Alter Ego #179 Preview

January 2023

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editor

Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor

John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck

Mark Lewis (Cover Coordinator)

Comic Crypt Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

Jerry G. Bails (founder)

Ronn Foss, Biljo White

Mike Friedrich, Bill Schelly

Proofreaders

William J. Dowlding

David Baldy

Cover Artists

Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky

Cover Colorist

Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to:

Heidi Amash

Bob Bailey

Diane Boden

Tom Brevoort

Nick Caputo

John Cimino

Eileen Clancy

Pierre Comtois

Chet Cox

Bob Cromwell

Courtney Boden

Ellender

Mark Evanier

Justin Fairfax

Michael Feldman

Shane Foley

Joe Giella

Janet Gilbert

J.T. Go

Keith Gleason

Grand Comics Database (website)

Heritage Art Auctions (website)

Ben Herman Jim Holden

James Kealy Michael Kelly

The Jack Kirby

Estate Charles Kochman Richard Kolkman

Larry Lieber Art Lortie

Ralph Macchio

Frankie Mastropaolo Brian K. Morris

Will Murray Barry Pearl Ken Quattro

Trina Robbins

Randy Sargent David Saunders

Alex Saviuk

Dann Thomas Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Mike Zaloudek

This issue is dedicated to the memory of George Klein, Stan Lee, & Jack Kirby

Contents

Writer/Editorial: A Celebration For The Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Fantastic Four #1—A Patchwork Classic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Startling speculations by Michael Feldman—plus a sidebar by Roy Thomas. Origin Of The Origin Of The Fantastic Four ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Ken Quattro uncovers a possible source in a 1940 Marvel Tales pulp mag. Was The Fantastic Four CANCELED In 1961? . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Will Murray probes some mysterious lapses in the early Marvel schedule. Under The Microscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Nick Caputo analyzes the original art from FF #3—including its backside.

When The Sub-Mariner Was A Bowery Bum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Bob Cromwell takes a close-up look at a primary (and colorful) locale in FF #4. First & Four-most . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Ben Herman’s brief bio of FF #1 & 2 inker (and veteran comics artist) George Klein.

The Lee/Thomas Spider-Man E-mails–Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Cyber-messages from Stan the Man to Roy the Boy (2000-2018… esp. 2003).

The Top Ten Greatest Stan Lee Stories Of All Time! . . . . . . . 56

John Cimino lists some of the tales that defined the Marvel Universe. Mr . Monster’s Comic Crypt! That’s Just Sick! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Michael T. Gilbert on Joe Simon’s longtime challenger to Mad magazine. re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . 67

FCA

[Fawcett

Collectors Of

America #238] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

P.C. Hamerlinck presents critic Stanley Kauffmann’s account of early-1940s Fawcett.

On Our Cover: Our esteemed publisher John Morrow came up with the precise concept for this issue’s cover, and put together a montage of Jack Kirby art: The Fantastic Four from the head shots on an old MMMS (or was it Marvelmania?) T-shirt, and the Sub-Mariner from a house ad in The Avengers #2 (Nov. 1963). Inking by an unidentified inker & most likely Sol Brodsky, respectively. Ye Editor has said it before and he’ll say it again: “Jack Kirby drew the second-best Namor ever (after creator Bill Everett, of course)!”

Above: Ben Grimm, having just mutated into the Thing for the first time, goes on a mini-rampage on p. 12 of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Script by Stan Lee; pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by George Klein. Thanks to Bob Bailey for the scan from his copy of the original comic. In fact, we’ve tried to utilize scans from the first newsstand editions for all art spots in this issue related to FF #1-4. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Alter Ego TM issue 179, January 2023 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Alter Ego, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

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: $73 US, $111 Elsewhere, $29 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. FIRST PRINTING.

FANTASTIC FOUR #1–A Patchwork Classic?

The Story—& Some Speculations—Behind “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!”

by Michael Feldman

INTRODUCTION: As I mentioned in this issue’s writer/editorial (see facing page), the possibility that The Fantastic Four #1 was some sort of Frankensteinian hybrid, cobbled together from a combination of new material and a pre-existing SF/fantasy story of some kind, was first brought to my attention a decade or two ago, during correspondence with fan/researcher Michael Feldman. A year back, I invited him to revisit and expand upon that theory and analysis in this issue of Alter Ego, and he accepted the offer. However, after sending me the introductory material below, in the end he felt that he did not have the time, inclination, or whatever to finish it… so I’m presenting the part of it that he sent, to underscore his chronological primacy in this particular “debate,” following with the speculations of Ken Quattro, Will Murray, and Nick Caputo on the same and related subjects….

A/E EDITOR’S

Some years ago, British artist, author, and educator Steve Whitaker and I entered into a long dialogue about various aspects of comicbook history… an exchange cut off by my friend’s premature death a few years back.

Steve was exceptionally knowledgeable and insightful with regards to comics. He had an uncanny and unerring eye for the individualistic styles and nuances of many comicbook artists. He could look at a piece of work and pick out something like a Ditko ink line or a Kirby panel design. And he would be invariably right.

Most artists have a sort of signature [style] that differentiates them from their peers no matter how much they may be trying to draw like someone else or adapt a new style. Execution of line, the mathematics of composition, and the combinations of detailing and approach are unique, just as writing styles can be.

I bring this up because I want to make clear at the outset that many of the statements and claims you will read here are the observations of Steve Whitaker, or were activated by things he pointed out to me. At some later date I will backtrack and quote him directly from e-mails we exchanged back around 2004-5.

We both agreed there were some very-difficult-to-explain aspects of The Fantastic Four #1—and of the second issue, for that matter.

For starters, in our view, a number of panels simply are not the work of Jack Kirby or any recognizable artist of the small freelance regulars [at Timely]. On the very first page, the third panel is a rather poorly executed image of Reed Richards seen through a window after having just fired the flare gun that sent the words “THE FANTASTIC FOUR” into a cloud above the city.

Noticeably, the face is in shadow and undefined. The anatomy is crude and very un-Kirby-like, with overly large hands, the disproportional arm at an impossible angle, etc.

Significantly, most of the other questionable panels in the issue are likewise in shadow. For example, the third panel on page 11, in the origin sequence, has another group picture with no faces distinguishable and equally poor delineation that is not Kirby even at his most rushed. Two pages later, the fourth panel on page 13 is another apparently inserted panel, all in silhouette and looking more like it was drawn by Stan Lee rather than Jack Kirby.

There are a number of other places where the drawing attributions are questionable, and in a future installment we’ll assemble them for easier reference.

It is pretty clear Stan and Jack were rushed in putting this issue together and a lot of slack is given for hasty, last-minute corrections, possibly even Comics Code demands for alterations, though that seems unlikely.

But there are just so many small points that are internally conflicting, don’t make sense, or just defy common sense.

Let’s start with the cover. The monster rising out of the ground and grabbing an available female figure is a staple of pulp fiction and comicbooks. One does have to wonder why Reed Richards is tied up with ropes and who did this to him. The clawed monster?

And why does Johnny Storm say “Just you wait and see, sister!” Now, in vintage street parlance, calling a woman “sister” is not unusual—but your own sister—?

It Came From The Subway! The cover that rocked the comics world forever—Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961)! Jack Kirby’s penciled vision of mayhem in Manhattan produced under the direction of editor Stan Lee, who also provided the cover text. Inks by George Klein. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database & Marvel Tales Annual #1 (1964). [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Stan Lee

Jack Kirby

Origin Of The Origin Of The FANTASTIC FOUR?

Did “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Have Its Roots In An Old Timely Pulp?

by Ken Quattro

How do you determine the germ of an idea?

There has been much gnashing of teeth, vituperative prose, and verbal bloodshed over who should get credit for the creation of The Fantastic Four.

Jack Kirby fans are steadfast in their belief that their man brought the concept to Stan. Kirby had, after all, just finished a run on the Challengers of the Unknown for DC Comics. In their eyes, Ace, Prof, Rocky, and Red had just been reimagined as Ben, Reed, Johnny, and Sue.

Stan Lee, however, saw it differently. The story goes that publisher Martin Goodman had noticed that National’s (DC’s) new Justice League of America comic was selling particularly well. He then ordered Stan to create a super-team to headline a new comic for their company.

“I would create a team of superheroes if that was what the marketplace required,” Lee wrote in Origins of Marvel Comics. “But it would be a team such as comicdom had never known. For, just this once, I would do the type of story I myself would enjoy reading if I were a comic-book reader.”1

Lee’s words are red meat to Kirby fans. Personal biases aside, perhaps there is some truth to both versions.

And perhaps there is a third person deserving of credit, as well: John L. Chapman.

“If momentary exposure to the cosmic rays beyond the Heaviside Layer made a super-man of an ordinary mortal--what fabulous titan of strength and intelligence might the human become who’d spend hours under such forces!”

So reads the blurb accompanying the short story “Cycle” by the above-mentioned Mr. Chapman in Marvel Stories, Vol. 2, #2, dated Nov. 1940.

Chapman was an early science-fiction fan from Minneapolis who had made it into the professional ranks by the ’40s. His rather unremarkable career as a writer likely wouldn’t even be under consideration if it were not for this barely six-page effort that bears some interesting similarities to the origin of an iconic comicbook team some twenty years later.

“Cycle” was the story of a man named Drake, who had been sent in a rocket on a trip to the moon, the “first man to leave the earth’s atmosphere.” Suddenly, the “jets” on his ship misfired, “in

A Pair Of Marvels

The cover of the Timely pulp Marvel Stories, Vol. 2, #2 (Nov. 1940), doesn’t mention “Cycle” by John L. Chapman, one of the various science-fiction tales within; but it’s in there, just the same… and Ken Quattro wonders if it might have had a seminal influence on the first issue of Fantastic Four, 21 years later. Cover painting by John W. Scott; scans from Ken Quattro & David Saunders; thanks to DS for the artist ID. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

the vicinity of the Heaviside Layer,” and he began plummeting back toward the ground. (Note: The Heaviside Layer is one of several layers making up the ionosphere.)

Apparently, upon reaching this point, Drake was exposed to

John L. Chapman

Cosmic, Man!

Could

cosmic radiation:

At first he thought it was the weightlessness of deceleration. But as the minutes fled by, and the ship’s velocity decreased steadily, the certainty of a change became more prominent in Drake’s mind.

Drake survives the crash and is subsequently brought to the World Tower (!) and into the presence of the Western Hemisphere’s dictator (!!), Michael Gurth:

The body and build was [sic] perfect. A wide chest tapered from broad shoulders. The hands were huge and strong. The legs were long and muscular. The hair looked as though it might have been dark at one time. Now it possessed a golden luster, matching the slitted gray eyes whose piercing gaze sent a chill down Tinsley’s spine. Never before had the little scientist seen such masculine beauty.

Overlooking the homoerotic and Master Race implications (and poor writing), what Chapman was describing was Drake’s transformation into a super-human.

“Drake was the first man to pass the Heaviside Layer, the first human being to meet with the utter unknown. He was

exposed to the natural cosmic ray forces, the same forces that the Heaviside Layer prevents from reaching the earth. You recall, Dr. Tinsley, an age-old theory of evolution concerning cosmic rays? The life forces they were called, the origin of the animate impulses. Yes—you begin to comprehend, don’t you? You understand now what has happened to Drake. He has been exposed to naked cosmic rays, and as a result he has super-evolved.

If It Walks Like A Drake…

The above illustration of the hero Drake (Ken Q. suspects it’s primarily the work of Joe Simon) accompanies John L. Chapman’s yarn “Cycle” in 1940’s Marvel Tales, Vol. 2, #2. All art in that issue is attributed up front to the team of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby—logical enough, since artist/writer Joe Simon had, just a few months earlier, become Timely Comics’ first really functioning editor, and had brought along his partner Jack Kirby from Novelty (where they had been producing Blue Bolt, among other things).

As Ken Q. says, Kirby may well have contributed to this artwork—and also may well have read that story, at that time or later.

By the time Stanley Lieber (the future Stan Lee) came to work at Timely as a gofer in the latter part of 1940, that particular issue of Marvel Tales was probably already on sale… but Stan, either earlier as an avid teenage reader of pulp magazines or later because a copy may have been lying around the office, might well have read it.

And, do we ever truly forget something we read, even twenty years earlier? (Equally, is there any way to prove that we really remember it, either—even deep in our psyche?)

Surely, any influence of “Cycle” on Fantastic Four #1 must remain problematical and can probably never be proven, but it will remain a possibility. It seems there’s really nothing new under the sun—not even cosmic rays! [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Did “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Have Its Roots In An Old Timely Pulp?

this Lee-Kirby page from Fantastic Four #1 have been simply an amplification of the scene in “Cycle” in which the hero, Drake, is exposed to cosmic radiation? Inks by George Klein. Thanks to Ken Quattro. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Was THE FANTASTIC FOUR CANCELED In 1961? Some History & Conjectures

by Will Murray

The groundbreaking Fantastic Four is remembered more than 60 years later as the single comicbook that revitalized Marvel Comics after approximately a decade of its being virtually moribund.

Although the monthly Amazing Adult Fantasy was also launched later that same month, using the same quirky lettering style meant to signal that this title, too, was pitched to an older audience, AAF soon fell by the wayside, while The Fantastic Four rapidly shifted from a tentative bimonthly to a monthly title.

It was not a smooth launch, however. In fact, there exists circumstantial evidence to indicate that The Fantastic Four might easily have ended with issue #2, along with the rest of the company’s line, which had just been rebranded with a modest “MC” in a box on the covers. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: See p. 69 of this issue “re:” section for an informative letter about the mysterious “MC” marking.]

A recap of the state of Martin Goodman’s otherwise-nameless comics line is in order here.

It was in sorry shape. Jack Kirby recalled coming into the office at some point in the late 1950s and finding Stan Lee visibly upset and talking about the whole line shutting down. Did this visit occur very shortly after artist Joe Maneely’s tragic passing in June 1958?

That’s one theory. At any rate, Kirby resumed working at Marvel on a steady basis that summer, around the time Maneely

(Left:)

Highway 1961 Revisited

(see p. 3). In addition, one of the men there has been totally redrawn, in a different stance.

(Above:) On sale within a few weeks of Fantastic Four #1—in late August to early September of ’61, depending on locale—was Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 (Dec. ’61). This was actually the first issue of the all-Stan-Lee-&-Steve-Ditko comic chock-full of short stories with supposedly “surprise endings.” Thanks to the GCD.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

passed away. The first Kirby work of this return appeared in Strange Worlds #1, which went on sale September 1, 1958; it would have gone to press in August. The art had to have been prepared over June and July.

An examination of the release dates of Goodman’s comics in that year shows that no Timely comicbooks went on sale in the

This “cover production Photostat” of Fantastic Four #1, according to the huge and welcome volume Marvel: August 1961 Omnibus, “was shot before final revisions. After slipping into reprints, it became known as the ‘missing man’ cover for the missing police officer added to the final print artwork.” Actually, there are two more bystanders on the cover as printed

Martin Goodman

Alas, this photo published in 1964’s Strange Tales Annual #2 came out therein a bit darker than those of Lee, Kirby, and the rest of the Marvel Bullpen. Thanks to Bob Bailey & Justin Fairfax.

Strange As It Seems…

The first Timely cover penciled by Jack Kirby after his ouster from DC Comics was that of Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958)—although the new title lasted only five issues. Of course, it was basically interchangeable with Strange Tales, Journey into Mystery, et al., in any event. Inks by Christopher Rule, one of the two “usual suspects” believed for years to have been possibilities as the inker of Fantastic Four #1. (See pp. 36-38 for more about this matter.)

Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

month of August 1958, which would correspond to a temporary halt in production that June or July. The same had been true for August 1959. And in 1960, Goodman skipped all of November and most of December, finally releasing a paltry four comics titles on December 29. That’s nine weeks without any Timely titles on the stands.

Writer Larry Lieber recalled going to work for Marvel in 1958. “I guess business was not good,” Lieber told me. “As a matter of fact, when I started writing, I said to Martin, ‘Goodness, [I’m thinking of my future] tell me how would you describe the comic industry?’ He said, ‘I’d call it a dying industry.’ And it was just hanging on. They’d put out these few books. Stan was there alone, and he was making most of the corrections himself.”

Artist Dick Ayers remembered Lee telling him circa 1959, “It’s like a sinking ship, and we’re the rats.” Things got so bad that Ayers applied to the US Post Office for a regular job, only to receive a reprieve after Lee had him ink Jack Kirby’s pencils for the first time. This turned around Ayers’ fortunes, and may have helped Lee gear back up into serious production, since Ayers did more than

ink Kirby. He also embellished Kirby’s sometimes skeletal pages, adding background and other details, enabling Kirby to turn out more work faster.

Others recalled that Goodman would kill (or at least severely decrease) his comics line at the first hint of a circulation slump, only to reverse course if subsequent newsstand reports showed the slightest uptick in sales.

The Fantastic Four was probably conceived in April or May 1961. The springboard was almost certainly Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight into space on April 12 aboard the Vostok I space capsule. America had been caught flat-footed. The space race was on and Jack Kirby, if not Stan Lee, swiftly realized that here was perfect fodder for comicbook stories.

The Fantastic Four #1 went on sale on August 8, 1961, three weeks before Amazing Adult Fantasy #7. Issue #2 of FF was released on September 28, approximately seven weeks later, one week earlier than the typical eight weeks that would normally pass between bimonthly issues. Fantastic Four #3 should have been released either at the end of November or the first week of December of 1961, depending on whether the early release of #2 was a fluke or an adjustment to Goodman’s release schedule.

This was not unusual for Martin Goodman. He was often erratic with his release dates. Even back in his pulp-magazine days, this was his M.O. His bimonthly science-fiction magazines were often released on a quarterly basis, regardless of what the indicia said. Ka-Zar, his jungle hero title of the mid-1930s, had been technically a bimonthly magazine… but its three issues had straggled out over the course of nearly a year.

Strangely, Goodman published no comicbooks during the following month, October. Once again, his entire line disappeared for better than thirty days.

Yuri Gagarin

The Russian cosmonaut who became the first-ever “man in space,” courtesy of the technology of the U.S.S.R. Also seen is an artist’s concept of Gagarin’s flight and spacecraft; he completed one orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961… just in time, probably, to have influenced the origin of The Fantastic Four. Ironically, Gagarian was killed in a training flight in a MiG-15 in February 1968, at the age of 34.

When production resumed the following month, Fantastic Four #3 finally made its newsstand appearance on December 12… approximately eleven weeks after #2. That’s three weeks longer than the standard eight-week interval between bimonthly issues. In fact, it’s only a week short of what one would expect of a quarterly title! It must be said that the release of FF #3 tracks with its presumed release date, based on FF #1.

Still, in the competitive world of magazines, eleven weeks between issues of a bimonthly is something to be avoided at all costs.

Especially for a title that had just been launched.

Fickle readers will forget about an absent title, assume that it was canceled, and move on to something else.

So what happened? Had the entire Marvel line been canceled for a month?

Again, the

evidence is entirely circumstantial. But it is also compelling.

The same month The Fantastic Four debuted, Goodman’s fantasy books underwent a drastic change in format. During the previous three years, the cover-featured Jack Kirby stories had gradually expanded from a modest 6 pages until they usually ran 13 and even 18 pages, dominating the issues in which they appeared.

Abruptly, in August 1961, these two-part epics were replaced by a pair of back-to-back Jack Kirby stories, the first only six pages long, followed by a five-pager. Many of the six-pagers looked rushed, cramped, with tell-tale horizontal panels struggling to contain one stupendous Kirbyesque brute after another. “Orrgo… the Unconquerable!” in Strange Tales #90 and “Lo-Karr, Bringer of Doom!” in Journey into Mystery #75 are two of the most egregious examples of this absurd story compression. Even Dick Ayers’ usually effective inking appears hurried and sloppy.

It’s clear that the giant-monster era was winding down. Yet the monsters continued in one form or another, intermixed with

The Days Were Getting Shorter… …and so, by late summer and early autumn of 1961, were the lead-off Kirby-drawn monster stories in Goodman’s comics— with “Orrgo… the Unconquerable!” in Strange Tales #90 (Nov. ’61) and “Lo-Karr, Bringer of Doom!” in Journey into Mystery #75 (Dec. ’61) being two prime examples. Both were probably written by Stan Lee (plot) and Larry Lieber (script),

with inking by Dick Ayers. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scans.

[TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

On Sale Now—Only, When Is “Now”?

Fantastic Four #2 (Jan. 1962) hit the nation’s newsstands on or around Sept. 28, 1961—only seven weeks after FF #1 had gone on sale—but #3 (March ’62) didn’t reach readers until December 12, eleven weeks after #2. Will Murray attempts to tell us why that may have happened. Thanks to the GCD. Pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by George Klein and Sol Brodsky, respectively. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Under The Microscope

Analyzing The Original Art Pages Of FANTASTIC FOUR #3

by Nick Caputo

It’s a great feeling to be in the right place at the right time. I had that opportunity when I accompanied noted Timely-Atlas historian (and Alter Ego contributor) Dr. Michael J. Vassallo on a trip that placed me in direct contact with original artwork pages from The Fantastic Four #3, material of great importance to those who value comicbook history. It might not rank with the discovery of a Picasso painting, unseen Chaplin footage, or an unreleased Elvis song circa 1955, but it clearly tells a story unique to the world of popular culture.

An original comicbook page from the days before PC technology was a singular work of art. All the individuals involved in its production—writer, artist, inker, letterer, editor—played a direct part in completing the job for publication. It should be noted for the benefit of anyone out of the loop that colorists never touched the original art. This stage of the process occurred after the original art was copied and color guides were marked, before being sent to the specialists in this line of work. That being said, it might be considered presumptuous to compare the study of the comics medium with the uncovering of an Egyptian tomb, but to aficionados of the art form it’s probably just as exciting. Holding pages from Fantastic Four #3, dated March 1962 and likely worked on in summer/fall of 1961, was indeed a memorable experience. Being able to observe the handiwork of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at the dawning of Marvel’s Silver Age (following the company’s initial super-hero era in the 1940s), filled with markings and notations unseen in the printed comic, is—at the very least—worth recording for posterity.

What do these pages tell us in regard to the working methods of Lee and Kirby in the pivotal year of 1961? For starters, during this early period Kirby’s margin notes to Lee had not begun. Instances of their initial usage date to 1964, perhaps at the request of Lee. Dick Ayers’ and Don Heck’s distinctive handwriting surfaced at the same time, when they became involved in the Marvel method of drawing a story based on Lee’s plot synopsis (given either verbally or as a short typed-out page). According to Ayers, he originally placed a few of Lee’s own words above the panels to refresh his memory of their discussions. This became the rule everyone followed, except for Steve Ditko, who penned his descriptions on separate pieces of paper. In time some of the artists provided more detailed exposition and played a larger role in the finished product. While Kirby’s visual contributions were concrete and speak for themselves, they

do not give us access to the exchange of ideas or story development before the pages were drawn. Lee’s notations, however, provide some insight into his role as writer, editor, and art director.

What better place to begin the analysis than the splash page of FF #3, the earliest page from the early “Marvel” days known to exist thus far. A number of interesting discoveries appear. On the top space where the production info appears (book, date, job number) “March ’62” is crossed out and replaced with “Nov ’61.” March 1962 was the date on the actual cover, but most comics were dated two to three months ahead of publication in order to have a longer shelf life. FF #3 was on newsstands in December 1961, so November was probably when the book was due at the printers. Alongside the date info the word “Timely” is written, probably by Sol Brodsky, who in addition to inking the story handled the production chores. Some staffers and freelancers still referred to the company as Timely, not Magazine Management or Marvel. Another reason I suspect these are Brodsky’s notations is quite elementary—Lee’s scribbles are worse than a doctor’s scrawls! I’ve often struggled to read his editorial corrections, examples of which can be seen on countless original art pages. The bottom of the page has an amusing, if not earth-shattering, grievance penned in green ink from uncredited letterer Artie Simek: “WHEW! VERY HEAVY PAGE OF LETTERING FOR A FIRST PAGE, STAN!!” Apparently, Lee and Simek had a good relationship, or at least a friendly one!

It’s A Miracle, Man!

Nick Caputo (on left) and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo (below) hold up the original art to the splash page of Fantastic Four #3 (March 1962). See Nick’s article for the story behind that event—and thanks to him, as well, for both photos.

In addition, we’ve blown up the bottom of the signed p. 1 artwork, so you can hopefully just barely make out hard-working letterer Artie Simek’s plaintive message to Stan. [Artwork TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“It’s YOUR Turn!”

As Nick C. notes, the lettering change “It’s YOUR” in panel 6 of p. 3 doesn’t appear to be Simek’s work. (Plus, either a comma or a period got “whited out” after the word “guy.”) Although occasionally in the early days (and even in the mid-1960s) Artie would be pulled into the offices by Stan or production manager Sol Brodsky to do a bit of re-lettering, it was more usual to call in some other, less essential freelance letterer to do such work. Either way, that person’s time had to be paid for; thus, in the very early days of FF #3, it might well have been Solly B. himself who did the issue’s relatively few corrections. Script (and proofreading note) by Stan Lee; pencils by Jack Kirby; inks by Sol Brodsky. Thanks to Nick and Heritage Art Auctions for the scan. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

If you look closely, it seems that Lee wrote his dialogue directly on the penciled pages, perhaps putting down his initial, rough dialogue and later refining and typing it up into its finished stage (at least I hope that’s the explanation and poor Artie didn’t have to decipher his bosses’ barely legible scribbles!).

[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Generally, Stan penciled dialogue directly only on splash pages.]

Next up for study is page 3. Panel 6 has a margin note by Lee to alter two words in the Thing’s speech balloon to: “It’s YOUR,” perhaps from his original, more formal “It is YOUR.” The crudely lettered correction was clearly not the work of Artie Simek. Lee was a stickler for getting a character’s speech just right (as observed on many original art pages over the years), and this might be the case here. Also, the bold lettering could have been added for emphasis. The Thing’s face has touch-ups in this frame, likely by inker Sol Brodsky, where beads of sweat appear to have been hastily added,

doubtless at Lee’s discretion.

Page 4 (see bottom of page) has a red circle in the margin next to panel 3, which was Lee’s method of denoting a change of some kind, but it’s hard to decipher exactly what alteration he wanted. I suspect Lee was either instructing Sol Brodsky to make Sue visible or explaining to colorist Stan Goldberg that Sue is visible, in order for him to apply the proper hues. Panel 4 has a notation to add the “4” logo on the Fantisticar and to fix up the front area of the vehicle (Lee seemed to prefer having a roundish, more circular design, which he may have felt accentuated the insignia, especially when broken up into sections). The back of this page has an undecipherable sketch; I’m unclear as to its meaning.

Page 5 (see facing page) has a particularly interesting discovery. Along with the continued notations to make the Fantasticar corrections, it provides us with Lee’s panel design and partial dialogue on the back of the page, apparently as a guide for Kirby before it was penciled. If true, it would explain why FF #1 differs from Kirby’s standard layouts. Historians have debated this anomaly over the years, with some theorizing that the comic was cobbled together and expanded from a feature (perhaps for Amazing Adventures) into a solo title at the last minute. Another possibility suggested is that Lee had a more hands-on approach in his early collaborations with Kirby. Panel 1 notes: “MM [Miracle Man] looks out of window – sees monster display in street.” Panel 2 is hard to ascertain; it reads in part: “..will use monster.” Panel 3 has a crudely drawn caricature of a frowning Miracle Man saying: “Only I know how to bring him to life.” Kirby follows Lee’s panel configurations fairly closely. The second tier has three slight sketches of the FF in their car, and the last panel notes: “showing Apt” which was a diagram of the headquarters in the comic. Are there any other examples of Lee providing a layout for Kirby on the back of original art pages?

We now jump to page 16, another noteworthy example that

Wite-Out Wipe-Out

Hopefully, the Wite-Out fluid utilized in making corrections will be visible in the panel at right (from p. 4) where it was used. Nick explains the matter of the “4” on the Fantasticar; why Wite-Out was used beneath the word balloon in the right-hand panel is unknown. Unfortunately, we don’t have a scan of the “undecipherable sketch” he found on the back on that page. Script by Lee; art by Kirby & Brodsky. Thanks to NC & Heritage. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

When The Sub-Mariner Was A Bowery Bum

A Historical Look At A Primary Setting Of Fantastic Four #4

by Bob Cromwell

A/E EDITOR’S

INTRODUCTION: Back in issue #138, journalist Paris Liu provided a history of 177A Bleecker Street and environs in New York’s Greenwich Village—the address, in Marvel Comics, of Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts (and, not so incidentally, the real-world locale where fellow pros Gary Friedrich, Bill Everett, and Roy Thomas had dwelt for half a year in 1965-66). That article and his own interests led A/E reader Bob Cromwell to take a long and informative look at an even earlier, basically true-life Marvel landmark—the “flophouse” in the Bowery sector in lower Manhattan where, in Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962), a disgruntled Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch, decided to temporarily hide out from the other members of that fledgling super-hero team. Only, it wasn’t really a “flophouse” (not that Johnny or scripter Stan Lee used that precise phrase), as Bob explains below.

The Prince On The Bowery

How do the two above images tie together? Well, the one on the right, of course, is the cover of Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962) by penciler Jack Kirby & inker Sol Brodsky—the issue that brought the Golden Age antihero known as the Sub-Mariner into the earliest days of the a-borning Marvel Universe by having him discovered living on what was often called “the Bowery.” FF #4 cover courtesy of the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The photo depicts the location where, decades earlier, the family of Jacob Kurtzberg/Jack Kirby reportedly lived for a time. That address, 147 Essex Street, was just a few blocks east of Bowery, and is the red brick building with the blue “Lazar Mechanical” sign. The photo, of course, is from a more recent day, courtesy of Bob Cromwell.

Unfortunately, we were forced to abridge Bob’s article slightly, and to utilize only half or so of the numerous photos that accompanied it when it was first posted online at https://cromwell-intl.com/namor—but, if you want, you can revel in the entire piece and all the images by clicking on that still-valid URL. Meanwhile, here is the Alter Ego version, with thanks to Bob C. for making it accessible to our ever-questful readers….

Iwas at a Ukrainian dive on the Lower East Side when the guy on the adjacent bar stool asked me a question that led to American history throughout the 20th century, the return of Namor the Sub-Mariner in the Silver Age, and, just possibly, Thor’s search for Odin.

Who said the comics weren’t educational?

I was at Karpaty Bar on Second Avenue near 9th Street. Dave on the adjacent stool asked me if I lived in the neighborhood. “No, I’m from out of town, but I get to New York fairly often,” and my

local home away from home at the time was the White House nearby on Bowery. Dave was surprised to hear that, as he knew what the place was like when we’re told that the Sub-Mariner lived there or somewhere very similar.

The White House had been home for indigent men since 1899. Around 2000 it was converted, half for permanent residents and the other half a hostel for independent travelers. It was a few years afterward that I started staying there, on the hostel side. It was a little scruffy, but you got a tiny private room for only $30 in Manhattan. But—the Sub-Mariner?

Prince Namor In The Bowery

In Fantastic Four #4, cover-dated May 1962, Johnny Storm has left The Fantastic Four. He goes to the Bowery to find a place to stay. This was during a period when Marvel was moving toward a realistic New-York-based setting. No more Central City, but actual New York City settings and details.

Johnny selects a place “no worse than the others.” Once inside, things become very self-referential. He finds an old comicbook from two decades before—an issue of Timely’s Sub-Mariner. It’s an “old, beat-up comic mag… from the 1940s.” But Johnny remembers his older sister Sue Storm talking about Namor as an actual person.

First & Four-most

A Brief Biography Of GEORGE KLEIN— Inker Of Fantastic Four #1 & 2— And A Fine Artist In His Own Right

by Ben Herman

A/E EDITOR’S

INTRODUCTION: I suppose Alter Ego and I have been two of the last hold-outs. Ever since art-intensive comics historians first began proclaiming a decade or so ago that the inker of Fantastic Four #1 & 2 was almost certainly George Klein, I’ve usually added the adjective “probable” to that designation when reprinting pages from those issues in A/E . Of course, final proof of the inker’s identity is highly unlikely, since virtually all the Timely/Marvel professionals who were around in 1961—writer/ editor Stan Lee, penciler/co-plotter Jack Kirby, FF logo designer Sol Brodsky, letterer Art Simek, colorist Stan Goldberg, even ancillary Marvel artists such as Dick Ayers, Don Heck, Steve Ditko, and Paul Reinman—have all left the scene without providing us with so much as opinions, let alone proof. Only Stan’s brother, Larry Lieber, remains of those who were in and out of the Timely offices in 1961… and Larry, who wasn’t involved with FF #1, has never ventured an opinion as to that comic’s initial embellisher. Only some long-lost document—a personal letter, a scrap of some old accounting record, etc.—could possibly shed any definitive light on the subject.

Still, henceforth, I shall assume, as do most people nowadays who consider the subject, that George Klein—whom I worked with on The

The

Since

George Klein

If George had returned to Marvel Comics a couple of years earlier, no doubt editor Stan Lee’s cavortin’ credits would’ve dubbed him “Gorgeous George” (after a prominent 1950s wrestler)—and maybe they did, somewhere. Above photo courtesy of Todd Klein (no relation, far as we know.) Also on this page are a trio of counterclockwise highlights of Klein’s post-Timely career: The first Superman cover inked by Klein—for #150 (Jan. 1962), over pencils by Curt Swan, who was then fast becoming the Man of Steel’s major delineator. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © DC Comics.]

splash page of the second chapter in Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961)—probably done within a few weeks of the Superman #150 cover—was evidently inked by GK over pencils by Jack Kirby. Script by Stan Lee. Thanks to Jim Kealy.

George’s first assignment at late-’60s Marvel was The Avengers #55, he was on hand to lend his considerable embellishing skills to John Buscema’s dynamic pencils for #57 (Oct. ’68), which introduced the Marvel Age Vision. Script by Roy Thomas. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [FF & Avengers pages TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Avengers, et al., and who was even briefly my “neighbor” in late-1960s Manhattan (when I could’ve asked him the question face to face, had I then had any, er, inkling that he might have labored on FF #1 & 2)—did indeed embellish, in the spring and summer of ’61, the first two issues of what would soon be designated “The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine!”

Of course, those were only two comicbook issues to which George applied his considerable talents, out of many over nearly thirty years in the field—two issues that, to him, were doubtless of no more importance than countless others he’d done. So here is Ben Herman to tell you the full story, with the aid and cooperation of several of George’s kinfolk….

George Klein was a talented, yet often-underrated artist, who worked in American comicbooks, pulps, and magazines over a three-decade period in the middle of the 20th century. One of the main reasons he is not better-known among comics fandom is that he tragically passed away at the relatively young age of 53 on May 10, 1969.

George Dunsford Klein was born on September 11, 1915. His parents were George Jacob Klein and Matilda Lenore Dunsford. His father worked for the railroad and moved from St. Louis, Missouri, to Dragon, Utah, and then to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where Klein grew up. He was the family’s second child, preceded two years

earlier by his sister Edna.

As a child and teenager Klein was possessed of a great fascination for the natural world. His niece Diane Boden told me, “He had tons of rock, shells, and fossils that he collected and categorized in small match boxes. I still have them. I have many scrapbooks of wildlife sketches that he did…. George always wanted to be a Park Ranger, like at Yellowstone, and probably would have if [the family] hadn’t moved east.” Boden’s mother Edna attended Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and so Klein moved to the Bay State with the rest of the family.

It was in Massachusetts that he also attended school. As per Eileen Clancy, curator of the Salmagundi Art Club, “[George Klein] studied at the Massachusetts School of Art in Boston, and [the] Scott Carbee School of Art in Boston, [and] he studied privately with artist Elmer Greene.”

His earliest published work appears to be a painted cover for the December 1939 edition of National Sportsman. He signed this piece under his full name: “George Dunsford Klein.”

Between 1941 and 1943 Klein was employed by Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel. Creator credits in the Golden Age are often missing or inaccurate, but it is generally believed he worked there on such titles as All Winners Comics, Captain America Comics, and Young Allies Comics, among others.

In 1943 Klein was drafted to serve in World War II. He was well-regarded by his co-workers at Timely, who threw him a party at the Copacabana night club to see him off. He became a Technician fifth grade in the 1165th Engineer Combat Group of the U.S. Army, stationed in the Pacific. He was awarded the Good Conduct Ribbon and Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon, and was honorably discharged in 1946.

Returning to civilian life, Klein resumed his career as an artist. He moved to New York City, living at 155 East 52nd Street, and later (near the end of his life) at 425 East 86th Street. His first love, artistically, was painting. Unfortunately, as his niece observed to me, “He could never make a living selling his paintings.” Instead, he returned to comicbooks, primarily as an inker, again finding employment at Timely, or Atlas Comics as it came to be known for much of the 1950s.

Early Images

Among the various titles he worked on at Timely/Atlas in the late ’40s and early ’50s were the romance series Girl Comics and the well-regarded fantasy/ romance series Venus, although (again due to the lack of credits) the exact details of his involvement are a matter of guesswork and analysis. He also worked, both before and after the war, for the various pulp magazines published by Timely owner Martin Goodman. Throughout the decade the Goodman publications Best Love, Complete Sports, Complete War, and Detective Short

(Above:) George during his college years. He inscribed this photo to his sister, the mother of his niece Diane Boden, who provided it to us via Ben Herman.

(Right:) The 24-year-old artist’s painted cover for National Sportsman magazine for December 1939—probably his first professionally published work. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Stories all featured signed illustrations by Klein.

One of the few Timely comics series to contain stories credited to Klein was U.S.A. Comics. Issues #2 (Nov. 1941) and #3 (Jan. 1942) contained installments of “The Defender” with Klein’s byline. U.S.A. Comics #5 (Summer 1942) included a “Black Widow” story that was “drawn by” Mike Sekowsky & George Klein, most likely meaning that Sekowsky was the penciler and Klein the inker.

Sekowsky was also on staff at Timely in the 1940s. He and Klein were friends, although that friendship became severely strained. In the mid-1940s Sekowsky was dating Violet Barclay, another artist and one of the few women on staff at Timely. When the war ended and Klein returned to Timely, problems soon commenced.

As Barclay related to Jim Amash in Alter Ego #33, “George Klein came back from the Army, and I liked George. I was very attracted to him and I did not love Mike. So George took me out to Tavern on the Green and we went dancing. I don’t know what

Venus, If You Will…”

(Above:)

happened, but [Timely funny animal artist] Dave [Gantz] was there with Al Jaffe and their wives. They saw George and I were dancing, and of course Mike knew about it the next morning.”

The love triangle between Klein, Sekowsky, and Barclay soon affected work at Timely, with Sekowsky at one point reportedly attempting to provoke a physical confrontation with Klein. On another occasion Sekowsky reportedly tried to get Barclay fired.

Allen Bellman, another artist on staff at Timely, remembered the occurrence. As he related to me: “I believe George was an inker and he sat next to Violet Barclay, a very beautiful woman who was an inker, too. Now, she sat next to Mike Sekowsky, who was a great

(Right:) An all-Klein splash for Love Tales #55 (May 1952). Writer unknown. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“You’re In The Army Now!” George Klein in uniform during World War II. Courtesy of Diane Boden.

“

This splash page from Timely’s Venus #1 (Aug. 1948) was penciled by Klein and (quite possibly) inked by Lin Streeter. Writer uncertain. The comics series was inspired by One Touch of Venus (1948), the film version of a successful 1943 Broadway musical. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for this and the following scan.

The LEE/THOMAS Spider-Man E-Mails

Cyber-Messages From STAN THE MAN

To ROY THE BOY (2000-2018) – Part I

Presented & Annotated by Roy Thomas

AN UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY INTRODUCTION:

In the early months of 2000, Stan Lee Media, as a well-publicized part of the now-infamous “dotcom boom,” seemed to be going like Gangbusters. Stan, from his Beverly Hills office and Hollywood Hills mini-mansion, presided over a company with more than 100 employees and an on-paper worth at one point of many millions of dollars.

In the meantime, while nobody was throwing benefits for my wife Dann and me, ensconced as we were on our 40-acre, two-house spread in rural South Carolina, I had seen much of my work from Marvel, and virtually all from DC, gradually evaporating, to the point where I felt I could use another, more reliable source of income than writing comicbooks.

The previous year, Dann had persuaded me (against my better instincts) to take a job teaching high school English again, and the year before that (1998) I’d accepted an offer from Jon B. Cooke to re-start Alter Ego as the flip side of his new TwoMorrows publication Comic Book Artist, for which I produced an average of 14 pages per edition for five issues. By ’99 A/E had already been spun off as a separate quarterly magazine, Alter Ego, Volume 3… but that was merely a pleasant avocation, not a serious attempt at earning a living wage.

So, sometime around the spring of 2000, eager to end my brief second go-round as a teacher of surly teenagers, I decided to approach my old mentor Stan, with whom I’d nearly always had good relations, even during the six years I’d been under contract to DC. I sent him an e-mail, not my first to him as head of Stan Lee Media—but this time making it politely clear that I was looking for work and hoped that perhaps there might be some available, on one project or another, from his dotcom behemoth. After all, it had only been half a decade since I’d written several issues of a comicbook series for his aborted “Excelsior” Marvel imprint.

Stan quickly replied—with a phone call. He informed me right off the bat that he felt one had to live in Southern California (which I hadn’t, since late ’91) in order to work for SLM. His words were hardly

and I was quietly appreciating the fact that he’d called me personally

of just e-mailing me with the bad news. However, he then surprised me by quickly going on to say that he had a separate proposition for me.

He said that former Marvel (and Topps) editor Jim Salicrup had been

unexpected,

instead

Smiley & Rascally (seated & standing, natch) at a September 2005 recording session for the book Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe, which Roy wrote and for which Stan provided audio clips that could be accessed by touching an icon therein. (A full transcription of those sessions appeared in Alter Ego #104.) Behind them is the book’s editor, Jenna Land Free. This photo is one of the closest in time to the date of Lee’s 2003 e-mails which shows the two Marvel madmen together.

Seen below are the second and third Amazing Spider-Man dailies scripted by RT (since the first was mostly just a footnote to the previous adventure), penciled by Larry Lieber & inked by John Tartaglione. The dates are July 18 & 19, 2000. Thanks to Art Lortie for all color strip scans that accompany this article. Ye Editor is not aware quite when dailies started being printed in color, like the Sundays, in many newspapers. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ghost-scripted the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip for a time at the turn of the 21st century, working with creator Stan Lee. Later he founded his own comics company, Papercutz, which in 2007 launched an authorized revival of EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt, featuring an initial cover

ghostwriting the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip for him for the past little while, and while Jim was a talented guy (obviously), writing scripts was less his forte than were other areas. (In Back Issue #136, Jim says he had already decided to quit the strip, and the two men’s versions of events aren’t mutually exclusive.) Stan assured me he had “a zillion other things” that Jim could do for SLM, so he could keep him plenty busy elsewhere—if I wanted to become the uncredited scripter of the strip.

I probably said yes almost before he had put a verbal period to his sentence.

“Wait a minute,” he went on hastily. “Don’t say yes till you hear the offer. It’s so little money, it might not interest you. It pays $300 a week, for six dailies and the Sunday. That’s not very much money.”

I couldn’t help laughing, or at least chuckling. “Stan,” I said, “you have no idea how little money it takes us to live out here. When do I start?”

Immediately, as it turned out—with my first daily strip (written two or three months earlier, of course) appearing on Monday, July 17, 2000. Stan’s brother, Larry Lieber, had been penciling the Mondayto-Friday strips since 1986, with John Tartaglione inking. The Sundays, which had to be drawn and prepared several weeks earlier than the dailies (since they were printed in color in separate supplements), were penciled by Alex Saviuk and inked by an otherwise retired Joe Sinnott. I had to submit to Stan at least two weeks of scripts at a time, which always began with a Monday strip and ended with a Sunday. The story itself had to be told in the Monday-to-Friday dailies, since the syndicates assumed that fewer people read newspapers (and thus the funnies) on Saturday. In fact, neither the Saturday nor the Sunday strip was really supposed to advance the plot, since some papers carried only the dailies, while others printed only the Sundays. (How the hell any reader could possibly hope to follow the storyline if he/she saw the strip only on Sunday, no one ever bothered to even try to explain to me.)

I’d written Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian

comic strip for nearly two years from 1978 to 1980, so I wasn’t exactly a novice in this area. But the Spider-Man strip was different. Whereas I’d been mostly my own (and the artists’) boss on Conan, with the syndicate and Marvel basically accepting whatever I wrote, this time I’d be working directly for Stan—not for the syndicate (now King Features), not even for Marvel. He, either in person or through his hardworking assistant Mike Kelly (my only other source of contact re the strip, ever), gave me my marching orders. And Stan, not Marvel, wrote the checks once a month.

Speaking of checks: I’ve estimated that I spent an average of two days each month writing for my $1200 fee… plus another 3 or 4 days a year plotting, for no extra payment. After a few years, it occurred to me that being paid 12 times a year for 4 weeks each time added up to payment for 48 weeks’ worth of strips… leaving me one $1200 paycheck per year short. I brought that to Stan’s attention and was swiftly allowed to play catch-up till things were evened out. Thereafter I received 13 checks a year—each sporting a “Stan Lee” signature, and thus worth a bit of additional coin, once Dann discovered the joys of banking by e-mail, which allowed us to keep the physical checks.

For the first few years of my ghost-writing (for such it was—a time-honored tradition in the world of comic strips), Stan was very much a hands-on employer. This remained true despite some turmoil in his own professional life—for, to my (and his) great shock, Stan Lee Media abruptly tanked around the end of 2000, the result of much-reported fraud (not Stan’s, of course) and the general bursting of the “dotcom bubble.” Luckily for him, he quickly resurfaced with POW! Entertainment. For my part, all of a sudden I was still working for Stan—but Jim Salicrup wasn’t. (Jim, however, was a resilient and resourceful fellow, and soon re-emerged with his own small comics-publishing company Papercutz, which endures to this day. Way to go, Jim!)

Working directly for Stan in his (and my own) later decades, as I’d discovered during the brief half-life of the Excelsior line in the mid-’90s, was rather different and generally less enjoyable than working for him at Marvel Comics in the 1960s and ’70s had been. Or maybe it’s partly that by the turn of the 21st century I’d been around long enough that I’d

Stan & Roy’s Partners In Crime, 2003

Jim Salicrup

by Kyle Baker. [TM & © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., or successors in interest.]

Larry Lieber

Stan’s younger brother had been penciling the dailies since 1986.

John Tartaglione

“John Tartag,” as he was known around the Marvel offices, unfortunately passed away on November 12, 2003.

Alex Saviuk

This veteran artist had been penciling the Spidey Sundays since 1997 and would ink them as well beginning in 2018.

Joe Sinnott inked most Sunday Spideys for decades until his full retirement in 2018. He passed away in 2020.

Michael Kelly Stan’s personal assistant since the mid-1990s.

The TOP TEN Greatest STAN LEE Stories Of All Time!

The Tales That Defined The Marvel Universe

According to John “The Mego Stretch Hulk” Cimino

project. Hey, the guy started writing comics at the tender age of 18 with his text-filler debut in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941). Even in that little diddle, Stan had Cap throw his mighty shield for what was apparently the first time ever. Stanley Lieber was bound to go only up in the crazy new world of comicbooks. Turns out he had an infectious energy that, in the 1960s and early ’70s, brought out the best from his collaborators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, and so many others; in fact, it can be argued that some, if not all, of those artists never reached that peak again without him.

While any “top ten” list is, of course, strictly subjective, I based my choices on how I felt at the time I first read them, and how they impacted me and the decisions I made in my life (yes, Stan Lee’s comics were that important to me). I’ve tried to select stories largely, though not solely, on the quality of Stan’s contribution as scripter. That eliminated some of the biggest cosmic Kirby battles, where all that any scripter could’ve hoped to do was to complement the visual excitement on the page (even if, in some of those cases, much of that “visual excitement” might’ve been drawn by

Back in Alter Ego #170, the Jack Kirby issue, editor Roy Thomas asked me to write a now infamous article on “The Top Ten Jack Kirby Marvel Slugfests (1961-1970).” It was tough to pull such an article together, because of the level of awesomeness of Kirby’s illustrated battles, plus the sheer volume of his work I had to go through to rank a mere ten of them. But I must’ve done something right, since Roy invited me to do another soon-to-be infamous write-up on his own mentor and Jack Kirby’s greatest collaborator, the big kahuna himself, comicdom’s most eminent editor/writer and most famous face-fronter, Stan “The Man” Lee—and to rank his ten greatest stories ever… gulp.

I should be primed and ready for this, because I did my first book report on Stan back in the fourth grade when assigned to write about my favorite writer (it was glorious to read that in front of the class with my chest out and chin sticking way up high). But now, all these years later, I find it far more intimidating. Since his death in 2018, Stan has ascended into the realm of myth; and regardless of what you think of him, the guy simply changed everything when it came to super-heroes with words, stories, and phrases that captured the imagination of the world… and had a crucial role in founding the comicbook Marvel Universe which now forms the basis of the biggest movie franchise in the history of… well, movies. Yeah, nothing to be intimidated by. Sheesh!

But how to rank Stan’s “best of the best”? Stan wrote so many magical tales that listing just ten of them is truly a mind-boggling

from Stan). These are stories that are at least as dependent

the quality of the writing as on that of the art.

I hope you have as much fun reading this article as I did writing it, because, regardless of what your own favorite stories may be, Stan Lee always kept us smiling—and always kept us wanting more. Excelsior!!!

direct instructions

on

Stan Lee & John Cimino (not necessarily in that order) at the Chicago Con in 2007, four years after John had retired from the legendary hardcore rock band Grimlock. Not that Smiley had any particular reason to remember that Kodak moment when the two of them met for a second, and last, time in November of 2018. Remind us to have John tell you the hilarious tale of that first brief encounter sometime! Photo courtesy of JC, taken by Keith Gleason.

(Below:) John mentions Stan’s professional debut as writer of a two-page text story in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941)—which was also apparently the occasion of The Man’s first team-up with artist Jack Kirby, who seems to have at least penciled the illo that headed that mini-yarn. All scans and photos accompanying this article were provided by John Cimino, unless otherwise noted. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

(Above:) Joe Simon and Sick’s mascot, Huckleberry Fink, poke fun at Mad on the cover of Sick #56 (Nov. 1967). [TM & © Estate of Joe Simon]

That’s Just Sick!

by Michael T. Gilbert

Previously, the “Crypt” put the spotlight on Mad magazine and its many rivals. One of the most successful of these was Joe Simon’s Sick.

Sick began relatively late in the game, with the first issue coverdated August 1960 (sporting a goofy Joe Simon cover). While most of the Mad wannabes tried aping Mad’s humor, Sick took a different approach.

At the time, “sick humor” was the order of the day among the hip. Aging comedians like Henny Youngman and Bob Hope were being replaced by harder-edged funnymen such as Lenny Bruce. Over at the Village Voice newspaper in Manhattan, Jules Feiffer enjoyed popularity with his darkly cynical comic strip Sick! Sick! Sick! And on The Tonight Show, Jack Paar was shocking middle America by daring to reference… toilets, of all things!

Similarly, Joe decided to set his new magazine apart from the other satire magazines by using a more irreverent, sophisticated approach. In later years Sick gravitated to relatively conventional fare, with Mad-style movie parodies and such. But early on, Sick dared to be different.

However, even later, Simon kept experimenting. In Sick #42 (Feb. 1966) Joe tried to cash in on the new super-hero craze by devoting a full 15 pages to a faux fanzine titled “Superfan.” Joe explained the idea behind the feature in the issue’s editorial:

“The inspiration for this issue on comic-book heroes stems from the current ‘IN’ trend that these heroes are enjoying. The collection of comic books is now a big rage in our culture. Old issues are selling for as much as one hundred dollars apiece. There’s even a national Hall of Fame for ‘The Immortals’ who created them. World-wide conventions are held every year, where collectors get together and compare old memories. The collectors are from every age group and range from college professors and newspaper editors to used-car dealers and chicken flickers.” [MTG NOTE: The national ‘Hall of Fame’ Simon refers to is likely the early Alley Awards given out by “organized fandom.” Joe also did a tip o’ the Hatlo hat to comics fandom pioneer Dr. Jerry Bails.]

Paar For The Course

Joe continued: “Furthermore, these collectors publish hundreds of so-called ‘fanzines’ in which they discuss the old characters as if they had really lived. Many of these fanzines make more sense and are better written than the comic books themselves. An exception to this rule is our parody called ‘SUPERFAN’ which lampoons the rare but schlock kind of fanzine.

“The interest in comic book superheroes has already been recognized by many of the big national magazines which have written features on them. Recently, Playboy published a condensed version of a new Jules Feiffer book on pop culture in which our own Bob Powell… emerges as a prominent figure. Even ye olde editor is mentioned in the listings of the great. On the cover of this magazine

(Above:) Joe Simon’s organ-grinder monkeys around on his cover for Sick #1 (Aug. 1960), flanked by a Jack Paar inset. [© Estate of Joe Simon.]

Twice-Told Tales!

(Left:) The classic Simon & Kirby origin panel from Prize’s Fighting American #1 (April 1954). (Right:) On the cover of Sick, Vol. 6, #2 (a.k.a. #42) (Feb. 1966), Sick’s mascot, Huckleberry Fink, replaces Nelson Flagg (who, in the original comic, was about to have his mind transferred into Fighting American’s body!). [Fighting American panel & Fighting American TM & © Estates of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby; other Sick art & text TM & © Estate of Joe Simon.]

Art by Mac Raboy [ Captain Midnight #10–1943].

Captain MidnightTM and © the respective trademark & copyright holders.

“Album of Comic-Book Life”

by Stanley Kauffmann

Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1—’cause we kinda blew right past its 60th—plus a sagacious salute to STAN LEE’s 100th birthday, with never-before-seen highlights—and to FF #1 and #2 inker GEORGE KLEIN! Spotlight on Sub-Mariner in the Bowery in FF #4—plus sensational secrets behind FF #1 and #3! Also: FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, a JACK KIRBY cover, and more! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine)

INTRODUCTION: Stanley Kauffmann (1916-2013) was a renowned New York theatre and film critic. A 1935 graduate of New York University, he began writing novels—his first was published in 1941—and also spent a brief period in the prospering comicbook industry, first at the B.W. Sangor Shop (1942), then as an editor at Fawcett Publications. But his true passion was drama, theatre, and film. In 1958 he was hired by The New Republic to write movie reviews, a position he held with them right up to August of 2013, just weeks before his death at age 97. Kauffmann’s novels included The Hidden Hero (1949) and The Philanderer (1953); his later books were comprised of critique collections: A World on Film (1966), Living Images (2001), and two memoirs: (1980) and Albums of a Life FCA (and concluding next issue), we excerpt a chapter from the latter memoir titled “Album of Comic-Book Life,” in which Kauffmann delightfully describes his succinct time in the comics field, primarily with Fawcett, where he immediately became one of their top editors. In an effort to “protect the innocent,” Kauffmann had used pseudonyms for all places, people, and things throughout this chapter. (Fawcett was called “Tappan”; Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang General Jack’s Jamboree”; Captain Marvel became “Major Mighty”; Captain Midnight was “Nick Noonday”; Editorial Director Ralph Daigh was re-named “Horace Knight”; chief comics editor Rod Reed was simply called “Hap”; editor Jane Magill became “Peg Molloy”; editor Henry “Lynn” Perkins was rechristened the notorious “Colin James”; and so on.) For the benefit of our readers, I’ve taken the liberty of including the characters’ true names in brackets following the false ones; all information between brackets in what follows has been added by Ye FCA Editor. Aliases aside, Stanley Kauffmann’s chronicle of his time during the Golden Age of Comics is a candid, precious look at that celebrated bygone era. The text is © 2007 Stanley Kauffmann,

Life. Since the celebrated stage and film critic reports that he was employed as a Fawcett (well, okay, “Tappan”) comics editor beginning in December 1942, a CMA issue with such a date might well include some of his earliest efforts there… though the Grand Comics Database lists Rod Reed as editor through #29, Will Lieberson for #30-33, and J.B. [or sometimes “Janice,” a.k.a. Jane] Magill starting with #34. Some of the GCD’s editorial data is clearly inaccurate, since the contents page of CMA #34 lists “Stanley Kauffmann,” not Magill, as line editor. [Photo © Richard Avedon; Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

and is reprinted with permission of Stanley Moss/Sheep Meadow Press. It was edited slightly, as per above, for this edition of FCA by —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

PART 1

Ibecame a success in December of 1942. For the previous ten months I had been an editor and staff writer for a small company [the B.W. Sangor Shop] that supplied comic-book pages, all lettered and ready for engraving, to a magazine publisher [Better/Nedor/Pines Publications]. We were subcontractors.

Now, after less than a year in the business, I had been hired as an editor at Tappan [Fawcett] Publications, a huge firm whose comic-books, which were just one division of their line, were among the biggest in the field. My friends in the comic trade were agape. Not only had I zoomed to the top in less than a year, I wouldn’t even have to write scripts any more. This was prestige—just editing. I was given three magazines at Tappan [Fawcett]: Major Mighty [Captain Marvel Adventures], which was one of the big three in the country, Nick Noonday [Captain Midnight], which was a runner-up, and another one [Wow Comics]. And, said my trade pals, I was still in my twenties. What would I not accomplish!

I liked their wonderment all the more because this was only the secondary part of my life, as a few of them knew. Every morning I got up at five-thirty and for a couple of hours worked on writing of my own before I went to the office. I arrived at nine or so feeling invigorated because I had got up early and had already done some of my own work. And here I was, sparkling at my Number Two job, pushing ahead of people to whom it was Number

Stanley Kauffmann in a 1957 photo (taken by Richard Avedon)—flanked by C.C. Beck’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #26 (Aug. 1943) and that of Kauffmann’s 2007 memoir Albums of a