice League. Elsewhere, writer John Broome introduced a new Flash-foe called the Top (Flash #122) and added a second married hero to the DC line-up with the almost matter-of-fact revelation that the Elongated Man had wed heiress Sue Dearbon (Flash #119). In Green Lantern, Broome began developing recurring story hooks such as the development of the alien Green Lantern Corps (starting with TomarRe in #6), a scenario in which GL would be periodically pulled to the far future of 5700 A.D. with an accompanying loss of memory (GL #8), and the introduction of Hal Jordan’s two brothers, one of whom had a snoopy reporter girlfriend who thought that her guy was Green Lantern (GL #9). He also introduced villainous social climber Hector Hammond (GL #5) and, more significantly, a genuine arch-nemesis called Sinestro who was a former Green Lantern gone bad (#7). The number of characters in JLA obligated Gardner Fox to write a full-
Visual stunts like traveling through phone lines conveyed how small the Atom could be in relation to the world around him. The Atom TM and © DC Comics.
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length story for each issue but Broome also began to venture into long-form storytelling in Schwartz’s solo books. Beyond three full-length Green Lantern issues (#5, #6, #8), he also penned a pair of Flash-Kid Flash team-ups (Flash #120, #125) that formalized the heroes’ potential to travel through time by giving them a Cosmic Treadmill.
revealed that he’d been retired for a decade and was now married to former sweetheart Joan Williams (thus making him the third married DC hero of the year). After joining Barry in putting down a resurgence of three old enemies (the Fiddler, the Shade, and the Thinker), Jay found himself revitalized. “Now that I’ve come out of retirement,” he declared, “I think I’ll go on being the Flash!”
It was Gardner Fox, however, who’d write DC’s most pivotal fulllength story of the year. The impact of “Flash of Two Worlds” (Flash #123: September 1961), illustrated by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, would resonate for decades afterward.
Through reader letters and particularly his correspondence with fans Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas, Julius Schwartz was well aware that there was a strong fascination with the DC heroes of the 1940s who’d been Performing at a charmembers of the Justice ity function, the Flash “Flash of Two Worlds” added a generational aspect to the Society. Tantalized by inadvertently hit a Scarlet Speedster’s series that future writers built on. the details tossed out The Flash TM and © DC Comics. vibrational frequency by older devotees like that sent him… somewhere else. The speedster quickly Bails and Thomas, teen fans had already begun to build a discovered that he was in Keystone City and, as a former mystique about the heroes, and the Flash editor aimed to comic book fan, connected the locale to the hero of the capitalize on that. old Flash Comics. Moments later, a graying man named Summoning Fox, who’d created the original Flash in 1939, Schwartz began to brainstorm with him on how to revive Jay Garrick. Aware that Barry Allen’s debut in Showcase #4 had established him as a reader of Flash Comics, the duo resolved to take that into account. In separate 1976 interviews, both men later claimed to have come up with the parallel Earth solution. “I’m not going to get into an argument,” Fox insisted in Batmania #22. “If Julie says it was his, fine… It probably evolved out of one of those plot conferences when we batted ideas back and forth. I’m not sure, and I don’t think Julie is, either.”
Jay Garrick opened his door to be confronted by a blond stranger who rattled off intimate details of the older man’s life, not the least of which was his secret identity as the Flash. Barry Allen knew all this because he’d read it in comic books… and he, too, was the Flash. Barry concluded that he’d vibrated himself onto a parallel Earth where history had gone down a slightly different path and whose Flash had come into being 20 years earlier with a different background and costume. Comparing notes, Jay
The original Flash actually continued to appear through late 1950 as a member of the Justice Society in All-Star Comics. The Flash TM and © DC Comics.
The concept of parallel worlds was a long-standing one in science fiction. Mort Weisinger’s team had already produced two stories in that vein, a Tommy Tomorrow episode written by Otto Binder (Action Comics #238: March 1958) and a recent Jerry Siegel adventure in Superman #146 (July 1961). Employing an alternate Earth to bring back an old comic book character, however, was revolutionary.
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The Julius Schwartz-edited revivals of Hawkman and the Atom (each written by Gardner Fox) are a study in contrasts (seen here in pages from The Brave and the Bold #34 and Showcase #36, respectively). As illustrated by Joe Kubert, the former was impressionistic and shadowy with a darker look for superheroes that was ahead of its time. Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson’s Atom, with its upscale polish, was very much of its time and exemplified the DC era’s traditional house style. Original art scans courtesy Heritage Auctions. The Atom, Hawkgirl, Hawkman TM and © DC Comics.
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It also showed considerable foresight. With a civilian name and background entirely different from Barry Allen, there was no reason why they couldn’t have existed on the same world. It was only later that the potential of a different Earth became evident, one that enabled its characters
to age in more-or-less real time and refer back to specific historical events. And truly parallel characters like Superman and Batman—locked into the status quo in their mainstream series—could marry and have children in the alternate reality. In the 1970s, the kids who’d read these formative parallel world stories began writing for DC themselves, expanding the number of alternate Earths to include heroes once published by Fawcett Comics and Quality Comics. As the years passed, they became the perfect vehicle for the company to retain and showcase different periods of its (and other publishers’) history without compromising the vitality of its present-day series. When the superhero fandom subset voted on the best comic books of 1961 in the first annual Alley Awards in 1962, the 200 or so respondents gave a resounding thumbs up for “Flash of Two Worlds.” It claimed “Best Story,” “Best Single Issue of a Comic Book,” and “Best Cover,” with Carmine Infantino named “Best Artist.” And Schwartz, Fox, and Infantino began to work on a sequel. In the midst of Schwartz’s latest revivals, editor Jack Schiff put the spotlight on a hero who’d never gone away. For the entirety of his two-decade existence, Aquaman had been a strictly secondtier character, someone to fill an eight-page slot in the back of Adventure Comics or World’s Finest but never a figure who could carry a full comic book on his own. And yet, thanks to the guardianship of editor Mort Weisinger, he and Green Arrow had been the only superheroes other than Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to be published continuously since the 1940s. Moreover, the mythology of Aquaman’s series had been broadened significantly during a 1959 Robert Bernstein-scripted run in Adventure Comics that began with a modern-day origin (#260) and ended with the introduction of his own kid sidekick Aqualad (#269). And as a cover-featured member of the Justice League, the underwater hero was a more recognizable figure than he’d ever been. Showcase #30 (January-February 1961) was a milestone, then: the first comic entirely devoted to Aquaman (with second-billing for Aqualad). Written by Jack Miller and illustrated by Ramona Fradon (the character’s regular artist for a decade), the full-length story built on the recent detail that Aquaman’s mother had been from the undersea city of Atlantis but he’d never had the confidence to set foot there himself. After he and Aqualad rescued the city from marauders, Aquaman not only entered the city but was greeted as a hero. The try-out continued through Showcase #33, the latter three issues illustrated by Nick Cardy while Fradon temporarily left comics following the birth of her daughter.
Cover artists Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff expertly mimicked the style of interior Aquaman illustrator Ramona Fradon. Aquaman TM and © DC Comics.
Aquaman #1 went on sale in November of 1961, joining the new Rip Hunter…Time Master and Sea Devils comic books as the latest Showcase success stories. The Brave and the Bold, aside from Justice
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League of America, had a less impressive track record. Following its Hawkman trilogy, Bob Kanigher, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito’s 1959 Suicide Squad feature was revived for a second tryout (B&B #37-39) with no greater success than the first go-round.
eponymous tank and cast shake-ups that saw some of the original crew killed and replaced. The Haunted Tank was ultimately second only to Sgt. Rock as DC’s most enduring war series, surviving until G.I. Combat’s cancellation 201 issues later in 1986. Kanigher and Kubert’s Sgt. Rock story in Our Army At War #107 was a notable peculiarity. “Doom Over Easy” revolved around a G.I. who had a premonition about the death of several soldiers in Easy Company. In fact, his vision did seem to come to pass in a few instances, with the casualties including a man nicknamed Ice Cream Soldier. The easygoing character had been the focus of one of the earliest stories in the series (OAAW #85), and his death was surprising not only in and of itself but also in the fact that it was almost buried in the center of the story. Stranger still, Ice Cream Soldier was back in Easy effective with OAAW #110 as if nothing had ever happened… and remained for the rest of the series.
Kanigher had better luck in his own war books, particularly in his introduction of the Haunted Tank series in G.I. Combat #87 (April-May 1961). Rip Hunter won his own comic book following Adding a supernatutryouts in Showcase #20, 21, 26, and 27. Rip Hunter TM and © DC Comics. ral tweak to a standard World War Two strip, the feature revolved around a four-man tank crew whose commander (Jeb Stuart) was the namesake of reallife Civil War general J.E.B. Stuart. Much to the exasperation of the rest of the unit, the younger Stuart contended that he could see the general’s ghost and, as the series progressed, would receive often cryptic advice from him. Kanigher was joined on the strip by Russ Heath, an artist who managed to straddle the gritty darkness of Joe Kubert with the slick inking style that was in favor in the superhero titles.
In OAAW #175 (January 1967), when questioned about the death of Ice Cream Soldier, Kanigher would insist that he’d brought him back “because the clamor that arose when he was K.I.A. (Killed In Action) was so great.” In the absence of letter columns, there’s no evidence to support or deny the anecdote. That said, with only three months separating Ice Cream Soldier’s death and return (a slim time frame to gauge reader reaction, particularly since #110’s story would’ve been in production or completed), it may be that Kanigher simply forgot…or thought no one would notice. In Wonder Woman, Kanigher (with artists Andru and Esposito) found an outlet for his manic side, not only in the form of particularly bizarre villains like Amoeba-Man (WW #125) but in the very nature of the series’ internal logic. Much as Mort Weisinger and Jack Schiff were cultivating satellite characters around Superman and Batman, Kanigher had been developing players like Wonder Girl (Wonder Woman as a teenager) and her would-be boyfriend Mer-Boy.
The series’ debut was well-timed, going on sale only two months before the April 12 kick-off of the United States’ Civil War Centennial commemoration, but its success didn’t depend on such outside events. The feature was malleable enough to allow the periodic destruction of the
The Haunted Tank feature often pivoted on advice from commander Jeb Stuart’s ghostly namesake. The Haunted Tank TM and © DC Comics.
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The problem, of course, was that Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl were the same person. In WW #121, the formally named Wonder Woman Family—Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and their mother Queen Hippolyta—appeared together on the splash page but the actual story involved the characters only observing each other via screens that looked through time. The following two issues took a similar tack—adding the infant Wonder Tot to the mix—before issue #124 added a new wrinkle. Splicing together archival footage of the heroine at different ages, the Amazons put together a movie of “the Impossible Day” in which Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Wonder Tot, and their mother (“Wonder Queen”) fought an unstoppable menace called the Multiple Man. The concept was a hit with young readers, enough so that sequels began appearing in 1962. The “Impossible Tales” soon shifted from novelties to a regular occurrence, abandoning the explanation that the heroines were interacting through trick photography and laying the groundwork for considerable confusion amongst readers just discovering the series—to say nothing of DC personnel. Where both Superman and Wonder Woman saw sales upturns in 1961, Batman was headed the opposite direction. Although still one of DC’s best-selling titles with average sales of 485,000 copies per issue (versus 502,000 copies per issue in 1960), the dip was an early indication that one of the company’s flagship characters was in trouble. The precise reason is unknown but there is no shortage of theories.
Wonder Woman’s adventures with her younger selves may have been impossible but that only added to their appeal. Wonder Woman TM and © DC Comics.
The crisp modern artwork of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito contributed to the popularity of the so-called Wonder Woman Family. Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl TM and © DC Comics.
Or maybe the Batman feature in general had fallen out of step with the times. Superman and Wonder Woman, after all, had each undergone total creative transfusions over the years, but Batman was still being produced in large part by the men who created him in 1939: Bill Finger and (via ghost artists) Bob Kane. The aforementioned DC house style was nowhere to be found here.
Chief among them was editor Jack Schiff’s transitioning of the traditionally serious feature into fanciful science fiction terrain with stories where Batman and Robin fought alien creatures or underwent bizarre transformations themselves. Or perhaps little boys were aghast at the increased presence of females in the series. Batman #139 (April 1961) had introduced Batwoman’s niece BatGirl into the series as a recurring foil for Robin.
Making the case that it was the stories at fault was the success of Batman Annual #1, the latest in DC’s 25-cent reprint giants. Featuring seven stories spanning 1950 to 1957, the issue boasted (with a wee bit of exaggeration) “1,001 Secrets of Batman and Robin” and was greeted with the same sort of reader enthusiasm encountered by the first Superman Annual a year earlier. Meanwhile, the 80-page Secret Origins #1 was an unprecedented comic book concept that took the birth of many of DC’s key heroes (if not their first published appearances) and placed them in a single volume. In one fell swoop, the novice comics reader could learn how Adam Strange, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Manhunter From Mars, the Superman-Batman team, and Wonder Woman all began. Even Green Arrow and Speedy were represented in a one-page text feature. Banking on maximum sales, DC released Secret Origins, Batman Annual and the third Superman Annual in June when kids were out of school. 66
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Scouring the letter columns of Schwartz’s comic books, Bails developed a core mailing list and began sending cards to each reader to solicit subscribers. Although the earliest respondents would receive their copies of A-E #1 for free, subsequent fans would be charged 20-cents per copy. This was strictly a labor of love, not a money-maker. Unbeknownst to Bails and Thomas, another fanzine dubbed Comic Art was being produced and mailed at almost the same time. Created by Don Thompson and Maggie Curtis, it included an introduction by Dick Lupoff (whose own science fiction fanzine Xero had won accolades for its “All In Color For a Dime” essays on 1940s comic book series) and a partial transcript of the Comics Code regulations. Comic Art was distinguished from Alter-Ego not only by Batman Annual #1’s success inspired follow-ups that were published twice a year, title notwithstanding. a wider-ranging group of interests Batman TM and © DC Comics. (including magazine cartoons, comic strips, and Big Little Books) but by a greater emphasis on Fanning the Flame nostalgia. “The comics of today are not the comics of yesterThe nucleus of comic book fandom took a giant step forward day,” Lupoff wrote, “and, even if they should prosper again in 1961 through the pioneering efforts of Jerry Bails and Roy (as I hope and doubt that they will) they will not be of the Thomas, the two adult fans who‘d been brought together same breed as their ancestors.” through their mutual love of the Justice League and Justice Alter-Ego, as Bill Schelly pointed out in 1995, was different: Society. During a trip to New York City in February, Bails had paid a visit to Julius Schwartz at DC’s offices with visions of “Bails had a fiery urgency, an almost messianic possibly publishing a Justice League newsletter for interfervor, in his effort to support the super hero revivested readers. By the time he left, the college professor was als of the era he dubbed ‘the Second Heroic Age of fueled with even greater enthusiComics.’ That was, indeed, the asm for publishing a “fanzine,” a stated mission of Alter-Ego. term that Schwartz had introduced As a result, the fanzine had him to. He would call it Alter-Ego, an interesting double-focus. and it would be the first fanzine It linked the current super devoted exclusively to superhero heroes (many of them revivcomic books. als) with their antecedents (alter-egos, in a sense). With Bails and Thomas threw themattention to both new and old, selves into the project, creating A-E not only differentiated the template for scores of similar itself from its predecessors, amateur publications that would be produced out of bedrooms and but established a mix that had home offices throughout the counsomething for fans both young try in the years ahead. Dispensing and old.” (Schelly, The Golden tidbits from his chat with Schwartz, Age of Comic Fandom, 28) Bails offered a short news column Julius Schwartz enthusiastically called “On the Drawing Board” as urged Roy Thomas to write a letter well as writing a brief history of promoting A-E and ran it in Justice old JSA villain, the Wizard. For his League of America #8 (on sale in part, Thomas offered his proposal October). The plug, Bill Schelly for a modernized version of the noted, “garnered so many responses Spectre and wrote and drew a that demand for the fanzine now JLA parody called “Bestest League exceeded supply” (Schelly, The of America.” Purchasing a spirit Golden Age of Comic Fandom, 28). duplication machine, Bails printed the issues at his home and began By this point, Bails’ publishing Roy Thomas parodied the cover of the second Justice League story putting them in the mail at the empire included The Comicollector (Brave & Bold #29) on the front of Alter-Ego #1. end of March. Alter Ego TM and © Roy & Dann Thomas. (consisting primarily of ads for old 67
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comic books and boasting a subscriber base in excess of 500 fans by issue #2) and On the Drawing Board (now a separate comics newsletter). Meanwhile, in Florida, yet another fanzine was born, a four-page production duplicated via carbon paper and with a print run of no more than eight copies. This was The Rocket’s Blast, created by a passionate 22-year-old named G.B. Love who was afflicted with cerebral palsy. Its primitive origins notwithstanding, the ‘zine would improve markedly over the next years, ultimately merging with The Comicollector and moving into the 1970s as one of the preeminent comic book fanzines.
would develop major back issue businesses in the coming years. In 1969, Bell started his own comic book mail order business, with the first of his ads appearing in Marvel’s titles. The retailer was later struck by the irony of that:
The success of The Comicollector was an indication of the untapped market for old comic books. Among the first to recognize it was an 18-year-old New Yorker named Robert Bell. When his father retired in 1961, the young man took over the family book/thrift store. Having worked in the shop for a few years, Bell had already begun to ascertain the growing interest in vintage comic books:
Elsewhere In the Industry
“I was in my shop and was basically selling DC comics at the time… this was in the early 1960s. A customer came in and said ‘there’s a new company out called Marvel Comics!’ He brought in a few issues and as I looked them over, I inaccurately predicted ‘they’ll never make it… DC is too big.’” (Forro 54)
In 1961, Archie Comics quietly published one of the mostly highly-regarded stories in its history as part of the Little Archie spin-off series that featured the company’s trademark teen characters as younger children. Fan-historian Gary Brown classified the nine-page episode as the very best Little Archie tale (Comic Book Artist Vol. 2, #3: March 2004) and Dwight Decker cited it in his personal list of the best comic book stories ever (The Comics Journal #44: February 1979). In 2011, its stature was acknowledged again by inclusion in the company’s seven-decade retrospective The Best of Archie Comics (2011).
“I eventually found out that the EC issues were very popular, and the price went up to $1 each. People didn’t balk at this price, because they were in such demand. Actually, I never created a price…never on the comic books. The market—the people in the market—created the price. They told me what to charge.” (Forro 53)
In “The Long Walk,” a smitten young Betty Cooper convinced Little Archie to walk her home from school in exchange for a strawberry soda at the end. Disgusted that he’d agreed to the deal, Archie resolved to take her
Over the next decade, Bell’s path intersected with men like Gary Dolgoff, Peter Koch, and Howard Rogofsky, all of whom
Among the memorable details of “The Long Walk” was a sideways page detailing Betty’s ordeal alongside Little Archie. Little Archie TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
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on a shortcut through Spook Woods and Hocomock Swamp, convinced that “a sissy girl” would turn back. Dressed in her best clothes, Betty silently overcame her fears and persevered through every harrowing challenge—partly depicted on a fullpage map that was published sideways—but was cold, wet, and filthy by the time they reached the malt shop. As he watched the other kids laugh at his companion, Little Archie was overcome with guilt. Walking Betty home, he commended her on her bravery and allowed the girl to cut a lock of his red hair for her keepsake album. Dirty and exhausted, she curled into a ball on her bed and fell asleep with a smile of contentment on her face. Sweet and touching, the episode resonated with many readers years after its first publication in issue #20 (Fall 1961) of The Adventures of Little Archie. The title’s stories were among the few from Archie that were actually signed by their creator and writer-artist Bob Bolling took special pride in his work there. “The Long Walk” actually came out of a discouraging dry spell that he’d been having. After wasting an entire day trying to think of a plot for the issue, Bolling had related his frustrations to his wife that evening:
The charm and humanity of Bob Bolling’s Little Archie was readily apparent in “The Long Walk.” Little Archie TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
bit silly, they were offset by the more realistic rendering he brought to everything else in the strip. Plans were quickly made to expand Rosenberger’s presence to a second title.
“When Marianne came home, I told her about it and we sat there, and I remember talking to her about it. She said something and I talked and then the story seemed to fall together. It was so simple and I had just gone by it. So I wrote down all these simple things and the next day I wrote the story. In fact, I couldn’t write fast enough. That’s how it is when you get rolling: you just can’t write fast enough, but for some reason I had a mental block all that day.” (Brown 61) Archie’s toehold in the superhero genre expanded in 1961 with two new characters, a new series, and a new artist. John Rosenberger, a versatile artist with a diverse résumé that included everything from custom comic books for various businesses to covers for romance paperbacks, arrived at Archie on September 6, 1960 and was immediately assigned to Adventures of the Fly (effective with issue #11: January 1961), still written by longtime friend and collaborator Robert Bernstein. If Rosenberger’s giant robots and alien invaders came off looking a
Bernstein and Rosenberger’s Adventures of the Jaguar #1 (September 1961) told the story of Ralph Hardy, a “famed zoologist” who discovered an ancient belt in an Incan temple in Peru and was granted great powers when he put it on. Stylized red costume aside, the character was derivative of the Fly in many respects with traits including super-strength, the ability to fly, and, most glaringly, the need to speak his name in order to change identities.
Prior to developing the Jaguar with John Rosenberger, writer Robert Bernstein had introduced Aqualad at DC in 1959. The Jaguar TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
Meanwhile, Fly #14 (September 1961) altered the balance of power in the series. Reunited with actress and old flame Kim Brand (from the previous issue) while she was filming in the area, the Fly was astonished when she subsequently flew to his side as Fly-Girl. Turan, the otherdimensional being who’d granted Tom Troy his own powers, had approached Brand with the news that the Fly would need help in fighting the MetalMaster. Considering her worthy, he gave the young woman a magic ring like the one that Troy had and sent her flying. Ultimately, it was Fly-Girl who saved the day, “giving off the blinding radiance of millions of fireflies”
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Much like the Fly, the Jaguar engaged in adventures that evoked the style of DC’s Superman stories. The Jaguar TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
and melting the villain—carefully described as “non-human”—into a puddle. Both books cross-promoted each other with one-page teaser ads, even sharing a villain when Cat Girl (first seen in Fly #9) returned in Jaguar #4. Hoping that the character would be
exposed to the widest possible audience, the company even arranged for Jaguar short stories to appear in Laugh Comics #127 and Pep Comics #150 (both October 1961), titles that otherwise exclusively starred Archie and his satellite characters. Six-page superhero solo stories, variously
The Archie Adventure imprint was aggressively promoted through specialty house ads. Fly-Girl TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
starring the Jaguar, Fly, or Fly-Girl, became a staple in the two humor comics from that point forward. Archie had not yet given up on a nonsuperhero title for its Archie Adventure Series and turned to the still vigorous monster craze for inspiration. Arriving on newsstands more than a month before Halloween, Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats #1 (November 1961) was a send-up of horror icons written by George Gladir and drawn by Orlando Busino. Hosted by Igor and his pet bat Frederick, the book featured stories like that of a werewolf who had his hair removed only to be revealed as a runt who got beaten up on the beach. The entire Archie humor line embraced monsters as fall rolled in, with staples like Frankenstein and Dracula popping up in multiple cover gags almost as often as beings from outer space. Even the Creature From the Black Lagoon made two appearances (Jughead #79 and Laugh
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movie) but also two separate magazines, Horror Monsters and Mad Monsters. Like Warren’s Famous Monsters of Filmland, the titles were primarily composed of articles and stills, but Ditko himself drew the cover and an interior comics story in the latter’s first issue. Less successful was Reptilicus, another movie-based color comic by Gill and artists Bill Molno and Vince Alascia. It lasted all of two issues. The new titles were released during the peak summer months and also included Hunk, a humor series mostly illustrated by Jon D’Agostino that starred a stone-age kid and his pet dinosaur. Clad in a spotted orange toga, Hunk otherwise bore no resemblance to Fred Flintstone but it’s likely that the primetime cartoon bearing his name was the inspiration for the new comic. Perhaps the most curious of Charlton’s new series was Nurse Betsy Crane. Introduced in Teen Secret Diary #11, the heroine took over the comic book entirely with issue #12 (August 1961). What made the launch curious was the fact that Marvel and Dell released their own girl-oriented medical titles (Linda Carter, Student Nurse and Linda Lark, Student Nurse) immediately thereafter. Fifty years after the fact, the trigger that prompted comic books about nurses from three different companies is unknown. Much as Lee and Kirby had recently done with some of Marvel western heroes, artist Pete Morisi took part in a soft re-launch of Charlton’s Kid Montana title. In issue #32 (December 1961), an issue after he succeeded Rocke Mastroserio on the title, Morisi drew a new “Origin of the Kid” and immediately contradicted the kid part of his name by making him gray at the temples. Regardless, the more mature look and Morisi’s clean art helped sustain the feature for several more years. In a rare touch for the era, Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats identified creators George Gladir and Orlando Busino on its contents page. Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
#130). Effective with issue #16 (December 1961), Archie’s Madhouse began transitioning away from its traditional off-kilter humor involving the Archie characters in favor of a new format mirroring Bats that featured comedic takes on horror characters. Crushed in the monster mash was cartoonist Bill Woggon’s venerable fashion maven Katy Keene, who’d modeled clothing designed by readers since the 1940s. Her eponymous comic book was cancelled with issue #62 (October 1961), one month before the debut of Bats. Nonetheless, trend-conscious Archie remained on top of clothing styles, devoting a story in Betty and Veronica #67 (July 1961) to the new popularity of stretch pants—variously known as Slim Jims or Capris—months before actress Mary Tyler Moore elevated their profile further on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Interestingly, the one genre that Charlton decided it had no faith in was superheroes. After a nearly-two-year run, the Captain Atom series in Space Adventures— by now occasionally drawn by Mastroserio rather than co-creator Steve Ditko—came to an end in issue #42 (October 1961) and the title returned to standalone science fiction tales. At ACG, the title of a new comic book called Midnight Mystery suggested that it might be courting the same monster/horror market
Charlton also had its eye on the monster craze, not only launching its ongoing four-color Gorgo and Konga comics by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko (each series based on an MGM
Charlton editors held Pete Morisi’s streamlined artwork on its Western titles in high regard. Kid Montana TM and © respective copyright holder.
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that other publishers were eyeing. In fact, it was very much in the mold of the other light supernatural/ suspense/science fiction titles that writer-editor Richard Hughes was producing and proved short-lived, ending with issue #7. In the letter column of Midnight Mystery #6, reader Jerry Smith remarked, “The type of stories I like are those where, by a twist of fate, people turn into monsters, such as werewolves, Draculas, and Frankensteins. Do you think you might print such stories as these?”
nuts to the ‘good old days!’” Hughes preferred lighter fare, as in the two sequels that appeared in February and March-dated issues. A year earlier, Hughes (with artist Ogden Whitney) had told the story of Eugene “Knuckles” Markham, a teen gang leader who was accidentally rocketed into outer space, fell in love on the alien world of Karonia, and turned over a new leaf when he came home (Adventures Into the Unknown #114). The “Delinquent In Outer Space” returned in Adventures #122 when he discovered that no less than Nikita Khrushchev was planning to nuke Karonia in a show of Soviet superiority. Leaping into action, Markham managed to save the planet and win his lost Karonian love in the bargain.
It was the sort of question that Hughes addressed periodically in his freewheeling letter columns and his answer, as always, was an emphatic no. There was a bit of shame in that, rooted in the fact that he’d created the first ongoing horror comic book— Adventures Into the Unknown—in More significant was the story 1948 and inspired scores of far grisin Forbidden Worlds #94 (also by lier imitators from other publishers. Hughes and Whitney), featuring the Having inadvertently set into motion Midnight Mystery wasn’t the horror comic book that its title return of a “little fat nothing” named suggested and it lasted a scant ten months. the circumstances that led to comic Herbie Popnecker (first seen in #73 in Midnight Mystery TM and © respective copyright holder. books coming under attack in the 1958). With a bowl-shaped haircut, 1950s, Hughes’ responses—like this one from Forbidden thick glasses, a round torso, and a ubiquitous lollipop in Worlds #98 (September 1961)—were understandable: his mouth, Herbie was as unlikely a leading man as could
“As editors, the thing we’re most interested in is be imagined. That was part of the joke. Through means story. We admire a good and carefully-constructed never entirely explained but partly attributed to magical plot, particularly if lollipops, Herbie was it’s fresh and origithe world’s most infalnal. How was this lible superhero, adept ever possible in at thwarting any threat the days of sensethrown in his path even less horror? The as his oblivious father criterion of quality dismissed him as a in a story at that pathetic failure. The kid time was whether was no more capable of it looked awful being defeated than he enough. Werewas of cracking a smile. wolves, vampires, Harvey Comics continand zombies had ued its show of faith in certain timethe strong-performing honored attributes kids humor characters which telegraphed that had become the in advance exactly company’s signature what each story features. The summer was going to be saw the first spin-off about. As to the series of three of its charharm done, the acters, each of them in least was an offense the 64-page giant format against good taste. priced at 25-cents: Richie […] Now we can’t Rich Millions #1, Spooky lean on the crutch Spooktown #1, and Little of silly horror— Dot’s Uncles and Aunts we’ve got to come #1, the last of which up with plots that followed try-outs in are challenging, When Richard Hughes (a.k.a. Shane O’Shea) did use horror icons, he did so strictly for laughs. Harvey Hits. Published Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton. tense, and actionful in the midst of these in themselves. So— 72
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were one-shots Playful Little Audrey Clubhouse #1 and Famous TV Funday Funnies #1. Harvey’s presence on network television would end in December with the Mattel-sponsored Funday Funnies switching its content to Beany and Cecil cartoons on January 6, 1962. The Harveytoons found a new life in syndication later in 1962 as Casper and Company. At the same time, the company lost faith in most of the properties it was licensing from newspaper strips. Humor series Blondie Monthly, Dagwood Comics, and Mutt and Jeff remained strong sellers, but Felix the Cat was cancelled with #118 (November 1961). Now overshadowed by a new generation of animated cartoon characters, Felix was still considered enough of a draw to be picked up by Dell Comics in 1962. For the three adventure strips that Harvey had been reprinting, there would be no such rescue. Joe Palooka #118 (March 1961) and Dick Tracy #145 (April 1961) marked the end of the two series Artist Sy Barry’s modernization of Lee Falk’s venerable Phantom comic strip electrified fans. The Phantom TM and © King Features Syndicate, Inc. while the Phantom—the only costumed hero in the Harvey line(along with his brother Dan, himself in charge of the Flash up—made his final three appearances in Harvey Hits #36, Gordon strip) had been one of the key 1950s illustrators #44, and #48. who’d established the slick DC Comics house style that the Ironically, Harvey dropped the Phantom at the very point company still aspired to. The artist would proudly recall when his comic strip was undergoing a renaissance. Still the impact of the new look: written by creator Lee Falk, the feature had been illustrated “People began to write letters, and the syndicate since 1949 by Wilson McCoy. The artist’s unexpected death forwarded batches of them to me, because they on July 20 sent King Features editors searching for a successor couldn’t find room for them all. The letters were all and they recalled Sy Barry, who’d recently submitted a strip positive. People said they liked the art much better idea of his own. While Carmine Infantino and Bill Lignante now, and really looked forward to reading it. Many completed the Sunday continuity started by McCoy, Barry had stopped reading the Phantom under McCoy, was hired as a permanent replacement on the separate daily but were reading it again and asking other papers strip, beginning August 21. His intent was clear: to run the strip. One by-product of my taking over “The Phantom deserved an illustrator and not a was that merchandising picked up. I was doing art cartoonist. That’s why I treated it that way. I spotfor games, costumes, headgear, and all other kinds ted more blacks in the art, making it dynamic and of Phantom-related material.” (Amash 24) graphic, so that it stood out on the printed page. I Having dropped the American comic book license, Harvey wanted to play up the unusual mystery and fantasy was unable to capitalize on the new look. Instead, Gold Key elements that the strip needed. When you think of launched an ongoing Phantom comic book in 1962 (featurthe Phantom, you think of a mysterious spectre, ing new stories illustrated by Bill Lignante). not a super-hero. He needed to be surrounded by The success of Sy Barry’s Phantom was a testament to the that kind of environment. I needed to get that feelsignificance that the look of a comics feature could make. ing of darkness and ghostliness, but at the same Julius Schwartz, for one, understood how important it was time, get some of the humor and characterization to keep characters looking contemporary and vital. For the of the characters, as well.” (Amash 24) budding superhero revival to continue thriving, more was The effect was stunning. McCoy’s simple, unadorned style required than just the revitalization of classic characters. It had been rather old-fashioned whereas Barry’s detailed, was time for new blood. realistic work was state of the art. Unsurprisingly, Barry 73
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1962
Gains and Losses
Color comic book publishers went into 1962 braced for falling sales. The price hike from 10¢ to 12¢ (with Dell issues still at 15¢) was a virtual guarantee that kids were going to be buying fewer comics. Before the year was over, industry leader Dell fractured, splitting into two less dominant publishers. One researcher speculated that DC Comics’ cumulative 1962 sales may have been $678,237 less than those in 1961 (Tolworthy). Gilberton, known for its literary comics, ceased publishing new material effective with Classics Illustrated Junior #576 (“The Princess Who Saw Everything”) and Classics Illustrated #167 (“Faust”). A 1962 New York Times article by Peter Bart tossed out discouraging statistics, noting that the industry was selling an estimated 350,000,000 comic books versus 800,000,000 a decade earlier. “The comics industry, once a major advertising medium for reaching the teen-age and younger market, today has lost much of its revenue to rival media,” Bart continued. “Even National Periodical, Superman’s publisher, presently derives only about $176,000 a year from advertising compared with nearly $1,000,000 a decade or so ago” (“Superman Faces New Hurdles” 166). The magazine industry in general was struggling, with the Curtis Publishing Company—whose periodicals included The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies’ Home Journal— reporting losses in excess of $15,000,000 for the first nine months of 1962. The news that Congress had passed a bill increasing postage costs (to begin January 7, 1963) was also greeted with concern. “The bill was milder than one originally considered,” Peter Bart wrote, “but it would still increase distribution costs by many millions of dollars” (“Publishing” 426). For other comic book publishers, there’s little doubt that tales of woe were also being told in the offices of Charlton, Harvey, Archie, ACG, Prize, and Hallden. In every office, that is, but Martin Goodman’s. The publisher of “MC,” the company restricted to publishing a handful of titles and tentatively grasping for a new corporate identity, came out of 1962 smiling. His sales were up.
The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine
CHAPTER THREE ACBC1960-64 2015.indd 74
Much of the credit could be laid at the feet of writer-editor Stan Lee and penciler Jack Kirby, the dream team that had created Fantastic Four in 1961. Although inspired by DC’s Justice League of America, the FF had departed from convention in then-radical ways with its characters clad in street clothes and not bothering with secret identities. Readers immediately began to write in to insist that the Fantastic Four be changed into something more familiar. 74
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Effective with Fantastic Four #3 (featuring the comic book’s first letter column), Lee and Kirby assented. The FF received matching blue costumes (with the monstrous Thing’s outfit soon scaled back to shorts), an official headquarters atop a skyscraper (identified as the Baxter Building in issue #6), and an aerial Fantasticar (soon nicknamed “the flying bathtub”). Rejecting a previously-commissioned cover that spotlighted the issue’s monster menace, Lee had Kirby draw a new cover that loudly touted the changes. On the same issue, a less-than-humble tagline—“The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World”—was added, revised to “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” on the cover of issue #4 and every issue thereafter. Lee’s desire to please readers was not always the wisest narrative step but, at this early juncture, it helped forge the personal bond between the writer and his readers. In 1990, historian Greg Theakston published rare original art and artifacts related to FF #3 that revealed that the team originally sported an overlapping “FF” on their shirts. Doodling alternate logos, Lee devised a three-dimensional “4” that became the team’s official symbol. The team’s costumes had initially included masks, a detail that was revised before the story was published. Since the quartet’s identities were already public knowledge, the masks were unnecessary and, as Theakston noted, impractical: “It must have occurred to Stan that the Torch didn’t need a mask, and that Ben couldn’t hide under any mask, and the Invisible Girl needed a mask least of all. That left Reed, and if the other three didn’t need masks, neither did he. Stan plays with the idea when he has the Thing tear off his new outfit halfway through the third issue. After all, he was far more interesting to look at than any uniform.” (Theakston 32) If the Fantastic Four wanted to star in the World’s Greatest
The color scheme of the FF’s outfits was chosen by Stan Comic Magazine, they needed to dress accordingly. Goldberg. “I decided that I couldn’t really put two or Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. three colors on those costumes. It had to be one color. form at will as his teammates do” was something else. Since the Thing was orange and the Human Torch burst Lee and Kirby not only rejected the idea but played up the into flames, we had enough color there and didn’t have to situation’s tragedy by including scenes like those in FF #2 worry about the dull, blue color of the costumes” (Amash and #4 where Ben Grimm regressed to his human persona 21). and had only moments to tearfully rejoice before involunAdding superhero trappings was really only a modest tarily becoming the Thing again. Elements like these and concession. The suggestion of reader Bill Sarill (in FF #3’s the friction between the four heroes were soon prompting letter column) that “the Thing ought to revert to human responses like this one from Len Blake in FF #4:
Scenes like this one from Fantastic Four #2 accentuated the inherent heartbreak at the core of the Thing. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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1962 TIMELINE
April 23: Editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin receives the 1961 Reuben Award at the annual National Cartoonists Society ceremony. Other winners include Ernie Bushmiller (humor newspaper strips, Nancy), Irwin Hasen (story newspaper strips, Dondi), George Clark (newspaper panels, The Neighbors), and, for the second consecutive year, Bob Oksner (comic book category, Adventures of Jerry Lewis).
A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events. January 30: The Metal Men make their debut in DC’s Showcase #37, by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito.
March 1: The first K-Mart department store opens in Garden Center, Michigan. The first Target and Wal-Mart stores—both future competitors of the K-Mart chain—open on May 1 and July 2, respectively.
April 24: DC Comics’ tiniest hero is awarded his own title with the Atom #1.
March 6: Adam Strange meets the Justice League of America in Mystery In Space #75’s Alley Award-winning “Planet That Came To a Standstill.”
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
February 8: The Sub-Mariner, one of Timely Comics’ most popular characters of the 1940s, returns as a quasivillain in Fantastic Four #4.
APRIL
March 27: Elvis Presley records “Return To Sender,” eventually becoming the highest charting song of the year.
February: Creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby put an atom-age spin on the Jekyll and Hyde story in the Incredible Hulk #1.
May: The symbol for a new generation is born when put-upon teenager Peter Parker becomes the iconic misunderstood hero Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
M AY
April 10: Doctor Doom, the definitive villain of the soon-to-be Marvel Comics universe, makes his first appearance in Fantastic Four #5. Jack Kirby’s pencils on the story are inked by Joe Sinnott, who will return as the series’ regular embellisher in 1965.
JUNE June 25: Mandatory prayers in public schools are ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. June: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby transplant Thor, the Norse god of thunder, into the present-day in Journey Into Mystery #83. Soon after, oneshot hero Henry Pym is revived in the costumed persona of the Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #35.
Adam Strange, the Atom, Legion of Super-Heroes, Metal Men, Superboy TM and © DC Comics. Doctor Doom, the Hulk, the Human Torch, Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Sub-Mariner, Thor TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Doctor Solar, Magnus Robot Fighter, Space Family Robinson TM and © Random House, Inc.
“Great art, terrific characters, and a more adult approach to the stories than any other mag I’ve read (except ‘Amazing Adult Fantasy,’ which is yours too, I understand). You are definitely starting a new trend in comics—stories about characters who act like real people, not just lily-white do-gooders who would insult the average reader’s intelligence.”
In terms of adversaries, the series initially stuck close to the monsters populating most of the company’s anthology books. Issue #2 featured green-skinned, shape-shifting “Skrulls From Outer Space” while FF #3 included a seeming “monster from Mars” who’d been conjured up by a hypnotist named Miracle Man. They were unique among the early Fantastic Four villains in that the team actually
Duped by clippings from Journey Into Mystery and Strange Tales comics, the Skrull leader called off his invasion of Earth in FF #2. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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use, Inc.
July 9: At a Los Angeles exhibition, Andy Warhol’s painting “Campbell’s Soup Cans” is unveiled. It is one of the seminal examples of the pop-art movement, in which everyday objects are transformed into works of art.
July 10: Telstar—the first communications satellite created for commercial use—is sent into orbit and is used to transmit television signals around the world in some 250 tests between July and November.
J U LY
August: Following its inaugural release of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #265 and Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1 in July, Western’s new Gold Key imprint completes its break from Dell Comics with a diverse selection of new and continuing titles.
September 23: The Jetsons, Hanna-Barbera’s futuristic counterpart to The Flintstones, makes its premiere and is the first ABC series to be broadcast in color.
September 26: The Beverly Hillbillies, a CBS comedy about a backwoods family that strikes it rich and moves to California, begins its nine-year run.
August 1: The Family Circus newspaper panel welcomes a new addition when P.J. is born.
AUGUST
September 30: In what will later be regarded as the end of the “Golden Age of Radio,” the dramas Suspense (1942-1962) and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (1949-1962) make their final broadcasts on CBS radio stations.
SEPTEMBER
August 26: In the Dick Tracy comic strip, industrialist Diet Smith unveils a space coupe, a compact spacecraft incorporating magnetic force and atomic energy.
August 5: Glamorous actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead of an apparent drug overdose.
captured them—even hypnotically transforming the Skrulls into cows!— unlike issue #1’s more sympathetic Mole Man and several of the series’ subsequent major adversaries. The series kicked into high gear with FF #4 (May, 1962). Fed up with being belittled by the Thing, the Human Torch had quit the team at the end of the previous issue. Taking refuge in a homeless shelter, Johnny Storm picked up an old Sub-Mariner comic book. Encountering an amnesiac bum with super-strength, the Torch decided to give him a shave and a haircut. Recognizing that the stranger was the pointy-eared Sub-Mariner himself, the teen hero decided to dunk the aquatic hero in the ocean to see what happened. Almost instantly, Prince Namor’s memories were restored and he went swimming off towards the undersea city of Atlantis. Learning that no good deed goes unpunished, the Torch was thunderstruck when the Sub-Mariner
October 14-28: The discovery that nuclear missiles are being installed in Cuba leads to a grim stand-off between the Soviet Union and the United States and the threat of nuclear war. The crisis is ultimately averted when Premier Khrushchev agreed to remove the Cuban missile sites. Unknown to the public, President Kennedy had agreed to dismantle U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange. October 15: Dr. Kildare, a comic strip by Ken Bald based on the TV series, begins its 21-year run. Neal Adams’ competing Ben Casey strip premieres on November 26.
December: In South Vietnam, munitions manufacturer Tony Stark escapes from guerrillas by creating the armored persona of Iron Man. Plotted by Stan Lee with a costume design by Jack Kirby, the origin story in Tales of Suspense #39 was scripted by Larry Lieber and drawn by Don Heck.
December 10: Director David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O’Toole as real-life British Army officer T.E. Lawrence, makes its theatrical premiere. Directed by David Lean, the sweeping epic becomes the year’s top-grossing production.
October 20: Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” novelty song begins the first of two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER December: Archie Comics’ She’s Josie #1, based on an unsold newspaper strip by Dan DeCarlo, goes on sale.
October 12-14: The brutal “Columbus Day Storm” inflicts torrential rains and devastating winds on northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia with 46 reported dead in its wake. Later in the month, on October 25, 769 people are killed (and another 142 listed as missing) when tropical storm Harriet strikes southern Thailand.
July 26: The Legion of Super-Heroes receives an ongoing series in Adventure Comics #300.
July 23: A Bullwinkle newspaper strip by Al Kilgore, based on the animated series, makes its debut.
October 1: Johnny Carson becomes the official host of NBC’s Tonight Show, beginning a thirty year run.
October 5: Sean Connery stars as suave British super-spy James Bond in the London premiere of the film Dr. No, an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s 1958 novel. The movie reaches U.S. theaters in May 1963.
returned to the surface to announce that his kingdom had been destroyed by atomic tests and that he was declaring war on the human race. The balance of the story found the Fantastic Four reunited and essen-
October: Gold Key’s Space Family Robinson #1, by Del Connell and Dan Spiegle, goes on sale.
November: Written and drawn by Russ Manning, Gold Key’s Magnus, Robot Fighter #1 goes on sale and features the adventures of a lone man against corrupted robots in 4000 A.D.
December: Seven months after its eponymous hero’s debut, The Amazing Spider-Man #1 goes on sale.
tially fighting Namor to a draw. Now smitten with the FF’s Susan “Invisible Girl” Storm, the Sub-Mariner vowed to bolster his strength and return. In the span of six months, Lee and Kirby had revived two of Timely
An ad in Incredible Hulk #1 touted Fantastic Four and Amazing Adult Fantasy as “the two greatest new fantasy magazines in the world!” Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc
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Comics’ three biggest heroes of the 1940s. But where the Human Torch had been a new hero with the name of the old one, the Sub-Mariner was actually the same character. Originally published from 1939 to 1949, the seafaring hero had been revived along with Captain America and the original Human Torch in 1954-1955 before fading away once more. In 1962, however, the climate was perfect for revival. The growing comics fandom movement was fascinated with the older heroes and Stan Lee was well aware of it, having read Roy Thomas’ FF #1 review in the first issue of his and Jerry Bails’ fanzine The Comicollector. Noting Thomas’ suggestion that the Sub-Mariner be added to the team, Lee had responded to Bails (in a letter dated August 29, 1961) that he shouldn’t “be too surprised to meet Sub-Mariner again, or Captain America” (Fingerworth 35). Unlike DC’s acclaimed 1961 revival
There was a distinct irony in the fact that the person who restored the memories of the amnesiac Sub-Mariner was the Human Torch, the modern counterpart of the Timely Comics hero who often fought Namor in the early 1940s. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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of a “Golden Age” hero in “Flash of Two Worlds,” the FF creative team required nothing as complex as a parallel Earth to bring back the Sub-Mariner. He was simply the product of an earlier heroic age and that understated detail quietly broadened the growing Fantastic Four mythology. In both his earliest appearances and this modern revival, the SubMariner had frankly been a terrorist, no matter his motivations. The underlying nobility and heroism that eventually took over his 1940s incarnation would also inform Lee and Kirby’s characterization of the character and prevent him from being played as a full-fledged villain. Such complexity would eventually filter into the adversary introduced in Fantastic Four #5. Sheathed Doctor Doom immediately pushed himself to the forefront of the Fantastic entirely in armor that was draped Four’s rogues gallery with two consecutive appearances. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. in a green tunic, hood, and cape, Doctor Doom seemed almost medieval in appearance but he also had one iron with him seemingly being shrunk to boot planted squarely in the modern world. nothingness. By being defeated but A concise five-panel origin explained that he never captured, Doctor Doom acquired was Victor Von Doom, a college classmate of a mystique and gravitas that quickly Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards whose scientific established him as the foremost villain genius was matched only by his fascination not only in the FF’s rogues gallery but with sorcery. Disfigured while trying to contact in the growing universe around them. “the nether world,” Von Doom was expelled Perhaps nothing represented the and headed to Tibet, “still seeking forbidden creative team’s irreverent, rule-breaksecrets of black magic and sorcery.” ing approach like issue #9’s “The End Although physically no slouch, Doctor Doom of the Fantastic Four.” In contrast to was very much the thinking-man’s villain. DC’s well-financed Justice League, Most of the real action in the introductory the FF was forced to announce that story took place centuries in the past when they’d gone bankrupt. It was the sort of the male members of the Fantastic Four real-world touch that Stan Lee would used the villain’s time machine—a simple point to in years ahead as one of the glowing tile—to seek out the treasure of the key elements that made his company pirate Blackbeard while Susan Storm was different. (The FF ultimately regained held hostage. Cheated out of his prize, Doom their financial solvency, incidentally, escaped to fight another day. by participating in a movie secretly bankrolled by the Sub-Mariner.) That day came in the very next issue, wherein the villain manipulated the Sub-Mariner into Fantastic Four’s success was enough for joining him in revenge against the Fantastic the title to be promoted to a monthly Four by sending them and the entire Baxter schedule effective with #6 (September, Building into orbit. Realizing that Doom had 1962). One month later, the Human trapped him in the skyscraper, too, Namor Torch was spun-off into his own series called a truce to help the heroes before turnin Strange Tales #101. In a curious case of ing his wrath on the man who’d betrayed trying to put the genie back in the bottle, him. Doctor Doom was last seen clinging to a the first installment asserted that— meteor and hurtling through space. evidence in FF to the contrary—no one knew Johnny Storm was the Torch Such was the pattern of the early Fantastic outside of a quartet of school buddies. Four-Doctor Doom skirmishes. His return in Readers didn’t buy it for a minute. In issue #10, in which he switched minds with issue #106, it was explained that the Reed Richards, began with an explanation of residents of suburban Glenville were how he survived being lost in space and ended 79
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Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962) was a landmark issue not only because of its introduction of Doctor Doom but thanks to its pairing of penciler and co-creator Jack Kirby with inker Joe Sinnott. Delighted with how well the slick embellishment enhanced Kirby’s work, Stan Lee immediately invited Sinnott back for issue #6. Unfortunately, the illustrator had to bow out of the assignment because he’d agreed to draw a substantial biography of Pope XXIII that was serialized in Treasure Chest (Vol. 18) #1-9 (September 13, 1962-January 3, 1963). Consequently, the Kirby-Sinnott dream team wasn’t reunited until 1965’s Fantastic Four #44. Original art scans courtesy Heritage Auctions. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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just pretending they didn’t know Johnny’s secret as a show of respect.
Alicia could see him, she’d drop him in a heartbeat. Balancing the melodrama, a reflexive sense of humor was also endowed on the Thing, extending to his brotherly brawls with the Torch and the taunts he received from the unseen Yancy Street Gang.
Although the feature introduced characters who’d later be folded into Fantastic Four itself like the villainous Wizard (Strange Tales #102) and Paste-Pot Pete (#104), the Human Torch series was clearly of secondary concern. Stan Lee only plotted the series while his brother Larry Lieber scripted it. And after penciling the first five stories, Jack Kirby handed the series off to his inker Dick Ayers, now assigned full art chores. (Ayers had also become Kirby’s regular inker on Fantastic Four with issue #6.)
Doctor Banner and Mister Hulk Fantastic Four was only part of a very fertile year for Lee and Kirby. Buoyed by early reader reaction to their new title, the duo conceived another series which spun off the monsters that had been driving sales. Effective with its 86th issue (March, 1962), Teen-Age Romance was dropped from the schedule and replaced with the Incredible Hulk #1 (May, 1962).
Since the Human Torch had been a headliner in the 1940s, there was an assumption that he would be again in the 1960s. Lee had not yet quite grasped the fact that it was the Thing—not the Torch—who was the breakout star of Fantastic Four. Building on the character’s inherent tragedy, he and Kirby gave Ben Grimm a blind girl friend named Alicia (daughter of the evil Puppet Master) in FF #8. Unbothered by his rocky exterior, she saw the true man inside the Thing. The insecure Ben constantly feared that if
Just as the FF had first plunged into space to beat “the Commies” to the moon, the principals in Hulk #1 hoped to create a g-bomb (“g” as in gamma radiation) that would give the United States an edge in the arms race. The bomb’s creator was mild-mannered bespectacled Bruce Banner, whose insistence on caution in testing quickly earned him the enmity of the blustering General “Thunderbolt” Ross. Coming in between the two of them was the requisite love interest Betty Ross, who was obviously sweet on the quiet scientist even if her father hadn’t yet caught on. When a teenager named Rick Jones drove onto the desert test site on a dare, a hysterical Banner rushed out to shove him into a protective trench. Unfortunately, Banner’s scheming assistant Igor opted not to delay the countdown and his boss—though miles away from ground zero—was bathed in radiation when the gamma bomb detonated. The two men were held in isolation, thus leaving Rick Jones to be the lone witness when the moon rose and Doctor Banner changed into a monstrous creature whom soldiers soon dubbed the Hulk. Wracked with guilt, the teenager resolved to stay by the side of both Banner and the Hulk, making excuses when need be to ensure that no one learn their secret. Super-strong and prone to angry outbursts, the Hulk had no idea that he was Banner and regarded his alter ego as a weakling. It fell to Rick to guide the so-called monster as they came into contact with a succession of strange threats, molding the Hulk into something of a superhero while Thunderbolt Ross and the Army saw only a rampaging creature who left trails of destruction everywhere he went.
The Hulk was shadowed by the guilt-ridden Rick Jones who’d unwittingly initiated his transformation. The Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
With his squared skull and grim expression on the cover and splash page, Kirby’s Hulk was unmistakably derived from Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the Frankenstein monster in the 1931 Universal Pictures movie. The Aurora Plastics Corporation, tapping into the present-day monster craze, had released a model kit based on Karloff’s Frankenstein in 1961. The reception undoubtedly exceeded their expectations with demand reportedly
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ary 22, 1988 edition of the UCLA Daily Bruin:
compelling Aurora to produce more than 8,000 kits per day. In 1990, historian Greg Theakston speculated that those incredible sales prompted publisher Martin Goodman to request a comic book based on the monster (Theakston 33). Whatever the truth of that story, Lee freely admitted the Hulk’s roots in some of fiction’s most iconic monsters:
“I still feel there’s a Hulk inside of all of us. I mean, a suddenly, unreasoning, explosive personality. And of course the police stations are full of these guys. (laughs) And I don’t write about them in that respect, but we all have a Hulk inside us. Like I just told a guy, I once tore a tie rack right off the wall, see? Because I was just suddenly in an explosive burst of temper. I saw an article where a woman lifted the back of a Cadillac because her little kid was trapped under the tire. We can do feats of strength that would amaze us: Bend steel.” (Schwartz 29)
“I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Frankenstein monster. No one could ever convince me that he was the bad guy, the villain, or the menace. It was he who was sinned against by those who feared him, by those whose first instinct was to strike out blindly at whatever they couldn’t comprehend. He never wanted to hurt anyone; he merely groped his tortuous way through a second life trying to defend himself, trying to come to terms with those who sought to destroy him.
The name of the new hero seems to rest squarely with Stan Lee. In his capacity as editor if not writer, he’d previously used the Hulk name for characters in World of Fantasy #19 (1959), Strange Tales #75 (1960) and Gunsmoke Western #63 (1961). Journey Into Mystery #62 and #66 (1960, 1961) featured yet another Hulk, one who was eventually revived in 1972’s Marvel Feature #3 as Xemnu the Titan.
“I suppose you can guess where we’re heading. Think of the challenge it would be to make a hero out of a monster. We would have a protagonist with superhuman strength, but he wouldn’t be all-wise, all-noble, all-infallible. (How’s that for a rollicking redundancy?) We would use the concept of the Frankenstein monster, but update it. Our hero would be a scientist, transformed into a raging behemoth by a nuclear accident. And—since I was willing to borrow from Frankenstein, I decided I might as well borrow from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well—our protagonist would constantly change from his normal identity to his superhuman alter ego and back again.” (Lee 75)
Looking for something that was “intensely dramaticlooking and somber” (Lee 76), Lee asked that the Hulk be colored gray in the first issue of the series. As colorist Stan Goldberg later noted, the cheap paper that the comics were printed on—more tan than white—resulted in their coloring occasionally being “way off from what we wanted” (Amash 16). Gray proved particularly problematic with the Hulk, with Lee noting that “his skin was light gray in some places and almost black in others” (Lee 76) as well as red and green in two other separate panels. Goldberg, who’d argued against the gray color scheme in the first place, was given the go-ahead to color the Hulk green, effective with issue #2. “If we hadn’t already made the Thing orange,” he later observed, “that’d have been the perfect color for the Hulk” (Amash 16).
Kirby would later acknowledge those same classical influences while insisting that it was he who’d initiated the series. He further noted real-life examples of individuals who manifested strength under extreme circumstances, as in a 1987 interview that was first published in the Janu-
Along with a subsequent house ad to plug the new comic book, Lee had to be resourceful. Above or below several of the story pages in Fantastic Four #4 (published the same month as Hulk #1) were slogans like “The Hulk is coming!” or “Who is the Hulk?” (Similar taglines had appeared in other titles to promote FF and Amazing Adult Fantasy.) And FF #5 opened with a scene where Johnny Storm was reading Hulk #1, prompting him to joke that the monster reminded him of the Thing. It was the first sign of a rivalry between the two monster-heroes that would develop further in 1963.
The Hulk comic book received some stealth advertising in these panels from Fantastic Four #5. Fantastic Four TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
The “Red Menace” was at the heart of that first story, with Igor’s boss revealed as a mutated Soviet agent called the Gargoyle. Cured by Doctor Banner at the end of
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Banner use a gamma radiation device to transform himself into the Hulk. The scientist had managed to retain his normal consciousness while in monster form but Rick was privately concerned, observing that the Banner-controlled Hulk was still ominously impulsive and uninhibited.
the story, the grateful villain shook his fist at a photo of Premier Khrushchev and sacrificed his life to destroy his own Russian test site. Other communist menaces showed up later—specifically, Mongu (#4) and the Red Chinese General Fang (#5)—as did a varied group of adversaries like the alien Toad-Men (#2), the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime (#3), and Tyrannus (#5), the leader of an underground civilization whose handsome looks contrasted with the earlier Mole Man from Fantastic Four #1.
In issue #6’s letter column, Lee described the progression as “merely part of the character development. After our first issue was launched, we received many suggestions from our readers, and tried to comply with those which had merit. Also, even though these are fantasy tales, we try to be as realistic as possible, and don’t you find that people do change, and grow, and mature from day to day?”
Some of the most compelling stories in the series (like those in issues #3 and #4) didn’t feature a villain, at all. Rather, they dealt with Rick’s struggle to keep the Hulk from going on a rampage if not find a way—with Banner’s guidance—of curing him. In issue #2, Banner began imprisoning himself each night within an underground pressure chamber whose door was braced with a steel ramrod. A weary Rick Jones, slumped against the door with his head slumped into his folded arms, held vigil as the sound of the Hulk’s pounding echoed around him.
For all the tweaking, Incredible Hulk still didn’t resemble a superhero comic book. Unlike the Fantastic Four, the Hulk would never wear a proper costume or display most of the tropes associated with classic comics mystery-men. In the short term, he was proving a little too different from the herd to catch on with the comics buying market. But if readers wanted costumed characters, Lee and Kirby would be happy to provide them elsewhere.
Lee and Kirby were visibly struggling to get a handle on their quasi-hero. Hulk #3’s cover declared that the character could now fly (although technically he was just leaping great distances). And within, an electric shock gave Rick Jones the power to command the Hulk—so long as the teenager was awake (#3). In a concession to the limitations of the creature’s moonlight transformations, issue #4 had
Yesterday’s Gods… Today! If Fantastic Four existed because of the Justice League, Lee and Kirby’s first solo superhero just as surely owed a debt to the father of them all: Superman. Like DC’s best-seller, this new creation was clad in primary colors (blue costume and red cape), had super-strength and the power of flight, and was meek and mild-mannered in his civilian identity. Quite unlike the Man of Steel, however, he also sported long blond hair, wore a silver helmet, and carried a big hammer. He was Thor, the God of Thunder, and the mythological Norse god predated Superman by more than a millennium. Stan Lee described the challenge they faced: “We had the Hulk who was the strongest living human on earth and then we even had the Thing who was almost as strong,” Lee later remarked, “I wanted to do a new book and I said to Jack, ‘Who can we get that’s even more impressive?’” (Brodsky 32)
Each man later asserted that they’d independently come up with the idea of using a mythological god as a comic book hero, but it was Kirby who’d actually left a paper trail featuring the character. In 1942, he and former partner Joe Simon had done a Sandman story featuring Thor, a so-called “Villain From Valhalla” who turned out to be a mortal bank robber (DC’s Adventure Comics #75). In 1957, Kirby drew a story involving the genuine Thor in DC’s Tales of the Unexpected #16. Both versions of Thor sported thick beards that distinPrinting problems led to the Hulk’s original gray flesh-tone being replaced with the well-known green skin in issue #2. guished them from the clean-shaven The Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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blond incarnation of 1962. Notably, though, Kirby carried his 1957 design of Thor’s magic hammer into the new series. The Stone Men of Saturn featured in the first 1962 Thor tale, incidentally, were a concept that Kirby was partial to, as well. He’d used similar versions of the giant rock creatures in House of Mystery #85 (1959), Tales to Astonish #5 (1959), and Tales of Suspense #28 (1962). 1961’s Tales to Astonish #16 had even featured a Kirby stone man named Thorr! (Curiously, that spelling was used in the last panel of Lee and Kirby’s new Thor pilot.) Whoever suggested Thor, it was an idea that Lee considered to be rich with possibilities: “I couldn’t—I wouldn’t —do a series featuring God as a comic-book hero. But I could— and would—do a series featuring a god as a comicbook hero. After all, ever since man has walked the Earth there have been legends of gods and their goddesses, their problems, their battles, their triumphs, and their defeats. Okay. Since we were the legend makers of today, we’d simply take what had gone before, build on it, embellish it, and come up with our own version of the continuing saga of good versus evil.” (Lee 178) Having settled on Thor as their newest hero, Stan Lee considered the challenge of placing an ancient hero in present-day America: “There was the problem of empathy. I realized that it wouldn’t be the easiest job in the world to make a reader in Hoboken develop an affinity for some long-haired nut in blue tights and helmet wings who also happens to be a Norse Thunder God. Still, one formula that’s always worked in comics is the gimmick of
the secret-identity hero. Also, thought I, this particular strip will be offbeat enough to allow me to employ one of the oldest clichés in the book: frail and feeble Dr. Donald Blake is in reality the most invincible immortal of them all—the mighty Thor.” (Lee 181) On vacation to Norway in that first story, the lame Blake found a gnarled walking stick in a cave and discovered that, by striking it, he was transformed into Thor even as the stick became his enchanted hammer. The second installment introduced the physician’s nurse Jane Foster. Convinced that she couldn’t love a man with a limp, Blake kept his attraction to her a secret.
the duties to his brother Larry Lieber. Less invested in the strip, Lee didn’t even bother to introduce a letter column into the book as he had in more personal titles like FF, Incredible Hulk, and Amazing Adult Fantasy. “Thor was just another story,” Lieber recalled. “I didn’t think about it at all. Stan said, ‘I’m trying to make up a character,’ and he gave me the plot, and he said, ‘Why don’t you write the story?’” (Thomas 22). It was Lieber who actually christened Donald Blake as well as (in Journey Into Mystery #85) naming “the magic metal” that composed Thor’s hammer.
Restricted to a set number of comic books by their distributor, Lee had to improvise and feature Thor in a comic book that Martin Goodman was already publishing. Fortunately, there were several of the monster/fantasy titles to choose from and Journey Into Mystery was tapped as the Thunder God’s home effective with issue #83 (August, 1962). While he would plot the new series, Lee lacked the time to script it and assigned Thor TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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actor Herschel Bernardi confronted Burgess Meredith’s character on the street in front of a newsstand, Journey Into Mystery #83 and Amazing Fantasy #15 (along with Dell’s Flintstones #6 and Thirteen #4) were plainly visible hanging on the rack behind them.
The Tangled Web of Spider-Man Released in late May of 1962, not long before Thor’s debut in June, Amazing Fantasy #15 featured the character who would not only be forever identified with Stan Lee but become The design of Thor’s hammer—minus writing—dated back to a 1957 story that Jack Kirby had done for DC. the very corporate symbol of Marvel Thor TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Comics. “Though the world may mock Peter Parker, the timid teenager,” the issue’s cover copy “I didn’t want to keep saying ‘the hammer’ all the screamed, “it will soon marvel at the awesome might of time, so I made up the name the ‘Uru’ hammer. Spider-Man!” And it did. Where I got that from, I don’t know. I wanted it Peter Parker was a high school student. Quiet, scholarly, short, so it would be less to letter. At any rate, and doted on by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, the teenRoy Thomas […] came in one day with Bullfinch’s ager endured a miserable existence at school, brushed off Mythology and he said, ‘Larry, where did you find by girls and bullied by the likes of handsome blond “Flash” the name ‘Uru Hammer’ in this book? And I had to Thompson. His love of science sustained him and it was at tell him, ‘Roy, I didn’t find it! I made it up!” (laughs) a seminar on atomic power that his life changed forever. So he was astonished, and eventually he took the Bitten by a spider that had been accidentally irradiated in real name for the hammer [Mjolnir] but he told me an experiment, Peter wandered away in a daze and quickly he still used ‘Uru’ too.” (Blumberg 49) discovered that he’d somehow gained the arachnid’s abilAmidst pedestrian threats like South American dictaity to climb walls as well as its proportionate strength and tors (JIM #84) and Russian spies agility. (JIM #87), genuine mythological Covering his face with a mask, elements emerged in Thor and the teen challenged a wreshelped define the series’ identity. tler to a match and, thanks to Issue #85’s installment saw the his newfound powers, walked first appearance of Asgard, home away with a hundred dollar of the Norse gods and connected prize. Keeping his real name a to Earth by the fabulous rainbow secret, Peter concluded that he bridge called Bifrost along with had a future in show business cameos by several of the immorand designed a red-and-blue tals including Balder, Heimdall, costumed alter ego called the Tyr, and Thor’s father Odin. The Spider-Man to capitalize on centerpiece of the story was Loki, it. The science prodigy even the God of Mischief, who escaped designed bracelets strapped imprisonment to resume his feud to his wrists and hands that with “eternal enemy” Thor on enabled him to shoot a gluey Earth. From that point forward, web-like substance. Spiderthe villain would regularly return Man quickly became a media to taunt the Thunder God but, curisensation and fame, just as ously, the precise nature of their quickly, went to his head. relationship—known to those familiar with the myths—wasn’t Leaving the TV studio followspelled out until issue #94 in 1963: ing an appearance, SpiderThor and Loki were brothers! Man ignored the shout of a security guard to stop the man In an interesting bit of trivia, running past him. “That’s your historian Carl Gafford observed to job,” the teenager snorted the American Comic Book Chronito the guard after the thief cles that the comic books containhad escaped. “I’m thru being ing the first appearances of Thor pushed around—by anyone! and another major Marvel hero From now on I just look out for were preserved on celluloid in the number one—that means— September 19, 1962 episode of The The iconic cover of Spider-Man’s debut was penciled by Jack Kirby me!” Naked City TV series on ABC. When and inked by Steve Ditko. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. 86
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Bitten by a radioactive spider, young Peter Parker accidentally discovered that he could stick to and climb walls. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
as often as he’d win—in fact, more often. A strip in which nothing would progress according to formula—the situations, the cast of characters, and their relationship to each other would all be unusual and unexpected.” (Lee 133)
Days passed and the incident was forgotten. Returning home one night, Peter was greeted at the curb by a policeman with the horrifying news that his Uncle Ben had surprised a burglar in their home and was fatally shot. In a state of shock, the teenager pulled on his costume, tracked the assailant to a warehouse, and pummeled him into unconsciousness. And only then realized that he was holding the same man that he’d allowed to escape at the TV studio a week earlier.
Casting about for a name, the writer recalled a favorite pulp magazine hero of the 1930s—the Spider, Master of Men. Deciding to call his own hero Spider-Man, Lee immediately went to his favored superhero collaborator Jack Kirby and explained his idea:
Leaving the killer webbed up for the police, Spider-Man staggered away in a daze, overwhelmed that his uncle had died because of his earlier apathy. “And a lean, silent figure fades into the gathering darkness,” the final caption read, “aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come—great responsibility.”
“I told Jack that I wanted to try something different. I didn’t want [Spider-Man] to be overly heroiclooking. I wanted him to be just an ordinary guy who happens to have a super power. He was to be not too handsome, not too glamorous, not too graceful, not too muscular—in other words, sort of the way I might be if I had a super power.” (Lee 135)
Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Steve Ditko, the 11-page story packed a punch and struck a chord with teenagers across the country. Years of honing their skills on short morality plays had culminated in one of the great moments in comic book history. The path leading up to its publication, Lee wrote, had been a complicated one:
In 1953, another Spiderman had been conceived by Joe Simon and his brother-in-law Jack Oleck as a possiSpider-Man’s failure to take action against a fleeing thief changed the course of his life. ble series for Harvey Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Comics. As developed with artist C.C. Beck, the feature was renamed Silver Scarab and dealt with a boy named Tommy Troy who could be magically transformed into an adult hero. Harvey passed “For quite a while I’d been toying with the idea on the proposal as too derivative of Fawcett’s Captain of doing a strip that would violate all the convenMarvel but Simon wasn’t one to let a good idea die. In 1959, tions—break all the rules. A strip that would he decided to pitch the series to Archie Comics but changed actually feature a teenager as the star, instead its hero to the Fly. Reuniting with former partner Jack of making him an (ugh!) adult hero’s sidekick. A Kirby, Simon showed him the earlier Spiderman/Silver strip in which the main character would lose out 87
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Scarab and asked him to revise it. Kirby’s tenure on Adventures of the Fly lasted only two issues but the artist hadn’t forgotten the Spiderman name (Simon 191-204). Kirby returned to Lee’s office with the first five pages of the story, subsequently described by Steve Ditko. Depicted only in a representational shot on the first page, “Kirby’s Spider-Man had a web gun, never seen in use. The only connection to the spider theme was the name.” Ditko continued: “The other four pages showed a teenager living with his kindly old aunt and hard, gruff, retired police captain uncle, a General Thunderbolt Ross-type (from The Hulk) who was hostile toward the boy. Next door or somewhere in the neighborhood there was a whiskered scientist-type involved in some kind of experiment or project. The end of the 5 pages depicted the kid going toward the scientist’s darkened house.” (Ditko 34) Looking at Kirby’s pages, Lee was forced to reject them. Despite the artist’s best efforts, the writer later wrote, the characters were too classically handsome and heroic for what he wanted to achieve (Lee 135). Lee then turned to Ditko, another trusted collaborator whom he believed could deliver the look he was seeking. Ditko recalled: “Stan said Spider-Man would be a teenager with a magic ring which could transform him into an adult hero—SpiderMan. I said it sounded like The Fly, which Joe Simon had done for Archie Publications. I didn’t believe Jack was involved in that feature because the issues I had lacked the usual Kirby flair.” (Ditko 33-34)
With great power comes great responsibility: the motivating force behind Spider-Man.
Historian Mark Evanier speculates that this development may have been a cause of grave concern for publisher Martin Goodman. “John Goldwater at Archie was known to be quite litigious, as was Joe Simon” Evanier wrote, and Goodman may have just been afraid of a lawsuit. Neither Lee nor Kirby, however, ever recalled that as a motive for the major course correction” (Evanier, “Kirby King of Comics” 128). Whatever the reason, Lee wrote an entirely new plot synopsis and Ditko began to draw:
Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked, to fit in with the powers he had, or could have, the possible gimmicks and how they might be used and shown, before I did any breakdowns. For example: he had a clinging power so he wouldn’t have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc.” 88
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“The creation of the costume is a story in itself. Some brief points: the obvious one is the use of the spider theme and the webbing design; I wasn’t sure Stan would like the idea of covering the character’s face but I did it because it hid an obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character and allow the reader/viewer the opportunity to visualize, to ‘draw,’ his own preferred expression on Parker’s face and, perhaps, become the personality behind the mask. Did it work that way? (There are interesting psychological theories about masks.)” (Ditko 34) In 1961, the Amazing Adventures comic book had been retooled into Amazing Adult Fantasy, a title composed entirely of Lee-Ditko twistending fantasy tales. Though initially a success, the book soon saw sales soften and Lee viewed the addition of a superhero as the miracle cure that would save it. With issue #15, the book became Amazing Fantasy with Spider-Man as its star. (Dissatisfied with Ditko’s cover for the issue, Lee assigned Jack Kirby to draw a more dynamic version for the published comic book.) Having established a dialogue with readers through the book’s letter column, Lee used the page to explain the format change. Rather than reference sales, he declared that it had become “simply impossible to produce a magazine like Amazing each and every month, containing five highly original and carefully plotted stories, without the quality eventually beginning to suffer.” Fantasy would still be a part of the book “in a different way” via “the Spiderman.” [The hyphenated version of the name wasn’t consistent until 1963.] “If your letters request it,” Lee continued, “we will make his stories longer, or have two Spiderman stories per issue.” And lastly, there was that title change. “We are omitting the word Adult from our masthead. A number of our teenage readers have written to say that it makes them feel a bit awkward to buy a magazine which seems to be written exclusively for older readers. We never expected such a reaction, but
we certainly don’t want to embarrass any of our loyal readers.” After completing the material for Amazing #16, headlined with a Spider-Man story in which he became the target of crusading newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson, Lee received the distressing news that the title had been cancelled—with #15! Beginning in 1974’s Origins of Marvel Comics and continuing for decades after, Lee would recall that publisher Martin Goodman had blanched at the idea of SpiderMan, declaring that people didn’t like spiders. In this account, the writer A chatty text page in Amazing Fantasy #15 announced that Spider-Man was the book’s new regular feature. believed that he’d known beforehand that Amazing was being cancelled and they’d already done to great success convinced Goodman to run the story with Rawhide Kid, the publisher only because the title was dead. imagined that a two-fisted western would sell far better than a comic In fact, the text page in Amazing #15 featuring a creepy man in tights. made it clear that Lee still believed the book was a going concern when But Lee’s faith was not misplaced. it was assembled. Moreover, historian “The sales reports started coming in,” Will Murray subsequently presented he remembered. “Months after AF overwhelming evidence that a had been kissed off and abandoned second Lee-Ditko episode had been we realized we had a best seller on completed for the never-published our hands—and it had to be because #16, a story that was eventually of Spider-Man” (Lee 136). Cancelling pulled out of inventory when SpiderLinda Carter, Student Nurse with #9 Man got his own comic book (Murray, (January, 1963), Goodman put The “Amazing Fantasy No. 16: The Untold Amazing Spider-Man #1 on the stands Secret Origin of Spider-Man” 22-24). two months later. From Goodman’s perspective, cancelBig Man In the Anthill ling the monthly Amazing Fantasy The successive debuts of the Hulk, allowed room on the schedule for six Thor, and Spider-Man—all destined more issues a year of proven commodto be major stars for the company— ity Fantastic Four and a new Lee-Kirby overshadow the fact that a fourth Western. The latter was Two-Gun superhero joined the line in 1962. Kid, a title that had ironically been When Henry Pym debuted in Tales cancelled in 1961 to make room for To Astonish #27 (January, 1962), Amazing Adventures. Assigning Lee there was no sense that he was any and Kirby to revamp the character as 89
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With the help of a benevolent ant, a shrunken Henry Pym reached the serum that could restore him to normal. Ant-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
different than the scores of one-shot protagonists who’d preceded him in all the Stan Lee-edited anthology comics. “The Man In the Ant Hill” was a simple six-page tale in which scientist Pym was shrunk to tiny size by a formula of his own devising, imperiled by ants, and ultimately filled with gratitude when one of the ants rescued him and brought him the serum that restored his full height. Plotted by Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, and drawn by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, the tale’s focus on the terrors of sizereduction likely owed more to the 1957 film The Incredible Shrinking Man than it did to DC’s sunnier 1961 recreation of the Atom. Whatever its inspiration, the story was forgotten until sales figures came in and indicated a notable spike for that issue. Attributing its success to the coverfeatured “Ant Hill” adventure, Lee immediately commissioned another one-shot story (“The Man in the Beehive”) with a similar cover—but entirely different plot—for Tales of Suspense #32 (August, 1962).
Sales of Henry Pym’s debut were strong enough to inspire a “Man In the Beehive” variation seven months later. Ant-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
lated that Kirby might have cannibalized elements of his Spiderman costume. Indeed, Steve Ditko vaguely recalled its “abstract chest design. The closest thing to it is the one on Ant-Man” (Ditko 34). Beyond that detail, Murray noted that “the thick Ant-Man boots might have enabled a Kirbydesigned Spider-Man to climb walls by mechanical means” (Murray, “Who Redesigned the Ant-Man?” 26).
Lee realized that Henry Pym could be adapted into the resident superhero of Tales To Astonish. Jack Kirby set to work on a costume that included a large black ant outline on the hero’s chest and a helmet that would enable Pym to communicate with the tiny insects. Draped in the primary colors of red and blue, the AntMan was born in TTA #35 (September, 1962). Although clad in red and blue, Ant-Man never reached the heights of other heroes wearing those primary colors like Superman and Spider-Man. Ant-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Murray also noted a rumor that the “Beehive” story had been a pilot for a Bee-Man series (Murray, “Amazing Fantasy No. 16: The Untold Secret Origin of Spider-Man” 21). Its protagonist had been a middle-aged beekeeper named Lucius Farnsworth who seemingly shrank and terrorized a thief. Given Farnsworth’s non-physical role, the suggestion that he was a prospective action hero seems unlikely. Larry Lieber, who’d named Henry Pym in the earlier story, continued to script over Stan Lee’s plots in the ongoing AntMan series with art by Kirby and Ayers. Feeling its way, the team tossed failsafe communist villains at the new hero in #35 and #36 and introduced a generic costumed crook called the Protector in #37. Only in Tales To Astonish #38 (December 1962) would Ant-Man acquire his true archnemesis, the blacklisted atomic scientist Egghead. The encroaching heroes made it clear that an era was ending but it was an age celebrated that summer in a pair of 25¢-giants. Obviously inspired by DC’s success with similar books, July’s Strange Tales Annual #1 reprinted 13
Historian Will Murray specu90
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From his letter columns, Lee was aware that many fans were interested in the identities of the people creating the comics. For several years, most of the company’s stories had a brief credit on the splash page (e.g., “by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby”). Effective with the December, 1962-dated issues (save the teen humor/romance titles), more complete details were uniformly added to every story. They specified the writer (or plotter/scripter in the case of the Stan Lee/Larry Lieber stories), broke the artist identification into credits for penciler and inker (thus identifying some Kirby embellishers for the first time), and listed the man who lettered the tales: Artie Simek. It was an important development, one that was already being acknowledged by ACG’s Richard Hughes and DC’s Julius Schwartz in their own comics. In the short term, it helped strengthen the bond between fans and creators by putting names to the mysterious people who created the comics. In time, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others would become brands in and of themselves, recognized and trusted commodities whose names could sell comic books as surely as the heroes they wrote and drew.
The first Marvel annuals included a spotlight on creators Stan Lee and Stan Goldberg in the Millie the Model edition. Strange Tales, Millie the Model TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
monster stories from the past few years while Millie the Model Annual #1 featured all-new material (some of it updated or redrawn from older stories).
The impact of Marvel was readily apparent when the Alley Awards recognized the best of 1962. Fantastic Four was declared both Best Comic Book and Best Group, the Thing was Best Supporting Character, and the Sub-Mariner Best Villain. The origin of Spider-Man won for Best Short Story.
Even in the Western and teen titles, Stan Lee was ever more conscious of the details that sparked readers’ interest—like origin stories. Patsy and Hedy #80 (February 1962) recounted the story of how its two characters met while Lee and Kirby’s Two-Gun Kid #60 (November 1962)—the title that replaced Amazing Fantasy—completely recreated the character. The new Western hero was Matt Hawk, an emaciated city lawyer who’d relocated to Tombstone, Texas and ran afoul of the local troublemakers. Secretly trained in the manly art of gunfighting by an old sharpshooter, Hawk took the name of “a fictitious gun-fighter” he’d once read about (a reference to the 1948-1961 Clay Harder version of the character) and became the Two-Gun Kid. An example of the character crossover, soon to be a staple of the Marvel Comics formula, was found in Patsy Walker #99 (February 1962). Hoping to shore up sales on Linda Carter, Student Nurse, Stan Lee and artist Al Hartley had the character stop by in a cover-featured story. The issue’s other gueststar—Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev— failed to get either the cover or any traction in his desire to prove that typical American teenagers were weak and decadent. After the unwitting Patsy and friends emphatically declared they’d fight for their freedom if need be, the disgusted leader returned to Russia. “No matter how many bombs and rockets we build,” he muttered, “how can anyone ever beat Russian Premier Khrushchev got a lecture on those crazy AmeriAmerican freedom in Patsy Walker #99. Patsy Walker TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. cans?” 91
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Heavy Metal
approved and Andru went home to begin penciling them. “I saved the length of time it would have taken Ross to do an entire book of pencils, come back, show them to me, have me edit them, send them to the letterer, and back to Mike [Esposito] to do the inking, and back to me,” Kanigher explained. The entire process took ten days (Snyder 78).
Curiously, Marvel’s burst of new creations coincided with the first year in recent memory in which DC did not—with one notable exception—generate a clutch of their own prospective stars. Star-making editors Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger built on pre-established situations and characters within their own groups of titles, pushing them to greater heights. On the whole, though, there was a sense that DC might have run dry on new concepts. Tryout title The Brave and the Bold actually returned to older characters Cave Carson (B&B #40-41) and Hawkman (B&B #42-44) whose previous test runs had been encouraging…but not quite enough to earn them ongoing titles.
As related in Showcase #37 (March-April 1962), the Metal Men began with Will “Doc” Magnus, “the man who makes science-fiction ideas practical.” It was Magnus who the U.S. government came to when they were seeking a means of defeating a giant radioactive flying manta that was terrorizing the east coast. The scientist had already created a life-sized robot woman made of platinum (dubbed “Tina”) who was animated with human characteristics by a microscopic device later referred to as a responsometer. With the government’s encouragement and funded by the millions of dollars his patents had earned him, Doc created five male siblings for Tina: Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, and Tin.
Robert Kanigher had just concluded a reprise of his own Suicide Squad in B&B #37-39 when DC’s Executive Vice President approached the writer-editor about a new series for the company’s other tryout title. In a 1982 interview, Kanigher recounted what would become an industry legend: “Late Friday, Irwin Donenfeld said that it wasn’t my turn to do Showcase, but did I have an idea for one. I said: Metal Men. Robots with human characteristics, but still retaining their metallic properties. Irwin said: Do it. I regret that I’m not versed in science. I gave myself a crash course in Chemistry from a battered book that Julie Schwartz had on his desk. [Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia.] The next morning I drove my daughter Jan to Julliard’s School of Music, where she was taking an advance course in ballet for children. It was winter. I parked on a deserted street facing the Hudson River and warmed myself by writing in a spiral notebook with ruled pages. When Jan was finished I drove home with her. I continued writing. I finished the 25 pages the next day and my wife Bern stoically typed the script. On Monday I called Ross Andru in to do the breakdowns.” (Snyder 77) Rather than have Andru fully pencil the pages, Kanigher had him sketch out rough layouts for each page on typing paper and noted any revisions as the artist turned them in. By the end of that Monday, the layouts for the entire story had been
Each of them had distinct personalities. Kanigher knew that he wanted a female in the group and portrayed Tina as hopelessly infatuated with her creator, much to Doc’s exasperation. Kanigher later discussed the process of creating the other Metal Men: “Gold was the most difficult. From the viewpoint of the character, he’s a noble metal. How can you handle nobility without making him Mister Clean? Lead was easy. I made him like William Bendix, the actor, except not as intelligent as Bendix. […] Iron was the strong man of metals. Mercury the most ill-tempered. Tin, the lowliest, who knew it, hence his inferiority complex and stammer.” (Snyder 77)
A detail of this Metal Men image appeared in the September 23, 1962 New York Times alongside a drawing of standard-bearer Superman. Metal Men TM and © DC Comics.
The Metal Men were extraordinarily pliable, capable of stretching and reshaping themselves if not melding with each other to blend their strength. As drawn by Andru and Esposito, the sextet had a cartoony, expressive look that fit perfectly with Kanigher’s characterization. The team had a charm and unique perspective that set it apart from every other comic book on the market. There was even an element of tragic heroism in the book, established in
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soldiers in issues #99 and #100. SSWS #101 (February-March 1962) introduced G.I. Robot, an artificial man named Joe who joined human soldier Mac on expeditions to Dinosaur Island. The inexpressive Joe was the polar opposite of the Metal Men and Kanigher seems to have tired of the character after three issues, initially bringing the Flying Boots back for an encore in #104 and #105. G.I. Robot eventually resurfaced for a single 1966 issue (SSWS #125) but didn’t make a substantial return until a 1981-1983 revival in Weird War Tales. Andru and Esposito’s other regular book was Wonder Woman, where writer-editor Kanigher wrote more “impossible tales” wherein the toddler, teenage, and adult versions of the Amazing Amazon united with their mother as the Wonder Woman Family (#129, #133). Even Queen Hippolyta (now periodically called Wonder Queen) was getting her turn in the spotlight with stories like the one in #132 dealing with her early relationship with Hercules. Issue #130 “Mirage Mirrors” story displayed an unusual bit of continuity with two of Kanigher’s fellow editors. It featured a cameo by Superman (whose series were overseen by Mort Weisinger) and referenced the “Cosmic Funhouse” tale that had recently run in the Julius Schwartz-edited Justice League of America #7. On the other hand, Kanigher’s revelation that Wonder Woman’s invisible plane was really Pegasus, the magically-transformed winged horse of myth (WW #128) got him into trouble with a reader in issue #132’s letter column who asserted that it didn’t jibe with the jet’s earlier published origin.
The Metal Men included a woman—Platinum a.k.a. Tina—who had romantic feelings for her creator, Doc Magnus. Metal Men TM and © DC Comics.
the pilot episode’s climax where, one by one, the members of the Metal Men gave their artificial lives to destroy the radioactive creature. The robots would “die” many times over the years but inevitably be rebuilt by Doc Magnus to fight again. Showcase tryouts typically ran three issues and the Metal Men team seemingly capped their run in issue #39 with a story that introduced the heroes’ best-remembered nemesis. Chemo was a giant humanoid shell who was filled with toxic waste and endowed with a sort of rudimentary sentience. Having subdued the creature, Doc and the Metal Men broke the fourth wall to declare that this had been the last trial issue. They encouraged readers to send cards to DC if they wanted the series to continue in its own book.
“It wouldn’t be possible to include all the details involved in the origin of the robot plane in a single story,” Kanigher (writing as Wonder Woman) replied, “simply because there are much too many details to write about. So, whenever another robot plane origin story appears, I try to get in additional facts—which didn’t previously appear. And this is what makes the stories seem different.”
The response was, according to Kanigher, extraordinary and a fourth story was quickly prepared for Showcase #40. Two months after that issue went on sale, enthusiastic DC executives even provided a picture of the Metal Men to run alongside Superman in Peter Bart’s New York Times article as an indication of the kind of successful new heroes the company was publishing. (Ironically, they would also be the last hit Showcase creation until 1965.) Metal Men #1 went on sale in February 1963. Interestingly, the Metal Men’s creators had simultaneously conceived another character called G.I. Robot whose adventures ran in months opposite Showcase #37-39. Late in 1961, Kanigher had begun experimenting with adding recurring characters to “The War That Time Forgot” feature in Star Spangled War Stories, starting with the Flying Boots, a trio of circus aerialist siblings/
The Planet That Came To a Standstill (and the Editor Who Didn’t) That was essentially the approach Julius Schwartz took when he and writer John Broome decided to refer back to the beginnings of the Flash and Green Lantern, whose debuts had recently been reprinted in Secret Origins #1. “The Origin of the Flash’s Masked Identity” (Flash #128: May 1962) was the weakest episode, essentially a scenario imagined by the soon-to-be superhero in the blink of an eye that convinced him he should keep his real name a secret. Similarly slight was “The Origin of Green Lantern’s Oath” (GL #10: January 1962) that recounted various adventures that inspired Hal Jordan’s familiar recitation (“In brightest day, in blackest night…”). Both were essentially vignettes without much of a plot. The last mission of Hal Jordan’s alien predecessor Abin Sur was revealed in Green Lantern #16. Green Lantern TM and © DC Comics.
More substantial was the Gardner Fox-scripted “Earth’s First Green
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teleporter now gone, he couldn’t return to Earth even if he wanted to. Hugging Alanna, the young archaeologist declared that it was almost “too good to be true.” And it was.
Lantern” (GL #16), which recounted the events leading up to the alien Abin Sur crashing on Earth and passing on his power ring to Hal Jordan (per 1959’s Showcase #22). That first tale had portrayed Abin Sur arriving on Earth in a spacecraft but, as the series evolved, it was established that Green Lanterns didn’t need such a vessel to travel in space. GL #16 finally explained that discrepancy: Abin Sur had been possessed by a life-form that needed the spaceship for its own purposes.
Months earlier, in Justice League of America #4 (April-May 1961), the Flash had nominated Adam Strange to be a member of the illustrious team. It was a nice gesture but one that readers were quick to point had a serious flaw: No one on Earth knew about Adam’s adventures on Rann. A year later, writer Gardner Fox and artists Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson explained everything in “The Planet That Came to a Standstill” (MIS #75).
A story conceived specifically to address a previous issue’s continuity error was a novelty in 1962, but it would become increasingly common as comic book fans began entering the industry to write stories themselves. The first example of the phenomenon took place five months prior to Green Lantern #16 in another Schwartz-edited title: Mystery In Space #75 (May 1962).
Realizing that the Justice League had to have met Adam prior to JLA #4, Fox looked back an issue earlier. Issue #3 had revolved around four warring Just as Green Lantern was loosely based on a alien dictators, one of whom was called hero of the 1940s, Star Sapphire was inspired Kanjar Ro. The villain had confined the by a villainess from that bygone age. Green Lantern TM and © DC Comics. League in his so-called “Slave Ship of The comic book featured an Earthborn Space” and Fox realized that the craft’s archaeologist named Adam Strange ability to travel faster than light was ideally suited for the who was accidentally transported to the planet Rann by a story he wanted to tell. zeta-beam broadcast from that world. Bringing a resourceful mind and fresh perspective to the table, Adam helped In short, Kanjar Ro had escaped and made his way to Rann, protect Rann and its people from a succession of threats intent on using its triple sun as a source that would endow but inevitably faded back to Earth as the effects of the zetahim with super-strength. Held at bay by the villain’s beam wore off. He continued to seek out the next beam Gamma Gong that paralyzed anyone within a certain to Rann less out of a desire to be a hero than because he’d radius, Adam Strange instead used the Slave Ship to travel fallen in love with a native scientist’s daughter Alanna. to Earth. Arriving, he caught a zeta-beam back to Rann Their romance was frustrated only by the fact that Adam and struck the Gamma Gong with enough force to render was always drawn back to Earth. himself and the entire planet motionless. When the zetabeam radiation wore off, Adam returned to Earth with his mobility restored. Meanwhile, the Justice League had discovered the abandoned Slave Ship on Earth, leading to a meeting with Adam and a climactic battle on Rann.
Mystery In Space #74 seemed to resolve that dilemma. Using an alien teleportation craft in the heat of his latest battle, Adam had bypassed the zeta-beam and realized in the aftermath that he wasn’t going to fade away. Moreover, with the
The victory over Kanjar Ro came with a cost. The villain had struck Adam with a radioactive force beam that left a permanent residue in his body. It was harmless on Earth but would build to a toxic level under Rann’s three suns. In other words, Adam could no longer maintain permanent residence on his adoptive planet and had to return to short-term zeta-beam visits. After Adam was brought back to Earth by the JLA, Alanna of Ranagar buried her head in a pillow and wept.
Adam Strange’s victory over Kanjar Ro was tainted by his discovery that he couldn’t permanently remain with his beloved Alanna. Mystery In Space, Adam Strange TM and © DC Comics.
From the perspective of many fans, the Adam Strange series—particularly the period when Carmine Infantino’s stylish pencils were joined by Murphy Anderson’s lush inks (MIS #63-83, 85)—was perhaps the most beloved run of comics stories ever edited by Julius Schwartz. And “The Planet That Came to a Standstill”
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he’d done so with a villain. In fact, Star Sapphire owed a bit to two villainesses created by Robert Kanigher for the 1940s Flash series. An earlier Star Sapphire—an alien queen— had appeared in 1947’s All-Flash #32 and 1948’s Comic Cavalcade #29. Carol’s inability to remember her costumed alter ego, however, was reminiscent of Kanigher’s Thorn, a criminal with a law-abiding split personality named Rose (first seen in 1947’s Flash Comics #89).
was arguably its zenith. When the Alley Awards for 1962 were announced, the adventure was proclaimed Best Book-Length Story with Schwartz, Fox, Infantino, and Anderson picking up prizes for Best Editor, Best Script Writer, Best Pencil Artist, and Best Inker, respectively.
Beyond the critical acclaim, Schwartz also saw his efforts on Justice League of America recognized when the title was promoted from a bi-monthly schedule to eight issues a Green Lantern #13 (June 1962) year. He, Fox, and artists marked another milestone as Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Broome and Kane united two Sachs celebrated by belatedly of the Schwartz-edited heroes explaining how the heroes for the first time out of JLA had formed a team in the context. Reporter Iris West was first place. Issue #9 (February headed to the west coast to 1962) had the seven charter interview test pilot Hal Jordan members explain to Green and her boyfriend Barry (Flash) Arrow and Snapper Carr that Allen tagged along to make they’d come together to fight a vacation out of it. The end beings from the planet Appelresult was a pair of stand alone lax. The origin flashback was adventures—the first in Green followed by the first two-part Lantern #13 (June 1962) and the story in the series’ history, second (illustrated by Carmine a time-spanning adventure Infantino and Joe Giella) in The that introduced the Lord of Time, the sorcerer Felix Faust, On its second birthday, the Justice League belatedly explained how its members Flash #131 (September 1962)— came together in the first place. Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics. wherein the Flash and GL took the three demons Abnegazar, on separate alien threats. In Rath, and Ghast (JLA #10-11). contrast to the all-business pairings The evil Doctor Light debuted an issue love interest Carol Ferris. Targeted by of Superman and Batman in World’s after that (#12). a group of alien women called the Finest Comics, the guys also found Zamarons, Carol met their qualificaGreen Lantern was likewise bumped time to relax and socialize in between tions for queen and was forced to take up to eight issues a year with #10 scenes where their puzzled girlfriends the dual identity of Star Sapphire to (January 1962). Recurring characters wondered where they were running serve them. Compelling their chamand concepts like the Green Lantern off to. pion to test her power against Green Corps, Sinestro, the Jordan BrothLantern, the Zamarons left in disgust In an era when the secret identities ers, and the era of 5700 A.D. were all when he defeated her. of superheroes were still paramount, revisited, and new villains Sonar (GL #14) and Star Sapphire (GL #16) were introduced. Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, Star Sapphire was actually GL’s
The character was a first for Julius Schwartz. Although he’d taken the names of several old heroes and recreated them, this was the first time
In a departure for the era, Green Lantern and the Flash mutually disclosed their real names in GL #13.
even the members of the Justice League kept their civilian names a secret from one another. Thus, like Superman and Batman had done a decade earlier, Barry Allen learned that Hal Jordan was Green Lantern by accident. Noting that the test pilot was acting strangely, Barry shadowed him long enough to discover that Hal was also his JLA comrade and under the control of the alien Spectarns. Freeing the hero from their influence, the Flash felt it was only fair to share his own civilian identity with GL. Team-ups were now a virtual staple of The Flash. On his way out of town to start his California vacation, the Scarlet Speedster had Kid Flash fill
The Flash, Green Lantern TM and © DC Comics.
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villains. A sentimental pair of stories in issues #126 and #132 dealt with Barry Allen’s reunion with childhood sweetheart Daphne Dean, now a famous actress. And the occasional Kid Flash stories displayed a streak of social conscience as in #127’s tale of a Native American boy facing racism and issue #133’s touching “Secret of the Handicapped Boys” in which three boys who were respectively blind, deaf, and mute deduced the teen hero’s secret identity. The Atom #1 (June-July 1962) became the latest of the Schwartz-edited superhero books with Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, and Murphy Anderson as its creative team. Evil plant master Jason Woodrue debuted in the first issue, but the Tiny Titan’s most recognized enemy—a time-themed costumed crook named Chronos—didn’t appear until issue #3. The same issue also introduced one of the series’ enduring plot springboards. Created by scientist Alpheus V. Hyatt, the Time Pool was a vortex that could access any point in the past…or so he theorized. It was too small for any human to pass through but just right for the Atom. The first installment found the hero in 850 A.D., where an Arab boy was convinced that the tiny man was a genie and inspired the legend of Aladdin’s Lamp. Having won his own title, the Atom met Schwartz’s criteria of success that entitled him to join the Justice League of America, an event that took place in JLA #14. At the same time, the editor had to be disappointed that his other recent revival Hawkman was still in limbo. Schwartz reunited Gardner Fox with artist Joe Kubert for a second Hawkman tryout in The Brave and the Bold #42-44 (JuneJuly to October-November 1962). Tweaking his portrayal of the hero, Kubert added winged “ears” to Hawkman’s mask, an addition that Fox explained as a kind of police commendation. The focus this time was more overtly on science fiction, with the first two issues focusing heavily on Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s homeworld of Thanagar and alien threats like the Dragonfly Raiders and Manhawks. As with the 1961 issues, sales on the test run were satisfactory…but not enough to warrant an ongoing comic book series.
Aquaman, the Atom, Hawkman, Metal Men TM and © DC Comics.
in for him on a case with the Elongated Man (#130). And the previous issue had featured the inevitable sequel to 1961’s “Flash of Two Worlds” when Jay Garrick returned to race alongside Barry Allen again. Indulging the older fans who remembered the old Justice Society and the younger ones who’d never seen them, Gardner Fox and Infantino included a seven panel flashback to the team’s final appearance in 1950’s All-Star Comics #57. Flash #128 introduced a new villain to the series called Abra Kadabra, a time-traveler from the 64th Century whose super-science seemed like magic to the people of 1962. The villain returned in issue #133, which sported one of the series’ most unintentionally funny covers. Transformed into a marionette by Kadabra’s magic, the Flash’s word balloon read, “I’ve got the strangest feeling I’m being turned into a puppet!”
Instead, Schwartz turned his attention to a wildly different concept: Strange Sports Stories. Following up on Irwin Donenfeld’s request for a sportsthemed series, the veteran editor knew that static depictions of athletic events would never cut it. Schwartz ultimately made the series a sibling of his science fiction titles Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures with high-concept scenarios like bodiless baseball players and
Old favorites Mirror Master (#126, #130) and Gorilla Grodd (#127) returned to menace the hero, too, with the latter making his first cover appearance. In the 1950s, legend has it, DC noted several cover gimmicks that seemed to make sales go up—purple backgrounds, heroes crying, heroes fighting their own twin, and…gorillas. Rather than risk overkill, DC’s Irwin Donenfeld put a limit on the number of times each bit could be used. Consequently, Grodd had made four appearances prior to 1962 (Flash #105-107, 115) and never appeared on the cover once. Some of John Broome’s best Flash stories of the year were the quieter ones, stories with no guest-stars or costumed
A Carmine Infantino/Murphy Andersonillustrated cover introduced the unusual Strange Sports Stories feature. The Brave and the Bold, Strange Sports Stories TM and © DC Comics.
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medicine’s effects proved temporary, the groundwork had been laid for his larger role with the group.
phantom prizefighters. Charged by his editor with coming up with “something different” to evoke the movement of sports, artist Carmine Infantino devised a unique layout that placed captions to the left of each panel (rather than above them) with silhouettes of the characters below the text. “In this manner,” Schwartz explained in The Brave and the Bold #45, “the eye would perceive the caption and panel in a continuous flow of action, much like seeing a motion picture film unreel before one’s eyes.”
The Superboy solo series continued to appear in every issue of Adventure and Weisinger cautiously used those stories as the cover feature on most issues just as he’d done while Tales of the Bizarro World had shared the book. When the Legion did appear on the cover (as with #300 and #302), he made sure that Superboy was prominently featured in the crowd.
With Donenfeld’s blessing, Strange Sports Stories ran for an unprecedented five consecutive issues in The Brave and the Bold #45-49 (December 1962-January 1963 to AugustSeptember 1963) with scripts by Gardner Fox and John Broome. In B&B #48’s letter column, Schwartz even dangled the possibility of adding a recurring hero called the Sports Master but sales never justified an ongoing comic book. Between the school athletes who preferred the real thing and the kids who were bullied by jocks, too many prospective readers had passed on the series. “It sold nicely, but not nice enough,” Schwartz later said. “One of my favorite magazines, and most difficult” (Witterstaetter 39).
In one of their last pre-series guest-appearances, the Legion had also been responsible for the creation of a sub-group dubbed the Legion of Super-Pets. Over the years, several super-animals had been introduced into the Super-mythology, most prominently Superboy’s dog Krypto in 1955’s Adventure #205 and Supergirl’s cat Streaky in 1960’s Action #261. In an age when most kids owned a pet of some sort, it was an easy means of reader identification. A Supergirl story in Action Comics #277 (June 1961) brought the cat and dog together in a “Battle of the Super-Pets” that ended with the surprise appearance of Beppo, a super-monkey seen previously in 1959’s Superboy #76. Adventure Comics #293 (February 1962) reunited the trio when the Legion of SuperHeroes discovered that super-animals were uniquely impervious to the sinister Brain-Globes. The Legion of Super-Pets made 11 appearances between 1962 and 1969 before disappearing altogether when an older, more jaded readership began to scoff at the very notion of super-animals.
Legionnaires, Last Days, and Other Things Among editor Mort Weisinger’s 1962 titles, the strangest sports story was certainly Superman #155 (August 1962), wherein real life professional wrestler Antonino Rocca tossed the Man of Steel out of the ring. Characteristic of the Super-titles, it had all been an elaborate hoax designed to draw out a group of crooks so that Superman, Rocca, Krypto, and two members of the Legion of the Super-Heroes could capture them.
Still, that first story—written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Curt Swan and George Klein—had included a fine example of the sort of cross-promotion and teases that Weisingeredited books often excelled at. While gathering Krypto, Streaky, and Beppo, the Legion had also recruited SuperHorse, a white stallion who’d never been seen before. “Yes, readers!” the caption proclaimed. “This a preview glimpse of a super-pet Supergirl will own some day in the future!”
The Legion’s ongoing guest-appearances—including the debut of member Ultra Boy in Superboy #98 (July 1962)— finally paid off during the summer when the team of 30th Century heroes replaced the Bizarro World series in Adventure Comics effective with #300 (September 1962). The Bizarro creative team of Jerry Siegel and John Forte moved onto the Legion strip without missing a beat, penning an inaugural adventure in which the heroes fought a Lex Luthor robot. Weaving a strand of the greater Superman mythology into the strip, Siegel reintroduced Mon-El, the dying teen hero whom Superboy had to project into the Phantom Zone. Trapped in that ghostly realm for a millennium, Mon-El was freed and provided with a curative serum that enabled him to defeat the robot on the Legion’s behalf. Despite Mon-El’s quick return to the Zone when the
The debut of Comet the Super-Horse was teased in a Superboy adventure months before his chronological first appearance with Supergirl. Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.
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That day came seven months later in Action Comics #292 (September 1962), the first of a three-parter by Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney in which Supergirl met Comet. The telepathic flying stallion had original been a centaur (half-man/half-horse) named Biron who’d been magically transformed entirely into equine form. Given his origins, Comet wasn’t truly a pet at all. That was explored further in 1963, when he temporarily acquired human form and the hint of romance sparked between him and Supergirl. The initial Comet trilogy was followed by a four-part Dorfman-Mooney story that featured the return of Lex Luthor’s sister Lena Thorul. When first seen in Lois Lane #23, Lena was apparently an adult but she was scaled back to a teenager in Action #295298 (December 1962-March 1963) to reestablish her as a classmate of Linda Danvers. The budding friendship between the two girls was complicated from the start over Linda’s fear that Lena might telepathically discover she was Supergirl. The ensuing three chapters upended Supergirl’s world even more when she and Lex Luthor formed an alliance to rescue the kidnapped Lena and stop an invasion from the Phantom Zone. Luthor’s good side was also on display in Lois Lane #34’s “Bride of Luthor,” a new Imaginary Tale that posited what might happen if Lois gave up waiting on Superman and fell in love with his reformed nemesis. Touching in its first half, the story turned tragic in its second as the couple’s rebellious teenage son turned to crime and accidentally killed his father. The tale closed with Lois in a state of shock as Superman flew off in pursuit of young Black Luthor. Imaginary Tales often ended unhappily but the sheer tragedy of this particular adventure generated an unusual amount of response from readers wanting closure. Weisinger eventually commissioned a sequel for late 1963’s Lois Lane #46.
Curt Swan and George Klein’s stunning imagery helped make “The Last Days of Superman” a classic. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
(Superman #157). And a full-length chronicle in which Superman and Jimmy Olsen were virtual enemies of the state in the bottle city of Kandor, taking the costumed aliases of Nightwing and Flamebird as they fought a radical group that was attempting a risky effort to enlarge the community (Superman #158). Perhaps the best-remembered was “The Last Days of Superman” (Superman #156). It was another rewrite of an earlier story, in this case one written by William Woolfolk that had appeared in 1950’s Superman #66. In each account, Superman believed himself to be stricken with a terminal illness and began work on projects that would benefit humanity after his passing. He ultimately burned a message into the moon: “Do good unto others and every man can be a superman. Superman (Clark Kent).” In the end, the Man of Steel discovered that his ailment was actually being caused by a sliver of kryptonite in a photographer’s camera. Relieved, Superman deleted his civilian identity from the lunar surface.
Weisinger’s writers and artists were capable of wringing pathos out of stories set within the regular Superman continuity, including a back-to-back trio written by Edmond Hamilton with art by Swan and Klein. There was the tale of a former Phantom Zone prisoner named Quex-Ul who saved Superman’s life at the cost of his own super-powers 98
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The 1962 rewrite (25 pages versus the original 13) reflected the huge changes in the series’ mythology over the past few years. Where the original story had included only Lois Lane and Perry White among the supporting cast, the new one featured Jimmy Olsen (as the pivotal photographer), Lana Lang, Supergirl, Krypto, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Kandorians, Lori Lemaris, Mon-El, Batman, and Robin. The cumulative Stranded on Earth for over six years, the Manhunter From Mars finally went home in 1962. show of support that each Martian Manhunter TM and © DC Comics. of the characters demonstrated—many by helping Superman achieve his goals if only because of the Manhunter From Mars episode. Since when he was too weak to do so—was a moving tribute to his debut in 1955’s Detective #225, J’onn J’onzz had been how much the hero meant to his fictional world. trapped on Earth, adopting the guise of Detective John Jones as he sought a way home. In “Mystery of the Martian Two more issues of Superman Annual appeared in 1962 Marauders,” the machine that had brought the alien hero with reprints themed to Krypton (#5) and superheroes (#6). to Earth was finally repaired, enabling him to experience The popularity of the format inspired a Lois Lane Annual a joyous reunion with his family on Mars. By now, the during the summer, as well. Manhunter had established a life on Earth and resolved to Beyond individual stories, there were also a few numerical remain there, secure in the knowledge that he could now milestones in 1962. Superman #150 (January 1962) let its return to his home-world whenever he wished. birthday pass without comment although its somber lead The milestone coincided with a shift in Detective’s line-up. story dealt with Superman, Supergirl, and other surviving For most DC adventure titles since the 1950s, a typical issue Kryptonians observing a moment of silence on the annifeatured three short stories per issue. Julius Schwartz had versary of Krypton’s destruction. Just a month after Advenalready gone to two stories per issue if he wasn’t running ture Comics #300, the Superman Family titles celebrated a full-length adventure, appreciating the breathing room their second centennial of the year when Superboy—which it afforded both plot and artwork. Mort Weisinger had also th began in 1949—reached its 100 issue. moved to the two story format in both The comic book was unusual in that Action and Adventure. For Schiff, the it actually acknowledged that there switch took place in Detective #301 was an anniversary. The lead story when the Manhunter From Mars backrecalled the hero’s origins with Krypup feature expanded from seven pages tonian villains Dr. Xadu and Erndine per issue to twelve. impersonating his parents Jor-El and Aquaman, who had only become Lara while the back-up dealt with Detective’s third feature in 1961 after pal Pete Ross impersonating the Boy being bumped from Adventure, left the of Steel in secret and being rewarded book with #300. His new home was by the Legion for his heroism. Special World’s Finest Comics, effective with features included a center-spread map #125. In doing so, the hero displaced of the planet Krypton, a feature on Tommy Tomorrow, a futuristic officer “How the Super-Family Came to Earth of the Planeteers who dated back to From Krypton” (reprinted from Super1947. In honor of his fifteen years of man Annual #2), small cover reproducservice, Tommy was given five issues tions of Superman #1 and Superboy #1, of tryouts in Showcase #41, #42, #44, and a black and white photocopy of #46, #47 (November-December 1962 the second page of Superman’s origin to November-December 1963). Writer from 1939’s Superman #1. Arnold Drake and artist Lee Elias effectively relaunched the series, focusChanges ing on Tommy’s days as a cadet at the Elsewhere, editor Jack Schiff let DetecWest Point of Space with the expectative Comics #300 (February 1962) pass tion that a younger, less experienced without notice as Batman and Robin hero would hold more appeal to young Longtime back-up feature Tommy Tomorrow received a fought the Polka-Dot Man in the cover last-ditch chance at stardom via five issues of Showcase. readers. It did not—at least not in the story. Issue #301 was more auspicious, Tommy Tomorrow TM and © DC Comics. numbers necessary for an ongoing 99
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comic book—and the adventures of Tommy Tomorrow came to an end. Ironically, Aquaman hadn’t even needed a home, having won an ongoing comic book following his own Showcase tryout. The Schiff-edited Aquaman #1 (January-February 1962), written by Jack Miller and drawn by Nick Cardy, was notable primarily for the introduction of series regular Quisp, a magical imp from another dimension who delighted in helping Aquaman and Aqualad. At DC, there was a clear belief that cute creatures were popular with younger readers. Schiff himself already had Batman’s transformation into a costumed infant was not a highlight of his long career. Bat-Mite as a recurring character in Batman TM and © DC Comics. the Batman series as well as adorable alien Cosmo in Challengers of the Unknown. In DetecIn 1962, Jack Schiff was editing an even dozen comic books. tive #311 (January 1963), he even paired J’onn J’onzz with Despite the help of a pair of assistant editors who’d been in a childlike alien named Zook. “Cute” also encompassed their positions since the 1940s, he later conceded that the toddlers, prompting Weisinger’s frequent use of Superbaby division of labor had become “unwieldy.” Consequently, and Kanigher’s recent creation of Wonder Tot. Even with Irwin Donenfeld decided to separate the titles, giving four all that, a story like “Batman Becomes Bat-Baby” (Batman apiece to Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan—now #147: May 1962) seemed particularly undignified. promoted to full editors—and leaving Schiff himself with Batman, Detective, World’s Finest, and Blackhawk. Schiff later reflected on the shake-up: “The break-up of the magazines in the ’60s [allowed] me to spend more time on story plotting, which I loved best, first when Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan were part of my team, and then later by myself. George, by this time, was certainly capable of handling his own magazines, as was Murray all along. In Murray’s case, however, his judgment of art was so superior that I regretted losing that aspect of the operation on magazines he personally was not editing.” (Schiff and Reed A66) Kashdan took over Aquaman (with #5), House of Mystery (#126), Rip Hunter (#10), and Tales of the Unexpected (#73) without any deviation from what had gone before. Boltinoff, who’d been assigned Challengers of the Unknown (with #28), House of Secrets (#55), My Greatest Adventure (#71), and Tomahawk (#82), was a different story. A text page in House of Secrets #55 proclaimed the addition of a letter column and featured capsule biographies of Jack Miller and Mort Meskin, the creative team on the book’s resident supernatural hunter Mark Merlin. The following issue added an official logo to Merlin’s series along with a mansion headquarters while issue #58 belatedly provided an origin for the hero. Letter columns—with accompanying creator bios—were also announced in Challengers of the Unknown #27, My Greatest Adventure #70, and Tomahawk #82. Like the Schiff-edited Batman and Blackhawk titles, Tomahawk had veered away from its original atmosphere since the 1950s with an increasing number of stories featuring strange creatures, whether aliens, invisible Indians, or dinosaurs. And yet those changes seemingly helped sustain the series while Julius Schwartz’s more conven-
An ad for the DC line played up its Comics Code approval, obliquely referencing the fact that competitors Dell and Gold Key each declined Code scrutiny. TM and © DC Comics.
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tional Western comics died. (The frontier-based Tomahawk, set on the Revolutionary War-era East Coast, wasn’t technically a Western but it looked the part.) Under Boltinoff, those fantastic elements didn’t really go away but he added details to revitalize the series nonetheless. Tapping into the superhero boom, issue #81 introduced a costumed heroine into the series created by writer France Herron and artist Fred Ray. Draped in red, white, and blue, Miss Liberty was secretly nurse Bess Lynn and seemed to have generated enough interest to make two early returns in issues #84 and #88. Ultimately, though, Miss Liberty was evidently too feminine for a war book and appeared only three more times between 1965 and 1967. Instead, Herron and Ray injected a healthy dose of testosterone into Tomahawk, turning the series into a team book with an eye toward Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company (Boltinoff 73). Issue #83 (November-December 1962) introduced the Rangers, a group of soldiers under Tomahawk’s command who’d star in the series for the next eight years. Composed of a distinctive gritty bunch of men with nicknames like Big Anvil and Cannonball Calhoun, Tomahawk’s Rangers were reminiscent of the real-life Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. They also tapped the general fascination with present-day teams like the Challengers of the Unknown and the JLA, as evidenced by praise from fans like Marvin Wolfman and Paul Gambaccini in issue #85’s letter column.
The Rangers effectively turned Tomahawk into a team book that helped it weather the changing tastes of 1960s readers. Tomahawk TM and © DC Comics.
For regular readers of DC’s comic books and their letter columns, the names of fans like Gambaccini and Wolfman would soon be as familiar as those of the company’s fictional heroes. Indeed, Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox even paid homage to Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas—two of their greatest supporters—in Justice League of America #16 (December 1962) when the team looked over a comics story created by an unseen admirer named Jerry Thomas. “How can I say anything bad about a story that I felt such a part of?” Bails joked in issue #19’s letter column. By the time that issue appeared, Bails had divested himself of both fanzines that he was publishing. Collaborating with older fans such as Howard Keltner and Raymond Miller, he now threw his efforts into long-term projects that would eventually index the contents of their beloved comic books of the 1930s and 1940s. In the meantime, Bails’ Alter-Ego and Comicollector were continued by 23-year-old Ronn Foss. The two fanzines immediately became more illustration-driven, reflecting their new editor’s artistic talent and that of his friend Richard “Grass” Green (who initially shared editorial duties with Foss and Foss’ wife Myra) (Schelly 39).
Not content to simply write about their favorite comics, many fans were now driven to publish their own. Thirtythree-year-old Missouri native Bill J. White (signing his work as “Biljo White”) inaugurated the era of fanzines devoted to amateur comic strips with Komix Illustrated #1 (July 1962), providing a showcase not only for his own superhero creations but those of others like Foss and Green. Teenage fan artist Mike Vosburg—leader of the effort to support DC’s struggling Hawkman revival—created The Masquerader #1 (September 1962), his own article/comics ’zine (Schelly 41-42).
Ronn Foss and “Grass” Green drew the cover of Alter-Ego #4, heralding the results of the first Alley Awards. Alter Ego TM and © Roy & Dann Thomas.
Jerry Bails’ final issue of Alter-Ego (#4: October 1962) included the results of the first ever comic book awards poll. Roy Thomas had sent the idea to Bails in a letter dated October 25, 1961, noting that the awards “be called an ‘Alley’ after both Alter-Ego and [comic strip caveman] Alley Oop, who, living in prehistoric times, is the earliest possible adventure hero.” Bails expanded on the idea, lending it an air of respectability as a presentation of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences (Schelly 38). More than 750 ballots were mailed to prominent fans but only a few hundred actually responded. The results overwhelmingly favored
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largely faded away although a small stock image of the character was still being inserted into occasional ads well into 1964.
the creators and characters of DC’s Schwartz-edited superhero comic books as the best of 1961. As flattering as the accolades were, the support of diehard older fans didn’t balance out the casual readers who were being lured away. Quoted in The New York Times on the first anniversary of National Periodical Publications becoming a publicly-traded company, president and publisher Jack Liebowitz blamed the attrition on TV. “The kids become accustomed to seeing their comics characters on television,” he declared. “Unfortunately, the comic book action often seemed a bit pale by comparison.” Mort Weisinger chimed in with the observation that modern-day stories were obligated to include a bit more concessions to real life science and physics. “Kids today are more sophisticated than they were twenty years ago. There are a lot of things they just won’t accept nowadays” (Bart, “Superman Faces New Hurdles” 166). Perhaps inspired by the fact that comics readers were now a generally better educated lot, DC created a corporate mascot who wore a tasseled scholar’s cap. Introduced on the inside front cover of every December 1962-dated issue, Johnny DC was essentially a smiling face and stick figure arms and legs attached to the company logo. While 27 other DC stars looked on in that first ad, Superman held Johnny on his shoulder and announced that “he’ll be coming to you from time to time, to tell you about all the new and exciting issues of our magazines, designed for your reading pleasure.” Over the next year, Johnny appeared prominently in several ads to make pitches for projects like Tommy Tomorrow’s Showcase run and “Strange Sports Stories” as well as urging readers to subscribe to various DC titles. He also promoted the 1962-1963 Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Annual, the 13th and final edition of DC’s seasonal series that was converted to the 25-cent 80-page giant format for its farewell. By the end of 1963, the mascot had
The fall of 1962 also saw the launch of an innovative program from DC that hoped to recapture some of the sales they were losing from the 1961 price increase to 12¢. The Comicpac was a plastic bag containing four current comic books and priced at 47¢— one penny less than if they’d been purchased individually. Since only two of the covers were typically visible, the bag also identified which four comics were enclosed (e.g., Superman, Jerry Lewis, Lois Lane, Justice League).
Justice League of America artist Mike Sekowsky was called upon to draw multiple other DC heroes in this ad introducing Johnny DC. Johnny DC, et al. TM and © DC Comics.
The collectors who bought certain titles mostly passed on the bagged comics since there was usually at least one issue that they didn’t want or need. DC’s focus was on both the casual reader and the parents and grandparents who were looking for gifts. It was no coincidence that Comicpacs debuted in the fall and Johnny DC—wearing a Santa cap for the occasion—made it clear that the bundles would make ideal Christmas presents. Although sold in conventional magazine outlets, the Comicpacs were also available to chain stores (with a specially designed rack) and had the potential for a much longer shelf life than the dates printed on the comics. In traditional venues, individual unsold comic books and magazines were stripped of the top half of their covers and returned to distributors for credit. If there was a problem with Comicpacs, it was that some retailers tore open the bags and stripped the covers, simultaneously creating the impression that the individual comics had sold poorly and the Comicpacs had sold out. Despite that not inconsiderable variable, the Comicpac program was judged successful enough to endure at least into 1974, by which point several other companies were also selling bagged comics.
The Comicpacs likely held greater appeal to adults seeking gifts for children than for kids who were seeking specific titles. Johnny DC, Superman TM and © DC Comics.
Despite DC’s slump in sales from 1961 to 1962, it still had cause for celebration. Thanks to the
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struggles of its chief rival Dell, DC had inarguably become the foremost comic book publisher in the United States. It also now annually published more individual issues (343 in 1962) than any other comics company and would continue to do so until Marvel wrested the honor away from them in 1973 (Stevenson).
The Fall of the Dell Empire, The Rise of Gold Key Dell’s 1961 decision to go to a 15¢ price-point on its standard comic books had resulted in an unavoidable plunge in sales. Still, the company
anticipated that things would level off when the rest of the industry inevitably followed suit. Instead, their competitors raised prices only to 12¢ and divorce proceedings were initiated between Dell and Western Publishing. Western, which held the licenses for most of the major titles published by Dell and provided all the comics content, had good reason to be concerned. As detailed in 1968 by George Sherman, head of Disney’s Publication Department, average sales on flagship title Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories had plunged from 1,375,000 in October of 1960 to 461,000 in October of 1962. “In the space of two or so years,” he declared, “we lost over half our circulation” (Willits 32). Failing to come to terms with Dell over financial concerns, Western finally severed their 24-year-old partnership and began to directly publish the comic books they were producing under the new company title of Gold Key. And those comic books would retail for 12¢. Bowing to the inevitable, Dell dropped the prices on its own titles in accordance with industry standard a few months before the first Gold Keys went on sale. A number of Gold Key titles actually cost more but readers received greater story content in the bargain. In the absence of the Dell Giant series, Western used its 80-page format and 25-cent pricetag on several ongoing comic books. These included Boris Karloff Thriller, Bugs Bunny Showtime, Flintstones Bigger and Boulder, Hanna-Barbera Bandwagon, Huckleberry Hound, Little Lulu, New Terrytoons, Popeye the Sailor, Rocky and His Fiendish Friends, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and Yogi Bear. Like a similar initiative at Harvey Comics, the Gold Key braintrust believed that a thicker, more substantial package represented a better value to consumers that partly mitigated its higher price.
The Bugs Bunny and Bullwinkle animated series were respectively airing on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons when their first Gold Key issues went on sale. Bugs Bunny TM and © Warner Bros. Bullwinkle TM and © Bullwinkle Studios.
Western remained uniquely bicoastal but took the occasion of the split to move to new buildings in both New York City and Los Angeles. East Coast Gold Key editor Matt Murphy noted that “the separation of Dell and Western was as amicable as possible” but added that the latter had a clear advantage in winning the rights to new TV and cartoon properties.
Gold Key’s version of Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories broke with tradition to display several vignettes rather than a single image. Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, et al. TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
“Western had more leverage acquiring licenses,” he explained in The Comics! (Vol. 16) #3 (March 2005), “because a given license could be applied across a wide range of products such as Golden Books, Whitman books and games and comics.” Consequently, the new Gold Key line rolled out not only with continuations of multiple Dell titles but a large group of new licensed comics. The first Gold Key title was Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #264 (September 1962), on sale in July. Taking advantage of the new beginning, Western modernized the look of the comic book, creating a new logo and abandoning the single comical scenario that usually adorned each cover with multiple panels of art depicting the book’s various stars. Instead of a generic image, the Gold Key covers would feature actionpacked scenes that actually related to the interior stories and added typeset captions to the art. As a bonus, the back cover of every Gold Key issue recycled the front cover art without any copy so it could torn off and used as a poster. The dual image format was particularly effective on many of Gold Key’s adventure and suspense titles that featured fully painted covers by artists such as George Wilson and Richard M. Powers. Western also formally instituted a new look for its stories, one it had first
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featured a variety of Hanna-Barbera characters in brief twoto-four page episodes that were originally produced by U.S. artists for weekly British tabloid series. Sold in non-traditional comics outlets, the books failed to generate much interest and no further volumes were produced (Ward 54).
experimented with in its 1961 Golden Picture Story Book series. Seeking to bring the comics in line with its storybooks and coloring books, they asked that the borders be removed from every story panel and the traditionally rounded word balloons be replaced with rectangular ones. Carl Barks drew exactly one tale in the new format (Uncle Scrooge #40) but disliked it so intently that he was allowed to return to the old style Gold Key quickly abandoned a series of even as the rest of line comics that used photos and word balloons to adapt movies and TV shows. moved on. CoincidThree Stooges TM and © Norman Maurer Productions, Inc. ing with this change, Western also asked its artists to begin drawing their original artwork at twice the size of a printed page rather than 2 ½ times larger as they’d done to that point. In a 1962 letter to Malcolm Willits, Barks groused about the reduced drawing size:
One of Gold Key’s innovations never made it past 1962. Matt Murphy envisioned using fumetti—film stills with word balloons—in thick 25-cent comic books based on TV shows and movies. Dated November 1962, Ben Casey Film Story #1 and The Three Stooges In Orbit #1 (based on the current film) marked the beginning and end of the format. Gunsmoke Film Story was advertised as part of the initial Gold Key issues but never published. Murphy had greater success with Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1 (October 1962), Gold Key’s first entrance into the superhero movement. “I created it out of whole cloth,” he declared in The Comics! (Vol. 16) #5 (May 2005), “and verbally described it to [scripter] Paul S. Newman.” The script was illustrated by Bob Fujitani, who remained on the series through issue #5. Superficially, the character’s origin shared elements not only with Charlton’s Captain Atom but also Marvel’s Hulk. Like Bruce Banner, Doctor Solar had been transformed into a powerful green figure by a nuclear accident engineered by a spy. Where the Hulk was a rampaging brute whose power was essentially his strength, Doctor Solar could transform himself into pure energy and fly, among other attributes, while in complete control of his great intellect.
“It is a painful one for us artists, as the old size of 2 ½ times up gave us room to operate with big pens or brushes when advantageous. Now the size is 2 times up. This wouldn’t be a calamity, except that some bright boy in the East thought the pages would look ‘different’ if the dialogue balloons were inset a minimum of ¼ inch from the top or sides of the panels, Naturally, this compresses the drawing area.” (Blum 5) The ¼-inch “frame” that Barks described was added to the Gold Key stories with an eye toward future reprinting in different formats. If the artwork needed to be cut down to fit, the irrelevant borders could be removed. Whitman Publishing, another division of Western, explored one such experimental book series in that regard during 1962. Eight 136-page hardbacks about the size of Big Little Books were devoted to various licensed cartoon characters, with the Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck editions reprinting stories from 1957-1958 Dell comics. The remaining six editions
The irradiated Doctor Solar became Gold Key’s first superhero, illustrated by Bob Fujitani with cover paintings by Richard Powers. Doctor Solar TM and © Random House, Inc.
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make a good comic book. “It was only some time later that Chase evidently went back through his files and found a note from Carl,” Del Connell recalled in 1985. “Carl’s concept was about a rocket with a family inside it that crashed on the moon and was marooned there. We went on with the book. I felt badly at the time; I wouldn’t do anything that would take away from Carl. It was just one of those weird things that happened” (Blum 27).
Permanently irradiated, Solar was forced to wear a shield lab coat and sunglasses when he was in the vicinity of his co-workers. Doctor Solar had initially been envisioned as a post-modern superhero who eschewed less realistic conventions like costumes. As with Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four, readers were quick to point out that a colorful outfit was a must. Meanwhile on the West Coast, writer-editor Del Connell conceived an original Gold Key series of his own. Where Doctor Solar was born out of fears about atomic energy and foreign spies, Connell’s concept was set in the early 21st Century and spun off of the 1960s fascination with space exploration. The feature revolved around the first family to live aboard a space station—scientists Craig and June, their son and daughter Tim and Tam, and pets Yakker (a parrot) and Clancy (a dog). Editor Chase Craig liked the pitch and, inspired by the recent hit Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson, suggested that the futuristic comic be titled Space Family Robinson.
Not all of the new Gold Key successes relied on series characters. Boris Karloff Thriller #1 (October 1962) licensed the name of the renowned horror movie actor for a series of standalone suspense stories illustrated by a parade of artists that began with Ray Bailey, Tom Gill, Alberto Giolitti, Mike Peppe, Jerry Robinson, Mike Sekowsky, and Giovanni Ticci. Titled after a now-cancelled 1960-1962 TV series, the book was renamed Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery with issue #3 (April 1963) and began an uninterrupted run that continued through issue #97 (February 1980).
Prolific Western artist Dan Spiegle was assigned to the series and ultimately drew every single episode in the book’s 54 issue run (1962-1977). He reflected on the feature in a 2002 interview:
The Gold Key line was filled with comics stamped “#1” in their indicia, nearly all of them based on TV shows (Bonanza, Checkmate, 77 Sunset Strip, Mister Ed the Talking Horse, National Velvet, Supercar, Twilight Zone) or animated cartoons (Bullwinkle, Fractured Fairy Tales,
“It was fun even though it was science-fiction, not my favorite genre. I did enjoy it because they let me do my version of what I thought space should look like. Del would say, ‘Design a space station that does not look like a space station.’ The whole idea was that we didn’t want it to look like everyone else’s so my space station was strange, but it was something that I dreamed up somehow. The little space sled that came out of the station which they’d use to fly to the planet’s surface was not pointed and did not look like Flash Gordon. I was shaving one morning with my electric razor—it was a square Remington but had rounded edges— and I said, ‘Here’s a good design!’ That’s the shape I used for that spaceship.” (Cooke 53) Space Family Robinson #1 (December 1962) introduced the characters but the driving hook of the series wasn’t established until issue #2’s story “Lost In Space.” A violent explosion sent the Robinsons’ space station hurtling into distant outer space and cut them off from Earth. Contact was reestablished in issue #3 but a second explosion in #4 broke the connection again. From that point through the end of the series, the Robinsons would journey from one uncharted planet to another in a desperate quest to return home.
Chase Craig belatedly discovered that he’d unconsciously named the series after an earlier Space Family Robinson pitch given to him by Carl Barks. Inspired by the Swiss Family Robinson film, Barks had sent a brief letter to Craig circa 1960 suggesting that the space age twist on the title might George Wilson painted the covers on all 54 issues of Space Family Robinson while Dan Spiegle drew all the interiors. Space Family Robinson TM and © Random House, Inc.
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Tweety and Sylvester (#37), and Wagon Train (#13).
Hanna-Barbera Bandwagon, Heckle and Jeckle, King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, New Terrytoons, Rocky and His Fiendish Friends, Snagglepuss, Snooper and Blabber, Space Mouse, Yakky Doodle and Chopper). The Phantom #1 (November 1962) featured the first costumed hero in the Gold Key roster as they picked up the license to the comic strip that had recently been dropped by Harvey Comics.
Symbolically, the termination of Walter Lantz New Funnies with #288 may have been the most crushing blow even though its features were folded into Woody Woodpecker (now a 25-cent giant). Launched in 1936 as a newspaper strip reprint title called The Funnies, it had been the first traditional comic book published by Dell. It evolved over the years into New Funnies (with #65) and Cover painting by George Wilson. finally Walter Lantz New The Phantom TM and © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Funnies (#109), an anthology featuring the Lantz studio cartoon characters such as Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, and Chilly Willy. With this direct link to its origins severed by Gold Key, Dell’s days of success and industry dominance had reached their end.
They also retained the Dell numbering for more than 20 titles: Adventures of Mighty Mouse (beginning with #156), Beetle Bailey (#39), Bugs Bunny (#86), Daffy Duck (#31), Donald Duck (#85), Flintstones (#7), Huckleberry Hound (#18), Lassie (#59), Marge’s Little Lulu (#165), Mickey Mouse (#85), Nancy and Sluggo (#188), Popeye (#66), Quick Draw McGraw (#12), Rifleman (#13), Tarzan (#132), Three Stooges (#10), Tom and Jerry (#213), Top Cat (#4), Turok, Son of Stone (#30), Uncle Scrooge (#40), Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories (#264), Woody Woodpecker (#73), and Yogi Bear (#10). There were considerably more Dell comic books that were effectively cancelled in the transition, including the umbrella title Four Color that had generated 1331 issues between 1942 and 1962. Many of the comics had been short-lived but there were a number of surprisingly recognizable names on the death list, notably Beep Beep the Road Runner (ending with #14), Chip ‘n’ Dale (#30), I Love Lucy Comics (#35), Little Iodine (#56), Maverick (#19), Peanuts (#13), Porky Pig (#81), Ruff and Reddy (#12), Sea Hunt (#13),
Two of the most shocking cancellations were the 14-yearold Lone Ranger (with #145) and the 21-year-old Looney Tunes (with #246), the latter an umbrella title for the Warner Bros. cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, Mary Jane & Sniffles, and Daffy Duck. Like New Funnies, most of Looney Tunes’ features were carried over to the now-giant Bugs Bunny. Gold Key revived many of the discontinued titles as early as 1963 (Tweety and Sylvester) and as late as 1975 (Looney Tunes), but in the short term, young readers could only wonder why they could no longer find issues of their favorite comic books. Historian Michelle Nolan noted that “in those days the vast majority of comic book readers not only had to haunt several newsstands to be sure of getting all their favorites on a regular basis, but also had no way of knowing whether a title was being dropped or changed” (13). Mark Evanier added, “In 1962, I did not understand what had happened to Dell and why it seemed to have turned into Gold Key, but then there were still comics, different comics, that said Dell in the corner” (Evanier, “Western Goes West” 80).
Writer John Stanley’s gift for the macabre was well-represented in Dell’s first horror comics, as in this ghastly page from Ghost Stories #1 by artist Ed Robbins. Ghost Stories, Tales From the Tomb TM and © respective copyright holders.
Having lost virtually all of its star characters and nearly every top flight creator in the divorce, Dell struggled to rebuild with industry veteran L.B. Cole hired as the company’s art director and editor. Aside from scripting the short-lived teen comic Wally that was launched in Gold Key’s first quarter, cele-
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brated writer John Stanley stuck with Dell and the new titles he’d created in 1961, Thirteen, Dunc and Loo, and Linda Lark.
Glanzman also drew two other new series, Voyage to the Deep (reminiscent of the 1961 film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) and Kona, a series about a jungle hero who faced a barrage of creatures on Monster Isle in the Pacific. With elements of the Tarzan and Turok series that Dell had lost to Gold Key, the comic book (whose first issue was actually Four Color #1256: February-March 1962) managed to tap some of the same audience of those characters and became a modest hit. Don Segall wrote the first several installments of the series while Paul S. Newman scripted many of the later issues.
In 1962, Stanley added other new series to the Dell stable. He wrote the entirety of the one-shot Tales From the Tomb #1 (October 1962) and ongoing Ghost Stories #1 (September-November 1962), the latter anthology continued by other hands for 36 more issues until 1973. Filled with ghastly situations like child abduction, hangings, and more surreal chillers, Stanley’s two issues are still regarded today as classics. Having never been a member of the Comics Code Authority, Dell was free to publish the first mainstream horror comic books in the United States since the CCA had forced EC Comics and other publishers to abandon the genre in 1955.
Like Kona, the first issue of Brain Boy was technically an issue of Four Color (#1330: April-June 1962). Created by writer Herb Kastle and penciler Gil Kane, the series represented Dell’s attempt at a superhero comic book. Young Matt Price had developed Best known for his work on humor John F. Kennedy’s well-documented World War Two heroics incredible mental powers while in were the subject of a 27-page story in Combat #4. series Little Lulu and Nancy, StanCombat TM and © respective copyright holder. the womb after his pregnant mother ley had regularly featured horror was injured in an electrical accident. elements in both series but in an Recruited out of high school to join a secret government over-the-top, comedic fashion. A simple shift in tone and agency, Matt (who never wore a costume) took on a variety more realistic art could change everything. A story from of anti-democracy forces including his telepathic nemesis 1953’s Little Lulu #64 about a throw rug that was a portal Ricorta. Effective with issue #2, the series was drawn by to another dimension became a very different episode in Frank Springer. Tales of the Tomb’s “Mr. Green Must Be Fed” wherein the Space Man (launched as Four Color #1253 before going to series with #2) staked out the space exploration portion of Dell’s new line-up. Written by Ken Fitch and drawn by Jack Sparling, it starred astronaut Ian Stannard and teen sidekick Johnny Mack as they traveled first to the moon and then deeper into the cosmos.
rug hosted a carnivorous beast. With artist Bill Williams, Stanley created the comparatively light-hearted Kookie. Revolving around a blonde waitress, the series focused on her interaction with the beatniks that frequented her espresso house. Whether it was the subject matter or simply the fact that mocking the 1950s Beat Generation was growing old, the comic book was cancelled with issue #2 (May-July 1962). Certainly, Dell was a bit late in the game with The Twist #1 (September 1962), a one-shot devoted to the dance craze that had crested in 1961. The Brenda Lee Life Story #1 (JulySeptember 1962) was more timely, spotlighting the 17-year-old pop singer who placed her ninth consecutive top ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1962, a record for a female artist. The image of a young John F. Kennedy dominated the cover of Combat #4 (June 1962), whose interior story (illustrated by Sam Glanzman) recounted the future President’s real-life heroism aboard torpedo boat PT-109 during World War Two.
Jungle War Stories #1 (July-September 1962) debuted in the wake of Combat’s success. Unlike the earlier book, the new series would feature several recurring soldiers (Sgt. Cactus Kane, Pvt. Mike Williams, Capt. Duke Larsen). On a historic note, the series was also the first war comic book to be set almost exclusively in Vietnam. Private Secretary #1 (December 1962-February 1963) delved into the romance genre with provocative covers and interior stories illustrated by Hy Eisman and Vince Colletta. As with Kookie, Dell got cold feet on the book quickly and cancelled it after issue #2.
Unaffiliated with the Comics Code Authority, Dell was free to reference vampires in a straight adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Dell otherwise salted its line-up with a selection of licenses that Gold Key failed to snag, with new ongoing comic books based on animation
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(Alvin, Felix the Cat), classic movies (Laurel and Hardy), television (Ben Casey, Car 54 Where Are You?, The Defenders, Dr. Kildare, New Adventures of Pinocchio), comic strips (Alley Oop, Drift Marlo, Ponytail), and even toys (Barbie and Ken). The one-shot Dracula #1 (October-November 1962) actually played the public domain character straight in contrast to the ubiquitous versions who popped up in other companies’ humor titles. Free of Comics Code Authority intervention, Dell was under no obligation to submit to its prohibition against vampires and vampirism.
Mark Evanier concurred, noting that a key distinction between the companies’ attitude toward comics was Western’s great pride in their product. “They thought of themselves as being book publishers more than magazine publishers,” he noted. “And they also thought of themselves as being printers.” At one point in the 1960s, Evanier reported, Western was approached by World Color Press, who offered to print Gold Key’s comics at a cheaper rate as they did for DC, Archie, and others. “Western declined, feeling that they were printers and it was below their dignity to farm out printing, and because they didn’t like World Color’s printing and they wanted to be in control of that” (Evanier, “Western Goes West” 80-81).
Like Dell, Gold Key refused to submit its titles to the Comics Code for approval. In its opinion, the integrity of most of its characters was already well known to the general public and Western’s personnel would ensure that even the company’s original creations were held to high standards of good taste.
In the midst of the transition from Dell to Gold Key, the Disney studios decided to act on the fact that international publishers were demanding more comic book stories than either publisher was producing. Consequently, Disney’s George Sherman initiated the Overseas Comics Program in 1962, through which staff writers like Dick Kinney and Western artists such as Tony Strobl and Al Hubbard created original stories that starred Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Uncle Scrooge, and company for the foreign market (Gerstein 45).
Gazing at a comics rack filled with offerings from Dell and Gold Key, fans of the era overwhelmingly favored issues published by the latter. They had the most recognizable characters but it was more than that. “Gold Key comics also just looked a whole look better,” Michelle Nolan explained. “They had large, glossy covers with art that often jumped out at you compared to Dell’s new in-house product, which not only seemed less glossy and glittery but just plain cheap” (12).
By 1964, original creations such as rustic hermit Hard Haid Moe and Donald’s beatnik cousin Fethry were being added exclusively to the international tales. “We use these characters to bring out facets in the personalities of existing characters, not to replace them,” Sherman explained. “They give the stories more variety” (Willits 32).
Teenage Witches, Magic Agents, and Flying Nurses Archie Comics introduced a major new character of its own in 1962, albeit one who wouldn’t be more than a minor player until the end of the decade. As her name made clear, Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch was anything but the typical American high school student that Archie Andrews was. As writer George Gladir explained, her roots extended to “Witchcraft Then and Now,” a story he created with artist Orlando Busino for Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats #2 (January 1962). “In that three-page story, Hilda, a wizened witch of the old school, compares her life with contemporary hip, young witches. It must have struck a favorable chord because shortly thereafter I was asked to create a teen witch, an assignment I relished because I had been a history major in college and was fascinated by the subject of witchcraft” (Gladir 38).
Hilda the Witch narrated the story that inspired the creation of Sabrina, who was later established as Hilda’s niece. Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
Gladir conceived Sabrina as a typical girl fascinated with fashion and music who just happened to possess magical powers. Instructed in the finer points of witchcraft by the headwitch Della (named after
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singer Della Reese), the young heroine was also assisted by her familiar, a cat named Salem. “At the time, I believed I was naming Sabrina after a woman I recalled from my teen days as having a name with a New England ring to it. Only many years later did I recall that her name was Sabra” (Gladir 38). Editor Richard Goldwater assigned Dan DeCarlo to pencil the five-page episode that appeared in Archie’s Madhouse #22 (October 1962). In a nod to the play and film “Bell, Book and Candle,” the pilot asserted that witches could not cry and would lose their powers should they fall in love. Once Sabrina became a recurring character, such rules were forgotten. Despite the affection that Gladir had for Sabrina, she was anything but a breakout star. The teen-age witch didn’t return until Madhouse #28 (September 1963) and appeared in only an issue or two a year through 1969, when television exposure magically elevated the character to stardom. In the meantime, Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats was cancelled with #7 (November 1962), its final issue replacing the humorous monsterthemed vignettes with mild horror and science fiction tales drawn in the Archie style. Hilda the Witch survived the cancellation, however, having moved to Archie’s Madhouse with #19 (June 1962) and ultimately being folded into the Sabrina continuity with #37 (December 1964) as the younger witch’s aunt.
penned an episode in which Cat-Girl, the undersea temptress Kree-Nal, and Ralph Hardy’s secretary Jill Ross put their differences aside when the Jaguar disappeared (issue #7). Adventures of the Fly #21 (September 1962) revisited the concept of a large-scale team of supercriminals, unseen in a superhero series since the 1940s’ Injustice Society (All Star Comics #37, #41) and Villainy, Inc. (Wonder Woman #28). Composed of eight separate villains (seven of whom had appeared in previous issues), the Anti-Fly League targeted the Fly and Fly-Girl for three consecutive issues.
Fly #20 and Jaguar #7. By issue #8 of the latter, fan Paul Seydor had suggested uniting all the Archie heroes (Black Hood, Fly, Fly-Girl, Jaguar, the Shield) as the Anti-Crime Squad and even enclosed a cover mock-up (lifted directly from The Brave and the Bold
Fly #23’s “Ice Giant From Pluto” was very much in the mold of a typical Mort Weisinger-edited Superman story of the era, one that employed both a puzzling mystery and charming sentiment. Discovering that the Fly had been replaced by an imposter, FlyGirl ultimately discovered that he was really the Jaguar. He’d been covering for the genuine hero until the Fly could return with a magical pendant intended for FlyGirl on her first anniversary as a super-heroine. Letter columns were introduced in the July 1962-dated
Bats’ cancellation reduced the Archie Adventure Series line by one but Life With Archie and Robert Bernstein and John Rosenberger’s two superhero titles forged onward in mostly episodic routine. Bernstein’s DC Comics colleague (and Batman co-creator) Bill Finger briefly did some moonlighting at Archie in 1962, writing a pair of Fly adventures in Laugh #132 and Pep #154 along with a Fly/ Black Hood team-up in Laugh #134. Adventures of the Jaguar was enlivened with the addition of recurring nemesis Cat Girl, whose priorities shifted over the course of the year from enslaving mankind (issue #4) to winning the Jaguar’s heart (issue #6). Attempting to build a group of female romantic rivals like those in DC’s Superman titles, Bernstein even
Fans longed to see the Archie heroes united as a team but had to settle for the Fly’s enemies gathering against him. The Fly TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
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#28’s first Justice League issue) to illustrate his point. “We’ve received scores of letters asking for a combination of heroes in a long story,” an editorial response in Fly #23’s letter column declared. “So it shall be done.”
where they conquer other worlds. So it’s in him. He can’t get rid of his nemesis—his only nemesis put there by fate or providence—Little Archie. Little Archie doesn’t know it, but Doctor Doom knows that if he could just get rid of Little Archie—his nemesis—the world is his. So, fate has placed this little kid up against the cold, calculating monster who wants to conquer the world, and I tried to do it in a funny and normal way.” (Brown 60-61) Like Archie, Harvey Comics put its emphasis on its nowsignature group of children’s humor characters. Eleven spin-off titles were launched in 1962, beginning with five 12-cent titles published in the spring: Baby Huey and Papa #1 (dated May 1962), Little Audrey and Melvin #1 (May 1962), Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff #1 (July 1962), Little Dot Dotland #1 (July 1962) and Tuff Ghosts Starring Spooky #1 (July 1962).
And yet it wasn’t, at least not right away. Following three consecutive monthly issues, Fly and Jaguar both disappeared following their November Space exploration was a recurring theme on Archie’s 1962 issues only to covers, including Laugh #139 with art by Bob White. resume publication Laugh TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc. three months later with their February 1963 editions. Meanwhile, the superhero short stories in the Archie anthology titles ceased with Pep #161 and Laugh #144. The superhero boom seemed to be softening, at least from Archie’s editorial point of view, and the prospect of their own version of the Justice League was left in limbo.
The 25-cent format was becoming increasingly attractive to Harvey, as well, with the ongoing Casper’s Ghostland, Hot Stuff Sizzlers, and Sad Sack Laugh Special each performing well as 64-page giants. Impressed with the final returns on four trial one-shots in 1961, the company promoted each to ongoing 25-cent series in the high volume summer season: Little Dot’s Uncles and Aunts #2 (dated August 1962), Richie Rich Millions #2 (September 1962), Spooky Spooktown #2
Mostly, Archie Comics focused on what it did best: topical teen humor, whether acting on President Kennedy’s call for more physically fit youth (Archie #131: September 1962) or playing with model race cars (Pep #154: May 1962). In Adventures of Little Archie #23 (Summer 1962), writer-artist Bob Bolling dabbled with teen humor in the kid series when he began a short-lived feature starring Betty Cooper’s older sister Polly. Particularly far-fetched elements were generally restricted to the covers (including several devoted to UFOs or space exploration: Jughead #86, Archie’s Joke Book #64, Pep #156-157, Laugh #139, Archie Giant Series Magazine #19) although fantasy elements still abounded in many stories. Archie #126 (March 1962) featured an episode by writer Frank Doyle and artists Harry Lucey and Terry Szenics wherein Archie was accidentally irradiated and found that he could magnetically attract basketballs to his hands. In issue #133 (December 1962), the same creative team introduced Cricket O’Dell, a teenager so fixated on money that she could literally smell it. Bob Bolling took a humorous approach to the concept of super-villains with the introduction of Mad Doctor Doom and his teenage sidekick Chester in Little Archie #24 (Fall 1962). Introduced around the same time as Marvel’s Doctor Doom, Bolling’s creation was a green-skinned alien who quickly became the most popular recurring rogue in the series. No matter what scheme or weapon that Mad Doctor Doom conceived, the pint-sized redheaded boy was always there to thwart him. In a 2001 interview with Gary Brown, Bolling said: “He was loony, but Mad Doctor Doom had figured out world conquest. He comes from another planet
Mad Doctor Doom and Chester were eternally confounded by Little Archie. Little Archie TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
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(September 1962, and Wendy Witchworld #2 (September 1962). They were joined by two other new 25-cent series—Little Audrey TV Funtime #1 (September 1962) and Baby Huey In Duckland #1 (November 1962)—and even Dagwood (#129: October) and Blondie (#155: November) were expanded to the giant format for an issue apiece. At the same time, the company seemed concerned that its line was being reduced to a single genre and made an attempt at diversification in the fall. If superheroes were making a comeback, for instance, Harvey would revive its own costumed crusader, the Black Cat. Created in 1941 and published sporadically through 1955, the masked heroine (secretly actress Linda Turner) hadn’t appeared in a new story since 1951. Black Cat #63 (October 1962) didn’t change that. Rather, the 25-cent giant (like the two issues that followed) was comprised strictly of late 1940s reprints illustrated by Lee Elias. Meanwhile, Alarming Adventures #1 (November 1962) added a science fiction title to the line although Harvey’s own name was conspicuously absent from the cover, replaced with “A Thrill Adventure” starburst. Edited by Joe Simon, the series sported art by several top flight illustrators like Reed Crandall, Bob Powell, and Al Williamson—some of it inventory from 1958’s Alarming Tales—but failed to make much of an impact on the reading public. It, Black Cat, and two romance reprint series—Hi-School Romance Datebook #1 and First Love Illustrated #89 (each dated November 1962)—were all discontinued by early 1963. ACG’s own attempt at expanding its small line during 1962 also proved short-lived. Published in the fall of 1961, John Force, Magic Agent #1 (January-February 1962) melded Cold War spy games with mysticism through a unique medallion carried by its title character. An operative of the American Security Group (not to be confused with his publisher, the American Comics Group), Force wore the requisite trench coat and had a patch over his left eye. When rubbing a symbol on the medallion, he could also access abilities such as hypnosis, illusion-casting, and telepathy via his ghostly benefactors Cagliostro, Houdini, Merlin, and Nostradamus. Illustrated by Paul Reinman and Pete Costanza (along with a few episodes ghosted by Joe Sinnott and covers by Kurt Schaffenberger), the series was conceived by writer-editor Richard Hughes.
The revived Black Cat title recapped the heroine’s origin and included a reprint of her kid partner Kit Weston’s 1951 debut. Black Cat TM and © respective copyright holder.
competing Dr. Kildare (by former ACG romance artist Ken Bald) began its run. On television, CBS added its own primetime medical series in the form of The Nurses, starting September 27. Charlton Comics was ready, revamping Sweetheart Diary as Cynthia Doyle, Nurse In Love with #66 (October 1962) and My Secret Life as Sue and Sally Smith, Flying Nurses with #48 (November 1962). Like the company had done with Betsy Crane a year earlier, they introduced both of the new series in the last issues before the title changes.
Adamant that he would not publish a superhero, Hughes conceived John Force as a compromise, someone who didn’t look like a costumed character but nonetheless had access to special powers. Unfortunately, someone quickly got cold feet on the series, cancelling it with issue #3 (May-June 1962). In retrospect, John Force was slightly ahead of his time, something that became apparent more than a year later when Dr. No, the first James Bond movie, premiered in the United States and triggered a huge spy craze.
Mad At Ten, Help! In Court Mad offered its own demented take on the medical shows with its back-to-back “Dr. Killjoy” and “Future TV Medical Shows” in issue #74. Ten years after its creation, the humor comic book was stronger than ever, with regular reprints of older material in both paperbacks and magazines, and even spin-offs into other media. Mad ‘Twists’ Rock ‘n’ Roll became its second record album of comedy songs with tunes like “Please Betty Jane (Shave Your Legs)” and “I Saw Someone Else’s Dandruff On Your Shirt.”
In the meantime, medical dramas made a resurgence in popularity thanks to the TV debuts of Ben Casey (on ABC) and Dr. Kildare (on NBC) in the fall of 1961. A year later, both were being adapted in comic books from Dell, and comic strips based on each made their debuts. Having had little success in breaking into comic books, Neal Adams discovered that his realistic style was more welcome in newspapers and signed on to write and draw the Ben Casey strip on November 26, 1962, a little over a month after the
Fan Fred von Bernewitz, who’d previously compiled The Complete EC Checklist in 1955, paid homage to the maga111
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The Ben Casey newspaper strip gave Neal Adams a public venue to demonstrate the dynamic realism he could bring to the comics form. Ben Casey TM and © respective copyright holder.
zine in 1961 with his 100-page Complete Mad Checklist. The $1.50 fanzine was plugged in Mad #69’s letter column, where it was described as “an extensive indexing of all the past issues of Mad Magazine, containing contents of each issue, cross-indexed by titles, artists, writers, and other furshlugginer information.”
looking compromised in the eyes of some readers. “Skeptics wondered if Mad had sold out completely,” Frank Jacobs wrote in 1972’s Mad World of William M. Gaines. And yet, Jacobs continued, Gaines’ contract with Premier had stipulated that he remain on the magazine as publisher with full control.
Mad’s 10th anniversary was formally acknowledged in issue #72, including a small note on the inside front cover indicating that the space should be reserved for congratulatory letters. The page was otherwise blank. The gag backfired when multiple celebrities sent real tributes of their own, enough to fill issue #74’s letter column. The respondents included comedians Bob & Ray and Louis Nye, actor Danny Kaye, singer Johnny Mathis, teen idol Fabian, and cartoonists Milton Caniff, Jerry Dumas, Ken Ernst, Allen Saunders, and Mort Walker.
Consequently, Mad still had the capacity to offend. Its “Mad Guide to Russia” (issue #71) generated several angry letters from readers who imagined that the satiric piece made light of what they saw as the very real threat posed by the Soviet Union. And far more significantly, “Sing Along With Mad,” a 20-page insert from 1961’s More Trash From Mad #4 with 57 song parodies by Frank Jacobs and Larry Siegel, had incurred a multi-million dollar lawsuit from the Music Publishers Protective Association that would come to trial in 1963 (Jacobs 219-221).
Perhaps the most unexpected commendation came on May 17, 1962. Only eight years after William Gaines was raked over the coals by a Senate Subcommittee about the grisly content of his EC horror comics, Congressman Benjamin S. Rosenthal formally entered congratulations to Mad into the Congressional Record on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. “It has poked fun at many aspects of the American scene,” he said in part, “and the country is the better for its raillery.” Even Gaines’ writers couldn’t have imagined something so ironic.
The legal action inspired by Harvey Kurtzman’s Help! (published by Jim Warren) was comparatively smaller but no less traumatic for the creators involved. Returning from a five-month hiatus with its February 1962 issue (on sale in December 1961), the magazine got itself into trouble with a satire involving a character named Goodman Beaver. In 1959, Kurtzman had created the naïve young man for a story in The Jungle Book. Reviving him with artist Will Elder for Help! in 1961, Kurtzman intended to drop Goodman Beaver into “situations that I felt fairly critical about. I’d thrust Goodman into them and things would happen,” he explained. “My stories were fashioned after my own experiences and my own critical point of view” (Schreiner 7).
Recognition like this, coupled with the fact that Gaines had sold Mad to Premier Industries in 1961, left the magazine
“Goodman Goes Playboy” closed with the thinly-disguised Archie characters and several decades-old comic strip icons ready to sell their souls. Goodman Beaver TM and © respective copyright holder.
In the course of those satires, Kurtzman and Elder also involved thinlydisguised versions of several pop culture heroes, among them Tarzan, Sea Hunt’s Mike Nelson, and Superman. It was their use of the Archie cast (as Archer, Joghead, Veromica, et al.) in “Goodman Goes Playboy” that caused a problem. In essence, the plot involved Archer and friends being seduced by the decadence of the lifestyle promoted by Playboy magazine and ultimately selling their souls to the Devil (a.k.a. Hugh Hefner).
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This Buz Sawyer sequence evoked not only the Cuban Missile Crisis but the Soviet Union’s 1960 capture of U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers. Buz Sawyer TM and © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Protective of his characters’ wholesome image, Archie publisher John Goldwater immediately initiated legal action. In March 1962, Archie agreed to settle with Warren out of court in exchange for a $1,000 fine and a published apology in Help! The fracas was revived, however, when a revised version of the story—with the Archie characters renamed and considerably redrawn by Elder—was reprinted in the paperback Executive’s Comic Book. Once again, legal action was threatened and an exasperated Kurtzman vented to his lawyer in December 1962: “You might also consider that the paperback story is in such a context as not to be possibly confused with an Archie product. You might also consider that when I worked for Mad, I did an Archie satire far-far more devastating to Archie [Mad #12: June 1954], and that satire is being reprinted to this day in paperback.” (Schreiner 10) Another settlement was ultimately reached in 1963, resulting in part in the stipulation that “Goodman Goes Playboy” never be reprinted again in any form. Ironically, despite being characterized as satanic, Playboy publisher and longtime comics fan Hugh Hefner loved the story. Having published Kurtzman’s short-lived Trump in 1957, Hefner was immediately receptive when the cartoonist pitched the idea of recreating Goodman Beaver as a naïve—and now very buxom—woman named Little Annie Fanny (with an obvious nod to the name of the long-running comic strip Little Orphan Annie). One month before Goodman’s final appearance in Help!, Kurtzman and Elder introduced
the monthly Annie strip in the October 1962-dated edition of Playboy.
Crisis October 1962 would ultimately be remembered for something more significant. On Saturday, October 20, kids across the country picked up the morning and afternoon newspapers and turned to the comics section as they did every day. There was Captain Easy chasing saboteurs related to a missile defense program. And in Buz Sawyer, a pint-size foreign spy was getting trapped in a Wyoming ICBM missile silo. Parents may have idly noticed on the front page that President Kennedy had cancelled a multicity campaign trip and returned to Washington because of a cold. On Monday afternoon, the entire world would learn that it was actually a cold war that was about to turn hot. A week earlier, Russian nuclear missiles had been discovered in Cuba and the President grimly demanded that those weapons be dismantled immediately. Any launch of the missiles, he warned, would prompt a nuclear response from the United States. The Cuban Missile Crisis, as it came to be known, lasted another week before the standoff was resolved. The Soviet Union agreed to remove their weapons from Cuba while the United States secretly promised to do the same in 1963 with their own missiles in Turkey. For several days, though, the American public wondered if World War Three was upon them. The crisis came and went so quickly that most comics never referenced it at the time. Coincidentally, Roy Crane’s Buz Sawyer comic strip began a new continuity on October 29 (prepared weeks earlier) that involved the hero’s family taking in a girl from
Cuba. By the November 12 strip, the story dovetailed into a reference to the missile crisis and led to a story where—in December—Buz was shot down by Cuban forces and paraded as a spy on government-controlled TV. The split cover of Mystery In Space #82 depicted an atomic mushroom cloud on one side and a fiery lens on the other as hero Adam Strange grappled with finding a means of stopping world wars on both his home-world of Earth and his adoptive planet Rann. On sale in January 1963, the story was likely near completion the previous October but the timing is intriguing. On sale in July 1962, an episode of John Broome and Murphy Anderson’s Atomic Knights series (Strange Adventures #144) had dealt with the origins of that series’ own nuclear war in October 1986. The story’s conclusion was viewed by some commentators as something of a copout when it placed the blame for the cataclysm on an underground race rather than any known nation. Still, one of the Knights remarked, the human race “cannot escape responsibility. We made the surface of the Earth an armed camp—a global tinder box. The molecreatures provided only the spark that set off the dreadful holocaust.” As the story closed, team leader Gardner Grayle declared that “it must be a new day! Never again must nations be ready to destroy each other on this wonderful world.” It was an admirable sentiment if also a hopelessly optimistic one. That said, optimism was still one of the things that most comic books had in abundance, the assurance that, no matter what the threat, good would always triumph over evil.
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1963
Triumph and Tragedy
Very few parents hope their children grow up to become professional cartoonists. The parents of Mexican artist Sergio Aragonés were no exception. Despite demonstrating a passion and skill for drawing from an early age, Aragonés knew his mother and father regarded his craft as merely a hobby on the way to a real job. “When I left for the United States at 24,” he recalled, “unable to speak English and with no money, to pursue a career in cartooning, they were devastated” (Meglin 11). In New York City, Aragonés had minor successes but was unable to get that big break. A fan of Mad since he saw his first copy in 1955, the young man resisted approaching them. “It was a satire magazine that poked fun at American life,” he explained, “and [included] not one pantomime gag” which he specialized in (Meglin 10). Inevitably, though, he gave Mad a try. Aragonés’ instincts were correct. The magazine’s editors didn’t think his sight gags were right for them. Associate editor Jerry DeFuccio saw something in the cartoonist, though, and recalled how they had been able to integrate Antonio Prohias into Mad. So editor Nick Meglin took another look. “I came across a series of astronaut gags,” he remembered. “Each one delivered a laugh visually, without relying on a caption or dialogue balloon. I quickly roughed out a spread of the strongest panels and brought them to the Art Department.” After further tightening of the layout by Mad’s art director John Putnam, the two-page spread was approved by editor Al Feldstein, and Sergio Aragonés was on the magazine’s payroll (Meglin 9). “A Mad Look at the U.S. Space Effort” (Mad #76: January 1963) began a half-century relationship between Aragonés and the magazine. Tiny sight gags by the cartoonist also peppered the edges of many pages in the issue, thus introducing cartoons eventually dubbed “Marginals” that would become a Mad staple. “After my appearance in Mad,” the cartoonist recalled, “my father mentioned it to his colleagues at the movie studio. Their reaction must have been positive because he called me afterwards and I could hear the pride and tears in his voice” (Meglin 11).
CHAPTER FOUR ACBC1960-64 2015.indd 114
It was not easy being a comic book writer or artist in the early 1960s. The pay was low. The product they produced was looked on by most adults as juvenile at best and subliterate pornography at worst. Despite it all, most of them brought a sense of professionalism to their jobs and the best imbued their work with a personal touch that they could take pride in. But if anyone had forgotten what the general public thought of comic books, Roy Lichtenstein was there in 1963 to remind them. 114
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He was part of the Pop Art movement that began in the late 1950s characterized by incorporating common objects and cultural images into paintings, sculptures, et al. Perhaps the best known example of Pop Art may have been Andy Warhol’s 1962 painting Campbell’s Soup Cans, which was simply a portrait of each of the 32 varieties of soup offered by the company at the time.
Roy Lichtenstein’s “Whaam!” was largely based on this 1961 Irv Novick panel from All-American Men of War #89.
It was Lichtenstein who made a name for himself in the art community with a series of paintings that were massively enlarged comic book panels, complete with word balloons, sound effects, and oversized orbs of color that simulated the tiny Ben-Day dots used on the comics page. To artists like William Overgard, the images were also familiar. Noting the painter’s remarks in the May 3, 1963 issue of Time that he used real comics panels as his inspiration, Overgard felt obliged to send a letter to the magazine that appeared in its May 17 issue:
Johnny Cloud TM and © DC Comics. Lichtenstein painting TM and © respective copyright holder.
currently being shown at the Guggenheim comes pretty close to the last panel of my Steve Roper Sunday page of August 6, 1961. Very flattering...I think?” Overgard was far from the only artist whose work had been transferred to canvas without credit. Among Lichtenstein’s 1963 works were “Drowning Girl” (based in part on the Tony Abruzzo splash page from 1962’s Secret Hearts #83), “Whaam!” (recreating panels by Irv Novick and Russ Heath from All-American Men of War #89), and “Image Duplicator” (inspired by Jack Kirby art in X-Men #1).
“As a cartoonist I was interested in Roy Lichtenstein’s comments on comic strips in your article on Pop Art. Though he may not, as he says, copy them exactly, Lichtenstein in his painting
To the artists affected, the paintings were insulting on many levels. The recreations were crude and primitive, suggesting that the original better-drawn artwork was the same. In the eyes of many in the art community, the paintings were meaningful and ironic, a statement on the comparatively irrelevant comic books. And the paintings were selling for increasingly large sums of money. “[London’s] Tate Gallery bought Lichtenstein’s “Whaam!” for £7,000,” cartoonist Lee Elias raged in a December 1970 interview. “If it wasn’t so stiff, I’d recommend that they roll it up and sell it as toilet paper” (Penman 12). John Romita, one of the DC romance artists whose work had been appropriated, recalled the furor: “A lot of the guys—Bernie Sachs and a few others—wanted to get together and file a class action suit against Lichtenstein and some of the other artists. I was not too interested. I said first of all, I don’t want to contribute money to lawyers. I didn’t want to get involved in it. I even foolishly told them that I was somehow flattered by the fact that they would consider these panels so good that they felt it was worthy of a painting. And, of course, they thought I was crazy. ‘Flattered?! They’re ripping you off!’ I never felt ripped off. I felt like it was a different art form. I
Lichtenstein also used a Russ Heath image from All-American Men of War #89 as the basis for a painting. All-American Men of War TM and © DC Comics. Lichtenstein painting TM and © respective copyright holder.
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1963 TIMELINE
April: The sorcerous hero Doctor Strange first appears in Strange Tales #110.
A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events. February: Marvel Comics releases Sgt. Fury #1, a war comic with the same irreverent tone as its new superhero titles. January 7: The price of a postage stamp increases from 4¢ to 5¢.
May 2: “The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue” (Superman #162) documents an imaginary premise in which twin Men of Steel solve all the world’s ills.
March 21: San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary is closed. April: The Amazing SpiderMan #3 pits its hero against his new arch-nemesis Doctor Octopus.
April 22: Don Sherwood’s military comic strip Dan Flagg begins, ghosted almost from the beginning by artist Alden McWilliams.
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
May 8: The United States premiere of Dr. No (with Sean Connery playing James Bond) triggers a craze for super-spies and their related gadgetry.
M AY May 27: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is released, with Blowin’ In the Wind and A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall among the topical songs on the album.
February 19: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is published, commencing a new feminist movement that seeks to expand the options available to women in society.
March 5: Country singers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins are killed in the crash of a private plane. Compounding the tragedy, singer Jack Anglin perishes in a car accident after attending Cline’s funeral.
April 29: Hi and Lois creator Dik Browne wins the 1962 Reuben Award at the National Cartoonists Society ceremony. Other winners include Charles Schulz (humor newspaper strips, Peanuts), Irwin Hasen (story newspaper strips, Dondi), George Lichty (newspaper panels, Grin and Bear It), and Bob Gustafson (comic book category, Beetle Bailey).
March: Ant-Man acquires a female companion when the Wasp debuts in Marvel’s Tales to Astonish #44.
April 11: A team of superpowered misfits join forces as the Doom Patrol in My Greatest Adventure #80.
April 1: The daily TV soap operas General Hospital and The Doctors premiere on ABC and NBC, respectively.
June 3: Still Life, a panel by cartoonist Jerry Robinson, makes its nationally-syndicated debut. May 23: The unconventional Eclipso series—with a villain as its lead character— begins in DC’s House of Secrets #61.
June 11: As Alabama governor George Wallace attempts to bar black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama, President Kennedy announces his proposal of the Civil Rights Act that will expressly prohibit such discrimination. June 18: Two months after their return in The Flash #137, the 1940s heroes of the Justice Society return for the first of a two-part team-up with their modern counterparts in DC’s Justice League of America #21.
JUNE
June 20: In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a “hotline”—initially a direct line telegraph—is established between the White House and the Kremlin to speed communication in any future U.S.-Russia emergency.
June 12: Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, arrives in theaters on its way to becoming the year’s top-grossing film. Panned by critics, the movie gains renown as the most expensive ever made.
The Brave & the Bold, the Doom Patrol, Superman TM and © DC Comics. The Avengers, Dr. Strange, Sgt. Fury, Spider-Man, the Wasp, the X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
wished they would say ‘from a drawing by…’, but they never did.” (Ridout 29)
ing, something he regarded as just as silly as the University of Maryland’s class on parking cars.
Three decades later, Romita imagined that he and his fellow artists might finally get a measure of respect when they were invited to an exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art that contrasted their original art with the paintings. Instead, the group was faced with a show entitled “High and Low” and speakers who looked down on the entire comics form. “They invited me there proudly, never knowing that I thought I was insulted,” Romita sighed. “I walked out of there right after dinner. I didn’t want to hear any more speeches. I was just so hurt by the whole thing” (Ridout 29-30).
Nor were newspaper strips immune. In August of 1962, Dick Tracy had introduced the space coupe, a petite craft incorporating magnetism and atomic energy that cartoonist Chester Gould characterized as the next step in space travel. Since catching the nation’s fancy with the strip’s twoway wrist radio in 1946, Gould had been compelled to stay technologically ahead of the curve in the strip but some fans believed he’d gone too far this time.
Comic book artists weren’t the only ones being trivialized in 1963. In April, syndicated columnist Henry McLemore took great delight in pointing out that New York University now offered a course in comic book writ-
An uncredited article in the January 14, 1963 issue of Newsweek mocked the science of the recent continuity. For instance, there was the statement that the coupe “could hurtle through space or the Earth’s atmosphere at more than five times ’orbiting speed’ (or 85,000 mph)—thus defying Newton’s second law, for at this speed, the spacecraft would wholly
overcome Earth’s gravity and veer wildly out into space.” The write-up quoted one fan who snapped that Gould “hasn’t the slightest respect for the fundamental laws of nature.” Unfazed by his critics, the cartoonist revisited the space coupe as 1963 continued, actually landing it on the moon in the May 29 strip and closing out the year with the revelation that an as-yet-unseen “Moon Maid” had been brought to Earth. And then there was Mad. Frank Jacobs and Larry Siegel’s 57 song parodies in a 1961 comic insert had brought down the wrath of the Music Publishers Protective Association. With lyricists and composers like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein among the injured parties whose songs had been involved, the lawsuit demanded “one dollar per song per each copy of More Trash From Mad #4 sold.” Which added up to something like $25 million (Jacobs 219).
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July 1: Zip codes are introduced by the U.S. Post Office to improve mail delivery efficiency.
September 16: The Outer Limits, a science fiction-oriented TV anthology, begins its two-season run on ABC.
December 26: In a badly-timed Superman story in Action Comics #309, President Kennedy impersonates Clark Kent.
July: Stan Lee and Kirby bring together most of Marvel’s major solo heroes—excluding Spider-Man—as a team in The Avengers #1. On the same day, a group of teenage mutant students are united in X-Men #1.
September 16: British comic strip Andy Capp crosses the sea and begins United States syndication.
November 22: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas and the United States goes into mourning. Lyndon Johnson is swiftly sworn in as Kennedy’s successor. Two days later, Oswald himself is gunned down by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
September 17: Wanted for a murder he did not commit, Doctor Richard Kimble (played by David Janssen) begins a four-year quest to clear his name in The Fugitive, an ABC TV series.
J U LY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
September 18: The Patty Duke Show premieres on ABC and features the eponymous actress in dual roles as identical cousins Cathy and Patty Lane.
July 27: “Ring of Fire” becomes Johnny Cash’s first number-one hit since 1959.
June 26: Before a massive audience in West Berlin, President Kennedy reaffirms the United States’ commitment to Germany and declares, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
OCTOBER
August 29: DC revamps The Brave and the Bold as a team-up comic— beginning with Green Arrow and the Manhunter from Mars—with issue #50.
December 31: The alien Moon Maid first appears in Dick Tracy, fundamentally altering the tone of the comic strip.
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER December 28: Cliff Sterrett, creator of the celebrated Polly and Her Pals comic strip (19121958) dies at the age of 81.
November 7: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World—the third-highest-grossing movie of 1963—makes its theatrical debut with an astonishingly large cast of comedians assembled by producerdirector Stanley Kramer. November 2: In South Vietnam, President Ngo Dinh Diem is executed in a military coup led by General Duong Van Minh. The government enters a long period of instability, dashing U.S. hopes that new leadership would hasten the defeat of North Vietnam’s communist-allied forces.
August 28: In a defining moment of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King delivers his historic “I Have a Dream” speech to an audience of an estimated quarter-million people in Washington, D.C.
The case ultimately came to trial in 1963 with Judge Charles M. Metzner making his decision in June. In his opinion, “the Mad lyrics were not parodies but satires ‘in original words and thought’ of ‘several aspects of modern life.’ He said that the new lyrics had ’little in common’ with those of the music publishers, then tossed a bouquet Mad’s way by describing the new lyrics as ‘original’ and ‘ingenious’” (Jacobs 222).
A further appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court and the previous decision was upheld. “It was a landmark case,” Frank Jacobs wrote,” and [Mad’s attorneys Martin Scheiman and Jack Albert] had good reason to feel proud. The right to publish parody lyrics or satirical lyrics or whatever one wished to call them had become the law of the land” (Jacobs 223-224).
Mad’s victory was not quite 100%. Metzner ruled in the MPPA’s favor on the parodies of “Always” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” both of which he judged as thematically too close to the originals. Determined to have all or nothing, the music publishers brought the case to the United States Court of Appeals in 1964. They lost…even on the two songs that had previously been named as exceptions. Judge Irving R. Kaufman, writing on behalf of all three judges in the hearing, was not the Mad
The superhero, at least in the form that modern audiences knew him with a costume and secret identity, turned 25 in 1963. Revived and refreshed after being all but left for dead in the 1950s, the genre was indisputably on an upswing and the character who started it all had reached a creative peak in his publishing history.
Superman’s Silver Anniversary
1961’s More Trash From Mad #4 inspired a lawsuit from some of the United States’ foremost lyricists and composers. Mad TM and © DC Comics.
fan that Judge Metzner seemed to be—“our individual tastes may prefer a more subtle brand of humor”—but he supported the magazine’s right to produce such parodies (Jacobs 223).
A quarter-century after Action Comics #1 (June 1938) introduced Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman to an unsuspecting world, its 300th issue (May 1963) let the milestone slip by
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without comment. Nonetheless, its lead story—“Superman Under the Red Sun”—by Edmond Hamilton and Al Plastino would justly be regarded as a classic. Trapped one million years in the future, Superman found himself powerless under Earth’s now-red sun and utterly alone. The remnants of humanity had long ago left the planet. Struggling with depression, the powerless hero resolved to make a trek from lifeless Metropolis to his polar Fortress of Solitude in search of
a way home. Walking across dried-up ocean beds and facing all manner of threats, Superman eventually made it to the Fortress. Discovering a tiny rocket ship capable of piercing the time barrier, the last man on Earth shrank himself and used the craft to return to 1963. There was more to Superman, the story emphasized, than simply super-powers. Two months later, Jimmy Olsen #70 teased readers with a panorama of different forms of kryptonite—green, red, white, blue, gold—and challenged
them to guess “the Secret of Silver Kryptonite.” The secret—revealed following a story full of strange behavior on Jimmy’s part—was that there was no Silver K. The seeming example of the meteor that the redheaded reporter presented to Superman was actually a showcase for six silver busts of the Man of Steel’s closest friends. Declaring that “it’s just 25 years ago that you came to Metropolis from Smallville,” Jimmy represented all the hero’s loved ones in wishing Superman a happy 25th anniversary. (There was some obvious creative license at play in the declaration since Superman’s adult career had spanned a much shorter period in comic book time.) The story closed with a plug for Superman Annual #7, the official commemorative issue (on sale June
Curt Swan and George Klein drew the cover for the milestone Action Comics #300. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
The heavily-advertised Superman Annual #7 celebrated the Man of Steel’s 25th anniversary. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
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13) and sporting a silver statuette of the Man of Steel as the centerpiece of its Curt Swan-illustrated cover. Along with reprints, the issue also included a cover gallery of “Famous First Issues” and samples of the Superman newspaper strip. The celebration spilled over into November’s Annual #8, which collected a number of “untold stories and secret origins.” Superman had not achieved his current success by looking backward and editor Mort Weisinger’s team of writers and artists continued to pull out all the stops. Amidst the usual lighter, gimmicky stories were well-remembered emotional pieces. Leo Dorfman and Al Plastino’s “Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent” (Superman #161) tormented teenage Clark Kent with the knowledge that he couldn’t save his dying foster parents while Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan told the tale of Wonder-Man, a Superman Robot who craved being a human being and—in Superman’s eyes— died as one (Superman #163). Jerry Siegel and Al Plastino’s “Sweetheart That Superman Forgot” (Superman #165) was virtually a Clark Kent story, one that found him temporarily stripped of his memories and powers. Creating a new life for himself in a rural community, “Jim White” fell in love with a young woman named Sally Selwyn and was contemplating marriage when circumstances separated them. Ending on an unusually tragic note that left Sally believing that the wheelchair-bound “Jim” had committed suicide, the story almost obligated a sequel. A follow-up appeared in 1964’s Superman #169. Each of the Sally Selwyn stories had first appeared in the Superman newspaper strip (with art by Wayne Boring), preceding their comic book counterparts by a few months. Hamilton and Swan’s “Showdown Between Luthor and Superman” (Superman #164) leveled the playing field between the hero and his arch-foe by placing them on a planet orbiting a red sun that effectively negated Superman’s powers. Separated following an impromptu boxing match on the arid world, the duo independently discovered the planet’s struggling people. It was Luthor, however, who used his scientific genius to revive their dormant technology and found himself hailed as a hero. Touched by their devotion, Luthor threw his subsequent fight with Superman so that the hero could escape the world, regain his powers, and send much-needed water to the desert planet. The villain’s relationship with the people of Lexor—as the
Enemies Luthor and Superman had never been so evenly matched as they were in this sequence from Superman #164 by artists Curt Swan and George Klein. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
world would be named in its 1964 return—would add a new dimension to his characterization. Each of these stories played less on what Superman could do than what he couldn’t. It was the contrast between his powers and vulnerabilities that made the more characterdriven stories so interesting. Superman #162’s “Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue” (by Leo Dorfman and Curt Swan), however, tackled the subject of what might happen if Superman could achieve every last objective he’d dreamed of.
Plastino mimicked the work of DC romance artist Jay Scott Pike in these panels from Superman #165’s Sally Selwyn tale. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
In the latest “imaginary novel” set outside regular continuity, the Man of Steel was confronted with his career failings and used an experimental evolution device to split himself into two beings whose intellect had increased 100–fold. In short order, Superman-Red and Superman-Blue had done everything from enlarging the shrunken city of Kandor to creating world peace via brainwave-influencing satellites. A reformed Luthor did his part by curing every ailment known to man—even his own baldness. With Earth rendered a utopia, the twin Supermen realized that they
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didn’t even have to decide whether it was Lois Lane or Lana Lang whom they loved the most. They could marry each of them! If 1961’s “Death of Superman” had represented the worst-case scenario for ending the Man of Steel’s career, “Superman-Red and Superman-Blue” was surely the best-case. An odd detail in the story’s final chapter (as well as 1963’s Lois Lane #45) was Weisinger’s decision to have regular Lois artist Kurt Schaffenberger draw the Lois and Lana figures instead of Curt Swan. “He wanted to keep Lois more uniform throughout the Superman series,” Schaffenberger told John Pierce in 1974. “He wanted my version to be the criterion” (Voger 45). Schaffenberger also slipped a gag into the splash page of “The Monkey’s Paw” in Lois Lane #42. Instructed to draw Superman fighting off several of Lois’ costumed suitors, the artist decided to make one of them Captain Marvel—a Fawcett Comics character that he’d often drawn in the 1940s and early 1950s. Far and away the most successful 1940s hero to copy Superman, Cap had been put out of business in 1953 after a long string of legal wrangling with DC. “Mort knew what I was doing,” Schaffenberger said of the in-joke. “We both figured at that time that Captain Marvel was a thing of the past—dead as the proverbial dodo. I put it in. We both had a chuckle over it, and let it go. He was colored differently, green instead of red” (Voger 45). It was only years later, when editor E. Nelson Bridwell reprinted the story in 1971’s Lois Lane #113 and had Cap colored correctly, that anyone else caught on. Had Schaffenberger been the artist on Adventure Comics’ Legion of Super-Heroes feature rather than John Forte, he’d have had plenty of opportunities to slip Captain Marvel into the background. By the time Matter-Eater Lad joined in 1962’s Adventure #302, the Legion had 19 active or honorary members. The 30th Century group’s sheer volume was one of the early points of distinction that attracted readers to the series as was the fact that they appeared exclusively in Adventure. Nothing truly surprising was ever going to happen to the various heroes in Justice League of America since their real homes were in various solo series. In the Legion of Super-Heroes, however, members could become romantically involved…and they could die.
In Superman #162, the Man of Steel—one of him, anyway—found himself wearing red like his old rival Captain Marvel. Cap himself, miscolored and partly concealed by Lois Lane, made a cameo in the splash panel of “The Monkey’s Paw.” Lois Lane, Superman TM and © DC Comics.
That was precisely what happened in Adventure #304 (January 1963). In the Jerry Siegel-scripted story, Saturn Girl learned of a prophecy that a Legionnaire would soon die in battle with Zaryan the Conqueror. Conspiring to make herself Legion leader and forbidding the rest of the team from using their powers, the heroine hoped to ensure that she would die. At zero hour, however, Saturn Girl’s boyfriend Lightning Lad learned the truth and sacrificed his life in her place. 120
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Lightning Lad’s body was placed in a glass coffin and the Legion moved on. But the story was far from over. Scarcely an issue went by when the Legionnaires didn’t reflect on their fallen teammate if not flatly state their conviction that he somehow be resurrected. Adventure #308 was the first to tease his supposed return but Lightning Lad turned out to be Lightning Lass, the hero’s previously unknown twin sister whose charade was deduced when Sun Boy noticed the lack of an The Legion of Super-Heroes were hit hard by the first death in their ranks. Adam’s apple on her throat. Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics. In issue #310’s particularly Likewise, the sheer number of costumed heroes was cause bizarre episode, the entire team was killed by a descendant for endless fascination. Aside from the additions of Mon-El as of the magical Mister Mxyzptlk only to be revived when a full member (after he was freed from the Phantom Zone in Superboy sent him back to his home dimension. Adventure #305), newcomer Element Lad (Adventure #307), The subplot culminated in Adventure #312’s “Super-Sacriand Lightning Lass, the series also saw the addition of an fice of the Legionnaires,” written by Edmond Hamilton. entire sub-group of heroes in Adventure #306. Discovering that Lightning Lad could be revived through The Legion of Substitute Heroes was a quintet of heroes who’d been individually rejected for membership in the Legion proper. Overcoming the sometimes considerable liabilities of their own power sets, the Subs quietly worked in the shadows before their existence was revealed to the proud Legion in Adventure #315 (December 1963). Of special note in the Subs was Polar Boy, a hero who’d first been suggested by reader Buddy LaVigne in issue #304’s letter column and the first of several characters who were initially conceived by fans.
a ritual that would transfer someone else’s life force into his body, Superboy and five teammates surrounded their friend’s coffin. Still blaming herself for her boyfriend’s demise, Saturn Girl tried to rig the ceremony so that she would trade her life for his. Instead, Proty—the telepathic pet of Chameleon Boy—sensed what she was attempting and impersonated the heroine, ultimately giving his own life to resurrect Lightning Lad. However stiff the Legion series could sometimes be in execution, stories like this inspired fervent devotion in its fans.
Although Mort Weisinger continued to play it safe by featuring Superboy prominently on each cover, he tacitly confirmed the Legion’s growing popularity by making them the lead feature in Adventure effective with issue #309. Moreover, he expanded the length of each LSH story to 17 pages per issue while cutting the pages for the companion Superboy solo tale accordingly.
Love and Capes Costumed characters—whether heroes or villains—were now readily apparent to most of DC’s editors as a detail that could boost sales on their respective books. The fad even extended to the half-page humor fillers created by Henry Boltinoff when the cartoonist introduced SuperTurtle in Adventure Comics #304.
The Legion’s obsession with resurrecting Lightning Lad culminated with a story in which they resolved to sacrifice one of their lives to bring him back. Legion of Super-Heroes TM and © DC Comics.
Effective with Rip Hunter…Time Master #16 (September-October 1963), for instance, editor George Kashdan outfitted the team’s formerly plain-clothed quartet of heroes in red and green uniforms. The same month, the Kashdan-edited Aquaman #11 saw writer Jack Miller and artist Nick Cardy bring in a red-haired heroine who could manipulate water and transform it into solid objects. Stripped of her abilities for most of that first story, Mera initially came off as something of a
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damsel in distress. That would change when she returned as a series regular with issue #13. To a general audience that still held the average girl and a growing number of teenage boys, a pretty heroine in a green jumpsuit was far more appealing than a magical imp named Quisp (who was quietly dropped from Aquaman in the same issue that Mera debuted).
In short, the heroes were attacked by an alien thief who tried to teleport them to his home dimension. A mishap resulted in only Robin and BatGirl being shunted away while Batman and Batwoman’s life forces were torn from their bodies and sent elsewhere. From there, the plot split into three directions and played with the same emotional scenarios that Mort Weisinger was having success with. Fighting back feelings The red-haired Mera, beautifully of despair and hopelessrendered by artist Nick Cardy, quickly won the heart of Aquaman. ness, each pair of heroes Aquaman TM and © DC Comics. opened up to each other. On Earth, too weak to even stand, Batman confessed to Batwoman that he loved her before they used their last reserves of strength to restore their life forces and partners.
Editor Jack Schiff still had faith in comical helpmates, whether Bat-Mite or (in the Manhunter From Mars series) Zook, but he also appreciated the appeal of costumed heroines. In the space of seven years, Batwoman had become a fixture of the Batman series and even her protégée Bat-Girl seemed to be sticking around as a periodic foil for Robin. Batman #153’s “Prisoners of Three Worlds” (by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff) developed the relationships of the heroic quartet to a greater degree than ever before. Filled with extraterrestrials and science fiction elements, the plot was exactly the sort of thing that many fans later contended was the antithesis of a Batman story. But it was more than that. At 25 pages, the “3-part novel” was the longest single adventure in Batman’s 24-year history and allowed an unusual degree of character development.
The impact of the story was blunted a bit by the final panels’ restoration of the platonic status quo—Batman claimed his confession was only meant to make Batwoman’s “last moments happy ones”—but readers at least got to see Robin and Bat-Girl walk off hand-in-hand. Still, the story was an important concession on Schiff’s part that comic book storytelling was changing.
An unprecedented full-length story tapped the romantic tension between Batman and Batwoman as well as their junior partners.
In issue #153’s letter column, reader Robert O’Neill advocated fewer issues with the traditional three short stories in favor of two longer ones or a fulllength adventure. Elsewhere on the page, Jerry Johnson complimented the improvement of Detective Comics’ Manhunter From Mars feature since its own page count had increased. Bowing to popular demand, Schiff switched to two stories per issue with Batman #155 and World’s Finest Comics #134 (forcing the Aquaman and Green Arrow features to appear in alternating issues in the latter title).
Batman, Batwoman TM and © DC Comics.
Schiff never precisely edited another full-length Batman story but he came close in issue #157 (June 1963), also by Finger and Moldoff. The opening eightpage tale recounted Robin’s encounter with a tiny villain named Ant-Man— and if Marvel Comics noticed that the name of their year-old hero was being used, there’s no record of it—while expressly stating that Batman was away on a secret mission. That mission—its after-effects, really— were the subject of the two-part “Robin Dies At Dawn” that filled out the remainder of the issue. The Caped Crusader had participated in a days122
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strong sales on the Batman Annuals that reprinted older material, the editor paid special interest to reader reaction to Annual #3’s spotlight on classic villains in 1962.
long test simulation to determine the psychological effects of astronauts on long-term space missions. In the course of his hallucination, Batman had seen Robin killed by an alien creature at dawn on a strange world. That horrifying image lingered in his mind long after the experiment was over. Repeatedly succumbing to blackouts and flashbacks in the days that followed, Batman reluctantly took a break from crime-fighting. After criminals kidnapped Robin and vowed to kill him at dawn, the troubled hero fought past his psychosis and broke its hold by saving his partner’s life.
In 1963, he worked with Bill Finger in reviving many of the costumed criminals, specifically the Penguin (Batman #155, after a seven-year absence), Doctor Double-X (Detective #316), Mirror-Man (Batman #157), and the Terrible Trio (Detective #321). Perennial favorite the Joker also appeared, feuding with newcomer Clayface in Batman #159. Wary of reviving Catwoman because of feared Comics Code Authority objections, Finger and artist Jim Mooney instead created the Cat-Man, a thrill-seeking villain who was the subject of an eventual trilogy that began in Detective Comics #311 (January 1963). The second installment (issue #318) even had Batwoman adopt the Catwoman persona for part of the story.
At turns harrowing and poignant, the adventure has been celebrated even by fans who detested the science fiction trappings that had overtaken the series. In 2008, writer Grant Morrison used “Robin Dies At Dawn” for key details in his mammoth “Batman R.I.P.” storyline, also briefly referencing “Prisoner of Three Worlds” along the way. Discussing the story’s enduring appeal, Mike W. Barr wrote:
“The sales went up with the villains featured,” Schiff insisted in an interview in the early 1980s (Schiff A-67), but it would not be enough. The Comic Reader #20 (October 8, 1963)—in an announcement described as “the most
“The science fiction elements existed only in Batman’s mind, yet the scenes of Batman’s hallucinations were vivid enough that the story is recalled as both a science fiction story and one of the best Batman stories of the 1960s—largely, one assumes, because of the script’s emphasis on Batman’s indomitable spirit and on the warm relationship between Batman and Robin. (136) Such acclaim notwithstanding, sales on Schiff’s Batman titles had slipped badly. According to DC’s annual Statement of Ownership reports, the average issue of Batman sold 410,000 copies in 1962 versus 502,000 in 1960. Though still outselling many lesser-known DC titles, the drop was cause for grave concern and Schiff searched for a solution. Noting the continued
The psychological turmoil at the heart of “Robin Dies At Dawn” made it one of the 1960s’ best-remembered Batman stories. Batman TM and © DC Comics.
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provocative news to ever appear in TCR”—reported that Batman and Detective would be revamped in 1964 under the editorial auspices of Julius Schwartz while Jack Schiff was reassigned to DC’s science fiction titles. Wonder Woman—starring the third of DC’s best-known heroes—sold only about half of what a typical issue of Batman did but its sales were also stable and writer-editor Robert Kanigher (with artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito) stayed the course going into 1963. Increasingly throwing internal logic to the wind, the team devoted half of the year’s stories to the popular Wonder Family. Kanigher, Andru, and Esposito were also at the helm of Metal Men #1 (April-May 1963), featuring the personalized robot stars of DC’s extraordinary breakout hit in Showcase. Maintaining the series blend of humor, melodrama and self-sacrifice, Kanigher also departed from conventional wisdom by establishing issueto-issue continuity. Would lovestruck Tina be rebuilt after her destruction at the end of issue #2? Was insecure Tin destined to be trapped in outer space following issue #3? And what was to become of the entire team and Doc Magnus when they were trapped on a planet of hostile robots as issue #4 closed?
from adults and older teenagers that reflected comic books’ slowly changing face. In Sea Devils, Kanigher also played to the more fannish readers, who recognized different art styles. An unusual pair of issues presented five stories illustrated by different artists—who actually guest-starred in their respective tales—and encouraged readers to vote on their favorite. Joe Kubert, Gene Colan, and the Andru/Esposito team were spotlighted in issue #13 while Irv Novick and Jack Abel were represented in the following issue. Short of Russ Heath (who’d drawn Sea Devils through issue #10) and Jerry Grandenetti, the guest artists represented nearly every major illustrator then working with Kanigher. The other notable exception was a man who’d found himself typecast as DC’s romance artist. His name was John Romita. Influenced by the impressionistic art of superstar newspaper cartoonist Milton Caniff, Romita had spent much of the 1950s working for Martin Goodman’s Atlas Comics. Left with no assignments after Atlas was crippled in a distribution crisis, the artist had moved over to DC where his gift for drawing beautiful women made him ideally suited for their romance line. By 1963, Romita was the cover artist for all five love titles (Falling In Love, Girls’ Love Stories, Girls’ Romances, Heart
Throbs, and Secret Hearts) and generally contributed one interior story for each. His style was definitive enough that Al Plastino blatantly copied over a dozen Romita panels when he drew Sally Selwyn in Superman #166’s romantic “Sweetheart That Superman Forgot.” In 1963, Crestwood Publications cancelled its Prize Comics color line (while maintaining magazines like Joe Simon’s Sick) and DC leapt in to buy its two romance titles. Created by Simon and Jack Kirby, Young Romance and Young Love had virtually launched the romance comics genre in the late 1940s and DC was eager to capitalize on their name recognition. The Prize line was distributed by DC’s sister company, Independent News. In a 2012 interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, historian Mike Tiefenbacher observed, “DC—which was undoubtedly responsible for the longevity of Prize (as well as ACG)— thus had a leg up in the acquisition of their last two comics titles, and was
Serials were slowly coming back into vogue but generally as only one story in a comic book that featured another tale that was complete in that issue. Adding continued stories to a brand new title was audacious, something that even Marvel Comics was just beginning to toy with. As he’d done in the Showcase issues when he addressed the audience at the end of each story, Kanigher was stoking fan loyalty and encouraging readers to come back for the next installment. In the process, based on the early Metal Men letter columns, he cultivated an unusual Writer-editor Robert Kanigher played into fan interest in comic book creators by featuring a succession of DC artists as characters in Sea Devils. amount of mail Sea Devils TM and © DC Comics. 124
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You’re no writer, where do you come off changing my stuff? You’re not the editor, you’re not the writer!’ He was livid! Seconds before, he had complimented me on how much he loved my art, so I almost wanted to tell him, ‘You’re obviously not reading your own stuff, because if you read it you would have known I made changes, right?’ But I was so naïve that I even admitted it to him, and asked if he minded. He told me he minded quite strenuously.” (Ridout 27-28) Artist John Romita was a constant presence in DC’s early 1960s romance titles.
Culminating With a Crisis
Editor Phyllis Reed likely saw the books as simply more work and decided it was time to retire. After years of working out cover concepts and plotting stories with Romita, Reed believed that the time was right for him to get a promotion. Romita recalled:
Kanigher’s office-mate Julius Schwartz continued to maintain his own group of titles, reviving super-villains for his superhero titles while taking pains to create new ones. “I have a standing rule—which I usually don’t enforce—that for every character brought back, the writer must introduce a new one,” Schwartz declared in 1977 (Gruenwald 36). “Only by concocting new heroes and villains do you remain contemporary.”
“When she was ready to raise a family, she recommended me as the romance editor. After she recommended me, she said, ‘You know, John, you’ve got one problem that they are gonna pick up on’ (meaning the powers-that-be up there). They would probably give it to me, but I would have to go into the city every day, which I wasn’t too happy to do at the time. The other thing she said was, ‘You’d be the only guy that would be losing his most important artist if you took the job.’” (Ridout 27-28)
Although Schwartz was speaking of a later generation of writers that delighted in reviving characters from their youth, his philosophy was readily apparent in 1963. When John Broome and Gil Kane brought the likes of Sinestro, Sonar, and Star Sapphire back for return bouts in Green Lantern, they balanced the scales with new adversaries Dr. Polaris (GL #21), Tattooed Man (GL #23), and the Shark (GL #24). Over in The Flash, Broome and Carmine Infantino created a sometime-rival for Captain Cold named Heat Wave (issue #140).
Bonnie Taylor TM and © DC Comics.
intimately familiar with the sales of both.”
Romita conceded that she was right and remained simply DC’s star romance artist as the line was passed to editor Lawrence Nadle. Hoping to distinguish the Prize titles from the other romance comics, Nadle added a Romita-illustrated series to each book. “The Private Diary of Mary Robin, R.N.” began in Young Love #39 (September-October 1963) and “Bonnie Taylor” debuted a month later in Young Romance #126. Starring a nurse and a stewardess, respectively, the Kanigherscripted series offered plenty of opportunities for his leads to fall in love with colleagues.
Gardner Fox—who introduced the Queen Bee in the Mike Sekowskypenciled Justice League of America #23— brought back JLA foe Doctor Light in The Atom #8 with the novel hook that he now hoped to kill off the team’s members individually rather than collectively. Over the next few years, Light would try again in Green Lantern and The Flash. One of DC’s perceived successful cover gimmicks involved a hero seemingly fighting himself or a variation thereof. That may explain the inspiration for Broome and Infantino’s Reverse-Flash (a.k.a. Professor Zoom), an evil super-speedster from the 25th Century whose predominantly yellow costume was a reversal on his adversary’s primarily red outfit (The Flash #139).
Early on, Romita had tweaked some of Kanigher’s scripts, adding or subtracting panels for the sake of visual interest. The veteran writer never noticed until the artist shared an elevator with him one day and innocently asked him if he’d minded such revisions: “Before we got to the main floor of 575 Lexington Avenue, he just blew! ‘Who do you think you are? You’ve got some nerve!
Carmine Infantino’s sleek redesign of Kid Flash’s costume was unveiled on a cover inked by Murphy Anderson. The Flash TM and © DC Comics.
A more creative twist on the trademark Flash costume came earlier in the year when issue #135 introduced a new look for Kid Flash. Since his debut, the teen hero had simply worn a smaller version of
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his mentor’s costume and Schwartz declared that it was time for a change. Consequently, Infantino designed an elegant variation that maintained the old costume’s red leggings but otherwise shifted to a yellow color scheme and a lopped-off hood that exposed the boy’s hair. The distinctive hood had, in fact, been part of one of the artist’s original Flash concept drawings in 1956 but he rejected it because he disliked the idea of the hero’s hair blowing in the wind. Seeking a more distinctive, youthful look for Kid Flash, Infantino concluded that “this approach is perfect now” (Murray, “The Legendary Carmine Infantino” 44). Arguably the most historic double-Flash story of the year, though, reunited the present-day Barry Allen with his 1940s counterpart Jay Garrick for the third time in The Flash #137’s “Vengeance of the Immortal Villain.” The title character was Vandal Savage, a millennia-old immortal who’d fought the first Green Lantern in 1943 and the Justice Society of America in 1947. Ever since Gardner Fox and Infantino had revived Jay in 1961, Julius Schwartz had built up a mystique about the other heroes of the 1940s and it finally paid off here. Seeking revenge for his last defeat, Savage captured several members of the Justice Society. Freed by the two Flashes, the JSA decided that it might be a good idea to come out of retirement. Fans were euphoric, all the more so because Schwartz, Fox, and Mike Sekowsky followed the story two months later with a landmark two-part adventure that began in Justice League of America #21 (August 1963). Magically bridging the divide between the parallel Earths of the JLA and JSA, villains from each world joined forces to go on a rampage and ultimately used magic to lock down the Leaguers in their own headquarters. Using a magical crystal ball once given to the team by Merlin, the League was able to contact the Society for help. Shaking hands and making introductions in a historic half-page panel, the teams resolved to switch worlds for the duration and take on their respective foes. The saga climaxed in issue #22 with a double-page spread of the heroes defeating the villains. With a cast of sixteen heroes and six villains coupled with a complex plot, Schwartz felt obligated in JLA #22 to recap the first chapter for readers who had missed the previous issue. The entirety of page one, then, was a block of text framed by head shots of the entire cast. “In the old days the pulp magazines like Argosy would run two or three serials in the same issue, and they’d always lead off with a page or more
The Justice League and Justice Society’s milestone first meeting was a huge hit with fans. Justice League of America TM and © DC Comics.
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fanzine (Masquerader #5) that “without Kubert, Hawkman is just another DC hero. He loses his uniqueness, and the thrill is no longer in the stories.” For his part, Joe Kubert told Ronn Foss in Alter Ego #6 (1964) that he’d have been unable to continue the series anyway due to his commitments to the successful Sgt. Rock series in Our Army At War.
of what happened before,” the editor explained. “I was brought up on pulp magazines, and that’s where I got it from” (Thomas 15). Entitled “Crisis On Earth-One” and “Crisis On Earth-Two,” the two stories also officially named the parallel worlds of each team. The JLA’s planet was dubbed Earth-One since it was where most of DC’s contemporary series were unofficially set. In later years, Schwartz often expressed his regret that he’d identified the JSA’s home as Earth-Two even though they’d started their careers first.
The revamped series began in MIS #87 (November 1963) with a clever touch that had Adam Strange bring an alien artifact back to Earth in his story before the same object triggered the creation of the villainous I.Q. in the Hawkman tale. Schwartz’s confidence in the Fox-Anderson team was well-placed and an ongoing Hawkman comic book would finally be green-lit for 1964.
Schwartz was certain that the story would be greeted warmly by diehard fans and it did, in fact, win as Favorite Novel in the 1963 Alley Awards. He was less certain about the general readership, although the two-parter was strategically published during the peak summer months and timed so that the issues ran little more than a month apart:
Looking For a Hit That left “Strange Sports Stories” as the sole Schwartzedited failure of 1963. An unprecedented consecutive five-issue pilot run in The Brave and the Bold #45-49 never generated the numbers that DC was hoping for. Intended as a companion for the company’s star-making Showcase title, B&B had produced exactly one successful series—Justice League of America—after four years as a tryout title.
“When we did it the first time, we had no inkling that there’d be a sequel. But when the sales figures came in, we realized there was a reader-demand so we dreamed up another crisis for the two teams. When that also did well, we decided to make it an annual affair. Of all the JLA-JSA crossovers we’ve done, with maybe one exception, they all did extremely well. It’s like a surefire sale.” (Gruenwald 34)
Effective with The Brave and the Bold #50 (October-November 1963), the comic book was reborn as a team-up title that would primarily capitalize on the drawing power of superheroes. At the outset, the series was still something of a stealth tryout title inasmuch as its first issue united Green Arrow and the Manhunter From Mars, neither of whom had a comic book of his own. Bob Haney, who wrote nearly all of the B&B team-ups through 1979, admitted that it was difficult getting permission to use DC’s A-list heroes in the beginning. Mort Weisinger, for one, forbade any appearance by Superman (Catron 172). Hence, the Manhunter and GA, a B-list version of World’s Finest’s Superman-Batman team.
Less surefire had been Schwartz’s revival of Hawkman, which had not quite clicked in separate 1961 and 1962 tryouts. Refusing to give up, he brought the winged hero back as a guest-star in The Atom #7 (June-July 1963). Though still written by Gardner Fox, Hawkman sported a sleeker image courtesy of artists Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Writing in issue #9’s letter column, reader Jerry Johnson contrasted their work with the more impressionistic Joe Kubert and conceded that the different art styles might indeed have played a role in the character’s previous inability to fully click with audiences.
Showcase’s own string of In his response, Schwartz George Roussos drew the cover and interior of The Brave and the Bold #50. successes had also come to a halt Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter TM and © DC Comics. observed that most of Hawkfollowing the launch of Metal man’s earliest adventures of the 1940s had been illustrated Men. Amidst five unsuccessful Tommy Tomorrow issues by Sheldon Moldoff, whose mimicry of the realistic art (Showcase #41-2, #44, #46-7), there was a pair of curious of Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond was “as different oddities. from Kubert’s as hot is from cold.” Consequently, the editor DC had somehow acquired a British adaptation of Dr. No, continued, Hawkman was going to be added to Mystery In the first James Bond movie to be adapted from Ian FlemSpace as a companion feature to Adam Strange with “an ing’s popular spy series. Casting about for a home, they artist closer to Moldoff’s realistic style than Kubert’s— dropped it into Showcase #43 (March-April 1963) with a Murphy Anderson.” new Bob Brown cover and—due to its 32-page length—an Mike Vosburg, who’d initiated the “Save Hawkman” ad-free interior. On sale in January of 1963, the comic book campaign, was appalled, declaring in the next issue of his was a classic example of bad timing. The film had been 127
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released in the United Kingdom in October 1962 but didn’t arrive in U.S. theaters until May 1963. Once the film hit and a huge spy craze emerged, DC could only capitalize on Bond’s popularity by proxy, belatedly creating sinister spy agencies for titles like Hawkman and Jimmy Olsen in the years that followed.
#61’s debut of a sorcerous arch-nemesis named Doctor-7. They stopped short of giving the supernatural investigator a costume but they did provide him with a bizarre superpower of sorts in issue #60. Therein, an ancient Egyptian talisman enabled Mark to transfer his mind into the body of a cat named Memakata. More memorably, HOS #61 (July-August 1963) also launched a companion series by Bob Haney and artist Lee Elias. The schizophrenic Eclipso was, as his tagline declared, “hero and villain in one man.” Cut by an enchanted black diamond, visionary solar scientist Bruce Gordon—whom Haney coyly named after Batman’s Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon (Catron 171)—was transformed into a super-terrorist whenever there was an eclipse. “I designed the character first,” Elias recalled. “with the line down the face and with one side in shadow, and the costume he wore, and [colored] it. [Murray Boltinoff] liked it, so I drew the story, and that’s how it started.” In the midst of getting a divorce, the artist took a brief break from comics shortly thereafter and left the Eclipso strip following its second installment (Penman 15).
C u r i o u s l y, no American publisher released another James Beneath Bob Brown’s cover, Norman J. Nodel drew an adaptation of “Doctor No” originally published in the Bond comic book British Classics Illustrated #158A. until Marvel’s James Bond, Doctor No TM and © Danjaq LLC and United Artists Corporation. adaptation of For Your Eyes Only in 1981. Former DC colorist and editor Carl Gafford revealed that there was a reason for that: “Paul Levitz discovered in the mid-1970s while going through some of DC’s old contracts that DC had the rights to adapt any and all of the later James Bond movies (and not just reprint a British comics adaptation, as was done here)” (Gafford). By then, of course, it was too late and DC had missed the opportunity to cash in on the Bond craze while it was at its peak.
Although Eclipso’s demonic design—with its predominantly purple color scheme—was striking, the series concept had considerable logistical problems. The relative rarity of eclipses notwithstanding, Bruce Gordon needed to be in the presence of one in each installment despite
Putting things into perspective in an interview for American Comic Book Chronicles, Levitz remarked, “I don’t recall DC having the rights to do other Bond movies. I suspect they could have gotten them easily if they wanted and didn’t have them, but they wouldn’t have viewed the audiences as matching much. The Bond films weren’t kid stuff (by the standards of the time), and DC was really only interested in selling comics to kids at that time.” The other Showcase anomaly of 1963 was in issue #45. Its novelty came from the fact that its star was already coverfeatured in Our Army At War even if that comic book didn’t actually bear his name. The Sgt. Rock story in Showcase was the second full-length episode in his history—the first in 1963’s OAAW #127 had introduced Native American soldier Little Sureshot—and produced by his traditional creative team of Bob Kanigher and Joe Kubert. Detailing the character’s origin, the story was clearly written as a traditional tryout, though, and apparently meant to determine if a Sgt. Rock logo (an anomaly in that Gaspar Saladino lettered it instead of Ira Schnapp, who did virtually every other DC logo back to the early ‘40s) was commercial in its own right. The answer was evidently yes although the Rock logo wasn’t added to Our Army At War’s covers until 1965. With the tryout comic books floundering, DC’s major new creations came from editor Murray Boltinoff’s stable. Jack Miller and Mort Meskin’s efforts to perk up the Mark Merlin feature in House of Secrets continued with issue
As a point of distinction from Joe Kubert’s Our Army At War issues, the cover art on Sgt. Rock’s Showcase appearance was drawn by Russ Heath. Sgt. Rock TM and © DC Comics.
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knowing the effect it would have. Although he strategized ways of thwarting his alter-ego, most of the physical heroics were left to his colleague Simon Bennett. And the fact that the star of the strip was a villain made any plot a challenge in overcoming objections from the Comics Code that Eclipso might go unpunished. These were challenges that Haney (joined by legendary artist Alex Toth effective with issue #63) was able to surmount and early reader reaction was uniformly positive. Still, the writer looked back on his work with regret. “I had an idea about Eclipso that might have been a much better character,” he revealed in a 1997 interview. “Which I think was done much better years later when they revived it than I did it, to be perfectly honest. But I guess that was another case of ‘come up with a character’” (Catron 171). Boltinoff had greater critical and commercial success with a feature he solicited from Arnold Drake, who recalled getting the assignment: “[Murray Boltinoff] was editing My Greatest Adventure, and the magazine wasn’t doing very well. He was looking for something to give it a shot in the arm. So, I came up with the idea of these freaks who banded together and the man in the wheelchair guiding them. It was one of those hurry-up jobs. I think Murray assigned it on Friday and needed the whole magazine ready by Monday or Tuesday of the next week. That Friday afternoon, after I had plotted most of the story, I asked Bob [Haney] if he was busy, and if not, if he would join me. We’d finish plotting it together and then tear it in half and he’d write one half and I’d write the other.” (Reed 55)
The Eclipso series took the Jekyll/Hyde concept in a different direction than Marvel’s Hulk had done by making the title character genuinely villainous. Eclipso TM and © DC Comics.
into a robotic shell. Pilot Larry Trainor—co-created by Drake and Haney—was irradiated during a test flight, forcing him to sheathe his body in treated bandages but also enabling him to project a black energy-being dubbed Negative-Man. A mysterious bearded man in a wheelchair—known only as the Chief—summoned the bitter trio before him, insisting that their lives still had meaning and importance. A scientific genius, the Chief oversaw a surveillance system that alerted him to crises that he could not act upon. Convincing Cliff, Larry, and Rita to be his proxies, the mystery man guided them to victory over the terrorist General Immortus.
Collectively, the team of outcasts was initially dubbed the Legion of the Strange and consisted of three individuals who were treated as freaks after suffering catastrophic accidents. Rita “Elasti-Woman” Farr had been an actress until a mishap gave her the power to enlarge, shrink, and generally reshape her body. Cliff “Automaton” Steele’s body was destroyed in a car accident and his brain transplanted
With the script completed, Boltinoff selected Italianborn artist Bruno Premiani to draw the series. Drake was unequivocally delighted with “his superb draftsmanship, anatomy and design work,” details that kept the book’s cast looking “as human as possible” (Drake 6).
The tragic underpinnings of the Doom Patrol members gave the team a different feel than any other DC series. Doom Patrol TM and © DC Comics.
By the time the series debuted in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963), the group had been renamed the Doom Patrol. Indeed, most of the character names were in a state of flux over the first several installments. Negative-Man soon lost his hyphen and Elasti-Woman was Elasti-Girl by MGA #84. Deeming Automaton too clunky a name, Drake just called Cliff Steele by his given name for a few issues before settling on Robotman (first referred to as such in MGA #83’s letter column). Until Julius Schwartz informed him other-
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Aunt May reduced to pawning her jewelry to make ends meet in issue #1 (March 1963), teenage Peter Parker repeatedly tried to make his Spider-Man alter ego pay off for him. Crashing the Fantastic Four’s headquarters in the hope of getting a salaried job, the naïve hero was informed that the team was a strictly non-profit operation. And when he attempted to cash a check for a TV appearance, Spider-Man was curtly refused. “Do you have a Social Security card, or a driver’s license in the name of Spider-Man?” the teller asked.
wise, Drake was unaware that DC had published an earlier character by that name from 1942 to 1953. And Boltinoff— as detailed in several 1964 letter columns—apparently didn’t realize that the earlier Robotman also possessed a human brain like Cliff did. Aside from Negative Man (whose energy form was a separate entity), the trio rarely used their codenames anyway. The Doom Patrol was less about colorful aliases than the people behind them. Along with the Chief, they became a family, one that sometimes grew strained from their constant proximity but which always stood together. Underneath, there was still an awareness that much of the world viewed them as freaks. “That resentment,” Drake wrote, “will never stop smoldering in the Doom Patrol” (5).
There’d be no more television spots, either, because Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson had taken it upon himself to crusade against the so-called “menace” of the masked vigilante. Spider-Man would face scores of adversaries in his career but none would be as persistent as this man—with his brush-top haircut and Hitler mustache—who insisted he was acting in the best interest of the public. Even when the webbed hero saved the publisher’s own astronaut son, Jameson spun the story to suggest that Spider-Man had sabotaged his falling space capsule. (Issue #2 introduced a small bit of payback when Peter Parker began selling action photos of his own exploits—taken with an automatic camera—to the unwitting publisher.)
Arnold Drake was dealing with the same sort of subject matter that Stan Lee and company were touching on at Marvel. Articulating his goals in a 1999 interview, he said: “The Doom Patrol was […] an attempt to understand how kids were thinking at that time, and kids were not thinking that superheroes are real, because that wasn’t what was happening in their world. They knew that there were weaknesses in human beings. They saw it in their own parents. The superhero was far more of a plastic thing. The Doom Patrol was an attempt to move the superhero into a more real world and say, ‘They’ve got problems, too. You don’t live without problems. Nobody does.’” (Svensson 8)
The Marvel Age of Comics That was clearly one of the hooks of Marvel’s breakout hit of 1963, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s The Amazing Spider-Man. With his
Steve Ditko’s iconic half-and-half face motif helped alleviate Stan Lee’s concerns that Spider-Man wasn’t appearing enough in each story. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
The first issue was a composite, incorporating the Jameson story prepared for the neverpublished Amazing Fantasy #16 with a second new story starring a Russian master-ofdisguise called the Chameleon. Typing in his hero’s name from memory, Lee mistakenly referred to him as “Peter Palmer” throughout the entire tale, an error that many readers were quick to point out. (Equally embarrassing was a panel in issue #3 wherein the hero was addressed as “Super-Man!”)
Spider-Man’s pursuit of the Chameleon in a darkened room inspired the creation of the hero’s “spider-sense.” Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Despite his formidable arms, Doctor Octopus still had vulnerabilities like thick eyeglasses that Spider-Man covered with his webs. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
spider-sense when the character wasn’t in costume. The visual device helped placate Lee’s concern that Spider-Man wasn’t appearing often enough in his own comic book. “He believed,” Ditko later wrote, “the point of a superhero [story] was to show the costumed hero in action” (Ditko, “A Mini-History 4” 8). Lee’s collaborator didn’t entirely disagree but later asked, “What is the point of doing a teenage hero if his regular teenage personality, his home life, school environment, etc., is to be just a brief (few panels) interruption between the hero and villain battles?” Ultimately, Ditko concluded, “it is important to show how a costumed hero acts in a non-costumed (non-villain) situation. It reveals the consistency or the contradiction in his values in striving to do what is right. Is it the costume that makes the hero or the personality inside?” (Ditko, “A Mini-History 4” 8). Even when working from synopses, Ditko had little room to depart from Lee’s plots in issues #1 and #2 that contained two stories apiece. Once the series shifted to full-length stories with issue #3, the artist finally had the leeway to maintain that civilian/hero balance.
The series was still a work-in-progress and one of its signature devices was only created after the Chameleon story was penciled. Looking over the art, Lee noted the climactic sequence where Spider-Man pursued the disguised villain during a blackout. Ditko recalled:
Still, costumed characters were the point and the first half-dozen issues began building a classic rogues’ gallery. The Chameleon was followed by the wizened Vulture (#2), the atomically-altered Sandman (#4), and a good-hearted scientist who mutated into the Lizard (#6). Lee’s Tinkerer (#2) was unmasked as an alien, a development that Ditko regarded as inconsistent with the series’ tone (Ditko, “A Mini-History 4” 8). However fanciful the science involved in their creation, most of the early villains were rooted on Earth.
“Stan asked me a very good question: ‘How, in the darkened room, does [Spider-Man] know where the Chameleon is?’ At some point I took a pencil and drew squiggly lines radiating from S-m’s head and said, ‘S-m’ has ‘spider-senses,’ the way bats can detect, sense insects, objects at night. Stan accepted the idea as valid. The ‘senses’ worked for the character. We went over the earlier pages, panels and wherever we thought appropriate, I added the squiggly lines denoting the spider senses around [Peter Parker or Spider-Man’s] heads.” (Ditko, “A Mini-History 3” 83, 90) A split-face effect—half Peter/half SpiderMan—was established by Ditko with issue #2 (inspired by his 1960 Captain Atom cover for Charlton’s Space Adventures #36) to symbolically suggest the
Thanks to Spider-Man’s webbing, Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson was at a rare loss for words in Amazing Spider-Man #7. J. Jonah Jameson TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Taking Ditko’s idea of “a villain with four mechanical arms,” Lee dubbed him Doctor Octopus and came up with the story of Otto Octavius for Amazing Spider-Man #3 (Ditko, “A Mini-History 4” 8). The elongating robot arms had originally been used during atomic testing until an accident fused them to Octavius’ torso and sent him over the edge. Unable to defeat Doc
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Ock, Spider-Man was ready to call it quits until a pep talk from an unwitting Human Torch led him to victory. Still, Doctor Octopus remained one of the most persistent and dangerous villains in the series catalogue, regarded for decades as SpiderMan’s foremost nemesis. Whatever reservations Lee may have had during his and Ditko’s brainstorming, he was pleased with the final results. The writer’s dialogue sparkled with wit and good humor as the hard luck hero, for all his troubles, began to come out of his shell and develop a sarcastic sense of humor behind the security of a full-face mask. That confidence even began to extend to Peter Parker, who was now brave enough to talk back to bully Flash Thompson or, in the sweet final page of Amazing SpiderMan #7, flirt with Jameson’s secretary Betty Brant. Spider-Man was something special, and both his creators and readers knew it. By issue #4 (September 1963), the series was promoted to monthly status. “No successful mag has ever given us the pleasure, or the thrill, which we get from seeing how you, the magazine readers, have made Spider-Man the success story of ‘63!” a sincere Stan Lee enthused in issue #6’s letter column. That sort of personal connection with the readership was helping to fuel Marvel’s incredible growth. And that was the actual company name now. Beginning with issues on sale in February (and stamped May except for the April-dated Journey Into Mystery #91 and Patsy Walker #106), a rectangular box was added to the upper left
In the wake of the Vulture’s attack on the Daily Bugle in Amazing Spider-Man #7, Peter Parker formed a bond with Betty Brant. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
corner of each cover. It consisted of a headshot (or headshots, in the case of Fantastic Four) of the book’s star, the price, and the words “Marvel Comics Group.” Designed by Steve Ditko, the corner box was an elegantly simple means of identifying the star of every Marvel hero at a glance, even on comics spinner racks where only the top third of each issue was visible.
The Steve Ditko-designed corner boxes made it easy for readers to spot their favorite Marvel hero on a crowded comics spinner rack. Fantastic Four, et al. TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
[Most Marvel titles, incidentally, were dated three months ahead of their publication date but some—like Journey Into Mystery and Patsy Walker— were dated two months ahead.] A full-page house ad touted the newlybranded Marvel Comics and its growing line-up of heroes while promising “new surprises on our drawing board from the House of Ideas!” A “Special Announcements Section” was added to the Fantastic Four letter column effective with issue #13 (April 1963) to plug both preexisting titles and new series that would be debuting throughout the year. By now, Lee had seen enough fanzines to know that many collectors were referring to the superhero comics of the 1940s as the Golden Age of Comics. The 1960s, he declared on the covers of issues on sale in May, were “the Marvel Age of Comics.” Discussing these developments, Lee said: “I think I really treated the whole line as a gigantic advertising campaign. I don’t mean that we tried to put anything
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year included the Mad Thinker (FF #15), the Super-Skrull (FF #19), Rama-Tut (FF #20), the Molecule Man (FF #21), and the Hate-Monger (FF #22). Doctor Doom, already Marvel’s number-one villain, showed up in FF #10, #16, and #17 before moving past his usual adversaries to appear in Amazing SpiderMan #5. (Touches like this, an Ant-Man guest-shot in FF #16, and the appearance of SpiderMan villain Sandman in Strange Tales #115’s Human Torch story were helping sell the idea that all the Marvel stories were taking place in the same world.)
over on anyone, but I felt we had good stories, and we were all very excited about what we were doing. I wanted the readers to feel the same way, to feel that we were all part of an ‘in’ thing that the outside world wasn’t even aware of. We were all sharing a big joke together and having a lot of fun with this crazy Marvel Universe.” (Daniels 105) Suddenly, every letter published in Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man was addressed to “Stan and Jack” or “Stan and Steve” rather than the generic “Editor.” Lee had begun changing the salutations in FF #11 and readers soon began using the more personal greeting for real. Issue #11 had, in fact, devoted its first story entirely to reader questions that were delivered by an elderly mailman named Willie Lumpkin (which was, not coincidentally, the name of Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo’s shortlived 1959-1961 comic strip).
Perhaps the greatest of the FF’s return engagements of 1963 took place in July’s Fantastic Four Annual #1 (by the regular creative team of Lee, Jack Kirby, and Dick Ayers). Since his return in FF #4, Namor the Sub-Mariner had been seeking the inhabitants of his lost city of Atlantis. As the Annual opened, he’d finally found them and regained the throne. With the full weight of the Atlantean army behind him, Namor intended to finally avenge the injustices (however unwitting) perpetrated against his people. From a dissertation on the history of Atlantis to the underwater legions pouring into New York City, “Sub-Mariner Versus the Human Race” had an epic quality beyond anything seen in the monthly series. And it ended with a simple, human touch. Discovering Namor’s affection for the Fantastic Four’s Sue Storm, the Atlanteans—notably the Sub-Mariner’s would-be lover Dorma and the scheming Warlord Krang— questioned their leader’s allegiance to the cause and left for parts unknown without him.
The tone of the entire issue— which included a second story about a zany green alien called the Impossible Man—was lighter than usual. “That was the worst-selling Fantastic Four we’ve ever had,” Lee told Mike Bourne in the April 15, 1970 issue of Changes magazine. The cover-featured Impossible Man, he concluded, had been “too unusual and too frivolous” (Bourne 102). Accordingly, the rest of the year was comparatively serious. The next alien to meet the FF was properly somber, a towering bald being called the Watcher who existed strictly to observe humanity but never interfere. The team met him on the moon in issue #13, finally achieving the goal they’d aspired to since FF #1. Reflecting the real world’s space race, the heroes had to contend with a communist villain called the Red Ghost who (along with three apes) had acquired powers via cosmic rays as the quartet did. Other new adversaries of the
Familiar phrases like “the Marvel Age of Comics” and “the House of Ideas” were born in full-page ads touting the blossoming line of Marvel heroes. Fantastic Four, et al. TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
At 37 pages, it wasn’t (as the splash page claimed) “the longest uninterrupted superepic of its kind ever published” but there certainly hadn’t been any of that length since the 1940s. And the issue didn’t end there. There were pages devoted to the FF’s adversaries and headquarters, trivia on each hero, an
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expanded version of the FF/SpiderMan meeting from Amazing SpiderMan #1, and a reprint of the first half of FF #1. It was yet another point of distinction between DC and Marvel. As beloved as the former’s own annuals of the past few years had been, they weren’t offering almost entirely new content as this one did. (Which is not to say that Lee might not have done so had their backlog of material been deeper than two years. As it was, that summer’s Strange Tales Annual #2 was weighted far more heavily towards reprinted monster stories, albeit with a brand new 18-page Spider-Man/Human Torch adventure by Lee, Kirby, and Ditko.)
Forging Iron Man Published about the same time as Amazing Spider-Man #1 in December 1962, Tales of Suspense #39 (dated March 1963) became the last of the Marvel anthology titles to adopt a superhero lead feature. Though plotted by Stan Lee and scripted by Larry Lieber, the story broke precedent as the first Marvel hero origin that was drawn by neither Jack Kirby nor Steve Ditko. Rather, the honors went to another of Lee’s constants from the monster titles, a Caniff-influenced artist named Don Heck: “Stan called me up and told me that we were going to have this character and the character’s name was Iron Man. That his name was Tony Stark and the way he was wounded in Vietnam. It was a synopsis over the phone. We didn’t actually sit down and work out the character and the rest. I knew what the costume looked like because I got the cover in the mail.” (Murray, “Iron Man: The Armor Wars of 1963” 22) The cover in question had been drawn by Jack Kirby and featured three in-set panels of human hands picking up pieces of armor that were assembled in the central image of a gray metal man. Whether the art was part of a previously rejected pitch as Kirby later asserted to friend and biographer Mark Evanier (Murray, “Iron Man: The Armor Wars of 1963” 24), initiated by Lee and assigned to Kirby, or—as theorized by historian Will Murray—an attempt to capitalize on
DC’s 1962 monster hit Metal Men (Murray, “Robot Dawn” 60), the cover undeniably came first and Stan Lee devised a story to go with it. Like the Fantastic Four and Hulk before him, Iron Man was a character rooted in fears of communist domination that could only be bested by superior technology. When the story opened, handsome industrialist Anthony Stark had been working with the U.S. military to develop stateof-the-art weaponry that could bring down insurgents in Southeast Asia. A trek into the Vietnamese jungle left Stark gravely wounded with shrapnel inoperably close to his heart but he was determined to take his captors with him before he died. Working with fellow prisoner—and renowned physicist—Professor Yinsen, the young genius cobbled together an armored shell that he could not only use to escape but which would sustain his wounded heart. Sacrificing his life to buy time for his partner, Yinsen enabled Tony Stark to become the heroic Iron Man and destroy the encampment. Don Heck modeled Stark on mustachioed actor and ladies man Errol Flynn (Murray, “Iron Man: The Armor Wars of 1963” 22), a visual that jibed neatly with Lee’s own vision of the character as a counterpart to capitalist Howard Hughes. Lee elaborated:
A Jack Kirby cover image of Iron Man preceded the Don Heck-illustrated account of Tony Stark’s transformation. Iron Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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“Howard Hughes used to fly his own plane and was an inventor and billionaire. I liked giving all our characters an Achilles’ heel of some sort. With Iron Man, I thought I would give him shrapnel that was lodged near his heart…and he would never know when it would move a little and kill him. Then I thought it would be ironic if Tony was one of the richest men in the world, and one of the handsomest—with women crazy about him—and yet he can’t really enjoy it all that much because he’s afraid of making a commitment because he may die at any time.” (Brodsky 33) The depiction of Tony Stark as something of a self-made man was attractively different than most of the other Marvel heroes. Internally, though, no one involved with the story was particularly happy with it. Based on the job code number stamped on that first story, Will Murray believes that it actually was held from publication for a few months (Murray, “The Iron Man Mystery” 24) while Lee had the series retooled for its follow-up installments (now scripted by Robert Bernstein rather than Lieber). Consequently, Jack Kirby was brought in to pencil the stories in Tales of Suspense #40 and #41, not only bringing his dynamic style to the table but pitting Iron Man against larger-than-life threats like the robot Gargantus and science criminal Doctor Strange. Subsequent issues would see the likes of Kala, Queen of the Underworld (TOS #43), Jack Frost (TOS #45), the Melter (TOS #47), and Iron Man’s Soviet counterpart, the Crimson Dynamo (TOS #46). Like the Hulk in 1962, Iron Man had started out gray, a color scheme that Stan Goldberg believed made sense within the context of the armor’s primitive origins. “The color of iron is gray,” he said. “But we changed it to yellow because it looked better” (Amash 16). Indeed, upon watching people recoil in his presence in TOS #40, Iron Man immediately concluded that his “drab iron costume” made him look “like a walking nightmare” and he repainted the armor yellow two pages later.
Iron Man’s bulky, unflattering early armor was finally replaced with a sleeker, more enduring design courtesy of Steve Ditko. Iron Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“Iron Man: The Armor Wars of 1963” 24). Variations on the original tank-like shell persisted for ten issues—with Heck occasionally being bumped by Kirby or Ditko—until a satisfactory alternative presented itself in TOS #48. Designed by Ditko, the new armor jettisoned the bulk of the old to create something more closely resembling a sleek human body. The yellow color scheme was now balanced with a generous supply of red on Iron Man’s boots, gloves, torso, and head. Heck was pleased, declaring, “I found it easier than drawing that bulky old thing” (Peel 18).
Color aside, the armor design made it difficult to render. Will Murray noted that a frustrated Heck “offered Lee an alternative armor for the second story. But Lee thought it no better than Kirby’s admittedly clunky apparatus” (Murray,
By this point, Don Heck found himself enjoying the series far more. TOS #45’s introduction of Stark’s chauffeur “Happy” Hogan and secretary “Pepper” Potts gave the series a regular dose of humanizing character interaction and humor. The artist based Pepper on Ann B. Davis’ character Schultzie on The Bob Cummings Show:
The seriousness of Tony Stark’s health woes was balanced with the interplay of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts, as designed by Don Heck.. Iron Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“She was the girl who never quite got the date with the boss; he’s always watching all those good-looking girls. But they were characters, y’know, in a certain sense of the word. Happy Hogan was an ex-fighter. I think they were fun to do. They had personalities you couldn’t miss.” (Howell 34)
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A Time To Howl
that continued with the Iron Mask in Kid Colt #110 and #114, the Raven in Rawhide Kid #35, and the Rattler in Rawhide Kid #37) might well have inspired the conversation he had with his boss. In a 1967 interview, Lee recalled:
A sense of humor was essential to Lee and Kirby’s first new series of 1963, something readily apparent from the moment readers set sights on its title: Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos.
“When our superheroes were doing so well, I mentioned to our publisher Martin Goodman that it seems to me we seem to have a formula for these books now, and it doesn’t much matter what the subject matter is, as long as they’re written and drawn in this style, I think that the readers would like them, this sort of realistic style. And I said, ‘To prove it, I bet if we put out a war magazine,’ which were no great shakes at the time, ‘we could still sell just as well, and we could make the public like it, as well.’ And just sort of on a gamble, we did it, and we came up with the most unlikely name, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. I think I was always captured by the name Screaming Eagles from World War II. This was the closest I could get.” (Hodel 167)
It began with a vacancy on the schedule. Perhaps reflecting the end of the monster fad, sales on The Incredible Hulk had dipped low enough that cancellation was inevitable. Lee and Kirby guest-starred the Hulk in Fantastic Four #12—pitting him against the Thing for the first time—but it was too late to capture any crossover sales. The final issue of Hulk (#6) went on sale the same month and a new series needed to replace it. A different superhero book was automatically an option but, if not, what else was a possibility? The romance/ teen humor genre was well-represented with six titles. Marvel already had four westerns but their drawing power was waning and Lee had pulled Kirby off the last of them effective with Rawhide Kid #32 (February 1963) and TwoGun Kid #62 (March 1963). Still, the writer’s periodic inclusion of costumed villains in his westerns (a trend
It was a story that Lee never tired of telling although the details shifted often over the years. Mark Evanier later related a more credible variation (128). In this account, it was Goodman who broached the subject of doing a war comic book again—three years after their Battle title had been cancelled—since DC was clearly having some success with the genre, particularly in Our Army At War’s Sgt. Rock series and G.I. Combat’s Haunted Tank. In every version of the anecdote, Lee insisted that he and Kirby could produce a successful war comic in “the Marvel Manner.” And they did. “He was my idea of a soldier,” Kirby later declared. “Having been a soldier myself—just a PFC, really—the experiences were very, very real, and whatever was real to me was so reflected in Sgt. Fury” (Danzig 20). Never at a loss for colorful stories about his own service during World War Two, Lee’s collaborator had no trouble visualizing the book’s manic crew of fighting men.
Later members of the Howling Commandos included Percival Pinkerton (modeled on dapper English actor David Niven) and Nazi defector Eric Koenig. Sgt. Fury, Howling Commandos TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Along with the cigarchomping, Brooklynborn Sgt. Fury, the Howling Commandos were composed of mechanic Izzy Cohen, black trumpeter Gabriel Jones, college student “Junior” Juniper, actor Dino Manelli, and Kentucky-born “Rebel” Ralston. After Fury, the most distinctive member of the crew may have been funloving circus strongman “Dum-Dum”
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he never came back. In an anecdote related to American Comic Book Chronicles, comic book historian Murray Ward recalled how one New York youngster, reading the issue on a bus, was so disgusted by Junior’s fate that he literally tossed the comic book out the window. But it was details like that which made the series matter to fans and proved Stan Lee’s point that their new approach to comics was a success. Lee was also quick to emphasize The Howling Commandos’ signature rallying cry was a bellowing “Wah-hooo!” that, even set during World Sgt. Fury, Howling Commandos TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. War Two, Sgt. Fury was still Dugan, distinguished by his ever-present derby and red part of the bigger Marvel picture. A young Reed Richards— handlebar mustache. long before he’d form the Fantastic Four—made a brief appearance in Sgt. Fury #3 (September 1963) while the By including Gabe Jones in the squad, Lee and Kirby present-day Fury—promoted to Colonel, working for the quietly struck a blow in the mushrooming civil rights CIA, and looking no worse for the wear—popped up in FF movement. Technically, the military had been segregated #21 (December 1963) to help unmask the Hate-Monger as a during World War Two but, then, American forces weren’t referred to as commandos, either. As with DC’s 1961 Sgt. still-breathing Adolf Hitler (or so it seemed). Rock story involving Jackie Kirby’s involvement with Sgt. Johnson, a greater point was Fury necessitated his departure being made. It was one that from two secondary features, didn’t entirely come across in resulting in Dick Ayers assumSgt. Fury #1, where Jones’ flesh ing full art responsibilities on was “corrected” to pink when it the Human Torch (effective with was printed. Afterwards, writer Strange Tales #106) while Don Mark Alexander explained, “Lee Heck began drawing Ant-Man was obliged to send the color (as of Tales of Suspense #41). Stan separation company a detailed Lee—who was only plotting the memo to make it clear that Gabe strips himself—defended the Jones was a black man” (20). move in a letter to Comic Reader
Beneath a cover emphasizing editor Jerry Bails dated January 9, the fact that this was “another 1963 and published in TCR #16: big one from the talented team “I like to have [Kirby] start as that brings you the famous many strips as possible, to Fantastic Four,” issue #1 (May get them off on the right foot, 1963) went for broke by sendbut he cannot physically keep ing its seven war heroes into them all up—in fact, I someNazi-occupied France to rescue a The death of young Junior Juniper drove home the point that— times wonder how he does as prisoner with knowledge of the all kidding aside—Sgt. Fury was a war comic book. much as he does do. At presSgt. Fury, Howling Commandos TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. D-Day invasion. They didn’t do so ent, he will concentrate on FF quietly, either, bellowing “Wah-hooo” as they charged into and our new war mag, Sgt. Fury, as well as pinchbattle and cracking jokes every step of the way. The combat hitting for our other features if and when needed. scenarios in DC’s Sgt. Rock were certainly more plausible And he does almost all our covers, of course.” than Sgt. Fury’s big-screen movie antics but somehow the distinctive personalities of the Howling Commandos made That Old Black Magic them more relatable and realistic. Around this time, Steve Ditko recalled, Stan Lee tossed out Almost from the start, Lee and Kirby realized that it the idea of adding a Spider-Girl or Spider-Woman to Amazwould be disingenuous to ignore the grim realities of ing Spider-Man. The artist thought it was a terrible idea war. When the Howlers were trapped inside a concentraon many levels, not the least of which was the fact that it tion camp in issue #2, a gas chamber in the background would fundamentally alter the tone and direction of the somberly reminded readers of the atrocities perpetrated young series (Ditko, “A Mini-History 6” 38). Lee conceded by the Nazis. And Sgt. Fury #4 made the conflict personal the point and concluded that the notion of a female partfor the Howlers when young Junior Juniper was killed in ner might fit better in a feature without a particular pointaction. Unlike DC’s Ice Cream Soldier and Lightning Lad, of-view, specifically the Ant-Man series. 137
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Unmentioned on the cover of Strange Tales #110 (July 1963), the short story was reminiscent of the old Lee-Ditko morality tales. Approached in his exotic Greenwich Village home by a man suffering a recurring nightmare, Dr. Strange agreed to send his astral form into the stranger’s dreams. There, he confronted a shadowy man on horseback—the literal manifestation of Nightmare—and discovered that his client’s night terrors stemmed from corrupt business dealings.
Consequently, Jack Kirby returned to Tales of Suspense for one issue (#44: June 1963) to help Lee revamp the feature. Inked by Don Heck and scripted by Ernie Hart over Lee’s plot, Although serious in her desire to avenge the story added new her father, the Wasp was soon characterized by a more carefree, flighty attitude. depth to Henry Pym, The Wasp TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. detailing the execution of his Hungarian wife Maria by Soviet forces and the young scientist’s subsequent mental breakdown. Motivated by a quote his wife had once directed at him (“Go to the ants, thou sluggard.”), Pym had thrown himself into his work and discovered the secret of size reduction.
The first installment also introduced the Ancient One, an aged sorcerer nestled in a Tibetan temple who was Strange’s mentor. Issue #111’s sequel revealed that the mage had two prospective successors and pitted the scheming Baron Mordo against Doctor Strange. A thin, solitary figure who was gray at the temples and draped in a flowing blue cape, the so-called “master of black magic” was not a traditional leading man and Lee was wary. Recalling the failure of his 1961 supernatural series starring Doctor Droom, he decided to weigh reader response before scheduling further installments. The early reaction was, in fact, uniformly positive and the series resumed with a third five-pager in Strange Tales #114. If Doctor Strange was going to be sticking around, though, he needed a proper origin and one was provided by Lee and Ditko in issue #115 (December 1963) as the feature expanded to eight pages.
The bulk of the story centered on Pym’s encounter with a prospective new love interest, a young socialite named Janet Van Dyne who suffered a horrible loss of her own when her scientist father was killed by a creature from the planet Kosmos. Moved by Janet’s intense desire for revenge, Henry Pym confided that he was the Ant-Man and endowed her with a variation on his own shrinking formula that allowed her to sprout wings and fly by his side as the Wasp. “Ant-Man seemed to need a shot in the arm,” Lee conceded when noting the Wasp’s debut in The Comic Reader #16. Most of Marvel’s new creations arrived with great fanfare but one character slipped in under the radar. It was an appropriate entrance for a hero who operated in the supernatural fringes unnoticed by most Marvel adventurers. In The Comic Reader #16, Lee gave the fanzine’s readers a heads up:
The visuals and supernatural nature of Doctor Strange set the feature apart from other early Marvel strips. Doctor Strange TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“We have a new character in the works for Strange Tales, just a 5-page filler named Dr. Strange. Steve Ditko is gonna draw him. It has sort of a black magic theme. The first story is nothing great, but perhaps we can make something of him. ‘Twas Steve’s idea. I figured we’d give it a chance, although again, we had to rush the first one too much. Little sidelight: Originally we decided to call him Mr. Strange, but thought the ‘Mr.’ was a bit too similar to Mr. Fantastic—Now, however, I remember we had a villain called Dr. Strange just recently in one of our mags. I hope it won’t be too confusing! Oh well…”
Stephen Strange had been a surgeon whose skills were equaled only by his massive arrogance and ego. A car accident left him with inoperable nerve damage in his hands and sent him into a downward spiral. Pursuing rumors of an Ancient One with great healing power, Strange reached the sorcerer’s Indian monastery only to be rejected as too selfish for such a gift. Moreover, he’d made an enemy of the Ancient One’s scheming disciple Mordo. Magically prevented from blowing the whistle and snowed in until a thaw, Stephen realized that his best hope of saving the old sorcerer was to study magic himself. Pleased that Strange had finally rekindled his interest in service to others, 138
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the Ancient One agreed to train him…and lifted Mordo’s spell. “The pupil can have no secrets from his master,” he explained. Broadly speaking, the origin echoed that of the aforementioned Doctor Droom from Amazing Adventures #1 but with significant changes that reflected how much Lee’s insights into characterization had expanded in two years. In the original account, there was no rival and Droom was endowed with supernatural power not because he had learned to be a good man but because he was already a great one. From a strictly commercial standpoint, Doctor Strange would never be a mega-hit like the Fantastic Four or SpiderMan was. On nearly every cover during his run in Strange Tales, he was usually secondary to the more commercial leads if he appeared at all. On a critical level, though, the strip was a creative powerhouse, permitting Ditko an outlet for unbridled imagery and concepts that were tonally inappropriate for Spider-Man.
The Kids With Something Extra Publisher Martin Goodman, however, wanted another Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, and instructed Lee and Kirby to develop knock-offs of each one for the peak summer selling season (Brevoort). As explained by Tom DeFalco, “rising profits convinced Independent News—the company that distributed Marvel’s comics—to allow another expansion. Instead of being held at nine to eleven titles per month, Marvel could now produce ten to fourteen, so Stan Lee was told to add two bi-monthly superhero books” (94).
The male members of the X-Men were soon joined by a red-haired student named Jean Grey (a.k.a. Marvel Girl). X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
man’s edict, the X-Men were a radically different group than the Fantastic Four, starting with the source of their super-powers: they were born with them. Nearly every Marvel superhero had acquired his or her powers through a radioactive accident or some sort of chance encounter. Fearing that he was falling into a rut, Stan Lee searched for some different concept and realized that his characters could be mutants, genetic freaks of nature who were born with different abilities than their parents.
Hence, July’s X-Men #1 (dated September 1963) was explicitly described on the cover as being “in the sensational Fantastic Four style.” Like the FF, the X-Men wore matching blue outfits (albeit with yellow vests, trunks, and accessories) and included specific character types in its membership. The Beast provided the raw brawn of the Thing, Iceman was a reverse Human Torch, and token female Marvel Girl possessed the cerebral power of levitation that was as imperceptible in its way as the abilities of the Invisible Girl.
Building on the theories of Charles Darwin, mutation was a science fiction staple and one that DC had actually used for a character called Captain Comet in the early 1950s. The mutant hero, that series had explained, was an example of what mankind would evolve into in 100,000 years. Lee himself had edited (if not actually written) a story called “The Mutants and Me” in 1959’s Tales of Suspense #6 but his collaboration with Steve Ditko on “The Man in the Sky” (1962’s Amazing Adult Fantasy #14) truly anticipated the X-Men: The son of an atomic scientist, Tad Carter grew up to discover that he had extraordinary mental powers. Those abilities got him branded as a freak by his peers and This Jack Kirby close-up of Magneto was appropriated by he was hast- Roy Lichtenstein for his 1963 painting “Image Duplicator.” ily summoned Magneto TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
There were five X-Men, though, and neither the Angel (who had wings on his back) or Cyclops (who fired energy blasts through his eye visor) was an analog to Mister Fantastic. Instead, the team was guided in the field by the telepathic Professor X (Charles Xavier), a scholarly bald man confined to a wheelchair. While there were enough parallels to satisfy Goodacters, Inc. TM and © Marvel Char
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away by a vast unseen group of mutants who promised to shield him from harm until “mankind comes of age.” As Lee observed: “The concept was basically sound. Mutation is a scientific fact of life; it’s plausible, possible, practical, and provable. Best of all, it would allow Jack and me the fullest scope for our imaginations. When thinking of all possible variations of normal human beings, the sky’s the limit—whatever power we conceived of could be justified on the basis of its being a mutated trait.” (Lee 14) Goodman approved the pitch but stopped short of letting his writereditor actually title the book The Mutants. Kids, he contended, wouldn’t know what it meant. “When I suggested that they could ask a friend, or look it up in the dictionary,” Lee recalled, “he took a somewhat less than charitable view of my wellmeaning proposal.” Instead, based on the fact that mutants were born with something extra, which was a short phonetic hop to “x-tra,” the title would be The X-Men (Lee 15-16). The scenario that Lee and Kirby finally came up with was that the five X-Men were teenage students in a private school that was secretly set up by Professor X to train them in the use of their powers. It had been strictly a boys’ club until issue #1 when Jean “Marvel Girl” Grey showed up at the door. Detailing the goals of the school,
X-Men like Cyclops and the Beast honed their powers in mock combat sessions within the shielded Danger Room. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Xavier explained that the central purpose of all their training would be to defend the planet from “evil mutants” who intended to use their powers to dominate humanity. Magneto, perhaps the foremost evil mutant, wasn’t content to wait for them to complete their training, preferring to use his magnetic powers to launch attacks on American military bases in the here and now. And that was how the X-Men received, as Professor X put it, their “baptism of fire.” Donning their uniforms, the quintet didn’t manage to actually capture the master of magnetism, but they did thwart his attack on Cape Citadel (a thinly-disguised version of Florida rocket launch site Cape Canaveral). The crimson-costumed Magneto, sporting a strikinglydesigned open-faced helmet, would return for the first of many times in 1964, committed to making “homo sapiens bow to homo superior.”
intended or not, is a book that is about racism, bigotry, and prejudice.” (Sanderson 32) There was another parallel worth noting beyond those involving civil rights and the Fantastic Four. Three months before the publication of X-Men #1, DC’s Doom Patrol debuted with its eerily similar concept of heroes who were regarded as freaks and a leader who was in a wheelchair. From the moment the Justice League inspired the Fantastic Four, the question of a DC influence on other creations—the Atom and Ant-Man, for instance—was on the table. In later years, even Doom Patrol creator Arnold Drake came to believe that word of his creation had somehow been leaked to Marvel. The general consensus, however, is that the window of opportunity was too small for the Doom Patrol/X-Men similarities to be anything other than a coincidence.
Much of the early X-Men series turned on mutant vs. mutant conflict, not fully embracing the potent metaphor in the relationship between mutants and humans. The civil rights movement gained extraordinary momentum in the summer of 1963 with the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s landmark “I Have a Dream” speech. Even if Lee and Kirby weren’t acting on it yet, the parallel was there. In a 1981 interview, writer Chris Claremont laid out the inherent message of the series:
As the lone female among the X-Men, Marvel Girl was pursued by several would-be boyfriends like the winged Angel. X-Men TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“The X-Men are hated, feared and despised collectively by humanity for no other reason than that they are mutants. So what we have here,
Magneto’s violent promotion of mutant supremacy echoed Adolf Hitler’s earlier advocacy of a so-called “master race.” Magneto TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Jack & Stan’s League of Avengers
The Avengers #1 (September 1963) hinged on a supposed rampage by the Hulk and a fateful call for help from his teenage ally Rick Jones. Using the ham radio resources of his friends in the Teen Brigade, Rick sent a desperate plea to the Fantastic Four, but wound up getting a more immediate response from Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, all of whom had heard the same broadcast. By the climax of the story, they’d learned that the Hulk had really been framed by the trickster god Loki as part of an attack on his brother Thor that went badly awry. In the last panels, Ant-Man convinced the entire group—Hulk included— that they ought to form a team, and the Wasp christened them the Avengers, more because it sounded “colorful and dramatic” than that they were actually avenging anything.
There was no disputing, however, that the Justice League of America—in a far more substantial way than it had inspired the Fantastic Four—was the template for Marvel’s other new superhero book. The JLA concept involved simply taking DC’s foremost solo heroes and putting them together as a team. What had not been an option for Lee and Kirby in 1961 was now a genuine possibility with Spider-Man, Ant-Man (and the Wasp), Thor, and Iron Man each starring in their own features. As later Marvel editor Tom Brevoort told it, the book came about almost by accident. Following Martin Goodman’s directive to create a new single-hero book similar to SpiderMan, Stan Lee had teamed up with Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett only to find himself hamstrung by the veteran artist’s failure to complete the first issue on time. Brevoort continued:
Whatever instigated the creation of the Avengers, it was an idea that Lee was certain would pay off handsomely. The results of a reader poll in Fantastic Four #13 had revealed that “most readers would like to see more frequent guest appearances by our other superheroes,” something that was later reiterated as the “one constant theme running through the fan mail” (Lee 83).
“In those days, you booked print time way ahead of time—and if your book wasn’t ready, you paid for the printing time anyway. So it was vital to get something to press on time. But Bill Everett was a favorite of Martin Goodman, stemming back to the ‘40s when he created the Sub-Mariner. Regardless, there was suddenly a hole in the schedule, with no book where a book should be. In trying to solve this problem, Stan hit on the notion of doing a strip that brought all of the heroes together JLA-style— that would be a book that wouldn’t require any ramp-up time, because the characters (and even the villain) all existed already. So he and Jack Kirby brainstormed the first issue, Kirby drew it up hastily, Dick Ayers inked it in what looks like no time flat, and it came out the same month as X-Men #1.” (Brevoort)
Still, the writer-editor was dissatisfied with the line-up. The sight of the tiny Ant-Man and Wasp amidst three powerhouses only served to remind him yet again that the character wasn’t working out as he’d hoped. Summoning Jack Kirby, Lee penned yet another revamp of the
By now, Lee had begun to appreciate the fact that SpiderMan functioned best as a loner and consciously left him off the roster. As a replacement, he and Kirby brought in the Hulk, unseen since his book’s cancellation six months earlier. As unlikely as it seems in retrospect, the casting seemed to fit. At that particular juncture, the character was more of a tough-talking bruiser in the mold of the Thing, and yet he was also regarded as frightening enough to set the entirety of the origin story into motion.
“Earth’s mightiest super-heroes” assembled in Lee & Kirby’s Avengers #1. The Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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decision to focus on what made Thor unique would prove to be a wildly successful course correction once Kirby made a permanent return to the lead feature in early 1964.
character’s own series in Tales to Astonish #49 (November 1963). From that point on, Henry Pym would grow larger rather than smaller under the new alias of Giant-Man. The Wasp, incidentally, was unaffected.
The Lee-Kirby Human Torch episode in Strange Tales #114 (November 1963) was a harbinger in itself. The Torch and the Sub-Mariner represented two of Timely Comics’ three greatest 1940s superheroes in the current Marvel titles but the genre’s greatest patriot Captain America remained
The change in status quo took place just in time to be reflected in Avengers #2, but the team’s roster shifted again on the last page. Concluding that the Hulk didn’t work as a team player, Lee had him quit in disgust. As the series progressed, there would be more enduring line-ups of heroes but long-term stability wasn’t part of the Avengers’ genetic make-up. Lee had been content to simply plot several of the secondary series while Larry Lieber, Robert Bernstein, Ernie Hart, and even Jerry Siegel (using the alias Joe Carter on two Human Torch stories in Strange Tales #112 and #113) wrote the completed scripts. Coinciding with the Avengers launch, though, Lee felt compelled to take a more personal interest in the solo strips again, initiating the Giant-Man change and the introduction of Iron Man’s new costume in Tales of Suspense. Lee and Kirby’s reunion on Thor arguably held the greatest significance. More often than not, the character had been played almost as a quasi-Superman periodically bedeviled by Mxyzptlk (a.k.a. Loki). But suddenly there was Thor’s father Odin forbidding his son’s romance with Jane Foster in Journey Into Mystery #97 (October 1963). And an ongoing fivepage “Tales of Asgard” series was added to the book’s back pages in the same issue. The creative team’s
Captain America’s supposed return was a mere teaser for the real thing that was yet to come in 1964. Captain America, Human Torch TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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a dire threat. Herbie not only resolved the crisis but left a remote tribe so awestruck that they now worshipped an idol of him. The second episode found the Devil successfully claiming Herbie’s soul only to forfeit his prize when the kid instigated an uprising of Hades’ demons against Satan.
conspicuously absent. Turns out he was doing public appearances at car shows in 1963. Or so it seemed until the Human Torch discovered it was actually a scam by his old foe the Acrobat to loot the city of Glenville while impersonating Cap. In the end, Johnny Storm pulled out his comic book collection and wondered whatever happened to the real Captain America.
The delights in the stories weren’t just in the absurdity of the situations but the details. Strolling up to the White House in FW #114, Herbie asked to see “the man of the house” as a smiling Jacqueline Kennedy popped her head out the door. The First Lady, like all women, was hopelessly smitten with the kid.
Fraud or not, “Cap” still looked great when drawn by Jack Kirby (who’d created him with Joe Simon in 1940). Stan Lee made no secret of the adventure’s intent in the last panel. “This story was really a test,” he confirmed, “to see if you too would like Captain America to return. As usual, your letters will give us the answer.” Even as a tease, the episode won as Favorite Short Story in the 1963 Alley Awards.
The highest-grossing movie of 1963 was Cleopatra, a film that was already notorious not only for the record-setting amount of money spent making it but also for the scandalous public affair carried out by stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, both of whom were then married to others. Richard Hughes couldn’t resist referencing the movie in his Devil story, featuring “Miss Baylor” prominently on the cover and adding a scene where Herbie romanced her on the Cleopatra set…just long enough to get his lollipop out of her hand. (Cleopatra, incidentally, also showed up at DC and Marvel in mid-1963 with appearances in Jimmy Olsen #71 and Tales of Suspense #44’s Iron Man story).
Funny Stuff In the course of his thank you in Alter-Ego #6 for Marvel’s wins in the 1962 Alley Awards, Stan Lee quipped, “I wonder if the name of the Academy shouldn’t be changed to the Academy of SuperHero Arts and Sciences, as they are the only types of magazines you people seem interested in.” He had a point and categories for Humorous Series and Mundane Fiction (i.e., non-costumed adventure series like Sgt. Fury) were among those present when the 1963 ballots were tallied.
Harvey Comics’ own dabbling in the superhero genre with its Black Cat reprint title—and its general experiment with non-humor comics— came to a quick end in 1963. Instead, they looked to the long-running Harvey Hits anthology title that was then running three cover-featured series in monthly rotation and decided to promote each of them to ongoing 25-cent giant series. Nightmare and Casper #1 (August 1963) spotlighted the Friendly Ghost’s phantom horse while Stumbo Tinytown #1 (August 1963) finally awarded the amiable giant his own comic book. Sad Sack’s Army Life Parade #1 (October 1963) was the most successful of all, capping a 61-issue run in 1976.
ACG writer-editor Richard Hughes, for one, remained steadfast in his determination that superheroes would not sully his small group of titles. He did, however, revisit Herbie Popnecker in Forbidden Worlds #110 (March-April 1963). The expressionless obese wonder-boy and his ubiquitous lollipops skewered nearly every detail of what a proper superhero should be and Hughes was becoming convinced that he could be a star. Testing his theory, he cover-featured Herbie in Forbidden Worlds #114 and #116, enhancing the formula further with artist Ogden Whitney’s expertlycaricatured celebrity guest-appearances. In the first story, President Kennedy summoned the boy to the White House and dispatched him to Africa to deal with
Herbie’s adventures never lacked for star-power, as in these appearances by Elizabeth Taylor and John F. Kennedy rendered by artist Ogden Whitney.. Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton.
The launch of ongoing 25-cent titles during the lucrative summer months continued to be a solid corporate
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Harvey’s 25-cent giant line included these premieres during the summer of 1963. Casper, Richie Rich, TM and © Classic Media, LLC. Sad Sack TM and © Sad Sack, Inc. Blondie, Dagwood TM and © King Features Syndicate, Inc.
strategy with Richie Rich Dollars and Cents #1, TV Casper and Company #1 (featuring all the Harveytoons characters), and Little Lotta Foodland #1 (the plus-size heroine’s first spin-off) each making their premieres. Ultimately, Harvey published 195 individual issues in 1963, a nice increase from the 169 released in 1960 (particularly since those had almost all been standard-format issues). Harvey attempted to extend that success to its licensed comic strip titles but both Blondie and Dagwood Family #1 (October 1963) and Mutt and Jeff New Jokes #1 (October 1963) fizzled with only three more issues of each produced over the next two years. The individual Dagwood and Blondie titles, in fact, seemed to be that rare instance where the giant format was not a panacea. Promoted to the 25-cent format with issues #131 (January 1963) and #156 (February 1963) respectively, the two comic books were abruptly reduced from monthly to—more or less—quarterly schedules. Like Harvey, Archie Comics had reached the conclusion that superhero series were not for them. The “Archie Adventure Series” imprint vanished in 1963 and both Adventures of the Fly and Adventures of the Jaguar were, in hindsight, living on borrowed time when they returned from a threemonth hiatus with issues #24 and #11, respectively (each dated February 1963). The two titles continued on an erratic schedule throughout the year before the plug was pulled on each in the fall. Jaguar, enlivened in its later issues by a subplot that eased out love interest Jill Ross while expanding the presence of the reformed Cat-Girl,
concluded with issue #15 (November 1963). The more successful Fly lingered until issue #29 (January 1964) although the primary Archie superhero writerartist team of Robert Bernstein and John Rosenberger was nowhere to be seen. Rather, back-up artist John Giunta drew the issue while Jerry Siegel wrote it. There was a certain irony in the fact that Superman’s creator was writing a title that had been structurally modeled on DC’s flagship series. Even without the melodramatic emotional depth that elevated many of the best Weisinger-edited Superman stories above its aspirants, Fly and Jaguar had succeeded well enough by mimicking the Man of Steel’s lighter, gimmicky plots. Now, though, with Marvel forging a new baseline, that approach was looking dated. Still, Archie was ahead of the curve in one respect. A Joe Edwards-illustrated story in Archie’s Madhouse #25 (April 1963) introduced Captain Sprocket, who stepped forth to parody the revived superhero genre. Characterized as “the World’s Only Three-In-One Hero: Space Scientist, Space Adventurer, Space Loverboy,” Cap had attributes that crime-busters like Jaguar (whose uniform he accidentally acquired in a laundry mix-up) could only dream of. For instance, he had a limburger cheese-scented “Swiss Kiss” that he used to repulse a sinister girl from Venus. From that point on, Captain Sprocket was a recurring presence in the title, picking up foes like issue #29’s Terrible Three: Atomic Tom, Sir Sand, and Green Man (a.k.a. frozen vegetable icon the Jolly Green Giant).
The demise of the Archie Adventure line did not mean the elimination of adventure. Life With Archie continued to present book-length stories, ranging from exotic chases with smugglers in Paris (issue #22) to surreal situations that literally thrust Archie into the programs on his TV screen (issue #21). Likewise, Bob Bolling’s Adventures of Little Archie now consistently featured more dramatic, heroic tales involving its young star. In the Bahamas, he thwarted Soviet spies in their attempt to kidnap the United States’ first female astronaut (issue #27). A story in Little Archie #25 dealt with the boy’s hero worship of his seafaring Uncle Burt before a climactic dam burst granted Little Archie the perspective to see the bravery in his own father. Having entered the industry working with cartoonist George Shedd on the short-lived newspaper strip Marlin Keel (overseen by Mark Trail creator Ed Dodd), Bolling was already comfortable with that approach. Little Archie had “evolved,” the cartoonist told Gary Brown in 2001. “Why not try something with a different slant? And you still could make it funny, you know, a funny adventure. So I tried that. I liked doing the adventure stories, since my training was in adventure anyhow” (“The Adventurous Career of Bob Bolling” 60). During the summer of 1963, the company even had Bolling work on a straight Hardy Boys-style spin-off comic book. In Little Archie Mystery, the cartoonist “used a much darker style that seemingly put the cartoonlike Little Archie in the real world,”
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historian Gary Brown detailed. “The adults and villains would be drawn in a realistic style, so the contrast with the Little Archie character was dramatic and effective” (“My Adventures With Little Archie” 51). The spin-off was cancelled after two issues but its visual style continued to be used when appropriate in the ongoing Little Archie comic. It was one of “three distinct styles of drawing” employed in the title, Brown explained: “For the regular stories of Little Archie in Riverdale with the Good Ol’ Gang, Bolling used what might be termed the ‘regular’ Archie cartooning style. For science-fiction and fantasy stories, he used a more complicated style that included additional line work on such subjects as futuristic cities, alien landscapes and unusual characters. While this wasn’t a huge departure from the regular stories, he often would use a number of panels that showed the reader the tone of this particular story was different from the norm.” (“My Adventures With Little Archie” 51) Still, Archie’s straightforward teen humor was where its greatest success was and the company continued to wring new wrinkles out of the genre. The summer saw a pair of one-shots—Seymour, My Son #1 (September 1963) and More Seymour #1 (October 1963)—that attempted to do just that. Written by Frank Doyle and drawn by Dan DeCarlo and Rudy Lapick, the novelty of the series came in the fact that each 30-page story revolved around teenage Seymour’s relationship with his father. Indeed, the first issue (entitled “My Son, the Teenager”) was entirely narrated by Poppa, often in verse and with no word balloons on many pages. Most critics agree that the stories also had more comedic bite than the contemporary Archie series. Josie Jones’ best friends were brainy brunette Pepper and blonde airhead Melody, as seen on Dan DeCarlo’s cover for She’s Josie #1. Josie TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
In 1962, comedic songwriter Allan Sherman had released a hugely popular album entitled My Son, the Folk Singer (including the camp song lament “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”). One wonders whether Seymour wasn’t born out of someone making a play on that title and developing a story to fit. S i g n i f i c a n t ly, the contents of both issues had first appeared in a Belmont mass market paperback entitled My Son the Teenager (June 1963). It can be speculated that Seymour was an experiment of sorts to see whether Archie could crack the hugely popular humor paperback market with content aimed at its more adult audience. If that was the case, it was an evident
failure, although the two comic books were eventually rediscovered and have now become cult classics. She’s Josie #1 (February 1963) proved to be a far greater success for Archie. Like most cartoonists of his era, Dan DeCarlo had dreamed of creating his own newspaper strip but his collaborations with Stan Lee on My Friend Irma (1952) and Willie Lumpkin (1959-1961) were short-lived. In between the two, the cartoonist whipped up more proposals, one of them inspired by his wife Josie. Enchanted when she came in one day “with that real bouffant hairdo and a little black ribbon in her hair,” DeCarlo made a sketch that formed the basis for his new comic strip pitch. “I drew the hairstyle, exaggerated it a bit to make it more readily identifiable, and I thought since I’m taking it from Josie I’m going to call the strip Josie.” DeCarlo was delighted when the United Features Syndicate expressed interest in both that strip and Barney’s Beat (which he was developing with Stan Lee) but realized he couldn’t commit to two features and maintain his comic book assignments. Ultimately, DeCarlo pulled back on Josie to focus on Barney’s Beat, which evolved into Willie Lumpkin (Curtis 40). After Lumpkin’s cancellation, DeCarlo’s thoughts returned to Josie and he approached editor Richard Goldwater in the hope that he might persuade his father (Archie publisher John Goldwater) to develop the feature as a comic book. Instead, the younger Goldwater wanted to become the 145
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artist’s partner on the strip (even adding “Dick & Dan” to the samples) and they made a failed pitch to King Features. Discovering that his son was trying to sell a newspaper strip, John Goldwater was motivated to publish it as a comic book (Curtis 40-41). The cast that DeCarlo had developed for his original proposal extended no further than the red-haired Josie, thoughtful bespectacled brunette Pepper, and ditzy blonde Melody. For the comic book, the trio was supplemented by Josie’s boyfriend Albert, Pepper’s would-be boyfriend Sock, and the snobbish twins Alex and Alexandra Cabot. Albert, the cartoonist recalled, “was a little goofball [and] kind of skinny” who got a guitar and developed into “a Beatles wannabe” as the series progressed. The wealthy Cabot twins, like Archie’s own rich girl friend Veronica Lodge, owed their name to U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (Curtis 41). “Josie was a contemporary teenager,” DeCarlo Unlike artist Frank McLaughlin’s generic women on Three Nurses #18, the duo on the McLaughlin-inked cover for Young Doctors #1 were clearly based on TV physicians recalled, “much more so than Archie. An intelligent Richard Chamberlain (Dr. Kildare) and Vince Edwards (Ben Casey). kid, she had goals, and wanted to succeed in life. She Three Nurses, Young Doctors TM and © respective copyright holders. had a mother and father but was very mature. I was Riding the Trends putting her age about 17 or 18. Archie was about 15 or 16” Charlton Comics gambled that girls would turn out to (Curtis 41). Frank Doyle scripted the series, further distinsupport the expansion of its romance line—already fifteen guishing it from the traditional Archie format by devoting titles strong—with two new series and a revamped old one. most of the earlier issues to full-length stories that were Like several of its recently converted comic books, the new generally divided into four chapters. series capitalized on the boom in TV medical dramas. The Despite ambitiously previewing Josie and friends in Young Doctors #1 (January 1963)—interweaving the careers Archie’s Pals n Gals #23 prior to the first issue, Archie warily of surgeon Cliff Langdon and psychiatrist Martin Burke—and awaited sales results before committing to an ongoing Tom Brent, Young Intern #1 (February 1963) were joined by series. When the sell-through ultimately proved favorable, Lee Barry, Anne Allen, and Nancy White in Three Nurses #18 Archie placed She’s Josie #2 (August 1963) on the schedule (May 1963), all of them drawn by Charles Nicholas and Vince six months after issue #1 and the title was off and running. Alascia. The latter—explicitly declaring that it was “formerly In the interim, Josie short stories had become a regular Confidential Diary” on its first cover—broke with recent feature in the line¹s anthology titles, beginning with Pep tradition by not introducing the new series in the last issue of #161 (March 1963) and Laugh #145 (April 1963). In 1951, the former title. On the other hand, Young Doctors was first the company had launched the Ginger comic book in a previewedinNurseBetsyCrane#20andYoung calculated (and unsuccessful) attempt at creating a female Doctors version of Archie. Ironically, Josie—which was never intended as such—actually pulled it off.
Jack Keller’s suggested name for Teenage Hotrodders had been Drag, a title that instead showed up on Pete Millar’s long-running automotive cartoon magazine. Teenage Hotrodders, Drag Cartoons TM and © respective copyright holder.
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had published 377 comic books in 1960. In 1963, it released just 130 and 30 of those were one-shots. Many of them were adaptations of adventure and horror movies (including Vincent Price films Tales of Terror, The Raven, and Twice Told Tales), short-lived TV shows (Ensign O’Toole), and public domain novels (Frankenstein, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Jules Verne’s Mysterious Isle). Comic strip characters Brenda Starr, Gil Thorp, and Miss Peach each received an issue apiece but only Robert Baldwin’s Freddy (adapted by Bob Gustafson) sold well enough to justify two follow-up issues in 1964.
Newspaper strips, sitcoms, and animated cartoons each inspired titles in the 1963 Dell line.
Miss Peach TM and © Mell Lazarus. Beverly Hillbillies TM and © CBS Broadcasting Inc. Clyde Crashcup TM and © respective copyright holder.
#1, in turn, introduced Tom Brent. Along with a pair of summer one-shots (Emergency Doctor #1 and Registered Nurse #1, the latter reprinting Betsy Crane and Cynthia Doyle stories), the market for medical comics was completely saturated. Young Doctors, Tom Brent, and Sue and Sally Smith, Flying Nurses were all cancelled before the end of the year as was the comical caveman title Hunk.
Sixteen Dell titles had been cancelled by the end of the year. Of those final issues (Alley Oop #2, Barbie and Ken #5, Beany and Cecil #5, Bozo the Clown #4, Brain Boy #6, Car 54, Where Are You? #7, Dunc and Loo #8, Laurel and Hardy #4, Linda Lark #8, Mister Magoo #5, New Adventures of Pinocchio #3, Voyage To the Deep #4), four of them were TV adaptations (I’m Dickens…He’s Fenster #2, McHale’s Navy #3, McKeever and the Colonel #3, Stoney Burke #2) that began and ended in 1963.
The 1963 Charlton launches that had staying power were all aimed squarely at boys: War Heroes #1 (February 1963), Army War Heroes #1 (December 1963), and Teenage Hotrodders #1 (May 1963). The new car book was a direct response to strong sales on the Jack Keller-illustrated Hot Rods and Racing Cars and the cartoonist was delighted that editor Pat Masulli was going to allow him to write the new title. Keller’s suggested title—Drag—was rejected in favor of the Teenage Hotrodders name that his editor deemed more commercial. “Everything was Teenage, Teenage Werewolves and Teenage everything else, in the early sixties,” Keller declared in a June 10, 1973 interview. “It was a big thing in movies at that time” (Mozzer 12).
The acquisition of TV properties was always a gamble since the rights were generally purchased before anyone knew if the shows would be hits. On top of that, Gold Key had the clout and proximity to Hollywood to snatch up the most promising series first. Consequently, it was almost a fluke that Dell wound up with the license for The Beverly Hillbillies, which had become the number one TV show in the country by the time the first issue of the comic book went on sale. Initially illustrated by Tony Tallarico, the comic series survived through issue #18 in 1967 and returned for three reprint annuals in 1969-1971, by which point the TV program was cancelled.
Ironically, cartoonist Pete Millar’s long-running black and white magazine Drag Cartoons #1 (June-July 1963) premiered immediately thereafter and likely inspired Charlton’s one-shot Drag-Strip Hotrodders #1 (Fall 1963). It returned in 1965 as an ongoing series. (Like other publishers, Charlton took advantage of the summer seasonal spikes to release several other one-shots, not only the aforementioned medical comic books but also D-Day #1, Konga’s Revenge #2, Reptisaurus Special Edition #1, and Return of Gorgo #2.)
Dell had also had success with its Alvin comic book (adapting the cartoon starring the famous Chipmunks), even producing a 25-cent giant (Alvin and His Pals In Merry Christmas) for the 1963 holidays. Based on that, they launched a second series featuring the star of one of the other segments on The Alvin Show. Although produced by John Stanley and Irving Tripp (the celebrated Little Lulu writer-artist team of the 1950s), Clyde Crashcup lasted a mere five issues with the last dated September-November 1964.
Having published 295 comic books in 1963 (up from 257 a year earlier), the company was in danger of glutting the market with Charlton Comics in general. Most comics buyers—particularly parents and grandparents picking up gifts for a child—were oblivious to the overall quality of the line but its reputation for producing cheap, derivative comics was slowly embedding itself in the minds of older readers.
To a great extent, the backbone of the new Dell line was its group of original titles that required no licensing fees, books like Combat, Ghost Stories, and John Stanley’s Thirteen. In 1963, they added a Western entitled Idaho (initially written by Carl Memling with art by Maurice Whitman and Vince Colletta) and a caveman series called Naza (illustrated by Jack Sparling). The latter’s “stone age warrior” joined Dell’s Kona in attempting to fill the void left by Turok, Son of Stone (now at Gold Key).
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Man Against Metal Meanwhile, Gold Key was enjoying the early response to its own young imprint. For many of the fans who were avidly following Julius Schwartz’s DC titles and the Marvel superhero comics, Gold Key series like Doctor Solar and Space Family Robinson were worthy rivals. Perhaps the most celebrated of the company’s new adventure titles arrived near the end of 1962 (with a cover date of February 1963). Set 2000 years in the future, Magnus, Robot Fighter depicted a society where technology had rendered
them “a race of weaklings…able only to play and watch TV.” In North Am, robots now fulfilled nearly every task once performed by humans, whether enforcing the law via Pol-robs or playing sports. Ironically, it was a robot named 1A who recognized the implications and sought out a human orphan whom he trained to be the vanguard in his campaign against the “tyrant robots.” Over the years, 1A trained young Magnus in ancient teachings and philosophy while honing his “muscles and nervous system…to steel-smash-
ing strength.” The young warrior would learn to rely on his own brains and brawn with no robot as a crutch. Ostensibly created solely to serve man, many robots had—through accident or design—become agents of evil, independently plotting against humanity or acting on the wishes of corrupt individuals. Emerging into this society, Magnus soon found a like-minded soulmate in the form of Leeja Clane, the daughter of an influential senator and a woman who was tired of being monitored by machines. Together, the couple discovered that the Pol-rob chief H8 (pronounced hate) had acquired sentience in an atomic accident and was now using all his officers to undercut humans. Demonstrating his superior fighting techniques (including his trademark karate chops), Magnus destroyed H8 but acknowledged that there would be many more threats to come. Unlike the stories behind many 1960s comic book characters, the circumstances of Magnus’ creation were recorded in detail not long after his series began. Asked by fan John McGeehan to document his memories, Russ Manning wrote an essay that appeared in The Comic Reader #28 (August 1964). The piece was fascinating not only in its behindthe-scenes information but in Manning’s honest acknowledgment of the many individuals who contributed to Magnus’ development. It was a refreshing contrast from so many other accounts—often reconstructed many years after the fact—that tended to spin such creations as oneman affairs. The series began in Gold Key’s West
Like other Gold Key comics, the cover art from Magnus #1 (painted by George Wilson from a sketch by Russ Manning) appeared without copy on the back cover as a bonus pin-up. Magnus Robot Fighter TM and © Random House, Inc.
The defiant Leeja Clane, daughter of a North Am senator, was a perfect match for Magnus. Magnus Robot Fighter TM and © Random House, Inc.
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work. The Tarzan parallels only went so far. After penciling the first story with Magnus wearing nothing but a futuristic loincloth (red chain-mail shorts) and strapless sandals, the artist was advised by Gold Key’s East Coast editors to “put some clothes on the guy” (Manning 15). Consequently, Magnus wound up with a matching red shirt along with boots that the artist intended to be blue-black but which wound up being colored white. Likewise, Manning’s plans to give his hero a huge stone hammer went by the wayside thanks to input from his wife Dodie: “She suggested doing away with the kookie hammer and maybe having him karate the robots, or leap up on their shoulders and unscrew their heads! I laughed deprecatingly at the unscrew bit, and sneakily adopted her superb ‘bare hand against robot metal’ idea…and must certainly give her credit for what I feel is surely one of the deepest felt reasons for reader association with the Robot Fighter.” (Manning 16) The elimination of the hammer also unwittingly evaded a possible comparison with Marvel’s Thor, who hadn’t debuted at that point, but was in print by the time Magnus #1 was published. The hero’s name was another matter. In his TCR essay, Manning had noted that he’d toyed with calling him Hammer or Mann but settled on Magnus, which was “inspired mostly by Maximus,” a recurring character in Leonard Starr’s On Stage comic strip (Manning 15). Off the record, he’d told a different story to a group of fans in the mid-1960s, as related by Richard Kyle:
The early Magnus stories bore the hallmarks of Gold Key’s publication design with borderless panels and square word balloons. Magnus Robot Fighter TM and © Random House, Inc.
Coast office with its editor-in-chief Chase Craig. In a letter dated February 26, 1962, Craig had observed “that comic book readers seem to be buying subjects not possible (because of cost, etc.) on TV. 4000 A.D. would be a science fiction adventure a la The Jetsons, only realistic. Robots would have become the master race, subordinating man. The hero would be a human, would lead the resistance, would find literature, etc. from the 20th Century that would inspire the humans” (15). In recapping Craig’s letter, incidentally, Manning evidently added the Jetsons name as a point of reference since the TV series didn’t actually air until September 23, 1962.
“Now it’s entirely possible that Maximus was in the back of Russ’ mind. It’s not like that was untrue. But Russ told Rick [Durrell] and Glen Johnson and Bill [Spicer] and me at that first meeting, with a wink and a finger to lips, that he got it from Doc Magnus in DC’s Metal Men. He may have been casting about for a name, and Maximus was sort of
Learning via art director Jack Taylor that he was under consideration to illustrate the proposed series, Russ Manning immediately got in touch with Craig. With ten years at the company, the artist had a diverse résumé that ranged from Westerns like Dale Evans and Western Roundup to a plethora of TV adaptations. He’d drawn every installment of the Brothers of the Spear series in Tarzan since late 1952. On top of his slick commercial style, longtime science fiction fan Manning also believed that his passion for the genre made him ideally suited for the series. “I said that my first impression would be to make this 4000 A.D. hero a Tarzan of the future,” Manning recalled, “Man at his simplest” (Manning 15). Chase Craig was sold on the idea and the cartoonist went to
After a brief turn as a fugitive, Magnus gained considerable influence in North Am society as a trusted ally of Leeja’s father Senator Clane. Magnus Robot Fighter TM and © Random House, Inc.
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Magnus needed to get physical when to he took on the evil robots of North Am in 4000 A.D. but Captain Johner had to use diplomacy once his space crew met the Aliens in the book’s back-up feature. A close examination of these pages from Magnus #1 (February 1963) not only reveals the polished sheen that Russ Manning imbued in both features but also a hallmark of the early Gold Key comic books: borderless panels with a “frame” that could be cut away if the story was reprinted in a different format. Original art scans courtesy Heritage Auctions. Magnus Robot Fighter TM and © Random House, Inc.
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appealing to him, and then he read on to Metal Men because he liked the book—and who knows? At that time, Metal Men was an innovative comic, psychologically, because that was a very juvenile period in comics, and there was more of an adult concept to Metal Men. And Russ liked it. However, according to Russ, no question—he got Magnus from Metal Men.” (Murray, “The Secret Origin of Magnus, Robot Fighter” 36) Although best known as an artist, Manning was also a capable writer and turned in a script for the 27-page origin to Chase Craig and editor Zetta Devoe. They “tore into it, and made suggestions that, when written into the script, did wonders for [it]” (Manning 15-16). Writers Robert Schaefer and Eric Friewald came aboard with Magnus #2 but Manning didn’t hesitate to rewrite their scripts when he thought it necessary. In a remarkable departure from long-standing convention, Craig even allowed Manning to sign his name to each story, beginning with issue #4. Reflecting on the collaborative nature of the entire process, the cartoonist wrote: “I suspect that an absolutely one-man creation is an extreme rarity, and certainly Magnus is not one of those items...quite a number of us worked to hone Magnus into the more or less consistent fellow he is. One more person also added a fine bit…[Tarzan artist and Manning mentor] Jesse Marsh, at a dinner party one evening, suggested the train of thought that led to the human-brain computer in the first book. And still unknown, the name of the colorist who digs white boots!” (Manning 16) Each Magnus story was followed by a four-page back-up called “The Aliens.” The initial installment dealt with human astronauts encountering extraterrestrials for the first time in deep space. At an impasse over fears that the other would learn the location of their respective homeworlds and turn on them, the humans—led by Captain Johner—and the aliens—
Russ Manning’s depiction of a black man among Captain Johner’s crew was unsupported by the story’s coloring. A 1995 reprint finally portrayed the character with the correct flesh tone. The Aliens TM and © Random House, Inc.
represented by Zarz—settled on a cultural exchange. Several aliens would join Johner’s crew in returning to Earth while a number of human astronauts would accompany Zarz’s people to the alien world.
concept had “strongly impressed” the young writer (Cosgrove 19). To Manning’s surprise, Chase Craig liked the story well enough to continue it as a series—now written by Schaefer and Friewald.
“After finishing the first Magnus story,” Manning recalled, “I was asked to write and draw a non-hero four-pager, with a future setting.” Assuming that this was merely a filler and pressed for time, the cartoonist decided to recycle the plot of Murray Leinster’s 1945 novelette “First Contact,” a science fiction tale whose
Many of the compact stories also doubled as understated lessons on the ills of xenophobia and racism. Issue #3’s chapter, for instance, dealt with two of Johner’s crewmen who were horrified by the presence of such “weirdies” on their ship, sniffing that “they’re not even human. They’re… just…creatures.” Inevitably, the aliens
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saved the entire vessel from an attack and earned the trust of the skeptics. Subtly suggesting the parallels between the present-day civil rights movement, Manning depicted one of the anti-alien astronauts as a black man. Much like Marvel’s experience with Sgt. Fury #1, though, the character was colored as a Caucasian. Short back-up series were not unique to Magnus. Brothers of the Spear— itself a testament to racial harmony with black and white boys as its two stars—had run for a decade in Tarzan. Effective with issue #2 (December 1962), Doctor Solar had also added a four-page back-up about Professor Harbinger as a light-hearted treatise on basic scientific concepts. The Phantom #2 (February 1963) introduced its own four-page feature, King, Queen, and Jack. Set in Africa, it recounted the adventures of explorers Victor King, Francis Queen, and Jack Forest.
The Gold Key Experience Gold Key was playing close attention to the reaction to this subset of adventure titles, aware that they were attracting an older readership that was represented in the new comics fanzines. Delighted that several Gold Key titles had been nominated in the latest round of Alley Awards, East Coast editor William Harris noted to The Comic Reader’s Jerry Bails that “we are very interested in what you and the other fanzine editors are doing, and we welcome your suggestions” (Harris 1).
Dr. Gail Sanders demanded an explanation from her colleague about his strange behavior. Solar conceded that it was time to let her in the loop even as his friend Dr. Clarkson cautioned that he was not going to be able to operate in the shadows much longer without everyone learning the truth. Seeking an alternative, Solar designed a costume— essentially a red body stocking with a radiation icon on his chest and a visor over his eyes—that finally enabled him to appear publicly as the Man of the Atom. By coincidence, the milestone coincided with a change in artists. As reported in The Comic Reader #18 (August 1963), series originator Bob Fujitani was increasingly occupied with assisting Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon newspaper strip. Strapped for time after penciling the Solar revamp, the artist was forced to pass the inking responsibilities to Frank Bolle. By issue #6, Bolle, himself an industry veteran who’d assisted on the On Stage strip until 1961, was Doctor Solar’s regular illustrator. Amidst the new adventure successes was a single failure. Freedom Agent #1 (April 1963) was meant to capitalize on Cold War intrigue with its adven-
It was almost certainly such feedback that resulted in the revamp of Doctor Solar in issue #5 (September 1963). Like Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four, Solar had been envisioned as a post-modern superhero who didn’t need old-fashioned trappings like costumes. Learning the same lesson as the FF team, Solar scripter Paul S. Newman was compelled to introduce “the New Man of the Atom.”
Solar’s acquisition of a costume earned accolades in a subsequent letter column, including praise from Alter-Ego co-founder Jerry Bails.
In a delayed reaction from the atomic accident that first gave him his powers, Solar’s hair suddenly turned gray. Concerned about this latest development,
Doctor Solar TM and © Random House, Inc.
The adventures of secret agent John Steele began too early to take advantage of any interest generated by film super-spy James Bond. Freedom Agent TM and © Random House, Inc.
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tures of secret agent John Steele. Written by Paul S. Newman with art by Giovanni Ticci and Alberto Giolitti, the series was one that even William Harris admitted was a work in progress. It was, he said, “still undergoing changes, and this first issue barely scratches the surface of what John Steele will experience in the future” (Harris 1). Ultimately, Gold Key seemed to have lost faith in the title, burning off its second and final issue (wherein the hero fought “invisible saboteurs”) as John Steele, Secret Agent #1 in the fall of 1964. Perhaps the most unusual action hero appearances of the 1963 Gold Key line-up was the return of Zorro in the funny animal-dominated Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #275-278 (August-November 1963). The classic swordsman hero of 19th Century California hadn’t appeared on TV or in comics since 1961 thanks to a bitter financial dispute between Walt Disney Productions and ABC over rights to the film series. Nonetheless, Disney was continuing to license the rights to Zorro each year. Whether it was because they wanted to get something for their money or simply to demonstrate that they weren’t pointlessly tying up the license, the company brought the character back for a four-issue run and prominently featured him on each cover. Three of the four, in fact, used photo stills of actor Guy Williams rather than line art.
Still, it was the Disney animals who were the real stars of WDC&S, and they rolled along much as they had at Dell with a Carl Barks-produced Donald Duck lead story and a Paul Murry-illustrated Mickey Mouse yarn to close out the comic. It was the latter that represented a notable point of distinction. One of the hallmarks of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories had been its three-part Mickey and Goofy serials, but they abruptly disappeared effective with issue #267 (December 1962). It’s possible that someone in Gold Key’s editorial department suddenly began to rethink the serials, fearing that younger children might feel cheated by getting an incomplete story. Whatever the cause, the three-parters resumed with issue #274-276’s “Secret of the Ancient Incas,” by Murry and writer Carl Fallberg. Under Carl Barks, Uncle Scrooge had justifiably earned a reputation as the best and most successful of the Disney comic
books. At Dell, however, the title had been locked into a quarterly publication schedule for the better part of a decade. That changed the moment that the first Gold Key edition of Uncle Scrooge (issue #40: January 1963) went on sale. From that point forward, the best-selling Disney comic book would officially be published bi-monthly
Gold Key made good use of its inside back covers to promote its diverse roster of titles and characters. Uncle Scrooge TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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Television and theatrical features were well-represented in the Gold Key line-up. Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Zorro TM and © Zorro Productions, Inc. Gay Purr-Ee TM and © Warner Bros.
with periodic seasonal bumps to monthly. Beyond the regular Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comics, Gold Key maintained its strong Disney partnership through the usual one-shots based on current theatrical features (Escapade In Florence, In Search of the Castaways, The Legend of Lobo, Son of Flubber, Miracle of the White Stallions, Summer Magic, and the re-released Lady and the Tramp) and also reissued several adaptations of classic—and mostly animated—films (Bambi, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Wonderful Adventures of Pinocchio, Davy Crockett). The summer months even included specials like Mickey Mouse Album and two issues of Donald Duck Album.
In anticipation of the fall 1963 theatrical re-release of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (first seen in 1954), its star Captain Nemo was revived in a trio of Dan Spiegle-illustrated 10-pagers prior to the reprint of the movie adaptation. They ran in a unique series entitled Walt’s Disney’s World of Adventure that adapted recent TV movies The Mooncussers and Johnny Shiloh along with Savage Sam, the theatrical sequel to Old Yeller. The title ended with issue #3. Gold Key’s other movie oneshots of the year ranged from the science fiction/horror story X, the Man With the X-Ray Eyes to major box office hits How the West Was Won—the year’s second-highest-grossing film— and 55 Days In Peking. The liveaction adaptations typically warranted a 32-page story, but October 1962’s animated Gay
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Purr-Ee (with vocals by Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Mel Blanc, and Paul Frees) received a full-blown 25-cent 80-page giant (dated January 1963), perhaps in recognition that funny animals were a bigger draw for Gold Key’s audience. Along with the 68-page lead by Carl Fallberg and artists Pete Alvarado and Tony DiPaola, the comic book featured two short stories and fillers.
other final issues during the year: Hanna-Barbera Bandwagon #3, Heckle and Jeckle #4, King Leonardo and His Short Subjects #4, National Velvet #2, Rocky and His Fiendish Friends #5, 77 Sunset Strip #2, Snagglepuss #4, Snooper and Blabber, Detectives #3, Space Mouse #5, Supercar #4, and Wally #4. Perhaps the most random selection of comic books published in 1963 were the 75 issues appearing under the Super Comics imprint. They consisted of a variety of titles from defunct companies such as Quality and Mainline Publications. As detailed by Joe Simon, publisher Israel Waldman “reprinted previously published comic books, adding new covers which were not dated. Since there were no dates on his comic book covers or insides, they became merchandise, like hardcover books, salable at any time” (163).
Given the high risk that the TV shows they licensed might well be on the brink of cancellation by the time a comic book was published, the company generally tested the waters with one-shots. Oneseason wonders like The Gallant Men and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters never made it beyond a single issue but neither did The Virginian, whose nine-season run ended in 1971. The better-established Rawhide ran two issues but only The Lucy Show—featuring superstar Lucille Ball—was given a commitment for an ongoing Gold Key title in 1963.
The issues were sold as bagged multi-packs to discount stores such as Woolworths, but retailers were left to decide whether to sell the issues in bundles or individually. Waldman’s first round of comics was released in 1958 under the IW imprint but the new batch was dubbed Super Comics. The selection was diverse, ranging from funny animals (Muggy Doo, Boy Cat) to war (Battle Stories) to romance (Young Hearts In Love) to horror (Eerie Tales) and even costumed heroes. In essence, Waldman had purchased letterpress plates—or, rarely, original art—from various 1950s publishers as they’d gone out of business. In the case of Simon’s Mainline Publications, Waldman had bought the materials up front, satisfied with publication rights and uninterested in copyrights (Simon 165).
They also awarded comics series to Hanna-Barbera’s The Jetsons, Cave Kids (set in the Flintstones’ “universe” but featuring characters original to comics), and Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist (recurring characters from several HannaBarbera series, promoted to an annual of their own that anticipated the Addams Family and the Munsters by a year) as well as returning Peanuts (in reprints of the Dell series) and Tweety and Sylvester (also initially reprints)— each dropped during the 1962 Dell transition—to their line-up. Several other animated characters were tested in one-shots, notably Augie Doggie, Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har, Pebbles Flintstone, Pixie and Dixie and Mister Jinks, and Tasmanian Devil and His Tasty Friends. Like Dell and Charlton, Gold Key dived into the medical and romance genres and quickly got cold feet, cancelling The Nurses (a TV tie-in) after three issues, Dear Nancy Parker after two, and City Surgeon after one. As the company shook down its initial line-up, there were a number of
Cave Kids and Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist sought to expand the HannaBarbera library beyond its star players. Cave Kids, Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist TM and © Hanna-Barbera.
Although DC had only acquired a handful of properties from Quality Comics in the 1950s, the company would likely still have been concerned to see Doll Man and Plastic Man among the Super Comics titles.
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Artists such as Joe Simon (The Spirit) and the Ross Andru/Mike Esposito team (Human Fly, Doll Man) contributed new covers for the Super Comics reprints. The Spirit TM and © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. Blue Beetle, Doll Man, Plastic Man TM and © DC Comics.
Certainly, Will Eisner would not have been pleased with Super’s issue of The Spirit since he retained full ownership of his creation. Luckily for Waldman, the fact that he was bypassing traditional magazine outlets to sell his comic books evidently kept him off the radar of anyone who might take issue with his right to publish them.
Meanwhile, Gold Medal Books published Miss Caroline, a paperback full of gentle cartoons by Gerald Gardner and Frank Johnson that revolved around the president’s young daughter. Gardner had previously written Who’s In Charge Here?, a book of fumetti featuring President Kennedy and other politicians. He extended the gags to a series in Mad, including a Kennedy spotlight in issue #76 (January 1963).
“President Kennedy Died at 1P.M. Central Standard Time…”
Mad, of course, had featured the president constantly from his candidacy onward. The Mad Frontier, a 1962 paperback collection, not only referenced Kennedy’s 1960 New Frontier speech but also depicted Alfred E. Neuman in the president’s famed rocking chair on the cover.
The editor of America’s foremost superhero was, ironically, aboard a Russian airliner on that dark day in November 1963. Years later, interviewer Guy H. Lillian III noted that Mort Weisinger still recalled “the look of sadness and shame on the stewardess’s face when she told him that President Kennedy had been murdered” (8). In the real world there had been no Superman to save him.
Used to help ease Kennedy’s chronic back pain, the chair also showed up at the conclusion of the JFK story in ACG’s Forbidden Worlds #114 (September 1963). Returning from his Presidential mission in Africa, Herbie decided to kick back in the rocker while JFK fumed. “So what?” Mrs. Kennedy declared. “He’s entitled.” (The same month’s Thor
Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963 left the entire country in a state of shock. As Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson was hastily sworn in as the United States’ new leader, the country entered a bleak period of mourning. Throughout his entire presidency, Kennedy had been the subject of fascination with the public; his youth, accessibility, and family made him an irresistible subject throughout pop culture. Vaughn Meader’s comedy album The First Family (1962), to cite just one example, sold an unprecedented seven million copies in its first three months. The send-up—with impressionist Meader mimicking the voice of Kennedy himself—inspired a second 1963 record that soon sold in excess of seven million copies itself. The albums were enough of a phenomenon that a take-off involving a “Superman-Lois Hit Record” (recorded by “Don Weeder”) appeared in both a Jerry Siegel-Curt Swan story in Lois Lane #45 (November 1963) and a parallel Wayne Boring-illustrated continuity in the Superman newspaper strip (August 18-September 14, 1963). On February 18, 1963, political cartoonist Walt Lardner launched a newspaper strip entitled Mr. President that poked fun at Kennedy and his administration. Only a handful of papers—divided on whether to run the feature in the comics section or opinion page—picked up the strip and it was discontinued on May 4.
Vaughn Meader’s The First Family received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963. The First Family TM and © respective copyright holder.
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Mort Weisinger’s Superman comics not only portrayed President Kennedy as eminently trustworthy but a shoo-in for reelection. Superman, Cosmic Boy TM and © DC Comics. Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton.
story in Journey Into Mystery #96 included a cameo where the time-traveling Merlin assumed that Kennedy wasn’t the president because he looked too young.)
greeted by scores of colleagues— from childhood friends Lana Lang and Pete Ross to fellow heroes Batman and Robin. The problem was that Clark Kent was supposed to greet the hero, too, and that simply wasn’t going to happen. Superman had run out of options and yet, at the fateful moment, there was Clark side-by-side with the hero.
Projects capitalizing on Kennedy were still in abundance on the day that he died. Still craving a venue that could successfully take him away from comic books, Stan Lee followed Gerald Gardner’s lead with a magazine featuring comically captioned photos of world leaders. More You Don’t Say, the third in the series, had just been released and featured President Kennedy not only on the cover but on a quarter of the interior pages. Suddenly rendered tasteless, the book was quickly pulled from shelves (Raphael 74). Elsewhere, subsequent printings of The Mad Frontier included a different, Western-themed cover. A Legion of Super-Heroes story in Adventure Comics #305 (February 1963) had included a character named Antennae Boy who could broadcast transmissions from across the centuries. As he demonstrated his power, the proclamation “Kennedy re-elected President of the U.S.” emanated from his ears. A 1971 reprint replaced “Kennedy” with “Truman” while a 1983 reprint changed “re-elected” to “elected.”
In the final panels, Superman met privately with “Clark,” who unmasked as no less than John F. Kennedy. “I told you to call on me if ever you needed help,” the President declared, “and I’m glad you did. And I’ll guard your secret identity as I guard the secrets of our nation.”
And then there was Action Comics #309. Dated February 1964 but on sale December 26, 1963, “The Superman SuperSpectacular” had been intended to cap the Man of Steel’s yearlong 25th birthday celebration. Written by Edmond Hamilton with art by Curt Swan and George Klein, the story involved a live TV broadcast in which Superman was
“I realize that, sir,” Superman replied. “I knew I wasn’t risking my secret identity with you. After all, if I can’t trust the President of the United States, who can I trust?” The story’s general concept—and memorable last line—originated in a Green Arrow story from Adventure Comics #244 (January 1958). In that case, it was the hero’s sidekick Speedy who needed to be in two places at once and it was President Eisenhower’s grandson who stood in for the young archer.
Book and magazine racks were filled with Kennedy references during 1963. Mad TM and © DC Comics.
The source of the plot twist was beside the point, of course. At the time of Kennedy’s assassination, that issue was already too far along in the distribution process to be stopped. In 2002, DC’s newlyinstalled President and Publisher Paul Levitz researched the specifics on Action #309:
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man who would always help a friend in trouble,” wrote John Sherwood. In the letter column of Superman #168 (April 1964), Mort Weisinger revealed that DC had canceled a story—first announced in the August 30, 1963 New York Times—in which Superman was to promote the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. President Johnson, however, believed that the story should be published to honor Kennedy and the cause that was close to him. Therefore, E. Nelson Bridwell revised Bill Finger’s original script to acknowledge Kennedy’s passing and “Superman’s Mission For President Kennedy” appeared in Superman #170 (July 1964). Over the course of the 10-page story, the Man of Steel answered a personal call from the President to inspire America’s increasingly out-of-shape, apathetic youth to become more physically fit and even triggered an exercise program at the Daily Planet. A letter from JFK’s 10-year-old nephew Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appeared in issue #173’s letter column thanking DC for the tribute on behalf of his family. The final panel noted that “the original art for this story will be donated to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, at Harvard University.” Curiously, when the episode had first been announced the previous August, The New York Times had printed a sample panel drawn by Curt Swan. According to Mort Weisinger in Superman #168’s text page, the art for that original story was donated to Jacqueline Kennedy. Ultimately, it was Al Plastino who drew the published story in issue #170. Swan’s pages—if they still exist— have never been made public. The Kennedy Presidency was not the idyllic Camelot that Mrs. Kennedy would characterize it as in a December interview for Life magazine. It was, however, an important sign that the balance of power in the Approached by President Kennedy’s Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, Mort Weisinger devised a story United States, both politically and culturally, was to promote the administration’s Youth Physical Fitness Program in 1963. skewing younger. From entrenched racism to what Superman TM and © DC Comics. constituted pop music, matters that had been simply The Way Things Are were no longer so easily accepted. “The “According to our records, the issue ‘start ship’ times,” singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wrote in the fall of date was 11/27/63, which means it was, indeed, 1963, “they are a-changing.’” And comic books would be no printed, bound, and probably packed into the shipexception. ments for then-hundreds of newsstand distributors by the time of President Kennedy’s death. It would have been intended to reach retail on 12/26, but that was unlikely to have been a uniform date. Lead times in the old days were very long compared to today, and the same yellowing page indicates the contents were due 10/2, and printing plates were actually made 10/30.” (Levitz 8) Action #312’s letter column opened with a letter from Felice Michetti that articulated exactly the reaction that DC had most feared. “At a solemn and grave time like this, your story was in bad taste,” she wrote. “The irony of it is that there is now no need for Superman ever again to worry about J.F.K. preserving his secret.” Other responses on the page were more sympathetic, understanding the complexities of publication schedules or simply viewing the tale as a fitting tribute. “Our late president was, indeed, a great 159
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1964
Don’t Get
Comfortable
“Sweetness and light—who the hell wants it?” cartoonist Harold Gray snarled in the September 4, 1964 issue of Time. “What’s news in the newspaper? Murder, rape, and arson. That’s what stories are made of” (Smith 73).
On the Little Orphan Annie newspaper strip’s 40th birthday, its 70-year-old creator wished to make it very clear that he hadn’t mellowed with age. Those familiar only with the later stage and film version of Annie could scarcely imagine that its comic strip predecessor had built its reputation on suspenseful high drama that was, at times, shockingly violent and politicized. As far as Gray was concerned, it wouldn’t be straying from that path. But there were no constants, even in comics. Forty years after creating the first modern adventure comic strip (Wash Tubbs) and 20 years after launching Buz Sawyer, Roy Crane (with writer Edwin Granberry and art assistant Hank Schlensker) decided the Sawyer strip needed a shakeup. In a bleak sequence running the same time as Harold Gray’s remarks, Sawyer lost his wife Christy in a typhoon and then, desperate for a distraction, left the Navy to join the CIA after depositing their 11-year-old son with his parents. For a strip that had always leavened grim events with lighter family moments, it was a startling shift in the balance and a reminder to jaded readers that they couldn’t even count on that anymore. In good ways and bad, the post-Kennedy United States was changing. Things that were once taken for granted were no longer set in stone. Mid-1964’s Civil Rights Act effectively outlawed much of the racial discrimination and segregation inflicted on minorities but breaking through generations of entrenched racism would be an uphill battle.
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Early in the year, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Sgt. Fury #6 (March 1964) had tackled the subject head on. Ostensibly about the Howling Commandos’ mission to take on Erwin Rommel’s Panzer Division in North Africa, the story was truly concerned with bigotry. Joining the squad as a temporary replacement for the injured Dino Manelli, blond George Stonewell (named after American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell) barely concealed his distaste for the Commandos’ Italian and Jewish members. He was delighted to learn that one man in the unit had “a real American name like Jones” but recoiled when he learned that Gabe was black. “I’m not sleepin’ in these barracks!” Stonewell shrieked. A disgusted Nick Fury read him the riot act. Conceding that “there’s no time to trade ya in for a real human being,” Fury 160
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issued a stern warning: “You so much as look crosseyed at Izzy, or Gabe, or anyone because of his race or color, and I’ll make ya wish you were never born!” Over the course of the story, Stonewell found a lifetime of racism challenged at every turn. A captured Nazi noted that they were philosophically the same. Backed into a corner by enemy soldiers, Stonewell owed his life to the Jewish Izzy Cohen, who cracked, “I notice you ain’t complainin’ about my religion all of a sudden.” And, finally, when the bigot was wounded and needed a transfusion, the lifesaving blood came from Gabe Jones. George Stonewell never quite owned up to the fact that he’d been wrong but he did leave behind his new address—directed specifically to Gabe and Izzy—upon departing the Commandos. The message itself was not unprecedented in comic books of the era. DC often ran Jack Schiffscripted public service pages that denounced bigotry. Anti-racism content appeared in the Catholic school-distributed Treasure Chest comic book, as well. The distinction was putting that message in the context of a mainstream adventure story. Simply including a black soldier amidst white ones without comment— The anti-racism message of Sgt. Fury #6 was daring content for a 1964 war comic. Nick Fury TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. as Lee and Kirby had done in Sgt. Fury #1-5 and Bob Kanigher and Joe Kubert before them in Over the course of ten installments, writer Berry Reece built 1961’s Our Army At War’s #113—was progressive in its own sympathy and suspense for his protagonist, chronicling right but sometimes a less subtle approach was called for. political setbacks like accusations of cowardice in Vietnam Even concealed within a seemingly ordinary war comic, it and even an assassination attempt. “I wanted to walk kids was a daring move in a time when many southern retailers through the basic steps of the nominating process of a Presmight balk at selling it altogether. idential Election,” the writer explained. “I also wanted to Meanwhile, a serial in Treasure Chest Vol. 19, issues #11-20 make sure they were given an entertaining narrative and (January 31 to June 4, 1964) mirrored the spring’s Presidenhook them with some funny and entertaining characters tial primaries as New York’s Governor Timothy Pettigrew— at the same time” (The Main Event). Thanks to creative a Catholic like John F. Kennedy—vied to become his political staging by artist Joe Sinnott, however, the governor’s face party’s nominee for the White House. This story took place remained hidden until the very end of the story when he not in 1964, but in 1976, and the story challenged young won the nomination. And only then did readers discover parochial school students to consider the world that they that Timothy Pettigrew was “the first Negro candidate for would shape as adults. President of the United States.”
In 1965, DC ran a parallel version of this scene in Our Army At War #160’s Sgt. Rock story. Nick Fury TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
“Would he win?” the closing caption asked, after noting that 1976 would mark the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. “Well it would depend in part on how the boys and girls reading this grew up and voted…in 1976. It would depend on whether they believed, and, indeed, lived those words in the Declaration— ‘All men are created equal.’” “What we wanted to do,” Reece explained, “was get the readers in deep through this Pettigrew’s integrity, his charisma, before we ever disclosed his race so that they would not prejudge
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1964 TIMELINE A compilation of the year’s notable comic book industry events alongside some of the year’s most significant popular cultural and historical events. January 16: Carol Channing stars in the Broadway opening of Hello, Dolly!
January 29: The Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria.
JANUARY
March 13: National outrage is inspired by a report of the murder of New Yorker Kitty Genovese while 38 of her neighbors listened to her cries and did nothing.
February 2: Hasbro introduces the G.I. Joe action figure.
April 22: The New York World’s Fair launches six months of festivities.
March 27: On Good Friday, Alaska experiences a 9.2 magnitude earthquake, the largest ever recorded in North American history and second largest on Earth.
February 9: The Beatles make their first live U.S. television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show before an audience of some 73 million people. Fueled by “Beatlemania,” a “British Invasion” of artists from the United Kingdom ascends on U.S. pop music.
FEBRUARY
April 21: The National Cartoonists Society awards the 1963 Reuben to Fred Lasswell (Barney Google and Snuffy Smith) during its annual gala. Lasswell is also honored for Best Humor Strip, joining other winners Leonard Starr (story newspaper strips, On Stage), Jerry Robinson (newspaper panels, Still Life), and Frank Thorne (comic book category, Twilight Zone).
April 30: Teen sidekicks Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin join forces in The Brave and the Bold #54, laying the groundwork for the debut of the Teen Titans a year later.
May 7: “Superman’s Mission For President Kennedy” (Superman #170) promotes the fallen leader’s call for physical fitness.
March 30: The Jeopardy game show, hosted by Art Fleming, premieres on NBC.
MARCH
APRIL
March 26: Batman gets a modernized new look courtesy of editor Julius Schwartz, penciler Carmine Infantino, and writer John Broome in Detective Comics #327.
M AY
April 4: The Beatles make music history when they claim the top five spots on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Twist and Shout,” “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “Please Please Me.”
JUNE
May: Gold Key’s postapocalypse comic book Mighty Samson #1 premieres.
February: Blind attorney-turnedsuperhero Matt Murdock debuts in Marvel’s Daredevil #1. January: After a decade’s absence, Captain America returns in The Avengers #4.
March: The Phantom Blot, Mickey Mouse’s long-absent nemesis, returns in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #284.
June: Hawkeye the Marksman debuts in Tales of Suspense #57’s Iron Man story and quickly falls under the sway of the Black Widow, who first appeared five issues earlier.
April: Charlton’s Blue Beetle #1 recreates the Golden Age hero.
Captain America, Daredevil, Hawkeye TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Aquaman, Batman, Blue Beetle, Zatanna TM and © DC Comics. Creepy TM and © New Comic Company.
him” (Wheaton). Trailblazing and prescient, Reece and Sinnott’s innovative approach recalled the words of Reverend Martin Luther King’s famous 1963 speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Reece, a recent graduate
of Notre Dame and writer for Mississippi’s Jackson Daily News, described his motivation for the story in 2008: “1964, with Johnson eventually facing off against Goldwater, was a key election year. America was in turmoil. Assassinations were rampant. Medgar Evers was an honorable NAACP leader whom I interviewed and knew person-
Over ten installments, youngsters formed a bond with presidential candidate Tim Pettigrew before discovering that he was a black man in the final chapter. Treasure Chest TM and © respective copyright holder.
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September 7: Soupy Sales’ hugely popular kids morning show begins on WNEW in New York City.
July 2: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark bill that bans most overt forms of racial discrimination in the United States.
July 27: Teenager Bernie Bubnis organizes the New York Comicon, generally recognized as the first comic book convention.
September 17: The first on-panel superhero wedding takes place when Aquaman marries Mera (Aquaman #18), a week before villainous Lex Luthor takes Ardora as his bride (Action Comics #318).
August 20: Zatanna, daughter of Golden Age magician Zatara, begins a search for her missing father in Hawkman #4.
AUGUST
July 31: 40-year-old country singer Jim Reeves dies in a private plane crash. Despite his ironicallytitled posthumous number one hits “This Is It” and “Is It Really Over?”, the singer leaves behind enough unreleased music to keep him on country radio for years.
August 27: Disney’s Mary Poppins, the year’s top-grossing movie, premieres with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke as its stars.
ally. In addition I had also interviewed him during my time as a news writer. Shortly after Evers was shot, John F. Kennedy was assassinated and with that the country darkened even further. With JFK gone, I was taking some pride in the leadership of LBJ whom I saw as not just a white Southerner but a man who was promoting the Civil Rights Acts of 1963 and 1964. I saw the country finally moving past the horrors of the Civil War and slavery and I was looking to write something that the kids could relate to. So I determined to write a story that would capture kids attention while at the same time showing them something decent about this country.” (The Main Event) Protests and activism were not confined to civil rights. May 2, 1964
September 26: A three-hour cruise leads to more than seven stranded castaways bargained for on CBS’ sitcom Gilligan’s Island, starring Bob Denver.
December 6: A decades-long Christmas tradition begins when Rankin/Bass’ stopmotion animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer airs on NBC for the first time.
September 26: Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” begins a three-week reign as the Billboard Hot 100’s number one song. September 17: Elizabeth Montgomery stars as a witch adjusting to life as a suburban newlywed in the premiere of ABC’s Bewitched. September 18: Charles Addams’ comedic horror cartoons come to life on ABC’s The Addams Family. CBS’ follows suit with its own monster sitcom The Munsters on September 24.
J U LY
September 24: The publication of the government’s Warren Commission Report provides the first comprehensive account of the circumstances surrounding the Kennedy assassination.
SEPTEMBER
October 14-15: In Russia, Nikita Khrushchev is forced from office and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev as the Communist Party’s first secretary and Aleksei Kosygin as premier. October 29: Bob Haney and Ramona Fradon’s unconventional Metamorpho premieres in The Brave and the Bold #57.
OCTOBER
September 22: NBC’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, brings the spy craze to weekly U.S. television. September 18: Hanna-Barbera’s Jonny Quest, created by cartoonist Doug Wildey, brings a striking element of realism to primetime animation when it premieres on ABC. September 17: Goldfinger, Sean Connery’s third outing as James Bond, premieres in London three months before its first U.S. showing. Enhanced with spy gadgetry and a colorful villain, the year’s third-highestgrossing film inspires countless spy projects throughout pop culture.
NOVEMBER
November 3: Days after promising a wide-ranging series of programs intended to make the United States a “Great Society,” Lyndon Johnson defeats challenger Barry Goldwater in the U.S. Presidential election. November 9: The Wizard of Id newspaper strip, by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart, begins.
DECEMBER
October 14: Dr. Martin Luther King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent leadership in the civil rights movement. October 12: The Supreme Court reaffirms the U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that Mad has the right to satirize popular songs. October 10: The Summer Olympics begin in Tokyo, Japan.
October 4: Junior Tracy weds the extraterrestrial Moon Maid in the Dick Tracy comic strip.
saw the first notable student marches in opposition to the war in Vietnam, where U.S. military forces were said to exceed 20,000 by the end of the year. Citing the South Vietnamese government’s instability even in the face of that aid, the 1965 World Book Year Book noted that “there were signs that defeat might be almost inevitable” (Stalker 538-9). The idea that the United States could be involved in a war that it might lose was unthinkable in the mid-1960s. Still, American troops were going overseas in escalating numbers and that was inevitably reflected in pop culture. Harvey Comics was a case in point as its military humor content increased. After several years of growth, its trademark kids line had plateaued with the 25-cent Richie Rich Success Stories of note as the sole new title launched in 1964. Instead, Harvey looked at its five ongoing Sad Sack series and expanded further with the 25-cent giant Sad Sad Sack World #1
November: Warren Publications’ Creepy #1 brings full-blown horror stories back to comic book form.
(October 1964) and the 12-cent Little Sad Sack #1 (October 1964). The latter featured the put-upon soldier as a boy and included an appearance by Richie Rich on the first issue’s cover as a sales booster. Like several other titles, Little Sad Sack had begun as a recurring star in Harvey Hits (issues #73, 76, 79, 81, 83). The venerable spotlight comic book became a de facto eighth military humor title in 1964. Aside from two editions devoted to Stumbo (HH #78, 88) and one to Sadie Sack (HH #93), every issue of the title through the end of its run in 1967 was devoted to three rotating features: Sad Sack’s Muttsy the Talking Dog, Gabby Gob, and G.I. Juniors. Written and illustrated by Jack O’Brien, the G.I. Juniors (debuting in Harvey Hits #86: November 1964) were a group of military academy students who repeatedly got the best of their Sarge during the course of their antics. In contrast to his work on
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Harvey’s 1964 launches were weighted heavily toward the Sad Sack franchise. Richie Rich TM and © Classic Media, LLC. Sad Sack TM and © Sad Sack, Inc.
Sad Sack stories, O’Brien was permitted to sign his names to the Juniors episodes as was Fred Rhoads on the Gabby Gob stories.
ing that more than half of its Sack comic books were being bought by the Navy. Total sales run about 450,000 a month” (Howle 1).
Rhoads, the best known of the Sad Sack artists who succeeded creator George Baker, had conceived Gabby during a five-day tour of the USS Forestal attack carrier on October 27-31, 1963. According to Jimmy Howle, the editor of the Florence Morning News in Rhoads’ South Carolina hometown, Harvey Comics “began pressing Rhoads for a Navy Sad Sack right after discover-
In contrast to Sad Sack, Gabby Gob was a cheerier soul described in a subsequent Morning News article as “an irrepressible sailor who seems to be a constant victim of circumstance,” much to the dismay of Admiral Barry Kuda (Lackey 5A). Introduced in early August’s Harvey Hits #85 (dated October 1964), Gabby never achieved the popularity that Rhoads and Harvey
hoped for but helped sustain the spotlight title for another three years. According to longtime Harvey managing editor Sid Couchey, the company’s publisher Alfred Harvey believed that comic book sales in general “went up and down with war. During wartime, sales would go up, because servicemen would only read comics when they were away from home. They didn’t want to read newspapers, so they read comics. So, during World War II, sales went up, and after the war they dropped. During the Korean War, sales went up, and afterwards it dropped! During the Vietnam War, it went up, afterwards it went down! A lot of that had to do with the fact that PXs were big sellers of comics” (Matheny 43). Of far less grave importance than war and civil rights, the arrival of the Beatles in the United States electrified young music fans to an unprecedented degree. Influenced by 1950s rock and roll artists like Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, the quartet incorporated a variety of genres into their songs and effectively reshaped the sound of pop music. “The popularity of many artists [in 1964] was hurt or delayed,” it was reported, “by record buyers’ reluctance to spend money on anything but Beatles records” (Feather 480).
Fred Rhoads’ Gabby Gob and Jack O’Brien’s G.I. Juniors expanded Harvey’s military humor line. Gabby Gob, G.I. Juniors TM and © respective copyright holder.
Their impact went beyond music. In an era when proper young men wore their hair cut short, the Beatles’ own comparatively longer style—dubbed
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Aside from Dell’s authorized Beatles one-shot, the Fab Four’s 1964 comic book appearances were mostly played for laughs. The Beatles TM and © Apple Corps Ltd. Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton. Betty and Veronica TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
a “mop top”—started another trend. Betty and Veronica were gushing about the new hairdo for boys as early as the cover of Laugh #160 (July 1964) and dreaming of the Fab Four themselves on the front of issue #166. By fall, Charlton was spotlighting the Beatles on the covers of My Little Margie #54 and Teen Confessions #31. The trendy Beatles wigs that sprang up shortly thereafter became the focus of a short tale in July’s Betty and Veronica #105 even as Superman’s pal was hawking them to natives of the distant past—while crooning rock songs—as “the Red-Headed Beatle of 1,000 B.C.” in DC’s Jimmy Olsen #79. Over in ACG’s Herbie #5, its comical star simply donned a literal mop-head to become a rock star in “Herbie, Boy ‘Beetle.’” Mad #90’s back cover used a Frank Frazetta-illustrated caricature of the Beatles’ Ringo Starr as the centerpiece of a Breck (as “Blecch”) Shampoo ad parody while one of cartoonist Al Jaffee’s first Mad Fold-Ins (issue #88) suggested “The Only Hope For Curing ‘Beatle-Mania’”
would be the “premature loss of the Beatles’ hair.” The Beatles’ hugely-anticipated first U.S. appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (February 9, 1964) was the subject of an early parody in Laugh #162. It recounted Archie’s hilarious efforts to fix the reception on Veronica’s television just minutes before the debut of the Termites Five on Sullivan. In July, Dell published the official Beatles comic book, a oneshot that sandwiched their 64-page “life story” (illustrated by Joe Sinnott) amidst several full-page photos. Giant comics still retailed for a quarter but Dell charged 35-cents for this one, well aware that fans would snatch it up. In April, the massive New York World’s Fair opened on nearly one square mile of land in Queens, New York. Although dominated by U.S. interests, the exposition’s goal was to celebrate “Man’s Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe” and demonstrate the way that technology would improve the lives of everyone. Towering over the festivities was the Unisphere, a 12-story
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The official Flintstones tie-in was far from the only comics reference to the World’s Fair, which was even seen from the air in She’s Josie #9. The Flintstones TM and © Hanna-Barbera. Archie, Josie TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
tall stainless-steel globe of the Earth. Among the most popular attractions was “It’s A Small World,” a colorful array of audio-animatronic figures representing children of the world that was designed by Walt Disney engineers and destined to become an attraction at Disneyland. With most comic book publishers based in New York City, the Fair inevitably received good coverage. Echoing their earlier relationship with Dell, Gold Key produced the 25-cent Flintstones At the New York World’s Fair giant on behalf of Warren Publications, who’d claimed the official comic book license first. Authorized or not, the Unisphere and surrounding fairgrounds could be spotted in other series as well. From June through September, cartoonist Milton Caniff devoted a Steve Canyon newspaper continuity to Poteet Canyon’s adventures at the World’s Fair. Meanwhile, Superman brought interplanetary youngsters Zigi and Zagi to the site (Action Comics #315: August 1964), the villainous Shiwan Khan built a pavilion there (The Shadow #3: November 1964), and Marvel’s blonde bombshell vied to become Miss World’s Fair (Millie the Model #124: November 1964). Archie’s Joke Book #79 showed the cast gazing in amazement at one of the computers on display at the exposition. Though unimaginably huge by today’s standards, the computers
at the World’s Fair allowed scores of visitors their first contact with technology that would hugely impact the world in the coming decades. That desire to reflect a rapidly changing world was certainly Chester Gould’s justification for a fundamental shift in the direction of his Dick Tracy comic strip in 1964. The feature’s trademark grotesque villains and the scientific creations of industrialist Diet Smith may have been fanciful but they were generally well within the realm of plausibility. Indeed, when Gould had tried to deviate from that in a 1942 Sunday page where he drew his own hand erasing an inescapable deathtrap to save Tracy’s life, the cartoonist’s publisher Captain Joseph Patterson flatly rejected it. Captain Patterson was long dead by 1964 and, if anyone expressed concern about what was to come in Dick Tracy, their worries weren’t acted upon. Basically, Gould decided to up the ante of his recent storyline involving Diet Smith’s space coupe by having the industrialist actually bring back a woman from the moon! There was, in fact, an entire race of people up there, the strip revealed, all of them sporting bulging eyes and antennae on their foreheads. The lovely Moon Maid, daughter of the lunar race’s governor, became the strip’s de facto super-heroine, using her solar-powers to defeat wrongdoers and protect the innocent.
The strip got great publicity out of this turn of affairs, with subscribing newspapers even conducting Moon Maid look-alike contests throughout 1964 that brought finalists to Hollywood for an April 1965 ceremony. It would have been easier for fans to forgive Gould’s indulgence had he simply concluded the lunar sequence and returned to more realistic affairs with the next story. Instead, on October 4, 1964,
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Moon Maid responded to her critics in the July 3, 1964 Dick Tracy strip. Dick Tracy TM and © Tribune Media Services, Inc.
artists leading up to Sheldon Moldoff. He was, however, a savvy negotiator who’d managed—unknown to the general public—to retain ownership of Batman (at the expense of the character’s co-creator Bill Finger) and maintained a lucrative contract to produce a certain number of stories for DC each year. That contract, Donenfeld told Schwartz, was non-negotiable but Infantino could still draw the stories in odd-numbered issues of Detective Comics and provide the covers for every edition of that series and Batman (Evanier, “There’s a Lot of Myth Out There” 24). Moldoff (inked by
Moon Maid actually married Junior Tracy. As Dick Tracy’s interplanetary daughter-in-law, she was staying put for the foreseeable future.
The New Look With its colorful villains, emphasis on crime detection, and distinctive cartoony art style, DC’s Batman series had long invited comparisons to Dick Tracy. The Caped Crusader had never been as strictly realistic, though, and his feature had become increasingly clogged with aliens and science fiction devices that were even now overtaking the comic strip detective. And those elements were arguably sending sales of Batman and Detective Comics into a tailspin. In September 1963, Executive Vice President Irwin Donenfeld concluded that something needed to be done and summoned hit-making editor Julius Schwartz and his star artist Carmine Infantino to his office. “We sat down,” Infantino recalled, “and Irwin said, ‘The Batman books are dying and you two have six months to save them or, very simply, it’s over’” (Eury, “The Man Who Redesigned Batman” 16). Schwartz and Infantino were dumbfounded. Neither had a particular interest in or familiarity with Batman. And the assignment would require passionate science fiction fan Schwartz to relinquish the two DC comic books that he loved the most–Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures–to Jack Schiff, the Batman editor he was replacing. Likewise, Infantino would be leaving the beloved Adam Strange feature that he and writer Gardner Fox collaborated on in MIS. (Elsewhere, editor Mort Weisinger—who, according to former DC editor/colorist Carl Gafford, had suggested the Schiff/Schwartz swap—agreed to take over the Batman-Superman team-ups in World’s Finest Comics.) Schwartz, who’d evidently been informed of the news a day earlier, had countered that if he was going to work on Batman, he would “change things around the way I changed things around with Flash and Green Lantern and the Justice League.” Schwartz proposed putting Infantino front and center to create a fresh “New Look” for the feature (Evanier, “There’s a Lot of Myth Out There” 23). The art style on the similarly long-lived Superman and Wonder Woman had evolved with the times but, broadly speaking, Batman’s had not. Of course, Batman was the only one of the three still credited to its original artist: Bob Kane. Unknown to the general public, Kane hadn’t drawn a line in years, instead delegating the artwork to a succession of
Carmine Infantino’s introductory cover for the “New Look” Batman avoided showing the yellow circle that now surrounded the hero’s chest symbol. Batman, Robin, Elongated Man TM and © DC Comics.
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It was—purely coincidentally—exactly 25 years since the character had debuted in Detective #27. (The Silver Anniversary was only officially acknowledged in the Jack Schiffedited 80 Page Giant #5 later in the year.) The script itself (by Schwartz standby John Broome) was a solid enough investigative piece but Infantino’s art overshadowed it. The transition from a more cartoony style to a realistic one was startling, particularly in the depiction of Robin. Overnight, the Boy Wonder seemed to have sprouted up a couple inches. “I did that purposely,” Infantino declared, “because you can’t have a teenage kid like that fighting crime. He oughta be at least 15, 16. Twelve-year-old kids—that’s not Robin. He’s got to think like a grown-up” (Amash, Carmine Infantino: Penciler. Publisher. Provocateur 87). If there was a misstep, it was near the story’s end when Batman picked up one of the gang’s guns to keep his prisoners docile until the police arrived. Schwartz was subsequently advised that the Caped Crusader hadn’t carried firearms since 1940 when editor Whitney Ellsworth deemed them inappropriate for a series aimed at youngsters. Batman #164’s attempt to reference the folk music craze— via a group called the Hootenanny Hotshots—was simply a victim of bad timing, going on sale two months after the Beatles changed everything. The same thing happened to
The new Batman creative team unwittingly broke a taboo by portraying the Caped Crusader with a gun in Detective Comics #327. Batman TM and © DC Comics.
Joe Giella) had no difficulty delivering a more realistic style though it lacked Infantino’s dynamism. “There was never any consideration of cancelling Batman because of poor sales in the ‘60s,” outgoing editor Jack Schiff insisted. “All comics were bad across the board” (Schiff A-67). Indeed, Batman was still considered enough of a draw to support regular reprint giants and Julius Schwartz previously had to fight to feature him in Justice League of America lest he be perceived as overexposed. And yet Schwartz, Infantino, and even Kane genuinely believed that cancellation was a possibility. The truth may lie in part with Kane’s contract with DC. “Bob got some kind of revenue out of it,” Infantino learned after he became the company‘s Editorial Director in 1968, “which took most of the money. It cost us more than we made to get somebody else to do the strip” (Murray 40). Many DC titles moved significantly fewer issues than Batman and Detective but they were also selling a higher percentage of the copies that were actually printed and thus made a profit. Infantino revealed that, at the outset of the revamp, 68% of a given Batman issue’s print-run was going unsold (Amash, Carmine Infantino: Penciler. Publisher. Provocateur 88). Coupled with Kane’s payment, it becomes easier to understand why the Bat-books had become unprofitable. The New Look Batman was rolled out on March 26, 1964 in the pages of Detective Comics #327 (dated May 1964).
On the heels of Detective #327, Batman #164 completed the introduction of the Dynamic Duo’s new look. Batman, Robin TM and © DC Comics.
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Batman and Robin in their battle with the Tri-State Gang, their butler Alfred knocked the Dynamic Duo out of the path of a falling boulder in the climax and was crushed. In the aftermath, Bruce Wayne established the charitable Alfred Foundation in his honor even as a new face showed up at Wayne Manor. Learning of the tragedy, Dick Grayson’s Aunt Harriet insisted on taking over the household duties, oblivious to the secret identities of her nephew and his guardian. Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham had infamously characterized Batman and Robin as latent homosexuals in his 1950s screed Seduction of the Innocent and the presence of Alfred did not dispel his delusion. Aunt Harriet—named after a line in Hoagy Carmichael’s 1929 song “Rockin’ Chair”—was Schwartz’s means of breaking up Wayne Manor’s all-male household (Schwartz 119-120). With Kathy (Batwoman) Kane banished from the series, a prospective new girlfriend for Bruce Wayne was also lined up in the form of policewoman Patricia Powell, but she was dropped after two issues (Batman #165-166). More effective recurring characters were the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City—a diverse group of local detectives first seen in Batman #164—and the Outsider, an unseen villain who knew intimate details about Batman and Robin and could strike from anywhere (Detective #334). Prominent fan writer-artist (and Missouri fireman) Biljo White was among those taken with the revamp. Possessed of a near complete Batman collection, he enthusiastically Missouri fan Biljo White was so taken with the revamp that he created the Batmania fanzine in support. Batman TM and © DC Comics.
Archie when they ran their own folk music story in Betty and Veronica #101 (May 1964). Under orders from Schwartz, Infantino had drawn a yellow oval around the bat on the hero’s chest, establishing a clear line of demarcation between the end of the Old Look Batman and the beginning of the New. (A bat within a circle could also be trademarked where a bat alone could not.) Most of the editorial changes were held back three weeks until Batman #164 (June 1964). Schwartz had banished weird science from the series but, as DC’s foremost science fiction editor, believed that the introduction of more rudimentary technology was long overdue. Thus, an elevator replaced Wayne Manor’s stairway entrance to the Batcave, a hotline was established as a supplement to the Bat-Signal that lit up the night sky, and a concealed automatic door was unveiled as an entrance/exit for the upgraded Batmobile. Batwoman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Mite, and Bat-Hound vanished without explanation from Gotham City, but another member of the cast got an unexpected sendoff in Detective #328 courtesy of writer Bill Finger and artists Moldoff and Giella. Joining
The death of Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred prompted the arrival of Dick Grayson’s Aunt Harriet to replace him. Batman TM and © DC Comics.
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launched a fanzine in support of the New Look. “After completing and printing the entire run of Batmania #1 [July 1964], I sent a copy to editor Julius Schwartz,” White recalled. “I was so confident with the finished issues that I just knew he’d grant permission, and luckily, he did. I was ready to destroy the entire print run if he vetoed my plan” (Schelly, The Golden Age of Comic Fandom 91). Schwartz not only gave the ‘zine his blessing but promoted it in Batman #169’s letter column. Unsurprisingly, not all fans were initially thrilled with the makeover, and Schwartz ran letters in Detective #330 and #331 from readers who much preferred the classic “Bob Kane” artwork. The editor reported in the latter issue that reactions were “running about four to one in favor of the changes introduced—which, frankly, is better than we expected. There’ll always be the diehards who resist any change, and we can always count on the nostalgic type who fancies that nothing in comics published today can match the so-called Golden Era of Comics.” Among those detractors was Bob Kane himself. He was none too happy that his name was not appearing on the Infantino-drawn stories even as he was raging to publisher Jack Liebowitz about how terrible that same artwork was. “Kane was screaming that we were ruining his character,” Infantino recalled of one meeting. “And Jack looked at me and winked. I knew what that wink meant. ‘Don’t say a word.’” (Amash Carmine Infantino: Penciler. Publisher. Provocateur 87). Even Schwartz’s seemingly innocent remark in Detective #327’s text page that Bill Finger had “written most of the classic Batman adventures of the past two decades” opened up a can of worms that Kane desperately preferred to keep closed. It was only a matter of time before the revelation led fans to dig further and discover that Bob Kane’s claim of creating Batman alone was a lie. The New Look didn’t have the immediate impact that Donenfeld was hoping for but sales did make a modest improvement. “Every month, we’d come up four or five points,” Infantino recalled. “It wasn’t bad. I think we had gone up to about a 52-53 percent sale. Then, of course, they started bumping up the print run, which meant that things were beginning to happen. The strange part was that the issues Kane did would fall back 3-4 points. Then the one I did, Detective, I believe, would really bump up” (Murray, “The Legendary Carmine Infantino” 37). “In all honesty, we did not turn it around,” Infantino frankly observed. Rather, he credited the smash 1966 TV show for truly reviving Batman’s doldrums. “That’s what did the job,” he said. “It wasn’t us” (Murray, “The Legendary Carmine Infantino” 37). The Batcave acquired an upgrade with the additions of an elevator, a new Batmobile, and the installation of a “hot-line” connected to Commissioner Gordon. Batman TM and © DC Comics.
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Once Hawkman and editor Julius Schwartz took flight, Adam Strange had to share Mystery In Space with Space Ranger. Adam Strange, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Space Ranger TM and © DC Comics.
Stripped of the Batman titles, an unhappy Jack Schiff succeeded Schwartz on the two sf comics and abandoned all the features but the successful Adam Strange itself. Under the new creative team of writer Ed Herron and artist Lee Elias (beginning in Mystery In Space #92: June 1964), the feature immediately abandoned the innovative methods that Adam used to dispatch various alien threats in favor of standard space opera that was resolved with blasts from a ray-gun. Purists were also horrified that Elias had done away with the hero’s distinctive fin-topped helmet. Handed a few previous issues by Schiff for reference, Elias declared, “I hadn’t even seen the bloody strip before that! I wasn’t even aware there was such a character as ‘Adam Strange!’ Later on, I learned Infantino did it, because Carmine jokingly said, ‘Hey, you bastard! You’ve taken the helmet off, and you’ve changed the whole thing!’ Who knew? I didn’t know it was a personal [offense]. I just drew it the way I thought it should be done” (Penman 16).
Stranger Adventures One by one, Julius Schwartz said goodbye to the series that he’d nurtured in the science fiction titles: John Broome and Murphy Anderson’s Atomic Knights (Strange Adventures #160), Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino’s Space Museum (SA #161), Broome and Mike Sekowsky’s Star Hawkins (SA #162), Fox and Sid Greene’s Star Rovers (SA #163), and—saddest of all—Fox and Infantino’s Adam Strange (Mystery In Space #91). The critically beloved series exited the Schwartz era on a high note, with issue #90’s particularly outstanding full-length story that united Adam with Hawkman and Hawkgirl as the planets Rann and Earth nearly collided.
Schiff turned Mystery In Space into a double-feature, transferring Space Ranger over from Tales of the Unexpected (following issue #82) and frequently putting him—not Adam—on the cover. Since Space Ranger’s adventures took place in the future, a team-up with his co-star seemed out of the question. That didn’t stop writer Dave Wood from introducing a red-headed descendant of Adam Strange in MIS #94 who’d return for a second team-up with the Ranger in early 1965.
Fresh from a long run in the back of Detective Comics, the Manhunter From Mars became a headliner in House of Mystery. Martian Manhunter TM and © DC Comics.
Learning that Schwartz had no interest in continuing the Manhunter From Mars series in Detective Comics, Schiff had writer Jack Miller and artist Joe Certa send the character in a new direction in issue #326. After nine years posing as police detective John Jones, the hero’s civilian identity was seemingly killed and J’onn J’onzz—joined by cute sidekick Zook—took off in pursuit of a succession of threats that were emerging from the mysterious Idol Head of Diabolu. Those adventures took place in House of Mystery, beginning with issue #143 (June 1964). Encouraged by sales on the Manhunter’s team-up with Green Arrow in 1963’s The Brave and the Bold #50, Schiff hoped that the character had enough support to star in his own comic book.
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The Elongated Man got to stretch his legs—and the rest of his anatomy— when he acquired his own series in Detective Comics #327. Elongated Man TM and © DC Comics.
comic book form and this strip allowed me to do that” (Infantino 65).
Schwartz’s successor for the Detective back-up strip was the Elongated Man, the stretchable recurring hero from The Flash. Independently wealthy and dispensing with a secret identity, the hero now traveled from town to town, both checking out the local scenery and solving whatever mystery popped up. In contrast to the more serious Batman lead, the adventures of Ralph Dibny had a light touch filled with banter between him and his wife Sue. (Indeed, one can speculate that the direction of the series might have been inspired by the interplay of Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man movie series.) “I thought the Elongated Man was more of a detective, and—hence—fit better with the theme of the book,” Schwartz explained. Written by Gardner Fox with pencils and inks by Carmine Infantino, “the Elongated Man stories always had a wild narrative hook, but no matter how fantastic it was, he would always solve that crime that lay behind it” (Calhoun 64). “It was comical and I enjoyed drawing comedy,” Infantino declared. “It was also one of my favorite strips, because it was about as close to animation as I could do in a comic book. I liked being able to test the limits of the
Sid Greene, a regular contributor to the pre-1964 sf titles, was left with a dearth of assignments in the wake of the editorial swap. Consequently, Schwartz shifted him to The Atom and Green Lantern as Gil Kane’s new inker now that the former’s Murphy Anderson was drawing Hawkman and the latter’s Joe Giella was working on the Batman stories. Kane, who’d never cared for Giella’s embellishment, viewed the change as an improvement. “When Sid inked [my work], even though he had a peculiar style, it looked like my penciling,” he explained (Voger 48). Kane saw this as opportunity to fix a nagging problem he’d had with the depiction of Green Lantern’s costume. “The inkers didn’t understand how I was accenting the costume with a kind of diamond shape, and they always made it look like a sleeveless sweater,
which bothered me to no end” (Voger 48). Aware that Greene would render his pencils accurately, Kane began to gradually widen and lengthen the black spaces on each side of the hero’s chest while narrowing the green tunic in between. The revision culminated in issue #35 (March 1965) when the tunic widened from GL’s neck to extend over his shoulders, a look that has endured for decades. The Schwartz creative teams otherwise remained stable in 1964, with a smattering of new characters added to his comic books: villains Black Hand (Green Lantern #29), Brainstorm (Justice League of America #32), and T.O. Morrow (Flash #143), and female Green Lantern Katma Tui (GL #30). In recognition of his hard-fought acquisition of an ongoing series, Hawkman was finally admitted to the Justice League of America in issue #31 of their title. It was preceded by the highly-anticipated second JLA-JSA crossover in Justice League of America #29-30 (August-September 1964) that added an Earth-Three to the growing DC cosmology. This
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ing quest to find her father meant that she could show up in any Schwartz-edited series when readers least expected it. Zatanna would never have any prolonged success as a headliner but she was one of the most fondly remembered heroines to come out of the 1960s. One of the quietest and most haunting stories to come out of Schwartz’s office in 1964 was Broome, Infantino, and Giella’s “Doorway To the Unknown” in Flash #148 (November 1964). Speeding into his apartment late one night, the Flash was confronted by an embezzler named Fred Dallman. Explaining The daughter of a 1940s DC hero, the magical Zatanna broke ground as the that his actions had first second-genera tion crime-fighter. endangered the life Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Zatanna TM and © DC Comics. of the man he framed particular world was home to superfor his crime, the stranger begged archetypes collectively known as the hero to rush to Arizona and save the Crime Syndicate of America who him. And then Fred Dallman faded were aligned to evil rather than good. away. Mystified but compelled to Perhaps the most momentous debut came in the pages of Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson’s new Hawkman comic book. Issue #4 introduced a mysterious woman in a top hat, tuxedo, and fishnet stockings who prevailed on Hawkman and Hawkgirl to help her locate her missing father, a mission that had literally split her in two. The object of her search was Zatara, a dapper magician whose spells consisted of words spoken backwards and who had been published by DC from 1938’s historic Action Comics #1 through 1951’s World’s Finest #51. Fox, not coincidentally, had created the character with artist Fred Guardineer. “The notion of Zatanna, Zatara’s daughter, and her search for her father was my brainstorm,” Fox declared in a 1976 interview in Batmania #22 (Morrissey 46). The fact that she was a second-generation crime-fighter was groundbreaking but her striking look endeared Zatanna to fans all by itself. Moreover, the heroine’s ongo-
take action, the Scarlet Speedster succeeded in saving the life of David Dean only to have him, in turn, plead with the Flash to prevent his kid brother from committing a robbery. Again, the hero stopped a tragedy. All that remained was for David Dean’s accuser to come forward and clear his name. That, as the final pages revealed, was not going to happen. Fred Dallman had been killed in a car wreck the night before with the stolen money found amidst the debris. “The strange force that we call the Spirit of Man is still unknown,” the closing caption declared. “We only glimpse its truly wonderous [sic] power in events we label mysterious and gradually forget! If you believe in the invincible Spirit of Man, you will believe in this story.” It was the sort of plot that wouldn’t have been out of place in an episode of The Twilight Zone but it was an unusual and well-executed novelty within the context of a superhero series. “Doorway To the Unknown” was declared Best Short Story in the 1964 Alley Awards.
Bridwell, Bates, and Brainiac Sometimes forgotten in the Batman transition is editor Mort Weisinger, who found himself saddled with
The award-winning “Doorway to the Unknown” has been reprinted five times to date The Flash TM and © DC Comics.
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World’s Finest Comics in the bargain. With six Supermanrelated books already on his plate and an increasing number of reprint Annuals, he believed that something had to give. For starters, reprints were added to the back of two titles. Adventure Comics, fully embracing the Legion of Super-Heroes as its primary feature, dropped new back-up Superboy stories with issue #316 in favor of old ones. The alternating Green Arrow and Aquaman features in World’s Finest were likewise replaced with reprints featuring a variety of characters effective with issue #141 (May 1964). Unlike Aquaman, who had his own comic book to swim off to, Green Arrow was left virtually homeless outside of periodic appearances in Justice League of America. When his last new solo story ran in World’s Finest #140, it ended an unbroken 23-year string that began in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941). Along with the reprint concession, Weisinger was allowed to hire an assistant and E. Nelson Bridwell began work on January 13, 1964. “My first writing for Mort was restricted to a few extra panels on a Krypto or Superman story,” he recalled (Barr 11), including a revision of “Superman’s Mission For President Kennedy” before its publication in Superman #170.
The second issue of the revamped World’s Finest introduced the unstoppable Composite Superman. Batman, Robin, Superman TM and © DC Comics.
all of its individual 25-cent Annuals into an umbrella series called 80-Page Giant, and Bridwell proved equally adept at selecting reprints to fit any theme in its Superman-related issues.
A comics fan since his childhood in the 1940s, the 32-yearold had broken into the industry in 1957 when he began selling short gags to Mad. His signature joke came in 1958’s issue #38 when the Lone Ranger was surrounded by hostile Indians and declared that “it looks like we’re finished.” Whereupon his trusty sidekick Tonto smiled, “What do you mean…we?”
If Weisinger appreciated the incredible resource he had, there’s no indication that he ever showed it. Instead, Bridwell received the same abusive treatment that many of the editor’s other writers and artists had to endure. The put-upon assistant tolerated everything that was thrown at him—even a brief firing in 1965—and finally received a degree of recognition and appreciation after Weisinger’s 1970 retirement.
Many of those working in the early 1960s industry—from Joe Kubert to Russ Manning to Pete Morisi—had begun as comic book fans, but E. Nelson Bridwell was the first of a new breed. Like many fans-turned-pros who followed, he was as motivated by the prospect of shaping and protecting the histories of the comic book characters he read about as he was in participating in the comics creation process in general.
As unpleasant as his 1960s day-to-day experiences often were, Bridwell came away with core storytelling principles that took into account the fact that every comic book was someone’s first. Each time elements of the expansive Superman lore were used, they needed to be presented in a way that newcomers could understand. Bridwell explained in a March 1980 interview:
Possessed of a deep knowledge of the history of everything from comic book series to the Bible, Bridwell was ideally suited for maintaining the now intricate universe that Weisinger had put together and resourceful enough to fix any continuity errors that might arise. In 1964, DC folded
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were evidently stumped as to how to defeat the villain, too, because a sequel didn’t appear until 1967.
and you’ve got to realize that you can’t count on them to know the whole legend of the character. Even Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are going to be new to somebody. (O’Connell 56)
In the case of another Superman villain, there was briefly a question of whether he’d ever appear again. In mid-1958, a green-skinned alien named Brainiac arrived on Earth to shrink and bottle Metropolis, one of countless cities he’d stolen from other worlds as part of a mission to repopulate his own world that had been decimated by a plague (Action Comics #242). In 1961, Weisinger finally began to play up the character as a major member of Superman’s rogues gallery and, in so doing, seemed to have attracted the attention of a prominent computer scientist named Edmund C. Berkeley.
The rich Superman mythology came to the fore in many of the early Weisinger-edited World’s Finest stories with writer Edmond Hamilton creating a recurring Jimmy Olsen-Robin team (WFC #141) and immersing Batman in the culture of the bottle city of Kandor (WFC #143). Much as Carmine Infantino refreshed Schwartz’s Batman books, penciler Curt Swan revitalized the Superman-Batman team-ups here, and the series looked better than it had in years. Hamilton and Swan’s second issue (WFC #142: June 1964) introduced perhaps the toughest foe that the heroic team had ever faced. He was the Composite Superman, a villain whose right side resembled the Man of Steel and whose left duplicated Batman. Secretly the newly-installed custodian at the Superman Museum, Joe Meach had been endowed with the powers of the entire Legion of Super-Heroes in a freak electrical accident that also stirred up unfounded resentment toward Superman and Batman. Given his power set, the Composite Superman was virtually undefeatable and the World’s Finest team survived only because his powers wore off. The story ended with Meach unaware of what had happened and the heroes equally in the dark as to who their nemesis had been. Weisinger and company
In 1955, Berkeley had extended his passion to an educational “computer kit” marketed to kids under the name of Geniac. A more economical version of the kit was also offered in the mid-1950s and that was the sticking point. It was called Brainiac. It could be argued that Otto Binder, who wrote the first Brainiac story, might have heard of the computer kit in his capacity as a science fiction writer. (Binder also edited the rocket science magazine Space World from 1960 to 1963.) On the other hand, as historian Carl Gafford told American Comic Book Chronicles, “the term ‘brainiac’ had been a slang term for an egghead probably going back to the 1940s, when those brainiacs came up with the A-bomb.” Rather than engage in protracted legal wrangling over what began as a generic description, DC and Berkeley came to an agreement. “In deference to [Berkeley’s] ‘Brainiac,’ which predates ours,” the letter column in late 1963’s Superman #167 (dated February 1964) announced, “we are changing the characterization of our ‘Brainiac’ so that the master-villain will henceforth possess a ‘computer personality.’” (Ironically, the 1958 comic strip version of the villain—Romado—had actually possessed a literal computer brain.) The write-up concluded with an address where readers could order Berkeley’s unit. As Carl Gafford
The content of Superman #167 was influenced in part by teenager Cary Bates and computer scientist Edmund Berkeley. Superman TM and © DC Comics.
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betrayals, “the team of Luthor and Brainiac” still managed to put Superman in a coma before being taken into custody by the Kryptonian survivors of Kandor. Tried and convicted of shrinking the city and trapping it in a bottle, Brainiac produced his trump card: he’d revive the Man of Steel in exchange for his and Luthor’s freedom. Forestalling their vengeance, the Kandorians agreed. For a 15-year-old boy in Ohio, the most meaningful part of that issue was its cover. “Like so many other writers,” Cary Bates recalled in an October 1980 interview, “I really wanted to be an artist.” To that end, he started submitting prospective covers. “They were badly drawn. They were swipes. They were colored” (Howell 24). The young man was dumbfounded when he received a package in the mail from Mort Weisinger that contained the original cover art by Curt Swan and George Klein as payment for one of his ideas: As I recall, my very crude sketch showed full figures of Luthor and Brainiac holding a tiny Superman in a birdcage. Obviously, Curt’s decision to depict the villains in giant closeups greatly enhanced the visual impact of the idea. At the risk of stating the obvious, even when my general layout was followed, invariably the final cover would always be a vast improvement over what I submitted. (Eury, “Cary Bates Interview” 94)
Supergirl was reunited with her Kryptonian birth parents in Action Comics #310 but preserved her relationship with her adoptive ones. Supergirl TM and © DC Comics.
Emboldened by the recognition, Bates worked up another 40 cover sketches—20 for Weisinger, 20 for Julius Schwartz—and arrived at the DC offices in the summer of 1964 for a personal pitch. “I think Julie used maybe two or three,” he noted in a December 2005 interview. “With Mort, he picked maybe four or five” (Eury, “Cary Bates Interview” 94).
As the process continued over the next few years, the teenager began “to give them little plot synopses to go with the cover. What happened after a while was that they liked my covers but didn’t like the way I drew (it really wasn’t very good), but they started liking the stories more than the covers” (Howell 24). Easing into script submissions, Bates finally became one of the regular Superman writers in 1967. Like E. Nelson Bridwell, he’d be an integral part of the Man of Steel’s series until a 1986 shake-up.
noted, “it was free advertising that paid off: I got one of those kits for Christmas in 1963, but never could get it to do much of anything.” As detailed by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan in the aforementioned Superman #167, Brainiac was a robotic human spy created by alien computer tyrants who’d subjugated their world’s green-skinned race. Commanded to collect samples of every civilized world, the computer intelligence had gone into space and begun shrinking cities. Taking into account the fact that the Legion of SuperHeroes’ Brainiac 5 was the supposed descendant of Superman’s nemesis, a detail noted that the villain had adopted a flesh-and-blood son to further the illusion that he was a biological life-form.
Within the 1964 Superman titles, the only real shake-up was in Leo Dorfman and Jim Mooney’s Supergirl feature. As often as they appeared in stories via flashbacks and other devices, Superman’s Kryptonian parents Jor-El and Lara could never actually be brought back from the dead without destroying the hero’s underlying tragedy. Supergirl was another story.
Regardless of what inspired the revision, it was a providential development that opened up a multitude of new plot possibilities. Brainiac’s “computer personality” came to define the villain and distinguished him from the multitude of alien menaces that came before and after.
A two-parter in Action Comics #309-10 (February-March 1964) pivoted on the stunning revelation that the Girl of Steel’s own parents Zor-El and Alura had survived the destruction of their native Argo City by projecting themselves into a realm dubbed the Survival Zone. With the help of Supergirl’s adoptive father Fred Danvers, the Kryptonian
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couple was freed on Earth. The family reunion was a dispiriting one for Mr. and Mrs. Danvers, a state of affairs that Zor-El and Alura took it upon themselves to rectify. They resolved to live within the bottle city of Kandor “where Krypton’s customs are still observed” while the Danvers would continue to raise their daughter in Midvale. The arrangement wasn’t perfect—a trilogy in issues #314-6 dealt with some of the complications— but it was a huge contrast to the twiceorphaned Superman. The changes kept on coming in issue #317’s episode, where Linda Danvers’ best friend Lena Thorul got married to an FBI agent who once arrested the brother that she didn’t know existed. Lex Luthor had little time to dwell on his new brotherin-law because he got married himself to the beautiful Ardora on the planet Lexor in Action #318’s Superman adventure. The issue closed with another milestone: Linda graduated from Midvale High and headed to Stanhope College. In some ways, that comic book symbolThe marriage of Lex Luthor to Ardora in Action Comics #318 was a novel humanizing ized the end of an era. While Superdevelopment for the bald villain. Supergirl TM and © DC Comics. man’s status quo was set, Mort Weisinger had managed to keep the stories fresh and exciting both Brave Boys, Bold Element Man through the creation of recurring plot devices and characEven in Julius Schwartz’s finely-crafted comic books, there ter development among the satellite cast members. The was a degree of complacency setting in. It fell to newlyearly 1960s development of Lex Luthor as a more complex minted full editors Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan sympathetic character seemed to culminate with his to offer something innovative and different. In the case of marriage even as Supergirl’s graduation virtually capped The Brave and the Bold #54 (June-July 1964), the co-editors five years of growth from a girl to a woman. didn’t even realize what writer Bob Haney and artist Bruno Premiani were creating. After 1964, Weisinger was never as interested in the Superman family as he had been before. Luthor would begin The costumed kid sidekick, a fad that first bloomed after to backslide into a two-dimensional villain, Supergirl’s Robin became Batman’s partner in 1940, had begun to make feature settled into its unchanging college backdrop, and a resurgence at DC in 1959. Supergirl, Aqualad, and Kid the elements that seemed so fresh just a few years earlier Flash had all debuted during that period and even Wonder would start to look tired and dull. Girl—technically only Wonder Woman as a teenager— could (and would) be construed as a sidekick. Some fans even lobbied for juvenile partners for heroes like Green Lantern and Hawkman, but Julius Schwartz resisted the suggestions. Still, the popularity of youth identification figures undoubtedly inspired the decision to devote the fifth team-up in the revamped B&B to Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin.
Action Comics #318 also marked the end of an era as Linda (Supergirl) Danvers graduated high school. Supergirl TM and © DC Comics
The trio of young heroes arrived in distant Hatton Corners to mediate a feud over a curfew imposed by the city fathers only to discover that every teenager in the town had been abducted by a magically-empowered eccentric called Mister Twister. The upside of the crisis, Robin declared after he and his partners had defeated the villain, was that the troubles between the kids and their parents had been effectively forgotten.
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Bob Haney wasn’t certain who actually decided to unite the kid heroes but downplayed its significance. “It was no great earthshaking stroke,” he declared, “taking some already existing house characters and combining them into a team and building an ethos or world around them…but it did seem to work and did sell reasonably in those dear, dim days” (Haney 21). In fact, that first issue sold very well, good enough that DC commissioned a sequel exactly a year later in B&B #60. Now joined by Wonder Girl, the team was christened the Teen Titans and an enduring DC franchise was born. Although Haney took pride in the craft he put into his plots, he had no pretensions. Market research, he laughed, indicated that “the average reader was a 12-year-old boy living in Dayton, Ohio. Who was not that sophisticated. So a lot of my stuff I wrote in the ‘60s was aimed at him. Generic little boy. It was simple stuff. It was not sophisticated” (Catron 172-173). Such sentiments were nowhere to be found when Haney tackled Metamorpho the Element Man.
The Brave and the Bold #54’s trio of boy heroes returned with Wonder Girl in 1965 as the Teen Titans. Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin TM and © DC Comics.
“Metamorpho was my original idea,” George Kashdan remembered. “The basic premise is a man with the bodily ability to change himself chemically. That was just something that came from thinking, and thinking out loud. Jack Schiff threw in some thoughts, and Murray [Boltinoff] did, too” (Amash “Sales Don’t Tell You Everything” 45). Working from Kashdan’s formative concept, Haney named the character and wrote the script for the origin. In the process, he developed one the 1960s’ most sharply-defined superhero casts: sarcastic adventurer Rex Mason, transformed by the mysterious Orb of Ra into Meta-
Transformed by the Orb of Ra, Metamorpho could reconstitute himself as various gases and solids. Metamorpho TM and © DC Comics.
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There was no love lost between Metamorpho and the resurrected caveman Java. Metamorpho TM and © DC Comics.
morpho; his wealthy blonde girlfriend Sapphire Stagg, torn between her love for Rex and her devotion to her daddy; scheming magnate Simon Stagg, whose lust for power was equaled by his desire to prevent Mason from marrying into his empire; and Java, a resurrected caveman who gleefully joined in Simon’s plots while secretly coveting Sapphire for himself. “That was good dialogue,” Haney would say proudly of the first script. “A little bit tongue-in-cheek and good dialogue and good concept and a little bit different from most DC stuff” (Catron 175). Taking that script, Kashdan realized it could be gold in the hands of the right artist. Ramona Fradon was that person. Blessed with an open, cartoony style, Fradon drew more than a decade’s worth of Aquaman short stories that had recently come to an end with World’s Finest #139 (February 1964). Now the mother of a toddler, the cartoonist was ready to retire. Still, George Kashdan had shown her uncommon friendship and support in the male-dominated comic book industry and she took him up on the offer:
Ramona Fradon and Charles Paris’ introductory Metamorpho covers clearly demonstrated the new hero’s diversity. Metamorpho TM and © DC Comics.
strip. We took off on each other. Everything he wrote stimulated my imagination, and my drawing stimulated his. It was one of those lucky things. I’ve never had as much fun as working on that strip” (Voger 47). The mutual admiration society extended to Fradon’s inker Charles Paris, who’d lost his regular assignment inking Sheldon Moldoff’s Batman thanks to the New Look. According to Kashdan, the embellisher considered her “the best artist I ever inked” (Amash “Sales Don’t Tell You Everything” 45).
We all sat around one day—Bob Haney, George, and I—and I did some sketches of Metamorpho, what I thought he’d look like, and at first I had him in a cape and the usual stuff, and that just didn’t seem to fit him. It was in desperation that I decided to take his clothes off. Since his body was always changing into different chemical combinations, I figured it might as well be visible. You know, naked. So that’s what we did, which worked out okay. I think we all worked it out together, really. Then I designed all the other characters and they were satisfied with what I came up with. (Amash, “It Was a Daily Identity Crisis” 40)
Kashdan, now the sole editor of The Brave and The Bold, broke away from the team-up cycle to launch Metamorpho in B&B #57 and #58 (December 1964-January 1965 and February-March 1965). Deeming the series a hit, DC had Metamorpho #1 on the stands five months after the tryouts ended.
Satisfied was perhaps an understatement. Beyond Metamorpho’s distinctive look with his body’s four segments each displaying separate colors and textures, Haney was delighted with Fradon’s execution of the origin as a whole. “I was knocked over when she brought back her work,” the writer exclaimed. “I thought, ‘Oh, wow. This is great.’ I mean, she really made it better than my scripts” (Catron 175).
With its tragic hero and hip, irreverent dialogue, the Metamorpho feature possessed the same sensibilities that Arnold Drake was bringing to the Doom Patrol. Both features had the flavor of the best of Stan Lee and company’s comics but, significantly, neither was trying to duplicate Marvel’s success. Rather, the Metamorpho and Doom Patrol creative teams were producing work that was challenging and exciting to themselves. Those personal voices, reflected in the humor and bite of the stories, sounded fresh and contemporary in ways that most DC titles did not.
“A lot of that had to do with Bob Haney’s writing,” his artistic collaborator insisted. “We had fun together doing that 179
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The arrogant Mento complicated the Doom Patrol’s tight bond, beginning in DP #91. Doom Patrol TM and © DC Comics.
progressed over the next few years. Befitting Bruno Premiani’s art, the group had a distinct international flavor also represented by the Doom Patrol’s early adversary General Immortus and issue #89’s Swedish Animal-Mineral-Vegetable Man.
Intended to begin with issue #1, Doom Patrol #86 instead continued the numbering of My Greatest Adventure.
Brotherhoods
Doom Patrol TM and © DC Comics.
Drake and Bruno Premiani’s trailblazing Doom Patrol in the Boltinoff-edited My Greatest Adventure had caught on quickly and plans were made to give the team its own comic book. Although it was intended to premiere with issue #1, DC ultimately concluded that it was cheaper to re-title a pre-existing book than apply for second-class postage on a new one. Consequently, MGA was simply re-titled Doom Patrol with issue #86 (March 1964).
The heart of the Doom Patrol was the bond between its four members. As they grew closer in 1964, the heroes began to confide details they’d previously kept to themselves. Blunting overtures from Elasti-Girl, Negative Man peeled back the bandages that swathed his head to reveal toxically radioactive transparent skin and confirmed that romance simply wasn’t an option (DP #87). Touched that the rest of the group had organized a surprise party for him in DP #86 since they didn’t know the date of his real birth-
One of DC’s supposed surefire cover gimmicks was a gorilla engaged in an unusual activity, a device that upper management insisted be used sparingly. The Doom Patrol launch was deemed worthy and its cover sported a machine gun-wielding gorilla named Mallah who answered to a literal brain in a jar who was called (of course) the Brain. Along with Mister Morden and French seductress Madame Rouge, the villains were the nucleus of the Brotherhood of Evil. They aspired to crimes like stealing (and ransoming) the Statue of Liberty and plundering the Federal Reserve Bank. The Brotherhood was also slippery and the villains were rarely captured, instead almost becoming supporting cast members in the series as it
The Brotherhood of Evil regularly faced the Doom Patrol, seen here in their new costumes from DP #89. Doom Patrol TM and © DC Comics.
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day (coincidentally, it really was), the Chief ultimately revealed that his work had once been funded by their nemesis General Immortus and that he’d lost the use of his legs while extricating himself from the relationship (DP #88). In issue #91 (November 1964), Drake tossed a wild card into the family dynamic when he introduced Steve Dayton, a cocky self-styled superhero named Mento who began aggressively romancing Elasti-Girl amidst their fight with alien menace Garguax. In what would become a trademark of all Boltinoff’s comic books, the Doom Patrol letter column was comprised of snippets from many A new direction for Blackhawk included the United Nations’ mysterious Mr. Cipher and flashbacks to World War Two. letters in an effort to give more Blackhawk TM and © DC Comics. fans the thrill of seeing their name Boltinoff’s editorial tenure lasted exactly three issues in print and to cover as many topics as possible. Among before he was replaced by George Kashdan. Effective with those subjects was the team’s green uniforms that reader Blackhawk #199, the science fiction direction was back and consensus concluded were rather bland. Bowing to poputhe 200th issue’s lead story transformed the team’s frequent lar opinion, the creative team introduced bright red and ally Lady Blackhawk into a brainwashed recurring villainwhite outfits for Negative Man and Elasti-Girl in issue #89. ess Lady Killer Shark. Ironically, the red and green jackets As part of the fall 1963 editorial shake-up, Boltinoff took survived the transition. over Jack Schiff’s Blackhawk, a long-running series about seven multinational pilots. Like Julius Schwartz, the new editor inherited an artist who’d been on the feature since the beginning. Chuck Cuidera had joined Will Eisner in launching the series for Quality Comics in 1941 and he remained on the strip (inking Dick Dillin’s pencils) when it transferred to DC in 1956. Changing artists wasn’t an option but changing writers was.
Editorial Shuffleboard Boltinoff’s quick departure evidently stemmed from the fatal heart attack suffered by 50-year-old DC editor Lawrence Nadle on December 26, 1963. In the vacuum left by the passing of the 20-year company veteran, DC’s romance titles—which Nadle had only recently inherited from the retiring Phyllis Reed—were given to Jack Miller, whose only notable change was the addition of a series starring budding actress April O’Day (by Robert Kanigher and Bob Oksner) in Girl’s Love Stories #104 (July 1964). Meanwhile, Murray Boltinoff was assigned DC’s five humor comics: Sugar and Spike, and the licensed Adventures of Bob Hope, Adventures of Jerry Lewis, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and The Fox and the Crow. (Along with Blackhawk, Boltinoff also lost House of Secrets to Kashdan.)
Bringing in Arnold Drake and France Herron as new scripters, Boltinoff hoped to redirect the series from the quasi-superhero/science fiction focus of recent years. At the height of its popularity, Blackhawk had been a war comic book and, to that end, issue #196 introduced a recurring “Blackhawk World War II Combat Diary” series. Issue #198 actually devoted the entire comic to a new origin for the team set around the 1944 D-Day invasion. Along with the flashbacks, the team was reconfigured as a secret United Nations peacekeeping force in issue #196 (May 1964). Answering to a masked man named Mister Cipher, the Blackhawks were dispatched to various international trouble spots with the caveat that the U.N. would deny all knowledge if they were captured. Seeking to call attention to “the new Blackhawks,” Boltinoff also insisted on a new look for the team. With issue #197, their flight caps and blue-black uniforms were relegated to the flashback stories and new outfits with red jackets and green pants replaced them.
Meanwhile, a look at Larry Nadle’s bookkeeping brought improprieties to light. “He paid himself for stories that did not exist,” George Kashdan asserted. “When auditors came to look, he would take an old script, and change the title page to the title of the new story that he bought for himself” (Amash, “Sales Don’t Tell You Everything” 46). Bob Oksner was implicated by having written and drawn Jerry Lewis but only getting paid for the art. Claiming that down-on-his-luck cartoonist Lin Streeter was “in great debt to DC,” Nadle had persuaded Oksner to cede his writing credit to the other man. “I liked Lin,” Oksner explained. “He was in trouble, so I’d help him out. I did that until Larry died.” That’s when DC management became involved:
Chuck Cuidera reacted about as well as Bob Kane did to the changes in Batman. “Murray was a problem with me,” he declared in a later interview. “He wanted me to change the uniforms. No way!” Nonetheless, the change went through. Returning from a vacation, Cuidera discovered that a reluctant Dick Dillin had penciled the new look story (Murray, “An Interview With Chuck ‘Blackhawk’ Cuidera” 53).
Searching through [Nadle’s] financial records, they found out that I had done this work that had been paid for, but Larry got the money, not me. They called me in, thinking I was part of the plot. Fortunately, I had all the [thumbnail sketches] that I had 181
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done at home on newsprint pads. Jack Liebowitz, who was the boss at that time, called me in, and I told him I did the work and I really wasn’t paid for it. He said, ‘Prove it.’ I said, ‘Fine, I’ll bring it in tomorrow.’ I brought in several pads of Jerry Lewis books. And he said, ‘In the future, never work for DC without getting paid. [mutual chuckling] Of course, he didn’t have to tell me that. (Amash, “My Women Had Saturday Night Bodies and Sunday School Faces” 13) Oksner continued to draw Jerry, but Murray Boltinoff brought in Arnold Drake to script both that feature and the Mort Drucker-illustrated Bob Hope. The new writer believed that both comedians held more appeal to adults than to kids, a factor that was affecting sales for the worse. “I told Murray we’ve got to start inventing characters that the kids can relate to,” Drake explained. “characters that will pull the kids into the book” (Blanchard 96). Jerry #83 played on the still-popular monster archetypes—Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolfman—while issue #84 offered a superhero spoof with Jerry as the Tarantula. Issue #85 completely
changed the dynamic of the series, however, with the introduction of Jerry’s nephew Renfrew, an eight-year-old scientific genius who became a virtual co-star in the comic book. On Bob Hope, where a talking dog named Harvard Harvard III was added to the strip just before Nadle’s death (issue #86), Drake resisted any immediate changes. In 1965, though, he added elements from Jerry #83 and #84 in a Hope revamp that introduced resident monsters (the faculty of Benedict Arnold High) and a costumed hero (SuperHip). Dobie Gillis, based on a TV series that was cancelled in 1963, was already on the bubble when Nadle died and the comic book went on hiatus with issue #24 (March-April 1964). Bob Oksner’s unused Yankee Doodle artwork was later incorporated into the With Drake and Oksner cover of 1991’s Doom Patrol #51. Yankee Doodle TM and © DC Comics. at the helm, it returned Doodle—alias archaeologist John for two months in the summer before Dandy—was to have been a secret being officially discontinued. agent/master of disguise. With a Nadle had also been poised to edit deadline looming, DC was obligated Yankee Doodle Dandy, the latest to publish something in Showcase #50 feature in the Showcase tryout (May-June 1964) and reprints from comic book, but the concept made Bob Kanigher’s short-lived 1950s it no further than a cover mock-up King Faraday feature were hastprepared by Bob Oksner. Yankee ily slotted into the issue with a new
Joined by artist Bob Oksner, incoming writer Arnold Drake introduced monster mania and obnoxious kid genius Renfrew to the pages of Jerry Lewis. Adventures of Jerry Lewis TM and © respective copyright holder.
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titles to gauge sales on virtually every character it was considering for its own comic book. On sale in March 1964, Capt. Storm #1 (dated May-June 1964) broke precedent and for an obvious reason. Recalling John F. Kennedy’s World War Two heroics, its star was a PT-Boat skipper, and there was an expectation that sentimental readers would pick up the comic book on that basis. Storm’s search for the Japanese submarine commander who left him with a wooden leg just as clearly alluded to Moby Dick’s obsessive Captain Ahab but that was beside the point. Illustrated by Irv Novick, the comic book was written and edited by Bob Kanigher, filling the void left in his schedule when George Kashdan acquired his Sea Devils title in the October 1963 editorial shake-up.
introduction and a blanket title (“I—Spy!”) that managed to tie into the James Bond craze as Yankee Doodle Dandy had been intended to do. The rush to fill space in Showcase was apparently urgent enough that Mort Weisinger— who’d avoided the title since the 1957 Lois Lane tryouts— was persuaded to contribute a feature of his own. The Superman titles of the period typically featured Superman Secret Messages that were encoded plugs for upcoming comic books. Action Comics #312 (May 1964) featured an unprecedented two of them on the same page. One touted the debut of the Composite Superman in World’s Finest but the other announced something that would never happen: “Coming soon! Three issues of Showcase devoted to the Legion of Super-Heroes.”
Even as Sea Devils began to falter in the absence of Kanigher’s Since the Legion (with Superboy strong roster of artists, Kashprominently among them) was dan’s other water-based comic A full-page ad aggressively promoted Showcase #50’s “I—Spy” issue in the already starring in Adventure book was thriving. Aquaman hope of tapping the popularity of James Bond. Comics, a run in Showcase was King Faraday TM and © DC Comics. #18 (November-December 1964) probably conceived as a way of radically changed the life of preserving the tryout comic book’s deadlines. Still, like its nomadic star with his coronation as king of undersea the 1963 Sgt. Rock issue of Showcase, it could have tested Atlantis. That development was secondary to the real point the viability of an LSH logo and perhaps their ability to of Jack Miller and Nick Cardy’s story: In the culmination of a perform without Superboy on the covers. Whatever the fourteen-month courtship, Aquaman married Mera! case, someone got cold feet and the remainder of the 1964 Showcase issues amounted to filler: a second “I—Spy” (issue #51), a leftover Cave Carson tale (issue #52) and “G.I. Joe” (issues #53-54). The G.I. Joe name had been coined by cartoonist Dave Breger during World War Two but the term eventually fell into the possession of Hasbro, who launched a toy line in early 1964. Intended to become for boys what Barbie was for girls, G.I. Joe would also benefit from the sound of war drums beating in Southeast Asia. The character was the first toy tie-in comic book ever published by DC, and it’s evident that they weren’t quite sure how to handle it. Since G.I. Joe was meant to represent every soldier rather than one man, the two Showcase issues consisted entirely of generic Bob Kanigher-edited war story reprints. Following the 1956 premiere of Sugar and Spike, DC used its tryout
Aside from new Joe Kubert covers, DC’s G.I. Joe issues of Showcase were all reprint. G.I. Joe TM and © Hasbro.
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It was the first on-panel no-fooling superhero wedding in comic book history (the off-panel nuptials of the original Flash, the Elongated Man, and Hawkman and Hawkgirl had preceded them) and it was given the fanfare it deserved with the entire Justice League and B&B #54’s kid heroes in attendance. Then as now, marriage was regarded as anathema to a fictional adventure hero, something as dull as the pursuit of a lover was exciting. Many would point to Li’l Abner’s 1952 marriage of its hillbilly hero to Daisy Mae as irrevocably changing the newspaper strip for the worse. For Aquaman, though, marriage and a royal day job gave both him and his series a structure and forward momentum that it hadn’t possessed in 23 years of mostly episodic stories. It was an early example of the sort of tightrope act that creators of superhero fiction would have to increasingly walk in the years and decades ahead. Change was healthy and vital as much for continuing to engage writers and artists as for holding the interest of readers. Doing so without harming the structural integrity of the series was a trick that not everyone could pull off.
Pale Shadows Such was the case of the Shadow. Created in the 1930s as the star of both a radio drama and a longrunning series of pulp stories largely written by Walter Gibson, the character was one of fiction’s most recognizable cloaked avengers. Clad in a black slouch hat, suit, and cape with a red scarf pulled up to his nose, the Shadow permanently dispatched a multitude of evil men with his blazing guns. The vigilante employed a large network of agents in his fight against crime, not the least of whom were cab driver Moe “Shrevvy” Shrevnitz and socialite Margo Lane. Dark and atmospheric, the series had a distinct sense of time and place that inextricably linked it with the 1930s and 1940s.
Aquaman’s marriage to Mera and coronation as king of Atlantis changed the direction of his series. Aquaman, et al. TM and © DC Comics.
Out of print for 14 years, the Shadow was revived by Walter Gibson for a single novel in 1963. Encouraged by its sales but aware that Gibson wasn’t interested in a full-fledged return to the character, Belmont Books had Dennis Lynds continue the series in 1964. Visually, this was the Shadow of old but he was now something of a superhero who possessed powerful mind-controlling powers while still wearing his familiar
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outfit. Reflecting the influence of James Bond, international spies were now at the forefront of the modern Shadow’s adversaries. It must have sounded like a wonderful idea for a comic book and, as the paperback division of Archie Comics, Belmont was in a position to make that happen (much like 1963’s My Son the Teenager). Reuniting Adventures of the Fly’s creative team of Robert Bernstein and John Rosenberger, Archie assigned them to adapt two very different Belmont novels as comic book series that each went on sale in June 1964. The Adventures of Young Dr. Masters, based on Frank Haskell’s 1962 book, was cancelled after two issues but The Shadow survived for a full eight. Unfortunately, Bernstein wrote the Shadow with the same tone he’d used in his Superman and Fly scripts, resulting in a character who bore little resemblance to Lynds’ version, let alone Gibson’s. Clad in a bright blue cloak and missing a hat altogether, the hero was “America’s top secret agent” when he wasn’t in his civil-
companies to write for, Siegel arrived at Archie just in time to write most of the stories in the last issues of Adventures of the Fly, including issue #30’s revival of the Comet, another 1940s hero. Siegel had scripted a pair of Human Torch stories for Archie recreated the Shadow as a superhero with a bespectacled alter ego and clinging girl friend. Marvel in 1963, The Shadow TM and © Condé Nast. and one gets the sense that the writer’s subsequent ian identity as bespectacled work for Archie was his interpretablond Lamont Cranston. tion of Stan Lee’s own patter. UnforIssue #2’s backup story had tunately, little of the Marvel editor’s Margo Lane dreaming of a cleverness and wit came across in harrowing honeymoon with Siegel’s Archie work, which instead the Shadow, a plot that could trivialized its heroes and made them easily have run in an issue sound foolish. of DC’s Lois Lane with few changes. Capping the SuperTotally at odds with everything man effect was the addition that personified the classic Shadow, of a full-fledged blue and Archie’s incarnation is still regarded green superhero costume effective in many quarters as one of the with issue #3 (but oddly telegraphed greatest comic book misfires of the on issue #2’s cover). 1960s. There were other contenders, Sources vary on whether Bernstein actually wrote the Paul Reinmanillustrated Shadow #3. Some accounts credit Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, who is officially said to have taken over the series with issue #4. Chafing under the abuse of DC editor Mort Weisinger and seeking other
however, including one that Kitchen Sink Press’ World’s Worst Comics Awards #2 placed among the top ten flops to that point (1991). It was Charlton’s Blue Beetle #1 (June 1964). Dating back to Fox Comics’ Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939), the Blue Beetle was the drug-empowered
Chatlton’s new Blue Beetle used Superman as its template, not only in terms of powers but even his iconic logo. Blue Beetle TM and © DC Comics.
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Worst Comics Awards #2 as “exactly what non-comics readers believe all comics to be.” Gill himself, charged with recreating Blue Beetle, never felt any connection to the strip. “The character was too shallow,” he declared. “There wasn’t anything to him, and I wasn’t taking the time to make something out of him. He wasn’t mine, he was somebody else’s” (Irving, “Joe ‘Mr. Prolific’ Gill” 23). “The stories were fun at their best, laughable at their worst,” Christopher Irving later wrote. “As rushed as the artwork by Fraccio and Tallarico was, it kinetically bounces off the page with a spontaneity lost in more overly-rendered artwork” (Blue Beetle Companion 81). It was a measure of how hungry many readers seemed to be for superheroes—any superheroes—that even titles as poorly executed as Blue Beetle and The Shadow managed to cling to life for a year or more. In a strange sort of way, the titles gave hope to the would-be comic book writers and artists in the audience. Seeing the underlying potential in the character that the creators could not, these teenagers and young adults dreamed of swooping in and doing things right.
Archaeologist Luri Hoshid seemed poised to be the Blue Beetle’s love interest but wasn’t seen again for a year and a half. Blue Beetle TM and © DC Comics.
“Even as a teenager, I thought I could do better than that,” future pro Alan Weiss said of Blue Beetle’s bland costume. Whipping up a redesign, he mailed it to Charlton “on a lark. I certainly didn’t think there was an opportunity to have it published, and I’m not even sure there was a letters page when I did it. It came as a total surprise when I opened [issue #5] of the magazine and there the thing was, and in color, too” (Irving, Blue Beetle Companion 93).
alter ego of policeman Dan Garret who’d appeared intermittently into the 1950s. Charlton bought the character in 1955, publishing four issues of a mostly-reprint Blue Beetle comic book before abandoning the character themselves. In 1963, however, the character returned once more, this time in reprints published by Israel Waldman’s Super Comics in The Human Fly #10. Whether it was a reaction to that unauthorized comic book or simply a renewed interest in publishing superheroes, managing editor Pat Masulli authorized a new Blue Beetle series from Charlton.
Charlton He-Men In the months preceding Blue Beetle #1, Charlton also took a hard look at the star of Six-Gun Heroes. Ever since issue #57 (June 1960), they’d been publishing the adventures of a legitimate masked hero—Gunmaster (a.k.a. unassuming gunsmith Clay Boone )—without really catching the attention of the superhero fan subset. Effective with issue #78, the Western was modestly revamped to add more tropes associated with costumed crime-fighters.
Endowed with a raft of powers that included super-strength, flight, and x-ray vision, the new Blue Beetle was conspicuously cut from the same cloth as Superman. Even the comic book’s logo bore a striking resemblance to the Man of Steel’s own iconic nameplate. At the same time, there was a bit of Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel in the mix. Just as Cap spoke the magic word “Shazam,” archaeologist Dan Garrett could access the power of a magical Egyptian scarab by shouting “Kaji Dha!” Written by Joe Gill with art by Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico, the feature was clearly being produced strictly to fill a void in the Charlton line-up. With stiff, corny dialogue—including the origin’s title: “The Giant Mummy Who Was Not Dead”—and lifeless artwork, the first issue was described by James Schumeister in World’s
For starters, there was a recurring nemesis named Doctor Dynamite who, as his name indicated, employed rolls of explosives in his robberies. In the climax, the grandfather of Clay Boone’s unrequited love Nan was mortally wounded in an explosion. Discovering Gunmaster’s true identity, he asked the hero to urge his granddaughter to return to the safety of the east and Clay reluctantly complied. Four years after his debut in Six-Gun Heroes, Gunmaster earned his own comic book with newly-acquired partner Bullet. Gunmaster, Bullet the Gun Boy TM and © respective copyright holder.
An issue later, Gunmaster came to the rescue of a young boy hold-
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ing off a Comanche raiding party with a single rifle. Sporting the less than subtle name of Bob Tellub, the orphaned youth was swiftly taken under the masked man’s wing as they embarked on a quest to clear the name of his dead father. In the final panels, Bob received a mask and white outfit to go with his new alter ego of Bullet, the Gun-Boy. However corny some of the elements may have been, there was genuine sentiment and craft in the stories thanks in large part to artist Pete Morisi. A New York City police officer by day, Morisi had spent years moonlighting for Charlton and brought a streamlined art style and inventive layout sense that contrasted sharply with most of the company’s other artists. He was essentially Charlton’s star Western artist—most notably on Kid Montana (renamed Montana Kid with issue #44: January 1964)—and was brought onto Gunmaster (replacing Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia). In the short term, it seemed to work: The spin-off Gunmaster #1 (dated September 1964) premiered in the summer—with the Bill Fraccio/ Ernie Bache art team—even as the Morisi-illustrated feature also continued in Six-Gun Heroes.
Born in 1928, Morisi had been a passionate fan of superheroes as a boy. Aware of the genre’s resurgence, he attempted to lay claim to several dormant properties around 1964. “The strips I tried to buy were Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Daredevil (the original), The Flame, and Stuntman,” he remembered. “Those strips weren’t being published at the time, and I wanted to own the rights to them in case the comics field ‘came back’” (Johnson 62). The issue of ownership proved too knotty for Morisi to untie, and he failed to acquire even one of the heroes on his wish list.
For the time being, new properties were the order of the day. Perhaps the best-remembered of Charlton’s 1964 debuts was Sarge Steel #1 Charlton’s budding group of adventure heroes was promoted in a full page ad. (December 1964). Like Blue Beetle, Sarge Steel TM and © DC Comics. Tarzan TM and © ERB, Inc. Fightin’ Five TM and © respective copyright holder. Morisi and Steve Ditko, Dick Giordano towered over most of the compatitle than Pat did” (Cooke, “The Action ny’s artists and brought a sleek, Hero Man” 47). In another distinctive handsome look to the series. touch, each story was given a specific case number (for instance, “File #101: At a glance, it seemed to be a “The Case of the Pearls of Death.”) classic hard-boiled private eye strip, complete with a devoted The Central Intelligence Agency, secretary and a different beautangentially tied to Sarge Steel tiful woman in each successive through his work with Army Intelcase. Under the surface, though, ligence, was directly responsible for it was a mash-up of genres with assembling a quintet of men as the international Cold War threats Fightin’ Five. Chosen for specific skill and nods to the “hot” war in sets, the members were underwater Vietnam taking precedence in demolitions expert Frenchy the Fox, every plot. Endowed with a former Israeli guerilla fighter Irv “The steel left hand that replaced the Nerve” Haganah (initially called Irv real one blown off in Saigon, David), cutting-edge weapons authorSarge was even, ever so slightly, ity Granite Gallero, playboy-turneda superhero. Special Forces leader Hank Hennessy, and professional wrestler Tom-Tom. Although the series was scripted The fact that the first letters of each of by Joe Gill, the character had their names added up to FIGHT probactually been created by Pat ably helped in the selection process. Masulli. “Pat gave me a sketch of a guy with a crewcut and a With their matching blue uniforms scar on his nose, and a steel fist,” and red head gear, the military squad Giordano detailed, “so that’s how was something of a scaled-down Steel was depicted. From then A striking splash page by Pete Morisi introduced version of the Blackhawks but withBob Tellub in Six-Gun Heroes #79. on, I had more to do with the out a membership comprised of many Gunmaster, Bullet the Gun Boy TM and © respective copyright holder. 187
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The red berets worn by the Fightin’ Five evoked the headgear worn by the United States Army Special Forces a.k.a. the Green Berets.
The bulky Tarzan that Sam Glanzman’s drew for Charlton was a departure from the version that Jesse Marsh was producing for Gold Key.
Fightin’ Five TM and © respective copyright holder.
Tarzan TM and © ERB, Inc.
nations. The Fightin’ Five was “America’s Super Squad” and its men were all U.S. citizens. Naturally, they took on Communist threats to Uncle Sam, though usually overlaid with nods to older menaces ranging from Nazis to Aztec warriors.
the Timid Ghost #44 (October 1964), Romantic Secrets #52 (November 1964), and the licensed My Little Margie #54 (November 1964). Abandoning its nursing titles altogether, the company also acknowledged the fading romance genre. Once the 1965-dated Brides In Love (issue #45) and First Kiss (issue #40) were discontinued in late 1964, Charlton was left with eight ongoing love comics. It was still an impressive number—exceeding even DC’s seven—but a far cry from the 17 it had published in 1960.
Written by the ubiquitous Joe Gill with art by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, the series wasn’t precisely a war comic book but it was undoubtedly designed to tap into the anticipated demand for military features that a looming war in Vietnam was expected to bring. Hence, Charlton’s launch of ongoing series Marine War Heroes #1 (January 1964), Navy War Heroes #1 (January 1964), Army Attack #1 (July 1964), Marines Attack #1 (August 1964), and the summer one-shots U.S. Marines #1 and War and Attack #1.
The growth market was in concepts directed at boys like Hot Rod Racers #1 (December 1964) and the audacious Jungle Tales of Tarzan #1 (December 1964). Despite the fact that Gold Key held the official comic book license to the legendary hero, Charlton discovered that some of the short stories in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Jungle Tales book collection from 1919 had fallen into public domain.
Curiously, despite the proliferation of first issues in 1964, Charlton started Fightin’ Five with issue #28 (July 1964). It continued the numbering of Space War, another example of Charlton’s effort to avoid the headache of reapplying for new second-class mailing privileges. Likewise, Three Nurses turned into Career Girl Romances with issue #24 (June 1964).
Joe Gill, who wrote the adaptation, explained that the discovery came from Allan Adams, the head of Charlton’s Capital Distribution (Amash, “The Joe Gill Interview” 14). Based on that, Adams believed that the company’s Gold Star Books paperback division could publish Tarzan novels in general and hired Jack Endeweldt (under the pseudonym Barton Werper) to write them.
For seven other Charlton titles, the number was up: TeenAge Confidential Confessions #22 (February 1964), Cynthia Doyle #74 (February 1964), Nurse Betsy Crane #27 (March 1964), Secrets of Young Brides #44 (October 1964), Timmy,
Meanwhile, Pat Masulli had Gill adapt three short stories for Jungle Tales #1. Sam Glanzman’s gritty, visceral rendition 188
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of Tarzan stood in sharp contrast to the freshly-scrubbed version of the character illustrated by Jesse Marsh at Gold Key and by John Celardo in the mid-1960s newspaper strip. In contrast to Charlton’s reputation for indiscriminately generating product to keep the presses running, this particular title was obviously one that Masulli was very proud of and he said as much in an introduction on issue #1’s inside front cover: The true flavor of Tarzan as created by Mr. Burroughs has rarely been tasted in comic books. We intend to change that. We intend to be as true to the original as possible. We pledge ourselves to a series of comics that will thrill and inspire, delight and entrance as did the original masterworks. From a critical standpoint, the creative team succeeded but Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. still took a dim view. Joe Gill contended that the real issue was less the comic book than the Werper novels. “This guy would start out with a couple of original pages, and then he would insert, verbatim, the middle and end of a Tarzan book that had been published,” Gill explained. “So he was plagiarizing and that’s what it was all about. But even when the verdict against Charlton was reached, there was never a complaint about the comic” (Amash, “The Joe Gill Interview” 14). Whatever the case, the Jungle Tales comic book was cancelled with issue #4 (July 1965).
Artist Russ Manning brought a new look to the Tarzan franchise in Korak #1. Tarzan, Korak TM and © ERB, Inc.
The comparison was an uncomfortable one for Manning, who considered Marsh a mentor. Indeed, the younger cartoonist went so far as to write a passionate appreciation of his friend in 1964’s Batmania #1, noting the expertise in composition and storytelling that was lost on fans preoccupied with surface style. Manning conceded in a later essay that Marsh’s look was “resolutely uncommercial” as far as many fans were concerned but was “immensely successful” in terms of sales to the average reader (Manning 15).
Gold Key Blotter Still, the comic book likely had an influence on Gold Key’s decision to begin adapting Burroughs stories in its own comic book later in 1965, pointedly describing them on Tarzan #155’s cover as “authentic” and “authorized.” Almost a year before Charlton released Jungle Tales, though, Gold Key had initiated a partial revamp of the franchise with the publication of Korak, Son of Tarzan #1 (January 1964). Tarzan and Jane’s offspring, whose given name was Jack Clayton, had been called Korak in the Burroughs novels, but he’d been transformed into the ape-man’s adopted son Boy in the movies of the 1930s and 1940s. Boy was how all readers of the comic book had ever known him, so for those unfamiliar with the source material, the change likely came as a surprise. They got over it quickly thanks to the inspired decision to assign modern stylist Russ Manning as the book’s artist, working from scripts by Gaylord Dubois. Beyond its look, the strip also benefited from a more vulnerable untested hero. Korak, Manning later observed, “can have doubts or concerns that Tarzan has already lived through” (Saba 70). The transition away from Boy was handled effortlessly in the opening of issue #1, where Tarzan explained that Korak was the apes’ guttural way of saying Jack. (In Burroughs, “Korak” translated to “killer” in the ape tongue.) The book’s artwork was a huge change from regular Tarzan illustrator Jesse Marsh, whose work was dismissed by many fans as simple and old-fashioned.
Morris Gollub painted the cover of Korak #1 and many of the title’s early issues. Korak TM and © ERB, Inc.
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Morris Gollub’s cover painting for Mighty Samson #1 surrounded Frank Thorne’s interior art. Mighty Samson TM and © Random House, Inc.
The popularity of Burroughs canon, in general—including the book series featuring John Carter of Mars—was on the upswing in the early 1960s. Long out of print, many of the author’s major works were reissued by Canaveral Press before mass-market paperbacks from Ace and Ballantine further penetrated the public consciousness. Hoping to tap into that recognition, Gold Key released John Carter of Mars #1-3 (April-October 1964). Consisting strictly of Marsh-illustrated adaptations done for Dell’s Four Color in the 1950s, the three issues evidently didn’t sell well enough to continue with new stories. Gold Key was still looking to expand its adventure series with properties it actually owned and cautiously added another to the mix with Mighty Samson #1 (July 1964). Set in the distant future of an Earth ravaged by nuclear war, it told the story of a blond little boy whose incredible strength earned him the name of Samson and helped protect his ragged tribe in the ruins of New York City (or N’yark, as he knew it). It was an environment full of
terrors, whether a rival clan led by Kull the Killer or mutated hybrid animals such as the liobear that tore out Samson’s right eye. Nursed back to health by a lovely redhead named Sharmaine, the strongman (now sporting a fur eye-patch and toga made from the liobear’s hide) embraced her and her scientist father Mindor as his surrogate family.
submitting their stories to the Comics Code. Even so, the publisher must have been wary about the content and whether it would find an audience. Their fears were unfounded but a full 11 months passed before issue #2 (June 1965) was published and Mighty Samson became an ongoing series. They had slightly less reservations about Little Monsters #1 (November 1964), which started on a quarterly schedule before Gold Key pulled back
Illustrated by Frank Thorne, the feature had been created by writer Otto Binder. Since 1960, the longtime comics and science fiction author had focused much of his attention on a magazine titled Space World but its failure forced him to begin revisiting new accounts in 1964. Mort Weisinger welcomed Binder back to DC’s Superman books with open arms but the writer was also intrigued by the news that Gold Key was seeking new features. Working with east coast editor Bill Harris, Binder conceived the post-apocalyptic and ultimately re-titled Second Samson (Schelly, Words of Wonder 184). The destruction and atrocities of Mighty Samson were a far cry from the understated nuclear war aftermath depicted in DC’s recently concluded Atomic Knights series. It was a strong reminder that Gold Key wasn’t
The debut of Little Monsters coincided with the premieres of the Addams Family and Munsters TV shows. The Little Monsters TM and © Random House, Inc.
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McGrew. Unlike the original, whose shady title character died in a barroom brawl, the 1964 reprise simply had the thieving Dan McShrew knocked out by a giant gold nugget wielded by Scrooge. Barks’ interaction with fans in the early 1960s had renewed his enthusiasm for creating the Duck stories, but at 63 years old, he was still growing tired of the grind. Retirement was only a few years away and milestones were passing by that would only be apparent in hindsight. Uncle Scrooge #48 (March 1964), for instance, featured a particularly bizarre story in Carl Barks’ final Magica de Spell tale in Uncle Scrooge #48 was followed by the cartoonist’s space-age spin on the California gold rush. which Magica de Spell Uncle Scrooge TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc. transferred the faces of herself and Scrooge onto the bodies of others. It was an and waited for sales reports on the first two issues. Illusunusual episode but also the last in which Barks would trated by Pete Alvarado and appearing as a feature in Three feature the sorceress. In a glimpse of things to come, Walt Stooges since issue #17 (May 1964), the Little Monsters were Disney’s Comics & Stories #284, #285, and #287 marked the siblings ‘Orrible Orville and Awful Annie whose squarish first times since 1950 that issues had not opened with a heads and neck bolts were very much in the Frankenstein 10-page Donald Duck story produced by Barks. mold. In this case, Gold Key needn’t have worried. The enduring monster craze had now spilled over into primeIssue #284 was also notable for the historic Mickey Mouse time television where the dueling Addams Family and serial, “The Return of the Phantom Blot.” Created by cartoonMunsters shows both got laughs from the contrast between ist Floyd Gottfredson for a 1939 comic strip, the Blot (as he their ghoulish households and mainstream neighbors. The was known then) was a mysterious thief draped entirely in comic book sold nicely until the craze finally abated in 1967 a black cloak who created the illusion of supernatural abiliand had a healthy seven-year revival in the 1970s. ties. A reconfigured form of the story was published twice by Dell in 1941 and 1955 (establishing the Phantom Blot In more familiar territory, Donald Duck was celebrating name) with a redrawn version running in 1949. the 1964 Olympics (Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #286) and getting dragged into the surfing craze that southern Somehow, though, no one in the United States had ever California’s Beach Boys were celebrating in song (WDC&S bothered to produce an actual sequel. The creators of #280). Like Chester Gould, writer-artist Carl Barks had Italy’s Topolino had been generating new Blot adventures bypassed the U.S. space program and sent Scrooge McDuck with increasing frequency since 1955, and someone at beyond Earth’s confines to deliver a letter to the planet Gold Key must have realized the Disney licensee was on to Venus (Uncle Scrooge #53). Uncle Scrooge #49’s “Loony Lunar Gold Rush” found all sorts of Duckburg residents rocketing into space when gold was discovered on the moon. Inspired by the 19th Century Gold Rush, Barks drew specific inspiration from Robert W. Service’s 1907 poem The Ballad of Dan
“The Looney Lunar Gold Rush” was partly inspired by the 1907 poem The Ballad of Dan McGrew. Uncle Scrooge TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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trate genuine robberies. The final masquerader (actually Mickey’s whiskered nemesis Pete) was taken down by the new Blot who was, in turn, unmasked as…Goofy! Mickey’s pal had struck his head after their initial conversation and developed a split personality. The mystery may have been explained, but a small ad following the last panel revealed that the story wasn’t over. The New Adventures of the Phantom Blot #1, it declared, would go on sale July 16. Over the course of the Murryillustrated 32-page story, a hypnotized Goofy resumed the Blot persona again in a ploy to capture “the mysterious Mr. X.” The real Phantom Blot was again reduced to a minor The Phantom Blot (sort of) made his historic return in role—also he briefly got Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #284. Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc. out of prison this time— something. Befitting its significance, but would get other chances when the the Paul Murry-illustrated serial in comic book became an ongoing series WDC&S #284-287 ran four issues (as six months later. opposed to the usual three). Further expanding the Disney brand, For the benefit of young readers who’d Gold Key followed Phantom never heard of the villain, the first Blot one month later with chapter set the stage with Mickey’s The Beagle Boys #1, spinning recollection to Goofy of “the meanest off the Carl Barks-created criminal I ever faced.” Within hours identical brothers who were of that conversation, the Phantom constantly trying to steal Blot returned…or had he? According Uncle Scrooge’s fortune. to the State Pen, the villain was still Barks had nothing to do locked away. As the story progressed, with the new series, which it seemed there were three Blots: instead included scripts by one in prison, a second committing Vic Lockman and pencils break-ins without actually stealing by Tony Strobl. The idea of anything, and a third who was taking publishing ongoing comic advantage of the mystery to perpebooks starring villains—
even humorous ones—was a progressive one for the time and that may partially explain why neither particularly caught on. The better-known Beagles—whose second issue didn’t appear until a year later—managed to eke out eight issues by 1969 but didn’t achieve real success in their own title until the 1970s. The most aggressively promoted Disney villain of 1964 was surely Mad Madam Mim, the sorceress from the King Arthur-Merlin movie The Sword and the Stone. Released on December 25, 1963, it was to be the final animated feature released during Walt Disney’s lifetime and Gold Key spotlighted its heroes in the one-shots Sword and the Stone #1 and Wart and the Wizard #1 (each dated February 1964). But it was the comical villainess Mim whom the publisher saw as having real potential. Madam Mim’s meeting with the Beagle Boys in Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #282 (April 1964) initiated a run of short stories featuring the sorceress and the bandits in issues #283-291, a guestspot in Donald Duck #96, and co-star billing in Beagle Boys #1. WDC&S was also used as a vehicle to plug The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, a live-action Disney movie starring Tommy Kirk and Annette Funicello. Two Sparky Moore-
The Disney brand expanded in 1964 with comic books devoted to villains. Beagle Boys, Mad Madam Mim, The Phantom Blot, TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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Film and TV animation alike inspired several new releases from Gold Key in 1964. Wart and the Wizard TM © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Magilla Gorilla, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm TM and © Hanna-Barbera.
illustrated episodes of “The Adventures of Annette and Merlin Jones” appeared in issues #289 and #290. The first episode doubled as a promotion for a trip to Disneyland (or the World’s Fair) that invited readers to name the puppy that Annette acquired in the story. The movie itself received a one-shot adaptation as did other 1964 Disney films The Horse Without a Head, Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, A Tiger Walks, The Moon-Spinners, and Nikki, Wild Dog of the North. (Outside the Disney studios, The Fall of the Roman Empire, McLintock, the John F. Kennedyinspired PT 109, and the animated Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear! also earned one-shots.) Two years into its existence, Gold Key had earned the admiration of fans for its high production values and new series, but there’s some question as to how sales on the line as a whole were doing. For most of 1964, each of the publisher’s comic books was ominously priced “Still 12¢,” suggesting that a 15¢ price point might be right around the corner. That didn’t happen but Gold Key nonetheless dropped a few of its cosmetic initiatives. The borderless panels and square word balloons that had been rolled out across the line in 1962 and 1963 were abandoned. Likewise, the busy covers of Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories, which had displayed vignettes from several stories, reverted back to single central images. Even the promising 25-cent giants were no longer
such a sure thing with only two such editions (Tubby and the Little Men From Mars #1 and Best of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge #1, both all reprints) appearing in 1964. The Peanuts comic book ended with issue #4, joining five live-action TV properties in cancellation: The Lucy Show #5, Mister Ed, the Talking Horse #6, Rawhide #2, and Rifleman #20. Wagon Train’s four-issue run began and ended with 1964-dated issues but fantasy-oriented TV tie-ins My Favorite Martian and Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea made it to 1966 and 1970, respectively.
Mouse Club #1, Steve Zodiac and the Fireball XL5 #1, and the reprint-only Three Little Pigs #1) but only The Lone Ranger #1 reprint title sold well enough to justify an on-going series a year later as Beagle Boys and Mighty Samson did. Science fiction hero Buck Rogers, who’d starred in a newspaper strip for 35 years, did not appear in a story that was original to comic books until Gold Key’s 1964 Buck Rogers one-shot by Paul S. Newman and Ray Bailey!
Animated properties still generally did well. The Flintstones, for one, got a shot in the arm when it brought Barney and Betty Rubble’s adopted powerhouse Bamm-Bamm into the book with issue #16 (January 1964). The super-kid also appeared in the one-shot Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles Flintstone #1 during the summer. Only one new continuing comic book—HannaBarbera’s Magilla Gorilla—would be added to the line, though. Gold Key was wary of committing to ongoing series and probably with good reason. One-shots abounded (like the reprinted Zane Grey’s Stories of the West #1 and the animation-based Barney Google and Snuffy Smith #1, Hector Heathcote #1, Jonny Quest #1, Krazy Kat #1, Mickey
Another issue of the Buck Rogers comic book wasn’t published until 1979. Buck Rogers TM and © The Dille Family Trust.
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The schedules on some books left readers justifiably wondering whether they’d missed an issue. Following issue #25 (November 1964), Huckleberry Hound disappeared for eight months…and then went on another 15 month hiatus. Lassie #64 (September 1964), the first issue since mid-1963, didn’t have a follow-up until late 1965. Whatever challenges it was facing, Gold Key still had more product on the stands in 1964—203 issues— than any publisher other than Charlton (230 issues) and DC (363 issues). Embattled Dell produced a humbling 89, five of them final issues: Clyde Crashcup #5, Freddy #3, Frogmen #11, Millie the Lovable Monster #3, and Space Man #8. Still holding the comics license for Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare, Dell released an issue of each during the summer but the medical comics were essentially done for with final issues still to come in 1965. Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again as it had done with The Beverly Hillbillies, Dell picked up the license for its sister show Petticoat Junction. At five issues (ending in mid-1965), it could hardly be called a success but it lasted longer than Raggedy Ann and Andy (four issues) and TV tie-ins Burke’s Law (three issues), Perry Mason Mystery Magazine (two issues), Espionage, and The Lieutenant (one issue apiece). Instead, it was the fantasy
comic book Outer Limits (based on the ABC anthology series) that was the most enduring. With a total of 16 new issues through 1967, the title would survive the TV show it was based on by two years. Dell’s military comics did seem to be doing well, enough so that Air War Stories could be added to the line. Likewise, there seemed to be an audience for quasi-jungle hero comic books like Kona and Naza so why not Toka? The so-called “jungle king,” whose adventures were drawn by Frank Springer, was a 16th Century Incan prince who was resurrected in the present. (At Gold Key, the genre’s stars Tarzan and Turok, Son of Stone had, respectively, lost an estimated 156,000 and 102,000 readers since 1961.) The two best-selling Dell ACG’s Herbie #1 launched the popular recurring character in his own title. Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton. comic books of the year, in all likelihood, were both oneUnfolding Stories shots, one devoted to The Beatles and the other to John F. Kennedy. One of There were dignified comic books two 1964 comics biographies devoted featuring public figures in 1964... and to the slain President (Worden & there was Herbie. Having satisfied Childs published the other), John F. himself that the lollipop-loving kid Kennedy #1 eventually went through with the glasses and bowl-shaped three printings. haircut could carry a series, ACG’s
Dell’s eclectic 1964 line-up included jungle heroes, fantasy TV adaptations, and biographies. Toka, The Outer Limits TM and © respective copyright holder.
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cigarette exec smoking rolled up currency (issue #88) and rechristened the Lucky Strike brand as Likely Strife (issue #86). “Newspapers are in business to make money,” another bit in Mad #85 declared as it showed a tobacco ad crowding out the American Medical Association’s report. Later in the year, issue #91 suggested warning labels on other products like “excessive eating may cause pimples” on chocolate bars. Another classic Mad feature was born in 1964, this one the creation of Al Jaffee. The inside back cover of Mad #86 (April 1964) featured a drawing of Elizabeth Taylor and her latest husband Richard Burton greeting throngs of admirers with a block of text describing the scene below them. Instructions advised readers on how to fold the picture inward to find out what was really happening. In this case, it showed Taylor kissing her next lover while the now abbreviated text below supported the image. This was the Mad Fold-In, whose inspiration was described by Jaffee in 1997: Playboy had a foldout of a beautiful woman in each issue, and Life Magazine had these large, striking foldouts in which they’d show how the earth began or the solar system or something on that order—some massive panorama. Many magazines were hopping on the bandwagon, offering similar full-color spreads to their readers. I noticed this and thought, what’s a good satirical comment on the trend? Then I figured, why not reverse it? If other magazines are doing these big, full-color foldouts, well, cheap old Mad should go completely the opposite way and do an ultra-modest black-and-white Fold-In! (Jaffee 6)
No world leader—whether the United States’ Lyndon Johnson or Cuba’s Fidel Castro—could intimidate Herbie. Herbie Popnecker TM and © Roger Broughton.
Richard Hughes cancelled the 15-year-old My Romantic Adventures with issue #138 (March 1964) and replaced it with Herbie #1 a month later. The recipe that Hughes and artist Ogden Whitney had devised in the character’s earlier appearances involved more than just “the Fat Fury” effortlessly solving any problem tossed at him. It also called for abundant interaction with real people.
Jaffee warily pitched the idea to editor Al Feldstein, expecting him to reject it because it would crumple the magazine. Feldstein not only loved the idea but asked the cartoonist to continue the one-shot concept as an ongoing feature. Consequently, Jaffee returned in issue #87 with a more complex illustration that portrayed dueling Republican Presidential contenders Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller. When folded, the art’s seemingly incidental imagery transformed into the man who was really coveting the White House: Richard Nixon.
In the first issue alone, Herbie crossed paths with boxer Sonny Liston, comedian Jimmy Durante, Fidel Castro, Nikita Khrushchev, and President Lyndon Johnson. And because time had no sway on the Fat Fury, he also traveled into the past to meet such luminaries as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. They’d be followed by the likes of Doris Day, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II (issue #3), Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday (issue #4), the Beatles, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Mao Tse-Tung (issue #5), Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck (issue #6).
Charles Schulz’s 1962 best-seller Happiness Is A Warm Puppy was parodied with other comic strip characters as “Insecurity Is a Pair of Loose Swim Trunks” in Mad #86. The Peanuts creator got the last laugh, though, in a note published in issue #99 (December 1965). “Being rich,” he wrote, “is being able to afford a lifetime subscription to Mad Magazine, and then cancelling it.”
The series was declared Best Humorous Series in the 1964 Alley Awards (while ACG’s Forbidden Worlds got Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic). According to Richard Hughes’ wife Annabel, it was also cherished by the comic book’s creator. Michael Vance reported her warm memories of her husband’s “spontaneous laughter when writing the series” (Vance 24).
Monster mania manifested in pieces that turned the craze into a Broadway musical (Mad #85’s “Mannie, Get Your Ghoul”) and workplace horror movies like “The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck” and “The Goldbrick That Walked Like a Man” (Mad #91). By now, there was an entire line of monster models from Aurora—which branched out into superheroes with Superman in the fall—and Norman Mingo’s cover for Mad #89’s turned the tables by showing the Frankenstein
The surest source for celebrity appearances and topical humor in comic books was still the black and white magazines Mad, Cracked, and Sick. Mad, in particular, leapt on the Surgeon General’s January 11 announcement that cigarette smoking had been linked to lung cancer with features in nearly every issue. Back cover ad parodies showed a 195
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Al Jaffee’s ingenious Mad Fold-Ins posed a comedic question that could be answered by folding and transforming the larger image. Mad TM and © DC Comics.
Monster constructing a model of Alfred E. Neuman. Universal Pictures, which owned the rights to the creature’s image and was counting on further licensing profits from Aurora’s new Gigantic Frankenstein model, threatened to sue in early August. The lawsuit fizzled and, adding insult to injury, Aurora produced a real Alfred E. Neuman model one year later.
Life imitates art: Months after Norman Mingo’s cover for Mad #89, a genuine Alfred E. Neuman model was on sale. Mad TM and © DC Comics.
Threats of legal action, including the song parody dispute that was dismissed by the Supreme Court in October, had become part of the fabric of Mad. Since 1957, amidst the editorial names on each issue’s masthead, each issue had also listed attorney Martin Scheiman as the man in charge of lawsuits. “It is given as a service to offended readers,” Frank Jacobs semi-joked, “so they will know whom to contact when they sue” (216).
Enhanced by ancillary items ranging from books to novelties like an Alfred E. Neuman For President kit, Mad’s sales were still booming. Those sales were well known to its distributor Independent News, and one of its sister companies All-American Printing quietly bought the magazine in 1964. Those businesses were each part of National Periodical Publications, better known as DC. As with Mad’s earlier purchase by Premier Industries, William Gaines was assured there’d be no impact on editorial content. Still, the irony of merging with a company that had bought out his father Max’s All-American line (including Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern) in 1944 was not lost on the publisher. “Everything that the Gaines family starts,” he later said, “National ends up buying” (Jacobs 166).
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Creep(y) Show It was Gaines’ famed 1950s EC horror comics—the same ones that fueled the creation of the Comics Code—which served as the inspiration for a new black-andwhite comic book in late 1964. Approached by a budding young cartoonist and former Marine named Russ Jones, Gaines appreciated his enthusiasm for reviving the chillers in a black-and-white, non-Code magazine like Mad but wasn’t interested in doing so himself. Instead, Jones turned his attention to Warren Publishing (Jones). Since the late 1950s, publisher James Warren had published a small group of magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland and Spacemen devoted to the science fiction and horror movies of the past and present. His line also included Harvey Kurtzman’s Help!, the critically-beloved humor magazine. Its eclectic comics content had ranged from Gilbert Shelton’s Superman takeoff Wonder Warthog (reprinted from 1962 and 1963 issues of the Texas Ranger college magazine) to excerpts from decades-old Mutt and Jeff newspaper strips. It also attracted its share of headaches, notably the 1962 lawsuit from Archie over Kurtzman and Bill Elder’s Goodman Beaver story. Following the February 1964 edition (including Joel Siegel and Hank Hinton’s inflammatory “My First Golden Book of God”), Help! went on an eight month hiatus and Warren began entertaining possibilities for a new magazine. Prominent fan writer-artist Larry Ivie had previously pitched the idea to Warren but he, like Jones in 1964, was turned down (Goodwin 9). The former Marine was nothJack Davis’ lighthearted cover eased readers into Warren’s new horror comic book in late 1964. ing if not persistent and—backed up by Creepy TM and © New Comic Company. recent acquaintances and former EC artists Wally Wood and Joe Orlando—eventually managed to for his elegant illustrative style, the 33-year-old Williamsell the publisher on a six-page “Monster Comics” feature son was as passionate a fan of the artists who’d preceded in the new Monster World magazine. Jim Warren finally him as he was of some of the highly-polished contempoagreed to a full comic magazine and “Project D” was underraries who shared his sensibilities. With his help, idols way. Inspired by a word balloon in an EC story featuring like Reed Crandall, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Roy G. the Old Witch narrator, Jones suggested Creepy as the Krenkel, and Joe Orlando were recruited to work on the series’ official title and his publisher loved it (Jones). new horror comic book, as were friends Gray Morrow and Angelo Torres. In the absence of color, several of the artists “My deal with Jim Warren was five hundred dollars an added further dimension to their work through a wash issue,” Jones remembered. “I was editor, and packager. The effect that only added to Creepy’s lush look. headaches had already started, when some of the proposed talent began to complain about Jim’s page rate. He wanted As important as each of the artists was to the project, it was to spend thirty dollars a page for art...not a cent more. I Creepy’s other primary writer who may have been most began to wonder if he really wanted to do the mag, since significant in making it gel. Originally envisioning himself obviously, he didn’t want to pay what both Dell and the as more of an illustrator, 27-year-old Archie Goodwin had newly formed Gold Key Comics were paying—thirty five built an impressive résumé by 1964 that included a stint on per page. Finally, I simply told Jim to deduct five dollars Leonard Starr’s On Stage comic strip and an editorial post a page from my editor’s fee, and give it to the artists. If I’d at Redbook magazine. His abilities as a writer were considdone the same with the scripts, I would have done everyerable, but it was Goodwin’s even-tempered editorial and thing for free” (Jones). management skills that consistently helped him cultivate stellar creators throughout his career. His influence was Larry Ivie was soon part of the mix as a writer and, through great enough that he was named story editor with Russ him, artist Al Williamson joined the fold. Highly regarded 197
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The line-up of artists in Creepy #1 included (clockwise from masthead) Joe Orlando, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, and Reed Crandall. Creepy TM and © New Comic Company.
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schedule hit him, producing strips seven days a week plus the story, he began to hire other people to do it. These included Al Williamson, Alden McWilliams, myself, and I think Wally Wood. He hired a whole slew of people and it turned out, as we talked to each other, that that’s what was happening. He was buying the story, buying the art and everything else, but his name was signed large and clear on all these strips” (Wardle 73). In a further in-joke, Williamson drew Smudge as himself while the ill-fated assistants were based on Goodwin, McWilliams, and Angelo Torres. In the tradition of the EC books, the title also included a decrepit comedic host. Uncle Creepy’s visage was drawn by Jack Davis, whose more humorous style was also seen on that first issue’s cover. “I figured a light touch was necessary to soften what they’re going to see inside,” Jim Warren explained. “The comic book world in America had not seen material like this since the days of EC Comics” (Cooke, “Someone Has To Make It Happen” 30). Indeed, Warren found he had to struggle with wholesalers and distributors just to make them understand a 35-cent magazine they considered uncategorizable. When he suggested racking it with Mad, they countered that Creepy was a comic book. To which Warren responded, “So is Mad, you cretins” (Cooke, “Someone Has To Make It Happen” 30).
Baldo Smudge’s three collaborators in “The Success Story” were visually based on Archie Goodwin, Angelo Torres, and Al McWilliams. Creepy TM and © New Comic Company.
Jones effective with Creepy #2 (following Joe Orlando’s unusual “Story Ideas” credit in issue #1). By issue #4 in mid-1965, Goodwin had succeeded Jones as full editor. “Archie struck me as the kind of editor who could not only match the right story to the right artist,” Jim Warren remembered, “but could also handle the million and one problems of temperament, lateness, scheduling, and lastminute crisis situations—without losing his calm, steady demeanor. Archie turned out to be just that. And more so” (Warren 18). On the other end of the spectrum was Baldo Smudge, the fictional cartoonist at the center of Creepy #1’s most celebrated short, “The Success Story.” Heralded for a comic strip that he claimed sole credit, Smudge was bringing in enough money to pay three different men to do the writing, penciling, and inking for him. Each ghost artist assumed that their boss was doing the other two-thirds of the work until a chance meeting exposed the charade. Murdering the trio when they demanded a cut of the profits, the cartoonist paid for his crimes in the end when the now-literal ghosts rose to tear him apart and create one last panel in his own blood. Ghost writers and artists—and the cartoonists who took the bows—had existed in comics for most of the century, but Goodwin and Williamson’s story had a specific subject: Dan Flagg cartoonist Don Sherwood. As George Evans later explained, Sherwood’s first 1963 newspaper dailies “were art swipes from Alex Raymond’s Rip Kirby, and as the
Al Williamson drew himself into “The Success Story” as egomaniacal Baldo Smudge. Creepy TM and © New Comic Company.
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in the post-War years. After a four-year absence, Cap returned during 1953 and 1954 alongside the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner for a premature revival edited by Lee before returning to limbo. Nearly a decade later, Lee knew that costumed heroes were a hot commodity again but was Cap? The popularity of the Marvel heroes was in part due to the human failings that distinguished them from the model represented by the characters whose roots extended to the 1940s. And yet Captain America, more than most heroes, was defined by that era when patriotism and sacrifice were never more of a unifying force. Separating him from that could, like Archie’s Shadow revival later in 1964, be a disaster. Lee and Kirby’s solution was presented in January’s Avengers #4 (dated March 1964). Swimming off in disgust after his ill-fated team-up with the Hulk in the previous issue, the Sub-Mariner came across a remote Alaskan tribe worshipping a figure frozen in ice. In a tantrum, Namor tossed their so-called god into the ocean, unwittingly leaving the melting iceberg in a direct path for the Avengers who were still looking for their aquatic adversary. The heroes pulled the body aboard their craft, where the Wasp looked beneath his tattered khakis and gasped. “Don’t you recognize it??” she shrieked. “It’s the famous red, white and blue garb of—Captain America!” And it really was this time. In a state of shock, Cap painfully reconstructed his last memories circa 1945. He’d seen his teen partner Bucky killed while trying to defuse a Nazi bombing drone and was himself propelled into the icy waters of Newfoundland by the force of the explosion. Gradually frozen into a block of ice, he hadn’t aged a day. (Later writers made that a bit more plausible by explaining that Cap only survived because of the special super soldier serum in his bloodstream.) Jointly struggling with survivor’s guilt and culture shock, Captain America felt his heart soar when he met the Hulk’s former associate Rick Jones. No stranger to guilt himself, the teenager was still dealing with his own role in having inadvertently created the Hulk and his failure to prevent the creature from going rogue in Avengers #3. Putting aside his discomfort that Cap imagined him as Bucky reborn, Rick reignited the hero’s sense of purpose by enlisting him on a quest to rescue the immobilized Avengers. By the end of the story, proclaimed Best Novel in the Alley Awards, Captain America was officially a member of the team.
Jack Kirby and George Roussos drew the cover and interior of Avengers #4’s historic return of Captain America. Captain America, Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Captain America Lives Again! By the accounts of many readers of the period, distribution was also still spotty on Marvel Comics. Fueled mostly by word of mouth, though, the little company was boasting increasingly big sales as the final major players of its classic 1960s line-up were put into place. The first order of business for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby was to pay off on Strange Tales #114’s fake-out hero revival. Scarcely a month after the issue went on sale, Jerry Bails enthused in The Comic Reader #19 (September 9, 1963) that “the real Captain America is coming back.” Intentional or not, the Strange Tales teaser had built up anticipation for a return that Lee and Kirby wanted as much as their fans.
In lesser hands, Cap could well have returned as the strident “Commie smasher” of the 1950s. By tempering his natural confidence with a melancholy streak rooted in Bucky’s death, Lee and Kirby were able to make the iconic hero sympathetic and accessible. Indeed, the characterization likely helped keep Cap from becoming a polarizing figure in the increasingly contentious political environment of the latter half of the 1960s.
Kirby, in particular, had a paternal interest in the character, having created him with Joe Simon in 1941 and virtually defined the patriotic superhero genre. At its height during World War Two, Timely’s Captain America Comics was selling in the neighborhood of one million copies per issue but, like most superhero titles, it gradually went bust
More directly, as the only member of the Avengers without his own series, Captain America was also a boon to story200
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Wonder Man’s death—rendered by Don Heck and Dick Ayers—echoed the demise of DC’s one-shot Wonder-Man a year earlier. Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
telling. The personal lives of Iron Man and company were properly documented in their own series but Cap had no feature of his own. Consequently, any meaningful character development in Avengers now naturally shifted to him. Particularly memorable was his unexpectedly angry reaction to Rick’s modeling of Bucky’s old costume. “I’ll never have another partner!” he snapped. “I won’t be responsible for another life—never!!” Bucky’s killer—a still-active Nazi named Zemo with a magenta mask literally glued to his face—also loomed large in Avengers, just a month after his debut in Sgt. Fury #8. By this point, there was now a large pool of established Marvel villains to draw on and Zemo gathered three—the Black Knight, the Melter, and the Radioactive Man—to join him as the Masters of Evil in Avengers #6. The trio was swapped for new Thor adversaries Executioner and the Enchantress (from Journey Into Mystery #103) in issue #7 and Zemo’s team returned at intervals over the next several months.
The large “Wonder Man” title on the cover of Avengers #9 likely drew DC’s attention to Marvel’s use of the name. Avengers TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
anyone else’s name, so only for that reason, we are not bringing Wonder Man back. And besides, we can’t, because we don’t copy anyone. (Castronuovo 27-28)
Blindsided Lee had no reservations about using the name of a somewhat older character, defunct publisher Lev Gleason’s Daredevil. One of the 1940s’ more popular costumed heroes, the character himself had faded away in 1950 although the comic book bearing his name wasn’t cancelled until 1956. Eight years later, Marvel took the name for its newest superhero with Lee claiming they’d only remembered the earlier character after the fact. “We liked the name,” he said, “and we figured, what harm could it do, because they were out of business” (Castronuovo 29).
One of the more interesting developments was Zemo’s transformation of Tony (Iron Man) Stark’s disgraced business rival Simon Williams into the super-powered Wonder Man (Avengers #9). The process would also be terminal without an antidote, something that Zemo was only willing to provide if Williams infiltrated and helped take down the Avengers. Ultimately, Wonder Man’s conscience got the better of him and he turned on the Masters of Evil at the cost of his own life. As Stan Lee revealed in an interview in the fanzine Crusader #1 (1964), plans for a sequel were cut short:
Marvel’s Daredevil #1 (April 1964), by most accounts, had a troubled development that began almost a year earlier. Directed by publisher Martin Goodman to create two new series based on Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man, Lee went to work on concepts that would be just similar enough to satisfy his boss without being wholesale ripoffs. X-Men took care of the team book request and Daredevil was meant to be the Spidey-style title (Brevoort). Like Spider-Man, Daredevil would overflow with comedic
We were intending to bring him back, but we found out that DC had a story about a year ago, concerning a robot named Wonder Man [in Superman #163]. I myself never saw him or heard [of] him. The head of National Comics wrote to us and informed us of the fact that he had already used the name Wonder Man. We do not want to use 201
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asides while in battle but that was where the similarity ended. Hoping to make DD unique, Lee described his goal: Up until now all our heroes were characters with great powers and some sort of compensatory weaknesses. But always the power was the big thing. In an effort to break the pattern, to alter the formula by coming up with something in a totally new vein, I was trying to think of a hero who would start out with a disability—a hero whose weakness would actually be more colorful, more unusual than his power itself. (Lee 112) Recalling Baynard Kendrick’s prose mystery series about blind detective Duncan Maclain, Lee concluded that his new hero would be sightless (Lee 112). He was evidently unaware of DC’s own blind hero Doctor Mid-Nite, created in 1940 and revived with the Justice Society in 1963’s Flash #137. The son of an aging prizefighter, red-headed young Matt Murdock had been kept out of sports by his father so that he could focus on his schoolwork and make something of himself. Presumed to be a sissy by the other kids, Matt was mocked with the nickname Daredevil and channeled his anger into a private fitness regimen that brought him to his physical peak.
Stan Lee and Bill Everett’s Daredevil was created in response to publisher Martin Goodman’s demand for a new series in the mold of Spider-Man. Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Tragically, while shoving a blind man out of the path of a speeding truck, the teenager was struck by the atomic materials it carried and blinded. That same radiation enhanced his other senses to an unprecedented degree, though, making him almost more aware of his surroundings than he’d been with sight. Meanwhile, Matt’s father had been drawn into a racket that built up his reputation as a fighter so that gamblers could collect when he ultimately took a dive. On that fateful night, Matt was in the audience and Battling Murdock refused to throw the match. The fighter was executed in retaliation on orders of his crooked manager, the Fixer. Months later, as he opened a law office with his college roommate Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, Matt was still fixated on avenging his father’s murder without violating his promise never to be a fighter. His solution was to create an alter ego and he named it after the insult that the bullies had hurled at him. As Daredevil, he wore a red wrestling singlet with a yellow costume underneath and a horned hood. (It was an outfit, fans have periodically joked, that was obviously designed by a blind man.) As a final touch, DD adapted the cane he employed as Matt so that it could used be as a club or grapple. By the end of that first story, Battling Murdock’s killers had been brought to justice—the Fixer himself dropped dead of a heart attack—but Daredevil had no plans to retire. The artist assigned to the feature was one of the company’s founding fathers. Bill Everett had created the hugely popular Sub-Mariner
Like Spider-Man, Daredevil peppered crooks with jokes as well as punches. Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
The deadline on Daredevil #1 was so tight that its cover art didn’t exist when Marvel advertised the comic book. Daredevil TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
for Timely Comics in 1939 but had spent several years away from the comic book industry working as an art director at Massachusetts’ Eton Paper Corporation. Lee and Goodman convinced him to return for the new series in the hope that he’d be able to work his magic again. As Everett told Roy Thomas in 1971, things did not go well: I found that I couldn’t do it and handle my job, because it was a managerial job; I didn’t get paid overtime, but I was on an annual salary, so my time was not my own. I was putting in 14 or 15 hours a day at the plant and then to come home and try to do comics at night was just too much. And I didn’t make deadlines—I just couldn’t make them—so I just did the one issue and didn’t do any more. (Thomas, “Everett On Everett” 28) Having already paid for printing time, Marvel needed to publish something so Lee and Kirby hastily prepared Avengers #1 as an alternative in the summer of 1963. Eventually, Lee was compelled to take the artwork that Marvel had in house for Daredevil #1, with Steve Ditko and production manager Sol Brodsky inking the backgrounds of half the book over a weekend. Jack Kirby, whose story contributions included Daredevil’s
billy-club (Evanier, Kirby: King of Comics 133), also penciled the cover while Brodsky recycled the art for the issue’s splash page. All told, Roy Thomas later related, Daredevil #1 “was so late coming in that it cost the company thousands of dollars. Literally thousands. Comic book economics being what they are and were, I was surprised that Stan was still willing, even eager, to have Bill finally dump his commercial art job and take up comics again on a regular basis” in 1966. Everett, Thomas continued, “inspired a kind of awe mixed with genuine liking and respect” that made it difficult for anyone to hold a grudge (Thomas, “Bill Everett: The Ancient Sub-Mariner” 181). Joe Orlando and Vince Colletta, who then shared a New York City studio, agreed to draw Daredevil for a few issues. Still fighting deadlines, Lee tossed in the pre-established SpiderMan villain Electro for DD #2’s adversary before developing would-be crime-lord the Owl and the mindcontrolling Purple Man for issues #3 and #4. With Daredevil #5, EC Comics legend—and former Orlando mentor—Wally Wood became the title’s new artist. Wood, who’d articulate Daredevil’s radar sense as radiating circles, brought with him a sense of drama and polished sheen that finally began to distinguish the young series.
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Double-Features and Main Attractions While Lee may have run counter to DC with his scripts’ high-pitch characterization, he still liked the sleek look that personified much of their line and which Wally Wood now brought to the table. Jack Kirby’s dynamic art style, layouts, and storytelling were now synonymous with Marvel, but he needed better than the often wispy embellishment that inkers George Roussos and Paul Reinman were bringing to his pencils. To that end, Lee replaced the two men with Chic Stone, who became Kirby’s primary inker by mid-1964 (starting with Thor in Journey Into Mystery #102) and instantly brought added weight and gloss to the superstar’s pencils. Although distributor Independent News allowed the modest line expansion that permitted the creation of X-Men and Avengers, Marvel was still restricted to a set number of titles per month. Daredevil came at the cost of teen humor title Kathy, which ended with issue #27 (February 1964). Thanks in part to his judicious use of his monster anthology titles over the past three years, Stan Lee had managed to develop a sturdy roster of superheroes who were strong enough to headline their own books. But he’d finally run out of room.
The Hulk’s battle with Giant-Man was followed by the “surprise announcement” that the green monster would be the new co-feature in Tales To Astonish. Giant-Man, the Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
A Jack Kirby-Dick Ayers cover heralded the news that Captain America was Tales of Suspense’s new co-feature.
Captain America cut loose in his first 1960s solo story in Tales of Suspense #59. Captain America TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Captain America, Iron Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc
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A mammoth Kirby-choreographed fight in Fantastic Four #25 culminated with the Hulk’s defeat of the Thing. The Hulk, the Thing TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
What was left of the once abundant fantasy stories were mostly being dressed up as quasi-series usually scripted by Larry Lieber over Lee plots. Tales To Astonish backed up its GiantMan lead feature with Wasp stories where she’d narrate a science fiction short. The enigmatic Watcher (first seen in Fantastic Four #13) did essentially the same thing following the Iron Man stories in Tales of Suspense although issue #53 did slip in the character’s origin. The thrill of being part of an ongoing saga was not to be had in throwaway episodes like these. Effective with issues on sale in the summer of 1964, Lee did something about it. Tales To Astonish #59 boasted a fight between Giant-Man and the Hulk. When the dust settled in issue #60, the Green Goliath had his own co-feature by Lee, Ditko, and
Roussos. (The latter, incidentally, used the alias George Bell on all his Marvel work to avoid retaliation from his DC editors.) Meanwhile, Tales of Suspense #58 ran its own dust-up with Iron Man and Captain America. Sure enough, Cap was starring in a Lee-Kirby-Stone co-feature one issue later. (Content to leave superheroes behind, Larry Lieber found plenty to occupy his time on Marvel’s Westerns.) Cap’s strip overflowed with thrilling acrobatics and action, embodying Jack Kirby’s evident pleasure at once again being able to draw the character’s solo adventures. (That thrill extended to Cap’s wartime guest-appearance in Sgt. Fury #13.) Lee, on the other hand, might have taken more satisfaction in
the Hulk strip—featuring a mystery menace called the Leader—since it reversed the villainous trajectory he’d been on. The Hulk’s short-lived turn as a rampaging bad guy reached its zenith in Fantastic Four #25-26 (April-May 1964). Discovering that Rick Jones had “deserted” him for Captain America, the monster stormed Manhattan and the FF was its first line of defense. With the Invisible Girl and Human Torch rendered unconscious and Mister Fantastic already sidelined with a virus, the Thing suddenly became the city’s last hope. The conflict raged for pages. Vehicles were torn in two, buildings collapsed, whole blocks lost power, and the valiant Thing was finally left in a heap as FF #25 ended. The Hulk had prevailed. Staggering to his feet, Ben Grimm tried to process the first defeat of his career. “Like my dear ol’ Aunt Petunia used to say,” he sputtered, “‘you only die once.’ And that’s the only way he’ll stop me now…by killin’ me!!”
Every Lee-Kirby superhero came together over the course of Fantastic Four #25 and 26’s Hulk opus. Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the Hulk TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
The concluding installment brought the Avengers into the fray, literally running into the embattled FF and allowing the Hulk to escape in the process. With neither group willing to budge on jurisdiction, they all converged on the metal shell of a partially constructed building for their last stand. Rick Jones, alone among all the heroes in knowing that the Hulk was really Bruce Banner, finally got close enough to administer a gammapowered sedative that allowed the
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green behemoth to slink off and resume a human form that his pursuers would never find.
to be specifically associated with Marvel over the rest of the decade and beyond.
In many ways, it was Marvel’s answer to the first Justice League-Justice Society teamup with heroes who were as surly and argumentative as DC’s were cordial. On the last page, though, the Avengers and Fantastic Four conceded their mutual respect for one another while the Invisible Girl expressed her relief that no one was seriously hurt.
If heroes could become villains, as the Hulk briefly seemed to have done, then logically villains could become heroes. Indeed, having run out of places to introduce new crime-fighters at Marvel, there was no other place to look. It was an idea that Lee and company wouldn’t begin to seriously consider for another year but the seeds were planted in 1964.
“Only my pride, baby,” the Thing murmured, “only my pride.” (The Thing’s one-liners continued to make him a hit with fans, who’d again vote him Best Supporting Character in the 1964 Alley Awards. Bowing to the obvious, Lee brought in the Thing as the fulltime co-star in Strange Tales’ Human Torch strip effective with issue #123.)
Lee and Don Heck’s Tales of Suspense #52-53 (April-May 1964), for instance, introduced the Black Widow, a ravenhaired beauty with a hat, veil, and fur stole who was secretly an operative of the Soviet Union and poised to take down Iron Man. There were cracks in her armor—a fear of “the penalty for failure” and a grudging admiration for her opponent—but she persisted with her mission. In issue #57, the Widow even seduced a cocky archer and would-be costumed hero named Hawkeye into joining her quest to destroy the Armored Avenger.
The Avengers-Fantastic Four opus was not the first time that Marvel’s heroes had gotten into it but the scale of the FF twoparter dwarfed anything that preceded it and definitively established a new corporate trademark. Whenever two Marvel heroes got together, they would always find some excuse to fight. With great power, it seemed, came great egos…and greater property damage. In comparison to the unfailingly friendly meetings of DC and Archie heroes, it was novel to see that the good guys didn’t always get along. Over time, that freshness turned to cliché itself, eventually becoming so entrenched that it was the rare convivial heroic encounters that would seem edgy.
Over the next few years, Hawkeye and the Black Widow would both be rehabilitated as would Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The latter were Pietro and Wanda, a brother-sister duo who respectively possessed superspeed and a rudimentary ability to move objects with the wave of a hand. Rescued from a mob by mutant terrorist Magneto, the siblings felt obligated to serve as part of his newly-created Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (along with the Toad and the illusioncasting Mastermind) but neither was particularly committed Along with the earlier Thor two- Hawkeye’s plans to be Marvel’s newest superhero were sidetracked by Russia’s to his cause. Introduced in Lee and Kirby’s X-Men #4 (March parter in Journey Into Mystery sultry Black Widow. Hawkeye, Black Widow TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. 1964), Quicksilver and the Scar#99-100, the issues were also let Witch’s crisis of conscience would play out in the title notable in their turn toward multi-part storytelling. As the over the next year before they (along with Hawkeye) finally new double-feature books kicked into gear, Lee embraced received a shot at redemption in Avengers. the fact that serialization was more practical than trying to compress a full issue plot into a 10 to 13 page story. ContinThe name of Magneto’s group, incidentally, compounded ued stories, whether in Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories or the X-Men’s parallels with DC’s Doom Patrol, which first Action Comics, were not anything new but they were also encountered its own Brotherhood of Evil (minus the the exception rather the rule. By virtue of Stan Lee’s editormutants) the very same month that X-Men #4 went on sale. ship of an entire line, though, serialization would come The source of the incredible coincidence is very possibly a 206
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Along with her brother Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch was a grudging member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Scarlet Witch TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
widely syndicated newspaper article announcing the Senate Investigations Subcommittee’s imminent September 24, 1963 hearing on organized crime in the United States. Its headline, in most papers, simply read “Brotherhood of Evil,” something that may well have made an impression on both Stan Lee and Arnold Drake at the time they were working on their respective plots.
Doctor Strange, Dormammu found himself indebted to the human sorcerer for fending off an attack by the mysterious Mindless Ones. That was enough for Strange to extract two promises from his opponent: he would never invade Earth and he would not punish the unnamed platinum haired woman (later known as Clea) who’d helped in the battle. Doctor Strange’s reward for his efforts—courtesy of the Ancient One—was a new look: a red cape and gold amulet to adorn his previous all-blue costume. [Technically, a coloring error in issue #127 initially rendered the cape yellow.] With the cape’s power of levitation, the good doctor could now become airborne. The 31st Century’s Kang the Conqueror arrived in Lee and Kirby’s Avengers #8 with the intention of using his advanced technology to rule the world of 1964. Playing on Marvel’s shared universe, Kang’s origin included the revelation that he’d previously fought the Fantastic Four in the distant past as Pharaoh Rama-Tut (1963’s FF #19) and more recently crossed paths with Doctor Doom in the 1964 Fantastic Four Annual #2.
The Beetle, a Human Torch villain debuting in Strange Tales #123, eventually wound up a hero, too, but that was literally decades in the future when writer Kurt Busiek rehabilitated him in the 1997 Thunderbolts series. Most of the 1964 Marvel bad guys, including Baron Von Strucker (Sgt. Fury #5), the Blob (X-Men #3), Diablo (Fantastic Four #30), Grey Gargoyle (Journey Into Mystery #107), the Scarecrow (Tales of Suspense #51), the Unicorn (Tales of Suspense #56), and Unus the Untouchable (X-Men #8), never gave any serious thought to turning over a new leaf.
Doom, voted Best Villain in the Alley Awards, was virtually transformed in that Annual, which opened with a significantly expanded version of his own origin. For the first time, readers visited Latveria, a small kingdom in the Bavarian Alps where young gypsy Victor Von Doom justifiably blamed its monarchy for the death of his parents. Growing to adulthood, he used his scientific prowess to overthrow Latveria’s rulers and take control of the country for himself.
The real forces to contend were the villains who weren’t subject to American—or even Earthly—laws. The Mandarin, a Chinese would-be world conqueror and direct descendant of Genghis Khan, wore ten alien rings of power on his fingers that he used to battle Iron Man several times over the course of 1964 (Tales of Suspense #50, #54-55, and #61-62, all by Lee and Heck).
Up to this point, Lee and Kirby had avoided having the villain captured by sending him to his seeming death in a variety of scenarios. Now, though, they had a simpler, modern solution: As a head of state, Doom couldn’t be arrested because he had diplomatic immunity.
A Lee-Ditko Strange Tales two-parter in issues #126127 introduced the Dread Dormammu, the all-powerful flame-headed ruler of another dimension who was poised to attack Earth. In the course of a preemptive strike by
The revelations changed Doctor Doom as fundamentally as DC’s own recent revamp of Brainiac had done. From that
Bring on the bad guys: The Mandarin (art by Don Heck), Dormammu (art by Steve Ditko), and Dr. Doom (art by Jack Kirby and Sol Brodsky). Iron Man, the Mandarin, Dr. Strange, Dormammu, Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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point forward, the character was defined less as a mad scientist than as a political figure with all the entanglements that entailed. While he (literally) ruled with an iron fist, Doctor Doom did genuinely care for the people of Latveria and that added a complexity to his character that hadn’t previously existed. Those shades of gray were also present in Fantastic Four #32’s “Death of a Hero.” The tear-jerker detailed the tragic story of the Invisible Girl and Human Torch’s father, whose downward spiral following his wife’s death culminated in a prison term. Impersonating Franklin Storm, the SuperSkrull took the persona of the Invincible Man in the hope of inflicting personal pain on the Fantastic Four beyond anything physical he could throw at them. Though his masquerade was exposed, the villain still succeeded after a fashion when the real Dr. Storm shielded the team from a death-ray strapped to his chest. In sacrificing his life, he assured his children, he’d regained a measure of pride. Such tragedy was woven into the very fabric of Lee and Ditko’s Amazing Spider-Man. In the midst of a gunfight in issue #11 (April 1964), for instance, Betty Brant’s troubled brother Bennett was fatally shot. In a state of shock, the young woman blamed Spider-Man for interfering and unknowingly complicated her budding romance with Peter Parker. Noting reader complaints about the attraction between teenage Peter and an older “working girl,” Ditko had suggested resolving the matter by having Betty perish as well. His collaborator rejected the idea, Ditko explained: Stan rightly believed that [Betty’s] death would cast a negative pall over [Peter and Spider-Man]. They would lose their light-hearted approach to [J. Jonah Jameson], to action, to life. The nature of [Spider-Man] was a light-hearted form of entertainment, [Peter’s] problems were of no real crises. [He] held his own with his classmates, won more times than he lost with the feuding JJJ, and Aunt May was a source of courage and inspiration, living with health problems and the lone responsibility of bringing up her nephew. Whatever the problems with [Peter and Spider-Man], the feature wasn’t a downer. (Ditko, “A Mini-History 8” 9)
Publisher J. Jonah Jameson exulted in Spider-Man’s public disgrace (Amazing Spider-Man #18). Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
the Green Goblin. Branded a coward by the Daily Bugle’s gloating J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker spent the entirety of Spider-Man #18 debating whether he shouldn’t just ditch his costume altogether. Ironically, it was an unwitting Aunt May who set him straight. Frustrated with her nephew for babying her, she snapped: “Even though I’m an old woman, I’m not a quitter! A person needs gumption… the will to live…to fight… You mustn’t worry about me so much, Peter dear. We Parkers are tougher than people think.”
Still, the issue of Spider-Man’s escalating stress culminated in issue #17 when, upon hearing that Aunt May had suffered a heart attack, he fled in the midst of a battle with
The lecture—and a good report from May’s doctor—was enough to convince SpiderMan to return with a vengeance in issue #19. J. Jonah Jameson didn’t take the news well. Meanwhile, Bugle reporter Ned Leeds emerged as a prospective suitor for Betty Brant in the hope of defusing the older woman/younger man controversy.
Steve Ditko began exaggerating Jameson’s facial expressions after Stan Lee asked him to tone them down. J. Jonah Jameson TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
The trilogy was, in part, a strong testimony to both May and Jameson’s roles in the series. Steve Ditko noted that Stan Lee was increasingly being influenced by reader reaction to the two of them. Peter’s aunt, many complained, was “too old, too frail
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The mysterious Green Goblin worked out with a replica of his nemesis in Amazing Spider-Man #17. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Likewise, based on fan complaints that Jameson was too mean to Spidey and that his facial features were too exaggerated, Lee suggested that Ditko tone things down. From the artist’s perspective, the Bugle editor was a modern Great Gildersleeve, the comical nemesis with an obnoxious laugh from the old Fibber McGee and Molly radio and TV series. Listeners had complained about him, too, to the point of sending bars of soap to wash his mouth out. As Ditko pointed out, though, he was a character that they loved to hate. “To see JJJ is to have the pleasure of reacting against him,” the creator declared. “When I was doing issue #18 (1964), I deliberately drew the ugliest smile on JJJ that I could conceive on the splash page. All through the story I added bits, sequences, playing up JJJ’s facial features as much as I could” (Ditko, “A MiniHistory 10” 33, 38, 40).
Lee and Ditko jammed Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 with enough memorable content to earn it an award as Best Giant Comic. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
and, especially, too ugly.” Lee suggested giving May a glamorous new look or, when his collaborator rejected the idea, having her “die a natural death” after which Peter would get a full time job at the Daily Bugle. Ditko “said something to the effect of ‘…like Clark Kent at the Daily Planet?’” His point was made. The plot development would leave the character “a rank imitation, a copycat version, a Brand Echh idea. And this coming from the House of Ideas?” (Ditko, “A Mini-History 9” 25, 30).
By the time Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 went on sale in June 1964, the series had developed enough adversaries that Lee and Ditko were able to unite the standouts as the Sinister Six. Recent creations Electro (ASM #9), Mysterio (ASM #13), and Kraven the Hunter (ASM #15) joined the relatively older Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and Vulture in the 41-page story. (The lead along with 31 pages of special features—including the comical “How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man”—won the issue an Alley Award for Best Giant Comic.) Absent among the Sinister Six was a newcomer called the Green Goblin. Wearing a lime-green face mask with pointy ears and a purple stocking cap, the bizarre villain rode a bat-glider, hurled pumpkin bombs, and had a particular desire to kill Spider-Man and seize control of New York City’s crime families. According to Ditko, Lee’s original plot involved “a movie crew, on location, finding an Egyptian-like sarcophagus. Inside was an ancient, mythological demon, the Green Goblin,” who came to life. Ditko, in keeping with
Aunt May set Peter Parker straight near the climax of Amazing Spider-Man #18. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Spider-Man was distinctively agile and wiry in the hands of original artist and co-creator Steve Ditko, as seen in these pages from The Amazing Spider-Man #10 (March 1964). The web-slinger’s conflict with the Big Man and the Enforcers also advanced a subplot involving Peter Parker’s romance with Betty Brant and culminated with a bit of soul-searching by Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, who admitted to himself that his vendetta against Spider-Man was rooted in jealousy. Original art scans courtesy Heritage Auctions. Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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his belief that mythological and supernatural beings didn’t fit the tone of the series, countered with his more downto-earth costumed criminal but added an air of mystique by hiding his true facial features and keeping his identity a secret even from readers (Ditko, “A MiniHistory 1” 51).
28), Lee declared in FF #26 that Marvel would “award no prizes. If there are no winners, then nobody can lose!” (Eventually, the company began sending literal No-Prizes to select fans that were grandiose—but empty—envelopes.) To that point, the editor had also been selective with letter columns, including them only in favored titles like Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man. By the final 1964-dated issues, though, every title carried a page of letters and fans happily sent in more than enough mail to fill them.
The Future Is Ours
Marvel’s growing popularity was no secret but Lee’s canny marketing skills created the feeling that it was an exclusive club whose members were cooler and hipper than everyone else. In the The incredible reaction Marvel was letter column of Fantastic Four #33 getting was in defiance of industry (December 1964), the writer-editor trends as a whole. Major players like DC announced there would be a literal fan and Archie were holding steady despite club, the Merry Marvel Marching Socithe price increase of a standard comic ety. The $1 membership fee brought an book to 12¢. The separate fortunes of assortment of goodies including a letter Dell and Gold Key, however, were a far of welcome, a metal pin-on membership A short feature in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 cry from what they’d seen as a united badge, a supply of “The M.M.M.S. wants included a rare self-portrait by Steve Ditko. one-time industry leader. Uncle Scrooge, Spider-Man TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. you!” stickers featuring the Thing, and the most successful U.S. comic book in a plastic “Voices of Marvel” record along 1960 with an average of 1,040,543 copies sold per issue, was with an eventual acknowledgment of each new member down to 336,380 by 1964 (Miller). Marvel was another story on one of the line’s letter pages. Lee’s secretary Flo Steinentirely. Based on one researcher’s findings, the company’s berg recalled the response: average monthly sales were approximately 2,690,237 copies in 1960. As of 1964, the monthly average was 4,612,986 Bags and bags of mail would come in and we would (Tolworthy). And it would only go up from there. open them up, and—this was before computers— we had to write down everybody’s name and make “If you were to draw a graph showing the various compalabels for each one, and pull out all these hundreds nies’ quality,” Carl Gafford told American Comic Book of dollar bills. We were throwing them at each Chronicles, “DC reached its heights by the end of 1963, and other there were so many! (Cooke, “Absolutely almost immediately in 1964 began a decline (in large part, Fabulous” 18B) in my humble opinion, because of the ripple effect from the ‘New Look Batman’), while Marvel—having finally placed Disdainful of Julius Schwartz’s supposed “bribing” of fans super-heroes in all their spook books, and with the first FF to write letters by offering original artwork (Castronuovo
Full-page ads gave fans a preview of the latest Marvel comic books. Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, et al. TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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his own attempt on July 27, setting his New York Comicon on a Monday in the hope that local pros might be more likely to attend. In fact, two creators—Steve Ditko and Gold Key artist Tom Gill—along with Flo Steinberg and Marvel summer intern Dave Twedt did make appearances. Their presence, along with original art that DC’s Murray Boltinoff and Julius Schwartz sent for use as door prizes, elevated what might otherwise have been another swap-meet. “Despite the fact that the prior Detroit mini-con may have outdrawn and outlasted the New York event,” Bill Schelly wrote, “the 1964 New York Comicon has traditionally been considered the Among the comics plugged in Marvel’s house ads was Marvel Tales Annual #1, reprinting the first real comicon, perhaps origins of Spider-Man, the Hulk, and company. Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, et al. TM and © Marvel Characters, Inc. because of the presence of three representatives from Marvel, and the number of Annual and Spidey’s ascendancy—began rising in quality. well-known fans and dealers in attendance” (Schelly, The They intersect by the end of 1963, and Marvel continues to Golden Age of Comic Fandom 71-74). climb in 1964 with the return of the real Captain America The general public’s opinion of comic books hadn’t and the ‘split-books’ with two features per title.” changed one iota in five years, but the passion and enthuMeanwhile, the small but mighty comic book fan movesiasm of organized fandom had begun to make an impact ment continued to chart milestones. In October 1964, Jerry on how some of the industry’s creators perceived their own Bails mailed out the first edition of work. Stan Lee’s comments in the CAPA-Alpha #1. It was what was letter column of Fantastic Four #24 known as an amateur press asso(March 1964) can be seen as both ciation (apa) wherein multiple a thank you for that support and a fans assembled and published call to arms: their own fanzines and delivered Many readers say they don’t them to a central mailer (Bails, like referring to our mags as in this case) who would then ‘comic’ mags. We understand collate and redistribute them to their feeling, but we must all the contributors. The concept disagree! It is our intention, was well-established in other here at Marvel, to produce genres but CAPA-Alpha was the comics which are so wellfirst devoted to comic books. The written and well-drawn, that apazine, which boasted contrithey’ll elevate the entire field butions from scores of fans and in the minds of the public! future pros, outlived thousands After all, comic magazines are of comic book titles—and Bails an art form, as creative and himself—and continues to be enjoyable as any other! It is up mailed out monthly more than a to us, the producers, and you, st decade into the 21 Century. the fans to make comics someThat previous spring and summer, thing to be proud of. a few young fans made efforts to It was a mission statement that set up comic book conventions. Marvel would take to the bank in On May 24, teenagers Dave Szurek the latter half of the 1960s. Alfred and Bob Brosch organized a show E. Neuman could afford to say, at Detroit’s Hotel Tuller that local “What, me worry?” As for the rest collector Shel Dorf later described Jerry Bails’ cover for CAPA-Alpha #1 previewed DC’s Dr. Fate/Hourman of the comic book industry, they’d team-up that was scheduled to appear in January 1965’s Showcase #55. as “more of a little swap-meet.” Dr. Fate, Hourman, Solomon Grundy TM and © DC Comics. just been put on notice. 16-year-old Bernie Bubnis made 213
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American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64 Works Cited Chapter One: 1960 Pride and Prejudice Anderson, Murphy with Harvey, R.C. The Life and Art of Murphy Anderson. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003. Arnold, Mark. “A Family Affair: The Harvey Comics Story.” Comic Book Artist (No. 19). July, 2002: 18-38. Benson, John. “Strange Things Went on In Those Days.” Alter Ego (No. 89). October 2009: 41-55. Blum, Geoffrey. “Letters From the Duck Man, Part One: First Contact.” The Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories In Color (No. 4). April 1992: 3-6. Calhoun, Pat S. “Paul S. Newman, The Sultan of Scripts.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 43). January, 1997: 16-22. Cooke, Jon B. “The Action Hero Man.” Comic Book Artist (No. 9). August, 2000: 30-51, 109. Cooke, Jon B. “Jack Keller On Wheels.” Comic Book Artist (No. 12). March, 2001: 78-83.
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Jacobs, Frank. The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1972.
Gafford, Carl. This Month In the Comics - 1960. 2010. “Ghost Writers In the Sky.” Alter-Ego (No. 20). January, 2003: 9-29.
Jones, Gerard. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book. New York, New York: Basic Books, 2004.
Gill, Joe. “Captain Atom.” Robin Snyder’s History of the Comics (Vol. 3, No. 2). February, 1992: 31. Gill, Joe. “An Editorial.” Robin Snyder’s History of the Comics (Vol. 1, No. 1). January, 1990: 3. Groth, Gary. “An Interview With the Man Who Brought Truth to the Comics: Harvey Kurtzman.” The Comics Journal (No. 67). October, 1981: 68-99. Gruenwald, Mark. “Interview With JLA Editor Julius Schwartz.” The Amazing World of DC Comics (No. 14). March, 1977: 34-36. Infantino, Carmine with J. David Spurlock. The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino. Lebanon, New Jersey: Vanguard Productions, 2000.
Lage, Matt. “Legion Lowdown: Mort Weisinger.” The Legion Outpost (No. 9). 1975: 15-18. Miller, John Jackson. “1960 Comic Book Sales Figures.” The Comics Chronicles. <http://www.comichron. com/yearlycomicssales/1960s/1960. html> Murphy, Matt. The Comics! (Vol. 16, No. 3). March, 2005: 18. Murray, Will. “Journey Into Strange Tales of Suspense To Astonish.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 72). October 1999: 22-27, 52-60. Murray, Will. “Three Easy Pieces Starring Julius Schwartz.” Alter Ego (No. 38). July 2004: 9-29.
Cooke, Jon B. and Christopher Irving. “The Charlton Empire: A Brief History of the Derby, Connecticut Publisher.” Comic Book Artist (No. 9). August, 2000: 14-21. DeFalco, Tom. “1960: When the Decade Dawned.” Marvel Chronicle: A Year By Year History. New York, New York: DK Publishing, 2008: 78-79. Ditko, Steve. “First Choice.” Robin Snyder’s History of the Comics (Vol. 3, No. 2). February, 1992: 31. Ditko, Steve. “An Insider’s Part of
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Province, John. “Excavating Bedrock.” Hogan’s Alley (No. 9). 2001: 84-96. Schelly, Bill. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. Seattle, Washington: Hamster Press, 1995.
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Blum, Geoffrey. “The Meaning of Magica.” Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge Adventures In Color (No. 39). February 3, 1998: 22-24.
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Chapter Two: 1961 The Shape of Things To Come Amash, Jim. “I Got To Realize My Dream.” Alter Ego (No. 37). June, 2004: 4-27. Barks, Carl and Edward Summer, (editor). Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times. Millbrae, California: Celestial Arts, 1981. Thomas, Roy. “Splitting the Atom.” Alter Ego (No. 2). August, 1999: 4-14.
Chase, Sam. “Television.” The World Book Year Book: 1962. Chicago, Illinois: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1962: 360. Forro, Lewis. “Pioneering Comic Dealer Robert Bell.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 36). June, 1996: 5261. Gafford, Carl. This Month In the Comics - 1961. 2010. Heer, Jeet. “Crane’s Great Gamble.” Buz Sawyer: The War In the Pacific. Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics Books, 2011: v-xv.
Thomas, Roy. “The Alter Ego Story” Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine. Seattle, Washington: Hamster Press, 1997: 11-15. Uslan, Michael. “Re:.” Alter Ego (No. 35). December, 2004: 41-44. Voiles, Mike. “The Newsstand: A Time Machine For Multiple Publishers.” Mike’s Amazing World of DC. <http:// www.dcindexes.com/newsstand/> Ward, Murray R. “Hanna-Barbera’s Odd Format Comics of 1961-1962” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 83). November, 2000: 52-55.
Hill, Roger. “John Rosenberger…The Jaguar of the Comics.” Alter Ego (No. 23). April, 2003: 21-41. Lee, Stan. Origins of Marvel Comics. New York, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1974. Miller, John Jackson. “1961 Comic Book Sales Figures.” The Comics Chronicles. <http://www.comichron. com/yearlycomicssales/1960s/1961. html> Prohías, Antonio. Spy Vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook. New York, New York: Watson-Guptil Publications, 2001. TM and © Classic Media, LLC.
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Chapter Three: 1962 Gains and Losses
Schreiner, David. “The Gnawing Truth Behind Satire.” Goodman Beaver. Princeton, Wisconsin: Kitchen Sink Press, 1984.
Amash, Jim. “The Goldberg Variations.” Alter Ego (No. 18). October 2002: 4-30.
Schwartz, Ben. “Jack Kirby Interview.” The Jack Kirby Collector (No. 23). February 1999: 19-33.
Bart, Peter. “Publishing.” The World Book Year Book: 1963. Chicago, Illinois: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1962: 426-427.
Simon, Joe with Jim Simon. The Comic Book Makers. New York, New York: Crestwood/ II Publications, 1990. Snyder, Robin. “The Golden Age Gladiator: Robert Kanigher.” The Comics Journal (No. 85). October 1983: 51-85.
Bart, Peter. “Superman Faces New Hurdles.” The New York Times. September 23, 1962: 166. Blumberg, Arnold. “Marvel’s Mystery Man…Larry Lieber, Part II: Superheroes and Six-Guns.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 73). November 1999: 48-53. Boltinoff, Murray. “The Tomahawk Story (3rd in a series).” Robin Snyder’s History of Comics (Vol. 2, No. 7). July 1991: 73. Brown, Gary. “The Adventurous Career of…Bob Bolling.” Comic Book Artist (Vol. 2, No. 3). March 2004: 5263. Ditko, Steve. “An Insider’s Part of Comics History: Jack Kirby’s SpiderMan.” Robin Snyder’s History of Comics (Vol. 1, No. 5). May 1990: 3336. Evanier, Mark. Kirby: King of Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2008. Evanier, Mark. “Western Goes West.” Comic Book Artist (No. 22). October 2002: 80-87. Fingerworth, Danny and Roy Thomas. “Tell It To the Doctor.” The Stan Lee Universe. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2011. Gafford, Carl. This Month In the Comics - 1961. 2010. Gerstein, David. “Disney Comics: Back To Long Ago” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 103). June 2003: 3455.
Stevenson, Dan. Year By Year Title Listing. 2003. TM and © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.
Jacobs, Frank. The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1972. Lee, Stan. Origins of Marvel Comics. New York, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1974. Miller, John Jackson. “1962 Comic Book Sales Figures.” The Comics Chronicles. <http://www.comichron. com/yearlycomicssales/1960s/1962. html> Murray, Will. “Amazing Fantasy No. 16: The Untold Secret Origin of SpiderMan” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 44). February 1997: 18-24.
Theakston, Greg. “The Birth of Marvel Comics.” Pure Images (No. 2). January 1990: 2-16, 25-40. Thomas, Roy. “Stan Made Up the Plot…And I’d Write the Script.” Alter Ego (No. 2). Autumn 1999: 18-31. Voiles, Mike. “The Newsstand: A Time Machine For Multiple Publishers.” Mike’s Amazing World of DC. <http:// www.dcindexes.com/newsstand/> Ward, Murray R. “Hanna-Barbera’s Odd Format Comics of 1961-1962” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 83). November 2000: 52-55. Willits, Malcolm. “George Sherman” Vanguard 1968. 1968: 31-33.
Murray, Will. “Who Redesigned the Ant-Man?” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 81). September 2000: 26.
Witterstaetter, Renee. “Julius Schwartz.” David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview (No. 88). 1990: 3147.
Nolan, Michelle. “Days of Comic Book Chaos.” Comic Book Artist (No. 22). October 2002: 12-13.
Chapter Four: 1963 Triumph and Tragedy
Schelly, Bill. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. Seattle, Washington: Hamster Press, 1995. Schiff, Jack and Gene Reed. “Reminiscences of a Comic Book Editor” The Comic Book Price Guide (No. 13). 1983: A64-A70.
Alexander, Mark. “Wah-Hoo!.” The Jack Kirby Collector (No. 24). April 1999: 20-23. Amash, Jim. “The Goldberg Variations.” Alter Ego (No. 18). October 2002: 4-30.
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Barr, Mike W. “Batman In Outer Space.” Batman Unauthorized. Dallas, Texas: Benbella Books, Inc., 2008: 127-136. Bourne, Mike. “Stan Lee: The Marvel Bard.” The Stan Lee Universe. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2011: 97-102. Brevoort, Tom. April 9, 2011: < http:// www.formspring.me/TomBrevoort /q/180312428897141454> Brodsky, Bob. “Stan the Man Lee: Maestro of the Marvel Mythos.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 61). July 1998: 28-36, 45-54. Brown, Gary. “The Adventurous Career of…Bob Bolling.” Comic Book Artist (Vol. 2, No. 3). March 2004: 5263. Brown, Gary. “My Adventures With Little Archie.” Comic Book Artist (Vol. 2, No. 3). March 2004: 49-51. Catron, Michael. “The Bob Haney Interview, Part Two.” The Comics Journal (No. 278). October 2006: 169185. Cosgrove, Bob. “Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D.” Comic Crusader (No. 16). 1974: 12-21. Curtis, Mike. “Dan DeCarlo.” The Comics Journal (No. 229). December 2000: 32-49.
Ditko, Steve. “A Mini-History 4: The Amazing Spider-Man #2.” The Comics (Vol. 13, No. 1). January 2002: 1, 8. Ditko, Steve. “A Mini-History 6: Spider-woman/Spider-girl.” The Comics (Vol. 13, No. 5). May 2002: 33, 38, 40. Drake, Arnold. “Foreword.” The Doom Patrol Archives (No. 1) . New York, New York: DC Comics, 2002: 5-6. Evanier, Mark. Kirby: King of Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2008. Gafford, Carl. This Month In the Comics - 1963. 2010. Gruenwald, Mark. “Interview With JLA Editor Julius Schwartz.” The Amazing World of DC Comics (No. 14). March 1977: 34-36. Harris, William. [Untitled letter.] The Comic Reader (No. 16). February 23, 1963: 1. Howell, Richard. “An Interview With Don Heck.” Comics Feature (No. 21). November 1982: 30-43. Jacobs, Frank. The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1972. Lee, Stan. Son of Origins of Marvel Comics. New York, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1975.
Daniels, Les. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, 1991.
Levitz, Paul. “The Really Last Word.” Comics Buyer’s Guide (No. 1477). March 8, 2002: 8.
Danzig, Glenn and Mike Thibodeaux. “Jack Kirby Interview.” The Jack Kirby Collector (No. 22). December 1998: 17-21.
Lillian, Guy H., III. “Mort Weisinger: The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Superman.” The Amazing World of DC Comics (No. 7). July-August 1975: 2-8.
DeFalco, Tom. “1963: The Marvel Age of Comics.” Marvel Chronicle: A Year By Year History. New York, New York: DK Publishing, 2008: 90-95.
Manning, Russell G. “The Origin of Magnus, Robot Fighter.” The Comic Reader (No. 28). August 1964: 15-16.
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Mozzer, John. “Interview With Jack Keller.” Monitor (No. 1). 1973: 9-14. Murray, Will. “The Iron Man Mystery.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 72). October 1999: 24. Murray, Will. “The Legendary Carmine Infantino.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 75). January 2000: 34-48, 96. Murray, Will. “Iron Man: The Armor Wars of 1963.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 81). September 2000: 22-27. Murray, Will. “The Secret Origin of Magnus, Robot Fighter.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 83). November 2000: 28-36. Murray, Will. “Robot Dawn.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 118). December 2004: 54-63. Peel, John. “A Signing Session With Don Heck.” Comics Feature (No. 34). March-April 1985: 17-18, 60-61. Penman, Ian C. “Interview: Lee Elias.” Armageddon (No. 3). 1971: 8-20. Raphael, Jordan and Tom Spurgeon. Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated, 2003.
Meglin, Nick. “A Mad Look at Sergio Aragonés.” Mad’s Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragonés.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press Book Publishers, 2010: 9-14. TM and © Dark Horse Comics, Inc.
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Cooke, Jon B. “Absolutely Fabulous.” Comic Book Artist (No. 18). February 2002: 8B-18B. Ditko, Steve. “A Mini-History 1: The Green Goblin.” The Comics (Vol. 12, No. 7). July 2001: 51, 56, 58.
TM and © Classic Media, LLC.
Reed, Gene and Mike Tiefenbacher. “A Conversation With Arnold Drake.” The Comic Reader (No. 192). July 1981: 54-62. Ridout, Cefn and Richard Ashford. “Interview With John Romita.” The Art of John Romita. New York, New York: Marvel Comics, 1996: 7-66. Sanderson, Peter. “Interview With Chris Claremont (Part Two).” The X-Men Companion II. Stamford, Connecticut: Fantagraphics Books, 1982: 18-51. Schiff, Jack and Gene Reed. “Reminiscences of a Comic Book Editor” The Comic Book Price Guide (No. 13). 1983: A64-A70. Simon, Joe with Jim Simon. The Comic Book Makers. New York, New York: Crestwood/ II Publications, 1990. Svensson, Marc. “My Greatest Adventures.” Alter Ego (No. 17). September 2002: 3-20. Voger, Mark. Hero Gets Girl!: The Life and Art of Kurt Schaffenberger. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003.
Chapter Five: 1964 Don’t Get Comfortable Amash, Jim. “It Was a Daily Identity Crisis.” Alter Ego (No. 69). June 2007: 32-53. Amash, Jim. “Sales Don’t Tell You Everything.” Alter Ego (No. 94). June 2010: 42-61.
Amash, Jim. “The Joe Gill Interview.” Charlton Spotlight (No. 5). Fall 2006: 2-25. Amash, Jim with Eric NolenWeathington. Carmine Infantino: Penciler. Publisher. Provocateur. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2011. Barr, Mike W. “I Am Having Immense Fun.” The Amazing World of DC Comics (No. 17). April 1978: 11-15. Blanchard, Dave. “Getting Serious About Comedy: An Interview With Arnold Drake.” Hogan’s Alley (No. 13). 2005: 95-96. Brevoort, Tom. April 9, 2011. < http:// www.formspring.me/TomBrevoort /q/180312428897141454> Calhoun, Pat S. “Voice of Wonder: Julius Schwartz, Part II.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 51). September 1997: 62-65. Castronuovo, David. “In-Person Interview With Stan Lee.” Alter Ego (No. 13). March 2002: 26-29. Catron, Michael. “The Bob Haney Interview, Part Two.” The Comics Journal (No. 278). October 2006: 169185. Cooke, Jon B. “Someone Has To Make It Happen.” Comic Book Artist (No. 4). Spring 1999: 14-43. Cooke, Jon B. “The Action Hero Man.” Comic Book Artist (No. 9). August 2000: 30-51, 109.
Ditko, Steve. “A Mini-History 8: Others, Outsiders (OOs): Complainers and Complaints Against Betty Brant.” The Comics (Vol. 14, No. 2). February 2003: 9, 16. Ditko, Steve. “A Mini-History 9: The OOs and Aunt May.” The Comics (Vol. 14, No. 4). April 2003: 25, 30, 32. Ditko, Steve. “A Mini-History 10: The OOs and JJJ.” The Comics (Vol. 14, No. 5). May 2003: 33, 38, 40. Eury, Michael. “The Man Who Redesigned Batman.” The Batcave Companion. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2009: 15-27. Eury, Michael. “Cary Bates Interview.” The Krypton Companion. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2006: 94-98. Evanier, Mark. Kirby: King of Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2008. Evanier, Mark with Robert Beerbohm and Julius Schwartz. “There’s A Lot of Myth Out There.” Alter Ego (No. 26). July 2003: 3-28. Feather, Leonard G. “Recordings.” The World Book Year Book: 1965. Chicago, Illinois: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1965: 480-1. Goodwin, Archie. “The Black & White World of Warren Publications.” Comic Book Artist (No. 9). August 2000: 8-11. Haney, Bob. “Full of Merde.” The Comics Journal (No. 50). October 1979: 21-2. Howell, Richard and Carol Kalish. “An Interview With Cary Bates.” Comics Feature (No. 8). January 1981: 24-33.
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Howle, Jimmy. “Sailors Like Florence Cartoonist, New Character Idea.” Florence Morning News. November 1, 1963: 1. Infantino, Carmine with J. David Spurlock. The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino. Lebanon, New Jersey: Vanguard Productions, 2000. Irving, Christopher. “Joe ‘Mr. Prolific’ Gill.” Comic Book Artist (No. 9). August 2000: 22-24. Irving, Christopher. Blue Beetle Companion: His Many Lives From 1939 to Today. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2007. Jacobs, Frank. The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1972. Jaffee, Al. Mad: Fold This Book! New York, New York: Warner Books, 1997. Jones, Russ. “Creepy and Eerie Confidential.” Monster Mania 13. < http://popfiction.com/hotad/html/ monstermania/creepy/index.html> Lackey, Bill. “Sad Sack’s Adopted Father Gives Birth to New Comic.” Florence Morning News. August 9, 1964: 5A, 7A. Lee, Stan. Son of Origins of Marvel Comics. New York, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1975.
Main Event, The. “Did 1964 Treasure Chest Foresee 2008 Presidential Candidate?” Scoop. October 24, 2008. <http://scoop.diamondgalleries. com/Home/4/1/73/1023?article ID=76058> Manning, Russ. “Dell To the Rescue.” Wonderworld (No. 9). 1973: 14-15. Matheny, Bill. “Sid’s Kids: The Harvey Years.” Comic Book Artist (No. 19). June 2002: 40-55, 79. Miller, John Jackson. “1960 Comic Book Sales Figures.” The Comics Chronicles. <http://www.comichron. com/yearlycomicssales/1960s/1960. html> Miller, John Jackson. “1964 Comic Book Sales Figures.” The Comics Chronicles. <http://www.comichron. com/yearlycomicssales/1960s/1964. html>
Schiff, Jack and Gene Reed. “Reminiscences of a Comic Book Editor.” The Comic Book Price Guide (No. 13). 1983: A64-A70. Schwartz, Julius with M. Thomsen. Man of Two Worlds: My Life In Science Fiction and Comics. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2000. Smith, Bruce. The History of Little Orphan Annie. New York, New York: Ballantine Books, June 1982. Stalker, John N. “Vietnam.” The World Book Year Book: 1965. Chicago, Illinois: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1965: 537-540. Thomas, Roy. “Everett On Everett.” Alter Ego (No. 11). 1978: 10-31.
Morrissey, Richard. “Interview: Gardner Fox.” Amazing Heroes (No. 113). March 15, 1987: 41-49.
Thomas, Roy. “Bill Everett: The Ancient Sub-Mariner.” Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine. Seattle, Washington: Hamster Press, 1997: 181.
Murray, Will. “An Interview With Chuck ‘Blackhawk’ Cuidera.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 68). May 1999: 16-19, 50-53.
Tolworthy, Chris. “Marvel and DC Sales Figures.” Enter The Story. 10 Feb. 2009. <http://www.enterthestory. com/comic_sales.html>
Murray, Will. “The Legendary Carmine Infantino.” Comic Book Marketplace (No. 75). January 2000: 34-48, 96.
Vance, Michael. “Forbidden Adventures: The History of the American Comics Group.” Alter Ego (No. 61). August 2006: 3-73.
O‘Connell, Margaret. “With One Magic Word…A Talk With E. Nelson Bridwell.” Comics Feature (No. 10). July 1981: 56-60.
Voger, Mark. “DC’s Silver Age Front Line.” Comics Scene Spectacular (No. 7). September 1992: 43-51.
Penman, Ian C. “Interview: Lee Elias.” Armageddon (No. 3). 1971: 8-20.
Wardle, Paul. “An Interview With George Evans.” The Comics Journal (No. 177). May 1995: 57-75.
Saba, Arn. “There’s a Beginning and a Middle and an End: A Talk With Russ Manning.” The Comics Journal (No. 203). April 1998: 57-73. Schelly, Bill. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. Seattle, Washington: Hamster Press, 1995. Schelly, Bill. Words of Wonder: The Life and Times of Otto Binder. Seattle, Washington: Hamster Press, 2003.
Warren, Jim. “Jim Warren.” Comic Book Profiles Presents Archie Goodwin. Summer 1999: 18. Wheaton, Sarah. “Foreshadowing a Political First.” November 4, 2008. < http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes. com/2008/11/04/foreshadowing-apolitical-first/>
TM and © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64 Index Action Comics 4, 17, 24, 43, 55-56, 61, 97-98, 117-118, 158, 163, 166, 173, 175-177, 183, 206
Boltinoff, Murray 100-101, 121, 128-130, 177-178, 180182, 213
Adams, Neal 10, 29, 77, 111-112
Brave and the Bold 11, 16, 18-20, 22, 38, 58, 62, 64, 92, 9697, 110, 117, 127, 162-163, 171, 177-178
Adam Strange 6, 10, 18, 66, 76, 94, 113, 127, 167, 171
Bridwell, E. Nelson 120, 159, 173-174, 176
Adventure Comics 16-17, 19, 24-25, 54-55, 64, 77, 84, 97, 99, 120-121, 158, 174, 183
Broome, John 20-21, 60, 61, 93, 95-97, 113, 125, 162, 168, 171, 173
Adventures of the Fly 28-29, 49, 69, 88, 109, 144, 185 Adventures of the Jaguar 69, 109, 144
Captain America 28, 31, 47, 78, 142-143, 162, 200, 204205, 213
Alter-Ego 67, 101, 143, 153 Amazing Fantasy 76, 86, 89-91, 130
Captain Atom 29-31, 42, 54, 71, 104, 131
American Comics Group (ACG) 38, 50, 71-72, 74, 91, 111, 124, 143, 157, 165, 194-195
Cardy, Nick 64, 100, 121-122, 183
Anderson, Murphy 9, 18, 20, 60, 62, 94, 96, 113, 125, 127, 171-173
Charlton Comics 5, 23, 29-31, 38, 42, 49-50, 54, 71, 74, 104, 111, 131, 146-147, 156, 162, 165, 185-189, 194
Andru, Ross 21, 39, 65-6, 76, 92-93, 124, 157
Craig, Chase 105, 149, 152
Ant-Man 43, 76, 90, 116, 122, 133, 137-138, 140-141
Creepy 162-163, 197, 198, 199
Aquaman 9-11, 16-19, 56, 64, 96, 99-100, 121-122, 162163, 174, 179, 183, 184
Daredevil 162, 201-204
Aragonés, Sergio 114
DC Comics 4-6, 9-10, 12, 15-27, 29-31, 38-39, 41-44, 46, 54-67, 73-74, 76, 92-103, 109, 115-130, 157-159, 162, 167-187, 196, 213
Archie Comics 28, 68, 77, 87, 108, 110, 144, 185 Atlas Comics. See Marvel Comics
DeCarlo, Dan 9, 46, 77, 109, 133, 145-146
Atom 29-31, 42-43, 54, 58-59, 60, 62, 71, 76-77, 90, 96, 104, 125, 127, 131, 140, 153, 172
Dell Comics 8-10, 13-15, 18, 23, 29, 35, 38, 49-54, 56, 71, 73-74, 77, 86, 100, 103-104, 106-108, 110-111, 147, 154, 156, 165-166, 190-191, 194, 197, 212
Avengers 6, 116-117, 141-142, 162, 200-201, 203, 204-207 Ayers, Dick 32-33, 45, 82, 90, 133, 137, 141, 201, 204
Detective Comics 15-16, 56, 99, 122-123, 162, 167-168, 171-172
Bails, Jerry 38, 58-61, 67, 78, 101, 137, 153, 200, 213
Dick Tracy 10-11, 35, 73, 77, 116-117, 163, 166-167
Barks, Carl 6, 14-15, 23, 39, 49, 51-52, 104-105, 154, 191192
Ditko, Steve 30-33, 48, 71, 76, 86-91, 130-132, 134-135, 137-139, 187, 203, 205, 207-210, 212-213
Bates, Cary 175-176
Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom 76-77, 104-105, 148, 153
Batman 16-17, 22, 24, 26, 28, 38, 42, 64-67, 95, 99-100, 109, 122-124, 127-128, 158, 162, 167-175, 177, 179, 181, 212
Donenfeld, Harry 17-18, 47, 54, 92, 96-97, 100, 167, 170 Doom Patrol 116, 129-130, 140, 179-182, 206 Dorfman, Leo 98, 119, 176
Beatles 11, 146, 162, 164-165, 168, 194-195
Doyle, Frank 110, 145-146
Bernstein, Robert 24, 28, 54-55, 64, 69, 109, 135, 142, 144, 185
Drake, Arnold 99, 129-130, 140, 179, 181-182, 207 Dr. Strange 116, 138, 207
Binder, Otto 24, 54-55, 61, 175, 190 Blue Beetle 157, 162, 185, 186, 187 Bolling, Bob 28-29, 69, 110, 144-5
Elias, Lee 99, 111, 115, 128, 171
Bolle, Frank 153
Elongated Man 20, 48, 60, 96, 167, 172, 184 Esposito, Mike 21, 39, 65-66, 76, 124, 157 220
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Everett, Bill 141, 202-203
Kane, Bob 66, 167-170, 181
Fantastic Four 6, 42-43, 46,-49, 54, 74-80, 82-84, 89, 91, 105, 130, 132-134, 136-137, 139-141, 153, 201, 205208, 212-213
Kane, Gil 18, 20, 59-60, 62, 95-96, 107, 125, 127, 172
Finger, Bill 26, 66, 109, 122-123, 159, 167, 169-170
Kashdan, George 100, 121, 177-179, 181, 183
Flash 16-22, 24, 38, 42-43, 49, 58-61, 64, 66, 73, 79, 86, 93-96, 105, 116, 125-127, 132, 153, 162, 167, 172-173, 177-178, 184, 196, 202
Keller, Jack 30, 146-147
Kanigher, Robert 19, 21, 38, 44, 58, 65, 76, 92-93, 95, 100, 124-125, 128, 161, 181-183
Kennedy, John F. 11, 39, 42, 107, 117, 143, 157-159, 161, 163, 183, 193-194
Fox, Gardner 4, 11, 16, 20, 38, 58-62, 93-94, 96-97, 101, 125-127, 167, 171-173 Fradon, Ramona 9, 18, 64, 163, 179
Kirby, Jack 9-10, 23, 28, 31-33, 43, 45-47, 74, 76-77, 80, 82, 86-87, 89-91, 115, 124, 133-135, 138-139, 141, 143, 160, 200, 203-205, 207
Fujitani, Bob 104, 153
Kremer, Warren 34-35, 37
Gaines, William M. 10-11, 40, 112, 196-197
Kubert, Joe 11, 21, 44, 58-59, 62, 65, 96, 124, 127-128, 161, 174, 183
Gill, Joe 30-31, 38, 71, 186-189
Kurtzman, Harvey 10, 12-13, 112-113, 197
Giordano, Dick 5, 29, 31, 187 Gold Key Comics 54, 73, 77, 100, 103-108, 147-150, 153156, 162, 166, 188-194, 197, 212-213 Goldwater, Richard 109, 145
Lee, Stan 9, 10, 23, 30-31, 33, 38, 43, 45-47, 74, 76-80, 8287, 90-91, 117, 130, 132-134, 137, 139, 141, 143, 145, 158, 160, 179, 185, 200-202, 204, 206-209, 213
Goodman, Martin 31, 47-48, 74, 83, 85, 88, 124, 136, 139, 141, 201-202
Legion of Super-Heroes 22, 24, 55, 76-77, 97, 99, 120-121, 158, 174-175, 183
Goodwin, Archie 197, 199
Lichtenstein, Roy 114-115, 139
Green Lantern 9-10, 16-20, 22, 24, 38, 58-61, 66, 93-95, 125-126, 167, 172, 177, 196
Lieber, Larry 32, 77, 82, 85, 90-91, 134, 142, 205 Liebowitz, Jack 25, 47, 50, 54, 59, 102, 170, 182 Little Archie 28-29, 68-69, 110, 144-145
Hamilton, Edmund 24, 98, 118-119, 121, 158, 175-176
Lois Lane 24-26, 28, 43, 55-56, 58, 98-99, 102, 120, 157, 183, 185
Haney, Bob 127-129, 163, 177-179 Harvey Comics 33-35, 37, 44, 50, 72-74, 87, 103, 106, 110111, 143-144, 163-164
Mad Magazine 8, 10-13, 40, 43, 52, 111-114, 116-117, 157158, 165, 174, 195-197, 199
Hawkman 10-11, 58-60, 62, 65, 92, 96, 101, 127-128, 163, 171-173, 177, 184
Magnus, Robot Fighter 77, 148-150, 152-153
Heck, Don 32, 77, 134-135, 137-138, 201, 206-207
Manning, Russ 51, 77, 148-150, 152, 174, 189
Help! 12-13, 111-113, 197
Marvel Comics 29-33, 42-43, 46-49, 54, 58-60, 62, 71, 7491, 96, 104, 125, 127, 130-143, 153, 160-161, 172, 200213
Herbie Popnecker 72, 143, 157-158, 165, 194-195 Hughes, Richard 38, 72, 91, 111, 143, 195
Meskin, Mort 100, 128
Hulk 6-7, 76-77, 82-85, 88-89, 104, 129, 134-136, 141-142, 200, 204-206, 213
Metal Men 76, 92-93, 96, 124, 127, 134, 149, 152 Metamorpho 163, 178-179
Infantino, Carmine 9, 18, 20, 58, 61, 64, 73, 94-97, 125126, 162, 167-173, 175, 214
Meyer, Helen 9, 13-14
Iron Man 45, 77, 134-135, 141-143, 162, 201, 204-207
Moldoff, Shelly 26, 57, 64, 122, 127, 167, 169, 179
Jaffee, Al 10, 13, 165, 195-196
Morisi, Pete 9, 71, 174, 187
Justice League of America 4, 6, 10-11, 16-19, 22, 38, 42, 47-48, 60, 64, 67, 74, 76, 93-96, 101-102, 116, 120, 125127, 141, 168, 172, 174
Mystery in Space 76, 94, 96, 113, 127, 167, 171
Miller, Jack 64, 100, 121, 128, 171, 181, 183
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Nadle, Lawrence 125, 181-182
Superboy 23-25, 27, 42, 54-55, 76, 97, 99, 121, 174, 183
National Periodical Publications. See DC Comics.
Supergirl 17-18, 23-24, 42-43, 55-57, 59, 97-99, 176, 177
Newman, Paul S. 15, 38, 51, 104, 107, 153-154, 193
Superman 6, 10, 15-17, 22-28, 42-43, 49, 54-58, 61, 64-66, 70, 74, 84, 90, 92-93, 95, 97-99, 102, 109, 112, 116-120, 124, 127, 142, 144, 157-159, 162, 165-167, 174-177, 183, 185-186, 190, 195, 197, 201
Novick, Irv 21, 115, 124, 183 Oksner, Bob 23, 42, 54, 76, 181-182
Swan, Curt 22, 24, 27, 43, 57, 97-98, 118-120, 157-159, 175, 176
Patsy Walker 31, 43, 48, 91, 132 Phantom 73, 106, 153 Plastino, Al 24-25, 54, 118-119, 124, 159
Tales of Suspense 32, 48-49, 77, 85, 90, 134-135, 137-139, 142-143, 162, 204-207
Premiani, Bruno 129, 177, 180
Tales to Astonish 32, 43, 49, 76, 85, 116, 142
Prohías, Antonio 40-41, 114
Teen Titans 162, 178 Thomas, Roy 6, 20, 38, 59, 61, 67, 78, 86, 101, 203
Reece, Berry 161-162
Thompson, Don 39, 67
Richie Rich 34-35, 37, 72, 110, 144, 163-164
Thor 45, 76, 84-86, 89, 141-142, 149, 157, 201, 204, 206
Romita, John 115-116, 124-125
Thorne, Frank 162, 190
Rosenberger, John 38, 69, 109, 144, 185
Toth, Alex 129 Tripp, Irving 14, 147
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch 6, 108-109 Uncle Scrooge 6, 10, 13-15, 23, 37, 39-40, 49, 51, 52, 104, 106, 108, 154, 191-193, 212
Sad Sack 35, 110, 143-144, 163-164 Schaffenberger, Kurt 24, 38, 111, 120 Schiff, Jack 17, 22, 24, 26, 31, 38, 43, 46, 64-66, 99-100, 122, 124, 161, 167-168, 171, 178, 181
Vietnam War 10, 40, 44-45, 107, 117, 163-164, 187-188
Schwartz, Julius 16-18, 20, 22, 24, 38, 47, 54, 58-59, 61-62, 67, 73, 91-95, 99-101, 124-126, 129, 148, 162, 167-168, 170-171, 176-177, 181, 212-213
Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories 10, 13-14, 23, 39, 49, 5152, 56, 77, 103, 106, 154, 162
Sekowsky, Mike 4, 16, 18, 95, 102, 105, 125-126, 171
Warren Publishing 12, 163, 166, 197-199
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos 116, 136-137, 143, 153, 160-161, 201, 205, 207 Sgt. Rock 21, 44, 59, 65, 101, 127-128, 136-137, 161, 183
Weisinger, Mort 17, 20, 22, 24-28, 38, 54-57, 61, 64-65, 9293, 97-100, 102, 109, 119-122, 127, 144, 157-159, 167, 173-177, 183, 185, 190
Shadow 166, 185-186
Whitney, Ogden 38, 72, 143, 195
Showcase 10-11, 16, 20, 43, 47, 59-62, 64-65, 76, 92-94, 99, 100, 102, 124, 127-128, 182-183, 213
Williamson, Al 38, 111, 197-199
Siegel, Jerry 15, 25, 55-57, 61, 97, 117, 119-120, 142, 144, 157, 185
Wonder Woman 16-17, 19, 38-39, 49, 64-66, 93, 109, 124, 167, 175, 177, 196
Space Family Robinson 76-77, 105, 148
Wood, Wally 10-12, 197, 199, 203-204
Spider-Man 33, 76-77, 86-91, 116-117, 130-134, 137, 139, 141, 201-203, 208-210, 212, 213
X-Men 115-117, 139-141, 201, 204, 206-207
Western Publishing. See Gold Key
Spiegle, Dan 51, 77, 105, 155 Spy vs. Spy 6, 40-41
Zatanna 162-163, 173
Stanley, John 14, 51, 106-107, 147 Strange Tales 31-32, 45, 76, 79, 82-83, 90-91, 116, 133-134, 137-139, 142, 200, 206-207 222
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It was the first half of the
1960s
It was a five-year span that saw a breathtaking array of new creations within the comic book industry, even as the balance of power made unexpected shifts. It was an era in which the superhero genre came to prominence once more, fueled by titles like DC’s Justice League of America and turned on its ear by characters such as the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man from underdog Marvel Comics. It was an age of inflation when the first price increase in comic book history helped topple industry leader Dell and gave rise to the polished Gold Key. It was a time that saw publishers Harvey and Archie expand upon their trademark kids and teen lines. It was a period when Mad Magazine solidified its place in pop culture, introducing new features and beloved creators while surmounting landmark legal challenges. And it was a landscape in which a newly-organized subset of comic book fandom began to subtly influence the direction of the field. It was 1960-1964.
Printed in China
American Comic Book Chronicles documents every decade of comic book history, from the 1930s to today. Each volume presents a year-by-year account of the comic book industry’s most significant publications, most notable creators, and most impactful trends.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-045-8 ISBN-10: 1-60549-045-8 53995
9 781605 490458
TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina $39.95 in the US ISBN 978-1-60549-045-8