Roy Thomas' Hard-Driving Comics Fanzine
FROM HELL-RIDER TO GHOST RIDER! FROM SGT. FURY TO–SGT. DARKK!?
GARY FRIEDRICH
RIDES AGAIN!
Art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
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82658 00434
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HANG LOOSE, HERBIE!
$9.95
In the USA
No. 169 May 2021
Vol. 3, No. 169 / May 2021 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
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Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding
Cover Artist
& DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep producing great publications like this one!
Mike Ploog
Cover Colorist Unknown
With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Richard J. Arndt Bob Bailey Carol Bierschwal Danny Bierschwal Ray Bottorff, Jr. Len Brown Jean Caccicedo Aaron Caplan Nick Caputo John Cimino Jim Clark Comic Book Plus (website) Chet Cox Brian Cremins Justin Fairfax Albert Fisher Shane Foley Jean Friedrich Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Robin Green
Beverly Hahs Kirk Hastings Robert Higgerson Sean Howe Jim Kealy Troy R. Kinunen Katy Kirn Tyler M. Koenig Mark Lewis Jim Ludwig Mears Auctions (website) Peter Normanton Barry Pearl Warren Reece Scott Rowland Joe Rubinstein Matt Scullin John & Martha Short Ken Steinhoff Dann Thomas Mark Voger Brandon Williams Kent Wilson
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Gary Friedrich
Contents Writer/Editorial: My Best Friend—Gary Friedrich . . . . . . . . . . 2 “Gary Friedrich And I Were Part Of Each Other’s Lives For Over 60 Years” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A conversation with Roy Thomas about those six decades, conducted by Richard Arndt.
Remembering Gary Friedrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Wife Jean Friedrich and nephew Robert Higgerson on the Marvel writer’s later years.
From The Tomb Presents: The Friedrich Monsters . . . . . . . 61 Peter Normanton on Gary’s horror/mystery comics at Marvel, Charlton, et al.
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Frazetta Covers That Never Were . . 67
Michael T. Gilbert displays some exquisite Frazetta EC covers that didn’t quite happen.
FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #228 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 P.C. Hamerlinck showcases Mark Voger’s fond look at Golden Age great Ken Bald.
On Our Cover: The first and probably most famous image ever drawn of the hard-driving Ghost Rider is Mike Ploog’s cover for that supernatural hero’s Devil-may-care debut in Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972). Yet, important as Mike was to the killer look and instant popularity of that Marvel stalwart, he was basically the brainchild of writer Gary Friedrich—so we’ve replaced the eldritch biker’s skull/visage with a photo of the scribe, who is this issue’s chief topic of discussion. Thanks to John Cimino for first putting this image together for us, and to Chris Day and John Morrow for the final version. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: We figure you won’t get far in this edition of Alter Ego before you understand why we parked the splash of Sgt. Fury #70 (Sept. 1969) atop this page. “The Missouri Marauders” was (were) the creative offspring of aforementioned scripter Gary Friedrich, artistically realized by the stellar talents of penciler Dick Ayers and inker John Severin. Far as Ye Editor knows, the only one of the seven Marauders Gary named after an actual fellow denizen of the Show-Me State was Pvt. Paul Schade (pronounced “shod-dy” rather than “shade,” not that it really matters). Their adventures alongside the Howling Commandos continued into the following issue. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter Ego TM is published 6 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Six-issue subscriptions: $68 US, $103 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.
“G O R
O
“GARY FRIEDRICH And I Were A Part Of Each Other’s Lives For Over 60 Years”
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” Y R A I G T Y R V PA
Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt
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NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: This interview is intended to be an examination and a reminiscence of a long friendship between comicbook professionals Gary Friedrich (Aug. 21, 1943-Aug. 29, 2018) and Roy Thomas (b. 1940). Besides covering Gary’s considerable comics career, it also reveals how their relationship intersected with that career. In that respect, it’s an adjunct to Jon B. Cooke’s informative conversation with Friedrich for TwoMorrows’ Comic Book Artist #13 (May 2001). Gary’s early years in a small Midwestern town, and his return there in his later life to enjoy a successful marriage and family life and eventually to receive national recognition for his contributions to the field, are every bit as noteworthy as his comics work. The music he loved
“Groovy” Gary Friedrich & “Rascally” Roy Thomas (on right & left, respectively) at the 2011 Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina. This snapshot taken by Bob Bailey accompanies splash pages from Friedrich’s two trademark Marvel series: Sgt. Fury #56 (July 1968), with art by Dick Ayers & John Severin, and Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972), with Mike Ploog drawing a brand new Ghost Rider! Thanks to Barry Pearl & Nick Caputo for the scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
and performed, as well his work in later years for Alcoholics Anonymous, not only in overcoming his own addiction but in helping others cope with theirs, are all crucial parts of Gary’s life—aspects that should be as celebrated as his writing career.
T. EP D
A Conversation with ROY THOMAS About Their 6-Decade Friendship
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Born and raised in Jackson, Missouri, he honed his writing talents circa 1964 as editor Gary Friedrich and lead writer for the local newspaper. In late 1965, Roy, a friend and fellow Jacksonian who’d recently become a writer and editorial assistant at Marvel Comics, suggested Gary might find profitable work freelancing in the comics. Soon the two were sharing an apartment in New York City, and before long Friedrich was writing comics for Charlton.
A Conversation With Roy Thomas About A 6-Decade Friendship
Roy Thomas, Jr.
Suddenly, At The Palace… The long-gone Palace Theatre in Jackson, Missouri, where Gary and Roy first met in 1956 or early ’57. This photo, from a 2016 edition of the town’s CashBook Journal newspaper, probably dates from 1954; the film that would be playing that night, but not at this kids’ matinee, is Suddenly, wherein Frank Sinatra portrayed a would-be Presidential assassin. That’s the year Roy, around the time he graduated from eighth grade, first went to work at the “picture show.” Gary signed on a couple of years later. Thanks to the boys’ JHS schoolmates Beverly Hahs & Kent Wilson; his family owned the movie house. [© the respective copyright holders.]
met in 1956 or early ’57, despite my misstating in Alter Ego #162 that it might’ve been a bit later.
When I was growing up, everybody seemed to have nicknames. Mine was “Junior,” since I was Roy Thomas, Jr., and Gary was “Butch” to some folks. But never once in my life did I ever call him that. RA: How soon did you become outside-of-work friends?
THOMAS: Pretty quickly. In By early 1967 he was on spring of ’57 I got my driver’s staff at Marvel, scripting a revival license, so I had wheels—a of the 1950s-era Western Ghost two-tone blue ’52 Chevy. The pics of both lads are from Jackson High School’s 1957 Silver Arrow Rider. He wrote several very funny Actually, it was the family car, yearbook, and were probably taken around the time they met. stories for Not Brand Echh, before but I managed to commandeer And, just for good measure: below is a Kurt Schaffenberger panel from assuming writing chores on the it much of the time, since Fawcett’s The Marvel Family #45 (March 1950), a comic both guys probably title on which he’d have his longest my dad was on the road in a read back in the day, in which Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain run—Sgt. Fury, beginning with Marvel Jr. are flying an entire Palace Theatre to safety! Script by Otto Binder. panel truck a lot for his job. As #42 (May 1967). For it, he Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.] long as my buddies and crafted a number of stories I kept the car gassed up, known today as the “The” we could drive around series—tales that related most evenings. We’d pool Fury’s World War II exploits our loose change to buy a with the sensibilities of the buck’s worth of gas, which 1960s. He wrote Sgt. Fury took you a fair distance in until #116 (Nov. 1973), though those days. Gary was along some of the latter-day stories on a lot of those rides; after alternated with reprints. Other he turned 16, we took his Marvel characters he wrote family’s car sometimes. included the Hulk, Captain I can hardly picture him America, Daredevil, Black back then without a bottle Widow, Iron Man, X-Men, of Pepsi in his hand. He’d Captain Marvel, the Monster drink a six-pack or more of of Frankenstein, and Nick it a day. Fury as Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also memorably co-created both a new Ghost Rider (the supernatural motorcyclist) and the Son of Satan. I had friends in my own “class of ‘58,” of course, but I also hung out with several guys from two grades below after I began During 1970-71, Gary wrote for the short-lived Skywald dating a girl in that class, Linda Rahm. Our informal little ridingPublications. In 1975-76 he wrote for Martin Goodman’s equally around group gave ourselves a nickname that somebody—but not short-term comics company Atlas/Seaboard, and “Captain Britain” for Gary or me—ran across in a dictionary: the Gaberlunzies. Several Marvel’s British imprint. His last work in the field was done for Topps centuries ago, it meant “a wandering beggar.” That was us, all right, Comics in 1992. In addition, he co-wrote several paperback reference works pooling our quarters to buy gas. We rarely got up to anything really on rock’n’roll and country music. This interview was conducted by phone bad—although whenever we did, I’m afraid Gary was likely to be at on March 31 & May 15, 2020. the center of it, as he’d have been the first to admit. RICHARD ARNDT: You two both came from the same small town, Jackson, Missouri, is that correct?
RA: What kind of trouble are we talking about?
ROY THOMAS: Yes. I was born there. I think Gary was, too. It’s the county seat of Cape Girardeau County, 10 miles or so from the Mississippi. We both went to Jackson High School, but we only met when he came to work at the local movie house—the Palace Theatre—where I’d been working for a couple of years as usher and popcorn boy. He said in his Comic Book Artist interview that he was thirteen and in the seventh grade when he started there; that means I’d have been a sophomore—about sixteen. So we must’ve
THOMAS: Well, for example, one Halloween—I don’t recall if I was still in high school, or maybe by then commuting to college in Cape Girardeau—several of us were riding around in my car, and Gary and another guy had us drop them off for a little while. After we picked them up again, we drove by a local milling company that had a big open yard with a 15-foot-high pile of sawdust. And it was smoking… it was on fire! We duly alerted the cops. Later that night, Gary admitted to me that he and the other guy had started the fire as a Halloween prank. They hadn’t meant any real harm, of course.
“Gary Friedrich And I Were Part Of Each Other’s Lives For Over 60 Years!”
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with my girlfriend Linda a few times a night. But Gary and the rest never got to dance at all, even if they’d wanted to. RA: How smoothly did you guys generally get along as a band? The group dynamic can get tricky sometimes, especially after being together for years.
Meet The Gaberlunzies! (L. to r.:) Gary F., Roy T., Frank Tripp, and Charles “Rocky” Bierschwal, at about the time they formed the rock’n’roll group that eventually got rebranded as the Galaxies. The first three pics are from early-’60s editions of the Sagamore, the yearbook of Southeast Missouri State College in Cape Giraredeau; courtesy of Tyler M. Koenig. The picture of Rocky B. is courtesy of his brother Danny and his sister Carol. It was only when Gary’s yearbook photo turned up that Roy remembered his buddy had briefly attended college!
Our band did have one minor comicbook connection I should mention. Around ’63, Rocky did something or other, I forget what, that landed him for roughly a week in the county jail in Jackson— which then was right next to Jones Drug Store, where I bought a lot of my comics. Rock got bored and wanted something to read, so Gary and I bought some Marvel comics at Jones’ and just took them around the corner and handed them to him through the bars. He knew a little about Norse mythology, so he especially liked “Thor.” Luckily, he was released in time that we didn’t miss any gigs. Gary had named the band the Gaberlunzies, after our old high school “gang.” It lasted from spring of ‘61 till early ‘64. After a year, since nobody we dealt with could spell, pronounce, or even remember the name “Gaberlunzies”—for the record, it’s pronounced “GAB-er-lun-zies,” pretty much the way it’s spelled— he decided he had to change it to the much more pedestrian “Galaxies.” Yech! Mostly, we did covers of rock songs. Whatever was coming out in the early ’60s, plus “golden oldies” from the late ’50s. We never dreamed of writing our own material. The closest we came was when I’d start out real slow singing “Old Shep,” about a boy and his dog—then after one verse we’d suddenly launch into “Hound Dog.” That always got the crowd jumping. At least, I guess it did. I could never see them all that clearly, since I refused to wear glasses when I sang. Rock’n’roll singers didn’t wear glasses! For our theme song, Gary and I chose “C’mon, Everybody,” which had been a hit for Eddie Cochran. The band played only a handful of instrumentals like “Sleepwalk” and “Tequila,” so I only got to dance
THOMAS: We all got along great, mostly. Oh, Gary would get annoyed at me from time to time when he thought I was trying to sing some ballad too much like Sinatra instead of like Elvis or Bobby Darin. He was probably right about that.
The only time I can recall him really getting mad at me had to do with “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” the big Ray Charles hit. Bobby Darin had done a knockoff of it called “You’re the Reason I’m Living,” and our band did both songs. Only problem was that, once—well, more than once—I’d start out singing the Ray Charles song, and, when we came to the bridge, I’d accidentally veer off into the very similar one from Darin. The teenagers dancing to that “belly-rubber,” as we called slow songs, never noticed, and it didn’t cause any real problems for the band—but Gary’d just get furious. The second or third time I did that, the first I even realized I’d done it was when I heard this big crash behind me, then I saw one of his drumsticks go flying past me out onto the roller-rink dance floor. He’d slammed it down so hard on the rim of his drum, it’d flown out of his hand! But he quickly got over it and we laughed about it. Like I said, it was Gary’s band, except he couldn’t really control Rocky. [laughs] Getting Rock to show up for practice sessions was hard enough. And sometimes, when he got in a surly mood, he’d just turn around and sit on his amp and play with his back to the dancing teenagers, and nothing Gary could say would make him face front. Once, while we were setting up in the Roll-O-Fun, before they let in the kids, he sort of beat up on Gary when Gary said something insulting to him—well, he didn’t really beat him up, just got him down on the floor and pummeled him for a minute to “teach him a lesson,” as he said to me right afterward. Gary was just shaken, not hurt, and mostly he and Rock got along great. So did Rocky and I, though we were even more different than he and Gary. The coming of the Beatles around the end of ’63 basically torpedoed our band. Suddenly, group vocals were in, and nobody in our band except me really sang. Well, Gary and I did an
Alias The “Roll-O-Fun” The longtime Jackson Skate Center sported a “Roll-O-Fun” moniker when the Gaberlunzies/Galaxies played there most Friday nights from mid-1961 through early ’64. It was located at the town’s edge and was surrounded by an oft-muddy, potholed parking area. The roller-skating area, in the front of the building, is on the left; Friday night dancing was held in the back addition, seen on right. This drawing by local artist Jeanie Eddleman, based on a photo, appeared in a 2020 “Treasures of Jackson” calendar. [© the respective copyright holders.]
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A Conversation With Roy Thomas About A 6-Decade Friendship
Even though it coincided with the years I was teaching high school, a job I never liked, being in that band was one of the high points of my working life—rivaling even my first couple of decades in comics. I’m sure it was fairly high up there for Gary, too, even though we never made much money at it. We usually played for the door, and if we got $10-15 apiece for the night, we were likely to go out and celebrate, swigging beer by some creek. RA: The article in A/E #162 mentioned that you graduated from high school in 1958. That would have meant Gary was in the class of 1961. Is that correct? THOMAS: Yeah. He had the same birthday as my sister Katy… August 21... except she was a year younger. That was [artist] Marie Severin’s birthday, too—and Ozma, in the Oz books I loved as a kid. RA: You were also involved with early comics fandom—working on the early-1960s version of Alter Ego, and writing articles for other fanzines of the day. Did Gary participate in that? THOMAS: Not really. But he did use comics to stir up trouble once or twice. His senior year, as editor of the high school newspaper, he raised a minor storm by writing an editorial in favor of comicbooks. That didn’t go down too well with the school administration or teachers, especially just a few years after Dr. Wertham’s little crusade against them.
Don’t Be A Thor Loser! Journey into Mystery #88 (Jan. 1963) may—or may not—have been the particular “Thor” issue that, along with other Marvel comics, Gary and Roy bought to entertain Rocky Bierschwal while he was languishing in the local hoosegow for a few days. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
occasional gag duet like “Paul and Paula” and “Speedy Gonzales,” but that was about it. So we couldn’t do decent covers of the Beatles or the other English groups that soon followed. So, over the next few months, our band kind of faded away, just like a lot of much bigger American rock acts did at the time. Several years later, Gary and Rocky put together another band, with more of a country sound—I guess it was after he’d moved back to Jackson—and, on one trip back, I went to see them play at some wonderfully sleazy honkytonk in Cape Girardeau and I wound up singing a couple of numbers with them. It was a hoot, and reminded me how much I missed our earlier band. One thing I remember vividly from the early-’60s band days was trying to talk Gary out of getting married the first time... out of a grand total of five. He’d met some cute younger girl who wanted him to give her drum lessons, and even before she’d had her first lesson, he informed us he was going to marry her. He was impulsive like that. Linda and I, in between sets at the Roll-O-Fun, tried to talk him out of it. So did Rocky. We talked till we were blue in the face, but it did no good. The marriage lasted a couple of years. Sorry, I can’t remember the girl’s name. I barely knew her, and had nothing against her, really. They had a child together... a son.
I’m not sure if it was before or afterward that he used comics to bait his English teacher, Miss Jenkins—who he claimed tried to get him expelled for that editorial. The way he told it to me, one day he brought the new Justice League into class and sat there brazenly reading it. When she admonished him for reading such “trash,” he asked her innocently if Roy Thomas had been in her classes a few years earlier and won the English Award two years running. “Yes,” she said, “Roy was one of my best students.” Then he sprung his trap, waving around the comic: “Well, he’s got a letter in this comic, so it can’t be that stupid!” Of course, I did have a letter in it, one of many I wrote to editor Julius Schwartz. Besides the school paper and marching band, Gary had a major part in at least one high school class play, adapted from the novel The Egg and I. After the film version, they’d spun off a decade of Ma and Pa Kettle movies—the forerunners of The Beverly Hillbillies. Gary played Pa Kettle. Well, actually, they couldn’t use the name “Kettle” in the play for some legal reason, but he knew that’s who he was really playing and hammed it up… way beyond what the teacher/ director wanted. He really chewed the scenery. Oh, and he was also in a 15-minute black-&-white horror/ comedy amateur silent movie that he, John Short, and I, and three other guys, made in the late ’50s: Les Ghouls… a ripoff of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. John played a Frankenstein-type monster; we used his brand new movie camera, and it was entirely filmed in his family’s house. I wrote it and played a werewolf. Gary played the Bud Abbott part, but with more than a touch of Leo Gorcey of the Bowery Boys. It was a pretty primitive film. He never really got involved with the comics fandom that grew up after Xero and Comic Art and Alter Ego... but he did help me out twice after I took over Alter Ego in ‘64. First, after Linda and I broke up—she had posed for me for photos that ran in Ronn Foss’ two issues, as “Joy Holiday,” the costumed mascot he’d designed—Gary arranged for a girl we knew, Pauline Copeman, to pose in that outfit. She appeared in my three pre-pro issues, #7, 8, and 9. He also arranged for #7, my first issue as editor/publisher, to be printed by Cash-Book Printing in Jackson. A crusty older guy named Leroy Beatty did a wonderful job with it. But Gary told me that, later, Leroy groused, “The best printing job I ever did, and it
“Gary Friedrich And I Were Part Of Each Other’s Lives For Over 60 Years!”
Between Hand Grenades & Motorcycles While noted primarily for scripting other Marvel features, Gary also had popular if limited runs on series that included The Incredible Hulk #107 (Sept. 1968); art by Trimpe & Shores—Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #15 (Nov. 1969); art by Trimpe & Ayers—and Captain America #142 (Oct. 1971); art by John Romita & Joe Sinnott. In that last issue of the original S.H.I.E.L.D. series, he actually talked Stan Lee into letting him “kill off” Colonel Fury—though he was resuscitated by later hands. Thanks to Robert Higgerson and Barry Pearl for the scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
recall his younger sister Becky being there, and singing a moving acapella version of the Rolling Stones song “As Tears Go By.” His marriage to Cindy didn’t last all that long. As a wedding gift, her family gave them a high-rise apartment in Queens—I think in Lefrak City—with wall-to-wall carpeting. Cindy and Gary promptly went out and bought a dog, but with them both working, it didn’t often get properly walked, and within a few months that beautiful carpet was totally ruined. That probably didn’t help endear Gary to his in-laws.
John Romita From the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual.
I get a bit hazy on his relationships after that. Not long after the breakup with Cindy, he and some new girlfriend took off for Nevada... Reno, maybe Lake Tahoe, too. He went AWOL from his staff job—and naturally, Stan was livid. For a little while, I think Gary became a blackjack dealer out there. Then he came back to New York... I think he and that girl had split up by then. I don’t think he got his staff job back, and I thought at the time maybe even his freelancing was history. Stan was pretty pissed.
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A Conversation With Roy Thomas About A 6-Decade Friendship
War Is Hell! (No, Wait—That Was A Later Marvel War Mag!) The splashes of Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders #1 (Jan. 1968) and Combat Kelly #1 (June 1972), both by the Friedrich/Ayers team… with Syd Shores inking the former, and Jim Mooney the latter. Curiously, of Marvel’s three Silver Age war-hero comics, only on Captain Savage was the name of the hero’s team a part of the actual indicia title; not so for Sgt. Fury or Combat Kelly. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
But, like I said, Gary’d spent time in Reno—and, as many people nowadays know from either Stan’s autobiography or the Stan Lee Story book I wrote, although I didn’t know it back then: When Stan’s wife Joan had divorced her first husband—she’d been an English war bride—she went to Reno for the six weeks of residence there you needed for a quickie divorce. That’s what people who could afford it did in 1947. According to Gary, as soon as he mentioned Reno to Stan, Stan launched into his own memories of how, when he’d wanted to fly out to Nevada to see Joan, he’d been in such a hurry that he told the travel agent to get him on “the first plane to Reno”—which turned out to be one that made “milk stops” all the way out, so it actually took him a day or two to get there. Well, in the course of Stan relating that story, all his anger at Gary just evaporated, and the two of them came out of his office smiling like best buddies. Like I said, somehow, even without always trying to, Gary had Stan’s number. RA: That’s a pretty good story. [chuckles] THOMAS: It’s the best kind of story: it’s totally true! Around 1970, Gary worked for Goodman’s men’s magazines for a while, apparently first for David George and later for Ivan Prashker. But I know next to nothing about that work. When Gary lived in New York, during both his marriages there and especially before his first move out West, we tried to take advantage of the culture—at least the popular culture—New York
had to offer. He wasn’t as into Broadway plays as I was, but we went to a lot of musical events together. I remember that, early on, we were really thrilled to get to see Chuck Berry, a favorite of ours ever since high school. Our band had done “Johnny B. Goode” just about every night we ever played. Gary really got into the late-’60s rock group Country Joe and the Fish, whose main hit was an anti-Vietnam War song called “The I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag.” After they wrote Stan a fan letter, Gary arranged for a couple of them to come up to meet Stan, probably mostly so he could meet them himself. One was David Cohen, the keyboarder... I don’t think Joe himself came up. A night or so later, Gary and I went to see them play at the Fillmore East [theatre] downtown, but it turned out not to be their best night. We were really knocked out by the new band that opened for them... Ten Years After. When the Fish came on, by comparison, they just seemed to be jamming, and a bit undisciplined. But after the show we went backstage, ’cause they were basically a good band. I was crazy about their song “Not So Sweet, Martha Lorraine.” Gary, of course, preferred “The I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag.” Both of us liked various kinds of pop music. There was a Manhattan jazz club called The Riverboat, where we and our current ladies went to see Ella Fitzgerald, whom we both adored. We saw the Supremes when they played the famous Copacabana night club—and later John Verpoorten dragged Gary and me and several other people there to see [insult comedian] Don Rickles.
“Gary Friedrich And I Were Part Of Each Other’s Lives For Over 60 Years!”
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with his own book about those days. I don’t know if he started it before his health problems made it impossible. Now, I regret we didn’t do that book. Some of the anecdotes it would’ve recorded are now lost for good, since they’d have been his memories, not mine.
Bombast Away! Pre-existing Jack Kirby art was used for the cover of Topps’ Bombast #1 (April 1993), as part of its limited Secret City Saga series. The story inside was plotted by Roy Thomas and dialogued by Gary Friedrich, who was reunited by editor Jim Salicrup with his old Sgt. Fury team of Dick Ayers & John Severin. A surprise guest star was The Savage Dragon, popular Image Comics character created by Erik Larsen; that was Jim’s idea, too. However, contrary to the cover copy, “Big John” at Marvel pretty invariably meant J. Buscema, not J. Severin; the latter was occasionally referred to as “Long John,” owing to his love for drawing adventure stories. Thanks to the GCD and Nick Caputo, respectively. [Page TM & © Topps; Bombast TM & © Estate of Jack Kirby; Savage Dragon TM & © Erik Larsen.]
Gary got a job driving medical supplies and equipment around St. Louis between one hospital and another. It kept him hopping, and he enjoyed driving anyway. But, after a few years, he contracted Parkinson’s disease, and that ended that job. His hearing had gotten steadily worse, too, and he never found a hearing-aid that helped him much. That eventually made it impossible for him to talk on the phone. Later, complications from the Parkinson’s put an almost total end to our communication via e-mail, because it became impossible for him to type more than a sentence or two at a sitting. It was a very sad situation, but Gary and Jean coped as well as possible. They had a strong, wonderful bond. Sometime before the Parkinson’s, he suggested we write a book together about what it’d been like to be a pair of young comics writers in New York in the 1960s. A good idea, but I felt it would’ve clashed with my plans to eventually write my own autobio, so I reluctantly declined, though I did encourage him to go ahead
Also, sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s, while I was still doing occasional scripting related to movies and TV, I wrote out a bunch of 3”x5” cards listing ideas for scenes based on our rock band days. I paid Gary an advance to write a screenplay based on his recollections added to mine, mixing truth and fiction. It was to start out in the early ’60s, like our band did, and end just after JFK’s assassination in November ’63. The last scene was to have the band sitting around by a creek listening to Beatles music and then going their separate ways… which isn’t that far from what really happened, since the Beatles first became popular in America around the end of 1963, and, we always felt, did lead to the breakup of our band. We called the screenplay Good Rockin’ Tonight, after one of Elvis’ early Sun records. My plan was to rewrite Gary’s draft and have my Hollywood agent try to sell it. Gary and I would’ve shared co-author credit. But then Dann and I moved to South Carolina, my agent switched to being a producer, and I got discouraged about prospects for selling the screenplay without an agent, so I never did a rewrite. But Gary’s first draft still exists, and at least it preserves—in fictionalized form—a lot of what we were up to in the first half of the 1960s, not long before we got into comics professionally. He also had this interesting idea, in 2010—I think it was his idea, not mine—to start a “Silver Age Comics” imprint to publish new comics written and drawn by Silver Age guys… the two of us, plus others we could line up. He created a Sgt. Fury-type hero called Sgt. Darkk, who led a Howling Commandosstyle group of vampires. He figured that might appeal to two different audiences, and it very well might have. Also, he made up an American Indian hero named Doomryder, in a series set in a post-Apocalyptic world… a sort of mash-up of Hell-Rider and Mad Max. I don’t know if Wedding Bells he ever had anyone do Gary and Jean’s wedding picture, any concept drawings for February 1988. Courtesy of Jean Friedrich. either idea; at one point he Jean today is an essential worker in a planned to contact Dick hospital lab, testing for COVID-19.
“G O R O ” Y R A II G T Y R V PA
Wife JEAN FRIEDRICH & Nephew ROBERT HIGGERSON On the Marvel Writer’s Later Years— With Echoes of His Earlier Ones Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt
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NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Jean Ellen Friedrich was married to Gary Friedrich from 1988 until his death in August 2018. Robert Higgerson, Jean’s nephew, whose interview directly follows Jean’s, was Gary’s nephew-by-marriage. Both of them met Gary some years after he had largely stopped writing comics, but each was able to give an informative account of Gary’s later years. The interview with Jean took place on January 11, 2020… the one with Robert Higgerson on January 4, 2020.
Jean & Gary Friedrich and their granddaughter Ava, a few years back—juxtaposed with a Ghost Rider poster drawn by Herb Trimpe especially for Gary to sell at comics conventions. The poster hangs in their home; they also have the original art. Thanks to Jean Friedrich for both scans. [Ghost Rider TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
Interview #1: JEAN FRIEDRICH RICHARD ARNDT: Today we’re welcoming Jean Ellen Friedrich, the late Gary Friedrich’s wife. Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Jean. JEAN FRIEDRICH: Roy was a very good friend of Gary’s, so I’m happy to do this. RA: Both you and Robert met Gary after he left the comics field, by and large... so I don’t expect you to know the ins and outs of his comics career. This will be more of a character study. FRIEDRICH: Okay, good, I’m much more comfortable with that. I met Gary in 1986 at an AA—Alcoholics Anonymous—meeting. RA: Before we get too far on that—is it OK with you to mention AA? I want to be sure you’re comfortable talking about it before we get too far in depth about that. FRIEDRICH: It’s fine with me. Both Gary and I felt that, as long as we weren’t breaking someone else’s anonymity, it would be fine— we can break our own. Gary was of the opinion that it’s very hard to help people if you’re completely anonymous. He totally believed in that. RA: So then I guess my first real question is: “How did you meet Gary?” [both laugh] FRIEDRICH: Well, it was at an AA meeting. It was so funny, because I had returned to St. Louis—I had been raised in Perryville, Missouri, but I’d been living in Texas for some time. Anyhow, I
came back and started going to the local AA meetings. I was going to them in Jackson, Missouri, which was Gary’s hometown. I walked into the meeting and sat down and Gary was chairing the meeting. It was just—BOOM! RA: I’m guessing it was a good BOOM? FRIEDRICH: Well, yeah! [laughs] It was. Our marriage lasted 30 years and only ended because Gary passed away. RA: So you met Gary when he was about 43, is that right? FRIEDRICH: Yes! That’s exactly right. We got married in 1988. RA: Do you know when he moved back full-time to Missouri? Because he
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Jean Friedrich & Robert Higgerson On The Marvel Writer’s Later Years
the New York Comic Con, and Gary loved being back in New York. We’d get there and we’d just run the streets. He’d remember certain places he’d gone to. It was exciting! RA: It’s fun to share that sort of thing with someone, especially if it’s all new to the person you’re sharing it with. FRIEDRICH: I had a wonderful time with him at those conventions. Some of the best times of my life, sharing that with Gary, meeting all those comics people. After a few conventions, you’d start seeing the same people at different conventions, and you’d become friends that way. It becomes a big family in a way. You’re always going, “Good to see you again!” For many of them, the only time they see each other is at a convention.
Stan The Man & Groovy Gary—Together Again! Although he received a well-deserved Inkpot Award that year, Friedrich’s happiest memory of the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con was reconnecting with his old boss Stan Lee, and the two of them having their picture taken together. Hey, and Gary didn’t even have to pay for it! Photo snapped by Jean F.
FRIEDRICH: I’m not really at liberty to talk about it. RA: Fair enough. Gary won the Inkpot Award in 2007, the year the movie came out. To get the Inkpot, you have to actually be in attendance at the San Diego Comic-Con. What did Gary think about that? FRIEDRICH: Yes, we were treated well when we were there. Gary was really happy, and one of the happiest moments was when Stan Lee—I don’t remember if this was the first Comic-Con we attended or the second—but Stan was going to be there. Gary e-mailed Stan’s assistant to see if Stan had any time available to talk with Gary. That assistant said that Stan was really busy, and, of course, he was, but that after Stan did his forum he was scheduled to be meeting with the press and he’d have a little time in between.
What’s amazing to me is that this little town of Jackson, Missouri, produced two really talented people. Not just in writing. Gary and Roy were in a band together. They were both so artistic. It’s mind-boggling. Gary played the drums in that band, but all the years I was with him, I never heard him play the drums. His brother told me, after Gary passed away, that Gary was a really good drummer. In turn, Gary had told me Roy was a very good singer. The only time I heard Gary play anything like drums was when he was bouncing his finger on the console of the car when he was driving or on the table! RA: Gary also received the Bill Finger writing award in 2010. Like the Inkpot, you have to attend Comic-Con to receive that, if you’re the living recipient. Unlike the Inkpot which is for contributions to comics in general, the Bill Finger Award is given out only for underrated writers. FRIEDRICH: Yes, you only get it if you’ve been ignored for too long! The people who have won that award are all good writers. Receiving that award was one of the few times I saw Gary really nervous. The Inkpot is usually given to you after or during a panel you’ve been participating in and you don’t even know you’re getting it until they hand it to you. But the Bill Finger Award is in a
So we’re at the convention and Stan’s done his forum and has gone rushing out of the room. We could not keep up with him! He was 80 then and we were running down the hallway trying to catch up! However, we did get in the room and Gary got to talk to him again for a little while. I got a picture of the two of them together. RA: I did an interview once with Stan Goldberg, who was a colorist for Marvel from the 1940s through the mid-’60s, and he told me that Stan [Lee] didn’t like to sit down. When he was writing, Stan would stand up. He didn’t take taxis, he walked everywhere he could, as fast as he could. Stan G. told me that, if you were walking alongside of him on one of those walks, you were really going to have to hustle! He thought that particular habit was why Stan was so spry in his later years. He was always exercising, by walking whenever he could. He said, “Stan walked really fast!” FRIEDRICH: It’s true! He did! [laughs] It was unreal! I couldn’t get over how a man that age could move so fast! I was running to keep up! We were also invited to
The Finger Of Fury Gary with his Bill Finger Award, 2010—and part of one of many Marvel pages that remind us how much he deserved it: a key scene from “The War Lover!” in Sgt. Fury #45 (Aug. 1967). Art by Dick Ayers & John Severin. Thanks to Scott Rowland for the photo, and to Barry Pearl for the comics scan. [Page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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Butterfly By Night Along with the title character, another notable co-creation of Gary Friedrich’s debuted in Skywald’s Hell-Rider #1 (Aug. 1971)—namely, The Butterfly, whom Robert Higgerson calls “presumably the first black superheroine.” Pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Mike Esposito. She also appeared in the second and final issue. Thanks to Peter Normanton & Robert Higgerson for the scans in this grouping. Also introduced in Hell-Rider #1 was the motorcycle gang “The Wild Bunch,” by GF, Dick Ayers, & Mike Esposito. The member named “Slinker” was surely named after Gary’s Missouri pal C.L. Slinkard, who’s mentioned back on p. 37. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
kind of money that super-heroes were in the 1970s. HIGGERSON: A lot of his super-hero work was done on titles that were in some form of transition as well. “The Hulk” was moving up from half a book to a whole book. Daredevil was in the process of moving from a solo hero to being teamed up for several years with The Black Widow. The Hulk special wasn’t a solo Hulk adventure; he was teamed up with The Inhumans. It was a thick book, with more pages than the average comic. He wasn’t one of my favorite characters, and I haven’t collected the comics he was in yet, but Gary also did some work with the original Captain Marvel, who was a male Kree spy. He worked on Captain Marvel #13-15 (May-Aug. 1969). They were, again, transition issues. In #16, they traded out the character’s Kree uniform for a super-hero costume, and his purpose for being on Earth was greatly changed. Gary also wrote some of The Black Widow’s adventures in Amazing Adventures in 1970. [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: #1-3 (Aug.-Dec. 1970).] This was shortly after she got a new costume—an all-black cat suit. I don’t really remember her original costume— it may have had fishnet stockings or something like that. I’m curious as to whether Gary designed that costume or if it was John Buscema’s idea.
Man’s Inhuman-ity To Man Friedrich scripted the 51-page story in Incredible Hulk [Annual] #1 (1968), which co-starred The Inhumans, and introduced several new specimens of that super-powered species. Pencils by Marie Severin; inks by Syd Shores “and almost the whole blamed Bullpen,” if you can believe the credits—and you probably can. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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by Peter Normanton
G
ary Friedrich was one of the first names I got to know when, as a teenager, I became obsessed with comics—essentially those of the Marvel ilk. He was the scribe assigned to [The Monster of] Frankenstein and The Incredible Hulk, and my rapport with his writing was almost immediate. Soon after Gary arrived on the scene in 1966, the wind of change was once again billowing through the industry, thus ensuring this period would be every bit as exciting as those which had gone before. My interest in comics had been growing for some time, so it was no surprise when, in February of 1975, having picked up a copy of the British Marvel reprint Dracula Lives #19, comicbooks became my thing. Amid the contents of this issue, which included “Tomb of Dracula” and “Werewolf by Night,” were the last six pages of “The Last Frankenstein” from Frankenstein #10, a tale originally published some months before in May of 1974. For those of you unfamiliar with these British reprints, their black-&-white pages were appreciably larger than their US counterparts. Those released in the mid-1970s ran to 36 pages, with only three of them given over to in-house advertising, leaving another couple
The Frankenstein Monster and Ghost Rider, both drawn by Mike Ploog, from the covers of Frankenstein #1 (Jan. 1973) and Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972). [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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From The Tomb Presents
of pages reserved for readers’ letters. The lack of colour never detracted from the impact of these stories; rather, the artistry of Messrs Colan, Palmer, Ploog, Kane, Sutton, and Buscema was showcased in a format befitting their masterly line. In allowing the art to thrive in this way, the stories penned by Gary and his compatriots appeared all the more impressive. Just before he began freelancing for Topps in the mid-1960s, working for Woody Gelman and Len Brown, the same warped minds that only a few years before had conceived the Mars Attacks! bubble-gum cards, Gary received an offer of work from Charlton Comics, following a conversation between Roy Thomas and editor Dick Giordano. It was towards the end of his brief sojourn with Charlton, a period spent largely on their romance titles, that he ushered in the first of his monsters, the avaricious Gertrude Partridge. Ghostly Tales #60’s “If I Had Three Wishes,” cover- dated March 1967, observed the grieving Gertrude’s refusal to listen to her imploring husband as she schemed to use one of the wishes alluded to in the title to resurrect her deceased son. In but six pages, Gary’s endeavour would help lay the foundations for Charlton’s revival as a horror comics publisher, in due course elevating them to a deservedly loftier status. Mr Dedd served as master of ceremonies, as he had for almost 12 months, introducing a piece which outshone everything else on show in this issue, neatly penciled by Steve Ditko before being embellished by the brush strokes of Rocke Mastroserio. This same artistic team joined forces for Gary’s finale at Charlton, coming just one issue later in Ghostly Tales #61’s “The Wee Warriors,” cover-dated June 1967. It was a riveting excursion that surely bode well for both Gary’s and Charlton’s future. Alas, this duo of horror stories would be his last for the company, as Marvel Comics were offering him an abundance of better-paid work, originally on their Westerns Kid Colt Outlaw and Two-Gun Kid. With only a couple of horror stories to his name, Gary had revealed a clear understanding of what it took to chill his spirited readership. However, it would be another two years before he stepped anew into this darkened world, beholden to the success of his Westerns, along with a bounty of tales for The Incredible Hulk, Not Brand Echh, and Sgt. Fury. He was enjoying the moment, as were his employers, who continued to reap the rewards felicitous with their enormous popularity, yet remained rightly conscious of the competition. They would have been all too aware of how well-received their rivals’ horror/ mystery titles had been on the newsstands.
(From top of page:) Pablo Marcos’ cover for the premiere of the UK edition of Dracula Lives, in October 1974, left the reader in no doubt as to that which lay within… followed by the Gil Kane/Tom Palmer collaboration for Dracula Lives #19 released at the end of February 1975, a cover first seen adorning the US Tomb of Dracula #29, published for that same month. (Right:) Rocke Mastroserio’s Mr Dedd cover for Charlton’s Ghostly Tales #60 (March 1967), and Don Heck’s Marvel splash for Chamber of Darkness #1’s “Always Leave ’Em Laughing!” [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders & Marvel Characters, Inc., respectively.]
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(Above:) The 1965 Tales of the Incredible paperback. [Art © the respective copyright holders; Incredible Science Fiction log & EC sigil TM & © Wm. M. Gaines Agent.]
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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
Frazetta at EC: The Covers That Never Were!
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by Michael T. Gilbert
rank Frazetta had a complicated relationship with Entertaining Comics publisher Bill Gaines. Gaines was a huge Frazetta fan, and desperately wanted Frank to work for EC. Frank had similar ideas. Gaines paid well, respected his creators, and encouraged artistic individuality. But there was a problem. Like most comicbook publishers in the ’50s, Gaines insisted on keeping the rights to the stories, as well as owning all the original artwork he commissioned. That didn’t sit well with Frank, who (rightly!) held his work in high regard. He was an early advocate of creators’ rights, specifically his own. As such, he insisted on keeping his original art. Which created a bit of a logjam between the two. Despite Gaines’ attempts to find some compromise, things didn’t pan out, and Frank took his talents elsewhere. At the time, Eastern Publishing was reprinting Buck Rogers newspaper strips in their venerable Famous Funnies title. They hired Frank to illustrate a series of Buck Rogers covers. Frank drew nine in total, classics all. The last of these covers was likely intended for Famous Funnies #217 (May 1955). This was the first issue under the dreaded Comics Code (which quickly rejected Frank’s ultra-violent cover!). Undeterred, Frazetta took the finished art and offered it to Gaines, providing Frank could keep his original art. This time Gaines accepted the offer, and the cover (reworked slightly to remove Buck’s helmet) graced the front of Weird Science-Fantasy #29 (March 1955), the comic’s final issue. In the decades since, fans have speculated as to how Frazetta’s Famous Funnies covers might have looked had they all appeared on EC’s sci-fi comics as God (and Bill Gaines!) intended.
The Weird Science Is Settled! (Below left:) Frazetta’s original covers to Famous Funnies #213 (Sept. 1954) and #214 (Nov. 1954). [© the respective copyright holders.] (Above & atop facing page:) The abovementioned cover art, re-positioned as a pair of covers for issues of EC’s seminal SF title, Weird Science. [Weird Science logo & EC sigil TM & © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.; art © the respective copyright holders.]
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KEN BALD Saw Battle In The Comics—And In Real Life! by Mark Voger
Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck
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e was a Marine who saw battle during World War II… a super-hero artist during the Golden Age of Comics… a commercial artist who illustrated everything from movie posters to advertisements to syndicated comic strips… a family man married for 75 years… and a presence in Fawcett publishing history. So Kenneth Bruce Bald had already amassed plenty of career accolades by 2016, when Guinness World Records named him the oldest living comicbook artist still working. “There’s not many of us left,” he then said of fellow artists from his generation. Bald was born in New York City on August 1, 1920, and died in Mount Arlington, New Jersey, on March 17, 2019. He was 98. Bald grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. “My father had been a policeman in Pelham Manor, and got a job (also as a police officer) in Mount Vernon in 1925, I think it was,” he once told me. (I interviewed the affable artist
on four occasions, in 1997, 2002, 2012, and 2016. His wife, Kaye Bald, sometimes contributed her reflections to our conversations.) As with most artists of his era, Bald was introduced to the world of illustration by way of newspaper comic strips. “I started to draw, like so many kids. At the beginning, I used crayons or whatever I could get ahold of,” he said. “I noticed the artwork of Hal Foster, who did Tarzan. Then later, of course, he did Prince Valiant. The first thing I can recall was [the storyline] ‘Elephants’ Graveyard’ in Tarzan.”
Kenneth Bruce Bald in a press photo from 1962—the year he began writing and drawing the Dr. Kildare syndicated strip for King Features, whose Sunday title panel for Jan. 31, 1971, is seen below. At left is his “Bulletman” splash from Master Comics #26 (May 1942), although other artists of Jack Binder’s shop may also have worked on it; script by Otto Binder. [Bulletman & Bulletgirl TM & © DC Comics; Dr. Kildare panel TM & © Kim Features Syndicate, Inc.]
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Jack Binder (older brother of prolific Fawcett writer Otto Binder). There, Bald was not alone among Pratt alums. Recalled the artist: “I started working there with the whole gang—Vic Dowd, Bob Boyajian, Kurt Schaffenberger—after we graduated from Pratt in May of 1941. Jack started out in Englewood, but it got so big, he moved to 507 Fifth Avenue [in Manhattan]. He was always good to me. When I was 20, he made me the art director for a bunch of guys who were 35 and 40. “When we worked for Binder out there in Englewood on Saint Nicholas Avenue and—where the hell was it?—maybe Tenafly Road, he had a big barn that he converted the top of into a studio. Everything we did was ‘piecework,’ so to speak. Maybe six guys would work on the same page. A fella by the name of Bill Ward, who was a fraternity brother from Pratt, would do the layouts. I know I did pencil the main figures and ink. Somebody would do the secondary characters. Somebody would do the backgrounds. And then there’d be a lettering man involved. be six or IF YOU ENJOYEDThere THISmight PREVIEW, seven names on the back of this big piece of CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS art that we’d be working on. At that time, OR DIGITAL FORMAT! ISSUE IN PRINT the pages were quite large.”
Shop Talk 1941 photo taken at the Jack Binder studio—a renovated barn next to Jack’s home in Englewood, New Jersey, which cranked out comicbook pages assembly-line style for Nedor, Lev Gleason, Street & Smith, and (mainly) Fawcett Publications. (L. to r.:) Kurt Schaffenberger (cut off), Bob Boyajian, Jack Binder (standing), Ken Bald, Samuel Memphis Brooks (far right background), Victor Dowd, Ray Harford. The following year, Binder appointed Bald as the studio’s art director. Photo provided to the FCA editor a decade and a half ago by Dorothy Schaffenberger.
But art wasn’t a passing fancy for Bald, who had aspirations of becoming a professional. After graduating from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute in 1941, he landed a job doing “assembly line” comicbook artwork at a studio in Englewood, New Jersey, operated by artist
Fawcett Publications and Street & Smith were among Binder’s clients. Characters that Bald worked on during this time included Captain Marvel, Ibis the Invincible, Bulletman & Bulletgirl, Captain Midnight, Spy Smasher, Mr. Scarlet, Blackstone the Magician, The Shadow, and Doc Savage. Since many of Binder’s artists were in their 20s, they needed to let off some steam during their lunch breaks. “We would play a seven-inning game of softball,” Bald ALTER EGO #169 Spotlight on Groovy GARY FRIEDRICH—co-creator of Marvel’s Ghost Rider! ROY recalled. “We would also play softball THOMAS on their six-decade friendship, wife
JEAN FRIEDRICH and nephew ROBERT HIGGERSON on his later years, PETER NORMANTON Number on GF’s horror/mystery comOne With ics, art by PLOOG, TRIMPE, ROMITA, THE SEVERINS, AYERS, A Bullet, Man! et al.! FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster, and more! MIKE PLOOG cover! While generally done (84-page FULL-COLOR $9.95 works asmagazine) collaborative (Digital Edition) by $4.99 various artists from
the Binder studio, some pages produced were predominantly done by individual artists. Ken Bald is attributed as the main artist in, among others, these two “Bulletman” stories for Fawcett: “Their First Split-Up” scripted again by Otto Binder and appearing in Bulletman #9 (Nov. 1942), whose splash page appeared in a previous issue… and “Killer Gorilla” (writer unknown) from Master Comics #34 (Dec. 1942). Seen above is an undated Bulletman sketch by Ken Bald, courtesy of Troy R. Kinunen, who also kindly supplied the original artwork of “The Flying Detective” for this issue’s FCA cover by Bald and Josef Rubenstein. [Bulletman TM & © DC Comics.]
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