Alter Ego #166 by TwoMorrows Publishing

FEATURING:

Roy Thomas' Twin-Fawcett Comics Fanzine

KURT SCHAFFENBERGER GOLDEN AGE GREAT

& ALEX ROSS

82658 00410

Art TM & © DC Comics; Shazam is TM DC Comics.

MODERN-DAY SHAZAM! MASTER

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No. 166 November 2020

RETROFAN #7

Featuring a JACLYN SMITH interview, as we reopen the Charlie’s Angels Casebook, and visit the Guinness World Records’ largest Charlie’s Angels collection. Plus: an exclusive interview with funnyman LARRY STORCH, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Captain Action, a vintage interview with Jonny Quest creator DOUG WILDEY, a visit to the Land of Oz, the ultra-rare Marvel World superhero playset, & more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.95 • Now shipping!

Vol. 3, No. 166 / November 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

Contents

Cover Artist

Writer/Editorial: The Once & Future Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 FCA [Fawcett Collector Of America] #225 [Cover] . . . . . . . . 3

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding Kurt Schaffenberger

Cover Colorist

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel 4

Uncertain

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Mark Ammerman Bob Bailey Ricky Terry Brisacque Bernie Bubnis Mike Burkey Bart Bush Glen Cadigan Aaron Caplan Nick Caputo J. Michael Catron John Cimino Shaun Clancy ComicLink (website) coollinesartwork. com (website) Chet Cox Sean Dulaney Shane Foley Stephan Friedt Ken Gale Paul Gambaccini Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Jim Gray Walt Grogan Bruce Guthrie Dan Hagen

P.C. Hamerlinck presents a triple helping of Fawcett- (and DC-) related art history.

George Hagenauer Dennis Haycock Tom Hamilton Fred Janssen Josh Johnson Douglas (Gaff) Jones Jim Kealy Mark Lewis Jim Ludwig John Lustig Russ Maheras Bob McLain Doug Martin Mark Muller Ron Murphy Mark Nobleman Peter Normanton Nils Osmar Jake Oster Bud Plant Al Rodriguez Gene Reed Alex Ross Jason Sacks Gary Sassaman Janice Sheldon David Siegel Marc Svensson Dann Thomas Michael Vance Mark Voger Frank M. Young

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Kurt & Dorothy Schaffenberger, Hy Fleishman, Nick Cuti, Frank McLaughlin, & Bill Schelly

Kurt & Dorothy Schaffenberger—from Captain Marvel to Lois Lane, and back again!

“Comics Are My Living—Not My Life!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Public & Private Times of artist Kurt S., as recalled by Mark Voger.

Echoes Of Shazam! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Artist supreme Alex Ross shares his ultra-Shazam! tapestries—and the secrets behind them!

Tributes To Bill Schelly – Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Jeff Gelb showcases more memories of comics’ foremost biographer and fan historian.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Mort Weisinger: The Superman Behind Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert spotlights Part I of Sam Moskowitz’s portrait of a major DC editor.

Ping-Pong & Peggy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Golden/Silver Age scripter John Broome’s 1998 memoirs, lucky Part XIII.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 In Memoriam: Frank McLaughlin, Nick Cuti, & Hy Fleishman . . 71 From The Tomb Presents: Pre-Code Horror – Girls In Peril . . 75

Peter Normanton portrays damsels in distress—and how!—back in the fear-fraught ’50s!

On Our Cover: Kurt Schaffenberger was definitely one of the Fawcett-era artists who best made the jump from the Golden Age into the Silver. In fact, he went from Captain Marvel to Superman—which is a leap upward, downward, or sideways, depending on one’s point of view. In 1977 he contributed a great illo of the World’s Mightiest Mortal and Dr. Sivana for that year’s DC Calendar—and we couldn’t wait to celebrate it as an Alter Ego cover! Coloring may be by DC production chief Sol Harrison. [TM & © DC Comics.] Above: One of the most important comic artists of recent decades has been Alex Ross, beginning with his work on the 1994 painted Marvel series entitled simply Marvels—and followed up by various painted series for Marvel, DC, Dynamite, et al. He has worked with virtually the entire Marvel and DC Universes, and with many public domain heroes—yet in a very real sense some of his most memorable work has been done with the original Captain Marvel, as per this powerful illustration provided us by the good people at ComicLink. [TM & © DC Comics.] 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.

The Once & Future Captain writer/editorial

t’s been a little while since an issue of Alter Ego has spotlighted the FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], but it’s back with a vengeance!

ultra-collector Harry Matesky—and coverage of non-Shazamic Fawcett heroes such as Spy Smasher, Ibis the Invincible, Captain Video, etc. And there’ll be more of their ilk in near-future editions.

We lead off with a transcription of a one-man panel from 1996 featuring artist Kurt Schaffenberger (“one man,” yes—but his sparkling wife Dorothy was on hand, too, and piped in with welcome ad libs)… followed by Mark Voger’s account of his friendship with the “Schaffs.” Since Kurt was one of the handful of artists most closely associated with the Marvel Family title, especially in its later years, he fulfills our “Golden Age” quota for the issue, for sure! And that’s despite the fact that, beginning in the last half of the 1950s, he also became the major artist of DC’s Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane, and thus segued into drawing the Man of Steel, who for years had vied with the so-called World’s Mightiest Mortal for the title of the most popular (not to mention the strongest) super-hero in the whole wide four-color world.

However, true is true: The absolute epitome of Fawcett’s comicbook line during the 1940s and up through 1953 was Captain Marvel—and, to a lesser extent, his lightning-powered Family unit. And that’s what’s in the dead center of our bullseye this time around.

And, not to neglect more recent times, we’re also proud to print artwork and an article by Alex Ross, one of the most influential comics artists of the past quarter of a century, ever since his and Kurt Busiek’s series Marvels. But Alex, whose career really falls outside A/E’s “up through 1975” franchise, has a special Golden and Silver Age relevance this time, as he’s given us permission to print his two huge tableaux of virtually every comics hero ever directly influenced by Fawcett’s Big Red Cheese—and that’s a whole multitude of long-underwear stalwarts. As longtime editor/proprietor (and erstwhile publisher) of FCA, our San Diego-based buddy P.C. Hamerlinck has been striving of late, after well over 200 editions, to focus when possible on other Fawcett mainstays than Captain Marvel and his extended Family of Junior, Mary, Uncle, Bunny, et al. We’ve seen welcome studies of creators like Manly Wade Wellman, Walter Gibson, William Woolfolk, and Sven Elven—a piece on Captain Marvel

On a personal note: I’ve been happy, since 1967, to be associated with more than one Marvel Comics hero who’s borne the moniker “Captain Marvel.” I became the scripter of the first of those with his second outing, after he’d been launched by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. I was pleased, two years later, to step in and re-vamp Mar-Vell in conjunction with Gil Kane. And it was a source of amusement when I learned that not only had Carol Danvers (a character I’d co-created in the first “Captain Marvel” story I ever wrote) become a third and quite popular Marvel Captain Marvel, and eventually the star of a blockbuster movie… but that the seeds of Carol’s super-powers had been sown in one of the 1969-70 Captain Marvel issues Gil and I had done. Still, I’m likewise proud to have had the chance, at DC during the ’80s, to scribe a number of Superman/Captain Marvel encounters, to restore Hoppy the Marvel Bunny to comics, and to become the first writer to play around with the notion that Cap and Billy were indeed the same person merely wearing different bodies—two years before the movie Big came out. In short—as long as I’m around, there’ll always be a place for Captain Marvel—including the original Captain Marvel—in the pages of Alter Ego.

Bestest,

COMING IN DECEMBER

167

A Star-Spangled Salute To

SYD SHORES

racters, Inc.]

[Art TM & © Marvel Cha

• An authentic Golden Age image—Captain America & Bucky by SYD SHORES! • A triple bird’s-eye look at SYD SHORES, Timely/Marvel mainstay of the 1940s & ’50s— and mighty Marvel embellisher of the 1960s & ’70s! POVs by daughter NANCY SHORES KARLEBACH—Timely artist ALLEN BELLMAN—and comics historian DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO! With additional art & artifacts by JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY, AL AVISON, STAN LEE, et al.! • Remember The Green Turtle back in A/E #164? Welcome to an in-depth look at his creator, CHU HING—one of the first Asian-American artists in the U.S. comicbook industry! And he didn’t stop with Ol’ Shellback! • PLUS: FCA—MICHAEL T. GILBERT with more on Superman editor MORT WEISINGER— JOHN BROOME, Part XIV—& MORE!!

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FCA

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: A favorite among Golden-Silver-Bronze Age comicbook connoisseurs, genial gentleman Kurt Schaffenberger—the illustrator with the clean line and distinguishing style—was best known for his polished work on Fawcett’s Marvel Family as well as being the preeminent and definitive Lois Lane artist at DC Comics. Kurt got his start at Jack Binder’s Englewood, New Jersey, studio, where he was part of a comicbook art-producing “assembly line” that included many of his fellow Pratt Institute graduates. During World War II, Kurt served for four years with Special Services in England and the OSS (forerunner of the CIA). After the war, he returned to what became his life’s work. From the Marvel Family to the Superman Family, Captain Marvel was his unequivocal favorite out of all the assignments that had

Kurt & Dorothy Schaffenberger in November 1998, framed by: (Left:) Schaffenberger’s cover for The Marvel Family #69 (March 1952). Besides C.C. Beck, Kurt was the other main artist for the World’s Mightiest Family. [Shazam heroes, Billy Batson, Mary Batson, & Freddy Freeman TM & © DC Comics.] (Right:) The everinquisitive and intrepid newspaper reporter finds herself in another jam on Schaffenberger’s cover for Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #76 (Aug. 1967). [TM & © DC Comics.]

made their way onto his drawing board. I had the pleasure of meeting Kurt in 1995, and he will always remain one of my artistic heroes. In the following year, he was a special guest at the San Diego Comic-Con International, where he received the Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts. At the convention, he participated in a Golden Age panel (to be featured in a future issue) and in the following solo panel. The “panel” was unique in that, throughout its entire duration, it was simply Kurt interacting with fans in a 45-minute Q&A session without a moderator. Thanks to super-fan David Siegel for arranging Kurt’s appearance at the convention that year, and to archivist Marc Svensson—preserver and protector of Comic-Con panels past. —P.C. Hamerlinck.

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel

HOST: Could you start by telling us a little bit about your first interest in comics and how you decided to turn them into a career? KURT SCHAFFENBERGER: Well, I did not have an interest in comics. When I started in 1941, I knew nothing about them. I had graduated from art school [Pratt Institute], and the first job I landed [the Jack Binder studio] was drawing comics … and I’ve been stuck in it ever since. [laughs] AUDIENCE MEMBER: I’d like to hear about your work at Fawcett. SCHAFFENBERGER: Well, they were good years. We were young… newlyweds. I worked there for a number of years, until 1952 [sic–it was actually 1953]. The trial—Superman [National] vs. Fawcett—had been going on. My wife had attended several of the hearings, and things seemed to have been going very well for Fawcett—until one day, I get a phone call from [editor] Wendell Crowley telling me it was over and I was no longer employed drawing comics. And then I spent some years trying to line up new assignments. Finally, in 1957, while my wife and I were in Maine on vacation, I got a phone call from Otto Binder telling me that Mort Weisinger is looking for an artist to do Lois Lane. So, when we got home, I packed up some samples, took them over and showed them to Weisinger, and he hired me. I drew Lois Lane for many years. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Kurt, did you work from home or work in the DC bullpen? SCHAFFENBERGER: I never worked in the bullpen there. I had a studio built on the back of my house. I had a 4’ x 9’ picture window—a beautiful place to work—and I worked there for many years, until we sold the house back in ’89 and moved to central New Jersey from northern New Jersey. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What working hours did you keep? Jack Kirby had worked in the early morning hours. That was his time to be creative. SCHAFFENBERGER: Not mine. [laughs] I started in the mornings, but generally what I had done in the morning I wound up doing over again at night. My best hours were from about noon until 6 p.m. when we’d knock off for dinner. And then I’d generally work

How Kurt Schaffenberger Got His (Second) Job (Above:) Writer Otto Binder and artist Kurt Schaffenberger’s “How Lois Lane Got Her Job” from Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #17 (May 1960). During his ’96 San Diego Comic-Con solo panel, Kurt explained to fans how he (through a tip from Otto) landed his first “Lois Lane” assignment in 1957. [TM & © DC Comics.] (Right:) Otto, Dorothy, and Kurt at New Hampshire’s White Mountains National Forest, 1948. Photo taken by Ione Binder.

for a few more hours, until 10 o’clock at night. We had a dog at the time who could tell time. He knew when 10 o’clock rolled around and it was time for his walk. And he would not let me forget it. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can you tell us more about Wendell Crowley? SCHAFFENBERGER: He was a giant of a man, physically. He stood a good 6’9”. Jack Binder hired him. Initially, he was an office boy for us. Wendell would take the completed pages from Binder’s studio in Englewood, New Jersey, and go deliver them in New York City. He gradually worked his way up to where he became an editor for Fawcett during the war. A lot of the guys from Binder’s studio were off in the service, including me. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How were you paid at the Binder shop? SCHAFFENBERGER: He got paid and he paid us. AUDIENCE MEMBER: When did you meet C.C. Beck? SCHAFFENBERGER: I happened to meet Beck and his family through Jack Binder, as they were personal friends. Beck was living fairly close by to Binder, and we used to have a group of us that would get together every Saturday night for bowling, then head back to one of our homes for beer and drinks…

From Captain Marvel To Lois Lane--And Back Again!

The Sons Of Thunder (And Shazam! Lightning)! The Fawcett “family” were sure a friendly, party-going lot! Here are scenes from a few 1940s festivities, clockwise from above left:] The Jack Binder family greet their guests during a party at their home in 1941. On the right is super-tall Wendell Crowley, who in a couple of years would become one of Fawcett’s greatest editors. From that same 1941 party (l to r): Kurt Schaffenberger (playing accordion), Al Duca, Olga Binder (Jack’s wife), Marie Binder (Jack & Otto’s mother), Ione Binder (Otto’s wife), unknown. A post-WWII party at the Schaffenberger residence, featuring Fawcett comics friends (left to right:) Kurt S., Jack Binder, Pete Riss, C.C. Beck, two unknown attendees. Photo provided by Dorothy Schaffenberger to the FCA editor many years ago.

Studio Portraits (Above:) 1941 photo taken at the Jack Binder studio—a renovated barn next to Jack’s home in Englewood, New Jersey, which produced comic pages in assembly-line fashion for Nedor, Lev Gleason, Street & Smith, and (mostly) Fawcett Publications. (L to r:) Bob Butts, Kurt Schaffenberger, Al Duca, Bob Rylans, Jack Binder. (Right:) Early 1942 at the Jack Binder studio. (Clockwise from left:) Johnny Westlake, Samuel Memphis Brooks, Nat Champlin, Kurt Schaffenberger. Note the comic art page of “Ajax, the Sun Man” (written by Otto Binder for Doc Savage Comics) in the upper right corner that the boys had just completed for Street & Smith Publications. By June of that year, Kurt would be drafted into the U.S. Army.

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel

DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: And play cards. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Who else was in the shop at that time? SCHAFFENBERGER: There was a lot of us who had graduated together from art school—Pratt—and got jobs there. Ken Bald, who became a supervisor at the studio, later went into syndicated work. There was also Vic Dowd, Bob Butts, Jimmy Potter, Al Duca… DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: Pete Riss. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What was your favorite character to work on? SCHAFFENBERGER: Mine was always Captain Marvel, [a few scattered claps] because, while it was a super-hero thing, it was not taken as seriously as Superman— which was serious business. Captain Marvel was taken sort of tongue-in-cheek. AUDIENCE MEMBER: You’re well known for your drawing of women… SCHAFFENBERGER: You try to draw them as pretty as you can. There’s not much call for ugly women. [audience laughter] You tried to draw them as curvaceous as allowed and as pretty as you could. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you use models?

S.O.S. (Save Our Super-hero)

SCHAFFENBERGER: No, not really. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you study life drawing? Your understanding of anatomy is excellent.

“Captain Marvel Saves Captain Marvel”—from Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #132 (April ’51), written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Kurt S. Ultimately, though, not even that superlative team could save the World’s Mightiest Mortal the first time around—from Superman’s legal team. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

SCHAFFENBERGER: Well, thank you. I took life drawing class back at Pratt Institute, and part of the class was learning human anatomy.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did they dialogue it afterwards? SCHAFFENBERGER: The dialogue was written in with the script.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Were there any writers whose scripts you preferred working on over others?

SCHAFFENBERGER: I was born in the Thuringian Forest farm village of Zella-Mehlis, Germany. My family came to the U.S. in ’28 when I was seven. I was raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, where I went to school. In 1938, I lived in Brooklyn when I attended Pratt, and then moved to Englewood, New Jersey, where Jack Binder had his studio. And that is where I met my bride, who is sitting in the front row today… 50 years later.

SCHAFFENBERGER: Otto Binder would be the first. Cary Bates was also good to work with.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I’d like to know how much influence you had on the stories. Your characters are so expressive and the storytelling is outstanding. How much of that came from the script and how much of it came from you? SCHAFFENBERGER: Well, the whole set-up was from the script, and then I had to try and make that as interesting and nice-looking as possible; most of that came from me. The writers gave you a general outline of where the storyline was going and you tried to make the best of it.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: What was Otto Binder like, and can you describe the work process the two of you had on the stories? SCHAFFENBERGER: Otto Binder was a good friend. He was a short, stocky fellow. He was a very likable sort of a guy. As friends and as co-workers, we saw a lot of each other. As far as how our working process was carried out, Otto would take several plots to the editor and they would hash out how things were going to come out. Otto would then write the script. I would get it, pencil the story, and bring it in to the editor. The balloons and lettering would be put in, then I’d take it back home to ink and do any corrections that the editor wanted, then deliver it back to the publisher. AUDIENCE MEMBER: You weren’t edited too much, were you?

From Captain Marvel To Lois Lane--And Back Again!

Friends At Fawcett—Friends At DC! (Above:) After the two “Lois Lane” Showcase issues (#8 & 9) drawn by Al Plastino, Kurt Schaffenberger became her regular artist when Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane began regular publication. Here is the Schaffenberger & Binder collaboration from LL #4 (Sept. 1958); with thanks to Bob Bailey. (And, at right, starting from top:) A 1948 snapshot of Dorothy S., Ione & Otto Binder, and Kurt S. relaxing in the backyard of the Binder residence—“the house that Captain Marvel built,” as it was figuratively referred to by Otto and his circle of friends. Comics’ Mightiest Couples: color photo of the Binders and the Schaffenbergers vacationing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 1948.

SCHAFFENBERGER: No. I was very fortunate in that regard, as there were very few things I ever had to re-draw. AUDIENCE MEMBER: In comparison to your art style, have you seen examples of today’s comic art which has evolved into being busier and more-detailed? SCHAFFENBERGER: Yes—too much detail for the most part, I think. [audience applause] I’ve not seen too many comics lately, but I’m not happy with what I’ve seen. They’ve gone too far with the whole “dire consequences” thing. You know, where everything is wiped out and we have to start all over again. I think it’s very depressing. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Were you interested in doing the “Lois Lane” stories because they were driven by the female characters?

SCHAFFENBERGER: That’s just the way things happened. I guess they liked the way I drew females, so they gave me a female-type story. I had little control over what I got to work on. You drew whatever it is they gave you. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How many pages a week could you do? SCHAFFENBERGER: I generally worked at the rate of one page a day. What I’d do is I would pencil two pages a day or ink two pages a day, which wound up as being one complete page a day. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How many panels per page? SCHAFFENBERGER: Generally speaking, it would be six panels per page, for the most part.

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you prefer to ink your own work? SCHAFFENBERGER: It was my preference to ink my own stuff. It was my favorite way to work. I didn’t always get the opportunity. They sometimes farmed it out to others to ink. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What illustration work did you do outside of comics? SCHAFFENBERGER: I did the occasional commercial job, or an illustration for a magazine, but nothing on any kind of steady basis at all. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you talk with other artists when you’d go into the city?

Out With The “Old”—In With The “New”! (Left:) Among numerous others, Schaffenberger illustrated Fawcett’s very last “Marvel Family” tale—the prophetically titled “Then There Were None” (The Marvel Family #89, Jan. 1954)— after which he was left scrambling for work in the aftermath of Fawcett’s termination of its comicbook line. [Shazam heroes, Billy Batson, Mary Batson, & Freddy Freeman TM & DC Comics.] (Below:) “The Evil Return of the Monster Society,” featuring a villainous group that had first surfaced in the 1940s, was scripted by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger for Shazam! #14 (Sept.-Oct. ’74). However, Kurt felt that few DC writers ever really understood Captain Marvel. [TM & © DC Comics.]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: How did you wind up working on Captain Marvel again at DC? SCHAFFENBERGER: One day someone said, “Hey, we’ve got Schaffenberger! He used to do it!” So … Schaffenberger did it again. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Your art style really hasn’t changed too much over the years… SCHAFFENBERGER: I’ve never changed it too much. You know, what I was doing back then I am still doing, and I hope I’m doing it better. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What references did you use to keep Lois Lane and Lana Lang up to date? SCHAFFENBERGER: Well, look. I basically draw one pretty girl [audience laughter] … and just change the hairdo and the apparel; it’s still the same gal. DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: He lied to me! He told me I was the model! [laughter] I’ll get you for that! SCHAFFENBERGER: I could never hope to achieve that beauty. [audience applause] DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: Nice try!

From Captain Marvel To Lois Lane--And Back Again!

SCHAFFENBERGER: I would sometimes chat with other artists I’d run into in New York. But I pretty much picked up the assignments, brought them home, and worked on them. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can you tell us a little bit about your relationship with Mort Weisinger? SCHAFFENBERGER: I happened to get along quite well with Mort Weisinger. I was one of the chosen few. [audience laughter] He always treated me with respect, which is all I asked from him.

“He Told Me I Was The Model!” (Right:) Wedding bells rang out for Kurt and Dorothy on March 30, 1946 at St. Paul’s Chapel in Englewood, NJ. The wedding party (l. to r., standing:) Jack Binder, Ken Bald, Ione Binder, Dorothy & Kurt Schaffenberger; Dick Woods; (seated:) Marian Prue, Lillian Watson. (Below:) Another Binder/Schaffenberger team-up, from Lois Lane #3 (July 1958). Thanks to Bill Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you find him demanding in terms of… SCHAFFENBERGER: Oh, he was extremely demanding. He had his own ideas on how the job should be drawn, and you had better do it his way. He had his influence in the comics field but was not a creative genius in his own right. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How well did you know Curt Swan? SCHAFFENBERGER: I had very little interaction with Curt Swan. We were just two guys with similar first names working in the same racket. [audience laughter] I saw nothing of him socially because he lived up in Connecticut and I was living in New Jersey. I would run into him at the office on occasion. We were always very good friends, professionally. There was just the bunch of us who worked for the Jack Binder studio that had any regular social interaction. But artists like Curt Swan, Joe Kubert, and so on I’d only met after I had been in the business for quite some time. AUDIENCE MEMBER: For a period you had inked some of Swan’s work. How did you feel about inking over someone else’s pencils? SCHAFFENBERGER: That was no problem. I’ve inked over many pencilers. Curt Swan was extremely easy to ink because his pencilling was very tight and meticulous. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can you talk about some of the tools you used in your art? SCHAFFENBERGER: I generally used a 2H pencil and worked with a #1 brush. I used that small of a brush because I work with a fine line. Some inked with more of a heavy line, but I couldn’t get that aesthetic I wanted with a heavy brush. I like the #1. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How did you compare the Captain Marvel that DC revived in the ’70s with the Captain Marvel you had worked on earlier at Fawcett?

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel

remembers it. Will had called all the writers and artists into his office and said, “I’ve written this play and it’s going to be produced. They found a backer for it, and they also need some small backers for it.” The big hit on Broadway at the time was Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller, and that was sponsored by a lot of small backers. Will told us that’s what he was trying to do—to get a bunch of us in on it—and, of course, he lost our shirts. The name of the play was Springtime Folly. It was about the garment trade in New York. It opened one night and closed the next night. [audience laughter] DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: Along with our money! AUDIENCE MEMBER: Who were the actors in the play? SCHAFFENBERGER: None that you would recognize now or back then. [audience laughter] DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: They all left town in the middle of the night! [audience laughter] AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can you describe the work process at the Jack Binder shop?

A Cover Kulled From The Hamerlinck Collection Schaffenberger’s striking cover for Shazam! #22 (Jan.-Feb. ’76) was a hit, although the book was struggling to stay alive. The villain is Golden Age creation King Kull—no relation (except the name) to Robert E. Howard’s earlier sword-&-sorcery hero. [TM & © DC Comics.]

SCHAFFENBERGER: The trouble that they had was getting writers that knew how to write Captain Marvel. They tried several, including Denny O’Neil, who couldn’t grasp the character at all. That was their basic problem. They had the art the way it used to be, but the writers didn’t understand Captain Marvel. Nelson Bridwell knew a little bit about the character and how it should be handled. Otto Binder was available at the time, but they never approached him to write it. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How was your relationship with William Lieberson?

Will Lieberson Fawcett's executive editor.

SCHAFFENBERGER: He was the chief editor at Fawcett, but I had very little interaction with him. I dealt mostly with editors Wendell Crowley, Ginny Provisiero, and a couple of others. Will decided he was meant for bigger stuff and wrote a play that was produced on Broadway. [laughs] My wife

This Cover’s For The Birds! Schaffenberger’s high-flying cover for Master Comics #95 (Sept. 1948). In the wake of the Mac Raboy era, from 1947-53, Kurt —along with Bud Thompson—was one of Fawcett’s main “Captain Marvel Jr.” artists, spelled by Joe Certa, Charlie Tomsey, John Belfi, and others. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

From Captain Marvel To Lois Lane--And Back Again!

Not a lot of original art exists from the Golden Age Fawcett comics—but here’s a sterling example of Kurt Schaffenberger’s clean expertise, from Whiz Comics #132 (April 1951), “Captain Marvel Saves Captain Marvel.” Courtesy of dealer Mike Burkey; see his wares at www.romitaman.com. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel

SCHAFFENBERGER: It was on a production-line basis. One guy would do the breakdowns of the story… rough out the panels… another guy would pencil the main figures… then another guy would pencil the secondary figures… another guy would pencil the background. Then, when it got to the inking stage, the same thing: one guy would ink the main figure, another guy would ink secondary figures, another guy would ink the backgrounds. This way we were able to produce a lot of work, but not necessarily quality work or where you could recognize particular artist styles. We had no choice. We did what Binder told us to do. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I know you don’t care for the style of modern comics. Have you looked at any of the current Superman artists? SCHAFFENBERGER: Not recently. While I was working on them prior to this, I thought I did great work! [audience laughter and applause] AUDIENCE MEMBER: I remember you penciled one series John Byrne wrote, World of Smallville, and wondered how you saw that as being different from the older stories? SCHAFFENBERGER: I just like the older material better. On World of Smallville, Byrne gave us a very loose outline. It was more liberty than we’d ever had on a story before. He would put in the dialogue after the art was finished. I was not too happy with it. I prefer to work where things are scripted out more. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Aside from the work you did on “Captain Marvel” and on the Superman Family/Lois Lane, what other types of stories did you draw?

Find Smallville On This Map! Kurt told fans at the ’96 San Diego Comic-Con that he wasn’t pleased with the 1988 World of Smallville limited series that he penciled. Script by John Byrne; inks by Alfredo Alcala. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Is A Pseudonym—Un-American? (Right:) Schaffenberger’s cover for the American Comics Group’s Gasp! #4 (Aug. 1967), which he signed as “Lou Wahl” — one of the pseudonyms he used while working simultaneously for DC and ACG in an effort to appease DC editor Mort Weisinger, who had objected to Kurt’s name appearing on ACG covers. See a photo of Weisinger on p. 55. [TM & © the respective copyright holders.] (Above:) Schaffenberger and the seated Richard Hughes, longtime editor and writer for the American Comics Group.

From Captain Marvel To Lois Lane--And Back Again!

SCHAFFENBERGER: I worked on different things for ACG [American Comics Group]. They had one editor—Dick Hughes, and one writer—Dick Hughes. [audience laughter] I drew a number of romance stories in the early ’70s at DC, but after that, it was back to the old super-hero stuff again. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What were your steps after receiving a script? SCHAFFENBERGER: Once I’d get a script, I’d read it in its entirety and begin to mentally plot the thing out. Then I’d plot the thing out in pencil and submit it to the editor for approval. Then I would tighten it up and ink it. And that’s the way it was done. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you work on the pages in order, starting from page 1? SCHAFFENBERGER: Right. I didn’t jump from page to page. You lose connection, I felt, so I did it one page at a time. I’d first block it out into panels… just roughly sketching what I thought the story should be. I’d pencil in the word balloons and lettering so it would fit exactly the space it was supposed to. Then I would flesh it out later on as I was working on it in its final form. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you know Superman artists Wayne Boring, Al Plastino, or Win Mortimer? SCHAFFENBERGER: I knew Mortimer, but not too well. I knew Plastino fairly well. I never met Wayne Boring, but his was the first work I was given as a sample. I didn’t care for it at all. [audience laughs]

Golden Opportunities (Above right:) A page from the 1977 Little Golden Book Shazam! A Circus Adventure, written by Bob Ottum and illustrated by Kurt Schaffenberger—one of the artist’s many commercial jobs during his career. Original art scan from coollinesartwork.com. [TM & © DC Comics.] (Above left:) Kurt autographs a book for a fan at the 1996 San Diego Comic-Con in this grainy photo from Comics Buyer’s Guide.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: When you were drawing the original Captain Marvel, obviously there was controversy about it being modeled after Superman. Were you ever given any direction as far as on how they wanted you to draw Captain Marvel during the ’40s? SCHAFFENBERGER: No. I know that Superman [National] sued Fawcett about this but, you know, Beck was the original artist and co-creator of Captain Marvel, and there was no way anyone could have gotten him to copy Superman. It was a totally different character and a totally different concept. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What was C.C. Beck like?

“It Was Fifty Years Ago Today…” (Left:) Kurt Paul Schaffenberger in 1947. (Right:) David Siegel and Kurt Schaffenberger at the artist’s River Edge, NJ, home studio in 1997. Siegel had facilitated Kurt’s appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con the previous year. Photo snapped by Dorothy Schaffenberger.

SCHAFFENBERGER: He was a real character! He was sort of a renaissance man. He played the guitar, piano, any musical instrument… and I heard he was a good Tango dancer. He became a bit of a curmudgeon later on.

The 1996 San Diego Comic-Con Kurt Schaffenberger Panel

“…And Make Sure We Can See Different Racial Groups!” Kurt says it probably took Otto Binder “four minutes” to type out the description of the splash page of this tale from The Marvel Family #31 (Jan. 1949)—but it “took me several days to draw it”! Clearly, Kurt never forgot the work that splash panel caused him; he mentions it again in the very next piece in this issue! Thanks to Mark Voger. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

in knowing about the worst panel you ever had to draw. SCHAFFENBERGER: Otto Binder was the writer of a “Marvel Family” story where, in the script, he described the opening to “show the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding roughshod over downtrodden humanity—make sure we can see different racial groups.” [audience laughs] It took Otto, I imagine, four minutes to write the thing, and took me several days to draw it. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Was any of your work ever censored by the Comics Code? SCHAFFENBERGER: With Superman there were a few things we had to comply with. You couldn’t show too much cleavage… you couldn’t show too much leg. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you always do your own backgrounds? SCHAFFENBERGER: Yes. I always kept a file of reference material for them.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: While you studied at Pratt, did you have any career goals in mind? SCHAFFENBERGER: I wanted to be an artist for magazines like Saturday Evening Post—more serious illustration work. I didn’t know anything about comicbooks at the time. AUDIENCE MEMBER: When you first started drawing Lois Lane, she still seemed stuck in the ’40s to a certain extent, but then you began to introduce different hairstyles and fashions. Was that your doing? SCHAFFENBERGER: It was partly my doing, but it was mostly the editors who’d say, “Let’s jazz her up” by putting modern clothes and hairstyles on her and so forth. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you have any favorite stories that you had worked on? SCHAFFENBERGER: I don’t remember many stories I did over the past 50 years … DOROTHY SCHAFFENBERGER: They might be interested

Sister Act “Supergirl’s Big Sister” appeared in Adventure Comics #385 (Oct. 1969)—drawn by Schaffenberger and scripted by Robert Kanigher. Kurt illustrated “Supergirl” stories in Adventure (1968-70), and for another round in Superman Family (1975-76), but was never enthralled with the “Maid of Steel.” [TM & © DC Comics.]

From Captain Marvel To Lois Lane--And Back Again!

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Did you like drawing the “Supergirl” stories? SCHAFFENBERGER: I didn’t much care for “Supergirl.” The character was too limiting, I thought. It was not an appealing character for me, but I was told to draw it. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Do you have any idea why they took you off Lois Lane and gave you “Supergirl”? SCHAFFENBERGER: I don’t know. I had no choice in the matter. Like I said, they told me what to do and I did it.

That’s The Ol’ Olympic Spirit! (Below & top right:) Young Kurt Schaffenberger, painting a picture at the Pratt Institute—juxtaposed with one of his “Captain Marvel” splashes from the last few years of Fawcett’s comics line. From Whiz Comics #125 (Sept. 1950). Script by—who else?— Otto Binder. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

(Right:) Kurt designed ACG’s hero “Magicman”—who apparently inherited Ibis the Invincible’s turban. Here is “Lou Wahl’s” cover for Forbidden Worlds #138 (Sept. 1966). Thanks to Michael Vance. [TM & © Charlton Media or its successors in interest.]

“Comics Are My Living— Not My Life”

The Life & Private Times of KURT SCHAFFENBERGER by Mark Voger

Kurt & Dorothy Schaffenberger at their New Jersey home in 1998 (photo by Kathy Voglesong.) At left is the splash page of Kurt’s very first story for Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane— the lead yarn in issue #1 (March-April 1958). Script by his old Fawcett buddy, Otto Binder. Courtesy of Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]

ere are some things Kurt Schaffenberger was not: A back-slapper. An egotist. A self-promoter. An insufferable bore.

Kurt was a walking comicbook legend, not that you’d know it from speaking with him. “Comics are my living, not my life,” was one telling Kurt-ism. This simultaneously amused and frustrated my buddy Howard Bender and me. Howard drew stories for DC Comics in the ’80s, but was as much a fan as an artist. Me, I was just a fan who happened to write a dopey, sporadic newspaper column about comics. The time and place was 1989 in coastal Ocean County, New Jersey, where Kurt and his wife Dorothy had recently relocated from River Edge, also in NJ. Howard and I both loved the so-called “Silver Age of Comics” (1956 through the early ’70s), a period during which Kurt reached the apex of his career with his vastly entertaining 10-year run on Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. What a book that was! Kurt’s Lois Lane was firmly a Silver Age Superman title, as edited by DC’s Mort Weisinger, who enforced tight narrative control and strict continuity throughout the multititle Superman line. (Kurt once called Weisinger a “sadist.”) But since Lois — Daily Planet reporter and Superman’s love interest — was the hero of the book, it had a charm and whimsy that played perfectly to Kurt’s illustrative gifts. (Kurt once categorized his style as “caricatured realism,” an apt descriptor.) So, in ’89, Kurt and Dorothy moved to Brick, NJ, where I lived at the time. Howard — who knew Kurt professionally and lived in nearby Toms River — helped arrange an interview. I spoke with Kurt in the living room of his new home in a bucolic, cookie-cutter retirement community.

The Life & Private Times of Kurt Schaffenberger

while Kurt sat back slyly and contributed the odd rejoinder. To this day, I can see Dorothy’s smiling face at the door of the Schaffs’ modest, spotless home, with Kurt standing behind her. Some memories from those days...

Mark Voger & Howard Bender Mark, on left, was photographed by wife Kathy Voglesong for his TwoMorrows biography Hero Gets Girl: The Life and Art of Kurt Schaffenberger. Howard, on right, has drawn a number of comics for DC and others.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but Kurt was a bit sad about the direction his career had taken. He felt marginalized, not that he ever came out and said it. “I consider myself semi-retired at this point,” he told me that afternoon. I later learned that this decision was forced by outside factors. In recent years, DC had removed Kurt and another legendary talent in the field, artist Curt Swan, from its Superman books. By ’89, Kurt was relegated to DC’s version of Siberia, inking C-level stories. “It’s a job that a well-trained orangutan should be able to do,” Kurt said of this inking phase. Kurt also noted that, overall, the super-hero genre had taken a dark turn, content-wise. “Most of the stuff that is being produced now is so far out, I can’t even relate to it,” he told me. “Everything starts off with the premise that the world is already blown up, and let’s see what we can do to rebuild it. It’s really downbeat. The comics nowadays are very depressing, to me. Our stuff was hopeful.”

We attended a comics convention in Woodbridge, NJ, at which the star attractions were Kurt, Murphy Anderson, and Curt Swan — a dream lineup for Silver Age DC freaks. Toward the end of the show, the three artists repaired to the hotel bar for a drink. I walked by and spotted these comicbook giants sitting astride at the bar. I started toward them, thinking, “There’s my whole childhood, sitting on three stools. I wanna have a drink with them.” But as I got closer, I realized I should not insinuate myself. Let these old-timers have their drink. Don’t ruin it. I turned and walked out of the bar, and heard the gentlemen laughing behind me. They never noticed me. One time, Kathy and I were on assignment for the Press, covering a big fan convention in Atlantic City that boasted such guests as Adam West, Burt Ward, Jerry Mathers, Bob Denver, Dawn Wells, Clayton Moore — and Kurt and Howard. It was a long day for all of us, and Kurt was dragging. He would be riding home with Howard, whose little ones were getting a bit antsy. In the hotel parking garage, Kurt paused by our car as Kathy and I were packing the trunk. “You know,” I said to Kurt, “there was a fifth of Jack Daniels in that very trunk not 24 hours ago.” Kurt looked at me with an impassive expression and said, “What good is it doing us now?” Kurt once said something that will stick with me the rest of my life. Kathy made a crack about my having recently gained some weight, to which Kurt responded nonchalantly, “He’s just getting a head start on old age.” Words of wisdom. Early on, Kathy and I threw a cookout in the Schaffs’ honor. For this modest gathering, I invited mostly artist

As the interview was winding down, my late wife, the photographer Kathy Voglesong (who died in 2005), showed up to pose Kurt in the cozy back-porch studio the Schaffs had set up. Dorothy was very kind to us, insisting that we get together again someday as we bid the Schaffs adieu. My article, titled “It’s the Way He Draws His Faces,” ran in the Ocean County edition of the Press. I never thought we would actually get together again, but Dorothy persevered. So, every now and then, we would all go out for a nice lunch or dinner, including Howard and his wife Joanie. I can honestly say that, even though I was 31 and Kurt was 69, I actually became buddies with the artist. But I owe that to Dorothy. She was the outgoing one, the one telling the funny, time-tested anecdotes,

They Might Be Giants… Hell, They Are! (Left to right:) Comicbook legends Kurt Schaffenberger, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson appearing at a comic convention in New Jersey in 1993. Photo by Kathy Voglesong.

“Comics Are My Living--Not My Life”

Going Hollywood! Binder & Schaff at it again—in issue #2 (May-June ’58). Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]

we’d put seven candles on the cake, one for each decade. But Kathy insisted that the cake have 70 candles—70 lit candles. Nothing less would do. And this wasn’t some giant sheet cake, either. As we began lighting the candles from the inside out, Kurt feigned embarrassment at the sheer number of candles on the cake, and we all had a chuckle. That is, until the cake virtually melted beneath the mini-inferno of 70 lit candles. It was like a fireball. One afternoon in 1998, Howard and I met with Kurt to go through his collection of old Fawcett issues. That was a neat little history lesson, watching the old master react to his work from a half-century earlier. He opened Marvel Family #31 (1949) to the splash page of the story “The Marvel Family and the Great Hunger” and related an anecdote we’d heard before. Groused Kurt: “The script called for me to ‘show the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding roughshod over downtrodden humanity with the Marvel Family coming to the rescue.’ Well! It took me four days to draw. That was somewhat longer than it took the writer to type it, I assure you.’” [NOTE: See splash page on p. 15.] That same afternoon, either Howard or I mispronounced Ibis, the name of the Fawcett character who had been Kurt’s first regular assignment in comics. This must have been a long-running pet peeve for Kurt. He snapped: “It’s EYE-bis!” It was edifying to view some of Kurt’s unpublished and little-known work. I recall seeing a page of unpublished, unlettered “Ibis the Invincible” artwork, likely drawn in 1946; a page of Superman and Lois Lane heads and figures drawn as a “tryout” for DC in 1957 (which rock star Graham Nash later purchased in an auction sale spearheaded by friends who might appreciate Kurt’s professional stature. I attached a large Superman balloon to the mailbox in our driveway as a landmark. One of my guests was a devotee of Little Nemo in Slumberland, the far-out early 20th-century Sunday comic strip by Winsor McCay. I joked that Kurt and McCay had been roommates in college. “Really?” my friend said, not immediately recognizing that, era-wise, this was an impossibility. “No,” Kurt came back, “but his son and I worked at the same studio.” I later learned that Winsor McCay, Jr., was once on staff at Jack Binder’s art studio in Englewood, NJ, at which Kurt and a few other future luminaries worked, such as Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley, Dr. Kildare artist Ken Bald, and girlie-mag cartoonist Bill Ward. So the upshot is, I made an age joke at Kurt’s expense, but the guy had worked with so many people, he actually had a bona fide connection to my little gag. When Kurt turned 70 in 2000, the gang came back to our place for some birthday cake after a dinner out. I figured

Something’s Fishy! We already showed you the Binder/Schaffenberger splash page from The Marvel Family #31 back on p. 15—but luckily, we had on hand one that probably didn’t cause Kurt quite as much anguish… although he might’ve had to look up a couple of the sea creatures in an encyclopedia! It’s from Marvel Family #55 (Jan. ’51); script by Binder. Thanks again to Bob Bailey. [Shazam heroes, Billy Batson, Freddy Freeman, and Mary Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

The Life & Private Times of Kurt Schaffenberger

Lois through the years. “But you’re not a brunette, dear,” Kurt said to his red-headed wife. “Give me a half-hour,” Dorothy shot back. Dorothy was a steadying influence in Kurt’s life, but did she hold Kurt’s place in comicbook history dear to her heart? Two observations of Dot make me think so. One day while in a supermarket, I spotted a Superman candle in the stationery aisle. I knew it would be perfect for Kurt’s next birthday, and I bought it. At that celebration, we left the candle behind, figuring Dorothy would dispose of it along with the paper plates. Years later, in December 2001, Kurt spent what would be his final birthday in a convalescent home. Kathy and I had arranged to meet Dorothy there, and we brought along a small cake. To our surprise, Dorothy reached into her pocketbook and pulled out that very Superman candle, only slightly used. So it did mean something to her.

Shy And Retiring?

Further proof: Kurt passed away a few weeks later, on Jan. 24, 2002. During his military funeral service at the Barnegat Light U.S. Coast Guard Station, there was a table with a white urn containing Kurt’s ashes, an American flag, and an original page of his Superman artwork — page 73 from Superman Family #184 (1977), to be exact. Yep, Dorothy knew that her husband’s life’s work meant something. We visited with Dorothy often in the weeks following Kurt’s death. She was a big fan of the Press’ restaurant critic, Andrea Clurfeld, with whom I worked. Occasionally, Dorothy would say to me, “The next time you speak with my good friend Andrea Clurfeld, you tell her ...” and then she’d relate her response to Andrea’s latest column. Not long after Kurt died, I mentioned to Andrea that she had a special fan, and Andrea invited Dorothy along on two of her restaurant-review outings. Dorothy was thrilled, and it was a brief respite from her grief.

Kurt and Dorothy as depicted by Kurt in their 1990 Christmas card. [© Estate of Kurt & Dorothy Schaffenberger.]

Howard); and a one-panel gag for the Feb. 1963 issue of the men’s magazine Gaze (which was sexy for straight-shooter Schaffenberger, but tame by today’s standards). It was also neat getting on the Schaffs’ Christmas card list, since the artist himself drew the cards. The first one we received was Kurt’s 1990 card depicting him and Dot toiling in happy retirement. I think the moment that best sums up the ’til-death-do-us-part romance of Kurt and Dorothy was the time Kathy and I visited the Schaffs shortly after they returned from the San Diego Comic Con in 1996, when Kurt had won the Inkpot Award. Kurt and Dot were still giddy from the trip. Dorothy recalled a Q&A session with Kurt during which he was asked if he ever drew from real life, and Kurt replied, “Not really.” Dorothy recalled: “That’s when I got into the act. I said, ‘You liar!’” Because, Dorothy explained, Kurt often asked her to pose as

One evening after such an outing, we dropped off Dorothy at her house, and she invited us into Kurt’s back-porch studio to show us something she thought would be of interest for the Kurt biography I was working on. It was after dark, and Dorothy did not turn the lights on in the studio. (I can’t swear that she wasn’t teary-eyed at that moment.) Everything was as Kurt left it: the drawing table set at his preferred angle; the swivel chair set at his

“Comics Are My Living--Not My Life”

The Many Black-&-White Sides Of Schaffenberger (Above:) An unpublished, unlettered page of “Ibis the Invincible” art by Kurt Schaffenberger, circa 1946. [Ibis & Taia TM & © DC Comics.] (Top right:) “Lou Wohl’s” cover for ACG’s Unknown Worlds #51 (Oct.-Nov. 1966) seems almost to be introducing a new super-hero—with a DC name and Marvel-based powers! Original art scan courtesy of Russ Cochran auctions. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] (Right:) Schaffenberger’s one-panel gag in the Feb. 1963 issue of Humorama’s Gaze magazine. [TM & © the respective copyright holders.]

The Life & Private Times of Kurt Schaffenberger

preferred height; his overhead lamp positioned over the drawing board; his pencils, brushes, quills, and erasers at the ready in his carousel; his inkwell, rag, straight-edge and T-square; his stash of illustration board in a tall box leaning against the side of his table; the framed awards and original artwork by fellow pros hanging on the walls. We took it all in and, for those moments, the studio was quiet and still. Kurt’s presence was powerful. It felt as if he was in the room. Dorothy died in 2009, after I had joined The Star-Ledger newspaper based in Newark. I wrote about her in a year-end column. After all, this was the woman who had posed for Lois Lane — whether or not her husband acknowledged it. The funny thing is, when I first saw Kurt Schaffenberger’s comicbook artwork as a child, it was pure, wholesome, escapist entertainment. When I viewed it as a young adult, it transported me back to my childhood. Today when I see it, I’m reminded of those 12 brief, wonderful years as a friend of the Schaffenbergers— two funny, talented, caring human beings. Kurt poured so much of himself and his wife into those pages that, for a moment, I’m with them again. Laughing. Mark Voger is the author of Hero Gets Girl! The Life and Art of Kurt Schaffenberger (2003, TwoMorrows Publishing).

“Have A Pepsi Day” (Below:) In 1978, Pepsi produced a large, laminated placemat showcasing a Sunday-page-styled comic strip titled “The Shazam! Story”—a retelling of Captain Marvel’s origin—a commercial job specifically drawn for Pepsi by Kurt Schaffenberger. Writer unknown, but adapted from the 1940 script by Bill Parker. Thanks to Walt Grogan for the scan. [Shazam, Shazam hero, & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics; Pepsi is a trademark of Pepsico or successors in interest.]

The Master-full Kurt Schaffenberger (Above:) Kurt peruses his collection of Fawcett comics for which he did stories and covers featuring Captain Marvel Jr. (and Yogi Berra!)—in the dining room of his New Jersey home in 1998. Photo by Kathy Voglesong.

ECHOES OF SHAZAM!

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of CAPTAIN MARVEL’s Shadows by Alex Ross

o tell the story of who all is in the crazy piece of art seen on the following two pages, I have to first share the origin of how it came to be. At Christmas time in 2018, I had asked my sister Normandie for an old album from the ’70s that I knew she had in her collection. Instead of just giving me that copy, she thought it would be a good idea to buy me one for the holiday. The album was the soundtrack to the film, Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels, which I principally wanted for the elaborate cover artwork (which was from the movie’s poster). I knew that this overstuffed, trippy image would inspire me on some kind of composition. I thought that I might translate the layout to something involving super-heroes on one of my various cover gigs. As it worked out, on Christmas evening, after all the gifts were opened, I was thinking about this newly acquired record as I sat and watched TV. It eventually dawned on me that the artwork’s looming head of Frank Zappa could be reinterpreted as the ancient wizard Shazam, and that the whole image could fulfill a long-held ambition to illustrate all of the various characters inspired by one of my favorite heroes—the great, original, and true Captain Marvel. By the evening’s end, I had laid out an 11” x 17” drawing featuring tons of characters.

Motivation You see, I had harbored this concept for a long while, because the individual distinctive qualities that defined this character were so influential on countless other properties; but I felt he was overlooked for the creative debt owed to him. With Superman, it is generally understood that the entire genre of super-heroes is because of him. Batman and Wonder Woman are recognized for their forerunner status and for the archetypal details they pioneered. Captain Marvel is the other character who premiered in that same period and introduced as many of the primal concepts of super-hero lore as they did, but his legacy was compromised. It could be argued that it was stolen from him. DC’s longstanding suit against Captain Marvel’s publisher over alleged copying of their property, Superman, pressured Fawcett Publications to eventually agree to stop making their comics and to no longer compete with them in the marketplace. When comics were selling the most they ever did — in the millions of copies — Captain Marvel and his associated Marvel Family line of books reigned supreme. They were better at this than everybody else. As most readers of comics history know, the concept couldn’t stay gone forever, and Captain Marvel continued to be copied in one way or another, from his design to his essential being—as a figure of two lives combined in one. The hero who begins as one

Frank Zappa & Alex Ross – Together Again For The First Time! (Left:) The cover art to the soundtrack album from Frank Zappa’s 1971 film 200 Motels served as an inspiration to— (Below:) —Alex Ross, artist of such masterworks as Marvel’s Marvels and DC’s Justice. [Album cover TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

body and then transforms instantaneously into another form, whether that’s a costumed, powered identity or an altogether different body, is Captain Marvel’s innovation. If there were a patent for such ideas, the original publisher would have collected massively. They also wouldn’t have likely conceded to DC’s bullying. But that was the point, wasn’t it? DC thought they should safeguard all of the essential tropes of superheroes as Superman initially defined them, and any close imitator was seen as a threat, particularly if it was giving them a run for their money. Today, it might seem absurd to have this fight, since similarities between concepts are everywhere in comics and film, and it’s nearly impossible to put a lid on ideas. The original Captain Marvel would return twenty years after his departure in the 1950s, in time to impress kids like I was in the ’70s with both his comics and his Saturday morning live-action TV show. The only thing is, by then, he wasn’t able to use his actual name in the titles for either. His magic word “Shazam!” would be his signifier for a new generation’s introduction to him. Even though you would clearly learn that he was Captain Marvel and that Shazam was the wizard who gave him these powers, it had an undermining effect on understanding his story. Marvel Comics’ effort to graft the name Captain Marvel onto somebody, anybody, to preserve their new claim took away from the original, but then it was DC who now published his return, and, frankly, they deserved the problem. [NOTE: Alex’s double-page composition is seen on the following two pages, after which his article continues.]

All characters TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders. A bit of art has been repeated in the middle of this spread, so that no art would be lost.

24 The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

Echoes Of Shazam!

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

Key To “Echoes of Shazam!” Artwork

The Artwork Now, to bring us around to this piece of art (which is depicted on the preceding two pages, with a “key” at the top of this page), I was really just following a pure inspiration. I thought that I would do this drawing to work out how I might do a full-size painting. The drawing got tighter and tighter on the 11” x 17” sheet of copy paper I started on that Christmas evening and it began to seem like it already was the culmination of my ambition as a physical work. I approached doing a marker color comp over a copy of the pencils, slowly adding more layers of ink, colored pencil, and paint touchups. I felt that I could share my concept in this form as it only exists to communicate an idea, as I can’t print it, sell it, or profit from it. Just look at all of those different corporate properties mashed together! I had my friends who manage social media for me (I’m computer-phobic, or a “Luddite,” as the term goes) post this art in the time period between the release of Marvel’s Captain Marvel film and DC’s Shazam! movie. I was looking to stir up conversation that I would eventually clarify my thoughts for, which is now this article and character list. The order I placed numerically is bonkers, but it is intended to flow from the central-focus Captain to tell a story of how this concept evolved. Before I start, I need to thank the pool of friends past whom I ran my list of who to include. Ron Murphy, Keith Anderson, Tony Vitale, George Khoury, and Paul Dini all informed me about characters I hadn’t thought of or was even aware of. Ron Murphy went to lengths of supplying images to base my drawings on.

The List 1. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson — The reason I’ve illustrated both characters here is to drive home the idea about the transformation innovation being the largest impact culturally. When the boy speaks his magic word to become an adult super-hero, it’s really a play on the tale of Aladdin and the genie, where the wish fulfillment is made by one becoming the other. In [Shazam hero & Billy Batson quickly evolving the super-hero concept TM & © DC Comics.] only a year and a half after Superman debuted, Captain Marvel’s creators made the fledgling genre connect that much more with its target audience. Batman introduced Robin to be a connection for the young male readers, but Billy Batson was better than a sidekick, as he became that leading, powerful figure. With the powers of myth fueling this hero, his personality and mind were something of a mystery in that, despite the shared memories they traded between the two identities, you weren’t quite sure it was the same person. It was never made clear originally that the Captain was an older body of Billy’s. What was clear to the readership was that there was something cool about changing into this big, costumed, squinting titan. He was never designed to be just the reader in a new skin suit but an ideal of ability and purpose. It is a modern reassessment of him that led to his current characterization of being the super-hero who has the

Echoes Of Shazam!

mind and behavior of a kid. If Tom Hanks had never made Big, we might never have seen that idea be applied to this character. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Perhaps not to the same degree, yet it’s a fact that the very first time Captain Marvel was ever treated as being just a superadult-bodied version of Billy Batson occurred in Secret Origins #3 (June 1986)—two years before the release of that film. Ye Editor wrote that tale, with art by Jerry Bingham & Steve Mitchell.] One thing to note in the art is that I attempted to draw everyone like their most famous art styles and not just make it all my version of them. Here it’s my intent to capture C.C. Beck’s classic version of Billy and the Captain, with flat coloring like the 1940s comicbooks had. 2. Billy Batson and Captain Marvel from my series pitch Say My Name — Shazam! — The origin for this piece overall came from the plans I had with a series proposal I made fifteen years ago. Whereas my main outline was focused on a slightly aged up and electrified version of the Marvel Family, I had intended to eventually do a Multiverse-threatening storyline that would unite countless alternate [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.] versions of Captain Marvel from across the multiple alternate realities. That would have looked a lot like this illustration, where I would have used the properties that DC owned, like its version of Captain Thunder or Captain Marbles from Mad #4, and I would have created thinly disguised alterations to the other Marvel-influenced characters, so that it was obvious what I was linking together. This also could have happened well before the many Multiverse crossovers that have come since, like the many Supermans seen in Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis or the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. My pitch may not have been realized as it was intended, but the artwork and ideas for it have been previously published in Alter Ego magazine and in the art book Rough Justice. That public sharing emboldened me to feature the Billy/Marvel images here, and, after all, it is just my little piece of art to do with what I wish, right? 3. Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and Rick Jones — If you look within Mar-Vell’s “cosmic awareness” spaceshadow void, you’ll see Rick Jones’ floating body in the Negative Zone. Roy Thomas revised the original Kree-warrior-gone-native character to have a component closer to the classic Captain Marvel, with him suddenly sharing his existence with another [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] person, changing dimensions to live in the other’s place when needed. It certainly provided a unique spin to see how these separate beings had an uneasy balance. While one of them was on Earth (generally), the unfortunate one was floating in an unpleasant, alternate space environment. When Roy and Gil Kane initiated this, it was more than reasonable to think that the original Captain Marvel and his myths were never going to return, so why not use more of his schtick beyond just taking his name? All of these creative efforts were done to try and make a success out of his book, which was difficult. The character’s

impact covered the beginning of the Bronze Age of comics, and his memory is mainly as a hero of the ’70s. That being said, his impression is one that gets great respect as he has spent more time in Marvel Comics history as a dearly departed hero who went out in a powerful way. Artist/writer Jim Starlin defined his highlight era with a run that incorporated the villain Thanos (whom he had created) and introduced many others that are popular characters to this day. Mar-Vell (his authentic alien name) gained a special gift of universal insight called “cosmic awareness,” and his book was used by Starlin to expand the possibilities of what a comic could be. By the mid-’80s, when the hero’s star had dimmed, Marvel Comics began their graphic novel format with a storyline that told of his death by cancer with great weight and impact. When most of the longtime comics readership think of Marvel’s Captain, we think of this guy. 4. Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel — The next character to bear the name for Marvel Comics would break multiple barriers in gender and race. They didn’t initially attempt to preserve their copyright claim with a new comicbook title, but their new character was slowly worked into the Marvel mainstream by introducing her in Spider-Man’s book and having her take a lead role in The Avengers. Unfortunately, she fell victim to [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] the same issue that damns certain characters, where the pre-existing team book that a writer helms focuses on their personal creation as essential to the team’s dynamic, only to be discarded when the next writers eventually establish their own ideal lineup. It’s also really challenging to expect a readership to go along with whoever now bears a familiar name that they associate with someone who made a mark in their lives. Monica Rambeau would remain a powerful character to this day, but abdicated her code name once Marvel saw a new way to rebrand the famous name to another character they thought might have more success. This would happen again three more times. 5. Marvelman and Johnny Bates — What I’ve done here is break my rules a bit by showing this Captain Marvelinfluenced hero with a counterpart of how his story evolved in a creatively explosive way. In the UK, when Captain Marvel ceased publishing in 1953, the British licensee was left with a hole to fill, and so, artist/writer Mick Anglo created the “Marvelman Family” to replace the Marvel Family [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] of characters. I didn’t show Captain Marvel’s family members of Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and others because I wanted to focus on a point of how his influence went beyond that main company (Fawcett). Marvelman and his companions, Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman, had their counterparts just like the Fawcett characters, and they, too, would say a magic work to change — “Kimota!” (“Atomic” spelled backward, more or less.) These closely based variations were published in the ’50s through the early ’60s.

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

Eventually, they were revived in the new mature-themed marketplace of the ’80s with a groundbreaking reinvention by Alan Moore. Alan’s reputation became based somewhat upon telling the reader that everything we understood about the subject was a lie, as he did with DC Comics’ Swamp Thing. With the Marvelman alter ego kid, Mickey Moran, having grown up and forgotten he was ever a super-hero, an accidental speaking of his magic word led to revelations of government experimentation with alien technology on kidnapped orphans and a virtual-reality testing that explained their published adventures. We eventually find that Moran’s former sidekick, Kid Marvelman, has grown up in the real world and is irredeemably corrupted by his unrestrained power. I’ve shown these two here to display the contrast of how the more innocent Beck-styled Marvel copy would lead to a sophisticated interpretation of the classic dark hair, pointed eyebrow features of Captain Marvel applied to adult Kid Marvelman, Johnny Bates. This storyline would lead to one of the most horrifying deconstructions of the super-hero concept ever, predating Alan Moore’s work on Watchmen. To avoid conflicts with Marvel Comics, this series was published in the U.S. as Miracleman, but now, thirty years later, the characters are owned by Marvel anyway, and they have restored the original name. 6. Grandpa Max and Ben Tennyson from Ben 10 — One cleverly designed homage to Captain Marvel’s influence is the grandfather character on Ben 10. The cable-TV show itself is from the same root of the transforming body-swap tree, by way of doing an alien-specific take on DC’s series “Dial ‘H’ for Hero.” The Ben in question travels around in a motor home with his cousin and grandfather, which is another reference to the Shazam! TV [TM & © the respective trademark show mobile home in which Billy & copyright holders.] Batson and his companion “Mentor” live. Artist/animator David Williams designed the look of Ben’s grandfather to carefully acknowledge Captain Marvel, with a gray-haired, heavier take on C.C. Beck’s character and both a shirt that uses a floral print to incorporate the Captain’s cape pattern and a lightning bolt negative shape where the shirt is unbuttoned. Ben 10 has been one of the largest hit shows for Cartoon Network and has been a tremendously successful toy license for years. One thing this represents is the great fortune that some properties have enjoyed by closely following the precedent provided to them.

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

7. Captain Super — This is another one I designed (uncredited) for the directto-video animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Bruce Timm had reached out to me in the early 2000s to do my take of his style on some of the alternate-Earth bad-guy versions of the Marvel Family. By adding to the background of the Crime Syndicate’s Superwoman character, it was decided that, like with a real criminal syndicate, she could come from a Mafia-like family. That family would be a take on the Marvel’s Captain Marvel, Captain

Marvel Jr., and Uncle Marvel, with Superwoman standing in for Mary Marvel. Bruce directed the basic look to emulate the same collar motif that the UK’s Marvelman had borrowed from Flash Gordon. Aside from doing the drawings that would get revised later by artist/animator Jerome Moore, I contributed the goatee to an otherwise basic Captain Marvel face. Taking a cue from the Mirror Universe Mr. Spock on Star Trek, I reasoned that a bad guy doppelgänger must have facial hair. 8. Jack Kirby’s Captain Marvel — This is an interesting story. I first wanted to include a copy of one of Jack’s few drawings that he did of the character (originally for the cover of The Comic Reader #100 in 1973), because I had read speculation that he would or could have done a revival of the original Captain Marvel for Marvel Comics in the ’60s. When I consulted with Kirby’s friend and biographer Mark Evanier about this, he told me an altogether different but revelatory story.

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Jack Kirby’s arrangement with DC and editor-in-chief Carmine Infantino granted Jack the option to edit books as well as write and draw them, and he intended to eventually pass on his works for others to produce with himself editing them. Despite the fact that this agreement was part of the deal he made to come over to DC from Marvel in 1970, it never fully bore fruit. Jack was only able to self-edit books on which he did all of the work for the time that fulfilled this contract. One idea that he floated to Carmine directly was of reviving the moribund Captain Marvel and putting original artist C.C. Beck on art with Jack writing it. Carmine thought that the license holder, Fawcett, would want too much for DC to do it; Jack proposed that they were making nothing from the character as he stood, so why not approach them? You see, DC had gotten Fawcett to agree that Fawcett themselves would never publish the character anymore, nor would they allow anyone else to do so. Marvel Comics never could have worked out a deal with Fawcett (if they had even tried to), despite how appropriate it would seem for him to wind up there. DC was the only place this could have happened, and Jack Kirby was the only person who saw the possibility for them. Being Kirby’s assistant at the time of the meeting, Evanier was in attendance to witness this exchange between Jack and Carmine. Jack knew what fans at that time were feeling: the mystery of this lost character from the Golden Age of Comics was a popular culture phenomenon they wanted back. Like Jack predicted, Fawcett wasn’t looking to exploit the offer from DC, and accepted whatever they got. DC started to get excited internally at the possibilities of this revival on the still very early collector-based marketplace. They also determined that they needed absolute oversight in the New York offices, and that such a big project couldn’t be edited out of house in California where Jack had moved to. Jack implored them to at least not have the book edited by the same person doing all of the Superman books, as Captain Marvel needed a different sensibility guiding it. In 1973, Shazam! #1 premiered to high sales similar to successes that would come more so from speculator collectors’ support of first issue launches in the decades that followed. Shazam! did begin with C.C. Beck on the art but was written by popular Superman scribe Denny O’Neil and of course was edited by Superman’s editor Julie Schwartz.

Echoes Of Shazam!

Shazam! would quickly go on to have a popular Saturday morning kids television show and be elevated to a major stature in DC’s main line of character properties with merchandising that continues to this day (somewhat). All of this owes a debt to Jack Kirby pushing for it, and very few people have heard of his involvement. 9. Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle — One enormous way that the legacy of Fawcett’s character would endure was by the name “Shazam” being used as an exclamation on a popular ‘60s television show. When the Marvel Family was not being published, their magic word was regularly spoken by Jim Nabors as the lovable Marine recruit on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. This [TM & © the respective trademark familiarity with the word would & copyright holders.] keep it in the American pop culture lexicon when it otherwise would have faded from memory. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: And let’s not forget that, earlier, the word “Shazam!” was featured on the 1959 hit recording “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb,” sung by Connie Stevens and Edd “Kookie” Byrnes from the popular 1958-64 TV series 77 Sunset Strip.] 10. The Forever People & Infinity Man — Jack Kirby copied the transforming hero motif extensively in his career, with unique variations each time. The main thrust of his Forever People book at DC was to focus on a young group of New Gods, including Beautiful Dreamer, Big Bear, Mark Moonrider, Serifan, and Vykin the Black. They were an interpretation of the youth culture of 1970, particularly of the [TM & © DC Comics.] ideals of the “Hippie” movement. They came from the world of New Genesis and were carrying with them a living computer called a Mother Box (Kirby had a lot of other “boxes” to work with on his other New Gods-interconnected titles), which allowed them when they touched it and chanted “Taaruu” to exchange places with the ultra-powerful being Infinity Man. 11. Captain Thunder and Willie Fawcett — DC re-introduced Captain Marvel but wasn’t sure if the character would integrate and interact well with the rest of their universe and mythology, so they worked up this slightly altered copy to stop in on Superman’s book. Using the hero’s original name from when Fawcett first printed an ashcan to establish [Art © DC Comics. The name a trademark in 1939 (the name was Captain Thunder is TM already spoken for by a rival publisher, Roy & Dann Thomas.] probably Fiction House with its “Captain Terry Thunder” in Jungle Comics), DC did this one-off story featuring “Captain Thunder” meeting and facing off with Superman. This was a fulfillment of a long-awaited clash seen as a full comic, since Mad (the ’50s comic version) had pitted Superduperman against Captain Marbles to mock the real-world legal battle the proper properties had then. This Captain Thunder only appeared once, whereas Captain

Marvel had already begun his new run in Shazam! earlier, which would eventually allow for multiple crossovers to happen for years to come. This one, though, was frankly one of the best, with Curt Swan, Superman’s longtime artist, delivering an authentic take on Captain Marvel that would fit in just fine with modern comic styles. 12. Thor and Dr. Donald Blake — Now that the Dr. Blake persona has been largely relegated to Marvel Comics’ past and is missing from their movies, it goes largely unknown that he started as a Captain Marvel imitator. Having the idea to show a cane-using, handicapped surgeon summon a lightning-strike transformation that turns him into the hammer-wielding god of [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] thunder, Thor, may have been either Stan Lee’s or Jack Kirby’s concept initially, but it clearly took liberally from the Shazam tree. Half of all Marvel Family follow-ups use some version of lightning or an electrical charge in the transformation. Not every one uses the “lame newsboy” aesthetic of sidekick Captain Marvel Jr. The Norse mythology of Thor opened up a large world of gods and monsters for which Kirby clearly had an affinity, and he moved into more of that space with his plotting than relying upon the human/ god-being coexistence as a major focus. Eventually it would be revealed that there was no real Donald Blake at all, and that Thor had been purposefully humbled to believe he was a human. Still, the basis for this now multi-milliondollar screen idol was spun from a previous hit character, whom no one thought they shouldn’t imitate, since he was then considered defunct. 13. Prime and Kevin Green — Malibu Comics was the independent publisher responsible for first providing a home for the Image Comics launch of the ’90s. When those creators moved successfully into being their own company and took their hit books with them, Malibu needed content to fill the vacuum. As they had some funds to work with from their Image beginnings, they were able [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] to contract known writers and artists to come over and build their own properties, creating the “Ultraverse” line. Standing well out amongst these was a clear Captain Marvel spin with an over-exaggerated, comically muscular hero called Prime, who was a scientifically enhanced boy inside (as my drawing shows), literally. Prime’s unique distinction was that the hero identity grew around and over the kid as a blob-like goo and later dissolved in a sickening way. It was also a great book. As a clever take on a classic trope, the book’s creators, Len Strazewski, Gerard Jones, and Norm Breyfogle, showed how the (then) modern comics market would embrace a concept like Captain Marvel’s if it were presented with a certain panache. Prime’s longevity would only last up to the whole company’s acquisition by Marvel Comics, who had ceased publishing any Ultraverse titles by the end of the ’90s. Word is that the creator participation deals that Malibu made were discouraging for Marvel’s accountants to track properly, and so they purchased a company to essentially remove a competitor.

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

14. Mighty Man and Bobby Berman — In the early ’90s, Image Comics founder Erik Larsen introduced his Captain Marvel tribute in his Savage Dragon book. Using the Captain’s longtime nickname of “The World’s Mightiest Mortal” to create the name “Mighty Man,” Erik built his own version of the character and his kid alter ego to tell stories with. Bobby [TM & © the respective trademark Berman wouldn’t use a magic word & copyright holders.] but instead tapped his wrists together to release energy that transforms him in an electrical blast to Mighty Man. Billy Batson’s exclamation of “Holy Moley” was reinterpreted as “Holy Baloney.” 15. Son-O-God and Bennie David — As part of the highly irreverent comics section of National Lampoon magazine in the ’70s, Neal Adams lent his time to do multiple installments of this outrageous Jesus super-hero, designed to offend. Following the Marvel Family playbook, young Bennie David would “take the Lord’s name in vain” by saying “Jee-Zuz” and transforming [TM & © the respective trademark in a flash (like Michelangelo’s God & copyright holders.] touching Adam) into the muscular form of Son-O-God (with halo), who is accompanied by the dove form of the Holy Ghost and has twelve Jewish teenage helpers who come to his aid after he gets killed repeatedly before resurrection. Beautiful artwork by Adams shows him at his peak during this period of the Seventies. This would not be the only time that comics have blended the figurehead of Christ into super-hero lore and was actually the second time for Neal Adams, who had drawn a similar figure in his run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

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

16. Prince Planet and Bobby — Prince Planet is the English title for Japan’s Planet Boy Papi anime television series from 1965. The visiting alien prince adopts an Earth boy physical form to blend in. His transformation between identities is done by holding a pendant and calling out “Peeeeee Pazow!” Like many characters invented in the post-nuclear age, his power was generated from a nuclear energy source. 17. 8 Man and Detective Azuma — Started in 1963, the original cyborg manga and anime super-hero from Japan was a transforming hero who shifted from his human detective appearance to his robotic form. The armor-skinned android (who had been a real man before) was mainly known for his amazing speed and

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

masquerading abilities. Seen more as the precedent for Robocop, 8 Man raises the question about the transformation dynamic in countless Japanese properties. Arguably, every group of characters like the Power Rangers may owe some heritage to the original quick-change hero, Captain Marvel. 18. Spectreman — “Power/from space/He’ll save/the human race/ Guess we’ll never know the face... of Spectreman” is a theme song I fondly remember from childhood. Spectreman’s history of three seasons of a bizarre early ’70s Japanese adventure show in the mold of Ultraman, featuring ape-masked, long-haired, full-suited alien villains [TM & © the respective trademark was one of many archetypal shows & copyright holders.] to be exported to America. Thing is, the story mold of a regular man, oftentimes using a device and/or striking a pose or saying a word to transform into a masked giant hero was a massive genre in Asia from the mid-’60s up to today. Spectreman is included here behind my drawing of Ultraman to reinforce the extensive line of Japanese heroes who followed the transformation formula. 19. Ultraman and Shin Hayata and Ultra Seven — Ultraman is the first character in Japan I am aware of who adopted the human-to-other-bodyentirely hero concept. The uniqueness of Ultraman and his ilk being size-changing giants would seem to come from the popular precedent of giant monster movies that began in the ’50s with Godzilla and the countless [TM & © the respective trademark others who would follow. Eventually & copyright holders.] they would naturally create a similarsized hero who could fight toe-to-toe with the distinctively designed creatures. The Ultraman character was born out of a television series that began with specialized scientists, the Science Special Search Party, who hunted down giant monsters on a show called Ultra Q. This scientific group, with militarized hardware, suits, and vehicles, would eventually have one of their members get grafted with the benign alien entity of Ultraman to have a shared life with him. This began the second, follow-up series about Ultraman, which begat countless Ultraman family series ever since. Shown behind my drawing to our right is Ultra Seven, who was the next Ultra-person alien bonded with a human being. There was a whole planet of Ultras to make their way into the mythology. Imitators would abound across Japanese live-action television, film, and animation ever since. To the best of my understanding, and it is my belief, Western influence from the Marvel Family transforming tropes made their way here. Comics as a medium has always had an international exchange that lets us all share ideas. If there is some other precedent that can be shown, it would be enlightening to know.

Echoes Of Shazam!

20. Powerman — This is possibly a stretch to include, but the Englandproduced, only-sold-in-Nigeria comic, was touted as the first African super-hero (simply because heroes like Black Panther and Luke Cage weren’t created exclusively for the African market). Watchmen’s Dave Gibbons drew this in the early days of his career, and likely any Captain [TM & © the respective trademark Marvel influence is transmitted & copyright holders.] through the UK. Powerman’s superhuman powers came about through a bolt of lightning that struck him as a child. That is a bit more like the Silver Age Flash origin, but Marvel’s lightning-born empowerment predates everyone else’s. 21. Thunder Girl — Here I failed to put in the alter ego, but it is the same dynamic as most of the others you see — regular kid + magic word (in this case, “Alakazam!”) = magical super-hero. Thunder Girl, like Mighty Man, was an intentional invention to have a Marvel Family tribute in the narrative of multiple copycat heroes. Gary Carlson, creator [TM & © the respective trademark of Big Bang Comics, has curated the & copyright holders.] long-running project to incorporate clearly reminiscent characters to tell throwback-styled stories which are a veritable playground of classic super-hero archetypes. 22. Captain Marvel and Billy Batson by Jeff Smith — This may be a very fine point difference, as I haven’t also included the first rebooted Captain Marvel version of Roy Thomas’ and Tom Mandrake’s from ’86, or Jerry Ordway’s from ’94, but I felt that Jeff Smith’s revision was a more dramatic take. From the mini-series Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, Jeff set up [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] a whole embrace of Captain Marvel as another spirit figure like a genie that the wizard Shazam has bonded to a very young Billy. Billy Batson’s portrayal as a homeless child was picking up on the very first version crafted by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck. This particular take came in a weird fallow period for the hero at DC (which he had a lot of), where the mainstream continuity barely used him and they attempted to create a kids-targeted book called Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, which came right from Jeff Smith’s template. This wouldn’t last long before a fundamentally redefining approach was visited upon the property.

23. TCB (Taking Care of Business) — This has got to be the most far-out inclusion. That’s Elvis Presley’s private plane, with his personal motto’s initials on the fin and a lightning bolt graphic that references his love for the Marvel Family. Much has been said about how Elvis’ love of the Captain Marvel Jr. comics of his youth in the ’40s influenced his later stage costumes [TM & © the respective trademark from the Las Vegas residency of the & copyright holders.] ’70s. The short, ornamental capes and otherwise flamboyant costuming are one thing, but it has also been surmised that his choice of styled and flipped jet-black hair and sideburns were from Jr. as well. That is a big effect upon one of the biggest stars in world history, let alone someone who helped shape an entire form of entertainment. 24. The Mighty Mightor and Tor and Tog — Aside from comicbooks, one of the biggest mediums to pick the bones of the Shazam legend was television animation. Hanna-Barbera was clearly recycling many super-hero ideas for their kids shows, and the Captain Marvel effect was there in very full force. The Mighty Mightor took that “Mightiest Mortal” idea into [TM & © the respective trademark a prehistoric setting, with a Stone Age & copyright holders.] kid, Tor (and his pet dinosaur Tog), shouting “Mightor” and holding up his wooden club à la Thor to become the flying caveman super-hero, Mightor. Most of the transformations from all of these versions involve a pulsating light change to “flash” over the characters’ switching places.

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

25. Superior and Simon Pooni — By name alone, it might seem like a Superman knock-off, but the handicapped boy in a wheelchair who changes into a big super-hero is all-Captain. Mark Millar has a number of creator-owned properties that build off of well-known tropes like this. Superior plays with the same Captain Marvel revision that Roy Thomas introduced of having the mind of a kid caught incredulous in the body of a godlike figure.

26. Samson and Goliath — Another Hanna-Barbera cartoon that varied little from Mighty Mightor’s quick change. Here, though, the kid Samson’s dog, Goliath, changes into a giant lion when the hero claps his bracelets together. The biblical figure of Samson gets one of many superhero interpretations here, with this one looking like he is from medieval Europe and bearing Captain Marvel’s facial features.

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

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

27. Sinbad Jr. — “How much change is too little to qualify for this list?” is one question you might reasonably ask. What I mean is, if the transformation doesn’t fully change bodies, but augments slightly, is it the same thing? Maybe. With Sinbad Jr., another ’60s cartoon, the young hero pulls on his lightning bolt-emblazoned belt to pump up his muscularity — with a flash. I argue that they were pulling from the same root, and the lightning bolt gives up the source of inspiration.

28. He-Man and Prince Adam with Battlecat and Cringer — One of the most successful followers of the transforming hero ideal was He-Man of The Masters of the Universe fame. Created initially as a toy line for Mattel, it had a cartoon show, comicbook, and film to support it. The toy line was one of the most extensive in history, [TM & © the respective trademark spawning numerous characters & copyright holders.] that were patterned after the same body-builder physique that He-Man had. As visualized in the animated series (produced by Filmation, the same company that made the Shazam! TV show), the fantasy world Everyman, Prince Adam, would hold his sword aloft and cry, “By the power of Grayskull... I have the power!” and be transformed in a flash to He-Man (his cowardly talking tiger companion, Cringer, would also be changed into Battlecat). The two adult counterparts were identical, but differences in clothing and He-Man’s tan would seem to separate their identities well enough for the animated reality. It would seem that that use of the flash-changing hero bit is so commonplace that the show’s creators wouldn’t know where it originated, but the phrase-repeating trigger and thunderclap sound don’t fall far from the Shazam tree. 29. The Wizard Captain Marvel and Thunder — In the mid-’90s, during Jerry Ordway’s long run with The Power of Shazam! comic, he established a future legacy for the Captain that had him taking over the role of the wizard, thousands of years in the future. He would eventually pass along the power of Shazam by selecting a young girl named CeCe Beck (after the artist) to say his name, “Captain Marvel,” [TM & © DC Comics.] to transform into a young woman, Thunder. That story showing how “The World’s Mightiest Mortal” isn’t so mortal helped urge the fast-forwarding of this future into the modern DC timeline.

30. The wizard Shazam — For all of us old Cap fans, this is who we think of as “Shazam.” Now that the lead hero has been rechristened with his magic word as his name, the original wizard seems rebooted out of history. For the recent storyline reinvention, the original wizard is now African instead of Egyptian as the original comics appeared to state (at least in [Shazam TM & © DC Comics.] the back story of Black Adam), and his traditional appearance as a Biblical wise man is gone. Shazam was a continual presence in the lives of the Marvel Family as a spirit figure (since he gave up his life when he gave Billy Batson the power), and he would regularly be consulted in his afterlife home at the Rock of Eternity. After 70-some years, all of that is changed. 31. The Mighty Isis and Andrea Thomas — As an immediate way to cash in on the success of Filmation’s successful Shazam! live-action television show, the producers thought to imitate that formula with their own female variation for another Saturday morning offering. This dip into Egyptian mythology for a well-known goddess to make into a super-hero wasn’t so far from the Greco-Roman/Biblical [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] original for the Shazam powers. Isis’ powers were somewhat similar to the Marvel template with natural forces of the elements and animals. The conversion between the schoolteacher Andrea Thomas and Isis followed the familiar pattern, with her saying the words “Oh, mighty Isis.” One might question how it was okay for DC’s licensee animation company, to which they were selling the Captain Marvel rights, to then create their own thinly veiled version in female form and license those rights to DC for a comic adaptation. Couldn’t DC think that Filmation should have paid for a Mary Marvel license instead? The two companion shows crossed over in the ’70s, which was itself a fairly uncommon thing. Since Filmation’s closure in 1989, and the less savory associations with the name in recent years, Isis will not make a lot more comebacks. 32. The Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial — Often the most accurate Hollywood translation of a property is the first. Well-regarded as one of the most exciting movie serials of all time is The Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler as the Captain and Frank Coghlan Jr. as Billy Batson. The slightly older portrayal of Billy is still largely consistent with the [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] spirit of the comics, and his origin by getting his powers from the wizard Shazam is portrayed well. The special effects and fight sequences are the purest adaptation that the character would get in his history on film. The characterization of Captain Marvel by Tyler is particularly strong, as he is a figure who commands respect and acts like a force of nature and authority.

Echoes Of Shazam!

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

33. The Shazam! television series — This 1970s Saturday morning kids show was one of the best ways that the Captain Marvel legend connected with a modern generation. Although it starred two men of similar age in the two roles, the contrasting figures of young teen heartthrob (Michael Gray playing Billy Batson) against the tall, physical fit-in-tights hero (Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel), was a magical combination.

Sure, there was a modernization aspect in play with the protagonists riding around in a motor home, and the half-hour episodes were plainly around troubled-youth dilemmas, where the relatable young Batson could summon Captain Marvel when danger reared. The “Shazam” persona was substituted for by the young adult’s (you weren’t meant to be sure how old Billy was) companion and possible guardian, Mentor (played by Les Tremayne), who seemed both like the wizard and the Marvel Family’s honorary, non-powered member, Uncle Marvel. Billy had a device to directly contact the Shazam gods, with mostly Solomon speaking on their behalf, in a regular animated segment. Everything about the show was tempered to fit the kids broadcasting standards of the tines, which were severely stuck on issues of violence and realistic drama. Within those limitations, the show still had a hypnotic quality to it, particularly when the repeated footage of Billy Batson going off to shout “Shazam!” in private gave way to a cascade of psychedelic lightning and a dramatic musical swell that highlighted the transformation sequence. Jackson Bostwick, to myself and other fans, seemed very fitting as the hero, with his eyebrows, squint, and smile matching the look of C.C. Beck’s design of Captain Marvel’s features. Unfortunately for him and for the show, the producers saw fit to fire him after the first season in an unreasonable dispute and replaced him with John Davey for season two. Much of this difference is lost to time, as even kids who watched the show be repeated in reruns for years couldn’t know why or when he changed, but Bostwick’s presence was all over the initial press for the show and is what most people remember as the era’s Captain Marvel. 34. Legends of the Superheroes’ Captain Marvel — The ’70s had one more actor take up the role of Captain Marvel by decade’s close, as two hour-long 1979 TV specials, Legends of the Superheroes, had their own version, played by Garrett Craig. This use of the hero in a comedic take on the Justice League mostly stood in for Superman, who was by then a feature film star played by Christopher Reeve [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] (so not available for a joke TV show, but neither was Wonder Woman, who had her own show at the time). This largely non-action-displaying, two-episode pilot had the Captain co-starring with many heroes and villains, including Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin for their last time. Also of note were portrayals of two Marvel Family villains by actor/comedians (formerly of Laugh-In), Howard Morris as Doctor Sivana and Ruth Buzzy as Aunt Minerva.

35. Brandon Molale — This one is very subjective for me to include. A decade ago, actor Brandon Molale was talked about in fan circles as an appropriate person to cast as Captain Marvel. Fawcett Collectors of America editor P.C. Hamerlinck brought his image to my attention, and I was thoroughly convinced that he was the perfect physical and facial adaptation that [© the respective copyright you could ever hope for. I felt that he holders.] was visually more in line with Beck’s drawings than my own interpretation. Molale, who played supporting roles in pictures like Dodgeball and Mr. Deeds, wasn’t a big enough star to gain Hollywood’s attention, despite the way that an unknown like Christopher Reeve had been a perfect find for Superman. I talked to a producer for the movie around that time, a decade ago (they’ve been planning to make a Shazam! movie for a very long time), and he clarified that they had never taken the option of Molale seriously. To me, Brandon Molale seems like the Captain Marvel who could have been. My drawing of him is not altogether what it could be here, as it was sketched out by following an image on YouTube, and it’s only about half-an-inch high. 36. Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel — The current trademark holder for Marvel Comics is a familiar face that was granted the title after being passed over for decades. Carol Danvers was a supporting character introduced in the Roy Thomas/Gene Colan “Captain Marvel” storyline that began in 1968. Years later in the ’70s, she was enhanced to super-hero lead status [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] with powers derived from Captain “Mar-Vell,” as she became “Ms. Marvel” for her own book. Inclusion in The Avengers elevated her profile, but storyline twists abused her and retired her prematurely. (She gave birth to a fast-growing offspring who would turn out to be an extra-dimensional interloper who implanted himself within her without her knowledge — not a storyline you found happening to the men.) She was later revived in The X-Men as the stellarpowered “Binary.” Eventually she found her way back in to her Ms. Marvel persona by the end of the 20th century. The Captain Marvel name passed from Mar-Vell to Monica Rambeau, then to Genis Mar-Vell — an invented son for the original—and eventually it came back to the long-dead Mar-Vell again, but he turned out to be a Skrull agent unaware that he wasn’t the original. Carol’s coronation with the Captain title was fitting, given her military background and her presence from the start of this property experiment for Marvel. The tough thing for this relatively recent title change is that there are a good many fans who felt that Carol herself was a Marvel icon as Ms. Marvel. Her costume was one designed by the great Dave Cockrum, and her presence in continuity from the last twenty years reaffirmed her position as a key player that readers identified. The push for her being Captain Marvel is a long time coming but is a somewhat conflicted issue for fans.

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

37. M.F. Enterprises’ Captain Marvel — He’s the one that screwed things up for everybody. In 1966, at the dawn of the “camp” comics movement that capitalized on the campy Batman TV series premiering that year, Myron Fass Enterprises launched their bizarre hero who appropriated the name Captain Marvel. This “human robot” was able to separate his body [© the respective copyright parts as independently operating holders.] projectiles when he yelled “Split!” They then unified when he shouted “Xam!” (probably pronounced “Zam!,” like the second half of the word “Shazam!”). Created by the original Human Torch’s creator, Carl Burgos, the intent to capitalize on a famous (and then unused) character name was furthered by having him hang out with a normal kid named Billy. The poorly made comic poked in the eyes of both Marvel and DC by using character names “The Bat,” “Plastic Man,” and “Dr. Doom” as villain names. It may have been that Myron Fass’ grabbing the Captain Marvel name that had debatably fallen into public domain (it had been thirteen years since the last Fawcett comic) caused Marvel Comics to realize how much they would wish to covet and defend all uses of the word “Marvel” in comicbook publishing. Wanting a new Captain Marvel comic not featuring the original character as a licensed property led Marvel publisher Martin Goodman to order Stan Lee to build their own version to get out by ’68 and then to vigorously defend Marvel’s claim to the general use of the word. 38. Hoppy and Captain Marvel Bunny — Funny animal comics were a strong staple of the industry in the early decades of the art form, and before animal sidekicks became more of a presence in DC’s books, Fawcett introduced their lead hero’s animal counterpart in his own title in 1945. Just like Captain Marvel, Hoppy said “Shazam!” and had all of the same abilities. The Marvel Bunny also enjoyed merchandising along with the other Marvel Family members.

[Shazam Bunny TM & © DC Comics.]

39. The Mego 8-inch Shazam! action figure — Sold in the ’70s as part of the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes line from the Mego toy company, the “Shazam!” figure, which tied in to the TV show, enjoyed elevated merchandising status along with the most notable DC and Marvel characters. Mego had license agreements with both companies and was able to group them under one [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] umbrella of packaging. The 8-inch dolls were just one part of a saturation of toys of all different types as well as other product merchandising of the period. I’ve included the figure here only as a symbol of product that DC was able to generate for the 45 years and running that they’ve worked with the property. Even without use of the character’s real name, they have been able to keep the Captain a part of virtually every line of toys and paraphernalia.

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

40. The Gentleman and Tillie — This is another one I did. As part of the 20-some year project Astro City, which I contribute covers and character designs to, occasionally I have thrown concepts at my collaborators, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, to include. We have a virtual universe of hero and villain archetypes who often relate creative aspects of legendary characters in distinctive ways.

From the early ’90s, I had wanted to illustrate the original influence on Captain Marvel’s face, Fred MacMurray. I did a number of pieces with that thought in mind, but I also was informed by DC that they would not encourage my doing that for them directly. I would learn to transfer that impulse onto using a friend who would become my model for the Captain. I also had the outlet of Astro City in which to independently say something about the character I loved. Foremost, I felt that what is lost to the hero’s identity today is that he was a “gentleman.” The tuxedo as a costume look came from a ’40s story wherein the good Captain went on a date with Sivana’s daughter, Beautia. The concept that Kurt and I refined was of a telekinetic projection by a powerful psychic little girl who is creating a superhuman avatar of her late father. How’s that for a spin on the wish-fulfillment hero? 41. Mad’s Captain Marbles and Billy Spafon — From 1953, this Harvey Kurtzman-written parody is a fairly deep commentary on the real-life conflict between Superman’s and Captain Marvel’s publishers then, before it was over. The blond caricature of the Captain with a dollar sign on his chest was the physical superior to “Superduperman,” so that the only way he could be defeated was by his own hand. This story is easily one of the [TM & © EC Publications, Inc.] most famous and most-reprinted stories from Mad, as well as being exemplary of Wally Wood as one of the greatest artists in the medium. Captain Marbles’ entry into the story as the diminutive newspaper photographer Billy Spafon, who yells “Shazoom!” to become the impervious Captain, created a whole new intimidating impression for how one could see Captain Marvel. This short story had a formative impact on how I wanted to present the face-off between Marvel and Superman in Kingdom Come. 42. Nuts!’s Captain Marble and Billy Battyson — This 1954 Mad-wannabe parody drawn by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito was another stab at the character—when he no longer was being published. Ironically, it seems to have been written by longtime “Captain Marvel” writer Otto Binder, soon after Fawcett Publications left the comics business. [© the respective & copyright holders.]

Echoes Of Shazam!

43. Kingdom Come’s Captain Marvel – The cheeky thing I’ve done here is show the current movie interpretations of this legend looking up at my creepy rendition from Kingdom Come. Ultimately he is a piece of the past that I feel rightfully haunts these productions. Within the Kingdom Come storyline, Captain Marvel’s presence would be that [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] of spoiler. He is there to be a silent blockade to Superman’s saving everyone, and he represents that idea of there is always someone stronger or better than you at whatever it is you do. Here he might seem to represent my artistic version of him as one of the many variations to include, but the twisted “future” version of Kingdom Come’s plotline places him in a villain’s position. Mark Waid’s script played with the idea of an adult Batson being indistinguishable from the Captain, and his manipulation by villainous forces can be seen as a commentary on the loss of innocence for comics in general.

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

44. The Shazam! and Captain Marvel motion pictures – The ironic premieres of these two films a month apart only serves to invite comparison of each corporate parent is managing their dueling properties. Unsurprisingly, Marvel does well consistently with their films now, and DC is still stuck trying to play catch-up. The Zachary Levi version of Shazam! is consistent to the storytelling device of copying the film Big for much of the last thirty-five years. All details in his film follow the most recent dramatic overhaul of the character’s history from a comic that is less than a decade old. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel is adding to reinventions of Carol Danvers’ history in the comics by now making her the only captain there ever was and by diminishing the role of Mar-Vell in the cinematic mythology.

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

45. Adam Warlock – As part of Roy Thomas’ translation of influences from comics lore he grew up with, his reworking of Jack Kirby’s “Him” now bore a full costume with the Marvel Family emblem plainly displayed. This Gil Kane-designed costume from the early ’70s falls right within the period of Marvel’s relaunching their own Captain Marvel and just before DC’s revival with the original licensed character. The lightning logo did not last long then (Jim Starlin removed it) but has been revived in recent usage.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

46. Earth X’s “Marvel Universe” and “Mar-Vell” – Look above and below in the illustration to see the hovering, astral, Christ-like figure of the late Captain Marvel over his reborn, three-year-old self from the series Universe X (2000). After the initial Earth X series, writer Jim Krueger and I were planning to do a resurrection of the Mar-Vell character [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] on two fronts: one where he is reborn into the land of the living through a new, powerless child’s body, but while maintaining his “cosmic consciousness” in the realm of the dead to attempt to free the souls trapped there. We combined the powers of a fallen Captain Universe to be given to the dead Captain Marvel, rechristening him the “Marvel Universe.” It seemed silly then, too. 47. Genis Mar-Vell, Captain Marvel – This is yet another one of mine. Briefly during a point in the early 2000s, the editors for the son of Mar-Vell comic were looking to goose the book’s numbers by doing a cosmetic change. The character’s regular starry classic Mar-Vell costume (seen in #58) was great, but they thought a change by me, any change, would bring attention to the comic. I channeled my love for [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Dave Cockrum’s Star Boy design into a revival of the old Gene Colan green and white costume. The Colan look seemed like a stylized Spartan soldier because of the fin on the mask, so I played that up. The character’s new look and the book’s longevity only lasted a little longer before they started over again. Despite this blip in history, I’ve got two different toys Marvel made based on this design. 48. Justice League’s Shazam and Billy Batson – As part of the continuity-wide reworking of all of the DC Universe (started in 2012), the focus on the Marvel Family would get a prime spot in the “New 52”’s top-selling book of the Justice League as a backup feature. The Marvel name would finally be put to rest, though, as all previous historical reference to the name is to [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] be removed. It wasn’t just that they have a new version of the character but that the past is rewritten as well. The main thrust of the “New 52” was a bit like the point of Marvel’s “Ultimate” line, where the properties are re-examined and set up for adaptation for film, hopefully, by the then-current popular writers and artists. Both storyline reboots for the Justice League comic and its “Shazam!” backup became the basis for the feature film that came out.

[TM & © John Carbonaro.]

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

49. Dynamo – Tower Comics’ line of late ‘60s, Wally Wood-designed superheroes is a fondly remembered group of well-conceived characters. The lead hero of these, Dynamo, had a lightning bolt emblem and a belt that charged him up with a flash of energy to give him his powers. This, too, falls into that period of time where the Marvel Family legacy was everywhere, but the Tower heroes had more distinctive traits to separate them.

50. Forever Evil’s Mazahs! – Basically, just as the Captain Super character from the direct-to-video Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths was a Crime Syndicate version of Captain Marvel, Mazahs was a “New 52” variation on the same idea. Coming from the comics event series Forever Evil, the Lex Luthor of this alternate bad Earth is the keeper of his universe’s magic word (Shazam backward), which was part of a built-up surprise to find this spin placed on these counterpart characters.

[TM & © DC Comics.]

51. The Trials of Shazam! and the “Wizard” Captain Marvel – This is the project that happened before Jeff Smith’s youth-oriented version (and before my pitch was rejected), and DC went in a seemingly irrevocable direction. The new book, The Trials of Shazam!, built off of Jerry Ordway’s idea to eventually have the classic Captain Marvel inherit the wizard’s [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.] position in the far future. Here, the future was now and Marvel became a white-costumed, long-whitehaired wizard of sorts who then passed the mantle of Shazam (as a character name and magic word) to Freddy Freeman. Freddy moves up in the rotation without changing into an adult form like Billy Batson did. The youthful, red-costumed Freddy bore no resemblance to the Mac Raboy art style ever again. 52. Shazzan, Chuck, Nancy, and Kaboobie – This Hanna-Barbera cartoon took the Marvel Family concept to its genie wish-fulfillment roots by having two Caucasian kids and their flying camel command an all-powerful, size-changing genie. Calling the magical being “Shazzan” was a declaration of the creative heritage that they showed no intent to disguise. The character designs and look of the animation were supplied by legendary artist (and Captain Marvel fan) Alex Toth.

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

53. Marvel’s first Captain Marvel – This was the beginning look for Mar-Vell as drawn by Gene Colan. The simple idea of an advance scout of a militarily aggressive alien race, coming to observe us and then defend Earth against his own people, was the plot that would evolve with time and numerous redirections. The green and white costume eventually gave way to a traditional super-hero red, blue, and yellow makeover.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

One other interesting bit of Jack Kirby trivia that I learned from his early-1970s assistant, Mark Evanier, is that Jack expressed to him how he felt that this idea was stolen from him. In the late ’60s, when Marvel’s distribution deal through DC was coming to a close (it’s a long story), they were freed up to begin adding new titles to their publishing line. Marvel’s publisher, Martin Goodman, was looking for new characters to expand with, and instructed his cousin-by-marriage and editor-in-chief, Stan Lee, to begin the process. Jack recalled telling Stan an idea he had about a Kree soldier (from the race they introduced in Fantastic Four) who defects from his post of observing Earth to defending it against his own world. Stan, he said, was encouraging that they should get a book started around this right away. Jack claimed that he said he wanted to hold off until he was able to get in to negotiate a better deal with Goodman, since so many of the properties he brought to them weren’t getting him any additional money or control. Kirby never got that better deal back then, despite his introduction of the Silver Surfer, Black Panther, the Inhumans, and so many others who would be given their own books. When he saw Marvel’s Captain Marvel with the Kree soldier story idea (authored by Stan Lee initially, before Roy Thomas took over), it was another nail in the coffin for his relationship with the company. Roy may want to refute this, but the perspective that Jack held is true to what he believed, as told directly to Evanier. It’s an interesting thought that in addition to his drawing Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (1941), Jack Kirby may have been instrumental to both revivals of the Captain Marvel legend with both Marvel and DC, without anyone knowing it. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Alas, I can neither confirm nor refute my friend Mark Evanier’s report of what Jack told him. As I’ve recounted many times, Stan Lee told me one day in 1967 that publisher Martin Goodman insisted he create a new “Captain Marvel” so that Marvel could protect it as part of its trademark and there’d be no more travesties like the Fass/Burgos hero. Stan told me at the time that he didn’t like the idea of using the Captain Marvel name, since the original character had been so famous (only a bit more than a decade earlier), but he did what Goodman decreed. Later, Stan told a group of college students—as reported in a fanzine—that an unnamed TV producer had suggested to Goodman that Marvel create a science-fictional character called Captain Marvel, complete with rayguns and rockets, who could hopefully be transformed into an animated TV series—but that alleged plan never bore fruit, and I never heard a word about that projected TV show from Stan himself. Any part that Jack Kirby may or may not have played in the creation of Marvel’s first Captain Marvel is totally unknown to me… and of course Mark himself didn’t go to work for Jack until two or three years later, so he can only rely upon Jack’s retelling. The mystery will doubtless endure.]

Echoes Of Shazam!

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

54. Captain Tootsie – Captain Marvel co-creator C.C. Beck had other jobs in comics that followed the pattern of the Captain’s look he designed. The Tootsie Roll company commissioned Beck and sometime Fawcett writer and editor Rod Reed to create a mascot hero character who would be illustrated in one-page mini-stories that served as comic strip advertisements.

55. Captain Pureheart and Archie Andrews – Even pre-existing popular characters from other companies would take a page from the transforming hero precedent. Archie and his friends Betty, Veronica, and Jughead would all get super-hero identities in specialized comics where they did the quickchange flash.

[TM & © DC Comics.]

57. The Fly and Tommy Troy – Another involvement in the Captain Marvel legacy by Jack Kirby had a repeat of the child changing into an adult super-hero effect, with work done by the last vestiges of the Simon & Kirby studio for the Archie Comic Group. Here, in the late ’50s, they had a boy rub a magic ring to become the bug-oriented hero, The Fly. Apparently when Kirby was initially working on his “Spiderman” (one word) concept for and with Stan Lee in 1962, the idea was the same as “The Fly”: young boy into man with ring transforming and all. Steve Ditko was brought in to redirect the whole thing… and he and Stan came up with the Spider-Man we now know.

58. S.H.A.Z.A.M. and Captain Thunder – This group of kids transforming together into the modified Captain Thunder was a trial run for the current “Shazam Family” in post-“New 52” DC continuity. Comprised of the original three Marvel Family kids – Billy, Freddy, and Mary – and adding three other racially diverse kids, making a total of six, who each hold a [S.H.A.Z.A.M. TM & © DC Comics. power. First appearing in the Flashpoint The Captain Thunder name is a storyline that officially ended the TM of Roy & Dann Thomas.] prior DC continuity, the S.H.A.Z.A.M. group replaced the Freddy Freeman “Shazam” hero’s trial period. This acronym approach with the kids becoming one character follows the Forever People’s take of the many becoming one, as they did with the Infinity Man.

[TM & © Archie Comic Group.]

56. Robby Reed and Dial “H” for Hero – A creative spin on the transforming hero idea had teenagers use a dial (like for a rotary phone) to summon an identity change into a different original super-hero identity every time. This revolving door of character concepts allowed DC Comics to solicit entries from readers, making them that much more a part of the fantasy.

[TM & © Archie Comic Group.]

[TM & © DC Comics.]

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

59. Genis Mar-Vell and Rick Jones – Introduced in the early ’90s as Monica Rambeau’s successor for the Captain Marvel title, the late Mar-Vell’s newly discovered son wouldn’t get much traction until the series Avengers Forever, where he achieved a breakout status. For the second time, Rick Jones exchanged places regularly with another character named Mar-Vell. He achieved this by slapping his bracelets (Nega-Bands) together.

60. Captain Flash – Before the historically acknowledged arrival of comics’ “Silver Age” with the second version of the Flash, there was Captain Flash, one year earlier. With a cover date of November 1954, less than a year after the Fawcett line of comics had ended, Captain Flash was already copying the transformation technique—with a hand clap that set off a miniature atomic explosion! The super-hero comics [TM & © the respective trademark never fully left the stands, but their & copyright holders.] popularity waned during this mid-’50s period. Captain Flash bore a lightning bolt emblem like Captain Marvel’s for some of his stories, too, and if you look at it a certain way, the spirit of Shazam has never been gone from publishing since his arrival. 61. The Demon and Jason Blood – This is one I almost didn’t include, but it checks all of the boxes. Jack Kirby revisited this approach so often, I don’t think he consciously thought about how it came to him. When determining the next round of books that Jack did for his DC contract, he went back to a design he (or, in some versions of the tale, editorial director Carmine Infantino) pulled from an old Prince Valiant newspaper strip and made that a literal demon, bonded to a human alter ego. With probably the longest invocation yet, Jason Blood transforms into the Demon when he or another magical person speaks the spell, “Change! Change! Transmogrify! Free the might from fleshly mire! Boil the blood in heart of fire! Gone, gone the form of man! Rise the Demon, Etrigan.” Also, like Captain Marvel, he is red and yellow.

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

62. The Champion and Young Shazam – As a kid, I loved the work of the great Don Newton, and in his time illustrating his boyhood hero, Captain Marvel, he was able to establish another hero in the history of the mythos, this being the first. In a story written by E. Nelson Bridwell, the original hero who transformed from a boy to a man was thousands of [TM & © DC Comics.] years in the past. With the magic word “Vlarem” (Marvel scrambled) based on an anagram of even older gods, Young Shazam was able to change into the Champion, who fought to contain evil to protect ancient civilization.

66. Captain Barbell – Two of the main heroes in the Philippines comics market appear to have taken heavy inspiration from Captain Marvel. Captain Barbell (who premiered in 1963) was a young boy named Enteng who transformed into the super-strong flying hero by lifting a magical golden barbell that was given to him by a mysterious [TM & © the respective trademark hermit. Captain Barbell and Darna & copyright holders.] both employed the transforming hero motif and both were created by the same person, Mars Ravelo. Captain Barbell has been adapted to Filipino television and film multiple times over the years.

63. OMAC and Buddy Blank – Another in the second round of Kirby’s work for DC in the ‘70s pulled from Captain Marvel again. OMAC, the One Man Army Corps, was the result of future genetic manipulation by an advanced computer called Brother Eye. An ordinary stock boy named Buddy Blank was surgically transformed into the larger, superior form of OMAC. The character did change back and forth, but only in story turns that took that choice from him.

67. Darna and Narda – Coming out during Captain Marvel’s heyday, in 1950 in the Philippines, Narda is a young girl who swallows a magic white stone and shouts “Darna” to become the mighty warrior of that name. Possessing the allure of Venus, the glory of Apollo, and the strength of Samson, she is considered to be the most celebrated super-hero in the Philippines. Her portrayal in film and television over the years made her far more well known as a pop culture figure than simply a character born from comicbooks.

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

[TM & © DC Comics.]

64. Mage – In terms of iconography, sometimes all that followed from the Marvels was the use of their lightning bolt symbol. Matt Wagner’s Mage, a human hero with a magical bat, wore a black t-shirt with a white Shazamstyle lightning bolt on it. When DC began publishing Captain Marvel’s adventures, they found they could not prevent imitations of his emblem, especially with some variation.

65. Madman – Mike Allred’s Madman paid tribute to the lightning bolt emblem with the modification of turning it into an exclamation point. Over time and various wardrobe changes, Madman varied his bolt with different colors. While not being a magical or super-strong character, Madman was a reanimated corpse named Frank Einstein who was gifted with psychic visions.

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

68. The Red Giant – Now, this one is really indulgent. For anyone looking at this illustration who assumed they could have figured out who everyone was, this character wouldn’t have been identifiable because he’s never been in print. From the beginning stages of this drawing’s layout, I planned for some giant figures to frame the background. The “Red Giant” was a design I did to [TM & © Alex Ross.] create a Captain Marvel-like adversary for a project that never happened twenty years ago. I was creating a great number of super-heroes and villains to populate a companycrossover type of story. Most of these were redesigned licensed product mascots from popular culture. The Red Giant was a color and elemental reversal of the Captain Marvel-looking Jolly Green Giant of canned vegetable fame. From a personal standpoint, I couldn’t not include him in this assembly. 69. Superman and Shajam – For the 1960s Turkish film Superman vs. Kilink, they mashed up their own hero from the origin and transformation of Captain Marvel to a modified Batman costume with Superman’s name and emblem. An old wizard named Shajam gives the hero the same powers the wizard Shazam gave Billy. In the film itself, the hero is referred to repeatedly as the Flying Man. The villain Kilink is an evil skeleton-costumed criminal, who starred in multiple films in Turkey.

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

Echoes Of Shazam!

70. DC and Marvel’s Amalgam Captain Marvel – As part of the fun mashup from 1995 that combined similar characters from both publishing universes, in the book JLX, a cross between the Justice League and the X-Men, a small appearance is given to classic Captain Marvel wearing the Gene Colan white and green outfit with a green lightning bolt emblem.

[TM & © DC Comics & Marvel Characters, Inc.]

71. Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer – “The only comic hero with three identities” was a late-’60s attempt by Captain Marvel’s chief creative team, writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck, to revive some of the charm from their history. Wearing basically a green Marvel Family suit, the fully grown Van Crawford would slip out of his normal clothes into said suit [TM & © the respective trademark and then further transform into a & copyright holders.] flying saucerman. Binder and Beck were clearly trying to connect with the “camp” style that was a sensation in the mid-’60s (following the success of the Batman TV show). Branded with the Marvel emblem as “a lightning comic,” the creators didn’t strike gold this time around and never worked together again. 72. SheZow and Guy Hamdon – One I didn’t know about until it was recommended to me for this piece is a Canadian/Australian-produced, gender-swapping cartoon character who changes from a regular boy into a girl super-hero. SheZow is a legacy to be passed down from grandmother to granddaughter through a magic ring, except that the girl’s brother puts it on first. Guy transforms by saying the words, “You go, girl!”

74. Thunder and Lightning – This one-off dual character villain only appeared in Superman #303 (1976). An artificial man created by another villain called Whirlicane was able to change between the power sets and different forms of lightning and thunder. If Superman hadn’t alerted the character to his own artificiality (since he thought he was a real man given powers), he might not have freaked out and destroyed himself and his creator.

75. Filmation’s Captain Marvel – Here I’m just acknowledging the onetime animated series version of Shazam! from 1981. The drawing models matched the comics exactly as they were at the time, with many supporting characters and villains appearing on television for the first time. Filmation was able to bring an exact adaptation to the source material with animation, unlike the omissions and revisions of their live-action show.

[TM & © DC Comics.]

In the years since, Captain Marvel and the whole Marvel Family have appeared in numerous Warner Bros. animated series and direct-to-video films. 76. Thunderbunny and Billy Caswell – Coming from fanzines to mainstream publishing, this animalhuman dual character was a clear tribute to the Marvel Bunny of the ’40s, created by fan Martin Greim. Here the transformation is done with a hand clap to change the boy into a rabbit hero from a far-away civilization. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

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

73. Shaloman – A different form of the traditional alter ego is to be an inanimate object first, as in this case where the character is at first a stone carving of the Hebrew letter “shin” sitting atop Mount Israel that then transforms into the super-hero Shaloman when the Israeli people cry out “Oi-Vay [sic]!” [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

[TM & © DC Comics.]

The assembly of characters I put together here only scratches the surface, as I learned. With the help of P.C. Hamerlinck and Roy Thomas, I’ve been educated to a bunch more I missed, which led me to doing a part 2 illustration (see following page). Clearly this pursuit is obsessive, but I was doing this in my spare time as a point of fun and exploration. I’ve come to terms with how I may not ever fully chronicle every character or entity that connects back to Captain Marvel. I’m just trying to make a point that may already be realized by fans who care for the original like I do, but it can also arm us with the knowledge of how a concept can go so unrewarded for the debt owed to it. [Special thanks Ron Murphy and Josh Johnson for providing image scans.]

[All characters TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Alter Ego, Captain Thunder, & Blue Bolt TM & © Roy & Dann Thomas.]

40 The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

—ADDENDUM —

ECHOES OF SHAZAM! Part Two

by Alex Ross

ollowing Roy Thomas’ noting that I had left off two of his own Captain Marvel-derived concepts, I inquired with P.C. Hamerlinck about listing any others I might have missed. I thought I would possibly squeeze in a few tiny figures in my earlier piece, but the list PCH came back with was so extensive that it deserved a whole new illustration to focus on them. Having not included the Fawcett-published sidekicks for Captain Marvel originally, I figured I’d add them in now to enhance more clearly how the Shazam legacy grew. This time I won’t explain the stories behind every inclusion, but I hope some of you will be intrigued enough to investigate some of them on your own. It’s clear to me now that there is no end to this hero’s influence, and I can’t have gotten everybody in, try as I might.

ECHOES OF SHAZAM! – PART TWO Character List: 1. Captain Marvel Jr. and Freddy Freeman 2. Uncle Marvel 3. Mary Marvel and Mary Batson/Bromfield 4. The three Lieutenant Marvels (all named Billy Batson), Fat Marvel, and Fat Billy Batson 5. Tall Marvel and Tall Billy Batson 6. Hill Billy Marvel and Hill Billy Batson 7. Black Adam and Teth-Adam 8. Captain Black Bunny 9. Son of Vulcan and Johnny Mann 10. Mike Moran and Miracleman (Marvelman, UK) 11. Young Marvelman (UK) 12. Kid Marvelman (UK) 13. Promethea and Sophie Bangs 14. Pete Pixie and the Mighty Atom 15. The Shazam (rock band) 16. Brian Braddock, Merlin, and Captain Britain 17. Foxy Shazam (rock band) 18. Diana Prince and Wonder Woman (TV) 19. Freakazoid! and Dexter Douglas 20. The Super Green Beret, Tod Holton, and the Jungle Wizard 21. Niatpac Levram 22. Marybell (Colombia) 23. Electroman (UK) 24. Ibac and Mr. Printwhistle 25. Zha-Vam 26. The Move from the album “Shazam!” (UK) 27. Gospelman and Bible-Boy 28. Super Rabbit and Waffles Bunny 29. Hammond and Awesome Bear 30. Happy the Rabbit and the Magic Bunny

The Tale Behind Two Titanic Tapestries Of Captain Marvel’s Shadows

31. The Jaguar

49. Captain Atom (Australia)

32. Bananaman (UK)

50. Tanist from DC One Million

33. Thunderbolt Jaxon

51. Miraclewoman (UK)

34. Mighty Mite and Master Mite

52. Capt. TV

35. Alter Ego and Rob Lindsay

53. Arthur and the Sword

36. Amethyst

54. Goodguy aka Major Marvel, Marvel Mouse, Mitey Marvel, Minor Marvel, Mz Marvel, Moms Marvel

37. Blue Beetle and Dan Garrett 38. Captain Miracle and Billy Batista 39. Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt 40. She-Ra 41. Shazam (the music app) 42. Abuse 43. Jughead and Captain Hero 44. Golden Lad and Golden Girl 45. The Thing and Benjy Grimm – “Thing-Ring, Do Your Thing!” (TV) 46. Mr. Miracle 47. Captain Miracle (UK) 48. The Green Lama and Jethro Dumont

Benito Gallego’s ORIGINAL ART for SALE directly from the Artist Contact benitogallego@gmail.com

55. Captain/Colonel Sivanna 56. Father Patriot and Major Victory 57. Zazzo and Zazzo-Plus 58. Reuben Reuben and Red Rube 59. Bobby Fletcher and Masterman 60. Duane Eddy from the single “Shazam!” 61. Jim Logan and Captain Universe (UK) 62. Miracle Man, John Chapman, and Supercoat (UK) 63. Tommy Troy and the Silver Spider 64. Hector Ayala and the White Tiger

Tributes To BILL SCHELLY –Part 2

More Memories Of The Comics’ Foremost Biographer & Fandom Historian Assembled & Conducted by Jeff Gelb

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: For most of the twenty years to date of the life of Alter Ego, Volume 3, Bill Schelly was a vital part of a small coterie of regular contributors devoted to recording the history of comicbooks and the comics fandom movement from the earliest days through, mostly, the first half of the 1970s. Even before that, he had written and/or edited several seminal books on fandom, and in more recent years he had become (at the very least) one of the field’s preeminent biographers. He passed away on September 12, 2019, of multiple myeloma, at the too-young age of 67. We prevailed upon his good friend Jeff Gelb to put together a tribute to Bill, by inviting some of his friends and colleagues to write their reminiscences of Bill and their thoughts on his place in the history of the comics fandom movement he did so much to commemorate and to further. The first part of this tribute appeared in our previous issue. Here are the others of the commentaries collected by Jeff, whose own memories of Bill were printed in #165... and topped off by a poem which Jeff wrote about his longtime friend…

Bill Schelly holding a copy of his 2008 biography Joe Kubert: Man of Rock—and a letter that he treasured from the legendary artist, upon receiving copies of it hot off the presses. Thanks to Jeff Gelb.

Bart Bush Bill Schelly was one of the greatest gifts to comics fandom. Bill’s talents both as an artist and a writer made him a uniquely qualified person to track and preserve our history. I met Bill in the 1970s; first at the NYC Con in 1973, as he tried to make his name in professional comics world… Years later, he became a regular guest of honor at our Oklahoma (OAF) conventions, and always entertained us with his latest book, A/E article, or comics project. To listen and learn from Bill was always a rewarding experience.

Bart Bush was the interview subject of two of Bill’s “Comic Fandom Archives” segments, in A/E #159 & 160.

The biographies were his strong suit. We loved every one… Otto Binder, Kurtzman, Stanley, Kubert, Warren, etc. His masterful writing touch make every book a joy to read, and his amazing research always turned up fascinating new stories and behind-the-scenes details. Once you started one of Bill’s books, you weren’t going to put the page-turner down till finished! We are very fortunate to have his tomes of comics fandom

and comics history to serve as a basis for future biographers and researchers. A master at his game, a legend now gone, but never, ever forgotten. We will carry on in your memory and help keep fandom alive, Bill. That’s the least we can do. Bart Bush has been a comics fan since 1958, and is a former fanzine editor (OAF, Harvey Collector, Comic Detective, Meriwell Reader) and current Oklahoma comics convention promoter.

More Memories Of The Comics’ Foremost Biographer & Fandom Historian

J. Michael Catron Bill Schelly was one of the gang. You know, our gang—yours and mine. He was a comics fan through and through. Wherever life took him (and you should read Sense of Wonder: My Life in Comic Fandom — The Whole Story, the updated version of his autobiography), he remained true to his love of comics. It was a lifelong love, sparked by a silly Superman Annual (though certainly not silly to his 8-year-old self) and fanned by the flame of additional wonders to be found each consecutive week at the comics rack, then through fanzines, then through the worldwide community of comics fans, and, finally, to a professional (and all-too-short) career as a writer about comics and their creators. I only got to know Bill in his later Seattle days. After a long backstory of my own, I returned to work at Fantagraphics, a company I had co-founded, in 2012. Bill had already written his biography of Joe Kubert, and his biographies of Harvey Kurtzman and Jim Warren lay in the future. I was editing a book that called for a short-form biography of a comics creator, and Bill, because of the Kubert bio and because he lived just a few miles from the office, was my go-to guy. He accepted the assignment, but he privately expressed to me that he was only doing it for the money (which, considering how

little it paid, was a puzzling thing to say). He would knock it out quickly, I could edit the text any way I wanted, and he didn’t even need to see a pre-publication proof. It was all bluff and bluster. Of course he cared about what he’d written. In fact, when the piece was published, he came around to complain that he didn’t like the way I’d broken up his longer paragraphs into shorter ones. He wanted me to see him as a professional writer, and I think he thought that by feigning an emotional distance from the work, I wouldn’t think of him as a “fan” writer. If I had thought otherwise (I hadn’t), his Eisner Award–winning Kurtzman biography a short time later would have erased any doubt. Bill was also a big movie fan, and he was part of a small group of us who would gather at Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth’s house on occasion to watch a film noir. Our conversations were freewheeling before the movie, just friends chatting and joking about whatever happened to be on our minds. After the movie, we’d invariably have ice cream and dissect and debate what we’d just seen. I was always impressed with Bill’s insight about the way the story was told and his knack for relating themes and scenes to other, not necessarily noir, movies. Bill was also in on the biggest trick ever pulled on me. In 2015, Fantagraphics published Bill’s Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America (did I mention it won the Eisner Award?), and Bill was scheduled to speak on a panel about Kurtzman at the San Diego Comic-Con in July. Even though I wasn’t on the panel, Bill nevertheless asked me to introduce him to the audience. Usually, that’s the moderator’s job, and the moderator for that panel was Gary Groth, who was perfectly capable of introducing him. But Bill specifically asked that I do it. So, gamely, I prepared several pages of handwritten notes.

Mike Catron Pictured with him is the cover of the book Black Light: The World of L.B. Cole, which was primarily a collection of that artist’s comics covers, but was enhanced by a long biographical essay by Bill Schelly. We displayed the covers of most of Bill’s books for Fantagraphics last issue. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

One of my projects is recording videos of writers and artists at comics conventions, and, with the help of my son Matthew, I was set up to record that panel. Shortly before the event began, I noticed then-Program Director Gary Sassaman (now Curatorial Director of the Comic-Con Museum) standing inconspicuously off to the side of the room. As a longtime convention panel attendee, I knew what that meant — Bill was about to be a surprise recipient of the convention’s Inkpot Award! I was thrilled for him and alerted Matthew, who would be operating the camera while I was speaking, to be sure to capture the moment when Gary handed the statue to Bill.

Tributes To Bill Schelly - Part 2

As Bill and I and the rest of the panelists took our places on the platform stage, I smiled and nodded to Gary Sassaman, to let him know that I knew why he was there. As I expected, before I could begin, Gary strode up onto the platform. I stepped back from the podium, and Gary proceeded to present the award — to me! The whole thing was an elaborate setup concocted months earlier. (As it turned out, Bill had received his Inkpot years before, in 2011.) Bill had agreed to lure me into this whole charade so the award could be presented to me in public. He’d succeeded, and I was completely blindsided. I was so excited about seeing Bill getting his award that I hardly knew what to say when Gary announced my name instead of Bill’s. I thanked everyone and accepted the award with as much grace as I could summon and tried to continue with my introduction. Nope, they didn’t want to hear it. It had all been a ruse to get me up there. It was time to get on with the Kurtzman panel. But the day finally came when I got to complete my assignment for Bill. In March of 2019, at the San Diego Comic Fest, Bill, with some help from me, gave a slide presentation about his new book from Fantagraphics, James Warren, Empire of Monsters: The Man Behind Creepy, Vampirella, and Famous Monsters. At last, I got to introduce Bill — for real this time. At that same convention, he also sat with his good friend Jeff Gelb for an extended conversation about his life in comics, prompted by his updated autobiography, which had come out the previous year. It was one of the last times he spoke in public, and I feel privileged to have captured it all on video. You can view that video, by the way, at https://archieve.org/details/ spotlightonbillschelly. Thanks for everything, Bill, from one of the gang. J. Michael Catron is a co-founder of Fantagraphics and of Apple Comics and a former board member of the Grand Comics Database.

Paul Gambaccini Though born in America, Paul has been active in the United Kingdom as a TV presenter, radio personality, and author for many years. We’ve used his mention of Bill’s onetime pro-artist ambitions as an excuse to include a sketch of the original Captain Marvel that Bill penciled in the late 1990s for Jeff Gelb. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Paul Gambaccini I never met Bill, but I did correspond with him. The immediate and lasting impression he made was that he was a genuine true believer. I was flabbergasted that we had both been motivated to become DC fans by Giant Superman Annual #1. In my case, I found that book in a pile of Mad magazines at a friend’s house and loved Curt Swan’s iconic cover, not realizing that he lived, or would soon live, only a couple of miles away from me in Westport, Connecticut. The next day I pilgrimaged to Westfair Smokeshop and bought all current DC super-hero comics except Wonder Woman. I enjoyed them so much that the next day I even bought Wonder Woman. (This is not a sexist comment: these were the days of the odd Kanigher/Andru/Esposito version of the character, which soon won the Alley Award in the category “Comic Book Most in Need of Improvement.”) Bill had a similar conversion experience and took the glorious Silver Age ride with the rest of us, on board for Fantastic Four #1 the following year and the glories of the earliest comic fanzines. (We tip our hat to the EC fandom of the ’50s, but ours was a broader church.) I cannot emphasize enough to younger readers how grassroots our spontaneous movement was. In those pre-Internet days, before Julius Schwartz started printing addresses in his letter columns, we were unaware of who else was reading comics. Yet we were all having the same experience in our own individual ways. I love the quote that Bill obtained from George R.R. Martin for the

cover of Sense of Wonder – My Life in Comic Fandom: “Reading Bill Schelly’s fond, funny, and nostalgic memoir was like going home again.” George put it perfectly: Silver Age comics were indeed a kind of home to those of us who found within them the most imaginative stories our young minds could conceive and a moral compass that reminded us all that “Man, Thy Name Is— Brother!” I will never forget the thrill I felt when my complimentary copy of

More Memories Of The Comics’ Foremost Biographer & Fandom Historian

Alter Ego #1 arrived in the mail. Despite my father’s comment “How can you read such trash?,” an echo of his comment on Elvis Presley, “How can you listen to such trash?,” I was on board immediately, and so was Bill, who published several fanzines himself during the Silver Age. What was more remarkable was that Bill, like others of us who did not go into comics professionally, came back to fandom in adulthood. We realized that what we had most loved when we were young, such as the Silver Age and the Beatles, had actually been good all along and was worth supporting as adults. On his website Bill quoted Jerry Bails’ 1965 interview with Newsweek: “They say that men in our society frequently make a total break from their childhood. I see no reason, if you enjoy something as younger, why you should ever lose that enjoyment.” As Jerry’s successor as Executive Secretary of the Academy of Comic Book Fans and Collectors, I was also visited for that Newsweek article, but without Bill’s research and the article on his website I would not have recalled the name of the journalist who wrote the piece nor the circumstances of Jerry’s interview. This is the kind of deep detail Bill specialized in. Sometimes popular musicians say to me, “You know more about me than I do.” I know what they mean—I know more about the specifics of their past work, which they tend to have forgotten. Bill Schelly studied the activities of all of us in early fandom and became our scholar. He asked us for anecdotes and photos with an interest both academic and passionate, to make his histories more thorough. He made it possible for us to read about men whose enthusiasm we shared and whose work we loved, whether we ever met them or not, people like Jerry Bails, Biljo White, and Ronn Foss, all of whom passed on before us. Now Bill has joined them. I can imagine that they will welcome him in the afterlife with enthusiasm, and that eternity will be one long interview.

a funny side. And he was always happy to share his boundless enthusiasm and comicbook knowledge with likeminded fans. We didn’t see each other too often. I was living in Eugene, Oregon, roughly a five-hour car ride to Bill’s home in Seattle. But whenever my wife Janet and I would vacation in the area, we’d make sure to visit Bill (as well as our friend, Disney comics scripter John Lustig, and his wife Shelagh). Sometimes we’d all get together for lunch and laugh about the goofy comics of our youth, and discuss our current projects. We last exchanged e-mails in June of 2019, when he and I discussed his recent James Warren biography, as well as possible subjects for his future books. Little did I know that, save for his nearly completed work on an American Comic Book Chronicles volume for TwoMorrows, there wouldn’t be any more. Bill kept mum about his illness, so it was a shock when I heard of his sudden death on Sept. 12, 2019. He was 67, just a few months younger than me. It was quite sobering… especially coming on the heels of my cartoonist pal Batton Lash’s death earlier that same year. I certainly miss my friend, but I can’t be too sad. Bill died at the top of his game, having earned respect and recognition for his work in the field he loved. And he did it his way.

Paul Gambaccini experienced his First Fandom from 1960 to 1967. After beginning a broadcasting career in London, he started his Second Fandom in 1979. This one has lasted longer.

Michael T. Gilbert I came across my first fanzine in 1965 and instantly fell in love with those crude, heartfelt mimeo/offset journals. It was a love Bill Schelly and I both shared. So, when I read his 1995 book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (exploring the hobby’s early history, published by his own Hamster Press), I was hooked. A fan letter followed, wherein I complimented Bill on his direct writing style, and praised his exhaustive research. Bill really knew his stuff, having published a few zines of his own back in his day. Schelly’s incisive interviews with the men and women who founded comic fandom saved much of that arcane history from being lost forever. My one complaint with the book (mentioned in my postscript) was its disappointing cover. Bill took my comments to heart, suggesting I try a new one for an updated second edition in the works. I did it gratis, and happily so, in the spirit of early fandom. And thus began our decades-long friendship. Temperamentally, Bill was hardly the life of the party. He tended more to the sober and introspective, though he did have

Michael T. Gilbert and his cover for the second edition of Bill’s first fandom-related book, The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. It shows Bill Spicer, Larry Herndon, and Roy Thomas holding their respective 1960s fanzines—and some of the fan-created characters generated by such zines. [Cover art © Michael T. Gilbert; heroes on cover TM & © their respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tributes To Bill Schelly - Part 2

We should all be so lucky! Michael T. Gilbert has been writing and drawing comics for over forty years, his most famous co-creation being the monster-fighting super-hero, Mr. Monster. Additionally, since 1998, he has also written “Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!,” a comicbook history column for Alter Ego magazine.

John Lustig Most comments here will probably be testimonies to Bill as a writer, a researcher, all-around nice guy, and dedicated, enthusiastic comic fan and historian. And Bill deserves accolades for all that—and more. For me, that “more” includes Bill’s basic approach to life. Frankly, Bill didn’t just meander through life like most of us. He set major goals for himself early on and he had laser focus on achieving them. Over the years, he made a number of very canny career moves. That gave him the financial rock bed to pursue his love of comics and his overriding passion to be a writer. And it let him retire early and have those last few years of his too-short life to write fulltime with a speed and ever-increasing quality that won him an Eisner and was just plain amazing.

John Lustig is juxtaposed with a photo of Bill holding some original Batman art that exemplified his love of comics. Schelly wrote an in-depth essay about this particular issue (#156, June 1963) for Alter Ego, Vol. 2, #5, back in 1999.

of Bill’s books in print, with a re-release of his Joe Kubert biography slated for 2020. I think he liked me.

But the thing I found most inspiring was his dedication to his children. Maybe there were instances where work or writing got in the way of spending time with his kids. But I never saw it and I know of instances where Bill just refused to do talks or promotions because he didn’t want to take time away from his family.

Not long before his death, Bill asked me if I’d be interested in publishing his novel (as far as I know, his only novel), Come with Me. He said that he had written it while a teenager as a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the late 1960s. It had none of the horror, sword-and-sorcery, or comicbook elements that populate my other Pulp Hero Press books. But what the hell.

In the weeks before he died, Bill told me (and lots of other friends) that he had no regrets about how he’d led his life. He’d achieved all his goals. How many of us can say that? John Lustig has written comics for Disney, Marvel, and Viz. He’s also the creator of the Last Kiss webcomic, which uses old comic art with funny, new dialogue. John lives in Seattle, where he and Bill Schelly bonded over their joint love of comics and movies.

Bob McLain I knew Bill Schelly for just a couple of years. Jim Korkis, one of my Theme Park Press authors, thought that Bill might be a good candidate to write a few books for my other imprint (at that point still just an idea), Pulp Hero Press. Korkis gave me Bill’s e-mail address, I wrote to Bill, and I got a reply that same day. Before long, I had published one of Bill’s books. Then another. Then another. In all, I have five

Bob McLain and his Pulp Hero Press have published several books of Bill Schelly’s interviews with and studies of comic fandom’s major figures—but Bill was especially happy when PHP accepted his novel Come with Me for publication in 2019. [Cover art © the respective copyright holders.]

More Memories Of The Comics’ Foremost Biographer & Fandom Historian

John Morrow The co-publisher (along with his wife Pam) of TwoMorrows must’ve been happy, at a San Diego Comic-Con a few years back, to see Bill and Roy Thomas (on right) hawking copies of Alter Ego. But hey, it was at TwoMorrows’ table!

I published it anyway, and Bill told me that of all the books he had written, he was most proud of Come with Me (you should read it). When he received his copies in July 2019, less than two months before his death, he wrote to tell me: “They are beautiful and I am thrilled with them!” For that reason, of all the Bill Schelly books I’ve published, I’m most proud of Come with Me. I never met Bill. Ours was an amicable relationship built on 488 e-mails. We enjoyed chatting about books, and about Bill’s lifelong involvement in comic fandom. Bill had told me about his broken rib and his general state of ill health, but he hadn’t mentioned cancer, or the possibility that we might never get around to that sixth book we were discussing. I remember staring in disbelief at the subject line of Jeff Gelb’s e-mail: “Bill Schelly has died.” For a while, it didn’t compute. I miss Bill. I’m sad that our e-mail count will remain forever frozen at 488. But for as long as I draw breath, I’ll keep his books in print so that Bill’s contributions to comic fandom will not fade away with him. Bob McLain is the owner of Theme Park Press and Pulp Hero Press. He got his start in publishing back in 1983, with the first issue of a gaming magazine called PBM Universal.

John Morrow I got to know Bill Schelly pretty well through our respective publishing endeavors. Our earliest meeting I recall was at the 1997 Chicago Comic-Con, where Bill helped organize an impromptu “Fandom Reunion,” with such luminaries as Roy Thomas, Howard Keltner, Grass Green, and several others up in Jerry Bails’ hotel room. Either Roy or Jerry invited my wife Pam and me up, and I jumped at the opportunity to get to meet those who’d gone before me in documenting comics history. At that point, Bill was well into his own publishing work about fandom history, and he seemed a little annoyed that I was there. I got the sense that he felt I was there to lay inroads toward doing competing fandom publications, but I really was just delighted to get to spend time hearing them all talk about the good old days. And in fact, the only publications

TwoMorrows ever did that would’ve directly competed with Bill’s own work were ones that Bill was involved with. I recognized that was Bill’s niche and area of expertise, and that he had a passion for documenting it that I could never match. Speaking of that passion, Bill came to me with a very personal project he wanted to see published, but wanted it to get more widespread distribution than he felt he could achieve through his own Hamster Press imprint. So I agreed to publish his autobiography, Sense of Wonder, back in 2001, partly as a favor to Bill for all his hard work contributing to Alter Ego, and partly because I felt a kinship with him for his journey through fandom and into documenting history. Bill couldn’t have been easier or more professional to work with on it, and I think he was very pleased with the end result of our collaboration—I know I was. One pivotal memory I have of Bill is from a trip I took my family on, to New York City in 2010. We took in all the major tourist attractions with our kids, including visiting Ellis Island. In a city of almost 9 million people, with another 65 million visitors each year, the chance of running into someone you know would be pretty astronomical. But, as we’re getting off the ferry to Ellis Island, who should be getting on but Bill and his son Jamieson? Bill was taking his son on a whirlwind tour, as Jamieson had only a few months to live due to cancer, and Bill wanted to make his remaining time special. As I stood there talking to Bill and his son, with my own daughters standing next to me, I was moved at the poignancy of the moment, and how well he was dealing with such a difficult situation. My already strong admiration for Bill grew even more from that surprise encounter. I’ll miss seeing Bill at conventions, corresponding by e-mail, and just reading his fine contributions to Alter Ego. And I hate that I’ll never read yet another wonderful book of his. But Bill spent his life doing what he loved, and as I’ve learned personally, that counts for a lot. His was a life well-spent. John Morrow. Since the 1994 launch of The Jack Kirby Collector, John Morrow has been the publisher at TwoMorrows Publishing for 25 years, documenting the future of comics history.

Tributes To Bill Schelly - Part 2

Nils Osmar I met Bill back in the 1990s. I’d met him socially, and mentioned offhandedly that I’d drawn some comics in the past. He called me two days later asking if I could do a cover for his book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (first edition). The project was the beginning of a decades-long friendship. Over the years, we worked separately on a lot of projects, and together on a few. I’d write a screenplay, and he would read it and make thoughtful and incisive comments. He’d sign a contract to do a new book, and we’d brainstorm about possible titles and directions the narrative might take. We had mutual interest in comics, sciencefiction, creativity, and cinema. When I did things like start a school, buy a house, or start thinking about making a new movie, he was there to help me brainstorm with me about it and to encourage me and cheer me on.

Nils Osmar and his cover for the first edition of Bill’s The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, which nicely caught the flavor of the comics that fandom had created itself to celebrate. Ye Editor is happy to have both editions, with both fine covers. [Cover art © Nils Osmar.]

He came over a few months ago for one of our usual visits, to see a movie and catch up on life. He seemed fine, though a little tired. Two weeks later, he called me asking for a ride to the doctor. I was glad to be available to help out. His life ended suddenly and unexpectedly, and was both a personal and professional loss. He was a good friend. His friendship made a difference in my life. Nils Osmar is a teacher, writer, and illustrator. He is the owner and director of Rekindle School, a private adult education program in Seattle.

Bud Plant No one, and I don’t say this lightly, NO ONE did more to chronicle and preserve the early history of comics fanzines and their creators, many of whom would go on to professional careers in comics. Bill’s Golden Age of Comic Fandom was the first and still the finest book about the people and publishing that became the foundation of the comics hobby and industry today. Bill went on to write more books and articles, to gather details about the first comic-cons, interview the early players, and reveal what life was like in the first days of comics fandom, long before Overstreet’s Price Guide, comics reference books and histories, the Internet, the movies. But Bill didn’t stop there. His biographies of comics professionals are among the most thorough and enjoyable ever published. Otto Binder. Joe Kubert. L.B. Cole. John Stanley. James Warren. All fascinating. All deep and revealing. And what I consider his magnum opus: Harvey Kurtzman, 600 pages, dense with anecdotes, new details, and debunking myths. Bill was willing to put in the time and research, talk to all the players, uncover old or unpublished interviews and then, miraculously, put it all into a very readable format. That’s not easy. And this all was a second career for him.

Bud Plant with the cover of Bill Schelly’s thorough-going biography of Harvey Kurtzman, which won an Eisner Award in 2016. [Cover art © Fantagraphics.]

Bill was also a good friend. We’d catch up at the OAF Con, where we both had time to visit. I’d park my van and trailer at his house in Seattle, during the Emerald City Con, and we’d catch up. I don’t know if he knew he was sick when, more than a year before he passed away, he invited me to come by with a trailer and take away his overstock of his self-published books. Free. Yes, free.

More Memories Of The Comics’ Foremost Biographer & Fandom Historian

He was far more interested in putting his work into the hands of people who would enjoy it than in making a buck. We cannot overestimate what he has added to our enjoyment of comics through his work. Bud Plant has been collecting comics-related books and material into catalogs, stores, and online since 1970. He’s been a publisher, comics distributor, store retailer, show exhibitor, advocate, and historian for comics, artists, and fantasy illustration.

Jason Sacks I always looked up to Bill Schelly. It wasn’t just that Bill was older than me, or that he had been so successful writing smart, insightful books about subjects about which we shared a passion. No, the reason I always looked up to Bill was because of his grace, his passion for his work, and for the unique insights he brought to everything he worked on. I got to know Bill slowly over the years. We both lived in the Seattle area. We crossed paths at events many times over the years, having fine conversations about our respective eras of comics fandom as well as our shared love of history. It seemed he always had a new book coming out, whether about the Golden Age of comics fandom, or one of his biographies, or even a collection of new Eye comic stories which revived one of his beloved fan characters. Though we had a lot in common, I never felt like Bill’s peer. Until, that is, we both worked on the same series of books. Under the publishing umbrella of TwoMorrows Publishing and our wonderful editor Keith Dallas, Bill and I both produced volumes of The American Comic Book Chronicles, which delivered a decade-by-decade history of comics fandom. I co-produced the 1970s volume in the series—and later the 1990s volume—while Bill wrote about the 1950s. And while I’m proud of the work I delivered in my ACBC volumes, to my mind Bill’s volume stands head and shoulders above all the rest in the series. Bill grew up in comics fandom Jason Sacks with a kind of orthodoxy which held that the 1950s were a kind of dead flanked by the cover artwork Bill Schelly drew for a 1994 decade in comicbooks. The standard issue of CAPA-Alpha, the narrative posits the 1950s as a vast comicbook “apa” (amateur wasteland between the fall of EC press alliance) magazine… and the rise of the DC super-hero. utilizing the Madman Under that narrative, the number of character created by quality books published during that Mike Allred. [Madman TM & © decade was few and far between; Mike Allred.] a Carl Barks or Bob Powell comic, or a beloved DC war story, would occasionally be declared good by the panelologists of bygone days, but by and large the perception was that really nothing of real significance was published during that decade.

Bill’s book turned that mythology on its head, telling an important story in his easygoing prose style. The 1950s were in fact a great era for comics history, a time in which great talents like Walt Kelly, John Stanley, Joe Maneely, Joe Kubert, and Harvey Kurtzman delivered memorable work which often sold in massive numbers. Bill told that story not in some sort of glossy, sensationalistic narrative, but in his easygoing, systematic approach which told the tale of that decade clearly and without bias, which was a far more powerful way of telling truth over invented fan fiction. Facts over fiction, and mature storytelling over sensationalistic narrative. Those were hallmarks of Bill’s historical writing. He took his responsibilities as a historian seriously. I learned so much from his approach and from the way he accepted hard work and diligence as requirements for his work. I found that approach inspiring, and considered Bill a mentor. I launched my “Classic Comics Cavalcade” podcast in 2019 and knew one of the first people I had to have on my show was Bill. Early in the year, his outstanding biography of James Warren was released, so that was the perfect time for me to troop over to his comfortable North Seattle home for an interview. After a pleasant visit to catch up on both our lives (Bill mentioned during that conversation how relieved he felt to have beaten his cancer) I asked Bill how he started his research on the notoriously secretive Warren. He looked at me as if I was asking an obvious question and provided me a response which I found

Tributes To Bill Schelly - Part 2

incredibly revealing. “I did what any good biographer would do,” Bill said. “I looked up census records, property tracts, school yearbooks and the like. Then I started contacting people who might have known Warren. I made a bunch of calls and made some interesting discoveries.” That was Bill in a nutshell to me. His intelligence, insights, and passion for hard work came through in everything he wrote. It’s why his biography of Harvey Kurtzman was so magisterial and why his biography of John Stanley feels so intimate. And of course, that’s also why I found his autobiography, Sense of Wonder, so hard to put down. I guess I looked up to Bill because he worked so hard, did his homework, and yet still always seemed to have a great time with everything he did. Jason Sacks is the author of The American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s and ACBC: The 1990s and co-editor of Jim Shooter: Conversations and Steve Gerber: Conversations, and the host of the “Classic Comics Cavalcade” podcast.

Gary Sassaman Last year I was working with Bill Schelly on what would turn out to be one of his last major projects, a comprehensive history of San Diego Comic-Con, in conjunction with the event’s 50th anniversary. Bill jumped at the chance to write this article when I offered it to him, interviewing over 40 individuals. I’d been a fan of Bill’s work since he first self-published his groundbreaking history, The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, back in 1995. Coming from similar backgrounds (we both lived in Pittsburgh for many years), Bill and I hit it off and I designed and maintained his website for a number of years. When I became ComicCon’s Director of Print and Publications and took over the editing and designing of the yearly Souvenir Book, I commissioned Bill a number of times to write articles, including a long bio of Will Eisner in 2017, on the occasion of The Spirit creator’s 100th birthday. Gary Sassaman speaking at a San Diego Comic-Con, in front of a huge reproduction of the work of Mad artist Sergio Aragonés.

I had lunch with Bill in Seattle in June of last year and he complained to me of back pain, a regular thing he assured me, but it was difficult for him to sit for long spells. That, sadly, became something much worse throughout the summer. I was shocked to hear of his death just a few months later, and I’m very sad to know I’ll never read another Bill Schelly book or be able to work with him again. Gary Sassman is the Curatorial Director of the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego.

Frank M. Young I had known of Bill Schelly since the early 1970s, when some copies of Sense of Wonder crossed my path. In college, I read his biography of Harry Langdon, but didn’t put two and two together. When I moved to Seattle in 1991, I began to connect with comics people in that area. Towards the end of the century, it dawned on me that Bill Schelly lived in the city. I don’t know why I didn’t reach out to him. When he finally broke the ice in 2014, Bill and I clicked. We both commented that we wished we’d become friends sooner. How ironic those words seem now. I’d just gotten to know Bill, and regarded him as someone I really wanted to get to know better, when he began feeling ill. Before then, in a series of visits, we’d had some great two-hour conversations in his cozy living room. Bill got in touch with me when he was working on his book on John Stanley. I gave him my complete digital collection of Stanley’s comics work and shared a couple of contacts that I hope were helpful for him. But once we met in person, we clicked, and it was great to get to know him. I thought this was the start of a solid new friendship. Life had other designs. Bill had just seen the release of his biography of James Warren, plus his sole novel and a revised and updated edition of his memoirs. He seemed to be on a smooth course for as

Frank M. Young recalls reading Bill Schelly’s fanzine, Sense of Wonder. The cover of the second issue (1967), with a cover drawn by a teenage Jim Shooter. Thanks to Aaron Caplan. [Art © John Shooter.]

More Memories Of The Comics’ Foremost Biographer & Fandom Historian

long as he wanted to keep writing and releasing new work. It’s a reminder of how fragile and fleeting life is, and to cherish the people we know and love in the moment. You never know when your number’s up. If a life can be seen as a play, Bill had a dynamite third act, and he must have known people admired and appreciated what he did. His work will live on—and that’s the important thing. A life is short, but a person’s accomplishments have a long reach. My regret is that I wasn’t able to spend more time with Bill. I’ll always cherish our friendship and his kind, levelheaded personality. Frank M. Young co-created the graphic novels The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song (Abrams Comicarts; 2013 Eisner Award Winner) and Oregon Trail: The Road to Destiny (Sasquatch Books). He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Jeff Gelb [Poem written by Jeff Gelb, delivered at the San Diego Comic Fest 2020:]

Because He Can’t Take another breath. Have a cup of coffee. Send an email or answer one. Buy something on eBay or Amazon. Listen to some music by the Beatles, or a favorite Boy band or K-pop group Go to the post office.

Jeff Gelb (on left in photo) and Bill, enjoying a day at the beach a few years back. Also shown is a commemorative drawing by Mark Ammerman and Russ Maheras which features Biljo White’s creation The Eye—rights to which Bill had purchased from the fan-artist a decade or so ago. [The Eye TM & © Estate of Bill Schelly; other art © Mark Ammerman & Russ Maheras.]

Watch something on YouTube, or an episode of your favorite TV show or soap opera. Watch a film noir, a Marx Bros. flick, a Hitchcock movie, a Super Hero or Sci Fi movie, or any film starring Harry Langdon or Marilyn Monroe. See the next James Bond movie—first showing, opening day. Read a book by Ian Fleming, Ray Bradbury, or Robert E. Howard. Read a comic book—especially one by John Stanley, Otto Binder, Joe Kubert or Harvey Kurtzman. Read a fanzine or magazine. Eat some Thai or Mexican food—preferably with a margarita and chips and salsa. Attend a comic convention. Start a new project. Do some research. Write something creative. Call a friend. Tell someone you love them. Go to bed listening to music or audiobooks on your headphones. Savor each moment. Because he can’t.

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“Captain Marvel” splash panel from Fawcett’s Whiz Comics #144 (April 1952)—script by Otto Binder; art by Kurt Schaffenberger. Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

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!

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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 movies (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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ALTER EGO #159

ALTER EGO #160

ALTER EGO #161

Interview with JOYE MURCHISON, assistant to Wonder Woman co-creator DR. WILLIAM MARSTON, and WW’s female scriptwriter from 1945-1948! Rare art by H.G. PETER, 1960s DC love comics writer BARBARA FRIEDLANDER, art & anecdotes by ROMITA, COLAN, JAY SCOTT PIKE, INFANTINO, WEISINGER, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, and others! Extra: FCA, JOHN BROOME, MR. MONSTER, & more!

FCA SPECIAL! Golden Age writer WILLIAM WOOLFOLK interview, and his scripting records! Art by BECK, SCHAFFENBERGER, BORING, BOB KANE, CRANDALL, KRIGSTEIN, ANDRU, JACK COLE, FINE, PETER, HEATH, PLASTINO, MOLDOFF, GRANDENETTI, and more! Plus JOHN BROOME, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and the 2017 STAR WARS PANEL with CHAYKIN, LIPPINCOTT, and THOMAS!

Peter Cannon–Thunderbolt writer/artist PETE MORISI talks about the creative process! Plus, read his correspondence with comics greats JACK KIRBY, JOE SIMON, AL WILLIAMSON, CHARLES BIRO, JOE GILL, GEORGE TUSKA, ROCKY MASTROSERIO, PAT MASULLI, SAL GENTILE, DICK GIORDANO, and others! Also: JOHN BROOME’s bio, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY!

REMEMBERING STEVE DITKO! Sturdy Steve at Marvel, DC, Warren, Charlton, and elsewhere! A rare late-1960s Ditko interview by RICHARD HOWELL—biographical notes by NICK CAPUTO—tributes by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, PAUL LEVITZ, BERNIE BUBNIS, BARRY PEARL, ROY THOMAS, et al. Plus FCA, JOHN BROOME, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Spider-Man cover by DITKO!

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(Left:) Art by Curt Swan and George Klein from Superman #173 (Nov. 1964). (Above:) The article’s title page from Amazing Stories V38, #8 (Aug. 1964.) Photo by Fabian Bachrach. [Superman art TM & © 2020 DC Comics.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Mort Weisinger: The Superman Behind Superman (Part 1) by Michael T. Gilbert

hile downloading a run of Amazing Stories recently, I stumbled across a fascinating article I thought worth sharing. Respected sci-fi writer, historian, and editor Sam Moskowitz had written a number of profiles on science-fiction luminaries for that magazine. The one featured in Amazing Stories, Vol. 38, #8 (Aug. 1964), put the spotlight on legendary Superman editor Mort Weisinger. This article is especially fascinating, appearing little more than a year before the TV show brought increased attention to comicbooks. In 1964, Mort, a longtime sci-fi fan, was near the peak of his influence as editor of DC’s most iconic hero. By the end of the decade, Mort’s influence would fade as tastes changed. When he retired in 1970, it was another signpost marking the end of comics’ Silver Age. Eight years later, on May 7th (this writer’s 27th birthday, oddly enough), Mort Weisinger suffered a fatal heart attack. We’d like to thank Sam Moskowitz’s nephew, Dennis Haycock, for permitting us to reprint this article (edited slightly, and with art and photos added). In an e-mail dated July 10, 2018, Dennis briefly commented on Sam and his wife, Dr. Christine Haycock: “Michael, you have my permission to use his article. I know that a lot of his [Sam’s} work was sometimes opinionated and controversial but always well researched. It’s cool to hear from people that they enjoyed his many years of work. Sad to say, my Aunt passed away in 2008. A copy of the magazine would be great. Thanks and good luck with your article.“

Amazing… But True!

And now…

Sci-Fi Profile: Is It a Bird? Is It A Plane? No, It’s The Superman Behind Superman—Mort Weisinger by Sam Moskowitz

hat would American Culture be today without the existence of the fabulous comic strip character, Superman? Who does not know the chant, as famous as that of the tobacco auctioneer, that goes: “It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s—Superman!!!”

Sam Moskowitz’s article ran in the August 1964 issue of Amazing Stories (Vol. 38, #8). It sported this handsome cover by Richard McKenna. [© Ziff-Davis or successors in interest.]

Americans is enormous. Now, other influential comic strips—such as Pogo and Li’l Abner—have made their creators — Walt Kelly and Al Capp — well-known names. They are asked to contribute their ideas on the social scene to thoughtful journals. But the truth is their comics are read more by adults than by youngsters, and it is debatable if they have captured anywhere near as large a segment of the youthful American audience. Isn’t it logical to assume that we ought to know something about the ideas, ethics, prejudices, and preferences of the man who guides the story-line for Superman? Yet the man behind Superman is virtually unknown. What is even more unknown is that he is also one of the founding fans, writers, and editors of science-fiction. His name is Mortimer Weisinger, and he does not wear a cape.

Who can reckon the impact of this indestructible creature, capable of flight, X-ray vision, time travel, accelerated motion? How can you estimate the influence of a folk-hero which is sustained and reinforced each year by seven comic books, daily and Sunday newspaper comic strips, a daily television program, motion pictures, and an almost endless array of Superman-franchised toys, games, costumes, novelties?

Sam Moskowitz

Superman’s influence on millions of

Weisinger was born in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan on April 25, 1915. While Mortimer early showed a predilection for the imaginative works of Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe, he balanced this tendency with a

Mort Weisinger: The Superman Behind Superman (Part 1)

healthy interest in the Rover Boys and Motor Boys series. The fatal shift came when his parents sent him to a camp one summer and he borrowed the counselor’s copy of the Aug. 1928 Amazing Stories featuring “Armageddon 2419,” featuring the first Buck Rogers story and the initial installment of [Edward E. “Doc” Smith’s] “The Skylark of Space.” In later years Weisinger’s fondness for food made him the perfect subject to one day invent a widely adopted weight-losing diet. But this tendency was curbed as a teenager by his skipping lunch to accumulate funds to secure overpriced back issues of Amazing Stories, Science and Invention, and Electrical Experimenter from New York book shops. The great thrill of his life was a personal visit to [early sci-fi publisher] Hugo Gernsback. Hyman Weisinger manufactured slippers in Passaic, NJ, and the flaming passion of his life was to see his son Mortimer become a doctor. Mort enrolled at New York University, but neglected to mention to his mother that he was majoring in journalism. He showed his experimental attempts at fiction, written in longhand, to a slightly older scientifictioneer, Allen Glasser, who had sold a few minor efforts and was especially astute at winning prize contests. A single bit of advice from Glasser stayed with him: “The most important thing in writing a story or winning a contest is the angle; you must have an angle that no one else has thought of.” The unusual story twist, the novel approach in an article, and an off-beat plotting in comic strip continuities were to become Mort Weisinger’s trademarks and the foundation of his later success.

Mort Weisinger from a 1950s home movie. This photo appears on Mark Nobleman’s Noblemania website. [© the respective copyright holders.]

While the science-fiction magazines fascinated him, he felt that an esprit de corps was lacking. This same feeling was held by others. A Chicago fan, Walter Dennis, together with Raymond A. Palmer of Milwaukee (who had not yet cracked the ranks of professional science-fiction writers), helped to organize the Science Correspondence Club in 1929. The first issue of a mimeographed bulletin called The Comet (later Cosmology) from this club was dated May 1930. Glasser and Dennis formed a similar organization, The Scienceers. Weisinger joined immediately upon hearing of the group and became one of its most active members, serving as treasurer and pressing for the publication of a club bulletin. The Planet, dated July, 1930, had Glasser as editor and Weisinger as associate editor. While the bulletin of the Science Correspondence Club was mainly a rehash of fundamental science, that of the Scienceers, in a sprightly fashion, threw more emphasis on sciencefiction. The Planet (which lasted six issues) was actually the first of the science-fiction magazines. The Club received a publicity break when Glasser won a $20 third prize in Science Wonder Quarterly’s competition, “What I Have Done to Spread Science-Fiction.” His prize-winning entry attracted inquiries from many parts of the country (two other chapters were attempted), and was responsible for the addition of Julius Schwartz, a noted collector of science-fiction. Schwartz formed a friendship with Mort Weisinger, which was to become a life-long one.

Fans Forever! Some very notable science-fiction fans in the 1930s, in a rather fuzzythird-generation photo. (Left to right:) Mort Weisinger, Ray A. Palmer, Ed Weisinger, and Julius Schwartz. Diminutive Ray was later honored by having his name used for the alter ego of DC’s Silver Age Atom. Other sci-fi fans of the era (not pictured here) included future DC creators Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster. [© the respective copyright holders.]

[Pulp-magazine editor/publisher Hugo] Gernsback became interested in the group and made arrangements for a meeting to be held at the New York Museum of Natural History. He sent to that meeting his editor, David Lasser, who had just formed The American Interplanetary Society, which then seemed even more far out than a literary discussion group on science-fiction. For that matter, the first issue of The Bulletin of the American Interplanetary Society (June 1930) was a four-paged mimeographed affair even less pretentious than The Scienceers’ Planet. Lasser exerted considerable pressure on The Scienceers to merge with the American Interplanetary Society. When the members appeared reluctant, payment for rental of the hall failed to materialize from [Gernsback’s SF pulp mag] Wonder Stories. The club broke apart in violent disagreement as to whether they should foot the obligation. (In retrospect, a merger with The American Interplanetary Society—which has since become The American Rocket Society, the world’s most respected civilian group and publishers of Astronautics—would scarcely have been a sad fate.)

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Glasser and Weisinger yearned for greater recognition. One day they called up a local paper and informed the editor that the great British savant, Sir Edgar Ray Merritt, was to talk before the next meeting of The Scienceers in the one American speaking engagement he had agreed to. The name had been cobbled together from those of [fantasy/SF authors] Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Cummings, and A. Merritt, but the editor didn’t know that. He ran 14 column inches about the glories of The Scienceers and their famous guest speaker. This tomfoolery was a prelude to more constructive things. Prominent readers, writers, and collectors of science-fiction received a circular announcing the monthly publication of The Time Traveller, the first fan magazine devoted entirely to sciencefiction and intended to fill the void left by The Planet. Glasser and Julius Schwartz held top editorial posts, but Mort Weisinger was one of the publication’s mainstays. He attempted the first history of science-fiction on record, beginning in the Feb. 1932 issue of The Time Traveller with Part II (the mystery of what happened to Part I never having been explained), and creditably carried through eight installments as far as Jules Verne. [Walter] Winchell-type reporting was introduced to science-fiction by Weisinger with his lively news column “Out of the Ether,” based on wide correspondence with science-fiction writers of that era. Weisinger saw the potentialities in the printing press. Taking the best of his handwritten manuscripts, The Price of Peace, he sneaked into his father’s factory after hours and used an office typewriter to put it into proper form for submission to Solar Publications, the creation of a SF-fan/printer named Conrad Ruppert, who published it as a pamphlet. The tale was notable for elements of political prophecy. An American scientist announces he has discovered a green ray which will cause an atomic explosion. A number of U.S. naval vessels disintegrate in a great billow of smoke as the world watches. Major wars end out of fear of the “ultimate” weapon. But the entire test had been a hoax, believed only because of the scientist’s reputation. Encouraged by the friendly comments of those who paid the full retail price of six cents in stamps for the pamphlet, Weisinger took the story over to Amazing Stories’ editor T. O’Conor Sloane. It was accepted and published in the Nov. 1933 issue. The $25 Weisinger got for the story was invested in a second-hand typewriter and the beginning of a career. Today’s fantasy fans aspiring to be writers have no conception of the status that went with that sale. Science-fiction magazines were then few in number. A single published story made a man an “author.” Twenty years later, beginning writers would sell as many as 40 stories their first year and remain virtually unknown. But Allen Glasser again had beaten Weisinger to the punch in this unofficial contest between them by placing a short story, “Across the Ages,” in which a man imagines himself back in Rome during a New York heat wave, in the Aug.-Sept. 1933 Amazing Stories. When the story appeared, readers protested to Amazing about the very close similarity between Glasser’s story and “The Heat Wave” by Marion Ryan and Robert Ord, which had appeared in the April 1929 issue of Munsey’s Magazine. Glasser agreed that a change of five or six words did not constitute an original creative effort and returned the payment. Sloane was fit to be tied. He was through with Glasser and any of his friends. This finalized a split that had begun earlier when Weisinger, Schwartz, Rupert, Maurice Ingher, and Forrest J. Ackerman formed a corporation for the publication of Science Fiction Digest, a semi-professional magazine along the lines of The Time Traveller, to which each contributed funds. Publication of the

Bad Boys! Amazing Stories fans curious about the comics Weisinger edited might have picked up this one: Action Comics #315, cover-dated Aug. 1964 — the same as the article. Cover by Curt Swan & George Klein. [TM & © DC Comics.]

new magazine began with its Sept. 1932 issue. The Oct. 1932 issue incorporated The Time Traveller. The Science Fiction Digest (later called Fantasy Magazine) was a remarkable publication. Until its demise with the Jan. 1937 number, its pages comprised a virtual encyclopedia of information concerning the science-fiction world: news, biography, bibliography, criticism, exposés, as well as pastiches, poetry, and fiction. Professionals contributed fiction gratis, much of which later found its way into the newsstand magazines. Its most remarkable achievement was assembling a round-robin story titled “Cosmos,” each part complete in itself, written by 18 authors and running 5000 to 10000 words an installment. The contributors read like a “Who’s Who” of the period, including A. Merritt, E.E. Smith, John W. Campbell, Ralph Milne Farley, Otis Adelbert Kline, David H. Keller, Edmond Hamilton, Raymond A. Palmer, Arthur J. Burks, Eando Binder, P. Schuyler Miller, Francis Flagg, Bob Olsen, L.A. Eshbach, Abner J. Gelula, J. Harvey Haggard, E. Hoffman Price, and Rae Winters (a pen name of Palmer’s). The key idea man for the publication, and a hard-working associate editor, was Weisinger. He gathered much of the hot news and showed considerable skill at interviews of well-known

Mort Weisinger: The Superman Behind Superman (Part 1)

authors, editors, and artists. As a by-product of this labor of love, he uncovered numerous pen-names of well-known authors and used this material as the basis of the artless “Why They Use Pen Names,” published in the Nov. 1934 Author & Journalist. Willard E. Hawkins, the publisher, while sympathetic to science-fiction, as an occasional writer himself, was unable to pay Weisinger for the article, but offered free advertising space in exchange. Weisinger suggested to Julius Schwartz that they seize the offer to create and promote The Solar Sales Service, a literary agency specializing in the placement of fantasy. Their “stable” of authors grew as that advertisement got results, including Earl and Otto Binder, the two brothers who then cooperatively wrote under the name of Eando Binder, J. Harvey Haggard, H.P. Lovecraft, Ralph Milne Farley, David H. Keller, Henry Hasse, Henry Kuttner, Robert Bloch, and Edmond Hamilton. Several of the stories they recited were rejects, which the authors had been unable to sell. For these, the ingenious agents resorted to the technique of changing the titles and retyping the first few pages, then resubmitting them. The results were creditable. Their stellar achievement was handling the output of the brilliant young science-fiction star Stanley G. Weinbaum. They sold Weinbaum consistently to the leading market of the day, Astounding Stories. Their adroitness with

the talented author, who was to leave his mark on an entire generation of writers, attracted a high caliber of client including John Taine, whose “Twelve Eighty Seven” they placed in Astounding Stories. Added to the editorial experience of work on The Planet, The Time Traveller, and Science-Fiction Digest, Weisinger also gained background as editor of New York University’s daily newspaper and the institution’s NYU Medley. Editing as a career now interested him. He was also steadily making sales to professional magazines, including “The Prenatal Plagiarism” (Wonder Stories, Jan. 1935), about a present-day author ruined by pre-publication of his novel before his birth; and “Pigments Is Pigments,” (Wonder Stories, March 1935) built around the use of a drug that can turn a white man’s skin black overnight. Next issue: Our Weisinger profile concludes as Sam Moskowitz discusses Mort’s comicbook career and that of Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Be there! Till next time…

What Price Professionalism? “The Price of Peace” was Mort Weisinger’s first professional story. It paid $25 and appeared in the Nov. 1933 issue of Amazing Stories. The cover is by Leo Morey. [© Ziff-Davis or successors in interest.]

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Ping-Pong & Peggy

Continuing JOHN BROOME’s “Offbeat Autobio”–Part XIII

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRO: We continue our serialization of the 1998 memoir of Irving Bernard (“John”) Broome, important writer of Golden and Silver Age comicbooks—primarily but not exclusively for DC Comics—undertaken with the kind permission of his daughter Ricky Terry Brisacque and appearing in most issues of Alter Ego since #149. As we’ve noted before, there are no direct references to Broome’s comics and pulp-magazine writing in the small, idiosyncratic, self-published volume My Life in Little Pieces, though there are several mentions of certain of his colleagues and friends from that field. This time, he turns to the serious matter of ping-pong… before noting some curious linguistic quirks of his charming wife….

Constantine

ing-pong is not an important sport. I suppose some would say it’s all pretty silly, knocking a little ball around, sort of a mini-tennis, on the order of miniature golf (perhaps the poorest excuse for a sport ever invented). But a list of such detractors would not include my friend Constantine Dimitropoulos. At age certainly over fifty, Constantine, a Greek-born longtime resident of France, was still the best ping-pong player at the American Center Boulevard Raspail, Paris, when I played there too back in the mid-sixties. He had a curious style, or you might say no style at all. He seemed each time to just barely reach the ball, bending toward it, the creases in his brow furrowed in his distress, then swinging abruptly, as if by a sudden afterthought, to dump it ungracefully back over the net. It took a while to perceive that in reality M. Dimitropoulos possessed a set of finely honed instantaneous reflexes, and furthermore that his apparently clumsy returns were always placed exactly where they would do his opponents a maximum of harm. He beat us all, me easily, and even strong tennis style players like the young painter John Levy, standing twelve feet back from the table and stroking from either side with might and main. Constantine groaning and grimacing in anguish, yet somehow returning shot after shot. However, the question is: was his lack of grace, his seeming awkward helplessness. entirely a put-on? Perhaps so. After all, he was in origin not of the West but of the East (for Attica is myriads of leagues distant from that emerald islet where fair play was invented, patented and put into practice) and it could be that deception and subterfuge were bred in his bones to help him triumph over the unwary. Once when I’d got to know him and praised his game, he told me with a sad smile that ping-pong had become just about his “seule raison d’etre.” This pathetic confession seemed almost unbelievable. I knew he had a good position, he was head of a

John & Peggy Broome This photo, taken on a picnic in 1946, shows the young couple in a festive mood; from the Julius Schwartz Collection. Surprisingly, we couldn’t locate any Broome-scripted tales that involved the royal sport of ping pong, so we had to settle for one from another game that included a tiny white ball—namely golf. This page from “Dangers on the Martian Links,” one of the “Strange Sports Stories” in The Brave and the Bold #46 (Feb.-March 1963), was penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Joe Giella. Thanks to Jim Kealy. The story’s splash page was seen in A/E #159. [TM & © DC Comics.]

John Broome’s “Offbeat Autobio” - Part XIII

us en famille, he was, on leaving, asked to “take down the blivet,” usually my job, but Andre managed to carry it to the subway and hallway home before, it seems, waking up to the fact that it was not the 17-year-old Ricky he had all along been clasping lovingly in his arms: on murky Paris days, the extra-strong light we use to play recorder duets is the Gestapo lamp: without a shower or even any bathroom at all in our Montparnasse pad, when Peggy washes up nekkid in front of the kitchen sink mornings, she ablutes: a handy new verb (“Are you going to ablute now?” “Haven’t you abluted yet?”) recommended in place of the creaky old “perform one’s ablutions.” And so on. If on a pleasant summer’s day I should perchance peer out of the pad’s rear windows to see what could be seen of our neighbors’ lives around the 19th-century interior court there, it may likely trigger the facetiously indignant cry of “Ogpu!” from her— this especially since the Second Russian Revolution in the summer of 1991 brought that country and its melodramatic pre-KGB past into new focus; and then there’s the Delaney business, for example, harking back to World War II and Pvt. Jack Delaney, who in basic training always looked so spic and span standing retreat at the end of the day for the simple reason that he hadn’t been out in the field with the rest of us under the broiling Jersey sun, but had goofed off and lolled away the afternoon in the barracks, and with his Irish luck and pure chutzpah, had got away with it so that when the inspecting but unsuspecting Lt. Beelzebub paused in front of what to all appearances was a military phenomenon, his usually mean and unpleasant face would break into a smile and he would say— bringing out a titter from some of the boldest among us—he would say what much later Peggy said when exceptionally she approved of the way I was dressed: “Look good, Delaney!” More about John Broome—and most especially Peggy Broome—in the next installment of JB’s memoir.

Dog Daze These dogs may not be romping through and/or defacing the streets of the Broomes’ beloved Paris; but John had plenty of chances to write about “man’s best friend” during his long scripting stint on DC’s The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog. This page drawn by Gil Kane & Bernard Sachs is from issue #5 (Sept.-Oct. 1952); thanks to Jim Kealy. [TM & © DC Comics.]

translators union in Paris, and spoke many languages. I knew too that he was a bachelor and anyone could see that he was eminently able-bodied so I asked him sort of offhand how come he didn’t think of getting married. Those brow furrows of his became, pathetically again, steep ridges, overridden, however by the man’s intense competitive sense which rose up now, wreaking havoc on pedantic, but not entirely secure, English. “Against whom?” Constantine wanted to know, shooting the ball back at me with plenty of pace on it. “Against whom?”

How l Became Delaney and Some Other Non-Earthshaking Items Around the house, wife Peggy has a vocabulary all of her own. If something falls off the table during a meal, she’ll cry out, “Man overboard.” The garbage bag in the kitchen is the blivet (a U.S. Army term meaning, in Peggy language, ten pounds of horse-doo-doo in a five-pound bag: also to be noted, by the way, are nose doo-doo and especially on the streets of her beloved Paris, dog doo-doo); once when Andre Genauzeau, our ﬁrst son-in-law, was courting daughter Ricky and had passed the evening with

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memory and is fun to read. Love the audience participation. Second, you editors were a cocky bunch. Love to read the behind-the-scenes memories. Wolfman had me laughing out loud. Third, great to hear from Tom Gill. I sure screwed up [when co-hosting the first comics convention] in ’64. Tom was the only pro to take us seriously. Ron Fradkin had contacted him and invited him. He told Ron he could put on a “chalk talk” and we just accepted his offer. I believe Larry Ivie’s review of the con made it clear that we wasted an opportunity to have him just talk about his career. He was originally scheduled to attend with Bill Harris, but Bill was on vacation when we finally (at the last minute) decided on a date. The way we handled Tom Gill’s appearance has bothered me for years. Now, reading his panel responses reminds me how ’65 got it right. I think I am going to start seeing a therapist. “P.O.V.”: Sure fun to look back. I contacted Rick Weingroff a while ago and can only describe his reaction to my letter as “dismissive.” Gee, I thought we were all having a good time in those early fan days of the ’60s. Rick wants those days removed from his résumé. Too bad, he was an early fan pal of mine and, as you may already have guessed… I love those innocent memories. Bernie Bubnis

eneath Shane Foley’s artful homage to the Fawcett work of cover-spotlighted artist Kurt Schaffenberger, let’s get right to the first of two issues’ worth of communiqués we’re covering this time around. First up are comments on Alter Ego #156, our second issue (the first had been #148) to showcase the panels and personalities that had attended the All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention, hosted by Joe Petrilak in Westchester County, NY.

We begin with the ubiquitous Bernie Bubnis, who knows a thing or two about comics conventions himself, since the 1964 one he co-hosted in Manhattan was, almost undeniably, the very first such event ever: Hi Roy, Just have to mention the coincidence buried in the pages of issue #156, because it probably will not reoccur for another century: Larry Ivie’s evil smile and stare from p. 61 of “Mr. Monster”… Richard Lupoff in a great FCA interview… Rick Weingroff and Paul Gambaccini with their thoughts from the pages of the fanzine Hero… An honorable mention of Don Foote’s future appearance in the next issue of A/E, on page 69… Bernie Bubnis squeaking in an appearance with a missive in “re:”… Tom Gill and his easel picture on page 42… Len Wein and his hat on page 33. Eight souls (and one easel) who attended the ’64 Comicon. The gang’s all here! Each panel in the issue covered its subjects with loads of info. In the Golden Age group, [Irwin] Hasen seems to have a fantastic

Who Was That Unmasked Man? Tom Gill was a real pro, contributing well-drawn stories to Western’s The Lone Ranger for many years. Here’s an action page from issue #143 (Dec. 1941-Jan. 1942), as found for us by Jim Kealy. Scripter is probably Gaylord DuBois. [TM & © Lone Ranger Television or its successors in interest.]

[correspondence, comments, & corrections]

Rick was definitely one of the best fandom writers of the 1960s, Bernie, but we have to face the fact that not everyone looks back at those days the way we and many others do. But I (Roy) don’t think you need apologize for your handling of Tom Gill at that first con. Since the art is/ was such an important element in comicbooks, it was only natural that he would want to give a “chalk talk,” and that you’d let him do that. We enjoyed putting together that issue, but Nick Caputo was on hand to point out a few mistakes we made along the way…. Hi Roy, I loved the Gold Key panel transcript in A/E #156, as not enough is written about that company. A few minor corrections before I forget: On page 24 your intro notes Marie talking about how covers were handled “circa 1964-65,” although I believe the period she began designing covers was closer to 1969-70; at least that’s when most of her earliest cover sketches have surfaced. Also, on page 27, the copy for Marie’s print says “date uncertain,” but it is signed “Severin ’96” right next to her feet. But, as Colombo used to say, one more minor error: The Italian edition of Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles (shown on p. 78) has no Marie or Romita alterations. It was taken from an original stat. On the original cover Cap is boxing John L. Sullivan; on the U.S. published comic, Marie replaced that scene with Colonial soldiers. (On the space scene, Romita added Cap.) Well, at least you’re not anywhere near the hilarious typo count on that Monsters Unleashed page! And you missed an opportunity for a pun on the caption. Since Bernie Bubnis mentions Cab Calloway talking about how much he loved Captain America, it should have read “‘Cap’ Calloway”! Nick Caputo Actually, Nick, as you well know, we’re always happy to have our errors pointed out—we’re just unhappy that we made them (or at least let them slip through) in the first place! But the Italian-published version of the Kirby cover you mention wasn’t an “error”—we just didn’t pay enough attention to it to call anyone’s attention to the fact that it differed in certain ways from the rendition published in the U.S. On the other hand, I regret that I missed seeing the enshadowed “’96” behind Marie Severin’s signature on that print. Isn’t that a great drawing, though! A bit of clarification from Ken Gale, who moderated the “Gold Key Comics Chat” at that 2000 con…. Roy— The “Will” in Marc Svensson’s Interlac drawing of me with Polar Boy refers to an Englishman named Will Morgan, thus the not drinking cold beer. Ken Gale We always like to know as much as we can find out about every drawing in A/E, Ken. Glad you enjoyed our presentation of that panel from two decades ago. A couple of requests for future issues from reader Tom Hamilton: Hi Roy, Thank you and MTG for A/E #156’s feature on Larry Ivie’s proposed Justice Society of America revival. His timing was off, as usual, but perhaps he planted some seeds in Julie Schwartz’s mind for the JLA. In any event, Larry’s reverence for the characters was clear and well-executed, and I’m very happy to see his work in A/E

It’s The Age of Altron, Boy! We may not be able, at this time, to print any previously unpublished “Altron Boy” tales—but here’s a page from a Larry Ivie story from his Monsters & Heroes #5 (Aug. 1969). Two other pages from this yarn were seen back in A/E #152. Thanks to Bernie Bubnis. [TM & © Estate of Larry Ivie.]

again. Now how about that unpublished “Altron Boy” material? Please go ahead with plans to print any remaining material from the All Time Classic Comic Book Convention. It’s all been great! Tom Hamilton We’ll seriously consider it, Tom, but right now we’ve got the next half-dozen or so issues already planned out along other lines. But you never know. As for Larry Ivie’s “Altron Boy,” we’re not sure that Alter Ego is the best place for printing unpublished stories, although we’ve done it from time to time and will probably do so again. But the late Larry’s friend and executor Sandy Plunkett has other plans for certain Ivie materials that have not yet seen the light of day, and the publication of those “Altron Boy” stories may be among them. The printing of yet another chapter of Golden/Silver Age writer John Broome’s 1998 memoir in A/E #156 led reader Dan Hagen to remark on at least one reason why that comics writer’s name is still revered by many Silver Age fans…. Roy— I’ve noticed a running theme in John Broome’s “Green

re:

Lantern” stories. While current super-hero movies routinely feature villains for whom we can have some sympathy, Broome did the same thing back in the 1960s. In GL’s third tryout issue, Showcase #24 (Jan.-Feb. 1960), he faced the threat of “The Creature That Couldn’t Die”—a “monster” who voluntarily welcomed GL’s execution of him because a lab accident had turned him into a monster. The super-hero himself created another such threat in “The Leap Year Menace” (Green Lantern #3, Nov-Dec. 1960). Green Lantern ends up creating and destroying a sentient being just in order to get out of the awkward social situation of having Carol Ferris propose! In the next issue (“The Diabolical Missile from Qward,” Green Lantern #4, Jan-Feb. 1961), his sobriquet of “Emerald Gladiator” becomes literal when he is trapped in an arena with Gnaxos, a towering robot. But Gnaxos admires GL’s heroism, turns against his creators, and is destroyed for his trouble. Such poignant emotional twists are another reason to admire Broome, beyond the satisfying puzzle box of SF mythology he created for GL. I love spotting these patterns. Dan Hagen And we love having you share those observations with us, Dan. We wish John Broome had written something about his comics and pulp work in My Life in Little Pieces, but he does mention a few of his DC colleagues from time to time, and in any event it’s good to know a bit more about the life and philosophy of a major comics talent, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Seems we can’t get through an issue of Alter Ego without one or more of our own contributors having to step in and make a correction. But, better late than never, we say—and so does our fabulous FCA editor, P.C. Hamerlinck: Hi Roy, The Captain Marvel-Spy Smasher story from Whiz Comics #18 was not written by Bill Parker but by an unknown author; my guess was that it was either Joe Millard or Manly Wade Wellman. Sorry I missed that on the proofs. Parker’s last “Captain Marvel” story was in Whiz #15 (Sivana’s origin). P.C. Hamerlinck

A Green New Deal In the Silver Age Green Lantern #1 (July-Aug. 1960), writer John Broome and penciler Gil Kane recap the Emerald Gladiator’s origin from Showcase #22 (Sept.-Oct. ’59). Inks by Murphy Anderson. Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Thanks for correcting it here, P.C. Readers can find Bill Parker’s last “CM” yarn reprinted in the 1992 (has it really been that long ago??) DC hardcover The Shazam! Archives, Vol. 1. Too bad DC never got around to reprinting the really good stuff starring the original Cap, after writers like Otto Binder and Bill Woolfolk were piped aboard, huh? Most of the best of the World’s Mightiest Mortal has never been reprinted—and perhaps never will be!

and all through my childhood I was on the fence between liking it and finding it kind of stupid. It often hinted at a backstory or an earlier time with its unexplained in-jokey expressions such as “Hola,” which were never explained, making me wonder if there once had been more to this character. I never cared for A&E’s artwork very much, except on Metal Men, where they seemed completely appropriate, the right fit.

Next up are the mantras and missives we received on Alter Ego #157, which spotlighted interviews with Joye Hummel Murchison Kelly, who had scripted numerous “Wonder Woman” stories for DC in the mid-1940s, working directly for writer/co-creator William Moulton Marston. That issue also featured Barbara Friedlander, a writer and editor of DC’s romance comics during the 1960s, as well as our other regular dynamic departments. First up is reader Jim Gray:

In the 10th grade, I took my brand new copy of Jules Feiffer’s The Great Comic Book Heroes to school, and recall most of my classmates clustered around it, fascinated by these crude precursors to the comics we knew. The highlight, at least for me, was the “Wonder Woman” story from issue number 2, and it hit me like a lightning bolt. Talk about a perfect fit—H.G. Peter’s beautifully ugly art style reminded me of ancient Greek vase painting, and he really put across a primitive appeal that perfectly complemented the strange and almost disturbing undercurrents of “Charles Moulton’s” writing. Seeing the real Wonder Woman in her original glory set my brain on fire, and I have been a fan ever since.

Hi Roy— I don’t think I can possibly thank you enough for that interview with Joye Murchison Kelly! We’re so fortune that she’s still with us and able to provide so much commentary and insight. I grew up with the Kanigher/Andru/Esposito Wonder Woman,

That was right at the time when the public was becoming aware of collectors of old-time funnybooks, and I greatly enjoyed

[correspondence, comments, & corrections]

the fake Golden Age revival issues, where villains from the ’40s were revived and Andru & Esposito gamely tried to ape Peter’s style. (Andru really just did his usual penciling, but Esposito attempted to imitate Peter’s inking style with a thick and ungraceful line; it reminds one of the misconception at DC that “bad art” was what was selling Marvel.) It wasn’t satisfying to a purist, but it was a grand acknowledgement of Marston and Peter’s glory days. I especially loved the red kick-ass boots in place of those godawful, stupid ballet slippers. Now that we can read nearly every old comicbook online, one can see the sad decline of a great series once Kanigher got his hostile and destructive hands on it. When Marston died so prematurely, the end was inevitable, but we have Joye Murchison to thank for carrying the torch for another year or so. Sadly, with her departure, Wonder Woman becomes tame, domesticated, and lame. It was great to read Joye’s very subtly expressed opinion about what followed her tenure. It wasn’t even worth following anymore.

and call it the H.G. Peter Award. It would be a companion to the Bill Finger Award, and I couldn’t think of a better venue for that honor. Unfortunately, I was told that the Eisner Award ceremonies were long enough as it was and that I should try another con instead. That’ll let you know where we are in getting H.G. Peter his due. It was like I suggested something on a par with the least worthy of awards, not the most. I have to confess, I was really disappointed when I got that response. I was expecting something along the lines of “What a great idea!” and less along the lines of “We already gave at the office.”

An Octopus Has Many Tentacles According to her records, young Joye Hummel (now Kelly) scripted this story for Sensation Comics #41 (May 1945), with art by H.G. Peter and presumably the couple of female assistants who also worked in the “Marston art studio.” We chose this splash page to reproduce because the Grand Comics Database credits it to Robert Kanigher—who of course was Joye’s (and Marston’s) successor as “Wonder Woman” writer and also served as her mags’ editor. Thanks to Jim Kealy & Mark Muller. [TM & © DC Comics.]

I follow a few Wonder Woman groups on Facebook but find that most of the younger fans are more into the George Pérez or later incarnations, and know or care very little about Marston and Peter’s original version; some actually even seem to like those Faux Emma Peel issues with the crude, ghastly Sekowsky artwork. Thus one can feel fairly isolated as a fan of the real Wonder Woman, so an issue like this one is a great and welcome reaffirmation. Thank you so much! Has anyone had any luck finding the identity of either of Peter’s female art assistants? If one or both are still living, it would be a great boon to comics history to get their recollections. Jim Gray (An Alter Ego fan since its early zine days) Joye didn’t seem to remember much about them, Jim, except that they did a fair amount of inking on the “Wonder Woman” stories. Still, we, too, wish we knew their names—and where to reach them or their heirs. If anybody has any information on this subject…. A couple of readers, beginning with Glen Cadigan, sparked to my mention in the issue’s “writer/editorial” that I felt that it verged on the criminal to deny longtime “Wonder Woman” artist H.G. Peter credit as the co-creator of the Amazing Amazon…. Hi, Roy, I couldn’t agree more with your statement that H.G. Peter is long overdue for official credit as the co-creator of Wonder Woman. I’ve been complaining about his lack of recognition for years, and was so disgusted when I didn’t see his name in the credits of the Wonder Woman movie that I even went so far as to suggest to someone behind the Eisner Awards that they should create a new award for under-appreciated and unrecognized comicbook artists

Change will come only when an heir steps forward with a lawyer, but public pressure also needs to be there when that happens. I can remember the long, hard slog for Bill Finger’s Batman credit (wasn’t Mike W. Barr let go as a DC editor—but kept on as a freelance writer—for his support of Finger?), but nothing really happened until a granddaughter manifested herself. Marc Tyler Nobleman definitely played his role, but without the legal heir to provide legal assurances that someone wasn’t going to try and walk away with half of Batman, that “with” credit wasn’t going to happen.

Alex Jay has done yeoman’s work in researching H.G. Peter from public records, so we know he did have a sister who had a daughter who had two girls of her own, as well as resultant grandchildren. It’s not a straight line, but heirs are out there and somebody controls his estate, as evidenced by items that turn up for auction from time to time. So maybe one day justice will be served and he’ll at least get a “with” credit, in the vein of Bill Finger. As Joye Murchison Kelly is the only living person (I assume) to actually have memories of Peter, why not have Richard J. Arndt interview her again, this time exclusively about Peter? Along with the research that Alex Jay has done, Ricahrd could then write a whole article about H.G. Peter. You’ve got the bully pulpit of Alter Ego to spread the word, and what better way to follow through on your editorial? Glen Cadigan Again, Glen, it would seem Joye has shared just about all the memories she has of those days, but if she contacts us with additional information about just about anything to do with “Wonder Woman” or her creators after reading this issue, we’ll get right on it! George Hagenauer echoed some of your thoughts, and added a few of his own…. Hi Roy— I totally agree with your call for credit for Harry G. Peter on movies, etc., featuring Wonder Woman. After reading Joye Murchison Kelly’s interview in the recent issue, there may be some factors in this that need to be researched as part of any credit to gaining credit for Peter.

re:

I have not seen the contract, but from what I understand William Moulton Marston had a very strong contract with DC. That makes sense, as Marston was essential the Dr. Phil of his generation, writing self-help books and with a lot of articles in major magazines. Unlike Siegel, Shuster, and Kane, by the time Marston was working with DC, he or his lawyer had negotiated any number of book and other contracts for intellectual property. (The most interesting one probably being his contract to provide a psychoanalysis each month for the Petty Girl pinup!) Marston’s DC contract includes a reversion clause whereby, if Wonder Woman was not published for a specific period of time, all rights would revert back to him [or his estate]. This may be a reason why Wonder Woman survived the super-hero implosion at DC in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Given that Harry Peter first sent his designs for Wonder Woman’s costume to Marston, not DC, I would not be surprised if Marston had a clause in his contract that basically identified himself as the sole creator of Wonder Woman (and also masks his true identity as the writer). If so, that may be why Peter is not listed as a co-creator, in spite of the fact that he essentially visually defined the character for the first 17 years of her existence. The Murchison/ Kelly interview also indicates that whatever material that went to DC was first cleared by Marston or his assistant/collaborator. It looks like, during Marston’s life, the creative people working on “Wonder Woman” were either his employees or subcontracted from him.

the one used on My Love, and the number “140” made no sense. I suspected this was a DC romance cover. A little detective work on Mike’s Amazing World of Comics [website] turned up the original. One more: Secret Hearts #142 is not a Toth/Colletta cover. Giordano inks and possible pencils. Nick Caputo Whew! Maybe the Grand Comics Database (where we think we got most of the above artist info that you dispute) was in error, or maybe our eyesight’s just getting worse. Oh, and your fellow reader/contributor Gene Reed also pointed out that John Rosenberger drew that story in Girls’ Romances #127—so the GCD is definitely outvoted there! One name that popped up in the interview with Barbara Friedlander has been elucidated for us by Jake Oster: Roy: In the piece on Barbara Friedlander, on page 37 Ms. Friedlander says: “I knew Sol Harrison, Jack Schiff, Ira Schnapp, and Walter Hurlicheck. Walter was a letterer. I think he was also the fellow who escorted the young peole who came to tour the [DC] offices.” The correct spelling of Walter’s last name is “Herlitschek.” Walter Herlitschek lived at 73 Buell Lane Extended, East Hampton, New York 11937 for 40 years (1968-2008). The A/E article says he was a letterer; I believe he may also have done some coloring.

That said, unlike, say, Dick Sprang on “Batman,” whose work was always signed “Bob Kane,” there is nothing that seems to have been hiding Peter’s identity during his run on “Wonder Woman.” His signature appears on almost every story. As such, he should be leading the credits of the many people who added to Marston’s original vision of the character. One question I have is, why, if Harry Peter was so disliked by some at DC, he continued to draw “Wonder Woman” until right before his death, in a style considerably different from the slicker illustrative styles found in many DC books of the era. Which suggests—full speed ahead to gain credit for Harry G. Peter! George Hagenauer If anything happens in this regard, George, we’ll let everybody know about it as soon as we do! Now, here’s an overview of the issue from Nick Caputo (who had his say on issue #156 a few pages back): Hi Roy, I very much enjoyed the new A/E, which provided a look into the accomplishments of two women who have gone under the radar for way too long. I’m glad that Joye Murchison Kelly was able to attend the SDCC and that she’s still around to receive accolades. It was also interesting to read about Barbara Friedlander and her working at DC. I also found your correspondence and meetings with Tom Wolfe fascinating. And what a treat to see Wolfe’s note to you with his extravagant handwriting! “They Shoot Hulks, Don’t They?” remains a favorite comic. A few corrections/additions: The art for the Girls’ Romance #127 splash on page 35 looks to be the work of John Rosenberger. Secret Hearts #144’s cover, credited to John Celardo, is the work of either Bill Draut and Dick Giordano, or all-Giordano. The “My Love cover preliminary” on page 49 credited to Romita is actually a Dick Giordano (or Carmine [Infantino] & Dick)-drawn cover to Girls’ Romances #140 (April 1969), re-purposed as a My Love cover. I had a nagging feeling something was wrong with the cover beyond the fact that it wasn’t drawn by Romita. The logo was nothing like

Let’s Scoot! The GCD provides no “writer” credits for this Henry Scarpelli-drawn lead story from DC’s Swing with Scooter #28 (July 1970)—but whether or not Barbara Friedlander scripted this particular tale, we’re printing it here because (a) she co-created the series; and (b) it shows why the young hero was called “Scooter.” Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [TM & © DC Comics.]

[correspondence, comments, & corrections]

The East Hampton Star printed an obituary on November 15, 2012: “Walter Herlitschek (Nov. 22, 1920 – Nov. 9, 2012), a resident of East Hampton for more than 40 years, died at home on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, just two weeks shy of his 92nd birthday…. He served in the Army during World War II, stationed in North Africa. There his artistic skills were put to good use in a unit dedicated solely to producing camouflage, such as on tanks and other equipment. After the war, he attended Cooper Union in New York city, graduating in 1950 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Art and painting was [sic] a common thread that ran through his career and pastime activities. He worked as an artist for the Batman and Superman comic books. After Warner Bros. purchased the DC Comics company, he moved full time to East Hampton. For 25 years he owned and operated Pequod Emporium, an antiques and gift shop in Amagansett Square… Upon retiring, he continued to paint on a regular basis, up until a few weeks before he died. Many of the paintings reflected his natural surroundings, in East Hampton and in the mountains of North Carolina, where he moved in 2006, and Florida, his winter residence….” Jake Oster Sorry we had to merely excerpt Mr. Herlitschek’s obit, Jake, but we always appreciate learning a bit more about those who labored in the comicbook vinyards. One point of contention in Richard Arndt’s interview with Barbara Friedlander, at least to some extent, was the activities of Barbara’s immediate superior on the romance comics, editor Jack Miller. We asked our buddy Douglas Jones (who was known as Carl Gafford during his days doing production work in the field, especially for DC Comics) what he knew about the matter, since he always kept an ear to the ground in those days: Hi Roy— Re the Barbara Friedlander interview: Yes, Jack Miller did “double-dip” on stories. He’d take an old story, give it a new title and retype the first page with it, then use the title to get paid for the same story twice. The larceny that got him fired, though, was for stealing original art that he sold to dealers. When he tried to make off with a cover that was mounted and framed and hung on the wall at DC, that was too much and he got the boot. Far as I know, he continued editing the romance books right up to when he got fired in late 1968. Metal Men and Wonder Woman went to Mike Sekowsky (who was already penciling them), making Mike a triple-threat. Dick Giordano I can see taking over the romance books because he had done several of them at Charlton, but Orlando seems less likely. I very much doubt that Miller continued writing after he got the boot, even if his doubledipping was done as an editor, and he couldn’t do it without an editor helping him. I suspect Barbara is just trying to be generous to his memory. After Miller passed away in 1971, I wrote several DC editors to get information on him so I could do a memorial zine of him, but the only editor who responded was Nelson Bridwell, and all he could do was say a polite “No comment.” Douglas Jones (“Gaff”) Sad to hear, Gaff, the more so since Jack Miller also wrote any number of fine stories for DC over the years, including most of the best of the

“Deadman” series for artist Neal Adams. Of course, we’re always open to new information, the more so since Jack M. is no longer around to speak for himself. Next, Fred Janssen has a few more words about the obit/tributes to prominent writers Harlan Ellison and Tom Wolfe that appeared in A/E #157: Hi Roy— I’m a longtime fan and Alter Ego subscriber who, back in the day as a young impressionable sponge, was made aware of both Tom Wolfe and Harlan Ellison by you in the pages of various Marvel comics. Those “introductions” to both authors are still vivid memories, because they sent me straight to the local library to discover what their books were all about. Those books then opened up a few more doors, and started me on another path. And then another. You never stopped being a teacher, Roy. Thanks for that! After reading your article about your interaction with Tom Wolfe, I wanted to share an NBC news clip, in case you missed it. About 59 seconds in, there’s a photo of Wolfe in which the original Gene Colan/Tom Palmer art of his Dr. Strange cameo can be seen in a frame hanging on the wall next to him. Clearly, he had an appreciation for that footnote to his career. Fred Janssen I (Roy) believe I recall Tom’s reporter daughter mentioning something like that to me when I spoke with her by phone, Fred. I considered myself honored to know both Tom Wolfe and Harlan Ellison, both of whom left indelible impressions on their chosen fields. Just room for a couple more corrections in abbreviated format: Bruce Guthrie tells us: “By the way, you ended up using three of my photos in #157. One is credit to me (p. 3), one to Joye (p. 32), but I took them all. Weird credit system, but I guess it was interesting to me to see which of the photos they liked the most.” Al Rodriguez writes: “I don’t know if this counts as a comicbook, but Tom Wolfe wrote an article in Mad #400.” In another letter, he points out that the Hans Christian Anderson one-shot mentioned in a sidebar to #158’s tribute to onetime comics editor Herb Rogoff reports that the comic was published by Hillman, when it was actually Ziff-Davis. Sorry… Herb worked for Hillman first, then Ziff-Davis, and I must’ve got the two confused when scribing that particular caption. Any more corrections or correlatives to send to Alter Ego? Aim ’ em at:

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Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135 Meanwhile, sneak a peak at The Roy Thomas Appreciation Boards (I didn’t think up the name, honest!) so ably run by John Cimino on Facebook, to see photos and info about what I’m up to in comics, magazines, books, and the local Walmart. Wearing an anti-COVID-19 mask, of course. The Alter-Ego-Fans discussion/chat group is still open for business, too, with news and advance info, thanks to the efforts of Chet Cox, who oversees it at https://groups.yahoo.com/group/ alter-ego-fans. If you have any trouble getting in, contact Chet at mormonyoyoman@gmail.com and he’ll help you out! He’s that kind of guy.

in memoriam

NICK CUTI

(Oct. 29, 1944 – Feb. 21, 2020)

“Beloved American Comicbook Artist, Writer….”

by Stephan Friedt

icola “Nick” Cuti was a beloved American comicbook artist, writer, editor, science-fiction novelist, amateur filmmaker, and animation background artist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Alphonso, was a darkroom technician and his mother, Laura, was a housewife. Nick’s grandfather had emigrated from Italy during the 1930s. After studying English Art at Hofstra University in New York from 1962-65, he served in the US Air Force as an Air Policeman from 1966-72. He served in France, where his first comic strip was published in the magazine Singular-Plural. While he finished out his tour in Maine, his first comicbook story, “Grub,” with art by Tom Sutton, appeared in Warren’s Creepy #28 (Aug. 1969). He also wrote for Vampirella and Eerie, and served as an assistant editor.

Nick Cuti seen with his own cover for Moonchild #1 (1968) and Joe Staton’s cover for their E-Man #1 (Oct. 1973). Thanks to Stephan Friedt. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Between 1968 and 1970, Nick self-published issues #1 & #3 of his “underground” character Moonchild, a cartoony but well-endowed space-waif. Nick worked for a time at Krantz Animation Studio in New York, and as an assistant to artist Wally Wood. From 1972-76 he was an assistant editor at Charlton Comics, while providing scripts for its titles. During this time, he teamed up with artist Joe Staton to create both the fan-favorite E-Man and detective Mike Mauser. Both characters have outlived Charlton, appearing in later stories with other publishing companies. Later, Nick again became an assistant editor at Warren, also supplying more than 100 scripts. Emulating popular artist Frank Kelly Freas and learning the technique of scratchboard, he sold artwork to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Amazing Stories, Heavy Metal, et al. When Warren folded, he moved to DC Comics, where he soon became DC’s digest editor and wrote the series Spanner’s Galaxy. In 1986, Nick moved to California to work for Marvel Films. He would later also serve as a freelance background designer for Disney, Universal, Sony Picture, and others. He worked on TV projects such as Conan the Adventurer, Defenders of the Earth, 101 Dalmatians, Dilbert, etc. He also wrote a novel, Spin a Web of Death. Moving to Florida in 2003, Nick turned his hand to independent film producing and writing, including short films starring Moonchild. He launched a series for young girls called Starflake, the Cosmic Sprite, and in 2009-2010 wrote and illustrated a set of Moonchild novels. Eventually, he sold the rights to Moonchild to his partner in the venture, Nakoma DeMitro.

Nick left us on February 21, 2020. I had the pleasure and honor of knowing him through Facebook for several years. He was always supportive of projects we discussed and always willing to listen and comment on things.

in memoriam

FRANK McLAUGHLIN (March 18, 1935 – March 4, 2020)

“I Did Everything From Proofreading… To Cleaning The Storeroom” by Stephan Friedt

rancis X. “Frank” McLaughlin was an American comics artist whose career began in the early 1960s.

He was born in Meriden, Connecticut, and raised in Stratford, with two brothers and a sister. He credits as his early influences illustrators Coby Whitmore, Joe Bowler, Howard Terpning, Gustav Klimt, and Alfons Mucha…and comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milt Caniff. His studied art at the University of Bridgeport and the New Haven State Teachers College. His first professional work as an artist was drawing belt buckles for a manufacturer’s catalog at the tender age of 17. An avid baseball player, he took a job after college at the brake manufacturer, Raybestos, and played for their internationally ranked fast-pitch softball team. A year later, he was drafted into the Army… after which he became a technical illustrator for Sikorsky Aircraft. Thanks to a college friend’s introduction to Charlton editor Pat Masulli, he began his comics career in the early 1960s. Frank noted, “There were no job titles. I did everything from proofreading to art corrections, lettering titles for editor Ernie Hart’s titles, traffic management, uncredited inking on late comicbooks, including a couple of stories from Steve Ditko, liaison with the Comics Code, and even cleaning the storeroom.” His earliest comics work may be an uncredited job inking a Dick Giordano cover and seven-page story for Charlton’s Battlefield Action #39 (Dec. 1961). His first credited work is pencil and inks on a five-page story, “And the Light Shall Come,” in Reptisaurus #8 (Dec. 1963). Frank was putting in a full 9-5 day at Charlton, then working for freelancer Dick Giordano at his studio. Masulli moved up, and his editorial position was offered to Frank. Frank passed, but recommended Giordano. When Dick took the job, Frank became the head of Dick’s studio, which later added John D’Agostino and Joe Gill. By 1962, Frank became Charlton’s art director. Frank would oversee Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Son of Vulcan, The Fightin’ 5, Strange Suspense Stories, and Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds. He also worked on the spy comic Sarge Steel, where he was able to showcase his knowledge of martial arts with the back-up features “The Sport of Judo” and “What Is Karate?,” foreshadowing his character Judomaster, which he created with Joe Gill. Frank had practiced judo from age 18 to age 50, having studied at Joe Costa’s Academy of Judo. “Judomaster” would debut in Special War Series final issue #4 (Nov. 1965) and continue in his own series with Judomaster #89, continuing the numbering of the canceled Western Gunmaster. Before long, he would both write and draw the series, which would

Frank McLaughlin and his cover for Charlton’s Judomaster #89 (May-June 1966), actually the first issue of the series. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for the cover scan. [Judomaster TM & © DC Comics.]

end with #98 (Dec 1967). When Charlton began to close down, Judomaster was purchased by DC. Frank’s final Charlton work appeared in The Phantom #30 (Feb. 1969). Frank went back to freelancing… inking a story in Debbie’s Dates #10 (Nov. 1970) for DC Comics, and a story in Eerie #34 (July 1971) for Warren. In 1971, thanks to Giordano, Frank would become an assistant to Stan Drake on the newspaper strip The Heart of Juliet Jones. In 1972, he began working steadily for DC and Marvel as an inker, embellishing runs on Carmine Infantino’s The Flash, Gene Colan’s Wonder Woman, and Dan Jurgen’s Green Arrow. He later found time to work for Jim Shooter’s Valiant and Broadway Comics lines. Frank also inked Ditko again on A.C.E.’s What Is... The Face (Dec. 1986-April 1987) and created his own one-shot Big Edsel Band (Sept. 1987). In the comic strip world, besides Juliet Jones, Frank worked on Brenda Starr, Reporter, assisting Dale Messick and Ramona Fradon… on Nancy, occasionally inking for Guy Gilchrist… and on DC’s The World’s Greatest Superheroes. In 2001-2008 he did all the art for Jack Berrill’s Tribune Media sports strip Gil Thorpe. Frank also taught at Paier College of Art in Hamden, CT, and at Guy Gilchrist’s Cartoonist’s Academy in Simsbury, CT. His books include How to Draw Those Bodacious Bad Babes of Comics (Renaissance Books 2000) and How to Draw Monsters for Comics (Renaissance Books 2001) with Mike Gold. Frank’s niece Anne McLaughlin is also a professional artist. He has two grown children, daughter Erin and son Terry. He was open to his fans, and he and I connected many times on Facebook. Frank McLaughlin passed away March 4, 2020, at the age of 84 in Milford, Connecticut.

in memoriam

HY FLEISHMAN (Nov. 18, 1927 – April 1, 2020)

Artist Of An “Urban Legend” by Shaun Clancy

olden Age comicbook artist Hy Fleishman passed away on April 1, 2020, at the age of 92, after a long illness. I first met Hy back in 2012; our last contact occurred only 6 weeks before his death: I asked him if the initials “H.F.” as letterer in Timely’s Battle Cry #2 were his; he responded that he did do some lettering in comics, but not that particular story. Hy Fleishman entered the armed service during 1945, but was soon discharged, when the war abruptly ended while he was in boot camp. He then attended the City College of New York, and later the Cartoonist and Illustrators School. While attending classes, he landed a job with Fox Publishing. (Victor Fox poached several aspiring artists from the school, seeking cheap labor, and often never paying them; Hy was one of those victims.) After graduating, he said he was hired at Master Comics by editor Yvonne Rae to work on Dark Mysteries and other titles. He worked with fellow art school student Harry Harrison, an editor/writer there. These horror comics were specifically targeted by Dr. Frederic Wertham for their gruesome content. In fact, one story in Dark Mysteries #15, “Vampire with the Iron Teeth,” drawn by Hy and written by Harrison, became an Urban Legend in Glascoe, Scotland, and is still talked about to this day in an annual celebration.

Hy Fleishman with his young children David and Nancy some decades back—and (below) with his fiancée Janice Sheldon and con host Shelton Drum at the 2019 Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. Also seen is his cover for Master’s Dark Mysteries #15 (Dec. 1953). [© the respective copyright holders.]

At Master, he made $25 per cover and $15 per page for pencils and inks. His editor would constantly request changes to his covers with no additional payment. He also did work at Stanmor—and one story for Stan Lee at Timely/Atlas, though I haven’t located that one yet. One oddball comic he drew but for which he isn’t credited was Swat Malone. Among his last comics projects was one for Charles Biro: working for 13 weeks with writer Cal Massey on a series of Poppo the Clown comics (after working on Dilly Ducan). When that project ended, Hy went into sales at the Victor Adding Machine Company for 8 years, then into the restaurant business (he once owned four restaurants), until he retired. According to Hy, the high point of his comics career was attending the 2019 Heroes Con. Host Shelton Drum went out of his way to make his first convention appearance memorable. For years, Hy hadn’t believed me when I said there were a multitude of fans who’d love to meet him. That con proved me right, and Hy was eager to attend more of them. But alas, it wasn’t to be. In fact, the prints he sold at Heroes Con were images I provided Shel Drum so Hy could greet his fans. I’m happy to report he sold them all. After Heroes Con, I mailed Hy two complete sets of the PS Artbooks Premiere Publication reprints that contained his work, as he had none to reference, due to a flood in his basement years ago. One set was for him to keep, the other to be personalized to me. Before Hy mailed my set back, he was desperately trying to do a drawing of a skeleton for me, after not attempting to draw for 40 years. According to his fiancée Janice, Hy was losing sleep over it, as he wasn’t happy with the results. I called him and begged him not to continue, but he did… apologetically. That was Hy Fleishman. A more detailed version of Hy Fleishman’s comics career will be published in the near future in a book on which Shaun Clancy and Craig Yoe have been working for the past year.