Alter Ego #138 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Monstrous Comics Fanzine

PRESENTS

HARLAN ELLISON VS. THE

8.95

In the USA

No.138 March 2016

MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL!

PLUS!

C.C. BECK ON THE

DC/FAWCETT LAWSUIT

82658 27763

Shazam hero, Billy Batson, & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics; “Shazam” is a registered trademark of DC Comics. Harlan Ellison is a registered TM of The Kilimanjaro Corporation.

BONUS!

TWO TITANIC TRIBUTES TO

FRED KIDA

Vol. 3, No. 138 / March 2016 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editors

Bill Schelly & Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.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

Contents Writer/Editorial: One Tuesday Down A Rabbit Hole . . . . . . . 2 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #197 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 P.C. Hamerlinck leads off the issue this time—with a great Mark Lewis cover!

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 SF great Harlan Ellison tells Brian Cremins why he loves The Monster Society of Evil!

Cover Artists

C.C. Beck (with a bit of help from a photograph)

Captain Marvel’s Day(s) In Court [& Sequel] . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Cover Colorist

Seal Of Approval: The Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Unidentified 1940s Fawcett staff colorist (with a bit of help from John Morrow)

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Ger Apeldoorn Richard J. Arndt Terry Austin Bob Bailey Alberto Becattini John Benson Rick Bierman William Biggins Alan Brennert Bernie & Lucille Bubnis Mike Burkey Aaron Caplan Shaun Clancy Comic Book Plus (website) Pierre Comtois Chet Cox Karen Craft Brian Cremins Bob Cromwell Thomas De Soto Harlan Ellison Jackie Estrada Darryl Etheridge Justin Fairfax Ray Falcoa Rocky Fawcett Shane Foley Drew Friedman Stephan Friedt Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Melissa Giovagnoli Grand Comics Database George Hagenauer Ben Herman

Molly Hermann M. Thomas Inge Alex Jay Jim Kealy Dominique Leonard Mark Lewis Richard Lieberson Paris Liu Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Boyd Magers Jay Mazhar Robyn Dean McHattie Mike Mikulovsky Ian Millsted Brian K. Morris Mark Muller Dr. Amy Kiste & John Nyberg Barry Pearl Nick Perks Jay Piscopo Bud Plant Ken Quattro Ethan Roberts Herb Rogoff Howard Rogofsky Randy Sargent Vijah Shah Anthony Synder Flo Steinberg Dann Thomas Art Tripp Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Hames Ware Len Wein Dylan Williams

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Fred Kida, Earl Norem, & Steve Moore

Artist/co-creator C.C. Beck’s 1944 deposition in the case of Superman vs. Captain Marvel.

Lushly illustrated listing of the sources of Amy K. Nyberg’s 1998 study of the Comics Code.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! “In Defense Of Comic Books” . . 45 Michael T. Gilbert shows Lev Gleason, publisher of Crime Does Not Pay, speaking out in ’52.

The Secret Lair Of Dr. Strange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Paris Liu relates this history of Doc’s abode at 177A Bleecker Street, NYC.

ComicFandomArchive:SurvivorsOfTheFirstComicon–Pt. II . . 59 Bill Schelly heralds the 2014 panel celebrating the 50th anniversary of a major event.

Two Tributes To Fred Kida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Paying homage to the noted Golden Age artist—plus a never-before-published interview.

In Memoriam: Earl Norem & Steve Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 77

On Our Cover: We had a cover all prepared for this issue that spotlighted the one and only Harlan Ellison. But then Harlan told us he had an idea of his own: the cover art for Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #22 (Oct. 3, 1941) by original “Captain Marvel” artist C.C. Beck and his colleague Pete Costanza, with the head of a young Harlan E. superimposed over Billy Batson’s, plus a captured (and Bell-jarred) Mr. Mind in another Beck image. So we scrapped our earlier cover notion and went with Harlan’s. You can’t improve on perfection! [Shazam hero, Billy Batson, & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics; photo courtesy of Harlan Ellison.] Above: Nothing better illustrates the capriciousness of the early days of the Comics Code Authority than what it did to stories printed in Avon Periodicals’ barely-limping-along comic book line. For instance, in this panel from a Howard Larsen-drawn story reprinted in Wild Bill Hickok #26 (Jan.-Feb. 1956), the Code folks forced the editors to white out an entire balloon coming from a woman being hauled up onto a ledge by a couple of owlhoots. But this particular act of censorship set us to wondering: What could the young lady possibly have been saying that would’ve so aroused the wrath and/or moral probity of the CCA? You tell us—and no fair looking back at the original printing of the tale, even if you can figure out where it was! (Neither we nor the Grand Comics Database can.) We’ll have the best reader-response lettered in that balloon for a future issue. Of course, just to be ironic about it, all submissions must be written in language suitable for this magazine! We can’t ask the original scripter what she said—because we don’t know who he is! Thanks to Richard Arndt. [© the respective copyright holders.]

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

One Tuesday Down A Rabbit Hole

hile Harlan Ellison has worked in many media and genres, he is known primarily as a writer of sciencefiction—he calls it “speculative fiction,” a better name, actually—and not as a comics writer. Still, he has scribed a number of comic book stories over the years, starting with one for the fabled EC Comics group… and his work has often been adapted into comics by others, whether it’s his script for the 1960s Star Trek TV series; his SF stories adapted by Warren, Marvel, et al.; or the issues of Avengers and Incredible Hulk he plotted for Yours Truly to dialogue. What Harlan talks about to Brian Cremins, however, is mostly centered around Fawcett Publications’ original Captain Marvel in general, and the 25-chapter “Monster Society of Evil” serial in particular. That interview seemed a good fit for A/E, because Harlan’s been a booster of this magazine since the get-go, with phone calls and the occasional postcard—and we’re honored to feature it, along with artist C.C. Beck’s testimony in the infamous DC vs. Fawcett lawsuit. Besides my admiration for his SF work, I have a particular connection to Harlan which he has quite possibly forgotten, but which looms large in my life. In early 1975, about the time my first marriage was beginning to come apart (again), Harlan arranged for fellow comics writer Denny O’Neil and me to fly from New York to Los Angeles to take part in a program of symposiums at UCLA. Called “Ten Tuesdays down a Rabbit Hole,” it consisted of Harlan moderating, with various SF-related guests. Our particular evening dealt with “strange inputs” to science-fiction: things like fantasy, horror—and, in the case of Denny and me, comic books. (Robert “Psycho” Bloch was on the bill with us.) My wife Jean, busy with her own job, remained in Manhattan. Not wanting to intrude upon Harlan during the day or so I was

in L.A., I made plans in advance to spend time with an old friend from high school, Angie Leonard. Upon arrival, I learned Denny and I were invited to Harlan’s home, but I had to beg off, having prior plans. The UCLA event went well. Harlan made sure the audience understood that comics were a valid creative endeavor, not to be sneered at. I’d been to California several times before, starting in 1969, but this time something clicked. The milieu of Westwood, near UCLA… hanging out with Angie, an artist who combined careers in teaching and art therapy… I began to look favorably, for the first time, upon the possibility of someday moving to the West Coast. It’s no coincidence that, after Jeanie and I split up for good that summer, it was to L.A. that I went in February ’76 for a week’s vacation while Marvel was drawing up a contract under which I’d return as editor-in-chief. Again I hung out with Angie, also this time with Don Glut—and, by the time I flew back to New York, I’d already rented an apartment just up the hill from the Warner lot and I told Stan Lee I’d changed my mind about returning to my old job. I was moving to California instead. There, a year later, I would meet Danette Couto (now, I’m happy to say, Dann Thomas), as well as do a bit of film work that proved enjoyable and profitable. And, the way I see it, none of that would’ve happened if Harlan hadn’t invited me down that West Coast rabbit hole one Tuesday in 1975. All that, and he’s one of the foremost SF short story writers ever, to boot. Is it any wonder I’m proud to spotlight Harlan Ellison as the cover feature of this issue of Alter Ego? Keep ’em comin’, Harlan. You’re as good as they get. Bestest,

COMING IN APRIL

139

READY OR NOT—WE’RE PICKING UP WHERE A/E #136 LEFT OFF!

ROY THOMAS

IN THE NEFARIOUS ’90s—PART TWO! • Fabulous barbarian cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN—fronting another special 100-page issue!

• ROY THOMAS talks some more to JIM AMASH about the 1990s at Marvel (Conan the Adventurer, Savage Sword of Conan, and STAN LEE’s almost-was Excelsior line)—DC (Superman and JLA graphic novels)—Cross Plains (Red Sonja, etc.)—Millennium (Cthulhu)—and Topps (X-Files: Season One, Jack Kirby’s Secret City Saga, Xena: Warrior Princess, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, et al.)! • Awesome art by KAYANAN • the BUSCEMA Brothers • HARTLE • DOCHERTY • LARK • McKEEVER • CORBEN • SALE • LIGHTLE • BENDIS • MAYERICK • CHIN • GIORDANO • ST. AUBIN • MAROTO • SCHULTZ • PAQUETTE • MacNEIL • VAN FLEET • MIGNOLA • SIMONSON • KIRBY • DITKO, and others! Art © 2016 Rafael Kayanan

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“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!” Or, “I Think I Was A Fawcett Kid” An Interview With HARLAN ELLISON®

Conducted, Transcribed, & Edited by Brian Cremins, Ph.D. Redacted/Vetted/Engrossed by Harlan Ellison [Copyright © 2014 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. All rights reserved. Harlan Ellison is a Registrered TM of The Kilimanjaro Corporation.]

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: “I’m a comic book fan. I love comic books,” explains Harlan Ellison in his introduction to Ken Viola’s 1987 documentary The Masters of Comic Book Art. “Comic books were the training ground for me in terms of ethics, in terms of the things I learned about courage, good, and evil, what heroism was, right and wrong. Comic books are the Grimm’s Fairy Tales of the popular culture.” On January 10, 2014, I had the opportunity to speak with Ellison about his life-long affection for Captain Marvel and Billy Batson; his memories of C.C. Beck; and his continued devotion to the craft and discipline of storytelling. Along the way, he recalled his days as a young comic book fan in Painesville, Ohio, his memories of the “Monster Society of Evil” serial from Captain Marvel Adventures, and his friendships with, among many other legends, Alfred Bester and original 1970s DC Shazam! editor Julius Schwartz. Always prolific, Harlan Ellison, who turned 80 on May 27, 2014, is in the process of publishing new editions of his novels and short story collections through E-Reads. Meanwhile, Harlan Ellison Books (www.harlanellisonbooks.com) offers readers a selection of his teleplays and screenplays. Online, you can watch Ellison on his YouTube channel as he speaks about everything from his disgust with the distor-

Mind-ing Our Own Business (Top of page:) C.C. Beck’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #29 (Nov. 1943)— and (at right) the image of interviewee Harlan Ellison gracing what was originally to have been the cover of this issue of A/E. (See page 1 for the story behind the switch!) The former is the first of only three covers (out of a possible 25) that spotlighted images of Mr. Mind and/or The Monster Society of Evil while the immortal serial was running—and the latter was designed by Mark Lewis under the aegis of P.C. Hamerlinck, utilizing a photo taken by Thomas De Soto. Full disclosure: It was A/E editor Roy T. who insisted on adding the “SHAZAM!” balloon. [Shazam hero & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics; art in background on unused cover © the respective copyright holders.]

tions of fact in the film Saving Mr. Banks to his love for jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Early in January 2014, I contacted Jason Davis, publisher of Harlan Ellison Books, to see if I could ask Harlan a few questions about Billy Batson and Captain Marvel. A few days later, after a week of sub-zero temperatures, I was sitting with poet Tony Trigilio in the Heartland Café

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”

Don’t Knock The Spock! (Above:) That Ellison kid sure got around! Here he is—curiously, looking exactly the same as on this issue’s cover—with Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk! Thanks to Harlan and Brian Cremins. (Right:) A page from Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s Original The City On The Edge Of Forever Teleplay #2 (IDW, 2014) the comic adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek script. Art by J.K. Woodward. (Far right:) Harlan’s short story collection Approaching Oblivion, 1974, which includes the autobiographical tale “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty.” The cover is the work of Leo and Diane Dillon. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

on the North Side of Chicago when I noticed a voicemail on my phone: “I’m charming and equitable and surly and I’m sure you’ll find the conversation rewarding,” Harlan said at the close of his message. I’d like to thank Harlan for taking the time to speak with me, and for his kindness, his humor, his wisdom, and his generosity. I’d also like to thank Jason Davis for helping to set up this interview, Roy Thomas and P.C. Hamerlinck for encouraging me to transcribe it for FCA, and Allison Felus for copyediting the transcription.

HARLAN ELLISON: Superman was already an established icon, but Superman was beyond any danger. Captain Marvel was closer to me in identifiability because he was Billy Batson at the same time. And Billy Batson had to say “Shazam!” before he could become Captain Marvel. That made him vulnerable, and it also gave him the powers of the wizard Shazam—which were Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, and Zeus, and on and on. And that led me into reading about the gods and studying about Solomon and—being an autodidact and a voracious reader— I already knew how to read because I had taught myself at, I think about the age of two, off cereal boxes. There was a legitimate, historical, mythological tie-in to Captain Marvel and Billy Batson. So I was able to

Ellison Wonderland, Approaching Oblivion, Deathbird Stories, Shatterday, An Edge in My Voice, Angry Candy—those are just a few of the 102 books Ellison has published over the course of his career, a selection of my favorites. What are yours? I began by asking Harlan about the origins of his love for Captain Marvel, Billy Batson, and the other heroes and heroines of The Marvel Family. So now, ladies and gentlemen, Harlan Ellison...

“‘M’ Is For The Million Things You’ve…” (Above:) Ellison in a Shazam! shirt, utilizing the magic word that DC Comics had to make its title for a “Captain Marvel” revival in 1973, due to Marvel Comics’ by-then-trademark on the word “Marvel” in logos. Thanks to Harlan and Brian Cremins. (Right:) Beck’s cover art for Whiz Comics #30 (May 15, 1942) featured the names of the six fabled gods and heroes who gave the word “Shazam” its potency. An explanatory illo of this sort was often included on a contents page in issues of Captain Marvel Adventures. The heading above is Jules Feiffer’s tongue-in-cheek notion of what the “M” in “Shazam” stood for, as per his 1965 book The Great Comic Book Heroes. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

An Interview With Harlan Ellison

BC: You read Superman? ELLISON: Yes. I also read Batman from the start. I read Superman in the first comic I bought; well, as I recall—I didn’t buy it, it was given to me—it was the 1939 World’s Fair Comics, DC’s World’s Fair Comics, with Superman, Batman, Zatara, and a number of other characters. I still have that comic. [NOTE: On the manuscript of this interview, Harlan has added a note: “Interesting story: where I was, when I first read that issue.” —BC.] BC: Did you notice any difference when Otto Binder started writing? I mean, they didn’t have his name in them, but as the stories went on—

It’s Only Fair… Harlan recalls the 1939 issue of New York World’s Fair Comics as featuring Batman as well as Superman. Actually, however, the latter only made the scene in the 1940 issue, a year later… so we’re showcasing both covers. The art on the 1939 issue is by editor Vin Sullivan and Fred Guardineer (including the Superman head, which was colored blond)… on the 1940 one, by Jack Burnley. [TM & © DC Comics.]

identify with Billy’s world because I was a small, lone boy in a small town in Ohio. That’s what appealed to me. BRIAN CREMINS: Did you have friends who were reading it, too? ELLISON: In my time, at that age, everybody read comic books.

ELLISON: I would be lying if I said I took notice of the fact that Otto Binder was writing it. It was not for a number of years, until about 1939 or ’40, when I began reading science-fiction magazines— although I didn’t know they were science-fiction magazines—that I began noticing the odd name, Eando—E-and-O—Binder, which was of course Otto and his brother writing together. At that point, somehow Otto Binder’s name drifted into my head.

C.C. Beck’s name was always in my head, and I have at least five original C.C. Becks here in the house, several of which are Captain Marvels. I didn’t notice Binder, but I always admired the plotting of the “Captain Marvel” stories because they never forced me… [pause] As a storyteller, this is absolutely core-important— after a hundred books I tell you—what a writer strives to do is to gain the willing suspension of disbelief of the reader. And I never for a moment doubted the interior logic of an Otto Binder story once I accepted the basic impossibility of a Captain Marvel/Billy Batson gestalt. I never again had to wonder why a worm was wearing a radio or why there were blue people living under the earth. Otto Binder was a storyteller and he had that absolutely inescapable,

Four From Column “B”… And Two From Column “B” (Above:) A quartet of Binders and a couple of Becks at play back in the day. (L. to r.:) Olga Binder (wife of Jack), C.C. Beck, Ione Binder & husband Otto, Hildur Beck (C.C.'s wife), & Jack Binder. Otto’s brother Jack was an artist and drew the “Mary Marvel” feature for several years. “Binder,” by the way, rhymes with “hinder.” Small wonder Harlan Ellison “didn’t notice” Otto as the writer of the “Monster Society of Evil,” since scripters didn’t receive credit in Fawcett’s comics; at least Beck got a “chief artist” listing on contents pages for several years. This photo appeared in Steranko’s Comixscene #2 (Jan.-Feb. 1973) and in Bill Schelly’s important biography of Otto Binder, Words of Wonder, which, happily, will be reprinted ere long. (Left:) The “Eando Binder” story “Lords of Creation” was serialized in six issues of Argosy pulp magazine in 1939-40. The brothers Earl and Otto [“E” and “O”] Binder collaborated on SF stories under that name from 1932 to 1935, after which Otto mostly wrote alone; but he continued to use the established half-pseudonym. Artist unknown. Thanks to Brian Cremins for both scans.

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”

All They Needed Was A Story By Beck! EC’s Weird Science-Fantasy #24 (June 1954) contained both the Otto Binder-scripted “Teacher from Mars,” with art by Joe Orlando, and the Ellison-written “Upheaval” illustrated by Al Williamson. The prose version of “Teacher” had appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1941; Otto selected it as his favorite among his works of fiction for a later hardcover collection. “Upheaval” was Harlan’s first story to appear in comics form, unless you count the fanzines/minicomics he made as a kid. You can find more info on www.sequentialellison.com/bibliography/?p=35. Scanned from the 1993 Russ Cochran edition of WSF #24. Thanks to Brian Cremins. [TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

unquenchable necessity to make the reader suspend his disbelief and go with the gag. BC: Had you read his robot stories or the Anton York series? ELLISON: I had read the “I, Robot” story and probably a lot of other Eando Binder stories. None of them impressed me as much as Henry Kuttner, or Alfred Bester, or Robert Heinlein or any of the other people, all of whom I came to know. As with some of them, I have a Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. So I became as one with them. Yet Eando Binder was always a great, iconic, early-tech-days science-fiction name, along with Ed Earl Repp and Stanton A. Coblentz and all the rest of those names that are now graveyard dust, just as mine will be. I don’t think Otto Binder was one of the great writers of all time. I don’t think Victor Hugo is lying ’neath the turf beetling his brow over Otto Binder. But for commercial fiction, and particularly for comic books, he was top of the line. BC: Did you ever meet him later on? One of your first stories was in the same EC comic as his adaptation of “The Teacher from Mars.” ELLISON: No. Never met him. He was still alive when I began the pre-professional days, when I was just beginning to sell. But, no, I do not to my recollection remember ever meeting Otto Binder. Although, it is possible, because he was going to the World Science

Fiction Conventions as I was from 1951 or 1952 when I started going, and it’s possible Binder also attended. And many of us would gather in a circle because I was a big wannabe, and I was a hanger-on and wormed my way into the inner circle and got to know all the writers very quickly and that’s how I was able to go to New York and become a professional myself. And so it is entirely likely that I may—very much may [have met him], but do not actually recall it and I don’t want to lie. BC: I wasn’t sure, because I know he had contact with a lot of the early comic book fanzine writers like Dick Lupoff and Roy Thomas with whom he was corresponding— ELLISON: Well, both are close friends of mine and I’ve published both of them, and I’ve written for them. And it is entirely possible that in one of those circles, congeries of fans and fanzine writers and comic writers and writers of novels, Otto Binder and I were cheek to jowl, but I cannot give you a confirmation. BC: So, what about C.C. Beck? Did you have any contact with him? ELLISON: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had not plentiful contact with C.C., but we exchanged letters, I commissioned him to do work, we talked on the phone several times. He was my kind of guy, because he was a snarly, curmudgeonly old f***, just like me. He liked me and I liked him. And the things I commissioned him to do he did

An Interview With Harlan Ellison

The More The Merrier—And More Monstrous (Above:) This double-page Beck spread led off the serial’s first chapter, and showed many of the established “Captain Marvel” villains who were members of The Monster Society of Evil—but not Mr. Mind, who at this point was what Binder later referred to as a “disembodied voice.” Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Captain Marvel Was Really Something! (Left:) C.C Beck’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #39 (Sept. 1944), the second of the trio of “Monster Society” covers. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.] (Above:) Gag photo of Harlan Ellison holding up his personal copy of that issue. Photo courtesy of Brian Cremins—and Harlan, of course.

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”

with brilliance. They hang on my walls right next to the Dalís and the Picassos. BC: So what was it, do you think, that distinguished Beck from the other artists of that era, the Golden Age, like Jack Kirby, or Mac Raboy, or any of those other innovators? What was it that made him so distinctive? ELLISON: Well, [pause] that’s like comparing apples and oranges. Each was unique, unlike anyone else. Mac Raboy… C.C. Beck… Milton Caniff… You’d have to be totally line-deaf not to spec one from another… even talented imitations. [pause] Let me expand: the question you ask has implications that I think are imprecise. The artists who were really good, of that period, and who remain good to this day, each in his or her own way is absolutely distinguishable by the line work. Beck could not be taken for Mac Raboy. Mac Raboy could not be taken for Milton Caniff. And the thing that stood out for me, as a reader of comic books who was very acute in noticing whose artwork was slapdash, and whose was phoned in, and whose was memorable— because I can conjure the images in my mind of entire pages of panels that I read in 1942 right now—was that Beck had vigor and simplicity. There was staunchness in his drawings. There was nothing indeterminate or wavery or maybe or what-if. If Captain Marvel punched somebody, [Beck] didn’t do it illustratively as well as Jack Kirby. He didn’t do in-your-face action the way a Jack Kirby fist could do it for you, but then Kirby didn’t do it that way when he started out, either. It was not until later that he broke the fourth wall. And within the limits of the frame, Beck drew the equivalent of what Kirby came to do as a matter of course and revolutionized all of the comic book artists who are imitating him today, with the foot sticking out in your face so you can see the sole of the boot. It’s very stupid and it’s imitative, but—OK, we’ll move on from there. Beck had a style that was firm. It was implanted. You could look into that panel as if you were looking through a leaded glass window and you could see everything you needed to see, and anything that was extraneous your imagination could add to the picture. And so firmness, and sturdiness, and a positive stance were the hallmarks, in my eye as a child, of C.C. Beck. BC: Do you think his art style was an expression of who he was as a person? ELLISON: I have no idea. BC: Your description of his personality has me thinking about his correspondence with Trina Robbins and P.C. Hamerlinck and the other members of the Critical Circle. In those letters and essays, he exhibits the same directness in his writing style. ELLISON: He was a charming, set-in-his-ways, aware-of-his-ownposterity, cranky son-of-a-bitch like me. BC: [laughs] So how did all these stories shape your work as a short story writer and as an essayist? You talked about the plotting and the clarity before.

…In This Comic Book Next Month! (Or Sooner!) Captain Marvel Adventures #22 (March 26, 1943) came out at a time when the comic was being published every third Friday, and its cover mentioned the “new serial” beginning inside. Also seen is the splash page of the first chapter, which was treated like a real movie serial such as were seen every Saturday matinee at theatres across the country. Cover by Beck and perhaps Pete Costanza; splash page (including lettering) wholly by C.C. Beck. Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] Oh, and in case you’re interested—A/E’s editor gave a chapter-by-chapter, illustrated accounting of the “Monster Society of Evil” serial back in issue #64 of this magazine.

ELLISON: Let me answer you in this way. Many years ago, Time magazine interviewed me when I had my first shot at posterity and I became “universally famous” and they asked what were my influences? Well, you always bulls*** them. Donald Sutherland said, “I always lie when I do interviews. Otherwise, they get so boring.” And I said to them, well, it was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Victor Hugo, and Guy de Maupassant, and that sort of thing. Well, of course I was lying. I mean, those are the writers I read, of course, and they taught me how to write. But I was trained on the four sides of my talent… [pause] It’s a hundred books later, they tell me I’m still virally famous, thank you very much—that and a dollar fifty will get me a half-decent cup of coffee at Starbucks…. I learned within the four walls of comic books; pulp magazines of all types—from detective and Western to true love and Oriental mystery; radio (live radio, radio drama); and movies. That’s the four walls of my basic education as a writer. The fact that those walls were wallpapered with Mark Twain, and Kōbō Abe, and Gabriel García Márquez, and Gerald Kersh is the other part of the story. But I got my basic training by reading comic books.

An Interview With Harlan Ellison

Sequentiality, interior logic, story line, characterization—all of these things I learned from the continuity of comic book writing. And much of that was grounded in the work of C.C. Beck and Otto Binder, because I was a Captain Marvel fan, not a Superman fan. I liked Superman, I read Superman, I bought Superman, I kept all the DC Comics, I’m more a DC kid than ever I was a Marvel kid, but I think I was a Fawcett kid before all of them. And it was Captain Marvel to this day who stands in my mind as iconic for me. In fact, as I sit here talking to you, I’m staring at a small figurine of Captain Marvel, and another one of Captain Marvel Jr., and a wrong one of the Mary Marvel in white, which is the DC version of Mary Marvel I’ve never cared for. I’ve got Captain Marvel tchotchkes all over the place here. I just spent about $1,500 buying all five—one of which I didn’t have—of the Captain Marvel Club badges, pinbacks. And they’re being framed as you and I now speak. BC: Do you have the mobiles? ELLISON: Yeah. Got ‘em all. I’ve got the speedo Keeping Mobil planes, I’ve got the figurines, the tattoos, the decals, One of the Captain Marvel premiums was this mobile you could hang up in your room, which the Fawcett versions of Big Little Books, I’ve got the was first issued in 1944. Thanks to Brian Cremins. Other premiums have been seen in other A/E glow-in-the-dark sew-on patches—they came out in issues. Most Captain Marvel merchandising was done (inexpensively) by Fawcett itself, since most toy and game companies were scared off by the DC lawsuit—of which more beginning on Canada, because Fawcett did Canadian-version p. 17. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] comics, plus all the characters from the Canadian comics. In fact, right now, I’m looking at a Captain BC: I’m wondering about the influence of these comics on your work. My Marvel shoulder patch that has Captain Marvel really badly favorite book of yours is Shatterday— drawn, not drawn by Beck, and it’s on my desk… beside a photo of me and the King of Sweden. ELLISON: Ah, very good choice. You’re a man of deep perspicuity and acumen. BC: [laughs] So all of this is in front of your typewriter? ELLISON: No, it’s on the desk behind the desk where my typewriter sits. I have two desks facing each other, one for tchotchkes and paperwork and things in process. The other one is where I actually sit my fat ass and, uh… Olympia manual, office manual typewriter, not electric.

Shattered Like A Glass Gobsmack (Left:) Shatterday was a 1980s collection of Ellison short stories, which included “Jeffty Is Five.” On the cover of this edition, Harlan himself is shown being attacked by his phone. Cover by Walter Velez. Thanks to Brian Cremins. [© the respective copyright holders.] (Right:) Harlan a few years back.

BC: I got my copy signed by you at the I-CON on Long Island in 1990 or ’91, I think. ELLISON: Oh, yeah. It’s cold there, too. BC: I’m thinking of Shatterday because its first selection, “Jeffty Is Five,” is probably my favorite of all your stories because it’s about nostalgia, which is one of the things I talk about in the book, particularly in the work of fanzine writers like Dick Lupoff. The opening paragraph of his essay “The Big Red Cheese” is so beautifully done as he remembers buying a copy of Whiz Comics at a drug store in Florida. Those old comics have a power to trigger vivid memories in so many of their readers. I read “Jeffty” again for an article I just wrote for FCA, and I’ve been thinking about the nostalgia that weaves through the other stories in Shatterday. ELLISON: I suppose the only response to that, because there’s really no question in it, it was a recollection on your part… [pause] The epiphany that I have now, five months short of age 80, is that really nobody should live past the age of 70. My doctor says, Oh, no, 80. And I said, All right, I’ll go with you on 80, I’m five months shy of 80, let it be 80. But in all of us, as an adult, you never, I think— always put in “I think,” because my wisdom is no greater than Sophocles’, I mean, I’ll settle for that—I think that you never, ever get away from the fact that somewhere deep inside, no matter who you become, no matter how much you realize your dreams, no matter how good a life you lead—and I’ve led the best f***in’ life in the world. I’ve achieved virtually everything I wanted except to climb Annapurna. No matter how staunch you have become or you remain or what flags you have planted in the desert of posterity, somewhere inside you, way, way inside you, as there was in C.C. Beck—I don’t know about Binder, but I know it for sure on Beck—there is still a small child sitting in a small wooden chair in

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”

ELLISON: I have no secrets. You can ask me anything. You can ask me if my stools are firm and hard and whom I despise and I will tell you Dick Cheney heads the list. BC: [laughs] As I said, in Shatterday, that combination of personal essays and autobiographical works of fiction… [pause] I first read that book when I was in my early teens, but I think its obsession with nostalgia and memory continues to inform my work, especially my Captain Marvel project. I realize now how much Shatterday has shaped my sensibility as a writer. ELLISON: Thank you, Brian.

“And The Rest, As They Say…” The first two panels in the first issue of Whiz Comics (officially #2, Jan. 1940) in which the wizard Shazam and Billy Batson watch the Historama. As Brian Cremins points out, this is “an interesting take on the idea of watching ‘past, present, and future’ simultaneously, which is only possible in a visual medium like comics (or film or painting—although William S. Burroughs tried it in prose, too).” Script by Bill Parker; art by C.C. Beck. [Billy Batson & Shazam TM & © DC Comics.]

a dark place. Not so much whining and whimpering and saying, Oh me, oh my, and How did I get here or How do I get out of here, but that child is extant. It is a viable memory. And the thing that keeps that child from whimpering is remembering a page of a Captain Marvel comic, for instance. BC: Thank you for answering that. I’m also thinking of your other story where the character goes back to his childhood in Ohio. I’m forgetting the name— ELLISON: Yeah. “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty.” That’s my childhood. BC: That’s in Shatterday? ELLISON: I think that’s in Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation, available to you on E-Reads. [NOTE: “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty” appears in Ellison’s 1974 collection Approaching Oblivion, which is also available through E-Reads. The story was adapted in the first season of CBS-TV’s The Twilight Zone in 1985. —BC.] BC: OK, I know I have an old, old copy of that… ELLISON: Well, an old copy is as good as a new copy.

BC: That leads me to another question. What is your favorite sequence of those old “Captain Marvels”?

ELLISON: Oh, it’s “The Monster Society of Evil”! No close second. To me that was an astonishing revelation because comics in those days were pretty much stand-alone, and they didn’t have continued stories and cliffhangers the way movie serials did. And for them to do that so cleverly, and then to have so cunningly drifted from chapter to chapter to chapter…. I would pedal down on my Schwinn—I lived in a little town called Painesville, Ohio, thirty miles northeast of Cleveland, and I would pedal down, when I was old enough, to the nearest comic book store, which was not a comic book store. It was just a magazine and cigar shop. In those days there was no such thing as a comics shop. It was a regular cigar shop that sold Time, Life, Liberty, Look, Pic, and Click. I was there the day the comics would come in. They cross-bound them in wire usually. And they had to snip the wire off them, so I wouldn’t take the top one because it always had the wire indentations in it. I’d go down two or three and, if I was blessed, my new issue of Captain Marvel Adventures or Whiz or Wow or whatever it was that I was salivating for, would be unharmed and it was mint. And I still have all those issues— perfect, mint condition, from the day I bought them for 10 cents. And during the run of “The Monster Society of Evil,” I was there, [laughs] I think, sometimes before the store opened at 8 in the morning. I would be there sitting on the little wooden step out in front of the cigar shop—cigarette shop, magazine shop—on Main Street in Painesville, and I would get my comic and I would go around the corner to the park. There was a park as you entered the business section of Painesville and there was a soldiers and sailors monument there. [pause] No, no, it was General Paine, the town

BC: [laughs] So that is an autobiographical story… ELLISON: Absolutely. Well, so is “Jeffty.” They are déjà vu and déjà rêvé. That is to say, they are epiphanies forward and backward in the construct of my life. Some of it is bull****, some of it is made up, some of it is engrossment, some of it is actually telephonically… [pause] See, my memory is not eidetic. It is not precise visually but it’s very good visually. But phonographically... I have perfect phonographic memory. I can repeat phone conversations that I had twenty years ago, every line. That’s why, when I’m being interviewed, I have a well of reminiscence that is accurate to draw from. So those two stories, “Jeffty Is Five” and “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty,” are very accurate representations of parts of my youth. And they were influenced at that time, and the memories that I dredged up to write those stories later in life, were influenced by, directly by, Captain Marvel, Batman, Billy Batson, and all the other comics I read. BC: That’s what I was going to ask you. I guess I didn’t want to ask it directly because I didn’t know if it was a silly question, but I was curious if those comics trigger your memories as well—

Beck In The Day This late-'70s photo of Charles Clarence Beck ran with the obituary written for him by Maggie Thompson for Comics Buyer's Guide #839 (Dec. 15, 1989). Courtesy of FCA’s Beck estate archives, scanned from CCB’s personal photos. Snapped by Jackie Estrada.

An Interview With Harlan Ellison

Mind That Invertebrate! (Clockwise from top left:) Captain Marvel still trying to figure out who Mr. Mind might be in these panels from Captain Marvel Adventures #26 (Aug. 1943). Invertebrates of the world, unite! As mentioned back in A/E #64, when we first reprinted this panel (in black-&-white), this is one of the most famous of all panels from the “Monster Society” serial—wherein Billy Batson absentmindedly brushes a worm off his shoulder, not noticing that said worm has a radio tied around its neck! A little later in that issue, that worm was revealed to be the mysterious Mr. Mind. From the fifth chapter of the serial, in CMA #26. Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. Once he realized who Mr. Mind really was, though, Captain Marvel was chasing him by chapter’s end, ready to stomp him flat! Script by Otto Binder; art by C.C. Beck.

was named after some Civil War guy or Revolutionary guy whose sole distinction was being shot in the ass; and they put up a statue of him. And I would sit on the plinth of his statue and sit there and succumb to the wonders of C.C. Beck and Otto Binder. And I would read that comic two or three times. I would go back over it and study each panel again and again to see if I had missed anything in a corner. And, by the time I pedaled home, back all the way up Main Street [where it] turned into Mentor Avenue and Mentor Avenue ran all the way through to Cleveland where it became Euclid Avenue, I had every chapter of “The Monster Society” embedded in my brain for all eternity. BC: And what did you think of Mr. Mind? [NOTE: See Captain Marvel Adventures #26, dated August 1943, and #27, dated September 1943, for Chapters V and VI of the serial and the revelation of the dastardly villain’s true identity. —BC.] ELLISON: Oh, God, are you kidding? I can still hear my jaw cracking! [laughs] Like a seismic temblor, now seventy something years later! I sat there and said, Oh my God, it’s a worm with a radio! Oh my God, un****believable! Well, that was like the revelation of, you know, how the Count of Monte Cristo got even with his enemies, how D’Artagnan joined the Three Musketeers. It was… [pause] It was the revelation of the White Whale to Ahab. BC: [laughs] That’s a great way to describe it. There’s a letter in one of the old Alter Egos where Binder talks about Mr. Mind. [NOTE: In his letter published in Alter Ego, Vol. 1, #7, Oct. 1964, Otto Binder explained, “We undoubtedly went through a hundred concepts, until (and, frankly, in those skull sessions, I have no idea who first thought of any particular gimmick)… somebody said, ‘Why not take the most unusual thing we can think of? Not the traditional human or galactic villain, nor robot, nor this nor that of the routine masterminds, but just the goofiest of all things—maybe a worm!’” You can read the letter for yourself in Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly’s Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine, TwoMorrows, 2008. —BC.]

ELLISON: Oh, it was before its time. It was brilliant, brilliant! It was the essence of genuine creativity. BC: It’s a classic series. ELLISON: You know, when DC killed Captain Marvel, it broke my heart. BC: That’s another question I was going to ask you about. ELLISON: That was unnecessary and mischievous. Like Walt Disney. Everything Walt Disney ever did was mischievous and intended to burnish his faux golden brick, up to and including this latest Saving Mr. Banks, which is one of the most evil and manipulative movies ever made, and I wrote a piece about it that went viral. Go to the Harlan Ellison YouTube channel and you’ll see me ranting like a crazy guy on the street asking for baksheesh. BC: We haven’t seen that film. ELLISON: Yeah, avoid it. It’ll make you cry because Emma Thompson is brilliant in it, and it’ll win awards which is just…. [pause] You know, all the little puppets dancing at the end of the dead strings still attached to the boney hand of Walt sticking up out of the Minnesota snow or the cryonic crypt, wherever they’ve got his head stored. It is an intentionally manipulative piece of scut work. BC: By the time of the National and Fawcett settlement, you were— what?—17 or 18? It would’ve been 1953. [NOTE: For more details on the lawsuit, see Bob Ingersoll’s comprehensive “The Cheese Stands Accused! A Look at the Superman/Captain Marvel Litigation” in Alter

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”

Rod Reed

Will Lieberson

Wendell Crowley

Who Edits This Stuff? And let's not forget about the trio of Fawcett editors who oversaw the serial during its twoyear course. As per P.C. Hamerlinck, Rod Reed was CMA editor when “The Monster Society” began in early 1943; “the comics position then went to Will Lieberson, then Wendell Crowley joined in mid-July 1944.” Thanks to Richard Lieberson for the photo of his father & Crowley.

mean-spirited case! To kill Captain Marvel for a buck, for a million bucks, to cheat and deny children all that joy! Un****forgiveable! BC: [concerned] Let’s move on. Did you ever call him “The Big Red Cheese”?

Gator Aid (Above:) Beck’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #43 (Feb. 1945) was the final one of the trio that spotlighted the serial—but by then, the tide was definitely beginning to turn against Mr. Mind and the remnants of his Society. [Shazam hero & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics.]

Ego, Vol. 3, #3, Winter 1999/2000. For C.C. Beck’s view on that lawsuit—and for some actual testimony from it—stay tuned to this magazine! —BC.] ELLISON: [pauses] Give me a moment. That was a time after I’d foolhardily run away from home, gone on the road, gone across country, joined a carnival (because, unlike Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus, I couldn’t find an actual circus), had come home, done school, run away again, and I was driving a dynamite truck in North Carolina… [pauses] a long story for another time… or you could buy my books… most of it’s in there… and sometime in there I guess I had a caesura in my steady reading of comic books… or maybe I just discovered girls, who knows, but by 1952 I was briefly in college at Ohio State University, and I wasn’t paying much attention to the awful legal battle between Superman and Captain Marvel.

ELLISON: [still angry] Hell, no! That’s what Sivana called him, what the worm would have called him. He was my hero, and others may think it’s “cute” to refer to him that way, but when I was impressionable, as a kid, and I needed heroes, Captain Marvel was as real to me as Charles Lindbergh or Bob Feller. To this day… [pauses] …just go on. BC: Apart from that old memory, how do you feel about DC today? ELLISON: [soberly] There are three things in the world I have sworn I will never do. One of them is set foot in Germany. I have many friends and readers in Germany, my books are popular there, but I will never set foot in Germany. I know it’s a new age, a new time, a new world, but I’m a Jew… and I’ll never set foot in Germany. National became DC—and I’ve loved working for DC—

BC: But you were aware of it at the time? ELLISON: Aware, but barely cognizant. Tough time for me. I was between despising college and all that crap, and tugging at my own leash to get to New York to start writing professionally. So I sort of knew what was going on, and I hated National—or DC—or Detective—or whatever they were calling themselves in 1952—for bringing such a case of creative infringement. I mean, yes, of course, every super-hero is a reboot or restatement of what Siegel and Shuster dreamed from the git-go, but even a low-grade Everyman can see there’s a world, a universe, of difference between Superman and Captain Marvel, and I don’t give a rat’s ass what the Supreme Court said… and though I have worked for DC many times over the years, as recently as this year, I can never flense my memory of how much I hated the Suits who won that greedy,

Due Process—In Fact, Overdue! (Above:) Mr. Mind was caught, tried, and executed in Captain Marvel Adventures #46 (May 1945). Script by Otto Binder, art by C.C. Beck. [Captain Marvel, Billy Batson, & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics.]

An Interview With Harlan Ellison

not so sure he gave a ****, really. He may have. You may have correspondence that says otherwise, but I think Binder knew that his time had been during the ’30s, and it went on into the ’40s, and it went on into the ’50s. BC: Earlier you talked about being heartbroken over Captain Marvel’s demise. I get the impression that a lot of the Fawcett editors, writers, and artists were also heartbroken when it was over. Binder and Beck, for example, were professional colleagues but they were also friends. The best of the Golden Age “Captain Marvel” stories, I think, are lasting documents of that unique community of writers and artists. [NOTE: To read more about Fawcett’s editors, writers, and artists, see Bill Schelly’s Words of Wonder: The Life and Times of Otto Binder, Hamster Press, 2003. Actually, it’s out of print, but due to be republished any day now. —BC.] ELLISON: Well, it’s interesting to note that very few of the writers or artists who worked for Fawcett when that loop closed down— and Fawcett closed down a lot of stuff—went to work for DC. They had good careers in magazine illustration, or in other cartoons, or in newspaper strips, but very, very few of them drifted to DC, which was the other big, open maw at that point.

Let’s Make Flivver-Flinging An Olympic Event! British fan/artist Nick Perks did the above faux-cover that illustrates at least one thing that Fawcett’s lawyers definitely couldn’t claim Captain Marvel did before Superman. P.C. Hamerlinck spotted the illo online, and we thank Nick for giving us permission to run it. You can see this and more of Nick’s humorous art on his “The-Line-It-Is-Drawn” website or at the deviantart.com website. [Superman & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; other art © 2015 Nick Parks.]

but when it was a different time and they fired Siegel and Shuster off Superman, they treated every writer like they were dog-ditch dirt, and they became Time-Warner, which owns half of everything that Geico doesn’t own in the world. Well, I’ve got a long memory, and I’ve never forgiven DC, National, Detective Comics, AllAmerican Comics, whatever name they went by, for doing that because, though they could have settled for some money—and maybe Captain Marvel was an imitation by, you know, three months, [but] it is so clearly and distinctively its own thing in a genre which they, admittedly, or arguably, may have come to first, but they didn’t own, so I’ve never forgiven them for that and I’ve never thought that C.C. Beck or Binder got—so I’m glad you’re doing the book—never got their proper level on the pantheon of the illustrator gods. BC: Right. I don’t think Binder and Beck and the other Fawcett writers, artists, and editors have received the full respect and recognition they deserve outside of comic fandom. ELLISON: They had a golden, long moment. It was almost twenty years long. And then their time passed. Beck resented it, hated it, didn’t think he’d ever gotten his proper due, I knew that much. And I agreed with him. I agree with him to this day. Binder, I’m

“Holy Moley! It’s 1943 Again!” This fabulous approximation of Beck art was used in the flyer advertising the American Nostalgia Library’s wonderful 1989 hardcover reprint volume The Monster Society of Evil, which offered the entire 25-chapter serial. Since DC changed its mind, a couple of years back, about reprinting the story on its own, due to a few racial stereotypes or some such ahistorical nonsense, those who have copies of this huge book—actually the product of a British company—treasure it all the more! [Shazam hero, Billy Batson, & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics.]

“Nay, Never Will I Serve Thee, Mr. Mind!”

BC: Binder, I think, did because of Julie Schwartz, because they were good friends from back in the fanzine days. ELLISON: Yeah, yeah, Julie…. I’m looking at a picture of Julie and me right now as I say this to you. Julie and I were… We would talk every Wednesday, from New York to LA, and when he was here, he stayed here. And, when Alfred Bester died, on his deathbed I managed to let Alfie know—because he died in a home for the infirm and the only guy who was in touch with him was his bartender—and Julie, they gave [Bester’s] award [the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America] to Julie. And Julie kept it for years, and when he couldn’t keep it anymore, he said the only place it needs to go is someplace where someone will remember how great Alfred Bester was, and how important this object is. And he gave it to me, and it sits on a Lucite shelf, just below me as I’m speaking to you, in the downstairs section

The Evil That Monsters Do Lives After Them… (Counterclockwise:) (With apologies to Will Shakespeare.) Although Mr. Mind was seen, or even mentioned, only in two Golden Age issues after he was executed— in Captain Marvel Adventures #68 (Dec. 1946), behind the Beck cover at left, and in a flashback in the “CM” story in Marvel Family #24 (June 1948)—other writers and artists couldn’t resist revisiting the concept after DC brought the series back in 1973. Two non-Beck revivals: In the “Shazam!” story in World’s Finest Comics #264 (Aug-Sept. 1980), scripter E. Nelson Bridwell (another long-standing “Monster Society” serial fan) and artists Don Newton & Dave Hunt brought the Society back in a style a bit more realistic than Beck’s. In All-Star Squadron #51 (Nov. 1985), writer Roy Thomas (who remembers seeing the penultimate chapter of the serial at age four) and penciler Mike Clark had Mr. Mind come to Earth-Two to form the very first Monster Society (chronologically speaking, since this story is set in 1942). Cover by Arvell Jones & Tony DeZuniga. Brian Cremins writes of this tale: “The truth of Charlie McCarthy [being a mere ventriloquist’s dummy] pushes Mr. Mind over the edge! I love it!” Mr. Mind, piloting the drone depicted here, is seen by the reader but never by the All-Stars. [TM & © DC Comics.]

An Interview With Harlan Ellison

Alfred Bester

Good, Better, Bester (Above:) Julius Schwartz and Harlan at the latter’s home with SF author Alfred Bester’s Grandmaster Award, presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Photo courtesy of Harlan Ellison; first used in A/E #38, our full-issue tribute to Schwartz, who in 1973 became the first editor of DC’s Shazam! title.\

It’s Always Foul Weather... (Right:) Just in time to be squeezed into this issue, pro artist Terry Austin sent us this spanking-new illo of a Monster Society of Evil reunion. Thanks, Terry! [Shazam characters TM & © DC Comics; other art © 2016 Terry Austin.]

of my office/library addition to my home, right next to my Grandmaster Award. Alfred Bester’s and mine stand together, and Julie Schwartz’s toaster…. [pause] Julie was incapable of making a meal for himself. And he ate everything out of boxes. And when his wife died… of course, she had cooked for him… and then, when she died, Julie resorted to a bachelor existence. And I bought him a toaster. It was not terribly complex. It was simple, it would do a great English muffin, and when Julie died, he left word in, not his will, but in his notes to people, Send the toaster back to Harlan. [laughs] And so I’ve got the Julius Schwartz Memorial Toaster sitting in my house! And Julie and Otto were very close, of course. And Julie would talk to me about giving work to Otto and… you know, the few people Julie could save from the Fawcett debacle. Towards the end of the interview, Harlan asked, “Well, anyhow, have I given you everything that you needed, kid?” Yes, I said, and then some. I’ve already mentioned that we talked on Friday, January 10, a few days after Chicago’s 2014 Polar Vortex with daytime highs of negative 13 degrees and wind chills of negative 40. In Los Angeles, Harlan said, it was in the 80s: “I hope the snow melts and leaves you alone,” he added. “The coldest days in my life, apart from being about 12 degrees beneath the Arctic Circle, in New Brunswick, Canada, were when I lived in Chicago.” There’s a story there, too, a place, a shadow, a memory. The day I finished transcribing this interview, I walked down Belmont to the Gallery Bookstore, where William Fiedler sold me a copy of the second printing of the 1953 Shasta edition of Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. Then we talked about Fritz Leiber and Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore until a kid, a college student from Shimer, asked us if we’d ever heard of Borges, and do you guys have any graphic novels? Meanwhile, somewhere else, there’s a little boy with a bicycle and a comic book and he’s sitting beneath the statue of General Edward Paine in Charter Oak Park in Painesville, Ohio, and it’s summer again, 1943.

The Boy Is Father To The Man The Beck-Costanza cover of Captain Marvel Adventures #22 (Oct. 3, 1941), the image that was used as the main artwork for the cover of this issue of Alter Ego. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

Brian Cremins.

Brian Cremins is writing a book about comics, nostalgia, and Captain Marvel for the University Press of Mississippi. An Associate Professor of English at Harper College, he lives in Chicago.

Captain Marvel’s Day(s) In Court

C.C. BECK’s 1944 DC Vs. Fawcett Deposition Assembled, Abridged, & Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck with J.T. Go

NTRODUCTION by P.C. Hamerlinck: With its two other passengers on board, we hitched a ride on that sleek, modernist subway train which delivered us to a dream—a world where the utterance of a single word could transcend its own remarkable reality, colorfully brought to our eyes uncluttered and simplified, allowing our imaginations to thrive in and between the panels. From the very beginning, Bill Parker and C.C. Beck had gone the extra mile to differentiate Captain Marvel from the indomitable flood of comic book heroes popping up almost daily during the early ’40s, despite what some folks might have you believe.

When Beck later deliberated on the dissimilarities between the Man of Steel and the World’s Mightiest Mortal during his tenure as FCA editor in the early 1980s, he pointed out that Superman was “a fullgrown man… a creature from another planet who went about disguised as a human,” while Captain Marvel, by contrast, was only a small boy with a magic word. (Beck himself always considered Billy Batson to be the true hero of the Captain’s tales, anyway.) The biggest difference between Superman and Captain Marvel, according to Beck, was that “Captain Marvel knew he was in a comic book and loved it, while Superman always seemed to be ashamed of appearing in one.” It appeared Superman wasn’t invulnerable after all, and thus began DC’s copyright infringement case against Fawcett Publications, droning on for over a decade. During all those years, DC’s attorneys—led by Louis Nizer—were never able to scrape up one witness who would testify that anyone at Fawcett had been mandated to copy Superman.

“Do You Swear To Tell The Truth, The Whole Truth…?” Even poor old Shazam was put on the witness stand in this splash panel from Captain Marvel Adventures #79 (Dec. 1947). Script by Otto Binder; art by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza. This courtroom drama was probably a lot more fun to observe than the one between DC and Fawcett—but the stakes were high in both! [Shazam & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

C.C. Beck left the official employ of Fawcett and opened up his own studio at the end of March 1943. In April of ’44 he formed a partnership with fellow artist Pete Costanza. The Beck-Costanza Studio produced exclusively “Captain Marvel” artwork for Fawcett, in addition to other accounts. Besides the DC vs. Fawcett embroilment, the only other time Beck had felt the repercussions of legal entanglements was when he created the minuscule electron hero “Hot Shot Galavan—The Mighty Electronic Mite” for Vic Verity Magazine (1945). Soon after Galavan appeared, Beck received a “cease and desist” letter from General Electric, which claimed his creation was a direct ripoff of their famous Reddy Kilowatt character. The following trial transcriptions are excerpts from C.C. Beck’s DC vs. Fawcett deposition from 1944. The depositions of W.H. Fawcett, Jr., Roger Fawcett, and editorial director Ralph Daigh, also all in attendance that

day, took place right before Beck’s, and were actually recorded at Fawcett’s New York City office. Beck would later take the courtroom stand and face off against Nizer in March of 1948, which we’ll look at another time. If you can get past their arrant banality and repetitiveness, some brief instances of actual informative scraps of comics history can be rummaged up from the thousands and thousands of pages that the trial produced. However, as fascinating and engrossing as it may seem to peruse through old trial transcripts of a decade-long case involving your favorite superheroes, the overall cumulative consequences of studying even a moderately small-sized portion of them is a punishingly monotonous, mindnumbing, barbarous exercise. The transcripts make me eternally grateful I didn’t have to sit and endure any of the proceedings first-hand. [Special thanks to Brian Cremins, who supplied FCA with a stack of court transcription photocopies, and who wrote an overview of Bill Parker’s 1948 testimony for Alter Ego #131.]

C.C. Beck’s 1944 DC Vs. Fawcett Deposition

U.S. DISTRICT COURT

Q. Give us a substance of what he said.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

A. We talked things over and we tried to work out…

DETECTIVE COMICS, INC. and SUPERMAN, INC., Plaintiffs vs. FAWCETT PUBLICATIONS, INC., REPUBLIC PICTURES CORP. and REPUBLIC PRODUCTIONS, INC., Defendants

Q. Just tell me what you said, not what you tried to work out. What was the substance of what he said about the type of character that he wanted you to draw? A. Well, what I was trying to say was that we worked it out between us; we agreed thoroughly that naturally we wanted heroic figures, men as the acceptable type of hero that has always been used, and that immediately would eliminate any old lady characters, any little children or anything like that.

Deposition of C. CLARENCE BECK, taken at the office of Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1501 Broadway, New York City, at 10:00 AM on April 12, 1944. Walter S. Beck of Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin & Krim Attorney for Plaintiffs Wallace H. Martin of Nims, Verdi & Martin Attorney for Defendants Clarence Beck, called as a witness by the plaintiffs; direct examination by Walter S. Beck Q. Mr. Beck, where do you reside? A. 12 Anna Place, Baldwin, Long Island. Q. When did you begin working for the defendant Fawcett Publications, Inc.?

Beck To The Future A snapshot of Captain Marvel co-creator/artist Charles Clarence Beck, taken in 1933—the year he began working for Fawcett Publications, Inc., soon to be the home of “The World’s Mightiest Mortal,” much to DC/National’s vexation. Photo courtesy of FCA’s CCB estate archives.

A. 1933. Q. When did you receive instructions in connection with the preparation of the strip cartoon known as Captain Marvel? A. The fall of 1939. Q. Do you remember if those instructions were oral or written?

men.

Q. Well, did you ask Mr. Parker what type of hero he wanted? A. No, we both knew and agreed. Q. Well, you mean it was just a case of mental telepathy—that he conveyed the thought of something to you or you something to him? A. He had been writing for children and adults and I had been drawing for children and adults for years before, and when we wanted to start some comic characters, we felt pretty sure that they would be tall, strong, handsome young

Q. And did he say to you, “I want you to develop a character that will be a tall, strong, handsome young man”? A. No, it wasn’t necessary.

Q. Whom did you get those from?

Q. I didn’t ask you whether it was necessary. Was there some discussion concerning the character [Captain Thunder] before you started to draw it?

A. Mr. [Al] Allard [Fawcett art director].

A. Well, as well as I can recall…

Q. Where did this conversation take place?

Q. Just answer my question. Do you understand my question?

A. In Mr. Allard’s office. On the 23rd floor of this building.

A. Yes; I am trying to help you out.

Q. What did Mr. Allard say to you?

Q. Were these [drawings] prepared by you after you had had discussions with Mr. Parker concerning the nature of the character?

A. They were oral.

A. He said that we were going to set up a cartoon department, of which I was possibly to be the head, and that I should go out and find some cartoonists. Q. What did you say? A. I said, “Okay, when do I start?”

A. That is right. Q. What else, if anything, did Mr. Parker have to say to you about this character, other than the fact that his name was to be Captain Thunder, and that he was to be born in a crash of thunder?

Q. Will you give me the approximate date when you first submitted drawings [of characters]?

A. That he was to be a dual character, and his alter ego, as we call it, was to be a small boy, if possible a poor, honest and starving boy.

A. September of 1939.

Q. Anything else?

Q. Now, when you sat down to draw those characters, did you have any idea as to whether they would be infants in a crib or great big men, or a football hero or a scholar or a scientist or an athlete? Q. Who gave you that idea?

A. And that he was to be pretty much on the military side because of his name Captain, and that he was going to carry some kind of a little wand or token, with lightning on its tip, and to have spurs with lightning, and there are other things in there that I have forgotten that did develop into other characters that I was working on at the same time. Those characters are still in existence.

A. Mr. [Bill] Parker.

Q. To which characters are you now referring to?

A. Yes.

Captain Marvel’s Day(s) In Court

A Clap Of Thunder—And A Clap For Thunder

A. Spy Smasher and Ibis the Invincible. Q. Was anything said about the ability of Captain Thunder to fly? A. No. Q. Was anything said about Captain Thunder’s ability to stop bullets with his chest or hands?

(Above:) Before he was a Marvel, he was the Captain of the Thunder. Above is C.C. Beck’s “Captain Thunder” masthead from Fawcett’s January 1940 ashcan editions of Flash Comics and Thrill Comics. So-called “ashcan editions,” or “ashcans” for short, were prepared by creators or companies to apply for title registration at the U.S. Patent Office and were only eight pages long. They established the date of first usage, in case another publisher came up with the same title. In later years, most publishers abandoned the ashcans, regarding the practice as “just another lawyers’ impressive gimmick to justify a fee,” according to Fawcett Editorial Director Ralph Daigh. Since DC had already acquired the Flash title, and Better Publications had already grabbed Thrilling Comics, Fawcett logically went with Whiz Comics, a tip of the fedora to Wilford Fawcett’s Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang, the magazine that had launched his publishing empire decades earlier. As to why “Captain Thunder” was changed to “Captain Marvel,” Daigh simply said: “I thought it was a better name.” [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics. Captain Thunder is now a trademark of Roy & Dann Thomas.] (Top left:) Bill Parker collaborated with C.C. Beck to create their new comic book characters. Above is a rare photo of Captain Marvel’s co-creator and original writer—a page from Parker’s Princeton University yearbook! Special thanks to Rocky Fawcett (son of Fawcett VP Roscoe K. Fawcett) and Shaun Clancy for providing the scan. For further biographical information on Bill Parker, see PCH’s article in Alter Ego #23 (April 2003).

A. Yes, sir. Q. What was said about that? A. That he was to derive his powers from another mythological character, Achillies, who was impervious to all weapons. Q. Who said that to you, Mr. Parker? A. Mr. Parker. Q. Did he outline to you the type of things he would be impervious to? A. He was to be impervious, which includes everything. Q. Well now, if you recall the discussion about his being impervious to weapons, does that refresh your recollection whether anything was said about his ability to fly? A. Well, then we come to Mercury, the god of speed.

Captain Smasher The Invincible? (Right:) Frequent FCA contributing artist Jay Piscopo provides this fun Captain Thunder-Ibis-Spy Smasher amalgamation illustrated especially for this article, based on C.C. Beck’s description in his 1944 deposition detailing the earliest concepts for Captain Thunder, some which were later ascribed to other Parker-Beck creations. [Art © Jay Piscopo.]

C.C. Beck’s 1944 DC Vs. Fawcett Deposition

You’ll Believe A Boy Radio Reporter Can Fly… While Superman was still leaping over tall buildings in a single bound, Captain Marvel was already flying the friendly skies nearly a year before the Man of Steel actually flew. Captain Marvel first took flight in his fourth appearance, as shown above in one of several flying panels from Whiz Comics #5 (June 1940). Superman first flew in issues cover-dated May-June 1941, and didn’t begin flying on a regular basis until October 1943, but was doing a consistently swell job of it in the magnificent Max Fleischer animated cartoons from 1941-43. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Q. Well, on the occasions when you discussed the supernatural characteristics, did they take place at one conference? A. He came to me with some material already prepared. Q. Can you give me the substance of what his documents said? A. The substance was a new character, as I have already described, with these spurs, wand; a heroic figure to have various powers which were to exceed any character that had yet been used in fiction or in mythology or in children’s books, as far as we knew. Q. Now in these dozens of conversations that you had over a period of months in the fall of 1939, did Mr. Parker or Mr. [Ralph] Daigh or Mr. Allard ever discuss with you the character Superman? A. No. Q. Did you ever call that character to their attention? A. No. Q. Had you known about Superman in the fall of 1939? Q. What do you mean you “come to it”? What did Mr. Parker say about flying?

A. Yes, sir.

A. I don’t recall that he said anything in particular about flying, but he did mention that he was to have the powers of Mercury. Q. And did you tell him that you were fully acquainted with Greek mythology? A. I was acquainted enough to make the drawings. Q. Did he say anything about how Captain Thunder was capable of these extraordinary feats of strength? A. Through his ancestry, and that is Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achillies and Mercury, because we were trying to make an acrostic of the first letters of those names. We discussed other mythological characters and historical characters, discarding those that could not be worked into this acrostic SHAZAM. Q. Who suggested the term “SHAZAM”? A. Mr. Parker. Q. Did all of these things that we have just discussed take place at one conference? A. No, I would say a dozen a day for two months.

Trial Balloons Fawcett’s lead lawyer was Wallace H. Martin, one of the United States’ foremost trademark attorneys. He passed away in 1972, ironically the same year DC touted the return of Captain Marvel under their banner. While Martin was highly regarded in his specialized field of law, perhaps Fawcett should’ve placed their case against DC in the capable hands of Captain Marvel, whose many abilities included legal knowledge and doing a bang-up job in court, as he did at Mr. Mind’s trial, where the villain rightfully received the death penalty. Panels from Chapter 25, the finale of the “Monster Society of Evil” by Otto Binder, C.C. Beck, and the Beck-Costanza studio in Captain Marvel Adventures #46 (May 1945). You may have read something about that trial a few pages back, in this issue? [Shazam hero & Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics.]

Captain Marvel’s Day(s) In Court

Anything You Can Do… Superman and Captain Marvel were unquestionably distinctive in their own ways, but similarities such as our invulnerable heroes both being strong enough to toss automobiles or bring tanks to a standstill or to suddenly halt speeding locomotives was more than DC/National was willing to tolerate. Compare and contrast Joe Shuster’s for Action Comics #13 (June 1939) with C.C. Beck’s cover for Whiz Comics #18 (June 1941). [Superman & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Q. How did you know about it?

A. About the first three pages.

A. I only knew about it because I had come across it.

Q. Are you positive that you had never seen any cartoon of the character Superman at any time prior to the date when you picked up this book in Mr. Parker’s office?

Q. Had you seen any of the magazines in which Superman was published prior to January 1940? A. Yes. I saw a small portion of one copy, somewhere in the fall of 1939. Q. Who showed it to you? A. I picked it up myself from a pile of comic magazines in Mr. Parker’s office. Q. When did you learn for the first time that there was a magazine by the name of Action Comics? A. Maybe a couple of years ago. Q. That would be 1942. A. Yes. Q. Now, when you saw the copy of Action Comics in Mr. Parker’s office, in the fall of 1939, how many pages of cartoons of Superman did you look at in that book?

A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, after you saw Superman in Mr. Parker’s office, did you say anything to Mr. Parker or Mr. Allard or Mr. Daigh that there was a striking resemblance between Superman and Captain Thunder? A. No. Q. There was no discussion about it at all? A. No. Q. Well, did Mr. Parker discuss with you the powers of Superman as compared with the powers of Captain Thunder? A. No. Q. Did he discuss with you Superman’s appearance as contrasted with the appearance of Captain Thunder? A. No.

C.C. Beck’s 1944 DC Vs. Fawcett Deposition

we put out and a few others lying around, or some writer would come in with one in his pocket. And while waiting in editor offices I would pick one up and read, say, Donald Duck, and look at it for a moment, and then get the editor’s attention and go to work. Or it might have been Superman or it might have been one of the other comics being read in that period. Q. You testified that you had seen comics with Superman a year or two later. A. Yes. Q. It wouldn’t have gone beyond the cover? A. Never beyond the cover. Q. Did you receive instructions from anybody not to look inside? A. I definitely did not receive such a warning. Q. Now, who showed them to you? A. Well, that would be anybody in those editorial offices. Q. When one of these editors would dangle a copy of Superman or Action Comics in front of you, what did they show them to you for? A. They would say, “Look, the new Superman.”

Cape Fear? Without explanation, a cape-less Captain Marvel appeared in two issues of Whiz Comics (#s 11 and 12). Was Fawcett trying to distance themselves from further Superman comparisons? In any event, the cape was back in Whiz #13 and stayed on for good. Above panel is from Whiz #12 (Jan. 1941); script by Parker, art by Beck. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Q. Did he discuss with you the type of clothes or raiment or uniform of Superman compared to that of Captain Thunder? A. I am not too sure of that. Q. Well, when you say you are not too sure of that, you mean you think there was some discussion about it? A. I think there was. If I answer any more you’ll get the same as the other one.

Q. What did you do? A. I would say, “Well, so it is.”

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

Q. Don’t worry about what we’ll get, just give me the answer. A. You would not take the answer before. Q. Now, you know Superman wears a cape, don’t you? A. I know that, yes. Q. Did Mr. Parker say anything to you about Superman’s cape? A. I don’t recall that he said anything in particular about the cape. Q. Was anything said about the letter “S” on Superman’s chest? A. I don’t recall. Q. Or his boots? A. I am quite sure there was no mention of his boots. Q. Or his skin tights? A. I don’t recall any mention of his tights. Q. Did you see other comic magazines in the office? A. Well, editors would have a stand full of comic magazines that

In the final months before Fawcett discontinued all its comics, Captain Marvel and crew took to fighting Red Chinese drones and Space Ghouls as well as Dr. Sivana. Cover of The Marvel Family #80 (Feb. 1953) penciled by C.C. Beck; inker uncertain. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

Captain Marvel’s Day(s) In Court

Adjournment Anecdotes Team Fawcett Reflects During Our Recess

n the beginning everyone was jumping onto the comic book bandwagon. There was no question that Captain Marvel derived from Superman… hardly anything in the world doesn’t come from something. We had our Superman-type character just like everyone else had theirs. So why did Superman’s publisher pick on us? Simply because we were beating them in sales! We settled out of court… While we stood a 50/50 chance of winning another trial, had we lost, they would have taken us for every cent we had. It would have completely put us out of business. — Fawcett Publications Vice President/Circulation Manager Roscoe K. Fawcett; interviewed by P.C. Hamerlinck (1997) Lieberson, Crowley, Beck, and I, and others often talked it over and felt that Fawcett had a good chance to win. In fact, the appeal ruling of the first verdict, I understand, cleared Captain Marvel, but DC reinstated the case. I can tell you this: panel by panel, Superman swiped as much from Cap as vice versa, and sometimes even story ideas. Of course, Superman was actually swiped by Siegel and Shuster from a Joe E. Brown movie (The Gladiator, [1938, Columbia], based on the same-titled book by Philip Wylie) featuring a superman character (uncostumed) who did all the feats Superman was to do later. I think Fawcett had a chance of getting the suit thrown out for that reason alone. I also had a science-fiction story in print in 1937, prior to Superman, calling my hero a “superman.” — “Captain Marvel” writer Otto O. Binder; interviewed by Matt Lage (1974)

CCB: Personally, I thought the whole lawsuit was silly. Captain Marvel didn’t resemble Superman at all. I know I never looked at DC comics, and if I had wanted to copy anything it wouldn’t have been anything as poorly drawn as Superman was. How did DC try to prove that Captain Marvel was copied from Superman? DAIGH: One way was by an exhibit of panels from their comics and from ours which showed definite similarities; later it developed that many panels which they had claimed we had copied had first appeared in our books instead. — Fawcett Editorial Director Ralph Daigh; interviewed by C.C. Beck (1981)

Did FDR Know About This? In his heyday, Captain Marvel was certainly popular enough to have run for President of the United States, as he did in Captain Marvel Adventures #41 (Nov. 1944). That issue’s C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza cover proudly boasts in the top upper left that CMA then had the “Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine”—a cover tag initiated by Roscoe K. Fawcett after impressive sales results started coming in. Such numbers as that did not please Superman’s publisher at all. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

FCA: You’ve also stated that you were one of the people who turned state’s evidence against Fawcett. Ed Herron did as well … WELLMAN: I don’t think I’ll go into this.

— Writer Manly Wade Wellman; interviewed by Matt Lage (1976)

Roscoe Has His Own Day In Court—And Daigh has… Whatever! (Above left:) In a 1997 in-person interview conducted a year before his death, Roscoe K. Fawcett, the youngest of Captain Billy Fawcett’s four sons, and VP/Circulation Manager for Fawcett Publications, told FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck: “We had our Superman-type character just like everyone else had theirs,” and that DC only went after Captain Marvel’s publisher in court because Fawcett was “beating” DC in sales. This portrait shot from 1939—the same year when Roscoe set in motion for Fawcett to enter into the comic book field—is courtesy of Rocky Fawcett and Shaun Clancy. Read PCH’s full interview with Roscoe Fawcett in the digital edition of the 2001 book Fawcett Companion, available from TwoMorrows Publishing. (Above right:) Fawcett Editorial Director Ralph Daigh pointed out in a 1981 FCA/SOB interview with C.C. Beck that, during the DC vs. Fawcett trial, many comic book panels that DC had claimed Fawcett had copied had actually first appeared in Fawcett books. The above 1952 court photo of Daigh, provided by Shaun Clancy, is not from the DC-Fawcett battle; the United Press photo caption says: “WASHINGTON - Ralph Daigh, VP and Editorial Director of Fawcett Publications, Inc., New York City, told a special House Committee investigating obscene literature today (12/1), that he saw ‘nothing wrong’ in allowing high school youths to read a pocket-sized book containing passages dealing with lesbianism. Daigh, shown reaching into his suitcase for some of his material, was the first witness at the hearing.”

I did a lot of legwork for the trial and sometimes sat in on the proceedings… Beck was a hostile witness, and I remember wanting to punch Nizer right in the nose… ultimately, it was Captain Marvel that was stolen—stolen away from Fawcett. — Fawcett production artist Emilio Squeglio (2007)

“No Comment!” In a later interview, Manly Wade Wellman, noted pulpmag and comics writer (including for Fawcett), preferred not to discuss whether or not he had ever told the court that he had imitated or been told to imitate “Superman.” Fawcett folk say nobody from their side ever defected….

I was there during the judgment and I thought it repugnant. It was impossible to establish anything to the court. There was a jury but all the jurors were incompetent to make any considerations about comics. The lawyers and judge could understand copyright law but nothing more than that. Every esteemed individual was attacked, vilified, and transformed into a dunce. —“Captain Marvel” co-creator/artist C.C. Beck; interviewed by P.C. Hamerlinck (1979)

The World’s Mightiest Waste Of Time And Money Testimony & Opinion By C.C. BECK

“I

Originally presented in FCA/SOB #8-10 (FCA #19-21), 1981 Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck with J.T. Go

t’s absolutely incredible,” says David Weiss, a court reporter who has dug up documents and transcriptions of the famous DC-Fawcett lawsuit. “You wouldn’t believe the reams and heaps and stacks and rooms full of material that this trial produced!” We are glad that the lawyers who worked on this case produced something for the money spent. Weiss informed me that court reporters are paid by the page and do very well. As we all know, lawyers make huge sums of money for their services—and even witnesses and jurors are paid for their time in court. Comic book writers and artists are paid by the page, too, but they unfortunately never make much money. What comic book writers and artists can say in a half-dozen pages, it takes a lawyer several hundred or thousand pages to say the same thing. I was called in to testify in 1944. Here is an excerpt from the testimony transcription: DC ATTORNEY: All the conversations, I take it, took place in the Fall of 1939? C.C. BECK: That is right. Q. Was there anything said about the supernatural characteristics of this individual at this time? A. We called them “magic,” yes, sir. Q. I did not ask you what you call them, I asked you what was said by Mr. Parker to you or to Mr. Parker about supernatural characteristics that this individual was to have. A. I don’t recall his using the word “supernatural.”

At His Beck And Call At a 1972 comics convention in Tempe, Arizona, C.C. Beck talks with some early “cosplay” folks—before the term was invented. (Back then, they just had masquerade contests, such as this one that Beck helped judge.) Most of the heroes in this grouping were characters he’d drawn at one time or another. From left to right, we see Captain Tootsie, (unidentified), Captain Marvel Jr. (a character Beck hated), Dr. Strange, Minnie Mouse, Ibis the Invincible (collector Bruce Hamilton), and Captain Marvel himself (portrayed by soon-to-be DC Shazam! artist Don Newton). How did Doc and Minnie and that other guy get in there? Photo courtesy of Alex Jay.

Superman’s lawyers tried their best to get witnesses to say that they copied or “stole” material from “Superman” stories. Here is the way Republic Pictures’ president Morris J. Siegal answered such insinuations: DC ATTORNEY: When and under what circumstances did you see any cartoon strips containing the figure or character Superman?

A. Subsequently, some several months later, I understood there was some legal problem involved, and we discontinued work on the serial. Q. At the time of the production of the Captain Marvel serial were you then familiar with the story and characters portrayed in the Captain Marvel serial? A. Yes, I discussed it and generally knew what the character was.

MORRIS J. SIEGAL: Well, we had purchased the rights to make a serial of Superman, and it was at that time I believe I saw some Superman strips.

Q. Do you recall whether the story or any of the characters [or] incidents in the Captain Marvel serial contained any material which had been prepared in connection with the proposed Superman serial?

Q. What happened in regard to the production of the Superman motion picture serial?

A. My recollection is that none of the Superman material was used in preparing the Captain Marvel continuity.

“The World’s Mightiest Waste Of Time And Money”

bullets, knives and swords; flying faster than a speeding car; lifting huge boulders and catching heavy objects; breaking steel bars, snapping handcuffs, crashing through doors. Fawcett’s lawyers then showed that Captain Marvel had flown before Superman had, that he had had a boy character in his stories long before Superman had, and that everything used in Superman’s stories had been used before in literature. Superman’s lawyers must have begun to feel that the whole business would soon be thrown out of court unless they could come up with something to show that huge amounts of money were at stake. In 1948 they made the following statement: “Fawcett will have to account for at least $2,300,000 in profits derived from the sale of its magazine cartoons. From 1940 to 1948 Fawcett sold approximately 200,000,000 copies of its infringing magazines.”

I’m Ready For My Magic Lightning, Mr. DeMille!

Apparently nothing happened; four years later Superman’s lawyer said:

“Fawcett has persisted in its deliberate, unabashed, and bare-face plagiarism. If we add the sales for the years 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1952 we arrive at a figure of $766,000 to be added to the pre-existing profit. Sales and profits from Superman magazines have been seriously curtailed because of the circulation of the imitation Captain Marvel magazine. The very existence of Fawcett’s imitation Superman cartoon has reduced the impact of the original Superman cartoon upon the buying public and has lessened its achievement in the comic field.”

During one period, Republic Pictures were co-defendants with Fawcett in the copyright infringement court battle with DC, thanks to the release of Republic’s 12-chapter movie serial from 1941, The Adventures of Captain Marvel. The above scene from the film captures Billy Batson (Frank Coghlan, Jr.) first meeting Shazam (Nigel De Brulier); photo autographed and personally inscribed to the FCA editor by Coghlan. Originally wishing to produce a Superman serial, Republic instead went with Captain Marvel; none of the CM story elements were originally intended for the aborted Superman project. Republic tried twice to do a Superman serial: the first attempt eventually became Mysterious Dr. Satan (1940) after licensing negotiations crumbled. The second go-around in 1941 also failed, due to DC wanting complete control of the production, and the rights to Superman being tied up with Paramount and their Fleischer cartoons. [Billy Batson & Shazam TM & © DC Comics.]

Q. Prior to the time you first heard of this lawsuit had you ever had, or do you now have, any knowledge or information that any material in any cartoon strips containing the figure or character Captain Marvel, or in the serial motion picture entitled The Adventures of Captain Marvel, or in any material written for such serial motion picture, was taken or appropriated or copied from any cartoon strip or strips containing the figure or character Superman? A. No. If this kind of high-flown drivel seems ridiculous today, it must have seemed a bit silly to DC’s lawyers, too. Superman’s publisher brought suit against Fawcett Publications in 1941 and the affair dragged on for over ten years. Enormous amounts of money were spent to prepare charts and lists of this and that and to summon and question people not only in the comic business but in related businesses. Despite Superman’s lawyers’ best efforts to get a witness—any witness—to say that Captain Marvel had been copied from Superman, not one of them (at least according to the material David Weiss has supplied) ever did so. The reason is obvious: Captain Marvel had not been copied from anything, least of all Superman. DC’s lawyers then prepared a list of things which they claimed were copied: invulnerability to

They were right. Captain Marvel was so much better than Superman that people were reading his books instead, as they had been ever since he started. But this fact had nothing to do with Superman’s claim that he had been copied. If Captain Marvel had been just an imitation of Superman (as many other comic characters were), his sales would have been as poor as those of Superman and his imitators. Actually, by 1952, sales of all comic magazines were falling. Hundreds of greedy publishers had milked the comic cow dry, and nobody was making money anymore. The Golden Age was over, and it was too late to do anything about it. Whether or not the three million that Fawcett was supposed to have made ever existed was never proven. That figure had been arrived at by Superman’s accountants and lawyers; Fawcett never said a word one way or the other. Perhaps the amount was higher. Perhaps Fawcett was embarrassed by its enormity. In the early ’50s, comic books were dying all over the landscape. Fawcett Publications, like all publishers, had hundreds of spin-offs from their comic books. In addition to a poorly produced movie, they had items ranging from hideous dolls to paper airplanes to Mary Marvel dresses and Captain Marvel tie clips. They even

Testimony & Opinion By C.C. Beck

made a Captain Marvel “Magic Flute” which played a single note before becoming permanently inoperative. All this disappeared down the drain in 1953. Superman’s lawyers wanted millions of dollars in damages, but Fawcett showed that for the past several years they had lost so much money on their Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. magazines that even the Captain Marvel books couldn’t cover their losses. Fawcett discontinued all their comics, which must have made Superman’s lawyers happy at last. The lawyers all got paid (probably not as much as they expected) and no Fawcett comic book was ever seen again. They all died a whimpering, miserable death.

A Fawcett Lynch-pin Superman’s lawyers were happy at last, as Captain Marvel “died a whimpering, miserable death,” as C.C. Beck called it. Panel from “Captain Marvel Retires” by Binder, Beck, & Costanza, from Whiz Comics #58 (Sept. 1944). [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

This concludes FCA #197. We now return you to the regularly scheduled Alter Ego #138. —PCH.

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Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg

A/E

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

The Bibliography Of The 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship By DR. AMY KISTE NYBERG

EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION: In A/E #136, we concluded our multi-issue reprinting of the main text of Dr. Amy K. Nyberg’s book Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code, originally published in 1998 by the University Press of Mississippi (in trade paperback form, and still available from them at www.upress.sate.ms.us). Our re-publication was spread over A/E #123-128, 130, & 133-136. Once again we wish to thank Dr. Nyberg— and Dr. M. Thomas Inge, under whose general editorship the work first saw print and who was of crucial help to us in securing permission to present it in Alter Ego. Our thanks, also, to William Biggins and Vijah Shah, acquisitions editors past and present of the UPM… and to Brian K. Morris for a typing assist. Because Seal of Approval is extensively footnoted (in the Modern Library Association style), we wanted to finish by reprinting Dr. Nyberg’s bibliography, as well, since the book would not be complete without it… nor would any reader be able to check her original sources for his/her own enlightenment or research. Naturally, we’ve thrown in a few art spots (and our own captions) along the way to illustrate the history of comics censorship, the Comics Magazine Association of America, and the Comics Code Authority….

References Abelson, Nathan. “Comics Are a Serious Business.” Advertising and Selling, July 1946, 41. ____. “Comics Are a Serious Business; Part II of a Study of Comic Magazines.” Advertising and Selling, Aug. 1946, 80-92. Adams v. Hinkle, 332 P.2d 844 (1958). Aldrich, Julian C. “Comics Are a Serious Business.” Scholastic, 10-15 Nov. 1941, T-1. American Civil Liberties Union. “Censorship of Comic Books: A Statement.” New York, NY, 1955. Andrae, Thomas. “From Menace to Messiah: The Prehistory of the Superman in Science Fiction Literature.” Discourse 2 (1980): 84-111. Anttonen, Eva J. “On Behalf of Dragons.” Wilson Library Bulletin 10 (1941): 567. “Association of Comics Publishers.” Advertising and Selling, July 1947, 102.

“I Have In My Hand…” A member of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, in early 1954, holds up a “random sampling” of crime and horror comics as evidence of publishers’ pernicious perfidy. From Changing Times magazine.

Baisden, Greg. “Friendly Frank’s Wins on Appeal.” Comics Journal, Dec. 1989, 13-15. “Ban on Comics Held Unconstitutional.” Editor and Publisher, 31 Dec. 1949, 10.

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

A Taylor-Made History Of Comic Books Between 1989 and the mid-’90s, author Mike Benton and the Taylor Publishing Company produced seven volumes in the Taylor History of Comics series, including the three pictured here—plus entries on science-fiction comics and on super-heroes of the Golden and Silver Ages, and The Comic Book Artists Hall of Fame. Too bad the series (or the company?) ran out of steam before it got around to studies of Western, jungle, humor, romance, et al.—but every one of these volumes is worth seeking out! [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

Barcus, Francis E. “A Content Analysis of Trends in Sunday Comics, 1900-1959.” Journalism Quarterly 38 (1961): 171-80. Barker, Martin. A Haunt of Fears: The Strange History of the British Horror Comics Campaign. London: Pluto, 1984. Barnouw, Erik. The Golden Web: A History of Broadcasting in the United States, Vol. II 1933-1953. New York: Oxford UP, 1968. Baughman, James L. The Republic of Mass Culture: Journalism, Filmmaking, and Broadcasting in America since 1941. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992. Beard, James. Letter to Senate Subcommittee. 26 Sept. 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. Bechtel, Louise Seaman. “The Comics and Children’s Books.” The Horn Book, July 1941, 296-303. Bender, Lauretta, and Reginald S. Lourie. “The Effect of Comic Books on the Ideology of Children.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 11 (1941): 540-50. Benton, Mike. The Comic Book in America: An Illustrated History. Dallas: Taylor, 1989. ____. Horror Comics: The Illustrated History. Dallas: Taylor, 1991. ____. Superheroes of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History. Dallas: Taylor, 1992. Berger, Arthur. “Comics and Culture.” Journal of Popular Culture 5 (1971): 164-77. “Better than Censorship.” Christian Century, 28 July 1948, 750. “Biblical Comic Books.” Newsweek, 3 Aug. 1942, 55-56. Blanchard, Paul. The Right to Read: The Battle against Censorship. Boston: Beacon, 1955.

Bobo, James. Letter to Charles Murphy. 30 Aug. 1955. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. “Book Week Audience Hears About Comics.” Publishers’ Weekly, 22 Nov. 1941, 1953 Boyer, Paul S. Purity in Print: The Vice-Society Movement and Book Censorship in America. New York: Scribner’s, 1968. ____. Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1978. Brady, Margaret E. “Comics – To Read or Not to Read.” Wilson Library Bulletin, May 1950, 662-68. Branley, Franklyn M. “The Plague of the Comics.” Elementary English Review 19 (1942): 181-82. Brim, Orville G., Jr. Education for Child Rearing. New York: Russell Sage, 1959. Broun, Heywood, and Margaret Leech. Anthony Comstock: Roundsman of the Lord. New York: Literary Guild of America, 1927. Brown, John Mason. “The Case against the Comics.” Saturday Review of Literature, 20 Mar. 1948, 32-33. Brurnbaugh, Florence. “The Comics and Children’s Vocabularies.” Elementary English Review 16 (1939): 63-64. Butts, R. Freeman, and Lawrence A. Cremin. A History of Education in American Culture. New York: Holt, 1953. Cable, Mary. The Little Darlings: A History of Child Rearing in America. New York: Scribner’s, 1975. Campbell, C. Mactie. “Adolph Meyer.” Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 37 (1937): 715-25. “Canadian Senate Bans Crime Comics.” Advertising Age, 19 Dec. 1949, 18.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Caplin, Elliott. Telephone interview with author. 11 July 1994. Capp, A1. “The Case for the Comics.” Saturday Review of Literature, 20 Mar. 1 32-33. “Cartoon Magazines for Children Big Success.” Publishers’ Weekly, 8 Mar. 1941, 1127. “Cause of Delinquency.” Science News Letter, 1 May 1954, 275. Cavalieri, Joey, and Matthew Morra. Interview with author. New York, NY, 26 May 1994. “Censorship of Comics.” Editor and Publisher, 18 Dec. 1948, 36. “Censorship Proposals Deluge Lawmakers.” Editor and Publisher, 12 Feb. 1949, 9. “Cincinnati Committee Lauds Continued Favorable Trend in Quality of Comics.” CMAA Newsletter, Oct. 1959, 3.

Cleverly, John, and D. C. Phillips. Visions of Childhood: Influential Models from Locke to Spock. New York: Teachers College, 1986. Clifford, Katherine. “Comic Sense about Comics.” Parents’ Magazine, Oct. 1948, 30. CMAA Files. Records of the Comics Magazine Association of America, New York, NY. “The Code Administrator’s Column.” CMAA Newsletter, Dec. 1955, 3. “Code for the Comics.” Time, 12 July 1948, 62. Coleman, James S. The Adolescent Society: The Social Life of the Teenager and Its Impact on Education. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1961. “Comfort for Comics.” Newsweek, 9 Jan. 1950, 46.

“Circulation Bust.” Business Week, 11 May 1946, 71-75. “Classic Comics Sell a Hundred Million.” Publishers’ Weekly, 23 Mar. 1946, 1736.

“Comic Book Curb Vetoed by Dewey.” New York Times, 20 Apr. 1949, 20. “Comic Book Inquiry Set.” New York Times, 12 Aug. 1955, 21.

Spicy Gets Dicey Whether connected directly to the Comics Code or not, examples of comic book censorship (whether imposed from the outside or house-generated) are always fascinating. “Here,” says supplier/comics historian John Benson, “is an example of comics [drawn by Wally Wood] that appeared first in a pulp magazine [left] and were then reprinted in a comic book [right]. Note that the cleavage in panels 1 and 2 has been made more modest [in the comic]…. I don’t know where either of these appeared. The pulp may have been Spicy Western, a Trojan title, but I only guess that because it’s a Western tale.” We did a bit of checking, John, and you seem to be right about the pulp source… and the color comics version appeared in Trojan’s Western Crime Busters #7 (Oct. 1951). Writer unknown. It still wouldn’t have made the grade in a Code-approved comic of the latter 1950s. Thanks! [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

Weekly, 12 Mar. 1949, 1244.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Papers. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Lathrup Village, Ml.

“Comics Code Authority Completes First Year.” CMAA Newsletter, Dec. 1955, 1.

“Comic Menace.” Wilson Library Bulletin 15 (1941): 846-47. “Comics: The Exception of Press Censorship.” Violence in the Print Media. Vol. 4 of Report of the Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. Ontario: Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry, 1976. “Comics Censorship Bill Passes New York Senate.” Publishers’

“Comics ‘Czar’ Invites Newspaper Compliance.” Editor and Publisher, 1 Jan. 1955, 47. “Comics Group Plans to Test Los Angeles Ban.” Editor and Publisher, 23 Oct. 1948, 32. Comics Magazine Association of America. “Fact Kit.” New York: Comics Magazine Association of America, 1955. ____. Facts about Code-Approved Comics. New York: Comics Magazine Association of America, 1959. ____. Papers. Comics Magazine Association of America, New York, NY. “Comics Publishers Organize for Self Regulation.” Advertising Age, 6 Sept. 1954, 3. “Comics Publishers Speak Up against State Regulation.” Advertising Age, 14 Aug. 1950, 38. “Comics Publishers Warned of Possible Legislative Action.” Advertising Age, 7 May 1951, 74. “Comics Trade Solid to Balk State Rule.” New York Times, 5 Dec. 1951, 37. Comstock, Anthony. Traps for the Young. New York: Funk, 1884. Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. New York: Basic, 1992.

Judge Not? (Above:) Thought you might like to see this photo and caption exactly as they appeared in a Pittsburgh newspaper (not sure which one) around the turn of 1954-55, depicting the first Comics Code administrator, Judge Charles F. Murphy, and an altered Joe Sinnott panel from the story “Sarah” in Timely/Atlas’ Uncanny Tales #29 (March ’55). Boy, did the Judge get media mileage out of that panel! (Below:) The Judge Parker comic strip for Sunday, Aug. 7, 1955, was one of a number of newspaper strips during that era that dealt—in one way or another— with the troublesome matter of comic books. Script by Dr. Nicholas P. Dallas; art by Dan Heilman. Thanks to Boyd Magers. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Coren, Robert W., et al. Guide to the Records of the United States Senate at the National Archives. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989. Cowan, Geoffrey. See No Evil: The Backstage Battle over Sex and Violence on Television. New York: Simon, 1979. Crider, Allen Billy. Mass Market Publishing in America. Boston: C.K. Hall, 1982. Crist, Judith. “Horror in the Nursery.” Collier’s, 29 Mar. 1948, 22-23. Curti, Merle. Probing Our Past. New York: Harper, 1955. “Daily is Leader of Comic Book Cleanup Drive.” Editor and Publisher, 26 June 1954, 38. Daniels, Les. Comix: A History of Comic Books in America. New York: Bonanza, 1971. ____. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics. New York: Abrams, 1991. Darvin, Leonard. Telephone interview with author. 7 June 1993. Davis, Kenneth C. Two-Bit Culture: The Paperbacking of America. Boston: Houghton, 1984. deGrazia, Edward, and Roger K. Newman. Banned Films: Movies, Censors and the First Amendment. New York: Bowker, 1982. “Delays Comic-Book Curb.” New York Times, 18 Jan. 1950, 23. Dias, Earl J. “Comic Books – A Challenge to the English Teacher.” English Journal 35 (1946) 142-45. “The Dirt and Trash that Kids Are Reading.” Changing Times, Nov. 1954, 25-29. Dooley, Dennis. “The Man of Tomorrow and the Boys of Yesterday.” Superman at Fifty: Persistence of a Legend. Ed. Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle. Cleveland: Octavia, 1987. 19-36.

Les Daniels’ Comix And Stories “Mad Peck’s” cover for Les Daniels’ 1972 book Comix: A History of Comic Books in America, the first real overview ever written of the comic book industry (since Jules Feiffer’s 1965 classic The Great Comic Book Heroes had had a more limited scope). Daniels would go on in the ’90s to write several first-class histories of Marvel and DC. His photo appeared in A/E #136. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Dooley, Dennis, and Gary Engle. “The Man Who Changed Comics.” Superman at Fifty: Persistence of a Legend. Ed. Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle. Cleveland: Octavia, 1987. 59-61.

Facey, Paul W. The Legion of Decency: A Sociological Analysis of the Emergence and Development of a Social Pressure Group. New York: Arno, 1974.

Doyle, Thomas F. “What’s Wrong with the ‘Comics’?” Catholic World, Feb. 1943, 543-57.

Fackler, Mark. “Moral Guardians of the Movies and Social Responsibility of the Press: Two Movements toward a Moral Center.” Mass Media between the Wars: Perceptions of Cultural Tension, 1918-1941. Ed. Catherine L. Covert and John D. Stevens. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1984.

Duke, Judith. Children’s Books and Magazines: A Market Study. White Plains, NY: Knowledge Industry, 1979. Editorial. New York Times, 25 Feb. 1949, 38. Ellison, Ralph. “Harlem Is Nowhere.” Shadow and Act. New York: Random, 1953. 294-302. Elson, Ruth Miller. Guardians of Tradition: American Schoolbooks of the Nineteenth Century. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1964. Ernst, Morris, and Alexander Lindey. The Censor Marches On: Recent Milestones in the Administration of the Obscenity Law in the United States. New York: Doubleday, 1940. Ernst, Morris L., and William Seagle. To the Pure: A Study of Obscenity and the Censor. New York: Viking, 1928. Estren, Mark J. A History of Underground Comics. 3d ed. Berkeley, CA: Ronin, 1993. Exton, Elaine. “Countering Crime-Laden Comics.” School Board Journal 117 (1948): 47-50.

The Fan-Addict Club Bulletin. No. 3, June 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. “The Fawcett Formula.” Time, 19 Mar. 1945, 63-66. Peder, Edward L. Comic Book Regulation. Berkeley: University of California, Bureau of Public Administration, 1955. Feiffer, Jules. The Great Comic Book Heroes. New York: Bonanza, 1965. Finn, David. The Corporate Oligarch. New York: Simon, 1969. Fontenay, Charles L. Estes Kefauver: A Biography. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1980. Frakes, Margaret. “Comics Are No Longer Comic.” Christian Century, 4 Nov. 1942, 1349-51.

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

Fulton, E. D. “How Canada Has Dealt with the Comic Book Situation through Legislation.” Religious Education 49 (1954): 41518. Gaines, William. Interview by John Tebbel. 4 Aug. 1986. ____. Letter to Robert Hendrickson. 21 May 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. Gardiner, Harold C., S.J. Catholic Viewpoint on Censorship. Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1958. Gay, Roger C. “A Teacher Reads the Comics.” Harvard Educational Review 7 (1937): 198-209. Gibbs, W. “Keep Those Paws to Yourself, Space Rat.” New Yorker, 8 May 1954, 134-41. Gilbert, James. Cycle of Outrage: America’s Reaction to the Juvenile Delinquent in the 1950s. New York: Oxford UP, 1986. Gleason, Mona. “The Crime Comic Debate: Children, Family and Popular Culture in Postwar Canada.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association, New Orleans, Apr. 1993. Goldwater, John. Americana in Four Colors: A Decade of SelfRegulation by the Comics Magazine Industry. New York: Comics Magazine Association of America, 1964. ____. “Editorial.” CMAA Newsletter, July 1957, 1. ____. Interview with author. New York, NY, 29 July 1992.

Pre-Code Cover-Up? George Hagenauer sent us a twice-printed Lee Elias-drawn page from Fiction House’s Firehair Comics #2, of which the original art, which he owns, is reprinted above: “I have always been curious about this page because of all the whiteout and changes on the art…. There are editorial instructions at the top about adding fringe to her sleeves, suggesting that at some point [earlier in the story] there were a number of instructions on how to better and more fully clothed Firehair! The page first ran in Rangers Comics #28 in 1946 [near right]…. It was redrawn and censored for publication in the Winter 1949-50 issue of Firehair, with Firehair’s bikini costume becoming a normal, lessrevealing buckskin [far right]…. This is the first time I have seen such art changes occurring pre-Code and before Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent was published. Jungle Comics, one of the premier showcases of scantily clad females, continued up until 1954, so obviously Fiction House was not changing that policy everywhere. But they may have been experimenting with a section of their line which was more toned-down…. Around the same time, Planet Comics also shifts from scantily clad sagas like ‘Gale Allen’ to more straight sci-fi tales. So, while we have been focused for years on the proliferation of crime and horror comics from the early 1950s to the Code, there may have been publishers moving or experimenting in the other direction….” Scripter unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Frank, Josette. “Let’s Look at the Comics.” Child Study 19 (1942): 76. ____. “People in the Comics.” Progressive Education 19 (1942): 28-31. Frank, Josette, and Mrs. Hugh Grant Straus. “Looking at the Comics.” Child Study 20 (1943): 112-18.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

____. Letter to Estes Kefauver. 10 June 1956. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. Gorman, Joseph Bruce. Kefauver: A Political Biography. New York: Oxford UP, 1971. Goulart, Ron. Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1972. ____. Over Fifty Years of American Comic Books. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 1991. ____. Ron Goulart’s Great History of Comic Books. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1986. Gourley, Myrtle. “A Mother’s Report on Comic Books.” National Parent-Teacher, Dec. 1954, 27-29. Haney, Robert W. Comstockery in America: Patterns of Censorship and Control. Boston: Beacon, 1960. Harker, Jean Gray. “Youth’s Librarians Can Defeat Comics.” Library Journal, 1 Dec. 1948, 1705-7.

Harrison, Emma. “Magistrate Is Made Comics ‘Czar.’“ New York Times, 17 Sept. 1954, 1. Hart, James D. The Popular Book: A History of America’s Literary Taste. Berkeley: U of California P, 1963. Hawes, Joseph M. Children in Urban Society: Juvenile Delinquency in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Oxford UP, 1971. “Health Law Urged to Combat Comics.” New York Times, 4 Dec. 1951, 35. Heisler, Florence. “A Comparison between Those Elementary School Children Who Attend Moving Pictures, Read Comic Books, and Listen to Serial Radio Programs to an Excess, with Those Who Indulge in These Activities Seldom or Not at All.” Journal of Educational Research 42 (1948): 182-90. ____. “A Comparison of Comic Book and Non-Comic Book Readers of the Elementary School.” Journal of Educational Research 40 (1947): 458-64. Hendrickson, Robert. Letter to Mrs. Mario Levy. 24 Sept. 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Box 169, National Archives, Washington, DC. ____. Letter to William Gaines (draft). Robert Hendrickson Papers, Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY. ____. Papers. Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY. Hill, George. “Taking the Comics Seriously.” Childhood Education 17 (1941): 413-14. Hill, George, and M. Estelle Trent. “Children’s Interest in Comic Strips.” Journal of Educational Research 34 (1940): 30-36. Hitzig, William M. “Murder Every Forty-Five Minutes.” Saturday Review of Literature, 7 May 1949, 9-10. “Hold Hearings on New State Curb on Comics.” Advertising Age, 19 June 1950, 65. Hoult, Thomas Ford. “Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency.” Sociology and Social Research 33 (1949): 279-84. Hoult, Thomas, and Lois Hoult. “Are Comic Books a Menace?” Today’s Health, June 1950, 20-21. “How about the Comics?” Newsweek, 15 Mar. 1948, 56. “How Much of a Menace Are the Comics?” School and Society, 15 Nov. 1941, 436. Hughes, Mabel W. “Newsstand Nightmares.” National ParentTeacher, Nov. 1948, 3. Hutchinson, Earl R. “Obscenity, the Censors, and Their Foes.” Mass Media and the Law: Freedom and Restraint. Ed. David G. Clark and Earl R. Hutchinson. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1970. 281-83. lnge, M. Thomas. Comics as Culture. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1990.

“Scare” Tactics? We’ve gotta admit, we love the rationale expressed in the panel 3 dialogue for what sure looks to us like mowing down a bunch of North Korean/Chinese soldiers in Charlton’s early post-Code Soldier and Marine #13 (April 1955). Yeah, having a machine-gun fire a zillion rounds right at massed infantry will scare a lot of folks into surrendering, all right— provided any of them survive! Scripter & artist unknown. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© the respective copyright holders.]

____. Roundtable Discussion on Comics Scholarship. Twentysecond Annual Convention, Popular Culture Association, Mar. 1992, Louisville, KY. Inglis, Ruth A. Freedom of the Movies: A Report on Self-Regulation from the Commission on Freedom of the Press. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1947.

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

Kinneman, Fleda Cooper. “The Comics and Their Appeal to the Youth of Today.” English Journal 32 (1943): 331-35. Kurtzman, Harvey. From Aargh to Zap: Harvey Kurtzman’s Visual History of the Comics. New York: Prentice, 1991. Landsdowne, James D. “The Viciousness of the Comic Book.” Journal of Education 127 (1944): 14-15. Lee, Harriet E. “Discrimination in Reading.” English Journal 21 (1942): 677-79. Leff, Leonard, and Jerold Simmons. The Dame in the Kimono: Hollywood, Censorship and the Production Code from the 1920s to the 1960s. New York: Grove Weidenfield, 1990. Legman, Gerson. “The Comic Books and the Public.” American Journal of Psychotherapy 11 (I948): 473-77. “Less Paper.” Time, 11 Jan. 1943, 71. “Let Children Read the Comics; Science Gives Its Approval.” Science News Letter, 23 Aug. 1941, 124-25. Levine, Murray, and Adeline Levine. Helping Children: A Social History. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. “Librarian Named on Comics Advisory Committee.” Library Journal, 1 Jan. 1949, 37. “Libraries, to Arms!” Wilson Library Bulletin 15 (1941): 670-71. Littledale, Clara Savage. “What to Do about the Comics.” Parents’ Magazine, Mar. 1941, 26.

Lois And Clark – 1953 What do you suppose the odds are that this page from the brilliant Harvey Kurtzman/Wally Wood parody “Superduperman!” in EC’s Mad #4 (AprilMay ’53) would have been approved two years later by the Comics Code Authority? (Pregnant pause for thought.) Nope—the odds are even less than that! Nowadays, this classic is on view in the first volume of DC Comics’ hardcover Mad Archives that reprint the four-color Mad comic book. [TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.]

Jacobs, Frank. The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1972. Jacobs, Will, and Gerard Jones. The Comic Book Heroes from the Silver Age to the Present. New York: Crown, 1985. Kahn, E. J., Jr. “Why I Don’t Believe in Superman.” New Yorker, 29 June 1940, 56-58. Karp, Etta. “Crime Comic Book Role Preferences.” Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1954. Karpman, Benjamin, ed. Symposia on Child and Juvenile Delinquency. Washington, DC: Psychodynamics Monograph Series, 1959. Katzev v. County of Los Angeles, 341 P.2d 310 (1959). Kefauver, Estes. Letter to William Jenner. 31 Jan. 1955. Kefauver Papers, Hoskins Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. ____. Papers. Hoskins Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. Kihss, Peter. “Senator Charges ‘Deceit’ on Comics.” New York Times, 23 Apr. 1954, 29.

Lornax, Elizabeth M. R., Jerome Kagan, and Barbara Rosenkrantz. Science and Patterns of Child Care. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman, 1978. “Los Angeles Ordinance Bans All Crime Comics.” Editor and Publisher, 2 Oct. 1948, 18. Lowery, Shearon, and Melvin DeFleur, eds. “Seduction of the Innocent: The Great Comic Book Scare.” Milestones in Mass Communication Research. New York: Longman, 1983. 233-66. Luckiesh, Matthew, and Frank K. Moss. “Legibility in Comic Books.” Sight-Saving Review 12 (1942): 19-24. Luke, Carmen. Constructing the Child Viewer: A History of the American Discourse on Television and Children, 1950-1980. New York: Praeger, 1990. ____. Pedagogy, Printing and Protestantism: The Discourse on Childhood. Albany: State U of New York P, 1989. Lupoff, Dick, and Don Thompson, eds. All in Color for a Dime. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1970. MacDonald, Andrew, and Virginia MacDonald. “Sold American: The Metamorphosis of Captain America.” Journal of Popular Culture 10 (1976): 249-58. Mackey, David R. “The Development of the National Association of Broadcasters.” Journal of Broadcasting 1 (1957): 305-25. MacLeod, Anne Scott. A Moral Tale: Children’s Fiction and American Culture, 1820-1860. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1975. Mannes, Marya. “Junior Has a Craving.” New Republic, 17 Feb. 1947, 20-23.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Marston, William Moulton. “Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comics.” American Scholar 13 (1943-1944): 35-44. Martin, Olga J. Hollywood’s Movie Commandments: A Handbook for Motion Picture Writers and Reviewers. New York: H. H. Wilson, 1937. Martin, Ralph G. “Doctor’s Dream in Harlem.” New Republic, 3 June 1946, 798-800. McAllister, Matthew P. “Cultural Argument and Organizational Constraint in the Comic Book Industry.” Journal of Communication 40 (1990): 55-71. McChesney, Robert W. “Franklin Roosevelt, His Administration, and the Communications Act of 1934.” American Journalism 5 (1988): 204-29. McCord, David Frederick. “The Social Rise of the Comics.” The American Mercury, July 1935: 360-64. McCue, Greg, and Clive Bloom. Dark Knights: The New Comics in Context. Boulder, CO: Pluto, 1993. McGraw, Curtis. Letter to Governor Thomas Dewey. 4 Apr. 1949. Governor’s Bill Jacket, Veto #117, New York State Archives, Albany, NY. McMahon, Robert Sears. Federal Regulation of the Radio and Television Broadcast Industry in the United States 1927-1959. New York: Arno, 1979. McMaster, Jane. “Comics Ratings Bring Comment about Taboos.” Editor and Publisher, 11 Feb. 1950, 46. Medhurst, Andy. “Batman, Deviance and Camp.” The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media. Ed. Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio. New York: Routledge, 1991. 149-63. Meigs, Cornelia, et al. A Critical History of Children’s Literature. New York: Macmillan, 1969. Memorandum filed with Senate Bill Introductory Number 1862, Printed Number 2939, n.d. Governor’s Bill Jacket, Veto #117, New York State Archives, Albany, NY. Mennel, Robert M. Thorns and Thistles: Juvenile Delinquency in the United States, 1825-1940. Hanover, NH: UP of New England, 1973. Mitchell, Steve. “The Best Is the Worst: Love, ‘Classics,’ and the ACMP.” Comics Buyer’s Guide, 19 July 1985. ____. “Evil Harvest: Investigating the Comic Book, 1948-1954.” M.A. thesis, Arkansas State University, 1982. ____. “The Red-Hot Thrill: The Comic Book Crisis of 1948, Part I.” Comics Buyer’s Guide, 21 June 1985. ____. “The Red-Hot Thrill: The Comic-Book Crisis of 1948, Part II.” Comics Buyer’s Guide, 28 June 1985. ____. “Slaughter of the Innocents.” Comics Buyer’s Guide, 17 May 1985. ____. “Superman in Disguise: The New York State Investigations.” Comics Buyers Guide, 9 May 1986. Moley, Raymond. The Hays Office. New York: Bobbs, 1945. Moore, William Howard. The Kefauver Committee and the Politics of Crime, 1950-1952. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1974.

Leaving Traces In Tracy In A/E #105 & 113, we reprinted grossly censored art and story from Chester Gould’s famous Dick Tracy newspaper comic strip as it was reprinted in Harvey Comics’ Dick Tracy comic book in the late 1950s. Here’s another page from DT #115 (probably cover-dated Sept. ’57), in which the Code folks apparently got a mite squeamish about showing a wrapped-up corpse, so it was whited out—but only in certain panels. Apparently, the final panel on the page was so egregious that it had to be replaced with entirely new art and dialogue, with no budget (or at least no will) to color the end result. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. Wish we had the time and resources to look up the original newspaper version for contrast… but you get the idea. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Morgan, Joy Elmer. “The Ubiquitous Comics.” NEA Journal, Dec. 1948, 570. Munter, Holly. Telephone interview with author. 23 June 1994. Murphy, Charles F. “The Code Administrator’s Column.” CMAA Newsletter, May 1956. ____. Letter to Estes Kefauver. 12 Aug. 1955. Records of Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. ____. “The Role of the Code Administrator.” Violence and the Mass Media. Ed. Otto N. Larson. New York: Harper, 1968. 244-49. Mulrell, Jesse. “Cincinnati Rates the Comics.” Parents’ Magazine, Feb. 1950, 44-45.

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

Where Eagles Don’t Dare In this case, it could be interesting for a reader simply to pencil in his/her own version of what kind of art might’ve appeared in the Howard Larsen-drawn story for Avon Periodicals’ Wild Bill Hickok #12 (Aug. 1952) that had to be drastically altered, even totally omitted, when the story was reprinted in WBH #25 (Oct.-Nov. 1955). Not only were two of the three panels on the splash page totally, or at least largely, redrawn (and then not colored), but even the story title was changed, from “The Killers of Eagle Ridge” to “The Bandits of Ridge.” (What in the name of Bowdler did the poor eagles do to get themselves excised from the title? Or did Judge Murphy’s Code people assume the eagles were of the bald variety, so that the title was dishonoring our national bird?) On the story’s 6th page, along with that totally new (?) 7th panel, a whole mess of words from panels 3 & 5 have been deleted—and not replaced with anything. How could Ace’s editorial staff possibly think that publishing comics with a number of such pages in them—and there were quite a few!—would help keep them in business for long? And, of course… it didn’t. Thanks to Richard Arndt for the scans. [© the respective copyright holders.]

____. “Annual Rating of Comics Magazines.” Parents’ Magazine, Aug. 1954, 48. Mussey, “Books – 5 Cents, 10 Cents and Up.” Publishers’ Weekly, 1 Oct. 1938, 1280-83. Nation, 19 Mar. 1949, 319. “New Canadian Law Declares Crime Comics Illegal.” Publishers’ Weekly, 7 Jan. 1950, 45. Newson, John and Elizabeth Newson. “Cultural Aspects of Childrearing in the English Speaking World.” Rethinking Childhood: Perspectives on Development and Society. Ed. Arlene Skolnick. Boston: Little, 1976. 325-46. “New York Censors.” Editor and Publisher, 12 Mar. 1949, 38. “New York Gives Warning to Comics Publishers.” Advertising Age, 26 Mar. 1951, 16. “New York Officials Recommend Code for Comics Publishers.”

Publishers’ Weekly, 19 Feb. 1949, 978. New York State Legislature. Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics. Interim Report. Albany: Williams, 1950. ____. Report. Legislative Document No. 15. Albany: Williams, 1951. ____. Report. Legislative Document No. 64. Albany: Williams, 1952. ____. Hearings before the New York Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics, 4 Feb. 1955. Nisbet, Peter. “Collecting, Connecting: Fredric Wertham and His Art.” The Fredric Wertham Collection. Cambridge: Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, 1990. Noble, William. Bookbanning in America: Who Bans Books – And Why? Middlebury, VT: Erikssen, 1990. “NODL Head Says Comics Code Authority Definitely Cleaned Up Comics.” CMAA Newsletter, July 1957, 1.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

____. Dime Novels: Following an Old Trail in Popular Literature. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1968. “Personal and Otherwise.” Harper’s, July 1951, 8. Peterson, Theodore. Magazines in the Twentieth Century. Urbana: U. of Illinois P, 1964. Pivar, David J. Purity Crusade: Sexual Morality and Social Control 1868-1900. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1973. “Plan of Action against Unwholesome Comics, Motion Pictures, and Radio Programs.” National Parent-Teacher, Nov. 1948, 12. Postman, Neil. The Disappearance of Childhood. New York: Dell, 1982.

Ripped From The Headlines…

North, Sterling. “The Antidote for Comics.” National ParentTeacher, Mar. 1941, 16-17. ____. “A National Disgrace.” Rpt. in Childhood Education 17 (1940): 56.

This Sept. 26, 1950, article from the front page of the Syracuse, New York, Post-Standard newspaper demonstrates that concern about comic books didn’t evaporate in between the adoption of the 1948 code and the climactic events of 1954. It reports the remarks of an Assemblyman, the “chairman of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publications [sic] of Comics,” made to “the Syracuse Comic Books committee.” It’s easy to smile about such literary vigilantism nowadays, but such concerns led to the near-destruction of the comic book industry a few years later. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [© the respective copyright holders.]

”Not So Funny.” Time, 4 Oct. 1948, 46.

Powers, Thom. “Friendly Frank’s Manager Found Guilty.” Comics Journal, Mar. 1988, 5. “President’s Column.” CMAA Newsletter, Feb. 1957, 1. “Psychiatrist Asks Crime Comics Ban.” New York Times, 14 Dec. 1950, 50. “Psychiatrist Charges Stalling Tactics on Legislation to Control Comic Books.” New York Times, 24 Jan. 1950, 9. “Psychiatry in Harlem.” Time, 1 Dec. 1947, 50-52. Pulliam, John D. The History of Education in America. 5th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1991. “Purified Comics.” Newsweek, 12 July 1948, 56. Queenan, Joe. “Drawing on the Dark Side.” New York Times Magazine, 30 Apr. 1989, 32-34. Reibman, James E. “The Life of Dr. Fredric Wertham.” The Fredric Wertham Collection. Cambridge: Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, 1990.

“N.Y. Legislature Gives Warning to Comics Publishers.” Advertising Age, 26 Mar. 1951, 16. Nystrom, Elsa. “A Rejection of Order: The Development of the Newspaper Comic Strip in America, 1830-1920.” Ph.D. diss., Loyola University of Chicago, 1989. “The Old Folks Take It Harder Than Junior.” Collier’s, 9 July 1949, 74. “Oppose State Regulation.” New York Times, 9 Aug. 1950, 24. “Our Comic Culture.” Educational Forum 6 (1941): 84-85. “Outlawed.” Time, 19 Dec. 1949, 33. Overstreet, Robert M. The Official Overstreet Price Guide, 1989-1990. 19th ed. New York: The House of Collectibles, 1989. Parsons, Patrick. “Batman and His Audience: The Dialectic of Culture.” The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media. Ed. Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio. New York: Routledge, 1991. 66-89. Paul, James C. N., and Murry L. Schwartz. Federal Censorship: Obscenity in the Mail. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1961. Pearson, Edmund. Books in Black and Red. New York: Macmillan, 1923.

Reich As Rain! The cover of the British edition of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, which we’ve depicted before, was utilized in this ad when the book was printed in the UK in ’55. Nowadays, it’s virtually a truism that the first person to compare his opponent to Adolf Hitler loses the argument—but at this time, World War II was only a decade in the past. Still, the good doctor may have exaggerated just a wee bit. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

Reidelbach, Maria. Completely MAD: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine. Boston: Little, 1991.

Rowland, Willard D., Jr. The Politics of TV Violence: Policy Uses of Communication Research. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1983.

Reitberg, Reinhold, and Wulfgang Fuchs. Comics: Anatomy of a Mass Medium. Boston: Little, 1971.

Rudy, Willis. Schools in an Age of Mass Culture: An Exploration of Selected Themes in the History of Twentieth-Century American Education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice, 1965.

“Religious Editor Hits Comic Books.” Editor and Publisher, 10 July 1954, 50. Reynolds, George R. “The Child’s Slant on the Comics.” School Executive 62 (1942): 17. Rhyne, Charles S. Comic Books – Municipal Control of Sale and Distribution – A Preliminary Study. National Institute of Municipal Law Officers Report No. 4. Washington, DC, 1948. Richardson, Theresa R. The Century of the Child: The Mental Hygiene Movement and Social Policy in the United States and Canada. Albany: State U of New York P, 1989. Rothe, Anna, ed. Current Biography: Who’s News and Why. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1949.

Sabin, Roger. Adult Comics: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 1993. Salicrup, Jim. “Editor: Dick Giordano.” Comics Interview, June 1983, 38. Sarno, Edward F., Jr. “The National Radio Conferences.” Journal of Broadcasting 13 (1969): 189-202. Savage, William. Comic Books and America, 1945-1954. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1990. Scheffer, Ruth. Letter to Senate Subcommittee. 8 Sept. 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Box 169, National Archives, Washington, DC. Schick, Frank. The Paperbound Book in America: The History of Paperbacks and Their European Background. New York: Bowker, 1958. Schreuders, Piet. Paperbacks, U.S.A.: A Graphic History. San Diego: Blue Dolphin, 1981. Schultz, Henry E. “Censorship or Self Regulation?” Journal of Educational Sociology 23 (1949): 215-24. ____. Letter to Governor Thomas Dewey. 1 Apr. 1949. Governor’s Bill Jacket, Veto #117, New York State Archives, Albany, NY. “Senate Committee Will Take Comics Under Consideration.” Advertising Age, 23 Nov. 1953, 1. Senn, Milton J.E. “Insights on the Child Development Movement in the United States.” Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 40 (1975), No. 161. Skolnick, Arlene. Rethinking Childhood: Perspectives of Development and Society. Boston: Little, 1976. Smith, Ruth Emily. “Publishers Improve Comic Books.” Library Journal, 15 Nov. 1948, 1649-53. “Some Milestone Comics Drop Comics Code.” Comics Journal, June 1993, 12. Sones, W.W.D. “Comic Books as Teaching Aids.” The Instructor 51 (1942): 14. Sperzel, Edith Z. “The Effect of Comic Books on Vocabulary Growth and Reading Comprehension.” Elementary English 25 (1948): 109-13. “State Bill to Curb Comic Books Filed.” New York Times, 14 Jan. 1949, 18.

“Are There Any Groups Here I Haven’t Offended?” Justifying the above quote from the great comedian Lenny Bruce, this page from the story “The Flaming Arrows of the Son of Fire” in Youthful Magazines’ indelicately titled Redskin #3 (Feb. 1951) seems designed to hack off both Native Americans and, perhaps even more so, Asians. In addition, the stereotyped Chinese man—who introduces fireworks on the American frontier—is, both visually and even in terms of personality and speech patterns, a total rip-off of Chop Chop from the Quality group’s long-running Blackhawk comic! Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [© the respective copyright holders.]

“State Laws to Censor Comics Protested by Publishers.” Publishers’ Weekly, 12 Mar. 1949, 243-44. “State Senate Acts to Control Comics.” New York Times, 24 Feb. 1949, 17. Steranko, James. The Steranko History of Comics. 2 vols. Reading, PA: Supergraphics, 1972. Strang, Ruth. “Why Children Read the Comics.” Elementary School Journal 43 (1943): 336-42.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Have They No “Shame”? John Benson writes, re the above pre- and post-Code splash pages of a story that appeared in St. John’s Hi-School Romance #24 (Feb. 1954) & 52 (June 1956): “This is one of my favorites. A big black tree in the Code version changes the title’s meaning, although if you look closely you can still see the yellow ‘E’ lurking in the shadows. The girl’s hemline has been lowered in the splash, and in panel 3 the breasts of the girl on the left have been flattened. The black tree and the change to a black skirt were necessary to cover up colors, since the original color plates were used in the reprints, as explained in detail in my upcoming article [for Alter Ego]. Note that these kids are in ‘school’ in the original but in ‘college’ in the Code version. Note also that the fellow’s nose has been removed in a not-too-successful attempt to indicate that the girl is merely kissing him on the cheek. “In the original version of the tale, she goes with a rich fellow to spite a class enemy (in both meanings of the word ‘class’). They get married in secret, but each lives at home with their respective parents because he’s scared to tell his parents and be cut off from his allowance. Finally, she becomes pregnant, they have to tell, and he is disowned by his parents. She looks to the future: a husband with no money and no skills and ‘a life of struggle tied to a weakling [I] never loved. I’ve had to leave school… our baby will be born—unwanted by his father and scorned by his paternal grandparents.’ A bitter ending, indeed, and unusual for a romance comic. In the Code version, he doesn’t want to admit to their marriage because he’s studying to be a doctor. His parents do reject him, but the couple live happily ever after (and no child in sight). “In the first version, it’s all her fault, making ‘Shame’ a cogent title. In the revision, the phony marriage is all that’s left, making ‘Sham’ equally apt for that version.” Art by Bob Powell; scripter unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.] John’s study of the pre- and post-Code versions of a number of St. John romance stories will appear in a near-future issue of A/E.

Stuart, Lyle. Letter to James Bobo. 11 Aug. 1955. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC.

Suransky, Valeria Polakov. The Erosion of Childhood. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1982.

____. Remarks at a memorial service for William Gaines. Transcribed by John Tebbel (unpublished), 5 June 1992.

“Survey of E.C. Fan-Addict Club Letters.” Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC.

“Study Course Outlines: What Are Comic Books?” National ParentTeacher, Mar. 1949, 34-35.

“Survey Reveals High Readership.” Advertising Age, 27 Sept. 1943, 54.

“Superman Scores.” Business Week, 18 Apr. 1942, 54-56.

“Survey Shows Ninety-Five Percent of Youngsters Read, Like Comic Books.” Advertising Age, 9 Jan. 1950, 46.

”Supersuit.” Newsweek, 14 Apr. 1947, 65-66.

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

Swados, Harvey. Standing Up for the People: The Life and Times of Estes Kefauver. New York: Dutton, 1972. Thomas, Mrs. Letter to Senate Subcommittee. 23 Sept. 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Box 169, National Archives, Washington, DC. Thompson, Maggie. “The Comics Industry: 1989.” Comics Buyers Guide, 31 Mar. 1989, 58. Thorndike, Robert L. “Words and the Comics.” Journal of Experimental Education 10 (1941): 110-13. Thrasher, Frederic M. “The Comics and Delinquency: Cause or Scapegoat?” Journal of Educational Sociology 23 (1949): 195-205. Tielman, Adrian. “Comic Books and Democracy.” Educational Administration and Supervision 35 (1949): 299-301. “‘Tis True, ‘Tis Comic, and Comic ‘Tis ‘Tis True.” School and Society, 10 May 1941, 598. “To Burn or Not to Burn?” Senior Scholastic, 2 Feb. 1949, 5. “Too Many Magazines?” Time, 17 June 1946, 48-49. Towne, Charles L. “Hartford Is Aroused by Comic Book Expose.” Editor and Publisher, 10 Apr. 1954, 11. Twomey, John E. “The Anti-Comic Book Crusade.” M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1955. ____. “The Citizen’s Committee and Comic Book Control: A Study of Extragovernmental Restraint.” Law and Contemporary Problems 20 (1955): 623-29. “Unfunny Comic Books Banned in Los Angeles.” New York Times, 23 Sept. 1948, 38. United States of America v. The American News Company and the Union News Company, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Civil Action No. 77-193. Filed 17 July 1952. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. National Archives, Washington, DC. U.S. Congress. House. Investigation of Literature Allegedly Containing Objectionable Material: Hearings before the Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials, 82d Cong., 2d sess., 1-5 Dec. 1952. U.S. Congress. Senate. Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. A Compilation of Information and Suggestions Submitted to the Special Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce Relative to the Incidence of Possible Influence Thereon of So-Called Crime Comic Books During the Five-Year Period 1945 to 1950, 81st Cong., 2d sess., 1950. Committee Print. ____. Records of the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, Committee on the Judiciary, 1953-1961. National Archives, Washington, DC. ____. Juvenile Delinquency (Comic Books): Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, 83d Cong., 2d sess, 21-22 Apr. 1954 and 24 June 1954. ____. Television Programs: Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, 83d Cong., 2d sess., 5 June 1954 and 19-20 Oct. 1954. ____. Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. Interim Report: Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency, 84th Cong., 1st sess., 1955.

Passing The Torch Dr. Wertham, probably at the 1954 hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, examining a display board of horror and crime comics covers. Note that the only super-hero comics in sight are two different issues of Timely’s The Human Torch. But, unless the topline reading “Human Torch… Man of Flame” that ran above the title logo on all three issues of that mag’s 1954 revival somehow vanished when photographed, these covers must be at least five years old! Not that a little thing like that ever stopped Doc W.—or legislators in search of votegarnering headlines.

____. Motion Pictures: Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, 84th Cong., 1st sess., 15-18 June 1955. Vaughn, Stephen. “Morality and Entertainment: The Origins of the Motion Picture Production Code.” Journal of American History, June 1990, 39-65. Vlamos, James Frank. “The Sad Case of the Funnies.” American Mercury, Apr. 1941, 411-16. Vosburgh, John R. “How the Comic Book Started.” Commonweal, 20 May 1942, 146-48. Warshow, Robert. “Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham.” Commentary, June 1954, 596-604. Wartella, Ellen, and Sharon Mazzarella. “A Historical Comparison of Children’s Use of Leisure Time.” For Fun and Profit: The Transformation of Leisure into Consumption. Ed. Richard Butsch. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1990, 173-94. Wartella, Ellen, and Byron Reeves. “Historical Trends in Research on Children and the Media: 1900-1960.” Journal of Communication 35 (1985): 118-33. Waugh, Colton. The Comics. New York: Macmillan, 1947; Rpt. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1991. Wertham, Fredric. “The Air-Conditioned Conscience.” Saturday Review of Literature, 1 Oct. 1949, 6-8. ____. “The Betrayal of Childhood: Comic Books.” Proceedings of the 78th Annual Congress of Correction, American Prison Association, 1948, 57-59. ____. The Circle of Guilt. New York: Rinehart, 1956. ____. “The Comics… Very Funny!” Saturday Review of Literature, 29 May 1948, 6-7. ____. “Critique of the Report to the Surgeon General from the Committee on Television and Social Behavior.” American Journal of Psychotherapy 26 (1972): 216-19.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

What Wertham Didn’t Know About Comic Book Fanzines (Above:) Wertham’s article “What Parents Don’t Know about Comic Books,” from the Ladies’ Home Journal for Nov. 1953, is not cited in Seal of Approval’s bibliography, probably because so much of it was repeated in the psychiatrist’s 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. However, at least three comic book panels reproduced in the LHJ in black-&-white (and light blue) didn’t make it into SOTI; so we’ve done a public service by displaying them here, along with the captions that accompanied them. Sorry, we’ve no idea from which comics these images came—and Doc and the Journal weren’t going to bother to enlighten anybody. The 16-page “art gallery” from SOTI was reprinted, with color supplied for most, in Alter Ego #125. [© the respective copyright holders.]

____. “The Curse of the Comic Book: The Value Patterns and Effects of Comic Books.” Religious Education 49 (1954): 394-406. ____. “Is TV Hardening Us to the War in Vietnam?” Violence and the Mass Media. Ed. Otto N. Larson. New York: Harper, 1968. 50-54. ____. “It’s Still Murder: What Parents Don’t Know About Comic Books.” Saturday Review of Literature, 9 Apr. 1955, 11-121. ____. “Nine Men Speak to You: Jim Crow in the North.” The Nation, 12 June 1954, 497-99. ____. “Psychiatry and the Prevention of Sex Crimes.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 28 (1938): 847-53. ____. “The Psychopathology of Comic Books.” Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy 11 (July 1948): 472-90. ____. “Reading for the Innocent.” Wilson Library Bulletin 29 (1955): 610-13. ____. “The Scientific Study of Media Effects.” American Journal of Psychiatry 119 (1962): 306-11. ____. Seduction of the Innocent. New York: Rinehart, 1954. ____. The Show of Violence. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1949. ____. A Sign for Cain: An Exploration of Human Violence. New York: Macmillan, 1966.

”Wertham on Murder.” Newsweek, 9 May 1949, 51-52. West, Mark I. Children, Culture and Controversy. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1988. West, Mrs. Max. Infant Care. Washington, DC: U.S. Children’s Bureau Publication No. 8, 1914. Rpt. in Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, Vol. II. Ed. Robert H. Bremner. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1971. 1866-1922. Westerhoff, John H., III. McGuffy and His Readers: Piety, Morality and Education in Nineteenth Century America. Nashville: Parthenon, 1978. White, Kenneth. Letter to Senate Subcommittee. 7 July 1954. Records of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Box 169, National Archives, Washington, DC. White, Llewellyn. The American Radio: A Report on the Broadcasting Industry in the United States from the Commission on Freedom of the Press. New York: Arno, 1974. Williams, Gweneira, and Jane Wilson. “They Like It Rough.” Library Journal, 1 Mar. 1942, 204-6. Williams, J. P. “Why Superheroes Never Bleed: The Effects of SelfCensorship on the Comic Book Industry.” Free Speech Yearbook, Vol. 26. Ed. Stephen A. Smith. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1987. 60-69. Winters v. New York, 68 S.Ct. 665 (1948). “Wisconsin District Attorney Finds Comics O.K.” CMAA Newsletter, Dec. 1957, 4.

____. “Wham! Socko! Pow!” Harpers, Sept. 1951, 16.

Wisconsin Session Laws. Adjourned session of the Legislature, Vol. 2, Madison, WI, I957.

____. “What to Do Till the Doctor Goes.” The Nation, 2 Sept. 1950, 67-69.

“Witnesses Favor Comic Book Curbs.” New York Times, 14 June 1950, 29.

____. “Who Will Guard the Guardians.” New Republic, 29 Oct. 1945, 578-80.

Witty, Paul. “Children’s Interest in Reading the Comics.” Journal of Experimental Education 10 (1941): 100-104.

____. The World of Fanzines: A Special Form of Communication. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1973.

____. “Comics and Television: Opportunity or Threat?” Today’s Health, Oct. 1952, 18.

The Bibliography Of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s 1998 Study Of Comics Censorship

I.O.U. One Reprint Harvey Comics’ story “I.O.U. One Body” first appeared, as seen far left, in Black Cat #45 (Aug. 1953)— then later, as revised under the gentle hand of the Comics Code Authority, in Shocking Tales Digest #1-andonly (October 1981). Writer & artist unknown. Incidentally, though it’s usually treated as though it was, the word “Mystery” was never part of the official indicia title of Black Cat. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [© the respective copyright holders.]

____. “Reading the Comics—A Comparative Study” Journal of Experimental Education 10 (1941): 105—9. ____. “Those Troublesome Comics.” National Parent-Teacher, Jan. 1942, 29-30. Witty, Paul, and Anne Coomer. “Reading the Comics in Grades IVVII.” Educational Administration and Supervision 28 (1942): 344-53. Witty, Paul, Ethel Smith, and Anne Coomer. “Reading the Comics in Grades VII and VIII.” Journal of Educational Psychology 33 (1942): 173-82. Wolf, Katherine M., and Marjorie Fiske. “Children Talk about Comics.” Communications Research 1948-1949. Ed. Paul Lazarsfeld and Frank Stanton. New York: Harper, 1949- 3-50. Wright, Ethel C. “A Public Library Experiments with the Comics.” Library Journal, 15 Oct. 1943, 832-35. Zimmerman, Thomas L. “What to Do about Comics.” Library Journal, 15 Sept. 1954, 1605-7. Zorbaugh, Harvey. “Editorial.” Journal of Educational Sociology 18 (1944); 193-94. ____. “The Comics—There They Stand.” Journal of Educational Sociology (1940): 196-203. ____. “What Adults Think of Comics as Reading for Children.” Journal of Educational Sociology 23 (1949): 225-35. This concludes our reprinting of Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg’s Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code.

Seal of DisApproval The original black-&-white art for the cover of Seal of Approval, as drawn by comics artist John Nyberg, husband of Amy Kiste Nyberg. With thanks to both for the scan. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

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The Terrible Trio! Three tasty Charles Biro illos. (Clockwise from far left:) Cover to Daredevil #6 (Dec. 1941), the splash to Boy Comics #9 (April 1943), and the cover to Boy #11 (Aug. 1943). [Pages © the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Prepubescent & Publisher (Above:) H. Walter drew this header illustration for Lev Gleason’s article. [© 1952 Today’s Health.] (Right:) Drew Friedman’s superb portrait of Gleason appeared in his book Heroes of the Comics. You gotta pick this book up! [© 2015 Drew Friedman.]

Introduction

by Michael T. Gilbert

omic book publisher Lev Gleason made a small fortune printing some of the most wonderfully gruesome, depraved comics of the Golden Age. In their prime, each issue of Daredevil, Boy Comics, and the notorious Biro & Wood Crime Does Not Pay sold millions. But by 1952 the comic book landscape had changed—and so, it appeared, had Gleason. In response to attacks by critics like Dr. Fredric Wertham, Gleason began publishing more kid-friendly titles like Slugger, Squeeks, Dilly, and Uncle Charlie’s Fables—fairy tales told by writer/editor Charles Biro. The critics may have approved, but the kids stayed away in droves. None lasted past five issues.

But Gleason’s heart was in the right place, as seen in this spirited defense of comics that appeared in the September 1952 issue of Today’s Health. Our thanks to Comics Detective Ken Quattro for sharing this article.

“In Defense Of Comic Books”

In Defense Of Comic Books

by Leverett Gleason

n at least 20,000,000 American homes today there is a youngster avidly reading a comics magazine. Chances are there is a sizeable stack of these magazines waiting their turn for his attention. The home may be humble or lavish. The child may be brilliant or dull. The fact is that this enthusiasm for the comics is universal in our current generation of youngsters. Well over 75% of all children between four and 19 are regular readers of comics magazines. Sales total between 60 and 70 million copies a month. More than 400 different comics magazines are on sale today. They constitute more than a third of all the newsstand reading matter in this country. The influence that this part of the reading diet has on children has become an important consideration for parents, educators, sociologists, doctors, and, in fact, the entire population. Now that the comics magazines have been popular for nearly 15 years, psychologists and educators have been able to make extensive studies of their effects and to develop some significant theories. Comics magazines, they declare, offer an amazing potential. They can actually help mold their young readers into happier, more intelligent adults, if developed with that in mind. They can be conceived to catch the child’s interest, give him fun and excitement in a decent moral and ethical framework, foster a realistic understanding of life and a sense of discrimination in literature and art. One authority has told me that if he could control all the editorial material that goes into comics magazines, he would be able completely to shape the future thinking of this country. That may be an extreme viewpoint, but many agree with him. Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg, director of the Child Study Association of America and a recognized authority on the subject, expresses it in another way:

He Also Serves… This Morris Weiss drawing appeared in Daredevil #16 (April 1943) and depicts Leverett Gleason during a stint in the Army Air Corps. [© the respective copyright holders.]

“We are dealing with a relatively new means of communication. Like movies and radio, in fact, the spoken or written word, comics can say almost anything one may want to say. However good or bad and whatever we may want to say or teach, comics can be more quickly and widely understood by young and old than the written word. The comics thus contain the possibilities of valuable, positive contributions to better

How Slugger Survives! Slugger was the only member of Daredevil’s Little Wise Guys to earn his own title—though only for a single issue (April 1956). Art by Charles Biro. [© the respective copyright holders.]

mutual understanding and better living everywhere.” Another authority, Josette Frank, educational associate of the Child Study Association, adds that the comics magazine has a high potential value because it is so acceptable to children and it can be timely and contemporary in a way books cannot. Here, perhaps more effectively than elsewhere, she adds, we can find an opportunity to give children forward-looking attitudes, ideas, and ideals about the world they live in. The effect of brutality, sex, sadism and cruelty in children’s reading matter is self-evident. No comic book which includes such matter can ever be acceptable. The strict code of ethics set up by the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers has brought about the elimination of such scenes from the magazines published by association members. Every issue of the magazines put out by members is examined before it is printed by an arbiter retained by the association. It is his job to order any changes he deems necessary and members must conform. Not all comic book publishers are members of the association, but many who do not belong carry on their own self-censorship. Alert parents may have noted some slow but significant results. It is important that parents recognize the influence of comics magazines. It is useless to think that children can be prohibited from reading them and the task of selecting suitable ones thereby avoided. Unless a child is sealed in a cave it is next to impossible to keep him from reading comics magazines, since they are every-

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

spontaneously given to and received by children, serving at the same time as a means of helping to solve individual and sociological problems appropriate to their lives,” says Dr. Lauretta Bender of the psychiatric division of Bellevue Hospital and the New York University Medical School.

Monkey Business! Loyal readers of Boy Comics loved Crimebuster’s monkey pal, Squeeks. But Gleason’s little kiddie spin-off lasted only five issues. Squeeks #1 (October 1953) featured a Charles Biro cover. [© the respective copyright holders.]

where. Authoritative studies have shown that where parents forbid their children to read comics magazines, the children read those of their playmates and those they find lying around. That points up the importance of selectivity. Some comics are “good,” some are not. Little Lulu is one example of the good ones. It is the duty of the parent to provide this selectivity. The parent must make the choice and if he makes the proper one, his child will benefit considerably.

In studying the personalities of the heroes and heroines of comic books, though, scientists came across one of the first clues as to how comic books can be most satisfying for children. One extensive study showed that the Seal Of Approval— best effects can be achieved if the The Prequel heroes are not simply superIn this article, Lev Gleason refers to powered creatures who can move the Association of Comics Magazine the world with a flick of the little Publishers, forerunner of the 1955 finger. Such super-beings, while Comics Code Authority. Formed in they provide the child with an May 1947, the AMCP’s founding exciting and gratifying form of members included Gleason, Bill self-identification, fail to give him Gaines (EC), and Phil Keenan something to imitate. He knows (Hillman), with George T. he cannot be so physically Delacorte, Jr. (Dell), serving as powerful himself. So he can only president. But the organization was voluntary, and therefore largely read for entertainment and escape. ineffective. Above is the seal that But if the hero is a normal, was printed on covers of AMCPeveryday type of person who has approved comics. adventures exciting enough to keep the child interested but solves his problems through his own intellect or determination the young reader has a hero after whom he can pattern himself. The National Association for Mental Health, after an association-sponsored survey by psychiatrists, concluded last fall that comic books can be used to emphasize sound moral and ethical principles. Most comic books today incorporate a moral in their stories. Often, however, this moral is hauled out only on the last page and then in an utterly bald and perfunctory fashion. Child welfare experts have suggested that if the moral were actually a part of the story, and not just shoved down the reader’s throat on the last page, it would make a much more effective impression— and much better reading.

But what is the effect of comic books on children? One of the most important contributions and one reason for the amazing popularity of such magazines is the outlet they provide for the normal frustrations of childhood. Living in an adult world, dominated by adults and forced to conform to patterns of behavior set down by adults, children naturally build up resentments. If they have some form of outlet, these lose their importance. For a child, the exciting adventures of a hero in a comic book offer a means of expression. Through them he can ease his inclination to pull the dog’s tail or harass his baby sister, psychologists say. “Comics are the folklore of the times,

This Kid Can Read And Write— And Type! This drawing appeared in the midst of the text of the reprinted article. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Children of all intellectual levels and all cultural backgrounds read comics. Some of the most enthusiastic readers are children of exceptional intelligence, it has been found, and the most enthusiastic comic book readers may also read the greatest number of regular books. The New York State Library is one of the many authorities for this fact. Dr. Paul Witty, professor of the PsychoEducational Clinic of Northwestern University, has found in his studies that while gifted children read about as many comics as other children when young, they lose interest in them sooner and develop a balanced reading pattern earlier. Comic magazines already are helping children in their education. A Columbia University professor, strolling through New

“In Defense Of Comic Books”

York’s Central Park one afternoon, came upon a tiny child seated on a bench with her mother and small brother. He judged the little girl to be about four and was admiring her as a cute youngster when he realized what she was doing. A comic book clutched in her tiny hands, she was apparently reading it to her brother— haltingly, it is true, but still reading it. Her mother sat by watching the passerby, only incidentally concerned with her child’s accomplishment. After watching the scene for a few minutes, the puzzled professor approached the mother and asked if her child was actually reading the comic book as she seemed to be or was merely repeating it from rote. “She hasn’t memorized it,” the mother replied. “She reads some of the words. The rest she makes up. She picks out about half of the words and then figures out what the rest should be from the pictures and pretends she can read it all.” Dr. W.W. Sones, Professor of education and director of curriculum study at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, consultant for the Pennsylvania State Department of Education and the Carnegie Foundation of Teachers, says analysis shows a child reading a comic book is practicing the very same activities used in good reading instruction. He learns new word symbols through pictures of things or action or in the context of the story. His interest, Dr. Sones says, arouses the need for identifying new words in order to carry on the thread of the story and he gets practice in recognizing new words through their appearance in different settings. One educator actually sat down and counted the words in a comics magazine and then analyzed their value as an aid to children in learning to read. He was Dr. Robert L. Thorndike of the department of educational psychology of Teachers’ College, Columbia University, who found that the comics magazine he used as an example had more than 10,000 words of reading matter. Any child who read just one copy of that or a comparable magazine each month would cover more that 120,000 words a year. That would be twice the wordage of a fourth or fifth grade reader. Dr. Thorndike considers that the pictures undoubtedly aid in making the reading pleasant and attractive for children who would be unable to read the straight text without difficulty. He concluded that such comics magazines offer an educational recourse that provides many thousands of words of reading experience, introduces the child to a wide range of vocabulary,

Another County To Be Heard From This box was placed right after Gleason’s byline in the article, and announced that the next issue of Today’s Health would feature an article on comics by psychologist Paul Witty. The blurb suggests the article might be an opposing viewpoint, but Witty has generally been considered sympathetic to the medium and usefulness of comic book. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Silly Dilly! Dilly Duncan, a humorous feature from Daredevil, was another short-lived spin-off, lasting only three issues. Biro drew the cover to issue #1 (May 1953). [© the respective copyright holders.]

including many useful words that stand in need of additional practice by the typical child in grades four to eight, and provides interest appeal and picture context to make a vocabulary experience of a fairly advance level attractive even to the retarded reader. “The teacher and librarian should be aware of the positive contribution of these materials as an out-of-school supplement to the child’s reading experience,” said Dr. Thorndike. He was referring to those comic books that feature good grammar and good writing, as many comics do—and more will if parents demand. There have been frequent charges that comic books printed on cheap paper and with poor artwork tend to lower a child’s sense of artistic discrimination. The paper on which comics are printed is the same newsprint used by all the leading newspapers in the country. While it is true that, with today’s high costs, no publisher could afford to use a better grade of paper, it was not cost that determined this choice of paper stock for comic magazines. The fact is that comics are printed in four colors at enormously high speed—about 40,000 copies an hour. Only newsprint will absorb the ink at this speed. No one points a finger at your morning newspaper and says it is killing a child’s sense of beauty because it is printed on newsprint. Artwork is another matter. Many comics magazines use excellent artwork. Some are less fastidious. But even artwork is a matter of taste. Art in comics magazines is a medium with which

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

to tell a story. Each publisher desires to use the material which will please most readers. Here again, thinking parents will help their children to select, and to develop the standards by which they can make their own selection—and not only of comic books. These are the conclusions of experts, supported by much scientific research. But they do not drop the matter there. While they advance the idea that comic books can be of great value to children, they add that there is lots of room for improvement. Comic book publishers are aware of this. The comic publishing field is just growing up. Every other form of communication had its growing pains. The most recent have been movies, radio, and television. The first attempts at television programming were abortive collections of variety entertainers and little else. As the medium began to mature, and the men and women with it began to understand and criticize their own idiom, the content improved. Today much good television entertainment is available. But the viewer must select. Until a child’s powers have been developed, he must have the selection made for him. Once he becomes accustomed to the most constructive comic books he will be able to discriminate for himself just as once he is accustomed to the better television shows, he begins to develop and to exercise some discrimination. The majority of comic book publishers today are determined to improve their publications. Many have done an excellent job and are striving to do a better one. My own organization recently introduced a new comic book for children three to 12 based entirely on the recommendations of psychologists and educators. Entitled Uncle Charlie’s Fables, it features original fairy tales that offer excitement with gentle fantasy. Its artwork has been commended and its characters speak none of the jargon found in some comic books. It is a result of a year’s study of child welfare experts’ finding on what kind of a comic magazine is best for children.

Uncle Charlie’s Folly! Lev Gleason had high hopes for this kid-friendly comic, but Uncle Charlie’s Fables failed to catch on. The first issue (Jan. 1952), featured a charming Charles Biro cover. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Other comic magazines publishers are watching its reception to determine whether there is a market for comic books specifically designed to meet the high standards of people working with children. If they decide there is, they too will attempt to improve their

Uncle Charlie Himself! In true Stan Lee style, Charles “Uncle Charlie” Biro photo-featured himself spinning fairy tales in each issue of Uncle Charlie’s Fables! This page appeared in the first issue. Interior art was by Norman Maurer, Fred Kida, Bob Fujitani, and Norman Rockwell’s nephew Dick Rockwell. [© the respective copyright holders.]

own publications further to meet this demand. The parents will determine the course comics magazines shall take. If parents show they want such magazines to become a real factor for the wholesome development of their children, as psychologists say they can be, it will be done. The comics magazine publishers will improve their publications as they see the need and the public’s interest.

The End Postscript: Lev Gleason’s heart was definitely in the right place, but he made one fatal mistake. Uncle Charlie’s Fables and his later kid-friendly titles may have been “based on the recommendations of psychologists and educators,” as well as “child welfare experts.” But Mr. Gleason would have been better served listening to the kids themselves. Admirable as Uncle Charlie’s Fables may have been, Gleason’s noble experiment lasted a mere five issues before fading into the dustbin of comics history. ‘Till next time....

The Secret Lair Of Dr. Strange, His Creators, & A Ghost Of Christmas Past 51

The Unknown History Of 177 [& 177A] Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, New York City by Paris Liu [Originally published in NYMag.com’s Bedford + Bowery on Dec. 25, 2014. © 2014 Paris Liu.—delayed from Alter Ego #136.]

f you walk past 177 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village and see a middle-aged guy in black clothes and a flowing red cape making a horn sign with both hands, watch out for the multi-dimensional mayhem about to be unleashed. To us mere mortals, 177 Bleecker may be a stately Queen Anne-style apartment building that rises five stories above a busy Manhattan street. But in the Marvel Universe, the building has long been the home of Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme who’ll be played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a hotly anticipated film. Since Marvel introduced the master magician to the comic world in the 1960s, he has lived in his Sanctum Sanctorum at 177 Bleecker Street, and much of the universethreatening action perpetrated by the forces of darkness against our unsuspecting world has taken place within these walls. According to the South Village Historic District Designation Report, the building dates back to 1887. It’s the work of Alexander I. Finkle, a New Orleans-born architect and builder whose other noteworthy designs include a synagogue at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 72nd Street. But Finkle seemingly did his best work on private residences. He was responsible for a row of Queen Anne houses in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, but only one of these is still standing. He also designed two German Renaissance Revival style tenements in NoHo, as well as another two in the East Village. But in Greenwich Village, the buildings at 171, 173, 175, and 177 Bleecker Street are today his most visible legacy.

Zeroing In On Doc’s Domicile (Above:) Panels from the sixth “Dr. Strange” story, in Strange Tales #117 (Feb. 1964)—the first-ever depiction of Stephen’s mysterious dwelling-place, and it’s actually just an image in the palm of his arch-enemy, Baron Mordo! The real McMansion is shown three panels later. Script & editing by Stan Lee; art (and probably co-plotting) by Steve Ditko. In the very first “Dr. Strange” yarn, in ST #110 (July ’63), there’s just a verbal reference to the magician living “on a quiet side street in New York’s colorful Greenwich Village”; in the third one, in ST #114 (Nov. ’63), it’s called “a shadowy Greenwich Village apartment”; the next issue, it’s “a shadowy, candlelit apartment on a back street in Greenwich Village.” Note that, this first time its exterior is depicted, Doc’s mansion stands on a corner. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Left:) Today, 177A Bleecker Street—as the street address read in 1965-66—is a part of “177 Bleecker Street”; but Bleecker was and is definitely not a “quiet side street” or “back street.” In this photo, a passerby gives a mystic sign in front of the doorway now bereft of the “A.” Thanks to Paris Liu for the photo.

The Unknown History Of 177 [& 177A] Bleecker Street

Bleecker & Bleaker

Got To Believe We Are Magic! The photo (above left) of the entire building at 177 Bleecker Street a few years back is from Bob Cromwell’s fun website “Fictional Architecture of Manhattan,” and was seen with Paris Liu’s original online publication of her article. On his site, Cromwell explains to readers that “The structure is much larger inside than outside,” since it also contains “Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum” with a “library of occult works such as the Book of the Vishanti and his meditation room… in the upper levels,” plus living quarters for Doc and Wong and space for occasional guests. Cromwell adds that the Sorcerer Supreme “hides the true nature of his townhouse by magically disguising the ground floor as yet another Greenwich Village tattoo parlor [NOTE: recent update: ‘grocery store.’]” In regard to another of his photos, Cromwell reports that the array of door buzzers inside the 177-marked door (seen above right) is “mysteriously blank.” All of this, he assures us, is “just an illusion maintained by Dr. Strange.” At the end of the entry, he adds the tidbit of info that “Marvel writers and artists Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Bill Everett shared an apartment here on Bleecker Street in the late 1960s.” [© the respective copyright holders.]

Early History & James H. Paine The Miser Details are sketchy about the building that preceded the presentday 177 Bleecker, but the Designation Report notes that the houses on the street were part of “an affluent residential area in the early 19th century” whose rise “began in earnest during the 1820s and 1830s, when unprecedented growth pushed the limits of the city northward and—for some four decades— made the blocks of the historic district one of New York’s most prestigious residential neighborhoods.” Some of the houses even had pretentious-sounding names, such as Carroll Place, but if 177 Bleecker had one, it does not seem to have survived. One of the few existing documents about the former building is a curious New York Times clipping from 1886 about a former resident named James H. Paine, who lived and died in the building’s attic in 1885. Paine was an old “miser” (so termed by the Times), who was either a music critic or avid music fan, and made the news when the then-substantial sum of $40,000 was discovered in his attic room after his death. He died just before Christmas and was

(Clockwise from above:) In 1808, Anthony Bleecker and his wife deeded land in the Greenwich Village area to New York City… which is surely enough to get a street therein named after you. Hence, a Bleecker Street sign from the modern era—and the glazedglass address above the doorway at 177. Thanks to Paris Liu for the latter.

buried on Christmas Day 1885. The newspaper did a follow-up on him a year later. Paine had interesting ancestry. He was the grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Treat Paine, a fact that the Times found noteworthy enough to include in its one-year follow-up. The newspaper listed the “atheist Thomas Paine” as another ancestor, although a detailed biography of Robert Treat Paine by a contemporary merely states that the ancestors of both men came from the same region of England. One thing that’s somewhat clearer is that the Bleecker family, for whom the street is named, had something to do with the house. According to the Designation Report, the Bleeckers acquired the land in the late 1700s from the Bayard family, which had ambitiously acquired that and other property in South Manhattan during the previous century. Anthony Bleecker and his wife signed over the land on which 177 Bleecker now sits to the city in 1808. And, lest we New Yorkers get too contemptuous when seeing those Southern mansions depicted in Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind, the Designation Report clearly states that slave labor was commonly employed in many of the estates in South Manhattan. In fact, Nicholas Bayard, the patriarch of the family, not only had slaves, but “was also a merchant who participated in the slave trade.” Little wonder that Dr. Strange has so many malevolent specters to fight!

A Paine In The Attic (Left:) Thomas Treat Paine (1731-1814), ancestor of the secret miser James H. Paine who “lived and died [in 1885] in the attic” at the Bleecker Street address. (Right:) A possible relative of both the above gents: Thomas Paine (1736-1807), author of the tract Common Sense, which helped spur the American Colonies toward revolution against England.

Anthony Bleecker, on the other hand, seems to have been primarily a developer with a flair for literature. He regularly published his prose and poetry, and even garnered a nice compliment from the noted American poet William Cullen Bryant: “Anthony Bleecker, who read everything that came out, and sometimes wrote for the magazines, was an amusing companion, always ready with his puns.” An amateur writer could certainly be made to do with a bleaker epitaph.

The Secret Lair Of Dr. Strange, His Creators, & A Ghost Of Christmas Past

York City that was filmed in 2003 and shown on TV in 2004,” Thomas added. If James Paine was indeed related to the famous pamphleteer and author, then 177 Bleecker Street has been home to more than one literary descendant. The aforementioned Marvel artist Bill Everett—or William Blake Everett—was a descendant of

Three To Get Ready… Two 1965-66 Marvel stalwarts (Roy and Bill)—and Gary Friedrich, who would go on staff at Marvel by around the end of the latter year. See Roy’s Addendum on pp. 55-57 for the full story of the three Marvel madmen’s tenancy at 177A Bleecker. Photos from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

At any rate, Bleecker was either directly or indirectly responsible for the houses that once existed where the 177 Bleecker Street apartment building now does. In fact, the association also notes that Bleecker personally requested the street that now bears his name to be widened to 60 feet in order to better accommodate and showcase the stately residences that were springing up. These houses were built in the Federal style, which the association explains featured “brick facades laid in Flemish bond pattern, which alternated a stretcher and a header in every row and allowed a linking of more expensive face brick with cheaper, rougher brick behind.” Whatever else one can say about the old house at 177 Bleecker Street, it is obvious that Paine found himself a nice attic in which to die.

Marvel Boys Why did the creative minds at Marvel Comics decide on a century-old stone building near the New York University campus as the fictional residence of Dr. Strange? According to the former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, Roy Thomas, the answer is pretty simple: he and famed comic book artist Bill Everett lived there in the mid-1960s. “The address which is now listed over its doorway as ‘177’ Bleecker Street was, in 1965-66, ‘177A’ Bleecker Street,” Thomas said in an e-mail interview. “At one time, I thought it was Bill who had used the address for Marvel’s hero magician Dr. Strange, which he sometimes drew and I sometimes wrote. But I later realized it was I who had done it. Dr. Strange lived in Greenwich Village, according to the comics, so, despite the impossibility of his unique mansion fitting into that space (but he was a wizard, right?), I gave it that address.” Thomas and Everett moved into an apartment on the second floor [near the end of] 1965. After about half a year, they left owing to a rent dispute with the landlord, but have kept the address as the domicile of Dr. Strange for almost 50 years now. “My wife Dann and I appear in front of that doorway and even inside the building (I hadn’t been inside since 1966) in the Travel/Discovery Channel special Marvel Superheroes’ Guide to New

It Takes A [Greenwich] Village… (Above:) When Steve Ditko abruptly left Marvel around the turn of 1965-66, Stan Lee briefly took back the scripting of “Dr. Strange” after a severalmonth absence, with Bill Everett drawing the feature, beginning with Strange Tales #147 (Aug.1966). The first street scene Everett depicted was based on what he saw when he stepped out the door at 177A Bleecker Street. But he stuck a different number on a doorway on this initial splash page. And, re the projected Dr. Strange movie, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige told blogger Devin Faraci: “[Doc’s] Sanctum is on Bleecker Street, the modern Bleecker Street” (even though that area has become much more upscale since the ’60s). “He will be,” Feige adds, “the strangest thing walking out onto that street.” But then, he always was! [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Left:) William Blake (1757-1827), British poet and ancestor of William Blake “Wild Bill” Everett. One of Blake’s most famous poems is the oft-quoted “Tiger, Tiger” [“Burning bright, In the forest of the night”].

The Unknown History Of 177 Bleecker Street

Masters Of The Mystic Yogurt The former Pinkberry yogurt establishment at 177 Bleecker Street. At some time during or before the start of the 21st century, the “A” had been dropped, and what had been “177” and “177A” had become, in effect, the same address. Photo courtesy of Darryl Etheridge, DE/VL Design (www.devldesign.com). Thanks also to Paris Liu. [© DE/VL Design.]

the great British Romantic poet William Blake. Everett was no slouch in the imagination department, either, having been the creator of Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and co-creator of Daredevil, according to Thomas.

Frozen Yogurt War: Pinkberry Vs. Red Mango In 2007, probably even to Dr. Strange’s surprise, there suddenly were long lines out the doors in front of his Sanctum Sanctorum. 177 Bleecker experienced its most hectic era when the frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry opened a franchise on the ground floor in the early 2000s. Bleecker Street became a major battlefield in the Frozen Yogurt War, as the New York Times coined the rivalry, when competing chain Red Mango began peddling its wares three doors down at 182 Bleecker Street. While not the usual mystic-dimensional caliber

of a Dr. Strange tale, the yogurt war itself could have been a more prosaic episode from an Archie comic book, with Jughead at the counter, of course, scooping the frozen provender and hammering the cash register. Or, think about it: “Yogurt madness” motivated hoards of aficionados to descend upon the supposedly hidden lair of Dr. Strange, not to do battle with the dark forces of evil, but instead to lift their spoons in the eternal battle of the beltline. Red Mango could have been a villain’s name in another Marvel series.

It’s hard to declare a victor in that Frozen Yogurt War on Bleecker Street. Red Mango seems to have had an edge in Yelp! reviews, earning four out of a possible five 57 against only three for Pinkberry. But Pinkberry was able to stay in business three years beyond Red Mango’s closure in 2009.

Today, both firms have closed their Bleecker Street locations; in place of Pinkberry is a convenience store whose proprietor is unaware that he daily treads the hallowed magical enchanted ground of the master magician.

Necromancing Toward The Future There’s nothing surprising about businesses in busy New York neighborhoods coming and going, but what does intrigue an investigator is that there should be such continuity in the literary connections of such an otherwise nondescript residential building. The South Village Historic District Designation Report does not even mention famous former residents of the building, although it does highlight the names of literary and other cultural figures who have been associated with nearby sites. Given that 177 Bleecker has been home to a presumed relative of the author of Common Sense, a famed writer of fantasy comics, and an equally famous artist and creator whose own ancestor was responsible for Enitharmon and Nobodaddy, it’s little surprise that the demigod Dormammu will occasionally show his flaming face at 177 Bleecker. Paris Liu is a freelance writer and currently a Master’s student at New York University with a joint major in Journalism and European Studies. She focuses much of her journalistic writing on interesting occurrences in New York City, especially in regard to the life of overseas Chinese people and Chinese students studying abroad. She is currently writing her master’s thesis on the Shanghai Ghetto, where more than 20,000 Jewish refugees lived during World War II.

Separated At Birth? (Left:) Benedict Cumberbatch, TV’s Sherlock. He’ll portray Dr. Strange in a solo movie about the mystic master, and may well do a cameo in an earlier Marvel Studios super-hero film. At least, we hope so! (Right:) Dr. Strange, from the splash panel of his debut in Strange Tales #110 (July 1963). The credits read: “Story by Stan Lee; art by Steve Ditko.” [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Magic Abides! Paris Liu clearly isn’t the only person who’s snapped Dr. Strange-related photos of the one-time 177A Bleecker Street. This 2012 pic shows Spanish A/E reader and frequent contributor Pedro Angosto casting occult spells there—perhaps inspired by the fact that the building (and Roy & Dann Thomas with it) was featured in the 2004 Travel Channel special Marvel Superheroes’ Guide to New York City (see p. 57). Thanks, amigo!

Paris Liu.

The Secret Lair Of Dr. Strange, His Creators, & A Ghost Of Christmas Past

Addendum by Roy Thomas:

Strange Bedfellows

(Figuratively Speaking, Of Course)

dding a bit of first-hand information to Paris Liu’s article, re the Thomas/Everett sojourn at 177A Bleecker Street:

The 2nd-floor shotgun-style apartment at that address, situated midway between MacDougal and Sullivan Streets in Greenwich Village (some blocks below 14th Street in Manhattan), was first occupied by Gary Friedrich and myself around the end of 1965. By then, I’d been a writer and editorial assistant for Stan Lee at Marvel for half a year; Gary had recently moved to NYC from our mutual hometown of Jackson, Missouri, and was just starting (or about to start) to write scripts for Charlton editor Dick Giordano. Not long after we moved in, having departed from Dave Kaler’s apartment on the Lower East Side (then being touted as the “East Village”), we invited veteran comics artist Bill Everett to stay at our place the several nights each week he was in town for his new Marvel staff job. He’d usually return home to Massachusetts over the weekends, though less so after his wife passed away a few months later. From front to back, the apartment consisted of a dingy living room, a dingy kitchen/dining area, then a narrower (and equally dingy) bedroom and bathroom. It was, I believe, the only apartment on the second floor at the 177A address. It contained a smallish uncomfortable bed and a hard, even more uncomfortable couch in the living room, on which I generally slept. A bit earlier, I had dialogued a pair of Ditko-plotted-and-drawn “Dr. Strange” stories before Stan moved me to other series, with my fellow Missourian recruit Denny O’Neil replacing me for what became Ditko’s final two “Doc” yarns. When Ditko quit Marvel around the turn of 1966, Stan assigned Bill to do the “Dr. Strange” art; Stan wrote the first half of the initial tale Bill drew, and a couple more of them later. Thus, Bill was definitely staying at 177A Bleecker when he drew his “Dr. Strange” stories. I myself scripted one “Strange” installment drawn by Bill; this was one of the very few times he and I ever collaborated, though I was a huge fan of his 1963-64 co-creation of Daredevil and, even more so, his work from 1939-55 on “The Sub-Mariner,” his signature creation. 177A Bleecker was an intriguing locale during that era of the dawn of the counterculture. On the ground floor directly below us (at the original 177, I suppose—our street-side 177A doorway was off to the right of it) was an odd type of artsy-fartsy establishment, in which customers paid good money to dip their hands into spinning mini-vats of paint (they resembled the machines that make cotton candy) and then splashed that paint onto canvases as instant “art.” Whether or not their riders were customers of that place, motorcycles gathered and revved up night after night in front of it—right below our streetfront window. It was not the easiest place in the world to get a good night’s sleep, but for a time Gary and I reveled in living in Greenwich Village. Across the street was the studio of one Anthony Cipriano, a fairly well-known sculptor; I immediately signed up for a sculpting class he held on Saturday mornings, but after one session spent trying to make a piece of clay look like a naked-lady model, I gave it up. (See the cover of A/E #136 for fellow Marvel staffer Marie Severin’s cartoon “Roy’s first day at sculpting class.”) One day the previous fall, Denny had pointed out to me a young Bob Dylan

O Frabjous Day! Kaluu! Kalay! Dr. Strange exchanges sorcerous salvos with Kaluu, sworn enemy of himself and The Ancient One, in Strange Tales #150 (Nov. 1966). Script by Roy Thomas; art by Bill Everett. By the time the guys worked on this one, the bloom was definitely off the rose at 177A Bleecker Street! Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

walking down a Greenwich Village street (it wasn’t positively 4th Street, though it may have been); not being a fan of his ersatz “folk songs,” I just nodded—I hadn’t yet encountered his rendering of “Like a Rolling Stone,” which would change my view of Dylan forever. A Russian grandmaster ran a chess studio only a dogleg away, and I was thrilled to play there once or twice, rank amateur that I was. And Gary and I were glad for the Mexican Village restaurant a block away; I’d developed a taste for Mexican food when I’d spent a month driving around south of the border in ’64. Before long, though, things began to go sour at 177A Bleecker. The middle-aged but intense-looking landlord had insisted up front that Gary and I pay a rent of $125 a month—in cash. (I presume Bill kicked in a bit on that later.) But, after maybe three months, a by-mail notice from the city’s Rent Control Commission informed us that we were living in a rent-controlled apartment (news to us!), for which the established rent was $95 per month. Confronting our landlord, we assured him we weren’t asking for the return of any past rental overcharge, nor would we complain to the Commission… but that, henceforth, we would pay only $95 per month rent. He angrily snarled, “I know what I’ve got to charge!” and said we’d be sorry if we started paying the lower rent. But we

The Unknown History Of 177 Bleecker Street

You Can Go Home Again—And So Can The Home! (Clockwise from top left:) No wonder people had trouble spotting Doc’s dour dwelling! Umar, the unspeakable sister of the dread Dormammu, made it vanish—or something— in Strange Tales #156 (May 1967). Story by Stan Lee; art by Marie Severin, the series’ third artist. In the splash panel of ST #159 (Aug. ’67), soon after Roy T. began writing “Dr. Strange” in tandem with Marie, he stuck the number “177” on a building across the street from where Doc’s domicile had lately stood. Maybe the number’d gotten flung there when Umar did her thing? (If so, the “A” must’ve fallen off!) At this point, the townhouse hadn’t yet been established as being on Bleecker Street, and Roy, Gary, and Bill had long since vacated the premises. Inks by Herb Trimpe. Two pages later, Doc casts a mystic spell that returns his residence to its rightful spot. Thanks to Barry Pearl for all art scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

did anyway. (In retrospect, he might’ve given us more legitimate trouble if he’d noticed that we had a third person—Bill Everett— staying there several nights a week.) Soon after we made our stand, we began to receive threatening anonymous phone calls at all hours, at least one telling us (me) that we would end up “in a garbage can.” When I dropped in on the landlord’s wife one day to try to reason with her, she warned me ominously that we should pay the higher rent because her husband had received a head wound in “the war” (WWII? Korea? Kree-Skrull? she didn’t say) and was “liable to do something crazy.” I promptly went out and bought a low-gauge rifle and a police lock for the door—since I tended to be home alone a lot at night, writing, while Gary and Bill were out carousing somewhere, together or separately. All of a sudden, living in the heart of Greenwich Village was feeling considerably less cool. Fortunately for us, in the meantime, Gary had started dating a young woman named Cindy (later his second wife) who worked for something called the Vera Institute of Justice and through it had made a number of friends in the NYPD. Next thing we knew, a gruff-voiced police officer phoned our landlord and advised him to lay off us—because if anything happened to “those boys,” he’d be the first suspect they’d haul in. After that call, the only other time I

encountered the landlord in the building’s narrow hallway, he averted his eyes and just scowled silently as he brushed past me. Gary and I had decided, though, that it was time to move on. So we did… in the middle of the night not long afterward, to a place on E. 87th Street… but with our $95 rent all paid up and, of course, with no hope of ever getting our $125 deposit back. Bill stayed with us at the new digs, as well. In my later days in New York City, and perhaps even on a return visit after I moved to Los Angeles, I strolled past that Bleecker Street doorway once or twice… even peeked through the windowfront of the locked door… but I never again set foot inside that building until 37 years later. Please turn the page for the final secrets of Dr. Strange’s Greenwich Village digs!

The Secret Lair Of Dr. Strange, His Creators, & A Ghost Of Christmas Past

Marvel Superheroes’ Guide To 177A Bleecker Street (Above left:) One of several b&w photos taken of the foyer at 177 Bleecker Street in 2003 in preparation for later shooting there for the Travel Channel special Marvel Superheroes’ Guide to New York City, which was broadcast in 2004. This and several other photos were snapped by the documentary’s writer/director Molly Hermann or her assistant, Marissa Giovagnoli. Another pic, taken beyond the doorway, showed the narrow stairway leading up to the second-floor apartment shared in 1965-66 by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Bill Everett... but alas, it would’ve printed way too dark. (Above right:) Roy with producer Karen Craft at a meeting before the shoot. Karen, whose brainchild the documentary was, was overall producer for the Discovery Channel, which owned the Travel Channel. Later, a number of photos were taken of her, Roy, and his wife Dann in front of 177 Bleecker Street, but those proved elusive at the time of this publication. Roy was also filmed that day as he strolled around nearby Washington Square Park, where he had set X-Men #36 (Sept. 1967). As he circled its fountain, he was approached by an unkempt young man who offered to sell him some drugs. When Roy informed him that they were both being filmed from afar, the guy took off like a shot! (Dann reluctantly let Karen talk her into posing on the hood of a Village taxicab, in honor of the What If #13 story in which Conan the Barbarian was hurled forward in time to Manhattan during its 1977 blackout, and in which a redhaired female cabbie bore her face and her birth-name, Danette.)

The Street Where You Live For a while, Roy T. worried he was going nuts! At first he believed it must’ve been Bill Everett who situated Dr. Strange’s mansion at 177A Bleecker Street… but, on research, that proved not to be the case. Nor could Roy seem to recall quite where he had done it, though clearly he had. However, an e-mail exchange with Pierre Comtois, author of TwoMorrows books on Marvel Comics during the 1970s and ’80s, set him straight on the matter: (Above left:) Early in Dr. Strange #182 (Sept. 1969), the penultimate issue of the first series, his man-servant Wong receives a telegram addressed to “Dr. Stephen Strange, M.D., 177A Bleecker St., New York, NY.” (Though ZIP Codes had come into use in 1963, apparently Western Union didn’t bother with them; they knew where Doc was.) Writer: Roy Thomas. The exquisite penciling and inking are by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, respectively. (Above right:) On the story’s final page, after the all-powerful entity Eternity has sent him hurtling back into his own dimension, Stephen—who’s now turned “Dr. Strange” into a super-heroish secret identity behind an eerie blue visage and a slightly altered outfit—realizes that Eternity has given him a new “civilian” ID… as “Dr. Stephen Sanders,” at the same address… with all Earthly records (from his birth certificate on up) cosmically altered to reflect this new reality. But, when Doc re-emerged in “The Defenders” series in 1972, Roy T. relegated the dual-identity shtick to limbo. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Previously Unpublished Brunner Artwork!

Brunner pencils for a 2007 commission piece; courtesy of Anthony Snyder. [Dr. Strange TM &© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ATTENTION: FRANK BRUNNER ART FANS! Frank is now accepting art commissions for covers, splash panels, or pin-up re-creations! Also, your ideas for NEW art are welcome! Art can be pencils only, inked or full-color (painted) creation! Contact Frank directly for details and prices. (Minimum order: $500)

Visit my website at: http://www.frankbrunner.net

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Survivors Of The First Comicon 59

On The 50th Anniversary of the first New York Comicon, five fans “who were there” appeared on a panel at the 2014 New York Comic Con to reflect on how it all got started.

The Panelists: BERNIE BUBNIS, LEN WEIN, ETHAN ROBERTS, HOWARD ROGOFSKY, ART TRIPP, FLO STEINBERG, and RICK BIERMAN

Part 2 - Introduction

n this issue, we conclude our two-part feature on this historic panel, which brought together seven people who attended the first New York Comicon, held on July 27, 1964. That first comics convention was held on a Monday because it was thought there was a better chance of attendance by comics professionals if it took place on a working day. The 50th-anniversary panel was organized by Ethan Roberts, who served as moderator. The first half of the panel was transcribed in our previous issue, and we now pick it up midway through…. —Bill Schelly. ETHAN ROBERTS: The list you see up there is a list of the folks who attended the convention. [Refers to a slide that is projected large enough for the audience to read; the list was printed last issue, with Part I] The names in blue are professionals then who attended then. You see Steve Ditko. It was the only convention he ever attended. We must have scared the hell out of him. [audience laughs] Tom Gill was the artist of The Lone Ranger and various Dell comics for many years. Larry Ivie was a semi-pro. The folks shown in green were the dealers. So we have up there—if I could only see—Len Berman was the partner of Phil Seuling. You should all know the name “Phil Seuling.” [audience cheers] Phil was at

the first convention, and the second convention. Phil ran the third convention. For years, the July 4th convention in New York City was the biggest convention anywhere, and Phil ran those. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually, the main New York cons from 1965 through 1967 were hosted not by Seuling but by David Kaler, with another in ’66 from John Benson and one in early ’67 from Calvin Beck. Seuling’s baptism of fire was the so-called SCARP-Con in 1968; he put them on on his own beginning in 1969.] In addition to that, how many of you have ever been to a comic shop? [audience chuckles again] Phil Seuling started the distribution pattern that created the comic shops. So he was there with Len Berman. Another dealer who was there was Claude Held, who came from upstate New York. We already know Howard [Rogofsky] was there. Another dealer, Bill Thailing, came in from Cleveland, Ohio. And Malcolm Willits came in from California. He came from the farthest away. Malcolm is 80 years old or better, and now lives in Palm Desert, but he’s still alive. [NOTE FROM BILL: Malcolm Willits was born in February 1934.] Howard is waiting to outlive him, too. [audience laughs] I want to make a big deal about the name up there, “George Martin.” That’s George R.R. Martin. You all know him primarily as the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, better known to those of you who don’t

“Déjà Vu All Over Again!” (Clockwise from left, with the usual apologies to the late great Yogi Berra:) Lacking a pic of the entire “Survivors of the First Comicon” panel, we’re repeating this group photo taken at the New York Comicon sometime that day of most of the panelists. (Standing left to right:) Bernie Bubnis, Art Tripp, Rick Bierman, Ethan Roberts. Seated: Len Wein. Missing: Howard Rogofsky & Flo Steinberg. A photo of Howard can be seen on p. 62. The “Comicon 1964” button, shown as an insert, was designed by Tripp. On the panel at the 2014 New York Comicon: Bubnis, Bierman, Tripp, and Steinberg. Unseen in this pic are moderator Roberts, Rogofsky, and Bierman. Both photos courtesy of Lucille Bubnis, Bernie’s long-suffering wife. Mug shots of a number of other attendees of the 1964 con were seen last issue.

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read very often as The Game of Thrones. [audience cheers] We talked about all of us having these clean criminal records. Well, as far as I’m concerned, George is a killer. [audience laughs] He will knock off your favorite character like that. [more laughter] Anyway, let’s go on. Art, as a committee member, what was your role at that first convention? ART TRIPP: I’ve always called myself “chief cook and bottle washer” of the con. [audience chuckles] Early in the morning, I went over to DC and asked, “Have you got anything we could give Ronn Foss [as prizes] at the comic book 1960s editor and publisher of convention? Carmine Infantino turned Dateline: Comicdom. around and said, “Yeah, give me a minute or two,” and handed me a stack of original art. [indicates a foot-tall stack; audience oohs] MALE AUDIENCE MEMBER: Nice. TRIPP: Then I went over to Marvel and saw Stan Lee. I said, “We’re going to do a comic book convention.” “A what?” “A comic book convention. You know, for the guys who read the books.” “Oh, hold on a minute.” Everyone who went got one or two pieces of original art—free. [Refers to the slide, which shows the 1964 Comicon button.] We handed all those [buttons] out for free, too. I had those ready a couple of days before the con. I would have had Superman and Spider-Man on there, but for the copyright [issues]. So that’s why it’s plain. When [Lone Ranger artist] Tom Gill showed up, he had me sit on his car to make sure someone didn’t steal his wheels. [audience laughs] I had a lot of fun. I met a bunch of people and… none of them have ever turned around and disappointed me. Thank you. ROBERTS: Len …? LEN WEIN: I am currently [labeled as] the firebrand of the thing. I honestly still don’t remember, Bernie, the exact reason I got excised from the convention. [chuckles] But I was bound and determined to go. My grandfather, God rest him, was an attorney and he said, “They got no legal right to keep you out of your own convention, so you’re going.” I was there for the show and then it would still [inaudible due to applause]. The one thing I claimed credit for was actually coining the word “comicon.” [He spells the word] God, if I’d only trademarked it! [audience laughs] It’s amazing. It changed the world with this thing, and at 50 years [inaudible]. There’s a great song from Follies by Stephen Sondheim, which is “I’m Still Here.” And I think about that a lot. [NOTE FROM BILL: It’s not my wish to take any credit away from Len, but the word “comicon” had been floating around in fandom for some time. For example, in his “Trip Report” article in The Comicollector #10 (March-April 1963), Ronn Foss wrote, “We were already planning the next get-together, possibly at some form of comicon in the immediate area.” This was about six months before George Pacinda, et al., began planning the first New York con. However, Len probably independently thought of the same idea. That kind of thing happens all the time.] ROBERTS: Art knows about that free art you handed out—Marvel art, DC art—this is what I got. [Roberts holds up a twice-up page of original art; audience “oohs” and “ahs”] MALE AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh, wow. Oh, my God.

Dateline: Comicon Bernie Bubnis’ letter leads off Dateline: Comicdom #8 (March 1964), announcing his plans after he took over the chairmanship of the New York con. Dateline: Comicdom was a newszine (= news-related fanzine) originally established as a “news wire” for the most active participants in comicdom, i.e., fanzine editors, writers, and artists.

FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER: How nice. ROBERTS: Fury art by Tom Gill! [audience laughs] WEIN: Nice black-&-white style. Old professionals. ROBERTS: Next, we’re going to hear from Ron Fradkin, who was the third member of the con committee, by tape.

Survivors Of The First Comicon–Part 2

Heck Hath No Fury… (Left & above left:) Ethan Roberts’ door prize at the 1964 con was this nice page of Fury original art by Tom Gill from Dell Four Color #1296 (March–May 1962), which was based on a kids’ TV series that starred a horse. The page’s scripter is unidentified. Also seen is the issue’s photo cover. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] (Above right:) Tom Gill (whose photo appeared in A/E #137) was best known for drawing the popular Lone Ranger comic book for Dell/Western. This page by Gill is from a 1955 issue of the spinoff title Lone Ranger Golden West, issue #3. [Lone Ranger TM & © Lone Ranger Television, Inc., or successors in interest.]

[NOTE FROM BILL: Fradkin couldn’t attend the 2014 convention in person, but sent an audio tape with some comments.] RON FRADKIN: [on tape] My role in the first Comicon in 1964 was as the entertainment committee. I was tasked with getting guest speakers to appear at the convention. From Marvel Comics, I was able to get Flo Steinberg and an intern named Dave Twedt. Also, I got Tom Gill, who was the artist on The Lone Ranger for Dell Comics from the 1950s. [audience cheers] ROBERTS: Len, what did you do before the convention, when you were part of the committee? WEIN: I have to be honest. After all these years, I don’t remember! [audience laughs] I’ve been busy in between then. [audience laughs again]

ROBERTS: Well, I know what I did. [audience chuckles] I wasn’t part of the Long Island community, I wasn’t part of the pre-planning. I read in the Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector that Bernie was putting on this show, so I called him up from a candy store on a pay phone. [audience chuckles] TRIPP: For ten cents. [audience laughs] MAX ROBERTS [from the audience]: What’s a pay phone? [laughter] ROBERTS: And it happened that my family was associated with a Jewish fraternal organization called The Workman’s Circle, the 1001 English-speaking branch. They had a small hall where the con was held. It was on Fourth Avenue and Twelfth Street. Fourth Avenue used to be the used book store capital of New York City. To get to the con, you went up to the second-floor into this small room, with no air-conditioning. Phil Seuling and Len Berman brought in soda with ice. It melted all over the floor, and I got blamed. [audience laughs] WEIN: Didn’t that building collapse a number of years later? [NOTE FROM BILL: Len is thinking of the Hotel Broadway Central, where the 1965 con would be held a year later. That building collapsed for no apparent reason in 1973.]

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STEINBERG: How was business? ROBERTS: No, this is for Howard. STEINBERG: Oh, oh, oh, oh, sorry! ROBERTS: Flo wasn’t selling anything. [audience chuckles] Howard …?

Howard Rogofsky on the Survivors panel in 2014. Photo by Aaron Caplan.

HOWARD ROGOFSKY: I didn’t bring any comic books there. I wanted to buy some comics from a guy called Malcolm Willits who [had] a bookstore in California for many years. And when he quoted me a price, I said his prices were too high and he hated my guts for the next 50 years. [audience laughs] I was about 16, 17 at the time.

ROBERTS: I have to mention that I talked to Malcolm Willits, and he doesn’t hate Howard’s guts. [audience laughs] Anyway, next question for the panelists: what—and this is sort of crazy for Len—but what is your current involvement with comics? What, if anything, do you collect? Bernie? BERNIE BUBNIS: I don’t collect anything anymore. ROBERTS: He collects his pension. [audience laughs]

What Am I Bid? Do I Hear Three…? In our previous issue, Howard Rogofsky confessed that back in the early 1960s he purchased, from fan/artist/collector Biljo White, a copy of Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) for the princely sum of $2.00. [Cover TM & © DC Comics.]

ROBERTS: Workman’s Circle is still around, but the building is gone. [audience chuckles] It was around the corner from The Strand [bookstore], if you want to try to visit the spot. WEIN: There should be a plaque on the wall somewhere. ROBERTS: In any case, now to Flo. How did you decide to come? How did you decide to show up? STEINBERG: I guess we’d heard about it in the office and perhaps had read about it. Stan, perhaps, had gotten a notice or something. It was really incomprehensible. “What’s a comicon?” Stan was always very busy. He had to write all those scripts, do all that work. He did everything! So he asked me, “Do you want to go?” And I said, “Yeah, I guess, okay.” [audience chuckles] You know, a few hours. Union Square is nice, so I showed up. Of course, in those days, you had on your little dress and pearls to go. Different, different. And it was a nice bunch of people. It was very hot. Everyone was sort of sweating and… ROBERTS: No, you were glowing. We have to distinguish that. [laughter] STEINBERG: It was a very pleasant few hours and chitter-chatting and this-and-that, and… well, that was it. I’m sorry I don’t remember more details. [audience applauds] ROBERTS: Howard, how was business at the convention?

BUBNIS: My daughter is selling my old collection. I pull out up to fifty or sixty comics for her to sell. We donate everything from it to the Damon Runyan Cancer Fund. And I pull this stuff out and I just cannot help but find two or three copies that I have to look through and read and remember the excitement…. I started reading comic books because my parents were a little tough to live with, so I would close the door and travel to the Fortress of Solitude [inaudible due to applause]. It brings back memories. I read some of the current stuff. Every comic book seems to be a storyboard for a new movie, but I enjoy the movies. Life’s changed. It’s not hiding out any more. It’s being able to admit that you enjoy a comic book or a graphic novel or something that may be a little bit out of the norm. Being a geek or a nerd is not so bad any more. I’m proud to admit that I think we, this table, were nerds and geeks before those words even were invented. [audience chuckles] And I think I’m in a room with a few of them right now. [audience laughs, then applauds] ROBERTS: Rick, what do you collect? BIERMAN: I still collect Silver Age. As far as I’m concerned, that was the best era for comic books. [smattering of audience applause] But I just want to talk a little bit about that day, July 27th, because I do have specific recollections, and I refreshed my memory by reading an article I wrote at the time for one of our fan magazines, Popular Heroes Illustrated. Paul Vizcarrondo, Joe Azzato, and myself came in from Long Island, and went to visit the DC offices at 575 Lexington Avenue. We met with Julie Schwartz and the entire bullpen, every editor. We met with artists—Bob Kane—we were there for two hours. Then we left to go to the con. What was interesting, Julie had no interest in coming to the convention. Neither did Bob Kane. They didn’t even understand what this concept was. They thought it was a bunch of kids trading comic books. That’s why we have to give credit to Marvel for sending Flo. You know, that showed great spirit. Now, I’m not putting DC down. I think that they were very gracious to all the fans. They had open houses every week, they would greet anyone and spend the time to talk to you, give you

Survivors Of The First Comicon–Part 2

free artwork—I have a lot of original art, silver prints—and they wanted to know what we were thinking, what turned us on, because I guess it was rare that a thirteen-, fourteen-, or fifteenyear-old would come to the offices. We were fifteen at the time. We even met with the publisher. We met with Irwin Donenfeld. But what I find interesting [is] that we couldn’t [get] any of them to hop in the subway to go literally fifteen minutes away. Boy, have things changed now! You’ve got to fight off these publishers— everyone is promoting something, and they killed to get to this event. So you know, I want to thank all of you for carrying the torch and expanding fandom so it is what it is today. I thank you all. [audience applauds] ROBERTS: Art, what do you collect? TRIPP: I’m still into my Golden Age. Into books I’ll never be able to afford. I will say things about comic books. Each time I went to Viet Nam, my father would send a Care package this big [indicates size]. Top had Kool-Aid, one side had gum, one side had candy, right in the middle was comic books. Kept them nice, nice, nice. I passed them on to another unit, who passed them on to another unit, and they came back to me. Terrible shape and not mint. [audience chuckles] The other thing: I had a so-so job. We were on strike at the time. My daughter was due, [so] I sold Wonder Woman #1, Sensation #1. I paid the doctor bill and I paid the hospital. So my daughter is my Wonder Woman! [audience applauds] As for the new stuff, I hate to tell you this, I’ll buy anything that’s got Len Wein’s name on it. I loved that Legends stuff that you guys produced. Thank you. [audience applauds again] End of my story. ROBERTS: Flo, any more thoughts of the con, or Marvel, you still have? STEINBERG: Not really, not really. Who knew at the time? It was something other than paper. I mean, you know, when the shelves were too full, we used to throw the artwork out so we’d make room. [audience gasps, groans, and murmurs] It’s so different. In the offices, you never see a piece of original artwork now. It’s all computer stuff. But no, I still have a huge collection of underground comix from the ’70s and ’80s. I’m just about to get rid of that. No, I’m not collecting Marvels. [chuckles] I should have, but whatever. [audience applauds] [NYCC official signals to Ethan Roberts that there is five minutes left for the panel.]

ROBERTS: Howard, what do you collect? ROGOFSKY: Back in the ’60s and ’70s, Plastic Man was my favorite. I would take [for] myself Plastic Man comic books and Police Comics with Plastic Man. I eventually sold them. What I collect today is items on Chester Morris, [who] was the movie Boston Blackie. And I also save autographs. I’ve got a nice picture of the real Al Capone mounted and underneath it is autographed. I save items on Robin Hood. My Robin Hood is not Will Wonders Never Cease! Errol Flynn, but One of the comic books Art Tripp sold to pay the Richard Greene, doctor bills when his daughter was born: “So [audience murmurs my daughter is my Wonder Woman!” The cover appreciatively] who was of Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942) was drawn in 143 episodes of the by Harry G. Peter. Thanks to the indispensable Grand Comics Database for this and the TV show. And I’ve got Detective #38 cover above. [© DC Comics.] a nice photo, not autographed, of Bruce Gordon, who was Frank Nitti on The Untouchables. I got a photo of Richard Boone as Paladin, autographed, and a lot of other stars. Over the years, I did small conventions with a friend [where] I also— ROBERTS: Howard, I’m gonna have to…. ROGOFSKY: Okay. ROBERTS: I have less than five minutes, so I’m going on. Len, I know you had a fire and you unfortunately lost the “Johnny Thunder” art that I wanted.

The Fandom Empire (Left:) Aaron Caplan photo of panelists Bubnis, Bierman, Tripp, and Steinberg. (Right:) 1964 con attendee Ron Fradkin had been too ill in 2014 to attend the reunion panel—but a bit more than a year later, in October of 2015, three fellow attendees went to visit him. (Sitting:) Ron Fradkin. (Standing, l. to r.:) Ethan Roberts, Art Tripp, and Bernie Bubnis. Photo courtesy of Bernie.

Comic Fandom Archive

WEIN: Ahh, I lost it. Things that broke my heart. The splash page [for] Giant-Size X-Men, [audience groans], and Bernie Wrightson’s original painting for Nevermore—the Edgar Allan Poe/Batman team-up—and of course, the art for Hulk #181, [audience groans again] which is still here [but] it’s damaged. I have a very dear friend who is one of the great art collectors in the business and is arranging to have it restored. So, hopefully, it will still be valuable. Of all the things I’ve actually mentioned over these years, I’ve had a crush on her [indicates Flo] for fifty years. [audience applauds] STEINBERG: There weren’t very many girls there at the time. [audience laughs] TRIPP: It’s either that or Annette Funicello. [audience chuckles] WEIN: Yes. ROBERTS: I’ve got to finish this off, since we don’t have much time. That’s the first piece of original art I ever owned. The second piece of original art I owned I bought at the ‘65 convention: a “Viking Prince” page with a unique layout by Joe Kubert. It cost me fifteen bucks. [audience oohs] Currently, my art collection is rather large, something like a thousand pieces. [audience gasps] And I have become the “dean of original art collectors” for the Cleveland, Ohio, area, because I outlived everybody else. [audience laughs and applauds] Thank you all for coming. [audience applauds] Specifically, I’d like to thank my son Max. He’s wearing an original Superman 50th-Anniversary shirt. He was the youngest volunteer at the 50th Anniversary of Superman convention in Cleveland. This is his second shirt with the logo. Thank you all. [audience applauds]

A Long Way From Bleecker Street Bernie Bubnis meets an old friend at the 2014 con. Hey, that’s nothing—Bernie even met Steve Ditko once! Thanks to Lucille B.

In Alter Ego #140, after a one-issue hiatus, the “Comic Fandom Archive” will return to our multi-part tribute to G.B. Love and RBCC. Bill Schelly’s publications can be viewed at www.billschelly.net

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GEORGE KHOURY (author of The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore and Kimota: The Miracleman Companion) presents a “love letter” to his personal golden age of comics, 1976-1986, covering all the things that made those comics great—the top artists, the coolest stories, and even the best ads! Remember the days when every comic book captured your imagination, and took you to new and exciting places? When you didn’t apologize for loving the comic books and creators that gave you bliss? COMIC BOOK FEVER captures that timeless era, when comics offered all different genres to any kid with a pocketful of coins, at local establishments from 7-Elevens to your local drug store. Inside this full-color hardcover are new articles, interviews, and images about the people, places, characters, titles, moments, and good times that inspired and thrilled us in the Bronze Age: NEAL ADAMS, JOHN ROMITA, GEORGE PÉREZ, MARV WOLFMAN, ALAN MOORE, DENNY O’NEIL, JIM STARLIN, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, THE HERNANDEZ BROTHERS, THE BUSCEMA BROTHERS, STAN LEE, JACK DAVIS, JACK KIRBY, KEVIN EASTMAN, CHRIS CLAREMONT, GERRY CONWAY, FRANK MILLER—and that’s just for starters. It covers the phenoms that delighted Baby Boomers, Generation X, and beyond: UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW TEEN TITANS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, LOVE AND ROCKETS, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, SUPERMAN VS. SPIDER-MAN, ARCHIE COMICS, HARVEY COMICS, KISS, STAR WARS, ROM, HOSTESS CAKE ADS, GRIT(!), and other milestones! So take a trip back in time to re-experience those epic stories, and feel the heat of COMIC BOOK FEVER once again! With cover art and introduction by ALEX ROSS. (240-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.95 • ISBN: 9781605490632 • SHIPS JUNE 2016!

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AL PLASTINO: LAST SUPERMAN STANDING

With a comics career dating back to 1941, including inking early issues of Captain America, AL PLASTINO was one of the last surviving penciler/inkers of his era. Laboring uncredited on SUPERMAN for two decades (1948-1968), he co-created SUPERGIRL, BRAINIAC, and the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, drawing those characters’ first appearances, and illustrating the initial comics story to feature KRYPTONITE. He was called upon to help maintain the DC Comics house-style by redrawing other artists’ Superman heads, most notoriously on JACK KIRBY’S JIMMY OLSEN series, much to his chagrin. His career even included working on classic daily and Sunday newspaper strips like NANCY, JOE PALOOKA, BATMAN, and others. With a Foreword by PAUL LEVITZ, this book (by EDDY ZENO, author of CURT SWAN: A LIFE IN COMICS) was completed just weeks before Al’s recent passing. In these pages, the artist remembers both his struggles and triumphs in the world of comics, cartooning and beyond. A near-century of insights shared by Al, his family, and contemporaries ALLEN BELLMAN, NICK CARDY, JOE GIELLA, AND CARMINE INFANTINO—along with successors JON BOGDANOVE, JERRY ORDWAY, AND MARK WAID— paint a layered portrait of Plastino’s life and career. And a wealth of illustrations show just how influential a figure he is in the history of comics.

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Urgent Message For TwoMorrows Fans! DON’T MISS YOUR FAVORITE MAGS!

Starting this month, all our new magazines will be listed in the COMICS section (ie. front half) of Diamond Comic Distributors’ PREVIEWS catalog with our books (instead of in the “Magazine” section as in the past). Look for the TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING section, alphabetically under the letter “T”—now with everything in one place, for easy ordering through your local comics shop.

In Memoriam

Two Tributes To FRED KIDA (1920-2014)

I. “It Was As If He’d Been Doing These Guys For Years” by Ben Herman Fred Kida was born on December 12, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. After high school, he attended The American School of Design. He first broke into comic books in 1941, working as an inker and background artist for the S.M. Iger Studio. Less than a year later, Kida was on staff at Iger client Quality Comics, where he produced his first-known credited work, a “Phantom Clipper” story in Military Comics #9 (April 1942). Shortly afterward, he began what would be a seven-year association with Hillman Comics. He worked on various Hillman features, most notably “Airboy,” the teenage air ace originally devised by Charles Biro. In the pages of Air Fighters Comics, Vol. 2,

#2 (Nov. 1943), paired with inker Bill Quackenbush, Kida introduced the femme fatale Valkyrie, a sultry Nazi aviatrix who quickly defected to the Allies, becoming an occasional supporting character in the “Airboy” feature.

Ride Of The Valkyrie (Top left & above:) Fred Kida in later life— and his classic cover for Airboy Comics, Vol. 3, #6 (July 1946), featuring the Caniffinfluenced Valkyrie. Thanks to Ben Herman and the Comic Book Plus website. [© the respective copyright holders.]

In 1982, Kida, interviewed by Catherine Yronwode concerning his work on “Airboy,” stated: “Milton Caniff was my main influence at the time.” Kida acknowledged that Valkyrie “was based on the Dragon Lady [in Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates newspaper comic strip]. That’s all there is to it.” While at Hillman, Kida also briefly worked with writer Robert Bernstein on the Judge Wright comic strip from December 1946 to June 1947. Soon after that, Kida and Bernstein collaborated on a pair of monthly comic strips, Science Silhouettes and The Eagle Trailer, which ran in Boys Life magazine.

Beginning in late 1948, Kida was at Lev Gleason Publications, his work regularly appearing in Crime Does Not Pay. Demonstrating his versatility, Kida also became a contributor to the company’s romance titles Boy Meets Girl and Lovers’ Lane. Kida’s work also appeared throughout the 1950s in various Timely/Atlas comics, in such diverse titles as Astonishing, Battle Action, Bible Tales for Young Folk, Black Knight, Journey into Unknown Worlds, Jungle Tales, Ringo Kid, and Suspense. He notably assisted Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon comic strip, first from 1958 to 1961, then again from 1968 to 1971. Between these two stints, he did occasional assignments for Boys Life and briefly ghosted on both the Steve Canyon and Terry and the Pirates comic strips. He also began to work in oil paint, creating landscapes and portraits for his own enjoyment. In the 1970s, Kida was working regularly for Marvel Comics, primarily as an inker. He was paired several times with Herb Trimpe, inking his pencils on Captain Britain, The Defenders, and Godzilla. Other Marvel titles that Kida worked on were Creatures on the Loose, “The Inhumans,” Iron Man, Ka-Zar, Master of Kung Fu, Power Man, and Super-Villain Team-Up. This saw him inking a diverse selection of pencilers that included George Perez, Keith Pollard, John Buscema, Mike Zeck, Ron Wilson, and Sal Buscema.

What Wrestling Hold Is That Again? Splash page from Captain America #239 (Nov. 1979), as penciled by Fred Kida, with inks by Don Perlin. Script by Peter Gillis, who was thrilled to be working with the Golden Age master. Thanks to Mark Muller. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In Memoriam

Towards the end of his stint at Marvel, Kida also penciled a few stories, namely Captain America #238-239, written by Peter Gillis, and the well-regarded “What If Doctor Doom Had Become a Hero?” written by Don Glut in What If #22. Regarding his collaboration with Kida on Captain America, Gillis commented, “I was so jazzed to do the two-parter with him—one of his very few book jobs at Marvel. I knew this was his first time drawing Cap and Nick Fury, but there was none of the oddness you might get with somebody’s first time: it was as if he’d been doing these guys for years.”

II. A Brief 1998 Interview with FRED KIDA Conducted & Transcribed by Dylan Williams [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: The late Dylan Williams sent me this interview for use some years back. However, as I told him at the time, although it covered many of the proper bases, it was my hope that at some date a more in-depth interview could be done with Kida. As he aged, though, the artist grew increasingly unwilling to talk about his career… and now, with his recent passing, it is too late. This interview, according to notes sent to me at the time by Dylan, was conducted by phone on Jan. 28 and Feb. 18, 1998, with Kida at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. The text was edited together for continuity. The questions had been thought up by Jay Mazhar and Dylan Williams.] DYLAN WILLIAMS: Where were you brought up? FRED KIDA: Born and brought up in New York City. I lived in uptown, Washington Heights. DW: Was it a working-class neighborhood?

In 1981 Kida was asked by John Romita to take over drawing the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip written by Stan Lee. Kida began on the strip in August of that year and remained on it until July 1986. A year This Is The Life! later, he penciled a For years, Kida illustrated the Science Silhouettes character profile for feature in Boys Life magazine, with scripts by Bob The Official Handbook Brent. This 1948 specimen was provided by Art of the Marvel Lortie. [© the respective copyright holders.] Universe. He also contributed artwork for a text piece in the first issue of a Valkyrie miniseries published by Eclipse Comics, which had revived a number of the Hillman Comics characters from the 1940s. These were Kida’s last published work, as the now 67-year-old chose to retire. Kida had married Elly Ahnert in 1946. His retirement provided him with the opportunity to spend more time with her and their children. He also continued painting as a hobby. A deeply religious man, Kida was an elder in the Port Chester Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Fred Kida passed away on April 3, 2014. He was survived by Elly, their two sons, Paul and Peter, and their two grandchildren, Takashi and Lani.

Misery Hates Company! We couldn’t resist! Here’s a Fred Kida “Airboy” splash from Airboy Comics, Vol. 2, #12 (Jan. 1946), featuring the young aviator’s arch-enemy, Misery. Writer unknown. Thanks to Alberto Becattini. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Two Tributes To Fred Kida

KIDA: Yes, when I was born up there on Sherman Avenue. I lived there for most of the time, but for a short period of time I lived in Mount Vernon. I went to grammar school, high school, and then art school at the American School of Design. It was right across the street from Parsons. I took a lot of life-drawing there, that and advertising art classes. I was thinking about going into advertising. All my schooling was done in Manhattan. DW: Were you introduced to art in grammar school, or when did you first get the bug? KIDA: After I graduated high school. My brother in-law was an art agent. He was representing my sister Juliette, who was an artist who did women’s fashion. She did things in the newspapers. She had one [piece of art] on the cover of a brides magazine. She continued with that for a while. Her husband suggested I try cartooning, since I liked to draw. I made some samples of cartoons, and that’s how it all started. DW: What were your influences early on, both in and out of comics? Were there illustrators that you were interested in? KIDA: At that time, we had all the well-known illustrators for the magazines, like Al Parker. DW: The Famous Artists guys. Did you like Noel Sickles at all?

KIDA: Oh, yes. He did some of Caniff’s work, whom I also liked. He did a terrific job. Caniff and Alex Raymond, as far as the cartoonists were concerned—in my mind they were the most outstanding, each in his own way. I don’t know why—they were two opposites. I liked their work. I made some samples up and went up to this place—I think it was Whitman. Didn’t get any work. So I just dumped the samples in a trashcan on the street. Then I worked for Lesson and Lewis. They did men’s fashion for clothing stores. I was working there for a while. Then I made some more samples, and I went to Ed Cronin, who was editor of Hillman. He was the one that gave me the first job. He had this magazine called Airboy. I did some work in that like “The Heap” and other stories. Then I finally was able to do “Airboy” [the lead character] and some of the covers, also. From there, it rolled on. Then I did some work for MLJ. DW: You did “The Hangman” for them, right? KIDA: That’s right. Then there was Charles Biro and Bob Wood at Crime Does Not Pay. I worked for them, but that was much later. DW: Would you go back and forth between the different studios at one time? Would you do some work for MLJ. then go back to Hillman? KIDA: I stayed at one place until something happened; then I went to another place. DW: I read somewhere that you inked for the Iger/Eisner studio on Bob Fujitani’s stuff. KIDA: Well, it’s a possibility. Bob’s still up here in old Greenwich, not too far from me. I haven’t seen him for years, but I’ve talked to him on the phone. I worked with Dan Barry for quite a while doing Flash Gordon, and Bob did, also. Bob also worked for Bob Wood and Charlie Biro. DW: Around that time, you did the Judge Wright strip. What was that like? KIDA: That was a short thing; it didn’t last. The writer was named H. Burnstein, I think. It never took off, really. [NOTE: Perhaps Robert Bernstein?] DW: Did United Features give you a lot of freedom on that, or did you have to stick pretty close to the script? KIDA: You just drew what the script gave you; that was it. Then they would have it lettered. That’s the last I saw of it. The strip never progressed; it never picked up any papers. I don’t know what happened to it. I don’t know who took over after me. DW: I’ve read that George Roussos did. They stopped publishing it in ‘49. It’s almost impossible to find any copies of the strip now. KIDA: There was no money in that. I think it paid $24 a week or something. It never took off. That wasn’t much money [even then]. The comic books were where you made the money. A decent, fairly good amount. DW: Where did you do your drawing? KIDA: At home. No one would bother you, and you could concentrate on what you were doing. You didn’t have to travel. I did work at Stan Lee’s for a while. Then something happened.

This Means War! A Fred Kida-drawn Korean War story for Man Comics #22 (Jan. 1953). Scripter unknown. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

DW: There was that whole break-up of the Atlas books and the distribution mess when they couldn’t afford to pay as many artists. What tools did you draw with?

In Memoriam

Spiders In All Shades A black-&-white image of the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip for Sunday, May 9, 1982, with script by Stan Lee… and a later color Spidey commission drawing, courtesy of Dominique Leonard, both drawn by Kida. Strip inked by Frank Giacoia. Thanks to Alberto Becattini for the ID. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

KIDA: I would use a pen with a Gillotte 190 nib. I used that on Flash Gordon. I would do the blacks in with a brush. The paper quality has gotten worse. On the paper they sent me for Spider-Man, the pens would skip. I still have some of that paper. DW: You worked with a lot of editors over the years. Was there one that was your favorite? KIDA: Stan Lee and John Romita were tops. DW: That was on the Spider-Man strip? KIDA: I [also] did some work for the Marvel books. They had a lot of young editors coming in, and us old guys were nothing. I bumped into Romita in the hallway—I think it was in the early ’80s. He said, “How would you like to do Spider-Man?” I was kind of taken aback, but I said, “Well, I’ll try it.” It worked out well. DW: So you enjoyed working on the strip? KIDA: Very much. DW: What did you think of the inkers they gave you on that strip? KIDA: There was one, Frank Giacoia—he was tops. He was the best inker that I can remember. He really did a fantastic job. I don’t know much about his career. In fact, I don’t know much about most of the artists. I was just concentrating on what I was doing. I wasn’t that much into the books or the stories or the characters themselves. I think a lot of comic book fans are interested in the characters. I would just get the job done. DW: Did you do art on your own, outside of comic books? Did you paint? KIDA: Yes, I still try to do a little painting. Oil painting, that is. I’m still just getting started. I did one portrait of my wife. Mostly, I try

to do landscapes. I do a lot of experimenting. It’s kind of rough, unless you do it constantly. Lately I’ve been trying to work on it more, doing landscapes or boat scenes. I do very small paintings, maybe 8”x10” or 12”x12”. I’ve got all the equipment here but I haven’t done many. It takes a lot of time to do oils. DW: Have you tried acrylics, gouache, or watercolor? KIDA: Not really. I’m working on one [oil painting] now. I want to build up a collection of small paintings. DW: Frank Robbins and Fred Guardineer paint a lot, too. KIDA: Dan Barry did, also. He really went into painting. He almost sold something to some big celebrity. He was pretty good. I don’t consider myself that good, really. I’m really in the experimental stage with painting.

Two Tributes To Fred Kida

KIDA: I think so. That’s all it was, a job. I enjoyed it because I always enjoyed drawing. It was a good place to learn. I guess, like anything else, the more you do it... you become experienced. DW: Who were some of your favorite writers? KIDA: The only ones I worked with were Stan Lee and Dan Barry. I did Flash Gordon for Dan for I don’t know how many years. DW: Did you work with writers on Steve Canyon? KIDA: I only worked on that a couple of weeks. I penciled it and Caniff inked it. I got to have some of the originals. I still have those. He was a doll [to work for]. DW: How would you work from scripts when you were given them? Would you do breakdowns or thumbnails? KIDA: On Spider-Man, no. I would just square up the page, then fit the copy /balloons in, and then go right ahead and do it. If there was a new character, Stan Lee would want to see [a model sheet for] it. He would give me [a description] and I’d draw it for him; he would give it the okay. Or else they’d just use the old characters. They did that quite often.

Flash Makes A Splash A Flash Gordon commission drawing by Kida, generously shared by Dominique Leonard—and (below) Kida-drawn dailies for the Nov. 29-30, 1967, strips of Flash Gordon, done under official artist Dan Barry. Thanks to Alberto Becattini for the latter scans. [TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

DW: Did you keep a sketch book during the years you were drawing comics? KIDA: I used to sketch a lot of people in crowds on the beach and during gatherings. I did a lot of those sketches. Just people. Different characters on the beach: fat, skinny, young men, old men, people in crowds, people sleeping or just lying around. DW: Do you still sketch? KIDA: Not too much. DW: You took a lot of lifedrawing earlier on? KIDA: The only time I took that was in art school. I really never knew how to draw. I learned through the comics. I look back at the old stuff and think, “How could I ever do that?” I look at “Airboy” and I can’t believe I did it. The figures look stretched out. By the time I got to Flash Gordon, I had pretty much developed, though. DW: When you got into comic strips, did you see it mostly as a way of making a living?

DW: So, you would pencil and then ink?

KIDA: It started that way. With Flash Gordon, I did both. I never got any of those originals back. On Spider-Man at that time, when I started doing it, they were having somebody pencil and somebody ink. Very rarely did I get a chance to do both. I did a few weeks of pencil and ink of Spider-Man, the daily strips. I think I did a couple of Sundays, also. I mostly worked with inkers. In the early days, we did everything ourselves. I liked that much better, because you knew how you wanted everything done. You knew where to put the blacks and everything. It’s more complete, whereas, if somebody else does the inking, it’s just not the same. It’s not the way you would do it. That’s the way it works today.

Two Tributes To Fred Kida

DW: Did you ever get to see your comics when they were printed? What did you think of them then?

DW: How did you feel about getting credit for work? Did you care if people knew you had drawn it or not?

KIDA: Oh yes. Well, because it [Spider-Man]) was in the [New York] Daily News, it didn’t come out that well. They had bad print jobs. They used to have it at the bottom of the page. For some reason, the opposite page would blur into the page Spider-Man was on. I don’t know how it is today, though. Of course, today, strips are nothing but postage size. You can hardly see them.

KIDA: No, that never occurred to me, to tell you the truth. To me it was a job, and I enjoyed the job. I was learning. When I worked for Romita, his name was on it. As a matter of fact, even after that, I told Stan Lee: “Don’t even bother to put my name on it; just leave it off.” I ghosted for Larry Leiber when he had his name on it. I was drawing it for a while. I just quit Spider-Man not too long ago. Even recently, though, just last year, I was inking for Larry Leiber. I got tired of that because it wasn’t my drawing. I took a lot of time on it, redrawing it, and they said don’t bother with that, just ink it the way it is. I got tired of that. I haven’t been on anything since that.

DW: Are there any new strips that you like? KIDA: I really don’t look at them much. I still take a look at Prince Valiant, but that’s about it. There was one I liked, but I guess they took it out because it didn’t sell. It was that Calvin and Hobbes. DW: He [artist Bill Waterson] chose not to do the strip anymore. It was doing really well, but he felt he had pretty much run out of ideas. KIDA: I often wondered what happened to him. That was the first one I went to, that and Prince Valiant. I just want to see how the drawing is on Prince Valiant. DW: There aren’t a lot of continuity strips going on nowadays. Were there any stories that stand out in your mind as ones that you really liked working on?

DW: Was it only Dan Barry’s name that appeared on the Flash Gordons? KIDA: Yes, just Dan’s name. I could have signed it. He wouldn’t have minded, but I just never did. DW: I’ve got a list of people I’d like to ask you about. Did you ever talk to George Tuska?

KIDA: In the books… not really. I did all kinds of books, though. I did ugly, horrible things. I look back and I can’t believe I did those things. There’s really nothing that I can think of that stands out. In the strips, I liked Flash Gordon. That was about the best one. I liked Spider-Man, too, but Flash Gordon... there was something about it. I guess it was from the era I grew up in. DW: What did you think of Alex Toth’s Bravo for Adventure book? It had the feel of an old adventure strip. KIDA: That stuff is terrific. That guy’s great. He always did great, excellent work. I remember his old work, too, I liked it. He’s way ahead of me. DW: He always cites you as an influence. Eclipse reprinted some of those “Airboys,” and he wrote the introduction for it. What do you think of the “Airboy” work? KIDA: Like I said, it was like kindergarten. I was just learning to draw then. DW: Seems like you learned a lot about storytelling and pacing at that point. KIDA: You just draw what comes into your head. DW: Did you keep a photo file or use a light box? KIDA: Nope, no light box. I should have [gotten one]; it probably would have saved a lot of time. I just drew from my head as much as I could. I would clip pictures out of newspaper if I needed a special building, but not that much. With Spider-Man, of course, he was in New York City, and I knew what the city was like since I’d been brought up down there. I would picture it the way I saw it when I was a kid. It’s all in your head, and you remember these things. You could just make up street scenes in the city, easy. You lived down in it, and it’s memories that you don’t forget. DW: Was there any reason that you would sign some stories with a big “KIDA” and leave others unsigned? KIDA: I don’t know. I guess I never thought about it.

What If Fred Kida Had Drawn For Marvel? Fred Kida penciled the “Dr. Doom” story for What If? #22 (Aug. 1980), with Dave Simons inking from a Don Glut script. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In Memoriam

A Timely/Atlas Twosome Two by Kida: An Arthurian-era splash page from Black Knight #4 (Nov. 1955) and a “Ringo Kid” scene from Wild Western #48 (March 1956). Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for both scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

KIDA: I never even met him. He worked for Biro and Wood, too. DW: What about Tony DiPreta? KIDA: He lives a couple towns up, in Stratford… not too far from Fujitanti in Riverside. I haven’t seen or talked to Tony in a while. I knew him, but not very well. He’s got a strip in the local newspaper. It’s something like Dr. [Rex] Morgan. Somebody else writes it. DW: Did you ever meet Joe Maneely? You guys were on two of the same Atlas books, Black Knight and Ringo Kid. KIDA: I’d like to see copies of that. I don’t remember any of that. I remember the Ringo Kid with his all-black costume. DW: Why did you get out of comics and into strips in 1959? KIDA: Dan Barry and I used to work together at Biro and Wood’s. He called up one day and said, “Can you help me out with the Flash Gordon strip?” So I said, “Sure, why not?” Dan was writing it, and I penciled and inked it. He would send me the scripts. As a matter of fact, I remember going over to Hawaii a couple of times to see my son, who’s lived there for something like 15 years, and I’d just take the work over there. Mail it in, and that was it. The

same thing was true with Spider-Man, which was good. You could travel all over and FedEx it in. DW: Do you have any other hobbies, aside from painting? KIDA: I used to love cars, but as old as I am now, I hate them. [laughs]. I was always mechanically inclined. I used to do all this work on the cars, but today it’s different. It’s all vacuums and computerized. You could do all the mechanical work with the old cars. DW: Do you have any advice for youngsters starting out in comics? KIDA: I don’t know what the field is like today. I think they’ve changed. In the times when I started, there were a lot of openings. Today, I think there’s more competition. The whole style of drawing is different. In the newspapers, they don’t have the adventure strips anymore, or very few. DW: Have you ever been tempted to write something as well as draw it? KIDA: No, I never thought about that. You have to be able to come up with a good story line. You have to be skilled and have that ability. I don’t think just anybody can just write. I just enjoyed drawing. I still do.

Earl Norem (1923-2015)

In Memoriam

“A Consummate Professional”

by Stephan Friedt

arl Norem passed away on June 19, 2015, at the age of 92. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 17th, 1923, he went to college to study engineering and volunteered for the military when World War II broke out. An accomplished skier, he was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division. “We trained in Colorado and Texas and fought the Germans in the Northern Appennine Mountains of Italy. I was a squad leader (S/SGT) and was wounded going into the Po Valley. Thus ended my military career,” Earl revealed in a 2004 interview. He returned to engineering school, but decided he wasn’t cut out for engineering; aptitude tests revealed a talent for architecture, but all the architect schools were full, so he attended the Cartoonist and Illustrator School on the G.I. Bill. For eight years, Earl worked for a small art studio in New York that supplied commercial illustrations for the fashion and automobile industries. He also shopped his work around at publishing firms, soon doing freelance work for Martin Goodman’s

Two By Norem Earl Norem at work—and (below) two of his paintings: the cover art for the Marvel black-&-white magazine Marvel Preview #9 (Winter 1976), which adapted the first half of Philip Wylie’s influential novel Gladiator, and Batman art for a DC trading-card set. Photo courtesy of Ray Falcoa & Mike Mikulovsky; MP cover courtesy of Mikulovsky; Batman art from the website of dealer Mike Burkey (see his ads on pp. 26 & 43). [Man-God art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Batman art TM & © DC Comics.]

men’s magazines. Being a consummate professional led to his favoring acrylic as his favorite medium because “they would dry quicker to meet deadlines.” Often signing himself just “Norem,” he worked for many divisions of the Goodman publishing empire, from men’s magazines like Action for Men and Man’s Life to iconic comic magazine and book covers. His covers for Savage Sword of Conan magazines and the cover of the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Silver Surfer graphic novel in the Simon & Schuster/Fireside series are

[Continued on p. 76]

Steve Moore (1949-2014) In Memoriam

Up From UK Comics Fandom

by Ian Millsted

teve Moore was one of the first comic writers in the United Kingdom to emerge from comics fandom, of which he was a founding father. He was also a co-founder of Fortean Times, for which he wrote for many years. Moore was born in south London and lived most of his life in the same house at Shooters Hill. In his teens he found sciencefiction fandom and attended the famous monthly gatherings of London-based fans, which included the likes of Michael Moorcock and John Brunner, as well as the 1965 London Worldcon. He quickly made the transition to comics fandom, which was just starting to emerge in Britain and Ireland at the time. He published a fanzine, Ka-Pow, and helped organise the first two British comic conventions in 1968 and 1969. It was at these that he first rubbed shoulders with Paul Neary, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steve Parkhouse, and a young Alan Moore. In 1967 Steve Moore got a job as a junior office boy with Odhams Press. Swiftly promoted to junior sub-editor, he worked on weekly comics Pow and Fantastic, which mixed new strips with reprints of Marvel material. His first professional fiction was “The House in the Haunted Swamp” in Pow #45 (1967). He subsequently worked on such titles as Whizzer and Chips, Valiant, and Cor for IPC (then the biggest publishing company in the world) before going freelance as a writer in 1972. Moore wrote for Target (1972) for New English Library, girls comic Mirabelle (1972-1973) for IPC, and House of Hammer for editor Dez Skinn, another professional to emerge from fandom. He also wrote much material for UK hardback annuals which proliferated in the 1970s. Like most British comic creators of his generation, he was involved in the early days of 2000 AD, where he lent his talents to revivals of characters from an earlier generation, writing

Steve Moore Dan Dare (1977) and Rick Random (1979). He also wrote the first in the long-running, twist-in-the-tale, anthology series Future Shocks in 1977. When Dez Skinn was hired to edit the Marvel UK line of comics, he started to originate new material alongside the reprints of U.S. comics. For Hulk Comic (1979), Moore was recruited to write the leading “Hulk” stories and a “Nick Fury” serial. For Doctor Who Weekly (later Monthly), he wrote back-up stories featuring various monsters rather than the good Doctor himself. Enjoying greater creative freedom there, he created the popular and resilient “Abslom Daak—Dalek Killer.” When he succeeded John Wagner and Pat Mills on the lead feature in 1980, the unrelated Alan Moore stepped in to write some of the back-up stories. The two Moores also collaborated on strips for music paper Sounds under the pseudonyms Pedro Henry (Steve) and Curt Vile (Alan). They also, along with Steve Parkhouse, wrote most of the scripts for Warrior when it was launched in 1982. Steve Moore continued “Father Shandor” from House of Hammer and developed one of their strips from Sounds into “Laser Eraser and Pressbutton.” Moore never really became part of the 1980s British Invasion of U.S. comics in the way that Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, and others managed, though he did write the adaptation of the James Bond movie Octopussy for Marvel Super Special #26 (1983) and a six-issue run of new Laser Eraser and Pressbutton for Eclipse (1985-1986). Moore’s later comics work included a return to 2000 AD, for which he wrote “Tales of Telguuth” (2000-2003), “Red Fang” (2000), “Killer” (2001) and “Valkyries” (2004). He also wrote “Tom Strong” and others for Alan Moore’s ABC imprint at DC Comics. When the 2006 film adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta was released, Steve Moore wrote the prose novelisation. This was followed by an original novel, the gothic fantasy Somnium, in 2011. One of his last comic series was adapted for the big screen as Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson.

Moore And More One of the strips Steve Moore wrote for British comics: “Father Shandor” for House of Hammer (art by John Bolton). Thanks to Ian Millsted. See also the following page. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

Steve Moore was an acknowledged mentor to creators like Mike Collins and Alan Moore; he worked with the latter for some years on The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic. He acted as carer for his brother, Chris, who died in 2009. While he may be best known for his Fortean writings and his links to Alan Moore, Steve Moore leaves a rich array of comics work which is worth seeking out.

In Memoriam

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Moore And More (Above:) A splash page of “Laser Eraser and Pressbutton” for 2000 AD (art by Steve Dillon). Thanks to Ian Millsted. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

[NOREM, continued from p. 74] well-known. His artwork graced nearly every Marvel magazine series at time, including Hulk!, Planet of the Apes, Haunt of Horror, Dracula Lives!, Tales of the Zombie, and its Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books. He also painted covers for Charlton’s comic magazine Six Million Dollar Man. His illustrations for both Masters of the Universe and Transformers books are considered definitive by many fans of both franchises. Earl revealed in a phone interview for he-man.org that the owners of the former, familiar with his Marvel work, asked him to handle the packaging art, booklets, and posters that came with the toys. Western Publishing then had him work on their Golden Books of the same. Fan praise for his work on Transformers can be found at: www.seibertron.com/people/interviews/view.php?interview_id=14 and Masters of the Universe here www.vaultsofgrayskull.co.uk/ norem.html Earl is well-known for his work with the Topps Company on non-sports trading cards design and their comic book line, in particular Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack! He was well-regarded by his editors and peers for his professionalism and dedication. Ira Friedman, Vice President of the Topps Company, wrote in a piece

for IVC2.com: “I had the privilege of working closely with Earl during the last two years of his life, and while his artistic contributions to Topps were immeasurable, it was Earl, the person, who left an indelible impression on me.” The Mars Attacks: Occupation card set, scheduled for publication by the time this tribute appears, was slated to be dedicated to his memory, with his final sketch appearing on a card in the series, alongside a finished painting based on Earl’s sketch, as rendered by a fellow artist. Earl also produced covers for Reader’s Digest and Field and Stream. His illustrations for the former, some of his personal favorite work, now reside in the Society of Illustrators permanent collection and in the New Britain Museum of American Art. His career included murals for The Military Museum of Southern New England in Danbury, Connecticut, and two program covers for the New York Yankees. In 2004 arthritis in his hands forced him into semi-retirement, though he continued to paint and take on jobs until the very end. An excellent sampling of his art can be found at www.americanartarchives.com/norem.htm and a podcast phone interview with Earl Norem can be heard at www.he-man.org/resources/ archive.php?id=335.

Dear Roy,

Just finished reading Jim Amash’s lovely tribute to his friend Carmine Infantino. I did not expect to be as moved as I was by it. It is a poetic and poignant eulogy for a complicated, talented man. I never had the opportunity to meet Carmine, but I loved his artwork and admired many of the books he published during his tenure overseeing DC. I had also heard, of course, the many negative stories about him, and I’m afraid that became the lens through which I viewed him. But Jim’s account of his rise and fall and longing for what he’d lost—feelings all of us of a certain age can identify with—made me see Carmine in a new light. Bravo, Jim. Your friend would be proud. Alan Brennert

This next missive serves as a sort of bridge between A/E #126 & #127, since these featured a two-part study of the Catholic comics work of Vee Quintal. A bit of additional insight from her daughter, and the author of the coverage, Robyn Dean McHattie…

s the ad for the 1989 hardcover reprinting of The Monster Society of Evil seen back on p. 14 said: “It’s 1943 again!”—or at least it is in Harlan Ellison’s interview about the Captain Marvel Adventures serial that began that year and ended two years later. So artist Shane Foley elected to put Captain Ego into a scene from CMA #36 (June 1944), with none other than Mr. Mind himself looking on! Another “maskot” winner for Shane and his colorist buddy Randy Sargent! [Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly – created by Biljo White; Mr. Mind TM & © DC Comics; other art © Shane Foley.]

We’d been hoping to cover the missives for two issues this time around, and darned if we weren’t able to—for kind of a weird reason: namely, we received surprisingly few comments on A/E #136, our second-ever issue dealing with the 3-D comics of the 1950s. Maybe, despite—or even because of—Ken Quattro’s masterful coverage of the bad blood and lawsuit between EC Comics and St. John Publications over the 3-D process, readers didn’t feel they had that much to add (or maybe they just forgot to put on their red-and-green goggles when they perused the issue). Anyway, here goes, starting out with a note from longtime reader Jeff Gelb… Hi Roy—

The second 3-D issue was great fun, especially to a dyed-inthe-wool 3-D fanatic. I never knew before that EC’s 3-D technique was the reverse color-wise of all the other companies’ 3-D process. Any idea why they chose to go that route?

Also, I must congratulate Jim Amash on his appreciation of Carmine Infantino. This was a great and very personal piece of writing, and a rare insight into a talented if troubled creator. Please thank Jim for allowing us to see past the exterior of Carmine Infantino. Another great issue, Roy!

Jeff Gelb

No idea why EC chose the opposite green-and-red system to virtually all the other 3-D comics publishers, Jeff, but it was purely an arbitrary choice for each of them. And we concur totally concerning Jim Amash’s tribute to the late great Carmine Infantino, one of the most influential people in comics from the late 1950s through the mid-’70s. As witness this note from TV (and occasional comics) writer Alan Brennert:

Apartment 3-D Does this humorous page from the “3-D-T’s” story in St. John’s Whack #2 (Dec. 1953) reflect the looming lawsuit initiated by EC publisher William M. Gaines against the former company? Quite probably, since the artists (and possible writers) were Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer, who had brought their 3-D concept to publisher Archer St. John. Of course, by the time this story saw print, St. John had cut back on its 3-D efforts, as this second “3-D-T’s” yarn was printed in an all-color, 2-D comic! Thanks to Ken Quattro. [© the respective copyright holders.]

[corrections & correspondence]

Next, on to A/E #127, which by sheer coincidence showcased our second-in-a-row cover feature by comics historian Ken Quattro, this time on some WWII-era correspondence between comics great Will Eisner, Quality Comics publisher Everett M. “Busy” Arnold, and comic shop head S.M. “Jerry” Iger. Praise in this instance comes from Hames Ware, himself one of the key chroniclers of comics shops from the Golden Age of Comics: Hi Roy—

What a great job by Ken Quattro on the correspondence article! So glad Ken is becoming a regular for A/E. Deeply researched and well-constructed and -written history is sorely missing in this modern world, but Ken brings those values to the fore in his diverse and always-interesting articles.

Thanks for the nod in the letters section, too. I had completely forgotten that letter, and I have an update or two. Thanks to David Saunders’ website, where he has been delving into ownership and printing companies of the pulp people and how they often spill over into the comics, I have learned that the Estrows weren’t brothers after all, but father and son (Michael), and that they were the owners of Leader News, a distributing company. Further, apparently they were designated as agents for bankrupt companies (as with Trojan), and apparently from these assignments actually wound up owning some publishing companies such as Ribage, which David was able to find was actually an amalgamation of the first two letters of his children’s names. (Frank Z. Temerson used the same approach for one of his publishing-company names, EtEs-Go, taking in that case the first two initials of his three sisters’ names. David has searched for a photo of Temerson, but so far has had no luck. Should any readers out there know a source, I’m sure he’d be grateful.)

Flash Of Two Decades The main splash page of one of the most important stories Carmine Infantino ever drew: for The Flash #123 (Sept. 1961), the first-ever “EarthTwo” adventure. The ripples of this tale lasted 25 years before DC combined all its “universes”—only to start splitting them up again a few years later, proving just how valid the concept was in the first place. Inks by Joe Giella; script by Gardner F. Fox. Of probably equal importance was the editor, Julius Schwartz—though neither Fox nor Schwartz (who autographed this particular copy) was ever certain which of them first came up with the “alternate-world” explanation as the best way for DC’s Golden and Silver Age super-heroes to co-exist. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Hi Roy—

Seeing some of my mom’s pages in print there in A/E while finishing the archiving of her original drawings, I saw new connections to pin to some source sketches. For instance, two large sheets of poses Vee had done of her new husband in his shorts appeared at first as what it is, perhaps, to be newly wedded to an artist. But no! By kismet, your use of the “El Cid” story with Robert Taylor as St. Lazarus [A/E #127, p. 35] shows that Bernie was indeed the model for several panels of that Heroes All story. Both standing and the infamous crawling out of bed. I got a great laugh out of that— including my very bald father posing in that wig.

Also, there is a first panel [A/E #126, p. 1] from The Catholic Miss, in which young St. Rose of Lima holds a drawing of St. Catherine of Sienna. I found the Catherine drawing in Vee’s research sketchbook.

Decades might have passed without these recognitions if I hadn’t seen them in print in Alter Ego. Robyn McHattie

It was great to see [comics writer] Toni Blum featured again by Ken. I had written to her dad, [artist] Alex Blum, but alas, my letter missed him by a few weeks. Toni took the time to write me back and tell me how much her dad would’ve enjoyed my letter. She was modest about her own accomplishments, but she and her husband Bill Bossert were very much a part of early comics history, and I imagine Bill Eisner regretted losing the work she’d been doing for him. Hames Ware

Your letters are always a fount of information, Hames, so we try to print them so that they, too, will be available to this and later generations of comics researchers. And we definitely agree about Ken Quattro’s articles. We have one or two more coming up, after some delays, including one on the early publication Wags and the second part of his study of artist Bernard Baily. Indeed, the letters pages in A/E often seem to generate as much comment as the interviews and articles, as witness this posting from John Benson, publisher/editor of the EC fanzine Squa Tront and one of the earliest convention-hosts…. Dear Roy,

I was glad to see Hames Ware’s letter in A/E #127 responding to Jim Vadeboncoeur’s earlier assertion that Premier was not a Billy Friedman imprint. I had been planning to write a letter on this myself. Because if Premier was not a Friedman imprint, then my extensive comments on Friedman in The Sincerest Form of Parody [John’s 2012 Fantagraphics book on the Mad color imitations of 1953-55] about the Nuts stories are farshimmelt. I wrote to Jim about this and he backtracked a bit.

Among the reasons I assume that Premier was a Friedman outfit is this Harry Harrison comment in Graphic Story Magazine #15: “I packaged for Billy Friedman and Lou Strickoff, with four or five titles… Nuts [a Premier comic] was one, and there were a

re:

couple of horror and weird titles.” I read this as saying that Friedman and Strickoff were the same outfit, more or less confirmed by Hames’ letter. Vadeboncoeur says that Story and Premier had a separate line of artists, but Hy Fleischman worked for both, and I think there were others. Another thing Story and Premier have in common (and not found much elsewhere) is frequent last-minute additions of, and changes to, captions, done after the art and rest of the lettering were complete. John Benson

As you know as well as anyone, John, the oft-interrelated histories of comics publishers are as tangled a web as one is likely to find. You, Jim V., and Hames are three of the best at untangling them, and I suppose it’s inevitable that from time to time you may find it difficult to finalize on an interpretation of overlapping publishers, staffs, and the like. Here’s a note from another early comics convention host—arguably, the earliest ever: Bernie Bubnis, who is also a part of the 1964 Comicon reunion panel covered in this and our preceding issue: Hi Roy,

Did Everett Arnold actually call himself “Busy”? That is… a pretty cool name. He sure did keep his finger on top of each comic. I really respect that attitude. The art was incredible. I think I met Reed Crandall at an early comic convention in NYC. I brought along some Russ Manning original artwork, and once [Mad artist] Dave Berg saw me and my “art samples,” we became immediate friends. I kept trying to tell him that the artwork was not mine, but he kept introducing me to everyone as “Russ.” He invited me to lunch with some other folks, and Reed was part of that entourage. I kept trying to explain who I really was, and Reed said to me, “Shut up. Tell him after lunch. He’s paying.” My first art lesson.

Kubert alluded to in his reply). The war comic story, in general, in 1966 was a very different story than what one would see in the years 1969-74. I would also point out that the majority of the Kanigher-Kubert “Enemy Ace” run appeared largely in the years that Mr. Kubert and I were discussing—1968-70—although the earliest “Enemy Ace” stories did appear in 1965. The Kanigher-written and -edited tales that you specifically pointed out are in fact more mature in outlook than the majority of stories appearing in that time period and, indeed, appeared under Mr. Kanigher’s editorial tenure. However, the interview with Mr. Kubert that I did, several years before his death, was originally intended to focus solely on Mr. Kubert’s editorial history. Mr. Kanigher’s prior tenure was not discussed nor was it intended to be discussed. My single experience with Mr. Kubert led me to believe that he was not a shy man. He had a great deal of respect for Mr. Kanigher, and if he’d thought that I was being ‘extremely insulting’ to Robert Kanigher, I have no doubt that he would have jumped right down my throat. And I would have deserved it. That didn’t happen. Richard J. Arndt

I still have Jim Harmon books about serials, radio, and movie series. I remember he may have done a book about collectible comic-themed toys. In the small group of 300-something active fans in those days, Harmon was a dean. Thanks for remembering him. Bernie Bubnis

The late Jim Harmon was both an important personage in early comics fandom (as well as SF and old-time radio fandoms)—and a personal friend. Not much chance I’m going to forget him.

Finally, in terms of full-blown letters, this one from Richard J. Arndt concerning a letter printed in A/E #127 about Richard’s Joe Kubert interview in issue #115: Dear Roy,

I noticed Mike Barr’s comments on a remark I made to Joe Kubert and would like to reply: Dear Mr. Barr: My comment to Mr. Kubert that ‘After a year or so under your [Kubert’s] direction, the war titles took a more… mature approach than they had previously’ was in no way intended as a slam toward the previous editor, Robert Kanigher. I don’t see how it could even be considered that way, since Kanigher was the one writing most of those ‘more… mature’ stories for DC. War comics in general were taking an uptick in maturity (mind you, not in quality—they were already a high-quality product) in 1969—not just at DC but at Charlton and Marvel, as well. In fact, both Marvel’s and Charlton’s uptick in mature content occurred a bit earlier than DC’s did. However, when the DC war titles began featuring more mature content, it was under Mr. Kubert’s stewardship and not Mr. Kanigher’s. The uptick was most likely a sign of the times (as Mr.

You Drive Me Nuts! A page drawn by Hy Fleischman for Premier’s Nuts #4 (Sept. 1954), the company’s color Mad imitation. This feature, titled “Comics Is Wonderful!,” ostensibly dealt with how comics can be educational. Scripter unknown. With thanks to Ger Apeldoorn, who dealt with the various pseudo-Mads of 1953-55 in A/E #86 & 91. [© the respective copyright holders.]

[corrections & correspondence]

Ever A “Doll” Moment! Reed Crandall, one of the Quality artists whose early-’40s work was depicted in A/E #127, was one of the all-time greats in terms of figure delineation—and even of action, at least in his earliest days in the field. Case in point: this delectable “Doll Man” splash page from Feature Comics #51 (Dec. 1941). Writer unknown. From the Golden Age website. [Doll Man TM & © DC Comics.]

Doesn’t sound to us as if you and Mike are all that far apart on this, Richard, so we hope the matter can end there. Just time for one more brief comment: Herb Rogoff, one-time associate comics editor at both Hillman and Ziff-Davis, wrote to point out that Jim Amash’s interview with him appeared in A/E #42, not in #41 as I stated in the “re:” section of #127. I stand corrected… not for the first time, nor, surely, for the last. Please send your comments and corrections to:

Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135

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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!

EISNER AWARD Winner Best Comics-Related Periodical

Other issues available, & an ULTIMATE BUNDLE with all issues at HALF-PRICE!

ALTER EGO #129

ALTER EGO #130

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

ALTER EGO #126

ALTER EGO #127

ALTER EGO #128

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!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

ALTER EGO #131

ALTER EGO #132

ALTER EGO #133

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!

CAPTAIN MARVEL headlines a Christmas FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) Fantasmagoria starring C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER, MARC SWAYZE—and the FAWCETT FAMILY (presented by P.C. HAMERLINCK)! Plus: Comic book/strip star artist DAN BARRY profiled, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more! Cover by C.C. BECK!

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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TwoMorrows. A New Day For Comics Fans!

ALTER EGO #134

ALTER EGO #135

ALTER EGO #136

ALTER EGO #137

Celebrates SOL BRODSKY—Fantastic Four #3-4 inker, logo designer, and early Marvel production manager! With tributes by daughter and Marvel colorist JANNA PARKER, STAN LEE, HERB TRIMPE, STAN GOLDBERG, DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT, TONY ISABELLA, ROY THOMAS, and others! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover portrait by JOHN ROMITA!

LEN WEIN (writer/co-creator of Swamp Thing, Human Target, and Wolverine) talks about his early days in comics at DC and Marvel! Art by WRIGHTSON, INFANTINO, TRIMPE, DILLON, CARDY, APARO, THORNE, MOONEY, and others! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MR. MONSTER’s Comic Crypt, the Comics Code, and DAN BARRY! Cover by DICK GIORDANO with BERNIE WRIGHTSON!

BONUS 100-PAGE issue as ROY THOMAS talks to JIM AMASH about celebrating his 50th year in comics—and especially about the ‘90s at Marvel! Art by TRIMPE, GUICE, RYAN, ROSS, BUCKLER, HOOVER, KAYANAN, BUSCEMA, CHAN, VALENTINO, and others! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’s Comic Crypt, AMY KISTE NYBERG on the Comics Code, and a cover caricature of Roy by MARIE SEVERIN!

Incredible interview with JIM SHOOTER, which chronicles the first decade of his career (Legion of Super-Heroes, Superman, Supergirl, Captain Action) with art by CURT SWAN, WALLY WOOD, GIL KANE, GEORGE PAPP, JIM MOONEY, PETE COSTANZA, WIN MORTIMER, WAYNE BORING, AL PLASTINO, et al.! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover art by CURT SWAN!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95

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Urgent Message For TwoMorrows Fans! DON’T MISS YOUR FAVORITE MAGS!

ALTER EGO #140

BACK ISSUE #86

BACK ISSUE #87

BACK ISSUE #88

BACK ISSUE #89

“Marvel Bronze Age Giants and Reprints!” In-depth exploration of Marvel’s GIANT-SIZE series, plus indexes galore of Marvel reprint titles, Marvel digests and Fireside Books editions, and the last days of the “Old” X-Men! Featuring work by DAN ADKINS, ROSS ANDRU, RICH BUCKLER, DAVE COCKRUM, GERRY CONWAY, STEVE GERBER, STAN LEE, WERNER ROTH, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by JOHN ROMITA, SR.!

“Batman AND Superman!” Bronze Age World’s Finest, Super Sons, Batman/Superman Villain/Partner Swap, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane go solo, Superman/Radio Shack giveaways, and JLA #200’s “A League Divided” (as a nod to Batman v. Superman)! Featuring work by BRIAN BOLLAND, RICH BUCKLER, GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, GEORGE PÉREZ, JIM STARLIN, and more. Cover by DICK GIORDANO!

“Comics Magazines of the ’70s and ’80s!” From Savage Tales to Epic Illustrated, KIRBY’s “Speak-Out Series,” EISNER’s Spirit magazine, Unpublished PAUL GULACY, MICHAEL USLAN on the Shadow magazine you didn’t see, plus B&Ws from Atlas/Seaboard, Charlton, Skywald, and Warren. Featuring work by NEAL ADAMS, JOHN BOLTON, ARCHIE GOODWIN, DOUG MOENCH, EARL NOREM, ROY THOMAS, and more. Cover by GRAY MORROW!

“Bronze Age Adaptations!” The Shadow, Korak: Son of Tarzan, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Worlds Unknown, and Marvel’s 1980s movie adaptations. Plus: PAUL KUPPERBERG surveys prose adaptations of comics! With work by JACK KIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL, FRANK ROBBINS, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, FRANK THORNE, MICHAEL USLAN, and sporting an alternate Kaluta cover produced for DC’s Shadow series!

(100 FULL-COLOR pages) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Now shipping!

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ALTER EGO #141

BRICKJOURNAL #37

KIRBY COLLECTOR #66

KIRBY COLLECTOR #67

From Detroit to Deathlok, we cover the career of artist RICH BUCKLER: Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Black Panther, Ka-Zar, Dracula, Morbius, a zillion Marvel covers— Batman, Hawkman, and other DC stars— Creepy and Eerie horror—and that’s just in the first half of the 1970s! Plus Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, FCA, and comics expert HAMES WARE on fabulous Golden Age artist RAFAEL ASTARITA!

LEGO STAR WARS! Amazing custom ships by ERIC DRUON, incredible galactic layouts by builder AC PIN, a look at the many droid creations built by LEGO fans—truly, the LEGO Force has awakened! Plus JARED K. BURKS on minifigure customizing, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd DIY Fan Art, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons by DAMIEN KEE, and more!

DOUBLE-TAKES ISSUE! Features oddities, coincidences, and reworkings by both Jack and Stan Lee: the Galactus Origin you didn’t see, Ditko’s vs. Kirby’s Spider-Man, how Lee and Kirby viewed “writing” differently, plus a rare KIRBY radio interview with Stan, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, unseen and unused pencil art from FANTASTIC FOUR, 2001, CAPTAIN VICTORY, BRUCE LEE, & more!

UP-CLOSE & PERSONAL! Kirby interviews you weren’t aware of, photos and recollections from fans who saw him in person, personal anecdotes from Jack’s fellow pros, LEE and KIRBY cameos in comics, MARK EVANIER and other regular columnists, and more! Don’t let the photo cover fool you; this issue is chockfull of rare Kirby pencil art, from Roz Kirby’s private sketchbook, and Jack’s most personal comics stories!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships May 2016

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships July 2016

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

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(100-page FULL-COLOR mag) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Ships Spring 2016 PRINTED IN CHINA

Golden Age great IRWIN HASEN spotlight, adapted from DAN MAKARA’s film documentary on Hasen, the 1940s artist of the Justice Society, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Wildcat, Holyoke’s Cat-Man, and numerous other classic heroes—and, for 30 years, the artist of the famous DONDI newspaper strip! Bonus art by his buddies JOE KUBERT, ALEX TOTH, CARMINE INFANTINO, and SHELLY MAYER!

TwoMorrows. A New Day For Comics Fans!

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #10 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #11

DRAW! #31

DRAW! #32

The Broadway sci-fi epic WARP examined! Interviews with art director NEAL ADAMS, director STUART (Reanimator) GORDON, playwright LENNY KLEINFELD, stage manager DAVID GORDON, and a look at Warp’s 1980s FIRST COMICS series! Plus: an interview with PETER (Hate!) BAGGE, our RICH BUCKLER interview Part One, GIANT WHAM-O COMICS, and the conclusion of our STAN GOLDBERG interview!

Retrospective on GIL KANE, co-creator of the modern Green Lantern and Atom, and early progenitor of the graphic novel. Kane cover newly-inked by KLAUS JANSON, plus remembrances from friends, fans, and collaborators, and a Kane art gallery. Also, our RICH BUCKLER interview conclusion, a look at the “greatest zine in the history of mankind,” MINESHAFT, and Part One of our ARNOLD DRAKE interview!

How-to demos & interviews with Philadelphia artists JG JONES (52, Final Crisis, Wanted, Batman and Robin) and KHOI PHAM (The Mighty Avengers, The Astonishing SpiderMan, The Mighty World of Marvel), JAMAR NICHOLAS reviews of art supplies, JERRY ORDWAY demos the “ORD-way” or drawing, and Comic Art Bootcamp by MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS! JG Jones cover! Mature readers only.

Super-star DC penciler HOWARD PORTER demos his creative process, and JAMAL IGLE discusses everything from storyboarding to penciling as he gives a breakdown of his working methods. Plus there’s Crusty Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS reviewing art supplies, JERRY ORDWAY showing the Ord-Way of doing comics, and Comic Art Bootcamp lessons with 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 • Now shipping!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Spring 2016

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

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