Alter Ego #107 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Roy T Thomas homas’ Batty Batty Comics Comics F Fanzine anzine

BODACIOUS BATMAN ARTISTS

DICK SPRANG & JIM MOONEY

8.95

In the USA

No.107 Feb. 2012

82658 27763

Edited by ROY THOMAS The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

2011 EISNER AWARD Nominee Best Comics-Related Journalism

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Focus on Archie’s 1960s MIGHTY CRUSADERS, with vintage art and artifacts by JERRY SIEGEL, PAUL REINMAN, SIMON & KIRBY, JOHN ROSENBERGER, tributes to the Crusaders by BOB FUJITANE, GEORGE TUSKA, BOB LAYTON, and others! Plus an interview with MELL LAZARUS, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MIKE MACHLAN! (84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

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(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “EarthTwo—1961 to 1985!” with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, ANDERSON, DELBO, ANDRU, BUCKLER, APARO, GRANDENETTI, and DILLIN, interview with Golden/Silver Age DC editor GEORGE KASHDAN, plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and a new cover by INFANTINO and AMASH!

“Earth-Two Companion, Part II!” More on the 1963- 1985 series that changed comics forever! The Huntress, Power Girl, Dr. Fate, Freedom Fighters, and more, with art by ADAMS, APARO, AYERS, BUCKLER, GIFFEN, INFANTINO, KANE, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, SIMONSON, STATON, SWAN, TUSKA, our GEORGE KASHDAN interview Part 2, FCA, and more! STATON & GIORDANO cover!

Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH madcap parody mag from 1967-69, examined with rare art & artifacts by ANDRU, COLAN, BUSCEMA, DRAKE, EVERETT, FRIEDRICH, KIRBY, LEE, JOHN and MARIE SEVERIN, SPRINGER, SUTTON, THOMAS, TRIMPE, and more, GEORGE KASHDAN interview conclusion, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MARIE SEVERIN!

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ALTER EGO #99

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

ALTER EGO #98

The non-EC Horror Comics of the 1950s! From Menace and House of Mystery to The Thing!, we present vintage art and artifacts by EVERETT, BRIEFER, DITKO, MANEELY, COLAN , MESKIN, MOLDOFF, HEATH, POWELL, COLE, SIMON & KIRBY, FUJITANI, and others, plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more, behind a creepy, eerie cover by BILL EVERETT!

Spotlight on Superman’s first editor WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, longtime Kryptoeditor MORT WEISINGER remembered by his daughter, an interview with Superman writer ALVIN SCHWARTZ, art by JOE SHUSTER, WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, AL PLASTINO, and NEAL ADAMS, plus MR. MONSTER, FCA (FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA), and a new cover by JERRY ORDWAY!

GEORGE TUSKA showcase issue on his career at Lev Gleason, Marvel, and in comics strips through the early 1970s—CRIME DOES NOT PAY, BUCK ROGERS, IRON MAN, AVENGERS, TEEN TITANS, HERO FOR HIRE, and more! PLUS: JIM AMASH’s interview with Golden Age Fiction House artist BILL BOSSERT, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more!

A/E celebrates 100 issues, and 50 years, of ALTER EGO magazine in a double-size BOOK! ROY THOMAS interviewed by JIM AMASH about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY, INC., ARAK, other DC work, and more! Art by PÉREZ, McFARLANE, BUCKLER, ORDWAY, MACHLAN, GIL KANE, COLAN, GIORDANO, and more, plus Mr. Monster, FCA, BUCKLER/ORDWAY cover!

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ALTER EGO #102

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Fox Comics of the 1940s with art by BAKER, FINE, SIMON, KIRBY, TUSKA, FLETCHER HANKS, ALEX BLUM, and others! “Superman vs. Wonder Man” starring EISNER, IGER, MAYER, SIEGEL, and DONENFELD! Part I of an interview with JACK MENDELSOHN, plus FCA, Comic Fandom Archive, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by SpiderMan artist DAVE WILLIAMS!

Spotlight on Green Lantern creators MART NODELL and BILL FINGER in the 1940s, and JOHN BROOME, GIL KANE, and JULIUS SCHWARTZ in 1959! Rare GL artwork by INFANTINO, REINMAN, HASEN, NEAL ADAMS, and others! Plus JACK MENDELSOHN Part II, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by GIL KANE & TERRY AUSTIN, and MART NODELL!

The early career of comics writer STEVE ENGLEHART: Defenders, Captain America, Master of Kung Fu, The Beast, Mantis, and more, with rare art and artifacts by SAL BUSCEMA, STARLIN, SUTTON, HECK, BROWN, and others. Plus, JIM AMASH interviews early artist GEORGE MANDEL (Captain Midnight, The Woman in Red, Blue Bolt, Black Marvel, etc.), FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and more!

Celebrates the 50th anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the birth of Marvel Comics! New, never-beforepublished STAN LEE interview, art and artifacts by KIRBY, DITKO, SINNOTT, AYERS, THOMAS, and secrets behind the Marvel Mythos! Also: JIM AMASH interviews 1940s Timely editor AL SULMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and a new cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT!

See comic art and script BEFORE and AFTER the Comics Code changes, with art by SIMON & KIRBY, DITKO, BUSCEMA, SINNOTT, GOULD, COLE, STERANKO, KRIGSTEIN, O’NEIL, GLANZMAN, ORLANDO, WILLIAMSON, HEATH, and others! Plus: FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, JIM AMASH interviews Timely/Atlas artist CAL MASSEY, and a new cover by JOSH MEDORS!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

Vol. 3, No. 107 / February 2012 Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Jon B. Cooke

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

Proofreader Rob Smentek

Cover Artists Dick Sprang & Charles Paris

AT LAST! ALL IN COLOR FOR $8.95!

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Neal Adams Jack Katz Roy Ald Jim Kealy Heidi Amash Kirk Kimball Henry Andrews Thomas Langridge Bob Bailey Dominique Leonard Jean Bails David A. Lofvers Robert Barrett Jim Ludwig Tom Batiuk Ben Markeson Bill Black Bruce Mason Dominic Bongo Kurt Mitchell Chris Boyko Steve Mitchell Al Bradford Sheldon Moldoff Mike Burkey Brian K. Morris Glen Cadigan Cantwell Fred Patten Shaun Clancy Barry Pearl John Cruz John G. Pierce Raymond A. Cuthbert Michael Posner Teresa R. Davidson Gene Reed Dwight Decker Jerry Robinson John De Mocko Buddy Saunders Shel Dorf Anthony Snyder Terry Doyle Robin Snyder Michael Dunne Tom Stein Justin Fairfax Marc Svensson Martin Filchock Marc Swayze Danny Fingeroth Tony Tallarico Shane Foley Jeff Taylor Patrick Ford Dann Thomas Stephan Friedt Maggie Thompson Janet Gilbert Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Golden Age Comic Delmo Walters, Jr. Book Stories (website) Hames Ware Jennifer Hamerlinck Gary Watson Heritage Comics Ralph Lawson Werner Archives Ruthie White Thomas Inge Ike Wilson Alex Jay Marv Wolfman Douglas Jones (Gaff) Bill Wormstedt Elizabeth Kanegson Eddy Zeno

This issue is dedicated to the memory of:

Gene Colan, Dave Hoover, Dick Sprang, & Jim Mooney

Contents Writer/Editorial: “Be Careful What You Wish For!” . . . . . . . . . 2 “A Legend In The Business” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 That’s what interviewer Shel Dorf called Batman artist Dick Sprang—and he was 100% right!

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Jim Mooney delivered, whether for Fox Comics or DC! Interview by Chris Boyko.

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Artist Tony Tallarico soon found out differently—in part II of Jim Amash’s interview.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! The Mystery Of The Missing Letterer – Part 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Michael T. Gilbert talks with the widow of legendary The Spirit letterer Abe Kanegson

Happy 100th Birthday, Martin Filchock! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Comic Fandom Archive: Comicdom In Color! . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Bill Schelly annotates a cornucopia of color photos from 1960s fandom.

Tributes To Gene Colan & Dave Hoover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 68 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #165 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Still more Golden Age memories from Marc Swayze & Roy Ald, courtesy of P.C. Hamerlinck. On Our Cover: This isn’t quite a never-published Dick Sprang ‘Batman’ cover. It saw print, in black-&-white, in the DC house-produced fanzine Amazing World of DC Comics (#4, Jan.–Feb. 1975); still, we’re overjoyed that, through the good offices of owner Bill Wormstedt, A/E associate editor Bill Schelly, and Sprang’s longtime agent Ike Wilson— and with DC’s blessing—we’ve been privileged to showcase it at last the way it was meant to be seen. Bill W. told Bill S. that, when he showed Sprang the original art years ago, the artist said the inking looked to him like the work of Charles Paris; Sprang further noted that “the size of the piece… was not as large as the art used back in the ’50s and early ’60s. The art itself is about 12” by 15”, and the image area 7½” by 11”. Based on the size of the art, Dick was guessing it maybe had been created for advertising purposes—but he actually had no memory why.” All we know is—it was designed like a cover—and it makes a great one! [© 2012 DC Comics.] Above: An action panel penciled and inked by Jim Mooney early in his career as a “Batman” illustrator. This panel from the story “Case of the Silent Songbirds” in Detective Comics #126 (Aug. 1947) is reproduced from the hardcover Batman Archives, Vol. 6. Happily, although that book’s cover features only Bob Kane’s byline, Mooney, Sprang, Jack Burnley, Win Mortimer, and Lew Sayre Schwartz, as well as several inkers and writers, are all also duly credited inside. [© 2012 DC Comics.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Eight-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $85 Canada, $107 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in the USA. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

“Be Careful What You Wish For!”

went instead with another Mooney interview we’d been wanting to print, conducted by Chris Boyko. That’s one problem solved.

verybody knows the above cliché. And it happened to Yours Truly this issue.

Ever since Alter Ego was reborn, well over a decade ago now, I’ve wanted to see it printed in full color. Not only those glorious covers—not just 16 pages, as we’ve been doing for the past year or so—but honest-to-Crom (Chrome?) full color, from cover to cover! So that every piece of art that was meant to be viewed in rainbow hues can be seen in the total spectrum.

Then, just as I was preparing to send the last pieces of this issue off to layout wizard Jon B. Cooke, word came from publisher John Morrow that he’d finally worked out all the kinks in a contract that would allow us to convert all of Alter Ego’s 80 pages (plus covers) to color, just as I’ve been kvetching for him to do for the past couple of years in particular. Only, there was a catch: The color issues had to start right away—with the very issue just being finished…

Likewise, for some time, I’ve been wanting to print an interview with the late and supremely talented “Batman”/“Spider-Man” artist Jim Mooney—and to take off the shelf an interview with classic “Batman” illustrator Dick Sprang, tapes of which TwoMorrows purchased, must be 7 or 8 years ago now, from the late Shel Dorf, as an adjunct to our extended Sprang coverage back in A/E #19.

An issue focusing on Batman, and one of whose most conspicuous features is a treasure trove of Dick Sprang and Jim Mooney “Batman” art—much of it reproduced from black-&-white originals!

Rainbow Coalition

Well, this month, I got both my wishes at the same time—and, as things are wont to do, matters got a bit star-crossed.

We know this Detective Comics #241 (Mar. 1957) cover is by Sheldon Moldoff, not one of the Batman artists covered herein, but we just couldn’t resist the temptation to feature the “Rainbow Batman” in this, our first all-color edition! [©2012 DC Comics.]

First, it became clear to me that the lonnnng interview with Jim Mooney we’d planned to use, done not long before his passing by Dr. Jeff McLaughlin (who’s previously published a book or two of stellar interviews), was simply too long to squeeze into the same issue with the Sprang/Dorf chat. So, after talking it over with Jeff, we decided that, rather than serialize it, we’d wait for a good spot a bit further down the line, when Jim can be the featured cover artist. And we

So, okay—we’ve bitten the multi-colored bullet. And hopefully there’s more than enough color in the following pages to convince you that the change has been worth making—and is worth the extra buck we have to charge for single copies. (Subscription prices, at least for the immediate future, remain as they were—a real bargain!) “Be careful what you wish for!”

But you know what? I’m glad that Alter Ego has gone to full color at last, with slicker paper—and I hope you are, too! Comic books were meant to be in full color— And so is Alter Ego! Bestest,

COMING IN APRIL & ALL IN FULL COLOR! #108 AN OFFBEAT LOOK AT MARVEL COMICS IN THE ’70s—& The ’40s! • Human Torch & Sub-Mariner vintage cover by CARL BURGOS & BILL EVERETT! • WARREN REECE, Golden/Silver Age Marvel fan & 1970s Bullpenner, writes of comics’ human legends and of building an incomparable Timely collection—with bird’s-eye views of EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, LEE, SEVERIN, TRIMPE, FRIEDRICH, ADAMS, KUPPERBERG, THOMAS, et al.! • TONY TALLARICO interview, Part III, conducted by JIM AMASH—& beginning DEWEY CASSELL’s interviews re 1950s Standard/Nedor artist/inker MIKE PEPPE—with art by TOTH, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, LUBBERS, and others!

• MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Comic Crypt—BILL SCHELLY on the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con’s celebration of 50 years of fandom—FCA with MARC SWAYZE & ROY ALD —& MORE!

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“ A Legend In The Business ” That’s What Interviewer Shel Dorf Said About Golden/Silver Age Artist DICK SPRANG—And He Couldn’t Have Been Righter! Conducted by Shel Dorf • Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

Hope Sprangs Eternal! Dick Sprang signing some “Batman” mags (including one with Go-Go Checks, yet!) at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con—and the cover he penciled and inked for Detective Comics #106 (Dec. 1945). The latter displays Batman and Robin in perhaps their most iconic Golden Age pose—one that was drawn by various artists at various times. Thanks to Ralph Rawson Werner for the photo; the cover is reproduced from the hardcover Batman Archives, Vol. 5. Fortunately, much of Sprang’s definitive Batman-related artwork is currently available in DC Batman and Dark Knight Archives editions, as is much of his “Superman & Batman” work in World’s Finest Comics Archives. [Cover © 2012 DC Comics.]

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: The late Shel Dorf, one of the founders of the San Diego Comic-Con, used that gathering of fans and professionals as an excuse—as if any were needed—to conduct a number of informal and casually structured interviews over the years. This one with Dick Sprang, who was a premier “Batman” ghost artist beginning in the mid-1940s and produced many of the best art jobs ever to feature the Dark Knight, was probably conducted in 1993, when Sprang was a guest at that convention… and will serve as a postscript to the coverage given Sprang back in Alter Ego #19 (an issue still available from TwoMorrows Publishing). A photo of Shel Dorf appeared in A/E #102. Our thanks to Ike Wilson, who was Sprang’s agent for the last decade of the artist’s life, for his gracious cooperation with this article.

“I Was Wanting To Write Westerns” SHEL DORF: We’re talking with Dick Sprang at San Diego Comic-Con. We’ve had an expo, a trade show, and all kinds of people. We’ve been going for 23 years now. SPRANG: Well, it's really developed into a major convention. You know, when they gave me the Inkpot Award, I was really surprised.

SD: Well, you’re a legend in the business. I remember, years ago, somebody was talking about you and said that you didn’t want any part of your career as a cartoonist—that you had been in advertising for years and cartooning wasn’t a part of your world any more. When you resurfaced, doing special prints, it was exciting news because you were a favorite of so many. SPRANG: Well, thank you. After I retired, I had this ranch up in southern Utah and I was going all the time. I really loved it. And I was doing a lot of exploring of the country. I was out of comics completely. I didn’t even buy them. And it wasn’t until this print business that my interest picked up. But I didn’t reject comics out of hand or have any criticism of them, anything like that at all. SD: But you had gone into advertising when you left comics? SPRANG: No, I’d been in advertising before that. I worked for Scripps-Howard for two years in Toledo in the art department.

An Interview With Golden/Silver Age Artist Dick Sprang

Everybody Loves Raymond! These two pencil drawings were done by Richard W. Sprang, probably in the late 1930s, in the style of the already-venerated and muchimitated Flash Gordon illustrator Alex Raymond. Thanks to Ike Wilson, who was the artist’s agent in the last decade of his life and supplied most of the photos and much of the other art that accompanies this interview. [© 2012 estate of Dick Sprang.]

SD: That's where I met my first cartoonist, Bill Woggan. SPRANG: I knew Bill very well. He was on The Blade [newspaper]. SD: That’s right. And Allen Saunders. SPRANG: Allen Saunders had the desk across the room from him. I was wanting to write Westerns and I wound up doing so. So few artists wrote, too. But Allen encouraged me. So the first pulp story I sold, I quit the paper and went to New York. SD: Allen was here at one of our cons. So tell me about your early days. Did you have any formal cartooning training?

SD: Yeah, I worked in the art department of the Detroit Free Press when I was nineteen.

SPRANG: No.

SPRANG: Well, then, you know all of what goes on in a newspaper art department. We put those papers on the street every day; we had those deadlines.

SD: Why did you become a cartoonist?

SD: It was a secure place during the Depression, though.

SPRANG: Because the pulps were dying. I’d been a pulp illustrator. From there, I’d left the paper in ’36, gone to New York, quit Al, just quit. Nothing like the spirit of a dumb kid, you know, who couldn’t get a job in the middle of the Depression.

SPRANG: It sure was.

SD: What kind of work were you doing on The Toledo Bee? SPRANG: Art department, and then I had to go out with a photographer if we had some disaster going on and phone in details, and so on. Everybody worked with everybody. SD: Did you do photo retouching, too? SPRANG: Oh yes, quite a bit of that.

“Whit [Ellsworth] Introduced Me To Bob Kane Once” SD: And you left that and went to New York. Why? SPRANG: To see what New York was. New York, in those years, was one of the best cities. Well, anyway, I got on with the pulps, illustrating, and I wanted to do all of them. But about ’40, ’41, I could see that the pulps were dying. So what you do with a trend—you can’t manage a trend but you can try to manage the opportunity of trying to create. I wanted to

“A Legend In The Business”

leave New York and come West. So I went up to DC, with a page I made up and colored, and showed it to [DC editor] Whit Ellsworth. Whit liked it. I could see that this would be a heck of a good berth, and he put me on “Batman,” so, of course, that made it all the more desirable. SD: But you could never sign your own name. Only Bob Kane’s signature was on that? SPRANG: Ellsworth asked me about that, and I said that made no difference to me as long as my name was on that oblong green piece of paper. SD: Do you remember the page rate for penciling and inking? SPRANG: The penciling and inking—I think it was $33 when I first went to work in ’41, ’42. And they took me off inking in ’45 and paid me $35. That’s a raise.

and said, “Here’s one of these long-underwear guys,” and he had a big cigar in his mouth. He said, “Design a costume for him.” SPRANG: Yeah, that’s what he gave you, really. That’s all he did. I wasn’t around the office. I met few comic artists. I met Charlie Paris in New York around ’43, ’44. I think I met Jack Kirby once, just to say hello to. And Whit introduced me to Bob Kane once. SD: Just once?

SPRANG: Oh, my God! [laughs]

SPRANG: And I don’t know any other—I never met Jerry Robinson until two years ago, here. But I didn’t know any of the other boys.

SD: It’s a different world.

SD: Did you know about the adulation for your work?

SPRANG: Do you know what $35 would buy in 1942? It would buy this room easily, at Fourth and Lexington.

SPRANG: No, I had no idea about that until the mid-’80s.

SD: Do you know what the young artists are getting today?

SD: And newspapers were three cents. I remember buying Batman off the newsstand for a dime. Sometimes that was my whole week’s allowance. SPRANG: Well, anyway, the point I made with Whit was that after the war was over—and of course, you all knew it was coming, despite what the politicians kept telling us: “They’ll never send your boy over there.” After the war, I had to prove myself, of course. Whit Ellsworth was a spirited man. I have the greatest respect for Whit Ellsworth of any editor I’ve ever run in to. SD: Whit Ellsworth was also a friend of Paul Norris, who did the first "Aquaman." He said Ellsworth gave him a little sketch on a piece of paper

SD: Isn’t it great that, [for] something you did so long ago, there’s a whole new generation of fans? SPRANG: It’s very gratifying. I appreciate it, but now it’s quite a surprise, too, because I know then, we were just doing our jobs. [laughs] You know, there wasn’t any adulation then.

“Fawcett, DC, And Dell Were About The Only Good [Companies]” SD: Gil Kane once mentioned that, if you couldn’t get work in advertising, you went into comic books, and you usually changed your name or they didn’t put a name on it at all. Because if word got out that you were

An Interview With Golden/Silver Age Artist Dick Sprang

Eyes On The Prize As mentioned in this interview—and in the one conducted by Ike Wilson which led off the in-depth coverage of the artist in A/E #19 (2002): Circa 1940, Sprang shared an office with fellow up-and-coming artists Norm Fallon and Ed Kressey. The trio collaborated on such early gems as the “Power Nelson” stories in Prize Comics, published by the company of that name; seen at right is a splash page from Prize #3 (May 1940), from the invaluable Golden Age Comic Book Stories website. In the photo, Sprang (seated) is doing the drawing; Ike, who preserves many of Sprang’s photos on behalf of the artist’s estate, regrets that he can’t be certain which of the gents peering over his shoulder is Fallon, and which Kressey. [Comics page ©2012 the respective copyright holders.]

doing comic books, that would lessen your price. That was the bottom of the barrel for artists. SPRANG: Well, I didn’t feel that way at all with DC—they called themselves “National” then. That was Jack Schiff and Mort. What happened to them was that Ed Kressey had a little studio down on 42nd Street, along Fifth Avenue. And we did a lot of drawings for him. Because Eddie would sign up to do them. I remember one: there was an ad about some little baby sitting by the side of a pool, or something—advertising soap or some damn thing. We went to his office for this. And the guy sits behind his desk with a big cigar. “I want the fanny moved a little bit more this way.” So I got my carton and I’d do that. And you had hours of working on it and hours sitting there with this idiot about moving the little kid’s fanny a couple inches. [laughs] And this went on and on at all sorts of clients. I did a lot of lettering too, I did a lot of design, I did graphics, I did all kinds of art. And I said, “Ed?” He said, “To hell with it. I don’t like it. I just don’t like it. We’re not producing.” So I got the idea: try comics, why not? And I’d been a slush pile editor for Louis Silberkleit, you ever hear of him, on Columbia Publications? SD: What did he do? SPRANG: He had a little publishing company. And his partner, who always wore a fedora like Bogart in the office, would gather up all the returned covers and Columbia pulps until he got a shipload up, sent them over to Africa where there were a lot of natives [who’d] run to the interior and trade these highly-colored pulp covers for native artifacts: shields, spears, ivory, all kinds of objects.

SD: Fascinating. SPRANG: When the work came along, I happened to be up there, and this guy was in abject despair because he could no longer get to Africa because the freighters were tied up. The reason you shipped by freighter is you needed a freighter to ship back. That was pretty terrible to him. I got a big kick out of it. [laughs] I thought, that so-and-so, taking advantage of people. SD: He was getting a second bounce off all of that original art. SPRANG: The fact was that Louis started some comics that were illegal, but I didn’t want any part of that. I knew it wouldn’t be the operation I’d approve of. SD: I heard some guys had a "fly-by-night" company—they’d rent an office and have a bunch of people turn in work and say, “Come back Friday for your check,” and they’d come back and the office was empty. SPRANG: True, because they got a carload of paper on credit and they got a printer on credit and they put a one-shot book out and they disappeared so they don’t pay. Fawcett, DC, and Dell were about the only good ones. I knew all the editors at Dell very well. For them, I used to write a column. I got $50 a week for doing it. I really got a kick out of it. SD: You talk about New York in the '30s. Did you go in to Harlem? It had some wonderful entertainers. SPRANG: No, I didn’t. SD: You weren’t into the night life?

“A Legend In The Business”

SPRANG: No, I wasn’t. Too bad. The wife was jazzed up and she really loves it. She would have died up there. SD: Noel Sickles couldn’t continue on with Scorchy Smith. He didn’t like the grind of routine, because he was always out at night in Harlem, listening to all the great jazz. And then he’d come back at three in the morning, and he had a cot in Caniff’s studio in Tudor City. And he’d sleep until noon and get up and work on the strip a little bit and then by night, he’d be out, listening to jazz.

He’ll Take Manhattan… Dick Sprang’s world, for a time in the late 1930s. At left is his drawing table, in his apartment—at right, the New York City panorama outside his window. One is tempted to imagine that urban vistas in later “Batman” stories reflected that ambience. Photos taken by Dick Sprang; thanks to Ike Wilson. [© 2012 estate of Dick Sprang.]

SPRANG: Yeah. Cab Calloway was up there at the Cotton Club. I knew Jack Dempsey’s place. I took my grand-

Go West, Young Artist! (Right:) Sprang and his first wife Laura Neusiis (a.k.a. Pat Gordon), sometime in the ’40s. Dick and Lora remained friends long after they were divorced. Thanks to Ike Wilson. (Far right:) The splash page to the story “Ride, Bat-Hombre, Ride!” from Batman #56 (Dec. 1949-Jan. 1950) was seen in A/E #19; here, repro’d from a scan of the original artwork, is another page from it. Pencils by Sprang, inks by Charles Paris, script by David Vern Reed (a.k.a. David Vern). Thanks to dealer Mike Burkey; see his website www.romitaman.com. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

An Interview With Golden/Silver Age Artist Dick Sprang

S P E C I A L

B O N U S

A Dick Sprang Photo Album With Annotations Based On Notes By Ike Wilson

Toddler Dick Sprang with his father, William Harrison Sprang. Taken in their front yard in Fremont, Ohio, in 1916.

Baby RWS with his grandparents (the couple on the right). The others are most likely relatives. Taken in Fremont back yard, also 1916.

A snapshot of Dick with some visiting admirers, taken (probably by Marion Sprang) in the Sprangs’ driveway in Prescott, Arizona, in August 1991. (Left to right:) David Bachman (friend of Ike Wilson), Ike, Dick, and comics historian Joe Desris.

Dick in 1929, age 14, at the time of his confirmation—also in Fremont.

father to see Jack because he had seen Dempsey fight.

SD: All the best people come from Ohio.

SD: Oh, that must have been a thrill.

SPRANG: Yeah, I remember the Ohio gang: Milt Caniff and Laurel and Hardy. That was quite a group. [laughs]

SPRANG: That was a good one. And those two hit if off right away. My grandfather was a character. He sort of guided my life. He told me, “Get out of this small town.” Yeah, I was born in a small town in Ohio.

SD: Remember Billy Ireland, the political cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch? SPRANG: I certainly would. He was a legend.

“A Legend In The Business”

“Both Jack [Schiff] And Mort [Weisinger] Edited ‘Batman’”

SD: Well, anyway, getting back to "Batman"—so you never met Bob Kane and yet he was passing off your work as his own for many years. I’d open up a cover and I’d say, “Boy, Bob Kane is good this month.” [laughs] And it was Dick Sprang all the time. SPRANG: Well, thank you, but I’ll tell you— there was a guy who worked for Bob. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: The foregoing word may be a transcription error since the audiotapes were not of the best quality. Sprang stressed in other places that he never worked for Bob Kane, only for DC—so probably it was a DC editorial person he’s talking about here, most likely Whit Ellsworth or Jack Schiff.] I took the sample out, he looked it over, he said, “I’d like to try you out. I’m going to give you three pages of a ‘Batman’ script, and this story has been published, but I don’t want you to look at the magazine.” I said, “Okay.” I take the script, took it home and penciled it and inked it— and brought it back in four days. It was three pages. SD: That’s professional speed, but for a newcomer, that must have been a lot of work. SPRANG: It was, and I did it. And he gave me some books for reference. SD: So Gotham City would look right, and whatever else he may have had. SPRANG: Yeah. I brought them back. And he went through them. He said, “What’s your name again?” SD: Did he thank you for your samples? SPRANG: He thanked me, but I’d already been paid. So he said,

“I’m going to give you a full story, 15 pages. And I want it pencilled, inked, and lettered. And I’d like to have it back here in fifteen, at the most sixteen, days.” I did them and I brought them back, and he said, “I’d like to put you to work. One thing: would you mind if I stockpiled you? I’ll pay you for them, but I’d like to stockpile them. The reason why is that this damn war we’re getting into; I’m going to lose some artists. I may lose you. I want a backup.” I said, “That’s fine with me. I don’t care.” SD: Was Bill Finger writing your stories at that time? SPRANG: Bill Finger was the best writer that ever did comics, in my opinion, and how! SD: When you were working for the pulps, did you do pulp covers? SPRANG: No, I did no paintings. SD: So just interior black&-white illustrations? SPRANG: Professional, dry brush. SD: And you never fed [the editor] any comprehensive pencils before you did comic book covers?

SPRANG: No, no. I don’t know if you remember some of those, but you remember one in the canoe coming down a waterfall, Batman is throwing a lasso, Robin is on the canoe, and a lumberjack is going to beat Robin? All right, I was researching the birch bark canoe, reading Robert Pinkerton’s book on the canoe at the time. So I take it and hey, sure it has a good [picture of] a birch bark canoe. To make it dramatic, I had a waterfall, the whole thing. And a brief hesitation there. You don’t know if Batman’s actually going to rescue Robin. SD: A cliffhanger cover. Did they write a story to put to the cover?

An Interview With Golden/Silver Age Artist Dick Sprang

SPRANG: No. It had nothing to do with the interior. [laughs] SD: That was a fake-out, and we’d buy that comic: "Where the hell is that story?"

SPRANG: Number two brush. I very seldom used a pen, as a rule. A Grumbacher. I’m still using the Grumbacher that I brought from New York with me in ’46. I have a hell of a time finding good brushes. I still have pen points I brought with me from New York. I mean, I’m using old points. In my opinion, the metal is better. Some of the brushes are much better.

SPRANG: Remember there was a Joker cover with the totem pole? The action is way down here and the totem pole came up like. Batman and Robin are little figures, way down here, little tiny ones, deep perspective, striking cover. Nothing in the story about the totem pole. And the reason I did it—I was researching Northwest-based beaver art out of Mike Wallace’s book on the Northwest culture, so I was high on totem poles.

SD: That surprises me, because you got such fine detailing that I thought, for sure, it was a pen. Did you do all those skyscrapers yourself or did you have some kid that came in on Fridays to do skyscrapers?

But a lot of the covers were assigned. Jack Schiff would give me a little sketch or tell me, “Oh, this story, I wonder if you could do a cover around panel 3 on page 6.” In ’46 he'd send me a little sketch, and so would Mort Weisenger.

SPRANG: I did them all, every dang window. I inked all my work until late ’45, and then Whit, bless his heart, put some other men to ink. The first one was Gene McDonald, and then Charlie Paris. Stan Kaye inked my World’s Finest stuff.

You see, both Jack and Mort edited “Batman,” or was it the other way? But Mort was on Superman. Together they did fifty stories a day. Oh, those covers were fun, because Mort would send me a lot or he’d describe a cover in some detail for a story I didn’t do.

SD: Were your pencils very tight?

“With Your Stuff, Dick, There Was No Doubt About Your Intentions” SD: Did you end up doing color, or did you leave that to the colorists? SPRANG: No, no, no. Face it, we did it all. SD: Now I’ll ask you what pens do you use. [laughs]

SPRANG: Very, very detailed. I could show you some of them. Very detailed, everything was there, all the inker actually needed. Like Charlie told me years and years later—not again but for the second time in my life, down in Tucson—he said, “You know, in inking, I always tried to follow the artist’s intent. With your stuff, Dick, there was no doubt about your intentions.” Charlie was a master inker. He really was good. SD: Well, that’s very important. You’ve heard all the horror stories about other inkers. SPRANG: I’ve heard about this: “Inkers ruined all my work.” I’ve

We’ll Always Have Paris… From the “Batman” tale in World’s Finest Comics #51 (April-May 1951), a Sprang panel inked by Charles Paris—with thanks to Bob Bailey. The photo of Sprang and Paris (the longer-bearded latter on our right) was taken at the Acme Comics store in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1989. Photo by Teresa R. Davidson; thanks to Jim Amash. [Panel © 2012 DC Comics.]

“A Legend In The Business”

Bat-Mite Writhes Again! Surprisingly, since we printed a Sprang drawing of the irrepressible BatMite back in A/E #19, we’ve learned that he apparently designed the character. At left are depicted his original pencils of the conceptual drawing—and above is a certificate of authenticity issued when they were sold. Thanks to Dominic Bongo; retrieved from the Heritage Comics website. [Bat-Mite TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

on quality art paper. Have they reprinted any Dick Sprang stories that we should know about? never complained about—oh, I guess now and then somebody would ink something and either I’m better or they are. But that’s not my major experience, by any means. Stan Kaye was a superb inker. He was fully a credit to Curt [Swan] and, you know, both those men studied under Harvey Denn at the Art Students League. SD: I heard a horror story about an inker who was in a hurry to meet a deadline. I think it was Jack Katz who told me this. Jack penciled a page—it was a beach scene and he had a whole bunch of couples, maybe twenty couples on the beach in different attitudes and other things. And there was a background, a middle ground, and a foreground. And in the foreground, he had a pretty girl, and the inker drew arms on the pretty girl and put a beach ball in her hands which covered the entire middle ground and background. And he erased all those figures and just inked the beach ball. And that’s when Jack quit. [laughs] When did you see your final comic books when your art came out in the books? Were there any surprises as to how it looked or anything? Did you learn from seeing your work reduced in comic books? SPRANG: Well, of course, just seeing them in color, and if the color was good—and most of the time, it was pretty clear, except the printing was pretty poor in those war years. The fellow enhanced it. I didn’t notice much difference in the work itself. SD: Now, lately, there have been a lot of reprint books

SPRANG: Not that I know of, except for that series that DC did, The Greatest Stories. I had quite a few in there. I had five in the Joker book. SD: And after all these years, seeing them printed better than they were in the original days. SPRANG: Sometimes the colorist is very different, also. One “Catwoman” story was reprinted, and the color was really excellent in the reprint book. I loved that story. But I looked back on my original one day, and the coloring was nothing. But in the reprint, the color was excellent. SD: Tell me, do you get interesting fan mail? SPRANG: Oh, a little. Not much. Oh, now and then, we [continued on p. 14]

Climbing To Success Happily, Sprang, who passed away in 2000, lived long enough to see far more of his work reprinted in hardcover than he mentions in this circa-’93 interview. He even contributed a new drawing to the cover of Batman Archives, Vol. 4 (1998); this may be the first time the black-&-white version of this art has been printed. Thanks to Ike Wilson. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

An Interview With Golden/Silver Age Artist Dick Sprang

Dick Sprang was definitely a giant among the artists who once essentially “ghosted” tales of “Batman” for Bob Kane, even if some of them never worked directly for him. Even so, there’ve been a number of other talented artists in that category, as witness the heading above from the always entertaining “Dial B for Blog” website; thanks to “Robby Reed.” Not shown are two prominent “ghosts”: Jim Mooney (see following interview) and Winslow Mortimer. (Clockwise, beginning at top left with corresponding images identified by their portraits on page opposite:) Jerry Robinson was one of Bob Kane’s first assistants, but was soon drawing “Batman” stories and covers entirely on his own—see A/E #39 for details! The Batman sketch nearest his photo was drawn especially for Belgian collector Dominique Leonard. [Batman TM & © 2012 DC Comics.] George Roussos did some moody inking for Kane on early stories—perhaps on these panels from Detective Comics #35 (Jan. 1940)—before going on to “Air Wave” and other features. [Batman TM & © 2012 DC Comics.] Sheldon Moldoff became the chief “Batman ghost” circa 1954 and remained so until Kane sold all rights to the hero to DC around 1967. During his tenure, Shelly was called on to draw a virtual “Batman family” of characters, as in this colorful commission drawing. Thanks to Brian H. Bailie. [Batman, Bat-Mite, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, Batwoman, Robin, Batgirl, & Ace the Bathound—whew!—all TM & © 2012 DC Comics.] Lew Sayre Schwartz, the 1947-53 “ghost” whose place Shelly took, drew such classics as “The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City” in Batman #75 (Feb.-March 1953). We printed part of this page with Lew’s interview in A/E #51—but this time it’s in color! [© 2012 DC Comics.] Mort Meskin—a marvelous artist, but if he ever drew “Batman” he was probably just holding a brush for a friend. He’d have made a great “ghost,” though— as witness these “Wildcat” panels of original art from Sensation Comics #68 (Aug. 1947)! Thanks to Jim Amash & Teresa R. Davidson. [© 2012 DC Comics.] Not depicted, but one of the last artists Bob Kane reportedly (and rather amazingly) once referred to as one as his “ghosts,” was late-’60s+ artist Neal Adams—who drew this sketch, with its spot of ghoulish color, for Dominique Leonard. [Batman & other characters on facing page TM & © 2012 DC Comics; Casper characters TM & © 2012 Harvey Entertainment, Inc.]

“A Legend In The Business”

Neal Adams

An Interview With Golden/Silver Age Artist Dick Sprang

[continued from p. 11] get a letter from a fan who found out where I was. They’ll just write a letter, and some of them would like to have a re-creation. I turn that over to Ike, and he puts on the lid. SD: What was the first color re-creation you did? SPRANG: Back in ’83. Was it Batman #3? I don’t remember. SD: Did you do it on canvas or board or what? SPRANG: I do it on Double-Light Illustration Board; that’s the only thing I use. With India ink, of course, for the inking. The Black Magic [marker] would be a little darker than other inks. It makes a slight sheen, but it does the job. And for color, I use design markers.

That Sprang Was A Card! Sprang did a number of “trading cards” for Kitchen Sink’s hardcover reprint of the Batman Sunday comic strips. Here, printed from the original b&w art, are ones for The Joker, The Penguin, and Two-Face. Thanks to Ike Wilson. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

SD: How did you come back into comics, to do that double-page spread? Who contacted you about it? SPRANG: I think it was Denny O'Neil [then “Batman” editor]. He called me and asked if I’d do a pin-up for them: “Do a doubletruck, if you wish.” I asked, “Well, what do you want?” He said, “Anything you want to do.”

And, In This Corner…

In case you’ve forgotten, Dick Sprang often drew a certain Man of Steel, as well—especially in myriad “Superman/Batman” teamups in World’s Finest Comics. At left is his splash, inked by Stan Kaye and scripted by Bill Finger, for WFC #100 (March 1959)—sent by Gene Reed, who says the story is a favorite of his. At right is Sprang’s re-creation of a cover of which he didn’t do the original version: Superman #53 (July-Aug. 1948); thanks to Mike Burkey. [Superman TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

“A Legend In The Business”

SD: That sent shock waves through the industry. People bought that book just because of your double-page spread. SPRANG: Bless their hearts. And it was fun, but when I sat down, I said, “What the hell am I going to do?” Because I’d been out for a long time, out of the rhythm of drawing that stuff. So I just figured I’d do a nostalgic thing and bring in all the characters I could.

“We All Copied” SD: I want to go back to the very early days, Dick. How old were you when you found out you could draw? Did you love to draw, and what was your early training in drawing? What's your birthday? SPRANG: July 28th, 1915. Well, as a kid, I would draw. My dad was a mechanical engineer. He had the facility to sketch some concepts he had on machining. He was something of an inventor, too. I had a very good art teacher in high school, who taught me how to draw a box, how to draw a car, and talked about the human figure in action, a pretty good thing. We didn’t draw flowers. But I was encouraged to find a flower to draw. And so I just kept drawing. SD: No formal art training? SPRANG: No formal art training. SD: Did you copy things? SPRANG: Oh, sure. We all copied. SD: I imagine the newspaper comics were what you read a lot. Who were some of your favorite newspaper strip artists? SPRANG: Well, Roy Crane, Alex Raymond, Hal Foster. And one man worked with King Features on a Sunday supplement had a wonderful dry brush technique. I don’t know his name, but I read an article about him in one of the APAs [sic] that I read. And when I went to work on the newspaper, of course, that’s where I really learned to draw and draw rapidly and [I] learned the value of meeting a deadline, among other things. SD: Did you do things for advertising art like coffee cakes or a piece of furniture?

A Bridge Too Far? As seen in A/E #19, a re-creation of this cover for Batman #76 (April 1953) was the very first commission illustration that Dick Sprang did when he was “rediscovered” and came, at least partly, out of retirement, to the delight of a legion of collectors and fans. Seen here, however, is the cover of the actual comic, as penciled by Sprang and inked by Charles Paris. Thanks to Bob Bailey for the scan. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

SPRANG: That’s right. But I was very good at drawing diamond rings. We had a local jeweler and he ran full-page ads. SD: How about figure drawing? Your figures are so beautifully done. How did you learn? Did you study anatomy books, or what? SPRANG: Basically. SD: Did you read Bridgeman? SPRANG: Yes, I read Bridgeman. I didn’t care for Bridgeman too much. SD: How about Andrew Loomis? SPRANG: Yes, right. I have the book. I saw that Bud Plant has got it on sale for, I think, a hundred dollars. SD: I think you also had just a natural knack for good composition. A teacher could show a slide of one of your panels up on the wall and see perfectly balanced squares. Either you have it or you don’t. I don’t know if it can be taught, but you have a real good feel for composition, compositions that lead the eye into the panel. SPRANG: It can be taught, I think. It can be learned. It’s in the panel. It’s your illustration. The same thing applies to fine art. That painting that we were complimenting earlier today, notice how that’s composed. You can draw lines that illustrate the artist’s thoughts. I don’t speak well off the cuff. It’s two different mediums. One is graphic, one is verbal. It’s hard to make them work. Critics can do it, too. They can tell you exactly what you did and didn’t do. [laughs] SD: I think we’re going to stop here now. Thank you so much for the privilege of getting to know you and hearing about your work. SPRANG: Well, thank [Marty] Nodell. He called me and said, “Hey, get hold of Shel. He knows everything about that. He’ll know where that thing is and who to contact on it.” So I spoke to you and sure enough, you did. Shel Dorf was among the founders of both the Detroit Triple Fan-Fairs (1965) and the San Diego Comic-Con (1970). He also lettered Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon newspaper comic strip for many years. He passed away in 2009.

The Sprangs At Ease (Left:) Richard W. and Marion (Lyday) Sprang in a pair of matched photos, relaxing at home in the mid-1990s. Thanks to Gene Reed.

“ We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’” Whether He was Told This By Victor Fox Or By DC Comics—Artist JIM MOONEY Always Delivered! Conducted & Transcribed by Chris Boyko

“Don’t Like Spiders And Snakes”—And Bats Jim Mooney (on right) and interviewer Chris Boyko, in a photo taken several years ago—flanked by Mooney’s first Detective Comics splash page (#126, August 1947) and the first Amazing Spider-Man splash he inked (#65, Oct. 1968). Jim both penciled and inked the “Batman” story, which is reprinted from Batman Archives, Vol. 6 (“by Bob Kane,” it says on the cover). Thanks to Barry Pearl for the AMS scan. [Batman page © 2012 DC Comics; Spider-Man page © 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: The late Jim Mooney (1919-2008) drew for comics for over 60 years, beginning in 1940, and worked for most major companies, including a nearly 20-year stint at DC in the 1950s and ’60s and another nearly 20 years at Marvel after that. He both penciled and inked major characters, including Supergirl, Spider-Man, Batman, Ghost Rider, and many, many more. I spoke with Jim over the phone at his home in Florida in August 2002 to ask him about his long history in the comics and his lucrative business selling his original art and specialty pieces on the Internet. Sadly, Jim passed away in 2008—but he left behind a rich legacy.

“[Henry Kuttner] Said, ‘Why Don’t You Submit Some Of Your Stuff To The Editor?” CHRIS BOYKO: To start at the beginning: in the early 1940s, you did a little bit of work for pulps, right? JIM MOONEY: Very, very little. In fact, that was one of the things that propelled me into comics. I had a very good friend who was a sci-fi writer, Henry Kuttner, and he was working for Weird Tales [pulp magazine] at that time. He knew that I like to draw, and he said, “Why don’t you submit some of your stuff to the editor

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’”

Young Fen In A Hurry (Above:) Julius Schwartz on left and Mort Weisinger on right, bookending then-sf writer Otto Binder at a 1939 gathering in New York City. The entire photo was first printed in Sam Moskowitz’s 1954 book The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom. Weisinger became a DC editor in 1941, Schwartz in 1944. Alter Ego has printed the whole pic before, but Julie always admonished Ye Editor to run photos of people mentioned in articles and interviews, so consider this yet another attempt to appease his ghost. (Right:) Jim Mooney and Henry Kuttner (the latter’s the one with the mustache) at play during JM’s California days before he turned pro. Jim provided this photo to Chris Boyko. Looks like each of them signed it! Incidentally, “fen,” for those who don’t know, was a coined word used as the plural of “fan” by sf enthusiasts, some years back.

[Farnsworth Wright]? Write and see what he thinks of it and maybe you can illustrate one of my stories.” Well, I did submit some stuff, and they did accept it and, of course, I was 17 years old and I was bursting with pride. I had a greatly inflated idea of my ability, which was pretty limited. About that time, [pulp editor] Mort Weisinger and [science-fiction agent] Julie Schwartz came out to visit California and to visit Henry Kuttner, so I got to know both of those guys pretty well in that time before I went to New York to try to break into comics. CB: I’m not sure how many comic fans understand how big into sciencefiction Julie Schwartz was. MOONEY: Oh yes, both Mort and Julie were into sci-fi quite heavily at that time. I belonged to the Science Fiction League in Los Angeles. We had informal meetings at a place called Clifton’s Cafeteria. About once a month we’d all meet and try to get a guest celebrity to speak to the group. Forry Ackerman was there—I think he was only 19 or 20, and I was about 17. He’s been a sci-fi and fantasy packrat since we were kids. I mean, he was acquiring some of the stuff back when we were in the Science Fiction League. It was remarkable. CB: When you started in comics, did you work for DC or Timely first?

Like Moths To A Flame… As we said back in A/E #101, when we printed the splash panel of this “Moth” story from Mystery Men Comics #9 (April 1940), we fail to see much similarity between this Fox Comics hero and Batman—but National/DC’s lawyers did, or at least alleged they did. But, by then, they’d gotten pretty used to suing every hero who wore a cape, and some that didn’t. Though signed “Norton Kingsley,” the art is apparently by a very young Jim Mooney. Thanks to Chet Cox. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

MOONEY: I worked for Timely first. I worked on the so-called “funny animal” stuff, you know—Terrytoons and that type of thing. That died out pretty fast; it was beginning to fade about 1946. Most of us who were doing that work were scuttling around trying to find some other type of employment. I think if there had been a McDonalds then, we would have applied! It was pretty rough, and I was just very, very fortunate in that I got a tip in ’46 or ’47 that [artist] Dick Sprang had taken off to, evidently, do his own thing out in the Far West, and he wasn’t producing as much and they needed somebody to try out for Batman. I went up to the [DC] offices and submitted my stuff, but there was no great enthusiasm or anything like that. Most of the people

Jim Mooney Talks About 40 Years Of Drawing For Fox, DC, and Marvel

who were involved and [Batman co-creator] Bob Kane took a look at the stuff, and I remember somebody saying “What makes you think you can do this?” and I recounted something that happened quite few years [earlier] on one of my first assignments, when I was working for [Victor] Fox, doing a strip called “The Moth,” and they said, “We want this to look like ‘Batman.’” Well, being a kid and thinking they really wanted it to look a lot like ‘Batman,’ I overdid it! A little later, DC sued them. So I brought that up [to DC] and said, “I don’t know whether you recall this or not, but I know some of the early stuff I did was very similar to ‘Batman’ and you guys sued Fox for it!” So I got a kick out of it and it gave me a shot at [‘Batman’] and that worked out pretty well. CB: How do you compare working at Timely to the early days at DC? Who was easier to work for, in the sense of who paid better and gave you less hassle about the work?

CB: When you worked at DC, did you have favorite titles? Things that you found more satisfying to work on? MOONEY: Oh definitely. The House of Mystery and that type of thing I enjoyed. I really never enjoyed “Batman” greatly, because to a great extent it had to look a lot like Bob Kane’s stuff. And that was kind of a limiting factor in itself. I think I did much better drawing when I was drawing for some of their other books. CB: I would assume you were given a little bit more freedom on the other titles? MOONEY: Oh yeah. Not only that, I didn’t have to worry about “Gee, does this look like Batman? Does this look like Robin? Is this the traditional shtick?” It was something I enjoyed at that time, and there was a certain prestige there: “I’m drawing ‘Batman’!” But that wore off pretty fast! CB: I assume that you never saw any pages of your original art back from the companies you worked for [early in your career]?

MOONEY: Well, Timely MOONEY: Well, we had was not paying very well the attitude that it was He Never Said He Wouldn’t Touch Batman With A Ten-Foot Pole! in those days. It was pretty truly ephemera, it wasn’t Whatever his reservations about his “Batman” work, Jim Mooney was never averse to low pay. DC was sort of the worth a damn. I remember, doing a commission drawing featuring that hero and Robin the Boy Wonder. This 2006 kingpin at that time, as far years and years ago, penciled-and-inked illo was done especially for Belgian fan Dominique Leonard, who as money was concerned— occasionally I would pick a kindly shared it with us. [Batman & Robin TM & © 2012 DC Comics.] and prestige. I didn’t work page when I was at DC for them until about 1946 because some of the or ’47. They were a far more established institution than Timely. neighbors’ kids wanted a page and I’d say, “Yeah, I’ll see if I can Timely at that time was playing around with Captain America, as get you one.” But I would give it away without actually thinking well as the funny animals. They just tried a lot of things but I don’t about what I was giving away or whether it had any real interest think their sales were that great. I don't know what the bottom line or value or not. At that time, I used to occasionally go down in the was, but I don’t think they were making that much money. freight elevator when I’d leave the DC offices, and there would be stacks of stuff that they were taking down to be shredded in the basement. “I Really Never Enjoyed ‘Batman’ Greatly” CB: So DC was obviously the more “corporate” company. Did that mean they cracked the whip more in terms of schedules or deadlines? MOONEY: They were pretty rigid in that respect. The main thing I disliked about DC was the sort of uptight attitude. It wasn’t fun. I felt, every time I went into DC, that it was not going to be a real pleasant experience. It wasn’t that bad, but it was uncomfortable, let’s put it that way. Whereas when I switched over to Marvel when I left DC, it was all fun and games!

Now that didn’t horrify me at the time—I just figured, “Hell, that’s the way it goes, you know? Maybe they’ll give me some confetti!” But a little later on, we began to realize we were discarding things that might be as valuable as some of the comic books we discarded even earlier on. I never had any respect for the comic book [pages] that I was working on; I’d put ink on them and treat them rather badly. CB: Did DC have some particular policy regarding the original art, or was it just simply “Yeah, if you want some, take it,” or did they have a

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’”

“No, it all goes in the dumpster” attitude?

they were wanting to go a little bit more to the illustrative route, the Neal Adams bit, and my stuff was more on the traditional Superman/Supergirl side. It wasn’t as well-drawn, it wasn’t as wellconceived or anything like that. It was tame, from their point of view—and from my point of view, too, to a great extent. I know that when they released that Archives [volume] of my early “Supergirl” stuff, I didn’t feel too good about it. I had an art service in Hollywood, California, and I was busy as hell when [“Supergirl”] dropped in my lap, and I didn’t want to refuse it, [so] I had people helping me with it, and consequently the drawing was not very professional.

MOONEY: They had no particular policy that I recall. It was just that, if you wanted something—I guess at that time a few people were possibly interested in it, not necessarily realizing that it was going to be of value later on, and they’d beg a few pages and take them back. I think that’s where a lot of this stuff [today] comes from. And another thing that amuses me—I notice that, at some of the recent auctions, some of the stuff I did on “Batman” with Jack Burnley, a tenpager, just sold at auction for $25,000. And it was mentioned that some were signed by Burnley and some were signed by me. Uh-uh, I did not sign those pages. Not that it makes that much difference, the signature isn’t that important, but it was kind of amusing. I think it gave it a little extra zip that way: “It’s signed!”

CB: I assume that you had the same kind of restrictions... that it had to look a certain way.

CB: How long did you work at DC? MOONEY: I worked there for almost 20 years. I switched over to Marvel in 1969, I believe. That was Spider-Man.

“I Was On [Spider-Man] For Quite Some Time” CB: Was that a fairly easy transition? MOONEY: Oh yeah. I would have worked for Stan quite some time before that, except Marvel’s rates were a lot lower than DC’s. There was getting to be quite a bit of upheaval [at DC];

And What Will Poor Robin Do Then? Beginning in Star Spangled Comics #93 (Oct. 1947), Mooney at least penciled, and often inked, every single “Robin” solo story for the next several years—a number of which featured Batman in anything from a cameo to the starring role. Many of these tales and more are included in the two volumes of DC’s Robin Archives—but this splash page from #102 (March ’50) is repro’d from the actual comic. Writer unknown. Thanks to ---- Cantwell (sorry, we don’t know the first name!). [© 2012 DC Comics.]

Strange And Unexpected Jim also illustrated a lot of science-fiction stories for DC over the years, repro’d here from scans of the original art. At left is a page from Strange Adventures #8 (May 1951)—at right, a “Space Ranger” page from Tales of the Unexpected #49 (May 1960). The script for the former, which was reportedly inked by Ray Burnley, is credited to John Broome; the writer of the latter is unknown. Thanks to Gene Reed and Steve Mitchell, respectively. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

MOONEY: Oh, it was terrible—because the first [“Supergirl” story] was done by Al Plastino, and Mort [Weisinger] was a stickler: “Don’t make her look different!” Well, gradually through the years I prevailed, and I think that after about 2 or 3 years of drawing her, I was kind of pleased with what I was doing. I certainly wasn’t pleased with those first couple of years that I was doing it. CB: Now, when you went over to Marvel and started working on [The Amazing] Spider-Man, that was even then their premier title. Was this because you were friends with Stan, or did it accidentally work out that way?

Jim Mooney Talks About 40 Years Of Drawing For Fox, DC, and Marvel

Super Is As Super Does! Apparently creator Tom Batiuk needed a relief pitcher on this Funky Winkerbean newspaper strip for Sunday, April 13, 2008—’cause the note beneath the third word balloon reads: “With thanks for the funky-fill-in to Jim Mooney!” [Strip © 2012 Tom Batiuk; Superman & Supergirl TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

MOONEY: Stan and I have been friends since the early Timely days, and I dropped over there because it was obvious I wasn’t going to get any more work at DC at that time. So I thought it wouldn’t hurt to drop by and say hello to Stan and see what might be cooking. He said, “Gee, you came in at a great time, Jim! John Romita is trying to turn out as much of this stuff as possible, and why don’t you give it a try? Maybe you can do some finalizing over his lay-outs.” Well, that worked out pretty well, and I was on that for quite some time. And I enjoyed it. John Romita taught me a lot, and I found that he was an easy guy to work with.

CB: Was there anybody else at Marvel that you were particularly close with? MOONEY: No, not really. So many people have the idea that Marvel was a party all the time! Well, it wasn’t, and I didn’t meet a lot of the guys whose work I really like, because we weren’t in the office at the same time. CB: Ah, the myth of the Marvel Bullpen! To a certain extent, it was the same image that Bill Gaines tried to put forth with Mad magazine, that it was one big party. MOONEY: Well, I think Stan was responsible for that. He has all his favorite sayings, “’Nuff said!” and all that stuff, and he gave

Your Spider-Man’s Friendly Neighborhood (Left:) Stan Lee, seated, and former Marvel editor & writer Danny Fingeroth at the October 2011 New York Comics Convention, happily displaying a copy of the new TwoMorrows book The Stan Lee Universe, a copy of which Danny had presented to The Man hot off the presses! Danny co-edited the volume with Roy Thomas—and has written a “Spider-Man” tale or two in his day, as well. (Center:) John Romita and Jim Mooney in a 1998 photo, retrieved by Eddy Zeno from an interview at jimkeefe.com. By this time, the two artists’ “Spidey” collaboration was two decades in the past, but they remained friends and colleagues. (Right:) Three of the above-mentioned quartet got together a second time for The Amazing Spider-Man #67 (Dec. 1968). The big fist belongs to Mysterio. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan. [© 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’”

the impression that it was a teen-age type of operation! I guess, to some extent, we weren’t too much beyond that!

What’s Old, Pussycat? Larry Lieber—and a 1972 “Pussycat” page which he scripted and Jim Mooney drew. The feature appeared in one of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman’s “men’s magazines” from time to time, written and drawn by various folks—and had its own special once or twice. With thanks to comic art dealer Mike Burkey at www.romitaman.com. The photo is from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual. Thanks to Bob Bailey & Justin Fairfax. [© 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

CB: I heard Stan on the radio a couple weeks back, and it still sounds like he is pushing a teen-age operation! He has the same “Isn’t that great!” kind of style and an excited tone to his voice. I think the interviewer was a little bit taken aback. MOONEY: Last time I met him in San Diego, we had a good time. He came on the same way: “Jim! So good to see you!!” CB: I ran into Larry Lieber [Stan’s brother] the other week at the New York Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art benefit, and he mentioned that you and he had worked on a project for one of Marvel’s more, um, adult magazines. MOONEY: Pussycat! Larry and I worked together quite a while. Larry is the exact opposite of Stan. He never seemed to come on strong, he never came on positively. He was always laid back and maybe a little unsure of himself. A hell of a nice guy, though.

“[Steve] Gerber And I Never Met Until About 1997” CB: Now, you worked at Marvel for quite a while doing Spider-Man and other things, but you didn’t get a front byline as the artist on any title until a few years later, when you started working on titles like ManThing and Omega [the Unknown]. It seemed like you were getting paired with Steve Gerber a lot. Did you get on well with Gerber? MOONEY: Actually, Gerber and I never met

until about 1997, when I met him at a convention in San Diego. Now, we’d talked on the phone occasionally when I was in New York and Connecticut and when I moved down here, but there was never any great communication there. I just happened to like the guy’s stuff very much, and I let him know how much I enjoyed working with him. To me it was one of the pleasantest... Spider-Man was OK, but Supergirl, Spider-Man, Batman, it was all “comic strip” stuff that had to be done a certain way, whereas with Man-Thing you could take off in different directions. The same thing with Omega, with Son of Satan, with Ghost Rider. Those I really enjoyed doing. CB: The Gerber stories were very unconventional by comic book standards, but those books had a certain narration style to them. Given that the Gerber books sounded so first-person, so [autobiographically] Gerber style, was it a different situation for you from the typical Marvel “house style”? I mean, they are also very different-looking books. MOONEY: I had a great deal of freedom there, but unlike a lot of the other Marvel material, where you got a synopsis and you worked it out yourself, I got full scripts from Steve. Every page was scripted out as if he had been working for DC. And I thought at first when this happened, “Oh God, this isn’t going to be too great”—and when I got into it I found it was working, it was OK. No complaints! CB: Those books stand up well all these years later. Gerber really seemed to have the feel for the Man-Thing character—well, he’s almost not a character but more the focus of the books, really.

Comic Book Writing Is A Dangerous Business!

Writer Steve Gerber, no less, gets sucked into a nightmare in Man-Thing #22 (Oct. 1975)—the final issue of the regular series. Pencils and inks by Jim Mooney. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [© 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

MOONEY: Yeah, he definitely did. Now, with Omega, I felt there was a little problem there in some respects. I loved many aspects of it, but it didn’t come across as well as Man-Thing in certain areas. Possibly because he had a co-writer on it. [NOTE: Many of the Omega the Unknown issues were co-written by Steve Gerber’s friend Mary Skrenes.] CB: Did you have feeling there might be trouble with these books when you worked on them, because they weren’t

Jim Mooney Talks About 40 Years Of Drawing For Fox, DC, and Marvel

CB: Yet in the 1980s and ’90s, you have Gaiman’s Sandman or Frank Miller’s Dark Knight, which are hugely popular and were beyond dark, just depressing in some cases. So sensibilities certainly have changed! Even the Batman movies were very dark. I guess in the ’70s people wanted something more light-hearted, because none of these books, Son of Satan, Man-Thing, Omega, did all that well. MOONEY: Well, Ms. Marvel is another one that I did. I didn’t enjoy that quite as much; I wanted to draw it well and I did try to draw it as well as I could, and I was delighted that I had such a good inker on it. So the combination made me happy. But I was not really immersed in Ms. Marvel as a character like I was with Ghost Rider or Omega. CB: I assume that Chris Claremont was very different to work with than Gerber? MOONEY: Oh, yes! Chris used to call me and give me plot synopses over the phone! On and on and on.... I couldn’t always get my tape recorder on right, but I guess it worked out OK. But it was wearisome in that respect. I still enjoyed the strip and product itself. I think it came out pretty well.

Alpha And Omega Splash page of Omega the Unknown #2 (May 1976)—and you can read the credits for yourself on this one. We had to fish a bit in the waters of our TwoMorrows sister mag Back Issue for a couple of these. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [© 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

standard super-hero titles? Were you surprised when the books were canceled? MOONEY: I was very disappointed. It’s strange, but occasionally now I’m getting some fans who read the Omega books when they were younger, and one guy was dreadfully impressed by the gang beating of John Nedley [in Omega #4]. Where he’s in the hospital and so on... CB: Well, it sticks in my mind all these years later, because you didn’t see that [in comics]. MOONEY: Well, I was kind of surprised. I remember, when I was doing that whole sequence, it brought back my experience in New York City when I was about 14. One of my best friends was beaten up very badly and ended up in the hospital. I went to P.S. 65 in Manhattan, and a lot of those scenes were, of course, a lot earlier than the scenes in the Omega book, but I recalled so much of that stuff when I was drawing it that I was very much immersed in that particular series and that particular period of the series. CB: So it’s interesting to note that you have books like Man-Thing and Omega, which are a little bit darker than typical 1970s super-hero books... MOONEY: Oh, God, yes. And they were so much more fun to do!

Mean Streets—And Bad Bathrooms John Nedley about to get his butt kicked in Omega the Unknown #4 (Sept. ’76). Script by Mary Skrenes & Steve Gerber; pencils by Jim Mooney; inks by Pablo Marcos. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [© 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’”

“I Went To One Or Two Conventions And Saw That People Were Selling [Original Artwork]!” CB: What was Marvel’s art policy, as you recall? MOONEY: Well, Shooter always takes all the credit for returning artwork. Whether that’s apocryphal or not, I don’t know, but that was Shooter’s contention. But it was after Shooter was there that they started returning artwork. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Mooney’s memory must have momentarily failed him here. Actually, Marvel began returning artwork in the mid-1970s.] CB: But you didn’t have any interest in pushing to get your art back?

CB: I assume that, because you inked a lot of your own work at Marvel, that meant that you got a lot more pages back than somebody who only penciled or only inked. MOONEY: Yeah. When I was doing my own penciling and inking, the writer got, I think, one page and I got the rest of it. I usually made sure I got the splash page! CB: Clearly, some time went by between you getting your art back and your beginning to sell it. Many other artists started selling their work at various auction houses, but you didn’t. Any particular reason? MOONEY: Well, I was approached because I had quite a bit of the early “Batman” stuff. I felt that [that dealer] was a little bit heavy-handed, and consequently we didn’t get along too well. So I sold it to a private collector, the three or four pages I had, instead of putting them up at auction [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Jim later told me that these pages were not given to him by DC, but came to him from another person as a gift.] Some of the other stuff I sold at conventions; I wish I hadn’t.

MOONEY: I really didn’t think about it. You know, it’s funny—they started sending me stuff back from Marvel, and I got a tremendous amount of stuff back in the late 1980s. I had a studio and a condominium close by here where I was working for a while, and I never thought Mooney Gets Swamped! too much about it. I was kind Splash page of Man-Thing #17 (May 1975), Jim’s first page featuring Marvel’s of pleased to have the stuff. I had some much more muck-monster. Script by Gerber; pencils & inks by Mooney. Thanks to Barry Pearl. Then I went to one or two interesting stuff that John [© 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.] conventions and saw that Romita and I did together. I people were selling this stuff! first started selling at convenAnd I guess I was giving it away for very, very little, because I tions about 10 years ago in Kansas City. I used to go to a lot of the didn’t know what it was worth. I didn’t have any idea how to conventions, and I used the sale of my work to finance my airfare price it. and the various expenses that I did incur. But after that, I realized I’m getting to the bottom of the barrel now; I’ve been selling for about three years on eBay and selling very well, thank goodness! It’s kept us afloat for awhile, but I have a lot of stuff now that will not sell, like the new Superboy series based on the TV show. I can’t move it! Soul Searchers that I worked on for Claypool with Dave Cockrum, same. Elvira sells pretty well. But I think I did some of my best inking and finalizing on with Dave on Soul Searchers, and I’m just putting it aside and figure, “Don’t push it now.” Maybe sometime in the near future, if I’m still around, it may move and may bring a buck or two. CB: Retroactively, are there things that you didn’t get back that you say, “Gee, I wish I had that now”? MOONEY: You mean from Marvel? They sent me just about everything that I did. Once in a while a page would be missing or something. I know that some of the stuff I worked on with other guys, they evidently appropriated more of it for themselves than they should have. But I wasn’t going to put up a fuss about it.

that I was doing much better selling on eBay, because it was an auction, and I didn’t say, “3 pages, $50—take it or leave it.” I put it on eBay for what I was hoping would be a reasonable starting figure, and I would sometimes be extremely surprised at what it would bring. But I sold all my Amazing Spider-Man pages to a guy when I first left Marvel. He approached me and said, “I want every one of those pages, Jim, and I’ll buy them, even the talking heads.” Not being the brightest guy in the world, I accepted his figure on it, and he bought everything I had! He was a very good businessman! Better than I am! CB: You feel that you’ve done well on eBay then? MOONEY: I’m very pleased. Now I’m beginning to realize that I’ve sold too much stuff, and I’m putting some things that I feel are my better pages aside. Getting back to the Silver Age, I had a few Supergirl pages [obtained from DC as character references], and I [continued on p. 26]

Jim Mooney Talks About 40 Years Of Drawing For Fox, DC, and Marvel

Two Cats And A Bat—Not To Mention Vice Versa Jim Mooney drew this commission illo of Batman, Catman, and an apparently sides-switching Batwoman for collector Michael Dunne. It’s probably a recreation of art he drew years earlier—and we’re sure our readers will tell us precisely where the original appeared. (Or maybe they won’t, just to teach us a lesson!) [Batman, Catman, & Batwoman TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’”

A Helluva Fight! (Above:) A specialty drawing of Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, standing up to his Old Man. Jim Mooney pencils and inks, previously unpublished. Jim mentions this piece at the very end of the interview. Thanks to Chris Boyko. [Son of Satan TM & © 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Man And/Or Boy (Or Girl Or Woman) (Left:) Action Comics #332 (Jan. 1966) spotlighted one of the legendary “Imaginary Tales,” which postulated what might have happened if Supergirl had come to earth before Kal-El— and had grown up to become Superwoman. Art by Jim Mooney; script credited to Leo Dorfman. Repro’d from the original art, courtesy of art dealer Anthony Snyder; see p. 44. [© 2012 DC Comics.] (Right:) Superman looks a bit young—or perhaps Superboy looks a bit old—in this commission drawing by Mooney... though Supergirl looks just right, as always. Maybe this commission drawing illustrates a scene from the aforementioned Imaginary Tale, which was called “How Superwoman Trained Superboy!” Thanks to John G. Pierce. [Superman & Supergirl TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

Jim Mooney Talks About 40 Years Of Drawing For Fox, DC, and Marvel

Jim Mooney’s World A fantastically detailed illustration Jim drew of himself and many of the characters he drew, particularly for DC and Marvel. Thanks to Chris Boyko. [Characters TM & © DC Comics & Marvel Characters, Inc. & the respective copyright holders.]

[continued from p. 23] put one of them, which I had to have restored, up at auction, and that went for two grand. Which is not too bad! So I figured I’m going to keep the other two, and maybe my heirs can have some fun after I’m gone and make a buck or two!

“One Of The Things I Am Enjoying More Than Anything Else Is Commissions” CB: Good for him. I was one of the other people trying to get it... for the same reasons! Wonderful-looking characters! More Gerber off-the-wall villains.

CB: I’ve noticed the price range on your pages is extremely wide. You talk about two grand, but many things are $30-40, though I’ve seen some pretty high prices for some pretty tame pages. There was a Defenders page [penciled by Sal Buscema] that just had a bunch of talking heads, well talking headmen really, and it sold for close to $300.

MOONEY: I think that’s what made it so interesting. But you know, although I thought John [Buscema] was a far better draftsman than his brother, I think Sal has been [unfairly] put down as being a good investment as a comic book artist.

MOONEY: That sold to a guy who’s bought a lot of my Defenders stuff in New Zealand. This gets back to the impressions these things made on the person as a child. He said, “I remember those head people, that guy with the big jowls. I couldn’t get it out of my memory.” He was fascinated by it and kept at it until he bought it.

CB: Yes, I agree. The early stuff that he did in the late 1960s to 1970s had a very interesting unique style that didn’t look like anybody else, and I do think that he has been pushed aside, for reasons I have never understood. His Spider-Man pages have better sales, but I’m kind of surprised that he doesn’t do better in the marketplace.

“We Want This To Look Like ‘Batman’”

MOONEY: I think probably that I felt the drawing is better, something that I am fairly pleased with, [because] you knock a lot of this stuff out because you have to make a buck, and you’ve got to sometimes turn it out fast. CB: Are you generally happy with the way eBay handles things from a business perspective? MOONEY: I haven’t had any real problems. I’ve been very fortunate. I don’t have a great love affair with eBay—I mean, they’re an outlet and I accept them for the outlet that they are. But I have had no problems. Occasionally, when I have had buyers who have not paid, they are reminded that they are going to have to pay, and it usually works. Only happened about 2-3 times in the last 3 years. CB: You retired from Marvel in the mid-1980s, right? I say “retired” loosely, because you are still at it! MOONEY: I never made enough money and have to keep working! One of the things I am enjoying more than anything else is commissions I’ve gotten by making contacts on eBay. I can take a little bit more time with them. Usually, I won’t take them if they say, “I want a picture of Supergirl flying through the air with Streaky.” I’ve done enough of that! But I just did a Son of Satan which I enjoyed very much.

A Mooney, A Girl… Romance (Above:) Jim and his beloved wife Anne, who passed away in 2005.

MOONEY: Well, he was a joy to ink. His penciling was very concise and very easy to follow, and it also left you with enough room that, if you wanted to ad-lib a little bit, you could. And I never had any criticism of my doing that, either from Sal or from the office. CB: So, when you are selling your own pages, are there ones that you decide not to sell? I mean for other than monetary reasons. What makes you keep a page?

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books (1928-1999) Online Edition Created by Jerry G. Bails FREE – online searchable database – FREE www.bailsprojects.com – No password required

A quarter of a million records, covering the careers of people who have contributed to original comic books in the US. A “trading card” drawing done by Dick Sprang for Kitchen Sink’s hardcover collections of the Batman newspaper comic strip. Repro’d from the original art; thanks to Ike Wilson. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

Chris Boyko has been collecting comic art, EC comics, Silver Age Marvels, and Dick Tracy memorabilia for the past 25 years and is running out of room to store his treasures. He has attended numerous auctions, and buys and sells on eBay on a regular basis. He also edited the second edition of The Comic Art Price Guide by the late Jerry Weist.

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“ You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties” TONY TALLARICO Soon Found Out Differently— As We Learn In Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview Conducted by Jim Amash • Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

Two By Tony Above, Tony Tallarico draws Tony Tallarico—for the 1958 National Cartoonists Society Annual—and at right, the final page of “The Corpse Springs Alive!” from Youthful/Story’s Mysterious Adventures #6 (Feb. 1952). The splash page of this tale was seen last issue. With thanks to Jim Kealy for the horror page—and to TT for the self-portrait. [Tallarico sketch © 2012 Tony Tallarico; other page © 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Last time around, we discussed the early days of Tony Tallarico’s work in comics, starting out as an assistant to the likes of Frank Carin, Burne Hogarth, and Al Scaduto, through his journeyman work for Avon, Youthful/Story, et al. This issue, we finally get around to his debut at Charlton, the company with which he is most identified in comics readers’ four-color minds… although we’ve still got a few other bases to touch first. Thanks again to our mutual friend, Stan Goldberg for putting me in touch with Tony. —Jim.

“I Had Space In A Studio In The City” JIM AMASH: Did you see Rocco Mastroserio at Avon [in the late 1940s/early 1950s]? TONY TALLARICO: Yes, and then later on, he worked for Charlton. He was a quiet guy, but Dick Giordano and he became

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

very good friends. He lived in Connecticut. I didn’t get to know him.

TALLARICO: No, far from it. I don’t know if he even drew the stories, or if this other mascot did.

JA: Did you happen to know Al Hollingsworth? TALLARICO: Oh, yes. A.C. Hollingsworth was quite a character; pompous. He was a school teacher. He was a big heavy guy, and he had an assistant who was like a 98-pound weakling—a white guy who carried this huge portfolio for him. [The latter] would go up to Billy Friedman and say, “Boy, this guy is getting back at all the slavery.”

JA: I know he had a studio, and for a while he was putting out a lot of work, so we know he had assistants. He worked mostly for small companies, like Ace, Fox, Superior.... How did Hollingsworth dress? What did he look like?

Avon Calling—Again! (Top left:) Rocco Mastroserio’s splash for Avon’s Eerie #2 (Aug.-Sept. 1951). The full version of this photo of the artist (above left) appeared in A/E #41. Thanks to Jim Ludwig and Bill Schelly.

JA: Was he a talkative person? TALLARICO: Yes, he was a bullfrog. He was beyond talkative; it was always about himself. He was interested in me as far as being a sounding board—to talk about himself to somebody else. Fine! JA: He wasn’t that great an artist, either.

(Top right:) The bylined Alvin/Al/A.C. Hollingsworth splash page from Avon’s Mask of Fu Manchu (Aug. 1951), as reprinted in IW’s Dr. Fu Manchu #1 (1958)—plus a less sartorially-inclined head shot of ACH which Jim Amash found on the Internet. Thanks to Stephan Friedt for the art scan. [Art pieces & photos © 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

TALLARICO: He always wore a tie, suit, rings, a hat—he really looked like he was going to a festive occasion. JA: Not all the guys dressed like that, did they? TALLARICO: No, no way. JA: How did you dress when you went in?

TALLARICO: I always wore a sports jacket and a tie. In high school, I was told, “You must always wear a tie because you’re going into a business that requires people to be dressed with ties.” [laughs] And I always did.

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

They Did A Heap Of Work Together! Arthur Peddy (penciler) and Bernard Sachs (inker) became a long-lived team on such Golden Age features as “The Heap,” as per the splash at left from Hillman Periodicals’ Airboy Comics, Vol. 4, #2 (March 1947). Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.] (Above left:) Arthur Peddy in the U.S. Army in 1944; see the full photo in The All-Star Companion, Vol. 2. Courtesy of son-in-law Michael Posner. (Above right:) Bernard Sachs. Full photo printed in All-Star Companion [Vol. 1]. Photo courtesy of Carmine Infantino & J. David Spurlock.

that he had penciled for a billboard, and it was not accepted. I didn’t know we were in competition to get this job. I did something, and they took mine. The show was A Hatful of Rain with Ben Gazarra. I had him kneeling down with his hat, like his hat in his hands, looking up. That’s what they took for the poster. Anyway, I didn’t know him. Bill Fraccio knew him well. They worked for Hillman, I think. JA: Did most of the people wear coats and ties? TALLARICO: Yes. But Lou [Cameron] didn’t. JA: He wouldn’t. By the way, Syd Shores did some work at Avon at that time period. TALLARICO: Yes, but I met Syd later on. He was one of the guys who had that studio with Wally Wood on Rockaway Avenue in Valley Stream. He and—oh, what was the name of the other guy? He was an inker for DC. I can't think of his name. JA: Art Peddy, I believe, was a penciler. TALLARICO: Yes, Peddy [worked with] Bernie Sachs. Peddy was the penciler because, later on, I had space in a studio, and one of the accounts that the studio had was an ad agency that only handled theatrical clients. I remember Peddy coming in with something

Science Of The Times Don Perlin (in a pic from his Army days)—and his splash page done for Captain Science #3 (April 1951), published by Youthful Magazines. With thanks to Jim Kealy. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: You knew Jack Abel, too. He might be the inker you’re thinking of. TALLARICO: He was a nice guy… one of the guys that I used at Charlton. He was a straight shooter; did all he could to help you. Absolutely dependable, and he worked for DC and Marvel. He worked for a lot of people. He was an amusing guy. He would come here to drop something off for Charlton at the house. I had space in a studio in the city, so a lot of guys like Jerry Grandenetti

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

would drop stuff off in the city. There were a couple of them who lived out on Long Island, and it was very convenient for them to drop work off at my home, instead. It didn’t matter to me, so they got it in on time.

Fitzgerald was doing a series of comic books for the CocaCola Company on famous African-Americans. I did a 32pager on the Russian author Pushkin, in addition to a lot of other stuff. JA: You did The Black Inventors in 1971, and you did a book on drugs.

“Not Enough Skulls!”

TALLARICO: Yes. I wrote those, and some of that is based on Burt Fitzgerald’s happenings. There's a sequence in there where he is driving under the influence and he swore that the light was green, and it wasn’t. It was red, and he went through it. I don’t know what happened. I think he was arrested, but I had to put that in the book. I also did a book on Roy Wilkins, who was the head of the NAACP.

JA: Let me ask you then about Don Perlin at Avon. You said [off-tape] that Sol Cohen gave him a hard time. TALLARICO: Yes, Sol had a couple of clients who wanted advertising comic strips done, and he gave a script to Don Perlin, and he gave me a script to do, and Sol hated both of us. With me, I could say, okay, I was pretty new. But Don was good. Sol was just a bastard. He just wanted the power to give you something that you really wanted to do, and then pull it back. That was one of his tricks.

JA: Did you pencil what you did for Fitzgerald, or did you have someone do it? TALLARICO: I penciled it. JA: I’m going to ask you that question many times, so I can figure out what's yours solely, and what isn’t, because it is a little confusing trying to figure out when someone penciled for you, and when they didn’t.

JA: Don was with Charlton, too. Did you get to know him there? TALLARICO: No. I remember when he was the art director at Valiant. Much earlier than that [early ’70s], Don was doing stuff for a publisher, Burt Fitzgerald. They were looking for other people to do stuff, so Don called me. “He’s looking for things. Go see him.”

Drugs May Be “Where It’s At”—But Where The Hell Am I?

TALLARICO: Well, Bill Fraccio and I worked very closely and so often that a lot of people think I just inked everything. But I didn't. Sometimes Bill inked it [and] I penciled it. We didn’t always have a set way of working.

Tony wrote, penciled, and inked the 16-page comic/pamphlet Drugs… Where It’s At for Fitzgerald Publishing Co., Inc. (1970). This sequence was based on a true occurrence—though not one that happened to the artist/scripter himself! Mag courtesy of Tony. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: Lou [Cameron] told me that he remembered you being around Bill Fraccio during the time you and he were working for Friedman. I had wondered if maybe you and Bill had worked together on any of the Friedman material. TALLARICO: We might have, who knows? Who’d remember that? They were all 6-page stories. There’s an awful lot of 6-page stories that went through our hands. I drew some horror stories, a lot of war, and Westerns for Friedman. Bill was doing a lot of romance stories, and horror, too. JA: But you don’t remember if you worked together then?

Skull-king About Because of the sizable body of work they did together, the names of artists Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio (seen above) are forever linked. At left, though, is Fraccio’s early solo splash page for Merit’s Dark Mysteries #5 (Feb.-March 1952), featuring his trademark skulls (and the rest of the skeletons, for good measure). Thanks to Jim Ludwig. Oh, and check out Alter Ego #29 for Jim Amash’s interview with Fraccio! [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

TALLARICO: I may be wrong, but I don’t think so.

We were always in touch. He lived in Mount Vernon, I lived in Brooklyn. We would talk on the phone and chat. We would go out once in a while, he would get tickets to a show for his wife, and they would get an extra one for me.

JA: Lou and Bill told me about Friedman’s fetish for placing skulls in stories. TALLARICO: Oh, yes! I remember Bill doing a cover, and Billy Friedman saying, “Not enough skulls!” So in his waiting room, Bill put in more skulls, and it had nothing to do with anything. I would say to Bill, “Hey, there’s an empty spot here. You could put a skull here.” “Oh, good idea!” He would draw another skull there. It was ridiculous! Bill ended up getting a rubber stamp in the shape of a skull. He stamped away with skulls.

JA: He was a sweetheart. What I noticed about Bill was that he didn’t start a conversation. But if you started it, he would go with it. He didn’t, in my experience, initiate. TALLARICO: Yes, that’s the way he was. He didn’t, and that was true even with his wife. I was over at his house many times. Bill’s wife made punch and set food out, and he was very quiet with her, too. You know, he really did not want to do comics.

JA: Did you pencil and ink your work for Friedman?

JA: He didn’t seem to have the highest regard for comics.

TALLARICO: Probably. Yvonne Rae wrote the stories. She was Billy Friedman’s editor for a while. I only saw her a couple of times, when she was going over scripts. I remember that Larry Saunders, who later became a well-known writer, edited for Friedman at some point, too. JA: Friedman was in this to make a buck. Did he care much about these books? TALLARICO: Oh, no. He didn’t care. It was strictly money. Same thing with [publisher Frank] Unger.

TALLARICO: No, he didn’t. He tried various things with King Features, trying to ghost strips or do his own, but nothing really panned out. JA: He taught art for many years in Connecticut.

Iron Aces High

TALLARICO: Yes, and he also worked for someone he went to Mount Vernon High School with, named Eddie Boone. Boone was doing greeting cards for AfricanAmericans. His partner was Jackie Robinson’s wife, Rachel, whom I met and did some things for, thanks to Bill. Bill wanted to paint. He felt that comics were just the beginning of his career. He didn’t want to be stuck in the beginning phase of his whole life.

An even earlier solo Fraccio splash—from Air Fighters Comics, Vol. 2, #6 (March 1944). This is the Hillman title that soon metamorphosed into Airboy Comics. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

“I Looked Up To Bill Fraccio” JA: Is this when you got to know Bill Fraccio? TALLARICO: No, I got to know him at Frank Carin’s. That’s when we became close friends. He had been in the service during World War II. He must have been in his mid- to late 30s when we met, and I was still going to high school. He would come pick me up at 3:15 when I got out of high school. We would go to a coffee shop and talk. I looked up to him, absolutely. I would say he took me under his wing. Bill could really draw. He didn’t show it very often in comics, because he kind of knocked the work out, but he could really draw, and he helped me when I was going to figure-drawing class. I would show him my drawings, and he would criticize them. He really knew what he was talking about. JA: Bill had the heartiest laugh of anybody I ever knew. TALLARICO: Yes, [mutual chuckling] that’s right. It was a chuckle/laugh kind of thing. [In those early days], he would show me a job that he was working on, and point out various tricks he did. I do think we started working together after the Friedman days. When I was doing the Charlton packaging, I used him a lot; more than anybody else.

JA: I got the impression that he felt that way. Did you meet Jackie Robinson or only Rachel? TALLARICO: Just Rachel [then]. I met Jackie Robinson years later. I had studio space in Manhattan, and I would stop off at a Chock Full O’ Nuts restaurant on Broadway and 34th Street with another guy that I would meet on the train. Robinson was always there. At that point, he had gray hair, and he was really a little bit rotunder. JA: Diabetes had gotten to him. He was 53 when he died. TALLARICO: He was a young man. Rachel was very nice. She liked what I did. I would do these cutie kind of things for greeting cards. Bill did realistic art. It was not anything competitive, not that it would ever be. JA: Did you write them, too, or did you just do the drawing? TALLARICO: I just did the art. JA: Did Bill ever do any comics writing? TALLARICO: No, never.

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

JA: Bill’s first wife was artist Tex Blaisdell’s sister. Bill mentioned it to me, but I got the impression he didn’t really want to talk about her.

work for the Xerox company as a night watchman, and I started doing children’s books, so we didn't really have much in common. He would call, and I would call him, but it wasn’t like a weekly thing.

TALLARICO: He probably didn’t. He has a daughter who lives out here because the last time that Bill came to my home—maybe a couple of years before he passed on—he went to Deer Park to see his daughter, too. [He was married] twice… to Blaisdell’s sister, and then Annie Fraccio, whom he met in Germany in World War II.

JA: What’s interesting is that he mentored you, and then ends up working for you. TALLARICO: I was glad to be able to do that. I did that for a lot of guys. First of all, Charlton paid $16 a page, pencils and inks, which was ridiculously low, but a lot of guys really needed the work: Norman Nodel, Jerry Grandenetti, Jose Delbo. I was the first comic artist that he worked for. Jose was a terrific Western illustrator.

He really enjoyed being a soldier. He was in a couple of major battles, and then the war ended, and he met Annie. He wanted to marry her, but he had to get a divorce from his wife, and it was a big rigmarole to do this. But he finally did, he married Annie, and then he came here, and then it took a while for her to get here. She was a singer and had played the piano for the German High Command, so she had things against her coming to this country. Eventually, it was all straightened out. It’s just like if she was here and entertaining G.I.s. It would be the same thing. JA: Bill had a long-time girlfriend who was a student of his at the Connecticut Art School.

JA: How did you traffic the work when you had help? TALLARICO: I would have scripts, and I would ask, “How much time do you have?” The guys I used usually weren’t doing anything else. I would give Bill a couple of scripts for the following week. Then he would bring them in, and I’d give him a couple more. We would have lunch, and he would stick around for a bit.

Horrors Of A Different Color We printed the covers of Dell’s infamous first issues of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Werewolf in A/E #29—and several more pages from the former in #41, a Frankenstein/Halloween issue. Above are panels from Frankenstein #2 (Sept. 1966; actually the first super-hero issue) and Dracula #4 (March 1967, actually the third), both penciled by Bill Fraccio and inked by Tony Tallarico. In the latter, the scientific vampire gained a female partner—and no, her real name wasn’t Mina or Lucy. Actually, following hard on the booted heels of the stellar success of the Batman TV series in early ’66, the notion of turning three of the best-known horror franchises of all time into costumed characters wasn’t really a bad idea. Scripts by D.J. Arenson. [© 2012 Dell Publishing Co., Inc., or its successors in interest.]

TALLARICO: That’s right, but she was not a kid. She was a little younger [than he was]. And they kept planning on getting married, but it never happened. They finally made plans, but then he became ill and died. They found him face down in his studio, in his home in Mount Vernon, and he had been dead several days. He probably had a heart attack.

“What’s Doing, Bill?” “Ah, Nothing” JA: I had to drive our conversations. Sometimes Bill would call me, but he wouldn’t have anything to say. TALLARICO: He would do that to me, too. He would call and I’d say, “What’s doing, Bill?” “Ah, nothing.” [laughs] And for a while, not that we were angry, but we kind of disconnected. He went to

Bill was very tight-lipped about his personal life. His house in Mount Vernon was a very old house that he inherited from his father. It had a very nice layout of rooms, one of which became his studio. JA: Right before he passed away, he asked me to send a photograph of myself. He wanted to do a painting of me.

TALLARICO: He said that to a lot of people, including myself. He wanted to do a painting of my grandkids, and I did send pictures. He eventually did send me something back, and it was terrible. He talked up a good painting, but he couldn’t do one. I felt very bad for him. The first time he came to my home studio, he saw a small painting of myself on the wall. Bill says, “Oh, that’s nice. Who did that?” I said, “Bill, you did it.” He said, “I did? Why did I do that?” I said, “You wanted to do it. There’s no reason.” He never remembered that he did it. It was good, I tell you. He just couldn’t do that later. I don’t know what happened. JA: Where was he in the political spectrum?

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

Charlton Daze Fraccio & Tallarico drew all issues of Charlton’s 1964-66 Blue Beetle and Son of Vulcan series. Seen above are the cover of BB Vol. 2, #4 (Sept. 1964) and the splash of Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #48 (Sept. 1965, before its official title change). Most if not quite all issues except the final ones of both series were scripted by Joe Gill, but it was probably editor Pat Masulli who wrote the cover dialogue. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

TALLARICO: He wasn’t. He had no opinion either way. JA: I asked him about the Bush/Gore election in 2000, and all he did was laugh about it, and I never really got an answer out of him. I got to a point where I said, “Bill, I think you’d laugh at anything. I bet I could say ‘brick wall’ and you’d start laughing.” And he just started laughing. Every so often, we’d have a conversation and in the middle of the conversation, I’d say “brick wall.” He’d start laughing. TALLARICO: Yeah, at least that’s because there was a point to it. But if you said that, and he’d never heard of it before, he would still laugh. JA: He was always laughing, but was that him covering his feelings? TALLARICO: I think that was a cover-up because he never really made any kind of money. Once in a while, I would get an advertising job that we could do together—like we did a circus poster for Ringling Brothers, and that paid pretty good. It paid like $2,000, and I split it with him. He penciled it, and I inked and colored it.

“[Bill And I] Always Split Even” JA: He really wasn’t a go-getter, was he? TALLARICO: No. I’m not bragging about myself, but if he hadn’t met me, he would have … [pauses] JA: Starved. It’s okay to say that. I understand why you’re hesitant to say it. But if that’s the way it was, that’s the way it was, because I once asked him, “How come Tony got the jobs?” He said, “Tony was better suited for it.” TALLARICO: True. But people would have liked him; but after a while, he didn’t do anything much on his own. JA: Do you think it was a self-esteem problem? TALLARICO: Yes. JA: I’m not under the impression that he had very many interests. TALLARICO: Well, he taught himself to play the piano, and I mean he played the piano! If he had stuck to it, he could have been a concert pianist—that’s how good he was. And he taught himself! He didn’t sing, but his wife played the accordion, and of course, if you can play the accordion, you can play the piano. JA: He had a lot of faith in you. TALLARICO: Really? JA: He said, “Tony took care of everything. I never had to worry about

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

whether or not he’d pay me. I never had to worry about whether or not he was fair about it.”

who were doing them for me. JA: So you did very little penciling then.

TALLARICO: We always split even. JA: He said that “Tony’s personality was more geared to dealing with people.”

TALLARICO: Yes. JA: Earlier, you said that Bill had done some inking, too. Would that be due to tight deadlines?

TALLARICO: Yeah, dealing with people that you didn’t really like, also. If he didn’t like someone, he would just avoid them. But sometimes, that person you didn’t like was also your bread and butter. No, he would never get along with a guy like Lenny Cole. I knew the kind of person Lenny was, but I had to do it. I had a family, and I had to make money, too.

TALLARICO: Yes. JA: What did you think of Bill as an inker? TALLARICO: He was a better penciler. JA: Since you were inking on a regular basis, I would have figured you were better at it. TALLARICO: Oh, sure. Bill was older, had been drawing since much before I was even born, [chuckles too] so he was a better artist.

JA: I know you guys did some jobs that [Bill] didn’t like. Did he ever say, “Why are we doing this?” TALLARICO: Never. Towards the end, he didn’t want to do comics at all, and he turned in some real clinkers. Charlton turned down one of them, and I didn’t tell Bill. I just paid him, and we continued on. JA: Bill particularly disliked the Dracula, Frankenstein, and Werewolf comics you did for Dell. I told him, “Those are considered to be some of the worst comic books of all time.” Bill started laughing, and he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

JA: He knew human anatomy, but often I'd see a little clunkiness in his work. TALLARICO: Because the first thing he did was the last thing he did. He would never erase. He’d put something down, and that was it. If it was no good, he knew it was no good, but he wasn’t going to change it.

Meet The Beetle! ’Twas near-future Charlton editor Dick Giordano, however, who inked Bill Fraccio’s cover for Blue Beetle, Vol. 2, #5 (Nov. ’64). Repro’d from a scan of the original art, with thanks to dealer Mike Burkey. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

TALLARICO: That’s absolutely true, and there are reasons for them being the worst. Those first three books were done in one month. They were all on the same schedule. I don’t care if you had how many people worked on it, it’s an impossible schedule. 32 pages an issue times three. Try to do that in a month! That was the schedule for every issue in those series. Bill and I did them together, by ourselves. I couldn’t do it now, I’ll tell you. I wouldn’t want to do it now. There was no catching up on those deadlines. The stories were not good, either. Dell was trying to jump on the super-hero band wagon, and totally missed the mark. JA: Let’s backtrack a little. Bill Fraccio came on board, penciling for you pretty early at Charlton. How much of the stuff that you were responsible for did he pencil, and how much were you penciling? Or did you turn over all the penciling to him? TALLARICO: He did a story a week. If we could do a story a week, besides whatever else we were doing, that was fine. I wasn’t going to be a hog or anything. If there were only four scripts that I was assigned to give out, I would give them to the regular people

JA: I knew he drew better than some of the stuff I’d seen, so I asked him why. He said, “I would just knock it out.” How fast was he?

TALLARICO: He was very fast. He could pencil three or four pages a day. I could do a couple, two pages a day, pencils and inks. If I was only inking, I could do a half a dozen a day. A ten-hour day. Usually I started at 8:30, and I quit at five o’clock, just like I do today. Bill liked pulling all-nighters. I couldn’t take that. That’s one of the reasons I was trying to get out of advertising, because come Friday afternoon, sure as hell, you would get a phone call from an ad agency, wanting you to do a storyboard that would normally take you four days, and turn it in by Monday. The money was good, but you have a life, too. JA: I don’t think Bill had any illusions about himself. He seemed to know himself pretty well. TALLARICO: Yes. He knew he wasn’t a comic guy. He wanted to get out, and he didn’t know how. At one time, he took a job in an ad agency at a beginner’s salary, like $35 a week, and he was in his forties—just to get into an ad agency. Unfortunately, the agency folded. The best thing that he did was those greeting cards for Boone Press.

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

but I get the impression that he was a little intimidated by people.

“Too Bad [Bill And I] Weren’t Interviewed Together”

TALLARICO: I never thought of it that way, but you’re probably right. Too bad we weren’t interviewed together. That would have been interesting.

JA: Bill seemed to be an honest man. Did he have many vices? I didn’t get the impression that he had too many. I know he smoked.

JA: I should have been smarter about those things back then. But the one thing I did notice about Bill is that he did appreciate the attention that I gave him when I interviewed him.

TALLARICO: He smoked a pipe for a long time. He also smoked cigarettes. JA: I’m a pipe smoker, and one day I got a surprise package in the mail from Bill. In it were three pipes that he had bought but had never smoked. Rather than just have then sit around the house, he thought, "Well, Jim smokes a pipe. I’ll give them to him." Of course, I called him and thanked him. Every time I pick one of them up, it’s hard not to think about him. I think if I’d asked him to buy me a new car and he had the money, he’d have done it. [laughs] He seemed like a very generous guy. I don’t think he cared about money that much. TALLARICO: No, but he wanted it enough—well, his wife wanted him to make money, and I don’t blame her. I mean, she was cleaning houses towards the end. He couldn't have made much money teaching, even if he did like doing it. JA: He was prouder of teaching than he was his comic book work, the way he talked about it. TALLARICO: Yes. His comic work, he never talked about. The only time he ever spoke about it was when he was working for Hillman. That seems to be the peak of his career. He just liked the characters. He liked Fred Kida, who was doing “Airboy” there at the time. And Bob Fujitani. They all worked together at Hillman. JA: I’m learning as much about Bill from you as I did from Bill. [laughs] But yet, he always wanted to talk to me. TALLARICO: But he didn’t say anything, I know. He would do that to me, too. He’d call and we’d talk threequarters of an hour on the phone. My wife would say, “How is Bill?” I’d say, “I really don’t know.” She says, “Why didn’t you just ask him?” I said, “I do. I don’t get an answer.”

TALLARICO: Oh, sure, absolutely. He sent me a copy of the book. He was very proud of it. I said, “Gee, this is great.” JA: I knew he had worked at Xerox, but I didn’t realize it was as a guard. Maybe his pride didn’t want to tell me.

Crime Smashes On! Adolphe Barreaux drew (and a pair of pulp/crime fiction writers using the pen name Robert Leslie Bellem scripted) “Dan Turner” stories for Trojan Magazines’ Crime Smashers title. Cases in point: the splash from issue #1 (Oct. 1950) and a catfight from #7 (Nov. ’51); thanks, respectively, to Jim Ludwig and Jim Kealy. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

TALLARICO: That’s true, but he was the happiest doing that, because then he could teach in the school in the daytime, and he was making enough money to get by. Annie had passed away while he was doing that. Despite that, he seemed happy with his life, because he was making money. He seemed to me to be a very basic, simple man. But he was a very brilliant guy. He was a constant reader, reading very intellectual books that I couldn’t handle. He read everything, including books on philosophy. He really was an intellectual in his own way, but you’d never know it because he didn’t show it, for some reason. He didn’t have that many friends. I certainly liked him. He liked me. He came to my wedding. When my kids were born, he was tickled pink. We would go to the automat every couple of months, and for a quarter and three nickels, we would have baked beans or chicken pot pie or something nutty. [mutual chuckling] We had a good time. What else can I say?

“You Had To Pass [The Trojan] Office To Go To DC” JA: Let’s get back to your career. You did a couple of stories for Trojan Comics.

JA: I didn’t get an answer, either. He’d say, “I’m doin’ all right.”

TALLARICO: Oh, yes. Adolphe Barreaux… with his Italian wife.

TALLARICO: Yeah, that’s right. That’s a generic term.

JA: He was an older man, wasn’t he?

JA: I think Bill seemed to like most people,

TALLARICO: Oh, yes. He was in pulps. He was really an editor and an

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

JA: I've got you doing horror and war. TALLARICO: Yes, but they also had a comic book of personalities. I did a “Spike Jones” story, maybe a ten-pager. JA: I take it you didn’t do any of the pulps, just the comics. TALLARICO: No, I didn’t do the pulps. There were no pulps at that point. JA: Did Barreaux have an accent? TALLARICO: No. I know he had a son because, later on, a guy that I knew in art school became a sports cartoonist, Charlie McGill. He worked for The Bergen Evening News, and the editor was Adolphe Barreaux’s son. A wild coincidence. Barreaux was thin with slicked-down black hair, parted in the center, and wore a mustache. He was really a 1930s man in the ’50s. He looked like he should have been a waiter. If you were drawing a cartoon version of a waiter, he’d look like Adolphe. He was very dry, but a very kind person. He would always ask about my family, ask how was I doing healthwise, everything. He had a collection of photos that he had taken, I guess when he was younger. Charlton was doing a girlie magazine, and they needed pictures, so I got the two of them together, and he sold a lot of them to Charlton for a couple of years. He also wrote the stories I drew for him. JA: You had to supply your own paper and stuff with Friedman, Barreaux, and these smaller companies, didn't you?

A Trojan (Work) Horse (Above:) Although the name of an otherwise unknown artist named “Cerrone” gets top billing in the byline, it was reportedly Tony who penciled this story, with the former inking, for Crime Mysteries #7 (May ’53). The script is attributed to Paul S. Newman, one of the most prolific writers in comics history. Thanks to Jim Ludwig for both scans. (Right:) This Tallarico art from a “Fantastic Dr. Foo” [rather than “Dr. Fu Manchu,” about whom he speaks on this page] is most likely from Trojan’s Crime Mysteries #5 (Jan. 1953)—since the title of that story was “The Hovering Hand.” [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

artist of pulps. He became ill one year, and his wife took over. She was the nicest lady you’d ever want to meet. I don’t even remember her name. They were right down the hall from DC Comics. That’s how I met them. I’d go to DC, try to get something to do, show samples, and it was always, “No, no, no.” So one time, I stopped in there before I went to DC, and I got a job out of them. JA: How did you know they were there? TALLARICO: They were on the same floor. I didn’t know who Trojan Magazines was. You had to pass their office to go to DC at 480 Lex. JA: How many stories do you think you did for them? TALLARICO: I did a “Dr. Fu Manchu” series. I was paid $25 or $26 per page, pencils and inks. I’d bring in a story, and he would pay me before I left. He never asked for changes. Bob McLeod was the letterer.

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

TALLARICO: Yes. Barreaux was not a small outfit. Trojan Magazines was part of a printing company—Eastern Color—so it was not a smallpotatoes thing. It was a small potato as far as what they did, but they were a major printer for magazines.

when this opportunity turned up at Charlton, I called him and said, “Do you still have those photos?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Well, call them.” He said, “No, you do it. You be the in-between.” I said, “I don't want to be the inbetween. You call them, you work out a deal with them,” which he did.

JA: Outside of Barreaux and his wife, was there anybody working in the office?

“Dick Giordano Told Me About [The Fagos And Charlton]”

TALLARICO: No. It was a big office, two or three offices away from DC. There was no art staff. When I walked in, he was the guy I saw. I never saw a receptionist or a secretary. At one time, I’m sure there were dozens of people there. It was plain, but that’s the way offices were then. Clean, carpeted, and nice.

JA: How did you get started at Charlton?

JA: Any artwork on the walls? TALLARICO: Yes, pulp covers. I remember seeing a Shadow cover on the wall. JA: Did you run into other artists there? TALLARICO: I never met anyone there. In fact, I think I was probably the only person that worked there. I think they were using old stuff. When I would get a copy of the comic book, the stuff that was in there looked like it was done in the ’30s, and the lead story was mine. JA: Tell me about his wife.

A Real Sport One of many pages Tallarico drew for Charlton was this one for Charlton Sports Library – Professional Football. Tony apparently wrote, as well as penciled and inked, this one. Date uncertain. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

TALLARICO: She was very pleasant. I would stop by if I was in the area, just to see her and ask how Adolphe was. I don’t remember what was wrong with him, but he was gone for a good year.

TALLARICO: Al Fago was the editor, along with his wife, Blanche. He had an office on 42nd Street, right on Times Square and Broadway. Dick Giordano told me about them. The first work I got from them were two-page stories in Hot Rods and Racing Cars. But mine were like cartoon versions of those. Dick was doing tons of stuff for him. But the Fagos left Charlton, and Pat Masulli was my editor. I worked for Fago for about a year. No problems, ever. I turned in a job, and he paid me on the spot. Then he’d give me another job. I never knew what I’d be doing next, but I didn’t care because I was happy to do the work.

At one point, [copublisher] Santangelo, Senior, invited a whole bunch of comic guys up to Derby, Connecticut, and he gave a big speech. “You move-a up-a here, I build you a house and you pay-a me for the mortgage and you work-a for me.” And I said to myself, “Ehh, and I become a slave.” I was one of the few who said, “Nothing doing.” But a lot of guys took him up on it.

JA: Trojan did pulps in the ’30s, and they were connected with Donenfeld. I think Donenfeld was like a silent owner, because they did some of the “spicy” pulps, and so Barreaux was editing those back then, doing art in the interior, and writing stories, too.

JA: The earliest date I have for you at Charlton is 1955, on a character called “Holt Wilson.”

TALLARICO: Because he was an artist, he probably did some of the paintings, too. In fact, when they closed shop, he sent me a package. It was a big box and it had tearsheets of pulp covers they had done.

JA: Billy the Kid and Racket Squad in 1958, Black Fury in 1959, Battlefield Action in 1958....

JA: How did you find out that they were going to quit publishing? TALLARICO: When I turned in the last comic story I did, Barreaux said, “This is going to be the last of the comics.” I said, “Oh, are they going to do something else?” He said, “No, all they have is comics. They’re gonna close it down.” Well, he wasn’t thrilled, and

TALLARICO: I don’t even remember that.

TALLARICO: That was just an incidental story. JA: By this time, also, you were also illustrating coloring books, among other things. TALLARICO: Yes, I was trying to get into more and more of the book field.

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

JA: Did you want to get out of comic books?

these people who do books or illustration can do that.

TALLARICO: Not really, except that I saw the writing on the wall. Wertham did a number on comics. All those small, independent guys that I worked for went out of business. I thought the business was dying, but I always wanted to do children’s books anyway. Lee Ames introduced me to his agent, a woman named Mary Gerrard, who got me my first couple of coloring book assignments, but it went nowhere after that. I thought to myself, “I could do better on my own,” and that was the last agent I ever used. If you have an idea or something and you’re a pro, you can approach any publisher and they’ll listen. They won’t listen to somebody who’s starting out because they’re afraid they’re going to get sued, and they have been.

JA: You started drawing the juvenile books and the coloring books in the mid-to-late ’50s. And you’re doing them the whole time you’re working for Charlton. That explains to me why you needed penciling help, because you had so many assignments; also, the fact that the comics paid less. Did you consider Charlton to be your side job or your main job?

Later, I did a whole slew of coloring books for Charlton. They wanted to get into the coloring book field, and they had the license from HannaBarbera and a few other companies. I did all of them, and there was nobody that did a coloring book at Charlton but me. JA: In 1957, you did some illustrations for a magazine called Dude.

TALLARICO: No, I treated everything equally. I did the best I could under the circumstances in both cases. JA: Well, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise, but just as the fact that I would imagine you’d give more attention to the better-paying stuff. For instance, if you had a chance to illustrate a book that paid a lot more than comics, I’d think you’d illustrate the book before you did the comic. TALLARICO: Oh, of course, but then I would not take on the comics, or if I did, I would farm it out to somebody else who needed it, like all the people I mentioned that were working for me when I was packaging stuff at Charlton. They were getting the page rate that Charlton paid. Charlton paid me a fee for doing this.

“[Charlton Was] More Interested In Keeping The Presses Busy Constantly”

TALLARICO: Again, I was going someplace, and I saw the name of another company on the door, and I walked in at the right time. The Shadow Out Of Time JA: So when you paid Bill or I had a caricature of Robert Jerry Grandenetti, would you A Tallarico drawing for The Shadow Coloring Book, 1974. Note the period-style phone! Benchley that I had done as give them a 1099 statement Writer unknown. Courtesy of TT. [© 2012 Conde-Nast.] a sample, and they were after the end of the year? doing a bunch of Robert Benchley stories, which I ended up drawing. It was just luck. TALLARICO: Yes, my accountant would send out 1099s. I had to prove I paid them. I didn’t pay people “under the table.” JA: In 1959, I have you as illustrating a book called Teen Tales. Does that ring a bell? JA: Tell me about Jerry Grandenetti. TALLARICO: Yes. It was short stories within a hardcover book, and I think it was for Scholastic. JA: You were making more money off this stuff than you were in comic books. Comics, in a way, was your secondary income. TALLARICO: Yes. Comics really were my introduction to the art world. If you could do comics, you could do just about anything because you think pictorially. While an illustrator is sweating, trying to find a photo, you’ve already done the drawing. None of

TALLARICO: Somebody that was doing things for me was a friend of his, and Jerry needed work. He was excellent, different, and great, and he did quite a bit of stuff for me, starting my second year working for Charlton, and lasting about a year. He was doing a story a week, war and horror. He was very fast. Just pencils—he didn’t want to do inks—but you would know it’s his work. His style, no matter who inked it, would always come through. And then one day, he said, “This is the last job I can do.” I said, “Okay, what’s wrong?” He says, “I’m moving to Florida with my in-laws,

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

books, and we did a series for Citgo in the late ’90s that he wrote. We did tons of activity books where he did the whole thing. We did the Karate Kid series for Modern Publishing, and right now we’re doing stuff for Kids Books, Inc. And he’s a musician, also. He was with Herman’s Hermits, playing keyboards. Not the original bunch, of course [but the later version Peter [“Herman”] Noone put together].

Drawing “Drew” (Above:) Jerry Grandenetti, in a photo used in Warren Publishing’s Creepy #42 (Nov. 1971), as reprinted in the Dark Horse hardcover Creepy Archives, Vol. 9. [© 2012 The New Comic Company.]

JA: Did Charlton ask you make changes very often? TALLARICO: No, they didn’t. They realized the page rate was what it was, and they just wanted to get the work done. They were more interested in keeping the presses busy constantly.

(Right:) This “Dr. Drew” splash page with Jerry Grandenetti’s byline doesn’t exhibit the Eisneresque touches generally associated with his artwork on that series (see pp. 45 & 48 for examples of that); the script is attributed on the Grand Comics Database to Marilyn Mercer, who worked for years on The Spirit Section. This page is from Fiction House’s Rangers Comics #57 (Feb. 1951), as reprinted in IW’s Firehair #8 (1958). Thanks to Stephan Friedt. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: They were publishing other things besides comics. TALLARICO: Oh, yes. I did a magazine for them called Psychic Dimensions. I did it for a couple years, I guess. They did everything terribly. The worst printers in the country.

and we’re all going to live down there. I’m retiring.” I said, “Oh, great, Jerry. You know if you ever need anything, just give me a holler, and I’ll send you a script.” He said, “Okay, I appreciate that,” and that was it. JA: What did Jose Delbo pencil for you? TALLARICO: He didn’t pencil. He did the whole book. He did Billy the Kid, and a lot of Westerns. Westerns was all he did. I think he signed stories on occasion. That was all right with me. Charlton did not have a policy. It wasn’t like some other publishers who didn’t want names signed to the stories. JA: Who is Nina Tallarico? TALLARICO: My daughter. JA: I have her as doing some writing for Charlton in 1971. I have her on “Charisma Kid,” and doing Westerns in 1971. TALLARICO: She probably did. [chuckles] I’ll have to ask her. My son, Tony, Jr., has done more stuff with me than my daughter has. He’s done tons of commercial comic

Geronimo! Jose Delbo—and his splash for Charlton’s Geronimo Jones #1 (Sept. 1971), which Tallarico both scripted and inked. Note Delbo’s autograph on this copy from Gary Watson. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: They were really just selling paper, weren’t they?

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

TALLARICO: That’s right. They printed a comic book for me. I had a client, Maco Toys. I had an idea for them, and they jumped for it—to put in a comic book with every packaged toy that they made. It was a comic book, but it was also a catalogue of all their toys. They did a lot of military replicas and things, so Charlton printed it for me. And they did a lousy job.

JA: Connecticut was where Charlton was based, but Dick went to the New York office, too. TALLARICO: Yes, because he met other people there. The New York people were not going to go to Derby, Connecticut, on the page rates they were paying. I remember seeing Steve Ditko there every Wednesday for years. JA: Before we get into Charlton any further, how did you know George Gregg?

JA: I heard that the presses were originally designed to print cereal boxes.

TALLARICO: He was a friend of Bill Fraccio, and he had called Bill. Gregg was a traveler. I think he had just come back from the Middle East. He was working in an oil field. A very interesting guy, and he was looking for comic work, but in the time he was gone, the business had changed. So Bill told him that I was packaging for Charlton, so he came to see me, and I gave him a couple of Western scripts. This was the early ’60s.

TALLARICO: I heard the same story. And also, when they had the flood in ’55, those presses were underwater, and it didn’t improve the quality. [mutual laughter] JA: You came there after the flood. Do you remember how much they started you off at? TALLARICO: I think they started off paying better than they ended off. I think I was getting about $26 a page, including lettering. JA: So you were lettering your own stuff. TALLARICO: Most of the time, except I had a friend of mine, Ray Burzon, who was an art director at J. Walter Thompson. He lettered a lot of my stuff.

Retelling A Whale Of A Tail Part coloring book, part game-and-puzzle mag, were the eight entries in the Classic Activity Book series drawn by Tony Tallarico—or maybe these are the jobs on which he reports that his son Tony, Jr., “did the whole thing.” Either way, A/E’s editor, who adapted Moby-Dick a few years back for Marvel, couldn’t resist showcasing this introductory page from the kiddie-aimed Tallarico version. Writer unknown. Courtesy of TT. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: Were you working for J. Walter Thompson before you were working for Charlton? TALLARICO: Yes, drawing storyboards. I was doing a lot of illustrations on the Pan-Am account. For Pan-Am, I did about a dozen full-page ads that only appeared in G.I. papers. It was to encourage G.I.s to come home if they had a ten-day pass, and to use Pan-Am flights. They paid me around a thousand dollars a page. But those jobs were few and far between, so I needed something to keep going with it. JA: What was Charlton’s New York office like? TALLARICO: It was a very nice office. They had a receptionist, they had a couple of guys, like [artist] John Belfi there, working. I used to meet Dick Giordano every Wednesday. He would come in from Connecticut, and we’d have lunch together.

Toy Story Tallarico disliked the printing on the Maco Toys comics-style catalog which he drew and arranged to have printed by Charlton Press in 1959, but to Ye Editor it actually came out rather well, compared to the registry in Charlton’s comics. Thanks to TT. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: You once told me his real last name was Yamaguchi. Do you know why he changed his name? TALLARICO: I don’t know. Bill always called him “Gregg.” On the invoices he turned in to me, he signed his name “George Gregg.” Later on, Bill said that his name was “Yamaguchi,” and that he had changed it. I had little to do with him. I thought he was a fine person. He took the script, he brought it back in time—penciled and inked—and did an excellent job. I paid him. I asked if he wanted to do another one, he said, “Sure.” A week later, he had that back, and then he didn’t want to do any more. He was going to go someplace or other, I don’t remember where.

Part II Of Our Career-Spanning Interview With Tony Tallarico

Captain’s Courageous Steve Ditko’s entire Charlton run of “Captain Atom,” which actually began in Space Adventures #33 (March 1960), is on view in color in the two hardcover volumes of DC’s The Action Hero Archives—so here’s the cover of CA #80 (AprilMay 1966), repro’d from a scan of the original black-&white artwork, as inked by Rocco “Rocke” Mastroserio. Thanks to Terry Doyle. A photo of Ditko was seen last issue. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

“[Steve Ditko’s] Penciled Figures Were Like Manikins” JA: You said you have a Steve Ditko story to tell me. TALLARICO: He would appear at the New York Charlton office every Wednesday, to deliver whatever he had. One time I asked to see what he had, and he very hesitantly said, “Okay.” I was amazed by his pencils. His penciled figures were like mannequins—no clothing, no nothing. So when he got the lettering back from those pages, he would ink the clothes on the figures. It was an amazing thing. I never saw anybody pencil like that. And later, he was drawing super-heroes when Giordano was the editor. But when Dick left to go to DC, Steve did a lot of stuff for Sal Gentile. A lot of stuff. JA: Ditko went to DC before Giordano did. He was working for ACG also, which was another small company. He was the one who recommended that DC hire Dick Giordano. So Dick got the job at DC in part because of Steve’s recommendation. But Ditko didn’t last too long at DC, about a year or so. He went back to Charlton, and stayed there as long as he could, though he did work for other places, too. Did you get to spend any time with him? TALLARICO: Not beyond chatting in the waiting room. He was always immaculately dressed. He looked like a banker. He had a hat, a tie, a suit. If it was winter, he had an overcoat. He didn’t look like a comic book artist. JA: Do you remember anything about the chats you had? TALLARICO: No, it was just general stuff. I couldn’t get into him. Was he married? Where did he live? Stuff like that, which is ordinary conversation... you couldn’t do that with him. He was a very quiet guy who took comics very seriously. JA: Many fans consider Ditko to be the star artist of Charlton. Did you or anybody else at Charlton see Ditko that way? TALLARICO: No, he was just another guy turning out stuff. There were a lot of people we thought were better: Pat Boyette, for one. Ditko was getting a better page rate than anybody else. I don’t know how he swung that, but he was getting thirty-five a page. Sal told me that. I got $30 a page for doing The Partridge Family, and a lot of the TV-based comics Charlton did. JA: Dick Giordano told me that he pressed for the super-heroes. Bill and you did Son of Vulcan and Blue Beetle. Then, when Dick became editor, Ditko revamped the Captain Atom and Blue Beetle characters. He was Dick’s choice over the other Charlton artists. He could have used you, he could have used anybody else. But the fact that he used Ditko—I assumed it was because he considered Ditko to be the top hero artist that Charlton

had because, after all, Ditko had not only drawn “The Hulk” and “SpiderMan” for Marvel, he co-created “Spider-Man” and “Doctor Strange.” TALLARICO: It was a funny thing: some companies are very conscious of the fans and others weren't. Charlton was one of the ones that said fans were a nuisance. Dick was the one that really pushed for fans, and probably for that reason. He cared about giving fans a good comic book. JA: Did Charlton get much in the way of fan mail that you ever knew about? TALLARICO: No, absolutely not. I’ll give you an example. In the early ’60s, I drew a romance cover—a boy and girl kissing scene— and it was in a rush, like everything else, and I had put an arm around the girl, and I didn't like the way I drew that arm. I changed it, but I forgot to white-out the arm I disliked. You know, it went through. It was printed and we didn’t get one letter. [mutual laughter] That was the amazing part. We said, “Oh, we’re gonna get bombarded with mail.” Nobody wrote.

“You’re Going Into A Business That Requires People To Be Dressed With Ties”

Sailing Ships And Simba Plenty of Tallarico treasures to come next issue—but we’ll close out this installment with two samples of his art done for different publishers. (Left:) Speaking of treasures, here’s a nicely illustrative splash page for the Catholic comic book Treasure Chest, Vol. 27, #1 (circa 1948), published by George A. Pflaum; thanks to Mike Delisa. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.] (Right:) One legendary but shortlived Charlton title was Jungle Tales of Tarzan, produced at a time when some folks thought that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ greatest creations had lapsed into the public domain. Four issues and one swift lawsuit later, JToT was no more. The series’ “Tarzan” stories were drawn by Sam Glanzman; Tony Tallarico handled the fillers, which spotlighted various species of wild beasts each issue. Seen here is the vignette from #1 (Dec. 1964); script credited to Joe Gill. Thanks to Stephan Friedt. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: Why didn’t you white it out? TALLARICO: I forgot! [mutual laughter] I didn’t do it on purpose, that’s for sure. Jim Amash’s interview with Tony Tallarico will be continued next issue.

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MTG: He never met me, obviously! [laughs]

The Mystery of the Missing Letterer—Part 6

by Michael T. Gilbert

e conclude our six-part series on Abe Kanegson—Will Eisner’s premier Spirit letterer—with an interview with Abe’s widow, Elizabeth Kanegson. The two met in the mid-’50s and married soon after. They remained together until leukemia took Abe’s life in 1965.

Elizabeth Kanegson Interview–1/23/11 ELIZABETH KANEGSON: You are Michael Gilbert from somewhere in Oregon? MICHAEL T. GILBERT: Eugene, Oregeon—where the rain never stops. KANEGSON: It’s not as cold as it is here, I am sure. MTG: Where are you located now?

MTG: That’s cold enough.

MTG: I was hoping to ask you a few questions about Abe’s early life and such. First of all, when and how did you and Abe meet? KANEGSON: Oh, my goodness. A long time ago—I am trying to think what year. I cannot remember, maybe 1956. Or maybe ‘55, and we met because I went to some of the square dances he called at and he had a song afterwards. There would be a thing afterwards where he would play the guitar and sing and people would join him. That is how we met. MTG: And I understand you were about twenty years younger than he was at that point?

KANEGSON: Almost everything. He had, well, he had charisma. In addition, there was almost nothing that he could not do, and he was kind, he was sensitive, he was charming, and he was funny, all very appealing traits.

KANEGSON: He did not stutter when he sang at all. You know, that is not one of the things I remember about him. It was true he did stutter. But it’s not something that I remember—you just reminded me.

MTG: OK. Well, of course, I’m doing this for a comic book-oriented magazine, Alter Ego, and I was wondering if Abe ever spoke to you about his comic book career? KANEGSON: About his comic book career? Oh yes, he did the printing. MTG: The lettering, yes. KANEGSON: Yes, and I remember there was a time when I was pregnant with, I think, our first son Ben, and he had a project to letter. And he brought some wine home and we drank some wine. He was usually very tense and nervous around the lettering. He always thought it wasn’t good enough. And when we had a few drinks of wine he said, “Look, it’s no effort. The lettering is going fine.” [laughs] So that was just one instance of my remembering about his lettering. MTG: Oh, OK. Now I’m thinking that he mostly quit doing comic book lettering, as far as I know, in 1951, which would have been before he met you?

MTG: After you got married, didn’t you two start a school of sorts in Greenwich Village? KANEGSON: He did, yes. It was called the Village Square Dance School. In addition, I worked with him, and it was the school where Abe primarily taught. Well, he had square dances and he taught folk dancing. Mostly European folk dancing, and he also taught singing, because he believed that there was no one who was tone deaf. There was no such thing as tone deaf.

KANEGSON: I don’t know the answer to that. I truly don’t. We never talked about it.

KANEGSON: Yes, how can we help you?

MTG: What appealed to you about Abe?

MTG: Well, of course, he had a bad case of stuttering, and he was still able to make a career as a singer.

MTG: Hmm! That’s funny. I wonder if he trained himself or whether he just naturally didn’t stutter when he sang?

KANEGSON: We are in New York City, and it is currently 27 degrees.

KANEGSON: Fourteen.

KANEGSON: No, he said people—for some reason, they had trouble duplicating the notes they heard. In addition, he was able to help people around that.

KANEGSON: Yes. MTG: So this would have been some other project, some other art project that he was doing? KANEGSON: Yes.

Wanna Dance?

MTG: Did he ever speak about any of the people that he used to work with, like Will Eisner or Jules Feiffer?

This ad for Abe’s school appeared in New York City’s The Village Voice on Jan. 18, 1956.

KANEGSON: Oh yes. There wasn’t anything specific. Will Eisner—and

The Mystery of the Missing Letterer—Part 6

there were a couple of other people whose names I can connect with Abe’s comic book lettering career, but I’d have to hear them.

as a result of the illness. It was really tiring. He would get exhausted a lot of the time. And as I said before, in not these words, leukemia prevented food from being as nourishing to him as it would ordinarily be in a normal person. He would eat, and whatever he ate wasn’t properly digested; he just kept losing weight.

MTG: Jules Feiffer? KANEGSON: Yes. MTG: Do you remember anything he said about them?

MTG: Oh, that must have been terrible.

KANEGSON: Well, I know that Feiffer went to Monroe High School, and that’s the high school that Abe went to as well, James Monroe High School. That’s all I know about him.

KANEGSON: You know he had the low energy and loss of weight, so that was it. MTG: Was he able to continue working? KANEGSON: No, he stopped working. He really stopped working.

MTG: OK. Jules Feiffer came out with a book last year in which he talks about Abe. KANEGSON: Really? I didn’t know that.

MTG: Well, towards the later part of his life, was he doing artwork or was he doing music or what?

MTG: Yes, he was talking about how Abe psychoanalyzed him and helped him deal with some of the issues that Feiffer had with his mother. And he said that Abe was a great mentor of his at the time.

KANEGSON: He was doing both on his own. And he was writing some. He was doing the same kind of things as he used to do, except not professionally and not as prolifically as he had done.

KANEGSON: Oh, really? That’s interesting to know.

MTG: It must’ve been very difficult for you after he passed away, because you had two young children.

MTG: Yes, and Feiffer was just a teenager at that point, so it was very fascinating to read that. KANEGSON: Well, one of Abe’s traits was that he really didn’t talk about other people, either good or bad, unless it was something extra special. But it wasn’t one of the things he did.

Two Snippets! (Above:) Abe got the Man-on-the-Street-Interview treatment in The New York Post of Nov. 22, 1944. (Below:) Abe gets a plug in the Jan. 25, 1956, issue of The Village Voice. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

MTG: Did he ever talk about why he left the comic book field? KANEGSON: Not that I remember. MTG: Ben also mentioned that he was working on a TV show for a while, doing artwork. It was a supposed to be in, probably, the late ’50s. It was some kind of a game show, and people would describe certain things and Abe would draw some pictures and they would have to come up with the name of whatever the phrase was, based on his pictures. So he was only doing that for about a year, from what I understand. KANEGSON: Well, it’s possible, but I don’t remember it. MTG: Abe had leukemia, how did he deal with that illness and how did it affect you? KANEGSON: How did he deal with it? The best he could. It wasn’t pleasant. He lost a great deal of weight, and it was very frustrating, because there were a lot of things he couldn’t do

KANEGSON: Well, I did what I had to do. That’s the thing, you know—that’s all I can say about it. I was young and I did what I had to do, that’s it. MTG: I think Lou [Kanegson] mentioned you might have gotten a job as a secretary of some sort? KANEGSON: I was. I worked in a school as a teacher’s assistant and then I went to work in offices, yes. And I had neighbors and friends take care of the children. And when I could, I entered the younger child in nursery school, and the older child was going to school already, so I just worked, that was it. MTG: Yeah, that must have been difficult. I imagine you didn’t save up much money at that point. KANEGSON: There wasn’t… no, no, I hadn’t. We hadn’t been able to save any money and Abe didn’t have insurance, so that was that. MTG: Well, it sounds like you’ve done a very good job of raising your children. From what I understand, both Ben and Andras are in creative fields now.

KANEGSON: Yes, yes. Well, I think they probably got a lot of it from their father; it was inherited. That’s what I think. But I certainly didn’t squelch it in them.

The Mystery of the Missing Letterer—Part 6

MTG: Oh, well, that’s terrific. Do you know when Abe started his music career?

That was the only time that he wasn’t dissatisfied and frustrated.

KANEGSON: Oh, I have no idea. It was way before I met him, I’m sure. I’m sure it was something that he did naturally, and then he just capitalized on it by becoming a professional with it. But I’m sure he did it anyway.

MTG: That’s wonderful, because his work always looked so effortless. I mean, it always looked so alive, and there was so much energy to it. But it never looked like he slaved over it. [Elizabeth Kanegson laughs] Well, that’s mostly what I had to ask. And I’m so pleased that you had some time to speak with me. If you would like, I can send you a copy of a Spirit collection that has some of Abe’s work in it.

MTG: Did he ever show you any of his comic book work? KANEGSON: Yes, we had some of his work from— I’m trying to think which... MTG: The Spirit?

KANEGSON: I would love it, yes.

KANEGSON: Yes, that’s it, yes.

MTG: OK, wonderful. Well, I’ll get a copy to you.

MTG: I think Rita [Abe’s sister] might have mentioned that Will Eisner had given him a book, a collection of some of the stories that he did.

KANEGSON: Thank you very much. MTG: And it was a pleasure talking to you.

KANEGSON: Well, The Spirit—there was a bound copy, a hardbound copy of work from The Spirit.

Postscript:

MTG: Do you know why Will gave it to him? KANEGSON: I have no idea. MTG: Rita was saying how that she had had it, and then somehow during some move it disappeared. So that’s really unfortunate, but… KANEGSON: Disappeared? No, I don’t think it disappeared. I think Andras has it. I’m not certain, but I think so. MTG: Well, that would be great if it’s not lost. Have you seen any of the Spirit work recently? I don’t know if you are aware, but all the Spirit stories have been collected into hardcover editions now, including all the ones that Abe lettered.

Though Abe Kanegson’s family has filled in many of the blanks in his life and career, two points remain elusive. First, why did Abe decide to leave The Spirit? And second, was the parting between Abe and Will Eisner amicable? Ever since Will had hired Abe in 1947 as a letterer, and later as a background artist on The Spirit, the two had forged a warm friendship. Will bounced story ideas off him, and trusted Abe to proofread and edit Eisner’s dialogue as needed while lettering Will’s pages. Nonetheless, Abe supposedly quit the strip in 1951, about a year before the strip itself ended. Why? It’s been speculated that Abe requested a raise, and that ever-thrifty Will refused. The strip itself was losing readership and money was tight—so tight in fact that Eisner pulled the plug shortly after. The story goes that, after he was refused a raise, Abe got his dander up and walked out. But is that true?

KANEGSON: I had no idea. MTG: I don’t know how aware of this you are, but some of the best comic book lettering ever done was for The Spirit, and Will Eisner considered Abe to be the best of his letterers. So, he’s sort of the best of the best! KANEGSON: [laughs] Abe was so sure that his lettering could be better. MTG: Oh, really? He was never satisfied with his lettering? KANEGSON: That’s right, except the one time that we got a little drunk and he said, “Look, no effort.” [Michael laughs]

KANEGSON: Thank you. I’m glad I was able to help.

Star of Radio And TV! Ad in The Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts) dated July 23, 1959.

Hard evidence is hard to come by at this late date, but Professor Tom Inge has uncovered a couple of quotes that may shed some light on the matter. First, we have an interview with Eisner conducted by Spirit researcher cat yronwode that appeared in The Comics Journal #46 & 47 (May & July 1979):

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

A Tale of Two Letterers! Kanegson wasn’t Eisner’s first letterer, but he was arguably the finest! Even the great Sam Rosen (above) falls short. His lettering for this early story-in-rhyme Spirit tale, “Killer McNobby” (June 1, 1941), looks stiff compared to Abe’s fluid lettering on a similar story (below), “The Tragedy of Merry Andrew” (Feb. 15, 1948). [© 2012 Will Eisner Studios, Inc.]

The Mystery of the Missing Letterer—Part 6

So in Tex’s version there was a major fight. But Abe’s sister, Rita Perlin (quoted in Alter Ego #105), described a hardbound copy of The Spirit that Eisner had presented to Abe after he left.

CAT YRONWODE: Another person whose name is mentioned in the fake advertisement in the “Lurid Love” story is Abe Kanegson. He was your letterer, right? WILL EISNER: He was the best letterer I ever had. He worked with me from 1947 to about 1950. I don’t know what happened to him after that, but I miss him sorely. He brought far more to The Spirit than many of the background people ever did—he was very responsive to ideas and he added a creative dimension to comics, which I always thought was very important. He’s the only one who ever really understood. I had other letterers before he came in, but he helped me reach out. Sure, I had certain standards I wanted him to follow—for instance, I did Old English before he came in, but he would that take that Old English and really do it—his skill was enormous— but, even more, he understood the function and rule of lettering in comics. He regarded it as something important. Everybody before him regarded it as a chore. YRONWODE: You did the lettering on the splash pages though—the Spirit logos. EISNER: I did that. Abe did the balloons and the running text, but the creative lettering, wherever it was part of the artwork, I did that. His greatest work was done on the Spirit stories that were done in rhyme—like the “Christmas Spirit” and the “Tragedy of Merry Andrew.” YRONWODE: Why did he quit? EISNER: I don’t remember. It wasn’t in anger. I guess he just wanted to move on or something. I don’t know. However, Eisner assistant Tex Blaisdell, interviewed by Peter DePree in Comic Book Marketplace #38 (Aug. 1996), has a different view. In his article “Will Eisner: Conversations,” Tex has this to say: “Abe Kanegson and Bill had a terrible fight at some point; they yelled and screamed and jumped up and down and Abe quit. I ran across him later after the war, when I had pages to do. He did my breakdowns and I discovered he was pretty good, I didn’t have to fix anything… all I had to do was put faces on it and ink it.”

“Will Eisner gave [Abe] a bound copy of The Spirit, and when my parents moved the whole carton got lost. I was very devastated. It was a book of Spirit sections that Will Eisner had signed and given to him. The comics. But when my parents moved, the box with the book disappeared.” Though it’s impossible to know what actually happened, if one puts the different versions together, a likely scenario emerges. Abe asks for a raise, which Eisner refuses. Abe gets his hackles up and quits, leaving comics for a career in folk music and square dance calling. Afterwards Eisner feels bad about the blowup, and gives Abe a bound book as a parting gift. In this version, and the two make up before going their separate ways. Anyway, that’s how I see it.

The Kanegson Krew! We interviewed Abe and Elizabeth’s son Ben in A/E #103. Ben, who works in the film industry, was kind enough to answer some follow-up questions about his family: “Sorry I was so rushed around the time of the interview. The film set is a lot like the operating room; things have to happen when they are supposed to… or else. There are no second chances. Back to being busy again following the holidays, but this evening is my own. “To answer your question about what it is that I do, I am a ‘Key Grip’ and a ‘Dolly Grip.’ I do film, television, commercials. I work for myself, a freelance mercenary for anyone who will pay rate. If you go to www.imdb.com and search my name, you will see an incomplete list of projects I have been involved with, though for years I have concentrated more on commercials, which pay better and allow more free time, but go unlisted. “In the past, I have been an ’80s club bartender in New York City, a project manager in the Manhattan construction industry, and an associate producer of television on Madison Avenue. I consider myself an underachiever, as I have yet achieved no creative greatness, but I do daily utilize my strong ability to engineer on the fly and to visualize mechanical solutions, which I am happy to have inherited.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

“I am also a sailor of fast multihulls and a dog trainer of rare ability. I was nicknamed ‘the dog whisperer’ long before there was a show of that name and have accurately diagnosed a dog toothache from 1,400 miles away which the vet and local trainer had missed.

utilized rainforest nuts and preserved the Amazon rainforest by making it economically viable in its natural form. All of the Perlins are teachers at one level or another. “I have invented and built a number of things, but, like my father, have not commercialized my creations.

“At 50, I was a very active and effective kick boxer, sparring in the gym at least 4 times a week. I am now 52 and have a very sharp and clever knockout Brazilian wife of 21, of whose achievements I am extremely proud and whom I love dearly. Injuries have kept me away from the gym lately; I protect the body to ensure I can work. But I aim to get back when 100% healed.

“Some recollections about my father I did not get to express during my rushed interview: “I developed a fascination for folding kayaks some years ago, and was amazed to find that my father had the same interest in the 1950s by finding notes and pictures while going through a box of his stuff at Aunt Rita’s. Pictures of exactly the same oddball creations that fascinated me!

“I am not in close contact with my brother, but in the past he has been a production designer in motion pictures, an appraiser at Christie’s Auction House in New York, and, at last contact, worked for The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles.” Ben also discussed Abe’s sister, Rita Perlin, and her children. As you’ll see, creativity runs throughout the family:

“In that same batch of papers were his designs of suitcases with wheels and retractable handles… four or five decades before they came into use and became commonplace. “Yes, I have a selfportrait of my father as a Abe is believed to have painted this self-portrait while still a teenager! [© 2012 Ben young man. It’s in a frame, Kanegson.] so I’ll take a picture and email it. I’ll try to find more family pictures. Hope this is all helpful and not too tiresome,

Kanegson On Canvas!

“Ken Perlin, professor at New York University, is an Oscarwinning innovator in the world of computer animation and multimedia sciences. He wrote the original software for Tron, the first computer-animated feature, and is the creator of ‘Perlin noise,’ a building block in much of today’s commercial computer animation, and is the perennial chairman of Siggraph [an annual computer graphics conference]. He has many patents, and is often published and quoted and interviewed in The New York Times. His brother Mark Perlin, professor at Carnegie Mellon, not only pioneered the Artifical Intelligence software, which makes modern MRIs possible, but is also an innovator at the forefront of genetic testing and analysis. He has a company called Cybernetics and is often consultant to the FBI, at criminal trials, and to others interested in forensic genetics. They both lecture around the world. “I am rather proud of my family and their achievements. “Another cousin, Bert Kanegson (son of Abe’s older brother Mack), now known as Sat Son Tokh, was the manager of The Grateful Dead rock band. He later organized the rainforest benefit concerts by that band, and supported thousands of Amazonian natives through production of Rainforest Crunch cereal, which

“Best Wishes, “Ben Kanegson 1/18/11” And this concludes our look at one of comics’ greatest letterers. We’re grateful to Ben and the rest of the Kanegson family for sharing their memories, and to Janet Gilbert, Tom Inge, and Roger Langridge for their help. Thanks, too, to Alex Jay for supplying the Kanegson newspaper clippings found in this installment. NExT: What super-hero has made guest appearances in more comics (and for more companies!) than any other—by a wide margin? Stumped? You’ll find out—next issue! Till next time...

Centennial Celebration!

Happy 100th Birthday,

Martin Filchock! by Jim Amash

anuary 6 was the 100th birthday of Martin Filchock, the man who now unofficially owns the title of “The World’s Oldest Active Cartoonist.” Al Hirschfield was the previous record holder at age 99. When Martin, former hobo, semi-professional baseball player, newspaper salesman, and railroad worker from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, started drawing cartoons in 1935 for small magazines, he couldn’t have known it was a start of a 75-year art career.

Martin drew cartoons because it was fun, and any legitimate way to make a buck was seen not as something noble, but as a survival tactic during the Great Depression. But once Martin started making some money with his talent, it became the way to provide for himself and to help his family, too. Though his brother George helped write some gags, the wellspring of creative thought and manual labor of drawing was Martin’s fountain of riches (or semi-riches, as he often jokes). Martin’s comic book work was interrupted by World War II, and upon his release from active duty he resumed his gag cartoon career. I doubt there've been very many magazines published in the last 60-some years that haven’t been graced by a Filchock chuckle or two. Even now, Looking Back magazine still publishes his work. And, speaking of looking back, it’s fair to say that Martin can do exactly that on a long, productive career, enjoying the echoes of laughter he has brought to millions since before most of us were even born, while looking forward to a future where he’ll still tickle our funny bones.

another career quite like the one to which Martin has dedicated his life. His humor isn’t just replicated on a printed page—it’s revered by all those who encounter him in his travels. Martin's quick mind and impeccable sense of comic timing are a constant source of enjoyment for all of us who count themselves as his friends. In person or in print, Martin makes us laugh and reminds us that the world, despite its inherent problems, can be one of joy and good will. And that’s the greatest gift of all. Happy belated 100th birthday, Martin! We appreciate and love you. —Jim Amash (And that goes for Roy T. as well!)

Given the upheaval in publishing the last couple of decades, where magazine sales are slumping, and few even print gag cartoons any more—forcing many cartoonists to retirement and/or a uncertain future in the digital world—it’s not likely there’ll be

Martin Filchock Presents… (Top:) Martin Filchock in a 2005 newspaper photo, and samples of some of his signature work: “The Owl” from Funny Pages, Vol. 4, #1 (Jan. 1940), which tied “Hawkman” as the first winged super-hero in comics, and “Mighty Man” from Centaur’s Amazing Man #9 (Feb. 1940) … plus a cartoon of his “Defective Detective” series for Looking Back magazine (Oct.Nov. 2010). Thanks to Martin F., Bruce Mason, Henry Andrews, and Jim Amash/Teresa R. Davidson, respectively. Martin was interviewed in Alter Ego #64. [Comic book pages © 2012 the respective copyright holders; “DD” cartoon © 2012 Martin Filchock.]

T THE ART ART AR RT T OF OF THE T AR

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significant events in comics history, the exact details ar Leonard Maurer, Norm’s older brother, remembered in a later intervie was in the car when Kubert floated this idea. Other accounts suggest Leonar Maurer was brought in afterward to deal with the technical issues of the printing process, since he had experience in that area. In any produce 3-D comics, and it took all three of them to mak The first step was to sell Archer St. John on the pr was solving the many technical and practical issues inv quickly worked up a sample “Abbott “Abbott and Costello” page using clear acetate to create different laay yers. K Kubert ubert did a single-panel sample of his ne character Tor the Hunter. He dated his sample Mar The 3-D process works because human eyes about two-and-a-half inches apart, each seeing objects fr angle, allowing us to perceive objects in depth. When one looks at a 3-D comic book without the glasses, one sees off-register red and gr glasses with one red and one green lens, a monochr illusion of multiple laay yers at different depths is achie St. John was thrilled with the effect and committed to publishing a 3-D comic book to both test their ability to produce it and find out if it w

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Title Topline Comic Article Fandom Archive

Comicdom in Color! The Wonderful World Of 1960s Four-Color Comic Fandom—In All The Hues Of The Rainbow Introduction & Annotation by Bill Schelly

ne of the slight frustrations over the twelve-year publishing history of Alter Ego (Vol. 3) is that we’ve been celebrating what is primarily a four-color medium in monochrome. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love black-&-white movies, and I hate colorization. But when it comes to fandom photos, a small but significant number of them are in color.

Now, for the first time, we’re tickled (pink?) to be able to present a selection of the best color photographs from comics fandom of the 1960s. Sorry that we don’t have room to relate much about the accomplishments of the folks who are shown—but most of them have been mentioned, some

even featured, in earlier issues. (Others will be covered in more depth in future issues.) Some of these photos have been printed in the past, either in A/E or elsewhere, but are seen here for the first time in color. Hope you enjoy this special feature! And, if any of you wish to share your own photos (color or not) from early fannish days, we’d love to see them. You can e-mail me directly at hamstrpres@aol.com. JPEG files work best, and it’s best if the filename identifies those depicted, with a date if possible. And now… The Wonderful World of Colorful Comicdom!

All In Color In Their Prime (Left to right, top row:) Glen Johnson, Rick Durell, John McGeehan, Eugene Henderson, Bill Spicer. (Front row:) Bob Foster, Chuck McCleary, Richard Kyle, Mike Royer. Perennially prominent fans—publishers—pro artists—you name it! We’ll have to leave it to you to come up with their bona fides, but take it from us—they’ve each get ’em! Photo taken at a California fanclave on December 20, 1965.

What’s Black-&-White And Green All Over? Richard “Grass” Green, one of the best of the early fanartists, was the subject of a feature story in the Nov. 18, 1978, edition of The News Sentinel Roto Magazine. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

Comicdom In Color!

No “Fibber” McGeehan! Artistic great Neal Adams (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, et al.), on left, with collector John McGeehan in the early 1970s, probably at a San Diego Comic-Con. John and his brother Tom called their indexing operation “The House of Info.” Tom McGeehan is still a contributor to the comics apa Capa-Alpha.

All Comics Fandom Needed Was Love (Below:) Gordon Belljohn (G.B.) Love, editor/publisher of Rocket’s BlastComicollector, the adzine juggernaut that played a central role in fandom of the 1960s. Photo probably taken in the early 1970s at a Houston con.

Talented Twosome Neal Adams again, bearded this time, with ambitious young artist Rich Buckler (The Avengers, Fantastic Four, et al.) at one of the Detroit Triple Fan Fairs of the early 1970s.

Comic Fandom Archive

Bill Collectors (Far left:) Yours truly in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1969—off to college at the tender age of 17. If memory serves, the bag contains food, not rare comic books. This was about midway through the five-year period when I was publishing my zine Sense of Wonder. (Left:) Two of the first dealers in old comics were Claude Held and Bill Thailing. Here’s an undated photo of the latter with three members of his family. Bill lived in Cleveland, and was always willing to lend a fanzine writer copies of rare comics. In fact, it was he who loaned Richard Kyle the Golden Age Fox comics that Kyle used as reference for “The Education of Victor Fox” in Xero #8 (recently reprinted in A/E #101). Watch for a “CFA” interview with Richard Kyle in an upcoming issue of A/E.

Lone Stars Here we have two titans of Texas fandom, circa the late 1960s: Buddy Saunders and John Wooley. Saunders now owns the successful comic book chain Lone Star Comics, and John is a much-published author with dozens of professional credits. Photo courtesy of Buddy Saunders.

The Justice Society Of Amateur Costume-Making (Right) Science-fiction fan Dian Girard was a fetching Wonder Woman at the 1962 WorldCon in Chicago, whom few have surpassed in the ensuing years. This photo and three others of the JSA assemblage who appeared together at the con were first printed (in black&-white, of course) in Alter Ego (Vol. 1) #6 in 1963-64. (Left:) Devising a convincing Hawkman costume is especially difficult. Here is sf fan Jack Harness’ attempt. It worked fairly well… as long as he kept his arms aloft. (Above:) One of the few JSA group shots from that con is this one, which shows (l. to r.) Black Canary (at least, this might be the L.A. fan who portrayed her; her name is unrecorded, alas, even in Fred Patten’s 1963 article in A/E V1#6)—a monster of some kind, obviously trying to horn in—Ted Johnstone as Green Lantern— John Trimble as Sandman—Dian Girard as Wonder Woman—and Jack Harness as Hawkman. Also in the JSA grouping but not seen here were Bruce Pelz (Dr. Fate), Fred Patten (Flash), and another fan as Dr. Mid-Nite. Thanks to Maggie Thompson—herself a titan of early fandom—for supplying us with a copy of this one.

Comic Fandom Archive

We Remember Aprill

Who’s Who?

This rare photograph of Edwin Aprill, Jr., publisher of acclaimed early comic strip reprints of Buck Rogers and others, finds him at the 1969 Detroit Triple Fan Fair. Tragically, he died three years later in a car crash. Photo courtesy of the late Jerry G. Bails.

(Above:) Hames Ware (left) and Jerry G. Bails in 1971, probably working on the original print edition of The Who’s Who of American Comic Books. Jerry, of course, was also the major founder of Alter Ego—and, in many ways, of comics fandom itself—while Hames specialized in identifying the people who worked for the various comics shops of the Golden Age. Photo by Jean Bails.

Hey, Mister Tally-Man! Nebraskan Chuck Moss is found exploring the goodies in Jerry Bails’ “Reading Room” during the Alley Tally party in 1964. Two books on the shelf above his head are Comic Art in America and Seduction of the Innocent. Below, our eyes are naturally drawn to the original art for a rather significant Justice League of America cover. (And note Roy Thomas’ original artwork, as traced by Jerry for the cover of Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #1, taped to the door. Somehow, the trajectory of Lean Arrow’s shaft showed up only on some copies of the first edition.)

Comicdom in Color!

The Missouri Connection (Left to right:) Former Kansas City native Jerry Bails, Biljo White, and Southeast Missourian Roy Thomas met in person at Biljo’s home in Columbia, MO, in early 1963, as per this “screen grab” from brief film footage that was shot during that visit. Jerry had initiated Alter Ego—in 1964 Biljo would become the mag’s art editor, after nearly becoming its editor/publisher— and, beginning in ’64, Roy would edit the magazine during two major periods of its life. Yes, the photo’s more than a bit blurry, but it records a very special moment in A/E’s history. Probably Biljo’s wife Ruthie was holding the Super 8 movie camera.

Spiegle’s Catalog Of Fellow Pros (Left:) Comic book writer Mark Evanier, on left, and artist Dan Spiegle (Hopalong Cassidy, et al.) pose for a photo, most likely on the premises of Richard Kyle’s Graphic Story Bookshop in Long Beach, California, circa July 1973. Evanier and Spiegle would team up on Blackhawk and other comics in the 1980s. (Above:) That same day, Dan Spiegle was also photographed flanked by fellow artists Bil Stout (on left) and Russ Manning of Magnus and Tarzan fame.

Super-Fans (Right;) Actor Dean Cain looks thrilled to be meeting up with editor/publisher Alan Light sometime during the run of the Lois and Clark television series. Dean, of course, played a certain illegal immigrant, while in 1970 Alan’s Buyer’s Guide to Comic Fandom became the second major advertising magazine, after G.B. Love’s RBCC, and was eventually sold to Krause Publications, which turned it into the Comics Buyer’s Guide.

Comic Fandom Archive

Maybe Waiting To Do A “Barney” Team-Up? (Left:) Johnny (Li’l Green Dinosaur) Chambers, mid-1960s.

Strange ’Tache (Below:) New York Comicon chairman David Kaler turned up in a most colorful Dr. Strange outfit at the 1965 con’s masquerade. He looks quite debonair with the Errol Flynn mustache.

Batfans (Right:) Sometime in the late 1960s, prominent fan-writer Tom Fagan hurriedly puts a final touch on a poster that would be used as part of that year’s edition of the annual Rutland [Vermont] Halloween Parade. Behind him is an original mural by then-Marvel artist Jim Steranko, part of the float on which Fagan would preside as Batman. Photo by Al Bradford. (J. David Spurlock of Vanguard Productions is most eager to find out if there’s a betterquality photo of the Steranko mural!)

Superman’s Pal, ENB “Superman” editor Mort Weisinger and his assistant editor E. Nelson Bridwell, who was working with Mort to keep the production of the seven “Superman” titles running smoothly. By all accounts, unfortunately, their own relationship did not go smoothly. Bridwell had emerged as a participant in post-EC fandom in the late 1950s before joining National/DC Comics in 1964.

The Little Giant Larry Herndon and his wife, Sharon. While he was small of stature, there was no Bigger Name Fan in Texas comics fandom than Larry. He was one-third of the Texas Trio, along with Howard Keltner and Buddy Saunders, his co-publishers on Star-Studded Comics. Others fanzines he was behind were Hero, Batwing, Yesterday’s Comics, and Nostalgia News. He opened one of the earliest comics and nostalgia stories in Texas, Remember When. Sharon continued running the store for many years after Larry’s passing in 1982.

Comicdom in Color!

Lanz Sakes!

Warren Pieces (Above:) Anyone who attended the 1973 New York Comic Art Convention remembers this large Warren Publishing display that loomed over the dealer’s room. Many also recall meeting Mark Gruenwald, future Marvel writer and editor, who appears to be prepared to snap photos of his own—perhaps featuring the young and lovely Heidi Saha dressed as Vampirella. (NOTE: This was the only comics con in New York City ever attended by Yours Truly.) Photo by David A. Lofvers.

(Above:) Marshall Lanz (who passed away only very recently) was one of the founding members of Pittsburgh fandom, which seems to have developed a little later than in other cities. Here he’s busily working away on one of his fanzines in the offices of the Northern Pacific Railway in downtown Pittsburgh. (He published The Forbush Gazette, Panel Art Examiner, Graphic Art Collector, and others.) Lanz was also an irrepressible prankster who added many a practical joke to his fandom activities. My father was general manager of the NP in that city and gave us access to their office on weekends. Photo by Bill Schelly.

Oklahoma—OK! Oklahoma fans put on a series of impressive Multi-Cons in Oklahoma City starting in 1970. Here (l. to r.) are Larry Bigman, Bart Bush, Chuck Wooley, and Jerry Weist admitting they are closet “romance comics” fans at the 1972 Multi-Con. Fannish spirit runs high among the members of the Oklahoma Alliance of Fandom, whose members are known as OAFs. That august group was formed in 1967 and is still active today!

Comic Fandom Archive

Stretching A Point

Shut Up And Deal! Here’s the youthful—just 16—Howard Rogofsky, one of the biggest and most successful comics dealers in the 1960s. His favorite comic book character was Plastic Man, and he published his first ad offering old comic books for sale in Biljo White’s Komix Illustrated #2 in 1962.

Roy Thomas, then only a pro in the comics business for about a month, appeared in a credible Plastic Man outfit (made for him back in Missouri by his aunt Olivia) at the 1965 New York con, though it seems his stretching ability was merely incipient.

Fit To Be TISOS (Left:) Mark Hanerfeld, Marv Wolfman, and Len Wein, as seen from left to right, fool around on a panel at the 1967 New York Comicon. These three were likely discussing their newly formed group The Illegitimate Sons of Superman, which had had its initial meeting over Christmas vacation in 1966. Other members of TISOS included Andy Yanchus, Rich Rubenfeld, Ron Fradkin, Eliot Wagner, Stan Landman, Pat Yanchus, and Irene and Ellen Vartanoff. Marv and Len, of course, became major pro writers and editors, while Mark was for a time an editorial assistant at DC. (Right:) NoMan, Black Bolt, and Saturn Girl were among the guests at the 1966 New York Comicon, the second convention chaired by Dave Kaler. Marv Wolfman is under that NoMan mask, and that's Ellen Vartanoff as Saturn Girl. As for Black Bolt, he remains unidentified—at least until this issue of A/E sees the light of day!

Comicdom in Color!

Many more photos of old-time fans, along with their biographies, appear in my latest book of fannish history, Founders of Comic Fandom, from McFarland Publishing. Copies of my earlier Bill Schelly. books such as The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom, Fandom's Finest Comics [Vol. 1], The Eye Collection, and The Best of Star-Studded Comics are still available from me. Query: hamstrpres@aol.com.

…And Volume 3 Was Still A Year Away! Can it really be 13 years since the new Alter Ego was launched? Here we have Yours Truly (at left) and buddy Jeff Gelb posing at the TwoMorrows booth at ComicCon International in San Diego in 1998, before the image of (among other things) the cover of Alter Ego, Vol. 2, #1, which utilized a Hawkman illustration done especially for me by the legendary Joe Kubert. Hey, John Morrow, whatever happened to that gorgeous banner?

In Memoriam

Gene Colan (1926-2011) A Master Of Fluid Pencils And Velvet Shadows Is Gone by Jon B. Cooke

scary stories. When I was five years old, I saw he comics world lost a giant on June 23, 2011, Frankenstein… the original movie… and it traumawhen Gene Colan, one of the powerhouse tized me. My father took me, in the Bronx, on a artists who contributed mightily to the Marvel hilly street, a little theater there, and I couldn’t get it Age of Comics during the 1960s and ’70s, passed out of my mind! I couldn’t sleep, I was a wreck! away at the age of 84, after suffering complications From then on, I became rather fascinated with that from liver disease. He was also the co-creator of kind of thing, and it’s kind of spilled over in my Blade, the vampire slayer. ability to draw.” During an era when Marvel’s house style — Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs, in their Comic stories drawn in the dynamically violent, broadBook Heroes (1997), put it succinctly. “[Colan] was a stroked mode of Jack Kirby — was foisted upon master of mood who thought in terms of light any number of veteran pros, Colan tenaciously rather than line, a painterly sophisticate with no retained his idiosyncratic and moody, virtually use for the ‘just keep it clear’ aesthetic of early cinematic approach. He applied his original method ’60s comics.” to “Sub-Mariner,” “Iron Eugene Jules Colan was Man,” and, most memorably born on Sept. 1, 1926, and during the ’60s and early raised in The Bronx. After ’70s, Daredevil, where he receiving training at George contributed pencils for 81 Washington High School and consecutive issues (plus the Art Students League Annual!). Joe Brancatelli, in (both of New York City), he the Colan entry in The World began his comic book career Encyclopedia of Comics (1976), at Fiction House in 1944, writes, “Colan draws drawing fillers for Wings incredibly handsome figures Comics. Following an Army in majestic poses, and this fits Air Forces stint, he joined up perfectly with editor [Stan] with Timely (now Marvel) in Lee’s concept of the ‘noble1948, where he established a bearing’ hero.” longstanding relationship But it was within the with editor Stan Lee. The Marvel horror title Tomb of artist was highly versatile, Dracula where Colan able to expertly adapt to any arguably achieved his The Dean of Mood and Atmosphere number of genres, be they greatest critical success when (Top:) The late Eugene Jules Colan in a photo found on the Internet and (above) a horror, romance, Western, teamed with writer Marv commission piece with Doctor Strange and Batman, two heroes the artist drew most science-fiction, humor, or war. Wolfman, inker Tom Palmer, notably. [Doctor Strange ©2012 Marvel Entertainment; Batman ©2012 DC Comics.] During the ’50s and into the and letterer John Costanza ’60s, Colan freelanced for for many publishers, particularly DC. for a consistently outstanding 60+-issue stretch during the ’70s. A proud man, Colan left Marvel in 1980, citing editorial Here, Colan the movie buff, blessed with a cinematographer’s eye, conflicts, and went to DC Comics and other outfits, notably shone brightly through what (maybe his best inker) Tom Palmer teaming with writer Don McGregor to draw “Ragamuffins,” called, “[Colan’s] soft pencils and quiet rendering of the shadows.” reproduced directly from his tight pencils, for Eclipse Comics. Colan said to Les Daniels, in Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of In 2005, Colan was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book the World’s Greatest Comics (1991), “I think in terms of shadows and Hall of Fame and, in 2010, he won an Eisner Award for his art. weight. And I’m highly influenced by film. You have to be, because When asked, in Comic Book Artist, what he hoped his you’re dealing with continuity, with drawings that tell stories. You legacy would be, Colan laughed and told Tom Field, can see composition on the screen.” “Just being good at whatever I did, pretty much.... In Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #6, Colan told Roy Thomas, “I think what started it all was my interest in doing heavy blacks and shadows in Just giving pleasure for whatever I do.”

In Memoriam

Dave Hoover (1955-2011) by Raymond A. Cuthbert

“It is important to really live each day like it could be your last.” —Dave Hoover.

avid Harold Hoover passed away Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011, in Jamison, Pennsylvania, at age 56. He was the husband of Karen Hoover; they had been married for 22 years.

and Alaina, his dog Janey, and his two cats Snickers and Lacey, as well as his mother-in-law Janet Freidel, his siblings Gloria Shomper, Julie Nell, Jim Hoover, and Janis Hoover, and several loving nieces, nephews, and in-laws. His funeral service was on Saturday, Sept. 10. Memorial contributions may be made to Pilla Heart Center at Abington Hospital.

Dave was born in Berrysburg, Pennsylvania, on May 14, 1955, the son of the late Gladys and Harold Hoover. He had a Master of Fine Arts degree in Computer Animation. He started his artistic career as a layout artist working for Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, and Mihan Productions, and was a storyboard artist for Sony Children’s Television. He later drew comic books for DC and Marvel, illustrating the adventures of Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Punisher, The Invaders, and many more, including The Wanderers and Starman, which may be amongst his best known work. Dave’s artwork started showing up in comic books in late 1986 and continued through the summer of 2010. His greater focus seemed to have been in the joy he had in teaching on the Digital Media faculty at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. In 2003, he devised his creator-owned adult series Wilde Knight with co-creator/writer Gary Petras. More recently Dave’s online presence was as a “good girl” eBay commission artist. He was a collector of the works of author Edgar Rice Burroughs and related memorabilia. He enjoyed biking, running, hiking, and swinging on vines. He admired the artwork of many of his contemporaries, as well as such predecessors as Tarzan artists Frank Frazetta and Russ Manning. One of Dave’s former students, known online as VitaminxComplex, on hearing of Dave’s death, commented, “You’ve inspired me and helped me become a better [artist]. It was fun being the only girl in your all geeky guy class. Thank you very much for being my teacher [and] someone I could talk to. I pray for you and for your family. Now you can do your Tarzan call in heaven.” In addition to his wife Karen, Dave is survived by his daughters Lauren

Dave’s twin brother passed away about seven years prior to Dave, also from a heart condition. Dave himself had gone through open-heart surgery twice—in 1998, and in 2007.

At the end of June 2007, he wrote to friends, saying, “In two weeks I go in for open heart surgery, after having gone through numerous tests and heart-rending decisions for me and my family. My body is rejecting a valve that was put in nine years ago (I have had the surgery once before), and at times my body goes through numerous symptoms, all of which are at times scary. It has been very distracting, to say the least.” Concerning a vacation his wife had planned for them just prior to the 2007 diagnosis, he went on: “On the one hand we thought it was bad timing; on the other hand, it was great because it took my mind off of my impending surgery. I was able to reflect on my future, clear my mind, and get over my fear and anxiety. I have accepted my fate, whatever it is.” When I offered her my condolences, his widow Karen responded: “Dave’s death was due to a heart attack. But I don’t want to leave the impression that Dave was sickly, because he wasn’t. Even though Dave had two heart surgeries in the past fourteen years, he lived a healthy active life.” I asked Karen if there was any particular thing she would like to have mentioned about her late husband. She replied, “It would be great to mention that he was a devoted husband and father.” During his 2007 heart difficulties, in summation, Dave said, “It is important to really live each day like it could be your last.”

e’re doing it again! Once more, as we’re determined to do till we catch up, we’re covering your communications re two issues of Alter Ego—#93 & #94— beneath Shane Foley’s artful homage to the work of Jim Mooney, one of this issue’s two featured Batman artists. We’ve had to do some squeezing, but let’s get to it, beginning with comments on #93:

re:

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Because he’s a virtual walking encyclopedia of those days at DC (among other things), “Gaff” went on for another page with assignment changes and editorial slates that, alas, we didn’t have room to print, and then concluded:] What’s amazing is that I can rattle all this off the top of my head. Think what important information must have been pushed off the dendrites to make room for this (like, maybe, my high school locker combination). “Gaff”

Douglas Jones (formerly Carl Gafford—and still “Gaff” to his friends and colleagues) worked at DC in the 1970s as a very busy colorist, but in addition he’s always been a keen historian of that period and before….

Hopefully, though, not your bank pin number, old buddy! Thanks for that tidbit about the last-minute change in the status of The Doom Patrol!

Roy— I’m busily devouring the George Kashdan interview. Although he spends a lot of time talking about Jack Schiff (to whom George was an associate editor), there’s one person missing in that equation— Murray Boltinoff, who was likewise an AE (pun intended) with George under Schiff. Would like to read how they divided up the work. The period of 1963-64 at DC seemed very chaotic for both Murray and George. George was given Rip Hunter from Schiff (and would eventually write it, as well) and likewise Sea Devils from Kanigher (and would likewise write that as well as edit it), and of course George inherited Aquaman from Schiff. Meanwhile, Murray got Challengers of the Unknown and in 1963 was given My Greatest Adventure, which cut back from monthly to 8 times a year with #80, the same issue that debuted “The Doom Patrol.” Murray had been told to do something to boost MGA’s sagging sales, and he brainstormed the DP with writers Bob Haney and Arnold Drake. That same year, Murray took over House of Secrets and with Bob Haney and artists Lee Elias and later (wow!) Alex Toth gave us “Eclipso”! The Doom Patrol were scheduled to get their own bimonthly book starting on sale in January 1964. I’ve seen the negatives for DP #86 and that indicia does list it as its own bimonthly book starting with a #1. Apparently, rather than pay the extra $200 or so for a new 2nd-class postage deposit for subscriptions, DC just converted MGA into The Doom Patrol, giving us two extra issues a year (8 times a year vs. bimonthly) of great Drake stories and [Bruno] Premiani art. Seems like a big expense just to save $200, but we fans were grateful for the extra issues…

Holy Katz! Patrick Ford’s mention of Jack Katz reminded us that, a few months back, that talented artist/writer (who was interviewed in A/E #91-92) sent us the above drawing with this note: “Roy— I’ve always thought about how I would handle Superman. This drawing depicts both in body language and facial expression the evidence as he sheds his clothing that this challenge he has to accomplish may bring to the surface the possibility that his identity might be revealed. As you must know, I saw the first issue of Action Comics. I tried in the illustration to bring the milieu of my early life when I was so taken with the extraordinary efforts in the arts. The world of creativity that is as strong as it ever was. As always and ever, Jack 2011.” We think the drawing speaks for itself—a unique and intriguing view of the Man of Tomorrow. For commission work, Jack Katz can be reached at (510) 237-1779. [Superman TM & © 2012 DC Comics; other art © 2012 Jack Katz.]

Reader Patrick Ford sent the following two missives, combined below, not to Ye Editor but to Jim Amash, who’d conducted the long interview with George Kashdan that ran in A/E #93-96… and Jim forwarded them to Yours Truly…. Jim— Thanks for the very interesting interview with George Kashdan. I want to ask about this portion of it: [EDITOR’S NOTE: At this point he quotes Kashdan on the quarrel between DC editor Schiff and artist Jack Kirby, related in #93, then continues:] As I read the full interview, it seems to me that Kashdan takes a very promanagement stance throughout. The writers and artists are “always” wrong. Kashdan doesn’t seem to have any animus toward Kirby, but it sure looks to me as if he’s far more sympathetic towards Schiff. His comment that Kirby showed “hostility” by going to Marvel after Schiff had refused him work is a strong tell as to just how promanagement Kashdan is.

re:

What really struck me was Kashdan’s first-hand account of Schiff aggressively refusing Kirby’s request for work and telling him to go make a living somewhere else. This story, if true, puts Schiff in the position of having perjured himself during the Sky Masters [comic strip] trial. During the trial Schiff specifically denied he refused Kirby work and said Kirby had stopped seeking work at DC. Kashdan also says the other editors “closed ranks at Schiff’s request.” I really wish you had taken the question of collusion by the unified editors against Kirby a bit further. There are a substantial number of fans who are passionate in their desire to paint Kirby in a bad light. For that reason, I think it’s important to gather as much detail as possible on specifics. [From 2nd letter:] Would it be possible to establish in the future that Kirby could write balloons and captions? The recent quotes from [artist/writer] Jack Katz [in A/E #91-92], and a while back from [writers Kim] Aamodt and [Walter] Geier, would certainly seem to make it clear that Kirby not only wrote, but that he wrote a great deal, and gave detailed plots to staff as well. The war letters published as part of the Fumetto Kirby show ought to be enough to convince anyone that Kirby was a very gifted writer who used words beautifully, but the faction lingers who are determined to deny Kirby was a writer. Also, could you make better use of the color pages? They shouldn’t be 50% or more text, in my opinion.

space. That can include such things as, say, Jim asking a follow-up question re Schiff/Kirby and interviewee Kashdan saying he didn’t remember any more. Believe us, if there’d been more he could learn, Jim would’ve tried to learn it! Now, there’s just time (well, actually, we should say “space”) for truncated comments from a few more folks about issue #93, with the letter-writers’ words being the non-italicized ones: Dwight Decker feels Kashdan was suggesting in one spot that the story “The Sleeping Beauty of Krytpon” (Superman #128, 1959) would have been on newsstands around the time Disney was releasing its animated feature Sleeping Beauty, which might illustrate GK’s anecdote about how he and Superman editor Mort Weisinger once walked past a movie theatre which was advertising “some adventure classic translated into movies.” Of course, we could all come up with quite a few other examples of that sort of thing—not nearly all of them involving Weisinger, or DC, for that matter.

A Helping Hand? Marc Svensson (see main text) says that writer Marv Wolfman confirmed that this panel by scripter John Broome, penciler Gil Kane, and inker Sid Greene from Green Lantern #40 (Oct. 1965) was very influential on the 20-years-later Crisis on Infinite Earths. Above panel repro’d from The Green Lantern Archives, Vol. 6. Below is a George Pérez, Jerry Ordway, & Dick Giordano panel from Crisis #6 (Sept. 1985). Words by Marv Wolfman. [© 2012 DC Comics.]

Patrick Ford Actually, Pat, our general policy was to assemble the entire issue and only then decide which page-groupings will be in color, not to do special all-color sections— though it did work out so there was less color in the “Earth-Two” segment of A/E #93 than we’d have preferred. Starting with this issue, clearly, that will no longer be a problem. Working backward: we ourselves have never doubted that Jack Kirby could and did write—both his work in the 1940s & ’50s and his DC and Marvel stories in the 1970s being prime examples. Just because he didn’t write (“merely” co-plotted or plotted) at Marvel in the 1960s doesn’t take anything away from the King, since his talents were crucial to the success of Marvel from Fantastic Four #1 until he departed in 1970. Jim Amash, however, feels that, re the Schiff/Kirby set-to, he got all the information out of George Kashdan that he was going to get. As we’ve mentioned before, Jim edits his interviews before he sends them to us, cutting out extraneous back-and-forth banter that he feels merely takes up

Ben Markeson: “I loved, loved, loved the George Kashdan interview, [but] there is an error in a photo caption on p. 46. ‘The Crimes of the Clockmaster’ was published in Batman #141 (Aug. 1961)… not Batman #187…. Batman #187 was an 80-Page Giant (G 30) that did reprint two Sheldon Moldoff stories, but not the Clockmaster one.” Dunno how that mistake slipped in, Ben, but thanks to you—and all others in this section—for pointing out any and all that you find! Hames Ware: “On page 41 the ‘Captain Compass’ is by Charles A. ‘Chuck’ Winter, rather than Jimmy Thompson. Both were distinctive amongst a sea of look-alikes, but also vastly different in their own styles.”

Marc Svensson: “If Flash #121 opened up the alternate universes of DC Comics… Green Lantern #40 was the start of its collapse as the first ‘Crisis.’ I would really call it a ‘proto-Crisis,’ seeing as how [writer] John Broome and [editor] Julie [Schwartz] did not intend to use this story as a basis for rebooting the DC Universe. However, when I spoke with Marv Wolfman in San Diego and Westchester years ago, he was very clear that this was the inspiration for the original Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries…. One need only look at the panel of the hand reaching out to the Universe drawn by Gil Kane and inked by Murphy Anderson in GL #40 and the similar panel later drawn in Crisis #6 by George Pérez…. When I first asked Marv Wolfman about the connection…he looked at me and said, ‘OF COURSE I USED THE SAME HAND!’ like I

[correspondence, comments, & corrections]

Oop, Oop, And Away! DC Comics may have belatedly restored Earth-Two to existence (thus proving the point of many of us that it made no real sense to destroy it back in 1985-86), but—not to be outdone—Jack & Carole Bender, the artist-and-writer husband-and-wife team that turns out today’s Alley Oop comic strip, made up their own “Earth 2.” It’s a duplicate of Earth in the primeval age of Alley’s homeland Moo. Daily from July 7, 2011. [© 2012 UFS.]

had asked a stupid question.’” Jeff Taylor: “The real fascinating find was the FCA section’s “Who Reads the Magazine Comics?” Where else but in Alter Ego could someone dig up the results of a Fawcett Comics sales survey and get it printed?” Bill Black, publisher of AC Comics [see ad on p. 72]: “The frosting on the cake was ‘Flash Comics #105,” circa 1949. What a pity Flash Comics was axed at the peak of its quality. You really delivered the goods here—and in color!” Tom Stein: “Neal Adams did not draw the official poster for the 1970 NY Comic Art Con…. The art [Adams] is holding in the photo on the bottom of page 23 [in #93] was done by Gray Morrow! I have the original; it’s framed and on my living room wall. Phil Seuling, a fan of Gray’s work, published a portfolio in early ’70 entitled Dark Domain. In it is a rough done by Morrow that was reworked a few months later to become the art for the convention poster.” Sorry, Tom. I (Roy) got careless and assumed it was probably Neal’s work, so that I didn’t try to dig up a copy of the actual program book to take a closer look at the art. And finally, Glen Cadigan, on a subject brought up in the letters section of #93: “Was pleased to discover that #93 had letters pertaining to the Dave Cockrum article I wrote a few years ago… [but] Paul Kupperberg’s letter says the picture on page 15 of A/E #78 of Jean Grey was really one of Saturn Girl drawn in 1971, and then on the next page we learn that Richard Donnelly says that same picture ‘was personalized later, [and] is from Dave’s original X-Men design sketchbook, not a fan drawing.’ I believe Donnelly is just wrong. The ‘go-go’ costume was redrawn and colored for a formal presentation piece, as was his original Thunderbird costume, which also predates the re-creation of The X-Men. I can’t see Dave submitting that rough illustration alongside other that were more polished, especially since he did

redraw it later for that purpose.” And there we’ll have to leave it, Glen… unless some new evidence comes to the fore. Now, on to the plaudits and plaints re A/E #94, starting with those of John De Mocko: Dear Mr. Thomas, In the cover story of A/E #94, Kurt Mitchell writes that “Batman appeared only once, in a single panel of JLA #82 (Aug. 1970). I think that is incorrect. I am fairly sure that the E2 Bats was in the JLA/JSA crossover (JLA #135-137) that featured The Joker as one of the bad guys. I seem to remember Bats whacking The Joker with his fist on one of the covers. This was definitely the E2 Bats, as he appeared to be older than his E1 counterpart and he had a bat-symbol on his chest sans yellow circle. And it’s not the grownup E2 Boy Blunder, er, Wonder, either!

[EDITOR’S INSERT: When we informed Kurt Mitchell of this query from John and one or two others, he graciously responded: “John De Mocko seems to be a victim of my sloppy syntax…. The word ‘his’ [in the sentence in question] is meant to refer to Batman but reads as if referring to ‘the adult Robin’ instead. It should read: ‘While the adult Robin made appearances in the 1971, ’72, and ’75 Justice League/Justice Society team-ups, the Earth-Two Batman appeared only once, in a single panel of JLA #82 (Aug. 1970), in the decade bridging the imaginary story in Detective #347 and his participation in the 1977 JLA/JSA crossover in Justice League of America #135-37 (Oct.-Dec. 1976).’ My apologies to John and any other readers who got lost in my tangled prose.” That slipped by Ye Editor, as well, Kurt, so we share the blame. Later, in a second letter, John De Mocko brought up another matter entirely:] In the segment of Mr. Amash’s interview (part two) wherein George Kashdan refers to John Broome’s alleged infidelity to his wife during the years of their marriage, I’m not sure what relevance this allegation has, and since Mr. Kashdan offered no evidence

re:

It's A Jungle In There! Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., wrote to tell us: “The Nyoka the Jungle Girl cover on p. 80 [from #8, June 1947) of A/E #94 is by Bernie Krigstein. Really!” We already suspected it might have been, because we knew that Krigstein, celebrated for his 1950s EC work, was a Nyoka artist in the late 1940s... and we readily yield to Jim’s expertise. At right is a “Nyoka” page we can definitely identify, from Master Comics #116 (June 1950), repro’d from a scan of the original art sent to us by Dominic Bongo, retrieved from the Heritage Comics Archives. The artist in this case is Henry C. Kiefer, who drew many a “Wambi the Jungle Boy” tale for Fiction House—and a number of vintage issues of Classics Illustrated, to boot, including issues based on books by Frank “Bring ’Em Back Alive” Buck. [Nyoka the Jungle Girl TM & © 2012 AC Comics.]

in support of what he said, and neither Mr. Broome nor Mr. Kashdan is with us anymore, was this “trip really necessary”? OK, call me a prude. There were also spots where Mr. Kashdan says someone was a bad writer and then in the next paragraph says this same person was a good writer…. This is minor, I suppose, since Mr. Kashdan was evidently on his deathbed and in a world of turmoil, but this sort of sloppiness happens in interviews everywhere. I wish such contradictions either could be clarified before publication or an editorial decision made about including contradictory details in the article before it is published. That said, Mr. Amash (despite occasional extraneous and unnecessarily distracting political comments that make their way into his interviews) is the best in the business. His depth of knowledge regarding comics history is phenomenal! Don’t let him get away! John De Mocko Interesting points, John—but how should we correct contradictory statements regarding things which are basically an interviewee’s opinions? Which one should we count as the “real” one? You see the problem. As for the Broome thing: Jim Amash is always reluctant to deal with personal matters that have no relation to the work being discussed, but George Kashdan so clearly felt his statements should be on the record that he was loath to censor them unduly. Now, a few more quotes on A/E #94: Delmo Walters, Jr.: “The highlight of the last few issues has been the George Kashdan interview. What a font of information he has been. Shame he’s no longer with us. It was great to finally see Joe Staton & Dick Giordano’s cover to All-Star Comics #75 being used as an actual cover. I’m liking the checklist of all E2 characters’ appearances that has been running, though I found a few mistakes…. This mistake surprised me: two panels were shown from the ‘Mr. and Mrs. Superman’ story in Superman Family #221, but the artists listed were Kurt Schaffenberger & Frank Chiaramonte, when it’s actually Irv Novick & Joe Giella.” Robin Snyder: “Kurt Mitchell credits Murray Boltinoff as the writer of The Brave and the Bold on p. 8 of your June number. The professional Boltinoff occasionally wrote stories and editorial material, sometimes using a pen name. This is not one of them. The story was written by Bill Kelly. [Also:] You have identified the one and only Robert Kanigher as the man on Julius Schwartz’s right in the photo on p. 53. That might be RK [with his head turned away from us] on Julie’s left; but it is very definitely Jack Schiff (who was partial to the bowtie) on his right.” You’re dead right, Robin. That was my (Roy’s) error entirely. John Cruz: “There’s an error in a sidebar related to The Brave and the Bold #197. [In the caption, it should say that] ‘The deaths of both of Helena Wayne’s parents were depicted in the “JSA” story in Adventure Comics #461-463 (for Bruce Wayne as Batman)… as

well as Helena’s origin issue as The Huntress in DC Super-Stars #17 (for Selina Kyle as Catwoman), currently available in the 2006 trade paperback The Huntress, Darknight Daughter.’” Robert Barrett: “On page 79 of P.C. Hamerlinck’s article on “The Return of Nyoka the Jungle Girl,” the statement is made that Nyoka’s beginnings can be traced to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp magazine story “The Land of Hidden Men,” from the May 1931 issue of Blue Book Magazine… a short story which Burroughs expanded into a hardcover novel in 1932. Actually, Blue Book published the complete novel as a serial covering five issues, beginning with its May 1931 issue. It was never published as a short story.” Send those e-mails and other “epistolary intercourse” (as Pat Lupoff used to call it in 1960s Xero letters pages) to: Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135 SPECIAL A/E NOTE: For advance news and informed discussion concerning features in Alter Ego, as well as other comics-related items, check out the Alter-Ego-Fans chat list at group.yahoo.com/group/ alter-ego-fans/. Or, if you have problems getting on board there, simply contact Web co-overseer Chet Cox at mormonyoyoman@gmail.com and he’ll lead you right to it. Alter-Ego-Fans is where the Golden and Silver Ages still live!

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The Storyteller’s Story Official Selection in over 25 film festivals worldwide “A great companion to the book ‘Kavalier and Clay.’” Alison Bailes, NBC’s Reel Talk “An essential doc for comics fans, ‘Portrait’ will also enlighten the curious.” John DeFore, Austin American-Statesman “Entertaining and insightful. A great film about a visionary artist!” Jeffrey Katzenberg Arguably the most influential person in American comics, Will Eisner, as artist, entrepreneur, innovator, and visual storyteller, enjoyed a career that encompassed comic books from their early beginnings in the 1930s to their development as graphic novels in the 1990s. During his sixty-year-plus career, Eisner introduced the nowtraditional mode of comic book production; championed mature, sophisticated storytelling; was an early advocate for using the medium as a tool for education; pioneered the now-popular graphic novel, and served as inspiration for generations of artists. Without a doubt, Will Eisner was the godfather of the American comic book. The award-winning full-length feature film documentary includes interviews with Eisner and many of the foremost creative talents in the U.S., including Kurt Vonnegut, Michael Chabon, Jules Feiffer, Jack Kirby, Art Spiegelman, Frank Miller, Stan Lee, Gil Kane, and others.

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[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Publications. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, “Captain Marvel Introduces

Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures No. 18, Dec. ’42); but he was primarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. After leaving the service in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home. There he created both art and stories for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton). After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics, including Sweethearts and Life Story. After the company ceased publishing comics, Marc moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comics career in the mid-’50s. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA since his first column appeared in FCA #54 (1996). Last time, I discussed with Marc the bylines he used to patchily receive in Wow Comics, as well as his view of Superman. This time around, I asked Marc about two of his Golden Age colleagues… and one minuscule but infamous Captain Marvel villain. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

I I

once asked Marc to share a little about his friendship with the respected Fawcett comics editor, Wendell Crowley:

MARC SWAYZE: I had met with Wendell a couple of times on trips to New York after my discharge from the Army… and, prior to his death in 1970, he came to our house almost annually after the comics ended and after he took over his father’s lumber company when on business trips and, we like to believe, to visit with us. Our kids loved the big tall guy… just as we did. When he went to church with us, he lifted his voice singing the hymns as if he had been born and raised in our church.

Comic Camaraderie Wendell Crowley was the well-regarded editor of Captain Marvel Adventures, Marvel Family, and related titles, and was literally a giant in directing the mythos of the World’s Mightiest Mortals, and Marc Swayze warmheartedly reminisced about Crowley’s visits with him and his family years after Fawcett had ceased publishing their comics line. Above is the C.C. Beck/Pete Costanza-drawn cover for Marvel Family Comics #2 (June 1946), edited by Crowley, featuring Shazam’s extended family crooning together, just as Wendell did on an occasion with Marc and his family. To its right is a “Bulletman” opening panel from America’s Greatest Comics #8 (Summer 1943), with inks attributed to Pete Riss, another colleague from the Golden Age that Marc muses over this issue. Penciler unknown. [Shazam! heroes, Bulletman, & Bulletgirl TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

Did Marc happen to know Pete Riss, an artist who was frequently seen in photos of get-togethers during the Golden Age?

Marc Swayze was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia… and was writing “Captain Marvel” scripts for Fawcett on the side… while the malevolent Mr. Mind was worming his way through 25 chapters of Otto Binder’s entertaining comic book oeuvre “The Monster Society of Evil” within the pages of Captain Marvel Adventures. I inquired if Marc had any thoughts behind the bespectacled little rascal:

SWAYZE: Pete Riss was never on the payroll at Fawcett but did work for them outside their offices. He drew Fawcett characters and features through the Jack Binder shop, and, later, as a freelancer. Pete was a good artist, and one of the early Binder baseball team players… and one of the nicest guys you could meet. He passed away far too early. Riss was with the Binder Shop from 1941-43 and worked primarily as an inker on such strips as “Bulletman,” “Captain Marvel,” “Mary Marvel,” “Captain Midnight,” “Spy Smasher,” and “Mr. Scarlet”; his later contract work for Fawcett was mostly inking Westerns. He died in 1962 at the age of 56. [NOTE: Pete Riss can be found in the group photo on page 78-79.]

Mind Games As Otto Binder tailored Mr. Mind’s brand of unremitting mayhem, Marc Swayze simultaneously wrote his own “Captain Marvel” yarns while serving in the U.S. Army. CMA #27 (Sept. 1943) not only gave us Chapter 6 of “The Monster Society of Evil” (wherein the manipulative Mr. Mind—previously known only as a disembodied voice—is finally unveiled as his infinitesimal, slithering worm-self)… but also contained the Swayze-written “The Pledge of the Gremlins,” in which CM convinces the mischievous aerial pixies to take their deviltry overseas and wreak their havoc upon Axis planes. Both tales were drawn by Beck and staff. [Shazam! characters TM & © 2012 DC Comics.]

SWAYZE: I don’t have anything to say about Mr. Mind. The fact is, I never heard of the character until I saw a picture of him in an early FCA. Mr. Mind appeared after I went into the service and, as you probably know, I never looked at a comic book that didn’t contain my own stuff…and sometimes I didn’t look at all of those, either! [Marc Swayze’s reminiscences continue next issue!]

“ Is This What I Want To Do For The Rest Of My Life? ” The ROY ALD Interview, Part 4 by Shaun Clancy Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

oy Ald was an editor and writer for Fawcett Publications’ comic books from 1946 to 1953, applying his talents to such titles as Wow Comics (featuring Mary Marvel, The Phantom Eagle, Commando Yank, Mr. Scarlet, and his comical creation, Ozzie and Babs), Captain Midnight, Don Winslow of the Navy, This Magazine Is Haunted, Captain Video, Life Story, Worlds of Fear, Strange Suspense Stories, Beware! Terror Tales, Gabby Hayes Western, Sweethearts, Suspense Detective, Negro Romance, and others, as well developing Fawcett’s early graphic novel experRoy Ald. iment Mansion of Evil, before editing various Fawcett magazines after the publisher terminated its comics line. Ald later moved on to other noteworthy publishing ventures with various companies and also authored dozens of books—predominately in the heath and fitness fields.

work immensely, but he was in tight with Willie [Lieberson, executive editor]… so Frank was the main artist on Captain Midnight whether I wanted him or not. SC: Leonard Frank also regularly drew Gabby Hayes Western, another comic you edited. ALD: I remember editing one Western script where the first line read: “Burt Masters rode totally raw on the saddle and pulled out his sword.” [both laugh] When I later worked on a coupon magazine for Capital, I dictated to my secretary a letter that was to go out to

Last issue, the 90-year-old Mr. Ald told interviewer Shaun Clancy the procedure he used for writing comic book scripts, meeting pulp cover artist Modest Stein, and—continuing on into this fourth installment—more memories of the many people he worked with at Fawcett Publications. —PCH. SHAUN CLANCY: What do you recall about editing Fawcett’s Captain Midnight comic book? ROY ALD: Leonard Frank worked on it, but he wasn’t a very good artist, and I thought he did an awful job on the book. I disliked his

Being Frank Among the many comic books that Roy Ald edited for Fawcett Publications were the post-War “interplanetary adventures” of Captain Midnight, a licensed radio aviator Fawcett had mutated into a super-hero in the Spy Smasher mold. Ald held great disdain for the work of Midnight’s main artist, Leonard Frank, who also drew for another Ald-edited comic, Gabby Hayes Western. The Frank-rendered panels here come from Captain Midnight #54 (Aug. 1947), featuring his space-raider nemesis Jagga—and Gabby Hayes Western #2 (Jan. 1949). [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

The Roy Ald Interview: “Is This What I Want to Do for the Rest of My Life?”—Part 4

every big ad agency in New York City. One of its lines was suppose to read, “... and we’ll give you your ads in all four colors” but instead of the word “ads” she had typed “ass” [both laugh]… and it was sent out that way.

SC: Who did most of the lettering for Fawcett’s comics? ALD: The three main people who handled it were Al Jetter and his wife Charlotte, and Ed Hamilton. SC: I’m going to bring up a few names of people who had worked on Fawcett comic books to see if you have any recollections of them. John Graham?

SC: Irwin Schoffman was one of the writers for Gabby Hayes. ALD: I had first met him when I was a second lieutenant in Intelligence during World War II, and I had visited him at his base. He wrote some scripts and was doing a lot of the fillers in the comics with Lieberson, who he was close friends with, so they had their own arrangement.

ALD: He had worked for The New Yorker and was hired to write fillers for the comics. SC: Dan Barry—he drew some “Captain Midnight” and “Commando Yank” stories for you. ALD: I knew Dan Barry, and he was one of the best artists in the business. Bob Powell and George Evans were my other favorite artists. Barry would come in every so often to get or drop off assignments, but he was mostly all business and didn’t talk too much.

SC: Did Bill Brady work on your books? ALD: No, he just drew humor fillers. He was a little runt… an odd and reclusive man. SC: What do you remember about Fawcett editor Mercedes Shull?

SC: Robert Brice. ALD: We had a thing ALD: Yes, I remember him going on for a while. She very well. He drew crime had already been at stories, but he seemed to Fawcett for a couple of be a little above working years before I arrived in comics. I had written a there and was married. lot of crime, horror, and She was Puerto Rican… romance stories [for him very savvy… a real to draw], and they were a Donned For Danger knockout. My wife was an notch above all the rest. absolutely wonderful During Roy Ald’s post-WWII tenure as editor on Don Winslow of the Navy, the military officer exchanged his Axis adversaries for common criminals—and even a couple of woman, but I wasn’t a SC: Who was the artist rep genuine, recurring super-villains like Singapore Sal (seen on this issue’s FCA cover) and a faithful husband. I was a you mentioned previously wily fellow named The Snake who slithered his way onto the cover of Winslow #50 (Oct. good-looking kid and very that used to come by the 1947). Art on both is by Carl Pfeufer and John Jordan. [© 2102 the respective copyright muscular, and it used to Fawcett office and had holders.] get me into trouble. brought in paintings by Things would happen that Modest Stein? [NOTE: See last issue. —PCH.] I couldn’t pass up. It gave me a taste of action that I wish I had never encountered, because it wasn’t fair to my wonderful wife. ALD: His name was Renaldo Epworth, and he stopped by our office constantly with art samples that weren’t very good, except SC: Was anyone at Fawcett aware of the affair? for Stein’s. He showed the samples to anyone who would look at them. ALD: I don’t think so, but I do know that people around the office used to look at me like I was some kind of threat because of the way I looked and the fact that I wore all custom-made clothing.

SC: Elinor Mendelsohn.

SC: Were you married only once?

ALD: She was my secretary. I had so many romance comics to edit that she helped me out on them.

ALD: Yes. My wife died of breast cancer in 1980. We had three children.

SC: Did you ever receive bonuses at Fawcett? [continued on p. 80]

Golden Age Gathering On July 11, 1952, Roy Ald attended a party at a Manhattan restaurant in celebration of Fawcett executive comics editor Will Lieberson’s 10-year anniversary with the publisher. FCA would like to extend a special thank-you to Dennis Lieberson for providing this group photo of the event which offers us first-time glimpses of several people who were connected with the comics during the Golden Age—many of whom have also been mentioned during our interview with Ald. (The anniversary card presented to Will that day—created by Jon Messman, Ed Ashe, Carl Pfeufer, and Al Jetter—was reproduced in the 2001 TwoMorrows book Fawcett Companion, and can be seen in the snapshot being held up by Jetter.) Special thanks also go out to Roy Ald, Edna Hagen, Allen Messman, Ruth Schoffman, and Dagny Weste for their assistance in helping to identify a majority of the attendees from the get-together, listed below.

52 51

49 48

53 24 25 21

31 29

1 13 14

1. Will Lieberson (executive comics editor); 2. Jayne Lieberson (wife of Will Lieberson); 3. Kurt Schaffenberger (artist: Captain Marvel, Marvel Family, Ibis); 4. Dorothy Schaffenberger (wife of Kurt S.); 5. Bob Laughlin (artist: Monte Hale, Jackie Robinson, production); 6. unidentified; 7. Ray Cohan (writer); 8. Annette Packer (production); 9. Harvey ---- [last name unknown]; 10. Ann Stackel (wife of Herman Stackel); 11. Herman Stackel (letterer); 12. Reed Austin (production artist); 13. unidentified; 14. unidentified; 15. Harriet ---- (last name unknown, production artist); 16. Bruce Nichols (production); 17. unidentified; 18. Anne Kauffman (letterer, wife of Stan Kauffman); 19. Stan Kauffman (writer); 20. unidentified writer; 21. Bernard Miller (writer); 22. Bill Brady (artist: Fawcett’s Funny Animals, fillers); 23. unidentified; 24. Irwin Schoffman (writer: Ibis, Westerns); 25. Kay Woods (editor: Motion Picture Comics, Westerns); 26. Joe Oriolo (artist: Puppetoons); 27. Edna Hagen (editor); 28. Leonard Frank (artist: Captain Midnight, Gabby Hayes); 29. Roy Ald (editor); 30. Virginia “Ginny” Proviserio (editor: Whiz Comics, Master Comics, Nyoka);

Rocketman (Right:) Layout wizard JBC and editors PCH and RT thought you might enjoy a slightly closer look at the "Captain Lieberson" cover to the 7-page "birthday card" being displayed by Al Jetter ("34") and Charles Clarence Beck ("35"). To see it a lot bigger and clearer, dig up a copy of Fawcett Companion.

47 37 45

46 43

36 41

42 40

33 6 9 7

8 3

31. unidentified; 32. Bernard Baily (artist: crime, horror, romance; co-creator of The Spectre, Hour-Man); 33. Charlotte Jetter (letterer; wife of Al Jetter); 34. Al Jetter (letterer; art director); 35. C.C. Beck (artist/co-creator of Captain Marvel); 36. Charlie Tomsey (artist: Bulletman, Capt. Midnight, Mary Marvel); 37. Bill Woolfolk (writer: Captain Marvel, Capt. Marvel Jr., Spy Smasher); 38. Pete Costanza (artist: Captain Marvel, Ibis, Golden Arrow); 39. Jon Eric Messman (writer: Captain Marvel Jr., Don Winslow, Westerns); 40. Dick Kraus (editor/writer: Captain Marvel Jr., Captain Midnight, Master Comics); 41. Agnes Riss (wife of Pete Riss); 42. Pete Riss (artist: Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Hopalong Cassidy); 43. Ione Binder (wife of Otto Binder); 44. Otto Binder (writer: Captain Marvel, Marvel Family, and much more); 45. Chad Grothkopf (artist/creator of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny); 46. unidentified; 47. unidentified; 48. Martin DeMuth (letterer); 49. Flora Demuth (wife of Martin DeMuth); 50. unidentified; 51. Martin Grubsmith (writer); 52. Ed Ashe (artist: Commando Yank, Don Winslow); 53. unidentified; 54. Carl Pfeufer (artist: Don Winslow, Tom Mix, Mr. Scarlet).

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

[continued from p. 77] ALD: Never. SC: What would happen if an artist or writer demanded a pay increase? ALD: They would have to talk to Willie [Lieberson]. SC: Why didn’t you ever make any attempt to get back into the comics business later on?

ALD-Star Comics During World War II, Chase Yale was a war correspondent in Europe and the South Pacific who battled Axis forces as the non-super-powered, star-clad hero Commando Yank. Throughout the post-war years—in stories edited by Roy Ald—Yale traveled the world as a roving TV reporter chasing the next exciting news story… thereby allowing Commando Yank a few more opportunities to thwart evil before his final conflict concluded in 1948 (Wow Comics #64). Above is the “CY” splash page from Wow #59 (Oct. ’47), illustrated by the longtime Flash Gordon syndicated comic strip artist Dan Barry, whom Ald praised as “one of the best” in the industry. [© 2012 the respective copyright holders.]

ALD: Because I never felt I belonged in comics in the first place. In the beginning I had just gotten out of the military and was going around looking for writing work, and when I went up to Fawcett Will Lieberson offered me a job because of the amount of writing I could handle. I could knock off a comic book script in an hour and collect $150 in addition to making $10,000 a year as an editor. It was very lucrative, but it had its limits. When I say I could write a script in an hour for $150, you naturally assume that I made a great living doing that, but as an editor who wasn’t supposed to be writing them in the first place, I could only get away with doing no more than a couple of scripts per month; otherwise it would’ve looked a little suspicious. At least there was never a punch-clock atmosphere at Fawcett. [This interview with Roy Ald will be concluded next issue.]

Previously Unprinted Brunner Pencil Art See the inked art in the book Mythos:

The Fantasy Art Realms of Frank Brunner

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