Alter Ego #141

Roy Thomas’ Rapid-Fire Comics Fanzine

RICH BUCKLER FROM DETROIT TO DEATHLOK!

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No.141 AUGUST 2016

PLUS: MR.MONSTER’S

COMIC CRYPT TH THE 200TH FABULOUS ISSUE OF

COMIC FANDOM ARCHIVE

RAFAEL ASTARITA “ONE OF THE BEST COMIC ARTISTS WHO EVER DREW”

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Deathlok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Vol. 3, No. 141 / August 2016 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

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

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Cover Artists

Rich Buckler

With Special Thanks to:

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Alan Hutchinson Heidi Amash Bill Johnson Pedro Angosto Jim Kealy Richard J. Arndt Robert Kline & Bob Bailey family Alberto Becattini Mark Lewis Larry Bigman Art Lortie Judy Blackman Jim Ludwig Swayze Doug Martin Gary Brown Harry Matesky Robert Brown Raymond Miller Bernie & Lucille Bill Mohalley Bubnis Barry Pearl Rich Buckler Gene Reed Nick Caputo Mildred Champlin Randy Sargent David Saunders Shaun Clancy Arlen J. Schuler John Coates Allen Smith Jon B. Cooke Bryan Stroud Comic Book Plus Dann Thomas (website) Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Craig Delich James Van Hise Diversions of the Hames Ware Groovy Kind Who’s Who of (website) American Comic John Ellis Books 1928-1999 Rocky Fawcett (website) Shane Foley Steven G. Willis Stephan Friedt Andy Yanchus Janet Gilbert Mike Zeck Grand Comics Database (website) Heritage Comics Auctions

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Rafael Astarita & Nat Champlin

Contents Writer/Editorial: History Golden/History Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “Just Living My Dream!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Rich Buckler talks to Richard J. Arndt about his first decade at Warren, DC, & Marvel.

Rafael Astarita – Comic Book Pioneer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Hames Ware & David Saunders on a great Golden Age artist who remembered everything!

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Michael T. Gilbert on that strange 1967 comic by Otto Binder & C.C. Beck.

Comic Fandom Archive: Remembering RBCC—With Love. . 57 Five fans reminisce about G.B. Love & the Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 P.C. Hamerlinck presents a celebration featuring Beck, Swayze, Champlin, & a 1940 Hollywood party—attended by Captain Marvel himself!

On Our Cover: While Rich Buckler has drawn, at one time or another, just about every major hero for every major company, he probably remains proudest of his creation of “Deathlok,” the cyborg who starred in Astonishing Tales during the last half of the 1970s and has often reappeared since, including in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC-TV. It was his suggestion that this recent painting of Deathlok become the cover of this issue of Alter Ego, and he didn’t have to ask us twice!

[Deathlok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: This issue, too, we applaud the 200th edition of FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], 141 of which have appeared in this third volume of A/E. And there’s nobody whose art could better represent FCA than C.C. Beck, artistic co-creator of the original Captain Marvel and the first artist of the “Marvel Family” series. This 1979 painting of Cap, Cap Jr., and Mary came to us courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. [Shazam heroes 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 Standard, $88 US Expedited, $116 International. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in China. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

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writer/editorial

History Golden/History Silver

emember Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1, in 1999, more than a decade and a half ago? Back in the era (up through issue #43) when I was committed to the notion of “flip covers”—two different covers, upside down from each other, with the two halves of each issue similarly situated?

The concept had originated because A/E, Vol. 2, had been initiated the previous year as a flip-side appendage to Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist magazine. And I continued the flip sections when A/E once again became a full mag of comic book history. Its first issue featured, on one cover, a re-creation by Irwin Hasen of his “JSA” cover for 1947’s All-Star Comics #36—and, on the other, a new illo by 1980s All-Star Squadron/Infinity, Inc. artist Jerry Ordway with the same basic layout, depicting a mix of Silver and Bronze Age heroes from DC and Marvel (with DC’s Julius Schwartz costumed as The Flash, and Marvel’s Stan Lee as SpiderMan).

Half of A/E V3#1 was devoted to Golden Age matters (an interview with “Green Lantern”/“JSA” artist Hasen, an examination of the two “Wonder Woman” scripts written for 1942’s AllStar Comics #13, and a look at a vintage Brazilian comics story costarring the 1940s Captain Marvel and Human Torch)… while the other half was dedicated mostly to Silver Age material (the transcript of a “Stan Lee Roast” at a 1995 con, Grass Green’s 1962 parody of Fantastic Four, and a French “Silver Surfer” story that utilized art from 1968-70 Marvel comics.

Clearly, my original plan was to divide each Alter Ego equally between features related to the Golden Age and those connected to the Silver Age (as broadly defined to extend through 1974-75)— with my own work cheerfully covered anytime I felt like it.

and his creative teams emphasized on one flip side, Hawkman and cohorts on the other. Pretty soon, I gave up on the original plan for good. The only things remaining from it were the flip covers, preserved mainly because having one cover with broader appeal (perhaps because it was by a Kubert or a Kirby) let me put almost anything I wanted to on the other one, including showcasing lesser-known artists or subjects (like when we utilized Ernie Schroeder’s one and only painting ever of Airboy and The Heap).

But the idea of doing a balancing-act in A/E’s pages between the Golden and Silver Ages has never truly died—and this issue is a case in point.

Its cover and lead interview spotlight my longtime friend and oft-time collaborator Rich Buckler, who eased into the comics field in the late 1960s and made himself a super-star at Marvel in the 1970s—and Rafael Astarita, a less-well-known but equally talented artist from the 1940s and early ’50s. As per usual, I depend upon the expertise of others to give these titans their due: intrepid interviewer Richard Arndt in the case of Buckler… comics-shop guru Hames Ware and pulp-mag historian David Saunders re Astarita.

Alter Ego has ever endured with one foot planted solidly in the Golden Age, the other no less firmly in the Silver…and so it will remain.

And, for those of you interested in the later Silver Age and beyond—which definitely includes Yers Truly—TwoMorrows has a mag titled Back Issue, on which Michael Eury and his merry crew do an excellent job, issue after issue. Between us, we run the gamut of comic book ages and eras.

That’s why we call it “history.”

Already by #4, however, I’d abandoned that scheme in favor of celebrating the 60th anniversary of Flash Comics, with The Flash

Bestest,

COMING IN AUGUST #142 Bringing “Forgotten” GOLDEN AGE ARTISTS To SAN DIEGO!

man, Sandman, Flash, Shazam Bunny, Aqua & © DC Comics Batman, & Blackwhawk TM

• Super-fan DAVID SIEGEL reveals to RICHARD ARNDT how he located many 1940s-50s comics pros and helped get them to the San Diego Comic-Con, 1990-2005—including AYERS [“Ghost Rider”] • BOLLE [“Red Mask”] • CARDY [“Aquaman”] • CUIDERA [“Blackhawk”] • FLESSEL [“Sandman”] • FRADON [“Aquaman”] • GIELLA [“Batman”] • GILL [“Lone Ranger”] • CHAD [“Marvel Bunny”] • HASEN [“Green Lantern”] • LAMPERT [“The Flash”] • MOLDOFF [“Hawkman”] • NORRIS [“Aquaman”] • NOVICK [“The Shield”] • SCHAFFENBERGER [“Marvel Family”] • SULLIVAN [first “Superman”& “Batman” editor] • ALVIN SCHWARTZ [“Superman”], & others!

• RICH MORRISSEY on how he, Dave Siegel, et al. got Golden/Silver Age star writer JOHN BROOME [“JSA,” “Flash,” “Green Lantern”] to the only comics convention he ever attended!

• Plus: FCA • MICHAEL T. GILBERT • BILL SCHELLY, & MORE!

TwoMorrows.

The Future of Comics History.

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“Just Living My Dream!”

RICH BUCKLER On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

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Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Rich Buckler began his comic book career in 1967 with a back-up tale in Flash Gordon #10. After a two-year gap, he began doing short mystery (for color comics) and horror (for black-&-white magazines) stories for DC, Warren, Skywald, and Marvel. He was soon doing regular backup features in such titles as Batman and Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. His first work on a lead feature was The Avengers #101 (July 1972) working from a plot by Harlan Ellison (as edited and later scripted by Roy Thomas). Over the next two decades, he worked on nearly every major character and title at DC or Marvel and drew hundreds of covers for both companies. He has also produced work for Archie’s Red Circle characters. He created the Marvel character Deathlok and penciled the first five issues of DC’s All-Star Squadron with Thomas. In recent years, he launched another career doing stunning surrealistic paintings. He is the author of How to Draw Dynamic Comic Books and still frequents conventions, often with Don McGregor, with whom he worked on both “The Black Panther” and “Killraven” series in the 1970s. This interview was conducted via e-mail on December 19-22, 2014.

Portrait Of The Artist As A Very Busy Young Man A self-portrait of Rich Buckler (being painted by his own hand)—surrounded by examples of his work for three mainstream publishers in the early 1970s (clockwise from above right): Warren Publications’ Creepy #36 (Nov. ’70), script by Greg Theakston... “Hawkman” in DC’s Detective Comics #434 (April ’73), inks by Dick Giordano & script by E. Nelson Bridwell... and the cover of Marvel’s The Avengers #101 (July 1972), inks by Dan Adkins. With thanks for the comics-page scans to the Diversions of the Groovy Kind website, Steven G. Willis, & Chris Day, respectively.

The portrait, retrieved online, is done in acrylic on a board that measures 13 11/16" x 22¼". [Portrait © Rich Buckler; Creepy page TM & © New Comic Company; “Hawkman” page TM & © DC Comics; Avengers cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

“Comic Books Actually Saved My Life, In A Sense” RICHARD ARNDT: Let’s start this off with some information on your background. I know we’re both originally from Michigan....

RICH BUCKLER: I was born in Detroit, but up to age nine I spent my time in a house built by my father and my grandfather. I mean, they actually built the place from the foundation up. This was in upstate rural Michigan, just off Houghton Lake. The nearest town was Prudenville. When I was ten years old, my family relocated to Detroit. So I’m both country- and city-bred—but mostly city. I have a younger sister Peggy, and a younger brother Ron. My father passed away when I was very young, so we were raised by my mom.

RA: What comics were you enthused about when you were a kid? Were there any that made you sit up and take notice?

BUCKLER: I started out reading and collecting Superman. That character, and the creations of animator/filmmaker Ray Harryhausen, sparked my imagination in early youth. Then Batman and Justice League and The Flash and eventually all of the DC comics line.

Not long afterward, I picked up on Marvel, especially with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. By that time I was completely obsessed with comics! By the time I was a teen-ager in Detroit, I was a die-hard comic book collector, and I bought just about everything on a weekly basis.

before he founded the first Detroit Triple Fan Fair, which was in 1965. I took over the publishing of the fanzine Super-Hero from Mike Tuohey, beginning with #4, while I was still in high school.

Mike was going off to college, so I took over the journalistic reins and continued to publish both Super-Hero and my other fanzine, Intrigue, which featured amateur comics creations by me and other fan artists. Through networking via telephone and the postal services, I also contributed art to many other fan publications of the time.

I was a bit of an overachiever, even at that young age. For the very first Detroit Triple Fan Fair, I worked on the organizing committee. My job was art production and doing liaison work with the comic book professionals. I helped bring in guests like Jim Steranko, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, and Al Williamson. At the very beginning, I did all of the convention’s progress reports and program books. I was co-chairman with Robert Brosch for one of the later Detroit conventions. This was all during the late 1960s.

I was also very fortunate to have met Jerry Bails. That meeting and the friendship that followed sparked a lot of creativity for me.

Professor Bails was sort of the father of the whole organized comics fandom movement. If you could call it a movement. It was more like a relentless phenomenon, one that no one had any idea would grow to the epic proportions that it has today.

Professor Jerry Bails was very much an early mentor for me. He thought I was some kind of young genius. I thought he was just being nice. As a matter of fact, it was Jerry who gave me my very first paid art assignment for one of his publications.

Comic books actually saved my life, in a sense. From an early age, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up—a full-time professional in the comic business. My teen years were magical because I was fortunate to fall in with some very key figures in the nascent comic book fandom scene in Detroit.

It was also through Jerry that I met Roy Thomas. This was way back when Roy was an English teacher and was just taking over the publishing of the 1960s version of Alter Ego. Roy was very supportive of my efforts as an artist even in those early fan days, long before he went pro and became Stan Lee’s assistant.

RA: You were very active in the fan scene. How did your involvement in comic fandom come about?

In those early days, I was very actively participating in fan publications. I did art and stories for many fanzines like StarStudded, Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector, The Comic Reader, Comic Crusader, Bombshell, and so many others.

BUCKLER: Actually, I was involved in the organizing of comics fandom in its earliest days. I met Shel Dorf when I was a teen-ager,

Detroit Daze (Left:) Rich Buckler (on the left) and Dr. Jerry G. Bails, founder of Alter Ego and, at least to some extent, of organized comics fandom—both entities being launched in spring of 1961. This photo was taken in Detroit circa the mid-’60s. Thanks to Rich Buckler & Richard Arndt.

(Right:) Rich at a Detroit Triple Fan Fair. Both Bails and Shel Dorf were involved in getting that early fandom event begun in 1965, only a year after the first true comics convention ever; Buckler got involved a couple of years later.

“Just Living My Dream!”

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Fan-tastic Art Buckler’s progress as an artist even during his fannish days is demonstrated by his work in amateur-comics-oriented fanzines (clockwise from above left): Superhero #4 (Winter 1966, published in late 1965)... his Thor/Odin cover for Tony Rutherford’s Bombshell Ama-zine #7 (1967)... and his wraparound cover done for Jerry Bails' 1969 Collector's Guide: The First Heroic Age. Despite the skill displayed in the Thor illo, probably few fans would’ve predicted that, less than five years later, he’d be drawing the thunder god professionally in The Avengers #101. Thanks to Bill Schelly for the above two scans, one of which appeared in his fan-history The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (1995). [Thor, Odin, & Destroyer TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc., Shazam hero & Spectre TM & © DC Comics; Shield TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.; Skyman TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; other art © Rich Buckler.]

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Those fan associations led to my becoming friends with fellow Detroiters Arvell Jones, Desmond Jones, and Keith Pollard—and those friendships have lasted to this day. They lived on the east side of Detroit and I lived on the west side. Arvell was a whirlwind of creativity. He had his own publishing projects, including Fan Informer. I contributed art to Arvell’s fanzine, and we helped each other out throughout the years.

“1967… My First Professional Work In The Comics” RA: Your first comic book credit that I know of was a four-page feature dealing with George Washington for Flash Gordon #10 during the time that title was being published by King Features. That would have made Bill Harris your editor….

Double Detroit Dynamite (Above:) Two of Rich’s buddies from Detroit—and the fact that both of these pics are taken from the 1975 Marvel Con Program Book proves that both of them eventually made it as comic book pros! Sadly, we have no photo of Arvell’s artist brother Desmond, also mentioned by Rich.

BUCKLER: That was in 1967, and you’re right, it was my first professional work in the comics. I was still doing amateur work for fanzines then, but also putting in a lot of time preparing professional samples to get actual work in the mainstream comics.

I got that particular assignment during one of my trips to New York prior to my actually moving there permanently.

For King (As In “Comics”) And Country (As In “Father Of His”) (Above:) The first and last pages of Buckler’s very first professional assignment: a 4-page feature on Gen. George Washington’s crucial crossing of the Delaware, done for King Comics’ Flash Gordon #10 (Oct. 1967). Scripter unknown. An offbeat filler for a science-fiction comic, but Rich was glad to get the assignment! After that, however, his work wouldn’t appear in another pro comic for nearly three years. Thanks to Art Lortie and Allen Smith. [© King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

“Just Living My Dream!”

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I was really glad to be taken seriously.

I could hardly believe my good fortune!

Marv Wolfman

I drew that story back at home in Detroit. On that job, I worked in the old “twice-up” size, which was roughly 12" x 18½". The industry was just changing over to the smaller standard for original art. The pay was $18 per page for pencils and $18 for inking.

RA: There was a fairly lengthy gap between that story and your next professional appearance. It was in 1970 that you started appearing again, with stories for Warren Publications’ Creepy and Eerie titles, which is where I first encountered your work. Were these stories done before or after your move to New York?

at Dave Kaler’s 1967 Academy comics convention. Thanks to Andy Yanchus.

BUCKLER: Well, we should allow for publishing lead time and the fact that, particularly in those days, there would often be a lag between the time I drew a story and when it got printed. There was a three-year print gap, but [for actual assignments] it was more like a year or a year and a half. None of my early assignments got printed right away.

And, during that same time period [of] working for Warren, I was also getting short story assignments for the color horror/supernatural titles from both DC and Marvel.

I did work wherever I could find it. The trick was to always be working, because that’s what you had to do to make a living at it. I wasn’t choosy and I never turned anything down. So I worked in just about every genre the companies were still doing at the time. I remember I even did a two-page fantasy story for The Monster Times, which was a newspaper that ran comics.

“I Was Hired By Jim Warren Personally” RA: For Warren, who first hired you? Would it have been Bill Parente or Jim Warren?

Good Times Marv Wolfman wrote and Rich Buckler drew this two-page feature for the tabloid-format The Monster Times #3 (March 1, 1972)—by which time both were established comics professionals. Thanks to Art Lortie. [© Marv Wolfman & Rich Buckler.]

What happened was: I had attended the New York Comic Con, and then I stayed over a few extra days to scout for possible freelance comics work. At that time, King Features, a major comic strip publisher, had ventured into comic book publishing with a few titles; and, as a comics collector, I bought every issue of Flash Gordon. I was in New York making the rounds, and I thought, why not? So I gave them a shot. I just looked up their address on the indicia of one of their comics and then visited their offices.

I remember that, while I was there, I got the distinct impression that they didn’t know comic books and didn’t really know what they were doing. They were newspaper syndicate guys, really.

I don’t recall who the editor was, but one of their editorial people—and it might have been Bill Harris—gave me the fourpage script “Washington Attacks Trenton” and said something along the lines of “See what you can do with this, kid.” That was it.

There was no negotiating, no contract. But it was a real assignment.

I was eighteen at the time and looked more like I was fourteen, but

BUCKLER: I was hired by Jim Warren personally. After my first art job for Warren, I got my assignments from editor Archie Goodwin.

It’s actually a funny story how I began at Warren. I went to that first appointment along with Alan Weiss. Alan and I were both a bit nervous, but we were ready to break into print. At that time we were roommates in an apartment in Queens. Alan had thankfully rescued me from the sordid environs of the Manhattan YMCA. What a nightmare that place was! Both of us had come up from the fan ranks, but Alan was always a few steps ahead of me in the drawing department.

I remember one day calling up Alan in Las Vegas from a pay phone in Manhattan. We were friends up to that time, mostly via telephone and the postal services. We had only met once before in person, at the New York Comic Con in ’69.

So the conversation went something like this: “Alan, it’s Rich.

I’m in New York! I moved here. And guess what? I got work— everywhere I went! I don’t know how I’m going to draw it all, but that’s beside the point. Now is the time, because if they’re giving me work, I’m sure there’s work for you, too! You have to come to New York!” And he did.

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Of course, back then we had heard the buzz about what a “hard case” Jim Warren could be when it came to hiring artists. But we were prepared for that, too. I came into Warren’s office confident but polite. I didn’t show it, but I was also prepared for the worst.

Well, behind closed doors, Jim Warren reviewed my portfolio, and during that interview he thankfully did most of the talking. He warmed up quickly and was friendly, almost fatherly, and we got along really well. I was surprised. But maybe something about me reminded him of himself when he was young. Warren started out as an artist, you know.

Anyway, much to my delight, he handed me a script, right then and there. I remember coming out of his office smiling victoriously. Then it was Alan’s turn.

Alan disappeared into Warren’s office cubicle, and only a few short minutes later he came out with a somber look on his face, and I asked him, “So, how did it go?” He told me Jim Warren tore him to pieces! I couldn’t believe it. I’ll never forget that moment, because, you know, Alan could draw ten times better than me back then—and he’s still quite a few notches ahead of me today!

RA: From stories I’ve heard about Jim Warren, he liked to keep artists a little off-balance, keep them guessing. And Weiss did get work for Warren at that time, so Warren couldn’t have been too unhappy with his work. Did he give you or Alan his “dollar test”?

According to legend, he used to ask new artists (apparently not all, but quite a few) to pay him a dollar before he would talk to them.

Take The Eerie Canal To Pro-dom Depending on whether you gave him the dollar or not could change (Top left:) Creepy/Eerie/Vampirella publisher James Warren giving a talk at the 1971 the tenor of the interview quite a lot. If somebody got really angry New York Comic Art Convention—juxtaposed with the splash of Buckler’s earliest about having to pay a dollar to (credited) artwork for Warren Publications, done for Eerie #29 (Sept. 1970), and him for a job interview, then he reprinted from Dark Horse’s Eerie Archives, Vol. 6. Rich wrote the story, too. Photo would pull out a thick roll of courtesy of Pedro Angosto & Mike Zeck. [Page TM & © New Comic Company.] dollar bills with a different artist’s signature on each of he could tell right off if an artist was caught up in ego. That was them—names like Richard Corben or definitely a no-no. He was impressed that I came all the way from Bernie Wrightson—and ask the byDetroit to New York just so I could draw comics. And I am certain now terrified applicant that if those that the guy loved comics and comic art! artists could give him a dollar for his “artists’ roll,” who did they think “Knowing Neal [Adams] And Dick [Giordano] they were to refuse?

Alan Weiss By the time this photo was taken, he had long since recovered from his initial encounter with the formidable Jim Warren, and had gone on to a long-term career as a comic book artist.

BUCKLER: I never encountered that move from Warren. Sounds just like him, though. Maybe this was a technique for interviews that he developed after Alan and I first met him.

For my first meeting with him, I got the buddy treatment, like we had so much in common right off.

I was nervous the whole time he talked, but I didn’t let on. I think

Was My ‘In’ At DC”

RA: I suspect your first commissioned work for DC was that series of little two-page tales that, in your case, appeared in The Unexpected. DC often started artists like Kaluta or Wrightson off with those little filler tales. Your first “full-length” short story to appear was “The Symbionts” for Joe Orlando’s House of Secrets. Neal Adams inked that story. How did that come about? Did you meet Neal early on and he give you your “in” at DC? BUCKLER: No, actually “The Symbionts” was the very first story I penciled for DC Comics. It wasn’t done for Joe Orlando. It was the first work that I did for DC, but it wasn’t the first work to be

“Just Living My Dream!”

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year prior to that, so the visit to Neal’s place occurred after I had moved to New York permanently and Neal had helped me to secure my very first apartment in the Bronx.

Neal Adams at the 1971 New York Comic Art Convention. Thanks to Pedro Angosto and Mike Zeck.

Murray Boltinoff in the 1970s.

House Of “Symbionts” Buckler’s first published work for DC Comics was the story he penciled for House of Secrets #90 (Feb.-March 1971), which was inked by Neal Adams.

Though noted primarily as a penciler himself, Adams often inked new artists in order to help their work make as strong an impression as possible upon both the reader—and the mag’s editor. Script by Marv Wolfman. For editor Murray Boltinoff’s part in things, read the interview! Thanks to Steven G. Willis. [TM & © DC Comics.]

published by them. There was a long delay before that particular art job saw print.

I knew Neal from the time he was a guest at one of the early Detroit conventions. We got on well from the start. In later years, when I got married, Neal attended my wedding, and later he became my son Rick’s godfather.

That first DC assignment happened on one of the many trips I made to New York in search of employment in the comics. There was no starting at the top in my case. I made several excursions to New York, and I was very single-minded and determined about making drawing comics my career—but I was not exactly an overnight sensation. So that story ended up in one of Joe Orlando’s books, but Neal and Dick Giordano had sort of conspired to get me that work. I guess you could say that knowing Neal and Dick was my “in” at DC. First, I should mention that the inking on that artwork for “The Symbionts” was finished at Neal’s home in the Bronx almost one year after I penciled it. Most of it is inked by Neal, but I finished up a lot of it. I had mailed in the penciled pages to DC almost a

I was invited to Neal’s home for dinner. While I was there, in the first few minutes, I noticed my artwork lying there near his drawing table and I asked him about it. Now, that assignment was inventoried to begin with, so there wasn’t any real deadline, but I was still surprised to come across it. The long and short of the story was that Neal put me to work to finish up random backgrounds and secondary figures that he had just not gotten around to yet. It wasn’t paying work, but I wanted to see it in print, so I was more than happy to take up a brush and pen and finish things up!

Thinking back, here’s how that story assignment came about. Up at DC’s offices—they were known back then as National Publications—Neal had his own work area in one of the office cubicles opposite the editors’ offices. I came up to visit him on one of my New York trips and I requested an interview with Dick Giordano, who was an editor there at the time. So Neal and I talked a while and I showed my latest samples while I waited for Dick to become available.

After Dick came, I waited around while he showed my art samples around to the various editors. Then he came back with the bad news. He told me that nobody was hiring and that actually no editors were even interested in hiring anybody new.

I was fairly devastated. Dick went back to work, and I was there standing next to Neal, dumbfounded. He must have seen the tears beginning to form in my eyes. And then Neal suddenly said to me: “Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Well, about fifteen minutes went by—agonizing minutes where I had to face the very real possibility that I would return to Detroit empty-handed—and then Neal and Dick returned with editor Murray Boltinoff in tow.

Murray was introduced and we shook hands. There was an awkward silence. Then Neal smiled and offered, “Murray’s got something for you.”

And you know what? Murray did not look too happy about it.

Murray was very old-school, not comfortable with taking risks, and it was evident that he was doing Dick and Neal a favor. Or more like he’d been badgered into it.

Neal patted Murray on the back

Dick Giordano at the 1971 New York Comic Art Convention. (Must’ve been a crowded place!) Thanks to Pedro Angosto & Mike Zeck.

10

Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Then, choosing my own words very carefully, I told Dick that my aim was to be a full-time comic book professional. Anything less that that was unacceptable. Then I asked him: “Would it help if I moved to New York?” And he said he couldn’t make any guarantees, of course—but yes, that would greatly improve my chances. That’s all I needed to hear. I decided then and there that I had to make the big move. I say “big move,” because it was by no means a small thing. In fact, moving to New York proved to be lifechanging!

RA: I noticed that you seemed to have an understanding and command of how the human body stands and works at a very early age for an artist.

Other young artists of that time period—Barry Windsor-Smith, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta—showed a learning curve for a number of years. Not a lot of years, but for a while. You, however, seemed to advance from promising newcomer to a young pro very quickly. Almost overnight, in terms of how your work appeared to comic readers. Did it feel that way to you?

BUCKLER: It might have appeared that way. There is always that learning curve. I started out younger than most of my contemporaries. Back during my school years in Detroit, while other kids were outside playing football or baseball or bike-riding and skateboarding and chasing girls—and I did my share of that, too—I stayed indoors mostly and I read a lot and worked at developing my drawing skills.

I remember hearing a story about Frank Frazetta that he told when he was asked about that. He started out very young, too.

Because of his youth and inexperience he was having trouble getting anybody to take him seriously even as an assistant. One day, it was put to him that he really needed to learn human anatomy. So, according to Frank, he spent the weekend hitting the anatomy books and practicing, and on the following Monday he arrived ready for work and proclaimed: “Okay, now I know anatomy!”

’Snow Foolin’!

Rich did full art on this moody tale from House of Mystery #199 (Feb. 1972).

Script by Lynn Marron. Thanks to Steve G. Willis. [TM & © DC Comics.]

and assured him that he would ink my work, so there was nothing really to worry about.

So, great. I returned to Detroit with my mission accomplished.

Well, sort of. I drew the story on my back porch workplace. I was almost entirely certain then that my comics career was about to take off. So I concentrated on doing my absolute best with that short story, but also drawing it within a normally allotted time.

Then I mailed in the artwork. I got paid. Then weeks went by slowly and nothing happened. No follow-through. Nothing.

Now, I’d gotten lots of “no’s” in my early try-out years, but this was a case of things just left hanging and who knows what will happen. I was always certain that my unwavering persistence and dedication would pay off. I never doubted that for a moment. I knew I was ready. And I was confident that I had proven that.

Well, I just couldn’t stand the suspense anymore, so finally I decided to follow up and call DC. I got Dick on the phone right away. Very carefully choosing his words, he told me that they were happy with the work but unfortunately there were no other assignments forthcoming. That seemed like a bit of a dodge to me. I’m somewhat of a quick study, and I could read between the lines, so I figured out right away what the problem probably was.

Of course, that’s only a story, and maybe in Frank’s case, it’s true. But that kind of mastery of the human figure takes a lot longer for most of us mortals. When I decided to get really serious about my drawing, at about age thirteen or fourteen, I put in serious hours of practice and study. I took out art reference books from the local library. The only problem was that I was under-age and the books I needed were in the adult category. I had to get my Mom to sign them out for me! So my advantage was that I tackled all of the hard stuff first and at a very young age.

I studied and practiced diligently and definitely for more than a few weekends! For me it was a total obsession! As I mentioned earlier, I am self-taught as an artist. There is also a very serious side to me, so my approach from the start of things was very focused.

To this day, my standard is excellence. So my goal back then was to learn all the fundamentals, so that I could apply that to comics illustration and cartooning. I think my edge was that I never thought of myself as only a cartoonist.

“Sol Brodsky… Was Actually The Only Reason That I Went to Skywald” RA: Mike Friedrich told me that, when Skywald started up as a competitor to Warren Publishing, editor and co-publisher Sol Brodsky asked Roy Thomas about writers and artists that Roy could recommend, and that Roy was delighted to recommend good artists and writers—who didn’t work for Marvel. You did a considerable amount of work for the early Skywald. How did you get so much work so fast?

BUCKLER: The short answer was Sol Brodsky. I enjoyed working

“Just Living My Dream!”

11

The Butterfly Effect Splash and an action page from “The Butterfly” in Skywald Publishing’s Hell-Rider #1 (July-Aug. 1971). Gary Friedrich wrote the script, but Buckler is credited with plotting, penciling, and inking the story. According to Rich, there’s some Bill Everett in there, too; read the interview to learn why! [© the respective copyright holders.]

with Sol when he was at Marvel, so he was actually the only reason that I went to Skywald. When I had first heard that Sol had left Marvel to start his own company, I just had to check it out.

Working for Sol was a pleasure, but not everything worked out for me there. I got the chance to write and draw “The Butterfly” for a black-&-white motorcycle comic magazine they were doing called Hell-Rider. Butterfly, by the way, was the very first black super-heroine in the comics. I ran into unexpected difficulties with her, though.

While I didn’t create the character, I had my own ideas about how she should be handled. The version that was in the first issue of the magazine, which I didn’t do, I thought was conservative, oldfashioned, and, well, pretty boring. Sol liked my work a lot, and one day he offered me the opportunity and creative freedom to update The Butterfly to make her more accessible to the young audience Skywald was targeting. For me, that meant making her more black and giving some meaningful substance and subtext to her story.

Gary Friedrich from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual.

I hit the ground running. I threw myself wholeheartedly into the project, and I wrote a story that essentially revamped the entire concept. Gary Friedrich contributed the final dialogue and narration after the story was drawn, following my story notes.

When I handed in the final pages, well, that’s when the trouble started.

Skywald was a partnership. Israel Waldman and Sol Brodsky— hence, Skywald. So Sol wasn’t the only person in charge. It turned out that his publishing partner was not very pleased with how I’d handled that assignment.

Sol was embarrassed, and he explained it to me this way.

According to his partner, the characters looked “too black.” Now, I ask you, how can black people look “too black”? So without my consent or knowledge, Bill Everett was hired to do “touch-ups” and alter some of the drawings. That involved making black faces look more white. There’s no other way to put it. I don’t blame Bill Everett. He was just doing his job. But I was incensed!

Sol Brodsky Photo taken on his last day at Skywald by Alan Hewetson. From the latter’s book Skywald: The Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald HorrorMood. See A/E #134 for lots more on Sol’s long comics career.

My main point of contention was (and still is) this: if the publisher thought the characters were portrayed as “too black,” what then was the point of making the super-heroine and other characters black in the first place? Of course, back in Detroit, I had

12

Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

observed plenty of instances of racism and bigotry. But this was my first encounter on a professional level with narrow-minded thinking and not-so-subtle racist editorial views.

book rights to published short stories for almost nothing. And not only that—we were fortunate to have some of the top sciencefiction writers on board with what we were doing!

I was blindsided, really. My story plot had been pre-approved, so they knew what they were going to get story-wise. Or at least I thought they did. And I put everything I had into that work. I had created a new supporting cast and my story dealt with racism, a Ku Klux Klan secret brotherhood, and political corruption, and showed how a black female character in the comics could be strong and beautiful and heroic.

Chuck and I originated the idea for the magazine and pitched it to Sol. Once we got the go-ahead, we hired first-rate artists like Mike Kaluta and Jeff Jones and Jack Katz—and my own contribution was a story I penciled and inked which was adapted from a Harry Harrison “Stainless Steel Rat” short story.

Yes, I drew black people that looked black. That’s what the story material called for. I felt strongly that the totally unnecessary art changes that were made later undermined the integrity of the whole thing! So, on moral and aesthetic grounds, I quit.

Another worthwhile and innovative project that went sideways at Skywald was a new sci-fi black-&-white comic magazine called Science Fiction Odyssey. This was to be a ground-breaking black-&white magazine featuring cutting-edge science-fiction stories adapted into comics form from top authors in the genre. Sol Brodsky was on board with the concept from the get-go.

For that time in the early 1970s, this was all very cutting-edge.

Chuck McNaughton and I were the editors. We bought the comic

Sol was supportive all the way, but that proved to not be enough to even get things off the ground. Waldman pulled the plug on that just before the first issue was due to be printed. No reason was given.

So my brief stint at Skywald was adventurous, to say the least.

And creatively disappointing.

“Good Times [At DC]” RA: I don’t know if you know this, but just before Al Hewetson passed away in 2004, he sent me the table of contents for that unpublished science-fiction issue (all the stories and art were spread out over the years in either Psycho or Nightmare). I provided the credits for much of the Warren and all of the Skywald titles for the online Grand Comics Database. I included the credits for that issue, and to this day, I think

Cannibalizing “The Mechanical Cannibals” A Buckler double-page spread leads off one of the leftover yarns from Skywald’s projected black-&-white Science Fiction Odyssey. Script & art by Rich Buckler.

This particular tale wound up being printed in the company’s Scream #8 (Aug. 1974). Rich was adapting the short story “From Fantacism, or for Reward”

by SF great Harry Harrison. Inks by Chic Stone. Thanks to Steven G. Willis. [© the respective copyright holders.]

“Just Living My Dream!”

13

Robert Kanigher He conceived the original Rose and Thorn concept for a trio of Golden Age “Flash” stories in the latter 1940s, only two of which were ever printed.

they’re the only credits on the Database for a magazine or comic that never actually existed.

Now, your first series work was the back-up strip “Rose and The Thorn” that appeared in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, beginning in late 1971.

Who was the editor of that book at the time, and how did you get the gig?

A Rose Is A Rose Is A Thorn Two pages showing the appeal of “Rose and The Thorn,” from Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #119 (Dec. 1971). Script by Robert Kanigher, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Dick Giordano. Thanks to Diversions of the Groovy Kind. [TM & © DC Comics.]

BUCKLER: Dorothy Woolfolk was the editor of that comic. Of course, I wanted to draw Superman, but, hey, nobody new started out at DC at the top, and I was OK with that. Dorothy was hired before Jenette Kahn became the publisher at DC. I remember when Jenette came along, a few years after the period we’re talking about, she was only a year older than me when she began in that executive position. I noticed that she was bringing a new and youthful influence to all of DC’s line of comics, which I more than welcomed. She liked me right off, and I quickly became one of her favorites.

So, back to Lois Lane and “Rose and The Thorn.” Robert Kanigher was the writer. And not just the writer. He was very hands-on. We met often, and we would go to lunch together to discuss the Thorn character and concept. Kanigher had a lot of great stories to tell. I liked that he was totally immersed in his stories and characters—and he had a great visual sense to his writing. So I was charged up about working on this series. Editor Dorothy Woolfolk loved the work I was doing, so she gave me lots of freedom to explore the visual possibilities of the character in my storytelling. Those were good times.

RA: You also did some of the “World of Krypton” back-ups for Julie Schwartz’ Superman. How did those back-up strips that followed no single character and to which no one artist or writer was assigned come about?

BUCKLER: That was what? 1970 or 1971? I was a strapping youth then, and I looked more like a member of a rock band than a comic book artist. Most of the editorial people on staff at DC at the time were suit-and-tie, so I stood out from the rest of the office crowd.

I remember that Julius Schwartz did not warm up to me right

away. In fact, he was pretty tough on me. He gave me work, but he was always skeptical, and he was very vocal about it. Roy Thomas had his Mort Weisinger, but I had my Julie Schwartz. But I weathered Julie much better than most.

Those “World of Krypton” assignments were “try-outs” for Julie. I think that’s how he viewed them. And editorially he gave very little leeway. I remember that he was very strict about artists working closely to the script, with no alterations. His attitude seemed to be that writers do the thinking. Artists don’t think. They just draw.

I recall one time when Julie called me into his office to give me a script, and he tried to shake me up a bit. He didn’t really know me, though. Otherwise he would have known that I’m not easily intimidated. He challenged me with: “Hey, Buckler, tell me this. What makes you think you can compete with all the other artists here that have at least twenty years more experience than you?”

I answered him: “Well, Neal Adams and Joe Orlando think I can. This is how I look at it. If somehow I’m not up to it today, I will be next week or next month! And nothing’s going to stop me!”

I resented that he called me Buckler instead of Rich and I told him so. Okay, he was my boss, but I didn’t address him as Schwartz! Like “Hey, Schwartz, you got a minute?” I insisted: “If you want to call me Buckler, put a Mister before that. Otherwise, it’s Rich. You got a problem with that?”

I had a small office work space at DC that was near the editors’ offices, so I worked there on the weekdays. In the evening I would put in a few more hours at my home drawing my regular assign-

14

Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Elliot S. Maggin back in the day.

Julius Schwartz The DC editor who jumpstarted the Silver Age of Comics, beginning in 1956, with The Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League of America, Hawkman, The Atom, and The Spectre.

If I Had But “World” Enough...

Buckler splash page of the “World of Krypton” feature from Superman #251 (May 1972). Script by Elliot S. Maggin, edited by Julius Schwartz. Special thanks to Bob Bailey, who kindly supplied Ye Editor with a list of all of Rich’s DC work through the mid-1970s, as well as providing scans for a number of art spots that accompany this interview. [TM & © DC Comics.]

ments. Joe Orlando and Dick Giordano tried me out on a few covers for their books, and soon afterward I was doing a lot of cover work, too, and moving slowly up to drawing the main characters.

He looked at my sketch and shook his head and said: “You just made $50 in ten minutes. That doesn’t seem right. How can you justify that?” My answer to that was: “Well, Julie, I’m not paid for my lines, but for my quality of thought!”

Then he asked me to work up a few more versions of the same idea. I said no problem—but I’m billing you separately for each of those. After that, all of the covers I designed and drew were from first version sketches.

On covers I was always allowed by editors to do whatever I wanted, because I knew what I was doing. Julie was the only editor who ever tried to give me a hard time about it. But, then again, he gave me a hard time with just about everything!

In a rather feeble attempt to ameliorate my work relationship with Julie, I did a Superman cover for him where I drew me and Julie in the background. Now, I never received compliments from Julie, ever—and I was used to that. I did think at least he would notice it. But he didn’t. So one day someone at the office pointed it out to him in the printed version and he decided to ask me about it. He said: “That’s supposed to be me? Why

I think I was the first artist to insist on being paid for cover sketches. Before that, the artists were just paid for illustrating the cover, not for thinking up the idea. My view was that this was a separate creative stage, involving Cover-Up! much more than just drawing what you were told. You For the most part, we’ve had to design and create something new in a specific stuck to showing Buckler artwork from 1975 or format. So the artist had to invent something new. The before. But Rich editor would give you a few copies of art story pages and specifically mentions sometimes a brief description of what they were looking doing the cover of Action for—sometimes not even that. That was it. So you were Comics #479 (Jan. 1978), on your own and had to come up with brilliant ideas on on which he penciled in the spot. Not every artist could do that. Well, once the himself and his editor—not editors found out that I was good at it, I was producing that Julius Schwartz covers on demand regularly, sometimes at the rate of two noticed till somebody told or three per day. him about it! Inks by As I hinted at earlier, my work relationship with Julie Schwartz was often a bit of a tug-of-war. One day I got a

cover assignment from him. He called me into his office to give me some photocopies of some story pages and said to come up with an idea for a cover that he needed right away, that day. Like it was some kind of challenge. Okay. No problem. That’s how it was usually done and I was always ready. I knew all of the characters, inside out and backwards. Ten minutes later I had a sketch for him.

Bob Oksner. From the Grand Comics Database.

[TM & © DC Comics.]

“Just Living My Dream!”

15

Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin’ Along (Left:) Robin and spitting images of comics pros Gerry Conway, Alan Weiss, and Bernie Wrightson walked down “Bleeker” Street in Gotham City in Batman #239 (Feb. 1972). New York City, of course, has a Bleecker Street. Script by Mike Friedrich; pencils by RB; inks by Dick Giordano.

(Right:) Buckler did full-art chores on this “Robin” tale from Batman #241 (May ’72); script again by Mike Friedrich. Thanks to Bob Bailey for both scans. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Mike Friedrich

didn’t you draw me more heroiclooking?”

RA: Soon after this, you started doing a number of “Robin” backup tales in Batman.

I remember very much liking those at the time. Very accomplished and slick-looking art. What can you tell us about those?

in a photo taken for Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #11 circa 1969-70.

BUCKLER: I got to draw Superman and Batman when I took over drawing the lead stories for World’s Finest. But that came after my work on “Robin.” I saw that assignment as a step up. I remember not being too thrilled with those “Robin” assignments, though, so I decided to experiment.

I felt that the Robin character was lame and pretty useless. But Mike Friedrich was writing scripts that dealt with Robin’s youth and shaking things up a bit, taking on some social issues. So that made it interesting, and I got into Mike’s treatment of the character.

I’ve never drawn a comics story where my aim was just to show off my drawing skills. For me it’s more about putting the characters across and telling a good story with pictures. And of course having fun while doing it!

So, like I said, I experimented a bit—with my storytelling approach and using different drawing styles. I had a meeting with Vince Colletta, who, in those early days at DC, was both a friend and a mentor. Vince was a valuable DC creative asset, and he had his own private office at that time that I would visit every now and then.

So I showed my first “Robin” art job to Vince. He looked at me, asking in his avuncular manner: “You want to hear what I think?”

And of course I did. He told me, “This isn’t your style.” I think he meant that it just wasn’t a “DC”style. “So, what’s my style?” I asked. We sort of left that up in the air, but I decided to listen to his advice and follow up on the advice.

I knew what he meant. Most artists have just one style that they always use. Just for the record, I should mention that I view style as something that you are doing at the moment. I put a lot of thought into that and tend to do what I think is appropriate.

Different assignments require different styles and approaches. As an artist, I have many styles. And I am very versatile and flexible.

So, for the next “Robin” story, I decided to switch gears. What I brought in a week or two later was more in the Neal Adams vein.

16

Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Sample Case Amazingly, Rich still has the two sample pages he first showed to Stan Lee and Roy Thomas, in hopes of getting assignments at Marvel. Hey, guess what?

It worked! As it happened, the pages featured Ka-Zar and Black Panther—two characters he would soon be drawing professionally for Marvel. See why Marvel hired ’im? [Ka-Zar & Black Panther TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art © 2016 Rich Buckler.]

That was my guess for what Vince was expecting, and when I showed that to him he said: “Now, that’s your style!”

“None Of The Other Artists… Wanted To Work On Team Books” RA: Your first effort at drawing a main title was on The Avengers #101.

How did you advance from back-ups to a main feature and on such a major title? You were also following John Buscema, Neal Adams, and Barry Windsor-Smith on the book. Was it intimidating following those three?

BUCKLER: Well, Barry Windsor-Smith and I are contemporaries.

We both started our careers at Marvel at around the same time, so I wasn’t exactly following Barry. Both Neal Adams and John Buscema were way ahead of me, so yeah, that was a bit challenging. Not intimidating, though, not really.

At both Marvel and DC, early on, I made friends fast. I managed to get to know many of the artists from the generation before me—all of whom I admired and respected. I didn’t actually meet John Buscema or Joe Sinnott [who inked most of that Avengers run] until years later. But I did seem to fit right in, at both Marvel and DC. For instance, at Marvel I immediately got along well with Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito, Marie Severin, Vince Colletta, George

Roussos, and Jack Abel. That was back when there was an actual Marvel bullpen. And you know what? They all accepted me as one of their own! So I wasn’t exactly competing with those artists whose work I admired since my youth. It wasn’t like that at all.

I was more like a professional artist who was still very much a comics fan. That always showed and I never apologized for it.

Also, I’m not really the competitive type. So I didn’t regard those artists as competition. For me they were colleagues and collaborators.

My work on Avengers was due to Roy Thomas deciding to move me up to the main titles. None of the other artists back then wanted to work on team books. Those were always assiduously avoided! Too much work, too many characters, too much of everything. Well, for me, too much is never enough. I was up to the challenge, and Roy knew it.

Avengers #101 was titled “Five Dooms to Save Tomorrow!” and was adapted from a Harlan Ellison story. The inking was by Dan Adkins. I remember it well. I was Roy’s first choice for penciler on that assignment. Roy and I are both big science-fiction fans, and both of us were huge fans of Harlan Ellison. So it was a good fit, and this was Roy giving me my first big break and trying me out on a main title.

It’s interesting that, in my trade book How to Draw Dynamic Comic Books, Stan Lee boasted in his introduction that he was from

“Just Living My Dream!”

17

Two Dooms To Save TwoMorrows!

(Left:) The splash page of Buckler’s first major Marvel feature—The Avengers #101 (July 1972), inked by Dan Adkins. He and scripter Roy Thomas adapted a synopsis that science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison had submitted years before to Julius Schwartz—as a “Hawkman” tale. For the story behind this issue, including Ellison’s full plot, see Alter Ego #31, still available from TwoMorrows.

(Right:) Buckler and George Tuska teamed up to pencil Avengers #106 (Dec. ’72), which was then inked by Dave Cockrum. Script by Steve Englehart. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Roy Thomas Pic from the 1975 Mighty Marvel Comic Convention program book.

SPECIAL NOTE: Barry Pearl, besides supplying virtually all of the Marvel art that accompanies this interview, went above and beyond by reading the Buckler interview in advance (as did Bob Bailey) and picking out art that especially fit this section. Roy, who was still valiantly attempting to finish his big book on Stan Lee for Taschen Publishing (out this fall!), needed all the help he could get this issue, and appreciated the lengths to which Barry (and Bob, re DC mags) went to help out!

Steve Englehart was interviewed in depth in Alter Ego #103. Thanks to John Morrow.

the beginning one of my biggest fans and boosters. Well, Stan did give me my first assignment at Marvel, and he was supportive.

But, you know, that was typical Stan Lee hyperbole, and it was probably not literally true. Because, as I recall, it was mainly Roy Thomas who gave me all my big breaks [at Marvel]! I just can’t say enough good things about that guy!

Avengers. To be honest, I was more than happy working with Don McGregor and drawing “The Black Panther” for Jungle Action, which was going on at the same time, or maybe just before or after.

So I didn’t want to give up drawing “The Black Panther,” either!

But there was only so much that one artist could do and keep up with deadlines, too.

It was like that at DC, too, with Dick Giordano and Joe Orlando.

Both of those artist-editors were very supportive of my work. At times, we were almost like family.

Like I said, my work on Avengers was due to Roy Thomas moving me up to bigger things. So I had to leave the Avengers book in order to switch to the Fantastic Four—and boy, was I happy about that!

RA: You only did four or five issues of The Avengers before leaving the title (except for doing the covers). Was there any particular reason for this?

BUCKLER: I was working eight- to twelve-hour days back then, seven days a week. Just living my dream! I was happy drawing The

I got to do whatever I wanted on my run on Fantastic Four. And what I wanted was, in my own way, to bring back some of the storytelling dynamics and excitement of all those Jack Kirby masterpieces that I grew up on! It was a shameless fanboy sendup—I admit it. But I had a great time doing it.

18

Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Gerry Conway in late-’60s/early-’70s photo.

Joe Sinnott as seen in the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual.

Four Fantastic Forays (Clockwise from top left:) A quartet of Buckler-penciled splashes, from Fantastic Four #142, #147, #148, & #150 (Jan., June, July, & Sept.

1974)... all inked by Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, and all scripted by Merry Gerry Conway. Thanks to Scary Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Just Living My Dream!”

19

prove himself and pencil and ink an entire story and meet the deadline, without fail. Which, um, frankly he wasn’t up to.

Somehow DuBay had managed to convince Jim Warren that he was some kind of creative genius. And wouldn’t you know it? This young “genius” inadvertently found himself in a really tough spot.

What to do?

So he called up Alan [Weiss] at the very last minute—on the day before his final deadline!—and he asked Alan for help. He was desperate. Alan and I decided to trek to DuBay’s house, which was all the way to the farthest tip of Long Island. I remember that day very well, because it was on one of the coldest winter days that New York City ever had. DuBay’s house was not properly heated, so we were shivering and drinking lots of hot coffee the whole time we worked.

Mind you, we didn’t even know the guy. DuBay had just moved to New York from San Francisco. Okay, so Alan and I were just helping out a fellow freelance artist in need. Really, we had no idea what to expect. Amazingly, the guy had only gotten roughly halfway through the script, with only a few pages inked, so we definitely had our work cut out for us!

We warmed up as best we could and took a few moments to assess what work needed to be done. I looked at Alan and I shook my head doubtfully. “I don’t know,” I said. And we looked at each other in a tense moment and Alan said, “Come on, Rich. We can do it!”

Alan and I switched off doing layouts and finishing the penciling, both of us working like madmen and drawing as fast as humanly possible! DuBay worked in the next room and handled all the inking. I knew one thing for sure—there was no way this guy would have gotten the whole job done in time all by himself.

Who’s Stronger...?

A Buckler commission drawing of Thor vs. Hulk. Thanks to RB & Barry Pearl.

Rich can be reached at bucklersr@aim.com for commission work, etc.

[Thor & Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RA: You also took over “Ka-Zar” in Astonishing Tales. At this time he had taken over the anthology title from his various co-stars. Was Marvel’s version of the jungle lord one you were excited about doing?

BUCKLER: Yes. Chic Stone did the inking on that. I remember not liking the way that turned out. It could have been a lot better. I thought that Chic’s inking and my pencil style didn’t mesh all that well.

My very first sample pencil story pages for Marvel that I showed to Stan Lee featured the Black Panther and Ka-Zar. So I had an affinity for those characters from the start.

“Wow, What An Odd Character!”

RA: After a couple of years away from their titles, in 1972 you did more work for Warren. Particularly starting off their “Werewolf” series for Eerie. Why the gap in stories for them?

BUCKLER: I have some interesting background to share on that.

Prior to drawing those “Werewolf” stories for Bill DuBay at Warren, Alan Weiss and I had helped out DuBay on the art for a story for one of the Warren books.

Okay, let me elaborate on that. At that time, DuBay was offered the art director post at Warren with one provision—he had to

So we worked non-stop all the way through the night and on into the early morning hours—and all the while we had to listen to DuBay when he would take breaks and come out and tout himself as the next greatest thing since sliced bread. His wife had judiciously disappeared earlier. It was like she didn’t want to deal with any of this. I only learned later that their marriage then was on its very last legs.

DuBay tried in his own quirky manner to be entertaining, but he just came across as abrasive, self-serving, and just not very likable.

I remember thinking: “This guy is going to be the new boss at Warren? God help us!”

So we did finish everything in time. I was amazed that we actually did it. And on the following day, DuBay met with Jim Warren, and he got the art director’s job. Come to think of it, Alan and I weren’t even paid for the work that we did.

And so much for DuBay being a self-made genius! That artwork was an Alan Weiss/Rich Buckler/Bill DuBay production. I thought for sure Warren or somebody close to him would pick up on that, but they didn’t. Of course, DuBay dutifully grabbed all the credit, and our rescue job remained a well-kept secret. [NOTE: For the record, the story being discussed here is the seven-page “Ice Scream” from Eerie #28 (July 1971), written by R. Michael Rosen, with the art credited solely to DuBay. —RA.] When Alan and I left DuBay’s place, I remember on the walk to the train station I said to Alan: “Wow! What an odd character!”

Alan agreed with me. You know, we had no idea how much of a drastic change was coming to Warren’s books after he took over as the new editor [a year or two later]. Alan and I thought that, at the very least, we would have an “in” at Warren because we did the

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

guy such a big favor. But that’s not how things went after that, at all.

Back to those “Werewolf” stories. This was about a year or so after the events I just related. I also did a few “Dracula” stories for DuBay around that same period. Anyhow, working for Bill DuBay was no walk in the park.

At this junction Bill had separated from his first wife and he hooked up with my sister Peggy, and subsequently they were married. Bill and my sister were living then in an apartment building across the street from my place. This was still in the Bronx.

Those assignments he gave me were very sporadic—that’s just how he would do things.

Sittin’ On The Dock With DuBay Bill DuBay, during his Warren Publishing days as editor, surrounded by several female staffers in a playful photo—presumably to illustrate that publisher Jim W. was “away.” Clockwise from the left, the ladies are colorist Michelle Brand, ad production artist Sherry Burne, and assistant editor Louise Jones (now Louise Simonson). This photo, taken by Bill Mohalley, was printed in the TwoMorrows volume The Warren Companion, edited by Jon B. Cooke. Special thanks to Michael T. Gilbert for reminding us!

By that time, and I don’t know exactly how, he and I had become close friends for a spell. Maybe that was partly out of consideration for my sister. I can get along with just about anybody, and he was, after all, my brother-in-law. So I put a lot of effort into it and patiently overlooked our differences.

DuBay was not so gracious. Being the character that he was, he took advantage whenever he could. He was like that. He would be in a bind and get you to pitch in and then make it seem like he was doing you a favor.

I think I was given those stories to draw for him partly because I was handy and he knew that I was fast, but also (and I’m only

You Scream... I Scream... We All Scream...

The first and final pages of “Ice Cream,” from Warren’s Eerie #28 (July 1970)—a story much of which was ghosted overnight by a young Rich Buckler and Alan Weiss to help Bill DuBay prove that he could “pencil and ink an entire story and meet the deadline, without fail.” He got the job... thanks to Rich and Alan.

Script by R. Michael Rosen. [© New Comic Company.]

“Just Living My Dream!”

21

guessing here) to solve publishing deadline problems that would come up now and then. That’s why there were gaps, as you called it.

The “Dracula” stories were from my pencil layouts. He inked those pages on acetate overlays. Actually, he inked all of my pencil art like that. I didn’t like how those were turning out. A bit early on, I managed to exact a promise from DuBay that he would not be the inker on that work. He reluctantly agreed to this. But he broke his word—which he did quite often—and he did ink my work anyway. Of course, that set things on edge a bit. But it was his show, so I went along for the sake of getting along.

The problem, on the creative side, was that I could see very clearly that our styles were not a good match. He just did not have the necessary drawing chops, and that showed up in the finished art. His ego would not allow him to face this fact, and inevitably we had more arguments over this. I then decided to tight-pencil my work, so those “Werewolf” stories were a bit more successful— but everything to me seemed crude and uneven. I was very dissatisfied and frustrated. Eventually I just had to quit. I just couldn’t take being lied to and manipulated.

So the friendship ended. It had to, because it became really impossible to deal with the guy. You never knew where you stood with him or what was going to happen next. I’m sure my sister was dealing with this in her own way, on a daily basis, somehow. I think you really had to have known him or at least have met him to know what I’m talking about here.

RA: Actually, although I never met him in person, we had several phone conversations a couple of years before his death. I was chatting him up for a possible interview, which he agreed to do. While talking with him, it quickly became obvious that, while he was cordial enough, he was quite capable of becoming very irritated very quickly over things that, to me at least, seemed to be very slight things. The interview never came about, because initially he had to go to Asia for a cartoon project, and then he had some business reversals which put him out of the mood to talk about his comic days.

BUCKLER: Cordial DuBay could be—but always duplicitous. Just to give you an idea, Bill DuBay constantly and seriously insisted that he was God. And I mean that literally. He even told his kids he was God! His tactics would always be maneuvers that would put him in the strongest power position. I always countered that with ego-bursting sideways comments, which he hated. It did strike a balance, though. For a while, anyway.

I’d heard about Jim Warren’s “dark” and quirky side—but it was nothing like DuBay’s. Warren was more capricious—and he was funny, too! That work period for Warren Publications was fraught with difficulties and was not the best of times. Not all of my experiences in the comics business were positive—but thankfully, most of them were!

“I Was Not Just Into Super-Heroes”

The Son Also Rises—When It Gets Dark Enough The credits on this “Son of Dracula” story from Eerie #48 (June 1973) read “Story & art by Bill DuBay & Rich Buckler.” Rich says that, at least artwise, DuBay primarily inked over his penciled layouts. Repro’d from Dark Horse’s Eerie Archives, Vol. 10. [© New Comic Company.]

were done by only a handful of artists on a regular basis. The reason for that was because not every artist was up to the task.

And deadlines were always a real crunch.

I had a flair for the Jack Kirby style of action and storytelling that Stan Lee favored. That was noticed early on. I also had a strong design sense. Those covers were often done right at the Marvel offices, with me working closely with John Romita, who was the art director back then. John and I had a great rapport. So I turned out a lot of covers in those days. For a while I was the “goto” guy whenever any editor needed a cover fast. The only artist drawing more covers than me was Gil Kane!

RA: Earlier, you were talking about cover assignments for DC. During 1972-1973 you started doing quite a number of covers for Marvel. Was this considered a prestige assignment, or was it just a job where they needed someone to do covers and you happened to be available? Was the pay for covers significantly better than for interior pages?

At DC, a few year later, Vince Colletta began as the art director and it was a similar scene. I remember that Vince had taken me under his wing early on, and he took me around to all of the editors and introduced me. “This is Rich Buckler,” he would tell them. “He’s fast and he’s good, so give him lots of work!” And they did.

BUCKLER: Cover assignments weren’t “prestige” assignments, but I loved drawing those covers. I did as many as I could, and I made it a point to do my own covers on all the stories that I drew. Covers didn’t pay much better than story pages, though. Look back and you will see that most of the covers at Marvel and DC at the time

RA: The Grand Comics Book Database has you doing a single story for Western’s The Twilight Zone #47 (“And Where It Stops, Nobody Knows”) with a script by Len Wein and inks by Sal Trapani that appeared in late 1972. Western was based in California. Did they also have a New York office?

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

BUCKLER: This has got to be a mistake. It’s probably somebody’s best guess. I know that I never worked for Gold Key or Dell or Western Publishing.

RA: Okay, interesting. At this time, you were also still doing backup strips for DC— “Hawkman” for one—and some of Marvel’s mystery tales in color books like Journey into Mystery, with various inkers, and also solo work for Marvel’s black-&-white titles like Dracula Lives! Your work in the black-&white magazines was quite striking. Did you like seeing your work in black-&-white? The inkers Marvel used in the black&-white magazines, like Carlos Garzon and Klaus Janson, seemed more appropriate to your penciling

Giant Economy Size The cover and splash page of Giant-Size Super-Stars #1-and-only (May 1974), penciled by Rich Buckler and inked by Joe Sinnott. Script by Gerry Conway.

With the second issue, the extra-length 25¢ comic’s name was changed to Giant-Size Fantastic Four, after publisher Stan Lee decided he wanted to have a whole line of “Giant-Size” titles. Thanks to the GCD and Barry Pearl, respectively. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

style than many of the inkers you were receiving in the color books. Did or do you have a preference among inkers of your work—especially at that time?

BUCKLER: Comics are comics, whether they’re black-&-white or color. But the black-&-white stories do always require a different treatment. It’s almost a different medium! An artist has to make up for the absence of color. So, more consideration of light and shadow is required.

On nearly all of my black-&-white art, I indicated on the originals how I wanted the wash or gray tones to be applied. I planned all of the halftone effects on that “Dracula” story. I enjoyed that work and it stretched my capabilities. Challenging—but with drawing comics I always welcome a challenge. I also took advantage then and experimented a great deal with layout, too.

Horror Stories To Have Red To You Even when Marvel went the black-&-white horror route beginning with Dracula Lives! #1 (1973 – no month), publisher Stan Lee couldn’t resist having a bit of color tossed in. This tale, which somehow transported Dracula to Vienna in the late 1800s, was scripted by Steve Gerber, penciled

by Rich Buckler, & inked by Pablo Marcos. Thanks to Rich Buckler & Arndt.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

I did that, too, with the story I drew for Warren called “Snow.”

That one was inked by Wally Wood. The first problem I faced when I got that script was: “How do you draw snow?” Of course, you don’t. You can’t use lines. So I worked out a way to get that environmental effect, which was crucial to the story, by using tones and contrast. I had no idea at the time that Wally Wood was going to ink those pages. And he did a spectacular job!

“Just Living My Dream!”

23

“Don [McGregor] And I Worked So Well Together”

Wally Wood Photo courtesy of Jim Amash.

RA: At the same time as “The Living Mummy,” you began your work on “The Black Panther” in Jungle Action, with Don McGregor. Personally, I consider this to be a high point of your early career. Those double-page layouts were stunning. Did you know Don to any degree prior to this assignment?

BUCKLER: Well, if the work I did on “Black Panther” was literally a high point in my career, then I must have peaked early and the rest is just downhill. But I don’t think that is the case. There was a particular magic in those works, though, I’ll have to admit. And I believe it was because Don and I worked so well together. We would plan out pages together, sometimes when my work was in the layout stage. Don’s ideas were always very visual.

“Snow” Job Buckler/Wood splash from Warren Publications’ black-&-white Creepy #75 (Nov. 1974); script by Bruce Bezaire. This moody tale was reprinted in Creepy Archives, Vol. 16. [© New Comic Company.]

As a comics fan, I was not just into super-heroes. I always appreciated the beauty of those comics artists who had illustrative styles—particularly the EC/Warren artists like Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Wallace Wood, George Evans, Roy Krenkel, Reed Crandall, John Severin, and Angelo Torres. Also Gray Morrow, Alfredo Alcala, and Rudy Nebres! And, of course, I was greatly influenced by the bold newspaper art of Hal Foster and Alex Raymond.

So my approach to those black-&-white art jobs was more illustrative, and I gave them a more realistic treatment. The inkers I favored have always been the ones who could follow my drawing and not distort it. Pablo Marcos, Klaus Janson, and Carlos Garzon I like a lot— because those guys could draw!

RA: You drew the first appearance of “The Living Mummy.” What can you tell us about that?

BUCKLER: That was for Supernatural Thrillers. What can I say about that? Not much. It was an assignment, really. I drew the cover and the first appearance of that character. I loved the classic monsters. But that was mostly Steve Gerber’s brainchild.

Mummy Dearest

Steve Gerber in a photo that appeared in Marvel’s fan-mag FOOM #19 (Fall 1977).

“The Living Mummy” splash page from Marvel’s Supernatural Thrillers #5 (Aug. 1973), penciled by Rich Buckler and inked by Frank Chiaramonte. The character was developed by writer Steve Gerber and artist Buckler from little more than a series title suggested by editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who wanted to play the “mummy” card in the monster-hero sweepstakes, and added the word “Living” because that made the title more trademarkable.

Steve made him a black warrior enslaved by the Egyptians to build the Pyramids. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Rich Buckler & Don McGregor with a cosplay Black Panther (Bill Johnson) at a recent comics convention.

Photo courtesy of RB.

“Panther’s Rage” Begins!

(Above & right:) Don McGregor (writer) and Rich Buckler (penciler) began their long and critically acclaimed stint in tandem on “The Black Panther” in Marvel’s Jungle Action #6 (Sept. 1973), the first issue of the title to feature original material. The cover was inked by Frank Giacoia, the interior story by Klaus Janson. Thanks to the GCD and Barry Pearl, respectively.

(Below:) McGregor, Buckler, & Janson teamed up again on the “War of the Worlds” installment in Amazing Adventures #25 (July 1974). Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Klaus Janson at a recent New York City con. In the 1970s he was one of the most frequent (and best) Buckler inkers.

“Just Living My Dream!”

I knew Don from when he first moved from Rhode Island to take a job at Marvel as a proofreader and editorial assistant. We met at Marvel’s offices and we became fast friends. I helped him to get his first apartment. We spent many hours together brainstorming about “Black Panther” and comics in general. Don is just a whirlwind of creativity. For creating comics, I always welcome that kind of energy and intensity!

As I alluded to earlier, at that time I worked at Marvel in a large office space of my own that was just across from the main bullpen.

Sol Brodsky had arranged that for me. So I would come to work at Marvel and I would see Don at the office almost every day, and then often later in the evening we would meet at his place or mine.

Our collaborations on Jungle Action and a few other projects we did together were highly charged and personal. We just pulled out all the stops, and we never considered what the people at Marvel would think. We were determined to just please the comics fans, and ourselves, of course—and I think that was reflected in the work we turned out together.

I loved Don’s writing style! So eclectic, but never derivative.

Always exciting and visceral! He was and is one of the smartest, most articulate, and literate comics writers that I’ve ever worked with. And he has a heart about the size of Long Island!

RA: You also worked on a Spider-Man book/insert for the Peter Pan record company. Were those comics full-size or mini-comics? Was the pay better doing the ads?

25

BUCKLER: I did a lot of work for Peter Pan Records and their later incarnation, which was Power Records.

As I recall, those were actual printed comics that came with the records, and they were the same size as regular comic books. They were booklets, really, as they were printed better and were sturdier than the [regular] comics. The pay on those jobs was about the same as my regular comics work.

RA: How did you get involved in the merchandising side of comics?

BUCKLER: Most of that artwork was done for Dick Giordano, and this was back when he was still running his own art studio—Dik-Art—out of Connecticut. Dik-Art was packaging the comics

Power To The Spider-People!

This “Power Records” cover is listed as quite possibly having been penciled by Buckler.

Other details unknown. Thanks to Jim Kealy, Doug Martin, & Steven G. Willis for this and other Power scans. [Art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Malice” Aforethought This double-page “Black Panther” title spread in Jungle Action #8 (Jan. 1974) gave Buckler and letterer Tom Orzechowski a chance to show off their artistic chops. Script by Don McGregor; inks by Klaus Janson. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

BUCKLER: Deadlines were always an issue! Scheduling at Marvel was tight, and the work pace was hectic. I was juggling deadlines all of the time. It wasn’t like it is today, where an artist is given two or three months to do a single book or a year to illustrate a graphic novel. A lot of artists then couldn’t even keep up the pace on one regular book. I’m amazed to this day that I kept up with things as well as I did.

The layouts were Roy’s idea. That was done actually to try to bump things up in terms of the publishing schedule. I did really tight layouts that were more like loose pencils. And that did speed things up quite a bit, and the quality of the work was fairly consistent. But there were bumps in the road now and then.

Working like that places a lot of burden on the inker/finisher. So sometimes it worked really well, and other times not so good.

RA: You did a few fill-in stories for Conan, a title that would have seemed a natural for you. Were you looking for more work on that book or character?

BUCKLER: I illustrated one issue of the color title Conan the Barbarian, which Ernie Chua (Chan) inked, and I penciled one long story for one of the Conan black-&-white magazines that was inked

by Romeo Tanghal. I loved the Conan character, and I was nuts about Robert E. Howard’s writing! As a teenager, I had read everything Howard wrote that I could get my hands on! I wish I’d had the opportunity at Marvel to draw “Conan” more than I did.

“[With ‘Deathlok’] I Don’t Think Anybody At Marvel’s Editorial Department Knew What They Were In For” Do A Fill-In Issue—We Dare Ya! When Gene Colan’s long artistic run on Daredevil finally ended with #100, Rich stepped in to do a fill-in issue (#101, July 1973)—and provided a splash panel that made any reader slaver to see what happened next! Script by Steve Gerber; inks by Frank Giacoia. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

content for the record company. I commuted by car from my home in the North Bronx. This was just before Dick returned to DC as an editor. He and I had an excellent rapport, and I got to draw the scripts exactly how I wanted to. So, lots of creative freedom there.

Same with Dick Ayers, who took over from Dick later. All of that art was a lot of fun.

RA: You left the bi-monthly “Black Panther” to take over the monthly Fantastic Four in 1973. By the end of your first year, you were only doing layouts instead of full pencils. Was this because of deadline issues?

What’s Up, Doc? Buckler provided this dramatic cover for Marvel’s Doc Savage #7 (Oct. 1973), the story inside being adapted from one of the original Street & Smith magazine/novels.

Ross Andru was the interior artist, however. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Conde Nast Publications.]

RA: How did your own character “Deathlok” come about? He was an extremely unusual character at the time, but seemed to fit in with some of the other odd, quirky characters that Marvel was doing like “Killraven” or Howard the Duck. Not that they were similar characters, but that they had a kind of attitude about them. Can you discuss his origins and what you intended to do with him? How did such an unusual and disfigured character get into print? Were there any problems with the Comics Code about him?

BUCKLER: “Extremely unusual” doesn’t really say it. There was nothing like “Deathlok” before his debut as a Marvel character. I don’t think anybody at Marvel’s editorial department knew what they were in for—including Roy Thomas, who gave the go-ahead for the project to appear regularly in Astonishing Tales!

There should have been problems with the Comics Code.

Interesting that you should mention that. Deathlok was a cyborg— something almost nobody at the time knew anything about, let alone what it actually was—but he was also a re-animated corpse.

That was supposedly strictly forbidden by the Comics Code Authority! How that slipped by them is anybody’s guess!

So, in answer to how the Deathlok character came about, it went like this: I had the idea for a cyborg character that I had developed for an intended prose novel, and this was shortly after I broke into the comics. I was an avid science-fiction reader since my early teens. I had early aspirations of becoming a writer of fiction for the fantasy paperback market. So this was science-fiction, really, not super-heroes at all.

My work schedule for the comics was so demanding at that time that I just wasn’t ever able to set aside enough time to actually write an entire novel. But the idea stayed with me. Then I got an urge to do a treatment of the character for the comics. I thought, why not? No time like the present! So one day, on impulse, I

“Just Living My Dream!”

Ernie Chan was drawing at that time under the name “Ernie Chua.”

27

What I really wanted was a new sci-fi action/adventure character that really rocked—one that would not be derivative of anything Marvel was already publishing. My character had drastic differences from the Bionic Man, and I was certain that I could do this as a Marvel series and do it much better than the popular television series—which I found disappointing. So I waited patiently to see how that would play out, and only a few months later Marvel lost that license to Charlton.

I remember when I first heard that news: I met Roy in the hallway at the Marvel offices one day and he stopped me and said: “Rich. Good news. Charlton is doing The Six Million Dollar Man, so that means your project is a go.”

I was thrilled. “Only one thing, though,” Roy continued. “The only publishing slot we have open is Astonishing Tales, which is a bi-monthly. So it won’t be a number one, but we could start on it right away. What do you think?”

What did I think? I said yes! Didn’t hesitate even for a moment!

I was told that I needed to work up a quick formal presentation.

No Wonder They Call It “The Forgotten City”!

Rich probably provided just layouts for the 15-page lead story in Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #40 (July 1974)—but between them, he and inker Ernie Chan/Chua well evoked a time-lost city in a yarn guest-plotted by fantasy author Michael Resnick for scripter/editor Roy Thomas. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Conan Properties International, LLC.]

approached Roy Thomas with the idea of doing it as a comic for Marvel.

Marvel was bidding on the license for The Six Million Dollar Man then, and Roy told me he liked my concept but we would have to wait and see, because if Marvel got those publishing rights, then they were definitely going with that franchise.

I wasn’t interested in starting a franchise, nor was I designing a character that could be merchandized as a toy or a video game or the like. My first love is comics. I just wanted to tell my character’s story.

Astonishing Males The cover and splash page of Astonishing Tales #26 (Oct. 1974). Buckler did full-art chores on the former, while Pablo Marcos inked the latter. The story was co-plotted and scripted by Doug Moench. Thanks once again to the GCD and Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Wonder How Much Deathlok Cost!

(Left to right:) Joe Staton’s cover for Charlton Comics’ Six Million Dollar Man #1 (June 1976), based on the TV series—which in turn was adapted from Martin Caidin’s 1972 novel Cyborg. Although Buckler’s “Deathlok” series was greenlighted only after Charlton obtained that license (which Marvel had been seeking), for some reason “Deathlok” hit the newsstands nearly two years before the Charlton color comic, which lasted nine issues. One month after its color comic debuted, Charlton also launched a black-&-white SMDM comic/magazine, which had a six-issue run.

[TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

The cover and splash page of Astonishing Tales #25 (Aug. 1974), which introduced “Deathlok the Demolisher.” The former was penciled by Buckler and inked by Klaus Janson—the latter penciled and primarily inked by Buckler, with an inking assist from Janson, Al Milgrom, & Mike Esposito. Apparently, at an early stage, the series was announced with the title “Cyborg” and slated to appear in Worlds Unknown. Script by Doug Moench, from a plot

by RB. Thanks to the GCD and Barry Pearl for the respective scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Doug Moench From the 1975 Marvel Con Program Book. Rich says that it was scripter Moench who changed the series’ title from “Deadlock” to “Deathlok,” even dropping the “c.” Roy T., however, recalls discussing with someone—he thinks it was Rich, but it could’ve been Doug—the relative merits of the two names, and, as editor, opting for the latter. An interview with Doug is scheduled for a near-future issue of Alter Ego.

window of opportunity was going to close up fast.

So, a couple of days later, we were ready. Doug came in to meet me at the Marvel office and he handed me what he had written. I looked it over quickly. The only thing he’d changed was the character’s name. I had originally called the character Deadlock and Doug changed that to Deathlok. That sort of threw me at first. Everything else stayed the same, all of my characters’ names and plot elements—and I was a bit confounded at that moment, but I figured—well, no time to argue about it or make changes now. Off it went to Roy for final approval.

So I told Roy that I could Rich Buckler use some help with that, with the painting of Deathlok that was used as and he introduced me to a the cover of this issue of Alter Ego. writer who was just starting out at Marvel, Doug That’s how “Deathlok” was born. Roy approved it, but at Stan’s Moench. I drew up two pencil sample pages as a starting point. request, he added the name “The Demolisher” to the title—which, When I met Doug, I knew right away that we were a good fit. I by the way, I always hated. explained the concept to him and we had a few discussions and we The next step was to work out my contract as creator with were off and running. I had everything pretty much worked out Marvel’s legal department. That took a few weeks. Sol Brodsky had conceptually, but I needed a really concise and well-written to step in and help to smooth things along with that. Come to find summary. And I needed it quick. I knew that, otherwise, that

“Just Living My Dream!”

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out, according to Sol, Marvel’s lawyers had no template for a creator-owned property like this at that time. So it took a while and quite a bit of extra effort, mostly on their part, to work out all of the details.

An important stipulation I had written into my contract was that I was to be the editor on the book, also. Sol agreed to this, but with the stipulation that I would be uncredited and that it would be for no extra pay. Fine by me. I was mostly interested in the creative freedom that would afford me.

RA: By this time, you were the regular penciler on Fantastic Four, the creator and main artist on “Deathlok,” were contributing the occasional story to the black-&-white magazines, and doing a considerable number of covers. You even found time to do a few fill-in issues of Thor. Were you feeling a bit overwhelmed? “Deathlok,” in particular, seemed to make each issue of Astonishing Tales by the skin of its teeth.

BUCKLER: Fantastic Four was my regular monthly book. That book was Marvel’s flagship title, so it was always a priority. Astonishing Tales featuring “Deathlok” was bi-monthly, but it increased my monthly page output. So, heavy workload, yes. Add to that, dozens of covers. It was almost overwhelming at times, because in addition to all that plus writing the “Deathlok” stories as well as drawing them, I was also hands-on with the editing and much of the production on the “Deathlok” series.

Next Up: Satan-Stomper for Warren??

Buckler created, wrote, and drew Demon-Hunter #1-and-only (Sept. 1975) for Martin Goodman’s Atlas/Seaboard... then created “Devil-Slayer” for Marvel Spotlight #33 (April ’77) to be virtually the same character at Marvel. And, just for fun, the Marvel version fought Deathlok in that one-shot starring appearance. Thanks to the GCD. Demon-Hunter, incidentally, was hyphenated in the indicia, but not on the cover. [Demon-Hunter TM & © Atlas/Seaboard or its successors in interest; Devil-Slayer TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

There was an interim where things got particularly hectic. I moved back temporarily to Detroit, and the editorial side of things was taken out of my hands. I had creative control over my cyborg creation from the beginning. Or rather, I was supposed to have that, because it was contractual. So the last thing I was expecting was any kind of editorial interference or unwanted guidance. I should have known better. As the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.”

Why did that happen at that particular time? Well, by then, Roy was no longer at the editorial helm.

So, along the way on that series, there were a few precipitous power struggles. In the comics business, a whole lot is going on behind the scenes that affects what comes out on the newsstand and when. With Roy Thomas having left the editor-in-chief position at Marvel, things began to go awry.

It wasn’t like I had a secret pact with Roy or anything like that.

But it’s interesting to note that almost always when I worked with Roy on anything, things tended to go smoothly and we were able to do some great comics together. On those occasions where there was interference or someone else was controlling things, something would always go wrong.

“‘Devil-Slayer’ Is Really ‘Demon-Hunter’” RA: You did a few stories for Martin Goodman’s revival of Atlas Comics, including the first appearance of (and an unofficial company crossover) for Demon Hunter/Devil Slayer. How did that come about? Did either Marvel or Atlas notice they were doing a company cross-over?

BUCKLER: Atlas was Chip Goodman’s show. Chip was Martin Goodman’s son. Chip liked me, but I came to Atlas primarily

because of Larry Lieber. Larry is the one who actually hired me.

But my time there was during their fateful transition that led to the rather untimely demise of the entire Atlas comics line. There have been many accounts of how things went at the company in its brief incarnation, so I won’t go into that here.

[When] Atlas went out of business, I took my character to Marvel. No crossover situation existed. I just changed his name, so “Devil-Slayer” is really “Demon-Hunter.” I thought the concept was too good to waste, so I had the character migrate to the “Deathlok” continuity.

I had plans for Devil-Slayer, too, but then again, I had no idea that Deathlok’s tales (as I would call them) were about to end with the cancellation of Astonishing Tales. Devil-Slayer lived on in the Marvel Universe, though, so that is something, at least.

RA: Is there anything you’d like to close out this interview on—any people or stories you like to tell?

BUCKLER: Regarding the production side of comics, I did have a definite advantage during the time that I worked daily at Marvel’s offices. Not so much at DC. In fact, at DC, artists were never allowed access to the production facilities. As I mentioned, because I was so productive, I had my own work space in a large, vacant office across the hall from Marvel’s bullpen and editorial suites.

So I really had that area all to myself at first, and later Ed Hannigan joined me. Ed and I worked at art tables side by side. We both had Walkmans—remember those?—and mostly we worked while listening to rock music through studio-quality headphones.

No telephone. No appointments. Very few visitors. Almost nobody even looking in and checking on us. We were [really] isolated, because most of the Marvel staff had no idea such an office area

30

Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

Sketch As Sketch Can A pencil sketch of Deathlok executed by Rich Buckler— juxtaposed with a caricature of Rich by Marie Severin that appeared in an issue of FOOM. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

existed. Tony Isabella would visit frequently. But I think John Verpoorten only came by once. It was a cozy set-up, but not one that was destined to last. While it did, I affectionately referred to it as the “bullpen away from the bullpen.”

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

Most freelance artists work at home. I always had an office presence during that time, and so I had free reign to come and go as I pleased. I also had access to production personnel and all of the editors, so everything was fast and loose.

If I needed a meeting with Roy Thomas, for example, often that would be initiated when I’d encounter Roy in the hallway or in the bullpen, and sometimes it would be in the production office of John Verpoorten. I would just interrupt him, which was considered okay. Same thing with Stan. It was an informal work atmosphere, unlike the more corporate environment at DC Comics.

You might say that, back then, for at least eight hours a day, six days a week, I was in rock ‘n’ roll and comic book heaven! It was all very impromptu, incredibly exhilarating and very conducive to creating comics and having fun at the same time. That’s how I remember it.

In a mischievous mood, Rich Buckler drew the everlovin’, blue-eyed Thing drawing Jack “King” Kirby.

Thanks to RB & Richard Arndt.

[Thing TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art © Rich Buckler.]

One time, and this was early on when I first started at Marvel, I got up to go out to lunch with Vince Colletta, Dick Ayers, Mike Esposito, and Frank Giacoia. I had just met these guys. I was grateful the generation barrier didn’t even come up. We talked shop and had a great time. Those artists gave me a lot of important pointers on how to handle the business side of things, too. I was lucky. Early on, I developed a work ethic and regimen that was much like theirs. And I’m glad I did.

Richard Arndt is a librarian and comics historian living in Nevada. He has published articles, interviews, and columns for Alter Ego, Comic Book Creator, Back Issue, Spooky, and From the Tomb, and has written two nonfiction books on comics (Horror Comics in Black and White and The Star*Reach Companion), as well as a number of forewords and afterwords for other books. He is currently working on a book with Steve Fears called American War Comics and the Real Big Five.

“Just Living My Dream!”

31

RICH BUCKLER 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, and viewable at www.bailsprojects.com. Names of features that appeared both in comic books with that title and in other magazines, as well, are generally not italicized. Since the cut-off point of the Who’s Who is 1999, information concerning later years may or may not be included below.

Key: (w) = writer; (p) = pencils; (i) = inks; (d) = daily newspaper comic strip (Monday to Saturday); (S) = Sunday newspaper comic strip.]

Name: Richard F. Buckler (b. 1949) – artist; writer; editor; publisher Pen Names: Validar; Rich Dickson Family in Arts: son – Richard W. Buckler Commercial Art & Design: co-owner – FBN Productions, late 1970s; Continuity Associates (date unknown) Syndication: Flash Gordon (ghost p) c.

1977-78, King Features Syndicate; The Incredible Hulk (d)(S)(i) 1979, Register & Tribune Syndicate; The Phantom (S)(p) 1978-79, King Features Syndicate; Secret Agent Corrigan (d)(ghost p & i) 1971 (one week), King Features Syndicate Comics in Fanzines: Bombshell Ama-zine (p)(i) 1967; Champions of Freedom (p)(i) 1969 in Champions; The Defender in StarStudded Comics 1967; Fan Informer (p)(i) date uncertain; The Ghost (p)(i) in Super Six date uncertain; Intrigue (p)(i) date uncertain; Super-Hero (aka Superhero) (p)(i) 1965+, et al.

Best Friends Four-Ever A fabulous Kirbyesque two-page spread penciled by Buckler and inked by Joe Sinnott for Fantastic Four #155 (Feb. 1975). Script by Len Wein. Thanks to RB & Richard Arndt. [TM & © Marvel Characters Inc.]

James Bond 007 Fan Club: cover (i) 1981 for The Illustrated James Bond, 007 Joe Tracy: Deadspawn (w)(p)(i) 1975 Tiger Comics: Phantasy against Hunger (p)(asst. i) 1987 Creator: Sultry Teenage Super Foxes Comics Studio/Shop: Crusty Bunkers (p)(i) – precise dates unknown Astral Comics: Bloodwing (w)(p)(i) 1981; covers (p) 1981; Sojourner (w)(p) 1981; support (art director) 1981; Warlords of Light (w) 1981 J.C. Comics: covers (i) 1983 for Hall of Fame Featuring the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Landgraphics: Star Fighters (i) 1980 Noble Comics: covers (p) 1982 Revolutionary Comics: covers (p)(i) 1990

A Two-Man Blue Ribbon Committee Another illo that Buckler rates among his personal faves is one he inked— over the pencils of Jack “King” Kirby for an issue of Archie’s Blue Ribbon Comics (#5, Feb. 1984). Courtesy of Rich, via Barry Pearl. [The Shield TM & © Archie Comic Publications.]

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Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist

S.Q. Productions: Hot Stuf’ (w)(p)(i) 1974 Showcase Publications: covers (p) 1986 for Crackbusters Solson Entertainment: Amazing Wahzoo (i) 1986; back-up feature (p)(i) 1987 in Blackmoon; Blackmoon (i) 1986; covers (p) 1986-87; editorial (w) 1987; house ads (p)(i) 1986-87; How to Become a Comic Book Artist (w)(p)(i) 1986; How to Draw Super Heroes (w)(p)(i) 1986; How to Draw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (p)(i) 1986; Secrets of Drawing Comics (w)(p)(i) 1986; support (publisher, editor, art director) 1986-90; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Martial Arts Manual (p)(i) 1987; text (w) 1987; Warped (w)(p)(i) 1990 Tom Sciacca Publications: Astron, Star Soldier (p) 1977; illustration (p)(i) 1977 Note on Comics Career: Chairman – Detroit Triple Fan Fair c.

1969-70 COMIC BOOK CREDITS (U.S. Mainstream Publications):

Archie Comic Publications: backup feature (w)(p)(i) in The Fly 1983; The Black Hood (w) 1984; covers (p)(i) 1983-84; editorials (w) 1984; Fly Girl (w) 1983; The Fly (w)(p)(i) 1983-84; The Fox (w) 1984; The Mighty Crusaders (w)(p)(i) 1983-84; Mr. Midnight (w) 1983; The Shield (w)(p)(i) 1983; Steel Sterling (w) 1983; support (editor) 1982-84 [for imprint Red Circle] Continuity Comics: The Hybrids (p)(i) 1992-93; Megalith and The Revengers (p) 1983

Read, White, & Black An arty but effective “Morbius, Living Vampire” splash page by McGregor, RB, & Janson from Vampire Tales #2 (Oct. 1973). Thanks to RB & Richard Arndt. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Buckler “Batman” Splash page of the Rich Buckler/Berni(e) Wrightson art job for Batman #265 (July 1975). Script by Mike Fleisher. Thanks to Bob Bailey.

[TM & © DC Comics.]

DC Comics: All-Star Squadron (p) 1981-82, 1984; America vs. the Justice Society (p) 1985; The Atom (p) 1975; Batman (p) 1975-78, 1980; Black Lightning (p) 1979; Bruce Wayne (p) 1981; Captain Comet (p) 1977; Captain Comet and Tommy Tomorrow (p) 1977; covers (p)(i) 1971-85; The Day after Doomsday (p)(i) 1974; The Fabulous World of Krypton (p)(some i) 1971-80; filler material (p) 1981-82 in All-Star Squadron; The Flash (p) 1979; Gorilla Grodd (p) 1977; Hawkman (p) 1973-75, 1978-79; House of Mystery (p)(some i) 1972, 1978; House of Secrets (p) 1971; Jonah Hex (p) 1976, 1978; Just Imagine Bruce Wayne (p) 1981; Justice League of America (p) 198183; Justice Society of America (p) 1982 in All-Star Squadron; Justice Society of America (p) 1985; Kid Flash (i) 1970; Kobra (p) 1976; The New Gods (p) 1977; The Omega Men (p) 1986; Robin (p)(i) 1972; Rose and The Thorn (p) 1971-72; The Secret Society of SuperVillains (p) 1977; Star Hunters (p) 1978; Superboy (p) 1980, 1982; Superboy’s Secret Diary (p) 1980; Superman (p) 1981-82; Superman and Batman (p) 1979-82; Superman and Captain Marvel (p) 198182; Superman and Firestorm (p) 1982; Superman and Mr. Miracle (p) 1979; Superman vs. Captain Marvel (p) 1978; Teen Titans (layouts) 1985; Time Warp (p) 1979; The Unexpected (p)(i) 1971-72, 1974, 1976; The Warlord (i)(some p) 1984-85; Weird War Tales (p) 1983; Who’s Who in the DC Universe (p) 1986-86 entries; Wonder Woman (p)(i) 1983

“Just Living My Dream!”

33

Deluxe Comics: Codename: Danger (w)(p)(i) 1985; covers (p)(i) 1985; T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (p)(some i) 1986 King Comics: Battles of Night (p)(i) 1967 Malibu Comics: covers (p)(i) 1993; Genesis (p) 1993 graphic album; The Protectors (p)(i) 1993 Marvel Comics: The Avengers (layouts) 1989; The Avengers (p) 1972, 1974; Battlestar Galactica (p) 1979; Black Goliath (p) 1976; Black Knight (p) 1990; Black Panther (p) 1973-74, 1976; Captain America (layouts) 1994; Captain America (p) 1980, 1989; Conan the Barbarian (p) 1974; covers (p) 1972-90; Daredevil (p) 1973; Deathlok (w)(p)(some i) 1974-76; Deathlok (p)(i) 1993; Doc Savage (p)(some i) 1973-74; Dracula (p) 1973; Epic Illustrated (p)(i) 1985; Fantastic Four (p)(some i) 1974-76, 1989; Havok (p) 1989; Hodiah Twist (p) 1973; Hulk (p) 1982; Human Torch [1st version] (p) 1990; The Invaders (p) 1976; Iron Man (p) 1985; Journey into Mystery (p) 1973; Ka-Zar (p) 1972-73, Killraven (p) 1974; Kiss (p)(i) 1977; Luke Cage, Power Man (p) 1976; Man-God (p) 1976; Man-Thing (p)(i) 1972-73; Micronauts (p) 1980; Morbius (p) 1973-74; Nightmare on Elm Street

Wart’s New? For the inside covers of Warren’s Eerie #53 (Jan. 1974), Buckler penciled and Bill DuBay inked a feature that was then given the “two-color” treatment (out of a possible four). Repro’d from Dark Horse’s Eerie Archives, Vol. 11.

[TM & © New Comic Company.]

(p) 1989; Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (p) 1984-86; Quasar (p) 1994; Spider-Man (p)(i) 1979, 1985-87, 1990; Spider-Man and Captain America (p) 1989; Spider-Man and Nightcrawler (p) 1980; Sub-Mariner (p) 1988-89; support (color) 1976; Tales of the Zombie (p) 1974; Thor (p) 1974; Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe (p) 1980; What If Dr. Doom...? (p) 1980; What if The Eternals...? (p) 1980; What If Spider-Man...? (p) 1981; What If Thor...? (p) 1981; What If The X-Men...? (p) 1990; X-Factor (p) 1990; X-Men (p) 1990-91; Xanadu (p) 1980 Milestone Press: Hardware (p) 1993-94 Seaboard Comics (aka Atlas/Seaboard): covers (p) 1975; Demon-Hunter (w)(p)(i) 1975; Man-Monster (plot)(p) 1975; splash pages (p)(i) 1975; Tarantula (asst. p & i) 1975 Skywald Publishing Company: Butterfly (w)(p)(i) 1971; Nightmare (p)(i) 171; Psycho (p)(i) 1971-72 Topps Comics: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (p)(i) 1994

Present At The Creation—And Then Some!

What can we say? Rich counts this as a “personal best”—and we’d say he has a right to be proud. Thanks to RB, via Barry Pearl. [Deathlok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Warren Publications: back-up feature (p)(i) 1972 in Vampirella; Creepy (p)(i) 1970-71, 1975; (w) 1970; Dracula (i) 1973; Eerie (p)(i) 1970, 1973-74; Vampirella ShortShort Shocker [filler] (p)(i) 1971; The Werewolf (p) 1973

[Captain Marvel art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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35

RAFAEL ASTARITA Comic Book Pioneer Two Easy Pieces On “One Of The Best Comic Book Artists Who Ever Drew”

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Comic book or comic strip artists often have a champion who make it his/her business to make certain that that artist is not forgotten, and that his/her accomplishments are noted and documented for posterity. Comics and pulp artist Rafael Astarita (1912-1994) is fortunate in having two such champions, who have pooled their resources in the following pair of entries.

Hames Ware, no stranger to readers of this magazine, was originally a voice actor. In the early 1970s he was the co-editor (with Dr. Jerry G. Bails) of the four volumes of the print edition of the Who’s Who of American Comic Books, forerunner of the current online website which lists data connected to the careers of

Hames Ware

Rafael Astarita Photo courtesy of Hames Ware, with thanks to David Saunders.

comic book professionals up through the year 1999. He probably knows more than any man alive about the comics shops/studios from the early days of comic books… and part of what he knows first came from artist Rafael Astarita.

David Saunders (born 1954 in New York City) came to his interest in the history of pulp magazines and their artists as a matter of David Saunders birthright: his father was Norman Saunders, a major pulp-mag cover artist. David is, in fact, an artist himself, and has taught at various art schools. His website www.pulpartists.com contains a wealth of information on numerous classic American illustrators, and on the history of the pulps.

I. An Interview With HAMES WARE – Conducted

by DAVID SAUNDERS DAVID SAUNDERS: Why is Rafael Astarita important?

HAMES WARE: He is important because he was one of the best comic book artists who ever drew. He was a part of the beginning of comics. His first work appears in 1935 in Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s titles [forerunners of DC Comics]. He was already drawing in a way that was superior to most of the other work that appeared in those comic books.

Generally, the subjects of the comics that he drew were classic legends or fables of historical adventures, which the average cartoonist at that time was not really able to handle, and yet as early as 1935 and 1936 he was already drawing things like “King Arthur” and “Allan de Beaufort.”

I Don’t Want To Leave The Jungle…

(Left:) Astarita’s Kaänga cover for Fiction House’s Jungle Comics #47 (Nov. 1943). From the Comic Book Plus website of public domain comics, the ultimate source of several other scans accompanying these pieces, as well.

(Right:) Later, for Fiction House’s pulp magazine Jungle Stories (Feb. 1947), he drew this illustration for the “Ki-Gor” lead story; scan courtesy of David Saunders. Both writers unknown.

A Ki-Gor by any other name would be Kaänga! [© the respective copyright holders.]

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Two Easy Pieces On “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

Don’t Let It Be Forgot…

(Above:) For the May 1937 issue of Harry “A” Chesler’s Star Comics, Astarita drew “Round Table Adventures”—and, nearly a decade later, his “King Arthur” popped up in Green Publishing’s Atomic Comics (Jan. 1946), reprinted from DC’s New Comics back in the mid-1930s. Scripters unknown. Thanks to David Saunders. [© the respective copyright holders.]

He was also a pioneer in the shop phenomenon of the comic books, being the second artist hired in 1936 at the first comic book art shop, the Harry Chesler shop. He was there with a number of other artists, many of whom went on to celebrated careers. Chesler always told those who asked that he considered Rafael Astarita the best artist that had ever worked for him.

DS: What is he renowned for?

WARE: He really is not widely renowned in the field of comic book art appreciation, because he did not sign a lot of his work, and he often replaced other artists who had created well-known features.

For instance, when he worked for the Eisner & Iger shop, he drew “The Hawk of the Seas,” but he followed Lou Fine and others, so consequently his work was not widely recognized.

DS: Did the other artists around him recognize his talent?

Today’s Weather: “High Winds” (Right:) In Ultem’s Funny Picture Stories #11 (Oct. 1937), Astarita drew pictures to illustrate each page of an 8-page text story, and even received credit. Unlike the two-page filler stories necessitated by postal regulations, the editors must’ve figured people actually read these! Also, maybe text-plus-illos was somehow cheaper than an equal number of color comics pages. Thanks to David Saunders. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

37

A Hero Sandwich (Left:) By the time Astarita inherited the strip that had begun life as Will Eisner’s “The Hawk of the Seas,” the feature’s name had long since been shortened to “The Hawk.” But “Willis Rensie” remained as the house name (“Eisner” spelled backward, of course), though the actual writer is unknown. Thanks to David Saunders. From Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics #47 (Jan. 1943). [© the respective copyright holders.]

(Right:) Although Astarita drew few super-hero stories, he reportedly did this one for Quality’s Doll Man #10 (Autumn 1946). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [Doll Man is a trademark of DC Comics.]

WARE: The reason I mentioned Will Eisner and Lou Fine is because Astarita took over “The Hawk of the Seas” after it was started by Eisner and after Fine had taken it over, so to be designated the person to follow Eisner and Fine was a high honor. That shows how he was respected by the top artists in his field. He was a pioneer in the shops, both with Harry Chesler from about 1936 to 1939, and from about 1939 till the war he was with the Eisner/Iger shop. Anyone who was in any of those shops always mentioned him as one of the top artists.

Another artist once recalled Astarita telling him you could actually draw with a matchstick, and the man didn’t believe him, so Astarita lit a match and blew it out and proceeded to draw something with the matchstick! He was appreciated and admired by the artists in all the shops where he worked, but he worked independently and he was not a self-promoter. He did not socialize with other artists in the after-hours. He was already married.

DS: What do comic book fans think of when they hear the name Rafael Astarita?

WARE: Unlike most artists that worked in comic books, he was not a cartoonist. I would describe him as a dynamic illustrator. His original goal was to illustrate classic adventure literature. I suppose, with his ancestry, he was carrying on the tradition of

Italian art. His work stood out from other artists’ because he drew in the style of an illustrator rather a cartoonist.

DS: So he never had his own famous comic book character?

WARE: No, and that is part of the reason why he is not better known. He did not work in the super-hero genre enough to be known for that, so he is rarely listed among the better-known comic book artists. He did not draw in a style that fit that genre, nor was he interested in it. For instance “The Hawk of the Seas” does have a hero, but he is not like Superman or Batman. He is more like the adventure hero from Rafael Sabatini’s novel The Sea Hawk.

DS: Why is it important to document the life and art of Rafael Astarita?

WARE: Well, because of his unique and dynamic style of illustrated drawing. He hit the ground running in 1935 and worked until World War II; then, after the war, he came back and worked until the mid-’50s. He was consistently good, so all of his work was rendered in a polished and finished way. His work always stands out, because he put his best effort into everything he did.

DS: Can you list some of the comic features he drew?

WARE: He drew the features “Round Table Adventures,” “Daniel

38

Two Easy Pieces On “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

Boone,” “Captain Courage,” and “The Green Knight.” He was very good at Westerns, so he drew “Trail Triggers” for Chesler. He drew “Captain Terry Thunder,” “The Hunchback,” and “Captain Venture.” He drew for several of Fiction House’s comic book titles, first via the Eisner & Iger shop, then later on as a Fiction House staff artist, including such features as “Auro, Lord of Jupiter” and the aforementioned “Hawk of the Seas.”

DS: What was his postwar work like?

Nothing Ventured…

(Left:) “Captain Venture and the Planet Princess,” a “Flash Gordon” clone, appeared in Fawcett Publications’ Master Comics, including this Astarita-drawn episode for #15 (Dec. 1941). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(Right:) Scan of original artwork from the Astarita-illo’d “Auro, Lord of Jupiter” in Fiction House’s Planet Comics #24 (May 1943). Scripter & donor equally unknown, alas. This tale was reprinted in color in PS Artbooks’ hardcover Roy Thomas Presents Planet Comics, Vol. 6; see ad for a different volume of that series on p. 34. [© the respective copyright holders.]

WARE: When he came back from the war, he altered his style completely. Like so many other artists, for whatever reason, his postwar work was more generic. The postwar work is much more commercial, tighter, and succinct. Nothing like the pre-war style of dynamic illustration. Lou Fine did the same thing, as did a number of artists who had drawn in a more classic style that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s; but after the war, somehow, that was passé. When Astarita worked independently at places like Avon, he altered his style to fit the work he was assigned. His style was still good, but it was less distinctive.

DS: How did you first become aware of Rafael Astarita?

WARE: Well, I have always been fascinated with names. I had seen the name “Rafael Astarita” a few times where he signed something or got a printed byline on a Fiction House comic. I had seen it enough times that the name stuck in my mind, because it had an Arabian Nights flavor to it. I just thought this was a wonderful name. “Rafael Astarita!” I didn’t believe it was real, because a lot of the Eisner & Iger bylines were made-up pen names, but I really loved the name. It had something mystical about it! It fit the features that he drew, so that name stuck in my mind.

DS: How did you find out he was a real person?

WARE: Back in 1953, when I was nine years old, the kid sitting next me in the fourth grade happened to be Mercer Mayer, who went on to become a wonderful children’s book illustrator. He used to draw in his notebook, and I watched him, and that inspired me to learn how to draw. At that same time, a friend of mine got a subscription to Classics Illustrated, and every time he got a new comic I would look at the artists’ work and teach myself to draw in their style. I loved the fact that those comics were numbered and you could order back issues. When I was twelve in 1956, I was collecting older comic books and learning to recognize the styles of the artists, like Henry Kiefer and Lou Cameron. I kept a list of all the artist’s names.

My grandfather saw that I was interested in learning to draw and in studying the artists. He thought it was great to develop a creative interest. So I just said, “Grandaddy, could you get me a New York phone book, because I’d like to see all the names of

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

39

Pulped!

In the post-World War II years, for the Thrilling/Standard line of pulps, the artist drew title-page illos for stories by authors Theodore Sturgeon (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Feb. 1949)… Arthur C. Clarke (Startling Stories, July ’49)… Willy Ley (Startling, Sept. ’49)… and Ray Bradbury (Thrilling Wonder, March 1950). Thanks to David Saunders. [© the respective copyright holders.]

40

Two Easy Pieces On “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

Avon Calling!

Astarita work in three genres for Avon Periodicals’ comics line, with thanks to Jim Ludwig for all scans [clockwise from above left]: King Solomon’s Mines #1 (1951—issue #29 in the Avon One-Shot series), taking advance of the Hollywood film released that year (both ultimately derived from H. Rider Haggard’s classic novel of the same name).

Strange Worlds #4 (Sept. 1951)—as reprinted in IW’s 1958 Strange Planets #9, not to mention in PS Artbooks’ hardcover Strange Worlds, Vol. 1.

Gangsters and Gun Molls #4 (June 1952).

Fighting Indians of the Old West #2 (Nov. 1952). [© the respective copyright holders.]

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

41

To see this was a real flesh-and-blood person really caused that name to stand out, so I just picked up the phone and I called. It was totally spontaneous. I asked with great trepidation, “Are you Rafael Astarita who used to draw for the comic books,” and he said, “Yes, I am,” and that’s how it began. Just as simple as that. He was the only one I was prompted to pick up the phone and call. At first he did not want to talk about the comics. He really felt like that was a waste of my time and his time, because he said that was very far back in the past. He said at first, “That period of my work is not one that I am really interested in going back over.”

DS: Were you able to convince him that it was a history worth documenting?

WARE: Whether he thought it was or not, I think he believed that I sincerely thought it was, and that was enough to sway him. From that first phone call began a long correspondence and friendship with the artist, who was delighted to talk with me and to write copious letters answering my questions. The reason this was important is because Rafael Astarita, among his many gifts, had a photographic memory. I was eventually gathering information that would become part of the Who’s Who of American Comic Books, so his incredible memory became an invaluable source for that research, because he could describe almost every detail, down to the bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the Chesler shop.

He was able to name every artist from left to right, down the aisle, both at the Chesler shop, the Eisner/Iger Shop, and the staff at

Echoes Of Horror Another of the artist’s rare quasi-super-hero outings was “The Echo”; he drew several entries in this Chesler series—in this case, for Yankee Comics #4 (May 1942). With Astarita’s moody artwork, the story has a “horror” feel.

Note that The Echo has a brother—named Dr. Doom! Scripter unknown.

Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© the respective copyright holders.]

these people from the comic books.” My family lived in Arkansas, but my grandfather had been a surgeon in New York, so he just called an old friend there and had them send me an old 1956 New York telephone directory.

DS: What did you do with it?

WARE: I went through the entire New York phone directory from A to Z and underlined the names of every artist I recognized from comic books. It took me who-knows-how-long to go through that whole thing! My family lived in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where I’d never know these people—I’d never see these people—but by golly, it was like a validation that these were real people!

DS: Like riding on a tourist bus in Hollywood past the homes of all the famous stars?

WARE: There you go! That’s a very good analogy! You don’t get off the bus and go knock on the door. It was just a way to substantiate that these artists, who were like heroes to me, really did exist.

The phone book listed everyone in New York City in alphabetical order, so starting with the “A’s,” one of the first names that I found was “Rafael Astarita.” It just took my breath away, because I had thought it was a made-up name, and yet there it was in print! It was hypnotic!

From Brooklyn To The African Bush An Astarita “Samar” jungle splash in Quality’s Feature Comics #20 (July 1942), sent by Jim Ludwig. Writer unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

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Two Easy Pieces On “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

as his having the technological savvy to suggest tape-recording his recollections, suggests he was a rather disciplined and systematic person.

WARE: He had a self-awareness, perhaps from childhood, that seemed to be reflected in his artistic endeavors. He aspired to do work in the illustration field, like so many other artists, but instead of waiting until he got that opportunity, he put his best efforts into comics and pulps, and that is why his work stands out. He didn’t wait until The Saturday Evening Post contacted him. He was doing his best work from the beginning. He wasn’t holding back.

DS: What was his ambition as an artist?

WARE: I think he really wanted to paint. I think that was his original goal, but he had to make a living for his wife and himself.

At that time, the best way was to work for the pulps and the comics. He did such good work that he was really valued and had as much work as he could handle. He liked to do seascapes. He loved the sea and anything that had to do with the water and the ships and the docks. He lived in Brooklyn most of his life and he explored the shoreline. He loved the Brooklyn Bridge and he sent me a photo of himself on the Brooklyn Bridge. I think he spent a lot of time in the coastal areas around New York.

DS: He served in the Coastal Reserve of the United States Navy during World War II. WARE: Well, it makes sense that he would gravitate to the Navy, because I think at heart he may have been a sailor. He loved the sea. His drawings for “Hawk of the Seas” are so great because he was very much at home around any kind of marine setting.

DS: What was he like physically?

WARE: In his photograph, he appears to be hale and hearty and looked like a seaman. He was always physically fit. I think the sea would have been his calling, had he not been an artist.

Getting His “Hooks” Into Comics Astarita splash for the “Hooks Devlin” tale in Fiction House’s Fight Comics #24 (Dec. 1942). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Fiction House. Plus, he had at least a sentence of two recollection about each one of them. It is thanks to him that the Who’s Who is as thorough as it turned out to be. He remembered individual things about every person that he worked with, and he did it in a way that humanized each one of them. He would recall how Howard Larsen had the use of only one arm. He remembered the unique laughter of Robert Hayward Webb.

DS: Did Astarita provide you with contact information for other artists from his generation?

WARE: There were a few, but in general he did not stay in touch with other artists of the period. For him, that chapter of his life was far in the past.

DS: Did he mention artists whose names were unknown to you?

WARE: Some were, but I had known most of them. I was just thrilled to get these images of these people that were only names to me until Astarita made them flesh and blood. The way he did this was ideal. He had a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He said, rather than try to describe his recollections over the telephone, he would turn on his tape recorder and just talk to me, and then mail me the tapes. He just started at the beginning of his career and went down the row of all the different artists and described the situations and circumstances.

DS: The fact that he had this methodical approach to the project, as well

DS: Was he a spiritual person?

WARE: I think he has to be described as a spiritual person, in the sense that his work evoked decency and a caring attitude. I never heard him use a curse word or any kind of epithet. Not that he was prudish, but he had such a good command of the language that he just never had to resort to anything like that. I never heard any curse words, or prejudice, or anything negative at all in his conversation.

DS: Was he interested in literature?

WARE: Yes. He was a voracious reader. He knew all the classics and he also read contemporary novels. Another artist I was fond of, Lou Cameron, was from a later generation, and when he left the comics he became a writer. I had an opportunity to introduce his writing to Astarita. So in the 1960s, when Cameron was writing Western novels, Astarita began to read them, and he also looked at Cameron’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for Classics Illustrated, which I sent him, and he agreed that Cameron was a good artist and considered him a good writer. The two became friends, which was a great thrill for me, because I consider Lou Cameron another great artist in comics.

DS: What did Rafael Astarita do after he stopped drawing for pulps and comics?

WARE: His last work for the comics was in the mid-1950s for Avon. After that, he got involved with advertising. He drew television storyboards. I think he may have just decided to do his seascapes instead of commercial art. He also loved to read and to write.

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

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It’s Always Darkness Before The Dawn (Left:) Splash page from Standard’s Adventures into Darkness #9 (April 1953). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Jim Ludwig.

(Right:) From Avon’s Witchcraft #5 (Dec. 1952-Jan. 1953). Scripter unknown. Thanks to David Saunders. You can read the whole story in PS Artbooks’ hardcover volume Pre-Code Classics: Witchcraft plus Dead Who Walk. [© the respective copyright holders.]

DS: What did he write?

WARE: He wrote short stories and radio plays, but as far as I know none of them were published.

DS: Do you think he felt he had accomplished his creative goals?

WARE: He was always stretching towards new ways to draw and paint. He was always learning. Always trying to stretch. I can remember how excited he was when he read the book Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain. Those ideas challenged him to look at things in a different way. He was very innovative and open to whatever might expand his horizons, whether it was reading material or art or any area where he could expand his mind. He was a very vibrant and eager learner.

DS: When was the last time you spoke with him or corresponded with him?

WARE: Well, I think it was in the 1970s. I was living in New Orleans and thinking about getting married, and I called him to give him my new address. We had a really nice phone visit. He said that this lady had stopped and watched him painting one of his seascapes and really admired his work. They got to be friends and she became a great admirer of his work. He had previously

sent me an old television storyboard that he had drawn, and he was very anxious to show that to her, so he asked me if I would send it back to him, which I did.

The last conversation we had was very uplifting. He sounded happier in many ways, for having met somebody that appreciated his work, and he just sounded very happy. He was doing what he wanted to do, and of course by that time he had reached retirement age and he was very happily devoting the time that he had to painting and sketching. He always carried a sketchbook with him.

He would sketch seagulls, and boats and all kinds of things that related to shore life. His work was just superb. The pen-and-ink drawings he sent me I think he had fished out of a trash can, my Lord!

Even his simplest doodles were great! He was a classic artist... a Renaissance man in many ways. That’s the way I would describe him. He was a classic artist and a classical person. A great intellect, a voracious reader, and a self-made artist and man. I do not believe he had much training. A lot of it was from just industrious perseverance, and a natural gift. He carried on that classic tradition of Italian painters and artists in his own way. I think that heritage flowed through Rafael Astarita.

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Two Views Of “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

II. RAFAEL ASTARITA (1912-1994) An Overview Of His Life & Career

by David Saunders

R

afael Astarita was born Raphael Norman Astarita on August 2, 1912, in Brooklyn, New York City. His father, Ralph Anthony Astarita, was born 1886 in NYC of Italian ancestry. His mother, Hulda Elsie M. Astarita, was born 1882 in Norway and immigrated to America in 1906. His parents married in Brooklyn in 1910 and had three children. His older brother Raymond Winthrop Astarita was born in 1911, his younger sister Victoria L. Astarita in 1918. They lived at 1965 86th Street in Brooklyn. His father was a patrolman in the 80th Precinct of the NYC Police Department.

The young artist’s natural talent for drawing was nurtured by his mother, who had studied art in Norway and was exceptionally creative for a woman of her generation. According to her own account, “I was always of an inventive turn of mind. You know, when I sew, I sew differently from most women. I think of little things to make the work easier, and when my clock stops I take it apart myself. Of course when you have children they take up so much of your time that you can forget about inventions.” Despite parental responsibilities, she found time to invent an ingenious automatic fire-escape device that lowered occupants from the windows of burning skyscrapers. The patented device was featured in the April 1918 issue of Popular Science.

Hangin’ Out Rafael’s mother, Hulda E. Astarita, was something of an inventor, as witness this article from the April 1918 issue of Popular Science magazine. Illustrator unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

In 1918 the family moved to 808 Bay Ninth Street in the Bath Beach section of

Who Was That Masked Man? Why—It’s Gary Miles!

(Top left:) Rafael Astarita in Brooklyn, in a 1965 photo sent by David Saunders—and (above) a splash page from St. John Publishing’s Strange Terrors #6 (Jan. 1953), a 100-page issue whose Astarita contribution may have been a reprint. For some reason, although hero Gary Miles goes by his rightful name in the story, he wears a mask throughout; maybe it’s part of his circus act? Comics historian Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., made the artist ID; but identifying the writer was beyond even his vast powers. Thanks to Comic Book Plus website. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Brooklyn, where his father became a mounted policeman in the 172nd Precinct. His father’s horse was named “Rack.”

Raphael attended public school. In June 1926 he completed the eighth grade, at which point he left school and entered the work force as a menial laborer.

In 1928 his father was reassigned to the 88th Precinct, in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn. This station house is directly adjacent to the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, which had one of the best art schools in New York City.

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

45

Slapping Leather A so-called “double-truck” illustration from facing pages of the May 1947 issue of Fiction House’s Lariat Stories. Thanks to David Saunders. [© the respective copyright holders.]

steady income. The newlyweds moved to a modest home at 51 Poplar Street in Brooklyn.

He drew for the Chesler Shop (1936-1939) and Eisner & Iger (1939-1941). He joined the staff at Fiction House Comics in 1942 and worked there for two years.

Although Raphael Astarita never graduated high school and did not receive formal art school training, he followed a dedicated regime of self-education. He eventually assembled an impressive home library of artists’ instructional manuals and “How To” books.

He went to the beach every day and was physically fit. He lifted weights, went for long walks, and was a strong swimmer. He saved several people from drowning. He even dived from the Brooklyn Bridge to rescue a person who had jumped off to commit suicide.

The Astarita brothers were both avid sailors—perhaps too avid for their own good. They once had a fight over conflicting notions of the proper way to tie a particular sailor’s knot. The dispute became so bitter that the brothers severed their relationship and remained estranged for virtually the rest of their lives.

In 1933 his older brother Raymond joined the NYC Police Department as a clerical secretary, and in 1935 married and moved to an apartment at 3111 Glenwood Road in Brooklyn. They had no children.

Raphael Astarita was twenty-three in 1935 when he began to work for comic books. He drew a two-page strip about King Arthur for New Comics. He signed the work “Rafael Astarita” instead of using his birth name “Raphael.” His friends called him “Raf.” On February 20, 1937, he married Ann Baraf in Brooklyn Civil Court. She had been born September 26, 1906, in NYC, of Romanian Jewish ancestry. She was six years older than the groom.

She had completed her sophomore year at college and worked as a legal stenographer for the City of New York, where she earned a

Zola Power (Right:) This Astarita splash appeared in Avon’s romance one-shot For a Night of Love (1951, no month or number). Reportedly, it—indeed, each of the several stories in the issue—was based on a story by French novelist Emile Zola! And that’s probably the closest we’re gonna come to identifying the scripter of any comic book story drawn by Rafael Astarita! Thanks to David Saunders. [© the respective copyright holders.]

During World War II he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in October 1944. Pulp artists Frederick Blakeslee (1898-1973) and John Falter (1910-1982), as well as pulp magazine publisher Harry Steeger (1903-1990), all served in this volunteer branch of the National Guard. Raphael Astarita served as a member of an armed patrol that accompanied merchant ships in U.S. waters and through the Panama Canal. He was honorably discharged as a Seaman First Class in January of 1946.

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Two Views Of “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

A Ghost Of A Chance A quartet of “Ghost Squadron” splash pages from the postwar Wings Comics. The first story was actually labeled “Ghost Patrol,” but Fiction House quickly changed that name—perhaps because DC had been running a super-hero/ghost/comedy feature with that title for years in Flash Comics. [Clockwise from top left:] from Wings #67 (March 1946)… #77 (Jan. ’47)… #78 (Feb. ’47)… and #79 (March ’47). Beautiful work, no? Thanks to the Comic Book Plus website.

Scripters, of course, unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

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I Must Go Down To The Sea In Ships Three examples of the sea-related paintings and sketches Astarita produced after he left comics, titled (clockwise from above) “Rigger,” “Lobstermen,” and “Rockland.” The latter was drawn as two facing pages in one of the artist’s sketchbooks; hence the slight “gutter” between the two halves. Thanks to David Saunders. [© Estate of Rafael Astarita.]

After the war, his pen-and-ink story illustrations appeared in pulp magazines produced by Fiction House, such as Jungle Stories, Lariat Stories, and Planet Stories. His work also appeared in pulp magazines published by Ned Pines, such as Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder.

In 1947 Raphael Astarita became art director at Ned Pine’s Standard Comic Books.

From 1950 to 1951 he worked for Avon Comics.

By 1953 the publishing industry of pulps and comic books was rocked by political scandal, self-censorship, lost readership, and the growing popularity of television. Even the most successful artists were forced to find new sources of income.

During the second half of the 1950s, Astarita contributed illustrations to a juvenile reference work, The Picture World Encyclopedia, published by the F.M. Charlton Company. According to advertising, this was the “first truly modern picture book encyclopedia specially written for children 6 to 16 and offered at fifty cents for each of the 12 volumes. There’s never been an encyclopedia so easy to understand, so thrillingly presented, so up-to-the-minute with the very latest facts! No long wordy explanations. No dull, confusing language. The Picture World Encyclopedia informs in a bright, lively way. Every subject is illustrated in full color, with over 6,000 pictures in all!” This ambitious project took five years to complete and included illustrations by many artists, such as Paul Jepsen (1909-1987), Robert Jenny (1914-200), and Bob Powell (19161967).

In 1954 he designed sets for the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet TV show.

Two years later, he opened an advertising art agency called “Astarita Associates” at 145 East 49th Street in Manhattan.

By 1958 he had closed his ad agency and accepted a job as art director at the advertising firm Rossman Productions, which produced slide-shows and film-strips for sales presentations.

By 1968 both his parents had died and left him a considerable inheritance. He and his wife moved to 140 Cadman Plaza West, a modern housing project in Brooklyn Heights that towers over the swirling exit ramps of the Brooklyn Bridge. Their apartment on the 27th floor had a spectacular view of the New York City skyline.

According to the artist’s longtime friend and comic book historian, Hames Ware: “Rafael Astarita seemed perfectly content to take his art supplies down to the shore and paint seascapes, [and] he seemed not to worry over whether they sold or not, just happy to be painting and near the sea. I can recall how he was always reading and would get excited about any new concept. He had just read Drawing from the Left Side of the Brain and he called to tell me how it had stimulated new ways of approaching art. He was very wise. He once told me, ‘If you’re afraid of failure; you haven’t failed enough.’ Surely he is one of the top artists to have ever drawn for comic books.”

After the artist had stopped drawing for pulps and comics, he continued for over forty years to create masterful pen-and-ink drawings of life along the American Atlantic Coast. He drew harbor views, sea shanties, tramp steamers, ocean liners, battle ships, crab boats, dry-docks and dinghies, sailors, longshoremen, stevedores, fishermen, beachcombers, and the boardwalk’s neverending promenade of holiday visitors. Through devoted and

48

Two Views Of “One Of The Best Artists Who Ever Drew”

tireless care, the artist created over 8000 works of art, which stand as one of the greatest American homages to the sea since Melville’s masterpiece Moby-Dick. It is the sincere hope of all the artist’s fans that this magnum opus will be respectfully preserved by some enlightened cultural institution.

By 1992 he also needed nursing care, and was no longer competent to serve as his wife’s guardian, so her nearest relative, a daughter of her sister, became the appointed guardian of both. He was moved to a nursing home in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, near the home of his niece.

He and his wife were happily married, but they had no children. She suffered her entire life from a chronic illness that was periodically incapacitating. During each episode, he served as her devoted bedside nurse.

He explored and sketched his new neighborhood, and continued to pay regular visits to his wife, who remained in a condition of complete aphasia. After three years he developed colon cancer. When informed of the illness, his long-estranged brother Raymond visited and their past grievances were forgiven in a touching reconciliation.

In 1981 she had a massive stroke that left her unable to communicate. Despite Ann’s condition of aphasia, Raphael continued to care for her at home and take her for daily walks in a wheelchair.

After several years his own elderly infirmities forced him to move her to a nursing home. He found one four blocks from home, where he could visit her every day.

Raphael Astarita died in New Jersey at the age of 82 on December 7, 1994. His wife died one year later on December 11, 1995.

RAFAEL ASTARITA Checklist [This checklist is adapted from information 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 magazines, as well, are generally not italicized below. A few pieces of information have been added based on the foregoing material by David Saunders and Hames Ware. Key: (p) = pencils; (i) inks; (w) writer.]

Name: Raphael Norman Astarita (1912-1994) – artist [NOTE: He preferred to spell his first name as “Rafael.”]

Education: High School of Industrial Arts, New York City; Grand Central School of Art; Pratt Institute Influences: Harvey Dunn; French impressionists; Russian film directors Print Media (Non-Comics): Artist on Picture World Encyclopedia (1959) and for various pulp magazines, sometimes under the name “John Martin” (dates uncertain, but includes circa 1946-50) Performing Arts: actor in films; designer of theatrical sets for Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (TV, 1950s) Fine Arts: Lithographer, painter Comics Shops/Studios: Chesler Studio (p)(i) 1936-39; Eisner & Iger Studio (p)(a) c. 1939; Iger Studio (p)(i) 1940-41 COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream U.S. Publishers):

Avon Periodicals: crime (p)(i) 1952; Gangsters and Gun Molls (p)(i) c. 1952; Fighting Indians of the Old West (p)(i) c. 1952; horror (p)(i) 1951; King Solomon’s Mines (p)(i) c. 1951; romance (p)(i) 1952; science-fantasy (p)(i) 1951; Strange Worlds (p)(i) c. 1951; war (p)(i) 1952-53 Better/Standard/Nedor Publications: Black Terror (i) 1947-48; Broncho Bill (p)(i) 1948; Dick Devens (i) 1947; Doc Strange (i) 194748; Fighting Yank (i) 1947-48; horror (p)(i) 1953; Intimate Love (p)(i) 1952; Lance Lewis (i) 1947-48; New Romances (p)(i) 1952; Princess Pantha (p)(i) 1949; Real Life Comics (p)(i) 1948-50, 1952; romance (p)(i) 1950-51; support (art director) 1950-51; Tara (p)(i) 1949; Western (p)(i) 1950

Hold High The Standard!

One of Astarita’s triumphs for Standards/Nedor—from a circa-1948 issue of Broncho Bill. Scripter unknown. A couple of Nedor super-hero pages inked

by Astarita were seen in A/E #111’s coverage of the Nedor Comics Group. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Centaur Comics Group (includes Chesler & Ultem): Ad-ventures (p)(i) 1937; adaptations (p)(i) 1937; Boomerang (p)(i) c. 1937-38; Daniel Boone (p)(i) 1937; Death’s Head Range (p)(i) c. 1937-38; Detective Schultz’s Derby (p)(i) 1937; Grizzly Dunn (p)(i) c. 1937-

Rafael Astarita—Comic Book Pioneer

49

38; illustrations (p)(i) c. 1937-38; Round Table Adventures (p)(i) 1937-38; Star Comics (p)(i) 1937-38; Star Ranger Funnies (p)(i) 1939; Tin Mule (p)(i) c. 1937-38; Trailer Triggers (p)(i) 1937; Valley of Fear (p)(i) 1937 Chesler Publications: Captain Courage (p)(i) 1942; The Echo (p)(i) 1941-42; Green Knight (p)(i) 1941-42 DC Comics: Allain de Beaufort (p)(i) 1935; King Arthur (p)(i) 193536 Fawcett Publications: Captain Venture (p)(i) 1940-41; The Hunchback (p)(i) 1941 Fiction House Comics: Auro, Lord of Jupiter (p)(i) 1942-43; Captain Terry Thunder (p)(i) 1940, 1943; Captain Wings (p)(i) 1943; covers (p)(i) 1942-43, 1946-47; Futura (p)(i) 1946-50; Ghost Squadron (p)(i) 1946-47 (called “Ghost Patrol” in at least one story); The Hawk (p)(i) 1941-43; Hooks Devlin (p)(i) 1942-43; Inspector Dayton (p)(i) 1941-43; Jan of the Jungle (p)(i) 19438-50; Kaänga (p)(i) 1942-43; Rip Carson (i) 1942; Sky Rangers (p)(i) 1946; Tabu (p)(i) 1950-51; ZX-Y (p)(i) 1939 Green Publishing Co.: King Arthur (p)(i) 1946 [reprint of 1930s DC material]

Why Didn’t Astarita Ever Draw Tarzan?

Splash page of a “Kaänga” story from Jungle Comics #45 (Sept. 1943), drawn by Astarita. Writer unknown. In our Edgar Rice Burroughs coverage in A/E #129, we noted how several one-time Fiction House artists went on to draw the Tarzan newspaper comic strip: John Celardo, Bob Lubbers, Ruben Moreira. Too bad Astarita never got the nod! Thanks to the Comic Book Plus website. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Holyoke Publications: Jane Drake Detective (p)(i) 1940 I.W. Publications: Realistic Romances (p)(i) 1958 reprint; Strange Planets (p)(i) 1958 reprint Malibu Comics: Teen Angst: A Treasury of 1950s Romance (p) 1990 reprint Orbit Publications: crime (p)(i) 1950-52; romance (p)(i) 1950; Western (p)(i) 1950 Parents’ Magazine Press: True Comics (p)(i) 1949 Quality Comics: Doll Man (p)(i) 1946; Inspector Dayton (p)(i) 1941; Samar (p)(i) 1942 St. John Publishing: adventure (p)(i) 1954; crime (p)(i) 1951-54; jungle (p)(i) 1951-54; various features (p)(i) c. 1950-53; reprint from Chesler (p)(i) 1950; war (p)(i) 1951-54; Western (p)(i) 1951-52, 1954

“Auro” Hygiene Rafael Astarita drew a number of episodes of “Auro, Lord of Jupiter” for Fiction House’s Planet Comics. Here, as reprinted in PS Artbooks’ hardcover Roy Thomas Presents Planet Comics, Vol. 5, is the splash page from issue #24 (May 1943). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Comic Book Plus. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Street & Smith Comics: Thunderbolt (p)(i) 1942 Superior Publishers: text (w) 1952-54 in U.S. Fighting Air Force Toby Press: Captain Tootsie (p) 1950

Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; other art © 2016 Tom Grindberg.

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51

(Below:) Alan Hutchinson’s cover to Gary Brown’s original article in CPA-alpha #325 and Southern Fandom Press Alliance #163, both from Oct. 1991. [©1991 Gary Brown and Alan Hutchinson; Fatman TM & © Milson.]

[The Brain art © Milson or successors in interest.]

52

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1)

S

by Michael T. Gilbert

ometimes you can get too much of a good thing. Case in point: Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer!

On paper, it must have seemed a stroke of genius. By 1967, Adam West Batmania was in full swing, and every comic publisher

hoped to cash in on the “camp” craze. Harvey Comics had already tapped Joe Simon to create a new “Thriller” line of comics. Tower had their T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and even Archie had launched their Mighty Comics line, scripted by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. Everyone hoped their hero would be the next Batman.

With all that activity going on, it’s no surprise that newcomer Milson Publications decided to throw its cape into the ring.

Fawcett scholar P.C. Hamerlinck recently shared some background on the company’s origins: “Will Lieberson was the editor of the first couple of issues,

Fatman To The Rescue!

We see not only Fatman in action, but three Milson staff members, too… sort of! From Fatman #3 (Sept. 1967). [© Milson or successors in interest.]

Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1)

The Big Three!

There were three advertised Milson books, though only two titles saw print.

(Clockwise:) Fatman #1 (April 1967), with art by C.C. Beck… an ad for the never-published Captain Shazam (from Fatman #3, Aug. 1967)… and Carl Pfeufer’s Tod Holton, Super Green Beret #1 cover (April 1967).

Todd was a teenage Billy Batson clone until a magic beret turned him into a Commie-smashing super-soldier.[© Milson or successors in interest.]

before he brought Wendell [Crowley] in on the third one because Beck and Binder weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on the book (according to Beck, which he had relayed to me). Milson was started by four guys: Will Lieberson and his brother Martin, and Bernard Miller and his brother Joe.” It was all in the Fawcett family, as Bernie Millier had written “Captain Marvel Jr.,” “Radar the International Policeman,” and filler stories back in the Golden Age. The company got its name by combining the Miller and Lieberson brothers’ last names. I also asked P.C. about Kenneth Dennis, credited as editor in issue #1.

“Kenneth Dennis? That’s a Lieberson pseudonym, using his son’s names. Will used a lot of different names for various projects, especially when he started publishing porn.”

They’re Back!

The fledgling company initially planned to produce three different titles under the Lightning Comics logo, with Will Lieberson running the line. As a former Fawcett editor, Lieberson naturally gravitated to creators he’d worked with so successfully in comics’ Golden Age. The editor touted their Marvel-ous creators on issue one’s editorial page:

53

54

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

“CALLING ALL CAPTAIN MARVEL FANS! The artist and writer of FATMAN are none other than the famous team that created the majority of all Captain Marvel and Marvel Family tales in the Golden Age! Namely, Charles Clarence Beck and Otto O. Binder.

“Yep, they’re back and FATMAN’s got ‘em!

So if you have the haunted feeling that you’ve been transported back in time and are reading something that reminds you of the Big Red Cheese, you’ll know the reason why.”

Captain Who? By now it had been almost 15 years since Captain Marvel bit the dust. Only a few older die-hard fans and some budding comic historians had a clue of the importance of that statement.

Eventually former Fawcett alumni Wendell Crowley, Rod Reed, and Carl Pfeufer would join Beck, Binder, Miller, and Crowley to produce comics for Lightning Comics. So, with a stable of creators from one of the most successful comic companies of the Golden Age, and a costume almost identical to the one worn by the Big Red Cheese, what could go wrong?

As it turned out: everything.

What Went Wrong?

First, there was the problem of the main character. Fatman’s chubby alter ego, Van Crawford, was a rich, pampered dilettante in the mold of Bruce Wayne and other avenging heroes from decades past. He even lived with his parents! But where Wayne and the others were two-fisted crime-fighters pretending to be “The Mystery of The Moon Stealers!” lazy playboys, Van Crawford was the real Wendell Crowley wrote this script for the unpublished Fatman #4. Compare it to the partially drawn thing. Not exactly the stuff of teen fantasies! version on the facing page. [© Milson or successors in interest.]

True, ACG’s Herbie Popnecker was similarly fat and lazy, but at least he was a poor slob like But Van Crawford was basically a rich glutton who collected us (and saddled with a dad who thought he was a “little fat stuff (though apparently not comic books!). Then, a space alien nothing!”). What comic fan couldn’t relate to that? somehow gives Van the power to change into a flying saucer.

Pretty silly. But Binder was big into UFOs, so he probably figured the fans were, too.

For some reason, Van decides to put on a green Captain Marvel costume and fight crime. But there was really no reason for that. If he had the silly super-power of turning into a vehicle, why not do it directly from Van Crawford and skip the costumed middleman?

Of course, if you did that, you’d have to come up with a different name for the comic!

Quartet Of Fear!

C.C. Beck depicted this quartet of weirdoes in an ad from Fatman #1. [© Milson or successors in interest.]

Clearly, Beck and company were trying to one-up their old selves. If Captain Marvel had two identities, Fatman would have three. But the beauty of the original was the simplicity of the character... simplicity of writing, art, and concept. This new version was needlessly complicated. Worse, the scripts were silly.

This comic was inspired by the “camp” Batman TV show, with it’s “Holy this, Batman,” and “Holy that, Batman!” Binder went that route with embarrassing results. Otto’s “Captain Marvel”

Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1)

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stories had been highly original and marvelously whimsical. These were just childish.

While most readers are quite willing to suspend disbelief for one or two outlandish concepts, Fatman just had too many. Billy Batson says a magic word and turns into a super-hero? Okay, we can buy that. He’s pals with a talking tiger? Sure, why not? But you can only go so far. Ultimately, Beck and Binder were just too clever for their own good.

Making matters worse, the publishers decided that all their comics would be 64 pages of all-new material (the page count of early Golden Age comics) for 25¢. That also proved to be too much of a good thing for most readers. While the extra room gave Binder room to tell longer stories, most readers didn’t think it was worth the price.

The Good, The Bad, And The Silly!

Not all was bad, of course. C.C. Beck’s art was charming as ever, and a refreshing change from the more serious comics being published at the time. And Otto Binder wrote some amusing gags and created clever characters such as Moon Witch, Brain Man, Syntho (the patchwork man!), Tinman, and the Gnarly Gnome. But the parts never really gelled into a cohesive whole.

Fatman lasted a mere three issues before the company shut down, while Milson’s Super Green Beret title barely made it to two.

A third comic, Captain Shazam, never went beyond Binder’s script bible and a quickie house ad. Judging by the ad that touted the

Unfinished Symphony!

C.C. Beck never completed this splash page from the unpublished Fatman #4.

It illustrated Wendell Crowley’s “The Mystery of the Moon Stealers!” [© Milson or successors in interest.]

Moon Maiden!

The deadly Moon Witch, as drawn by C.C. Beck. [© Milson or successors in interest.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

good Captain as “A Turned-On Super Swinger!,” that was undoubtedly a blessing!

And so ended the short career of Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer.

Well, almost.

The Fatman Rocks!

Longtime Alter Ego readers may recall an article in issue Vol. 3,

#11, way back in November 2001. Gary Brown’s “The Lost Fourth Issue of C.C. Beck’s Fatman” appeared as part of P.C. Hamerlinck’s Fawcett Collector’s of America section, and talked about a final issue of Fatman that never saw print. Gary’s piece was an abbreviated version of a fanzine article he’d written for CAPA-alpha #324 in October 1991.

Briefly, circa 1967, Gary and his friends Wayne DeWaid, both teenagers, were hoping to get an interview with fellow Floridian Beck for their Comic Comment ’zine. Beck was agreeable, and the two were invited to his studio. During the meeting, Beck revealed to the wide-eyed fans that he was getting back into comics again with his upcoming Fatman series. The kids were thrilled!

But the thrill turned to disappointment when they visited again a few months later. Beck informed them that Milson was no longer publishing comics, and that work on Fatman #4 had been stopped.

The kids were understandably disappointed, but that was tempered by a parting gift from C.C. Beck—the unfinished art and scripts for issue #4!

Some of that work was published in Alter Ego V3#11, but more remained unseen since its original printing in 1991. So we thought it would be fun to show more of this rare Beck/Binder hero. We’ll have more next issue.

Till next time…

Van-tastic!

Our hungry hero, Van Crawford, depicted by C.C. Beck. [© Milson or successors in interest.]

Comic Fandom Archive

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Alter Ego’s Multi-Part Tribute To G.B. Love & RBCC – Part 5

G.B. Love.

(1939-2001) Photo by Robert Brown.

Remembering RBCC — With LOVE Five Fans Reminisce About G.B. Love & Contributing To His Classic Fanzine, The Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector Introduction by Bill Schelly

M

any, many fans contributed to RBCC in the 1960s and 1970s. We venture that all of them have stories to share about working with, and knowing, G.B. Love. For this installment of our series, we’ve asked five of them to share some memories of those halcyon days.

It’s fitting that we begin with those of Bernie Bubnis, since he contributed a piece to Gordon Love’s very first fanzine, The Rocket’s Blast #1 (Dec. 1961). Bernie is best remembered as the key organizer of the 1964 New York Comicon, as recounted most recently in A/E #137 & 138. We continue with artist Robert Kline, whose covers are among the most memorable to appear on RBCC (and other top fanzines of the era— as well as later in Marvel’s Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, Savage Sword of Conan, etc.). Next come the reminiscences of Gary Brown, whose “Keyhole” column was one of the zine’s most popular features. Gary later found his calling as a newspaper journalist, while continuing his Ibid contributions to CAPA-alpha to the present day.

Then, after a brief piece by our FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck, we close with Larry Bigman’s affectionate recollection of events leading up to G.B. Love’s life-altering move to Houston, Texas, including Love’s first experience with plane travel.

BERNIE BUBNIS The need to share my comic book fascination was so strong that I eagerly responded to Gordon’s letter in Mystery in Space #72 (Dec. 1961). Along with my dues to the SFCA [South Florida Comics Association], I sent a 226word short story titled “I Loved Her,” about shortcircuiting my robot girlfriend. He told me it was too long and could I shorten it?

Then and Now Hey, Gordon, Bernie Bubnis, then (c. 1964) and, more or less, now (okay, I’m a 13-year2014), photographed by his wife Lucille.

Adkins Diet When Bernie’s G.B.-rejected story “I Loved Her” appeared in Yandro #118 (Nov. 1962), it was accompanied by an illustration by Dan Adkins. [© Estate of Dan Adkins.]

old geek just sitting in my room with a few hundred comic books.

I’ve got nothing else to do. I’ll write another story with only 80 words. The “Dividing Line,” about a visitor from the fifth dimension, saw print in The Rocket’s Blast #1. “I Loved Her” appeared in Yandro #118 (Nov. 1962), a sci-fi fanzine, accompanied by an illustration by Dan Adkins. Thank you, Gordon.

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In RB #3 or 4, G.B. requested ideas on how to increase the size of the newsletter. I used my spirit duplicator to run off about 25 copies of a piece about the original Golden Age Atom. That appeared in #6. I contributed an art-only ditto page (a Kirby tribute) for #8. These were just stapled into the Love-produced pages. So began our postal affair. He never requested any specific type of art or article. As I met and interviewed pros, I would type up an account of it and send it in. It was such a laid-back relationship that I was shocked when Gordon wrote me a very angry letter. Oh, oh, what did I screw up now?

I interviewed Jack Kirby and that article appeared in Comicollector.

Gordon was disappointed it was not submitted to the Rocket’s Blast.

He even referred to me as a member of his “staff” and was disappointed that I had forgotten my loyalties. Who knew? That incident was really the only real interaction I ever had with Gordon Love. I was proud to think I was part of his “staff.” Hence, the bulk of my fan work was published in Rocket’s Blast. I renewed my loyalty and remain a member of the SFCA to this very day.

Fighting Captain American (Above:) Bernie Bubnis’ ditto insert, a tribute to Jack Kirby (but copying a 1954 Romita Captain America), appeared in The Rocket’s Blast #8 (July 1962).

Along with Rick Weingroff, Bernie was a frequent contributor to the early issues of Gordon Love’s fanzine, when it morphed from a newsletter into a general fanzine. [Captain America TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Fighting American TM & © Estates of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.]

Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Captain Marvel!

(Left & above:) By the time The Rocket’s Blast had reached #19 (June 1963) and #20 (July 1963), it was printed in the “friendlier” ditto process, and becoming known as a competitor to The Comicollector because its regular monthly schedule made it an ideal and timely vehicle for fans’ advertisements of comics for sale, et al. Art by Buddy Saunders and Howard Keltner, respectively. [Miss Liberty, Billy Batson, & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Remembering RBCC—With Love

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before G.B. made the suggestion, so he sent me Xerox copies of the old artwork for reference. At this time, I was so excited to see my work in print, I responded positively to nearly every request from fan magazine editors and publishers. It was great to be so warmly received by G.B.

BOB KLINE

I was in the Air Force when I started making contributions to fan magazines. RBCC was one of the first. Among my heroes were Frank Frazetta, Wallace Wood, and Al Williamson. I’m pretty sure I sent I’m enclosing a picture of my son Tom my first submission to G.B. and me from the fan era, and a picture of unsolicited. It was the one showing my wife Kris and me from just a couple of a man and a woman in space suits years ago. When I was learning Photoshop Now And Then confronted by a dinosaur. I was in the ’90s, I created this 3D version of my (Left:) Bob and Kris Kline in 2012.

(Right:) Bob and son trying to evoke the look of an old first RBCC cover just to see if I could do it.

Tom from the fan era, i.e., late 1960s, early 1970s. Courtesy E.C. Weird Science or Weird Fantasy of Bob Kline & family.

It works! Get out your red-and-blue cover. I was flattered when G. B. glasses. Thanks for your interest in my chose to print it on the cover of memories of those great days.

RBCC with no type/logo laid over the artwork.

From the beginning, G.B. wanted to acquire my original art. I was eager to get back issues of the comics which featured the work of my heroes. I traded most of my artwork for old issues of Mad, Weird Science, and Jimmy Wakely comics. I believe all of my correspondence with G.B. was by letter. I don’t remember meeting him face to face, or even talking on the phone.

Like many fledgling comic-book fans in the mid-1960s, I first met G.B. Love in the pages of his popular fanzine, Rocket’s BlastComicollector. It would be several years later before I’d meet this remarkable man face to face.

G.B. would suggest subjects he would like to see me draw. One of these resulted in the three-page portfolio of Golden Age superheroes which featured “Boy King and the Giant” and “Nightmare and Sleepy,” among others. I had never heard of these characters

I had been collecting comics since the late 1950s and often wondered if anyone else in the world bought and actually saved their comic books. I never got a hint that there were many others like me out there. In 1965, friend Wayne DeWald and I discovered

GARY BROWN

Size 3-D Fits All! The twice-told cover of RBCC #66 (1969). Bob Kline tells us, “When I was learning Photoshop in the 90s, I created this 3-D version of my first RBCC cover, just to see if I could do it. It works! Get out your red-and-blue glasses.” TwoMorrows did its part, Robert, sending out 3-D specs with each copy of A/E #115… and they’re still available for a stamped, self-addressed envelope to read that ish and its follow-up, #126. [© Robert Kline.]

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Comic Fandom Archive

Payment In Kline (Above left & right:) Two covers by Bob Kline for G.B. Love’s RBCC: issues #73 & #102, respectively. [Tor & Chee Chee TM & © Estate of Joe Kubert; Nightmare & Sleepy © the respective copyright holders; other art © Robert Kline.]

fandom and began buying fanzines, among them Batmania and Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector. We both were quite intrigued that it was published by G.B. Love in Miami, Florida, near our hometown of Hialeah.

Get Down With Brown (Left:) Gary Brown, during his high school years, mid-1960s.

(Above:) Starting from the left: G.B. Love, Gary Brown, Mark Burbey (Dana Marie Andra), Jim Van Hise, Andy Warner (sitting), & Gary Wilson. Photo taken by John Ellis after one of the South Florida Comiclub meetings in late 1969.

At that time, RBCC was a conglomeration of self-printed ads along with scant editorial content. Little did we know that G.B.’s physical handicap made it a difficult task to type up, print, collate, staple, and send out one of the most widely circulated fanzines of the time. Over the next few years, Wayne and I, along with Alan Hutchinson, began to make a name for ourselves with our own fanzines like Comic Comments and Gremlin and as members of CAPA-alpha. When I graduated from college, I heard there was a small comic “con” being put on by G.B. in South Miami. I went, and along with meeting him for the first time, I became acquainted with Andy Warner, John Ellis, and Mark Burbey. They, and soon Jim Van Hise, helped G.B. publish RBCC and his other fanzines, and with small conventions.

I liked G.B. instantly. During the first few times we met, I had a problem clearly understanding him, often relying on Van Hise to clarify for me. But over the years, I eventually began to get the gist of what he was saying. One thing I learned early was that G.B. had a good sense of humor. I realized early on that this man, who had to overcome more each day than a lot of us did in a lifetime, was a hell of a businessman. He knew what things were worth and how much he could pay. He had one of those rare conversions in life—making a career out of his hobby.

Remembering RBCC—With Love

At one mini-convention I took a few minutes to sit with G.B. at his RBCC table and we talked some. But I quickly noticed he was ever the businessman. Often in our conversation he would get up to collect money from a customer or make sure one of his helpers kept the tables straightened. He wasn’t being rude by interrupting our conversation, just keeping track of his livelihood. I understood this and found it fascinating. It likely was what drove him to battle his physical handicaps and succeed in the comics fandom universe: he always was working. As we sat there, a number of other dealers and fans came over to his table and introduced themselves, happy to meet this publishing giant.

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Captain Marvel Wants You, Too! The cover of Alter Ego V.3, #37 (June 2004) featured a fantastic piece of artwork by the late C.C. Beck, which passed from G.B. Love to FCA editor Paul Hamerlinck. Characters TM and © copyright by DC Comics.

Now, I can’t claim to have had many long conversations with G.B. I didn’t know him as a close friend, but I could see he was a happy man. I feel he loved doing RBCC and all that it brought to his life. And when he was with other fans in a social setting, he truly enjoyed the communication.

I was asked to contribute to RBCC, and did so for several years with a comics-news and opinion column called “Keyhole.” It was fun to do.

I felt bad when G.B. decided to relocate from Miami to Houston, which meant I probably would see him rarely, if ever. And when I learned of his death in 2001, it hit me hard. G.B. made his mark on comics and Star Trek fandoms in his lifetime, and was not just a pioneer publisher, but one of my heroes.

P. C. HAMERLINCK I felt fortunate to be in contact with G.B. Love the final two years of his life... although he didn’t want to discuss anything about the old fandom days! Instead, he just wanted to sell me— and help him sell—all the original artwork he had accumulated

over the years, most which had appeared in the pages of RBCC. Maybe he knew his time was almost up?

The only thing I bought from him was the Beck Captain Marvel/Uncle Sam cover re-creation painting (which we used as an Alter Ego cover years ago). G.B. stood firm on his inflated price for it... plus he knew how much I wanted it. I ended up selling some of my old CM Club premiums and quite a few Fawcett comic books in order to finance the painting. (I figured I could always re-obtain at least some of the old Fawcett material, but Beck wasn’t around anymore to create paintings, which were getting harder and harder to come by.) Probably out of guilt for his high pricing, G.B. threw in a photo album containing Polaroid shots of various Beck paintings that he and C.C. used to show to potential clients at cons when G.B. acted as Beck’s art rep. Anyway, that’s my G.B. Love story!

LARRY BIGMAN How G.B. Love Turned Me Into A Crazed Comic Book Fanboy, And Changed My Life Forever!

On a warm January afternoon in 1967, my father drove me from our home in Southwest Miami to even further south in Miami, specifically to 9875 S.W. 212th Street, in the Cutler Ridge neighborhood of Miami. A few weeks before, I had read a letter in the latest Justice League of America from G.B. Love, who commented on the contents of the previous issue of JLA, and also mentioned he was publishing a comic book fan magazine, and that interested readers should contact him for a copy.

I had then been reading comics for the previous six or eight years, had decided I was in fact collecting comics as of my first Marvel, Fantastic Four #21, had already been to the famous Cherokee Book Shop in Hollywood the previous month while visiting family in Los Angeles, but had not yet discovered comic fandom.

G.B. lived in a small, modest, traditional South Florida concrete block home with his parents. My father had told me when he called to arrange a time that it seemed like there was something wrong with the guy on the phone. While I understand now (since I’ve been a physician for the past 30 years) that G.B. had pure motor cerebral palsy without any cognitive deficits, when we met

…Does Whatever A Spider Can! Gary first became known in fandom as the co-editor of Comic Comments, a news-andreviews fanzine that published its last issue with this delicious Spidey cover by Bill Black on its 28th issue (Dec. 1971). [Spider-Man TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Comic Fandom Archive

that day, all I knew was that he knew about old comics, and I wanted to know more, too. The rest didn’t matter to me.

I got my first RBCC that day: #49, with Raymond Miller’s Supersnipe cover. I poured over that issue what seems like hundreds of times in the coming days, absorbing through my pores this previously unknown land of comics I’d never heard of, inhabited by all these fans (some of whom seemed to be actually adults!) who were even more rabid than I. It blew my bright, 12-year-old mind.

G.B. loved comics, and loved fandom, but had had little direct contact with other fans up till that time. On the one hand, there weren’t a lot of South Florida fans then, and on the other, G.B. knew his disability was a big hurdle for many. He had difficulty walking easily. He had even greater difficulty speaking intelligibly, and controlling his saliva while speaking could be also be a challenge. But in the world of comic fandom, by 1967 this young man and the RBCC were the center of the comic book collecting universe. While the other early major fanzines had pretty much come and gone by then (Alter Ego, Comic Art, Komix Illustrated), everyone had to get the RBCC each month, or you wouldn’t know what was happening. G.B. shaped and formed modern comic fandom over those few years by using the RBCC to highlight his interests, whether that be comics, SF and horror films, or old radio shows. He discovered artists as important as Buddy Saunders, Don Newton, John G. Fantucchio, Mike Zeck, and Kerry Gammill.

You Were A Bigman Yesterday…

(Left:) Larry Bigman today. (Above:) Bigman and his folks at the 1973 San Diego comicon. Photo by Shel Dorf.

By the summer of 1968, I was firmly entrenched in comic fandom, buying old comics from Buddy Saunders regularly, getting the new issues of Star-Studded Comics, and dreaming of going to a comic convention. That summer, my family was planning to drive to Los Angeles to visit our family there. I convinced my parents that we should stop in Dallas and go to the SouthwesternCon 1968, being chaired by Larry Herndon of Star-Studded Comics. G.B. had never been to a convention before, and understandably was hesitant to go, given his disability, and the lack of resources in those days for people like him. But, as my father especially was getting more and more interested in this comic-collecting thing, and we got along so well with G.B. on our often twice-a-month weekend visits, we talked G.B. into flying out to Dallas, and assured him that my parents would help him as need be. This certainly put G.B.’s parents’ minds at ease, as their then-27-year-old son had rarely travelled away from home up till that time.

Clearly that trip was a turning point personally for G.B., leading him to set up the original small-scale MiamiCons starting in the next couple years, his subsequent frequent summer trips to the Texas and Oklahoma conventions, and ultimately his decision to move to Houston in the mid-’70s to publish Trek, his Star Trek fanzine with Walter Irwin, having sold the RBCC to Jim Van Hise.

In the interim, my family and I moved to Los Angeles, I started writing the “Williamson Collector” column with Jim for first G.B.’s weekly fanzine Collage, and then, when Collage folded, for the RBCC. Other articles of mine were published here and there with G.B., with my “SFCA Index” of all G.B.’s fanzine output being published in RBCC #100. I got more and more involved in selling and dealing comic books with my father at the summer conventions, wrote the regular column “Graphics” for Jerry Sinkovec and Mike Tiefenbacher’s Menomonee Falls Gazette, and contributed data, proofread, and assistant-edited the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide from 1971 to 1980.

It’s A Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Supersnipe!

As in the case of so many others, the first fanzine that Larry encountered was an issue of RBCC, in this case showcasing Supersnipe, “The Boy with the Most Comic Books in America,” who had his own Street & Smith title. Art by SFCA standby Raymond Miller. [Art © Raymond Miller.]

I started medical school in 1976, and graduated in 1980, at the same time marrying my wife. Things had clearly changed in the 13 years since I had first visited G.B, so my fandom participation significantly waned starting then. But here we are over 45 years later: I still collect, still have all my old RBCCs (including my original copy of #49), and the comic book world is way bigger than any of us ever anticipated. Back then, G.B. got a lot of grief for his poorly handwritten page numbers (due to his cerebral palsy of course, but never mentioned by him in the pages of the RBCC), and

Remembering RBCC—With Love

his seemingly exorbitant prices for his fanzines. No doubt he was understandably doing his best to support himself in a culture that had few opportunities for a young man like him at that time. His razorsharp business focus kept the RBCC going through those years, and set the stage for the more obvious business environment that holds sway over the field nowadays. I know that had he (and the others of us there at the time) not treasured and valued the material so highly, it is very likely there would be no current comic book industry.

This brief reminiscence barely scratches From A Galaxy Far, Far the surface of my memories of G.B. I still Away fondly remember digging through the Artist Don Newton and his iconic bottom drawer of his bedroom dresser, Man of Steel painting that graced where he kept all his copies of others’ the cover of RBCC #100, the issue fanzines, and drooling at back issues that I that featured Larry Bigman’s list of wanted. Ultimately I traded him out of his all of the fanzines published by copy of Biljo White’s Batmania #1. Still have SFCA/G.B. Love. The 1970 photo is that, too, with G.B.’s address written on it courtesy of James Van Hise.

by Biljo. The stories and memories remain [Superman TM & © DC Comics.] very sweet to me. As was G.B.—a young man who knew what he liked, and worked against some difficult obstacles to show the rest of us what we should like, too.

Coming Next: Alter Ego interviews Jim Van Hise about taking over RBCC from G.B. Love when Love decided to move to Houston, and the decade when he edited the venerable fanzine on his own. Comments to Bill Schelly at hamstrpres@aol.com.

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THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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

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

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“Christmas in the Bronze Age!” Go behind the scenes of comics’ best holiday tales of the 1970s through the early 1990s! And we revisit Superhero Merchandise Catalogs of the late ‘70s! Featuring work by SIMON BISLEY, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍALÓPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, the KUBERT STUDIO, DENNY O’NEIL, STEVE PURCELL, JOHN ROMITA, JR., and more. Cover by MARIE SEVERIN and MIKE ESPOSITO!

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65

Mr. Thomas,

I read your editorial with perhaps more interest than usual. First, let me offer greetings to a fellow “Lapsarian” (I’m a lapsed Catholic, you a lapsed Lutheran, kissin’-cousin religions). Second, I have to address what you wrote about the disparagement of the term “Xmas.” Perhaps it’s a Protestant itch-to-be-scratched, but the “X” in “Xmas” is not and never has been a pagan sign, a disparagement of Christ, a mathematical symbol, a representation of the Cross, part of “The War on Christmas,” or any other “fill-in-the-blank” that folks have named it over the years.

W

e’ve got a full issue this time for sure. So, below another great “maskot” homage drawn by Shane Foley and colored by Randy Sargent, this time in honor of issue interviewee Rich Buckler [Alter Ego hero TM & © Roy & Dann Thomas – designed by Ron Harris; Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly – created

by Biljo White], let’s plunge right into comments on Alter Ego #130, which spotlighted a big FCA special and the beginning of Alberto Becattini’s several-part coverage of the life and career of artist Dan Barry.

We start with some notes on the issue’s cover, from a couple of pretty knowledgeable sources: FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck and co-editor of the original print Who’s Who of American Comic Books Hames Ware…

The “X” in question actually derives from the Greek letter chi, a letter from the same language the New Testament was originally written in. As such, it has been used by Christians (which is to say, “Catholics” in all likelihood, which may be one impetus for the disparagement) for more than a millennium as a shorthand for the word “Christ.” Often chi was used in conjunction with the letter rho to stand in for the word “Christ.” Though its first use has been lost to antiquity, the chi for “Christ” was certainly applied almost universally by the monks slaving away in scriptoriums across Europe from the 11th century on. Catholics, I know, had no

Hi Roy,

I heard back from Hames Ware regarding the mystery of who drew the Xmas Comics cover that we used for the A/E #130 cover art. I had told him it wasn’t Beck’s work, and that my guess was that it may have been a product of the Binder Shop, possibly drawn by Ken Bald or—most likely—illustrated by Dan Barry, an artist who ironically was featured in that same [A/E] issue and whose name appeared on the A/E cover below the artwork! A happy accident? Since Hames had worked closely with [Fawcett editor] Wendell Crowley in identifying the work of Fawcett artists, I’ve always valued his expertise and opinion. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:

“Hey, Paul… You are, of course, right that that cover is not by Beck and, of the two guesses you made, I think Dan Barry resonates with my weary old eyes as much as anyone else I could conjure up. It’s a great cover, and though I am unaware of other Barry covers during this time, I think you have nailed him for this one!”

In addition, I noticed, in the Cremins article in A/E #130, two captions were mixed up (on pp. 69 & 70), and that, on p. 65, a Swayze photo credit should have been at the end of the second paragraph of the caption, not the first.

P.C. Hamerlinck

Thanks, P.C—and Hames. Apparently P.C. sent me (Roy) a note to change those captions in the FCA section, but somehow it didn’t get done.

My apologies. Fortunately, at least both captions referred to the same “Marvel Family” Christmas story!

And, speaking of Christmas: next, before we really get to the FCA material that led off #130, here’s a critique of my editorial objecting to the use of the phrase “Xmas”….

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet, Man! A page from a Dan Barry-drawn “Bulletman” story whose splash was seen in A/E #130. It’s from Fawcett’s Master Comics #81 (July 1947). Thanks to Alberto Becattini. Oh, and Roy T. first used this caption’s heading in an Alter Ego issue back in the 1960s. Never throw anything away!

[Bulletman TM & © DC Comics.]

66

[correspondence, comments, & correctioons]

problem with using “Xmas” up through the 1970s (the beginning period of my conversion to Lapsarianism). In fact, I vividly recall seeing the chi/ro symbol for “Christ,” hence “Christian,” used throughout the Church on everything from priest vestments to altar cloths to Church paintings.

So, Fawcett’s Xmas Comics were most likely so titled because, at that time, “Xmas” was accepted readily as a perfectly fine shorthand for “Christmas,” just as it had been for centuries; thus the use had nothing to do with any possible offense given to nonChristians. Why Christians would take offense at “Xmas” is a puzzlement to me, since doing so only shows a lack of knowledge on the part of those who would take offense.

However, to those who are offended and do disparage the “X” in “Xmas,” I say, okay, then, get serious about your words and put the second “s” back on “mas” and pronounce “Christ” with a long “i” instead of a short one. The current [pronunciation] “kris-mahs” is a disparagement of the phrase “Christ’s mass.” (And I wonder why people sometimes look at me with puzzlement and begin slowly backing away.)

Arlen J. Schuler

I knew some of that even before I wrote the writer/editorial, Arlen— and John G. Pierce expressed similar thoughts in a briefer note. All true.

However, my objection was based on the fact that nowadays “Xmas” is almost always used, I feel, not for any religious purpose (and, most of the time, without any knowledge of the history you impart above), but in order to avoid using the “Christ” part of the word. So my objection stands, on logical and anti-PC grounds.

Thanks, Nick. And here’s another comment on that issue’s “re:” section—this time on the Avengers-related stuff that had been printed in A/E #118—all the way from Australia and the aforementioned Shane Foley: Hey Roy,

Re page 53 of A/E #130: “Can it really be that no one—not one single soul—wrote in saying what a clever send-up of the JLA had been done in Avengers #69 & 85??”

Yep—they did. At least one! The first letter on the LP of Avengers #74 is all about it! And all very subtly responded to (by you, no doubt).

Fantastic to see your Avengers #39 plot published. Between finally seeing Stan’s ‘plot notes’ for Kirby in the last Jack Kirby Collector, those Ditko plot notes for “Dr. Strange” that you published a while back, and now these, we get to see a few of the nuts and bolts that we’ve always heard about. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the plot—just your fourth ever for Avengers—with your note at the end for Don [Heck] about how this plot, though vague at times, is more than what he was usually getting. Maybe in response to a grumble he had?

Interesting to see how he omitted entire sections (a small one, like Hercules getting annoyed at the music, and more importantly, The Thinker’s escape, which you were forced to write around)— and felt he could alter what you wanted, such as your description of how Hammerhead’s power worked.

It seems that either a couple of the art scans used in conjunction with the first part of Alberto Becattini’s long study of Dan Barry came to me mislabeled—or else I goofed when uploading them to layout man Chris Day. Either way, Craig Delich straightened us out on a couple of points…

Hi Roy,

Found a few errors in A/E #130:

P. 6: The “Flagman” splash actually appeared in Captain Aero, Vol. 2, #4 (June 1943), a.k.a. #10.

P. 7: The splash for “Nightmare and Sleepy” actually appeared in Clue Comics, Vol. 1, #2 (Feb. 1943).

The Dan Barry article is great! What a busy man!

Craig Delich

And at this point you had three more chapters to go, Craig. Hope you enjoyed them all!

Here, from Yancy Street Ganger Nick Caputo, are a couple of corrections and additions to information given in #130’s “re:” section, regarding Marvel’s British reprints, whose credits are often harder to pin down than those of the U.S. originals….

Hi Roy—

As always, I quite enjoyed the always lively and informative letter column in the new A/E. Re the British reprints on pages 5657: The Mighty World of Marvel #205 looks like the work of Al Milgrom… if not pencils, definitely inks. Having studied and helped ID a great many of the new-material covers of that period for the Grand Comics Database, I doubt Ron Wilson was involved in that cover. The Titans cover is either by Wilson, with inks by Giacoia, or a combo of Giacoia/Esposito/Tartaglione. I can’t ID the new splash page artists, although all but the one on the upper right side on page 57 were inked by Mike Esposito.

Nick Caputo

He’s Faster Than A Speeding Bullet, Too! An action page from Adventure Comics #144 (Sept. 1949), one of the two “Johnny Quick” yarns that Dan Barry drew for DC. Script by Otto Binder, who at that time was mostly writing “Captain Marvel” and “Marvel Family” stories for Fawcett Publications. Thanks to Alberto Becattini.

[TM & © DC Comics.]

re:

As a kid, I absolutely loved Don’s powerful pose of Hawkeye on page 1. A stunner. And I don’t recall having had problems with following his storytelling, either. But now, being older, I see that there were times, with good examples in this story, when he was really struggling to get the storytelling in as clearly as the other artists, like Buscema, were able to. One example— where The Thinker and his crony crash into the Mansion on the flying disc to confront Pietro and Wanda. If it wasn’t explained in the script, it wouldn’t be clear what is happening there. And there seem to be quite a few panels where the figures are too close—there isn’t enough pulling back to see clearly what’s going on. But, be that as it may, I would still prefer reading a Heck-drawn story to a huge proportion of others.

Shane Foley

Yeah, Don was a real pro, Shane. If he took liberties with the Avengers synopses I sent him, it was usually because (a) he felt he had an alternative way to handle things that might work out better, or (b) we had talked that change over by phone, later. In any event, if I’d had a real problem with what he did and felt I couldn’t work with it, I could have gotten him to change it. But, whenever possible, I preferred to work with what was sent in, since Don

67

And Panthers Are Fairly Fast Themselves!

A jungle-adventure splash page penciled by Dan Barry and inked by Ruben Moreira for the shoe company giveaway Buster Brown Comics #12 (Summer 1948). Script by Hobart Donovan. Scan courtesy of Alberto Becattini.[© the respective copyright holders.]

wouldn’t, at that time, have been paid extra for any alterations I asked him to make. But I don’t recall his ever complaining that my synopses weren’t long enough.

He wasn’t a griper. He just got the job done.

Incidentally, for those A/E readers who don’t have a copy of The Avengers #70 (March 1970) handy—since comics’ letters pages aren’t generally reprinted in Marvel’s collections—perhaps I should add that my “subtle” response to a letter-writer re similarities between the four original villains of the Squadron Sinister and those in “your chief competitor’s best-known mags” [i.e., DC’s Justice League of America and related titles] was meant to keep me out of trouble with editor Stan Lee, who hadn’t approved my homage. Matter of fact, to this day, I’m not sure if Stan was ever made aware of that situation—which had the potential to get Marvel a nasty letter from DC, while writer Denny O’Neil’s wink-wink-nudgenudge to The Avengers at that time in an issue of JLA was much more subtle than my own and wouldn’t have given us much of a “you-guysdid-the-same-thing” comeback. I was skating on thin ice, and I knew it— so how’d I have the nerve to make up the good-guy Squadron Supreme a few issues later? I must’ve liked living dangerously!

Now, just time for a couple of brief additional comments: John Coates notes that, in #130’s FCA, Otto Binder (in his memoir) “makes the common mistake of attributed the phrase ‘God helps those who help themselves’ to the Holy Bible. It doesn’t appear in the Bible and is more attributed to ‘The Book of Hallmark.’”

Bryan Stroud points out goodnaturedly that his first name was misspelled “Brian” in references to his Sy Barry interview, which was footnoted in #130’s Dan Barry piece. But he goes on: “At least I got to see my name in Alter Ego.” Hope we made it up to you by getting it right this time, Bryan—in both bold and italics, yet!

Send all critiques and other comments to:

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

The Alter-Ego-Fans online group is cleverly hidden at group.yahoo.com/group/alter-ego-fans. Yahoo Groups has eradicated its “Add Member” tool for moderators, so if you want to join this magazine’s online chat group and find that it won’t let you in, please contact Chet Cox at good ol’ mormonyoyoman@gmail.com with your name and a little bit about yourself. On the A/E list, we discuss the Silver Age, the Golden Age, and Alter Ego itself, and Roy T. himself is often there with advance news, requests for help re keeping A/E a respository of Silver and Golden Age knowledge., etc., etc. It’s fun, educational, and it’s carb-free!

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ALTER EGO #129

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

Cover by TOM GRINDBERG!

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

GERRY CONWAY interviewed about his work as star Marvel/DC writer in the early ‘70s (from the creation of The Punisher to the death of Gwen Stacy) with art by ROMITA, COLAN, KANE, PLOOG, BUSCEMA, MORROW, TUSKA, ADAMS, SEKOWSKY, the SEVERINS, and others!

Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more!

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ALTER EGO #134

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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!

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!

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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!

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

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70

The Mystery Behind The Previously Unseen Version Of C.C. Beck’s Captain Marvel Adventures #2 Cover

by P.C. Hamerlinck

A Comic Book Hit (Counter-clockwise from above left:) Captain Marvel Adventures #2 (Summer 1941) original cover art; note that the CM head is a paste-up.

The published cover.

A photocopy of the original art after the paste-up was removed by Harry Matesky, revealing Beck’s partially-finished first version of CM’s head— accompanied by Mark Lewis’ blue pencils to CM’s face during the restoration process. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

The Mystery Behind The Cover

71

I

f our FCA #200 cover utilizing C.C. Beck’s cover art to Captain Marvel Adventures #2 (Summer 1941) seems a little different, you’re right.

portions of Captain Marvel’s face. This wasn’t quite as simple as just ‘connect the dots.’ It was necessary to pull out and carefully reference all the relevant sources I had of Beck’s Captain Marvel The original CMA #2 cover artwork was once artwork, to assure I got the shapes and contours owned by one of the nation’s preeminent Captain right. From that point, I inked it with other Marvel collectors (and longtime Overstreet Comic Photoshop brushes that mimic traditional inking Book Price Guide advisor), Harry Matesky. tools. Once the head was done to my satisfaction, I (Incidentally, a tip-of-the-iceberg portion of Harry’s had the task of pasting it back over one of the extraordinary CM collection was the subject of the clean scans of the original cover. I couldn’t just use marvelous 2010 Abrams ComicArts hardcover book the photocopy I’d been drawing over, as it was not SHAZAM! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest only apparently pieced together from more than Mortal by Chip Kidd and Geoff Spear). one photocopy (as evidenced by the rosette nearest Billy’s left fist), but also turned out to be slightly Upon receiving the original cover art, Matesky distorted/skewed… which is something that had immediately discovered that the head of C.C. Beck sometimes happens with photocopiers. This made Captain Marvel as it appears on the published at Fawcett Publications, exact realignment and replacement of the head on cover was actually a paste-over consisting of what Paramount Building, NYC - 1942. the clean scan of the original more challenging was obviously a re-done head by Beck! Being a than usual, but I eventually got it worked out. commercial artist (one who had actually worked at From this point, it was a matter of recoloring, just trying to duplicate Fawcett Publications for a time in the post-comics years) and the color as seen on the original CMA #2 cover. Of course, the understandably one with curiosity in full-force, Matesky carefully original cover included a gold metallic ink as a spot color. Since it removed the paste-over head to see what lurked under it. would be too costly to do that here, we’ve used a standard fourcolor approximation as a replacement.”

And there it was: beneath the paste-up was a partially-finished, different Captain Marvel head by Beck! Matesky quickly made a So, which version do you prefer? I’m hopelessly biased; I think photocopy of his finding before affixing the paste-over head back into both of Beck’s Captain Marvels stand on their own merits, but I its old position. Whether partially finished or simply due to its age believe ultimately the right decision was made to have CM’s face and whatever substance had been used to paste over it, portions of re-done for the final cover. The published version signifies more Beck’s original CM head under the paste-up drawing were missing. the true essence, warmth, and disposition of the amiable, unassuming hero he was developing in to, whereas in Beck’s initial Beck’s original, unpublished version of the CMA #2 cover was a rendering the Captain is perhaps a might too ominous-looking in true Fawcett rarity… the makings for an ideal cover of one of our his depiction. Mark Lewis agreed to some extent when weighing in anniversary issues. Thus, I asked my friend (and frequent FCA on the matter, and added these thoughts: cover artist and coordinator) Mark Lewis if he was ready to channel his Inner Beck and attempt to restore the cover to what it “There’s a lot to commend with the original, unpublished one. might have looked like with Beck’s original Captain Marvel head Captain Marvel is interacting more with the action, looking down intact and complete. He cheerfully accepted the mission! approvingly on what Billy is doing. If I had to hazard a guess, though, as to why the head change was made, perhaps it was felt I provided Mark with a series of photocopies and scans of the CM looked a touch too smug, a little too haughty, starting to lean a original art that Harry Matesky had sent to me back in November bit too uncomfortably in the direction of a kind of German of 2010. Since it all came to Mark in digital form, it seemed to make ubermensch, if you will. The published head was much sense to him to keep the work digital. Mark explained his approach lighter and friendlier, more in keeping with the personand processes in restoring Beck’s original cover: ality and tone that Fawcett were leaning towards with the “In Photoshop, I opened up the one photocopy I had of the cover character even this early on, which is something that set with the paste-up removed, and, using a brush that mimics a nonCaptain Marvel apart from the majority of his photo blue pencil, I blocked in the construction of the missing super-heroic peers.”

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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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72

Hometown Hero A Vintage 1945 Newspaper Article On Golden Age Great MARC SWAYZE

by P.C. Hamerlinck

E

DITOR’S INTRODUCTION: No FCA anniversary issue would be complete without the presence of Marc Swayze. Marc, an important part of our family here at FCA/Alter Ego/TwoMorrows, passed away on October 14, 2012, at the age of 99. His continuous narrative, “We Didn’t Know… It was the Golden Age!” graced hundreds of our pages for years, and his colloquial yet illuminating memoirs were unprecedented amongst his Golden Age artist peers.

In case you didn’t previously get to know him in our magazine: Marcus D. Swayze was one of the top artists for Fawcett Publications from 1941-53. The first Mary Marvel sketches emerged from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest tales; but Marc was originally hired by Fawcett to draw “Captain Marvel” stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote several “Captain Marvel” scripts while in the military. After his discharge from the Army in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his home in Monroe, Louisiana. There he worked on “The Phantom Eagle” featured in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip, originally created by his mentor, Russell Keaton, for Bell Syndicate. After the cancellation of Wow in 1948, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s successful line of romance comics. After the company ceased publishing comics, and after a brief stint with Charlton Publications in the mid-’50s, Marc left comics for corporate work. His first “We Didn’t Know …” column appeared in FCA #54 (1996).

Now, here’s an opportunity to get to know Marc even more as we present this rare 1945 article showcasing “Monroe’s Comic Creator” from his hometown newspaper, the long-defunct Monroe Morning World. —PCH.

Schoolboy Hobby Becomes Career For Local Artist M.D. Swayze Draws Well Known Comics Flyin’ Jenny, Phantom Eagle

A

by Paul Martin

lmost all boys—and girls, too—have at some time in their lives tried their hand at cartoons or other drawing endeavors, but very few have had their schoolboy hobbies develop into careers. One of the few is Monroe’s own M.D. Swayze, descendant of one of the South’s oldest families, who is turning out the well-known comic strip Flyin’ Jenny, which appears daily and Sunday in newspapers from Alaska to Mexico and coast to coast.

Swayze was born and reared here and turns out his work in a

Through A Glass, Darkly The front page of the Monroe (Louisiana) Morning World from 1945 featuring hometown hero Marc Swayze—referred to throughout as “M.D. Swayze” by the author of the article. Unfortunately, the photo is of poor quality, having been shot through a glass frame. If you can see it, on Marc’s home studio drawing table is a Flyin’ Jenny original Sunday page he was working on, along with an issue of Wow Comics (#37, July ’45) featuring one of his “Phantom Eagle” stories. Seen on the wall behind him is C.C. Beck’s going-awayfrom-Fawcett gift to him, the original cover art to Whiz Comics #19… and a portrait Marc drew of Mickey Malone, aka “The Phantom Eagle.” Special thanks to Judy Blackman Swayze.

small studio at his home, 2007 South Grand Street, where he lives with his father and two sisters, May and Daisy, who take a keen interest and pride in the work of their son and brother.

“Flyin’ Jenny” is a beauteous blonde aviatress whose love for the airways leads her from one adventure to another, and current daily strips find her involved in an interesting experience with two convalescing GIs who are treasure-hunting for Nazi loot. Her adventures are timely with her new thrills, after activities in which she recently was testing jet propulsion planes, having a decided postwar theme.

Hometown Hero

73

It’s a full-time job, but he keeps his work several weeks ahead of publication dates and mails his drawings to Bell Syndicate each weekend. The syndicate handles distribution to subscribing papers.

Often scenes in his drawings are from actual buildings and places right here in Monroe, and in a recent Flyin’ Jenny daily strip there was a drawing of Conway Memorial Hospital. The scene called for a hospital building in the background, so Swayze drove to the institution a short distance south of his home and sketched the Monroe building.

Because his drawings of airships are so up to date and true to actual designs, Swayze is considered something of an authority on planes.

Manufacturers of such ships keep him supplied with pictures of new planes and designs they are turning out, and frequently he finds an occasion for sketching the new craft into his strips, much to the pleasure of the plane designers.

But Swayze frankly admits he’s not the airship authority some think him to be.

“I’ve been up in a plane only three times in my life,” he said. “The first time I was curious. The second time I was indifferent. And the third time I was just bored.”

This Is A Job For—Well, Maybe Not Captain Marvel In his final year, Marc Swayze identified for me that he illustrated “Captain Marvel and the Job He Couldn’t Do!” from Captain Marvel Adventures #13 (July 1942)—but Marc could sure do the job!

Scripter unknown. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

But Jenny is not Swayze’s only endeavor. He is also drawing “The Phantom Eagle” for Wow Comics, a monthly magazine publication, and prior to turning his efforts to Flyin’ Jenny he was a staff artist for Fawcett Publications, New York, drawing and writing the well-known comic character, “Captain Marvel.”

Swayze’s partner in creating the Flyin’ Jenny strips, which is also published in two foreign languages, Spanish and French, is Glenn Chaffin, one of the originators of Tailspin Tommy. Chaffin, whose home is in Corvallis, Montana, prepares the script and plot, then Swayze draws it up. Swayze’s sister Daisy assists in the inking and lettering.

But she has only been able to lend her aid since the artist’s return here from New York, where he was for some time doing illustrations and commercial art for magazines before taking to the fruitful comic field.

The war interrupted Swayze’s work for a while and he served a year and a half with the United States Army before being honorably discharged about a year ago. He has since been elected first vice commander of the L.B. Faulk Post No. 13, American Legion, here.

With his Army discharge the young artist returned to New York briefly before heading home with the Flyin’ Jenny and “Phantom Eagle” assignments. For the past year, Swayze has been drawing the Sunday page, but recently he took over the daily strip as well and now has full charge of the artwork, daily and Sunday.

“New York is all right for those who like it,” Swayze declared.

“But I am all Southerner, and I took to the comic field as a means of being able to come home.”

Educated in the city schools of Monroe, young Swayze found his teachers encouraging, and Miss Louise Moore, art instructor for the city school system, gave him special attention as a student at Neville High School from which he graduated. He was art editor of the Neville yearbook during his senior year. Then he attended Northeast Junior College of I.S.U., where he was art editor of the college yearbook. He is also a graduate of Louisiana Tech, where art was his principal study.

The Swayze family is one of the oldest in the South, the first Swayzes settling in this country near Natchez, Mississippi, in 1772, when this part of the country was under South rule. The family has spread out over

Bound For The Big City!

Marc Swayze, right before heading to New York City for the first time to meet… Captain Marvel!

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FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

A Jenny For Your Thoughts!

(Above:) Marc’s original art for Bell Syndicate’s Flyin’ Jenny Sunday strip for 6-3-46; photo by J.T. Go, taken when the FCA editor and Marc reviewed his FJ artwork during a visit with the Swayzes in 2005. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Eagle And The Hawk (Above:) One of the great “Phantom Eagle” stories drawn by Marc Swayze featured the single appearance of Japan’s flying ace, MeiLing, aka “The Hawk,” from Wow Comics #35 (April 1945). The tale was recently reprinted in AC Comics Men of Mystery #94 (2014), a special Golden Age aviators issue. [TM & © the respective copyright holders.]

Hometown Hero

75

Ready To Take On The World!

Marc Swayze in his senior year at Neville High School, Monroe, Louisiana.

Mississippi, Louisiana, and other parts of the country.

Sketch As Sketch Can (Above:) P.C. Hamerlinck writes: “‘The Sketchbook’ project was something I kicked around for a time with Marc. I wish I could have made it a reality for him. The artist was insistent on seeking a major publisher for a widely distributed hardcover book which would include not only his collected memoirs but would primarily contain a large ‘sketchbook’ section. Our Alter Ego publisher, John Morrow, kindly offered to publish it as a ‘magazine special,’ but Marc respectfully declined. Yes, my friend could be a little stubborn at times, alas. Here are a couple of his early Mary Marvel sketches he sent to me that would’ve been part of the book. Oddly, the Monroe newspaper article never even mentioned Marc being the first artist to draw the Shazam girl. At the time, he most likely regarded Mary as merely a minor footnote in his career.” [Shazam heroine TM & © DC Comics.]

Besides art, Swayze claims to have only two other hobbies: music and softball. He plays a guitar and piano to perfection, and his musical talent finds expression once each week with a local band. During the summer he played softball with the Red Shield Club team.

One of his biggest thrills resulted because of his ability with a guitar, and he has the photograph of Bing Crosby and himself to prove it. When Crosby, the famed radio and film star, appeared on an entertainment program at Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia, when Swayze was a soldier there, it was the Monroe artist who strummed the guitar in accompaniment while Crosby sang.

Music has benefited from his art, also, and Downbeat, a music magazine, has often published cartoons by Swayze with musical angles.

The young comic creator is modest, mild-mannered, and friendly and doesn’t readily talk much about himself, although he’ll quickly get enthusiastic if you want to talk about Flyin’ Jenny, other cartoonists, or a ball game. But just the same, he has built up quite a following and has gotten quite used to fan mail.

One GI in Europe wrote a request for an original drawing of “Flyin’ Jenny” as his pin-up girl, and requests for originals are numerous. One card in recent mail was from a Chicago boy who wanted to know about the kinds of paper, pens, ink, and other art materials he used in his work.

Driving Miss Daisy (Mid-1940s Version) (Above:) A mid-’40s snapshot of Marc’s sister, Daisy Swayze who, once Marc re-located back to Monroe, Louisiana, from New York City, assisted her brother with all the lettering on his comics: Flyin’ Jenny… “The Phantom Eagle”… and later, the Fawcett romance comics. In this photo, she is lettering Christopher Chance, one of Marc’s many comic strip proposals to the syndicates.

When questioned about whether or not he planned to return to New York, Swayze declared: “I’m all South, and I love Monroe. I can work as well here as anywhere, and I hope I never have to leave home again.”

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A Farewell To Binder Shop Artist NAT CHAMPLIN (July 14, 1919–March 16, 2015)

N

by P.C. Hamerlinck

athaniel Lewis Champlin was one of the Pratt Institute artists who worked at the comic book page-producing Jack Binder shop/barn in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1941 and early 1942, prior to his entering the military during World War II. My interview with Nat appeared in Alter Ego #3 (Winter 2000).

Within the shop’s assembly-line process, Nat’s work was piecemeal; he recalled working on such Fawcett comic series as “Ibis the Invincible,” “Golden Arrow,” and others… sometimes doing a layout rough, or inking backgrounds and secondary figures. He also had a hand in pages for “The Black Owl” (Prize Publications) and “Doc Savage” and “Blackstone” (Street & Smith).

In our interview, he enlightened readers by detailing which artists did what at Binder’s. Nat was also part of the lunchtime baseball games the artists would play against the Fawcett staff and others.

Most of the artists knew each other from Pratt, even before going to work at Binder’s. Nat got to know Kurt Schaffenberger the best, as the two artists had adjoining rooms in a rental home just a few blocks from Binder’s shop. Nat was able to finance a good part of

his Pratt education with what he earned at Binder’s.

Nat Champlin Seen in his Pratt Institute yearbook photo from 1941. Nat would soon see many of his schoolmates working over at Jack Binder’s shop. Thanks to Shaun Clancy.

Drafted into the Army on August 1942, Nat was deployed overseas in October 1943, fought in battles up the boot of Italy to Cassino, and participated in the Anzio Invasion on January 22, 1944—the latter being where he lived in a hole he had dug into the ground during the cold of winter, hoisting a platform inside of it for his sleeping bag. He was honorably discharged on October 26, 1944.

After the war he freelanced photography, illustrated schoolbooks, and, as a returning student at Pratt, showcased an acclaimed exhibit of his war art at the institute. His final comic book work was a 4-page filler for Stan Lee at Timely Comics in 1945 called “Sir Gnat, the Dragon Slayer.”

In 1946 Nat became assistant professor of fine and applied art at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and, upon learning he had to obtain a master’s degree to continue his professorship, enrolled at Columbia University Teacher’s College in 1948 under the GI Bill of Rights. After earning the master’s degree, he went on to earn his doctorate in education in 1952. After graduation, he taught individual courses in the New York area: Brooklyn College, New York University, and Hunter College. He was visiting professor in the summer of 1953 at Iowa State University and had a summer appointment many years later at Indiana University.

In 1954 Nat was offered a position as assistant professor of history and philosophy of education in the College of Education at Wayne State University in Detroit. In addition, he taught in the theoretical sequence and was chairman of the theoretical staff at Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, MI, from 1955-65.

Nat married Mildred Kautto in 1957 and they had two girls and a boy.

Ibis In The Morning Nat Champlin identified that he inked the secondary figures and backgrounds on this particular Binder Shop-produced “Ibis the Invincible” tale from Whiz Comics #24 (Nov. 1941), wherein the Nazis seize control of the mystical “Ibistick”… only to suffer the consequences! [Ibis the Invincible TM & © DC Comics.]

Nat’s writing appeared in many professional journals, as well as in the New York Times and The Saturday Review. He was a consultant to the Bureau of Research, U.S. Department of Education. Upon his retirement in 1982, the Michigan State Senate issued a concurrent resolution of appreciation for Professor Emeritus Champlin’s contributions to education in the state.

The Champlins stayed active over the years and were avid runners. The month before he turned 80, Nat ran a 10-mile race, winning first place in his age group. Another one of his hobbies was digging and diving for antique bottles, and he illustrated

A Farewell To Binder Shop Artist Nat Champlin

77

Wartime Hero (Left:) Nat Champlin’s U.S. Army photo from 1942, plus a sample of one of his World War II-themed art pieces. Thanks to Shaun Clancy. [Art © Estate of Nat Champlin.]

numerous cartoons for the old bottle magazines. He later had a paperback book published featuring a collection of his cartoons. He spent 62 years at Mission Bell, writing, scuba diving, fishing, photographing, creating artwork and protecting wildlife.

According to Mildred Champlin, the Alter Ego issue with Nat’s interview had been a really important part of their lives and household. The magazine always resided on the table next to Nat’s easy chair, and another copy was next to his place on the couch, along with booklets of lifetime photos their children had put together. “He looked at them every day,” Mildred said, “and we’d talk about the golden days he had at Binder. The interview in Alter Ego was a nice way for other people to learn about that part of his past, too. It’s amazing how vibrant the genre still is, and nice to know Nat was there at the beginning.”

Special thanks to Mildred Champlin and Shaun Clancy.

Were You Raised In A Barn?

(Above:) Artists in action producing Fawcett comic book pages in this early-1942 photo inside the Jack Binder shop—a renovated barn next door to Jack’s house in Englewood, New Jersey. (Left to right:) Johnny Westlake, Samuel Memphis Brooks, Nat Champlin, and front right, Kurt Schaffenberger. Scan provided by Bill Schelly.

The Golden Years Of A Golden Ager (Right:) Nat relaxing in Florida in later years. Photo courtesy of Mildred Champlin.

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Fawcett’s 1940 Hollywood Party— With Captain Marvel!

by P.C. Hamerlinck

W

ilford “Captain Billy” Fawcett, founder of Fawcett Publications and the man responsible for Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang, the legendary risqué pamphlet that launched what would become a colossal publishing empire, had passed away in Hollywood on February 7, 1940, at the age of 54. The charismatic Captain had lived an adventurous life, traveled the world, hobnobbed with various dignitaries and celebrities, and lived long enough to see many Fawcett magazines flourish… True Confessions, Mechanix Illustrated, Motion Picture, Movie Story… and witnessed the debut of his

This Circulation Director Really Circulated!

Roscoe K. Fawcett ready to board his private plane during the ’40s. The Fawcett Circulation Director routinely travelled around the country to meet with magazine wholesalers, distributors, and dealers. Photo courtesy of Roscoe’s son, Rocky, and FCA contributor Shaun Clancy. More from Rocky in future issues!

company’s entry into the fledging comic book field with Whiz Comics and its cover star hero, Captain Marvel— but didn’t live not long enough to enjoy the World’s Mightiest Mortal’s prodigious success.

The April 1940, Vol. 4, #2 edition of the Fawcett Distributor (“Published in the interest of independent magazine wholesalers and dealers”) headlined the announcement that Captain Billy’s oldest son and namesake, W.H. Fawcett, Jr., was stepping into his late father’s boots, having just been elected by Fawcett’s board of directors to succeed his father in guiding the company’s controlled interests. This particular edition of the Distributor also reported the re-appointment of Captain Billy’s youngest son, Roscoe K. Fawcett, as Fawcett Publications’ Vice President and Director of Circulation.

Coincidentally, this happened to be the very same

The Sons Also Rise The cover of Fawcett Distributor Vol. 4 #2, April 1940.

Fawcett’s 1940 Hollywood Part—With Captain Marvel!

Its Siren Call Roscoe Fawcett made sure his Hollywood guests tried out the Captain Marvel Power Siren. The shrieking or whispering (depending how hard you blew) “world’s mightiest whistle” was the very first Captain Marvel premium to be released by Fawcett, well before an onslaught of items later became available with the formation of the Captain Marvel Club. The Power Siren was sold at newsstands, or you could get one for free if you cut out and mailed in three certificate coupons that appeared in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics, Master Comics, and Slam-Bang Comics. The ad above appeared in Whiz Comics #4 (May 1940); art by C.C. Beck.

[Shazam hero TM & t DC Comics.]

issue of Fawcett Distributor that Roscoe Fawcett himself had proudly showed to me amongst his collection of numerous hardbound copies of the publication, when I met with him for an informative afternoon at his lakeside home in northern Minnesota in the autumn of 1997.

79

At the time this issue of Fawcett Distributor was released, Captain Marvel had only been in existence for a few months… but, even at this early stage, Fawcett already had their hero out making a personal appearance, as substantiated from the issue’s two-page photo spread “West Coasters Take a Holiday! Fawcett Party Sees Hollywood!”

Roscoe Fawcett hired an unnamed actor to portray the World’s Mightiest Mortal, mingle with the crowd, and hand out Captain Marvel Power Sirens to the guests.

Roscoe’s main mission as Director of Circulation was to ensure that Fawcett magazines continued their substantial gains, so consequently he’d frequently hit the road (or air, in his private plane) and personally meet magazine wholesalers and dealers in all the major markets across the country. It was only natural that he’d arrange to have social gatherings with wholesalers in the Hollywood area, given the ties his late father had established with the film industry, and with Fawcett publishing several popular movie-star magazines of the day.

Now, let’s join in on the fun with these select photos featuring “Captain Marvel,” along with their original captions as they appeared in Fawcett Distributor:

(Above:) Morrison Egbert and Roscoe Fawcett watch Captain Marvel light up at the Hollywood Plaza. Marvel is reputed to be able to smoke 100 of those a day!

(Left:) Executives of Newsstand Distributors, Inc., galley operators take time out from a Fawcett cocktail party at Hollywood Plaza to have themselves snapped with Captain Marvel from Whiz Comics, while W.G. “Bill” Dennis, Fawcett’s Western Supervisor, relaxes “underfoot” temporarily.

80

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

(Left:) We find that man, Captain Marvel, again… this time he’s very, very busy showing Newsstand Distributors’ beauteous staff members how a real hero measures up—we meant beauteous, too!

(Above:) Dick DeNuit, in charge of Sunset News Co.’s stockroom, gets a close look at Whiz Comics, as Captain Marvel himself, from Fawcett Hollywood offices, looks on with Roscoe Fawcett, Circulation Director.

(Above:) Morrison Egbert, Newsstand Distributors, tries out Captain Marvel’s own Power Siren—that’s the one wholesalers all over the country are selling!

(Above:) Al Lusk, Pomona, Cal., wholesaler, and “O.B.” O’Bannon, Ocean Park, Cal., wholesaler, give Captain Marvel a going-over at the Fawcett cocktail party. When visiting the studios, many mistook Al Lusk for Benny Baker, screen star!

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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 fan-favorites 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.

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GEORGE KHOURY (author of The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore and Kimota: The Miracleman Companion) presents a “love letter” to his personal golden age of comics, 1976-1986, covering all the things that made those comics great—the top artists, the coolest stories, and even the best ads! It covers the phenoms that delighted Baby Boomers, Generation X, and beyond: UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW TEEN TITANS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, LOVE AND ROCKETS, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, SUPERMAN VS. SPIDER-MAN, ARCHIE COMICS, HARVEY COMICS, KISS, STAR WARS, ROM, HOSTESS CAKE ADS, GRIT(!), and other milestones! So take a trip back in time to re-experience those epic stories, and feel the heat of COMIC BOOK FEVER once again! With cover art and introduction by ALEX ROSS.

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ALTER EGO #142

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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!

MARK CARLSON documents 1940s-50s ACE COMICS (with super-heroes Magno & Davey, Lash Lightning, The Raven, Unknown Soldier, Captain Courageous, Vulcan, and others)! Art by KURTZMAN, MOONEY, BERG, L.B. COLE, PALAIS, and more. Plus: RICHARD ARNDT’s interview with BILL HARRIS (1960s-70s editor of Gold Key and King Comics), FCA, Comic Crypt, and Comic Fandom Archive.

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.

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!

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“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, THOMAS YEATES, and more. YEATES cover.

“All-Captains Issue!” Bronze Age histories of Shazam! (Captain Marvel) and Captain MarVell, Captain Carrot, Captain Storm and the Losers, Captain Universe, and Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Featuring C. C. BECK, PAT BRODERICK, JACK KIRBY, ELLIOT S. MAGGIN, BILL MANTLO, DON NEWTON, BOB OKSNER, SCOTT SHAW!, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, and more.

Cover painting by DAVE COCKRUM!

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“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!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #67

KIRBY COLLECTOR #68

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!

Comprehensive KELLEY JONES interview, from early years as Marvel inker to presentday greatness at DC depicting BATMAN, DEADMAN, and SWAMP THING (chockful of rarely-seen artwork)! Plus WILL MURRAY examines the nefarious legacy of Batman co-creator BOB KANE in an investigation into tragic ghosts and rapacious greed. We also look at RAINA TELGEMEIER and her magnificent army of devotees, and more!

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

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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(100-page FULL-COLOR mag) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Summer 2016

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