Alter Ego #152 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ “Ivie-League” Comics Fanzine

CELEBRATING THE COMICS FAN/ PRO WHO FIRST CONCEIVED...

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No.152 May 2018

LARRY IVIE ARTIST, WRITER, & VISIONARY A SURPRISING STUDY BY

82658 00112 1

Heroes TM & © DC Comics. Justice League is a trademark of DC Comics

SANDY PLUNKETT

Vol. 3, No. 152 / May 2018 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)

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

Comic Crypt Editor

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Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Cover Artist

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Larry Ivie

Contents

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash John Benson Louis M. Brill Ricky Terry Brisacque Bernie Bubnis Nick Caputo Peter Carlsson James Cassari John Cimino Pierre Comtois Chet Cox Ray Cuthbert Craig Delich Al Dellinges Jim Engel Steven Fears Shane Foley Drew Friedman Stephan Friedt Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Mitch Hallock

Jessica Henwick Finn Jones Maureen Jones Jim Kealy Mark Lewis Richard A. Lupoff Doug Martin Jim McCaffrey Brian K. Morris Caitlin McGurk Mark Muller Barry Pearl Sandy Plunkett Rich Rubenfeld Steve Stiles Ronn Sutton Dann Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Ellen Vartanoff Irene Vartanoff

Writer/Editorial: “A Key Comics Fan” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 A Man Of Uncompromising Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Artist/friend Sandy Plunkett tells the story of Larry Ivie—fan, pro, artist, writer, & dreamer.

My Life In Little Pieces – Part IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 A brief excerpt from the 1998 memoir of Golden/Silver Age writer John Broome.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Fox Love Comics Sleaze-a-Palooza! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 The supremely sleazy, suggestive, and salacious romance comics of Victor Fox.

Comic Fandom Archive: Sense Of Wonder—Times Two! . . 75 Bill Schelly revises—and super-sizes—his tale of his time in fandom.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 81 Tribute To Sam Glanzman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #211 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 P.C. Hamerlinck spotlights part 2 of Mike Tiefenbacher’s “Captain Marvel ©opyright ©risis!”

On Our Cover: The words say “Justice League”—but the heroes depicted seem to be half a dozen of the original members of the 1940s Justice Society of America! Find out why neither title nor illustration is quite what it seems to be, in Sandy Plunkett’s thorough-going coverage of artist and visionary Larry Ivie. [Characters TM & © DC Comics; other art elements © Estate of Larry Ivie.] Above: A previously unpublished full-color illo by Larry Ivie of his young super-hero Altron Boy, who was featured in the artist/writer/editor’s late-1960s magazine Monsters and Heroes. Courtesy of Sandy Plunkett. [TM & © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Larry Ivie & Sam Glanzman

Alter Ego TM is published 6 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. Six-issue subscriptions: $65 US, $99 Elsewhere, $30 Digital Only. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in China. ISSN: 1932-6890. FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

“A Key Comic Fan”

uch as I hate to anticipate any of what author and artist Sandy Plunkett has written about Larry Ivie for this issue (which commences on the facing page), I honestly can’t think of any good way to begin these remarks without risk of paraphrasing, just a bit, what he says there. This is a very unusual issue of Alter Ego, in that it celebrates a man who, despite his ambitions—and despite considerable talent— never quite rose to become a full-time professional artist or writer in the comics field, and eventually turned his back on it. Larry Ivie is primarily identified in Bill Schelly’s seminal 1995 work The Golden Age of Comic Fandom as “a key comic fan of the late 1950s.” A decade and half later, when writing Ivie’s biography for his follow-up Founders of Comic Fandom, Bill included him in the chapter on “Indexers” and devoted two pages to him, while penning six about Jerry G. Bails and two pages each on Howard Keltner and the (combined) McGeehan brothers. And this despite the fact that Larry was also a writer, artist, major collector, and even publisher. The relatively little wordage re Larry by Bill was not indicative of the latter’s lack of respect for his achievements. Far from it! As Sandy quotes him in the following article, Bill felt that one of Ivie’s lodgings in 1950s-60s New York City could almost be called “the apartment where fandom was born.” But it was not, alas, the apartment from which the pro career that might have been anticipated was launched. I probably first met Larry at an early comics convention in Manhattan, most likely in 1965. Our relations were always amicable, though I found him a bit standoffish. But then, I was a bit insecure myself in those days, having bounced from DC to Marvel and, till year’s end, without an apartment to call my own, essentially crashing at the Lower East Side pad of fan and Charlton writer Dave Kaler.

Still, I like to think Larry and I felt a certain kinship. He advised me, surely the first time we met, that, some months earlier, Stan Lee had offered him a staff position at Marvel akin to the one I then held; but he went right on to say that he’d been “too busy” to take it. I could never quite relate to that pronouncement. I knew he’d since done some writing for the first issue of Tower’s new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic and several stories for Warren Publishing… but how did that small amount of pro work add up to being “too busy” to accept an ongoing job in comics, the field he wanted to be in? I never worked out an answer to that question that really satisfied me. All the same, I admired Larry’s talent. His late-’60s “Altron Boy” feature for Monsters and Heroes wasn’t the kind of super-hero material Marvel wanted, but it showed developing skills. If he’d approached me about working for our 1970s black-&-white titles like Monsters Unleashed and Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, I’m sure he’d have got a second shot at writing and even drawing for Marvel. But he didn’t, because by then he’d moved out west and he didn’t reach out to us. He’d have fit right in at Unknown Worlds, in particular, with new talent like Frank Brunner, Bruce Jones, Mike Kaluta, John Allison, and others. Still, Larry deserves his particular niche in comics history—and more notoriety than he achieved in his lifetime. Some time back, Sandy contacted me about his desire to tell Larry’s story, with copious artwork by Ivie and several of his illustrious friends and collaborators. And I was only too happy to devote the majority of an issue of A/E to the life and career of Larry Ivie. His name and accomplishments have been unrecognized by far too many for far too long. It’s time everybody interested in the history of comics knew of both.

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A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

The Story of LARRY IVIE— Fan, Pro, Artist, Writer, & Dreamer by Sandy Plunkett

Larry Ivie

Author’s Introduction

he history of comics is filled with the names of esteemed artists whose creations have long outlived them. These are the men and women who most often receive the honor of posthumous articles on their lives and work. By contrast, Larry Ivie’s contributions to his chosen field, as a professional, were modest. His intention upon arriving in New York City in the mid-1950s was to join the ranks of the EC artists he admired as a teenager and to gain a livelihood in the business. In the ensuing years, he established himself as a major figure in the NYC comic fan scene and shared close friendships with some of the most talented artists of the day, often working shoulder-to-shoulder with them at the drawing board. But Larry suffered many professional setbacks during those years, and the dreams he held of a fulfilling career were never entirely realized. He was omnipresent in the early days of fandom and in a very real way helped shape and ennoble the fledgling movement that, within his lifetime, grew from crude, mimeographed newsletters to the phenomenon known as the annual San Diego Comic-Con.

Monsters & Heroes—Times Three! A triptych representing Larry Ivie’s many artistic interests/endeavors. (Left to right:) His Barsoomian cover for the Edgar Rice Burroughs fanzine ERBdom #14 (Oct. 1965)… the “Human Torch & Thing” splash page from Marvel’s Strange Tales #132 (May ’65), written by Ivie, with pencils by Bob Powell and inks by “Mickey Demeo” (Mike Esposito)… and his dynamic “Altron Boy” cover for his own magazine Monsters and Heroes #3 (March 1968). For more details, read on! Thanks to Barry Pearl for the Avengers scan. Unless otherwise noted, all art and Ivie-related photos accompanying this article were supplied by author Sandy Plunkett, most of them from the Ivie estate. [Strange Tales page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

of the permanent archives of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum and Library. But what truly differentiated Larry from most other boys of the era, those who were likewise swept up in the fantasy worlds of these fictional heroes, was that he felt the need to save the pop-culture ephemera that most considered to be cheap and disposable amusement. Even at this early age, he was not only saving his comics but creating a library of his favorite comicbooks and comic strips, binding them into homemade books and decorating the cardboard covers with his own illustrations. This practice of amassing self-made volumes was one he would continue throughout his life.

Kid Stuff

It’s a little eerie how early in Larry’s life this aspect of his nature was in evidence, this desire to become completely immersed in, and knowledgeable about, the worlds of his favorite fictional heroes. In an autobiographical essay, he recalls his first exposure to comics:

(Above:) Larry with his parents Wilton and Arleen at Niagara Falls, circa 1947. (Right:) Ivie in a homemade costume based on Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s hero Funnyman. Since Magazine Enterprises’ Funnyman comicbook saw print in 1948, this photo was probably taken that year or soon afterward.

This article, then, is that story—not a profile of a well-known figure but a sketch of a unique individual and of a life tinged with sadness and disappointment, but which in the end had a greater influence on the field of comic art than has yet been fully recognized.

Part 1: Salt Lake City It’s possible that Larry Ivie’s expectations of life were higher than those of most children of his generation. He was born in 1936 and, according to all his autobiographical recollections, his childhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, was magical. He was an only child born into a prolific Mormon culture and a huge extended family. His one surviving cousin, Marcia Exeter, remembers him as a boy whom all parents would point to as a model for their own offspring to emulate.

When I was five years old, my mother decided I could select a magazine [for] myself. We were about to leave a department store and there was a large magazine rack against the wall to our right, just inside the door. Immediately, something caught my attention. On one cover there were three figures—a sailor, a soldier, and, between them, a man dressed in red and blue with a flowing cape. It was Superman #12. Eleven precious issues had come and gone, plus additional issues of Action Comics before that, without my environment bringing their existence to my attention! What treasures had been in those issues I had missed? I

Larry’s father, Wilton, was a larger-than-life figure whom his son revered. He would later compare his father to the adventurous Indiana Jones of the movies. Wilton was a star athlete in college, excelling both at track and wrestling. But he was a Hot Clippings serious science student as well, a Phi Beta Phi scholarship recipient, and eventually a renowned researcher of The cover that a spiders. He produced a prodigious volume of papers very young Larry Ivie created for a based on field research that took him across the country compilation, in binder and, later, on expeditions into Central and South America. Both Wilton and Larry’s mother (Arleen Berlin Ivie) encouraged Larry’s creativity, fueling his imagination with a steady stream of comics, adventure books (especially those of Edgar Rice Burroughs), and regular trips to the local movie theatre. In grade school, Larry was already writing and drawing his own comics, the number of which beggar the imagination. Inspired by Saturday matinee serials and radio programs like The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet, he began making his own costumes (extraordinary in quality) based on his favorite characters. The importance he placed on these emblems of his childhood is evident from the fact that many of them survived his death nearly seven decades later. Several of them are now carefully preserved as part

form, of “Human Torch” stories cut out of 1940s Timely comics. A/E V3#5 reproduced the binder cover he put together of his own “All-Star Comics #58,” which consisted of clipped-out stories of “Green Lantern,” “Hop Harrigan,” and “Aquaman.” [Human Torch & Toro TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Home-made Heroes As a child, Ivie wrote and drew his own comicbooks, based both on established characters (like The Claw and The Flash) and on his own creations (Spider Man and Spider). The latter pair both predate Marvel’s wall-crawler by nearly two decades; nor did Larry’s Spider share anything but the name with the Spider pulp hero. Rather, his Spider characters were probably inspired by his father, an entomologist who did scientific research on spiders (see cover of one of his scientific treatises at bottom of page). [The Spider-Man name is a TM of Marvel Characters, Inc.; The Spider name is a registered trademark Argosy Communications, Inc.; The Flash TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie or © the respective copyright holders.] Also depicted in A/E, Vol. 3, #5, in conjunction with Ivie’s controversial article “DC vs. the Justice Society of America,” was a small reproduction of an issue he wrote and drew` of “All-Star Comics” that featured the JSA’s “Arabian Nights Adventure.”

The Story Of Larry Ivie

assigned a far greater value than did the society that produced it.

would spend half of my life searching, and wondering, before finding out. Not the reaction one might expect from a typical 5-year-old under similar circumstances. It’s not clear whether Larry was being playful when pinning the blame for having missed the earlier issues on his “environment,” but there, in a nutshell, lies at least a partial explanation as to what motivated him to become a life-long collector and comics historian. While others might have counted themselves lucky for the good fortune of having stumbled onto a fabulous prize such as Superman #12, Larry instantly reached out beyond the moment, sensing there was a past to this character, and that he, Larry, was entering into a saga already in progress. He was also self-aware enough to realize that he would never be content until he assembled all the pieces. Long before there were archival editions and film preservation societies, Larry sensed that what one generation might deem mere entertainment for a mass audience would inevitably be reassessed by future generations, and that the best of it, in time, would be

Ivie’s recollections of his high school years paint a picture of a young man with an almost manic creative streak. But, above all else, he always found greatest pleasure in reading, writing, and drawing stories. And when he reached the age when it was required of him to think about a direction in life, the choice was clear. What’s surprising, though, is that comicbooks, as such, were not the medium at the top of his list. Here is an excerpt from an autobiographical essay:

“What Treasures… Had I Missed?” Ivie reported that the first comicbook he ever encountered was Superman #12 (Sept.-Oct. 1941), when he would have been five years old. Art by Fred Ray. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © DC Comics.]

My goal was always to do a daily newspaper strip. I began formulating the characters for one—Isolation Valley—in 7th grade and turned out at least a few strips a week for the next eight years. When I was 18, my mother mailed some of these to a professional, who had worked for the Disney Studios, and they came back with a statement that I would never be good enough to be a professional artist. But by this time, EC comic books had come into being and

Isolation Row One of the many Isolation Valley comic strips Ivie wrote and drew over the course of nearly a decade, beginning when he was in junior high. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

my goals had changed. Now I wanted to do comic book art.

Part 2: New York City

(In fairness to the unnamed professional, there’s a good chance that Larry, left to his own devices, might not have used those strips as portfolio pieces. Even taking into account the artist’s age, they weren’t stellar examples of comic art. It’s possible they were intended only for his circle of friends. They seemed to be filled with inside references, including the title itself, Isolation Valley, the initials, when pronounced, producing the name “I-VIE.”)

By the early ’50s, Burne Hogarth was one of the most celebrated cartoonists of the day. He had replaced Harold R. Foster as the artist of the Sunday Tarzan newspaper strip and in short order had given the page a dynamic look all his own. Like Joe Kubert a couple decades later, he parlayed his fame into the founding of a school oriented towards commercial art, with an emphasis on cartooning.

Larry pursued a variety of different interests throughout his teenage years, but there’s no question as to which was the dominant one: comic art. It’s no surprise, then, that when the time came to choose a career path, he chose to study in that field. Though he had accompanied his father on many field trips around the Southwest, he had never lived away from Salt Lake City. Considering this, the decision to pack his bags and head to New York City must have been a momentous one for him.

In 1956, Larry enrolled in Hogarth’s institution, which that year changed its name to The School of Visual Arts. But, from the beginning, it didn’t seem to be a good fit. His grades were only mediocre; but it isn’t clear if this was due to a lack of talent or drive, or whether a headstrong nature put him at odds with his teachers. A surviving letter written by Hogarth himself responds to a complaint Larry lodged concerning the school’s curriculum. Apparently, Hogarth’s student objected to the lack of classes oriented towards the basics in “the continuity field” (i.e., comics); instead, the emphasis had shifted onto advertising and gag cartoons. (This was not too surprising, considering that, at the time, both comicbooks and newspaper comic strips were on the decline.) Hogarth’s reply, though politely worded, suggests that he had little interest in the young upstart’s dissatisfaction. It was going to be his way or the highway:

There’s probably never been a survey of the number of schools offering a curriculum centered around cartooning or commercial art in the mid-’50s, but it’s safe to guess that there weren’t many. Larry, however, had the good fortune to be an avid reader of EC comics. He discovered the existence of New York’s Cartoonists and Illustrators School, founded by Burne Hogarth, in a brief biography of Al Williamson, one of many that the EC publishers ran on their artists. Williamson was one of a number of that school’s graduates who had gone on to professional careers in comics. (The list is impressive and includes Wally Wood, Joe Orlando, Joe Sinnott, and George Woodbridge.) Though it would mean uprooting himself and moving halfway across the country, enrolling in Hogarth’s school must have struck Ivie as the best, most logical path towards achieving his goal.

Consider your options again. Test your judgment of the field. Weigh your remarks. If you agree with our view of the field today, we shall be most happy to welcome you to our classes and work out an agreeable program. If you choose to do otherwise, our very best wishes go with you for a successful future in the direction of your choice. This doesn’t mean that Larry’s moving to New York had been a mistake. The city was the center of the publishing world in the ’50s. This not only meant that it offered young artists and writers a better chance of finding professional work than did any other city in

Burne Hogarth flanked by a previously unpublished Tarzanstyle figure and a watercolor sketch of a soldier, both probably done by the renowned artist as a class demonstrations at The School of Visual Arts. [Art © Estate of Burne Hogarth.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Larry Ivie At SVA (he’s the third student from the right), and specimens of the art he produced during this period. (Top right:) A gag cartoon. Since his preference was for more serious and realistic work, he found this type of assignment onerous. (Bottom right:) A personal sketch, showing the type of heroic figure illustration he preferred to draw. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

the States, but also meant that the established pros were to be found there in abundance, either in Manhattan or within an easy commute. It is no surprise that the first among their number with whom Larry established contact was Al Williamson, who was something of an idol, a favorite among the EC regulars. According to an interview with Williamson in the magazine Comic Book Artist (Spring 1999), Larry introduced himself over the phone and eventually the two met in Williamson’s apartment. As much as anything else, they seem to have bonded around their mutual love of classic movie serials and collecting. It was the start of a friendship that would last until Williamson’s death, if only by mail in the latter years. Larry had already met future pro artist Angelo Torres, both of them being students at Hogarth’s school, but Williamson soon introduced him to the other artists in his circle, notably Frank Frazetta and Roy Krenkel. Wally Wood, George Woodbridge, Reed Crandall, Gray Morrow, Frazetta, and Krenkel—all these renowned artists were arguably doing their best work during this period (with the notable exception of Frazetta, who reached his heights in the ’60s). Their names have become legendary among comic fans, and Larry found himself in the thick of this scene. Of the group—other than Williamson—his greatest kinship was with Roy Krenkel, who became a frequent (usually unannounced) visitor to Larry’s apartment. He left with Larry a trove of unpublished sketches, a number of them executed while sitting on Larry’s living room sofa and expounding on the evils of girdles and the madness of organized sports.

Part 3: Fandom While this privileged position must have thrilled the young artist, he was also establishing friendships with many others who, like him, had a keen interest in the fannish side of comics. He had chosen his apartment on West 23rd in Manhattan, at least in part, because it put him directly across town and within easy walking distance of Hogarth’s school; and so, both geographical and

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Al Williamson with examples of artwork he did as a student at the same school. Before he went on to a legendary career at EC Comics and as a comic strip artist, he labored briefly as Hogarth’s assistant on the Sunday Tarzan strip—while the half-completed page at right shows his Alex Raymond/ Flash Gordon preferences quickly coming to the fore. The photo is from Williamson’s one-page bio in EC’s Weird Fantasy #19 (May-June 1953), from which Ivie first learned of the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City, later renamed The School of Visual Arts. [Photo © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.; other art © Estate of Al Williamson.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

A Larry Ivie New York Album

They Might Be Giants! (And Indeed, They Were!) (Clockwise from top left:) Ivie posing with Al Williamson for a reference photo—Ivie on the right, Williamson on the ground (other guy unidentified)… Williamson at home, circa 1957… Roy Krenkel at the beach, c. 1958… Krenkel, Ivie, and Frank Frazetta… Williamson and Krenkel at the beach.

chronologically, Larry was ideally situated to be at the epicenter of the nascent movement known as comic fandom. Still embryonic in the mid-’50s, comic fandom relied heavily on cross-pollination, which is why a relatively small number of names kept appearing in various zines. Its sparse ranks also meant that members had to go out of their way to meet each other in person. During these pre-convention days, this often meant trekking to New York and finagling a spot on someone’s couch for the night. Larry was always a willing host, and his central Manhattan location meant that visitors were frequent. In an interview with Bill Schelly published in the Aug. 2003 issue of Alter Ego, John Benson, a well-known writer and fan, speaks of his acquaintance with Larry: BENSON: …Philadelphia was my home base. So later I’d occasionally come by and stay with Larry Ivie overnight. At one time, Archie [Goodwin] was living in the same building, in an apartment on the first floor. Larry was on the third or fourth

floor. And on the next floor above him, in another apartment, were Bill Pearson and Dan Adkins. SCHELLY: You’d almost have to come up with a name for it, like “the apartment where fandom was born.” Both Benson and Goodwin had gotten Larry’s name through the fan grapevine. Benson had heard of him through another very active EC fan, Fred von Bernewitz; Goodwin had seen Larry’s name in the second issue of the zine Hoohah!, listed there as a “New York contact.” Goodwin was looking to move from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was attending university, and to become yet another aspiring artist enrolled in The School of Visual Arts. Within a short time, Larry’s apartment became the destination for fans with a strong interest in comics for a reason other than his hospitality: his fabled collection. By the time Benson had become an occasional visitor, Larry’s reputation as a collector had already spread. Equally important, it was known that he was generous in sharing his resources. Opening

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

John Benson in a photo that appeared in his EC fanzine Squa Tront #10. The accompanying caption read: “The tyro faned [= fan editor] traces art onto a mimeo stencil for the first issue [of Image magazine] in Larry Ivie’s apartment in 1959. Larry took the photo because he was amused at how my hair, long for the time, hung down nearly to the light box.” John feels this was probably Ivie’s 76th Street apartment, a bit later than the one he mentioned in the interview conducted by Bill Schelly. John adds: “I’ve tried to figure out just when those guys [Ivie, Goodwin, Pearson, Adkins] were all at 345 W. 23rd Street. The massive apartment project that forced them out of their building doesn’t seem to have a name I can find on the web, so I can’t figure out when it was built. I’m guessing it was around 1958. And I probably also visited Larry before 1958…. “Archie Goodwin once told me that he was planning to come into town very late one evening and had asked Larry if he could stay there. Larry said he kept an extra key hidden in a rock crevice in Central Park for such occasions and gave him instructions on how to find it. Archie was not about to venture into Central Park in the middle of the night (much more dangerous at that time) searching for a key, and made other arrangements. “Marland Frenzel, I believe, once said he was telling a friend how everyone stayed at Larry’s when they came to New York, including fans coming to the city for the very first time. They were sitting around talking and it was rather late in the evening. For a gag, they decided to call Larry and test it out. The fellow (who, I think, had a natural Southern accent) called Larry and said he just got in town, and could Larry put him up for the night? There was a very long pause, and finally Larry said, ‘Where are you now?’ He answered, ‘Pennsylvania Station,’ and Larry gave him instructions on how to get to his place. The fellow then went over to Larry’s, and when Larry opened the door, he said, ‘I’ve heard so much about you, Larry, I just wanted to meet you in person and shake your hand.’ He shook his hand and left a puzzled Larry wondering what was that all about?”

up his collection (he referred to it as “The Comic Library”) to others with a desire to see rare, hard-to-come-by comics was a large part of what motivated his collecting. He had a clear purpose in mind. In issue #3 of his own fanzine, Concept, Larry stated it as a sort of manifesto: The main source for comic fans… is the Comic Library. This collection is owned by this magazine and includes contributions (including original artwork) from many of the top individuals in this field. We hope that this library will someday become the basis for not only permanent preservation of all comic work, but for hardbound reproductions of the “classics” in the field. We know that this will be done someday… for the children of yesterday, and of today, as they begin to run the world, will demand another look at their childhood fantasies, and will eventually come to look on them as what they are—a true twentieth century folklore.

Archie Goodwin and (below) one of his student pieces at SVA, an illustration with acetate overlay, done circa 1959. Beginning in 1964, he would be a major writer and editor for Warren Publishing, Marvel, and DC. The photo shows Goodwin (on right) and his then-roommate, Phil Davis, posing outside his first New York City apartment. [Cartoon © Estate of Archie Goodwin.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Clear On The Concept (Left:) Larry Ivie supplied the cover art for a 1958 issue of his own fanzine. Thanks to Steve Stiles. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.] (Right:) Artwork by Al Williamson was utilized for the cover of Concept #5 in ’59. [Art © Estate of Al Williamson.]

As Krazy Kat and Buster Brown were to one generation, so will Superman and Camilla be to the next—only more so. All… will eventually land in the History books; until that day, however, we will print as much as we can, for those interested, in Concept. In Bill Schelly’s essential Founders of Comic Fandom (McFarland & Co., Inc., 2010), the author describes Larry’s self-appointed roll in the service of comic enthusiasts: ...Ivie’s Manhattan series of walk-up apartments—filled with stacks of comics, magazines and other related material— were meccas for virtually everyone active in 1950s fandom who lived within geographic proximity…. In addition, Ivie’s mailbox was frequently filled with requests for comic book and comic strip data. While not a hardcore data-indexer, he was a source of information to nearly all the earliest fans who were obsessed with gathering and coordinating such data. He was the closest thing to an authority on comics that was available in the 1950s. (By the time Larry had moved into a brownstone off Amsterdam Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, those “stacks” had only increased in number. The apartment was typical of artists at that time—that is, very small, allowing for almost no storage space. The piles had grown so large and numerous that they practically constituted furnishing. To make the environment a little homier, he would often cover them with bedclothes, causing

The Halls Of Ivie Larry in one of his NYC apartments. Note the framed original Prince Valiant art by Harold R. Foster.

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

problems for uninitiated visitors who might mistake one for a chair or sofa.) At the risk of digression, it might be worthwhile to pause a moment and talk about the physical aspects of the library Larry was in the process of amassing. He felt that comics, with their stapled bindings and use of poor-quality newsprint paper, needed to be repackaged in a manner that would increase their durability. His solution raised many eyebrows among the collector community. He eventually took his childhood predilection of binding many stories of one character into a single volume one step further: he would buy two copies of each issue he wanted to preserve, carefully cut the books apart, and paste the individual pages onto sturdy, acid-neutral, three-ring-binder paper (often known as “biology filler paper”). Others before Larry had cut out the work of their favorite artists from magazines or clipped comic strips from newspapers; and a scant few, notably Al Williamson, would also assemble binders from these clippings. (This made referencing the material far easier and more enjoyable than searching through endless file drawers filled with overstuffed manila folders.) But few pursued this practice with rare and expensive comicbooks. This is what raised eyebrows. Larry would gladly sacrifice the market value of prized Golden Age issues of Batman or Superman in pursuit of his goal of creating a permanent comics archive—a sacrifice few, if any, others were willing to make. But Larry felt that he had yet another roll to play if this library were to satisfy his unique vision: that of curator (if one is willing to accept a broad definition of the word). It’s important to know that there existed in Larry an almost overwhelming need to develop a consistent and coherent narrative for the characters of popular culture he had grown to love in his childhood. Often they were presented to the public across various media, handled by a disparate array of publishers, writers, and artists over the course of decades. The demand of an ever-changing market and the lack of an overarching vision almost guaranteed that the integrity of a given character would be affected in the process. In Larry’s opinion, these changes within an established continuity would all too often dilute, if not destroy, the elements that had made these figures an integral part of American pop culture in the first place. Inevitably, Larry championed the creator’s original intentions and took it almost as a personal affront when succeeding generations of publishers, broadcasters, or movie producers would rework a basic premise, or even a minor aspect of the character. (It would be no exaggeration to say he could have filled an entire notebook with sketches of and observations on the evolution of Superman’s familiar emblem: the letter “S” bordered by a triangle. And he had very clear opinions as to the right way to draw it.) His intent, then, was to create a definite continuity for all those heroes (not necessarily exclusive to comics) that he felt were of greatest importance to the culture. Though he wouldn’t have used these words, he was developing the Great Canon for the Golden Age heroes of American popular fiction, a process that entailed reconstructing existing histories and eliminating those aspects that were in contradiction to one another. Larry prefaced his first volume of “Sub-Mariner” stories with this explanation: Looking over a complete set of [Bill] Everett’s Sub-Mariner episodes from 1939 to his last in 1972, several conclusions were obvious…. The first was that there were three Sub-Mariners. In the early episodes, as is the case in many characters in fiction, Namor’s creator was still in the process

Krypton, Mon Amour During his grade school years, among many other compilations, Ivie pasted together panels from two different early DC tellings of the origin of the Man of Steel (including Superman #53, July-Aug. 1948; script by Bill Finger; art by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye). He then wrote and drew panels of his own to make the story flow the way he felt it should have. And he restored Siegel & Shuster’s then-recently-removed byline, bless ’im! [Main art TM & © DC Comics; new art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

of singling out the personality and the strongest characteristics of his creation. By the time it became obvious which facets of the feature gave it the greatest appeal, there were already many episodes in print that diluted these elements. By isolating the strongest stories, Namor’s personality and limitations seem somewhat different than those of the series as a whole. This is not an inconsistency. Everett did not contradict such things as his early use of mental telepathy among the sub-mariners. He simply—once he realized it cluttered rather than aided the feature—left it out. He didn’t suddenly say it didn’t exist, but gave no further reason to indicate that it did. The complete saga is an interesting one. But, like the life story of any real person, there are many tangential episodes which, although interesting in themselves, do not necessarily contribute to—and often clutter—the most central themes in the individual’s life. To create one clear, concise history for these characters, Larry would not only edit out certain stories but rearrange panels among

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Check This Out—Of The Library! Two examples of pages clipped out of printed comicbooks, edited, and re-pasted by Ivie for what he called his “Comic Library.” (Left:) Here, for unknown reasons, Ivie has pasted three Bill Everett panels from Sub-Mariner #38 (Feb. 1955) so that they precede what had been an Everett splash panel from Sub-Mariner #35 (Aug. ’54)— with its logo now cut off. (Right:) Most of the re-pasted panels from the Lee/Kirby/Ayers Incredible Hulk #5 (Jan. 1963) are in the order they were published, with a few removed; but Larry moved the story’s third-from-last panel so that it became the final one. Apparently, in both cases, these were the ways he felt those stories should have been told. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

those he had chosen to paste down. Occasionally, he would edit out certain passages of dialogue and substitute his own. This reworking must have taken him endless hours and drawn upon an extraordinary depth of familiarity with his chosen subject. Prince Namor was just one of the characters on which he focused. Others included Superman, Batman, the Justice Society of America, Captain Marvel, and even, in later years, the Hulk. There’s no mistaking the extent of his devotion to his vision. The years between 1955 and the late ’60s were the most productive of Larry’s life, the time of greatest engagement with all his numerous pursuits. It would be hard to chronicle all of his activities devoted just to comic fandom alone during this period without testing the patience of the reader. For those interested in learning of this in greater detail, I would refer you once again to Bill Schelly. His books The Golden Age of Comic Fandom and Founders of Comic Fandom do a far better job of illuminating that history than this author could ever hope to. That being said, here’s a brief overview of a few of the various fanzines that Larry contributed to in his early days in NYC:

Sata—a zine produced by Dick Lupoff, who was a kindred spirit of Larry’s in that his interest spanned both comics and the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Larry provided covers, spot illustrations, and the art for two comic strips written by Bill Pearson. Hoohah!—the much-beloved EC fanzine. Larry was one of its earliest contributors, offering covers, text, and art. A detailed history of EC fanzines (as well as of Hoohah! in particular) can be found in a four-part series written by Ron Parker and published in Squa Tront (issue #9 focusing particularly on Hoohah!). Larry entertained the idea of writing a book on EC in the early ’60s and began making notes as to its content. In a very touching introduction, he credits the company for inspiring his decision to become an artist.... Comic Art—a very literate zine produced by Don and Maggie Thompson. Again, Larry provided both art and articles. Concept—Perhaps the zine that Larry was most identified with, it had a respectable run from 1956 to ’58. Co-edited by Ron Parker, it covered a wide range of interests, a surprisingly small percentage of the material being devoted strictly to comics. Instead, there were a fair amount of fiction and even a few pieces on

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Fanzine Fodder Examples of Ivie’s late-’50s/early-’60s fanzine work. (Clockwise from top left:) A cover for Dick Lupoff’s Sata—a finished art page, precise fanzine unknown—and some penciled layouts that may or may not relate to the preceding finished art. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

school and attending the School of Visual Arts, he enrolled in the Army under the Reserved Armed Forces Act and spent six months in uniform, most of it at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The obvious talent and enthusiasm displayed in his fanzine work and elsewhere may have been influential on another project that came his way around the time.

science and culture. These were written by Larry and seem to reflect a humanitarian world view that his father had expressed in articles he wrote for a left-leaning journal called The Technocrat. This was Larry’s most sustained effort in a fanzine and served as a platform for his growing cadre of associates. Frequent contributors included Benson, Goodwin, Pearson, Ted White, and his fellow student at Hogarth’s school, Jerry Prueitte. Al Williamson provided two beautiful covers executed in wash. Two small zines (Profusely and Iviegram) survive in Larry’s collection that are, essentially, the 1950s equivalent of a blog. The latter, for instance, reveals that, between high

In 1958, while he was still a student at Hogarth’s school, the National Cartoonists Society hired Larry to do extensive preliminary work on a book titled Comic Art in America, to be published by Simon

Comic Art In America As you can deduce from its subtitle (A Social History of the Funnies, the Political Cartoons, Magazine Humor, Sporting Cartoons and Animated Cartoons), this 1959 book by Stephen Becker, published by Simon and Schuster, was intended to be a 360-page study of the entire field. Comicbooks, however, were given very short shrift, as opposed to the voluminous coverage of newspaper comic strips. [© Stephen Becker or successors in interest.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Woody Gelman Topps Chewing Gum Co. executive—and founder/ publisher of Nostalgia Press, which in the mid-1960s began an ambitious program to reprint hardcover collections of Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Terry and the Pirates, Popeye, et al. In the end, his only comicbookrelated volume was one seminal tome that reprinted EC horror stories.

and Schuster. The book, as published in 1959, fell well below his expectations. Not only was his name hardly noticeable in the volume (one photo credit!), but the section devoted solely to comicbooks had dwindled to little more than a token entry, far less than originally envisioned. In something of a retaliatory move, Larry wrote a 400-page manuscript which focused entirely on the medium he loved. Titling it The History of the Comic Book, he sold the option for publication to Woody Gelman’s Nostalgia Press. It was indeed a very personal take on the subject matter. He shaped the content to fill a somewhat utilitarian purpose and wrote what amounted to a mission statement for prospective publishers: This book [is] designed, among other things, for those wishing to enter the comic book field professionally— presenting an outline of the untapped potential of the medium… research into how the modern comic book began and how they are produced, the true

Don’t Know Much About History? You Would—If You’d Had A Chance To Read This Book! A color proof of the cover Ivie painted for his History of the Comic Book—with his typed instructions to others involved. [Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Captain America, Human Torch, & Sub-Mariner TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Altron Boy art & other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

My Front Pages A double-page spread from Ivie’s History, taken from a bound copy of the printer’s bluelines. Art by Frank Frazetta; its 1973 copyright date probably reflects a scheduled publication date that Nostalgia Press failed to meet. [Text © Estate of Larry Ivie; art © Estate of Frank Frazetta.]

to be his crowning achievement.

story of Superman’s creators and the people behind the creations. Particular care has gone into the overall design of the book itself, to maintain a feeling of worth and artistry in the subject. He called upon friends such as Williamson and Frazetta to provide unpublished artwork for the book, received a brief introduction from Stan Lee, and painted one of his finest watercolors for the cover. He painstakingly typeset the entire contents and did the entirety of the production work himself. It was

And it never saw print. Publisher Gelman slated The History of the Comic Book for release on his small company’s schedule several times during the 1960s and after, but kept bumping the publication date back in order to prioritize other projects, even though bound proofs of the Ivie book were sent to reviewers and all the galleys had been finalized. It’s not clear how long this delay might have gone on, had fate not intervened; Gelman’s untimely death in 1978 put an end to the book’s hope of seeing print at his company. Gelman’s son, who took over the business, seemed not to have inherited his father’s love of comics and expressed a desire instead to publish books on Elvis. Fortunately, two hardbound copies of the bluelines still exist (one in the archives of the aforementioned Billy Ireland Museum). It’s clear from these pages that it was a labor of love; the layouts are beautifully designed and filled with well-chosen artwork.

The Earth’s Core, Barsoom, & Africa—ERB Style Three Ivie illustrations done for Edgar Rice Burroughs fanzines, illustrating scenes related to Pellucidar, John Carter of Mars, and Tarzan. [Art © Estate of Larry Ivie; Pellucidar, John Carter, & Tarzan are trademarks of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Adapt Or Die! (Above this page and next:) Pages from Ivie’s hand-painted adaptations of Burroughs’ novels A Princess of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes. [Art © Estate of Larry Ivie; Barsoom & Tarzan characters TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Still, if one were to judge from the amount of art and text Larry produced devoted to the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs during this period, it’s evident that his enthusiasm for Burroughs outstripped even that he felt for comics. Of all the many fanzines that focused on that prolific author’s work, the one that received most of Larry’s contributions was ERBdom, largely in the form of cover paintings. His work was in demand from these publications, and his mailbox filled with letters from the editor of ERBdom, Camille Cazadessus, among others, imploring him for more.

a definitive continuity for his favorite comicbook characters. When other writers and artists failed to pay heed to the creators’ original intentions, Larry would seethe, and this frustration proved the catalyst for many of his creative ventures. What makes this project unique, however, is that he attempted to do the work as entirely painted pages. This was probably among the first times that any artist had undertaken such a demanding approach; only Little Annie Fanny, being published in Playboy magazine around the

Larry’s impulse to illustrate Burroughs seemed to have stemmed largely from an inner compulsion, rather than thoughts of publication. His various work spaces, first in New York and later in California, were filled with paintings of ERB’s various creations, some finished and some returned to again and again as he struggled to perfect the canvas. Much of this art never saw print, including an ambitious attempt to adapt into comics form Blame It On Blaine! the early chapters of the three best-known of Burroughs’ Mahlon Blaine was a noted illustrator, creations, Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and Pellucidar, the but fans of ERB were mostly less than land at the Earth’s core. Here, Larry was responding to what he saw as a need for there to be adaptations that were entirely faithful to books. It was the same drive that had impelled him to create

thrilled by his renderings of Barsoom, et al., for Canaveral Press’ early-’60s editions. [© the respective copyright holders; Barsoom concept is a TM of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

same time, seems to have predated it. None of the adaptations was completed, sadly, but the unfinished work shows real promise, with strong color schemes and inventive panel layouts. Eventually, the opportunity came along for Larry to illustrate a Burroughs novel professionally. In an article he wrote for Scary Monsters, he offers a few interesting tidbits of information about his involvement with Canaveral Press of New York City. He states that the publishers, Biblo and Tannen, began printing reissues of Burroughs’ books only after they believed they had discovered that the person responsible for renewing the copyrights on the ERB estate’s properties had failed to do so on some of the author’s lesserknown titles, such as Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, thus allowing those titles to enter the public domain. When purchasers of the Canaveral reissues complained about the illustrations by Mahlon Blaine in its earliest volumes, Biblo and Tannen offered Larry a chance to illustrate its forthcoming edition of The Gods of Mars. The chance of a lifetime for such an enthusiastic and talented fan of Burroughs, the job proved to be one of his biggest disappointments.

The Gods Of Canaveral Ivie’s cover and an interior illustration for the Canaveral Press edition of ERB’s The Gods of Mars. [Art © Larry Ivie; Barsoom concept & characters TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

EC Meets ERB Larry Ivie probably gave Canaveral Press’ ERB editor Richard A. Lupoff contact info for four EC artists who wound up doing work for its hardcovers. (Clockwise from above left:) Frank Frazetta’s cover for Tarzan at the Earth’s Core… Reed Crandall’s for Tarzan and the Madman… Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins by Roy Krenkel… and the frontispiece for Lupoff’s 1966 study Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure, by Crandall and Al Williamson. [Art © the respective copyright holders; Tarzan and other ERB concepts TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Given only two weeks to deliver ten drawings, Larry spent most of that time just trying to develop a style simple enough to allow completion within the deadline. Though a few of the resulting illustrations show his characteristically strong black-&-white patterning, there’s really no getting around the fact that, on balance, the job was not his finest moment. In his own words: I am not proud of my first Canaveral book, as far as the artwork itself goes, as there was no adequate time for good research and drawing both… but the art was at least backed up with a closer adherence to the text—both in specifics and implied—than had ever been done before [on ERB’s work]. [Continued on p. 22]

The Trouble With Twins Ivie’s illustrations for a Canaveral Press edition of ERB’s juvenile book Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (which he apparently took upon himself to retitle slightly) were never used—although, as seen above, Canaveral did wind up reprinting that short novel, utilizing Krenkel art. [Art © Estate of Larry Ivie; Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Larry Ivie

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by Richard A. Lupoff he first time I met Larry Ivie…

As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the first time I met Larry Ivie. It had to be somewhere around 1960. I’d got out of the Army in 1958, married my sweetheart Patricia shortly after that, and, following a year of suburban boredom, we had moved to Manhattan. Before long, we were immersed in a cultural milieu of sciencefiction fans, writers, editors, and illustrators. The great Steve Stiles was one of the latter, as were bhob Stewart, Andy Reiss, and a tall, skinny, taciturn individual named Larry Ivie. By 1960 Pat and I had became involved in the amateur publishing world with a fanzine called Xero. All of those cartoonists that I mentioned above started contributing to Xero, along with a number of more distant talents. Most notable among the latter was “Atom,” or Arthur Thomson, who mailed in his originals from England. Larry Ivie provided drawings for several issues of Xero. His most notable contribution, however, was the cover illustration for Xero 5, a dramatic chiaroscuro image of the original 1940s super-hero The Atom. A couple of years later, I added a moonlight job to my daytime employment in the computer business. I became an editor at Canaveral Press. We employed an array of talented artists, including the legendary Mahlon Blaine, as well as a quartet of veterans of the great EC Comics bullpen: Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, and Reed Crandall. And who else should pop up with a dust jacket design and

Richard A. Lupoff and (at bottom of page) the cover of Tachyon Publications’ 2004 collection The Best of Xero. (You can see Ivie’s original version of this drawing on p. 25.) Steve Leialoha’s spot-on line portrait of Lupoff is from Dick’s 1988 novel-with-a-comicssection The Comic Book Killer. [Atom TM & © DC Comics; Lupoff pic © Steve Leialoha.] In separate e-mails between Dick and A/E’s editor, the then-Canaveral Press editor said he didn’t recall it being his idea to contact four EC Comics alumni to draw covers and interior illustrations for the Burroughs reprints—which suggests Ivie was correct when he once said it was his idea, around the time he produced artwork for The Gods of Mars, since he was in close contact with those artists. Still, it was Dick whose job it was to match the illustrators to the books for which they were best suited.

interior illustrations for The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs but—our friend Larry Ivie! We had kept up a friendship with Larry, as well. Pat and I were living in a comfortable apartment on East 73rd Street. Our first son, Ken, had been born by now, and Larry used to come by and babysit with Ken when Pat and I had family obligations elsewhere. We never visited Larry’s home, didn’t even know where it was. That was part of Larry’s personal elusiveness. When Xero ended its run, we had a major Burroughs-related article by Dave Van Arnam still in inventory. I got together with Dave and we decided to publish this as a one-shot. We accumulated additional items to go with Dave’s scholarship, including a brilliant cover design by Roy Krenkel and a wry article by Donald A. Wollheim; Larry Ivie contributed a prose piece as well, plus a superb map of Barsoom, Burroughs’ Mars, that we had reproduced as a gatefold. That book, The Reader’s Guide to Barsoom and Amtor, sold out before publication, and is now regarded as a prized collector’s item in the Burroughs fan world. In the same era, Larry was creating cover paintings for Castle of Frankenstein, one of the imitators of Forry Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland. CoF was published by Calvin Thomas Beck, a very peculiar character and notable cheapskate. Larry corralled me into contributing a Burroughs-related article to Calvin’s magazine. More to the point was the working relationship between Calvin and Larry. Calvin lived in a legendary old house in New Jersey, in a relationship sometimes compared to that of Norman Bates and his mother in Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho. Larry would finish a cover painting, pack it up, and head for Calvin’s house across the Hudson River. Neither Larry nor Calvin ever told me how much Calvin paid for a cover painting, but knowing Calvin it was as little as he could get away with. Further, he had managed to fall behind one publishing cycle with Larry. Thus, Calvin would owe Larry for the cover on the then-current issue of Castle of Frankenstein. But before paying Larry, he would insist on receiving the cover painting for the next issue. This system may not have been exactly bonded servitude, but it was damned close to it! A good many years went by, and Pat and I were living in Northern California, when Jacob Weisman of Tachyon Press

The Story Of Larry Ivie

approached us and proposed publishing The Best of Xero. It wasn’t hard to find enough good material in the files of Xero to make a fine book. In fact, the great pain came with having to select material to omit! One thing that was not hard to select was the dust jacket illustration for The Best of Xero. That was Larry’s drawing of The Atom from Xero 5, done in dramatic black silhouette against a giant yellow disk—the moon? Jacob managed to track Larry down and secure permission to reprint that illustration from Xero 5. I think Larry was living in Palo Alto, a suburb not far from our home in Berkeley. That cover has garnered nothing but praise since the book was published. But, despite social events and promotion parties for The Best of Xero, Larry continued to maintain his reclusive lifestyle. He never would attend one of these functions. News of his death in January 2014 came as a saddening shock [Continued from p. 20] Still, when deciding to print additional reissues, Biblo and Tannen turned to Larry for suggestions of other artists who might serve as illustrators. He provided them with the names, addresses, and phone numbers of former EC artists Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, Reed Crandall, and Al Williamson—and, later, Harold R. Foster, creator of Prince Valiant. Larry himself was given an assignment to produce drawings for an edition of Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, but that version was never published; instead, an edition with Krenkel illustrations saw print. (An aside: As to the curious name “Canaveral Press”—Biblo and Tannen, thinking primarily of the Mars and Venus series, no doubt, were apparently under the impression that ERB’s output best fit the genre designation “science-fiction,” and accordingly chose a name for their publishing venture that they felt the public associated at that time with space flight.) Another of Larry’s grand enthusiasms that carried over into his adult life was for movie serials. It seems

to Pat and me. Somehow, in our minds at least, Larry will remain that skinny 20-something babysitter, that paradoxical combination of friendliness and shy reserve, who would show up at our apartment door, often carrying his own pot of spaghetti, to watch over our infant son for a few hours while we were out visiting our in-laws. I know I’m kidding myself, but that’s how I’ll always remember him. The doorbell will ring and I’ll answer it and there he’ll be, tall and skinny, shy and young, talented and ambitious, with a pot full of spaghetti in his hands. Richard A. Lupoff is a writer of science-fiction and mystery novels. In the early 1960s he and his wife Pat Lupoff were the editors of Xero, a pop-culture fanzine that was one of the first places to discuss the place of comicbooks in U.S. culture; it also featured historical/nostalgia articles on comics in its seminal series All in Color for a Dime. to be conventional wisdom that fan fiction, “cosplay” (costume play), and home videos began in recent years, with the advent of the Internet, YouTube, and the proliferation of conventions oriented towards pop culture. This is nonsense, of course: as early as the 1940s, kids were stitching together their own costumes based on the heroes whose adventures they followed on radio and in movies and comics. And if they could lay their hands on their parents’ 8mm movie cameras, the more ambitious of them might produce their own films. In his autobiographical writings, Larry tells of his early attempts to create just these sorts of productions, putting particular effort into replicating the special effects used in the adventure serials he’d see on Saturday mornings. His love of amateur filmmaking carried over into his later years. He collaborated with fellow fan Don Glut on many of these, and detailed information on this subject can be found on Glut’s website (www.donaldfglut.com). Larry spearheaded a number of these efforts on his own, using Central Park as a setting and enlisting Ted White, Roy Krenkel, and Gray Morrow (among other artist friends) as cast members. As of this writing, the existing reels are being stored at the aforementioned Billy Ireland Museum. The curators are hoping to

Costume Party (Left:) Future comicbook writer, pulp novelist, and low-budget filmmaker Don Glut, as Captain Marvel, in the 1960s when he and Larry Ivie were making their super-hero ama-movies. More pics from Glut’s flicks were seen in A/E #143. (Center & right:) Photos taken by Ivie, probably at the 1967 New York comics convention. That’s young Dave Armstrong, now a prominent writer about comics, in the Captain America gear. In the other photo, then-fan Rich Rubenfeld thinks the Wasp may be Margaret Gemignani—but no guesses on the Thing!

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

eventually use state-of-the-art technology to capture the content digitally as the film runs through the projector, in case the celluloid film is too brittle to withstand a second showing. Fans of comics history can only hope they are successful. Piling up alongside the stacks of comics, fanzines, Burroughs hardcovers, and 8mm film reels was a staggering array of other material. Larry’s passion for movies also extended to the classic horror and science-fiction films, and he slowly accumulated an impressive collection of high-quality black-&-white stills, some bought from dealers through the mail but others from stores along Times Square, an area of Manhattan that had yet to be gentrified and which catered to collectors with a wide variety of “niche interests.”

A Prince Of A Fellow Larry visiting Prince Valiant (and, earlier, Tarzan) artist Harold R. Foster.

He drew upon these photos for articles he would later run in his publication Monsters and Heroes. Being a lover of early radio adventures such as Jack Armstrong and Captain Midnight, he began to amass hundreds of reel-to-reel tape recordings (and later cassettes) of these programs. When video recorders became affordable, he’d spend hours taping old movies and celebrity interviews off the air.... and there were files bulging with correspondence from fans, and, later, from the professionals he most revered, such as Carl

Back On EC Street Larry sold the scripts for these two SF stories to Harvey Publications circa 1958, in the wake of the Sputnik-spawned space race; however, they didn’t see print till Blast-Off #1 (Oct. 1965). But maybe it was worth the wait, since the illustrators were an all-star EC reunion: “Space Court” was penciled by Al Williamson and inked by Angelo Torres & Roy Krenkel, while “Little Earth” was penciled by Reed Crandall and inked by Williamson. Thanks to Mark Muller. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, C.C. Beck, and Hal Foster. His enthusiasm could hardly be contained, and his apartments (certainly the last one off Amsterdam Avenue, with its ever-diminishing floor space) gave evidence to that fact.

Part 4: Professional Period The late 1950s was not an auspicious time for a young artist looking to break into the field of comics (as Hogarth had perceived). The public’s interest in super-heroes had waned with the end of World War II, and the anti-comics hysteria generated by Dr. Fredric Wertham and others had taken its toll on the sales of most horror and crime titles, two genres that had been profitable during the early Eisenhower years. This was the climate when Larry attempted to enter the field. Years later, he would speak of finding himself in editors’ waiting rooms, seated next to seasoned pros, all looking for jobs in an ever-dwindling pool of work. Heading for the offices of a comicbook company that had just canceled all its titles except one might not seem to make a lot sense if you’re an eager young artist looking for work. This is just what Larry chose to do, but his visit to the EC offices was more in the way of a pilgrimage than a canny career move. Whether or not there was work to be found there, his strongest motive for the visit was most likely the desire to make contact with some of the professionals who had produced the books he respected so highly. Here’s a brief description of the experience in Larry’s own words: One Friday afternoon, near the end of the school year, a fellow art student who had actually become a writer at EC handed me an armload of every EC issue my collection had been missing. His name was Nick Meglin, and he still works for Mad magazine. Poring over some of the works of genius by Williamson and other EC greats, I was inspired to spend part of the next Sunday on a sample page, which I rushed up to the EC offices. “Too bad you weren’t here when we were going strong,” said editor Al Feldstein. “We just might have given you a chance….”’ With the last undrawn EC script in my hands—Nick Meglin’s Nick Meglin “Audience with Caesar”—I Longtime associate editor of sat down, after school hours, Mad. Thanks to Drew Friedman. to use it for practice. Perhaps I could use it to get work from Atlas. Knowing EC was folding, however, I was not really inspired. The art was not living up to the effort I had put into my EC sample. While still at Hogarth’s, Larry began to work on an idea he had nurtured since his teen years: a revival of Golden Age DC characters. In his eyes, Hawkman, The Atom, the Justice Society of America, and others of DC’s discontinued once-mainstays had lost their original appeal, and his intent was to suggest to the publishers storylines that would restore their luster. He wrote three proposals: the first would explain the hitherto untold circumstances of how the Justice Society’s members had gotten together; the second would tie

Come Valor High Water Sometime in the latter half of the 1950s, Larry drew (from a script sold to EC by fellow student Nick Meglin) this sample page for a tale called “Audience with Caesar,” in order to show it to prospective employers. It had almost certainly been written for the title Valor—but all of the company’s lineup, except Mad, was cancelled in 1956. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

up the loose ends from the original series; and the third—the most ambitious—would set the foundation for a spin-off title. It would be set twenty years in the future, during a gathering of two groups— the original Justice Society members and their teenage children, ready to take over. He drew up three splash pages (and a fourth, incorporated into a short “Hawkman” story). On the top of the splash that depicted some of the offspring of the original JSA members meeting around a table, he penciled in the name: “The Justice Legion.” Hogarth’s school, at that time, often invited working professionals to speak to the students and to review portfolios. Larry took advantage of one such opportunity, showing his pages to a visiting Sheldon Mayer—the man who had been the original editor of “The Justice Society of America” in 1940s All-Star Comics. [Continued on p. 28]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Yesterday’s Heroes—Tomorrow’s Stars? Three solo-hero splashes (well, Sandman has a kid partner) were drawn and written by Ivie in 1959, and became samples to show DC editor Julius Schwartz, who was already handling the revived and redefined version of “The Flash,” with “Green Lantern” probably already in the works. “The Atom” was to have been scripted by SF fan (and later writer and editor) Ted White. [Hawkman, Atom, Sandman, & Sandy TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

Julius Schwartz in 1964. Thanks to John Fahey; first printed in Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #9 in ’64.

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Sheldon Mayer Editor at All-American & DC, 1939-48—and, in the late 1950s, a visiting speaker at The School of Visual Arts. From Amazing World of DC Comics #5 (MarchApril 1975).

I Am Legion—I Am League! In 1959, feeling DC should revive the 1940-1951 Justice Society of America as the “Justice Legion,” Ivie penciled a pair of rough splashes and completed a third drawing. However, on seeing the student’s work at SVA, original All-Star Comics editor Sheldon “Shelly” Mayer suggested he change the title to “Justice League”—for reasons Sandy Plunkett elaborates. So, in a very real sense, the “Justice League” name seems to have been Mayer’s idea… but Larry was the one who integrated it into the splash sample he took to DC. DC editor Julie Schwartz always said that pro baseball’s leagues were the inspiration for the name change; but he never gave any indication of recalling Ivie’s artwork or logo. (And as for Larry’s caption on that “League” splash regarding “parallel dimensions”—well, we won’t even go there!) [Heroes TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

SPECIAL A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Larry Ivie also penciled, in the late 1950s, a number of other pinups and story pages related to the 1940s members of the Justice Society of America, together or solo—including several penciled-and-inked pages of an origin of Carter and Shiera Hall’s son as a second Hawkman. However, in order to run this art-andstory at an appreciable (and legible) size, we’d have had to jettison at least a half dozen other pages of illustrations appearing with this article. Happily, Sandy Plunkett has granted us permission to print that special “Justice Society/Legion/League” section in a near-future issue of Alter Ego. And those of you familiar with A/E’s editor won’t have to guess that it’ll be as near in the future as we can manage!

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

“Superman” While Superman, a mere “honorary member” of the JSA, wasn’t included in Ivie’s JSA revival/mutation, these images of the Man of Steel and his origin story were probably done around the same time as the preceding JSA-hero roughs, to judge by comments he made in A/E V3#5. Both the pinup and the Superman “daily” seen here were intended perhaps less as art samples than as demonstrations of the young artist’s devotion to DC’s heroes and his desire to see them done “right.” [Superman TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

inexperienced, entered bearing proposals of his own design and full of clearly defined and unalterable opinions as to what constitutes good comics. Whether you consider this foolish or praiseworthy, this certainty of his own judgment was integral to Larry’s emotional makeup. It couldn’t have been magically erased without destroying what made him unique. His obstinate championing of comics and their early creators came at a time when society still considered the field only one step up from pornography. The innumerable, unfinished binders he left behind (to be discussed later), filled as they were with meticulously researched notes on pop-culture heroes of his childhood, anticipated the near fetishistic attention lavished on those same subjects two and three decades later by scholars and academicians. At the time, such a penchant was considered at least eccentric by the larger society.

All My Children (Left:) On the heels of the success of the Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern, it seems likely that the Justice Society concept would’ve been revived, even if Larry Ivie had never darkened Julie Schwartz’s doorstep—but, would its name have been altered to “Justice League”? That seems far from inevitable. Cover art for The Brave and the Bold #28 (Feb.-March 1960) by Mike Sekowsky & Murphy Anderson. (Right:) Sometime in the early to mid-1960s, Alter Ego founder Jerry G. Bails showed Roy Thomas, in passing, either Photostats or the original art (Roy forgets which) of all four of Ivie’s completed “revival” splash pages reproduced on the preceding two pages. Roy didn’t see the “Justice League” one again for decades—nor is there any mention thereon that these are actually the sons and daughters of the original JSAers, a fact Roy only learned from Bill Schelly’s 1995 book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. In between, in 1982, as related in A/E V3#1, Roy and wife Dann came up with the concept for the DC title Infinity, Inc.: the sons and daughters of several of the 1940s JSA team! Of course, the Infinitors sported different code names and costumes—but, by sheer coincidence, the concept was eerily similar to what Ivie had proposed to Schwartz more than two decades earlier. Cover art for Infinity, Inc. #1 (March 1984) by Mike Machlan & Jerry Ordway. [TM & © DC Comics.]

[Continued from p. 24] His reaction, in Larry’s account, was very favorable, and Mayer even suggested a DC editor to see—Julius Schwartz—and a strategy for selling his idea. Pointing to the name “The Justice Legion,” Mayer suggested that a baseball reference “might be a little more in his [Schwartz’s] league.” Larry took the hint and re-penciled the lettering atop the splash. The reception he received in DC’s office was not what he had been hoping for. Though Ivie described the encounter as friendly, Schwartz expressed little interest in Larry’s ideas. Schwartz’s comments seemed to focus only on what he saw as shortcomings in the artwork. He objected to the use of cross-hatch, claiming, in Larry’s telling, that it confused the colorist and looked too much like the art used in what the DC editor called the “failed” EC line. This episode is emblematic of much of Larry’s dealings with the world of publishing. It’s not just the familiar story of a young aspirant having his ambition thwarted by a jaded editor—it’s also a glimpse into Larry’s character. The greatest obstacle to his pursuit of a professional career in comics was his own intransigence, his inability to conform to publishers’ expectations. While another might have walked in DC’s offices eager to accept whatever work was offered, no matter how humble, Larry, still a student and

Bill Schelly took note of this outsider’s gift for recognizing artistic value in work that the mainstream would take years to appreciate. An inscription he wrote in a complimentary copy of his 1997 book Fandom’s Finest Comics reads: “To Larry, who got there before everyone else!”

Of all the comic publishers that were still in business, DC was clearly Larry’s first choice as employer, since it was still putting out the titles of most significance to him. But there existed other options, and at least by 1964 he was in contact with Stan Lee at Marvel Comics. There seems to be no record as to how this was initiated, nor of the extent of Larry’s involvement with the company; but there is evidence backing up his claim of having been offered the job of Lee’s assistant editor (a job that eventually went to Roy Thomas). Whether this is accurate or not, Larry’s work there was limited to one script bearing his name and one (or perhaps a few others) under a pseudonym. It’s likely that his chances at Marvel were hobbled from the outset because of his uncharitable view of Lee. Larry, who placed great value on originality, found Lee’s habit of borrowing ideas from earlier creators irksome, even though it was (and still is) a standard practice of the field. Even Siegel and Shuster, two creators he greatly admired, were well acquainted with the value of creative plagiarism. But, in the end, Larry did do artwork for Lee’s company, if indirectly. In the early ’60s he found himself one of several aspiring young artists doing work for the legendary Wally Wood. Though he greatly respected Wood’s talent, this association did not prove very beneficial for either of them. Larry had trouble handling Wood’s cigarette habit, which filled his studio with clouds of smoke. His Mormon upbringing did not leave Larry religious, but it did prejudice him against any form of drug-taking, including nicotine and caffeine. And, again, Larry found Wood’s practice of liberally swiping from other artists hard to tolerate. [Continued on p. 32]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Make His Marvel! (Above:) Ivie often mentioned to folks—including to A/E’s editor— that in the mid-1960s Stan Lee offered him a staff job as an editorial assistant. Also, around the end of ’64, Larry scripted two tales for Marvel. The first, apparently done from a synopsis by Stan Lee (chances are the story was done “Marvel style”—laid out by Jack Kirby, then dialogued), was The Avengers #14 (March 1965). In its credits, for some reason, he used the pseudonym “Paul Laiken.” This name seems to bear no relation to a very real “Paul Laikin” (note the slight difference in spelling) who wrote for satire mags and quite probably the DC humor stories that are sometimes credited to Ivie. Layouts by Kirby, finished pencils by Don Heck, inks by Chic Stone. Lee’s brother, Larry Lieber, apparently also contributed to the script. (Top right:) Shortly afterward, Ivie wrote (and this time, there’s no mention of a Stan Lee “plot”) the “Torch/Thing” adventure for Strange Tales #132 (May 1965), which was penciled by Bob Powell and inked by Mike Esposito. Its splash was seen on p. 3, so here’s an action page. This yarn, though, clearly didn’t meet with favor from Larry’s editor—because Lee made an unusual point of saying, in a note on that issue’s letters page (see right), that he couldn’t make heads or tails of the story! Thanks to Barry Pearl for both these Marvel scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Oh, and a frumious footnote: On p. 6 of this yarn, Ben Grimm is called by the fake name “Dr. Josiah Verpoorten.” Larry probably knew artist (and 1970-77 Marvel production manager) John Verpoorten from The School of Visual Arts. At the time Strange Tales #132 was published, “Jumbo John” was working as artist Tom Gill’s assistant on Dell/Western’s The Owl, et al.

The Story Of Larry Ivie

The Man Without Peer How Deep Is The Ocean? A sample “Sub-Mariner” page drawn by Larry—no earlier than 1963, as evinced by the 12¢ price tag and the “Marvel Comics Group” box. “Other than Captain America,” says article author (and Ivie friend) Sandy Plunkett, “the Sub-Mariner was the only Marvel character that Ivie expressed any strong interest in.” [Sub-Mariner TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art & text © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

Wally Wood Probably in the 1960s.

(Clockwise from above:) Daredevil cover sketch done by Ivie while working as an assistant to Wally Wood… Wood’s finished cover for Daredevil #10 (Oct. 1965), with thanks to the Grand Comics Database… and Ivie’s quickly sketched diagram of Wood’s studio as it was when the younger man worked there circa 1965. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Early Pro Comics Work (Clockwise from top left:) Larry’s script and pencils for a romance story done for Charlton… its printed version in I Love You #57 (July 1965), as inked by Vince Colletta… and the issue’s cover, which utilized the Ivie/Colletta splash figures as half of the art; the close-up faces on its right are from an interior Ivie/ Colletta panel, though additionally altered. The published pages are courtesy of Comic Book Plus website. Sandy Plunkett says: “Interestingly, although I found Photostats of the pencil art for the story in a binder of Larry’s published artwork, the published version of the story doesn’t appear anywhere in his files. I get the feeling that he might have been so upset by Vinnie’s inks that he wanted to disown the work.” [© the respective copyright holders.]

Gilberton/ Classics Illustrated (Left:) This Ivie-penciled page from an historical feature, whether ever published or not, was almost certainly done for the above company. The lettering alone would give it away! [© First Classics, Inc., or the respective copyright holders.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

[Continued from p. 28] There is a story that has circulated for years concerning a “Captain America” job Wood was drawing for Marvel at the time. It’s said that Larry took the pages home and, instead of doing minor work on backgrounds, redrew the costumes on all the Captain America figures to have them conform to the original version from the ’40s. This tale is probably apocryphal, but it persists, most likely because it’s so in keeping with the reputation he had (rightfully) acquired of putting the creator’s original intent before all else. Of all professional publications, Larry’s name appeared most often in the Warren horror titles, Creepy and Eerie. His initial contact with the company came through a movie still he submitted to the company’s flagship magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, which used the photo to illustrate a text feature. This, unfortunately, is just about the only fact in the contentious history of Larry’s involvement with the company that is not disputed. It seems that virtually everyone involved in the early days of Jim Warren’s comics has a competing version of what really happened, and the subject has received extensive attention, including articles and interviews appearing in Comic Book Artist, Scary Monsters, and this magazine. Lacking any new evidence, rehashing the debate would be like beating the proverbial dead horse. All sides have had a chance to express their views. Yet, to give a more complete picture of Larry’s professional life (and to satisfy the editor of this venerable publication), a quick recap may be in order.

horror-related title with a small group of fellow creators. Warren was offering a considerable cash reward for the first person to give him a viable concept. This eventually led to Larry presenting Warren with his idea for an EC-like horror comics anthology titled Famous Monsters of Filmland Presents CREEPY. It was intended to utilize many of the same artists who had illustrated EC’s ’50s comics: Williamson, Wood, Frazetta, et al. From there, Larry describes a long series of frustrations with others involved in the project, until he eventually distanced himself from the magazine, both by choice and coercion. In issue #4 of Jon B. Cooke’s magazine Comic Book Artist, which focuses on the Warren line, Archie Goodwin recounts that the original idea for Creepy was Larry’s, but that publisher Jim Warren wasn’t ready for it at the time. According to Goodwin, Russ Jones (who was to serve as Creepy’s early editor) “re-suggested” the idea to Warren a year later, when the publisher was more receptive to the notion of doing a comics-format magazine. In the same issue, Al Williamson infers that Russ Jones took credit for an idea that was actually Larry’s. Questioned in an interview about Larry’s account of the story in CBA #14, Jones claims that Larry’s version “must have happened in an alternative universe.” A similar scenario played out months later, this time involving a project largely associated with Wally Wood: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. In Larry’s account, he received a phone call from Harry

In Larry’s telling, he first met Jim Warren in a convention hotel room where the publisher discussed his desire to put out a new

[Continued on p. 35]

The Stars And Stripes Forever? When Sandy Plunkett wrote the lines at the top of this page concerning the “probably apocryphal” tale of Larry Ivie altering Captain America’s costume to the 1940s version in a Marvel mag being drawn by Wally Wood, it set Ye Editor to thinking—and that anecdote turns out not to be apocryphal at all, but true! Wood never drew an actual “CA” yarn; but he did ink Don Heck’s pencils on The Avengers #20 (Sept. 1965), around the time Ivie was assisting him, and Cap was that team’s leader. Compare these two panel groupings from back-to-back issues scripted by Stan Lee, in scans supplied by Barry Pearl: (Left:) On the final page of Avengers #19 (Aug. 1965), as inked by Dick Ayers, a bound Cap plummets off a half-erected skyscraper—and you can see the red-and-white stripes going all the way around his mailshirt, the way they had ever since he’d thawed out of the ice in #4. (Right:) A month later, in a longshot on the splash of Avengers #20, inked by Wood (probably with Larry’s assistance), and on all subsequent pages of that issue (such as this panel from p. 3), the entire back of Cap’s mailshirt is an unbroken blue, except for the white star… just as it had been in the ’40s and in the 1953-54 revival. Whether Stan, a stickler for consistency in costuming (for reasons of realism), noticed the change isn’t known. If he did, perhaps his admiration for Wood’s talent led him to look the other way, so as not to risk offending an often touchy artist; but if Stan had learned that, as probably happened, Ivie had made the change on his own—well, that’s another story! Oh, and we should point out that Wood also inked Avengers #21 & 22—but with the stripes going all the way around once more. Maybe Lee—or Wood—leaned on Ivie not to make any more costume changes… or perhaps Larry just didn’t assist on those issues? [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

The Warren (Publishing) Report Larry Ivie wrote three of the seven stories in the first issue of the black-&-white horror comics magazine Creepy (cover-dated just “1964”)—the other four being scripted by issue-editor Russ Jones and future editor Archie Goodwin. The one at left was illustrated by Gray Morrow—a second (bottom left) by Al Williamson & Roy Krenkel—a third (below) by Frank Frazetta. With thanks to Doug Martin & Jim Kealy. [TM & © New Comic Company, LLC.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965) Ivie & Morrow—together again! [TM & © New Comic Company, LLC.]

Creepy #8 (April 1966) Another EC great comes to Warren: George Evans. This job looks as if it may have been reproduced from Evans’ pencils. [TM & © New Comic Company, LLC.]

Eerie #2 (March 1966) Gene Colan, already moonlighting from DC to pencil Marvel’s “Sub-Mariner,” now doublemoonlighted for Warren Publishing. (Eerie #1 had been an ashcan edition with only reprint stories—but one of Ivie’s stories had been reprinted therein.) [TM & © New Comic Company, LLC.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Creepy-Crawlies (Left:) Ivie saved this concept sketch he’d done circa 1962-63 to sell the notion of Creepy magazine to Warren. Author Sandy Plunkett points out the layout similarity between Ivie’s “Deadtime Stories” sketch and the cover of Bernie Wrightson’s Badtime Stories, which may have been drawn some time before that collection’s 1971 publication. (Right:) Larry’s notes from a brainstorming session (most likely conducted with Ted White), when he was casting about for a title for Warren’s intended horror comic. [TM & © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

[Continued from p. 32] Shorten, the publisher of Tower Books, asking if he’d be interested in developing a horror comic for the company, James Warren presumably because Larry’s name had Publisher of Famous been associated with the successful Monsters of Filmland and line of Warren books. Larry instead Help!—and eventually of suggested that a super-hero title might Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, be more timely, considering the heavy et al. censorship horror color comicbooks were subjected to and the consequent delays in getting the books to the stands. As he recounted in print, both in Scary Monsters and Comic Book Artist, he sketched out the premise for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, designed characters, and drew an introductory page. Others dispute this story. Interviewed in issue #14 of CBA, one of Wally Wood’s assistants of the time, Dan Adkins, claimed that Larry (as well as two others of Wood’s assistants, Ralph Reese and Tim Battersby) were “lying their asses off” in fanzines about their involvement with the project. Wikipedia, however, credits Larry as co-founder of the Tower line of comics. There are published artifacts taken from Larry’s files—concept sketches for the Creepy logo and for the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents characters—that strongly suggest there is validity to Larry’s version of events, even if all the particulars cannot be taken as gospel.

The extent of Larry’s involvement with other comics companies is hard to gauge, and any attempt to make a comprehensive review of his freelance work would most likely sell his efforts short. As in the case of many other commercial writers and artists of the day, much of his work appeared without attribution. In the years preceding his death in 2006, the late Jerry G. Bails put together what is doubtless the most comprehensive checklist of Larry’s output to date; it is posted on his Who’s Who in American Comic Books 1928-1999 website (www.bailsprojects. com). Companies listed there for which Larry worked include Harvey Comics, Panic Publications, Gilberton, Charlton, Dell, Mad magazine, and Marvel, as well as DC, for which he may have penned a script or two. Trying to ferret out information on work he did outside (but related to) the comics industry is a frustrating endeavor for the same reason: most of it was done anonymously. He wrote the text for a series of Batman trading cards (with beautiful art provided by Norman Saunders and others) and

Russ Jones (on left) with actor Lon Chaney, Jr., in a publicity shot that shows Universal’s one-time “Wolf Man” perusing Jones’ latter-’60s magazine Monster Mania.

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Rolling T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (Clockwise from above left:) Color sketch by Larry Ivie for the cover of Tower’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (Nov. 1965), which Sandy Plunkett feels may have been a concept drawing for the entire series…. a Wally Wood pencil sketch of the mag’s primary hero, Dynamo, et al…. and Wood’s published cover for the issue. [TM & © John Carbonaro.]

the script for “mini-comics” featuring Batman that were included as premiums inside boxes of Pop-Tarts during the mania for the character generated by the ’60s TV show. He also wrote some freelance fiction, including a story illustrated by Gray Morrow, for Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine #2. Arguably, Larry’s best work outside the comics field appeared within the pages of monthly science-fiction magazines such as Galaxy and Analog, which were the last vestiges of the glorious pulps of the first half of the century. It was a natural market for his art and provided him with subject matter he could sink his teeth into. More importantly, it gave him the rare opportunity to spend the time he required on an individual drawing to display his potential. These illustrations show a marked improvement over his student work and the sample pages he prepared for DC. As ever, his design sense is strong; but now, too, there was a more solid structuring to his figures and a confident ink line. For The Record… The first among these One of the pages of artist Tim were some of the best SF Battersby’s records of his work for Tower illustrations being done at in 1965-66, which were part of Larry’s collection. [© Estate of Tim Battersby.]

[Continued on p. 42]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (Nov. 1965) Besides scripting the short lead-off “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents” story (above left, drawn by Wally Wood), Ivie also wrote that issue’s “NoMan” origin drawn by Reed Crandall and the “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad” tale drawn by Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia, plus its two-page text story. [TM & © John Carbonaro.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

He’s A Real Dynamo? (Left:) The “Dynamo” splash page from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1. When that story’s original scripter, Len Brown, and a new-in-NYC Roy Thomas met in July 1965, shortly before that issue hit the stands, Len informed Roy that he’d written the hero as “Thunderbolt,” but that the name had been changed to “Dynamo” at the last minute, using the name Len had given the super-villain in his “Thunderbolt” story for #2. The criminal Dynamo, in turn, was rechristened “Dynavac.” It was Wally Wood’s gesture to give Dynamo the civilian identity of “Len Brown.” [TM & © John Carbonaro.] As for Larry Ivie’s connection to the character, Sandy Plunkett writes: “If I recall, Larry’s initial suggestion was to have the names of each of the three principal T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents incorporate the word ‘thunder.’ But someone discovered there was already a super-hero kicking around named Thunderbolt, so they had to opt for something different…. The copyright problem with the name ‘Thunderbolt’ must not have been discovered until a fair amount of work had already been done on the character.” The troublesome, already extant “Thunderbolt” hero may have been Charlton’s Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, which would soon debut with a January 1966 cover date... but, in addition, DC was using the Golden Age Johnny Thunder and his magical living Thunderbolt in Earth-Two stories of the Justice League and Justice Society.

Weird Science Fantasies Oil paintings done by Ivie in the late ’50/early ’60s in an effort to find work in the remaining science-fiction pulps. The piece at right was later re-purposed as an Altron Boy panel in his own magazine Monsters and Heroes, repro’d there in black-&-white. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Dips Into The Comicbook Pool Larry, seen arriving at the offices of Mad in 1959—surrounded by comicbook work he did in the late ’50s/early ’60s. (Clockwise from top right:) He assisted Al Williamson on the art for this story from Timely/Marvel’s Tales of Suspense #1 (Jan. 1959); scripter unknown… he art-assisted Angelo Torres on the Classics Illustrated re-adaptation (from Alfred Sundel’s script) of Victor Hugo’s novel Toilers of the Sea (CI #56, Jan. 1962)… and he himself scribed the yarn Torres drew for Harvey Comics’ Alarming Adventures #3 (Feb. 1963). Sandy Plunkett adds that, since Ivie clipped these stories and saved them in binders he made of his published work, he must have felt he had contributed enough to the art to include them. Plus, see his handwritten credits below the Alarming Adventures splash page. [TOS page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Toilers page TM & © First Classics, Inc.; other page © the respective copyright holders.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Easy To Digest? Various illustrations done in the early ’60s for digest SF magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Amazing Stories. Also seen is the reference photo Larry had taken for the artwork to its right; both gents in the snapshot are unidentified. [© Estate of Larry Ivie or the respective copyright holders.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

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Day-Tripping At Larry Ivie’s Comicbook Mecca

by Louis M. Brill

s a comicbook collector growing up in New York City during the 1960s, my contact with super-heroes was simple—all Silver Age stuff I bought, read, saved, and cherished. In the course of my comicbook travels I was introduced to Larry Ivie, a professional comicbook artist and most likely the ultimate comicbook fan boy of that era. I was invited by another comicbook fan, a friend of Larry’s, to meet him, not knowing who Larry was or the extent of his involvement with the comicbook industry. So, it was now weekends hanging out at Larry’s New York brownstone totally immersed in comicbook lore beyond anything one could believe. Larry’s apartment was like the Disneyland of comicbooks. Larry, as I was quick to find out, had an extensive comicbook collection that reached back to the Golden Age with editions of early “Superman,” the original “Sub-Mariner” from the 1940s, the original “Human Torch,” “Batman,” and the Justice League when they were a “Society” before re-emerging as the JLA. Not only did Larry have this enormous comic collection, but he was very gracious about letting us read anything we wanted. It was a new world of super-heroes, and a bit strange, as I grew up on the Silver Age (The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, etc.) but had no idea that a previous incarnation of all these characters had existed before I was even born. But there they were in print, all-powerful and fighting the good fight even then. Visiting Larry’s brownstone was like getting a master’s in American comicbook history. Not only did I pore over the varied

adventures, but we’d also talk about comicbook art from comic to comic, and getting a great sense of the varied techniques in illustrating the body in motion with or without super-powers. One day, in going through parts of Larry’s comicbook collection, I spotted a closet with very familiar blue tights and red trunks and accompanying red cape. “Larry, what’s this all about?” I asked somewhat suspiciously, as I discovered yet another costume, this one completely red except for its accompanying white cape in the back and a yellow lightning bolt across the chest (can you say “SHAZAM”?). Larry looked at me and said, “Oh, those are costumes from my super-hero movies.” I looked at him in awe: “Movies.” “About super-heroes.” “I gotta see this!” So he hauled out his 8mm movie projector, darkened the room, and we sat there watching Superman, Captain Marvel, and the like flying about, saving the world and having a good old time. The movies, as I remember them, were all filmed in Central Park (two convenient blocks from Larry’s apartment), which supplied a variety of locations and backdrops (let’s not forget Castle Belvedere) for these super-heroic flights of fancy, back in the days of 8mm film making. My favorite memory during that time I was hanging out at the Ivory pad: For some reason, I had opened Larry’s refrigerator, and there, lying on its side in all its glory, was a full three-dimensional replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, about a foot in length. It was very realistic, a miniature of the ones that prowled about, way back when. Luckily, it was not moving or snoring. I picked it up and it had a skin completely covering it, cold, clammy, and pebbly, like the skin covering a refrigerated chicken. Pointing to it, I said, “Larry, what’s this all about?” He looked at it and said, “Oh that’s from my dinosaur movie.” Not so surprised by now, I said, “dinosaur movie....” Inevitably, it all came to an end as I left for college, sports, girls, and preparing for entering the real world.

“Let’s Put On A Show!” (Left:) The Captain America costume made by Larry Ivie for his amateur movies was on display until mid-2017 in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum in Columbus, Ohio. In addition, as depicted in A/E V3#5, he made better Hawkman and Dr. Fate helmets than any non-professional ones Ye Editor has ever seen—ditto for Starman’s Gravity Rod and Green Lantern’s power battery and Power Ring! Photo taken by Caitlin McGurk. (Above:) Castle Belvedere, in NYC’s Central Park, designed mostly for grandiose effect circa 1865, now serves as a gift shop, etc.—but it made the perfect backdrop for some of Ivie’s ama-films. Thanks to Louis M. Brill.

The Story Of Larry Ivie

At His Beck And Call (Left:) An Ivie painting graced the cover of the first issue of Calvin Beck’s magazine Castle of Frankenstein. (Above:) Title lettering for Ted White’s article for Don & Maggie Thompson’s fanzine Comic Art that related his first meeting with Beck. [Ivie art © Estate of Larry Ivie; White article © Ted White; its art © Andy Reiss.]

[Continued from p. 36] the time. Sadly, either because of deadline pressures or the erosion of enthusiasm, the later efforts dipped noticeably in quality. Larry’s first foray into professional publishing (i.e., on a publication with newsstand distribution and expectations of turning a profit) was as assistant editor on one of the many black&-white horror magazines of the late ’50s and early ’60s. Journal of Frankenstein was being published by Calvin Beck, a man of rather odd appearance and manner who lived in New Jersey. The two met at Beck’s home, Larry bringing along artwork he hoped to exchange for a few of the rare movie stills Beck had been printing. Impressed by the quality of the art, Beck urged Larry to get involved with his publication. The result of the collaboration was a new title, released in 1962 (some three years after Journal’s one and only appearance): Castle of Frankenstein. The story of how the first issue of Castle was put together over a long, wintery weekend has become something of a legend among monster-mag readers, thanks largely to an account of the experience by one of the participants, Ted White, a prominent comics and SF fan of Larry’s acquaintance. Published under the title “A Day with Calvin Thom. Beck,” it’s a ribald and thoroughly entertaining perspective, though much of the humor comes at Beck’s expense. Rumors of the publisher’s idiosyncratic lifestyle had reached White and, curious to finally meet the man himself, he took the bus out to New Jersey with Larry for the final push to get the first issue of CoF to the printers. What White encountered confirmed the rumors, at least in his mind. Beck, though in his thirties, lived a cloistered existence with a domineering mother. Beck’s father lived with them but is described more as a Gothic presence in the house than as anything resembling a traditional head-of-household. To hear White tell it, a visit to the Becks was nothing short of a visit to the Bates Motel.

Over the two-day weekend, White and Calvin Beck Larry were sequestered in the New Jersey basement, working round the clock on layouts, Photo from the lettering, and last-minute illustrations, while website www.bmonster.com Beck typed feverishly in his room, completing the text. Running out of art supplies by Sunday afternoon, with the boards due at the printers on Monday morning, White, Larry, Beck, and Beck’s mother piled into a 1955 Buick and drove madly around North Bergen (eventually crossing over into Manhattan), desperately searching for an open store that might sell the basic equipment they needed. Larry remained as an assistant editor for the first three issues (providing the covers for the first, second, and fifth issues) but later played a slightly less active role, as his other activities placed ever greater demands on him. Castle of Frankenstein is fondly remembered by fans and had a lasting impact on its genre. On the blogsite Monster Magazines, a brief summary of its contents is given, along with an assessment: The early issues followed the “monster mag” formula, established by its predecessors, but the mag soon started featuring a broader spectrum of fantasy films, foreign and art house films, and a more adult perspective in general, and occasionally dabbled in politics. CoF would have a very strong influence on future fantasy film journalists and publishers. At this point it might seem that the accumulation of professional setbacks would have made Larry’s tenure in New York miserable. He was undoubtedly disappointed and frustrated in seeing so many of his efforts derailed at critical junctures, but these experiences should be considered against a broader backdrop. During these years, Larry was taking full advantage of all the city had to offer a young artist and was creating for himself a rich, creative community. He was surrounded by fans and professionals with whom he could share his passions. He was engaged in a perpetual feedback loop of mutual inspiration. As noted earlier, the first among the artists he sought out was Al Williamson, and this association played an important part in both of their lives. By every account, Williamson was a generous friend, helping

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

The Private Life Of The Shield (Left:) A Photostat of Al Williamson’s penciled art for the splash page of a story in Archie Comics’ (and Simon & Kirby’s) The Double Life of Private Strong #2 (Aug. 1959), with a typed note by Larry Ivie indicating the portions of the page on which he’d assisted his friend. But is he saying, in his note, that he wrote and lettered this story? Sure seems like it. The hero, of course, was a revival of “The Shield,” MLJ’s star-spangled sentinel who’d been around a year before Captain America first threw his mighty shield. (Below:) The published and considerably altered version of that splash page, and of another page from that tale, both primarily if not totally by Al Williamson. Scripter unknown. [TM & © Estates of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby; The Shield is a TM of Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

many younger artists professionally. He expressed the same generosity towards Larry. His first professional job was assisting Williamson on penciling an 8-page story for Harvey Comics’ The Double Life of Private Strong. Later on, when King Features chose Williamson to draw a revival of the Flash Gordon comicbook in the mid-’60s, Larry’s association with the life-long Flash enthusiast helped him secure a slot scripting two stories for the title. It didn’t hurt that Larry’s knowledge of the character’s history rivaled Williamson’s own. Larry’s role in the older artist’s life was no less important. Through Larry, Williamson first met Archie Goodwin, then still a student at The School of Visual Arts. Larry arranged the meeting intentionally, feeling certain that the two of them would hit it off well. It was the beginning of one of the most enduring and celebrated artist/writer teams in the annals of comics history. Later in Williamson’s life, when jobs were getting scarce within the industry and finding work was difficult, word reached Larry that John Prentice was looking for an assistant. As the current artist on Rip Kirby, a newspaper strip originated by Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond, Prentice had adopted his predecessor’s precise, photo-realistic style. It must have seemed to Larry that Williamson, who had studied Raymond’s work since he was a boy, would be the natural choice. According to Williamson in interviews, Larry took

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Flash-y Artwork Tracings and layout art done by Al Williamson for the cover and first-issue interiors of King Comics’ Flash Gordon #1 (Sept. 1966); the printed cover was seen in A/E #143’s interview with Bill Harris, editor of the King line. According to Sandy Plunkett: “These are only a few of the many hundreds of preliminary drawings Williamson gave Ivie over the years.” [TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

it upon himself to show Prentice samples of Williamson’s work. Clearly, Larry had been right in his judgment. Though Williamson later described the early days on the strip as a steep learning curve (being forced, as he was, to adopt a slicker rendering line and a different approach to black-&-white spotting), within a few years he had come into his own as one of the most admired comic strip artists of his time. But this wasn’t the end of Larry’s commitment to the Prentice/ Williamson partnership. Not long after hiring Williamson, Prentice chose to move his operations to Mexico. In these pre-FedEx, pre-Internet days, this meant that if Williamson wanted to maintain his position as an assistant, he’d have to uproot himself and his wife Arlene and join Prentice in the change of locale. This presented a real problem. Matching Prentice’s photobased style meant Williamson was in need of a constant stream of reference material, something not easily available in a third-world country in the mid-20th century. He turned to Larry for help. The central library of New York City held in those days a vast collection of visual reference material available on loan to its patrons. It was comprised of an untold number of photos and illustrations clipped from books, newspapers, and magazines, all indexed by subject matter or artist. It was a godsend to commercial artists throughout the tri-state area. Larry served as Williamson’s liaison to the States and his go-to

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Rip It Up! A Rip Kirby daily drawn during the period when Al Williamson was working on that comic strip under artist John Prentice—juxtaposed with the reference photo taken of Ivie and an unidentified person. Larry’s the guy in the white shirt. [Daily TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

man for “swipes.” Though it seems impossibly slow to us in this age of instant messaging, Williamson would send Larry, via air mail, a detailed listing of the specific “swipes” he needed for Rip Kirby’s next adventure. It could range from ocean liners (all perspectives) to aerialists. Larry would trek to Fifth Avenue and 42nd St. and pour through the library’s files, selecting material accordingly, often supplementing it with clippings from current magazines, and mailing the package to Huatusco, Mexico, the small town where the Williamsons were living. Larry saved many of these letters, and they provide a unique glimpse inside the life of an expatriate cartoonist. Along with his impassioned entreaties for haste in sending off the needed photos, Williamson writes of missing the old gang back home, asking for the latest news of Archie, Roy, Angelo, and Frank. Ever the collector, most of the letters update Larry on his latest success (or failure) in

Terror Of The Blue Pencil The splash and an action page from a story in King Comics’ Flash Gordon #5 (May 1967) illustrated by Al Williamson and scripted by Ivie (complete with writer byline, which most King yarns lacked). Another page from this tale was seen in A/E #144. Thanks to Nick Caputo. [TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

locating rare books and artwork. The following is an excerpt from a typical letter, this one dated April 5, 1962: Thank you boy, you did it again! Saved my life! Very good swipe stuff. I’m sending back the ship swipe (sent 4/3). Hope it gets there on time. I’m happy that Frank is on his own again. Good talent shouldn’t be buried. Also I don’t recall saying that Frank’s inking on Reed’s pencils would be the greatest. However, if I did, I’ve changed my mind. Actually, Frank’s inking is best on his own stuff. I hope he gets back in the feeling again. I’m hoping to get some extra work when I return about Oct. 15. I’m really anxious to do my own work again and after working on R.K. I should be able to tackle anything!

The Story Of Larry Ivie

We’re Looking For People Who Like To Draw! A page from Al Williamson’s school notebook, from when he was a boy growing up in Bogota, Columbia (apparently he was seized by an urge to draw a picture of a man swimming in the middle of taking notes on Oliver Cromwell)—plus other examples of Williamson “juvenilia” from Ivie’s collection. The image at near left was done as a rough for a Buster Crabbe comicbook cover he drew a few years into his professional career; thanks to Ray Cuthbert for the ID. [© Estate of Al Williamson.]

Collecting dept. I’ve made a bonanza. Got a whole bunch of Matanias in mint condition and beautifully printed. And something else for you, I won’t tell you what it is. I’ll surprise you with it. Also found some very old Terry by Caniff. All this from the same mag. that has the Matanias. The guy I got them from has a whole bunch more waiting for me. I’m having a ball…. It’s a measure of their friendship that, in later days, Williamson entrusted to Larry’s care a huge volume of personal sketches and drawings, dating back to his schoolboy days in South America and stretching well into his professional life. His own ability to store an ever-expanding collection reached a breaking point while in New York, and in Larry he found someone who would value the work as highly as he did, if not more so. Entrusting this archive to his friend all but guaranteed it would be preserved in perpetuity. He was right in his perceptions. These drawings are part of the Ivie estate now and, taken together, they create an extraordinary record of artistic development in one of comics’ undisputed geniuses.

Part 5: Monsters And Heroes While still working on the launch of Castle of Frankenstein, Calvin Beck offered Larry free ad space in the upcoming issue. This, he explained, was in compensation for the low wages that his assistant editor was being paid. It was meant to be an opportunity for Larry to sell some pre-existing product, but instead he used it as an impetus to create something new.

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

up a copy of M+H off the newsstand, the magazine was their first glimpse into the hitherto unknown world of fandom. The production quality, by today’s standards, was crude, but at least on par with other monster mags of the time. The artistry of the page layouts—something Larry focused much attention on—was arguably far superior. When writing his editorials (which appeared in each issue), he always used the pronoun “we,” as in “we are proud to present....” And yet, “Larry Ivie” was the only name to be attached to the enterprise—no other credits were given. The reason might very well have been that he was handling virtually all the work himself, from the research to the writing to the lettering. It was a monumental effort when you consider that each page was produced by the standard cut-and-paste method of the pre-digital age. Text, straight from Larry’s electric typewriter, was pasted onto large mounting boards, as were the stills and Photostated artwork. Copious amounts of white-out paint were applied to blend paste-ups seamlessly with the board. Larry read and answered all the mail, as well as fulfilling subscriptions and requests for back issues. On top of that, each issue featured two of Larry’s paintings. The back cover carried an oil depicting a scene from one of Edgar

And To Think Some Other Kids Wanted To Be Altar Boys! Altron Boy pencil art, which saw print in the 1973 ACBA Sketchbook, produced by the pros’ short-lived Academy of Comic Book Arts. From first to last, Larry’s art on this young hero revealed the influence of former Captain Marvel Jr. and Flash Gordon artist Mac Raboy. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The result was a short comics story featuring, in Larry’s own words, “a young monster fighter named Altron Boy.” Presumably, the ad space being offered would be used to promote this character, a property that would bear Larry’s copyright. As work on the story progressed, Beck began to think the concept was strong enough to sustain its own title. But by the time the first issue had been completed, Beck had reached another conclusion: he wouldn’t be financially able to support an additional magazine. He suggested that Larry approach Castle of Frankenstein’s distributor (Kabel) and put out the new magazine on his own. Some five years later, Larry did just that. The market for horror mags was already well saturated, but Larry Ivie’s Monsters and Heroes distinguished itself by offering its readers a far greater range of material than the competition. The first issue, appearing in 1967, was prefaced by a quote from one of Larry’s favorite movies, The Thief of Bagdad, Alexander Korda’s 1940 classic: “Welcome to the land of legend, where all things are possible when seen through the eyes of youth.” There couldn’t have been a more appropriate way to invite readers into this idiosyncratic publishing venture. It was to be a magazine of pictorial imagination, and the contents of the first issue typified the diverse subject matter that was to be offered throughout its run. Included were articles on great heroes of the ’30s and ’40s radio, an overview of comics characters adapted into movie serials, and a summary of the many incarnations of Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. Each was lavishly illustrated with stills and supporting visual material culled from Larry’s own collection. For many who picked

Come Fly With Me! A page from the first installment of “Altron Boy,” published in Monsters and Heroes #1 (1967—no month), displaying Ivie’s gift for imaginative panel design—flanked by one of the reference photos taken by Ivie for the flying sequences. Model unknown. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

So That’s What “Altron” Is! A metal—probably related to the Ninth Metal of which Hawkman’s wings were made, and ultimately the “Nth Metal” of ERB’s Mars/Barsoom! Here’s another “Altron Boy” page—plus illustrations Ivie drew for the program book of Phil Seuling’s 1970 New York Comic Art Convention, and for that of the 1974 Creation Con. Thanks to John Benson for the program book illos. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

Rice Burroughs’ novels, sized and mounted in such a way as to make it easy to clip and use as a dust jacket for the hardcover editions of the book. Presumably, these were re-purposed, having been painted originally for fanzines or his own satisfaction. But the front covers were all done uniquely for M+H. Each was a depiction of Altron Boy; all were solid efforts. The love Larry had for his character was clearly in evidence. It’s possible the highlight for the majority of readers was the five-page comic story Larry wrote and drew featuring the “young monster-hunter” he had conceived some five years earlier. Each of the seven issues in the title’s run (except #2) featured a new installment of the ongoing adventure, and this creation was to be Larry’s most personal and sustained offering to the world, a distillation of all the influences which had shaped not only his boyhood imagination and aesthetic sensibilities but his basic character as well. In the first chapter, Altron Boy comes into possession of a belt that grants him the power of flight. With it, he sets off on a quest that takes him to a mysterious, fog-shrouded island teeming with dinosaurs and other hidden dangers. Though something of

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Monsters, Heroes, & The Very First Comics Convention Two pages of the “Altron Boy” story from Monsters and Heroes #5 (July 1969), in which Larry mixes illustration and photos—plus a page from his article on the history of comics conventions through 1968, from that selfsame issue. Courtesy of Bernie Bubnis, co-host of the 1964 New York comics convention, which Ivie had attended. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.] Bernie, who knew Ivie, writes: “Larry could be sooo aloof, but also so respectful. His article in [the 1960s fanzine] Comic Art said some very nice things about our accomplishment and helped put a ‘first’ stamp on the proceedings. A few years later, after most folks forgot about the ’64 con, Larry included us in a magazine article that reviewed ‘all’ NY cons up to that date [and] said that we were the ‘first.’ I was thrilled to see him remember. Tried in vain to contact him years later. Found he had signed into a ‘home’ for folks unable to care for themselves. By the time I located his new address, he had passed away. I will always be a Larry Ivie fan!” Longtime fan/collector Al Dellinges has told A/E’s editor of trying to visit Larry in Millbrae, California, where both of them then lived, not long after Ivie moved there. Al says he was sure Ivie was home, but he would not answer the door. After a couple more attempted visits, Al gave up.

a pastiche, it was well-conceived storyline, and there was nothing quite like it on the stands. The plot harkened back to the radio serials of the ’40s and the artwork had a classical quality, showing influences of Mac Raboy and Wally Wood. This was a far cry from the other comics on the market at the time, which tended to feature hyper-kinetic action, muscle-bound heroes, and melodramatic dialogue. The first chapters show Larry at his best. He found the time to take the occasional reference photo and to make extensive use of Zip-A-Tone, an acetate overlay that provided gray tones equivalent to an ink wash. In certain instances, the effects were striking.

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Monsters #7 for a full account of the story). In his opinion, all such adaptations of comic characters fell short of the source material, and he felt he should establish in print, under his own copyright, the intended trajectory of the storyline. Burning through so much material so quickly meant that he was soon scrambling to meet any consistent publishing schedule (the TV-adaptation idea was eventually dropped when Paramount closed its New York office).

Bernie Wrightson in a photo taken by Ivie at his Amsterdam Avenue apartment—and Wrightson’s 11-17-67 telegram to Larry. One photo from this visit accompanied an article about Wrightson in Monsters and Heroes #3, showing Ivie’s support for other young artists. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

Throughout, the artwork displays Larry’s characteristically solid design sense, which is at its best in those scenes depicting Altron Boy in flight. The figure work here is graceful, and the rendering lines on the boy’s tunic work in unison to emphasize the overall motion of the action. These moments capture the magical dream of flight and hold the suggestion that, to Larry, flight was a metaphor for youth itself, with all its vitality and capacity for wonder. The quality of the feature began to decline in later chapters. Larry decided, somewhat foolishly perhaps, that it was necessary to print three installments in M+H in issue #2. Shortly after the first issue appeared on the stands, Paramount Pictures contacted Larry, expressing interest in adapting Altron Boy to TV (see Scary

From the start, Monsters and Heroes was intended as a showcase for the work of promising new talent. This might have been the most exciting feature for a segment of its readership that aspired to be professional artists. It held the chance that one’s work might be chosen for print and therefore receive a far larger audience than any fanzine could hope to offer. With the second issue, Larry introduced his readers to the work of Jeff Jones (later to be known as Catherine Jeffrey Jones), and in the third, to that of Bernie Wrightson. Though both had been in print many times before, neither had yet received nation-wide exposure. Both of these young artists made contact with Larry at the same point in their lives. As letters in his files reveal, each was wrestling with the question of whether or not he should risk a move to New York City and seriously pursue a professional career. Both received strong encouragement and used Larry’s apartment as a crash pad while they established themselves in the city. Few professionals find the time or have the inclination for more than a cursory exchange with fans through the post. But the fact that M+H was actively seeking submissions opened a floodgate of mail, and Larry read it all. Though many letters simply expressed their opinions on the magazine, others were filled with drawings by readers who sought Larry’s advice and criticism.

B.B. Sams A fairly recent photo. Sams has gone on to a distinguished career as a commercial illustrator and cartoonist, based in Atlanta, Georgia. [Art © B.B. Sams.]

Gene Day Another friend of Larry’s, who went on to a long run on Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu. [Art © Estate of Gene Day.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

ALTRON BOY Forever! [All art & story on these two pages © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The cover of a proposed Altron Boy Annual.

(Above & bottom right:) A pair of never-published “Altron Boy” pages, intended for future issues of Monsters and Heroes, which ended with issue #7 (May 1970).

By saving most—if not all—of these correspondences, he was (inadvertently, perhaps) compiling a fascinating record of the influences on and artistic abilities of teenage comic fans of the late 1960s and ’70s. To those who chose to accept Larry’s guidance, he gave the same initial assignment: to draw a front view of a standing male nude, no reference allowed. This is a surprisingly difficult challenge for beginner and experienced anatomist alike. It decreases the possibility of relying on familiar figure positions to disguise a lack of knowledge and makes evident which aspects of anatomy need attention. From there, he would tailor his instructions to the individual. The impact Larry’s interest and generosity had on these young fans should not be considered lightly. Though Marvel Comics had brought the medium back from the brink of cultural irrelevancy, those seeking to enter the field in the ’60s rarely got support from their family, schools, or communities, especially if they were living in small towns far from cultural centers. Comics

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Another unpublished “Altron Boy” page—and a Photostat of that page in its penciled stage. These two scans were to be used in Ivie’s History of the Comic Book to illustrate how a page of comicbook art is developed—a sequence that was rarely seen by fans 40-50 years ago.

weren’t cool to the larger society, and were certainly not considered a serious career option. Not only did the time and attention Larry devoted to these individuals validate their aspirations, but Larry, an established artist, provided them with a contact to the professional world. Along with Jones and Wrightson, a number of others who contacted Larry for advice went on to highly successful careers, including Larry Hama, Ralph Reese, Frank Brunner, B.B. Samms, and Ken Barrish. One of the most prolific exchanges was maintained by Gene Day, a young Canadian artist who later rose to prominence drawing Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu, among other titles. It’s worth singling out this artist because, in his letters, you find an appreciation for Larry’s intervention that many others shared. Here’s an excerpt from one of Day’s letters, dated May 1973: I’ve written to a lot of people, Larry, in my quest to do the work I love. Some have written back and told me flatly to get lost. Some have told me I had a bit of talent but it needed too much cultivation for me to be of any use. Others said try them again sometime in the future. Of all I’ve written to, only you have been fully truthful with me. Told me the bad and the good. Been what I’ve always wished the entire editorial staffs of the world would be like. You are a friend, and a friend is a damn hard thing to come by in this

The Altron Boy Club membership card. The figure on it was Ivie’s first finished artwork of the character, and differs from the related art used for the cover of the first issue of Monsters and Heroes (see p. 62).

world of ours. Your call (regardless of what the outcome will come to be) meant more to me—well, more than I can say in words and black marks on a page. Though Larry never made a formal decision to discontinue Monsters and Heroes, he began a slow transition from New York to California in the early ’70s that made it impossible to maintain a consistent work schedule. Nevertheless, there remains unpublished a great deal of finished material for an eighth issue, an Altron Boy Club Magazine, and an Altron Boy Annual. This includes three large

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

cover paintings, two more chapters in the “Altron Boy” saga, and a lengthy article on the 1966 movie The Bible, text and layout boards completed.

world’s population with such a feeling of accomplishment. But where to go once the dream had been fulfilled? As the door to a new era opened, another one was shut. In his own words:

Part 6: The Last Days In New York/Millbrae

The first step on the moon would be the symbolic closing of the past, the first step into a world in which the territory of wonder and expectations could never have the same dimensions.

The ostensible reason for moving to the West Coast was that his extended family was aging. Larry had grown up surrounded by relatives and, true to his Mormon upbringing, felt a great loyalty towards them. His mother, widowed at an early age, was a retired school teacher attempting to care for her own elderly parents while dealing with declining health. The move, then, must have seemed the only responsible action to take. It’s only speculation, but there might have been another motivation as well. By the early ’70s, the cumulative weight of all his frustrations—failing to receive due recognition for his contributions to Warren and Tower and his role in DC’s super-hero revival, the collapse of Nostalgia Press before his book saw print— all may have led him to feel his time in New York had passed. In light of his views of the current state of the culture, the decision becomes even more significant. In his autobiographical writings, Larry describes the 1930s as the “Age of Wonder,” a time when the looming war and hard-scrabble times inspired the creation of some of the best, most enduring escapist fiction the country would ever produce. And it was those dreams of rocket ships and amazing new technology that eventually led humankind to its greatest collective achievement, the NASA moon landing. Never again, in Larry’s view, would a scientific advance unite the

In issue #7 of Monsters and Heroes, Larry published a photo of a TV screen displaying the launch of the manned rocket that would eventually be the first to reach the moon. Propped up next to the set was a painting of Altron Boy, the character he so closely identified with. The juxtaposition of the two images is a poignant suggestion that another, very personal era, was coming to an end for him. The Millbrae that Larry moved to, just a few miles south of San Francisco, was nothing more than a bedroom community when he arrived. During the day, the streets were nearly deserted, and at night, the only place you could find excitement was the local 7-11, where teenagers fed an inexhaustible stream of quarters into the store’s video games. During these years, Larry’s productivity waned. His days were now occupied by an unending list of household chores. He ran errands for his mother, grandparents, and all his assorted cousins. Under the circumstances, it’s a small miracle he found any time for his own pursuits. His illustration was largely limited to finishing existing paintings. Most likely, the effort involved in starting a new canvas, and finding the hours in the day necessary to bring it to completion, was simply too difficult now. There were simply too many other demands on his time. The one exception came with the revival of Castle of Frankenstein in 1999 by editor Dennis Druktenis. Larry did a series

“To The Moon, Alice!” (Above:) A photo taken to accompany an article Larry wrote for it about the 1969 moon landing. Seen at left is a better image of the Altron Boy painting sitting on the bookcase. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Earth-Ten! Sometime in the early 1970s (to judge by the first sentence of the text sheet), Ivie decided to spin his own stories of the Justice Society of a parallel world he christened “Earth Ten,” to differentiate it from the “Earth-Two,” etc., of DC’s “JLA-JSA” crossovers. But it’s not known if he got any further with this project than this single drawing and sheet. [JSA TM & © DC Comics; other art & text © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

of covers, issues #26 through #34, focusing once more on the classic monsters of the early horror films. Though he set an interesting limitation for himself—that all the covers should have a central symmetry—he never invested himself in these paintings to the degree he did his earlier color work. To save time, he worked small, using whatever medium was at hand, and always rushed horribly as the deadline approached. He often sent in poorly reproduced color copies made at the local FedEx, so as to ensure the originals would not be lost or misplaced. As the years passed in Millbrae, Larry increasingly turned his creative energy towards writing. He was still being sought out by researchers and fanzine editors for his expertise, and produced articles about his involvement in comics for Scary Monsters, Alter Ego, and Comic Book Artist. But mostly, his efforts were being directed to an epic project that he came to call The Hero Sagas. Two great moments of American cinema belong to Citizen Kane: the scene at the beginning of the movie where Kane whispers his dying word, “Rosebud,” and the final scene where we learn (spoiler alert!) that “Rosebud” was the name of the sled he had cherished as a child. “Rosebud” has ever after come to be associated with a man’s desire to reconnect with the joy and innocence of his childhood.

Larry Ivie In The 21st Century One of several covers Larry painted for the 1999-revived Castle of Frankenstein—among his last published work. This one was for issue #29, in the volume that had picked up the numbering with #26. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

A Hero Saga Sandwich Ivie’s Hero Saga binders include many of his own sketches, such as these layouts for covers of a Sherlock Holmes Notebook and what would’ve been the first-ever Lone Ranger/Green Hornet crossover. [Layout art © Estate of Larry Ivie; Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, & Sherlock Holmes TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

It can’t be said of Larry that his lifelong devotion to the fictional characters he loved as child was a desire to reconnect with that time in his life, since, in truth, he never lost that connection. His motivation in dedicating so much of himself to these characters was to prevent—as he saw it—their erosion and perversion within the society’s collective awareness. Evidence of this can be seen in the way he preserved his comics even as a kid in Utah, in his proposal to revive the Golden Age super-heroes at DC, in the content of Monsters and Heroes, and in producing his ill-fated history of the comics. And finally, in his Saga books. There were six fictional heroes of popular culture that Larry found to be of particular importance: Superman, Batman, Robin Hood, The Lone Ranger, Tarzan, and Sherlock Holmes. It’s clear from this list that, for all that he was identified with the comics field, his affiliation was primarily with the characters themselves. For Larry, it was a measure of their cultural relevancy that they all had found life in a variety of media—radio, film, novels, TV, comicbooks, and comic strips. And in their conception he perceived archetypal stories that helped guide young people, even if on an unconscious level, in their intellectual and ethical development. In essence (and long before most others “got there”), Larry recognized that their adventures formed a modern mythology. And, like the ancient tales of monsters and heroes, they could take root in a culture’s collective imagination and help shape the destiny of a generation, if presented properly. Each of these six characters was to receive a book that examined his history and his treatment by different artists in

different media. In a letter written to Jerry Robinson (a central figure in the development of the “Batman” comicbooks), dated July 28, 2004, Larry states his intentions: I’ve been working on a set of books—one on each of the saga characters destined to survive the generations (Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan)—that have been heading off track due to lack of a guide book for producers of movies, TV, comics—providing information on what has been going wrong and what needs to be known to do things right. The last 3 or 4 TV Robin Hood series have rested on a foundation of magic. But the historic uniqueness of the Robin Hood saga was that it was the first (unlike King Arthur) to not include magic! To keep current with these characters, he continued to buy the comics and paperback novels they appeared in, even when he found no particular joy in doing so. Too often, as he saw it, the current storyline and artwork would be wanting in quality and integrity. He watched their TV and movie incarnations as well, usually with equal disappointment. With a slightly less critical attitude, he sought out the toys and other products that bore their names. None of his projected six books in the Hero Saga was ever completed. It was a wildly over-ambitious endeavor for one man to undertake. He established no end date for the histories he was

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Pop Culture Colossi Two pages of notes from the Hero Saga binders, illustrating the detailed information Larry was compiling for his histories of the great heroes of popular fiction. [Silver TM & © Lone Ranger Television, Inc., or successors in interest; Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

chronicling, which meant he was constantly updating the material. He was, in essence, trying to write the heroes’ history while it was still in progress. What remains of the undertaking in the wake of his death is nevertheless awe-inspiring. He compiled his research notes into black three-ring binders that bulged with written texts, clippings, and Photostats. With each new artifact acquired from an online auction or at an antique dealer’s market, a new Polaroid of the item would be included. Radio and cereal premiums from the ’30s and ’40s were bought and information on the items carefully compiled. Larry’s mastery of the most minute aspect of the characters’ histories reveals an amazing intellectual capacity to store and process information (especially in light of the fact that he had an almost equal depth of knowledge of many other characters such as Captain Marvel, Captain Midnight, The Sub-Mariner, The Green Hornet, Zorro, Flash Gordon, and even Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck). At a certain point, a connoisseur’s motivation for acquiring ever more items for his or hers respective collections can devolve from true love of the material to an obsession with completion or pride of ownership. Larry never suffered that fate. Virtually every item in his library shows evidence of being read. Most of his Big Little Books (numbering around 200) are filled with slips of paper bookmarking passages relevant to his research. Dozens of Shadow paperbacks are underlined and annotated. He even sought out and amassed a collection of more obscure items such as Superman-Tim cards and early promotional publications, in order to integrate those stories into the grand continuity of his chosen subjects.

Somewhere along the line, the research and the accumulation of materials for his Saga books might have become an end unto itself. Though he never lost faith in the importance of his work, his advancing years began to isolate him from a world changing rapidly around him. These characters he researched—characters who had filled his childhood with such immense pleasure—might have been his solace, a shelter against a time growing ever more complex and unfamiliar. A picture of this period in Larry’s life wouldn’t be complete without a brief mention of another set of books he ventured to write. On the shelves groaning under the weight of the Saga binders.... were even more binders. (One might imagine that he single-handedly kept Millbrae’s Office Depot afloat with his purchases of three-ring binders and protective plastic sleeves.) Like the Saga books, these were crammed with notes, clippings, and illustrations, but the subject matter ranged widely, from comparative religion to cosmology to human sexual development, a reflection of his own eclectic interests. These, too, were intended for print. The desire here seemed to be to tackle topics that were complex and sometimes contentious and present them in a straightforward, simplified manner, easily digestible to a general audience. And, like the Saga books, none was ever completed. Larry had trouble being realistic about his limitations. He savored the research and the planning, but in his later years, he found it hard to discipline himself to bring any of his various projects to completion. Yet the volume and breadth of these labors give proof to an active, fertile mind, well into his seventies.

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

“Rosebud!” (Top left & right:) In Orson Welles’ 1941 film classic Citizen Kane, the sled “Rosebud” (here seen burning in the movie’s denouement) was revealed to be the key to understanding Charles Foster Kane. It’s unlikely that Larry Ivie’s life could be reduced to one childhood prop, such as his Radio Cruiser in this vintage photo of him; but he retained an interest in, among many other things, the artifacts of several “Captains Courageous,” as seen below: Toys (Captain Marvel), promotional booklets (Captain Midnight and Jack Armstrong), and working prototypes for radio/TV premiums (Captain Video), often bought at auction as research material. [Captain Marvel TM & © DC Comics; other material TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Citizen Kane screen capture TM & © RKO or successors in interest.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Still More Memorabilia collected by Larry for his library/archive. Superman Tim was a promotional “minicomic” from 1947 (children’s activity books containing specially-done “Superman” comics stories). Also seen are a Superman greeting card… half a sheet of Lone Ranger trading cards… and a Batman “assemble it yourself” cardboard model… all from the ’40s. In recent years, comics creator Chris Ware has expressed his own love for this type of item by crafting ones of his own in his Acme Novelty Library for Fantagraphics. [Superman & Batman TM & © DC Comics; Lone Ranger TM & © Lone Ranger Television, Inc., or successors in interest.]

The one on which he lavished the most time and effort is worth special mention—a practical guide to teaching artistic anatomy. It’s a subject he had studied most of his adult life, from his student days at Hogarth’s school onward. Other anatomy books on the market impressed him as being flawed—single pages too crammed with information for a would-be artist to easily assimilate. The page designs struck him as uninspiring. He would correct for those mistakes. And in doing so, he found a novel way to pull younger readers into a subject that was often presented in a dry manner using complicated diagrams and taxonomy. Sensing that an adventure story would hold more appeal for his intended audience than a textbook, he created a fictional scenario centering around three youngsters who came to be stranded on a deserted island. [See opposite page.] The trio are marooned on their way to a school abroad to study drawing. Their needs being met by a bountiful island, they decide to get a head start on their studies of anatomy. With no resources at hand other than pencil and paper, they

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

Ivie’s Anatomy Larry “gave back” by giving this school talk, almost certainly during his Millbrae, CA, days. But a far greater passion was his projected book on artistic anatomy, from which we’ve repro’d the planned cover, a mockup for an interior page—and a page-in-progress from his planned boys’-adventure story that was designed to promote the study of anatomy. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Gorilla Theatre (Above, left to right:) Among the many valuable items Larry collected and preserved were more than two dozen Fiction House comicbook cover sketches, most of them probably executed by Joe Doolin, not all of which had resulted in published covers. Mitch Maglio’s priceless (but inexpensive) new hardcover tome Fiction House: From Pulps to Panels, from Jungle to Space, from Yoe Books and IDW, features the majority of those sketches… but here’s one that isn’t included therein but became the basis of the cover of Jungle Comics #75 (March 1946), seen at right. Courtesy of Sandy Plunkett, who has custody of the sketches. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Night Of The Bat Although tracking down a particular story that Larry Ivie may have scripted directly for DC Comics has thus far proven impossible, he did work on Batman material in the aftermath of the runaway success of the 1966-debuting Batman TV series, including scripting Batman mini-comics for inclusion as giveaways in packages of Pop-Tarts… and Batman trading (or “bubble gum”) cards for Topps Chewing Gum. [TM & © DC Comics.]

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

make observations about their own bodies and thus learn the basics of proportions and muscle and skeletal structure. It was an ingenious approach, one that encouraged both a physical and mental involvement. The pages in progress are impressive. Had he finished the book as intended, there’s a good chance it would have found a ready market. Larry’s last days were not happy ones. With his mother’s death in 2005, he had outlived all his relatives but one. He had to accept the death of many long-time friends as well. Not through neglect so much as by an inability to maintain current contact information, he slowly lost touch with most of those with whom he had corresponded. It seemed that, for many years, whenever his name came up in conversation, the question would inevitably be asked, “Whatever happened to Larry Ivie?” In 2011, he was removed from his home in Millbrae and placed in a group facility. Without access to the books and other material he needed to continue his writing, and without the daily challenge of caring for himself, he deteriorated rapidly. In January of 2014, at the age of 78, he died, peacefully and without pain, of lung cancer in a hospital in Redwood City, California.

Part 7: An Appreciation Who’s to know whether Larry’s relatively modest professional success was due to a lack of talent, an inconsistent work ethic, or whether it was due to his refusal to capitulate to the demands of editors, publishers, and other authority figures? At its best, his artwork was beautiful and evocative, creating a rich, dreamlike ambiance, but only occasionally did it achieve a professional polish. We’ve come to regard the term “amateur” as an unfavorable epithet, but it bears remembering that the Latin root of the word means “for the love of it.” Even those paintings and illustrations of Larry’s that lack cohesion or are not fully realized express a purity of intent often lacking in technically more proficient work. It’s a dirty little secret in comics that many gifted artists of Larry’s generation (and of the

All-Star Squabbling Roy Thomas adds: “I don’t recall having much contact wth Larry after the late 1960s or so until the turn of this century, when he wrote a couple of articles for Alter Ego. So I was surprised when Sandy Plunkett sent me this handwritten page from Larry’s scrapbooks, which could’ve been composed no earlier than the turn of 1987, when All-Star Squadron #67 (shown) went on sale. Larry basically treats ‘my’ 1980s DC series as a footnote to 1942’s All-Star Comics #10, the first post-Pearl Harbor issue. Which is more or less what I intended… except that he called for non-JSAers like Liberty Belle and Robotman to be replaced in the artwork by JSA members. Actually, he and I were coming at the same situation from converging directions… except that, because I’d stuck it out in pro comics, I was lucky enough to see my permutations of DC’s characters in print, while Larry’s often-fine ideas for them didn’t go any further than his notebooks— except when he probably influenced (subconsciously?) Julie Schwartz to change the Justice Society into the Justice League.” [Comic cover TM & © DC Comics; text © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

one that preceded it) spent the majority of their days hacking out pages, having lost the joy the work brought them when they first entered the business. Except for the work Larry was forced to rush, he never suffered that fate. He followed his heart. Most of the material he wrote and drew as an adult meant as much to him then as did the homemade comics he had stapled together as a boy in Salt Lake City. His infectious enthusiasm did not win everyone over. As his initial encounter with editors at DC suggests, he often presented to the world an unpalatable combination of innocence and arrogance. He was so certain of the worth of his own opinions that he had trouble accepting the views of others. In the articles he wrote later in life for Alter Ego, Comic Book Artist, and Scary Monsters, detailing his early involvement with comics publishing, he seemed to inflate his own importance and to offer verbatim quotes from decades earlier that often struck the reader more like self-serving invention than reportage. But the dominant memories of many who knew Larry in his days living in New York are of a man of remarkable generosity and kindness. Of someone eager to share the wonders of his world with whoever had the imagination to travel there with him. And of someone who sought out the best in those who came to him looking

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Monsters, Heroes, & Androids Larry Ivie, flanked by two of his professional high points, not counting his pair of Marvel stories: (Left) A page from the “Noman” origin he scripted for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (Nov. 1965); art by Reed Crandall. It’s not known if the initial idea for the hero was Ivie’s, Wally Wood’s, or someone else’s—but it was a good one: a man whose consciousness can flit in an instant from one android body to another identical one, making him virtually unkillable. Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © John Carbonaro.] (Left:) Larry’s cover for Monsters and Heroes #1 (1967), the first issue of the ambitious comics-text-and-photo magazine he conceived and guided from first to last. [© Estate of Larry Ivie.]

for guidance and who tried to nurture their strengths and talents. There was something of Don Quixote in the man—not that he tilted at imaginary dragons, but rather in his inability to accept the prevailing values and cultural assumptions of his time. Eventually, this made him seem like an eccentric to some—an outsider. But it may be worth considering that some fault might lie in a society that had entered a post-Vietnam War age of disenchantment, an era when idealism gave way to coarser and more material aspirations. He was uncompromising in his vision and never lost faith in the significance of his self-appointed mission. The heroes he’d grown up with—The Lone Ranger, Tarzan, Superman, and the rest—all were products of a time when society could still believe in unblemished virtue. These immortal figures served not only to entertain but to inspire belief in values such as courage, loyalty, and selflessness. Larry Ivie led his life as true to his own governing principles as did any of the fictional characters that influenced his life so profoundly.

Charles Alexander Plunkett (aka “Sandy”) was born in 1955 and grew up in New York City. While still in high school, he was introduced to Larry Ivie, and though Ivie moved to California only two years later, he served a pivotal role as friend and teacher, helping Plunkett embark on a career in comics and commercial art by the age of 18. Plunkett’s output in the comics field has always been sparse, but some aging fans remember him for the various covers, inventory stories, and special projects he completed for Marvel Comics and other publishers in the 1980s and ’90s, working as a penciler, inker, writer, and colorist. In a last-ditch effort to restore his mental health, Plunkett moved to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Southeast Ohio in the early ’90s, continuing to do a mix of eclectic commercial work and the occasional comics job. In 2012, Swallow Press published a collection of his art, culled from 18 years’ worth of sketchbook drawings, entitled The World of a Wayward Comic Book Artist, with a forward by Michael W. Kaluta. In 2014, the Kennedy Museum of Art in Southeast Ohio staged an extensive mid-career retrospective of his work entitled “FANTASTIC! The Comic Art of Sandy Plunkett.” He is spending his declining years at the drawing board and puttering around his vegetable garden. Alter Ego readers interested in seeing still more artwork both by Larry Ivie and from his vast collection should make the online journey to Sandy Plunkett’s “Ivie Tribute Blog.”

A Man Of Uncompromising Vision

LARRY IVIE Checklist [This checklist is adapted from the online edition of the Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999, established by Dr. Jerry G. Bails and available at www.bailsprojects.com (see ad on p. 86). The last entries to the website were made in October 2006. Names of features that appeared both in comicbooks of that title and in other magazines as well are generally not italicized in this checklist. Sandy Plunkett is the source of some of the data herein, made to bring the checklist up to date. Ivie’s work for satire magazines such as Mad, Sick, Cracked, and Wacko is unconfirmed and may be the product of humor writer Paul Laikin, since Ivie at least once used the pen name “Paul Laiken.” Key: (w) = writer; (p) = penciler; (i) = inker.] Name & Vital Stats: Larry Ivie (1936-2014) – artist, writer, editor, publisher Pen Name: Paul Laiken (not to be confused with Paul Laikin) Education: School of Visual Arts, 1957-58 (perhaps also 1959) [NOTE: It is not known if he graduated.] Print Media: (as artist:) movie ads for UPA 1958; Monster Parade 1958; Galaxy 1961; If 1961; Castle of Frankenstein 1961-64; Monsters and Heroes 1967-70; E.R. Burroughs books for Canaveral Press, early 1960s; (editor & writer) juvenile books, 1963, 1967; Castle of Frankenstein 1961-63; Monsters and Heroes 1967-70; (writer & researcher) Comic Art in America Commercial Art & Design: It has been claimed that Ivie was the co-creator of the peace sign while working on a comic for SANE, the nuclear policy organization; however, this claim has been disputed

Memories Of Krypton

Comics in Other Media: Altron Boy (w) A Superman painting by Larry Ivie. [Superman TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.] (p)(i) 1967-70; cartoons (w)(p)(i) for satire magazines (dates unknown); horror (w)(p) Comics Shop/Studio: Wally Wood (p)(i)(w) c. 1965 (i) in Monsters and Heroes 1969; “Legends of Creation” (w)(p)(i) in Monsters and Heroes 1969; Satyr Comics (w)(p)(i) c. 1958

ERBs & Spices Larry Ivie’s love for the creations of Edgar Rice Burroughs is apparent in these two paintings he did during his New York years: a grouping of John Carter of Mars, Dejah Thoris of Helium, and Tars Tarkas of Thark— and his cover for the neverpublished Monsters and Heroes #8, which spotlighted Tarzan and Jane swinging through the African jungle. [Martian characters, Tarzan, & Jane TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; other art © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

The Story Of Larry Ivie

Believe It Or Don’t! (Left:) For the first issue of Gold Key/Western’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not (cover-dated June 1965), Larry scripted a four-page yarn that was drawn by Wally Wood. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Art Publishers: Hoohah! (w) late 1950s; article (w) in Flash Gordon graphic album 1972; Comic Book Artist (contributor) 1999 COMICBOOKS (U.S. Mainstream Publishers): Archie Comic Publications: The Shield in The Double Life of Private Strong 1959

(Above:) While there are no specific credits on the 1966 Tower paperback The Terrific Trio, which reprinted stories from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, some maintain that Larry Ivie had a hand in editing it. But if he had, you’d think the cover colors for Dynamo and Menthor would’ve matched those inside! Art officially by Wally Wood—though Dan Adkins maintained that, often in the Tower material, Wood had Adkins do the penciling, then Wood himself brought it all together with his incredible inking/embellishing skills. Thanks to Stephan Friedt. [TM & © John Carbonaro.]

King Comics: Flash Gordon (w) 1966-67 Major Magazines: Cracked (w) 1970 [NOTE: See note re Mad.]

Charlton Comics: I Love You (p) 1965; support (contributing editor) 1967; war (p)(i) 1964-65 (latter two credits are unconfirmed)

Marvel Comics: The Avengers (w) 1965; Human Torch & The Thing (w) 1965; science-fantasy (w)(i) 1958-65 (precise dates unconfirmed)

DC Comics: Batman (ghost w) c. 1965; Superman (ghost w) 1965 [NOTE: The Who’s Who also lists several humor stories written in the mid-1960s, but these are probably by the aforementioned Paul Laikin. The “Batman” and “Superman” ghosting is unconfirmed, since the precise stories are unidentified.]

Panic Publications: Panic (w) date uncertain [NOTE: See note re Mad.]

Dell Publications: various features (i) 1965 EC Comics: Mad (w) 1957-59; 1982-84; 1987/ 1989 [NOTE: This may be work by Paul Laikin.] Feature Comics: Sick (editor) 1960s, date uncertain Gilberton: various features (p)(i) 1961-62 Harvey Comics: Alarming Adventures (w) 1962-63; Blast-Off (w) 1965 [NOTE: The preceding Harvey stories consist of material actually sold c. 1958 but delayed in publication.]

Phil Hirsch: Wacko (w)(editor) 1980 [NOTE: See note re Mad.] Tower Comics: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (w)(some p)(some i) 1965; NoMan (w)(some p)(some i) 1965 [NOTE: NoMan art credit unconfirmed]; text feature (w) 1965; T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad (w) 1965; The Terrific Trio (editor) 1966 paperback reprint [NOTE: Ivie also claimed some (w)(p)(i) in 1965 on the Dynamo feature, but that is unconfirmed, as is the “editor” credit above.] Warren Publications: Creepy (w) 1964-66; Eerie (w) 1966, 1970 Western Publishing: various features (w)(perhaps some i) 1965

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My Life In Little Pieces – Part IV JOHN BROOME’s 1998 Memoir, Continued

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRO: Over the past three issues, our serialization of the Golden/Silver Age comics writer’s self-proclaimed “Offbeat Autobio” has introduced us to Broome and his wife Peggy, and—among other things—to his feelings about living (and teaching) in Japan during the last two decades of his life, which sadly ended in 1999. This time, among other things, he returns to novelist/essayist Arthur Koestler’s concept of “holons”—which were defined in Part I (in A/E #149) as “a part of an organic unit such as the human body,” which is “really composed of thousands, millions of other selves living quasi-independent lives side by side inside [it].” Our thanks to Ricky Terry Brisacque for permission to reprint this work in even smaller pieces than her late father intended—and to Brian K. Morris for retyping the small book….

John Broome John Broome, in a photo taken in Miami, Florida, in May of 1951. Thanks to Ricky Terry Brisacque.

My Flush Toilet is one household item I admire tremendously. Despite its lowly function, this modest—and so far as I know, unsung—device ﬁlls me with a sense of wonder at its utilitarian beauty coupled with the sweet mechanical perfection of its action. How cunningly a tiny private maelstrom whirls up in the bowl once I’ve activated it; how the unwanted material vanishes in a trice; and then, how the water which has also almost disappeared rises again to just the right level to plug the drain and get all ready for the next cycle. Ah, yes. I’ll confess: I’ve often wished I’d been the man to invent this superb article; if I could have done a teenieth as much for mankind I’m sure I could go to my rest content. My flush toilet, however—I mean my western-style toilet in Japan, for they are plentiful here now and it is no longer necessary to put up the printed stick-figure diagrams one used to see, showing that one should sit with one’s back to the water pipe and not facing it (which the Japanese with their peculiar penchant for doing things assways would certainly do if not corrected—see the article under “Topsy-turvydom” in Basil Chamberlain’s Japanese Things)—my particular western toilet then does have one disturbing idiosyncrasy. At least twice during the last couple of years, it has ﬂushed itself by itself and with no human hand near the mechanism. To be sure, I don’t believe in ghosts, least of all a ghost who uses my toilet, but still when you are alone in your house at night

Selected Shorts John Broome’s anecdotal 1998 “autobio” wasn’t the only time or place where that writer enjoyed dispensing tidbits of information. He, like his editor and friend Julius Schwartz, clearly relished doing so in his comics scripting as well. Witness this page from the Green Lantern episode of the “Justice Society of America” saga “The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives” in the final Golden Age issue of All-Star Comics (#57, Feb.-March 1951). For the past two-thirds of a century, ever since he first read this page, A/E’s editor has never forgotten what a “short-snorter” dollar bill is. Even today, Roy T. figures that world-traveler John Broome must’ve known whereof he spoke. Art by Frank Giacoia. Thanks to Jim Kealy for the scan. [TM & © DC Comics.]

My Life In Little Pieces—Part IV

and your toilet takes it upon itself all by itself to disgorge an overhead tankful of water sounding suddenly in the night like a roaring cascade—well, it can be an oddly disturbing experience.

Some Drip Writing With Apologies To Jackson Pollock: —

to wake up during the night. This seems additional evidence of holon power. It is at night during sleep that the will, master of the holons, is at its weakest, allowing them more self-assertive leeway. Later, even though the heels may be abused by much walking or playing ping-pong (the sport of my old age), they may not hurt at all. Conclusion: Pain of one sort at least is a protest by a holon, and the protest will be most vigorous when the will is at its lowest ebb as just after sleep.

There is a striking affinity between the Japanese and their precious cameras: both are small, compact, and almost always work. Question: Can the skin of the heel be a If, as J.B. Priestley pointed out, music, even holon? Can a portion of skin anywhere act as ordinary music, is much too good for us a holon? earth-grubbing humans, then surely Antonio Il Prete Rosso Vivaldi’s music, such as his Gloria, is too Answer: Any group of contiguous The Italian phrase above, which translates as good even for God’s holy archangels... cells can act co-operatively in temporary “The Red Priest,” was often used to refer to and in addition, six hundred concertos (11 partnership as a holon (the cooperative Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)— of them copied out by J.S. Bach himself— capacity of cells is seen in its ultimate obviously a favorite of Broome’s, even over J.S. some say that Bach only really became manifestation in the human brain). Bach himself! Bach after absorbing those concertos— who despite his sublime mastery of the Question: Can the murky depths of art could not overshadow the Venetian in the expression of pure man’s mind be illuminated by the holon theory? and transcendental musical joy, a category where Vivaldi reigns Answer: Memory, for example, can be considered a mental supreme and without compeer): a seemingly endless succession holon. of operas, sonatas, sinfonias, cantatas, serenatas, and sacred and secular vocal works. Year after year, the russet-haired priest called il Question: Is there any connection between memory and pain? Prete Rosso sat in his quarters in the Ospedale della Pieta ﬁngering his rosary with one hand and writing his deathless harmonies with Answer: Read on. the other. What an outpouring! What a blazing, burning, lifelong In the next segment of his autobiography, John Broome Vesuvius of spiritual, of unearthly fireworks! presents an essay on “A Trick of Memory.”

Holons Again Holons teach us we are not of a piece but composite, built up like a coral reef of thousands, millions of living, sentient intelligent parts: and further that these parts can only be held together successfully by the will. Playwright Clifford Odets said: “After forty, you either integrate or disintegrate.” In other words, you’ve got until forty to get your holons in line. ln this connection, something written by the author long ago, before reading Koestler: “Man is both horse and rider: the question is which is to be master, that’s all.” Is the Holon an idea whose time has come? In a magazine interview (Autumn 1984), physician-essayist Lewis Thomas describes a hospital check-up in which, by means of a modern contrivance, he was able to view the interior action of his knee joint and watch the medical dye leaking from a malformed vessel in his intestines. “l ended up,” writes Dr. Thomas, “with a peculiar feeling that I’m not really in charge” (italics J.B.). And he continues: “It wasn’t as if it were another body—but the operation of my own organs and tissues is being carried out by some part of my system which l understand even less now that I’ve had a chance to look at it than I did before. Kind of a mystifying experience….” Recently in my seventies, I have been troubled by painful tenderness of the skin on both heels. Vaseline applied religiously does help. But I have noticed an odd thing: the pain is most annoying immediately on awaking in the morning or if I happen

NEW FOR 2018! JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST: CENTENNIAL EDITION

This final, fully-updated, definitive edition clocks in at DOUBLE the length of the 2008 “Gold Edition”, in a new 256-page LTD. EDITION HARDCOVER (only 1000 copies) listing every release up to Jack’s 100th birthday! Detailed listings of all of Kirby’s published work, reprints, magazines, books, foreign editions, newspaper strips, fine art and collages, fanzines, essays, interviews, portfolios, posters, radio and TV appearances, and even Jack’s unpublished work! (256-page LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $34.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-083-0 • SHIPS APRIL 2018!

KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #75)

This first-of-its-kind examination of the creators of the Marvel Universe looks back at their own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and television interviews, to paint a picture of JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s relationship—why it succeeded, where it deteriorated, and when it eventually failed. Also here are recollections from STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD, JOHN ROMITA SR., and more Marvel Bullpen stalwarts who worked with both Kirby and Lee. Rounding out this book is a study of the duo’s careers after they parted ways as collaborators, including Kirby’s difficulties at Marvel Comics in the 1970s, his last hurrah with Lee on the Silver Surfer Graphic Novel, and his exhausting battle to get back his original art—and creator credit—from Marvel. STUF’ SAID gives both men their say, compares their recollections, and tackles the question, “Who really created the Marvel Comics Universe?”. (160-page trade paperback) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-086-1 • SHIPS FALL 2018!

COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION

AN ORAL HISTORY OF DC COMICS CIRCA 1978

Things looked bleak for comic books throughout the 1970s because of plummeting sell-through rates. With each passing year, the newsstand became less and less interested in selling comic books. The industry seemed locked in a death spiral, but the Powers That Be at DC Comics had an idea to reverse their fortunes. In 1978, they implemented a bold initiative: Provide readers with more story pages by increasing the pricepoint of a regular comic book to make it comparable to other magazines sold on newsstands. Billed as “THE DC EXPLOSION,” this expansion saw the introduction of numerous creative new titles. But mere weeks after its launch, DC’s parent company pulled the plug, demanding a drastic decrease in the number of comic books they published, and leaving stacks of completed comic book stories unpublished. The series of massive cutbacks and cancellations quickly became known as “THE DC IMPLOSION.” TwoMorrows Publishing marks the 40th Anniversary of one of the most notorious events in comics with an exhaustive oral history from the creators and executives involved (JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, and AL MILGROM, among many others), as well as detailed analysis and commentary by other top professionals, who were “just fans” in 1978 (MARK WAID, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, TOM BREVOORT, and more)—examining how it changed the landscape of comics forever! By KEITH DALLAS and JOHN WELLS. (136-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 • (Digital Edition) $10.95 • SHIPS SUMMER 2018! ISBN: 978-1-60549-085-4

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: The 1990s

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: THE 1990s is a year-by-year account of the comic book industry during the Bill Clinton years. This full-color hardcover documents the comic book industry’s most significant publications, most notable creators, and most impactful trends from that decade. Written by KEITH DALLAS and JASON SACKS. (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $44.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.95 • SHIPS FALL 2018! ISBN: 978-1-60549-084-7

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

All characters TM & © their respective owners.

THE 1990s was the decade when Marvel Comics sold 8.1 million copies of an issue of the X-MEN, saw its superstar creators form their own company, cloned SPIDER-MAN, and went bankrupt. The 1990s was when SUPERMAN died, BATMAN had his back broken, and the runaway success of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to DC Comics’ VERTIGO line of adult comic books. It was the decade of gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers. But most of all, the 1990s was the decade when companies like IMAGE, VALIANT and MALIBU published million-selling comic books before the industry experienced a shocking and rapid collapse.

what must I do

(Above left:) Fox’s My Desire Intimate Confessions #4 (April 1950). Artist uncertain. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(Above right:) Charlton’s True Life Secrets #23 (Nov.-Dec. 1954). [© the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

The Supremely Sleazy, Suggestive Victor Fox Comics!

by Michael T. Gilbert

leazy” and “suggestive” sells. That about sums up Victor Fox’s publishing philosophy. Fox, who may (or may not) have been a former DC Comics bookkeeper, produced some of the most notorious comics of the ’40s and ’50s. Fox’s jungle comics were populated with erotic “jungle empresses” like Zegra and Tegra, while Crimes by Women (one of Fox’s most popular crime comics) mixed gals and gats in copious quantities. Similarly, Fox’s romance titles promised cheap thrills—and usually delivered! Other publishers might be content to print namby-pamby stories about high school cuties pining over dim-witted football stars, but Victor Fox had other ideas. He was selling sex.

My Life! Take Fox’s My Life cover on the right. Does anyone imagine that luscious babe in the sheer negligee would give that fop the time of day if he weren’t dangling gobs of bling? I mean, the guy’s wearing spats, f’gosh sakes! The My Love Secret cover is even more explicit. “These could be yours,” says the suave slob as he tempts her with diamonds and pearl necklaces. Meanwhile, the gal on the cover of My Love Affair doesn’t wait for an invite. She’s very clear about what her “favors” cost. “That’s what I want!” she says, eyeing what appears to be a squirrel stole that sports a hefty $1,392 price tag. The gal’s “John” doesn’t look too happy about it, but when it comes to lurid love comics, it was usually “pay to play” at Fox.

My Life… And Welcome To It! (Clockwise from top:) My Life #5 (Nov. 1948)… My Love Affair #3 (Nov. 1949)… and My Love Secret #29 (April 1950). Artists uncertain, to say the least. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Supremely Sleazy, Suggestive Victor Fox Comics!

My Desire! Cheating spouses were also a Fox staple. The My Desire cover on the left depicts a loving couple sharing a romantic dinner. Ah, but in Victor Fox’s world appearances are not always what they seem. A closer look shows her passing a note to some unseen lover-boy under the table. The conniving vixen’s note says, “Call me at 8 o’clock!” Well! A cover for My Experience has a similar theme. A girl’s beau storms out the door, saying, “Another headache…?! I’ll go alone!” I’m guessing this isn’t the first time she’s used the ol’ “headache” excuse. But a closer look shows her holding a note that says, “Darling, meet me at the usual place. Love, Fred.” Apparently Fred’s the only one getting any action in this little sordid triangle! Of course, true cheating never runs smooth, as we see in My Love Life, when the boyfriend discovers one of those indiscreet notes. “Explain this if you can!” he sneers. Jeez, buddy, do we have to spell it out for you? C-H-E-A-T-E-R-!

Your Cheating Hearts! (Counter-clockwise from top:) My Desire #31 (Oct. 1949)… My Experience #19 (Sept. 1949)… and My Love Life #6 (June 1949). Artists unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

My Great Love! Next, we have this classic My Great Love cover with a two-faced Jezebel who’s been making time with a slick operator behind hubby’s back. The clever lad opines, “He’ll never guess,” but the lipstick smudges on his mug suggest otherwise. I’m guessing we’ll see him cold-cocked on the floor in the next panel. What was that idiot thinking? And let’s not forget this unforgettable My Past cover. “No… I could never love you,” says the peroxide blonde. This elicits no response from her heroin-addicted beau. (The vacant eyes are a dead giveaway!) As for Ms. Peroxide, she reminds me of a blowsy, past-her-prime Anna Nicole Smith. Heck, and don’t you love that classy “June 7” tramp-stamp near her shoulder? And let’s not even talk about the weird Women in Love cover below. What the heck is she even holding? A bomb? A football? “I’ll be waiting!” she exclaims breathlessly. For what? Halftime? Sick! Don’t expect the stories inside these comics to shed light on any questions concerning the covers. More often than not, they had nothing to do with the material inside. Just make up your own story, readers. I’m sure it’ll be better than theirs….

Strange Love! (Clockwise from top): My Great Love #1 (Oct. 1949)… Women in Love #3 (Dec. 1949)… and My Past #7 (Aug 1949). Artists uncertain. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The Supremely Sleazy, Suggestive Victor Fox Comics!

My Secret Affair! And how about this great My Secret Affair cover? Nothing says “romance” like a hooker in a tight sweater with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. At least not in Victor Fox’s world. Meanwhile, My Life continues Fox’s stroll down the darker side streets of love comics. “I’ll never leave you alone…Never!” says the lovesick swain. Man, some guys never get the hint. The chap on the My Experience cover is similarly clueless. “What are you afraid of?” he asks. “You, buddy!” might be her reply. Check out her body language, pal. She’s just not that into you. The sleaziness is also reflected in the story titles. What reader could resist being seduced by “I Put a Price Tag on Love,” “My Love Was for Sale,” “Unfaithful Wife,” “I Loved a Weakling,” “I Sunk to the Depths,” “I Asked for Trouble,” “I Was a Flirt,” “I Was a Brazen Cheat,” “I Was a Slave to Love,” or “I Stopped at Nothing”? And then there were the Fox romance titles themselves, almost all of which were branded with the word “My.” These included My Confession, My Desire, My Experience, My Great Love, My Intimate Affair, My Life, My Love Affair, My Love Life, My Love Memoirs, My Love Secret, My Love Story, My Past, My Private Life, My Secret Affair, My Secret Life, My Secret Romance, My Secret Story, My Story, and My True Love. My oh my oh my!!

Affairs Of The Heart! (Clockwise from top:) My Secret Affair #2 (1950)… My Experience #22 (March 1950)… and My Life #12 (Jan. 1950). Artists uncertain. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

My Hero! It should be pointed out that Victor Fox didn’t publish just love comics. He got into the comic biz in the late 1930s pushing cheap Superman knock-offs like “Wonder Man” and “The Blue Beetle.” He continued doing so through the early ‘50s, adding crime, love, jungle, and Western comics to the mix. Critics like Fredric Wertham made a point to point the finger at Fox’s lurid comic line, and it’s easy to see why.

The Kind Men Like! Jack Kamen is credited with this provocative Phantom Lady #23 cover, from April 1949, although it’s sometimes (probably mistakenly) counted as being by the fabled Matt Baker. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The scantily clad Phantom Lady “headlight” cover (and others like it) perked the interest of generations of horny teens. And then there’s the gruesome Jack Kamen Blue Beetle cover below. Take away the Beetle and this cover could easily be mistaken for one of Kamen’s horrific Crime SuspenStories covers for EC. As a matter of fact, a little Photoshop magic proves my point, as seen in the pic below. In this case, removing the hero actually improves the cover!

And, In Conclusion… Victor Fox’s comics were generally considered the bottom of the barrel. His rates were low, and even then he was known to stiff his artists. Fox Features’ love comics had some truly awful interior art, but they could also boast of early work by EC greats Wally Wood, Al Feldstein, and Jack Kamen. And love ‘em or hate ‘em, no one can deny that Victor Fox published some of the most unforgettable covers of the Golden Age. And we’re certainly grateful for that! ‘Till next time…

Twice-Told Kamen! Jack Kamen drew the cover to Fox’s Blue Beetle #49 (Oct. 1947), years before illustrating classic covers for EC’s Crime SuspenStories. But Michael T.’s imaginary Crime SuspenStories cover at right proves he had the chops even then! Except for a bit of empty space on the left side of the cover, there’d have been nothing to stop Kamen’s 1947 illo from fitting right into the EC Comics mold! [Cover at left © the respective copyright holders; Crime SuspenStories masthead, including EC bullet TM & © 2017 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

Comic Fandom Archive

Sense of Wonder –Times Two! Two Books For The Price Of One by Bill Schelly

wenty years ago, Alter Ego magazine made its surprising return from fanzine limbo. Thanks to Roy Thomas, John Morrow, and Jon B. Cooke, with an assist from yours truly, the premier publication of early comics fandom began its new life as the flip side of Comic Book Artist magazine (#1, Spring 1998). And since Joe Kubert was a favorite artist of both Roy and myself, it was appropriate that our “flip” cover featured Joe’s version of Hawkman. The response was phenomenal, and led to A/E becoming an independent magazine of its own, a year later. A lot has happened in the past 20 years. What were you doing in May of 1998? Oh, that’s right, you were getting your first glimpse of Comic Book Artist, TwoMorrows Publishing’s first new magazine after its ground-breaking The Jack Kirby Collector had established the reputations of John and Pam Morrow in fandom.

Bill Schelly

My associate editor role in the new A/E was more or with both editions of his Sense of Wonder less a result of co-editing, with Roy, the Hamster Press book book. The new tome, now out, includes the Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Fanzine (1997), which (slightly revised) text of the original 2000 reprinted many of the best features from the fanzine’s work, plus a brand new sequel of equal original eleven issues (from 1961–1978). It was the third length, bringing the memoir up to date. [DC book published by my fledgling publishing company, heroes TM & © DC Comics.] which, by any measure, was an exercise in self-publishing. I’d returned to fandom in 1990 after gafiating (gafia: getting Marshall Lanz (himself an away from it all, a term from science-fiction fandom) in 1974. The ama-pubber), right up to A/E collection and The Golden Age of Comic Fandom became my best attending the 1973 New York sellers, although I would publish another seven or so. Comic Art Convention after graduating from college. The book ended shortly after that, Lo! There Shall Be A Memoir! when I was on the road to Seattle to “find my destiny.” Once ensconced in the TwoMorrows Publishing fold, my (Somehow, I always hear Maurice Evans mouthing those words, Comic Fandom Archive articles generated enough interest that I though I’m no Charlton Heston.) felt there would be a sizable audience for a personal memoir. It In 1974, I had no idea what the future held. But now, some 44 would tell the story of my original days during comic fandom’s year later, I do know what came next. I know how I left fandom sensational ’60s and early 1970s. It came to be called Sense of Wonder: to deal with “real life” issues such as finding a career, paying the A Life in Comic Fandom (2000), and sold surprisingly well. As Roy rent, and trying to become a professional writer of books. So much and others pointed out, it acted like a time machine, evoking the happened in the next decade-plus, including a brief stint as a readers’ own memories of that halcyon era. No doubt the fact that partner in a comics retail store in Seattle’s university district. it was designed and promoted by TwoMorrows and featured an introduction by the Rascally One (his “stamp of approval” of sorts), Quite a story: How I went from being “lost” in a maelstrom accounted for its healthy sales. Obviously, a large number of Alter of disappointment and frustration, to being “found” in 1990 when Ego’s readers picked up a copy. I re-discovered fandom and returned to the fold. How I began my research that led to The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, and how I You may have been one of those readers, or perhaps came worked on and wrote some 20 books from 1995 to the present day, upon a copy in the ensuing years, and know its scope: my discovery struck me as the “other half” of the story. I found my place as a of comic books in 1960—with my purchase of the Giant Superman writer, bought a house, instigated a couple of fandom reunions, had Annual #1, to be precise—followed in 1964 by my equally joyful encounters with my comics idols (from Jack Kirby to Julie Schwartz discovery of comic fandom, which by then was in near-full to Stan Lee), had children (in a rather unorthodox way), and swing. In its 50,000 or so words, the memoir recounted my days eventually won an Eisner Award in 2016 for Harvey Kurtzman: The as a fanzine publisher, my adventures with off-the-chain buddy

Comic Fandom Archive

A Not-So-Major Revelation The new book has a lot of surprises in it. There’s one in particular that warrants a The Fandom Menace little discussion, for some who don’t know me After Roy Thomas wrote the intro for The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (1995), he and Bill teamed up to personally: the not-so-major revelation that I’m co-edit Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine (1997) and to do a book-signing at that gay. I know, “big deal” in today’s world, and year’s San Diego Comic-Con with retired DC editor Julius Schwartz, who had written a brief preface for not really significant in terms of the histories, the publication. Photo by Jeff Gelb. [Book covers © the respective copyright holders.] columns, and biographies that I’ve written. But, finding this out about myself was a huge Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America. And all, deal back in my early teenage years (and even a little before that). ultimately, a result of joining fandom way back in 1964. My days in fandom were all experienced from the perspective of About two years ago, it occurred to me: I ought to write a someone who was then a social outcast in that respect. Part of the sequel to my original Sense of Wonder memoir, one that told “the reason for my plunge into fandom, apart from loving comics and whole story.” That way, I could share all the events, the humorous wanting to publish fanzines, was to escape from difficult times, anecdotes, the behind-the-scenes incidents, and a motherlode of even bullying, at school. things that I’ve never written about anywhere. It would include I hadn’t included this aspect of my life in the first edition the secret origin of each of my books, and a bit about my personal because I wasn’t ready to do so. I’ve been “out” to family and life, too. I knew it would be interesting, readable, and funny. But, friends since I was 21, but in the year 2000 I was a government would such a sequel lose a lot of its power for those readers who employee and didn’t care to have this information become common hadn’t gotten a copy of the original “part one,” which was long out knowledge. However, in writing the new book, I wanted to talk of print? about my children Jaimeson and Tara, which more or less required that I discuss the fact that I’ve never been married, and sired Two Books In One the kids with a lesbian couple. Hence, my homosexuality was something that (I felt) needed to be included. The answer became clear: For the new book to really work for everyone, I should combine the original text and the new book together under one cover. Now, after a lot of work (a labor of love, certainly), that’s exactly what’s happened—under the slightly different title Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom—The Whole Story. The text of part two, which covers 1974 to the present day, is just as long as part one, with about 100 of its own illustrations and photographs. Not only that, but part one has new material that deepens the story, and is a little more revealing about my personal life than it was in the first edition. This was done not only because I wanted this to be a more fully-dimensional portrait, but out of necessity to explain certain developments that happen in part two.

Portrait Of The Author As A Very Young Man The young Schelly family in late 1953: Joanne, Bill, Steve, and Carl… along with Bill’s third-grade school picture when he had just turned eight.

Sense Of Wonder—Times Two!

Fandom, Phase One During Bill’s time as a fanzine publisher in the 1960s, he published a little-known zine called Fantasy Forum (with a nice Plastic Man cover by Alan Hutchinson), and the much better-known Sense of Wonder (with the notorious “pink Mr. A” cover by Ditko). [Plastic Man TM © DC Comics; Mr. A TM © Steve Ditko.]

Once I decided to “go there,” I realized that I could then address what it was like to be a gay comicbook fan in the 1960s. Did I look at comicbooks differently than my straight friends? It also suggested another aspect of fandom that I could extol: its egalitarian nature. Because one of the best things about the movement as it arose in the ’60s and ’70s is that everyone was welcome. And that meant people who didn’t always fit in elsewhere, like African-Americans (Grass Green, Wayne Howard), the physically challenged (G. B. Love, Larry Herndon), and all kinds of others: shut-ins, stutterers, and, yes, gay kids. None of those things mattered a whit in fandom! We cared only about celebrating our great hobby, elevating the profile of comics as an art form, finding back issues for our collections, meeting the people who created the comics, and so on.

The Binder book did well, but obviously would have done better if not for the earlier edition. Yes, it was much improved, with some fascinating new material, but I’m sure there were some who thought, “That would be nice to have, but I already paid for and own the first edition, so I’ll stick with that.” This is perfectly understandable. However, the “new Sense of Wonder” isn’t the same book as before. That’s why I’m writing this column. I wouldn’t want any of you to pass on this new book if you have the old one on your shelf. It ain’t the same! That book was about 200 pages long; this

A “Thumbs Up” From North Atlantic Books Of course, having an idea for a book and finding a publisher are two different things. I probably would have pitched the idea to TwoMorrows, since they published the original book; but when I was musing over the idea with Philip Smith of North Atlantic Books in July 2016, he indicated his firm’s interest in it. They had just successfully published the revised edition of my Otto Binder bio (Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary), and this would be a follow-up of sorts.

Fandom Drop-Out Bill says: “My sunny smile in this 1975 photo belies my feeling of being lost without the fannish activities that sustained me as a youth.”

Comic Fandom Archive

The Son Also Rises Bill’s note re the above photo: “With my son Jaimeson in 1990, the same year I returned to fandom. These two events gave me a whole new outlook on life.” Photo: Maureen Jones.

one will be close to 400 pages. Instead of running 50,000 words, it runs 105,000 words. And, as I said, the original 50,000 words have been substantially revised. Not only is it right to give the reader both books in one edition (for the modest price of $19.95, before discounts), but the original book (of which I remain proud) just isn’t as good as the new part one.

A Long, Strange Trip To quote the Grateful Dead, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” It most certainly has. And I owe all of you a tremendous debt, because you are a member of what could be called my “core audience,” people interested in the history of fandom and the overall history of comic books. You’ve probably bought more than one of my books. With your support, I’ve been able to become the writer who I always wanted to be. In turn, I’ve been able to “pay it forward” by producing numerous books about Fandom’s Founders,

Hoohah! Twenty-five years after Bill’s return to fandom, his book Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad won a Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for Best ComicsRelated Book in 2016.

Inside Stories & Anecdotes The new Sense of Wonder recounts my encounters from 1992 to 2017 with such luminaries as George R. R. Martin, Jim Shooter, Joe Kubert (seen here is his school), and Maggie Thompson (and her late husband Don), as well as with Julius Schwartz, Roy Thomas, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, and more. Photos are by Jeff Gelb and Peter Carlsson (of me with the Kubert School sign).

Sense Of Wonder—Times Two!

It was 20 Years Ago Today (Left:) Bill Schelly (on our left) and veteran comics fan Jeff Gelb in front of the TwoMorrows banner at the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con International, when the new Comic Book Artist (with Alter Ego, Vol. 2, as its “flip side”) were launched. Photo: John Morrow. [Captain America ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc;. Batman & Hawkman ™ & © DC Comics.] (Right:) Bill at work—perhaps on yet another Eisner-winning biography?

and such comics luminaries as Otto Binder, Joe Kubert, L.B. Cole, Harvey Kurtzman, and John Stanley. Without you, that dream would not have come true. Because my “writing career” was going nowhere until I returned to fandom. And that’s what I wanted to celebrate in this new book: our long, strange journey together.

Bill Schelly’s web site is www.billschelly.net. All his books (in print) can be ordered through the site, plus there are special features, excerpts from other books, photos, images from his portfolio, and contact information for Bill.

award-winning writer bill schelly

relates how comics and fandom saved his life in this engrossing memoir that begins in the burgeoning comic fandom movement of the 1960s and follows the twists and turns of his life as a fan and writer to the present day. Along the way, you'll experience his close encounters with such legendary comic book creators as

JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, GIL KANE, JOE KUBERT, and many more. ÒFOND, FUNNY and nostalgic, like going home again.Ó ÑGEORGE R. R. MARTIN, author of Game of Thrones

ÒIntimate and heart-warming!Ó ÑPAUL LEVITZ, Executive Producer, The Dark Knight Rises

AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD APRIL 17 2018 978-1-62317-151-3 - 392 PAGES - 6 X 9 - $ 19.95

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

EISNER AWARD Winner Best Comics-Related Periodical Go to www.twomorrows.com for an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

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ALTER EGO #142

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, 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!

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

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

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ALTER EGO #145

ALTER EGO #146

ALTER EGO #147

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.

40 years after the debut of Marvel’s STAR WARS #1, its writer/editor ROY THOMAS tells RICHARD ARNDT the story behind that landmark comic, plus interviews with artists HOWARD CHAYKIN, RICK HOBERG, and BILL WRAY. Also: MR. MONSTER looks at “Jazz in Comics” with MICHAEL T. GILBERT—the finale of BILL SCHELLY’s salute to G.B. LOVE—FCA— and more! CHAYKIN cover.

DOUG MOENCH in the 1970s at Warren and Marvel (Master of Kung Fu, Planet of the Apes, Deathlok, Werewolf by Night, Morbius, Moon Knight, Ka-Zar, Weirdworld)! Art by BUSCEMA, GULACY, PLOOG, BUCKLER, ZECK, DAY, PERLIN, & HEATH! MICHAEL T. GILBERT on EC’s oddball “variant covers”—FCA—and a neverpublished Golden Age super-hero story by MARV LEVY! Cover by PAUL GULACY!

Giant-size Fawcett Collectors of America special with Golden/Silver Age writer OTTO BINDER’s personal script records and illos from his greatest series! Intros by P.C. HAMERLINCK and BILL SCHELLY, art by BECK, SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, SCHAFFENBERGER, AVISON, BORING, MOONEY, PLASTINO, and others! Plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and a C.C. BECK cover!

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

ALTER EGO #148

ALTER EGO #149

ALTER EGO #150

ALTER EGO #151

Relive JOE PETRILAK’s All-Time Classic NY Comic Book Convention—the greatest Golden & Silver Age con ever assembled! Panels, art & photos featuring INFANTINO, KUBERT, 3 SCHWARTZES, NODELL, HASEN, GIELLA, CUIDERA, BOLTINOFF, BUSCEMA, AYERS, SINNOTT, [MARIE] SEVERIN, GOULART, THOMAS, and a host of others! Plus FCA, GILBERT, SCHELLY, and RUSS RAINBOLT’s 60-ft. comics mural!

Showcases GIL KANE, with an incisive and free-wheeling interview conducted in the 1990s by DANIEL HERMAN for his 2001 book Gil Kane: The Art of the Comics—plus other surprise features centered around the artistic co-creator of the Silver Age Green Lantern and The Atom! Also: FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and BILL SCHELLY! Cover by GIL KANE, JOE GIELLA, and MARIE SEVERIN!

STAN LEE’s 95th birthday! Rare 1980s LEE interview by WILL MURRAY—GER APELDOORN on Stan’s non-Marvel writing in the 1950s—STAN LEE/ROY THOMAS e-mails of the 21st century—and more special features than you could shake Irving Forbush at! Also FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), BILL SCHELLY, and MICHAEL T. GILBERT! Colorful Marvel multi-hero cover by Big JOHN BUSCEMA!

Golden Age artist FRANK THOMAS (The Owl! The Eye! Dr. Hypno!) celebrated by Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt’s MICHAEL T. GILBERT! Plus the scintillating (and often offbeat) Golden & Silver Age super-heroes of Western Publishing’s DELL & GOLD KEY comics! Art by MANNING, DITKO, KANE, MARSH, GILL, SPIEGLE, SPRINGER, NORRIS, SANTOS, THORNE, et al.! Plus FCA, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

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Roy, The highlight of A/E #141 was the interview with Rich Buckler, one of my fave artists of the Bronze Age! (Please continue with this new policy of giving equal time to Silver and Bronze Age creators.) In particular, what caught my attention were Rich’s comments about drawing up a contract with Marvel covering ownership of Deathlok. I was under the impression that Marvel at the time was still in the work-for-hire era and was not in the habit of signing individual contracts with freelancers—let alone for new characters to remain creator-owned! Does this mean that Rich owns the rights to Deathlok as he seems to claim? If so, does he share the wealth, so to speak, for the character’s appearance in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show? If Marvel was in the habit of making room for creator-owned characters in 1974, why didn’t you for anyone else get the same treatment? Also not covered in the interview was Rich’s tenure as editor and main artist for Archie Comics’ revival of its super-hero line in the ’80s. I would have liked to learn more about that phase of Rich’s career. Didn’t even know about his work on “Rose and Thorn” and “Robin” at DC before he went to Marvel. Guess it’s back to digging through back issues at the local comics con for me! Pierre Comtois Rich’s 1980s work for the Archie group was basically outside our general franchise area, Pierre, and as you know, we try to avoid dealing with post-1974-75 work as much as possible—though we’re not slavish about it, as witness last issue’s coverage of Ted White’s 1980 editorship of Heavy Metal, which was discussed in the final chapter of a five-part interview.

’ll admit it (this is Roy speaking, of course): Despite the commendable “Justice League” and “Atom” drawings done in the late 1950s by this issue’s cover subject, artist Larry Ivie, my favorite of the several sample splash pages he produced at that time is his Shelly Moldoff-style “Hawkman” illustration—which, by coincidence, is the selfsame artwork that Shane Foley chose as the basis of his fine “maskot” art (and coloring) this time around. Seems we’re in sync again, Shane! [Alter Ego super-hero TM & © Roy & Dann Thomas; designed by Ron Harris; other art © 2018 Shane Foley.]

But a curious thing happened with regard to Alter Ego #141, the issue discussed in this “re:” section. The cover interviewee was the late great Rich Buckler, in a talk conducted two years before he died—and, despite Rich’s importance and popularity, we received relatively little mail (e- or other) about him and/or his words. However, that clearly doesn’t denote any lack of interest in Rich and his work, because, over the next year, A/E #141 proceeded to virtually sell out in terms of back issues available from TwoMorrows Publishing—much more quickly than just about any other ish in our 20-plus-year history! Surely, then, there was plenty of well-deserved enthusiasm for Rich Buckler; guess folks just didn’t feel they had a lot to add to what he told Richard Arndt. Comics historian Pierre Comtois, however, is one who did:

As for the situation re Rich’s contract on his Deathlok character and concept, I know little about it, so you’d have to ask Marvel or someone else who knows. Here’s what I recall: In 1974, not too long before I left the editor-in-chief job, Rich came to me with the project, which may originally have had the word “Cyborg” as part of the title; eventually, he came up with “Deathlok” and “Deadlok”—or else he came up with “Deadlok” and I changed it to “Deathlok,” I forget which. I did tell him that he needed to work with a writer on it, since he seemed to have no strong desire to script it himself, and I sent him to Doug Moench. Rich asked me for what amounted to a creator’s contract on the hero, and I told him that Marvel didn’t generally give those out for new characters (e.g., I hadn’t been offered one a few months earlier when I’d come up with the concept of “Iron Fist,” nor had other creators gotten such agreements, except for the underground writer/artists associated with Marvel’s few issues of Comix Book; but that was a different situation). However, I told him that he was free to broach the subject with Sol Brodsky, who then was handling various matters for Stan and for Marvel. I was surprised when I learned, quite some time later, that Rich indeed had been given a contract on “Deathlok.” I didn’t resent his getting something extra, but it did make me feel I should’ve pushed for one myself. But I didn’t, and Rich did—so he deserved whatever good fortune he got from it. And that, in a nutshell, is pretty much all I recall about the contract situation on “Deathlok.” Next, James Cassari comments on the multi-part coverage of early fanzine editor G.B. Love over the course of a number of installments of Bill Schelly’s “Comic Fandom Archive”: Roy: I cannot tell you how much I’ve enjoyed the spotlight on G.B. Love and the Rocket’s Blast-ComiCollector. I grew up in South Florida and, while I was too young to be more than a peripheral part of that scene, I attended many of the local fan gatherings put out by G.B.

re:

taken aback), Andy, Jim Van Hise, and Harvey and Cathy Flamholtz. It turned out they, too, lived in Hialeah and soon became my official transport. Cathy has since passed away, but Harvey and I have remained friends for 46 years! Despite being four years my senior, a huge gap at that point in one’s life, from the start Andy treated me like a fellow collector and fan. No one ever spoke down to any of the younger kids. In the next few years I attended many such gatherings, met Mark Burbey, Orlando Falcon, Gary Brown (who also lived in Hialeah), and more. What a welcoming experience that was! In 1971 they hosted a comic gathering in Hialeah. I met Bud Plant, Terry Stroud, Phil Seuling, and other mythical folks I’d only read about in various fanzines. At that same mini-con, a science-fiction painting of mine took second place in the art competition. Alan Hutchinson, a fine and established fan artist from (I believe) the Tampa area, deservedly took first place. If that wasn’t enough, C.C. Beck and Morris Weiss were there, the first two [pro] comic book artists I ever met. I saw original art, bought my first-ever EC (Impact #1) and some early issues of Showcase and a 1950s Fighting American! What great memories. I moved to North Carolina in 1981 to begin my career as an art teacher. I retired not quite three months ago to enjoy time to draw, paint, relax, and catch up on that enormous stack of comics and magazines waiting to be read. In that stack were several issues of Alter Ego. Reading about those early days of South Florida fandom was a thrill nearly as great as living through them. Thanks so much! James Cassari Thanks for the recounting of your time in South Florida fandom, James. Each fan has a story to tell—and most of them are definitely worth listening to. Next, these few short takes on A/E #141: Craig Delich informs us that the scripter of the “George Washington” story which was Rich Buckler’s first professional work, listed as “unknown” in the issue, was actually Raymond Marais, who had earlier scripted a few “Dr. Strange” stories for Marvel. Craig adds that the “Samar” art found on p. 41 was from Feature Comics #60, not #20 as stated.

Thing, You Sinners! Reader Jim McCaffrey sent the above scan, with this welcome note: “Thanks for the fine feature/interview with Rich Buckler in A/E #141. Rich was always at the top of my favorite Bronze Age artists. I never felt he got enough credit vs. some of the ‘hot’ artists of that era. I noticed the mention that Rich did commissions, so I decided to take the plunge and contact him for my first-ever art commission. I chose to have him re-create the cover of FOOM #5 with Ben Grimm. The results are proudly hanging in my home office.”

and company. My thanks to Bill Schelly for researching and writing about that time. So many fond memories, and I owe them all to the late Andy Warner. I saw his address in an issue of Fantastic Four and looked him up in the phone book. As I was far too shy to do so on my own, my mother encouraged me to give him a call. His mom answered, took my number, and promised me Andy would call back. Which a day or two later he did, a call that introduced me to the wonderful world of organized comic book fandom. He invited me to the next informal gathering of the SFCA. Since, at 14, I was too young to drive, my sainted mother drove me all the way down from Hialeah to South Miami, about 30 minutes each way. While there, I met G.B. (and yes, not knowing he had cerebral palsy, I was somewhat

Mike Friedrich writes that, although the photo of him on p. 15 of #141 is dated “1969-70,” it was actually taken in the late 1970s. Bernie Bubnis says he loved the two short Rafael Astarita articles by Hames Ware and David Saunders, and that “a separate interview with Hames Ware (about Hames Ware) would be super-interesting. I am so unorganized that it would be fun to read how organized someone is.” We agree, Bernie—though Jim Amash did interview Hames about his life and career back in A/E #68. Have you checked that out? Send bouquets, brickbats, and bombast to: Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135 The Alter-Ego-Fans e-mail discussion list is still alive and well, thank you very much. Subscribers will learn past, present, and future info about A/E and the subjects it covers—and, hopefully, will be able to help Ye Editor acquire much-needed art and photos for future issues (and earn themselves a free copy at the same time). Just visit http:/groups.yahoo. com/group/alter-ego-fans. However, Yahoo Groups has eradicated its “Add Member” tool, so if you find it won’t let you in, please contact its

[corrections & correspondence]

Iron Fist Photo Ops genial moderator Chet Cox (at mormonyoyoman@gmail.com) and he’ll walk you through it painlessly! Also, over on the omnipresent Facebook, dealer/collector/con expediter John Cimino currently handles what he has christened The Roy Thomas Appreciation Boards to discuss all things dealing with RT, including Alter Ego, convention appearances, comments on super-hero movies or whatever, etc. The site is fully interactive (whatever that means), with even the occasional recorded chat between John and Roy. Enter at your own risk!

When Ye Ed mentioned Iron Fist earlier in this “re:” section, it reminded him that he wanted to share with A/E’s readers a couple of photos taken this past October (2017) at the TerrifiCon comics convention held at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Two of the con’s special guests (along with RT himself) were Finn Jones, who plays Iron Fist/Danny Rand in the Iron Fist Marvel/Netflix series… and Jessica Henwick, who portrays Colleen Wing thereon. It was great meeting these personable young actors, who of course had both previously co-starred on the ultrapopular Game of Thrones series. Above left, Roy meets Finn Jones. In the above-right photo, the smiling faces left-to-right belong to: con host Mitch Hallock, Roy, Jessica, and Mitch’s and Roy’s buddy John Cimino. Roy’s thrilled that there’ll be second seasons of both Iron Fist and The Defenders—and strongly recommends the first seasons of both! And he intends to be back at the 2018 TerrifiCon this August! Photos courtesy of John Cimino and Mitch Hallock.

Featuring Guest of Honor Joe Lansdale PulpFest 2018 goes historical by celebrating the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War. We’ll have presentations on Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Great War, fighting aces of war skies, war comics, the men’s adventure magazines and war pulps, and much more. 2018 also marks a century of the award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer Philip José Farmer. Our partner convention — FarmerCon 100 — will honor the occasion with panels on world-building, the life and legacy of Phil Farmer, the author’s takes on Tarzan and Doc Savage, and lots more. Add to this author readings and a dealers’ room filled with pulps, digests, and men’s adventure magazines, collectible paintings and illustrations, rare first editions, vintage paperbacks and comicbooks, unique films. ... You’ll find all this at PulpFest!

PULPFEST.COM PulpFest THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, May 1960 Artwork by MEL HUNTER

@PulpFest

in memoriam

Sam Glanzman (1924-2017) Last of the Lions

by Richard J. Arndt & Steven Fears

amuel Joseph Glanzman (S.J.G.) was one of the last of the Golden Age comicbook artists. He was born Dec. 5, 1924, and passed away on July 12, 2017, at the age of 92. Like many early comics creators, he was only a teenager when he entered the business at the urging of his older brother, Louis Glanzman (a comics artist who would later become a prominent book and fine arts illustrator). Yet another brother, D.C. Glanzman, also worked in comics. Sam started his comics career in 1939, drawing for such titles as Centaur Publications’ Amazing-Man Comics and Harvey Publications’ Spitfire Comics. For the latter he created the hero “Fly-Man.” After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Sam enlisted in the Navy and served aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Stevens. While aboard, he kept a visual diary, from which some pages would appear in various DC war comics in the 1970s under the ongoing title “Sam Glanzman’s War Diary.” The diary’s numerous drawings, sketches, and illustrations centered about his life aboard ship, the action it saw, and the ports where it stopped. He would later use this material as reference when he began his comicbook masterpiece about the U.S.S. Stevens. After his World War II service, he entered the mainstream work force for a number of years, but also did interior book illos and some comics work for Eastern Color’s Heroic Comics. In 1958 he returned to comics full-time, working initially for Charlton’s war and adventure comics as well as for Gilberton’s The World around Us series. In the early 1960s he also worked for Dell, illustrating fondly remembered titles such as Kona: Monarch of Monster Isle, Voyage to the Deep, Air War Stories, World War Stories, and Combat. These splendid non-Comic Code titles displayed a fully mature artist at work. Beginning in 1967 at Charlton, Sam and teenage writer Willi Franz co-created “The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz,” a unique and hard-hitting series about a German-American U.S. Army captain who found himself fighting on both the American and German sides in World War II. He also did two other series with Franz, including “The Iron Corporal,” about an Aussie squad in the Pacific war theater. Two other fondly remembered Charlton features

Sam Glanzman and a classic page from one his U.S.S. Stevens war stories, “The Thousand Stitch Belt,” in Star Spangled War Stories #172 (Aug. 1973). Thanks for the scan to Lambiek Comiclopedia website. The photo was provided by Richard Arndt & Steven Fears. [Page TM & © DC Comics.]

were “Shotgun Harker and the Chicken” (written by Joe Gill) and Hercules, Adventures of the Man-God. Although most of his work for the company was top-notch, Charlton was considered the runt of the litter among comicbook publishers, and work published there, regardless of quality, has often been overlooked by comic fans. In 1970, Sam made his move to DC Comics. He had tried to do so earlier, but had disliked then-war comics editor Robert Kanigher’s requirements for artists. However, by 1970 Joe Kubert, a fellow artist, had succeeded Kanigher as editor, and Sam was welcomed. This fortuitous move gave him the chance to write a series as well as draw it. It was in the pages of DC’s war comics that Glanzman would present one of the most astounding and decidedly different series in comicbook history— the saga of the U.S.S. Stevens. The U.S.S. Stevens stories were based on his own experiences, the recollections of fellow sailors, and outright fictional entries, and appeared in nearly all of DC’s 1970s war titles. They were rarely longer than four or five pages, but they packed an emotional punch which is hard to describe. In any genre of comics, there are peaks of excellence. In the war genre you have the works of Harvey Kurtzman; Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert; Archie Goodwin; Willi Franz and Sam himself; Jacque Tardi; Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun; Don Lomax; Wayne Vansant; and Garth Ennis. But it’s possible that, towering above them all, are the little U.S.S. Stevens stories. Each entry is gritty, realistic, emotional, and direct. Sam managed to engage the reader without using fancy angles or offbeat art. Writing and art were combined in a perfect

In Memoriam: Sam Glanzman

Weirdies & War Fantasy or realism—Sam Glanzman could handle it all! (Above:) A panel from Dell’s Kona: Monarch of Monster Isle #9 (Jan.-March 1964); script by Don Segall. (Right:) A page from A Sailor’s Tale: Winds, Dreams, and Dragons (1989), originally published by Marvel. Thanks to Lambiek Comiclopedia for both scans. [Kona page TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Sailor’s Tale page TM & © Estate of Sam Glanzman.]

blend of powerful, poignant, personal storytelling. Over fifty Stevens stories were published in DC titles between 1970-1977. Three 10-pagers then appeared in Marvel’s mid-’80s Savage Tales revival, with one left-over yarn published later. For years that seemed to be it; then, in 2012-2013, Joe Kubert commissioned another six 10-page stories for DC’s limited series Joe Kubert Presents. Finally, in 2016, Dover Publications gathered all the U.S.S. Stevens stories in a massive collection, including one last new tale Sam produced in 2015.

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He also illustrated the “Haunted Tank” feature for G.I. Combat from 1971 through the 1980s. Over 1987-89 he published his outstanding comicbook autobiography A Sailor’s Story in two parts at Marvel; the halves were published as a single book by Dover in 2015. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Sam worked on Westerns such as Jonah Hex and Red Range, as well as his own creation, Attu. One of the most unique things about Sam is that, unlike most Golden Age artists, he continued to entertain comicbook readers with new stories and art well into the second decade of the 21st Century. Simply in terms of longevity, his achievements are astounding. His first story appeared in 1939 and his last new publication appeared in 2016. 77 years of creativity!

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Sam Glanzman was one of the most underappreciated comicbook illustrators, from any “Age” that comics have existed— Golden, Silver, Bronze, Iron, Dark—you name it. Sam was truly a humble man, not one to bring attention to himself. Nonetheless, as Joe Kubert told the present authors, Sam may be the most human writer and artist to have graced comics’ door. Perhaps it is finally time to acknowledge his status as not only among the last lions of his day but as one of the best as well.

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ARTWORK BY DOC SHANER | WONDER WOMAN TM &

Richard Arndt is a regular interviewer for Alter Ego, and the author of Horror Comics in Black and White: A History and Catalog, 1964-2004. Steven Fears is a comics historian whose especial area of interest is DC’s “Big Five” war comics of the 1950s-80s. Fears and Arndt are co-writing a book on that subject.

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

A panel from Larry Ivie’s “Human Torch & Thing” script for Strange Tales #132 (May 1965). Pencils by Bob Powell; art by Mike Esposito (as “Mickey Demeo”). [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

NOW ON SALE! The Final 3 (of 7) Taschen “LITTLE BOOKS” on the Classic Marvel Heroes!

Heavily Illustrated— Plus New 700-Word Essays by Roy Thomas 192 pp. - US $9.99 (Also available in German, French, Italian, Spanish)

Captain Marvel & The ©opyright ©risis! – Part 2 MORE On Fawcett Publications & Its Complicated Legal Legacy by Mike Tiefenbacher

FCA EDITOR’S INTRO: In Alter Ego #151, Mike T. began his study (which sets out to clarify copyright complexities and trademark troubles related to Fawcett Publications) with an overview of the disposal and dispersal of Fawcett’s non-Marvel Family properties—from “Ibis the Invincible” to “Nyoka the Jungle Girl” to “Hopalong Cassidy”—among various publishers, including Charlton and, indirectly, DC. After musing on what might have happened if Fawcett and DC had arranged in 1953 for the latter company, post-lawsuit, to continue publishing the exploits of Captain Marvel and his relatives, he outlined the tangled road from Fawcett’s Captain Marvel to Myron Fass’ same-named android hero to Marvel Comics’ Kree “Captain Mar-Vell,” as well as DC’s late-1950s acquisition of the assets of Quality Comics and, in the early ’70s, DC’s licensing of the original Captain Marvel and the launching of its Shazam! series, and how that dovetails (or doesn’t) with Fawcett’s renewing—or not renewing—of various copyrights related to its 1940-1953 comicbook issues. Mike has done considerable hands-on research concerning Fawcett’s and others’ copyright renewals by actually dusting off and digging into decades-old volumes of the U.S. Copyright Office’s Catalog of Copyright Entries. We pick up his narration from that point… and if one or two technical copyright or trademark matters don’t seem restated quite clearly enough below, we urge you to go back and re-read last issue’s FCA installment. The whole thing is way too complicated to go over again from scratch! —P.C. Hamerlinck.

hile the tenor and tone of the first year’s issues of DC’s Shazam! comic were quite variable, eventually the lead stories began to more closely resemble the original run’s reprinted tales that were part of the overall package. And, lo and behold, undoubtedly due to those reprints, beginning with issues dated from April 1945 through the final issues of January 1954, Fawcett renewed (or attempted to renew) every one of the Marvel—or was that Shazam!—family stories. Captain Marvel Adventures #45-150, Captain Marvel Jr. #29-119, Captain Marvel Story Book #1-2 (#3-4 are missing from the listings in the Copyright Office’s Catalog of Copyright Entries, perhaps because the 1975 volume contained both the 1947 and 1948 renewals and #3 was simply overlooked; #4 came out in 1949), Fawcett’s Funny Animals #31-83, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny #1-15, The Marvel Family #1-89, Mary Marvel #1-28, Master Comics #61-133,

Captain Marvel Has Another Day In Court! Despite departed co-creator/artist C.C. Beck’s contention that the DC writers never caught the spirit of the original Fawcett stories, some readers—including Mike Tiefenbacher—beg to differ. The story “The Man Who Stole Justice” from the 100-page Shazam! #16 (Feb. 1975) might be considered a case in point. Under editor Julius Schwartz, the script is by Elliot S! Maggin, the art by former Fawcett artist Kurt Schaffenberger. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Whiz Comics #64-155, and Wow Comics #36-69 were each properly renewed by Fawcett Publications. CBS purchased Fawcett in 1977; so, beginning with the 1978 renewals, “CBS Publications, Inc.” was the name on them; and then, with the 1981 renewals, “CBS Inc. CBS Publications.” (Incidentally, CBS accidentally renewed copyrights for 1953 issues Battle Stories #9-11, Beware Terror Tales #7-8, Hopalong Cassidy #78-85, Lash LaRue Western #39-46, Six-Gun Heroes #20-23, Tom Mix Western #61, and Worlds of Fear #9-10, which didn’t even cover all of their 1953 non-Marvel-Family issues.) This information yields two significant facts. First, the renewals of these 2,070 (or 2,065, if the missing issues actually were overlooked by Fawcett) copyright registrations constitute an obvious attempt (at $4 each, that’s a cost of more than $8000) to protect their copyrights on these titles and characters, despite the lapse of the issues published from 1940-44—and again, we don’t really know whether Fawcett renewed any of those issues that are not explicitly shown in the Copyright Office’s Catalog, perhaps beginning with 1944 issues in 1972 when Fawcett learned that DC would be reprinting its old stories. Additionally, it indicates that, when National Periodical Publications (DC’s corporate name as of 1961, when the company was taken public) brought Captain Marvel and family under their auspices in 1972, it was a lease arrangement, in which they merely licensed the rights to the characters rather than buying them outright. However, DC treated the heroes as if they’d bought them, affixing only DC’s own company copyright on new stories and on products they licensed (including the 1974-77 Shazam! TV series and the Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam cartoon). Not until 1985 did DC finally purchase the full rights to the Marvel Family characters (and presumably the renewed copyrights); and by then it was from CBS. Between those dates, it wasn’t common knowledge among comics enthusiasts that DC hadn’t purchased the full rights in 1972. This confusion was aided by the fact that “Captain Marvel” stories reprinted in DC comics were listed as copyrighted by Fawcett Publications (starting with Shazam! #2), just as reprints from Quality magazines were copyright-credited to Comic Magazines or Comic Favorites. (Had the reprinted story starring “The Ray” sported a copyright, it would have listed Everett M. Arnold, the publisher name on Smash

With One Magic Series… Whatever its shortcomings, the 1974-77 Shazam! TV series caught at least some of the flavor of the old Fawcett comics, thanks in large part to the performances of its stars, Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson. As Mike T. says, DC copyrighted this series in its own name, not Fawcett’s. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Comics. Three Quality funny-animal titles, Buster Bear, Egbert, and Marmaduke Mouse, were also published by Arnold Publications, but those would hardly have been reprinted in a DC comic). In fact, DC may have simply been following its own precedent on its prior purchases of comics properties from other publishers. The company itself had started life in 1938 as the forced takeover of Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s National Allied Comics over incurred debt; and, in 1946, Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz’s Detective Comics, Inc., bought out partner Max Gaines’ All-American Comics half of the DC line to form National Comics Publications, Inc. But since those were essentially internal transactions, the first actual instance where DC absorbed another publisher was when they purchased the comics holdings of Everett M. “Busy” Arnold (the Quality Comics group) in 1956. In that instance, they continued only Quality’s four best-selling titles that didn’t duplicate something they were already publishing: Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, Heart Throbs, and Robin Hood Tales. The remaining 1956 Quality series, which DC didn’t continue, included: seven more romance titles (including Girls in Love; DC was already publishing Girls’ Love Stories)—teen comic Candy and funny animal Marmaduke Mouse at a time when DC was cancelling most of its own titles in each genre—The Exploits of Daniel Boone, since DC already had Legends of Daniel Boone—Yanks in Battle, a war comic too new to have any sales reports yet—and two long-running adventure titles which had fallen into reprints in 1955, T-Man and Plastic Man. Proof that DC had purchased the rights to more than simply the four Busy Arnold titles listed in the preceding paragraph was first made apparent in 1966, when it launched a new Plastic Man series, largely as a response to publisher Myron Fass’ attempt to hijack that hero’s name in his Captain Marvel. Turned out, they had indeed bought everything Arnold had published. Everything, that is, except the copyrights on the old issues. And why would they have cared about those in 1957? DC wasn’t reprinting anything, so it didn’t even ask for stats of old Quality stories. All the issues in question would still have active copyrights for the next decade for the earliest issues and nearly 30 years for the most recent, and who knew if there would even be comicbooks that far in the future? It wasn’t until 1979 that Arnold’s widow Claire (Everett died in 1974) began registering renewals for selected Quality titles beginning with 1951 issues. (Strangely, the Copyright Office misspells her name “Clare” on all those renewals.) Blackhawk #39-86, Doll Man #33-45, G.I. Combat #1-43, Love Letters #7-51, Love Secrets #32-55, Plastic Man #29-53, and Police Comics #105-127 were renewed by “Clare” C. Arnold (who had been a co-owner of the company), while DC itself also renewed Quality’s Blackhawk #87-107, Doll Man #33-47, G.I. Combat #35-43, and Plastic Man #54-64. No, I can’t begin to guess why Mrs. Arnold renewed those two particular romance titles out of the eight Quality had published in the 1950s, but not Heart Throbs, or Robin Hood Tales for that matter. Nor can I offer any explanation for her sudden interest in renewing her rights to her husband’s legacy. Perhaps the changes made in the copyright law in 1976 caught her attention, or her estate attorney recommended it after her husband’s death. Or perhaps she simply learned DC was not renewing any of Quality’s issues and she realized there might be a market for reprints of the old stores, with those being the titles she was made aware of. But even if she’d started immediately, that left a decade of Quality’s 1939-50 copyrights unrenewed, if, indeed, the copyright records as published were complete. Keep that in mind for later. In 1963, publisher Theodore “Teddy” Epstein also decided to leave the comics publishing business, and sold DC the last two titles still being published by the Prize Comics Group: Young Romance and Young Love. (Black Magic had ended in 1961; otherwise,

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

A Quality Drop With no disparagement intended by the above pun, we compare and contrast the final Quality Comics cover of a mag with that of its first DC issue. The Quality-to-DC handover of the Blackhawk title was illustrated in our previous issue, so:

G.I. Combat #43 (Dec. 1956) & #44 (Jan. 1957) This Quality mag had still been fighting the Korean War—but DC immediately placed the action back in World War II. Quality cover artists uncertain; DC pencils by Jerry Grandenetti, with wash finishes attributed to Jack Adler. [DC cover TM & © DC Comics; Quality cover © the respective copyright holders.]

Heart Throbs #46 (Dec. 1956) & #47 (April-May 1957) The change in companies is less apparent in these two Heart Throb covers from Quality and DC, respectively. Incidentally, the name of the sculptress on the former cover is—Jane Foster. Artists uncertain. [DC cover TM & © DC Comics; Quality cover © the respective copyright holders.]

Robin Hood Tales #6 (Dec. 1956) & #7 (Jan-Feb. 1957) The Quality cover is by Dick Dillin & Chuck Cuidera, who would be continuing as artists on Blackhawk. The DC cover was reportedly laid out by Irv Novick, finishpenciled by Gil Kane, and inked by Joe Kubert. [DC covers TM & © DC Comics; Quality covers © the respective copyright holders.]

Romance Will Never Die! Since DC originally distributed the Prize Group’s comics, the older company was well aware that Prize had outsold everybody with their genre-creating romance comics created by the team of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, and swept in to continue them when Prize/Feature got out of comics. Unlike some of the other inter-company handovers, the one between Prize’s Young Love (Vol. 7, #1, June-July 1963) and Young Romance (Vol. 16, #4, June-July 1963) and DC’s Young Love (#39, Sept.-Oct. 1963) and Young Romance (#125, Aug.-Sept. 1963) might have even impressed the most undiscerning readers of both titles, as, suddenly, workmanlike art by unknown artists was replaced by beautifully rendered John Romita covers and continuing characters, and interiors featuring other DC veteran artists. Note that, by 1963, neither the Prize symbol nor any other company ID appeared on that company’s covers. [DC covers TM & © DC Comics; Prize covers © the respective copyright holders.]

it might have been included in the sale.) Since at least 1941, Prize had been distributed by DC’s Independent News Co., which had long provided the operating capital that enabled the company to function (ads for Prize Comics had appeared in DCs in the early ’40s), so this was one of the more organic buyouts in this sequence of events. Because DC was not interested in reprinting any Prize material in either romance title, no copyrights were involved. Besides, Epstein did not fully own most of the run of either magazine, sharing ownership with the books’ content suppliers, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; Simon remained the editor of the Prize Comics Group (formally called Crestwood, Feature, or Headline Publications) through ’63, though Kirby had not worked there since 1958. Neither was involved in the sale of the comics to DC, however, despite having created both, as Epstein owned the titles. While Simon eventually renewed some issues of Prize’s Black Magic (some of which were reprinted by DC in 1973-74) and every issue of Fighting American in the name of Simon & Kirby, no one ever renewed any of Prize’s issues of Young Romance or Young Love (or any of their other titles, even those Simon & Kirby had created, such as Strange World of Your Dreams, Young Brides, or issues of Headline Comics or Justice Traps the Guilty). The single instance of a DC purchase that did involve the transfer of copyrights is one which happened when, apparently, fandom wasn’t paying attention. In 1964, DC (under a subsidiary name, All-American Printing Co., last seen as publisher of Superman Annual #1 & 2, and subsequently of the More Secret Origins #8 issue of 80 Page Giant Magazine) bought Mad magazine from Premier Industries Corp., which had acquired that single portion of the original EC line from Bill Gaines in 1961. In this case, EC Publications, Inc., was retained as the name of the subsidiary publisher (with the operation still headed by Gaines), and the copyrights were renewed under that name, so while the result was DC’s ownership of the copyrights, it’s not immediately obvious.

In fact, a few people are still unaware that the current EC is not the same EC that published Tales from the Crypt (unless they were researching comicbook sales and reading Mad’s old Statements of Ownership, and writing articles about it back in 1970, like I was). Around the same period (sometime between 1958 and 1964), yet another buyout of a competing publisher… may have occurred. One of the venerable publishers of the 1950s, Magazine Enterprises (ME), owned by original DC editor Vincent Sullivan (who’d left DC circa 1940 to found Columbia Comics, which he then left to found ME in 1943) finally threw in the towel in 1958. By then, his comicbook line had dwindled down to three titles, all humorous: The Brain (drawn by Dan DeCarlo), The Mighty Atom, and Tom-Tom, the last two featuring reprints of ME material from the ’40s. Since DC had cut back its humor line during the post-Comics Code years, these were of little interest to them. Three ME adventure titles had ended in 1957: The Adventures of Robin Hood (based on the Richard Green TV series), Dan’l Boone, and Red Mask (which had begun life

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

Mad—A Model Case Mad magazine was sold in 1961 by William Gaines to Premier Industries, which was looking to diversify its holdings. For whatever reasons, within a couple of years Premier sold Mad to DC, bringing the EC brand full circle to the company where it had originated as “Educational Comics” under Bill’s father M.C. (“Max”) Gaines. Mad #89 (Sept. 1964) spotlights some corporate synergy, as Aurora Plastics, EC, and DC were soon to be in business together. Aurora had had tremendous success with its line of Universal monsters, including Frankenstein; over the next year, it issued model kits featuring Superman, Batman—and Alfred E. Neuman, very much like the one pictured here by cover painter Norman Mingo. [TM & © EC Publications, Inc.]

as Tim Holt, a licensed comic about a movie cowboy). The first two, of course, duplicated titles in DC’s line, and despite the enormous popularity of TV Westerns at the time, it apparently didn’t transfer to original Western characters, as DC had recently reduced their line to All Star Western and Western Comics (as well as their “Eastern Western” Tomahawk) by cancelling Hopalong Cassidy and Frontier Fighters. Whatever the situation, no ME title ever became part of the DC line—and in fact, prior to the ’90s, no one was even aware that there was any relationship between the two companies. That’s when it was discovered that a lot of the original ME artwork was in DC vaults, but there were no paper records explaining why. And anyone who might have remembered the connection between the two companies was no longer around to ask. (Oddly enough, in 1971 I accompanied then-fanzine-publisher Neal Pozner when he interviewed DC editorial director Carmine Infantino in his office. While we were there, Infantino was on the phone to Frank Frazetta, seemingly wangling the prospect of the return of some of his old artwork in DC’s possession in return for Frazetta doing something new for DC. Nothing came of that, of course—but now I wonder if he might have been talking not about a few “Shining Knight” stories but about some of the much more plentiful art Frazetta had done for ME.)

All that is known is that DC’s foreigncomics service, which provided film negatives to foreign publishers so they could reprint recent and ancient DC comics, may have used ME comics as a sort of comics “Hamburger Helper.” Mixed amidst its own ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s stories reprinted in foreign editions published from 1962-82 (especially, and possibly exclusively, the Australian comics published by K.G. Murray) were ME-originated tales starring Straight Arrow, Durango Kid, Tim Holt, Dan Brand & Tipi (aka White Indian), Red Mask, Bobby Benson, Calico Kid, Red Hawk, Dan’l Boone, and… Ghost Rider. Admittedly, as proof of ownership, it’s pretty thin (ME was preceded by ACG as the originator of non-DC material in Murray issues from ’59-’62, and ME may have simply used DC as their overseas agent after going out of business); but it is a connection that would explain why DC had possession of some of ME’s artwork.

But imagine what it could have meant to comics history had DC actually owned or at least controlled the new serial rights to these then-uncommercial characters. Among the few super-hero titles ME published was The Avenger, with 1955 cover dates. Had DC owned (or realized they owned) those rights, perhaps they’d have had something to say about Marvel’s The Avengers in 1963.

“Avenger Is Mine!” (Left:) The copyright and trademark on Magazine Enterprises’ The Avenger #1 (Feb.-March 1955)— no relation to the 1940s pulp-magazine hero… except the name, of course—may or may not have been among the ME assets that DC purchased from Vin Sullivan. Cover by Bob Powell, although the interior art for that issue was by Dick Ayers; Powell took over the interiors, as well, with #2. [© the respective copyright holders.] (Right:) With The Avenger long in his four-color grave, and with the UK television series The Avengers not yet viewable (and for the most part utterly unknown) to American audiences, the way was clear in 1963 for Marvel to launch its own super-hero title, The Avengers. Cover penciled by Jack Kirby; inked by (irony of ironies!) Dick Ayers. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

More interestingly, one might imagine that DC would have objected to seeing Marvel brazenly violating the copyright of Ghost Rider, both in name and in costuming, and prevented it from happening. Perhaps they would even have brought him back—maybe in Showcase, pre-empting one of the many misfires published between ’64 and ’68, with stories scripted by Gardner Fox, who’d done some of the ME “Ghost Rider” stories in 1950. A more supernatural approach would have been just different enough for the character to fit into the period (e.g., The Spectre, “Deadman”), and might have been successful enough to outlast the likes of Bat Lash. And Marvel would have then needed to call its 1972 version of Ghost Rider something like The Blazing Skull (after their own ’40s hero), as he probably always should have been. Arguably, a Nicholas Cage movie called The Blazing Skull might have done even better at the box office than his two Ghost Riders did. (By the way, evidently Vin Sullivan did eventually learn of Marvel’s violation of what was still his active copyright of the character—but was badly advised by attorneys that he couldn’t do anything about it.) Speaking of the supernatural, another near-miss acquisition on DC’s part was that of the American Comics Group. Published by Fred Iger, whose wife was co-owner Sonia Iger, daughter of Harry Donenfeld, ACG had a longtime family relationship, being

distributed by Donenfeld’s Independent News and sharing funnyanimal features like the 1940s Giggle Comics, Ha-Ha Comics, and Funny Films, created by the Ben Sangor shop. (Sangor’s chief artist, Jim Davis, was responsible for DC’s Real Screen Comics, The Fox and the Crow, and Flippity and Flop.) Like Prize, ACG occasionally even got ads for their titles into DC’s comics in the ’40s (e.g., The Kilroys). In 1967, ACG’s line consisted of Adventures into the Unknown, Forbidden Worlds, Unknown Worlds, Gasp!, and Herbie. The 1966 glut of mostly super-hero titles had hit ACG particularly hard, and Iger was forced to close the company down. At one point, there was a plan for DC to continue Adventures into the Unknown, which (as with Forbidden Worlds’ “Magicman” series) had abandoned its lead super-hero “Nemesis” several months previous. News of just such a plan appeared in Mark Hanerfeld’s The Comic Reader #65 (March 1968), but it was never mentioned again. Things may have been derailed by the buyout of DC by Kinney National Service around that time; with Donenfeld no longer calling the shots, familial sentimentality (if it survived Fred Iger’s divorce from Sonia around that time) may have become meaningless. Whatever happened, no transfer took place. Instead, the supernatural title The Witching Hour appeared at about the time Adventures into The Unknown #175 would have debuted as a DC comic.

“Tryin’ To Catch The Devil’s Herd…” (Left:) While Magazine Enterprises published a few short-lived super-hero titles (Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s Funnyman in 1947-48, and Gardner Fox, Dick Ayers, & Bob Powell’s The Avenger and Strong Man in 1955), their only really successful non-licensed title and character was The Ghost Rider, co-created and mostly drawn by Dick Ayers. However, at the turn of ’55, that mag ran afoul conceptually of the Comics Code and was canceled. Seen here is Frank Frazetta’s cover for ME’s Ghost Rider #4 (June 1951). [© the respective copyright holders.] (Right:) Despite ME’s “Ghost Rider” art and stories still being under its copyright in 1967, Marvel brought the character back because the trademark had lapsed—and retained everything they could of the original. Seen is the cover of Marvel’s Ghost Rider #1 (Feb. 1967), by Dick Ayers, original artist of the ME version. Marvel editor Stan Lee, whose idea it may have been to turn the Western Ghost Rider into a Marvel hero, and his publisher Martin Goodman were informed by attorneys that Marvel needed to change just two details in their own rendition of the concept: the Rider’s civilian identity, and the name of his horse. So, exit U.S. Marshal (and former traveling salesman) Rex Fury, enter schoolteacher Carter Slade—with the white stallion Spectre replaced by Banshee. But—had DC actually purchased the rights to The Ghost Rider earlier without knowing it? [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

The Ultimate Ret-Con Whiz Comics, birthplace of the World’s Mightiest Mortal, famously began with #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940, on sale in late ’39), due to the whirlwind of publishers attempting to trademark the planned title “Flash Comics.” Fawcett printed ashcan copies of both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1; but it was beaten to the punch by All-American/DC (Flash Comics #1, Jan. ’40) and Ned Pines’ Better/Standard (Thrilling Comics #1, Feb. ’40). This required Fawcett to go with its third choice, Whiz Comics, properly continuing the numbering of one or the other ashcan—but creating the need to explain, to this day, why “#2” is actually the first issue. (Whiz #2 through #5 [May 1940] retroactively became #1-4 when Fawcett published a second #5, dated June ’40.) In between ashcans and newsstand, the cover hero’s name was changed from “Captain Thunder” to “Captain Marvel”—though neither name appeared on the ashcan covers. Decades later, original artist C.C. Beck re-created the cover of that premiere issue as a commission piece (at left), finally righting the cosmic order by numbering it “#1”—as well as modernizing Cap’s costume a bit (check out the lightning bolt)! [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Flash Comics #1 & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Mistaken Identity (Left:) The American Comic Group’s Adventures into the Unknown #154 (Feb. 1965), which in 1948 had been the first regularly published horror comic, introduced the company’s first costumed super-hero: the ghostly Nemesis. Former Fawcett mainstay Kurt Schaffenberger rendered the cover, using the name of another former Fawcett artist: Pete Costanza, who drew the interior story. Style-blind DC editors, who didn’t like “their” freelance artists moonlighting, were apparently taken in by the deception. [© Charlton Media.] (Right:) A single mention in a 1968 issue of the newszine The Comic Reader of plans for DC to continue Adventures into the Unknown—and the introduction, 12 years later, of a very-much-alive hero also named Nemesis in The Brave and the Bold #166 (Sept. 1980), had amateur sleuths mistakenly deducing that DC had bought ACG in ’67. Shown is the earliest cover appearance of the DC Nemesis, on The Brave and the Bold #170 (Jan. 1981); art by Jim Aparo. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Entrepreneur Roger Broughton bought the remnants of ACG in the ‘80s, and was the source of the many reprints of the ACG line that have appeared in his own comics and hardcovers from Dark Horse in the 2000s. About the only connection between ACG and DC after 1967 was that DC introduced its own super-hero called Nemesis in 1980. So, in 1972, DC’s purchasing only the intellectual property copyright from Fawcett seemed sufficient. They bought a character whose name and powers, costume and secret identity, origin and friends, all served to identify an instantly recognizable image, a trademark independent of the name it could not trumpet on covers. The extent to how much that image, that identifiable thing which defines “Captain Marvel” (as well as “Captain Marvel Jr.” and “Mary Marvel”) can be stretched and tweaked and still be the same copyrighted intellectual property is unknown. Legally, do all versions of a particular character need to hang together as one (albeit incoherent) whole? In particular, can a copyright without an identifying character name as its trademark—since DC was forced to publish Captain Marvel’s adventures under the Shazam! title, and has, as of 2012, taken the inevitable final step of renaming the character to match that title—retain the intellectual property rights DC purchased from Fawcett in 1973? Right here, we need to go over the boilerplate of what constitutes a copyright. The online Merriam-Webster definition:

“the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (such as a literary, musical, or artistic work).” Cambridge’s definition adds a term of protection: “The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.” Oxford defines it in international terms: “The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.” Dictionary.com gets specific regarding current U.S. law: “the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.; works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 70 years after his or her death.” The problem is, all of these definitions are far too broad to be useful. The Dictionary.com definition of the period of protection isn’t even 100% correct.

When Whiz Comics #2 (real #1) was published in 1939, the period for which a copyright provided the protections outlined above was 28 years; so, in 1967, that issue’s copyright would expire unless Fawcett Publications filed for renewal for another term of 28 years. Which (making the assumption mentioned above that that issue’s absence from the published records was an oversight on the Copyright Office’s part) they did, meaning that the issue’s copyright would be protected only through 1995. But it was not— because, in 1976, Congress passed a law altering the Copyright Act (sponsored by and popularly called the Sonny Bono Copyright Act, chiefly at the behest of Walt Disney Productions, which wanted to make sure it didn’t lose control of Mickey Mouse), its provisions and terms of copyrights, effective as of January 1, 1978 (as dictionary.com mentions above). In particular, in the case of copyrights on works made for hire (as most comicbooks have been since the beginning of time), it changed the renewal term to 95 years—and it made the law retroactive to 1964 (fourteen years, or half a copyright term, prior to 1978), meaning that any renewals made after that date were affected as well. (The effects of the new law also meant that a copyright no longer had to be registered to be valid; any work-for-hire work published after January 1, 1964, is, and will be, automatically renewed for 95 additional years for its second term. Registration of copyrights is still encouraged, as it provides a public record in case of a violation requiring legal action, but is no longer required.) So the second term of copyright for Whiz #2 will expire in… 2062. And that’s only if Congress doesn’t alter the law again well before that.

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

A Growing Family The first cover appearances in their own features for Captain Marvel Jr. (Master Comics #22, Jan. 1942) and Mary Marvel (Wow Comics #9, Jan. 6, 1943) are among those issues whose copyright renewals are missing from the Catalog of Copyright Entries. But—what does that really mean? See Mike Tiefenbacher’s article. Art by Mac Raboy and Marc Swayze, respectively. [Shazam heroes, Captain Nazi, & Bulletman TM & © DC Comics.]

Unfortunately, that merely affects that particular issue. Fawcett only renewed the first six issues of Whiz and Captain Marvel Adventures (again, assuming the renewals of the first two issues of each), resuming them with #64 and #45, respectively. Captain Marvel Jr. debuted in Whiz #25, while Mary Marvel’s first appearance was in Captain Marvel #18, neither of which was renewed. Master Comics’ first 44 issues are missing (Jr.’s first solo story was in #23), as are Captain Marvel Jr.’s first 28 and Wow Comics’ first 35 (Mary’s adventures began in #9). Whichever of these issues were not renewed would seemingly be subject to the fate of copyrights which are allowed to lapse: they became public domain. There are a number of complicating questions here making this assumption a bit murky. First, most public domain decisions are predicated on the idea that the copyright owner has willingly abandoned the copyright. There is a case to be made that the court decision that awarded Marvel Comics the trademark rights to “Captain Marvel” was contributory to Fawcett deciding not to continue throwing good money after bad; in other words, Fawcett had no reason to believe that their ownership of the Marvel family copyrights would ever result in any further use when they had their trademark taken away. Usually, this question is addressed when a single issue or episode of a series is missing from the registrations, or when outside licensees fail to post the copyright on their product. While the individual issue or episode may fall into the public domain, the intellectual property itself does not.

And therein is the big question: how much does the copyright status of a single issue of a comicbook series published over a period of time affect the copyright status of the intellectual property? Obviously, given the fact that Fawcett/CBS renewed over a decade’s worth of subsequent issues of all of these series, there is certainly a case to be made that they were intent on not allowing the property to lapse into the public domain. But (assuming they did not renew any of those missing issues) is the number of issues too great to make that case? Regarding the Quality copyrights Claire C. Arnold renewed (or which DC continued after her), the gap was even greater, and none of the initial issues of any of the series was renewed, either. Does evident neglect or outright ignorance of the copyright law allowing the copyrights in a series to lapse a sufficient basis to eliminate or negate the intellectual property copyright? Does the fact that those missing issues include stories that introduced the characters negate everything thereafter? As far as I can tell, this has yet to be determined. If we assume that copyright expiration on a comic’s run of, say, four years means that the whole thing is now in public domain, well, then, why did Fawcett even bother to renew anything afterward—and what exactly did DC buy in 1972 when it made the Captain Marvel deal with Fawcett? Did it buy a group of public domain characters? Did it buy anything at all? In our next installment, I’ll explore my own layman’s opinion. So—TO BE CONTINUED!

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BACK ISSUE #61: LONGBOX EDITION

Remembering Fabulous FLO STEINBERG, Stan Lee’s gal Friday during the Marvel Age of Comics—with anecdotes and essays by pros and friends who knew and loved her! Rare Marvel art, Flo’s successor ROBIN GREEN interviewed by RICHARD ARNDT about her time at Marvel, and Robin’s 1971 article on Marvel for ROLLING STONE magazine! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

ALLEN BELLMAN (1940s Timely artist) interviewed by DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO, with art by SHORES, BURGOS, BRODSKY, SEKOWSKY, EVERETT, & JAFFEE. Plus Marvel’s ’70s heroines: LINDA FITE & PATY COCKRUM on The Cat, CAROLE SEULING on Shanna the She-Devil, & ROY THOMAS on Night Nurse—with art by SEVERIN, FRADON, ANDRU, and more! With FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

Golden Age artist/writer/editor NORMAN MAURER remembered by his wife JOAN, recalling BIRO’s Crime Does Not Pay, Boy Comics, Daredevil, St. John’s 3-D & THREE STOOGES comics with KUBERT, his THREE STOOGES movie (MOE was his father-inlaw!), and work for Marvel, DC, and others! Plus LARRY IVIE’s 1959 plans for a JUSTICE SOCIETY revival, JOHN BROOME, FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY and more!

All Time Classic Con continued from #148! Panels on Golden Age (CUIDERA, HASEN, SCHWARTZ [LEW & ALVIN], BOLTINOFF, LAMPERT, GILL, FLESSEL) & Silver Age Marvel, DC, & Gold Key (SEVERIN, SINNOTT, AYERS, DRAKE, ANDERSON, FRADON, SIMONSON, GREEN, BOLLE, THOMAS), plus JOHN BROOME, FCA, MR. MONSTER, & BILL SCHELLY! Unused RON WILSON/CHRIS IVY cover!

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BACK ISSUE #107

BACK ISSUE #108

FOURTH WORLD AFTER KIRBY! Return(s) of the New Gods, Why Can’t Mister Miracle Escape Cancellation?, the Forever People, MIKE MIGNOLA’s unrealized New Gods animated movie, Fourth World in Hollywood, and an all-star lineup, including the work of JOHN BYRNE, PARIS CULLINS, J. M. DeMATTEIS, MARK EVANIER, MICHAEL GOLDEN, RICK HOBERG, WALTER SIMONSON, and more. STEVE RUDE cover!

DEADLY HANDS ISSUE! Histories of Iron Fist, Master of Kung Fu, Yang, the Bronze Tiger, Hands of the Dragon, NEAL ADAMS’ Armor, Marvel’s Deadly Hands of Kung Fu mag, & Hong Kong Phooey! Plus Muhammad Ali in toons and toys. Featuring JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, STEVE ENGLEHART, PAUL GULACY, LARRY HAMA, DOUG MOENCH, DENNY O’NEIL, JIM STARLIN, & others. Classic EARL NOREM cover!

GOLDEN AGE IN BRONZE! ’70s Justice Society revival with two Pro2Pro interviews: All-Star Squadron’s ROY THOMAS, JERRY ORDWAY, and ARVELL JONES (with a bonus RICK HOBERG interview), and The Spectre’s JOHN OSTRANDER and TOM MANDRAKE. Plus: Liberty Legion, Air Wave, Jonni Thunder, Crimson Avenger, and the Spectre revival of ’87! WOOD, COLAN, CONWAY, GIFFEN, GIORDANO, & more!

ARCHIE COMICS IN THE BRONZE AGE! STAN GOLDBERG and GEORGE GLADIR interviews, Archie knock-offs, Archie on TV, histories of Sabrina, That Wilkin Boy, Cheryl Blossom, and Red Circle Comics. With JACK ABEL, JON D’AGOSTINO, DAN DeCARLO, FRANK DOYLE, GRAY MORROW, DAN PARENT, HENRY SCARPELLI, ALEX SEGURA, LOU SCHEIMER, ALEX TOTH, and more! DAN DeCARLO cover.

BRONZE AGE AQUAMAN! Team-ups and merchandise, post-Crisis Aquaman, Aqualad: From Titan to Tempest, Black Manta history, DAVID and MAROTO’s Atlantis Chronicles, the original unseen Aquaman #57, and the unproduced Aquaman animated movie. With APARO, CALAFIORE, MARTIN EGELAND, GIFFEN, GIORDANO, ROBERT LOREN FLEMING, CRAIG HAMILTON, JURGENS, SWAN, and more. ERIC SHANOWER cover!

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

KIRBY COLLECTOR #74

BRICKJOURNAL #50

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #17

DRAW #35

FUTUREPAST! Kirby’s “World That Was” from Caveman days to the Wild West, and his “World That’s Here” of Jack’s visions of the future that became reality! TWO COVERS: Bullseye inked by BILL WRAY, and Jack’s unseen Tiger 21 concept art! Plus: interview with ROY THOMAS about Jack, rare Kirby interview, MARK EVANIER moderating the biggest Kirby Tribute Panel of all time, pencil art galleries, and more!

Special double-size BOOK! Photo editor GEOFF GRAY talks to JOE MENO about the beginnings of BrickJournal, TORMOD ASKILDSEN of the LEGO GROUP interview, how LEGO’s fan community has grown in 10 years, and the best builders of the past 50 issues! Plus: Minifigure customizing with JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!

The legacy and influence of WALLACE WOOD, with a comprehensive essay about Woody’s career, extended interview with Wood assistant RALPH REESE (artist for Marvel’s horror comics, National Lampoon, and underground), a long chat with cover artist HILARY BARTA (Marvel inker, Plastic Man and America’s Best artist with ALAN MOORE), plus our usual columns, features, and the humor of HEMBECK!

Fantasy/sci-fi illustrator DONATO GIANCOLA (Game of Thrones) demos his artistic process, GEORGE PRATT (Enemy Ace: War Idyll, Batman: Harvest Breed) discusses his work as comic book artist, illustrator, fine artist, and teacher, Crusty Critic JAMAR NICHOLAS, JERRY ORDWAY’S regular column, and MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp.” Mature Readers Only.

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The Crazy Cool Culture We Grew Up With!

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orrows Inc.

Remember when Saturday morning television was our domain, and ours alone? When tattoos came from bubble gum packs, Slurpees came in superhero cups, and TV heroes taught us to be nice to each other? Those were the happy days of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties—our childhood—and that is the era of TwoMorrows’ newest magazine, covering

#2: Horror-hosts (ZACHERLEY, VAMPIRA, SEYMOUR, MARVIN, and a new ELVIRA interview), GROOVIE GOOLIES, long-buried DINOSAUR LAND amusement park, BEN COOPER HALLOWEEN COSTUMES history, character lunchboxes, superhero VIEW-MASTERS, and more! SHIPS SEPTEMBER 2018! Sea-Monkeys® — then & now Winter 2018 No. 3 $8.95

NEW! He Made Us Believe A Man Can Fly! EXCLUSIVE Interview with

Visit Metropolis...

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

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Aquaman in Animation

Pillsbury’s Funny Face Collectibles

and Seventies! ic Fanzines of the Sixties Fanboys’ Fantast the Oddball World of Scott Shaw! • Andy Mangels • Ernest Farino • and Featuring Martin Pasko

#3: SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE Director RICHARD DONNER interview, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of AQUAMAN, ’60s and ’70s horror/sci-fi zines, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL’s Superman Celebration, SEA-MONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages & collectibles, a fortress of Superman and Batman memorabilia, and more! SHIPS DECEMBER 2018! Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

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RETROFAN #1 cover-features an all-new interview with TV’s Incredible Hulk, LOU FERRIGNO, and introduces a quartet of columns by our regular celebrity columnists: MARTIN PASKO’s Pesky Perspective (this issue: The Phantom in Hollywood), ANDY MANGELS’ Retro Saturday Mornings (Filmation’s Star Trek cartoon), ERNEST FARINO’s Retro Fantasmagoria (How I Met the Wolf Man—Lon Chaney, Jr.), and The Oddball World of SCOTT SHAW (the goofy comic book Zody the Mod Rob). Also: Mego’s rare Elastic Hulk toy; RetroTravel to Mount Airy, NC, the real-life Mayberry; an interview with BETTY LYNN, “Thelma Lou” of The Andy Griffith Show; the scarcity of Andy Griffith Show collectibles; a trip inside TOM STEWART’s eclectic House of Collectibles; RetroFan’s Too Much TV Quiz; and a RetroFad shout-out to Mr. Microphone. Edited by Back Issue magazine’s MICHAEL EURY!

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