Alter Ego #130 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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STARRING with Spy Smasher, Golden Arrow, Bulletman, Mr. Scarlet, Commando Yank, Ibis the Invincible, Lance O’Casey, Phantom Eagle, and many others.

plus—DAN BARRY!

Edited by ROY THOMAS The first and greatest “hero-zine”—ALL-NEW, focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY’S Comic Fandom Archive, and more!

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ALTER EGO #121

ALTER EGO #122

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

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ALTER EGO #118

ALTER EGO #119

ALTER EGO #120

AVENGERS 50th ANNIVERSARY! WILL MURRAY on the group’s behind-thescenes origin, a look at its first decade with ROY THOMAS, STAN LEE, JACK KIRBY, THE BROTHERS BUSCEMA, TUSKA, ADAMS, COLAN, BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, MERRY MARVEL MARCHING SOCIETY, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, FCA, Golden Age Blue Beetle artist E.C. STONER, unused Avengers cover by DON HECK!

MARC SWAYZE TRIBUTE ISSUE, spotlighting FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America)! Salutes from Fawcett alumnus C.C. BECK and OTTO BINDER, interview with wife JUNE SWAYZE, a full Phantom Eagle story from Wow Comics, plus interview with 1950s Dell/Western artist MEL KEEFER, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and a SWAYZE Marvel Family cover art from the 1940s!

X-MEN SALUTE! 1963-69 secrets, rare ‘60s BRAZILIAN X-MEN stories, lost ‘60s XMen “character sheet” by STAN LEE, ROY THOMAS on the 1970s revival, art and artifacts by KIRBY, ROTH, ADAMS, HECK, FRIEDRICH, and BUSCEMA—plus the MMMS fan club story, interview with Golden Age writer ED SILVERMAN, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, and JACK KIRBY’s unused X-Men #10 cover!

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ALTER EGO #123

ALTER EGO #124

ALTER EGO #125

GOLDEN AGE JUSTICE SOCIETY ISSUE! Features on JOHN B. WENTWORTH (Johnny Thunder), LEN SANSONE (The Atom), and BERNARD SACHS (All-Star Comics inker), art by CARMINE INFANTINO, BOB OKSNER, HOWARD PURCELL, STAN ASCHMEIER, BEN FLINTON, and H.G. PETER, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more! Cover homage by SHANE FOLEY to a vintage All-Star image by IRWIN HASEN!

Farewell salute to the COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE! TBG/CBG history and remembrances from ALAN LIGHT, MURRAY BISHOFF, MAGGIE THOMPSON, BRENT FRANKENHOFF, “final” CBG columns by MARK EVANIER, TONY ISABELLA, PETER DAVID, FRED HEMBECK, JOHN LUSTIG, classic art by DON NEWTON, MIKE VOSBURG, JACK KIRBY, MIKE NASSER, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

DENNY O’NEIL’s Silver Age career at Marvel, Charlton, and DC—aided and abetted by ADAMS, KALUTA, SEKOWSKY, LEE, GIORDANO, THOMAS, SCHWARTZ, APARO, BOYETTE, DILLIN, SWAN, DITKO, et al. Plus, we begin serializing AMY KISTE NYBERG’s groundbreaking book on the history of the Comics Code, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY and more!

We spotlight HERB TRIMPE’s work on Hulk, Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D., Ghost Rider, Ant-Man, Silver Surfer, War of the Worlds, Ka-Zar, even Phantom Eagle, and featuring THE SEVERIN SIBLINGS, LEE, FRIEDRICH, THOMAS, GRAINGER, BUSCEMA, and others, plus more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s Comics Code history, M. THOMAS INGE on Communism and 1950s comic books, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

Golden Age “Air Wave” artist LEE HARRIS discussed by his son JONATHAN LEVEY to interviewer RICHARD J. ARNDT, with rarely-seen 1940s art treasures (including mysterious, never-published art of an alternate version of DC’s Tarantula)! Plus more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s exposé on the Comics Code, artist SAL AMENDOLA tells the story of the Academy of Comic Book Arts, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

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ALTER EGO #126

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Second big issue on 3-D COMICS OF THE 1950s! KEN QUATTRO looks at the controversy involving JOE KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, BILL GAINES, and AL FELDSTEIN! Plus more fabulous Captain 3-D by SIMON & KIRBY and MORT MESKIN— 3-D thrills from BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, JAY DISBROW and others— the career of Treasure Chest artist VEE QUINTAL, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

1940s WILL EISNER/”BUSY” ARNOLD letters between the creator of The Spirit and his Quality Comics partner, art and artifacts by FINE, CRANDALL, CUIDERA, CARDY, KOTZKY, BLUM, NORDLING, and others! Plus Golden Age MLJ artist JOHN BULTHIUS, more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s History of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, cover by DANIEL JAMES COX and JASON PAULOS!

CAROL L. TILLEY on Dr. Fredric Wertham’s falsification of his research in the 1950s, featuring art by EVERETT, SHUSTER, PETER, BECK, COSTANZA, WEBB, FELDSTEIN, WILLIAMSON, WOOD, BIRO, and BOB KANE! Plus AMY KISTE NYBERG on the evolution of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLEY, and a new cover by JASON PAULOS and DANIEL JAMES COX!

Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure heroes in comics! With art by FOSTER, HOGARTH, MANNING, KANE, KUBERT, MORROW, GRELL, THORNE, WEISS, ANDERSON, KALUTA, AMENDOLA, BUSCEMA, MARSH, and YEATES—with analysis by foremost ERB experts! Plus, the 1970s ERB comics company that nearly was, FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover by TOM GRINDBERG!

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Vol. 3, No. 130 / January 2015 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

Paul C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Assoc. Editor)

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

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Contents

Cover Artist

C.C. Beck (colorist unknown)

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Ger Apeldoorn Terrance Armstard Lois Barry Steven Barry Sy Barry Alberto Becattini Gail Beckett William Biggins Bill Black Gary F. Brown Chris Boyko Frank Brunner Rich Buckler Aaron Caplan Nick Caputo Shaun Clancy Ed Cox Brian Cremins Rich Donnelly Ramona Felmang Shane Foley Clay Fourrier Rod Fradkin Mike Friedrich Bob Fujitani Janet Gilbert Don Glut Chris Green Walt Grogan George Hagenauer Jostein Hansen Barbara Harmon Carolyn Hayes Tom Hegeman Bob Hyde M. Thomas Inge Sid Jacobson Doug (Gaff) Jones

Sharon Karibian David Anthony Kraft André LeBlanc Paul Leiffer Dominique Leonard Mark Lewis Arthur Lortie Jim Ludwig Michel Maillot George Mandel Jim McCaffrey Robert Menzies Brian K. Morris Will Murray Marc Tyler Nobleman Rick Norwood Amy Kiste Nyberg Barry Pearl John G. Pierce Gene Reed Ed Rhoades Steve Ringgenberg Trina Robbins Jan Sand Randy Sargent Dave Schreiner Vijah Shah Leonard Starr Brian D. Stoud Dann Thomas Gerry Turnbull Juan Urgano Hames Ware Len Wein Lindsey S. Wilkerson

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Morris Weiss & Dan Barry

Writer/Editorial: Keeping The “Christmas” In Christmas . . . . 2 The Many Facets Of Dan Barry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Alberto Becattini begins an in-depth study of a controversial comic book/comic strip artist.

Seal Of Approval: History Of The Comics Code–Chapter 6 . . 29 Amy Kiste Nyberg relates how the Code evolved, beginning in 1955!

“I Want Kids To Grow Up Knowing Who Really Created Batman” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Marc Tyler Nobleman discusses his “children’s book” about writer Bill Finger.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Twice-Told Covers. . . . . . . . . . . 41 Michael T. Gilbert demonstrates that, if a cover’s worth using once, it’s worth using again!

Comic Fandom Archive: “Was I First In Remembering Comic Books?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Bill Schelly showcases the late Jim Harmon’s reminiscences of his 1957 Peon column.

A Tribute To Morris Weiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 re: [comments & corrections]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #190 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Paul C. Hamerlinck presents a super-length Yuletide “Yule-ogy” for some Fawcett greats— Beck, Binder, and Swayze—plus a colorful cache of vintage Fawcett Christmas art!

On Our Cover: Fawcett Publications’ various giant-sized Christmas comics were an institution for a number of years, as detailed in this issue’s likewise giant-sized FCA section—and one of the best covers in the lot was Charles Clarence Beck’s for Xmas Comics #2 (1942). We kinda wonder if C.C. told his Fawcett bosses how much he detested showing Captain Marvel and Santa Claus together—or at least he did in 1973, as you’ll also read this issue! And here you thought it was just a simple, harmless comic book cover! [Shazam hero, Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Mr. Scarlet, Ibis the Invincible TM & © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

Above: During his several years working for National/DC, the multi-talented Dan Barry drew a number of outstanding “Vigilante” stories, featuring that modern-day masked cowboy hero. One of his finest splash pages is this one from Action Comics #142 (March 1950), from a script attributed to Gardner F. Fox. Thanks to Alberto Becattini. [© DC Comics.]

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Eight-issue subscriptions: $67 US, $85 Canada, $104 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 China. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

Keeping The “Christmas” In Christmas M erry Christmas!

Yes, okay—and also Happy Hanukkah, and Joyous Kwanzaa, and Mirthful Any-other-religious-orsecular day that any Alter Ego reader may be celebrating in December or January. But I’m here to say a few words about Christmas, in this Fawcett-Christmas-cover issue.

Be it said up front: I’m what you might call a “lapsed Lutheran.” Even so, I have fond and respectful memories of my eight years attending St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson, Missouri… including of the religious instruction I received there, most particularly the study of the Bible, one of the great books of world literature. I consider it a tremendous loss to society that young people are growing up these days with no more knowledge of Biblical references than they have of Greek or Norse mythology. When I was growing up, I was taught to disparage the term “Xmas”—as in Fawcett’s Xmas Comics, one of whose covers graces this very issue of A/E—as being a diminution of the word “Christmas.” “Keep the ‘Christ’ in Christmas” was a common admonition. I believed that fervently as a kid… and, perhaps surprisingly, I still do. After all, the holiday (“holy day”) was named for an historical figure/religious concept, and substituting an “X” (the symbol in mathematics for an unknown quantity) seems an obfuscation, if not a downright insult. Sure, I know some folks claim that, historically, “X” stood for the cross which is the ultimate symbol of Christianity—and that may even be true—but as a reason for “Merry Xmas” salutations in department store windows and the like, I tend to be a scoffer. Most often, I suspect, the well-wisher, whether on a greeting card

or in an ad for a December sale—especially in today’s more secular and multi-cultural times—is simply trying to avoid “giving offense” to non-Christians. (Not that I’d presume to judge precisely what the Fawcetts had in mind with Xmas Comics. Never met them.) My own unabashed viewpoint is: anybody who’d take offense at being wished a “Merry Christmas”—especially in a message that isn’t even directed personally at him/her—is just too damn sensitive for his/her (or anybody else’s) own good. Hey, there are real evils to be concerned about, real wrongs to right, without going around looking for trendy excuses to feel put upon. (And if anyone wants to extrapolate from the above what I think of many of the other complaints leveled by the “political correctness” crowd… be my guest. You probably aren’t wrong.) So Happy Hanukkah and Joyous Kwanzaa and Exultant whatever to any Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Rosicrucian, pagan, or other out there who has reason to wax ecstatic over this time of year… or any other.

Dann and I will continue to send out “Season’s Greetings” cards, because a foolish consistency is the Green Goblin of little minds. But if you’re going to refer to Christmas, please have enough respect for the holiday’s roots not to spell it with an “X.” After all, it’s not the official birthday of Wolverine… or even Professor Xavier. Bestest,

P.S.: And, before you get to FCA and the treasures that sprawl between here and there, dig into the first part of Alberto Becattini’s study of comics artist Dan Barry. We’ve been waiting a long time to do this one!

# COMING IN FEBRUARY 131 GERRY CONWAY— TAKING COMICS BY STORM!

Marvel, DC, Warren, Et Al.—All Before Age 20!

• Cover montage by COLAN, KANE, MORROW, BUSCEMA, PLOOG, & ROMITA— framing a pulsatin’ portrait by SHANE FOLEY! • GERRY CONWAY talks to RICHARD ARNDT about his first half-decade in comics (and science-fiction)—from The Phantom Stranger to The Punisher and the (gulp!) Death of Gwen Stacy! Plus a note on GC’s SF by TED WHITE! Featuring art by our cover artists, plus: ANDRU • TRIMPE • SEKOWSKY • TUSKA • WINDSOR-SMITH • The SEVERIN Siblings • BORING • CHAYKIN, & OTHERS! • DAN BARRY—in the future with Flash Gordon, by ALBERTO BECATTINI! • The Comics Code in the 1960s and beyond, by AMY KISTE NYBERG! • FCA with Captain Marvel co-creator BILL PARKER & the DC-vs.-Fawcett lawsuit— MICHAEL T. GILBERT on the mysterious Man in Black—BILL SCHELLY on the fanzine Plague—& MORE!!

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The Many Facets Of DAN BARRY

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius by Alberto Becattini AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION: Dan Barry has always been one of my favorite comic artists. As a young boy I was fascinated by his Flash Gordon, and only later on would I discover his beautiful comic book stories. This essay is the result of a 20-year-long extensive researching of the man and the artist, and it would not exist were it not for the many wonderful people who have aided me along the way. These include Barry’s children Steven and Lois, who helped a lot with family history and pictures; comics historians Bill Black, Shaun Clancy, Ed Cox, Ramona

Felmang, Jostein Hansen, Bob Hyde, David Anthony Kraft, Paul Leiffer, Arthur Lortie, Rick Norwood, Ed Rhoades, Steve Ringgenberg, Dave Schreiner, Brian D. Stroud, and Juan Urgano, who have contributed interviews and insights; and interviewees Sy Barry, Gail Beckett, Rich Buckler, Bob Fujitani, Carolyn Hayes, Sid Jacobson, André LeBlanc, George Mandel, Jan Sand, Larry T. Shaw, and Leonard Starr. And thanks to Roy Thomas, who made it happen....

Dan Barry—A Flashy Artist! A 1952 photo of Dan Barry in his studio at the Hotel des Artistes, illustrating Flash Gordon—flanked by some of his primo comic book and comic strip work: The “Vigilante” splash from Action Comics #149 (Oct. 1950). [© DC Comics.] The Dec. 18, 1983, Flash Gordon Sunday page. [© King Features Syndicate, Inc.] Except where otherwise noted, all art & photos accompanying this article were provided by Alberto Becattini.

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

PART I: The Great Little Artist From New Jersey

Beginnings

aniel Louis Barry was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on July 11, 1923, to Samuel (1892-1976) and Sarah Barry (18941978). His father was a painting contractor, bringing home about $40 a week, and supporting a big family. Dan was the fourth-born, his elder siblings being Tillie (b. 1918), Phillip (b. 1919), and Beatrice (b. 1920). The family grew even bigger during the following years with the births of Herman (b. 1926), Seymour (b. 1928), Raymond (b. 1929), and Enid (b. 1935). Dan’s son Steven has shed more light on the family background: My grandfather Samuel was a painter. Sarah raised eight children and liked to cook. I remember Sarah used a lot of garlic when she cooked. I remember meeting Sarah’s mother at age 95 when I was young. She was of Hungarian ancestry—I believe the last name was Menschik. My aunt Tillie was known as Chickie. Two of Raymond’s boys—Harvey and Ricky, both around my age (I believe Ricky is a little older and Harvey a little younger)—had artistic talents. I believe Ricky taught art and Harvey had a graphics company.1 The Great Depression struck, and there were times when Samuel’s business was really bad. Dan and elder brother Phillip had to be temporarily sent to an orphanage because Samuel could not support all the kids. In 1931 the Barrys moved to 2930 West 24th Street, at the tip end of Brooklyn, in Coney Island, and that is where Dan grew up.

Art School Barry studied at Straubenmuller Textile High School at 343 West 18th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, where he became the editor of the school paper and drew his first cartoons. He left there while in the twelfth grade to pursue his dream: drawing comics. On account of his early talent, he had just won his first scholarship to attend an art school on Saturdays, the American Artists School in Greenwich Village. Founded in April 1936 and originally located at 131 West

Early Days (Above:) Dan Barry’s parents, Samuel and Sarah, 14th Street, the in a 1949 photo. [Courtesy of Steven Barry.] American Artists (Left:) A view of Straubenmuller Textile High School was a School, which Dan Barry attended from 1936-39. progressive independent art school among whose founders was William Gropper, the political cartoonist for the left-wing paper The Daily Worker. Barry’s instructors were Ralph Soyer and Osato Kuniyushi. They taught him the basics of drawing and painting. To pay for art school he would do odd jobs like shining shoes.

A Key Meeting In his teens, Barry would spend most of his free time in Coney Island, playing roller hockey in the street. There he met, among others, Joseph Heller and Cy Coleman (who would later become famous, respectively as a writer and a songwriter/jazz pianist). It was through Heller’s mentor, Daniel Rosoff, that Barry got into comics when he was eighteen. Rosoff recommended him to George Mandel, who had lived in the same neighborhood before becoming a successful comic book artist and moving nearby. As Mandel recalled: Dan was as fine a draftsman as Jack Kirby, which is to say the most, as Kirby was matchless but for Danny. Also note that, as a person, he was among the fairest, thoughtfully sensitive and agreeable. It was Daniel Rosoff, one of my closest friends, who recommended Dan to me. A very colorful guy (we were just 21, in time for war), he enjoyed upwardly influencing younger boys culturally and healthwise, himself a dedicated athlete and reader—of two books at a time, no joke.2

Our Crowd (Left:) Comic book artist (and later highly regarded novelist) George Mandel in a 1952 photo. Mandel was three years Barry’s senior when he took him on as his assistant in 1941. Mandel was interviewed by Jim Amash in A/E #103. (Center:) Joseph Heller (1923-1999), author of Catch-22, and (at right) Cy Coleman (1929-2004), lyricist for such Broadway hits as Sweet Charity, hung around Coney Island with Dan Barry as kids. These photos show them some years later.

At the time, Barry was a stagehand at the People’s Theatre Group, drama being one of his early interests. One day Mandel came over in his Cadillac and drove Barry to his studio. Barry took to going there regularly, observing Mandel at work. He would bring in his samples for Mandel to comment on and make suggestions. George’s elder brother, Alan, was

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Setting Up House— And Shop (Left:) Barry and wife Helene on their honeymoon at Totem Lodge, August 1942. [Photos courtesy Steven Barry.] (Above:) A 1937 mini-bio of Jack Binder (1902-1986), at whose comic shop Dan Barry worked during 1942.

also working at the studio, inking George’s drawings. Whereas Alan was usually critical of Dan’s work, George liked it, although he thought it needed some polishing.

The Binder Shop In Summer of 1941 Barry took a job as a lifeguard at Totem Lodge, a resort in upstate New York, also running the stage side of it. There he met Helene Marks, whom he would marry the following year. He earned $50 for the whole summer, dancing with the ladies every night, and at the same time continuing to draw samples in his workshop behind the stage. At the end of the summer he had enough samples to show George Mandel, who thought they were good enough for Dan to go around looking for some work. Among those to whom Barry showed his drawings were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who had a studio in the Tudor City building, between the end of 42nd Street and the East River. After a brief interview, they gave him one of Kirby’s pages to ink. Though Simon did not hire Barry, he was kind enough to give him the name of an editor at Fawcett Comics, who then sent him to Jack and Otto Binder, who were producing comic book stories in their studio (actually a factory in a barn) in Tenafly, New

Jersey. After a 2½-hour commute from Brooklyn, Barry worked at the Binder Shop (next to André LeBlanc, who would become a lifelong friend of his) for five months before being scolded and eventually fired by Jack. Barry was in fact producing—and earning—more than he was expected to, as he was sneaking pages home, even drawing them on the subway, instead of working exclusively at his drawing board at the studio. About that period, Sy Barry recalled: [M]y brother worked in a factory. It was actually on a farm. They worked in a barn. There were several artists. He and Lee Ames and André LeBlanc and Mort Meskin and several other young men. At that time they were in their late teens or early twenties and they were all in the same boat working in a factory. What they would do is that a smart guy would take stories from a publisher, take a whole book from a publisher, and instead of hiring an editor and have an established office, they would take on people who would be able to put a book together. Getting writers, artists, getting inkers and band them all together and produce books. Dan was only around 17 then himself. He’d left school when he was 16½ in his last year. He didn’t have money and was just feeling too despondent and decided to take his art and make some money with it. And that’s what he did. He began to work at one of these factories and then he began to get his own work.3

Let George (And Dan) Do It! (Left:) This “Doc Strange” story for Better/Standard Publications’ Thrilling Comics #23 (Dec. 1941) seems to be an early collaboration between George Mandel and Dan Barry. (Right:) “Young Robinhood,” by the same art team, from Lev Gleason Publications’ Boy Comics #4 (June 1942). Both writers unidentified. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

George And Alan Mandel

Funnies, Inc.

In the meantime, Barry would continue assisting George Mandel and occasionally his brother Alan, too, on “Young Robinhood” (Lev Gleason), “Mr. Risk” (Ace), “Ted Crane” and “Doc Strange” (Standard). When Mandel was drafted on November 27, 1942, his comics account went to Alan. A lesser artist than George, he would farm out his penciling to Harry Sahle, but Jim Fitzsimmons (the editor at Funnies, Inc.) did not like it. So Alan was advised by George to get Barry as his assistant. Barry did a good penciling job and Fitzsimmons liked it. Barry continued assisting Alan Mandel until late 1942, inking on such strips as “Blue Bolt” (Novelty Press), “Boy King and the Giant” and “Nightmare and Sleepy” (Hillman), “Flagman and Rusty” and “The Hood” (Holyoke), and “13 and Jinx” (Lev Gleason), as well as on Heroic Comics (Eastern Color) and Comedy Comics (Timely/Marvel). Initially, only Mandel signed the stories and was taking 60%; then—urged by his wife—Barry got equal billing. Some of their collaborations were signed “Mandel and Barry,” “Barry and Mandel,” or “Allan Emby.”

Eventually, Barry left Alan Mandel and went to work directly for Funnies, Inc., as a penciler on “Blue Bolt” and other features. Fitzsimmons called him, as he thought that Alan Mandel was not able to handle the strip. Yet Barry knew he was going to be drafted soon, so he joined the enlisted reserve on December 5, 1942. There was a radio school next door to Funnies, Inc., and going there Barry managed to be deferred for nine months. Created by Joe Simon in 1940, “Blue Bolt” was college football star Fred Parrish, twice struck by lightning—during practice and right before a plane crash—until he found himself underground, where a scientist named Bertoff healed him using an experimental radium treatment which gave Parrish super-powers. When Barry was drawing “Blue Bolt,” he was sharing office space at Funnies, Inc., with the series’ writer, a cocky Irishman named Mickey Spillane. (In 1946, Spillane and his wife Mary Ann bought a big estate in

Now Let Alan (And Dan) Do It!? A series of splashes drawn in tandem by Alan Mandel and Dan Barry, clockwise on this & facing page; writers unknown: “Blue Bolt,” from Novelty Press’ Blue Bolt, Vol. 2, #7 [real #19] (Dec. 1941). “Flagman,” from Holyoke Publishing Co.’s Captain Aero Comics, Vol. 1, # 9 (March 1942). “The Hood,” from Holyoke’s Cat-Man Comics, Vol. 3, #5 [real #15] (Nov. 1942). “Nightmare and Sleepy,” from Hillman Periodicals’ Clue Comics, Vol. 1, #1 (Jan. 1943). “The Boy King,” from Clue Comics, Vol. 1, #1 (Jan. 1943). A true war story with their joint byline “Allan Emby,” from Eastern Color’s Heroic Comics #17 (March 1943). [© 2015 the respective copyright holder.]

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

Dan Alone (Above:) “The Hood” story from Cat-Man Comics, Vol. 3, #7 [real #17] (Jan. 1943) might be the first one penciled and inked—and signed—by Dan Barry. (Top right:) “Boy King” art by Barry from Clue Comics, Vol. 1, #4 [real #4] (June 1943). (Right:) Signed splash page for Heroic Comics #19 (July 1943). [© the respective copyright holders.]

Newburgh, 60 miles north of New York. Spillane had just sold his first Mike Hammer novel, I, the Jury [1947], and wanted to publish his own comic books. He asked different artists to join him, saying he would build a house for each of them if they did. Dan Barry declined, whereas others like Mike Roy and Harry Sahle accepted.) Most of the stories Barry penciled at Funnies, Inc., were inked by John Giunta, who was to become his lifelong friend. When they first met, both were living in Brooklyn—Barry in Flatbush and Giunta around Bay Ridge. Besides doing Barry’s finishes on “Blue Bolt,” Giunta also inked such strips as “Sky Wolf” for Hillman. It was Giunta who introduced Barry to a young talent by the name of Frank Frazetta.

Marriage, Hillman, And Timely When Barry got married to Helene Marks, he left art school and went to live on Long Island. Barry wanted to go back to New York City, but his wife said it was impossible to raise kids there. As Steven Barry recalled: [M]y mother, who never remarried, raised two children on her own. (My father, on the other hand, did not want to get involved, claiming my mother would undo everything he could teach me.) I was very close to my mother, who had a significantly smaller family than my father—one older sister,

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Blue Bolt In Mufti (Left:) “Blue Bolt” art by Dan Barry from Novelty Press’ Blue Bolt, Vol. 3, #12 [real #36] (May 1943). By now, Blue Bolt’s costumed identity was a thing of the past. (Right:) This time, Barry teamed up with John Giunta in Blue Bolt, Vol. 4, #6 (Jan. 1944). The “Heinie” character looks exactly like Heinie Himmelstoss from Noel Sickles’ Scorchy Smith newspaper strip. Writers of both stories unknown. [© 2015 the respective copyright holders.]

Beatrice. Beatrice married Abraham Fine and had three children, two boys, Steven and Robert (both older than Lois), and one girl, Sandra, who is about my age. Her parents, Celia and Jack Marks, lived in Brooklyn.4 During 1943, Barry contributed to other features and publishers. He had already, though indirectly, worked for Hillman when he was assisting Alan Mandel, and Hillman’s editor Ed Cronin was happy to have him amongst his freelancing artists. For Hillman, which had its editorial offices at 1476 Broadway, Barry drew his first few “Airboy” stories. Created by Charles Biro for Air Fighters Comics in 1942, Airboy was the orphaned Davy Nelson, adopted and raised by a monk named Brother Francis Martier, who built a fabulous bat-winged plane called “Birdie.” In time, Davy would pilot “Birdie” against the Nazis and join forces with the beautiful Valkyrie, formerly the leader of Hitler’s Air Maiden Squadron. At Hillman, Barry also drew a few adventures starring another flying Nazi-fighter, “Sky Wolf.” This character had also made his debut in Air Fighters Comics in 1942, as written by Harry Stein and drawn by Mort Leav. Sky Wolf was the leader of a small band of pilots acting as independent agents, which also included “The Judge,” “The Turtle,” and Cocky Roche. Later known to be Larry Wolfe in civilian life, Sky Wolf would wear the pelt of a white wolf into battle, with the wolf’s head covering his own but leaving his

face visible. Whereas Cronin often allowed Barry to pencil and ink his stories, Barry’s growing talent was never fully exploited at Timely Comics (forerunner of Marvel), for which he freelanced during 1943, after inking over Alan Mandel on one brief story which had appeared in Comedy Comics the previous year. Among the characters Barry did for Marvel, the one whose stories he wrote and drew was “Tommy Tyme,” who was featured in Young Allies, Kid Comics, and Mystic Comics in 1943-44. Thomas Tyme was a New York schoolboy to whom a genie gave a magical “Clock of Ages” that allowed him to travel anywhere in history, asking various historical figures the questions his teacher had set him. Barry initially inked the feature over Charles Nicholas’ pencils; later, he usually penciled it, leaving the finishes to Al Gabriele, Al Bellman, and his Brother Seymour! (This was, in fact, the Barry brothers’ first joint effort, in 1944.) For Timely, Barry also drew “Young Allies” (in Young Allies Comics), “Miss America” and “Patsy Walker” (in Miss America Magazine), and even “Captain America”—and possibly one “SubMariner” story, in All-Select Comics #2. Unfortunately, in most cases his pencils or inks got mixed up with those by other artists working on the same stories, including Vince Alascia, Allen Bellman, Al Gabriele, Charles Nicholas, and Mike Sekowsky.

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

Up In The Air, Boy! (Above left:) “Airboy” splash page signed by Dan Barry and Fred Kida, from Air Fighters Comics, Vol. 1, #11 (Aug. 1943). (Above:) Eisneresque “Sky Wolf” splash page for Air Fighters, Vol. 1, #12 (Sept. 1943). Scripters unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Army Years Barry was eventually drafted in September, 1943. He was in the Signal Corps of the Army Air Force, where he was employed as a signaler in the Pacific. He was on Guam for quite a while, and every week he would avidly look for Milton Caniff’s Male Call strip in Army papers. That prompted him to create his own humorous comic strip for Bomb Rack, an 8-page free magazine-newspaper produced by the 20th Air Force between October 1945 and January 1946. He also managed to do some comic book work while in the service, including a “Commando Yank” story that appeared in Fawcett’s Wow Comics #35, bearing an April 1945 cover date. Barry’s daughter, Lois Jeanne, was born on July 17, 1944, while he was still in the service.

“Tyme” Marches On! (Left:) Splash page of the “Tommy Tyme” tale from Kid Comics #5 (Summer 1944), drawn by Dan Barry. Scripter unknown. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Dan Barry’s War (Right:) “Commando Yank” art from Fawcett’s Wow Comics #35 (April 1945). This story was drawn by Barry while he was still in uniform. Writer unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.] (Left:) Lois Barry, aged five, in February 1949, with dog Lucky. [Photo courtesy Steven Barry.]

PART II: From Comic Books To Newspaper Strips Back To Civilian Life—And Comic Books Discharged in early 1946, Barry moved to Brooklyn with his family and went back to drawing for comic books full-time. For about three months, he was an artist and art director at the Bernard Baily Studio. An artist in his own right, Baily would publish his own comics, as well as packaging titles for other publishers. Barry brought Frank Frazetta to Baily’s, and was helped out by him on occasion. One of the series Barry drew for Baily was “The Treasure Keeper,” which ran in Prize Publications’ Treasure Comics. These weird stories featured a gray-bearded storyteller, and the first one Barry drew (in #10, Dec. 1946) was “The Beggar’s Fortune,” about a successful Russian violinist’s fall after his anti-Czarist efforts are discovered by the authorities.

A Real Treasure (Right:) Barry’s cover for Treasure Comics #12 (Fall 1947). [© the respective copyright holders.] (Left:) “Treasure Keeper” splash page from Prize Publications’ Treasure Comics #10 (Dec. 1946-Jan. 1947). Writer unknown.

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

Over Hillman And Dale (Above & right:) Dan Barry’s cover and “Airboy” splash page for Hillman’s Airboy Comics, Vol. 4, #11 (Dec. 1947)—a tale partly set in the French Revolution, no less!—juxtaposed with the splash of “The Heap” yarn from the same issue. The latter is the last of three “Heap” exploits drawn by Barry, all of which were reprinted in PS Artbooks’ recent hardcover Roy Thomas Presents The Heap, Vol. 1—hint, hint! Writers unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Hillman Publications In mid-1946 Barry went back to freelancing for different publishers. He was again working for editor Ed Cronin at Hillman Periodicals, for which he had apparently drawn an “Airboy” story while still in the service: “The Return of Misery,” for Airboy Comics, Vol. 2, #12, with a Jan. 1946 cover date (which meant it had been drawn in mid-1945). Fred Kida inked this beautiful story in which Airboy and Valkyrie faced their old enemy, the skeleton-like Misery, entering his eerie Airtomb. The most beautiful post-war “Airboy” story Barry drew was probably the one that appeared in Airboy Comics, Vol. 4, #11 (Dec. 1947). In this 15-page yarn, Airboy retold his origin story and revisited the monastery in which he had grown up. There he found Brother Martier’s family history and read about François Martier, who had lived at the time of the French Revolution. Airboy flew to Paris and, in a secret room in the sewers, he found Jean, ancient keeper of Martier’s jewel treasure, and eventually took it to donate it to aviation. Another feature Barry drew for Hillman was “The Heap,” which had made its debut in a “Sky Wolf” story for Air Fighters Comics, Vol. 1, #3 (Dec. 1942). Apparently inspired by Theodore

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Sturgeon’s 1940 short story “It,” The Heap originally had been Baron von Emmelmann, whose plane was shot down over Poland’s Wausau Swamp on October 12, 1918. Over 20 years later, he rose again as a mindless muck-monster. When World War II ended, Hillman gave “The Heap” its own space in Airboy Comics (the comic into which Air Fighters had evolved), and Dan Barry was one of its best artists during 1947. One memorable adventure he drew appeared in Vol. 4, #11 (Dec. 1947), in which the shambling creature fought a giant octopus. “Ultra-Violet” was the only real super-hero feature Barry tackled at Hillman. The title character, who made her debut in My Date #1 (July 1947), was a young girl whose daydreams actually affected reality. Violet could transform herself into someone else, although no explanation was given as to how she was able to do that. Barry drew the stories in issues #2 & 3 of My Date before the character made her last appearance in the fourth issue.

Gleason, Biro, And Wood Besides drawing heroes and super-heroes, Barry made a name for himself drawing true crime stories introduced by the grinning Mr. Crime for Crime Does Not Pay. The title was published by Leverett (Lev) Gleason but actually packaged and edited by Charles Biro and Bob Wood, both competent writers/artists. Whereas Barry had a very good professional relationship with

story editor Bob Wood, he did not get along that well with Biro, nor did he have a high opinion of the latter as an artist, although Biro’s cover ideas were often brilliant. Biro liked Barry’s realistic style, although he did not quite like the way he drew women. That is probably why there are not many gun molls in the crime stories Barry was given to draw. At one time Barry had a confrontation with Biro. As Barry himself recalled:

Sex And Violets “Ultra Violet” from Hillman’s My Date #2 (Sept. 1947). Art by Dan Barry; writer unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Charlie Biro was about 6’5’’, weighed maybe 300 pounds, a big Hungarian hunk, and he heard that I used to box as a kid, so he comes over at an office party, starts punching me, and says, “Come on, show me if you can box!” I came up to his waist, you know.5

True Crimes—With Real Clues! Barry also did work for Hillman Periodicals in the burgeoning field of “true crime” comics, as per his cover at right for Real Clue Crime Stories, Vol. 2, #8 (Oct. 1947)—and his splash page (above) for RCCS, Vol. 3, #2 (April 1948). The title had evolved from its original, simpler form: Clue Comics. Writer unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Barry continued contributing to Crime Does Not Pay, off and on, until early 1949, sometimes also writing the stories he drew. For Lev Gleason, Barry also drew other features. Written by Bob Wood’s brother Dick and by Virginia Bloch, “Young Robinhood” (yes, it was spelled as one word) ran in issues #3-32 of Boy Comics (1942-47) and starred a young masked archer who was actually Billy Lackington, son of one of New York City’s wealthiest men. He would fight criminals such as The Crow King and The Veiled Lady, as well as the Axis, along with a group of local street kids— “Fatso,” “Shorty,” and “Freckles,” whom he turned into his “Merry Men,” renaming them Friar Tucker, Little John, and Big Doc. The latter was unfortunately killed in action early on. Barry already knew the Young Robinhood character, as he had worked on the feature in 1942-43

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

My Crime Is Your Crime… (Above:) The powers-that-were at Lev Gleason Publications in the ’40s and early ’50s. Left to right: Bob Wood, publisher Lev Gleason, and Charlie Biro. (Right:) Dan Barry-drawn crime story from Crime Does Not Pay #48 (Nov. 1946). Writer unknown. This story has recently been reprinted in its entirety in Dark Horse Archives' hardcover Crime Does Not Pay, Vol. 7. Thanks to Jim Amash. (Below:) Barry wrote and drew this story introduced by Mr. Crime for CDNP #65 (July 1948). [© the respective copyright holder.]

when he’d been assisting Alan Mandel. He happened to be the last artist on the series. After leaving “Young Robinhood” with Boy #32 (Feb. 1947), Barry continued to work on the same title, moving on to lead feature “Crimebuster.” Created by Biro in 1942, this young, costumed-yet-unmasked hero had become what he was after the Nazi agent Iron Jaw had killed both his parents. Custer Military Academy student and hockey team star Chuck Chandler had a monkey, Squeeks, for a sidekick, when battling criminals (especially Nazi criminals, during the war), which he continued to do until the series became a non-heroic, quasi-humorous one. Dan Barry drew seven “Crimebuster” stories during 1947-48, showing how good he was at characterization, especially when depicting villains. For the same Gleason/Biro/Wood team’s Daredevil Comics, Barry drew five “Daredevil and The Little Wise Guys” stories during 1947. “Daredevil” had been created by Jack Binder and Jack Cole back in 1940 as a mute, Bart Hill, who regained his voice when donning his blue-and-yellow (soon the classic red-and-blue) costume. In August 1943, Biro revised the character’s origin, having him raised in the Australian Outback by Aborigines. In Daredevil #13 (Oct. 1942), Biro introduced The Little Wise Guys, a quartet of homeless orphans (Meatball, Jocko, Scarecrow, and Peewee) who soon became Daredevil’s sidekicks. (Meatball was killed in action two issues later and replaced by the hairless Curly.) As the role of the hero who had once battled Hitler was de-emphasized, The Little Wise Guys became the comic’s real stars. Such they were in the stories Barry drew, where the costumed crime-

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Barry Exciting Heroes Besides Crime Does Not Pay, Barry also drew for the other popular comics in Lev Gleason’s lineup. (Clockwise from top left:) “Young Robinhood” from Boy Comics #32 (Feb. 1947). Writer unknown. “Crimebuster” splash page from Boy Comics #37 (Dec. 1947). “Daredevil and the Little Wise Guys” splash from Daredevil Comics #40 (Jan. 1947). The writing of this and the preceding story is attributed to Charles Biro. Original black-&white art of Barry’s splash page for the Western story he wrote as well as drew for Desperado #2 (Aug. 1948). Inks by his brother, Sy Barry. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

To Sketch A Thief (Above left:) Barry’s drawing of Crime Does Not Pay narrator Mr. Crime and his victim, done especially for fellow artist George Roussos’ sketchbook, circa 1948. [© Estate of Dan Barry.] (Above right:) Dan Barry’s and George Roussos’ self-portraits drawn for the latter’s sketchbook, also circa ’48. [© Estates of Dan Barry and George Roussos, respectively.]

fighter only made cameo appearances, often to go to court and pin down the real culprit of a crime in front of the judge.

Fawcett And Croydon Fawcett Publications was another publisher that benefited from Barry’s contributions during 1946-47. There, Barry took his revenge on Jack Binder by virtually stealing two characters away from him—or rather, from his shop artists. Created in 1940 by writer Bill Parker and artist Jon Small, “Bulletman” was police lab technician Jim Barr, who had developed a bullet-shaped device called the Gravity Helmet that allowed him to fly. Among the titles where “Bulletman” appeared was Master Comics, and Dan Barry drew him in issues #81 & 82, probably from scripts by Otto Binder. Usually drawn by former Binder Shop artist Leonard Frank, “Captain Midnight” was another aviation stalwart whose stories ran in his own title from 1942-48. Born as a radio hero, Captain “Red” Albright was given a secret identity and a red and purple costume at Fawcett, as well as aides Chuck and Joyce Ramsay and a comical mechanic called

Crime Marches On! (Right:) Barry’s cover for the mystery paperback Dogwatch, published by Croydon in 1946. The author had a great name for a crime writer: Carlyn Coffin. Think it was a realie? [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

It Wasn’t All “Captain Marvel”! (Above:) Specimens of Dan Barry’s post-WWII hero work for Fawcett Publications: “Bulletman” from Master Comics #81 (July 1947)… and a splash page from Captain Midnight #61 (March 1948). Writers unknown. [Bulletman & Bulletgirl TM & © DC Comics; Captain Midnight art TM & © the respective copyright holders.]

Heaving A Sy (Left:) Portrait of the artist as a young man. Sy Barry at the drawing table, 1948. [Photo courtesy Steven Barry.] (Far left:) Alberto Becattini says that, to his knowledge, this is the only comic book story signed by Dan and Sy Barry. From Real Clue Crime Comics, Vol. 3, #3 [real #27] (May 1948). Writer unknown. Love the mag’s tagline: “Commit a crime and the world is made of glass!” [© the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

A Real Ghanga Din (Left:) Burne Hogarth-style artwork by Dan and Sy Barry for the story “Tiger” in Buster Brown Comic Book #11 (Spring 1948). Ghanga and his elephant Teela, in situations inspired by the popular 1937 film Elephant Boy, starring Sabu, based on the story “Toomai of the Elephants” in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, were mainstays for years on Smilin’ Ed’s Gang, a kids’ radio show with alternating series. (Right:) Beautiful artwork by Dan and Sy Barry from another “Ghanga” tale, in Buster Brown Comic Book #12 (Summer 1948). Writers of both stories unknown. [© the respective copyright holder.]

Ichabod “Icky” Mudd. Barry drew at least three stories of the Captain during 1947-48. He drew other strips for Fawcett, yet his stint did not last long, as he would soon receive an offer he could not refuse. In 1946, Barry also briefly worked for Croydon Publications, most likely an imprint for Rural Home Publishing, which issued a few comic book titles from 1944-46. Barry did not contribute to their comics line, though. He drew the cover to #7 in their Croydon Award Mystery paperback series, Carlyn Coffin’s Dogwatch. This was, in fact, Barry’s one foray into paperback cover art.

Dan And Sy Born on March 12, 1928, Sy was five years younger than Dan, so they had hardly ever hung out together as children. At 18, he already had some experience in the illustration and comics fields, having done spot illustrations for a furniture company while he was attending high school, as well as drawing fillers for such comic book companies as Quality, Standard, and DC. Dan took Sy under his wing and taught him a lot about drawing—and inking. For about a year, during 1946-47, the brothers worked together at Dan’s house in Brooklyn, drawing

stories for Hillman, Prize, and Fawcett. Sy would mainly ink Dan’s pencils and sometimes do layouts, as well. For a couple of months, Sy rented some space in a printing place to do his own stuff, but in early 1947 the Barry brothers rented a loft at 31st Street in Manhattan, between Fifth Avenue and Broadway. Having been converted from a factory, the loft was very large, with only onesixth of it being used by the Barry brothers; shortly afterward, other artists came and set up their drawing tables there. Among them was Murphy Anderson, who had just started drawing the Buck Rogers newspaper strip. At the same time he was working with Sy in the loft, Dan Barry also shared a studio in a hotel on 14th Street with Sam Burlockoff, who inked Barry’s pencils on “Heap” and Crime Does Not Pay besides drawing his own stories. Among the best early collaborations between Dan and Sy Barry were the stories they drew from 1946-49 for the Buster Brown Comic Book, sponsored by the Buster Brown Shoe Company. Unbeknownst to Hillman Publications, Ed Cronin was also packaging the Buster Brown Comic Book. Sy Barry handed in the Buster Brown stories at Cronin’s Hillman office when nobody else was around, and on one occasion had to stay in the supply closet so as not to be seen. The Barry brothers did an amazing job tackling different genres, but their stories with an exotic setting

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

A Jungle Case Of Barry-Barry (Left:) Legendary Tarzan comic strip artist Burne Hogarth, drawing the jungle lord at a press conference held in the Allied Chemical Tower in New York City in late 1975 to show support for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in their dispute with DC Comics over their creation “Superman.” (Above:) Dan and Sy Barry artwork for the Nov. 29, 1947, Tarzan daily strip. For more of the Barrys, Hogarth, and Tarzan, see the previous issue of Alter Ego. [© Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] (Right:) A sketch of Tarzan done by Sy Barry a few years back for Belgian collector Dominique Leonard. [Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

were particularly beautiful. One was “Tiger” (in #11, Spring 1948), which starred Ghanga the Elephant Boy and had a very Hogarthesque look, as the Barry brothers were by then concurrently drawing the Tarzan newspaper strip, mimicking Burne Hogarth’s style.

Lord Of The Jungle— And The Sunday That Never Was Dan Barry’s big break came in mid-1947, when he got a call from Burne Hogarth, who had just been entrusted with the Tarzan daily strip. Hogarth, who was already busy drawing the Sunday Tarzan, asked Barry to assist him on the dailies, starting with strip #2509 (Sept. 1, 1947). Then, midway through an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel Tarzan at the Earth’s Core, Barry took over the artwork and in turn had to hire assistants to help or fill in on the strip. His younger brother Seymour was the main inker until mid-1948, although John Belfi also helped in doing the finishes from time to time. Sy Barry recalled that: When my brother Dan got responsibility for the daily version of Tarzan in 1947, he needed help with the inking. We had worked on adventure comics together, but to work with such a series for the daily papers was like playing baseball in the National League—it was hard to reach any higher, and I said yes. My stint on Tarzan was rather short. The main reason was that in the same period I had had to skip other jobs. I wanted to make improvements and go my own way. From time to time it was very demanding to assist my brother with the inking. The lamp could burn a long time into the night— and sometimes I could switch it off and keep on working when the morning sun rose. Emil Gershwin was the name of the artist who followed me with the inking. A very good artist.6

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., archivist Bob Hyde visited Dan Barry’s studio in 1948 while the latter was producing the Tarzan strip. As Hyde recalled: In March of 1948, I made another visit to New York City to see Burne Hogarth. The daily Tarzan strip was now being printed with Hogarth’s name on it. He told me that Dan Barry was actually doing the work on the strip, under his direction. Hogarth gave me the address of the “studio” where Barry was working. The address was down on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As I remember, the Barry “studio” was on an upper floor of an old brick building that had once been apartments. I walked up the stairs, looking around and calling out to find someone. Up on the third or fourth floor I found both Dan Barry and his brother, Sy, working at drawing tables in a large room. If I remember correctly, there were the two drawing tables, one chair for each of them, a coat rack, a refrigerator, and nothing else. Each of the Barry brothers had three days of the Tarzan strip on his drawing board. I’m not sure what the working arrangement was between them as to pencil layouts, inking, figures, and backgrounds. It looked as though each did all the work on his own three days of the strip.7 After “Tarzan at the Earth’s Core,” Dan Barry worked on another two continuities, “Tarzan and the Diamond of Ashra” and “Tarzan and the Fires of Kohr.” In fact, he only drew portions of them, entrusting most of the artwork to Emil Gershwin, Sy Barry, and John Belfi. By mid-1948, there was more than one reason why Dan was farming out more and more Tarzan art (he would eventually leave the strip as of Apr. 9, 1949). He and his wife Helene had separated shortly before their second child, Steven

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

artists, including Leonard Starr and Bob Fujitani, were later contacted; but, in the end, Raymond realized that it wouldn’t be economically worthwhile to pay another full-time assistant to produce the Sunday page.

The DC Years

This Is A Job For… (Above:) A very special and one-of-a kind comic book, announcing the birth of Steven Mark Barry, in May 1948. [© the respective copyright holders.] (Above right:) Eight-month-old Steven Barry with sister Lois, February 1949. [Cover & photo courtesy of Steven Barry.]

Mark, was born on May 15, 1948. About his childhood, Steven recalled: When I was born, our family lived in West Hempstead, Long Island, New York. I remember listening to classical records as a child. We had a beagle named “Lucky” who chewed up some of the records and we eventually sold the dog. I played the cello in school. I have little recollection of my father as a young child, and my parents went through an acrimonious divorce when I was about five or six years old. I only remember my mother driving him to Manhattan and dropping him off. After the divorce, when I was around ten, my mother could no longer take care of the house, having to work and raise two children, so we moved to Brooklyn. My sister, who is approximately four years my senior, was much more affected by the divorce than I was. Unfortunately, from my perspective, my father was not much of one. He did take me out on occasion. I would sometimes visit with his family. The closest bond I had was with Uncle Seymour and Aunt Simi and their children, the oldest of whom was about my age.8 While working on Tarzan, Dan Barry got a phone call from no less than Alex Raymond, asking him if he would like to move to Connecticut and work with him, drawing a Rip Kirby Sunday page. Though flattered by such a proposal, Barry had to decline. Other

In mid-1947, Dan Barry was interviewed at the National Periodical Publications, Inc. (aka DC Comics), editorial offices at 480 Lexington Avenue at the insistence of Latvian-American artist Eli Katz, later known as Gil Kane. Barry soon realized that Kane, who had recently been fired by the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, had brought him there hoping to get his own assignments. Nor was Barry ever too happy about the way DC Comics utilized his talent. When they started a new crime title, Gang Busters, Barry was chosen to draw it because of his excellent work on Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay. The Gang Busters comic book was based on a popular radio program that had premiered as G-Men on NBC radio in July 1935. After the title was changed to Gang Busters in January 1936, the show aired continuously until November 1957. Dramatizing FBI closed cases, it was arranged in close association with J. Edgar Hoover. There was even a Gang Busters movie serial in 1942 before Barry’s very first story for DC Comics, “Crime Agency,” appeared in Gang Busters #1 (Dec. 1947-Jan., 1948). Barry’s artwork would grace Gang Busters until June 1951, with scripts by, among others, Phil Evans, Bill Finger, Ed Herron, Alvin Schwartz, and Dave Wood, and inking help from Sy Barry and John Belfi. Mr. District Attorney was another DC crime title inspired by a popular radio drama; this one aired on NBC and ABC from 1939-52 (and was in syndication during 1952-53). The series focused on a crusading D.A., who was called Paul Garrett when the series aired on ABC-TV during 1951-52. DC’s comics version totaled 67 issues from 1948-59, and Dan Barry contributed a total of four stories during 1949-50, although none of them featured the fearless D.A., whose adventures were drawn by artists Sam Citron and Howard Purcell. Also from a popular radio program (1937-1951) and TV show (1950-1956) was Big Town, of which DC published 60 issues from 1951-58. Big Town’s protagonist was Steve Wilson, reporter/editor of the daily Illustrated Press. In fact Big Town was only marginally a

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Coming On Like Gang Busters (Above:) Dan Barry splashes for Gang Busters # 4 (June-July 1948) & #11 (Aug.-Sept. 1948). Scripts are attributed to, respectively, Donald Wandrei and Phil Evans. Thanks to Gene Reed. [© DC Comics, Inc.]

Big, Bigger, Biggest (Right:) Barry’s cover for Big Town #2 (Feb. 1951) and a splash page from #1 (Jan. 1951). [© DC Comics, Inc.]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

The Price Of Liberty Is Eternal “Vigilante” (Above:) “Vigilante” splash drawn by Dan Barry (and scripted by DC editor George Kashdan) for Action Comics #131 (April 1949)… plus a sketch Barry did at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con. [Page © DC Comics; Vigilante TM & © DC Comics.]

crime title, as the stories focused more on the newspaperman’s life, and on the glamorous world of a fictionalized version of New York City. With editing by Jack Schiff and stories by Dave Wood and Ed Herron, Barry and his brother Sy did most of the first three monthly issues artwise, then passed the brush over to John Lehti. Sy Barry would continue inking the feature for a while to keep the artwork consistent. Barry’s longest stints at DC were not on crime comics per se. As of late 1948, he became the resident artist on “Vigilante” in Action Comics. Created in 1941 by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin, the series starred an atypical masked, modern-day cowboy-crimefighter. Vigilante was in fact rodeo man Greg Sanders, and eventually featured Stuff (“the Chinatown Kid”) as his sidekick. The action rotated around a Gotham City which was obviously not Batman’s home town. Vig would fight such weird villains as The Shade, The Rainbow Man, and The Fiddler. Barry came on board as of Action #131 (April 1949) and stayed until issue #151 (Dec. 1950), doing his best work while at DC. George Kashdan, John Broome, Gardner Fox, Ed Herron, Joe Samachson, and Don Cameron took turns on scripts. Barry’s other long DC stint was on “Impossible—but True” in Detective Comics. Between 1949-51, he drew twenty stories in this series in which “TV detective” Roy Raymond would solve unbelievable cases. Barry’s photo-realistic artwork created an estranging effect visualizing the often bizarre yarns, provided by Bill Woolfolk and other competent writers, which sported such

Johnny Be Nimble, Johnny Be Quick “Johnny Quick” splash page by Barry from Adventure Comics #144 (Sept. 1949). He continued the technique, introduced by artist Mort Meskin, of indicating Johnny’s speed by the use of multiple figures. Script by Otto Binder. [© DC Comics.]

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

them, Barry drew two historical booklets, Fight for Freedom!—The Picture Story of Man’s Endless Struggle for Liberty (for the National Association of Manufacturers, 1949) and How America Grew— Frontiers of Freedom (for the Institute of Life Insurance, 1950), as well as Watch Out for Big Talk! (for the GM Information Rack Service, 1950), an anti-Nazi/Fascist/Communist booklet that featured such great Americans of the past as Ben Franklin, Daniel Boone, and Thomas Edison. The use of illustration as an educational medium won Barry awards from the Freedom Foundation and a grant from the Fund for the Republic. In 1951, Barry made a deal with Robert M. (Bob) Hall, founder of the Post Syndicate, and with Ken Hall (who had been Dan’s writer at General Comics—no relation to Bob) to set up their own company to produce advertising and promotional comics. Dan was the art director and had his own little office at the New York Post, next to Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo. In fact, Barry worked on the Special Delivery Pogo (1951) promotional booklet produced by Post-Hall to encourage newspaper editors to carry the Pogo comic strip. Among their clients, Barry and the Halls had the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Army Reorientation Branch, General Electric, International Harvester, and Blue Cross. Things went smoothly for a while, until Barry came to resent what he felt was the unethical way in which the Halls were taking care of the business part, at which time he quit.

Return Of The Space Hero

“Stranger” Than [Science-]Fiction Splash page of the only story Dan Barry ever drew for DC’s Strange Adventures (#3, Dec. 1950). Inks by John Giunta; story by Gardner F. Fox. [© DC Comics.]

tale-telling titles as “The Case of the Human Dolls,” “The Valley of Giant Insects,” and “The Case of the Talking Dead.” Unlike most other artists working for DC, Dan Barry had a good relationship with editor Mort Weisinger and went on drawing several stories for different titles and genres until 1952. He drew four stories for Real Fact Comics (1948-49), one for Adventures of Alan Ladd (1949), as well as two starring “Johnny Quick” (in Adventure Comics, 1949), and three starring “Tom Sparks, Boy Inventor” (in World’s Finest Comics, 1950-51). Barry’s last DC story was “The Man with the Golden Touch!,” an “Impossible—but True” yarn that ran in Detective Comics #173 (July 1951). Despite all the work he did for DC, and despite his graphic approach being adopted as a sort of “house style” until the early ’60s, Barry would later resent having only been assigned fillers, something an editor would give to a kid who’s just breaking in rather than to a well-known and respected cartoonist as Barry was.

Advertising Comics In 1949-50, while working on comic book stories (mostly for National/DC), Dan Barry was also drawing advertising and promotional comics for General Comics, an outfit which produced booklets sponsored by different institutions and companies. For

In 1951, King Features editors Ward Greene and Sylvan Byck thought it was time their best-selling science-fiction strip Flash Gordon came back to daily papers after a seven-year hiatus, and they asked Dan Barry to start it over. After saying “no” five times, Barry eventually accepted their offer to draw the strip, as he needed a steady income. His personal life was breaking down, as Barry and his wife had been separated for over three years and divorce was impending. Barry moved to an apartment-studio at the Hotel des Artistes, located at 1 West 67th Street in Manhattan. “On a cold winter night a rocket blasts upward into the Ohio skies, blowing off red clouds of fire. Expedition X-3 is launched for Jupiter!” The new Flash Gordon daily strip started with a yarn that seemed to relocate one of Barry’s Crime Does Not Pay stories in space, with Flash, Dale, and their companions facing a prison break on an orbiting Space Prison Station. Halfway through the next continuity, “The City of Ice” (wherein he introduced Ray Carson, Marla, and the Mizard), Barry was joined by Harvey Kurtzman, who started writing Flash Gordon as of the March 7, 1952, daily. Kurtzman and Barry turned the strip into a veritable fantasy drama, taking Flash and his friends to a strange planet inhabited by the Butterfly Men, the demon-like warriors of Tartarus, and the small but technically advanced people of Pasturia. “Mr. Murlin,” which featured a “Time-Case” for physically moving into the past or the future, and for which Frank Frazetta did two weeks’ worth of pencil art, marked the end of Barry and Kurtzman’s collaboration. Although their output was excellent, they never clicked together, as Kurtzman’s “bigfoot” method of sketching his strip stories confused and frustrated Barry’s own graphic approach. When King Features asked Barry to take over the writing on the Flash Gordon Sunday page drawn by Mac Raboy in early 1953, Barry suggested they hire Kurtzman instead. Which they did. The writer would leave Flash Gordon for good after about a year (spring 1954), and Barry was on his own again. 1953, by the [continued on p. 26]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

Ad Hoc Three of Dan Barry’s early’50s advertising jobs (clockwise from above left:) Splash page for the 1950 promotional comic Watch Out for Big Talk!, sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers. Splash of the 1950 promotional comic How America Grew—Frontiers of Freedom, sponsored by the Institute of Life Insurance. [© the respective copyright holders.] Aug. 24, 1952, promotional art for the movie Les Miserables. [© 20th Century Fox Pictures or successors in interest.]

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

In Like A Flash! (Left & above:) The official King Features photo of Dan Barry, circa 1952—and his first two Flash Gordon strips, dated Nov. 19 & 20, 1951. [© King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

Mad creator Harvey Kurtzman, in a 1965 photo.

A Bit Of “Tartarus” Sauce (Below:) Flash Gordon writer Harvey Kurtzman’s layout (above) and Dan Barry’s finished art for the Oct. 23, 1952, daily Flash Gordon strip, from the “Tartarus” sequence. [© King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

When Legends Flash (Above:) Frank Frazetta’s pencils and (below) Dan Barry’s finished art for the Feb. 27, 1952, daily Flash Gordon strip. [© King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

Legendary artist Frank Frazetta in the 1960s.

[continued from p. 23] way, was a critical year for Barry, whose sense of guilt for leaving his family would often cause him to fall into feats of depression. So he began a long series of psychoanalytic sessions with Silvano Arieti, a renowned Italian analyst who had moved to the States in 1944 because of racial persecution.

Comic Books: A Brief Interlude When he took over the Flash Gordon strip, Barry had all but left his comic book accounts. From mid-1951 to early 1952, Barry drew a total of six stories for Ziff-Davis, doing art for Amazing Adventures, Weird Thrillers, Crusader from Mars, and The Hawk. One SF story, “Mutineers of Ganymede!” (Amazing Adventures #4, JulyAug. 1951), looked like an early version of Barry’s Flash Gordon. The three main characters—John, Peggy, and Peter—were in fact dead ringers for Flash, Dale Arden and Ray Carson, respectively.

In Treatment Italian psychoanalyst Silvano Arieti (1914-1981), who treated Dan Barry’s depression during the early 1950s. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The only other comic book story Barry would draw while doing Flash Gordon was “The Champion,” a 7-page story in the first issue of Charlton Comics’ Black Fury (July 1955). [This artistic biography will be continued next issue.]

FOOTNOTES: 1 Steven Barry, e-mail interview with Alberto Becattini, 29 March 2013. 2 George Mandel, e-mail interviews with Alberto Becattini, 5 July 2011 and 12 February 2012.

The Many Facets Of Dan Barry

Keeping A Ziff Upper (Clockwise) Lip Four of the half dozen stories Dan Barry drew for Ziff-Davis’ comic book line in 1951-52: Splash page from the Flash Gordon-inspired story done for ZiffDavis’ Amazing Adventures # 4 (JulyAug. 1951); inks by Sy Barry. The writers of all these stories are unknown. Splash page of the only Western yarn Barry drew for Ziff-Davis, for The Hawk #1 (Winter 1951); inks by Murphy Anderson. Beautiful Barry splash for Weird Thrillers #3 (Spring 1952); inks by Frank Giacoia. A mystery story from Weird Thrillers #4 (Summer 1952); inks by Sy Barry & John Giunta. [©the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Books, Comic Strips—& A Controversial Genius

Horsing Around Art by Dan Barry from the one story he drew for Charlton Comics, in Black Fury #2 (July 1955). Inks by Sy Barry. [© the respective copyright holders.]

3 Sy Barry, interview with Brian D. Stroud, “The Silver Age Sage,” on www.wtv-zone.com/silverager/interviews/barry.shtml. [© 2015 Brian D. Stroud.] 4 Steven Barry, op. cit. 5 Dan Barry, interview with David Anthony Kraft, in Comics Interview no. 81, 1990. 6 Sy Barry, “Before the Phantom – Part 1,” in Lee Falks Fantomen – Sy Barry – Søndagseventyr 1964-1966. Translated by Jostein Hansen. 7 Bob Hyde, “Odyssey of a Tarzan Fanatic – Chapter XII,” in ERBzine Vol. 0691. [© 2015 Bob Hyde.] 8 Steven Barry, op. cit. Born in Florence, Italy, Alberto Becattini is a high school teacher of English who has been writing about comics, illustration, and animation for forty years. He has been a contributor to Italian Disney publications since 1992, and has also written for Alter Ego, Comic Book Artist, Comic Book Marketplace, and Walt’s People, among others. An indexer for the Grand Comics Database and the I.N.D.U.C.K.S. project, he has written books about Milton Caniff, Floyd Gottfredson, Bob Lubbers, Alex Raymond, Romano Scarpa, and Alex Toth. He also writes about his favorite authors and strips on his blog at http://alberto-s-pages.webnode.it/blog/. Alberto Becattini’s study of the life and career of Dan Barry will continue in our next issue.

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

Dan Barry illustrated this "Johnny Quick" story for Adventure Comics #144 (Sept. 1949)—and drew enough JQ figures for several! Script by Otto Binder. Thanks to Alberto Becattini. [© DC Comics.]

Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg

A/E

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code Beginning Chapter 6 Of Our Serialization Of The 1998 Study By AMY KISTE NYBERG

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: This time around, we only have room for part of one of the concluding chapters of Dr. Nyberg’s book on the history of comic book censorship. This segment covers the early days of the Comics Code Authority, illustrated by numerous examples of the Code’s revisions of comic art and writing that was submitted to them in the days soon after it went into effect at the end of 1954—on the heels of that year’s hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s anticomics book Seduction of the Innocent, and the formation by most of the surviving publishers of the Comic Magazine Association of America. Once more: Seal of Approval is heavily “footnoted,” albeit in the MLA style which lists book, article, or author name, plus page numbers, between parentheses in the main text: e.g., “(Hart 154-156)” refers to pp. 154-156 of whichever work by an author or editor named Hart appears in the bibliography… which will be printed at the conclusion of our serialization, a few issues from now. When the parentheses contain only page numbers, it is because the other pertinent information is printed in the text preceding the note. In the main text, we’ve again retained usages from Nyberg’s book such as “superhero,” an uncapitalized “comics code,” “E.C.” and “DC,” etc. In the captions Ye Editor has added, however, we’ve reverted to A/E house preference. These captions, of course, do not necessarily

I Wanna Hold Your Hand Grenade (Above:) Another photo (which, alas, we cannot reproduce any larger from our source) of Judge Charles F. Murphy, first Comics Code administrator, at the early press conference in which, among other things, he showed alterations he had ordered made in the Joe Sinnott-drawn story “Sarah” for Timely/Atlas’ Uncanny Tales #29 (March 1955). See A/E #128 for another such pic. (Right:) The Comics Code Authority’s proscribed changes were, from first to last, something of a hit-and-miss affair. E.g., The grenade explosion in the final panel of this sequence from Charlton’s Soldier and Marine Comics #13 (April 1955) was approved by the Code during the first months of its existence, while other similar violence was often censored out of existence. Maybe this panel slipped through because the enemy combatant was killed only in silhouette? Artist and writer unidentified. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© the respective copyright holders.]

This sticker heralding the sale on Comics Code-approved magazines was sent out to retailers—complete with instructions on how to apply it.

reflect the opinion of Dr. Nyberg or of the University Press of Mississippi, the original publisher of the book—whose original edition can still be obtained from UPM at www.upress.sate.ms.us. Our thanks to Dr. M. Thomas Inge, under whose general editorship the volume was originally published in 1998 as part of its Studies in Popular Culture series, and who was instrumental in helping to arrange for its reprinting here. Thanks also to William Biggins and Vijah Shah, acquisitions editors past and present at the U. Press of Mississippi… and to Brian K. Morris for retyping the text on a Word document for Ye Editor to, well, edit. Chapter 5, in A/E #128, dealt with the adoption and earliest implementation of the 1954 Comics Code, under its so-called “comics czar,” Judge Charles F. Murphy….

Beginning Chapter 6 Of The 1998 Study By Amy Kiste Nyberg

Chapter 6 Evolution Of The Comics Code

he comics code adopted in 1954 has been revised twice, once in 1971 and again in 1989. The need for a new code was dictated by changes in society, in the industry, and in the audience. However, each change in the code reinforced the idea that comic books were intended for the child reader and should contain nothing that would be inappropriate for young readers. Restrictions on violence, sex, and language, while modified, remained at the heart of the code. The first few years following the adoption of the comics code in 1954 were a time of upheaval in the industry. As noted in the last chapter, many publishers left the field, and those who remained were forced to cope with the effects of negative publicity, the implementation of the new code regulations, problems in distribution, and a need to find new ways to attract an audience whose leisure time was increasingly dominated by television. Charles Murphy and his five reviewers proved to be quite strict in their interpretation of the code, and many comic book editors, writers, and artists chafed under the new restrictions.

Association of America (Gilbert 172). He was active in the shortlived committee that had been funded by the Justice Department in 1946 to study the prevention and control of juvenile delinquency, serving on a panel designed to study the influence of radio, film, and publications on youth. He also was a member of a committee formed by the American Bar Association in 1948. The committee’s primary goal was to find funding for scientific research on media effects. Although its organizer, Arthur Freund, approached several researchers, including the Gluecks, he was unable to secure funding for the project, and it was abandoned (Gilbert 86-87). It was quite possible that Schultz met DeBra at that 1948 conference, because Schultz may have attended as a representative of the new Association of Comics Magazine Publishers. Although DeBra had told Schultz he could not take the position until January 1, 1957, at the earliest, he recommended that the CMAA hire Mrs. Guy Percy Trulock as code administrator and Jesse Bader as chairman of a citizens’ advisory committee. Trulock had served as president of the New York City Federation of Women’s Clubs, an organization of more than five hundred women’s clubs with 250,000 members, and was also vice president

At the first annual meeting of the association, held June 14, 1955, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, the publishers suggested that the code be re-evaluated. Later that year, at the board of directors meeting December 14, 1955, a proposal was made that the association form a committee to evaluate the present status of the code. Although no action was taken by the association at either meeting, similar requests would be heard at many of the CMAA’s annual meetings. While there were other factors at work, many of the publishers blamed the code for the downturn in the comic book market. The depressed market in the mid-1950s affected the new trade association as well. By the end of 1955, the CMAA was struggling financially. Attorney Henry Schultz volunteered to take a reduction in his salary, and the association proposed eliminating one of the five staff reviewers, although Murphy was opposed to that move, asserting that it would cut into the time he had available for public relations work. At their meeting November 15, 1955, the executive and budget committees approved a 1956 budget of $104,200. Murphy objected to the budget restrictions, and he reminded the committee that he had been promised autonomy to run the Code Authority office. The publishers replied in a letter dated February 28, 1956, that Murphy would have to work within the CMAA’s budget. Conﬂicts over the enforcement of the code, coupled with Murphy’s frustration with his budget limitations and complaints from the publishers that he was not returning artwork in a timely manner, led to Murphy’s decision to resign. He announced his intentions in a letter to Goldwater dated May 9, 1956, stating that he would be returning to private law practice when his contract expired in October. The move came as a surprise to the CMAA directors, but Murphy would not be dissuaded. In June, the board authorized a search for a new code administrator. The person Schultz had in mind was Arthur DeBra. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary, he was director of exhibitor-community relations for the Motion Picture

Code Hard Facts (Left:) Mrs. Guy Percy Trulock’s photo appeared with a newspaper announcement of her appointment to be the second Comics Code administrator in 1956. (Right:) A publicity “fact sheet” produced by the Comics Magazine Association of America to explain the Comics Code Authority was published sometime in the late 1950s to early ’60s. The photo was seen larger in A/E #105. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Third Time’s The Charm? (Above:) Attorney Leonard Darvin became the Code’s third administrator in late 1965. Seen here is a photo of Darvin and some of his female Code personnel in the late 1960s, which he sent to accompany an article he wrote for Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #10, circa 1969-70. (Right:) The cover of a booklet published for public consumption by the CMAA at some time during the 1960s. Thanks to Shaun Clancy. [© the respective copyright holders.]

of the Women’s Press Club. In the February 1957 issue of the CMAA newsletter, the association noted that she brought to the code administrator’s job “a wealth of experience in civic and community projects of benefit to the public.” Jesse Bader, of the Protestant Motion Picture Council, was given the task of organizing the National Advisory Committee on Comic Books. The association newsletter commented, “Her distinguished record in the religious field, and her broad contacts throughout the world among religious and community leaders assures the industry of the most responsible guidance.” These appointments were approved by the CMAA at its meeting September 12, 1956 (CMAA Files [minutes, 12 Sept. 1956]). Schultz assured association members that DeBra had “tremendous contacts among women’s organizations” and “was convinced he could get Dell to join the Association, and that he also expected to get comic editors of newspapers to come in” (CMAA Files [minutes, 19 Oct. 1956]). But DeBra wanted the title of president and to have the code authority report to him, a move the current president, John Goldwater, understandably opposed at the association’s October 1956 meeting. Discussion continued throughout the end of the year about DeBra’s appointment. Goldwater suggested making DeBra executive vice president, and Schultz noted that would mean rewriting the bylaws of the association. Apparently the publishers were never able to arrange things to DeBra’s satisfaction. In addition, the comic book industry continued to decline, which may also have affected DeBra’s decision to delay his move from the MPAA to the CMAA. In February 1957, board meeting minutes note that DeBra’s starting date had been pushed back to April 1957, and in May the board of directors learned that “due to the present situation in the industry” DeBra had decided to wait until fall. Two months later, the board of directors decided to defer DeBra’s appointment “indefinitely.” Without DeBra’s direction, the publishers felt Bader’s job was unnecessary, and at their meeting in July 1957 they voted to terminate her position. Trulock continued on as code administrator until she resigned for health reasons on September 3, 1965. After that her duties were performed by the executive director of the association, Leonard Darvin, who was appointed officially as code administrator on October 1, 1965. Darvin, an attorney who

specialized in trade associations, joined the CMAA at the invitation of Schultz, who was looking for an assistant for Judge Murphy. Darvin was hired initially as a consultant to aid in running the day-to-day operations of the trade association outside of the code administrator’s office and to oversee the finances of the CMAA. In short order, he was named the executive director of the association. After he became code administrator, Darvin said he saw his job as handling both industry relations and public relations: “The real thing, the whole thing in my opinion, was to see the code was properly enforced so the kids wouldn’t be hurt by reading comics and [there would not be] books written against us and people making speeches against us” (Darvin interview). His concerns were well founded. Although the adoption and enforcement of the comics code silenced much of the criticism against comic books, the attack by Wertham on the industry published in Saturday Review in April 1955 under the title “It’s Still Murder” demonstrated that the comic book publishers were still vulnerable despite their comics code. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: See A/E #128.] That vulnerability was further demonstrated by the adoption of laws in two states regulating comic books. The first was the Comic Book Act passed by the state of Washington in 1955. The act made the sale or possession of comic books with the intent to sell without a prior license a crime and required dealers to furnish the supervisor of the Division of Children and Youth Services of the state with three copies of every comic book before distribution or sale. The second was an ordinance adopted by Los Angeles County, a rewrite of an earlier attempt to regulate comics in the late 1940s (see chap. 2). The ordinance prohibited the sale or circulation of a crime comic book to children under eighteen. The ordinance specified which crimes could not be depicted and attempted to provide a specific definition of comic books: five or more sequential drawings accompanied by narration. It also provided broad exemptions, including accounts appearing in newspapers, accounts that depicted actual historical events, and accounts of events from sacred scriptures of any religion. Both laws were found to be unconstitutional in court challenges. In a decision handed down in February 1958 by the Washington Supreme Court, Adams v. Hinkle, the court noted that the licensing requirement punishes a person “not for selling something which may be considered harmful, but for selling without a license. This

Beginning Chapter 6 Of The 1998 Study By Amy Kiste Nyberg

“Medal For Mitzi,” Maybe—But Not For Marksmanship! In Harvey Comics’ Warfront #2 (Nov. 1951, left), already-veteran artist Bob Powell drew more violence in the 3rd, 5th, and 6th panels of the story “Medal for Mitzi” than the Code was prepared to accept when the tale was reprinted in Warfront #30 (Sept. 1957, right). So panel 3 lost its “BLAM” and, even as the American’s bullets now seemingly missed the more-fully-drawn North Koreans, panels 5 & 6 lost some (but not all) of their “RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT” sound effects— except in the red plate. Well, guess we all had to sacrifice for the war effort. Scripter unknown. Thanks to Jim Ludwig.

device is prior restraint in its most abhorrent form.” Because the statute covered all comic books, not just those crime comic books judged to be harmful, and because the license was required for all sales, not just sales to minors, the court ruled the Comic Book Act was void on its face. In addition, the sections of the act that prohibited comic books devoted to content described generally as “deeds of violent bloodshed, lust, crime or immorality” were so vague and indefinite that they failed to meet the procedural due process requirements. The court held that the language in the Comic Book Act was not sufficiently different from that held to be unconstitutional in Winters v. New York. Finally, the exemption of newspapers from the prepublication license was held to be in violation of equal protection guarantees. On this final point, Justice Finley dissented, stating that such a position would preclude any further attempts at comic book regulation, arguing that a comic book and a newspaper were not the same thing and that such an exemption was not unreasonable. In Katzev v. County of Los Angeles, the Supreme Court of California ruled in June 1959 that the ordinance prohibiting the sale or circulation of a crime comic book to children under eighteen violated provisions guaranteeing free press, equal protection, and due process of law. The court ruled that the distribution of crime comic books was protected by the constitution until such time as it

could be demonstrated that comic books constituted a clear and present danger. The decision read: “The record fails to show that there is a clear and present danger that the circulation of crime comic books in general will injure the character of persons under the age of eighteen years and inculcate in them a preference for crime” (310). In addition, the Los Angeles ordinance was found to be too broad because it made illegal the circulation of any comic books which contained fictional, nonreligious accounts of crime, and it failed to draw any distinction between various accounts of crime. The ordinance exempted many crime, horror, or sex comic books simply because they were not fictional or did not contain accounts of the enumerated crimes. Just as in Adams v. Hinkle, the court found that the exemptions in the ordinance were “arbitrary and unreasonable” and that the ordinance denied plaintiffs equal protection because it drew an “irrational line” between true accounts of crime, even though disgustingly portrayed, and all fictional accounts of crime. The decision stated: “The ordinance ignores the important factor which might support some comic book legislation, namely, the manner of depiction and the approach of the comic book” (310). Finally, the ordinance was found unconstitutional because it failed to establish a clearly defined standard of guilt. The court noted that the definition of a comic book, while embracing what is commonly

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Knock Me Out! (Above:) Harvey Comics had to soften the Joe Certa art (and, in the finale, a bit more) in its story “Knockout!” that first appeared in Black Cat Mystic #45 (Aug. 1953, left) and was later reprinted, as Code-approved, in both Black Cat Mystic #61 (Jan. 1958, right) and Shocking Tales Digest #1 (1981). Note how, above, one of the boxers’ mouthpieces goes flying in the 1953 version—while, in the reprint, that art area is filled in with black. And, as seen at the bottom of this page, the story’s grim ending was altered to be a bit less, shall we say, final—leading to a distinct art change in the last panel. The original 1953 color plates were used for printing the Code-approved version, however, so that the newly drawn patrons of the fight were left white… white as, say, a sheet thrown over a corpse! Maybe, at this point, the story’s writer was just as happy that he didn’t receive a credit! Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [© the respective copyright holders.]

known as a comic book, also went further. Illustrated books would be included, as well as accounts that used photographs. Thus, fairy tales or folk tales would fall within the scope of the ordinance, although that was clearly not the intent of the ordinance. Such ambiguity left distributors unable to determine if they were in violation of the ordinance. In many states where legislation was adopted, however, there were no challenges to the law because prosecutors could find no violations, demonstrating the effectiveness of the code in eliminating certain types of material from the newsstands. In Wisconsin, for example, a law prohibiting the publication, sale, and distribution to minors of crime and horror comic books was signed into law in 1957. The law defined comic books as “any book, magazine or other printed matter consisting of narrative material in pictorial form” and forbade depictions of “acts of indecency, horror, terror, physical torture or brutality.” The statute also exempted the portrayal of historical or current events and literary works “of recognized merit.” Shortly after the law was passed, the district attorney’s office in Dane County examined a sample of forty or fifty comic books distributed in the area and found none to be in violation of the law, noted an article in the December 1957 CMAA

newsletter. In fact, that statute was to remain on the books until 1987, when it was repealed because legislators felt the materials prohibited were covered in a newly created statute that forbid sale of materials harmful to children. Although the laws restricting the sale of comic books, where challenged, were found to be unconstitutional, attempts to pass such legislation reinforced the publishers’ belief that a strong selfregulatory code was the best way to stave off such attacks against the industry. Not only would the code enable the industry to monitor comic book content in order to avoid publishing the type of comic book that might be targeted under such laws, but the code also demonstrated the publishers’ willingness to act responsibly, reassuring groups that might otherwise push for legislation that the industry could act in a socially responsible way. The public relations campaign conducted by the CMAA in its early years therefore was not aimed at lawmakers, but rather focused on civic and church organizations, the CMAA realizing that if the protests from these critics subsided, so would the call for additional legislation. The CMAA, in its first newsletter published in December 1955, reported that a number of these groups had

Beginning Chapter 6 Of The 1998 Study By Amy Kiste Nyberg

Reach For The Sky—And The Blue Pencil! The Code practically lynched the Everett Raymond Kinstler-drawn story “The Holdup at Hangman’s Knot” in Avon Periodicals’ Jesse James #8 (Aug. 1952, left) when it was reprinted in Jesse James #24 (Sept.-Oct. 1955, right). By this time, you know the drill. See how many obvious Code changes you can spot on these two pages. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [© the respective copyright holders.]

passed resolutions commending the work of the CMAA, including the Protestant Episcopal Church, the American Legion, and the New York City Federation of Women’s Clubs. Both CMAA President John Goldwater and the code administrator, Judge Charles Murphy, crisscrossed the country speaking to various organizations and explaining the work of the CMAA. In his first year, Murphy reported speaking to more than one hundred women’s clubs, veterans organizations, and religious, civic, educational, and fraternal groups in addition to making television and radio appearances. The CMAA was also careful to keep the members of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency apprised of their activities and achievements. In August 1955, Sen. Estes Kefauver alarmed the CMAA with an announcement, reported in the New York Times on August 12, that his committee would reopen their investigation of comic books (“Comic Book Inquiry Set” 21). His comments came after the close of hearings conducted by the subcommittee in Nashville, Tennessee, designed to get input from religious and educational leaders about juvenile delinquency. During those hearings, members of the Committee on Subversive Literature of Knoxville called for national legislation against comic books. Judge Murphy immediately wrote to Kefauver, pointing out that the

material Kefauver had criticized in his interim report was no longer being published and that the code authority was making progress in eliminating all objectionable material. In his August 12 letter, he added: “Therefore, I should greatly appreciate your calling to my attention any new trends that you feel might be open to criticism. It would also be most helpful if you could send me a copy of the testimony upon which your statement is based, together with any other material which you feel would guide us in our work” (Murphy to Kefauver). Kefauver was out of the country, and Murphy’s letter was answered by General Counsel James Bobo, who told Murphy in his August 30 letter that it was Kefauver’s feeling that the committee should do a follow-up study (Bobo to Murphy). The promised investigation never materialized; Kefauver’s committee had moved on to other concerns. A photograph of Judge Murphy shaking hands with Senator Kefauver appeared in the CMAA newsletter in May 1956, and Murphy noted in his column that he had an opportunity to speak to Kefauver personally about the CMAA: “His gratifying comment on our program was: ‘I think generally you are doing all right’” (Murphy, “Code Administrator’s Column”). The CMAA continued to keep the Senate subcommittee informed about its work. When Murphy

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

resigned as code administrator, CMAA President John Goldwater wrote to Kefauver on June 10, 1956, assuring him that the position would be filled immediately: “You will be kept advised of all developments in this matter. We assure you that whoever is selected will be the proper individual to carry on the same vigorous enforcement of the Code of Ethics as has been practiced heretofore” (Goldwater to Kefauver). Other groups that monitored comics also responded favorably to the code. The National Office of Decent Literature noted that the comics code authority had cleaned up the comics magazine field, and NODL no longer listed any comics as “disapproved” (“NODL Head” 1). The Cincinnati Committee on the Evaluation of Comics, headed by Rev. Jesse L. Murrell, wrote to Code Administrator Mrs. Guy Percy Trulock that his organization had discontinued its regular evaluations for all comics and conducted only periodic spot checks of certain ones due to the improvement in quality (“Cincinnati Committee” 3). The public relations campaign, while effective, proved costly. In 1955, the CMAA found itself several thousand dollars in debt. In addition to expenses related to bolstering the comic industry’s public image, the CMAA found that the demise of several comic book publishing companies, along with a decline in sales, reduced its income substantially. The organization moved to cheaper office space, dispensed with the services of its public relations firm, and reduced its office staff. In his 1957 report to the association in November, CMAA President John Goldwater was able to report the trade group was back on solid financial ground. This chapter of Seal of Approval will be continued next issue.

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“I Want Kids To Grow Up Knowing Who Really Created Batman”

MARC TYLER NOBLEMAN Talks About His Mission To Win Posthumous Fame For BILL FINGER

Interview Conducted & Transcribed by John G. Pierce

NTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Marc Tyler Nobleman is a man on a mission. He wants people, especially younger people, to know who really created Batman. He wants to bring to light the contributions of one Milton Finger, better known as Bill Finger, to those who might otherwise conclude that Batman was solely (or even principally) created by Bob Kane. Marc agreed to talk to me about his motivations and research (voluminous research, as it turned out) in writing his 2012 tribute to Finger, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman (Charlesbridge, 2012), which was illustrated by Ty Templeton. JOHN G. PIERCE: First of all, what does this book add to our knowledge? MARC TYLER NOBLEMAN: We’ve all heard the saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” You also can’t judge it by its thickness! This is a picture book packed with a lot of previously unpublished information. Most of it is about Bill Finger as a man, not as a comics writer. It fleshes him out as a person.

There were key details which needed to be uncovered. Who was his family? How had he died? What happened after his passing? The book doesn’t end with Bill’s death; the last six pages of the story proper take place after his death. I knew that he was poor, but I didn’t know that he had died without an obituary, a funeral, or a gravestone. It was a heartbreaking end for the man who almost single-handedly created one of the top three or perhaps five fictional characters of all time. It was as if he just drifted off the face of the earth without a trace. JGP: So why did you write in this format? Why not a longer biography? NOBLEMAN: We’ve gone decades without a Bill Finger book. My feelings were 1) this is the area (i.e., children’s books) in which I’m most experienced; and 2) I wanted to work from the ground up. I want kids to grow up knowing who really created Batman. Too late to do [Bill Finger] any good, but I believe that justice has no expiration date. The truth shall set Bill free! [As a result of the book,] I’m regularly asked to speak at schools, conferences, etc. A highlight was the chance to present at San

A Finger In Every Plot While researching his book about Bill Finger, Marc Tyler Nobleman uncovered a number of previously unknown photos of Batman’s co-creator. This one shows Bill and his wife Portia at the beach, probably sometime in the 1940s. By then, “Batman” had already long since been developed by Finger and artist Bob Kane. Seen above are the first two panels Finger would have written featuring the new hero—the splash page (in which the “Bat-Man” is seen only in silhouette) and the first story panel in which he appears, both from Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). These panels are repro’d from the 1990 DC hardcover Batman Archives, Vol. 1. The past quarter-century has seen an explosion in the preservation of vintage comic book material in book form—and the end is nowhere in sight! [© DC Comics.]

Diego Comic-Con. I had two sessions; the first was very well attended, and the second (a panel with author Larry Tye) was standing-room only. Some of the people at the first appearance came back for the second. JGP: Can you give us any clues as to your research methods? NOBLEMAN: The book relays some of the methods used, some quite outlandish. I started with his first wife, Portia. She had died in 1990, but I located her last known address, in New York City. So

Marc Tyler Nobleman On Bill Finger

to find someone from the local gay community who might have known her. I went to a nearby GLBT community center and posted a sign, “Did you know Portia Finger?” No one called, though.

Family Matters (Above:) Bill, Portia, their infant son Fred, and an unidentified older man, in a photo that Marc believes was taken circa 1940. An interview with Fred Finger appeared in Alter Ego, Vol. 2, #5, in 1999. Unfortunately, Bill’s only child passed away not long afterward. (Right:) Bill and Portia at Provincetown, maybe around 1945.

I went there and waited for any resident to come in or out. When someone finally did, I asked, “Who has lived in this building the longest?” This slightly perplexed woman put me in touch with the superintendent, although only by intercom. I explained that I am a writer, and why I was bothering him. He kindly believed me... and let me in. So within just a few minutes I was sitting in the apartment of a woman in her mid-70s, maybe older. Her friend came in from next door. They were both in their nightgowns at 6 p.m.! Both had known Portia, but not Bill. They also had known Portia and Bill’s son, Fred, who had also lived there for a while. They didn’t lead me to any big discoveries, but they painted a picture of Portia which I had found nowhere else. I didn’t rely just on books, but ventured out into the real world, poring over old documents and obviously ambushing strangers. I knew the best chance of bringing new information to print would be to talk to people who’d not been interviewed before—about Bill, anyway— and look through material that no Finger researcher had seen before. Bill was born in Denver, but lived most of his life in Manhattan. I was looking desperately for anyone who knew him. I especially wanted photos. He had died with little documentation. I was told that, if a Jewish family of the period left the Bronx, they would likely go either to New Jersey or Florida. Based on my own Jewish experience, I gambled on Florida! So, one Sunday in 2006, I called every Finger listing in Florida. That was about 500 names. (At that time, Google still had an integrated phone book.) Only one person almost hung up on me. But none knew Bill. JGP: You revealed early in the book that his birth name was Milton. NOBLEMAN: Yes. I learned this from his second wife, Lyn. But everyone else who knew him did not know he was once “Milton.” JGP: What other sources did you use? NOBLEMAN: From Portia’s neighbors, I learned that she had had many friends in the gay community. She was a plump lady who apparently was no stranger to boas, and sometimes was seen going down the hallway with a gay man on either arm. So I was hoping

But I did have success in various other New York City locales, such as the Brooklyn Surrogate’s Court, which yielded the settlement of estate (like a will) of Fred, Bill’s only child, and DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where I found Bill’s yearbook photo. He was still Milton then. JGP: Quite a number of sources are listed in the book’s acknowledgements section, including a bunch of folks in the comics fandom arena. What help did you get there? NOBLEMAN: I found I was asking the same questions as others had done over the years and therefore getting unsurprising answers. But many were generous to take the time. One person who was especially helpful was John Wells, but not about Bill specifically. His knowledge of comics is encyclopedic, and his willingness to help is genuine. He’s fast, too. He was invaluable. Still, there were no bombshells to be found among the comics community. All of that came from his personal side—those previously untapped people. JGP: If you had to cite any one single source as essential, who would it be? NOBLEMAN: Charles Sinclair. He was a confidant of Bill’s. They had been good friends for at least a decade. They wrote together, although that did not include any Batman comics. For a man in his mid-80s, Charles was really lucid. He would tell me things which checked out even 35 years after they had happened. Charles was the one who had found Bill’s body. They had lived in the same building. I questioned him for details, and he was able to confirm that Bill’s death had occurred on a Friday, January 18th, 1974. He remembered the day of the week because it had something to do with his job. When I got a copy of Bill’s death certificate, it confirmed what Charles had remembered. [NOTE: Charles Sinclair was interviewed by Jim Amash in A/E #84.] JGP: Do you have some sense of identification with Bill? NOBLEMAN: I started this project in order to correct an oversight. But I wouldn’t have gotten far if there hadn’t been a good story involved. To answer your question, yes, as I got deeper into this, I did notice certain similarities between Bill and me. A writer of biography can often make parallels between his subject and his own characters. Bill and I are both precise in our work. Bill never had a driver’s license, and I was very reluctant to get mine. And Bill and I are not financial maestros! JGP: Bill worked for companies other than DC, of course. Did you know that he worked for Fawcett? I used to correspond with Rod Reed, who was Fawcett’s first editor following Bill Parker, the creator of Captain Marvel. He told me: “One day when I was pretty new in the comics department, editor France Herron said, ‘If a fellow named Bill Finger comes around

“I Want Kids To Grow Up Knowing Who Really Created Batman”

the only time he wrote for Fawcett. I met him several times afterward and he was amiable, so there were no hard feelings.” NOBLEMAN: That’s an interesting story. I hadn’t heard that before, but it fits Bill’s pattern of wanting to be paid up front. JGP: Returning specifically to your book, how do you see the intended audience for it? NOBLEMAN: It’s for second grade and up—and by “up” I mean “through adulthood.” Batman fans, for sure, but also anyone interested in writing or in the arts in general. JGP: I should probably comment that I’m a retired teacher, with most of my years having been spent in the field of Special Education. I would have no qualms about assigning or recommending this book even to some older readers. I assume this book took you longer than your earlier volume on Siegel and Shuster? NOBLEMAN: I did spend more time on Finger, because he had been covered far less; there was so much more to discover.

Bill The Lawn Mower (Above:) Unlike Bruce Wayne (and probably Bob Kane), Bill Finger had to mow his own lawn. This photo was probably taken in the late 1950s or early ’60s, at which time Finger was still a working and well-respected comic book professional. But tougher times were ahead. (Right:) Marc Tyler Nobleman’s 2012 book Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, with illustrations by Ty Templeton, was done as a children’s book in an attempt to get kids interested in the man who was, at the very least, a major co-creator of the Dark Knight. [© Marc Tyler Nobleman & Ty Templeton.]

and wants to write for us, hire him, even if he wants $18 a page.’ Since the going rate was $2.50 a page, that impressed me. It was the first time I ever heard of Finger. Later, as I got better acquainted with the field, I knew that Bill Finger was the pro’s pro, perhaps the most admired writer of all. Certainly everybody held Batman in high esteem, far above Superman. Herron had been gone for a year or so when Lyn Perkins [Henry Avelyn Perkins, another Fawcett editor] introduced Finger to me. Bill had a briefcase full of plots and ideas, and the ones he showed me were ingenious. I gave him an assignment, probably a Captain Marvel. A certain number of pages, say 15, was specified. He would accept our regular rate—$6 a page by then—provided that he could have a check as soon as he turned in the story. OK, said I. Fawcett had a cumbersome bookkeeping system and was notorious for slow pay. Through legerdemain, I managed to acquire a check made out to Bill Finger before he wrote the story. (The Fawcett brothers would have turned pale had they but known.) So the great Batman author brought in his script. It was dandy. But it was 16 pages and payment was only for 15 pages. Oy! He was the outraged author. But I was the firm editor. I had gone to a great deal of trouble to get him a fast check for the agreed number of pages, and if he wanted to donate an extra page that was his business, not mine. He departed grumbling but didn’t tear up the check. As far as I know that’s

VOL. 3

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(Left:) Ad from Black Cat Mystic #59 (Sept 1957). (Right:) Man in Black #1 (Sept. 1957) Art from the Joe Simon Collection. Joe may have drawn the ad art. [Art © Harvey Comics.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Twice-Told Covers! by Michael T. Gilbert

chlock-meister publisher Victor Fox may not have cared about the quality of the art inside his comics, but he sure cared about his covers. That’s why Fox hired Lou Fine and other top talents to draw spectacular cover art oozing sex and blood. He knew what sold comics! Over at DC, the editors would brainstorm bizarre cover ideas, designed to titillate the kiddies’ curiosity. Then, almost as an afterthought, they’d have their writers come up with improbable stories to match them. Who cared if the plots made sense? It was the covers that counted! Covers were the best advertisements when publishers were trying to sell comics to kids. Gold and Silver Age comic book publishers spent a lot of time designing those mini-posters.

Twice-Told Prize! Prize Publishing editor Joe Simon knew the value of a good cover, too. He once tossed away a perfectly wonderful one that he and Jack Kirby drew. Why? Because the team came up with an even better one!

Those Loveable Commies! (Above:) Simon & Kirby’s fabulous cover to Prize’s Fighting American #4, cover-dated Oct. 1954. (Left:) Fighting American #6 (Feb. 1955) featured a recap of the hero’s origin, reprinted from issue #1. However, a new splash panel was added, recycled from a rejected Fighting American #4 cover. [© 2014 Estates of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.]

The new cover featured a trio of cutthroat Commies—namely Rhode Island Red, Sawdoff, and Yusha Liffso (as in the Yiddish phrase “You should live so long!”). Those three no-goodniks were so evil that they talked Joe into replacing Kirby’s original Fighting American #4 cover with one starring them! But Simon had the last laugh. Rather than waste a good action scene, the team recycled their cover into a dramatic splash panel for a reprint of Fighting American’s origin story two issues later. In that same spirit, I decided to re-recycle their original drawing, imagining the cover as it might have looked had Simon & Kirby gone with their first idea. (See facing page.) Employing a little Photoshop magic, I added new text and word balloons in the silly spirit of the original stories. My verdict? Joe Simon & Jack Kirby’s original cover would have been a knockout, too—literally! Ouch!

Twice-Told Covers!

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Twice-Told Harvey!

Harvey Returns!

Joe Simon and partner Jack Kirby started working for publisher Al Harvey in the early ’40s—quickly forging a warm relationship with their employer. Joe and Jack joined the service shortly after. When the war ended, the team created exciting titles for Harvey like Stuntman and Boy Explorers. These should have been sure-fire hits, but instead were quickly cancelled, a victim of a post-war comics glut.

But in 1965, in the wake of the Batman TV-show craze, Harvey Comics decided to try again. And once again they tapped Joe Simon to create and edit a line of adventure comics for older readers.

Still, publisher Al Harvey must have liked what he saw, because he continued using them, together or separately. In 1957 Joe was asked to edit a line of science-fiction, mystery, and war comics. As always, Simon took extra care with the covers, refining them as needed. The cover of Race for the Moon #1 is a good example. A house-ad illo, prepared earlier, shows an astronaut floating above a huge moonscape. But in the published version, a large section of the moon has been inked out, in order to emphasize the empty space in which the man is floating, weightless. The logo box has also been redesigned. The series boasted excellent art by Bob Powell, Jack Kirby, and Al Williamson, but once again the timing was off for a new line of comics. Competition from TV had hurt sales, and funny-books had yet to recover from the bad publicity of the mid-’50s comics purge. Despite clever stories and superb art, none of the books lasted more than six issues. After that, Harvey decided it was wiser to stick with Richie Rich, Little Dot, Hot Stuff, and similar safe kiddie fare.

The Moon Also Rises (Right:) The published cover to Race for the Moon #1 (March 1958) was revised from an earlier drawing. In this version, the moon in the background was partially blacked out, and some cover text relettered. The art was by Jack Kirby, or possibly by Simon imitating Kirby. (Above:) This image from a Harvey house ad features an earlier version of the cover, with the floating spaceman overlapping the moon. [© 2014 Estates of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.]

Simon came up with an ambitious line-up of new and reprinted stories, including unpublished inventory from Harvey’s earlier adventure line. Such was the case with Harvey’s Thrill-O-Rama, which featured unused stories from Bob Powell’s Man in Black comic. That title had run for four issues, from September 1957 to March 1958. An unpublished fifth issue was being prepared when the axe came down. The stories languished in Harvey’s files until October 1965, when the “Hate Cupids” story intended for issue #5 finally saw print in the first issue of Simon’s new Thrill-O-Rama anthology title. Powell’s cover illustrating the “Hate Cupids” story that issue was most likely also intended for issue #5. When it appeared in Thrill-O-Rama #1, a more contemporary logo was added. I decided to reinstate the original logo, so we can imagine how it might have looked had it been published as intended. We’ll be revisiting this particular comic next issue. (See bottom of facing page.)

Twice-Told Covers!

Twice-Told Tiger Boy! (Left:) Jack Sparling’s published cover to Unearthly Spectaculars #1 (Oct. 1965). (Right:) An earlier, unpublished version, posted on the Heritage website from the Joe Simon collection. [© 2014 the respective copyright holders.]

The invaluable Heritage website posted another alternate cover for a different Harvey adventure title, Unearthly Spectaculars. Jack Sparling’s original Tiger Boy cover for issue #1 wasn’t “unearthly” enough for editor Simon, who added a spooky background. Both versions are striking, with Sparling at his very best.

Twice-Told Man In Black! (Far left:) Michael T. Photoshopped this imaginary Man in Black #5 cover. Issue #5 was originally scheduled to have a May 1958 cover date (and thus come out circa March of that year), until the title’s abrupt cancellation. (Near left:) Bob Powell’s cover finally appeared in Harvey’s Thrill-O-Rama #1, dated Oct. 1965. Paul Reinman may have inked Powell’s pencils in 1965. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Twice-Told Tower! And finally we have another TwiceTold cover, from Harvey’s rival, Tower, publisher of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Gil Kane drew the cover of the fourth issue of T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s sister title, Undersea Agent. Kane also illustrated a remarkably similar unpublished alternate version. Why? Perhaps the published one made the hero look more heroic. Or perhaps the unpublished version was a commissioned cover re-creation that Kane decided to improve. Either way, it’s fascinating to note the subtle differences. And twice as much fun for fans of Twice-Told covers! ‘Till next time...

Gil‘s Gills! Gil Kane drew two slightly different versions of this “splashy” cover to Tower’s Undersea Agent #4 (Aug. 1966). The one on the left, of course, is the one that was colored and published. [© 2014 Tower Comics or successors in interest.]

Comic Fandom Archive

“Was I First In Remembering Comic Books?” A Posthumous Guest Column About The “Harmony” Article In Peon #38 (Feb. 1957) That Anticipated “All In Color For A Dime” by Jim Harmon

Introduction

n A/E #127, we re-presented Jim Harmon’s 1957 “Harmony” column, probably the first nostalgic/historic article ever written about the Golden Age of Comic Books. But we felt we ought to allow him to append his comments to it, and to address some of the factual errors of the type that inevitably appear in pioneering articles. We thank Jim’s wife Barbara for her kind permission to posthumously publish Jim’s article, which is copyright by her. Jim passed away in 2010 and had written this article specifically for Alter Ego and the “Comic Fandom Archive” a bit earlier. —Bill Schelly.

typewriter. Recently I had read another fanzine, title unrecalled, with an article by fellow fan Rick Sneary on his memories of the Flash Gordon Sunday comic strip. (In a few years I would meet and become good friends with Rick, a brilliant young man with a hunchback, reminding me of my radio hero, Peter Quill.) Other fans had mentioned Buck Rogers and Krazy Kat, but I could remember no one ever making more than the briefest of mentions of comic book magazines. I decided to write a whole article of maybe two thousand words on comic books. That should cover the subject once and for all.

n 1957, I was twenty-four years old and I had been a professional writer for five years, selling stories to Science Fiction Quarterly and Galaxy when I was nineteen. I had not given up writing for the amateur science fiction fanzines, and still haven’t after another fifty years. I did a regular column titled with a simple play on my own name, “Harmony,” for one called Peon, which was a play on the Navy rank of its editor, Charles Lee Riddle. (It was “PN” something. Can’t remember it all.) I didn’t spend much time waiting for divine inspiration, but I took a few minutes to look at the blank sheet of paper in my old, used Remington

A Peon Of Praise Fan Al Hunter’s cover for the science-fiction fanzine Peon #38 (Feb. 1957)—seen larger in A/E #127—in which Jim’s “Harmony” column was first published, flanked by: (Left:) Jim Harmon, in center, with fellow SF/movie fans Bob Burns on his right and Ron Haydock on his left… a photo taken in 1962 after a screening of some of friend Don Glut’s films at the CBS facilities in Los Angeles. (Right:) Jim on a convention panel, nearly half a century later.

It should not have been all that difficult for me to remember comic books, because I still had a lot of them, and still bought a few new ones. I did not admit I was still buying comic books. I thought the more intellectually inclined older SF fans would not be impressed. Of the older comics I still had, I had made a bad mistake as a child. I had traded my comics with other kids. That way, I got a lot of comics to read, but my older comics were always being replaced by newer ones. Some comics I loved so much I would never trade them off. I still had all my issues of All-Star Comics, and some other special issues. I had what I believed was the first Captain Marvel, called Captain Marvel Thrill Book, an oversize comic in

Comic Fandom Archive

Atom, when he originally appeared in All-American Comics. Then in later years he switched to Flash Comics. Maybe Green Lantern did not want anybody showing him up with super-strength in All-American, while he mainly relied on the Will Power of his brain. The Spectre was one of my all-time favorites. He did have approximately the powers of God, but he did not have a girlfriend named “Clarence” as I claimed back then. It was “Clarice.” I read it as a boy as “Clarence” and never changed in my mind.

Two For The Show… Two of the special prizes of Jim’s collection were All-Star Comics #5 (June-July 1941) and the Captain Marvel Thrill Book #1 (1941). FCA editor Paul C. Hamerlinck says that CM-co-creator C.C. Beck told him that he had penciled the Fawcett cover, and Pete Costanza had inked it. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] Howard Purcell’s cover for All-Star #5, A/E editor Roy Thomas believes, was originally drawn for issue #3, but was put on the shelf when #3 was re-purposed to introduce the Justice Society of America and an eight-hero illustration was needed. One reason for RT’s suspicions is that the cover of All-Star #2 featured precisely the same three heroes: The Flash, Green Lantern, and The Spectre. The cover of #5 is the only one after #2 that doesn’t spotlight at least seven JSAers, up till #45, seven years later! [© DC Comics.]

black and white. (I found out that it was very early but not before Special Edition Comics No. l, which I had never seen.) But other titles like Flash Comics and All-American Comics had dwindled down to then-recent issues, and all the early, classic numbers had gone to other kids who had probably read them to tattered death. That accounted for one of the mistakes in the column I was about to write, where I assigned Hourman to the pages of More Fun Comics, not Adventure Comics, where the hero favored taking a drug that made him feel he was as strong as ten men. Finally, I got to All-Star Comics. Roy Thomas and I must have been brothers on what was once Earth-Two, where The Flash and Green Lantern and Spectre were real and we could read about them in the papers and see them in the newsreels at theatres every day. It was love at first sight, from my first look at All-Star #5. I was too little to know to keep it forever, but when I was ten, in 1943, I found a place that sold back-dated magazines and I bought over a dozen issues of All-Star at twenty-five cents each for a total of under five dollars. I still have those issues, of course. Even though I still had those magazines, I had not re-read them in some years, and I made mistakes in my pioneering article. I did not have all the other books these heroes were in, and I didn’t accurately recall the line of text at the end of each chapter such as “Read Green Lantern every month in All-American Comics.” I had put Hourman in More Fun Comics (what better one for a drug user?), as I said, but I had also assigned a home base of Adventure Comics to The

Our Man Of The Hour Hour-Man (as the name was usually written in the 1940s) on Bernard Baily’s cover for Adventure Comics #56 (Nov. 1940)—rather than an issue of More Fun Comics. [© DC Comics.]

I couldn’t resist pointing out the many signs of Lesbianism in Wonder Woman. Today, who cares? I don’t mind if two beautiful girls get it on. Like the average guy, I just would like to watch. I did not go into all the glorious individual exploits of the Justice Society of America, such as going into the future, being shang-

“Was I First In Remembering Comic Books?”

“And So The WINNER, Though Not Exactly By A NOSE, Is—” (Left:) Hands up if you remember the above caption that Roy Thomas wrote when he utilized the events of the cover scene of Comic Cavalcade #1 (Dec. 1942-Jan. 1943) in the All-Star Squadron Prevue in Justice League of America #193 (Aug. 1981)! Female superiority seemed to be the theme of many a Comic Cavalcade cover that co-featured Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Flash—including this first one drawn by Frank Harry. [© DC Comics.] (Above:) Three years after his Peon piece, Jim wrote the article “A Bunch of Swell Guys”—all about the Justice Society of America—for the third issue of Dick & Pat Lupoff’s SF/comics fanzine Xero and its iconic series “All in Color for a Dime.” The JSA cover of Xero #3 was seen in A/E #128—but here’s the title that led off Jim’s contribution. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Coming Next: An interview with Jiro Tomyama, editor of a comics fanzine published in January 1961. It was called Plague, and if you haven’t heard of it before, that’s because it’s exceedingly obscure. However, you’ll be surprised when you see how impressive it was! After that, we have a talk with publisher and artist Al Dellinges, Kubert fan extraordinaire. Then we’ll begin Alter Ego’s long-awaited multi-part feature on G.B. Love and RBCC. ’Nuff said! If you would like to get in touch with Bill Schelly, his email address is: hamstrpres@aol.com. Or, you can contact him through Facebook.

haied to the other planets of the solar system, of joining the Armed Forces in World War II and fighting shoulder to shoulder with GIs. That would have to wait for Roy Thomas and others to get at some years later. Concluding, I described the comic books put out based on one of my favorite radio shows, Tom Mix Comics. I never traded those comics off, either, although some of them were read and re-read to tatters and had to be replaced. I could not know back then, of course, that thirty years later I would briefly continue one of my favorite comic book series for one miniature issue in 1982 and in the same year produce, write, and act in new episodes of the radio series with an original star, Curley Bradley, both for the original sponsor, Ralston cereals. I never had the chance to continue to write about Tom Mix for years, as Roy did for his beloved Justice Society, but long or short, I’m sure we both enjoyed striding step by step with our heroes, a fate too pleasant to even imagine back in the world of 1957.

Mix-Up! Western movie star Tom Mix, who died in a car crash in 1940, lived on for years not only on radio but in comic books—first in one published by radio sponsor Ralston-Purina (#1, Sept. 1940, on left); then in Fawcett Publications’ Tom Mix Western (#1, Jan. 1948, on right). The cover artist of the former is unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

In Memoriam

Morris Weiss (1915-2014) Cartoonist, Fan Supreme by Gary F. Brown

y friend, Morris Weiss, died May 18, 2014, at 95 years of age, in Wellington, Florida. He was an accomplished cartoonist and a fan of comic strips and comic books. Aside from his talents as an artist, he was a virtual encyclopedia of stories about the cartooning world in the 1930s through his death.

Among his accomplishments, he ghosted and later wrote and drew the Mickey Finn and Joe Palooka comic strips. He wrote and drew comic books in the 1950s. And he was an agent for many cartoonists and artists, including Norman Rockwell. Morris and his wife Blanche had four children, including son Jerry, an accomplished painter. I first met Morris after I learned the man drawing the Mickey Finn comic strip lived in Coconut Grove, Florida. I called, and he invited me over for a visit in August 1971. I wrote a fanzine about that meeting, “A Visit with Morris Weiss,” for CAPA-alpha #83. Aside from his many artistic accomplishments, what was really neat about talking with Morris was that he also was a fan of cartooning. As a young boy in New York City, he would visit artists, asking for drawing tips and original art. After doing lettering and backgrounds for numerous comic strips, including Ed Whelan’s Minute Movies, Morris filled in for cartoonists and worked as an assistant on Joe Jinx and Mickey Finn. He also wrote and drew comic books for various companies. For Timely, he created “Margie” and drew a lot of “Patsy Walker” stories.

Weiss Beyond His Years (Counterclockwise from above:) Morris Weiss (on left) and artist/boss Lank Leonard, 1937, a year after the latter had launched his popular comic strip Mickey Finn. Weiss’ cover for Miss America #62 (March 1954), one of

several Timely comic books at that time that starred teen He began heartthrob Patsy Walker. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.] ghosting Joe Palooka in the In 1996, for a National Cartoonists Society Album, Morris Weiss drew Uncle Phil (the real main character of Mickey early 1960s, Finn) and contributed a self-portrait and a mini-bio. eventually Thanks to Tom Hegeman. [© Estate of Morris Weiss.] taking over the strip, then moved into continuing Mickey Finn when Lank Leonard retired. I still have a Joe Palooka strip and a number of Mickey Finn strips that Morris kindly gave me.

He was also active in several groups that helped families with autistic children. In the mid-1970s, he organized a Comic Strip for Autistic Children fund-raiser at the Miami Springs Country Club. I attended and was able to get several originals (if you attended, you got a free original comic strip). Muhammad Ali was the guest of honor, and when I got there rather early, I went to the bar and was going to get something to drink. Suddenly, a huge arm went around my shoulders. It was Ali. He told the barkeep, “Give my friend here whatever he wants.” I was speechless. I shook his hand and thanked him. It was an amazing moment for me. In the early 2000s, I wrote about comic books for the Palm Beach Post. Morris saw my byline and remembered me. He called and we talked for quite a while. I was going to visit him and talk more, but we never could get a time set. I greatly regret that. Morris Weiss was truly a success and a great guy. He will be missed. Gary F. Brown has been active in comics fandom for several decades. An in-depth interview with Morris Weiss, conducted by Jim Amash, was featured in Alter Ego #43, which is still available from TwoMorrows Publishing.

Hey, Roy—

As ever, greatly enjoyed Alter Ego #118. Just thought, for history’s sake, I’d help clarify a couple of your comments re The Avengers #85. Regarding the creation of the additional members of the Squadron Supreme, I did indeed come up with the characters of Lady Lark (Black Canary), Tom Thumb (The Atom), and The Golden Archer (Green Arrow), named for Mickey D’s golden arches, and hence, his golden costume. I no longer recall why you changed the character’s name to Hawkeye. I also came up with Power Princess (Wonder Woman), and it is possible I came up with the name American Eagle, but as a name for a faux Hawkman, not the seeming Captain America clone pictured. Granted, it’s been decades, so I could be wrong, but that’s the way I remember it. Len Wein

Thanks for sharing your recollections, old friend. I’m not sure, either, why I made the archer character a second Hawkeye (with a Cockney accent, no less!), but I hardly minded when others altered that in future issues… as opposed to my feelings about most alterations made to the look of the Squadders by others in the years since. And, since neither of us is quite clear on the Hawkman homage you added to the group at my behest, I suspect (but can’t specifically recall) that you made up simply a winged hero of some kind—and perhaps, when I turned the final plot over to Big John Buscema to draw, I had him turned into the patriotically garbed American Eagle. Or maybe.... Another longtime pro who, like Len, wrote DC’s Justice League of America comic for some time, wrote us in reaction to issue #118—none other than A/E editor emeritus Mike Friedrich: Hi, Roy,

pparently, we’re going to need Captain Marvel’s magic word— or at least Alter & Captain Ego’s Z-Helmet—if we’re ever going to catch up on answering your letters. But we’re doing the best we can, and we thank artist Shane Foley and co-colorist Randy Sargent for this issue’s drawing of the latter, based on C.C. Beck’s figures for the cover of Fawcett Publications’ All-Hero Comics #1 (March 1943). [Alter & Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly; created by Biljo White.] Now on to the mountain of missives we received on Alter Ego #118, which among other things contained our salute to Marvel’s Avengers title on its 50th birthday. Funny, to us, it doesn’t look a day over 25. Anyway, we (and that means editor Roy Thomas, who’ll revert to a more casual “I” in responses below) begin with a note from longtime comics writer and editor Len Wein concerning the Squadron Supreme, that “good-twin” counterpart of the earlier Squadron Sinister….

For the record, I don’t remember at all suggesting to you and Denny [O’Neil] the JLA/Avengers “cross-over,” but I do remember that, when I inherited JLA, I suggested [to you] that we do it again, so it was not a coincidence that you had the Squadron Supreme show up that same month. I followed in Denny’s footsteps and didn’t inform Julie Schwartz what I was up to, only this time he found out after publication from a fan letter and dressed me down fairly thoroughly. I guess I was always one to ask forgiveness rather than to ask permission. Mike Friedrich

I, too, would’ve been begging for mercy if Stan had ever noticed that the Squadrons Sinister and Supreme were takeoffs on/parodies of/homages to DC’s JLA, Mike… leading me to wonder how I ever dared do it! (And can it really be that no one—not

50—Count ’Em—50! Doug (Gaff) Jones, who as Carl Gafford was a production staffer at both Marvel and DC back in the day, brings up an interesting little, er, gaff: “Received the Avengers ish of A/E today; can see I’ll be plowing through it for many fun-filled days to come. One nit to pick, though: Issue #115 (Sept. 1973) did not go on sale 10 years to the month after #1 (Sept. 1963), because in August 1971—the only month Marvel put out 52-page 25¢ books in competition with DC’s 52-page 25¢ format—Marvel took all their +2-months-dated books (Avengers, Daredevil, Thor, and Sgt. Fury) and moved them up to the same +3-months listing as the rest of their books (effectively eliminating the Oct. 1971 issues for those books). The 10th anniversary issue of The Avengers was #116 (Oct. 1973).” Thanks, Gaff, ol’ buddy. We never mind an excuse to present a good cover—this one having been penciled by John Romita and inked by Mike Esposito! [© Marvel Characters, Inc.] Gaff also recalls being confused as a fan when he read Stan Lee’s 1965 comments that he “couldn’t wrap his brains around different continuities for his heroes with their own stories going on and still showing up for Avengers meetings every month. At that time, Giant-Man and the Wasp lost their series in Tales to Astonish, so they had plenty of time to spare for Avengers meetings… but instead, Stan had them retire from superheroing (but only for a year).” Clearly, Gaff, Stan simply decided he wanted to replace a couple of failed heroes, as well as Thor and Iron Man—and when he brought Hank Pym back, it was with the (I always felt) better name Goliath.

re:

one single soul—wrote in saying what a clever send-up of the JLA had been done in Avengers #69 & 85??)

I have a crystal-clear memory that it was you who’d proposed circa 1969 to Denny O’Neil and me that the two of us do a disguised encounter between the JLA and The Avengers… but hey, the suggestion was made at a party at then-wife Jeanie and my Manhattan apartment, and alcoholic drinks were being served, and to the best of my recollection none of us was a teetotaler. Funny thing is, though… until someone else (wish I could remember who) brought it to my attention recently, I’d never thought of your “Bluejay” character in Justice League of America #87 as a nod not merely to The Atom, but to both Atom and Hawkman, who had shared a comic book a few years earlier. Very clever, Mike! A question arose in A/E #118 as to where, in the comics fandom press as it then existed, the forthcoming comic The Avengers was first mentioned. Here’s more on that, from one of the foremost collectors of vintage comics fanzine on Earth, Aaron Caplan: Hi Roy,

OK, I’ve looked through my old copies of Alter Ego, On the Drawing Board, and The Comic Reader, and the first mention of The Avengers I can find is in TCR #18, dated Aug. 6, 1963; on the front page, publisher Jerry Bails mentions that “The second issue of THE AVENGERS will have this new group battling the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk.”

However, I found an issue of Bails’ A Comic Reader Extra, a 6page dittozine newsletter on blue paper that has a drawing [tracing?] by Bails of the cover of The Avengers and proclaims: “SCOOP #1: COMING IN JULY—THE AVENGERS, a new magazine starring Ant-Man, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk!!! We suspect it just may be mildly TERRIFIC!!!” Unfortunately, this issue is undated, very uncharacteristic of Bails. My understanding is that Comic Reader Extra was a special issue of TCR that was sent to various fans to promote the regular issues of TCR. This particular issue mentions details of upcoming comics including Atom #38, Brain Boy #3, Fantastic Four #18, JLA #21 (“Crisis on Earth-One”), My Greatest Adventure #80 (first “Doom Patrol”), and others not yet published. Because of the “Scoops,” I’d date this issue of Comic Reader Extra as around April or May 1963 at the latest. There is no mention of Daredevil in that issue. In fact, I have read all issues of The Comic Reader [including its incarnations before it took that name] through #24 (April 1964), and there is no mention of Daredevil anywhere. Since Daredevil #1 is cover-dated April 1964 (and probably hit the stands in January ’64), it’s safe to say there is no mention of Daredevil [in fan publications], or at least in these early issues of TCR. Aaron Caplan

Thanks, Aaron. Perhaps editor Stan Lee got wind of the probable delays on Daredevil #1 in time not to plug it in the fanzines—and the last-minute substitution of The Avengers would explain why there isn’t much about that group in such publications, either.

In A/E #118, we also wondered aloud (well, in writing) about the reasons for the existence of an alternate penciled version of the John Buscema cover for The Avengers #79. We received several similar responses, including from Nick Caputo and Michel Maillot—and this one from Shane Foley, whose name has appeared before in this section: Hi Roy,

You wondered at the existence of the alternate penciled cover to Avengers #79. I hope my memory is right on this—but I’m sure that unused cover was offered for sale by [inker] Tom Palmer himself. As I recall, the explanation went like this: the cover, as per normal, was sent to Tom for inking. But it got lost in the post and Tom didn’t have time to ink it by the deadline. John was asked to quickly re-do it, and using the rough he was given (probably by

Marie Severin), he did a new one so similar to yet different from his first one. Because the deadline was so near, he was also asked to ink it, something he rarely did in those days at Marvel. So the second, Buscemainked version was printed. Soon after, a package arrived at Tom P.’s house….

Despite what Kurt Mitchell writes on page 29, though, and despite what you yourself have occasionally said, the term “Kree-Skrull War” was first used, not by or among fans, but in Marvel’s own monthly Checklists, in the blurbs for both Avengers #96 & 97!

Prelude To “War” On p. 32 of A/E #118, we presented several 1976 covers prepared by Marvel UK to showcase material from the Kree-Skrull War issues of the U.S. edition of The Avengers (#89-97). Above is another early one, prepared to front for part of the story from the American #89 (June 1971). Artist unknown; penciler may be Ron Wilson. From the Grand Comics Database. See more Marvel UK “Kree-Skrull War” cover on pp. 56-57. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Hey, here’s a bit of trivia I just noticed. On the classic splash to Avengers #93, Neal Adams’ Captain America, as inked, has a John Romita head. Hah! Even Adams wasn’t immune! Shane Foley

I see where you’re coming from, Shane, although I don’t recall John R. changing Cap’s profile there. But it’s possible that he may have done it, either on his own or at Stan’s behest—certainly not at mine. Or maybe Neal just achieved a Romita-like effect that once? Truth to tell, I’ve never asked Neal about it… but maybe he’ll read this paragraph and clue us all in!

As for the “Kree-Skrull War” phrase: you must indeed be right in maintaining that its very first appearance was in the Mighty Marvel Checklist on the Bullpen Bulletins page in The Avengers #96 (Feb. 1972) and in other Marvel mags that came out around that time (November 1971 or thereabouts)—and if so, then I surely invented it. For those who don’t have a copy of a Feb. 1972-dated Marvel comic in front of them, the blurb reads: “AVENGERS #96: The startling wind-up to the Kree-Skrull War! A zillion surprise superheroes! And—Rick Jones conquers the universe! The wildest one yet!” I don’t recall if I was writing all the Checklist items by that date, or partly just editing squibs written by others—but by then I was definitely scribing the blurbs related to the comics I scripted. The only thing is—everything in that blurb refers not to events in Avengers #96, but to those for #97! Guess I kinda jumped the gun on that one! The Checklist squib in #97 reads: “AVENGERS #97: At last! The cataclysmic conclusion of the KreeSkrull War! Plus a zillion Marvel-ous guest stars!” Well, at least I got it right the second time around!

Naturally, I couldn’t be happier to finally realize that I must have coined the term “Kree-Skrull War” (as well as “the Skrull vs. Kree War,” as I called it on the climactic cover of #97), since I’ve never felt I was any great shakes at coining names for comics concepts. Still, add that one to the likes of “Wolverine,” “adamantium,” “quinjet,” “Iron Fist,” “Hero for Hire,” “Warlock,” “Doc Samson,” “All-Star Squadron,” and maybe a few others, and I guess I could’ve done worse. It’s just that, when I look at that list compared to the far longer lists of creations of guys like Stan Lee

[comments & corrections]

That’s One Giant Step For A Man… Will Murray, author of the “Avengers/Daredevil” article in A/E #118, writes of an omission in his opus: “One item that escaped us both, in regards to Stan’s original announcement that Avengers #2 would debut the new Iron Man and Giant-Man vs. Hulk and Sub-Mariner, was the full-page ad for #3 in the back of #2 showing Namor surrounded by four Avenger heads—one of whom was the original Iron Man! Drastically revised, that page became the splash to #3, with the improved Iron Man in place of the old. I wonder if [that drawing] wasn’t originally meant to be the cover to #3, or even of Avengers #2 in its original nascent form. Avengers #2 was strange, in that Giant-Man was introduced twice in the story—as if he were still Ant-Man in the introductory pages—while Avengers #3 was odd in that the new Iron Man armor appeared without comment. Also, the story in the latter was 25 pages long. I can only recall Fantastic Four #1 running that long. There’s a story there, if we can unearth it!” Be my guest, Will—if anyone can do it, you can! Your points are interesting, though the only bit of art from that house ad in Avengers #2 that was repeated in the splash of #3 was Jack Kirby’s Sub-Mariner figure, which was probably inked by Sol Brodsky. As for the “double-intro” of Giant-Man that you mention: he first appears on p. 2 as Ant-Man… then he and the Wasp assume normal human size, without mentioning his revised super-hero name or powers. Yet, on p. 14, when he interrupts the Iron Man/Hulk skirmish, Shellhead calls him “Giant-Man”—and Rick Jones knows Hank Pym’s new monicker, too—so clearly we missed something. Unless, of course, you want to assume that maybe scripter Stan Lee got a wee bit careless in the dialogue balloons. But we all know that never happened—and if you don’t believe us, you can ask “Bob Banner” and “Peter Palmer” in other comics around that time. Oh, and thanks to Nick Caputo & Barry Pearl for the above scans from Avengers #2 & 3. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

and Jack Kirby and Gardner Fox and….!

Next, a bit of always-welcome information from comics-shop historian Hames Ware: Dear Roy,

A/E is always a delight when Ken Quattro is aboard! I wondered if Ken thought that maybe Walter Gibson’s nod to “William C. Popper” might’ve been a mis-hearing by the interview of “Walter C. Popp”?? Whatever the case, those two names are mighty close, aren’t they?

In the FCA section, I am now happy to be able to add for P.C. Hamerlinck and Fawcett aficionados the following information. Thanks to Bill Black and Mark Heike’s wonderful AC reprints of Fawcett’s Smiley Burnette, we now know that Louis Zansky provided some of the best art for that feature. Stan Aschmeier may also have done some, but surely Zansky deserves the credit for the

ones Bill and Mark so graciously shared with us. Hames Ware

Always good to add a name or two to the roster, Hames.

And now, as regarding that Sal Buscema-penciled pin-up of the assembled Avengers on p. 26 of A/E #118, here’s Sharon Kaliban: Hi Roy,

As soon as I saw that gorgeous cover—which included that great corner box, no less!—I knew Alter Ego #118 was going to be something special, even given A/E’s consistently high quality. As a longtime Avengers fan, I relished the comprehensive and informative trip down memory lane. I also enjoyed reading about E.C. Stoner, the Evil Twins Two, the 1964 New York Comicon, and, well, every article, in fact. Kudos to all involved. Re the Sal Buscema pencils that appear in repro’d form on

re:

[A few days later, in a follow-up letter:]

Looking at the published page in #71 again, it strikes me that the Wasp may have been touched up/revised by someone other than Sal. Besides the sudden appearance of a super-hero costume, her features and hair look different from how Sal drew her in this issue and at that time in general. Sal tended to draw his females with wider torsos than Jan has here; this figure has a distinctly tapered torso and a very narrow waist (yes, a wasp waist!). [Then, a few days later, a second follow-up letter:]

Okay—I think I’ve found the answer to my own question about the possible retouching. I just noticed that the penciled version repro’d in A/E #118 shows Yellowjacket with what appears to be a cast on the leg Jan is resting her hand on. Yellowjacket wasn’t wearing a cast in the finished panel in Avengers #71 [even though he was holding his hand to his leg on the previous page], so this lends weight to my observation that there was some subsequent retouching of the artwork in the area encompassing his leg and Jan’s waist. I haven’t seen the finished version used for the Seulingcon program, but I can’t imagine it shows YJ with his leg in a cast, either. Yet there it is in the image reproduced in A/E. Weird. Sharon Karibian

Avengers Re-Assemble! Regarding the three different versions of the same scene that Sharon Karibian discusses in her letter on this page: the printed version of The Avengers #71 is available in Marvel Masterworks and Marvel Essentials editions (as well as in the original comic)… the rendition that appeared in the 1969 Seulingcon program book was seen in A/E #118… and above, courtesy of Sharon, is Sal Buscema’s drawing for the cover of the merchandising Marvelmania Catalog #2, which came out “circa 1970.” This last has a layout that varies somewhat from the other two, yet the Wasp’s outfit and the precise cast of characters make A/E’s editor (who after all was the writer and associate editor of Avengers #71) tend to agree with Sharon that this version was originally drawn as the final page of that issue. Chances are, too, that all three versions display the inking of Sam Grainger. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

page 26: I was intrigued to learn this art was used in the summer 1969 Seulingcon program book. I’d only ever seen this image as the last page of the story in Avengers #71 [cover-dated Dec. 1969 and going on sale circa Sept.-Oct. of that year]. But I’d always wondered why, on the last page of that issue, Jan was shown wearing a green, generic super-hero-type costume, and not the short, brown-checked mini-dress she’d sported through the entire story (which spanned issues #69-71). Hey, I know Jan liked to change costumes frequently, but this was excessive even for her! There was no discernible break in the action when she could have slipped into a new costume between panels. Anyway, back then I just chalked up the sudden costume change to “artistic license.” Now I realize the image used in #71 must have been created originally for the Seulingcon.

However, there’s a similar group image (also by Sal) that appears on the cover of the Marvelmania Catalog #2 (circa 1970): exact same cast of characters, in the same triumphant pose, with Jan wearing the plaid [checkered] attire she wore in #71. The Marvelmania Catalog cover picture looks like it was intended for #71, since Jan’s garb is consistent with what she wore in that issue. Does anyone know why the Marvelmania Catalog picture wasn’t used in #71, or how Marvelmania ended up with it?

Actually, Sharon, as far as we know, the website from which we took the image that appeared on p. 26 of A/E #118 had reprinted it directly from the Seulingcon program book. But I’m afraid I don’t recall anything whatsoever about how those three pages got all switched around. The only thing I’d bet money on, based on Jan’s checkered outfit on the Marvelmania Catalog cover, is that that’s the one that was originally intended to be the final page of Avengers #71. After that—your guess is as good as ours (in fact, from what we’ve seen up till now, it would be probably be a whole lot better)!

After such circumlocutory goings on, it’s nice to get to a missive about a couple of errors we can simply confess to and move on, as per reader Chris Green: Hi Roy,

The art on the cover of the British Avengers Annual doesn’t look like a composite to me. I’m not 100% certain, but I’d say the pencils are by Ron Wilson, who, if memory serves, did some work for British Marvel on the new splash pages and the like back around the mid-’70s. the inker may be Frank Giacoia, but I’m less sure of that ID.

Also, on page 15, the villain in the “Giant-Man” strip in Tales to Astonish #67 was The Hidden Man, not The Forbidden Man. But it there’s no Forbidden Man, there certainly should be. That’s a terrific name! Chris Green

It’s all yours, Chris. Take it away (please)!

Another short-but-sweet salutation, this one from George Hagenauer: Hi Roy,

Love the E.C. Stoner piece by Ken Quattro. “Fantasmo” was one of my favorite so-bad-it’s-good series of the Golden Age. Allpowerful but also all-vulnerable, as his human body just lies somewhere in a catatonic trance. George Hagenauer

Here’s a letter from Ron Fradkin, who was referred to by Bernie Bubnis in A/E #118’s “Comic Fandom Archive” coverage of the 1964 New York comics convention, which was probably the first true comicon ever, as the “hero” of that con. And since Bernie was one of the chief [continued on p. 58]

[comments & corrections]

All-Interstellar Men Of War “War” And Remembrance On p. 32 of Alter Ego #118, we were able to showcase four Marvel UK covers from the mid-1970s that featured material from the U.S. issues of The Avengers that dealt with the fabled Kree-Skrull War, in a reprint mag titled The Avengers and the Savage Sword of Conan. In response, reader Robert Menzies sent us—from the collection of Gerry Turnbull—no fewer than six brand new (brand new in 1976, anyway) covers and/or splash pages that were done for the Marvel UK weekly reprint titles Mighty World of Marvel and (when Avengers reprints suddenly changed venues) The Titans. The reason, of course, was that full-issue “Avengers” stories were cut into segments usually about 7 pages in length, so new bridging material was needed to bring the reader up to date each week. (Robert Menzies will explain how all these fit together in a future article on Marvel UK, honest!) And except for the fact that the two color covers look to us like the penciling work of Ron Wilson, we won’t try to ID the splashes’ writers and artists, either, except to say that in no cases are they actually the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams/Tom Palmer/Alan Weiss team that is listed in the credits. So here goes, in order of appearance: 1) The cover of Mighty World of Marvel #205 (Sept. 1, 1976) re-creates the situation of the last panel of the U.S. Avengers #94. 2) MWOM #207 (Sept. 15. 1976) has a “link page” that fits between pp. 7 & 8 of Avengers #95. 3) MWOM #208 (Sept. 22, 1976) has a “link page” between pp. 14 & 15 of Avengers #95. 4) MWOM #210 (Oct. 6, 1976) recaps events that happened between pp. 7 & 8 of Avengers #96. 5) MWOM #211 (Oct.13, 1976) has a “link page” between pp. 14 & 15 of Avengers #96. 6) The cover of The Titans #53 (Oct. 20, 1976), after The Avengers relocated from Mighty World of Marvel, is a variation on the cover of Avengers #97, the final war issue. If there were other new covers and “link pages”—hey, you’ll see ’em when we do, effendi! [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

re:

[comments & corrections]

Don Heck

It’s A Plot! The late great artist Don Heck passed away in 1995. Among his papers were found a few plot synopses for stories he had penciled in the latter 1960s; these are now in the possession of Christopher B. Boyko, who kindly shared them with us. Seen on this page are the 3 pages (plus a three-paragraph insert “page 1a”) of Roy Thomas’ synopsis for Avengers #39 (April 1967), for comparison with the published comic. Heck tossed in several embellishments, of which RT made use—several panels from which can be viewed on the facing page. For more on the pivotal 1960s Marvel artist, check out TwoMorrows’ new book Don Heck: A Work Of Art, by John Coates (now shipping from www.twomorrows.com).

re:

Three For The Show As per usual for those times, much of the pacing of the fights was left to the artist. Here, Heck gave each of the “Triumvirate of Terror” the chance to pummel Hercules after The Mad Thinker’s ray has slowed him down. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Neutzel (sp?).”

Finally, send those commentary flowers (whether congratulatory or funereal) to: Roy Thomas 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135

“Wuxtry! Wuxtry!” Roy T. originally called for a splash page set in Avengers HQ… then scrawled a note atop page 1 of the synopsis: “Or, better, at street corner newsstand—for variety!” The newspaper The Daily Flash was clearly a late’60s competitor of The Daily Bugle. Script by Thomas; pencils by Heck; inks by George Roussos (as “George Bell”). Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

organizers of that seminal assemblage of comics fans, CFA master Bill Schelly and I figured he knew whereof he spoke…. Roy,

Please thank Bernie Bubnis for the kind words about me. I remember some of the stuff that Bernie writes about, but not all of it. In all modesty, I never thought of myself as a “hero.” My first contact with Bernie was one of his monster fanzines. He had a letter published in Famous Monsters of Filmland. I don’t remember how I found out that he was into comics, but Len [Wein] and I rode our bikes from Levittown to Farmingdale to meet him.

One thing I do remember, from after the convention was over. I took the Long Island Railroad to Hicksville and was waiting on a street corner for my father to pick me up. Len came by and paid me a great compliment by simply saying, “You pulled it off.”

I saw Bernie occasionally at some of the other ’60s conventions, but we lost track of each other. As for Bernie, helping to put on one convention was enough for me. I’m just glad to be able to say that I did it.

e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com

Our usual reminder: Sign up with the Alter Ego Fans online chat list to learn more about upcoming issues of A/E, as well as other factoids and fantasies about the Golden and Silver Ages of Comics. You’ll find it at group.yahoo.com/group/alter-ego-fans. If you have any trouble, just contact our genial overseer Chet Cox at mormonyoyoman@gmail.com and he’ll walk you right through it! You’ll be glad you signed up!

EVERYONE DESERVES A GOLDEN AGE The Hero Initiative creates a financial safety net for comic creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. Since inception, the Hero Initiative has been fortunate enough to benefit over 50 creators and their families with over $500,000 worth of much-needed aid, fueled by your contributions! It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

Ron Fradkin

In the big New York con in October of this year, there was scheduled to be held (by the time you read these words, it will have taken place) a panel celebrating the 50th anniversary of that 1964 first-ever comics convention. Chances are we’ll have a report on it in a future issue of A/E, whether by Bernie Bubnis or someone else. Not everybody may have realized it at the time, but that con was definitely the start of something big!

Oh, and before we forget: veteran comics writer Don Glut informs us that “the unknown artist who did that Kong painting on the pictured Famous Monsters of Filmland cover [seen on p. 62] was Albert

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lating people. It’s so nice to face a crisis and then fall back on the wise words of some great seer, who must know what he’s talking about. The rub is that though a proverb may fit one situation and solve it perfectly, it may be exactly wrong in another situation and snafu things but good. So I will make a proverb: “The wise person shuns wise sayings.” And instantly, of course, there comes to mind the antithesis: “Only the fool thinks he is wise!” So, you’re a fool if you go by proverbs, and you’re a fool if you don’t. You fool, you.

Part XI

Abridged & Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

tto Oscar Binder (1911-1974), the prolific science-fiction and comic book writer renowned for authoring over half of the Marvel Family saga for Fawcett Publications, wrote Memoirs of a Nobody in 1948 at the age of 37, during what was arguably the most imaginative period within the repertoire of “Captain Marvel” stories.

Aside from intermittent details about himself, Binder’s capricious chronicle resembles very little in the way of anything that is indeed autobiographical. Unearthed several years ago among Binder’s file materials at Texas A&M University, Memoirs is self-described by its author as “ramblings through the untracked wilderness of my mind.” Binder’s potpourri of stray philosophical beliefs, pet peeves, theories, and anecdotes were written in freewheeling fashion and devoid of any charted course—other than allowing his mind to flow with no restricting parameters. The abridged and edited manuscript—serialized here within the pages of FCA—will nonetheless provide glimpses into the idiosyncratic and fanciful mind of Otto O. Binder. In this 11th excerpt, Otto establishes his own proverb, reaches out to young readers, and vividly describes an extraordinary dream he once had. —Paul C. Hamerlinck

CONFUCIUS SAY … o you like proverbs? Neither do I.

Let’s quit fooling around. There are some sayings that make sense. “The more you learn, the more you find there is left to learn.” That’s the gist, if not the exact wording. At first glance it seems silly. But on analysis, this type of saying reveals profound soundness. But take all proverbs “with a grain of salt.” “Seeing is believing,” you know, but don’t forget also that there are “more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” In short, “don’t believe everything you read,” not even what you just read.

CALLING ALL READERS! They say a book, to achieve popular appeal, must attract all types of people—men and women of all age groups. Let’s see, so far I’ve got the neurotics roped in, plus all morons, idiots, and the lunatic fringe. But who else? You’re insulted? You resent any of the classifications above? But if you’ve read this far, what else are you? Secretly, though, I consider you faithfuls quite superior in intelligence, for seeing that behind my inanities and banalities is something solid… vital… uplifting… profound! You know what I mean! You do? Then tell me. But not to lose sight of my purpose here, I must see to it that the kids are attracted to this book. I’ve neglected them. Excuse me for a moment while I devote myself to their needs.

Have you ever noticed how many of those wise old sayings, the pearls of wisdom from the ages, the gleanings from the tables of the sage— how they contradict each other? “God helps those who help themselves” in this corner, versus “All things come to he who waits.” The first proverb forms the creed for the gogetter, one who waits for nobody to serve things up on a silver platter, and who goes out and grabs what he wants. The second proverb teaches the exact opposite. Be meek and reticent and you will be rewarded. Now you can’t do both, can you? Not unless you’re a Jekyll-and-Hyde, good by day, and bad by night. And look what happened to him (them)? Proverbs make decisions for vacil-

“Go Out There And Win Just One For The Shazamer!” In this issue’s chapter of Memoirs of a Nobody, Otto Binder enunciates a proverb of his very own—yet the ancient adage-author himself, Solomon, was at a loss for any words of wisdom during a dire moment in Binder’s “The Olympic Games of the Gods!” in Whiz Comics #125 (Sept. 1950); art by Kurt Schaffenberger. [Shazam hero & Shazam TM & © DC Comics.]

Memoirs Of A Nobody—Part XI

Sweet Dreams Does Otto Binder’s self-described dream in Memoirs measure up to “The World’s Mightiest Dream” that he wrote for Captain Marvel Adventures #48 (Aug.Sept. 1945)? Art by C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza. Happily, the racially stereotyped character Steamboat was soon dropped from all stories. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Calling All Kids! Hello, Kids. Do you believe in Santa Claus? I believe in Santa Claus. Gee, isn’t it fun at Christmas? Don’t you think there ought to be a law having Christmas once a week? I like comic books. Oh boy, golly gee whiz! I love comic books. I buy five comic books a week. You buy ten comic books a week? I buy fifteen comic books a week. You buy a hundred comic books a week? I buy a million comic books a week. You buy a skillion comic books a week? You win. I can’t think of a number higher than a skillion. Well, kids, it’s been nice meeting you. That’s that. I’ve now added appeal to the child reader.

HERE, TAKE A DRAG What are dreams? Of what stuff are they spun? I think the psychologists classify dreams as our unconscious or subconscious

thoughts clothed in mental pictures. They are presumably our frustrations and wish-fulfillments and innermost yearning or dreads. Or maybe dreams are pure emotions, projected by our glands on the screen of our sleeping minds. I say emotions, because don’t all dreams stir us up in one way or another? Dreams are sad or happy or bitter or violent or fearful. Some emotion is always involved. Ever wake up from a dream feeling as if you were just on the verge of some great truth? That if you had dreamt just a moment longer, you would have been able to startle the world with your blinding discovery? It’s always an elusive something that fades to nothingness when you try to pin it down. I had such a stupendous dream once, after taking common dentist’s gas for a tooth extraction. I was floating through all eternity, for those brief five minutes that I was under. Yes, all eternity, from the birth of the universe to its ultimate last day of doom. And by the end, with bells tolling the closing stages of eternity, I knew all the secrets of time and space. One moment more, perhaps, and I could have put it all down in one supernal formula, as simple as A-B-C. In fact, I could represent it in a geometrical figure, one with a slanted shape and elongated prongs…. It was my extracted tooth, dangling before my eyes, with my dentist smiling in triumph. Next: FROM THE RIDICULOUS TO THE INANE

Hey Kids! Look! Comics! Binder briefly attempted to reach out to the kids in Memoirs—but his young comic book-reading audience were too busy being immersed with Captain Marvel’s “thrilling adventures,” like these boys on the cover of Whiz Comics #112 (Aug. 1949); CM figure by C.C. Beck. This particular issue of Whiz contains Binder’s story “Captain Marvel and Sivana’s Booby Traps!” [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Louisiana Legend The MARC SWAYZE LPB-TV Interview Interview Transcribed & Edited by J.T. Go

FCA

EDITOR’S NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Publications. While the very first “Mary Marvel” character sketches and stories came from Marc’s drawing table, he was originally hired by the publisher to produce “Captain Marvel” stories and covers featured in Captain Marvel Adventures and Whiz Comics. Marc also wrote several “Captain Marvel” stories while serving in the U.S. Army, where he also played guitar in jazz bands and performed twice with Bing Crosby while the popular singer was entertaining the troops. Upon his release from military duty in 1944, Marc made an arrangement with Fawcett to create art and stories for the company on a freelance basis from his home in Louisiana. It was there that he turned out both artwork and scripts for “The Phantom Eagle” in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip created by his friend and early mentor Russell Keaton. After the cancellation of Wow, Marc provided story art for various Fawcett romance comics titles. After the demise of Fawcett’s comics department in 1953, Marc moved over to Charlton Publications where he finished a nearly 15year career in comics. As many of our longtime readers are aware, beginning in 1996, Marc wrote a highly venerated, ongoing column of his professional memoirs in our pages entitled, “We Didn’t Know… It Was the Golden Age!” until his death in 2012 at the age of 99. Marc was a big part of our family in the magazine and in our lives, and we will never forget him. Back in 1997, I was contacted by Louisiana Public Broadcasting to supply them with background information on Marc Swayze, who was to be interviewed by Gus Weill for an upcoming episode of their television series Louisiana Legends, which aired the following year. LPB’s Louisiana Legends program highlights outstanding Louisianans who have distinguished themselves in the world of art, writing, enter-

We Knew Marc Was A Legend Long Before 1997! (Above:) A TV screen shot of Marc Swayze being interviewed in 1997 for an episode of the Louisiana Public Broadcasting program Louisiana Legends, which was aired the following year. Photo by J.T. Go. [Louisiana Legends film capture is courtesy of Louisiana Public Broadcasting (www.lpb.org).] (Right:) Back in 1942, Marc drew the very first “Mary Marvel” sketches and the character’s earliest stories, as we’ve documented in many previous editions of FCA. Seen here is one of a series of paintings which the heroine’s co-creator made during the ’90s devoted to the World’s Mightiest Girl. [Shazam heroine TM & © DC Comics.]

tainment, politics, public service, and athletics. The show brings intimate looks into the lives of the state’s most influential, visionary, and successful citizens… and Marc Swayze is forever part of that respected group. I would like to extend a big thank-you to LPB Executive Producer Clay Fourrier for granting us permission to transcribe and publish Marc’s TV interview. The text is courtesy of Louisiana Public Broadcasting (www.lpb.org). —Paul C. Hamerlinck. GUS WEILL: When I was a boy growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the ’40s, I wore a towel pinned around my neck… and I would stand on a fence, and before I would attempt to fly off of it I would shout “Shazam!” Of course, nothing ever happened, other than breaking my leg once. My guest today is Marc Swayze, one of the talented artists who drew the redsuited hero Captain Marvel and his alter ego, Billy Batson, who shouted “Shazam!” Marc, that Billy Batson sure had us captivated when we were kids, and we just loved it when he yelled “Shazam!”—a word that would become part of the American lexicon. MARC SWAYZE: That word came from Bill Parker, the original writer of Captain Marvel, Billy, and the whole idea. GW: Marc, you come from a very talented family—from your parents, to your wife, and down to your own children. How do you account for all that talent? SWAYZE: Well, that’s a difficult question. I had always thought that my parents could do anything in the world. My mother played some nice piano and organ, and my father taught himself the violin so that they could play together. My father was a steamboat captain and designer, builder, and pilot. It took talent for that, I’m sure. I’m proud of my folks. And my wife June and I have been blessed with talent in our own family along the way. GW: Quite remarkable and true! Marc, when did you begin drawing? SWAYZE: I think children must draw the things they

Louisiana Legend: The Marc Swayze LPB-TV Interview

were interested in when they were young. My first interest as I recall was horses, and my drawings that I saved from that time were all of horses… even though they didn’t look like horses! Later on, somebody read to me the story of Tarzan of the Apes, and then I became captivated with drawing apes. I think Edgar Rice Burroughs’ influence may have stayed with me for a while before one thing led to another. Then I started playing ball. I loved baseball and began drawing baseball players, football players, and other sports. GW: And you were a musician. SWAYZE: Well, yes. I majored in Music when I was at the Northeast Center of LSU. It was a two-year school and I got involved playing in a number of bands… local territory bands, y’know… and I’ve enjoyed a side career in music ever since. GW: How did you become a professional cartoonist? Living in Monroe, Louisiana, there sure weren’t any publishers here. How did it all begin? SWAYZE: Well, I graduated art school at Louisiana Tech and I got my BA at Louisiana Tech. I can’t blame it all on Louisiana Tech. I got my masters from NLU and I studied music at Northeast Center at LSU. So I guess I gained a conglomeration of education. Attempts at it, anyway. GW: And then the comic strip business. How did you get into that? SWAYZE: After my graduation I went back to my old job of delivering milk for my uncle’s dairy farm, and after a couple of months of it, I got a call from the art department director at Louisiana Tech. She informed me that a member of Tech’s faculty, Ms. Louise Smith, had a cousin who drew a comic strip and needed an assistant, and they thought I would be good for the position. So they passed on his contact information to me. His name was Russell Keaton and his home was in Carson, Mississippi, and his comic strip was Flyin’ Jenny with the Bell Syndicate. We corresponded briefly. He said, “Send samples!” I sent him samples and, in our last correspondence, he said, “Come in for an interview, but be prepared to stay.” And I stayed. GW: But Carson didn’t look as good as Monroe, huh? SWAYZE: Nothing did. GW: You are a true Monroe man! So you began to work with him on Flyin Jenny? SWAYZE: Yes. I was with Keaton for about a year and a half. He was a wonderful man and a lifelong friend. GW: And what came next? SWAYZE: Fawcett Publications in New York.

It’s A Marvelous Life (Left:) Our long-standing A/E-FCA colleague Marc Swayze was one of the key “Captain Marvel” artists at Fawcett during the character’s seminal years. Seen here is his cover for Whiz Comics #38 (Dec. 1942), an issue that also contained his story art for the Otto Binder-scripted “Captain Marvel and the Grand Steeplechase,” which allowed Marc the occasion to draw one of his early favorite subjects: horses. Photo courtesy of Judy Blackman Swayze. [Shazam hero & Spy Smasher TM & © DC Comics.]

GW: They were big.

(Above:) After making an arrangement with Fawcett Publications to create comic book art and stories for them on a freelance basis from Monroe, Louisiana, Marc moved back to his hometown, married his sweetheart, June, and the couple soon started a family. Here’s Marc back in the saddle again at his uncle’s dairy farm with Judy and Marc, Jr., the first two of the Swayze’s five children.

SWAYZE: Big! I was very impressed when I showed up at Fawcett. They had previously sent me some drawings of a red-suited character that I wasn’t familiar with—to see if I could match the style of it, y’know. And I wanted to make it in New York because that’s where I thought the career of every illustrator should be and, as a matter of fact, Keaton had stressed that to me. He said, “You belong in New York or Chicago… in the swim of things!” And I kind of liked the sound of that. So I sent these drawings in to Fawcett and, like Keaton had upon seeing my samples, they immediately offered me a job. They said, “If you can make it Friday, fine. We’re closed Saturday. But if not Friday, make it Monday… if you’re interested.” So Monday morning I was standing in Fawcett’s reception room gazing in amazement over the Hollywood-style layout they had there. The receptionist looked like she should’ve been cast as a leading lady in a Hollywood movie. I fell in love with her in a second… until she stood up: she was about a foot and a half taller than me. And that killed that! Fawcett occupied the 22nd and the 23rd, and part of the 24th floor of the Paramount Building right in Times Square, and that was impressive to me, too… to a country boy. GW: A country boy at Times Square. Not bad. SWAYZE: That’s right. GW: And you began… SWAYZE: Well, I was hired to draw “Captain Marvel.” That was my job. My first day I met the man who originated drawing

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Make Mine Music Besides drawing comics, painting, playing semi-pro baseball, and exercising multiple other gifts and talents, Marc was also an accomplished musician all of his life. Above is a 1943 photo of Marc Swayze (guitarist) with his band while he served in the U.S. Army at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, during World War II. While entertaining troops, Marc had the opportunity to perform twice with Bing Crosby. Photo courtesy of Judy Blackman Swayze.

“Captain Marvel” about a year before, a gentleman named C.C. Beck. We became great friends during the two years I was there before I went into the Army. Original “Captain Marvel” writer Bill Parker had already gone into the military by the time I got there. GW: Do you consider that time as the Golden Age of Comic Books, or did that come later? SWAYZE: The Golden Age of Comics has been identified with different periods. As far as I’m concerned, the Golden Age was during the development period of the great super-heroes. Superman was first, then came Batman, followed by Captain Marvel and then many others. My career in comics lasted about fifteen years, so I suppose that entire period was my Golden Age of Comics. The early ’40s were certainly the formative years of Captain Marvel, who had started in the beginning of 1940. I was there in 1941 and 1942 before I went into the military. I’m not saying those were Captain Marvel’s formative years because I was there working on it, but that’s the period when Captain Marvel really began to take off. He went from doing pretty good to being one of the top-selling comic books out of all of them. Within a few years they were publishing two “Captain Marvel” books a month, while others were just happy to get one issue out per month. GW: Were you paid well back then? SWAYZE: Well, looking back, I was single and living in Manhattan in tight, small quarters. I didn’t complain about the amount of money I was making like some of the other early artists did. Beck, for example, referred to those times as the “miserable days.” But they weren’t miserable to me. It was beautiful to me. Even if I had been married with a family at the time, I probably would’ve done everything the same way. GW: Were you able to use your skills as an artist when you were in the military? SWAYZE: I had registered with the Army draft board in Memphis, Tennessee, back when I was still with Keaton on Flyin’ Jenny in Mississippi, and when I was in New York with Fawcett, I was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, to serve. It was not uncommon to have to do things from different states, as we were still new at wars. For a while they had me illustrate some posters promoting the sale of Army insurance and war bonds to the servicemen. They gave me a pretty good studio with all the equipment and I did pretty well for a new recruit. At one point the head of the

Classification and Assignments Division came in and asked me if I had any background in personnel work. I said “Absolutely none!” A little later, a sergeant from a different unit came in who happened to play neat jazz piano and told me he was forming a combo band with some other fellows in his unit. Well, I rehearsed with them a couple of times, then went back to illustrating in the little studio they had rigged up for me. The next day, the Captain from that same Sergeant’s unit showed up and said, “Are you sure about having no experience in personnel work? Listen, we can’t assign an artist to our unit… but we can assign somebody to the personnel department.” I said, “Well, come to think of it, Captain, I have always had a deep interest in personnel work!” [laughs] And so, that same day, I was assigned to headquarters for personnel duty, and our jazz combo played on. Just one of my contributions to the war effort!

GW: What did you do after you got out of the Army? SWAYZE: Well, I first went home to visit family here in Monroe, then I went right straight back to New York and Fawcett Publications and began to haggle with them, because I didn’t want to stay in NYC. I told their Executive Editor, Ralph Daigh, that my aim now is to go back to my home in Monroe. He said, “What kind of career would put you back in Monroe, Louisiana? There’s no publishers back there.” And I said, “Well, it would be nice to stay in the comics business, but I’ll get into something else. There’s all sorts of jobs there. I can drive a truck… a dump truck at that!” And he said, “What are you asking for?” and I told him, “I want a permanent assignment that I can ship in here on a regular basis with dependable income, because I want to go back home and get married and have a family like all the men in my family have done.” And he said, “I’ll need to have a meeting about this with the Art Director, since we have never dealt with someone out of town like this before. All of our freelance people are those who can just come into the offices and go back out.” After the meeting, Mr. Daigh comes out to tell me they discussed the situation and that the Art Director, Al Allard, said that I could “certainly be depended upon,” that I “respect deadlines,” and that I should go down to the comics department and “tell [executive editor] Will Lieberson to give you whatever it takes to make you happy.” GW: My goodness, that’s some story. SWAYZE: I was pleased and flattered. So I went to over to the comics department and selected two features to take with me back to Louisiana. One was “The Phantom Eagle” from Wow Comics and the other one was “Ibis the Invincible” from Whiz Comics. I left Fawcett with both assignments and walked over in Times Square to visit the Bell Syndicate people whom I had known since my days with Russell Keaton. Ms. Kathleen Caesar was the comics editor there and she was happy to see me: “We had heard you were out of the service and have been looking for you because we want to talk to you! Russell Keaton went into military flag training, so I’ve had Gladys Parker draw the Flyin’ Jenny Sunday page. Gladys has been doing a magnificent job on Mopsy, but to be perfectly frank—and Gladys wouldn’t mind my saying this—she is not an adventure strip artist. Russell would like you to take over the Sunday page while he’s in training and continue the daily strip.” Well, I didn’t want to do this. I had already just picked up two regular features from Fawcett that morning. But Bell made it attractive: they were going to give me a byline on it. I needed that

Louisiana Legend: The Marc Swayze LPB-TV Interview

High-Flyin’ Artist (Clockwise from top left:) One of the assignments Marc Swayze took back with him to Louisiana was “The Phantom Eagle” from Wow Comics. Marc stayed with the heroic young pilot until the Eagle’s final flight in 1948 when Wow was cancelled, then moved over to illustrating romance comics stories for Fawcett. “Return of the Black Flamingo,” in Wow #65 (April 1948), was both illustrated and written by Swayze. Towards the end of the feature’s run in those post-WWII years, he was creating a growing rogues’ gallery of bonafide super-villains for his young aviator hero to battle. [Phantom Eagle art © the respective copyright holders.] When Paul C. Hamerlinck and his wife visited the Swayzes at their Louisiana home during Memorial Day weekend in 2005, Marc pulled out a box of Flyin’ Jenny Sunday newspaper strips while he regaled the FCA editor with tales about his early work on the strip with its creator, Russell Keaton. His later full-art tenure on the newspaper strip was written by Glenn Chaffin, was drawn in Monroe, LA, and was lettered by Daisy Swayze, Marc’s sister. (6-1-05 photo by J.T. Go.) PCH writes: “During his tenure with Keaton, Marc drew the backgrounds and inked the strip from 11-12-39 to 8-25-40.” Seen here is the last date of the above, reproduced from the 1995 Kitchen Sink Press book The Aviation Art of Russell Keaton. Sorry it couldn’t be in color. Also seen is a Flyin’ Jenny daily (Oct. 8, 1945) from Swayze’s own tenure on the strip, after the death of his friend and mentor. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [Flyin’ Jenny strips © The Bell Syndicate or successors in interest.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Merry Christmas Forever And Ever (Above:) Sweethearts ad infinitum, Marc and June Swayze model their ULM attire during a 1-20-2011 photo shoot at their home for the University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Office of Public Information. Marc was a ULM Class of ’36 alumnus. Photo by Terrance Armstard; special thanks to Lindsey S. Wilkerson. (Right:) We close with Marc’s eminent Captain Marvel Christmas cover for (Captain Marvel Adventures #19, Jan. 1943), signed and inscribed to the FCA editor on 6-1-05 by Marc. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

because I was an unknown. (I still am, but that’s all right!) So I walked back over to Fawcett and gave “Ibis the Invincible” back to Will Lieberson. “I’m sorry, Will. I’m going to make a deal with Bell, so I’m bringing home the Flyin’ Jenny Sunday page along with ‘The Phantom Eagle.’” GW: All drawn from here in Monroe, Louisiana. SWAYZE: Yes. As I left the Fawcett offices for the last time that day, Will asked me, “Why do you wanna go back to Louisiana?” and I said, “Because that’s my homeland.” GW: Did people in Monroe have any idea what you were doing? SWAYZE: Oh, no. I’ve never sought any attention in Monroe. There was a local news article or two about me, but I didn’t figure that people would care. GW: What do you think of today’s comic books? SWAYZE: I’m sure they’re different now and have had their ups and downs. I don’t know much about them because I’ve never read any comic books except for my own stuff. But the original “Captain Marvel” artist C.C. Beck and I used to talk a heck of a lot about these things. In his later years, Beck became editor of a fanzine called FCA—Fawcett Collectors of America—where they got into that subject, and Beck’s criticism was chiefly that there’s “too much of too much,” and all of us from back then shared the same theory. We were storytellers. We would quietly build up our stories before bringing in the excitement. But if you start your story out with mouths wide open and running teeth it will lose its effectiveness You don’t need to over-emphasize when emphasis is needed. Beck used to say that and I agree 100% with that philosophy. GW: What do you do now in your spare time and for relaxation? SWAYZE: Well, I play a little guitar and a little piano every morning. And every day I do some drawing. GW: You still draw? SWAYZE: Yes. I can draw better today than I ever could because

you continue to learn along the way. I guess that’s the point of it. GW: Was illustrating comics a personally satisfying career? SWAYZE: Man, that’s a good question. And I take great pleasure in answering it. It was tremendously satisfying. I can’t say that in respect to comics alone, because I never had a job I didn’t like. Even delivering milk and driving cattle. They were all joys to me. GW: You certainly did many different things. SWAYZE: You may say many different things, but over the period of time that I’ve been blessed to have, it really doesn’t come out to that many. But I’ve had lots of interests, and I’m thankful for those. GW: Did you enjoy reading? SWAYZE: When I was a youngster, my father used to read adventure stories to me. And he probably was the one who read the original Tarzan of the Apes story to me, or I might’ve been old enough to have read it myself. And, of course, you continue that. My brother, who was ten years older than I, used to subscribe to Boys’ Life and American Boy magazines, and I read those when I was a kid. I guess I read a lot in those days. But after I got to drawing all the time, my reading diminished because you need to rest your eyes. GW: Marc, it’s been a pleasure meeting you, and we appreciate you allowing us to come into your home here in Monroe and for all the memories you shared with us. You’re a fascinating man with a fascinating family who’ve all made contributions to our beloved state of Louisiana. I want to shake hands with you and I want to thank you, sir. SWAYZE: Well, thank you for those nice words, and may God bless you.

“Fairy Tales And Impossible Stories” C.C. Beck, Santa Claus, & “The Year Without A Christmas!” by Brian Cremins Edited by Paul C. Hamerlinck

hy was C.C. Beck so unhappy with “The Year without a Christmas!,” a story by Elliot S! Maggin with art by Kurt Schaffenberger, from DC’s Shazam! #11? What’s there not to like about a story wherein the Marvel Family meets Santa Claus and saves the holidays for kids all over the world? In his essay “How to Write (or Not Write) Comic Stories,” Beck explained: When I saw the Marvel Family talking to Santa Claus in Shazam! No. 11, I said to myself, “Why didn’t they bring in the tooth fairy and Cinderella’s godmother while they’re at it?” Perhaps they are saving them for future issues. I can hardly wait for the big Easter issue of Shazam! They’ll probably have Captain Marvel helping the Easter Bunny color eggs. Won’t that be thrilling? [FCA #73/Alter Ego #14, April 2002] After recently reading the Christmas tale from Shazam! #11 (issue dated March 1974; released Dec. 20, ’73)—in which the Sivana Family tries to destroy the holiday by speeding up time so that Christmas morning never arrives—I still wondered why Beck responded to it with such sarcasm. I know his experience working for DC was a low point in his career, but Maggin’s story is harmless enough, and there’s no faulting Schaffenberger’s impeccable compositions and pacing. However, as I read through my copies of Beck’s correspondence with his late 1980s debate group “The Critical Circle,” I discovered a passage that might explain

What? You’ll Believe A Man Can Fly—But Not Reindeer!? Author Brian Cremins is impressed with Kurt Schaffenberger’s well-designed and eye-pleasing rendering of the Christmas tale from Shazam! #11… but wonders if its writer Elliot Maggin might’ve been demanding too much from the readers. [© DC Comics.]

Charles Clarence Beck Captain Marvel’s original artist and co-creator chooses his weapon at Phil Seuling’s New York City Comic Convention in 1973—the same year that the battle began between the Shazam! artist and publisher DC Comics. “En garde, DC!”

Kurt Schaffenberger. Elliot S! Maggin.

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

his response to this strange meeting between Captain Marvel and Santa Claus. In “Real Facts about an Unreal Character,” which Beck mailed to Critical Circle members in July 1988, he revealed that Billy Batson’s world already had a Santa Claus, at least of a sort. In the fantasy realm of Billy Batson and Captain Marvel, there’s really no room for two St. Nicks. In a discussion of the supernatural elements in Billy’s origin story, Beck explains that: [M]agic in Captain Marvel was fun magic, not frightening, gooseflesh-producing magic or evil, demonic, magic. It was the kind of magic a kid could produce—if given the power, as Billy Batson was, by a benevolent old wizard with a long beard and looking like a cross between Moses and Santa Claus. So, in the dream logic of his world, Billy had no need, really, for Santa Claus or for the Easter Bunny. Why worry about the Tooth Fairy when you have a magic word? In the essay, which you can read for yourself in the pages of the FCA #73/Alter Ego #14, Beck’s most significant revelation is that all of Captain Marvel’s adventures might in fact be read as Billy’s daydreams. In Grant Morrison’s 2011 book Supergods, the writer argues that what set Captain Marvel apart from the other costumed heroes of the early 1940s is the character’s use of language: “The magic word was a concept that connected the hero to the basis of human speech; language, storytelling” (Morrison 32). Beck makes a similar argument in the opening sentence of “Real Facts”: “The real secret of the success of Captain Marvel, which few people recognized, was that Billy Batson told about Captain Marvel’s exploits over his radio and television programs.”

“The Year Without A Christmas!” The splash page to the controversial tale from Shazam! #11 (March 1974), one of the stories C.C. Beck refused to draw for DC. Kurt Schaffenberger, another Fawcett artist alumnus, was ushered in to do the job, and stayed on the book for the next several years. The story was written by Elliot S! Maggin; watch for an interview with the writer coming up in A/E #132/FCA #191. [© DC Comics.]

Of course, this use of a narrator is a fairly common device in a lot of fiction. Take, for example, Dr. Watson in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, or even F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby. Fantastic, larger-than-life heroes often require down-to-earth narrators so that mere mortals like the rest of us have someone we can relate to. We can’t all be Beowulf, but a few of us, with enough patience and practice, might learn the magic required to tell his story. (Learning how to tell the stories of great heroes and heroines, real and imagined, from Joan of Arc and Martin Luther King Jr. to Odysseus and Superman, is a quest all its own.) But I think Beck imagines the relationship between Billy and Captain Marvel as a more complex one than the friendship between Watson and Holmes: “As far as anyone ever knew,” Beck points out, “Billy may have made up every story he ever told over the air.” He adds, of course, that “Billy’s stories were all made up by Otto Binder and some other very talented writers.” Beck’s essay makes Billy sound more like George Marcoux’s Golden Age character Koppy McFad—the little boy who imagines himself as the hero Supersnipe—than Superman or Batman. But the connection between Billy Batson and Marcoux’s character are probably best left for another essay. For now, I should get back to my original question: why did Beck single out “The Year without a Christmas!” as an example of DC’s mishandling of the character? Even if the wizard Shazam is a kind of Santa Claus for Billy, why not give the real St. Nick a place in the story, too?

Beck’s aversion to drawing Captain Marvel with Santa Claus dates back to the early 1940s. Paul C. Hamerlinck once asked Beck about the attractive cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (Jan. 1, 1943), which features Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel flying with Santa Claus. While Beck “confirmed it was [Marc Swayze’s] work,” Paul recently explained to me in an e-mail, Captain Marvel’s cocreator “never liked the cover because, to paraphrase, ‘the Marvels shouldn’t be seen flying around with Santa Claus.’” In his column for FCA #142 (from Alter Ego #83, Jan. 2009), Swayze admitted that he was puzzled by Beck’s unwillingness to draw Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel with Santa: “It’s hard to imagine refusal by any artist to draw those three in the same scene. They looked so perfectly satisfied to be flying together… with Santa waving cheerfully to the comic book world.” Beck, however, as Paul pointed out to me, sometimes made exceptions to this rule. In the 1970s to mid-’80s, fans commissioned Beck to paint versions of favorite scenes and covers from Captain Marvel’s Golden Age adventures (Jaime Wolf talks about some of these paintings in an article for The New Yorker dated March 28, 2011). When Don Phelps requested that Beck paint a version of Swayze’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #19, the cartoonist accepted the commission. (You can see the results for yourself in FCA #142.) Swayze, on the other hand, had only one “regret,” he said, about the CMA #19 cover: “It was those miserable, scrawny, dinky little trees in the background” of the drawing, Swayze explained. If only he’d drawn “elegant, colorful, snow-capped evergreens!”

“Fairy Tales And Impossible Stories”

Merry Re-Created Christmas! (Clockwise from above left:) C.C. Beck took issue with the Marvel Family interacting with Santa Claus, but during the 1970s the artist had no qualms about producing a painted re-creation of Marc Swayze’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (Jan. 1943) for fan Don Phelps. The recreation above was originally published, in black-&-white, back in A/E #83/FCA #142, Jan. ’09). [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics; other re-created art © Estate of C.C. Beck.] Beck had candidly disclosed his disdain for the CMA #19 cover to Paul C. Hamerlinck when the two met in person in Minneapolis in 1980. Twenty-five years later, the FCA editor would ask Marc Swayze about his CMA Christmas cover during a 2005 Memorial Day weekend visit to his friend’s home in Louisiana… as witnessed by the photo taken by J.T. Go. Marc later wondered, in his “We Didn’t Know… It Was the Golden Age!” column (A/E #83/FCA #142, Jan. ’09), why any artist would decline to draw Santa Claus hitching a ride with the Marvels. When Beck did have Santa and Captain Marvel share a scene, he cleverly circumnavigated the concept, as he did with the cover for Xmas Comics #4 (Dec. 1948), where CM, Nyoka, and other Fawcett characters appear as small figurine Christmas gifts. Others of Beck’s Xmas Comics covers are seen in our Fawcett Christmas gallery that follows this piece; this is one of the later ones that had fewer pages than earlier editions but used red and green felt on the covers— which doubtless made the comics seem a bit thicker. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics; Nyoka TM & © Paragon Publications/Bill Black; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Beck, however, does not mention the two text boxes that frame the final panel of page 4. Schaffenberger’s clean, elegant line work and designs are dramatic and appealing. Santa’s team of reindeer are so powerful that they break the frame of this last panel. As Santa wonders how he’ll manage to deliver all of his presents, the narrator asks, “But who was that mysterious man with the reindeer—really?” Then, at the bottom of the page, another text box asks a different question: “Does it mean that whatever you believe in—even Santa Claus—can be true—?” These two passages conflict with Beck’s theories of cartoon art. Maggin might be demanding too much of the reader. The story is already filled with fantastic characters—from a talking tiger to mad scientists—so where does fantasy end and reality begin? Is Santa Claus real, while Captain Marvel is not? Or is it the other way around? Who knew that a meeting between the Big Red Cheese and that “bearded flying man” would conjure such metaphysical questions! In “What Kind of Art Do You Prefer?,” which he mailed to The Critical Circle on January 19, 1989, less than a year before he passed away, Beck The Marvel Family extends warm Christmas wishes to everyone, even the slippery Sivanas, in the argues that imaginary characters do not belong in closing panels of “The Year without a Christmas!” Script by Maggin, art by Schaffenberger, the real world. Creatures from “angels with editing by Julie Schwartz. [© DC Comics.] beautiful wings” to “vampires, werewolves, Beck, as Paul reminds readers in a note included with Swayze’s zombies” and even “talking animals,” he explains, “exist only in column in FCA #142, “made a small business enterprise” out of the world of the imagination and are relatively harmless if shown these fan commissions and sometimes painted re-creations of “old to be fictitious by writers and artists.” What happens, however, covers that even weren’t originally his own,” like Swayze’s portrait when these creatures mingle with human beings? “It is when these of Santa and the Marvels. While Beck’s painting for Don Phelps non-existent beings are shown as if real—fully modeled, creating might suggest that the artist had changed his mind about a shadows and making footprints, and talking and interacting with Captain Marvel/Santa Claus team-up, Beck made clear in his essay humans that they become bad art.” In the essay’s next paragraph, “The World’s Mightiest Mortal vs. the World’s Stupidest Publisher” Beck uses Santa Claus as an example to illustrate his points. Beck that DC’s willingness to publish a story like “The Year without a takes issue with any artist “dressing a human being as an Christmas!” provided more evidence of the company’s inability to imaginary character and then telling everyone that he is real. Saint understand Billy Batson and his alter ego’s appeal. Nicholases (Santa Clauses) are horrid examples of this perverted form of fakery.” But, according to this line of reasoning, shouldn’t In the essay—first published shortly after it was written in the Beck have been pleased with Maggin’s story? After all, Captain British fanzine Fantasy Unlimited #26—Beck includes a list of his Marvel and the other members of the Marvel Family are all cartoon least-favorite stories from DC’s Shazam! series. In his summary of characters, and Schaffenberger, another veteran Fawcett artist, the plot for “The Year without a Christmas!,” the artist identifies draws them stylishly but hardly in a realistic style. And isn’t Santa Maggin’s closing allusion to Charles Dickens. At the end of the Claus also a kind of cartoon character, a child’s wish or fantasy? story, Freddy Freeman shouts “God bless us—every one!” just like So, after reading “What Kind of Art and Writing Do You Prefer?,” Tiny Tim in “A Christmas Carol.” But Beck is having none of it. I’m back where I started from as I try to figure out why Beck After finishing his summary, he asks, “Why, you may now ask, did disliked Captain Marvel’s Christmas adventure. National print stories like these? They’re childish, silly, and an insult to any reader’s intelligence.” But I wonder—what if I take Billy as my example? Rather than trying to analyze Beck’s essays and Maggin’s story, what if I tell a In his essay, Beck points out a sequence on the story’s fourth story, too? I can’t promise I’ll tell it as well as Billy, and it won’t page that I suspect he found especially distasteful. I’ll include have any heroes in bright red tights, but I’ll try anyway. One year, Beck’s summary first, and then describe a few of the panels in when my sister and I were kids, we left a plate of milk and cookies which Santa Claus appears. “The Marvel Family,” Beck explains, for Santa Claus. But I was worried. Our house in Oakville, Connecticut, didn’t have a fireplace. How would Santa deliver our flying about aimlessly and unable to do anything about the presents? situation, see a “bearded flying man” having trouble with his

All The Last Panel Needs Is Tiny Tim!

little sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer which are stampeding. They fly up and calm the reindeer, then the bearded man tells them that the Sivanas are causing trouble again, so the Marvels all fly to Sivana’s secret hideout, punch the Sivanas around, stop the clock, and put the Sivanas in jail. Then they fly back to the party and in the last panel everyone shouts “Merry Christmas” to the reader.

We had a chimney on our roof, but it led to the furnace. What if Santa ended up in the basement instead of in the living room? My grandmother and I had the two rooms on the second floor of the house. In the corner of my room, there was a small, white door to the attic. I lived in fear of that door. All sorts of things might live in that small, cramped crawlspace. Would Santa shrink himself down to the size of a cat and knock on the attic door in the middle of the

“Fairy Tales And Impossible Stories”

night? I was too excited and frightened to ask anyone. I fell asleep. The next morning, I found the glass of milk empty. The cookies were gone, too, except for a few crumbs left on the plate. I ignored the presents sitting under the tree and stared at the remnants of Santa’s feast. He’s real, I thought. He must be. He ate all the Hydrox! I don’t remember any of the presents I opened that morning, but I remember that empty plate and the milk ring around the mouth of the glass. I’ve never asked my mom and dad which one ate the cookies and drank the milk. I know it wasn’t my grandmother. She wasn’t much of a milk drinker, and only ate cookies when sitting down with her sister for a cup of tea. As I was writing this article, I almost called my mom to ask, but I stopped myself before I placed the call. I don’t want to know. I’d rather live with the mysterious narrative they invented for me that morning. What I realize now is that my parents had created a space for my sister and me to imagine a story of our own. Had Santa eaten the Hydrox? Maybe. Had dad eaten them? Possibly. Had mom? Not likely. She prefers Sunshine Biscuit vanilla wafers. Had a man the size of a cat crept silently through the attic, unlocked the door, and made his way to the living room? Like one of my grandmother’s Lithuanian ghost stories? Better to save that one for Halloween. So, in answer to the question posed in “What Kind of Writing and Art Do You Prefer?,” I find myself agreeing with C.C. Beck. In the final paragraph of the essay, he writes, “Unrealistic writing and art are harmless; they give humans a chance to visit worlds that don’t exist. Fairy tales and impossible stories are harmless fun; jokes and flights of fancy are good for one’s health.” Why ask a young reader whether or not he or she believes in Santa? Let the imagination do its work, and let Captain Marvel be Captain Marvel. I think I will spend the rest of the day on one of these

“flights of fancy,” as I imagine and remember the other spirits who lingered with my family that Christmas morning almost forty years ago.

Notes & References Grant Morrison, Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Teach Us about Being Human. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2012. You can read Jaime Wolf’s “Captain Marvel, C.C. Beck, and the Comics Fan Subculture (Slide Show)” from March 28, 2011, online at The New Yorker. To read more about the cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #19, including Paul C. Hamerlinck’s comments on Beck’s commissioned paintings, see Marc Swayze’s column “We Didn’t Know… It Was the Golden Age!” in Alter Ego #83/FCA #142 (Jan. 2009), pp. 81-83. If you don’t have an original copy of Shazam! #11, you can read “The Year without a Christmas!” in the DC collection Showcase Presents Shazam!, Vol. One (2006). Thanks to Trina Robbins and to Paul C. Hamerlinck for supplying me with copies of the C.C. Beck essays I reference in this article. To read more about Hydrox cookies, see Harlan Ellison’s “The Great Hydrox/Oreo Cookie Conspiracy” in An Edge in My Voice, Norfolk: The Donning Company, 1985, pp. 325-328. Brian Cremins is an Associate Professor of English at Harpers College. He is working on a book about Captain Marvel, comics, and nostalgia for the University Press of Mississippi. He lives in Chicago and writes about comics at www.briancremins.wordpress.com.

The Fawcett Christmas Fantasmagoria A Joyful Exhibit Of Fawcett Comic Yuletime Cheer Assembled by Paul C. Hamerlinck

NTRODUCTION: There has been one invariable theme expressed amongst most of the individuals connected with Fawcett’s comics whom I’ve interviewed over the years: they all cherished their time with the publisher. Our friend and former Fawcett production artist, the late Emilio Squeglio, once described Fawcett Publications as “the epitome of what a business should be… honest to their employees, to the public, and to themselves”… and said that he “felt cared for” and even “loved by them.” Emilio further elucidated that the Fawcetts were sincere “Midwestern people who had feeling and compassion for others, and appreciated everything you did,” and that the Fawcett brothers

hired individuals “very much like themselves… hard-working people… with happy-go-lucky-attitudes.” Emilio also remembered the incomparable Fawcetts as being fun people who enjoyed having a good time, particularly at their “unbelievable” Christmas parties at the Greenwich Country Club. We feel that some of that Fawcett warmth and genuine goodnaturedness are thoughtfully replicated in this gallery of company Christmas cards and holiday-themed comic books. Merry Christmas from FCA! —PCH. Turning On The Fawcetts

(Left:) Captain Billy Fawcett, founder of Fawcett Publications with his legendary postWorld War I humor magazine Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang (he’s the one holding his hat) and the even more legendary silent-movie comedian Harold Lloyd—together on the Palm Springs golf links in 1935—as per the note from Wide World Photos printed on the back of the pic. [© Wide World Photos or successors in interest.] (Below:) The Fawcett sons and one daughter, 1950. Clockwise from upper left: Gordon, Roger, Marion Claire, and Roscoe. Shaun Clancy, who provided both this photo and the previous one, figures the pic was probably taken at the Fawcett offices. One brother— Wilford H. (“Buzz”) Fawcett—is not in the shot. Incidentally, PCH explains that the three black almost-”K”-shaped indications on the photo are crop marks that were added by someone at a newspaper, to cut down the area of the picture printed so as to include just the four heads. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Fawcett Christmas Fantasmagoria

It’s In The Cards! (Left & below:) Original Fawcett Christmas cards distributed by the comics department editors and production staff (circa 1947-49); these examples were saved by former comics staff member Len Leone. Thanks to Shaun Clancy. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics; other material © the respective copyright holders.]

With One Magic Ornament (Right:) Mid-1940s Christmas tree ornaments featuring Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, and Sherlock Monk. Thanks to Walt Grogan. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Gifted Heroes (Above & right:) Long before Marvel Essentials volumes and DC’s Showcase Presents collections existed, there were the phonebook-thick Gift Comics, containing 324 pages of remainder copies of Fawcett comics repackaged with a new cover and offered for sale just in time for the holiday season. The cover of issues #1 & 2 from 1942 are the work of a mishmash of artists; the Captain Marvel figures appear to be the work of Marc Swayze, although the late artist was unable to officially confirm it. The 3rd issue’s cover, from 1949, is also done by various staff artists, but it’s likely that C.C. Beck had a hand in drawing Captain Marvel leading the pack. [Shazam hero, Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Ibis, & Mr. Scarlet TM & © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

Second-Hand Holiday (Left:) A one-shot similar to the early Gift Comics, Fawcett’s Holiday Comics #1 (Jan. 1942) contained considerably fewer pages of remaindered comics. The cover’s artwork is composed of pieces pulled from the comics stories themselves: the Nyoka and Lance O’Casey images are by Harry Anderson; Pete Costanza drew the Golden Arrow art; Ibis the Invincible is by Alex Blum; and the Captain Marvel figure is drawn by C.C. Beck; Spy Smasher artist unknown. [Shazam hero, Ibis, Spy Smasher, Bulletman & Bulletgirl TM & © DC Comics; Nyoka the Jungle Girl TM & © Paragon Publications/Bill Black; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

The Fawcett Christmas Fantasmagoria

Roamin’ Holidays (Left:) Toronto, Canada, publisher Anglo-American created their own thick-paged anthology mag, Holiday Comics Gift Book (1943), for Christmastime shoppers, featuring mostly Fawcett stories redrawn by Canadian artists. (Right:) British publisher L. Miller had its own collection of Yuletide Fawcett cheer, headlined by Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., Nyoka, and Tom Mix. [Shazam heroes & Spy Smasher TM & © DC Comics; Nyoka TM & © Paragon Publications/Bill Black; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

Captain Marvel Jr. & Friend (Left:) Mac Raboy’s Christmas-themed cover for Captain Marvel Jr. #14 (Dec. 1943). (Right:) And in this corner—Jack Binder’s ditto for Mary Marvel #8 (Dec. 1946). [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Hangin’ With Chard (Above & right:) Hoppy the Marvel Bunny creator—and initiator of Fawcett’s entire funny-animal universe—Chad Grothkopf (who usually drew under just the byline “Chad”) delivered Christmas cheer with the covers for Fawcett’s Funny Animals #2 (Jan. 1943), Hoppy the Marvel Bunny #7 (Dec. 1946), and Xmas Comics #7 (2nd series), a 132-pager from 1952. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; other material © the respective copyright holders.]

You’re In Good Hands... (Left:) Since we used Xmas Comics #2 as our Alter Ego cover this month, we wanted to be sure to include Mac Raboy’s ebullient cover for Xmas Comics #1 from 1941, the book that launched Fawcett’s series of thick-sized, 324-paged books re-packaging remaindered comics. While contents may vary in issues of Gift and Xmas, the contents of copies of the first issue of Xmas are reportedly more consistent than in subsequent issues. Issue #1 features, in their entirety (sans covers): Whiz Comics #21, Captain Marvel Adventures #3, Bulletman #2, Wow Comics #3, and Master Comics #18. Both Xmas and Gift series were discontinued after 1942, due to wartime paper conservation, but they were resurrected later, even as time was running out on Fawcett’s comics line. [Shazam hero, Billy Batson, Spy Smasher, Bulletman, Minute-Man, and Mr. Scarlet TM & © DC Comics.]

The Fawcett Christmas Fantasmagoria

Fewer Pages—And The Effects Are Felt! Fawcett re-launched Xmas Comics in 1949, and the title was kept alive another few years, maintaining its 50¢ price tag. The biggest change that occurred with Xmas was that it had dropped to a mere 196 pages of remaindered comics, but Fawcett cleverly added red and green felt to the covers over the artwork: red felt for Santa’s suit; green felt for a Christmas tree and a Christmas stocking. C.C. Beck drew the covers to issues #4-7. (See Beck’s cover to Xmas #4 on p. 71.) [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics; Ibis the Invincible TM & © DC Comics; other material © the respective copyright holders.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Fawcett’s Christmas “Top Ten” Here's a list of the company’s ten Christmas-oriented Fawcett stories, though not in any particular order. We only had room to showcase the splash page of the first of these... but who knows what the Ghost of Christmas Future may bring? “The Case of the Christmas Crimes” (Bulletman #11, Jan. 1943). “The Phantom of the Department Store” (Captain Marvel Adventures #19, Jan. 1943). “The Plot against Christmas” (Captain Marvel Adventures #42, Jan. 1945). “Billy Batson’s Xmas” (Captain Marvel Adventures #69, Feb. 1947). “Freddy Freeman’s Xmas” (Captain Marvel Jr. #46, Feb. 1947). “Sergeant Twilight Writhes Again” (Captain Midnight #4, Jan. 1943). “Christmas with Half Man” (“Ibis the Invincible”) (Whiz Comics #24, Nov. 1941). “The Night before Christmas” (“Mary Marvel,” co-starring Captain Marvel, Mr. Scarlet, and Pinky) (Wow Comics #9, Jan. 1943). “The Year-Round Santa” (Mary Marvel #22, March 1948). “Flash! The North Pole Has Been Bombed!” (“Willie the Worm,” co-starring Hoppy, et al.) (Fawcett’s Funny Animals #2, Jan. 1943). [Bulletman & Bulletgirl TM & © DC Comics.]

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #64

BRICKJOURNAL #32

BACK ISSUE #78

BACK ISSUE #79

BACK ISSUE #80

LEGO ARTISTRY with builder/photographer CHRIS McVEIGH; mosaic builders BRIAN KORTE, DAVE WARE and DAVE SHADDIX; and sculptors SEAN KENNEY (about his nature models) and ED DIMENT (about a full-size bus stop built with LEGO bricks)! Plus Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, MINDSTORMS building, and more!

“Weird Issue!” Batman’s Weirdest TeamUps, ORLANDO’s Weird Adventure Comics, Weird War Tales, Weird Mystery Tales, DITKO’s Shade the Changing Man and Stalker, CHAYKIN’s Iron Wolf, CRUMB’s Weirdo, and STARLIN and WRIGHTSON’s The Weird! Featuring JIM APARO, LUIS DOMINGUEZ, MICHAEL FLEISHER, BOB HANEY, PAUL LEVITZ, and more. Batman and Deadman cover by ALAN CRADDOCK.

“Charlton Action Heroes in the Bronze Age!” DAVE GIBBONS on Charlton’s WATCHMEN connection, LEN WEIN and PARIS CULLINS’ Blue Beetle, CARY BATES and PAT BRODERICK’s Captain Atom, Peacemaker, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, and a look at Blockbuster Weekly! Featuring MIKE COLLINS, GIORDANO, KUPPERBERG, ALAN MOORE, PAT MORISI, ALEX ROSS, and more. Cover by AL MILGROM.

“Flash and Green Lantern in the Bronze Age” (crossover with ALTER EGO #132)! In-depth spotlights of their 1970s and 1980s adventures, MARK WAID’s look at the Flash/GL team, and PAUL KUPPERBERG’s Lost GL Fillins. Bonus: DC’s New York Office Memories, and Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale by LARRY NIVEN and JOHN BYRNE. With BARR, BATES, GIBBONS, GRELL, INFANTINO, WEIN, and more. Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ.

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #65

ALTER EGO #131

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SUPER-SOLDIERS! We declassify Captain America, Fighting American, Sgt. Fury, The Losers, Pvt. Strong, Boy Commandos, and a tribute to Simon & Kirby! PLUS: a Kirby interview about Captain America, MARK EVANIER and other columnists, key 1940s’50s events in Kirby’s career, unseen pencils and unused art from OMAC, SILVER STAR, CAPTAIN AMERICA (in the 1960s AND ‘70s), the LOSERS, & more! KIRBY cover!

ANYTHING GOES (AGAIN)! Another potpourri issue with a comparison of Jack Kirby’s work vs. the design genius of ALEX TOTH, a lengthy Kirby interview, a look at Kirby’s work with WALLY WOOD, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, unseen and unused Kirby art from JIMMY OLSEN, KAMANDI, MARVELMANIA, Jack’s COMIC STRIP & ANIMATION WORK, and more!

GERRY CONWAY interviewed about his work as star Marvel/DC writer in the early ‘70s (from the creation of The Punisher to the death of Gwen Stacy) with art by ROMITA, COLAN, KANE, PLOOG, BUSCEMA, MORROW, TUSKA, ADAMS, SEKOWSKY, the SEVERINS, and others! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more!

75 YEARS of THE FLASH and GREEN LANTERN (a crossover with BACK ISSUE #80)! INFANTINO, KANE, KUBERT, ELIAS, LAMPERT, HIBBARD, NODELL, HASEN, TOTH, REINMAN, SEKOWSKY, Golden Age JSA and Dr. Mid-Nite artist ARTHUR PEDDY’s stepson interviewed, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more!

Gentleman JIM MOONEY gets a featurelength spotlight, in an in-depth interview conducted by DR. JEFF McLAUGHLIN— never before published! Featuring plenty of rare and unseen MOONEY ART from Batman & Robin, Supergirl, Spider-Man, Legion of Super-Heroes, Tommy Tomorrow, and others! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

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COMIC BOOK CREATOR #6 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #7 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #8

DRAW! #29

DRAW! #30

SWAMPMEN: MUCK-MONSTERS OF THE COMICS dredges up Swamp Thing, ManThing, Heap, and other creepy man-critters of the 1970s bayou! Features interviews with WRIGHTSON, MOORE, PLOOG, WEIN, BRUNNER, GERBER, BISSETTE, VEITCH, CONWAY, MAYERIK, ORLANDO, PASKO, MOONEY, TOTLEBEN, YEATES, BERGER, SANTOS, USLAN, KALUTA, THOMAS, and others. FRANK CHO cover!

BERNIE WRIGHTSON interview on Swamp Thing, Warren, The Studio, Frankenstein, Stephen King, and designs for movies like Heavy Metal and Ghostbusters, and a gallery of Wrightson artwork! Plus writer/editor BRUCE JONES; 20th anniversary of Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror with BILL MORRISON; and interview Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre’s BATTON LASH, and more!

MIKE ALLRED and BOB BURDEN cover and interviews, “Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman” cartoonist DAVID BOSWELL interviewed, a chat with RICH BUCKLER, SR. about everything from Deathlok to a new career as surrealistic painter; Tales of the Zombie artist PABLO MARCOS speaks; Israeli cartoonist RUTU MODAN; plus an extensive essay on European Humor Comics!

DAVE DORMAN demonstrates his painting techniques for sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book cover, LeSEAN THOMAS (character designer and co-director of The Boondocks and Black Dynamite: The Animated Series) gives advice on today’s animation industry, new columnist JERRY ORDWAY shows his working process, plus more Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.

We focus the radar on Daredevil artist CHRIS SAMNEE (Agents of Atlas, Batman, Avengers, Captain America) with a how-to interview, comics veteran JACKSON GUICE (Captain America, Superman, Ruse, Thor) talks about his creative process and his new series Winter World, columnist JERRY ORDWAY shows his working process, plus more Comic Art Bootcamp by BRET BLEVINS and Draw! editor MIKE MANLEY! Mature readers only.

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(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Jan. 2015

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships April 2015

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Now shipping!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Jan. 2015

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WHE % OR N YOU ONLDER INE!

1994--2014

FALL 2014 AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: The 1950s

BILL SCHELLY tackles comics of the Atomic Era of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley: EC’s TALES OF THE CRYPT, MAD, CARL BARKS’ Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, re-tooling the FLASH in Showcase #4, return of Timely’s CAPTAIN AMERICA, HUMAN TORCH and SUB-MARINER, FREDRIC WERTHAM’s anti-comics campaign, and more! NOW SHIPPING! (240-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $40.95 (Digital Edition) $12.95 • ISBN: 9781605490540

1965-69

JOHN WELLS covers the transformation of MARVEL COMICS into a pop phenomenon, Wally Wood’s TOWER COMICS, CHARLTON’s Action Heroes, the BATMAN TV SHOW, Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, and Denny O’Neil leading a youth wave in comics, GOLD KEY digests, the Archies and Josie & the Pussycats, and more! NOW SHIPPING!

Ambitious new series of FULLCOLOR HARDCOVERS documenting each decade of comic book history!

(288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $41.95 (Digital Edition) $13.95 • ISBN: 9781605490557

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The 1970s (NOW SHIPPING!)

JASON SACKS & KEITH DALLAS detail the emerging Bronze Age of comics: Relevance with Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’s GREEN LANTERN, Jack Kirby’s FOURTH WORLD saga, Comics Code revisions that opens the floodgates for monsters and the supernatural, Jenette Kahn’s arrival at DC and the subsequent DC IMPLOSION, the coming of Jim Shooter and the DIRECT MARKET, and more!

1960-64: (224-pages) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-045-8 1980s: (288-pages) $41.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-046-5 COMING SOON: 1930s, 1940-44, 1945-49 and 1990s

(288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $41.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.95 • ISBN: 9781605490564

MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1980s

DON HECK remains one of the legendary names in comics, considered an “artist’s artist,” respected by peers, and beloved by fans as the co-creator of IRON MAN, HAWKEYE, and BLACK WIDOW, and key artist on THE AVENGERS. Along with STAN LEE, JACK KIRBY, and STEVE DITKO, Heck was an integral player in “The Marvel Age of Comics”, and a top-tier 1970s DC Comics artist. He finally gets his due in this heavily illustrated, full-color hardcover biography, which features meticulously researched and chronicled information on Don’s 40-year career, with personal recollections from surviving family, long-time friends, and industry legends, and rare interviews with Heck himself. It also features an unbiased analysis of sales on Don’s DC Comics titles, an extensive art gallery (including published, unpublished, and pencil artwork), a Foreword by STAN LEE, and an Afterword by BEAU SMITH. Written by JOHN COATES. (192-page full-color hardcover) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $11.95

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C O M IC B O O K

DON HECK: A WORK OF ART

The third volume in PIERRE COMTOIS’ heralded series covering the pop culture phenomenon on an issueby-issue basis! Following his 1960s and 1970s volumes, this new book looks at Marvel’s final historical phase, when the company moved into a darker era that has yet to run its course. It saw STAN LEE’s retreat to the West Coast, JIM SHOOTER’s rise and fall as editorin-chief, the twin triumphs of FRANK MILLER and JOHN BYRNE, the challenge of independent publishers, and the weakening hold of the COMICS CODE AUTHORITY that led to the company’s creative downfall—and ultimately the marginalization of the industry itself. Comics such as the Chris Claremont/John Byrne X-MEN, Frank Miller’s DAREDEVIL, the NEW UNIVERSE, Roger Stern’s AVENGERS and SPIDER-MAN, the new wave of dark heroes such as WOLVERINE and the PUNISHER, and more are all covered, in the analytic detail—and often irreverent manner—readers have come to expect from the previous 1960s and 1970s volumes. However, the 1980s represented years of upheaval in the comics industry— with Marvel at the center of the storm—so expect a bumpy ride in the 1980s decade that marked the beginning of the end of Marvel comics as you knew them!

FEVER

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95 • (Digital Edition) $10.95

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