Alter Ego #18

Roy T Thomas homas’ Marvel-Laden Marvel-Laden Roy Comics F F anzine Comics anzine

More

TITANS of 5.95

TIMELY/ MARVEL! MARVEL AGE ARTIST/COLORIST

STAN GOLDBERG TALKS TO JIM AMASH ABOUT

JACK KIRBY STAN LEE STEVE DITKO JOHN ROMITA JOHN BUSCEMA JOE MANEELY BILL EVERETT JOHN SEVERIN MARIE SEVERIN CARL BURGOS AND MORE! Plus:

MICHAEL T. GILBERT ON

WALLY WOOD & DAN BARRY — speci al bonus—

A GRAPH-IC HISTORY OF COMIC BOOKS Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Dr. Doom TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

$$

In the the USA USA In

No. 18 October 2002

TwoMorrows Publishing Update 15%

SAVE

SUMMER 2011

WHE N YO ORD U ONL ER INE!

BACK ISSUE #51

BACK ISSUE #53

BACK ISSUE #54

• Digital Editions available: $2.95-$3.95!

• Back Issue & Alter Ego now with color!

• Lower international shipping rates!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “AllInterview Issue”! Part 2 of an exclusive STEVE ENGLEHART interview (continued from ALTER EGO #103)! “Pro2Pro” interviews between SIMONSON & LARSEN, MOENCH & WEIN, and comics letterers KLEIN & CHIANG. Plus JOHN OSTRANDER, MICHAEL USLAN, and longtime DC color artist ADRIENNE ROY! Cover by Englehart collaborator MARSHALL ROGERS!

“Gods!” Takes an in-depth look at WALTER SIMONSON’s Thor, the Thunder God in the Bronze Age, “Pro2Pro” interview with TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ, Hercules: Prince of Power, Moondragon, Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga, exclusive interview with fantasy writer MICHAEL MOORCOCK, art and commentary by GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, BOB LAYTON, and more, with a swingin’ Thor cover by SIMONSON!

“Liberated Ladies” eyeing female characters that broke barriers in the Bronze Age: Big Barda, Valkyrie, Ms. Marvel, Phoenix, Savage She-Hulk, and the sword-wielding Starfire. Plus a “Pro2Pro” interview with JILL THOMPSON, GAIL SIMONE, and BARBARA KESEL, art and commentary by JOHN BYRNE, GEORGE PEREZ, JACK KIRBY, MIKE VOSBURG, and more, with a new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

ORDER AT: www.twomorrows.com

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships Nov. 2011

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships Jan. 2012

THE BEST IN COMICS AND LEGO MAGAZINES!

ALTER EGO #105

ALTER EGO #106

ALTER EGO #107

ALTER EGO #108

DRAW! #22

See comic art and script BEFORE and AFTER the Comics Code changes, with art

by SIMON & KIRBY, DITKO, BUSCEMA, SINNOTT, GOULD, COLE, STERANKO, KRIGSTEIN, O’NEIL, GLANZMAN, ORLANDO, WILLIAMSON, HEATH, and others! Plus: FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, JIM AMASH interviews Timely/Atlas artist CAL MASSEY, and a new cover by JOSH MEDORS!

DICK GIORDANO through the 1960s—from freelance years and Charlton “Action-Heroes” to his first stint at DC! Art by DITKO, APARO, BOYETTE, MORISI, McLAUGHLIN, GIL KANE, and others, Dick’s final convention panel with STEVE SKEATES and ROY THOMAS, JIM AMASH interviews Charlton artist TONY TALLARICO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and ROY ALD, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, GIORDANO cover, and more!

Big BATMAN issue, with an unused Golden Age cover by DICK SPRANG! SHEL DORF interviews SPRANG and JIM MOONEY, with rare and unseen Batman art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON, WIN MORTIMER, SHELLY MOLDOFF, CHARLES PARIS, and others! Part II of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

1970s Bullpenner WARREN REECE talks about Marvel Comics and working with EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, STAN LEE, MARIE SEVERIN, ADAMS, FRIEDRICH, ROY THOMAS, and others, with rare art!

DEWEY CASSELL spotlights Golden Age artist MIKE PEPPE, with art by TOTH, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, & LUBBERS, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!

Interview with inker SCOTT WILLIAMS from his days at Marvel and Image to his work with JIM LEE, and PATRICK OLIFFE demos how he produces Spider-Girl, Mighty Samson, and digital comics. Also, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships Oct. 2011

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships Dec. 2011

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships Jan. 2012

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships March 2012

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Ships Feb. 2012

LEE & KIRBY: THE WONDER YEARS (KIRBY COLLECTOR #58)

Special double-size book examines the first decade of the FANTASTIC FOUR, and the events that put into motion the Marvel Age of Comics! New interviews with STAN LEE, FLO STEINBERG, MARK EVANIER, JOE SINNOTT, and others, with a wealth of historical information and Kirby artwork!

(128-page tabloid trade paperback) $19.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • Ships Nov. 2011 (Subscribers: counts as two issues)

KIRBY COLLECTOR #59

BRICKJOURNAL #17

BRICKJOURNAL #18

BRICKJOURNAL #19

“Kirby Vault!” Rarities from the “King” of comics: Personal correspondence, private photos, collages, rare Marvelmania art, bootleg album covers, sketches, transcript of a 1969 VISIT TO THE KIRBY HOME (where Jack answers the questions YOU’D ask in ‘69), MARK EVANIER, pencil art from the FOURTH WORLD, CAPTAIN AMERICA, MACHINE MAN, SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL, and more!

LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S NEW ALIEN CONQUEST SETS that hit store shelves earlier this year, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!

Go to Japan with articles on two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus take a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of the BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

LEGO EVENTS ISSUE covering our own BRICKMAGIC FESTIVAL, BRICKWORLD, BRICKFAIR, BRICKCON, plus other events outside the US. There’s full event details, plus interviews with the winners of the BRICKMAGIC CHALLENGE competition, complete with instructions to build award winning models. Also JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customizing, building tips, and more!

(84-page tabloid magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Feb. 2012

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Dec. 2011

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships Feb. 2012

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Ships April 2012

Vol. 3, No. 18 / October 2002

™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant Eric Nolen-Weathington

Cover Artists Marc Swayze Jack Kirby & Jim Amash

Cover Colorists Marc Swayze Tom Ziuko

And Special Thanks to: Dan Adkins Jeff Bailey Brian H. Baile Mike W. Barr Ray Bottorff, Jr. Jerry K. Boyd Mike Burkey Tony Carezo R. Dewey Cassell Teresa R. Davidson Jose Delbo Al Dellinges Roger Dicken Shel Dorf Roger Ebert Keif Fromm Carl Gafford Jeff Gelb Glenn Gold Stan & Pauline Goldberg David G. Hamilton Roger Hill Tom Horvitz Wendy Hunt Larry Ivie Robert Justice Robert Klein

David A. Kraft Richard Kyle Tom Lammers Larry Lieber Arthur Lortie Dick & Pat Lupoff Owen O'Leary Bill Pearson John G. Pierce Robert M. Price Richard Pryor Ethan Roberts John Romita Alex Ross Robin Snyder Britt Stanton Dan Stevenson Bhob Stewart Steve Stiles Joel Thingvall Dann Thomas Maggie Thompson Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Sylvia (Dees) White Bill Wormstedt

––In Memoriam––

Dave Berg & Vince Fago

Contents Writer/Editorial: Two Stans Are Better Than One . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Goldberg Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Stan G., the man who colored the first Marvel Age comics, talks to Jim Amash about a half century of a lot more than coloring!

Comic Crypt: EC Confidential, Part 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Wally Wood’s Flash Gordon examined by Michael T. Gilbert & Mr. Monster.

Comics: The Department of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Robert Klein takes us on a tour of comics’ ups & downs. We’ve got graphs!

Special Xero/All in Color for a Dime Section . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: Who better as the artist of a cover to an issue which spotlights the early days of Marvel than King Kirby himself? We’re not 100% sure exactly what’s happening in this circa-1980s Kirby drawing of the Fantastic Four and company, but we kinda liked it—so we asked associate editor (and pro inker) Jim Amash to ink a photocopy of it, and the result was a blockbuster cover! [Art ©2002 estate of Jack Kirby & Jim Amash; F.F., Silver Surfer, & Dr. Doom TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: And, for comparison purposes only (your mileage may vary), here’s Jack original pencil version of the illo. You’ll note that, in inking it, Jim made a few minor changes in faces and backgrounds. So now you’ve got twice as much to enjoy! [Art ©2002 estate of Jack Kirby; F.F., Silver Surfer, & Dr. Doom TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092.

Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8 ($10.00 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 elsewhere. 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 Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

2

Title writer/editorial

Two Stans Are Better Than One! This is a special issue for me in more ways than one.

In my mini-editorial on our flip side, I gush (quite sincerely, I might add) about how much Dick and Pat Lupoff’s fanzine Xero meant to me personally back in the early 1960s, and of its importance to the growth of comics fandom and, in a sense, to the history of comic books themselves.

Stan Goldberg means a lot to me, too... so I was overjoyed that he consented to be interviewed by associate editor (also pro inker and dyed-in-the-wool fanboy) Jim Amash.

I’d planned to interview Stan myself, but I was thinking about doing it at some time in the undetermined future. Jim just picked up the phone and called him, and I’m glad he did. He asked Stan pretty much all the questions I would have—and then some.

Y’see, “Stan G.,” as he was called in Marvel Comics in the 1960s, is one of those guys who was there when things were happening—things like Fantastic Four #1 and Incredible Hulk #1 and Amazing Fantasy #15 and all the rest of it. He was there because he colored all those stories—and in those days, without taking anything away from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko, the original Marvel trinity, Stan the G. was a creative part of the team. But I’ll let him and Jim tell you about that.

models and turning his border notes into a script which I titled (correcting the grammar of a popular song) “Whom Can I Turn To?” Soon I met the artist, [Our squeezed-in mascots, and we worked together on several Alter & Captain Ego, are TM & ©2002 issues of Modeling and of Millie the Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly. Art ©2002 Model, before I had to relinquish Kevin O'Neill.]

Millie (in mid-story, yet!) in favor of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. Yeah, I guess that was a promotion; but I had really liked working with Stan G. We’d talk at the office about a story, which he’d then go home and draw. In particular, I think we both enjoyed our making up a Beatlesstyle rock group called the Gears and featuring them in a couple of stories before I moved on.

But, during that period, immersed as I was in learning the ropes of the comic book industry in general and Marvel in particular—and even though we later worked together at DC on Captain Carrot and another project—I never got around to asking Stan many questions about how he made his coloring decisions, or even—believe it or not—about his past career in comics.

Nor was Stan G. a newcomer to the scene in the ’60s. By the time the socalled Marvel Age came along, he’d already been around for well over a decade, through the tail-end of the Golden Age at Timely, and through the entire 1950s “Atlas” period, as it’s often called after Martin Goodman’s self-distributing arm.

What’s more, the day I met Stan Lee—the first Friday after July 4, 1965—and he offered me a job as staff writer, what was it The Man gave me to dialogue over the weekend for a fast $10 a page?

Nothing less than the alreadyThis Jack Kirby-penciled, Chic Stone-inked figure of the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing plotted-and-penciled artwork (a line Stan Lee, bless ’im, borrowed from Walt Kelly’s Pogo) is just one of many that to Modeling with Millie #44. was probably colored by Stan Goldberg when it appeared in—hey! Roy just looked I spent most of my first through his bound volumes of Marvel mags from the 1964-65 period when Chic was weekend as a Marvel employee inking Fantastic Four, and he didn’t find it in an M.M.M.S. ad like he thought he would! Maybe it was used as a pin-up he’s forgotten? Maybe—horrors!—it was even looking at Stan G.’s beautiful, printed solely in some mailing in black-&-white, and Stan G. didn’t color it at all! well-coiffed, nicely-clad Well, no matter. Stan talks about the F.F. in this issue’s interview—and that’s good enough for us! From the personal collection of RT. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Now I know that I did that, subconsciously, so that, 37 years later, I’d have lots of surprises in store when I read Jim’s very in-depth interview with him.

And so do you!

Bestest,

P.S.: Sigh! The Stan Goldberg interview and Xero coverage were so extensive that, for the second issue in a row, our loquacious letters section got elbowed out.

Third time’s the charm, we promise!

P.P.S.: Oh, yeah—and with our next issue, out in December, Alter Ego goes monthly! Wish us luck!

#

STARTING IN DECEMBER...

A/E GOES MONTHLY!

™

19

THE BAT-SIGNAL SPOTLIGHT IS ON

DICK SPRANG THE QUINTESSENTIAL GOLDEN AGE BATMAN ARTIST! PLUS— FRED RAY & MORT LEAV! • Fabulous color covers by DICK SPRANG (Batman) & FRED RAY (Tomahawk)!

• DICK SPRANG profiled and interviewed—plus classic and unseen art!

• Rare Batman art and artifacts by ALEX TOTH, BOB KANE, CHARLES PARIS, MAX ALLAN COLLINS, SHELLY MOLDOFF, and other Golden/Silver Age greats!

• Celebrated Batman illustrators JERRY ROBINSON and JACK BURNLEY on Tomahawk and 1940s cover artist par excellence FRED RAY! • Artist MORT LEAV (co-creator of The Heap) talks about the Golden Age and beyond!

• FCA with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, MAC RABOY, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, et al.—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on WALLY WOOD’s Flash Gordon, Part 2—and MORE!

Art ©2002 Richard Sprang estate; Batman & Robin TM & © 2002 DC Comics

Edited by ROY THOMAS • Now 108 PAGES for the same price!

SUBSCRIBE NOW! Twelve Issues in the US: $60 Standard, $96 First Class (Canada: $120, Elsewhere: $132 Surface, $180 Airmail).

NOTE: IF YOU PREFER A SIX-ISSUE SUB, JUST CUT THE PRICE IN HALF!

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom.

TwoMorrows • 1812 Park Drive • Raleigh, NC 27605 USA • 919-833-8092 • FAX: 919-833-8023 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Submit Something To Alter Ego! Alter Ego is on the lookout for items that can be utilized in upcoming issues: • Convention Sketches and Program Books • Unpublished Artwork • Original Scripts (the older the better!)

• Photos • Unpublished Interviews • Little-seen Fanzine Material We’re also interested in articles, article ideas, or any other suggestions... and we pay off in FREE COPIES of A/E. (If you’re already an A/E subscriber, we’ll extend your subscription.) Contact: Roy Thomas, Editor Rt. 3, Box 468 St. Matthews, SC 29135 Fax: (803)826-6501 • E-mail: roydann@ntinet.com

Submission Guidelines Submit artwork in one of these forms (in order of preference): 1) Clear color or black-&-white photocopies.

2) Scanned images—300ppi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (on Zip or floppy disk).

3) Originals (carefully packed and insured).

Submit text in one of these forms: 1) E-mail (ASCII text attachments preferred) to: roydann@ntinet.com (NEW) 2) An ASCII or “plain text” file, supplied on floppy disk.

3) Typed, xeroxed, or laser printed pages.

Advertise In Alter Ego! FULL-PAGE: 7.5” Wide x 10” Tall • $300 HALF-PAGE: 7.5” Wide x 4.875” Tall • $175 QUARTER-PAGE: 3.75” Wide x 4.875” Tall • $100

The TwoMorrows Two-Fer! Prepay for two ads in Comic Book Artist, Alter Ego, or any combination and these discounts apply: TWO FULL-PAGE ADS: $500 ($100 savings) TWO HALF-PAGE ADS: $300 ($50 savings) TWO QUARTER-PAGE ADS: $175 ($25 savings) The above rates are for black-&-white ads, supplied on-disk (TIF, EPS, or Quark Xpress files acceptable) or as cameraready art. Typesetting service available at 20% mark-up. Due to our already low ad rates, no agency discounts apply. Sorry, display ads are not available for the Jack Kirby Collector.

Send ad copy and check/money order (US funds) payable to: TwoMorrows 1812 Park Drive Raleigh, NC 27605 Phone: (919)833-8092 Fax: (919)833-8023 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com

We also accept VISA and MASTERCARD! Include card number and expiration date.

4

Stan Goldberg

The Goldberg Variations An Interview with the Colorful (in More Ways Than One) STAN GOLDBERG about His Five-plus Decades in Comics—Especially at Timely/Marvel Conducted and Transcribed by Jim Amash

“Stan G.” at a Berndt Toast cartoon show at Nassau Community College, Long Island, NY, in 1995. Photo courtesy of SG.

[INTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: More than John Buscema, who’s on once, Stan Goldberg has stood at the crossroads of Stan Goldberg’s “short list” of best comics artists ever, comics history. He is one of the few human bridges penciled this cover rough between the Timely/Atlas and Marvel days, starting for Marvel’s Galactus the at Atlas in 1949 as a colorist through the late ’50s.

Devourer series a few years Stan made major contributions to the 1960s Marvel back. At one time or Universe by designing the color schemes for all its another in the 1960s, Stan early super-heroes, while drawing Millie the Model colored just about every and other popular titles as “Stan G.” Years later, Stan hero depicted! Thanks to became important at a second company as the other Owen O’Leary. [©2002 “Good Archie Artist,” taking his place with Dan Marvel Characters, Inc.] DeCarlo as one of Archie Publications’ major illustrators. Stan Goldberg’s influence as a top Archie artist is a model for all who draw the Riverdale teenagers—and that includes me! —Jim.]

I. “I Can’t Remember a Time When There Wasn’t a Pencil in My Hand” JIM AMASH: Stan, what inspired you to be a cartoonist?

STAN GOLDBERG: I was born in New York City, May 5, 1932. Fifth month, fifth day, and three plus two equals five. So five is my lucky number. Drawing always existed for me. I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a pencil in my hand. Or brown paper to draw on.

We had an extended family living with us. They said I was a nice, quiet, polite kid because I always sat in a corner and drew. My cousins always teased me about it. I was always interested in telling a story in either pictures or verbally telling stories or jokes. When I was very young, I’d poke a hole in the corner of several sheets of paper and tie a string around it, creating my own comics and characters. But I hated drawing women and funny pictures. My stories were like “Reid Jones, Soldier of Fortune.” Everybody looked like Clark Gable!

JA: Were you influenced by listening to radio shows?

GOLDBERG: Oh, yes. Comics and art always influenced me, but not as much as radio. It was the greatest thing in the world. I ran home right after school and started listening: Don Winslow of the Navy, Mandrake, I Love a Mystery, and all the afternoon shows. I’d listen right up until nighttime to Lux Presents Hollywood and shows like that.

I’d listen to Let’s Pretend on Saturday morning. They were all great stuff. I loved the voices and imagining what was happening.

I’d draw pictures of what I

Stan writes: “Me at age 3 1/2. Check out the Skippy tie. I loved drawing even at that age. Percy Crosby’s Skippy was my favorite strip, and still is.” Photo courtesy of SG.

The Goldberg Variations

5

thought these people looked like. The Shadow, Jack Armstrong, and shows like that.

I loved comics: The Human Torch, Captain America, Biro’s Daredevil and Crime Does Not Pay books (with great George Tuska art). I loved SubMariner!

I went to the School of Industrial Art, which later became the School of Art and Design. It was a great training ground. John Romita, Frank Giacoia, and many other guys like us went there.

When I started at Timely in 1949, I was also taking night classes at what became the School of Visual Arts.

Steve Ditko was there the same time, and Jerry Robinson was one of our teachers. Robinson was one of my all-time favorites; he could draw rings around just about anybody.

As an aside: Jerry later did work for Timely. And when we got his stories... well, coloring in comics at that time was very poor. You could get red and blue and trust your luck that you could get anything else right. And here was Jerry doing great war stories and we were using grays and shades of browns and other war colors. And it just wasn’t working out. Stan Lee didn’t like the way they looked. He told me to use more primary colors. Jerry said, “You ruined my stuff with all those colors.” But the books sold.

II. “That’s How I Got the Job” JA: How did you get your job at Timely?

GOLDBERG: It was summertime and I had just got out of high school. I had a job at summer camp in New England teaching arts and crafts to kids. When I came home, I had decided to go to the School of Visual Arts.

I called my friend Marvin up, and he had a summer job coloring for Timely.

Marvin told me that he was going out of the country and said, “I didn’t tell anybody at Timely that I’m not coming back on Monday, so why don’t you go up there and sit in my seat? They’ll need somebody up there.”

So I did. At that time, the coloring department was run by publisher Martin Goodman’s brother Artie. So Artie Goodman walked into the coloring room, saw me, pointed a finger at me, and asked, “Who the hell are you?” I said, “I’m taking Marvin’s place.” That’s how I got the job.

I was seventeen, and there were the guys whose comics I had read: Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, and all the other guys. Holy smokes! These guys seemed old to me because I was so young, but they were good to me.

There wasn’t anyone who didn’t want to help me or talk about things. I worked in the bullpen with letterers and proofreaders and the like.

They didn’t let me color whole comics at first. I started out mixing flesh tones for all the books we were producing. We mixed a week’s worth at a time. The colors were in big pickle jars, and I’d take a jar of flesh tone and color all the people. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Then they showed me how they wanted pages done and I took to it quickly. It was a marvelous training ground.

“I loved Sub-Mariner!” says Stan G. And all real comics fans will love this late-August find by collector/dealer Mike Burkey—nothing less than the final page from the very first “Sub-Mariner” story, as it appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939)! As you probably already know, creator Bill Everett drew four additional pages when the 8-page Namor tale which had only recently been printed in the giveaway Motion Picture Funnies Weekly was included in Timely's first comic book ever. (Note that, just as he signed page 1, he signed this four-page addendum, as well—at the bottom of the secondfrom-last panel.) This final quartet of pages, in particular, have almost never been reprinted, except in the hardcover Marvel Comics Vol. 1 #1 volume published in 1990... and certainly never before from black-&-white art! Our thanks to Munificent Mike for making this page—almost by definition the earliest Timely/Marvel original art that ever can be discovered—available to us, even though he'd already traded it off—only one day after uncovering it! Mike, the reigning Romita collector and a buyer/seller/trader in all kinds of comic art originals, can be reached at <www.romitaman.com>. Tell ’im Alter Ego sent you! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

6

Stan Goldberg

Publisher Martin Goodman is caricatured getting a draft notice in “The Creeper and Homer” story from Krazy Komics #1 (Nov. 1943), drawn by Ed Winiarski and George Klein. The secretary’s identity is unknown; the “relax” sign was mentioned by artist Dave Gantz in A/E #13. Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeuer, Jr. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Jon D’Agostino was Artie Goodman’s manager. He did that for the first couple of years I was there. Then he left about 1951 to go to work for two former Timely colorists—Pat Masulli and some other guy whose name I can’t remember—who formed their own coloring company. There was so much work to be had because of all the publishers in the business. I used to do some freelance work for them in the evenings after I quit for the day at Timely.

I became the manager of the coloring department. But I didn’t like dealing with Artie Goodman, and after six months or so, I went to Stan Lee, who was approving all the cover coloring for the books. I said, “I have to deal with you. Do I have to deal with Artie, too? You tell me one thing and Artie tells me another.” Stan had the final say since he was the editor. So he worked it out, and now I was under the payroll of Timely Comics, working directly for Stan and not with Artie.

JA: Before that, Artie was paying you, not the company?

GOLDBERG: Yes. Stan was approving the cover coloring but not the interiors. I don’t know what the exact arrangement was, but Artie got a certain amount of money for each book colored. Artie’s group was a part of Timely, but my checks didn’t come from Timely until I started working directly for Stan.

JA: Martin Goodman did other magazines besides comics.

GOLDBERG: Oh, yes. Magazine Management, which was his company, put out all kinds of magazines: humor, men’s magazines, and more. It was a big part of his business.

JA: What were your early impressions of Stan Lee? GOLDBERG: Stan was a real character. I’d go into his office and he’d be sitting on a cabinet, six feet in the air, and playing his recorder. And I’d have to wait until he finished playing his song. When he wanted to describe something for me, he’d act it out. I was 19 or 20 and trying to hold back a laugh, because he was very serious.

Even though I was coloring, I wanted to be an artist. There was a lot of artwork to be done up there, like three-pagers for Marvel Tales, Strange Tales, other type books. They could hide you very easily if your work wasn’t top-notch. I kept showing things to Stan and he wanted to keep me happy, so about 1952 I started to draw a little bit.

And I made about $25 to $30 a page for pencils and inks.

IV. “Things Were Going Good for Me” JA: Did you do the complete art job on those adventure fillers?

GOLDBERG: Yes. Most of those kind of jobs were done by one man. I inked my own work. I didn’t have short deadlines, so I did them when I could. And I don’t think they used all those stories. Same thing happened to me at DC years later.

I did sign many of those stories, but only I could tell where I did it. I had a tough time explaining to people that comics were legitimate. When I was young, people seemed to like the idea I was doing comics. When I got married and hung around married people, some of them looked down on my profession. I explained to them that there’s good comics and bad comics.

III. “Martin Goodman Had Three Brothers” JA: Would you give me some background on the Goodman family?

GOLDBERG: Martin Goodman had three brothers. Artie was the youngest brother and Dave Goodman was a nice guy and was there, too.

I don’t remember what he did, though. The other brother was Abe Goodman. Abe had his own publishing company and was very much involved in dime novels and pulp westerns and the like. Then he started a company called Humorama and I did freelance work for him.

Humorama published these little digest cartoon books with sexy girls, and I did tons of stuff for him.

JA: Humorama was not affiliated with Timely?

GOLDBERG: Right. Abe’s relationship with Martin was nil. They didn’t even talk to each other. I started doing the cartoons in the late 1950s, and I’ve recently seen the cartoons Dan DeCarlo and I did selling on the Internet.

I knew Artie forever. After he quit the coloring department, he put out a line of crossword puzzle books and early computer-oriented books. He did a lot of things.

JA: Are all the Goodman brothers gone now?

GOLDBERG: I don’t know. Martin Goodman moved to Florida and died from Alzheimer’s. I could never imagine him having Alzheimer’s.

Artie also moved to Florida and went into the boat business. Abe was the most fascinating of the brothers. He did very well for himself.

Stan writes that this page is from “my first published story... UGH!” In this 3-pager from Marvel Tales #109 (Oct. 1952), an escaped convict hides in a cave, rolling a boulder to block the entrance. A week later, when he wants to emerge, he’s grown too weak from hunger to move it, so he’s doomed to starve to death.

Marvel Tales, of course, continued the numbering of what had been, for 92 issues, the company’s flagship title Marvel Mystery Comics. Courtesy of SG. [© 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Goldberg Variations

7

bution company (Atlas), I worked in a room with Frank. He had been with Martin for many years; he was a road man for Timely.

JA: Vince Fago told me Torpey talked Goodman into doing comics, so Goodman gave him $25 a week just for having done that.

GOLDBERG: I can believe that. Frank was an older man, and Martin wanted to make his later years comfortable. Torpey was a tough little Irishman. I seem to recall he was involved with the I.R.A. [Irish Republican Army] and may have been one of its founders. Frank was a great guy and he liked to talk.

JA: Was Stan Lee the only man editing the comics?

GOLDBERG: Yes. He had Al Sulman assisting him, but Al didn’t do that much. Gerda Gattel and another lady assisted, too. They’d get the work and bring it to Stan and he’d look at the pages. There were a couple of books a day to go through. You know, DC had many editors doing their books, but Stan was the only editor. And he took Wednesday off to stay home and write.

Gerda was in production, making sure books came in and went out.

When Stan let everyone go in 1957, Gerda started working for DC and later became Carmine Infantino’s assistant.

JA: So Sulman was really Stan’s only assistant?

GOLDBERG: Yes. He went over some scripts. Before I came to work there, Sulman had done some editing for Timely and wrote the text pages. But everything went through Stan. Al was a bachelor; we used to go to his house and play cards. He was from Connecticut and in later years moved back there before he passed away. Sulman was much older and an introvert. And a neat freak. Everyone would be smoking, and as soon as a couple of ashes were in the ashtray, Al would clean it out.

When Stan started at Timely, its super-hero comics were sputtering out—despite Martin Goodman’s hiring a psychiatrist as an “editorial consultant.” This nice Bill Everett page is from Sub-Mariner #30 (Feb. 1949), just two issues before the end.

Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Things were going good for me. I never knew what the future might bring, and I loved hanging out with the guys. I was single and still the youngest guy there. Most of the other guys were married, and every week it seemed another baby was being born and I had to give a buck every time. There were a lot of babies being born and I’d tease the guys about that. At that time, I was in charge of the coloring department and making about $75 a week.

When I started, I made $25 a week. I remember Artie Goodman telling me and another guy who had come into the department that we were getting a $5-a-week raise. I thought, “Hey! I’ll be making thirty dollars a week now.” But when I got my check, I noticed I had only gotten a $2.50 a week raise. That $5 was split between me and the other guy!

JA: Goodman had other relatives working there. Was Robert Solomon there when you started?

GOLDBERG: Yes. I knew him a little bit. He was with Martin for many years and worked in the distribution department. Solomon’s nephew was Ed Shukin, who became involved in the business end of comics. Ed helped set up the direct market business with Phil Seuling years later.

Frank Torpey was also there. When Goodman started his own distri-

The other bachelor in the group was letterer Morrie Kuramoto. He was the exact opposite of Al. They were the original Odd Couple. We were all afraid to go to Morrie’s house, because he’d go fishing on the weekend and there’d be dead fish hanging up in the house.

Morrie lived for a long time and died in the mid-1980s. He was a very nice guy and I liked him a lot. He got teased some, but it was all friendly stuff.

Letterer/production man Morrie Kuramoto in the mid-’70s, from the 1975 Marvel Convention program book. [Photo ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

V. “We All Worked Together in the Bullpen” JA: Since Goodman published more than comics, I’m curious as to how the offices were divided.

GOLDBERG: We were in the Empire State Building, and Magazine Management had their own separate bullpen and editorial offices. Larry Graber was their art director, and Sam Kahan was there, among others.

Later on, Larry Lieber, Stan’s brother, worked there. They had their own production room where paste-ups for Stag and other men’s magazines were done.

Our bullpen was on the 14th floor. The comics offices were much smaller than the magazine department. Magazine Management put out many kinds of magazines besides men’s magazines. They had a bunch of movie magazines, and movie stars would come up to be interviewed by the editor, Bessie Little. The starlets would come up, and someone would come up and say something like, “Ava Gardner’s here.” And we’d

8

Stan Goldberg GOLDBERG: I wouldn’t say that. We were doing so many different genres, and there was a lot of work to do. The super-heroes were not the most important subject we were doing. They brought back the super-heroes briefly in 1953, but it didn’t last long. It was a trend that didn’t last, and nobody was too upset when those books failed.

JA: So you’d color a super-hero book and then move on to a humor title?

GOLDBERG: Yes. We would color on silver prints, using Dr. Martin’s aniline dyes. The silver prints took color very well, and we had to be careful so the engravers could follow them. We didn’t color-code the pages, though they may have done that at the engravers. Later on, in the 1960s, I did color-code some of the comics.

JA: Was the coloring department considered part of the production department?

GOLDBERG: Yes. We all worked together in the bullpen. Then, the production and bullpen departments started getting bigger. They were hiring more letterers, proofreaders, and artists. Sol Brodsky, John Severin, Fred Kida, and the greatest of them all, Joe Maneely, came on staff. So we needed more room. There were three of us in the coloring department, working in a corner, and we were told, “We need more room, so we’re going to move you someplace else. There’s a hotel across the street.”

The hotel was called Hotel 18. It didn’t have a name and was on 18 East 59th street. We had a suite of rooms: a living room, bedroom, and a cleaning service. They moved us twice. The first time was in 1952 or ’53.

We stayed there about a year and a half, and then they found they could move us back into the production department. That lasted about six months, and we went back into the hotel for two years. It was great! I was a single guy and had a suite of rooms in a hotel in mid-Manhattan.

It couldn’t be any better! Lots of interesting things happened, and it worked out very well. I handed out the assignments and checked over their work.

Maybe “nobody [at Timely/Atlas] was too upset” when the 1953-55 revival of Human Torch, Captain America, and Sub-Mariner failed—but A/E’s editor, then 12-14 years old, sure as hell was! To see why, just eyeball this great art by Burgos, Romita, and Everett, respectively, from Young Men #26 (March 1954), repro’d from black-&-white photostats of the original art! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

We actually had another guy for a year or so, but most of the time it was a three-man department. Vincent Madafferi was one of the men.

After the staff was let go in 1957, Vince joined the Nassau County Police Department as their official police artist for over twenty years. Then he retired and went on to another career; he became a photographer.

go and take a look.

The other man was Sal Contiera. When the staff broke up, he went to work for Newsday [the major Long Island newspaper] for about 25 years, then retired and moved to Florida.

JA: So you were there when they stopped doing the super-heroes in 1949?

JA: Did your contact with Stan increase once he became your immediate boss?

GOLDBERG: Yes. That was the time when they laid off most of the staff. I was in another department, because I was coloring. John Buscema, Gene Colan, Dan DeCarlo, Rudy Lapick, Al Jaffee, and others were let go, but they continued to freelance. Later, they hired some of the people back to work in the bullpen. I was hired in the middle of 1949 and let go at the end of the year with the others.

GOLDBERG: Yes. The other two men in the department had no real connection with Stan. I did all that. I colored all the covers, too. I did interior coloring, too, because I was fast at coloring. I had a system all worked out. I realized how much time it took to color something, then wipe it off on a rag and use another color. I’d look at a page and start off with light yellow. Then I could go into an orange or a brown without doing too much brush-cleaning. It was all a matter of saving 20 seconds here or 30 seconds there in order to color as fast as I could. After all my experience, I could see how a page should be colored in my head.

I think they may have stopped publishing for a short while, so they wouldn’t have needed a coloring department. I went and got another job when that happened. After a couple of months, Artie Goodman started writing me to come back and work because they needed people again. I turned him down several times. But after his third letter, I decided to take him up on it and returned to Timely. I think I got a $2.50 a week raise. [laughs] JA: Was there any correlation between the super-hero books being canceled in ’49 and the layoffs later that same year?

The other guys used to tease me because I could check their work so fast. I could look at a page and quickly spot if something was left out or didn’t look right. I knew what Stan wanted and could do it.

I’d deal with the engravers in Connecticut—Chemical Color—and I’d complain about some things and never get an answer. They’d take me out to dinner. I don’t recall getting proofs before printing, so I couldn’t

The Goldberg Variations always head off a problem.

The closest to an answer that I ever got was, “Well, look... we have “x” amount of people in that room and we pay them “x” amount of money and sometimes they make mistakes.” I was making about $75 a week at that time and was in charge of the department, so go figure that out. Luckily, I was also doing freelance work, which helped out a lot.

JA: Do you remember how big the production department was?

GOLDBERG: There were quite a number of letterers and artists and proofreaders. The number of people varied, but when the staff was let go in 1957, it was probably the biggest it had ever been.

9

Artie slipped some pages under the door and said, “Morrie! I know you’re in there. And I need this job tomorrow!”

Artie was a guy everyone kind of poked at and had fun with. He was like a big old country boy. A poor man’s Gary Cooper. Later his daughter Jean also became a letterer. Artie’s wife died, and when he started to date again, we used to tease him about it. He’d come in Monday morning and be very serious about his date and get teased about it. And that’d be the death knell for you, because everyone got this treatment. Before you knew it, there’d be cartoons drawn about it, stuff like that. But Artie liked it and it never bothered him too much.

JA: Was there an art director in the bullpen?

GOLDBERG: Not really. Stan did everything. He was the editor and art director. We had people up there who were pros.

There were no prima donnas there. We all knew what we had to do. The only one who had a problem was Bill Everett, and it wasn’t a big problem. He was drinking a lot, and even later [in the 1970s] when he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, you couldn’t find him because he was out making speeches someplace. You couldn’t find him when he was drinking, and it was even worse when he quit.

There’s an interesting sidebar to this whole thing. I was talking to Stan Starkman recently—a staff letterer—and as far as we know, we are the only two guys still alive from that bullpen. It’s very strange when I think about it, but most of the people working there died of cancer. A few, like Morrie Kuramoto, died of heart attacks, but most died from some form of cancer.

We all worked in a big room with windows that didn’t A fabulous ’50s find! Stan G. supplied this photo of the Timely bullpen in the 1950s, always open up, and the airwhen the offices were located at 59th St. and Madison Avenue. Bottom row (l. to r.): conditioner was always Sol Brodsky, Ray Holloway, Stan Goldberg. 2nd row up: Joe Letterese, Morrie Kuramoto, running, blowing whatever JA: How involved was Herb Cooper, Vinnie Madafferi, Carl Burgos, Stan Starkman, Neva Patterson, Chris Rule. smells were around in the Goodman in the day-to-day 3rd row up: Danny Crespi, Artie Simek. Top: Sal Contiera. Some of the faces, alas, may room. There were lots of reproduce fairly dark, since that’s how they are on the original. operations? bottled inks and colors, rubber cement and fixatives, and everybody smoked in that room, so there was GOLDBERG: Again, Martin Goodman left it all up to Stan. Stan would a lot of stuff going on there. And a lot of these people died in their 40s have to get okays from Goodman, but that was about it. Goodman was and 50s and early 60s. more hands-on with the sweat magazines and the other publications. I very rarely saw him. I don’t think Martin ever came into Stan’s office, I told Stan Starkman, “I got out of that room for a few years, so that’s and I never saw him in the bullpen. He knew who I was and would nod why I’m still hanging in there. And somebody had to be lucky, and to me in the hallway. He was a very strange guy. I got to know his son that’s you. Look at what was going on in that room, because we never Chip when he formed his own company [Atlas/Seaboard]. went out of that room.”

Unfortunately, Chip died at a young age.

VI. “Martin Goodman Left It All Up To Stan” GOLDBERG: We played cards during our lunch hour, and the card games were great. We had two decks of cards going for that hour. While one guy was shuffling a deck, we’d be using another, to get as many hands in as possible. We ate our lunch before we played. I remember Stan coming in one time and he said, half kiddingly, half seriously, “I want you guys to eat your lunch at lunchtime, not before. I don’t mind you playing cards, but eat while you’re playing cards.” He didn’t really berate us, because our work always got done. But because we stayed in that room, I think it came back to haunt a lot of the guys later on in life.

Like Danny Crespi, who contracted leukemia.

VII. “There Was Only One Joe Maneely” A: Was the cover art done on staff?

GOLDBERG: Most of them were. Carl Burgos was on staff most of the time I was there. A lot of people don’t put him in the same category as Toth, Everett, and some of the other early guys. But I watched him every day, and he did a lot of nice covers for Timely. And he could draw with both hands. At the same time!

JA: Was all the lettering done on staff?

Burgos was a kind of gruff guy, but we got along fine. He had a big heart. When I started drawing, he said to me, “You won’t be any good until you do your first 10,000 pages.” And I was thinking I could barely get through one.

GOLDBERG: Yes. Later on, when things got busier, some of the lettering was handled on a freelance basis. Artie Simek, who was on staff, was in charge of handing out all the lettering assignments. Some guys didn’t want to do freelance. They’d go hide in the bathroom. One time,

I got to know Carl later on in life. Carl and Stan never really got along, because their personalities clashed. When Atlas [Timely] became Marvel, Carl never really got back into the company, or really into comics, either. I do remember that he did those black-&-white comic

10

Stan Goldberg drawing class with me, and the teacher would walk around, even though he wasn’t giving much instruction. Joe was sitting next to me, and we were doing five-minute poses. The teacher didn’t know who Joe was.

He walked by and looked at my drawing, then looked at Joe’s. He walked on, stopped, and came back, and couldn’t believe the drawing that Joe had done. Joe had caught the pose, fully rendered it, and put it back in his portfolio. So he sat and waited for the next pose to start. Joe had a natural talent to draw anything. He understood how things worked and could draw whatever he wanted.

I’ve often thought about what would have happened if Joe Maneely hadn’t died. Stan would have had him and Kirby, Heck, and Ditko. Stan might not have needed to call Jack back. Stan and Joe did strips together, like Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs. I was with both of them the day Joe died, until Joe left to go meet another artist. After that, he left to meet the train.

I remember Joe telling me that he’d been in the city the week before and had lost his glasses. He didn’t even

In case the credits above don’t repro clearly, we should mention that this tale from Complete Mystery #3 (Dec. 1948) was scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by Carl Burgos. Thanks to Doc Vassallo. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

horror magazines years later. He was tough and a little ornery, but he and Bill Everett were good friends from way back. They started together in the late 1930s at the Lloyd Jacquet shop.

Carl’s early work was kind of crude, but everything was in those days. But he was creative and got pretty good. I liked the way he handled the pen, and the cross-hatching he did was very effective and moody. He was pretty fast. He’d do a couple of covers a day. Carl did a lot of covers, except for the romance, western, and humor comics. John Severin did some stuff, and so did Sol Brodsky.

Mike Sekowsky and Syd Shores also did a lot of covers. Syd Shores was my favorite. They also did cover roughs for other artists. They were in a separate room and didn’t work in the bullpen. Same with Al Jaffee.

Joe Maneely did a lot of them, too. He was the fastest artist I ever saw. I was always fascinated by how he did covers. He’d start out penciling stick figures and outline them with a pen and then fill in the blacks. You’d look at your watch, and 45 minutes later he was done. Joe would do The Black Knight and then Pat the Brat and went from one to another. He was the most amazing artist I ever knew, bar none. There were great artists like Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, and Alex Toth, but there was only one Joe Maneely!

JA: What happened to Maneely?

GOLDBERG: After the staff was let go in ’57, Joe Maneely went to DC Comics. And, though his work wasn’t like DC’s usual work, they recognized his talent. He worked so fast, we used to call him “Joe Money.”

He could make money faster than anyone else.

I remember seeing Joe a couple of months after everyone was let go and he had just received his tax form. He said, “Geez, I made $21,000 the past few months. I didn’t think I’d worked that much.” But that’s how fast he was. But all that work was the worst thing that could have ever happened to him.

Joe was always Stan’s favorite artist. No question about it. Even over Kirby and the others. There was an aura about him. Joe went to a life

Syd Shores’ cover for Blonde Phantom #14 (Summer 1947)—topped by a somewhat shadowy photo of the artist, circa early ’70s, taken at his studiohome where he lived with wife Selma and daughters Linda and Nancy. This photo was published in The Satirist in 1973, shortly after Syd’s way-too-early death. [Photo ©2002 estate of Syd Shores; art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Goldberg Variations

11

In Ye Editor’s eyes, the crowning achievement of the Stan Lee/Joe Maneely team was Black Knight. Whether or not Stan wrote any issues after #1 (whose two stories are signed), Maneely stuck around through #3 (Sept. 1955), from which this splash page is taken. No two ways about it—he was a first-class talent! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A montage of 1950s Maneely splashes, repro’d from b-&-w photostats supplied by Stan Goldberg: Combat Kelly #6 (Sept. 1952)... a horror story from Suspense #28 (March 1953) featuring a Peter Lorre caricature... and “The Raving Maniac” from Suspense #29 (April 1953). The latter’s lead characters may or may not be intended to resemble Lee and Maneely. Thanks to Doc Vassallo for ID-ing the issue numbers! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

know how he’d gotten home that day. So this day came and he went out drinking and went out to get some air between the trains, and fell off the train. When they found him, he was still clutching his portfolio. I remember Danny Crespi calling me on Saturday morning to break the news. What a tragedy!

The family had a tough time after he died. The Maneelys had daughters and a lot of bills. They had just bought a big house, too, and didn’t have any money put away. He had a career that was about to burst into making big bucks.

JA: Do you remember when you met Maneely?

GOLDBERG: He came to work for us in the early 1950s. Since I saw everybody’s work, I immediately became aware of him and thought, “Wow! Where’d this guy come from?” Same thing with John Romita. He did this little three-pager and I saved it, and many years later I gave it back to him.

Joe started out as a freelancer but soon became a staffer, in about 1955. He was an outgoing, friendly guy that everybody

12

Stan Goldberg

liked. Joe was a friend to everyone. He used to invite us over to his house to play cards. And he was considered the best artist around. Joe Maneely was special. There never was anyone like him and there never will be again. He was the most unassuming man to ever work in comics.

JA: Did Maneely write any of his stories?

GOLDBERG: No. He never got caught up in that. He always worked from a full script. Everyone did. We weren’t doing the Marvel style until the early 1960s.

VIII. “I Never Saw a Place Where People Got Along as Well” JA: How did the staffers get along?

GOLDBERG: Wonderfully. I never saw a place where people got along as well as they did at Timely. We’d do cartoons about each other and had that steady card game. When we were coloring across the street, I’d run over to play cards. I couldn’t wait to get there, so I ate my lunch early.

Years later, when I’d get together with the guys, we’d all talk about that time.

JA: Let’s talk about some of the people you knew at the company.

Did you know Hank Chapman?

GOLDBERG: Yes. He was a writer who married Bonnie Hano, who worked in production. Hank later quit comics and became a magazine writer. I didn’t get to know him very well.

JA: John Severin.

GOLDBERG: I liked him a lot. We had a lot of laughs. I got to know his sister Marie much better.

JA: Let’s talk about Marie, then.

GOLDBERG: Marie is Marie. And she can draw rings around 90% of the other cartoonists. She could sit down and ink John Buscema and then draw her own stuff. A terrific lady with a great sense of humor.

Marie did some coloring at the beginning, but she ended up in the bullpen doing production work. She was doing art corrections, and of course she did great work later in the 1960s.

When I worked at Marvel in the 1980s, she was working with John Romita, and we did work together.

Alas, we long ago mislaid the name of whoever sent us a photocopy of John Severin’s doubly-signed original art to the cover of Kid Colt Outlaw #72 (May 1957)—but it’s a real winner! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Bill Everett.

GOLDBERG: As I told you, Bill drank a lot. He later inked some of my Millie the Model stuff. When he was let go with the rest of us, Bill went to work for Hallmark and did greeting cards. Then he came back to comics. His style lent itself to comics and he was ahead of his time. I thought Bill fit in perfectly. He had a great ink line. His daughter Wendy lettered for him.

The Sub-Mariner was a terrific character and quite unique. And Bill loved doing the horror covers. In fact, he drew the cover for the first comic my art ever appeared in.

Bill was a nice, friendly guy, though he didn’t play cards with us. He had a great art background and liked inking me. I thought that was a great compliment. In the mid-1950s he was the first one of us to discover Playboy magazine. And sometimes he’d borrow money when he was drinking.

For a time in the mid-’50s, there was a room with three tables: John Severin, Joe Maneely, and Bill Everett. I think Fred Kida was also with them for a short time. Friday was payday, and instead of having an hour

“Will the real Stan G. step forward...” The first word is missing from this crumbling caricature Marie Severin drew of our interviewee back in the 1960s. Stan says: “It got messed up when I had it on the wall in front of a coloring desk. Was I the messy colorist or the dashing artist? I think she has the best creative mind in the business!” [© 2002 Marie Severin.]

The Goldberg Variations

13 looked very important. Chris had been a top fashion

for lunch, we had an hour and fifteen minutes so we could cash our paychecks.

They would go out to a restaurant on 3rd Street called Original Joe’s and drink their lunch. And they took a three-hour lunch.

One time, they took a four-hour Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett combined heroics and horror in Venus lunch. And Marie #17 (Dec. ’51). Wild Bill (as Stan Lee would dub him a decade later) Severin took some probably did the title lettering, as well. Art is repro’d from black crepe paper and photocopies of the original art; the photo is from the program book of covered all their the 1970 Seulingcon in New York, at which Bill was guest of honor. desks, like they had [Art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.] all died. She said, “We’ll do this and say a prayer for them.” Marie had a marvelous black sense of humor.

A Fred Kida splash for Ringo Kid #11 (April 1956). Thanks to Doc Vassallo. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Fred Kida.

GOLDBERG: One of my all-time favorite artists. He drew The Ringo Kid. The character wore a very interesting Indian-type belt with a band around his hat. He was dressed in black. Normally, some other artist would use white to show the crease and folds in the costume, but Fred did it all in black. He made that character jump right off the page. Fred worked on staff for about two years and everybody liked him.

Sometimes he brought his trumpet and played for us.

JA: Sol Brodsky.

GOLDBERG: He was a very important guy in my career. He hired me during my hiatus from Archie in 1981. Sol was a very enterprising, bright guy, who wound up in management as an editor. He wasn’t the best artist around. His strength was in management and coordinating things. It was so unfortunate when he died, because Marvel Books was expanding in many directions, and it all fell apart after he died. It was a very sad time. I have only good things to say about Sol. We were social friends for a while.

JA: Chris Rule.

GOLDBERG: He was an inker in the bullpen, and while he didn’t play cards with us, we had a lot of fun together. If he liked you, you were his best buddy. He had a great gift of gab and a magnificent vocabulary. You couldn’t tell if he was putting you down or building you up, because he had this great manner about him. He was kind of like a Santa Claus and

Sol Brodsky drew (and signed) this filler story in Venus #15 (Aug. 1951), repro’d from photostats of the original art. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

14

Stan Goldberg

Not the greatest reproduction in the world—but we just had to show you these introductory panels drawn by Chris Rule from this “historic” filler from Space Squadron #4 (Dec. 1951). It takes place in the far-flung future—of 1965! Thanks to Doc Vassallo. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

artist during the 1920s and had made a lot of money. But his art had gotten dated and he couldn’t find work.

I met him in the bullpen at Timely. He’d borrow money from me.

One time, Chris borrowed $5 so he could go to the Stork Club that night. He was friends with the owner, Sherman Billingsley. He wanted to go to those big clubs, and he always needed money, because it wasn’t cheap to do that. Chris was an amazing man who led an interesting life.

He was in the First World War and drove an ambulance in France.

Chris had a tragedy in his life when his wife died. She scalded herself in a hot tub and lingered before she died. Chris did remarry a number of years later and seemed quite happy.

JA: Herb Cooper.

GOLDBERG: A dear, dear friend. Herbie was a letterer in the bullpen.

He was another one of those guys that died of cancer, and I think it had something to do with that room we were in. Herb loved to sing. When Atlas broke up in ’57, he went on to the greeting card business. I don’t know if he had his own company, though. He had a printing business and worked for Marvel all throughout the 1970s. I think he died about ten years or so ago.

JA: Mario Acquaviva.

GOLDBERG: He was a very good inker. A dapper, good-looking man who wore a mustache.

JA: Tony Mortellaro.

GOLDBERG: He wasn’t in the original bullpen but came along later.

He started out as Mike Esposito’s background man and helped other people, too. He also assisted John Romita. He eventually got a job at Marvel in production and was at Marvel for many years.

JA: Ed Winiarski.

This Tony Mortellaro splash page is from Gilmore Publishing’s Weird Mysteries #7 (Oct.-Nov. 1953). The middle panel in the bottom row became infamous because it (including its caption: “...with plenty to offer...”) was reproduced in Fredric Wertham’s 1954 anti-comics polemic Seduction of the Innocent. Wertham’s comment re the caption was: “Indeed!” In the late ’60s and 1970s Mortellaro was a production man at Marvel and did backgrounds for John Romita on Amazing Spider-Man, often sneaking part of his name onto roadsigns, etc. Thanks to Doc Vassallo. [©2002 the respective copyright holder.]

GOLDBERG: He was an older man and signed his work “Ed Win.” Winiarski wasn’t that great an artist. He got out of the business and became a teacher.

He wasn’t as good as Howard Post, who did work for us, too. Howie did some funny animal books and straight stuff, too. Howie used to always bug me because he wanted his stuff colored a certain way. He was unfamiliar with the color we used and wanted things his way.

JA: Stan Starkman.

GOLDBERG: Next to Stan Lee, he’s my oldest friend in the business.

He was there when I started working. I tease him because the first time I walked into the bullpen, he was having a fist fight with Joe Letterese. Joe was also a staff letterer. Stan doesn’t even remember that incident, but I do. That wasn’t a common thing there, though. We all got along in the bullpen.

Ray Holloway was also a staff letterer and we played a lot of cards together. He had a lot of kids and used to draw cartoons about his kids.

JA: Wasn’t Sam Rosen there, too?

GOLDBERG: Sam Rosen didn’t work in the bullpen. He lettered at home and I believe his brother Joe worked with him.

The Goldberg Variations

15

JA: Dan DeCarlo.

GOLDBERG: I saw him at Timely, but he was a freelancer and really didn’t go into the bullpen. I didn’t get to know him until I started working at Archie. I stayed in touch with Dan until he passed away. We talked many times. He was always considered to be one of the greatest cartoonists in the business. Forget Bob Montana and all the other guys. For the past 45 years, there’s only been one look for Archie, and that’s Dan’s.

JA: Dave Gantz.

Though he also drew science-fiction and even horror stories for Timely, such as “Man against Werewolf” (Astonishing #22, Feb. ’53), artist Howie Post was bestknown for his humor work, like his “Li’l Abner” parody for Riot #2 (June ’54), one of Timely’s three mid-’50s imitations of the four-color Mad. Thanks again to Doc V. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

GOLDBERG: My good buddy. Like Artie Simek, he goes back to the early days of Timely. He drew a lot of humor features and other things, too. Dave’s still alive and kicking and became an excellent sculptor and painter. He’s had a couple of newspaper strips and is still working. Dave’s written a number of books, too, and we have lunch about once a month and see each other socially.

We are members of the Berndt Toast gang.

The reason why it’s called that is because it was started many years ago by Walter Berndt, the man who started the strip Smitty.

When Walter passed away, we drank a toast to him and named the group in his honor. Creig Flessel was one of the founders of the group. Mort Drucker is a member, too.

Four artist pals at a Berndt Toast luncheon not too long ago. (L. to r.: Stan Goldberg, Dave Gantz, Mad’s Mort Drucker, and Tom Gill.) In the Golden Age Dave was a Timely humor staffer, as per this signed “Squat Car Squad” splash from Joker Comics #13 (Dec. 1943), provided by Doc Vassallo; Dave’s new graphic novel-style history Jews in America is currently available, among other places, at <www.JewishPub.org>, or phone (800) 234-3151. Ye Editor recommends it highly! [Art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The late great Dan DeCarlo’s splash page for My Friend Irma #41 (March 1953), wherein the prototypical “dumb blonde” from radio (and later TV) meets her writer and artist—none other than Lee and DeCarlo. Another such encounter, from precisely one year later, was chronicled in Alter Ego #14; maybe it was intended to become an annual event? Thanks to Tom Lammers. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

16

Stan Goldberg

IX. “The Heroes’ Colors Should Be Nice and Bright” JA: What was the first humor work you did for Marvel?

The cover of Kathy #1 (Oct. 1959), Stan Goldberg’s first humor work for Timely/Marvel.

Obviously an Archie wannabe, but it pointed the way to Stan’s becoming a top Archie artist years later. A bit of art at left got trimmed when photocopying from Stan’s bound volume. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

GOLDBERG: The first teenage feature I drew was Kathy, in 1958, after we had lost our distributor and everybody was fired. I had been doing 3- and 5pagers for the horror and mystery titles. I started doing those in 1952 and did some every few months. I also did art corrections while on staff, in addition to everything else. And I did some work for other people. I didn’t get married until 1961, so I had the time to do things.

JA: Timely was known for being a trendfollower and never a trend-setter. Did that make anyone feel as though they were working for an inferior company, as opposed to, say, EC Comics?

GOLDBERG: I don’t think so. I remember when EC folded and Stan hired Marie Severin, who had been EC’s colorist. Stan was excited about it because he knew we’d be getting that great EC coloring style. After a month, he realized that the artwork we did was different from the EC work and the coloring didn’t look the same. EC had better printing than we did, so our books didn’t look as good. Stan saw that the only way we could make the books jump out at the reader was to make the colors less authentic than EC did. For instance, EC would make the uniforms gray or green, and Stan said to forget that and make our books bright and attractive so they’d stand out better. And Stan was right. We sacrificed reality for impact.

JA: EC Comics made such an impact on the comics business. Did Atlas try to compete with them?

GOLDBERG: Yes. Carl Burgos and Bill Everett must have been influenced by EC. And Stan probably told them to get closer to the kind of thing they were doing. We had their comics at the offices, and everyone was amazed by those comics.

JA: Atlas printed on cheap paper, which must have added to your problem.

GOLDBERG: That’s right. The colors would come through from the other side of the page, and the paper wasn’t white, either. We couldn’t get a white background on the page. The colors would sometimes be way off from what we wanted. That’s one reason why the gray didn’t work on The Hulk.

Color was something that should enhance the main character. The heroes’ colors should be nice and bright. Daredevil was yellow and red at first, and then he became all red. It just works better.

Iron Man was gray in his first story because it made more sense. The color of iron is gray. But we changed it to yellow because it looked better. Now he didn’t look like a robot and wasn’t as scary-looking.

There were a lot of colors I was afraid to use on the inside, like tan and gray. But Stan left everything up to me. The covers were the only thing I had to check with Stan.

JA: No other company was ever able to achieve the kind of gray that Marvel had on those covers. You know how they managed it?

GOLDBERG: I really don’t know how, and that’s why I steered away from the gray on the inside, because anything could happen once the silver prints were out of my hands. Stan wanted bright colors; he didn’t want anything subtle. He said, “We do comic books. We want the characters to stand out.” He told me to color them with bright reds and blues and on and on and on.

In the 1950s we were putting out a lot of material, and there were days I didn’t even color the insides. I’d dole it out to the other guys in the department and I’d stay on the covers. I always did the covers because they were the most important thing. There would be changes made, so I was always running back and forth to Stan’s office.

I remember having a big intercom machine on my desk. I wish I still had the thing; it was so big! I’d hear Stan’s voice coming through, saying, “Stan! Get in here! I want to see that cover now!” And his voice would practically wake up the whole room.

Things now are made so small, but that machine took up half my desk.

JA: Did you look at how other companies used color?

GOLDBERG: Yes, but it didn’t help much. For instance, DC’s artists usually drew in a quieter style than ours, and their coloring didn’t pop out that much. They were boring, and I knew what Stan wanted, so I punched things up a bit. You could open up any DC book and they all looked the same. We had a different look than they did. We were getting the books in and getting them out. I’d get the schedule from the coloring department and it had fifty books on it. And we had to get them out.

This was the only panel in Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962) in which the “hero” was colored green—just as a lighting effect, actually—but by #2 he became “Ol’ Greenskin” for good. Stan G. says he and Stan Lee argued over the original gray coloring. Repro’d from The Essential Hulk–Vol. 1—and that “Essential” is one Marvel adjective that’s definitely not hype!

Art by Jack Kirby & Paul Reinman. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Was green your original choice for The Hulk?

GOLDBERG: I’m not certain, but it probably was. The Thing was orange, so I couldn’t use that. I certainly didn’t plan to make him red, and we kicked around the idea of making him green, but Stan wanted to try gray. I fought him on that. I told him why it wouldn’t work, and it didn’t work, because we couldn’t keep the color consistent throughout the book.

Sometimes The Hulk was different shades of gray, and even green in one panel. If we hadn’t already made The Thing orange, that’d have been the perfect color for The Hulk.

I always used red, yellow, and blue for the

The Goldberg Variations super-heroes. Green, browns, shades of red, and purples were the colors I saved for the villains. It was a formula, and it worked. The colors I picked for the villains made for a better contrast with the heroes. I certainly didn’t want to use the same colors for the villains that I used for the heroes, because when they came in contact with each other, it’d have been harder to visually separate them. Green was a natural color to use, and I could use different shades of it for the villains.

JA: Will Murray asked me to ask you the next two questions. He’d heard that Stan insisted on having one red background or one largely red panel per page.

GOLDBERG: Like I said earlier, Stan wanted that brightness on the page, and red was a color I could rely on 90% of the time. Stan never suggested what you asked.

JA: Outside of The Hulk, you were the one who decided what colors the heroes would be. You were one of the designers of the Marvel Universe.

GOLDBERG: You know, I never really thought of it like that. I created all the color schemes for the early Marvel super-heroes. The blue that we used on Spider-Man was a deep blue with a tiny bit of red in it. The red was a pure red. For the Fantastic Four, we used a lighter blue because they were all wearing the same uniform and it seemed like the right color to use.

JA: Yes. Because you could have just as easily given them red uniforms.

GOLDBERG: True. But since Johnny Storm turned into The Human Torch, blue seemed to make a better contrast.

I know the original Torch wore a red uniform with yellow trim, but blue gave me better opportunities to color around him.

JA: In the late 1960s Marvel shifted away from using those grays and browns, partly because they were able to go from using a possible 32 colors to 64. Were you doing much coloring by then?

The orange for The Thing worked well. I was able to tone him and added a red-brown to accent the darker areas of his body. The orange made a great contrast to the other members of the group. The design that Jack gave—well, it really wasn’t a costume. It was like they were wearing tight uniforms. And by making their uniforms blue, I had a great opportunity to use bright colors behind them in panels. Sometimes one color triggers the use of another. If you use too much color on a character, it becomes harder to make him stand out.

GOLDBERG: No. I saw that, once I’d stopped doing the coloring, they got more involved in writing down the percentages. Like, they’d put down a red with a lot of yellow in it and write: “50% red and 20% yellow.” I never had to do that. In those days, if I wanted to use a light yellow, I just colored it that way and hoped it was interpreted correctly at Chemical Color. I never had to do anything more or anything less.

JA: What makes a good colorist?

GOLDBERG: Someone who wants to learn and has art ability. You have to have color sense and understand how a page should be color-balanced. Design is important. I used to read the story before I colored it in order to get a sense of what will work best. To set the proper mood.

17

Stan G.: “One of the many girlie cartoons I did for Humorama.” [©2002 the respective copyright holder.]

Covers have to attract the reader. We had a little more leeway with covers, because the printing was better on them than on interior pages.

We could do more with gray and brown on covers. That’s why I used them more on covers rather than the interiors, because gray was more unpredictable on that inside paper.

Sometimes I colored something differently than how it existed in real life. So grass wouldn’t always be green and the sky wasn’t always blue.

That was for effect. Nobody existed in this world that looked like Jack Kirby’s artwork, but it was convincing.

You know, all those years that Stan put credits on the book, he never mentioned the colorists. The writers, pencilers, inkers, and letterers got credit, but not the colorists. I thought about saying something about it once because it bothered me, but I didn’t. If the letterer got credit, so should the colorist. I personally thought the colorist was more important than the letterer.

With all the things they can do with comic book coloring today, I’d love to color something and take my time on it.

When it came time to color-design a new character, I’d look at the story first to determine what color scheme would work best on the costume. I’d decide what I could do and what I couldn’t do by giving them reds and yellows. Or I’d give them a darker shade, so that I could color bright explosions behind them. I’d plan everything out by studying the story first.

JA: I think that’s an interesting observation you made, that the Fantastic Four were wearing uniforms, not costumes.

GOLDBERG: That’s right. Adding colors to the blue uniforms just didn’t seem to work. Green would never have worked. [laughs] I couldn’t see them running around in green uniforms. Or red. That’d have looked like they were wearing underwear. The Fantastic Four had plenty of contrast between all the characters. Especially when I colored Mr. Fantastic stretching his arm. And the Invisible Girl would just fade away.

Take a look at Thor: he had so many elements in his costume that you had to play them up with varying colors. And adding a blue accent to the white helmet was a natural touch. That was a great character to color-design.

Sometimes Stan would look at a cover and say, “This is great. I love what you did, but now let’s try it another way.” And nine out of ten times, we’d come back to my original idea. Stan just wanted to see what else could be done. But he never changed the color schemes I designed for the heroes.

18

Stan Goldberg Jack would sit there at lunch and tell us all these great ideas about what he was going to do next. It was like the ideas were bursting from every pore of his body. It was very fascinating because he was a fountain of ideas.

One day, Jack came in and had this 20-page story and proceeded to tell us he was having his house and studio painted.

I asked, “Where did you draw this story?” Jack said, “I put my board on the stair banister and just drew it.” Jack was one of a kind, and the comics industry is what it is today because of Jack Kirby. What Stan and Jack produced during those years was very special.

JA: Did you socialize with Stan outside of the offices?

GOLDBERG: Yeah, for a while, when it was just the two of us in the late 1950s, very early ’60s. We’d go for long walks and work up ideas for syndicated strips, too.

Stan G. provided this photo from his wedding in January 1961—on the eve of the birth of modern-day Marvel. That’s Joan and Stan Lee seated on the far right; Stan G. and his bride Pauline are standing 2nd and 3rd from left; the others are SG’s cousins.

I was doing all this as a freelancer. Stan had to fire everyone in 1957 because we lost our comic book distributor.

JA: So you were head of the coloring department until 1957?

GOLDBERG: Yes. And when we were all let go, I went to the School of Visual Arts to learn television storyboarding. I also took a class in gag cartooning, even though I was already selling cartoons to Humorama and the like.

Then Stan called me and said they were publishing again and that they had some books in house and asked me to come back. I didn’t want to go back on staff, so I negotiated a deal to do the coloring on a freelance basis. That worked out quite well for me, and I made good money.

I was the first freelance colorist Marvel ever had. Before 1957, everything was colored on staff. Artie Goodman said, “We don’t have freelancers coloring books. What are you trying to do?” I said, “There’s a lot of books to put out and this is the only way to get them done. I can’t do them from nine to five, and if you want to get them done, you have to give me a freelance page rate.” They paid me a couple bucks a page at the start, and then they started giving me raises. By the time I quit coloring, I was making around $12 a page.

I continued going to school and even won an award for my storyboarding. This was when I started drawing the Kathy comic, and all hell broke loose and I started drawing Millie the Model and several other comics.

X. “Stan Did Everything Up There” JA: You never went back on staff, did you?

GOLDBERG: That’s right. Stan was the only one getting a salary, and there wasn’t much of a staff the whole time Marvel was creating the super-heroes. Stan had a tiny, narrow room, and there was one desk in the front and his desk was at the end of the room, near the window. I did most of the coloring at home, but I made corrections at that front desk. I came in almost every day. I also drew at home but would help Stan do production work and I never billed him for that.

Once a week, Jack Kirby would come up to the offices, as would Frank Giacoia. We loved Jack’s work very much, and he was drawing most of the books. The three of us would go out to lunch. When we crossed the street, I’d say, “Okay, Frank. You stand on this side of Jack and I’ll stand on the other. If a car hits us, they won’t get Jack!” We had a lot of fun.

JA: Did Stan write your scripts?

GOLDBERG: Yes. Stan did everything up there. Not only everything, but even when we were trying to sell syndicated strips, Stan didn’t hire a letterer. He lettered the strips himself. Stan wrote nearly everything until Roy Thomas came in. And we worked the “Marvel Way.” Stan would drive me home and we’d plot out stories in the car.

At that time, Millie the Model was a soap opera comic. I’d say to Stan, “How’s this? Millie loses her job.” He’d say, “Great! Give me 25 pages.” And that took him off the hook. It gave me a lot of work to do, but in the long run it made me a better storyteller. And I could do whatever I wanted. It didn’t give me an easy way out. I tried to challenge myself. And that helped me all throughout my career.

When it was time to do the next issue, I’d tell Stan, “Millie gets a new boyfriend.” He’d say, “Great! Give me another 25 pages.” I could take her to anyplace in the world. And I didn’t even have to write liner notes.

I’d bring in the entire book and Stan would write the dialogue. He was brilliant at it. Stan knew how to tell a story and make it work.

After I turned the job in on Friday, Stan would drive me home and ask, “Have you got enough work for the weekend?” I said, “I just gave you 25 pages.” That gave me a work ethic that carried me through.

One time I was in Stan’s office and told him, “I haven’t got another plot.”

Stan got out of his chair, walked over to me, looked me in the face, and said very seriously, “I don’t ever want to hear you say you can’t think of another plot.” Then he walked back and sat in his chair. He didn’t think he needed to tell me anything more. After that, I could think of a plot in two seconds.

But I didn’t want to do just any plot. I wanted to come up with something

Believe it or not, Millie the Model was once popular enough to star in several ongoing series—including Modeling with Millie. This cover to MWM #45 (dated Jan. 1966) featured The Gears, the mop-top rock group Stan G. and Roy created at the height of Beatlemania. Stan and Sol Brodsky arranged for newcomer Roy to get the original art. Roy promptly gave it to his kid sister Tara, who colored it—hence the dark places on what is essentially a black-&-white drawing! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Goldberg Variations

19

something I can’t be sure of. The scripts Stan wrote became less detailed as he got busier. We went from full scripts to a detailed synopsis to the Marvel Method I discussed earlier.

XI. “Jack Kirby Had This Raw Natural Talent” JA: Do you remember when Kirby started working for Marvel?

GOLDBERG: I didn’t meet Jack until 1958. The artists didn’t come into the bullpen, so I didn’t meet them. It was only after Marvel resumed publishing and I was freelancing that I met him. Same with Jack Davis, whom I only saw come in once. I remember seeing this tall guy with a Texas accent and when he left, I asked Stan, “Who was that guy?” He said it was Jack Davis.

Jack Kirby thought of himself as a John Garfield character. He always had a cigar in his mouth and he still had all his hair. Maybe that’s why Stan was jealous of him, because Stan was losing his hair. [laughs] Jack came from the Lower East Side of New York and there was something different about him. Maybe because we associate him with all the big pictures that he drew. 99% of the guys working in this business owe their careers to Jack Kirby, because he influenced a lot of people, including me.

Stan sent this photo of a “Pop Art poster I designed” which was displayed at “Broadway and Times Square and in other parts of New York City, in the very early days of Pop Art. The picture was in the New York Times, Newsweek, etc.

Roy Lichtenstein copied my Millie the Model art. The Guggenheim Museum had a major show of his work, and in the video he shows the Millie books where he swiped the art. He got $5,000,000 a painting and I think Stan was paying me $30 a page.”

magnificent, so that’s why I said I couldn’t think of anything. Stan was able to think that way and so could I. JA: Sounds like you were doing the bulk of the writing then.

GOLDBERG: Well, I was.

JA: Were you compensated for your writing?

GOLDBERG: No, but the books were doing well, and Stan was never afraid to give me a raise. I never had to go in and ask for more money. In the early to mid-1960s, I was making $32 a page just for penciling. When the sales on those books started suffering, I was drawing and writing all of them. I was the only guy doing that type of comic, and the writing suffered, and I’m sure the drawing got lousy. So they started dropping in sales, and one day they were all canceled. That’s when I went over to DC Comics.

I have tendency to stretch my figures in my work. When I’m just drawing talking heads and the Archie characters are walking down a hallway at school, I’ll have them do different things and be moving their heads and arms around. This is to create movement in my figure drawing, and that’s something I learned from studying Jack’s work. Jack thought of comics the way I did, as a silent movie.

In those movies, the actors would exaggerate their movements.

People would enter through a doorway and be bowing and turning their heads and waving their arms and maybe wiggling their ears, too. A “Hello” would have been enough. That’s how they compensated for the lack of sound.

I did black-&-white drawings for Archie when they put out a line of Judy Bloom type of books for young teenagers. I’d pick out certain scenes that they wanted me to illustrate. For instance, I’d have Mr. Weatherbee walking down a hall and slipping on a mopped floor. I’d have his arms going all over the place and his feet flying up in the air. They asked me to keep at least one foot on the ground and the arms shouldn’t be going that wild. They wanted me to tone it down. So when I’m doing illustration, I have to think about whom I’m doing it for.

JA: Was Stan writing full scripts for you when you started drawing Kathy, your first humor work?

Comic books are a very unique product—a series of pictures with no sound track and you have to make your own sound and your own action. I try to instill this in the guys that draw comics and teach them to put that into their work. I tell them to watch silent movies and learn how to do this.

GOLDBERG: He was at the very beginning. Then things started exploding at Marvel, and Stan needed to cut some corners at his end so he could come up with new ideas. That’s when he developed the “Marvel Style” of writing stories, where the artist did most of the plotting and he did the dialogue. He didn’t trust too many other writers, and this was a good way to keep control of the stories.

Kirby was one of the first guys to understand this. I remember he told me he went to a drawing class one night and left and never went back again. It wasn’t the kind of drawing he wanted to do. Jack had this raw, natural talent, and it matured in 1941. His work had more finesse later on, but it was the same type of thinking going on. That work is exciting even today.

Some people weren’t happy about it, because Stan was putting work on the artist for no extra pay. Some artists resented it, but that was how it was done. I wasn’t happy about it at first, but I learned how to do it. I wanted to tell stories. So I’d start off with something big happening, so I’d get the reader caught up in the story. And I wanted to keep on working and please Stan. And Stan was pleased with what I was doing.

JA: Was Kirby’s Captain America the first work of his that you saw?

I’m not sure if I was doing this before Kirby and the others. I know Jack was getting detailed outlines even when they started doing The Fantastic Four. Whether they had talked the story out before that is

GOLDBERG: I’m sure it was. I loved The Young Allies; they were right out of the Dead End Kids movies. There was excitement in the drawings.

JA: Did you follow Kirby to DC, where he did “The Newsboy Legion” and “Boy Commandos”?

GOLDBERG: I never thought about what company put out which

20

Stan Goldberg GOLDBERG: No. I was usually at that front desk making corrections when they came in. Stan had that desk at the back in that long, narrow room we worked in, and there were things going on and I didn’t pay much attention to any of that. In fact, I don’t remember Ditko coming up to the office that often. I would see Jack more than Steve.

I know they sat and discussed things, but I was busy and didn’t think much of it in those days. I reflect back on those times, and these things didn’t mean anything like they do now. We did our work and then we had some fun.

I remember when Stan and I would take our little walks. One time, we went down to a car dealership called Inskip because Stan loved cars. Inskip was the big car dealer in New York back then and they sold Rolls-Royces. Stan loved that kind of car and always wanted to own one. We’d go there and look at the cars. Eventually, Stan did buy a Rolls-Royce, and on

The Simon & Kirby team, with Jack as chief penciler, may have come to prominence in the early ’40s with Captain America, but Stan recalls their Young Allies with equal fondness. #1’s tale ran six chapters before Cap and The Human Torch had to rush to the rescue of Bucky, Toro, and their non-superpowered pals. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

books. I just picked up the comics to read. I probably did see them. I loved comics so much, but a dime for a comic was pretty rough on a family in those days. I remember my father bringing a comic home to me one day and he said, “ Don’t bend the pages too much.” I asked why and he said, “I can take the comic book back tomorrow and tell the guy that you had this one already. This way I can exchange it for another one.” And he did. So I got to read two comics for the price of one.

JA: How do you view the Lee and Kirby collaboration?

GOLDBERG: It was a bringing of two giants together. It was the best collaboration in the business, and Jack was so great. When Jack would work on something, he’d do it for two or three pages and get tired of it and come up with another premise. Those ideas were happening so fast in his head that after 20 or 25 pages, it’d be a hodgepodge of a lot of things. Stan was very methodical and he could corral all of Jack’s ideas and work them into a format that started Marvel off. Stan held the reins on Jack as Jack burst at the seams with creativity.

JA: Who do you think was doing most of the creating?

GOLDBERG: I think it was Jack. But Stan was great at plotting, concepts, and dialogue. He was not an artist, as he himself has acknowledged. But I remember when Stan would sit down with me and I didn’t know where I was going, storywise. Here was a non-artist teaching me, and I’m where I am today because of Stan. Stan could direct me or Jack Kirby into thinking and developing, and Jack just ran with it.

JA: Were you ever around when Stan was plotting with Kirby or Ditko?

One of Kirby's most imaginative and important co-creations: bashful Benjamin J. Grimm of the Fantastic Four. Thanks to Glenn David Gold for sending a good photocopy of Jack's original pencil drawing! [Art ©2002 estate of Jack Kirby; Thing TM & © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Goldberg Variations the door was a Spider-Man sticker. That was in the ’60s. And we’d follow the pretty girls and see actresses and famous models and had a good time doing that.

I came in one day and I hadn’t been there the day before. Stan told me, “I took a long walk yesterday by myself and I wound up about fifty blocks from the office and it was a desolate area. And if I would have dropped dead in the street, people all over town would have asked, ‘What’s Stan Lee doing in this part of town all by himself?’” Because he usually did it with me.

Stan had long, skinny legs, and once, by the end of a walk, I had this terrible pain in my shins. It was awful. He realized this and took pity on me. He took me into a restaurant and bought me a hamburger. And we had to eat that hamburger in about three minutes because we had to get back to the office.

JA: Did Stan or Jack ever show you the hero concepts before they did the stories?

GOLDBERG: Not that I remember. I’d see the jobs when it was time to color. I remember seeing the first issue of The Fantastic Four and they were just a bunch of people running around with no costumes. Then we got a bunch of letters and I remember Stan said, “We just got these letters suggesting we ought to put the Fantastic Four in costumes.” So I guess he had Jack design the costumes. Then I colored them and I decided that I couldn’t really put two or three colors on those costumes.

It had to be one color. Since The Thing was orange and The Human

21

Torch burst into flames, we had enough color there and didn’t have to worry about the dull, blue color of the costumes.

Marie Severin had a great comment about coloring Jack’s work. “When you get a Kirby story to color, your brush does the talking.” It was all there in the art, and my work was made easier because Jack knew how to lay out a page.

JA: Do you remember if Stan pushed his artists to draw like Jack Kirby?

GOLDBERG: I do recall that.

Fantastic Four was starting to take off and Stan thought it was a good way to go. In the ’50s Stan tried to get guys to draw like Joe Maneely, but that was an impossible thing. There was one guy who tried to (I can’t remember his name) and came close, but Maneely was unique and a natural like Kirby was. If there ever were two guys whose work was so different and yet so similar, it was Kirby and Maneely.

A caricature of Timely staffer George Klein from a 1940s humor comic, probably by Ed Winiarski (pencils) and Klein (inks).

Besides being considered, along with Chris Rule, one of the two artists most likely to have inked Fantastic Four #1 in 1961, George returned to Marvel in the late ’60s for a year or so before his untimely death, embellishing John Buscema’s Avengers. Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

XI. “Things Were Changing” JA: There’s a question that has baffled people for years and I hope you have the answer. Who inked the first issue of Fantastic Four? Was it George Klein?

GOLDBERG: George Klein inked a lot of my early stuff. It could very well have been him, because he was at Marvel in 1961 and doing a lot of work for Stan. Frank Giacoia was a little upset about that, because they were making the same page rate and George was getting just as much work as Frank. Frank was a marvelous inker but not too dependable.

George was best friends with Chris Rule for many years. George was a very interesting man, and when you’d see the two of them together, they looked like they belonged to the French Aristocratic Society. They wore their homburg hats and looked magnificent. George was a goodlooking man.

I remember going up to his apartment once, at Christmas time. A bunch of us went up; he had a bachelor’s apartment. He was nice and dressed well. George wore a coat with a velvet collar. We knew each other but didn’t get to be friends until later. Sometimes we’d have a drink together.

JA: Could Rule have helped Klein on that first issue? The faces do look like Klein’s work, because they have the same softness of line that I’ve seen in other Klein inking. But there’s some shading that looks like Rule’s work.

Vince Colletta may not have been particularly popular among some pencilers he inked, but for years he was definitely beloved by fans of Kirby’s Thor. He was perhaps less well-suited to ink Jack’s Fantastic Four, but still embellished several vintage issues, such as #40 (July 1965). Repro’d from a photocopy of the (doublyautographed) original, courtesy of Keif Fromm. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

GOLDBERG: Chris might have helped. That sort of thing happened at times. George had a soft ink line, and that can slow the whole picture down. I’ve had inkers do that to me, too. I prefer a crisp ink line.

George inked some of my work, as did Frank Giacoia, John Tartaglione, Paul Reinman, Sol Brodsky, Vinnie Colletta, and anybody else who was around. Al Hartley inked me on Patsy Walker, and he saved me because he really made those books look good. Vinnie was not one of my favorite inkers... and not one of the nicest guys in the world. I heard him tell Stan, “Hey, why don’t you let me draw those Millie the Model books?” I was standing about five feet away from him and didn’t like

22

Stan Goldberg

him much after that, may he rest in peace.

JA: When did it become obvious that the super-heroes were a hit?

GOLDBERG: I think it was when Stan told Jack to give the Fantastic Four costumes. It’s hard to say, because it wasn’t like Stan was patting Jack on the back and saying, “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” It just didn’t feel like that. I don’t think either Stan or Jack felt that way when it started happening.

It was a different time for Stan. He had once had a full staff of people doing a lot of books, and now he was the only guy left. Martin kept him around to do the comics. Things were changing and we just kept doing the books. And Stan got too busy to do those two-hour walks. Things grew by leaps and bounds.

Then Sol Brodsky started coming in more often to help out. Other artists like Dick Ayers and Don Heck started coming in more often, too.

I started going out to lunch with the artists and the writers, because Stan was the ultimate workaholic and didn’t have the time anymore.

Stan had a desk and a big drawing board that he stood at for most of the day. It was the kind that you could height-adjust. When things got busier, Stan was moved into his own office. It seemed like every other month they were coming up with new super-heroes. Stan was having the time of his life.

I heard this story second-hand, but after the staff was let go in 1957, DC wanted to buy all of Timely’s titles. They offered around $15,000 because they wanted to own Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and The Human Torch. I think Stan may have told me this. $15,000 was a lot of money then, but Martin Goodman still had his magazines and was a millionaire. Goodman said, “Aw, what’s $15,000 going to mean to me?

I’ll hold on to these titles. Why should I give it to them?” This was probably the smartest thing he ever did.

Not that they became as popular as The Fantastic Four or SpiderMan, but Stan and Jack revamped them, making those characters sell into the 21st century.

JA: How popular were the books you were doing?

GOLDBERG: I can say I got more letters than anybody else, even after we started doing the super-heroes. Because my books appealed to young girls who wanted be fashion designers or models. Millie the Model had

a lot of fashion stuff in it, and the girls would send in ideas and we’d use their names in the comics. I’d take home a bag of mail and read them. I figure we got a letter for every 500 people who read those comics.

In the early 1980s, a good number of those little girls who wrote to us became art directors and were affiliated with women’s magazines. They’d call Marvel up and ask if I was still alive. They remembered Millie the Model and those comics, and they’d call me up and ask me to do work for them.

They wanted me in the 1980s to draw like I did in the 1960s. They loved my artwork, and even Roy Lichtenstein copied from me. He mentioned it in a video that was shown at the Guggenheim Museum.

Stan G. recalls Martin Goodman’s fury at Archie’s “Mighty Comics Group” in the later ’60s. Frankly, Stan Lee wasn’t exactly over the moon about it, either—and, come to think of it, DC probably didn’t care much for that “Man of Steel” tag on Mighty Comics #46 (May 1967)! This cover seems to be by one-time Marvel inker (and Golden Age “Green Lantern” artist) Paul Reinman. Thanks to Jim Amash. [©2002 Archie Publications, Inc.]

My soap opera work wasn’t like Jay Scott Pike or Stan Drake. It had a harder edge to it.

It was unique and caught on. It was Pop Art before Pop Art became popular.

JA: I understand how those women felt. One of the first things I inked for Archie was a one-pager of yours. It was exciting because you were one of my favorite artists and I was thrilled to do it. There’s something special about inking someone you’ve always admired.

GOLDBERG: Thank you very much. It’s the same way with me. Eight years ago, I met an idol of mine down in Mexico. It was by accident, even though I knew he was in Mexico. A lot of people thought he had died because they had lost touch with him. My wife and I had gone to this little colonial village and spent a month with him. He was still very active, though he died soon after I met him. He was a wonderful guy and a disciple of Milton Caniff. His name was Frank Robbins.

Sometimes, when I like someone, I’ll send them a little note and tell them. Artists and writers live in a little cubbyhole and we are fixed on our assignments, trying to get them out. So compliments mean a lot when we get them.

Could the story Stan G. heard—of National/DC offering Martin Goodman $15,000 for his Golden Age “Big Three” after Timely/Atlas’ late-’50s “Implosion”—possibly be true? If so, credit Goodman with enough smarts to hang onto the heroes seen here in the Romita-drawn “Captain America” story in Young Men #26—the only mid-’50s revival tale that depicted all three super-stars—repro’d from photocopies of the original art. You can see this story in color if you buy the first of Marvel’s two great Golden Age of Marvel trade paperbacks. In fact, you should buy both of ’em! [©2002 Marvel Characters,Inc.]

Back in the 1970s, I used to listen to Sally Jesse Raphael when she had a local radio show in New York. She’d talk about the city and things like that. One day, she mentioned that Archie was her favorite comic strip. I thought that was very nice,

The Goldberg Variations so I wrote her a note and sent her a cover.

Two days later, I was having dinner and the phone rings. On the other end was this crazy woman yelling, “I know a celebrity! I know a celebrity!” I said, “You must have the wrong number.”

She asked, “Are you Stan Goldberg?” I said I was, and she said, “You’re a celebrity. You sent me an Archie cover. I can’t believe what I have in my hands!” And we became friends for a long time. My wife and I would visit her when she had her all-night radio program and then have breakfast with her.

JA: You said that Goodman had very little to do with the comics. Did that change when the super-heroes became big sellers?

GOLDBERG: No. I do remember that Martin Goodman hated snakes and said, “I never want to see a snake on a cover.” Goodman didn’t get to be the head of Magazine Management by being a figurehead. He formed a great little empire there.

JA: Not too many people have nice Martin Goodman stories to tell.

GOLDBERG: Well, there was a story in the New York Times magazine section about six months ago, and a couple of writers were talking about their days at Magazine Management. They said Martin Goodman would walk through the offices and say, “See that guy over there? He’s a Harvard graduate and I got him working for me at 35 bucks a week.”

I do remember when Archie published their Mighty Comics line in the 1960s. Marvel was furious about that because it was a direct copy of their books. Goodman had Stan dictate a serious letter to Archie, but I don’t know what effect it had. They had a tiger by the tail, and maybe Goodman wouldn’t have bothered back in the Timely days, but he had something now and wasn’t going to let anyone get away with copying his comics. This was years before I worked at Archie.

Stan was a good writer. There are pros and cons about him, but when he was born, God said to him, “You’re going to be in the comic book business.” Stan was going to be the King even if he had to share it with another guy.

23

I think Goodman continued to let Stan do what he was doing because he trusted Stan. And things were going on at the colleges. The teachers and the students were reading Marvel Comics and enjoying them.

Stan loved going out and making speeches and talking to people. He had never really done that before. He’d write and come to the office and be the editor. Stan stayed home on Wednesday and wrote the comics.

This wave of interest gave Stan the opportunity to go out and be the ham that he was. [laughs]

XII. “They Decided to Try New Ideas” JA: There are several different stories as to whose idea it was to try super-heroes again. You have any idea about that?

GOLDBERG: Well, Stan and Jack were doing Strange Tales and all those monster books, with a new monster every month. And Stan and Steve were doing Twilight Zone-type stories. Maybe these books were starting to sell, as Marvel was coming back into the general market. We were doing the westerns, war, and teenage books and maybe they thought it was time to try the heroes again.

But instead of rehashing Captain America and the other characters, they decided to try new ideas. Maybe Stan felt that he could do whatever he wanted and didn’t want to copy Superman or do the type of stuff he had done before.

JA: Jack Kirby has stated that he was pushing Stan to do the heroes.

GOLDBERG: Maybe he lit a fire under Stan to do them. It’s possible.

JA: John Severin told me that Kirby had the idea for Sgt. Fury before Marvel started doing super-heroes. They went to lunch one day and Jack asked Severin if he was interested in inking a newspaper strip idea he had. What he described to Severin was Sgt. Fury—with or without that title. So that was Jack’s initial idea.

GOLDBERG: Like I said, we’d go out to lunch and Jack would come up with ideas like war-romance or western-romance. Everything was

Stan G. says: “Stan and Jack were doing all those monster books... and Stan and Steve were doing Twilight Zone-type stories”... but “they wanted to try new ideas.”

Indeed, Lee & Kirby—with Dick Ayers inking, and probably Larry Lieber dialoguing—teamed up in mags like Journey into Mystery #67 (April 1961)... and Stan Lee dubbed the all-Lee-and-Ditko Amazing Adult Fantasy “The Magazine That Respects Your Intelligence!” as per this title page from #12 (May 1962)... but it was Fantastic Four #1 (Dec. 1961) which turned everything around for Martin Goodman’s remnant of a comics company. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

24

Stan Goldberg always show me things that he was working on. George was an amateur architect and I was very sorry when he died.

like a crossover title. Sometimes Sol Brodsky would join us. Sol was a good man for ideas, and Sol liked the ideas that Kirby had. And Jack always liked to tell us what he was going to do next.

JA: Why did you sign your work “Stan G.?”

I remember how I found out that Jack Kirby died. I was vacationing in Mexico and was relaxing in a park that afternoon.

Frank Robbins was walking towards me and when he saw me, he started walking faster. He said, “Stan, I have some not-sogood news. I just heard on the radio that Jack Kirby died.”

GOLDBERG: [laughs] Stan Lee and I worked on so many things together and he said, half kidding but probably somewhat seriously, “Your name is longer than mine. So we’ll make it ‘Stan Lee and Stan G.’” His name always came first. Then it got funny, because people would meet me years later and think I was Chinese.

This was quite a shock to me. I hadn’t seen Jack in a while, though I knew he wasn’t feeling well. I took a walk and was thinking to myself, “Gee, I‘m here in this country, getting to know Frank Robbins, and I find out that Jack’s gone.” Hearing that news in those circumstances always stuck with me.

JA: Like “J. Kirby” and “S. Ditko.” To keep their names short?

GOLDBERG: I imagine so. Stan’s ego ruffled a lot of feathers. But I got along with Stan quite well all those years. I know that Kirby and Ditko had their problems with Stan, but I didn’t get involved in any of that.

JA: What did you think of Jack’s penciled work?

GOLDBERG: It was great! But we were all doing a job; no more and no less. It always amazed me that he never indicated black areas with an “x,” as many artists do.

He always filled the blacks in. I do the same thing, because I want to see how the page will balance out. It’s easier for me to do that when I fill in those areas. I don’t know who had more inkers on their work: Jack or me. I think we’re probably tied.

JA: Why’d you make the switch from drawing adventure fillers to humor comics?

This autographed Stan G. page from 1967’s Modeling with Millie #52 appeared in Robin Snyder’s monthly publication The Comics!

(See ad elsewhere in this issue). Inks by John Tartaglione, mayhap? Some youngsters who wrote letters to the Millie mags sent in fashion designs for Millie, Chili, and Toni; Fabulous Flo Steinberg, Stan Lee’s Gal Friday, mostly just stuck their names on outfits Stan had already drawn, but the kids were over the moon! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

GOLDBERG: I never wanted to draw humor comics. When Stan asked me to do it, I practically turned him down. Stan told me to go home and draw some stuff up and bring it back on Monday. So I did, and I came in to show him what I did. Stan looked at the samples and said, “This is the worst stuff I’ve ever seen.” But I was the only guy in the room. So I created Kathy for him. And Chris Rule inked my first humor work.

I studied humor artists like Al Jaffee and Bob Oksner to help me along. And, as I mentioned before, Jack Kirby. But I didn’t want to be an imitator. I learned how to do those books under fire and developed my own style.

I was drawing Millie the Model, Modeling with Millie, A Date with Millie, Patsy Walker, Chili, and some funny animal comics. I also did the Millie Queen-Size Specials and a load of other material. I drew the Millie comics in a straighter style than I did the other comics.

I colored every book until 1964, and even then I’d color special books. I was doing so much drawing I no longer had the time to do anything else. So Stan hired Sol Brodsky fulltime to do the production work. He hadn’t been fulltime before this. I colored for Marvel until about 1968, when I went to DC Comics.

George Roussos took over most of the coloring at Marvel when I stopped. He was a good guy and we got along very well. He looked good and had a big smile. He did all the covers in the ’70s and ’80s. I’d see him up at Marvel in the 1980s and everyone thought he was kind of quiet because he stuck to himself. George had a long career and he’d

I can say that Stan paid attention to detail. No matter how fast he turned the pages I brought in, Stan could see what was good and what was bad. If he saw something that needed changing, he’d tell me and I’d do it. That taught me better ways to do the art. Stan would give direction to people. He was hard at times, and he should have been. I’d have been the same way if I had been an editor.

XII. “Just the Opposite” JA: We talked about some of the Timely people. Let’s talk about a few guys from the 1960s. Starting with Steve Ditko.

GOLDBERG: I wasn’t there the day Spider-Man was created. Steve’s a hard guy to talk about, because I never got to know him. I can say that I’m one of the few guys around who went to school with Steve Ditko.

He was in and out of the office some, but he didn’t socialize with anyone. We didn’t talk much. We never went out to lunch together, and I don’t think he spent that much time with Stan, either.

I don’t know what all the problems were between Stan and Steve. I do remember back in the early 1980s, when I was working at Marvel Books, a conversation I had with Marie Severin. I had said that if wasn’t for Stan Lee, there might not be comics today. Steve overheard that and kind of blew his cork over that. I had my feelings and Steve had his.

I remember Sol Brodsky telling me that they offered Steve a feature to do. I don’t recall what it was, but Steve turned it down and just walked out of the office. Sol couldn’t believe that an artist turned down work.

Ditko was a very friendly guy. His work had a quality about it, and I realized that I had to color him differently than other guys. Robin Snyder told me a while back that Steve liked my coloring. It’s nice to hear that, because I always admired Steve’s work. He’s one of my favorite artists of the Marvel era. Like Jack Keller (whom I never met), Steve’s stuff was fun to color. Those two and a handful of other guys were great to color.

The Goldberg Variations

Steve was offered a lot of money to do re-creations, but he turned it down. He’s the kind of person that just wants to do what he’s interested in. He does books that Robin publishes and he seems happy.

JA: You’ve told me that Larry Lieber was an unsung hero at Marvel.

GOLDBERG: Oh, yes. A good writer, and he wrote a ton of things for his brother, Stan. He wrote full script and did a lot of the monster comics and of course he wrote and drew The Rawhide Kid for years.

Larry was involved in writing some of the early super-hero stories for Stan and was important to the company. We’re good friends and I have the warmest thoughts of Larry. We see each other every once in awhile.

Larry’s a very intelligent guy and we’ve sat around many times discussing all kinds of subjects.

For years, Larry Lieber, seen in this recent photo, has penciled the daily Spider-Man strip written by his brother, Stan Lee. Photo courtesy of Larry.

Larry always worked hard at what he did. He’s a slow and meticulous writer/artist. He was certainly influenced by Jack Kirby’s work. He was an editor for the Atlas Comics that Chip Goodman did in the 1970s and still does the SpiderMan newspaper strip.

25

The late-’50s photo of Steve Ditko at left has been widely printed of late, due to the blockbuster Spider-Man movie—but like we’ve got a choice, if we wanna run a pic of Sturdy Steve? (Great to see his name up there on the silver screen, though!) Ditko will always be most-remembered as the original Spidey artist, as per these pencils from Amazing Spider-Man #31 (Dec. 1965); but he’s stayed active over the years, as this piece from the 1977 San Diego Comic-Con program book, provided by Shel Dorf, bears witness. Photocopy of Spidey art courtesy of David G. Hamilton; photo courtesy of Britt Stanton. [1977 art ©2002 Steve Ditko; Spider-Man art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Are Stan and Larry alike?

GOLDBERG: No, just the opposite. I’ve known Larry for fifty years, and for the first ten years we hardly spoke because he worked for Magazine Management in their book department. And he’s a bit of an introvert. Stan was much older than him, so he wasn’t really around enough to be a big brother to Larry. And I think Stan may have been a little bit harder on Larry when he worked at the company.

They have the same crazy sense of humor, but Larry never had the big ego that Stan’s always had. Stan would criticize Larry’s stories, and Larry was constantly fighting with his own art, so he had it tough.

Larry’s always given 100%.

Larry’s wife died a few years ago and it was hard on him. These kinds of scars never heal. I care about him very much and we’re the same age, too.

26

Stan Goldberg JA: Paul Reinman.

GOLDBERG: I knew him, but not very well. I found out that he had been a good painter. He was in the business for a long time and inked some of my work. I wasn’t too impressed with his inking, though.

John Tartaglione also inked a lot of my Millie art towards the end. He was always happy to ink my work and would tell me so.

John was in the business for a long time. Sometimes we’d take the train home together and talk. He was a nice man and a good inker.

JA: Don Heck.

GOLDBERG: Don had it tough. I liked Don as a person. One of the first things I colored was a submarine story by Don, and it was great. He gave me a piece of his art before he died, and I cherish it because I always liked his art. He got divorced and never remarried. The last fifteen years of his life he was referred to as “Don Hack.” He was treated unfairly by critics. His work was always good. The young editors pushed him aside, and I heard he did portraits for a while. He wasn’t doing comics at all and helped other artists out by doing backgrounds and things like that.

I even got him a job once. I was asked to do some work for a company and couldn’t do it, so I referred them to Don. This company was a very low payer, and I told Don to ask for a third of the money up front. He asked and they paid him.

A photo taken by longtime DC artist Jose Delbo during the 1999 Lucca, Italy, comics festival. (L. to r., standing:) John Buscema, Stan & Pauline Goldberg, Dolores Buscema; on one knee is Mabel Delbo. The Buscema-penciled page from a fairly recent issue of Thor was seen, inked (by Jerry Ordway), in Alter Ego #15, courtesy of Owen O’Leary, Buscema art rep, who can be reached at <iggyowen@total.net>; or visit his website at <www.johnbuscema.com>.

[Art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

XIII. “The Good Guys in the Business” JA: John Buscema.

GOLDBERG: I’ve known John ever since he returned to Marvel in the mid-1960s.

He is a very friendly guy and can draw anything. He’s one of the top five artists that ever worked in comics. When we did the Archie/Punisher crossover in 1994, we touched base again after 25 years. Now John has become one of my closest friends.

[NOTE: This interview was recorded shortly before John Buscema’s untimely passing. Stan Goldberg spoke at this point about the trip to Italy which he, Buscema, and several others took a few years ago; recently he expanded upon those comments, and a fuller account was published in Alter Ego, V3#15.]

Ten years ago, Don got cancer and a lot of the artists who knew him took care of him. His cancer went into remission and then came back and he died soon afterwards.

JA: Jim Steranko.

GOLDBERG: I remember when Jim used to visit the Marvel offices. He always made a grand entrance. He dressed differently than anyone else, and knew how to make an impression on you with both his personality and his work. Jim always set a high standard for himself, which continues to this day.

JA: We both get a chance to tell lies about this next person. [laughs] Let’s talk about Roy Thomas.

GOLDBERG: Well, I have something very nice to say about Roy. There was a time in the 1980s, when I was working for Archie, when they got so backlogged with work that I needed someplace else to work. I started doing work for National

JA: Do you think Buscema was happy to come back to comics in the ’60s?

GOLDBERG: I think so. John had an upand-down art career. He was in advertising and worked in a studio where the best guys painted. John did the layouts for all these great illustrators. He could draw and paint. He did a ton of pocketbook covers, and then he came back to comics.

Don Heck, from a set of “Bullpen Photos” released circa 1970—and his splash for Avengers #28 (May 1966), inked

by Frank Giacoia, as reprinted in The Essential Avengers, Vol. 2. Thanks to R. Dewey Cassell for loaning us the whole set of photos! Till Dewey asked him to sign his pic at the 2002 Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, Ye Editor had forgotten they ever existed! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Goldberg Variations

27

JA: Seems like Roy was one of the first writers that Stan really had faith in, besides his brother Larry.

GOLDBERG: Yes. Stan needed someone to help him out, and Roy was in the right place at the right time. It worked out magnificently for both of them. I drew Roy’s first scripts on Millie the Model, though I don’t remember if we worked the “Marvel Way” or if Roy wrote detailed scripts. He’ll be able to tell us. [ASIDE FROM ROY: Definitely the “Marvel Way”! To the best of my recollection, I never wrote a scriptin-advance at Marvel in my life!]

JA: Were you there when Jerry Siegel was at Marvel?

GOLDBERG: One day I was there and saw a new proofreader. I asked who he was, and it was Jerry Siegel. I didn’t talk to him and he didn’t stay there long.

JA: Gene Colan.

GOLDBERG: We were friendly and he did good work. But he was hard to ink and only a few people did his work justice.

JA: Joe Sinnott.

GOLDBERG: He’s one of the good guys in the business and a big Bing Crosby fan. Joe drew a story in the first comic that my artwork appeared in. He lived up in Saugerties, New York, so I don’t think I even met him until the 1960s. I always loved his inks over Jack Kirby.

JA: Dick Ayers.

GOLDBERG: A nice man and a real workhorse. I remember telling him that Joe Maneely liked his work. That meant a lot to him. Dick did some great stuff. We’ve known each other for a long time.

In the 1980s Roy T. and Stan G. developed The Oddballs as a teenage humor/superhero series for DC. Gary Friedrich dialogued #1 and Al Gordon inked the stories; but it was never published, due to Stan’s necessitated withdrawal. This fabulous foursome, a group of accidental “elementals,” was composed of Thermo (fire—he started out as “Pyro”), Hydro-Teen, Eartha, and Airhead. The villain was The Silver Skater. “How did we dream ’em up?” asks Roy. The inking on this original display drawing is by Stan himself. [©2002 the respective copyright holder.]

Lampoon, children’s books, and a few other places.

Roy was working for DC at the time and suggested that we come up with a project together. We created some characters and I came up with the name for the project. It was called The Oddballs, and it was a teenage super-hero comic done in my humor style. It was Roy’s concept, and I did breakdowns. Someone else may have been writing it. We sold it to DC and we got a contract. We were paid some money to develop it.

But this was at the time of my daughter’s death. I wasn’t up to dealing with doing any work. Roy and editor Dick Giordano understood my situation and left the door open for me to do it later. They were very nice about all this.

JA: John Romita.

GOLDBERG: I didn’t get to know him during the ’50s. When everybody was let go in ’57, John wanted to get out of the comic book business. He bought himself a newspaper route, but then he started doing great romance comics for DC. When Stan needed more artists in the ’60s, he called John Romita and asked him to come back. John started working on Daredevil. In his first issue, he bulked up the character so that he looked like a weightlifter.

Stan made John aware of it and John slimmed him down and the work looked great.

I worked with John at Marvel Books in the 1980s on various things.

He is a smart man who knows what works and what doesn’t.

XIV. “Favorite Inkers” JA: Your inker on Kathy and Patsy Walker: Al Hartley.

A year or so ago, Roy called me up and we discussed doing something together, too. I have nice feelings for Roy.

GOLDBERG: My longtime buddy. When I was on staff at Atlas in the ’50s, I had a big bulletin board and put up work I liked. He was versatile. He did romance, westerns, and humor work.

I remember when Roy started at Marvel. Here was this schoolteacher from Missouri and he’d go out to lunch with us and we had a lot of fun.

We’d all make fun of Roy’s eating habits. Half of us were Italians, half of us were Jews, and here was this WASP from St. Louis. We would all eat our food and order more. Roy would pick at his meal and leave practically everything on his plate. That’s why he stayed so skinny as we were getting big and fat.

Around 1960, he was Stan’s assistant for about six months. Al did production work and some writing and drawing. He lived in New Jersey at the time and I think he had some personal problems. But he turned his life around and became a “born-again Christian.” Al had been a good guy before he did that, but he decided he needed a new direction. He did some nice Christian comics with the Archie characters.

I used to go to Roy’s apartment when he lived on 86th Street and play poker with him. [NOTE: In the first half of the ’70s that poker gang consisted of Stan, John Romita, Sol Brodsky, Al Sulman, Mike Esposito, relative newcomer Roy, and, later, Al Milgrom, the “kid” of the group.]

When Stan had asked me to do try doing humor comics, Al’s work was one of the guys I studied.

JA: Frank Giacoia was one of your favorite inkers, wasn’t he?

GOLDBERG: Yes, he was. Like everybody else, I loved Frank. Every

28

Stan Goldberg

time I get together with artist Joe Giella, we talk about how we miss Frank.

You didn’t ask me about Mike Esposito yet.

Frank missed his calling. He was the greatest inker in the world, but he had a poor work discipline. He loved people and made friends wherever he went. He owed work to at least fifty editors in the business, because he never got the work back in. But nobody ever hated him for it.

JA: I was getting around to him. And Ross Andru.

Sol Brodsky tried to do Frank a big favor. Sol said, “You see that desk over there? If you’ll come in and work there, we’ll let you ink every cover in our line. You can do as many as you want, but you’ll have to do them in the office.” It lasted about two days. Frank would ask Sol to let him take them home and he’d bring them in tomorrow. But he wouldn’t come in the next day!

Frank opened up a restaurant with his brother on the south shore of Long Island, and it was like a coffee shop. But he didn’t run it like a restaurant. I had friends who’d go in there and want a pack of cigarettes, and Frank wouldn’t have any. Frank loved to sit and schmooze. The place didn’t stay open too long.

I went to his daughters’ weddings and knew his family. And one day, he had a heart attack and died. Frank didn’t take too good care of himself.

GOLDBERG: They were a team for many, many years.

Mike did a lot of great work for a lot of companies for a lot of years.

There was a time in my life when I was at the bottom of the barrel and Mike would call me up several times a day. When I started doing work for a number of companies, he’d pick me up in his car and drive me into the city. I never let him forget all the things he did for me. He was an important part of my recovery. And like Chic, Mike has done some recreations of his work for collectors.

I remember Ross doing a lot of work for Timely, with JA: I liked Chic Stone’s work, too. A good Mike. I’ll tell you a fast inker. story about Andru and Esposito. They were GOLDBERG: Yes, he was. Chic was a dear, dear Art by one of Stan G.’s “Good Guys”—John Romita’s cover rough working for another friend and a very nice man. There were no “airs” for Amazing Spider-Man #78 (Nov. 1969), courtesy of Mike Burkey. publisher who liked their [Art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.] about him. But he did have a problem at Marvel work. They were getting that was sad. about $25 a page from Atlas, and this other company was going to pay them $75 a page. So they went When I was working for Marvel in the early 1980s, I saw Chic in the to work for this other company on war stories. There was this battle hall and asked how he was doing. He said, “Not too good. I got this scene, and Ross figured he had to put more work into it because of the note from Jim Shooter that said, ‘Your services aren’t needed anymore.’ I extra money they were being paid. He drew bunches of spent bullet think the reason was because the artists who worked for Sol Brodsky shells on the ground, and it was a night scene. Mike said, “They don’t didn’t work for Shooter. Shooter and Sol didn’t get along too well. And want more bullet shells and other details. Don’t put more work into it.

Chic worked for Sol. They’re paying us for the kind of job we’ve been doing. This defeats the Chic went to work for Archie, and the editor, Victor Gorelick, purpose of getting the extra money!” But it was just human nature to do treated him very well. Chic did re-creations of some of his covers and he more when you’re getting paid more. did a nice job on them.

JA: John Verpoorten. Another one of my favorite inkers.

GOLDBERG: And one of my favorite pipe-smoking friends.

He was heavy and constantly dieted. He’d lose a hundred pounds and then gain it back. He died much too young. John always loved inking my humor stuff. He’d always tell me that.

John was a real sweetheart of a man and the head of production at Marvel for years. He did something very nice that I’ve always remembered.

Frank Robbins was unhappy at DC and was set to quit the comic book business. He called up Marvel and John Verpoorten answered the phone. Frank said, “My name is Frank Robbins and I’d like to know if you need any artists.”

John replied, “How fast can you get up here?” That made Frank feel good. As I told you, Frank and I became friends in Mexico.

Two of Stan G. sketches in a more serious mode, doubtless from his Mexican sojourns, and originally published in Robin Snyder’s The Comics! [©2002 Stan Goldberg.]

The Goldberg Variations

XV. “We Just Didn’t Think about Art Much” JA: What fascinates you about Mexico? I know you vacation there every year.

GOLDBERG: I love the atmosphere and the people there. The people are sweet, giving, caring, artistic people. I have dear friends there and the climate is magnificent. The art there is some of the best in the world. I love the food and can eat anything there. In fact, my stomach feels better there then when I’m here eating American food. I get treated so well there. Maybe drawing Archie has something to do with it. Archie is very popular there. For many years, Archie was the most popular cartoon in Mexico.

About eight years ago, I had a mustache that was all white and I trimmed it to look like a certain person in the Archie comics. A dear friend’s wife looked at me and said, “Mr. Lodge!” She thought I looked like Mr. Lodge. Everyone knows the Archie characters in Mexico. I draw pictures for people there and donate my work to charities. I do art for orphanages there, too.

JA: Did you save any of your Marvel art?

GOLDBERG: No, except for my first adventure job. I didn’t think about it. None of us did. We never talked about it. I did save copies of all the humor comics I had work in.

And I had them bound into books.

29

GOLDBERG: Yes. When I would go up there and work at that front desk, I shared a wall with Bruce J. Friedman, who has written many books and movies. Mario Puzo, who later wrote The Godfather, was there and he was editing magazines. He tried to write comics, but it didn’t work out.

They were doing a lot of magazines and I did cartoons for them. The first gag cartoon I ever sold was to their men’s magazines, and I got fifteen bucks a piece for them. I did a whole series of caveman cartoons.

As I told you before, I began cartooning for Abe Goodman’s Humorama. Al Sulman was the editor on Abe’s magazines. They paid $9 a cartoon. I enjoyed doing those cartoons.

Later on, Martin Goodman sold the company to Perfect Film, who changed the company name to Cadence. I was still freelancing for them when that happened. Martin Goodman took everyone out and had a big party. I happened to be in that day, so I went along. Since I wasn’t on staff, I wasn’t a part of the big bonuses he gave everyone that day. Later, Goodman started another publishing company, Atlas, in the 1970s, but it didn’t last too long. I did a little work for them.

JA: In ’66-’67 Tower Comics published a comic book called Tippy Teen that you drew. What do you remember about working for Tower?

GOLDBERG: I think I only did one or two covers for them. I think they already had the inside art for Tippy Teen done when they asked me to do those covers.

Samm Schwartz was We just didn’t think editing for them. He had about the art much. In been at Archie for many the early 1960s, I was years, and they were teaching a class at mad at Samm for starting Jericho High School up his own company. He and I borrowed some was just trying to originals from the separate himself from early Fantastic Four One of Stan G.’s cartoons for Stan Lee’s Golfers Anonymous Archie. Wally Wood was comics to show the book in 1961—and one of the retouched photos SG talks about. at Tower, too. The kids. One of those That’s Stan G.’s face superimposed on the golfer’s. company only lasted students was Bob [©2002 Stan Lee.] about two years, and Greenberger, who Samm went back to went on to be a comic Archie Comics, where he worked the rest of his life. Samm had worked book editor. When I at Archie [then MLJ] even before Bob Montana created Archie. He died finished, I brought the pages back to John Verpoorten. John said, about three years ago.

“Why’d you bring this stuff back? We’ll just have to send it back to the warehouse because it’ll just collect dust here.”

JA: I always liked his work.

Now I see how much these pages are worth, and I realize I could have kept them and nobody would have cared. Or I could have returned them to Jack. But I didn’t think about it.

JA: Did you do art corrections on the super-hero books?

GOLDBERG: I don’t recall doing that. I could have, though. I can tell you a funny story: Stan started putting out little books with photos and funny little captions underneath. He did one called Golfers Anonymous.

I did most of the cartoons for that. I remember Stan wanted to get more action in the drawing, so Jack Kirby inked a few of my cartoons. And none of us got paid or were credited. To stay out of legal trouble, we superimposed our faces on some of the golfers. My face is on a lot of bodies in that issue.

JA: Was Magazine Management still publishing a lot of magazines in the ’60s?

GOLDBERG: I did, too. It was different, and he was a good artist.

Samm would always tell me that he’d like to do a six-page story completely in silhouettes. [laughs] I don’t know why. If you look at one of Samm’s stories, you’ll find some silhouettes in at least two panels. He was great at drawing action, told the story very well, and drew figures well. He was an excellent draftsman. The only problem I had with his work was that his girls weren’t pretty. Other people noticed that, too.

JA: Maybe that’s why he concentrated on the Jughead comic book?

GOLDBERG: Yeah. He didn’t have to worry about it then. That book had Big Ethel in it, and he didn’t have to worry about drawing a pretty Big Ethel. He did the complete art and his own lettering for a while, and complained about everyone else who drew Archie. [laughs] He was like an old codger.

Once he called me up to tell me he liked a particular cover I did. The

30

Stan Goldberg the humor look and did Chili and Harvey, too. I didn’t want Archie Comics to know I was doing these books, so I told Stan to just put inker Sol Brodsky’s name on them. When Archie discovered I was doing those books, they quit hiring me. Then those books finally folded, and I went back to Archie as a fulltime artist.

In 1981 Archie realized they had a lot of extra inventory, so they didn’t need me for a while. I went back to Marvel. Sol Brodsky was running Marvel Books, which was then a new department; they were doing a lot of licensing stuff. He said, “I’ll give you a production job.

You’ll be here every day, and any work that comes in will be yours.” I did that, though not every day. It was more like three times a week.

I did some research and development work, too. I worked with John Romita and Marie Severin, among others. We made presentations for other companies to use and many other things like that, including activity books for Hanna-Barbera. I picked up a big art job my second day there. It was a big Pink Panther poster that showed all the kinds of licensing they did. And it paid great. I worked there for a year or so.

A “Mendy” strip drawn by Stan. [©2002 the respective copyright holder.]

cover depicted a theatre play about Romeo and Juliet with the audience watching. It was a strange cover design, and Samm said, “The way you designed it worked.” I said, “Samm, I think this is the first compliment you’ve given in your fifty years in the business, and I’m truly honored.”

We got along and he was a nice man.

JA: What happened when you went to DC Comics in the ’70s?

GOLDBERG: Dick Giordano was my editor, followed by Joe Orlando.

I was only getting $23 a page there. I did Swing with Scooter, Binky, Date with Debbi, and several other titles. In the 1980s, when they reprinted them in digests, they paid me 75 bucks a page. They were the best-selling digests DC had.

Working at DC was a good experience because I got to meet Henry Scarpelli, who was drawing a lot of the humor books. Joe Orlando then decided to have me pencil and Henry ink them. I was kind of leery about that, because I didn’t want to take work away from Henry. Joe thought my drawing had more movement in it and Henry did a great job inking me. He was and still is a great cartoonist. We became best friends.

Then Archie called me and wanted me to come back. I drew one story about every two weeks, because I had other things to do. Victor Gorelick said, “I’ve always liked your stuff, but now your work looks a lot better. What happened?” I told him I could only attribute that to the different kind of work I had been doing in the meantime. That work reflected itself in my Archie work. I was doing all kinds of work and I didn’t turn anything down.

I was also working for other companies and was doing children’s books for them. Licensing books like The Three Stooges. I also worked for Cracked and National Lampoon.

JA: What’s your work schedule like these days?

GOLDBERG: Currently, I pencil two books a month for Archie Comics and do several covers, too. And for the last five years, I’ve been doing a weekly newspaper strip called Mendy. It appears in Jewish newspapers all over the world and takes up an entire page. It’s quite successful. The page has games and activities and the comic strip Mendy.

We’ve had a book of it and will publish others and we have a web site devoted to it, too [<www.Golem.tv>]. I also have my own website: <www.flash.net/nstang.32>.

You know, I’m glad we are talking about all this. I just wish I had done it years ago when more of these people were still alive.

I also started freelancing for Archie Comics. The first job I did for Archie was an ink job over Bob Bolling about 1968. After that, I started penciling for them.

XVI. “Research... and Development” JA: Who was your editor at Archie Comics when you started? Victor Gorelick?

GOLDBERG: No. This guy had the interesting name of Bob White. And his wife was Lilly White.

Can you believe that? I didn’t get to know him, though. Bob had done a lot of art for Archie in the past, too.

Victor was doing a lot of production work; he colored, too, and later became an editor. When Bob White left, John Goldwater’s son Richard Goldwater took over.

About a year after I started working for Archie and DC, Stan Lee decided to put out a [new] Millie the Model book, and we made it look like it did before it became a soap opera book. It did quite well, so we went with

(Above:) Stan gives an art lesson to an appreciative audience—much like this one! And Archie returns the favor at left, in a sketch Stan drew for Robin Snyder’s The Comics! V2#1 (Jan. 1991). [Art ©2002 Stan Goldberg; Archie TM & ©2002 Archie Publications, Inc.]

If you’re viewing a digital version of this publication, PLEASE read this plea from the publisher! his is COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, which is NOT INTENDED FOR FREE T DOWNLOADING ANYWHERE. If you’re a print subscriber, or you paid the modest fee we charge to download it at our website, you have our sincere thanks—your support allows us to keep producing publications like this one.

If instead you downloaded it for free from some other website or torrent, please know that it was absolutely 100% DONE WITHOUT OUR CONSENT, and it was an ILLEGAL POSTING OF OUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. If that’s the case, here’s what you should do: 1) Go ahead and READ THIS DIGITAL ISSUE, and see what you think.

2) If you enjoy it enough to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and purchase a legal download of it from our website, or purchase the print edition at our website (which entitles you to the Digital Edition for free) or at your local comic book shop. We’d love to have you as a regular paid reader.

3) Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR COMPUTER and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. 4) Finally, DON’T KEEP DOWNLOADING OUR MATERIAL ILLEGALLY, for free. We offer one complete issue of all our magazines for free downloading at our website, which should be sufficient for you to decide if you want to purchase others. If you enjoy our publications enough to keep downloading them, support our company by paying for the material we produce.

We’re not some giant corporation with deep pockets, and can absorb these losses. We’re a small company—literally a “mom and pop” shop—with dozens of hard-working freelance creators, slaving away day and night and on weekends, to make a pretty minimal amount of income for all this work. We love what we do, but our editors, authors, and your local comic shop owner, rely on income from this publication to stay in business. Please don’t rob us of the small amount of compensation we receive. Doing so will ensure there won’t be any future products like this to download.

TwoMorrows publications should only be downloaded at

www.twomorrows.com

Missing a Back Issue?

Got a hole in your Mr. Monster collection? We’ll gladly e-mail you a free Mr. Monster EEEK-Mail Catalog! Just Contact Michael T. Gilbert at:

MGILBERT@EFN.ORG

For a printed version, send one dollar to Michael T. Gilbert, P.O. Box 11421, Eugene OR 97440

IN OCTOBER: THE LEGEND OF GOLD KEY COMICS!

BRUCE TIMM cover painting featuring a certain fave robot fighter, there’s features

history, interviews with and/or looks at RUSS MANNING and his amazing Magnus

g, Inc

and Tarzan work, PAUL S. NEWMAN and ALBERTO GIOLOTTI’s Turok, WALLY

stern Publishin

and interviews on the oft-overlooked comics company, including a comprehensive

us ©2002 We

setting aside our regular columns for a complete look! Behind a beautiful, new

ce Timm. Magn

Cover art by Bru

CBA #22 unlocks the secrets of GOLD KEY! This one is so big, we’re

WOOD’s Total War, JESSE SANTOS and DON GLUT’s Dr. Spektor and Dagar, and more! Plus we have a peek at the great children’s Gold Key comics with CARL BARKS, THOMAS McKIMSON, MARK EVANIER, and others. Also PAUL NORRIS, DAN SPIEGLE, unpublished art and more! Come share in the treasure!

Subscribe to COMIC BOOK ARTIST today and save nearly 15% off the newsstand price!

Six-issue subscriptions: $36 Standard, $54 First Class (Canada: $66, Elsewhere: $72 Surface, $96 Airmail).

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom.

TwoMorrows Publishing • 1812 Park Drive • Raleigh, NC 27605 USA • 919-833-8092 • FAX: 919-833-8023 • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

33

Guide to Wood art on this page: (a) The first two panels above on the left are from “Flashy Gorgonzola,” from Sally Forth #2, 1977. [©2002 estate of Wally Wood.] (b) At left: a Flash Gordon cameo in Mandrain the Magician Topps mini-comic, 1967. [©2002 Topps.] (c) At middle right: the G-rated section of an X-rated plate from Wally Wood’s Weird Sex Fantasy portfolio, 1978. [©2002 Richard Pryor.] (d) At lower right: 1977 pic of “Flasher Gordon” from Wood’s Naught Knotty Woody collection, published in 2001. [©2002 estate of Wally Wood.]

34

Michael T. Gilbert

EC Confidential, Part 3 Introduction When Alex Raymond created Flash Gordon in 1934, his lush, sexy drawings inspired a legion of cartoonists—including young Wally Wood. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Raymond had plenty of reasons to feel flattered! Time and again throughout his career, Wood poked fun at Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov, starting with his classic “Flesh Garden” parody in Mad #11. This dead-on satire, written and laid out by Harvey Kurtzman, appeared with a cover date of May 1954, two years before Raymond’s untimely death.

The original Alex Raymond Flash Gordon at his peak, in 1938. [©2002 King Features Syndicate.]

In the decades following, Wood drew numerous Flash takeoffs for Mad, Heritage, Sally Forth, and Topps mini-comics. Wood even did hardcore versions of Flash and Dale for the 1977 Wally Wood’s Weird Sex Fantasy portfolio and the second issue of his 1981 comic, Gang Bang! Wally clearly had fun making fun of Flash. But if you think he never took the character seriously, you’d be mistaken!

Few of Wood’s fans realize it, but in 1957 Woody briefly ghosted the actual syndicated Flash Gordon strip. Comic historian Arthur Lortie recently e-mailed me some background on Wood’s short stint: “The daily strip storyline came during a transition period of Flash Gordon. Dan Barry [then the strip’s regular artist] was moving to Italy and the art assignments were being coordinated by Sy Barry using DC personnel [Wood, Mike Sekowsky, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Ben Oda, etc.]. Wood began 08/19/1957 and was relieved of his duties at the same time [Larry] Shaw took over as writer [probably early September].”

Jerry Bails’ Who’s Who in American Comic Books states that Woody ghosted three weeks of Flash. Actually, Wood pencils appear intermittently throughout the eleven-week sequence. Wood drew most of the first strips, penciling the futuristic cities, children, and robots he did so well; he disappears during a later jungle sequence, then returns near the end to draw some spectacular robots. Flash and gal-pal Dale appear to be drawn (or redrawn) by Barry throughout. So Wood may indeed have penciled three weeks’ worth of dailies, but not straight through.

Mac Raboy illustrated a separate Kurtzman and Wood’s storyline classic Flash parody from for the Mad #11 in 1954. [©2002 Sunday EC Publications, Inc.] pages, but Wood was not involved in these.

The satirical story involves a group of interplanetary efficiency experts who decide to “improve” some Mongo natives by scientifically organizing their carefree lives. Not surprisingly, the plan Solo Kurtzman “Flash Gordon” cover eventually blows up in their faces! The for Snarf #5, 1972. [©2002 estate of Harvey Kurtzman.]

Solo Wood art from Mad #56 (July 1960). Script by Frank Jacobs.[©2002 EC Publications, Inc.]

[continued on p. 37]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

35

This page and the next showcase eight of the daily Flash Gordon strips on which Wally Wood worked.

[©2002 King Features Syndicate.]

36

Michael T. Gilbert

[©2002 King Features Syndicate.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

37

[continued from p. 34] story’s author is unknown, but probably was a professional sciencefiction writer hired by Dan Barry. At various times, Barry was assisted by writers like Larry Shaw and Wally Wood’s old EC art partnerturned-author, Harry Harrison. Ben Oda lettered the strips, which were inked by Dan or his brother Sy Barry. Their assertive finishes tended to homogenize even the most powerful pencilers, so don’t expect to see pure Wood here. Still, there are “flashes” of Wood’s brilliance throughout, and you’ll have fun trying to spot where Wood begins and Barry takes over.

More importantly, these Flash Gordon strips are a true rarity and have never before been reprinted in America since their first appearance 45 years ago. To get the most faithful reproduction, we’ve spliced together lettering from the actual printed strips and combined them with better copies from foreign reprints. These materials were supplied by Art Lortie. Thanks, Art—we owe you one!

Before we finish this installment of “EC Confidential”—a series which emphasizes the non-EC work of EC’s greatest artists—I should mention some final bits of EC-related trivia.

First, it should be noted that Harvey Kurtzman beat Woody to the punch with Flash. Harvey scripted and laid out the strip for Dan Barry from November 1951 to April 1953, a mere year before Kurtzman and Wood did their marvelous “Flesh Garden” parody in Mad #11. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Readers curious about those strips should check out the excellent 1988 Kitchen Sink hardcover of Dan Barry and Harvey Kurtzman’s Flash Gordon. It’s a great collection, with guest appearances by EC stalwarts Jack Davis and Frank Frazetta!

And, finally, in addition to spoofing Flash Gordon in the early color Mad, Kurtzman and Wood also did the same for Flash’s comic-strip brothers, Terry and the Pirates and Prince Valiant, in those first 23 issues. It’s a tribute to Wood’s talent and versatility that he eventually ghosted all three actual strips!

The Wood Version In my Wally Wood overview in Alter Ego (Vol. 3) #8, I mentioned two long-unfinished projects Woody had planned shortly before he died in 1983. I’m happy to report that, since that article appeared, both The Compleat Cannon and Wally Wood Sings have become a reality.

The former was published in April 2001, edited by Bill Pearson. The beautiful 144-page softcover is a great addition to Fantagraphics’ other two Wood collections, The Compleat Sally Forth and Naughty Knotty Woody. Good news indeed for fans of Woody’s later work!

Equally exciting was the 2002 release of another long-delayed project: a limited-edition CD featuring the vocal talents of Wally Wood. Strange but true! Wood recorded this in 1977 funded with a $500 advance from Rich Pryor, who published the Wally Wood’s Weird Sex Fantasy portfolio. Wally Wood Sings (see the cover in Alter Ego V3#8) features Wood belting out seven country-and-western songs, accompanied by his then-wife Muriel. Woody’s guitar-strumming vocals aren’t slick, but they are fun! You just haven’t lived until you’ve heard Wally Wood belting out “House of the Rising Sun”! Copies should still be available at $15 apiece from Richard Pryor at <nostalgiabooks@hotmail.com>. Tell him Mr. Monster sent you!

Oh, and while I’m at it—also back in A/E #8, I stated that five issues of The Woodwork Gazette were published. Actually, Rich points out that he printed a sixth issue. The poorly distributed issue was basically a sales catalog.

Next: More hidden treasures unearthed from “Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!” Till next time—

All characters ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Well, MIKE “Romita-Man”BURKEY wants to buy your Amazing Spider-Man #39-297 art, as well as “any” comic book art from the ’30s to present!

Check out Mike’s Web site with over 700 pictured pieces of art for sale or trade at:

www.romitaman.com or write: P.O. Box 455, Ravenna, OH 44266 PH: 330-296-2415 • e-mail: MikeBurkey@aol.com

Auction of Important Golden & Silver Age Comics & Comic Art MastroNet Americana Premier Catalog Auction November 14–15, Bidding Begins Oct. 28th Our November 14-15 Americana Premier Catalog Auction features every item pictured here and over 1,400 other lots of the finest memorabilia and collectibles from several areas, including: Comics & Comic Art, Hollywood Memorabilia, Political, Historical, Comics, Toys, Non-Sport Trading Cards, and Autographs.

To register to bid and receive your 300+ page, full color catalog, call us at 630-472-1200, or visit us at www.mastronet.com and click on REGISTER.

BIDDING BEGINS OCTOBER 28TH!! To register to bid and receive your 300+ page catalog call 630-472-1200 or visit www.mastronet.com.

Your Premier Source For Fine Collectibles

1515 W. 22nd Street • Suite 125 • Oak Brook, IL 60523 630.472.1200 • fx.630.472.1201 • www.mastronet.com ©2002 MastroNet, Inc.

Illinois Auction Firm License No. 044000121

All items shown will be sold in a MastroNet, Inc. auction.

40

Robert Klein

Comics The Department of Commerce

by Robert Klein [NOTE: The following article may seem a bit unusual for Alter Ego, which tends to ignore both the current comics scene and the market value of back issues—i.e., the business of comics.

However, Bob Klein, one of the gents who originated The Grand Comic Book Database Project a few years back, is dealing here with the history of the comics industry, simply viewed from a different vantage point. Not that that has prevented our tossing in a bit of vintage art amongst all the graphs that follow! —RT.] Comics are an entertainment business. If there’s no business, there won’t be any entertainment.

Was it film mogul Louis B. Mayer who said something like that? No matter. All of us are fans because we enjoy the little drawings and few printed words that tell a colorful story. Underlying the printed page are commercial realities we rarely look at, partially because we hardly ever see the information that would make them comprehensible.

This is a glimpse at the business of comics books over the industry’s first fifty years or so, from the beginnings of the Golden Age to roughly the late 1980s, as pieced together from various sources, with a little bit of judgment thrown in.

I. The Big Picture First, a look at the big picture. Figure 1 illustrates the total overall circulation from many, but not all, major publishers from 1937 to the early ’90s. Note that qualification: “many publishers.” Some companies didn’t submit figures to the yearly Ayer’s Guide (a principal source of circulation information for each publisher). So we’ll look at this as a guide for the major ups and downs of the comics business, and not as an exact profile. Even with that limitation, there’s a lot to be seen through this cloudy lens.

Three takes on economic aspects of the comic book biz. (a) If one reads between the lines, Harvey Kurtzman & Wally Wood’s “Superduperman!” in Mad #4 (Feb.-March 1953) was poking fun at the DC vs. Fawcett lawsuit which ran from the 1940s through—as it happened—1953! (b) The Severin/Trimpe cover for the color Crazy #3 (June ’73), thunk up by Mirthful Marie and Rascally Roy, dealt with the later rivalry between DC and Marvel, in which, by then, this depiction to the contrary, Marvel was pulling out in front. Marie colored both the EC and Marvel art shown here. Note how the $ sign has jumped from Captain Marbles’ chest to Stuporman’s! Thanks to Jon B. Cooke for the scan. (c) Recently, the venerable British magazine The Economist used Wayne Boring’s Superman figure with color reversals and a touch of Captain America on the cover of its 7/13/02 issue. [Mad art ©2002 EC Comics Publications; Crazy art ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Economist cover ©2002 The Economist Newspaper Limited.]

Figure 1.

Comics: The Department of Commerce Looking at the industry from the beginning, the first noticeable feature is the sudden jump in the late 1930s. Guess who! It’s the arrival of Superman! The Man of Tomorrow’s impact on the fledgling business is very visible as it struggles to get off the ground.

The early ’40s show a big jump in sales, but then there are no further improvements until after World War II, when sales improved again. The lack of circulation increase between the two periods of dramatic growth was probably the effect of paper rationing during the war. Paper was hard to get in the war years, and publishers had to cut back.

After the war, when paper was again readily available, sales rocketed dramatically on the backs of the romance, crime, and horror trends in the late ’40s and early ’50s.

Up through 1952, that is.

That’s the peak, probably the all-time industry peak, for circulation.

This 1948 house ad depicted National/DC’s top six super-heroes, licensed comic-strippers Mutt & Jeff, plus Brooklyn of the Boy Commandos.

Ironically, one mag in which the ad appeared was All-American Comics #102 (Oct. 1948)— which by the very next issue would drop Green Lantern and become All-American Western!

And Boy Commandos would be mustered out of the service by their 36th issue in 1949. But, though Dell/Western was gaining on DC, a combination of super-heroes, teen humor, funny animals, inoffensive crime comics, and westerns would keep DC on top of the heap for a little while longer. [©2002 DC Comics.]

The figure shown here is a top circulation of 56 million copies sold per month in that year. That’s probably understated by an additional 10 million, if for no other reason than the fact that Dell, one of the powerhouses of the ’50s, is not included in the total, because they did not furnish figures to Ayer’s Guide.

41 Figure 2.

circulation is about half the 1952 peak, and all but a few hardy publishers have left the field. In an effort to clean up its image, the industry establishes the Comics Code Authority; but note that the first comics under the Code seal appear in early 1955, well after the crash.

Too late by far.

Today, comics are a small market, marginalized and unimportant to the world at large. It is hard even to imagine the uproar over comics in the early 1950s. Looking over those figures again shows that the situation was wildly different in the ’50s; comics then were not marginal—not by a long shot. At 65 million copies sold per month, and a U.S. population of 160 million people, that means four to five comics sold each year to every man, woman, and child, on the average. Of course, “everyone” didn’t buy comics, but those who did certainly bought a lot of them. And the industry had a rule of thumb at that time: each copy sold was read by a total of five people, one buyer and four pass-along readers.

In the early 1950s, comics were mainstream entertainment for at least some segment of the population. Comics were everywhere, and the industry excesses were perceived as being too much to ignore in such a popular medium. It was a different world.

After the crash, the industry players re-formed around a gentler kind of subject matter, leaving fewer publishers, most with some established niche. Circulation stabilized somewhat, hovering generally between 25

In these days of anemic readership, when a comics title selling 40,000 is considered a success, consider the fan’s-eye view in 1952. With a circulation of roughly 55–65 million copies per month, and almost 3200 new issues on the newsstands that year (Figure 2), it must have seemed there was a virtual flood of comics. That’s nearly 65 new comics per week vying for rack space and sales. How could the buying public possibly absorb so many new issues each week? How could a neighborhood newsstand even display that many comics?

The answer, of course, is—no way!

At the same time, adverse forces were converging. The furor over industry excesses in crime and horror comics was cresting. In some regions, selective boycotts by retailers, distributors, or parents choked off sales. Television was becoming mainstream, providing alternative entertainment for comics’ main audience, young children. Between the crowded market, boycotts, and the effect of television, comics were heading for big trouble.

The net result would be seen in the next two years (Figure 1, again), where total circulation plummets. After the smoke clears, the total

The caption below this probably Norman Maurer-drawn house ad from One Million Years Ago #1 (Sept. 1953), which deals with the overcrowded newsstands of the day, may be hard to read; but it says just about what you’d think it says. [©2002 Joe Kubert & estate of Norman Maurer.]

42

Robert Klein

and 30 million per month from the mid-’50s to the early ’80s.

By the late 1970s rising prices and limited distribution had taken their toll. The drop in circulation and declining profitability resulted in the almost complete retreat from the general newsstand. The direct market and specialty shop emerged as the primary outlet for comics in the ’80s, as they are today. By this time comics had evaporated as a mass medium, becoming instead a specialty item for the fan crowd. And they have become even more so in the two decades since.

III. Live by the Formula, Die by the Formula If Lev Gleason (crime), American Comics Group and EC (horror), and Prize (romance) developed three new genres in the late ’40s and early ’50s, Timely (called Marvel on the graph) launched all three of them wholesale.

Timely pushed DC out of the circulation lead by riding this combination of trends to the top of the heap.

Although DC had entries in all three of these genres, it was a leader in none.

Timely’s main weapon in these years was simply volume, aided and abetted by its distribution system. By publishing a lot of comics, it succeeded in crowding out many competitors Focusing on a few publishers in from getting important rack space. In Figures 3 and 3a (below), the details the late ’40s Martin Goodman, show that DC was the lion of the Timely’s founding publisher, pumped industry up till the early 1950s. The out an ever-increasing number of issues momentum of Superman, Batman, of virtually interchangeable material. and Wonder Woman kept them going Battle Comics was selling? Well, then, even while the super-hero trend was let’s put out Battle Action! Not to fading. mention Battleground, Battlefront, By comparison, most other Battlefield... and other war comics publishers were small potatoes, with without “Battle” in the title. And let’s a few exceptions. not even start on crime or horror or Fawcett stayed hot on DC’s tail throughout the ’40s, mostly on the westerns or romance comics! You get Fawcett was a substantial Herculean strength and Atlas-derived stamina of Captain Marvel and his the idea. Timely/Marvel (better known kin. Maybe there was some Solomonaic wisdom behind the Big Red Cheese, competitor to DC in the Golden then to readers as Atlas, which was at that! This page from Captain Marvel Adventures #5 (Dec. 1941) courtesy Age, and these figures show why DC actually the name of its self-owned of Ethan Roberts.

Art by C.C. Beck and his shop. [©2002 DC Comics.] was so keen to shut down Captain distributor) put out more issues than Marvel via lawsuit. For a large any other publisher from 1951-56. The company peaked in 1956, with portion of the 1940s, Fawcett was DC’s largest rival, on the basis of just over 500 comics published that year (see Figure 5).

Captain Marvel and his family.

II. The Golden Age

Unfortunately absent from these graphs are the late-’40s Dell circulation figures. Dell stated its sales as one million in 1943, and 10 million in 1951. Powered by its Disney books, it was definitely one of the biggest publishers by the late ’40s. All by itself, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories is listed as selling over 400,000 copies per month in 1949.

Though that was well below Batman (listed at 1.3 million copies per issue), Dell published about as many comics as DC in that year, indicating a very prosperous year for Mickey, Donald, and company.

Backing up a bit: In the crash of the early ’50s, Timely circulation plummeted from a reported 16 million copies per month to 6 million.

Even DC’s sales dropped as a result of the crash, but not nearly as much—from about 8 million copies per month in 1950 to just over 6 million in 1955. DC’s internal editorial policies resisted the gore and violence of the early ’50s and helped distance the company from the backlash against other publishers. Also, very importantly, DC was able to hitch a ride on the TV bandwagon with the start of the Adventures of Superman series in 1953. This was a huge benefit for DC, then officially National Periodical Publications.

Figure 3.

Figure 3a.

Comics: The Department of Commerce For its part, Dell emerged from the turbulent mid-’50s as the king of the hill, on the basis of its internal “comics code” and squeaky-clean subject matter. No horror, crime, or even romance from them! Dell ruled on the basis of westerns, TV and movie adaptations, and, most of all, funny animals as developed by Western, the firm that actually produced the material Dell published. Disney and related material (Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, etc.) were their mainstay, and Disney was riding high on the basis of terrific historical popularity boosted even further by its new ABC-TV show. At the end of the ’50s, Dell was reporting a remarkable 14 million copies sold per month.

Dell remained on top until 1961, when it raised the price of its comics to 15¢, well ahead of the rest of the industry, perhaps pushed into doing so by the fact that its comics carried little or no advertising. Circulation immediately dropped below 10 million, and Western immediately dropped Dell as its publisher. Western formed its own publishing operation, Gold Key, in 1962, continuing with Tarzan, Turok, Disneystyle cartoon characters, and a host of movie and TV tie-ins, plus a few new series such as Dr. Solar.

Figure 4.

43

Shown in Figures 4 and 5, this second Marvel crash was due to a collapse of its distribution system in ’57. Left with no alternative but to strike a deal with DC’s distributor, Marvel was contractually limited to a mere handful of titles. In 1958 Marvel published only 96 comics, the lowest number since 1944. Although climbing steadily over the course of the ’60s, Marvel volume would require more than a decade (and a new, less restrictive distribution agreement) to return to the levels of 1956-57.

Throughout the Silver Age—by which we mean, here, basically the 1960s—Marvel circulation increased, as did the number of issues it published. Marvel was clearly the success story of the decade, peaking with a circulation of about 7.2 million per month in 1969 and engendering a host of imitators to try to copy the style and substance of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko.

During this period DC’s overall circulation was between 6 and 7 million copies per month, right up until the end of the decade. DC published a larger and larger number of issues each year (Figure 5), so the conclusion is obvious: Average circulation was dropping. DC was publishing many more issues than Marvel over the ’60s, so it’s clear that Marvel’s average circulation per issue eventually became quite a bit larger than DC’s numbers.

Figure 5.

IV. Clash of the Titans The story of the Silver Age Marvel really began in 1957, when Timely/Marvel experienced its own individual crash, even more dramatic than the industry-wide turndown of just a few years previously.

The Marvel management apparently remembered the tactic of publishing a flood of issues to crowd out the competition. The battles for market share are clearly shown by the sudden jump in the number of Marvel issues published, and in the responses by DC: in the early ’70s each company released a number of new titles, featuring both original and reprint material. Do you recall The Trigger Twins? The reprint version of Jungle Action? This was that time. Between 1971 and 1973,

If one was great, twelve hadda be terrific! In the late ’40s and early ’50s Timely/Marvel churned out innumerable titles with “virtually interchangeable material”—in this case, horror. It even kicked its erstwhile #1 super-hero out of the final issue of his own comic in Captain America’s Weird Tales #75 (Feb. 1950)— and Marvel Tales had been Marvel Mystery Comics, starring The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, for its first 92 issues (shown here is MT #106). Astonishing (#19 seen here) had begun in 1950 as Marvel Boy #1; Russ Heath drew the covers of both issues. Thanks in part to Roger Hill. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

44

Robert Klein

In the ’40s and ’50s DC kept its “crime and horror” to a minimum.

Its Mr. District Attorney, Gang Busters, and Big Town were adaptations of popular radio series suitable for kids. This house ad ran in comics with a May 1948 cover date. [©2002 DC Comics.]

Marvel’s rise beginning in the early ’60s was due in part to the rapport Stan Lee established with readers. This b-&-w photostat of a pin-up from an early Fantastic Four was autographed by Lee, Kirby, and Ditko, and sent to young Jeff Gelb when he wrote a fan letter. Jeff still has it, though he’s always wondered if the Ditko signature is genuine! (We’d bet it is, Jeff.) [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Marvel output grew from 270 to 513 issues per year, and DC from 348 to 400 over the same span.

There were failures in the ’70s, too. There are two mass cancellations from both DC and Marvel. One followed immediately after the battle for market share in 1973. Marvel and especially DC cut off weaker titles after apparently over-extending their resources in trying to push competitors off the stands. Marvel dropped from 513 issues to 481 in 1974, and DC had a more substantial decrease from 400 to 296—slightly more than 25%.

And then they did it again in 1979.

Does anyone remember “the DC Implosion”? This was it. Marvel cancelled a number of weaker titles, but DC’s situation is better remembered. Its mass extinction came right on the heels of a much-ballyhooed “DC Explosion” of more and bigger books, with new and interesting back-up features. The remnant of this moment is DC’s two volumes of Cancelled Comic Cavalcade, photocopied collections of stories and covers which were taken off the production schedule. Originally gathered for copyright purposes, many of the contents of CCC were eventually published in one form or another.

Al Milgrom’s b-&-w cover of the first of the two famous/infamous humongous 1978 photocopy issues of Cancelled Comic Cavalcade. Let’s see now, there’s The Creeper... Black Lightning... Steel... Vixen... Claw the (allegedly) Unconquered...

Shade... The Ray... Mr. Miracle...it’s all kinda sad. Both CCC issues were recently covered in detail in Comic Book Artist Collection, Vol. Two. [©2002 DC Comics.]

Comics: The Department of Commerce

V. Title Search If we use the overall circulation figures for each company, and the total number of issues published each year, we can get an approximate idea of the average circulation per issue.

Figure 6.

45

What about the effect of TV shows and movies over the years?

The effect varies. The Adventures of Superman TV show of the ’50s was a big success; witness the fact that DC launched both Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane during that period to take advantage of Superman’s increased popularity. And Batman comics in the ’60s went through the roof. The best years are not recorded, but I’ll speculate that Batman’s circulation peaked at over one million per issues in 1965 or 1966.

Figure 9.

For DC in the 1960s, it was about 200,000 copies per issue. For Marvel, average circulation crept up to something like 400,000 per issue, a remarkable number for a company that had been on the ropes just a few years earlier.

On the other hand, Wonder Woman in 1975-77 was helped very little by her TV show, and only for a very short period of time. The Superman movies of 1979 and the next few years likewise caused only a small upward bump in a downward trend.

Figure 7.

In Figures 7 and 8, several long-lived Marvel and DC titles are averaged to show the overall trends from the Silver Age until the mid’80s. And what a revoltin’ development this is! For DC, these titles have consistently fallen to the point where they are below 100,000 per issue.

For Marvel, the chosen titles have bounced around but leveled off at about 200,000 per issue in the late ’80s. Since then, Marvel, too, has lost substantial readership.

Figure 8.

A 1966 house ad showed that TV—even Broadway!—had given DC/National Periodical Publications, Inc., a lot to celebrate! [©2002 DC Comics.]

46

Robert Klein Figure 10.

Conclusion There are many more events and effects shown in the accompanying graphs. To those readers interested in Harvey, Archie, etc.—well, they have stories, too. Perhaps we’ll tell them another time.

This has been a brief, sketchy look at the business behind the comics.

It’s very incomplete, but it does show some of the forces at work in the history of comic books.

Just as much as the comics themselves, it’s a colorful story full of unexpected twists and turns.

Revamps of Wonder Woman in 1968, and again in 1973, had no substantial effect in reversing her long decline. A revamp of Superman’s various titles in 1974 (by editor Julius Schwartz and company, after Mort Weisinger retired) may have helped sales, but not very much, nor for long. Revamps of comics starring Superman and Batman in 1986 improved sagging sales.

Figure 11.

Sources: N.W. Ayer’s Guide to Periodicals has served as the basis for setting advertising rates in all kinds of publications since its inception, and now includes broadcast media, as well. Since well before the Golden Age of Comics, this yearly publication has listed the circulation for various magazines, newspapers, and publisher groups. Now renamed Gale’s Guide, it rarely lists the circulation for individual comics, but it details the year-by-year circulation figures across the total publishing group for the firms who register.

Although not every publisher registered for every year, many of the majors were regulars: DC, Timely/Marvel, Harvey, ACG, Quality, Archie. Many years there were figures from Dell, Gold Key, Fawcett, Lev Gleason, and others. But look at these with a cynical eye: some figures were verified by independent auditors; others are simply claims, perhaps accurate, perhaps not. Across the board, none of the independents of the late ’70s or ’80s bothered to register, presumably because they carried virtually no outside advertising.

And what about price increases? Did the periodic price increases affect sales? (We’ve already mentioned the catastrophic decline that Dell experienced when it increased prices from 10 to 15 cents.)

The general effect is harder to see on the graphs, but for the statistically-minded, the effect is there, and can be seen by using statistical analysis methods. It is true, as expected, that prices increases will reduce sales and circulation. Every time the publishers increased prices, sales took another dip. In the overall scheme of things, this has contributed substantially to the decline of the number of comics readers, even when profits remained stable due to the price jumps.

The whole story also includes the displacement of comics by television and lately by video games, and the dwindling profitability which has caused distributors and retailers to drop comics as part of their product lines.

Figure 12.

On the other hand, the year-by-year counts of issue are quite accurate. Dan Stevenson, one of fandom’s most careful indexers and tabulators, has constructed these numbers over the course of more than a decade. His work is the source of the issue counts used here. Note that the tabulations of published issues do not include the undergrounds of the ’60s and later, or the independents of the ’70s and ’80s. Therefore, Rip Off Press, First Comics, Eclipse Comics, and many smaller publishers of this era are not included in the totals. Of course, these same publishers are not included in the circulation figures, so there is some balance.

The comics themselves are the source of the circulation numbers for individual titles.

Since the early ’60s, as a requirement for cheaper second-class mailing privileges for subscriptions, publishers have been mandated to publish ownership statements which include circulation figures.

These figures generally appeared in April through June issues of each individual title. They were much more common before the mid-’80s, when subscription sales presumably dried up.

My thanks to Bill Wormstedt for his tabulation of figures.

Lots of characters didn’t make it out of the ’60s alive, as Carl Gafford noted in this cartoon done for the Sept. 1999 issue of CAPA-Alpha.

[Cartoon ©2001 Carl Gafford; all characters ©2002 their respective copyright holders.]

Roy T Thomas homas’ Xero-Sum Xero-Sum Roy Comics F anzine Comics Fanzine

PLUS: PLUS: $$

5.95

In the the USA USA In

No. 18 With MARC SWAYZE, With

C.C. BECK, & ROD REED

COUNTDOWN TO

THE FANZINE THAT BIRTHED THE LEGENDARY SERIES

“ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME!” With Art Art and and With Artifacts by: by: Artifacts

DICK & PAT LUPOFF OTTO BINDER STEVE STILES BHOB STEWART KURT SCHAFFENBERGER DON & MAGGIE THOMPSON LIN CARTER MURPHY ANDERSON STEVE BISSETTE ALEX ROSS JOE STATON JAMES WARREN DICK DILLIN HOWARD SHERMAN DAN ADKINS ALGIS BUDRYS JON SMALL LARRY IVIE BILL SCHELLY ROY THOMAS &

ROGER EBERT (Yes,that Roger Ebert!)

Art ©2002 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.

October 2002

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

TM

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

Go to www.twomorrows.com for other issues, and an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

BACK ISSUE #41

BACK ISSUE #42

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

BACK ISSUE #38

BACK ISSUE #39

BACK ISSUE #40

“Family!” JOHN BYRNE’s Fantastic Four, SIMONSON, BRIGMAN, and BOGDANOVE on Power Pack, LEVITZ and STATON on the Huntress, Henry Pym’s “son” Ultron, Wonder Twins, Commissioner Gordon & Batgirl’s relationship, and Return of the New Gods.

With art and commentary from BUCKLER, BUSIEK, FRADON, HECK, INFANTINO, NEWTON, and WOLFMAN, and a Norman Rockwell-inspired BYRNE cover!

“April Fools”! GIFFEN and LOREN FLEMING on Ambush Bug, BYRNE’s She-Hulk, interviews with HEMBECK, ALAN KUPPERBERG, Flaming Carrot’s BOB BURDEN, and DAVID CHELSEA, Spider-Ham, Forbush-Man, Reid Fleming, MAD in the 1970s, art and commentary from DICK DeBARTOLO, TOM DeFALCO, AL FELDSTEIN, AL JAFFEE, STAN LEE, DAVE SIM, and a Spider-Ham cover by MIKE WIERINGO, inked by KARL KESEL!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Cat People!” Catwoman, Black Cat, Hellcat, Vixen, Atlas’ Tiger-Man and Cougar, White Tiger and the Sons of the Tiger, Wildcat, Thundercats, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Badger! With art and commentary from BOLLAND, BRENNERT, COLON, CONWAY, DITKO, GOLDBERG, LEVITZ, MILGROM, MST3000’s MIKE NELSON, and more. Cover

by JOE STATON and FREDDY LOPEZ, JR.!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

BACK ISSUE #43

BACK ISSUE #44

BACK ISSUE #45

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Red, White, and Blue” issue! Captain America and the Red Skull, CHAYKIN’s American Flagg, THOMAS and COLAN’s Wonder Woman, Freedom Fighters, and Team America! With art and commentary from JOHN BYRNE, STEVE ENGLEHART, ROGER STERN, CURT SWAN, MARK WAID, LEN WEIN, MIKE ZECK, and more.

Cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Wild West” issue! Jonah Hex examined with FLEISHER, DeZUNIGA, DOMINGUEZ, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GIFFEN, HANNIGAN, plus TRUMAN’s Scout, TRIMPE’s Rawhide Kid, AYERS’ Ghost Rider, DC’s Weird Westerns, the Vigilante’s 1970s revival, and more! Art and commentary by ADAMS, APARO, DIXON, EVANS, KUNKEL, MORROW, NICIEZA, and more. Cover by DeZUNIGA!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Jungle and barbarian” issue! Shanna the She-Devil feature and gallery, JONES and ANDERSON on Ka-Zar, LARRY HAMA interview, Beowulf, Claw the Unconquered, Korg 70,000 B.C., Red Sonja, Rima the Jungle Girl, art and commentary by AZZARELLO, BOYETTE, CHAN, GULACY, KUBERT, MICHELINIE, REDONDO, ROY THOMAS, WINDSOR-SMITH, cover by FRANK CHO!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Spider-Man in the Bronze Age!” Drug issues, resurrection of Green Goblin and Gwen Stacy, Marvel Team-Up, Spectacular Spider-Man, Spidey Super Stories, CBS and Japanese TV shows, Clone Saga, CONWAY, ANDRU, BAGLEY, SAL BUSCEMA, DeFALCO, FINGEROTH, GIL KANE, STAN LEE, LEIBER, MOONEY, ROMITA SR., SALICRUP, SAVIUK, STERN, cover by BOB LARKIN!

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Odd Couples!” O’NEIL and ADAMS’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Englehart’s Justice League of America, Daredevil and Black Widow, Power Man and Iron Fist, Vision and Scarlet Witch, Cloak and Dagger, and… Aquaman and Deadman (?!). With AUSTIN, COLAN, CONWAY, COWAN, DILLIN, HOWELL, LEONARDI, SKEATES, and more. New cover by NEAL ADAMS!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

BACK ISSUE #46

BACK ISSUE #47

BACK ISSUE #48

BACK ISSUE #49

BACK ISSUE #50

(NOW 8x/YEAR, WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Greatest Stories Never Told!” How Savage Empire became The Warlord, the aborted FF graphic novel “Fathers and Sons,” BYRNE’s Last Galactus Story, Star*Reach’s Batman, Aquaman II, 1984 Black Canary miniseries, Captain America: The Musical, Miracleman: Triumphant, unpublished issues of The Cat and Warlock, BLEVINS, DEODATO, FRADON, SEKOWSKY, WEISS, MIKE GRELL cover!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Thrilling Days of Yesteryear!” The final DAVE STEVENS interview, Rocketeer film discussion with DANNY BILSON and PAUL DeMEO, The Phantom, Indiana Jones, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ heroes, Dominic Fortune, Sherlock Holmes, Man-God, Miracle Squad, 3-D Man, Justice, Inc., APARO, CHAYKIN, CLAREMONT, MILLER, VERHEIDEN, and more, Rocketeer cover by DAVE STEVENS!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “Dead Heroes”! JIM (“Death of Captain Marvel”) STARLIN interview, Deadman after Neal Adams, Jason Todd Robin, the death and resurrection of the Flash, Elektra, the many deaths of Aunt May, art by and/or commentary from APARO, BATES, CONWAY, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GEOFF JOHNS, MILLER, WOLFMAN, and a cosmically cool cover by JIM STARLIN!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “1970s Time Capsule”! Examines relevance in comics, Planet of the Apes, DC Salutes the Bicentennial, Richard Dragon–Kung-Fu Fighter, FOOM, Amazing World of DC, Fast Willie Jackson, Marvel Comics calendars, art and commentary from ADAMS, BRUNNER, GIORDANO, LARKIN, LEVITZ, MAGGIN, MOENCH, O’NEIL, PLOOG, STERANKO, cover by BUCKLER and BEATTY!

Special 50th Anniversary FULL-COLOR issue ($8.95 price) on “Batman in the Bronze Age!” O’NEIL, ADAMS, and LEVITZ roundtable, praise for “unsung” Batman creators JIM APARO, DAVID V. REED, BOB BROWN, ERNIE CHAN, and JOHN CALNAN, Joker’s Daughter, Batman Family, Nocturna, Dark Knight, art and commentary from BYRNE, COLAN, CONWAY, MOENCH, MILLER, NEWTON, WEIN, and more. APARO cover!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

Vol. 3, No. 18 / October 2002

™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant Eric Nolen-Weathington

Cover Artists Marc Swayze Jack Kirby & Jim Amash

Cover Colorists Marc Swayze Tom Ziuko

And Special Thanks to: Dan Adkins Jeff Bailey Brian H. Baile Mike W. Barr Ray Bottorff, Jr. Jerry K. Boyd Mike Burkey Tony Carezo R. Dewey Cassell Teresa R. Davidson Jose Delbo Al Dellinges Roger Dicken Shel Dorf Roger Ebert Keif Fromm Carl Gafford Jeff Gelb Glenn Gold Stan & Pauline Goldberg David G. Hamilton Roger Hill Tom Horvitz Wendy Hunt Larry Ivie Robert Justice Robert Klein

David A. Kraft Richard Kyle Tom Lammers Larry Lieber Arthur Lortie Dick & Pat Lupoff Owen O'Leary Bill Pearson John G. Pierce Robert M. Price Richard Pryor Ethan Roberts John Romita Alex Ross Robin Snyder Britt Stanton Dan Stevenson Bhob Stewart Steve Stiles Joel Thingvall Dann Thomas Maggie Thompson Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Sylvia (Dees) White Bill Wormstedt

––In Memoriam––

Dave Berg & Vince Fago

Contents Writer/Editorial: Xero Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Nothing Less Than Xero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Dick & Pat Lupoff’s amazing 1960-63 fanzine—an awesome overview by Bill Schelly..

We Were Just Having Fun / I Had Tons of Fun / Xero Gravity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Forty years after: the Lupoffs and Bhob Stewart look back on Xero.

The AICFAD Style Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Learn how to write an article for Xero—in 1961!

Special “All in Color for a Dime” Section–– inA potpourri Glorious Black-&-White. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 of comics-related treats from Xero, courtesy of Otto Binder, Dick Lupoff, Don Thompson, Lin Carter—and Roger Ebert!??

Xero -ing In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Roy Thomas remembers the Lupoffs’ fabled fanzine—and his own “All in Color” entry.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 P.C. Hamerlinck invites us all to spend ten tintinabulatin’ pages with Golden Age greats Marc Swayze and Rod Reed (behind an interior cover by C.C. Beck).

Timely/Marvel & Wood Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: Marc Swayze, who in the early 1940s drew “Captain Marvel” stories so perfectly in the C.C. Beck style that in later years even Beck sometimes thought he’d done them, created this bittersweet illustration for a collector a few years back. Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck for sending us a scan of it; the moment Roy saw it, he knew it just had to be an Alter Ego cover! The original art is owned by Robert Ewing. [Art ©2002 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

Above: And, while Roy’s in a Captain Marvel mood (and when isn’t he?), here’s some titlepage original art, autographed by C.C. Beck on August 26, 1947. Thanks to Keif Fromm for sending us a photo of it. [©2002 DC Comics.]

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092.

Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8 ($10.00 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 elsewhere. 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 Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Title writer/editorial

2

Xero Hour “You had to be there!”

It’s a phrase we hear a lot (in fact, both Bill Schelly and Dick Lupoff use it in their articles herein), and we’re often a wee bit suspicious when we do, since someone is telling us we should take his word for it that this, that, or the other thing was wonderful, only we can’t possibly properly appreciate (let alone criticize) it if we weren’t present at a particular place at a particular time.

Suspicious we may be, and reasonably so. All the same, that ringing declaration is often true, because context—which includes time and place, as well as other factors—is important, often essential, to enjoyment and proper appreciation of something. When watching an old Chaplin film, we can admire Charlie’s genius, but few of us will laugh uproariously the way his original audiences did, for styles in humor have changed. Golden Age comic books were not only a product of their time and place, but were also aimed at readers younger and less sophisticated than those who pore over them today (provided, of course, they dare slip them out of their Mylar bags).

articles with new revelations on vintage comics and creators in magazines like Alter Ego and Comic Book Artist and The Jack Kirby Collector and—well, I forget the names of the others at the moment, but I hear there are a couple.

When Xero #1 was distributed at the World Science Fiction Convention in 1960, however, there was only... Xero. There were no reference works on comic books, and damn few even on more respectable comic strips. As Maggie pointed out in a recent A/E, she and Don and others had to compile a list of all the features which had headlined Dell/Western’s ongoing Four-Color Comics title, because the company itself had never bothered to do so! Today’s information-laden comics websites are the descendants, only a couple of generations removed, of Xero and Comic Art and the original hyphenated Alter-Ego. Still, why should we acclaim and wax eloquent over magazines—and not even professional magazines, at that—which were published four decades ago? Especially since I just admitted that in them the search for knowledge about comic books and their creators was only at a nascent stage!

Dick and Pat Lupoff’s seminal 19601963 fanzine Xero, which is celebrated in the next 40 pages, is another case in point, as would be most any fanzine (sciencefiction or comics) from an earlier era. To some extent, at least, you had to be there—and fortunately for me, I was.

Because we can never truly appreciate where we are—unless we know where we’ve been, that’s why.

Whether you belong to the camp that believes today’s comics are the epitome of the art form, or you think they’re the dregs, or you’re somewhere in between, there is much to be learned and savored by studying the earliest fanzines.

At the same time, whether you were “there” or not, Xero is important historically in the context of comics fandom, even if it pre-dated and was never really a part of that fandom.

Did I say “study”? Crom knows, I don’t want to make this issue of A/E sound like a crash course in “Comics 101”! The articles you’re about to read—both those written in 2002 and several originally printed in Xero itself in the early ’60s—are fun, as well as informative.

As Bill Schelly relates in his masterful overview of the Lupoffs’ highly influential publication that follows, Xero began as a medium-size science-fiction The tenth and “ultimate” issue of the Lupoffs’ fanzine Xero fanzine which featured an ongoing series featured the simple yet ingenious “Two Flashes Meet the Purple on comic books, the legendary “All in Slagheap”—in color, yet—by Landon Chesney. [Art ©2002 estate As many of you know, most of the Color for a Dime”; by the end of its tenof Landon Chesney; Flashes TM & ©2002 DC Comics.] entries in Xero’s “All in Color for a issue run, it was a humongous and Dime” series have been republished in award-winning magazine which had long one of three books, all of them currently available. Fortunately, there since burst its seams and limitations, and could still be called a “fanzine” were ample articles and illustrations still un-reprinted to fill this issue... only because of its mimeographed production and its non-payment for and I can honestly say that doing so has been one of my most pleascontributions, certainly not because of the quality of its contents. urable experiences to date in editing the revived Alter Ego. From the moment Bill Schelly and I began to talk about doing this tribute, months Xero was inaugurated in the late summer of 1960, before Comic Art ago, it’s been a blast to work on. It was great, as well, to renew my and Alter-Ego, commonly acknowledged as the first true comics acquaintance (via e-mail this time, instead of mostly by letter as in the fanzines (albeit of quite different sorts), were even a collective gleam in ’60s) with Dick and Pat Lupoff, and to exchange e-mails with Bhob the eyes of Don and Maggie Thompson and Dr. Jerry Bails. Ironically, Stewart, Steve Stiles, and others. neither the Thompsons (not yet married at the time) nor Jerry was aware of Xero when they birthed plans to produce comics-related publications Okay, so I’ve explained why you should read the articles that follow, of their own; yet both were inevitably influenced by the several issues of and why I think you’ll savor them if you get into the right spirit: “You Xero which they read, as it were, “between the thought and the deed.” had to be there.”

By Xero #4 Don and Maggie were contributors to the Lupoffs’ ’zine; and even I, who was officially “co-editor” of Alter-Ego #1-3, would write an entry in the “All in Color” series before it ended.

Naturally, the knowledgeable comics fan of today has a leg up on the Lupoffs and the Thompsons and Bails. A new edition of Overstreet’s Price Guide comes out like clockwork every year, with a full listing of virtually every comic book published up through recent days. Books like Mike Benton’s Taylor History of Comics series and Ron Goulart’s tomes and coffee-table volumes by Les Daniels devoted to Marvel and DC line our sagging shelves. We can read in-depth interviews and

But, hopefully, through the words and pictures of Bill Schelly and the Lupoffs and Bhob Stewart and Steve Stiles and myself and a few others—including, surprisingly, film critic Roger Ebert—you will be there, at least in your mind’s eye.

So—enjoy. It’s Xero Hour!

Bestest,

Comic FandomTitleArchive Extra!

3

WHAT COULD HAVE JUMP-STARTED COMIC FANDOM?

Nothing Less Than

An Over, Under, and All-around Look at the Science-Fiction Fanzine That Helped Get Comicdom Rolling!

Since Dick Lupoff’s nostalgic piece “The Big Red Cheese” in Xero #1 initiated the “All in Color for a Dime” series, it seemed only fitting to lead off with this C.C. Beck illo from Captain Marvel Adventures #22 (March 1943), which launched the fabled “Monster Society of Evil” serial that lasted more than two years. Repro’d from the 1977 hardcover Shazam! From the 40’s to the 70’s; naturally, this art didn’t appear in Xero. [©2002 DC Comics.]

It was not to be.

by Bill Schelly Introduction To understand the significance that Dick and Pat Lupoff’s 1960s science-fiction fanzine Xero (pronounced “zero”) has for the serious comics fan, consider this: the first mass-market book ever to see print about the history of comic books was a collection of articles which had (with one or two exceptions) appeared in its pages. The name of that series, “All in Color for a Dime” [henceforth usually abbreviated as “AICFAD”], became the title of the Arlington House book published in 1970, edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson.

In fact, had it been peaceful, it’s very possible that the seminal fanzine Xero—and the famous “All in Color for a Dime” series of comic book articles therein—might never have existed. For it was in strife that this progeny was midwived.

As fans Walter Breen, Lin Carter, Ted White, Dick and Pat Lupoff, and a gaggle of others prepared to roast weenies, sip bad Bloody Marys (“Too much tabasco!”), and have a good old time in the spring of 1960, they were about to be confronted by… well, what used to be called a Juvenile Delinquent (yes, with capitals), who had his own post-simian agenda.

Even for those already well aware of the source and importance of the AICFAD book, this article (which will be liberally spiced with quotes from an interview I conducted with the Lupoffs several years ago) will reveal that there was a surprising amount of comics and comics-related material in Xero apart from “AICFAD.” A few of those pieces are reprinted in this issue of Alter Ego. I will be discussing them all, and even touching briefly on some of the noncomics stuff. In the process you’ll find out just what made Xero—one of the rarest and hardest to find of fanzines—such an important part of comics fandom’s history.

Prologue At a little after four o’clock, with the May afternoon waning, a group of less than a dozen members of the New York City science-fiction club called the Futurians rendezvoused in a public park under the George Washington Bridge for what they thought would be a peaceful, convivial picnic.

The first page of The Rumble—the 1960 one-shot that led to Xero. [©2002 Dick & Pat Lupoff.]

Nothing Less Than Xero

4

Dick sent Alter Ego this photo of “me in my full Army regalia, taken in 1957, when I alone stood between a Free America and the sinister forces of the Red Octopus of Communism.”

Unlike Billy Batson, he says, “I never was a captain. Actually, I served twice, once as an enlisted man (got as far as corporal) and once as an officer (got as far as first lieutenant). The photo is from my second tour of service.”

The disruptor identified himself and a cohort as members of the “Cavaliers,” an Irish Catholic gang in the New York City area. As recounted in Dick Lupoff’s narrative of the incident, “Both hoods spelled out how we’d better leave right now, because there was going to be a rumble, and any interlopers would be shot.” As the refugee from West Side Story (who had doubtless read too many lurid crime comics in his misspent youth) began brandishing a thick stick, the Fanoclasts “decided to cut out, though wondering if the promised rumble would ever be more than a lot of words.”

Well, words it became—of a different sort. Because The Rumble became the title of a one-shot that appeared shortly thereafter, consisting solely of a four-page account of the affair. That one-shot, co-published by Walter Breen (who published his own well-known science-fiction ’zine called Fanac) and Dick Lupoff—though inconsequential in itself—proved to give Dick and Pat Lupoff the push onto the slippery slope of full-fledged fanzine publishing. The fanzine they created was called Xero… and, as mentioned earlier, Xero begat “All in Color for a Dime.”

Thank you, Mr. J.D., whoever and wherever you are!

Inspiration from the Mailbox If producing The Rumble got the printer’s ink in the Lupoffs’ veins flowing, the resultant letters that arrived in the ensuing days and weeks (for the ’zine bore their address, not that of Breen) twirled the knob.

Maybe it’s hard to remember, in today’s world of instant and easy communication, that there was a time when getting mail could be an intoxicating experience. Finding fat envelopes in the box by the front door, or on the post out by the street, that bore not bills or ads, but letters from those who shared your interests made every day a potential Christmas—and could bring bounce into the stride of even the crustiest old-time fan. Imagine the thrill Dick and Pat got receiving letters from some of the leading lights in science-fiction fandom (Harry Warner, Jr., Ted Pauls, F. M. Busby) in response to The Rumble.

You don’t have to imagine it … because the thrill became manifest.

They called it… Xero. An odd name, that.

“We were trying to think of something that would be a little bit interesting and unusual and attention-catching, and that would have some sort of fantasy connotation,” Dick recounted later. “We thought of Xanadu and somebody told us there was already a fanzine called The Xanadu Newsletter, so to avoid treading on someone else’s toes, we just looked in the dictionary for other words that began with the letter X. And we came across ‘xero.’ It’s a Greek root meaning dry, but that isn’t why we picked it. We picked it because it was short and interesting.”

Meet the Lupoffs Richard Allen Lupoff was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 21, 1935. His father, a Certified Public Accountant, found himself

working in a food-processing business during the Depression, and continued in that field most of his life. Dick grew up in the New York area. “I remember as a small child lying on the floor of our living room looking at the Sunday comic strips,” he remembered. “I recall particularly that there was Flash Gordon, and there were these wonderful, glamorous pictures. But my older brother, Jerrold, could read the stuff that went with them, and I couldn’t… and this created an almost manic state on my part. So I started a campaign demanding that I be taught how to read and write.

“One day my grandmother, who had the kindest heart in the family, I think, sat down with me and taught me how to do it… and, by dinner time, I knew how to read! People tell me that’s impossible, but other people tell me that they’ve had similar experiences. So whether the memory is accurate or not, that is the way I remember it.”

Soon he’d discovered the wonderful world of comic books. “We went off to summer camp for a while as children,” he said, “and lots of kids would be packed off with great stacks of comic books. In the early 1940s I was exposed to Batman.... With the Batcave and the atmospherics, some of the Gothic imagery in that was very impressive to me.” As he grew older, a school librarian introduced him to the works of Dumas and Hugo and Verne. The first science-fiction book he read was 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. When his mother died while he was very young, Dick’s father sent him and his brother to boarding school. In high school he heard about science-fiction fandom, sent for some fanzines, and that’s when he decided he wanted to become a writer: “I thought ‘Aha! All right, I will get into these magazines, and from there I’ll move on and become a professional writer!’” He even published his own little fanzine, making his print run of eight copies using carbon paper. Dick also wrote for the school paper, and some of his sports reporting was picked up in regional newspapers. He was paid for his work, even if not very much. “They paid by the column inch, and a one-paragraph story in the Herald Trib might produce a check for 65 cents! But, I tell you, I was very proud of earning that 65 cents. It meant a lot to me.”

Patricia Enid Loring grew up in Manhattan. Her father was a lawyer, then went into the metal fabrication business and did very well with it.

Like Dick, Pat was a voracious reader from an early age. She liked a wide variety of comic books. “I did love all the Captain Marvel comics,” she said. “That was one thing that Dick and I had in common.” She also enjoyed “Mary Jane and Sniffles” in Dell Four-Color, and all the Walt Disney comics. “When I was older, I would read Classics Illustrated.

Actually, although people put them down, I remember reading Oliver Twist, and that got me to read a lot of Dickens when I was twelve.”

Sometimes she had to hide her comic books from her parents, because she was such a good reader that they thought comics were “beneath her.”

Dick and Pat met while he was in the Army in the summer of 1957, stationed in the Midwest. She was attending summer school at Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. “I was in between boyfriends, and I met Dick on a blind date. In the fall, I went back to college [in Connecticut] to finish up my senior year. Dick kept in touch with me, and came out again. We dated over Christmas vacation… fell in love, and he proposed to me. We were married the following August.” At first the newlyweds lived in Westchester, New York, then moved down to Manhattan.

Once they lived in the city, they joined This photo of Pat Loring was taken not long before she became Pat a science-fiction club, and that brings Lupoff in August 1958. Courtesy of Dick & Pat Lupoff.

Nothing Less Than Xero us up to date to the spring of 1960 when the incident recounted in The Rumble took place.

When the publishing bug bit the Lupoffs in the following weeks and months, it bit hard.

Consider this excerpt from Dick’s editorial “Xerogenesis” in the first issue of Xero: “As I bent over the work I could feel something stir in my veins. Some longquiescent, nearly-forgotten thing, some substance, some force unfelt for nearly a decade began to insinuate itself through the edges of consciousness.

“The sight of a stencil, blue, coolly lighted through a mimeoscope … the feel once more of a stylus between my fingers… the pungence of correction fluid in my eager, quivering nostrils…all this was too much to resist any longer.

5 In Xero #1, Pat wrote two book-oriented features: “The Insidious Mr. Ward” about Sax Rohmer’s Brood of the Witch Queen, and “The Worlds of Titus Groan” about the series of Titus Groan books by Mervyn Peake.

Aside from the editorials, the letter column, and a review of Psycho by Harlan Ellison (he liked it, unlike most of the critics of the day), there remained a sizable number of pages to fill, if they were to put out the fat first issue that they wanted.

Pat had done her part, and now it was time for Dick, the one who aspired most ardently to become a professional writer, to produce a substantial piece.

He already had something in mind: a nostalgic piece about his discovery of, and long-standing affection for, the comics starring Captain Marvel, the one hero who Dick says this is a photo of “my entire (immediate) “The ink flowed. The black, thick, viscous family, taken in Venice, Florida. I don’t know the had outsold Superman in the 1940s. Not that stuff coursed hot, fast, through veins and exact date of the picture, but I like to think it was he had any of the comic book collection he’d through arteries, in the heart, the hands, the the same day that I saw my first copy of Whiz Comics amassed as a kid; that had been disposed of, and became irredeemably hooked on Captain Marvel BRAIN and I was trapped again, caught, along with the furniture and whatever else and the whole Fawcett line. Personnel are Sylvia hooked, helplessly ensnared! was in the family home, when his father had Feldman Lupoff, Sol J. Lupoff, Jerrold Lupoff, Richard sold it upon sending Dick and Jerrold off to “After eight years of restraint, I would, I Lupoff. Alas, I alone survive of the happy quartet.” boarding school in 1943. Instead, he wrote If this was the day Dick bought what was actually must, I am pubbing. There is no hope, nor the entire piece from memory, which the first issue of Whiz, it would have been late 1939... possible salvation…” accounts for the evocative images that and he would’ve been pushing age five. emerge from his prose, in the first The format? Xero, like any self-respecting installment of the series then called “And All in Color for a Dime.” science-fiction fanzine (or later comics ’zine, for that matter), offered standard-type features which comprised a third to half of its page count.

It began: “One balmy Winter’s day in the village of Venice, Florida, Each issue began with an editorial, and often ended with one, too, two small boys wearing tee-shirts, sneakers, and shorts wandered into usually by Dick. Mostly they were titled “Absolute Xero.” the only drugstore in town. It was, in addition to being Venice’s sole pharmacy, the town’s main source of beach goods, the local ice cream A science-fiction book review column followed, first “From the SF parlor, and the only newsstand short of Sarasota.”

Shelf” by Larry M. Harris, and then simply “Books” by Lin Carter in the last few issues.

With the 20¢ they had between them, they bought sweets and a copy of the first issue of Whiz Comics.

Debuting in #4 was Robert “Buck” Coulson’s fanzine review column dubbed “The Silver Dagger,” which graced all the succeeding issues.

Dick continued, “I quickly and sloppily dispatched my strawberry ice cream, and turned my attention to the colorful world of Whiz In the back of each Xero was “Epistolary Intercourse,” the letter Comics, where that day I made the acquaintance of a friend and advencolumn presided over by Pat. (To judge by the letters, very few strictly turing companion for years to come, whose eventual disappearance was comics fans wrote to the fanzine. Missives did appear from double-fans a real loss to many beside myself. like Don Thompson and Richard Kyle.)

The remainder of each issue was made up of the pop culture gamut: movie reviews, serials, old TV shows, puzzles, articles about the future of s-f fandom, and … yes… comics.

But—what would Dick and Pat put into that all-important first issue, the one which would—most likely—define the sort of publication Xero would become?

The Headliner Dick commented, “When a couple of fans decide to put out a fanzine, the first question is, ‘What are we going to do for material? How are we going to fill this thing?’” The answer, he wrote in an article called “Rebirth” that appeared in Comic Art #1 (April 1961), is that you “work, friend, work at turning plain sheets of paper into chicken-scratched sheets of paper until you have yourself produced enough material for your first issue.” Only in later issues can one expect to have much help from outside contributors.

“I refer, of course, to the greatest of all comic-book heroes, Captain Marvel.”

In his article, Dick described the origin of “The Big Red Cheese,” discussed the whimsical flavor that chief artist C.C. Beck brought to the strip, and sketched in the rest of The Marvel Family. Since he had little or no reference material, he did make a number of unavoidable errors, including attributing the writing to “Eando Binder.” (This was a contraction of the names of Earl and Otto Binder when the two brothers had co-written some science-fiction; it was Otto who wrote the vast majority of the Captain Marvel scripts, though the original scripter was Bill Parker.)

But the errors were not important, and would be easily cleared up at a later date; the important thing was that Dick had successfully conveyed the special appeal of Captain Marvel, and had evoked an almost palpable nostalgia for those innocent comic book tales of the not-so-distant past.

The article ended on a rather plaintive note. After talking about the Captain Marvel Club, and the items that were available by mail, Lupoff

Nothing Less Than Xero

6

No, the Lupoffs didn’t win a prize for their costumes.

They won more than that: they made history, and won the honor of being imitated.

Here, forwarded by Bill Schelly, is an oft-printed photo of Dick & Pat Lupoff as Cap and Mary at the 1960 World Science Fiction Convention in Pittsburgh.

Just for kicks, it’s flanked by C.C. Beck’s 1981 recreation of one of his panels from the first issue of Whiz (courtesy of FCA’s P.C. Hamerlinck) and a drawing by “T.Hief” which appeared in Xero #1. This photo of the costumed pair first appeared in Alter Ego (V1)#5 in 1963, and was reprinted in the 1997 Best of A/E (Vol. 1); more recently, a variant photo was repro’d in A/E V3#11. [Capt. Marvel art ©2002 estate of C.C. Beck; “T.Hief” art ©2002 Dick Lupoff; Capt. & Mary Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

ended his article: “I wish I had a Captain Marvel beanie.”

Dick recalled, “I invited all and sundry to contribute articles to the series. The response was just overwhelming! Because nobody was paying any attention to comics in those days, especially to old comics. There was this whole generation of people walking around who had grown up on them, so once the spark was lit, things just took off.”

Lupoff had turned out what was not only a lead feature with substance, but the first of a series that became the “headliner” in the issues that would follow.

Xero’s Coming-out Party The 1960 World Science Fiction Convention, held over Labor Day weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, served as the occasion when Dick and Pat’s fanzine was introduced to s-f fandom at large. They brought the ninety-or-so copies of that first issue hot off the mimeo to distribute to their friends, and anyone else who would take one.

The Lupoffs were not, at this point, what was termed BNFs (Big Name Fans). While they were known in the New York City area due to their membership in the Futurians, the 1960 PittCon was the first major fan gathering they’d attended.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the debut of Xero that would cause the Lupoffs to be remembered in connection with that convention; it was their participation in its costume parade in the hotel ballroom dressed as Captain and Mary Marvel that brought attention their way. This appearance, which elicited a positive reaction from the onlookers, would come to symbolize the moment when interest in comic books emerged as the latest trend in s-f fandom. It would mean far more to comic book fans of the future, who would mark it as an important date in the genesis of comics fandom proper.

For, two years later, partly inspired by the 1960 masquerade, a group of some eight to ten science-fiction fans came costumed to the World Con masquerade (in Chicago) as members of the Justice Society, as well as other comic book heroes like Batman and Robin, and Ibis and Taia. The latter two revelers were actually Don and Maggie Thompson, who by now were friends with the Lupoffs and were publishing their own fanzine, Comic Art. There is also the fact that, though Detroit college prof Jerry G. Bails had already conceived of a publication devoted to the revival of the Justice Society as the Justice League before he saw Xero, his introduction to the fanzine in February 1961 at the hands of none other than DC editor (and longtime s-f fan) Julius Schwartz emboldened him to put together something more than the mere “newsletter” he had at first envisioned. In The Comic Reader #12 (dated August 20, 1962) Jerry recollected the weeks before A/E #1: “Julie had shown me copies of …

Xero, which was running a series on the old comics. I was happy to learn that there was a segment of science-fiction fandom that was devoted to the old comic book heroes.”

As Dick Lupoff himself wrote in “Rebirth” in Comic Art for April 1961: “[AICFAD] has been the most letter-provoking feature of Xero…

All of this activity means something,

“Joe Sanders & Co.’s” cover for Xero #1—and the interior “cover” by “T.Hief” for the first installment of “And All in Color for a Dime.” It carried a Roman numeral “I” to indicate it was the start of a series. The word “And” was soon dropped for the most part—though it popped up from time to time as late as Xero #9. [©2002 Joe Sanders & Dick Lupoff, respectively.]

Nothing Less Than Xero

7

Grail” of fanzine collecting. Even when the fanzine got rolling, the print run exceeded 150 only late in the run, and topped out at about 300.

Off and Running—or Is That Flying?

In a hobby where few of the publications were produced more than two or three times a year, the first seven issues of Xero appeared almost like clockwork on a bimonthly basis. The second issue followed in November, just enough time for the practiced letter-writers of fandom to respond. Xero #3 was issued in January 1961, and #4 made the scene in April, about the same time as Alter-Ego #1 and Comic Art #1.

The second installment of “AICFAD,” in Xero #2, was “The Spawn of M.C. Gaines” by Ted White, who at this point was a well-known figure in s-f fandom. (He had been printing fanzines of his own, and by others, for almost a decade.) White began by discussing his devotion to collecting comics in the late 1940s and early 1950s, many which he had retained: “Comic books fascinate me, the way they were produced, the artists involved, the histories of the companies… all this fascinates me.” White filled the next ten pages with an essential lesson in the history of DC Comics, beginning with an introduction to M.C. Gaines, whom he dubbed “The Father of Modern Comic Books.” The article was accompanied by a series of skillfully done illustrations “stolen” by Sylvia White, Ted’s then-wife.

Xero #2 also contained an enjoyable recollection of the Captain Video television show by Mike Deckinger, which enlarged the nostalgia stakes beyond the comic book field.

DC/AA’s eight monthly Golden Age mags, seen here in a 1942 house ad not in Xero #2, were meat for Ted White’s analysis—but mimeographs couldn’t reproduce the actual artwork. [©2002 DC Comics.]

In their third issue, the Lupoffs ran no less than five comics-related pieces, plus a cover featuring another excellent tracing onto stencil by Sylvia White—this time, of the Justice Society of America. It’s no wonder that the fanzine’s title logo for that single issue was expanded to read Xero Comics. Nineteen of its 49 pages were devoted to comicsoriented material, not counting portions of the letter column.

and unless I’m one very lousy inducer, it means that there is a great amount of interest in comic books, that it has been rolling along, usually unpublicized, showing through only occasionally in science-fiction fandom and other peripheral areas of activity. Now maybe Charles Fort would say that the fall of 1960 was comic book time and that first article in Xero had nothing to do with the revival of interest. Certainly I would not claim that ‘The Big Red Cheese’ created the interest which had been trying so long to break through the surface.”

“AICFAD” Part 3 offered Jim Harmon’s memories of that first of all super-hero teams, the Justice Society

But there’s no denying that “AICFAD” had a part in focusing and celebrating the interest in comic books. While Alter-Ego #1 and Comic Art #1, both published in the spring of ’61, are usually considered the beginning of comicdom as a separate fandom all its own, it’s nonetheless true that Xero began the first major attempt to chronicle the history of comics.

Xero #1 was 39 pages long and was printed by Ted White’s Qwertyuiop Press via mimeograph. The minimal amount of art in the first issue, attributed to “T. Hief,” was stenciled by Dick himself. Only the cover by Joe Sanders, depicting a Xanadu-like pleasure dome appearing as a desert mirage, was transferred to stencil by someone else (the artist).

The visuals in #1, to be kind, left something to be desired.

As mentioned earlier, only about 90 copies of that first issue were printed, making it “the Holy

Behind a Dave English cover cartoon labeled “A Case of Headlong Flight from Reality,” Sylvia White skillfully adapted a Wayne Boring figure from the cover of Superman #59 (July–Aug. 1949) and some Irwin Hasen JSA heads from the “filmstrip” cover of All-Star Comics #44 (Oct.-Nov. 1948)—added Batman and a caricature of hubbie Ted (who’d soon be a professional sciencefiction writer and editor)—and voila! [Art ©2002 Sylvia (Dees) White; heroes TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

8

Nothing Less Than Xero

of it. The result of this… is that I have discovered many errors in my original article— which was, as you’ll Sylvia White strikes again, this time utilizing the cover and even the word “Comics” from remember, All-Star Comics #13 (1942); for the first and only time, an “AICFAD” drawing served as the cover founded of an issue of Xero. Two years later, the Justice Society would return for real—in a series of largely upon a JLA-JSA team-ups that would endure for 22 years. This panel from the final page of hazy memory Justice League of America #21 (Aug. 1963), with art by Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs and script by which had JSA co-creator Gardner Fox, is repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Mike W. Barr.

[Art ©2002 Sylvia (Dees) White; JSA TM & ©2002 DC Comics.] grown hazier than I like to of America, in “A Bunch of prefer.” In four pages of “errata and additions” in Xero #3, under the Swell Guys.” Aside from the title “Son of the Spawn of M.C. Gaines,” White laid out numerous factual information in the corrections, expansions, and new information. This was the process of article, Harmon offered a number of interesting observations: “A few documenting the history of comics in its incipient stages, and it’s fasciyears ago a psychologist pointed out that the science-fiction space operas nating to see it unfolding before one’s very eyes. then on the air were designed to prove the supremacy of society, the group, the family, over the individual.” The individual members of the The last of the issue’s five comics-related items was “The AICFAD JSA “never did much good alone—in fact, they generally got themselves Style Sheet,” presented as an aid to future contributors to the series. [See deeper into trouble when they branched out in the middle of the book. pp. 22–23 for a reprinting of the Style Sheet.]

It wasn’t until they got back together at the end that they could solve the The rest of Xero #3 was comprised of Mike Deckinger’s comparison problem or defeat the arch villain.” of Psycho and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (“Madness and Horror”), Following Harmon was Dick the personal recollections of “Arthur Merlyn,” actually Lupoff’s addendum to “The Big a pseudonym of s-f author James Blish, on having been a Red Cheese” titled “SHAZ-urk!” writer for the Captain Video television show (“The Secret after the sound Billy made when he Files of Captain Video”), and the usual editorial matter was gagged before he could fully and columns. pronounce his magic word. This The fourth issue returned the three-pager mainly provided title to merely Xero. No, wait—if corrections to the first article, plus you flipped it over, there was an more data about the publishing alternate cover and the Xero history of the “Lummox” (as Dick Comics logo again, in a fondly nicknamed Captain Marvel) separate section all its own. The and his family, as well as flip cover featured Prince Namor, spotlighting villains like Ibac and the Sub-Mariner, and the interior Mr. Atom who had been was solely devoted to the longest overlooked the first time around.

“AICFAD” entry thus far: “O.K. Axis, Next came “At Home with the Here We Come!” by Don Thompson, Marvels” by Otto Binder, perhaps with “illos swiped by Maggie Curtis” (the the first contribution ever to a near-future Maggie Thompson). This piece is fanzine by a Golden Age comics especially interesting because it appeared several professional. Dick recalled: “Binder months before the publication of Fantastic Four was an editor at the non-fiction #1, which heralded the resurgence of Timely Comics Space World magazine. I dropped off a copy as Marvel. Soon it would be impossible to write about [of Xero #1] at their office, Otto responded Timely without awareness of the tremendous success that was with a note, and we became friends.” Since being achieved by Stan Lee and company in the 1960s. When Binder had never seen the entire Adventures of “O.K. Axis” was reprinted in the 1970 AICFAD hardcover, Captain Marvel serial, the Lupoffs were instruThompson expanded it considerably to include the return of mental in arranging a screening of the serial Timely’s greatest heroes and the emergence of some brand new around this time, with Otto and his wife invited ones who had turned the comics industry on its ear. as guests of honor. The evening proved to be a great With Xero #4, artwork came into greater prominence in the success. [See Otto’s article in its entirety on pp. 24–25.] magazine, both in terms of humorous cartoons and more serious fare.

In “The Spawn of M. C. Gaines” for Xero #2, Ted The talented Larry Ivie began contributing artwork, as did Juanita White had “unleashed all my dormant enthusiasm Coulson and others. Dick recalled, “Somehow, through the Futurians for those Fine Old Comics of Yore, and in a and/or the Fanoclasts, we met a number of artists and graphics people. fantastic fit I took Larry Ivie with me to Falls Bhob Stewart… Steve Stiles… and a fellow named Andy Reiss who was Church, where I invaded the Ancestral Home, a talented cartoonist. [They] were our three mainstays, and Bhob in spent two days sorting out my collection, and left to return for New York with a sizable portion “SHAZ-urk!” and “Son of the Spawn of M.C. Gaines” were also illustrated by Sylvia.

That woman could sure work wonders with a mimeo stylus! [Art ©2002 the respective copyright holder; Captain Marvel & Superboy TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

Nothing Less Than Xero

9

fanzine editor’s wish to improve, issue by issue, at least in one respect or another?

Isn’t it understandable that the Lupoffs would, upon establishing a foothold in the fanzine-publishing firmament, take the plunge and purchase their own top-quality mimeograph machine?

Would not the acquisition of their heavy-duty rebuilt Rex Rotary D270H machine inspire stenciler Bhob Stewart to explore new horizons in mimeography?

And, if the fanzine was to offer a new, higher-grade visual appearance inside, would it not be logical to graduate to professional photo-offset printing for the front cover, and perhaps an occasional interior page?

Indeed.

The Lupoffs were “in deep” now.

Long before Alter Ego sported flip covers/sections, Xero #4 used the same device to spotlight the artwork of Bhob Stewart and Maggie Curtis, who ere long would become Maggie Thompson, today editor of The Comics Buyer’s Guide. [Art ©2002 Bhob Stewart & Maggie Thompson; Sub-Mariner TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

particular, because he started cutting the stencils and laying out the pages… planning the look of the magazine. He designed a logo for us after a while, which was very nice looking. He really spiffed up the look of Xero.” Stewart officially became “Art Editor” with #4, and his contribution to that and future issues was, in its way, as important as the Lupoffs’.

Soon they would experience something that might be deemed “fannish undertow”… but, for a time—for six glorious issues, in fact—Xero’s superior prose would be accompanied by many varied visual delights.

Larry Ivie’s Atom cover on Xero #5—which proudly sported Bhob’s cool new title logo [see p. 11]—was the first to benefit from the switch to photo-offset. Ivie was one of the best known and most knowledgeable comic book aficionados in New York City, having published five issues of his own fanzine Concept in the late 1950s. He had submitted several concept drawings and strips to National Comics editor Julius Schwartz

Again, other articles in Xero would have at least tangential interest for many comics fans, such as Chris Steinbrunner’s “Next Week: The Phantom Strikes Again” tribute to movie serials in #4; it would later be included in the book version of AICFAD. Then there were the “Oscar’s Convention” cartoons by Reiss, which took a playful jab at the Lupoffs’ interest in comics. [See next page.]

Metamorphosis The fifth issue of Xero (July 1961) is the only one without an installment of “AICFAD.” Yet it’s even more remarkable as the obvious turning point when what had been a groundbreaking—yet visually unremarkable—fanzine evolved into (drumroll)… Xero— The Fanzine of Relativistic Dadaism, a more ambitious undertaking that would ultimately achieve astounding heights, while simultaneously planting the seeds for its own demise.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

After all, isn’t it every

For the title of his 1961 Xero article, Don Thompson used the tagline from an early-’40s Timely house ad. A decade and a half later, Xero reader (and contributor) Roy Thomas would make that phrase the war-cry of The Invaders, a retroactivecontinuity WWII-era group made up of the same heroes; it even became the title of The Invaders Annual #1-and-only (1977).

[Xero art ©2002 Maggie Thompson; Invaders Annual art, Human Torch, Captain America, Sub-Mariner, & Patriot TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Nothing Less Than Xero

10

Dick Lupoff writes: “Steve Stiles, Bhob Stewart, and Andy Reiss were our three mainstay cartoonists. Steve and I maintained our friendship long after Xero ceased publication. We collaborated on a comic strip for the now-legendary East Village Other [newspaper] comic supplement, Gothic Blimp Works, and on a long-running serial for Heavy Metal magazine that was eventually published as a full-fledged graphic novel: The Amazing Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Amazing Aether Flier. We’re still good friends.

“One of the things that makes fan-history so rich is the fact that fandom ‘self-documents’ so much. Andy Reiss [who drew the cartoon directly below] was really talented and had a mordant sensibility that came through in his artwork. The last I knew, he had become a curator at the Brooklyn Museum, but that was some years ago and I’m not sure where he is today.” [Cartoons ©2002 Steve Stiles & Andy Reiss, respectively; Capt. Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

branding comic book discussion in Xero as “regressive idiocy.”

Unfazed, Dick published the postcard verbatim as a “guest editorial” in #4... and asked Castillo in a separate letter to consider contributing to the fanzine in any way he saw fit—and it needn’t be about comic books. In response, Art sent a second postcard. [At this point, we suggest you check out the accompanying text of Castillo’s postcards on the opposite page.]

By way of paraphrase, Castillo was opining that the type of popular culture articles that the Lupoffs published in Xero was meaningless nonsense. Since Dick and Pat never took themselves too seriously, they cheerfully adopted Castillo’s put-down phrase as their fanzine’s official motto. After all, they didn’t feel the contents had to deal with deep social and political issues to be worthwhile. Why not shout it from the rooftops?

Ironically, there were no articles in Xero #5 about comic books to infuriate Mr. Castillo. Instead, it featured two “answers” of a sort to the popular “AICFAD” series.

“Fourpence Each and All in Writing” by Eric Bentcliffe, was done in the format of an “AICFAD” entry, but was about his nostalgia for British boy’s fantasy and adventure books of the late 1930s.

after the Flash re-tooling in Showcase #4, though they had been given short shrift by Schwartz. Larry’s concept drawing of a new Atom was, therefore, available for the cover of the Lupoffs’ fanzine. In the letter column of Alter-Ego #3 in late 1961, Ivie wrote that, being “an enthusiastic youngster in my early days of art school” when in 1956 Showcase #4 introduced the new Flash, he “immediately phoned National to see if they had plans for revival of any of the other old characters. Schwartz was not discouraging, and promised to keep me in mind should another character revival become imminent, and even asked me if I would be able to write my own scripts.

Another response, “The Incredulous Eye” by Ed Gorman, talks generally about his lack of interest in comics, but goes on: “The possibilities of a narrative in illustrated form are tremendous. Great things, with capable writing and illustrating, could be produced. But why waste these potential gains on fly-happy finks who have wondrous powers? I’d rather see this talent directed at human beings and their problems, rather than something I cannot understand.” And: “Attempts at adult-oriented comic books have always failed in the past, but I believe that this has been due to poor execution, distribution, etc., rather than to any invalidity of the basic idea.” It seemed that even some who decried the fare that comics generally presented saw the medium’s potential.

“I then mentioned my interviews to Ted White, a long-time National fan…. Ted was immediately enthused with the idea that National would accept new writers, and immediately set to thinking out a substantial plot… for another character revival, which he wanted me to illustrate. We chose the Atom, and, as in the original version, made him slightly smaller in size than ordinary men. This created a timely and interesting occupation for him—astronaut— where his lack of weight would be to advantage. The cover to Xero #5 was the first of three pages that were started on this idea.

Unknown to us, National had already started an Atom revival, so our efforts would have been better spent on another character.”

That explains the source of the cover illo. But what about that odd catch-phrase along the bottom: “The Fanzine of Relativistic Dadaism”? What in the world was Larry Ivie thinking of when he wrote that?

The answer is: Larry didn’t.

Write that elitist-sounding sub-title, that is.

It was originated by a fan by the name of Art Castillo—and was meant as a put-down. The Lupoffs had requested a contribution from Castillo and had received a rather curt postcard from him

This cartoon by Bhob Stewart and Larry Ivie spotlighting a mimeograph machine was drawn to accompany a free-style poem in Xero #6 by Roger Ebert, who then went by the first name “Rog.” Dick Lupoff says the caricature, however, is more likely of Ted White. [©2002 Bhob Stewart & Larry Ivie.]

Nothing Less Than Xero The other point of interest in this pivotal issue was poetry of a sort by none other than Rog (a.k.a. Roger) Ebert, later the screenwriter of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and half of the movie-reviewing team Siskel & Ebert on television (now Ebert & Roeper after Gene Siskel’s death). Ebert was quite active in science-fiction fandom while in college; he contributed poetry and/or letters to this and two more issues of Xero down the line.

[See pp. 36–37.]

11

the drum through the cut areas of the stencil and onto successive sheets of paper. From its inception, it had been a boon for amateur publishers, and was the most common method of reproduction among s-f fanzines.

Some of the most notable features of the last half of Xero’s sum of ten issues are the experiments in sophisticated mimeography, mainly masterminded by the indefatigable Bhob Stewart. Unfortunately, we are unable to fully substantiate his accomplishments in these pages. How, for example, can we reproduce some of the amazing multi-color effects he achieved? We can’t, in these all-too-black-&-white pages. But just imagine, for a moment, the devotion it took to clean the messy black ink out of the mimeo-drum so completely that an entirely new color could be added without a trace of the black creeping in. And to run the same sheets of paper through the mimeograph again to get two colors on the same page. Yet Stewart did this repeatedly, and more often, in each succeeding issue.

It didn’t stop with merely two or three colors on the same page,

Larry Ivie’s drawing of The Atom (above) was the first cover to feature the fanzine’s new quasi-official subtitle, “The Magazine of Relativistic Dadaism”... which had been inspired by a pair of postcards sent to (and reproduced in) Xero #4-5 by a less than satisfied reader, as depicted above. Here are Dick Lupoff’s comment on L’Affair Castillo:

Spawn of Edison Thomas A. Edison—best known for having invented the light bulb, phonograph, and motion-picture camera—was also responsible for many lesser-known inventions. In 1876, he came up with something called the Electric Pen, which was a precursor of what A. B. Dick called the Edison Mimeograph.

The mimeograph was a machine which allowed users to attach a stencil (cut by typewriter or hand stylus) to its drum and then, either by hand or electricity, crank out copies as ink is forced out from a pad around

“When Pat and I started Xero, fandom was dominated by a movement called ‘faanishness’ [note the two ‘a’s’].

This was an attitude that called for cynicism, detachment, and a sense of superiority to ‘mundania.’ Especially in one’s writing, the ‘faanish’ approach glorified wit, most notably skill at wordplay, and self-involvement; it devalued anything that could be remotely called ‘content’ or connection with worldly concerns.

“Pat and I decided that anything we published in Xero had to be ‘about something’—anything!—and we eschewed the deliberate nihilism and self-concern of ‘faanishness.’ We were promptly attacked by some ‘faans’ for being ‘serious and constructive.’ This did not surprise us, but we were shocked to find ourselves attacked even more vigorously by a group of self-important, highly politicized fans whose complaint was not that Xero was ‘about something,’ but that it wasn’t about the ‘something’ they wanted it to be about—radical politics.

“Obviously, the Art Castillos of the world wanted Pat and me and all of our contributors and helpers to expend our time, our energy, our talent, and our money to produce a magazine promoting their attitudes and interests.

(Xero never broke even, and we never tried to make it break even—it was a pure labor of love.)”

Roy T. here: So what was “Relativistic Dadaism”? An unabridged dictionary defines “Dada” as the name given to an early 20th century art movement in which artists “exploited accidental and incongruous effects in their work [and] programmatically challenged established canons of art, thought, morality, etc.”—while of course “relativistic” is an adjective form of “relativism,” a philosophical theory which holds that “all criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environment.” So—what was “Relativistic Dadaism”?

You figure it out. [Art ©2002 Larry Ivie; The Atom TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

12

Nothing Less Than Xero

difficult though that was to achieve.

He experimented with overlaying one color on another… or having red transmute to purple and thence to blue in the same illustration. There was even orange ink.

Maybe this is a case where “you had to be there.” Suffice it to say that Xero’s explorations of the outer limits of mimeography were tantamount to silk-screening in their effects.

Impressive, indeed. They must be remarked upon (if not depicted) in any overall history of the fanzine.

Making up for lost time, Xero #6 (September 1961) presented not one but two “AICFAD” entries.

The first, “The Several Soldiers of Victory” by Dick Lupoff, was the shortest entry (a mere five pages) of the entire series. It discussed the merits (and lack of same) of the secondstring JSA called the Seven Soldiers of Victory who appeared in DC’s Leading Comics in the 1940s. [The article is reprinted in this issue of A/E, beginning on p. 26.]

The second was “Me to Your Leader Take,” by Dick Ellington, which explored the wonderful world of Fiction House comics: jungle, sciencefiction, air adventure, and the like, though with emphasis on its Planet Comics. Both the Lupoff and the Ellington pieces benefited from more skillful stenciling by Sylvia White.

For other comics-related material in that issue, one must look to the cartoons which had become an increasingly important and enjoyable part of the mix. There’s a Batmobile send-up by none other than s-f author Algis Budrys, and a couple of nice super-hero gags by Steve Stiles. Otherwise, there are articles on “fantastic paperbacks” (by Charles M. Collins) and Jules Verne (by Lin Carter), but these and others were geared toward the s-f fan.

The seventh issue of Xero (November 1961) offered “The Wild Ones” by Don Thompson as its contribution to “AICFAD”: a look at the supernatural comic book heroes The Spectre and Dr. Fate, who were found cavorting on the back cover, thanks to the efforts of Maggie Curtis. [See pp. 30-35] The issue also found Lin Carter taking over the s-f book review column, beginning with a look at what he called “[Robert] Heinlein at the top of his form”—a highly complimentary review of Stranger in a Strange Land.

The “Willish” featured the work of s-f fan Walt Willis, who was depicted thereon. [©2002 Sylvia (Dees) White.]

If you’re wondering exactly what Pat Lupoff’s part in all these festivities was, that’s understandable, because she didn’t write an installment of “AICFAD,” and in fact didn’t do much featurewriting after her two pieces in Xero #1. Like Dick, she became largely pre-occupied with the editorial and publishing tasks involved in

Sylvia White returned in Xero #6 to adapt the cover of Planet Comics #70 (Spring 1949) for the sixth installment of “All in Color for a Dime.”

On the left is the cover of the actual comic, which of course didn’t appear in Xero. [Art ©2002 Sylvia (Dees) White.]

putting out a popular fanzine. In Xero’s actual pages, her presence is most in evidence in the letter column in each issue, “Epistolary Intercourse”—“E.I.” for short. She was the one charged with the nighimpossible task of trying to keep the column within the prescribed eight pages. She selected, edited, and responded to letters from some of the most erudite members of fandom, a task which carried with it more cachet than in comics fanzines. She acquitted herself exceedingly well in this important editorial duty, which made her responsible for a sizable chunk of each issue. (That was her most obvious contribution. It’s certain that she did lots of typing, record-keeping, and what-not behind the scenes, not to mention giving birth to their first child Kenneth on September 7th, 1961. No small ancillary task, that.)

Even More to Enjoy Suddenly, with #8 (April 1962), it seemed that Xero had been fed some sort of growth hormone. Or maybe it was just that having a House Mimeo encouraged usage of same. Whatever the case, a swell fanzine was definitely swelling. After issues that had tended to top out at 50-60 pages, Xero #8 grew to about 80 pages, #9 (September 1962) to a whopping 100, and #10 (Spring 1963) also to 100 pages.

More likely, the cause for this growth was simple: the Lupoffs, having decided around the time of #7 to bring down the curtain on Xero at an even ten issues, were simply trying to get as much of the Really Good Stuff into print as possible, before they switched off the lights and locked the door behind them.

Xero #8, referred to in the indicia as the antepenultimate issue, leads off with an Op-art experimental cover by Bhob Stewart, which was

Nothing Less Than Xero printed on several different types of paper stock and colors of paper, so that any number of variants were made.

Aside from “Fandi,” a fannish comic strip by Gary Deindorfer (entirely stenciled

by Bhob), and “The Shadow Meets Snoopy” by Henry Mazzeo, the comics content was entirely carried by that series-juggernaut, “AICFAD”—this time with one of the most lauded, and fondly remembered, of the latter entries. “The Education of Victor Fox” by Richard Kyle was a leisurely stroll The cover of Xero #7 utilized a cartoon by through the comics published mainstay Andy Reiss. [©2002 Andy Reiss.] by that self-styled “King of the Comics.” Focusing first on “The Flame” and other features in Wonderworld, Kyle managed to point out “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of Fox’s comics, eventually tracing them to their sordid, sadistic, sputtering end in 1950. It was a tour de force of its kind.

In the “penultimate” ninth issue it was left to Roy Thomas’ “Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang” article—devoted to the second-string Fawcett heroes—to provide the “comics fix.” Roy separated the Fawcett heroes into three groups: crime-fighters (Bulletman, Master Man, Mr. Scarlet, Captain Midnight), war-heroes (Spy Smasher, Minute Man, Phantom Eagle, Radar) and magicians (Ibis the Invincible, Warlock the Wizard, and others).

[See Roy’s piece about reading and writing for Xero on p. 40.]

13

Not too subtle, eh?

To capture Dick’s mood, and the way he saw things at this point, it’s worth quoting the first two paragraphs of that editorial: “Well, er, so this is the last issue of Xero. So, er, I guess I ought to write a sort of autoeulogistic editorial about the good times and the bad times that Pat, bhob and I have had putting out these ten issues, the fun and the work, the accomplishments and the disappointments, the laughter and the arguments and the bone-weary all-night mimeography sessions... And of The cover of Xero #8. ‘Nuff said? [©2002 Bhob Stewart.] course, the list of thank-yous, to artists and writers and l.o.c.-ers and most heart-felt of all to the unsung production helpers….

“But I don’t in the least feel like writing that editorial because it’s all about things past, and I find things past of decreasing interest these days.

Maybe Xero has been a purgative experience for me; I’ve worked off most of the fascination that the past formerly held for me, and while some interest remains in such temporal flotsam as 1940-vintage comics and 1930-vintage movie serials, that interest is composed of a combination of scholarly curiosity and a mild Bradburian affection for the things of childhood. For better or worse, my days as a passionate nostalgic will close with this final issue of Xero.”

By the time Xero #10 came around in spring 1963, it was clear that Dick, Pat, and Bhob were on their last publishing legs, virtually staggering to the finish line. Take the cartoon that accompanies “Absolute Xero,” which shows a horned devil pointing to a mimeo machine and intoning to bespectacled Lupoff: “And this … This is HELL.” [See p. 15.]

Richard Kyle’s “The Education of Victor Fox” (with an “interior cover” drawn by Kyle himself, under the name “Jim Moriarty”) dealt with the life and death of Fox Comics. Fox’s stable of super-heroes had included The Flame, depicted at right (but not in Xero #8) in an authentic early-’40s house ad, courtesy of Michael T. Gilbert. Kyle’s much-lauded article was finally reprinted in Hamster Press’ 2002 trade paperback Comic Fandom Reader.

Dick Lupoff writes: “Richard Kyle has always been an enigma to me. I think he is the ideal essayist: thorough in his scholarship, incisive—even profound—in his insights, scintillating in his prose; but a perfectionist and seemingly so shy of public exposure (although genial in person) that it was difficult to get his works into print. His essay on Victor Fox was nothing less than brilliant.”

A/E’s editor concurs, and adds that when in 1965 Sol Brodsky admitted he had once drawn for Fox Comics, Roy foisted his copy of Xero #8 onto Marvel’s production manager. After reading it, Sol assured Roy that, without ever having met Victor Fox or even anyone who had ever worked for him, Kyle had caught the essence of both Fox Comics and Victor Fox himself—perfectly! Over the years, other pros have confirmed Sol’s judgment. [Art ©2002 the respective copyright holders.]

As a final orgy in mimeography, the ten-page “Outer Space”

14

Nothing Less Than Xero

Bhob Stewart’s cover for Xero #9 (September 1962), juxtaposed with Roy Thomas’ “interior cover” for his article on Fawcett Comics’ non-Marvel Family heroes, drawn freehand from a copy of Nickel Comics #1 (May 17, 1940); Roy found that easier than tracing on a mimeo stencil. [Art ©2002 Bhob Stewart & Roy Thomas; Bulletman TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

portfolio offering art by the likes of Dan Adkins, Steve Stiles, Eddie Jones, and Bhob Stewart himself is genuinely jaw-dropping.

Page after multi-colored page of the most painstaking, breathtaking mimeo effects—and the artwork wasn’t bad, either!

Achieving those effects must have shortened Stewart’s projected life span by at least six months.

“I drew it fast, without thinking about it much,” Landon recounted in a telephone conversation in 1997. “I was actually surprised that the Lupoffs used it at all— and went to all the trouble and expense to print it in multiple colors. They didn’t tell me they were doing this.

When I received the issue in the mail, and Xero #10’s cover boasted a generic scene from discovered one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian novels, ‘Two drawn by the incomparable Roy G. Krenkel.

Flashes’ [Art ©2002 the estate of RGK.] inside in full color—it just about knocked me over!” It may be that “Two Flashes” was the first attempt at a four-color offset comic strip in a fanzine, which could account for some of the enthusiasm of its reception—but the majority of it must be attributed to Chesney’s gift for parody.

Then came the final episode of “AICFAD,” and it was a good one: “Sparky Watts and the Big Shots” by Richard Kyle, with outstanding tracings from the comics in question by Jim Moriarty. It was devoted to the three main characters from Vincent Sullivan’s Big Shot Comics: Sparky, Skyman (“America’s National Hero”), and The Face.

Next came “I Am the Very Model of a Comic Book Enthusiast,” Lin Carter’s charming burlesque of comics fans using the tune and meter of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” [Read it in full on pp. 38–39.]

Then... surprise! An offset comic strip! And a brilliant one, from the wonderfully talented cartoonist Landon Chesney.

Chesney would emerge in 1964 as one of the leading artists of Bill Spicer’s EC-flavored fanzine Fantasy Illustrated, with moody and mottled illustrations in the Johnny Craig tradition.

But long before he made the Spicer connection, Chesney had done up a fivepage parody inspired by “Flash of Two

Worlds” in The Flash #123, and sent it off to the Lupoffs.

[See p. 2.]

(Incidentally, Dick Lupoff informs us that “‘Jim Moriarty’ was Richard Kyle himself. Interesting derivation of the pseudonym: ‘Professor James

“Jim Moriarty” traced the cover of Sparky Watts #1 (1942) to accompany Richard Kyle’s “All in Color for a Dime” salute to the heroes of Columbia’s Big Shot Comics. This piece is now the only installment of “AICFAD” that has never been reprinted. [©2002 the respective copyright holders.]

Future s-f and comics pro artist Dan Adkins (center illo), Eddie Jones (right), and others contributed so much science-fiction art to Xero #10 that it featured an “art portfolio”, including a gorgeous back cover— excuse me, “bacover”! [©2002 the respective artists.]

Nothing Less Than Xero

15

Moriarty was the Napoleon of Crime in the Sherlock Holmes stories. A clever takeoff on the ‘T. Hief’ (i.e., ‘Thief’) and ‘Stolen by Stylvia’ bylines on earlier copied artwork.”)

The Index and Beyond When asked about the reasons for the discontinuation of Xero with #10, Dick responded, “It was a hobby project, it was never more than that,” he said. “The actual page count was up… around 100 per issue. It was getting very elaborate. We were farming out printing jobs, and having gatefold artwork, and multi-colored mimeography, and so forth.

It was a lot of work. We decided fairly early on, somewhere around the seventh issue, that we were going to cut it off.”

What Lupoff didn’t say, but which seems clear, is that this hobby publication was taking all his spare time, when he had aspirations to become a professional writer. As much as he clearly relished the job of editor, and was very good at it, he began to find the experience a bit stifling. The clerical and other petty demands of self-publishing and editing meant that he had little time to write for his own fanzine.

Then there was the fact that the Lupoffs wanted a brother or sister for Kenneth. This they achieved in June of 1964 with the birth of their daughter Kathy.

Still, their sense of symmetry impelled them to publish a Xero Index Edition in October 1963, which consisted solely of the last round of “E.I.” and a list of the contributors and the issues they contributed to. For the record, they thanked 32 artists, 49 writers of general contributions, and 75 letter-writers.

According to Bhob Stewart, Hell isn’t “other people”—it’s mimeograph machines!

Take that, Jean-Paul Sartre! [©2002 bhob Stewart.]

For Xero’s final issue, Steve Stiles contributed cartoons in the style of (and “signed” by) several of the leading s-f fan-cartoonists of the day—Andy Reiss, “ATom” (Arthur Thomson), William Rotsler, Ray Nelson, and Betty Jo (“Bjo”) Trimble—as well as himself. Steve is most familiar to comics fans as the artist of backup features in Mark Schultz’s Xenozoic Tales and, later, in Topps’ short-lived Cadillacs and Dinosaurs series. [©2002 Steve Stiles.]

16

Nothing Less Than Xero What, in the final analysis, made “All in Color for a Dime” (and, by extension, Xero) such a success? That it came along at the right time, when interest in comics was resurfacing was a big part of it. That it was intelligent and well-produced was vital. But, perhaps most important, there was the recognition within Dick Lupoff that his interest in comics was worth expressing, for he set the tone for all the future installments of “AICFAD.” While he later indicated that his desire to explore comics nostalgia had been largely expiated by his stewardship of Xero, the evidence of his love of comics past remains on those pages, immutable.

Jim Harmon expressed the sentiment behind “AICFAD” best, at the end of his JSA appreciation in Xero #3: “The Biblical idea of ‘putting away childish things’ has little appeal to me; it smacks of a rather snide and vainglorious pride in mere chronology. It demands a relinquishment of all naiveté, all simplicity, all appreciation of simple pleasures. It demands the smothering of that old science-fictional ideal, the Sense of Wonder. Perhaps the highest form of sophistication is not to emphasize but to admit whatever genuine quality of innocence is still within you.”

[NOTE: The complete texts of Bill Schelly’s in-depth interview with Dick and Pat Lupoff, and of “The Education of Victor Fox” by Richard Kyle, are reprinted in the Comic Fandom Reader, a 224page trade paperback book available for $19.95 (postpaid) from Hamster Press. Landon Chesney’s “Two Flashes Meet The Purple Slag-heap” can be found in Fandom’s Finest Comics, Vol. 2, for $9.95 from that same sterling publisher. Send check or money order to: Hamster Press, P.O. Box 27471, Seattle, WA 98125. For further information or to relay comments on this article, you can e-mail Bill Schelly at <HamstrPres@aol.com>.]

In the mid-’60s Dick Lupoff became the editor of Edgar Rice Burroughs hardcovers being reprinted by Canaveral Press; this led to the publication of his first book—Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure—which had grown in part out of the Xero experience. The frontispiece of that volume was this exquisite illustration of ERB and his creations by EC Comics greats Al Williamson and Reed Crandall. Thanks to Dick for providing as good a copy as possible. [Art ©2002 Al Williamson & the estate of Reed Crandall. Characters TM & ©2002 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

A number of books originated in one form or another in the pages of Xero. Bob Briney expanded his essay on Sax Rohmer into a book that was a full-scale biography of the creator of Dr. Fu Manchu. Lin Carter’s “Notes on Tolkien” mutated into a book called Understanding Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. Norman Clark’s “The Greatest Shows Unearthly” piece, about science-fiction in the theatre, grew into a book about the old Hippodrome Theatre in New York. And, of course, there were All in Color for a Dime and its sequel The Comic-Book Book. Between them these two books (although the second was mostly comprised of new material) reprinted virtually the entire “AICFAD” series from Xero except for Lupoff’s “The Several Soldiers of Victory,” the original version of Don Thompson’s “The Wild Ones,” and the two installments by Richard Kyle.

As for Dick, the plan he’d hatched in his teenage years—to write for the fanzines, and from there jump to becoming a professional writer of books—came true. His first was Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure, which grew out of his experience editing ERB books of Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, et al., for Canaveral Press. After that came his first novel, One Million Centuries.

In 1970, as Bill Schelly phrased it in a 1990s fan-publication, “a clean-cut Don Thompson (l.) and a shaggy Dick Lupoff (r.)” teamed up to promote the [pictured] Arlington House hardcover edition of All in Color for a Dime. When the book was reprinted in paperback

by Ace Books, there were even royalties—ditto when it was rereprinted in 1997 by Krause Publications. The Krause edition is still available; see The Comics Buyer’s Guide. Photo courtesy of Dick Lupoff, Maggie Thompson, & Bill Schelly.

Dick Lupoff

17

We Were Just Having Fun A Memory of the XERO Years

by Dick Lupoff Bill Schelly has done a remarkable job of reconstructing the story of Xero, the fanzine which Pat and I published between 1960 and 1963. Bill is a fine historian, but in case you’re interested in what it was like to be there four decades ago, weaving dizzily from the correction fluid fumes and getting mimeograph ink under your fingernails—well, here are a few recollections.

Let me say, first thing, that we never meant to make history, to start a movement, or to do much of anything except enjoy ourselves.

In 1960 Pat and I were barely out of the newlywed category. We’d married in 1958, shortly after I got out of the Army. I was a typical young businessman of the era, climbing into a three-piece suit every morning, knotting a tie around my neck, and heading off to work for a big A photo of a fedora’d Dick Lupoff in front of a bookshelf-ful of reading matter—plus a clean, corporation. Pat was a young homemaker. She had gone powerful illo of Captain Marvel by the late great Kurt Schaffenberger, courtesy of from college to marriage with hardly a hiccup of P.C. Hamerlinck. [Art ©2002 estate of Kurt Schaffenberger; Captain Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.] disruption. The idea that a woman in her position should actually enter the job market on an equal footing with her Possibly the most intriguing was Fanac, published by Terry Carr and male counterparts was still a decade away from general acceptance.

Ron Ellik; this was more of a newsletter than a fanzine in the traditional sense. By the time Pat had seen a few of these and I had tried to I’d been a science-fiction fan as well as a comic book enthusiast from “explain” fandom to her, she was intrigued, and my own interest, which childhood onward, and Pat’s curiosity was piqued when the day’s mail had faded to a faint glimmer, was rekindled. frequently contained odd little publications addressed to me, many of them crudely mimeographed on tinted, rough-surfaced paper. These We were living in a little garden apartment in Westchester County in were fanzines, of course. I’d subscribed to a lot of them in earlier years. those days. One day we received a postcard inviting us to a party being My fan connections had been important to me in my schoolboy and given by some science-fiction fans in Manhattan. We were ready to hop Army days, and they were still following me as I entered what might be into our cherry red and white ’55 Chevy Bel Air and join in the fun called the real world. when we both came down with a wild case of food poisoning. We took turns struggling from our bed to the bathroom, then crawling back as Pat was curious about those odd weak as kittens and as dizzy as drunkards. Fortunately the symptoms little publications. They included one didn’t last long, but as far as attending the party we’d been invited to, called Shaggy (short for Shangrithat was out of the question.

L’Affaires) published by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, one So that was the end of that—for the moment. called Cry of the Nameless (published by a Seattle club called The Nameless But it didn’t take long for me to tire of the commuter’s routine and Ones), and a good many others. for Pat to develop a dislike of the sterile life of suburbia. We gave up on Westchester. I sold the Bel Air to my brother for $150 and we moved to the city.

That was more like it!

Next time around we did get together with the local fan group, who were in the midst of reviving the onetime New York Futurian Society. In the 1940s this club had boasted a membership that included an astonishing number of people who went on to major careers in the world of literature. I could start with Donald Wollheim and Isaac Asimov, continue with Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth, James Blish, Virginia Dick writes re this cartoon from Xero #6: “It’s hard to read the signature... and it had been Kidd, and Damon Knight. And that’s just for starters! so long since we published it that I’d forgotten who the cartoonist was. Looked it up in the Xero Index and discovered that it was Algis Budrys. Yes, the Algis Budrys. What a surprise!” Budrys was a major science-fiction author of the period, and his novel Rogue Moon was acclaimed by fellow writer James Blish in a review in Xero. [©2002 Algis Budrys.]

The “new” Futurians included Ted White, Steve Stiles, Algis Budrys,

18

We Were Just Having Fun

and (at least on the fringes of the club) Larry Shaw, James Blish, and Bob Silverberg. As relative unknowns in the fan world, Pat and I took the plunge by joining the club, planning to attend conventions, and getting into the fanzine-publishing scene.

The Rumble was a kind of preliminary one-shot; Xero followed and ran for just ten issues, from 1960 to 1963. Pat and I wrote most of the first issue ourselves, filling it out with letters of comment on The Rumble and a movie review by Harlan Ellison.

“All in Color for a Dime,” of course, got its start in that first issue of Xero. The response was overwhelming and we quickly caught on to the idea of inviting others to contribute essays to the series. In fact, we issued a widespread appeal to anyone and everyone to contribute articles and artwork to Xero. The response to this appeal, however, was virtually nil.

In short order I learned a vital lesson. Since we weren’t offering any money to contributors, and since ours was a new fanzine with no reputation or track record to attract talent, we had to go out and scramble for material. Blanket appeals didn’t work, but people responded remarkably well to direct, one-on-one requests. Best of all was to approach a potential contributor and say, “I’d really love an article from you. If there’s something you’re aching to write about, that would be terrific. But if you’re open to suggestions, I know that you’re an authority on Topic X and would do a splendid job writing about it.”

Using this approach, we wound up with people like James Blish, L. Sprague de Camp, and Avram Davidson writing for us.

Our “office” was the living room of our apartment. I owned a SmithCorona electric portable typewriter, and I’d come home from my day job, we’d eat dinner, and then I’d settle in to type mimeograph stencils. I can see the blue, waxy things now, and almost feel their distinctive texture. We built an array of lettering guides, shading plates, and styli.

We’d set up a “mimeoscope,” a gadget consisting of a tilted sheet of frosted glass with a light bulb underneath it. You could put a stencil on the glass and work on it to add display lettering to the typed material.

Errors were fixed with a blue waxy substance called correction fluid or “corflu.”

Through the help of our friend Chris Steinbrunner we sometimes got access to a primitive scanning device that would convert artwork directly to mimeo masters, which we then cut out and pasted in place with a red gummy liquid called stencil cement.

Oh, did I ever enjoy my nights and weekends on the fanzine production line—much more than the corporate world where I spent my days!

One night, after we’d got our first few issues out, we went to a party in Queens and a tall, bespectacled man approached us. “I hear you publish a fanzine,” he said.

“Yes.” “I’d like to write an article for you.

Give me your address and I’ll send it to you. My name is Donald Westlake.”

He was as good as his word. His contribution, “Don’t Call Me, I’ll Call You,” was an angry and embittered farewell to the science-fiction

markets, which had been taking about half of Westlake’s material for several years. When his agent heard about the piece, he phoned our home in a panic, pleading with me to kill it. I told him that I couldn’t, that several hundred magazines had already been assembled and mailed and were about to start hitting subscribers’ mailboxes.

“Oh, no,” Don’s agent moaned, “he’s killed himself.”

But, on the contrary, Westlake went on to immense fame and success writing mystery novels and screenplays.

We tried to keep the circulation of Xero under control. There were fewer than 100 copies of the first issue; something like 300 of the last.

Standard price for a fanzine in the early 1960s was 25¢. We set up a price of 35¢ or three issues for a dollar in order to scare people away. Didn’t work. Envelopes kept arriving at our apartment with sticky coins and crumpled bills in them.

Our mailing list consisted of a little tin box with index cards in it, one card for each subscriber. We tried to furnish copies mainly to our subscribers, or to trade with other fan publishers; cash customers were our lowest priority. This is obviously not a professional attitude, but we were not professionals.

A prominent semi-professional science-fiction personality with a reputation for an over-inflated ego sent us some money and a copy of his personal mailing list and tried to order copies for all his friends, to be sent out in his name. We returned the money and told him, “One copy to a customer.” We received an order form from the New York Public Library and would have acceded, but their paperwork was so complicated we wound up tossing it in the trash.

Even to this day we occasionally encounter a onetime Xero reader who expresses his fondness for the magazine. I do a little work for a radio station near my home, and when Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman was in the studio for an interview he told me that he’d been one of the kids who sent his sticky coins to East 73rd Street for copies of Xero. When Leonard Maltin showed up for an interview and introductions were made all around, the famous film critic exclaimed, “Not the Richard Lupoff!”—which rocked my producer back on his heels. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon told me that he’d missed the magazine version of “All in Color for a Dime” but had slept with the Ace Books paperback under his pillow as a kid. And of course when Roger Ebert or Donald E. Westlake turns up for an interview, there is always a joyous reunion.

The “All in Color” series proved to be the mainstay of Xero’s successful run. We won a Hugo [sf fan award] for the magazine in 1963—ironically, after we had ceased to publish it. As Bill Schelly points out, most of the writers in Xero went on to professional careers—those who weren’t already pros when they came to us. Several of them expanded essays they’d written for Xero into successful books.

The Xero years were wonderful ones for Pat and me. The first few issues were mimeographed by Ted White, who was running a commercial mimeography service at the time.

Later we bought a machine of our own and took over the task. Artwork at first was stenciled by myself. And very crudely, I might add.

Once Bhob Stewart

“The ‘All in Color’ series,” Dick says, “proved to be the mainstay of Xero’s successful run.”

Steve Stiles’ cartoon from Xero #4 underscores that fact. [©2002 Steve Stiles.]

Dick Lupoff took over that job, the appearance of the magazine took a major step up, and once Bhob took charge of the overall design and appearance of Xero it rose to a still higher level.

We used to have huge, screaming fights.

“You have no respect for the words in the magazine,” I would shout at Bhob. “You treat the copy as nothing but blocks of type to use as design elements.”

“That’s all they are!” he would scream back at me, getting red in the face. “Nobody cares about the words, they’re just blocks, just gray lumps to push around and work with to show off the artwork and the display type!”

Ah, that’s the way editors and art directors are supposed to relate.

19 Winning the Hugo in 1963 was a real thrill.

We received the award at the World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, DC. We made history unknowingly at that event. As coeditor of Xero, Pat was the first woman ever to win a Hugo. Fan historians sometimes play trivia games about this point, guessing that it was Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ann McCaffrey, Leigh Brackett, or Ursula Le Guin. Nope. It was Pat Lupoff.

I managed to get a good deal of comicsrelated material into the program at that convention. In one presentation I enthused about a new comic feature that had just appeared—“Spider-Man.” In the same session I was able to reconstruct one of my all-time favorite comics stories, a “Captain Marvel” adventure from the Golden Age. A talented photographer named Phil Harrell had painstakingly created a slide-show of the story, and I was able to go through it, panel by panel, as Phil’s slides were projected onto a huge screen.

Pat and I didn’t have room in our apartment A Steve Stiles cartoon done for the cover of the for our mimeograph, so we cut a deal with Larry Xero Index Edition in October 1963, starring art and Noreen Shaw, who then lived in a house in editor Bhob Stewart. [©2002 Steve Stiles.]

Staten Island. We would keep the mimeo in their We stopped publishing Xero because we felt basement and trek out to their house whenever we needed to use it. In that we had pushed the technology and content of the magazine as far as return they would have the use of the machine for the production of we could in its then-present form. The next step would have been to their own newsmagazine Axe or other publications. switch to commercial printing (we were already using photo-offset Living in a little East Side apartment, Pat and I didn’t own a car in covers and gatefold photos) and professional status. We also played with those days. But her parents lived near us and they did own one, a huge the idea of paying our artists and writers—token amounts at first and Cadillac convertible with tail fins that could slice you in half if you more substantial rates if and when we could afford to do so. didn’t watch your step. They were generous about lending us the Caddy But we decided against all that. I had a day job and other ambitions. when we needed it, and from time to time we would borrow the car and Pat was a busy mother. We were just not prepared to go into the make our way to the Pace Paper Company in Brooklyn. Mr. Pace was a magazine-publishing business. gloriously eccentric character. We would pull up to the loading dock of his warehouse and start carrying cases of We’ve never really regretted that decision, variously colored mimeo bond out and although I will confess that we shared a mild loading them in the Caddy’s capacious melancholia when we first saw what modern trunk. computers can do with typefaces, automatic justification of copy, and other production When an issue was all run off, we tricks. “Oh, if only we’d had this when we would stack the pages in corrugated were publishing Xero,” Pat sighed. cardboard boxes and drive them back to Manhattan. We’d line them up around the But then we went back to our present-day edges of our biggest table and set a crew activities. of volunteers to marching around the table, assembling magazines. Don and It was all such great fun, such a happy Elsie Wollheim, Larry Ivie, Hal Lynch, time in our lives. That’s what it was, and that Pat, and I were regulars. As each copy was all that it ever meant to me. was completed we’d staple it together with a heavy-duty Number Thirteen We never set out to make stapler, the pride of our toolchest. When history. We were just having fun. the job was done we would hunker down Dick and Pat Lupoff today. to a dinner of wine and pasta.

Mailing the magazine out was another problem. I didn’t know anything about mailing permits or bulk rate, so we would just stick the magazines—300 copies, eventually—into manila envelopes and address them. Then I would pack a suitcase full of magazines, take the elevator downstairs late at night, and skulk around the neighborhood dropping Xeros into mailboxes. Two or three copies here, half a dozen there. I kept looking over my shoulder for fear that a postal inspector would see what I was doing and arrest me. When the suitcase was empty I’d head back to the apartment. Sometimes I would dispose of two or three batches in rapid succession, sometimes a single batch.

Monthly! Edited and published by Robin Snyder

I’d do maybe fifty copies a night that way, until all the issues were mailed out. And I never did get arrested.

Write to: Robin Snyder, 2284 Yew St. Rd. #B6, Bellingham, WA 98229-8899

20

Pat Lupoff

I Had Tons of Fun

by Pat Lupoff Being the co-editor of Xero was tons of fun. I got to help Dick pick out multi-colored paper from Pace Paper Company. Our friend George Scithers somehow got hold of day-glo paper and gave it to us for cover stock.

The vivid yellows, greens, and reds still jump out at me today. My favorite Xero cover [#8] looked like the giftwrap that was used by Bonwit Teller’s (an upscale Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan)—vivid yellow and green stripes, which if you stared at it too closely would make you dizzy.

When Dick wrote his first “All in Color for a Dime” piece, I also could take the comic books that I still liked to read in my early 20s out of the closet and go with him to newsstands and we could purchase comics together. We both loved all the Captain Marvel characters; I also liked Superman, Superboy, Mary Jane and Sniffles, Little Lulu, and the Disney Mickey Mouse serials, which still managed to scare me.

Then there was my job as letter editor of Xero. Most fanzines didn’t generate enough mail to have much of a letter column. Xero generated so much mail that it reminded me of the holiday season and getting tons of Christmas cards. At first Dick would organize the letters by subject.

For example, all the responses to his article on Captain Marvel or my article on Mervyn Peake were quoted under the headings of “Captain Marvel,” etc.

We gave credit to all who wrote to us and printed their names and addresses so they could correspond with each other. But by the third issue we were getting so much mail that I had to switch the letter column back to the usual format. I did try, whenever possible, to include an entire letter, but often, because of space and time, I had to edit them down and take out a lot of the personal material.

As the circulation of Xero grew from less than 100 to 300, the volume of mail increased in proportion. By 1962 and the last few issues we were receiving

A photo of Pat (on right) with her daughter Kathy (left) and her granddaughter Marla, sent by the Lupoffs... juxtaposed with a Mary Marvel panel from Marvel Family Comics #1 (Dec. 1945). Art by C.C. Beck. [Art ©2002 DC Comics.]

40 to 50 letters about each issue, and most of them were substantial, in effect “counter-essays” to articles we had run. If we totaled up our mail by number of pages rather than number of letters, it was often greater than the amount of material in the magazine itself.

Sometimes debates erupted between letter-writers. One such involved James Blish and Richard Kyle, and would probably have gone on for years if we hadn’t called a halt.

I found myself responding in the letter column much as I respond to e-mail today. I would start to insert my comments right into the text of somebody’s letter. I would underline my comments and just initial them, PL. We got letters from all sorts of interesting people—for example, Anthony Boucher, Frederik Pohl, Avram Davidson, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Donald Wollheim, just to name a few.

At one point I even tried to keep the letter column down to eight pages. All that paper was costing us money. I actually managed to cut the letter column to ten pages. Close enough. We felt that our authors and artists were entitled to read the comments on their work, especially since they didn’t get any money for it.

Seems to us this Stiles Because of this, even after the cartoon from Xero #9 tenth and final issue of Xero caught the spirit of was published, we brought out “EI”—and of s-f fandom in general. a special Index Edition that [©2002 Steve Stiles.] included, in addition to an index to the magazine itself, a compilation of letters of comment dealing with Xero 10.

I’ve done many things since editing the letters for Xero. I’ve raised three children, have three grandchildren, and have taken care of many fish, dogs, and cats. For the past eighteen years I’ve had a great job as a children’s buyer for a large bookstore in Berkeley, California, Cody’s Books. I still look back, however, with fondest memories of being the letter editor of Xero and receiving tons of mail.

“Epistolary Intercourse,” the letters section conducted by Pat, featured missives from people like s-f author James Blish and others. Recently, A/E’s editor heard the phrase “epistolary intercourse” used in the History Channel’s adaptation of the bestselling book The Founding Brothers, quoted from the writings of either John Adams or (more likely) Thomas Jefferson, but Pat says she just saw the phrase somewhere as a synonym for correspondence and decided to use it. [©2002 Dick & Pat Lupoff.]

Bhob Stewart

21

Gravity At DC Comics I was working in Joe Orlando’s department, editing such things as Cosmic Cards and Cosmic Teams (DC’s first trading card sets for Skybox/Impel), the Mad Style Guide (with new art by Angelo Torres, George Woodbridge, Tom Bunk, Sergio Aragonés), and samples for a proposed Mad syndicated comic strip of vintage Mad art (eventually rejected by King Features).

by Bhob Stewart

One day, I was in the elevator, and Dan Thorsland, the editor of DC’s short-lived comic book called Xero, stepped in. I couldn’t let the moment pass by, so I said, “There was a time when I was the art director of Xero.” He gave me blank stare. “It won a Hugo, you know.” Of course, he didn’t know; that was clear from his expression. The elevator reached the ground floor; we stood in the lobby, and I briefed Dan on the original Xero….

For me, it all began several decades previous in Pittsburgh, where the 1960 Pittcon was the first s-f con I ever attended. One afternoon I was stunned to see, far down the hotel corridor, Captain Marvel striding along with Mary Marvel. I gasped in amazement, my recall reeling back to 1943 when my aunt Hazel gave me a copy of Whiz Comics. Her gift opened a Fawcett that tapped into my imagination, sending me adrift with a flood of characters, colors, and futuristic fantasies for the rest of the 1940s. Suddenly, two of my childhood heroes were standing right in front of me—and that’s how I met Dick and Pat Lupoff. In costume, they actually did look like they belonged in the Marvel Family.

Later that fall of 1960, in New York, I was present when the Fanoclasts held its first meeting in the Lupoffs’ apartment on East 73rd Street, and I saw what Dick was doing with his early issues of Xero.

“I’ve always wanted to show what could be done with graphic design ideas applied to a fanzine,” I said.

He smiled and said, “I’ve always wanted to do the same with editing a fanzine.” Thus, all the puzzle pieces fell into place, and we began to work as a team on Xero, continually experimenting with words, images, color mimeography, offset inserts, and electronic stencils. Plans for Xero were often interlinked with Fanoclast parties, and sometimes Xero contributions were created during the parties. Equipped with a drink, a Rapidograph, and a stack of mimeo paper, Andy Reiss drew an endless series of amusing cartoons as the party swirled around him.

In my mind, it still swirls, a cascade of memories—Dick driving through sheets of pouring rain as we pulled over to pick up a very wet Avram Davidson, patiently waiting for us on a very narrow uptown traffic island; Dick,

Pat, and I at a Brooklyn soda fountain where Pat introduced me to chocolate egg creams; the three of us shivering in the dead of winter, the only ticket-buyers in an obscure lower Manhattan movie theater minus heat.

During a special 16mm screening of the Captain Marvel serial in the Lupoffs’ apartment, guest-of-honor Otto Binder answered questions between reel changes.

Dick and Pat ran their own version of a literary salon, where everyone from Al Williamson to James Blish might drop by.

An evening with someone like Blish sometimes led to a new Xero contribution a week later. A phone call from Dick usually meant something was going to happen: “Bhob, hi, it’s Dick. Want to have lunch with Jack Kerouac’s printer?”

One night, Dick, Pat, and I talked quietly with Famous Monsters of Filmland publisher Jim Warren, who was explaining why he chose not to put out a sciencefiction magazine. When Jim casually mentioned that he had once been a cartoonist, I handed him my Rapidograph.

Recognizing the challenge, he drew two cartoons that we later published in Xero.

These are the only cartoons by Jim Warren I’ve ever seen, and regrettably it was also the only time a Xero mimeo stencil tore, resulting in many copies with creepy and eerie blotches obscuring his drawings of a young Les Gerber in confrontations with Jim himself and with Ted White. Les later found fame as a music critic (Fanfare) and classical music host/commentator (WMHT, Schenectady, NY), who launched his own record label, Parnassus, operating from the famous Big Pink house (Music from Big Pink) near Woodstock, New York.

James Warren, then publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland (who would soon add Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella to his quiver), contributed this cartoon to Xero #5. Bhob eventually restored the art from the torn mimeo sheet via the Photoshop computer program. As for the precise story behind the cartoon—don’t ask! [©2002 James Warren.]

Besides providing logo and cover design for the later issues of Xero, Bhob Stewart also contributed interior art, such as this forerunner of the ectoplasms in Ghost Busters—for an Avram Davidson letter/article with the wonderful title “He Swooped on His Victims and Bit Them On the Nose.” [©2002 Bhob Stewart.]

Then there was the graphic designer who got an assignment from us to do a one-word heading. He had designed hundreds of book covers but found it impossible to do a three-letter word for Xero—the name “SAX,” as in “Sax Rohmer”—despite my phone calls over several weeks. At the last possible deadline minute he broke free of his block and came through with something unique.

One day led to another, and each issue led to the next. All of this happened eons earlier in another age.

Today, we live in a Dickian science-fictional world of Krell technology. Type the four letters “xero” into Google and more than 57,000 items instantly appear. At the top of the list is a ’zine called Xero, edited with “cyberpunk, industrial, and psycho-sexual themes” by several young people who seem totally unaware of the original Xero.

Should I tell them they missed all the fun?

22

The “AICFAD” Style Sheet

The “All In Color For A Dime” Style Sheet An Interloping Aside by Roy Thomas As every magazine editor and publisher quickly learns, you’re only as good as your contributors—so you’ve got to make sure that talented folks send you things they’ve written and/or drawn, and that they know the needs of your mag. Dick touches on that ever-present problem as it related to Xero a couple of articles back, when he says he and Pat had to “scramble” for material, so this seems the proper time and place to talk about— —”The AICFAD Style Sheet”!

But, before we get to that: In the “Epistolary Intercourse” (i.e., letters column) of Xero #2, Dick, rather than Pat, announced that issue #3 would feature Jim Harmon’s article about the Justice Society of America. Optimistically, he continued:

“...anyone in the New York area can use the small research facilities in my house. You might be able to talk Larry Ivie into letting you research in his collection, but I can’t speak for Larry.

“But the point is, for all the enthusiasm the first article in this series engendered on the part of readers, it’s going to die but fast if you won’t write for it.”

Elsewhere in that same “E.I.,” more s-f fans/proto-comics fans seemed ready and eager to grab the baton. Joe Sanders was quoted: “AICFAD is good.... Hey, perhaps—next summer—I might be able to write on Mickey Mouse. Not Mickey Mouse, cute TV star... not Mickey Mouse, suburban slob... but the Mickey Mouse of ‘Mickey Fights the Phantom Blot,’ etc.”

“Thereafter there’s The Spirit, recalled by Sylvia White, a longpromised and long-overdue Batman

by Bill Thailing, possibly Wonder Woman by Lee Anne Tremper, and Villains by Walter Breen.... But of all those articles listed, only Jim Harmon’s is on hand. So, will the rest of you folks please send some word on progress, plans, etc., if you can’t send in the articles yet? And anyone else who is interested (Dick Schultz, research The Heap, willya?

Check it back to its source, Sturgeon’s ‘It’ in the August ’40 Unknown... it’s been reprinted, though I don’t recall where just offhand) is welcome... urged... pleaded with?... to contribute to the series. Check with me first to avoid duplicated topics, though. Stiles went ahead and wrote a Spirit article after Sylvia White had got a goahead for hers. (Bill Thailing, please note: we’ve had another offer to write Batman. Turned him down on account of your article. Now please don’t you let us down.) Others I’d like to see in the series:

Even Bill Thailing, mentioned twice in Lupoff’s opening plea, was excerpted as saying that as of September 10 of that glorious year 1960 “the article should be ready in about 10 days.” (It never was published, though. Wha hoppen?)

Thus, in Xero #3, Dick took the bull by the horns and devoted a whole page to “The AICFAD Style Sheet,” reprinted in full on the opposite page. As he said in 2002:

“1. Cap America—Human Torch—Submariner [sic] “2. Cap Midnight, Airboy, Phoenix Squadron, Skyman, etc.

“3. Planet Comics and the characters therein “4. You tell me...

A page or two later, Tom Condit wrote that he and Martha Atkins intended to form the Marvel Family Revival Association “for the purpose of urging and aiding the revival of Captain Marvel, with Eando Binder hired at whatever fabulous salary he demands to write the continuity... There is only one membership requirement: that you write a letter to Fawcett Publications urging them to revive Captain Marvel. We’re considering making up a letterhead, etc. Why must we do it? Because it is not there.”

“Dick Schultz, research The Heap, willya?” pleaded Lupoff in #2—but if Schultz ever did, the results never made it into Xero. The Heap’s origin in the “Skywolf” feature in Air Fighters Comics, V1#3 (Dec. 1942) did indeed borrow mightily from Theodore Sturgeon’s classic 1940 tale “It,” with an added World War I aviation backstory (probably to justify its appearing in a mag called Air Fighters). The Heapster stayed in the mag when it changed its name to Airboy and dropped all the flyboys except the ever-youthful title hero, as per the above page from a 1950s English reprint, sent by Roger Dicken & Wendy Hunt. Anybody know the artist of this story? [©2002 the respective copyright holder.]

“Fans being fans (as we all were, of course), there was a lot of enthusiasm and raw talent available, but not very much know-how regarding the kind of writing I was looking for as an editor. I wanted a delicately balanced mixture of scholarship, criticism, and misty-eyed nostalgia.

A lot of people wanted to write for

The “AICFAD” Style Sheet

23

When Dick and Pat Ellington wrote a few lines in Xero #4 about fetishism in the comics of a company that had titles like Jumbo and Jungle, Pat’s bracketed reply was: “A big birdie who needs a shave today tells me that outfit was Fiction House—Malcolm Reiss and T.T. Scott. They published Jungle, Jumbo, Rangers, Fight, Wings, and— forget it not!—Planet Comics, plus a couple of minor ones (Firehair, Movie Comics, Wambi) in addition to their pulps. And we have a stack of Planet Comics and will you do the AICFAD article on them?” As a matter of fact, Dick Ellington took them up on it, and his “Me to Your Leader Take” appeared in Xero #6. The Lupoffs were not only fanzine editors and publishers; they were also a lending library! (As Alter Ego’s editor would soon discover, when Dick volunteered to loan him a stack of Fawcett Comics if he’d write the article which became “Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang” in Xero #9.)

Lewis Forbes, in #5, didn’t offer to write anything, but made this, shall we say, overly pessimistic forecast: “As for how long this kick will last: someday you’re going to run out of characters to write articles about.” (Forty years and counting, Lew!)

Dick Lupoff’s AICFAD Style Sheet from Xero #3. Yes, Virginia, there really was a ‘Green Turtle’; he lasted the first five issues of Blazing Comics. The cover of Blazing #2 (July 1944) and of #3-4 featured virtually identical humorous shadows of turtles waving their paws. What were the good people at Rewl Publications thinking of??

[Style Sheet ©2002 Dick Lupoff; Blazing cover ©2002 the respective copyright holder.]

us but just didn’t know how to go about it. The style sheet turned out to be very helpful, and upon looking at it again for the first time in fortyplus years, I think it was pretty good.

“Among the people who were going to write for Xero was my friend Lee Anne Tremper, who produced a splendid first draft of an essay on Wonder Woman. I don’t know what ever happened to Lee Anne’s manuscript, but it disappeared down some rabbit hole or other— probably my fault. Unfortunately, she had not made a carbon copy. She was going to do the whole thing over from scratch—truly above and beyond the call of duty—but somehow she never did. A real loss.”

From time to time, throughout the fanzine’s history, mention would be made of potential features—or at least requests for same.

In Xero #3 Ruth Berman asked wistfully if there was “anyone who has the ‘primary research material’ to do an article on the Captain Video and Tom Corbett comics,” particularly the former. (As we now know, they were drawn by the late great George Evans—and well scripted, too, partly by William Woolfolk.)

When Redd Boggs defended the ludicrous origin of MLJ’s Steel Sterling (he got his powers by jumping into a vat of molten steel), Pat asked: “Hmmmmm. Would you consider doing an article on the psychology of super-heroes?” Under its editing partners, Xero was game for anything.

In the Xero Index Edition, after the fanzine itself had run its ten-issue course, the Lupoffs listed (in answer to reader requests) some of what might have been the contents of the “phantom Xero,” the issue(s) they could have published had they kept on going. The “All in Color for a Dime” section, they said, “might have consisted of any of the following: “‘Of (Super) Human Bondage’... by Larry Ivie and Lee Anne Lavell “‘Memos from the Boy Commandos’... by Harlan Ellison “‘Jingle Jangle Tales & The Pie-Faced Prince of Old Pretzelburg’...

by Harlan “‘It’s Magic!’ by Don Thompson and Dick Lupoff “‘At Home in the Batcave’... by Laurence M. Jannifer and Marion Zimmer Bradley “‘Charles Biro and Mr. Hyde’... by Don Thompson. “‘Airboy and the Heap’... by Dick Schultz. “‘That Crazy Buck Rogers Stuff’... by Ray Beam.”

Harlan Ellison’s piece on George Carlson’s Jingle Jangle Comics did make it into first-time publication at decade’s end, in the hardcover version of All in Color for a Dime—and in their followup The ComicBook Book Thompson and Lupoff teamed up under a pseudonym to write “It’s Magic!” incorporating much of Don’s earlier Xero offering on The Spectre and Dr. Fate. But the rest of the projected “phantom Xero” is as lost as— Well, as lost as Bill Thailing’s “September 10 for sure” article on Batman!

And now, time for some actual previously-unreprinted pieces from the ten issues of Xero—a sort of short, informal second or third volume of All in Color for a Dime, so to speak—complete with the original title-lettering to each piece, and starting with a few choice paragraphs from Otto O. Binder, perhaps the best of the “Captain Marvel” writers....

24

At Home With The Marvels

[from Xero #3, January 1961; text © 2002 estate of Otto Binder] [2002 INTRODUCTION BY DICK LUPOFF: When I took that copy of Xero #1 up to the Space World offices, I was, believe it or not, terrified—I should say, awestruck—at the prospect of meeting the great Otto Binder. The publisher of the magazine, by the way, was Bill Woolfolk, who had been another “Captain Marvel” scripter among his other accomplishments. I believe Woolfolk invented Mr. Atom, a superb villain. I left the fanzine with the receptionist at the Space World office because I was too shy to ask if Mr. Binder or Mr. Woolfolk was even there.

[When Otto sent me a gracious letter thanking me for commenting on the magazine, I was overwhelmed.

Eventually, Pat and I became friends with the Binder family. We visited their home at their invitation. Later, when Chris Steinbrunner arranged a screening of The Adventures of Captain Marvel in our apartment, we prepared ourselves for the arrival of Otto, his wife Ione, and their daughter Mary. We dressed our infant son in a bright red diaper decorated with a yellow lightning bolt.

In walked the Binder family, and we proudly handed Otto our own pride and joy, “Captain Marvel Baby.”]

In Xero #3 Sylvia White adapted a then-recent photo of Otto Binder from an issue of Bill Woolfolk’s Space World magazine. And above is a panel-drawing by C.C. Beck and company from an early-’40s ad for “the growing Captain Marvel Club.” [Xero art ©2002 Sylvia (Dees) White; CM art ©2002 DC Comics.]

You Lupoffs have had an experience I never did—seeing the complete run of the Captain Marvel serial. I only caught a few chapters. Where in the world do they run such things complete?

Now, let me sincerely commend you for a remarkable resume of the Cap’n’s adventures. Your insight into many of the reasons we did certain phases of it is almost psychic. We did deliberately decide CM mustn’t be too all-powerful for lack of suspense. Sivana was a comics-tailored Fu Manchu, although he was really modeled after the then-ubiquitous “mad scientist.”

And we did rack our collective brains (Lieberson, Crowley, Beck the artist, and myself) to get the big twist of Mr. Mind being a worm. In fact, up till a couple chapters before this revelation, we hadn’t yet decided what he would be. The worm bit suddenly popped out of my mouth (I hope my memory is accurate that it was my mouth) and the others said crazy, man, that’s it. All of us had more real slobbering fun with that serial than anything else we did. Somehow, Mr. Mind just wrote himself once he appeared in Beck’s inimitable version with his rubber-faced frowns and leers. He became more real to us than such villains as Black Adam, Oggar, or even Sivana. The World’s Maddest Scientist, however, ran a close second in our book and he was good for reappearances through the eleven-year career of the Cap’n. [Note: Actually, Captain Marvel lasted fourteen years. —Roy.] You give me too much credit, however. To set the record straight, I did not dream up Sivana. When I began writing “CM” scripts, along about a year after his debut, Sivana was already there, plus Beautia. He was the combined product of Bill Parker and Charles C. Beck, the original writer-artist team that started the strip. Your comments as to “direct imitation” I will give a no-comment tag, as this was the basis on If only Otto were still around to see this! In 1989 the American Nostalgia Library (an imprint of Hawk Books Limited in London) published a gorgeous, giant-size, full-color hardcover titled The Monster Society of Evil, which reprinted all 25 chapters of the Mr. Mind serial from 1943-45 issues of Captain Marvel Adventures.

The cover of a four-page advertising flyer, pictured here, is itself a collector’s item!

This volume is a crown jewel in the collection of any Capfan. It deserves a DC Archive edition all to itself! [Captain Marvel & Mr. Mind TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

Otto Binder which Superman-DC sued from 1941-53. The case never reached court.

In a private settlement, Fawcett agreed to drop “CM” and pay an undisclosed amount. Though not required to do so, they decided to drop all their comics, which left us all high and dry. Sales had been slipping and they decided to go in other directions—pocketbooks, one-shot how-todo-its, etc.

A month later I was writing for our former rivals, DC. I’m not sure whether you knew this, as your article seems to make no mention of “Superman” scripts written by me. Anyway, I did switch from the ghost of CM to the alive Superman, which is not as unusual as it seems, in that “Superman”’s editor, Mort Weisinger, had bought many of my s-f pulp stories long before comics existed. Thus we were old friends and he invited me to write for him (I had actually done some comics for him several years before but stopped when the first suit-petition was brought forth as it wouldn’t be politic to work for the two firms involved).

So for the past eight years I’ve written “Superman,” almost as long as I did for CM. Besides “Superman” stories, I’ve written “Superboy,” “Jimmy Olsen,” “Lois Lane,” etc. I wrote the first issues of both the latter, but the ideas were strictly Mort’s, not mine. He just chose me as the writer to launch them.

Incidentally, turning the clock back again, I wrote the first issue (and almost all the stories afterward) of “Mary Marvel” and The Marvel Family. As you guessed, though, I had little to do with “Captain Marvel Jr.,” originated by Ed Herron and drawn by Mac Raboy, who now does Flash Gordon.

Some statistics might interest you. I kept records of all the comics scripts I did: Captain Marvel . . . . . . . . . . 529 Captain Marvel Jr. . . . . . . . . 161 Mary Marvel . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Marvel Family . . . . . . . . . . . 144

25

A grand total of 986 “Marvel” stories (besides such others as “Ibis,” “Golden Arrow,” and such nonMarvel types). These were between the years 1941 and 1953. Of the “Jon Jarl” short-story series in Captain Marvel Adventures, I cranked out 83 science-fiction tales all told. I also wrote the Captain Marvel Storybook.

By the way, perhaps you are unaware of my doings at DC. Besides the ones mentioned already, I wrote the “Tommy Tomorrow” series in Action Comics for several years, totaling some 59 before it was transferred out of Mort’s books to the editors of a different book, which is how they work there.

A later C.C. Beck drawing for FCA of Dr. Sivana,

repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, Also, before I became courtesy of P.C. Hamerlinck. [Art ©2002 estate of Mort’s “exclusive” writer, I C.C. Beck; Dr. Sivana TM & ©2002 DC Comics.] wrote for Julius Schwartz— I’m sure you know his name as an old-time s-f fan—who is a DC editor of various comics including Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures. I did probably a hundred for him (my records are not yet totaled on this) before I was yanked into Mort’s preserve. To complete the story of my science-fiction writings in the comics, I also did series for Ziff-Davis, for Standard Pubs, for Gaines, and a few other odd titles (in the day when they totaled over 500) to the tune of several hundred of scripts.

But even after some eight years I still have a warm spot in my cardiac region for those gone-forever days of writing the Big Red Cheese.

Incidentally, besides Lieberson, the editor of the CM group, Wendell Crowley, had a great deal to do with the exploits and evolution of the Marvel saga. He helped a lot in working up Mr. Mind, Sivana stories, Mr. Tawky Tawny, and the Marvel Family tales. Also, C.C. Beck, the artist, threw in many inspirational ideas. His artistry, I always thought, had a spark of genius. He seemed to be sparked off my scripts into doing sensationally great works, and I in turn would be further excited imaginatively to new gimmicks. We had quite a superb team going for many years, until destiny decreed limbo for CM. My brother Jack also did a certain amount of the “Marvel” tales, notably “Mary Marvel,” plus whole issues of CM in his shop of artists when Beck couldn’t handle it all. We’ve all sort of scattered, like galaxies in the expanding universe. Will Lieberson did some freelancing, is now the editor of Monsieur. Wendell Crowley went into the lumber business. Beck moved to Florida and is doing commercial advertising.

My brother Jack is in upstate New York doing statues and various exhibit pieces for the playland parks near Lake George.

In one of the many intelligently whimsical tales of Captain Marvel (quite possibly by Otto, since it appeared in Marvel Family #62, Sept. 1951), Cap went back in time so he could rescue endangered persons in a different order and thus save them all. And don’t we wish we could turn Father Time’s hourglass upside down and go back and pick up those vintage issues for 10¢! (Not pictured in Xero #3, of course.) [©2002 DC Comics.]

Your comment on Bizarro being somewhat of a take-off on Levram is another curious “psychic insight”—I wrote the first and all succeeding Bizarro tales. Yet the original idea came from Mort, without any thought of Levram, I’m sure. But I suppose my rendition of Bizarro partook of Levram, somehow subconsciously, in my own mind.

Somehow, this all seems of a remote past that itself seems part of another world.

26

The Several Soldiers of Victory ration of children’s costumes, wrist watches, raincoats, lunch boxes, and scores of other tie-ins, and inspirer of dozens upon dozens of other assorted tight-suited, power-laden comic book heroes.

What, to ask the question I started towards way back there, happened to Jerry Siegel? Why, exactly what you would expect to happen: he went on writing comic books. And, while the magic lightning never again struck as it had with Superman (if you’ll pardon the mixed mythos), some of those post-Krypton Siegel creations were pretty creditable.

The Spectre, for instance. Remember that deathly-white, greenhooded and cloaked mystic being of seemingly limitless powers, who livened More Fun Comics for some years? Siegel’s.

Remember the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, the patrioticallygarbed team who combined brain and brawn with precision teamwork, a few tricks, and a super-auto, to combat evil and aid the forces of law and order? Siegel’s.

Let’s talk about the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy. The brains of the team were supplied by the Kid, secretly Renfrew Sylvester Pemberton, youthful scion of a millionaire tradition. The brawn came from Stripesy, otherwise known as the Pembertons’ chauffeur, Pat Dugan.

Hal Sherman was assigned to draw the strip, and the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy were introduced with both a front-cover action drawing and a full color back-cover portrait on Star Spangled Comics

[from Xero #6, September 1961; text © 2002 Dick Lupoff] [2002 INTRODUCTION BY DICK LUPOFF: As the late sciencefiction great Damon Knight once pointed out, there is a distinct danger (and a conflict of interest) involved in an editor’s buying and publishing his own works. Of course, in Xero we didn’t exactly “buy” anything, but by this time Xero had become a very prestigious outlet, and there was heavy competition to get into its pages. I must have been guilty of some arrogance to run my own material this way.

Fortunately, nobody called me on it.]

You’re a struggling young comic book writer. You and your artistpartner grind out a series of competent but generally uninspired strips— “Radio Squad,” “Federal Men,” “Slam Bradley,” “Dr. Occult”—and then one day you create the most valuable single fictional creation in the entire history of literature: Superman.

Surprisingly, you have trouble peddling “Superman” at first, but once the strip is bought and appears in Action Comics, it is an immediate sensation. Prepared now to cash in on the immense value of your creation, you discover to your dismay that when you sold the first “Superman” story, you sold not only that story but all rights to Superman! This of course is exactly what did happen, lo, those twenty years ago, to Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist).

What happened next is of present interest, specifically what happened next to Jerry Siegel, brain-parent of the comic character who has become a household word, a national and international institution, who has been the hero of radio and television series, movie serials, animated adventures, and a feature motion picture, subject of a hard-cover book, inspi-

(Above Left:) The title page to this article in Xero #6 (Sept. 1961)... and (above) the splash of Leading Comics #1 (Winter 1941). The figures from the splash, “stolen by Sylvia [White],” were the only art originally accompanying Lupoff’s brief offering.

The “Seven Soldiers of Victory” never had a group logo. Jerry Bails thinks the art “might be by Fred Ray, with Cliff Young or Lee Harris inking, but that’s a guess.”

Most of their stories were apparently scripted by Joe Samachson. [©2002 DC Comics.]

Dick Lupoff #1. The Kid wore a blue jersey and tight blue hood studded with white stars, a red belt and tights, and over them blue trunks and boots. The huge Stripesy wore a shirt of broad horizontal red and white stripes. No covering hid his curly orange hair. From the waist down his attire resembled that of the Kid, except for the reversal of reds and blues. Fighting the fiendish Dr. Weerd with football-like signals and maneuvers, the Kid and Stripesy dominated Star Spangled Comics for only a year before being upstaged by Simon and Kirby’s Guardian [in “The Newsboy Legion”], and finally being dropped. But let’s move on from Star Spangled Comics.

in Action was Stuff, an Oriental youth known as “the Chinatown Kid.” But forget Stuff for this article.

And finally Oliver Queen and Roy Harper, better known as those modern-day Robin Hoods, Green Arrow and Speedy, made their excitement-filled way through the pages of More Fun Comics. That was long ago, and the array of arrows used by George Papp’s daring archers was simple—an arrow-line in addition to a quiver of conventional shafts—as compared to today’s arsenal of rocket arrows, radar arrows, television arrows, magnetic arrows, boomerang arrows, and assorted other absurdities.

Imagine a knight of the days of King Arthur, embodying the virtues of chivalrous conduct of strength, skill, lofty mind, and noble soul. Imagine such a man garbed in golden mail and scarlet cloth, mounted upon a magically winged white stallion and armed with Excalibur itself, cast forward into modern times by the enchantment of Merlin, making his way in the world as assistant curator of a museum of antiquities, but emerging, when the cause of justice called him forth, as Justin the bold: the Shining Knight.

Just such a man did exist, or at least he existed in the enchanted world of the children (and others) who read Adventure Comics in the 1940s and thrilled to his exploits as they were unveiled month after month. Justin used archaic forms like “’swounds” and “forsooth,” and periodically dreamed of returning to the Arthurian age, but he never made it.

27

Green Arrow and Speedy alone remain of this roll of courage, but once these adventurers composed a corps of thrills and gallantry as they faced menace and malignity in issue after issue of Leading Comics.

For these were the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

The “Seven Soldiers” stories were perhaps not quite as uninspired as Dick Lupoff portrays them. The sixth one, for example, featured a cover scene (and tale) that never occurred in any “Justice Society” adventure in All-Star Comics’ far longer run—namely, the heroes battling each other! Art by Ed Dobrotka. [©2002 DC Comics.]

Try to conceive of an ordinary man with an ordinary name, an ordinary job, and an almost-ordinary houseboy named Wing. Fill in the blanks now... name: Travis; job: newspaper editor.

Try to imagine this ordinary pair, a well-off bachelor and his Chinese houseboy, donning a pair of tight-fitting costumes of red and yellow, setting forth to face danger and to find triumph in the face of evil, confounding their enemies with capsules of blinding crimson vapor but gaining ultimate victory through no device save their own courage and agility.

Try, and you may find it impossible today. But make yourself six years old and the year 1941, and your world the child’s world of giants and spirits and sorcerers and heroes, and you will find it easier to imagine the Crimson Avenger and Wing as they appeared in Detective Comics, the duo a creation of Jack Lehti.

Don’t let’s stop the catalog of heroes now. Let’s go on with some more. Let’s go on with the Vigilante. The Vigilante was Morton Meskin’s modern-day cowboy hero who rode a motorcycle instead of a horse, and who took a modern approach to his gangland adversaries. The Vigilante wore a cowboy’s broad-brimmed hat and a bandit-like bandanna mask to hide his secret identity of Greg Sanders, a strictly Eastern entertainer known as “The Prairie Troubadour.” The Vigilante roared through the big cities of Action Comics in the early 1940s, in western garb and on his motorcycle, sending gangsters to jail, and singing with a “golden voice” to earn his keep—a rare occupation in a comic hero. His sidekick

When [editor] Whitney Ellsworth gained authority in 1941 to start a new anthology type comic, he ran down the list of available DC-group heroes to select a cast of characters. Each of the DC comics featured a colorful array of adventurers (except only the single-hero books like Superman and Batman), including costume heroes galore, plus magicians, cowboys, and detectives.

Ellsworth selected five favorite features and brought them together in this new quarterly, Leading Comics.

The first issue of Leading Comics opened with a somewhat flamboyant but not overly original blurb; nonetheless, it was an inviting one and not without promise:

From today on, the grim hosts of gangdom have a new and powerful combine of righteousness to contend with.... You know all these heroes... Now follow them as they pool their vast powers* to lash out with crushing force against dark demons of destruction in the hand of a mastermind of machiavellian cunning and power!

But how came these gallant figures to join in mortal combat against the arch-criminal and his glittering galaxy of goons? Strangely enough, it was the arch-criminal himself who brought them together!

Turn this page... read on... learn how the super-ego of a supercrook led him to pit himself against these modern knights of the round table.

Yes, turn the page and you find The Hand, “the greatest criminal the world has ever known,” being told by his doctor that “The X-rays are conclusive.” He has less than a month to live. There is no hope. The Hand—a Napoleon of crime, whose masterstrokes have stunned the * The “powers” referred to were not the superhuman or supernatural powers held by such as Superman or the Spectre. None of the Seven Soldiers possessed any such “powers.” One can only surmise that the writer was somewhat confused, or else that he was using the word in its more mundane sense, referring to the powers of unusually (but not unnaturally) keen minds and trained bodies.

28

Leading #10 (Spring 1944) was probably the pick of the litter. Its splash page previewed the four teams into which the Soldiers would split. Art by Louis Cazeneuve. [©2002 DC Comics.]

The Several Soldiers of Victory world! An enigma the police have never solved... devises a scheme to play the greatest game of all! He will outwit the cleverest brains on the side of the law! He will make the world remember him forever!

A Pacific storm, a mysterious “ghost ship,” a hidden reef, and the Seven are shipwrecked. They drift to different islands, only to find their usual alignment of teams badly disoriented.

He proceeds to engineer prison breaks and gather the master criminals of the day: Professor Merlin, the Red Dragon, Big Caesar, the Needle, and the Dummy... into a single coalition of crime.

Stripesy and Wing (now there’s a team for you) find an island where several of the King’s “nobles” are living high by mercilessly exploiting the descendants of long-ago shipwrecked colonists. These poor quasiindigenous folk are pacifists by tradition; further, the “nobles” have been passing themselves off as representatives of the King’s government, and the result is nothing less than tax-slavery for the poor yokels.

Issuing a challenge to the as-yet-unacquainted heroes, he causes them to assemble and deploy against the five surrogate villains. Green Arrow and Speedy defeat Dr. Merlin in Death Valley. The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy overcome the Needle in Panama. The Crimson Avenger and Wing outwit Big Caesar on Broadway. The Shining Knight whips the Red Dragon in the Wamona Valley. And finally the Vigilante (Stuff stayed in Action Comics) foils the Dummy in Hollywood.

But The Hand remains at large! Mocking the reassembled heroes, he reveals (via tele-screen) his hiding place. They cannot harm him; he is a dying man.

Then comes the phone call from The Hand’s physician. A new treatment is devised. He can be saved! Battling in frantic hope now against the combined forces of good, The Hand ends his career ironically, accidentally electrocuted.

In all, it was not a bad beginning. Essentially a collection of repetitious adventures, the first Leading Comics was better integrated than some “combined-adventure” anthologies. But while not really bad (for its type), the first issue of Leading creates a discouraging impression of formula, a sorry lack of elan which boded ill for the series.

And the foreboding was borne out in Leading Comics #2, wherein the Black Star and another collection of villains run the adventurers through an almost identical sequence of challenge and chase. And issue after issue of Leading offered discouragingly little variation on the theme. Perhaps that is all the more reason why a shift in the standard plotline was welcomed when it came in the best of the Leading group’s adventures, that of “The King of the Hundred Isles” in Leading Comics #10. This adventure was instigated by Professor Moresby, superior and confidante of the Shining Knight.

A scientific expedition has disappeared in the Pacific, and Professor Moresby seeks Justin’s aid in the search. Justin calls on his fellow adventurers, and the Seven Soldiers set sail.

The Crimson Avenger and Speedy team up to make a rather comfortable adjustment to tropic island living, only crooks are encountered, and the Avenger and Speedy are bound and left on a rock to be drowned by the rising tide. They escape, however (their bonds are eaten by little fish), overcome and maroon the crooks, and set out in a motorboat which they appropriate from the baddies.

The Green Arrow and the Vigilante land on the home island of the King himself, a remarkably Eney-looking fugitive from justice who has established an island empire all his own. Much combat later, the island itself sinks beneath the waves, leaving King, cum henchmen, and the two heroes, to escape in opposite directions.

Well, our two social reformers, Stripesy with his unguided muscles and Wing, looking ridiculous as ever in his baggy trunks, almost overcome evil but are instead overcome by evil, and as the chapter ends, they face a painful and protracted death.

The Shining Knight and the Star-Spangled Kid, in their turn, find the missing expedition over which the entire mess began (remember?), stranded but safe, merrily carrying on the icthyological research it was originally intended to accomplish. Criminals arrive, the Kid is captured, but Justin escapes despite being knocked out, as his horse bears him, all unknowing, into the sky where he regains his senses. Justin promptly returns to Earth, saves the Kid, whereupon they set out to round up their separated comrades and defeat the bad guys. It takes them two more chapters of running battle, but they succeed.

And that, that was the best of the fourteen “Seven Soldiers” adventures.

The Seven Soldiers of Victory lasted until 1945, appearing quarterly for four and one half years before they were dropped.

Leading Comics then became a cute-little-funny-animals comic aimed at what even we preadolescent readers of the former Leading called “little kids.”

The Seven Soldiers of Victory, as a group, never attained great success, and it might be well to ask why. I can think of at least to reasons.

(1) As the sum of its parts, Leading Comics was made up of sadly non-viable ingredients.

Only Green Arrow survives of the Seven Soldiers (along with his sidekick Speedy), and despite Green Arrow’s recent “election” to the JLA, even he has never been a star of the first magnitude.

Jon Small’s cover for the final super-hero issue of Leading was uncharacteristically dark and moody. Or maybe the artist knew it was the last issue so just blacked in some of the figures. As Walt Kelly once said in a Pogo book, “These silhouettes sure saves a mess o’ drawin’!” [©2002 DC Comics.]

Dick Lupoff

29

Not even the unifying theme of a JSA-like league of crime-fighters was developed very well, the Seven remaining a rather loose association throughout their joint career. Their foes were even duller than the heroes, and the stories were admirable for plot no more than for characterization.

In short, Leading Comics had neither any externally-developed raison d’être nor that self-provided justification of art, the fact that it is art. The wonder is not that Leading survived no longer than it did, but that it did not perish far sooner.

By the way, if you’ve been counting the Soldiers of Victory all through this article and you keep getting eight instead of Seven: Star-Spangled Kid Stripesy Shining Knight Crimson Avenger Wing Vigilante Green Arrow Speedy ...the lesser halves of teams being indented... it’s Wing who’s causing your distress. I mean, it’s bad enough that Stripesy was a servant, and that Speedy was an assistant... but at least they were white. You don’t expect a non-Caucasian servant to be counted, do you?

The Seven Soldiers returned to the DC Universe in the three-part JLA-JSA crossover that began in Justice League of America #100 (June 1972). Script by Len Wein, art by Dick Dillin & Joe Giella. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Brian H. Bailie. [©2002 DC Comics]

Lacking characters capable of generating the interest stirred by the likes of the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Spectre, and Wonder Woman (all members of the old JSA), Leading could never hope to be anything but a pale, washed-out imitation of All-Star Comics, which is, of course, exactly what it was.

(2) Accepting the innate weakness of the characters in the group, the Seven Soldiers might still have been made to amount to something, except for the at-best merely mediocre art and the simply very bad writing of their adventures.

In the mid-’70s DC staffers stumbled across the script for a never-published 15th issue of Leading Comics that had been written in the 1940s. They had it belatedly illustrated and printed over the course of several issues of Adventure Comics, starting with two chapters in #438 (March-April 1975) which were drawn respectively by Justice League penciler Dick Dillin (with inking by Tex Blaisdell) and by Howard Chaykin, who was heavily influenced by a handful of early-1950s “Shining Knight” stories drawn by Frank Frazetta. [©2002 DC Comics.]

30

The Wild Ones In the center ring, courtesy of Bill Schelly: Don & Maggie Thompson at the fabled “Alley Tally,” a gathering of Midwestern comics fans at Alter Ego founder Jerry Bails’ Detroit home on March 21-22, 1964, for the purpose of counting the votes for fandom’s Alley Awards. Two years earlier, Maggie Curtis had provided the swipes/illos for her future spouse’s second “AICFAD” entry. The title page is on the left; the drawing on the right, used as the back cover of Xero #7, is an homage to More Fun Comics, in which both The Spectre and Doctor Fate first appeared.

Both combine figures by Bernard Baily (Spectre) and Howard Sherman (Dr. Fate).

[Art ©2002 Maggie Thompson; Spectre & Dr. Fate TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

[from Xero #7, November 1961; text © 2002 Maggie Thompson] [2002 INTRODUCTION BY DICK LUPOFF: No danger of writer/editor conflict of interest here. Don Thompson was not yet involved in the editorial process. That came later, after several publishers heard about what we were doing in Xero and proffered contracts to bring out All in Color for a Dime and later The ComicBook Book in collected form. Problem was, I’m one of the world’s worst administrators, so at my request Don took over that side of the project, winning my eternal gratitude—and making the books possible. We took Don’s essay on The Spectre and Dr. Fate as the basis for a chapter in the latter book; I added a lot of material on magicians Don didn’t cover; he then put a gloss over the whole thing and we ran it under the joint pseudonym of “Dick O’Donnell.” It wasn’t much of a secret, however.]

[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Though the expanded all-magicians article is currently on view in the trade paperback reprint of The ComicBook Book available from Krause Publications (see The Comics Buyer’s Guide), Don’s piece from Xero #7, which is both more limited in scope and often different in phrasing, has never before been reprinted in its original form. Thus, by permission of Maggie Thompson, we are proud to re-present it for the first time since 1961.

—RT.] Superman is a sissy.

Oh, sure, he can withstand A-bombs, jump from Earth to another solar system without kicking Earth out of its orbit, melt metal with heat vision, look through walls with x-ray vision, travel into past or future (sometimes being corporally present, sometimes invisible and intangible—but always ineffective), and do all sorts of wondrous things.

But he can’t grow larger than the solar system or smaller than an atom. He can’t fight a duel with comets as weapons, ski on stars, raise the dead, stop time, or talk with God.

But The Spectre could. And did.

The Spectre could have given Superman cards and spades and still beaten him soundly, while simultaneously trouncing Batman, Captain Marvel, and all the rest. The Spectre was one comics character who really was omnipotent. He could, quite literally, do anything. Nothing could kill him, because he was already dead. He was an honest-togoodness ghost, with the most amazing range of powers of any comic book hero.

The Spectre, like Superman, was a creation of the fertile mind of Jerry Siegel, whose byline appeared on all the stories. The artist who took credit for drawing the strip was Bernard Baily, who apparently was proud of his work, because he signed it both at the beginning and at the end of each story. Baily also was credited with the early adventures of Hourman, back when Hourman took dope to be superhuman.

Siegel, apparently flushed with the success of Superman, lavished still more powers on The Spectre. Too many powers, as it turned out. For a while, it’s fascinating to follow the adventures of a hero who can do anything, but only for a while. After that, it gets kind of boring.

About the only thing The Spectre never did was to get a comic of his own. The Spectre appeared in More Fun Comics #52 (Feb. ’40) to #106 (late ’45) inclusive and was a member of the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics for quite a while.

Possibly because of his omnipotence, he was relegated to the back of the book after a while. A hero who can do anything and who is totally invincible doesn’t create much suspense. Besides, he was frightening.

The Spectre was the ghost of Jim Corrigan, a “hard-fisted” police detective who was clobbered by crooks who had kidnaped his fiancee, dumped into a barrel, encased—still alive—in concrete, and chucked into the river. You can’t get much deader than that.

Don Thompson

Spectre the hard way, sewing it laboriously by hand (a strange talent to be possessed by a hardfisted police detective, no?) when he could have created it out of moonbeams, spider webs, or cool night air with a perfunctory thought.

Jim’s spirit rose from the barrel and headed heavenward, with only a momentary pang about leaving Earth and his fiancee, Clarice Winston. He was rather looking forward to eternal rest, but a voice (obviously God, although never explicitly stated to be Him) told him that he could not have his eternal rest until he had wiped out all crime on Earth. All of it. A pretty tall order, but he was promised special abilities.

Possibly his lack of skill as a tailor accounted for the bagginess of the green shorts which he wore over a skin so deathly white that it looked almost as if he were wearing snowy tights. Green gloves, cloak, and hood and floppy green boots completed the costume. The face of The Spectre was the same deathly white, with dark shadowed eyes and a grim, tight-lipped mouth. He was quite imposing, more than slightly frightening.

He returned to the river where his body lay and discovered that he did not need to breathe, that he could walk on water, levitate, or disappear at will, grow or shrink to whatever size he wished, and walk through walls. Armed with these weapons, and many more he didn’t know about yet, he set out to rescue Clarice from the gangsters who had killed him.

This was where the first installment of the two-part origin story (#52-53, February and March 1940) ended.

The second began, with a very brief synopsis (52 words), exactly one panel later. The last panel of the first installment showed Jim walking into the wall of a warehouse. The first panel of the second chapter showed him emerging, halfway through the wall, in the room where “Gat” Benson’s gangsters were menacing Clarice.

31

This single page from the “Spectre” story by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily in the pre-JSA All-Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940) illustrates two of Don Thompson’s points: the cosmic nature of his battles with unearthly foes, and the ultraconvenient way in which Spec was granted any new powers he needed, anytime he asked. Sorry that a word or three got cut off on the left when this page was photocopied from Ye Editor’s bound volumes. [©2002 DC Comics.]

The poor damned hoods never had a chance. Their bullets either bounced off him or went through him with no effect, whichever he wished. One by one he called them to him and had them look into his eyes, where they apparently looked either upon Death incarnate or the very pits of Hell itself. They either died or went mad on the spot.

However, one of the shots fired during this brief melee hit Clarice, and she was dying. Corrigan touched the wound and the wound closed, healed, and vanished as it if had never been.

Since Clarice had fainted, he was able to explain away the death or insanity of the baddies quite easily—especially since he then distracted her attention by breaking their engagement. He felt, with some justification, that a ghost was no sort of husband for a fine girl like Clarice.

Not knowing his reasoning—or even that he was a ghost—Clarice refused to let him go, and this led to the stock comic book situation of the heroine chasing the reluctant hero with matrimony as her object. But there were a couple of differences. Corrigan was more than willing to marry her but felt his lack of mortality (not necessarily immortality; with his powers, it isn’t inconceivable that he could have wiped out crime and got what was always referred to as eternal rest) prevented this, I’m not sure why; also, Clarice was in love with Jim, not his alter ego, The Spectre. Believe me, nobody but the most ardent necrophile could have loved the “grim ghost.”

For some reason, it was necessary for Jim to make a costume for The

In order to assume the identity of The Spectre, Corrigan needed no convenient phone booth, no facile alibi to explain his absence from the scene. He could go right on about his business, talking, eating, sleeping, fighting crime while The Spectre, like a supernatural amoeba, split invisibly off from his body and took on a corporeal form of his own. The two halves of Corrigan’s personality could exist simultaneously and independently, so the problem of protecting a secret identity never arose.

Naturally, Corrigan the cop was assigned to catch The Spectre, who naturally got the bulk of the blame for the rash of supernatural crime which popped up about that time.

Corrigan did catch himself, too, but of course no one could hold The Spectre after Corrigan “caught” him.

Naturally, too, The Spectre had nothing to do with these crimes.

They were caused by necromancers, wizards, and ghosts without Spectre’s moral fibre. Zor, for example. Zor was a wizard who had the same powers as The Spectre (though presumably from the devil, not God) but who had been dead longer and was consequently more experienced in using them. The Spectre chased him from dimension to dimension, was trapped for a spell in Zor’s paralysis ray, and came out second in a comet-hurling duel.

In a more or less typical story (More Fun #61), a rash of newspaper headlines praising The Spectre arouse the wrath of the police chief, who orders Corrigan to arrest The Spectre. Then a phone call comes in; one of Center City’s biggest promoters has been threatened by The Spectre.

Corrigan and the chief go to the man’s house and see him turn to gold before their eyes. A witness rushing into police headquarters says he knows who is responsible for the “golden curse” death threats (which all wealthy men are getting now), and then turns to gold before he can name the villain.

“Corrigan departs from headquarters a very bewildered chap indeed” and finds himself confronted by a feeble social outcast who thrusts free

32

The Wild Ones ends with the chief ordering Corrigan to continue pursuing The Spectre, despite the fact that he has been cleared.

The theme of classical gods has long been used in comic stories.

Captain Marvel obtained his powers from six “gods” (such as Solomon, an odd god, you’ll agree), and The Bouncer was known as the personal descendant of a Greek god. But gods are one thing and God is another, and The Spectre used to talk with God. Actually and literally, not just the one time Jim Harmon mentioned in the Justice Society article, but many times. In fact, whenever The Spectre came up against a foe who was worthy of his mettle, such as the forementioned Zor, he generally got his tail in a crack and had to ask for extra powers, which were always granted. He kept all of these powers, too.

Those with deep religious convictions might be a bit annoyed to find God credited with a rather shoddy trick designed to keep The Spectre working for him. In one instance, just as Clarice is about to be killed, The Spectre is called away by God. Clarice has a bullet heading toward her skull and will be a goner by the time Spec returns. God, it seems, has reconsidered, decided that Spec is getting a raw deal, and is offering him a choice of taking his eternal rest now or going on to wipe out all crime.

Of course, should he decide to take up the harp, that’s the end of Clarice. Since staying in Heaven would doom the girl (who presumably has not led a blameless life, else he would have been assured that she would join him in Heaven), he chooses to return to Earth and finish off crime. It was a stacked deck.

The Spectre returned to comics in relatively subdued form in the mid-’60s, but these panels from “The Untold Origin of the Justice Society” in DC Special #29 (Aug.-Sept. 1977) capture much of the spirit of the Siegel-Baily version.

Script by Paul Levitz; art by Joe Staton & Bob Layton. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Brian H. Bailie. [©2002 DC Comics.]

samples of chewing gum upon him. Noticing a car trailing him, Jim plays a hunch about the gum and turns himself to gold. Two men jump from the car, pick him up (yes, I know a six-foot man of gold would weigh more than two men could lift, but they did), and put him into the car, drive to a bridge, and toss him into the river. The Spectre pops out of the water a moment later and follows them, foiling another assassination attempt by turning the gun to worms. When one of the hoods calls the boss to report the worms, The Spectre shrinks, enters the phone, and races through the wires, only to be stymied when the boss hangs up. Returning to the hideout, The Spectre reveals himself to the hoods, just as they turn into gold statues.

That evening, Corrigan goes to visit Clarice and meets Gustave Gilroy, who knows a scientist who is trying to change the atomic structure of objects. Corrigan calls upon the scientist and is lassoed around the neck and hanged by a booby trap while a voice booms out, “Thus perish those who oppose The Spectre!” Corrigan alters his body so it becomes one-dimensional and drops free of the noose, slips through the wall, and grabs the scientist. The scientist is unable to tell him who hired him because he doesn’t know, so The Spectre bombards him with L-rays, which cleanse his mind of all evil. Says the scientist, “I see the error of my ways! From now on I will lead an honest existence!” (These L-rays, incidentally, were a bunch of letter “L’s” which came out of The Spectre’s eyes.)

He returns to Clarice’s home to find that she is going to surrender herself to the bogus Spectre, who has threatened her father. She meets a green-robed figure on the docks and is struggling with him when the real Spectre shows up—but The Spectre suddenly disappears, caught by an “occult occurrence” (this happened in several stories, with no explanation and varying results) which flung him an hour back in time as Jim Corrigan. With the extra time on his hands, he arrests The Spectre and turns him over to the police chief, after which The Spectre vanishes and goes back to the docks to nail Gustave (now called Gustaf, oddly) Gilroy, who was the man masquerading as The Spectre. Gilroy confesses, then commits suicide by turning himself to gold. The story

However, much later on, God made up for this (sort of like with Job, I guess) by restoring Jim Corrigan to life without removing any of his powers. This happened after a supposedly funny character named Percival Popp (the super cop) appeared on the scene.

The level of humor exemplified by this big-nosed, buck-toothed, and bespectacled little runt is pretty well indicated by his name. He had unevenly crew-cut and rather wild hair which varied from red to brown to black, and protruding eyes. He wanted to be a detective and plagued Corrigan by following him about, interfering in his cases, and generally making a pest of himself. While searching for evidence, Percy was about to dive off the pier at the very spot where Corrigan’s concrete-encrusted corpse lay on the river bottom. A quick request to God for assistance to prevent discovery brought the ultimate—Corrigan was restored to life in his own body (thoughtfully freed from the concrete first) without losing his identity and powers as The Spectre.

The Spectre himself could bring people back from the dead and cure the incurables. Unfortunately, Popp was one malignant growth he couldn’t lick. Percival Popp (the super cop) began dominating the stories and sharing the billing, and the wholes series degenerated into slapstick—badly done slapstick. The Spectre no longer disposed of his enemies in such gruesome fashion, although his powers remained the same. Not that The Spectre’s powers weren’t spectacular enough even when they weren’t gruesome. He could, as shown in the “golden curse” story, trace phone calls by shrinking himself to molecular size and following the impulse through the telephone wires, exiting at the receiver of the caller’s phone—unless the caller hung up too soon. (This trick has been given to the revived version of The Atom.) If the phone trick didn’t get the information he wanted, he could use mental telepathy or call on God. I suppose he could have cast Percival Popp, the Super Cop, runes if he’d wanted to bother. as rendered by Maggie Curtis from an issue of More Fun. [Art ©2002 Maggie Thompson; Percival Popp TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

Don Thompson

33

More Fun was popular enough to be a monthly. In issue #55 Dr. Fate was added, and six months later the lineup still included Detective Sergeant Carey, Lieut. Bob Neal, Radio Squad (now drawn by Chad), Biff Bronson, and Sergeant O’Mally. Congo Bill, a jungle strip by George Papp which lasted until just a few months ago (with several metamorphoses) and Captain Demo (an airplane strip by “Win”) had been added.

More Fun eventually served as the birthplace of Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Johnny Quick, and featured the adventures of Superboy.

When, with issue #106, More Fun regressed into a theoretically humorous publication featuring Genius Jones (by Alfred Bester ((!)) and Stan Kaye), and Henry Boltinoff’s “Dover and Clover,” Superboy, Aquaman, Johnny Quick, and Green Arrow moved over to Adventure Comics. The Spectre and Dr. Fate were dropped.

Dr. Fate sprang upon the scene without benefit of an origin story. He was a wizard of incredibly ancient origin and virtually unlimited powers.

He said that he had been placed on Earth by the elder gods long before the time of man. He spoke familiarly of ancient Egypt and Chaldea and admitted imprisoning an evil wizard many, many thousands of years before. He now dwelt in a doorless and windowless tower in “witchhaunted Salem,” surrounded by musty tomes, weapons, and devices both of advanced science and advanced necromancy. He exited from his tower by walking through walls or by using some machine.

Doctor Fate was the creation of writer Gardner Fox (who, we now know, originally christened him “Doctor Droom”) and artist Howard Sherman. This thirteenth appearance, from More Fun #65 (March 1941), was reprinted with credits and issue identification added in Wanted: The World’s Most Dangerous Villains #3 (Nov. 1972). [©2002 DC Comics.]

Some time after Percival came along, The Spectre and Jim Corrigan parted company. Corrigan entered the service to fight the Nazis and Japs while Spec stayed behind to fight crime, working with Percy in a state of invisibility.

Corrigan never returned. Eventually the whole series just sort of dwindled away, and when More Fun Comics became strictly humorous (to use the word loosely), The Spectre finally achieved his long-sought eternal rest.

More Fun Comics had a checkered career. The earliest issue I have seen contained the origin of The Spectre, and that was #52. Other characters in that 64-page issue were “Wing Brady” by Tom Hickey, a pretty poor Foreign Legion strip; “Biff Bronson” by Al Sulman and Koppy, which featured a brawny hero and his fat friend who, in this issue, fought off an army of robots (it was actually a serial, but I’m sure Biff and Dan, his fat friend, won in the end); “Radio Squad,” a police strip originated by Siegel and Shuster, now written by Siegel and drawn

by Martin Wheeler; “Lieut. Bob Neal of Sub 662,” a Navy strip by B. Hirsch and Russ Lehman which was no better than “Wing Brady”; “King Carter” by Paul J. Lauretta was a mediocre adventure strip; “Detective Sergeant Carey” by Joe Donohoe, a mystery strip, was a lackluster job; “Sergeant O’Mally of the Red Coat Patrol” was a routine Canadian Mounties story drawn by Jack Lehti, who later did “Crimson Avenger” and currently does the religious comic strip Tales from the Great Book; and Bart Tumey’s “Bulldog Martin” was a cops and robbers story with the added fillip of an invisibility potion.

None of these strips, all of which were holdovers from More Fun’s pre-costumed hero days, lasted very long once the superguys, Spectre their vanguard, began their invasion of the pages of More Fun. Biff Bronson did have enough of a following to make the first issue or two of All-Star (he was out when the Justice Society was formed in #3), and

While still a formidable foe to Nazis and necromancers alike, Doctor Fate displayed fewer and fewer magical powers after his mask was “sawn off just below the eyes.” This Howard Sherman page from All-Star Comics #14 (Dec. 1942-Jan. 1943) is repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Joel Thingvall and Ethan Roberts. Today, praise be, you can read the whole issue in DC’s ongoing All Star Archives series. [©2002 DC Comics.]

34

The Wild Ones A better than average Doctor Fate story (#55 and #56 of More Fun) dealt with the evil Wotan (apparently unrelated to Norse mythology).

This Wotan had a green skin, a Mephistophelean face, wore red tights with a high, stiff, flaring collar and a green floor-length cape. He opened his campaign against Doctor Fate by making a puppet of a normal man by means of a glowing crystal globe and ordering him to kill the girl, Inza. The dupe is strangling her when Fate arrives, rescues the girl, frees the man from Wotan’s spell, and saves them both from a fire started by the angry Wotan. The story is then interrupted for precisely four panels, while Doctor Fate explains that he has the power to control energy and can convert it into matter and vice versa. This, friends, is the origin story of Doctor Fate; it was his first appearance. He then called upon Wotan with Inza and was set upon by gorillas. Fate subdues one gorilla, but another has set upon Inza and Doctor Fate transfers his strength to her body. Wotan, taking advantage of his momentary weakness, tries to stab him, but is not quick enough. Doctor Fate has a reserve store of energy and is able to withstand Wotan while Inza overpowers the gorillas.

Wotan then turns on Inza and surrounds her with flames of energy just as strong as Fate’s. Fate counters by clouting Wotan with a roundhouse right (“Sometimes I think a good fight accomplishes more than all the learning in the world.”) and throws him out the window which, we now learn, is many stories above the street.

The next issue’s story opens with Fate and Inza going to the land of the dead to make sure Wotan is there. He forces the boatman to take them across the Styx, where they pass through the seven gates to the regions of dead souls (the gates are iron, copper, silver, gold, “the unknown grey metal,” alabaster, and emerald, in that order) and climb the stair of judgment to meet the gods of old. At the top of the stair is Wisdom, who rules the world. Fate and Inza stand atop the staircase, shielded by Fate’s cloak, in a blinding light while Wisdom tells them that Wotan lives and says: “The fate of the world depends on you who are called Fate! Wotan must be stopped!”

A few years after Xero #7, a somewhat sanitized but still welcome Dr. Fate was revived by DC editor Julius Schwartz and compatriots Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson for JLA-JSA team-ups; he even co-starred with Bernard Baily artcreation Hourman in Showcase #55-56. This splash from #55 (March-April 1965) is repro’d from photocopies of the original art, courtesy of Mike W. Barr and Tom Horvitz. Vintage comic art dealer Tom can be reached at <trhgallery@earthlink.net>. [©2002 DC Comics.]

A girl named Inza, whose presence in his life was never explained, wandered at will about the world and called on Dr. Fate whenever, as she frequently was, she was in difficulty. She usually got in trouble as a result of some slumbering wizard’s awakening or some bush league Merlin stumbling across the Book of Thoth. Things like that happened all the time.

Dr. Fate was clad in blue (or, on the cover, purple) tights with yellow boots, shorts, gloves, and cape. On his chest was a large golden medallion of unspecified purposes, strung on a cord about his neck. His helmet was completely smooth except for two eye-holes. It was later altered, unfortunately, but this was the original costume.

Dr. Fate had achieved complete control of energy, and any blows or bullets directed at him were turned into power for him. He could emit rays of energy which were capable of knocking over buildings or thoroughly disposing of unsavory characters. He also had a crystal ball and various spells at his command. He could fly, also.

Doctor Fate was obviously the creation of someone who had read a great deal of H.P. Lovecraft. The hints of elder gods and vanished civilizations, of wizardry which was actually a form of science far beyond what we have attained, and “witch-haunted Salem,” which reminds me somehow of Arkham, all point to a familiarity with Lovecraft’s mythos. Some of the Doctor Fate stories were written by Gardner F. Fox; I do not know who drew them.

Fate and Inza quickly return to the upper world, where they find that the mad Wotan has discovered how to increase the electric and magnetic flow between the poles of the Earth and “can explode the Earth just as an extra load on an electric wire blows a fuse.”

Doctor Fate arrives in time to counter the machinery of Wotan and beats him soundly with his fists, and chains him to the Earth “as Prometheus was chained to a rock.” Fate and Inza relax and enjoy the beauties of the Earth while “Wotan—in a magical trance—is encased for eternity in an air bubble and hidden beneath the Earth he would have destroyed.” Somewhat later, he was freed by another of Doctor Fate’s opponents and was eventually destroyed by Doctor Fate.

Doctor Fate apparently became a very popular strip, because he soon began taking over More Fun’s lead spot and cover from The Spectre.

And then came the big change in Doctor Fate.

After he had been established as an ancient wizard who never removed his helmet during the first few stories, he suddenly pulled a complete switch. He started by showing his face to Inza, when she was mooning over some young lovers (sort of as a consolation prize, I gathered). My reaction on first looking in Chapman’s Homer Doctor Fate’s face was one of disappointment. He didn’t look like anything special.

And, starting with the next issue of More Fun (#67), he wasn’t. You recall that bit about his being thousands of years old? The writer of the series conveniently forgot. After several issues, they finally got around to doing his origin.

In the Valley of Ur, “in the year 1920 or thereabouts,” an Egyptologist named Sven Nelson, with his young son Kent, has come to learn who built the Pyramids. He has a theory that people from another planet built them; he doesn’t think the Egyptians knew enough to do the job.

Don Thompson

35 Doctor Fate and The Spectre are gone forever; the name and some of the attributes of each could be revived in modern Code-approved comic books, but the spirit and the essential qualities would not be present. Any version which could be approved by the Comics Code would have to be so emasculated that only the name would link the modern version with those flamboyant, overblown, often ridiculous, and yet, somehow, magnificent creations of two decades ago.

While his father studies a strange language engraved on the walls, young Kent Nelson explores the ruins. He finds a man standing entombed in an open casket and, following telepathed directions, turns a lever and frees the man from suspended animation.

The man, whose name is Nabu the Wise, is close to half a million years old and “was born on the planet Cilia as she swung in her orbit Doctor Fate and passed [sic] the The Spectre were, of Earth.” His people In recent years, with the liberalization (emasculation?) of the Comics Code, The Spectre and Dr. Fate have re-surfaced with more of their somber aspects intact. Steve course, too super to last, even in an age built the Pyramids. He Bissette drew this gloriously ghastly Spectre for collector Robert Justice—while the of flamboyant comic book superand Kent discover that original art for this Alex Ross preliminary pencil sketch of Fate for the Kingdom Come heroes. But the first few stories about Sven Nelson, Kent’s series was supplied by Keif Fromm. Thanks to collectors and artists alike! these characters have a spirit, a driving father, is dead of [Art ©2002 Steve Bissette and Alex Ross; Spectre & Dr. Fate TM & ©2002 DC Comics.] force, and an imagination that is mindpoison gas prepared to shaking. Nowhere in science-fiction, kill any who learned not even in the cosmic settings of Doc Smith’s Lensmen stories, or in the the secret of the chamber. They bury Sven and Nabu says, “I will try to stories of Captain Future, do you find such lavish backdrops for the repay you for your loss by teaching you the secrets of the universe,” action. Even fantasy can’t match them, for fantasy generally is held which he does. He then gives young Kent the costume and the name of down, limited in its flights of imagination. This is a good and necessary Doctor Fate and disappears without a word of explanation from thing; if anything is possible, there can be no doubts about the triumph anybody. Since these stories appeared in the very early ’40s, Doctor Fate of Good over Evil—the author has an infinite number of rabbits ready had suddenly gone from being millennia old to being barely 20. The to leap out of the hat.

Lovecraftian aura was shed with the years.

After this, the series went rapidly downhill. The beautifully mysterious face covering was sawn off just below the eyes, revealing the Doctor’s nose and mouth and concealing only his hair, forehead, and the area about his eyes. His powers were more than sawn off.

But, just because we are used to reading fiction with rules, stories where not quite everything can happen, it is a new, startling, and, for a time, fascinating thing to find stories in which there are no limits, where every card is wild and can be whatever the dealer says it is.

Starting with the idea that he was only invulnerable from outside harm and still needed air, the writer or writers soon developed this idea to the point where Fate was depressingly mortal. If you cut off his air, Dr. Fate would lose consciousness, so gas or drown him. (Okay, so far.)

Now, if you strangle a person you cut off his air, too, so they would strangle him into unconsciousness. (Well....) A good blow in the solar plexus will knock the air out of a guy, too, so.... (Oh, the hell with it!)

To the best of my knowledge, the only comic book characters who enjoyed this freedom from all rules, all logic, all restraint, were Doctor Fate and The Spectre.

They could do anything they wanted, anything their creators could conceive.

They were the wild ones.

So what happened to his super-powers? Well, he could still fly and he was still immune to bullets, but that’s all. And he stopped chasing wizards and concentrated on petty thugs. And he started making ridiculous chitchat with the thugs as he fought with them—with bare fists, not magic (“What are you, the joker?” *sock* “Ouch! I feel like the deuce!” replies the crook—crooks usually got the best of the verbal interchange, though Fate naturally triumphed physically). And he decided to justify his name by actually becoming a doctor. He got through medical school in one heck of a hurry and became an intern within half a page. And he used modern medicine, too, completely dropping the wizard bit.

And so he became less of a super-hero and more possible (loosely speaking) and more vulnerable. And more monotonous. So, when More Fun retooled for comedy, they didn’t bother to transfer Dr. Fate over to Adventure, as they did Superboy, Johnny Quick, Green Arrow, and Aquaman. They also canceled his membership in the Justice Society. And the AMA probably pulled his medical license... serves him right, too...

This photo of Dick Lupoff (l.) and Don Thompson was taken the last time the two old friends and their wives got together, not long before Don’s untimely passing. “I still miss him,” says Dick.

36

Rog Ebert Breezes By

by Dick Lupoff [from Xero #9, 1962; text © 2002 Dick Lupoff] [2002 INTRODUCTION BY DICK LUPOFF: When we first met Roger Ebert, he was a talented and ambitious high school student.

Pat and I were positively ancient compared to this teenager—we were in our twenties, and married! My recollection of young Roger Ebert is that of a round-faced, bespectacled, good-natured teenager. Not very different from Roger as we see him on TV these days. He was slightly slimmer and of course his hair was darker, but Roger is Roger, wonderful then and now and always.

[Roger wrote poetry (of a sort) for Xero, then went on to contribute a short story or two to some of the minor science-fiction magazines before finding his true metier. A few years ago, he was in San Francisco, and the three of us held a joyous reunion in Roger’s hotel suite. My radio producer was present and couldn’t figure out why the famous Roger Ebert seemed in awe of Pat and myself. Hey, we were BNFs, as well as his editors and publishers, when he was a neofan!]

June 15-18, 1962: There was a Fanoclast meeting June 15, and when Pat and I got home the babysitter told us that Rog Ebert had called. Rog Ebert! We hadn’t seen him since the 1961 Midwestcon, and had hardly heard of him since.

He’d contributed several of his curious hybrid prose-poems to Xero, but the last of those had appeared in number 6, last September.

The return number for Rog was the hotel at LaGuardia Airport, and by furious calling and calling back we managed to get in touch with him Saturday, June 16. That night Rog came over for a visit, as did, coincidentally, Coast Guard Al Lewis and For the Lupoffs’ follow-up to Larry Ivie, the latter carrying a Tarzan Xero in 1963, a look at Edgar Rice painting and John Carter painting Burroughs’ fantasy versions of which he was using as samples.

Mars and Venus entitled The Reader’s Guide to Barsoom and Amtor, by David van Arnam, et al., Larry Ivie drew this illustration as part of his map of Barsoom (Mars). Soon Larry would be illustrating some of Canaveral Press’ ERB reprints— under editor Dick Lupoff! [Art ©2002 Larry Ivie; John Carter et al. TM & ©2002 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Rog seemed to have matured considerably since that Midwestcon.

Actually, meeting him at the North Plaza Motel had been my first contact with him. Prior to that, just from reading his fanzine material, I had conjured a slim and sensitive, tall sallow hypochondriac, slow of speech and manner. What a surprise! Rog is built like a football player, is full of energy, talks incessantly, and is forever telling bad jokes. At that Midwestcon he had turned a contour chair in the Seascape Room into a space-jockey’s bucket, turned his glasses upside down, and had half a roomful of people in hysterics.

But on this trip he had calmed down. After all, he’s twenty now.

Rog is terribly, terribly Aware Politically, full of the

usual liberal line. He is also an immensely talented young man, and a hustler on top of it. What was he doing in New York in June, for instance? Well, right after the end of the spring semester at the University of Illinois, Rog had engineered himself a job as publicity man for a team of paraplegic athletes en route to New York for the annual Wheelchair Games. From New York the team proceeded—Roger included—to South Africa, where they made a tour at the behest of a South African philanthropist out to start a rehabilitation program for injured persons in his country.

Gene Siskel (l.) and Roger Ebert (r.) made TV history, beginning in the late 1970s, as the most famous movie-critic duo of all time. Since Siskel’s too-early death, the show continues as Ebert & Roeper. But in the early 1960s “Rog” Ebert was a burgeoning science-fiction fan—among many other things, as Dick Lupoff observed in 1962. Photo from the Teegarden-Nash Collection; provided by Bill Schelly.

While there, Rog told us, he was going to do the research for an article on student unrest, already all but sold to The Nation. When he gets home, Rog will have to go to work to write an article for the longlost-but-now-rediscovered folk singer which is slated for Show.

After a full evening of talk, we arranged to meet the following night at a Chinese restaurant in Times Square, following which Rog would get a tour of the two areas of New York he’s eager to see: Times Square/42nd Street, and Greenwich Village. By the time the crowd was assembled in the Chinese Republic (Nationalist, of course), it consisted of Walter Breen (who drew a small crowd on the sidewalk before dinner; people kept waiting for him to start a hellfire sermon), Lin Carter and his poopsie, Gary Deindorfer, Lee Hoffman, Ted and Sylvia White, Rog, Pat, and myself. It was a pretty good meal, full of plusdoublegood fannish talk, following which the group became unfortunately separated in the surging mob of 42nd Street. All right, so it was Sunday night.

There’s always a surging mob on 42nd Street.

Lin and his poopsie Claire, Pat and I, and Rog made our way back and forth on the Street for a while, but all that happened was that gay types kept trying to pick Rog up because he looked so wholesome and innocent. Then we gave up and went to the Village. Rog’s item, “Snippers” [not reprinted here, alas], is a faithful record of the evening’s events from that point onward, and if you don’t know the rest of the feghootling that keeps popping up every few lines, it’s to your benefit not to find out. Monday, Rog flew on.

[e-mail from Roger Ebert, June 3, 2002, to Roy Thomas:] It gives me great pleasure to authorize the reprint of anything from Xero.

The glimpse of me in 1962 was priceless; my wife says I have not changed, except that I no longer look quite so much like a football player.

I remember that Chinese restaurant in Times Square as if it were yesterday.

Fandom was of incalculable influence in my life, at a time when its quizzical sensibility was more rare than now. I did a piece for Yahoo Internet Life some time ago suggesting that fandom in one way or another shaped the culture of the internet, since there was so much crossover. What was a fanzine but a web page?

Best, Roger Ebert

Kreegh Kill!

[from Xero #9, 1962; text © 2002 Roger Ebert]

37

[Xero art ©2002 Steve Stiles.]

Tarzan airborne, for two different comic book companies at a later date, both covers repro’d from photocopies of the original art: DC’s Tarzan #245 (Jan. 1976) by Joe Kubert, and Marvel’s Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle #16 (Sept. 1978) by John Buscema & Bob McLeod. Roger Ebert may not have written specifically about comics for Xero, but he’s always shown a certain respect for them—and anyway, what medium hasn’t Tarzan conquered? [©2002 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

38

I Am The Very Model of a Comic Book Enthusiast The art at left, by the Victorian artist “Bab,” is the only art that accompanied this parody in Xero #10.

[Text © 2002 estate of Lin Carter; used by permission of Robert M. Price.]

[2002 INTRODUCTION BY DICK LUPOFF: The late Lin Carter was a brilliant and talented man with a superb ear for our language and its rhythms, as he showed in this Gilbert and Sullivan parody. When he started writing and selling novels, I expected great and creative things from him. Instead, he chose to make a career of writing pseudo-Edgar Rice Burroughs, pseudo-Robert E. Howard, pseudo-Lester Dent, pseudo-A.E. van Vogt, and other such imitative books. Clearly there’s an audience for such things, and in time Lin built a large and enthusiastic following. I can’t really blame him for choosing the path that he chose, but to this day I wonder what truly fine books he might have given us had he chosen a different one.]

39

New art composition by Roy Thomas & Christopher Day. [All characters TM & ©2002 their respective copyright holders.]

Xero-Ing In

40

-ing In A Postscript by Roy Thomas

Win, Place, and Show: Xero, Alter-Ego, and Comic Art An Andy Reiss cartoon printed back on page 10 has as its punch line:

fault—like maybe I didn’t put enough stamps on the envelope, or something.

I’m not sure if I was able to obtain personal copies of the first three issues of Xero from Dick and Pat Lupoff, but I did soon establish contact with them— with Dick, at least. In any event, I know I soon had a copy of #4, with Don Thompson’s “O.K. Axis, Here We Come!” Lupoff, Ted White, and Jim Harmon wrote well and interestingly, but there was an extra quality to Don’s prose that sang to me. It didn’t surprise me much that he was in the process of becoming a reporter at a Cleveland newspaper... or,

“Look at it this way—this is Lupoff’s ’zine.”

And, since Alter Ego is my ’zine, I get to wind up our coverage of Xero with a few personal memories, since Xero has loomed large in my life ever since early 1961.

(L. to r.:) Roy Thomas, Bill Schelly, and Jerry Bails at the Fandom Reunion Luncheon, Chicago, 1997—and one of Roy's stenciling efforts for “Captain Billy's Whiz-Gang” in Xero #9, based on a Fawcett house ad. Photo by Dann Thomas. [Heroes TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

That’s when Dr. Jerry Bails, then a young professor of natural science at Wayne State University in Detroit, decided to launch what he tentatively christened The JLA Subscriber. It was to be mailed to any readers of the new Justice League of America comic whose names and addresses he could acquire from DC editor Julius Schwartz’s letters columns or elsewhere. Jerry, like me (his new 20-year-old correspondent in southeast Missouri), was unaware there had already been several issues of a science-fiction fanzine called Xero which contained an ongoing series called “All in Color for a Dime,” and which had just carried an article on our beloved, long-dead Justice Society. In fact, like most of the American public, neither he nor I had ever even heard the word “fanzine.”

However, during his visit to the National (DC) offices in New York City in February of ’61, Jerry was pleasantly surprised when Julie showed (and loaned) him the first three issues of Xero. The realization that a publication resembling a real magazine, not just a newsletter, could deal with comics was added to the mix of his conversations with Julie, comics writer Gardner Fox, and others; and by the time he returned to Michigan Jerry had metamorphosed his original concept into Alter-Ego, a fanzine to be devoted to comic book super-heroes of the past, present, and future. He quickly enlisted me as the other contributor to the first issue, with the overly generous title of “co-editor,” and by late March Alter-Ego #1 hit the U.S. mails, in an unsuspected dead heat with Don and Maggie Thompson’s Comic Art #1 to see which would hit people’s mailboxes first.

Jerry also sent me Julie’s issues of Xero, which I read and savored.

The existence of s-f fandom was of more direct interest to me than it was to him, since I had been a member of the Science-Fiction Book Club since the mid-’50s and had always liked s-f comics and movies. I fell in love with not just the comics-related material, but even the s-f and purely fannish aspects of the ’zine.

Unfortunately, there has always been a vaguely star-crossed aspect to my relationship with Xero, and it didn’t take long to kick in. When I finished reading the issues Jerry had loaned me, I was to mail them back—to him or to Julie, I can’t recall which. It doesn’t much matter: the package went lost in the mail. I don’t recall this as disturbing Julie all that much, but it bothered me for years, since somehow I felt I was at

actually, that the three previous “All in Color” scribes likewise went on to become professional writers.

When I wrote an article for A/E (Vol. 1) #2 about the single, not-quite-complete comic I had seen up to that date starring Timely’s All Winners Squad, I was measuring it against Don’s work and coming up short. So impressed was I by “O.K. Axis” that, a decade and a half later, I turned the house-ad phrase he had used for his title into the battle cry of The Invaders when I launched that retroactivecontinuity series starring the Timely super-heroes of the World War II years. I’m not sure I’d ever even seen the house ad itself; I just lifted the slogan from Don.

A Comic Book Stranger in a Strange Science-Fiction Land But, to return to something resembling chronological order here: One of the bright spots of my life for the next couple of years was the arrival of a new Xero. I was inspired to seek out a few primo books, like Rogue Moon and A Canticle for Liebowitz, and learned new names like Algis Budrys, James Blish, Walter Miller, Jr., Theodore Sturgeon, Avram Davidson, and Harlan Ellison, among many others. I reveled in the fannish jargon and the in-jokes and even the late-issue feud between Blish and Richard Kyle (“For, though Blish can write, he cannot read”). And the cartoons! Steve Stiles and Bhob Stewart and others intrigued me, even if I couldn’t always understand their punchlines. Inspired by the experience, I acquired copies of a few other s-f fanzines here and there, but even discounting the lack of comics material

Xero-Ing In

When the Lupoffs decided to call an end to the “battle of letters” between Richard Kyle and s-f author James Blish, Steve Stiles topped it off with a cartoon. [©2002 Steve Stiles.]

therein, none of them ever grabbed me the way Xero did. Clearly, Dick and Pat Lupoff knew what they were doing, editing-wise.

Then came Xero #8—and “The Education of Victor Fox.” Richard Kyle’s article knocked my socks off, not simply with his prose, lucid and colorful as it was (I laughed out loud when I first read Samson’s fur loincloth described as looking like “pubic hair with delusions of grandeur”—you didn’t read phrases like that in “real” mags), but even more so with his long-distance analysis of publisher Victor Fox. Kyle made me feel I was virtually a fly on the wall in the offices of Fox Comics—more, that I was inside Fox’s mind, as he made his wheeler-dealer decisions. How could Kyle know all this stuff, since he didn’t seem ever to have met Victor Fox? Yeah, I was learning a lot about writing from the crew at Xero.

Which, to my delight, would soon include me!

“Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang” Dick and I had exchanged a few letters—and at one point I even mailed him cash for the next Xero, in the form of coins, taped to a piece of cardboard; that’s the way we did things in those days, and money rarely went lost (unlike Julie’s copies of the fanzine itself!). A week or so later I received an envelope from Dick. When I opened it, there were my coins, still taped to the cardboard. He had scrawled on it: “Don’t be silly.”

41

Unfortunately, things didn’t go smoothly with “Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang.”

During the summer of 1962, when I was supposed to write the article for inclusion in the September issue (#9), I was taking classes at the state college in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, from which I had graduated the previous summer. That, plus a busy social life, bogged me down—and somehow “Whiz-Gang” just wasn’t getting itself written. As his deadline grew nearer and nearer, Dick took to dropping me postcards asking when my article would be arriving. I kept stalling, telling him truthfully that I hoped to get it done any day now.

Dick’s tone, understandably, got a bit more brusque over the course of subsequent postcards that arrived at my parents’ house, where I was staying for the summer. There probably weren’t nearly as many postcards as I recall in retrospect—at the time it seemed as if one was arriving every few days, and I am certain that the interval between them did lessen as the days till Xero #9 dwindled down to a precious few— but there were more than enough to press my guilt button. Yet, somehow, not quite enough to nudge me into actually writing the article.

At some point, as the invective in Dick’s postcards grew more strident, informing me that I was going to cause Xero #9 to be printed without an “All in Color” entry, I finally forced myself to sit down and grind out “Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang” in one excruciatingly lonnnng summer’s day. I spent one additional day drawing several freehand illustrations for it, though I had never before (or since, come to that) drawn on mimeograph stencils. About the time I sent the article and illos off— right afterward, I seem to recall—I received the most vitriolic of Dick’s postcards. One phrase from it I have always remembered, word for word: “You have given me a royal screwing!”

The only thing that rescued even a shred of my self-esteem at that point was that I had just mailed him the article. But would it arrive in time? Was I going to cause the “penultimate” issue of Xero to be published minus any comics-related article?

Perhaps a week later, a final postcard arrived from Dick. Its very brief essence was: “Article arrived—everything is fine.”

“Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang” wasn’t all I had hoped it would be— which of our “literary stepchildren” ever is?—but in #10’s “E.I.”

Somewhere along the line I presumptuously evinced an interest in writing an article for Xero, though the only real collection I’d amassed to date was my first complete run of All-Star Comics, and Jim Harmon had already covered the JSA. Dick, on learning of my enthusiasm for the 1940s Fawcett heroes even besides The Marvel Family, offered to send me a stack of comics containing Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Mr. Scarlet, Commando Yank, and the like. Most of them I’d seen in the latter ’40s— so I agreed to write about them. Despite the numerous items I had written by then for Alter-Ego, I would probably have been even more inhibited about entering the “All in Color” arena if “The Education of Victor Fox” had appeared before I had agreed to do my article.

Did I say “my” article? Well, not totally.

When he mailed me the Fawcett mags, Dick sent me a letter in which he related such background as he knew (but I didn’t) about how Captain William Fawcett, World War I veteran, had launched a joke magazine called Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang after the war’s end and had gone on to considerable success in the magazine field. Dick even suggested a title for my article: “Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang.” It sounded perfect to me, and besides, he was the editor and publisher, right? In fact, I found I couldn’t really improve on the way he had told Captain Fawcett’s story, so I incorporated his letter almost verbatim as the first few paragraphs of “my” piece when I finally wrote it. I felt a bit guilty about that, but Dick clearly considered his help merely part of his editorly duties.

These “Bulletman” panels from an early issue of Master Comics were probably drawn by Jon Small. Repro’d from original art, from the collection of Roy Thomas. [©2002 DC Comics.]

Xero-Ing In

42 Richard Kyle said the article was “quite well written,” though he deplored my attempts at mimeo-stenciling. My favorite line in the letters section, however, was Pat Lupoff’s, in response to a letter in which one John Baxter wrote: “‘Captain Billy’s Whiz-Gang’—errrr, well, I hesitate to admit this, but I actually read AICFAD this time, and quelle horreurs, enjoyed it! Do you think that maybe I’m becoming... gulp... addicted to comics?” Pat’s witty response: “Worse—you’re becoming addicted to articles about comics. Hand-me-down nostalgia is the worst kind!”

Weekend in Poughkeepsie In 1965, after finally publishing a couple of issues of the nowunhyphenated Alter Ego myself while teaching high school English, I was offered a job out of the blue at DC Comics in New York, as assistant to Superman editor Mort Weisinger. I accepted at once, turning my back on a graduate fellowship in foreign relations at George Washington University in the District of Columbia. My first time around at DC turned out to be mostly a miserable two weeks for me, a low ebb in my life. Though I was eager to work in comics in general, and for DC in particular, Weisinger’s overbearing personality and sadistic manner quickly wore me down, and I didn’t know if I could stick around even if he didn’t fire me after my trial period was up.

Once again, enter Dick Lupoff... and Pat, this time. Not to mention that “star-crossed” relationship with Xero that I spoke of earlier.

They kindly invited me to spend the July 4th weekend at their home in Poughkeepsie, some miles from the city, where Dick worked for IBM. I was happy to accept, since it meant perhaps the near-fiasco of three years earlier had been relegated to the dustbin of fannish history. I took a train up there in the very middle of my horrendous fortnight of working for Weisinger. I liked Dick and Pat on meeting them in person, but I suspect my absorption in then-current comics as opposed to science-fiction, added to the severe stress I was feeling, probably made me a less than perfect guest.

As I was leaving at the end of my stay, Dick presented me with something I’d been admiring all weekend: two bound volumes containing their spare copies of all ten issues of Xero (plus the Index Edition and The Reader’s Guide to Barsoom and Amtor) and the first five issues of Comic Art. My own copies were still at my parents’ place in Jackson, Missouri, so I suppose Dick and Pat just meant for the bound books to tide me over till my own collection was forwarded to New York. For my part, I somehow gained the distinct impression that this was not a loan, but a gift—a good will gesture to the new kid in town, who, I’m sure they realized, was going through a rough patch.

the wayside as I moved from the Lower East Side to Greenwich Village to the Upper East Side to Brooklyn to the Upper East Side again, then to Los Angeles (several different apartments and houses), and thence to Dann’s and my (in our minds, anyway) nigh-palatial digs in the wilds of South Carolina. Many comics and science-fiction books and pieces of original art were sold or traded or given away over the years. But I hung on to those bound fanzines! I had a few offers to buy them, but I was never tempted. What I did do, as time went by, was to sell cheaply or trade off or maybe even give away my various loose issues of Xero and Comic Art, because—hey, I had those great bound volumes, right?

And when in 1971 I made a Marvel series out of Edwin L. Arnold’s 1905 novel which had been published in paperback in the ’60s as Gulliver of Mars, I named a flying-carpet-riding mystic in it “Lu-Pov,” because earlier Dick had championed the (to me) reasonably convincing theory that Edgar Rice Burroughs must have read Arnold’s novel before he wrote Under the Moons of Mars in 1911.

A 17-issue Misunderstanding Then, a few years ago, I began corresponding and soon working with Bill Schelly on various projects, starting with his justly-acclaimed book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. I learned from Bill that Dick had told him that “someone” had once borrowed his spare set of Xero and had never returned it. Dick didn’t name names, but when I heard that, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. I must have been the ingrate who’d never given the Lupoffs back their bound volumes—because I thought they had given them to me, as in, “to keep”!

I wrestled with that knowledge a while, and told Bill maybe I should send them back to Dick. Bill soothed my conscience somewhat by saying that, by this point, Dick seemed to have long since accepted the loss and might not really care if he got them back or not.

Finally, when I broached to Bill the notion of dedicating space in an issue of the revived Alter Ego to Xero, I decided it was time to bite the bullet. I got in touch with Dick via e-mail and, along with the idea of A/E coverage, I volunteered either to return the bound volumes or, preferably, to buy them from him and make everything legal at long last.

Dick, however, preferred to have the fanzines back, as a legacy for his son Ken. And admittedly, copies of Xero had been selling for something pushing three figures apiece over eBay, and I doubt I’d have been willing to pay $1000-plus for the collection, love it though I did and do. So I photocopied the entire run of both Xero and Comic Art as best I could. And I mailed the volumes to Dick. I believe I even insured them... no sense taking a chance at this late date!

With this issue of Alter Ego, things have come full circle with Xero and me. I no longer have the fanzines themselves... but I have readable photocopies, all four books which reprinted comics-related material from them—plus this issue of A/E as a tribute to one of the finest fanzines ever. The one that, in some sense or other, helped jump-start comic fandom, as Bill puts it.

At any rate, whatever exactly happened or was said—and I haven’t checked my memories with Dick or Pat on this—well, let’s just say we got our wires crossed. Or at least I did.

The things I don’t have any longer are actual copies of Xero #1-10, the Xero Index Edition, The Reader’s Guide to Barsoom and Amtor, and the first five issues of Comic Art. Anybody out there want to sell a set?

Over the years to come, I dumped a lot of things along Devilish caricature of Dick Lupoff from Xero #6. [©2002 Bhob Stewart.]

No. 77

ROD REED REVISITED

Plus: MARC SWAYZE

MARC SWAYZE C.C. BECK [Re-creation art ©2002 C.C. Beck; Captain Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

44

We Didn’t Know...

By

[Art & logo ©2002 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2002 DC Comics]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Comics. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including her classic origin story; but he was primarily hired to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures, as well as a few early Wow Comics covers. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. After World War II, he made an arrangement with Fawcett Publications to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton).

After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced an enormous amount of artwork for Fawcett’s romance comics such as Sweethearts and Life Story; he eventually ended his comics career in 1956 with Charlton Publications. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been FCA’s most popular feature since his first column appeared in FCA #54, 1996. Last issue, he discussed the impact, influence, and staying power of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. This issue, Marc talks about the long silent period between himself and chief Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

“To Swayze from Beck. The best pair of drawers Fawcett ever had!”

There was warm, sincere friendship in the eyes of C.C. Beck as he handed me the inscribed Whiz Comics cover drawing on the night of my departure for the military in late 1942. What was it that a few years later left me wondering if he might have had other feelings along the way?

Put yourself for a moment in his shoes: you’re the co-creator of a major comic book super-hero. You go along about a year doing the art virtually alone. Then your employers select a couple of high-ranking New York artists to produce a whole new book… featuring your character. The results are disappointing. “Terrible,” you say of the art, and you suggest that all future art on your super-hero be done in-house.

So they bring in an unknown to draw the character. You propose a system whereby each story will be laid out by one artist, penciled in detail by another, inked by a third, and so on… called “assembly line” art. The new guy balks at the idea… prefers to go solo. And they let him get away with it because he emulates your style so closely even you have trouble distinguishing it.

The guy writes… throwing in an occasional story… featuring your character… and he illustrates covers… featuring your character. It seems that such interruptions occur just when he’s needed most to help meet your super-hero’s deadlines.

To top it all off, he plays the guitar… and said you were lousy… and relegated you to the bass fiddle in the combo!

Beck (above, in 1977) and Swayze (on right, in 1980). In happier times, C.C. Beck inscribed his original art for the cover of Whiz Comics #19 as a memento for Marc Swayze, departing for the Army. [Art ©2002 DC Comics.]

Marc Swayze Okay… end of the play-acting… you’re back in your own shoes. What do you make of all that?

Heck… I’d hate the new guy! Wouldn’t you?

Yet, I insist… the eyes of the gift-giver were warm and friendly. That was Beck.

Swayze’s classic cover for Wow Comics #9 (Jan. 6, 1943). [©2002 DC Comics.]

The question at hand revolves around an incident that took place in 1944, after which C.C. Beck and I had nothing to do with one another for years. Tucked away in a file folder it might have been titled, “Dinner at the Copacabana.”

It was not surprising when Beck, upon learning I was freelancing from my hotel room, invited me to use an idle drawing table in his “shop,” his Manhattan comic book art service. It was surprising when he invited me to dinner at the Copa.

It wasn’t a big affair. Rod Reed, editor of Downbeat magazine and

45

no longer with Fawcett, was there… and a gentleman from Canada with whom Beck was interested in a publishing deal. I believe there were one or two others but can’t recall whom.

The conversation began as small talk and drifted into the business Beck had with the Canadian.

That talk may have included me, for something was said, apparently by me, that didn’t sit well with C.C. Beck. He gave no sign of his feelings at the time, however.

Swayze emulated Beck’s style so closely that even Beck at times had trouble distinguishing it from his own. Here’s Marc’s cover for Whiz #36 (Oct. 30, 1942). [©2002 DC Comics.]

To this day I don’t know what I may have said. There have been many times when I could have asked Rod Reed, and maybe I should have. But I never did… probably because I have rarely thought about the occasion. Apparently it was a remark so trivial as to be immediately forgotten, if ever noticed at all. It seems unlikely that I, as a guest, would have said anything objectionable to anyone, especially the host.

But I must have. Beck was so irritated, embarrassed, or angered he came to me on the next workday and said he thought I should be paying for the use of the drawing table in his shop. That, to me, was an insult… an invitation to leave. So I did… and we went our separate ways.

Sixteen years later I received a card from Rod Reed saying, “C.C. Beck wants your address. Shall I give it to him?” I don’t think I answered the message. As Rod quipped, I didn’t, usually. Again, maybe I should have, but I didn’t.

The memory is good to us at times, bringing back the fun moments of the past… and kindly letting the unpleasant slip away. In the ’70s I began to receive regular letters from Beck… friendly and remindful of the early days when he and I worked together… and talked… over beers, over meals, and over our drawing boards.

“Dinner at the Copa” was forgotten… and I went along with that.

Beck and his wife Hildur were guests in our home in Louisiana during that period. A hobby of Beck’s was the crafting of realistic antique weapons made entirely of paperboard. We treasure several of those left us as gifts. Hildur died in 1978 and Beck never came after that.

The Fawcett comic art department hard at work in the Paramount Building in New York City. Originally published in Fawcett Distributor, May 1942. Marc has annotated the photo for purposes of identification.

46

We Didn’t Know...

Marc felt that letters such as the one at right from 1979 were pressuring him to join the “staff” of Beck’s version of FCA—and in retrospect, after seeing the direction C.C. took the magazine, Swayze says he’s “glad I didn’t join him.” The cover of FCA/SOB #7 (FCA Newsletter #18) is from April-May 1981. [©2002 the respective copyright holders.]

When Beck took over as editor of Bernie McCarty’s Fawcett Collectors of America (FCA) publication in 1979, he began to pressure me to join his “staff.” He had already changed the title to FCA/SOB (Some Opinionated Bastards), and that alone was enough to turn me away.

As editor of the periodical he revealed a C.C. Beck I had not known. I am glad I didn’t join him. I prefer to remember him as a friend with coal-black hair, who delivered dry witty remarks from the corner of his mouth and ended them with a grin and a little chuckle, “Heh, heh, heh!”

Now, when I read his interviews and various accounts of his career, I am unable to avoid other thoughts… of things said… and left unsaid… that were not “accurate.”

I get the distinct impression of efforts made to disassociate my name from Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, even Fawcett Publications. The deceptive image I see of myself in those reviews is as a Beck shop employee or as an assistant. It appears to be so intentional that I can’t help suspect that my presence may have been resented from the very start.

Beck wasn’t… wasn’t Captain Marvel. He was human, just like the rest of us… with the frailties that go with it… just like the rest of us. I am pleased to have known him and happy to recall the laughter we shared.

On the other hand, it would be nice to have been remembered as artist and writer when Captain Marvel Adventures topped comic book sales with one million per issue… to have been acknowledged as originator of the visual image of Mary Marvel, not just her costume… and as illustrator of various Fawcett comic book covers of the period.

Rare backside Captain Marvel character sketches by Swayze.

[Art ©2002 Marc Swayze; Capt. Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

Oh, well…

[Marc Swayze will return next issue with more memories of his Fawcett days.]

Rod Reed Revisited

47

Rod Reed Revisited An Interview with One of Fawcett’s Greatest Writers and Editors Interview Conducted by John G. Pierce

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck Binder, C.C. Beck, Kurt Schaffenberger. and some of the others who contributed to the Marvel Family saga, still, his was an important role in those early years at Fawcett Comics. —John G. Pierce, 2002.

[Originally printed in Pierce’s multi-international Marvel Family fanzine, The Whiz Kids #2, 1982. A portion of the interview also previously appeared in Comics Interview #18, Dec. 1984. These sections of text are ©2002 by John G. Pierce and David Anthony Kraft, respectively.]

Preface

INTRODUCTION

In the early 1970s, I began to make contact with several people who had contributed mightily to the original Captain Marvel canon. One of these people was Rod Reed, an early editor and later freelance writer for Fawcett Publications.

First, a few salient quotes about—and by—Rod Reed:

Rod Reed and his dog, Cobina, photographed at Malverne, Long Island, New York, 1942... and a Kurt Schaffenberger cartoon featuring Rod which appeared in Comics Interview #18 (Dec. 1984), reprinted courtesy of David Anthony Kraft. [Art ©2002 estate of Kurt Schaffenberger; Marvel Family TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

Rod was a fun, witty, articulate, and knowledgeable individual. During our correspondence he remembered many things about those early days at Fawcett… while other details he had completely forgotten or simply didn’t know about. But what he could and did recall filled in many gaps in my quest for Fawcett history.

We discussed matters other than comics, too (such as jazz music, his greatest interest), for which I think he was grateful.

After all, most of the pioneers of the comic book field had far less interest in their line of work than we fans do.

Rod passed away in the late ’80s and, needless to say, he has been greatly missed ever since. While not as well known as Otto

“Although Rod Reed was employed for only a few years by Fawcett Publications—from 19411943—both the admiration that his co-workers such as Marc Swayze and C.C. Beck had for him and his attention to his craft made Rod one of the best-remembered talents of the era of the original Captain Marvel.

“Born April 15, 1910, in Hamilton, Ohio, Reed began his writing career with the Buffalo Evening Sun in 1929. In 1941, at Fawcett Publications, he was both comics editor and writer, scripting many “Captain Marvel” stories. He was the first person to edit Fawcett Comics after CM creator Bill Parker left to go into the military. In June, 1943, Reed chose to take on an editorial position with the jazz magazine Downbeat, but continued to freelance for Fawcett and became known as one of the best Captain Marvel scribes, specializing in some of the more humor-filled scripts of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. In 1951, he joined Buenos Aires artist Jose Luis Salinas to bring The Cisco Kid to daily newspaper strips. Rod and Jose never met; their 18year collaboration was via phone and correspondence.

Rod also contributed one unpublished Fatman the Human Flying Saucer story towards the end of the character’s short-lived career in the 1960s, which briefly brought together again many of the old The cover of Captain Marvel Adventures #28 (Oct. 1943). Art by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza; edited by Rod Reed. [©2002 DC Comics.]

48

Rod Reed Revisited and pride his ’40s collaborations with Beck on the early ‘Captain Tootsie’ strip advertisements for Tootsie Rolls.

Reed said the Tootsie Roll people gave the duo full creative freedom and that the pay in advertising far outweighed that of comic books.” —P.C. Hamerlinck, Editor, FCA “Two of my best comics authors (Otto Binder not included) told me they would sit up all night with a bottle and script and finish both at once. I would not recommend that… but I’ll admit I’ve done some of my greatest writing after getting slightly looped at a Christmas party. Too bad I always forgot to put any paper in the typewriter.

“After a recent game of golf, I stopped inside the clubhouse. A fellow called me to the end of the bar and introduced me to a girl. The fellow said, ‘This is Rod Reed who used to draw Captain Marvel Jr.’ I didn’t deny I was Junior’s artist. Why? I found out long ago that such denial is too complicated and of no use. My neighbor still proudly introduces me as: ‘This is my friend, Rod Reed. He draws Little Orphan Annie!’

People can’t believe that anybody has to actually write comics for a living.” —Rod Reed, 1977

Interview JOHN G. PIERCE: In addition to “Captain Marvel” and “Captain Marvel Jr.,” what other Fawcett features did you script? Did you write any of the four Captain Marvel Story Books?

ROD REED: My memory of specific stories and characters ranges from dim to nil. However, I do recall that I wrote “Captain Marvel on the Planet Pazzoo” from Captain Marvel Story Book #1 (Summer, 1946).

The story dealt with a modern-day Christopher Columbus whom Cap helped cross the Atlantic while taking a detour to an alien world. The story in Captain Marvel Story Book #3 (Spring, 1948), “Captain Marvel and the Bucket of Blood Murders,” was a collaboration of sorts with writer Jess Benton. I had written two-thirds of it when I was asked to go out of town with Woody A June 1944 “Captain Tootsie” strip-ad for Tootsie Rolls—written by Rod Reed, Herman’s orchestra. I asked Jess to finish it and he did. I illustrated by C.C. Beck. [©2002 the respective copyright holders.] never saw the finished product so I don’t know how the story turned out. Otto Binder undoubtedly authored the Fawcett/Captain Marvel staff. Rod retired in 1980 after the death of his other Captain Marvel Story Book stories. wife, Tucky.

“Rod lived for years on Walnut Farm, which reportedly had been featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not in the ’30s for having the largest walnut trees in the world. The farm was sold when his wife passed away.

At the time of his death on August 31, 1989, Rod Reed was living in Pine Bush, New York.” —Bill Harper, Editor, FCA & ME, TOO! “Rod was the most creative writer I’ll ever know. He was also blessed with a marvelous sense of humor… and he loved jazz music. As an early editor of Downbeat, he got to know many jazz musicians, and was Woody Herman’s road manager for a time. Rod’s jazz collection consisted of original 78-rpm records, which he still played. He couldn’t be bothered with ‘those newfangled cassette players.’” —Bernie McCarty, Editor, Fawcett Collectors of America “After getting his address from C.C. Beck, I corresponded for a few years with Rod Reed. Reed, a jovial and witty letter writer, was quite elated to hear from a teenager who actually knew who he was! His recollections of his years as an editor and writer for Fawcett Comics were often sporadic. However, he remembered with particular fondness

JGP: How did you become involved with Downbeat magazine?

REED: When I was a radio columnist in Buffalo, I had some correspondence with New York press agent Ned E. Williams. After I moved to Manhattan and became a press agent myself, I looked him up. I guess we had good vibes… although that term hadn’t been invented yet. That is, I think he liked me and I know I liked and respected him. Subsequently, he went to Chicago to publish Downbeat. When I left Fawcett, he immediately hired me to take charge of their New York office. My technical knowledge of music is about zero Celsius, but I had been a jazz and swing fan, a record buff, and an interviewer of people like Stuff Smith, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Lunceford, and Harry James. The New York office was staffed with young people who were long on enthusiasm but short on editorial experience. I was to be the Wise Old Hand who would guide them. I doubt that I guided them much, but the publication kept coming out on time.

JGP: Which did you find easier to write, comic books or comic strips?

Rod Reed Revisited

49

REED: “Easier”? You should know it’s against the rules of the Writers’ Union to admit anything is easy. Writing strips has this advantage: if you can think of a good plot for a comic strip it can go on for three or four months, whereas a good plot for a comic book will be used up in eight or ten pages and then you must think up another one.

JGP: It doesn’t quite work that way in contemporary comics. You wrote a few samples of a never-published Captain Marvel newspaper strip, illustrated by C.C. Beck.

Did you have any idea where the story was heading?

REED: I have no idea, and probably didn’t at the time. I Two samples of the unpublished Captain Marvel daily comic strip by Rod Reed and C.C. Beck from 1942-43. [©2002 DC Comics.] could carry on from the reprocrossed sometimes in comics, I look on Julie fondly as a fellow jazz fan. ductions if necessary, but I think there may have been a further develOne of Fawcett’s writers on my staff, John Broome, was similarly opment that might have lead to a different ending. inclined. We used to go together to jam sessions at Town Hall. We had JGP: Is it safe to assume that you often started a newspaper strip with record bashes. Last time I saw Julie he said he had quit listening to his only a sketchy idea of how the story would end? records.

REED: Yes. At first, the syndicate would ask for a synopsis and I sent it to them… but I still varied the conclusions to stories as—presumably— better ideas occurred to me. They soon quit asking for a synopsis. As an editor of comics, though, I always insisted that the writer let me know how a story was to end. Maybe I’m not as brave as the fellows at King Features Syndicate. Also, a comic book story is tight. If scheduled for ten pages it must not run eleven… whereas a strip is open-ended and, in theory, could run on indefinitely.

JGP: Where are you from originally?

REED: I’m a native of Hamilton, Ohio, and I grew up steeped in the legends of Columbus, Ohio State University, and Chick Harley.

JGP: Aside from C.C. Beck, are you personally acquainted with anyone who was involved in DC’s revival of Captain Marvel?

The initial pages of Captain Marvel Story Book combined art and text. The writing in issue #3 (Spring 1948) was a collaboration between Rod Reed & Jess Benton; art was by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza. [©2002 DC Comics.]

REED: I, of course, know artist Kurt Schaffenberger from the Fawcett days. I also know Julie Schwartz; though our paths

JGP: You mentioned in another interview that if you were asked to write “Captain Marvel” scripts today, you “would give the matter due consideration.” What would your basic approach to “Captain Marvel” scripts be today? How would it differ, if at all, from what you wrote in the ’40s?

REED: This is an iffy question. If the publisher wanted nostalgia, I suppose I’d write like 1940. If they were looking to modernize Cap, I guess the best bet would be to surround him with young people, adopt their lingo and attitudes, and try remolding the Cheese.

JGP: What’s the story behind Kurt Schaffenberger once commenting that you were “a frustrated Cecil B. DeMille”?

REED: “The DeMille Complex” has been a running gag between Kurt and me for some time. When writing to him I often sign my name as “Cecil.” But gags at base have a grain of truth. You can picture the artist at his lonely drawing board picking up his script and saying, “Good grief! Another scene from Ben Hur!” No doubt I sometimes put into a scene more characters and action than Kurt deemed necessary, or appropriate… but if I had any of the old scripts handy, I bet I could put up a sterling defense! In any case, Kurt’s bleats didn’t fall on deaf ears. I modified my DeMille complex. I put in lots of one-head close-ups… and soon Kurt and other artists began to benefit.

JGP: When and how did you first become aware of comics fandom, and what did you think of it?

REED: I first heard of fanzines several years ago. I was surprised that young people of the rock and TV age would be so interested in the past.

JGP: Do you receive any fanzines regularly?

REED: Yes, C.C. Beck’s FCA/SOB and Jim Steranko’s Prevue.

JGP: Were you aware that briefly in the Shazam! comic book DC revived the city-visiting format for “Captain Marvel” stories which originally appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures?

50

Rod Reed Revisited

REED: That interests me greatly, since I was the one in the ’40s who thought up the whole city gimmick and persuaded the Fawcett brass that it would be a circulation-builder. I wrote the prototype story, which took place in Buffalo, New York. No research was necessary, as I had been a newspaperman there. As these series of stories developed, a distributor in each city would provide us with data as to the leading citizens, unusual sights, principal streets, main industry, and anything else that might serve as background.

brand new comic book. I was not present at the time, so I’m only speculating. Suppose the Fawcett bosses told him, “Parker, among the various characters you’re to create, we want a western hero, but he should not be like the Lone Ranger.” Okay, so no mask… no silver bullets… no Tonto. I doubt that the combined genius of you, me, Bridwell, and Kanigher could have produced such a good Whiz on such short notice.

JGP: No argument there. In the Mary Marvel origin story from Captain JGP: In Shazam! #33’s letter-column, Marvel Adventures #18, December Fawcett Comics editorial meeting, 1942. (L. to r.:) Mercedes 11,1942 (reprinted in Shazam! #8 and E. Nelson Bridwell mentioned that Bob “Mercy” Shull, Tom Naughton, Otto Binder, John Beardsley, and in the book Shazam! From the 40’s to Kanigher wrote several of the early Rod Reed (smoking pipe). the 70’s), written by Otto Binder and city-visiting stories of the ’40s; do you illustrated by Marc Swayze, Billy remember him?

Batson is hosting a quiz program and reads a question from Tucky REED: I never heard of him. It may be a case of faulty memory, but his Reed. Any comments? name does not ring a bell.

REED: I hadn’t remembered that, but I’m not surprised. My wife’s JGP: Your story “Captain Marvel in Buffalo” appeared in Captain kinfolk call her Edith, but everybody else addresses her as Tucky, Marvel Adventures #31, January, 1944. Will Lieberson is credited as including the folks down at the bank. Her southern accent so impressed executive editor. I presume this means that it was published after you the natives of Buffalo, New York, that they began calling her “Kaintuck” left Fawcett as an editor. and “Tucky” until she decided not to fight it. She’s tickled to see her name mentioned in the funnies. I hope we noted it at the time and REED: I don’t have a copy of CMA #31, but if Lieberson was listed as mentioned it to Otto Binder, for he would have been pleased with some executive editor, it means the issue was produced after I left Fawcett and reaction and disappointed at lack of it.

Will succeeded me. As for the order in which the stories appeared, no doubt the circulation department had its reasons. Of course, it’s not rare for a story to get into print months after it’s been written. You may have thought it was against the rules of an editor to also write. True, but it didn’t apply in this particular case, because I did it as part of my job on company time and did not get paid for it beyond my regular salary.

Freelancers like Otto Binder, Bill Woolfolk, and Joe Millard—who were paid their usual rates—wrote the rest of the city stories.

JGP: At one point in the early ’70s, C.C. Beck talked in terms of wanting to form a studio or shop of sorts, with himself as artist, you as writer, and Don Newton as artistic collaborator. What do you think would have been the results?

REED: How would you answer that question, Mr. D.A.?

JGP: I don’t know, but it would have been interesting to see! Back to the days of the ’40s: prior to Will Lieberson’s tenure, you were the Fawcett comics editor for their entire line of comics, including their first title, Whiz Comics.

Golden Arrow, one of the characters from the Whiz line-up, always seemed rather dull to me.

The character lacked concepts such as a secret past, a mask, etc. What’s your appraisal of Golden Arrow?

REED: A secret past like the Lone Ranger, and a mask, may have made Golden Arrow a more formidable character. However, your viewpoint is that of a historian of comics.

Consider the dilemma of Bill Parker, who was asked to create a half dozen or so characters for a

This particular tidbit of trivia from CMA #18 reveals that many fans are hip to a lot of things I either don’t remember or didn’t know about in the first place. The fact is that we were so busy meeting deadlines—I had 25 titles at one time—that individual items kind of skipped by us. As a young reporter interviewing cinema queens, Broadway stars, famous athletes, visiting authors, band leaders, and comedians, I was often amazed to find I was more informed in some areas of their business than they were. “How could this be?” I wondered. Stupidity? Ignorance?

Later I realized that a fan has a greater chance to observe the whole scene than does the participant. The latter is much too busy to know much of what’s going on around him.

In Shazam! #8, since you mentioned that, of special interest to me was the letters page in which you and others discussed the powers of Mary Marvel and the various gods or non-gods who made up her “SHAZAM.” Good grief, I didn’t know y’all cared! Up to then, all I could recall about the creation of Mary Marvel was that Marc Swayze drew her first portraits (some that later appeared as beautiful covers) and stories. I also remember Selena represents the first letter in Mary’s “Shazam,” right? Well, here’s a scoop: the original was Sappho, but I killed her off due to her lesbian lifestyle.

In a small way I was the Anita Bryant of my time. I told Otto that ol’ Sappho must go, and that’s how Selena got in. Roger Fawcett may never have forgiven me for our loss of circulation among lesbians.

JGP: Did Bill Finger, noted

The splash of Rod Reed’s first city-visiting story, “Captain Marvel in Buffalo!” from Captain Marvel Adventures #31 (Jan. 1944). [©2002 DC Comics.]

Rod Reed Revisited Rod Reed and his wife Tucky in a backyard jam session at their Malvernie, NY, home in 1942. Tucky kept busy: around the same time, she also submitted a question for Billy Batson’s quiz program in the Mary Marvel origin story in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942)! Story by Otto Binder, art by Marc Swayze. [©2002 DC Comics.]

51 hoopla about Fawcett’s golden days is Al Allard.

He was Fawcett’s art director, in charge of that young bullpen of geniuses. Al was a quiet, low-key man, but he was always in the meeting when we’d confer on a cover. He decided which guys to hire.

We had to get his approval before a freelance artist’s pay was raised.

JGP: One of my all-time favorite writers—based on the work he did on Green Lantern and The Flash—was John Broome. It came to no surprise to learn that he also used to write for Fawcett.

Golden Age writer of Batman and Green Lantern, ever work for Fawcett?

REED: One day when I was pretty new in the Fawcett comics department, editor Eddie Herron said, “If a fellow named Bill Finger comes around and wants to write for us, hire him, even if he wants $18 a page!” Since the going rate at the time was $2.50 a page, that impressed me. It was the first time I ever heard of Finger. Later, as I got better acquainted with the field, I knew that Bill Finger was a pro’s pro, perhaps the most admired writer of all. Certainly, everybody held Batman in high esteem, far above Superman.

[Editor Ed] Herron had been gone for a year or so when Lyn Perkins first introduced Finger to me. Bill had a briefcase full of plot ideas, and the ones he showed me were ingenious. I gave him an assignment, probably “Captain Marvel.” A certain number of pages, say fifteen, was specified. He would accept our regular rate—$6 a page by then— provided he could have a check as soon as he turned in the story. Okay, I said. Fawcett had a cumbersome bookkeeping system and was notorious for slow pay; however, I managed to acquire a check made out to Bill Finger before he wrote the story! The Fawcett brothers would have turned pale had they but known. So the great “Batman” author brought in his script. It was dandy. But it was sixteen pages and the payment was for only fifteen pages. He was the outraged author… but I was the firm editor. I had gone to a lot of trouble to get him a fast check for the agreed number of pages and if he wanted to donate an extra, that was his business, not mine. He departed grumbling, but didn’t tear up the check.

As far as I know, that’s the only time Finger wrote for Fawcett. I met him several times afterward and he was amiable, so there were no hard feelings.

JGP: Who was Lyn Perkins? It became common practice for Fawcett staffers’ names or likenesses to be used in the stories; Perkins’ name turned up as a villain’s in the lead story “Captain Marvel—a Good Neighbor” from Captain Marvel Adventures #63.

REED: Lyn Perkins was a Fawcett editor. His whole name was Henry Avelyn Perkins. We called him Henry, but his pals outside the office called him Lyn. He was a dedicated student of the comics business with a keen sense of story and art.

REED: Yes, and Broome was another jazz buff, as I mentioned earlier. When he came to Fawcett he first wrote “Golden Arrow.” Later, of course, he wrote “Captain Marvel” stories and many other Fawcett features. A first-rate writer and a talented, classy gentleman.

JGP: How did you go about writing your scripts for Fawcett comics?

REED: I always put in as little description as possible, except in key scenes where it was important to have action, settings, and background just to further the story. It’s true that Kurt Schaffenberger accused me of having a DeMille complex where I tried to stuff too much business into a scene… but I’m sure I got over that pretty quickly. I hasten to add that Kurt never caused me any trouble; he kidded me about my complex but never complained to Fawcett management, and our relations to this day remain so amiable that we exchange Christmas cards and occasional letters. Beck never squawked about my scripts, either. In fact, I have an unsolicited testimonial from him about the very last thing I wrote that he was to draw… a story about the late, lamented “Fatman the Human Flying Saucer”!

JGP: Otto Binder wrote all of the “Fatman” stories that appeared during its brief attempt to recapture some of the grandeur of Fawcett Comics. I assume your story was slated for Fatman #4?

REED: My story was to appear in #4, but it never made it to the printers; Fatman was cancelled after the third issue. My conception of Fatman’s direction was nil. I was never in on the planning; only Otto, Beck, and [editor] Wendell Crowley were. I was asked to write one script to fill out issue #4. Wendell told me that Otto and Beck were beginning to have arguments over the book’s direction, but I was not involved.

JGP: Tell us a little about the Captain Marvel tie your wife used to wear.

REED: Tucky was a Red Cross ambulance driver, and sometimes her work took her into the children’s ward of hospitals. She would wear her Captain Marvel tie, which really went over well with the moppets, though a good many of them thought the Big Red Cheese was Superman. After we moved she wore the tie to a bowling banquet, and grown men who saw it shouted “Shazam!”

Someone who I feel has been neglected in the “The Fawcett brothers would have turned pale had they but known.” Here the brothers (l. to r.: Roscoe, Roger, W.H. Jr. [“Buzz”], and Gordon) donate blood to Red Cross nurses in 1942.

JGP: Did Alfred Bester write scripts for “Captain Marvel”?

REED: Sure, Alfie wrote some “Cap” stories. Ken Crossen, a Fawcett editor who later was the

52

Rod Reed Revisited referring to the unlocked back door. “Right,” he said.

“When your hero gets in a jam, have the villains tie him up with rotten rope.”

force who pulled Mac Raboy away from Fawcett to collaborate on The Green Lama, became M.E. Chaber, mystery writer. I’ve been told that M.E. Chaber stands for “mechaber” meaning Yiddish or Hebrew… odd, Ken didn’t look Jewish! Lawrence Lariar (Adam Knight), one of the top gag cartoonists from the ’40s, also worked on “Captain Marvel.”

JGP: When writing Marvel Comics, Stan Lee favored long fights in his scripts.

REED: I know nothing of Lee’s writing methods. At Fawcett, Eddie Herron liked the long, drawn-out fights, especially in the scripts he wrote himself. They may or may not have been effective, but they’re certainly a boon to the writer who is getting paid by the page and doesn’t want to think too much.

JGP: Have you ever seen Republic Pictures’ 1941 serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel?

REED: Frankly, I don’t remember that much about Double-page splash from America’s Greatest Comics #7 the serial, but I expect it (May 28, 1943), in which some writer (or editor!) slipped must have been better than in a Superman reference. [©2002 DC Comics.]

JGP: Of course, Stan the Shazam! TV show the Man did a lot of from the ’70s that showed the Big Red Cheese grunting and puffing to good for comics, too.

C.C. Beck particularly admires him for bringing do such a simple thing as lifting up an automobile. However, I did catch some humor and originality back into comics. the Hanna-Barbera TV special called Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge featuring Captain Marvel and other heroes—and found it REED: I was on the phone recently with Ed Robbins, a former Fawcett mildly amusing. artist, who declared Stan did a lot of good things for artists and writers.

One of my favorite television shows was Maverick starring James Garner. It was well-written, well-directed, and well-acted. Perhaps you recall the Maverick episode in which Garner spent the entire hour sitting relaxed on a chair in front of a building on the wooden sidewalk.

He maneuvered the whole plot with brainwork and guile. We shall not see the like of such work again any time soon, I fear, for writers have learned it is easier to put in violence and a chase than to think creatively.

This is nothing new. At Fawcett, we had a comics writer who, getting paid by the page, would try to fatten his script by starting a fight between the hero and villain. Next page, he would simply write, “More fight.” Next page, “Continue fight,” etc. Some of the writers like Millard, Binder, Woolfolk, Broome, and others would strain a gut to create an ingenious plot. Others took short cuts.

After my tenure as comics editor, I noted a dilly of a “locked room” mystery. The hero had been shoved into a sturdy cabin, the front door was padlocked, the windows were barred, and the chimney was too narrow for escape. How did he get out?

By the back door. Someone forgot to lock it. I confronted Wendell Crowley with this. Note: It was not in one of his books.

He shrugged his shoulders. He was a bona fide editor. Some others who bore the title were not. “You would never let me get away with something like this,” I said,

JGP: In conclusion, is there anything else you would like to add about your Fawcett years during the Golden Age of Comics?

REED: The petrified truth is that you know more about the characters than I do. We who worked in those vineyards didn’t know it was a Golden Age, or we would’ve made some notes. One thing I know is that, during the entire time I was with Fawcett, we never copied “Superman.” One time somebody had a character in a humor filler strip saying, “Is it a boid? Is it a plane?” The top brass said this was a no-no and made us take it out. It was stressed that there should not be even a kidding reference to anything Supermanly. On the other hand, Mac Raboy once showed me a Superman newspaper strip where Supe’s figure was copied so exactly close from one of his Captain Marvel Jr. renderings that it could have been a photostat. Mac said it wasn’t the first time he had noted such swipes.

JGP: Well, if one is going to swipe, one might as well do it from an old Master (pun intended). But what about the opening scene of the “Captain Marvel” story from America’s Greatest Comics #7 (May, 1943) where the phrase, “Is it a bird? Is it a plane?” is used?

REED: Again, you amaze me with your knowledge of minute details about the glorious past. I knew nothing about this. Maybe some legal beagle spotted it and advised the brass to avoid the phrase in the future.

JGP: Describe your typewriter.

REED: It’s an Underwood standard and probably older than you and your wife and your typewriter combined. It had many hard-pounders before I inherited it. But I’d be reluctant to trade it in for the latest electric cartridge, no-smeared-fingers-changing-ribbons model even if it guaranteed to spell everything correctly. This is muh baby. My brother, a Buffalo sports editor, left it to me when he became managing editor of the Washington Post. It could be nearly 70 years old.

Perhaps it will be declared an historic landmark.

Rod Reed in the 1970s—and a 1959 photo of his and Tucky’s black walnut farm outside of Pine Bush, New York.

Now—FLIP US for our Timely/Marvel Section!

Edited by ROY THOMAS

DIGITAL

The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with NS EDITIO BLE ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, A IL AVA NLY UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FOR O 5 FCA (Fawcett Collectors of $2.9 America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections

by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

EISNER AWARD WINNER for Best Comics-Related Periodical

Go online for an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with issues at HALF-PRICE!

ALTER EGO #4

ALTER EGO #5

ALTER EGO #1

ALTER EGO #2

ALTER EGO #3

STAN LEE gets roasted by SCHWARTZ, CLAREMONT, DAVID, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, and SHOOTER, ORDWAY and THOMAS on INFINITY, INC., IRWIN HASEN interview, unseen H.G. PETER Wonder Woman pages, the original Captain Marvel and Human Torch teamup, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, “Mr. Monster”, plus plenty of rare and unpublished art!

Featuring a never-reprinted SPIRIT story by WILL EISNER, the genesis of the SILVER AGE ATOM (with GARDNER FOX, GIL KANE, and JULIE SCHWARTZ), interviews with LARRY LIEBER and Golden Age great JACK BURNLEY, BOB KANIGHER, a new Fawcett Collectors of America section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, and more!

GIL KANE and JACK BURNLEY flip-covers!

Unseen ALEX ROSS and JERRY ORDWAY Shazam! art, 1953 interview with OTTO BINDER, the SUPERMAN/CAPTAIN MARVEL LAWSUIT, GIL KANE on The Golden Age of TIMELY COMICS, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and SCHAFFENBERGER, rare art by AYERS, BERG, BURNLEY, DITKO, RICO, SCHOMBURG, MARIE SEVERIN and more! ALEX ROSS & BILL EVERETT covers!

(80-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #6

ALTER EGO #7

ALTER EGO #8

Interviews with KUBERT, SHELLY MOLDOFF, and HARRY LAMPERT, BOB KANIGHER, life and times of GARDNER FOX, ROY THOMAS remembers GIL KANE, a history of Flash Comics, MOEBIUS Silver Surfer sketches, MR. MONSTER, FCA section with SWAYZE, BECK, and SCHAFFENBERGER, and lots more! Dual color covers by JOE KUBERT!

Celebrating the JSA, with interviews with MART NODELL, SHELLY MAYER, GEORGE ROUSSOS, BILL BLACK, and GIL KANE, unpublished H.G. PETER Wonder Woman art, GARDNER FOX, an FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, WENDELL CROWLEY, and more! Wraparound cover

by CARMINE INFANTINO and JERRY ORDWAY!

GENE COLAN interview, 1940s books on comics by STAN LEE and ROBERT KANIGHER, AYERS, SEVERIN, and ROY THOMAS on Sgt. Fury, ROY on All-Star Squadron’s Golden Age roots, FCA section with SWAYZE, BECK, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, JOE SIMON interview, a definitive look at MAC RABOY’S work, and more! Covers by COLAN and RABOY!

Companion to ALL-STAR COMPANION book, with a JULIE SCHWARTZ interview, guide to JLA-JSA TEAMUPS, origins of the ALL-STAR SQUADRON, FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK (on his 1970s DC conflicts), DAVE BERG, BOB ROGERS, more on MAC RABOY from his son, MR. MONSTER, and more! RICH BUCKLER and C.C. BECK covers!

WALLY WOOD biography, DAN ADKINS & BILL PEARSON on Wood, TOR section with 1963 JOE KUBERT interview, ROY THOMAS on creating the ALL-STAR SQUADRON and its 1940s forebears, FCA section with SWAYZE & BECK, MR. MONSTER, JERRY ORDWAY on Shazam!, JERRY DeFUCCIO on the Golden Age, CHIC STONE remembered! ADKINS and KUBERT covers!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #9

ALTER EGO #10

ALTER EGO #11

ALTER EGO #12

ALTER EGO #13

JOHN ROMITA interview by ROY THOMAS (with unseen art), Roy’s PROPOSED DREAM PROJECTS that never got published (with a host of great artists), MR. MONSTER on WAYNE BORING’S life after Superman, The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Panel, FCA section with GEORGE TUSKA, C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, BILL MORRISON, & more! ROMITA and GIORDANO covers!

Who Created the Silver Age Flash? (with KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, and SCHWARTZ), DICK AYERS interview (with unseen art), JOHN BROOME remembered, never-seen Golden Age Flash pages, VIN SULLIVAN Magazine Enterprises interview, FCA, interview with FRED GUARDINEER, and MR. MONSTER on WAYNE BORING! INFANTINO and AYERS covers!

Focuses on TIMELY/MARVEL (interviews and features on SYD SHORES, MICKEY SPILLANE, and VINCE FAGO), and MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES (including JOE CERTA, JOHN BELFI, FRANK BOLLE, BOB POWELL, and FRED MEAGHER), MR. MONSTER on JERRY SIEGEL, DON and MAGGIE THOMPSON interview, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and DON NEWTON!

DC and QUALITY COMICS focus! Quality’s GILL FOX interview, never-seen ‘40s PAUL REINMAN Green Lantern story, ROY THOMAS talks to LEN WEIN and RICH BUCKLER about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, MR. MONSTER shows what made WALLY WOOD leave MAD, FCA section with BECK & SWAYZE, & ‘65 NEWSWEEK ARTICLE on comics! REINMAN and BILL WARD covers!

1974 panel with JOE SIMON, STAN LEE, FRANK ROBBINS, and ROY THOMAS, ROY and JOHN BUSCEMA on Avengers, 1964 STAN LEE interview, tributes to DON HECK, JOHNNY CRAIG, and GRAY MORROW, Timely alums DAVID GANTZ and DANIEL KEYES, and FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and MIKE MANLEY! Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON and JOE SIMON!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

16

ALTER EGO #14

ALTER EGO #15

ALTER EGO #16

ALTER EGO #17

ALTER EGO #18

A look at the 1970s JSA revival with CONWAY, LEVITZ, ESTRADA, GIFFEN, MILGROM, and STATON, JERRY ORDWAY on All-Star Squadron, tributes to CRAIG CHASE and DAN DeCARLO, “lost” 1945 issue of All-Star, 1970 interview with LEE ELIAS, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, & JAY DISBROW! MIKE NASSER & MICHAEL GILBERT covers!

JOHN BUSCEMA ISSUE! BUSCEMA interview (with UNSEEN ART), reminiscences by SAL BUSCEMA, STAN LEE, INFANTINO, KUBERT, ORDWAY, FLO STEINBERG, and HERB TRIMPE, ROY THOMAS on 35 years with BIG JOHN, FCA tribute to KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, plus C.C. BECK and MARC SWAYZE, and MR. MONSTER revisits WALLY WOOD! Two BUSCEMA covers!

MARVEL BULLPEN REUNION (BUSCEMA, COLAN, ROMITA, and SEVERIN), memories of the JOHN BUSCEMA SCHOOL, FCA with ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK, and MARC SWAYZE, tribute to CHAD GROTHKOPF, MR. MONSTER on EC COMICS with art by KURTZMAN, DAVIS, and WOOD, and more! Covers by ALEX ROSS and MARIE SEVERIN & RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlighting LOU FINE (with an overview of his career, and interviews with family members), interview with MURPHY ANDERSON about Fine, ALEX TOTH on Fine, ARNOLD DRAKE interviewed about DEADMAN and DOOM PATROL, MR. MONSTER on the non-EC work of JACK DAVIS and GEORGE EVANS, FINE and LUIS DOMINGUEZ COVERS, FCA and more!

STAN GOLDBERG interview, secrets of ‘40s Timely, art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, MANEELY, EVERETT, BURGOS, and DeCARLO, spotlight on sci-fi fanzine XERO with the LUPOFFS, OTTO BINDER, DON THOMPSON, ROY THOMAS, BILL SCHELLY, and ROGER EBERT, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD ghosting Flash Gordon! KIRBY and SWAYZE covers!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #19

ALTER EGO #20

ALTER EGO #21

ALTER EGO #22

ALTER EGO #23

Spotlight on DICK SPRANG (profile and interview) with unseen art, rare Batman art

by BOB KANE, CHARLES PARIS, SHELLY MOLDOFF, MAX ALLAN COLLINS, JIM MOONEY, CARMINE INFANTINO, and ALEX TOTH, JERRY ROBINSON interviewed about Tomahawk and 1940s cover artist FRED RAY, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD’s Flash Gordon, Part 2!

Timely/Marvel art by SEKOWSKY, SHORES, EVERETT, and BURGOS, secrets behind THE INVADERS with ROY THOMAS, KIRBY, GIL KANE, & ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS interviewed, 1965 NY Comics Con review, panel with FINGER, BINDER, FOX and WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, RABOY, SCHAFFENBERGER, and more! MILGROM and SCHELLY covers!

The IGER “SHOP” examined, with art by EISNER, FINE, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, BAKER, MESKIN, CARDY, EVANS, BOB KANE, and TUSKA, “SHEENA” section with art by DAVE STEVENS & FRANK BRUNNER, ROY THOMAS on JSA & All-Star Squadron, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, UNSEEN 1946 ALL-STAR ART, FCA, and more!

DAVE STEVENS and IRWIN HASEN covers!

BILL EVERETT and JOE KUBERT interviewed

by NEAL ADAMS and GIL KANE in 1970, Timely art by BURGOS, SHORES, NODELL, and SEKOWSKY, RUDY LAPICK, ROY THOMAS on Sub-Mariner, with art by EVERETT, COLAN, ANDRU, BUSCEMAs, SEVERINs, and more, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD at EC, ALEX TOTH, and CAPT. MIDNIGHT! EVERETT & BECK covers!

Unseen art from TWO “LOST” 1940s H.G. PETER WONDER WOMAN STORIES (and analysis of “CHARLES MOULTON” scripts), BOB FUJITANI and JOHN ROSENBERGER, VICTOR GORELICK discusses Archie and The Mighty Crusaders, with art by MORROW, BUCKLER, and REINMAN, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD! H.G. PETER and BOB FUJITANI covers!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #24

ALTER EGO #25

ALTER EGO #26

ALTER EGO #27

ALTER EGO #28

X-MEN interviews with STAN LEE, DAVE COCKRUM, CHRIS CLAREMONT, ARNOLD DRAKE, JIM SHOOTER, ROY THOMAS, and LEN WEIN, MORT MESKIN profiled by his sons and ALEX TOTH, rare art by JERRY ROBINSON, FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY on Comics Fandom! MESKIN and COCKRUM covers!

JACK COLE remembered by ALEX TOTH, interview with brother DICK COLE and his PLAYBOY colleagues, CHRIS CLAREMONT on the X-Men (with more never-seen art by DAVE COCKRUM), ROY THOMAS on AllStar Squadron #1 and its ‘40s roots (with art

by ORDWAY, BUCKLER, MESKIN and MOLDOFF), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by TOTH and SCHELLY!

JOE SINNOTT interview, IRWIN DONENFELD interview by EVANIER & SCHWARTZ, art by SHUSTER, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, and SWAN, MARK WAID analyzes the first Kryptonite story, JERRY SIEGEL and HARRY DONENFELD, JERRY IGER Shop update, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and KEN BALD! Covers by SINNOTT and WAYNE BORING!

VIN SULLIVAN interview about the early DC days with art by SHUSTER, MOLDOFF, FLESSEL, GUARDINEER, and BURNLEY, MR. MONSTER’s “Lost” KIRBY HULK covers, 1948 NEW YORK COMIC CON with STAN LEE, SIMON & KIRBY, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, HARVEY KURTZMAN, and ROY THOMAS, ALEX TOTH, FCA, and more! Covers by JACK BURNLEY and JACK KIRBY!

Spotlight on JOE MANEELY, with a career overview, remembrance by his daughter and tons of art, Timely/Atlas/Marvel art by ROMITA, EVERETT, SEVERIN, SHORES, KIRBY, and DITKO, STAN LEE on Maneely, LEE AMES interview, FCA with SWAYZE, ISIS, and STEVE SKEATES, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Covers by JOE MANEELY and DON NEWTON!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

17

ALTER EGO #29

ALTER EGO #30

ALTER EGO #31

ALTER EGO #32

ALTER EGO #33

FRANK BRUNNER interview, BILL EVERETT’S Venus examined by TRINA ROBBINS, Classics Illustrated “What ifs”, LEE/KIRBY/DITKO Marvel prototypes, JOE MANEELY’s monsters, BILL FRACCIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, JOHN BENSON on EC, The Heap by ERNIE SCHROEDER, and FCA! Covers by FRANK BRUNNER and PETE VON SHOLLY!

ALEX ROSS on his love for the JLA, BLACKHAWK/JLA artist DICK DILLIN, the super-heroes of 1940s-1980s France (with art by STEVE RUDE, STEVE BISSETTE, LADRÖNN, and NEAL ADAMS), KIM AAMODT & WALTER GEIER on writing for SIMON & KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA! Covers by ALEX ROSS and STEVE RUDE!

DICK AYERS on his 1950s and ‘60s work (with tons of Marvel Bullpen art), HARLAN ELLISON’s Marvel Age work examined (with art by BUCKLER, SAL BUSCEMA, and TRIMPE), STAN LEE’S Marvel Prototypes (with art by KIRBY and DITKO), Christmas cards from comics greats, MR. MONSTER, & FCA with SWAYZE and SCHAFFENBERGER! Covers by DICK AYERS and FRED RAY!

Timely artists ALLEN BELLMAN and SAM BURLOCKOFF interviewed, MART NODELL on his Timely years, rare art by BURGOS, EVERETT, and SHORES, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age (with art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, and more), FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more!

Covers by DICK GIORDANO and GIL KANE!

Symposium on MIKE SEKOWSKY by MARK EVANIER, SCOTT SHAW!, et al., with art

by ANDERSON, INFANTINO, and others, PAT (MRS. MIKE) SEKOWSKY and inker VALERIE BARCLAY interviewed, FCA, 1950s Captain Marvel parody by ANDRU and ESPOSITO, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by FRENZ/SINNOTT and FRENZ/BUSCEMA!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #34

ALTER EGO #35

ALTER EGO #36

ALTER EGO #37

ALTER EGO #38

Quality Comics interviews with ALEX KOTZKY, AL GRENET, CHUCK CUIDERA, & DICK ARNOLD (son of BUSY ARNOLD), art by COLE, EISNER, FINE, WARD, DILLIN, and KANE, MICHELLE NOLAN on Blackhawk’s jump to DC, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on HARVEY KURTZMAN, & ALEX TOTH on REED CRANDALL! Covers by REED CRANDALL & CHARLES NICHOLAS!

Covers by JOHN ROMITA and AL JAFFEE! LEE, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, & THOMAS on the 1953-55 Timely super-hero revival, with rare art by ROMITA, AYERS, BURGOS, HEATH, EVERETT, LAWRENCE, & POWELL, AL JAFFEE on the 1940s Timely Bullpen (and MAD), FCA, ALEX TOTH on comic art, MR. MONSTER on unpublished 1950s covers, and more!

JOE SIMON on SIMON & KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, and LLOYD JACQUET, JOHN BELL on World War II Canadian heroes, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Canadian origins of MR. MONSTER, tributes to BOB DESCHAMPS, DON LAWRENCE, & GEORGE WOODBRIDGE, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and ELMER WEXLER interview! Covers by SIMON and GILBERT & RONN SUTTON!

WILL MURRAY on the 1940 Superman “KMetal” story & PHILIP WYLIE’s GLADIATOR (with art by SHUSTER, SWAN, ADAMS, and BORING), FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and DON NEWTON, SY BARRY interview, art by TOTH, MESKIN, INFANTINO, and ANDERSON, and MICHAEL T. GILBERT interviews AL FELDSTEIN on EC and RAY BRADBURY! Covers by C.C. BECK and WAYNE BORING!

JULIE SCHWARTZ TRIBUTE with HARLAN ELLISON, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, KUBERT, GIELLA, GIORDANO, CARDY, LEVITZ, STAN LEE, WOLFMAN, EVANIER, & ROY THOMAS, never-seen interviews with Julie, FCA with BECK, SCHAFFENBERGER, NEWTON, COCKRUM, OKSNER, FRADON, SWAYZE, and JACKSON BOSTWICK! Covers by INFANTINO and IRWIN HASEN!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #39

ALTER EGO #40

ALTER EGO #41

ALTER EGO #42

ALTER EGO #43

Full-issue spotlight on JERRY ROBINSON, with an interview on being BOB KANE’s Batman “ghost”, creating the JOKER and ROBIN, working on VIGILANTE, GREEN HORNET, and ATOMAN, plus never-seen art by Jerry, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, RAY, KIRBY, SPRANG, DITKO, and PARIS! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER on AL FELDSTEIN Part 2, and more! Two JERRY ROBINSON covers!

RUSS HEATH and GIL KANE interviews (with tons of unseen art), the JULIE SCHWARTZ Memorial Service with ELLISON, MOORE, GAIMAN, HASEN, O’NEIL, and LEVITZ, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, NOVICK, DILLIN, SEKOWSKY, KUBERT, GIELLA, ARAGONÉS, FCA, MR. MONSTER and AL FELDSTEIN Part 3, and more! Covers by GIL KANE & RUSS HEATH!

Halloween issue! BERNIE WRIGHTSON on his 1970s FRANKENSTEIN, DICK BRIEFER’S monster, the campy 1960s Frankie, art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, BORING, OKSNER, TUSKA, CRANDALL, and SUTTON, FCA #100, EMILIO SQUEGLIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Covers by WRIGHTSON & MARC SWAYZE!

A celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, rare art by KIRBY, DITKO, and AYERS, Hillman and Ziff-Davis remembered by Heap artist ERNIE SCHROEDER, HERB ROGOFF, and WALTER LITTMAN, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and ALEX TOTH! Covers by FASTNER & LARSON and ERNIE SCHROEDER!

Yuletide art by WOOD, SINNOTT, CARDY, BRUNNER, TOTH, NODELL, and others, interviews with Golden Age artists TOM GILL (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS, exploring 1960s Mexican comics, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Flip covers by GEORGE TUSKA and DAVE STEVENS!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

18

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

JSA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. special!

Interviews with KUBERT, HASEN, ANDERSON, ORDWAY, BUCKLER, THOMAS, 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR ADLER, art by TOTH, SEKOWSKY, HASEN, MACHLAN, OKSNER, and INFANTINO, FCA, and MR. MONSTER’S “I Like Ike!” cartoons by BOB KANE, INFANTINO, OKSNER, and BIRO! Wraparound ORDWAY cover!

Interviews with Sandman artist CREIG FLESSEL and ‘40s creator BERT CHRISTMAN, MICHAEL CHABON on researching his Pulitzer-winning novel Kavalier & Clay, art

by EISNER, KANE, KIRBY, and AYERS, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER’s “lost” Jon Jarl story, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and ALEX TOTH! CREIG FLESSEL cover!

The VERY BEST of the 1960s-70s ALTER EGO! 1969 BILL EVERETT interview, art by BURGOS, GUSTAVSON, SIMON & KIRBY, and others, 1960s gems by DITKO, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, JERRY BAILS, and ROY THOMAS, LOU GLANZMAN interview, tributes to IRV NOVICK and CHRIS REEVE, MR. MONSTER, FCA, TOTH, and more!

Cover by EVERETT and MARIE SEVERIN!

Spotlights MATT BAKER, Golden Age cheesecake artist of PHANTOM LADY! Career overview, interviews with BAKER’s half-brother and nephew, art from AL FELDSTEIN, VINCE COLLETTA, ARTHUR PEDDY, JACK KAMEN and others, FCA, BILL SCHELLY talks to comic-book-seller (and fan) BUD PLANT, MR. MONSTER on missing AL WILLIAMSON art, and ALEX TOTH!

WILL EISNER discusses Eisner & Iger’s Shop and BUSY ARNOLD’s ‘40s Quality Comics, art by FINE, CRANDALL, COLE, POWELL, and CARDY, EISNER tributes by STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, & others, interviews with ‘40s Quality artist VERN HENKEL and CHUCK MAZOUJIAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER on EISNER’s Wonder Man, ALEX TOTH, and more with BUD PLANT! EISNER cover!

(100-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #49

ALTER EGO #50

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

Spotlights CARL BURGOS! Interview with daughter SUE BURGOS, art by BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, MIKE SEKOWSKY, ED ASCHE, and DICK AYERS, unused 1941 Timely cover layouts, the 1957 Atlas Implosion examined, MANNY STALLMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER and more! New cover by MARK SPARACIO, from an unused 1941 layout by CARL BURGOS!

ROY THOMAS covers his 40-YEAR career in comics (AVENGERS, X-MEN, CONAN, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY INC.), with ADAMS, BUSCEMA, COLAN, DITKO, GIL KANE, KIRBY, STAN LEE, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, ROMITA, and many others! Also FCA, & MR. MONSTER on ROY’s letters to GARDNER FOX! Flip-covers by BUSCEMA/ KIRBY/ALCALA and JERRY ORDWAY!

Golden Age Batman artist/BOB KANE ghost LEW SAYRE SCHWARTZ interviewed, Batman art by JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, SHELDON MOLDOFF, WIN MORTIMER, JIM MOONEY, and others, the Golden and Silver Ages of AUSTRALIAN SUPER-HEROES, Mad artist DAVE BERG interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WILL EISNER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JOE GIELLA on the Silver Age at DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, and JULIE SCHWARTZ, with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, SEKOWSKY, SWAN, DILLIN, MOLDOFF, GIACOIA, SCHAFFENBERGER, and others, JAY SCOTT PIKE on STAN LEE and CHARLES BIRO, MARTIN THALL interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! GIELLA cover!

GIORDANO and THOMAS on STOKER’S DRACULA, never-seen DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strip, MIKE ESPOSITO on his work with ROSS ANDRU, art by COLAN, WRIGHTSON, MIGNOLA, BRUNNER, BISSETTE, KALUTA, HEATH, MANEELY, EVERETT, DITKO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, BILL SCHELLY, ALEX TOTH, and MR. MONSTER! Cover by GIORDANO!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #54

ALTER EGO #55

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

MIKE ESPOSITO on DC and Marvel, ROBERT KANIGHER on the creation of Metal Men and Sgt. Rock (with comments

by JOE KUBERT and BOB HANEY), art by ANDRU, INFANTINO, KIRBY, SEVERIN, WINDSOR-SMITH, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, TRIMPE, GIL KANE, and others, plus FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! ESPOSITO cover!

JACK and OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with SWAYZE and EMILIO SQUEGLIO, rare art by BECK, WARD, & SCHAFFENBERGER, Christmas Cards from CRANDALL, SINNOTT, HEATH, MOONEY, and CARDY, 1943 Pin-Up Calendar (with ‘40s movie stars as superheroines), ALEX TOTH, more!

ALEX ROSS and ALEX WRIGHT covers!

Interviews with Superman creators SIEGEL & SHUSTER, Golden/Silver Age DC production guru JACK ADLER interviewed, NEAL ADAMS and radio/TV iconoclast (and comics fan) HOWARD STERN on Adler and his amazing career, art by CURT SWAN, WAYNE BORING, and AL PLASTINO, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, and more! NEAL ADAMS cover!

Issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas superhero stories by MICHELLE NOLAN, art by SIMON & KIRBY, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, SHORES, SCHOMBURG, MANEELY, and SEVERIN, GENE COLAN and ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely super-heroes, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY! Cover

by JACK KIRBY and PETE VON SHOLLY!

GERRY CONWAY and ROY THOMAS on their ‘80s screenplay for “The X-Men Movie That Never Was!”with art by COCKRUM, ADAMS, BUSCEMA, BYRNE, GIL KANE, KIRBY, HECK, and LIEBER, Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA interview, ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely bullpen, FCA, 1966 panel on 1950s EC Comics, and MR. MONSTER! MARK SPARACIO/GIL KANE cover!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

19

ALTER EGO #59

ALTER EGO #60

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

Special issue on Batman and Superman in the Golden and Silver Ages, featuring a new ARTHUR SUYDAM interview, NEAL ADAMS on DC in the 1960s-1970s, SHELLY MOLDOFF, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA interviewed, SIEGEL & SHUSTER, RUSS MANNING, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

Celebrates 50 years since SHOWCASE #4!

FLASH interviews with SCHWARTZ, KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, and BROOME, Golden Age artist TONY DiPRETA, 1966 panel with NORDLING, BINDER, and LARRY IVIE, FCA, MR. MONSTER, never-before-published color Flash cover by CARMINE INFANTINO, and more!

History of the AMERICAN COMICS GROUP (1946 to 1967)—including its roots in the Golden Age SANGOR ART SHOP and STANDARD/NEDOR comics! Art by MESKIN, ROBINSON, WILLIAMSON, FRAZETTA, SCHAFFENBERGER, & BUSCEMA, ACG writer/editor RICHARD HUGHES, plus AL HARTLEY interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! GIORDANO cover!

HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN ISSUE, featuring: MIKE PLOOG and RUDY PALAIS on their horror-comics work! AL WILLIAMSON on his work for the American Comics Group—plus more on ACG horror comics! Rare DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strips! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on the 1966 KalerCon, a new PLOOG cover—and more!

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Never-before-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Articles about Toth by TERRY AUSTIN, JIM AMASH, SY BARRY, JOE KUBERT, LOU SAYRE SCHWARTZ, IRWIN HASEN, JOHN WORKMAN, and others! Plus illustrated Christmas cards by comics pros, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

ALTER EGO #68

Fawcett Favorites! Issue-by-issue analysis of BINDER & BECK’s 1943-45 “The Monster Society of Evil!” serial, double-size FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, EMILIO SQUEGLIO, C.C. BECK, MAC RABOY, and others! Interview with MARTIN FILCHOCK, Golden Age artist for Centaur Comics! Plus MR. MONSTER, DON NEWTON cover, plus a FREE 1943 MARVEL CALENDAR!

NICK CARDY interviewed on his Golden & Silver Age work (with CARDY art), plus art

by WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, CARMINE INFANTINO, JIM APARO, RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and others, tributes to ERNIE SCHROEDER and DAVE COCKRUM, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, new CARDY COVER, and more!

Spotlight on BOB POWELL, the artist who drew Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Sheena, The Avenger, The Hulk, Giant-Man, and others, plus art by WALLY WOOD, HOWARD NOSTRAND, DICK AYERS, SIMON & KIRBY, MARTIN GOODMAN’s Magazine Management, and others! FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

Interview with BOB OKSNER, artist of Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Angel and the Ape, Leave It to Binky, Shazam!, and more, plus art and artifacts by SHELLY MAYER, IRWIN HASEN, LEE ELIAS, C.C. BECK, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, JULIE SCHWARTZ, etc., FCA with MARC SWAYZE & C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on BOB POWELL Part II, and more!

Tribute to JERRY BAILS—Father of Comics Fandom and founder of Alter Ego! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, plus art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JERRY ORDWAY, JOE STATON, JACK KIRBY, and others! Plus STEVE DITKO’s notes to STAN LEE for a 1965 Dr. Strange story! And ROY reveals secrets behind Marvel’s STAR WARS comic!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #69

ALTER EGO #70

ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

PAUL NORRIS drew AQUAMAN first, in 1941—and RAMONA FRADON was the hero’s ultimate Golden Age artist. But both drew other things as well, and both are interviewed in this landmark issue—along with a pocket history of Aquaman! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Cover painted by JOHN WATSON, from a breathtaking illo by RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlight on ROY THOMAS’ 1970s stint as Marvel’s editor-in-chief and major writer, plus art and reminiscences of GIL KANE, BOTH BUSCEMAS, ADAMS, ROMITA, CHAYKIN, BRUNNER, PLOOG, EVERETT, WRIGHTSON, PÉREZ, ROBBINS, BARRY SMITH, STAN LEE and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, a new GENE COLAN cover, plus an homage to artist LILY RENÉE!

Represents THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, the long out-of-print 1970s book

by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana, Thunderfist, and others, plus new INVADERS art by JOHN BYRNE, MIKE GRELL, RON LIM, and more, plus a new cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY!

SCOTT SHAW! and ROY THOMAS on the creation of Captain Carrot, art & artifacts

by RICK HOBERG, STAN GOLDBERG, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JOHN COSTANZA, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CAROL LAY, and others, interview with DICK ROCKWELL, Golden Age artist and 36-year ghost artist on MILTON CANIFF’s Steve Canyon! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, GRAHAM INGELS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

20

ALTER EGO #74

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

ALTER EGO #77

ALTER EGO #78

STAN LEE SPECIAL in honor of his 85th birthday, with a cover by JACK KIRBY, classic (and virtually unseen) interviews with Stan, tributes, and tons of rare and unseen art by KIRBY, ROMITA, the brothers BUSCEMA, DITKO, COLAN, HECK, AYERS, MANEELY, SHORES, EVERETT, BURGOS, KANE, the SEVERIN siblings—plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL—with an ALEX ROSS cover! Double-size FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with P.C. HAMERLINCK on the many “Captains Marvel” over the years, unseen Shazam! proposal by ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK on “The Death of a Legend!”, MARC SWAYZE, interview with Golden Age artist MARV LEVY, MR. MONSTER, and more!

JOE SIMON SPECIAL! In-depth SIMON interview by JIM AMASH, with neverbefore-revealed secrets behind the creation of Captain America, Fighting American, Stuntman, Adventures of The Fly, Sick magazine and more, art by JACK KIRBY, BOB POWELL, AL WILLIAMSON, JERRY GRANDENETTI, GEORGE TUSKA, and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

ST. JOHN ISSUE! Golden Age Tor cover by JOE KUBERT, KEN QUATTRO relates the full legend of St. John Publishing, art by KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, MATT BAKER, LILY RENEE, BOB LUBBERS, RUBEN MOREIRA, RALPH MAYO, AL FAGO, special reminiscences of ARNOLD DRAKE, Golden Age artist TOM SAWYER interviewed, and more!

DAVE COCKRUM TRIBUTE! Great rare XMen cover, Cockrum tributes from contemporaries and colleagues, and an interview with PATY COCKRUM on Dave’s life and legacy on The Legion of Super-Heroes, The X-Men, Star-Jammers, & more! Plus an interview with 1950s Timely/Marvel artist MARION SITTON on his own incredible career and his Golden Age contemporaries!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #79

ALTER EGO #80

ALTER EGO #81

ALTER EGO #82

ALTER EGO #83

SUPERMAN & HIS CREATORS! New cover

by MICHAEL GOLDEN, exclusive and revealing interview with JOE SHUSTER’s sister, JEAN SHUSTER PEAVEY—LOU CAMERON interview—STEVE GERBER tribute—DWIGHT DECKER on the Man of Steel & Hitler’s Third Reich—plus art by WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, NEAL ADAMS, GIL KANE, and others!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY COMICS! Learn about Crom the Barbarian, Viking Prince, Nightmaster, Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Beowulf, Warlord, Dagar the Invincible, and more, with art by FRAZETTA, SMITH, BUSCEMA, KANE, WRIGHTSON, PLOOG, THORNE, BRUNNER, LOU CAMERON Part II, and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood,

by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover

by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, with a focus on Conan the Barbarian by ROY THOMAS and WILL MURRAY, a look at WALLY WOOD’s Marvel sword-&-sorcery work, the Black Knight examined, plus JOE EDWARDS interview Part 2, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #84

ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stores, and in court), RICH BUCKLER on Captain Marvel, plus an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and pioneers WHITNEY ELLSWORTH and CREIG FLESSEL, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CURT SWAN, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, focus on DC advisor DR. LAURETTA BENDER, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

21

ALTER EGO #89

ALTER EGO #90

ALTER EGO #91

ALTER EGO #92

ALTER EGO #93

HARVEY COMICS’ PRE-CODE HORROR MAGS OF THE 1950s! Interviews with SID JACOBSON, WARREN KREMER, and HOWARD NOSTRAND, plus Harvey artist KEN SELIG talks to JIM AMASH! MR. MONSTER presents the wit and wisdom (and worse) of DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE, & more!

SIMON & KIRBY and NOSTRAND cover!

BIG MARVEL ISSUE! Salutes to legends SINNOTT and AYERS—plus STAN LEE, TUSKA, EVERETT, MARTIN GOODMAN, and others! A look at the “Marvel SuperHeroes” TV animation of 1966! 1940s Timely writer and editor LEON LAZARUS interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, the 1960s fandom creations of STEVE GERBER, and more! JACK KIRBY holiday cover!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL! Big FCA section with Golden Age artists MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO! Plus JERRY ORDWAY on researching The Power of Shazam, Part II of “The MAD Four-Color Wannabes of the 1950s,” more on DR. LAURETTA BENDER and the teenage creations of STEVE GERBER, artist JACK KATZ spills Golden Age secrets to JIM AMASH, and more!

New cover by ORDWAY and SQUEGLIO!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY, PART 3! DC’s Sword of Sorcery by O’NEIL, CHAYKIN, & SIMONSON and Claw by MICHELINIE & CHAN, Hercules by GLANZMAN, Dagar by GLUT & SANTOS, Marvel S&S art by BUSCEMA, CHAN, KAYANAN, WRIGHTSON, et al., and JACK KATZ on his classic First Kingdom! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER’s fan-creations (part 3), and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “EarthTwo—1961 to 1985!” with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, ANDERSON, DELBO, ANDRU, BUCKLER, APARO, GRANDENETTI, and DILLIN, interview with Golden/Silver Age DC editor GEORGE KASHDAN, plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and a new cover by INFANTINO and AMASH!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #94

ALTER EGO #95

ALTER EGO #96

ALTER EGO #97

ALTER EGO #98

“Earth-Two Companion, Part II!” More on the 1963-1985 series that changed comics forever! The Huntress, Power Girl, Dr. Fate, Freedom Fighters, and more, with art by ADAMS, APARO, AYERS, BUCKLER, GIFFEN, INFANTINO, KANE, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, SIMONSON, STATON, SWAN, TUSKA, our GEORGE KASHDAN interview Part 2, FCA, and more! STATON & GIORDANO cover!

Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH madcap parody mag from 1967-69, examined with rare art & artifacts by ANDRU, COLAN, BUSCEMA, DRAKE, EVERETT, FRIEDRICH, KIRBY, LEE, the SEVERIN siblings, SPRINGER, SUTTON, THOMAS, TRIMPE, and more, GEORGE KASHDAN interview conclusion, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MARIE SEVERIN!

Focus on Archie’s 1960s MIGHTY CRUSADERS, with vintage art and artifacts

by JERRY SIEGEL, PAUL REINMAN, SIMON & KIRBY, JOHN ROSENBERGER, tributes to the Mighty Crusaders by BOB FUJITANE, GEORGE TUSKA, BOB LAYTON, and others! Interview with MELL LAZARUS, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Cover

by MIKE MACHLAN!

The NON-EC HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s! From Menace and House of Mystery to The Thing!, we present vintage art and artifacts by EVERETT, BRIEFER, DITKO, MANEELY, COLAN , MESKIN, MOLDOFF, HEATH, POWELL, COLE, SIMON & KIRBY, FUJITANI, and others, plus FCA , MR. MONSTER and more, behind a creepy, eerie cover by BILL EVERETT!

Spotlight on Superman’s first editor WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, longtime Kryptoeditor MORT WEISINGER remembered by his daughter, an interview with Superman writer ALVIN SCHWARTZ, tributes to FRANK FRAZETTA and AL WILLIAMSON, art by JOE SHUSTER, WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, and NEAL ADAMS, plus MR. MONSTER, FCA, and a new cover by JERRY ORDWAY!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

ALTER EGO #99

GEORGE TUSKA showcase issue on his career at Lev Gleason, Marvel, and in comics strips through the early 1970s—CRIME DOES NOT PAY, BUCK ROGERS, IRON MAN, AVENGERS, HERO FOR HIRE, & more! Plus interviews with Golden Age artist BILL BOSSERT and fan-artist RUDY FRANKE, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

22

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL is a celebration of 100 issues, and 50 years, of ALTER EGO, Roy Thomas’ legendary super-hero fanzine. It’s a double-size triple-threat BOOK, with twice as many pages as the regular magazine, plus special features just for this anniversary edition! Behind a RICH BUCKLER/JERRY ORDWAY JSA cover, ALTER EGO celebrates its 100th issue and the 50th anniversary of A/E (Vol. 1) #1 in 1961—as ROY THOMAS is interviewed by JIM AMASH about the 1980s at DC! Learn secrets behind ALL-STAR SQUADRON—INFINITY, INC.—ARAK, SON OF THUNDER—CAPTAIN CARROT—JONNI THUNDER, a.k.a. THUNDERBOLT— YOUNG ALL-STARS—SHAZAM!—RING OF THE NIBELUNG—and more! With rare art and artifacts

by GEORGE PÉREZ, TODD McFARLANE, RICH BUCKLER, JERRY ORDWAY, MIKE MACHLAN, GIL KANE, GENE COLAN, DICK GIORDANO, ALFREDO ALCALA, TONY DEZUNIGA, ERNIE COLÓN, STAN GOLDBERG, SCOTT SHAW!, ROSS ANDRU, and many more! Plus special anniversary editions of Alter Ego staples MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA (FCA)—and ALEX WRIGHT’s amazing color collection of 1940s DC pinup babes! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (NOTE: This book takes the place of ALTER EGO #100, and counts as TWO issues toward your subscription.)

(160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • ISBN: 9781605490311 Diamond Order Code: JAN111351

ALTER EGO #101

Fox Comics of the 1940s with art by FINE, BAKER, SIMON, KIRBY, TUSKA, FLETCHER HANKS, ALEX BLUM, and others!

“Superman vs. Wonder Man” starring EISNER, IGER, SIEGEL, LIEBERSON, MAYER, DONENFELD, and VICTOR FOX! Plus, Part I of an interview with JACK MENDELSOHN, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by Marvel artist DAVE WILLIAMS!

NEW!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #102

ALTER EGO #103

ALTER EGO #104

ALTER EGO: THE CBA COLLECTION

Spotlight on Green Lantern creators MART NODELL and BILL FINGER in the 1940s, and JOHN BROOME, GIL KANE, and JULIUS SCHWARTZ in 1959! Rare GL artwork by INFANTINO, REINMAN, HASEN, NEAL ADAMS, and others! Plus JACK MENDELSOHN Part II, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by GIL KANE & TERRY AUSTIN, and MART NODELL!

The early career of comics writer STEVE ENGLEHART: Defenders, Captain America, Master of Kung Fu, The Beast, Mantis, and more, with rare art and artifacts by SAL BUSCEMA, STARLIN, SUTTON, HECK, BROWN, and others. Plus, JIM AMASH interviews early artist GEORGE MANDEL (Captain Midnight, The Woman in Red, Blue Bolt, Black Marvel, etc.), FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and more!

Celebrates the 50th anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the birth of Marvel Comics! New, never-before-published STAN LEE interview, art and artifacts

by KIRBY, DITKO, SINNOTT, AYERS, THOMAS, and secrets behind the Marvel Mythos! Also: JIM AMASH interviews 1940s Timely editor AL SULMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and a new cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT!

Compiles the ALTER EGO flip-sides from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #1-5, plus 30 NEW PAGES of features & art! All-new rare and previously-unpublished art by JACK KIRBY, GIL KANE, JOE KUBERT, WALLY WOOD, FRANK ROBBINS, NEAL ADAMS, & others, ROY THOMAS on X-MEN, AVENGERS/ KREE-SKRULL WAR, INVADERS, and more! Cover by JOE KUBERT!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(160-page trade paperback) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $4.95

HUMOR MAGAZINES (BUNDLE ALL THREE FOR JUST $14.95)

ALTER EGO:

BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

Collects the original 11 issues of JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS’ ALTER EGO fanzine (from 1961-78), with contributions from JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, and others—and illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! Plus major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS and BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by JULIE SCHWARTZ. (192-page trade paperback) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905887 Diamond Order Code: DEC073946

COMIC BOOK NERD

PETE VON SHOLLY’s side-splitting parody of the fan press, including our own mags!

Experience the magic(?) of such publications as WHIZZER, the COMICS URINAL, ULTRA EGO, COMICS BUYER’S GUISE, BAGGED ISSUE!, SCRAWL!, COMIC BOOK ARTISTE, and more, as we unabashedly poke fun at ourselves, our competitors, and you, our loyal readers! It’s a first issue, collector’s item, double-bag, slab-worthy, speculator’s special sure to rub even the thickest-skinned fanboy the wrong way!

(64-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 • (Digital Edition) $2.95

CRAZY HIP GROOVY GO-GO WAY OUT MONSTERS #29 & #32

PETE VON SHOLLY’s spoofs of monster mags will have you laughing your pants off— right after you soil them from sheer terror! This RETRO MONSTER MOVIE MAGAZINE is a laugh riot lampoon of those GREAT (and absolutely abominable) mags of the 1950s and ‘60s, replete with fake letters-to-the-editor, phony ads for worthless, wacky stuff, stills from imaginary films as bad as any that were really made, interviews with their “creators,” and much more! Relive your misspent youth (and misspent allowance) as you dig the hilarious photos, ads, and articles skewering OUR FAVORITE THINGS of the past! Get our first issue (#29!), the sequel (#32!), or both!

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

(48-page magazines) $5.95 EACH • (Digital Editions) $1.95 EACH

These sold-out books are now available again in DIGITAL EDITIONS:

NEW!

MR. MONSTER, VOL. 0

TRUE BRIT

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

Collects hard-to-find Mr. Monster stories from A-1, CRACK-A-BOOM! and DARK HORSE PRESENTS (many in COLOR for the first time) plus over 30 pages of ALLNEW MR. MONSTER art and stories! Can your sanity survive our Lee/Kirby monster spoof by MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MARK MARTIN, or the long-lost 1933 Mr. Monster newspaper strip? Or the terrifying TRENCHER/MR. MONSTER slug-fest, drawn by KEITH GIFFEN and MICHAEL T. GILBERT?! Read at your own risk!

GEORGE KHOURY’s definitive book on the rich history of British Comics Artists, their influence on the US, and how they have revolutionized the way comics are seen and perceived! It features breathtaking art, intimate photographs, and in-depth interviews with BRIAN BOLLAND, ALAN DAVIS, DAVE GIBBONS, KEVIN O’NEILL, DAVID LLOYD, DAVE McKEAN, BRYAN HITCH, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH and other fine gents! Sporting a new JUDGE DREDD cover by BRIAN BOLLAND!

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! It covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor—peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS—and is illustrated with RARE AND UNSEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art! Plus: an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes

by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS, and an Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

(136-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $4.95

(204-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

(176-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $5.95

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: GENE COLAN

TOM FIELD’s amazing COLAN retrospective, with rare drawings, photos, and art from his 60-year career, and a comprehensive overview of Gene’s glory days at Marvel Comics!

MARV WOLFMAN, DON McGREGOR and other writers share script samples and anecdotes of their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER, STEVE LEIALOHA and others show how they approached inking Colan’s famously nuanced penciled pages!

Plus: a NEW PORTFOLIO of never-seen collaborations between Gene and masters such as BYRNE, KALUTA and PÉREZ, and all-new artwork created just for this book!

(192-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

ART OF GEORGE TUSKA

A comprehensive look at GEORGE TUSKA’S personal and professional life, including early work at the Eisner-Iger shop, producing controversial crime comics of the 1950s, and his tenure with Marvel and DC Comics, as well as independent publishers. Includes extensive coverage of his work on IRON MAN, X-MEN, HULK, JUSTICE LEAGUE, TEEN TITANS, BATMAN, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and others, a gallery of commission art and a thorough index of his work, original art, photos, sketches, unpublished art, interviews and anecdotes from his peers and fans, plus the very personal and reflective words of George himself! Written by DEWEY CASSELL. (128-page Digital Edition) $4.95

23

OTHER BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

PENCILER, PUBLISHER, PROVOCATEUR

COMICS’ FAST & FURIOUS ARTIST

THE ART OF GLAMOUR

MATT BAKER

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE

Shines a light on the life and career of the artistic and publishing visionary of DC Comics!

Explores the life and career of one of Marvel Comics’ most recognizable and dependable artists!

Biography of the talented master of 1940s “Good Girl” art, complete with color story reprints!

Definitive biography of the Watchmen writer, in a new, expanded edition!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95

(176-page trade paperback with COLOR) $26.95

(192-page hardcover with COLOR) $39.95

(240-page trade paperback) $29.95

QUALITY COMPANION

BATCAVE COMPANION

ALL- STAR COMPANION

AGE OF TV HEROES

The first dedicated book about the Golden Age publisher that spawned the modern-day “Freedom Fighters”, Plastic Man, and the Blackhawks!

Unlocks the secrets of Batman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, following the Dark Knight’s progression from 1960s camp to 1970s creature of the night!

Roy Thomas has four volumes documenting the history of ALL-STAR COMICS, the JUSTICE SOCIETY, INFINITY, INC., and more!

(256-page trade paperback with COLOR) $31.95

(240-page trade paperback) $26.95

(224-page trade paperbacks) $24.95

Examining the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes, featuring the in-depth stories of the shows’ actors and behind-the-scenes players!

CARMINE INFANTINO

SAL BUSCEMA

(192-page full-color hardcover) $39.95

MARVEL COMICS

MARVEL COMICS

An issue-by-issue field guide to the pop culture phenomenon of LEE, KIRBY, DITKO, and others, from the company’s fumbling beginnings to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity!

IN THE 1960s

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

MODERN MASTERS

HOW TO CREATE COMICS

Covers how Stan Lee went from writer to publisher, Jack Kirby left (and returned), Roy Thomas rose as editor, and a new wave of writers and artists came in!

20+ volumes with in-depth interviews, plus extensive galleries of rare and unseen art from the artist’s files!

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

Shows step-by-step how to develop a new comic, from script and art, to printing and distribution!

(128-page trade paperbacks) $14.95 each

(108-page trade paperback) $15.95

IN THE 1970s

A BOOK SERIES DEVOTED TO THE BEST OF TODAY’S ARTISTS

FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

FOR A FREE COLOR CATALOG, CALL, WRITE, E-MAIL, OR LOG ONTO www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows—A New Day For Comics Fandom!

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • Visit us on the Web at www.twomorrows.com