Alter Ego #140 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Standing-Room-Only Comics Fanzine

CELEBRATING GOLDEN AGE GREAT

IRWIN HASEN 8.95 FROM THE JUSTICE SOCIETY TO DONDI— AND BACK AGAIN!

In the USA

No.140 June 2016

82658 00052 1

Characters TM & © DC Comics.

Ir win Was Here!

Vol. 3, No. 140 / June 2016 Roy Thomas

Editor

Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Associate Editors Christopher Day

Design & Layout John Morrow

Consulting Editor

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

FCA Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Comic Crypt Editor

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

Editorial Honor Roll

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Proofreaders

Shane Foley (adapting the work of Irwin Hasen)

Cover Artists

Tom Ziuko

Contents Writer/Editorial: Chasin’ Hasen . . . . . . . 2 Hasen—The Documentary. . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Cover Colorist

With Special Thanks to:

Neal Adams Aaron Allen Heidi Amash Sergio Aragonés Bob Bailey Robert R. Barrett Alberto Becattini Rick Beyer Christopher Boyko Alan Brennert Aaron Caplan Janice Chiang Shaun Clancy Comic Book Plus website Craig Delich Sean Dulaney John R. Ellis Jules Feiffer Michael Feldman Danny Fingeroth John Fishel Shane Foley Henry G. Franke III Bill Gallo Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database Jay Harford

Steve Harford Brett J. Jim Kealy Robert Kennedy Michael Learn Paul Levitz Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Dan Makara Doug Martin Chellie Mayer Wallace McPherson Michael Norwitz Charles Pelto Steven Rowe Randy Sargent Tom Sawyer Elizabeth Sayles William Sayles Sheila Shapira Anthony Snyder Mark Squirek Dann Thomas Jim Tyne Michael Uslan James Van Hise Hames Ware Steven G. Willis Eddy Zeno

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Irwin Hasen, Murphy Anderson, & Leonard Starr

A transcript of Dan Makara’s unseen film about (and starring) Golden Age artist Irwin Hasen.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! The Wallace McPherson Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Michael T. Gilbert presents Shaun Clancy and the fan who may have created MLJ’s Black Jack!

Comic Fandom Archive: Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Part 4 of Bill Schelly’s multi-issue tribute to G.B. Love, founder of the RBCC adzine.

Tributes to Murphy Anderson and Leonard Starr . . . . . . . . 61 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #199 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 P.C. Hamerlinck completes his study of artist Ray Harford & the Ghost Army of WWII.

On Our Cover: Several years ago, as an illustration for an “alternate history” in which M.C. Gaines’ All-American Comics Group had taken over National/DC instead of vice versa, Shane Foley created what is basically a sort of “alternate inking” (which included altering four characters into four different ones) of Irwin Hasen’s classic cover for All-Star Comics #37 (Oct.-Nov. 1947), with Superman and Batman standing in for Johnny Thunder and The Atom—and The Joker and Luthor replacing The Gambler and The Thinker. (Shane also re-positioned Dr. Mid-Nite, to help Superman and Batman be spotlighted more clearly.) Not only was All-Star’s “Justice Society of America” one of Irwin’s major comic book assignments—and not only was one of the JSA the Golden Age Green Lantern, the hero for whom he was a regular artist both before and after his Army service in World War II—but Hasen even seems to have drawn the “Superman” and “Batman” chapters in All-Star #36 (Aug.-Sept. ’47). That made this well-executed adaptation illo ideal for the cover of this edition of Alter Ego. The photo of Irwin was taken by Mad artist Sergio Aragonés. [JSA heroes & villains TM & © DC Comics.]

Above: The most noteworthy of several 1940s heroes that Irwin Hasen co-created was “Wildcat,” in All-American’s Sensation Comics, behind cover heroine Wonder Woman. These dramatic panels are from Sensation #14 (Feb. 1943). Scripter unknown. Hasen always maintained that the initial concept of the series was his, but that Bill Finger was brought aboard by editor Shelly Mayer to write the early stories. Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © DC Comics.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Eight-issue subscriptions: $73 US, $116 International, $31.60 Digital Only. 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

Chasin’ Hasen

rwin Hasen was very special to me.

Not that the two of us were ever close friends or anything like that. Matter of fact, I’m not even quite sure when I first met him. Probably at some comics convention back in the 1970s. The first personal memory I can associate with him is that, sometime in the ’80s, long-distance, I offered him a modest sum to re-draw/ trace and color for me his wonderful cover for the 1947 All-Star Comics #35. That’s the iconic “hourglass” cover, with Degaton and a whole mess of devolving technology swirling around inside said timepiece, while the seven heroes of the Justice Society of America look on in awe. As did I.

of those, too. I’d always kinda liked the strip. Not as much as AllStar Comics or Green Lantern—but I’d liked it.) In later years, he mostly came to cons as Julie’s minder, especially after the irascible Mr. Schwartz was largely confined to a wheelchair. But it gave him a chance to sell art, which he liked… and to schmooze, which he liked even more. Once, I remember our having a drink together at a hotel bar in San Diego, and I dragged out my page of twice-up original art from the 1947 “Green Lantern” story in which he first fought Crusher Crock, the guy who, by his second appearance, would don a costume and become The Sportsmaster. It’s a nice page, with some polo action and Alan Scott changing to GL by the bottom. Irwin just stared at it blankly. Far from definitely remembering it, he expressed momentary doubt that it was his work. But after I assured him it was, he readily autographed it for me. I treasure that page, since it’s the only authentic Golden Age page by Irwin Hasen that I own.

Irwin always said that was the first “re-creation” he ever did. (Not that we used that term then.) But boy, did he do a lot of them after that— of that cover, of his other All-Star covers, of Green Lantern and Doiby Dickles Alex Toth and I didn’t and Harlequin and Wildcat agree about a lot. But we and his cover girl Wonder did agree that Irwin Woman—even of Dondi, Hasen was a great comic once in a while. I myself book artist. later commissioned reHe was best, in my creations of his also-iconic mind, in that first year or covers of All-Star #33, 36, so after the war, when he 37, 42, & 43. In fact, he did returned to “Green #33 for me twice, the Lantern” and suddenly, second time replacing the with All-Star Comics #33, formidable Solomon also found himself Grundy with the equally replacing the overmatched formidable Julius Larry Naydel as the artist Schwartz, specifically to be of the full-“JSA” chapters used as a cover on Alter of those issues. He had Ego #38, a full-issue tribute this kind of solid, blockish to Julie, one of the most Now We Belong To The Ages! style… a bit stiff, important editors of perhaps… but I loved it. comics’ Silver Age—and Roy says: “This is one of my favorite photos from my years in comics—me with three guys I greatly admire, particularly for their work in three different decades: Irwin Hasen on the Still do. The “JSA” introIrwin’s longtime friend. I left, the drawer supreme of the ‘JSA’ stories of the late 1940s… John Romita, whose 1950s ductions and conclusions bought that colored ‘Captain America’ I consider the high point of his career (not that his later Daredevil and in All-Star #33-37 are to drawing from him, too… Amazing Spider-Man were exactly chicken fat)… and Stan Lee, the most important me, as they always were though I probably didn’t comics writer and editor of the 1960s, as well as my personal benefactor. The pic was to #1 JSA fan Jerry Bails, a pay him enough. Later, I taken after the ‘Stan Lee Roast’ at the 1995 Chicago comics convention, in which Jazzy high point of that even cajoled him into Johnny and I took part.” landmark series. And drawing old-costumed when he was given the versions of Hawkman and entirety of All-Star #39 (“Invasion from Fairyland”) to draw, it The Atom so I could get them digitally super-imposed over the became a true Hasen tour de force. later-costumed figures of that pair on his re-creation of All-Star #43’s cover. He probably thought I was crazy when I asked him to Still, his basically cartoony approach to art probably doomed do those figures. But my check was good. him at DC, as drawing styles got a bit more serious and naturalistic in the late 1940s. Arthur Peddy replaced him on the “JSA” Along the way, he also did a Green Lantern figure for me, material, and Carmine Infantino and even his one-time fan Alex magic lamp and all (seen on p. 28)… and a rare drawing of GL Toth were tapped increasingly to draw “Green Lantern.” No rescuing Dondi from gun-toting criminals (you can view that one matter. The JSA’s era at DC ended even before Irwin’s did, and he on p. 41). He also did—completely unbidden, I believe—a drawing finished out his time there drawing mostly humorous fillers. of my wife Dann with a couple of beasties from our South Which he did rather well, come to that. But they weren’t going to Carolina farm… you can see that in Alter Ego, Vol. 3 #1. I’ve still keep him gainfully employed in the comics industry. got every one of them up on our walls. Irwin and I never had any deep personal conversations the way he and Dan Makara did. When we ran into each other at a con, we’d just yak away at each other across a table-top piled high with his re-creations, sketches, and old Dondi strips. (Yeah, I bought one

I heard him tell, several times, the story alluded to in passing in this issue’s documentary transcription (and related in greater detail in the quote on p. 30, which I lifted from my interview with him in A/E V3#1) about how DC managing editor Whit Ellsworth

writer/editorial

basically fired him without letting him realize it. I never could quite see how that could happen, but Irwin said it did—and anyway, it’s a great story. Fortunately for Irwin, and for us, he met Gumps writer/artist Gus Edson at just the right moment, and the result was a threedecade run on Dondi, for much of its tenure a top-ranked comic strip. And after that, there was the teaching at Joe Kubert’s cartooning school, where a whole new generation could learn from observing his storytelling skills. From what I’ve seen, they could still use him. The film turned out very well indeed, and it’s a true shame that almost no one has ever seen the end product—but I was wildly enthusiastic when collector Dan Makara told me he was going to work with Irwin on a documentary about the artist’s life. I’ll let Dan tell you about that, beginning on the next page, but I’m sure that, the moment I learned about it, I told Dan I’d be honored to be in it if he ever had any use for me. I know that Paul Levitz and even that old comic book curmudgeon Carmine Infantino felt the same way. And there are others who’d have been proud to say a few words for the camera about Irwin, too, if they’d still been around. Guys like Alexander Toth… and editor/boy cartoonist Shelly Mayer… and Joe Kubert… and Julius Schwartz. Each of the forementioned was worthy of a documentary all his own… but they’d all have been happy and proud to be in Irwin’s first. Thanks for letting me be a part of your doc, Irwin… And a part, however minor, of your life. Bestest,

COMING IN JUNE

141

RICH BUCKLER

—FROM DETROIT TO DEATHLOK! He Hit The Ground Running In 1970!

Characters, Inc. Deathlok TM & © Marvel

• Dynamic painting of Deathlok the Demolisher by creator RICH BUCKLER! • RICH BUCKLER talks to RICHARD J. ARNDT about his first half-decade in comics— horror for Warren—Hawkman, Robin, & Rose and The Thorn for DC—Fantastic Four, Avengers, Daredevil, Thor, Hulk, Ka-Zar, Man-Thing, Doc Savage, Invaders, Power Man, Zombie, Dracula, & even Conan for Marvel—plus the bold beginnings of Deathlok! • RAY ASTARITA—a Golden Age master (Fiction House, Quality, Avon, Standard, et al.) examined by HAMES WARE & DAVID SAUNDERS! • Plus FCA #200! Starring C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, NAT CHAMPLIN, & 1940 Fawcett photos—MICHAEL T. GILBERT revisits the lost 1967 issue of Fatman the Human Flying Saucer by BECK & OTTO BINDER—BILL SCHELLY presents four fans’ remembrances of G.B. LOVE—& MORE!!

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HASEN –

The Documentary A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great IRWIN HASEN by Dan Makara

I. Twin Introductions by Dan Makara

A. My Friend Irwin

have many “best” friends. My wife is my best friend. My son, my dog, even my cat… we are best friends.

Irwin Hasen was my Best Friend. I’d wanted to meet him because I thought All-Star Comics was the numero uno comic book of All Time… and Irwin had drawn the best of the best All-Star stories.

Irwin Was Here! Irwin Hasen (on left, above) and Dan Makara a few years ago at the Wonder Woman Museum in Bethel, Connecticut; it was founded by the family of WW co-creator William Marston. Also on this page are a Hasen re-creation of his very first “Justice Society” cover, for All-Star Comics #33 (Feb.-March 1947)—and a classic color sketch of the comic strip waif Dondi atop a duffel bag. The latter image was used as the cover of Classic Comics Press’ collection Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen, Vol. 1 (2007); courtesy of Charles Pelto. That series’ two volumes are still in print; see ad on p. 3. The All-Star re-creation is courtesy of owner Mark Squirek. [JSA & Solomon Grundy TM & © DC Comics; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

Hasen—The Documentary

But when I met him in 1999, all that hero worship went out the window. Meeting him that first time, I became aware that, no, I was not in the presence of an adult comics genius. What was so great about Irwin was that, yes, he may have been 80-something back then (and a comics genius), but the person I met and conversed with that first day… well, if I were a blind man, I could have been speaking to a 12-year-old. And that was what was great about Irwin Hasen. Irwin… you never grew up! Irwin would talk to you, or anyone, with the innocence of a kid. And yet, child though he was, sometimes Irwin would wax sentimental over the times he’d grown up in. “Things today are all screwed up! It’s not like the old days!” he’d say. I would counter that with “The good old days… like concentration camps?” He’d laugh and go on about, “Well, I’m famous, you know?” And I’d always tell him, “Irwin, you’re a giant among cartoonists!” Being short in stature, he always appreciated that. I actually met Irwin thanks to Alter Ego. That first full “new” issue in 1999 gave out contact info for Irwin. I wanted to buy a recreation of his cover for All-Star Comics #33. I’d loved that cover the first time I’d seen it, when it had been reprinted in a 1960s issue of Justice League of America. That cover was so similar to a Kong poster, with the giant menace leering down at the helpless heroes… a huge white-faced Frankenstein figure looming above what I recognized to be a glowing green globe of the Green Lantern’s will power. In the center of the globe, Wonder Woman calmly stands amidst swirling confusion, a striking “Beauty and the Beast” counterpoint to the monster overhead. This wasn’t just a comic book cover; this could easily have been a movie poster, and I was hooked. To the lower left of the Amazing Amazon’s foot was a signature… Hasen.

Green Grow The Lanterns

Was this the same Hasen who illustrated the adventures of Dondi appearing every day in The New York Daily News? In those pre-Internet days, it took me until Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1, to determine that it was! (How many Dondi dailies I own that, while deceptively simple in execution, are brilliantly dramatic in framing… cutting from close-up to mid-ground to long shot. Irwin was a filmmaker!)

“Green Lantern” splash page for All-American Comics #27 (June 1941), the story that introduced the hero’s taxi-driving sidekick Doiby Dickles. Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks/finishes by Irwin Hasen. Script by Bill Finger, who’d written the very first “GL” story back in AA #16, although the Emerald Gladiator had been conceived by artist Mart Nodell (hence Nodell’s official credit for AA #27 art, though he didn’t actually work on this story). Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © DC Comics.]

When I finally called Irwin that first time, his message machine said, “I’m summering at the Hamptons… be back after Labor Day.” I thought, Wow! And, given his NYC address, which I knew was down the block from the Metropolitan Museum, I figured this cartoonist business must be totally lucrative! I’d find out later that his Hamptons residence was a cold-water garage apartment rented to him by the mayor of Southampton, who’d been a fan of Dondi.

fixed rent was far cheaper than any apartment one could find in Connecticut, where I live, and his landlady was none too pleased by Irwin’s longevity. “It’s because of you my daughter can’t go to college!” she’d tell him. Since his passing, the monthly rent on that apartment has gone up from in the vicinity of $700 per month to $7000 a month.)

When I finally got in touch with Irwin over the phone, he said to me in his radio Walter Winchellesque voice, “You live in Connecticut, kid? Well, why not just come into the city?” So, within a week’s time, there I was walking into this brownstone, expecting to see a baby grand in the foyer, a terrace overflowing with exotic flowers, a fancy silver tea service. What I encountered was far better, by far the most unique apartment in New York. It was like entering a time tunnel, crossing a threshold into the foggy past. The overstuffed pink furniture, artwork on the walls dating from his trip to Europe after being let go by DC just prior to Dondi, tschotchkes and ashtrays everywhere (he didn’t smoke)… the refrigerator that looked like an icebox that contained only an open bottle of Vermouth and half-empty bottles of Coke and lots of ice in the freezer… this was a circa-1955 bachelor pad. (He’d begun renting in the late ’50s after the success of Dondi. His

“Do me a favor,” he said. “Grab some ice in the bucket on the counter. How about a Scotch?” My belief has always been “when in Rome,” so when I agreed, Irwin’s face notably lit up as he poured the twelve-year-old elixir into two glasses. As the warm yellowy malt tingled my palette, I sat back as Irwin went into a lengthy monologue about everything from Joe Kubert to Vaudeville. He sang a few bars from “Sonny Boy” by Al Jolson, did an impression of Mae West, but mostly went on about New York City, “The Greatest City in the World,” he’d say. After a couple of hours I’d completely forgotten that I’d come to hear about The Green Lantern. “Did you know that when Rube Goldberg moved to New York from San Francisco, his father set him up with his own whorehouse?” Who knew? What I was becoming aware of was that this guy Hasen was

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Ferreting Out The Truth (Above:) Irwin Hasen and his old friend and fellow artist, Carmine Infantino, sharing smiles at a New York comics convention. Thanks to Jim Kealy. (Right:) “Ferret,” Hasen’s earliest confirmed comic book foray, popped up in Marvel Mystery Comics #4 (Feb. 1940)—and became Irwin’s sole work ever done for a Timely/Marvel comic. He most likely drew it through the comics shop Funnies, Inc., which supplied early material to Martin Goodman’s company. Script by Stockbridge Winslow. Repro’d from the hardcover Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Comics, Vol. 1. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

well-read, curious and outspoken about world history, and while not married was in love with love. I believe that Irwin was married to his art. While Dondi will never be a fan-favorite among comic book fans, that strip was his dream and the love of his life, and he thoroughly enjoyed the notoriety it brought him. I always enjoyed accompanying Irwin to the New York cons. He

didn’t sell that much, and that wasn’t why he went. He went to see his fans. People would come up and recall where they were when Dondi first appeared. Like Pearl Harbor or Kennedy or something. I remember one lady from Puerto Rico would come to every show just to bring him some candy. Sometimes after the shows we’d go to Ben’s Deli and have martinis with Jules Feiffer (another childhood idol!). What?? My idols in reality act silly and childish? God! I miss seeing Jerry Robinson, who always seemed so downto-earth and puritanical next to funny Irwin. Damn! I miss seeing Carmine Infantino giving Irwin a hard time about some insignificant nothing and Irwin getting so defensive and not speaking to him for weeks, and then I’d call and tell him, “Talk to Carmine… he’s your friend!” Finally he’d give in and the two would be out on the town at La Magenet like nothing happened.

Picking A Doiby Winner! Irwin said that, if Dondi ever grew up, he’d look like the Golden Age GL’s pal Doiby Dickles. (Left:) A 1995 Dondi sketch by Hasen. (Center:) The final panel of the “Green Lantern” yarn in All-American Comics #27, with art by Moldoff & Hasen; script by Finger. See any resemblance? Thanks to Doug Martin for the AA #27 art. [Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.; “GL” art TM & © DC Comics.] (Right:) Since Irwin always maintained he had visually created Dickles—and we don’t recall Shelly M. ever disputing that—one wonders if perhaps Moldoff’s pencils were sketchy enough that Hasen had to add most of the physical features. He said he based Doiby’s appearance on movie character actor Edward Brophy (1895-1960), seen above.

Hasen—The Documentary

Alex Toth This 1950s image is a detail of one that appeared in the IDW volume Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth. [© the respective copyright holders.]

After “The Fox” (Above & center:) Two pages from Hasen’s first art job on “The Fox,” from MLJ’s Blue Ribbon Comics #4 (June 1940), the issue that introduced the masked hero; script by Joe Blair. (Right:) An Alex Toth “Fox” panel—he wrote the story, too!—from The Black Hood #2 (Aug. 1983). [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Knowing that Carmine had gotten into comics a few years later than Irwin, and having been a fan of early comic books, once I asked him if he’d been familiar with Irwin’s early comic art. To Irwin’s surprise, Carmine went on at length about Irwin’s early work on Timely’s “Ferret” in Marvel Mystery Comics and of course about DC’s “Green Lantern” and Doiby Dickles. (I remember Irwin remarking once that if Dondi ever grew up, he’d end up looking like Doiby Dickles! “You can see the resemblance in the eyes,” he said.) Sometimes, I admit, I took advantage of Irwin to live vicariously. Irwin was the only person I’ve yet to meet who went to the New York premiere of King Kong at age 15 in 1933. I mean, that’s my favorite movie! Irwin would go on about seeing the 1932 Tod Browning movie Freaks, another classic, and about how the Zippy the Pinhead comic derived from that film. He had a way with people. One acquaintance from a neighborhood pub who owned an estate in Ireland would tell him, “Irwin, I’m never there. Take a week or two and check up on the place for me.” And Irwin would take him up on the offer. He’d say that people there would notice his short stature and remark, “Oh, look at the wee man!” His height was one thing that bugged him. It was like he couldn’t measure up to others. In World War II, when everyone was going into the service, his height prevented him from joining, so he volunteered as an Air Raid Warden. When the mother of a neighbor who’d been drafted saw healthy Irwin walking the streets, she complained so much to the Draft Board that they did take him in for what was called “limited service,” and he was stationed at Fort Dix.

While he would never see active duty, everyone at Fort Dix was a celebrity. Members of big bands like Artie Shaw, illustrators like Charles Addams, radio personalities and stage performers who’d later go onto early television were there. Irwin even did a radio show broadcast from Fort Dix and portrayed a fictional character, “Johnny Jeep.” At a time when so many young men were overseas, women in the NYC area would hear the voice of “Johnny Jeep” and proposition him over the phone. Oddly enough, he’d hook up with his dates at the Pennsylvania Hotel, the same spot where in recent years the Big Apple Cons were held. So, for a “little guy,” he was pretty darn lucky! Irwin was always eager to be a friend. I loved to hear Irwin talk about the early cartoonists who’d inspired him! He recalled being in awe at seeing Ham Fisher, creator of Joe Palooka. Ham would ride down the Depression-Era New York City streets in his white convertible Cadillac, waving to everyone like a rock-star celebrity. Years later, when Irwin began cartooning, he rented a place on the Hamptons in Long Island. He remembered getting a phone call from “rock star” Ham Fisher out of the blue: “Any action out there on the Hamptons, kid?” How Ham got his number he never knew, but, asking himself why Ham Fisher would call him about “action,” he said he began to realize that the “glamorous” life of a cartoonist might not be what it seemed.

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

“Solomon Grundy, Born On A Monday…” (Clockwise from above left:) Hasen’s splash page for the 1946-drawn “Justice Society” tale in All-Star Comics #33—the first issue in which his work had appeared since the early ’40s (except for a few “Atom” panels in #31). The script for the entire story was written by Gardner F. Fox. The climactic page of Joe Kubert’s “Hawkman” chapter of that “JSA” yarn, in which the winged hero battles the monstrous Solomon Grundy. That chapter’s splash panel was seen in Alter Ego #116 (May 2013)— —whose Kubert-celebrating cover, Dan Makara says, Hasen had framed and touched every time he passed it. The portrait of the artist was painted by Daniel James Cox, who composed the cover utilizing surrounding images drawn by Kubert. [All-Star Comics, Hawkman, Sgt. Rock, Viking Prince, & Enemy Ace art TM & © DC Comics; Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; Tor TM & © Estate of Joe Kubert; other elements of A/E cover © Daniel James Cox.]

I remember Irwin would get these long wonderfully handwritten and illustrated letters from Alex Toth. Alex had been a fan of Irwin’s “The Fox,” an early MLJ super-hero. As a kid, Alex had visited Irwin’s studio. While I’ve heard many a tale of Alex’s sometimes rough temperament, he and Irwin got along just ducky. Irwin explained that Toth had a photographic memory. His letters would describe in exhausting detail street scenes on the Upper East Side down to what kind of buttons a grocer on East 90th St. wore. I was visiting Irwin when his final letter from Alex arrived: “Irwin, they carried me down the back stairs on a stretcher. I looked up at the guy carrying me and his face turned into Dondi. Oh-oh, that can’t be a good sign!” On the one hand, I recall hearing Bob Oksner, who’d assisted on Dondi, recounting how he’d accidentally seen Irwin’s pay stub for a month of Dondis. How he’d cried upon seeing how little Irwin was being paid near the end of the strip’s run. Yet here was Irwin living like a king right across the street from billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg! When a convention was happening in the city, and

sometimes whenever, I’d stay over on his couch. We’d have breakfast at the Nectar Deli down the street. The owner loved Irwin. How many meals were “on the house,” I can’t tell you. Irwin’s neighborhood was teeming with celebrities. We’d sit next to Art Garfunkel, who seemed like the saddest person on God’s Earth, but at times he’d come up to Irwin and start a conversation about egg creams or something about old New York. I’d see Bob Woodward of Watergate fame there, Ethan Hawke the actor. Mayor Bloomberg would come in, as well, his armed guards waiting on the sidewalk. One morning I said to Irwin, “There’s the mayor. He comes in every morning and nobody says boo to him.” So Irwin waves and says “Good morning,” and right away the mayor comes to our table: “What’s for breakfast, guys? How’s everything?” Every morning after that, whenever we’d see him, he’d come by, so Irwin did a big caricature of the mayor which the diner was happy to hang above the counter. I believe it’s still there.

Hasen—The Documentary

We’d just laugh and laugh about anything… the dogs on the street on the Upper East Side, the people walking the dogs. People on cell phones… Irwin couldn’t understand that! Like I said earlier: Irwin was lucky. After Dondi ended, he worked for almost thirty years at Joe Kubert’s School of Cartooning. Joe looked after Irwin and made sure Irwin had medical coverage. It was while Irwin was recovering from a small stroke that Joe passed away. Confined to a physical therapy hospital, it was out of the question for Irwin to attend the service, which grieved him terribly. When Irwin was finally able to return to his apartment, he framed the cover of Alter Ego with Joe’s picture on it. I noticed that, whenever Irwin would pass that picture, he’d reach out and touch it.

“Irwin Likes Tall Women” That’s how director/writer/producer Dan Makara labeled this screen save from near the beginning of his documentary. All screen saves from that “doc” that accompany this transcription will be framed by the “film strip” side borders seen above, courtesy of our layout guru, Chris Day. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

Now that Irwin was finished at the Kubert School, he had little means of income. A friend recommended Irwin speak to some people downtown, which he did. Investors Fred and Beth told him how much they’d loved Dondi and wanted to help. They managed and invested his funds, found him two live-in nurses so he could remain in his apartment, took care of his grocery and clothing needs—and finally arranged for his funeral service, as Irwin had no family. In today’s world where most all you hear is bad, there are still very decent people. Also, I must mention his friends Sheila Shapira and Chellie Mayer (granddaughter of Irwin’s great friend and editor Shelley Mayer), as well as Danny Fingeroth, who often stopped by to cheer Irwin up. The day of Irwin’s funeral, Fred the investor, who had power of attorney, mentioned to me that Irwin was down to his last $900. If he’d lived, he didn’t have enough for next month’s rent and groceries. Irwin always told me: “Timing is everything.” Damn it… I miss you, you son-of-a-bitch! (I mean that in a loving way.)

B. Making The Documentary When the idea for a movie about Irwin first came to me, around 2009, I wasn’t clear on how to proceed, having never tackled anything like this. My first step was to contact a number of video production companies in the area that had some experience with documentaries. They suggested that the way to begin was to just start shooting. Shooting spontaneously without any plan would give the freshest feel to the production. A structure would “evolve,” they said. That all sounded fine, except when I saw the price tag for traveling into New York City from Connecticut with a camera crew and sound technicians, etc…. with no determined number of shoot days, and with a plan that was basically “just keep shooting till we get something and then spend days/weeks editing and adding music, etc.” So, with only the least possible budget available, I tried to go a

different route. Over a number of weeks, I wrote out the entire piece from start to finish. Sitting with Irwin at one of the cons, I asked him if he’d ever been to the Statue of Liberty. As most New Yorkers haven’t, he said no. It hit me that it could be amusing to start with little Irwin next to the tallest woman in New York. With that beginning in mind, I wrote out a schedule of where to shoot, what was needed, how many days in Irwin’s apartment, connecting with Jules Feiffer, Carmine Infantino, etc…. In fact, many of the questions asked to Irwin were preplanned to save time. Now, the question remained: who was going to shoot this? My friend Ruben Abreu was friendly with Neal Adams. He suggested talking with Neal, which we did. After a few days, Neal got back to me and said he’d love to take on the project, having done a little film work himself in the past. So Neal assembled a huge crew, which we jammed into Irwin’s apartment, and for a couple of days we shot footage, and then shot a day at Neal’s with both Irwin and Joe Kubert. While I’d given Neal my written treatment with shoot schedule and questions, which he’d really liked, when we got to shooting, Neal basically threw it out the window in favor of the free-form method that others had originally suggested, which was now how he wanted to proceed. Unfortunately, this led to the probability that a task like this was more involved than originally thought. Meanwhile, Neal got more involved with other projects, and Irwin suffered a stroke which made it seem the documentary would never be realized. But Irwin, like a rubber ball, bounced back. Neal was too tied up, so I told my wife that I thought I’d like to try to do this. Naturally, she asked how I would do it, with no expertise in the field. I responded that I’d read comics since before I could read. Comics are basically a movie storyboard, so I had an idea of how to proceed. Plus, how many movies have I seen? So I got together with my friend Frank Borres. Frank shoots video for the City of Bridgeport here in Connecticut, mainly documenting legal transactions. This sounded like something they could attempt. Unfortunately, what we had no idea of, with no background in this, was just how many legal issues there are with using music, photos, art, and archival film footage. For instance, in the scene in which Irwin speaks of his love for baseball, I figured it was natural to play “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

about area musicians who might provide affordable music. He hooked me up with a guy in the next town who loved Irwin and was in between projects at the time. Brian Keane does many of Ken Burns’ documentaries… New York, Civil War, etc…. and he redid the majority of the costly music and redid the now-beautiful soundtrack and even redid the sound to the highest possible quality. However, trying to negotiate anything with the owners of the visual comics and movie art proved costly to the extent of being nearly impossible. So the film documentary Irwin – A New York Story may never see the light of day… except in the transcript form that Roy Thomas graciously invited me to present here in Alter Ego. My thanks to Roy, Danny Fingeroth, Neal Adams, Sheila Shapira, Chellie Mayer, Michael Uslan, Ruben Abreu, Frank Borres & crew, and all the many individuals who assisted on this… and most of all, to Irwin Hasen himself! Now, on to Irwin—A New York Story!

A Harlequin Romance (Above:) Hasen penciled and inked the “Green Lantern” story in All-American Comics #89 (Sept. 1947), which introduced the hero’s lovestruck nemesis, The Harlequin—the co-creation of writer Robert Kanigher. [TM & © DC Comics.]

background. I afterwards found that, while the tune was written in 1903, the music copyright was still held by the heirs of the composer. Each time the song is played anywhere, from ballgames to movies to TV, they get paid. The heirs wanted something like $1500 for the three minutes of air time. I’d heard of “Fair Use” doctrine as a justification for using copyrighted material in cases where the individual had actively participated, as Irwin had done with “Green Lantern,” Dondi, or “Wonder Woman.” I’d even entered an eBay search to find anything related to the 1960 Miss Universe competition. To my surprise, I found someone in Seattle who had a closet full of old scratchy film from the 1960 competition, where Irwin appears as a judge. (How rare is that?) I figured to use that, as well. Why not? However, one afternoon, film producer Michael Uslan was kind enough to explain at length why I should not even consider showing my final project. “You could be sued by the Chicago Tribune, Time Warner, [then Miss Universe owner] Donald Trump, and on & on & on…. Do you really want to spend months in court?” So I began to alter things. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was the first to go. I asked a friend at the local alternative radio station

Buoys Will Be Buoys (Above:) A color re-creation done by Irwin Hasen of one of his most famous covers—that of the “all-Harlequin” issue of Green Lantern (#29, Dec.1947-Jan. 1948). Donor uncertain. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Hasen—The Documentary

IRWIN – A NEW YORK STORY A Documentary Film by Dan Makara Transcribed by Sean Dulaney

[Images from early Dondi comic strips.] CHILD’S V/O: The story of Dondi. A little war orphan found cold and starving by two kind-hearted G.I.s. They feed him and treat him with affection. For the first time in his life, Dondi has a home and finds real happiness. But then, suddenly, the bottom drops out of his world. Word comes that his G.I. buddies are to be sent back to America. But the resourceful lad hides aboard a troop ship. After an arduous journey, the little refugee secretly enters the United States. DONDI: [seeing the Statue of Liberty from the ship] I know you, Big Lady. You Miss America! IRWIN HASEN: I was born in Harlem. I weighed a pound and a quarter. Pound and a quarter, and the doctor at the hospital, the Women’s Hospital in New York, said, “If he survives he’ll be a genius.” They said, “Don’t count on it.” My earliest memory is when my mother and father, after I was born, after about two years, began to measure me against the wall. You never forget a thing like that. “Why are they measuring me?” And I think it stayed with me. My father came from Russia. He came from the old country where, if you have a son, you put him out in the fields… to work. And he was a little nonplussed by having a little son. My parents, whenever they moved—they moved four or five times a year, terrible—and they’d put me in a little room in the back of the apartment. And I’d sit there with the radio—the radio was my life’s blood— and I’d sit with my drawing board in a lonely room. I don’t know how the hell I did it. I don’t know. When you think about [it,] almost all cartoonists did it. A lonely room. Cartoonists are like little children. Even when they’re 80. They’re not children. They’re old children. They never lost that spell of being young. Cartoonists. Even the word “cartoonist” is a funny word. I collected the most beautiful bunch of friends. Not being in the business world, but by being a cartoonist. I was there at the beginning. I just walked into it. A little kid with a portfolio. That’s how the whole thing started… how the world started.

Dondi Esta… Montage of 1955 Sunday and daily panels from Dondi, by writer Gus Edson & artist Irwin Hasen, as glimpsed in screen saves from the doc. Ye Editor has always wondered if Edson got the name from the Spanish word “Donde,” meaning “Where”… since the lad was lost from his homeland, then lost for a time in the New World. As a kid, Roy—and, he’s since learned, lots of other people—thought Dondi was Korean, since the war on that Asian peninsula had ended only two years before, in an uneasy truce that still endures. [TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Because… maybe I did lead a lonely life. I don’t think so. Maybe Dondi was a part of me and I was Dondi. The kid—and I use the word “the kid”—it’s like I was gonna say “my kid.” I look at him as though he’s my kid. Like a little son of mine, you see? It was like I never had a real family. My parents, my grandparents… they fought and screamed a lot. When you’re surrounded by anger and depression all the time, to survive, you find ways to escape. I think I wanted to become an entertainer to make them laugh, or even love me. Maybe that’s why I became a cartoonist. To make them laugh.

Ellis Is Wonderland Irwin on his way to Ellis Island, at the start of Makara’s engaging documentary. That island, of course, was where his immigrant parents, like millions more, had entered the United States in the early 20th century. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

I wanted to be loved by everybody, unquote. Even women. I was doing everything a little guy does to prove that he’s tall. I was always aware I was short, and I used to wear elevator shoes. We had a terrible family life. Awful… just disgusting. Terrible. That’s probably why I may have been crippled a little bit about getting married, having a family, and all that. I was never able to get close. And now that I’m 90 years old, [it] doesn’t matter anymore. So what! But the point is, I don’t even feel sorry. I don’t even think I missed anything. That’s what’s scary. And that’s what’s a little sad.

We lived all together in a little house in Bensonhurst. And we had a chauffeur and his wife. His wife was our cook. And I could never understand the dichotomy of living in a two-story white, stucco little house and having a chauffeur… a liveried chauffer. And that’s how we lived for about five years. Ten years, maybe.

My grandfather was a very wealthy man. Furniture dealer. He owned the building down on 315 Grand Street. In a six-story building. And while I was typing letters to his sister in Boston… I would be learning how to type. That’s where I learned how to type. I was five years old. And I used to hear noises from upstairs. [imitates the sound of squeaking bedsprings] It was my grandfather… schtupping his female customers on the sixth floor. The mattresses. He was in the furniture business and I often wondered about that sound… the noise. My grandfather had great taste. [shows pinky ring] This is his ring, [which] I took off his finger when he was dead, when he died, so the undertaker shouldn’t take it. ‘Cause I

You Make Me Feel So Young! (Above & right:) Irwin playing Charlie Chaplin at age 6—and at, age 15, with an unidentified girl about the same age. Thanks to Dan Makara.

A View With A Room (Above:) Irwin gazes out of his apartment window in New York City (where he lived for nearly 60 years) at the street below—or maybe he’s remembering himself in 1923 at age five, as in the photo just above. Two screen saves from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

Hasen—The Documentary

just emerging. Most of the guys were pure cartoonists, and a cartoonist does, I guess, what Irwin is doing now… a form of caricature. A simplicity of line where you’re just using enough to hopefully capture the image of the person so that you get it. And when you look back at that first Irwin and Roy Thomas run into each other (with a little help from Dan Makara) at the half-dozen years, 2009 Big Apple Con in NYC; a screen save from the doc. Seen at left is the published doing characters like cover of All-Star Comics #35 (June-July 1947), Roy’s all-time favorite Hasen cover. In Green Lantern, who fact, in the early 1980s, Roy paid Irwin to do a color re-creation of it, which the artist despite the fact that it loved that bastard. I use the word said was his very first commissioned re-creation. Roy purchased several others over was a magic ring, the ensuing decades. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; cover TM & © DC Comics.] “bastard” lovingly. Any guy who became a very goes on the sixth floor and s****s physical character as his customers is okay with me. Irwin depicted him, Wildcat, and—my personal preference—the And then the Depression hit us. The Depression wiped out my Justice Society, where he became [one of] the first artist[s] to pull grandfather’s business and we became poor. And there’s nothing his hair out of his head at what the editors and writers were asking worse than to have it all and lose it all. So we moved to New York him to do. A long line that descends to the current day. “Say, Irwin. City, 110th Street, and that was the beginning of my ill-fated Could you just put all ten of these guys in this panel fighting all childhood. It was a miserable time of a human being’s life as a ten of these villains and figure out how to make it look graceful?” young person, because the screaming about money never stopped. Sort of the choreography of that, which today is a fine art.

And A Good Time Was Had By All!

ROY THOMAS: [on comics convention floor] The first time I met Irwin I was just kind of surprised, because he’s a very short, little guy, and he was always drawing these great big heroes…. PAUL LEVITZ: [interviewed as he’s being drawn by Hasen] Irwin was one of the guys, really, in that first wave who were developing the idiom of what the comic book was going to be. And then as comic books arrived, some of the early artists began to play with composing the page, began to break the panel frame for greater dynamics—which you couldn’t do in the newspaper—and began to develop the vocabulary of what the comic book could be.

HASEN: Sheldon Mayer was our editor and wanted a new character for a comic book at that time. He said, “You were in the fight business,” which I was briefly. I was illustrating drawings for Bang magazine. And we decided to use the cat, with the claws on his feet and the image of a cat… a WILDCAT. And the mustache

At the same time, the whole process of “acting” in comics was

The More, The Merrier…? At that same con, Irwin draws a caricature of veteran writer Paul Levitz, then president of DC Comics; screen save from doc. Paul lists the “JSA” as his favorite Hasen work—which doubtless includes the splash page of All-Star Comics #37 (Oct.-Nov. 1947), which duplicated that issue’s iconic cover and on which Shane Foley based his drawing that became the cover of this edition of A/E. Irwin only had to draw 13 characters and a rough outline of the United States on this one! [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; cover TM & © DC Comics.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

And In This Corner… (From top left to bottom left:) A montage of Hasen boxing illos from Bang magazine, 1937 (he was about 19 at the time). Irwin eyes his original concept drawing of the DC hero Wildcat… …and watches Wildcat teach Batman how to box in a TV cartoon—a real anachronism, obviously. These first three images are screen saves from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara; TV image TM & © DC Comics.] (Above:) “Wildcat” splash page from Sensation Comics #14 (Feb. 1943), which, like numerous other early tales of the Feline Fury, gave Hasen a chance to show off his sports-illustrating chops. Inks by Jon Chester Kozlak; scripter unknown. “Batman”/”Green Lantern” co-creator Bill Finger wrote the first batch of “Wildcat” stories. Thanks to Jim Kealy for the page scan. [TM & © DC Comics.]

that an animal has, the whiskers. Slight whiskers. And you never lost sight of the face, because the mouth and the chin were human. [We see Irwin watching an animated episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold featuring Batman and Wildcat]

old, whatever I was at that time. I don’t quite remember. My first attempt at samples was down to The Daily Worker on 14th Street. It was the Communist newspaper at the time, and I took

It’s unbelievable. I created Wildcat almost 70 years ago, and here he is on television today. Teaching Batman how to box. The early comic books taught me the ropes of good cartooning, and like most cartoonist friends of mine and every generation, I began my art career by doodling in my school books. I would draw pictures in the flyleaf of books; any blank page I would do that. And my mother, God bless her, probably was the only one who saw me doing it. One day, she took me around the corner by the hand and enrolled me in the National Academy of Design. We were broke. We didn’t have any money. We had just come from the Depression. I went to art school for three years at night at the National Academy of Design, drawing all of Michelangelo’s statues in charcoal. Three… frigging… years. Five nights a week. 14 years

I Got You, Babe! (Above:) Irwin with what he maintained was his first published sports caricature, one of baseball slugger Babe Ruth. Does this mean it was the one published by The Daily Worker? Screen save from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

Hasen—The Documentary

samples down there because, in a phone book, that was the newspaper on 14th Street level. I figured I’d start from 14th up to 90th. And I did a job for them, a sports cartoon on a Sunday, I’ll never forget it. And they bought it and it became the back page of The Daily Worker, and I went down the next week to get paid. I stood in front of Mr. Campbell… Mr. Johnson, whoever. I said, “Sir.”

GALLO: [looking at art board] Dammit. Come over here and take my place. [laughter] HASEN: I haven’t got time. GALLO: No. These are good artwork. HASEN: These… I was a kid. I worked for a magazine called Bang, on 49th Street. GALLO: Bang?

Willard Mullin

HASEN: Bang magazine.

“Yes? What do you want?”

GALLO: That’s not going to be deleted?

“I did a drawing for Lester. It printed and I’d like to get paid.”

HASEN: It’s not going to be deleted. It’s not “Bang Bang.” [mutual laughter]

He said, “Don’t you believe in ‘The Cause’?” I’m 16 years old. What the hell cause do I believe in? My only cause was to get paid and go uptown. He said, “Son, this is The Cause. Here’s 10 cents. Take the subway home.” And that was my experience… the first time I ever got paid was 10 cents.

GALLO: I say boxing is the greatest thing for an artist to draw. You know why? It makes its own action. HASEN: Yeah.

I had another semi-career in the prize fight business. I was a sports cartoonist. And that was one of my happy days, meeting gangsters, prize fight promoters…. We had a small office downtown at the Forest Hotel on 49th Street.

GALLO: It makes its own action and jeez, you can do anything.

[Cut to the office/cubicle of Bill Gallo, sports reporter and cartoonist with The New York Daily News]

HASEN: That’s why [Willard] Mullin was a great—

BILL GALLO: [looking at original art] Now these you did when you were 17 years old? HASEN: 17 years old.

HASEN: Absolutely. Very good. GALLO: It’s the action that dictated the drawing. GALLO: Oh, Mullin was the best. HASEN: The best. GALLO: He was the best. At that, you know. He just… drew a scribble, and there was a guy throwing a left hand.

HASEN: [narrating] I had two role models. Willard Mullin, the great sports cartoonist, and Roy Crane, who created Wash Tubbs. Wash Tubbs was a little guy like me, who liked tall women… like me. [laughter] He and his pal, Captain Easy, had adventures in Roy Crane exotic places much like those of Indiana Jones. But Roy Crane’s gorgeous drawings… they were so simple. To a kid, they were cinematic. From Roy Crane, I learned a cartoonist is a writer… director… set designer… an actor…. At age 14 I decided to become a cartoonist like Roy Crane. I wanted to become a newspaper strip artist. And like most boys, I loved sports. But it was the tall guys that got to play the Raising Crane best positions. So I thought, maybe I could become a Hasen remembers the comic strip work of another early idol, Roy Crane, writer and artist of sports cartoonist? Wash Tubbs… later of Buz Sawyer. Screen save from doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

that audience. It’s like drawing a comic strip, almost. You’ve got the people in the palm of your hand.

All The World’s In Stages (From top to bottom:) Irwin with his benefactor (and major cartoonist) Rube Goldberg, at the Hamptons in 1949… …on stage at the Society of Illustrators, 1954… …and doing his “Maurice Chevalier shtick” at the SoC, 1956. All screen saves from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

Cartooning was my real thing in my life, but the stage always seemed to beckon me. Years later, I met the great Rube Goldberg. Rube was a genius cartoonist who, every week, would create some crazy, impractical invention in the newspapers. Rube took a liking to me and would invite me to his summer place in the Hamptons. It was Rube Goldberg who got me inducted into the National Cartoonist Society and into the New York Society of Illustrators. The Illustrators Society was prestigious. The Illustrators had little respect for cartoonists. It was only on account of Rube Goldberg that I got in. To me, this was heaven. The Illustrators Society was famed for its stage shows. Even Bob Hope would attend. Those were the greatest nights. [Cut to: Gallo & Hasen at News office:]

Willard Mullin was one of my idols. The best! He created, for the Brooklyn Dodgers, “Dem Bums.” I had to meet him. I had to meet Willard Mullin. I was a very aggressive little bastard, because I took it upon myself to visit these people. These great artists. I went down to the [New York] WorldTelegram. I took a subway. I pushed my way into his office, and I walked right into the city room looking for Willard Mullin. I was about 15… 14. And I visited him and we sat and we talked. Three weeks later, I go there again. He saw my stuff and he’s playing chess with Wilby Johnston and he says, “Irwin. You want to do me a favor? This has got to go down at 4 o’clock. Fill in the blacks.” It’s like a lady in a whorehouse saying, “It’s on me.” For some reason, I had a romance with the stage. And much like the comic book characters I would later draw, I led a double life. I would leave the house at 8 o’clock at night. My parents didn’t know I left. I got on a bus. Riverside Drive down to 14th Street. The Keith-Orpheum Theatre, and I went on the “Amateur Hour” circuit. I had a thing about the stage, because I looked at

GALLO: You know actors in the [unintelligible] General Von Steingrabber with the helmet. HASEN: Steinbrenner! GALLO: And Irwin played “Steingrabber.” HASEN: Steingrabber. GALLO: Yeah. He played him. And his first words were, [with a German accent] “Vat are you doing here? Dis is mein kamp.” [laughs] And the “kamp” was… what do you call it? HASEN: Spring training. GALLO: Spring training. HASEN: And I went like this. [raises right arm straight out] “Dis is mein kamp!” [mutual laughter] GALLO: So, that got the biggest laugh. HASEN: Wonderful times.

Hasen—The Documentary

[Cut from Gallo’s office to Irwin outside singing on the sidewalk] I have often walked down these streets before… …And the reason is that many years ago, when I worked in an office, the prize fight office, Bang magazine, in walks this short, stocky man—olive skin, all dressed in grey. Grey fedora, grey hat, grey tie. This and that, and he’s talking to my boss, and I’m at the typewriter. Listen to this. As he’s walking out, he turns around and looks at me. This is Frankie Carbo. [TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: A.k.a. Paul John Carbo, 8/10/04 to 11/9/76, member of the Lucchese crime family… operated as a boxing promoter, worked as a gunman for Murder, Inc., was rumored to have engineered the murder of “Bugsy” Siegel.] Turns around and says, “Billy. The kid’s got pimples. Get him laid.” There’s a prize fighter sitting on the couch. Izzy Singer, his name was, from Philadelphia. And he hung out at the office—a hanger on-er. So my boss takes out a $10 bill and gives it to Izzy, and says, “Take the kid uptown.” Izzy Singer gets a hold of me, reluctantly, takes me by the hand. Takes me into the subway and Broadway, up here to this building. 92nd Street. Takes me into the lobby. Rings the buzzer in the elevator. Goes up to the sixth floor, and a door opens and a woman dressed in a kimono looks out at me and says, “What’s this?” Izzy Singer says, “Billy wants to get him fixed up.” I walked in and I didn’t know where the hell I was. There was three girls sitting at a table and that’s all I saw.

Anyway, to make a long story short, that was the beginning of my life as a man. I shared it with my peers the next day. I ran up to my neighborhood here on 110th Street. They’re all playing cards and I go in there and say, “You son-of-a-bitches. I’m the first one to get laid. I did it! I’m the first one, you bastards.” In their own way, all of my friends are geniuses. Jules Feiffer used to visit my studio as a kid. He’d show up dressed in knickers and sit on my windowsill and want to know all about cartooning. He grew up drawing wonderful cartoons for The Village Voice. Writing books… Broadway shows and movie screenplays. He was a genius! [Cut to Jules Feiffer, standing outside the door of Hasen’s apartment] JULES FEIFFER: Irwin! Open the door! HASEN: [opens door] Come on. I’ve got lox and cream cheese. Or Scotch. [Feiffer and Hasen on couch:] FEIFFER: You had always an energy and an “in your face” brashness, directness, that I always loved. HASEN: That’s why tall women always liked me. FEIFFER: I’ve heard that rumor. I heard it from you, actually. I just thought that you were, among all these people who looked alike, an individual.

To Pay The Feiffer Irwin and his “best bud,” satirical cartoonist Jules Feiffer, in a screen shot from the doc—plus the cover of Feiffer’s important 1965 hardcover collection The Great Comic Book Heroes and some beginning panels from Feiffer’s Formula, a sort of autobiography in comics format. The Superman figure, of course, is by Joe Shuster. A screen save from the doc. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; Superman art TM & © DC Comics; Feiffer’s Formula TM & © Jules Feiffer.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Something To Sing About? (Left:) Irwin singing “On the Street Where You Live” (from Lerner & Loew’s My Fair Lady) outside “the building where he became a man”… …and (below) a cartoon he drew to commemorate a fateful suggestion made by mob killer Frankie Carbo at the offices of Bang magazine. Hasen has labeled this scene as occurring in 1939, but Dan Makara suspects the year was more likely 1937. Screen saves from the doc. [Screen saves © 2016 Dan Makara.; art © 2016 Estate of Irwin Hasen.]

Crime and Punishment Two crime-comics pages drawn by Hasen over the years: (Above:) “Larry Steele, Private Detective” in Detective Comics #45 (Nov. 1940); scripter unknown. As provider Steven G. Willis notes: “It is not confirmed definitely that this is [Hasen’s] work, though it is commonly accepted that his line-work is evident in this story…. Angular faces and a larger preponderance of facial denotation seem to support this [identification]. This would be [Hasen’s] first work at DC.” (Right:) Big Town #7 (July 1951), licensed from the radio/TV series, also contained this unrelated “Johnny Law” feature penciled by Hasen and inked by Frank Giacoia; scripter unknown. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Hasen—The Documentary

HASEN: Thank you. That’s the nicest thing you could’ve said to me. Do you have something else to say in that vein? FEIFFER: No. So I’m going home now. HASEN: Okay. HASEN: [narrating] I was finishing up my work in the sports genre—the prize fight business—and I walked around the corner with my samples to the comic book industry. Which has become just the beginning. It was its beginning, and I got in on the ground floor, as they say. And in no time I became fast friends with editor Sheldon Mayer. [Cut to:] CARMINE INFANTINO: I think some 63 years ago, I was a kid with Frank Giacoia, we’re trying to sell our artwork to DC Comics. And Shelly was very sweet. He said, “Let me see the work,” and we sat there. We’re both very nervous. Young kids, you know? And he’s looking at the work, when all of a sudden I hear the door open behind me and we hear, “En garde!” And I see this Irwin Hasen walking in with a T-square. Shelly drops the pages, picks up his, and they start dueling all around the room. Over the desk, back and forth, behind us. I’m looking at Frankie, going, “What the hell did we get into here?” [laughs] They do this about 20 minutes, the two of them. And then he, Irwin Hasen, stops. He kisses Shelly on both cheeks, leaves, and goes back to his drawing board. Shelly goes back and picks up the pages like nothing happened. I said, “Frank, let’s get the hell out of here! I can’t take this!” HASEN: [narrating] Shelly had me do most of the early “Green Lantern” covers, and I created Green Lantern’s sidekick Doiby Dickles. The emphasis, for the covers, was always on action.

When I was inducted into the Army at Fort Dix, 1942, I was a smart enough little bas—little guy, to look for the newspaper office, because I was “Limited Service,” and I became editor of the Fort Dix Reception Center Gazette. So, all of my talents I put together in the Army. “Limited Service,” because I just got in by the skin of my teeth. I was 5'2". I couldn’t reach the trigger of the rifle. [Cut to image of a faked-up radio broadcast] CHRYON: [precise identity unknown] In 1945, Cpl. Hasen dated the popular writer of the World War II radio drama Cloak and Dagger. The following excerpt… RADIO ANNOUNCER: …willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines, knowing you may never return alive? [dramatic music transitions to something light and bouncy] CPL. HASEN: Did you ever notice the name “Irwin” signed in a fancy flourish on the covers of those kid comic books? You know, all about Moon Men chasing the Earthmen into the stratosphere? Well, that’s me. Irwin Hasen. I’m a little guy, about 5'4". Before the war, I loved flashy ties and babies. Um, girl babies, about 21. HASEN: [narrating] When working at the Fort Dix Gazette, it was a wonderful experience for me. I was my own boss and did everything from writing to typesetting to cartooning and even delivering the newspapers. It was exhausting. However, there were certain fringe benefits. I’m proud of what I did there. But then, in 1944, the Army sent me back to New York. My mother was dying. [Continued on p. 22]

Boxing Days Two 1938 boxing cartoons by Hasen—from the Wilkes-Barre Journal and Macon Telegraph newspapers, respectively. Thanks to Art Lortie. [© the respective copyright holders.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Good Fencing Makes Good Neighbors (Top of page:) AA editor Shelly Mayer (on right), from Wonder Woman #2 (Fall 1942). Standing at left is WW artist/co-creator H.G. Peter. (Center:) Carmine Infantino, late great artist of The Flash, “Adam Strange,” Star Wars, et al., in a screen save from the doc, wherein he remembers Sheldon Mayer, 1939-1948 editor of the All-American Comics line (even after it was absorbed by DC)—and (below:), via an Irwin cartoon, the infamous Mayer/Hasen “fencing match” that’s become a part of comic book legend. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; Mayer photo © DC Comics; cartoon © 2016 Estate of Irwin Hasen.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Irwin’s Got ’Em Covered! Hasen’s first and last covers (all of which he reportedly also inked) of the two main 1940s titles that starred “Green Lantern”: (Above:) Green Lantern #4 (Summer 1942) had Alan Scott and Doiby Dickles joining the U.S. Army after Pearl Harbor—but both were soon back in civvies; the issue’s interior art was all by Mart Nodell, however. Green Lantern #33 (March ’48), five issues before the end of the Golden Age series, showcased Western-style train robbers, as “horse operas” again surged in popularity. (Below:) All-American Comics #24 (March 1941) had Green Lantern battling Mexican banditos, while All-American Comics #94 (Feb. 1948) featured Hasen’s signature villainess, the Harlequin. Before long, the mag would briefly be retitled All-American Western, before metamorphosing into All-American Men of War. Irwin would do work for all three incarnations. [TM & © DC Comics.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

her last words, “Take care of my Irwin.” So, this never left me. Possibly why I never married. Only when she died did I hold her in my arms. Bulls****! You know? Too late! Too late. [jazz arrangement of “Never Will I Marry” plays] I dated once or twice, and I—most of them were “ladies of the evening.” In those days, we were nice sweet Jewish kids and we didn’t know from dating. You either got married right away or you just… hung out. So I had experiences that never—to the point of even close, into my 90s, of getting married. These days, I enjoy going out to a bar with my friends. Or I stay here at home. My apartment came with a huge bar. and I’ve learned to make a damn good martini. [whisper] Extra dry. Just a whisper of vermouth. [full voice] There’s just something very refined about it. A well-made martini. [video clip of early TV series The Goldbergs—no relation to current series] GERTRUDE BERG: [to camera] Oy, hello. Well, to say that I have words for my amazement, I have not. Where do you think I just came from? HASEN: [narrating] After World War II ended, I had a call from my friend Jerry Robinson. Jerry had created Batman’s nemesis The Joker. He’s a damn good artist, by the way. Jerry told me that The New York Post was looking for a cartoonist to draw the Goldbergs strip. The Goldbergs was the popular radio, and then TV, show of the time and starred its creator, Gertrude Berg. It was about a typical New York Jewish family. At last, it was my dream come true. A newspaper strip. And can you imagine? With my personal family life in disarray, here I am asked to draw a “typical Jewish family”!

Irwin Goes To War (Above:) A trio of doc screen saves of photos showing Irwin as a soldier at Fort Dix, New Jersey, during World War II—juxtaposed with (below) a cartoon he drew depicting himself guarding German POWs in 1945. It also appeared in the film. The latter is courtesy of Dan Makara. [Screen saves © 2016 Dan Makara; art © 2016 Estate of Irwin Hasen.]

[Continued from p. 19] And here was my dilemma. All of my life, I had a hard time getting close to my mother. Most of you guys kissed your mother, perhaps? I could never do that. Since childhood, I had known my mother had been having an affair with my father’s best friend, Simon. And that scarred me with other women. My mother is dying. I got into bed with my mother in my uniform. She never knew I was there. And the only time I ever held her in my arms, and kissed her, I said “It’s Irwin.” She kept saying, “Where’s my Irwin? Where’s my Irwin?” The next day, I went to the hospital for the Last Rites and all she said,

Yet, working in the office of The New York Post was the greatest thrill of my life. The clatter of typewriters. The bustling excitement of the office. Shouts of “Copy! Copy!” Unfortunately, in 1946, after one year, the strip ended. Maybe it had been too progressive to feature a Jewish family in a newspaper comic strip? We appeared

Hasen—The Documentary

A Jewish Guy Named “O’Malley” Irwin loved the name “O’Malley”! Above is a 1944 sample of his Sgt. Route-Step O’Malley comic strip from the Fort Dix camp newspaper. For DC after the war he would write and draw a “Sgt. O’Malley” humor strip about a police detective. While the latter often appeared in several-page stories, at left is an “O’Malley” one-pager from Big Town #7 (July 1951)—as it happens, the same issue that also sported the “Johnny Law” story whose splash was seen on p. 18. Thanks to Jim Kealy for the comic book page; the comic strip was reproduced in Classic Comic Press’ Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen, Vol. 2. [Sgt. Route-Step O’Malley strip TM & © Estate of Irwin Hasen; filler page TM & © DC Comics.]

From Goldbrick To Goldbergs (Below:) Irwin circa 1945-46 with Gertrude Berg, creator and star of the early TV series The Goldbergs—and (at bottom of page) the Goldbergs daily comic strip for May 29, 1945, from The New York Post. The former is a screen save from the doc; the latter is repro’d from Classic Comic Press’ Dondi, Vol. 1. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; Goldbergs strip TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

you know? You ate or didn’t eat. It was a tough life. I think “Superman” and “Batman” were the only things that survived the time. But even they were hurt very badly. HASEN: [narrating] The super-hero books began to lose money. As a result, a lot of cartoonists lost their jobs. In 1950, in fact, I lost mine. [Cut to:] INFANTINO: He was told at DC Comics he should take a vacation, as they were hiring these kids. He thought it was wonderful. [laughter] When he got on the Queen Elizabeth, he found out he was fired.

For What It’s Wertham! Dr. Fredric Wertham, author of the 1954 anti-comics book Seduction of the Innocent. ’Nuff said?

HASEN: [narrating] I went to Israel, and that’s where I became Jewish. That’s when I knew I was Jewish. Because when I went to Jerusalem, the cab driver dropped me off at the top of the mountain. You look down into Jerusalem and you see the lights in the sky, and all of a sudden, I started crying. And I said to the driver—his name was Tzvee, all the cab drivers are named “Tzvee” in Israel—I said, “Tzvee, why am I crying?” He said, “Mr. Hasen, they all cry.”

[Continued on p. 29]

“Look Out, Axis—Here Come Green Lantern & Doiby!” (Above:) Green Lantern and Doiby did their part for the war effort in this twopage special feature from All-American Comics #44 (Nov. 1942). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [TM & © DC Comics.]

in only one paper, and having made no money, we were cancelled. However, it was a terrific experience. Later that year, as I left my newspaper family, I returned to my comic book family, DC Comics. Soon, I was back to work with “The Green Lantern,” “The Flash,” All-Star Comics… and my new assignment. The regular cover artist for Wonder Woman. Shelly knew, I think, that I loved drawing tall, statuesque women. And even going out with a few. And on every cover, the Amazon princess battled a plethora of thugs, pirates, space aliens, and 3-D monsters. But after the war, times changed. DR. FREDERIC WERTHAM: [archival footage] The real question is this. Are comics good, or are they not good? [Cut to:] INFANTINO: They were destroying comics. They said children were being destroyed. Kids were jumping off rooftops. Killing themselves. Drugs. Women. Sex. Violence. They blamed every sin, every problem in the world on comic books. And the comics got slaughtered. We were the people doing these things and we’d be ashamed to even tell people we did them. As I said, that’s the reason we did pseudonyms—for myself, and the other guys did, too. We didn’t know day to day if there’d be work or not work,

Irwin As Don Juan The cover of Hasen’s 2009 graphic novel/memoir Loverboy: An Irwin Hasen Story, from Vanguard Press. [© Estate of Irwin Hasen.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Super-Heroes! Maybe They Are Just For Breakfast Anymore! (Top row:) Some of Hasen’s earliest postwar work for DC was drawing the cover, as well as the “Flash” and “Johnny Thunder” stories, for the April 1946 Flash Comics [Wheaties Miniature Edition], a 6½" x 8¼" giveaway comic book attached to twin boxes of Wheaties breakfast cereal. Story scripts attributed by Craig Delich to Gardner Fox and John B. Wentworth, respectively. The splashes are repro’d from Roy Thomas’ personal copy; hence the missing fragments of the “Flash” splash. But did Wheaties really have to cover up most of Irwin’s cover art? [TM & © DC Comics.]

Splitting “The Atom” (Bottom row:) Perhaps Hasen’s earliest known super-hero work in a regular DC comic after the war is these final two pages of the “Atom” chapter in the “Justice Society” saga in All-Star Comics #31 (Oct.-Nov. 1946). The first three pages of this story had been drawn by Jon Chester Kozlak. [TM & © DC Comics.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Back In Harness (Left:) Hasen’s first All-Star Comics cover (#33) was seen on p. 4; here’s his second, for issue #34 (April-May 1947), which introduced The Wizard— juxtaposed with his first postWWII cover for All-American Comics (#82, Feb. 1947). The “GL” feature inside the latter was still being drawn by Paul Reinman, however. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Still In “Sargon” Hasen also drew the “Sargon the Sorcerer” feature for a time when it appeared in Sensation Comics. Seen above are the splashes from #59 (Nov. 1946) & #62 (Feb. ’47). Scripters unknown. Thanks to Jim Kealy & Steven G. Willis, respectively. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Batman v. Superman – The Dawn Of Hasen One of the few comics in which Hasen drew Superman and/or Batman was All-Star Comics #36 (Aug.-Sept. 1947). (Clockwise from top left:) That issue’s cover was long credited to artist Winslow Mortimer, because of the Superman & Batman figures—but increased analysis has suggested to expert Craig Delich that it was actually drawn by Irwin Hasen, whose Green Lantern and Dr. Mid-Nite were evident from the get-go. Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman are clearly based on the work of H.G. Peter and (probably) Win Mortimer—while the Hawkman and Flash figures were most likely drawn by Joe Kubert and Lee Elias, respectively, and pasted on. (In addition, artist John Belfi may have done some retouching on a few figures.) The “JSA” lead chapter of “5 Doomed Men!” is Irwin’s artwork, as Superman and Batman, charter honorary members of the JSA, replace Johnny Thunder and The Atom for one issue. Writer uncertain, but some think the story was a rewrite of a “lost” Gardner Fox script titled “The Men of Magnifica;” then-story editor Julius Schwartz said Robert Kanigher re-wrote at least one chapter. The “Batman” episode seems to have been penciled by Hasen (though that’s not a 100% certainty), with inking probably by Win Mortimer (ditto). In all probability it was originally written as the issue’s “Atom” episode. The “Superman” solo segment was probably rewritten from a “Johnny Thunder” exploit which utilized Johnny’s pet Thunderbolt. [TM & © DC Comics.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

(Above:) A 2006 color drawing Hasen did for Roy Thomas. [Green Lantern TM & © DC Comics.]

Green And Gone (Above & righ:) When the various “Green Lantern” series ended in 1948-49, there were several unpublished stories, some with Hasen art—such as the action page above, supplied by Michael Learn, and the splash page of another story, at right, sent by Michael Feldman. Too bad DC didn’t hang onto prints of these! Inkers & scripters unknown. [TM & © DC Comics.]

It’s Quarter To Three… (Above:) In this Hasen commission from 2004, Green Lantern and Flash console each other over the loss of their several solo mags over the course of 1948-49. Well, at least they still had All-Star Comics—for another year or two. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Steven Rowe. [Green Lantern & Flash TM & © DC Comics.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Caught In Charlotte’s Web (Top left:) Irwin at the 1996 Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina, flanked by his late-1940s editor Julius Schwartz (on right) and artist Murphy Anderson. Photo courtesy of Bob Bailey.

[Continued from p. 24] And that’s when I became a Jew. Simple as that. Back in the States and being out of work, my friends at the National Cartoonists Society got me on a USO tour to entertain the troops. Again, my two loves. The stage and cartooning. In 1952, a bunch of us were sent overseas to Germany. And yes, Virginia, there was a Holocaust. One night I slept in a German general’s bed. I wasn’t in it [the Holocaust]. I would’ve been in an ashtray in the morning. And then we went to Dachau. [chokes up] Then we went to Dachau. And that’s where we got the shock. Gus Edson [writer & artist on The Gumps comic strip] and I were the only Jews among the cartoonists. And Gus Edson and I, the only Jews, came back on the bus, didn’t say a word. We got back to Berlin and we all got drunk. And it was quite an experience. One moment of the trip, Gus said to me, “Are you doing anything? What are you doing?” About my work: when you’re broke and you’re out of work, you say

Also seen are a cover by Hasen, probably drawn for Julie after JS took over full editorial chores from Sheldon Mayer—that of All-Star Comics #44 (Dec. 1948Jan. 1949), with his Wonder Woman having a very H.G. Peter look—and, also for Julie, a splash page (inked by Bernard Sachs) of an SF story in Strange Adventures #47 (Aug. 1954); Sid Gerson, writer. [TM & © DC Comics.]

you’re in advertising. So I said I was doing some advertising work. I hadn’t done any work in four years. So he said, “Would you be interested in doing something?” This comes to the end of my life where I became not an itinerate, but a “star.” He sends me a picture of Dondi when we get back to New York. The picture is like this. [displays Edson’s original Dondi drawing; see p. 31] That’s the picture. It was not as ornate. It was on WaldorfAstoria stationery. Black-&-white. And I looked at the picture and said, “Gus”… I called him up and said, “Gus, this is going to be the best strip in America.” It’s like looking across a crowded room, seeing a woman and saying, “That’s going to be my wife.” [The song “Dondi” plays, sung by popular recording artist Patti Page.] I did this, right at the very beginning, six days a week, possibly sometimes seven days a week. Sometimes ten hours a day.

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

The premise was a little war orphan. An Italian war orphan. That’s what Gus told me. And I said, “That’s great,” and he said, “Are you kidding?” He didn’t even know what he had. So anyway, we did about six weeks, which took almost a year. Without pay. There’s no such thing as “up-front money” in those days. In other words, the syndicate says you’re lucky to be alive. You’re lucky they’re even thinking about it.

Why Don’t You Take A Long Walk Off A Short Pier? (Above:) Screen save of cartoon by Irwin. In Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1 (1999), he told the full story of his offhand firing by DC circa 1950-52, as alluded to by Carmine Infantino back on p.24: “One day [managing editor] Whit Ellsworth called me into the office… and said, ‘Ah, you’re a bachelor. Why don’t you take a trip on a boat?’ And I didn’t know he was firing me! So like an idiot I left and went to the Pierre Hotel…. I had a couple of drinks. And I walked off to a travel agent, and I booked passage on the Liberty, and I went to Europe…. Ignorance is bliss… I came back and I was out of work.” Whatever the precise year of Irwin's close encounter with Ellsworth (in the documentary, Irwin says it came in 1950), the fact remains that some of Hasen's art popped up in DC comics through mid-1954. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; art © Irwin Hasen] (Below:) Much of Hasen’s early-’50s work for DC dealt with Western subjects, such as this comedy filler for All-Star Western #58 (April-May 1951) and the “Roving Ranger” story in ASW #65 (June-July ’52). Ironic that ASW #58, the first “post-JSA” issue after All-Star Comics had altered its name and format, saw Irwin’s work once again appear in the magazine series to which he’d been so important in the immediate postwar years. Thanks to Jim Kealy for the scans. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Dondi snuck aboard a Liberty ship with his G.I. buddies to America. And he got in a duffel bag on the ship… hid in a duffel bag, came to America, looked for his buddies… couldn’t find them. He wandered the streets of New York. A cop picked him up. I can say that, honestly, I had the drive, for whatever reason, to do a comic strip. So God gave me that chance. I’m not religious, but I want to cover all bases. To watch the first trucks roll with a big poster of Dondi sitting on a duffel bag… that was being famous. I sat there and looked at

Hasen—The Documentary

Innocence Abroad? (Left:) Irwin drew a cartoon of himself in 1952, sleeping in a WWII German officer’s bed. On that same National Cartoonists Society tour, he met fellow cartoonist Gus Edson, seen at left center (below) in the second of these two screen saves from the doc. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; art at left © Estate of Irwin Hasesn.]

Yankee Doodle Dondi (Left:) Screen save of Irwin juxtaposed with Gus Edson’s original sketch of what he felt Dondi should look like. (But how Dondi could be what Irwin calls an “Italian war orphan” in a comic strip that only began in 1955 is a mystery.) Earlier, Edson had written and drawn the strip The Gumps; but he elected only to write the new strip, referring to Hasen in the summer 1957 issue of Cartoonist PROfiles as “the perfect collaborator.” Also seen (below) are the first three Dondi dailies, dated Sept. 26-28, 1955, as reprinted in Classic Comics Press’ Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen, Vol. 1. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

that truck with Gus Edson. We both were standing on a corner of 42nd Street, and he said, “We got 400 papers,” and I’m looking at that truck. I didn’t give a damn how many papers we had. We’re famous! And then, after the strip went on another couple of weeks, we contacted the State Department. We got an edict… An act of Congress should allow Dondi to become a citizen. We had to split [the money] three ways. Gus and me and the syndicate. So there wasn’t that much of a big windfall. And also, I was lucky to be alive and have a strip. I had just come from the unemployment lines, as it were, regarding my work. And now it took a year to make a living— without making a penny. So for me, money never seemed to be the driving force in my life.

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Dondi—Rhymes (More Or Less) With “Sunday” The first Dondi Sunday, dated Oct. 2, 1955—reprinted in black-&-white from Classic Comics Press’ Dondi, Vol. 1. [TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

As a result of his popularity, Dondi became attractive to Hollywood. Gus Edson had a friend, and he said, “We have a movie being made.” I said, “That’s nice. Who’s going to be the producer?” He said, “Kid, nothing to do with you. Don’t worry about it.” And then I knew I was—[makes throat-slashing gesture] And I said, “What about me?” I’d like to go to Hollywood. He said, “Irwin, you know you’re going to have to pay your own way. You want to spend that?” I looked at him and said, “Gus, I’m your partner.”

There was a lot of merchandising from the movie. They put out dolls. They put out belts. They put out everything. And… “Gosh!” as Dondi would say, “Gosh, Misters, why didn’t you tell me about the merchandising?” One perk I did get was a trip to Miami. I was asked to be a judge at the Miss Universe competition that year. In 1960. It was to

In his mind, “You’re not my partner. You’re a schmuck cartoonist who I hired to get—” And I shut up. Anyway, I went to Hollywood. I paid my way. This is a sad story. A rotten story. It’s a terrible story. Because he did everything behind my back. And he put me in that movie, [in] which I’m a police artist. I did a drawing of Dondi when he was lost in America. Do a drawing of Dondi. Gus drove home in a white Lincoln Continental car, plus whatever he got from the movie.

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Dondi Claus! Hasen (on left) with Gus Edson in 1956, at a time when Dondi became, for a time, one of the most popular comic strips in the U.S. Screen save from doc. [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; Dondi art TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Dondi Goes To Hollywood (Clockwise from above:) Advertising for the 1961 film Dondi, which utilized Hasen art from the comic strip. A screen save from the doc. A poster for the movie, which starred David Janssen (near-future star of TV’s The Fugitive) and Patti Page (ultra-popular singer of the 1950s)— and even Walter Winchell, the muckraking gossip columnist who’d once been another of Irwin’s idols. A still from the movie, featuring young David Kory as Dondi. Gus Edson was the screenwriter. (Dan Makara couldn’t utilize any materials from the film in his documentary; the laws of “fair use” allow this magazine to show you just a bit of what you’d have missed even if you’d seen the doc.) [Movie materials TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Dondi art TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

help promote the release of the Dondi movie. And they asked for me. [clip of Irwin being introduced as a judge at the pageant] I met a very beautiful lady. Very tall. And I told her, “By the way, I am going to be introduced and I’m going to throw you a kiss.” Sure enough, when I got up to be introduced, I went like this [makes kiss-blowing gesture] to the audience. Nothing ever happened with us. But I took a shot at it. We asked all the guys to come and watch the opening. Irwin Hasen, Dondi, you know. And it was so embarrassing when I sat in that audience. You know how you go like this? [makes a face] This is a Dondi expression. Let’s talk turkey! Shall we?

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Movie Magic? (Top right:) Hasen drew himself drawing Dondi in this 2000 commission illo, provided by comics dealer Anthony Snyder (see www.anthonysnyder.com/art). It’s virtually a cartoon re-creation of— (Above:) The one scene in the film in which Irwin appears: he plays a police sketch artist who, trying to help Janssen and Page (and Walter Winchell) locate Dondi, draws a picture of the lad based on their verbal description. Only, the movie folks had Irwin draw his comic strip version of Dondi—which of course looked nothing like the boy playing him! (Even so, Ye Editor recalls being thrilled, at age 19, to realize that the “police sketch artist” was probably comic strip—and former comic book—artist Irwin Hasen!) (Right:) The film’s producer, Alfred Zugsmith, and young David Kory look at a Dondi drawing. See the resemblance? [Movie materials TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.; cartoon © 2016 Estate of Irwin Hasen.]

Fun And Games (Above & bottom right:) Dondi toys, comics, and games—all merchandising done in conjunction with the 1961 movie. Maybe the flick didn’t do a lot of box office, but there was still some money being made, Irwin says… only he maintained it all went to Gus Edson (and of course the syndicate)! Clearly, Hasen should’ve had a good lawyer look over that contract in 1955! Screen saves from the doc. [Screen scans © Dan Makara; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

Hasen—The Documentary

[Irwin sitting at dinner table with a full turkey dinner] Dear Audience. I’ve got to interrupt my documentary for a moment, if I may. You know, making a movie ain’t easy when you’re 92 years old. Just thinking about that rotten turkey of a Dondi movie should be making me lose my appetite. But, a starving artist has to eat. Well, you know I’m in a bit of a pickle. But as it happens, the movie studio that currently owns the rights to the Dondi movie now wants to charge me $20,000 in order to include clips—and even stills—in my documentary. Hey! If the studio had paid me in the first place, then I’d be able to afford to pay them.

Irwin Hasen Was Back In Comic Books—Sort Of! (Above:) Because of the film, Dell/Western published two Dondi issues of its long-running Four Color comic book series: #1176 (Jan. 1961), with a photo cover showing David Kory (plus a small Hasen head drawing of Dondi)—and #1276 (Dec. 1961-Feb. 1962), with a cover by Hasen (but also signed by Edson). All the interior stories, however, were new tales reportedly written by veteran Gaylord Du Bois—and drawn alternatingly by two other artists, Joe Certa and Frank Bolle. Thanks to Jim Ludwig for the latter cover, and to the Grand Comic Database for the former. [Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

[stage whisper] Actually, not showing that Dondi movie spares you, the audience, the angina you’d get from sitting through it! Anyway. Lunch is over. Let’s get back to work on my documentary. Oh! And Hollywood—now I’d like to give you the bird. [does Bronx cheer] THOMAS: [interviewed on a convention show floor] Dondi was just a little kid who was kind of nice and everybody came to like him because he was nice. He had his adventures and it pulled at the heartstrings. It was such a simple face, and I guess the thing is you can see in that face anything you want to see. Because it’s just like, kind of button eyes and nose and so forth and just this wonderful look of the orphan kid. Just the ultimate innocent. Your heart just wants to go out to a character like that.

Let’s Talk Turkey! Irwin’s 21st-century memories of the 1961 Dondi movie involve a certain bird who, when not been associated with Thanksgiving, tends to be the symbol of something alarmingly bad. Screen saves from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

HASEN: [narrating] Most of the fans—the old lady fans, the middleaged women, mothers—they would say to me whenever I would go to a signing or whatever, “My God, you did Dondi? Those beautiful eyes!” All they were were little black dots. The “beautiful eyes” were only part of the eyebrows. Because, with those eyebrows, I manipulated every movement of that kid’s face. Which I do in my own life. When I want my friends to do things for me—fix light bulbs like Dan Makara does—I go like this. [makes pitiful face] “Hi Dan. Could you do me a favor and reach that light bulb?” That’s my Dondi eye. The shtick. It’s called a shtick, because that’s the way you get—You put your neck at a slant, which I did with Dondi. “Hi, Mrs. McGowen.” FEIFFER: [on screen] The continuity reads like one of those graphic novels of today. It doesn’t date. It’s got great charm. Wonderful narrative, great storytelling, and wonderful art. [Cut to comics letterer Janice Chiang at New York Comics Convention] JANICE CHIANG: I really enjoyed Dondi when I was a child. I used to read it through the Daily News and I always thought he was the reverse of Little Orphan Annie. He had the black eyes and

she had no eyes. But what made me always curious as I grew older was, “Why didn’t Dondi age with me?” So that’s when I think I jumped to Brenda Starr as a woman with a career. So, inadvertently it led me into comics. I’ve been a comics letterer for the past three decades. So it was an important part of my life, now that I look back. Dondi I’ll always look upon with affection. [laughter] The little boy. [Cut to Roy Thomas at New York Comics Convention] THOMAS: It’s great that it lasted such a long time and it’s still remembered and collected today. [Cut to Irwin and Bill Gallo in the latter’s office] GALLO: I relate to Dondi after the war more than I related to Beetle Bailey, who was in uniform all the time. HASEN: That’s interesting. GALLO: Because Dondi, it had a fresh approach coming over from another country. Just establishing the American dream, you know?

Dotting The Eyes Irwin talks about Dondi’s eyes—the thing that “the old lady fans” would always remember about Dondi. To him, they were just “little black dots.” Screen save from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

Hasen—The Documentary

That Ol’ Gang O’ Mine A triptych of Hasen and some of his friends and associates who pop up at this point in the film (clockwise from above right): Janice Chiang, comic book letterer, at the 2009 con. A screen save from the doc. Irwin and pal Jules Feiffer harmonize at the 2010 New York Comics Convention. [© 2016 Dan Makara.] Roy Thomas and Bill Gallo, quoted again in the doc— seen here in a late-1975 news photo taken in the Times Square Building (aka the Allied Chemical Tower), at the big press conference held to call attention to the plight of “Superman” co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who were then earmarked to receive zero money from the upcoming big-budget Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve. Photo retrieved from the 1976 Reuben Awards program book by Jim Kealy. (Seated, left to right:) Artist Joe Shuster, sports cartoonist Gallo (reading a statement on behalf of the National Cartoonists Society), and writer Jerry Siegel. (Standing, l. to r.) Irwin Hasen, sketching Dondi shedding a tear for Siegel & Shuster… Roy T. (who read a statement as an officer of ACBA, the Academy of Comic Book Arts)… Burne Hogarth (Tarzan, etc.)… Al Andriola (Kerry Drake)… John Pierotti (editorial cartoonist)… Jerry Robinson (Still Life)… Harry Devlin (magazine cartoonist). Roy, as the only guy in the photo (besides maybe Siegel and Shuster) who wasn’t an NCS member, wasn’t ID’d in the program book. Jules Feiffer, comics artist Neal Adams, and journalist Pete Hamill were among other prominent folks at the press conference, which played a crucial part in bringing pressure to grant the Man of Steel’s creators recognition and a lifetime pension. Irwin’s Dondi sketch caused a rift between himself and then-DC publisher Carmine Infantino that led to the two of them not speaking to each other for several years… but it was eventually healed over.

We Are The Champions! (Left:) Irwin with Jerry Robinson (on left) and Neal Adams (center) at the MoCCA Hasen Retrospective held in 2009 in New York City; “MoCCA” stands for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Robinson and Adams were the two prime movers behind the push to get Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster universally recognized as (and compensated for being) the creators of “Superman.” One picture being worth a thousand words, Hasen’s Dondi cartoon also played a crucial part. Thanks to Dan Makara.

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

GALLO: Who killed it? HASEN: Somebody at the News. Well, the News was our biggest client at that time. GALLO: Yeah. HASEN: And then we lost papers. It fell out of favor, you know, after 30 years. New editors come in. New advertising and all that. First of all, when it stopped, I was okay. I didn’t feel bad. GALLO: Why? HASEN: It wasn’t making a lot of money. Very little money for the work I had to put in. That’s the reason.

End Of An Era (Above & below:) Hasen looking at the final Dondi Sunday strip (for June 8, 1986)—and a contrast between the ever-young Dondi and a photo of young Irwin in 1923. Both screen saves from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

DAN MAKARA: [off camera] Plus you got your run, didn’t you? HASEN: I had my 30 years. Jesus! GALLO: It was very popular. HASEN: Absolutely! I have no complaints. And also, I started to teach. [Cut to footage of Hasen looking over the work of his students at the Joe Kubert School]

HASEN: The story of Dondi is about the American dream. Some people ask me why Dondi was an Italian orphan. But that didn’t matter. Dondi could have just as easily been German, or Jewish… Arab… or anything. In America, everybody has a chance. But you’ve got to work your tail off. GALLO: Dondi… I fell in love with Dondi right away. It was a great strip. Why it’s not running today… It—It could be. It— HASEN: It should’ve been. It could’ve been. GALLO: Yeah. Beetle Bailey, for crying out loud. Gasoline Alley. Dondi could’ve grown up to be… HASEN: He couldn’t grow up. I didn’t grow up. Why should Dondi grow up? GALLO: [laughter] But it should’ve been… HASEN: I know. GALLO: I don’t know why it was cancelled. Why was it cancelled? HASEN: I think the Daily News finally didn’t like it. GALLO: Why? HASEN: I don’t know why. Nobody ever told us.

days back at DC Comics.

HASEN: [narrating] I taught at the Joe Kubert’s School of Cartoon Art for nearly 30 years. I began when I was still doing Dondi and then 22 years after Dondi ended. And Joe Kubert, who runs the school—oh, what a great guy. And a great artist. He’s been my friend since my comic book

[Cut to Irwin, Joe Kubert, and other faculty having lunch… joined in mid-conversation, probably about the New York Comics Convention] JOE KUBERT: That’s a wild place, also. And the convention gets wilder and wilder. HASEN: I heard last year they had like 60,000. KUBERT: Yeah. Yeah. HASEN: I’m a little bit leery of that, really. [Cut to Irwin in car, going to New York Comics Convention] MAKARA: [off camera] So, what do you think going to these comic book conventions, Irwin? HASEN: I love it! MAKARA: Yeah? HASEN: Yeah. I make a couple’a bucks. Tax-free. [pauses a beat] Keep this off the record. Jesus. [Irwin walking into the building where the convention is being held] [Continued on p. 42]

Hasen—The Documentary

Joe Kubert (above) in a screen save from the doc. Hasen taught at Kubert’s cartooning school for nearly three decades. Also seen is a “collaboration” of sorts between the two: the cover of All-Star Comics #39 (Feb.-March 1948) (at top right), in which Hasen drew everything but the Hawkman head, which was done by Kubert (and probably pasted over Irwin’s own version). [Screen save © 2016 Dan Makara; cover TM & © DC Comics.]

Irwin The Con Man Three Hasen views of conventions (clockwise from left:) His 2002 “conventioneering sketch” illustrated a number of his favorite memories (and fellow pros) from the various cons he attended. Thanks to Chris Boyko. [Art ©2016 Estate of Irwin Hasen.] He definitely liked “cosplay” events—as seen here at the Heroes Con held each June in Charlotte, North Carolina, with what looks like a quartet of Zatannas. Seen at right is host Shelton Drum. Hasen at his table, hawking his wares. Latter two photos courtesy of Bob Bailey.

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Irwin Hasen’s Four-Play Whether Irwin Hasen will be remembered more for his comic book work, or for Dondi, is a question perhaps not yet decided—but we hope his spirit won’t mind if Alter Ego honors him for both! Seen on this page are the “Wildcat” splash from Sensation Comics #8 (Aug. 1942), his covers for Green Lantern #31 (March-April 1948) and Wonder Woman #44 (Nov.-Dec. 1950)… and an early Dondi strip, for Sunday, 10-30-55, as repro’d on the back cover of one of Classic Comic Press’ Dondi volumes. Thanks to Doug Martin for the “Wildcat” art (with script by Bill Finger) and to the Grand Comics Database for the covers. [Comic book art TM & © DC Comics; Dondi art TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Together At Last! In 2000, Roy Thomas asked Irwin to draw (and color) Green Lantern and Dondi together. RT loves the resulting drawing—even if the Golden Age GL has his Power Ring on the wrong hand! [Green Lantern TM & © DC Comics; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.; other art © 2016 Estate of Irwin Hasen.]

Hasen Goes Wild! (Above:) A rare fantasy Sunday strip of Dondi from the back cover of one of Classic Comics Press’ Dondi volumes. [TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.] (Right:) Hasen drew this “Bazooka the Atom Bubble Boy” ad/strip from All-Star Comics #41 (June-July 1948); he did several other “Bazooka” ad/strips, as well. [TM & © Topps Chewing Gum, Inc.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

We’re Looking For People Who Like To Draw—Or Dance! Irwin’s conflicting desires at age 95— to be drawing “Wonder Woman” commissions at his desk—or to dance! Screen saves from the doc. [© 2016 Dan Makara.]

[Continued from p. 38] HASEN: The conventions are great. I’ve been all over the world attending them. San Diego. Charlotte, North Carolina. Even Italy. They love comics in Europe, by the way. I get to meet the fans, who I love dearly. I always run into my old students. Some from years and years ago. And it’s strange. Comic fans remember me more today for my comic book stuff—“Wildcat,” “Wonder Woman,” etc. etc.—than they remember Dondi. And I’m not complaining. The magic I found in comics, years ago, new generations are now discovering today. [Cut back to Irwin at the drawing board] My fantasy is to have a woman saying, “Dah-ling! Dinner is on the table”… “Dah-ling, here’s your eggs for breakfast.” In a little cottage in the country, and flowers…. That was my fantasy. In my life, I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to do the work that I love. I’m lucky that I’ve had the best friends. To have enjoyed the company of some truly wonderful, beautiful women. And I’m lucky. I still want to DANCE!

You’re Only Young Once! A drawing Hasen once did of how Dondi would age—if he’d aged in the comic strip. Thanks to Dan Makara. [© Estate of Irwin Hasen; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

[Cut to Irwin, in a tux, dancing to “I’m in a Dancing Mood” as the credits play.]

Hasen—The Documentary

IRWIN HASEN Checklist [This checklist is adapted from information found in the online edition of The Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999, established by Jerry G. Bails. Names of features that appeared both in comic books with that title and in other publications, as well, are generally not italicized. Some of this information was probably supplied by Hasen himself via questionnaires sent out in the 1970s in conjunction with the original print version of the Who’s Who. Key: (w) = writer; (a) = full art; (p) = pencils; (i) = inks; (d) = daily comic strip [Monday through Saturday]; (S) = Sunday comic strip.] Name: Irwin Hanan Hasen (1918-2015) artist, writer

Award was seen in Alter Ego #132.]

Pen Name: Zooie

Syndication: Dondi (d & S)(a) 1955-86, Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate (writer of daily 1966-67)

Education: National Academy of Design; Art Students League

Comics in Other Media: gag cartoons, sports cartoons

Influences: Willard Mullin, Henrik Kley, Gustav Dore Member: National Cartoonists Society Print Media (Non-Comics): Artist contributor: Book, How to Draw – Tips from Top Cartoonists. Also was advertising artist Other Career Notes: Teacher – Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Arts (c. 1980-92); teacher – School of Visual Arts (dates uncertain) Honors: Inkpot Award (San Diego Comic-Con) 1999; National Cartoonists Society – Best Story Strip 1961, 1962; Eisner Hall of Fame Award 2014 [NOTE: A photo of a proud Irwin with his Eisner

Non-Mainstream Comic Books: Old Town Publishing – Dr. Wonder (a) 1996; Renegade Press – covers 1986, Revolver (a) 1985; Rip Off Press – covers (a), Ms. Samson (a), science-fantasy (a) all 1986 Co-Creator: The Fox (MLJ); Harvey (DC); The Wildcat (DC) Promotional Comics: “Bazooka, the Atom Bubble Boy” (a) 1948-49 for Bazooka Bubble Gum Comics Studio/Shop: Bert Whitman Associates (p)(i) c. 1939-40; Harry “A” Chesler Studio (p)(i) c. 1939-40; Funnies, Inc. (p)(i) c. 1939-40 – all three freelance

Fill ’Em Up! Fillers by Hasen in rare outings for: (Left:) MLJ’s Top Notch Comics #1 (Dec. 1939), signed. (Right:) Fawcett Publications’ Captain Marvel Jr. #89 (Dec. 1950), for which he drew—and reportedly also wrote—this humor feature. Thanks for both scans to Steven G. Willis. [© the respective copyright holders.]

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

Hasen Four-Ever! A quartet of Hasen pencils for DC (clockwise from above left:) A climactic page from the “Justice Society” story in All-Star Comics #37 (Oct.-Nov. 1947). Inks by John Belfi; script by Robert Kanigher. Repro’d from Roy T.’s bound volumes. Another GL/Harlequin matchup, this one from Green Lantern #29 (Dec. 1947-Jan. 1948). Inks by Belfi; script by Kanigher. Hasen’s “Wonder Woman” cover for Sensation Comics #100 (Nov.-Dec. 1950), as inked by Bernard Sachs. “Astra – Girl of the Future” splash from that same issue, as inked by Joe Giella and written by Robert Kanigher. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Hasen—The Documentary

Hasen Does The Continental! Two features drawn for Temerson/Helnit/Continental include: (Left:) “Cat Man,” which debuted in Crash Comics #4 (Sept. 1940)—a combination of Batman and Tarzan. Raised by tigers, Cat Man (David Merrywether) actually dies in #4, but returns to life because, naturally, he has nine lives! The series lasted only one more issue before T/H/C sold out to Holyoke, which launched its own unrelated “Cat-Man,” a more standard costumed hero (i.e., all Batman, no Tarzan). Art by Hasen; scripter unknown. Thanks to Comic Book Plus. (Right:) It’s not 100% certain that Hasen drew “Don Manley, Sports Sleuth” for T/H/C’s Green Hornet, Vol. 1, #5 (June 1941), but it seems likely. Maybe Hasen himself verified to someone that this was his work? Scripter unknown. Thanks to Robert Kennedy for the scan. [© the respective copyright holders.]

COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream U.S. Publishers):

Archie Comic Publications/MLJ: sports fillers (a) 1940s; The Fox (A) 1940-42 Centaur Comics Group: sports fillers Charlton Comics: Ranchman Raleigh (a) 1957; Silly Simpkins (w)(a) 1957 Civil Service Publications: The Clippers (a) 1945 DC Comics: All-American Men of War (p)(i) 1954-55; Astra (p) 195051; The Atom (p) 1946; backup features in Rex the Wonder Dog (p) 1942 & Blackhawk (p) 1958; Batman and Robin (p)(i) 1947; Big Town (p)(i) 1951-53; Casebook Mystery (p)(i) 1953; covers (p)(i) 1941-44, 1946-59; crime (p)(i) 1953; Detective Chimp (p) 1953-54; Elvira’s House of Mystery (i) 1986; Everything Happens to Harvey (p) 1953-54; fillers (w)(p)(i) 1949-61; filler in Private Pete (w)(a) 1956 & This Ain’t the Army (w)(a) 1955-56; The Flash 1943-46, 1948; Foley of the Fighting 5th (p) 1952-54; Gang Busters (p)(i) 1951; General Little (w)(p)(i) 1954-55; Girls’ Love Stories (p) no date; Green Lantern (p)(some i) 1941-43, 1947-49; Jimmy Wakely (p) 1949; Johnny Law (p)(some i) 1951-53; Johnny Thunder (p)(i) 1946-47; Justice Society of America (p)(some i) 1946-49; Khaki-Yaks (w)(a) 1954-60; Kit

Colby, Girl Sheriff (p) 1951-52; Larry Steele (p)(i) 1940 (not totally verified); Minstrel Maverick (p) 1948-52; My Greatest Adventure (p) 1957-58; Mystery in Space (p) 1951; O’Malley (w)(p)(i) 1942-44, 194648, 1951, 1956, 1958; Our Army at War (p) 1952; Overland Coach (p) 1948-49; Private Diary (w)(p)(i) 1954-61; Private War (w)(p)(i) 1954; public service page (a) 1950; romance (p) 1950-51; Roving Ranger (p) 1952; Sargon the Sorcerer (p)(i) 1946-47; Secret Hearts (p) 1952; Sensation Mystery (p) 1952-53; Sergeant O’Malley (w)(a) 1954-61; Star Spangled War Stories (w)(p)(i) 1958-62; Strange Adventures (p) 1952-54; Superman (p)(i) 1947; support (lettering) 1956, 1958 on his own features; The Unexpected (p) 1979; Who’s Who in the DC Universe (p)(i) 1987 entries; Wildcat (p)(i) 1942-44, 1946-48; Wonder Woman (p)(i) 1950 Fawcett Publications: romance (p)(i) late 1940s Harvey Comics: Pat Parker, War Nurse (p)(i) 1942; Whiskers (p)(i) 1942 [Imprint: Worth] Temerson/Helnit/Continental (or Holyoke): Bob Preston (a) 1940; Cat-Man (a) 1940; Citizen Smith (a) 1941; The Green Hornet (a) 1941; Secret Agent Z-2 (a) 1940 Timely/Marvel Comics: Ferret (a) 1940

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

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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 SUPERHEROES, 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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At Ease (Left:) The inscription on the back of the photo on the left says: “AA78 Bancroft San Diego, Ca. 1940 – Wallace McPherson ‘Boy Scout’– 1936 Ford.” (Above:) An ad introducing MLJ’s Black Jack, From Top-Notch #20 (Oct. 1941). [© 1941 MLJ Publishing]

The Wallace McPherson Interview

Introduction by Michael T. Gilbert

ast issue, we featured an interview between Shaun Clancy and a comic fan whose winning contest entry was published in a 1941 issue of MLJ’s Top Notch Laugh Comics. Well, detective Shaun is back at it again! This time he’s found a forgotten piece of comic history in which a young fan may actually have helped create a classic MLJ super-hero! And now, without further ado, we present…

The Wallace McPherson Phone Interview (10/1/10) by Shaun Clancy SHAUN CLANCY: I saw your name in print in a 1941 publication which had you listed at 4478 Bancroft Street, San Diego, California? WALLACE McPHERSON: You got that right. That’s me. SC: This publication is called Pep Comics [#22, Dec. 1941], and this issue actually features the first ever appearance of the character Archie Andrews. McPHERSON: Oh? SC: Your name is mentioned as a fan who wrote in on the super-heroes that the comic featured before Archie was created. McPHERSON: I remember when I was a little kid… getting one person who contacted me from that. I wrote that person one letter but I never heard back. I also never saw the mention of me in the comic or what title and issue it appeared in. SC: I thought I’d track you down and verify that the mention of your name in this comic was legit and that MLJ wasn’t just posting fictitious names. I have heard of some publishers doing that. McPHERSON: I did send a letter and, as I recall, I even sent a drawing of a super-hero that I did.

The Joker! Archie’s first appearance in Pep Comics (issue #22, Dec. 1941). [© Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Two Of A Kind! Steel Sterling introduces the latest MLJ superstar, Black Jack, on the cover of Zip Comics #20 (Nov. 1941). Art by Irv “The Nerve” Novick! [© Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

And from what I can remember, he had a big spade on his chest. At that time, everyone was drawing Superman and Batman because we all read comic books when we were that age. In 1941, I would have been 12 years old. [NOTE: Wallace McPherson was born in 1929.]

SC: The character that they mention in the letter column would be in reference to the superheroes The Shield and The Hangman. Those were the super-heroes that were appearing in this comic book title at that time. In fact, there was a Shield GMan Club that you could join. Do you still have your comics?

SC: Do you remember if the editors for that comic ever personally responded to your letter?

McPHERSON: No, I don’t. That was so long ago. I think that the hero that I designed and sent in was a character that I called “The Ace of Spades.”

McPHERSON: Yes. In those days, prior to World War II, there were little book stores that moms and pops ran right on Elkahorn Boulevard, and if you took in two used comic books they would let you get one new one out of the stack. That’s how we kept circulating the comic books. That’s the way it worked in those days. You took two in to mom and pop in the little house they lived in, because they’d do it out the front room in San Diego, and we’d get

McPHERSON: No. I only had the one response from a fellow fan that had seen my name in the comic, just like you just did. The publisher never contacted me. In 1941, we moved out to another area in Spring Valley, which is where I still live in right now. That comic would have come out around the time of that transition and at the start of World War II, so it’s possible that they may have sent something to our old address, which may have never been forwarded. SC: Did you continue to read Pep Comics after they introduced “Archie” in it?

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

new comic books. All the neighborhood kids did that in San Diego because nobody had any money because of the Depression. Sometimes, my friend would have one and I would have one and we’d put them together and trade them in and get one, which we would share. SC: Was there also a paper drive going on at that time? McPHERSON: Not at that time. Most people did recycle, even in those days, because the Depression was still on and didn’t really end until World War II was under way. SC: How old were you when you stopped collecting comics? McPHERSON: At that time we moved out to the country, which is now the city, and we were labeled RFD, which meant rural mail delivery, and so we didn’t get much mail, but I did manage to get a few more copies of Archie after that. SC: Did you relate to the character of Archie as a child? McPHERSON: Yes. Some of the situations that he would get himself into, we could relate to, and if not, we could imagine that we were experiencing it. Some of my friends were actually learning to read better and better from reading comic books. In those days, they didn’t misspell words like they do today, and they didn’t invent words like they do today. There were a few words like “Ugh” and “err,” but for the most part, the English was correct and the spelling was right.

character Black Jack, I immediately said, “Oh, my God! That’s my guy!” Referring back to our last discussion and describing the character I mailed in, you can see it wasn’t a put-on. You have to remember that I was only twelve years old at the time. SC: The time frame for your character The Ace of Spades and the introduction of Black Jack falls in line with your story. You have to remember that comics took about 3 or 4 months to hit the newsstand, so when Pep Comics #22 [Dec. 1941] referred to your fan letter, they actually received it 3 or 4 months prior, and so the Nov. 1941 appearance of “Black Jack” was probably due to your Ace of Spades submission. [NOTE: The character’s name was sometime written as one word, “Blackjack,” in ads, but more often as two words—and always as two words in the title masthead.] McPHERSON: I had never heard anything about them using my character, nor had I ever seen the Black Jack character until you wrote me. That doesn’t mean that MLJ didn’t write me back, as I had moved right after my sending in my letter and so a lot of mail never made it to us. SC: I know the copy I sent you was in black-&-white, but the color version of the Blackjack character has him in a red outfit with a black spade on his chest….

SC: Did you know Archie is still being published today? McPHERSON: No. My comic book situation ended when I entered the Navy after high school, which was at the end of World War II. I enlisted when I was 17. My mother signed for me to enlist right after I graduated from high school. I ended up in experimental aircraft up in China Lake in the Inyokern Desert. I’m the only guy in the Navy that went to the desert. [mutual laughter] My uncles were all professional military men, and they thought it to be very funny that I was stationed in a desert while in the Navy. That was back in 1947 and 1948. SC: The reason I asked if you have kept up with the Archie character is because you happen to be the only one who is still around whose name is associated with the first-ever appearance of “Archie.” McPHERSON: I believe that. I’d like to ask you a favor. Please send me a copy of that page so that I can see it. SC: That would be no problem to do, and I would be happy to do so, unless you have e-mail? McPHERSON: Oh, no. I tell my sons that I entered this world with a big yellow lined pad of paper with a number 2 pencil and that’s the way I’m going to go out. [mutual laughter] [NOTE: Shaun then followed up with the following exchange with Mr. McPherson from July 22, 2011:] SC: Did you see the picture of the Black Jack character I sent, and is he the Ace of Spades super-hero that you sent to MLJ? McPHERSON: When I opened up your last letter and saw the Zip Comics #20 cover [Nov. 1941] with the

Immortality! 12-year-old Wallace McPherson got a mention at the bottom of a MLJ fan page. Using this clue, Shaun Clancy was able to track him down 70 years later! From Pep Comics #22 (Dec. 1941).

The Wallace McPherson Interview

McPHERSON: The Ace of Spades character I sent them was yellow with a black spade on his chest. SC: Then it appears that they changed your concept drawing slightly. McPHERSON: I’m sure they did. I do remember that the boots on my character did not have the spades on them, but as soon as I saw the spade on the chest of the Black Jack character, I knew that it was my drawing that I had sent to them when I was twelve years old. I wrote a bunch of notes on it, and I will send it back to you when I finish, as I added a few comments. SC: I’m glad to hear that you are doing that, as I had not heard from you in a while and thought maybe I had done something to upset you. McPHERSON: Nothing of the sort. I’ve just been procrastinating. When you first talked with me, I thought we were just having an interesting chat, but then when you sent me the Zip Comics cover I knew you were serious about what you were doing. When I was 10 years old, I also sold Curtis Magazines door to door. What I sold was The Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies Home Journal, and I knocked on doors cold turkey because in those days you didn’t worry about strange people kidnapping kids. I did get an award from them, which I still have in my cabin, which has a date of

April of 1941 on it. It states that I was inducted into the League of Curtis Salesmen. I would earn brownie or greenie coupons by the amount of books that I sold, and as you accumulated those, they had a prize book. You could use the coupons on getting a Boy Scout knife or a BB gun, etc. It was an incentive for kids to go out and sell magazines, and it worked. It was legal back then for 10year-old kids to sell, but today they’d need a work permit. SC: Did you ever send away for anything that was advertised in comics? McPHERSON: No, I never did. About the time that all this transpired, we moved out into the country, and then World War II broke out. I didn’t keep up with comic books when I moved there because the rural area I moved to didn’t trade them like we did where I used to live…. SC: I’d sure appreciate a picture of you when you were twelve. Is that possible? McPHERSON: I know I have a couple, and I’ll see what I can do about sending you one. Thank you for sending the Zip Comic cover. I had a big smile on my face seeing that after 70 years and never knowing about it. [NOTE: And there was this final follow-up on 8/19/2011, in which Shaun asked Wallace if he’d had the chance to send him a photo yet:] McPHERSON: I found one [from] when I was about 12, wearing my Boy Scout uniform standing in front of the house I was living in at the time I mailed in the Ace of Spades character to Pep Comics. I had just become a Boy Scout, because I was over 11, and then

What A Card! Two “Black Jack” ads. The one on the left was drawn by Art Seymour and printed in Top Notch Comics #21 (Dec. 1941). Sol Brodsky drew the second ad, which appeared in Pep #20 (Oct. 1941). [© Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

there’s a 1936 Ford in the background, and I wrote that on the picture so that you can put that in your book. Thank you very much for sending me all that info and especially the picture of my guy that I sent into the comics. I knew it was my guy as soon as I saw him. I don’t remember why I sent it in, but there must have been some incentive, and I also saw that someone else had sent in something, too. SC: Finding that character in the comic book was just a coincidence, as I originally called you because of your name being mentioned in Pep Comics #22, the comic that contained the first-ever appearance of “Archie.” The Ace of Spades story just adds flavor to the interview. That character [Black Jack] only lasted about a year in comics and has never been seen since. McPHERSON: I know, because, after our last talk, I told my son-in-law. He went online to look him up and told me about it. SC: You mentioned last phone call that you were stationed in the Navy in the desert… McPHERSON: Yes, in Inyokern, on China Lake in the Mojave Desert in California. SC: I had heard that that Naval base is renowned for UFO sightings? McPHERSON: We used to sit out on the hangar deck at break time and we’d watch for the silver balloons up in the air. I had enlisted in 1946, and this was back in 1947 when UFOs were not a big thing. It wasn’t a secret base, but it was experimental aircraft. We were at the tail end of the propeller-driven aircraft in the Navy, and the jets had not come in yet, but they were being developed, so we had a lot of secret airplanes there that never made it into the service because they were changing from propellers to jets. I was in this transition period at China Lake in the Mojave Desert. It was called the Naval Ordinance Test Station N.O.S. SC: In your opinion, are UFOs legit or a hoax? McPHERSON: I can go with it. I also want to ride in outer space, too. [mutual laughter] I would go if Bert Loutan would put me in his orbital. I would go and I think I would also be able to pass the physical. I’ve always been into airplanes, ever since I was a little kid and I would draw planes whenever I could. In fact, I have a degree in Fine Arts in college and have my teaching credentials, although I’m retired now. SC: All the hoopla surrounding your base, did you find that amusing at the time? McPHERSON: All that came later. They would have the top-gun gunnery exercise there every year now in China Lake. When I go up north to go trout fishing in the Sierras, I go right by the base, and I’ve often thought of stopping by and bringing my discharge papers—I was actually discharged from that base—and see if I could get a tour of the old Armit H. Field, as that’s what it was called. It’s been at the back of my mind for quite a while, and I think I may try it someday, as I know it’s still top secret even today. I was discharged from there in 1948. Werner Von Braun had been there right after World War II because we had some P-2 rockets… they were doing secret work up there at the Naval Ordinance Test Station… just like the name implies, and so it was top secret developing the Atlas Missile and all that other stuff that we went to space in.

One Card Short Of A Deck! This gypsy tells a crook his future in the very first “Black Jack” story. Hint: It ain’t pretty! Art by Al Camy. Scripter unknown. From Zip Comics #20 (Nov. 1941). [© Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

SC: What was your job at the base? McPHERSON: I was an aviation mechanic. I was maintaining the aircraft and keeping things in the air like the new little experimental… we had the Martin Mauler there, and they had only made two of them. The F9F, the first Navy [unintelligible word]… was just coming into being. We had not gotten any jets in yet at all, because it was another year or two before they had them certified in 1949. We had a lot of the World War II aces that were stationed there. Gene Valencia was there, and he was one of the top Navy Aces there and he was one of the officers. SC: Was he a test pilot then? McPHERSON: Yes, you might say that. What he was during World War II, he was one of the top Navy Aces, and he passed away here locally a few years ago. Had I known he lived near me, I would have gone over and visited him, because the last time I had seen him was 1948. He developed putting rockets in an externally hung gas tank like the ones you see in pictures from World War II. For added distance, they would have these gas tanks that were

The Wallace McPherson Interview

attached to the belly of the airplane and looked like a streamlined missile. What Gene did, he worked on putting in rocket tubes into one of the large tanks, so that they could carry multiple rockets. He would take them for test flights and then he would fire the rockets from a B-25, which was what we were using at the time. I have forgotten a lot of this secret stuff that was going on. We had B-29s there from the Army and they were studying cosmic rays. There were a lot of smart people there, and I was just one of the service personnel. It was a hot dusty sandy place, and when the wind would blow, the sand would come into the barracks and go all over the beds. It was the old World War II-type double-story barracks with one bunk after another and rows of them. We had no rooms and it was good duty. I went to school for a year and a half after I enlisted in the Navy, and they sent me from one school to another and to another school. Finally, when I graduated, I was fortunate enough to be in the top 5% of my class, and so I got to request where I wanted to go for duty, and I asked for Vashron 11—I can’t remember exactly—which was the north island San Diego. I was thinking that it would be good duty because it was real close to home. I got my orders for Vashron 11, but it was in Inyokern, in the Mojave Desert. I didn’t even know we had a branch there. [mutual laughter]

POSTSCRIPT: The first “Black Jack” story appeared in Zip Comics #20 (Nov. 1941), illustrated by Al Camy. Black Jack was actually policeman Jack Jones, whose life was saved thanks to a playing card. Though lacking super-powers, he got himself a cool costume and was soon battling card-inspired villains like “Deuces” Wilde, The King of Diamonds, Cleopatra (Queen Of Hearts), Black Seven, The Club, Casino, Solitaire, and Poker Face. The hero was relatively short-lived, with his last Golden Age exploit coming in Zip Comics #35 (March 1943). With all the principal “Black Jack” creators gone, it’s impossible to know if young Wally’s Ace of Spades character was indeed the inspiration for Black Jack. But, considering the time frame of McPherson’s published letter and the first appearance of “Black Jack,” it seems quite likely. All of which goes to show, you never know what hand you’ll be dealt when inspiration strikes! Our thanks to both Wallace McPherson and comic book archeologist Shaun Clancy. Till next time...

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Deal Me In! Jack dons his costume for the first time. Al Camy drew episode one in Zip Comics #20 (Nov. 1941). [© Archie Comic Publications.]

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G.B. Love. (1939-2001) Photo by Robert Brown.

Alter Ego’s Multi-Part Tribute To G.B. Love & RBCC – Part 4 Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life by John Ellis

ntroduction: The first three parts of our look at G.B. Love and his influential ad-zine, Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector, appeared in A/E #133-135, which included the first half of an interview with James Van Hise, who was Love’s assistant editor on RBCC before assuming full editorship of it in 1974. But Jim came along only in 1970. For a picture of G.B. Love that begins even before Van Hise entered the scene, we reached out to John Ellis, who graciously agreed to tell the story of how he met the Big Name Fan and participated in various SFCA (South Florida Comics Association) endeavors, including the first comic collectors club in Florida.

John is a prime example of someone who benefited greatly from G.B.’s generosity and tutelage, one of the reasons he was able to go on to a multifaceted career in the popular arts. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know John as you read more about the editor and publisher of the Rocket’s BlastComicollector, the estimable Gordon Love, whose life and fanzine we are celebrating. Special thanks to Jim Van Hise and Aaron Caplan for help on some of the visual aspects of this piece. —Bill Schelly.]

ordon Belljohn Love published fanzines for almost 13 years. I knew him well for the latter half of that period, and he changed my life.

To tell G.B.’s story, I need to tell mine.

I was born in March of 1955 in Wilmington, Ohio. One of my earliest memories, from the late 1950s, is of my brother Larry teaching me to trace Donald Duck from his comic books. In the early 1960s my mom would bring home comics occasionally, mostly funnyanimal comics. One day in May 1964 she brought me a Blackhawk and a Magnus Robot Fighter from El Blackie’s Party Store and “set the hook.” My new quest for more comics led me to discover the comics display in the Wilmington Drug Store. Then came the historic moment in June 1964 when I turned the corner in the store to see a spread of Marvel comics for the first time. I still have the Marvel Tales Annual #1 that I bought that day. My one close “comic book pal” was my sister-in-law Carol Day, who was several years older than me. We were

Amazing, Man! John Ellis in 1970, not long after meeting G.B. Love and helping form the South Florida Comic Club—and the cover of the first issue in Ellis’ subscription to RBCC: #61 (1969), which featured John Fantucchio’s extraordinary Amazing-Man drawing. Fantucchio contributed many outstanding cover illustrations to G.B. Love’s fanzine. Photo courtesy of John Ellis. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life

Hatchet Job (Above:) G.B. Love’s first step in establishing a comic book club in Florida was placing this announcement in the classified ad section of RBCC #65 (1969). (Right:) According to the caption in RBCC #77, where this photo appeared: “Ye editor welcoming local fan John Ellis to the SFCA offices. Proof-positive that fans are always welcome.” Photo by Andy Warner. John Ellis adds, “G.B. just got his C.C. Beck ‘Conan’ battle axe and wanted to try it out... on me!!! Note C.C. Beck ‘Buck Rogers’ blaster on the wall above our heads. It was actually only half of the gun, to be able to fit flat against the wall for display.”

comic book fanatics. We copied drawings from the comics. I remember drawing Sgt. Fury and talking about becoming a comics artist. My only other comic book pal was Frank Kelley, who lived in Kentucky and sometimes visited his relatives (our neighbors). Frank knew about Golden Age comics and further opened up my world with tales of ancient comic book lore. In the summer of 1966, when I was 11, my family moved from Ohio to South Florida for my mother’s health. In West Palm Beach in 1967 I made friends with Larry Calvert, a schoolmate who was a Marvel collector and a talented artist. Larry, Carol, and Frank were really it for me, in my world, the lonely comic-collecting secret universe. I had also made friends through the mail and over the phone with Howard Rogofsky from his ads in Marvel comics. Howard sold me “less than perfect” Golden Age comics cheap (on my budget). He was really nice and honest and probably didn’t make any money from me, but made me one happy kid. I was 13 in December 1968. As a Christmas gift, Frank Kelley

Let’s Call This Meeting To Order! First meeting of the Southern Florida Comiclub, at Andy Warner’s house, September 1969. Clockwise from front left corner: unknown fan’s head, G.B. Love (adjusting his collar), unknown fan, Andy Warner (white shirt, leading meeting), fan artist Mike McKenney, Gary Brown. Photo courtesy of John Ellis.

bought me a subscription to something called RBCC, the Rocket’s Blast & Comic-Collector, and my world began to change. My first issue was #61, with the great John Fantucchio’s Amazing-Man cover. The ads for old comics, articles, and artwork really blew my mind. Three more issues arrived through the summer of 1969. It was hard to wait the two months between issues, each one better than the last. In RBCC #65, I saw an ad for the “South Florida Comics Council,” a club forming in Miami. I excitedly called the phone number and talked to a guy named Andy Warner. The next day, Andy and artist Jon Farwell made the drive all the way up to West Palm Beach to meet me. They dropped off a Care package of EC comics, fanzines, Witzend, Graphic Story Magazine, and a whole bunch of stuff that filled me with a new sense of wonder. I was in awe, seeing those beautiful pro-printed fanzines with Wood, Frazetta, Crandall, and Bodé for the first time. Truly a “gosh-wow golly-gee-whiz” moment for me. Later that month, on a Saturday morning, I took a Greyhound bus to Miami to the first club meeting and met a whole slew of fans. It was something I never imagined: a group of people like me, openly into comic books. Attending were Jon Farwell and Andy Warner (of course), artist Mike McKenney, fan editor and publisher Gary Brown... and G.B. Love. Andy led the meeting, and we decided to put on a one day convention in December. It was very gratifying to be accepted by this group and to actually be made a board member. Andy and his family invited me to stay over, and I was surprised when G.B. asked if I wanted to come to the SFCA offices the next day (Sunday) and work in the office. I remember saying, “What does that mean?” and G.B. and Andy chuckling. Andy said, “You’ll get paid for it. I’ll be working too, I work for G.B. all the time!” G.B. laughed and said, “What, you think I’d make you work for free?” It was an amazing thing: my first paying job ever, and for working on a fanzine. I had quite an experience at G.B.’s place the next day. We listened to an audio recording of the Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial, and I typed subscriber addresses on file cards and helped open mail. There was always a lot of mail to open, as well

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as envelopes to stuff at the SFCA. To tell the truth, I don’t remember how much G.B. paid me. Minimum wage was $1.60 per hour then, and I remember being surprised that he paid so much per hour, and rounded the pay up to the next hour. Whenever I worked for him, I always went home with money in my pocket and a few fanzines that he let me buy for cheap or just gave to me. He was a generous guy. On my first few trips to Miami, Andy translated what G.B. was saying, because G.B. had cerebral palsy and had trouble speaking (and walking and doing physical things). However, this never stopped him from doing anything he was determined to do. I was surprised when, after being around G.B. a few times, I was suddenly able to understand his speech perfectly. This made things a lot easier. We held the first Miamicon in a room at a local university on Saturday, December 27th, 1969. Admission was 50¢ and about 30 fans attended. We screened the 1949 movie The Good Humor Man, which revolves around a Captain Marvel club. Our special guest was C.C. Beck, who gave a talk about Captain Marvel’s creation and history and did four large sketches of characters from Captain Marvel which we auctioned off for the club. G.B. bought Captain Marvel, Gary Brown got Dr. Sivana and Billy Batson, and I got Mr. Mind. I got my courage up (while he was personalizing it to me) and asked Beck if he would be willing to do a piece of art for my fanzine and—by the gods!—he agreed! After the con, at G.B.’s office, I asked him why he never asked me to do art for RBCC, and he said, “When you get good enough, I will!” I know he knew that stung my ego, because then he said, “Why don’t you write a report about Miamicon, and I’ll print it.” I did it, and it was published in RBCC #68 (Feb. 1970). It was okay for a 14-year-old kid, kind of silly and immature, but it was my first “professional” writing and that felt pretty good. Something else happened that day: I opened an envelope from a guy named Richard V. Corben (we had never heard of him, mind you), and out came his color lithograph “Support Fantagor poster #1,” a check, and a black-&-white full-page ad for same (to run in

RBCC). G.B., Andy, and Jon Farwell crowded around the poster in awe of this guy’s artwork. Soon everyone in fandom knew who Corben was. RBCC #68 featured Corben’s ad and my article. Also, Andy Warner officially became associate editor with that issue, and Jon Farwell became assistant editor through #70. Andy began his “Hot Air from a Cool Fan” column in #70 as well, becoming the voice of the SFCA for G.B. for the next year. I also bought a Don Newton oil painting of the Golden Age Green Lantern that day from G.B. for $60. It was beautiful and I loved it. It was like an old master’s painting. G.B. let me take it, trusting me to pay it off over time, and that meant a lot to me. With Jon Farwell’s departure, Kirby Sides became part-time assistant editor for RBCC starting with issue #71 (May 1970). In early March I received a package from C.C. Beck containing his magnificent art featuring Captain Marvel. Now I had to put out that fanzine. Yikes! I was invited to take the Greyhound down to North Miami and stay overnight at C.C. and Hildur Beck’s home to record an interview with him for my fanzine Fulcrum #1. The title had been suggested earlier by Andy Warner. Beck drew a picture to show me just what a fulcrum was. I had a wonderful time there. I remember Hildur being a great cook. Beck talked up a storm, so the interview went well. The visit was the first of many as their frequent guest and Beck’s informal art student. I used Beck’s art for the cover and Don Newton’s Green Lantern painting for the center spread. It featured Part 1 of my C.C. Beck interview, and art by Mike McKenney, Jon Farwell, and Mike Royer. All in all, not too bad for a 15-year-old filled with inspiration via G.B. and Andy. Fulcrum came hot off the press in June 1970, just in time for me to fly with G.B. and Andy to Multicon ’70 in Oklahoma City (June 18-21). That turned out to be quite an adventure, my first flight in a jet, my first big convention, and… meeting Buster Crabbe! I met many people the day we arrived, including Jim Van Hise, whom G.B. had set up as my roommate to help me cut down expenses. Oklahoma and Houston fandom were there in force. I forged friendships with many of them that last to this day. I met Don Newton and John Clark from Phoenix late that night. Don was one of my favorite artists, and G.B. had apparently told him about me and my publishing his Green Lantern painting in Fulcrum. The next day I gave him a stack of them. He looked through it and was so impressed that he sat down and did me a beautiful drawing of Superman. He was fond of doing “How I think [fill in the blank] should look,” and said this was the first time he had done this with Superman. Watching him quickly pencil and ink that amazing piece of artwork was an education in itself, and I’ve never forgotten it. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Don Newton, John Clark, and Jim Van Hise. We had a great time and became fast friends. I remember when G.B., Andy, and I watched Richard Corben’s impressive animated short Neverwhere at the con. I snickered during one scene (of Den and the Queen walking along), and G.B. remarked, “What’s the matter John, haven’t you ever seen a girl’s tits bounce?” G.B. definitely had a sense of humor. I premiered my zine at the con. Fulcrum was pretty rough,

Faster Than A Speeding Bulletin The Southern Florida Comiclub Bulletin Vol. I, No. 1 (Oct. 1969). Masthead drawing by Andy Warner. Courtesy of John Ellis. [Art © Andy Warner.]

Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life

amateurish in many ways, but it did have professional printing. It was a real learning experience, though. I remember sitting with G.B. and Andy behind their dealer’s table, and Jim Vadeboncoeur (Bud Plant’s associate) picked up a copy of Fulcrum from the table—by the corner, as if it was offal—and proclaimed it “FULL CRUD.” Troubling then, but amusing now. I wish I had been a better editor. G.B. and Andy laughed it off, providing much needed moral support. After we got back from the con, John Adkins Richardson sent us an illustrative cartoon of himself, G.B., Andy, Don Newton, and me. I was thrilled! G.B. ran it in RBCC #73 with a group of photographs by yours truly and Andy’s article about the con. I asked G.B. why Richardson put me in a “bug” outfit, and G. B. laughed and said, “I think he was saying you were a pest!” Apparently I sort of bugged him about doing some artwork for my fanzine. He did send me an illustration soon after, so… who knows?

Meanwhile, Beck In Florida… (Above:) 1940-1953 “Captain Marvel” cocreator/artist C.C. Beck and John Ellis at a mini-con in West Palm Beach Florida in 1974. Photo by Rick Coy; courtesy of John Ellis. (Right:) Ad for John Ellis’s Fulcrum #1 from the back cover of RBCC #73 (1970). [Shazam characters TM and © DC Comics; tother art © the respective copyright holders.]

RBCC #73 also saw fan artist Mike McKenney added to the staff as a second assistant editor (to help Kirby Sides with the

workload). That same issue had my full page ad for Fulcrum on the back cover. Andy created the ad and G.B. gave me that choice spot at the same price as a regular page. In fact, G.B. gave me price breaks on all the ads I ran in RBCC to support me and my publishing effort. My dad paid the printing bill for Fulcrum: $300+ for offset printing and saddle-stitched binding. He wasn’t happy that I barely sold 100 at 75¢ each. My dad said, “I hope you learned your lesson about the law of supply and demand, Johnny. Just because you have a supply of something doesn’t mean there’s a demand for it!” One day I got 75¢ in the mail for Fulcrum #1 from Fredric Wertham. Yeah, the Seduction of the Innocent guy. I was incensed. I talked to G.B. and said I wanted to send the money back and tell Wertham off. G.B. said, “He ordered it. Send him the damn fanzine, keep the

Corben Footprint (Above:) When Richard Corben’s work began appearing in fanzines, it created quite a sensation for its subject matter and innovative art techniques. This first advertisement for his poster series appeared in RBCC #73 (1970). A photo of Corben was seen last issue. [Art © Richard Corben.] (Right:) RBCC #73 also featured a drawing by another G.B. Love discovery, John Adkins Richardson, caricaturing the SFCA gang (Love, Warner, Ellis, & Don Newton) at Multicon 1970. John Ellis: “After we got back from the con, John Adkins Richardson sent us an illustrative cartoon of himself, G. B., Andy, Don Newton, and me. I was thrilled!” [Art © John Adkins Richardson.]

Comics Fandom Archive

and no more garbage!” Once again I flew with G.B. and Andy to attend Houstoncon ‘71. It was a blast, getting together with Don Newton, John Clark, and a bunch of old and new friends. The seeds of G.B.’s future life in Texas began to sprout there. Our third and final “big” Miami convention—Miamicon II— took place August 20-21, 1971, again at the sweltering Fireman’s Hall of Hialeah. Phil Seuling and Bud Plant flew in, local artists Dick Briefer and Morris Weiss showed up, and [future pro artist] Mike Zeck won second place in the costume contest as Black Bolt.

“Long Underwear Characters” (Clockwise from above left:) Miamicon 1971, l. to r.: Cathy Blais as Sue Storm, John Ellis as The Black Terror, and G.B. Love as Zorro. John’s costume won First Prize. Photo courtesy of John Ellis. . The first live-action media Superman—Kirk Alyn, star of Columbia’s two movie serials that preceded the 1950s TV series—poses for John’s camera with a Newton Superman painting at the 1971 Houston con. Alyn also played Blackhawk in another serial. Masqueraders at the Houston con. L. to r.: G.B. Love as Zorro, Don Newton as Captain Marvel, John Clark as The Shadow, and John Ellis as Blackhawk. Photo by Jim Van Hise.

money, and forget about it.” So I did. I still don’t know if it’s in Wertham’s The World of Fanzines book or not. I’ve never seen it. [NOTE: Fulcrum isn’t mentioned in the Wertham book. —Bill.]

G.B. put up with a lot of crap from fans. I saw him deal with it with grace. He was an honest and tough guy, dealt with it head on, out in public (in the pages of RBCC no less) and in front of the world. There were those that criticized G.B. for charging too much for back issues of fanzines he sold in his “Ye Olde Fanzine Shoppe.” Several times (as I recall), fans made fun of him by publishing drawings of him drooling and in a wheelchair clutching dollar bills. He rose above the cruelty and kept going, but I am sure it hurt. It was hard to fathom how some people could be so witless and cruel.

G.B. wasn’t a saint. Sometimes I pissed him off (and deserved his wrath). He wasn’t always right, either, but he was a good guy, and a fair guy. We talked a lot, and shared a lot of laughs. One day when it was just the two of us in the office, I asked him what his middle name was, and he said “Belljohn,” an ancient Christian name meaning “beloved John.” We went to see movies sometimes in a group. THX-1138 was fun, with the Buck Rogers serial clip on the beginning. Night of the Living Dead… not so much. Once the zombies started showing up, G.B. announced, “I don’t like gory movies,” and we all left. Given his cerebral palsy and the way the zombies moved in the film, I knew that there was more to his disliking the film than what he said. Our second convention was Miamicon ’71 in January. There was a much better turnout, with 160 people attending. We showed Corben’s Neverwhere, and I won first place in the costume contest as The Black Terror. Cathy Blais was Sue Storm, and G.B. was Zorro. Andy’s keynote speech was, “No more pop, no more camp,

In RBCC #89 (March 1972), there was a classified ad placed by Walter Koenig, Star Trek’s Ensign Chekov, offering to trade his Star Trek scripts for Big Little Books. I answered his ad, we did a little trade, and we’ve been good friends ever since. That year, once again, G.B. and I flew together to Multicon. At the 1972 event, he introduced me to legendary collectors Larry and Irving Bigman, who gave me a ride to the Mid Ameri-Con in Kansas City, where I finally met Richard Corben. All these things would never have happened without my friendship with G.B. Love and involvement with RBCC. Eventually the Miami Comic Club morphed into a film club. We gathered once a month to screen rare serials, television shows, cartoons, and old movies, all of which G.B. loved. I eventually partnered with G.B. on conventions. Star Trek fandom was on the rise, and was incorporated into the one-day mini-cons that G.B. hosted monthly in Miami. I was part of a Star Trek club in West Palm Beach which grew to 25 chapters across the country and several thousand members. Suddenly I was a Star Trek expert! This culminated in G.B. asking me to partner with him in his Houston Star Trek ’74 convention. I arranged for Walter Koenig to attend. G.B. and I ran it as part of Houstoncon ’74. It was a huge success. Later, I ended up acting as a consultant on G.B.’s Star Trek ’75 con. Nobody else knew at the time, but G.B. had made enough on the 1974 Star Trek convention to retire from the RBCC grind and move to Houston. He moved in September 1974. No fanfare, no going-away parties. As Jim Van Hise said, “G.B. Superfans already had one Drawing by Don Newton done for John Ellis at the foot out the door 1970 Multicon in Oklahoma City, which is seeing when he handed me print here for the first time. [Superman TM & © the keys to RBCC.” DC Comics.]

Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life

I was with RBCC for years, but when Jim took over I was finally listed as a “staff artist,” from issue #113 (Sept. 1974) to #123 (late 1975). I talked to G.B. occasionally over the years, but being away from him made it harder to understand him when communicating by telephone. The last few times, Walter Irwin had to get on the line to translate. That made me feel the distance and saddened me. G.B. and Andy encouraged me, like older brothers. They inspired me, and set me my path in life. It’s been one wild ride. I’ve been involved in so many outrageous things over the years: contributed to 32 books (since 1975, in various capacities), been an illustrator and cover artist, writer (for newspapers, film, books, even Tipper Gore), directed visual effects for dozens of films, and directed many actors such as Ryan O’Neal, Roddy Piper, and William Shatner. (I’ve done two movies and a TV series with Shatner, who is the only person outside my family who calls me “Johnny.”) The essence—the legacy—that I got from G.B. Love was that you could do anything if you set your mind to it. He was a living example of that. This has shaped my life, and I’m grateful for every moment I spent with him. Thanks, G.B., I miss you (and can hear you and Andy chuckling). NOTE: Dana Marie Andra (writing as Mark Burbey) wrote about Andy

Those ’70s Shows John Ellis’s 1973 self-portrait—a photo of the SFCA offices about the time G.B. Love moved to Houston—and one of Love at a mid-1970s Texas con. Photos courtesy of John Ellis & James Van Hise.

Warner in Alter Ego #65 (Feb. 2007), pp. 64-65. Next, Part 5 of this series, featuring “Remembering RBCC with Love - Four Fans Reminisce about Knowing G B. Love and Contributing to His Classic Fanzine.” Those fans are Bernie Bubnis, Robert Kline, Gary Brown, and Larry Bigman. You can contact Bill Schelly through his web site www.billschelly.net. The new edition of his biography of Otto Binder is scheduled for a June 2016 release. The new title is Otto Binder, The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary. It has a cover by Michael T. Gilbert! Shazam!

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books 1928-1999 Online Edition Created by Jerry G. Bails

Urgent Message For TwoMorrows Fans!

FREE – online searchable database – FREE www.bailsprojects.com – No password required

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.

A classic Irwin Hasen splash page from Green Lantern #31 (March-April 1948), co-starring The Harlequin. Script by Robert Kanigher. Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © DC Comics.]

In Memoriam

Remembering Murphy Anderson (1926-2015)

by Eddy Zeno

urphy Anderson had a deep and quiet voice; his face was kind! It was obvious that loving and providing for his wife and three children was paramount in his life. He and Helen were married for 67 years. Murphy was always engaged, whether admiring the achievements of his fellow artists, or striving to learn more about his many fans. He wore a suit to work and kept it on for comic-cons. His old editor Julius (“Julie”) Schwartz once challenged him to sport a Superman shirt at a con, and he did. He and Helen later donned costumes to try to break the Guinness world record for the most people wearing Superman suits in one location. For the meticulously dressed cartoonist, such events were rare. Anderson was cool. Julie noted that the original art for a jazzoriented, John Broome-written/Murphy Anderson-drawn “Atomic Knights” tale was on display in New Orleans. In addition, Murphy was the go-to-guy during the right era to illustrate: Wonder Woman on the first cover of Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine;

[Continued on p. 63]

The Many Worlds Of Murphy Anderson Anderson, flanked by two of his comic book triumphs: the early Lou Fine-influenced “Star Pirate” for Fiction House’s Planet Comics #49 (July 1947—scripter unknown), and “The Spectre” from Showcase #60 (Jan.-Feb. 1966—written by Gardner F. Fox). The former has been reprinted in PS Artbooks’ Roy Thomas Presents Planet Comics, Vol. 11… the latter in the black-&-white Showcase Presents The Spectre. Thanks to Bob Bailey for the “Spectre” scan. [Planet art © the respective copyright holders; “Spectre” TM & © DC Comics.]

In Memoriam

Leonard Starr

(1925-2015) “A True Giant In His Profession” by Tom Sawyer

omic strip artist, author, TV series creator Leonard Starr, who played a seminal role in popular culture classics such as ThunderCats, Annie, Mary Perkins On Stage, and various comic-book super-heroes, died in Connecticut at age 89 on June 30, 2015. Born in New York City, raised on the Lower East Side, Leonard Starr graduated from Manhattan’s High School of Music & Art, then studied at Pratt Institute. He began freelancing as a comic book artist at age 16, and within a few years was considered one of the best in that field, drawing “The Human Torch” and “Sub-

Starr Turns Leonard Starr at work on his On Stage comic strip in 1957, and a page from Hillman’s Airboy Comics, Vol. 5, #8 (Sept. 1948). The “Heap” page is from the PS Artbooks hardcover Roy Thomas Presents The Heap, Vol. 2. [“Heap” art © the respective copyright holders.]

Mariner,” etc., for such publishers as Timely and DC. In 1957, after several years of advertising illustration, he created the realistically drawn daily comic strip On Stage [aka Mary Perkins] for the Chicago Tribune-New York Daily News Syndicate. Carried by hundreds of newspapers, it was written and illustrated by Starr until 1979. He then took over drawing and writing the long-running Little Orphan Annie, later re-titled Annie, which he continued until retiring in 2000. Starr received the National Cartoonist Society’s top award, the Reuben, in 1965. In 1980, with artist Stan Drake, Starr created and began writing a series of graphic novels about a sexy, capable female action figure, Kelly Green. In 1984, he developed and was head writer of the animated TV series ThunderCats, writing 23 episodes. Leonard Starr lived in Westport, CT, with his wife Bobbie. He was a true giant in his profession. On a personal note: I met Leonard when, at age 20, I moved to New York to pursue my dream of becoming the next Milton Caniff. That process began with my accidentally meeting Leonard’s thenassistant, Tex Blaisdell, in the waiting-room at Avon Comics. Tex was delivering a job; I was trying to get comic book illustration work. Tex asked to see my samples, and promptly invited me to work at Leonard’s 57th Street studio, penciling and inking

In Memoriam

All The World’s On Stage The On Stage daily for Aug. 20, 1971, courtesy of comics dealer Anthony Snyder. [On Stage TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

his backgrounds. My first paying work in New York!

I was thrilled, a week later, to meet Leonard. Tex had described him as “glamorous and unpredictable.” He definitely lived up to that—and more. Way more. Leonard and I hit it off immediately, the beginning of a deep friendship that lasted for rest of our lives. While initially he was my mentor, introducing me to the ways of the business, it became much broader than that. We shared our love of books, impressionist paintings, grand opera, and far from least, his awesome collection of friends, from Warren King, to Tex, Otto Soglow, Stan Drake, Rube Goldberg, and so many others. Leonard and I eventually found a top-floor skylighted studio on West 9th Street, which we shared until he moved to Westport and I left for California. Along the way, I had discarded my comic strip

[Continued from p. 61]

fumetti that featured a newly stylish Clark Kent in an issue of GQ; and Superman flashing the peace sign on a wall poster behind the lava lamps at Spencer Gifts.

Anderson’s childhood dream was to illustrate science-fiction stories. Beginning with Planet Comics #33 in 1944, he achieved that dream, which later included two stints drawing the Bucks Rogers newspaper strip. If Buck Rogers was the pinnacle, a close second was designing Adam Strange’s costume and inking Carmine Infantino’s pencils during their five-year run on that feature. His longest tenure providing pencils and inks on a single comic book feature was for Hawkman (21 issues), a title brimming with SF elements, thanks to writer Gardner Fox and editor Schwartz.

Murphy inked the greats, including Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, and Curt Swan; the Swan/Anderson team was so perfect it was dubbed “Swanderson.” He came in second to Joe Sinnott as the best comic book inker of the 20th Century in a Comic Buyer’s Guide vote. The tie-breaker was probably related to the number of Marvel vs. DC fans at the time.

Fellow artist Al Plastino once said that feathering is a painting technique not used in comic books. He must not have been thinking of Murphy, who feathered with ink. Anderson’s lasting artistic influence was Lou Fine, as he often stated, most notably in his autobiography written with R.C. Harvey. Entering the field as one of the first fans-turned-pro, Anderson

ambitions in favor of film and TV.

I shall always be beyond grateful for my extraordinary, lifechanging good fortune in having bumped into Tex Blaisdell that day….

Tom Sawyer (nee Tom Scheuer) was a comic book artist during much of the 1950s, before opting for a career as a writer and producer on television, as covered in an interview in Alter Ego #77. A major interview with Leonard Starr about his career was serialized in A/E #110-113. Both interviews were conducted by Jim Amash.

had an amazing memory and a firm grasp of comics history. In addition, he was well-versed in other areas, whether recommending Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as bedtime reading by a father to his young daughter, or discussing inventor Nikola Tesla when a fellow SF-oriented comic book pro could not.

In the 1960s he co-created the magician Zatanna, daughter of Zatara, the master magician who had first appeared in 1938’s Action Comics #1. Along with Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson became the Justice League of America artist of the 1960s. Not only did he ink Sekowsky’s covers teaming the Justice League of America and the JSA, but he was asked to revitalize certain JSA heroes in hopes they would gain their own titles. One of those, “The Spectre,” was soon given his own book, drawn by Anderson.

Later, the old Navy veteran assumed the contract from Will Eisner to produce the Army’s P.S. Magazine (his favorite job). He went on to run a successful color separation business with his son, Murphy Anderson III. After retiring, the artist was a beloved figure at cons. Murphy Anderson slipped away on October 22, 2015. We’ll miss his gentle nature and, selfishly, his inks and pencils, too. May he rest in peace. Eddy Zeno is the author of TwoMorrows Publishing’s new biography Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing, available now.

new story written by Donald Garden.

On page 8, Becattini repeats the apocryphal story about Ruben Moreira taking over the Sunday page from [Burne] Hogarth due to a miscommunication between United Feature Syndicate and Fiction House. I discussed this with Reed Crandall and he told me there was absolutely no truth to that story and that it was started by his friend Al Williamson. I did not mention Williamson’s involvement in the NBM reprint of Moreira’s Sunday pages because, when Reed told me the story, he asked that I keep it to myself. Now that both artists are gone, I see no need not to reveal it.

, Roy Thomas, hereby swear and affirm that in no way did I ask, influence, or command artist Shane Foley to utilize Irwin Hasen elements from three different late-1940s editions of All-Star Comics in creating this issue’s sterling “maskot” drawing above. (But that doesn’t mean I didn’t definitely approve of it!) Thanks, Shane—and thanks, Randy Sargent, for coloring the illo! [Alter Ego hero TM & © Roy & Dann Thomas – costume designed by Ron Harris; Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly – created by Biljo White.]

Now, let’s plunge headlong into the voluminous comments on A/E #129, our tribute to the comics adaptations and continuations of the work of SF/fantasy great Edgar Rice Burroughs. I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty proud of that issue, which I’d long wanted to do; and I was fortunate in getting some foremost experts on ERB and comics to carry the ball for me (and, hopefully, for you, as well). The issue, top-heavy as it was with hard information, naturally generated a few corrections and counter-thoughts, but that’s as it should be.

First up is Robert R. Barrett, ERB authority and author of the crucial 2002 study Tarzan of the Funnies and other works on the man whom Richard Lupoff aptly called the “Master of Adventure,” with some corrections related to the Tarzan newspaper strip, as covered in copious detail by Alberto Becattini: Hi Roy:

Thoroughly enjoyed A/E #129. I hope you won’t mind my making a few comments/corrections.

In regards to Joe Neebe originally contacting J. Allen St. John to illustrate the [1929] adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes (page 3), I have never found any documentation (even in the files of ERB, Inc.) to support this allegation and have always suspected that it was apocryphal, but researchers continue to give credence to it. Also, it wasn’t Foster’s choice to separate the text from the pictures. Before Tarzan of the Apes, there were several other strip adaptations of other novels, including Shakespeare, on which the text ran below the pictures—some even developed by Joe Neebe.

On page 4, Alberto Becattini writes that Foster quit the Sunday page while the novel Tarzan and the City of Gold was being adapted. This was not an adaptation of Burroughs’ novel but an entirely

Becattini (page 9) discusses the takeover of the daily strip by Hogarth and Dan Barry, writing that Hogarth provided rough pencil layouts, which Barry then tightened and Hogarth then inked. In an interview with Pete Ogden, editor and publisher of ERBania, Hogarth explained that he was asked to draw the daily strip as well as the Sunday page but refused: “I demurred, but said I would supervise it to give it the consistency of the Sunday (as my own). I found Dan Barry, coached him on the approach, discussed concept, and we took up some daily material. I penciled about two weeks or so of the strips (perhaps more). Dan inked all of the dailies and did the whole job after that for a considerable period. I never signed my name on the dailies; probably Dan did that at the Syndicate’s request.”

On page 25, Becattini writes: “Several-page text-plus-illustration stories in issues #38-43 of Popular Comics. More ‘Tarzan’ text/illustration stories were then featured in Crackajack Funnies #15-36. Some of the illustrations look like the work of Bill Ely.” In actuality, that art was the work of Harold (Hal) Bittner. Also, these text features were a much-edited/-rewritten adaptation of Burroughs’ novel Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, not single stories.

Page 17, you identify the cover art for Hi-Spot Comics #2 as the work of John Coleman Burroughs. Yet in Alter Ego #118, in the article “E.C. Stoner—The Forgotten Trailblazer” by Ken Quattro, Stoner is identified as the cover artist for that issue.

On page 55, in the blurb accompanying the cover of Byblos Publications’ first issue, you write that the artists are uncertain. The contents are as follows: “Tarzan of the Apes and the Glorious” written and illustrated by Russ Manning; “Korak and the Night of the Leopard Men, Part I” written by Mark Evanier, illustrated by Dan Spiegle; “Tarzan and the Juggernaut – Part I” edited by Russ Manning, written by William Rotsler, illustrated by Danny Bulanadi and Russ Manning. I gave the contents/credits to the Tarzan Weekly and Tarzan Monthly in my limited publication Russ Manning: A Bibliography, 1993. Robert Barrett

That’s a lot of potential corrections, Bob—but then, it still deals with only a tiny fraction of all the information offered in the issue, and we guess a few errors (and/or unproven assertions) are inevitable in such cases. We asked Alberto Becattini about your listing, and here is his response:

correspondence, comments, & corrections

Tarzan In Weekly & Monthly Doses (Top row:) The cover of unnumbered Byblos Tarzan Weekly #4 (July 2, 1977) is probably by Danny Bulandi, since the story he drew inside (written by Don Glut) is featured on the cover… and the main art on that of Tarzan Weekly #12 (Aug. 27, 1977), at right is probably by Dan Spiegle, artist of the “Korak” story written by Mark Evanier. The Tarzan figure on the latter is by John Buscema. (Bottom row:) As Byblos’ title changed frequency, the now-monthly Tarzan at left (it’s “Vol 1, #2 by some accounting, according to the cover) sported a cover illo by an unidentified English artist… probably the same one who drew the main cover illo of Tarzan Monthly #2 (yes!), with the “Korak” art at bottom probably by Doug Wildey. Henry R. Franke III provided us with the scans for these covers; Robert R. Barrett sent us a list of the contents of each, from which we’ve tried to deduce the cover artist(s). [TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

re:

Hi Roy:

Here are my comments on Bob’s corrections:

[Re Page 4 comment:] Okay, my mistake, or rather, false assumption.

[Re Page 8 comment:] Apocryphal as it may be, I still think that this story is enticing. And, since Crandall had left Fiction House several months before this happened, perhaps he wouldn’t know what actually occurred. Moreira certainly didn’t tell him, so who did? Williamson, perhaps, was in touch with Moreira, who told him. Or maybe UFS chose Moreira because they actually saw his “Kaänga” art, not Crandall’s. We’ll never know, I guess.

[Re Page 9 comment:] I am aware of Hogarth’s interview in which he says he penciled those strips rather than inking them. Yet, in all the other collaborations he had with John Celardo, Al Williamson, Ross Andru, Bernie Krigstein, etc., he always inked his ghosts’ pencils. Why should he have penciled, and not inked instead, the first few weeks of dailies, I wouldn’t know. Anyway, in my article, I wrote: “Most likely, Hogarth did rough pencil layouts, Barry tightened them up, and then Hogarth inked them.” I can see no great contradiction with what Hogarth affirms. My eye tells me that Hogarth did the inking, but it might have been Barry instead. As for signatures, I never wrote that it was Hogarth who signed the strips, only that his signature appeared until October 10, 1947 (#2543). It is possible that Barry replicated Hogarth’s signature, as Bob says.

“To Live Outside The Law, You Must Be Honest” Jim Tyne of DeKalb, Illinois, writes: “Was astounded that I have one comic to add to the Griffen ‘Beyond the Silver Age’ article: The Outlaw Prince, based on The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Script Rob Hughes, pencils & inks Thomas Yeates, layouts Michael Wm. Kaluta, cover by Esad Ribic. Dark Horse Books, April 2011. I have a 6"x 10" paperback priced at $12.99. There is also a limited-edition hardcover with a cover by Alan Lathwell. Both covers are shown on the Grand Comics Database, but the comic has not been indexed. I had no idea it existed before finding it in a half-price book shop this spring. It is part one of what was to be a continuing story. I’ve got a feeling sales were not good.” Thanks, Jim. (Above, left to right:) Ribic’s cover for The Outlaw Prince, Lathwell’s for the limited edition. (Below left:) An interior page by Yeates & Kaluta. [TM & © the respective copyright holders.]

[Re Page 25 comment:] A tip of my hat to Barrett’s knowledge. Still think that Ely might have lent a hand there. [Re Page 37 comment:] It might be Stoner, now that I look at it again. Bob’s corrections certainly deserve to be included in a future issue of A/E. Nobody’s perfect, and I always have to learn something from those who know more than I do. Alberto Becattini

We feel precisely the same way, Alberto—so we’ve printed both your and Bob’s letters. Meanwhile, I must step up and take the blame for that caption saying that Burroughs’ son John Coleman drew the cover of HiSpot Comics #2 in 1940. I retrieved that tidbit from the online Grand Comics Database, which is an invaluable reference tool but not always as dependable on credits as one would hope, though they’re always striving to update and correct their records. In this case, the assumption that the cover was drawn by JCB was clearly based on the fact the he drew the ERB-related artwork inside—but I should have remembered that, back in issue #118 of this very magazine, the resourceful Ken Quattro had ID’d the artwork as being that of African-American artist E.C. Stoner and at least have mentioned both artists as possibilities. Actually, Henry G. Franke III, author of #129’s coverage of the “Tarzan Art Studio,” sent us his own comments on this matter: Hello, Roy,

[With regard to] Bob Barrett’s comment about the Byblos Tarzan comic book story publications (“Tarzan of the Apes and the Glorious” and “Korak and the Night of the Leopard Men,” Part I): Almost all Byblos publications of the ERB, Inc., comic book stories included a credit box for each story. Bob Barrett reprinted these in

correspondence, comments, & corrections

his Russ Manning bibliography, [which is] a good start point, if you don’t have the original comic books. However, speaking with a couple of artists who worked on those stories, I can tell you that sometimes Byblos listed the wrong credits! After all, they published these stories in a very different order [from that in which] they were actually created. I just haven’t had the time to start formally updating Barrett’s listings; “The Glorious” may be one of those in question. Henry G. Franke III

So the jury’s still out on a few details—and perhaps always will be. But that’s the way it is in history of all kinds. Hey, a couple of people are still arguing that, Hitler and Tojo to the contrary, the United States should never have gotten into the Second World War!

In addition, Henry wrote us separately that he regrets that, because he had to write his own piece on the Tarzan Art Studio for #129 “in the space of a rainy day in New Orleans while attending the North American Jules Verne Society annual meeting,” he accidentally gave the date of Tarzan artist Russ Manning’s death as 1980, instead of the correct December 1981. But he says, “I was lucky that I happened to have material on my laptop computer and a couple of memory sticks in my bag (and the chance to call Mark Evanier).” And we’re all lucky you contributed such a fine article on such a little-known subject, Henry! Onward: Not to look like folks were piling onto the prolific Alberto Becattini, but here’s another piece of info, this one sent by John Fishel: Dear Roy:

Allow me to point out one minor error contained in Alberto Becattini’s otherwise excellent history of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creations appearing in comics form. Despite what was reported in the article, Tarzan did not appear in any Dell issues of Tip Top Comics, and he is likewise absent from the several issues of Tip Top from St. John Publishing that I have in my collection. I suspect that Tarzan’s Tip Top appearances ended with United’s last issue, #188, dated Sept.-Oct. 1954. John Fishel 335 S. Pleasant Avenue Dallastown, PA 17313-2109

Always glad for a bit more information, John.

Alan Brennert, a TV writer who from time to time has written a comics story (and usually a well-received one), sent us this note about his own peripheral involvement in the aborted ERB comics line of the mid1970s that was covered by Henry G. Franke III in A/E #129: Dear Roy,

Mark Evanier hired me at the time to do a couple of nonfiction pieces for the ERB magazines, including “Charting Caprona: The Making of The Land That Time Forgot.” It is still, forty years later, something I haven’t seen elsewhere: an interview with Michael Moorcock and the late James Cawthorn about their screen adaptation of the Burroughs novel. I just re-read it and it stands up quite well, no credit to me but entirely to Michael and Jim’s responses. I know it’s not comics-related, but it does feature two giant of fantasy (who did first work together on the Tarzan Adventures comic book) talking about adapting ERB. If you think it fits with your ERB issue, or another issue, feel free to use it. Alan Brennert

We definitely will, Alan, since not only have you yourself written comics—but Michael Moorcock and Jim Cawthorn both wrote for the medium, as well, including, at my request, the basic plotline for Conan the Barbarian #14 & 15 (March & May 1972), in which the Cimmerian met Elric of Melniboné. Look for Alan’s article in a future issue!

FOOM Goes To Barsoom! Brett J. (as he signs himself) writes: “On page 44, the FOOM cover of John Carter is credited to Dave Cockrum. This is an error. The correct artist is George Pérez, with inks by Joe Sinnott,. You can see the ‘P/S’ inscription by one of John’s boots. I think the original of that piece was in one of George’s earliest portfolios, entitled ‘Pérez—Accent on the First E.’” Thanks, Brett. We’re not sure where we got the misinformation about that cover, which led us to overlook the actual signature you point out. Above is the back cover from that same issue of Marvel’s FOOM Magazine (#20, Winter 1978): a montage drawing of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan, Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion, and John Carter of Mars by the team of Howard Bender (penciler) and Alfredo Alcala (inker). A fuller, black-&-white version of that illustration was printed inside the magazine. [Art TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Always informative are letters from comics historian Hames Ware, co-editor with Jerry G. Bails of the original 1970s print edition of Who’s Who in American Comic Books: Dear Roy and Alberto,

Great job on the Burroughs issue! I think the way A/E now includes photographs of many of the artists and writers is a great addition to the magazine.

One of the few artists missing from the many photos was Nat Edson. Though I do not have a photograph of this remarkable individual, I can share a personal reminiscence. Nat came into Western Publishing’s California offices while I was doing research in the bound volumes in Western’s archive area. He was delivering artwork he had completed, and when introduced to me, could not have been more gracious. I had the opportunity to tell him how his and fellow artist Tom Massey’s work for Dell-Western was often hard to differentiate except to the trained eye. He laughed and said, “There’s a good reason for that! Tom and I ghosted the same comic strip [Tim Tyler’s Luck] and picked up similarities that still continue in both our styles.”

re:

Nat Edson had spent seven years as a child in the hospital and was still disabled when I visited with him. He said that his disability precluded him from traveling. Consequently, he collected maps from every area imaginable; that allowed him to vicariously picture himself in those places. Hearing that I was from Arkansas, he asked if I might send him a map from there when I returned home, which I happily did.

Though no photograph apparently exists of Nat Edson, he will always be etched in my memory as a wonderfully gracious and humble individual, who provided art to some of the memorable comic books turned out by Dell-Western…with his specialty being the Western titles like Johnny Mack Brown and a multitude of others covering different genres as well. Hames Ware

See the accompanying Nat Edson “Tarzan” image, Hames—but I’m afraid a photo of the man still eludes us all.

Earlier in this section, we printed a letter from Robert R. Barrett, author of a number of definitive articles and books about ERB topics. As it turns out, and as we belatedly remembered, we’ve long had in our files a couple of missives he sent us several years ago (in 2006 and 2008, as a matter of fact!) on ERB-related topics related to Alter Ego #63 (our “Alex Toth” issue), wherein which “Comic Crypt” editor Michael T. Gilbert also dealt with artist Russ Manning’s work on unpublished “John Carter of Mars” material at the very outset of the distinguished Tarzan artist’s career in the early 1950s….

Dear Alter Ego:

[Re tribute issue to Toth:] I noticed that you neglected to include Alex’s work on a 1975 European Tarzan album, Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar. Alex penciled the first ten pages for Russ Manning, of which he had this to say about working with Manning:

“Russ was, to me, much too obtuse—good man, dad, husband, worked like hell, but quite missed the point of comics/storytelling—sorry! I can’t recall how much more than a few pages of tight pencils I did for the project, artwise—but I did write a Tarzan tale of my own for it or a later backup issue—which I was proud of, but never saw light of day—anywhere! Our shortlived joining on the project was a waste of my time, really—we disagreed more than not. “Mike Royer inked Russ in that fussyslick style well, and my only gripe, re Tarzan, was that Russ never resolved his facial likeness! Weak! Never the same—as a pro, it bugged me—for him to miss this—and focus on perfect brushlines.

“Re the whole Tarzan/Manning and me caper, my memory’s awful on the subject of how much and what exactly I might have penciled for the book you cite—all I can recall is that I had to wade through Russ’ own pasteup album of old Tarzan (daily/Sunday) strips (his) to draw a zeppelin captain, etc., the ship and crew, plus some trip to middle earth (?)—I was ticked at all this papershuffling to find a character I was to draw for the tale at hand, and I dunno if I tossed it all back at him or did my part in toto—Russ made a crack about my tight penciling which may’ve set my short fuse alight! Oil n’ water!”…

I revealed, for the first time anywhere, in my article “Tarzan’s Third Great Comic Strip Artist: Russell G. Manning, 1929-1981,” that Manning’s very first work for Western/Dell was the story “Tarzan and the Horns of the Kudu,” which he began in May of 1952, under the stipulation that it be made to look as much like [the art of] Jesse Marsh as possible. Also the fact that it was to appear in a Tarzan 3-D comic, which Western eventually shelved, the story finally appearing in the Tarzan March of Comics issue #114. In fact, “Kudu” was Manning’s very first professional work, though it didn’t appear until two years later. Interestingly, Manning’s first professional work was to be a “Robin Hood” story for a flour company giveaway, but the script wasn’t satisfactory and Tom McKimson ended up giving him the “Tarzan” script. The “Robin Hood” story eventually did appear with Manning’s art, after the script had been rewritten. The facts that Michael T. Gilbert attributes to “Burroughs expert Bill Hillman” re “Tarzan and the Horns of the Kudu” being drawn for a shelved Tarzan 3-D comic were cribbed by Hillman from my article [mentioned in the preceding paragraph]. Credit should be given where credit is due!

Also incorrect is Hillman’s statement that Manning “learned sometime in 1950 that Dell was thinking about publishing a John Carter of Mars comic, and drew some sample pages.” Manning did draw some sample pages, but it wasn’t because he had heard that Western/Dell was planning a Carter comic. He drew the sample pages merely hoping that he and his work could convince Western to publish a John Carter comic.

Tarzan Marches On! First interior page of March of Comics #318 (latter 1960s), drawn by Nat Edson. His work wasn’t represented in A/E #129, but Robert R. Barrett helped us correct that lack this time around, to complement Hames Ware’s letter about the artist. The writer was probably Gaylord Du Bois. [TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Michael T. Gilbert remarks that “[t]o our knowledge, these Russ Manning sample strips have never seen print.” Wrong! The John Carter samples appearing on pp. 74-76 of A/E #63 were all printed for the first time in ERB-dom. The “John Carter” illustration at the top of page 74 was printed for the first time in my Russ Manning article for The Burroughs Bulletin #13, New Series, and I own the original art. It was drawn for Vern Coriell to use in his special memorial issue of The Burroughs Bulletin, #12, Original

correspondence, comments, & corrections

Savage Toth & Manning (Clockwise from top left:) Portuguese cover of the Russ Manning graphic novel Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar. To date, this work has not been published in English. What are you waiting for, Dark Horse? The original black-&-white art by Russ Manning for the cover of Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar is owned by Robert R. Barrett, who kindly sent us a copy of it and of the following: A page from a foreign edition of the above-mentioned book penciled by Alex Toth and inked by Russ Manning. The two men did not get along. [TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] An Alex Toth Tarzan drawing sent years ago to Robert R. Barrett. [Art © Estate of Alex Toth; Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

re:

Do, Do That Kudu That You Do To Me… A page from the March of Comics #114 (June 1954) story “Tarzan and the Horns of the Kudu,” in which a young Russ Manning was imitating the style of Dell/Western’s regular Tarzan comic book artist, Jesse Marsh, just as he was directed to do. Script by Gaylord Du Bois. Thanks to Robert R. Barrett. [TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Series, 1956. Russ had second thoughts about how good it was and asked Vern not to use it, which he honored.

I own the original art for “The Chessmen of Mars” [drawings] featured on page 73, bottom of page 77, and page 78, and Western was not “considering publishing” a fourth John Carter issue in 1954. The indicia on the “Chessmen of Mars” inside-cover mock-up sample lists it as “Four Color Comics #528.” It was I who placed the cover lettering on a copy and made the mock-up of the indicia for the inside front cover…. I used the older-style Dell colophon (which I prefer!), not the newer style used on Dale Evans [Four Color #528] and before. I only gave two of these copies out, so was surprised to see them turn up in Alter Ego. By the way, Russ drew these pages in 1953. According to him, the reason Western ended the John Carter of Mars comics was because Western decided to kill all of their science-fiction comics, including Flash Gordon and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.

It is also not true that Tarzan March of Comics #144 was the second of Russ’ first two “Tarzan” stories that appeared in the giveaway comics. Manning’s second “Tarzan” story for Whitman was “Tarzan and Boy in the Canoe Safari” in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #63 (Dec. 1954), although he had drawn an 8-page “Boy” story in issue #59 (Aug. 1954). Robert R. Barrett

Whew! That’s a lot to take in—although in some of the cases above, you’re correcting not information given by Michael in “Comic Crypt” but rather when and how it was first published. We—and I’m sure that includes Michael!—are glad to have these corrections and additions. I’m only sorry that I didn’t get around to printing them sooner; but once they missed being printed in the “re:” section related to A/E #63, we just never seemed to find the proper place—till now. We’re glad to share your info and insights—as well as the always colorful opinions of the late great Alex Toth—with readers of this magazine.

Interested in Tarzan? Rick Norwood, I should remind you, publishes the excellent monthly Comics Revue magazine, which reprints vintage newspaper strips featuring Steve Canyon, Krazy Kat, Modesty Blaise, The Phantom, and others—including Tarzan by Russ Manning and John Celardo. Contact Rick at f.norwood@att.net or see www.comicsrevue.com. CORRECTION: Bill Schelly and Alter Ego recently learned that, in issue #131, credits for Grant Geissman were inadvertently left off the scans of Plague fanzines in the “20-Cent Plague” interview. We regret the error, and belatedly thank Grant for sending them. We always appreciate any help given us, and try to give credit wherever and whenever credit is due—but sometimes we foul up. A final note: P.C. Hamerlinck points out that, alas, the wrong month and year were printed on the FCA interior cover in A/E #129. Luckily for us all, the Fawcett-related contents were the right ones! Send all comments, corrections, and critiques to:

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

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Fawcett Artist RAY HARFORD & The Ghost Army Part II From War To Wendell Crowley by P.C. Hamerlinck

Ray Harford 1942, before his stint in the U.S. Army—and its Ghost Army. A fuller version of this photo was printed last issue.

The Ghost Army

NTRODUCTION: Last issue, we began the story of Ray Harford (b. 1920), who attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he met fellow aspiring artists Bob Boyajian, Vic Dowd, and Ken Bald. These “Four Musketeers” also became friends with young Kurt Schaffenberger. In 1941, the five of them were among several others who went to work for already-veteran artist Jack Binder at his comic book studio, a converted barn in Englewood, New Jersey. While that “comic shop” produced material for several companies, it increasingly concentrated on turning out artwork for Fawcett Publications’ burgeoning comics line. [NOTE: Interviews with Boyajian, Dowd, and Bald appeared in Alter Ego #55, still available from TwoMorrows Publishing.] By 1942, Harford and Boyajian were working in Fawcett’s own art department to help meet the demand for more tales about the company’s ultra-popular feature “Captain Marvel.” Harford proved to be so good at drawing the World’s Mightiest Moral that some of his art has been mistaken for the work of Marc Swayze, the primary artist who drew the “Captain Marvel” material not penciled by the hero’s cocreator, C.C. Beck. But World War II was raging, and there were more important things to do than draw comic books….

“We Shall Both Return!” (Above:) Ray Harford’s original artwork for the cover of Whiz Comics #31 (June 1942) featuring General Douglas MacArthur, which he later watercolored for a presentation piece in his personal art portfolio… and (at left) a small thumbnail scan of the printed cover. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America]

ay Harford enlisted in the U.S. Army and went on active duty October 9th, 1942. His close friends Boyajian and Dowd had also joined the Army; all three trained together the following year at Fort Meade in Maryland before going overseas. Harford was assigned to Company B of the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion, the largest unit in the Ghost Army, with 379 men. They specialized in visual deception (otherwise known as “camoufleurs”) that used various faux (inflatable) tanks, trucks, jeeps, and artillery for the creation of deceptive representation for enemy aerial reconnaissance… phony convoys, phantom divisions, and fake headquarters that would fool the enemy about the magnitude and location of American troops. (The squadron had spent two years previously doing camouflage work, for which many artists had been specially recruited.) The group of young artists like Ray Harford and his Pratt pals/comic artist comrades Boyajian and Dowd brought their talents abroad to save thousands of American lives and were a vital part in helping to win the war.

Four-Color Artists In Full Color From Pratt to comics to the Army, forever friends. (Left to right:) Ray Harford, Bob Boyajian, and Vic Dowd training at Fort Meade, Maryland, in 1943.

James Boudreau, the dean of Pratt’s art school (who also happened to be a general in the U.S. Army Reserve) had actively recruited Pratt art students and graduates Harford, Boyajian, and Dowd for the

Can You Spot The Camouflage Battalion In This Picture? (Above:) An undated photo of some members of Company B’s 4th Platoon of the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion. Ray Harford is at the very upper right hand corner. Also in the picture, second in from left, is Bill Blass, who went on to become a world-renowned fashion designer, as mentioned last issue. (Right:) Another rare color photo from 1943 of Army training at Ft. Meade, Maryland—this time of just Ray Harford (on left) and Victor Dowd. Dowd drew the 2-26-45 portrait of Harford seen on last issue’s FCA cover, and originally appearing in the illuminating book The Ghost Army of World War II by Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles, published by Princeton Architectural Press (papress.com).

newly formed Army camouflage battalions. They were told that the Army needed people with artistic ability. That’s how the three friends wound up in the same outfit. (Their buddy Ken Bald had joined the Marines after working at Binder.) Vic Dowd had entered the service a little before Harford and Boyajian, both of whom were finishing up their “Captain Marvel” work with Fawcett. All three of them were in the same battalion, though not the same company; they occasionally crossed paths when they came over

Fawcett Artist Ray Hartford & The Ghost Army—Part II

Who Ghost There? (Above left:) Snapshot of the Ghost Army unit in England, June 1944. Ray Harford is in the center of the top row. (Above right:) Ghost Army troops taking a break to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner at a Luxembourg seminary in 1944. Ray Harford is second row, at the very end of the table.

with the main body of troops. Regardless of their assignments and being split up on occasions, the three comic book artists remained in contact throughout the war. Bob Boyajian actually heard about the birth of Ray Harford’s first son, Jay, before he did. Boyajian had received a V-mail in 1944 from his mother, who had just talked with Harford’s mother, and thus got the scoop before Ray had received the news about his new baby boy born in Rochester, New York.

Post-War Freelancer Ray Harford was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on October 31, 1945, and joined his wife Edith and son Jay on 59 East Main Street in Rochester, New York, where he began working as a freelance commercial artist. A second son, Steven, was born. With a growing family, Harford sought out additional freelance work. He decided to give comic books one last shot. In 1948, he reached out to Fawcett/Captain Marvel editor Wendell Crowley to see if he could get back into the game. A lot had changed with comic books since Harford had last drawn “Captain Marvel” right before going into the Army. Crowley didn’t pull any punches regarding the then-current climate of the comics industry, and gave Ray some sound food for thought, in a letter the artist received on October 15, 1948: Dear Ray, Sorry I’m so long in getting around to answering your letter. Good to hear from you again. Why anyone who has once broken his chains to the comic book business would ever want to again subject himself to its tortures is more than I know, but I guess a guy will do most anything to get a buck. I would not like to put myself in the position of advising you one way or the other on moving back to this vicinity. You say that Kurt [Schaffenberger] told you of the shortage of comic book artists. There is no shortage of artists at all. They flock in and out of this place all day long. What there is a shortage of is good comic book artists.

“K.P.” Stands For “Kitchen Patrol” In between missions, Corporal Jack Masey drew caricatures of his fellow soldiers from the 4th Platoon of Company B of the 603rd. He compiled all of his drawings together into a memento book entitled You on K.P.! Masey collected money from the men to have copies for each of them printed in Luxembourg City. Above is Masey’s caricature of Ray Harford, signed and inscribed by Ray (who had been nicknamed “Marvel” and “Captain Marvel” by his peers) to Private William Sayles.

FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America]

At the moment Fawcett is behind in artwork in several characters. Kurt himself is working overtime trying to keep Wendell Crowley up to A 1947 photo. schedule. Perhaps arrangements could be made whereby you could fill in on some of this work. But whether or not the work would be steady, I couldn’t say. This is a business in which I long ago learned not to make any promises. I spoke to Clarence [Beck] about you and at this time he could put you right back to work on [Captain] Marvel. He’s way behind his deadlines now. He’s got Pete Costanza and a background man named Les Gilpin from Canada working for him and that’s about all outside of a lettering man. They all work at home, but Beck could take you into his own studio for a while, if you so desired. How long this rush of work will last no one knows either. Of course, in the comics business, people are always rushing to get caught up. They seldom reach this goal, but when they do, it’s disastrous. Goodman’s recently caught up. Even the favored few of Stan Lee’s select coterie, such as Ken Bald and Vic Dowd, got the gate in a wholesale firing of artists.

Words To The Wise From Wendell Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley gave sound advice, and a referral, in this 10/15/48 letter to Ray Harford, who had sought to re-enter the comic book field in the post-war years. Seen above is its first page.

Hillman’s currently beyond their regular inventory and has quit giving out work to artists.

You never know what will happen in this crazy racket so I’d definitely hesitate to tell you one way or another.

The rest of the field is in its usual upset condition.

Just to close on an encouraging note, let me tell you the case of Bob Butts. He recently came back to the business after a long time away. He was not here a week before he had all the work he wanted and is still working as fast as he can.

If you’re good, lucky and have something of an in, you can still get work. Of course, you are at an advantage with your experience at Fawcetts and your acquaintance with [Al] Allard [Art Director]. If you really want to come back here, though, I’d suggest that you take no one’s advice. Make a trip down and investigate for yourself. If things look promising you can go ahead from there.

I’ll be glad to help you all I can, however.

As I said before, there’s always room for a good man. Yours, Wendell

Fawcett Artist Ray Hartford & The Ghost Army—Part II

After the war, in 1946, Harford’s pal Bob Boyajian had gone up to the Beck-Costanza studio looking for work, but at the time things were beginning to dry up, so he only stayed with them for a few months before going out on his own.

playing the violin. Harford’s wife, Edith, passed away in 1984. He was later remarried. Ray Harford remained active in several art groups in the Rochester area and locally exhibited his watercolor and oil paintings up until a few years before his death in 2000. His exceptional work on “Captain Marvel,” and his service to our country with the rest of the Ghost Army, lives on.

But, because of Crowley’s tip, Harford followed up with Beck and was quickly reunited once again with the red-suited hero, assisting Beck with inking “Captain Marvel” stories. After Beck’s deadline crunch subsided, however, there was no more work for Harford. The artist was with Beck for just under six months. Wendell had given Ray the real deal of the comics scene in 1948, after all. Regardless, Harford went on to have a successful freelance business in Rochester, maintaining steady accounts as a commercial artist, illustrating advertisements for various department stores, clothing stores, and furniture companies until he retired in the 1980s. He was a member of the Oak Hills Country Club. He was also proficient in

This article would have been impossible to put together without the work and kind cooperation of Jay and Steve Harford, Shaun Clancy, Jim Amash, Rick Beyer, Elizabeth Sayles, and William Sayles.

Robert (Bob) Harford Ray’s younger brother, in a 1950 Pratt Institute yearbook photo. Bob worked with Matt Baker at St. John Publications as a production/correction artist on their magazines.

For more information on the Ghost Army, visit www.ghostarmy.org or pick up a copy of the book The Ghost Army of World War II by Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles, published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2015, to which P.C. Hamerlinck provided material.

Can We Talk? (Above:) A rare instance of Captain Marvel and Billy Batson “talking” to each other, in this humorous sequence from Whiz Comics #36 (Oct. 1942), drawn by Ray Harford. Scripter uncertain. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

A Matter Of Style (Above:) It’s all but impossible to identify specific pages inked by Ray Harford in 1948 for C.C. Beck and Fawcett, so here’s a 1942 “Captain Marvel” story page from Whiz Comics #31 drawn by Harford. Scripter uncertain. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

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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!

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ALTER EGO #132

ALTER EGO #133

ALTER EGO #134

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!

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!

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

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

ALTER EGO #135

ALTER EGO #136

ALTER EGO #137

ALTER EGO #138

ALTER EGO #139

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!

Science-fiction great (and erstwhile comics writer) HARLAN ELLISON talks about Captain Marvel and The Monster Society of Evil! Also, Captain Marvel artist/ co-creator C.C. BECK writes about the infamous Superman-Captain Marvel lawsuit of the 1940s and ‘50s in a double-size FCA section! Plus two titanic tributes to Golden Age artist FRED KIDA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JIM AMASH interviews ROY THOMAS about his 1990s work on Conan, the stillborn Marvel/Excelsior line launched by STAN LEE, writing for Cross Plains, Topps, DC, and others! Art by KAYANAN, BUSCEMA, MAROTO, GIORDANO, ST. AUBIN, DITKO, SIMONSON, MIGNOLA, LARK, secrets of Dr. Strange’s sorcerous “177A Bleecker Street” address, and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

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

(100 FULL-COLOR pages) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95

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

(100 FULL-COLOR pages) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95

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BACK ISSUE #89

ALTER EGO #141

ALTER EGO #142

ALTER EGO #143

DRAW! #32

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!

DAVID SIEGEL talks to RICHARD ARNDT about how, from 1991-2005, he brought the greatest artists of the Golden Age to the San Diego Comic-Con! With art and artifacts by FRADON, GIELLA, MOLDOFF, LAMPERT, CUIDERA, FLESSEL, NORRIS, SULLIVAN, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, GROTHKOPF, and others! Plus how writer JOHN BROOME got to the Con, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

DON GLUT discusses his early years as comic book writer for Marvel, Warren, and Gold Key, with art by SANTOS, MAROTO, CHAN, NEBRES, KUPPERBERG, TUSKA, TRIMPE, SAL BUSCEMA, and others! Also, SAL AMENDOLA and ROY THOMAS on the 1970s professional Academy of Comic Book Arts, founded by STAN LEE and CARMINE INFANTINO! Plus Mr. Monster, FCA, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

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.

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

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

BACK ISSUE #90

BACK ISSUE #91

BACK ISSUE #92

BRICKJOURNAL #39

“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!

“Eighties Ladies!” MILLER & SIENKIEWICZ’s Elektra: Assassin, Dazzler, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Lady Quark, DAN MISHKIN’s Wonder Woman, WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS and ADAM KUBERT’s Jezebel Jade, Somerset Holmes, and a look back at Marvel’s Dakota North! Featuring the work of BRUCE JONES, JOHN ROMITA JR., ROGER STERN, and many more, plus a previously unpublished cover by SIENKIEWICZ.

“All-Jerks Issue!” Guy Gardner, Namor in the Bronze Age, J. Jonah Jameson, Flash Thompson, DC’s Biggest Blowhards, the Heckler, Obnoxio the Clown, and Archie’s “pal” Reggie Mantle! Featuring the work of (non-jerks) RICH BUCKLER, KURT BUSIEK, JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, KEITH GIFFEN, ALAN KUPPERBERG, and many more. Cover-featuring KEVIN MAGUIRE’s iconic Batman/Guy Gardner “One Punch”!

“Bronze Age Halloween!” The Swamp Thing revival of 1982, Swamp Thing in Hollywood, Phantom Stranger team-ups, KUPPERBERG & MIGNOLA’s Phantom Stranger miniseries, DC’s The Witching Hour, the Living Mummy, and an index of Marvel’s 1970s’ horror anthologies! Featuring the work of RICH BUCKLER, ANDY MANGELS, VAL MAYERIK, MARTIN PASKO, MICHAEL USLAN, TOM YEATES, and many more. Cover by YEATES.

LEGO DINOSAURS! Builder WILLIAM PUGH discusses building prehistoric creatures, a LEGO Jurassic World by DIEGO MAXIMINO PRIETO ALVAREZ, and dino bones by MATT SAILORS! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, DIY Fan Art by BrickNerd TOMMY WILLIAMSON, MINDSTORMS robotics lessons, and more!

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships June 2016

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

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Aug. 2016

(84 FULL-COLOR pages) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Sept. 2016

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #12 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #13

KIRBY COLLECTOR #67

KIRBY COLLECTOR #68

JACK KIRBY’s mid-life work examined, from Fantastic Four and Thor at Marvel in the middle ’60s to the Fourth World at DC (including the real-life background drama that unfolded during that tumultuous era)! Plus a career-spanning interview with underground comix pioneer HOWARD CRUSE, the extraordinary cartoonist and graphic novelist of the award-winning Stuck Rubber Baby! Cover by STEVE RUDE!

MICHAEL W. KALUTA feature interview covering his early fans days THE SHADOW, STARSTRUCK, the STUDIO, and Vertigo cover work! Plus RAMONA FRADON talks about her 65+ years in the comic book business on AQUAMAN, METAMORPHO, SUPER-FRIENDS, and SPONGEBOB! Also JAY LYNCH reveals the WACKY PACK MEN who created the Topps trading cards that influenced an entire generation!

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!

KEY KIRBY CHARACTERS! We go decadeby-decade to examine pivotal characters Jack created throughout his career (including some that might surprise you)! Plus there’s a look at what would’ve happened if Kirby had never left Marvel Comics for DC, how Jack’s work has been repackaged over the decades, MARK EVANIER and other regular columnists, and galleries of unseen Kirby pencil art!

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MONSTER MASH

Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once Frankenstein and fiends infiltrated TV in 1957, an avalanche of monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic books crashed upon an unsuspecting public. This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (Shock Theatre, The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Dark Shadows), “Mars Attacks” trading cards, Eerie Publications, Planet of the Apes, and more! It features interviews with JAMES WARREN (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), FORREST J ACKERMAN (Famous Monsters of Filmland), JOHN ASTIN (The Addams Family), AL LEWIS (The Munsters), JONATHAN FRID (Dark Shadows), GEORGE BARRIS (monster car customizer), ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH (Rat Fink), BOBBY (BORIS) PICKETT (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host ZACHERLEY, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by MARK VOGER (author of “The Dark Age”). (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $13.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-064-9

DON’T MISS YOUR FAVORITE MAGS!

Starting immediately, 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.

MLJ COMPANION

THE MLJ COMPANION documents the complete history of Archie Comics’ super-hero characters known as the “Mighty Crusaders”—THE SHIELD, BLACK HOOD, STEEL STERLING, HANGMAN, MR. JUSTICE, THE FLY, and many others. It features in-depth examinations of each era of the characters’ extensive history: THE GOLDEN AGE (beginning with the Shield, the first patriotic super-hero, who pre-dated Captain America by a full year), THE SILVER AGE (spotlighting those offbeat, campy Mighty Comics issues, and The Fly and Jaguar), THE BRONZE AGE (with the Red Circle line, and the !mpact imprint published by DC Comics), up to THE MODERN AGE, with its Dark Circle imprint (featuring such fanfavorites series as “The Fox” by MARK WAID and DEAN HASPIEL). Plus: Learn what “MLJ” stands for! Uncover such rarities as the Mighty Crusaders board game, and the Shadow’s short-lived career as a spandex-clad superhero! Discover the ill-fated Spectrum line of comics, that was abruptly halted due to its violent content! See where the super-heroes crossed over into Archie, Betty, and Veronica’s world! And read interviews with IRV NOVICK, DICK AYERS, RICH BUCKLER, BILL DuBAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, JIM VALENTINO, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, KELLEY JONES, MICHAEL USLAN, and others who chronicled the Mighty Crusaders’ exploits from the 1940s to today! By RIK OFFENBERGER and PAUL CASTIGLIA, with a cover by IRV NOVICK and JOE RUBINSTEIN. INCLUDES 64 FULL-COLOR PAGES OF KEY MLJ STORIES! (288-page trade paperback with COLOR) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-067-0 • SHIPS AUGUST 2016!

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The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972