Alter Ego #191

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issue, I, the CRYPTOLOGIST (with the help of FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON), have exhumed the worst Horror Comics excesses of the 1950s, Killer “B” movies to die for, and the creepiest, kookiest toys that crossed your boney little fingers as a child! But wait... do you dare enter the House of Usher, or choose sides in the skirmish between the Addams Family and The Munsters?! Can you stand to gaze at Warren magazine frontispieces by this issue’s cover artist BERNIE WRIGHTSON, or spend some Hammer Time with that studio’s most frightening films? And if Atlas pre-Code covers or terrifying science-fiction are more than you can take, stay away! All this, and more, is lurching toward you in TwoMorrows Publishing’s latest, and most decrepit, magazine—just for retro horror fans, and featuring my henchmen WILL MURRAY, MARK VOGER, BARRY FORSHAW, TIM LEESE, PETE VON SHOLLY, and STEVE and MICHAEL KRONENBERG!” (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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CRYPTOLOGY #2

CRYPTOLOGY #3

CRYPTOLOGY #4

The Cryptologist and his ghastly little band have cooked up more grisly morsels, including: ROGER HILL’s conversation with our diabolical cover artist DON HECK, severed hand films, pre-Code comic book terrors, the otherworldly horrors of Hammer’s Quatermass, another Killer “B” movie classic, plus spooky old radio shows, and the horror-inspired covers of the Shadow’s own comic book. Start the ghoul-year with retro-horror done right by FORSHAW, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, RICHARD HAND, VON SHOLLY, and editor PETER NORMANTON.

This third wretched issue inflicts the dread of MARS ATTACKS upon you—the banned cards, the model kits, the despicable comics, and a few words from the film’s deranged storyboard artist PETE VON SHOLLY! The chilling poster art of REYNOLD BROWN gets brought up from the Cryptologist’s vault, along with a host of terrifying puppets from film, and more comic books they’d prefer you forget! Plus, more Hammer Time, JUSTIN MARRIOT on obscure ’70s fear-filled paperbacks, another Killer “B” film, and more to satiate your sinister side!

Our fourth putrid tome treats you to ALEX ROSS’ gory lowdown on his Universal Monsters paintings! Hammer Time brings you face-to-face with the “Brides of Dracula”, and the Cryptologist resurrects 3-D horror movies and comics of the 1950s! Learn the origins of slasher films, and chill to the pre-Code artwork of Atlas’ BILL EVERETT and ACG’s 3-D maestro HARRY LAZARUS. Plus, another Killer “B” movie and more awaits retro horror fans, by NORMANTON, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, VOGER, and VON SHOLLY!

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Vol. 3, No. 191/Jan. 2025 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Associate Editor) Mark Lewis (Cover Coordinator)

Comic Crypt Editor

Contents

Editorial Honor Roll

Writer/Editorial: Rock Of Eternity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Fawcett Collectors Of America #250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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

Proofreader

William J. Dowlding

Cover Artist

Mac Raboy

Cover Colorist Unknown

With Special Thanks to:

Johnson & Heidi Amash Alcack, Ltd. Ger Apeldoorn Sharon Karibian Mike Bromberg Jim Kealy Bernie Bubnis Doug Kelly John Cimino Dominic Leonard Shaun Clancy Jean-Marc Lofficier Comic Book Plus Art Lortie (website) Jim Ludwig Chet Cox Dave’s Comic Hero John Lustig Mitch Maglio Blog (website) Russ Maheras Dawson, Anna Will Murray Estate of Elaine Chris Pitzer Dundy Priscilla Beaulieu Shane Foley Presley Dr. Cynthia Foster Randy Sargent Joe Frank Carl Lani’Keha Drew Friedman Shinyama Stephan J. Friedt Bryan Stroud Janet Gilbert Dann Thomas Grand Comics University Press Database of Mississippi (website) Kroum Valchkov Tony Isabella Thomas Yeates Alan Jadro

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Trina Robbins, Richard Ashford, Liz Berube, Paul Coker, Jr., Ron Fradkin— & Elvis Presley

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

The World’s Mightiest Boy—And The King Of Rock’n’Roll . . . 4 Captain Marvel Jr. & Elvis Presley—in real life, reel life, & comics—

by Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama.

“…And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book” . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Author Elaine Dundy (& a couple of others) on the connection between Elvis and Freddy Freeman’s awesome alter ego—as per Roy Thomas.

Breakfast Of Champions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 When Captain Marvel went from serial—to cereal!—by PCH.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! The 1966 New York Comicon 35 Michael T. Gilbert introduces a first-hand account by attendee Alan Jadro.

Tributes to Liz Berube, Paul Coker Jr., Ron Fradkin, Richard Ashford, & Trina Robbins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 48 “It’s A Jungle Comic Out There!” – Part II (Sections A To D) Jaguar Of The Jungle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Will Murray on The Jaguar—Archie’s Silver Age quasi-jungle super-hero.

Once Upon A Time, There Were Jungles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Thomas Yeates presents beautiful Tarzanic art from the Golden & Silver Ages.

Four French Tarzanides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Jean-Marc Lofficier salutes Gallic jungle heroes—and a few others, to boot.

Last Kiss In The Jungle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 John Lustig’s online gag-a-day feature—showcasing vintage jungle-comics art.

On Our Cover: Comics legend Mac Raboy’s cover for Fawcett Publications’ Captain Marvel Jr. #1 (Nov. 1942). Raboy’s work on the character mostly appeared in the monthly Master Comics—but he churned out some truly iconic covers of CMJr for both titles! [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.

Above: Not too many years ago, renowned comic artist Thomas Yeates drew the Tarzan newspaper strip. In 1997 he adapted The Return of Tarzan, the second of ERB’s novels about the ape-man, over several issues for Dark Horse Comics, scripting as well as illustrating. It was soon collected as a breathtaking graphic novel. [TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.] Alter EgoTM issue 191, January 2025 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Alter Ego, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices.

Six-issue subscriptions: $73 US, $117 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only. All characters are © their respective companies. All material ©their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck.

Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

2

F

Article Title writer/editorial

Rock Of Eternity

popular super-heroes ever conceived?

our-color congratulations are in order.

As Beck’s age and health exacted their inevitable toll, the husband-and-wife team of Bill & Theresa Harper took over FCA with #31, morphing its name to FCA & ME, Too, to emphasize their own interest in 1940s-50s comics published by Vin Sullivan’s Magazine Enterprises.

This 191st (or 207th, depending on how you’re counting) issue of Alter Ego spotlights the 250th edition of an even more oft-appearing publication: Fawcett Collectors of America.

P.C. Hamerlinck’s been so busy lately that he lacked time to pen (or type) a “guest-editorial” for this space, so I’m doing it in his stead.

As he related back in A/E, Vol. 3, #1 (Summer 1999), FCA was launched in 1973 as both a fanzine and an informal “organization” by a Fawcett-comics fan named Bernie McCarthy. His FCA specialized in articles on the 1940-1953 Fawcett comics, including interviews with various creators, many of whom were still around at that time. All that, plus want ads that provided yet another connection between fans of the company that Captain Marvel built.

Surprisingly, with its 12th issue in 1980, the semi-retired artist C.C. Beck took over the reins relinquished by McCarthy and gave the zine the odd double-title FCA/SOB, the latter standing for “Some Opinionated Bastards.” Beck proceeded to validate the title by filling much of the fanzine with what P.C. has called “his hard-hitting essays, commentary, and opinions—most of them concerning art, writing, and his views on then-current comics.” The present writer was, admittedly, not a huge fan of that incarnation of FCA, but it certainly had its moments. How could it not, seeing it was edited and published by the artistic co-creator of the original Captain Marvel, one of the most important and

In 1996 P.C. inherited the zine with #54, restoring the original title and focus, and adding the regular “We Didn’t Know… It Was the Golden Age!” column by Fawcett artist/writer Marc Swayze.

P.C. gave renewed emphasis to interviews with Fawcett creators.

After half a dozen issues, tiring of the production/publishing side of things, he happily acceded to my suggestion FCA become an every-issue, independently numbered part of the new full-book TwoMorrows incarnation of Alter Ego (Volume 3)—at a time when FCA was already 26 years old!

P.C. decided to devote this special 250th edition of FCA to the influence of Captain Marvel Jr. upon, of all people, Elvis Presley.

And, since the latter has been a, shall we say, person of interest to me since 1956, I volunteered to toss my own 2¢ worth into this FCA as well… aided, as it fortuitously turned out, by an acquaintance I was fortunate enough to make this past July at a comics convention in Plano, Texas.

With all the above crammed into this issue—plus Michael T. Gilbert on the early work of artist Sam Glanzman, and several other folks offering “It’s a Comic Jungle Out There – Part II,” continued from last issue—is it any wonder why I feel TwoMorrows and I just might be able to keep Alter Ego going till its 250th issue?

Bestest,

COMING IN FEBRUARY #192

The Great MID-1950s SUPER-HERO REVIVAL!

Estates of Joe Simon Fighting American TM & © r art © Shane Foley othe y; Kirb & Jack

• So you thought there was a super-hero drought between All-Star Comics #57 and Showcase #4? MARK CARLSON-GHOST examines the 1953-56 “Indian summer” starring Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Fighting American, The Avenger, Strongman, Nature Boy, Black Cobra, Phantom Lady, The Flame, Blue Beetle, Captain Flash, et al.!

With awesome art by SIMON & KIRBY, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, EVERETT, BURGOS, AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, POWELL, MESKIN, & others!

• Cover homage by SHANE FOLEY to the great ALEX TOTH! • Plus—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on the early art of RAMONA FRADON—FCA presents a tribute to TRINA ROBBINS, including her correspondence with Captain Marvel co-creator C.C. BECK—& MORE!!

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4

The World’s Mightiest Boy— And The King Of Rock’n’Roll CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. & ELVIS PRESLEY— In Real Life, Reel Life, & Comics

by Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama “You know, I believe there’s a superboy inside me, just waiting to bust out.”

I

—Elvis Presley to his cousin Earl t’s widely acknowledged that Elvis Presley was inspired by Captain Marvel Jr., simply from Elvis’ on-stage attire… but I feel the character of Freddy Freeman was the model which Elvis would use to shape his entire persona as an entertainer.

Before watching the 2022 film Elvis, I contemplated the Elvis/ Captain Marvel Jr./Freddy Freeman connection. On Robby Reed’s now-defunct Dial B For Blog website, which I had read more than a decade prior, he reported which years that Elvis most likely first encountered Captain Marvel Jr. (September 1949 through January 1953), as well as which specific issues Elvis could’ve read (likely Captain Marvel Jr. #77-119).

I also called to mind that, as a child, Elvis lived in what was seemingly abject poverty (which wasn’t uncommon for many in those days, as the Great Depression was still impacting America), and that his father had been sent to prison for forging a check.

Taking into account just these factors alone, it’s easy to understand why Elvis gravitated to Captain Marvel Jr.; Freddy Freeman lived in relative squalor and lost the only father figure he had (his grandfather). Elvis did the same in his days as a young boy, though his father would come to live with him and his mother again after a short time in prison. Elvis likely saw a lot of himself in Freddy Freeman.

In my first viewing of the film, I was impressed by director Baz Luhrmann’s brisk pace, moving from beat to beat without wasting a single scene, and keeping only what was essential to the movie. I was also elated by the relatively extensive references to Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr. When the opening credits of the movie begin, it is to a beautiful kaleidoscopic montage of gold and diamonds resembling Elvis’ jewelry. In fact, the first thing we see is a diamond-encrusted gold object adorned with Elvis’ famous “TCB” logo—which is said to have been designed by Elvis’ wife, Priscilla—with the lightning bolt, surrounded by yet more golden lightning bolts. Elvis’ motto was “Taking Care of Business in a Flash.” He has been said to have had a strong work ethic and often believed in handling business in an urgent fashion. Obviously, “TCB” stood for “Taking care of business” while the lightning bolt represented, “in a flash.” Many comicbook fans think the lightning bolt of the “TCB” logo was inspired by Captain Marvel Jr. There are no definitive sources that confirm that outright, and there are contradicting accounts. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: But please see p. 24 for what Ye Editor considers the “definitive source.”]

Blue Lives Matter Cover art (by an unidentified illustrator) from Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Jr. #23 (Sept. 1944)—juxtaposed with a photo of Elvis Presley on stage in the early 1970s, garbed in one of his blue jumpsuits. (There were also red, black, and most often white versions as well… some with, some without capes. Over the five occasions when A/E editor Roy Thomas saw Presley perform in person, the singer wore black in Las Vegas in ’69, more often white.) This montage first appeared on “Dave’s Comic Heroes Blog,” with the sub-head “The Elvis Presley Experience.” [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Elvis photo © the respective copyright holders.]

Marty Lacker, a member of Elvis’ Memphis Mafia, believed that Elvis liked the fact that the West Coast Mafia had a lightning bolt as their logo, so he used it as well.

Meanwhile, Billy Smith, Elvis’ cousin and lifelong friend,

The World’s Mightiest Boy—& The King Of Rock’n’Roll

5

believes the reason for the lightning bolt may have been one of two things: The first was that it may have been inspired by Elvis’ Army days, where the insignia of his battalion was a lightning bolt. The other reason is that it may have been inspired by Freddy Freeman.

Elvis biographer Elaine Dundy thought so, too. “The lightning bolt emblem Captain Marvel Jr. wore on his chest became Elvis’ logo, his signature,” she said. [FCA EDITOR’S NOTE: For considerably more on Dundy’s research, and even that lightning bolt logo, see our next article in this issue.]

Throughout the 24-second opening credits, we see different lightning bolts in different shapes, including some that more closely resemble Captain Marvel Jr.’s. Unable to resist the temptation to read into it, I felt that it certainly seemed as if director Luhrmann leaned more towards Captain Marvel Jr. as the inspiration for the TCB lightning bolt.

Either way, the TCB logo symbolizes Elvis. Not only did he get diamond-encrusted gold rings made with the logo (and gave them to his inner circle), it was even the logo of his plane, the Lisa Marie.

In the movie’s third minute, we see the Elvis cape worn by actor Austin Butler duplicating one of Elvis’ Las Vegas

A Bolt Of Magic Lightning Presley bling opens the 2022 film Elvis, highlighted by his famous “TCB” thunderbolt insignia. [TM & © Warner Bros.]

performances. Like with the lightning bolt and the cape, both Billy Smith and Elaine Dundy believe that Captain Marvel Jr. is where Elvis got the idea. Unfortunately, neither Bill Belew, Elvis’ costume designer who designed his jumpsuits, nor Elvis himself ever stated outright that Captain Marvel Jr. was the inspiration for the cape.

Bill Belew has only ever said that he was asked to do a full-length cape, but because Elvis had a hard time moving in it, changed the cape to a short one—a length which just happened to resemble that of Captain Marvel Jr.’s (and Captan Marvel’s) capes.

Interestingly, the movie is narrated by Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who was born Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk in Breda, Netherlands, in 1909. Kuijk changed his name to Tom Parker when he was 18 after he left for America and joined the U.S. Army. Just as Captain Marvel was not a real captain, Tom Parker was not a real colonel; he was given an honorary title by the governor of Louisiana at the time, one-time singer/composer (“You Are My Sunshine”) Jimmie Davis. Parker (portrayed by Tom Hanks), giving narration from his deathbed, provided a unique perspective from one of Elvis’ inner circle.

The first one-third of the film contains the heaviest amount of Captain Marvel Jr. references, and it was there that it was worth the price of admission, so to speak, for Fawcett fans.

In the movie’s ninth minute, as Colonel Tom Parker is narrating what were essentially the Cliff Notes of Elvis’ childhood, we are treated to a marvelous animated sequence of comic panels depicting Elvis’ childhood, rendered in Golden Age (but not really Mac Raboy) art style.

In one panel, we see Elvis (Chaydon Jay) as a young blond boy in overalls, wearing a lightning bolt made of cardboard around his neck, transform into a faithfully illustrated Captain Marvel Jr. to break his dad out of prison and take him to the Rock of Eternity— imagery of how Elvis may have fantasized about being his hero.

Seeing this sequence made my heart leap, and should cause any other Fawcett fan to rejoice. It was a respectful recognition of the classic Fawcett-era Marvel Family that none of the Shazam! movies, nor the Dwayne Johnson-featured Black Adam movie, paid.

Better yet, it was sheer delight seeing the name “Captain Marvel” in a speech balloon and “spoken aloud” by Captain Marvel Jr.— especially in a Warner Bros. film!

I Was A Teenage Influencer One prominent website postulated that Elvis—then fourteen—probably first encountered Captain Marvel Jr. in issue #77 (Sept. 1949). Cover by Kurt Schaffenberger. For other possibilities, see the following article in this issue.

Courtesy of the Grand Comics Database. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

(Sure, the second Shazam! movie made a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Captain Marvel name, but that struck me as being quite blithely backhanded, as if they were doing us a favor. In the Elvis movie, the name was treated as something of reverence by Elvis himself in a matter-of-fact manner and with no jesting irony.

That contrast in treatment made all of the difference in the world!)

Next, in the film’s tenth minute, the comicbook sequence

6

Fawcett Collectors Of America #250

The “Captain” & The “Colonel” (Above:) Elvis (portrayed by Austin Butler) explains Captain Marvel Jr. to Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) as the two strike a deal, in director Baz Luhrmann’s acclaimed 2022 movie Elvis.

(Below:) A screen-save from the unforgettable animated sequence in Elvis underscores the potential CMJr connection. Kelly Baigent did all the comic art in the movie… all of the artwork for the animation sequence, and the re-creation of the CMJr comic that young Elvis was reading. Baigent: “I really enjoyed working with director Baz Luhrmann. He’s a real character! I did a lot of studying before and during the project to ensure I stayed as true as possible to the classic comic art style. (I am not a comicbook artist.) I learned to admire the skill the old artists had.” [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; screen-save TM & © Warner Bros.]

Like A Bolt From The Blue (Above:) Wearing his handmade lightning bolt that inspired him, the young film-Elvis plays make-believe in Tupelo, Mississippi. This makeshift thunderbolt had no precise equivalent in real life, but was devised to suggest his connection with Cap Jr. [Film image TM & © Warner Bros.]

transitions from comicbook Elvis to the live version of him, where the youth is reading Captain Marvel Jr. #2 in his hometown of Tulepo, Mississippi.

Was young Elvis reading a second-hand copy of an earlier issue he had run across… or (more likely) was that particular issue chosen because Mac Raboy’s depiction of Cap Jr. and Freddy on its cover

When Everybody Read Comicbooks (Above left:) As a boy, Elvis Presley (Chaydon Jay) spends an afternoon with his favorite super-hero, in this scene from Elvis that shows him reading a copy of Captain Marvel Jr. #2 (Dec. 1942), when he was seven— juxtaposed with the same Fawcett-published comic, with cover art by Mac Raboy.

(Left:) We didn’t run across any actual photos of Elvis reading comics as a kid—but here’s a circa-1956 one of him on tour, killing time with an issue of Betty and Veronica. Whether he actually read those comics, or they were just a gag, is anybody’s guess. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The World’s Mightiest Boy—& The King Of Rock’n’Roll

beautifully exemplified their duality and simply looked good on-screen? According to Robby Reed, Elvis most likely discovered (and read) the World’s Mightiest Boy some time between September of 1949 through January of 1953, after he moved to Memphis on November 6th, 1948. Captain Marvel Jr. #2 was released in 1942 when Elvis was seven years old, living in the town of Tulepo. The film assumes it is likely that Elvis read Captain Marvel Jr. comics in his hometown.

Granted, these types of biographical movies always err on the side of entertainment rather than fidelity to the facts themselves. I imagine that Elvis historians nitpicked the movie for inaccuracies, and we’ll leave them to do so. Nonetheless, there’s always the possibility that Elvis did actually read Captain Marvel Jr. or Master Comics in Tulepo, but we can only speculate. Still, no complaints from me. Since when do we ever get anything of the Fawcett-era Marvel Family front and center in a major media? I chose to enjoy the moment.

Shortly after, still in the movie’s tenth minute, Colonel Parker makes another reference to Captain Marvel Jr., highlighting just how much the boy’s hero had influenced Elvis and how much Elvis believed that he had a super-hero inside him. As young Elvis is mesmerized by nearby music emanating from shanties, the Colonel remarks, “Them comicbook heroes all have them super-powers.

His was music.”

Next, in the fifteenth minute, came a scene that gave me goosebumps. In what appears to be the first time that Colonel Parker witnesses Elvis on the stage, he is awed as he watches him take an audience who thought he was odd (Elvis was a young man in a pink suit, his hair dyed black, and seemingly wore eye-liner, all of which were unusual for men in that day and age) and transform them into a roaring crowd that could not get enough of him, particularly the female members of the audience.

Elvis goes from being visibly nervous, seemingly moments

7

Art Imitating Life Imitating Art (Left:) During early performances, Elvis (played in the film by Austin Butler) not only transformed himself but his euphoric audiences as well.

[TM & © Warner Bros.]

(Above:) Captain Marvel Jr. #73 (May ’49); art by Kurt Schaffenberger.

Besides the numerous Captain Marvel Jr. influences, Elvis also took on the scarf look of Junior’s alter ego, Freddy Freeman. [Shazam hero & Freddy Freeman TM & © DC Comics.]

from disaster, to instantaneously transforming into an electrifying performer. In what was a clear reference to the World’s Mightiest Boy, Colonel Parker describes that moment as if he were witnessing Freddy Freeman transform into Captain Marvel Jr.: “In that moment, in a flash of lightning, I watched that skinny boy in the pink suit transform into a super-hero.”

Seeing that powerful transformation by Elvis (played to perfection by Austin Butler) which channeled Elvis’ mannerisms and sexually suggestive dancing style and his ability to command the crowd to a “T,” paired with a reference to Freddy Freeman, I could not help but feel a wave of horripilation travel along my skin. I felt as if I were watching—nay, experiencing—a genuine Elvis performance, which only served to make Colonel Parker’s super-hero comparison even more appropriate.

Tom Hanks himself thought so, too. “Look, every super-hero has very specific powers: X-ray vision, can run fast, has a ring that does magic stuff for him. Elvis had that. Elvis had some brand of

8

Fawcett Collectors Of America #250

1946), in which the World’s Mightiest Mortal became an overnight singing sensation.

The Big Red Cheeses?

(Left:) The adoration of young female fans follows Captain Marvel as he becomes a Sinatra-like singing idol sensation in Captain Marvel Adventures #54 (Feb. 1946); script by William Woolfolk, art by the Beck-Costanza Studio. When he wasn’t busy immersed in Captain Marvel Jr. stories, perhaps Elvis may have seen this one, too? [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

(Right:) Elvis Presley, clad in Captain Marvel red this time. (But surely his all-black outfit wasn’t inspired by Black Adam?)

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

The story’s writer, William Woolfolk, along with the C. C. Beck-Pete Costanza Studio art team, was obviously channeling bobbysoxer singing idol of the era Frank Sinatra … but in the panel Captain Marvel sure looks like Elvis before we had Elvis!

While there’s no disputing that Captain Marvel Jr. influenced Elvis, given that image, I could not help but wonder about the

super-power that nobody else could imitate.”

Indeed, there was nobody like Elvis, who moved as if he were possessed by the music he was singing. From the hip-gyrations to the “rubber legs” dancing, Elvis transcended being a stage performer; he was a pure entertainer.

As Elvis transforms the crowd, Colonel Parker is shown going in for a closer look and having an epiphany as he watches the audience, one girl in particular, react to the singer. He noted that he “could see it in that girl’s eyes, that she was havin’ feelings that she wasn’t sure she should enjoy.”

As I watched the scene progress, it made me think of the splash panel image of a “Captain Marvel” story called “Station WHIZ Goes Television” (Captain Marvel Adventures #54, Feb.

You’ll Believe A Rock’n’Roll Singer Can Fly! A pair of flight-oriented Fawcett covers that might well have inspired young Elvis: (Left:) The Mac Raboy-drawn cover to Captain Marvel Jr. #17 (March 1944). CMJr fan Elvis Presley told Colonel Parker, “Yes, sir, I’m ready. Ready to fly.”

(Right:) Like The Marvel Family, Elvis wanted to soar faster than light speed to the Rock of Eternity. Cover of The Marvel Family #7 (Dec. 1946); art by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

The World’s Mightiest Boy—& The King Of Rock’n’Roll

Shazam Power—From The ’40s To The ’70s

Elvis: “Captain Marvel Jr. He’s my favorite comicbook hero. He flies.”

Mac Raboy’s stunningly patriotic wartime cover for Fawcett’s Master Comics #30 (Sept. 1942)—juxtaposed with Elvis on the cover of a 1970s Spanishlanguage edition of Rolling Stone magazine. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Rolling Stone cover TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Colonel: “Well… what about you, Mr. Presley? Are you ready to fly?”

Elvis: “Yes, sir, I’m ready. Ready to fly.”

slight possibility that Captain Marvel himself might have, too!

The next comicbook reference in the film came when Elvis talked about Captain Marvel Jr. in what would be a life-changing and defining moment as he discussed his future with Colonel Parker. With both men seated in a ferris wheel, the Colonel revealed to Elvis that one of his other musicians, Hank Snow, wanted him to remove Elvis from his music tour, but the Colonel had other plans, namely that he wanted to bank his future on Elvis’ rather than Snow’s. Recording contracts, television, and even Hollywood, Parker prophesied, were in Elvis’ future, but only so long as he represented Elvis exclusively, meaning that he’d have to cut ties with Snow.

After their conversation about what would need to happen next, such as getting national radio distribution, controlling Elvis’ PR as a single man without a girlfriend, and getting his parents to agree to their business ventures in writing, Elvis confided to the Colonel that he had always wanted to fly, seemingly in both the metaphorical and literal sense in his desire to attain success, because his favorite hero, Captain Marvel Jr., could.

Elvis: “... I’ve always wanted to fly. Fast. Faster than the speed of light to the Rock of Eternity.”

Colonel: “What? To the Rock of Eternity?”

9

Mac Raboy From a 1949 publication

by King Features Syndicate, Inc., for which the artist was then drawing the comic strip Flash Gordon.

In this pivotal life-moment fantasy, it was magnificent to see Elvis cite Captain Marvel Jr. as something of an inspiration for how he wanted to achieve success. More than that, there was some Fawcett comic lore invoked.

In a concept created by Otto Binder during the Golden Age, The Marvel Family, if they wanted to reach the Rock of Eternity, had to fly faster than the speed of light to get there. By doing so, they entered a dimension outside of time and space, where the Rock of Eternity resided. The film recurrently constructs Elvis as a fan who actually read the comics.

At the one hour and 59-minute mark, we are at the stage of Elvis’ career where he begins wearing the short cape (along with other elements, like the scarf, which is something that Freddy Freeman often wore in his non-Marvel form). As mentioned above, Elvis’ costume designer intended for Elvis to wear a longer cape, but due how much it limited his mobility, they opted for a shorter one. Neither Elvis nor his costume designer credit Junior for the inspiration, but seeing Elvis in the various capes that he wore, it’s hard to imagine there not being at least some influence, especially

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Not The End! (Above:) Elvis doing a dramatic rendition of “Unchained Melody” at the Rushmore Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota, a little less than two months before he passed away on August 16, 1977. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

(Right:) Captain Marvel Jr.’s final Golden Age stand had been in CMJr #119 (June 1953)—where he’s supposedly “Condemned to Die” (perhaps a Fawcettstaff in-joke?), yet looks as if he’s far too powerful to be electrocuted, just as Elvis Presley’s popularity and legend would live on for another half-century and counting. Cover by Bud Thompson; courtesy of the GCD. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

when juxtaposed to the other elements of his jumpsuit that he shares with Junior.

Billy Smith thought so as well. “ If you go back and look at a drawing of Captain Marvel Jr., it looks a whole lot like the ’70s Elvis—one-piece jumpsuit, wide belt, boots, cape, lightning bolt and all.”

The last notable reference to Captain Marvel Jr. comes at the film’s two hour and 14-minute mark, when Elvis and Parker are in the midst of Elvis trying to divorce himself from the Colonel, who had been dishonest about who he really was and had been milking him dry, taking 50% of Elvis’ income to support his own gambling addictions and to pay off his own debts.

The Colonel reminds Elvis that they are the same, and had the same dream, and that ultimately, they “are two odd, lonely children, reaching for eternity,” a reminder to Elvis of their fateful meeting in which Elvis expressed that he wanted to fly faster than light speed to the Rock of Eternity, and in which they both decided to be exclusive to one another in their aspirations.

It’s an emotional moment for Elvis, and Colonel Parker admits that maybe Elvis should leave him, after all. “Maybe you should fly away. Away from all this,” he says. The Colonel, however, threatens, without ever directly saying anything to that effect, that everything that they have built will all go away if Elvis decides to end their partnership, and that his father will also be one of those who loses out, as will Elvis himself.

The Colonel follows that up to Elvis with the final spoken comicbook reference in the movie: “Oh, you see, my boy, the… truth about the Rock of Eternity … it is forever just beyond our reach.”

These words are the climax of the movie, the moment that Elvis realizes that he will never be free of the Colonel, while the latter gets the final word.

In the final scene, a tribute showing real-life Elvis singing “Unchained Melody” in his last filmed performance in 1977—less than two months before he died—a short cut showed the boy Elvis running along in Tupelo, in his overalls, wearing the cardboard lightning bolt that inspired him.

A voiceover of real-life Elvis over pictures of him as a boy and as a young man well into his career, and as a father to the newborn Lisa Marie before transitioning to the video of him where the audio originates accompanies the scene, where he says, “When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw the movies and I was the hero of the movie. So every dream that I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times.”

That would be the final and most fitting Captain Marvel Jr. reference in the movie. Elvis the boy loved Captain Marvel Jr., who inspired him to fly to the Rock of Eternity—so much so that he eventually became… The King.

“...And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book”

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On ELVIS, CAPTAIN MARVEL JR.—& ELAINE DUNDY (Plus A Very Surprising Postscript)

by Roy Thomas

C

(featuring excerpts from the biography Elvis and Gladys by Elaine Dundy)

hances are, there’s no one who knows me (even just by reputation), and who heard that an upcoming FCA-heavy issue of Alter Ego would deal with the rumored links between legendary entertainer Elvis Presley and the iconic comicbook hero Captain Marvel Jr., who didn’t figure A/E’s editor would have to get in on that action.

Actually, though, I’d have been content to leave the accounting of the Elvis/CMJr connection to FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck and his chosen writer, Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama—if not for the “Elaine Dundy” factor.

Backing up a bit: My wife Dann likes me to read to her for a little while most evenings, usually from a novel or biography. And one book she chose a few years back— which I’ll admit I had never heard of—was Elaine Dundy’s acclaimed 1958 novel The Dud Avocado. During that serialized reading, we learned

Elvis And Gladys The cover of Elaine Dundy’s bio, as reprinted in 2004

by University Press of Mississippi.

The edition Roy Thomas read was the original 1985 paperback. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Three To Get Ready…

(Left to right:) An unidentified artist’s portrait of Captain Marvel Jr., drawn for the cover of Master Comics #54 (Sept. 1944)… Elvis Presley circa the late 1950s… and Elaine Dundy, author of the 1985 biography Elvis and Gladys.

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; photos © the respective copyright holders.]

that in 1985 she had written a book I had heard of but had never read: Elvis and Gladys, an account of the rock’n’roll star’s early life and his relationship with his mother, who had died when he was 23 and in the U.S. Army. We agreed I’d read that one as a follow-up.

It turned out to be, in several unexpected ways, a revelation.

Elvis and Gladys is a remarkable book, one that in its more limited way vies for importance with Peter Guralnick’s definitive two-volume Presley biography (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley [1994] and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley [1999]). As research for her own dual-centered bio, Dundy had lived for five months in 1981 in the singer’s small-town birthplace, Tupelo, Mississippi. Naturally, she also did considerable research in the Presleys’ later dwelling-place of Memphis, Tennessee. As a result, she was able to interview at length numerous friends, neighbors, and relatives of Elvis and his parents, less than half a decade after the star’s untimely death at age 42.

One of her many discoveries—to which others, particularly Buz Luhrmann (director of the 2022 film bio Elvis), are indebted to her—was the powerful link between the young Presley and Fawcett’s popular feature “Captain Marvel Jr.,” which, it can be argued, played out over the remainder of Elvis’ life. After discussing matters with P.C. Hamerlinck, it was decided I would examine that connection as an adjunct to Carl’s piece.

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TwoMorrows Publishing and I are indebted to Kroum Valchkov and Anna Dawson of Johnson & Alcock, Ltd., and to Dr. Cynthia Foster, Rights & Contract Manager of University Press of Mississippi, for the rights to reprint material from Elvis and Gladys, which is © 1985, 2024 Estate of Elaine Dundy. Do yourself a favor and read the original!

My aim—though I may have missed a passing reference or two in the book’s more than 300 pages—has been to chronicle, and every so often to comment on, everything Dundy wrote about what she felt was a symbiotic connection between two larger-than-life figures: one whose primary existence was in the pages of Fawcett comics from 1941-53 (although, commencing in the early ’70s, his new adventures were published by DC Comics, which had first licensed, then purchased outright, Captain Marvel and all his descendants)… and another, very real human being who lived from 1935 to 1977, but whose name and influence still loom large nearly half a century after his passing.

Elaine Dundy’s first mention of the intersectionality between the pair occurs early in the very first chapter of Elvis and Gladys, which in fact she titled: “Captain Marvel, Jr.” (Note: That name as written by Fawcett never contained a comma, but that’s a point we’ll leave for grammarians to argue over.) She begins that chapter—and her book—by establishing young Elvis Aron Presley’s bona fides as a 6- or 7-year-old comicbook reader:

Harmony’s 1977 Shazam! From the 40’s to the 70’s, which is by far Dundy’s most likely source—besides in an actual old comicbook— for the untitled tale that introduced both Freddy and Cap Jr. (Well, actually, as FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck reminds me, in 1974 Alan Light’s DynaPubs put out the humongous black-&white Special Edition Series, Vol. 1, which reprinted all the “Captain Marvel” stories from Whiz Comics #7 through 28, so that might have been Dundy’s source. I think I have a copy of that small-press tome squirreled away somewhere, but I couldn’t locate it by deadline time. Maybe it has a “p. 267” which introduced Freddy Freeman.)

Now, as Ms. Dundy was saying before I interrupted her account of that part of the story, Freddy shouts: “Look, Grandpa! Somebody fell in the water over there!”

“Put about and we’ll rescue him,” says Grandpa.

In fact they have rescued the diabolical Captain Nazi who repays their softheartedness by socking old Grandpa overboard and then, grabbing the oar out of Freddy’s hand, whacks him into the briny deep as well.

By the time Elvis was in first grade, he and his schoolmate Wayne Earnest had evolved a system that would both double their money and their reading pleasure. They swapped comic books—Elvis sometimes walking the mile over to Wayne’s place on Saturday afternoon to complete the transaction.

Elvis was already immersed in the adventures of the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Tarzan, Batman, and Superman when his secret life suddenly took a dramatic new turn. He discovered Freddy Freeman in the comic book series Captain Marvel’s Adventures. There, on page 267, young Freddy made his entrance—and very nearly his exit— fishing off a boat with his grandpa.

Roy here, reluctantly interrupting so soon. We need to clarify a couple of things up front: First, while Dundy doesn’t quite state it in so many words, we have to assume that Elvis’ childhood chum Wayne Earnest (and perhaps other boyhood acquaintances) specifically mentioned Captain Marvel Jr. to her as a character whose adventures young Elvis enjoyed reading. Elaine Dundy in all likelihood had never heard of the World’s Mightiest Boy before, and would’ve had no reason to dwell on that Fawcett super-hero if she hadn’t learned of the connection from someone who’d known Elvis as a fellow comicbook enthusiast. We do know, from her introduction, that she personally interviewed Wayne sometime after she arrived in Tupelo in April of 1981.

Next: The four-color debut of Captain Marvel Jr. did indeed occur in a “Captain Marvel” story—one starring the red-costumed World’s Mightiest Mortal after whom Junior would soon be named—but not in an issue of Captain Marvel Adventures (which, by the way, lacked an “apostrophe-‘s’” after the elder hero’s name).

Cap Jr.’s origin actually took place in the “Captain Marvel” lead tale in Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), as described below by Dundy.

Oh, and the “page 267” reference confused me, too… still does.

In real time, Freddy Freeman first appeared on the 11th page of the “CM” yarn in Whiz #25 in 1941, and I looked in vain for a “p.

267” reprinting of that page in a collection such as, say, Crown/

A Storm At Sea Freddy Freeman’s debut in the pages of Fawcett Publications’ Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941), as drawn by Mac Raboy (Freddy himself) and chief Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck (everything else). Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [Freddy Freeman TM & © DC Comics.]

“...And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book”

13

By the time Captain Marvel flies to the rescue, Grandpa has drowned and Freddy is no more than a symbolic hand stretching up from the sea.

Swooping down and sweeping up Freddy’s almost lifeless form in his arms, Captain Marvel says, “You’re in bad shape, youngster. I’d better get you to a hospital right away.”

Easier flown to than entered. Unimpressed by the astounding figure cut by the Captain and the desperate condition of his charge, an officious hospital attendant bars their way. “This is highly irregular,” he sputters. “This is a private institution. You can’t come in.”

Responding with a simple “Nuts,” Captain Marvel walks through a wall and into an operating room where he curtly orders a surprised doctor to “get to work” on the young boy. Then, uttering the magic word “Shazam!” the Captain is transformed into plain, everyday Billy Batson sitting in the waiting room anxiously asking a nurse, “How is he? Will he live?”

“The doctors say there’s no hope. Even if he lived, he’d be a cripple for life. We’re doing all we can, but we don’t expect him to last the night out.”

Billy waits till midnight to sneak into Room 15, hoists Freddy in a fireman’s haul, carries him downstairs and out and…

Spellbound, six-year-old Elvis read on as Billy walked down the “long ancient underground hall where he first met the sorcerer Shazam” and stared with interest at the panel depicted Billy carrying the dying Freddy on his shoulder through a tunnel lined with gargoyles labeled Pride, Envy, Greed, and Hatred. Billy laid Freddy before an empty, dust-covered throne. He lit a long-extinguished torch and as the flames flared up there was a rumbling sound, a lightning bolt, a crash of thunder, and the ghost of the dead wizard appeared.

“Who calls Shazam from his thousand years of sleep?” asks the wizard.

“I, Billy Batson, call you. There is a man loose above—a man called Captain Nazi who is destroying everything. I’ve brought you a boy who is dying as a result of Captain Nazi’s cruelty. You must help him as once you helped me!”

Rising from his throne, the wizard pronounces, “What has already come to pass cannot be changed by any power of mine. But you, as Captain Marvel, can, if you will, pass on to this boy some of the mighty powers I once gave you. Billy Batson, speak my name!”

Billy complies. “Shazam!”

And the last panel of the page is filled with black clouds and yet another lightning bolt.

Elvis turned the page and read on: “The wraith of Shazam vanished and in his place stands the familiar red-clad figure, Captain Marvel.” The dying boy lies at this feet.

In the second panel Freedy springs miraculously back to life exclaiming simply: “Why, it—it’s Captain Marvel!”

And the third panel on that page gives itself over to a third lightning bolt.

The next panel stretches clear across the page. Captain Marvel stands astride in his familiar snappy red body suit trimmed with the yellow arm bracelets and his familiar yellow boots and belt, and sporting his familiar yellow lightning bolt emblem on his chest. His flowing white cape flares rakishly on one shoulder. An enormous

“Captain Marvel!”

A few pages later in Whiz #25, Freddy becomes Captain Marvel Jr. for the first time ever—partaking of the power of his rescuer, Captain Marvel, by speaking his name. Freddy thus became the first, and as it turned out, the only castmember of The Marvel Family and crew to have a different “magic word” than “Shazam!” Art by C.C. Beck & Mac Raboy. Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Book of Knowledge rests on the wizard’s throne, and the brazier is still aflame.

In the foreground, profiled in an aura of light, stands Freddy— whole, healed, and triumphant. His hair is shining black; a lock falls over his forehead. He is wearing sideburns and his hair grows down to the base of his neck. Although his body suit is blue, and his cape red, his outfit is otherwise an exact replica of the Captain’s in every detail including the yellow lightning bolt emblem.

“I’m all well again! I—I’m like you!” he exclaims in wonder.

Looking at them standing together—the Captain and his junior— we are instantly struck by the differing techniques used in the drawing of Freddy/Captain Marvel, Jr., from that of Billy/Captain Marvel. Billy/ Captain Marvel is drawn in the stylized cartoon strip tradition. As the Captain, he is beetle-browed, pin-eyed, muscle-bound, and lockjawed, while as Billy, his features suggest that a child of eight has delineated them on the blank oval of his face. Freddy/Marvel, Jr., on the other hand, has been obviously and sensitively copied from a most appealing adolescent life-model.

He looks in fact exactly as Elvis, from adolescence to the end of

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his life, strove to make himself look.

On the last page, Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr., are flying through the air deep in conversation.

“Now you have all the powers I have. Use them to fight the forces of evil wherever they appear,” says Captain Marvel.

“And do I change back to my own shape, like you do to Billy Batson?”

“Yes, you will have to go through life in your own form, but whenever you need me speak my name and as Captain Marvel, Jr., you will be able to do the things I do. Now go back to the hospital and get well. And then I’m going to send you into Master Comics to take care of Captain Nazi.”

“Goodbye, Captain Marvel,” replied Jr., stalwartly.

The belief in magic is inherent in us all. We are born with it, grow up with it, and secretly never really abandon it. As often as we thrust down this illogical belief, it pops up again, and always when we least expect it—quite suddenly we find ourselves colliding into a car in the street corner to avoid walking under a ladder on the pavement.

Or wishing on a wishbone.

We have all, at one time or another, accepted magic: coincidences, superstition, miracles—call it what you will. What is interesting is the direction in which some particular person’s faith in magic may lie.

“I was the hero of every comic book I ever read,” said Elvis in the 1970s.

His belief in his supernatural strength and power was reinforced by his reading matter. The golden age of the Comic Book [sic] was

And with the lightning bolt panel that precedes all changes in psyche and geography, Freddy wakes up in the hospital exclaiming: “Gosh! I wonder if it’s all really true! Well, I’ll be out of here tomorrow and then I’ll find out!”

And he does find out. It is true. Although, as a caption points out, “The poor boy is destined to carry on with a crippled leg as a souvenir of his encounter with Captain Nazi.” Yet what the evil Captain does not know is that the innocent lad he crippled is now “the most powerful boy in the world! Captain Marvel, Jr.!”

Thus Captain Marvel, Jr., began starring in his own series beginning in January 1942. It was six years to the month after Elvis was born.

Roy again: Far as I can tell, neither Dundy nor I nor anyone else can be dead certain that young Elvis ever read the above story, which went on sale shortly before his seventh (not sixth) birthday—but if he did, he might very well have obtained Whiz Comics #25 in a comicbook trade session with his buddy Wayne Earnest. Or, when he hit the age of ten, he might’ve read the extremely truncated version of Junior’s origin that took up just a few flashback panels in The Marvel Family #1 (1945). (That account, however, telescopes the events Dundy relates into a handful of panels, with only passing mention of the violence that nearly cost Freddy his life, and none of Captain Nazi.)

This might be as good a place as any to bring up, albeit respectfully, my skepticism regarding one reference mentioned on page 4 of Carl Shinyama’s article. Fan Robby Reed’s oft-invaluable (but now “defunct”) website Dial B for Blog suggested some time back that Elvis had “most likely” first run into Captain Marvel Jr. in 1949, around issue #77 of his eponymous comic. I’d love to learn when and how Reed (or somebody else) made that assumption, because I’ll admit that neither that issue number nor that date seems at all likely to me. It would make Presley already 14 years old when he first encountered the World’s Mightiest Boy—and very few kids in the 1940s “discovered” ongoing comic super-heroes at so late an age. “Most likely,” I feel (as did Dundy, clearly), it was actually half a dozen or more years earlier—i.e., during the period when he and his buddy Wayne were eagerly reading and trading comics, beginning in the first grade in 1941-42, or in the following few years.

After her above recounting of Cap Jr.’s origin, we next encounter in Dundy a comicbook connection in Elvis’ life on pp. 67-70 (in the 2004 reprint edition of Elvis and Gladys, from University Press of Mississippi):

King Marvel In the 1996 limited series Kingdom Come, which takes place in the distant DC future, artist Alex Ross re-created Freddy Freeman into King Marvel, a minor/background character in the series with an overall likeness to Elvis Presley who wore a high-collared jumpsuit with bell-bottomed boots. The above penciled character design was originally published (in black-&white) in a “bonus material” section of one of the collected editions of the series. [TM & © DC Comics.]

“...And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book”

15

from 1939 to 1954. Growing up, our folk hero was immersed in this space form of folk art. Many of the most popular of these books shared the same theme—the twinship that resides within one person.

The heroes had two identities: one powerful, one powerless. In his powerless identity the young man led a normal everyday life. But within him existed his secret powerful self who, through various devices, emerges as a magical being with various super powers, the most important of which, in Elvis’ mind, was the ability to fly.

Superman was the first of the double-identity characters to appear in comic book form. Then came Batman, who, by day, was a lightweight playboy called Bruce Wayne and, by night, donning a menacing cat [sic] mask and a black cape, buzzed around striking fear in the hearts of evildoers, catching criminals and putting the world to rights.

Another thug-thwarter was called the Spirit. This calmly powerful hero has perhaps the most interesting powerless double identity of all of them. He was called Denny Colt. And he was officially dead.

He used Wildwood Cemetery as the base of his operations. As the Spirit, he wore ordinary street clothes and only the slightest of masks.

His approach to crime-fighting scorned dramatics and it was his very nondescript appearance and no-nonsense methods that made him impressive.

The elastically powerful Plastic Man could stretch his limbs like rubber bands… for miles. He began as a failed gangster called the Eel, whose chums ran out on him when he was wounded in a robbery.

He was nursed back to health by a sympathetic monk, at which time he discovered that a chemical that had entered his wound gave him the ability to distort his body into any shape. In his double identity he became the Plastic Man, sporting a very odd bathing suit with a plunging décolleté and a pair of goggles.

Elvis loved all these comic books. He not only kept them, he took care of them as scrupulously as any bibliophile. His cousin Harold Lloyd remembers that when Elvis was in high school in Memphis he and Harold would swap comic books. “Sometimes I would go over and borrow some books from him. He would let me have them because he knew I would return them in good shape when I finished reading them. He had a large bookrack made out of wire to keep the books in and he always made sure they were in neat order and not out of place.”

But the Captain Marvel series, and in particular, Captain Marvel, Jr., were Elvis’ unquestioned favorites. Adding greatly to the popularity of the series were the characters that derived and sprang up from the stories. A sort of family eventually surfaced—some self-appointed and eager to get in on the act. “Wilfred Batson from Arkansas figured we must be cousins. We really aren’t, but I hadn’t the heart to tell him…” says Billy Batson/Captain Marvel. And, “Uncle Dudley pretends to be our uncle and to turn into Uncle Marvel. We aren’t related but we all love him anyway.” On the other hand, “Mary and I have only one living relative… our Uncle Ebenezer Batson. But we’d just as soon forget him… he’s a crook.”

Mary Batson is the real thing. She turns up out of the blue as Billy’s twin sister. “She’d been raised by wealthy Mrs. Bromfield,” explains Billy. “Mary has the power to turn into Mary Marvel.” Apart from being a delightful-looking adolescent, fresh-faced with shoulderlength brown hair softly curled below her ears, Mary is innocent, good, sunny-natured, and so full of spunk and adventure that she and her superpowers are soon awarded a comic book series all their own.

Freddy Freeman, another of these derived creations, “…isn’t a Batson at all… but he is a member of the Marvel family, as Captain Marvel, Jr.,” confirms Billy. Like Mary, he too made an enormous hit on his first appearance and was immediately sent into his own comic

Battening Down—And Battering—The Hatches Mac Raboy’s cover for Master Comics #26 (May 1942). While that artist, in the first half of the 1940s, drew Captain Marvel Jr. covers for both the hero’s own title and the anthology title Master Comics (which featured just one “CMJr” adventure), Raboy’s interior work at that time appeared almost exclusively in the latter. A couple of Raboy assistants, approximating Raboy’s style, drew most of the stories in Captain Marvel Jr. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

book series.

Elvis’ twin-fusion with Freddy/Captain Marvel, Jr., was total, and it was from reading his adventures that the young Elvis secretly began to create himself. The power of Captain Marvel, Jr., symbolized by his ability to fly high over the earth, was twinned with his external powerlessness in the form of his other identity, the poor crippled newsboy (symbolizing for Elvis his own “crippling” by the death of [his own stillborn twin brother] Jesse?) whose name is nevertheless Freeman.

Millions of other children, of course, were reading this same comic book in bright, primary colors at the same time, but Elvis’ specific background and temperament made him singularly susceptible to its magic. He must have felt it drawn and written for his eyes only.

It was Captain Marvel, Jr., who helped mold Elvis’ personality, humble and humorous, and who crystallized his desire to save the world and his family. It was Captain Marvel, Jr., who sculpted Elvis’ authoritative stance, legs exultantly wide apart, the graceful gestures of his hands, palms flat, fingers outstretched, thumbs extended. It was Captain Marvel, Jr., who styled Elvis’ glimmering hair, side-parted

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with the forelock falling over his brow, the sideburns, the hair growing down his neck. Much later would come Elvis’ Captain Marvel, Jr., cape and lightning bolt emblems on the TCB (“Taking Care of Business”) and “TLC” (Tender Loving Care) jewelry he would give to his special friends. There were clasps on the TLC necklaces. There were no catches to his feelings, Elvis explained to a close friend, Sterling Hofman, the wife of his Memphis dentist, Dr. Lester Hofman, to whom he presented one. The necklace was meant to describe a continuous and eternal circle of affection with no reservations, no qualifications.

Elvis used the lightning bolt emblem so often—on the tail wing of his airplane, the Lisa Marie, it shows up hugely as it did on the wall of his gameroom at Graceland—that it became a sort of signature and everyone speculated as to what it symbolized and where he had gotten the idea. Everything possible has been suggested from the Memphis weather—given to violent storms—to the emblem of the West Coast Mafia to which it is said to be similar. But one wonders if it were not something seen long ago and long submerged that sprang suddenly into Elvis’ consciousness in the early 70s. Lightning bolts abound in the panels of the Captain Marvel, Jr., series—not just on the young hero’s chest. What did the lightning bolt mean to the grown-up Elvis? Precisely, what did it mean to the child? It meant power.

Over the years, it’s often been questioned as to where the notion for the symbolic lightning bolt associated with Presley’s famous “TCB” motto originated (though that mystery is forever solved, so far as I’m concerned, by the statement you’ll see on p. 24)—nor are there any exact quotations from Elvis himself to prove he ever even read a “Captain Marvel Jr.” story. On that page,

too, you’ll find attributions to that effect from one who knew him well. But be patient—and read on. All will be revealed in time.

Meanwhile, let’s stick with Elaine Dundy for a little while longer.

Clearly, she did her authorial homework with regard to early comics, with her mentions of Superman, Batman, The Spirit, and Plastic Man; but just as clearly, it seems to have been Captain Marvel Jr.—not even his mentor Captain Marvel, who was the more popular of the two extremely popular characters—who made the biggest impression on young Elvis.

Dundy also includes a slightly paraphrased quotation from a short speech that Presley gave on January 16, 1971—“I was the hero of every comic book I ever read”—but, since post-1958 matters were basically outside the scope of a book centered on “Elvis and Gladys,” she didn’t elaborate. (You can read more of the precise words of that speech on p. 23 of this A/E issue.)

Another, more fleeting analysis pops up in Dundy, p. 98: If the shy boy had set himself the difficult task of learning to sing and perform, it was for easier for him to learn to read, motivated as he was by his desire to follow more closely the thrilling adventures of the heroes and villains he had discovered in comic books. From The Lone Ranger to Superman, apart from double identities, the golden age of comic book heroes all shared one other interesting feature in common. They were all exhilaratingly free from parental tension, for they had neither fathers nor mothers. This further enabled the young reader to break loose from the complicated constrictions imposed on him by childhood into a dream of self-reliance—aided in his triumphs only by some godlike magic, or a horse.

Elvis was able to exist for hours, adventurously, independently, and happily, in a world without his mother, flying high above her with the Marvels, the Batmans, the Supermans, free of all his responsibilities to her until, brought back to earth with a bang by a

Harnessed Lightning (Left:) One online version of Elvis Presley’s official “TCB” (Taking Care of Business”) logo, which by some accounts was co-designed by Elvis and his then-wife Priscilla. (See p. 24.) This symbol has only two crooks in the lightning bolt instead of three, as are clearly visible on the aircraft at right. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(Right:) Roy Thomas poses at Elvis’ former home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, in front of Presley’s private plane—which sports the TCB symbol on its tail. Photo taken April 20, 2024, by Dann Thomas.

“...And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book”

Elvis In The Comics—Sort Of (Above:) Another photo of Elvis, probably sometime in 1956, reading (or at least perusing) a copy of Archie Comics’ Betty and Veronica. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(Center:) The proprietor of the Dial B for Blog website seems to have composed his own version of an Archie comicbook featuring Elvis, Betty, and Veronica. [Betty & Veronica TM & © Archie Comic Group, Inc.] (Right:) And here’s the cover of an actual vintage comic which utilized a photo of Elvis on its cover: Charlton’s Young Lovers #18 (July 1956) featured a shot of the singer dressed up for his first movie starring role in Love Me Tender, which would be released in November of that year. The GCD very tentatively credits the artwork to Dick Giordano. The “Complete Life Story” promised inside, however, amounted to only slightly more than one page of unadorned text. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

look on her face, he would feel the guilt and danger of his desertion resurface and would subside again into the constant components of love, placation, and reconciliation which counterbalanced these flights.

frustration and his musical progress be seriously impeded unless he is changed to the instrument best suited to him. One must not be fooled by the Captain Marvel, Jr., aspect of Elvis’ meteoric rise to fame: one way or another, a very great deal of both musical training and musical theory was installed as well as ingrained in the young Elvis.

Elaine Dundy returns to Cap Jr.—actually, to the entire Fawcett Marvel clan—on pp. 129-130, where she references what many of us aficionados consider the best-ever issue of The Marvel Family—#10, with the cover date of April 1947: With James, it would seem, Elvis always tried to remain Freddy Freeman, the poor newsboy, rather than Captain Marvel, Jr. How did Elvis reconcile himself to those bouts of power and powerlessness he kept being prey to? He had turned to his comic books for his inspirational reading. There at the age of twelve, reading The Sivana Family Strikes Again in the Captain Marvel series, he had

Admittedly, the above two paragraphs aren’t grounded in hard evidence, yet they seem a reasonable explanation of much of the appeal of super-heroes, and especially of one like Captain Marvel Jr. (nee Freddy Freeman).

Interestingly, on pp. 98-100 of the University Press of Mississippi edition, Dundy also establishes a likely connection between the young Elvis Presley and another basically superpowered hero of children’s literature: none other than the Tin Woodman from L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as adapted for the silver screen in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz (where the heart-seeking ex-woodchopper’s “name” is shortened to simply “the Tin Man,” probably to avoid confusing people into thinking the character was composed of both tin and wood). A third-grade classmate, one Raymond McCoy, recalled to Dundy how the “eight-year-old Elvis,” during school story periods, told a continuing tale about a “tin man” that kept his fellow students “fascinated for weeks.”

Another passing reference to the World’s Mightiest Boy occurs on p. 110: A talented child begun on the wrong instrument can suffer great

17

“Oz Never Gave Nothin’ To The Tin Man…” Jack Haley in his “Tin Man” suit and makeup, attended to by Dorothy (Judy Garland) and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) in the 1939 MGM musical The Wizard of Oz. Elvis was four years old when the film was released. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

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found his answer. The key to power was secrecy. Captain Marvel, his twin sister Mary, and Captain Marvel, Jr., had each embarked on their finest hour. They were taking on “the wickedest family in the world” whose head, Dr. Sivana, was popularly known as the Big Red Cheese and whose children—Georgia and Sivana, Jr.—were the wickedest children in the world. While Captain Marvel took on Dr. Sivana and Mary Marvel, Georgia, Captain Marvel, Jr., took on Sivana, Jr.

Now enters the evil young Sivana, Jr., got up in natty plus fours and checkered socks. He greets Chass Passon’s emergence on dry land with a mighty crack on the head. But just when young Sivana is about to steal the electrium, Captain Marvel, Jr.—“the most powerful boy in the world”—swoops down and settles his hash with an explosive right to the jaw. When Chass comes around, naturally the grateful young scientist wants to know his benefactor’s name.

In Marvel, Jr’s futuristic adventure Atlantis Rises Again, which takes place in the thirteen-thousandth century A.D., the secret of his super-human power does escape and we see the result.

Marvel, Jr., begins, “Why, I’m Captain Mar… er… uh…” And then he halts.

“Far in the future,” begins the story, a young scientist, Chass Passon, whose ancestor was Chal Patzun, an original inhabitant of Atlantis, has managed to raise the continent from its watery grave by, it turns out, stoking a thirteen-thousandth-century boiler—which resembles a twentieth-century one with knobs on—called an “electrium.” Chass looks exactly like Marvel, Jr., except that he wears glasses. Twinship again.

Why? On the last page is the explanation: “Captain Marvel, Jr., alone of the Marvel family, always has a peculiar problem when people ask his name for… “And then Marvel, Jr., explains it to his readers in a thought balloon: The words “Captain Marvel” make him change back into poor Freddy Freeman! So he hesitates. However, as he is so far in the future, he then decides why not disclose his true powerful identity? What has he to lose?

“I’m Captain Marvel, Jr., of the twentieth century,” he says.

Boom! More lightning zigzags with the uttering of the two key words. For with the telling of his name, he is transformed back into Freddy Freeman, the poor crippled newsboy.

Thirteen-thousandth-century Chass is astonished. “Wh-what!

There are two of you?” “Yes,” says Freddy. “You see, we change back and forth by magic lightning. It’s safe to tell you because this is far from the twentieth century. Nobody knows my secret back there.”

In short, Elvis must constantly be on guard against declaring himself to anyone, for if his outrageous secret were known he would no longer be the most powerful boy in the world.

Re Marvel Family #10, even a comics-savvy person who hasn’t read that particular story can easily guess that the young superhero’s changing back to Freddy Freeman (as scripted by Otto Binder and drawn by then-regular “CMJr” artist Bud Thompson) was done primarily for story purposes—i.e., so that the more vulnerable newsboy could get conked on the head, rendered unconscious, tied up, and gagged before he could re-transform back to his Marvel self. That kind of thing happened all the time to Billy, Freddy, and Mary.

It’s impossible to know, of course, whether or not Elvis Presley ever read Marvel Family #10. After all, most of us missed issues now and then of even our favorite comics. Besides, when that one went on sale, the now-Memphis-dwelling lad had just turned twelve, and might (though he might not) have decreased his comicbook intake somewhat. My own estimation is that Dundy recounted the above particular episode largely because she found it in the same collection where, most likely, she found most if not all of her Captain Marvel Jr. material—in the aforementioned 1970s Crown/ Harmony hardcover, which also included an insightful essay

by DC editor E. Nelson Bridwell, a lifelong fan (and ’70s revival scripter) of Captain Marvel and his over-extended family.

Family Feud C.C. Beck’s cover for The Marvel Family #10 (April 1947)—perhaps with an inking assist from partner Pete Costanza. This issue followed, if only by coincidence, the format of DC’s All-Star Comics, in that Beck drew the opening pages and the finale, in which the three Marvels appeared together—while each of the three chapters in which Cap, Mary, and Junior went off on their own into various times was drawn by an artist who regularly drew that hero’s solo adventures elsewhere. In the case of Captain Marvel Jr., the artist was Bud Thompson. Script by Otto Binder. Courtesy of the GCD. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

Still, the fact that, by the rules of the series, Cap Jr. could not speak his own name without instantly changing back to Freddy was mentioned in other comics besides Marvel Family #10, and Elvis could’ve obtained from any number of stories the insight Dundy suggests for him. (Well, in the interests of full disclosure: From time to time, comicbook writers being the harried, hasty souls they historically have been, Freddy or Junior did occasionally say the words “Captain Marvel” without changing—but that was only because the writer carelessly made a mistake and the harassed

“...And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book”

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Dundy’s next mention of the Fawcett heroes occurs on p. 159, with a reference to the discontinuance of the company’s entire comicbook line: The death of two of Elvis’ heroes the previous winter [of 1953-54] might be seen as the passing of the old order making way for the new. [Country Tony Curtis singer/composer Hank Williams died.] And the Captain Marvel/ The young screen actor in the 1950s.

Captain Marvel, Jr., comic books had folded as a result of a long, drawn-out and losing battle over a lawsuit with Superman and were no longer on the newsstands.

Of course, neither Elvis as he turned 18 (even assuming he still regularly read comics), nor I at age twelve, was aware in 1953

All In Black-&-White For $10 (In 1977, Anyway!)

This sequence from the “Captain Marvel Jr.” sequence in The Marvel Family #10, drawn by Bud Thompson, is reprinted from Crown/Harmony’s 1977 hardcover Shazam! From the 40’s to the 70’s—in black-&-white, which is probably the way author Elaine Dundy first encountered it. Script by Otto Binder. [Shazam hero & Freddy Freeman TM & © DC Comics.]

editor let it slip by, not because magic lightning shouldn’t have struck at that moment.)

Oh, and one correction to Dundy’s research: It was Captain Marvel, not the evil Dr. Sivana, who was sometimes referred to as “The Big Red Cheese”—by a contemptuous Sivana, actually.

Another, more tenuous but still intriguing mention of Cap Jr. is made by Dundy on p. 137: [Elvis’] favorite actor then [fall of 1950] was a dead ringer for Captain Marvel, Jr.—glistening black hairstyle and all—the handsome young Tony Curtis, who was making a series of wonderfully funny junior swashbuckling epics with titles like The Prince Who Was a Thief and brandishing his Bronx accent as triumphantly as his sword.

I wouldn’t call Tony Curtis exactly a “dead ringer” for Marvel Junior—but there was certainly at least a cursory resemblance— and it seems well-documented that the teenage Elvis, at least to some extent, patterned himself after the look of Hollywood’s young heartthrob.

“And Then There Were None!”

Kurt Schaffenberger’s cover for The Marvel Family (#89, Jan. 1954) may or may not have been prepared with the fore-knowledge that it would be that issue’s final issue—and one of the very last comicbooks Fawcett would publish before folding its four-color lineup after settlement of the lawsuit with DC. Courtesy of the GCD. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

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that the reason for the overnight demise of the entire Marvel Family—ironically, in an issue whose cover feature was titled “And Then There Were None!”—was a settlement of DC’s lawsuit against Fawcett Publications. Captain Marvel Adventures, Whiz Comics, Captain Marvel Jr., Master Comics, and The Marvel Family were all discontinued, along with the remainder of Fawcett’s comics line, within a very few months of each other. (Mary Marvel’s solo exploits, never having been as popular as those of her male counterparts, had ended a few years earlier; so had those of the funny-animal knockoff, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.)

comparison between Elvis and—this time—Freddy Freeman:

I don’t know if—and not even Elaine Dundy has suggested that—an 18-year-old Elvis Presley even noticed when the Fawcett comics line folded up shop.

Then, on p. 264, she ties in Cap Jr. with a significant and long-lasting change in Elvis’ hair color:

I certainly noticed, and would have whether I was 12 or 18 or 50 at the time—but that’s neither here nor there.

…[I]n this there was still the element of Freddy Freeman guarding his Captain Marvel secret, but more because with Dixie he was content in being plain, ordinary, everyday Elvis Presley, truck driver.

On pp. 252-253, Dundy again references crime comics, Dr. Frederic Wertham, etc., but without a specific Elvis or Captain Marvel Jr. connection.

Two more days of October [1956] for Gladys to get through. Elvis seems to have spent one of them having his hair dyed Captain Marvel Jr.-black—or Gladys-black, or Indian-black.

Another passing reference to the comics occurs on p. 164: Let us suppose, however, that it had not been Marion [Keisker] in charge of that busy [Memphis] waiting room on that day in July [1954]…. What would Sam [Phillips] have heard and seen? Probably a lot more of Freddy Freeman than Captain Marvel, Jr. As not just Elvis fans but pop-culture historians are fully aware, it was partner Marion Keisker whom Elvis first met (and made a striking impression on) the day he initially walked in the door of the recording-service business run by the now-legendary Sam Phillips. A company not quite yet reborn as the legendary Sun Records.

Dundy uses the Fawcett/Marvel analogy again on p. 172, when referring to the teenage girl who was dating Elvis when he first began his recording career: But this is all so much psychological musing, when really the one [Elvis’ girlfriend Dixie Locke] was most like in aspect, age, and levelheadedness, was none other than the lively Mary Batson, or rather Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel’s twin sister who, when not done up in her Marvel gear, wears simple blue school dresses, bobby sox, or knee socks, and whose long dark hair was worn like Dixie’s, shoulder-length with a short swirled off-the-forehead look.

Since Mary Batson/Marvel, throughout her four-color career, would dress in the current styles of the day, any crossover in clothing between her and Dixie Locke or most other young ladies of 1950s Memphis is surely a simple matter of coincidence.

Further down on the same page comes another passing

“A Sweet Old-Fashioned Girl” The above name of a 1956 hit record by singer Teresa Brewer fits this art spot to a “T”!

(Above:) Mary Batson wears one of the “simple blue school dresses” that Elaine Dundy described, on this splash page from Mary Marvel #27 (Aug. 1948)—and we’ll bet she’s wearing “bobby sox, or knee sox,” if we could only see them! Art by Jack Binder; scripter unknown. With thanks to Mike Bromberg. [Shazam heroine & Mary Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

(Left:) Elvis and his longtime Memphis girlfriend Dixie Locke, on prom night, 1955. Seen in Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, from the Michael Ochs Archive. [© the respective copyright holders.]

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Come Fly With Me! A Captain Marvel Jr. “flying” cover by Mac Raboy (CMJr #12, Oct. 1943)—and Elvis in blue, looking ready to take off. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Elvis photo © the respective copyright holders.]

Actually, Dundy might just as easily—perhaps more easily— have made a connection in this case to actor Tony Curtis, who was then appearing in one of his first major co-starring roles, with second male-lead billing to Burt Lancaster in 1956’s Trapeze. To follow in the near future were triumphs in The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and The Defiant Ones (1958).

Even so, it was Captain Marvel Jr.—not Tony Curtis—who had coal-black sideburns, a sartorial affectation Elvis had taken up.

Elaine Dundy’s final reference to the comicbook hero occurs on p. 272, fifty or sixty pages before the end of her biography: If things went on this way, [Colonel Tom] Parker reasoned, and the curiosity of the “saner audience sector” was not lessened but in fact stimulated and they accepted Elvis not as the Great American Freak or the Great American Joke but—as Al Lomax, musicologistfolklore expert said—the man historians would look upon as the first to liberate American music from European tradition, Elvis would slip right through his claws, fly away like Captain Marvel, Jr., and land in areas which could show Parker up badly.

Interestingly, it is this reference to “flying” that ties Dundy’s prose in most tightly with Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film—wherein, as Carl Shinyama points out in his article, there are several allusions to Elvis “flying,” some of which are verbally and/or visually tied in to Captain Marvel Jr.

It’s not improbable that Dundy in her book—and Luhrmann in his movie—make a bit more of the “Captain Marvel Jr. Connection” than is warranted by the recoverable facts. All the same, that link was likely a very real thing, and thus well worth the attention it’s been given in this FCA special edition of Alter Ego. After all, only a very few, if any, entertainers have made a greater impact on American (and world) popular music than did Elvis Aron Presley— —while Captain Marvel (the antecedent of Captain Marvel Jr.) was, for several years in the 1940s, the best-selling comicbook on the planet, and CMJr itself was probably at times among the top-selling score or so of comics titles in the country, and the early Master Comics (with its lead-feature “CMJr” yarns, usually drawn by Mac Raboy) are among the most fondly remembered and most-collected artifacts of the Golden Age of Comics.

In short: Comics fans as well as Presley fans owe Elaine Dundy a vote of thanks for her years of original research, which established the existence of the “Captain Marvel Jr. Connection” with Elvis Presley.

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Addendum I:

The PETER GURALNICK Postscript

A

s mentioned earlier, author Peter Guralnick’s massive and (justly) critically praised two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, published in the 1990s, is and will probably remain the definitive work on the life and times of the man who went from billing as “The Hillbilly Cat” to being dubbed “The King of Rock’n’Roll.”

That said, there’s the inevitable question of what use, if any, Guralnick made of Elaine Dundy’s earlier research on the singer who rocked the world with his rendition of “Heartbreak Hotel” and numerous other hit records (and even with a few of his early films, not to mention later with a couple of record-shattering TV spectaculars) during his 23-year career.

Well, not that much, actually.

Not nearly as much, I feel, as he might have, in the interest

Peter Guralnick of cataloguing and analyzing Presley’s various artistic influences, musical and other.

Mind, I say this as an ardent, even fervent admirer of Guralnick’s biography, which I had already read twice before I pored over it for this article. It’s one of the great popularculture bios.

Last Train To Memphis The cover of the original 1994 hardcover edition of Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, the first book of Peter Guralnick’s two-volume biography. [© the respective copyright holders.]

In the first volume, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (1994), p. 16, Guralnick reports succinctly that:

Once he [Elvis] learned to read he loved comic books; they captured his imagination—he loved the brightly colored pages and the forceful images of power and success.

If only because Captain Marvel Jr. may well have provided the ultimate inspiration for Presley’s trademark sideburns (one of the things most remarked on—and, believe it or don’t, criticized for—early in his career) and for the semi-super-heroic jumpsuits/ costumes he wore on stage beginning with his first big Las Vegas appearance for the entirety of August 1969, I think the four-color escapades of the World’s Mightiest Boy deserved a closer look by Guralnick.

(Ironically, in a curious reversal, one Elvis “look” actually influenced a comicbook hero’s costume! Circa 1972, when my longtime friend Gary Friedrich and I were thinking up an outfit for Marvel’s motorcycle-riding Ghost Rider, artist Mike Ploog was directed to base it on the tight-fitting black-leather gear Elvis wore during the most memorable segment of his 1968 so-called “comeback special.”)

Elvis & Priscilla Elvis and wife Priscilla (circa 1970?) about to board the singer’s private plane—which (as seen on p. 17) was, and still is, adorned with the “TCB” lightning bolt symbol which, Peter Guralnick writes, the two of them co-designed. (Again, see p. 24) [Photo © the respective copyright holders.]

Oddly, when he deals with Elvis’ move from that blackleather garb to the “costume” look of the jumpsuits, Guralnick never even mentions the latter’s similarity to the outlandish gear worn by Superman, Captain Marvel (and Jr.), et al. True, this is a relatively minor lack in so monumentally thorough a work… but it’s a lack nonetheless. One shouldn’t have to dig up a copy of Elvis and Gladys to learn of the strong likelihood of a Captain Marvel Jr. connection.

Guralnick returns to super-heroes, in passing, on p. 27, dealing with a twelve-year-old Elvis recently moved with his parents to

“...And I Was The Hero Of The Comic Book”

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Memphis: For the first time [Elvis] was truly in the midst of another world, a world so different that he might as well have stepped right onto the movie screen, and yet he was an unseen, and unsuspected, presence—like Superman or Captain Marvel, unprepossessing in their workaday disguises, but capable of more than anyone could ever image, he was just waiting for the opportunity to fulfill his destiny.

Another fleeting super-hero mention in Last Train to Memphis occurs on p. 65, when the author is dealing with Elvis’ early attempts to cut records that sounded good to his own hyper-critical ears: “He was at an impasse—unlike the hero in comic books and fairy tales, he had not yet been discovered in his true guise, underneath his outer rags.”

Sounds for all the world like a nod to Elaine Dundy’s analysis—though only someone who has read Elvis and Gladys will suspect its ultimate source.

Since the index of neither volume of Guralnick’s biography contains any reference to either “comic books” or “Captain Marvel/ Captain Marvel Jr.,” I may have missed something—and if I did, I hope some less harried reader will speedily enlighten me—but the next reference to comics I found occurs very late in the second volume—in a chapter titled, surprisingly enough after more than 900 pages, “A Comic Book Hero.”

From p. 407 of the 1997 Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley: Elvis spent the three weeks before the [Nov. 1970] tour in California, mostly relaxing in Palm Springs. The first day he was back [in Los Angeles], he picked up twelve pendants he had ordered from Schwartz-Ableser Jewelers in Beverly Hills. There was one for each of the guys to match the prototype he and Priscilla had sketched out at the conclusion of the tour and given to Sol Schwartz’s partner, Lee Ableser, to design. Elvis had been wearing it himself for the last few weeks—a fourteen-karat gold necklace that came down to a V to a zigzag lightning bolt framed by the letters “TCB.” It was the lightning bolt that compelled attention, an image that had captured Elvis at an early age, when it symbolized the transformation of everyday human being Billy Batson into superhero Captain Marvel in Elvis’ favorite action comic book.”

At last Fawcett’s 1940s comics garner a bit of credit in this landmark bio.

Of course, Guralnick might have been better advised in the preceding paragraph to write “Freddy Freeman” rather than “Billy Batson,” and “Captain Marvel Jr.” rather than “Captain Marvel.”

Still, since Junior was, ultimately, a character cloned from the original “Big Red Cheese,” that’s a relatively minor slip.

At least, in his own way, Guralnick is giving Elaine Dundy’s and her research their props.

(But there’s a twist yet to come on the “TCB”/lightning bolt connection. Stay tuned just one more page.)

The last mention of comicbooks in Careless Love comes on p. 429, in a short speech that Elvis gave at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis on January 16, 1971. Dundy had quoted one sentence from it (though not with 100% accuracy) in her book, as seen back on p. 10. Guralnick, naturally, quotes the entire speech, the first part of which reads:

Secret (And Not-So-Secret) Origins (Left:) Elvis Presley gives his short speech mentioning comicbook heroes at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 16, 1971. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(Right:) From Robby Reed’s Dial B for Blog website: A faux cover of DC Comics’ Secret Origins title, illustrating Elvis’ connection with Captain Marvel Jr.—not to mention with President Richard M. Nixon. All that and Go-Go Checks, too! [Shazam hero & Secret Origins logo, etc., TM & © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

“When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream that I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times….”

He goes on to wind up this brief discourse by quoting key lyrics from a popular 1929 ballad by Victor Youmans, titled “Without a Song,” which had been recorded over the years by many artists, including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, et al.—though not, alas, by Elvis Presley.

Interesting that Presley would see fit to refer in public not just to popular music and movies, with both of which he had a clear and well-known connection… but also to comicbooks, a medium mention of which was not going to earn him any points from his audience in the days before the first major Superman film, let alone any featuring Batman, The X-Men, Spider-Man, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Far as I can figure, Elvis just wanted to give credit for a few moments to the things that influenced him in his youth—and comicbooks, though previously unknown to most of the gathered crowd, had been a part of that milieu.

It was only fitting that we close this section with the above statement that Elvis himself made, in 1971—with a decade and a half of a stellar career behind him, and 6½ years more of a goldfish-bowl life ahead—celebrating his identification at a younger age with the heroes of the Golden Age of Comics.

And perhaps with one in particular….

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Addendum II:

The PRISCILLA PRESLEY Revelations

T

his is the “Very Surprising Postscript” mentioned in this article’s subtitle—though you couldn’t possibly be any more surprised about it than I am.

Over the weekend of July 13-14, 2024, I was privileged to be one of the three headliner guests at a comics convention in Plano, Texas, not far from Dallas. The other two major guests were actor Harry Hamlin (of Clash of Titans fame)—and Priscilla Presley.

Yes, that Priscilla Presley.

Naturally, given my history since 1956, I was hoping simply to get a chance to say a fleeting hello to (and perhaps have a photo taken with) the exceptional woman who had been Elvis’ friend and companion since the early 1960s, his wife from 1967 to 1973, the mother of his only child, and since 1977 the super-capable guarantor of his legacy, by such actions as turning Graceland into one of the nation’s foremost tourist destinations and overseeing two posthumous (and triumphant) Elvis recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. (And that’s to say nothing of her solo accomplishments, such as co-starring in three successful Naked Gun film comedies, a recurring major role on TV’s Dallas, and numerous other gigs.) Special thanks to John Cimino for arranging for the two of us to meet.

I’m glad to say that the two of us got along well enough

that we conversed on a couple of occasions, and for a fair amount of time. Our conversations were naturally private, but I did mention to her that, as a comicbook writer and editor and even pop-historian, I’ve always been curious to know if Elvis really did have fond remembrances of Captain Marvel Jr. She confirmed that he definitely did.

I also asked her about the lightning bolt aspect of the “TCB”/”Taking Care of Business” logo. When I did so, her eyes lit up and she eagerly told me what she recalled.

She said that she and Elvis were on their plane (I presume in late 1970) between Los Angeles and another city (Memphis?) and were looking over a rough version of the lettering he wanted for the “TCB” logo. He mentioned he’d really like to have some other element to go with it, to make it truly distinctive. They talked it over for a few minutes.

Just then, Priscilla told me, there was a sudden flash of lightning outside the plane—frightening because seemingly so close. When it was over, she turned to Elvis and suggested that a lightning bolt might be a good image to go with the letters.

Elvis enthusiastically concurred, and they (or perhaps it was just Priscilla) made a sketch of a thunderbolt.

“I should have trademarked that thing,” she laughed when she told me about it. “I’d have made a fortune!”

And so can be pretty much put to rest the notion of a direct connection between Captain Marvel Jr. and the stylized lightning bolt on Elvis’ “TCB” insignia. Of course, none of the above rules out the possibility that his memories of Cap Jr. contributed to the fact that the thunderbolt symbol, as realized, is similar to the “Shazam” bolt, except with three jagged crooks in it instead of two.

It was wonderful to learn this information directly from the person who had suggested the lightning bolt visual—and I hope the delightful and strong-minded Priscilla Presley will not mind my indirectly quoting her on the subject in these pages.

My thanks to the late Elaine Dundy, to Peter Guralnick, and (from a more personal perspective) to Priscilla Presley for their various documentations of Elvis’ “Captain Marvel Jr.” connection.

I couldn’t be happier that I made that particular little journey to Texas.

P.S.: You can’t make these things up! Just as I was typing the above couple of lines, summer lightning struck near our South Carolina home, announcing a mild thunderstorm—and the house’s electrical power abruptly went off. Happily, our generators kicked in a few seconds later, but I was now facing a blank PC screen and had to turn the thing back on and wait for it to boot up, so I could see if part of what I had written today had been lost.

A bit of it had been—so I had to write those segments all over again.

Maybe the wizard Shazam—or else Captain Marvel Jr.—or even Elvis himself—was trying to tell me something.

Roy T. & Priscilla Presley share a moment at a comics convention in Plano, Texas, on July 13, 2024.

Photo by John Cimino.

Roy Thomas has been a comicbook fan since at least 1945, at age four—and a fan of Elvis Presley since the day he heard “Heartbreak Hotel” over the radio pumped into Kerstner’s Drugstore in Jackson, Missouri, at the age of 15. He counts both phenomena as among the all-consuming interests of his own 84 years.

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With One (Well, Maybe Two) Magic Word(s) (Left:) Another of the countless permutations of Elvis and Priscilla’s TCB logo that pop up on the Internet—this one in gold.

(Photo taken at CCXP23 in São Paolo, Brazil, Dec. 2023)

(Right:) Mac Raboy didn’t usually draw the magical Shazam lightning bolt as “cartoony” as C.C. Beck did in “Captain Marvel”—but some other artist, quite possibly Gene MacDonald, did so in the “Captain Marvel Jr.” tale in Master Comics #45 (Dec. 1943), just before young Elvis turned nine. The chest symbol, though, was consistently stylized. [Shazam hero & Freddy Freeman TM & © DC Comics.]

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books 1928-1999 Online Edition Created by Jerry G. Bails FREE – online searchable database – FREE http://www. bailsprojects.com/ whoswho.aspx – No password required La of Opar, as visualized by artist Doug Wildey (and writer Gaylord DuBois) for Gold Key/Western’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes #182 (Feb. 1969), which adapted ERB’s novel Tarzan the Invincible. Courtey of Thomas Yeates.

[TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Breakfast Of Champions

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When Captain Marvel Went From Serial—To Cereal!

O

ne of the best American comicbook promotions of the Golden Age came from General Mills—and their widely known, normally-associated-with-sports “Breakfast of Champions” cereal, Wheaties.

What made this particular series of giveaway comics so significant? The advertisement for the books that appeared in Sunday newspapers across the country on May 11, 1947, let consumers know why these comics were so unique: Adventure! Excitement! Fun! Famous Comic Books! Any book YOURS with 2 boxes of Wheaties.

REAL comic books. It’s True! You get special editions of your regular newsstand favorites. You choose from four best-selling titles. Same famous characters! Same dramatic writers! Same skilled artists! But all-new, action-packed stories.

by P. C. Hamerlinck THRILLS! Excitement! Laughs galore—in these sensational comic magazines. Thirty-Two pages! 6 1/2 by 8 1/4 inches big! Every page in full color! Every page loaded with action.

HURRY! Get your book right away! Supplies are limited to quantities now available on your

Not Just For Breakfast Anymore A vintage box/package of Wheaties, the cereal long heralded in ads as the “Breakfast of Champions,” floats above the covers of two of the four miniature comics from the May 1947 giveaway campaign: special editions of Captain Marvel Adventures and Whiz Comics. CMA cover art by C.C. Beck; the various images on the Whiz cover are by Beck, Bernard Krigstein, Gus Ricca, and Earl Lonsbury. [Wheaties image TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; Shazam hero, Crime Smasher, Golden Arrow, & Ibis the Invincible TM & © DC Comics.]

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have suffered either tape damage, torn corners, or both. (The one exception I’m aware of is an untaped, very-fine-condition Fawcett file copy of Wheaties’ Captain Marvel Adventures that surfaced in 2015.)

The Funny Stuff edition, starring Blackie Bear, appears to be standard Golden Age funny animal fare. Writers and artists of the book are unknown. Perhaps DC believed Wheaties’ buyers would appreciate a little variety in choosing between young-reader humor or the super-hero/adventure genre.

The Flash Comics edition sports an Irwin Hasen-drawn cover depicting The Flash taking a swing at a villain from the future, Dmane, which ties into the lead story, ‘The Criminal Four On The [Grocery Store] Floor from Tomorrow!” written by Gardner Fox Wheaties’ Sunday, May 11, 1947, newspaper advertisement announcing their four giveaway comics. and with art by Hasen. Next up is a John [Art TM & © DC Comics.]

Wentworth-scripted “Johnny Thunder” adventure, “Farewell to Crime!” (also drawn grocer’s shelves. So don’t delay. Don’t miss out on this unusual gift offer of

by Hasen), followed by “The Ghost Patrol,” also written by a real comic book. GET YOUR BOOK! AT YOUR GROCER’S! NOW! Wentworth, with art by Frank Harry. The book’s finale, scripted by Fox and illustrated by Joe Kubert, “The Scavenger from the Skies!”

Indeed, the fact that the contents within these four comics has Hawkman and Hawkgirl up against a new foe, The Raven. were original and exclusive to Wheaties was their greatest appeal.

Usually, giveaway comics consisted of previously published Now let’s open up the two Fawcett titles. In the Whiz Comics material, and sometimes just in black-&-white, but neither of those things was the case with this set of comics. Another appealing factor for purchasers who wanted the comics was that there was no need to collect box tops or to mail coins to General Mills. They just conveniently obtained their comic of choice from their local grocers.

The set of comics offered by Wheaties was comprised of two National (DC) titles—Flash Comics and Funny Stuff—and two Fawcett titles—Captain Marvel Adventures and Whiz Comics. That is fascinating because, at the time these books were released (5-1147), National and Fawcett were deep in the middle of a fierce and prolonged copyright infringement lawsuit battle… and here they were, both publishers collaborating with General Mills on the same promotional project… with Captain Marvel a big part of it, no less.

(This wasn’t the only time that the two publishers had collided within a manufacturer’s comicbook project, however. It would also happen in the second issue of the Daisy Handbook, a 140-page digest-sized comic in mid-1948. The Daisy Company produced the popular Red Ryder BB-gun rifles of the era, which were advertised in comicbooks. DC reprints within the Handbook would include “Robotman,” “The Boy Commandos,” and Mickey “Bat Man” Morgan (and Leonardo da Vinci) from Real Fact Comics… while Fawcett’s reprint representation would include “Captain Marvel,” “Ibis the Invincible,” and five fun installments of Basil Wolverton’s “Culture Corner” from Whiz Comics.)

In the aforementioned Wheaties ad for the comics, it’s a bit surreal to see DC and Fawcett properties intermixed within a circle listing “these famous characters”: Hawkman, Blackie the Bear, Captain Marvel, Ibis the Invincible, Taia, Golden Arrow, J. Rufus Lion, The Flash, the Ghost Patrol, Crime Smasher, Hawkgirl, Johnny Thunder, the Dodo and the Frog, and the Three Mouseketeers.

When eager customers arrived at the grocery store to grab their two boxes of Wheaties and select the comic of their choosing, they found that General Mills had affixed them to the cereal boxes with tape on all four corners—meaning all copies in existence

Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do! Perhaps influenced by the Wheaties effort the year before, the Daisy Air Rifle people in 1948 came out with the digest-size but thick Daisy Handbook #2, much of which consisted of comics material from Fawcett and DC. Courtesy of the GCD. [Shazam hero, Robotman, Ibis the Invincible, Two-Gun Percy, & Boy Commandos TM & © DC Comics; other material TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Breakfast Of Champions

DC Does It The covers of the May 1947 Wheaties editions of Funny Stuff and Flash Comics.

Art by unidentified artist & Irwin Hasen, respectively. All four giveaway issues contained all-new stories created especially for Wheaties. [TM & © DC Comics.]

edition, Billy Batson learns the true value of water in “Captain Marvel and the Water Thieves” during the boy broadcaster’s special assignment to a radium mine in a small desert town. The artwork was produced by the Beck-Costanza Studio, with Pete Costanza taking the lead, with some C.C. Beck re-draws of Billy and Cap for consistency. The writer of the tale is, unfortunately, unknown (as is the case for all the stories in the Whiz edition).

During the post-World War II years, the once-great Spy Smasher (Alan Armstrong), who so faithfully fought America’s Axis enemies, had sadly traded in his super-hero outfit for a trench coat to solve crimes as a private investigator before he disappeared forever in 1948. His gal Eve Corby was still by his side (as his assistant) and often referred to Alan as “CS.” The Whiz edition’s second story, “Suspect,” involves Crime Smasher nabbing a diamond thief and, as he always did, Alan donates the $20,000 reward money to the Infantile Paralysis Fund (which, incidentally, had ads which ran for a while in Fawcett’s comics). Serviceable story illustrations were provided by Earl C. Lonsbury. The artist’s brief comics career was mostly at the Funnies, Inc., shop, and with the Catholic comic Treasure Chest. The only other feature he drew for Fawcett was Master Comics’ “Radar the International Policeman”—another character in a trench coat.

Next, “Golden Arrow and the Curly-Haired Menace” has Fawcett’s first Western star disciplining a troubled, rambunctious child named Sylvester. At the story’s conclusion, the reformed child bends over in front of our hero and says, “Go ahead, Golden

29

Arrow! I deserve it!” I’ve always wondered if maybe the Golden Arrow feature would’ve benefitted greatly from the addition of some kind of secret-identity-mystery-man element. Yet, the character obviously had enough satisfied fans to appear in the entire run of Whiz except for its final issue. The “Curly-Haired” story was drawn fairly well by Bernard Krigstein who, at the time, was a young artist in his 20s still honing his craft. The occasional crazed facial expressions Krigstein drew on some of the characters in this story serve as mini-predecessors to the intensity he later brought to his innovative work at EC Comics. Krigstein also illustrated “Nyoka the Jungle Girl” stories for Fawcett from 1943 to 1948.

Fawcett’s “Ibis” stories were generally intriguing and entertaining. They often dealt with black magic and other occult themes, certainly more so than any other Fawcett hero. The subject matter of “Ibis the Invincible and the Devil Dolls” surely falls into that same ominously dark and disturbing category, with Ibis trying to prevent a judge from having his body possessed by a witch doctor. The latter, whose name was Damballa, makes a contract for the Doll Maker from prison to create a voodoo doll of Judge Pierce, the man who had sentenced Damballa to death.

When the Doll Maker asks him why he was given such a sentence, Damballa casually replies, “I killed a young girl to use her blood in worshipping the snake-god.” I can only wonder what the Wheaties-eaters thought of all of this! Ah, but the Prince’s Ibistick was a miraculous, unconquerable tool, one that always guaranteed a victory for righteousness in the end. The story’s artist, Gus Ricca, had done some very fine work during the Golden Age through the Chesler and Funnies, Inc., studios. He illustrated early Fawcett features “Diamond Jack” and “Jim Dolan” in Slam Bang Comics.

Ricca was certainly one of the better “Ibis” artists—his splash page alone in the Wheaties edition proves it—but his rendition of

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Fawcett Collectors Of America #250

If Ever A Whiz There Was… The four Fawcett stories produced for Wheaties’ miniature issue of Whiz Comics: “Captain Marvel and the Water Thieves!” - art by the Beck-Costanza Studio.

Crime Smasher - “Suspect” - art by Earl Lonsbury.

“Golden Arrow and the Curly-Haired Menace” – art by Bernard Krigstein.

“Ibis the Invincible and the Devil Dolls” – art by Gus Ricca. [Shazam hero, Billy Batson, Crime Smasher, Golden Arrow, & Ibis the Invincible TM & © DC Comics.]

Breakfast Of Champions

31

Artists Of The Wheaties Whiz

C.C. Beck

Bernard Krigstein

Photo from the Feb. 1946 issue of Fawcett Distributor. With thanks to Shaun Clancy.

Princess Taia couldn’t measure up to that of other artists. Ricca’s final work in comics was in 1952 for the St. John title Strange Terrors.

The cover of the Whiz Comics edition, by Beck, Lonsbury, Krigstein, and Ricca, was a montage of the book’s four heroes, whereas the Wheaties Captain Marvel Adventures edition sported a dynamic C.C. Beck-drawn cover. All of the book’s illustrations were done collaboratively by Beck, Costanza, and their studio

Gus Ricca From a painting rendered by Drew Friedman for his outstanding 2016 book More Heroes of the Comics (Fantagraphics). [© Drew Friedman.]

team. Solely attributing the artwork to Beck-alone or Costanzaalone during this particular time period in the World’s Mightiest Mortal’s career is generally incorrect. Regardless, in the postwar years, the “Captain Marvel” stories were really hitting their full stride, and these three tales reflect the high level of storytelling that had been achieved—and that just kept getting better.

In the lead story, “Captain Marvel and the Threads of Life,”

Co-creators Of The Wheaties Captain Marvel Adventures

Pete Costanza

William Woolfolk

A 1940 photo. He worked with C.C. Beck on the mini-comic’s “Captain Marvel” stories.

in 1963. He wrote the yarn “The Man Who Made Earthquakes!”

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Fawcett Collectors Of America #250

The Captain Marvel Age Of Comics Splash pages of the three stories that appeared exclusively in the 1947 Captain Marvel Adventures Wheaties giveaway. All art by the BeckCostanza Studio; “Man Who Made Earthquakes” written by William Woolfolk; other scripters uncertain. As detailed in the article, the latter story is the one tale in the issue which had never appeared anywhere else. [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

Breakfast Of Champions

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John Wayne, Take Note!

Captain Marvel takes matters into his own hands. Panel from “The Threads of Life.” Art by Beck-Costanza Studio. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

No Earth-Shaking Matter, But… The cover blunder of Captain Marvel Adventures #60 (May 1946). Art by C. C. Beck. At least writer William Woolfolk’s story “The Man Who Made Earthquakes” finally did appear, a year later, in Wheaties’ CMA edition—but nowhere else!

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Billy meets Achmed the Rug Weaver, who claims to be able to shape the destiny of others. The boy broadcaster believes him to be “an old crackpot,” but their lives soon become intertwined over the course of several incidents that seem to indicate the rug maker is telling the truth. In one surprising scene, Cap grabs the girlfriend of a quarreling couple, puts her over his knee, and begins tanning her hide. “You little wild-cat! You need a spanking!” So much for Captain Marvel’s usual shyness around the ladies.

In the tale that follows, “The Bridge of Sighs” is a drawbridge to Stone Prison, where criminals go after they have received a life sentence after their entanglement with Captain Marvel. The bridge got its name because the criminals all whimper a sigh as they cross the bridge, realizing too late that crime doesn’t pay. One such man was “Flyer” Floyd. He steals Sterling Morris’ airplane and later attempts to murder Billy by throwing him out of plane while it’s in the air. There’s a creative close-up of Floyd as he makes his way across the bridge, with thoughts of “I shoulda’ known better” and “Nobody can outsmart Captain Marvel!” shown swirling around his head.

The issue’s final story is “Captain Marvel and the Man Who Made Earthquakes!” If that sounds somewhat familiar to you, it’s because it matches the title and illustration on the cover of Captain Marvel Adventures #60 (May 1946)! The tale didn’t actually appear in CMA #60, but it was obviously supposed to. Fawcett’s flub became Wheaties’ reward in this William Woolfolk-written adventure in which Cap encounters a mentally unstable geologist, Horace Shakum (get it?), who has seemingly discovered the one stone that holds the rest of the Earth in place—and uses it to cause earthquakes. In one humorous scene, after having dealt quite enough with Shakum’s unbalanced mind, Captain Marvel simply locks him in his bedroom and tells him to go to sleep. “You’ll feel better when you wake up!” Of course, things didn’t wrap up that easily.

If you are a Golden Age completist, you need the Wheaties comics. And if you are a Fawcett fan, you need to add the Wheaties Whiz and Captain Marvel Adventures editions to your library, and delight further in the warmth, exuberance, and mirthfulness that was the World’s Mightiest Mortal.

$1,000,000 PAID FOR ORIGINAL COMIC ART! COLLECTOR PAYING TOP DOLLAR FOR “ANY AND ALL” ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK AND COMIC STRIP ARTWORK FROM THE 1930S TO PRESENT! COVERS, PINUPS, PAGES, IT DOESN’T MATTER! 1 PAGE OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS SOUGHT! CALL OR EMAIL ME ANYTIME!

330-221-5665 mikeburkey@aol.com OR SEND YOUR LIST TO:

MIKE BURKEY

P.O. BOX 455 • RAVENNA, OH 44266 CASH IS WAITING, SO HURRY!!!!!

Art by John Romita.

Captain America TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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36

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

The 1966 New York Comicon: A First-Hand Report

I

by Michael T. Gilbert

recall my first comic convention, way back in 1968 at the SCARPCon, co-hosted by Phil Seuling, Maurice Horn, and others. I was 17 and (after reading about them in fanzines for years!) thrilled to attend my first one.

I’d managed to put a few dollars aside for buying old comics and was delighted to score a handful of poor-condition ECs. I focused on the post-Code “New Direction” titles like Impact, Extra,

Batman & The Con Man (Above:) Alan Jadro’s con-review article appeared in The Comic Vendor #3 (JulyAug. 1966). Alan published the ‘zine, and likely drew the cover, too! [Batman TM & © DC Comics.]

and Aces High, because they were the cheapest and I could get more for my money!

I bunked at my grandmother Nurock’s Bronx apartment (the lady who gave me my first comics as a kid!) and rode the subway to the con every day. Food? Why waste good comic-buying money on that? By con’s end I was so exhausted (and hungry!) that I broke out with the worst case of hives in my life. My judgment?

Totally worth it!

Make Mine Marvel!

(Above:) ”Jolly” Jack Kirby was the con’s guest of honor, with James Warren footing the bill for the 1966 NY Con program book. The convention was put on by SF/comics fan John Benson. His con committee included Mike McInerney , Andy Porter, Ted White, Jon White, and our very own Roy Thomas! Above is Marvel’s official ad in the program book, reprinting Kirby art from the cover of Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965). [Art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Well, Alan Jadro did something similar, but beat me by a couple of years. Al’s delightful essay was originally printed in The Comic Vendor #3 in July-August 1966, mere weeks after the convention he was covering. His reporting (lightly edited for this printing) brought back fond memories of my own first con when I was still a teenager (choke!) 66 years ago! I’m sure many of you will find Alan’s account equally fascinating. So now… …Take it away, Alan!

The 1966 New York Comicon: A First-Hand Report

37

The July 23, 1966, New York Comicon!

J

by Alan Jadro

ust barely catching the bus to New York City at the Upper Saddle River stop was the least of my problems at about 7:30 AM on July 23rd. During the ride to Port Authority, many assorted thoughts coursed through my eager brain. Had I brought too many comics? Too few?! Had I forgotten anything? None of these questions would be answered for at least two and a half hours, so I sat back and enjoyed the ride. It was noisy. The bus terminal, that is.

People running all around the place. After collecting myself, I took the down escalator to the information booth where I was to meet Louis Black.

I held a few copies of the Comic Vendor in my hands so that he would know me (we had never seen each other before). In about fifteen minutes he found me, and we set out for the Park-Sheraton Hotel, where the con was going to be held. Upon reaching the towering skyscraper, we inquired as to what floor the Comicon was on, and then went up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

We were early. There were only about five other fans there at 9:30 AM. At about 10:30 AM, we found out that the con was not going to commence until 1:00 PM!

Even though the con was an hour and a half off, Louis and I walked into the Liberty Suite and saw at least 300 chairs, a movie screen, podium, and table. At about 11:00 there were about 50 fans there. Then the dealers arrived. They took up two suites, the Freedom Suite, and the Gotham Suite (there’s a coincidence for you!). Among the dealers present were Phil Seuling, Howard Rogofsky, and Jim Steranko. Mr. Steranko showed us some of his Strange Tales Nick Fury original art, which will be published in a month or two. Jim is one of Marvel’s new artists. [MTG NOTE: So new, in fact, that Alan misspelled Jim’s name as “Sturanko” throughout. Hey, it was 1966, and who knew who “Sturanko” was? We’ve corrected Al’s phonetic spelling for this reprint. Onward!]

Then everyone bought their tickets. The fee was $4.00 for both days. As I walked around the hall and through the suites, I saw such fans as Don Foote, Margaret Gemignani, Roy Thomas, Ted White, and Mike Ulsan.

At about 12:00 or 12:30, Louis suggested we go out for lunch so that we could be back in time for the start of the con. To begin the program, a representative from the Comics Code Authority [MTG NOTE: General counsel Leonard Darvin] was sitting at the table up front. When his name was announced, the booing echoed like Captain Marvel’s thunder from the four walls. When everyone finally quieted down, he said that he was happy to hear us boo, because people outside of fandom complained that the Code was not strict enough!

After some moderate discussion, the fireworks really began!

Ted White started blasting away at the Code, asking them to defend their position with EC comics. Ted was shouting at them, asking their defense on the point that the Code put pressure on EC’s distributors, thus forcing them out of business. As most of you know, EC published some of the best horror comics ever during the forties and fifties. Can you imagine how the Code, with its rules on abuses, etc., would destroy horror mags like these? Well, Ted kept the battle going and never let down. The Code representative was practically speechless. Once, though, he claimed that the Code did not pressure

Some Faces In The Crowd Attendees at the con included Comics Code counsel Leonard Darvin (middle left, facing left), “Rascally” Roy Thomas from Marvel (top), counterculture guru Paul Krassner (right), and probably “Magnificent” Maggie Thompson (bottom left).

EC’s distributor. Ted White answered with a thrashing, “That, is a pile of crap, sir!”

Then the point was brought up about a panel of Thunder Agents [sic] artwork done by Wally Wood. This panel depicted a robot socking a policeman, and sending him flying head over heels. This panel was rejected by the Code because police aren’t supposed to get punched like that!

Then the topic came to sex—in relation to artwork. In the pre-Code days, many artists drew overly full-breasted women—or so the Code claims. “This is not allowed now,“ says the Code. Kiddies shouldn’t look, or be allowed to look upon such pictures. But the women shouldn’t be drawn flat-chested, either, states the Code meekly.

At about 2:00, this discussion ended and an auction was held.

Sold at the auction was some original art. From about 2:30 to 3:00 there was a break and a chance for exchanges of old comics. Never had I ever seen so many rare and almost forgotten issues of old titles.

At 3:00 a discussion (by a panel) was held. Three fans, among them Ted White, discussed the comics of the fifties. Mostly they talked about EC. There were some fiery testimonies, and then Ted White told the story of EC’s downfall.

He told about the pressure put on EC’s distributors, about how the Code would not allow an illustration with flying snakes because it was a picture that mocked angels (you know, the wings on the snakes!). Ted also mentioned how, in the end, EC was forced out of business along with 40 other comic publishing companies. Not titles, but 40 companies. Then there was some good mocking on, ugh, you guessed it, Dr. Wertham.

At about 4:30, Roy Thomas began pointing out some of the pros who had graced the Comicon with their presence. There was Jack

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Kirby, Wally Wood, Flo Steinberg, and others whose names escape me at the moment.

After Roy finished, Jack Kirby talked and answered questions about his career as an artist, and how he teamed up with Joe Simon.

He said his first strip he worked on was the Blue Beetle, and his last (with Simon) the Fighting American. Then came the question, “Does the Code hinder your artwork, Mr. Kirby?” Jack answered ”No,” and said that all it did was take the tomahawks out of the hands of the Indians, and take away their angry faces. “So that all you were left with was a bunch of smiling, violent Indians!” When he was finished speaking and answering questions, it was 5:30. At this time was proclaimed a two-hour dinner break, and the movies would be shown at 7:30.

Then came a half-hour black and white film on the origin of Superman. It too was the one from TV. Of course, it showed parts that you couldn’t see on TV because of the interruptions due to commercials. Then came a reel with Spy Smasher, the little tough guys, and the Junior Air Aces. The Spy Smasher was about 10 minutes long and very good.

Then came Captain Marvel! It was the serial where he fought the Scorpion. In this adventure it had his origin, and the flying was just fabulous. It wasn’t cheap like the Superman flying on TV, but it had him fly from the street to the roof top, with no wires visible. He flew across a river at a height of only about 20 feet off the ground, and he flew down streets also at a height of about 20 feet. All of the flying was with no wires or anything visible.

Otto Binder was there, too, and since he was a friend of Louis Black, we had dinner together. I also got Otto to autograph a few Marvel Familys and Captain Marvels which I had purchased at the con. Marvin Wolfman was there, too, and he had a whole suitcase filled with his fanzines.

To start off, Billy is with a few archeologists who have just discovered a tomb. In it is the statue figure of a scorpion. When its seven legs (each holding a lens in its claws) are put into a certain position, a light is emitted from the scorpion’s head which will turn any object placed before it to gold!

Before long it was 7:30 and time to show the movies. First was a short, which was about a minute or two long, featuring Batman from TV, in color. Then there was the origin of Flash Gordon. It had his first visit to the planet Mongo, his meeting the merciless Ming, and his beating up of about fifteen of Ming’s guards. Ming threw him in the gladiator pit, and Flash beat up three snarling, oversize, long-haired “wrestlers” (closest translation). Also, it had some prehistoric dinosaurs on the planet Mongo, and those dumb rocket ships that go Bzzzzzzz and shoot fireworks out the back for engines.

The statue is useless without a secret scroll. So, each of the scientists takes a lens, and Billy gets the scroll, so that the scorpion statue can only be brought into play when the six scientists are together. Billy is a kid reporter and broadcaster, and when he says SHAZAM!, a deafening explosion is heard and smoke clouds erupt in front of Billy. When the smoke clears, Captain Marvel is left. There is lots of gore, especially when Captain Marvel mans a machine gun and mows down about fifteen crooks, throws one off a dam, and tosses about three off of the roofs of buildings. One time, Marvel is knocked

Your Comics Code at Work!

Scalp Hunter, the Indian warrior, tries to kill the Western hero Bullseye. Despite the red man’s scary name, it won’t be easy, with Scalpy’s tomahawk erased by the Comics Code! From Charlton’s Bullseye #6 (June 1955). [TM & © Estates of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.]

The 1966 New York Comicon: A First-Hand Report

39

out by a giant blast of electricity. A guillotine comes down on him while he is unconscious, but shatters harmlessly.

Then came the Captain America serial from the 40s! This was mostly just a slug-fest, and there was no Bucky, and Cap did not have a shield. Then came a preview to the animated cartoon show featuring Captain America that will be on TV in the fall!! It was in color, and it was the adventures with the “Three Sleepers,” exactly as it was in the comic books!

That was the end of the con. Otto Binder gave me a ride to the Port Authority and I caught a bus home.

The End MTG Here: And with this ride from Fawcett’s premier “Captain Marvel” writer, our short nostalgia tour comes to an end. What a way to go out!

Reading this, I’m reminded how exciting it was to actually watch video rarities like the legendary Flash Gordon and Captain Marvel serials in the decades before YouTube and streamingon-demand. It’s also amusing to think about future pro Marv Wolfman out there hawking his fanzines, while Michael Ulsan was likely busy scoping out back issues of Detective Comics, decades before producing Batman movies.

Meanwhile Wally Wood was beating the bushes for his new pro-zine Et Cetera, (shortly before it morphed into witzend!). And Roy, who’d moved to NYC a year earlier (to work with Mort Weisinger at DC, and later Stan Lee at Marvel), still had his old Jackson, Missouri, address on his Alter Ego ad!

Comic conventions were certainly a different animal in the ‘60s. And if you missed it, well… thanks to Alan’s wayback article, for a brief moment… You Are There!

Our thanks to “Rugged” Russ Maheras, “Battlin’” Bernie Bubnis, and “Cheerful” Chris Pitzer.

Till next time…

[NOTE: But we’re not quite finished yet, folks!

Turn the page for two more pages from the 1966 con’s program book!]

Better Late Than Ever!

This ad appeared in the 1966 con program book. Who knew Alter Ego would still be “saluting” the 1966 New York Comicon 58 Years later? And as far as Alter Ego, Vol. 1, #10, is concerned, it was eventually published (though with very different contents). But, once Roy went pro, it took (gulp!) three more years (“Honest!”). Still, Mr. Thomas has produced a few more issues since then!

[Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Estate of Bill Schelly; Warrior of Llarn art © Estates of Gardner Fox & Sam Grainger; Eclipse TM & © Estate Of Ron Foss or successors in interest.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

From A “Jack” To A “King” In addition to guest of honor Jack Kirby, other guests included Gil Kane, Ted White, Wallace Wood, Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson, Flo Steinberg, Otto Binder, Roy Thomas, and Western/Gold Key editor Bill Harris. Harvey Kurtzman and Al McWilliams were also invited, but couldn’t make it. (As per a letter printed in Alter Ego a couple of issues back, con host John Benson feels that Roy T. wrote the tribute to Kirby printed above, and he may well have—but Roy doesn’t personally recall doing so.)

The 1966 New York Comicon: A First-Hand Report

A Silver Age Surfer “Okay,” Roy T. admits—“I must have written this bio of Jack Kirby, because how many other people would have have known, by mid-1966, about the circumstances of conceiving the space-born Surfer and sticking him willy-nilly into Fantastic Four #48? Of course, Jack had referred to him in margin notes only as ‘the Surfer,’ leaving writer/editor Stan Lee to decide the new hero’s precise name and shade—but that anecdote was a bit too convoluted to work into this piece. Hence the simplified version above.”

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42

In Memoriam

Ron Fradkin (1948 – 2023)

A Moving Impulse For The First-Ever Comics Convention, 1964

H

A Personal Remembrance by Bernie Bubnis ow do I say goodbye? Especially to someone who allowed me to walk with him into comicbook fandom history. I am going to try to say goodbye to my friend Ron Fradkin.

During 1963 Ron joined a fan-committee to establish a yearly convention devoted to comicbooks. He soon grew frustrated with the slow progress of this group and encouraged me to help him fix this broken wheel. I had met him sometime in early 1962. He was self-confident, analytical, and “to the point.” Everything I was not. We became good friends, and I trusted his belief that this convention was possible... if not elusive. We bade farewell to the original committee and set out on our own.

Convincing professionals to attend became the first hurdle.

Super-Ronald knew what he had to do. First, he phoned Stan Lee at his home (during lunch!), because (in those days) everyone was in the phone book. Stan sent two employees to the “comicon.”

Second, Ron asked Bill Harris at Gold Key to attend; Bill would be on vacation but asked Lone Ranger artist Tom Gill to attend in his stead. And third... well, this would take some gumption: ask Mr. go in his stead Ditko to attend! Would Ron settle for two out of three?

Of course not. Steve attended and stayed for the entire event.

That, my friends, was Ron’s three-for-three on this 27th day of July 1964. We rode home from New York City that day on the Long Island Railroad. I will always remember that trip on a crummy, dilapidated rail car. Today, it was our limo. We never stopped smiling and laughing. Ron knew we could do it. That was the Ron Fradkin I knew and admired. We continued our friendship for over a half century more.

Honestly, I never thought I would ever have to say “goodbye”.

It breaks my heart. So... I won’t. Good memories never die.

Goodnight, Ron.

A Few Facts About Ron Fradkin Ron’s youth was spent in Levittown, NY. He was close friends with future comicbook writer Len Wein. As a typical fan in the 1960s living near NYC, he regularly visited all the professionals in the area and was a reporter for The Comic Reader fanzine. He once wrote: “I continued to collect comics and go to conventions until 1970 when I graduated from college. I sold my collection at a convention for several hundred dollars, which was a fortune at the time. I would keep up with the convention friends I had made. I went to one wedding. I paid my respects to Len at his house when his mother died. My friends did the same for me when my mother died.”

Ron spent 35 years in the insurance industry and is survived by his wife Eileen. They lived happily in Floral Park, New York.

Ron Fradkin and (below) a page sent by Bernie Bubnis from the memorial program booklet published after the 1946 comics convention that he, Fradkin, Ethan Roberts, Art Tripp, and others had put on. It thanks Stan Lee and the three Marvel staffers who actually attended the con (plus Jack Kirby), and also thanks Julius Schwartz and others at DC for their cooperation, including providing artwork to be given away. Artist by Bubnis. [Cyclops TM &© Marvel Characters, Inc.] Bernie writes that Gold Key/Western artist “Tom Gill received his own [separate thank-you] page. He was the only pro who took us seriously—from his invite to lugging his easel up to entertain us at ‘64.”

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In Memoriam

Liz Berube

(January 7, 1943 – January 15, 2021) “I Did It The Hard Way And Learned

By The Seat Of My Pants” [quote from Liz Berube interview, Sequential Crush (Jan. 13, 2012)

E

by Stephan J. Friedt

lizabeth Safian-Berube was born January 7, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York City. As she told Jacque Nodell, in an interview for Sequential Crush in 2012: “I began sketching on the walls of my parents’ home when I was about three. Over the years, I found myself carrying a sketchbook everywhere. Since I used to take the bus and train into Manhattan from Queens, I had three hours a day to sketch. Growing up, I made a lot of little books for friends and relatives….”

Liz Berube and a page of her art from Young Romance #169 (Dec. 1970-Jan. 1971) Thanks to Bryan Stroud & Sharon Karibian for the comic art; and to Jim Kealy and www.comiclists. wordpress.com for the photo. [Page TM & © DC Comics.]

While attending the School of Visual Arts in 1961, she saw an ad on the bulletin board for workers at Archie Comics. They didn’t need more artists, but offered her the position of assistant editor and the opportunity to become a colorist; she stayed at Archie in various freelance capacities until 1975.

In the late 1960s, her newspaper strip Karen (credited to her maiden name “Elizabeth Ann Safian”) was carried

by Newsday Syndicate in 40 newspapers at its peak.

In 1969, brought aboard by DC Comics production manager Jack Adler, she began working on DC’s romance comics, using a more modern, stylized art at a time when the books were still being drawn in a realistic style. One of the few women in the field, Berube worked on such titles as Date with Debbi, Falling in Love, Girls’ Love Stories, Girls’ Romances, Heart Throbs, Secret Hearts, Young Love, and Young Romance.

From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, she was known for mixing her own hues and marking the combinations for the printing separators. She also worked for Neal Adams’ Continuity Studios in the mid-to-late 1980s. She credits Jack Adler and Cory Adams (Neal Adams’ first wife) for teaching her the techniques of comics coloring.

A few years ago she wrote on the Hero Initiative site: “In 2017, I found myself facing a two-year surgical recovery…. My choices were an assisted living facility, or a home for the aged and disabled. I was in more pain than humans should be allowed to endure, and ridden with anxiety, loneliness, and withdrawal…. The prospect of being isolated was a dark one.

“Then Hero Initiative gave me the funds to return to my home with caregivers to help with everyday living.

They also provided a wonderful lounge chair that will help me continue to draw in comfort…. They even got me in touch with people in my neighborhood I can call should I want or need to go to art shows, museums, or conventions.”

Elizabeth Berube passed away on January 12, 2021, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Ye Editor regrets that, due to a clerical error, this tribute was delayed in appearing until this issue.

19942024 UPDATE #2

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45

In Memoriam

Paul Coker, Jr. (March 5, 1929 – July 23, 2022)

“Nearly 60 Years At Mad”

by Stephan J. Friedt

P

“What A Great Way To Make A Living!”

—Paul Coker, Jr.

aul Allan Coker, Jr., was known to every fan of Mad magazine. He spent his life in the field of illustration in one form or another, with nearly 60 years at Mad, as well as advertising, greeting cards, and as a character designer. He also worked on two comic strips, Lancelot and Horace and Buggy. In 2015 he received the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cartoonists Society.

Paul was born in Lawrence, Kansas, to Bernice (Rutherford) and Paul Coker. His obituary in the New York Times noted that he was first published around age 12, a cartoon for The Open Road for Boys, a magazine about outdoor life. The newspaper also noted that he studied painting and drawing at the University of Kansas,

Paul Coker, Jr. Also seen is a cartoon from his well-known “Horrifying Clichés” series from Mad. [TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.]

often contributing artwork to the student newspaper. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1951.

After serving in the Navy, Coker went to work for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1960 he moved to New York City, where he called on the offices of Mad. “I just walked in off the streets of New York with my portfolio,” he told The Kansas City Star in 1978. “I had a vague idea of what the magazine was doing, but I certainly had never bought a copy.”

He began working for Mad as a freelancer almost immediately, with his first two pieces appearing in the January and March 1961 issues. From 1960-1964, he also contributed to Harvey Kurtzman and Gloria Steinem’s magazine Help! (Warren Publications).

While working at Hallmark, Paul communicated with the Rankin-Bass animation company, who were famous for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and was hired to do character designs; his first was Frosty the Snowman. Paul would work for them for nearly a decade, designing characters like Kris Kringle, Winter Warlock, and Burgermeister Meisterburger (for Santa Claus Is Coming to Town), as well as the Snow and Heat Misers for The Year without a Santa Claus.

The Times also noted that Coker contributed to Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Playboy, and other magazines. He would continue to contribute to Mad, particularly his long-running feature “Horrifying Clichés,” which was collected in its own volume. He also illustrated several Mad paperbacks, including MAD for Better or Verse by Frank Jacobs.

Paul passed in his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after a brief illness. He was 93 years old.

Ye Editor regrets that, due to a clerical error, publication of this tribute was delayed in appearing until this issue.

46

In Memoriam

Richard Ashford (March 21, 1953 – January 17, 2024)

From Speakeasy To Conan…

A True Fan Of Comics

R

by Stephan J. Friedt

ichard Ashford was born in England, in the United Kingdom. He began expressing his love of comics in fanzines in the 1970s. In 1979 he started and ran the Eagle Award-winning Speakeasy magazine, known as the leading source of news about the British comics industry in the 1980s. This would last until 1989, when he sold the magazine to a rival publishing company. (Copies of Speakeasy are archived at “The Fanscene Project” https://sites.google.com/view/fanscene/home.)

After that, being a South Londoner born and raised in Eltham, he produced a TV documentary about Millwall Football Club called No One Likes Us, We Don’t Care, with a crew from Goldsmiths.

Richard Ashford Shown below is John Bolton’s cover for Robert E. Howard’s Myth Maker #1 (June 1999), the first REH-oriented publication from Richard’s Cross Plains Comics. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Under his company Acme Comics (1984), later Acme Press, he brought James Bond and The Avengers (the British TV series) to the attention of American comicbook companies like Eclipse and Dark Horse. Acme also republished early works by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, et al., and in 1987 opened a comic shop, Acme Comics, with an original comic art gallery in the basement. The company lasted until 1995.

From 1988-1991, Richard worked support as an editorial assistant at Marvel UK. In 1991 he moved to New York, where he first worked as a free-lance assistant editor at both Marvel and DC from 1991-1994. Richard wrote Marvel’s Excalibur from 1993-1994 and edited Conan the Adventurer from 1994-1995. In 1998, he would work as assistant editor for the series Epic Battles of the Civil War from Historical Souvenir Company, produced through Marvel.

In 1999 he founded, published, and edited the Cross Plains Comics line, primarily devoted to the non-Conan pulp heroes of Robert E. Howard, with Roy Thomas as writer of all REH-related comics material. “Cross Plains got good notices from comics shops and readers alike, but was never financed well enough to survive, alas,” said Thomas, who also described himself as one of Richard’s “silent partners” in the enterprise, along with artist Rafael Kayanan. “Cross Plains Comics won an award for best new company. It was the only time I got to work with Richard Corben. I got to do Wolfshead and one issue of Red Sonja.” Cross Plains ceased publishing in 2001.

Richard would be diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease, a degenerative and hereditary disease of the brain. He devoted his last years to fundraising for Huntington’s Disease, and passed on January 17, 2024, in New York City.

Alan Woollcombe would note, “So, how to sum up Richard Ashford? Editor, publisher, pioneer, writer, entrepreneur, producer, fundraiser—the list is pretty long and his achievements pretty impressive. I mourn his passing.”

In Memoriam

Trina Robbins

47

(August 17, 1938 – April 10, 2024)

“A True Original”

by Stephan J. Freidt

T

rina Robbins (née Perlson) was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 17, 1938. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father was a tailor.

In her teens, in the 1950s, she was already making a name for herself with her art in science-fiction fanzines, as well as attending science-fiction conventions.

Her work in comics was extensive, from her first piece in 1966 in the East Village Other weekly newspaper to contributing to the underground Gothic Blimp Works in 1969. The latter would also be the year she designed the iconic costume for Warren Magazines’ Vampirella, which was then cover-painted by Frank Frazetta.

In 1970, she moved to San Francisco. Her work on the underground newspapers It Ain’t Me Babe and Good Times would

be the beginning of her vocal activism for female Trina Robbins cartoonists that in 1982, plus her cover for The Legend of Wonder would lead to her Woman #1 (May 1986). [TM & © DC Comics.] extensive work in the field of comics history. (She also co-produced the first comicbook ever totally created by women, which was also titled It Ain’t Me Babe.) Every decade would find her making a new mark in the history of women in comics, from her adaptations of classic works like Sax Rohmer’s Dope to the young readers’ comic Misty for Marvel Comics, California Girls for Eclipse Comics, and Go Girls for Image and later Dark Horse.

Her connection with DC’s Wonder Woman began in 1986, providing art for Kurt Busiek’s script on The Legend of Wonder Woman #1. She would also collaborate with Colleen Doran on the graphic novel Wonder Woman: The Once and Future Story.

The 1980s would see the beginning of her extensive documentation of the works and contributions of female cartoonists and artists through her many books, from Women and the Comics (1985) through Pretty in Pink (2013). Her work earned her awards and accolades in both comic and science-fiction circles.

In recent years she had largely abondoned drawing in favor of writing women’s histories/biographies, such as The Brinkley Girls, The Flapper Queens, and her 2017 autobiography Last Girl Standing.

She also wrote (but did not illustrate) the book Lily Renee, Escape Artist, the tale of that comic artist’s flight from Nazi Europe.

In 1977 Trina met and became a life partner with artist Steve Leialoha. It was this partnership that brought her into my life.

In 1978, my brother and I owned a comic shop and decided to buy a table at the San Diego Comic-Con—as fortune would have it, right next to Steve Geppi’s. When I told Steve I was looking for someone to draw an ad for the Overstreet Price Guide for our shop, he recommended I approach Steve Leialoha. He invited my brother and me to join him and his family, as well as Steve and Trina, for dinner. That dinner resulted in a long, though sporadic, acquaintance with them both.

Steve contributed to a couple of my articles, and in 2013 Trina reached out to me to help her out. She had more on her plate than she had time for and asked if I’d consider writing some women’s biography entries that she had committed to for Comics through Time (ABC-CLIO Oct 2014), a four-volume encyclopedia edited by Keith Booker. I jumped at the chance, and Keith agreed to let me fill in for Trina.

Trina died from complications from a stroke in San Francisco, California, on April 10, 2024, at the age of 85. She was a true original.

NOTE: Trina will be spotlighted in next issue’s FCA.

48

Amusing, too, seeing The Shield, a patriotic hero predating Captain America. Granted, I still like the design and acrobatics of the latter much better.

Or that the (re)darkening of the Dark Knight started before Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams came aboard. Facts going against the legend. Nothing wrong with pointing that out.

Fun hearing about how Irv’s jobs in comics seemed alluring to his children’s friends and, later, fans and collectors at a convention, but not so much to Irv and his kids at the time. For them, it was just his job. Yet it did allow them to see each other in working from home.

Or that he surprisingly enjoyed the attention and reverence shown him at the ’95 convention—just not enough to indulge again.

M

ac Raboy was a master of comic art for the 1940s—or for any decade or era. And his greatest achievement in four-color comicbooks was his rendition of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Jr., between the Shazam boy-hero’s creation in late 1941 and the artist’s exit from the strip in 1945. No wonder young Elvis Presley was one of his (historically) biggest fans! “Maskot” artist Shane Foley, with support from his colorist buddy Randy Sargent, has turned one of Raboy’s figures into none other than Captain Ego—and our late friend Biljo White’s creation never looked better! Thanks again, guys! [Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Estate of Bill Schelly; hero created by Biljo White.]

Alter Ego #183, comments about which got crowded out of our previous issue, showcased an only slightly abridged version of a book written by John Coates and Dewey Cassell about Golden/Silver/Bronze Age artist Irv Novick… a work definitely worthy of its subject, in my (Roy’s) not-all-that-humble opinion. So let’s see what a cockeyed cross section of readers thought of that bombshell bio and the several regular A/E departments that accompanied it, beginning with a longish e-letter from “re:”-section regular Joe Frank….

Dear Roy,

While I’d heard of him, I honestly didn’t know much about Irv Novick. Not a critical assessment. I just didn’t read many, if any, of his books. Wasn’t a Batman, Flash, or DC war aficionado. So, all the in-depth coverage was welcome.

I do recall some of his covers on Batman[-starring comics] about the time the show was finishing its TV run (1968). But I was not a great fan of the character. So, even with a novel situation depicted, I wasn’t going to fall for it. Too many disappointments in the past, judging DC by its covers. Here, amusingly, 55 years later, I did like Novick’s energetic cover to Wonder Woman #174. It almost looked like a female version of a football game. All the bodies in extreme poses. Even more impressive: the ladies draped such that, even tumbling, nothing too risqué was apparent.

Of the two similar renderings of Batman #210, I’d give Novick’s version the slight advantage over the Adams rendition. [Novick’s] Batman looks weaker and struggling; his Catwoman seems to be holding a whip, not a rope like in Neal’s version. Really, the only aspect I like less in his version is that Catwoman has a stiff, protruding curlicue tail. Neal’s Batman is more muscular and has the rope well-tied; it doesn’t seem random. Great fun in a rare chance to compare different artistic choices.

On the Sea Devils #14 wash-tone cover, you said those were usually by [DC production head] Sol Harrison. Possibly so, but wasn’t Jack Adler responsible for some or many of them?

Usually, I don’t like airplane covers, but enjoyed Novick’s for Star Spangled War Stories #41 because of the hanging baby shoes and posted photographs. It reminds the pilot—and reader— that despite the current dogfight, there’s family waiting for him at home. All this subtly done without one word balloon or caption needed. Clever!

As for Pop Art re-use of his and other artists’ panels—without permission, attribution, or compensation—can’t say I’m a fan. How does repurposing the art of others make for “Fine Art”? Is it even ethical? At the Phoenix Art Museum, one tour guide explained that “Lichtenstein elevated the lowly comicbook into something extraordinary.” (Or words to that effect.) It was all I could do not to interrupt the tour and indignantly respond. If the comics form is so “lowly,” how is an outsider purloining images some sort of stellar achievement? Speaking of ’60s art, is that a soup can below the logo of Detective Comics #378? If so, do I earn fifteen minutes of fame for pointing it out?

Liked the format of this issue, where family members chimed in, as well as fellow comics pros and even Irv Novick himself.

What was really intriguing was that DC could guarantee work (and a pension) for Novick and yet not for everyone. So, divergent policies for different people. Yet, if someone else asked to be treated the same, they could be told, no, that would be going against company policy, or it simply can’t be done.

Two additional, non-Novick bits to enjoy this issue:

Wilford Fawcett, after his earlier success, did get to see the debut of Captain Marvel. But he didn’t get to see it play out as a huge hit of the day.

The Ralph Reese article was great. It elevates both Wally Wood, for compassionately taking a chance on a kid with no particular talent or experience, and Ralph Reese, too, for progressively elevating himself into a skilled and distinctive artist.

I fondly recall his meticulously rendered One Year Affair comic strip in National Lampoon and, twenty years later, his astounding inks over Steve Ditko at Valiant. Wonderful work, and such a distinctive style. I don’t know how many parts his memoir is to be, but if you tell me half a dozen, absolutely no complaints from me.

Joe Frank

As you know by now, Joe, there were four—count ’em, four—parts

re:

49

for my contribution that A/E #183 would feature Irv Novick? Yes, Roy, I did. But… is it a Novick page I stole? When it was originally reprinted in A/E #100, I ventured a guess it came from Zip Comics, and you asked the readership to ID which exact issue it came from.

Did you ever get an answer?

Ralph Reese does a good job of filling in for Michael in #183.

Fascinating reading. Wood is a character, all right, but damn, I enjoy seeing just about anything he ever did. Looking forward to Part 2 of Reese’s article.

When I was growing up so many years ago, the phrase “selfmade man” extended credit to guys like Capt. Billy. That pioneer spirit screams USA. I’m not being political, because hard work and effort transcend party lines. It is just fun to read about a guy who just would not quit. Hotshots today seem to appear too quickly.

Another great edition of FCA. John Morrow [co-publisher of TwoMorrows] is a present-day “self-made man.” A/E is nearly #200, and The Jack Kirby Collector seems to be nearing 1000 issues! And what an assortment of new books like the Ditko one. That is pioneer spirit, John—keep ’em coming!

Bernie Bubnis

You won’t get any argument from me on that one, Bernie. By the way, re that Novick artwork you traced (or whatever precisely you did) for the 1964 Super Hero Calendar, I did a bit of legwork (well, eyeball-work, actually), and—well, you’ll see the result on the very next page.

Next, from France, come a few comments from another sometime A/E contributor, Jean-Marc Lofficier: Hi Roy—

Gotham = Gothic An ominous Novick splash page from Batman #315 (Sept. 1979), with inking

by Frank McLaughlin and script by Len Wein. Thanks to John Coates & Dewey Cassell. [TM & © DC Comics.]

to Ralph Reese’s affecting coverage of his “Life with Wood.” Hope you enjoyed the remainder as much as you did the first one!

As to the Roy Lichtenstein matter: It may be a bit hard to realize, at this remove, what hostile passions were aroused in many comicsprofessional (and even comics-fan) breasts by that worthy’s appropriation of the work of Irv Novick and others for his own purposes. I’m not sure I’d have been able to keep silent, either, while that tour guide was yapping about how Lichtenstein had “elevated the lowly comicbook.” No. He swiped the comics; he didn’t improve or enrich or ennoble them. He merely exploited them.

Fortunately, Novick managed to lead a happy and productive life despite that little detour.

Next up, another familiar voice with something to say about virtually all aspects of issue #183: bashful Bernie Bubnis….

Hi Roy—

Gosh, you turned over your editorial space, Michael [T. Gilbert] turned over his entire column, and Shaun Clancy let Captain Billy [Fawcett] do most of the talkin’! Truly an issue of A/E to enjoy and remember.

The flow of Coates’ and Cassell’s prose and interview from Irv Novick, to his children and back again, was delightful. They fit perfectly together as if a puzzle of Novick’s life was being assembled by him and his family on their Dobbs Ferry kitchen table.

Did I know, 60 years ago, when I assembled the 1964 Super Hero Calendar and picked a swipe of a Steel Sterling splash page

I just spent two hours (instead of working) reading the A/E issue devoted to Irv Novick. That one was a real gem. I liked the bit about that scoundrel Roy Lichtenstein, and the Paul Levitz homage to Novick was very nice, too. I read Novick’s DC stories when they were published in France in the ’60s, and I have very fond memories of them; he really did exemplify the contrast between Marvel art and DC art, as Paul points out.

The Whiz Bang article [in FCA] was especially fascinating (I knew nothing of that mag).

Jean-Marc Lofficier

Like Will Rogers used to say, Jean-Marc, “We’re all ignorant, just on different subjects.” Surely many a student of early-20th-century popular culture would be familiar with Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang and yet be totally unaware that a turn-of-the-’40s concept birthed at his company, Captain Marvel, once spearheaded the most popular comicbook on the face of the planet.

And, when I referred to you above as a “sometime contributor” to this mag, I didn’t mean only in the past tense. You’ve sent art and story from a host of Tarzanic treasures from France, as well, which form part of our second installment on jungle comics, just a few pages from now!

From the Netherlands, Ger Apeldoorn, hardly a stranger to these pages (though we’ve heard a bit less from him of late--maybe he’s gotten too busy writing Dutch TV sitcoms again), chooses to remark primarily on an aspect of the career of Irv Novick that was less deeply investigated in A/E #183: Hi Roy—

Now reading the Novick issue. Unfortunately, the information on Johnstone and Cushing is quite rudimentary. I hope one day to correct that with my own book on the subject, based on years of research (collecting their strips from newspaper sections and online sources) and a complete reading of all issues of the Boy’s Life

50

[correspondence, comments, & corrections]

Steel This Book!

(Left:) Bernie Bubnis’ “March” drawing for the 1964 Super Hero Calendar, a major fan-project of that early time in comics fandom. Jack Kirby and Russ Manning contributed pencil drawings of Cyclops and Korak that were traced onto spirit-duplicator masters for other months.

(Right:) Irv Novick’s original “Steel Sterling” splash page for Zip Comics #36 (April 1943). Scripter unknown. Thanks to the Comic Book Plus website.

[Steel Sterling TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

comic section.

First of all, Irv Novick did more than just the Biblical stories.

He contributed to all sorts of features and even did illustrations for the magazine itself, many of them signed with his recognizable “IN” signature. He also did some newspaper ad work for J&C around that time. One of the most intriguing things I found by him was a series of illustrations he did for the SF pulp Amazing Stories.

This is not to correct [what was in the article], just in addition.

Ger Apeldoorn

We look forward to your book, Ger. A full listing (with copious examples) of the comic strips produced by Johnson and Cushing would indeed take up an entire tome, and be a welcome addition to the library of comics history!

Want to comment on or correct something in this issue? You can do so at: Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135

In addition, you can join our online chat group about Alter Ego and related matters, at https://groups.io/g/Alter-Ego-Fans. If you have trouble getting on board, just contact moderator Chet Cox at mormonyoyoman.com and he’ll give you a helping hand!

And/or, you might wish to check out The Roy Thomas Appreciation Board, owned and operated on Facebook by John Cimino. It’ll help you keep in touch with the Rascally One’s activities of late, and what’s to come.

See ad on p. 56.

Oh, and if you’re a convention promoter or comic store proprietor who’d like to inquire about booking Roy T. for a future event—or if you’re an interviewer or podcaster looking for a connection with him—please contact that selfsame John Cimino, RT’s pal and media rep, at johnstretch@live.com. He likes to keep Roy (and himself) busy!

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!” – Part II-A

JAGUAR Of The Jungle

51

A Silver Age Super-Hero Spawned In South America

N

by Will Murray ot all jungle heroes wore loincloths like Tarzan of the Apes.

Some wore pith helmets: Alex Raymond’s Jungle Jim and his poor cousins, DC’s Congo Bill and TV’s Ramar of the Jungle, belonged to that select group of great white hunters.

Still others are not ones we would normally think of as jungle heroes.

One such was Ralph Hardy, worldtraveling zoologist, who was secretly The Jaguar. He got his start in the Peruvian jungles in 1961 and, at least as far as his first cycle of adventures was concerned, his career culminated in that same locale.

Hardy was the hero of Radio Comics’ (a.k.a. Archie Comics’) Adventures of The Jaguar. In his origin story, “Menace of the Inca Serpent!”—written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by John Rosenberger—he discovers a magical jaguar belt that transforms him into the scarlet-clad master of the animal kingdom.

Hardy seems to have been based––at least in part––on hunter Frank Buck of “Bring ‘Em Back Alive” fame, who also sported a pencil mustache. Buck was a big-game hunter who had captured animals alive for exhibition in zoos back in the 1920s and ’30s. [EDITOR’S NOTE: See previous issue for more about Frank Buck and his appearance in comics.]

In the Peruvian jungles, Archie Comics version, Hardy lassos a drowning jaguar from a rushing river, thereby establishing his love for all animals, even the savage ones.

In short order, the expedition spies a rare white jaguar. But, before they can capture it, an earthquake intervenes. From a crevice in the Earth merges a kind of savage dinosaur-serpent hybrid.

Seeking shelter, they follow the white jaguar to the ruins of an Incan temple. Spotting the feline’s paw prints in the temple corridors, Hardy splits off from the group and enters a chamber that appears to be otherworldly.

John Rosenberger drew nearly all the 1960s “Jaguar” stories, and many romance stories as well.

Robert Bernstein Sometime “Superman” writer who would also script a number of early Marvel stories in the next couple of years. Thanks to Jim Kealy for the ID.

Hanging from a wall is a jaguar-pelt belt.

Its buckle displays a winged jaguar. Hardy is able to read a wall inscription, which says that only he who is loved by the animal kingdom may wear this belt; if he speaks the words “The Jaguar,” he will be transformed into a human jaguar. Furthermore, he’ll gain the power to communicate with any beast over great distances, and will acquire any ability associated with the animal kingdom, but multiplied thousands of times.

The ancient Inca priests who left the message apparently

Hop Into My Jaguar!

John Rosenberger’s cover for Adventures of The Jaguar #1 (Sept. 1961), whose interior stories would be written by Robert Bernstein. Courtesy of the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

anticipated the serpentine dinosaur re-emerging from hibernation and left the belt so that a champion could be there to defeat it. This suggests an earlier Incan incarnation of The Jaguar. But never mind.

Speaking the words “The Jaguar!” Hardy transforms into the scarlet-suited hero and captures the beast, whose crushing jaws cannot overcome his invulnerability. Then he commands an army of armadillos to burrow a great hole, into which he deposits the creature. (No kidding—he really does!)

Speaking his own name, The Jaguar goes back to being Ralph Hardy, and the expedition members cluelessly and excitedly tell him about the new super-hero they witnessed. The rare white

52

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-A

Encountering the first of many alien invasions he would thwart, The Jaguar pounds his chest, summoning every gorilla in the neighborhood. Telepathically he commands them to beat the stuffing out of the aliens, which they obediently do.

But the foe is not finished. The Jaguar and his gorilla army are next encased in icy blocks. Because he’s like “a-hundredpolar-bears-in-one,” The Jaguar can survive being frozen alive.

His nucleon-energy belt jet’s thrust melts the ice while a herd of telepathically summoned elephants break the gorillas free. The aliens skedaddle.

The Jaguar’s weaknesses are few. Gas can overcome him.

Fire saps his strength. Radiation is a problem, as he discovers in his third exploit, when he encounters a giant irradiated white mouse. Summoning an ordinary feral cat is sufficient to spook the rampaging super-rodent, which shrinks back to normal size, ending the monster mouse menace.

The magical jaguar belt transformation causes Hardy’s mustache to vanish… a peculiar touch. And, as in the case of Clark Kent’s glasses, apparently its disappearance fools his assistant, Jill Ross, into not recognizing the mustached face of her boss in the clean-shaven countenance of the heroic Jaguar.

Comicbooks in 1961 were quite different than they are now…..

As a zoologist, Hardy roamed all over the world, ranging from South America to Africa. Often he encountered enemy aliens, and I don’t mean of the terrestrial type. Surviving dinosaurs were another threat bumped into more often than not when seeking live specimens.

There’s Always A First Time For Everything!

With his scientist friends in danger, Ralph Hardy transforms into The Jaguar for the first time ever, in issue #1. Wonder if he’s noticed yet that his mustache has disappeared!? Script by Bernstein; art by Rosenberger. Thanks to Doug Kelly & Art Lortie. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

jaguar is seemingly forgotten.

The Jaguar’s abilities are carefully calculated to replicate Superman‘s basic powers—but with animal rationales. His skin is a thousand times tougher than rhinoceros hide, rendering him virtually invulnerable (not that the Incas would have been familiar with the rhino, but never mind). He can run many times faster than an antelope. Like his namesake, The Jaguar can see in the dark.

His “ultra-animal cunning” is also mentioned. In one story, he transforms his head into that of a real jaguar.

One peculiarity of the character’s transformation into The Jaguar is that the belt sprouts what scripter Robert Bernstein called “nucleon energy” jets. These are two yellow pods attached to either side of the belt, which provide The Jaguar with jet-powered propulsion, enabling him to fly. How the Incas acquired such technology is never explained.

In the follow-up story, “The Invaders from Kordu!,” Hardy finds himself in Africa. Seeking refuge from a rainstorm, he stumbles into a den of leopards, who attack him. Becoming The Jaguar thanks to his “animal telepathy,” he soon has them purring.

In his second issue, Ralph Hardy goes to the Kenyan jungle in a story called “The Gulliver of the Jungle,” wherein tiny aliens from a dying world land to take over the Earth. As The Jaguar, Hardy comes up with a novel way to defeat them. He telepathically orders every animal in the jungle to set up a racket. The resulting bestial cacophony is so loud that it cracks and shatters the aliens’ space helmets. Since they can’t breathe our atmosphere, they hastily depart without further violence.

They don’t write comics like that anymore!

Evidently, “animal magnetism” was one of The Jaguar’s powers. Early on, in conscious emulation of Superman’s complicated love life, the Jaguar began attracting exotic girlfriends.

The first was Kree-Nal, the green-skinned Sea Circe from Space, who is apparently a stand-in for Superman’s mermaid love, Lori Lemaris. She falls hopelessly in love with The Jaguar.

As does Cat Girl, the immortal inspiration for the Sphinx, who was first introduced in the Radio/Archie companion title Adventures of The Fly, and segued into becoming a Jaguar regular. After a first brush as an enemy, she decides that she has the hots for The Jaguar and becomes determined to marry him.

When Ralph Hardy’s secretary Jill Ross shows up in issue #6, Cat Girl flies into a jealous rage, and the struggle for The Jaguar’s affections among this trio of lovely ladies commences in earnest.

Soon, they form the Jaguar Rescue Team, in case our hero is ever knocked out of action.

Jill Ross is cut from the same cliché cloth as Lois Lane. Blackhaired and sporting a short-cut professional hairdo, she is in love with The Jaguar and strongly suspects her boss of being him.

The plot parallels with the Man of Steel were no coincidence.

Jaguar Of The Jungle

53

Classic Situations—Illustrated (Clockwise from top left:) This splash page from Adventures of The Jaguar #2 (Oct. 1961) highlights one of the several alien invasions foiled by the Archie-group superhero… though, obviously, first he has to recover from this situation swiped from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Script by Robert Bernstein; art by John Rosenberger.

JR’s cover for Jaguar #3 (Nov. 1961) introduced Kree-Nal, “The Sea Circe from Space”—performing a most Circe-like stunt.

And, on Rosenberger’s cover for Jaguar #10 (Nov. 1962), the scarlet-clad stalwart battles a T-Rex. What took him so long? Thanks to Will Murray & the GCD. [TM & © Archie Comic Group, Inc.]

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-A

“The Return of the White Jaguar!” appears to have been scripted by Bernstein and was definitely drawn by John Rosenberger. The pair had collaborated on most “Jaguar” stories since the beginning.

In this neat little story, Hardy returns to the Peruvian jungle and once again encounters the white jaguar that led him to the Inca temple where the Jaguar belt was found. Separated from his group, Hardy is knocked out by local bandits. When he comes to, his jaguar belt is missing.

While tracking the bandits, Hardy comes across the Inca temple where it all began. A sniper lines up for a shot. But the mysterious white jaguar pounces, routing the bandits. Bullets pass harmlessly through it, showing that it’s a supernatural creature.

Showing uncanny intelligence, the rare jaguar takes the belt in its mouth and returns it to its rightful owner. Hardy transforms into The Jaguar as the feline literally vanishes like a ghost.

In an echo of the origin tale, an earthquake nearly swallows Hardy’s fellow explorers. Once again, the flying Jaguar jets to

A Four-Color Installment Of The Bachelorette?

The Jaguar’s three female heartthrobs shared the cover of Jaguar #7 (July 1962): Kree-Nal, “the Sea Circe from Space”… Cat Girl (clearly no relation to DC’s Catwoman)… and Ralph Hardy’s secretary, Jill Ross. Even Superman usually had just Lois and maybe Lana Lang! Cover art by John Rosenberger. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

“Jaguar” co-creator Bernstein was scripting stories for DC’s Superman at that time. Maybe his “Jaguar” scripts were some of editor Mort Weisinger legendary rejects. The heroic feats of Superman and The Jaguar were not dissimilar. Both regularly crashed through the time barrier and had adventures on other planets.

Later in the series, Hardy seems to act more like a wildlife veterinarian than a globe-hopping big-game hunter. But that’s due to Jill Ross’ recurrent role in his zoology lab.

Adventures of The Jaguar lasted only 15 issues, but his exploits also ran intermittently in the pages of Archie’s Laugh Comics and Pep Comics as a six-page feature. The Jaguar dropped out of Pep with the November 1962 issue. He continued to appear in Laugh until March 1963, crowded out by a new humorous feature called “Josie.” Late that year, his own title folded.

However, one last-gasp stray “Jaguar” story slipped out in Pep Comics #168 (Jan. 1964).

A Ruling Giunta John Giunta’s cover for the final issue of Adventures of The Jaguar (#15, Nov. 1963). He also drew one of the “Jaguar” stories inside, with Rosenberger handling the other. Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Jaguar Of The Jungle

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The Jaguar Still Shows Some Pep!

Bacteria To The Future!

Splash page of the late “Jaguar” exploit in Pep Comics #168 (Jan. 1964). Script

by Bernstein; art by Rosenberger. Thanks to Will Murray. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Our hero faces a germinal (and potentially terminal) menace on Rosenberger’s cover for Adventures of The Jaguar #2 (Oct. 1961). Incidentally, the title of the corresponding yarn inside, scripted by Bernstein, was “The Battle of the Bacteria Brutes!” Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

the rescue! When he resurfaces as himself, Hardy’s friends don’t connect him with the super-hero. (They’re the same guys from his origin, though one has lost weight.)

While it’s not much of a story, it does bring the character back around to his origins just in time for The Jaguar’s final firstincarnation bow.

A couple of years later, he pops up briefly in the pages of The Mighty Crusaders as a member of that super-size super-hero group.

Ever since then, he’s been revived for brief periods, in one case becoming a female super-hero. But he/she never sticks around long.

I like to think that The Jaguar ceased to exist as a compelling character after that last jungle encounter with the elusive white jaguar. He was never the same after that….

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!” – Part II-B

Once Upon A Time, There Were Jungles...

57

Still More Tarzanic Art From The Golden & Silver Ages

by Thomas Yeates [EDITOR’S NOTE: While graciously responding some months back to our call for scans of artwork related to jungle comics, Thomas Yeates— former artist of the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and nowadays of the legendary Prince Valiant—sent in his own remembrances of the jungle genre, along with some art that stretched somewhat the boundaries of our original intent—but that’s okay; boundaries are meant to be stretched.

Because we’ve featured them so prominently elsewhere in this issue and the previous one, we’ve concentrated below not on “Sheena,” “Rulah,” and the usual sub-tropical suspects, but on the awesome outliers sent by Mr. Y.

the daily life of middle America, unless your area had a big crime problem. A lot of our vicarious thrills hung on those fictional heroes, men and women. This includes fictional stories about real people: Daniel Boone and Captain Kidd, for example.

rowing up in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s in America, we were all steeped in the popular media of the time. Horror was cool, but the focus in horror was usually on the monster.

The heroes of that era were Western characters, film noir tough guys, war heroes, soldiers, detectives, swashbucklers, explorers, the occasional knights in armor, a few science-fiction heroes, and jungle heroes.

The biggest driver of all this was the fictional character Tarzan. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp-magazine-story hero, a white British lord who was orphaned and raised by fictional apes in a fictional Africa, he was incredibly strong and lived wild and free.

These novels, comics, and especially movies brought foreign lands and cultures into our lives. They were not accurate pictures of other lands and peoples, but they strongly suggested that there was a fascinating world out there beyond our daily routines.

G

There didn’t seem to be a lot of opportunity for heroics in

All of these stories were an escape. For me it was escape from a life that was too stable, for others escape from a life that was too unstable. Of all those places to escape to, The Jungle was the most fascinating, the most exotic, the most dangerous, the most beautiful, the most exciting.

With the success of Tarzan, other characters and stories were quick to try and capitalize on his popularity.

Not all jungle stories were inspired by Burroughs’ ape-man, of course. Many focused on explorers, hunters, life on romantic tropical islands, the dregs of society hiding in dreary outposts, etc.

As the jungle story sub-genre grew, one of the biggest successes in comicbooks was the Jungle Girl. Burroughs’ stories were full of them, but in comicbooks the theme was refined

Thomas Yeates ’twixt a Tarzan commission drawing done for collector Dominic Leonard, and a panel he drew for the 8/25/19 Prince Valiant comic strip. Script for latter by Mark Schultz. [Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; Prince Valiant TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

58

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-B

Jungle Empresses & Goddesses Rather than the more celebrated Sheena, young Tom Yeates preferred Fiction House’s “Camilla,” Fox’s “Rulah,” and Magazine Enterprises’ “Cave Girl.” Seen here are Ruth Atkinson’s “Camilla” splash page from Jungle Comics #79 (July 1946)—the Jack Kamen-penciled cover of Rulah #24 (March 1949)—and a Bob Powell splash from Cave Girl #12 (1953). Gardner Fox wrote the “Cave Girl”; the other writers (and Rulah inker) are unidentified. Thanks to Jim Kealy & Mitch Maglio. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

into a well-oiled machine. My guess is there were far more Jungle Girls in the comic books than Jungle Guys, at least during the 1940s and early ’50s. It’s hot in the tropics, so men and women could wear scanty outfits, which undoubtedly was a big attraction for the readers. With soldiers away from home during World War II, the Jungle Girl was a morale-booster.

One of the earlier comicbook jungle girls, Camilla of the Lost Empire, was actually mostly inspired by H. Rider Haggard’s novel She. Camilla’s early stories were quite interesting to me, because they were rather unique; the genre had yet to be as formularized as it would become later. Rulah was another one I enjoyed, as was Cave Girl by Bob Powell. Other female forest-dwellers of the era include Taanda, White Princess of the Jungle, from Avon, and Lorna the Jungle Queen and Jann of the Jungle, both published

by Atlas. These were fierce characters. Women in Comics historian Trina Robbins raised both fists over her head and exclaimed “Rulah!” when I told her I was reading the Rulah collection—her

“Once Upon A Time There Were Jungles…”

Tarzan And His Brothers Dell/Western’s Tarzan comic debuted with art by Jesse Marsh and scripts by Gaylord DuBois, as per Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #4 (July-Aug. 1948)— but soon added the “Brothers of the Spear” backup series, ere long drawn

by Russ Manning, who would eventually take over the “Tarzan” feature when Marsh retired. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database & Thomas Yeates.

[Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; Brothers TM & © Classic Media, LLC, or successors in interest.]

favorite jungle girl. Rulah and Cave Girl both sported 1940s glamor fashions and kicked ass. Rulah also was far less racist than other jungle comics, which can be pretty cringe-worthy. Racism was deeply ingrained in most popular culture back then, unfortunately.

This brings up the fact, however, that, without these exotic, imaginary tales of adventure in far-off lands, most Americans would not be very aware of the latter. Everyone knew black people came from Africa, but most didn’t think about the place itself.

My mother, for example, told me she would never have thought anything about Africa at all without seeing Tarzan comics in the newspapers every week in the 1930s. She was a people person, and interested in all people and cultures. That interest was fueled in part by seeing these depictions of other cultures early in her life, flawed though the depictions were.

These wild tales of the jungle that I love so much became a bit routine by the early 1950s. Though I love the cover art, the regular “Sheena” comics from Fiction House, a big seller for many years, don’t have many storylines that hold my interest; the well-oiled machine got too predictable. Tarzan comics, however,

59

starting in 1948, were of consistently high quality, including respectful depictions of natives and their cultures while remaining entertaining. Gaylord DuBois deserves a lot of credit for this.

For Dell originally, then for Gold Key (but actually always for Western Publishing), he wrote both Tarzan and its very progressive, integrated back-up feature “Brothers of The Spear.” The art by both Jesse Marsh and later Russ Manning on both series is terrific, too There were many other jungle comics. One that I particularly loved was Turok Son of Stone, also published by Dell, then Gold Key, and lastly Whitman. DuBois wrote the first Turok comics, too, with Paul S. Newman taking over with issue #9. The stories were always good, but the big appeal for me was the spectacular art by Alberto Giolitti. Turok was an American Indian lost in a prehistoric world with his younger brother Andar. The environment often resembled the rocky American Southwest, but there were enough jungles in this lost world for my appetite. I once read an interview with legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix gushing over Turok Son of Stone and its art that ”looked like paintings.”

Another prehistoric comic title, Kona, was published by Dell and is a real wild ride with art by Sam Glanzman. Kona is a strange, white-haired Tarzanesque islander armed with a Japanese bayonet. The hallucinatory stories and art co-star a lost scientist, his kids, warring cavemen tribes, dinosaurs, giant insects and spiders, a giant shark, a giant house cat, and much more. Sam is known for his autobiographical World War II Pacific theatre comics. Kona, produced in the early 1960s, is also influenced by his war-time experiences, Pacific Islands, atom bomb tests, etc.

60

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-B

From Monster Subterranea To Monster Isle Alberto Giolitti’s jungle splash page for Gold Key/Western’s Turok Son of Stone #65 (April 1969), as scripted by Paul S. Newman—and a Sam Glanzman-drawn page from an issue of Dell’s Kona [Monarch of Monster Isle], whose issue number (and scripter) are unidentified. Thanks to TY. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

This now brings up war comics. Lots of war comics take place in jungles, in Asia and Pacific islands mainly. These are not usually romantic adventures, but more like the grim realism of war. The country remembered the hellish war with Japan in the Pacific too well for it to be very romanticized. But the jungles are there, playing their role in these tales of danger in the tropics.

Jungles also appeared in many of the anthology comics that I’ve collected for their art, including underground comix. The short stories were often of the “greedy treasure-hunters get what they deserve” genre, many with a Twilight Zone flavor. Al Williamson and Gray Morrow were masters of this type of short story and drew many from the 1950s through the ’70s. One of Williamson’s last actual series that he drew was the jungle serial “Cliff Hanger,” written by Bruce Jones, a backup series in Somerset Holmes, published by Pacific Comics in 1983-84.

Marvel comics in the 1960s and ’70s had at least two major jungle titles: Ka-Zar… and Black Panther by Jack Kirby. Strangely enough, the Black Panther Party of political activists was formed around the same time the comicbook hero of the same name was created, with neither influencing the other. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Or perhaps one did influence at least the name of the other. See Clifton Wellman’s surprising letter in the “re:” section of Alter Ego #182.]

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling Our artist-author in his youth may have preferred Rulah and Cave Girl to stories starring Fiction House’s “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle”—but even so he kindly sent us this never-before-published drawing he did in 2004 of TV’s Sheena, Irish McCalla, and we felt we owed it to a waiting world to print it! Thanks, Thomas! [Sheena is a trademark of Galactic Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

Once upon a time, there were jungles and swamps. Now it’s rainforests and wetlands.

Either way they still call to me.

“Once Upon A Time There Were Jungles…”

61

THOMAS YEATES Presents—Jungle Panoramas

A King & A Princess (Above:) The first two pages of the “King of the Congo” yarn from Fiction House’s Kaänga #13 (Fall 1952), drawn by Kurt Caesar, who Thomas Yeates feels may have influenced the young Frank Frazetta— plus (at right) Everett Raymond Kinstler’s inside-front-cover frontispiece for Avon’s Taanda-starring White Princess of the Jungle #2 (Oct. 1951). Both scripters are unidentified. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

62

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-B

A Time For Timely Jungles Jack Kirby penciled and Wally Wood inked “The Creature in the Volcano” for Journey into Mystery #51 (March 1959), though we’ve no idea who wrote the blamed thing— —while Carl Wessler wrote and Al Williamson penciled “The Taboo” for Mystical Tales #5 (Feb. 1957), probably with inking by Gray Morrow or Angelo Torres— —and, as Mr. Yeates says, “the great Joe Sinnott delivers up wartime grimaces in the Pacific theatre” in War Comics #46 (March 1957). All from Timely—with the first and last scripters unidentified. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Once Upon A Time There Were Jungles…”

63

Tales Calculated To Drive You To The Jungle (Left & below:) The Jack Davis cover and a Wally Wood splash page (printed from black-&white Photostats) from EC’s Two-Fisted Tales #41 (Feb.-March 1955); Harvey Kurtzman wrote and laid out the interior tale. [TM & © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.] (Bottom:) Al Williamson drew three nice 5-page stories for Timely’s Jann of the Jungle #18— only to have the jungle-girl series end with issue #17 (June 1957). Luckily, Thomas Yeates got hold of some black-&-white proofs. Here’s a splash page from one, and three panels from another. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

64

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-B

The Jungle Around Us Thomas Y. says he originally bought Classics Illustrated’s March 1960 The World around Us special—The Illustrated Story of the Jungle—for the artwork, but wound up digging the educational stories as well. Pictured here, clockwise from top left, are a page from the section on “The Explorer,” penciled by Reed Crandall and inked by Al Williamson—Gerald McCann’s painted cover—and a page from “The Hunter,” illustrated by Gray Morrow. [TM & © Frawley Corporation and its exclusive licensee First Classics, Inc. All rights reserved by Jack Lake Productions.]

“Once Upon A Time There Were Jungles…”

65

“Bongo, Bongo, Bongo—I Don’t Wanna Leave The Congo!”

Al Williamson must have really loved jungles, ’cause he sure drew a lot of them— for various companies.

(Left:) For EC he illustrated this SF story (with a bit of help from Frank Frazetta) for Weird Science #21 (Sept.-Oct. 1953), from a script by Bill Gaines & Al Feldstein, reproduced here from a scan of the original art [TM & © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]— (Below:) For King Comics he drew, and Archie Goodwin wrote, this lead story for Flash Gordon #5 (May 1967) [TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]— (Bottom left:) And, for DC Comics, he produced “The Beautiful Beast” for House of Mystery #185 (March-April 1970), from a script by Joe Gill. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Al Williamson From a 1950s EC comic bio [© William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]

66

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-B

“Venus, If You Will…”

Two interplanetary-jungle pages drawn by a young but already maturing Wally Wood (plus Gene Fawcette’s jungle-free cover) for the one and only issue of Avon Fantasy – An Earthman on Venus. Scripter unknown.

This one-shot was an adaptation of the 1942 pulp novel The Radio Man, an imitation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars and Carson of Venus series. A 1950 paperback reprint of Radio Man had been titled An Earthman on Venus; hence the source of the comicbook’s title. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Wally Wood in his early days as an artist.

“Once Upon A Time There Were Jungles…”

For a backup feature in various issues of Kona – Monarch of Monster Isle, Sam Glanzman drew the adventures of Anak, a boy who survived an airplane crash in the lost jungles of Vetala, “somewhere between India and China.”

Adopted by a family of great apes (imagine that!), Anak began life in a series that debuted in Kona #4. Seen here are the “Anak” splashes from Kona #6 (April-June 1963) and a slightly later one, courtesy of Thomas Yeates. And, just to fill out the page, above right you’ll find Glanzman’s cover for Kona #20 (Dec. 1966), the penultimate issue. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Sam Glanzman back in the day.

67

68

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-B

Korak, Carson, & Corben (Left:) A stellar page from Gold Key’s Edgar Rice Burroughs [no apostrophe] Korak Son of Tarzan #12 (March 1966): Warren Tufts illustrating a Gaylord DuBois “Korak” script…

(Below:) Michael W. Kaluta drawing a lush Venusian forest in an adaptation of ERB’s “Carson of Venus” for DC Comics’ Korak, Son of Tarzan #50 (Jan.-Feb. 1973); script by Len Wein… …and (at bottom left) a page by the late great Rich Corben from Weird Fantasies #1 (Nov. 1972), published by the Los Angeles Comic Book Co.; scripter unknown. [Pages from Korak comics TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; Corben page TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“Once Upon A Time There Were Jungles…”

Tarzan The Clockwise (From Top Right:) Alberto Giolitti takes time out from Turok Son of Stone to illustrate an adaptation of the ERB story “The God of Tarzan” (from Jungle Tales of Tarzan) in Gold Key/Western’s Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan of the Apes #165 (July 1967); scripted by Gaylord DuBois.

Next, comicbook veteran Doug Wildey (again with DuBois scripting) adapts ERB’s novel Tarzan the Invincible in the 185th issue of the same title, coverdated July ’69.

And, finally, T. Yeates himself adapted ERB’s second novel of the ape-man, The Return of Tarzan, for Dark Horse Comics, over the course of three issues in 1997.

[TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

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Edited

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Known as one of the finest inkers in comics history, the late TOM PALMER was also an accomplished penciler and painter, as you’ll see in an-depth interview with Palmer by ALEX GRAND and JIM THOMPSON. Learn his approach to, and thoughts on, working with NEAL ADAMS, GENE COLAN, JOHN BUSCEMA, and others who helped define the Marvel Universe. Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

Presenting MARK CARLSON-GHOST’s stupendous study of the 1940s NOVELTY COMICS GROUP—with heroes like Blue Bolt, Target and the Targeteers, White Streak, Spacehawk, etc., produced by such Golden Age super-stars as JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, BASIL WOLVERTON, et al. Plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, FCA, and more!

Spotlights ANGELO TORRES, the youngest and last of the fabled EC Comics artists—who went on to a fabulous career as a horror, science-fiction, and humor artist for Timely/Marvel, Warren Publishing, and MAD magazine! It’s a lushly illustrated retrospective of his still-ongoing career— plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more

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Focuses on great early science-fiction author EDMUND HAMILTON, who went on to an illustrious career at DC Comics, writing Superman, Batman, and especially The Legion of Super-Heroes! Learn all about his encounters with RAY BRADBURY, MORT WEISINGER, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, et al—a panoply of titans! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

DOUBLE-SIZE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! The Marvel side includes mini-interviews with JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, JIM MOONEY, and GEORGE TUSKA—plus “STAN LEE’S Dinner with ALAIN RESNAIS” annotated by SEAN HOWE! On the DC side: talks with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOHN BROOME, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JOE KUBERT, & MURPHY ANDERSON—plus a GARDNER FOX photo-feature, and more!

JOHN ROMITA tribute issue! Podcast recollections recorded shortly after the Jazzy One’s passing by JOHN ROMITA JR., JIM STARLIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, BRIAN PULIDO, ROY THOMAS, JAIMIE JAMESON, JOHN CIMINO, STEVE HOUSTON, & NILE SCALA; DAVID ARMSTRONG’s mini-interview with Romita; John Romita’s ten greatest hits; plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, & more!

MITCH MAGLIO examines vintage jungle comics heroes (Kaänga, Ka-Zar, Sheena, Rulah, Jo-Jo/Congo King, Thun’da, Tarzan) with art by LOU FINE, WILL EISNER, FRANK FRAZETTA, MATT BAKER, BOB POWELL, ALEX SCHOMBURG, and others! Plus: the comicbook career of real-life jungle explorers MARTIN AND OSA JOHNSON, FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!” – Part II-C

71

Four French Tarzanides

by Jean-Marc Lofficier

T

he term “tarzanide” (pronounced tar-zan-eedz) was invented

by French comics scholar Francis Lacassin to describe comics characters inspired by Tarzan. Such characters, be they male or female, resemble Tarzan in their physical resourcefulness, often have the gift of understanding and being understood by animals, and have a wide range of jungle adventures, including contact with lost civilizations. The creation of such characters followed the success of Tarzan both in pulp magazines (starting in 1912) and comic strips (starting in 1929).

There are too many such characters in French, Italian, and Spanish comics to list them all here; instead we have chosen to focus on four French tarzanides that have withstood the test of time and the vagaries of the world of comics publishing. So, in chronological order:

Durga Rani Durga Rani was created by writer Martial Cendres and artist Pellos.

Martial Cendres was one of the pseudonyms of renowned French science-fiction writer René Thévenin (?-1967), who wrote two classic genre novels, Les Chasseurs d’Hommes [The Manhunters] (1930), the story of two super-powered mutants who keep men as pets or hunt them to feed on their life force, and Sur l’Autre Face du Monde [The Other Side of the World] (1935) (written under the pseudonym André Valérie). Thévenin eventually retired from writing fiction after joining the staff of the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Pellos was the pseudonym of artist René Pellarin (1900-1998).

After a prolific career as a sports cartoonist in the 1930s, he began drawing comics. In 1937, he co-created Futuropolis for the magazine Junior. Pellos remained extremely prolific, both during and after World War II. He took over Les Pieds Nickelés in 1948 and continued the series until 1981. His other credits include Electropolis (1940), Durga Rani (1946), and a remarkable adaptation of J.H. Rosny Aîné’s 1909 prehistoric novel La Guerre du Feu [Quest for Fire], drawn in 1951. Pellos received the prestigious Grand Prize of Angoulême in 1977.

It is unclear whether Durga Rani takes place in the ancient past, the far future, or on another planet altogether. Her world is an India or Asia that has no connection to any historical reality.

Durga Rani, the so-called “queen of the jungle,” lives in peace with all the animals of the jungle. Her companions include Hanuman the ape and Hogh the elephant. She is the daughter of a secret race of mystics who live on a hidden isle, the Island of Silence, located in the middle of a great lake in a lost valley in the fearsome Black Mountains. That Shangri-La is ruled by a wise and ancient Master, who dispatches Durga Rani to help the less civilized people of the world.

Durga Rani was originally serialized in 1946 in a popular girls’ comic magazine entitled Fillette. The 126-page saga was later collected as three graphic novels by Société Parisienne d’Edition, La Reine des Jungles (two volumes) [The Queen of the Jungle] in 1948 and L’Appel du Maître [The Call of the Master] in 1949. [See art on next page.]

Me Tarzanide—You Tarzanide!

We’ll start right out with a crossover cover: French jungle lord Zemba (on the left) battles French jungle lord Yatan in Hexagon’s Strangers (no date, but not that long ago)—as illustrated by José Luis Ruiz Pérez. Art courtesy of Jean-Marc Lofficier. All Hexagon items are available on Amazon and on the Hexagon Comics website. [TM & © Hexagon Comics.]

Tarou Tarou was created by writer/artist Bob Dan, a pseudonym of Robert Dansler (1900-1973), a prolific comics creator since 1935 and the author of many adventure heroes, such as Jim Mystère, Bill Tornade, Jack Sport, etc. His best-remembered creation, however, remains Tarou.

Tarou is the son of a French engineer and a native woman who died in a monstrous Pacific storm. Young Tarou is rescued and raised by tigers. Later, he inherits a fortune from a wealthy Canadian uncle, but chooses to continue to live among his friends, the animals. His companions are blonde girl-friend Denise, trusted bushmaster Gerard, Salvator the lion, and Bali the monkey. Tarou also owns a boat, the Maori, which he uses to travel around the world.

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-C

and Paul had no choice but flee. Eventually, their son Zembla was born.

However, an enraged Thudor, bent by jealous rage, managed to find the two lovers and murdered them both. Thudor would have also murdered their baby boy, if a lioness whose cub he had previously killed for fun had not leapt for his throat. Once Thudor was dead, his men ran back to the village. The baby was then raised by the lions and became known as Zem-Bla, meaning the Lion-Child in the language of the lions. Raised amongst the lions, young Zembla eventually saved the life of a young white lion, who became his faithful companion, Bwana.

Zembla’s sidekicks are a grouchy and inept circus magician named Rasmus, whom Zembla rescued in the first episode, and a young, reckless African teenager nicknamed Yeye. On the animal front, Bwana is assisted by Petoulet, a kangaroo (don’t ask), and Satanas, an irritable wildcat. A recurring character is the beautiful Queen Takuba, who might see Zembla as more than a mere friend.

In a new series of adventures starting in 2000, Zembla was modernized. He was shown to care deeply for his native land, the African republic of Karunda, which is home to the mystical Mount Damuin, which contains untold mineral wealth as well as a strange, mystical gateway to other dimensions.

In Durga’s Africa Durga Rani—Queen of the Jungle! Art by Pellos, script by Martial Cendres, 1946. Art courtesy of Jean-Marc Lofficier. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tarou was originally serialized in the comicbook Aventure published by Artima, starting in 1949; the following year, the character was moved to Dynamic, and Ardan in 1953, before being granted its own eponymous title in 1954. Tarou lasted 222 issues, until Bob Dan’s death in 1973.

Zembla Zembla was created in 1963 at the initiative of Marcel Navarro, publisher and editor-in-chief of Editions Lug, to compete with the very successful Italian tarzanide Akim, published by his competitor.

(Akim was created in 1950 by writer Robert Renzi and artist Augusto Pedrazza for the Italian magazine Albo Gioiello.) The first episode of “Zembla” was drawn by Pedrazza, but Navarro soon hired Italian artists Franco Oneta (1934-2016) and his brother Fausto Oneta (?-2009), who, from that point on, were the main artists of Zembla, with occasional fill-in artists.

Zembla’s real name is Pierre Marais, the only child of Paul Marais, a French adventurer seeking his fortune in Africa. Paul was forced to flee into the jungle to escape the police after a tragic barroom brawl. Injured, he was rescued by a secretive tribe. Paul fell in love with Ula, the tribal princess. Unfortunately, Ula’s father, King Naghar, wanted his daughter to marry Prince Thudor, so Ula

Son Of A Jungle!

The dynamic cover of Tarou – Fils de la Jungle (i.e., Son of the Jungle) #51, by Robert Dansler, who wrote and drew under the name “Bob Dan” in the late 1940s and first half of the ’50s. The translation of the edition’s story title, of course, is “The Valley of Solitude.” Scan courtesy of Jean-Marc Lofficier. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Four French Tarzanides

Zembla Of The Apes Covers and interior pages (as translated into English) from the original edition of Zembla from the French publisher Editions Lug, which launched the title in 1963. See even more about Zembla, Editions Lug, et al., in Jean-Marc’s longer study of French heroic comics for Alter Ego #30 (2003). Courtesy of JeanMarc Lofficier. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

73

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-C

Zembla’s adventures began as a one-shot in the comic magazine Special-Kiwi #15 in June 1963, before moving into their own monthly title the following month. A year later, a companion title, Special-Zembla, was launched. Zembla was eventually canceled with #479 in 1994, while Spécial-Zembla was canceled with #175 in 2003.

Some of the original “Zembla” stories have been translated and reprinted in a 300-page TPB by Hexagon Comics (ISBN: 978-1-932983-93-7). Zembla has also been featured in the modern Hexagon Universe, in a crossover with Kabur in Kabur #2, and recently in Strangers #11, where he fights another jungle lord called Yatan. All these books are available on Amazon and on the Hexagon Comics website.

Tanka The origins of Tanka are somewhat unusual. The comicbook Nevada, created in 1958, was never one of Editions Lug’s most popular titles. To a large extent, like Marvel Tales in the 1970s, which reprinted older issues of Amazing Spider-Man, it served to reprint the adventures of the Italian-made Capitan Miki, which had first been published in Rodeo. The rest of the book was, therefore, free for editor-in-chief Marcel Navarro to test new characters and concepts. Among these were Trapper John, Apollo, Lone Bardo, Dave Kaplan, Lucifer, The Mysterious Archer, Babette, Flag of the Snows, The Cat, and too many others for them all to be mentioned here.

One of the backup series published in Nevada #162 to #205

REH Meets ERB—In The Wilds Of France The Conanesque Kabur and the tarzanide Zembla in one of Hexagon Comics’ recent publications. Script by Lofficier, art by Ratara. Scan courtesy of JML. [TM & © Hexagon Comics.]

was a French translation of the Spanish tarzanide comic Tamar, El Rey de la Salva (Tamar, King of the Jungle), written by Ricardo Acedo and drawn by Antonio Borrell. The series had ended with Tamar marrying his sweetheart, which prompted Navarro to announce that, although Tamar was gone, the adventures of his son, Tanka, would debut in Nevada #206 in April 1967. And so they did, entrusted to the talented writer/artist Yves Mondet, with an occasional fill-in drawn by Claude Bordet.

Mondet, born in 1926, began to draw comics in 1945, producing numerous Western, adventure, and humorous stories.

In 1964, he was hired by Navarro and became a staff artist at Lug, where he drew Tanka and The Ace Brigade and did the retouching (because of French censorship) and lettering of Marvel stories until his retirement in the late 1980s. He passed away on 10 January 2004.

When I began plotting Strangers, I immediately settled on Tanka. The character had several advantages: he was a jungle lord, of which we already had many, but he was free from the clutter associated with some of the others; and he was young, which meant that he could be retooled and transformed without any major drawbacks. I mentioned my ideas on the phone to Yves Mondet about a year before his death, and it excited him very much. I even considered having him draw the “transition” story,

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Four French Tarzanides

but sadly that was not to be. Instead, it was drawn by J.-M. Arden and it is now included in Strangers 0: Omens and Origins. An adult Tanka has since become the informal leader of Strangers. And the first episode of “Tanka” by Monder was recently translated and reprinted by Hexagon Comics with a cover by Stephen R. Bissette.

These books, too, are available on Amazon and on the Hexagon Comics website.

Jean-Marc Lofficier and his wife Randy are currently the co-publishers of Hexagon Comics. In the 1980s & ’90s, as agents of Jean (Moebius) Giraud, they arranged for the bulk of that artist’s legendary work (Lt. Blueberry, the Moebius oeuvre, et al.) to be published in the U.S. by Marvel.

Jean-Marc Lofficier

Tanka For The Memory Tanka the tarzanide on the cover of the French comicbook Nevada #211 in 1967—actually a Spanish hero in translation, originated by writer Ricardo Acedo and artist Antonio Borrell. Courtesy of Jean-Marc Lofficier. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Tanka-Schoen!

The cover of a Hexagon Comics edition of Tanka in recent years—and a dramatic interior Tanka-featuring page from Strangers #11. The cover is

by American artist Stephen R. Bissette. The black-&-white page, written

by Jean-Marc Lofficier, was illustrated by the late José Luis Ruiz Pérez.

Courtesy of JML. [TM & © Hexagon Comics.]

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“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-C

Meanwhile, In Other Comicbook Jungles…

As a sort of postscript to Jean-Marc Lofficier’s article on several French tarzanides, we found ourselves with a couple of leftover comicbook jungle lords from comics in several English-speaking lands besides the U.S. of A., so we thought we’d toss them at you on these pages….

Yarmak On The Tarmac Yarmak was a jungle hero published in Australia, beginning in 1949, with Alex Raymond-influenced art by Stanley Pitt. Seen here are the covers of issues #1 & 20. Thanks to Jim Ludwig & Comic Book Plus. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Diana – Queen Of The Apes Frankly, we’re not certain if the Action Weekly from which this page came— as sent by Jim Ludwig—is British or Australian, and we haven’t got the energy left to look it up—or what the date might possibly be—but enjoy! [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Four French Tarzanides

Canadian Cousins (Left & bottom row:) The cover of Zor the Mighty Comics #2, published in 1946 by the Candian company Superior Comics, which distributed some of its mags in the USA. Below are the cover and splash page of Super Comics’ (no relation) Fantastic Adventures #3 (1963), with a reprinted interior story but a new cover

by US artists Ross Andru & Mike Esposito. All second-hand “Zor” art seems to be by one “E.G. Letkeman.”

(Right:) More Canadian capers!

Betty Burd was a “young authoress and expert archer” who decided to play Sheena for a half a year, as written and drawn

by Fred Kelly, who also conceived “Mr. Monster” during those WWII years when Canada was mostly producing its own comics and not allowing any product in from south of the border. From an uncertain and undated issue of Bell Features’ Joke Comics, courtesy of Mitch Maglio. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

77

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!” – Part II-D

78

LAST KISS In The Jungle TM

by John Lustig & Friends

EDITOR’S INTRO: Figured we’d go out with a bit of jungle humor.

John Lustig has written funny stuff for Disney, Marvel, Viz, et al., but is best known for his oddball online series Last Kiss, in which he takes old comicbook art and adds witty (and more than occasionally risqué) dialogue, which began in the late lamented Comics Buyer’s Guide.

He scripted all the gag balloons below, except for a couple sneaked in by longtime DC/Marvel pro Tony Isabella. While romance comic art appears most often in Last Kiss, Lustig also has fun with other genres, such as the material on the next three pages. All new text © John Lustig. The Last Kiss webcomic appears several times a week on Lustig’s site www.LastKiss.

US and also on www.GoGoComics.com/LastKiss. [Last Kiss is a trademark of John Lustig.]

[© the respective trademark & copyright holders; the “Tarzan” name is a trademark of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

[© the respective trademark & copyright holders; the “Tarzan” name is a trademark of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

[Sheena is a trademark of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest.]

Last Kiss In The Jungle

[All panels this page TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

79

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

“It’s A JUNGLE COMIC Out There!”–Part II-D

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

80

[Sheena is a trademark of Galaxy Publishing, Inc. & Val D’Oro Entertainment, or successors in interest; panel © the respective copyright holders.]

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #36 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #37 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #38 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #39 AMERICAN COMIC BOOK STEVE ENGLEHART is spotlighted in RICK VEITCH discusses his career from THOMAS YEATES career-spanning interCHRONICLES: 1945-49 view about the Kubert School, Swamp

TOM PALMER retrospective, career-spanning interview, and tributes compiled by GREG BIGA. LEE MARRS chats about assisting on Little Orphan Annie, work for DC’s Plop! and underground Pudge, Girl Blimp!

The start of a multi-part look at the life and career of DAN DIDIO, part two of our ARNOLD DRAKE interview, public service comics produced by students at the CENTER FOR CARTOON STUDIES, & more!

a career-spanning interview, former DC Comics’ romance editor BARBARA FRIEDLANDER redeems the late DC editor JACK MILLER, DAN DIDIO discusses going from DC exec to co-publisher, we conclude our 100th birthday celebration for ARNOLD DRAKE, take a look at the 1970s underground comix oddity THE FUNNY PAGES, and more, including HEMBECK!

undergrounds and the Kubert School; the ’80s with 1941, Epic Illustrated and Heavy Metal; to Swamp Thing, The One, Brat Pack, and Maximortal! Plus TOM VEITCH’s history of ’70s underground horror comix, part one of a look at cartoonist ERROL McCARTHY, the story behind Studio Zero— the ’70s collective of artists STARLIN, BRUNNER, WEISS, and others, and more!

Thing, Eclipse Comics, and adventure strips Zorro, Tarzan, and Prince Valiant! GREG POTTER discusses his ’70s Warren horror comics and ’80s reboot of Wonder Woman with GEORGE PÉREZ, WARREN KREMER is celebrated by MARK ARNOLD, plus part one of a look at the work of STEVE WILLIS, part two of ERROL McCARTHY, and more!

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #91

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KIRBY COLLECTOR #93

KIRBY COLLECTOR #94

Covers the aftermath of WWII, when comics shifted from super-heroes to crime, romance, and western comics, BILL GAINES plotted a new course for EC Comics, and SIEGEL & SHUSTER sued for rights to Superman! By RICHARD ARNDT, KURT MITCHELL, and KEITH DALLAS.

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BRICKJOURNAL #87

30th Anniversary issue, with KIRBY’S GREATEST VICTORIES! Jack gets the girl (wife ROZ), early hits Captain America and Boy Commandos, surviving WWII, romance comics, Captain Victory and the direct market, his original art battle with Marvel, and finally winning credit! Plus MARK EVANIER, a colossal gallery of Kirby’s winningest pencil art, a never-reprinted SIMON & KIRBY story, and more!

IN THE NEWS! Rare newspaper interviews with Jack, 1973 San Diego panel with Jack and NEAL ADAMS discussing DC’s coloring, strips Kirby ghosted for others, unused strip concepts, collages, a never-reprinted Headline Comics tale, Jimmy Olsen pencil art gallery, 2024 WonderCon Kirby panel (featuring DAVID SCHWARTZ, GLEN GOLD, and RAY WYMAN), and more!

Cover inked by DAVID REDDICK!

SUPPORTING PLAYERS! Almost-major villains like Kanto the Assassin and Diablo, Rodney Rumpkin, Mr. Little, the Falcon, Randu Singh, and others take center stage!

Plus: 1970 interview with Jack by SHEL DORF, MARK EVANIER’s 2024 Kirby Tribute Panel from Comic-Con, neverreprinted Simon & Kirby story, pencil art gallery, and more! Unused Mister Miracle cover inked by MIKE ROYER!

SPACE RACES! Jack’s depictions of cosmic gods and life on other planets, including: how Ego, Tana Nile, and the Recorder took Thor to strange new worlds, OMAC’s space age future, time travelers in Kirby’s work, favorite Kirby sci-fi tropes in his stories, plus: a 1967 LEE/KIRBY interview, MARK EVANIER and other columnists, never-reprinted Simon & Kirby story, robotic pencil art gallery, cover inked by TERRY AUSTIN!

Take to the air with JESSE GROS and his wondrous airships! KEVIN COPA’s renditions of the ships from International Rescue, a.k.a. the Thunderbirds, are also featured, as well as JACK CARLESON and his airliners! Plus BRICKNERD, BANTHA BRICKS: Fans of LEGO Star Wars, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

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RETROFAN #36

RETROFAN #37

RETROFAN #38

RETROFAN #39

Saturday morning super-hero Space Ghost, plus The Beatles, The Jackson 5ive, and other real rockers in animation! Also: The Addams Family’s JOHN ASTIN, Mighty Isis co-stars JOANNA PANG and BRIAN CUTLER, TV’s The Name of the Game, on the set of Evil Dead II, classic coffee ads, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

Feel the G-Force of Eighties sci-fi toon BATTLE OF THE PLANETS! Plus: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.’s STEFANIE POWERS, CHUCK CONNORS, The Oddball World of SCTV, Rankin/Bass’ stop-motion Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, TV’s Greatest Catchphrases, one-season TV shows, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

The Jetsons, Freaky Frankensteins, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling’s HOLLYWOOD, the Archies and other Saturday morning rockers, Star Wars copycats, Build Your Own Adventure books, crazy kitchen gadgets, toymaker MARVIN GLASS, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Tune in to Saturday morning super-heroes Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Mod Squad, Hanna-Barbera cartoonists, Jesus Christ Superstar, Mr. Potato Head, ‘Old Yeller” actress BEVERLY WASHBURN, Flying Nun collectibles, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Can your mind stand the shocking truth of… ED WOOD CAST CONFESSIONS? Plus: Ideal Toys’ Zeroids, television Tarzan RON ELY, Planters® Peanuts’ Mr. Peanut, CHARLES ADDAMS, TV’s The Fugitive, the forgotten 1981 Spider-Man cartoon, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, ED CATTO, and MARK VOGER.

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New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #192

ALTER EGO #193

ALTER EGO #194

ALTER EGO #195

BACK ISSUE #156

An abridgment of EDDY ZENO’s “Drawn to Greatness” book, showcasing Superman artists who followed JOE SHUSTER: WAYNE BORING, PAUL CASSIDY, FRED RAY, JACK BURNLEY, WIN MORTIMER, and others. With appreciations by ORDWAY, KUPPERBERG, ISABELLA, JURGENS, WAID, MACCHIO, NEARY, NOWLAN, EURY, THOMAS, and more! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

ROY THOMAS celebrates 60 years in comics! Career-spanning interview by ALEX GRAND, e-mails to Roy from STAN LEE, the history of Wolverine’s creation, RT’s 1960s fan-letters to JULIUS SCHWARTZ, and his top dozen stories compiled by JOHN CIMINO! With art by BUSCEMA, KANE, ADAMS, WINDSOR-SMITH, COLAN, ORDWAY, BUCKLER, FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and cover by TONY GRAY!

NEAL ADAMS REVISITED! Interviews by ALEX GRAND and BILL FIELD, as well as EMILIO SOLTERA—and an overview of Neal’s merchandising art for Marvel and DC Comics and in other fields, conducted by JAMES ROSEN! Plus Adams art, as inked

by PALMER, GIORDANO, VERPOORTEN, ROUSSOS, SINNOTT, DEZUNIGA, and others! With FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

BRONZE AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS! 1980s GNs from Marvel, DC, and First Comics, Conan GNs, and DC’s Sci-Fi GN series!

With BRENT ANDERSON, JOHN BYRNE, HOWARD CHAYKIN, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, JACK KIRBY, DON MCGREGOR, BOB McLEOD, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. WRIGHTSON cover.

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All characters TM & © their respective owners.

MARK CARLSON-GHOST documents the mid-1950s super-hero revival featuring The Human Torch, Captain America, SubMariner, Fighting American, The Avenger, Phantom Lady, The Flame, Captain Flash, and others—with art by JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA, BILL EVERETT, SIMON & KIRBY, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MORT MESKIN, BOB POWELL, and other greats! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

BACK ISSUE #158

BACK ISSUE #159

BACK ISSUE #160

BACK ISSUE #161

HEY, MISTER ISSUE! The FF’s Mr. Fantastic, STEVE DITKO’s Mr. A, the 40th anniversary of MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Mr. Monster, Mr. X, the Teen Titans’ Mr. Jupiter, R. CRUMB’s Mr. Natural, Archie’s Mr. Weatherbee, and a Mr. Freeze villain history! Featuring BYRNE, CARDY, CONWAY, DeCARLO, DINI, ENGLEHART, the HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, MOTTER, and more!

Cover by ED McGUINNESS.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS 40th ANNIVERSARY! Pre-Crisis tour of DC’s multiple Earths, analysis of Crisis and its crossovers, Crisis Death List, post-Crisis DC retro projects, guest editorial by MARV WOLFMAN, and more! Featuring BARR, ENGLEHART, GREENBERGER, LEVITZ, MAGGIN, MOENCH, ORDWAY, THOMAS, WAID, and more! With GEORGE PÉREZ’S Crisis on Infinite Earths Index #1 cover.

SUMMER FUN ISSUE! Marvel’s Superhero Swimsuit Editions, Betty and Veronica swimsuit gallery, DC’s Strange Sports Stories, the DC/Marvel softball rivalry, San Diego Comic-Con history, Impossible Man Summer Vacation Specials, DC Slurpee cups, DC/Whitman variants, and more!

Featuring BATES, DeCARLO, HUGHES, JIM LEE, LOPRESTI, MAGGIN, ROZAKIS, STELFREEZE, and more! GUICE cover.

MUTANT MAYHEM ISSUE! BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH’s Weapon X Wolverine, the romance of Havok and Polaris, Rogue and Nightcrawler limited series, Brood and Arcade villain histories, “Mutant Massacre” crossover, and more! With JON BOGDANOVE, JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, DAVE COCKRUM, LOUISE SIMONSON, MIKE WIERINGO, and more!

WINDSOR-SMITH cover.

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BACK ISSUE #157

KEITH GIFFEN TRIBUTE ISSUE! Starstudded celebration of the prolific writer/ artist of Legion of Super-Heroes, Rocket Raccoon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Justice League, Lobo, Blue Beetle, and others!

With CARY BATES, TOM BIERBAUM, J.M. DeMATTEIS, DAN DIDIO, ROBERT LOREN FLEMING, CULLY HAMNER, SCOTT KOBLISH, PAUL LEVITZ, KEVIN MAGUIRE, BART SEARS, MARK WAID, and more!