Alter Ego #163 Preview

Roy Thomas' Xtra-strength Comics Fanzine

THE POWER AND THE PANDEMONIUM OF YOUNG

$9.95

DAVE COCKRUM

In the USA

No. 163

Art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

March 2020

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Vol. 3, No. 163 / March 2020 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

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

Comic Crypt Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

C’mon citizen, DO THE RIGHT THING! A Mom & Pop publisher like us needs every sale just to survive! DON’T DOWNLOAD OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! Buy affordable, legal downloads only at

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Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Cover Artist

Dave Cockrum

Cover Colorist

Glenn Whitmore

With Special Thanks to: Don Allen Paul Allen Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Richard Arndt Bob Bailey Mike W. Barr Al Bigley The Charles Biro family Dominic Bongo Ricky Terry Brisacque Bernie Bubnis David Burd Aaron Caplan Nick Caputo John Cimino Paty Cockrum Pierre Comtois Chet Cox David Drake Doug Ellis Linda Fite Shane Foley Bob Fujitani Janet Gilbert Greg Goldstein Grand Comics Database (website) Gary Groth Robert Guffey George Hagenauer

Don’t STEAL our Digital Editions!

David Hajdu Heritage Comics Auctions Tony Isabella Eric Jansen Sharon Karibian Jim Kealy Jim Korkis Joe Kramar Mark Lewis Art Lortie Doug Martin Mike Mikulovsky Brian K. Morris Will Murray Peter Normanton Barry Pearl David Phelps Richard & Wendy Pini Frank Plowright Gene Reed Al Rodriguez Randy Sargent Jim Steranko Steve Stiles Dann Thomas Michael Uslan Ted White Kendall Whitehouse Marv Wolfman Andy Yanchus Mike Zeck

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Dave Cockrum, Malcolm Willits, & Manly Wade Wellman

& DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep producing great publications like this one!

Writer/Editorial: The Red Planet—Mostly In Black-&-White! . . 2 The Genius of Dave & Paty Cockrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Joe Kramar’s 2003 conversation with one of comics’ most amazing couples.

Dave Cockrum—A Model Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Andy Yanchus take a personal look back at his friend’s astonishing model work.

“One Of The Most Celebrated Comicbook Artists Of Our Time” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Paul Allen on corresponding with young Dave Cockrum, ERB fan, in 1969-70.

From The Tomb: A Step Into The Unknown! . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Peter Normanton brings his celebrated horror-comics fanzine to the pages of Alter Ego.

John Broome: Letter To An Unknown Reader . . . . . . . . . . 50 We return to the 1998 memoir of the late great Golden/Silver Age comics writer.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! The Other Stan Lee, Part 3 . . . 53 Michael T. Gilbert winds up his compare-and-contrast of two of comics’ greatest.

Comic Fandom Archive: In Memoriam - Malcolm Willits . . 59 The final column prepared by the late Bill Schelly—Jim Korkis on a major collector.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #222 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 P.C. Hamerlinck presents R. Arndt’s talk with David Drake re Manly Wade Wellman.

On Our Cover: While there’s more space given in this issue to Dave Cockrum’s early Edgar Rice Burroughs-influenced artwork than to his later triumphs with DC’s “Legion of Super-Heroes” and Marvel’s X-Men, we felt this cover Dave drew for F.O.O.M. Magazine #10 (June 1975) would remind readers—if they needed reminding!—of his sterling contribution to comics. Drawn when Dave was just starting out on his journey as the first artist of the revived/expanded X-Men, it already displays the mastery that would skillfully bridge the gap between the 1960s mutants and their 1970s permutations.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: A 1970s painting by Dave Cockrum of one of his favorite artistic subjects ever: ERB’s John Carter of Mars! Thanks to Paty C. [John Carter TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] 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: $67 US, $101 Elsewhere, $27 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.

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The Genius Of Dave & Paty Cockrum A 2003 Conversation With One Of Comics’ Most Amazing Couples

by Joseph Kramar

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NTRODUCTION: Joseph Kramar is a student of comics history, film history, etc., as well as an artist, a convention promoter, a political journalist, and a small business owner. He is currently the historian for the local Sons of the American Legion. He feels fortunate, in his youth, to have met many of the great artists and creators in the comicbook field, including most particularly Dave and Paty Cockrum, who were guests of honor at several of his comic, film, and media expos.

He feels it is vital to Dave’s legacy (he passed away in 2006, at age 63)

Dave & Paty Cockrum at a comics convention, probably sometime in the 1990s—and (below left) the Dave-drawn splash page of Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), the comic that started it all over again for Marvel’s merry mutants. Script by Len Wein. The issue’s cover was spotlighted two issues ago. Thanks to Paty for the photo.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

that fans realize that he created or co-created X-Men characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Thunderbird, Mystique, and Phoenix, as well as The Starjammers, Deathbird, Llandra, various members of DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes, and a host of others too numerous to name. As Joe says, “The wealth of creativity from the imagination and genius of Dave Cockrum will endure forever.”

In 2003, a month or two before the release of Bryan Singer’s X-Men 2 film, I made the trek up to Cragsmoor, NY, to visit with the illustrious renaissance couple Dave and Paty Cockrum. I brought them a peculiar gift: a gourmet omelet-maker set. I set up a primitive recording device and an archaic video recorder, and we spent the day and part of the evening discussing creators’ rights, office antics and politics at Marvel, DC, and Warren. We reminisced about the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages of the comics industry and our nostalgia for old film and the fantasy sci-fi genre.

I asked Dave about his creative influences and about the inspiration and origins of the diverse plethora of innovative characters he created. Although members of the world-famous Legion of Super-Heroes and X-Men characters are the most prominent, the myriad others he created are equally fascinating.

These fantastic characters may have their origins in primordial archetypes emerging from the vast depths and limitless vistas of David’s subconscious mind. I asked him about the inception, development, and genesis of the majestic matriarchal Storm, the goddess-like weather witch of The X-Men. Dave elucidated and elaborated on the creation of Storm.

He explained that, while working on concepts for what would eventually emerge in 1975 as Giant-Size X-Men #1: “I came up with a proposed Legionnaire, a bird-lady called Ketzil with a beautiful face and long hair, and a proposed X- Men character called Typhoon with weather powers. There was another proposed X-Men character called The Black Cat [not the later Spider-Man character] who wore the Storm costume without the cape. She had a tufted hairstyle like Wolverine and could transform into a humanoid cat or house cat. There was a hiatus for some reason, and the project was put aside. In the interim all these cat characters popped up— Tigra, The Cat, Pantha at Warren—so it seemed as The Black Cat was gonna be redundant. Roy Thomas said, ‘Why not make the girl Typhoon?’ That sounded interesting, so I put this cape on her from

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A 2003 Conversation With One Of Comics’ Most Amazing Couples

she had to be killed as retribution.”

I spoke of Sue Richards developing into a powerful liberated woman rising from mediocrity and obscurity, emerging to great prominence. She was a sleeper revealed at last to be in many ways the most powerful of the Fantastic Four. I believe that was in the ’70s. I remember it made an impression on me. I wrote extensively on the merits of equality of race and gender in many of my early articles. I suspect that Paty may be the inspiration for the creation of Dave’s strong female characters. She is an excellent role model for girls who wish to pursue their ambitions in this patriarchal society. I loved hearing Paty’s tales of old Marvel during the transitional period of the Silver and Bronze Ages. To some, Chris Claremont and Dave’s Giant-Size X-Men # 1 is credited with heralding in the latter.

For reasons of nostalgia, Silver Age Marvel is my personal favorite period. It was magic. In the early ’70s I attended the first Star Trek cons, Phil Seuling’s early Comic Art Cons, Creation Cons, the first Marvel and first Famous Monsters Cons. When Paty was at Marvel, she referred to the atmosphere as a boys’ club.

I loved Marie Severin’s work on Sub-Mariner and the humor books. When Paty spoke of the production work both women did with Sol Brodsky, I was impressed because some of the promo and merchandising were exemplary items. Some are more obscure and rare than the comics. I liked the two sets of Marvel Super Hero Slurpy 7-11 cups Paty designed. Marvelmania produced some great black-&-white pieces. The 1971 black light Marvel posters produced by Third Eye were extraordinary. The most beautiful, dynamic, cosmic panels from the comics by Colan, Kirby, etc., were impeccably chosen, and the vivid vibrant colors used were striking.

My favorite items were from the height of Silver Age Marvel, the 66 cards & 67 stickers, and there were bumper stickers as well. The Merry Marvel Marching Society items were magic.

A Typhoon Is A Kind Of Storm

So was the 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon series, with Cap lamenting the loss of Bucky and the girl from his past, the PTSD-like brooding about World War II, and the melodramatic

A watercolor-markers illo of Storm that Dave drew for fellow pro artist Frank Thorne, in return for one Frank had presented him featuring Red Sonja. And if anybody wonders, in Dave’s 2003 account, what Roy Thomas was doing at a meeting where new X-Men characters were being discussed—apparently, while visiting the Marvel offices in late ’74/early ’75 as a contract writer/ editor, he just stuck his head into a meeting to say hi to Dave, Len Wein, and one or two others and they asked him for his two cents. Hopefully, they got their money’s worth—but Roy only vaguely recalls the incident. [Storm TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

an unused Jean Grey costume concept and gave her the long white hair. We decided Storm was a more feminine name than Typhoon.”

Storm is one of the most eminent and striking of the leading characters in the highly lucrative X-Men films. The Cockrums mentioned that Dave’s name did not even appear in the credits. I know Dave and Paty were hurt and felt slighted by this.

I feel the “Phoenix Saga” was a most prodigious epic and harbinger of crucial events, provoking deep significant character development through the tragic drama of this powerful milestone.

I asked Dave how he created the ineffable Phoenix persona of Jean Grey. He responded: “As Marvel Girl, she fell into the category of what someone called the Stan Lee Housewife-Hero mold. We didn’t feel she had the oomph to fit into the new group, and so I came up with the Phoenix idea.” I spoke of John Byrne’s concept of the Dark Phoenix. I knew Dave was irritated by where that plot line was headed. He responded, “I liked the costume but I hated that they killed her off. Byrne, I think, set that up on purpose, having her eat the sun of the asparagus people and thereby making it that

Red-Hot Peppers Without a doubt, the animation in the 1966 five-times-a-week Marvel SuperHeroes show was primitive—but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of talent behind the scenes. Case in point: this penciled model sheet for Tony Stark/ Iron Man’s then-secretary Pepper Potts, done by prominent comics artist Doug Wildey. Thanks to Mike Mikulovsky. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

DAVE COCKRUM A Model Artist

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A Personal Look Back

by Andy Yanchus

Dave Cockrum, Andy Yanchus, & Friends Dave (on left) in a circa-1980 photo taken by his father—and (at right) Andy Yanchus—above an unused Cockrum cover featuring his Creature from the Black Lagoon-style co-creation The Manphibian. Also seen, at bottom, is a montage of Dave’s model designs for Godzilla’s buddy Rodan, the Creature his own self, the Hulk, and Frankenstein’s Monster. Thanks to Paty and Andy for the personal photos, to Andy for the model montage, and to Mike Mikulovsky for finding the artwork online. [Manphibian & Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Frankenstein’s Monster design TM & © Universal; Rodan TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

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first met Dave Cockrum in 1972. I was selling model kits at some comicbook convention in Manhattan, and my friend Mark Hanerfeld brought Dave to my table and introduced us. Dave and I clicked right at the start. He was only about 6½ months older than I, and we shared a seemingly endless number of interests—comicbooks, model building, ‘50s science-fiction movies, military aviation (especially the early jets), Warner Bros. cartoons, Godzilla movies, etc., etc. To me, it was as if I had discovered a brother I never knew I had!

I was working at Aurora in those days, supervising the development of new model kits. It was a no-brainer to hire Dave to design new dinosaur and monster kits for the company. As a fan, he knew all the details and had tons of reference. As a modeler, he knew what other builders would be looking for. As an artist, he dynamically posed the figures in ways never before seen in styrene.

Many of Dave’s designs added to Aurora’s legendary status as the leading maker of plastic model figure kits. Among them were the huge 1/12 scale Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Frankenstein Monster, Rodan and Ghidrah from Japan, and, of course, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Unfortunately, too many of the new kits Dave designed never got produced. Gort, the Metaluna Mutant, the comic strip Phantom, the Phantom of the Opera, the Mummy, King Kong, Godzilla, and a Stegosaurus were some of a painfully long list of canceled projects—killed by a management that decided to invest more money into new toys and games and reduce model kits to reissues. Ah, but the Cockrum magic couldn’t be swept aside and forgotten.

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“One Of The Most Celebrated Comicbook Artists Of Our Time” Young DAVE COCKRUM & The Barsoomian (1969-1970)

by Paul Allen

Paul Allen This photo was probably taken in October 1969, right after his graduation from Naval Officer Candidate School. He soon got commissioned, as well as married. Photo taken by Paul’s brother, Don Allen.

Dave Cockrum while in the U.S. Navy and stationed in Guam, circa 1969-70. His future wife Paty, who sent this photo and the accompanying illo, says that he was already working on “an early version of Nightcrawler” in this picture.

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early fifty years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting, purely via the U.S. mail, a young man who would go on to become one of the most celebrated comicbook artists of our time. I never met Dave Cockrum in person, but over a two-year period and in the course of at least twenty letters, I came to know him well and to this day consider him a good friend from my youthful past.

It began in mid-February 1969, when Dave wrote me as a Burroughs fan to inquire about a fanzine I published called The Barsoomian. At the time, Dave was a Yoeman second class (YN2) in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Guam. Coincidentally, I was a recently commissioned Ensign in the Navy about to depart for the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines. In his second letter to me Dave speculated that I might actually land in Guam on my way there. In fact, we did land in Guam but, sadly, it was only to refuel and we never deplaned.

Dave was an aspiring artist whose work had appeared in a few fanzines, and he offered to send me artwork for The Barsoomian.

I readily agreed and was astounded when I saw the quality of his work. I knew then this guy had a brilliant career waiting for him if he stuck to it. As you will read in the letter excerpts that follow, he

A Princess Of Barsoom A 1977 Dave Cockrum color illustration of Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ version of the Planet Mars (a.k.a. Barsoom). When Dave and Paul Allen had corresponded nearly a decade earlier, of course, the artist was still developing his skills… but this shows where he was headed. [Dejah Thoris TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Young Dave Cockrum & The Barsoomian (1969-1970)

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during my senior year of college. But when my printer increased his price, I had to delay it. I finally got to publish it with an updated editorial while at Subic Bay. In addition, the issue was a mostly photographic one with many rare photos of the first movie Tarzan, Elmo Lincoln.

I already had a Jeff Jones cover and some interior sketches by Roy Krenkel that Larry Ivie kindly loaned me (with Roy’s permission). The paste-ups were already done and camera-ready, so I really couldn’t squeeze any of Dave’s art into it.

First Contact Dave Cockrum’s very first letter to Paul Allen, 2-15-69, when both were in the U.S. Navy but destined to be stationed thousands of miles apart—in Guam and the Philippines, respectively. All of Dave’s letters to Paul that are printed with this piece are courtesy of Paul, who preserved them for half a century… for which all of comicdom owes him a debt of gratitude.

However, at the same time, I published reprints of the first eight issues of the magazine. The Barsoomian #8 was actually my first issue. The first six were published by Joseph W. Miller in 1952-53, and #7 was published by James V. Taurasi in 1954. Since they all had to be re-formatted, the first seven issues featured new front and back covers, so I was delighted to use some of Dave’s work on those reprints.

had a lot of enthusiasm and he did stick to it.

Dave sent me a lot of artwork to use in The Barsoomian and he was pretty excited to have the opportunity to have his Burroughs art published. Looking back on it, I have to laugh, because I was far more excited than him to have his art to publish! But that’s the kind of gentleman he was, modest about his own work, yet enthusiastic as all get-out about everything he did. He was anxious to work for other fanzines and I suggested a number to him, for which he thanked me in subsequent letters. What amused me was that he frequently said editors liked his “worst” work in lieu of the pieces he really liked. Take my word for it—there was no worst, it was all great.

I may have even had a hand in getting him his first published illustration in a newsstand-distributed magazine. An editor by the name of William Crawford revived an early-’50s SF magazine called Spaceways (after the 1953 movie). I wrote Crawford about Dave and suggested to Dave that he send him some art. As I recall, a drawing of John Carter by Dave appeared on the back cover of his last issue. But as you will see in the letters, Dave never got paid for it.

Unfortunately, I never got to publish a lot of his work. The Barsoomian #15 had already been fully laid out and ready to publish

“Look! Up In The Sky!” One of Dave’s early Burroughsian sketches, whose “aerial battle” is mentioned in his letter to Paul Allen dated 4-23-69. It was published as the cover for the reprint edition of Allen’s The Barsoomian #4 (1969).

[Art © Paty Cockrum.]

“One Of The Most Celebrated Comicbook Artists Of Our Time”

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From that point on, we had big plans for using Dave’s work in issues #16 and #17, including a color cover or centerfold.

But those plans never came to pass.

Coincidentally, we both got “Early Outs” from the Navy as part of the Vietnam cutbacks in 1970. Dave wrote me about his and I wrote back to tell him about mine.

Neither one of us could believe our good fortune. In late April he wrote me to say he would be heading back to the States soon to live with his in-laws in Jamaica, NY. That was the last I heard from him until the following October.

My early out became effective at the end of August when my wife and I returned to Rochester, N.Y.

2… 4… 6… 8… What The Hell Is “Gafiate”?

By the time Paul Allen says he “gafiated” from science-fiction fandom in the early 1980s, Dave had long since graduated to the revived and newly popular X-Men (above left is his first full pencil-and-ink cover, for #98, April ’76, not long after the title was resuscitated)—and to at least the first issue of Marvel’s John Carter, Warlord of Mars (June ’77), for which he inked Gil Kane’s pencils.

The text section of that issue, however, featured a touch of solo “Barsoomian” work by Cockrum—as per the above-right illo, which was later used on the title page of the hardcover John Carter, Warlord of Mars Omnibus (2012).

[X-Men cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; John Carter art TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] Incidentally, since most A/E readers (and comicbook fans generally) may be unfamiliar with the SF-fandom verb “to gafiate”—it means to become satiated, at least for a time, with SF and/or fandom and decide to “Get Away From It All.” In Ye Editor’s humble opinion, “gafiate” is right up there with “fanzine” itself as a wonderful word that science-fiction fandom bequeathed to comics fandom.

Aside from a Christmas card, my last real letter from him was dated October 1 and was a four-page hand-written letter from Bayside, NY. And it was a doozy, all about his adventures with Jim Warren, his hopes for getting in at DC Comics, and the terrific help he was getting from a fellow named Neal Adams. He was more excited than I had ever seen him before—and that is saying something! He couldn’t have been happier and I felt good for him. It was like “I’ve arrived!” Even though it was just the very beginning of his long and highly successful career.

Ironically, however, it was a career that I was never to follow.

My wife and I had started new jobs in civilian life and were saving

“You Will Find Me A Grave Man!” Cockrum’s cover sketch for Daredevil #158 (May 1979), the finished version of which would be executed by fellow artist Frank Miller. Thanks to Frank Plowright for the sketch—and to W. Shakespeare for the quotation.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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PRESENTS

by Peter Normanton A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: For a decade, beginning in 2000, Peter Normanton published and edited the British horror-comics fanzine From the Tomb. It was a high-quality production that specialized in examining material from the (mostly later) 1940s through the mid-1950s, the haunted heyday of the genre in the U.S. Since his magazine’s, er, demise, two Best of collections have come out from TwoMorrows Publishing. Along the way, I offered Peter a spot to continue his awardwinning periodical in the pages of Alter Ego—if not necessarily in each issue, then at least in every issue in which I can find space! He recently sent me his first few contributions. And so, without further preface or pontification, I’ll turn things over to the ol’ Tomb-Tender himself....

~Peter Normanton.

Adventures Into The Unknown (Right:) The covers to the first two issues of the American Comics Group title (with cover dates Fall 1948 & Dec. 1948-Jan. 1949), which featured art by Edvard Moritz, left the reader little doubt as to what lay within. AITU became the first regularly published horror comicbook. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

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t must have seemed like a real-life adventure into the unknown for editor Richard Hughes and his team when Adventures into the Unknown prepared to debut in the summer months of 1948, cover-dated for the fall of that year. At that moment in comicbook history Adventures into the Unknown was the only one of its kind, a bona fide horror comic, pre-dating its competitors’ more notorious output by just a few months. With the decline of the Golden Age super-hero following the Allied victory over the Axis powers, a combination of crime, comedy, and romance had come to the fore in a period of widespread experimentation, as the publishers sought the next big seller. Hughes had high hopes for this latest addition to the company roster, hopes that would very quickly transcend his wildest dreams, but, as we shall see, were not entirely without precedent.

A Step Into The Unknown!

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During the winter months of 1947, Avon had released Eerie Comics #1, one of their earlier one-shot titles. While this issue can lay claim to being the very first horror anthology, it was in turn foreshadowed by several equally chilling entries. Amongst the most notable were Gilberton’s Classics Illustrated #13, which adapted Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as early as 1944, with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein being similarly represented in issue #26 of this series a little over twelve months later.

As war came to an end in the summer of 1945, the first issue of Yellowjacket Comics, published by The Frank Comunale Publishing Company (later Charlton Comics), sat inauspiciously alongside the legendary super-hero titles of the day. Sepulchred within was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat,” in what would become the semi-regular horror series “Famous Tales of Terror.” “The Pit and the Pendulum” received a similar telling in this title’s third edition, with “The Fall of the House of Usher” following in #4 and “The Tell-Tale Heart” in #6. Alan Mandel was handed the creative reins for the last of these “Famous Tales of Terror,” the barely remembered “The Avenging Hand!,” destined to appear in issue #7, cover-dated January 1946. Sadly, the horror fans of the day were denied any more of these spine-tingling episodes as Yellowjacket Comics fell from the company’s schedule as of issue #10.

Not long after these “Famous Tales of Terror” had premiered in Yellowjacket Comics, Halloween beckoned. Just to keep with the seasonal spirit, DC’s Comics Cavalcade #12 sported a pumpkin super-hero cover, but that was to be their absolute limit.

Harvey Comics however, surprised the comic-buying public with another of those highly collectible one-off titles, Front Page Comic Book, introduced by an unusually chilling Bob Fujitani cover. This issue unveiled “The Man in Black” as the host to a supernatural mystery/war hybrid. There was an intimation of something strange at hand, but this unnerving air was not in attendance when The Man in Black returned in All-New Comics #11, during the early months of 1945. However, the tone for his next appearance in the pages of All-New Comics #14, cover-dated Jan.-Feb. 1947, was profoundly more atmospheric.

Signposts On The Road To Horror Comics (From top of page:) The Ken Battefield-penciled cover of proto-Charlton’s Yellowjacket Comics #7 (Jan. 1946) captured the essence of later horror comics while also playing host to the last of that title’s “Famous Tales of Terror,” written and drawn by Alan Mandel. Harvey’s one-shot Front Page Comic Book was the showcase for a macabre Bob Fujitani graveyard scene as early as 1945. Batman (as drawn by Bob Kane) had been on the trail of an actual vampire in Detective Comics #1 (Sept. 1939)—whereas by the fall of 1945 Comic Cavalcade #12 could only tease playfully with its Halloween-style cover by E.E. Hibbard.

Classic Comics #13 (Aug. 1943) did far more than tease, unsettling its readers with a 53-page adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s time-honored chiller, behind an Arnold L. Hicks cover. [Detective & Comic Cavalcade covers TM & © DC Comics; Classic Comics cover TM & © Frawley Corporation and its exclusive licensee First Classics, Inc.; other covers © the respective copyright holders.]

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(Above top & bottom:) Charles Biro photo from Gleason’s Desperado #1 (June 1948) and Stan Lee from 1966. (Top right, first two panels:) Daredevil from Daredevil #44 (Sept. 1947). Art by Norman Maurer, script by Biro. (Last 2 panels:) Stan Lee and Wally Wood magic from Marvel’s Daredevil #5 (Dec. 1964).

Maurer and Wood even made sitting at a desk look exciting! [© Marvel and Gleason Pubs.\]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Charles Biro—The Other Stan Lee! (Part 3)

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by Michael T. Gilbert

n our two previous installments, we discussed notable similarities between Stan Lee and Charles Biro. Lee admired Biro’s writing and editorial expertise, abilities that helped catapult Gleason Publishing’s big three titles—the original Daredevil, Boy Comics, and Crime Does Not Pay—into some of the best-selling comics of the Golden Age. Lee would later do the same thing for Marvel in the 1960s, with the help of superstar artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. But for all of Lee’s success at Marvel, his detractors charged him with being a credit hog. Biro had similar accusations thrown at him.

“Bluff The Ending!”

In personal correspondence with Glen D. Johnson (12/24/1996), Gleason artist Pete Morisi shared this tidbit: “Biro did some art (all Biro) early on. Steel Sterling, a few Daredevils, Sgt. Boyle, Corporal Collins, and then switched to writing and doing covers for all his books. Then, as the workload got too heavy, other artists did the pencils for some of his covers.

Biro would change a couple of figures, ink the cover, and sign it with a big CHARLIE BIRO.” Morisi added this postscript in a letter of 1/12/97:

Morisi’s tale sounds quite similar to complaints lodged against Lee decades later. But for all his faults, Biro had a definite editorial viewpoint, one that made his books sell like crazy!

“A Little Piece Of The Brain…”

“Charlie used to yell at me, ‘I don’t want art—I want detail!’”said Bob Fujitani. “That’s what people look for. That’s what impresses them. He published a cover that had a criminal shoving a woman’s face into a lit gas burner on the stove, and he showed it to me. He said, ‘Look at that! Look at the detail! See that gas burner? There were the little holes where the gas shot out of the burner and he thought that was magnificent. If you drew a guy being shot in the head, you had to have a little piece of the brain coming out of the back with little hairs sticking out of it. ‘That’s what sells!’”

Crime Does Not Pay artist Tony DiPreta echoed Morisi’s observations, as related in David Hajdu’s The Ten Cent Plague.

“Charlie didn’t want to know anything about symbolism or any of that. He wanted very precise realism, exactly the way things looked. What I learned to do, working for him, was, if there was a machine gun in the story, I went out to find a real machine gun. Now, a lot of people working for other guys, if there was a machine gun, they’d make one up. Well, he didn’t want us to do that. I remember… there was a gun dealer in New York that Charlie knew, and I went to the place and I got my hands on the guns I was supposed to draw.”

DiPreta continued, “To Biro, realism and violence were inextricable. In addition to demonstrating this through the

“To clear up what I told you about Charlie Biro’s covers, let me say that most of them were all Biro. It was only during the end of his career (probably due to an increased workload) that he mixed and matched his covers with other artists.

“I remember getting a script from Biro, with the last few pages missing. He told me to ‘bluff through the ending’—that he’d fix it when I returned it. Well, I wrote the last few pages of the script, and brought the criminal to justice and illustrated the story.

“Old Charlie didn’t change a word of the script, printed it as is, and didn’t pay me for the writing, to boot. Such is the comic book business!!! I guess I could have yelled and screamed over the above, but by the time I saw the published book, it was months later, at a time when Biro’s books were failing, and I didn’t want to add to his problems.”

Twice-Told Torture!

Biro was not above swiping a good cover idea. His gruesome cover to Crime Does Not Pay #24 (Nov. 1942) was clearly based on Allen Anderson’s cover for the pulp magazine Gangland Detective, Vol. 2, #3 (Sept. 1940). Biro likely came across it while searching for true crime stories for his comics. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

73

MANLY WADE WELLMAN

David Drake Discusses His Friend & Fellow Writer Interview Conducted by Richard J. Arndt

I

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903-April 5, 1986) was already a major pulp writer when his first comicbook stories were published in Pep Comics #1 (Jan. 1940) for MLJ Comics, forerunner of today’s Archie Comics. Over the next fifteen years, he maintained a dual career, continuing his pulp/ literary career writing mostly fantasy and science-fiction stories as well as historical works, while also scripting for comics. During those years he scribed the adventures of such features as “Captain Marvel” and “Spy Smasher” for Fawcett Publications, “Captain America” for Timely Comics (today’s Marvel), “Tarantula,” “Aquaman,” and “The Phantom Stranger” for National Comics (today’s DC Comics), and, for Quality Comics, “Blackhawk” and “Plastic Man.” He also filled in, along with William Woolfolk and occasionally Jack Cole, on Will Eisner’s newspaper comic insert The Spirit after Eisner was drafted during the Second World War. Although most of Wellman’s known comicbook credits appear to be concentrated between 1940 and 1945, his journals show that he was making considerable money writing comics even in the post-WWII years.

In addition to his comics work, Wellman is best known for his fantasy prose characters, including John the Balladeer, Judge Pursuivant, and John Thunstone. He is also the author of dozens of historical, science-fiction, and mystery novels, as well as nonfiction biographies—one of which, Rebel Boast, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize—and local regional history books.

Manly Wade Wellman during the Golden Age—juxtaposed with a page from Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (March 1941). The entire issue, including this tale that takes place on the planet Saturn, was produced over one weekend

by Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Dick Briefer, and others holed up together in a hotel room. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

David Drake, a noted author in his own right as the creator of the Hammer’s Slammers military science-fiction series, a co-founder of the small press publishing company Carcosa, and a longtime friend of Wellman’s, kindly agreed to be interviewed for this edition of FCA on February 19, 2019.

RICHARD ARNDT: My guess would be that you’re more familiar with Manly Wade Wellman’s prose career in literature than you are with his comicbook work.

DAVID DRAKE: Yes, that would be correct. I started reading Manly’s stories and novels at age thirteen. I’m not a comics person.

I remember when Marvel Comics started making a big splash in the early 1960s, when I was an undergraduate. However, I never had any significant contact with those. The only comics I really remember reading on my own were the war comics of the 1950s— also the funny-animal comics. I was thoroughly familiar with Carl Barks, long before I had any notion of who he was. [laughs] RA: You certainly wouldn’t be the only reader who was thoroughly aware of Barks and his work on “Donald Duck” and “Uncle Scrooge” without actually knowing his name. His identity didn’t become common knowledge until the early 1970s, long after he’d retired from writing and drawing comics.

DRAKE: My mom didn’t really like comics, although, like I said, I was permitted to read funny-animal comics. The fact that Barks was doing a lot of really good ones at the time was noticeable. I perhaps wasn’t as handicapped in my comics background as I thought I was!

RA: Let’s discuss your memories of Manly Wade Wellman. I understand that he was born overseas…

Fawcett Collectors Of America

74

DRAKE: Yes! He was born in Kamundongo, in what is today’s Angola. He used to tell me that it wasn’t called Angola then, but in fact it was, according to an 1890s travel book on Africa that I read. However, it was more commonly known as Portuguese West Africa. His father, Frederick Creighton Wellman, was a doctor there. He was not a medical missionary, but the Presbyterian Church started a hospital in the middle of Angola, and he was the doctor employed by the Church to work there.

Manly was only the second white child born in that region.

The first was his brother Paul, who was two years older than Manly. The eldest brother of the family, Creighton—named after his father—had been born in the States.

Manly and Paul were very close, all their lives. Paul wrote mainstream bestsellers—novels like The Female and The Iron Mistress. Many of Paul’s novels were made into films. On the other hand, when Manly started writing fiction, it was pulp fiction. He was in his mid-twenties when his debut fiction story “The Lion Roared” was published in a pulp magazine called Thrilling Tales.

However, both of them started out as journalists. When the family returned to the United States, they moved around the country, living for a time in Washington, DC, then in Salt Lake City.

Manly attended college in Wichita, Kansas, at Wichita Municipal University [now Wichita State University]. It was in Wichita that the two brothers started their journalism careers.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW,

Paul was the managing editor, while was a crime and CLICK THE LINK TOManly ORDER THIS court reporter, forISSUE the Wichita Eagle.OR Then the ownership of the IN PRINT DIGITAL FORMAT! paper became Republican. Both the Wellman boys were staunch Democrats. At the same time, the rival paper in Wichita became one run by Democrats. The two papers were actually on opposite sides of the street, and there was an entire change of personnel between the Wichita Eagle and the Wichita Beacon. The brothers switched over to the Beacon and Manly continued working as a reporter for his brother, who remained a managing editor. Manly was also writing the film reviews for the Beacon.

Paul began writing historical novels dealing with the Indian Wars and eventually moved to New York around 1934. Manly soon followed him.

As mentioned, Manly had been writing for various pulps while still working as a reporter, but in New York he also began ALTERthe EGO #163 fantasy pulps, writing to a much greater extent horror ofand The early days of DAVEfor COCKRUM—Legion Super-Heroes artist and co-developer of the revived mid-1970s X-Men—as such as, among others, Weird Tales.

His wife, Frances, also wrote revealed in art-filled letters to PAUL ALLEN and rare, previously horror fiction. In 1939 he moved to West Orange, New Jersey, and I unseen illustrations provided by wife PATY COCKRUM (including 1960s-70s Edgar Rice Burroughs Plus FCA— think it was there that he drawings beganofwriting for theheroes)! comics.

MICHAEL T. GILBERT on PETE MORISI—JOHN BROOME—BILL SCHELLY, and more!

He would send in what he called “squinkas” [pronounced (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 “squink-as”], which was a term I(Digital thinkEdition) he coined, although other $4.99 writers also used thehttp://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1427 term.

RA: What did he mean when he called the comic scripts that?

DRAKE: It just meant that he would send in to the editor in New York City, by train, these little plot-and-dialogue scripts to the comic companies, and then get the check back by return mail. Fifty bucks. The script would be given to an artist, drawn, and appear in a comic, usually very quickly.

By this time, Manly was a fairly major pulp writer, particularly in fantasy and science-fiction. He did a lot of work for Astounding Science Fiction. Not that much for John Campbell, but quite a bit for the editor who preceded him, F. Olin Tremaine. He broke with Campbell over a book Manly’d written called Twice in Time, which was a Leonardo da Vinci novel involving time travel. Campbell told Manly that he, Manly, didn’t understand da Vinci and that Campbell was going to have to edit it massively. Manly told him to go piss up a rope. They didn’t work together after that. [laughs] Campbell had been trying to start a fantasy magazine…

RA: Yes, Unknown, or Unknown Worlds, as it ended up.

What A Startling Development This Is!

DRAKE: No! That was the point. Campbell got Manly and L. Sprague de Camp, as well as Julie Schwartz, who was an agent for science-fiction and fantasy writers at the time, to a lunch meeting and told them that he was going to do a new magazine. He wanted to publish fantasy stories that would be in the same mode as the science-fiction stories in Astounding, which, at Campbell’s insistence, were often based on real science. He wanted the group to brainstorm a title for such a fantasy magazine. Manly suggested Tain’t So Stories. Manly was very clear when he spoke, at least when I knew him. [chuckles] He had a degree of contempt for Campbell, who was younger than Manly. Campbell, of course, came up with the final title, Unknown, I think pretty much on his own.

Before turning to comics, Wellman wrote first for the pulp magazines of the day. His book-length novel Devil’s Planet was published in Thrilling’s Startling Stories for January 1942—just one of MWW’s many pulp stories.

Cover art by Rudolph Belarski. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

One of the things that Manly held against Campbell was that Campbell had invited Manly and Frances, along with—it may have been Sprague deCamp and his wife—to dinner at Campbell’s home. Manly was vastly irritated by Campbell opening a can of

ALTER EGO #164

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40th Anniversary interview with SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE director RICHARD DONNER, IRWIN ALLEN’s sci-fi universe, Saturday morning’s undersea adventures of Aquaman, horror and sci-fi zines of the Sixties and Seventies, Spider-Man and Hulk toilet paper, RetroTravel to METROPOLIS, IL (home of the Superman Celebration), SEA-MONKEYS®, FUNNY FACE beverages, Superman and Batman memorabilia, & more!

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