Alter Ego #131 Preview

Roy Thomas’ Gerry-mandered Comics Fanzine

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No.131 March 2015

GERRY CONWAY FIRST TIME AROUND AT MARVEL (AND DC )!

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[Marvel art © Marvel Characters, Inc.; portrait © 2015 Shane Foley.]

Vol. 3, No. 131 / March 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

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

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www.twomorrows.com

Cover Artists

Shane Foley, Gene Colan, Gil Kane, Gray Morrow, John Buscema, & Michael Ploog (plus inkers)

Cover Colorist

Tom Ziuko & original Marvel colorists

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Richard J. Arndt Mark Arnold Bob Bailey Jean Bails Mike W. Barr Alberto Becattini John Benson June Swayze Blackman Christopher Boyko Mark Staff Brandl Mike Britt Larry Byrd Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell Shaun Clancy Gerry Conway Jon B. Cooke Chet Cox Brian Cremins Vince Davis Tina DeZuniga John Fahey Justin Fairfax Ed Fields Janet Gilbert

Grand Comics Database Sean Howe Dr. M. Thomas Inge “jgbook2007” Jim Kealy Dr. Jeffrey J. Kripal Stan Lee Mark Lewis Jim Ludwig Ribert Menzies Barry Pearl Jay Piscopo Warren Reece Gene Reed Randy Sargent Jim Shooter Marc Svensson Desha Swayze June Swayze Dann Thomas Chester Thompson Mike Tiefenbacher Jiro Tomiyama Ted White Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1929-1999 Mike Zeck

Contents

Writer/Editorial: Should Auld Acquaintance, And All That Good Stuff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Gerry Conway talks to Richard Arndt about his early years at DC, Marvel, & elsewhere.

Dan Barry & Flash Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Part II of Alberto Becattini’s look at the life and career of a controversial comics talent.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: The Mystery Of The Missing Comic! – Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert on Bob Powell’s Man in Black Called Fate (among other things).

Comic Fandom Archive: The 20-Cent Plague . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Bill Schelly chats with Jiro Tomiyama, editor of a little-known January 1961 fanzine.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 68 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #191 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck, Otto Binder, Brian Cremins—and Captain Marvel co-creator Bill Parker!

On Our Cover: Gerry Conway tells us he’s never been overly fond of the circa-1970 photo (see p. 3) that I asked Shane Foley to use as the basis of the portrait of GC that he drew for this issue’s cover. Only thing is—it’s the only photo we had of him from that period. (And besides, which of us does like all the pics taken of us at various stages of our lives?) Be that as it may, we hedged our bets by surrounding it with awesome art by Gil Kane (of The Punisher, Spider-Man, and Gwen Stacy, as inked by John Romita, Tony Mortellaro, Frank Giacoia, & Dave Hunt)—Michael Ploog (Werewolf by Night)—John Buscema (Thor, as inked by Vince Colletta)—Gray Morrow (Man-Thing)—and Gene Colan (Daredevil and The Black Widow, as inked by Tom Palmer). Ye Olde Editor suspects that Gerry’ll admit he’s rarely been in better company! [Marvel art © Marvel Characters, Inc.; portrait art © Shane Foley.]

Above: Ye Ed would also be willing to bet a few old comics from his “Go-Go Checks” pile that this panel from The Phantom Stranger #11 (Jan.-Feb. 1971) represents one of the first times that mysterious mover-and-shaker ever just out-and-out slugged anybody. The blow was drawn by Jim Aparo—but neo-writer Gerry Conway evidently enjoyed writing that punch so much that he had the haunted hero throw another one on the very next page. Gerry’d go on to script not a few fearsome free-for-alls, for DC, Marvel, and others, over the next few decades. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Michael T. Gilbert for the scan. [© 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.

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“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity” GERRY CONWAY On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

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NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Gerry Conway launched his writing career in comic books while still a teenager. He began writing mystery (i.e. horror) stories for first DC, then Marvel, before scoring his first ongoing series work on “Ka-Zar” in 1970. Within a year he was writing four monthly series and was one of Marvel’s top writers.

He was involved in the creation of “Man-Thing,” “Werewolf by Night,” and Marvel’s rendition of Dracula, and followed Stan Lee as the regular

writer of The Amazing Spider-Man. In 1976 he was briefly the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Over the past 4½ decades, he has written almost every major character in the DC and Marvel Universes. This interview took place by phone in July 2011, with a follow-up call in September 2013.

Gerry Conway, in an early-1970s photo from Marvel’s fan-club magazine F.O.O.M. (top), and a recent pic (directly above).

Phantoms From The Past (Left:) The splash page of Gerry’s first story featuring a continuing hero, from DC’s The Phantom Stranger #10 (Nov.-Dec. 1970)—and the final page of his most famous comics story ever, “The Night Gwen Stacy Died!,” from The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973). The credits for Gerry and artist Jim Aparo on the DC yarn came on its third page; the Marvel issue, whose story title was only announced on its last page, was penciled by Gil Kane and inked by John Romita & Tony Mortellaro. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Barry Pearl, respectively. [PS page © DC Comics; ASM page © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Gerry Conway On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere

“I Just Kept Banging My Head Against That Wall” RICHARD ARNDT: Can you tell us a little of your background?

GERRY CONWAY: I grew up in New York City, born in Brooklyn in 1952. I lived there for ten years, then the family moved to Queens. That’s where I lived and grew up until I was about 18. My parents were middle-class, lower middle-class. I went to Catholic school. I got what I consider a fairly good education. I developed, I’m sure, a few personality quirks from [Catholic school]. [chuckles] RA: What got you interested in comics?

CONWAY: When I was a kid, fairly early on, I fell in love with comics. Sometime in my early teens I found out that DC had a summer tour program where, every Thursday during the summer, you could go to the DC offices and they would take whoever had showed up on a tour of the insides. Once I started doing that on a regular basis, I drew up this ambition to be an artist. But I was encouraged to become a writer by the editors who saw my artwork. I was a kid. I kept pursuing it because I didn’t know any better. [laughs] I just kept banging my head against that wall.

RA: You also wrote a lot of science-fiction short stories and novels in your early writing career. Did that start at the same time?

CONWAY: I don’t know that I wrote a lot of science-fiction. That was the other area of interest that I had, science-fiction and short stories, but again that was based on the general notion of what was possible. I saw that there were these digest magazines that were buying stories, so I started writing them and sold some to Ted White at Amazing Science Fiction and Fantastic. Fantastic was fantasy-oriented. This was actually a few years after I’d started writing comics. I may have met White at one of the comic book hangouts—the comic folk used to have these gatherings Fridays, after work, once a month. It would be at various peoples’ homes in New York City.

RA: That would be the “First Friday” gatherings?

CONWAY: The gathering would go from people like Roy Thomas

one month to Archie Goodwin to… I think Bernie Wrightson hosted them at one point. It was just whoever’s apartment would be available. People would show up from all different areas of comics. Jeff Jones was a regular. Ted White, who edited the SF/fantasy digests I mentioned, came once or twice. I met Ted at one of the Friday gatherings. I said, “Gee, I’d like to send you some stories.” and he said sure. So he knew who I was when he got the stories. It was very nice. He was very encourFantastic Foray aging. I sold some prose The cover of a 1970 issue of the fantasy stories to him. He introduced pulp magazine Fantastic, which me to Terry Carr. Terry heralded one of Conway’s early sales to actually bought my first novel editor Ted White. Art by Michael J. for the Ace Science Fiction line.

Kaluta. Retrieved from the sinceI wrote another couple of renamed Golden Age Comic Book novels after that. Still, I Stories website. [© the respective basically dropped writing copyright holders.] science-fiction sometime in the early to mid-1970s. I was just too busy writing comics and, later, films.

RA: Your first stories that I’m aware of were at DC. How did you break in, since you were still a teenager when that happened? The editor would probably have been Dick Giordano.

CONWAY: Yes, it was Giordano. There was this strange period….

As I was saying, I was going on these Thursday tours at DC and I basically went around [while on the tours] and introduced myself to a lot of the different editors. At one point, and I would have still been a freshman in high school, maybe even earlier, I asked the guy who was running the tour if there was any kind of free work I could do there. This was before they had interns, but I was asking if I could do the job that an intern would have today. I didn’t even know what an intern was. So, for a couple of weeks that summer, I worked for free at the DC offices. I was just cutting up old artwork, which is kind of horrible, I guess, but that’s what they had me do.

RA: Would this have been for Sol Harrison?

Booked!

Two early paperback SF novels by Conway: The Midnight Dancers (1971) and Mindship (1974). Cover art by Davis Meltzer & Kelly Freas, respectively.

Thanks to Gene Reed. [© the respective copyright holders.]

CONWAY: No, this was for a guy named Walter Hurlachek. Sol was, I think, the guy who was in charge, but Walter was sort of like his assistant at the time. He led the office tours. He was a very nice gentleman, in his fifties at the time I was doing this. I guess he retired sometime after that. He brought me in to do just the art stuff. So, because I was there, I went around to the different editors and asked if I could submit stories to them. I just went from one editor to another. I started with people like Julie Schwartz because I was obviously a huge Julie Schwartz fan, as anybody who read DC Comics was. Julie wasn’t really very encouraging. Mort Weisinger actually asked me for some story ideas. He didn’t like anything I came up with. [laughs] I came up with some spec scripts for him. The first person who ever actually asked me to write something was Robert Kanigher. He was still an editor at DC at the time. He asked me to write a Metal Men script because he had gotten way behind on some assignments or whatever. He rejected it, though, when I’d finished it. He said it was no good, that he didn’t like it.

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”

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Changing Sabretooths In Mid-Stream GC’s story for The Phantom Stranger #11 (Jan.-Feb. 1971), whose final Aparo-drawn page is seen at left, was his last series work for DC for several years. By the time it saw print, the young New Yorker was already the scripter of Marvel’s “Ka-Zar” series, beginning with Astonishing Tales #3 (Dec. 1970), in tandem with penciler Barry Smith & inker Sam Grainger. Thanks to Jim Kealy and Barry Pearl, respectively, for the scans. [“Phantom Stranger” page © DC Comics; “Ka-Zar” splash © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The two “Phantom Stranger” stories that I did for Joe Orlando were the first recurring character I wrote, outside of the wraparound pages for Abel in House of Secrets. I had been trying to get work from Roy and Marvel since those mystery stories in 1969.

There was a sense, though, at Marvel that they didn’t need new writers. They had Stan and Roy. They had Gary Friedrich as a backup guy, basically. But Marvel had started to expand. Stan was in the middle of re-negotiating his contract. He wanted to do less writing. Roy was being elevated to more and more authority. With more titles coming out, somebody had to pick up the slack. I think they realized they needed another fulltime writer on their staff. I was in the right place at the right time. “Ka-Zar” was, in a way, my tryout series.

Mind you, I wasn’t the only writer Marvel was trying out. They had a fellow there named Alan Gold… Alan Gold? Is that right?

RA: There was an Allyn Brodsky who wrote some stories for Marvel around that time.

CONWAY: That may have been Sol’s son or nephew. Just the same last name. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: I basically hired Allyn, and to the best of my knowledge he was not related to Sol Brodsky.] Mimi Gold!

That was the Gold!

Mimi Gold did a Jim Aparo. couple of stories for Stan Lee, Thanks to Ed Fields them, too. She was an 1968. & Jim Amash. assistant editor or a secretary or something. They were floundering about trying to find someone to do this stuff for them on a regular basis. For whatever reasons, Roy thought I had the potential to be that guy. After I’d done a few of the stories—the “Ka-Zars”—he asked me to come over and work for them exclusively. They would give me two books to do if I would do that. It wasn’t like they had to argue me into it. I wanted to work for Marvel. At the same time, though, DC had given me all these chances, so I went back to DC and told them Marvel wanted me to work exclusively for them. At that point, DC offered me Batman. They thought that would trump the Marvel offer, and it would have done that except Marvel was going to give me two books and I really did want to work for them. Also, at that point, Dick Giordano had been removed as an editor. He had been the guy I wanted to work with exclusively there, so I did end up taking the job at Marvel.

RA: You worked with some of Marvel’s best artists, right off the bat.

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”

been running into Spider-Man, for example. I mean, we did do a “Werewolf by Night/Spider-Man” cross-over eventually, but had [Jack Russell] lived in New York it would have taken the reader out of his world that we were creating, to have him cheek to cheek with super-heroes.

RA: If you were reading the Marvel comics sequentially, it often brought up questions of where were The Avengers when Galactus was threatening New York? Where were all the heroes? It shouldn’t have been just the Fantastic Four. As you said, putting all the heroes in New York should have had them stumbling all over each other.

CONWAY: Right. And besides that aspect, I had taken a trip to Los Angeles in 1971 and fell in love with the West Coast. I eventually moved out here. I just wanted to set things in this sort of area, just to have that different environment. Largely because I really liked that environment.

RA: Besides “Werewolf by Night” and “Man-Thing,” there were a number of other titles that Roy plotted the first issue to and you wrote the dialogue. Tomb of Dracula and Killraven/War of the Worlds both started this way, also. You didn’t stay for long on any of those titles, however. Why was that?

CONWAY: Because, for the most part, Marvel was expanding.

They were trying to reach into other markets—monster books,

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more super-hero books, different kinds of anthology books, the black-&-white magazines—and basically Roy would get an idea.

He would write the original story or outline with the notion that he would write the final script, but then the reality would pop that he was already doing a lot of work, both editing and writing, and so he would pass the title on to me, because I was the next in line.

But, for the most part, I didn’t necessarily have a personal stake in doing these books, either. They needed to be done and I was the guy who could do that. Roy trusted me to get the book set up firmly. I would do the title until we found somebody else to take over the book. I think I liked Werewolf by Night more than some of the others because I got to do this personal kind of writing for it, which worked well for me. But there were a lot of cases where I’d start something and pass it on to the next new writer to arrive at Marvel.

RA: That appeared to be the case when you wrote the first issue of the Beast in Amazing Adventures, then it was passed along to Steve Englehart as his first series with the second issue.

CONWAY: Also Ms. Marvel. I think it was a comfort level thing [with Roy], that he was comfortable with me. He thought I could do these things. It was methodology that worked for us.

RA: It might also have been a marketing tool of sorts. The kid who picked

Wham, Bam… Gerry plotted and scripted the first solo exploits of “The Beast” in Amazing Adventures #11 (March 1972) and Ms. Marvel in her first issue several years later (Jan. 1977), but quickly moved on to other series, leaving these two in the capable hands of Steve Englehart and Chris Claremont, respectively. But Roy had nothing to do with Ms. Marvel—although he had co-created Carol Danvers (her alter ego) in the second “Captain Marvel” story in 1968. The “Carla Conway” credited in the latter with “aid and abetment” was Gerry’s first wife, aka Carla Joseph. AA art by Tom Sutton; MM art by John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, & Dave Hunt. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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DAN BARRY & Flash Gordon

Continuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

A/E

By Alberto Becattini

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Last issue saw the first part of this artistic biography of Dan Barry (1923-1997), who in his day was both a leading comic book illustrator and the longrunning force behind the iconic Flash Gordon newspaper comic strip that had been created in 1934 by Alex Raymond. The previous installment dealt with Barry’s comic book career at DC, Lev Gleason, and elsewhere, his relatively brief stint on the Tarzan comic strip, a side foray into advertising, and his and King Features’ re-launching of the daily Flash Gordon comic strip in 1951, after a seven-year hiatus, while he was still drawing a few comic book stories for Ziff-Davis. This time around, Alberto Becattini covers the tempestuous

Flashes Of Two Worlds Dan Barry at the easel, in the early 1950s, pursuing his interest in painting—a photo flanked by his “Johnny Quick” splash page from Adventure Comics #145 (Oct. 1949), starring DC’s very own authorized imitation of super-speedster “The Flash” (scripted by Otto Binder)—and the artist’s vision of Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov sailing the seas of the planet Mongo in the Flash Gordon daily strip for July 21, 1956. The “JQ” scan was sent by Jim Kealy & Michael T. Gilbert; the latter is reproduced from a scan of the original art. Unless otherwise noted, all art & photos accompanying this article were provided by Alberto Becattini. [Adventure page © DC Comics; Flash Gordon daily © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

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Continuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

Flash Gordon years....

Characters Created, Assistants Wanted During the 39 years Barry worked on Flash Gordon, he came up with several interesting characters. In 1953 he created the Space Kids, which included Ray Carson, Percival “Boom Boom” Dunn, Worriless Willie Casey (a simpleton endowed with psychic powers), and Michael Roberts, better known as “Microbe.” The Space Kids were obviously inspired by The Little Wise Guys, whom Barry had drawn for Daredevil Comics back in 1947 (Microbe, in particular, looked very much like Peewee—hairstyle included).

Later on, Barry introduced the mad musician Egon Blant (1955); Dr. Zarkov’s long-lost daughter Zara (1956); con-men Kozy and Scurvy (1956); racketeer Eye McFry and sex bomb Vicki (1961); Brad Masters, a dolphin-tamer on the Venusian seas (1962); another Egon, this one a mild-mannered time traveler from the XXVth century (1963); and the Abyssinian prince and Special Services agent Kenoma (1972), who was the first black character to co-star in Flash Gordon.

Since 1948 Barry had also been painting—a passion he would successfully cultivate until the early 1980s. (He had 81 one-man shows in the U.S., France, Denmark, Germany, and Austria, as well as over 60 invitational group exhibitions.) Consequently, he always made large use of assistants on Flash Gordon. Jan Sand lent a hand story-wise for the 1954 “Lost Continent” sequence, which was mostly drawn by Paul Norris, Carmine Infantino, Fred Kida, and Sy Barry. As Sand recalled:

I met Mr. Barry when he had a temporary run at teaching my class at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, substituting for Jerry Robinson for a short period. I graduated from the course shortly afterward and Dan asked me to try out as his assistant. I worked for him for only a short time, in an office in a building, now gone, opposite Cooper The Sand of Time Union. I never got into doing much Born in Brooklyn, NY, actual art assistance for him, but he did and currently residing use me as an idea man and a writer. The in Helsinki, Finland, Flash Gordon strip at the time writer and poet Jan concerned an underwater civilization in Sand was 27 when he the depths off the southern Atlantic coast helped Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon strip. of the USA, and my design for a depth meter for the diving sphere made it into the strip. I also wrote a Sunday sequence involving an asteroid miner named Pebbles living in a hollowed-out asteroid. Dan was very kind to me, but it was obvious our relationship was not very productive. I can only say that Dan was a very generous and kind and hugely talented person.9 In early 1954 Barry had to resign himself to taking over the scripts on the weekly Flash Gordon, too. To speed up things, he would buy plots from such expert story-men as Bob Kanigher and Bill Finger. British-born artist Ralph Mayo regularly assisted on the dailies during 1954-55.

Barry’s Lucky Starr In 1955, Barry left his apartment at the Hotel des Artistes to set up a studio with Leonard Starr and John Prentice. The three of them worked and lived in a large apartment, located at Central Park West and 92nd Street. As Starr recalled:

The Dan Barry Art Gallery (Left:) Barry with his paintings at the Hotel Des Artistes, circa 1954. (Right:) Dan Barry with Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom creator Lee Falk at Barry’s 20th Century West Gallery Collection, circa mid-1950s.

We met when John Prentice and I were both in the middle of a divorce. Our wives had practically wiped us out financially, so our working and living space was pretty primitive. We knew about Dan’s reputation as a difficult guy to get along with, but at our first meeting he was very engaging and fun to be with, so Johnny and I figured what the hell, we’d give it a shot. I would occasionally help Dan out when he was pressed for time for one reason or another. The best it gets in this business is sharing a studio with other cartoonists.

With Dan, there was a lot of friction, casting a pall on the place. Over a fairly short period of time, the charming facade he had at the beginning of our relationship crumbled, and he more than justified the reputation we’d ignored. One day, Johnny and I found another place we shared as a studio. Dan Barry was a charismatic, very talented man who, on the basis of our evidence, seemed to seek relationships for the kick of destroying them.10 The first sequence Starr contributed to was “Starling” (1955), [Continued on p. 50]

50

Continuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

Apartment 4-B—Right Next To Apartment 3-G, Right?

Flash, Barin, Dale,and Zara on Mongo in the June 16, 1956, strip drawn by Dan Barry and Leonard Starr. Reproduced from original art. [© the respective copyright holder.]

[Continued from p. 46] which was written by Sid Jacobson, an assistant editor at Harvey Comics at the time, who would later recall:

[NOTE: Aldo Giunta, who wrote “Space Circus” (1955) for Barry before becoming a playwright. —Alberto.]

I met Dan Barry through John Giunta, More Assistants who worked for me long years. I After the Barry-Prentice-Starr studio remember the studio was on Central dissolved in mid-1956, Barry got an Park West, somewhere in the low apartment at a fancy hotel between 57th seventies. I met Dan there either after and 59th Street. For work or during lunch “Cybernia” (1957), Barry hours. Besides Dan, there left the bulk of the Artist John Prentice; photo was John Prentice, Novelist, songwriter, and artwork to the great Wally

by Jim Keefe. Leonard Starr, Leonard Starr, and Howie comics editor Sid Jacobson the other comics creator who Wood, who also posed as Post. It seems to me I first was 26 when he wrote one shared an apartment for a Flash Gordon for the gave Dan a synopsis daily sequence for Dan Barry time with Dan Barry, was reference photos Barry in 1955. which he would then go pictured on p. 48. took with his Polaroid over. Then I proceeded to camera.

As for the plot, he write it panel by panel, and probably gave it to asked science-fiction writer/editor Larry Shaw for him to edit in weekly pieces. I do remember that help. As Shaw later recalled: the changes and corrections were enormous and it became tedious for me. The only sequence I did One Saturday morning in 1957 when I was still in was the “Starling” story. After I finished it, he bed in my apartment on Greenwich Street, New wanted me to continue. But I had started to write York City, the telephone rang. A cheerful and Artist Tom Sawyer (nee Tom songs at that time and didn’t want this distraction Scheuer) was interviewed by disgustingly wide-awake voice announced that the to my “blazing career.” Somehow I recall that a Jim Amash for A/E #77. caller was Dan Barry, the man who drew the Flash 11 nephew of John Giunta’s came after me.

Photo courtesy of Tom.

Done And Dusted April 1, 1957, daily strip by Dan Barry and Tom Sawyer; the latter penciled the “Dust Devil” sequence for Barry. Reproduced from the original art. [© King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

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(Right:) Bob Powell’s rejected intro page for Harvey’s Man In Black. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, from the Joe Simon collection. [© Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

The Mystery Of The Missing Comic! - Part 1

by Michael T. Gilbert

E

very collector dreams of someday finding a “lost” comic. Who hasn’t fantasized about plunking down a buck for a coverless Action Comics #1 at a flea market? Or discovering a forgotten Marvel Comics #1 “ashcan” in Aunt Petunia’s closet? Or maybe even stumbling on a hitherto unknown issue of a ‘50s comic— one not even listed in Overstreet?

I recently found a “lost” comic myself: the fifth issue of Harvey Comics’ Man in Black, a series that officially ended with #4! But before I get into that story, let’s first discuss Mr. Black’s checkered history.

Strange Ad-venture!

I was a lad of fourteen when I first stumbled onto “The Man in Black Called Fate” in the back of Harvey’s Green Hornet #31 (Dec. 1946). The year was 1965, and it was love at first sight.

This early Man in Black ad is from Harvey’s Stuntman #1 (April 1946). [© Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

Though his origin was never officially stated, the Man in Black was clearly someone to be taken seriously. Draped in a blue-black cloak, his face hidden in shadows, Fate made a most imposing figure. To my eye, Bob Powell’s baby completely blew away the lead feature.

Bob Powell. With thanks to son Seth Powell; sent in conjunction with the cover article on the artist in Alter Ego #67, still available from TwoMorrows Publishing.

He Gets Around!

Powell had actually drawn a similar character in 1940, when he created The Shadowman as a foil to Mr. Mystic, the supernatural backup-series hero in Will Eisner’s Spirit Section.

Powell revisited the concept in November 1945, when he drew the premier “Man in Black” stories for All-New Comics #11 and Front Page #1.

From then on, Fate became Powell’s signature character. In a letter to Jerry DeFuccio dated July 10, 1966 (published in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #10), Powell talked about his dark hero:

Like the Man in Black, The Shadowman was also a reaper of souls.

He was also a fairly sympathetic character, performing a necessary but sometimes unpleasant job.

“Man in Black was my favorite, of course, and my baby exclusively (though Harvey owns, natch).” Powell remained virtually the only artist to draw

The Shadowman Knows!

Powell’s Shadowman was a precursor to the Man in Black. From the Dec. 22, 1940, Spirit Section. [© Will Eisner Studios, Inc.]

One More Ad! This ad’s from Alarming Tales #1 (Sept. 1957). [© 2014 Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Fandom Archive

61

The 20-Cent Plague A Chat With JIRO TOMIYAMA, Editor Of A Little-Known Comics Fanzine From January 1961!

by Bill Schelly

I

Introduction

t has long been established that there were fanzines either partially or fully dedicated to comic strips and comic books as early as the 1930s. At first, most were published by members of science-fiction fandom, and later by those in the EC fandom that arose in 1953 with the publication of Bhob Stewart’s EC Fan Bulletin #1. After the demise of EC Comics and Picto-Fiction, some of the EC fanzines continued, most notably Ron Parker’s Hoohah.

Then came fanzines that followed the work of the EC artists in other publications, or that imitated Mad, or that published a mix of SF and comics material, such as Larry Ivie’s Concept. In addition, a group of fantasy and comics fans in California united to form the West Coast Zines (WCZ) group, putting out a number of publications devoted to fantastic films and literature.

One such fanzine was Jiro Tomiyama’s Plague (1961), a virtually all-comics fanzine that only had one issue.

Seemingly forgotten, the Comic Fandom Archives is dedicated to giving this obscure amateur magazine the recognition it deserves. After all, it came before both Alter Ego #1 and

Comic Art #1, and it was a high-quality publication.

When I contacted its editor, Jiro Tomiyama was amendable to an interview but requested that we do it through e-mail. It was completed in October 2013.

BILL SCHELLY: When and where were you born?

JIRO TOMIYAMA: I was born in the Boyle Heights district on the Eastside of Los Angeles, several months after the start of World War II. April 3, 1942, to be exact. Not long after, our family was moved with others to the relocation camp of Manzanar, California (now a national monument) till sometime in 1944.

BS: Could you describe how your interest in cartoons and in doing your own artwork evolved before you got involved in fandom?

TOMIYAMA: Like a lot of kids, I liked to draw from a very early age. One of the first lickings I ever got from my father was the time I drew a mural with crayons on the wall above my bed. I had to be six or seven at the

A Plague On Both Your Houses!

Jiro Tomiyama in the late 1950s (left), and in November 2013 (right)—and the cover of Plague #1, printed partly via photo offset and partly (the red areas) via silk screen. Art by Jiro Tomiyama. [© Jiro Tomiyama.]

The 20-Cent Plague

63

writing, and I liked Walt Kelly’s inking style.

BS: There are several items in Plague that are simply labeled “reviews,” articles on The Flintstones, Mister Magoo, and Dondi. The Dondi piece was written by Stanford Abrahams. Who was he? And who wrote the other two reviews?

TOMIYAMA: Stanford Abrahams... hmmmmm. I’m sorry to say I don’t recollect how I came in contact with him. The other material, I believe, was stuff gleaned from the publicity departments of the companies that owned the brands.

BS: Who wrote the piece on political cartoons?

TOMIYAMA: That piece was written by the editor of the Belmont High School newspaper at the time, who was a work colleague of mine named Art Yamamoto.

BS: Although the cartoon strip and animation characters (Pogo, Dondi, Mister Magoo, The Flintstones) appeared in comic books, they were biggest in their original form. The only article in the issue about comic books as a medium was “Downfall of Comics” by Mike Deckinger, and the attached “Comic Art Hall of Fame,” which included 5 or 6 comicbook artists. Were you a fan of comic books, and if so, which ones? Would there have been articles on comic books in future issues of Plague, if it had continued?

Funny, Those Animals!

(Above:) Jiro’s artwork accompanying a syndicate-provided bio of Pogo writerartist Walt Kelly. [Pogo TM & © Estate of Walt Kelly.]

(Below right:) Although swiped from a Life magazine image, Tomiyama’s Flintstones drawing shows how skilled he was at working on ditto masters. The Flintstones’ animated prime-time TV series had debuted on Sept. 30, 1960, three months before Plague #1 was published. [Flintstones TM & © Time-Warner.]

TOMIYAMA: Larry Byrd knew a lithography printer that he had connections with, and so the cover was done in litho in combination with silk screen (the red border).

BS: One of the notable aspects of Plague was the quality of its ditto printing, and your expertise in drawing on ditto masters. How did you acquire that skill? Did you have your own ditto machine?

TOMIYAMA: Nearly all of the fanzines at the time were mimeographed, but Larry had no access to a mimeograph machine. A little research on Larry’s part introduced him to the ditto process, and then he discovered that his church had one and that there were different-colored ditto masters one could use. After that, we figured some things out, and were off and running.

BS: When you say “straight from the Hall Syndicate,” am I correct in understanding that the Walt Kelly bio was a reprint from their publicity material for Pogo? Were you a big Pogo fan?

TOMIYAMA: You are quite right about that. I just wrote for the information from their publicity department and they were happy to send it along to me. I loved Pogo. I liked the

TOMIYAMA: I have to confess that the platform of a fanzine would have been better served if it had focused on comic art and related themes more. So, looking back after all these years, it seems as though, at the time, I was trying to put humor into the thing wherever I could, rather than concentrating on what comic fans might want to read about. I didn’t have a clear idea of a target audience with regard to providing material. If I’d stayed with it, I think I would’ve done better, what with responses from folks who were interested in comics and comic art. As I’ve indicated before, I was a big EC fan (I liked all the titles) and of others, such as Tarzan, Captain Marvel, Donald Duck, Plastic Man, etc. I liked to draw and I was hoping to connect with folks who were attracted to the same things.

BS: Just curious, how did you get hold of the Deckinger piece? Did you know him? Did you request it? Or did another editor send it to you? Of course, he wrote for Xero and was one of the better fan writers of the

64

Comic Fandom Archive

Disney Daze (Left:) “The Downfall of Comics” was a screed against Dr. Fredric Wertham (here, “Dr. Frederic Worthless”) by talented fan writer Mike Deckinger. The excellent illustration is by “Jeets” (Jiro Tomiyama). [Characters TM & © Walt Disney Studios.]

BS: What kind of feedback did you get on Plague?

time.

TOMIYAMA: I can’t help you there. You know more about Mike Deckinger than I do. I suspect the contact came from Larry Byrd or Ron Haydock. If we corresponded, I don’t recall. I never met Mike.

And I don’t recall the circumstances on how I was able to acquire the piece. I’m sorry I can’t give you more information, but it’s been over 50 years.

TOMIYAMA: Not bad. I sent a copy of Plague to Harvey Kurtzman at EC, and his assistant, Chuck Alverson, wrote me a real nice letter, saying how much he enjoyed it and how funny he thought it was. [NOTE: Kurtzman was editing Help! magazine for Warren Publishing at the time. —Bill.] I heard back from some other folks and the tone was pretty positive. I wish I’d saved the letters. I traded fanzines with Robert Crumb and his brother Charles. But don’t ask me anything more about that exchange. Robert Crumb I have to give a world of credit to. He stayed with the drawing and then became a superstar of underground comics. Who would’ve known in those days? My guess would be that not even Robert had an inkling.

BS: How would you summarize the experience of publishing Plague?

When you think back on it, what did it mean to you?

BS: Did you have meetings of the WCZ guys? What sort of fannish activities happened apart from fanzine publishing? Were you big into correspondence with others?

TOMIYAMA: We had informal meetings. We were an enthusiastic bunch of young guys with ideas and little experience. In hindsight, a mentor would’ve been good. Larry and Ron were more active than Charlie and I were, and did a lot of schmoozing with other fans and fan groups. We would tag along sometimes. I met Forrest Ackerman and Jim Harmon that way. I wasn’t into correspondence with others because I didn’t really know anyone at the time. I was a beginner. I did get to know Jim Harmon a little, because he always seemed to hang out at Ron Haydock’s house. Jim was a good and generous man.

BS: Why didn’t Plague continue?

TOMIYAMA: The truth of the matter is, I was 20, and had just got a regular job through the help of Charlie Scarborough at the Beverly Hills Post Office.

I bought a car, and like most guys my age, started to chase women on a serious basis. With that and my studies in college, the fanzine thing fizzled out.

BS: How many copies of Plague were printed?

TOMIYAMA: Ditto runs weren’t especially long, which you probably know. But mimeograph, the other choice, was a poor medium to draw for. I can’t say exactly what the number was. My best guess would be well under one hundred copies.

What, No Alex Raymond?

Editor Tomiyama’s self-selected “Comic Art Hall of Fame” for 1961, each caricature drawn in the artist’s style. (Top row:) Frank Frazetta, George Evans, Milton Caniff. (Second row:) Jack Davis, Al Williamson. (Third row:) Hal Foster, Wally Wood, Reed Crandall. All EC alums except Caniff and Foster. [Art © Jiro Tomiyama.]

74

words, usually adjectives. For instance, take the sentence: “The tree stood lonely in the wind.”

Art ©2014 Mark Lewis

By the use of a few adjectives and interpolative phrases, you can build it up as follows: “The lonely tree, looking forlorn against the wintry sky with its low scudding clouds, whipped in the bitter gale, all its branches creaking and groaning and twisting like supplicating hands, as though it were begging the gods of storm to have pity.”

Part XII

O

Abridged & Edited by Paul 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 from 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 12th excerpt, titled “From the Ridiculous to the Inane,” Otto battles writer’s block and discloses old tricks of the trade.

—Paul C. Hamerlinck.

T

oday I don’t know what to write.

On a day like this I shouldn’t write at all, to tell the truth.

Some books on writing will tell you to write every day, without fail, no matter how much gibberish is written. Just write and exercise your brain because it builds up a good habit pattern. Just like when you get in the habit of taking days off, those sage experts tell you, you will find yourself inventing all sorts of flimsy excuses and get nowhere. So I am following their advice and, with my mind a complete blank, I’m just going to discipline myself and make myself write.

Let’s see. Can’t I think of something to write about?

Anything at all. I look outside my window, to see if the weather can furnish inspiration. Gad, it’s raining! I look around the room. Gad! I thumb through a magazine. Gad! I look at a newspaper. Gad! I look in a mirror. Gad! I look at this blank sheet of paper. Gad! You see, there is absolutely nothing that starts off a train of thought. It’s horrible. Assuming this chapter would be 1000 words long, I would have to fill it up with three or more pages of typewritten material. Gad! Of course, I can use the old trick of “padding.” This lets you in on a writer’s secret. Padding is when you stretch out something like a rubber band, by the use of superfluous

There you have it. Instead of seven simple words, you expand it to forty-two, six times its original length. And, at a penny a word, instead of seven cents you get forty-two cents. Sound business, isn’t it?

Ah, but beware, if you are an aspiring writer.

Padding usually displays a paucity of ideas in the writer’s mind. Instead of moving the story along, he is delaying it.

Editors are quite conscious of padding, and it only makes the story “wordy.” You know, one of the main things an amateur writer must learn is not what to put in a story, but what to leave out. Most embryo writers are far too verbose… their characters are “talky,” all blabbermouths. Their stories need blue-penciling to half or less of the original length. The true secret of writing is to use bold strokes, and let the rest to the reader’s imagination.

76

“A Leader Of Men” Bill Parker

L

BILL PARKER On King Arthur & The Origin Of Captain Marvel Excerpts From Parker’s 1948 Testimony with notes and commentary by Brian Cremins Edited by Paul C. Hamerlinck

ast summer I had the opportunity to visit the National Archives in New York City to read through the National Comics Publications, Inc., v. Fawcett Publications, Inc., case files. I was not sure what I would find. I’d read short excerpts from the trial transcripts in C.C. Beck’s “The World’s Mightiest Waste of Time and Money” (reprinted in TwoMorrows’ Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA, pages 14-15). Chip Kidd also includes copies of a few of the court documents in his book Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal (Abrams ComicArt, 2010). But I was curious to know how many of the trial records still existed. I asked my dad to act as my research assistant on the trip. He’s a Superior Court judge in Connecticut and worked as a corporate attorney for almost 30 years before he was appointed to the bench. I knew that

if I had any questions, he’d be able to answer them.

The research is for a chapter about the lawsuit in my upcoming Captain Marvel book. I suspect that by writing about the legal squabbles between National and Fawcett, I’m also writing for my dad, who once hoped I’d go to law school. When I was a kid, I read Frank Miller’s Daredevil and decided that, like Matt Murdock, I might one day study law. I ended up studying comic books instead, but my dad, as always, has remained supportive (and is now helping me edit my lawsuit chapter, even though I suspect he likes Batman more than he likes Captain Marvel).

The National Archives has nine boxes full of paperwork from the case, including depositions and courtroom transcripts. I was only able to read and copy a small fraction of the material during our visit in June 2014. I made photocopies of Beck’s deposition from 1944 and his testimony from 1948. I also managed to copy sections of Bill Parker’s direct testimony, also from the spring of 1948. I should mention that my academic research focuses on theories of memory and nostalgia. Although I devote very little of

Bill And Billy’s Trials & Triumphs Captain Marvel writer/co-creator Bill Parker (top left) and DC lawyer Louis Nizer (above) surround the first “CM” page from Whiz Comics #2 (real #1; cover-date Feb. 1940) that started it all: the beginning of the red-suited character’s success… and the start of Fawcett’s tribulations with publishing competitor DC/National. The Parker portrait, drawn by CM’s artist/co-creator C.C. Beck, first appeared within a special one-page strip for Steranko’s History of Comics 2 (1972)—later reprinted by Bill Harper in a late-’80s FCA newsletter. The Nizer cartoon, also by Beck, appeared in the Beck-edited FCA/SOB #8/19 (June/July ’81) to accompany the first part of the artist's article on DC's lawsuit against Fawcett, which he entitled “The World’s Mightiest Waste of Time and Money.” [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics; Nizer cartoon © Estate of C.C. Beck.]

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The Power of an Acronym In Xij{!Dpnjdt #4 (May 1940), an amnesiac Billy Batson remembered what Ă&#x2019;SHAZAMĂ&#x201C; stood for, as Captain Marvel writer/co-creator Bill Parker later elucidated the meaning of the word during his March 1948 testimony. In the early stages of Captain ThunderĂ&#x2022;s development, Parker and FawcettĂ&#x2022;s Ralph Daigh settled on the concept of the hero not being a leader of a group of men, but rather a singular hero with the attributes of others.

At right is a UPI photo of Daigh (courtesy of Shaun Clancy) taken on 5-11-59 in Washington, DC. UPIĂ&#x2022;s caption: Ă&#x2019;Ralph Daigh, Editorial Director of Fawcett Publications (right), with Lloyd Mallan, FawcettĂ&#x2022;s Usvf!Nbhb{jof science writer, compare notes as they wait to testify before the House Space Committee. The committee is holding hearings on the authenticity of the Soviet Ă&#x201D;Lunik.Ă&#x2022; Mallan, who went to Moscow to talk to Russian scientists, claims the moon-shot last half was nothing but a Ă&#x201D;Big Red Lie.Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x201C; [Billy Batson TM & Š DC Comics.]