Alter Ego #11 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas ’ Marvelous Comics Fanzine

5.95

In the USA

THE

No. 11

Titans

November 2001

Timely! (That’s Marvel To You! )

Starring:

SYD SHORES Artist Extraordinaire

MICKEY SPILLANE CREATOR OF MIKE HAMMER

VINCE FAGO TIMELY’S “FORGOTTEN” EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

VALERIE BARCLAY

Human Torch, Captain America, Sub-Mariner TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

“GLAMOROUS GIRL INKER”

Featuring Art & Artifacts By:

JOE SIMON JACK KIRBY CARL BURGOS BILL EVERETT CARL PFEUFER DON RICO FRED BELL HARRY SAHLE ALEX SCHOMBURG —not to mention

CHARLES BIRO & JOE SHUSTER!

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BACK ISSUE #51

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• Digital Editions available: $2.95-$3.95! • Back Issue & Alter Ego now with color! • Lower international shipping rates!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “AllInterview Issue”! Part 2 of an exclusive STEVE ENGLEHART interview (continued from ALTER EGO #103)! “Pro2Pro” interviews between SIMONSON & LARSEN, MOENCH & WEIN, and comics letterers KLEIN & CHIANG. Plus JOHN OSTRANDER, MICHAEL USLAN, and longtime DC color artist ADRIENNE ROY! Cover by Englehart collaborator MARSHALL ROGERS!

“Gods!” Takes an in-depth look at WALTER SIMONSON’s Thor, the Thunder God in the Bronze Age, “Pro2Pro” interview with TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ, Hercules: Prince of Power, Moondragon, Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga, exclusive interview with fantasy writer MICHAEL MOORCOCK, art and commentary by GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, BOB LAYTON, and more, with a swingin’ Thor cover by SIMONSON!

“Liberated Ladies” eyeing female characters that broke barriers in the Bronze Age: Big Barda, Valkyrie, Ms. Marvel, Phoenix, Savage She-Hulk, and the sword-wielding Starfire. Plus a “Pro2Pro” interview with JILL THOMPSON, GAIL SIMONE, and BARBARA KESEL, art and commentary by JOHN BYRNE, GEORGE PEREZ, JACK KIRBY, MIKE VOSBURG, and more, with a new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

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THE BEST IN COMICS AND LEGO MAGAZINES!

ALTER EGO #105

ALTER EGO #106

ALTER EGO #107

ALTER EGO #108

DRAW! #22

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!

DICK GIORDANO through the 1960s—from freelance years and Charlton “Action-Heroes” to his first stint at DC! Art by DITKO, APARO, BOYETTE, MORISI, McLAUGHLIN, GIL KANE, and others, Dick’s final convention panel with STEVE SKEATES and ROY THOMAS, JIM AMASH interviews Charlton artist TONY TALLARICO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and ROY ALD, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, GIORDANO cover, and more!

Big BATMAN issue, with an unused Golden Age cover by DICK SPRANG! SHEL DORF interviews SPRANG and JIM MOONEY, with rare and unseen Batman art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON, WIN MORTIMER, SHELLY MOLDOFF, CHARLES PARIS, and others! Part II of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

1970s Bullpenner WARREN REECE talks about Marvel Comics and working with EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, STAN LEE, MARIE SEVERIN, ADAMS, FRIEDRICH, ROY THOMAS, and others, with rare art! DEWEY CASSELL spotlights Golden Age artist MIKE PEPPE, with art by TOTH, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, & LUBBERS, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!

Interview with inker SCOTT WILLIAMS from his days at Marvel and Image to his work with JIM LEE, and PATRICK OLIFFE demos how he produces Spider-Girl, Mighty Samson, and digital comics. Also, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!

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LEE & KIRBY: THE WONDER YEARS (KIRBY COLLECTOR #58)

Special double-size book examines the first decade of the FANTASTIC FOUR, and the events that put into motion the Marvel Age of Comics! New interviews with STAN LEE, FLO STEINBERG, MARK EVANIER, JOE SINNOTT, and others, with a wealth of historical information and Kirby artwork!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #59

BRICKJOURNAL #17

BRICKJOURNAL #18

BRICKJOURNAL #19

“Kirby Vault!” Rarities from the “King” of comics: Personal correspondence, private photos, collages, rare Marvelmania art, bootleg album covers, sketches, transcript of a 1969 VISIT TO THE KIRBY HOME (where Jack answers the questions YOU’D ask in ‘69), MARK EVANIER, pencil art from the FOURTH WORLD, CAPTAIN AMERICA, MACHINE MAN, SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL, and more!

LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S NEW ALIEN CONQUEST SETS that hit store shelves earlier this year, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!

Go to Japan with articles on two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus take a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of the BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

LEGO EVENTS ISSUE covering our own BRICKMAGIC FESTIVAL, BRICKWORLD, BRICKFAIR, BRICKCON, plus other events outside the US. There’s full event details, plus interviews with the winners of the BRICKMAGIC CHALLENGE competition, complete with instructions to build award winning models. Also JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customizing, building tips, and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 11 / November 2001 ™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

The Titans of Timely

Comics Crypt Editor

Section

Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich

Cover Artists Carl Burgos, Fred Bell, & Carl Pfeufer Don Newton

Cover Color

Contents

Tom Ziuko Don Newton

Writer/Editorial: The Timely Times, They Are A-Changin’! . . . . 2

Mailing Crew

re: letters, what else?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

And Special Thanks to: Bill Alger Valerie Barclay Dennis Beaulieu Blake Bell Bill Black Jerry K. Boyd Gary Brown Michael Bryan Mrs. Olympia Certa Mike Costa Mike & Carole Curtis Rich Dannys Al Dellinges Wayne De Waid Rich Donnelly Tom Fagan Vince Fago Shane Foley Ron Frantz Ken Gale Dave Gantz Robert Hack Bill Harper Richard Harpster Mark & Stephanie Heike Jennifer T. Go

Robert Hack Al Hewetson Chris Irving Barry Keller David Anthony Kraft Harry Kremer Al Lenny Ed Lane Joe Latino Stan Lee Paul Levitz Jon Mankuta Anthony Newton Eric NolenWeathington Ethan Roberts Trina Robbins Howard Siegel Dave Sim Joe Simon Mickey Spillane Maggie Thompson Jim Vadeboncoeur Michael J. Vassallo Jean Walton Hames Ware Jay Willson

In Memoriam: Chuck Cuidera Jerry de Fuccio George Evans Barbara Knutson

“IVinceLetFago,People Do Their Jobs!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Timely/Marvel’s third editor-in-chief—interviewed by Jim Amash. That “Glamorous Girl Inker”! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The enigmatic Valerie/Violet Barclay, profiled by Trina Robbins. “Comics Were Great!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 And Mike Hammer creator Mickey Spillane should know! He wrote a million of ’em! Nuggets: Missives from Mickey (Spillane) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Jerry de Fuccio’s colorful correspondence with the author of I, the Jury. Syd Shores: A Biography and Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 A vintage 1973 celebration by Al Hewetson.

FCA, ME, & Comic Crypt, Too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: For a change, editor Roy Thomas and publisher John Morrow opted to do a montage featuring Timely’s Big Three super-heroes of the ’40s: The Human Torch (by Carl Burgos), Captain America (by Fred Bell—though they thought the artist was Syd Shores till an expert told ’em different!), and Sub-Mariner (by Carl Pfeufer). [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: When Bill Everett entered the Army after Pearl Harbor, Carl Pfeufer became the chief “SubMariner” artist, and Namor’s head got more and more triangular, his arms and legs more like turkey drumsticks. Still, Pfeufer’s art had a whacky charm of its own. From Marvel Mystery Comics #41 (March 1943). [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8.00 ($10.00 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 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 Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

The Timely Times They Are A-Changin !

t’s funny, but although I spent the fifteen years from 1965-80 as a writer/editor for Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, I’ve never really known a lot about Timely Comics, the original incarnation of the company founded by Martin Goodman. In fact, though like everyone else I know that its first offering was Marvel Comics #1 in 1939, I have no firm idea of what end-date to use to bracket the entity that in those days was usually called Timely Comics. When, precisely, did it stop being “Timely”? When a few “An Atlas Publication” and “Marvel Comics” symbols appeared on the covers? Surely not, ’cause the Atlas globe first appeared circa 1944, and various Marvel logos popped up by ’47. Despite all my rambling late-night conversations with Bill Everett back in the ’60s when we were roomies, and occasional chats about the old days with the likes of Stan, John Romita, Sol Brodsky, longtime letterer Morrie Kuramoto, and others, the Timely of the ’40s always seemed a bit amorphous to me, even though I was reading Timely Comics by at least 1946, when I was in the first grade. (Heck, one of my earliest school memories is having a teacher confiscate cutout figures of the Torch, Cap, and Subby that a classmate and I were passing between us.)

been trying to find the chance to really talk to the amiable Vince for months, but Jim knew more about his career than I did, so I was happy to let him carry the ball. The result is a long and informative conversation with the “forgotten” third editor-in-chief of Timely Comics! (Believe it or not, I was the fourth—three decades later!) In fact, Jim has quickly become such an integral part of A/E that, starting this issue, you’ll find his name on the masthead along with Bill Schelly’s as an associate editor! Also, courtesy of Dave Sim and Harry Kremer, I’d barely lined up Al Hewetson’s 1973 piece on Syd Shores, who had passed away earlier that year, when my old friend, cartoonist Trina Robbins, phoned me to ask some questions about Marvel’s 1970s romance comics. In the course of things, she mentioned that she had recently interviewed artist Valerie (originally Violet) Barclay—and before you could say “glamorous girl inker,” I had cajoled Trina into letting that article run in Alter Ego. And this issue’s just the beginning!

One thing has led to another. Jim, for his part, has tracked down several Timely artists from the ’40s—even though, alas, so many of them are gone from our midst; he has already interviewed some of them, and is A familiar scene in wartime Timely mags—Cap coming to Bucky’s rescue! (He’d probably have fared better as a loner.) Art by Syd Shores (or is it Fred Bell?) from Captain America #22 (Jan. 1943). making arrangements [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] to do so with others. And I have a few Timely-related interviews up my own sleeve—with Dick Ayers, with But then, even aficionados who have researched Timely’s comics for Gary Brodsky (son of the late Sol), and others. years often find themselves unable to be certain who drew a particular story, be it of Captain America or Super Rabbit or Tessie the Typist or a With the generous, unstinting help of some very knowledgeable werewolf. Credits on Timely mags are generally harder to pin down Timely fans—particularly Blake Bell, Jim Vadeboncoeur, and Dr. than, say, those for DC Comics during the same period. Michael J. Vassallo at present, but the list is growing—our current plan is to devote half of every second A/E to “The Titans of Timely”! Starting this issue, however, Alter Ego intends to devote more time and space to the company that would one day be Marvel. Till when? Because, like it says above—things have changed. Till we run out of people to interview and comics to write about, that’s when! How come? Well, first, while I was trying to find time to interview a few folks who worked for Timely in the ’40s (e.g., this issue’s confab with the one and only Mickey Spillane), Archie/Disney inker Jim Amash asked me if I would mind if he interviewed Vince Fago, the artist who had been Timely’s editor from 1942-45 while Stan was in the armed forces. I’d

So start reading already! Bestest,

writer/editorial SPECIAL NOTE: We regret to note that three persons associated with Alter Ego passed away while this issue was in preparation, and we wish to commemorate them here. Barbara Knutson, wife of Jon B. Knutson, who has transcribed a number of interviews for A/E and other TwoMorrows magazines over the past couple of years, passed away in August. Our hearts go out to Jon, who had recently cut back his transcribing and other activities to care for his wife. In addition, we were sorrowed to learn that Chuck Cuidera, cocreator of Blackhawk, has died at age 86, only a few weeks before the first volume of DC’s Blackhawk Archives was due on sale; but we know how thrilled he was to see his most notable work coming out in that format. Jim Amash had completed an interview with Chuck only a couple of weeks before his passing; it will be published in an early issue of A/E. Also sadly departed, due to cancer, is Jerry de Fuccio, whose contributions to this issue and to recent ones has been considerable. In the 1950s he was Harvey Kurtzman’s assistant on EC’s war comics, and was later an associate editor of Mad for a quarter of a century. Over his lifetime Jerry amassed a wealth of anecdotes about Golden Age comic books, many of which he shared over the years with the readers of various magazines, most recently Alter Ego. His presence in A/E will continue posthumously, just as he would have wanted. Indeed, he mailed me original artwork by Fred Guardineer and photocopies of other work in the last few weeks of his life, though only a few people (certainly not I) suspected he would leave us so soon.

Requiem For A Comic Book Roustabout I want a Viking Funeral, a catafalque draped with a canopy in the mode of the Big Shot Comics logo. Place me on a dais of mint vintage comics, circa 1937-1940. Outfit me in a white kepi, white tunic, and white Tunisian trousers. Black boots and red cummerbund optional. Honorary pallbearers to be: The Shield (Novick), Silver Streak, Midnight (Cole), Sandman, The Guardian & Newsboy Legion (Simon & Kirby), The Face (Bailey), The Angel, The Jester (Gustavson), Johnny Quick (Meskin), Crimebuster (Biro), Intellectual Amos (Le Blanc), and Supersnipe (Marcoux). And Human Torch and Toro to incinerate the barge with fiery halos. Summon a flight of all the Blackhawks, dipping their wings as they fly over. And at my feet, a dog of a publisher. J. de Fuccio

In 1987 Jerry sent Ron Frantz, publisher of ACE Comics, his own somewhat premature epithet, which we print here without further comment, because none is needed:

Submit Something To Alter Ego! Alter Ego is on the lookout for items that can be utilized in upcoming issues: • Convention Sketches and Program Books • Unpublished Artwork • Original Scripts (the older the better!) • Photos • Unpublished Interviews • Little-seen Fanzine Material We’re also interested in articles, article ideas, or any other suggestions... and we pay off in FREE COPIES of A/E. (If you’re already an A/E subscriber, we’ll extend your subscription.) Contact: Roy Thomas, Editor Rt. 3, Box 468 St. Matthews, SC 29135 Fax: (803)826-6501 • E-mail: roydann@ntinet.com (NEW E-mail)

Submission Guidelines Submit artwork in one of these forms (in order of preference): 1) Clear color or black-&-white photocopies. 2) Scanned images—300ppi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (on Zip or floppy disk). 3) Originals (carefully packed and insured). Submit text in one of these forms: 1) E-mail (ASCII text attachments preferred) to: roydann@ntinet.com (NEW) 2) An ASCII or “plain text” file, supplied on floppy disk. 3) Typed, xeroxed, or laser printed pages.

Many thanks to the regretfully forgotten benefactor who sent us this sketch done years ago by comics master Charles Biro of his heroes Crimebuster and Daredevil. We think Jerry would have liked it published with his requiem. [Art ©2001 the estate of Charles Biro.]

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• Humongous interview with GILL FOX, 1940s artist/editor of Quality Comics! • Unseen 1940s DC art by PAUL REINMAN, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE KUBERT,&others!

TM & ©

• At last! ROY THOMAS continues the All-Star Squadron saga!—MICHAEL T. GILBERT revisits the wondrous world of WALLY WOOD!—FCA presents MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, et al.!—and MORE!

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• That infamous 1965 Newsweek article on comics—printed in full, and examined by BILL SCHELLY! Plus—the “lost” tapes from the Newsweek interviews!

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Not long after selling off his stake in the Marvel Comics Group, publisher Martin Goodman founded rival comics house ATLAS-SEABOARD PUBLICATIONS in the mid-1970s, giving the House of Ideas a run for their money. Though existing less than two years, many of the industry’s most innovative creators—including STEVE DITKO, ALEX TOTH, ARCHIE GOODWIN, and WALLY WOOD—contributed to the company. Behind a new ERNIE COLÓN cover, CBA #16 gets to the bottom of THE ATLAS-SEABOARD STORY, featuring interviews with ERNIE COLÓN, JEFF ROVIN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, SAL AMENDOLA, LARRY HAMA, STEVE MITCHELL, ALAN KUPPERBERG, and more, plus the COMPLETE ATLAS-SEABOARD CHECKLIST, rare and unpublished artwork, and the usual surprises you expect from CBA! PLUS: We talk to GRAY MORROW about his tenure as editor/art director of the short-lived but wellregarded RED CIRCLE COMICS line of the 1970s, where the premier artist helmed such titles as Sorcery, Madhouse, and Super Cops! So join us as we return to that 1970s wonky Age of Atlas Comics in November! (Edited by JON B. COOKE • 116 pages, $6.95)

re:

5 only one in the world who didn’t find his women sexy! Stark nekkid and intendedly seductive—it didn’t work for my eye. Still don’t. Am I nuts? Best, George (and again, thanks) Next, a letter responding to the George Roussos interview of a few issues back:

: e r

Roy— The George Roussos interview in Alter Ego #5 was of great personal interest, as I knew him, and he was a good guy! As I also knew Dan Barry, I especially appreciated George’s dry “He was not a very easy guy to work for.” A short story: As George was about to leave Marvel one day years ago to catch his train, an editor in crisis begged him to color a cover for her. He did his usual wonderful job—in about ten minutes. Rather ungraciously, she noted the high rate of pay for what seemed only a few moments’ work. “Not for what I did now,” George shot back. “For what I spent thirty years to learn!” David Anthony Kraft Clayton, GA

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Just because our letters section has gotten squeezed out of the past couple of issues due to 11th-hour additions doesn’t mean that letters—whether via the Post Office, e-mail, or fax—don’t come in about the contents of each issue of A/E. This time, we’ve got several missives piled up that we felt were of special interest to the readership at large—plus the usual corrections and additions to the past few issues—which have likewise piled up. [On a sadder note: Just as our previous issue was in the final stages of preparation, we received the sad news that another Golden Age great had passed away: George Evans, whose career had spanned Fiction House, Fawcett, EC, Timely/Marvel, DC, Gilberton’s Classics Illustrated, Eastern Color, Warren, Western, and Boys’ Life, among others. Michael T. Gilbert will be dealing at length with the artist’s life and career in a near-upcoming issue of our sister mag Comic Book Artist. By sheer coincidence, however, only a very short time before George’s death, he sent Michael the following letter re Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #7, and its focus on Wally Wood:] Dear Michael: Many thank-yous for sending on the copy. You did a fine job, but as you’d said, it was sad to read—sadder to see what things combined to drive a talented, nice, worthy human being to violently end his existence. Most of your text was new stuff for me. That damned booze!!! FYI, I can add this: Bill Gaines had a daughter living around here, and when he’d visit her, he always invited Ev and me to share a night out with them (y’know: Restaurant). Anyway—at one, while Woody was still alive, some mention was made between Bill and someone about Woody, which I overheard, and Bill said, “Send him $6000. It’ll bring at least that at auction, but he needs it now! If it brings more, we’ll send it on later.” Although I wrote Corrigan—and all-text stuff for some mags—I tried very little to write comic book stuff and loathed writing by some of the “comic book ‘greats.’” Someone sent me copies of some Woody things like the little-nudey booklet, and “Cannon,” and “Animan,” etc., and I’m curious as to your rating for such. My own wouldn’t be fair or our aims were obviously worlds apart. More oddly still—I may be the

Great anecdote, Dave. (Former Marvel writer and editor DAK published the excellent magazine Comics Interview for many years.) Moving right along: The following note from Mad (and earlier Fawcett and Timely) artist Dave Berg was sent to P.C. Hamerlinck, editor of the FCA section, with regard to issue #7: Friend Hamerlinck, Thank you. The people here at Mad were very impressed by the nice article you did. While other members served in the armed forces, I was the only one who saw combat. I don’t recall C.C. Beck drawing Captain Marvel. There was one artist who did nothing else. We only lightly sketched it in. He finished it. Two slight corrections: One, I spent a whole week in Japan. And two, the packages Fawcett sent me periodically were made up of useful knickknacks such as toothpaste, bars of candy, and sewing kits. They didn’t send comic books because where there were G.I.s there was an abundance of comic books. About that radio for downed flyers I worked on: I recently remembered its name: “The Gibson Girl.” Gibson was an artist at the turn of the 20th century who drew girls with hourglass figures. The shape of the radio was an hourglass, so that it could fit between the knees and grind out radio signals. My job was to make a wooden model and experiment to find the correct shade of yellow so it could be seen from the air. As for the Uncle Sam comic book, I only did the first issue. After that, we all left for the service. On the first feature I did for “Death Patrol,” I received fan mail. What a thrill... at night, I was still a student at art school. One other story. The last thing in your article was a caricature of me with a foot. One of the editors liked it and wants to publish it in Mad. Dave Berg The art was, of course, always yours to do with as you wished, Dave, as PCH informed you tout suite. Timely art by “Davey Berg” will appear in a near-future issue of A/E. Dear Roy, Alter Ego #6 was a great piece of work. One bit of info I thought I’d pass on to you about Roger Hill’s Raboy article. On page 20 there’s a model sheet with faces of Captain Marvel Jr. on it. The blurb says: “probably a paste-up from earlier stories.” Not so! Up until two years ago, I owned the original and it was—“all original”! I got the piece from

re: little books and posted them off from Stan’s apartment on the East Side. “It was all quite exciting thinking of the young people opening their packages and perhaps hoping one day to be a comic book writer or artist. I was given a copy of the book, which I brought home in my trunk on the Queen Elizabeth, and kept it safely tucked away. Two years later, my husband and I were blessed with a son, John, and when he was old enough and interested in comics, I gave him that copy. He treasured it and became an avid reader of (by then, Marvel) comics. His Uncle Stan sent John many comics over the years and he is still collecting comics now! I like to think that it all began with that little book, Secrets behind the Comics. “(from Greetah Davidson, sister-in-law of Stan Lee.)”

The late great George Evans was known to many for his EC artwork, but Ye Editor’s favorite is Captain Video #3 (June 1951), whose art introduced the visual look which, years later, became the partial inspiration for Marvel’s Ultron. Even his early work on “Tiger Man” in Fiction House’s Fight Comics was head and shoulders above the pack. “Tiger Man” original art photocopy courtesy of Jerry Bails and Hames Ware. [©2001 the respective copyright holders.]

If you think your readers would find this letter interesting, please print it. On a personal note, thank you, Roy, for giving me such retroactive continuity enjoyment in comics like The Invaders and All-Star Squadron over the years.

Jack Binder many, many years ago. Also had a nice Green Lama original, and Raboy’s work on GL had no stats. Jack Binder had the original from the “Jr. vs. Captain Nazi” splash, where Nazi is standing behind London. Almost all the figures on the splash were stats, including Capt. Nazi. I was so disappointed when I saw it. Martin L. Greim (via e-mail) Thanks for the corrected information, Marty. Dear Roy Thomas, I recently read Alter Ego #6 and was particularly interested in the article on Stan Lee’s Secrets behind the Comics. I have an original of this booklet (1947) and also a hardcover limited edition (1994). As to how I came by them, the following (which I received from my mother, Greetah Davidson) should tell the tale: “In May of 1947, I was fortunate to sail to New York from England on the famous liner Queen Elizabeth. She was only recently back in service after the War. On arrival, I was met by my two sisters, Norma having come from Canada to see me, and Joan who lived in New York. “I was soon introduced to Stan Lee, who was pursuing my sister Joan relentlessly! (They married later that year.) I was to learn that Stan was a creator of comic books and that he could write stories at the drop of a hat. He was then working for Timely Comics.

John Davidson United Kingdom A relative of Stan Lee’s—a fan of Roy’s? That’s a new one—but thanks, John! Oh, and I spoke to Stan recently, and he said hello. He also said you saved all your old comics and are now selling them and making a mint—and he wishes he’d done the same! Don’t we all! Dear Roy: The female artist Gil Kane was trying to recall [in the interview printed in the trade paperback Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection] as an associate of Harry Sahle and Busy Arnold was not named Vivian. (Kane was possibly thinking of Vivian Lipman, who married Dave Berg but wasn’t connected to Quality, as far as I know.) The woman Kane meant was Ginger Drury, who did sign a few pieces at MLJ with Sahle, and also went over to Quality, subbing for Klaus Nordling on “Bob and Swab,” I believe, as well as some of the teen stuff. Hames Ware (via e-mail and Jim Vadeboncoeur) It seems the “Vivian” Gil referred to wasn’t Violet Barclay, either, as we had suspected. Still, this very issue features a brief but surprising interview with that female cartoonist. Dear Roy—

“Stan the Man, as he was aptly named, was a fascinating character. Even in the middle of a meal, he would suddenly excuse himself, go to his room, and write a story. I never ceased to be amazed!

Roger Hill’s interview with David Raboy in Lucky #7 was fascinating. Few people have Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaverstyle lives, and being the children of dissatisfied creative people must have been especially difficult.

“Then one day Stan wrote a little book which he called Secrets behind the Comics. It was advertised in the comics, and for a small sum of money it could be sent off to whoever wanted it. As the requests and money came in (mostly from boys), my sister Joan and I packaged the

Mr. Raboy speaks of his grandfather, Isaac, who went to North Dakota to work on a horse ranch and wrote “a couple of books about the experience” and says the book were written in “Jewish,” which is

re: identified in brackets as “Hebrew.” It is more likely the books were written in Yiddish, the Judeo-German lingua franca of Central and Eastern European Jewry. I recommend a splendid book, Jewish Agricultural Utopias in America, 1880-1910 by Uri Herscher (Wayne State University Press, 1981), which may illuminate the history of Jewish agricultural settlements in Connecticut, New Jersey, and the Far West which Isaac Raboy’s life exemplifies. The Jewish Cowboy [Der Yiddisher Cowboy], the novel by Isaac Raboy, seems to be currently available in English, as translated by Nathaniel Shapiro. Also, I suspect the family’s origins in “Bessarabka” is meant to be Bessarabia, as per Britannica.com: “A region in eastern Europe that passed successively, from the 15th to 20th century, to Moldavia, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Ukraine and Moldavia.” The Jewish presence in the region dates from the 15th century. It’s a good thing the Raboys got out, because the majority of Jews there (numbering about 267,000 in a 1920 census) were killed by the Nazi Einsatzkommandos. Stu Shiffman (via e-mail) Thanks to Paul Zudkerman of Morganville, NJ, for sending us similar information. I should have realized the language David Raboy mentioned was Yiddish, rather than Hebrew, of course. After all, a copy of the bestselling and highly enjoyable The Joys of Yiddish sits on my very own bookshelf—and I did live in New York City for eleven years! CORRECTIONS: Jerry Bails informs us that Ted Udall’s real name was Wes Ingals. Well, Julie said he wasn’t 100% sure of the spelling! On the other hand, though Jerry till recently owned the original art to the cover of JLA #21 (1963), which showcased the very first JLA-JSA team-up, several knowledgeable folks dispute his contention that it’s entirely the work of Murphy Anderson, rather than a Sekowsky-Anderson collaboration. In fact, one of those folks—with whom I spoke about the matter at Oakland WonderCon in April—is Murph himself! So maybe at least one of the goofs mentioned in A/E V3#6 and The All-Star Companion wasn’t one, after all! (The ball’s in your court, Dr. JGB!) Steve Milioto reminds us that three of the Crime Syndicate had appeared between JLA #29 and that five-part 1982 JLA-JSA crossover—in the late-’70s Secret Society of Super-Villains #13-14. Gerry Conway and I knew that two decades ago, but since they had been returned therein to the status quo ante, it didn’t affect our story, so I forgot it when preparing “Crises on Finite Earths” for A/E V3#7.

7 Alfonso Mason (and a few others) advised us that Mr. Terrific’s killer, The Spirit King, was finally brought to justice in The Spectre (third series) #52... and that George Pérez took over as penciler in JLA #184, not #185. (Actually, we did list George as penciler of #184, then somehow typed “#185” a paragraph later. So we got it both right and wrong.) Roger B.A. Klorese was one of several Alert Readers who informed us that Paul and Alan Kupperberg are brothers, not cousins. Hey, for all Roy knows, they could be the same person; in his whole life he doesn’t recall ever seeing the two of them together! Bill Black, publisher of the great AC Comics line of Golden Age reprints, informs us that “the splash page of Green Lama fighting the Toymaster (from Green Lama #8) was drawn by Bob Fujitani, not Raboy. #8’s ‘Lama’ story was a reprint from an earlier issue, for which they replaced Raboy’s double-page splash with a single pager by Fuje.” Thanks, Bill. We should’ve noticed that the splash wasn’t Raboy’s work! And finally, Murray Ward reminds us that “Flash of Two Worlds” (#123, 1961) was not Gardner Fox’s first Silver Age Flash story: In #117 he and editor Julius Schwartz had “unsuccessfully attempted to revive the Three Dimwits: Winky, Blinky, and Noddy. I guess every time he borrowed directly from the Golden Age Flash title, Julie felt honor-bound to go to the original scribe, and that was Gardner. So it’s not such a big mystery after all why Gar got to write ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ when Broome was the regular scripter on The Flash.” Right, Murray—and I, of all people, should have remembered that tale, since it was probably my fervent fan-letters on the subject of the Dimwits, as much as anything, that led Julie to give them a try in the early ’60s. For some years I owned the original Infantino-Giella art to that tale, one of the first ever handed out by Julie as prizes to letter-writers. Let us hear from you, okay? We read and appreciate all letters and faxes and e-mails—even though we can’t respond to many of them and still get out a magazine eight times a year, and we admittedly do tend to print mostly those that are informational and/or from pros. But that’s definitely not a hard-and-fast rule. We can be reached at: Roy Thomas/Alter Ego Rt. 3, Box 468 St. Matthews, SC 29135 Fax: (803) 826-6501 New e-mail address: <roydann@ntinet.com>

They’re All Gone—But We’ve Got A Few More! As publisher John Morrow announced two issues back, Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1, is sold out. In fact, we just checked Bud Plant’s Comic Art Update, and it lists only #2-and-up as available, as well. However, Roy has unearthed a few copies he can spare, with covers by Jerry Ordway and Irwin Hasen (the JSA)—an interview with Golden Age great Hasen—the creation of Infinity, Inc., featuring previously unglimpsed Ordway art—an FCA section with Beck and Swayze—the 1995 Stan Lee Roast, with some of The Man’s best-known colleagues tossing barbs at him—never-beforeseen H.G. Peter Wonder Woman art—Mr. Monster—and more! Only thing is, these copies are from Roy’s personal stash, so the price is $15, but at least that’s including postage. The Rascally One will autograph either cover or contents page—or neither—your choice. If you want a copy, send a check pronto to the address above... ’cause when these puppies are gone, nobody’s gonna have any copies left for sale! Oh, and we’ve also got a few spare sets of the complete Alter Ego color comic book series published by First Comics in 1986, in which writers Roy & Dann Thomas and artist Ron Harris had their super-hero of that name battle a gargantuan clone of the Golden Age Claw, alongside dopplegangers of Golden Age heroes like Black Terror, Airboy, Blue Bolt, and Sheena. All four issues—signed or unsigned by Roy, take your pick—for $20, post-paid. Find out what happened when the mask became a man!

Vince Fago

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” A Conversation with VINCE FAGO—Artist, Writer, and Third Editor-in-Chief of Timely/Marvel Comics Interview Conducted and Transcribed by Jim Amash [INTRODUCTORY NOTE: Vince Fago has worn many hats and worked in many capacities and fields and genres over his long career, and is still active today, at the age of 87. Even so, he remains relatively (and undeservedly) unknown even by many longtime comics fans, especially in his capacity as Timely/Marvel’s third editorin-chief—probably because his predecessor and his successor in that position were the same man: None other than Stan Lee. Just as Stan had followed Joe Simon as Timely’s editor, so did Vince step into Stan’s shoes when the latter was drafted in 1942, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, until Stan was mustered out of the service, probably in late 1945. But let’s let Vince speak for himself... —Roy.]

JA: What inspired you to be an artist? FAGO: I always liked to draw. In 1922 or ’23, Al got a job with the Alexander Smith Rug Company. Everybody thought he’d be on the assembly line, but he was put into the design department. He had gone to a trade school and knew woodwork and painting. He used to put a rug on a big piece of paper on the side of the apartment we lived in and grind his own colors and paint little squares on that paper. JA: What newspaper strips did you like as a child? FAGO: The Katzenjammer Kids, Tillie the Toiler, Mutt and Jeff, Bringing Up Father, and Moon Mullins. Kids like colors, so it was a dream event every Sunday.

JA: When did you start your art career? FAGO: I graduated from De Witt Clinton when I was 20. I had lost the vision in one eye when I was 16. In those days, they didn’t care if you were handicapped, so I stayed longer in high school. I started at Audio Productions in 1933 as a tracer and worked there about a year. We were in the old Edison studios, and because film was so flammable, that building had been fireproofed. I became an in-betweener when the studio moved from the Bronx to the Fox Movietone News Building.

I. Of Fagos And Fleischers JIM AMASH: Where were you born—and who was older, you or your brother Al? VINCE FAGO: I was born Vincenzo Francisco Gennaro Di Fago, in Yonkers, N.Y., on November 28, 1914. Physically, Al was ten years older than me. Mentally, he was ten years younger than me. That’s good or bad, depending on your point of view. One of my sisters was a dress designer and the other one a beautician. My parents came over from Naples about 1890 on a boat that took three months to get to America.

Three years after he stepped down as Timely’s editor-in-chief, this photo of Vince Fago—flanked by two versions of Peter Rabbit—appeared in the Sept. 20, 1948, issue of Newsweek. We’ve taken the liberty of adding a pair of Timely/Marvel heroes who were under his aegis from 1942-45. The Cap figure is from Captain America #22 (Jan. 1943)—Torch from Marvel Mystery Comics #42 (April 1943). Photo courtesy of VF, ©2001 Newsweek. [Cap & Torch art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Peter Rabbit art ©2001 respective copyright holder.]

Some guy from New York got a job in Detroit as an animator, and they didn’t think much of his ability. So they sent Doc Ellison to New York, and he set up in a hotel room with a drawing board and tested us out to see who’d get the Detroit job. I did. I worked in Detroit at the Jam Handy Company for about four years. We did films for Chevrolet, and stop-motion pictures, and Technicolor films for the Metropolitan Insurance Company. They had a $35,000

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” Technicolor camera that I got to use. I worked in Detroit for about four years, and there were several Disney people there. Then Fleischer Studios hired us to come to New York. But then Fleischer Studios had a strike, so I didn’t start working for them until it was settled. After the strike they moved the entire operation to Florida. They moved everyone’s furniture and paid the train fare and hotel bills for a while. I ended up working for Fleischer for four years. Vince’s brother Al in 1934, at age 30, “in front of a graph (squares) of a rug he was designing for Alexander Smith-Bigelow-Sanford.” Photo courtesy of Vince Fago.

JA: Why did you leave Detroit?

FAGO: I went down to the railroad tracks and got on a train and figured it’d change my life. I was unhappy in Detroit. JA: What did you do at Fleischer’s? FAGO: I was an assistant animator. I worked on a lot of the films. Recently, someone from Harvard was looking for a speaker at a film festival Ken Burns was involved in. They asked me to do something on Gulliver’s Travels. They had about 300 people in the theatre at North Hampton. I had a bunch of slides and kept the young people entertained. They also had the Beach Boys; I don’t understand why. But it was very successful. Ken Burns had a morning slot and I was the featured speaker on Saturday night. I not only received a fee but they paid our transportation and hotel for three days. I never thought I’d ever get to do something like that. JA: Who did you work with at Fleischer’s that we might know for their comic book work?

JA: Did the staff have a big reaction to doing the Superman cartoons? FAGO: Oh, yeah. Whoever worked on it felt they were doing something beyond the call of duty. I was an assistant animator on it, and I remember helping draw a train that Superman was pushing. Doc Ellison animated Superman, and he would push out his jaw in an exaggerated way for effect. Abner Kneitel was a friend of mine, and I worked for him on several different cartoon features. JA: Do you remember meeting Joe Shuster when he came down to the studios and did some model sheets for the cartoons? FAGO: I did meet him, but I really don’t remember much about him. JA: So you were there when Paramount bought out the Fleischer brothers? FAGO: Yes. The Fleischers owed Paramount money, and when they had trouble paying it back, Paramount took over and kicked the Fleischers out. Paramount knew how to beat people because they were from Hollywood. The building had a jail on the eighteenth floor. And sometimes the animators would have a wild weekend and tear up a bar or something and they’d land in jail. But at least they’d be in the same building. [laughs] JA: How did the staffers react to the change from the Fleischers to Paramount? FAGO: I wasn’t really upset because I was going to leave anyway. A while back, I had gone on a vacation to New York. I’d quit but I didn’t tell anyone. So for two weeks I did model charts for an animation studio. “Pepsi Pete” was one of the characters I did. Then I went back to Florida and never told them what I had done. They were still holding my job for me because they thought I was on vacation. Sometimes they’d check out a guy’s work if they were suspicious of his work habits. There was this one guy who kept the same drawing on his desk for a month. He never bothered to change it. He wasn’t working! Anyway, the transition from Fleischer’s to Paramount was no big deal. Paramount was really running the studio the whole time they were in Florida. Sam Buckwald was in charge of the staff people. Max wasn’t too active, but his brother Dave was. Dave had a big, booming voice.

FAGO: Pauline Loth—a great artist—was an assistant animator there. I hired her at Timely when she left Fleischer’s and came to New York. She did “Miss America” for us and created her costume. And Doc Ellison, who did the rotoscoping for Gulliver’s Travels. I worked with him in Detroit and I hired him when I hired Pauline Loth. JA: How much did you make while working for the Fleischers? FAGO: They started me out at $30 a week. After I’d been there a year, I was given a three-year contract at the same salary. I got a raise later on, and by the time I left, I was making $40 a week, which was very good money then. I worked on Popeye, Betty Boop, Superman, Mr. Bug Goes to Town, and Gulliver’s Travels. I remember Steve Muffati’s opening shot for Superman. He had that down to an art. When Paramount took over and we redid the beginning, Steve was ready to do it again. He had it mapped out in his head. He was a real artist with a terrific background.

Vince Fago in Florida, 1939. Fellow animator Larry Reilly drew a cartoon of Vince in the Sunshine State because “I liked to draw bones in the late 1930s at Fleischer Studios.” Photo & art courtesy of VF. [Art ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Vince Fago for over a month. Walter Winchell [famous newspaper columnist] said the reason it stayed broken was because Fleischer couldn’t find a relative who knew how to fix clocks. JA: Did you get to know the Fleischers? FAGO: Yes. Max was a kindly, older man. I used to bowl on Monday nights with Max. One time, he hit himself with a bowling ball and fractured his leg. I drew a caricature of that. They always asked me to draw caricatures because they felt I was the best. I felt I was the worst. Dan Gordon, who wrote Gulliver’s Travels, was a genius. Guys like him really ran the place. When we moved to Florida, Disney animators came and worked for us. I always worked with them. People would say, “Vince Fago never worked for Disney. Why does he know so much?” I paid attention to what people did and that’s how I learned. It was just common sense.

Vince says: “The Florida studio had 700 employees—there were ten animator groups—they did all the original drawings—working in pencil only—the drawings went to the inking department and were traced onto transparent acetates (cels) they went to the painting department and were painted on reverse side. Next they were photographed by the camera-men.” In this slightly cracked photo of “Tom Palmer’s animation group,” a reference to “Disney” means that person had also worked for Walt Disney Studios: [Standing, l. to r.:] “Shane Miller (background layouts); Unknown; Nelson Demarest (Disney); Abner Kneitel (Max Fleischer’s cousin); Tom Palmer (Disney director); Arnold Gillespie, Disney animator.” [Seated, l. to r.:] “Vince Fago (assistant animator); Stan Quackenbush, Disney special effects; and ‘Frankie.’” Photo courtesy of VF.

Max Fleischer had his relatives working for him, running the studio restaurant and such. There must have been over thirty of his relatives working for him in various capacities. The Fleischers would look around for a relative before they hired anyone. Like Izzy Sparber, who was a distant relative. He had been a tailor and he couldn’t draw, so they made him a director. The New York studio was located in the Paramount Building, in Times Square. It had a big clock on it that quit working and wasn’t fixed

We were required to do thirty feet of animation a week. Arnold Gillespie, who had worked at Disney, said he could do thirty feet a week but it wouldn’t be his best work. He said he could do twelve feet and it’d be great. So they let him, and we worked together. We were the only guys working on that quota. Gillespie was also the first man to do pencil tests. We shot the scenes in pencil to see how it’d look.

II. A Timely Change JA: Where were you when you heard the news about Pearl Harbor? FAGO: I was on the lawn in Coral Gables listening to the Philharmonic when they broke in with the news that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. I didn’t understand what had happened. So I took a train up to New York. I just figured it was too big a change to stay where I was. The studio started doing war work and I didn’t want to be a part of that. I moved in with my mother in the Bronx. I went to Timely Publications looking for a job in comics. The owner, Martin Goodman, was doing comics, pulps, detective magazines, and sex hygiene books. Once a week, a guy named Frank Torpey would come in and Martin would give him a check for 25 bucks. This was his reward

Joe Shuster’s Superman was adapted for the great Fleischer/Paramount cartoons in the early ’40s. (L:) An original pen & ink by Joe Shuster, circa ’70s, courtesy of Joe Latino. (R:) A model sheet from the Fleischer Studios, signed by Dave Fleischer; courtesy of Rich Dannys. Both drawings appeared in CFA-APA #43, June 1997. [Art at left ©2001 Estate of Joe Shuster; Superman TM & ©2001 DC Comics.]

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” because Torpey talked Goodman into publishing comics. That was good money then. Torpey was a magazine pusher. That’s where Stan Lee discovered me. He was impressed by my work and immediately hired me as a freelance artist. I felt it

money if you’re a freelancer. Stan did that with me and many others, so I got that habit from him. It was fun. It wasn’t my money, and I knew there was a lot of money being made. You know, I always thought it was unusual to be drawing in an office, for money. Martin Goodman had about six or seven companies. If he was ever sued or went bankrupt, he’d still have these other companies! Goodman knew the hard times, and though things were going great, he banked on things changing later. And he was right. He used to split my salary up into six different checks. JA: Didn’t Goodman have some relatives working there, too? FAGO: Robert Solomon was married to Martin Goodman’s sister, and he kept everybody honest. It was a sin if you worked on the side for anybody else. Some guys would rent a hotel room and moonlight. One guy—I won’t tell you his name—his initials were Harry Stein—used to write the same story for 4-5 different places. He figured by the time they came out, the war would be over and nobody’d recognize the stories. But he was a good writer and didn’t have to do that. It was like stealing.

was a put-down to do comics after having been an animator. But I needed a job. Timely was in the A lot of guys thought comics were going to McGraw-Hill Building. There were two die after the war, so doing things like recycling little rooms and four people in the stories didn’t seem to matter. We thought it back. There were three or four was going to be harder getting dimes from Stan Lee (above left, age 20) and Vince (28) in swim attire in 1942, people in the front and the rest kids, and the armed services wouldn’t be in a photo courtesy of VF. Vince recently sketched this caricature of were freelancers. ordering the amount of comics they had Stan—as one of the rabbits Fago loves to draw—playing his recorder been. I felt that life might not be planned at Timely in the old days. Some folks say it was actually an ocarina, JA: Who worked on staff then? out for me in a very pleasant way, so I had not that it matters much. [Art ©2001 Vince Fago.] to figure out my own way to be interested FAGO: Mike Sekowsky. Ed in comics. Winiarski. Gary Keller was a production assistant and letterer. Ernest Hart and Kin Platt were writers, but they worked freelance; Hart also drew. George Klein, Syd Shores, Vince Alascia, Dave Gantz, and Chris Rule were there, too. JA: What were your early impressions of Stan? FAGO: I had worked in animation, and those guy were really free thinkers. So was Stan. He used to play a recorder all day long. It was like a clarinet. It made it very nice for everybody; it made things relaxing. He’d make us wait while he finished whatever tune he was playing. He’d even go into Martin Goodman’s office and blow it at him. Everybody felt Stan was wonderful. He kept things pretty loose. Stan used to like long walks and I’d go walking with him. We’d have fun doing it and I learned something from this. When I was the editor, I’d go walking with a freelancer and say, “Okay, I’ll give you a dollar more a page.” In the course of a year’s time, that translates into a lot of

Anyway, Solomon just sat in the offices and talked. He had a store on 34th Street and sold women’s hats, but he’d always come into the offices. He never worked. He was loud and talked all the time and knew absolutely nothing. He was just a watchman for Goodman. JA: Did you like Martin Goodman? FAGO: He seemed like a kind man to me at times. But then he’d say, “After the war, I’ll get those sons of bitches!” I couldn’t imagine who these people were. The Goodmans were nice people and hard workers. His wife used to come in and ask us to do special work for her. Fred Eng, a staffer, would end up making displays for her private club. He was also supposed to be an assistant, but he wasn’t really. His girlfriend used to always sit on his lap, so he wasn’t always working. JA: Which “sons of bitches” was Goodman referring to? FAGO: His staff and freelancers. Anybody who was working for him. So I figured he felt the same way about me. He didn’t say much, but he had several brothers and In the early ’40s, some staffers amused themselves by drawing, in Timely’s humor stories, caricatures of everybody from publisher Martin Goodman on down. The Krazy Komics panel above depicts Goodman (and read the balloon!)—while artist Dave Gantz says the caricature at left may be of Goodman’s relative-by-marriage (and chief watchdog) Robbie Solomon. The photo of Martin Goodman appeared in Les Daniels’ indispensable 1991 history Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics. Special thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur for sending Ye Editor a bulging notebook containing all the caricatures used in this piece—and what’s more, he’s writing up the story behind them for A/E V3#13! See end of this interview for how to obtain Jim’s beautiful new art magazine The Vadeboncoeur Collection of ImageS. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vince Fago had been a street kid; Klein was also a staff inker. JA: How did things work when you started at Timely? FAGO: Stan would write me a script or part of a script, and I’d go home and pencil it. It used to take me about 45 minutes to pencil a page. I would ink my stuff unless my brother Al was available. JA: Did Stan write complete scripts? FAGO: No, never. He wrote the story and dialogue, but he didn’t break the story down into panels. That was left up to me. I drew a lot of his scripts. He didn’t stage the scenes for me. And he didn’t imitate anyone. He had to handle writers and artists and production, and that didn’t leave him with much time. Stan put in the pay vouchers for the freelancers, too. Goodman never interfered with what Stan was doing. He had faith in Stan. He knew Stan was in control and that his work was good. JA: Were there other writers on staff besides Stan?

Penciler Mike Sekowsky (on his knees) and inker George Klein (with pipe) caricatured themselves on the covers of Joker Comics #6-7 (1943). Both later worked on super-heroes for both Timely/Marvel and DC. Thanks to Michael J. Vassallo. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

made sure none of them left the country during the war. I was the only one who knew it. JA: What was Mike Sekowsky drawing when you started? FAGO: He was good and drew humor stuff. He usually just penciled. Mike was tall and had a girlfriend named Violet Barclay, who had come to Timely before I did and worked there for years. She was an inker... thin, good-looking, with a nice nose and black hair. She drank with Mike and George Klein and Chris Rule. She inked a lot of Mike’s humor work. I don’t think they ever married. [NOTE: See interview with Ms. Barclay elsewhere in this issue. —RT.] Mike was very independent. When I was editor, he’d come into my office with his work, throw it on the desk, and say, “Shove it!” You couldn’t fire Mike Sekowsky because he was so good, so you’d take it. I had a sense of humor about it and felt the same way he did. So we were even. We always owed him $1000 because of all the freelance work he was doing. He was fast! I guess I could have paid him off, but he didn’t need it, really. I probably did him a favor. [laughs]

FAGO: No. They wouldn’t take a staff job because they made too much money freelancing.

JA: What were the strips you started out doing? FAGO: “Frenchy Rabbit.” “Dinky and Rudy Rooster.” “Floop and Skillyboo.” Among others. I was making $15 a page—$8 for pencils and $7 for inks. This was just for interiors; I wasn’t doing covers when I started. Art Simek and Gary Keller lettered my features. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had a knack for drawing covers. Ace Publishing and other companies used to have me draw the covers. They usually had things happening in them. Like that Super Rabbit cover for Timely where I had him land on an aircraft carrier, and a guy was flagging him in on deck. JA: Did you work on any of the human super-hero titles before you became editor? FAGO: No. JA: Why did Goodman move his operations to the Empire State Building in ’42? FAGO: To put everything in the same area. They had a little reception area about 20' by 10'. They had a long corridor that stretched from Martin Goodman’s office to way in the back where they were doing the magazines. And off that was a promenade. They had offices with windows where the staff people worked. [Note: See P. 14.]

Sekowsky could do anything from hero to humor. Anytime I was stuck, I could rely on Mike. I remember he did a Young Allies and Stan almost blew his top. He thought it was lousy, but I didn’t think it was that bad. JA: Can you tell us any more about George Klein and Chris Rule?

FAGO: Rule was an inker who had to hock his wife’s jewelry to stay alive. He was a real high-society guy, older than the others, and strange in a way. Chris Rule, caricatured in a Timely humor comic, is Mike was a streetfighter type of guy, and all one of the two men most often suggested as the three used to hang out together. They’d go to a “mystery inker” of Fantastic Four #1 in 1961; the other is George Klein. To confuse things further, bar together. George was a very kind and a the two inkers often worked in tandem—so it pleasant type, the opposite of Sekowsky, who could’ve been both of them! Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

I don’t think he expected to expand too much, because these were the war years and a lot of people were gone. Later, for $90 a week, I hired Marcia Snyder, an artist who had done newspaper strips. She dressed like a man and lived in Greenwich Village with a girlfriend named Mickey. I never thought about her being a lesbian; I didn’t care. We also had a letterer

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” who freelanced for us; she had one arm. JA: Who was in charge of the magazines?

Alas, even a romp through the Gerbers’ mammoth Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books failed to turn up a cover on which Super Rabbit lands on an aircraft carrier, as described by Vince—though we’re still looking! Meanwhile, Vince penciled this new SR sketch especially for A/E; it was inked by interviewer Jim Amash. But how the heck did Timely (instead of DC) wind up with a “Super Rabbit”—while DC had to be content with the Terrific Whatzit? [Art ©2001 Vince Fago; Super Rabbit ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

FAGO: Mel Blum did the detective magazines. He also used to go out in the mornings and take pictures for them. Bess Little put out the love magazines. I never saw them at McGraw-Hill, so they must have been elsewhere in the building. You ever hear of Elizabeth Hardwick? She started the New York Review of Books and was a pulp editor for Martin Goodman at the time. She came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

III. Indians And Chiefs JA: How did you become the editor-in-chief? Who hired you—Stan or Martin Goodman? FAGO: Stan hired me, because he got drafted. He says, “How would you like to take my job?” I said I’d have to think about it. I really didn’t want to work in the office five days a week. But after a while I figured I was supposed to be doing it. It was good and I made a lot of money. That’s when I moved to Greenwich Village. But I didn’t know about investing, or I’d have bought my building there. I started editing when Timely moved from the McGraw-Hill Building to the Empire State Building. I think that was in August of 1942. Christmas of ’42, I received a $300 bonus, so I was editor by that time. Stan never really worked as an editor in the Empire State Building until after the war. I was the editor when we moved. JA: How did Stan train you to take over? FAGO: We discussed things when we took those long walks. He looked over my shoulder as I did things, and that’s how I learned. When I was editor, I used to take a taxi back and forth to work. I spent a lot of

One day, she told me about a friend of hers from Kentucky. I met her friend and married her on April 1, 1943, of all days. Elizabeth Hardwick writes for The New Yorker magazine and we still see her. She said she wanted to die at seventy, and now she’s eighty. JA: I hope she wasn’t disappointed. FAGO: Who knows? [laughs] JA: Did Stan socialize with the staff? FAGO: With everybody! He’d take people for walks. He didn’t drink. Stan had an apartment and invited everybody over. He was always the object of conversation, and the guys’ wives would get jealous. Stan was well-liked by everybody.

“Frenchy Rabbit and Flippit” was one of Fago’s longest-running features. In Terry-toons #14 (Nov. 1943) the “mad hermit” turned out to be a Nazi spy. By then Vince was editing the entire Timely line, including this ornatelyrendered “Sub-Mariner” splash from All Select #2 (Winter 1943-44), repro’d from photostats of the original art, courtesy of Rich Donnelly. Artist unknown. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vince Fago watchdog. Anything I put into the books and he didn’t like, he’d let me know. At one point, right before Stan left, he told me that now would be the best time to ask Goodman for a raise. I asked him for a $100 a week raise, and he said he wouldn’t give it to me on general principles: “I’ll give you $75.” And I made believe I fainted on the floor. So I was making $250 a week now. Martin Goodman used to lie back in a big chaise lounge, and he’d look at the sales charts every day. He was counting his money. He had been a hustler who’d had a rough life and he was trying to live it up. Goodman did things the hard way, but he succeeded. We put a subscription notice in Miss America Comics; $1 for 12 issues, and in maybe a couple weeks’ time, we got 20,000 dollar bills. I took some of the artwork out of the bins and put the $20,000 in the bins! Money flowed, and anybody who worked for me was making a lot of money. JA: Was the comic book division as important to Goodman as his magazine department? FAGO: Even more so. The print runs were 250,000 to 500,000 copies. Sometimes we’d put out five books a week or more. You’d see the numbers come back and could tell that Goodman was a millionaire. The comics were what gave him that chaise lounge. In fact, we sold 90% of our print runs, because many of the comics

Timely’s third editor-in-chief recently drew this diagram of the offices of Martin Goodman’s magazine/comics empire on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building, circa 1942-45. With our additions, if M.G. had awakened and looked out his window onto 33rd Street, he’d have beheld several of Timely’s key heroes, from a 1941 ad courtesy of Jerry K. Boyd. [Diagram art ©2001 Vince Fago; Torches, Sub-Mariner, Cap & Bucky, Black Marvel, & Angel ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

money treating people to daiquiris and stuff like that. I was making about $25,000 a year between freelancing and editing. That was big money back then. JA: You were holding Stan’s job down for him while he was in the service? FAGO: Yeah. JA: Why do you think you were offered the job? FAGO: Martin and Stan knew they needed to put a new accent on the books. Goodman was interested in me because of my humor background; they wanted more humor comics for the soldiers. They also wanted to tone down the hero comics and thought I had the background to do it. They knew that, if I could put that into the work of the people who worked for me, it would be good for the company. And Martin would be my

“Martin Goodman Presents:” And you thought Stan Lee was the first guy to “present” Marvel Comics! These Fago-Klein inside front covers for Krazy Komics #6-7 (cover-dated March-April 1943) depict a plethora of features—plus each issue’s staff credits, showing the “Editorial and Art Director” transition from Stan Lee to Vince Fago. Even while in uniform, “Private Stan Lee” was listed as “Consulting Editor” for the Duration. These credit pages ran for some time in the humor titles, though not in the hero mags. In the accompanying WWII-era photo which appeared in Les Daniels’ 1991 Marvel coffee-table tome, Stan wielded a cigarette, even though he never smoked them. Thanks to Michael J. Vassallo for the comics pages. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” were going to soldiers. For a time, we were called Magazine Management. But as far as I was concerned, the company was named Timely. The guys who published were monsters. They knew all about how to get the paper and the plates and distribution, but they cared nothing about the people who worked for them. Goodman had a good paper allocation and diverted much of it from his pulps to the comics. That’s how we were able to out-produce much of the competition. JA: How long were you editor before Stan left? FAGO: Oh, he went right out. He was stationed in New Jersey. He was stateside the whole time. Stan told me that he had to pick up cigarette butts on the ball field. He’d peel off the white paper and put it in something. And he’d let the excess tobacco scatter to the wind. That’s the way he described it. JA: Were you in charge of all the comics? Hero and humor? FAGO: Yes. JA: Did you deal with Goodman every day? FAGO: Yes. He had to approve every cover. Or I’d show him a new artist’s work. Goodman would just shake his head, because he didn’t know what the hell it was all about. We had a good working relationship. He’d Otto Binder (writer) and Pauline Loth (artist) go in and sleep on that were the original team on the “Miss America” chaise lounge. It was in a feature in Marvel Mystery, but Miss A. lasted only two issues of her own title before it corner near the windows. I’d come in and look at him morphed into a teen-humor mag. Anybody got any idea who wore the costume for the photo in and make believe I’d turn #2? [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] away. He’d open his eyes and tell me to come in. Goodman never once said no to anything I wanted. He was scared of me in some way, because if I decided to quit (and I did look for other jobs), then he’d be stuck.

done on what book. We always had backlog, so I could drop another story in if someone was late or drank and lied about it. Then we’d put ten guys on it to get it done. I let people do their jobs. Like Otto Binder. He created Miss America. Otto was a very good writer, so there was no need to question what he did. If you have enough faith to hire someone, then you have to have confidence in his work. Martin didn’t put any limits on what we were ordering or spending. We assumed that what we were ordering would be used someday. At one point, I think I had about $100,000 worth of inventory. Stan had done the same thing. He bought a lot of junk. We kept it in the cabinets in another room. Stan once told me, “Martin likes to brag about how much money we’re spending to produce the books.” Stan knew I was a little leery about spending money and said, “Don’t think that way. You have to be reckless.” Maybe Stan was saying that to protect himself, because he’d spent so much money and had all this work piled up. I inherited it. It was all mine if I wanted it, but I didn’t know if I wanted it or not. Goodman would tell us when a book was due at the engravers. (He had two of them.) He’d give me the name of the book and which engraver to send it to. JA: Did Goodman keep a close eye on what the competition was doing? FAGO: Oh yeah. They used to watch each other like hawks. The DC people looked down at us. They were snobs. They thought they were higher class than we were. JA: How did the staff react to the editorial change, from Stan to you?

JA: So you had the power to hire and fire people? FAGO: Yeah but I never fired anyone. How could you fire people, especially in wartime? You know, later on during the war, we lived near Burgess Meredith and Paulette Goddard [movie stars who were married at that time] in Rockland County. There was this pilot who used to buzz their house every Monday and Wednesday because he was trying to impress Paulette. It used to scare all of us. He made so much noise that a lot of people complained. JA: I’ll bet they did. When you were in charge of all those titles, did you have an assistant editor? FAGO: No. Neither had Stan. What would I have needed an assistant editor for? I made a big chart with the names of the books and the artists who worked on them, like a graph, to determine which work was being

FAGO: One thing I hate is when people are subservient in their jobs and don’t act like people because they’re afraid for their jobs. Vince Alascia was one of those guys. He was a terrific staff inker, but there was no spirit in his work. I remember he’d always ask for a day off and say something like “One of my twins is sick.” JA: Was he jealous that you were made editor?

Vince Fago

FAGO: Probably. He worked on the super-hero stuff with Syd Shores. Syd was kind of humorless and a workhorse. He was pretty fast. He was one of the best and worked on Captain America.

IV. Some Faces In The Four-Color Crowd

Everybody wants to get into the act! Even Smilin’ Stan Lee generously donated a few spare moments to look over the Timely caricatures assembled by Jim V., with the help of Hames Ware. The Man opined as how the guys shown clockwise below: (a) “could be Ernie Hart,” whom he describes as “a good-looking man with a moustache”; (b) “maybe Don Rico”; and (c) inker Vince Alascia (identified here as “Varicose Vince.” Stan added: “If I was around at the time, I’d guess I would have tolerated them because I personally dig in-jokes.” Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

felt he was the best.

JA: Who else do you remember from that time? FAGO: Kin Platt, a writer, used to call me up on a Thursday and say, “Look, I got to make five hundred bucks!” Every week he had to make five hundred bucks. He’d go from DC to me and he’d knock out this stuff. He wrote many features for us, including “Widget the Witch.” And he types with one finger! We’re lifelong friends. Kin used to own this great Plymouth convertible that Charlie Biro liked, so Biro bought one like it. I met Biro at Audio Productions and he used to punch me on the arm. He’d come in to work Monday morning and would have a patch over his eye from playing ice hockey. He was an amazing guy. A strong, big Hungarian. We always had a good time together. Anyway, Biro drove his car up 56th Street and Ninth Avenue and this lady had stopped her car at the red light. Biro got so mad that he pushed her car across Ninth Avenue, against the red light. Biro once threw a gambler off a boat. He was that type of guy. I never worked for Biro, but he came up to see me when I was at Timely. He was working for Lev Gleason and I think he just wanted to spy on us. JA: Who else sticks out in your mind from Timely? FAGO: Leon Jason used to work for me; he later went into the toy business. Doc Ellison did a “Sub-Mariner” once, though he usually did humor work. He once gave Robbie Solomon a bawling out because he never did anything; he was just a straw boss. One time, Doc and Pauline Loth were walking me to my car and said to me, “You used to be such a nice person.” But I was in charge now and I had to do my job. That changed me some. Clem Weisbecker did serious features. He was a rough and tumble guy and a sour person. He was a painter and he scoffed at doing comics. He lived on the same street I did, near 6th Avenue. Clem

Dave Gantz penciled and inked. “Let’s Play Detective” was one of many features he worked on. Dennis Neville [earlier the first “Hawkman” artist at DC/AA] did hero work for me, like “Jap Buster Johnson.” Once he was late on his strip, so I called him and he said he’d have it next week. Well, I went down to his house in the Village and found out he hadn’t even started yet. He used to drink. I went back to the staff and got the staff to knock out the story in a hurry. I hadn’t known about his drinking problem. He was a nice person, but after that I didn’t hire him again because he had lied to me. One thing that was strange: Guys who did work on Judge, Life, Hullabaloo, used to come up and ask for work. It would frighten me that they would do that, because these were guys whose work I admired! There was a guy named Joe Calcagno. He always wanted Stan’s job, and did “Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal” and other humor stuff. The big guy we got was Harvey Eisenberg, a Tom and Jerry animator who did “Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal.” He grew up with Kin Platt and worked for MGM in California. I once sent him ten scripts so that he was able to have enough money to quit MGM. Ed Winiarski had also been in the animation business before. He wasn’t a star, and sometimes his work dragged a little, but he did a lot of work for us. I think he did some “Ziggy and Silly,” too, among many other features. Basil Wolverton lived out west and mailed everything in. He did Powerhouse Pepper. I never even had any phone contact with him. Chad Grothkopf was amazing. He could ink on a subway while it was going down the line. There was a man named Thomas who did a lot of the Human Torch stories; he later became a teacher. I don’t remember anything else about him except he was German. [NOTE: Almost certainly Jimmy Thompson, who drew “Torch” tales between ’43-’47, as well as “Robotman” for DC and various strips for Fawcett, et al. —Roy.] JA: What writers do you remember?

Our source says the Timely caricature at right is of artist Dave Gantz—and since our source is Dave G. himself, we’ll take his word for it! (A groundbreaking interview with Dave is scheduled for two issues from now.) At left, with pencil behind ear, is Ed Winiarski. The drawing of Gantz is by Winiarski, from the “Creeper” story in Krazy Komics #5. Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

FAGO: Ray Cummings, who always lived in a hotel with his wife and daughter. He once said to me, “If you move twice, you might as well have a fire.” And he always wore a cape. He was an older man and had written for pulp magazines. Once he went up to Quebec for a snow festival, and he wrote a “Captain America” dealing with toboggan slides and all that. The story was so long that we had to knock off 10 or 12 pages to make it fit. He was a star writer and wrote a bunch of “Captain Americas” for me. Once he took my wife and me to a radio show. I think Martin Goodman sent him to me. Before Patricia Highsmith wrote Strangers on a Train for Alfred

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” Hitchcock, she wrote “Jap Buster Johnson” for me. Once, Stan came home from the Army on leave, and I took him up to meet her because she was so beautiful. She later moved to France. She’s gone now. Carl Wessler wrote a bunch of fillers for me. I don’t remember much else about him. Bill Woolfolk and his wife, Dorothy Roubicek, also wrote for me. They did super-hero features. He was a very good writer. Dorothy worked at DC first and was very capable. Personally, I thought she was pushy. JA: Did Mickey Spillane write for you? FAGO: Yes. He used to come up to the office wearing his Navy uniform. I don’t remember much about him except that he wrote for us while in the service. He was just a regular guy. JA: How much did you pay the writers? FAGO: About seven or eight bucks a page. JA: Did you have trouble getting artists because of the war? FAGO: Yes. We tried to get older people and women. There was a guy, Louis Fanchan, whom I hired. He was old. I gave him a job and he died part way through drawing it. Martin felt badly about it and paid the family for the whole job.

FAGO: Billie Landis was a musician, sculptor, freelance letterer, and a friend. Veda Lufkin was a housewife from New Jersey, and she’d letter at home. Alberta Tews was also a freelance letterer. One day she came in and told me she’d had her teeth knocked out playing basketball the day before. She said it was no big deal because they were false teeth, even though she was a young girl. Mario Aquaviva lettered, too. Artie Simek worked for us; he was a tall, friendly guy that everyone liked. Allen Bellman also worked on staff and did a lot of inking. Dana Dutch wrote a bunch of the text fillers, and also worked for a publishing house. We had to have two pages of text in order to get a second-class mailing privilege, which saved us a lot of money. So he always had a story waiting for me. Bernard Baily ran a shop and drew a feature called “Herman the German,” a character that acted like Hitler and spread germs and killed people. Baily loved doing that one. He’d have people do complete stories and bring them up to me. If I saw something I liked, I bought it. JA: What was Alex Schomburg like?

We also hired a lot of young kids that other companies wouldn’t. There was one guy who was really good. Shelly Mayer [at DC/AA] didn’t think much of his work, but I did, so I hired him. Mayer didn’t think much of my work, either. JA: What about other production people or letterers?

Alex Schomburg drew fabulous covers for Timely during the WWII years, including for All Select Comics #5 (Winter 1944-45)—but he also did quite a few for Harvey Comics, including Speed Comics #32 (May ’44), repro’d here from a photocopy of the original art. We regret we’ve misplaced the name of whoever mailed us the latter; but the nice copy of the All Select cover was sent by Jerry K. Boyd. [covers ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc., and Harvey Comics, respectively.]

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” FAGO: He was a very quiet man. I’d give him a cover and he’d disappear. His detail was so amazing. He had insight that the rest of us didn’t.

FAGO: No. We designed all the covers in house. I thought up a lot of the adventure covers. Then I’d ask Mike Sekowsky to give me a rough. He was terrific. Syd Shores did some of the Captain America covers and he also did roughs for Alex Schomburg’s covers. JA: Did Schomburg get a higher page rate for his covers?

JA: Do you remember Frank Giacoia?

out more titles. It put other companies out of business because Goodman flooded the market. He did that several times. JA: Do you remember the title All Winners Comics?

JA: Did he ever design his own covers?

FAGO: Oh yeah. There was no comparison. And he was perfect on deadlines.

FAGO: Yes. You know how we got the name for that comic? In those days, kids would stop you on the street with a board in their hand. There’d be this tiny little thing on it that you pushed through with a matchstick and maybe you’d win a dollar or twenty cents. That board was called the All Winners board.

Dave Gantz identified this grinning guy from a Timely humor comic as Frank Giacoia, who in the ’60s would be one of the best inkers of both Carmine Infantino and Jack Kirby. Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

FAGO: Frankie? Oh, yeah. He went to Paris Island as a Marine and would bring back cigarettes. He met Tyrone Power there and said that Power was a snob. He lifted his finger up to his nose and called Power stuck-up. Frank was a sweet, lovable guy—also a terrific inker. He could ink anyone. JA: Did you meet Giacoia’s friend, Carmine Infantino?

FAGO: Yes. He used to come up after high school and we let him spend time talking to the artists. Later he did work for Timely. Remember Jim Mooney? He used to draw “E. Claude Pennygrabber,” which Stan wrote.

JA: You seem to remember the humor books more than the super-hero titles. FAGO: That’s because they were more interesting to me. And they were easy. Joe Calcagno and Kin Platt used to do a lot of writing for those books, and they wrote shorter stories than Ray Cummings and others did for the hero books.

JA: What do you remember about Ray Gill? FAGO: He used to work for Harry Shorten at Archie, and they played golf together. Ray and I became very good friends. Once he told me, “I got to have money. My wife wants money.” So I gave him a hundred dollars and I figured I could get it back in work. Thing was, Ray had some hard luck and quit getting work from other people. I was the only one he was working for. He used to do layouts when he wrote the stories, so that made my work easier. He wrote a lot of the stories which

JA: What do you remember about Otto and Jack Binder? FAGO: Otto was a great writer. His stuff was always solid. I went to visit him once and his studio had junk all over the place. His wife helped him write, too. Otto was a straightforward type of guy. Jack Binder’s shop supplied some work for us. I remember those guys didn’t call a page a “page.” They called it a “card,” and I felt that cheapened the work. At a certain point, we stopped depending on him and he ended up breaking the shop up. I wasn’t always happy with what they brought in. JA: Did any of the artists ever ask for their art back? FAGO: No. Once we got the book back and we had the plates, the engraver might have thrown them out. Or else we did. Who knew that these things would become valuable later? JA: Do you remember Don Rico? FAGO: Oh, yes. His brother was a boxer. My wife and I went to see him box at Madison Square Garden, but we left because of all the blood. Don was a nice guy. We always got along. Martin Goodman once wrote on a sheet of paper: “Rat Rico.” It wasn’t a very nice thing. I don’t remember why Goodman felt that way. I think Don drew “The Destroyer,” among other features. JA: Was Al Jaffee there? Hey, maybe it’s high time we showed what Dave Gantz identifies as most likely a caricature of interviewee Vince Fago from a Timely humor comic! Courtesy of Jim Vadeboncoeur. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

FAGO: I don’t remember much about him. He came along later, when Goodman started putting

In 1977 Don Rico, who at various times in the ’40s wrote and/or drew “Captain America” stories, did this snazzy illo for a comics convention in the San Francisco area. His last professional Cap artwork appeared in the Invaders Annual that same year. For a possible caricature of Don, see P. 16. [Art ©2001 the estate of Don Rico; Capt. America ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vince Fago I drew. He also wrote super-hero stories. He was a good-natured, positive guy. Joe Gill was his brother and was the one who had the reputation. I didn’t know Joe, though. JA: Did you have much time to draw while you were editing? FAGO: I always had something on my drawing board. JA: Did your brother Al do much work for you? FAGO: Yes. He came in right after I got there. He used to ink my stuff while he was at the rug company. When Al saw how much money you could make, he quit the rug business. He worked for me and also freelanced elsewhere. He suddenly blossomed into an artist and loved to work. I never realized how good he got, compared to me. He started getting more attention than me. He used to splash these big figures around, and I was worrying about perspective and my work was more low-key. After Timely, Al did a lot of work for Curtis Publications, and then he went to Charlton as an editor. JA: The comics used to publish a yearly Statement of Ownership, and I notice that in 1943 Timely lists the editor as Jean Goodman, Martin’s wife. Why wasn’t your name there? FAGO: It must have been for business reasons. She didn’t work for Timely. JA: I notice that, after Carl Burgos and Bill Everett, the original creators of “The Human Torch” and “Sub-Mariner,” left for military service, those features were never again signed in the ’40s. Was that company policy?

Among the many super-heroes in Fago-edited Timely comics during the WWII years were The Patriot, The Vision, and The Angel, seen here in splashes from Marvel Mystery Comics #41 (March 1943), repro’d from photostats of the original art which were shipped to Canada for wartime reprinting there. Artists unknown—any help out there? [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” FAGO: It may have been. I didn’t get to know Burgos or Everett, because they were in the service. JA: Were some of these later “Torch” and “Sub-Mariner” stories packaged by art shops? FAGO: Yes. JA: What was your best-selling super-hero title? FAGO: Captain America. By far. JA: How did Timely get the idea to publish the Terry-toons titles? FAGO: That was Martin Goodman’s idea. Stan and I went to visit Terry-toons to work out the deal, right before Stan went into the service.

V. Life After Timely JA: What happened when Stan came out of the service? FAGO: He got his job back. That was the law. When Stan came back, he wanted to make me his assistant. But, once you’ve seen Broadway, you can’t go back to the farm. For several years I had been as important as Stan could ever be. I felt I had transcended my ability as an editor, and I just felt I could never be an assistant to Stan. They owed me a $1000

The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner were continued by other hands (generally anonymous ones) after Burgos and Everett left for WWII—but Captain America outsold everything at Timely during the war years. Torch art (by Burgos?) and Namor art by Carl Pfeufer are both from Marvel Mystery Comics #41 (March ’43); Cap art by Syd Shores is from Captain America #34 (Jan. 44). The first two pages are repro’d from photocopies of the original art shipped to Canada and, like the preceding trio of splashes, were reprinted in Captain George’s Comic World circa 1969; the C.A. page is courtesy of Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vince Fago

bonus. When I quit, I lost that bonus. I freelanced for him for a little while, and he was great to work for. But they had a flood of people coming in then, and the place didn’t have an identity anymore. I didn’t feel comfortable.

of the week, we got together and split the pay difference. I also designed a truck logo for him.

After I left Goodman, I got a lot of work elsewhere because I’d been the editor at Timely. I got to do a lot of covers for people, like Vincent Sullivan at ME [Magazine Enterprises]. I did Ding Dong Comics for him. And “Robert the Robot” was done by Irving Spector, who had also penciled for me at Timely.

FAGO: I did Buster Bunny, Happy Rabbit, and Supermouse, among other features. I also did work for Ace Comics. I was packaging stories for different companies during this time. Theron Collier helped me on those stories. He worked for me for eleven years, doing penciling and inking. His father used to do covers for Life.

JA: What did you do at Standard in the late ’40s?

You know, Terry-toons put out Supermouse [animated cartoons] first. And Standard put out Supermouse [comic books]. So Paul Terry changed his character’s name to Mighty Mouse!

JA: You also tried publishing. How did that come about? FAGO: I knew this barber who used to cut the Fawcetts’ hair. One of the Fawcetts was complaining about not having a driver’s license and said he’d pay $1000 to anyone who could get him one. Well, this barber got him one and he got the thousand bucks.

JA: Who was your editor at Standard? FAGO: Joe Archibald. Irving Shapiro was there, too.

The barber got Al and me an appointment to see the Fawcetts. They had this guy named Cushman who was pushing books for them and he said, “You want to get into the publishing business? Fine.” So we got the okay to do a comic and Fawcett distributed it. That comic was Kiddie Kapers and we had guaranteed returns. This was 1946. We held off on the second issue because we had an unreliable printer. It’s a good thing we did, because the market was so flooded with comics that we couldn’t get anywhere.

JA: Did you know Ned Pines, who had once owned Standard? FAGO: Yeah. I thought he was a crook. The thing with Pines was that he once had the mortgage on the house we lived in. He had a lot of money and was into real estate. He bullied people, even though he didn’t treat me badly. He used to embarrass Joe Archibald in front of people. I wondered why guys like Pines were in comics, because they made more money doing other things.

Martin Goodman didn’t like that I was going into business for myself. He got a lawyer after me and threatened to sue. He hadn’t even seen my book but claimed it looked exactly like his. That’s when my freelance work for Timely stopped. Martin blackballed me. But Stan didn’t have a problem with me. You could cut Stan in half and he’d still be above the crowd.

At one time, my wife and I had a penthouse on 40th Street. It was really expanded servants’ quarters. We had Billie Holliday up for dinner one night. We used to go to the Jim Vadeboncoeur tells us that this next-issue ad from C.A. #22 (Jan. 1943) clubs on 52nd Street, and we became sports art by Fred Bell... and that the "Lee-King" signature at bottom very friendly with her. She had a right stands for Stan Lee and one Helen King, a layout person. Art repro'd picture of my Peter Rabbit in her from b-&-w Canadian reprints, taken from photostats of the original art. dressing room. This was after her [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] big successes. I remember her singing “Strange Fruit” [a jazz ballad JA: Did you miss being an editor? about a lynching, which Holliday recorded with Artie Shaw]. We’d go practically every night to the Onyx Club and watch her perform. We’d FAGO: A little. But I didn’t like being an employee where someone had also sit and talk to Leadbelly at the Village Vanguard. I remember how the ability to fire me. I liked being on my own and didn’t want someone they loved Frank Sinatra’s music. to control me. That’s why I never really tried being an editor again. Stan cut a wide path and made it fun to work there, but I didn’t like Martin Goodman that much. I started doing comics for Max Gaines at EC in 1947. His son would come up every once in a while. Max Gaines was a nice guy, and he felt we could build something, because my comics were not violent. I drew “Handy Andy” in Dandy Comics for him. He died in a boating accident at Lake Placid, and the work there stopped. His son Bill had other ideas about doing comics. The editor there was Irving Klapper. He wrote the features I drew. We used to compare salaries. He had connections in the advertising business and I’d do some things and he’d do some things and at the end

JA: Did you ever meet Victor Fox? FAGO: Yes, but I didn’t know Fox or work for him. I never understood why guys like him were in comics. He had money and drove around all day in his limousine. I also worked for St. John Publishing for a while. Archer St. John was the first gay publisher I worked for. He took me out for lunch once, and some guy insulted him about it. St. John didn’t let it bother him. He was a nice guy. He told me he had $400,000 and he didn’t know much about publishing, but he had the money. He lived in the New York Athletic Club. I did Little Audrey for him.

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!” I also packaged a hundred pages or so for Joe DeGrouche at Street & Smith. He was a gruff guy. I brought him in the work and he growled, “How much per page?” I can still hear him saying that. I figured he wasn’t the type to fool around. JA: So you created features and sold them to different companies. I take it you gave them the complete job.

a half-page Sunday strip and I did it from 1948 to 1958. Beatrix Potter created the character, and it became public domain. What the Herald-Tribune did was to get Harrison Cady to do it, and then I carried it on. Cady made millions off Peter Rabbit. I made him into a more animation-type rabbit, which was maybe a small crime.

FAGO: That’s right. Irving Spector helped me do those pages. He had worked for me at Timely, and when I went out on my own he continued to work for me, doing pencils and inks. I worked for Vin Sullivan the same way I worked for Street & Smith and Standard.

JA: You’ve done so many rabbit features. What fascinates you about them? FAGO: They’re kind of soft and nice. The bodies are not usually rabbit bodies, but the heads give you the feeling of them being that. But that’s something you can get away with. JA: What do you recall about working for Charlton?

VI. Rabbits, Mice, and Others

FAGO: I didn’t work for Charlton. I worked for my brother and he paid me. Charlton didn’t hire me directly. Al loved to work. He did great covers. He’d listen to the radio and work. Al also did some of his own writing. After he left Charlton, Al and I tried publishing. We did eight comics. Pauline Loth also worked there.

JA: How did you get the Peter Rabbit strip? FAGO: Harold Straubing gave me the job. I knew him from Fleischer’s. Later, when I got to Timely, I hired him on staff as a script analyst, but he did absolutely nothing. I just wanted to give him a job, and Martin Goodman never questioned me. Straubing illustrated a brochure about how important his work was, and he got a job on the New York Herald-Tribune. He then hired me to do Peter Rabbit for the paper. That strip was very important to me. It was Harrison Cady’s strip; he was 70 and they thought he was too old, but he lived to be 94. Peter Rabbit was

This novel deals with the woman who by common consent was considered the most beautiful actress ever to appear on a movie screen. The facts of her life are on record and so are her major love affairs with the leading figures of her day. You won’t have to read very far to recognize who she is. Some names have been changed to spare the feelings of those still alive who might find some of the graphic sexual descriptions here offensive, but these are all based on published and reliable accounts from many sources. This is "factual-fiction" at its exciting and daring best. William Woolfolk has previously written eight major novels that became choices of leading book clubs and sold a total of four million copies. He was also the story editor and a chief writer of of the legendary TV dramatic series THE DEFENDERS. In his almost mythical career he has been a magazine publisher, the creator of SPACE WORLD, the first magazine to deal with the unfolding wonders of the new space age. and in his youth he was the highest paid comic book writer of the so called Golden Age of comics, writing stories for Captain Marvel, Superman, Blackhawks, Plastic Man and many others. Small wonder that a leading magazine for writers labeled him as "probably the most versatile writer in America." Cover illustration by Seymour V. Reit, creator of Casper The Friendly Ghost. You can order advance copies from Xlibris.com, Amazon.com, or your local bookstore.

JA: Tell me about Atomic Mouse, which ran for dozens of issues starting in the mid-’50s. Your brother has a prominent art credit on it from the beginning. FAGO: Superman was very popular on TV, so everyone in the business was trying to use that

Vince Fago

Vince’s brother Al was likewise a comic book artist, most noted for his work on Charlton’s Atomic Mouse in the ’50s, as per art at left. The sketch at right was recently penciled by Vince Fago and inked by Jim Amash, and appeared in SFA Spotlights #11 earlier this year. Mike & Carole Curtis recently revived and revamped the radioactive rodent in their Shanda Fantasy Arts comics; ask for them at your comics shop, or contact the Curtises at Shanda, P.O. Box 545, Greenbrier, AR 72058 or e-mail <shandafa@cyberback.com>. [Atomic Mouse ©2001 the respective copyright holder; new art ©2001 Vince Fago and Jim Amash.]

character for a template. Atomic power was a big topic in those days, and that seemed like a good direction to go in. I created Atomic Mouse for Al. He and I worked on it together. We both wrote and drew the feature, and in every issue I did a two-page “Peter Rabbit” story, too. I penciled and inked some of the covers and interiors on my own. Pauline Loth worked for Charlton and did some work on Atomic Mouse. Like I said, I never worked directly for Charlton. We did this for Al, which is why his name is on the comic book. JA: So you and Al wrote stories together? FAGO: Yes. But when in doubt, use the name Joe Gill. [laughs] He was prolific! Al and I did some of the art together, and Al did the lettering.

There was a little competition between Al and me. I had been the editor at Timely, and Charlton wanted to hire me because I had the reputation. But my brother and his wife had an appointment with them, and they got the job. They were more business-type people than me. But they had problems with the Charlton people, Santangelo and Ed Levy. Those two guys had met in prison. Al and his wife Blanche opened up a print shop later on and were happy doing that. In 1964 Al suffered a stroke and wasn’t able to do art anymore. He never recovered from that stroke and died in 1975 at age 70. Al spoke good Italian and would get excited and argue. That’s why he got that stroke. But he was an affable person with a good sense of humor. JA: Would you describe Waldman for me?

JA: How did you hook up with Israel Waldman? FAGO: He was a publisher and in the late 1950s I had heard he wanted to buy some artwork. I had 200 pages of work from our publishing venture and I went to see him.

FAGO: Waldman had a cheap operation. He was operating out of a garage or something. He was an Orthodox Jew who came from Portugal and spoke Portuguese. He came over to this country with a little cash. And he was smart.

JA: By my count, you published three issues each of Beanie the Meanie and Li’l Menace, two of Li’l Ghost, and two of Atom-Age Combat. You told me Pauline Loth helped you on the art for the humor books.

The day I went there, Waldman was having an argument with a cop. The cop was coming in for a shakedown. He wanted protection money. So Waldman moved out of there fast.

FAGO: Waldman said the work was beautiful—and he offered me $2 a page. I said it wasn’t enough. He said, “Look, it’s $400 and it’s a lot of money. It’ll be good for you.” So I took it. I told Al about it and he said to just keep his share. Al didn’t need the money. He was a good brother.

By the way, I was taking flying lessons about this time. And it’s hard to fly with one eye. I came in wearing my wings one day, and Waldman was afraid of losing me if I had an accident. He was the kindest man I ever worked for. He always gave me advances and was concerned about me making money. Waldman was my intro-

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!”

Vince Fago at the drawing board circa 1979, at age 66. Note the Peter Rabbit Sunday taped to the bulletin board; Fred Reilly’s late-’30s cartoon of Vince meeting a certain Mouse (repro’d larger at right from the original art) is tacked to the wall. Photo courtesy of VF. [Art ©2001 the respective copyright holder; Mickey Mouse © & TM 2001 Walt Disney Productions.]

duction to the kindness of business people. Martin Goodman was not like that. Goodman was my introduction to the kind of business people in the opposite direction. Because I’d never fire anybody. I felt very secure. JA: Waldman published a fair amount of comics using other people’s copyrighted characters. FAGO: He didn’t understand or care about that. Waldman wasn’t trying to be a crook. He knew people who’d buy books from him. I started doing a coloring book a week for him, and I worked for him for a long time. Stan Lee told Waldman he’d never succeed because Whitman Publishing had the coloring-book market cornered. But Waldman was innovative; he would drive along the East Coast and sell the books cheap. He told me, “I’m just selling paper.” Waldman had a big warehouse in Connecticut and had ten people working for him. He paid them well and everyone was happy working for him. I was, too, but editor Helen Rudkin used to put her heavy hand on my artwork. I told her never to do that again or I’d quit. But Waldman gave me advances and paid me well. I went to Harper’s with some activity books, too. I was prolific and had a bunch of books already. They were going to give me a book to do. But they went back on their promise and gave the book to Maurice Sendak. Bennett Cerf’s son at Random House didn’t hire me because he thought, “Your work looks too much like Dr. Seuss.” Which I thought was a compliment, but he wasn’t looking for that. JA: You worked at Golden Books a long time and did coloring books there. Tell me about that experience. FAGO: Lucille Ogle owned 25% of the company and was also the editor. She’d see me in the hallway and give me work. Or my wife would call up and say I had a book going and we’d get an advance. It was a nice relationship for many years, from about 1958 to about 1967. When she retired, I submitted some work; but I was losing control of my work, so I stopped working there. I went back and did more work for Waldman. By the way, Irving Shapiro, whom I knew at Standard, was the only writer/editor who was on staff at Golden Books. JA: How did your book series adapting the classics for Pendulum Press start? FAGO: The company became aware that they could sell a lot of books

to schools. My brother and his wife told the owner that I used be the editor at Timely and sent the publisher up to Vermont to see me. That went well, so I signed a contract and that made my wife happy. She did what Ray Gill’s wife did. She told me that I had to make a certain amount of money a week or else. This was about 1972 and I hadn’t worked in a while, but I felt my luck was going to change. I got the contracts to do a series of books adapting the classics. It all came out to be about a million dollars in eight years’ time, which I used to pay myself and others. My wife and son helped out with the writing.

Vince Fago

(L. to r.:) Artists E.R. Cruz, Vic Catan, and Nestor Redondo with Vince Fago in a Philippines restaurant in 1980, discussing the classics they were planning to illustrate—plus Redondo art from their adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Photo courtesy of VF; thanks to David Anthony Kraft for providing a copy of the art from his fondly remembered Comics Interview magazine. [Art ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

another: Thanks!” He did a little drawing on it, too. JA: What’s been your favorite body of work?

I asked Syd Shores, but he was too busy. We got Nestor Redondo and other Filipino artists to do the art. Nestor was a master artist. We did a hundred books, from Moby-Dick to Tom Sawyer. I also did twelve activity books on the side for Pendulum, and a hundred film strips in color with sound. My daughter colored the film strips, and we hired teachers to do the narration. We had actors, too, and I picked out the music and sound effects. Then I did more work for Waldman. I took those activity books to him and he offered me $10,000 for them. I said I wanted royalties and he said, “Take the $10,000. You can buy a CD and have that money for the rest of your life.” I turned it down. I took the books to Intellectual Resources and I made royalties off those books for twenty years. JA: What have you been doing in recent years? FAGO: For the past ten years I’ve been doing Rabbit-Man Music books. I print about 4000 at a time, and I have a backstock that I sell to schools. They’re also sold in music and opera shops. I’ve done five; they take a year to do. These books teach kids to make chords on pianos and other instruments. It’s the best work I’ve done in my life. I do all the art and someone else does the music. They are the best music books on the market. I also do Rabbit-Man Music Math Cards. And I have a lot of Peter Rabbit books to sell on the Internet. I’ve also done Mystic Mouse books. Art Spiegelman [writer-artist of the Pulitzer Prizewinning Maus] sent me a card, and on the back of it, he wrote, “Dear Vincent: Sorry it took so long to acknowledge your swell package from a year ago. You’re one of the greats and you bothered to write me. So from one mouse to

FAGO: What I’m doing now. I get fan letters from kids who like my books. And I loved doing Peter Rabbit. JA: There’s always been a real sweetness in your work. FAGO: You know, Stan Lee said the same thing to me when he hired me sixty years ago.

[JIM AMASH’s lifelong addiction to comics has resulted in a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts, an eightplus-year stint running a comic book shop and conventions, a ten-year inking career for Archie, Disney, and others, and one hell of a hangover. Jim finds that interviewing comics creators brings him as much personal satisfaction as any other comic-related endeavors. He lives in North Carolina with his Jim Amash. wife Heidi and seven cats, all of whom stopped listening to him years ago in order to protect themselves from an endless torrent of bad puns and defective one-liners.]

Jim Vadeboncoeur, managing partner of Bud Plant Illustrated Books (including its catalog and website), has recently branched out to begin publication of a new highquality magazine entitled The Vadeboncoeur Collection of ImageS, which reproduces (often in color) fabulous pre-1923 illustrations by such fabulous illustrators as Heinrich Kley, Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Rackham, Alberto Vargas, and others. To learn how to subscribe, visit the magazine’s website as <images@bpib.com>. Each issue promises to be a taste treat for the eyes—and often for the mind, as well!

“I Let People Do Their Jobs!”

Over the years, Vince has retained a special fondness for drawing rabbits and mice. Clockwise are (a) a 1950s Peter Rabbit page; (b) his favorite strip of Mystic Mouse (his own creation); and (c) a page from one of his charming Rabbit-Man music books for children, which are written by Julie Albright and edited by his wife D’ann. (And here Roy thought his wife’s name “Dann” was unusual! Vince’s has the same name—with an apostrophe, yet!) The five books to date in the Rabbit-Man series are available for $9 each (includes postage & handling) from: Diversity Press, R.R. 1, Box 376, Bethel, Vermont 05032. You might also find them in your local music stores. Oh, and Vince would love to hear from you at <Vfago@aol.com>. He even accepts commissions to draw his various humor characters. [Rabbit-Man & Mystic Mouse art ©2001 Vince Fago; other art ©2001 the respective copyright holders. 1991 photo of Vince at age 76 is courtesy of the artist.]

Valerie Barclay

That “Glamorous Girl Inker”! A Meeting with VALERIE BARCLAY by Trina Robbins In 1947 Stan Lee published a little black-&-white book called Secrets behind the Comics, telling—well, secrets behind the comics. You could order a copy from Famous Enterprises, Inc.—which, we now know, was Stan Lee himself, then the editor of Timely/Marvel—for the grand sum of one dollar. Anyone lucky enough to own a copy today knows that it’s worth a great deal more. (Secrets was covered in detail by Mike Barr in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #6 [Autumn 2000].) Among the information presented in this little wonder of a book is the fact that, as Stan Lee writes, “As you can see, there are women artists as well as men in the comic magazine field!” This statement is accompanied by a drawing of a pretty girl and the words: “Meet Violet Barclay, glamorous girl inker of ‘Rusty’ and many other strips.” In March 2001 I met Violet Barclay, known as Valerie Barclay since she changed her name back in the late 1940s when she went freelance. I visited her in her antiques-filled New York apartment in the West 50s, where crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling and her walls are covered with mirrors and John Singer Sargent oil paintings. The paintings are by Valerie herself—perfect copies of her favorite artist’s work. Since she couldn’t afford to own an original Sargent, she informed me, she had made her own. Valerie was seventeen years old and working as a hostess in the Café Rouge in Pennsylvania when one day cartoonist Mike Sekowsky came walking into the restaurant. She and Sekowsky had known each other when they had gone to the School of Industrial Arts, and he decided Valerie needed to be “saved.” He introduced her to Stan Lee, who hired her to ink funny

The “glamorous girl inker” phrase in Secrets behind the Comics was one of Smilin’ Stan Lee’s very first amazingly alliterative appellations to see print. Her caricature by Ken Bald introduced the section that explained the inking process. [©2001 Stan Lee.]

Violet Barclay at 26, when she worked for Timely Comics. Photo courtesy of Valerie Barclay via Trina Robbins.

That “Glamorous Girl Inker”!

she returned to waitressing and hostessing, and eventually, “I thought, well, maybe fashion.”

animal comics and the aforementioned Rusty. Her salary rose from $18 a week as a hostess to $35 a page as an inker. The extra money meant a lot to Valerie, who was helping to support her mother, and she worked hard. “Everybody else would be going to the beach and having a great time,” she told me, but “I had all these comics to do.” Valerie taught herself to draw, and by 1949 she went from inking at Timely to drawing love comics as a freelancer. She is extremely modest about her abilities, and says that she didn’t set out to be an artist. “I would’ve liked to be Bette Davis,” she told me, “but I have no talent.” She insists that her love comics consisted of swipes from magazines like Cosmopolitan and Ladies’ Home Journal, and from illustrators of the time like Al Parker, who drew beautiful women—but I happen to know that most love-comics artists of that period swiped from the same sources. Looking as such stories as “Spurned!” from Complete Love Magazine (1954), it’s obvious that not every panel is a swipe, and that Valerie is a very good artist.

Valerie Barclay today, amid her Sargent re-creations. Photo by Trina Robbins.

Then, in the mid-1950s, there was a slump in the comics industry. As Valerie put it, “It all died.” There was no work in comics, so

Valerie became a fashion illustrator for a small commercial art firm, but her ability to make perfect copies of Sargent and to swipe so well from magazines eventually got her in trouble. She drew an ad, copying (in Valerie’s words, “ripping off”) art by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein— which is ironic, since Lichtenstein’s paintings are themselves rip-offs of comics panels! Her company turned the art into tshirts, and the t-shirts wound up being shown on television. At the same time, Sotheby’s auction house was selling original Lichtensteins for $3,000,000. Valerie’s boss was afraid of getting sued, and that was the end of her career, A 1981 fashion illustration by (and courtesy of) Valerie after almost fifty Barclay. It previously appeared in the long-out-of-print years. Women and the Comics by Trina Robbins and Catherine

Yronwode (1985). [©2001 Valerie Barclay.] But, “by then,” says Valerie, “I was a lady of leisure.” She retired and has spent her retirement happily painting John Singer Sargent reproductions—which she carefully signs with her name, Valerie Barclay, lest anyone ever accuse her of forgery.

[TRINA ROBBINS often writes about comics, but her latest book, Eternally Bad (Conari Press), is about dark and nasty goddesses of the Kali and Lilith persuasion. Not to worry—at the same time she has produced a biography of cartoonist/illustrator Nell Brinkley (Nell Brinkley and the New Woman in the Early 20th Century, McFarland), once a superstar, now forgotten. Trina’s newest book, The Great Trina Robbins. Women Cartoonists (Watson-Guptill), out in November, is a revised, updated, and generally rewritten version of her out-of-print 1992 book A Century of Women Cartoonists.]

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Mickey Spillane

“Comics Were Great!” A Colorful Conversation with MICKEY SPILLANE Conducted by Roy Thomas Transcribed by Jon B. Knutson [NOTE: As the creator of hard-boiled detective Mike Hammer and the author of I, the Jury and many other novels, Mickey Spillane is one of the bestselling authors of the 20th century. It’s been known for decades that he wrote for comics during the 1940s, but he has rarely talked about these experiences at length. Early in 2001 fan-writer Chris Irving interviewed Spillane in conjunction with a different project for TwoMorrows, and was later instrumental in setting up the following phone conversation between Spillane and Ye Editor. For that, and for allowing us to print material which to some extent anticipates his own interview with the writer, we thank him most sincerely. —RT.] ROY THOMAS: When we were setting up this interview, you mentioned you’d worked for “the magazines,” meaning, I take it, the pulps, before getting into comics.

MICKEY SPILLANE: Oh, yeah. That’s a long time ago. I was writing mostly mystery stories, or adventure stories. Don’t ask me the titles, there were so many! RT: There were thousands, I know. I believe you used to write features for newspapers, too. SPILLANE: I did stuff for King Features. See, you’re going back here sixty years. It was around the time I did comics. I was continually writing. It was a business. I don’t know the titles of the magazines I wrote for. I had a lot of the old A photo of Mickey Spillane a couple of decades magazines and whatnot on back. Courtesy of Jerry de Fuccio. my shelves, and then Hugo just pretty much destroyed it all. I lost the house, I lost everything I had except my valise. [NOTE: Hurricane Hugo, one of the most devastating storms ever to hit the South Carolina coast, struck Murrells Inlet in 1989. —RT.] RT: That’s terrible. SPILLANE: Oh, I got another house. [laughs] RT: Was your radio work also before the war? SPILLANE: Yeah, I did a lot of that. I was even into early television, but you didn’t take note of all these things you were doing. People don’t know that, back in 1936, they were broadcasting stuff from Coney Island. The first tower built for long-distance stuff was up in Newburg, New York. RT: So when and how did you get into comic books? Was it about 1939? SPILLANE: I don’t know the year, but Ray Gill—who was a good artist and a good writer—I was a friend of his brother’s. Joe later turned out to be a great comic book writer. He introduced me to Ray, and Ray said, “Come on, give comics a try.” So I went up with Ray, and I started—Bam!—right into Funnies, Incorporated. I was doing other things on the outside, but then I got into comics, and I started to enjoy it. Now don’t forget, I’m not a young guy! But I was then—and all these new experiences were pretty exciting and nice and enjoyable. I was never a comic book reader until I got into the business itself. RT: Lloyd Jacquet put together Funnies, Inc. What was it like to work for him for that year or two?

A splash from Marvel Mystery Comics #41 (March 1943); art by Carl Pfeufer. Spillane may or may not have scripted this particular tale, since he was in the USAAF by the time it would’ve been written. Repro’d from Canadian photocopies of the original art. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

SPILLANE: Oh, that was a lot of fun! Boy, he was a very strange man. He looked just like [General Douglas] MacArthur; he looked so much like him that he used to smoke a corncob pipe! [laughs] But he was a

Mickey Spillane

Among the features at Novelty Press which Spillane sometimes wrote were “Target and the Targeteers” (art here by Ken Battlesby?) and “The Cadet” (art by John Jordan?), both in 1941 issues of Target Comics. But did he write these stories? You tell us! Art courtesy of Jerry Bails. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

these things, there’s a slave who’s got a big tray, and what he’s carrying is a large [male sex organ]! [laughs] And nobody noticed it! And it was put there to be noticed and edited out with a blue pencil, and they already had a covering thing they could just paste right on there, to put something else in place of it. It was just a joke. Their editors never saw it, and it got printed! RT: Bill Everett told me how guys would put in stuff, just for fun, figuring it would be taken out. But sometimes it wasn’t. Anything else you can tell me about Lloyd Jacquet? I’ve been interested in him ever since Bill used to talk to me about the Funnies, Inc., days. nice guy, he let us alone, we did our jobs. We were a studio. We did things for other publishers. Funnies did not publish itself. RT: I know that two of the main companies they packaged for were the early days of Martin Goodman’s Timely Comics, and Novelty, for which you did a lot of work. Novelty did Four Most, Blue Bolt, Target. SPILLANE: Oh, yeah, I did a lot of those.

SPILLANE: Well, Lloyd never could understand artists and writers. He was a general overseer of us. I don’t think he quite knew what he was doing. But he was a nice guy. Let me give you an example of what happened. I used to make up these little helicopters; they were pieces of paper, cut, only about 2-3 inches long, but they’d spin down like... you know these things from a tree, the “polynoses,” they used to call them? The seeds would spin down, they’d have the leaf in the top, like an airflow design. Well, we used to make these things up, and just have fun... it was just

RT: When whole books were produced by Lloyd Jacquet and Funnies, Inc., did Funnies just make up the package and present it to the publisher, or did the publisher tell Jacquet what the book’s name was, or what the characters might be? SPILLANE: Lloyd Jacquet acted as an independent group. They presented the entire concepts right there. The ones who published it exercised editorial concept of a grand nature; they didn’t edit. We took our pleasure in screwing them. RT: [laughs] How’s that? It’s okay to tell now! It’s a long time ago. SPILLANE: I’ll give you an example. Now this, I didn’t do, but some others did. They had a medieval scene, and in the background, all the slaves were carrying in these big things—a boar’s head, a pig with an apple in his mouth and so forth, and in the midst of all

Spillane’s first script page for a 5-page feature called “Smarty Pants”—renamed or re-routed to “Jackie the Slick Chick”—written in November 1945. At right is a splash by artist Marvin Levy (“Marv Lev”) from a different “Jackie” story. Note that the “magazine” for which the script is listed as being done is “Funnies, Inc.”—which of course was the name of Lloyd Jacquet’s shop, not a particular comic book. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

“Comics Were Great!”

Other Novelty strips often scripted by Spillane were [l. to r.]: “Dick Cole,” who contrary to the “Wonder Boy” subtitle wasn’t a super-hero but a comic book equivalent of radio’s Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy (with art by Al Fagaly)—“Blue Bolt” after the Simon & Kirby glory days (he appears in costume only on the splash)— “Sub-Zero” (a frosty answer to The Human Torch)—and the ghostly cop “Sergeant Spook.” All these splashes are from Blue Bolt, Vol. 3, #3 (Aug. 1942)—the same issue which features lifeguard “Capt. Mickey Spillane” in one story! Read on... [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

doodling, that’s all, and throw them up, they’d spin down. The kids loved to see them. I still make them for the kids. One day, we were having fun, we must’ve made 500 of these things, and we put them in a big box and were going to dump them out the window and see what would happen. Now, we were on the 19th floor or something, and it was a Saturday afternoon. It was in the summertime, and the sun was hot, and we took this box of these little helicopter things and we dumped them out the window! But instead of going down, the air current from the heat of the ground sent these spinning little things up! And they went up and up and up, and the sky was covered with these things, to the point where the people on the ground noticed them, with a “What’s that?!?” [laughs] And they drifted across the Hudson into Jersey. I think the Daily News and the Elizabeth Daily Journal reported on them. I had copies of that, but again, that went out with Hugo. They didn’t know what it was! Lloyd Jacquet, he knew what it was! [laughs] He was very discombobulated with the whole thing. RT: I’ve heard that, after Pearl Harbor, Funnies, Inc., and a lot of comics shops stayed in business by hiring women artists and writers, the very young, and the older artists. SPILLANE: Oh, they were terrible. They had a bunch of creeps come in there, and we went into the military right away, and they took over all our stuff. When we came back, we were faced with the fact that these guys had taken over the jobs we used to have, so we decided we’ve got to get them out. They’d formed a union, that’s what the problem was, and we were going to kill that union. Because these guys, they didn’t have the talent that we had, I’ll tell you that! So we went in, and we just lowered the price! “You’re giving them all this money; we’ll do it for half the price.” RT: Servicemen were supposed to get their jobs back, but I know that was easy to get around, because you had been freelancers. SPILLANE: These were freelance jobs, so they didn’t have to give them back to us. So we went in and said, “Okay, we’ll be freelancers, we’re gonna cut the price down.” We wiped these guys out of their spots, and they bitched and yelled, but tough! We got back in the business, and then our prices went up. [laughs] RT: All the work you did for, say, Timely or Novelty—was that all done through Funnies, Inc., or were you one of the people like Carl Burgos

and some others who were later hired independently by Goodman? SPILLANE: We had a guy—I’m trying to think of his name. Anyway, he was a courier between a couple of places at that time. He would come up to me—because I always had stuff I’d hand him—and say, “Hey, we need a couple of short stories,” or “We need a six-page story for something, and we need it right away!” And I’d have something already written! We knew these things would come up, see? RT: You wrote them in your spare time, figuring there’d be a chance to sell them later? SPILLANE: Right. We’d hand in this thing, and I’d get a check back, but it didn’t go through Funnies. I was working as an independent entrepreneur. RT: And working for Funnies at the same time. SPILLANE: Oh, sure! The money for Funnies wasn’t all that big. I was making more money on the outside doing this! Anyway, this is what happened, a lot of the time. These are the things that happened in the business that’s long since been changed, you know? RT: I’d like to ask you about a few people. Since Chris Irving has done an interview with you that’ll be published later, and I don’t want to step on his toes—and he talks a lot with you about Tom Gill and Joe Gill— let’s talk about a couple of guys you didn’t discuss with him. For example, what do you remember about Carl Burgos and Bill Everett? SPILLANE: These guys were great! They were the leaders in the field, and you’ve got to remember that, when they were doing these things, printing and reproduction of the things were not as good as they are today. Some of those fellas worked with brushes, others worked with pens—I mean, a lot of different techniques! And these guys were young, and as they were working, they were improving. So the latest stuff these fellas did was much better than it was in the beginning—except that the primitive stuff was always fine to look at! I enjoy seeing that stuff. I enjoy seeing “Sergeant Spook” and “Sub-Zero” in those early days, because they were in a primitive form. Later, they evolved, and they came to be pretty fancy artwork. A lot of these guys turned out to be great artists. Ed Robbins, for instance, became a great painter. He was a pen man, but he did great paintings. Some of these other guys... Who was the Eskimo? I can’t think of his name? He and his mother used to talk in clicks and clacks.

Mickey Spillane

Anyway, these guys were great, but they got out of the business into other things. Who’s the guy from Oregon? I can’t remember his name, I’ve got his books here in everything. He drew the ugliest faces in the world. RT: Basil Wolverton? He did “Powerhouse Pepper” later. SPILLANE: Wolverton, yeah! I remember the time when there was a contest on for the ugliest face in the world. RT: His “Lena the Hyena” character for Al Capp in Li’l Abner, right. SPILLANE: Every one of us knew he was gonna win; and he did. These were guys who had great artistic abilities; on top of that they were able to make these things, invent things. Fantastic! I was always amazed at the abilities of an artist. It’s incredible what they can do, and as they improve, they get so much better. I hate to see people get old and decrepit. RT: When did you go into the service? Was it early ’42? SPILLANE: I went into pilot training, and from the time I went into the service—that’s where you get in, you’re sworn in—until my class was called was a period of time, but I went in early. My class wasn’t called up for sometime later. RT: You were a fighter pilot. SPILLANE: Yeah.

RT: Chris’ interview deals primarily with World War II, which is the only reason I’m not following through on that, because that’s a period of special interest to me. SPILLANE: The kids need to know there was a World War II. They need to know when planes had propellers. RT: Even if they don’t know—it still happened. Someday nobody will remember the early days of the Internet, either. Everybody is history, sooner or later. SPILLANE: That’s right. [laughs] RT: Somebody wrote once—but I think he was just guessing—that during the early days you wrote characters like Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Human Torch, and that you wrote some of the most violent of their stories. Do you think your comics stories were especially violent, compared to others’? SPILLANE: Violent comics? Which ones were they? RT: They meant like “Sub-Mariner”... SPILLANE: I wrote a lot of those. RT: Huge armies of Germans and Japanese would just be slaughtered by Sub-Mariner and the other Timely heroes... SPILLANE: I never wrote those war comics. I stayed away from those. I was in the service then, anyway. Oh, I would

Beginning in 1939 Bill Everett and Carl Burgos set the pace with “Sub-Mariner” and “The Human Torch,” respectively—as per these pages from Marvel Mystery Comics #7 (May 1940) and Human Torch #4 (Spring 1941). But to Mickey Spillane, Burgos and Everett were like burning ships that passed in the night. Both pages repro’d from photocopies of the original art. Everett photo courtesy of Dennis Beaulieu. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Comics Were Great!”

come back, every once in a while when I needed any money, I would write them stories and send them in to them.

SPILLANE: I might’ve written for them, I’m not sure. We did so much for so many. In those days, nobody was paying us! [laughs]

RT: Oh, so you did a few while you were in the service, while you were still in the camp? A lot of people did that. You mentioned “Sergeant Spook” earlier. Did you, as far as you know, write the first story of that Novelty character, or did you come on after somebody else had done the first story?

RT: Of course, Simon & Kirby were better known than most in the field, but only to comics readers. Did you know Syd Shores, who became the main Captain America artist?

SPILLANE: You know, I don’t know. It’s possible. There were a lot of things I wrote—they existed for a few issues, and then disappeared. I did a lot of “Sgt. Spook”; that was a favorite of mine. And “Sub-Zero”... I don’t know who drew them.

RT: Some of these people probably started up about the time you were leaving the field, and you didn’t have much opportunity to meet them. Another couple of people who worked on Captain America were Al Avison, Vince Alascia, and Al Gabrielle.

RT: And “Target and the Targeteers,”

SPILLANE: I remember them, but I don’t remember any communication between us. We kind of worked at distances. For instance, we’d do the stories, the stuff would come back to us inked or sometimes just the pencils, and we’d check everything out, and that was it! You never knew the guy on the other side. You’d know all about them, you talked to them over the phone and whatnot, or they’d call you for corrections and so forth. But you’d never have any personal relationship.

SPILLANE: I did a lot. Is Sid Greene still alive? He was the artist of “Target.” RT: I think he passed away a few years ago. He drew for DC in later years. SPILLANE: Sid was younger than me! RT: Do you remember anything else about Burgos or Everett? SPILLANE: No. I was never that close. I was in a different group, so I really didn’t know about their lifestyles; I just knew them in a business sense. We just sort of hung around and... by Funnies, we were all together up there. These other guys, Everett and them, would come in and out, you know? RT: I’ll just mention the names of a few people at Timely, and you can tell me if you recall them. If you don’t, that’s fine, too. I believe you knew Harry Sahle? He started out as Burgos’ assistant, and became a full artist later, especially important on “Archie.”

SPILLANE: I don’t remember having ever met him.

RT: Another early artist who did work for Novelty was George Mandel. He was a childhood friend of another writer—Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22. He’s mentioned in Heller’s memoir Now and Then, which came out a few years ago. SPILLANE: Gee, we haven’t seen each other since the war. What did he do in comics? RT: Mandel drew some Timely strips: “The Angel,” “The Patriot,” “Black Marvel.” Heller says he was wounded in the war—came back, got well, then went back over and got a bad head wound that continued to bother him forever after. Heller said he should’ve stayed out the first time! Heller talks in his book about envying Mandel when he was making a lot of money early on in the comics and was driving around in a fancy new car, while everybody else in Brooklyn was walking.

SPILLANE: Oh, Sahle, sure! He drew the great caricature of Mike Hammer which was “Mike Danger” in the very Before the war intervened, Spillane and artist Harry Sahle planned to team beginning. Mike Hammer started as a up to produce Mike Danger Mystery Comics. See the following article for comic book character. But then the Sahle’s ’40s take on the character—minus Spillane! [©2001 Mickey Spillane; war came along! Tekno-Comics art ©2001 the respective copyright holder.] published Mike Danger a few years back. We had a very successful twoSPILLANE: Or taking the subway. year run. In the very first issue, there’s a big story there, there’s a page... and that picture of Mike Danger was the original concept of Mike RT: Did Novelty have its own artists, or did everything come from Hammer. Funnies? RT: I was once interviewed by Tekno-Comics down in Florida for the job of editor-in-chief. I wouldn’t really have taken it, because I wasn’t interested in moving; I was just curious to see what their set-up was like, so when they sent me a plane ticket, I figured what the hell. I met you at a San Diego Comicon when you were doing the convention circuit to publicize the Tekno-Comics Mike Danger.

SPILLANE: You’re talking about so many things that were happening—we couldn’t put a tag on them, and now you’re coming back on me 60 years later—well, I’m 83!

Do you remember Joe Simon & Jack Kirby? They went up to Timely, while you were still at Funnies.

SPILLANE: I know. I’m just trying to figure it out! Nobody ever asked me these questions.

RT: I’m not trying to put you on the spot; I’m just interested in the history of it all.

Mickey Spillane SPILLANE: Stan? No, no, he never was a gofer, he was always on the ball. He was the top guy in the business. You know, he’s got that attitude you need when you’re in the business. He had a flair for being in that comic book industry. I kind of got out of it because there were better things to be done. He did a lot! He was top of his line in what he was doing. RT: I’ve always admired the fact that, unlike some pretentious souls, you don’t hide or downplay the fact that you once wrote comics. SPILLANE: Who, me? I think comics were great! I never downplayed them! I know one guy, who turned out to be a great writer for the Daily News—I can’t think of his name; he’s dead now—but he used to hide that fact until one day I called him up, and another guy asks me, “How do you know him?” I told him, “He was a comic book writer.” Then I thought, “Uh-oh, I blew the whistle on that poor fellow.” [laughs] RT: I guess some people did want to hide it at one time or the other. SPILLANE: I don’t know why. First of all, it introduced a new place for writers and artists to appear. Artists never had any place to go; you were either a great commercial artist, or you were nothing. Suddenly, these guys who were doodlers—but were good doodlers—had an area they could show their work in, and make money! Writers who weren’t great novelists because they hadn’t come up with paperbacks and they couldn’t get into the novels—they found an outlet for their work, which was terrific! RT: And on the tail end of the Depression, too!

This entire Carl Pfeufer-drawn story from Marvel Mystery #42 (April 1943) was printed in color, from these photocopies of the original art, in the 1997 trade paperback The Golden Age of Marvel. Both volumes of this excellent series—plus the 1999 special Marvel Mystery Comics #1 (since there’d never before been a comic with precisely that title and number), in addition to reprints of Human Torch #5 and All Winners #19—were edited by Tom Brevoort and are still available from Bud Plant Comic Art; phone (800) 242-6642 and tell ’em Alter Ego sent you! No real Golden Age superhero fan can be without any of these high-quality items—or Marvel’s two-volume reprinting of Captain America #1-10 by Simon & Kirby! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RT: Well, that’s why I want to ask them! [laughs] There were also a few women artists. One of them was named Ramona Hatenaude. You didn’t know her? I’m just asking a few names because I saw them listed. SPILLANE: There’s what’s-her-name, who used to paint in the nude. I forget her name now. [laughs] RT: She used to paint pictures of nudes, or she used to be in the nude? SPILLANE: She’d be in the nude; she’d use herself for a model! The guys used to love to take the stuff to deliver the pencils to her. “Wait a minute, I’ll put something on.” “Don’t bother, lady!” [laughs] RT: Now, what about this guy Stan Lee? You two entered the field at about the same time? SPILLANE: Stan and I are good friends. I saw him not too long ago, out at San Diego at the convention. I’ve seen him a couple of times inbetween. Stan always said he could write at three typewriters at once. He’s a two-fingered typist, like me. RT: Was he still a gofer at Timely when you met him?

Re Blue Bolt, Vol. 3, #3 (Aug. 1942), Jerry de Fuccio wrote: “The ‘Edison Bell’ story inside has credits to [artist] Harold De Lay and [writer] Ray Gill. I suppose Ray did this story to commend his writing partner, Spillane. In the same issue was ‘Sgt. Spook,’ by Spillane and Jordan. Also, Spillane did a text story in that issue, entitled ‘Shot in the Dark.’ The byline was “by Mickey Spilla.” Spillane, however, feels the last two letters were left off his name by mistake. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

“Comics Were Great!”

SPILLANE: Yeah. Captain Marvel had other stories in it besides “Captain Marvel.”

SPILLANE: That’s right. There’s nothing wrong with doing comics. And I’ll tell you something else that’s really great about comic books: In the early days, when we were doing things like Classic Comics, you know... some teacher in New York City, for instance, would say, “Now everybody has to read Moby-Dick.” There’s only one copy of MobyDick in the library, and 300 kids have to go and try to check it out, and they can’t get it! But in comes Moby-Dick in the comic pages; all the kids can get them for a dime, and they can read all the high points of Moby-Dick!

SPILLANE: I don’t remember. I wrote so many, they got lost in the crowd. I cannot go back—except for one or two Blue Bolts that I still have here. Do you know what they’re worth? I’ve got some good ones... a guy paid $200 for one of them.

RT: You wrote at least one issue of Classic Comics, didn’t you?

RT: Well, they’re certainly worth more than 10¢ now, right? [laughs]

SPILLANE: Yes.

SPILLANE: Oh, yeah, ain’t that something? This guy, I had sent him a copy of a book one day that he wanted, and he sent me back a copy of a comic that I was in. I was on the cover of the magazine, for Pete’s sake! I think it was a Blue Bolt. It was a picture of me when I was a lifeguard.

RT: Do you remember which one? SPILLANE: No. [laughs] RT: It wasn’t Moby-Dick, though? SPILLANE: No, it wasn’t Moby-Dick. When I was a little kid, we had moved into a school where there was a library that ran underneath the

windows—and I remember the teacher saying, “Children, someday you’ll be able to read this book,” and she held up a copy of Moby-Dick. And I said to the teacher, “I like that book!” She says to me, “You certainly didn’t read this book!” And I said, “Call me Ishmael.” [laughs] She could never get over that! That’s the opening line of the book, of course.

RT: I suspect you mean Whiz Comics, which besides “Captain Marvel” had “Golden Arrow,” “Spy Smasher,” and all of those.

RT: That was probably Jerry de Fuccio who sent it. [NOTE: It was. See following article.] I’ll have to get hold of a copy of that.

RT: Did you get that from the actual book, or from Classic Comics? SPILLANE: No, I’d read Moby-Dick. Hey, I was an only child. I could read and write long before I went to school! My mother stayed there with me, and we did this. When the other kids were reading little children’s things, I was up in the library! Isn’t that great? I went to take out some books one day from the big library downtown, and the librarian said, “You can’t take this out, it’s from the adult section!” I said, “I know what it is!” Finally, another librarian came up and she said, “Oh, no, he can take them out. He reads them and brings them back.” RT: I had similar experiences. I think the libraries used to be overly cautious, trying to protect their little charges so they didn’t read anything that they shouldn’t, or too soon. You mentioned you wrote “Captain Marvel.” That’s before the war, obviously.

SPILLANE: I’m not going to send you my copy! RT: It’s all right, I’ll find one. [laughs] I read that you’d written “Batman,” but I don’t think you really did, did you? SPILLANE: I never wrote for DC. I don’t know why, but we never had much contact with them, although I knew what’s-his-name, who wrote “Batman.” Kane. He died just recently, didn’t he? RT: Yes, a couple of years ago. I also saw listed that you wrote “Plastic Man” stories for Busy Arnold. Did you? SPILLANE: I did not write “Plastic Man.” I don’t know who said that... RT: Somebody got information that was wrong. You’ve done so much stuff, you don’t need credit for anything you didn’t do! Did you ever write for Ziff-Davis’ comics line?

Mickey Spillane but jeez... [NOTE: Spillane doubtless means Armand Assante in the 1982 remake.] RT: So you spent about a year in comics after the war? SPILLANE: After the war, when I was living in a tent with George Wilson, I was sitting there at this typewriter with either a chicken or a cat on my lap, one or the other— one would chase the other one up on my lap on an old beat-up typewriter, writing mostly these short stories, for which we would get twenty-five bucks, which at that time was a lot of money! At left, Spillane splits a brew with Peggy Castle (who plays Charlotte Manning) and Biff Eliot—who is seen at right as Mike Hammer in a scene from the first I, the Jury, with Margaret Sheridan, who in 1950 had played the only female role in The Thing from Another World.

SPILLANE: I wrote for Ziff-Davis. I don’t know if it was comics or if it was in one of their other magazines. But I think it was after the war. I stayed in the active reserve for a long time after the service. We would train in jets. RT: So you actually did go back into comics after the war, then? SPILLANE: I went back in during the year I was living in a tent, building a house with my buddy, George Wilson, who’s a great artist. Say, do you remember when Mike Hammer was in the newspapers? RT: The comic strip, you mean? SPILLANE: Yes. I got kicked around for being too sexy. RT: I can’t imagine that! [laughs] SPILLANE: Ed Robbins did the artwork. I did most of the writing. Joe Gill gets the credit for it, but I did it, too.

RT: You mean the text stories they had to have, for mailing privileges? SPILLANE: Yeah. There was George, my wife, and me in the same tent, and our main course was sugar beets. We’d make like it was turkey or string beans or whatnot, instead of sugar beets, every week. We’d eat groundhogs. We’d have to wait for the dog— the dog would try to bite you when you tried to take the groundhog away from him! [laughs] Anyway, I did a lot of work for the comics during that one year, and after I wrote I, the Jury I stayed in the comic book field here and there, until the paperback came out, and it went right to the ceiling—zoom! Boy, it went! RT: This was ’47?

Spillane himself portrayed Mike Hammer in the 1963 British film The Girl Hunters—and the girl he’s hunted down is co-star Shirley Eaton, who was painted a lethal gold in Goldfinger. Many aficionados consider Spillane’s own Hammer to be the best of the bunch.

RT: Moby-Dick has one of those famous opening lines in literature, but your book I, the Jury had one of the most famous closing lines: “It was easy.” “And she was a real blonde” got a lot of attention, too. Back in the ’50s everybody read at least the last few pages of I, the Jury. I think I first encountered Mike Hammer through that not-particularlywonderful movie that was made of it in the ’50s. SPILLANE: Oh, with Biff Eliot? Sheesh. Poor old Biff Eliot wasn’t very big, he had a Boston accent, and he was left-handed. I said, “For Pete’s sake, you’re going to ruin your career!” “Oh, no, I can handle it.” “How are you going to act tall?” He was my size—I’m five foot eight. For me to play Mike Hammer in that later movie [The Girl Hunters]... you know how I looked tall? I hired everybody smaller than me! They had good cameramen; they’ll make you look tall! Then there’s the guy who played Mike Hammer in I, the Jury the second time around... a guy from New York state... good actor, I can’t think of his name, but he had to wear high heels! [laughs] And you’d see him going up staircases, and you’d spot his high heels! An Italian guy, a great actor,

SPILLANE: ’47 was when it was printed. It was ’48 when I, the Jury hit the roof. It came out, and the first week, it went right through the ceiling! So that’s what word of mouth can do. There was no publicity. RT: I understand you had to go out and find a hardback publisher to make the paperback seem legitimate!

SPILLANE: What happened, actually, was... oh, geez, Whiz Comics— who put that out? RT: Fawcett. SPILLANE: Fawcett! Roscoe Fawcett was a distributor. Roscoe and I became very good friends. What happened was, I think about four publishers didn’t want to do anything with my manuscript. They said, “Oh, this is too dirty,” and all that kind of stuff. Which it wasn’t, you know. But they had never seen anything like I, the Jury before! It didn’t go with their concept of what was supposed to be published. Anyway, Roscoe Fawcett saw it by accident, read it, and said, “My golly, we’ve got to have this!” But he wasn’t printing; they weren’t doing anything then! They were just distributing! So, he went to Signet and said, “Look, if you take this story, we’ll distribute it right away, give it a good show!”

“Comics Were Great!” Now, this was a win-win situation for Signet, except that they were reprinters, so they went to Dutton, and said, “Listen, if you publish this, we will reprint it.” So that’s a win-win for them, too, so they published it. It didn’t sell many in the hardback area, but the minute Signet got it, in one weekend, it went right to the top. What was funny about that was, see, Roscoe had told them he wanted a half a million copies of this put out on the market. It had never been done... first printing, a half a million copies was incredible. So, somebody thought, “Oh, he doesn’t want a half million; he must’ve meant a quarter of a million.” So he put out a quarter of a million copies. It came out on a Friday I think it was, and on Sunday they were gone, and the distributors were screaming, “Where’s the books? We need these books!” And Roscoe said, “Gee, we put out half a million copies,” and somebody says, “No, you only put out a quarter of a million!” And he says, “Why, I gave direct orders for a half million!” And the guy says, “Well, I thought you made a mistake.” And Roscoe gave him those famous two words: “You’re fired.” [laughs] Anyway, right away, I became rich. Now, rich at that time, you made $200! I got this telegram, I said, “Jeez! Somebody made the mistake of telegramming me talking about thousands of dollars!”

three books of his here, and they are bad! My favorite writer is Frederick Browne. He wrote the greatest opening line in the world: “The last man in the world sat alone in his room. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.” By the way, it was a woman at the door. RT: Bill said it took you about four weeks to write I, the Jury. Is that accurate at all? SPILLANE: It took either nine or nineteen days, I forget which. See, I just kept writing! When I sit down and write a story, it goes from the beginning to the end, that’s it. I don’t ponder over words in these things, you know? No editing, because my stuff was never that tight! RT: Yeah, but Jacquet and these early comics guys didn’t really exercise that much editorial control, once they knew you could write comics, did they? SPILLANE: They didn’t want to! They wanted books fast. Still, figure, when I came into prominence, as my name goes, this was in the early days of paperbacks, when the marketing that was set up was not so fast! You had a lot of room to put up a bookshelf in a store. Remember the spinners they had? And then they went into something else called “dump bins”—you remember “dump bins”? The first dump bins were with me. They dumped in 500 copies of I, the Jury, and you just picked them out of the big cardboard box! RT: You were one of the first big success stories to come out of paperbacks, weren’t you?

RT: Those first-edition paperbacks, even more so than the hardcover, are worth a bit nowadays. SPILLANE: One of those hardcovers sold for $7,500 on the Internet in an auction. RT: I remember something Bill Everett told me in an interview I did with him around 1970. He said—and I was wondering if you’d agree with this quote—“After the war, he got mad and wrote his first novel.” SPILLANE: No, I didn’t get mad and write my first novel. I needed money! People say to me, “What inspires you to write?” and I say, “The urgent need of a buck!” I’m a writer, I’m not an author. RT: What made you think this particular detective novel was going to be big? SPILLANE: It’s like when they asked Willie Sutton, “Why do you rob banks?” RT: “Because that’s where the money is.” SPILLANE: Right. That’s why I write mystery stories. RT: But did you have any feeling I, the Jury would do as well as it did? SPILLANE: Oh, I was a good writer, I knew that! I’m not an author, I was a good writer, I’d tell a good story! So, when I wrote I, the Jury, I knew it was going to go right to the top. RT: I knew you’ve mentioned the Race Williams detective novels as being ones you liked. SPILLANE: Oh, yeah, he was great. But you know what he couldn’t do? He couldn’t write a book! He was a great magazine writer! I have

[L. to r.:] Mike Danger scripter Max Allan Collins, Mickey Spillane, and comics writer/artist Frank Miller at a 1994 comicon. The Tekno-Comics mag had the detective go to sleep in a Nazi scientist’s “hiber chamber” in 1952 and wake up in 2052; the comic was basically “Mike Hammer meets Alphaville”—or maybe Metropolis! [©2001 the respective copyright holders.]

SPILLANE: Oh, yeah. Erskine Caldwell and I, we were the big ones. He did Tobacco Road and God’s Little Acre. I met Skinny at a party or two. Who wrote Forever Amber? Oh yeah... Katherine Woodroof. The three of us were the big leads. RT: It’s interesting that what the books by you three had in common was that they were all considered pretty sexy for that time. SPILLANE: In Forever Amber the hero was always picking her up and carrying her into the bedroom, and that’s where it stopped. You know what was funny about it? Katherine Woodruff was a nice lady, tall, very nice, but she was a wallflower, really. I could look at her and say, “Everything came out of her imagination for sure.” [laughs] RT: Mr. Spillane, thank you very much. SPILLANE: Bye!

Nuggets

NUGGETS

was actually typing in the dry bathtub and Bill Everett’s mother was doing the lettering. I asked Spillane about it; he didn’t remember. When Gill and Spillane wrote for Blue Bolt and Novelty Press, Paul Gustavson did their “Twister” strip. Gill and Spillane placed The Twister at the back of the magazine. They used the up-front stories as set-up, interrupting the characters in the previous yarns, only momentarily. there would be a “twister” in the background and one person in the strip would say to another, “What was that?” Spillane and Gill made “the emerging industry” fun and big bucks!! Spillane’s involvement in the early days of comics constitute some of his most productive days, writing with the affable Mr. Gill. Together, they wrote “The Human Torch,” “Sub-Mariner,” “Blue Bolt,” “Edison Bell,” etc., by the ton. They were the most prolific writers at Lloyd Jacquet’s shop. Jacquet was a very dignified, mannerly man, forever giving lectures to artist George Mandel on how to conserve the money which he was making hand over fist. And why was George growing a moustache? People thought Jacquet was trying to get Mandel to convert to Catholicism, even. Anyway, Spillane soon determined that he didn’t need Jacquet as a representative. Comic books were booming!

Missives from Mickey (Spillane) [NOTE: Jerry de Fuccio’s “Nuggets” had only recently become a regular feature in Alter Ego when he passed away in August 2001, as this issue was being readied. As mentioned earlier, Jerry—who had been an editor for EC and then at Mad for roughly a quarter of a century beginning in the 1950s—had sent me a mountain of photos, comics, and other material relating to Mickey Spillane in conjunction with the scheduled interview with the creator of Mike Hammer, and I had spoken with him on the phone about combining some of earlier comments he sent me—which may have seen print somewhere or other—and a few comicsrelated excerpts from Spillane’s letters to Jerry during the 1990s. I think this is more or less the way Jerry would have liked to see this installment of “Nuggets” come out—and there will be more in future issues, from the archives of this most knowledgeable and generous of men. —Roy.] Sometime in the late ’50s, I took Ray Gill to lunch and he told me about turning out many, many scripts a week with his writing partner, Mickey Spillane. I wish I could remember more about the great production required when Marvel Mystery Comics created the memorable battle between Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Ray Gill, Spillane, writer-editor-art director John Compton, Robin King, Ed Robbins, all gathering in one apartment to do “the Battle” series. Ray Gill said one writer

I’m reminded of “Mike Lancer,” in Green Hornet #10. Now, “Mike Lancer” was undoubtedly the forerunner to Mike Hammer. Spillane and his pal, artist Harry Sahle, were juggling a private detective strip when Spillane went into the Air Force, as a “fitness instructor.” Apparently, Sahle went right ahead with the experimental strip without clearing it with Spillane. February 1990—Spillane was most gracious to me, inscribing his new book The Killing Man, which I sent out to many of my friends: “Hi, Jerry... After 19 years, Mike is back on the streets again. Enjoy the action. —Mickey Spillane.” I still like The Mick, rogue or not. Frank Morrison Spillane. You know, writer Philip Wylie blasted Spillane in Good Housekeeping magazine, February 1955... “The Crime of Mickey Spillane.” I, the Jury and My Gun Is Quick were two of the all-time bestselling books around the world. Harry Sahle died of leukemia around 1952. Ray Gill told me it was a very sad funeral, with all of Sahle’s earlier Centaur Comics buddies present. Sahle was certainly prolific at MLJ and Harvey. Wipe out Pelican Publications and the awful Green Giant. About nine years ago, the city of Elizabeth, New Jersey, honored Mickey with a street named Mickey Spillane Way. I was at that ceremony. Spillane paid more attention to his former school-chums than to the press. Salude—

Sometime in the ’90s, Mickey Spillane sent this autographed photo to Jerry. The inscription reads: “Hi Jerry—Plenty of hair if you like white!” Photo courtesy of Jerry de Fuccio.

Missives From Mickey (Spillane) [NOTE: And now, here are a few excerpts from Mickey Spillane’s 1990s letters to Jerry:]

“Mike Lancer,” drawn (and written?) by Spillane’s ex-partner Harry Sahle, appeared in Green Hornet #10 (Dec. 1942). Jerry asks: “Did Harry Sahle get the jump on Mickey Spillane, while Spillane was in the service?” If so, Spillane harbors no ill feelings, and merely regrets Sahle’s untimely death, which prevented their teaming up on Mike Danger after the war. See P. 37 for Spillane and Sahle’s original hero. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

[Feb. 6, 1990:] I would have gotten back to you sooner, but Hurricane Hugo took a large bite out of us... tore the house up and eighteen rooms, two outbuildings and a great outdoor tiki bar were destroyed. Right now we’re in a frenzy of rebuilding and it’s fun. At my age (near 72) going for a new house and goodies. Ray Gill and I were good friends. I was writing for the pulps when I got into comics. At that time, 2-page short shorts went for $25 and we got from $6 to $12 a page for continuity. This was in 1940 and ’41. However, I could turn out pages pretty fast and got good money, since Funnies, Inc., serviced several publishers. Comics were fine training grounds for artists and writers. The skill the guys have today is amazing. Hell, I’ve seen three of my old “Blue Bolt” stories turned into TV episodes. I almost fell over. They came out in sequence, and when I finally ran the “writer” down in Hollywood I really enjoyed the conversation. Now I’m back where I belong, doing Mike Hammer novels. Here is a copy of the latest and hope you enjoy it. [Feb. 22, 1990:] Old comic book friends have suddenly reemerged... the other day Joe Sinnott stopped by and I talked him out of some original pages of Thor. Joe Gill, Ray’s brother, who still writes for Charlton, has been communicating, and through Ed Robbins (who died two years ago) I located my old buddy George Wilson, who is now a very successful painter in New York State. Lloyd Jacquet... Trouble was, Lloyd never had the drive to publish. He was always a second-rater. Some of us liked to work without noise or traffic, so we got in the office at 6:30 (beating out rush hour traffic) and quit at noon. We had weekends all to ourselves and gave Lloyd the screaming jumps. He’d see us apparently goofing off and say, “Where are the pages?” Naturally, we’d say, as offhandedly as we could, “Already delivered.” Screwing up his schedule was a great pastime. Lloyd paid lousy. It was better to get direct, but sly, orders from Goodman or Curtis on the side. Harry Sahle did my original Mike Danger comic book cover (Mike Hammer evolved from that), but we never published. Harry died and I went into novels. What ever happened to George Mandel? [Sept. 10, 1994:] A million thanks for the Green Hornet. Not only from me, but from some of the real buffs that have seen it, handled it very carefully, and smelled it. That 10¢ price tag was something else. And what a pleasure it was to see Harry [Sahle]’s work again.

I have enclosed a black-&-white and color print of the old Mike Danger (note Sahle’s name that dates it!) you might enjoy. There too is a copy of the “new” Mike Danger. I wish Harry were here to do this up right. I even sent you a photo of me playing Mike Hammer. The end of this month I am making an appearance at the biggest of the comic book conventions in Minneapolis. I did Chicago and San Diego and couldn’t get over the crowd... very few kids... all moneyed adults and all fans of mine. I never have played down my comic book background and everybody seems to know about it. Anyway, I was the only “book” writer there. Meeting Stan Lee again after many years was great. He still hasn’t grown up. Now he’s going to make L.A. his home port. [Sept. 24, 1994:] I thought I’d never see an original copy of Blue Bolt, Vol. 3, No. 3, again. What a great feeling it was to read it once more. I still can’t understand how the “ne” was wiped off my name in the short story. About forty years ago an Italian journalist came all the way to Newburgh, NY, to do a story on me, and took back a few choice items to reproduce... promising, of course, to return them. It never happened, and I never let anything out of my sight again. Unfortunately, my copy of old Blue Bolt went to Italy. You wanted information on the Sub-Mariner and Human Torch bit. Well, while a lot of people were holed up elsewhere, I was at Funnies, Inc., along with Ed Robbins and (damn, his name slipped away) while Frank Torpey from Marvel (remember him?) was rushing coffee and Ray Gill came popping in and out with an idea chart... and I wish I could remember all the details. It was fun, it was hectic, and it worked. But it was always like that at Funnies anyway. I never could figure out why some idiot mounted a pencil sharpener on the wall way above my desk so you had to climb up to put a point on your tool, knocking my papers all over the place. When I first went with Funnies I shared an office with Ray Gill. Next to his cubicle was another, crammed with junk like Fibber McGee’s closet. I got Lloyd Jacquet’s OK to clean out the room (they thought it was impossible), in which case I could use it. One Sunday I got up there with Ray Gill’s brother Joe and we wiped the platter clean. It took the whole day, but there was a new Woodstock typewriter in there, a desk, a great chair... and when I got done, everybody wanted that room for their own. No way. When the war came somebody else finally got it. I’m having a beautiful shadow box made for Blue Bolt. It will be a center attraction on my office wall. THANKS A MILLION!

Syd Shores

Syd Shores A Biography and Interview by Al Hewetson [NOTE: The following piece is reprinted from the Now & Then Times, a Canadian fanzine published in 1973 by Dave Sim (creator of Cerebus the Aardvark), and is reprinted with permission of Dave and Harry Kremer. It was written soon after Syd’s untimely death that year. Syd’s birth year is given in this article as 1916; in Jerry Bails and Hames Ware’s 1974 Who’s Who in American Comic Books the year is given as 1918. Special thanks to Blake Bell. —RT.] This is an intimate biography of the late Syd Shores. Syd began his comics career when comics began, before most of today’s talents were born, before comics had an identity, before Captain America and Superman were household words. His contribution was more than great; it was essential, for in the days of beginnings when artists were “packaging” comics, Syd was drawing them. Syd Shores was an artist who knew and understood that comics were art, and he must be remembered as one of the true artists of the medium. And so we begin—an affectionate portrait of Syd Shores.... Was it Tolstoy who once said: “Art is not a handicraft; it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced”? If it was, it seems Leo Tolstoy was just as incurable a romantic as Syd Shores, for Syd had the graphic transmission of power that defines art, and defines the expression of experience. There is a reality about Syd’s drawing, a feeling of life, an expression of his emotions and his love for life and art. It has that “something” about it which makes discussion of his work not an obituary, but a dialog about something that is alive. For example, let’s say the picture is of Captain America jumping from one rooftop to another. If the average comic artist were doing it, maybe you’d see a powerful man leaping a building, muscles taut, frozen in the panel in mid-air, captured like a single frame of a movie. But while photography is unquestionably art, it doesn’t follow that art is a photograph! Syd’s picture would be real; it would have depth and a quality of realism that something frozen doesn’t have. Cap would be leaping, not “in a leap”—he’d have one foot propelling the body forward; and the hands wouldn’t be flailing in mid-air or clamped shut in fists—’cause that’s not the way it would really happen. While one hand grasped the famous red, white, and blue shield, it’d also be grasping the other hand, so that both arms would be fully stretched out in front of the Avenger to give him aim—the security of knowing he could grab the ledge if he

The comic book career of Syd Shores was spent primarily at Timely/Marvel, though he also did work at times for Fawcett, Orbit, Avon, Ziff-Davis, Skywald, and Warren. This heavily-shadowed photo is reproduced from the Now & Then Times issue in which this interview first appeared. Late in life, Syd contributed the excellent sketch below to an early San Diego ComiCon program book. Like Al Hewestson says in this article, Syd the Kid still had it— right up to the end! Thanks to Jerry K. Boyd. [Art ©2001 estate of Syd Shores; Captain America ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

didn’t quite make the jump—the proper positioning for a good roll when he reached the other side. All the things a well-trained, reallife Captain America would know and do—that’s how Syd would draw. What is important about this is perhaps a mite hard to grasp in these 1970s of Neal Adams and Jim Steranko and the other great youngbloods. Syd was an artist in the medium when there were few other artists. Jack Kirby and the late Bill Everett were perhaps the “few” others. Syd established a criterion: He intimated through his art that a knowledge of anatomy was not a “help”; it was an essential. He intimated that an expression of power was a definitive understanding of the medium; his art intimated that comic people be artists, and there is not a professional in the entire medium who fails to afford Syd this due. One such professional is Stan Lee, Syd’s co-worker for over thirty years: “Syd Shores was one of the real pros in the comic book field. He’s been a top-flight penciler, inker, and story-strip teller for more than three decades. He represents the best in the art of comic books: Talent, sincerity, and devotion to his craft.” While millions of readers out there are consciously and unconsciously aware of Syd’s capabilities, Syd bashfully denied it whenever I told him how great he was, which was quite often. It’s not that he wasn’t proud— he was, justly—of his work. He just didn’t think about it in those terms. Like most pros, he was full of praise about the work of others, spoke highly of nearly everybody in the comics field, and felt his association with them made it all worthwhile. AL HEWETSON: Who influenced your art, Syd? SYD SHORES: Jack Kirby influenced my sense of dramatics. Jack Kirby influences everybody in comics, though! Before I got really started in the field, it was Alex Raymond and Hal Foster; they were my

Syd Shores gods back then. But Kirby was the most immediate influence. AH: How would you describe your own style? SHORES: Well, I’m conservative in my approach to art, and that means I concede to being realistic. But my sense of realism does not confine me; it doesn’t stop me from distorting action in order to create the illusion of dramatics. As Al Hewetson noted in 1973: “‘The Terror’ was Syd’s very first story, circa 1940—in fact, he hated the very sight of this art and actually grew to loathe it so much through the years that he insisted on throwing the only stats of it away, despite its obvious value; fortunately a copy of the complete story is preserved”—if you happen to be rich enough to own a copy of Mystic Comics #5 (March 1941). [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In humor I can distort with ease. There’s not the pressure of knowing that this arm is wrong here, or that arm doesn’t look right there, and I feel free to make characterizations that I would never do with a super-hero or macabre piece. Expressions on faces, and the people themselves, the shapes of their bodies can be pulled out of perspective, and things can be done with them that can’t be done with realism.

Although, I suppose I should say one thing—in comic art a person is drawn normally at seven heads in height. In super-hero material, he’s drawn eight or nine heads high. This is distortion, sure, while everyone around the super-hero—say, in a crowd scene—may be seven heads, the super-hero is nine heads—making him look about ten feet tall. It gives an added sense of power and drama to comic heroes. AH: Do all artists in comics draw characters at this height? SHORES: No, but most of the artists in comic books do, although I’ve seen some work where the people are drawn naturally and normally and they just don’t look like good super-heroes. Kirby is a master at this idea of a powerful stand-off look to chief characters. He won’t make people look all that much taller, but he gives them power in having a tremendous chest, huge over-sized hands and head, thick legs three times the normal thickness—and it comes out beautifully. Well, all Kirby’s work is beautiful. Jack Kirby hired Syd Shores as an aspiring young artist when comics were just starting in the Golden Age. In 1940, unemployed and just married, Syd was looking around for work after his uncle’s whiskey bottling plant closed its doors. He’d worked seven years with his uncle as a manager of forty men, a blender, the keeper of government records for the firm, having worked his way up from the bottom as a truck driver when he joined the firm in 1933 at the age of 17. At the age of 16 he’d attended the famous Pratt Institute in New York, where he had studied commercial art: The originators of Captain America, of course, were Simon & Kirby. This recent Cap sketch (below left) by Joe Simon—done, ‘twould seem, for someone at a photocopy store—was provided by Jon Mankuta, via Blake Bell, and is used with permission of both. For his part, Jack Kirby returned to Captain America in the ’60s and ’70s; his cover for The Invaders #6 (May 1976) was inked by Joe Sinnott and is repro’d from photocopies of the original art, provided by John Morrow. [C.A. art ©2001 Joe Simon; Captain America & Invaders ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Syd Shores

SHORES: I loved art, and couldn’t think of wanting to be anything else in life. I remember one incident that’s always struck me as funny. Ever since childhood I had romanticized art as being terrific, with beautiful, graceful, live nudes in class—real pros with lithe bodies for anatomy studies. What a shock I got—while I can’t recommend Pratt highly enough, because it was terrific for me—the nude we had to study was beyond belief! She was a broken-down old nag. You looked at her and you got a low sinking feeling in your stomach! But my mind wasn’t really on her, anyway. Pratt is where I met my wife-to-be. Selma was taking lettering and poster work in a class called Advertising Design. We waited seven years to get married, because there was never any security in the whiskey business, until 1940 when I had some money I’d saved behind me and we made the big plunge. A couple of months later the company went out of business and I was out of work. Needless to say, I went through my savings pretty fast. Selma had a cousin who wrote comics—comic books, that is— something nobody had ever heard of, really. I went to see him—Harry “A” Chesler—and he agreed to take me into his studio, which he shared with Phil Sturm and Mac Raboy. For months I was just a joe-boy, watching and learning and helping wherever I could. I studied Mac Raboy for hours on end—he was slow and meticulous about everything, doing maybe only a single panel of artwork a day, but it was truly beautiful work.

From Captain America #37 (April, ’44). But—if Syd was in the Army from “late 1942” till the end of ’44, when did he pencil it? While he was in uniform? Thanks to Mike Costa & Blake Bell. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

After four months I tried my own hand at work, doing a seven-page piece called “The Terror.” I was proud of it then, of course, but in looking back it really was a terror! Amateurish and crude—it was a monstrosity. I took it up to Timely Comics to try to sell it, and wound up chatting with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who were the only two people at Timely at the time. Kirby chomped on his cigar a little and said it [“The Terror”] had promise, that I showed promise, and offered me a staff job at $30 a week, just essentially inking. My first job on staff was to ink the cover for Captain America #1. I don’t think I inked the whole first issue—I think Jack did that one himself; I’m not sure—but shortly afterward I was inking Cap regularly, and a host of others. Stan joined the staff just about then, and there grew an enormous number of staffers within a short time. Some of the guys who’d been freelancing now came on staff, people like Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, while Stan had worked into doing some writing. When Simon and Kirby left in 1942, Stan did all the writing and was given the position of editorial director, while I was the art director, although I got called “associate editor” in the books that were put out around about then.

The gorgeous Shores cover of Cap #65 (Jan. ’48) was reprinted in Les Daniels’ 1990 Marvel coffee-table book, so we’re content to showcase this splash, which provider Blake Bell aptly calls “simple and effective.” Art courtesy Mike Costa & Blake Bell. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

When Simon and Kirby left the gap for people to work on Cap, Stan took over writing it, Al Avison started penciling, and I continued to ink. Al was taken by the service in ’42 and I started penciling Captain America, while Vince Alascia became my steady inker. Of course, I keep

Syd Shores mentioning Cap because that was the big book Timely had. We had a club called The Sentinels of Liberty, which kind of started fandom. Kids would send in for their cards and badges and writing long and flattering letters, something none of us had been used to at all in this business. I was also doing “Major Liberty,” Young Allies, and a million general adventure spots at the same time.

Atlas, primarily doing war books) in Hampstead, Long Island. Later they were to move the studio to Freeport. By 1955 they had planned to make the studio a showcase for local artists not commercial enough to have their own gallery, but promising enough for their work to be on commercial display. They also planned several syndicated strips, incorporating advertising into the actual artwork, and went so far as to have samples and finished artwork on the project. The death of Norman Steinberg stopped their plans and ended the studio altogether. Mort Lawrence quit comics entirely and headed west, while Syd returned to his studio at home and continued freelancing for major outfits, notably Atlas.

In late 1942 Syd as inducted into the US Army, and [in 1944] was shipped over to Normandy to be in Patton’s pounding Third Army. He saw service in France and Germany until he was wounded in Metz, France, on December 16, 1944. He received the Purple Heart. He was hospitalized in Britain for four months, then finally reassigned to an engineering outfit; but before he saw any action, the European war ended and he became part of the Occupation Forces in Germany. Syd was discharged in January of 1946 and took back his old job at Timely with publisher Martin Goodman. Once again he took over Captain America, no longer a Nazi fighter, now fighting in the streets of Manhattan as a superpatriot to maintain the freedoms Syd himself had fought for a few thousand miles away in Europe.

Then came ’57 and the utter collapse of comics. Virtually no original material was being published by any of the major companies, which, to save money, had gone to reprints. Syd, and just about everybody else, found themselves without an income and not even a hint of future work.

Shores had an “Art Associate” credit on a title page in C.A. #59— and probably drew part of the issue, as well. Courtesy of Mike Costa & Blake Bell. For more about Golden Age legends Syd Shores, Bill Everett, and Alex Schomburg, visit Blake’s website “Live Forever” at <http://www.interlog.com/~ditko37/ess.html> and his Timely-Atlas Mailing List at yahoogroups.com <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/timely-atlas>. Oh yeah, you’ll find a lot of stuff about a couple of guys named Ditko and Colan in that general vicinity, too! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In the years to follow, Syd Shores would also illustrate such Golden Age books as The Black Rider, The TwoGun Kid, Kid Colt Outlaw, Battle Brady, Sailor Sweeny, The Human Torch, Marvel Mystery Comics, Sub-Mariner, Mystic Comics, U.S.A. Comics, Young Allies, plus countless other westerns, romance books, and macabre books—all for Timely.

Syd had always thought, during his formative years, that he would be an artist; only fate threw him into comics. He now turned his attention to magazine illustration—a high-paying but competitive field which required absolute quality and professionalism. Syd spent four months getting into shape, studying, preparing samples for editors.

His work called for models and background reference for every illustration. Teaming up with an inventive neighbor who would make numerous props for backgrounds, Syd recruited his friends and family to pose for him, in highly disciplined and foreign situations, while he set up

In 1948 all staff jobs were cut at Timely (turned Atlas) except the essentials, such as production staff and the editorial position of Stan Lee. Everybody went freelance, including Syd, who continued to do work for Timely but now worked as well for several other comic groups, such as Avon Publishing (for whom he did detective-story type books), Orbit Publications (where he did his pride and joy—“Wild Bill Pecos” and the famous Wanted Comics) and Crime Does Not Pay, which were hit so hard by Frederic Wertham in the early 1950s. It was also during this period that Syd did The Blonde Phantom for Timely—one of the most notable books ever to be produced during the 1940s by the Goodman organization, then located in the prestigious Empire State Building. By 1952 Syd was tired of working at home and wanted to get away from the monotony. He opened a private studio with Mort Lawrence (who was doing Wanted Comics and several westerns for Orbit) and Norman Steinberg (an artist for

Sorry we couldn’t get better repro from the original fanzine, but Syd loved doing “Wild Bill Pecos” so much that we didn’t want to omit him—or this “Scalp-Hunters” splash from Orbit Publications. [©2001 the respective copyright holders.]

Syd Shores Syd worked with Wally Wood, Ralph Reese, Nicola Cuti, and Jack Abel at a jointly-rented studio in Valley Stream on Long Island (the Wood Studio), where for a threeweek period Syd and I worked out Radical in Power, commuting to and from his home in Bethpage, Long Island.

weird lighting for accuracy and clicked away in his basement with his Rollei. Then he’d soup the negatives and prints in his own darkroom and... voila... all the comforts of a professional photographic studio, with professionallooking models (principally because of their endurance, knowing Syd) right at home.

Syd never worked for National, the major Marvel competition, because Syd was a “Marvel man.” But for posterity it is interesting to note here that, two weeks before Syd’s sudden death in June, an editor at National contacted me to solicit Syd’s art for various National comics. Of course, this never came to be, but Syd was delighted at the idea during our last correspondence, which was on this matter, six days before his death.

I’ve seen Syd’s files of photographs taken at these weekly sessions, and in a word, they’re remarkable; the inventiveness of the man seemed endless. In 1961-63 Stan Lee picked up Marvel by its heels and turned it upside down into an astonishing success. By 1965 it was in the race for leadership in the comics game, attracting an enormous adult and college market, and by 1967 they’d grabbed the number one spot in sales with a number of their books—the first time since 1942 with Syd’s Captain America. Marvel tried to get Syd back into comics and plagued him with quarterly phone calls between ’63 and ’67. That’s how long it took. Syd was back in comics! His first job in 1967 for Marvel? You guessed it—inking Jack Kirby’s Captain America in a re-release of the character with a splash: “Big Premiere Issue!”

When Roy Thomas and John Buscema’s Native American hero Red Wolf— introduced in The Avengers—was backdated to an Old West setting in Marvel Spotlight #1 (Nov. 1971), Golden-Age greats Gardner Fox and Syd Shores were tapped as the creative team. Thanks to Shane Foley for photostats of the original art. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Syd continued to ink Captain America again, as well as other firstline books such as Sgt. Fury, the new Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Gene Colan’s Daredevil, Captain Savage, Ghost Rider, Rawhide Kid, and Thor, at the same time doing countless covers for Marvel’s entire line of books. He drew the western title Red Wolf until his death. He illustrated Skywald’s Hell-Rider magazine and “The Bravados” and various westerns, and he illustrated several macabre stories for Skywald’s, Warren’s, and Marvel’s black-&-white magazines.

There were also Tales of the Macabre and Dirty Soks (two newspaper strips which Syd and I teamed up to produce in 1970, which failed to materialize for lack of time on both our parts)... The Satirist (a venture into newspaper Canadiana)... Radical in Power (which Syd and I prepared as a new concept in large-size adult reading for National Periodicals). For about two years

The realms of Syd Shores’ comics are as various as the medium itself. In 33 years he entertained literally millions upon millions of children, and adults, with the adventures of Captain America, the acrobatic stunts of Daredevil, the freaked-out world of the Hell-Rider, the weird-vamplady The Blonde Phantom, the shoot-outs of Wild Bill Pecos, the gangbuster action of Crime Does Not Pay, and the explosive Indian saga Red Wolf.

It stands to reason that a man as talented as this biography demonstrates was recognized at an early age. His first artwork was displayed in the Brooklyn Museum while he was still in high school. He won second place—a gold medal—for a poster contest run by the famous Wannamakers Store Foundation, with a humanist picture showing the brutal treatment of puppies. Three years later, pen stroke by pen stroke, it was copied by a professional artist as an ad for a dog food company in a major ad campaign. Syd was thirteen. Before his death, he was daily in receipt of letters praising his work, asking about his life and career, pleading for advice. At the comic conventions held in New York each year, Syd met the fans and graced their requests for sketches and discussion. In my last letter from Syd, he expressed his desire to get together with me at the 1973 convention and to talk about comics. Our love. Syd Shores died on June 3rd of a heart seizure. His wife Selma writes: “It was completely sudden and so unexpected...” He was respected by his peers, and by his readers. We loved him. We still do. [AL HEWETSON wrote for Marvel, DC, Skywald, and Cracked from 1969 through the ’70s.]

Now—FLIP US for FCA & ME, Too!

Captain Marvel TM & © DC Comics.

Roy T Thomas homas’ S Shazamic hazamic Roy Comics F F anzine Comics anzine

5.95

In the the USA USA In

No. 11 November 2001

Plus: Plus:

DON NEWTON C.C. BECK MARC SWAYZE BOB POWELL JOE CERTA JOHN BELFI FRED MEAGHER FRANK BOLLE FRED GUARDINEER FRANK BRUNNER TRINA ROBBINS JERRY DE FUCCIO BILL SCHELLY JIM AMASH P.C. HAMERLINCK JERRY SIEGEL MICHAEL T. GILBERT & More!

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 11 / November 2001 ™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

FCA

Comics Crypt Editor

ME !

Section

Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich

Cover Artists Carl Burgos, Fred Bell, & Carl Pfeufer Don Newton

Cover Color Tom Ziuko Don Newton

Contents

Mailing Crew

Writer/Editorial: FCA & ME 2! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

In Memoriam: Chuck Cuidera Jerry de Fuccio George Evans Barbara Knutson

Magazine Enterprises, Part II— More about Vin Sullivan’s Big Little Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Joe Certa, John Belfi, Frank Bolle, Bob Powell, and Fred Meagher Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 It’s a bird—it’s a plane—it’s Super Sam! Michael T. Gilbert on Jerry Siegel at war. The Don & Maggie Thompson Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Two of the founders of comics fandom, interviewed by Bill Schelly and Jeff Gelb.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #70. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Marc Swayze, C.C. Beck—and a spotlight on the career and art of Don Newton. Special Section on the Titans of Timely! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: This is a Captain Marvel painting by Don Newton—or, in truth, only a part of a painting—that Ye Editor bought from the artist circa 1980. When, a few years after Don’s untimely passing, Roy was gearing up anew to write a Shazam! series, DC’s managing editor Dick Giordano hoped to use it as the wraparound cover of its first issue. See the entire painting—albeit, alas, only in black-&-white—on Page 44. The art is used by permission of Don’s son, Anthony Newton. [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.] Above: Roy admits it: He’s always had a weak spot for Jet Powers, the hero of ME’s short-lived Jet. How could he not love a science-fictional hero drawn by Bob Powell, written by Gardner Fox, and calling himself a “Captain of Science”? This is the splash page of #1. [Art ©2001 the estate of Vin Sullivan.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8.00 ($10.00 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 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 Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

FCA

ME !

Oh yeah--plus Mr. Monster! page which features, years before that awful movie did, an exploding penguin.

uns, it’s often claimed, are the lowest form of humor.

All this and Super Sam, too! I was delighted when Michael T. Gilbert came up with the WWII-era page written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel—even more so the photo of Jerry and the artist taken (more or less) in uniform.

Whoever said that had obviously never seen the Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, or anything with Adam Sandler. (But then, I like two of the above entities myself—you guess which two—so what do I know?)

Of all these things, great and small, is the checkered history of comic books composed.

As related last issue, in 1986 Bill and Theresa Harper took over publication of the already long-running magazine FCA, nee Fawcett Collectors of America. Because of their interest in the late Vin Sullivan’s Magazine Enterprises company, which published a fine line of comics from 194358, they rechristened the fanzine FCA & ME, TOO! and devoted roughly half its contents to ME—which is pronounced “M-E,” not like the word “me,” though it was still a sort of visual pun. Naturally, since it proved impossible to Captain Ego (half of our mascot team “Alter and...”) drawn cram all the ME-related material culled from by his creator for Alter Ego, Vol. 1, #8, 1965. [Art ©2001 Biljo the Harpers’ zine plus new additions into White; Captain Ego ©2001 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.] our previous issue—added to the fact that this issue was slated to be one of those devoting double-space to P.C. Hamerlinck’s always-informative FCA— there was no way I could have avoided subtitling this section “FCA & ME 2,” even if I’d wanted to. And, of course, I didn’t want to.

It’s a four-color tapestry that will never be completed, of course. But we’ll keep at it—Alter Ego and Comic Book Artist and The Jack Kirby Collector and, yes, even the more modern-oriented Comicology—just as long as we have the support of people who are true comics fans—interested, in other words, in more than simply whatever is trumpeted in the latest issue of Wizard as the greatest comic book since Action #1. Good to have you with us! We mean that. Bestest,

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My only regret is that I couldn’t find the room to publish even more prose and art related to Magazine Enterprises, since it may be a while before there’s an opportunity to re-visit the company that gave us Bob Powell’s Cave Girl, The Avenger, and Strongman; Frank Frazetta’s Thun’da and White Indian; Frank Bolle’s Tim Holt/Redmask and Black Phantom; Fred Meagher’s Straight Arrow; Certa, Belfi, and Guardineer’s Durango Kid; Siegel & Shuster’s Funnyman; and, most especially, Dick Ayers’ original Ghost Rider and the first issue of The Avenger. (And, lest we forget, the writer of much of the above was the indefatigable Gardner F. Fox, co-creator of The Flash, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Skyman, Adam Strange, the Silver Age Atom, and a couple of social clubs called the Justice Society and Justice League.)

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It’s also been a personal pleasure this time around, along with the usual great insights from Marc Swayze, to see FCA devote so much space to Don Newton, one of the nicer guys I’ve run into in this business. Fate decreed that the two of us worked together only on one full issue (and two fragments) of Infinity, Inc. and a few preliminary sketches and concepts related to Shazam! in the early ’80s, but—C.C. Beck’s overwrought view to the contrary—Don’s work had a quiet integrity which, had he lived a while longer, might well have seen him take his place among the pantheon of great comic book artists. Some would claim that he’s already there—and I won’t argue with them. I think about Don every time I look at his two Shazam!-related paintings which hang above the door to our courtyard, or at the original Batman

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The Durango Kid

The Decades Part II

The Durango Kid on Page and Screen

by Bill Harper [EDITOR’S NOTE: The following piece is reprinted in slightly edited form from FCA #39 (a.k.a. FCA & ME, TOO! #3), and is ©2001 by Bill Harper. —RT.] In 1949 Magazine Enterprises struck a deal through the legal department of Columbia Pictures to publish the exploits of the movie hero The Durango Kid in comic book form. The studio received a 15% commission, of which Charles Starrett, who acted the title role, received 50%. In an interview with Bill Black of AC Comics, Starrett said, “I enjoyed the books. They were good publicity.” And good business, too. The “B” western movies came into box office prominence in the mid1940s, and comic book publishers capitalized on cowboy stars’ popularity, allowing fans an opportunity to enjoy the derring-do of their favorites between movies, and also served as a means to introduce comic readers to the movies. Thus, the first issue of The Durango Kid proclaimed “The Movies’ Most Colorful Western Star—Charles Starrett as The Durango Kid.” Charles Starrett rode the range for 17 years (1935-52) for Columbia Pictures, starring in 132 westerns, but it is in the role of the black-clad Durango Kid that he is best remembered. In 1940 the first Durango Kid movie was released, titled simply The Durango Kid. Although Starrett approached the role as he did any other western, the fans and theatre owners clamored for more. Five years later (1945), the dark phantom of the prairies again leaped into the saddle of his white horse Raider, and

rode the thin line between good and bad on the silver screen in The Return of the Durango Kid. Over half the 65 Durango Kid features had been produced before Magazine Enterprises introduced the comic version on the stands with a Sept.Oct. 1949 dateline. The magazine outlasted the movie career of both Durango and Starrett by three years, ending with issue #41 in 1955. To quote from AC Comics’ Best of the West #5 The Durango (1999): “Western film star Charles Starrett stands Kid comic did what beside his alter ego—the mysterious Durango Kid—in the movies never this publicity still from Columbia Pictures.” No hard did—gave the trick, since virtually all the Kid’s scenes were played character a by a stunt double, not by Starrett! What Ye Editor consistent a.k.a.— remembers most about Durango Kid movies—besides namely, Steve Brand. the hero’s ever-changing last name—was that, when In the first film he masked, Durango never got knocked down by the was known as Bill bad-guys. Never. Not once, in the dozens of Durango movies Ye Ed saw as a boy. (Nobody ever Lowery; he was later called him “Kid,” either!) With thanks to Bill Black, called Steve the Heikes, & AC Comics. [©2001 the respective “Whatever” for the copyright holder.] remaining releases, his last name changing from movie to movie for no apparent reason. Smiley Burnette, who played the comic sidekick in most of the Durango Kid films (just as he had earlier played Gene Autry’s sidekick Frog Millhouse), was replaced in the comics by the not-dissimilar Muley Pike, since Burnette had his own comic book at Fawcett and thus could not be depicted in an ME mag.

The first illustrators associated with the Durango Kid comics were Joe Certa and John Belfi. The two had teamed together on other projects prior to joining ME. Later issues were drawn by Fred Guardineer. Belfi recalled that, in the Certa-Belfi team, he did most of the breakdowns. Joe Certa tightened the penciling, and Belfi “took over the completion and delivery to Ray Krank,” ME’s editor. Of course, with the volume of work they produced, the order of production varied on occasion, but according to Belfi that was the usual routine. Joe Certa’s wife disputes that version of things, as will be seen on the next page... A Fred Guardineer panel of Durango with his comic book sidekick, Muley Pike. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Ethan Roberts. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Joe Certa

Joe Certa by Al Lenny [Since Joe Certa (penciler) and John Belfi (inker) comprised a major art team at Magazine Enterprises and elsewhere—first on The Durango Kid and later moving on briefly to the syndicated Straight Arrow comic strip—we’re dealing with these artists back-to-back. And, since the pencils come first: The following article originally appeared in FCA #41 (Spring 1988), a.k.a. FCA & ME, TOO! #5. Joseph Certa had passed away on February 15, 1986. This piece was written based on telephone conversations between Al Lenny and the artist’s widow, Olympia Certa. It has been slightly edited for inclusion here, and is ©2001 Bill Harper.] Joe Certa was born in Manhattan, June 2, 1919, and attended public school in New York City. His mother died when he was eleven years old. It was at this time, while apparently in an introspective state of mind, that he started to show a strong interest in drawing. While in high school, he visited cartoonists with a friend. Ham Fisher was one of these cartoonists, and after Joe finished high school, Fischer offered him a job on the Joe Palooka strip. Joe was with Fischer from 1938 until 1942, when he joined the Army. By choice, Joe did not go to college; he attended the Art Student league after graduating from high school. In this school a student could go for as long as he wanted, taking the courses he wanted; there was no set curriculum as in a traditional college. Joe and Olympia were married in 1941, before he joined the Army. He was stationed at Fort Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, at a communications center with illustrators, editors, writers, and artists, all in one group. They put out brochures and PR material for the Army. While in the service, Joe did a strip about a soldier, called Will B. Wright. This appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch and the Philadelphia Inquirer. After he left the Army, Joe freelanced. He worked for Fawcett, with editor Wendell Crowley on Captain Marvel Jr., and for DC. Joe did pencils for the syndicated comic strip Straight Arrow, which was inked by John Belfi. Certa and Belfi also teamed up on The Durango Kid for Magazine Enterprises. Olympia Certa’s recollection of this latter teamwork differs from that of John Belfi, as presented in FCA #39. Mrs. Certa recalls, “Belfi did not do the original drawings and then Joe tightened them; Joe conceived the picture, did the pencils, and Belfi did the inks.” Joe also did covers for ME’s comic book Dan’l Boone. According to Olympia Certa, Joe’s first love was cartooning, but he did other types of illustrative work. When the comics market dropped, he moved to commercial work (advertising, filmstrips) and later told his wife that he would never consider going back to cartooning; he said that part was “over with.” One of the last things he did in comics, before going into commercial work, was a comic called Dark Shadows; he did

AC Comics’ Best of the West #1 (1998) reprinted the Certa-Belfi “Durango Kid” story whose splash is reprinted here, but we’re not sure which ME comic it came from. [©2001 AC Comics & the respective copyright holder.]

covers and stories. The book was based on the popular TV show of the same name and was published by Gold Key. Joe’s subsequent non-comics work included pieces for commercial houses and educational houses, illustrations for textbooks, and some TV commercials. Most of this was in filmstrips (history, science) and was in color as well as in black-&-white. A list of his commercial clients includes: Dreyfus Fund, Kodak cameras, Atari, Ivory soap, Gillette, Samsonite luggage, and Mitsubishi automobiles.

The US military was a long-term client of Joe’s: Besides the work he did for the Army during World War II, in the 1970s he illustrated training manuals for the US Army, Air Force, and Marines. Using art to educate was a recurring theme for Joe Certa. Certa’s career as an illustrator spanned almost fifty years and included work intended to entertain and work intended to educate. It’s unfortunate for us that the problems surrounding the comics industry eventually compelled him to abandon this aspect of his work. [A/E NOTE: The original article indicated that Joe Certa left comics when the comics market “dropped (around the early 1950s).” This was clearly a chronological error, since Certa continued drawing comics for DC until 1968, and even for Magazine Enterprises until 1957... while Dark Shadows, of course, was a TV show and comic book during the late ’60s. In addition, there was clearly no drop in comics sales in “the early 1950s,” unless by that one means 1954—and Certa remained in the field long after that. Beginning in 1955 he penciled the new “John Jones–Manhunter from Mars” series in DC’s Detective Comics.]

John Belfi

John Belfi Interview Conducted and Transcribed by Jim Amash [NOTE: John Belfi had a long, distinguished career that began in the early days of comic books. Nearly every comics reader over the age of thirty has had some contact with his work; but because it was never signed, his craftsmanship and dedication to comics have gone largely unappreciated. Belfi’s art has graced many a DC reprint comic over the past 3-4 decades, and he worked with some of the most important people in the field. This interview was conducted by mail during the spring of 1992, and was expanded and re-edited in February 2001, with an eye toward covering both John Belfi’s own career and his views on other artists, writers, and editors. —Jim.]

PERSONAL LIFE Married at 19. I had three children, divorced after 30 years, remarried to a wonderful English woman, Valerie, on New Year’s Eve ten years ago [in 1982]. We met in New Jersey. I was in charge of production of several weekly newspapers.

John Belfi at the drawing board, 1981—and the Straight Arrow illo he was doing at the time, both reproduced in FCA #39. Photo and art courtesy of Jim Amash and Bill Harper. [Straight Arrow ©2001 Nabisco; art ©2001 the estate of John Belfi.]

My work habits: A “hard worker.” In comics, I’d work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for many years! I loved it— and I made pretty good money—$150 to $300 a week at 16; then, the average person was making $50 a week. After 20-plus years in comic books, I did several daily/Sunday syndicated strips (4 or 5), then drifted out of comics. I just couldn’t take the hours at the board any longer. I was a member of the National Cartoonists Society for many years—but dropped out—I just didn’t like New York City anymore. I worked nine years for Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, New Jersey (a division of American Cyanamid) as senior artist. I had no training in graphic art/advertising—but again, learned on the job! I designed thousands of packages, labels, posters, safety drawings, brochures—created exhibits, etc. Then I co-owned several small (then large) ad agencies in NYC, with major accounts: Chase Bank, Revlon, Arrid, Breck Shampoo, etc., etc.

bones! They were all deteriorated (five of them) and were cutting off the circulation to my body. The reason, according to my surgeon: Bending over a drawing board for many years, close-up work, literally wore my bones down to almost nothing. Fortunately, a hard operation, a year-plus recuperation—I can now hold a pencil/pen, etc. [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: What follows are John’s written responses to questions as to what he remembered about various of his comic book colleagues over the years.]

One of the earliest comic book artists. He gave me my start about 1936-37! I was about 13 or 14. He lived about eight blocks from me in the Bronx. I heard that an “artist” lived in the area—so I knocked on many, many doors and asked, “Is there an artist around here?” Finally, somebody said, “I think so. I see a man with a black portfolio down about 4 or 5 houses.” Off I went—and met Frank Frollo. He hired me after school hours. I worked for him from about 3:30 to 11:00 p.m. at his home, all day Saturday and Sunday (about 16 hours a day).

As a self-taught artist, I always wanted to teach others. I began teaching about twenty years ago at three colleges, high schools, vo-techs [vocational technical colleges], art schools (Joe Kubert’s for seven years), and still do! (Not at Joe’s.)

I did cleanup work, retouched for a few weeks, then penciled and inked backgrounds and secondary figures for a couple of months. Then started full inking... by the time I was 15. I did dozens and dozens of stories for Frank in those early days. I learned “on the job.” Although Frank never taught me, I learned by doing it and watching him.

My longing desire: To create good books on: cartooning, graphic arts/advertising. The ones I have seen are horrible! [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Sadly, John did not live long enough to do those books. He died on October 2, 1995.] PERSONALLY: I became very sick a little over six years ago. I became more paralyzed day by day. Both hands and legs. I couldn’t hold a pencil, etc. After many doctors, tests for over a year, my troubles were found: I had practically no neck

FRANK FROLLO

By the time I was 16 he called his publisher (Jerry Iger). I went to New York City—and they gave me a script to do on my own! I don’t even

John Belfi Jack Cole could pencil a six-page story in a day. He did a lot of his writing as he drew the story. He wrote all his material on the pages with no typed script (just notes). Martin DeMuth then lettered and I inked. I was 17. Cole smoked four packs of cigarettes a day. He would have a fit if he didn’t have a cigarette in his mouth. Sometimes he’d have one in his mouth and one burning in the ashtray. He also used to hide Paul Gustavson’s cigarettes.

remember what it was. But that’s how I started. I’ve never had any formal art training. I wish I did. It would have been easier! From there on, I was on my own. I did occasional work for Frollo, because he helped me get started, had patience, and guided me. He was not a great artist... mostly swipes from Raymond, Caniff, etc. I still have two pages of Buck Jones and two pages of “Lucifer” he did before I started with him. They are crude, but so were most comic book artists in those days.

Although a quiet worker, Jack was a great kidder, very funny “offstage”—all the time! Some of the practical jokes he played: Glued ink bottles to cabinet/tabouret, put a whoopie noise-maker under the chair cushions, a dry bottle of India ink turned over on another artist’s work—he created ink blotches on paper, put it on the work on the drawing board so that it looked like someone had spilled ink all over the drawing: I was one of the guys he did this to. He took one of his old brushes, used glue to create a great point, and left it on another artist’s table. When they tried to use it—it was hard as a rock.

MAC RABOY

A very quiet, introverted person; a very easy-going professional. I worked primarily at home when doing “Captain Marvel Jr.” for him. Mac did the pencils and I was inking. On one story I did pencils and inks. I wasn’t very talented at 15, but he was very kind to me, not bellowing that my work was not the greatest. I was learning “on the job.” Mac never taught me, or suggested better ways of doing things... just accepted what I was doing. Watching Mac pencil was a thrill! It would take him a We also went bowling some late whole day to pencil a single figure or A “Nightmare” splash page by Maurice Del Bourgo, from Hillman’s Clue evenings after work. I never met two—and a full second day to ink Comics. Courtesy of Jerry G. Bails. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.] Cole’s wife. He never mentioned his his own figures. He never washed his home life to me. His hobbies were brushes. He kept them rock-hard, bowling and eating. He was tall and fairly heavy. I was proud to be but only used a small portion of the tip for his fine lines. doing work with him and learned a great deal sitting next to him and Mac was extremely slow—we did use a learning by watching. Busy admired all the considerable amount of stats for heads, full artists in his bullpen staff. figures (of all the major characters). Even I greatly admired his full-color sound effects. He was a great artist—and renderings for Playboy. When he very insecure about his work—but very easy committed suicide—I could not believe it. to work with for two years. He shared his This was not the Jack Cole I knew! office with Bernard Baily, Maurice Del Bourgo, and one or two others. I inked quite a few of Baily’s pencils, some of Del Bourgo. PAUL GUSTAVSON I inked most of his pencils: “Midnight,” “Human Bomb,” etc.

JACK COLE A fantastic person to work with! Similar to Mac Raboy—very quiet, a great humorous artist. He kept to himself pretty much—spoke to others only when required. I inked dozens of “Plastic Mans”. He also never guided me—only kept giving me work to do. It seemed like he worked at Busy Arnold’s 16 hours a day. He was a very fast penciler—fairly tight. Less tight if he inked. If I did the inking—a little tighter. I never liked inking very tight pencils. It left little creative inking to do. If his pencils, or those of other pencilers (Lee Elias, Carmine Infantino, etc.) were tight—I’d erase half of the lines before I did the inking.

LOU FINE, WILL EISNER, ALEX KOTZKY, AND THE SPIRIT Fine was a great artist, one of the finest I’ve ever known. We were great friends for a long time. Lou was a super, friendly person, soft-spoken, never harsh—a little shy, probably because of his limp. Bad leg. I admired his pencils as well as his inking. My inking his work did injustice to his pencils. But he was a gentleman. He never criticized what I did. He was supergood—super-fast. It took Alex Kotzky and me to keep up with him. Kotzky and I A 1939 “Flame” panel by the fine Lou Fine. Courtesy of Jerry Bails & Hames Ware. [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

John Belfi would sometimes do the complete inking. Other times, just backgrounds. George Tuska helped, too. Fine, Kotzky, and Eisner did use Japanese brushes. I tried several times—but did not like them. We worked very small. Many of the pages were reduced very little so all fine lines (no pun intended) printed very small. Some pages were about 9"x12". For Lou I did “Black Condor,” “The Ray,” “Uncle Sam,” The Spirit, and several others. I worked with Fine and Kotzky as a team on The Spirit. Bill Eisner was to go into the service, and did: Aberdeen, Maryland. Bill and I corresponded often. As we continued The Spirit, Eisner would send us scripts, full penciled roughs to about 8 1/2"x11" size. We redrew to a larger size, following his guides— to finished inking. All told, I did dozens of Spirit stories. On several occasions I worked weekends in Stamford, Connecticut, where Lou and Alex lived, to catch up on our heavy volume of work. Bill Eisner came home on weekends quite often, and oversaw what we were doing. He was a great person to work with. He is the master of sequential storytelling, both writing and drawing. I had a chance to see him (after forty years) at the Joe Kubert School. Once I left Quality, I lost contact with both Lou and Alex. I miss them both. It seems most of the oldtimers were the same: Quiet, shy, spoke very little. Sociable, yes, but not outside of the office (except when we went bowling). Our privates lives were—private.

CARMINE INFANTINO A New York high school buddy of mine. I inked a considerable amount of Carmine’s pencils for a year or two. His pencils were very tight, using a hard pencil (I had to erase the pencils before I started inking), well detailed. [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: In answer to a question I asked him about Infantino being influenced by the work of Milt Caniff:] As to his being “Caniff-like”—I didn’t think so. Maybe my inking made it more like Caniff’s—after all, he was my idol. Carmine and I never socialized. A friendly, easy-going guy in school. Friendly, but aloof. I re-met him again after several years when he was the president of DC. Frank Giacoia also went to that school.

JULIE SCHWARTZ I started working for DC at about 16 or 17. He was my main editor. Julie was always a pleasure to work with, as most editors were in those days.

SHELLY MAYER I inked a lot of things for him but don’t remember what. I inked Infantino, Hasen, and others for him. Mayer was a little harder to work for than Julie. He was a perfectionist. Gave firm notations at the beginning—I followed his ideas and never had problems. I enjoyed working for him.

IRWIN HASEN

I inked his “Green Lantern” for about two years. I rarely met Irwin until later. On one job, I AL BRYANT worked long, hard hours, still He was a distinguished, goodgoing to high school (1H hours looking cartoonist (he looked like away from my home in the Errol Flynn). I inked his “Doll Bronx). I fell asleep on the train— Man” as well as other features. woke up when I heard “42nd “Wonder Boy” by Al Bryant, from a 1941 issue of Quality’s National Comics. They were a pleasure to do. Street!” I ran out of the train and Thanks to Jerry Bails. [©2001 DC Comics.] left the 10- or 12-page story on MIKE SEKOWSKY the train. It was never found in spite of my phone calls, etc. I had to contact Irwin—it wasn’t funny to An old buddy from the School of Industrial Arts. I saw Mike him. Irwin had to re-pencil—and I had to re-ink the job in an emergency occasionally, but we never worked together. rush—way past deadline! Irwin always kids me about what happened, even 40-plus years later. I became reacquainted with Irwin at the Joe REED CRANDALL Kubert School. He was one of the instructors—and within an hour all the instructors knew the train story! I inked many of his pencils: “Blackhawk,” PT-109, “Doll Man,” etc., but never met him! He delivered his pencils and I inked them for quite a while. I always admired his pencils—very well defined, strong storytelling.

ALEX TOTH We’ve known each other for years. I’ve always admired his work, but we never worked together. With all his talent, he should have continued in comic books, syndicated strips, illustration, advertising, etc.

JOHN CASSONE He did pencils and inks for Quality—was a close friend. He moved to California years ago and I lost track of him. He was a Navy cartoonist. His style was illustrative, a little of Alex Raymond/Lou Fine style. Did sexy women. I have a Christmas card of his. He’s lying in a coffin saying, “Merry Christmas!” He was a good, hard worker.

John Belfi finished pages would look like— until they were printed—and what the artwork would show. He’d cover up anything—except Daredevil.

BOB McCAY The son of Winsor McCay [creator/artist/writer of Little Nemo]. He was old to us kids. Not a good artist, but tried his best. Unfortunately, he drank very heavily—rarely sober. He wasn’t at Quality very long. It was hard to follow in his famous father’s footsteps. We all felt sorry for him and did what we could to help him. He was a very friendly, quiet person—even when he drank. But he kept mainly to himself.

GILL FOX I met Gill at Busy Arnold’s in 1940. Gill primarily did two-page fillers for several books. “Wun Clu” was one of the fillers. He did Carmine Infantino (as he mentioned last issue) may have attended some of not work in the bullpen, but came those shindigs at musician Fred Waring’s place, but Belfi’s the one who got this in often from Stamford, photo with a number of comics pros, circa 1950! (Front, l. to r.:) Unknown, Tom Gill, John Belfi, 3 Unknowns; (middle row, l. to r.:) Mrs. Steve Douglas, Connecticut. A very slow penciler Irwin Hasen; (rear, l. to r.:) Lee Elias, Frank Fogerty, Unknown, Charlie Biro, and inker. His lines were carefully Bob Dunn, Unknown, Dave Breger, and a very young Frank Frazetta. Photo crafted. I did not work for him courtesy of Jim Amash, who was given it by John Belfi. while he was an editor. He is short, well built, like a wrestler. We were friends for several years at Quality and he was well liked by everyone.

He was a work freak. A little demanding, not a good artist himself, but he insisted on doing all the Daredevil heads. They usually didn’t fit the body. And we couldn’t use any black areas. He demanded clean, simple outlines, no heavy lines, etc. On both Daredevil and Crime Does Not Pay. I wasn’t crazy about doing the crime stuff. Preferred adventure, western, etc., type of stories. I was never ashamed of doing comics—except slightly when I did dozens of Crime Does Not Pay. Biro, Wood, and Roy were heavy into racing horses—at all tracks, coast to coast. Constant phone calls to place bets, results, winners, losing, etc. I never was interested.

JOE CERTA

DAN BARRY I worked with Dan for two or three years, full-time. Dan had a loft office on 26th Street, New York City, top floor. We only used about 1⁄6 of the large room. For Dan, I did dozens and dozens of assignments. Several Daredevils. [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Biro didn’t like solid black areas in the art. To him, blacks were “cheating.” He wanted the art open for color.] Charlie Biro didn’t complain about too many black areas because he could lose Barry’s services. So he accepted what was turned in. I also did “Heap,” “Airboy,” “Gang Busters” (for DC), crime stories for Biro, and Buster Brown Shoes comic books (pencils and inks). Also—short stints of inking Tarzan (along with Dan’s brother Sy) and Flash Gordon. Dan is a super-fast penciler and a great inker. His pencils were tight, line for line, and a pleasure to follow. He was so fast he kept his brother Sy and me in full inking—and it was still hard to keep up with him. As a person, one of the very best. I met Burne Hogarth at the studio a few times.

MIKE ROY, BOB WOOD, AND CHARLIE BIRO I also worked with Mike Roy for several years—doing work for Biro and several other publishers at the same time. I did The Saint with him. We always had at least a dozen scripts on hand, and often far more. We had a large studio, several helpers, including a young kid named Al Williamson. Biro’s deadlines were rough. A “Daredevil” 12-page story was due on Monday. We couldn’t even start it till Saturday. So I called Charlie Biro and tried to get a few extra days with one excuse or another. I’ll never forget his answer: “Only if you’re both dead! Not even if you’re in a hospital sick! I want it on Monday!” We worked without sleep and got it to him on Monday. Biro thought the story was all there was to his features. 12 to 16 panels on a page—3⁄4 of it was copy! Written, rewritten, again and again, before being printed. Lots of pasted-up lettering! I never knew what the

A tight penciler, well defined. I tried to convince Joe to give me just tight breakdowns. I prefer to ink loose pencils. This gives me more freedom, creativeness, etc., rather than just “trace/ink” pencils. Socially, I was not real close to Joe and his wife Olympia. We visited each other on a few occasions, even went to a National Cartoonists Society awards dinner/dance in tuxedos and gowns. First and last time I wore a tux. Joe was a quiet, likable person. We worked together for several years, doing all kinds of stories like Durango Kid, Straight Arrow, adventure, love, war, etc., for several publishers. We worked well together. Joe was a hard worker. We always had tight deadlines and we did them all on time.

DON SHERWOOD I helped out on his newspaper strip, Major Flagg.

LEE ELIAS I inked Black Cat and various love stories of his for a couple of years.

BUSY ARNOLD Was excellent to work for. No problems, ever. Arnold admired all the artists in his bullpen. As a youngster, I was paid well. He was good to all artists. I never heard of any complaints—except—no originals were ever returned. They were ripped into pieces and thrown in the garbage! I used to have a few ripped ones—and some unripped ones I sneaked out late at night. Most are gone. Harry Chesler’s son Jay was an editor—all-around office boy. I could never understand why. His father had his own publishing company.

GRAY MORROW My wife Valerie and I are great friends with Gray and Pocho. Gray wanted me to help him ink Young Indiana Jones (over Dan Barry’s pencils), but I declined. I’m out of comics.

Frank Bolle

Frank Bolle An Article/Interview by Bill Harper [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article/interview originally appeared in FCA #43 (Fall 1988), a.k.a. FCA & ME, TOO! #7, and has been edited slightly for inclusion here. It is ©2001 Bill Harper.] Ed Robbins, an artist who worked in the comics during the Golden Age, wrote: “[Back] then artists grew up wanting to do something else but instead did comics for a living.” This was not the case with Frank Bolle. He purposely entered the comics field: FRANK BOLLE: Comics were... my first art culture. My family knew nothing about art, and the only art I saw was in the magazines or newspapers. I would copy Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and other strips. In high school I wrote and illustrated my own comics. I bought a sketchbook, ruled panels, and drew my comics. Over the weekend I would produce several pages and take them to school Monday and let my friends read them. Born in the Queens borough of New York City in 1924, Frank was raised in Brooklyn. While attending Pratt Institute, he began freelancing for comic book publishers. In 1948, while still at Pratt, he joined Magazine Enterprises, primarily drawing westerns: Tim Holt, Best of the West, Red Mask, and Black Phantom, as well as Robin Hood.

did till the end of the Red Mask run. I didn’t write all the stories. Gardner Fox wrote many of them. I didn’t use the “3-D Effect” on any other features. The 3-D craze was short-lived and there was no interest later. I did some magazine illustrations using this method. ME wanted to keep the art simple. Not much detail. I would often do some fine-line cross-hatching and facial details, but Ray would suggest that I do bolder lines and less details. The editor wanted heavy lines outlining the figures. Maybe it was due to the printing, the paper, or inks. My lines were thinner, as I felt the heavy lines lost sensitivity. I always tried to tell the story simply and make it realistic without adding something that was not necessary or at such an angle that the reader could not figure out what was happening. ME never published a true super-hero comic. When Bolle was asked why, he replied that he didn’t know, and that he was glad they didn’t!

During these years he freelanced “Freshman Freddy” and “Lance O’Casey” for Fawcett. Once the “B” westerns fell out of favor at the movie houses, ME decided to continue Tim Holt, although changing the title and character to Red Mask. (Tim Holt never assumed the Red Mask disguise in the movies.) BOLLE: The idea to change Tim Holt comics to Red Mask was done either by Vince [Sullivan] or Ray [Krank]. Ray just told me they wanted the change, and I created Red Mask. I tried to make him different than most masked characters. Later I introduced Black Phantom, also at Ray’s suggestion. Artistically, Red Mask is unique, due to the “3-D Effect” and the use of light lines instead of the typical heavy outlines associated with other ME features. BOLLE: 3-D was the craze—3-D movies and comics with glasses. I approached editor Ray Krank with some sketches. I was very good with perspectives and I was always sketching using extreme perspective. I drew figures coming out of the panels. Ray went along with my idea, allowing me to write my own stories and use the “3-D Effect,” which I

BOLLE: They never talked to me about publishing a superhero comic, but that was fine! I liked good detective stories, good adventures or westerns. I was never grabbed by the “superman” type of story. I have done some, but for some reason they went beyond my sense of realism. I liked Flash Gordon, Terry and the Pirates, Prince Valiant.

In the course of the interview, Frank remarked on ME’s office arrangement: BOLLE: There were two girls working there. They did paste-ups and some minor corrections, etc. The only other staff member was Ray Krank, the editor. There was very little editorial discussion about books. I would talk with Ray, he might make a suggestion and change a word or two. It was a simple operation. Ray was a sweet guy and very easy to get along with. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was easy working with ME. I understand that at Fawcett, for example, there were more editorial discussions. I never talked with anyone at Fawcett, however, as I worked directly with the scripter. Frank started working in comics doing backgrounds in 1943 and discontinued his comics work in the late 1970s. He now [in 1988] works mostly for syndicates. He has been doing Winnie Winkle for the past eight years, as well as five features for Boy’s Life magazine. He feels confident in that he is a master at his craft. His long list of credits is indicative of this. The story of Bolle’s becoming the artist on Doctor Solar underlines his confidence:

Frank Bolle

When his movie series ran out in ’52, Tim Holt was dropped from his own comic, which became Redmask (two words in the logo, one in the stories). Look, ma— no more royalties! In this tale Bolle drew a quasi-likeness of John Wayne in a saga that drew its inspiration from Stagecoach, the 1939 film which had made that B-actor a movie star. [©2001 AC Comics & the estate of Vin Sullivan.]

[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: The very next issue of FCA & ME, TOO! featured the following letter from Frank Bolle:] Dear Bill and Teresa, I really enjoyed the February newsletter. I’m glad there was nothing in it that could be reprinted in The National Enquirer. They wouldn’t even consider me, since I don’t drink or smoke, I’ve never been with a prostitute, never been rude to family, friend, or stranger. I don’t chew gum or wear sunglasses... and I don’t type too good. I’ve been married to the same woman over 30 years. A wonderful person, a beautiful ex-fashion model who now runs our horse farm, teaching riding and training horses. We delivered two foals ourselves in the past four years. I keep her laughing most of the time... I guess cartoonists are sort of funny guys. I took our two dogs for a walk in 8 inches of snow... I fell hard 6 times. I came back covered with snowy smudges. When she asked what happened, I said I just had all the fun of falling without the danger of skiing! BOLLE: In the early ’60s I was told to go round and see Wally Green at Gold Key Comics. It was only twenty minutes away, so I went. I was introduced to Matt Murphy, editor with Gold Key. He told me that they had a script for Doctor Solar, which was without an artist at that time. He asked if I could do it. I said sure. As Matt did not know me, he suggested that I place tracing paper over an original and ink the page and bring it back and “We’ll see.” I said, “I can do it! There is no point in wasting time and tracing paper. Just give me the script and I will bring it back illustrated!” And when I brought it back, they loved it, and I did Doctor Solar for several years. Due to the upsurge of interest in western comics, especially features such as Rio by Doug Wildey as well as recent Red Mask reprints [by ACG], we asked Frank if we thought westerns would ever be a success again.

At Christmas dinner with the family, I ate so much I had to loosen my shoelaces. I received a bottle of Musk Cologne... I asked, “If I use this, does it make me a musketeer?” By the way, my in-laws don’t listen or laugh at my stories. I write this mainly to thank you and to enclose a couple of 3-D illustrations I did for Boy’s Life without telling anyone. I’m sure it will go unnoticed or be considered just another page layout by the editors. Hope the New Year will go even better for you, All my best wishes, Frank Bolle [Frank Bolle currently draws the comic strip Apartment 3G.]

Frank was guarded in his answer; however, he indicated that he enjoyed both reading a good western and drawing westerns. Maybe Frank will soon be “back in the saddle.”

Tim Holt, an Army Air Force bombardier during World War II, had major roles in two classic films: Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (where he held his own with Bogart and Walter Huston)—then made many betterthan-average “B” westerns in the late ’40s/early ’50s. His Mexican (actually Mexican-Irish!) companion Chito was treated as more than the standard ethno-racist comedy relief. Photo from AC’s Tim Holt Western Annual #1 (1992). Thanks to Bill Black.

Bob Powell

Bob Powell Notes On Selected “Magazine Enterprises” Series by Ed Lane [EDITOR’S NOTE: In 1978-80 fan/publisher Al Dellinges put out two slim books dealing with Bob Powell: The Art of Bob Powell and the majority of Near Mint #18, containing text by Powell enthusiast/researcher Ed Lane. In order to give ME’s most prolific artist something resembling his due in these two issues of A/E, we’re reprinting (but with minor editing) some brief analyses Lane made of several Powell titles for Vin Sullivan’s company. This printed material is ©2001 Al Dellinges... but we’d love to get in contact with Ed Lane with regard to further coverage of Powell. —Roy.] JET POWERS: Jet #1-4 was a short-lived series that related the derring-do of “Jet Powers, Captain of Science.” He wasn’t exactly a costumed superhero, but he certainly was a super-doer: In four issues he saved Earth six times and Mars twice. These comics were science-fiction, but most were not of the Buck Rogers type. Rather, they were set in the “present” with present-day technology. Many of the exaggerations were not all pure fantasy, but rather what one might expect with a slight surrender of one’s credibility.

This photo of Bob Powell was printed in Sick magazine in the 1960s. Special thanks to Jerry de Fuccio and Al Dellinges.

tunity to go all out with action and backgrounds. A rather pleasant way to take your Inapak Malted Milk Drink. BOBBY BENSON’S B-BAR-B RIDERS: This comic was a spin-off from the popular western radio show of the same name. Bobby Benson is a “boy” cowboy who owns a huge ranch in the Big Bend area of Texas. The time is the present. Along with his four constant companions (his “Riders”), he becomes embroiled in many dangerous situations, from cattle rustling to tiger hunts. And everywhere the gorgeous western scenery. In the best tradition of the Saturday matinee western heroes, Bobby had a “comic” relief sidekick, Windy Wales, who was, in my opinion, one of the most memorable of the species. Windy was a gangly, bowlegged, yarnin’ (windy) galoot. As drawn by Powell, with his fiery red hair and disheveled appearance, he was comic relief just to look at.

This type of “sci-fi,” where the events depicted are within the grasp of a decade or two, deserves a rating of very good. When such stories are illustrated by Powell, they rate a superlative. “Powell-isms” brazenly pull your leg right on the covers of #1 and #4. On #1 Jet’s spaceship has the identification letters “SR-1”; on #4 his spaceship has ID letters “SRP2”; and issue #2 had two similar “Powell-isms” inside. This extremely well-done series would be a must for any science-fiction fan... it is an “absolute must” for any Powell sci-fi collector.

“The Lemonade Kid” was an interesting Powell hero who appeared in each issue from #1-13. He was costumed in a bright yellow and green cowboy outfit and his drink was lemonade. He was sort of a cowboy “Sherlock Holmes” who beat the badhats by mental prowess more than muscle. Because of his status as a “costumed hero,” his stories provided contrast to Bobby’s more “straight” cowboy stories. This was the way he could become involved with bizarre and imaginative criminals. One of his best stories Covers of Jet #2-3 (1951). Much of the latter was reprinted in appeared in #4 and involved a master AMERICAN AIR FORCES: Powell loved criminal who dressed in a striking Black the 1980s by Ray Zone as a 3-D comic—although ME itself planes and could he draw them! This series Widow outfit. Powell did a tremendous had resisted the temptation to turn out 3-D titles in the ’50s. was made to order for him. It is obvious that [©2001 the estate of Vin Sullivan.] cover for this issue, showing the Lemonade he put a lot of care into it. The airplanes and Kid battling the Spider in his web. flying scenes are illustrated with beautifully (Incidentally, this series wasn’t too far along before a detailed craftsmanship. The stories involved the “Powell-ism” gets slipped in: On page 2 of issue #1, there Korean War, which held center stage of the world at is a freight car of the “S.R.P. Line.”) the time. If you like airplanes, flying, or combat adventures, this is your series. It was the continuation of Jet #1 through 4, as proved by AAF #5, which introduced “Army Air Force Ace Jet Powers,” which was none other than Capt. Johnny “Jet” Powers. Powell did every book totally, plus covers, except for six pages in #7 and seven pages in #10, which were done by two unknowns.

RED HAWK: Powell did one “Red Hawk” story in each issue of Straight Arrow from #2-55. In #1 he did a onepage filler. Powell did “Red Hawk” stories in Red Hawk #11 and Bobby Benson #13 and #15. In this long-running series Powell reached one of his peaks. If one considers the series as belonging to the genre of “Indian lore,” Powell has set the highest standards for any other artist who wishes to do this genre.

MAJOR INAPACK, THE SPACE ACE: A 16-page giveaway comic, all Powell, that involves a flight to the moon to save Earth from invaders from another world. This comic is one of Powell’s better sci-fi stories; it’s fastpaced, with lots of action on the moon, and chock full of great space vistas. The 16 pages gave Powell an opporThe American Air Forces #6 (1951). [©2001 the estate of Vin Sullivan.]

Red Hawk was a young Cheyenne warrior. The stories were well written, usually exciting and imaginative. They were set in the West prior to the invasion of the white man, and usually pitted Indian against

Bob Powell Powell excelled at good girl art. No better examples of that genre can be found than in several Magazine Enterprises titles: Thun’da, Cave Girl, and Africa - Land of Mystery and Adventure. Fans... if your bag is beeyoo-tee-ful ba-zoomy white goddesses swinging through the jungle, then you can’t afford to be without these comics.

Indian, or Indian against his environment. Most of the stories ring true because of the weaving of factual Indian lore into the plots. Because of the number and great variety of the stories, it is not possible to describe them all here. However, here are a few “bait” stories to hook you, all of which appeared in Straight Arrow:

Thun’da #1 was total Frazetta... ’nuff said. But #2-6 were total Powell, as were Cave Girl #11-14 and the one-shot Africa.

Issue #27 was the first of several stories whose plots revolved around somewhat bizarre villainesses (as only Powell could draw them). “The Claws of Death” in #27 was about “The Panther Woman and the Puma Men,” who had a stronghold on an isolated mesa. #30’s “Black Arrow of Death” involved a witch-woman, called Cat Eyes, who took her revenge by strapping victims to large, missile-like arrows and then catapulting them from a ballista. In #31 “The Flying Horror” was the “Flying Cat Woman,” who fell upon her victims by gliding in an Icarus-like costume with huge feathered wings. Issue #35 saw Red Hawk captured by “The Women Warriors,” a tribe of Amazon-like Indian women warriors with the men doing the squaw chores (shades of women’s lib).

Although Thun’da’s mate, Pha, was good girl art, she played minor roles in that comic, so I will concentrate on Cave Girl, who is a statuesque, pneumatic, blonde queen of the jungle. Her costume is a one-piece striped zebra skin, which in reality must have been wet silk, from the way it stuck to her body. “Cave Girl” was introduced in Thun’da #2 and appeared as a filler strip in #2-6. She got her own comic, the numbering of which commenced with #11 and lasted through #14.

Africa #1 continued the “Cave Girl” series. This one-shot appears to have A Powell “Red Hawk” splash, repro’d from a photocopy of the been planned to be Cave Girl #15, but original art, courtesy of Ethan Roberts. [©2001 the estate of Vin was released with a new logo. Africa Sullivan.] My only comment on this story is: ended the careers of Thun’da and Cave The way Powell drew those female Girl. Perhaps it was the pressure of the warriors, it would be better to make love, not war! Comics Code, since this was the first—and last—of the “Cave Girl” Are you hooked yet? sagas to appear under the aegis of that protector of youthful morals, the Comics Code Authority. The CCA killed good comics such GOOD GIRL ART: Good girl art has always been a winning formula in as these, along with the real trash. comics, for obvious reasons. As in most other aspects of comic art,

Four Cave Girl panels, repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Ethan Roberts—and a Thun'da splash, courtesy of Bill Black. [Cave Girl art ©2001 the estate of Vin Sullivan; Thund’a art ©2001 AC Comics & the estate of Vin Sullivan.]

Straight Arrow

A Short History of

Straight Arrow by Bill Harper [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: The following overview of Straight Arrow—from radio program and cereal premium to comic book and comic strip—was printed in Pow-wow, Vol. 7, #27 (Fall 1992), and is ©2001 Bill Harper and Pow-wow. It has been slightly edited here.] When Straight Arrow aired to millions nationwide over the Mutual Broadcasting System, starting February 7, 1949, three times weekly, Monday 8-8:30 PM, Tuesday and Thursdays 5-5:30 PM, this wellorchestrated and finely tuned production had been in preparation for over a year. During late 1947 or early 1948 Sheldon Stark was engaged to script a radio show audition for McCann-Erickson Advertising Agency of New York, portraying an Indian as the hero. A storyboard was given Stark to develop into an action-packed 30-minute western. Stark, a native New Yorker who had previously worked at WXYZ Detroit [radio station] from 1932-1942 scripting The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, Challenge of the Yukon, among others, submitted the completed script January 5, 1948. The finished product was produced in New York and presented to McCann-Erickson’s client, National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), for approval. Nabisco was looking for a vehicle to sell its Shredded Wheat, considered to be an “adult” cereal, to youngsters. The Straight Arrow concept was accepted by Nabisco, which subsequently became both sponsor and owner of the property. McCann-Erickson - Los Angeles was given the responsibility of auditioning persons to fill the roles. Howard Culver, a familiar West

Coast voice, was selected to play the dual role of Straight Arrow/Steve Adams. Veteran actor Fred Howard (Wright) was chosen to be Packy McCloud, hired hand at Adams’ Broken Bow Ranch, sidekick to both Steve Adams and Straight Arrow and the only person knowing In 1986 the Harpers launched Pow-wow, a quarterly that Steve Adams was illustrated newsletter dedicated to Straight Arrow in all born Comanche incarnations and all media; it was published through Indian: The legendary 1993. Complete compilations of Pow-wow, which Straight Arrow. Gwen include photos of the radio cast and comics personnel, Delano, another information on the many Nabisco Shredded Wheat seasoned performer, premiums, a radio script, cassettes of the radio show, won the role of and a nigh-complete run of the Straight Arrow daily Mesquite Molly, newspaper strip by Gardner Fox, Joe Certa, and John housekeeper of the Belfi, are available from Bill at 301 E. Buena Vista Av., Broken Bow Ranch. North August, SC 29841. A stamped, self-addressed envelope will get you a flyer on how to receive these Frank Bingman goodies... or contact Bill via e-mail at rounded out the <whh_mht@bellsouth.net>. The logo photo is of sustaining cast as Howard Culver, who played Straight Arrow on the radio, narrator and and in the June 1951 Portland, Oregon, Rose Parade—of announcer, while which a video is also available from Bill Harper! Milton Charles, [Straight Arrow ©2001 Nabisco.] organist, was responsible for the music. McCann-Erickson and Nabisco gave the show a trial run over the Don Lee Network, a Mutual affiliate on the West Coast. The first show aired May 6, 1948, and continued weekly, Tuesday 8-8:30 PM, until January 21, 1949. Produced in the studios of KHJ Hollywood under the supervision of McCann-Erickson’s J. Neil Reagan (Ronald Reagan’s brother), the first show featured a spectacular “premium” offer—“the son of the mighty horse rode [sic] by Straight Arrow.” The horse plus tack or $1000 would go to the person submitting, with a Nabisco Shredded Wheat boxtop, the name selected for Straight Arrow’s golden palomino. In the meantime, Straight Arrow rode from the secret cave for three months on a horse without a name! From 50,000 names, “Fury” was selected. The winner, according to Sponsor magazine (Dec. 9, 1949), turned down the horse and took the money instead. All the contestants received a two-red-feathered Straight Arrow headband for their efforts. From Sheldon Stark’s fertile imagination came the story of Steve Adams, rancher, born Comanche Indian, orphaned and then reared on the Broken Bow. Later, while rescuing Packy, Steve was lured into the “secret cave” in Sundown Valley by a golden palomino and his identity as Straight Arrow, “the legendary figure spoken of around the council fires of the Comanches,” was revealed. However, this idealistic origin story, developed over a period of time, was never aired in its entirety. When the radio show premiered, the character of Straight Arrow was “full-blown.” In the first show the dual role of Steve Adams/Straight Arrow was established and, much to Steve’s chagrin, alluded to by Packy even before the first trip to Sundown Valley was broadcast. Stark would later prepare the origin story for Nabisco, and it was edited and printed on the inside front

Straight Arrow

cover of the Injunuity manual premium offered in 1951.

was a coupon soliciting readers’ interest in a daily newspaper strip featuring Straight During the 39 Arrow. This Bell performances of the Syndicate strip was show on the West written by Gardner Coast, McCannFox under the Erickson’s office in aliases “Russ New York was Gardner” and “Ray preparing a Gardner, and was premium and drawn by the Joe merchandising Certa and John Let’s get acquainted—Comanche style! The first Straight Arrow strip by Joe Certa and John Belfi. [©2001 Nabisco.] operation. Perhaps Belfi team that was the most successful, freelancing ME’s popular, and far-reaching promotional items were the Injun-uity cards The Durango Kid comic book. The strip lasted little more than a year separated the Shredded Wheat biscuits. from July 1950 through August 4, 1951—appearing in 200 papers— before problems between the artists and the Bell Syndicate caused its These, three cardboard dividers per box, were printed guides to cancellation. outdoor crafts in the Indian way. The first set of 36 cards were issued in 1949 with illustrations and information credited to Fred L. Meagher, “Indian illustrator and authority.” There were three more “books” of 36 cards; Book 2 was issued in 1950, Book 3 in 1951, and Book 4, 1952. Also, Nabisco offered eleven Straight Arrow premium items, including the two-red-feathered headband already mentioned, an Indian war drum, golden tie clasp, bandanna and slide, face ring, mystical wrist kit, patch, golden nugget cave ring, Rite-a-Lite arrowhead, Injun-uity manual, and the Injun-uity wall chart (available to Boy Scouts only!). Advertisers Service Division, Inc., secured rights to produce Straight Arrow merchandise items. John Walworth, who would eventually design many of the premiums, was responsible for the creation of a catalogue worth of Straight Arrow items. Selchow and Righter introduced a Straight Arrow board game in 1950, keeping it in Selchow and Righter’s catalogue until 1956. Two other toys—bow and arrow target game and magnetic target game—were offered by Novel Novelties, Inc., in 1950.

Meanwhile, the radio creative team made Straight Arrow number one among children’s multi-weekly programs, as well as making it the first children’s show to break into the top ten of all multi-weekly programming. The three-time weekly offering ended February 2, 1950, when a twice-weekly schedule began February 7, 1950, Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-5:30 PM, until cancellation June 21, 1951. The only exceptions were Mondays from June 20, 1949, until September 12, 1949, when Nabisco pulled its sponsorship due to the poor response of its second self-liquidating premium offer, the golden tie clasp. Mutual sustained the program for the 13 shows. Also, there were no programs from June 22, 1950, until Sept. 12, 1950, followed by repeats September 1219, 1950. Sheldon Stark, who secured the copyright to the scripts, wrote all 292 episodes. The premier nationwide show offered the first of the premiums: The same two-redfeathered headband previously offered to contestants. It was free with one boxtop from Nabisco Shredded Wheat, but this time over 500,000 were requested!

In early 1950 Magazine Enterprises (ME) published Straight Arrow comics in a fourcolor format. “See your favorite character!!!!” was printed across the top of the first issue, dated February-March 1950. A promotional flyer boasted the first issue a sellout, as well as the 600,000 copies of the second issue. By the third issue the book was elevated from bimonthly to monthly status. Vincent Sullivan, former editor of National Periodical Publications’ Action Comics, which heralded the modern comics with the debut of “Superman” in 1938, was ME’s publisher. Editor for the Straight Arrow magazine was Raymond C. Krank, and the elusive Fred L. Meagher, illustrator of many of the Straight Arrow promotional items, was the artist credited with every issue. Rounding out the team was Gardner F. Fox, who wrote most if not all of the “Straight Arrow” stories. The book survived the radio show by five years, ending with issue #55, dated March 1956. In issue #3 of the Straight Arrow comic

MUSIC: STRAIGHT ARROW THEME... RESOLVE TO SHARP STING ANNCR: Keen eyes fixed on a flying target... MUSIC: STING—UNDER ANNCR: A gleaming arrow set against a rawhide string... MUSIC: A strong bow bent almost to the breaking point, and then... SOUND: WHIP THROUGH THE AIR MUSIC: PICK UP FLIGHT—TREMOLO

SOUND: ARROW HITS—SHARP SOUND

Straight Arrow

15 NARR: A clatter of hooves in the vast vaulted caves! An Indian warwhoop that rings from the glittering rock! Out into the open gallops the great golden palomino Fury! And riding bareback—clad in Indian garb from head to toe—Straight Arrow on the trail of justice!

ANNCR: (DRAW IT OUT) Straiiiggghhhttt... (CRISP) Arrow! MUSIC: STRAIGHT ARROW THEME AGAIN—FURIOSO—TO BG MUSIC

ANNCR: Nabisco Shredded Wheat presents—Straight Arrow—a new thrilling adventure story from the exciting days of SOUND: OUT OF CAVE the Old West! ...To friends and neighbors ARROW: Up, palomino! Kanneewah, alike, Steve Adams appeared to be nothing Fury! more than the young owner of the Broken Bow cattle spread. But when danger threatened innocent people and when evilSteve Adams’ voice deepened slightly doers plotted against justice—then Steve This is the actual size of the Straight Arrow Tribe into Straight Arrow’s voice. Once on the Adams, rancher, disappeared—and in his membership card in 1949. [©2001 Nabisco.] trail of justice the story raced pell-mell to a place came a mysterious stalwart Indian. spellbinding conclusion. (MUSIC—PICK UP INDIAN MOTIF HERE) Wearing the dress and war paint of a Comanche—riding the great golden palomino—galloping Nabisco and/or McCann-Erickson designed the commercials so they out of the darkness to take up the cause of law and order through the did not interfere with the action. The lead commercial used when the West—comes the legendary figure of STRAIGHT ARROW! show went nationwide was worked into the opening signature of Milton These were the thrilling words by which announcer Frank Bingman introduced Straight Arrow, and around which Milton Charles wove the Straight Arrow theme. This opening, with only the slight modification of adding the name “Fury” following “golden palomino,” was used until the show’s cancellation. The story unfolded through dialogue and narration until that magic moment Steve Adams turned to Sundown Valley and the secret cave of Straight Arrow. The tempo and excitement heightens as organist and announcer set the stage with the cave scenario, which went through several changes before settling into a standard presentation. Early scripts told of “a weatherbeaten shack that stood at the entrance to the apparently deserted mine! But the mine is not deserted!” This and other wordiness finally condensed to: NARR: A short distance from the Broken Bow ranch house lay Sundown Valley! And in it— through a secret entrance known only to Steve Adams and Packy—a vast subterranean cave! MUSIC: ACCENT AND UNDER NARR: The walls of the cave glitter with crystals of gold! From an unknown source comes light that spreads a shimmering gleam everywhere! And standing in the glowing light is the great golden palomino!

Charles’ organ effecting the Indian drums while Frank Bingman rhythmically spelled “Nabisco” and declaimed the jingle: ANNCR: N—A—B—I—S—C—O! Nabisco is the name to know! For a breakfast you can’t beat, Eat Nabisco Shredded Wheat! Excellent acting, strong scripts, and superb sound effects were some of the obvious elements insuring the success of the Straight Arrow radio show. But underlining these pronounced traits were subtleties—good direction, imaginative and effective promotional schemes, and a genuine interest in making Straight Arrow more than a variation on the western theme; with an Indian as the main character—that further enhanced the show. Ted Robertson and Ray Kemper spent time studying the folkways of western Indians, and for his scripting Sheldon Stark was awarded honorary membership in the Iroquois Confederation. Senator Chaves of New Mexico read an appreciation of and tribute to the show into the Congressional Record.

SOUND: (ECHO) STAMP AND WHINNY STEVE: Easy there, big horse!

A Footnote on the Straight Arrow Comic Strip

The Straight Arrow daily comic strip was handled by the Bell Syndicate in the early 1950s. In the mid-toNARR: A Comanche bow and Comanche late ’50s, Bell bought McClure Syndicate and became arrows hang on the wall! There is Comanche Bell-McClure Syndicate. In 1972 most of Bell-McClure’s warpaint—Comanche garb! In a moment assets were sold to United Features Syndicate. Sadly, no Steve Adams, rancher, is gone—and in his records of syndicate activity were kept of Bellplace— McClure by United. It was not until collector Bruce Deas sent his copies of the strip (clipped from MUSIC: STING OUT The State newspaper of Columbia, South John Belfi wrote: “During the run of Straight Arrow in ARROW: (ECHO) Yes, Fury! It is I, Carolina) to the Pow-wow for publication that the newspapers, I always wanted to draw Straight Arrow Straight Arrow! we learned the dates for the strip’s run—from July more ruggedly, not as a clean-cut All-American! Packy 3, 1950 (strip #13) to August 4, 1951. The script should have been more of a ‘Gabby Hayes’ type character MUSIC: STING UNDER was by Magazine Enterprises regular (and Vin with a straggly beard, not look as if he just came out of a Sullivan grade school chum) Gardner Fox, under barber shop! Nabisco thought otherwise and thusly these SOUND: GALLOP two characters appeared as they did.” This illo, and the the name “Russ Gardner,” and drawn by Joe one which ran with the earlier Belfi interview, show how Certa and John Belfi. ARROW: (WARWHOOP) he envisioned Straight Arrow. [Art ©2001 the estate of John Belfi; Straight Arrow ©2001 Nabisco.]

Straight Arrow

[NOTE: Pow-wow, Vol. 2, No. 9 (Fall 1988), and ©2001 Bill Harper, saw the printing of both an illustration drawn especially for the Harpers by Straight Arrow inker John Belfi, and a letter from him which the editors titled: ]

Straight Arrow 1949 to the Present by John Belfi Joe Certa and I worked together as a team for several years prior to producing the daily Straight Arrow strips for Bell Syndicate. We drew dozens of comic books for Harvey Publications, primarily war and horror titles. Later we worked on Magazine Enterprises’ Charles Starrett - The Durango Kid comic, illustrating two to three stories per issue, plus many covers. Editor Ray Krank, for whom I had created numerous stories, asked Joe and I if we could find time to illustrate Straight Arrow for newspaper syndication. ME was producing the Straight Arrow comic book at the time, drawn by Fred L. Meagher (whom we never met, even years later). Our—Joe’s and my—schedule at that time was extremely heavy as we were also doing artwork for several other publishers. However, we agreed! Joe lived in the mid-area of the Bronx, and I lived several miles away in the North Bronx, near White Plains Road and 233rd Street area. After several years with a home studio, I decided to rent an office at Gun Hill Road, a few miles from town. I found working at home far too convenient! The studio was a small office building with six offices above several stores. I purchased a glass case to display the many Straight Arrow items produced through licensing, such as the War Bonnet, TomTom, Bow and Arrow Sets, Children Indian Costumes, and others, as well as copies of all the dailies created. Regretfully, when moving the

studio back home, I discarded all the material, as my home studio was very small. As I recollect, Joe and I created twelve strips from scripts by Gardner Fox, a.k.a. Ray Gardner, for Bell Syndicate and Nabisco approval. Within a few weeks we were on our way! We never knew the exact number of newspapers publishing [printing] the strip. The syndicate gave us an initial list of 50 newspapers. I understand there were foreign editions of the strip, as well! Joe Certa penciled the dailies, with all copy and captions clearly written. These were mailed to Nabisco for approval—including approval by Nabisco’s legal department! When the dailies returned, I took over the final stage, inking. Martin Demuth was the primary letterer. In some instances, these completed strips went back to ME and Nabisco for final approval. Several months later, we were requested to create two Sunday pages, which we did. These were never published, due to financial disagreements which could not be resolved. Upon the demise of the daily strip, about a year after it began, Joe and I continued with our comic book assignments. Later we broke our working relationship, but we both continued in the illustrative field. A few years later, the basement of my new home was flooded and many original strips were destroyed. Included in the damage were scrapbooks containing copies of all the dailies which appeared in the New York Telegram, plus photographs, news clippings, etc. Of the few surviving original strips (about fifty), I have sold or given away about 25 to Straight Arrow fans. I have one framed in my office for memories of years gone by! I am deeply flattered and appreciative of the Pow-wow reproducing the Straight Arrow strips. The Pow-wow and Straight Arrow fans are to be congratulated for keeping the memory of Straight Arrow alive and preserving this aspect of comic history.

Fred Meagher

In Search of the “Enigmatic”

Fred L. Meagher by Bill Harper and Jean Walton A 15-year search for comic artist Fred L. Meagher, who was responsible for the illustrative chores on Magazine Enterprises’ Straight Arrow comic, was one of constant dead ends. It did, however, lead to the publishing of the Pow-wow newsletter, which was dedicated to the Straight Arrow promotion of the late ’40s and early ’50s. Pow-wow, which was published for eight years, is the definitive source for information regarding Straight Arrow. It seems that Fred L. Meagher was not really so enigmatic, after all.

This was just one egocentrism in a colorful career that began in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, on April 11, 1912. Born the eldest son of Charles and Emma Meagher, Frederick Lawrence Meagher—or Ted, as he was called—began to show a flair for art at the early age of four. His first professional piece was sold to his father at age eight, when he painted a bull on the side of his dad’s truck. His brothers tell of a mural that was a painting in the family home as well. During his school years, he entertained his classmates with blackboard illustrating and, at the age of 16, he enrolled in the International Correspondence Schools in art. Continuing with ICS until 1935, Meagher was honored by them as “an outstanding alumnus of the ICS commercial art course” in an article published in Bootstraps, ICS’s newsletter, in the late ’50s.

We just had been looking in wrong places and with the wrong pronunciation of his last name!

Fred L. Meagher, in a photo courtesy of Richard Harpster, who interviewed the artist in 1969 and 1971... and the cover of ME’s Straight Arrow #1 (Feb.-March 1950), reproduced from a slightly discolored photostat of the original art, courtesy of Bill Harper. [Straight Arrow ©2001 Nabisco.]

In 1932 Ted entered Alfred University, the oldest co-educational college in New York and, at the time, considered the foremost college in commercial ceramics. In 1936, examples of his work appeared in two shortlived pulps: A cover for Dan Dunn Detective Magazine, Vol. 1, #2 (Nov. 1936), the cover of Tailspin Tommy Air Adventures, Vol. 1, #1 (Oct. 1936), and the cover and interior for Tailspin Tommy, Vol. 1, #2, all from Hershey Publications.

However, Richard Harpster, a reporter who interviewed Meagher in 1969 and again in 1971, wrote in a July 23, 1971, article in the Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Free Press of Meagher’s joining the staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer as an illustrator and political cartoonist prior to 1936. In the Harpster article, Meagher told of learning “life lessons” when his political cartoons cost him his job. From Philadelphia, Meagher told Harpster, he joined the New York Sun Herald as a political cartoonist. The artist related that he found a note under his door, after his satirizing of local mobsters, threatening, “Your next cartoon will be your last.” The newspaper gave him a different assignment, and Meagher told Harpster, “But I got the message and gave up political cartooning.”

Throughout Meagher’s life he always insisted on the Celtic version, which sounds like “Marr.” His brothers accepted either pronunciation; but, according to family members, Fred Meagher always articulated his last name as “Marr” in preference to “Mee-ger.”

Meagher related to Harpster that he was one of the 300-plus artists involved in the creation of Walt Disney’s first full-length animated movie classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and later Fantasia. However, it was in the book illustrations for writer Assen Jordanoff that the familiar Meagher style was developed. Of the seven books on aviation by Jordanoff, it is certain that Meagher was an illustrator on Wings (1935), Through the Overcast (1938), and Safety in Flight (1941), all published by Funk & Wagnalls Company.

Fred Meagher equipment, sonar, etc. Meagher would continue to return to the visual aid conception for teaching throughout his career. Meagher lived on Long Island, married a woman of some social status, and owned a few horses. Later Creig Flessel, who freelanced American Air Forces and Keen Teens, as well as covers and stories for miscellaneous titles for Magazine Enterprises from 1943-1948, reminisced about Meagher: “He wanted to be a western artist. He wore a cowboy outfit and had a few horses on Long Island.” After the war, Meagher returned to cartooning and illustrating. In 1949, he began an association with Nabisco’s Straight Arrow, becoming involved with various ventures. Meagher illustrated a set of Straight Arrow Injun-uity cards used as dividers in packages of Nabisco Shredded Wheat, the radio sponsor and copyright holder of Straight Arrow. Eventually there would be three additional sets of 36 cards; one set issued every year until 1952. Advertising Service Division, Inc., the retail arm of the Straight Arrow promotion, also used Meagher’s artistic efforts. It was during this period of Meagher’s life that his brother Charles spoke of his taking off for a year, to travel around the “Indian Territories,” living in a 35-foot trailer which he pulled behind his car. He learned all he could about Native American culture, thus earning his title as “Indian illustrator and authority for Nabisco Shredded Wheat.” He was following, too, an interest in the life and history of “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Also during this time frame, Meagher experienced marital problems that led to a separation and eventually divorce. He moved to Moonachie, New Jersey, and lived in a mobile home park with a fellow artist. It was here that his life would change.

During this period of time, Meagher took over the illustrative chores of “Wings Winfair” in the Gulf Funny Weekly with issue #232 in 1937. Gulf Funny was the first successful comic giveaway, reaching a weekly print run of 3,000,000 (according to collector Bill Thailing). Meagher and writer/artist/editor Stan Schendel produced “Wings” until the Weekly’s demise in 1941. In 1940, however, these two had joined writer Ray Bouvert and inker Bill Allison to produce Ralston-Purina’s Tom Mix Comics giveaway (a four-color comic book later titled Tom Mix Commandos). This extremely popular series ended in 1942 after twelve issues. On the inside front cover of issue #9 (March 1942) Meagher is noted to have been a cavalryman and an authority on horses and modern planes. Meagher had, in fact, before going off to college, joined the Pennsylvania National Guard, which had a cavalry post in Clearfield. He served as a bugler for several years. On August 30, 1942, Meagher’s name appeared on the premiere Vesta West Sunday strip, published in the Chicago Tribune Comic Book Magazine. This story of a plucky girl and her horse was drawn by Meagher for only three Sundays; however, Vesta West continued until 1944, delineated by Ray Bailey. Meagher’s association with the Pennsylvania National Guard as a cavalry lieutenant landed him in the Army Air Corps during World War II, later with the Government Printing Office, and finally rejoining Jordanoff. Jordanoff Aviation Corporation, which had become the largest aviation-publishing house in the nation, produced training and maintenance manuals. Meagher would direct the publishing of over 400 such books, and at one time he had nearly 500 people working under him. He told Harpster, “We changed all the military manuals to the visual aid system. We could make a navigator out of a soda jerk in six months.” The manuals covered everything: Bomb sights, radar

Meagher, who had always loved children, would sit outside his trailer drawing. He had a talent for storytelling and for entertaining with his drawings. This began to attract the attention of children living in the

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Fred Meagher

trailer park. One of these little ones was Rebecca Huber, who lived in the park with her mother Ruthanne and her one-year-old brother Paul. Her mother, going through a marriage breakup, worked several jobs to support her family. Becky, as Rebecca was called, was pleased with Meagher’s artistic entertainment and he enjoyed her company. It wasn’t long before Becky, at the age of seven, could claim the distinction of having introduced her future stepfather to her mother. In 1949 Vincent Sullivan, publisher of Magazine Enterprises, acquired the rights to publish Straight Arrow in a four-color comic format, and Meagher was recommended for the illustrative chores. Gardner Fox did the scripts. Ruthanne eased this increased demand on Meagher’s time with artistic talents of her own; he taught her to be an inker. The couple lived in Parsippany, New Jersey, and later in Dover, New Jersey, where Meagher’s first child Don was born in 1953. Meagher adopted Becky and Paul.

big windows to let the light in. The horses could poke their heads right into the studio. He also had a studio in the house. This move brought another life change. Meagher began tiring of the strain of deadlines. With the Straight Arrow comic ceasing publication and the Buffalo Bill strip ending in the late ’50s, Meagher turned his illustrative skills towards industry. He lamented to Harpster, “Publishers, for the most part, will buy talent for nothing. That’s why I like working for industry. They are willing to pay for talent and they pay well.”

At Magazine Enterprises, Meagher took over illustrative chores on “Dan Brand and Tipi,” a backup feature in The Durango Kid comics for issues #16-32. Simultaneously, he was drawing the Broncho Bill/Buffalo Bill newspaper comic strip for United Features Syndicate. Becky described the all-nighters often required of her parents to meet deadlines. It is interesting to note that Ruthanne, part Indian herself, was the model for Bluebird in the Buffalo Bill strips. All three children were at one time or another models for the strips. Meagher would go on to draw all 55 issues of Straight Arrow: All interior art, and every cover except #3 and #22, which were done by Frank Frazetta. He also produced Straight Arrow’s adventures in ME’s A-1 series Best of the West, and the one-shot Fury comic. For Advertising Service Division, he produced Straight Arrow items such as jigsaw puzzles, a coloring book, framed pictures, a board game, and other promotional materials. With this tremendous amount of work, Meagher was extremely busy. He described to Harpster an average day: “It’s 14 to 16 hours every day. The deadlines were constant nightmares. You could not hire assistants because they tended to change the character of the strip. Then the editors write letters and complain.” Meagher added, “I took a vacation once and had to take my drawing board to the beach. I got sick and was forced to continue cartooning while I was in the hospital. Cartoonists can never get ahead. A few do, but not many.” In 1955, Meagher bought an old farmhouse just outside Blairstown, New Jersey, which included 178 acres of land. From the top of the hill which stretches out behind the house, Jean Walton described the view as “magnificent.” The Appalachian Trail follows the next ridge west where it passes through New Jersey high above the Delaware River. “It is spectacular country, and was closer to the dream Meagher had of wideopen spaces and a place to breed horses,” Jean said of what Meagher called his Circle M Ranch. There was a studio attached to the barn, with

Fred Meagher

The change to the 8-to-5 job was a notable one for his family, who were used to his working at home. He worked with American Can from 1955 to 1969 as a New Products Designer and Technical Illustrator. He designed everything from packages to products, earning himself twelve prime patents and many secondary ones during these years at American Can. The Meagher style that thrilled comic readers for years now appeared on Dixie Cups Round-Up Designs, and included cutout figures of Indians, cowboys, and horses, as well as a cavalry barracks. It was available for 25¢ and a package top from the 48 cold cup package—shades of the finger puppets done for Nabisco Shredded Wheat in 1952. William Meagher, Fred’s brother, remembers visiting Meagher at American Can in Easton, Pennsylvania and noting on his brother’s door the words “Cloud Nine.”

designer of residential and recreational complexes. At his retirement, he began subdividing the 178 acres of the Circle M. Gradually lots were sold until now the “homestead” sits on the corner of Artist’s View Lane and Mohican Road. The lane, which did not exist for most of the years the Meaghers lived there, now leads back to a development of some 8 to 10 homes built across the top of the hill. Rebecca has a home on the original Circle M land, and Meagher’s son Rick lives nearby. At Ruthanne’s suggestion, the family moved west. She knew of her husband’s love for horses and wide-open spaces. Meagher had raised horses most of his life and had enough interest in them to have become a judge and ringmaster for rodeos and horse shows. In 1973 the Meaghers moved to Smith Valley, Nevada, where they purchased a ranch in the true western tradition, making it the western Circle M. Rebecca remained east, but all the others joined the trek west. Markeeta, a tomboy and nearly 12 years of age at the time, followed her father’s interest in horses and became a rodeo rider and guide.

Two other children were added to the family. Rick (Fred, Jr.) was born in 1959 and Markeeta in 1961. Ruthanne referred to her two daughters as her “two bookends.” In 1962 Fred was elected township committeeman for two years. He was involved with the Chamber of Commerce in a number of activities. He designed a colorful map for the township that was used for years at the municipal building as a free giveaway to town visitors and new residents. Richard Harpster told Jean Walton he still remembered Fred: “If you met him, you liked him.” During the years with American Can, Meagher had developed numerous freelance clients, many of which he continued to serve after retiring in 1969.

Throughout his career, he had been associated with some very creative and successful promotions, as well as having been credited with being involved artistically with many advertising symbols recognized today, such as Smokey the Bear and Mobil’s “Flying Red Horse.” He worked with an impressive list of industrial firms and government agencies. His creative interest in visual education as a communication tool helped him develop several campaigns using this method. One such was a safe driving campaign for the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles. Ruthanne continued to work beside him, and served as his editor and rewrite person as well as his business manager. In his later years, his letterhead read “Development Designer,” defining him as a

Meagher turned his attention to painting, especially large historic murals. Schools and banks commissioned his artistic efforts, as did private individuals; other paintings were done for his own pleasure. He had a flare for the grand scene, like that often depicted in his early comic work for Tom Mix and Straight Arrow.

Early in his career he executed a mural of the famous Buffalo Bill-Yellow Hand duel. His later efforts would reflect this love of Native American culture, which he depicted in Straight Arrow and “Dan Brand and Tipi” comic stories, and in the Buffalo Bill strip. One mural entitled “Ranching Nevada Style” is a self-portrait, allowing us to see Fred L. Meagher as he must have seen himself, looking not unlike the Steve Adams/Straight Arrow character. Sadly, he had only three years to enjoy his western ranch, as he died January 26,1976. He is buried in Smith Valley. Ruthanne died in 1987 and is buried next to him.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Editorial by Michael T. Gilbert Welcome to the last leg of our three-issue “Comic Crypt” Superman marathon. The first two dealt with legendary “Superman” artist Wayne Boring. As you can see on our intro page, we found one final Boring item—a onepager that appeared in the June 1971 issue of the late, lamented National Lampoon magazine. The gag seems tame for the take-no-prisoners Lampoon, but it made me chuckle.

While surfing eBay a few months back, I noticed a unique Supermanrelated item that the owner, Michael Bryan, had for sale. As it turned out, Michael’s father, cartoonist Ben Bryan, had served in the military with Jerry Siegel back in 1943. Together they created a new strip for one of the armed forces magazines (probably Yank). The premise was cute, indeed: Sam Stupe, a goldbricking G.I., falls off a cliff. Superman, flying overhead, spots the luckless soldier as he lies dying. “Doggone it! This is one time Superman was too late!” Ah, but all is not lost! Superman gives the lad a super blood transfusion. Naturally, with all those Kryptonian corpuscles coursing through his veins, Sam Stupe becomes a super-soldier himself. And so Super Sam was born! I must confess, it’s strange to see a strip from the early ’40s featuring Superman with “Jerry Siegel and Ben Bryan” on the masthead, rather than the familiar “Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.” But “Super Sam” was one strange strip! In all likelihood, this first origin strip was the only one actually featuring Superman, but I’m just guessing, as this is the only episode that’s turned up so far. Many thanks to Michael Bryan for allowing us to run this strip and the vintage photo of his dad with Jerry Siegel.

And, we’ve got two other extremely rare Superman items to share with you. One is a piece entitled “Superman in Radio,” from a 1942 issue of Radio and Television Mirror, sent in by A/E fan Robert Hack. But first— Last issue I mentioned a longforgotten Superman spin-off from the early ’40s. Though it was written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, it wasn’t published by DC. Forget Superboy and Superdog. We’ve got Super Sam, the dogface of steel! No, really!

Wartime photo of Ben Bryan (l.) and Jerry Siegel.

IS BACK! Mr. Monster TM & © Michael T. Gilbert.

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt 23

[Superman © & TM DC Comics.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Next, from the February 1942 issue of Radio and Television Mirror (later Radio and TV Mirror), an anonymous article which seems to be an overview of a Superman radio sequence. It’s a bit of a curiosity—and now, without further ado:

SUPERMAN in Radio [Art and text ©2001 DC Comics.] Darkness had fallen in Metropolis’ Chinatown. The narrow, winding streets were empty save for a few wraith-like figures, standing in shadowed doorways. Here and there a dim light burned in a store window piled high with bits of milky jade, lacquered boxes, and all manner of strange curios from a land beyond the seas. The silence was broken only by the purr of a motor car moving slowly through the streets. Then, as its occupants noticed, under the dim street lamp, the number 44, it drew up to a stop. The two men stepped out. The older one turned to his companion: “Well, Kent, here we are. Chee Wan owns this jewelry store and lives just above it. Comes on, let’s go up.” The odd pair climbed the curving, ill-lighted stairs. They reached the top and knocked on the massive oak door. A stooped, aristocratic elderly Chinese answered in perfect English: “Greetings, Mr. White. It is an honor to welcome the distinguished editor of the Daily Planet. The trip will be worth it, I assure you.” The Doctor’s words were slow and measured:

And now Wan, terrified that Huffman would kill him and steal the jade, wanted Perry White to take them for safekeeping. White, trying desperately to ease the worry that seemed to weigh so heavily on the old man, insisted that nothing would happen to him. Laughingly he urged him to keep the Dragon’s Teeth until the next morning. By that time he could get an expert from the National Museum to come in and look at them. Quietly, Dr. Wan acquiesced. But, no sooner had the two newspapermen returned to their office than Kent turned to his superior: “Mr. White, I’ve got a funny hunch about that Wan case. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back and sort of keep an eye on the old man.”

The editor nodded his agreement and Kent, waiting for no more, ran out of the building. Once alone, he dropped the guise of the gentle reporter and became—Superman, Champion of the Weak and Oppressed! Quickly he leaped high into the air and then, red cloak streaming in the night wind, he sped through the darkness. In an incredibly short time he was back at the building he had left so brief a while before. But too late! Someone had been there before him. Climbing lithely through the window, Superman saw the form of Dr. Wan lying on the floor, inert in a pool of blood. The gentle, learned Chinese had been beaten to death! Only too obvious was the motive—the black Clark Kent and the editor listened attentively to the Chinese Doctor's velvet box that had once held the precious pieces of jade was lying, words: "Before the next sun rises—I will be dead!" he said. empty, near the body of its owner.

“Before the next sun rises—I will be dead. Don’t question that statement. If you will bear with me, I shall try to tell you why I have asked your help. In 1930, while traveling through Western China, I discovered in an ancient temple in the Province of Shenshing, a goatskin manuscript composed by an unknown scholar 3000 years ago. “The characters were faded almost beyond legibility, but by dint of patient effort I was able to decipher them.”

representing a rare herb found only in the mountains of western China. These herbs—all ten of them—when combined and ground into a powder were said to make the human body free of disease. Dr. Wan had located nine of the jade pieces, but the tenth and last was owned by a man, once his assistant, Hans Huffman, a dealer in jewels, a man who, knowing the value of the jade, would stop at nothing to get his hands on the other nine pieces.

Wasting no time, Superman leaped to the windowsill and out! In a flash he had reached the office of Hans Huffman. But the jewel dealer was gone! Questioning the employees in the building and piecing together the fragments of the stories he heard, Superman learned that Huffman had left, burdened with traveling bags, for San Francisco. Huffman must be the murderer! With the ten Dragon’s Teeth, he must be on his way to China! Back to the office of the Daily Planet Superman sped. He had been right. Huffman, he learned, had boarded a coast-to-coast transport plane less than an hour before! Acting hastily, he persuaded the editor to send him and Lois Lane, star girl reporter, on the next plane out. Huffman must be stopped before he could get a China-bound boat!

Excitedly, Perry White broke in: “Go on—what did it say?” “You may not believe me—but there, written on a square of goatskin 3000 years old...” In hushed, almost reverent tones, Dr. Wan continued with his story. He told how the manuscript described ten pieces of clear jade known as the Dragon’s Teeth—each of them engraved with a different symbol

But Superman had miscalculated With the threat of an ugly, snout-nosed revolver, Huffman brutally forced Lois, girl reporter, to go to San Francisco with him.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

25 That’s a dust storm! Your life wouldn’t be worth a plugged nickel if you tried to get through that! I’ve seen people brought in off the prairie after one of those dust storms. They weren’t pleasant to look at.”

the cunning of his foe. When he and Lois stepped down from their transport plane at the San Francisco airport, they were unable to find any trace of Huffman. Frantically, they searched for some clue that would tell them where to continue their search.

Lois was out there in that howling wilderness with Huffman! And Superman did not know that Huffman, in an hysterical attempt to lighten the car so he could get through, had cruelly, inhumanly, thrown Lois out to suffocate in the storm. Meanwhile, red cloak streaming in the gale, Superman sped across the wasteland. Searching, searching, his x-ray eyes pierced the wall of swirling dust.

“Perhaps he slipped off the plane at the last stop before San Francisco,” Lois suggested, “to throw us off the track.” Superman looked at his timetable. “That would be Carson City,” he said, “and there’s only one way to find out if Huffman got off there.”

“Let me go back,” Lois pleaded. Down Superman swooped. Quickly he gathered Lois up in his great “You stay here and see if you can arms and brought her to safety as she slipped into unconsciousness. locate him. If I find he got off at “That cop was right—easy to Carson City, I’ll wire and you can join me there.” understand what this dust storm would do to an ordinary mortal! I’ve Superman agreed. It was worth a chance that Lois’ hunch was correct and somehow Huffman must be found. There was no way he could have known toward what peril the brave girl reporter was racing. For Lois had been right in her hunch. Huffman had stayed in Carson City, to avoid any possible pursuit. He was standing with his back to Lois, his face concealed by the paper he held up before him, when she asked at the hotel desk in Carson City if anyone answering Huffman’s description had registered. Seeing his danger, knowing how close his pursuers had come to finding him, Huffman lost no time in acting to protect himself. Following Lois to her room, he waited until the bellboy who had brought up her luggage had left, and then he stood at her door and knocked. Roughly, he thrust himself inside the room when she opened the door and silenced her cry for help with the threat of an ugly snoutnosed revolver in his right hand. Brutally he forced Lois to tell him that she was not alone in her search for him, that another reporter was still in San Francisco trying to find a clue to his whereabouts. “So,” Huffman snarled, “we shall send a telegram to this friend of yours—before we leave Carson City.” He showed Lois the message he wrote: RETURN EAST AT ONCE VERY IMPORTANT LOVE LOIS That evening Huffman and Lois set out in a second-hand car for San Francisco. It was over an hour before Superman had the telegram and was reading the urgent message Huffman had sent in Lois’ name. But Superman was suspicious of the wire and called Perry White in Metropolis. The editor was able to tell him nothing—except one vital fact: Lois had not returned. Then the wire must have been faked! Immediately, Superman called the Carson City hotel and learned what he had to know—that Lois Lane and a strange man had checked out of the hotel that afternoon! That was all Superman needed. Up—up—and away—and, high above the dark countryside, the stalwart figure leaped forward in curious flight, following the thin ribbons of steel that wound in and out of mountainous ravines and over towering trestles. Faster and ever faster, mocking even the wind in his flight, he sped back to Carson City. Once there, he was able to track his quarry to a second hand automobile agency. But even more disturbing was the report Superman got when he asked a policeman about roads to San Francisco: “Mister, don’t you try to make that trip. See that black cloud yonder?

got a feeling the quicker I get to Lois, the better. If I only knew. Wait! There below me—something... Down! Down!” Lightly, he landed on the dust-churned ground: “Ha!—an automobile, burned to a charred, blackened hulk. But where’s Lois? Only one thing could have happened—whoever was driving didn’t see this ravine, went right over, and the car caught fire! “Hello! It’s Huffman! Poor man—he’s paid for all his sins. And here—here is the cause of it all—the Teeth. The Dragon’s Teeth, melted and fused together in one piece by the fire.” he straightened, suddenly aware that his search had not yet ended. “But where is Lois? She must be close by.... Over there—what’s that? She’s still moving, crawling along. Lois!” Down Superman swooped. Quickly, he gathered the girl up in his great arms. Safe at last, she slipped into unconsciousness. Though the secret of the Dragon’s Teeth had been lost, a murderer had been brought to justice and Lois was safe from harm!

AN ANNOUNCEMENT Hey you Superman fans! Here’s your chance to get—almost for nothing a real Superman Pin. It’s the swellest kind of an emblem. Exactly what everybody who admires Superman and what he stands for should have! Take advantage of this special RADIO MIRROR offer! Here’s all you have to do to get a Superman Pin: Clip this coupon, put it in an envelope with 5¢, in stamps or coin to cover mailing costs, and mail it to: SUPERMAN Radio and Television Mirror Magazine 122 E. 42nd Street, New York City

BUT REMEMBER: ACT AT ONCE! BE THE FIRST IN YOUR CROWD TO HAVE A SUPERMAN PIN! Next issue we hope to share some unpublished early-’60s art from EC legend Wally Wood. And, speaking of EC, we were sad to hear about the recent passing of George Evans. Jon B. Cooke and I have put together a special tribute to this vastly underrated artist, which will appear in the 15th issue of Alter Ego’s sister magazine Comic Book Artist. Don’t miss it! Till next time... Michael T. Gilbert

Comic Fandom Archive

The Don and Maggie Thompson Interview by Bill Schelly & Jeff Gelb Transcribed by Brian K. Morris All Photos Courtesy of Maggie Thompson Last issue we took a close look at the memorable seven-issue run of Don and Maggie Thompson’s seminal fanzine Comic Art from 1961-68. This time, they tell their story in their own words, in an interview conducted in 1992. Here’s how it came about: After my initial period of involvement in comic fandom (when I published a fanzine called Sense of Wonder), I had dropped out of all fannish activities until 1991. When I returned, I found I had a keen interest in chronicling the history of our hobby, and began the research that led to The Golden Age of Comic Fandom and other books.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: The earliest thing I can remember was an issue of Tom and Jerry—also some early issues of Raggedy Ann. When I was five years old, I got rheumatic fever and I wasn’t permitted to get out of bed for about six months. Just to keep me shut up, my mother would buy me comic books and read them to me. I learned to read through comic books, through that process. DON: It teaches you a little bit of taste, too, when you’ve got to live with the same comic book for a week. MAGGIE: I came back one day with a comic book that my mother enjoyed reading to me for entire week. She was delighted by its variety and wit. That was a Pogo comic. She wrote a fan letter to Dell and was put in touch with Walt Kelly. This was before he had started Pogo in The Star. A friendship began with Kelly from my family’s correspondence with him. This was when I was still a kid and so we had the Curtis— which is my maiden name—the Curtis Family Kelly collection. And every time a Walt Kelly comic book would come out, it would go into that collection. No plastic bags—we just read ’em until they fell apart.

My first major comics convention was the 1992 San Diego Comicon, at which Jeff Gelb and I had a chance to interview the Thompsons as part of a series for Comics Buyer’s Guide (which they edited together) to be called “Fandom’s Founders.” At first, we wondered if the interview would DON: However, your mother ever happen, as they were so did buy multiple copies because much in demand at the Krause she discovered that they did fall Publications booth. Finally we apart. San Diego, 1992 (l. to r.): Bill Schelly, Maggie, Don, and Jeff Gelb. managed to shepherd them to a Photo courtesy of Bill Schelly. table in the relative quiet of the MAGGIE: Oh, yes. Because by upstairs refreshment area for our that time there were two kids, so there was to be one for each. My folks tape-recorded talk, and a quick photo-opportunity afterward. visited Walt Kelly a couple of times. My mother was going to script a science-fiction strip for him. They even went up to visit in Darien, Parts of the interview appeared in CBG around the time of Don’s Connecticut, before plans for that strip fell through. But as a result, we untimely death in 1994, but I’ve always felt it should see print in a more were more tied in than many people with the world of comics, so we got nearly complete form. Thus I’m happy to do so in honor of the fortieth to see it from that point of view. When Don and I met in 1957, one of anniversary of Comic Art—though it covers everything from how Don the big topics of our conversation was comic books, because so few and Maggie met through their ascension to the editorship of CBG. people at that point knew anything about them. —Bill Schelly. BILL SCHELLY: What are your earliest memories of reading comics?

BILL: Were both of you actually collecting them at this point?

DON THOMPSON: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading comics or having them read to me by my older brothers and sisters. I’d watch as they read them and discovered one day that I could read them for myself.

MAGGIE: Yes.

BILL: Were these comic strips or books? DON: Books, comic books. I’ve had some surprises—like, I will come across an issue of Captain Marvel, Jr. #1 and realize that I read it when I was very young. But mostly what my brothers and sisters read me was Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, similar titles, and that is when I discovered I could read.

DON: I had been collecting ECs, although I wasn’t consciously thinking of collecting them. I just hung onto them because I knew I wanted to re-read them. The same was true of the Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics. That was basically all I had. At various times, I had accumulated large numbers of other comic books, and like everyone else, something happened to them. They got discarded. BILL: Did you ever see or contribute to any of the EC fanzines? DON: I saw a couple of them but I never contributed. I did have letters

Don And Maggie Thompson published in a couple of EC comics. I had one in Panic and one in, I think it was Tales from the Crypt. JEFF GELB: How did you two meet? DON: We met at a science-fiction picnic at the home of Basil Wells in Pennsylvania. He was a pulp magazine writer and there were people like Andre Norton, Edmond Hamilton, P. Schuyler Miller, Leigh Brackett— a whole bunch of people. I discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that one of these people was Betsy Curtis, who had written some very good stories in the magazines. And there was this annoying little 14-year old kid named Maggie running around. [laugher] MAGGIE: Yeah, right. JEFF: What year was this? MAGGIE: 1957, June 8th. DON: That’s one of the two anniversaries we celebrate, the other being, of course, our wedding anniversary, June 23rd. They’re five years apart, so this year was 35 years since we met, 30 years since we were married.

their Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel costumes. We won Best Group because of my mother’s costuming. We went as the Five Fannish Senses. My father was Sense of Science, wearing his doctor’s gown. My mother was Extra Sense, wearing the clothes she had and looking like a fortune teller. My sister was Sense of Humor. She had a third leg and little jokes written all over her. I was Sense of Wonder with bright red hair and looking startling. BILL: You were the original Sense of Wonder!? DON: I was covered with shiny little bottle caps that sort of looked like coins because I was the 35 to 50 “Cents” the science-fiction magazines cost. [laughs] Getting back to that conversation we had with Hal and Will, we said there ought to be a fanzine about comics. Science-fiction fans were interested in an awful lot of topics. They’d at least mention some comic strip whether it had science-fictional content or not. But there had never been, per se, a comics fanzine. MAGGIE: There was no comics fandom the way there was a sciencefiction fandom, and we said, “Wouldn’t that be neat? We don’t know anything about the comics that we love.” DON: What we were going to do was a science-fiction fanzine about comics. Right after the convention, we sent out this little one-sheet, both sides, called Harbinger… which was a request for material for a fanzine about comics, which became Comic Art.

BILL: Your mutual interest at that point was mainly science-fiction? MAGGIE: Comics, musicals—I mean, when you have as many things in common as we had, coming from very different backgrounds, we just talked for a day.

BILL: When was Comic Art #1 published?

DON: Then, maybe a month later, I happened to see a copy of Humbug #1 on the stands. On a whim I bought two copies and sent one to her because we’d talked about Kurtzman. A correspondence grew out of that. I visited her a few times. We lived about 30 or 40 miles apart, which is a lot further than it is nowadays. MAGGIE: When you’re hitchhiking, which you were. It just kind of grew out of that. BILL: Did you do any fanzine work separately before you published one as a team?

DON: March. I’m certain it was in March, or maybe April. MAGGIE: Spring. DON: Jerry [Bails] didn’t get his copy until April, so he figures Alter-Ego #1 had come out ahead of us. JEFF: You guys think that Comic Art might have pre-dated Alter Ego? Dick and Pat Lupoff appeared as Captain and Mary Marvel at the masquerade of the World Science Fiction Convention in Pittsburgh over Labor Day weekend, 1960, at which they also handed out copies of Xero #1, with the first installment of “And All in Color for a Dime.” This photo is more rarely seen than the one that originally appeared in Alter Ego, Vol. 1, #5, in 1963.

DON: I had worked on one when I was at Penn State called Ballast, which was the Science Fiction Club publication. MAGGIE: My mother and father did a fanzine called Cricket which actually had comics content and was named for a Walt Kelly story in which they’re talking about how you show that you were refined was that you played cricket. That was the end of the 1940s. But it wasn’t just devoted to just comics. BILL: What was your earliest fanzine you did together?

DON: It might have. Harbinger definitely did, by months. BILL: How did you know how to do a comics fanzine when there was no such animal in the past?

DON: We didn’t have any limits on it. We just said anything about comics… and this meant comic strips and comic books. MAGGIE: By the time of the first issue, we were friends with Dick and Pat Lupoff. After the Pittsburgh convention, Bill Thailing (I think) gave us a copy of Xero #1, and we started corresponding with the Lupoffs. They connected us up with other sf fans who were also into comic books. So we sort of grew into that science-fiction thread. Then Jerry and Roy also had Alter Ego, so as soon as we found out about each other, we started crossing those threads. Their focus was the super-hero.

DON: That was Harbinger. We got together at the banquet at the Pittsburgh Science Fiction Convention in 1960 over Labor Day weekend, and we talked with Hal Lynch and Will F. Jenkins. We hadn’t seen Xero. Its first issue was being handed out, free, at that convention and we didn’t even know about it.

DON: We never had that limit.

MAGGIE: We were at the masquerade when Dick and Pat Lupoff wore

DON: We had no problem with doing an issue that had, for example, a

MAGGIE: We didn’t care. It was anything on comics as far as we were concerned, from animated cartoons to magazine filler cartoons and everything in between.

Comic Fandom Archive

comic strip as a lead feature and a feature on some super-hero and so on. But Dick and Pat were doing such a great job with the “All in Color for a Dime” series that we didn’t deal with the super-hero stuff that much. And, to an extent, what Jerry and Roy were doing was writing for people who were reading comics, and we were writing for people who used to read comics. That was certainly the thrust of the “All in Color” series in Xero. We both enjoyed that, and I contributed a couple of articles to the series. MAGGIE: And I illustrated them… by the fine art of cutting mimeograph stencils by hand, an art that is probably lost forever. DON: And you know what? We don’t miss it. [laughter] MAGGIE: We never had a schedule on Comic Art, which is good because that means it’s still a current title… even though #7 was the last one to actually appear. [laughs] That was 1968. DON: That was the first article ever published on Carl Barks. MAGGIE: Mike Barrier wrote a long article called “Lord of Quackly Hall,” and Malcolm Willits did an interview with Barks. DON: When Mal got in touch with Carl Barks, they finally forwarded a letter to him and Carl thought it was a joke from one of the guys in the office because he had never gotten any fan mail before. People had written fan mail but it never got forwarded to him.

straw came when we were sitting at a card table, on a very hot summer night. It was 3:00 in the morning. We each had a roll of stamps we were licking and putting on these things. I’m sitting there in shorts because it was so hot, and the roll of stamps is dangling down by my thigh and the cat went for it and ripped on my thigh. Maggie is sitting across the card table from me when I suddenly go, “Whoa!” Right in her face. I will never forget that expression. We decided this is not really the way to live. So we gave everyone a year’s warning, and said, “Now is the time. If someone else wants to replace us, get going.” A couple of young guys wrote to us, “We’d like to do a publication to replace you.” That was Paul Levitz and Alan Kupperberg. We said, “Sure! Go ahead!” We plugged them, and recommended people get their publication to replace us. Then, on schedule, we quit doing Newfangles, and they continued with Et Cetera, which eventually became The Comic Reader. BILL: Let’s go back to the early 1960s and Comic Art. Wasn’t one of the main goals to gather information on comics of the past? DON: Exactly right. At that point, people knew very little about the history of comics. There were people who, for years, had been desperately trying to find Blackhawk #1-8. They didn’t know it was Uncle Sam for the first eight issues, then switched to Blackhawk with #9. These kinds of things weren’t known.

MAGGIE: Total ignorance of the field. One of our other projects that we did—just to show MAGGIE: That’s a major the level of ignorance change of policy at Dell—at at that stage—was that point, Dell-Western— the whole Dell Fourand I guess we were the Color series, many second or third letter he got. of which we collected. How come DON: As for articles, we Little Lulu starts had articles by Harlan The letters section in Comic Art occasionally got rather heated. with #110? Well, Ellison, Dick Lupoff, Buck [Cartoon ©2001 the respective copyright holder.] that’s because it’s in Coulson, Ed Whelan… lots the Four-Color of others. [NOTE: For a series, so we wrote to them and said, “Could we have a list of what came rundown of the contents of all seven issues of Comic Art, see our out under what numbering?” They said, “We have no such list. If you previous issue.] want one, you’ll have to compile it yourselves.” So that was an ongoing project of ours for years. JEFF: Though Comic Art was successful by any standard, you asked fanzine reviewers not to print your address. Why? DON: That was one of the main things we ended up contributing to Bob Overstreet’s Comic Book Price Guide. There used to be a credit to DON: It wasn’t just fanzine reviewers. It was people like Julie Schwartz. us in the acknowledgments. I’m not sure if he’s still got it in there. We asked him not to give us a second plug, because we couldn’t afford it. MAGGIE: The point is, that’s how Overstreet got his initial listing— from ours—and that’s great. All we wanted, again, was to have the inforMAGGIE: We gave away Comic Art. mation. There was so little. Anything that wasn’t signed, you didn’t DON: Yeah. We lost money on these issues, and there’s a limit as to how know. much we could afford to lose. DON: Carl Barks was known as “The Good Artist” because he’s the MAGGIE: Plus there was the time it took. It’s so back-breaking to good artist on Donald Duck. Nobody knew his name. mimeograph the stuff and collate the stuff and stick it in an envelope and BILL: No one knew he wrote it, probably. stamp it and mail it and so forth. DON: I was working full-time at The Cleveland Press. MAGGIE: And that’s also what killed our later publication, Newfangles—when it’s not fun any more. DON: Newfangles, which we had originally intended would be a single sheet, grew and grew and grew and it was about 6-8 pages. The very last

MAGGIE: Most people had no conception, even, that somebody would write and another person would draw. DON: Mike Barrier was primarily responsible for tracking down all the stuff Carl Barks had done, including the covers and how he had one little bit of material in this or that magazine.

Don And Maggie Thompson

BILL: When the Alley Awards were winding down around 1970, didn’t you come up with a new set of awards to replace them? DON: Yes. I called them the Goethe Awards. It was just supposed to be a temporary name for them. JEFF: How did you get involved with Comics Buyer’s Guide? MAGGIE: I’ll tell that one. DON: Let me try it. I think I can do it in half the time. [laughter] We were doing Newfangles, and when we announced that we were going to discontinue it, a kid in Illinois wrote to us and wanted us to continue it with him as publisher. We said, “No, we really need a rest, and we don’t want to continue with it.” He didn’t have the contacts to put together a newszine himself, so he went out and created a different type of publication, an advertising fanzine called The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom. Comic Art #7 featured this cartoon by Maggie and Alan Hutchinson. [©2001 Maggie Thompson and Alan Hutchinson]

MAGGIE: We did a similar project on Walt Kelly… to try to identify the very earliest stuff on Kelly because Kelly didn’t know what he had done. DON: Nobody kept track of this stuff because nobody ever thought this was going to have any life beyond the on-sale date of this title. MAGGIE: At one point, I started to interview John Stanley, and he said, “You don’t want to talk to me. I don’t remember anything.” I said, “I understand it’s been a long time.” And he said, “No, no. I don’t know anything. I’m perfectly willing to talk but I know nothing.” I said, “Sure, like, it was a long time ago. You probably don’t remember if you came into the office or if you worked at home.” “Oh, well, I remember that,” he said. So you could draw him out on some questions. But he said, “No one will ever know the comic books I wrote because, while I’m known for doing Little Lulu, I was a hack writer. I wrote for every Western title. I wrote nurse stories… romance comics… horror comics. I wrote anything they asked me to write. I never kept records.” BILL: During the 1960s, weren’t you also involved in the Alley Awards? DON: Only to the extent that we helped tally them one year. We drove up to Jerry Bails’ house in Detroit [in 1964] and, along with a whole bunch of other fans, counted the votes. It was a four-hour drive from Cleveland to Detroit.

BILL: And that kid was…? DON: Alan L. Light. He started this in 1971, and kept asking us to do stuff for him. After a few months, we missed the forum for expressing our opinions that we’d had in Newfangles and Comic Art, so we started doing a column for him called “Beautiful Balloons” about twenty years ago. MAGGIE: I think I appeared in the first issue of Buyer’s Guide, doing the header illustration for Tony Isabella’s column. DON: We did the column until Alan sold the publication to Krause at the end of 1982. Chet Krause asked Alan, “Do you have anyone you can recommend who could edit it? Someone with a journalism background who knows something about comics?” Alan recommended us. Chet called us and said, “We’ll send you a couple of airplane tickets so you can fly out and talk to us.” BILL: Hadn’t you just been released from the Cleveland newspaper? DON: No, the Cleveland newspaper had just been released from existence. The Cleveland Press went out of business in June of 1982. It was traumatic at the time. Chet didn’t call until November. Meanwhile, I’d had a lot of job interviews and everybody was saying, “We’ll get back to you.” Right after we took the job with Krause Publications, I think I had two solid job offers from all those interviews that had been going on in Cleveland, one from Cleveland Magazine and I’ve forgotten what the other one was. But they were a little bit late.

MAGGIE: I remember being really impressed by the way Jerry had his collection so carefully organized. The comics were in these bags hanging from the ceiling. And we were thinking, “Could we adapt this for our own purposes?” because there was no really good way to store comic books. JEFF: Was this the first time you met Jerry? MAGGIE: I think so, and Ronn Foss, too. Also Grass Green and others. Part of it was spent looking at comic books. I remember Jerry had an early issue of Batman or Detective under the glass top of a table, spread open. It was the scene where he was machine-gunning people, saying, “I hate to kill people, but –” Rat-a-tat-tat. [laughs] BILL: “—this time I must!” MAGGIE: The idea of somebody with a house, who had it set up—had a system for comics—was very impressive to us. The only negative I can recall would be that Don was on the Alley Award nominating committee, but I wasn’t. We had both been in the field the same length of time, had the same input… but Don was asked to be on that committee. And I thought, ‘Hmm, interesting….’

After Don and Maggie had been editing The Comics Buyer’s Guide for some time, the magazine’s founder, Alan Light (left) and artist Terry Beatty (right) paid a visit to the couple in the Krause Publications offices. This (1984?) photo was probably taken by Rick Best.

Comic Fandom Archive

MAGGIE: We probably wouldn’t have taken the job if the Press had still been going, and that would have been too bad. DON: Or if we had taken one of the jobs in Cleveland, because working for Krause involved moving. MAGGIE: Our kids were in school. Our daughter was a sophomore in high school, and our son was in fifth grade. DON: We wouldn’t have uprooted the family and given up a house where we had almost paid off the mortgage, and start all over again in a strange state, seven hundred miles away. But it has all worked out great. BILL: What’s your sense of the changes in comics fandom in the last thirty years, and do you consider them healthy changes?

you couldn’t find the comics you were looking for because the newsstands didn’t carry it all, but (B) you had to have a print run of, say, 200,000 copies out there in order to make anything go. But now you can, with proper pricing and strategy, print 3000 copies and make a go of it. BILL: How would you compare fandom of the 1960s to fandom of today? DON: The fans from the 1960s are a lot older today. [laughs] MAGGIE: Some of them are higher in their various social or economic levels, but what has happened is, the item that they couldn’t afford 30 years ago, because it cost $20, they can’t afford today because it’s $2000. That’s certainly what happened to our collecting. We could no more get a Prince Valiant original today than we could back when we first started to collect.

DON: Actually, I think the biggest change in the field is that most of the BILL: Do you still fans today are interested consider yourself fans? in what’s being published DON: We wouldn’t work right now. When we this hard if we didn’t. started in 1961, [laughter] everybody was interested In 1990 Don and Maggie, along with Julius Schwartz (at left) and Roy Thomas (far right), were in the stuff that had been flown to Chicago to accept Lifetime Fandom Awards given by Diamond distributors; Jerry Bails MAGGIE: Absolutely. published years ago and (depicted here between Maggie and Roy) couldn’t make it. DC publisher Paul Levitz, who We’re “amateur” in the how can I get all this presided over the ceremony, arranged for the above drawing, a huge copy of which was given sense that we really love stuff? Now, those things to each of the recipients. Caricatures by Dave Manak... we think. [Art ©2001 DC Comics.] what we do. are being reprinted, but the majority of fans aren’t at all interested in that. What they want to DON: Right. We could make as good a living, and work a lot less hard know is what’s coming out next month and the month after that. than we do, and a lot shorter hours. But we want to stay in the field we Anything that’s already on sale is old news and of no interest. love. So, yeah, we’re definitely fans. In the field itself, the big change is that comic books, for the first time, are being written and drawn by people who grew up on comic books. All those comic books in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s were done by people who had grown up reading pulp magazines or dime novels or adventure fiction or whatever. They had no intention of making a career in comic books. It was just a job and it was a job they were generally ashamed of. They were only going to do that until they could find the job they really wanted. They may have spent their lives doing comics, but they didn’t intend to. Nowadays, you’ve got people whose ambition from childhood was to be a comic book writer or artist and to do that as a career. MAGGIE: The other aspect that’s changed is that you can have a tiny print run today because you’re targeting an audience that can financially support something with a very small print run. Whereas, in the newsstand marketplace, which is where comics were when we began, (A)

MAGGIE: We still get a thrill talking to somebody who’s done work we admire. DON: Also, we still like a lot of the new stuff. It’s not just [gruffly] “Well, they haven’t written any good comics since 1958.” [laughter] [The session ends with a group photo being taken.] [NOTE: A complete report on the 1964 Alley Tally Party with photos can be found in The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, available for $14.95 from Hamster Press, PO Box 27471, Seattle, WA, 98125. And don’t miss Bill Schelly’s new book Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom from TwoMorrows Publishing. In addition, a handful of copies of his and Roy Thomas’ officially out-of-print 1997 book Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine, collecting pro and fan material from the 1961-78 volume of A/E, are still available from Bill for $17.95, postpaid.]

No. 70

DON NEWTON • Pencils/1972 P.C. HAMERLINCK • Inks/2001

In this issue-

DON NEWTON Plus—

MARC SWAYZE • C.C. BECK’S FATMAN • FAWCETT-TO-GO

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• New painted cover by JERRY ORDWAY! • Index of ALL FAWCETT COMICS PUBLISHED from 1940-1953! • Behind-the-scenes looks INSIDE THE FAWCETT OFFICES, showing how their comics were created in the Golden Age! • Interviews and features on C.C. BECK, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, MARC SWAYZE, OTTO BINDER, PETE COSTANZA, ROSCOE FAWCETT, AL ALLARD, WILL LIEBERSON, ROD REED, GINNY PROVISIERO, cast members of the Captain Marvel serial and Shazam! TV show, and others! • Commentary and essays by onetime FCA editor C.C. BECK! • Rare and previously unpublished artwork by BECK, SWAYZE, SCHAFFENBERGER, MAC RABOY, DAVE BERG, ALEX TOTH, BOB OKSNER, GEORGE EVANS, A.J. HANLEY, ALEX ROSS, a Foreword by SWAYZE, and more!

All characters TM & © DC Comics.

Editor P.C. Hamerlinck has been delighting fans with his new FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA (FCA) sections in ALTER EGO, and this new volume presents the best of the first 59 issues of the FCA newsletter (founded in 1973)! It covers the history of FAWCETT COMICS and their unique cast of characters, including CAPTAIN MARVEL and the MARVEL FAMILY, SPY SMASHER, IBIS THE INVINCIBLE, BULLETMAN & BULLETGIRL, PHANTOM EAGLE, MINUTE-MAN, and more!

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom. TwoMorrows • 1812 Park Drive • Raleigh, NC 27605 USA • 919-833-8092 • FAX: 919-833-8023 • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Fawcett-To-Go

FawcettTo-Go Jennifer T. Go FAWCETT COMPANION—THE BEST OF FCA! The wait is over! FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck has assembled the best material from the long-running fan/prozine, FCA/Fawcett Collectors of America (issues #1-59, prior to joining forces with Alter Ego), in a new 160-page trade paperback collection published by TwoMorrows. The book includes historical articles, a Fawcett Comics index, and interviews with the creators who made Fawcett Publications great, including C.C. Beck, Marc Swayze, Kurt Schaffenberger, Otto Binder, Will Lieberson, Ginny Provisiero, and many others. Also featured is plenty of rare artwork, and new material never before presented in the pages of FCA—topped off with a gorgeous painted cover by Jerry Ordway! Ask your store to carry Fawcett Companion—The Best of FCA, or order it directly from TwoMorrows! AC COMICS has done it again! Golden Age Men of Mystery #30 is another special all-Fawcett issue, featuring high-quality black-&-white Golden Age reprints of Commando Yank, Bulletman, Minute Man, Spy Smasher, and Lance O’Casey. Best of the West #22 guest-stars Fawcett western heroes Ken Maynard and Golden Arrow. AC has published hundreds of comics featuring reprints of many classic Fawcett characters. Give AC Comics your support! AC Comics, 521216, Longwood, FL 327521216. Website: <accomics.com>. Phone: 407-767-0199. Catalog available upon request. (New books are listed on website as they come out.)

GO FIGURE! This past summer Jack In The Box fast food restaurants offered 4" tall DC Character toys, including Captain Marvel. In early 2002, DC Direct brings to us a Captain Marvel and Black Adam action figure 2-pack set—with a certain evil little worm residing on Cap’s shoulder! Meanwhile, a color version of the Alex Ross Captain Marvel Kingdom Come Statue is being released. (Watch for a special behindthe-scenes article on Ross’ Shazam! Power of Hope book in an upcoming edition of FCA.)

SHAZAM ON STAGE! Richard Van Slyke reports to FCA that he recently discovered that Shazam! was once a theatrical musical production. The play Shazam! was written by John Simons and Douglas Balentine, and performed at the Hip Pocket Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, on July 6, 1989. If that isn’t bizarre enough, over on television, Captain Marvel made a guest appearance on the February 7, 2001, episode of The Drew Carey Show during a dream sequence. In August, fans were treated to two more episodes of the liveaction Shazam! series from the 1970s, shown on TVLand. Write to TVL (postmaster@tvland.com) and request more Shazam! Michael Gray, who played Billy Batson on the TV series, was featured in an April 2001 issue of People magazine in their “Where Are They Now?” section. Jackson Bostwick, who played Captain Marvel, is co-starring in the upcoming action/thriller An intense scene from “Bulletman and Bulletgirl” story feature film Open Season, and he’s also reprinted in AC Comics’ Golden Age Men of Mystery #30. busy on his autobiography, Myth, Magic, [Bulletman ©2001 DC Comics.] and a Mortal, edited by FCA’s P.C. Hamerlinck. SURFIN’-TO-GO! These mighty web sites are worthy of your frequent visits: The Marvel Family Web <http://shazam.imginc.com> The Jerry Ordway Web <http://www.jerryordway.com> and the FCA-Fawcett Collectors of America web site <http://shazam.imginc.com/fca>.

BIG BANG COMICS! An homage of everything that’s good about old comics, the heroes of Big Bang Comics (from Image) are a shining light amongst today’s sea of dark and grim comic book characters. Fawcett fans will find particular enjoyment from Big Bang’s adventures featuring Mighty Man and Thunder Girl. Early issues were reprinted in a terrific trade paperback collection, Your Big Book of Big Bang Comics (dedicated to several creative comic teams of the past, including Binder and Beck). BB has also done an excellent spoof of Steranko’s History of Comics. Look for Big Bang Comics at your local shop and visit: <www.knightwatchman.com>.

FCA welcomes your comments. Write to us c/o TwoMorrows. This issue of FCA is dedicated to Jerry DeFuccio

We Didn’t Know... Was I looking down my nose at the romances? Maybe so. Or was it just that I couldn’t figure them out? Who was expected to read them, anyway? Comic books were for boys. Romances were for girls. Little girls didn’t mow lawns and deliver papers... they didn’t have any money. If they did, they wouldn’t spend it for comic books. So went the mind of a comic book artist in 1948 who, having absolutely no knowledge of romance comics... nor of little girls... shouldn’t have had an opinion about them. By

And I may as well tell you: Back at the age when one mulls over a future career... whether it be the major leagues, professional rodeo, big band

[FCA EDITOR’S NOTE: From 1941 to 1953, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Comics. He was the first artist to bring life to Mary Marvel and drew her earliest tales; but his primary task was to illustrate “Captain Marvel” stories and covers. He was also a writer of many “Captain Marvel” scripts, which he continued to produce while in the military. After World War II he made an arrangement with Fawcett to work for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home, where he created both art and often story for “The Phantom Eagle” for Wow Comics, as well as artwork for Fawcett’s romance comics (in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper comic strip for the Bell Syndicate). Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been FCA’s most popular feature since his first column appeared in issue #54 in 1996. Last issue, Marc went further into his memories of producing “The Phantom Eagle” for Fawcett. This time he discusses the advent of his prolific output of artwork for Fawcett’s romance comics. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

It was puzzling. Why, with comic books like Wow being snuffed out, would a publisher want to stick with romance comics? The bottom of the barrel, or so they were sized up in some corners. It was as if the voice of the masterminds had spoken: “So everything else has gone stale—let’s try the love stuff!”

Marc Swayze was no stranger to drawing pretty girls... or fashion... or action, as amply demonstrated by this page from Mary Marvel’s debut in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942). [©2001 DC Comics.]

music... and, hey, the Presidency... back then the great old adventure illustrators were moving on, and in their places the Whitcombs, Whitmores, et al., began to decorate the pages of the big, slick magazines. Romance stories... love stuff... remember? A good artist could enjoy a long, comfortable career doing nothing but girl heads. I came along in that atmosphere. Consequently I drew girl heads. Also bodies.

That may have accomplished as much as anything else toward a preparation for the comic book romances. Maybe more. Because there’d be women, lots of women. Love stories, as far as I could imagine, were for, by, and about women.

...It Was The Golden Age!

I sat with my first romance script, as yet unread, before me. The opening panel would require eight pretty girls. Problems already... how to keep them from looking alike... and still pretty. We were back to square one: “Monkey with the features and you spoil the face!” I dismissed it as a concern when I thought back to a Flyin’ Jenny story where writer Glen Chaffin had our heroine on tour with a troupe of showgirls. I didn’t recall it as being a problem. I enjoyed it. Another boost from Flyin’ Jenny was the paper dolls that went with the Sunday page. Where that didn’t qualify me as an expert on female fashion, it did make me more aware that such a thing existed. The story line, as well, often extending beyond the aviation theme, to my mind called for the type of art appropriate for romance comics. Perhaps the most effective pre-romance experience I could claim was the writing and drawing of the syndicated attempts I had prepared, particularly Neal Valentine, Marty Guy, the second Jango, and The Great Pierre. Acknowledging yet again my total unfamiliarity with romance comics, I was beginning to feel better about them. Maybe, after all, we were meant for each other. Bring on the love stuff! Art for the first romantic story from my drawing board was completed and mailed July 25, 1948. It went into Sweethearts, the only romance comic book, I believe, being published by Fawcett. When the issue was released several months later, which was customary, I was pleased with the work of the colorists and printers... but I was surprised. And disappointed. Somehow I had adopted the idea that the position... the location... of a story within a magazine was a measure of the story’s worth... to the editors, the readers, to anybody. “Fortune Hunters” was in second place. Knowing so little about magazine policies, and less about romances in general, it’s inconceivable that I could expect my work to rate the lead story position. But I did.

In the meantime I had completed three more stories, none faring any better in the Sweethearts lineup. I felt I had failed. Was I doing something wrong? What was it about this work that was escaping me?

A common problem in drawing women... girls, females... in the line art medium was this: You mess around with the facial features too much and first thing you know you have a girl that isn’t pretty any more. You didn’t want that. I foresaw the need of special attention for the women in the romance comics. Like in real life. I always felt that the young readers of comic books preferred pictures of people in action... doing things... not necessarily the heavy action of the super-era, but more than just standing around talking. Then again, though, there were some newspaper strips that got away with nothing but talk. Perhaps I was wrong... there could be action... talking action, characters’ emotions expressed as they conversed. I spoke to myself, as one is apt to do occasionally when one works alone... this time somewhat irritably, “Create, man... create!” There’d be the kissing scene. I anticipated every story ending with the big smack. One thing I could never stand was a couple in snug embrace, their lips glued, and 40-word dialogue balloons over their heads. I’ve never been able to kiss and talk at the same time, have you? Obviously, though, it all went with the territory. Lovers of love stories expected and demanded it... so I went along peaceably, cutting the dialogue to the bone at every opportunity.

We Didn’t Know...

At one point I had thought of it as a marriage made in heaven... these romances and me. Not so, apparently. It was beginning to look as though I wasn’t so hot in the romance comics game. And they were such great fun. Where the “Phantom Eagle” stories had been limited to six or seven pages, the romances were often as long as fourteen. Gave you room to concentrate on characterization and emotional expression. Still, my spirits were low. I was bothered. When the next script came I didn’t pay much attention to the note that was with it. Roy Ald’s messages were pretty much all the same... big script scrawled in blue pencil across the page, usually saying little more than, “Here’s another one!” Something about this one, though, held my eye. I couldn’t believe what I was reading: “...for our dough you are the best romance artist in the business...” The best in the business. Editors just didn’t say things like that! It encouraged requests for raises. But there it was. And the note went on to say the layouts were interesting, the girls beautiful... and so on. Suddenly it was a different world. Everything was great. And it didn’t stop there. Time magazine came out with an article on the phenomenal success of the romance comic books. The report named only two comic books as examples: Sweethearts, with sales of one million an issue, and Life Story, with seven hundred thousand (Time, Aug. 22, 1949). Once again I was the fair-haired boy... at least at Fawcett Publications. My greatest satisfaction was in feeling that the confidence in me by executives Ralph Daigh and Al Allard was being justified. Of course, there was the pleasure of knowing I was doing what others must have felt was good work. Others, in this case, would have to refer to a very limited number, however. Not many people knew who was illustrating those lead stories... even within the world of comic books. It’s like the report given by a friend who attended one of those comic book conventions and kept asking, “Do you know Marc Swayze?” The answer, he said, was always the same: “Who’s he?”

Oh, well... [Marc Swayze’s memoirs of his days in comics will continue next issue.]

Don Newton & Captain Marvel

Don Newton Captain Marvel A Match Made at the Rock of Eternity by Barry Keller (with Jay Willson)

This photo appeared in Texas Magazine in the Sunday, Aug. 12, 1973, edition of the Houston Chronicle, accompanying an article titled “They’re Kooky for Comic Books and Film Freaks” by Blair Pittman—in which Don Newton (the adult in the Captain Marvel costume) is mistakenly referred to as a “California artist.” Don disqualified himself from costume competition because he had won in ’71. Behind Don, wearing a shirt with a Shazam lightning bolt, is the late G.B. Love, publisher of the Rocket’s Blast/ComiCollector. [Photo ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Artist Don Newton spent much of his life pursuing a love of anything relating to Captain Marvel. This article explores Don’s passion for Captain Marvel and the many contributions that he made to the character over the years, including rare and previously unpublished work from the artist who was taken from us far too soon. We’ll also see how this passion for The World’s Mightiest Mortal transformed the dreams of a small boy into reality.

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck the Mesa Tribune and pulled a number of other stints as a cartoonist for other newspapers. He also did commissions for paintings during this time, one of which was a series of six religious paintings for the Hattie Klienbrook Memorial Collection, also in Mesa. These paintings were turned into a set of beautiful Christmas cards. Besides being a grade school art teacher in Phoenix, Don also worked part-time as a student art reviewer for the mail-order “Master Artist’s Painting Course.” He was successful, but something was missing; he could not shake his interest in comics.

Don eventually discovered comic book fandom, while searching for a source to purchase old comics. A friend gave him a copy of the Rocket’s Blast/ComiCollector (RBCC). Don sent the publisher, Gordon (G.B.) Love, a sample of his work entitled “The Great Comic in the Sky,” which eventually saw print as Don’s beautiful rendering of Captain Marvel and the Shazam the back cover of Golden Age #3, Growing up in Mesa, Arizona, in the 1940s, gods and heroes first appeared as the centerspread in RBCC another fanzine Love published #64 in 1969; it was later reprinted in The Fandom Annual #2 Don Newton began drawing when he was a under the auspices of the SFCA and FCA #57. [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; Captain young boy—with the comic books he collected (Science Fiction and Comics Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.] (Captain Marvel Adventures, Whiz Comics, Association). This piece featured Batman, Daredevil, Planet, All-Star Comics, 1940s comic book characters and others) as a major influence on his artwork. His favorite characters Skyman, Airboy, Bulletman, Target, Spy Smasher, Cat Man, Black were Batman, Daredevil, and, most of all, Captain Marvel. Don Terror, and the original Daredevil listening to Captain Marvel tell a tale devoured anything that involved the Big Red Cheese, including from his glorious past. Excited about seeing his artwork in print and Republic’s Captain Marvel serial, which he watched at the local movie having found an outlet for work through which he could express his theatre. rekindled love of comics, Don was hooked on comics fandom. Comics fandom also became hooked on the artwork of Don Newton, and would As a child, Don was a serious collector of comics; but when he enjoy a mountain of artwork from him in the years to come. reached his high school years, he had already dumped his comic book

I. The Early Years

collection in the garbage can (gulp!), even though he had nearly complete runs of both Captain Marvel and Whiz. A growing attraction to the opposite sex, as well as to weight-lifting and potential competition in that arena, had reduced his available time for comics to practically nothing, and he felt it was time to explore other interests. Don thought he was done with comics. By the mid-’60s Don Newton was a successful artist and teacher of art. He drew a small cartoon feature entitled Sport Star of the Week for

II. The SFCA Years During this period he became an artistic staple of all the SFCA publications. He produced nearly two dozen covers for the RBCC, and between 1968 and 1973 it was difficult to find an SFCA publication that did not feature something by Don Newton. He did not limit himself exclusively to the SFCA; he worked for most of the major fanzines during these years. Through all of this fan work, Don’s favorite subject

38 continued to be Captain Marvel. One Newton RBCC cover of note was that of issue #91 in 1972. It was an interesting half-painting/half-pen-and-ink illustration of C.C. Beck and his creations. Don also did Captain Marvel illustrations for the SFCA Classic Reproductions, Fulcrum, Nebulous, The Newton Portfolio, Paragon, Paragon Golden-Age Greats, RBCC, Styx, The Collector, and The Golden Age. G.B. Love remembered Newton’s contribution to his publications this way: “I guess I discovered Don. In the early ’60 he wrote me a letter along with a couple of photos of his work. One was a color painting of Captain Marvel and Shazam. I wrote him back asking if he would like to do some art for the RBCC, and I mentioned the painting in the photo looked very nice. A couple of weeks later I received it in the mail as a gift. I will say one thing: Don has much (if not more) to do with the success of the RBCC as anybody.”

Don Newton & Captain Marvel The style of this strip stands as a stark contrast to the work he would produce for DC Comics almost a decade later. It is possibly the best version of Cap that Don ever did. One thing that makes this book such a treat is that he used it as a vehicle not only to show off his own talents, but to illustrate Captain Marvel in several different styles. In particular, Don employed a style on the inside front cover that defies description. It incorporates the best of his fandom inking style with his love of bodybuilding to illustrate a Captain Marvel far removed from the world of C.C. Beck. This is a publication that no Captain Marvel or Don Newton fan should be without.

III. C.C. Beck

By 1972 Don Newton was deeply immersed in the Phoenix comic fan scene. Don’s friend and future comic book publisher, Bruce Hamilton, was the chairman of the Phoenix Con 72. Don This first piece of art that Don sent G.B. Love in the 1960s (and Don loved the entire Marvel Family. was put in charge of the art contest for which later graced both Golden Age #3 and The Newton For Bill Black’s Paragon Publications he the show, and it was at this convention Portfolio) shows Cap relating Shazamic tall tales to Catman, did an illustration of Cap, Mary Marvel, that Don finally met his childhood hero, Daredevil, Black Terror, Target, Spy Smasher, Bulletman, and Captain Marvel Jr., and another of C.C. Beck. RBCC columnist and Skyman, and Airboy. We like to think Don’s there to eavesdrop, the Lieutenant Marvels; both were inked as well. [Art ©2001 the estate of Don Newton; characters ©DC longtime Newton friend Howard Siegel Comics & the other respective copyright holders.] by publisher Black. The Newton recalls that Don “introduced himself, Portfolio features not only illustrations citing his professional credits, and asked of Cap and Junior, but also a painting of the Marvel Bunny. During this Beck to look at his work. Don and C.C. retreated to a table in the snack period, Don Newton’s infatuation with Captain Marvel was evident. area, and the Newton wares were presented. Beck was impressed, but skeptical of Don’s real ability, so Don took out a sketch pencil and Don’s personal stationery, which he changed regularly, almost always added figures around the inked Captain Marvel character.” contained a picture of Captain Marvel. In one issue of the RBCC he placed an ad looking for Captain Marvel items. Don also made two or three Captain Marvel costumes that he wore at comic conventions, as well as on The Wallace and Ladmo Show, a local daily kids’ TV program in Phoenix. Don’s then-wife made herself a Mary Marvel costume, as well, to go with his Cap costume. Even though Don was not a very extroverted personality, he enjoyed “creating” a living version of Captain Marvel, and was able to look the part due to his many years of weight training. In 1971 Don was asked to work on one of the true monuments of Captain Marvel fandom at the time, The Rocket’s Blast Special #8. This was an all-Captain Marvel issue, for which Don produced a beautiful fivecolor wrap-around cover, three highly-detailed full-page illustrations, and a two-page retelling of Cap’s origin. This was Don’s first published comic strip featuring Captain Marvel, and it is quite unique in its vision. CM’s origin retold in RB Special #8. Newton’s rain here provided great atmosphere. [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

Don Newton & Captain Marvel Beck and Newton hit it off almost immediately. The reasons for their interest in each other was obvious; Beck was an idol figure of Don’s childhood, the co-creator and keeper of Newton’s favorite character. In Don, Beck found a young and vibrant contemporary artist who still respected the “old ways” of drawing comics. After the convention, Beck was Don’s houseguest for several days, during which they planned their first collaboration, a book on how to draw comics. This project never went beyond the planning stages, but it kept them in constant contact at the time.

39 A few days later, Don received a letter from Beck stating that, while visiting editor Julie Schwartz at DC, “I casually mentioned using you as my assistant on Captain Marvel and they turned various shades of green. ‘Absolutely not! We’ll decide things like that,’ Schwartz declared!” Beck went on to say that DC was not about to hire an artist they had never heard of to draw anything for them. Beck said he was not above using Don as a ghost, but it never happened. All that remains from this period is a sample page that Don did in his “Beck style.” Don did mention DC’s rejection of him in a letter to Siegel, saying, “They’ll be sorry when I’m king!”

A month later Beck received a script by Denny O’Neil that the writer had been asked to produce for The National Lampoon, Although Newton did not become then a top national humor magazine. The This is the all-important sample illo that Don showed C.C. Beck strip, entitled “The Silencing of the Shazam at the 1972 Phoenix Con. Original art courtesy of Howard Siegel. Beck’s assistant, their relationship did not end with Schwartz’ decree. As Beck Sayer,” dealt with the ramifications on Billy [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; characters ©2001 DC Comics.] began work on the new Shazam! book, Batson of the DC Comics vs. Fawcett Publications lawsuit of the 1940s and early ’50s, which had claimed that he was quite unhappy with the scripts he was getting from Denny Captain Marvel was a violation of DC’s Superman copyrights and had O’Neil. O’Neil himself admitted later that he didn’t think he was the eventually led to the demise of Fawcett Comics. In the strip, after being right choice for the job. Elliot Maggin was brought in as a writer, but told by a judge that he must never say “Shazam” again, a sad and Beck disliked his scripts even more. Beck wanted full control of the dejected Billy Batson is seen during the ’50s and ’60s, viewing crossShazam! book in the same manner Jack Kirby had been allowed with burnings in the south, the Watts riots in California, protests against the his Fourth World series. He turned to Newton for help and Don, in Vietnam War on the Pentagon steps, and the fighting in the streets at the turn, called upon his friends Bruce Hamilton and John Clark for assis1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In each case a tearful tance. The three of them sent Beck plot ideas for “Captain Marvel” Billy bemoans the fact that he is legally barred from uttering the magic stories, and Beck was very impressed with the results, particularly with word that would transform him into Captain Marvel. Although Beck did the plots by Don and John. Hamilton had a separate agreement with DC the layouts, Newton did the artwork in what Don referred to as his editor-in-chief Carmine Infantino, because of previous work Hamilton “Beck style.” This style displayed a bit of Will Eisner influence, as well, had done for DC (he drove their ill-fated “Comics Mobile” in the particularly in Don’s drawing of background characters. Southwest, for one), and his plots were submitted under his own name. The strip never saw print. Beck alluded to this possibility in a letter to Newton in August 1972: “Many thanks for taking care of the Lampoon job for me. It looked good to me, but the final proof will be when Choquette [Michel Choquette, then art editor of the Lampoon] sends me the check. As long as I’m training you to be my partner in the commercial field, here’s another priceless gem of wisdom from the Old Master’s lips: Never say nuttin’ till the check clears at your bank.” As the above letter indicates, Beck saw Newton as his apprentice—a role Don was eager and honored to take on. When DC decided to revive Captain Marvel with Beck as artist, C.C. asked Don to start practicing the “Beck style” in anticipation of working on the new Shazam! book as his assistant. Beck knew it would be difficult to complete the book on a monthly basis by himself, and saw Newton as his “ace in the hole,” handling those issues he could not do himself. The never-published National Lampoon strip by Dennis O’Neil, C.C. Beck, and Don Newton. These two pages may be the entire strip. Shot from photostats provided by Howard Siegel. [Art ©estates of C.C. Beck & Don Newton; characters ©2001 DC Comics.]

Don Newton & Captain Marvel break he had been waiting for. As he wrote to Howard Siegel: “My second career seems to be going better than ever now. I just inked a Don Heck Ghost Rider for Marvel and last night got a call from none other than Neal Adams! He suggested I contact DC, as they had been trying to reach me. A call to [editor] Joe Orlando today netted me a penciling job on ‘Aquaman’! So, the death of Charlton has actually opened up new and bigger doors for me. Maybe I’ll make the ‘big time’ yet. For now, I’ll take the work anywhere, but eventually I hope to establish myself at DC.” That “Aquaman” story, Newton’s first published DC work, appeared in July 1977 in DC Special #28. Don would draw “Aquaman” off and on for the next three years. Before ’77 was out, he would begin a twoyear stint on a revival of Jack Kirby’s New Gods and would help create and launch “The Star Hunters.” In 1978 Don would finally get the assignment he had dreamed of for so many years. He became the regular penciler on Shazam! Newton was very excited about drawing Captain Marvel, not only because it was his life-long dream, but also because he was given an opportunity to “redefine” the character. Don wrote to Siegel: “I am going to be taking over… Captain Marvel! Moreover, Jack Harris says to draw it realistic! Finally they bring him up to date.... I’m going to get rid of his ‘wet look’ and trim him down about 10 lbs.!” His first effort saw print in Shazam! #35—which unfortunately also ended up being the title’s final issue. Don penciled the 17-page story “Backward, Turn Backward, O Time in Your Flight!”, which was written by E. Nelson Bridwell and inked by Kurt Schaffenberger. Don wrote Siegel about this first story: “You probably already know that Schaffenberger inked my first ‘Captain Marvel’ story—strange combination, though he’s a very good inker.”

Only known extant page of Newton’s “Beck style,” done in anticipation of working with him on Shazam! The name of the Catholic church is an inside joke: Newton lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, near “Our Lady of Perpetual Help.” Newton’s friend John Clark used to jokingly call it “Our Lady of Perpetual Motion.” Shot from photostats sent by Newton to Howard Siegel. [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

Eventually the plots made their way to the desk of DC Editor E. Nelson Bridwell, who would later become head writer on Shazam! Beck did not hide from Bridwell the fact that Newton and Clark were providing him with plots. Bridwell was optimistic that a couple of the plots could be worked into stories. But this was in late 1973, and Beck’s relationship with DC was quickly deteriorating. In the end, Beck and DC split; and without Beck’s involvement, there was no chance that DC would buy any stories from either Newton or Clark.

IV. DC Comics—and Shazam! With the collapse of the Beck deal, it looked as if Don’s association with Captain Marvel had come to an end. Within six months Don would, at last, become a professional comic artist—but for Charlton Comics, on their line of horror books, not at DC on the Big Red Cheese. At Charlton Don did get to draw another character that he enjoyed immensely. Many regard Newton’s run on The Phantom as that longrunning hero’s artistic high point, but he would draw the book only for six issues and paint seven stunning covers. Don’s tenure at Charlton lasted from April 1974 through January 1977, when his final issue of The Phantom saw print. Don’s confidence was shaken by the book’s cancellation and by Charlton’s eventual move towards publishing reprint-only titles. He worried that, with so many Charlton artists out of work, the little work that was available would go to artists who lived in the New York area, not to a guy in Scottsdale, Arizona. He feared his comic book career could be over. Within a few months, however, Newton got the

What is wonderful about Don’s first professional “Captain Marvel” story is the way he reverted to his fandom, crosshatched detail style of penciling, which had been missing from his “Aquaman” and New Gods work. The icing on the cake, though, was how Schaffenberger managed to retain this aspect of Don’s pencils, while simplifying it with his own superb style. The combination was unique and effective. Although Shazam! was cancelled before it had a chance to gain an audience under Don’s new approach, the “Shazam!” feature itself was quickly moved into World’s Finest Comics, which, at the time, was a big Dollar Comic featuring 68 pages of new stories and art. His first World’s Finest issue, #253, is dated November 1978. Don would draw “Shazam!” in 28 issues of World’s Finest, ending his run in July 1982 in issue #281. In his first few issues, Schaffenberger’s inks, though very good, removed much of the Newton style in the faces and anatomy. However, Don and Kurt soon got into a fine rhythm, turning out some amazing work together. Don penciled very tightly and Schaffenberger inked every line as it was drawn. These issues contain some of the tightest inking Don’s pencils ever received. The end result was very close to what Don’s penciled pages actually looked like. World’s Finest #258 (September 1979) contained an example of the Newton/Schaffenberger collaboration performing in high gear. If you compare this to their first World’s Finest story in ’78, you can see just how much they grew as a team. By the second story, Kurt’s inks are working well with Don’s pencils, not against them, and the result is some of Don’s best artwork ever. Don and Kurt made the tale a real homage to Fawcett “Captain Marvel Jr.” artist Mac Raboy. The graffiti on a wall on page 5 reads “Mac did it better,” which is the way Don felt. Don often referred to Raboy’s version of the character when he drew Junior in the comics. Schaffenberger remained the strip’s inker for a year, after which Dave Hunt replaced him and did a very nice job for the next few issues. After Hunt, the strip became a “revolving door” for inkers. Though some of

Don Newton & Captain Marvel

to the legend of Captain Marvel, which was something he had wanted to do since he was a child watching the Captain Marvel serial. He felt Beck was being unrealistic.

these worked well with Don’s pencils, alas, others did not. During this time both Dan Adkins and Frank Chiaramonte provided some excellent inks for the strip. Bridwell was soon writing all 31 “Shazam!” stories that Don would draw. “Shazam!” was not a popular feature among DC writers because of its rather “checkered” past. Bridwell, however, had the historical knowledge of the character, the writing ability to handle him, and a heartfelt appreciation of the hero’s history. He kept the strip interesting, shifting from pure Captain Marvel stories to ones featuring the entire Marvel Family. He didn’t back down from using all the characters that had made Captain Marvel great in decades past, even if they seemed a bad fit with the feature’s “new look.” Schaffenberger’s final issue was “The Secret of Mr. Tawny,” in which Bridwell brought the talking tiger into the more realistic Captain Marvel universe. Don was able to meld all his talent as a heroic, realistic artist with his love of these characters that had been such a big part of his life since childhood. The result was a redefinition of the character that allowed Captain Marvel to flourish once again.

V. The End of a Friendship

Don eventually grew very angry over Beck’s letters and became tired of his comments regarding the new version of Captain Marvel in various fan publications. Although Don respected and admired C.C. Beck, he now felt Beck had gone too far. Don stopped any further communication with Beck and continued on as the artist for the “Shazam!” strip.

A memento of happier times: Don’s cover for RBCC #91, 1972. This may have been done while Beck was staying at Don’s house right after the Phoenix Con where they met. [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; characters ©2001 DC Comics & other respective copyright holders.]

Not everyone was enamored with the changes going on with Captain Marvel at DC. C.C. Beck saw the “modernization” of his beloved hero as a personal affront to his own style of drawing and storytelling. When DC had revived Captain Marvel, their feeling had been that the character needed to fit more into the ’70s to be acceptable to the readers. Beck’s vision for the new Shazam! book had been to keep Cap as close as possible to the original version, with no real referencing of the times, and certainly nothing “hip” or “relevant.” It had proved impossible for Beck and DC to meet “eye to eye” on the feature’s direction. After Beck and DC had parted ways, the look of the book had not drastically changed, as Schaffenberger and Bob Oksner had at first maintained the strip’s simplistic, cartoonish style. When Don was given the art assignment, both Don and DC turned their backs on Beck’s vision for The World’s Mightiest Mortal. The man Beck had at one time meant to assist him in returning Captain Marvel to his former glory was now a willing participant in what Beck felt was DC’s further destruction of the character. After the publication of his first Shazam! story, Don received a scathing letter from Beck. Don had expected Beck to hate the book’s new look, but he was surprised that Beck chose to blame him for so much of it, especially considering Beck’s previous problems with DC. After all, the change had been a DC editorial decision, not Don’s. Don expected Beck would understand that DC had asked him to do this style, but by this point Beck’s years of frustration regarding DC had taken its toll. When Don had become a professional and had eventually ended up at DC, Beck had made it clear to Don that he thought Don should stay away from Captain Marvel because of his previous association with Beck. When Don was offered the book, Beck expected that Don would turn down the assignment. Don, however, had other ideas. This was Don’s dream job. He was being asked to add his own vision

Thus, in 1980, Don was surprised, and a little suspicious, when Beck, then the editor of the FCA newsletter, asked Don if he would do an interview and write an opinion piece on the new Captain Marvel. Don agreed, and his return correspondence with Beck was cordial and friendly, even suggesting that Beck might work with Don on a time-travel story idea that would send Captain Marvel back to the 1940s. Don hoped Beck’s feelings about DC and Don’s version of Captain Marvel might have subsided, and that they could rekindle their former relationship. However, when Don’s opinion piece, “The New Captain Marvel,” was published in FCA/SOB #14, August 1980, his writings only

fueled the fire within Beck. Don’s article expressed the opinion that characters have to change over time or they eventually become outdated; he also mentioned how much he disliked the early issues of Shazam! Beck later suggested in correspondence that “DC had brainwashed Newton’s thinking” and that Don “had lost his sense of humor.” Beck evidently failed to realize that Don’s comments had been directed towards DC’s handling of the character, and their inability to decide whether he should have an updated look or not. In response to Don’s comments, Beck put his own opinion piece in the same issue—on the page preceding Don’s piece. In “Apples and Oranges” Beck chastised the creators behind the current “Shazam!” series for not understanding the character, as well as for missing the point of the humor and absurdities in the old books. He called modern comics “garbled nonsense.” Beck also bemoaned the “cosmetic changes” made to the hero: “They didn’t bring back the old stories and characters at all. There is really no point in trying to compare the new Captain Marvel with the old one; they’re like apples and oranges... which, by the way, is in the same family as the lemon.” Don must have known this was coming. The “interview” Beck wanted from Don had already arrived in the mail, and Don had responded. This interview appears to have been a way to get Don to say things he was unwilling to or uncomfortable about saying. In response to Beck’s “Apples and Oranges” Don wrote to then-FCA editor/publisher Bernie McCarty, saying that not only did he not want the interview published, but that he did not want his name mentioned in FCA ever again. Don had had enough of C.C. Beck. [NOTE: Beck’s “Apples and Oranges,” Newton’s article, and the Beck-Newton interview, are all published as an addendum to this special coverage of Don Newton and C.C. Beck. —PCH.]

Don Newton & Captain Marvel

Don’s last “Shazam!” work appeared in the September and October 1982 issues of Adventure Comics. These stories had obviously been intended for World’s Finest, but it had reverted back to a standard comic featuring the Superman-Batman team. Adventure during this period was a 5"x7" digest book, and the diminutive printed size took its toll on the art’s impact. Frank Chiaramonte and John Calnan inked these final two tales. Don would go on for the next few years drawing “Batman” stories.

VI. Captain Thunder & Infinity, Inc. Circa 1983 Roy Thomas proposed to DC a re-launching of a Shazam! series that he would both write and edit. (Roy covered all this in detail in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #9.) One of the changes Roy wanted to make in the Marvel Family regarded Captain Marvel Jr. Roy proposed that, instead of a crutch-wielding Caucasian Freddy Freeman turning into Captain Marvel Jr., a wheelchair-bound African-American would change into “Captain Thunder.” He asked Don to draw the title, and Don did a couple of concept pieces. One of these was eventually printed in The Comics Buyer’s Guide #538, along with what Roy has called “some curious caption information” that identified Captain Thunder as a replacement for the Big Red Cheese himself. Don’s friend Jay Willson remembers it a bit differently than Roy: “Regarding the whole Captain Thunder situation, I remember the day that Don drew that drawing, as I was over at his house at the time. I think this was very early in Roy Thomas’ plans to do something fresh with the Captain Marvel family, but his involvement with Don only concerned the idea that Earth-1 had their own version of Captain Marvel (as CM and the family existed on Earth-S), and on Earth-1 he was black. The rest of the concept was relatively the same—i.e., young kid says “Shazam” and turns into Captain Thunder. One key item to the design that proves to me that Don planned this for a Captain Marvel (not a CM Jr.) character spin-off is the double-breasted suit. Very few people realize that Don’s love for Captain Marvel comes from the movie serials first, and the comics second. In the movies the character wore the double-breasted jacket, and Don loved that look. He even asked DC to let him use that when he took over Shazam!, but they decided the change was too dramatic. In addition, Don marker-colored the drawing, and the character’s suit color was red.”

be an adult. However, he doubts that it was ever his intention to make that CT the star of a solo comic. He writes: “He was probably intended simply to encounter Captain Marvel and other heroes in stories I wrote from time to time. In any format, though, it would’ve been fun to work on such a character with Don, whose work I had admired on those same Cap stories that C.C. hated.” In any event, this marked the first time that Roy and Don would work together, and was one reason Roy invited him to pencil the Infinity, Inc. title when original co-creator Jerry Ordway left that title. Don had always told DC that the only book he would like to draw other than Batman and Shazam! was All-Star Squadron, because it featured Golden Age characters that he loved from his youth. Roy tapped into that interest by proposing that Don draw Infinity, featuring the children of the original All-Star characters. Unfortunately, this collaboration did not last long.

VII. Dreams Do Come True Don died on August 19, 1984, after suffering a massive heart attack in his home a few days earlier. He had been ill for over a year and was 49 years of age when he died. At the time he had been assigned the Infinity, Inc. comic, working his artistic magic on a new set of super-heroes. Unfortunately, he was only able to complete one issue (#11) and a few pages’ worth of two others (#9-10, published out of order) before he passed away. Don Newton was an educated man, a serious painter, and a teacher of art. Had he remained just that, we would most likely never have known of him or his artwork. However, something happened to him that drove his creative passions and transformed his life. That something was Captain Marvel, a character who made the dreams of a small boy a reality.

The name “Captain Thunder,” of course, came from Fawcett’s original name for Captain Marvel, which was only used in an early “ashcan” edition of Whiz #1. As Jay noted, Don had always been a fan of the double-breasted Captain Marvel uniform from early Whiz Comics and the Republic serial. Don had often petitioned DC, to no avail, to let him change Cap’s costume to one featuring the doublebreasted tunic. With Captain Thunder, Don returned to the double-breasted suit he so loved. The new Shazam! series was never “green-lighted” by DC. Roy believes this was in part because DC did not own The Marvel Family outright at that time and were worried that getting permission to revamp a major character, like Jr., might be tricky. Roy suspects Jay Willson is correct, and that there was probably a brief time when the black Captain Thunder was going to

Don went from being Captain Marvel’s number one fan to being his number one artist. Throughout his career, Captain Marvel came back into Don Newton’s life over and over again, making Don a better artist and renewing his creative and artistic juices. For the rest of us, this alliance with Captain Marvel provided a vehicle for Don to leave us a wonderful legacy, composed of art that we all can enjoy for the rest of our lives. Don Newton used to draw his comics in a fairly unorthodox manner, sitting in an overstuffed chair, his feet up on the cushion and an art board in his lap. On the table sitting next to the chair, watching over him as he drew, was a 12" handpainted statue Don had created—a figure of Captain Marvel, striking a heroic pose with his cape blowing in an imaginary breeze, looking every bit like a living version of a Don Newton drawing. Shazam! The word is magic! Its magic transforms Billy Batson into Captain Marvel, the World’s Mightiest Mortal— and it transformed the all too short life of Don Newton, filling it with passion, joy, and magic.

Don's "Captain Thunder" was seen in A/E V3#9. Here is the copy-less splash for Infinity, Inc. #13 (April 1985), inked by Joe Rubinstein after Don's death; the story was soon reprinted in a "Year's Best" digest by DC. Thanks to David A. Kraft. [©2001 DC Comics.]

[Visit Barry Keller’s amazing Don Newton website at: http://donnewton.com]

Don Newton & Captain Marvel

Apples And Oranges

The “New”Captain Marvel

by C.C. Beck

by Don Newton

When a statement is made it sometimes is translated into another language. The illustrator of a story is an interpreter who puts written words into the language of pictures.

I was one of the many who didn’t like the revived Captain Marvel which DC put out in the early ’70s. Why? At first I thought it was because of the quality of the new stories. So I re-read a great number of the old Fawcett stories from the ’40s for comparison.

He cannot do this literally. All languages have certain ways of expressing things that are not translatable word for word. A good interpreter must understand the language of the original speaker or writer and also the language of those for whom he prepares the translation. If he doesn’t he will either garble things or—and this is much worse—he will misinterpret the statement and turn it into an entirely different statement. When comic books started most stories were in written form with very few illustrations. Suddenly, in comics, they were all illustration. The early comic book artists were trained illustrators who understood both the written language and the language of art. They were skilled translators who put written stories into pictures that could be enjoyed by “viewers” as well as readers.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that overall there really wasn’t much difference. Both DC and Fawcett had good stories and silly, weak stories. I decided that what was wrong was that Captain Marvel himself had not changed since the 1940 era; he looked silly and acted dated. In my opinion, any character that has survived for several decades has had to evolve, Mickey Mouse being a classic example. When DC offered me the chance to draw Captain Marvel, I was delighted to hear Jack Harris say that he should be drawn in a more realistic, contemporary style.

My new version of Captain Marvel is not an extension of the old character. He is not intended to look like C.C. Beck’s or Kurt Schaffenberger’s “Big Red Cheese” any more Along toward the end of the Golden Age than today’s Batman is supposed to look like a new crop of translators took over. They were the old, outdated character of the ’40s. Captain not illustrators but “fine artists.” They knew the Marvel’s plastered-down hair dated him badly, so [©2001 DC Comics.] language of art but they didn’t know the language of I gave him a newer “dry look.” As the trend today in words. Comic books became filled with beautiful, breath-taking art but comics is to show greater muscular detail, I now make his costume look the stories behind the art became mere garbled nonsense. as if it is painted on him. I draw him as realistically as possible, and use more shading to define his muscles. By the ’70s everyone knew that something was wrong in the comic business. “Let’s go back and start over,” the publishers said. “We’ll keep However, since many of the backup characters in the stories have a the beautiful art, because everyone likes it, but we’ll go back to the humorous side, I use a more liberal, cartoony style when drawing the original stories.” likes of Mr. Tawny, Sivana, and Mr. Mind. As the publishers didn’t understand either the language in which the stories had been written or the language of the artists who had illustrated them, the old stories seemed to them to be crude, simple, and filled with all sorts of things which they believed the modern world would not accept. “Oh, we can’t do this... we can’t say that... we’ll be accused of child abuse, sexism, blatant racism! We’ll have to take out everything that our readers of today might laugh at, shudder at, or secretly be thinking about,” they said to themselves. They misinterpreted the old stories, which to them seemed to be glorifications of evil instead of protests against it. The old stories were illustrated crudely and humorously to make people laugh at the absurdities of the world, not cry over them. If they had been illustrated with solemn, realistic art they would have been silly, unbelievable, monstrous travesties. So the publishers decided to make a few cosmetic changes instead... new hair styles, tighter costumes, fancier layouts, more shading, and so on. They didn’t bring back the old stories and characters at all. There’s really no point in trying to compare the new Captain Marvel with the old one; they’re like apples and oranges, which are entirely different things. Would painting an orange red and calling it an apple make it one? No, it would still be an orange, which, by the way, is in the same family as the lemon. The above statements are, of course, just one man’s opinion. As FCA/SOB welcomes all opinions we have asked Don Newton, today’s Captain Marvel artist, to give his opinions of the new Captain Marvel. Read on....

It is my hope that readers will not try to compare the new Captain Marvel with the old one, which would be like comparing today’s top athletes with Jack Dempsey or Red Grange. Instead, he must be viewed within the framework of the new era in which he now operates. I am sure that if the good Captain is still around in the year 2040 he will again be quite different from my version of him in the 1980s.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: In the half of the page beneath Don Newton’s mini-article, C.C. Beck wrote the following, accompanied by the art depicted below right:] We asked our art director, Walter Wego, to try his hand at bringing some old comic characters up to date and more in keeping with today’s tastes. He managed to modernize Beetle Bailey and Dagwood Bumstead as shown, but refused to tackle the others. If any of our readers want to show what Snoopy, Hagar, and Shoe’s co-worker, Prof. Fish Hawk, might look like, be our guests. Send us your versions! [Beetle Bailey, Snoopy, Dagwood, Hagar the Horrible, and Prof. Fish Hawk ©2001 the respective copyright holders.]

Don Newton & Captain Marvel

Don Newton Talks with C.C. Beck (From the FCA archives - previously unpublished) BECK: Don, I’ve known you for eight years now. You were a struggling school teacher back when I first met you—now you’re a full-fledged comic illustrator. What comics are you working on today? NEWTON: I’ve got your old job, C.C.! I’m drawing “Captain Marvel” for DC. I’m also drawing “Batman.” BECK: Good for you! How do you like the work? NEWTON: Captain Marvel is my favorite character, but I like drawing “Batman” because I get the chance to work with shadows, something I enjoy. BECK: Do they keep you busy at DC? NEWTON: Oh, yes. When I’m not drawing “Captain Marvel” or “Batman” I fill in with ghost stories and science-fiction. BECK: Don, you’re one of the “new cartoonists”—you don’t draw in the old-fashioned cartoony style we used back in the Golden Age. Why not? NEWTON: Because today’s super-hero is pretty much devoid of humor and is quite serious. A more serious story calls for more realistic art.

But you worked in a different time era. Comic styles change, and artists must adapt themselves to the changes in taste. BECK: Schultz and Walker, to name only two of today’s syndicated cartoonists, make crude, childish, ugly drawings. Yet their strips are very successful. What’s your explanation? NEWTON: Those artists grew into styles that are acceptable for their readers. In comic books we must develop styles acceptable to our readers. BECK: In closing, what advice would you give to young people who want to get into comics today? NEWTON: To begin with, they must realize that they’re not going to create any masterpieces. Comic book production is like the fast food business... you just keep cranking out work to fill the orders. You can’t work on one panel for several days; you have deadlines to meet. In comics, you may hate the stories you’re illustrating and you may never get to draw what you would like to draw. I’d suggest that young people get a good background in art school first, then be willing to accept any jobs they can get. Above all, be prompt and reliable and never get the idea that you can tell a comic company how to run things. You can’t!

BECK: Back when “Captain Marvel” started, there were many serious comics and pulps on the stands. “Superman” was originally drawn in comic style and so was “Batman.” “Captain Marvel” was pure cartoon. These three put all the others out of business and are still going strong today. Of course, they aren’t funny now. Why aren’t they? NEWTON: They aren’t funny today because today’s readers don’t want a comic approach. BECK: I have just gone through a list of all the “Captain Marvel” stories published by Fawcett. The variety is amazing. There were adventure, fantasy, whimsy, science-fiction, detective stories, and more. Captain Marvel would be in Minneapolis in one story and in the next he’d be on another planet, or back in pre-history, or in the far future. Can the same be done today? NEWTON: Yes, E. Nelson Bridwell is presenting a wide variety in the stories he’s writing for Captain Marvel. BECK: The art today is far superior to that in Golden Age comics. Is it because we oldtimers were rotten artists? NEWTON: No, you were highly skilled.

The full painting of Captain Marvel and Shazam by Don Newton, of which we’ve used about 60% as our cover. We just wanted you to get an idea, even in black-&-white, of how great the whole thing looks! [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; characters ©2001 DC Comics.]

The Lost Fourth Issue of C.C. Beck’s Fatman

The Lost Fourth Issue of

C.C. Beck’s Fatman by Gary Brown [NOTE: In the last few years, Gary Brown and Wayne DeWaid (onetime publishers of the 1960s fanzine Comic Comments) contacted editor Jon B. Cooke of Comic Book Artist and offered use of the following article on the “lost” fourth issue of the legendary Fatman, The Human Flying Saucer. This essay was originally printed as a very limited press run (120 copies), accompanying CAPA-alpha #324 and Southern Fandom Press Alliance #163, back in October 1991. Though Jon planned to use this piece in CBA #14, he was cramped for space (as usual), and, with permission from both Gary and Wayne, offered FCA and Alter Ego use of this fascinating piece. Thanks to Gary, Wayne, and Jon for their efforts.—P.C.H.]

that we might run out of questions after ten minutes or so. The initial visit to Beck’s home turned out to be a delight. He was very cordial and tolerant, telling us that after Fawcett went out of the comic book business he drew some comics for a Canadian publisher, then moved to Florida and started doing technical drawings, renderings, cartoons, and other illustrations for local firms. His hobby was making weapons out of wood. Swords, guns, arrows, you name it. He had many of his creations hanging on the walls of the modest three-bedroom home he shared with his wife. Then he dropped the “bomb.”

It was pure, dumb luck. Friend and college roommate Wayne DeWaid and I were just into publishing a little monthly letter/news ’zine called Comic Comments in 1967 when we discussed getting an interview with some top comic artist or writer. After all, we lived in Miami and we knew that some artists lived in Florida. Wayne mentioned he had read that C.C. Beck, artist and co-creator of Captain Marvel, lived in Florida somewhere. Great, we’ll try to find him, we agreed. It didn’t take long. Wayne checked the Miami telephone book and was shocked to learn that the Charles C. Beck listed in the phone book in North Miami was indeed the famed C.C. Beck. He talked to Beck on the phone and arranged a visit. Needless to say, we were thrilled. Here’s a living legend who had not received much “fan” press—and he resided just a 30minute drive from our homes. We were also nervous. Neither one of us was an expert on Captain Marvel comic books and we were afraid The covers of Fatman #1-3, all by C.C. Beck. Each one trumpeted “Written & Drawn by the Creators of the Original Captain Marvel— O.O. Binder ^& C.C. Beck.” [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

“I guess you two have heard all about the new comic book Otto Binder and I are doing?” Beck asked casually. I still can recall the look on Wayne’s face as we turned in wide-eyed wonder and looked at each other. No, we hadn’t. Fatman stomps his way to legend in this pin-up from Fatman #1. Repro’d from the original art, courtesy of Bill Alger. [Fatman ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

So, Beck filled us in on Fatman the Human Flying Saucer. It was to be published by Lightning Comics, a new player in the comic book game. They would be publishing three comics, Beck said: Fatman, something called Super Green Beret

The Lost Fourth Issue of C.C. Beck’s Fatman think he enjoyed doing the book and getting back into the swing of things after so many years. In fact, he could rightly be called the “editor” of the book. He had a free hand in rewriting scripts and, as the two stories [printed in Comic Comments #10] show, often took that liberty. He approached his work seriously. When Wayne and I started to leave, Beck went into his workroom and came out with a handful of art pages and scripts. He had worked on two stories for Fatman #4 before the axe fell. He said he no longer had any use for them and that we could have them. The two scripts we were given were written by Wendell Crowley and Rod Reed, who along with publishers Miller and Lieberson—as well as Beck and Binder—participated in the Captain Marvel empire in the 1940s. Crowley, in fact, was a Fawcett editor for many years. Beck was clearly happy to be working with Binder, Reed, and Crowley again. The pages were Beck’s initial attempt at illustrating the two stories. Beck drew borders and did lettering first, then sketches, tight pencils, and finally inks. We believe his habit of working this way was so he could edit the scripts he received and get the story designed in his mind. He also made countless stats of Fatman, Tinman, and other main characters to be used in various panels. It was a shortcut that he undoubtedly needed in order to churn out the artwork for a 68-page, bi-monthly comic book. It should be noted that Beck did almost all the production work on the Fatman books for Milson, including coloring and lettering.

As a bittersweet gift to the visiting editors of Comic Comments, artist C.C. Beck drew the above Fatman eulogy (featuring a certain Big Red Cheese and Fawcett choir). [Captain Marvel & related characters ©2001 DC Comics. Fatman ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

(which Beck had nothing to do with), and a future title to be named later. Milson Company, publisher of Lightning Comics, was owned by Bernard Miller and William Lieberson, both former Fawcett Comics staffers. From what Beck knew, someone at Milson had contacted renowned comics writer Otto Binder, who had called Beck. At that point, Beck had completed the first issue of Fatman and was working on #2. He showed us some page stats from the book and gave us one to run in Comic Comments [#10], where the debut of Fatman was first revealed to comics fandom. Over the years, Wayne and I visited with Beck several times and saw him on numerous occasions at local comic conventions. I always enjoyed talking to him, because he was a straight-shooter. Not long after, we made our second visit to the Beck household and got the bad news. Milson was folding Lightning Comics and Fatman had been cancelled. The third issue was the last. It also meant that the proposed third Milson title, Captain Shazam, would not see the light of day. According to Beck, Fatman was somewhat of a Captain Marvel inspiration and Captain Shazam was going to be even more so. But he only had discussions about the character and never saw any scripts or did any style sheets of the hero. Beck appeared to be frustrated that Fatman had been cancelled. I

Wayne, fan artist Alan Hutchinson, and I eventually divided the pages and scripts. At the time, we talked about how interesting it would be to somehow publish all these scripts and artwork to show fans a small portion of what they missed.

In 1968, that wasn’t an easy task. Copiers were not the most dependable way of reproducing pages of art and the alternative, offset, was expensive. So we left it at “some day” and went our separate ways with the remains of Fatman. Over the years I’ve read a lot written by Beck in the fan press about how comic books are supposed to be done. I’ve come to appreciate his philosophy of both drawing and scripting—storytelling is the key and Beck believed keeping it simple was the best way. He would rail at some of the current comic books, calling them a confused mess and insisting that the writers did not know how to tell a story. When DC finally decided to bring Captain Marvel back (but under the title Shazam! because Fawcett, the original publisher, had allowed Marvel Comics to copyright the “Captain Marvel” name), Beck worked on some of the initial issues. But he again became frustrated at what he was given to do. He did not like most of the scripts and was not allowed to change them. Rather than bend to the will of the publisher who put him out of a job in the first place, Beck quit. Beck complained that no one “understood” Captain Marvel. He was right. The Big Red Cheese sold millions of comic books a year in the 1940s. At one time his comic book was published bi-weekly. The success of Captain Marvel is elementary: He was a pretty simple guy. There was no great deception about his “secret identity” of Billy Batson. It seemed as though everyone knew that Batson could turn into

The Lost Fourth Issue of C.C. Beck’s Fatman

47 was just such an attempt. It was the old crew from the Fawcett days trying to show readers of the 1960s how a good comic book should read.

Marvel, but never really saw it happen. Billy wouldn’t duck into a phone booth to say the magic word, “Shazam!’ He didn’t have to go deep into a cave to contemplate his plan of action. He just said the word.

Consider the similarities: The hero, Van Crawford, changes into another form (a flying saucer) much the way Billy Batson changed when he shouted the Magic Word; Fatman’s costume was almost a dead ringer for that of Captain Marvel’s, other than it was green; the villains, for the most part, were mean but not insane or brutal—and most of them were rehabilitated if only for an issue or two; both Fatman and Billy Batson were young, but projected an older image when turned into the hero; the stories were lighthearted and never too serious.

And out came Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel then went about his business of doing whatever he had to do. No fooling around. He had fun, mind you, and sometimes he failed. But he got the job done. Some have theorized that Captain Marvel still retained some of Billy Batson’s boyish curiosity when he exploded into the bright red suit. Probably. One of the keys of success of Captain Marvel was that the writers and artists never took their creation too seriously. They had fun, he had fun, and the reader reaped the benefits. Can you imagine Superman being chased by police officers and getting shot at? But it happened to Captain Marvel and the bullets found their target: The good Captain’s ass. How humiliating for “The World’s Mightiest Mortal” to get shot in the rear, then captured because the cops chasing him thought he was a gorilla. It happened in a story titled “Captain Marvel In Oklahoma,” in a 1944 issue of Captain Marvel Adventures.

All three covers of Fatman featured the notice that the comic book was written and drawn by the creators of the original Captain Marvel. Inside text pages sang the praises of Binder and Beck, as well as others who had worked in the Marvel factory. Unfinished opening page of the unpublished Fatman #4, unfortunately the most completed one in the entire issue. The poor quality photocopies contain vague pencil layouts, though much of the lettering is complete. We’re including only the most finished panels in this article. Courtesy of Gary Brown. [Fatman ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

The story wasn’t a “classic” in the Big Red Cheese saga, but it showed an important aspect of why Captain Marvel was so popular: You could cheer for him and laugh at him all in the same story. Not so with other super-heroes. Perhaps the sense of innocence displayed by Captain Marvel has remained in the 1940s and the early part of the ’50s. Maybe it cannot be recaptured, except in the musty old issues of the Marvel Family line. But the birth of Fatman the Human Flying Saucer Back in the 1960s, artist Alan Hutchinson was a frequent contributor to Brown & DeWald’s Comic Comments. He returned in 1991 to render this cover art for Brown’s Fatman: The Lost Issue, the monograph from which this article is derived. Courtesy of Gary Brown. [Art ©2001 Alan Hutchinson. Fatman ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

With all this behind it, why did Fatman fail?

To begin with, the character was not exceptional. He carried a handicap of being fat. While some of us might identify with this on a personal level, I doubt that we’d admit it.

There was an inconsistency in the stories. Sometimes it seemed Binder was trying to do too much too soon— almost as though he knew there would be just three or four issues of the book and that would be that. Of course, economics played a big part in the downfall of Fatman and Milson. The company had a product that had a lot of public appeal, but did a poor job of marketing. Can you image the amount of publicity and attention such a project might get these days? But in 1967 no one knew that the creators of Captain Marvel were working on another comic book. It was a secret that Wayne and I stumbled on. If we had not met Beck and published the announcement that Fatman was on the way,

The Lost Fourth Issue of C.C. Beck’s Fatman

it’s doubtful even the most in-tune comics fans would have realized the book was on the stands until the last possible minute. Distribution was poor. Getting a new line of comics to the racks in stores was a difficult task in those days. There were no comic shops and distribution was a matter of who you knew and not how good your product was. The comic book was “giant-sized” at 64-pages and 25¢. That still was somewhat of an oddity even in the late 1960s. Some of the companies that thought the 25¢ comic book was a good idea for everyone (more money for distributors and dealers and owners) failed. Both DC and Marvel entered the 25¢ market slowly and helped make it work in the 1970s. Beck especially felt that the 25¢ price tag hindered the books when everyone else was 12¢ or 15¢. Milson published a second book, Super Green Beret (also known as Tod Holton, Super Green Beret), that was as bad as Fatman was good. It mixed the war genre with super-heroes and a growingly unpopular war in Vietnam. Jack Sparling did much of the art on the books. The fact that the entire line rested on the success of one book put more pressure than necessary on Fatman. Despite the emergence of several smaller publishing companies in the ’60s, the fact remained that it was difficult for any new comic book company to get established. DC, Marvel, Archie, Harvey and Dell/Gold Key had their niches and it was difficult for new members to join the club.

A quartet of semi-finished panels from Fatman #4’s “The Secret of Ali Ben Raja,” script by oldtime Fawcett writer Rod Reed and art by the legendary C.C. Beck, another Fawcett alumni. [Fatman ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Companies like Tower, Milson, and later Skywald would make promises and ruffle a few feathers, but could never get past those important economic hurdles to success. And that’s what every one of them wanted—a large slice of the financial pie. In the case of Milson, the publishers wanted to grab its piece by using the team that had developed the most popular comic book character in history. They were after the Holy Grail of the comic book world. They failed. But I believe that the re-emergence of Beck and Binder and the Fatman comic book set some wheels in motion that many of us would benefit by years later—the return of the real Captain Marvel. Of course, I’m not privy to just when and why the powers-that-be at DC decided to bring the Big Red Cheese back, but certainly the promise of Fatman or another attempt like it probably made some people think about dusting off the original.

Beck died in late November 1989 at his home near Gainesville, Florida. The Associated Press wire story that appeared noted he was the co-creator of Captain Marvel. There was, of course, no mention of his efforts on Fatman. Perhaps it was best. We will never be able to go back and recreate what Captain Marvel was. Someone in the future may take the character in hand and make him popular again. Maybe even sell millions of copies of Captain Marvel Adventures again. But we’ll be content to cherish the “old” Captain Marvel and to enjoy what Beck and Binder and the rest of the staff did with Fatman the Human Flying Saucer. They’re only comic books, after all. Only a little piece of our lives.

Captain Shazam was a long-promised book, hinting at a sort of return of the World’s Mightiest Mortal by his creators Binder & Beck. Sadly the publisher, Milson, closed its doors before an issue saw the light of day.

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STAN LEE gets roasted by SCHWARTZ, CLAREMONT, DAVID, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, and SHOOTER, ORDWAY and THOMAS on INFINITY, INC., IRWIN HASEN interview, unseen H.G. PETER Wonder Woman pages, the original Captain Marvel and Human Torch teamup, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, “Mr. Monster”, plus plenty of rare and unpublished art!

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Celebrating the JSA, with interviews with MART NODELL, SHELLY MAYER, GEORGE ROUSSOS, BILL BLACK, and GIL KANE, unpublished H.G. PETER Wonder Woman art, GARDNER FOX, an FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, WENDELL CROWLEY, and more! Wraparound cover by CARMINE INFANTINO and JERRY ORDWAY!

GENE COLAN interview, 1940s books on comics by STAN LEE and ROBERT KANIGHER, AYERS, SEVERIN, and ROY THOMAS on Sgt. Fury, ROY on All-Star Squadron’s Golden Age roots, FCA section with SWAYZE, BECK, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, JOE SIMON interview, a definitive look at MAC RABOY’S work, and more! Covers by COLAN and RABOY!

Companion to ALL-STAR COMPANION book, with a JULIE SCHWARTZ interview, guide to JLA-JSA TEAMUPS, origins of the ALL-STAR SQUADRON, FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK (on his 1970s DC conflicts), DAVE BERG, BOB ROGERS, more on MAC RABOY from his son, MR. MONSTER, and more! RICH BUCKLER and C.C. BECK covers!

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JOHN ROMITA interview by ROY THOMAS (with unseen art), Roy’s PROPOSED DREAM PROJECTS that never got published (with a host of great artists), MR. MONSTER on WAYNE BORING’S life after Superman, The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Panel, FCA section with GEORGE TUSKA, C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, BILL MORRISON, & more! ROMITA and GIORDANO covers!

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1974 panel with JOE SIMON, STAN LEE, FRANK ROBBINS, and ROY THOMAS, ROY and JOHN BUSCEMA on Avengers, 1964 STAN LEE interview, tributes to DON HECK, JOHNNY CRAIG, and GRAY MORROW, Timely alums DAVID GANTZ and DANIEL KEYES, and FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and MIKE MANLEY! Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON and JOE SIMON!

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Spotlighting LOU FINE (with an overview of his career, and interviews with family members), interview with MURPHY ANDERSON about Fine, ALEX TOTH on Fine, ARNOLD DRAKE interviewed about DEADMAN and DOOM PATROL, MR. MONSTER on the non-EC work of JACK DAVIS and GEORGE EVANS, FINE and LUIS DOMINGUEZ COVERS, FCA and more!

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Timely/Marvel art by SEKOWSKY, SHORES, EVERETT, and BURGOS, secrets behind THE INVADERS with ROY THOMAS, KIRBY, GIL KANE, & ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS interviewed, 1965 NY Comics Con review, panel with FINGER, BINDER, FOX and WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, RABOY, SCHAFFENBERGER, and more! MILGROM and SCHELLY covers!

The IGER “SHOP” examined, with art by EISNER, FINE, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, BAKER, MESKIN, CARDY, EVANS, BOB KANE, and TUSKA, “SHEENA” section with art by DAVE STEVENS & FRANK BRUNNER, ROY THOMAS on JSA & All-Star Squadron, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, UNSEEN 1946 ALL-STAR ART, FCA, and more! DAVE STEVENS and IRWIN HASEN covers!

BILL EVERETT and JOE KUBERT interviewed by NEAL ADAMS and GIL KANE in 1970, Timely art by BURGOS, SHORES, NODELL, and SEKOWSKY, RUDY LAPICK, ROY THOMAS on Sub-Mariner, with art by EVERETT, COLAN, ANDRU, BUSCEMAs, SEVERINs, and more, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD at EC, ALEX TOTH, and CAPT. MIDNIGHT! EVERETT & BECK covers!

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JACK COLE remembered by ALEX TOTH, interview with brother DICK COLE and his PLAYBOY colleagues, CHRIS CLAREMONT on the X-Men (with more never-seen art by DAVE COCKRUM), ROY THOMAS on AllStar Squadron #1 and its ‘40s roots (with art by ORDWAY, BUCKLER, MESKIN and MOLDOFF), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by TOTH and SCHELLY!

JOE SINNOTT interview, IRWIN DONENFELD interview by EVANIER & SCHWARTZ, art by SHUSTER, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, and SWAN, MARK WAID analyzes the first Kryptonite story, JERRY SIEGEL and HARRY DONENFELD, JERRY IGER Shop update, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and KEN BALD! Covers by SINNOTT and WAYNE BORING!

VIN SULLIVAN interview about the early DC days with art by SHUSTER, MOLDOFF, FLESSEL, GUARDINEER, and BURNLEY, MR. MONSTER’s “Lost” KIRBY HULK covers, 1948 NEW YORK COMIC CON with STAN LEE, SIMON & KIRBY, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, HARVEY KURTZMAN, and ROY THOMAS, ALEX TOTH, FCA, and more! Covers by JACK BURNLEY and JACK KIRBY!

Spotlight on JOE MANEELY, with a career overview, remembrance by his daughter and tons of art, Timely/Atlas/Marvel art by ROMITA, EVERETT, SEVERIN, SHORES, KIRBY, and DITKO, STAN LEE on Maneely, LEE AMES interview, FCA with SWAYZE, ISIS, and STEVE SKEATES, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Covers by JOE MANEELY and DON NEWTON!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #29

ALTER EGO #30

ALTER EGO #31

ALTER EGO #32

ALTER EGO #33

FRANK BRUNNER interview, BILL EVERETT’S Venus examined by TRINA ROBBINS, Classics Illustrated “What ifs”, LEE/KIRBY/DITKO Marvel prototypes, JOE MANEELY’s monsters, BILL FRACCIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, JOHN BENSON on EC, The Heap by ERNIE SCHROEDER, and FCA! Covers by FRANK BRUNNER and PETE VON SHOLLY!

ALEX ROSS on his love for the JLA, BLACKHAWK/JLA artist DICK DILLIN, the super-heroes of 1940s-1980s France (with art by STEVE RUDE, STEVE BISSETTE, LADRÖNN, and NEAL ADAMS), KIM AAMODT & WALTER GEIER on writing for SIMON & KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA! Covers by ALEX ROSS and STEVE RUDE!

DICK AYERS on his 1950s and ‘60s work (with tons of Marvel Bullpen art), HARLAN ELLISON’s Marvel Age work examined (with art by BUCKLER, SAL BUSCEMA, and TRIMPE), STAN LEE’S Marvel Prototypes (with art by KIRBY and DITKO), Christmas cards from comics greats, MR. MONSTER, & FCA with SWAYZE and SCHAFFENBERGER! Covers by DICK AYERS and FRED RAY!

Timely artists ALLEN BELLMAN and SAM BURLOCKOFF interviewed, MART NODELL on his Timely years, rare art by BURGOS, EVERETT, and SHORES, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age (with art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, and more), FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Covers by DICK GIORDANO and GIL KANE!

Symposium on MIKE SEKOWSKY by MARK EVANIER, SCOTT SHAW!, et al., with art by ANDERSON, INFANTINO, and others, PAT (MRS. MIKE) SEKOWSKY and inker VALERIE BARCLAY interviewed, FCA, 1950s Captain Marvel parody by ANDRU and ESPOSITO, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by FRENZ/SINNOTT and FRENZ/BUSCEMA!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #34

ALTER EGO #35

ALTER EGO #36

ALTER EGO #37

ALTER EGO #38

Quality Comics interviews with ALEX KOTZKY, AL GRENET, CHUCK CUIDERA, & DICK ARNOLD (son of BUSY ARNOLD), art by COLE, EISNER, FINE, WARD, DILLIN, and KANE, MICHELLE NOLAN on Blackhawk’s jump to DC, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on HARVEY KURTZMAN, & ALEX TOTH on REED CRANDALL! Covers by REED CRANDALL & CHARLES NICHOLAS!

Covers by JOHN ROMITA and AL JAFFEE! LEE, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, & THOMAS on the 1953-55 Timely super-hero revival, with rare art by ROMITA, AYERS, BURGOS, HEATH, EVERETT, LAWRENCE, & POWELL, AL JAFFEE on the 1940s Timely Bullpen (and MAD), FCA, ALEX TOTH on comic art, MR. MONSTER on unpublished 1950s covers, and more!

JOE SIMON on SIMON & KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, and LLOYD JACQUET, JOHN BELL on World War II Canadian heroes, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Canadian origins of MR. MONSTER, tributes to BOB DESCHAMPS, DON LAWRENCE, & GEORGE WOODBRIDGE, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and ELMER WEXLER interview! Covers by SIMON and GILBERT & RONN SUTTON!

WILL MURRAY on the 1940 Superman “KMetal” story & PHILIP WYLIE’s GLADIATOR (with art by SHUSTER, SWAN, ADAMS, and BORING), FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and DON NEWTON, SY BARRY interview, art by TOTH, MESKIN, INFANTINO, and ANDERSON, and MICHAEL T. GILBERT interviews AL FELDSTEIN on EC and RAY BRADBURY! Covers by C.C. BECK and WAYNE BORING!

JULIE SCHWARTZ TRIBUTE with HARLAN ELLISON, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, KUBERT, GIELLA, GIORDANO, CARDY, LEVITZ, STAN LEE, WOLFMAN, EVANIER, & ROY THOMAS, never-seen interviews with Julie, FCA with BECK, SCHAFFENBERGER, NEWTON, COCKRUM, OKSNER, FRADON, SWAYZE, and JACKSON BOSTWICK! Covers by INFANTINO and IRWIN HASEN!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #39

ALTER EGO #40

ALTER EGO #41

ALTER EGO #42

ALTER EGO #43

Full-issue spotlight on JERRY ROBINSON, with an interview on being BOB KANE’s Batman “ghost”, creating the JOKER and ROBIN, working on VIGILANTE, GREEN HORNET, and ATOMAN, plus never-seen art by Jerry, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, RAY, KIRBY, SPRANG, DITKO, and PARIS! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER on AL FELDSTEIN Part 2, and more! Two JERRY ROBINSON covers!

RUSS HEATH and GIL KANE interviews (with tons of unseen art), the JULIE SCHWARTZ Memorial Service with ELLISON, MOORE, GAIMAN, HASEN, O’NEIL, and LEVITZ, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, NOVICK, DILLIN, SEKOWSKY, KUBERT, GIELLA, ARAGONÉS, FCA, MR. MONSTER and AL FELDSTEIN Part 3, and more! Covers by GIL KANE & RUSS HEATH!

Halloween issue! BERNIE WRIGHTSON on his 1970s FRANKENSTEIN, DICK BRIEFER’S monster, the campy 1960s Frankie, art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, BORING, OKSNER, TUSKA, CRANDALL, and SUTTON, FCA #100, EMILIO SQUEGLIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more! Covers by WRIGHTSON & MARC SWAYZE!

A celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, rare art by KIRBY, DITKO, and AYERS, Hillman and Ziff-Davis remembered by Heap artist ERNIE SCHROEDER, HERB ROGOFF, and WALTER LITTMAN, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and ALEX TOTH! Covers by FASTNER & LARSON and ERNIE SCHROEDER!

Yuletide art by WOOD, SINNOTT, CARDY, BRUNNER, TOTH, NODELL, and others, interviews with Golden Age artists TOM GILL (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS, exploring 1960s Mexican comics, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Flip covers by GEORGE TUSKA and DAVE STEVENS!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

JSA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. special! Interviews with KUBERT, HASEN, ANDERSON, ORDWAY, BUCKLER, THOMAS, 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR ADLER, art by TOTH, SEKOWSKY, HASEN, MACHLAN, OKSNER, and INFANTINO, FCA, and MR. MONSTER’S “I Like Ike!” cartoons by BOB KANE, INFANTINO, OKSNER, and BIRO! Wraparound ORDWAY cover!

Interviews with Sandman artist CREIG FLESSEL and ‘40s creator BERT CHRISTMAN, MICHAEL CHABON on researching his Pulitzer-winning novel Kavalier & Clay, art by EISNER, KANE, KIRBY, and AYERS, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER’s “lost” Jon Jarl story, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and ALEX TOTH! CREIG FLESSEL cover!

The VERY BEST of the 1960s-70s ALTER EGO! 1969 BILL EVERETT interview, art by BURGOS, GUSTAVSON, SIMON & KIRBY, and others, 1960s gems by DITKO, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, JERRY BAILS, and ROY THOMAS, LOU GLANZMAN interview, tributes to IRV NOVICK and CHRIS REEVE, MR. MONSTER, FCA, TOTH, and more! Cover by EVERETT and MARIE SEVERIN!

Spotlights MATT BAKER, Golden Age cheesecake artist of PHANTOM LADY! Career overview, interviews with BAKER’s half-brother and nephew, art from AL FELDSTEIN, VINCE COLLETTA, ARTHUR PEDDY, JACK KAMEN and others, FCA, BILL SCHELLY talks to comic-book-seller (and fan) BUD PLANT, MR. MONSTER on missing AL WILLIAMSON art, and ALEX TOTH!

WILL EISNER discusses Eisner & Iger’s Shop and BUSY ARNOLD’s ‘40s Quality Comics, art by FINE, CRANDALL, COLE, POWELL, and CARDY, EISNER tributes by STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, & others, interviews with ‘40s Quality artist VERN HENKEL and CHUCK MAZOUJIAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER on EISNER’s Wonder Man, ALEX TOTH, and more with BUD PLANT! EISNER cover!

(100-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #49

ALTER EGO #50

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

Spotlights CARL BURGOS! Interview with daughter SUE BURGOS, art by BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, MIKE SEKOWSKY, ED ASCHE, and DICK AYERS, unused 1941 Timely cover layouts, the 1957 Atlas Implosion examined, MANNY STALLMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER and more! New cover by MARK SPARACIO, from an unused 1941 layout by CARL BURGOS!

ROY THOMAS covers his 40-YEAR career in comics (AVENGERS, X-MEN, CONAN, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY INC.), with ADAMS, BUSCEMA, COLAN, DITKO, GIL KANE, KIRBY, STAN LEE, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, ROMITA, and many others! Also FCA, & MR. MONSTER on ROY’s letters to GARDNER FOX! Flip-covers by BUSCEMA/ KIRBY/ALCALA and JERRY ORDWAY!

Golden Age Batman artist/BOB KANE ghost LEW SAYRE SCHWARTZ interviewed, Batman art by JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, SHELDON MOLDOFF, WIN MORTIMER, JIM MOONEY, and others, the Golden and Silver Ages of AUSTRALIAN SUPER-HEROES, Mad artist DAVE BERG interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WILL EISNER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JOE GIELLA on the Silver Age at DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, and JULIE SCHWARTZ, with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, SEKOWSKY, SWAN, DILLIN, MOLDOFF, GIACOIA, SCHAFFENBERGER, and others, JAY SCOTT PIKE on STAN LEE and CHARLES BIRO, MARTIN THALL interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! GIELLA cover!

GIORDANO and THOMAS on STOKER’S DRACULA, never-seen DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strip, MIKE ESPOSITO on his work with ROSS ANDRU, art by COLAN, WRIGHTSON, MIGNOLA, BRUNNER, BISSETTE, KALUTA, HEATH, MANEELY, EVERETT, DITKO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, BILL SCHELLY, ALEX TOTH, and MR. MONSTER! Cover by GIORDANO!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #54

ALTER EGO #55

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

MIKE ESPOSITO on DC and Marvel, ROBERT KANIGHER on the creation of Metal Men and Sgt. Rock (with comments by JOE KUBERT and BOB HANEY), art by ANDRU, INFANTINO, KIRBY, SEVERIN, WINDSOR-SMITH, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, TRIMPE, GIL KANE, and others, plus FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! ESPOSITO cover!

JACK and OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with SWAYZE and EMILIO SQUEGLIO, rare art by BECK, WARD, & SCHAFFENBERGER, Christmas Cards from CRANDALL, SINNOTT, HEATH, MOONEY, and CARDY, 1943 Pin-Up Calendar (with ‘40s movie stars as superheroines), ALEX TOTH, more! ALEX ROSS and ALEX WRIGHT covers!

Interviews with Superman creators SIEGEL & SHUSTER, Golden/Silver Age DC production guru JACK ADLER interviewed, NEAL ADAMS and radio/TV iconoclast (and comics fan) HOWARD STERN on Adler and his amazing career, art by CURT SWAN, WAYNE BORING, and AL PLASTINO, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, and more! NEAL ADAMS cover!

Issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas superhero stories by MICHELLE NOLAN, art by SIMON & KIRBY, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, SHORES, SCHOMBURG, MANEELY, and SEVERIN, GENE COLAN and ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely super-heroes, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY! Cover by JACK KIRBY and PETE VON SHOLLY!

GERRY CONWAY and ROY THOMAS on their ‘80s screenplay for “The X-Men Movie That Never Was!”with art by COCKRUM, ADAMS, BUSCEMA, BYRNE, GIL KANE, KIRBY, HECK, and LIEBER, Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA interview, ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely bullpen, FCA, 1966 panel on 1950s EC Comics, and MR. MONSTER! MARK SPARACIO/GIL KANE cover!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #59

ALTER EGO #60

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

Special issue on Batman and Superman in the Golden and Silver Ages, featuring a new ARTHUR SUYDAM interview, NEAL ADAMS on DC in the 1960s-1970s, SHELLY MOLDOFF, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA interviewed, SIEGEL & SHUSTER, RUSS MANNING, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

Celebrates 50 years since SHOWCASE #4! FLASH interviews with SCHWARTZ, KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, and BROOME, Golden Age artist TONY DiPRETA, 1966 panel with NORDLING, BINDER, and LARRY IVIE, FCA, MR. MONSTER, never-before-published color Flash cover by CARMINE INFANTINO, and more!

History of the AMERICAN COMICS GROUP (1946 to 1967)—including its roots in the Golden Age SANGOR ART SHOP and STANDARD/NEDOR comics! Art by MESKIN, ROBINSON, WILLIAMSON, FRAZETTA, SCHAFFENBERGER, & BUSCEMA, ACG writer/editor RICHARD HUGHES, plus AL HARTLEY interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! GIORDANO cover!

HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN ISSUE, featuring: MIKE PLOOG and RUDY PALAIS on their horror-comics work! AL WILLIAMSON on his work for the American Comics Group—plus more on ACG horror comics! Rare DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strips! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on the 1966 KalerCon, a new PLOOG cover—and more!

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Never-before-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Articles about Toth by TERRY AUSTIN, JIM AMASH, SY BARRY, JOE KUBERT, LOU SAYRE SCHWARTZ, IRWIN HASEN, JOHN WORKMAN, and others! Plus illustrated Christmas cards by comics pros, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

ALTER EGO #68

Fawcett Favorites! Issue-by-issue analysis of BINDER & BECK’s 1943-45 “The Monster Society of Evil!” serial, double-size FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, EMILIO SQUEGLIO, C.C. BECK, MAC RABOY, and others! Interview with MARTIN FILCHOCK, Golden Age artist for Centaur Comics! Plus MR. MONSTER, DON NEWTON cover, plus a FREE 1943 MARVEL CALENDAR!

NICK CARDY interviewed on his Golden & Silver Age work (with CARDY art), plus art by WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, CARMINE INFANTINO, JIM APARO, RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and others, tributes to ERNIE SCHROEDER and DAVE COCKRUM, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, new CARDY COVER, and more!

Spotlight on BOB POWELL, the artist who drew Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Sheena, The Avenger, The Hulk, Giant-Man, and others, plus art by WALLY WOOD, HOWARD NOSTRAND, DICK AYERS, SIMON & KIRBY, MARTIN GOODMAN’s Magazine Management, and others! FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

Interview with BOB OKSNER, artist of Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Angel and the Ape, Leave It to Binky, Shazam!, and more, plus art and artifacts by SHELLY MAYER, IRWIN HASEN, LEE ELIAS, C.C. BECK, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, JULIE SCHWARTZ, etc., FCA with MARC SWAYZE & C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on BOB POWELL Part II, and more!

Tribute to JERRY BAILS—Father of Comics Fandom and founder of Alter Ego! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, plus art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JERRY ORDWAY, JOE STATON, JACK KIRBY, and others! Plus STEVE DITKO’s notes to STAN LEE for a 1965 Dr. Strange story! And ROY reveals secrets behind Marvel’s STAR WARS comic!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #69

ALTER EGO #70

ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

PAUL NORRIS drew AQUAMAN first, in 1941—and RAMONA FRADON was the hero’s ultimate Golden Age artist. But both drew other things as well, and both are interviewed in this landmark issue—along with a pocket history of Aquaman! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more! Cover painted by JOHN WATSON, from a breathtaking illo by RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlight on ROY THOMAS’ 1970s stint as Marvel’s editor-in-chief and major writer, plus art and reminiscences of GIL KANE, BOTH BUSCEMAS, ADAMS, ROMITA, CHAYKIN, BRUNNER, PLOOG, EVERETT, WRIGHTSON, PÉREZ, ROBBINS, BARRY SMITH, STAN LEE and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, a new GENE COLAN cover, plus an homage to artist LILY RENÉE!

Represents THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, the long out-of-print 1970s book by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana, Thunderfist, and others, plus new INVADERS art by JOHN BYRNE, MIKE GRELL, RON LIM, and more, plus a new cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY!

SCOTT SHAW! and ROY THOMAS on the creation of Captain Carrot, art & artifacts by RICK HOBERG, STAN GOLDBERG, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JOHN COSTANZA, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CAROL LAY, and others, interview with DICK ROCKWELL, Golden Age artist and 36-year ghost artist on MILTON CANIFF’s Steve Canyon! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, GRAHAM INGELS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #74

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

ALTER EGO #77

ALTER EGO #78

STAN LEE SPECIAL in honor of his 85th birthday, with a cover by JACK KIRBY, classic (and virtually unseen) interviews with Stan, tributes, and tons of rare and unseen art by KIRBY, ROMITA, the brothers BUSCEMA, DITKO, COLAN, HECK, AYERS, MANEELY, SHORES, EVERETT, BURGOS, KANE, the SEVERIN siblings—plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL—with an ALEX ROSS cover! Double-size FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with P.C. HAMERLINCK on the many “Captains Marvel” over the years, unseen Shazam! proposal by ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK on “The Death of a Legend!”, MARC SWAYZE, interview with Golden Age artist MARV LEVY, MR. MONSTER, and more!

JOE SIMON SPECIAL! In-depth SIMON interview by JIM AMASH, with neverbefore-revealed secrets behind the creation of Captain America, Fighting American, Stuntman, Adventures of The Fly, Sick magazine and more, art by JACK KIRBY, BOB POWELL, AL WILLIAMSON, JERRY GRANDENETTI, GEORGE TUSKA, and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

ST. JOHN ISSUE! Golden Age Tor cover by JOE KUBERT, KEN QUATTRO relates the full legend of St. John Publishing, art by KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, MATT BAKER, LILY RENEE, BOB LUBBERS, RUBEN MOREIRA, RALPH MAYO, AL FAGO, special reminiscences of ARNOLD DRAKE, Golden Age artist TOM SAWYER interviewed, and more!

DAVE COCKRUM TRIBUTE! Great rare XMen cover, Cockrum tributes from contemporaries and colleagues, and an interview with PATY COCKRUM on Dave’s life and legacy on The Legion of Super-Heroes, The X-Men, Star-Jammers, & more! Plus an interview with 1950s Timely/Marvel artist MARION SITTON on his own incredible career and his Golden Age contemporaries!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #79

ALTER EGO #80

ALTER EGO #81

ALTER EGO #82

ALTER EGO #83

SUPERMAN & HIS CREATORS! New cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN, exclusive and revealing interview with JOE SHUSTER’s sister, JEAN SHUSTER PEAVEY—LOU CAMERON interview—STEVE GERBER tribute—DWIGHT DECKER on the Man of Steel & Hitler’s Third Reich—plus art by WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, NEAL ADAMS, GIL KANE, and others!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY COMICS! Learn about Crom the Barbarian, Viking Prince, Nightmaster, Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Beowulf, Warlord, Dagar the Invincible, and more, with art by FRAZETTA, SMITH, BUSCEMA, KANE, WRIGHTSON, PLOOG, THORNE, BRUNNER, LOU CAMERON Part II, and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood, by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, with a focus on Conan the Barbarian by ROY THOMAS and WILL MURRAY, a look at WALLY WOOD’s Marvel sword-&-sorcery work, the Black Knight examined, plus JOE EDWARDS interview Part 2, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #84

ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stores, and in court), RICH BUCKLER on Captain Marvel, plus an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and pioneers WHITNEY ELLSWORTH and CREIG FLESSEL, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CURT SWAN, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, focus on DC advisor DR. LAURETTA BENDER, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #89

ALTER EGO #90

ALTER EGO #91

ALTER EGO #92

ALTER EGO #93

HARVEY COMICS’ PRE-CODE HORROR MAGS OF THE 1950s! Interviews with SID JACOBSON, WARREN KREMER, and HOWARD NOSTRAND, plus Harvey artist KEN SELIG talks to JIM AMASH! MR. MONSTER presents the wit and wisdom (and worse) of DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE, & more! SIMON & KIRBY and NOSTRAND cover!

BIG MARVEL ISSUE! Salutes to legends SINNOTT and AYERS—plus STAN LEE, TUSKA, EVERETT, MARTIN GOODMAN, and others! A look at the “Marvel SuperHeroes” TV animation of 1966! 1940s Timely writer and editor LEON LAZARUS interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, the 1960s fandom creations of STEVE GERBER, and more! JACK KIRBY holiday cover!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL! Big FCA section with Golden Age artists MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO! Plus JERRY ORDWAY on researching The Power of Shazam, Part II of “The MAD Four-Color Wannabes of the 1950s,” more on DR. LAURETTA BENDER and the teenage creations of STEVE GERBER, artist JACK KATZ spills Golden Age secrets to JIM AMASH, and more! New cover by ORDWAY and SQUEGLIO!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY, PART 3! DC’s Sword of Sorcery by O’NEIL, CHAYKIN, & SIMONSON and Claw by MICHELINIE & CHAN, Hercules by GLANZMAN, Dagar by GLUT & SANTOS, Marvel S&S art by BUSCEMA, CHAN, KAYANAN, WRIGHTSON, et al., and JACK KATZ on his classic First Kingdom! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER’s fan-creations (part 3), and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

(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!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

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

ALTER EGO #94

ALTER EGO #95

ALTER EGO #96

ALTER EGO #97

ALTER EGO #98

“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, the SEVERIN siblings, SPRINGER, SUTTON, THOMAS, TRIMPE, and more, GEORGE KASHDAN interview conclusion, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MARIE SEVERIN!

Focus on Archie’s 1960s MIGHTY CRUSADERS, with vintage art and artifacts by JERRY SIEGEL, PAUL REINMAN, SIMON & KIRBY, JOHN ROSENBERGER, tributes to the Mighty Crusaders by BOB FUJITANE, GEORGE TUSKA, BOB LAYTON, and others! Interview with MELL LAZARUS, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Cover by MIKE MACHLAN!

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 , 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, tributes to FRANK FRAZETTA and AL WILLIAMSON, art by JOE SHUSTER, WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, and NEAL ADAMS, plus MR. MONSTER, FCA, and a new cover by JERRY ORDWAY!

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

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

ALTER EGO #99

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, HERO FOR HIRE, & more! Plus interviews with Golden Age artist BILL BOSSERT and fan-artist RUDY FRANKE, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more! (84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL is a celebration of 100 issues, and 50 years, of ALTER EGO, Roy Thomas’ legendary super-hero fanzine. It’s a double-size triple-threat BOOK, with twice as many pages as the regular magazine, plus special features just for this anniversary edition! Behind a RICH BUCKLER/JERRY ORDWAY JSA cover, ALTER EGO celebrates its 100th issue and the 50th anniversary of A/E (Vol. 1) #1 in 1961—as ROY THOMAS is interviewed by JIM AMASH about the 1980s at DC! Learn secrets behind ALL-STAR SQUADRON—INFINITY, INC.—ARAK, SON OF THUNDER—CAPTAIN CARROT—JONNI THUNDER, a.k.a. THUNDERBOLT— YOUNG ALL-STARS—SHAZAM!—RING OF THE NIBELUNG—and more! With rare art and artifacts by GEORGE PÉREZ, TODD McFARLANE, RICH BUCKLER, JERRY ORDWAY, MIKE MACHLAN, GIL KANE, GENE COLAN, DICK GIORDANO, ALFREDO ALCALA, TONY DEZUNIGA, ERNIE COLÓN, STAN GOLDBERG, SCOTT SHAW!, ROSS ANDRU, and many more! Plus special anniversary editions of Alter Ego staples MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA (FCA)—and ALEX WRIGHT’s amazing color collection of 1940s DC pinup babes! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (NOTE: This book takes the place of ALTER EGO #100, and counts as TWO issues toward your subscription.) (160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • ISBN: 9781605490311 Diamond Order Code: JAN111351

ALTER EGO #101

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

NEW!

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

ALTER EGO #102

ALTER EGO #103

ALTER EGO #104

ALTER EGO: THE CBA COLLECTION

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-before-published 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!

Compiles the ALTER EGO flip-sides from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #1-5, plus 30 NEW PAGES of features & art! All-new rare and previously-unpublished art by JACK KIRBY, GIL KANE, JOE KUBERT, WALLY WOOD, FRANK ROBBINS, NEAL ADAMS, & others, ROY THOMAS on X-MEN, AVENGERS/ KREE-SKRULL WAR, INVADERS, and more! Cover by JOE KUBERT!

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

(160-page trade paperback) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $4.95

HUMOR MAGAZINES (BUNDLE ALL THREE FOR JUST $14.95)

ALTER EGO:

BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

Collects the original 11 issues of JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS’ ALTER EGO fanzine (from 1961-78), with contributions from JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, and others—and illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! Plus major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS and BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by JULIE SCHWARTZ. (192-page trade paperback) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905887 Diamond Order Code: DEC073946

COMIC BOOK NERD

PETE VON SHOLLY’s side-splitting parody of the fan press, including our own mags! Experience the magic(?) of such publications as WHIZZER, the COMICS URINAL, ULTRA EGO, COMICS BUYER’S GUISE, BAGGED ISSUE!, SCRAWL!, COMIC BOOK ARTISTE, and more, as we unabashedly poke fun at ourselves, our competitors, and you, our loyal readers! It’s a first issue, collector’s item, double-bag, slab-worthy, speculator’s special sure to rub even the thickest-skinned fanboy the wrong way! (64-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 • (Digital Edition) $2.95

CRAZY HIP GROOVY GO-GO WAY OUT MONSTERS #29 & #32

PETE VON SHOLLY’s spoofs of monster mags will have you laughing your pants off— right after you soil them from sheer terror! This RETRO MONSTER MOVIE MAGAZINE is a laugh riot lampoon of those GREAT (and absolutely abominable) mags of the 1950s and ‘60s, replete with fake letters-to-the-editor, phony ads for worthless, wacky stuff, stills from imaginary films as bad as any that were really made, interviews with their “creators,” and much more! Relive your misspent youth (and misspent allowance) as you dig the hilarious photos, ads, and articles skewering OUR FAVORITE THINGS of the past! Get our first issue (#29!), the sequel (#32!), or both!

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

(48-page magazines) $5.95 EACH • (Digital Editions) $1.95 EACH

These sold-out books are now available again in DIGITAL EDITIONS:

NEW!

MR. MONSTER, VOL. 0

TRUE BRIT

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

Collects hard-to-find Mr. Monster stories from A-1, CRACK-A-BOOM! and DARK HORSE PRESENTS (many in COLOR for the first time) plus over 30 pages of ALLNEW MR. MONSTER art and stories! Can your sanity survive our Lee/Kirby monster spoof by MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MARK MARTIN, or the long-lost 1933 Mr. Monster newspaper strip? Or the terrifying TRENCHER/MR. MONSTER slug-fest, drawn by KEITH GIFFEN and MICHAEL T. GILBERT?! Read at your own risk!

GEORGE KHOURY’s definitive book on the rich history of British Comics Artists, their influence on the US, and how they have revolutionized the way comics are seen and perceived! It features breathtaking art, intimate photographs, and in-depth interviews with BRIAN BOLLAND, ALAN DAVIS, DAVE GIBBONS, KEVIN O’NEILL, DAVID LLOYD, DAVE McKEAN, BRYAN HITCH, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH and other fine gents! Sporting a new JUDGE DREDD cover by BRIAN BOLLAND!

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! It covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor—peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS—and is illustrated with RARE AND UNSEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art! Plus: an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS, and an Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

(136-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $4.95

(204-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

(176-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $5.95

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: GENE COLAN

TOM FIELD’s amazing COLAN retrospective, with rare drawings, photos, and art from his 60-year career, and a comprehensive overview of Gene’s glory days at Marvel Comics! MARV WOLFMAN, DON McGREGOR and other writers share script samples and anecdotes of their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER, STEVE LEIALOHA and others show how they approached inking Colan’s famously nuanced penciled pages! Plus: a NEW PORTFOLIO of never-seen collaborations between Gene and masters such as BYRNE, KALUTA and PÉREZ, and all-new artwork created just for this book! (192-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

ART OF GEORGE TUSKA

A comprehensive look at GEORGE TUSKA’S personal and professional life, including early work at the Eisner-Iger shop, producing controversial crime comics of the 1950s, and his tenure with Marvel and DC Comics, as well as independent publishers. Includes extensive coverage of his work on IRON MAN, X-MEN, HULK, JUSTICE LEAGUE, TEEN TITANS, BATMAN, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and others, a gallery of commission art and a thorough index of his work, original art, photos, sketches, unpublished art, interviews and anecdotes from his peers and fans, plus the very personal and reflective words of George himself! Written by DEWEY CASSELL. (128-page Digital Edition) $4.95

OTHER BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

PENCILER, PUBLISHER, PROVOCATEUR

COMICS’ FAST & FURIOUS ARTIST

THE ART OF GLAMOUR

MATT BAKER

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE

Shines a light on the life and career of the artistic and publishing visionary of DC Comics!

Explores the life and career of one of Marvel Comics’ most recognizable and dependable artists!

Biography of the talented master of 1940s “Good Girl” art, complete with color story reprints!

Definitive biography of the Watchmen writer, in a new, expanded edition!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95

(176-page trade paperback with COLOR) $26.95

(192-page hardcover with COLOR) $39.95

(240-page trade paperback) $29.95

QUALITY COMPANION

BATCAVE COMPANION

ALL- STAR COMPANION

AGE OF TV HEROES

The first dedicated book about the Golden Age publisher that spawned the modern-day “Freedom Fighters”, Plastic Man, and the Blackhawks!

Unlocks the secrets of Batman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, following the Dark Knight’s progression from 1960s camp to 1970s creature of the night!

Roy Thomas has four volumes documenting the history of ALL-STAR COMICS, the JUSTICE SOCIETY, INFINITY, INC., and more!

(256-page trade paperback with COLOR) $31.95

(240-page trade paperback) $26.95

(224-page trade paperbacks) $24.95

Examining the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes, featuring the in-depth stories of the shows’ actors and behind-the-scenes players!

CARMINE INFANTINO

SAL BUSCEMA

(192-page full-color hardcover) $39.95

MARVEL COMICS

An issue-by-issue field guide to the pop culture phenomenon of LEE, KIRBY, DITKO, and others, from the company’s fumbling beginnings to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity!

IN THE 1960s

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

MODERN MASTERS

HOW TO CREATE COMICS

Covers how Stan Lee went from writer to publisher, Jack Kirby left (and returned), Roy Thomas rose as editor, and a new wave of writers and artists came in!

20+ volumes with in-depth interviews, plus extensive galleries of rare and unseen art from the artist’s files!

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

Shows step-by-step how to develop a new comic, from script and art, to printing and distribution!

(128-page trade paperbacks) $14.95 each

(108-page trade paperback) $15.95

IN THE 1970s

A BOOK SERIES DEVOTED TO THE BEST OF TODAY’S ARTISTS

FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

FOR A FREE COLOR CATALOG, CALL, WRITE, E-MAIL, OR LOG ONTO www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows—A New Day For Comics Fandom! TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • Visit us on the Web at www.twomorrows.com