Alter Ego #28

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No. 28

September 2003

1950s Timely/Marvel Great

JOE MANEELY

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Vol. 3, No. 28 / September 2003

™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

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

Production Assistant Eric Nolen-Weathington

Cover Artists Joe Maneely Don Newton

Contents

Cover Colorists Tom Ziuko Don Newton

And Special Thanks to: Lee Ames Ger Apeldoorn Terry Austin Mike W. Barr Alberto Becattini John Benson Bill Black Steve Brumbaugh Mike Burkey Tony Cerezo Scott Deschaine Jaime Echevarria Carl Gafford Stan Goldberg Walt Grogan George Hagenauer John Haufe, Jr. Mark & Stephanie Heike Larry Ivie Ed Jaster

JOE MANEELY & The Atlas Age of Comics!

Mort Leav Stan Lee Mark Lewis Nancy Maneely Scotty Moore Brian K. Morris Anthony Newton John Petty Steven Rowe John Severin Marie Severin Steve Skeates Jeff Smith Robin Snyder Marc & June Swayze Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Hames Ware Tom Wimbish

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Joe & Betty Jean Maneely and Pierce Rice

Writer/Editorial: Mighty Joe Maneely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 WHAT IF–-–Joe Maneely Had Lived and Drawn in the Marvel Age? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Dr. Michael J. Vassallo takes a year-by-year look at the life and legend of this remarkable artist!

My Father, Joe Maneely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Nancy Maneely talks about the father she loves, but hardly knew.

“Joe Was the Best!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Stan Lee looks back 45 years, and remembers one of Timely’s greatest artists ever!

A Golden/Silver/Bronze Age Potpourri . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: Our peerless publisher John Morrow designed this marvelous (or perhaps we should say timely) montage of five of the comic book characters most associated with Joe Maneely—an artist who, because of the era in which he did most of his work (the 1950s), never drew a single flat-out super-hero story! John assembled the cover from a photo supplied by Joe’s daughter, and color photocopies or original comics provided by Doc Vassallo and Roy Thomas.

Even though we shortchanged the horror tales which were one of Maneely’s most prolific genres, we think it captures something of the spirit of that remarkable talent. And here we thought John Morrow was just another pretty face—no, wait, that’s his wife Pam! [Art ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.; photo courtesy of Nancy Maneely.]

Above: Ye Editor makes no apologies for preferring Maneely’s work on three issues (and five covers) of the 1955-56 Black Knight to anything else he ever did. When you put out your own magazine, you can spotlight Ringo Kid or Combat Kelly or Yellow Claw or a creeping corpse— or Dippy Duck, for all we care! They’re all great! To paraphrase Stan Lee—“’Nuff said!” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above panel from Black Knight #1 by Lee and Maneely.

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FIRST PRINTING.

Title writer/editorial

2

Mighty Joe Maneely Back in the 1960s and ’70s, just about everybody working for Marvel, staff or freelancer, had a colorful nickname. These were usually alliterative, like Smilin’ Stan, Jolly Jack, Sturdy Steve, and Rascally Roy—but not always.

E.g., ’twas Stan himself who coined “Gil (Sugar) Kane,” as well as (I believe) “Stan the Man” and (maybe) “Our Pal Sal Buscema.” Later I dreamed up the non-alliterative “Roy the Boy,” “Steve (Baby) Gerber,” “Rich (Swash) Buckler.”

And, if I’d been Stan’s assistant editor in 1949 instead of starting in ’65—and assuming “Joltin’ Joe” was already taken by Joe Sinnott—I’d have been strongly tempted to refer in print to a certain talented new artist as—“Mighty Joe Maneely.”

see the dinosaurs drawn by Kubert or Wood, but everything else is pure Maneely.

Final panel from the second story in Yellow Claw #1 (Oct. ’56), repro’d from photostats of the original artwork. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

1949, after all, was the debut year of what is today my second-favorite giant gorilla movie, Mighty Joe Young. And Joe Maneely was a mighty man, by every account I’ve ever heard, whether from Stan, Bill Everett, Stan Goldberg, Marie Severin, Sol Brodsky, John Romita, or whomever.

For, y’see, whenever I daydream about a vintage comics adaptation of the original Mighty Joe Young—or of King Kong, which I first saw in theatrical re-release in the early 1950s—they’re always drawn by Joe Maneely! The apes—the jungles—the heroes and heroines—the dinosaurs in Kong—well, I

Doc V. and Maneely’s daughter Nancy tell their stories well—and it was equal parts of fun and frustration putting art with them, since Doc sent me at least ten times the amount of art I could squeeze into even 40-plus pages.

But that just means there’ll be more about Joe Maneely coming up in Alter Ego, whenever the occasion presents itself—like next issue!

Bestest,

COMING IN OCTOBER NOW MONTHLY!

That, along with the dedicated research shown by Michael J. Vassallo—“Doc V.” in fannish circles, since he’s a bona fide dentist—is one reason I’m happy to devote half of this issue to an artist who never once drew a masked, be-caped super-hero flying through the sky or swinging on a rope against a Manhattanesque skyline. Maneely is an artist I’ve admired ever since the early 1950s, and even then I was amazed by all the times I saw his signature on things—and, not being a horror-comics reader, I didn’t see nearly everything he did, not by a long shot. I was also aware from the mid-’60s on of the high esteem in which Stan and others held him.

# ™

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OUR FIRST (AND MAYBE LAST)

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HALLOWEEN ISSUE WITH BRUNNER, EVERETT, & MORE!

• Two spook-tacular new covers—Batman by FRANK BRUNNER, and King Kong by PETE VON SCHOLLY! • FRANK BRUNNER on his mystic/horror work on Dr. Strange, Creepy, et al.!

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• “And Men Shall Call Him... PROTOTYPE!” A look at those LEE/KIRBY/DITKO forerunners of Hulk, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, etc., by TOM LAMMERS. • Plus—JOE MANEELY’s monsters—BILL FRACCIO talks to JIM AMASH—ALEX TOTH on shadows in art—MICHAEL T. GILBERT, BILL SCHELLY, & JOHN BENSON on EC— The Heap by ERNIE SCHROEDER—FCA with MARC SWAYZE, GENE COLAN, “CAPTAIN MARVEL FACES FEAR!”—and more!

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The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

3

WHAT IF... JOE MANEELY Had Lived and Drawn in the Marvel Age of Comics?

A Year-by-Year Look at the Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists [With this issue's long-overdue look at Timely/Atlas titan Joe Maneely, I hoped Betty would have come to realize this. With the passing of this strong and beautiful woman, I like to think Joe and his Betty Jean are finally back together again. —MJV.]

by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo [AUTHOR’S INTRO: On April 16th, as this issue was being assembled, Betty Jean Maneely, the widow of Joe Maneely, passed away after an extended illness.

Over the years I had written to Betty many times, often encouraged by my friend Nancy, Joe's youngest daughter.

Nancy assured me that my letters were appreciated and read by her mom, but she doubted that they would ever be answered, as Betty rarely spoke about her late husband, especially to someone whom she had never met. As predicted, my letters were not answered. In those letters I had expressed my admiration for her husband's work. I talked about his unique art style and prodigious output, and I asked about particular recollections and memories about his career, trying to explain to her how truly important her husband was to the full history of Marvel Comics. I wanted her to understand that, despite the passage of years, when you study the history of this medium, specifically the history of Marvel in the decade of the 1950s, you start and stop with a single name: Joe Maneely.

[NOTE: Unless otherwise indicated, all art accompanying this article is from photocopies of vintage comic books provided by the author.]

Overview: The Fabulous ’50s The decade of the 1950s was a strange period of unique dichotomy in this country. On the one hand, the American people were enjoying a booming postwar prosperity. The G.I. Bill had helped the returning heroes of the Second World War on the road to a hopeful future in the new decade. The great evil had been conquered, industry was soaring, and a new medium, television, was aborning.

At the same time, however, a pervasive feeling of uncertainty was evident. A “Cold War” with our former ally was becoming entrenched, and the world was being divided into an “us vs.

Okay, so the above photo (which also appears on our cover) was taken while Joe Maneely was in the Navy, a year or three before he drew his first comic book in 1948—but he’s in civvies and he’s at the drawing board, so what the hey! Flanking this caption are two great Maneely covers: Adventures into Weird Worlds #25 (Jan. 1954) and Sub-Mariner #37 (Dec. 1954).

Joe’s foray into super-heroics was atypical—but his horror covers adorned myriad Timely fear-fests! Photo courtesy of Joe’s daughter, Nancy Maneely. [Art ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

4

Joe Maneely

them” scenario, with a concurrent build-up of weapons that were capable of destroying this fragile planet many times over. A new “police action” war was beginning in Korea, and as the decade progressed, a distinct, almost palpable uneasiness was clearly evident.

A close study of the time will reveal that this uncertainty was also reflected in many aspects of popular culture. Films spawned Cold War thrillers and radioactively-induced “B”-movie monsters. In the music industry there would be an explosion of youth culture music—i.e., rock ’n’ roll—further worrying an already concerned adult populace.

It’s no surprise, then, that the comic book industry would likewise reflect these diverse trends. The Golden Age of Comic Books waned with the return of our boys from the war in 1945. By the late 1940s, as super-heroes began to fade from the newsstands, they were replaced by genres reflecting an audience with changing and divergent tastes. Crime, romance, horror, and war titles joined the humorous ones already being published. At Timely Comics, a major publisher of the Golden Age, the editor-in-chief was a precocious wunderkind named Stan Lee, who had been at the helm since 1941 and whose cousin Jean was married to the publisher, Martin Goodman.

publisher, tried to wean his company from the shops by starting an in-house staff. Simon and Kirby, followed by Syd Shores, Al Avison, Fred Bell, Don Rico, Al Gabrielle, Mike Sekowsky, George Klein, Allen Bellman, and a score of others joined a staff that would create and produce material “inhouse.” Timely’s earliest creators, Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, both Jacquet shop alumni, continued to freelance for Goodman, and Burgos joined the staff only at the end of the decade. By mid-1942, two distinct bullpens were operating, one turning out the myriad superhero titles, and the other turning out the humor titles.

When Stan Lee went into the service in the summer of 1942, Vince Fago, a funny-animal freelancer, assumed the editor-inchief mantle. This coincided with the boom in humor titles, as Fago, a former Fleischer animator, continued to draw numerous Rarer than rare! This original cover art for Black Knight #5 (April 1956) funny-animal features concurrent was featured in the Christie’s East Comic Collectibles catalog for a 1993 with his editorial duties. Comedy auction. Not only is original Maneely art extremely scarce—but, because Comics, Joker Comics, Krazy of reprintings by Marvel, Black Knight is today the best-known of his Let me start with a little history.... work. As for the Atlas globe symbol enlarged at right: from 1951 to 1957 Comics, and Terry-Toons all began it identified not only Martin Goodman’s distribution company, but—as appearing in mid 1942. Fago’s initial far as most readers at the time were concerned—his comic book company, humor staff consisted of Ernie as well. The name “Timely” was all but forgotten outside the industry.

Hart, Al Jaffee, Ed Winiarski, [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] By 1950 Timely’s super-hero George Klein, Kin Platt, Jim titles, a major force during the boom Mooney, Moe Worth, Mike war years, were all defunct. Previously, along with Marvel Mystery Sekowsky, David Gantz, and later Frank Carin. Chad Grothkopf, and Comics, Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, et al., humor Dave Berg freelanced, as did Basil Wolverton; Milt Stein was an even comics (both funny-animal and “teen”) had filled the stands, as well. later freelancer. There was also a lot of crossing over, as many of the Teen titles had eventually eclipsed the funny-animal books, and by about humor artists (such as Mike Sekowsky, George Klein, David Gantz, and 1946 had even overtaken the super-hero titles in sales and popularity. By Fred Bell) frequently worked on super-hero scripts. Pvt. Stan Lee 1947, with super-hero sales declining, Timely had expanded in other continued to send in scripts from where he was stationed in North directions—first crime, followed by westerns, romance, and, by 1949, Carolina. horror.

Following the war, as sales peaked, the years chugged along as Timely There was a last attempt in 1948 to jumpstart super-heroes again with churned out titles and features by the carload with an ever-changing the quick introduction of new titles like Namora, Sun Girl, a second bullpen staff, which by 1948 included Gene Colan and John Buscema.

All Winners, The Witness, Venus, and Blackstone, but all except the It is into this milieu that Joe Maneely stepped in mid-1949. ever-adaptable Venus were quickly gone. Similarly, Marvel Boy, a gorgeous science-fiction-based feature drawn by Russ Heath, then Bill Everett, attempted in 1950 to cash in on the sf/horror trend and lasted two issues in his own title and another four after a title change to Astonishing before bowing out to the more popular all-horror format.

First—the Fightin’ ’40s

Joe Maneely— A Man for a Decade

Creator-wise, Timely originally (starting in 1939) bought their features from the Lloyd Jacquet shop, Funnies, Inc., and from the Harry “A” Chesler shop. But, almost immediately, Martin Goodman, Timely’s

Ask anyone who reads and collects comic books today who Joe Maneely was, and you’re likely to get a blank stare. Put the question to someone with a marginal knowledge of comic book history, and you

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

5

may get a glimmer of recognition pertaining to Marvel’s 1955 Black Knight series. That’s about it, and even that will probably be because Marvel reprinted some of those stories in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and again in the 1997 trade paperback The Golden Age of Marvel (Vol. 1). What most people don’t realize is that, with the stars aligned a little differently 45 years ago, the birth of the Marvel Universe as we know it might have been vastly different.

Maneely was Stan Lee’s star artist for most of the 1950s, during what is known as the Atlas period of Joe Maneely’s Navy portrait photo, taken at age 17 (in 1943), juxtaposed with a comic strip he did for a Navy Marvel Comics history. Atlas, a name derived from newspaper sometime by 1946. Both courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Martin Goodman’s distribution company and easily identified by a small “globe” on the cover, was by cartooned for the North Catholic newspaper, creating an original mascot far the industry leader in quantity of titles and issues published in the character “The Red Falcon” before dropping out in his sophomore year. first 3/4 of the decade. Dell/Western sold more books, but no one had as “The Red Falcon” was also drawn as a comic strip for the school many redundant titles on the stands as Goodman’s Atlas. With Lee as newspaper and remained the school’s mascot for decades; perhaps it still editor-in-chief, every imaginable type of comic book was published, is. Gertrude Maneely, a strong and proud woman, gave her son an flooding the market with score after score of books utilizing a huge ultimatum: either return to school or “ship out,” which meant join the stable of freelancers, many of them comic book royalty. service. Maneely chose the latter and served three years as a specialist in visual aids for the U.S. Navy, contributing cartoons to his ship’s newspapers.

Joe Maneely was born in Pennsylvania on February 18, 1926, the son of Robert and Gertrude Maneely and one of at least five children. He grew up in Philadelphia, where the Maneelys were poor, and attended Ascension BVM Elementary School, often embarrassed to go to school in worn, patched clothing. At North Catholic High School, he

Upon discharge from the Navy, he married Elizabeth Kane, his childhood sweetheart, in 1947. Joe was 21 and “Betty Jean” was 20.

Taking advantage of the G.I. Bill, he began studies at Philadelphia’s Hussian School of Art, where he met fellow artist George Ward. They

Doc Vassallo tells us these stories represent some of Maneely’s earliest work for Street & Smith, and thus his debut in comic books.

All three stories appeared in Red Dragon #5 (Oct.-Nov. 1948). [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

6

Joe Maneely Maneely’s work would later exhibit, the overall effect is of a talented young artist at an early age (22) and early stage of his career, a career that brimmed with promise.

1949—“The Tail-End of the Storied Timely Bullpen” In addition to Street & Smith, Maneely briefly dabbled at Pflaum (on Treasure Chest) before settling in at Goodman and Lee’s nascent Atlas sometime toward the middle of 1949. Older credit listings placing him at This “office letterhead,” says Doc V., was drawn by Joe prior to his move to New York—probably Hillman and Superior (on crime features) in 1949 are likely during the time he shared a studio with George Ward and Peggy Zangerle. ’Twould seems incorrect. Similarly, some recent Maneely-like inking Maneely’s trademark style was already pretty much intact by 1948! [©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely.] examples spotted in panels of 1949 issues of Toytown’s Wanted (on features otherwise drawn by Maurice Del both entered the world of newspaper advertising art, and Joe’s first Bourgo) are inconclusive as of this writing, and most likely not Maneely. professional stint was in the Philadelphia Bulletin’s advertising art department. Maneely also made a trip to San Francisco to paint a mural Joe Maneely began work at Timely towards the tail-end of the storied for a restaurant, the details of which are sadly lost.

Timely bullpen, at a time when Martin Goodman expanded his line in what is known as the “romance and western glut.” Following an industry-wide trend, Goodman flooded the market in 1949 with a deluge of titles. Westerns, recently introduced at Timely, appeared out of Newlyweds Joe and Betty Jean lived in an apartment on Algard Street nowhere, but even more prevalent was the glut of romance titles. In in Philadelphia, and in 1948 Joe began his comic book career at Street & 1949-50 alone, 33 romance titles debuted over a 12-month period.

Smith on titles like Red Dragon, Ghostbreakers, The Shadow, and Eighteen of them lasted only two issues, and five lasted a single issue, Super Magician Comics, at the age of 22. Features he drew at Street & before being canceled. The demand for story art was at an all-time high.

Smith included “Tao Anwar,” “Dr. Savant,” “Russell Swan,” “Django A large bullpen was churning out stories for scores of titles and, as will Jinks - Ghost Chaser,” “Butterfingers,” “Nick Carter,” “Public shortly be seen, actually producing more than was necessary. Unlike the Defender,” “Roger Kilgore,” romance glut, Timely’s western glut “Supersnipe,” “Mario Nette,” and was much more controlled and “Ulysses Q. Wacky.” obviously character-driven. Titles added stayed around longer and It was also here that Maneely met artist provided a fertile ground for the Peggy Zangerle. At some point Joe, Peggy, newly-arrived Joe Maneely to and George Ward formed a studio. There blossom quickly. exists a piece of office letterhead bearing the title “Joe Maneely, Adventure Comics” By all appearances, Maneely made at the address 3160 Kensington Avenue, his Timely/Atlas debut in Western Rm. 501, in the Flo-Mar building in Outlaws and Sheriffs #60 (cover Philadelphia. The exact dates of the studio date Dec. 1949) in the lead story have eluded me, but Joe possibly used it “The Kansas Massacre of 1864”—job for all his work prior to his future move to #6760, as identified by the minuscule New York. numbers which appeared on the splash pages of most Atlas-era George Ward, a fellow graduate of the stories. (“Job number,” also written Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia and “job #,” is the term often used for an artist for magazines and newspapers, story [script] codes that appear on including the New York Daily News and the splash page of every the Philadelphia Bulletin, would be a Timely/Atlas story from roughly lifelong friend. Ward also would become 1946 through 1963. They were an assistant to Walt Kelly on the Pogo usually handed out in order, but comic strip for most of the 1950s. could appear out of sequence from According to Ron Goulart, at Street & month to month, for various reasons.

Smith Maneely was very possibly influThey went from “1” to “1001,” and enced by noted pulp illustrator Edd then added a letter-prefix “A-1” to Cartier, who did a brief feature or two “A-999,” then “B,” “C,” etc., up to coinciding with Maneely’s tenure there, “X” in 1963; a few letters such as particularly in developing Maneely’s “I,” “N,” “Q,” “R,” “U,” and “W” distinctive inking technique. [NOTE: See were left out, most likely to avoid Alex Toth’s comments on Edd Cartier confusion. Job numbers can be used next issue. —Roy.] The Street & Smith to sort the order in which stories work was vibrant and energetic, traits that were drawn by a particular artist.) In would serve him well in the future. His Maneely’s case, job #6760 was eight Probably Joe’s first work for Timely/Atlas was this story for Western distinctive inking style is clearly evident, Outlaws and Sheriffs #60 (Dec. ’49). The psychiatrist listed atop the pages of pencils and inks, and his though not yet as bold, and while the splash page was part of Atlas’ window-dressing during the skill as a storyteller is dramatically panels lack the degree of detail that Wertham, pre-Code era. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

1948—Rice and Red Dragons

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

7

ation and consideration, it has been deemed not likely that it was drawn

by Maneely.

1950: Commuting—and “the Cataclysmic Closet Catastrophe” By 1950 Maneely jumped in with a flourish, commuting into New York City from Philadelphia three times a week to pick up scripts. He would continue this commute unchanged for a few years.

March of ’50 saw the publication of possibly the very first story to which Maneely actually contributed: “The Mystery of the Valley of Giants” in Black Rider #8, job #5827. This is an 18-page story by diverse hands, including Syd Shores. Maneely appears on page 3 and did some minor inking on pages 8, 9, 13, 14 & 18. The early job number dates this story as 3- or 4-month-old inventory, predating the WO&S #60 story. If we assume scripts were assigned and drawn more or less in sequence (the norm, but not always true), we can consider this work as pre-dating Maneely’s WO&S #60 published Timely debut, being drawn first and shelved for a while.

March 1950 also sees an 8-page Maneely story in Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #61, “Pepper Lawson” (job # 6897), and a splash panel done for another artist’s story in the same issue. April ’50 has nine pages of Maneely pencils and inks in Wild Western #10, “Killer For Hire!” job #6993. His artwork also appears in parts of splash panels in a handful of early romance stories which are otherwise drawn by others. This was a common practice in 1949 Timelys. Mike Sekowsky, Syd Shores, George

The splash page of one of Joe’s earliest stories. Doc says that, judging by its job number, it may be the first Atlas story he drew in its entirety. From True Adventures #3 (May 1950). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

evident. The story flows from panel to panel, and you can deduce much of the plot merely by following the visual action. Maneely also spends a lot of time with detailed inking, something that is commonly seen in his earliest Timely /Atlas work.

Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #60 was actually the very first issue of this title and had followed the numbering of the two-issue Best Western #58 & #59, which itself had spun off from the numbering of either Terry-Toons #57 (June ’47) or Miss America, Vol. 7, #24 (July ’49), which was the actual 57th Miss America issue published. Maneely’s debut story was also reprinted by Atlas in late 1954.

[A brief aside: Throughout the long history of his company, Martin Goodman only resorted to reprints on a handful of occasions. The first time was the four-issue reprint mag Western Thrillers, which ran from 1954-55. Issue #1 (Nov. ’54) contains a reprint of Maneely’s debut story, retitled “The Gun-slinger!” Similarly, reprints appear in the first issue (#5, March ’55) of the title Cowboy Action (which continued the numbering of Western Thrillers). Lastly, reprints would also show up issue #61 (April ’55) of the long-running romance title Love Tales. This was the second issue published after a break of two and a half years after #58 (#59 doesn’t exist); #60 (Feb. ’55) contains 5-year-old material, and my inability to track them down in spite of indexing 95% of all the Timely romance issues leads me to suggest they were inventory.]

A discovery was made recently by this author of isolated Maneelylike panel inks in a solitary late-1949 crime story; but, after close evalu-

This Maneely splash, believe it or not, appeared in Timely/Atlas’ Girl Comics #5 (Oct. 1950). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

8

Joe Maneely surpasses what we saw previously at Street & Smith. The issue also sports a Maneely splash panel heading a John Buscema-penciled story; a second splash panel, this time a fullpager, is found in a horror story in Suspense #3.

Whip Wilson may have been a poor man’s Lash Larue over at Monogram Pictures, but he briefly had his own Atlas comic book, while Lash was starring in movies for Republic and comics for Fawcett. Maneely drew both the ad at left (it appeared in Black Rider #10, Sept. 1950) and numerous stories of the movie cowboy, such as this one from Whip Wilson #9 that same month. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Klein, and Christopher Rule were frequent splash panel artists. When the bullpen closed a bit later and most artists became freelancers, this practice stopped. Look for a partial splash this month in Best Love #36 and two partial splash panels in My Love #4.

By May 1950 we see Maneely’s first full non-western story for Timely, “I Took A Dive!” in True Adventures #3, job #6741, making it possibly the first all-Maneely story—very likely the first story Joe drew after Black Rider #8. In this 8-page boxing tale, Maneely’s storytelling ability is already strong. The characters are fully realized, and the detail

Maneely now jumped into the westerns with gusto. Whip Wilson #9 (April ’50) is a Maneely masterpiece.

At this early stage of his Timely/Atlas career, literally his debut months, Joe set a standard even he would have a hard time surpassing in the years to come, with some of the most vibrant western comics art seen up to that time. Issue #10 had five Maneely stories, and #11, three. Whip Wilson was the third name-change in a title that began as one of Timely’s earliest western titles, Blaze Carson #1-5, changed to Rex Hart #6-8, changed again to Whip Wilson #9-11 (featuring a licensed movie cowboy), and ended as The Gunhawk #12-18.

There is additionally a full-page Joe Maneely ad for Whip Wilson in Reno Browne #50 (April ’50).

Also that spring, Joe began to appear as a cover artist. After a two-year on-and-off experiment with photo covers on many crime and western issues, June 1950 saw five of his earliest covers—on Black Rider #9, Kid Colt Outlaw #9, Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #62, Wild Western #11, and Sports Action #3 (as well as “sidebars” on Marvel Tales #96). As will become Maneely’s western trademark, the Kid Colt and Black Rider covers are a cacophony of blazing action. The baseball-related Sports Action cover depicts Hall of Famer Hack Wilson taking a big cut at the plate.

During the rest of the year, Joe’s work appears in Black Rider, Wild

June 1950 cover date saw Joe’s debut drawing covers. Three of the five covers he did that month were: Wild Western #11, Black Rider #9, and Sports Action #3.

Note the “Marvel Comic” symbol on each. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

9 “The Black Rider,” says Doc V., “was a Maneely icon!”

Here’s a triptych of great Maneely splashes, all from Black Rider #10 (Sept. ’50)!

For the retelling of the hero’s origin, he drew the splash, but art in the remainder of the story was by a combination of Joe and Syd Shores. The Rider’s secret identity was Matthew Masters, a bespectacled frontier physician who generally wore a striped suit and black string bowtie; his horse was named Satan. He was a fairly popular character for several years. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Joe branched out a bit in 1950... working both for Avon (for whom he drew all three stories in Geronimo #1) and ZiffDavis, for whose Kid Cowboy #1 he drew a onepager on Annie Oakley. The full title on the Avon cover read “Geronimo - Indian Fighter”—though the latter term is usually reserved for Caucasians who battled Native Americans. The remaining three issues’ worth of Geronimo cover logos read “Indian Chief Geronimo on the Warpath,” “Geronimo and his Apache Murderers,” and “The Savage Raids of Chief Geronimo.” Well, at least Ziff-Davis’ editors had a point of view! [©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

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Joe Maneely

Western, Western Outlaws and Sheriffs, Suspense, Kid Colt Outlaw, Marvel Tales, Girl Comics, and The Gunhawk (with a great run extending into 1951 on “Red Larabee, the Gunhawk”).

There is also a 3-page science-fiction filler in Venus #10 (July ’50), titled “The Last Rocket!,” which contains slick and welldrawn images. Finally, in December 1950 comes one of his finest early stories, “Laugh Fool Laugh,” in Man Comics #5, a 12-page tale of a sad clown and unrequited love which freely “borrowed” from the 1928 MGM film starring Lon Chaney Sr. Joe and Betty Jean on their honeymoon, and Loretta Young. A Miami Beach, Florida, 1947. Joe was 21. masterpiece of storytelling Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. and ornate detail, this is vintage early Maneely artwork, in full evidence. Joe also drew the issue’s fabulous cover, depicting a scene from this story. [See p. 10.]

By the end of 1950, with barely a year under his belt, and with Mike Sekowsky doing less and less work for Timely into 1951, Maneely pulled alongside Bill Everett and Syd Shores as one of Timely’s best regular artists. By “best” I mean fast, versatile in any subject matter from adventure to westerns to horror, and dependable. He wasn’t the prettiest or most talented at this stage, but he got more out of his pages in less time than anyone else working at Timely except for Mike Sekowsky, who was strictly a penciler.

first child was born, a daughter they named Kathleen. He was also freelancing over at Avon at some point in that year, drawing the entire first issue of Geronimo and further refining his skills as a top western artist. He likewise would draw a feature for Ziff-Davis in Kid Cowboy #2. Almost without exception as 1951 began, Joe would work exclusively for Stan Lee and Timely.

At some point in mid-to-late 1950, an event occurred at Timely that was very significant for the artists and writers on staff. The story goes that one day publisher Martin Goodman opened a closet to find a fivefoot stack of backlogged inventory art—and proceeded to go ballistic, firing the entire bullpen, the plan being to use up that inventory and then commission freelance work only. Stan Lee depicts this exact scenario, the “cataclysmic closet catastrophe” in his recent “bio-autography.”

The event has been confirmed by numerous staffers, but others queried about the dissolution of the bullpen either didn’t know of it or ventured that sales were slipping across the newsstands in 1950, and that precipitated the firing. Longtime Timely artist Allen Bellman, who toiled on staff from 1943-1950 and then freelanced up through ’53, recalls that the staff was actually let go slowly over a longer period of time. He does not remember the story of a closet of artwork, but recalls that in mid1950 Stan Lee would, almost on a weekly basis, call one staffer after another into his office to inform them of their termination. Bellman remembers that, among the still-working staff, the call to Stan’s office was “walking the last mile.” This exact scenario is also confirmed by staff inker Bob Deschamps, who in an interview in Alter Ego #20 recalls someone being fired every week until a watershed, when all the rest were let go. Exactly what happened may well be a hybrid of both scenarios.

My interview with Bellman, a fountain of Timely recollections, will appear in a near-future issue of A/E.

Joe was also becoming a major cover artist at a company that allowed only a handful of artists to draw the scores of covers it published every month. To crack this group was a real accomplishment in such a short time for so young an artist. Timely had veterans in its bullpen who were never allowed near a cover. The only cover artists at this time in the non-humor, non-girl titles were Syd Shores, Bill Everett, Mike Sekowsky, Christopher Rule, Sol Brodsky, and a few others— including, now, Joe Maneely.

For the rest of the Atlas period up through 1957, only Russ Heath, John Severin, and Carl Burgos would be added to this list of “regular” adventure/fantasy cover artists, as Sekowsky, Rule, and eventually even Shores vanished from cover duties.

In 1950 Joe and Betty Jean’s

The cover and splash of “Laugh Fool Laugh” from Man Comics #5 (Dec. ’50).

Doc V. feels this is “one of Joe’s best!” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

How the West was won—Atlas style! A quartet of 1951 Maneely art for The Gunhawk #16 (Aug.) and Arizona Kid #4 (Sept.), and back-up feature splashes from the first series of Two-Gun Western #7 (April) and #9 (Aug.). But how did Dallas and Fort Worth wind up so far apart on the Texas Kid map? [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The above story from Suspense #11 (Nov. 1951) was apparently the very first by the team of Stan Lee, writer, and Joe Maneely, artist... though Joe’s signature is nowhere to be found on it. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

11

12

Joe Maneely

All we are saying is “Give War a Chance!” Three different 1951 Maneely approaches to the “police action” then raging in Korea—as fun-fun-fun in “Buck Private O’Toole” in Battle #4 (Sept.)... as aerial adventure in Battle #5 (Nov.)... and as gritty ground-infantry action in Man Comics #11 (Dec.).

The latter was apparently scripted (and signed!) by Hank Chapman. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

1951: “Continuing to Hone His Craft” 1951 saw Joe Maneely continuing to hone his craft. The work maintained its detail and precision, and his speed picked up further. Joe was still drawing “Red Larabee” in The Gunhawk, and western fillers and covers for titles like Western Outlaws and Sheriffs, Kid Colt Outlaw, Arizona Kid, Red Warrior, Wild Western, and “Apache Kid” in Two-Gun Western. He debuted another great western character, the title hero of Texas Kid. In the horror mags he drew stories and covers for Strange Tales, Suspense, Adventures into Terror, and a filler in Venus. He was likewise drawing the science-fiction back-up series “Blast Revere” in Space Squadron behind George Tuska’s lead feature, and crime, war, and adventure in Crime Cases Comics, Spy Cases, Kent Blake, War Comics, Man Comics, Young Men, Men’s Adventures, and Sports Action. By September Maneely’s output seemingly doubled overnight. From that month’s cover date through Dec. ’51, Joe averaged about eight covers and eight stories per month—a phenomenal rate!

This splash page for a Maneely-drawn series ran in Space Squadron #3 (Oct. ’51). The first two “Blast Revere” tales were set in that far-flung future year of 1960, “the early days of rocket travel”; then, in #3, the young space jockey’s stories suddenly take place in “the early 1970s.” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

One area in which Maneely did not work frequently was the romance genre. In 1951 we see the first three of only a small handful of romance covers he did: Love Tales #48, Lovers #35, and My Own Romance #18. All three are competent, serviceable covers; but Joe’s forte was action, and these are too static in comparison to those by “prettier” romance artists. Some artists can pull off the ability to depict great

One of Maneely’s three romance covers for 1951— Lovers #35 (Sept.) [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

13

action/adventure and also soft romance: Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Mike Sekowsky, Alex Toth, John Romita, Gene Colan, and John Buscema come to mind. Joe Maneely, at this early stage of his career, seemingly could not. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

In late 1951 another event occurred that had a bearing on Goodman’s publishing line. Goodman apparently changed distributors and was now using Atlas, actually his own distribution company. Atlas may have arisen out of a temporary partnership with Kable, his previous distributor, and consolidated under the name of one of his corporate entities, Atlas. Goodman’s comics now bore an Atlas “globe” on the cover, and this distinguishing characteristic leads fans and researchers to refer to Timely’s 1950s comics as “Atlas Comics.” Creators of that time, though, when referring to that period, still call the company Timely.

But even the Atlas globe wasn’t really new. As far back as March ’44, covers had sported an occasional globe blaring “An Atlas Publication.”

For that matter, the company had occasionally even called itself Marvel Comics on the cover. Some March-April 1947 issues had proclaimed “A Marvel Magazine” on their covers, and almost every issue published from March 1949 to May 1950 had sported an encircled “Marvel Comic” logo. So the 1960s adoption of Marvel Comics as a company name and logo wasn’t new, either.

Also in 1951, a second daughter, Mary Carole, was born to Joe and Betty Jean. With two small daughters and a steady and rising income fueled by Joe’s hard work and prodigious speed, the Maneelys were comfortable as a family for the first time. He was commuting from Philadelphia three times a week and trying to convince Betty Jean to agree to a move closer to New York.

For the time being she resisted, wishing to stay close to her parents.

From Crime Cases Comics #27 (March ’51). You gotta love that disclaimer at the bottom: “All names and places in these true-to-life stories are fictitious.” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

1952: “Maneely Did Them Justice” 1952 arrived with Joe working equally in many genres of titles.

Carried over from 1951, he drew a short-lived continuing character called “Buck Private O’ Toole” in three consecutive issues of Battle: #46 (Sept. ’51-Jan. ’52). Tim O’ Toole was a G.I. in Korea who has nothing on his mind but women. This led to humorous situations as he caused one calamity after another in his quest for female companionship. The stories are crisp and entertaining, and probably Maneely’s first Atlas features with a humorous bent.

1952 Maneely covers for Mystic #7 (March), Marvel Tales #108 (Aug.), Uncanny Tales #2 (Aug.)—and Amazing Detective Cases #13 (July). Martin Goodman would do anything to avoid having to pay to register a new title! [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

14

Joe Maneely lowered into a grave from a hangman’s scaffold by the shadowed figure of a gorgeous woman, who is being directed by a hooded “grim reaper”-type figure carrying a lighted torch! Whew! Maneely also contributed stories to #5, #11-13, #17, #18, #23, #24, #28, and #29 (Apr. ’53), the final issue.

Joe also began to do an inordinate amount of work in the horror titles in this “pre-Code” period. Atlas introduced six new horror titles in 1952, adding to the nine it was already publishing as the year began. Atlas was by far the industry leader in quantity of horror titles (or in most titles in any genre, for that matter), and Maneely began to appear in all of them, drawing both covers and stories. He drew the debut cover to Adventures into Weird Worlds #1 (Jan. ’52), as well as covers for the new title Uncanny Tales (#2, Aug. ’52) and for Mystic and Marvel Tales. With horror extremely popular and fueled by competitor EC’s incredible output, Stan Lee changed the content of one of his redundant crime titles, Amazing Detective Cases, to an all-horror format for its last four issues beginning with #11 (March ’52). Maneely’s contribution was a red-hot electrocution cover to #13 (July ’52), depicting a fried convict and his seemingly escaping green ghost!

One special title that displayed a significant amount of Maneely’s horror stories during both 1950-51 was Suspense. This title had debuted in 1949 as a two-issue, 52-page crime comic during the period Timely was experimenting with photo covers. Its name was licensed from the CBS radio and television program, as mentioned on the cover of those first two issues (and all subsequent issues, after converting to horror content with #3) up through #11 (Nov. ’51).

Joe started in this title in 1950, drawing a splash in #3 and the covers to #4, #5, part of #6, #10, #13, #15 and #18 (May ’52). #10’s cover is a classic horror cover, an interpretation of the story “Trapped In Time!”

It bizarrely depicts a trapped man in a sealed, water-filled glass bottlelike container being

Maneely’s cover for Suspense #10 (Sept. ’51) played up the connection with the popular radio and TV series, which ran from 1942-62 and greatly influenced EC Comics’ early horror comics and thus the entire field. Even Mad’s “Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad” was inspired by its tagline, “Tales Calculated to Keep You in... Suspense!” But Lee and Goodman sure liked to make their artists draw a lot of pictures on their covers, didn’t they? [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A terror-fraught triptych of Maneely splashes from 1952 issues of Suspense: “The Cozy Coffin” (#18, May), “The Ugly Man “(#23, Oct.), and “Back from the Dead!” (#24, Nov.). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Editor-in-chief Stan Lee may have turned over some of his editorial duties to others in late 1951, because for the first time in the horror titles (which had begun in 1949), Stan’s byline began to appear as the writer of numerous stories. In Suspense Stan wrote a total of 16 stories, 14 of them between #23-29. Five of these were illustrated by Joe Maneely: #11, #23, #24, #28, & #29. By my research, the story “Haunted!” in #11 may well be the very first pairing of Stan Lee and Joe Maneely, cover-dated November ’51; this will become almost akin to a partnership as the years go on. Much as with Jack Kirby in the 1960s, Stan was impressed with Maneely’s ability to basically do anything and everything, and do it fast, with little further input. As will be shown, without a doubt, Stan came to consider Joe Maneely his most important artist.

With his horror script output increasing, Stan seemingly took over

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

15 squeezed it out. I’ve finally solved the mystery. The letters page for that issue was instead placed into that month’s My Own Romance #25, also a 52-page issue. The mechanical layout of this romance letters page called “Heart To Heart Talk” is exactly the same as that of “Suspense Sanctuary” and shows that Stan Lee was trying to drum up reader involvement early on in Marvel history—much earlier than expected. A bogus letter is also found here by a “Joan Clayton” from Newcastle on Tyne, England. This is Stan’s wife Joan minus her last name. The romance letters page was a singular occurrence, and “Suspense Sanctuary” re-appeared in the very next issue of Suspense.

1952 also saw Maneely’s horror work in Astonishing, the new title Mystery Tales (a story in #1, March), Strange Tales, Adventure into Terror, and Spellbound. While crime titles were lagging in volume, Joe’s covers could be found on Crime

A well-composed splash from Strange Tales #7 (June ’52), and a look inside the offices of horror comics from Uncanny Tales #4 (Dec. ’52). Stan and Joe had an even more successful take on that theme in Suspense #29. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Suspense as his personal title, and in #21 (Aug. ’52) introduced Timely/Atlas’ first and only “true” (marginally) ongoing letters page, called “Suspense Sanctuary.” Timely had previously had pseudo-letters pages in the teen and romance books, most of the missives totally fabricated, but this looked like the real thing, though a study of the letters will turn up a few bogus entries. #23 has a letter by an “S. Martin” of Woodmere, Long Island, obviously Stanley Martin Lieber himself. There were also suspicious letters asking for war and western stories in a horror title, which was an obvious attempt by Stan Lee to tout the entire Atlas line in his response without making up an ad page. Hmm... it makes me wonder whether any of these letters were real, after all.

“Suspense Sanctuary” ran in issue #21-23 and #25-28, and Stan answered each letter in his trademark snappy, Bullpen Bulletins manner, foreshadowing his letters-page patter in Amazing Adult Fantasy and the earliest issues of Fantastic Four, ten years later. The letters page also had “favorite story” polls, and Stan’s name was listed as the editor of the book.

For the longest time I puzzled over the reason Suspense #24 (Nov. ’52) did not contain a letters page and chalked it up to it possibly being a slow month letter-wise, or that the drop from 52 pages to regular format

A grittier approach to war—1952. Maneely’s cover for Battlefront #1 (July) and splash for his and Hank Chapman’s story in Combat #1 (June). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Joe Maneely

Exposed, Crime Must Lose, and Spy Cases. War and adventure titles, fueled by the Korean War, also were exploding onto the newsstands. In addition to the aforementioned Battle, Maneely’s gritty, dark war artwork could be found on and in Man Comics, Battle (for which he drew the “Battle Brady” feature), Battle Action, War Comics, War Combat, War Adventures, Battlefield, Battlefront, Combat, Men’s Adventures, and a tenure on the title feature in Combat Kelly from issue #3 to #11 (before bowing to first Al Hartley and then Dave Berg, who took over the title completely to the end of its run, #44 for Aug.,’57). Many of these early war stories were written by prolific Atlas war scribe Hank Chapman, and Maneely did them justice with blazingly violent war art.

Additionally, 1952 would see Maneely’s very first full romance story, “Can True Love Die?” in True Secrets #15 (March ’52). It would be his only romance work that entire year, with only a handful to come.

Finally, in the westerns, Joe’s output diminished this year in comparison to 1951, but he was still found in Apache Kid, Western Outlaws and Sheriffs, and on an assortment of covers, for example Kid Colt Outlaw, and in stories across the genre.

1953: “Timely’s Most Important Artist” By 1953 Joe Maneely’s artistic style was in full bloom. Except for differences in the amount of time he’d spend on a page in the upcoming years, which affected the amount of detail he drew, this is the signature style that would carry him through the 1950s. Crisp, uniquely inked, busy, and action-oriented. Not necessarily pretty, but vivid. It was a style unique to comics and difficult to imitate. Maneely would work almost exclusively with Stan Lee that year, further proving their very close affinity for working on stories together, and Stan’s total trust in Maneely’s ability to do whatever he wanted.

By April, Suspense would be cancelled, possibly a victim of Goodman’s not wanting the headache of dealing with the media license of the title. The very last issue, #29, contains one of my all-time favorite stories, “The Raving Maniac,” written by Stan and illustrated by Joe. I mentioned this story in 1997 in the Stan Lee 75th birthday issue of Comics Buyer’s Guide in an article on Stan’s Atlas work. I pointed Excelsior! co-author George Mair to the piece when he was looking for background data, and

it must have struck Stan’s recollection enough for him to spend some time recounting it for his book.

The story is significant as a parody of the oppressive complaints then being lodged at the comics industry by hostile forces. Dr. Frederic Wertham’s book Seduction of the Innocent had been released that year, targeting horror and crime comics for their allegedly violent, childwarping content. “The Raving Maniac” depicts Stan Lee himself as an editor of a comic book company where a “raving maniac” storms into the office complaining about the terrible content of the horror comics.

The editor then rants back at the man, stating that (1) nobody’s forcing him to read them; (2) this is not a dictatorship where people tell you what to read or not read; and (3) these books are merely an escape from a frightening world with real-life perils. At the end, totally disgusted, the editor goes home and tells his daughter a bedtime story “about a raving little man with nothing more important on his mind than running into an editor’s office to complain about some magazines.” Considering what was on the horizon, a very insightful and foreshadowing tale. The pressure against the (perceived) damaging contents of horror and crime comic books was mounting, and this was Stan and Joe’s way of mocking the ridiculous nature of such a threat. In simple, straightforward panels, Maneely drives the point of the story home.

With Suspense due to be canceled, Stan kept up the momentum with a new title—what is in my opinion the prototypical Atlas pre-Code horror title, and one that could go toe-to-toe with any other pre-Code horror mag: Menace. Menace was actually a tour-de-force for the artistic wizardry of the great Bill Everett, a superlative comic art giant, and an artist severely underrated today. Everett was a master artist and the second of Atlas’ two big artistic guns. His stock would be sky-high if only he had possessed the opportunity to work for Bill Gaines at EC,

Back in A/E #18, we printed the splash page from the Lee-Maneely minor masterwork “The Raving Maniac” from Suspense #29 (April ’52), in conjunction with Jim Amash’s interview with Stan Goldberg—so here are pages 3 & 4.

Repro’d from photostats of the original art, courtesy of Stan G. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

17 Stan Lee worked with two artistic giants in Menace! The Bill Everett-drawn cover story “Zombie!” in issue #5 (July ’53) became the basis of the hero of Marvel’s Tales of the Zombie black-&-white mag in the early ’70s, while the Maneely version of Dr. Frankenstein’s creation from #7 (Sept. ’53) is, according to Doc V., “one of comicdom’s best early images of Mary Shelley’s monster.” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Joe Maneely also weighed in with fantastic stories in #3-5, and #7-9. In #7 Joe depicted one of comicdom’s best early images of Mary Shelley’s monster in “Your Name Is Frankenstein!”

Stan Lee also tried to make another go with a letters page, soliciting readers to write in with favorite stories, etc.; but no letters page ever appeared, and Stan soon left the title’s scripting chores. By #11 (May ’54) the title was cancelled, caught in a wave of pre-Code horror cancellations that included Spellbound, Adventures into Weird Worlds, Adventures into Terror, and Men’s Adventures, which would convert to a super-hero revival format for its final two issues, #27 & 28.

where early fandom would have elevated him to the cult-like status of the other terrific and deserving EC veterans. His art was gorgeously stylized, slick, and flowing, and his storytelling ability without peer.

This title was Stan’s “baby.” He wrote every story in the first seven issues, and Everett drew the first six covers and contributed a story to the first six issues, all of them spectacular. Everett’s cover to #1 (March ’53) is one of the most gruesome “rotting corpse” covers of all time, and his cover and story “Zombie” in #5 are both vintage classics of the genre.

Continuing in the horror and fantasy titles of 1953, Maneely’s covers and stories could also be found in Strange Tales, Adventures into Terror, Uncanny Tales, Mystic, Marvel Tales, Men’s Adventures, and Astonishing. Mystery Tales #14 has a superb Maneely science-fiction story—“Today I Am A Man!”—that will immediately lead into more sf.

Atlas dug back into 1951 and tried to revamp the old Space Squadron concept. This time the result was Speed Carter, Spaceman, and the artistic chores were given to Joe Maneely, who had handled the Space Squadron back-up feature “Blast Revere.” Speed Carter was Atlas’ latest attempt at space opera, and Joe did an admirable job of drawing nine “Speed Carter” stories in the first three issues before turning over the reins to Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska, and finally Bob Forgione.

They depict the Buck Rogers-style adventures of Carter and his teen sidekick Johnny Day as they travel the vast vistas of space and battle

A trio of Maneely splash pages, all from Speed Carter, Spaceman #1 (Sept. ’53). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

18

Joe Maneely existing humor genre, namely Mad-type humor. December 1953 would see the debut of Crazy #1, an attempt to cash in on Harvey Kurtzman’s Mad comic book format over at EC. Kurtzman was actually a Timely alumnus who had drawn the funny-animal feature “Pigtales” in four different Timely funny-animal titles, humor fillers like “Hey Look!” and “Giggles ’N Grins” from 1946-49 in scores of titles, as well as an occasional “Rusty” feature in both Rusty Comics and Hedy DeVine.

Kurtzman hated drawing “Rusty,” mostly because he had no control over it with Stan Lee scripting and editing. Kurtzman, of course, then went on to great fame at EC, where he gained the total control he sought, both in the war titles and in creating the color Mad comic. In Crazy #1, Maneely drew the hilarious parody “The Three Messkiteers” and would contribute stories and covers to its companion titles Riot and Wild in 1954. Joe’s ability to draw outrageous parody is impressive, and he is honing his humor skills, unaware they will serve him well in the future. [See p. 20.] Westerns, as in 1952, were again overshadowed in Maneely’s workload; he could, however, be found on Two-Gun Kid and other western covers.

Crime as a genre for Atlas was dying in 1953. From a high of eleven titles in 1951, 1953 saw only four remaining, and all but Justice Comics were in actuality “spy-type” crime titles such as Spy Cases, Spy Fighters, and Kent Blake of the Secret Service. These last three titles would all die by cover-date Nov. ’53. Maneely contributed nothing to the fading crime books this year, and Atlas would shortly make a lastgasp attempt with three more titles in 1954.

We couldn’t not print this splash page from Speed Carter, Spaceman #4 (Nov. ’53)! Wanna see more from other issues? They’re all gems! [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

intergalactic aliens and monsters. In fact, this is a prime example of how Atlas would begin to operate when new features were introduced. It was becoming more and more common that almost all new continuing features would be introduced by Joe Maneely before being turned over to others to continue. Joe was without a doubt Timely’s most important artist now, entrusted with the job of launching and designing new features for the company.

He was Stan Lee’s Atlas “Jack Kirby.”

1953 also saw Joe busy in the war titles. He continued Hank Chapman’s hero feature in Combat Kelly, drew stories for War Comics, and drew riveting covers for Battle, Battlefront, Combat, and War Action. In addition, that year saw the introduction of two new genres of titles.

First was the debut of the only Atlas religious title (and one of the scarce few to appear in comics at all), Bible Tales for Young Folks #1 (Aug. ’53). This title was as artistically dense as one could imagine, lasting five issues, with the last two issues renamed Bible Tales for Young People. A who’s who of great comic artists drew depictions of Bible scenes from both the Old and New Testaments: Jerry Robinson, Don Rico, Bill Everett, Joe Sinnott, Harry Anderson, Bernie Krigstein, Syd Shores, Sid Greene, and others. Maneely contributed a three-pager, “Go, And Sin No More” [John 8, 1-11] to issue #2 (Oct. ’53).

The second new genre was actually a sub-genre of the already-

The splash for Joe’s story from Bible Tales for Young Folks #1 (Aug. ’53). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

A great splash page from Men’s Adventures #14 (Nov. ’53). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Maneely drew this story for Timely/Atlas’ first parody comic, Crazy #1 (Dec. ’53). Note all the signs scattered about, à la Kurtzman and EC crew over at Mad. Wonder whether Joe or the writer was primarily responsible for all those gags. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

With Joe busier and busier, it was also late in 1953 that he finally convinced his wife it would be prudent to move closer to Manhattan.

Betty Jean had long resisted his wanting to move from Philadelphia, wishing to stay close to her family there, but she finally relented. First the Maneelys moved to Flushing, New York, where they rented an apartment, and Joe would have made the commute into the city via the #7 train out of Main Street in Flushing. Sometime in 1954, or perhaps as late as early ’55, the family then moved to a suburban Monmouth County home in New Shrewsbury, New Jersey. From here Joe made the commute to and from the Atlas offices by commuter railroad out of Penn Station.

1954: “One Last Chance to Draw Gruesome” 1954 dawned with a new crime title, Police Action. Maneely drew two superlatively busy covers to #1 (Jan. ’54) and #5 (Sept. ’54), and the cover to Justice Comics #46 (May ’54). He also drew a story each in Police Action #3 and in Crimefighters #11, the first of a three-issue revival of an old crime title from half a decade back. 1954 also saw Joe continuing his run on Speed Carter, Spaceman and stories for Menace, Uncanny Tales, Adventures into Weird Worlds, Marvel Tales, and Mystery Tales. In Speed Carter he also drew a back-up feature in issue #4 (“Famous Explorers of Space”) and part of the cover to #6, where he depicted the gruesome bug-eyed alien monster.

That year would also give Maneely one last chance to draw gruesome pre-Code horror covers. With the Comics Code on the horizon, Joe’s 1954 horror covers are just fantastic, and he joins Bill Everett as one of

That’s gotta hurt! Doc V. calls the cover of Astonishing #30 “pre-Code horror at its finest” and “one of Maneely’s greatest!” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

19

20

Joe Maneely

This grouping of one cover and eight splashes by Maneely from 1954 issues of Crazy, Wild, and Riot illustrates the lack of focus of the Timely/Atlas imitations, as opposed to Kurtzman’s Mad. [From top left:] Although the parodies of the 1950s movies The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (from Crazy #2, Jan.) and It Came from Outer Space (Riot #2, June) and even the radio series Wild Bill Hickok (Crazy #4, March) are fairly focused, the Charlie Chan takeoff in Wild #1 (Feb.) was a holdover from an earlier decade—while it’s hard to tell what “Rodeo Schmoe!” (Wild #3, April), “Deep in the Heart of Taxes” (Wild #2, March), “Robert the Robot!” (Crazy #7, July), and “Gentlemen Prefer Bonds” (Crazy #5, April) are parodying—certainly not the Marilyn Monroe/Jane Russell movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in the latter case. Joe’s cover for Wild #5 (Aug. ’54) is well-done, but more of a gag than a parody. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists the top two artists in the genre at Atlas. While Everett was without peer in depicting unknown dread and rotting corpses, Maneely came in with some of the period’s most startling images. Two that stand out occurred in Astonishing. Issue #30 (Feb. ’54) has one of Maneely’s all-time best— the classic “melting eyeballs” cover. A man in a cemetery is having the flesh literally melted off him by heat rays coming from two huge eyeballs suspended over his head. (Of course, the cover image had almost nothing to do with the actual story.)

Astonishing #34 (Aug. ’54) has possibly the most riveting image of an impending guillotine execution in comics history. Don Heck drew a similarly wonderful cover for the Comic Media title Horrific in 1953, but Maneely predated Heck’s with an even earlier version on the cover to Marvel Tales #108 (Aug. ’52), only this time the victim’s image is much larger and the beads of sweat pouring down his head are intensely palpable! A heartstopping cover! In addition to Astonishing, horror covers this year

by Maneely can be found on Adventures into Weird Worlds, Marvel Tales, Adventures into Terror, Mystic, Journey into Unknown Worlds, and Uncanny Tales.

21 Maneely contributed less in 1954 to the Atlas war titles. He could be found drawing mostly covers in Battle, Battlefront, the new title Battleground, War Comics, and Combat Kelly, with stories in the former two and, again, War Comics.

Another new area in which Maneely began to appear was the small genre of “Jungle Girl” titles. He drew covers and stories for Jungle Action and Jungle Tales, including the “Cliff Mason, White Hunter” feature in the latter. [See p. 23.]

Most importantly, 1954 saw Maneely’s reemergence as a sizzling western artist. By midyear a new Atlas western title debuted, The Ringo Kid Western, featuring a hero who had been bouncing around in western anthology titles for a few years, drawn by, among others, even Timely crime artist Marion Sitton. As per usual, Maneely was given the task of getting the title off the ground.

Joe drew every “Ringo Kid” story in the first five issues and nearly every cover up through Our wondrous writer, Doc Vassallo, actually owns the original art to this Maneely cover for #21. The story art Astonishing #34 (Aug. ’54)—so Ye Editor promised to run it big, repro’d from a photocopy of the chores were then turned black-&-white art! (Not that Doc exactly had to twist our arm!). He says, “It was restored for me by over first to John none other than Tom Ziuko [who colors so many covers of Alter Ego and other TwoMorrows mags]!

Severin, then to Fred The original art was cropped without a logo, and Tom scanned the original book, dropped out the Kida, before Joe color, blew it [the logo] up, and printed out all the copy and logo on paper exactly matching the returned in early 1957 off-white/yellow color of the original! It looks fabulous in person and is on my wall as I type this!” for the last six issues.

We’d say you’re a lucky stiff, Doc—but maybe we should watch our wording around all these horrorcomics covers! [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Ringo Kid, along with Black Rider and Whip Wilson, are the western images I most associate with Joe Maneely. The Atlas’ Mad-style humor titles also continued in 1954. Joe drew stories were action-packed and the covers were sterling masterpieces of composition. Guns usually were blazing, and the reader’s attention was parodies in Wild, Crazy (#5’s “Gentlemen Prefer Bonds”), and Riot, as immediately drawn to the center of the action, a snapshot in time of a well as covers for all three titles. Crazy #2 (Jan. ’54) has the classic “The scene from the interior story. After giving up the story art in Ringo Kid, Beast from Fifty Million, Trillion, Skillion Fathoms!” Let me stress again that Maneely’s parody art is as fine as much of the work done in the Maneely would continue the feature in the pages of Wild Western on and off through 1957.

Mad color comic book. Taking a cue from Will Elder, pages are filled with scores of hidden sight gags and busy, exaggerated, frenetic action.

From 1954 through the end of his career, Maneely’s western art Joe also drew a handful of romance stories, and covers this year for would be in abundance, as he drew covers and/or stories for most of the Love Romances, My Own Romance, Girl Confessions, True Secrets— numerously redundant western titles Atlas would publish, including and Lovers #57, which has an eerily foreshadowing title “The Night I Western Kid, Western Outlaws, Two-Gun Kid, and Kid Colt Outlaw.

Lost You!” The Love Romances #43 cover is signed by Vince Colletta, Covers in 1954 would include for the mags just mentioned, as well as but the backgrounds and the background figure are by Joe. Ringo Kid, Black Rider, Outlaw Fighters, Wild Western, Western

22

Joe Maneely

Thrillers, and the Indian hero Arrowhead, featuring great western art by Joe Sinnott. Western Thrillers #1 would also reprint Maneely’s debut story from Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #1 (Dec. ’49), re-titled “The Gunslinger.”

1954 would see one last Maneely oddity—four pages of tiny marginal illustrations to accompany song lyrics in the Atlas one-shot World’s Greatest Songs #1 (Sept. ’54). This title was actually planned to be ongoing, but died a quick and merciful death immediately. It was a bad idea, analogous to Jackie Gleason’s You’re in the Picture game show that bombed so badly it was canned after a single broadcast in 1961.

1955: Swords, Sub-Mariner, and Snafu By 1955 Maneely’s inking had For Alter Ego’s aging fanboy editor, this was one of the most difficult choices of all! Doc V. sent us photocopies of no less than 38 “Ringo Kid” splashes by Joe Maneely from the years 1954-57 (ten from ’54 alone!)... and at least half of stylized itself to a precision “etching” them were so good we felt we just had to squeeze them in. In the end, we settled for these two to represent the year effect, and he would enter a fruitful 1954, both from Ringo Kid #1 (Aug.). Note that, even with no highlights for color on Ringo’s all-black outfit, Maneely year that would see him turn out his still manages to make the art clear as a bell—and the contrast with background figures and details, which he tended to most diverse and prolific work. It ink with thin lines and no shadowing or solid blacks, is stark and dramatic. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] may also have been about this time that Joe actually joined the Atlas comic book publishers caved in and enacted a self-imposed “Comics staff, supplementing whatever his prodigious freelance work was Code,” whose “stamp” of approval appeared on the cover of nearly all bringing in. Let’s take a look at what was happening to the comic book books. This was the death knell for many publishers, including William world and specifically Atlas as the year began. By cover date March ’55, M. Gaines’ EC line of horror and crime comics. after five years of harassment by psychiatrist Frederic Wertham and strengthened by a Senate sub-committee investigation and hearings, the At Atlas, Martin Goodman responded by watering down the images

If you’re known by the company you keep...! Maneely did the cover for Black Rider #24 (Sept. 1954), while Syd Shores illustrated all three “Black Rider” tales inside, and last issue’s interviewee Joe Sinnott drew the “Arrowhead” filler feature. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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survived the Code and, as will be and quality. The stories would seen shortly, Goodman would become bland shadows of their really expand them, most evidently former selves; yet also, within a in 1956. short time, as will be seen in late 1955 and into 1956, he actually Now let’s see what Joe Maneely increased his output and diversity. was up to in 1955. The year began The romance and humor titles with him drawing the splash panel basically continued unabated. The and three other panels to two already-dying crime line was further otherwise totally Joe Sinnott “Rick purged, and only two titles survived Davis of the Secret Service” stories the Code. War titles showed an in Spy Thrillers #2 (Jan. ’55), as expansion starting in 1954; the seen in Alter Ego #26. Why Code did nothing to affect their Maneely was drawing a handful of quantity, only their quality. Gone panels is unknown, as Sinnott was were the violent, brutal, dark, and a wonderfully capable artist in his gritty stories about grunts in own right and certainly did not foxholes. They were replaced with need corrections on such an historical pieces and more “human unimportant feature. Joe’s new interest”-type war stories. Some staff position likely had him doing could be action-packed and interthese minor touch-ups. By #5 esting, like the much underrated (Sept. ’55) the title changed “Torpedo Taylor” feature that ran completely to Police Badge #479 in almost the entire run of Navy and was cancelled. The issue Combat and sported some of the features one of my all-time favorite finest artwork of Don Heck’s Maneely’s splash for one of the features in Jungle Tales #2 (Nov. 54). Note Joe Maneely covers. It’s nothing career. With some ingenuity and that the boat on the splash panel is named after Joe’s oldest daughter more than a quiet depiction of a talent, one could get around the Kathleen. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] cop on his beat in a Lower East Code restrictions and still produce Side tenement background. The scene is simple and compelling at the enjoyable stories. What helped matters was that Atlas still had a huge same time, and the coloring of the cover (likely by Stan Goldberg) really stable of freelancers, many of them the finest artists in comics. At the stands out. Inside, Joe drew a single story to accompany two by Don very least, the pictures would be pretty.

Heck, and the mag was cancelled. Crime-wise, Joe also drew the cover to Justice Comics #52 (March ’55), in what is the very last pre-Code Westerns continued on and actually expanded in the post-Code period, just losing the visual violence. In the issue, strangely bearing a March 1955 posthorror titles, as content homogenized, one Code cover date. The title changes to the could start referring to them as “fantasy” bland post-Code Tales of Justice for the titles now. They became safe and subserest of the run through September 1957. quently boring. These fantasy titles all

What hath the Comics Code wrought? In 1955 Spy Thrillers gave way to the tamer, one-issue, Maneely-covered Police Badge #479 (Sept.)—perhaps to try to show the Code Authority that Timely/Atlas really did respect “people in authority” (still a nice cover, though!)—and the covers and contents of comics like Marines in Action #1 (June) and Uncanny Tales #33 (July) likewise got considerably tamer. Hey, and dig the size of that Comics Code seal! Better than that—take a close gander at the Uncanny cover and you’ll see Joe and Betty Jean Maneely strolling in the background, Joe with a cigarette in his mouth and wearing hat and glasses as the world comes to an end around them! [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

24

Joe Maneely

Maneely had an extremely heavy war-comics year. He drew covers and stories for Combat Kelly, Battle, Battleground, Battlefront, Battle Action, Rugged Action, Navy Combat (including the “Battleship Burke” feature in issues #5-9), Marines in Action, Marines in Battle, and War Comics. Joe was an excellent craftsman, and his artwork, though stylized, was flowing and dynamic. In the westerns he was everywhere, drawing covers for many different titles, including Annie Okaley, Apache Kid, and Black Rider. He continued his run of covers and stories in Ringo Kid, and he drew the debut cover and splash panel to Billy Buckskin, turning over the rest of the book to Mort Drucker. He likewise drew the debut cover and splash for Rawhide Kid and the covers to #2 & 3, and had covers and stories across the western lineup in most titles, including Cowboy Action, Outlaw Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Western Kid, Western Outlaws, and the “Ringo Kid” feature in Wild Western. During some months of 1955, Maneely did covers for nine or ten comics!

Maneely also got Wyatt Earp off the ground. He drew the first 1H issues, then turned the book over to Norman Maurer; they were followed in turn by John Severin and finally Dick Ayers, who became the artist best known for the feature, carrying it up through 1960. Joe also drew many Wyatt Earp covers up

Maneely did some great western covers in ’55, including Annie Oakley Western Tales #5 (June), Billy Buckskin Western #1 (Nov.), Two-Gun Kid #25 (Sept.— some time before he became a masked hero), and Ringo Kid #8 (Oct.) [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Navy gets equal time with the Army and Marines in Navy Action #6 (June ’55), and “‘Battleship’ Burke” was a continuing feature—but we sure hope those Corsairs didn’t run into any Russian MIGs! The idea of a “Commie kamikaze” was pretty much fictitious, too. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

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the feature. Sub-Mariner, probably because of a potential licensing deal to adapt the hero into a TV series, lasted the longest, running ten full “revived” issues into October 1955 (#42) before being cancelled.

Towards the end of the run, Joe Maneely drew three Sub-Mariner covers: #37 (Dec. ’54), #39 (April ’55), and #41 (Aug. ’55). He also drew a non-hero adventure filler in #38 (Feb. ’55). All three covers are excellent, especially #41’s great action image, but are stylistically 180 degrees from Bill Everett’s work. These are the only depictions of true super-heroes by Joe Maneely.

In the lesser genres of 1955, Maneely continued the “Cliff Mason, White Hunter” feature in Jungle Tales, shared a Lorna the Jungle Girl cover with Vince Colletta, and had three very peculiar appearances in the romance books. First, the Vince Colletta-signed cover to Secret Story Romances #14 (Aug. ’55) has impossible-to-miss backgrounds drawn by Maneely. Then in #16 (Dec. ’55) the story “This Love of Mine” appears to be Joe working over layouts or possibly pencils by prolific Atlas romance mainstay Jay Scott Pike. Finally, in Love Tales #64’’s “Wallflower,” the story is signed by Maneely, but the panel layouts in many instances were by someone else. Joe never positioned his figures in this way, and it seems likely to me that a veteran romance artist helped here, to bring a more romantic feel to some of the panels.

Joe’s post-Code fantasy work is almost non-existent this year. Covers to Mystery Tales, Spellbound, Strange Tales of the Unusual, and Uncanny Tales seem to be it, along with a story in U.T. #35 (Sept. ’55),

Nobody could trademark the name or likeness of the hero of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, so Timely/Atlas did its own rendition. Here’s Joe’s great splash page from Wyatt Earp #1 (Nov.). [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

into 1958. That’s three new western characters designed and debuted in new titles via covers and stories in 1955 alone! Maneely was without a doubt the western artist at Atlas and possibly in comics at this time. He had total command of the genre, and his visual depictions were frenetic, action-packed, and exciting. His storytelling ability was without peer, and he was indispensable to Stan Lee in generating new titles, characters, and concepts. Maneely also appeared in a few panels of various John Severin stories. Severin has mentioned how they occasionally would “swap” pages and add to each other’s panels.

Next in 1955 we see something really different. Maneely had the opportunity to draw his only images of one of Timely’s super-heroes from the World War II era. In late 1953 Martin Goodman made the decision to give the company’s “big three” super-heroes another try, and The Human Torch, Captain America, and Sub-Mariner were brought back in the last few issues of the converted war/adventure title Young Men from #24 (Dec. ’53) through #28. Concurrently, in early 1954 the same conversion of Men’s Adventures took place for that title’s final two issues (#27 & 28), and the “big three’s” own Golden Age titles were reintroduced, with numbering continued from 1949. Called the Atlas Hero Revival by comic book historians, all but Sub-Mariner petered out after a handful of issues.

The revival was a failure in spite of interesting work by Carl Burgos and Dick Ayers on “The Human Torch,” John Romita on “Captain America,” and gorgeous artwork on “Sub-Mariner” by Bill Everett. This Everett work is possibly the finest work of his career. Everett had his “baby” back, and it showed in the lavish, lush rendering bestowed on

We showcased one of Maneely’s three mid-’50s Sub-Mariner covers on p. 3.

Here’s another one—from issue #41 (Aug. ’52). Is there any doubt Joe could’ve handled a super-hero title with the best of ’em, had he been drawing in an era when they were in the ascendant? [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

26 “The Man Who Lived Again.”

Maneely’s cover to U.T. #33 (July ’55) has a sneaked-in image of a bespectacled Joe and Betty Jean on the cover, calmly walking in the crowd while a vivid apocalyptic New York City scene goes on in the background.

[See p. 23.] In fact, practically every cover image of an attractive woman is his homage to his beautiful wife Betty Jean. This will be seen time and time again.

Joe Maneely Forbush. The second issue, Vol. 2, #1 (Jan. ’56), has more of the same (including much more Maneely art). A feature on “Little Louie Lumpkin” predates Lee’s Willie Lumpkin daily strip by four years, showing that Stan was knocking these names around for years before they coalesced into final form—in Lumpkin’s case, as the old guy who delivered the mail to the Fantastic Four..

Much of the humor in these three issues is geared towards males, even more so than Mad magazine was.

Most of the art was by Joe Maneely, with John Severin coming in second. Without a doubt, Maneely and Severin produce very funny work which will preview their future humor work in Cracked.

As already explained, following the institution of the Comics Code with comics cover-dated March 1955, Martin Goodman, unlike many other publishers, continued to increase his line. This expansion was mainly accomplished by flooding the market with redundant titles with contents different in name only.

In the spring of 1955, though, Goodman and editorTowards the end of in-chief Stan Lee again decided to really try something 1955, Maneely particidifferent. With Lee handling the script and Maneely pated in another doing the art, May ’55 saw the debut of Black Knight. attempt by Martin This was something completely new to the Atlas line, a Goodman to milk a “historical,” “non-super” hero. Lee scripted the two successful humor “Black Knight” stories in #1, including the 10-page magazine formula. origin, and Maneely turned in perhaps his most We’ve already seen inspired artwork. The lush medieval subject matter Atlas’ first try to mimic was absolutely perfect for the antique Harvey Kurtzman’s “etching” inking effect Joe employed. color Mad comics with For Snafu #1 (Nov. ’55) Maneely drew caricatures of newsman/TV Comics historian Robert Jennings has personality Edward R. Murrow and Red-baiter Senator Joseph Crazy, Wild, and Riot, called this work “romantic realism ...

McCarthy. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn of the Netherlands for this with minimal success. Now an with human figures moving against a montage. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] initiative was made to copy the panorama of medieval splendor.” The black-&-white Mad magazine. The action was bristling and the task was given to Stan Lee, who would write the fight scenes wonderfully whole thing, and a handful of his best humor choreographed. Joe drew artists: Joe Maneely, John Severin, Russ Heath, Bill fabulous covers for all five Everett, and Howie Post. The result was Snafu. issues of the title’s short The bulk of the first issue, Vol 1, #1 (Nov. ’55) was run, plus all stories, drawn by Joe Maneely and John Severin, and the including “Crusader” fillers, wackiness was wall-to-wall. Joke ads, magazine, in the first three issues. Stan movie and TV parodies, photo gags, even a Lee wrote the two “Black cheesecake section that had pin-up models on one Knight” stories in issue #1 page and a photo of a real cheesecake on the only; it’s not known who other! The pin-ups came from Goodman’s men’s wrote #2-5. digests and occasionally included photos of Betty Page. Marie Severin worked on production of the After three issues, second and third issues. But Snafu never took off following the normal pattern, and was killed after three issues.

Maneely turned over the art on Black Knight to others, Today Snafu is best remembered for the first Fred Kida in #4 (with a introduction of Marvel’s long-running joke John Romita “Crusader” mascot Irving Forbush, whom Stan Lee reintrofiller), and then Syd Shores, duced 14 years later in Not Brand Echh. seemingly inked by Forbush was patterned after Mad’s Alfred E. Christopher Rule, in #5.

Newman and appeared on the cover and title Surprisingly, that final issue page of the very first issue, accompanied by the (April ’56) appeared a full five blurb: “Irving Forbush, Man or Myth?” The months after #4 (Nov. ’55), title page inside states: “Founded by Irving possibly to use up inventory Forbush” and then “Losted by Marvin after a disappointing four Forbush.” On page 17 is a gag feature called issues’ worth of sales figures.

“How to Buy a House,” depicting a fictional Black Knight, good as it was, is suburban community called “Forbush Village” unfortunately what Maneely is and written by real estate agent Clapboard Q. most remembered for today by

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The original art for the cover of Black Knight #5 was seen on p.4; here are the printed covers for all five issues. Every one’s a winner—except in terms of sales. Of the several comics from various companies that debuted in 1955 partly influenced by EC’s launching of the non-continuingcharacter title Valor as part of its Codeplacating “New Direction” line, only DC’s The Brave and the Bold would limp along for a few years—spinning yarns of knights, Vikings, Romans, and Robin Hood. Oddly, most Black Knight covers feature no issue number: the May issue is #1, the July/”Siege of Camelot” ish is #2, Sept./”The Black Knight Unmasked!” is #3, ”Betrayed!” is #4. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

the uninformed who don’t realize that it was but a mere drop in the proverbial bucket compared to his career output. (Alter Ego editor Roy Thomas loved Maneely’s Black Knight so much that he reprinted the “Crusader” feature in early issues of Savage Tales in glorious black-&white, and used the title character’s armor as the basis for the modern Black Knight super-hero who debuted in the 1968 Avengers.)

1955 and early 1956 also marked the recurring appearance of a less detailed style of artwork by Joe. As his workload continued to increase, to keep up he began to employ obvious artistic shortcuts to help accommodate the speed and sheer volume of pages he was turning out. In

many instances, background detail would take second place to storytelling and panel composition.

Comic book historian Jim Steranko, a top Maneely expert, describes the artist’s techniques this way: “I cannot find a single instance of anyone inking Maneely. Here’s why: at the incredible speed he worked, he couldn’t have produced finished pencils, just breakdowns. Then, knowing exactly what he was looking for in the finish, and being a superb draftsman, he drew with the pen and brush! This is why Maneely was so fast and why no one else inked him—-they couldn’t work over his breakdowns.”

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Joe Maneely

1956: “A Key Year”

Maneely even drew Black Knight #1’s 5-page filler feature, “The Crusader.” It was reprinted (with grey tones added) in the black-&-white Conan-starring mag Savage Tales #2 (Oct. 1973). Joe’s “Crusader” tale from BK #2—not shown here—made it into Savage Tales #4. His third and final “Crusader,” from BK #3 and depicted above right, has never been reprinted. We don’t expect that a hero with such a politically-incorrect name would fare much better today. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

1956 would be a key year for Joe Maneely’s art. He would produce some of his most inspired work and would show even more diversity in subject matter. The post-Code expansion of Goodman’s line was continuing. In the fantasy books, to a group of nine mostly monthly titles were added seven more, for a total of 16 fantasy books. Maneely jumped in with many of the new titles and drew covers for World of Suspense, Marvel Tales, Astonishing, World of Fantasy, and Journey into Unknown Worlds. Fantasy stories appeared in the latter three and Adventures into Mystery. For the most part, these stories and covers were pedestrian and Joe showed no real interest in them, nor in the three crime stories he drew for Tales of Justice and Caught.

Joe also contributed a few covers for Lorna the Jungle Girl and Jann of the Jungle. The cover to Jann #11 has the main figure of Jann re-drawn and positioned by someone else on staff, perhaps Vince Colletta or Carl Burgos, an Atlas staffer who was a sort of unofficial “cover editor” in the mid-1950s and drew a ton of Atlas’ weaker post-Code cover efforts. [See cover of this A/E issue for Lorna.]

In the war titles, Maneely was still very busy, doing mostly covers for War Comics, Marines in Battle, Navy Combat, Battle, Battle Action, Battlefront, Sailor Sweeney, and Combat Kelly, as well as stories for the three “Battle” titles and War

(Left to right:) A splash page from Black Knight #3, the final issue drawn by Maneely—a splash from #4, with art by Fred Kida—and panels from the final page of a story from #5, which Doc V. feels was penciled by Syd Shores, probably inked by Chris Rule. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists Comics. 1956 also saw his final Black Knight cover, #5. Joe was as busy as ever in the western books this year, doing covers for TwoGun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Outlaw Kid, Gunsmoke Western, Western Gunfighters, Quick-Trigger Western, Two-Gun Western (2nd series), and Wyatt Earp, and stories for the latter three comics.

As seen before repeatedly, Maneely would also kick off another all-new western character, Matt Slade, Gunfighter, drawing the first issue and cover, then turning the art An action-packed Maneely cover done for 2-Gun over to Werner Roth.

Western #4 (May ’56). “The Gun-Barrel Kid”!?

Issue #1 is a masterpiece How did they dream up these names? [©2003 of western comic art Marvel Characters, Inc.] and is Maneely at his most detailed and gorgeous peak. The art brims with blazingly ornate action. He contributed some additional covers here and also to the title’s next incarnation, Kid Slade, Gunfighter. Joe also drew the cover to 2Gun Western #4 (May/56), a western anthology issue continued from Billy Buckskin #3 which would quickly metamorphose into Two-Gun Western #5-12 (without the numeral “2”). This issue (and the next few) would be entirely written by Stan Lee and feature fabulous story art by Joe Sinnott, John Severin, Gene Colan, and even Steve Ditko, in his very first pairing with Stan Lee.

Stan Lee and Joe Maneely’s Melvin the Monster, seen here from #2 (Sept. ’56), duplicated everything they could about Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace—art style, comic strip format, even upper-&-lower-case lettering style—everything except the warmth and innocence. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Aspirin, Little Lenny, and Little Lizzy, as well as “kiddie” versions of dying teen characters like Willie (Li’l Willie), Lana (Little Lana), and Tessie the Typist (Tiny Tessie). For completists’ sake, there was a second Little Lizzy series in 1953-54, also. Melvin the Monster was a warped clone of Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace, an enormously popular strip in the 1950s. But there was a major difference between them: while Dennis was a mischievous, lovable scamp, Melvin was pure terror! Pets, babysitters, siblings, police officers, neighbors, and parents were all in his sights. Melvin was just downright mean, and I believe this made him unlikable. He was a mad-at-the-world “Calvin” without a “Hobbes” to mollify his worldview. The stories were short, with many one-panel gag pages and aimed at children, but the art gave Joe an avenue to show his straight cartooning ability.

Joe Maneely’s cover for 2-Gun Western #4 is my favorite Maneely western cover.

With a beautiful yellow background, Joe’s composition is marvelous as he depicts a gunman blazing his handguns at unseen pursuers from a fleeing position. The main figure is large and dead center, and the reader’s eye is drawn right into the action. A great, great action cover!

He also helped Stan Lee launch another humor subgenre I call “kiddie humor.”

Melvin the Monster #1 appeared on the stands with a cover date of July 1956. This type of humor had been last seen regularly in 1949-50 when Timely had produced Little

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Maneely delivered a great splash for the lead-off story in Matt Slade, Gunfighter #1 (May ’56), but the character soon metamorphosed into Kid Slade, Gunfighter. Publisher Martin Goodman always had a thing for the name “Kid”! [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Stan and Joe’s Melvin would run six issues into 1957 and spawn additional kiddie clones, as we’ll see. 1956 also witnessed the revival of the Mad Comics clone Riot. For some reason issues #4-6 appeared 18 months after the first three issues and are the only post-Code four-color Mad imitations in the 1950s comics industry. Maneely drew the cover to #4 & #6, as well as inside parodies. The line-up in #6 was humor artist royalty: Joe Maneely, Bill Everett, John Severin, and Dan de Carlo, with Stan Lee scripting the entire thing.

Coming to the end of 1956 we have one more Atlas feature to mention.

While most of the post-Code Atlas expansion occurred as redundant titles in already established genres, we saw that innovative attempts were made to try new ideas. Black Knight had been one such try. Cover-date October ’56 saw another innovative attempt, as the first issue of Yellow Claw was published. Yellow Claw was unique in that the title’s main character was the villain of the story, not the hero. Allied with a fugitive Nazi war criminal, The Yellow Claw, a 100-year-old mystic patterned after Sax Rohmer’s Fu

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Joe Maneely Manchu, would attempt world domination, only to be thwarted again and again by FBI agent James Woo. An interesting angle to the first issue’s plot is that Woo’s love interest was actually the Yellow Claw’s grandniece.

The script for this first issue was by former EC great Al Feldstein and was the only script he ever turned in for Timely/Atlas.

Having left Bill Gaines, and The powerful cover of Yellow Claw #1 (Oct. 1956). being at the [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] lowest ebb of his career, Feldstein was looking for freelance work when Stan Lee offered him Yellow Claw #1. Who exactly came up with the concept seems to be lost to history, as Feldstein remembers little of the circumstances other than having scripted the first issue. Even after I sent him photocopies of the entire issue, Al drew a blank and remembered nothing more than the title.

Looking over the issue, it may well be that Feldstein actually scripted only the debut story, as it reads differently from the other two. It’s much more copy-heavy, an Al Feldstein trademark. The art chores were given to Joe Maneely, who turned out what I feel was his finest work ever.

today, I’ve always preferred Joe Maneely’s initial vision. The feature was originally conceived as a Cold War spy feature. and Maneely came through with an atmospheric thriller. It was a unique experiment in a period of “anything goes, throw it out there, and see what sticks.” This period would shortly come to an end.

One last item to mention in 1956 is two informational comics stories Maneely drew for the Social Security Administration, who used the comics as a way to reach a youth audience. One was called “John’s First Job” and the other “A Farm and a Family.” The latter focused on Social Security coverage for farmers. The art is clean, straightforward, and tells the story clearly. The two books were prepared by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It is not known if they were commissioned through Atlas or whether Maneely did these on his own as a freelancer.

In 1956 Joe and Betty Jean’s third daughter, Nancy, was born. The Maneelys now had three small mouths to feed, and Joe was furiously churning out the pages to keep food on the table. Nancy’s birth prompted a wonderful congratulatory card to the proud parents from the entire Atlas staff. Born the day after St. Patrick’s Day (she and I share the same birthdate), an infant Nancy is depicted with a shamrock and surrounded by signatures and greetings. [See p. 43.] With a comfortable suburban house in New Jersey, three adorable small daughters, a beautiful young wife, and plentiful work in the comic book business, the future looked bright indeed.

Everything Joe had done up to this point was brought into play as he drew three stories for a total of 19 pages in the first issue. The debut tale “The Coming of The Yellow Claw” has a beautiful splash panel surrounded by intricately rendered dragons. Maneely fills the story panels with ornate embellishments worthy of an intriguing Far East storyline set in exotic locales. If you drop the color out, the black-&white artwork is stunningly pretty. Maneely also renders Suwan, The Yellow Claw’s grandniece, seductively attractive. Its obvious Joe enjoyed this assignment, and it shows in the lavish care and strong attention to precise detail he gave this issue. The cover is also a gem, and one of my favorite Maneely cover images of all. Joe depicts a large looming figure of The Yellow Claw reaching out from above the New York skyline with spidery hands and long fingernails for Jimmy Woo and Suwan. The background is a dark orange, and the coloring by Stan Goldberg is superb. A classic cover image!

After this single issue, the feature was turned over to Jack Kirby, who had just begun freelancing for the company and was drawing here for the first time since he had left with Joe Simon in 1941. Kirby would also do a handful of fantasy, war, and western stories in 1956 and 1957, including a revamp of Maneely’s Black Rider, and immediately took Yellow Claw in a different direction, downplaying the cold war “spy intrigue” element and instead incorporating fantastic science-fiction storylines. Likely plotted and possibly written by Kirby himself, the art to these issues may have been inked by Jack, as well, with John Severin inking issue #4. After a four-issue run into 1957, Yellow Claw was cancelled. The character was ultimately resurrected by Jim Steranko in his groundbreaking “S.H.I.E.L.D.” feature in Strange Tales. Updated into the Marvel Universe, Jimmy Woo now worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of the FBI. While Jack Kirby’s Yellow Claw is better known

The Commies meet the Claw—on his turf. A moody, ornate, and evocative page from the first “Yellow Claw” story, drawn by Maneely and scripted by Al Feldstein (who was momentarily “at liberty” between editing EC Comics and Mad magazine. Repro’d from photocopies of the original art. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Maneely’s splashes for two of the title-character (we can’t say “hero”) stories in Yellow Claw #1; the three “Claw” tales in that issue had a Cold War and “foreignintrigue” feel. When Jack Kirby became the artist, “fantastic science-fiction storylines” predominated, as per the splash at right from #2 (Dec. ’56)—and see the story from #3 reprinted in the excellent 1997 trade paperback The Golden Age of Marvel (Vol. 1). The two “Yellow Claw” splashes from #1 are repro’d from photocopies of the original art—for the third, see p. 46. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

1957: “A Massive Implosion” As 1956 turned to 1957, Atlas was still flooding the stands with new titles. At one point, by my count, there were almost 75 titles either ongoing monthly or bi-monthly. As one genre faded, another would add titles to compensate. It didn’t matter if the new titles were basically redundant titles with new names. Goodman followed all trends in the comic book industry and the publishing industry in general. Comics were only a part of his empire that had included at one time or another pulps, crime magazines, men’s magazines, women’s magazines, celebrity gossip magazines, TV magazines, romance and confession magazines, pin-up, humor and western digests, and his own paperback line, Lion Books. A savvy businessman, he rarely led, mostly followed, but had the resources to follow with gusto, overwhelming competitors with product. For this reason he was able to weather many dips in the publishing economy. He was a survivor.

A Maneely splash from a 1956 Social Security Administration giveaway comic. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

With Atlas retaining only two post-Code crime titles, Joe Maneely did a single story for Caught #4 (Feb. ’57), and his fantasy work in 1957 is limited to a story each in Mystic, World of

Suspense, and Journey into Unknown Worlds.

The bulk of his work and attention was elsewhere.

In the war titles, Maneely was producing stories for War Comics, Battle, Battle Action, Battleground, Tales of the Marines, and Marines in Action. War cover art was plentiful on War Comics, Navy Tales, Battle, Battlefront, Battleground, Combat Kelly, and Navy Combat.

In the westerns, Joe was back as the regular artist on Ringo Kid and drew stories in #17-21, his covers never having Doc V. says of Six-Gun Western #2 (March 1957): “Western covers don’t get much better stopped across the whole than this!” [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] run of the title. He was likewise drawing fillers, many of them with Stan Lee, in Frontier Western, Quick-Trigger Western, Western Trails, Wyatt Earp, Kid Colt Outlaw, and Gunsmoke Western, which was the latest numerical incarnation of the Black Rider title. His western covers would appear on the aforementioned, as well as on Kid Slade Gunfighter, Outlaw Kid, Two-Gun Western, Western Kid, Six-Gun Western, and Kid Colt Outlaw.

There is also a great story he drew, scripted by Stan Lee, in Two-Gun Western #8, “The Return of the Hair-Trigger Kid!” Joe uses a full-page splash and larger images in simpler panels, but the effect is clean and crisp. These westerns were just marvelous to look at, if not always to

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Joe Maneely could also be found inside on occasion.

What was most obvious in 1957 was Maneely’s affinity and heavy output in the “kiddie humor” books. He was continuing Melvin the Monster with Stan Lee from #4-6, drawing “Melvin” and the back-up “Little Zelda.” Then, with issue #7 (Sept. ’57), the title mysteriously changed to Dexter the Demon. Most likely Goodman saw sales slipping and told Stan to try another name, possibly to an alliteratively similar name to Dennis the Menace. At the same time, Stan tried another Melvin clone with art by Fred Kida, called Willie the Wise-guy. That issue sported a Maneely “Melvin” inventory story circa Melvin the Monster #6. Then Stan and Joe prepared a new funny-animal book called Dippy Duck. Joe drew the whole thing, including the “Spunky the Monkey” back-up. While drawn concurrently with August 1957 issues, sporting early- to mid-”M” job numbers, the comic would be released with an October ’57 cover date.

Finally, there was another “kiddie” title called Cartoon Kids that lacked a cover month designation, but job number analysis places it as the very last “kiddie” work Joe did. The book is completely by Joe and Stan and has “Willie the Wise-guy,” “Dexter the Demon,” and “Little Zelda” stories and gags. The job numbers “O-39” to “O-44” place it at the very end of September ’57 in cover date. Stan Lee also released a re-vamped Nellie the Nurse #1 with art by Bill Everett and also without a cover month designation. This title is exactly concurrent with Cartoon Kids; the job numbers of “O-37” to “O-95” bear this out.

Many Atlas war comics in 1957 seemed to emphasize the Chinese Communists rather than American men in uniform, as in three of these four splashes from [left to right] War Comics #45 (Jan.), Battle Action #27 (Feb.), Marines in Action #11 (March), and War Comics #47 (May). Red Chinese action in Tibet figured prominently in two of them. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

read. Joe also drew an illustration for a Martin Goodman western digest called Western Magazine. By the mid-1950s, all that remained of Goodman’s once-mighty pulp line of the 1930s and early 1940s was a string of four western pulps titled Best Western, Complete Western Book Magazine, Two-Gun Western, and Western Short Stories. All four of these pulps would soon vanish. Goodman already had success with the girlie digest format, including even experimentally converting two issues of his solo science-fiction pulp Marvel Science Stories to a digest format in 1951, so he put out a western pulp in the digest format; after an issue or two Carl Burgos took over as art director on this title.

Burgos would draw the story title illustrations. Maneely and Matt Baker

By cover-date September ’57, Atlas was bursting at the seams with titles, both older and ongoing, and new ones every month.

Joe Maneely was as busy as he’d ever been, furiously drawing war, westerns, “kiddie” books, you name it. All of his ever-growing humor work was with Stan Lee, and by this time the majority, if not all, of Stan’s non-editorial work was done exclusively with Joe. It was “Stan & Joe” on every page they did.

But, unbeknownst to Stan & Joe, trouble lay immediately ahead. In early 1957 Martin Goodman was convinced by his business manager, Monroe Froehlich, Jr., to switch his distribution system from his own Atlas Magazines, Inc., to the national distributor American News Company (ANC). What was apparently not known at the time was that ANC was already in hot water and under government investigation for numerous reasons. Shortly after assuming distribution of Goodman’s line, ANC ceased operation, and Goodman was left high and dry with a ton of titles to distribute and no way to get them to the newsstands. A massive implosion/cancellation ensued. Everyone on staff but Stan Lee was let go.

Scores and scores of freelancers who depended on Atlas for a portion

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1958: “We’re Sure Gonna Miss You, Joe” Joe Maneely, meanwhile, had seen his main source of income vanish overnight. Like his colleagues, he frantically went to the other main employers of comic book artists, namely National and Charlton. At National he secured work from Murray Boltinoff in the DC mystery titles House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected, and the crime title Gang Busters. Obviously trying to impress the editorial people there, and spending more time on the rendering, Joe produced artwork that harkens back to the lushly detailed work he had done on Yellow Claw and is very appealing. Over at Charlton, with the low pay rates they employed, Joe churned out less detailed western stories and fillers for Wyatt Earp, Cowboy Western, Lash Larue, and Six-Gun Heroes. Comparison of Maneely’s work for the two companies shows the startling difference in the final product.

Dippy Duck #1-and-only (Oct. ’57) is a rare duck in the old-comics market—because it was the very last comic ever to feature an Atlas logo. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

(some a large portion) of their freelance income were in a panic and scrambled for work elsewhere, many leaving the comic book business forever, heading into commercial art or retiring. From work records of the time, we can pinpoint the exact date of the implosion to the very last week of April 1957. No more story scripts were given out after this time. This applies to books that would have been out on the stands with an October ’57 cover date and coincides with job numbers approximately after “O-250.” There were many stories in mid-production, either scripts written or not assigned, or even partially drawn stories. Many of these undrawn stories would be completed after this “implosion” when the company had caught its breath.

At the same time, a group of core Timely/Atlas staff artists and freelancers who were looking for work found it in another launched clone of Mad magazine called Cracked. Led by familiar Timely/Atlas names like artist Sol Brodsky (editor) and Alan Sulman (an ex-Timely scripter), the art roster would include John Severin, Paul Reinman, Ed Winiarski, Russ Heath, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Al Williamson—and Joe Maneely, who would appear in the first five issues. Others like Bill Ward and Al Jaffee also quickly joined. Pulling together all his humor experience honed in a score of stories in Crazy, Wild, Riot, and Snafu, Joe drew hilarious features that ranked with the best of these artists.

Could Mad magazine be around the corner? Cracked would be the most successful of the Mad clones and last forty years, with John Severin using it as his home for much of its long run. Maneely also drew

The aforementioned Dippy Duck by Stan and Joe appeared with an Oct. ’57 cover date and was the very last comic ever to sport an Atlas logo. This book was on the stands with the titles for the last week of September ’57, and there were a lot of delayed releases and mixed-up cover months during these last “Atlas” releases. Investigation of actual publishing dates would reveal instances of August, September, and October cover dates appearing simultaneously on the newsstands. From a high of approximately 75 comic book titles, the line was pared down to eight titles a month or 16 total bi-monthly titles, and Goodman was able to hurriedly secure distribution from National’s Independent News Corporation (Ind.). This was all Independent would allow it (and there were title cancellations and substitutions) until Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. ’61), which would inexplicably be a 17th title and indicate that no one at Independent was closely minding the store. Lee had enough inventory to keep getting out the teen, romance, war, and fantasy titles, but by the end of 1957 that waned and by early 1958 he began soliciting new work.

The “Atlas Implosion” also put the final nail into the coffin of Goodman’s pulp line. All four of the last western pulps were cancelled. The digest Western Magazine continued, as did at least one of Goodman’s slick crime magazines, Amazing Detective Cases. Other publications like the TV gossip magazines, the men’s digests, and sweat magazines continued and were all now carried by Independent News.

Artifact from the end of an era. A trio of comic greats commiserating: Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, and John Severin. The latter drew this cartoon, says Doc V., “on the occasion of the closing of the Atlas staff in the Atlas implosion, 4/57.” Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 John Severin.]

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Joe Maneely comic book artist dreamed of getting out of the slums of commercial comics and into the penthouse of a syndicated strip. This might have been a ticket to more lucrative work and exposure.

The teen inventory ran out first, and Stan was soon soliciting new freelance work from Al Hartley, Stan Goldberg, and Morris Weiss.

Dan de Carlo, one of the Atlas teen mainstays for a decade, was gone, having trekked over to Archie Comics to begin what was to become a heralded 40year run there. The new Timely teen work corresponds with “P” job numbers and begins with the January ’58 cover month.

Then the western inventory ran out and Dick Ayers returned to Wyatt Earp, Jack Keller came back to A pair of splashes Maneely drew for National/DC soon after the latterly-named “Atlas implosion.” pencil Kid Colt Outlaw, From left to right, they’re from Gang Busters #62 (March ’58) and House of Mystery #75 (June ’58). and Joe Maneely to TwoJoe has clearly altered his style somewhat to meet DC’s requirements. [©2003 DC Comics.]

Gun Kid following the Chuck Miller inventory for a new magazine called Loco, another short-lived Mad magazine from early 1957. The Two-Gun Kid stories were drawn in a sparser copycat. style, similar to the Charlton work. Dick Ayers and Jack Keller also drew new stories for Gunsmoke Western, an anthology title. Maneely Back at the company that was no longer called Atlas (after the began contributing covers to titles that survived the implosion, such as implosion, the Atlas Globe was gone and calling the books “Atlas” is a Gunsmoke Western, Two-Gun Kid, Wyatt Earp, misnomer), Stan Lee was Battle, Navy Combat, Marines in Battle, World of getting out fantasy, war, Fantasy, and Strange Tales, the latter of which sported teen, romance, and western a Maneely inventory story from early 1957. Joe was titles, utilizing a large drawing so many covers that there weren’t enough backlog of inventory, some titles to run them all and they were likely stockpiled. of which hailed from as far back as 1956. Inventoried A really interesting Maneely issue from this period Joe Maneely covers also is Navy Combat #19 (Aug. ’58). First he finishes the appeared on many western “Torpedo Taylor” story after Don Heck (the usual issues. Maneely was soon artist, who’d had a great run on the feature) drew the back as the inventory ran splash and was let go after the implosion. Secondly, the out. Concurrently, Stan and cover is notable in that it depicts seven sailors on deck, Joe teamed up on a syndiloading shells into a submarine’s guns, and on the backs cated newspaper strip called of four shirts are the names “Severin.J,” “Maneely,” Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs. Using “Lee.S,” and “Ward.G,” the latter obviously being the successful formula they George Ward, Joe’s friend and old studio mate. [See p. had employed in their 37.] To what degree his professional relationship was “kiddie” Atlas titles, the maintained with Ward over the years is unknown, as meanness was turned down Ward never worked for Timely-Atlas so far as I know, and this family-oriented and the exact dates and workings of their studio, as strip depicted a pack of Cub already mentioned, have likewise eluded me. I also Scouts and the humorously don’t know whether Ward helped Maneely out on tame adventures they Atlas features and vice versa. This remains a black hole enjoyed. Released by the in the career history of Joe Maneely.

Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate, it debuted February 10, 1958, with Maneely took a simplified approach to his work for Charlton, Sunday strips starting the which paid far lower rates than Timely had or DC did, as in following week. This was a this splash from the generically-titled Cowboy Western #67 big chance for Joe. Every (March ’58). [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

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(Left:) A Maneely display drawing done for his and Stan Lee’s 1958 comic strip Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs; we’re not sure if it was ever published, since it wasn’t part of the press kit released by the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate. Pictured are Den Mother Lyons, Chester Lyons (left), and his friend Tug-boat; we’re not sure of the pooch’s name. (Below:) Photos of Stan Lee (top) and Joe Maneely from the press kit, which was provided by Nancy Maneely. [Material ©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

Eight-year-old Kathleen and seven-year-old Carole awoke to a policeman at the front door, and their mother crumpled in shock.

Two-year-old Nancy did not comprehend what had happened.

Hundreds of people showed up at the funeral, as Maneely had been well-loved, but Betty Jean barely got through it and was hysterical in her grief. There were a score of gorgeous bouquets sent by relatives and friends, but the largest arrangement by far came from Stan Lee and Joe’s Atlas colleagues. Attached was a white ribbon with the words: “We’re sure gonna miss you, Joe.”

One final new venture was some side work for the Birds Eye Frozen Food Company. Joe drew several give-away comics, creating the “Birds Eye Kids” for Birds Eye Foods. One book was titled The Birds Eye Kids Go Shopping, another The Birds Eye Kids Go Fishing. They consisted of comics stories, games, puzzles, and a coloring page, were copyright 1958 by General Foods Corp., and were produced by Timely Illustrated Features, meaning they likely came out of the Atlas offices similar to the way the earliest issues of The Adventures of the Big Boy had in 1956.

As June of 1958 dawned, Joe Maneely was again extremely busy. He was still drawing Two-Gun Kid for Stan Lee, as well as churning out many covers for the western, war, and fantasy titles; he had a syndicated comic strip with Stan that was four months old; he was freelancing at National and Charlton; and he was busy over at Cracked turning out wonderful work. Joe’s speed and diversity is what made him so much in demand. By working so fast, Joe was able to make more money than the average freelancer, something he relished, as he had come from such poor beginnings. By the same token, he probably spent more money than he should have. But work was steady and Joe was happy, both personally and professionally. He threw lavish parties at his home in New Jersey and frequently went out drinking with his coworkers. Joe loved to have a good time, and times were seemingly good, in spite of the recent downturn in the comic book industry and specifically at Atlas. No one could have anticipated the tragedy that was to come.

On June 7th, 1958, after a late “after-hours” with some fellow artists, including John Severin, Joe Maneely would head home to New Jersey by train and never make it. John Severin recalls saying goodbye to him that evening as they parted, and Joe was most likely inebriated. According to the recollection of friend and Timely co-worker Stan Goldberg, Maneely had also lost his glasses that week and had complained about this to Goldberg, as related in Alter Ego #18. What actually happened will probably never be known, but he apparently fell between the cars of the train and was killed instantly. He was 32 years old.

Maneely’s death devastated the family both personally and financially. He had been making a decent living but had saved very little. Left with a ton of debts, Betty Jean and her daughters moved back to Philadelphia to be near her family. The Maneelys eventually lost touch with all of Joe’s friends and co-workers.

George Ward, a close friend of the family, remained in touch for years, sending letters, Christmas cards, and original artwork, but at some point that contact was lost.

(Below:) These four strips were pictured in the Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs press kit. The dotted-line-bordered “Cubs’ Corner” appears as part of the Sunday strip. [©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

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Joe Maneely out. The covers, too, were subtly touched up by someone in production, and his cover signature removed. There is absolutely no credit or acknowledgement in any of the four issues as to who wrote or drew them. This was a great disservice to Maneely, and it is incomprehensible to me why this was done, especially at a time when full credits appeared in every Marvel book.

Editor Roy Thomas ran Maneely’s “The Crusader” as a back-up feature in early issues of the black-&-white Savage Tales, and many Maneely pre- and post-Code horror/fantasy stories were reprinted in the several early-to-mid-’70s Marvel black-&-white “mystery” magazines, and even such color comics as Giant-Size Man-Thing #4, Kull #14, and a slew of Marvel horror/fantasy reprint titles. Even “Cliff Mason” reprints turned up in issues of the 1970s retread Jungle Tales. Maneely’s western work also surfaced in the 1970s reprint title Mighty Marvel Western, and occasionally in reprint issues of titles like Kid Colt Outlaw (the cover to #170, May. ’73) and Two-Gun Kid #104 (1972), with the covers touched up to resemble contemporary versions of the characters. Marvel even revived Ringo Kid in the early ’70s as a full Maneely reprint title, showcasing his work from the Atlas run. Joe’s work from Yellow Claw #1 would also turn up as a back-up in GiantSize Master of Kung Fu #1 & #2 in 1974.

Stan Lee and all Maneely’s colleagues were saddened and numb, but business carried on. Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs was turned over to Al Hartley but was soon cancelled.

Covers drawn by Joe would continue to appear for months afterward. Two-Gun Kid was given over to a succession of artists (Jack Davis, Al Hartley, and John Severin) before Jack Kirby revamped the character in the early 1960s. Cover-date November 1958 would see a Maneely cover on Journey into Mystery #49, the very last issue before the pre-hero content change in #50. December ’58 would see Maneely covers on Strange Tales #66, Wyatt Earp #20, and Battle #61, which also featured an inventoried Maneely war story from 1957. Another inventoried “Ringo Kid” story, “0-245,” would appear as late as Gunsmoke Western #53 (July ’59).

Western covers would occasionally show up as late as Two-Gun Kid #49 (Aug. ’59) and Gunsmoke Western #55 (Nov. ’59), before the inventory finally ran out. Likewise, small text illustrations, actually only “doodles” which seem to have been drawn by Joe and initialed “M.,” still showed up in comics into the early 1960s, and panels taken from actual Maneely stories appeared as text illustrations as late as Gunsmoke Western #66 (Sept. ’61). I’m less certain about many unsigned text illustrations that are similar in style to the signed “M” illustrations.

In the late 1990s Marvel reprinted one of Maneely’s “Black Knight” stories again in the trade paperback The Golden Age of Marvel (Vol. 1), incorrectly attributing to Stan Lee the script of a story from Black Knight #2.

One question remains in my mind: why has Joe Maneely fallen so far under the radar of comic book histories and chroniclers of Marvel’s history?

The answer is that, for the most part, early fandom’s obsession with super-heroes allowed that genre to receive the bulk of their scrutiny, followed by ECs, Carl Barks, etc, down the line. The birth of 1960s

Doc V. owns the original black-&-white art to all three Maneely stories in TwoGun Kid #42 (June 1958), by which time Joe had mastered his slightly simplified style. Apparently all three tales were scripted by Stan Lee. By this point TwoGun had become a singing cowboy. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Marvel would attempt to mine the ghost of Joe Maneely again in the late 1960s, when it reprinted Joe’s “Black Knight” stories in issues of Fantasy Masterpieces and Marvel Super-heroes. In late 1969 Marvel revived and reprinted Melvin the Monster under the title Peter the Little Pest into 1970. Inexplicably, while Maneely’s byline had appeared on every splash panel of the original run, here it was purposely whited

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

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Marvel under Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko further thrust superhero comics to the forefront, where it remains (unfortunately) to this day. Joe Maneely’s death precluded his participation in comics’ re-birth in the 1960s. He toiled his entire career in genre comics, during a 9-year period between the Golden and Silver ages, on horror, crime, humor, and most importantly westerns, in that “black hole” period known as the 1950s, for a derivative company called “Atlas.” It didn’t matter that he was drawing everything under the sun, that he was a phenomenal talent and prolific beyond belief. The fact is, no one was watching.

Except for Black Knight, Marvel has pretty much seen fit to write Joe Maneely out of its recognized history. This is not helped in the least

by Marvel “histories” and “biographies” that likewise jump over this period, preferring to chronicle costumed heroes of the 1940s and 1960s and giving the artistically dense and fertile Atlas period in between nothing but a token gesture of acknowledgement.

Joe Maneely’s daughters grew up not fully comprehending the legacy and contributions of their father to the history of Marvel Comics. Betty Jean, a smart and beautiful young woman, would never remarry and “never, ever” got over the death of her husband. She would be traumatized for decades. Taking meager jobs, she did the best she could for her family. She rarely spoke to the children in great detail about their father’s career, and it is only recently that they began their quest to unearth the breadth of their father’s work.

This would seem to be the end of our story—but there are additional things to consider.

Joe Maneely’s last “new” story art for Stan Lee appears to be in Two-

As detailed in this article, the last names and first initials of George Ward, Stan Lee, Joe Maneely, and John Severin were written on the back of four sailors in this Maneely cover for Navy Combat #19. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Gun Kid #44 (Oct. ’58) and Kid Colt Outlaw #81 (Nov. ’58). Two of the three “Two-Gun Kid” stories have job numbers starting with “T”— “T-19” & “T-35”—while the “Kid Colt” story is “T-43.” These numbers are important, because they signify that they were drawn at the dawn of what some call the “pre-hero” era of Marvel Comics. The pre-hero era was the period when Jack Kirby, along with Steve Ditko and a handful of other artists, returned to Stan Lee after the pre-implosion inventory ran out and were immediately put onto fantasy titles (as well as onto westerns and the single war title Battle), sporting a newer, bolder direction, with a slant different from the previously-seen, predictably bland post-Code stories.

This page, reproduced from the original art, appeared in Cracked #5 (Oct. 1958) after Joe’s death. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Using initially innovative science-fiction themes and later Godzilla and B-movie-inspired monster stories, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko set a new and exciting artistic tone, starting in the new title Strange Worlds (Dec. ’58) and continuing in World of Fantasy (#16). Two new titles, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense, were added to the continuing Strange Tales and the revived Journey into Mystery. Kirby and Ditko were joined by Joe Sinnott, Paul Reinman, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, and John Forte. In addition, rare appearances were made by Al Williamson, Russ Heath, Reed Crandall, John Buscema, Jack Davis, Matt Baker, and an artist(s) I collectively call “Mystery Artist,” whose work contains elements of Carl Burgos and others and is likely by “diverse hands,” with Burgos perhaps being the main penciler on many/most of them.

Former Timely teen and fashion artist Christopher Rule inked Jack Kirby on many of these earliest stories in 1959. George Klein inked a

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Joe Maneely Kirby might not have been needed on the western titles if Joe had been there, changing the history of westerns in the Marvel Age from what we know today.

And what about that certain comic book with a cover date of November 1961?

I’m certain the Marvel Age would still have been born the Original art by Joe Maneely for a possible proposal for a syndicated comic strip, to be titled Amanda and the Haunted same way, with Jack Kirby Cottage. The lettering, much of it only in pencil, will not reproduce well, but the copy at bottom left seems to read: “The drawing Fantastic Four. But story of a lonely little girl and her ADVENTURES!!” Date unknown. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely.] what next? If Maneely was behind Kirby in the line-up of handful, and Dick Ayers inked the vast bulk of the rest. The debut tales artists, would Joe have been given the next title, The Incredible Hulk? in both titles above have job numbers likewise starting with the letter If not Hulk, what about “Thor”? “Spider-Man” in Amazing Fantasy “T”; the first “T” fantasy story was “I Discovered the Secret of the #15? Would Ditko have had the opportunity to hone his technique with Flying Saucers!” [T-76] by Jack Kirby and Christopher Rule, in Strange Lee on scores of pre-hero fantasy stories and been in the position to get Worlds #1. These sf and eventual monster stories would lay the creative “Spider-Man” after Lee rejected Kirby’s initial version, if Maneely had groundwork, the primordial soup, that would ultimately give birth to been around, drawing those same scores of stories with Stan? Would the Marvel Age of Comics in 1961.

Maneely’s speed have allowed him to forego inking and provide just pencils or breakdowns for inkers to interpret, as Kirby did? We just We can see by the above that Joe Maneely, Stan Lee’s most trusted don’t know. and valued artist, would die at the exact moment when the pre-hero era was starting. With this in mind, we might speculate what might have What is known is that, with an artist like Joe Maneely right in the happened had Maneely lived. middle of the mix, the dynamics that eventually gave birth to the Marvel Age of Comics would have been partly changed and the results different.

Maneely was Stan Lee’s top artist for ten years. He would have played a huge part in Stan’s jumpstarting the new super-hero line. I personally The very week Joe Maneely died, Jack Kirby was quite likely think Maneely would have been a dynamite artist for the “Dr. Strange” penciling his lead story for Strange Worlds #1. Subsequent issues would feature, no disrespect to Steve Ditko meant here. Look at Yellow Claw probably have featured science-fiction fantasy stories drawn by Joe, #1 and imagine Maneely five years later working on such an exotic possibly not dissimilar to his 1958 ones for National/DC. What this feature. Not necessarily better—but different and just as interesting. would have done to the dynamics of the existing art line-ups is an interSome might argue that nothing esting study. Maneely was fast—faster Joe Maneely did in the 1950s than anyone besides Kirby and proves he would have been a good Sekowsky, and possibly faster than Marvel super-hero artist in the either, as he always turned in 1960s. I don’t believe that at all. completed stories, not merely pencils.

By way of an example: let’s take With Jack and Joe working fast three talented and great Marvel and possibly drawing the bulk of the artists who shone in the ’60s and stories, what would have happened to ’70s, all of whom debuted in Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Paul comics at approximately the same Reinman, Dick Ayers, and Joe time as Joe, and compare them to Sinnott? Would one or possibly two Maneely: of them have been pushed to the side?

First, John Buscema. By the Maybe. Would Maneely have stayed early to mid-1950s, Buscema was on his main forte, westerns? It’s showing signs of brilliance, but possible, but he was also equally nothing could have prepared us adept at science-fiction, having toiled for the incredible work he did on scores of pre-Code horror and sf, from 1968 to 1980 on Silver as well as space opera like Speed Surfer, Thor, and Conan the Carter and “Blast Revere.” By the Barbarian. time the format morphed to monster stories, I’d guess that Maneely might Then there’s John Romita. John have been second to Kirby and was very busy in a wide variety of possibly ahead of Ditko in the titles and genres in the early to pecking order of importance to Stan. middle 1950s. He drew a This half-finished page (most of the pencils are very rough and won’t Perhaps Jack, Joe, and Steve would smattering of pedestrian reproduce well), with its first panel fully inked and the second one partly have been all the artists Stan would inked, may well have been on Maneely’s drawing-board when he died in “Captain America” stories actually have needed, at least for those that tragic 1958 accident. It was clearly being done for an adaptation of the during the Atlas hero revival, first few years. Perhaps Maneely Gunsmoke TV series, as even Marshal Matt Dillon’s name can be discerned in drew a great Western Kid would even have been corralled to ink the lead caption. There was an official Gunsmoke comic from Dell/Western feature, and then was a prolific from 1956 to 1969. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [Art © Estate of Joe Maneely.]

Kirby (not a likely scenario)—or

The 1960s: A “What If” World

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

Judging by the job number (T-43), this story from Kid Colt Outlaw #81 (Nov. 1958) is the very last story Maneely drew for Stan Lee and Timely. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

and wonderful romance artist for National. When he took over for Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man, no one expected him to shine the way he quickly did. Romita’s art matured to a degree that his previous work had never hinted, making a huge, definitive contribution to the success of Marvel Comics from the mid-1960s onward.

Finally, Gene Colan, one of my all-time favorite artists. From 194865 Gene was possibly the most proficient of the three—but on superheroes? No one suspected the cinematic brilliance to come, and no one forecast the run on Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Tomb of Dracula, and all the rest of the exquisite work he turned out after the mid-’60s.

The point of all this is that Joe Maneely was more prolific, more diverse, and closer to Stan Lee than any of them. If we cut off all four at 1957, Joe’s career is the deepest of this group. He was already a star artist with more experience under his belt than almost anyone from his generation. Commercial comics, advertising art, a syndicated strip—fast, dependable, and versatile, Joe Maneely did it all. He designed almost all of the new features Atlas “threw out there” in the 1950s, and was a talented workhorse who could draw anything. His work was boldly energetic and his storytelling peerless. He drew comics for a short tenyear period, and his meteoric rise and death have reverberations to this day. He was Stan Lee’s top artist, bar none, and one of the very best working in comics. His style and talent would have continued to develop and mature as did those of the aforementioned three. And, unlike Bill Everett, a huge talent who could not seem to get comfortable in the 1960s, he would probably have adapted easily to Stan Lee’s “Marvel Method” of working. With Lee’s vision of what he wanted for the new super-hero line, Maneely would have been pushed to heights

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This page of original art for Melvin the Monster was most likely never published, says Doc V., or else Joe would not have held onto it. It isn’t signed, nor does it have a job number. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely; Melvin the Monster TM & ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

never seen in his 1950s work, as were Buscema, Romita, and Colan.

Martin Goodman’s “Atlas” line is very popular with a small core of collectors today, and they are unearthing work long overlooked and neglected. Maneely’s visual renderings are being discovered by new audiences: Black Knight, Yellow Claw, Black Rider, Ringo Kid, Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Whip Wilson, Wyatt Earp, The Gunhawk, Combat Kelly, Matt/Kid Slade, Speed Carter, Battle Brady, “Battleship Burke,” and literally tons of pre-Code horror, crime, humor, romance, and westerns. The list is long and impressive. The best testaments come from his fellow artists and colleagues, who speak of him in reverent words. To Dick Ayers, Gene Colan, Stan Goldberg, Marie and John Severin, to Stan Lee himself, Joe Maneely was an acknowledged master of the medium.

The world of comic books, comics history, and Marvel Comics in particular lost a great deal when Joe Maneely died. He was only 32 years old, and though it hardly seems possible based on the quality and quantity of his work up to this point, his finest years were probably still ahead of him.

It’s truly a “What If?” scenario for the Marvel age.

[NOTE: There are many people I want to acknowledge and thank.

First and foremost, there’s my dear friend Nancy Maneely, whose interview follows. For years she has put up with my incessant questions about her late father. I was delving into areas that obviously remain, to this day, almost half a century after his passing,

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Joe Maneely still painful and sad. Nancy, this piece could not have been written without you.

[I also want to acknowledge and thank Jim Steranko. Between the two of us, there are no greater admirers of Joe Maneely’s art, and we’ve burned up the bandwidth discussing, debating, and, yes, even arguing about it. I’ve discussed many areas of Maneely’s career over the years, and he’s given me an artist’s perspective that I would still be lacking without his generous time and interest.

Who says Jack Kirby drew the first Spider-Man cover? The Maneely cover for Uncanny Tales #26 (Nov. 1954), shown at extreme left, has no connection to the world’s favorite wall-crawler, of course. But it’s not hard to envision Joe as Spidey’s artist, either instead of or after Steve Ditko—a task which fell in 1966 to the decidedly un-eager if capable John Romita. Of course, since Ditko almost certainly designed the web-swinger’s costume, any Maneely Spider-Man would’ve looked (and probably acted) quite differently from Steve’s.

(Clockwise:) The cover of Uncanny Tales #26—the Kirby-penciled, Ditko-inked cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962)—Ditko’s great but unused cover drawn for that same issue, not seen by the public till years later—and John Romita’s cover art for a Spider-Man Visionaries volume that spotlighted him a couple of years back. Latter is repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Life and Times of One of Timely/Atlas’ Greatest Artists

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[You can’t talk about Atlas without mentioning Jim Vadeboncouer, Jr. Besides enduring my repeated queries about obscure Timely/Atlas artists, Jim is the world authority on that period by far, and an indispensable source of corroboration, or, as so often happens in my case, a source of refutement!

[Likewise, I thank Hames Ware and Jerry Bails. If you want to learn, you question the most knowledgeable, and I have.

[Thanks also to Roy Thomas for giving me a place to run this piece and for keeping the Maneely flame alive during the late 1960s and 1970s.

[I also want to thank Stan Lee, first for his lifetime body of work (it’s my belief that he’s one of a handful of the most important people in comic book history)... secondly for inadvertently providing the impetus for me to expand on his two brief mentions of Joe Maneely in his recent “bio-autography,” thereby giving me a chance to present Joe’s tremendous accomplishments to Marvel’s entire history to a new audience.

[Let me also thank the boys on the Kirby and Timely-Atlas Yahoo group lists, especially Stan Taylor, Nick Caputo, Blake Bell, and Tom Lammers, and A/E associate editor Jim Amash. For six years they’ve heard me talk about Joe Maneely on a list devoted to Jack Kirby. To them I can finally say, “I’ll stop now.”

[Lastly, let me thank Joe Maneely himself. For ten years I’ve read, compiled, photocopied, studied, analyzed, indexed, and just generally immersed myself in cataloguing your life’s work. And I’m still not finished.

[To my wife Maggie, who tolerates my incessant passion for comics history: “I’ll finally get off the computer now.” —MJV.]

Joe’s caricature of himself and Stan, done circa 1958 for the Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs press kit—and, on the right, a montage of Maneely cover masterpieces: Adventures into Weird Worlds #26 (Feb. ’54)—Young Men #11 (Oct. ’51)— Wyatt Earp #3 (March ’56)—Battlefront #7 (Dec. ’52)—and Sub-Mariner #39 (April ’55). If the artist had lived into the 1960s, would the byline “Stan Lee and Joe Maneely” have ranked up there with “Lee and Kirby” and “Lee and Ditko”? We’re betting it would have! Caricature courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [Above art ©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely; Marvel covers ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

[Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, a dentist affectionately known in fandom as “Doc,” has spent the last fifteen-plus years at the unthinkable task of trying to index and assign creator credits to every feature ever to appear in a Timely comic book from 19391959. He claims as his mentors Jim Vadeboncouer, Jr., Hames Ware, and Dr. Jerry G. Bails. Doc also spends his time trying to track down and speak to many of the lesser-known Timely/Atlas creators, getting their reminiscences for posterity. His interview with artist Allen Bellman will appear in a near-future issue of Alter Ego.]

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Nancy Maneely

My Father, Joe Maneely A Loving Daughter Talks about the Father She Never Got a Chance to Know

by Nancy Maneely Like my friend Michael Vassallo, I have asked the question, “What if...?”

drawn the card. It reads: “Heigh-ho, Daddy-O! Congratulations to Betty Jean and Daddy Joe!” It was signed by Stan Lee and the rest of the Atlas gang.

My reflections on the subject are personal, and mainly speculative. They are based on fragments of information I’ve managed to piece together about my father, Joe Maneely, from the many friends and loved ones who respected and admired the man and the artist.

I have in my possession a meager collection of my father’s original artwork. There would have been more—much more—but for a 1960s flood in the basement of my mother’s house that destroyed a trunk filled with Joe Maneely panels and sketches. Not to mention hundreds of comic books that disappeared over the years. (I have been rebuilding a collection of my dad’s comic books, painstakingly, in recent years. I have some 125 books, acquired from flea markets, comic book stores, online auctions—and from my friend Michael.)

I have no conscious memory of my father, who Wedding photo of Joe and Betty Jean was only 32 when he died in Maneely, 1947. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely.

June 1958, leaving his widow Betty Jean and three daughters: Kathleen, age 8; Mary Carole, 7; and me, the two-year-old “baby.” My mother assures me, however, that I missed my dad terribly.

For weeks after he died, I would call out “Doe! Doe!” in my baby voice (in imitation of my mother’s calling “Joe” to the dinner table).

Other treasures include a set of three framed pen-and-ink cowboy panels signed by Joe Maneely. They once graced his home office. The two smaller panels hang in my guest room—we call it “The Cowboy Room.” The third and largest picture takes pride of place at my son’s home. Westerns were my father’s favorite theme (at least until The Black Knight came along to capture his imagination), and so I cherish these wonderful pieces.

In the years following my father’s untimely death, Mom struggled to raise us three girls. It was tough. In the ’50s and ’60s the working world was not clamoring for unskilled housewives seeking gainful employment. My dad had left us virtually penniless. In the mid-1950s,

After my sisters were born, my mother went on to suffer two miscarriages before I came along. My birth was dangerous and difficult for both mother and baby. Joe stated firmly there would be no more children, but Mom felt differently; she believes I might have had several younger siblings, had my father lived.

I’m told I was my daddy’s much-loved and fussed-over baby girl. He insisted on taking me everywhere with him. I even had my own special booster seat, which hooked over the passenger seatback and came complete with a little steering wheel (child safety devices were not a part of consumer culture yet!).

My most cherished piece of original art is a hand-inked caricature of baby Nancy (me!) against a giant shamrock backdrop (I was born the day after St. Paddy’s Day, 1956). There I am, wearing a diaper, cowboy hat, and holster, and my father’s blackframed eyeglasses askew. I don’t know which of my dad’s coworkers in the “bullpen” had

“Westerns were my father’s favorite theme,” Nancy says, “at least till The Black Knight came along to capture his imagination.” Here’s an early Maneely “Black Rider” splash, from BR #10 (Sept. ’50), while Joe was still honing his craft—and Sir Percy of Scandia donning the dark armor for the first time after being given it by Merlin the Magician, in Black Knight #1. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

My Father, Joe Maneely

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having just begun to earn a decent living, the thought of savings (or even life insurance) hadn’t entered his head!

But Joe Maneely’s resourceful widow managed to put food on the table for her daughters, thanks to Social Security and a series of part-time clerical and waitress jobs.

Amid those years of struggle, my mother—a smart and beautiful woman— enjoyed an occasional date, but never remarried. When asked why, she would say that no man could hold a candle to Joe Maneely. (If you would like to know what my mother looked like in those years, here’s a little-known secret: just about every gorgeous dark-haired bombshell in Joe Maneely’s comic book repertoire bore a close resemblance to her!).

(Above:) Photo from Easter of some year in the 1950s (probably ’57) of the Maneely daughters—from left to right, Kathleen, baby Nancy, and Mary Carole. (Right:) Nancy cherishes this handmade and -colored cartoon-card given to Joe and Betty Jean on the occasion of her birth in 1956. The artist was most likely Bill Everett, whose distinctive signature is at left. All signatures on the card are from Timely/Atlas staffers, so there’s naturally a preponderance of letterers and production people. More or less counterclockwise from the top (and ignoring the three names printed in all-caps for the moment), the signees are: Marie Severin (production person, former EC colorist, and destined to become an important Marvel artist in the 1960s)— Christopher Rule (veteran inker, and a chief suspect later as possible inker of Fantastic Four #1-2 in 1961)— Bill Everett (creator of Sub-Mariner and many other great comics—‘nuff said!)— Ray Holloway (Timely letterer since the ’40s, one of the few African-Americans in comics)— Morrie Kuramoto (Japanese-American letterer and production man who worked on staff again in the 1960s and ’70s)— Gerda Gattel (proofreader, who after the Atlas “implosion” would perform that same function for DC—splendidly by all accounts—until her retirement)— Al Sulman (longtime writer and sometime editor at Timely)— Herby Cooper (letterer and production man—as “Herb,” he lettered a bit for Marvel in the ’60s)— Stan S. (Stan Starkman, staff letterer who would work for DC from 1950-68)— Stan Lee (wonder what ever happened to him)— Art Simek (a letterer—in the ’60s, the first one to receive credit in Marvel’s mags)— Danny Crespi (production man—he returned in the ’70s, too)— George Kapitan (a writer for Timely in the early ’40s—not sure of his bullpen function in ’56)— Sol Brodsky (artist and production man—he’d become Marvel’s production manager circa 1965, and remain with the company, later as a vice president, for most of the rest of his life)— June Paley (Doc Vassallo suggests that reading of the name, since there are three Atlas romance stories signed “Colletta and Paley” in 1957—any other info out there?)— John Severin (artist—Marie’s big brother, and one of the best draftsmen in the history of the comics field)— Carl Burgos—(creator of the original Human Torch, and sometimes an unofficial cover editor in the 1950s Atlas bullpen, by various accounts)— Joe Letterese (with a name like that, he just had to be a letterer, and he was—a good one!)

As for those three non-signature names lettered in upper-case at the upper far left— well, Stan G. is colorist/artist Stan Goldberg—Vince might’ve been inker Vince Colletta, if not former Timely inker Vince Alascia—and Sal could have been any of several people. Any suggestions? Photo and art courtesy of Nancy Maneely.

[Art ©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

This piece of original art may (or may not) have been slated at one time to appear in Cracked magazine. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely.]

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Nancy Maneely

These three pieces of previously-unpublished art by Joe Maneely may represent a comic strip or other concept he was trying to sell. Nancy writes that the first “pen drawing has a notation below—‘15-year-old cadet Barney O’Dare.’” Doc V. notes that he looks a lot like Johnny Day in Speed Carter, Spaceman. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely.]

As I grew older and learned more about the man who was my father, I came to agree that Joe Maneely must have been special, indeed. Stories told by my aunts and uncles recalled the years in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood where my dad and his pals (my uncles among them) grew up with very little money but a lively penchant for fun and adventure. Later, they served in the Armed Forces during World War II and came home for a brief fling with the bachelor life before “settling down” to marry and raise families. (I strongly suspect that I’ve been spared the more colorful details, alas.)

house parties.

The relatives would pile into the train and head north from Philly to a family birthday party at our house, and they would stay for days... and days. The Maneely parties became the stuff of tall tales and legends on both sides of the family.

All in all, a man after my own heart.

Nineteen-year-old Betty Jean Kane, who had her pick of the boys newly home from the war, set her cap for Joe Maneely. Watch out for that one, she was warned—he ran with a wild crowd. “But I knew he was the one I wanted,” she recalls. “He had a great personality, he was funny, and everyone liked him. He was a meticulous dresser. He had class. Also, he was ambitious. I liked that about him.”

Here is what I have learned:

From what I have been able to glean of my father’s background and character, I sense that we shared much in common and would have been extraordinarily close, had he survived.

Some of these traits—a sense of humor, for example—are good.

Others, such as a tendency to spend lavishly at the expense of long-term financial security, are nothing to brag about.

My father was intelligent, talented, and good-looking (and a bit selfconscious about his early-onset hair loss; baldness was not considered cool as it often is today). He had a wicked sense of humor, a superb fashion sense, an eye for quality. He was generous to a fault, spending lavishly on his family and friends, lending money to any acquaintance who needed it, whether or not he expected to be repaid (he often wasn’t). He had a weakness for cars, and loved to drive fast.

And Joe Maneely loved to party.

When, for the first time in their young lives, Joe and Betty Jean saw their income rise above subsistence level, they moved to New Shrewsbury, a bedroom community in North Jersey, where Joe would be able to hop on the commuter train to Manhattan. They bought a split-level suburban home on a 3/4-acre lot and proceeded to invite friends and relatives to a succession of

Had Joe Maneely lived, I would have known a far different life. Even my career trajectory, I am certain, would have led to a different place.

As a youngster, I would draw for hours and hours. The pencil was an extension of my hand—I developed calluses on my fingers at age 6. I loved to draw and was good at it.

However, my interest in creating art suddenly declined during my teen years. I turned instead to writing, and eventually became a journalist.

Then again, perhaps our similarities would have led to some friction—even full-scale fireworks. It often happens that a child develops serious conflicts with the parent they more closely resemble in character.

Which way might it have gone for the two of us? I will never know.

Nancy says that “just about every gorgeous dark-haired bombshell in Joe Maneely’s comic book repertoire bore a close resemblance to” her mother, Betty Jean Maneely. Including this one from a most likely unpublished illo—perhaps even a cover—drawn for Timely/Atlas’ parody comic Riot, probably circa 1956? And see also the cover of Uncanny Tales #33, on p. 23. Photocopy of original art courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2003 Estate of Joe Maneely.]

My father’s premature death has been, and always will be, a profound source of sadness in my life.

I never had the chance to know him, but I sure do miss him.

Stan Lee

45

“Joe Was The Best!”

STAN LEE Remembers JOE MANEELY Joe Maneely (left) and Stan Lee look over a Sunday page for Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs, 1958. Courtesy of Nancy Maneely.

[NOTE: In June 2003, as this issue was in preparation, I mentioned one of its principal subjects—artist legend Joe Maneely—to my 1960s’70s Marvel Comics boss Stan Lee in an e-mail, and asked if Stan might wish to write a few words about him. I was very pleased to receive the following from him a few hours later. —Roy.] Damn, I wish I had more time.

I’ve got a dozen things to finish by tonight, and then next week is filled with meetings and interviews, so if I don’t bat something out for you now, I never will.

All I can say, which I’ve said so often in the past, is—to me, Joe was the best! I mean the all-time, unconditional, absolute best. He could draw anything—and handle it magnificently. He was the fastest artist I had ever worked with, bar none. His penciling looked like a bunch of hastily scrawled stick figures (which he did in no time at all), and then he’d take pen in hand and speedily draw over them as if he was tracing some great illos that nobody else could see on that sheet of paper.

His versatility was unmatched. He did funny strips (our Mrs. Lyon’s Cubs, which was syndicated in a ton of newspapers just before his death), he did epic artwork like The Black Knight, westerns like The Ringo Kid, horror like dozens of strips whose names I’ve forgotten, romance, war—you name it, he did it—and usually better than anyone else.

Not only was his penciling superb, but nobody could ink like Joe. His ability to use blacks for drama, for emphasis, and for design was almost supernatural. Unfortunately, there’s no way I could try to tell you how fast he inked, because you wouldn’t believe me! The incredibly beautiful black lines and shadings just seemed to appear on the pages like magic.

To top it off, Joe was the nicest, pleasantest, friendliest guy imaginable to work with. Not a trace of temperament or conceit did he have.

He made every project we worked on seem like fun. He made it all seem easy. There was never any strain or pressure. When he had something to draw (like all the time), he drew it speedily, magnificently, and seemingly effortlessly.

I used to feel that if I had a whole team of Maneelys there’d be nothing we couldn’t have accomplished. In fact, even with one Joe Maneely, in time we could have taken over the whole comic book world!

Oh, don’t let me forget that he was also easily as adept at working

Stan singles out Black Knight and Ringo Kid as two particularly memorable Timely/Atlas features drawn by Joe, and we heartily concur. The splendidly noble and evocative splash for the Lee-scripted, Maneely-illustrated Black Knight #1 (May 1955) was reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces #11 (Oct. 1967), and introduced a new generation of comics readers to the marvelous talent that was Joe Maneely. Of the many, many fine Ringo Kid pages he drew, here’s the splash of an origin story for the Kid’s stallion Arab, from issue #2 (Oct. ’54). Thanks to Doc Vassallo. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

46

Joe Maneely

A Maneely montage, with exceptional splashes for: (top row) Combat Kelly #5 (July ’52)—Speed Carter, Spaceman #2 (Nov. ’53)—Crime Fighters #11 (Sept. ’54)— (bottom row:) Mystery Tales #22 (Oct. ’54)—Wyatt Earp #2 (Jan. ’56)—and Yellow Claw #1 (Oct. ’56). Art courtesy of Doc V. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

from a brief synopsis as any other artist. I’d only give him the most rudimentary notes and he’d bring back illustrated pages that looked as though we must have conferred about them for weeks in order for them to be so fluidly and excitingly laid out. He had a superb sense of story and pacing and instinctively seemed to know the best way to depict any action or scene.

How I wish the world (and I) could have seen what he’d have done with the F.F., Spidey, Thor, and all the other Marvel super-heroes! It’s a

true tragedy that we’ll never have the chance.

Hey, to sum it up—I kind’a liked the guy. As a comic book artist— and as a human being—Joe Maneely was absolutely and undeniably the best! To say he’s missed is the most profound masterpiece of understatement imaginable!

Excelsior, Roy, ol’ pal.

PLUS: PLUS:

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September 2003

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LEE AMES

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Vol. 3, No. 28 / September 2003

™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

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

Production Assistant Eric Nolen-Weathington

Cover Artists Joe Maneely Don Newton

Contents Writer/Editorial: Showing Our Age(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Golden Age artist Lee Ames talks to Jim Amash about Iger, Timely, and others.

Cover Colorists Tom Ziuko Don Newton

And Special Thanks to: Lee Ames Ger Apeldoorn Terry Austin Mike W. Barr Alberto Becattini John Benson Bill Black Steve Brumbaugh Mike Burkey Tony Cerezo Scott Deschaine Jaime Echevarria Carl Gafford Stan Goldberg Walt Grogan George Hagenauer John Haufe, Jr. Mark & Stephanie Heike Larry Ivie Ed Jaster

A Golden/Silver/Bronze Age Potpourri!

Mort Leav Stan Lee Mark Lewis Nancy Maneely Scotty Moore Brian K. Morris Anthony Newton John Petty Steven Rowe John Severin Marie Severin Steve Skeates Jeff Smith Robin Snyder Marc & June Swayze Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Hames Ware Tom Wimbish

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Joe & Betty Jean Maneely and Pierce Rice

A Talk with John Benson (Part II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Squa Tront’s editor tells Bill Schelly about “Post-EC Comic Fandom” —and why Harvey Kurtzman left Mad!

Spot That Style!! (Part II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Michael T. Gilbert shows what Golden Age greats drew when times where lean.

A Brief Tribute to Pierce Rice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 re: [correspondence & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze, Steve Skeates, and the 1980s Monster Society of Evil!

Joe Maneely & The Atlas Age of Comics!. . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover & the Above Illo: From 1978-81, new pro artist Don Newton had a ball drawing the “Shazam!” feature in World’s Finest Comics, and in 1979 he executed a gorgeous painting of Captain Marvel and his arch-foe Mr. Mind for renowned X-Men inker Terry Austin. Ever since Terry kindly sent us a copy of same, we’ve been looking for an opportunity to use it as a color cover on an issue of Alter Ego—with due thanks to Don’s son, Anthony Newton, for his permission. By contrast, the above drawing of Cap dropping in on Mr. Mind and a pair of his minions from the original 1943-45 “Monster Society” serial was done in the early 1970s and appeared in the RBCC Special #8 at that time—when it was still Don’s distant dream to professionally draw his favorite hero, let alone a full-blown “Monster Society” sequel.

What a difference a few years made! [Cover & above illo ©2003 Estate of Don Newton; Captain Marvel & Mr. Mind TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

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

Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8 ($10 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $120 Canada, $132 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada.

FIRST PRINTING.

Title writer/editorial

2

Showing Our Age(s) This issue’s “flip-side” runs the gamut from the Golden Age through the Silver to the Bronze, and maybe beyond (depending on your definitions of these things).

Artist Lee Ames, for instance, tells Jim Amash about his work in the comic book field from the early 1940s through the mid-’50s, just about encompassing the period I personally define as the Golden Age—in which I generously include everything from the debut of Superman until the Comics Code finally brought down EC and its ilk, like biplanes firing at King Kong—while we pay tribute to a recently departed 1940s comics illustrator, Pierce Rice, who has left us a legacy of accomplishment.

of the 1940s and ’50s... Steve Skeates’ acerbic comments about the Isis comics he wrote in the ’70s... and Walt Grogan’s recounting of E. Nelson Bridwell and Don Newton’s “Monster Society of Evil” serial in the early ’80s.

So enjoy! There’s an age here for everyone...

Bestest,

P.S.: Artist-for-all-ages Alex Toth will be back next issue!

Michael T. Gilbert shows some of the work that several EC greats and other artists turned to in order to survive in the hostile environment of the late 1950s, and John Benson talks to Bill Schelly about post-EC comics fandom as it headed from the late ’50s into the 1960s. In both these pieces, we’re creeping Silver Ageward, at the very least, as The Flash is already dashing around Central City, and Green Lantern is firing his Power Ring at that yellow guided missile streaking toward Coast City.

And P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA, this time around, definitely hits several ages—with Marc Swayze’s continuing reminiscences Ensign Rod Reilly becomes Firebrand in these Lee Ames panels from a recent reprinting from Police Comics #10 (July 1942); see our very next page for full details. [Restored art ©2003 AC comics; Firebrand TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

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

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

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

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Lee Ames

Lee Ames in a recent photo.

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

3

[Self-caricature ©2003 Lee Ames.]

Golden Age Artist LEE AMES Talks about a Long and Lively Career Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Lee Ames tells stories as well as he draws them. His presence at various comic book companies over the years enables him to comment on some of the all-time greats in the history of the medium. Still working at age 82, Lee continues a vitally gifted art career, of which we can give you only a taste. For more, visit his web-sites <www.draw50.com> and <www.leeames.com>, and indulge in the work of a master craftsman. Special thanks for their help to Lee, and to Jerry Bails, Tom Wimbish, and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. —Jim.]

“The One Thing I Could Do above Everything Else Was Draw” JIM AMASH: In looking over your biography, I see you spent time at several different comic companies, so I figure the best place to start is to ask where and when you were born... and what got you interested in art.

LEE AMES: I was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 8, 1921.

The name on my birth certificate read “Male Abramowitz.” Eight days later, I was given my first name, Leon. Twenty-five years later we legalized my nom de plume, Lee J. Ames.

From as far back as I can remember, the one thing I could do above everything else was draw. There was never any question that this was what I was going to do. My father, however, always said I should learn a trade and become a tailor, like he was—or something like that Many Jewish immigrants came over to America and got into the “needle trades,” as they called it then. My father was a presser and later bought a store in the throes of the Depression. How he was able to get the $400 to buy the store is still a mystery, but he didn’t steal it. [laughs] As was needed, he hired a tailor or furrier. Meanwhile, he managed to hold two or more outside jobs, day and night, to pay the store workers and keep us alive and eating. My mother would tend to the customers and I would make deliveries. We also lived in three small rooms behind the store. But we were too busy to consider these things unusually tough.

Later, after we had sold the store, at a loss, we moved to the Bronx.

There, on a visit to the local public library, I saw a book by Washington Irving entitled The Knickerbocker History of New York, with illustrations by James Dougherty. Those illustrations just knocked me over. At that point I decided I wanted to be an artist, an illustrator, just like Dougherty. The first job I had, for a short period of time in 1938, was at

“Firebrand” splash page drawn by Lee Ames for Quality’s Police Comics #10 (July 1942). Well, actually, all art from that Golden Age story printed with this interview are taken from Men of Mystery Comics #23 (2000), with grey tones and art restoration done by the caring crew at AC Comics, and used by permission of publisher Bill Black. See AC Comics’ ad elsewhere in this issue. [Restored art ©2003 AC Comics. Firebrand is TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

an advertising agency as a “go-fer.” Then I got another job with a signmanufacturing company under the Third Avenue El [short for “elevated train”]. It was a very grimy, Dickensian place. Along with a bunch of other kids, I painted signboards and ground, cut, polished, and painted metal and wooden letters for the Ross Sign Company.

4

Lee Ames Lee’s tenure at Disney in the late 1930s may not have lasted long, but he must’ve learned something, ’cause later he put together these authorized books on how to draw Walt’s two most recognizable icons. [Art ©2003 the respective copyright holder; Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck TM & ©2003 Walt Disney Productions.]

At the suggestion of a teacher at my high school, I applied for a job with Disney. I sent my samples to the Disney Studio in Hollywood and got the job! And exciting things started happening... not the least of which was, for example, going to the bus stop with my teary-eyed mother, who gave me a small medicine bottle filled with 90-proof brandy, to tide me over in case I needed sustenance. While I was talking to some of the other passengers, my mother got on the bus and started talking to a young lady, asking her to be friendly to her son who was leaving home for the first time. The lady turned out to be a hooker. I had a great trip. [laughs] Prior to that, I had received a check from Disney for the bus fare. I had to pick the check up at the Disney offices in Rockefeller Center.

I went up there and the man who gave me the check was Richard Condon, who later wrote The Manchurian Candidate. He was a publicist for Disney at that time.

I got the check, got on the bus, went out to California, and was hired at $17 a week, $2 of which went toward paying back my bus fare to Disney. I was there for three months (that included the eight days of travel to and from California). However, it was a glorious experience that I’ve cashed in on ever since. I had worked as an in-betweener on both Fantasia and Pinocchio, and some shorts.

Self-portraits done by Lee in 1936 and 1938, respectively. [©2003 Lee Ames.]

“You Will Call Him ‘Walt’!”

JA: Did you meet Walt Disney while you worked there?

AMES: Yes, a couple of times. That wasn’t unusual. In our training period, we delivered packages and equipment. One day I had to bring lunches to Cliff Edwards (also known as Ukulele Ike), who was the voice of “When You Wish upon a Star!,” and to Leigh Harlene, who was the composer. That was a thrill! On one occasion, while delivering packages and standing in the foyer, there was a guy with what was then called a “candid camera,” taking pictures of me... I thought.

I assumed it was for a magazine article he was working on or some other publicity thing. I did whatever I had to do, thinking, “How nice for my mother to see this when it comes out in print.”

Then I turned and behind me were Walt Disney and some associates. Whoops! I was embarrassed because I thought the photographer had been taking pictures of me, but the subject was Disney. I said, “Oh, excuse me, Mr. Disney.” He glowered at me, literally.

I learned the reason immediately from a woman who ran a coffee concession. “Why did you do that?” she asked. “What did I do?” I asked. She said, “You called him ‘Mr. Disney.’ Weren’t you told, ‘You will call him ‘Walt!’?” Well, I never called him anything after that. I later discovered this had happened to a number of people.

In the in-betweening sector where we worked, the guys pinned up drawings on the backs of their desks. One drawing, 20” long and 10” high, was a lovely nude woman, and Jiminy Cricket was standing there, dipping his toe into her groin and tipping his hat. It was lovely and funny. One day, some guests came through, which was unusual because we never had people come through the inbetweeners’ section. This was a special occasion. There were four or five men and a teenage girl, and she saw this drawing and immediately turned around and walked on with the rest of the group. The girl was 15-year-old Gloria Vanderbilt, Jr. [heiress to the Vanderbilt fortune].

JA: Wow! You had an amazing three months there. Why’d you leave so soon?

AMES: I got homesick. And at that time, Disney only gave out 13week contracts—which I had during my training period, and which was about to end. If they wanted you, they’d give you another 13week contract or they’d dump you. I couldn’t foresee myself, this being the Depression, being dumped in California, not knowing anything or anybody, so I said “The hell with that,” and went back home.

Another small story: I took the bus back and forth to the Hyperion Studios, where Disney was then based. One time I was on the bus, sketching away, when an elderly woman, who reminded me of the actress Marie Dressler, admired my sketches. I thanked her and mentioned that I was homesick and planned to return home soon. She said, “Meanwhile, if you’re lonely, why don’t you come and visit me?” She gave me a slip of paper with her name and address on it. She was very nice. I had told her I expected to go home.

Ten years after that, I found an old shoe box in which I kept some of the things from my time at Disney, including cels of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, from which all the paint had chipped off. Imagine what they’d be worth now intact! In the box I also found the slip of paper that sweet, friendly woman had given me. What a warm, pleasant memory. Now, for the first time, I turned that piece of paper over. I had never seen the back of it before. There she had written: “$4.” She was an old hooker!

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

5

missing was a word-filled balloon over his head! I remember a lot of things about Al. JA: What do you remember about Paul Terry?

AMES: He wasn’t particularly well-liked. But many bosses, just by the domination that goes with being a boss, are frequently disliked. I’ve had other bosses that were wonderful!

“Iger Was the Object of All Sorts of Gags” JA: From there, you went to work for Jerry Iger. Will Eisner was out of the shop by then, wasn’t he?

AMES: Yes. But his old artwork was still there—frequently cut up, repasted, re-storied, and used again and again in a number of the magazines. “Hawks of the Seas” might have been one of those features they did that with.

JA: What led you to Iger’s shop?

Because he only worked for Paul Terry circa 1939-41, Lee Ames wasn’t around when Terrytoons’ most famous creation came along in 1942: Supermouse, who soon transmutated into Mighty Mouse—whether under pressure from National/DC, or because by then there was also a Supermouse in comic books, seems uncertain.

This model sheet was printed in the 1981 Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoon Series

by Jeff Lenburg—but apparently there wasn’t another Terrytoon image worthy of inclusion in the book’s nearly 200 pages. [Mighty Mouse TM & ©2003 the respective trademark & copyright holder.]

AMES: Damned if I remember, but someone must have told me about him. I went up with samples, which were pretty horrible, but I got a job.

JA: How much did you know about comic books when you went to see him?

“I Went Right to Work at Terrytoons” JA: When you came back to New York, where did you go to work?

AMES: I went right to work at Terrytoons, in New Rochelle, N.Y., as an inker. The Disney connection helped. Being an inker was a step down from being an in-betweener, the difference being that inkers were tracers, while in-betweeners actually did creative drawing. At Disney, women exclusively did the inking.

JA: You worked at Terrytoons in 1940 and 1941. I’m a bit confused, because you told me earlier that you weren’t sure if you worked at Harry Chesler’s shop before you worked for Jerry Iger.

AMES: I don’t recall Chesler other than being a publisher’s name, but I did a lot of freelance stuff, though I don’t remember for whom. If anything, it would have been freelance work, not shop work, but that would have been after I worked for Iger. It would have been after World War II, as I also worked in Iger’s shop for a brief period when I returned from the service.

I left Disney in July1939, and I believe I began working for Terrytoons in late 1939. That would have carried on into 1940 and 1941.

That was a transition period before going to work for Jerry Iger.

JA: I see. Any recollections of working at Terrytoons you’d like to share?

AMES: Remember the cartoonist Al Stahl? [NOTE: At one time Stahl worked for Quality Comics.] Al was an in-betweener and an absolutely lovely madman. He lost his job at Terrytoons for, among other things, the occasion on which he came to visit the inkers who worked at a penthouse (with an extended outside area) where we lunched. Al thought it was cute to take paper cups filled with water and drop them off the building, and one happened to splash in front of Paul Terry. So Al had to go looking for a new job. When I got the job with Jerry Iger, I brought Al Stahl in to meet Iger and he got a job there.

Al Stahl looked, walked, and behaved like a cartoon. All that was

Another Ames page from AC Comics’ retouched reprinting of the “Firebrand” tale from Police Comics #10. Lee says that he and later “Doll Man” artist John Cassone sat side by side, with Cassone working on “Lightning”—but maybe he means “The Ray,” another Quality super-hero feature? Reed Crandall had been the original “Firebrand” artist, while Lou Fine had initiated “The Ray.” [Restored art ©2003 AC Comics; Firebrand TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

6

Lee Ames now. A terrific human being. We did one of my Draw 50 books together. It was Draw 50 People of the Bible, but he really did the bulk of the work.

JA: What was Jerry Iger like?

AMES: Ha! Take your tongue and stick it between your lower teeth and lower lip thusly... now you’ll sound like Jerry Iger. Mort Leav was the one who did the best mimicry of Iger, and we all used to love that. Every once in a while, he would regale us with such things as the one dance step that he knew and flaunted before us. Of course, we laughed up our sleeves. He’d tell us about his exploits as a boxer... all kinds of nonsense like that. He did luck out, though, when he got to know and live with Ruth Roche.

I think Ruth Roche ultimately got a piece of Iger’s business, which was great. And she was a very beautiful woman. Iger was the object of all sorts of gags that we pulled... not that he was aware of many of them.

He was a scapegoat that we loved to deal with.

JA: Iger wasn’t a well-respected boss, was he?

AMES: I wouldn’t say so.

“Bob Webb Was a Charming Guy” JA: That’s not the first comment I’ve heard like that. How many people worked in the studio?

AMES: I don’t remember well, but I’ll try. I’ll give you names as I go down the list. Aldo Rubano. Arthur Peddy. Al Bryant. Artie Saaf. Mort Leav. Bob Webb. I can’t recall any others right now. There was one small incident comes to mind that knocked me over.

During his career, André LeBlanc (1921-98) drew—often through the Iger Studios—for Fiction House, Quality, Fawcett, and other comics companies; at various times, he also assisted Dan Barry on Flash Gordon and Will Eisner on The Spirit. This illustration was done for Robin Snyder, in whose monthly The Comics! it appeared in Vol. 8, #8 (Aug. 1997). [Art ©2003 Estate of André LeBlanc; The Phantom TM & ©2003 King Features Syndicate.]

AMES: Not a damn thing. I wasn’t very interested in them. I was about 21 at the time, so that may be why. The first comic books I knew, back in the early ‘30s, were hardcover, more expensive books with subjects like The Gumps.

JA: What did you start out doing for Iger?

AMES: Backgrounds.

Then I graduated into penciling figures.

Incidentally, I was hired about the same day Johnny Cassone was. The two of us used to sit side by side. I worked on “Firebrand,” while John worked on “Lightning.”

Sitting behind me was André LeBlanc, who was one of my very best friends. I miss him sorely

At one point, Jerry hired an Italian man whose name was Dic Young.

He was hired strictly to be a clean-up artist, nothing else. He was obviously sickly. I was surprised because I remembered a book written by a Dic Young, that I had picked up at Woolworth’s when I was ten or eleven. It had a title something like Funny Drawings You Can Make.

One example: if you arrange the capital letters for “CHINA,” vertically, from the top down, you can complete the “C” into a circle, add lines to create an Asian face, then add other lines to the remaining letters, and finally complete a lovely little Mandarin figure.

Imagine that! I never forgot that book. I asked Dic if he was the author. He said, “Yes,” in a kind of tired voice. This may have felt like a punch in the face to him.

Bob Webb was a charming guy who had a weird, snorting laugh

(Above:) Mort Leav panels from Our Publishing Company’s Love Journal #19 (1953), repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, which is owned by his friend Tony Cerezo. You saw the splash in A/E #19. (Right:) A much later cartoon sequence

by Leav—and who’s to say this isn’t the very same couple, half a century later? Repro’d from Robin Snyder’s The Comics! V7#4 (April ’96).

[Love Journal art ©2003 the respective copyright holder; latter cartoon ©2003 Mort Leav.]

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

7

young people and felt that only oldtimers referred to kids as “those young people.”

Anyway, we made a date and went to visit Bob and his pleasant but somewhat awkward wife in their small house. Bob was laughing and was as cheerful as always. We came to a table and I sat down, André sat down, Bob sat down. But when his wife sat, she crunched the chair and splattered to the floor. It was like a moment out of a slapstick short subject. She wasn’t hurt or anything, but we soon completed the visit and left. That’s the last time I saw Bob or Mrs. Webb.

JA: What did Bob Webb look like? [NOTE: Since this interview was conducted, a photo of Bob Webb was printed in A/E #21’s coverage of the Iger Studios. —Roy.] AMES: He was a little overweight, roundish... always had a pleasant face with long blond hair that he swept back. And always, always cheerful.

On another subject, I heard this story about George Tuska. This possibly happened at the Iger shop. There was a young woman doing artwork, and she came up with a drawing she made of a young woman.

She asked George for his opinion and he looked at it. Then, with that strange “hard-of-hearing” voice, said, “It’s all right, but the breasts are too big.” [NOTE: Well, okay, so George didn’t really say “breasts.”

You figure it out. —Jim.] Which brings to mind two other people I got to know after the war: Matt Baker and Burt Frohman, who became my inker later on.

Matt Baker’s Dozen JA: I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, but Matt Baker’s work has become very popular among comics collectors. And we know very little about him.

When AC Comics reprinted this circa-1950 Fiction House “Sheena” story in its marvelous (and still-available) 1999 volume Comic Book Jungle (a.k.a. Golden Age Greats, Vol. 14), the credits given were the rather unusual “Alex Blum & Robert H. Webb.” Does that mean Blum penciled and Webb inked, or that they worked together on the pencils—and maybe someone else inked entirely? Nice work, anyway. Thanks to Bill Black—see AC Comics’ ad elsewhere in this issue, and log on to learn about all the Golden Age goodies they have for sale!

[Sheena TM & ©2003 Paul Aratow/Columbia Pictures.]

that was kind of irritating, but we loved him in spite of it. He drew “Sheena,” among other things. He was a fine artist, good at details.

When he drew a sailing ship, everything was accurate and authentic. He drew the right knots on the ropes and the rigging and that kind of thing.

His draftsmanship was fine, but not up to the level of Lou Fine or Reed Crandall.

I don’t remember who drew “Sheena” prior to Bob. [NOTE: Mort Meskin was the original “Sheena” artist.] But by the time he got to the feature, Bob had a lot of scrap material to rely on. The work was not quite like the previous guy’s, but it went over well in its own style.

JA: So Webb used a lot of reference material. Was that common in the shop?

AMES: Oh, sure. I don’t remember if we had swipe files in the shop, but I had a bunch at home.

Bob was an adopted child, but why he told us, I don’t recall. He married a tall, blonde woman and we were delighted for him. Thirty or forty years later, André LeBlanc and I discovered that Bob was living in Long Island and we called him hoping to arrange a visit. During the call, it was rather strange to hear him refer to the kids of the day as “those young people.” André and I at the time still considered ourselves to be

AMES: Matt has or had a brother named John Baker. Now, how you could ever find him is something I don’t know. Matt was a handsome, charming, clever guy who had a heart condition. He was about 5'10" tall, well-built, and a light-skinned African-American.

One time, while we were discussing the construction steps I use in my Draw 50 books, I asked him to show me how he went about constructing a figure. Matt put the pencil to the paper at a point and went from there to draw a finished eye, then the other eye, nose, the whole face, and then went on detail to detail to a complete figure, with no basic construction. And it all fit neatly into the page instead of falling off. But he was one of those people who could start from the get-go and finish up without construction other than what existed in his mind. He did beautiful stuff.

When I introduced my wife to Matt and Burt, they decided to greet her with a mock Brooklynese accent, like, “Pleased to meetcha, I’m sure.” Why she didn’t throw me at them, I don’t know.

Burt Frohman was also a charming guy; we did a number of things together for gaming companies. One of the comic book features we did together (I penciled and he inked) was “The Chessmen” for Max Gaines at EC Comics. This was before Bill Gaines took over. The lead character was the King, and we gave chess names to the other characters: the Rook, the Bishop, the Queen, etc. It was kind of cute.

JA: I knew Bill Gaines. He was someone special.

AMES: I knew him when he took over from his father. I came in one day, when he was still clean-shaven, and Bill greeted me by saying, “Hello, you old horse’s ass!” A direct, nice friendly greeting! He was a good guy. He gave me permission to use Alfred E. Neuman in one of my Draw 50 books.

You really have strong interest in these people, don’t you?

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Lee Ames

Though he was a prolific late-Golden-Age artist, Matt Baker is best remembered for his work on the “Phantom Lady” feature. (Left to right:) The splash of the very first Fox Comics “PL” story, from Phantom Lady #13 (Aug. ’47), which was actually the first issue. Bill Black, who retouched and restored the art and reprinted the tale for the first time ever in AC Comics’ Golden Age Greats, Vol. 2 (1994), says that Baker’s slightly less polished style here “suggests that this book was drawn a year or so before the publication date.” The illo with the giant hand is Baker’s cover art for Phantom Lady #13, retouched by Bill Black and the AC crew. Golden Age Greats, Vol. 2, like the Comic Book Jungle book, is still available through AC Comics’ website. The term “Lady Phantom” was used on the cover to avoid possible conflict with DC Comics’ claim of ownership of the earlier incarnation of “Phantom Lady” published by Quality Comics. [Retouched/restored art ©2003 AC Comics.]

The original art for an entire 7-page “Dusty Rhodes” adventure drawn by Lee Ames for Fiction House’s Fight Comics circa 1943 was offered at auction through Heritage Comics in 2003. Repro’d here are pp. 1 & 3 of that story. With special thanks to Heritage Comics and Jeff E. Smith. Look ‘em up at <www.HeritageComics.com>. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

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9

The repro on these two partial-pages may not be great, but they’ll give you a taste of the flavor of early-1940s installments of “Kid Patrol” (complete with its arguably stereotyping splash page) from Quality’s National Comics and “Stuart Taylor” from Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics. Art credits (very tentative) go to Charles Nicholas and Alex Blum, respectively. Any other suggestions? Thanks to Jerry G. Bails for the art photocopies. [©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: I’ve always been fascinated with history, comics and otherwise.

That’s why I like talking with people like you—because you help put a human face on the names of those who labored in comics before me.

In the office, Ruth’s desk was opposite Jerry’s, and we found out later that she got herself a piece of his business. Iger delegated some of the work to her. She was very easy to work for and be with.

AMES: Then you might find this of interest. Roger Armstrong [who drew the newspaper strip Napoleon] disputes this. He’s always been a fine cartoonist and a wonderful watercolorist. We are, along with a few others, members of an NCS [National Cartoonists Society] group in Orange County, California, to which I suggested a name which I think will stick. The Cartoonists Of Orange County... we, therefore, are the COOCs [pronounced “kooks”]. I had also suggested the name to the largest branch of the NCS in Long Island, which is the Berndt Toast Gang, named after the late Walter Berndt, who did the comic strip Smitty. Walter was a member of our group and, after he passed away, whenever we met we’d raise a toast to him!

JA: What was her function in the office?

Roger disputes this, but he’s on the West Coast, so it doesn’t count. I remember when the newspaper strips were referred to as the “jokes.”

“Have you read the jokes today?” That would have been Mutt and Jeff or The Gumps and other features like that. Roger, who’s older than I am, never heard the use of the term, “jokes”! As time went on they were later named the “funnies.” Of course, we now know it’s the “comics.”

Despite Roger, this is the truth. So there! [Jim laughs] Now, the stuff I did for Iger, in addition to “Firebrand,” were things like “Dusty Rhodes,” “Kid Patrol” (which was kind of like the Our Gang comedy movie shorts), and “Stuart Taylor,” which I took over from Seymour Reit, who took it over from someone else. You know who Seymour Reit is?

JA: He was the creator of Casper, the Friendly Ghost.

AMES: Correct. He didn’t look much like a ghost, though.

JA: What do you remember about Ruth Roche?

AMES: She was a lovely lady... very attractive. She was, shall we say, Jerry Iger’s paramour. She also had a young sister that I had the hots for.

AMES: That’s like asking me what Jerry’s function was in the office.

God only knows!

JA: Did she handle the trafficking of the art or give out assignments?

AMES: She probably did a little of both. I don’t recall the specifics. We got the scripts from them, but I couldn’t tell you if she handed them to me or if Jerry did. Or even Artie Saaf, who was a kind of general manager of sorts at one point.

One of the things we once did, with great delight, was to paint a mural on the back wall of the studio with Jerry’s permission. It was a huge piece of work done in oils, with each of us doing a major character.

In my case, it was the black kid in “Kid Patrol,” a stereotype of the time with a crunched top hat, big eyes and lips, and the like. The entire mural was very great. But after the shop moved out, the mural was eradicated.

It was sad, a damn shame.

Aldo Rubano was our top background man and a fine artist. It would be your good fortune if you had him do your backgrounds. Even if you were a crummy draftsman yourself, he’d bring it all together beautifully.

He was in the forefront of us all in that he always wanted the radio tuned into classical music. There were others, like me, who were into swing music.

JA: You mentioned George Tuska. People tell me he was a very handsome guy.

AMES: He was. And he was hard of hearing, even then. His lead characters looked very much like him, especially the blonde ones.

Incidentally, one of the comic book artists I knew was Ezra Jack

10

Lee Ames and a half; rather Nordic features. He did good work and was a nice guy.

I remember Eleanor Brophy, who wrote for Iger. She was a good writer.

JA: Do you remember Alex Blum?

AMES: He was very easy to get along with and had a nice family. He was an older man who smoked a pipe—a very dignified man that we all looked up to. We all accepted his criticism and he did fine work. I liked the way he criticized my work because he liked good, straight-on draftsmanship instead of work that was largely decorative. He looked for that kind of distinction and he pushed it on to me. That was quite meaningful and helpful to me at the time. Maybe that criticism, upon reflection, was a little overdone, but it worked very well for me. Which tells me that he was a good teacher who gave someone who needed help something that was appropriate at the time.

JA: Maurice Gutwirth?

AMES: I think he was French and spoke with an accent. He had a powerful build but wasn’t very tall. Curly hair. And a good artist.

JA: Bernard Baily.

AMES: Oh, sure. He had his own place and professed to have been one of the originators of Felix the Cat, I think. I did some work for his shop. He was a stocky, dark-haired man with a nice face.

JA: What do you remember about his shop?

This splash by George Tuska—later to make a triple name for himself, in Charlie Biro’s Crime Does Not Pay, the Buck Rogers comic strip, and the pages of 1960s’70s Marvel Comics (esp. Iron Man)—comes from a circa-1941 issue of Fawcett’s Master Comics. Spell El Carim’s name backward; maybe he’s related to DC’s Zatara! Thanks to Jerry G. Bails. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Keats. His name was originally Ezra Jacob Katz; he went under the byline Jack Keats. He later switched to children’s books and produced a lovely book called A Snowy Day, a classic which broke down barriers all over the place. All it dealt with was a little child in snow clothing, playing in the snow. No text. Page after page. But the little boy was black, and this was revolutionary! This was around 1946. Katz was remarkable. The University of Southern Mississippi granted him a medal that they awarded every year to the top children’s book author and/or artist. When he died, maybe ten years ago, he left a legacy to the college called the Ezra Jack Keats Fund, which awards scholarships and God knows what else.

Some of the Iger Gang JA: I’d like to ask you about a few people... starting with Arthur Peddy.

AMES: He looked like an accountant with a strong chin and he wore glasses. He was rather a nice-looking, elegant, bright man. A solid artist.

When we’d walk down the street to lunch and beautiful women walked by, he check them out. He’d remark, “Quiff,” which was another way of saying, “What a lovely piece of womanhood.”

JA: Do you remember Klaus Nordling?

AMES: Yes. He had reddish-brown hair and stood about five feet eight

The cover of Doll Man Quarterly #12 (Spring ’47) has been attributed to artist Al Bryant. Thanks to Jerry G. Bails for the photocopy.

[Doll Man TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

AMES: It wasn’t really a shop. He worked out of his apartment and his wife was involved in it. I did one page that they were fond of that I always wanted to get back. They promised that I would have it one day, but it never happened.

JA: You said Al Bryant was at the Iger shop, too.

AMES: Yes. He was fine artist and did a lot of lead features. Then came World War II and when I came back from the service, I found that he had disappeared completely.

JA: Al Bryant suffered a nervous breakdown and everyone thought he recovered, but he hadn’t. He later committed suicide by driving his car into an abutment on the Grand Central Parkway in New York.

AMES: I’m sorry to hear that. Al was an unusually handsome man and he had everything going for him. Why a guy like that would kill himself is something I don’t understand.

great about that. He was human! [laughs] JA: Was Fine a clean penciler?

AMES: Yes, he was. I’ll throw this at you for nothing. In the studio I shared with Henri Arnold, who still does the newspaper feature, Jumble Word: The Scrambled Word Game, were Don Perlin and Pete Morisi and a guy named Bill Siegel.

JA: Bill Siegel? I don’t know that name.

AMES: You’re not missing very much. This guy was a good, pleasant artist with one strange claim to fame. When he penciled a page, it became totally covered with overall gray pencil smudge. His stuff wasn’t bad, but it was positively filthy. One day, I gave him the suggestion to tape off the panels and erase the gutters between the panels. This done, his work looked remarkably like halftone pencils. Bill was able to sell the product a little more easily than before.

Don Perlin was a big, heavy-set guy from Brooklyn. He turned out to be a much finer artist than he was at the beginning, though he was always very good. He was a very lovable person, spent a long time working for Marvel, and was the art director at Valiant Comics for a while.

I also was friends with Mort Leav. He met his wife when she was a secretary for Jerry Iger. They became a wonderful couple. Mort was one of the guys and a fine draftsman. A solid pro who was very well-liked by all of us. As I said, he was the best mimic of Jerry Iger, though we all took turns at doing it.

JA: Was there any friendly competition between the artists at Iger’s shop?

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Another name comes to mind: Harry Fisk. I knew Harry when we were both teaching at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School. I was impressed by his watercolor and oil paintings. He was a nice, knowledgeable man who had worked in comics at one time. [NOTE: Harry Fisk worked for several companies, including Fawcett, where he drew “Master Man” for Master Comics. —Jim.]

Two Ames illos done for circa-1950 issues of Male magazine, a Goodman pulp title edited by Mel Blum. [©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

AMES: Possibly at some unobtrusive level. But we were all supportive of each other. One time, I had to draw a car that had turned-over, and who the hell knows what’s under a turned over car? I had to fake it. I didn’t know enough about cars to even begin to fake it. André LeBlanc came over to me, sat down, and did it very nicely. Cooperation was the norm there. We had genuine admiration for those who were better than the rest of us. There might have been some envy, but not in a bitter way. I recently saw some of Reed Crandall’s work, and it reminded me that he really was a superb draftsman.

JA: He was not in the Iger shop then, of course?

AMES: No. He worked at home. He had been in the shop previously. I met him in the shop on one occasion when he came in to do a job. I know that I met him, knew him, and talked to him, and it could have only happened at Iger’s. My recollection of him is very small. He came from the Midwest and he used to tell us strange stories about what they did with cow flop. I don’t recall what they did with it, though. But anytime I think of Reed Crandall, I think of cow flop. [laughs] JA: Well, I asked for it! Did you ever see him socially?

AMES: No. The only ones I saw socially were André and Al Stahl. But we all did have lunch together. Bob Webb was devoted to Chinese restaurants and he loved the dish, as I recall its pronunciation, “yucca mien.” It was essentially a bowl full of noodles. Nothing else. We couldn’t understand it, but we’d watch him and politely smile.

I knew Lou Fine the same way I knew Reed Crandall. I saw him around a few times, briefly spoke to him, and knew his work. I was delighted on one occasion when I saw a marvelous drawing come to life directly out of his pencil and then saw him badly misdraw a hand. I felt

JA: I used to correspond with Pete Morisi. He even gave me a penand-ink water-colored drawing of his Thunderbolt character, which I loved as a kid.

AMES: Pete is a great guy who’s had some health problems in recent years. He was a police officer, as you probably know; but prior to that, we worked together. We got together since he had been a student at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and I was one of the teachers there, in 1948.

We shared some studio space after that until sometime in the middle 1950s. One of the studios was at the Van Doren Hotel at West 57th Street in New York. We had a studio on the ground floor facing the street. We’d work late sometimes and one night, we saw the actor Jeff Chandler getting out of his sports car, meeting Nina Foch, whose skirt blew up over her head as she climbed into the car.

Another time, a woman came in off the street, knocked at our door, and asked if we needed a model. We said we didn’t, but she was apparently very anxious for work. Pete was working near the window, studiously looking at what he was doing, and I said to her, “Well, show us what you offer as a model.” She entered, slowly stripped to her undergarments, then slowly removed them and pirouetted a few times. And she was good-looking. I said, “We’ll be happy to think about it if, when, we need someone.” She left her card and it read, “Mrs. Brown,” and her

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Lee Ames

address. Strange. She left and Pete looked up at me, raised an eyebrow, and went back to work again.

You know, Pete admired George Tuska.

Sometimes, you couldn’t tell the difference between their work.

JA: Tuska’s a hard guy to imitate for a prolonged period of time... because it’s tough to copy a guy who doesn’t litter the page with detail. You have to draw well when drawing simply because you can’t hide your shortcomings with detail.

There’s not much room to fake well.

Biro, Barry, and Others AMES: I hadn’t thought about that, but it’s true. Charlie Biro, for example, was so taken with linear drawing, that he insisted that we who worked for him use as few blacks as possible.

JA: A couple of people have told me the same thing, but others have denied ever being told that. So thank you very much for verifying that!

AMES: I didn’t know that. “Chicken” was the one word that was used and I thought it’d be nice to have authenticity in the story. But Biro changed it throughout to “chick” and that made me unhappy. But he was the boss.

JA: I wasn’t aware you were writing for Biro, too.

AMES: Yes, off and on. Or revising and editing the scripts I received.

JA: I take it you weren’t lettering your own work.

AMES: Not at all.

JA: So you penciled and inked for Biro, with some occasional writing?

AMES: That’s right, though while Biro liked fine, linear art, I used the Winsor & Newton #2 brush instead of a pen.

JA: Did you spend much time in the Biro offices?

AMES: Not in the offices, except for one critical time when Biro called three or four of us in to get stuff done halfway through the night for a horrendous deadline. I remember going home shaking afterwards, but we got the job done.

AMES: You’re welcome! There’s a story that leads to it. Supposedly, Biro attempted Pete Morisi, who has often admitted to the powerful to add blacks to something he was working influence the art of George Tuska has had on him, created, on, and by the time he finished, the art was wrote, and drew the Thunderbolt comic for Charlton in the almost totally black. [laughs] So he gave up JA: Biro and Wood were partners, but I mid-1960s. This splash is from #35 (Dec. ’66). [© DC Comics.] on it! Biro would tolerate black in a hat have the impression you spent more time band or something like that, but he wanted with Biro than with Bob Wood. the work open for color. Did you ever hear the story that Dan Barry AMES: I think everybody did. belted Biro in the jaw?

JA: No! Dan never told me about that.

AMES: I don’t know whether he would have, but that’s the story that went around. There was one point when Biro had had it with me. It was after the war, and since I had worked for Disney, I guess I was never going to let anyone forget it. Biro wasn’t happy with something I had done and ranted about “You Hollywood big shots!” But we got over it.

You did know that his partner, Bob Wood, had legal troubles?

JA: Yes. I heard he killed his girlfriend with a flat-iron while drunk.

He went down to the street corner, flagged a cop, and said, “You’ll want to arrest me. I just killed someone.”

AMES: I wouldn’t doubt that. However, I remember him as a very gentle, nice guy. I don’t know how he managed to live with Charlie... who didn’t seem easy to get along with. After a while, I came to like him a lot. I started working for Biro in the late 1940s and continued on until the mid-1950s or so.

JA: What kind of boss was Biro?

AMES: Strong. He had his own hard ideas. I didn’t dislike him and I might have been a little obnoxious, too. That might have resulted in being called a “Hollywood big shot.” In a script I wrote for him I described the girl in the balloon text as “a cute little chicken.” My recollection was that, back in the twenties, “chicken” was slang for an attractive woman. Years later it evolved to “chick.”

JA: Chico [pronounced “chick-o”] Marx was named such because he was a “chicken chaser.”

JA: I’m trying to figure out how much Bob Wood did, since Biro seems to have been the take-charge guy.

AMES: I have no idea, except that they were partners who worked for Lev Gleason. It does come to mind that we accepted Wood as the art director, but essentially it was Biro who was in control.

JA: Did Biro and Wood have much of a staff at the offices?

AMES: No. It was a minimal staff, as I recall. I met [publisher] Lev Gleason once or twice. He was a slender, pleasant-looking man with brownish hair. I would guess he was in his forties at that time.

JA: By the way, do you remember why Dan Barry punched Biro?

AMES: No. [laughs] But I’m sure there were lots of good reasons.

JA: That sounds just like the Dan Barry I knew.

AMES: Yes. He was a hot-headed guy.

JA: Yes. Right up to the end of his life. Dan was an emotionally mixed bag. He was proud he was Jewish, and at the same time he’d berate other Jews. Some of the things he’d say just left me shaking my head.

AMES: There’s so much of that sort of thing. My original name was Jewish, as you know, and Ames was a nom de plume. I had thought about changing my name early on and told a cousin I was thinking of changing my last name to Abrams. She said, “I think Ames would be nicer.” This was back in 1938 and I had no real intention of doing it. I was conflicted, because I did not want to hide my Jewish identity.

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

13

Then I went to work for Jerry Iger, who you know was Jewish.

The first time I was allowed to use a byline, I decided to use my real name. Iger said, “Nope. We can’t do that.” That was the nature of the times; the prevailing fear that antisemitism created a commercial hazard. You simply didn’t expose that kind of condition.

JA: I once asked Dan about the restriction of solid black areas by Biro, and he said it was true, but that Biro knew better than to enforce that rule to him. The reason I’m returning to this point is because I have a Crime Does Not Pay comic book with a Dan Barry story full of solid black areas, and lots of zip-a-tone, too. I always wondered if Dan did that just because Biro told him not to, in order to spite Biro.

AMES: Knowing Dan, he probably would have. It’s also possible that Biro changed later down the line and began to accept work that was obviously high quality and he just had the good sense to go with it.

JA: I’ve also heard that Biro continually asked for art corrections. Or that he played with the art pages himself, tinkering with the art and the dialogue, which was very copy-heavy to begin with.

Lev Gleason had a winning team in editors Charles Biro and Bob Wood—who themselves picked winning teams to draw their comics. One issue in point: Crime Does Not Pay #75 (May 1949), with interior art clockwise by Dan Barry, Tony di Preta, Fred Guardineer, and Emil Gershwin—plus a cover drawn (or at least signed) by Biro himself.

Thanks to Jim Amash for the loan of the comic—and to Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., and Hames Ware, for the ID on Gershwin. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

AMES: I rather think that’s true.

He was picky.

JA: Since these stories were so copy-heavy, did you feel restricted as an artist by the lack of drawing space?

JA: Did he do it to you?

AMES: I never thought of it like that. I just utilized the space I had to draw in, the best way that I could. I’d rough out a panel first before I drew it. I had to think it out first, unlike Matt Baker, who had it all

AMES: I’m sure he did.

14

Lee Ames Library, to the picture collection, and I did find pictures of Beau Brummel. But I also found five tearsheets of my illustration of Captain Becknell with the flag behind his head!

A Timely Occurrence Lee says: “For the 1953 biography Abraham Lincoln by Jeannette Covert Nolan, published by Julian Messner, Inc., I found it interesting to attempt to recreate what Abe looked like at different ages, up until I was able to use photographic reference.” You figure out where speculation ends and photography begins. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

visualized in his head first. He’d just sit down and start final drawings.

JA: Were you paid a higher rate on Biro’s Tops Magazine?

AMES: Yes, I was, but I don’t remember what it was. Tops was the size of magazines like Colliers and The Saturday Evening Post. Biro and Wood were trying to expand into adult magazine market. They didn’t make it. I don’t remember what Biro paid me on the regular books, either. I do remember that $15 a page was a good rate for freelancing after I left Jerry Iger, who, I recall, paid the hard workers $7 a page.

JA: Pencils and inks?

AMES: Probably. I don’t recall now. I freelanced there until I enlisted in the service in 1942. Honorably discharged in 1944, I came home. I then spent a year again working for Iger.

You asked about swipe files earlier. About 1951, I was doing the Landmark children’s books for Bennett Cerf at Random House, which was quite an important series. I was fortunate enough to illustrate six or seven of the first ten. When they came out, the cover I did for The Pony Express became the lead illustration for the opening advertising campaign. But that’s not the point here.

The second one I did was The Santa Fe Trail. Speaking of swipes, one of the characters was a Captain William Becknell, who led the first wagon train across the Santa Fe Trail. He was described as wearing a floppy hat, smoking a pipe, and sporting a beard. I had to get a picture of this guy, so I went to the Central Branch of the New York Public Library on 42nd Street.

They had a most extensive picture collection. But there was nothing on Becknell... not one thing. I couldn’t find anything on him elsewhere, either.

I went back to the drawing board and drew a chapter-opener, showing a guy who fit the description I had on Becknell.

To give the drawing some meaning, I drew a flag behind his head with the number of stars they had during that period (I think it was 24), but they were arranged on the blue field in the shape of a larger five-pointed star. So I validated the picture with a unique flag. I told myself, “Reader... if you want to see this as Captain Becknell... so be it, but now you know.” The book came out with the illustration.

A few years later, I had to look up Beau Brummel. I went back to the Central Branch of the New York Public

JA: It’s amazing how things like that happen. According to a list of credits I have, you did a feature for Hillman Comics called “Bomber Burns” in 1941. Does that sound familiar?

AMES: No. I may have done it but it doesn’t ring a bell. I’ll tell you one I did for Stan Lee. The main character was a countrified giant, a powerful, good-natured hick. He was about twenty feet tall with a straw hat and a heart full of good deeds. His name was Homer. Are you ready? “Homer the Brave”! That feature ran for a couple of issues, and then we buried all twenty feet of him!

Speaking of Timely, I worked for Mel Blum on a number of issues of Male magazine, which was a minor competitor of True magazine. It was a Martin Goodman publication in the late ’40s and early 1950s. Blum was quite deaf and pretty well built.

JA: Dave Gantz told me they called him “Bum Blum.”

AMES: If they did, they didn’t say it to his face, but he probably couldn’t have heard them say it anyway. He was a nice guy. I remember doing a cover of a paperback for him. It contained a face staring at you with the eyes completely in shadow so that you are looking at his face with eyes that you couldn’t see but you knew were looking at you. It had quite an impact. I brought it in and Mel said, “No, no, no, no!” [mimicking Blum’s voice:] “We don’t see da eyes dere.”

I told him that was the idea, but he insisted I put the “eyes” in. I finally put two tiny pinpoints of light to represent the highlights of the eyes and I got away with it.

JA: Very ingenious of you.

AMES: It was my mean nature, is all. I did several covers and interior illustrations for Blum, including Marvel Science Fiction and other pulp magazines. Pete Morisi inked a few things for me on those magazines for Blum, but that was after we had the studio together.

JA: Did you work on any the superhero books for Timely?

AMES: I may have; I don’t remember. I remember switching from super-hero stuff, either for Timely or someone else, to animation-type comics and to romance comics. I ran the gamut. I didn’t have a favorite genre.

JA: What do you recall about Stan Lee?

Ames admits he had to fake a likeness for Santa Fe Trail-blazer Captain William Becknell in an early-’50s book. But a few years later he found his “guesstimate” of Becknell being used as if it were the definitive photographic likeness! [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

AMES: He was a young guy who got his job, we were told, through family connections, and found himself in a fine position. He was a very handsome kid and he went to great lengths to maintain

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

15

A montage of Lee Ames art for latter-day Martin Goodman pulp magazines. (Left to right:) his cover for Marvel Science Fiction, Vol. 3, #5 (Nov. ’51)— a lead illo from MSF, Vol. 3, #6 (May ’52)—and his illo for Amazing Detective Cases (March 1949). Nice art— but six months between issues of Marvel Science Fiction should’ve been a clue that all was not well in the once-mighty Goodman pulp empire. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for the scans. [©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

his good looks over long years. That he did, but we all do get older and that’s what we have to live with.

Some of us wondered whether he deserved his position.

“Samson and Delilah”

JA: Why was that?

AMES: That sounds more like Fred Kida.

AMES: Probably pure envy!

He held an important and sensitive position by reason of, we wanted to believe, nepotism. Some of us felt he didn’t show any great talent at that time either as an artist or writer. Probably the greeneyed monster made us feel that way!

JA: The editor there was Ed Cronin.

AMES: Yeah! He was a nice guy. I don’t remember much else about him, though.

JA: Didn’t you work for Victor Fox before the war?

AMES: If I did, that would have been through the Iger shop. The only thing I remember doing for Victor Fox was the cover of “Samson and Delilah,” and that was after the war. I’ll give you a quick story on that.

JA: Who wrote “Homer the Brave”?

AMES: Burt Frohman and I. JA: Did you package the job and turn it in to Stan?

AMES: Either that, or we gave Stan the idea and worked out the stuff afterwards. Incidentally, I asked Stan to do a Draw 50 Heroes book with me for the series and he liked the idea. I put it in the hands of my erstwhile partner, who never followed it up. Later on, Stan came out with his own book on How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, which is another bone I had to pick with this partner of mine.

JA: I also have you listed as doing “Test Pilot” for Hillman.

Lee also drew the "Firebrand" story in Police Comics #12 (Oct. 1942). Thanks to Steve Brumbaugh for sending us a scan of the splash, even if the "F" in "Firebrand" was partly missing from the dog-eared copy he had recently purchased. You're still a hero to us, Steve! [Firebrand TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

The art director at Fox was Hy Vigoda, who was the brother of actor Abe Vigoda and comic artist Bill. I drew the cover—and with Henri Arnold, we had a group of other artists put the book together.

Hy indicated that Victor Fox (whom I never met) wanted something on the cover that would suggest a part of a nude woman’s body. That, on the newsstands, would help catch the eye and sell books. So I did the cover and had Delilah sitting on the couch with Samson. Delilah had her left leg folded over the couch with her right leg dangling down. The thigh and the calf on her left leg

16

Lee Ames

were purposely arranged so they resembled a beautiful, lovely, tight behind. Fox was delighted with it!

I look at the cover now and realize that Samson was sitting with one leg on the other side of the couch while Delilah was sitting on the viewer’s side of the couch. How this happened, I don’t know, but I put a back to the couch; therefore there was no drop off side on the other side for Samson’s leg to fall down. Therefore I created a picture that shows Samson’s left leg on the front side and both of Delilah’s legs, but no right leg for Samson.

Luckily, nobody noticed.

was $150 richer! This was the beginning of my agonies.

At Fort Knox, things were much more liberal between officers and enlisted men than they were in Texas. By that, I don’t mean tight fraternizing, but there had been an acceptance of realities. But now I was in the Third Army, under General Patton, and wasn’t aware that things were different.

My jeep driver and I were talking and drinking Cokes.

There was a table of officers close by and one of them, a lieutenant-colonel, came over and put me on report. Which ultimately led to a reclassification, which led to my being Honorably Discharged. This was in 1944. I then got a defense job, which I had to do or else get reenlisted in the service. That was an unpleasant time.

JA: We’ve talked a lot about your art, but not much about your comic book writing.

When did you start writing comic books?

AMES: In the 1950s. But I didn’t do that much writing and wouldn’t classify myself as a writer.

I had another incident that was indicative of the Patton situation. I was an officer on a court-martial court that tried enlisted men. There were seven officers of the court, including myself. An order came down (I think from a General Scott) that, when it came to the verdict, we were all to vote “guilty.” That would leave the final judgment and decision to the general. That’s the way it was and, trust me, there was no one to complain to.

Army Agonies JA: You told me you volunteered for service in World War II. I’d like to hear about it.

AMES: I went into the Army in 1942 but was stateside the entire time. I was originally assigned to engineering but got into the O.C.S., became a 2nd lieutenant, and opted to be a training officer. I was assigned to duty at the Armed Forces Training Center in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

After my stint there, I was sent to the Third Armored Division in Texas and ran into some strange trouble. First, they needed an officer to take charge of the officers’ club books... an accountant’s job.

Then or now, I knew nothing about accounting! My name was Abramowitz at the time, and the officer I was replacing was named Liebowitz. The major who assigned me told me very clearly that, because I was Jewish, as was Liebowitz, this was obviously the kind of thing I could handle.

Back to the Shop

In his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham wrote that artists often hid naughty art in otherwise harmless-seeming drawings, saying that, “In ordinary comic books, there are pictures within pictures for children who know how to look.” According to Lee Ames, a look at Delilah’s left leg on the cover for A Spectacular Features Magazine #1 (April 1950) proves that, as per the title of Mark Evanier’s new TwoMorrows book: “Wertham Was Right!” Ye Editor remembers buying this Fox comic as a nine-year-old, mostly because of Cecil B. deMille’s big new movie Samson and Delilah, starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr—but never, from that day to this, did Roy ever notice the suggestive picture-within-a-picture—at least not consciously—until Lee Ames pointed it out. Maybe Victor Fox was clever like a fox, after all! Thanks to <mistercomic.com> for the scan! [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

I took over the books and suffered through it. Finally, I had to get the books back and was somehow under by a hundred and fifty bucks. So I took that much money from my own pocket and replaced the money. A week later, I found where that hundred and fifty bucks had been. I needn’t have replaced it. Result: I was $150 poorer and the government

JA: That’s an awful way to run things. Now, once you were out of the service, you went back to Jerry Iger’s shop. Had the shop changed much since you had last been there?

AMES: It had changed. That was when I met Burt Frohman and Matt Baker.

JA: Okay. We briefly mentioned EC Comics and I’d like to get back to that.

M.C. Gaines was still in charge when you started there. What was he like?

AMES: A nice enough guy. He wore glasses and had wavy, curly hair and smoked a cigar. Not hard to deal with.

JA: Did you deal with Gaines or was there an art director there?

AMES: There was a woman art director who was very attractive, but I’ve forgotten her name. I didn’t deal with Gaines very much.

“The Family of Cartoonists Is My Family!”

17

The lead stories in EC Comics’ pre-New Trend War against Crime #1-3 (Spring, Summer, and Fall 1948, respectively) were illustrated (and signed) by Lee Ames. Repro’d from the beautiful hardcover editions published by Russ Cochran from the original black-&-white art. So why isn’t there a volume of Gardner Fox and Shelly Moldoff’s Moon Girl? [©2003 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

JA: How long did you work for EC once the elder Gaines was gone?

AMES: Not too long. I was freelancing for other places while I worked for Gaines. I was there when they first started moving towards the horror stuff.

JA: What was Bill Gaines like to work for?

AMES: He had a strong personality. I remember when he testified before Congress when they attacked comic books. I thought the investigators were unfairly hostile and it was scary, but Bill got through it.

JA: Bill had a great, hearty way of speaking. Was he that way when he was young?

AMES: Oh, yes. He was kind of loud.

JA: Was Al Feldstein there?

AMES: Yes, but I only have vague memories of him.

JA: Tell me about the Kewpies feature you did for Will Eisner.

AMES: I had known Will. I remember Jules Feiffer doing studio work for Eisner at the time and he was a nice guy. The idea for the Kewpies strip was a good one, but we had to be concerned about how they were done. I didn’t know it then, but I wasn’t permitted to do what I thought should have been done... which was what Eisner wanted. What Eisner wanted was the original look of the Kewpies, done by a woman, God-knows-when. In trying to enforce the particulars that he had in mind, I tightened up. In any case, it ran for a brief while and then disappeared.

Eisner was good to work for. He knew what he wanted and how the

work was to look. There were no problems working for Will Eisner. It was honest work.

JA: Where had Kewpies originally run? Before you did it for Eisner, which was in 1949.

AMES: In the St. Nicholas magazines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Draw 50...

JA: Did you write these stories for Eisner?

AMES: No. Right before this time, around 1948, I was able to illustrate my first real book for Julian Messner Publishing. It was Three Spanish Conquistadors, and I worked for a wonderful editor named Gertrude Blumenthal. I did samples for this book and got the job.

Right before I started work on the book, I said to my editor, “Don’t you think Three Spanish Conquistadors is a bit redundant? Do we need the word ‘Spanish’ in there?” Pause, pause, pause. I won my point and am amazed to this day that this young punk, getting a fine opportunity, dared to change the title.

Three of Lee’s successful “Draw 50” series. An ingenious overall title, that. Instead of claiming to teach one to “draw monsters,” by giving a specific number it fills the potential buyer’s head with images: “Wow! I’ll be able to draw fifty whole monsters!” [©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

Once I started illustrating books, I pretty much left comics behind. I’ve illustrated about 150 books now. By 1966, I had already done 75 books.

During that time, I spent several years working as an artistin-residence.

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Lee Ames

In 1962 I did a book for Doubleday titled Draw, Draw, Draw. I started doing it in 1960 and I had the copyright on it. I got royalties on it and the book did rather nicely. It was at this time that Doubleday phased out my department and I lost my job there. I went back to them and suggested that we do a sequel to it. They thought that was a great idea and I got a thousand dollar advance. The “how to draw” books that existed at that time were simplistic in nature, and I wanted to push it a further.

But Doubleday had problems. How to put this new type of book together? Where to market this new idea? Manufacturing costs?

Appropriate title? Editors dying—two of them in succession! The book sat on the shelf for several years and finally, a new editor, John Ernst, who was probably afraid of dying, too, told me to keep the advance under the proviso that I didn’t try to sell the book somewhere else.

or 1965.

AMES: I don’t recall anything about working for Charlton.

JA: Do you remember anything about working for Classics Illustrated in the 1950s?

AMES: No. I didn’t mention that I worked for Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s. One of the features I storyboarded was the Fantastic Four cartoon. I did everything by mail.

JA: Alex Toth worked on that series, too. He did great work for that company.

AMES: He’s a tremendous artist, and I wish he understood how important he’s been to all of us.

Years later (1972), it occurred to me that I still wanted to do a sequel to the Draw, Draw, Draw book. I went up to see the newest editor, Tom Ellsworth, who said, “Let’s go back to your original idea.” We narrowed the focus of the book from 200 items to 50. The first book was Draw 50 Animals and it really sold well. We did a sequel to that, and it did well, too. So we launched this as a new series until now we have over 26 Draw 50 books in the series. Down the line I needed help and took in a partner. I could have kept the Draw 50 series out of the partnership, but I didn’t. That was a mistake, but we finally worked out our problems.

JA: I think he probably knows, because a lot of us who admire him have told him so. He’s certainly had a big influence on my life, artistically and otherwise. Did you miss comics once you left the business?

JA: So you basically left comics in the mid-1950s. I have a credit listed for you stating you did some comics for Charlton Press around 1964

AMES: As I used to say when I was in public school, “Hey, teach! May I leave the room?”

AMES: I didn’t miss the agonies of the deadlines. Today, I consider myself as much a cartoonist as an illustrator. The family of cartoonists is my family, and I don’t know that I can say the same about my association with the Fine Arts. Anything else you want to know?

JA: It looks as though we’ve covered your comics career pretty thoroughly.

JA: Why, certainly, young man!

[NOTE: Much of the Lee Ames art that accompanies this interview appears on Lee’s website, www.leeames.com. In addition, many of Lee’s series of Draw 50 books are available from bookstores and online. You can check these out at www.draw50.com. Lee Ames just doesn’t quit—and we wouldn’t have it any other way!]

A recent photo of Lee outside his home—and, just because this is Alter Ego, after all, a good Ames action page from that “Firebrand” story in Police Comics #10. Photo courtesy of Lee Ames. [Retouched/restored art ©2003 AC Comics; Firebrand TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

Title Comic Fandom Archive

19

A Talk with JOHN BENSON An Overdue Interview with the Editor of Squa Tront about “Post-EC Comic Fandom” —and Why Harvey Kurtzman Left Mad! BENSON: Yes. Barks worked on these huge boards and he cut them in half for ease of handling. This page was cut in half, and the two halves happened to be completely different scenes.

One was just a bunch of town-father pigs standing around in the street, and I gave that half to Mike Last issue, John talked about his early life, and McInerney. But the other half has Scrooge how he became interested in comic books, especially sitting on a pile of money and also has him Harvey Kurtzman’s Mad. He also discussed his first pointing at Christmas on a calendar and contacts with EC fandom in 1955, and lots more. This saying, “Bah!”—which is probably the time, John fills us in on the fascinating “Post-EC Fandom” closest he ever acknowledged his period in the late ’50s and his groundbreaking interview with Dickens namesake. So, yes, I still artist Bernard Krigstein, and have that half-page, you bet. gives us his “rap” about Anyhow, Jones never did pay me, Kurtzman, Bill Gaines, and and the paperback never came out.

Little Annie Fanny. This Jones had gotten my script illusinterview was conducted in trated by Bob Jenny, who probably January 2003, was transcribed never got paid, either. But that didn’t

by Brian K. Morris, and is stop Russ from selling it to Warren, copyright ©2003 Bill Schelly. and it appeared in Creepy or Eerie.

The writer is listed as “unknown” in The Warren Companion. Which is my BILL SCHELLY: Have you own fault, because I think the author of ever written any comics profesthe book tried to contact me through sionally?

John Benson in 1957—and art from the cover of the first issue of Gamut (Sept. someone else and I didn’t respond. I 1960), which graphically illustrates the high volume of fanzine activity during the JOHN BENSON: I wrote guess I didn’t realize he was going to 1958-62 period. All the covers depicted on the Gamut cover are of real issues of several stories for Warren: one include a checklist. real fanzines, and include Ec-hhhh, Fanfare, Tales from the Shag, Spoof, Foo, in collaboration with Bhob Hoohah!, Frantic, Concept, Image, and Insight—many of which are discussed in BS: When you graduated from Stewart, which was nicely this installment. Gamut had “dittoed” front and back covers, with mimeographed Westtown, what did you do? Was it illustrated by Angelo Torres; interiors. It was published by Gary Delain, and contributors to the issue included college or was it the military? one with Clark Dimond; and Ken Winter, E. Nelson Bridwell, Marty Pahls—and Robert Crumb. Photo courtesy of one on my own. Bill Harris John Benson. [Art ©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

BENSON: I was a Quaker, was editor when I wrote that remember? [laughs] I went on to last one, and he edited it heavily and I thought he messed it up. I had it college, Grinnell College, in Iowa. I wanted to go to a small liberal arts take place on the headwaters of the Orinoco River, and he changed it to college. I looked at various ones. Probably that was the wrong one to give the river some fictitious name. I couldn’t understand the point. I choose. It was culture shock. Actually, the guys who were farmers from think if you tie horror to reality it’s more interesting. He tried to make it Iowa, they were great guys. But most of the people there were from the all really simple, like for little kids. Not that my script was any classic to suburbs of Chicago, and I wasn’t really on their wavelength. [laughs] I begin with. became friends with several people from the East there, though, including Clark Dimond, whom I later collaborated with, and who I wrote another story that appeared in a Warren book, though I wrote some comic scripts on his own for the black-&-white horror didn’t write it for Warren. Russ Jones, who was the editor of Creepy for magazines the first issue or so, had put out a comic book version of Dracula in paperback for Ballantine. This was when Ballantine had just brought out BS: Did you continue your fannish activity at college? the EC Bradbury horror and science fiction comics reprints. Russ was going to produce a book of famous short horror stories in comics form BENSON: Yeah, I did. I published my fanzine Image during that for them, and he asked me to do an adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s period. And I continued to correspond with various fans, like like Marty vampire classic Carmilla. I think he knew it was a favorite story of Pahls, Gary Delain, Dick Voll, Ron Parker, of course, and Ken Winter, mine, which I got interested in because I loved Roger Vadim’s film Doug Brown, Doug Payson. Payson was the principal artist for Image. version, Blood and Roses. Anyhow, Russ Jones did not have a very You can see the great cover he did for me reprinted in Squa Tront 10. A good reputation for paying, so when he invited me over to his place, very good artist. Esmond Adams was another guy I corresponded with, before he even asked me about doing it, he spread out some original a contributor to Hoohah! from Huntsville, Alabama. I think he later comic pages on the floor and suggested that I pick one out and keep it. went to Harvard and had culture shock. I exchanged a few letters with This was sort-of like those little gifts they give you when you go to see a Robert and Charles Crumb, too. Then there was Fred, of course, and product demo, a little bribe to get you to be there. So I took a Barks Larry [Ivie]; those are probably my principal correspondents. I still have Uncle Scrooge page. most of that correspondence.

by Bill Schelly

Part II

BS: Really! Do you still have it?

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John Benson

BS: So you started buying back issues of ECs then? Were there were some places where you would find some old comics for sale, like bookstores?

BENSON: There was a store in Philadelphia, which may even still be there. The guy’s name was Bagelman, and I remember going in there around 1958. At the time he had a mail order business, and he was selling Golden Age comics. I looked behind the counter and he had these Golden Age comics. In fact, there was one that, somehow, I was able to flip through, where there was a story about a dwarf in the subway, and it was rather gory or horrific, and I’ve never been able to find that since. [laughs] A very strange comic, and before the horror era. I can remember seeing U.S.A. Comics and Golden Age super-hero comics that he was packing up to sell through the mail, and for pretty good prices, I’m sure.

[Bill chuckles] At Westtown I became very interested in popular music. I like classical music, and at Westtown, of course, you were exposed to classical music. I loved classical music, but I also was very, very interested in popular music. I thought that Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard... I thought they were Art! I still do. I still love rock ‘n’ roll, from the ’50s up until... uh, let’s say about when Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones.

I’ve always been a child of popular culture. I’m not an intellectual. My parents were not intellectuals, either, although they applied a sort of critical judgment to them. We would go to Bob As detailed last issue, Larry Ivie drew illustrations on many of his letters.

Hope movies, and Martin and This one, from a missive to John circa 1958, is one of his most ornate.

Lewis movies, even occasional Used with the artist’s permission. [©2003 Larry Ivie.]

Abbott and Costello movies. But when I had an interest in going to see the Bowery Boys or Ma and Pa Kettle, I was told, no, I could not. [laughs] You know, “That’s too trashy, and too below your interest, and In Squa Tront 10 I wrote about how Charles Crumb came over and you just can’t go to that stuff.” But yeah, I’m totally popular culture. visited, and how he had bought Barks comics from a store at big prices.

BS: Maybe this is a good place to segue to your fanzine Image, which And then, when he needed money, he took them back and the guy gave was, after all, devoted to popular culture. him peanuts for the same stuff he’d sold him. Well, that was the same store I’m talking about. But I do remember he had huge racks of used BENSON: [laughs] Well, theoretically. I said that in my—what’s the comics in the back, and I was really livid one time. I spent about an hour word?—my prospectus, my one ad in Sata, but I never really meant it. It going through all those used comics and I found a Crime SuspenStories, was just a fanzine. How Image came about, and my attitude towards it, the one with the Evans cover of a guy throttling a woman in the is all really well spelled out in Squa Tront 10, which is currently rowboat. All the comics were a nickel, you know. I took it up front and available. his mother was about to sell it to me. And he happened to come up, and he said, “Oh, that one’s not a nickel.” I said, “It’s in the nickel section.”

BS: Okay, so we won’t go over it again here. But I would like to talk “Well, that was a mistake. If you want that, it’s going to be 50¢.” about the period after Hoohah! and before the start of Alter Ego, from about 1957 to 1961, because that was the thing I learned from BS: [pained] Ohhhhh. [laughs] you, that there was a real fandom after EC comics had died, that offered a substantial amount of comics material.

BENSON: I just realized this is like the story of Flip #1, only the ending

is different. I said, “Forget it,” because that was pretty high. It really wasn’t that old at the time. I bought nearly all my back-issue ECs by mail. I was buying a lot from a guy named Dick Phipps, who was selling off his collection. The newer ones were, like, 15¢ and they worked back up to 50¢ for the earlier ones. I was getting $2 a week allowance, which I had to use for school supplies and other things.

BS: Did you ever have a paper route or other source of income before you got out of high school?

BENSON: No. Obviously, at Westtown I didn’t have anything like that.

In Haddonfield, I got an allowance of 25¢ a week, and then later, 50¢.

And I would mow a few lawns, and I had all the money I could want.

My only expenses were the occasional comic, Popsicles... which were a nickel. You could buy a balsa plane for a dime, and your parents bought you your roller skates, and your bicycle, and stuff. But if you have it, you find a way to spend it. I pissed away a lot of money on Ravell plastic models. But at Westtown, I didn’t feel nearly so flush. I wanted to buy all those ECs, and that was tough. I was sending this guy a buck or two a week, ordering the later ones because I got more comics for the buck that way.

BS: But were they in decent shape when you got them?

BENSON: I’ve never been able to evaluate the condition of a comic.

BENSON: I consider that I’ve been in comics fandom since 1956, and when I arrived it was already going strong. It’s kind of strange that Xero is considered a beginning of comics fandom, because Xero’s art director, Bhob Stewart, published the first EC fanzine, The EC Fan Bulletin in 1953, and had been pretty much continuously a part of fandom in one way or another since that time. In fact, I would say that if there is a defining moment for the start of comics fandom, it was the publication of The EC Fan Bulletin. It was the start of EC fandom, EC fandom evolved into “second fandom,” and there were many people who continued on into the fandom later developed by Alter Ego and Xero.

BS: Can you tell me a little more about that “second fandom” in the late 1950s?

BENSON: It was a very active time, with a lot of fanzines. I’d say there were two main groups, with considerable overlap. One was primarily interested in writing about comics and satire magazines, and the other was primarily interested in producing their own amateur satire publications. There must have been well over 30 fanzine titles during this period, quite a number being substantial publications. In the first group I guess the most substantial ones were Spoof, which was called Good Lord! the first issue, Marty Pahls’ Fanfare, Mike Britt’s Squatront, and Joe Pilati’s Smudge.

Comics Fandom Archive BS: What about Larry Ivie’s Concept?

BENSON: Right. Larry put out some other interesting fanzines, too. I guess you might include my fanzine Image in that group. I know I’m leaving some out. Joel Moser’s Frantic. There was even a Cracked fanzine then, Nugada. Some of these fanzines had a lot of info in them: interviews, where to find the current work of EC and other comics artists, articles about old comics, stuff like that.

Then, of the second group, I think everyone would say that Charles and Robert Crumb’s Foo was the best. A lot of underground artists started in these satire fanzines, like Jay Lynch and Skip Williamson. For the most part I wasn’t getting those. For one thing, unlike you, I’m not that interested in amateur comics. Some of the leading titles of those were Wild, Jack High, Squire, and Blasé.

BS: When did you first learn about Xero and Comic Art? BENSON: I don’t know exactly. It wasn’t from their first issues, but it was while they were still being published. You have to remember that I was a good friend of Bhob Stewart, who was art director of Xero. I knew him, but I was still living in Philadelphia. I moved to New York just after the last issue came out. But Xero was an sf fanzine, and I wasn’t getting sf fanzines, and wasn’t much interested in the comics covered in “AICFAD.” I just checked my files and was surprised to find that I do have the last issue; obviously I got it from Bhob at the time. I did get several issues of Comic Art, a publication that was of greater interest to me. I don’t know if I officially subscribed.

I can tell you the first time that I met the Lupoffs and the Thompsons, though. I’m not sure just when it was, but it was very likely August 1962. Bhob said, “Come on, we’re going over to the East Side.”

The Thompsons were in town and the Lupoffs were throwing a party, or a gathering, so people could meet them. I probably got to know the Thompsons a little then, because I corresponded with them fairly regularly over quite a period of time. I asked them to come to my 1966 convention. I provided a hotel room for them, not at the convention hotel but at another more reasonable hotel on the West Side. I never got to know the Lupoffs at all.

BS: Part of your claim to fame in fandom was that you did the first lengthy interviews with some of the most respected pros of the time.

The first one, with Bernie Krigstein, came out about this time. You did that with Bhob Stewart. How did it come about?

we got his phone number, from Information, I guess, and called him up.

And he said, “Okay.” [laughs] I think it was Bhob who actually made the call. Anyway, we set a time for a few days later, and we said we’d go out to his place. And we went up to Larry’s to borrow his tape recorder.

At that time, of course, it was a reel-to-reel machine.

BS: Not everyone had one.

BENSON: I had one, but it wasn’t in New York. And they were heavy, even Fred’s Wollensak. Fred loved Wollensaks. In fact, I have Fred’s Wollensak on loan from him right now, since I’ve been checking out some old reel-to-reel tapes I have. But Larry’s was bigger. It was huge.

Anyway, we also went up to Larry’s to look at Krigstein’s stories, because Bhob didn’t own them and whatever comics I had were in Philadelphia. And Larry was pooh-poohing and saying, “Aw, Krigstein didn’t care. He just repeated panels because it was easier.” We were sure he was wrong, you know. So we went out to Krigstein’s and taped that interview. Going out to Jamaica, Queens, from Manhattan is like going to Boston, or something.

BS: Dragging that monster machine. You didn’t have a car?

BENSON: Nobody in New York has a car. It’s over an hour on the subway. You have to change twice to get there from the West Side. That evening was really exciting, because Krigstein said everything we could imagine he could possibly say, and more. He was totally articulate. You know, in 1962, EC was actually so much further in the dim past than it is now. Krigstein couldn’t believe somebody was calling him about those comics from those years ago.

BS: And he was completely out of the field. What kind of art was he doing at the time?

BENSON: After EC, he did some Atlas comics for a while. But at the time we first saw him he was doing commercial illustration. He had a really good agent, and he did stuff for a lot of very good commercial markets. His whole career is pretty well spelled out in Sadowski’s book B. Krigstein, that just came out.

BS: But in terms of the comics, he still had a serious attitude about their potential.

BENSON: Oh, he was tremendously serious about it, yeah. Not

BENSON: I can’t remember exactly when or how I met Bhob. I knew of him from the beginning of my contacts with fandom, because of his contributions to Hoohah! and so on, but we never corresponded. I probably met him through Fred.

I was coming to New York to visit pretty regularly, and in August of 1962 I spent the whole month in New York. That was a lot of fun. I didn’t have much money, but on the other hand I didn’t have to work.

I was pretty familiar with the city by then.

I stayed with several people, Fred, Bhob, Larry, and another friend, so as not to make too much of a nuisance of myself. For a time Bhob and I were close friends. In fact, when I moved to New York in August 1963, we roomed together for about a year. In that August of 1962, he and Fred and I would see each other with fair regularity. We talked about movies, mostly, but we talked about comics, too. One day Bhob and I were talking about Krigstein, and how great he was. He said, “Gee, let’s see if we can contact him..” So

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The covers of Image #4 and #5—John Benson’s first fanzine.

[Image #4 art ©2003 John Benson; Image #5 art ©2003 Doug Payson.]

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John Benson major contribution to fandom, to really seriously discuss in print these finer points, or don’t you agree?

BENSON: You should see the flyer to advertise that interview, which Bhob wrote, or wrote most of, anyway. He was selling it as a serious publication, and not to comics fans, necessarily.

BS: This is before that equivocal term “graphic story” was invented in 1964.

The cover of Talk with B. Krigstein was designed by Bhob Stewart, who didn’t capitalize his name at the time; hey, we’ve even left the photocopied staple marks! The caricature of Bernie Krigstein at right, by Marie Severin, is from one of the later fliers that EC sent out to letter-writers. [TWBK cover ©2003 Bhob Stewart & John Benson; EC flyer ©2003 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

because of my contribution at all, but I can’t imagine anybody who’s interested in comics not having read that interview with Krigstein. I mean it’s just, to me, such an important interview. We were at his place the whole evening, maybe three or four hours.

BS: You didn’t publish it right away, did you?

BENSON: No, real time was grabbing hold there, you know. I’m amazed, looking at my early correspondence with Fred. The letters from him are, like, ten days apart, and they say, “Dear John, I’m answering your four letters.” After bumming around New York that August, I went back to Philly for a year. I worked in the movie theatre for a while in Philadelphia, because of my interest in movies. The interview was published some time in the following year, in 1963.

But “real time” wasn’t the only problem. We had to transcribe this long tape, and edit it. It’s much easier to do that on a computer now.

When you edit, you just do it to the original draft in the computer, and you can electronically “cut and paste” if you want to rearrange material.

We literally would cut and paste the transcript with scissors and Scotch tape. And then the version we sent Krigstein for review had to be completely retyped. My recollection is that I did almost all of that work.

Then you had to type the whole thing out a third time on mimeograph stencils. And every typo you made you had to white out, or blue out, actually, with “corflu,” correction fluid, and wait for it to dry. It’s a lot more fun to do on a computer.

Then Ted White ran it off on his mimeograph. Ted used this pinkish paper, which I don’t think we knew he was going to do until afterward.

We had an offset cover. Oh, excuse me, we had an offset back cover, which was an illustration by Krigstein. The front cover was... I don’t remember what they called it, but toward the end of the mimeograph era, you could have an electronic stencil commercially made. You could even do photos. Bhob designed the cover. He wanted to use Krigstein’s signature, and Krigstein did a special large signature for Bhob to use in the design. Then, of course, you had to collate and staple it.

BS: When I look at the history of fandom, that 1963 interview is one of the first publications to really deal with the aesthetic qualities in comics. You don’t see that in All in Color for a Dime. Comic Art had some serious discussion, but it wasn’t really what I would call rigorous. I think you really brought that. That’s probably your first

BENSON: Not a term I like very much. But yeah, I suppose it was a kind of a milestone.

Incidentally, we thought we might submit it to the Thompsons for Comic Art. Or at least Bhob did; I don’t really remember what I thought. I just thought it would be great to talk to Krigstein. When we had finished it, we realized it was long enough to publish on its own, and, I guess, important enough, too. But, you know, if you go back earlier than that, into all the fanzines that went before that, Hoohah! and Spoof and others, they had a serious interest in the subject.

They were looking at material that, for the most part, was coming out at the time they were writing about it. There was no sense of nostalgia.

In Hoohah! Bhob Stewart wrote a big analysis of Mad, which may not be, by today’s standards, very rigorous; it was reprinted in Cochran’s Mad volumes. But even earlier, and I think more significantly, he also wrote a serious analysis of Krigstein’s work for the EC World Press in 1954, while Krigstein was still working at EC. That was later reprinted in Squa Tront 6, for a broader audience. So what really happened in 1963 was actually the other thing, which was that suddenly the guys who were interested in comics as nostalgia, as remembrance of what they read when they were little kids, that’s when that began to come in. You might almost say that interview was the end of something, rather than the beginning.

BS: Except I believe Richard Kyle came along in 1964 with his “Graphic Story Review” column in Fantasy Illustrated.

BENSON: That’s true. Strike that part about being the end of something, because you’re right. It continued with Bill Spicer and Kyle.

I was even part of that. And getting a new issue of Fantasy Illustrated, or as Spicer later called it, Graphic Story Magazine, that was a pretty rousing event, still. The earlier stuff came out when I was a teenager.

And here I was in my twenties, and getting Graphic Story Magazine was still pretty exciting. I looked forward to that. And I contributed and wrote letters.

BS: So I would contend that you were very involved in that kind of serious analysis of the medium.

BENSON: Oh, no question about it. I would say that the Krigstein interview was the first lengthy interview with a comic book artist. I’m pretty certain of that. Incidentally, one of the interesting results of the Krigstein interview was that we got an order from [French “New Wave” film director] Alain Resnais. That was kind of exciting, and we wrote him back. At that time it seemed to us the French were only interested in American newspaper strips, and we told him he should look at the American comic books. Although, actually, I think he was already somewhat aware of American comic books.

Then, later, when he was in town, he called us up and asked to come over and look at comics. I think he wanted to see my Spirits and probably other stuff, like ECs. So he came over to our apartment and spent an hour or two looking through the Spirits. It was kind of

Comics Fandom Archive frustrating, because, at that time, he hardly spoke any English and we didn’t speak French. It was still rather exciting, though. I thought then, and I still do, that Hiroshima, Mon Amour is one of the greatest films ever made. In terms of style it was so groundbreaking, which you can’t even tell now, because everything he did there for the first time is so common today. When he visited us, he sat in a big easy chair that had been given to my grandfather by his employees when he retired. We jokingly renamed it the Alain Resnais chair.

BS: When was this?

BENSON: Well, Resnais’ Muriel showed at the first New York Film Festival, which was in September 1963, and I’m sure he was here for that, but I don’t think that was when he visited us.

It probably wasn’t too long after that, though. It was certainly some time earlier than the next Festival that showed one of his films, which was La Guerre Est Finie, at the fourth Festival in 1966. I know that because I talked to Resnais on the phone when he was in town for that Festival, and I remember complimenting him on the film. He must have called me, because I wouldn’t have known how to get in touch with him.

Incidentally, part of the Krigstein interview was reprinted in French in the French comics magazine Giff Wiff sometime in the early ’60s without our permission or prior knowledge. It may have been Resnais’ copy that was used for the translation, since he was on the editorial board of Giff Wiff. I also had a visit from another film director, Alexandro Jodorowsky, who had a big cult status at the time. His film El Topo [Mexico, 1971] played at midnight shows for months in New York. He also came to see The Spirit, as I recall, and he also couldn’t speak much English. He had been a cartoonist before he went into films, and I think he had read The Spirit in Spanish as a youngster. El Topo was very visual and mystical and very violent.

Since Gil Kane talked so much about lyrical violence, I tried to get him to see it, but he wouldn’t go. I think he thought it would be too violent for him, and he was probably right.

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Flying Machine,” and “The Bath.” I remember “The Bath” particularly, when I bought that as a back issue, and being really impressed by the art and the quality of that story. He didn’t do that many EC stories.

BS: Krigstein’s special qualities would have been watered down tremendously if he had to produce huge numbers of pages.

BENSON: I think he worked at an average speed, but he didn’t work that long for EC. If you look at his total output during the time he worked in comics, he did a lot of stories. Some of them were crappy, too. Not just his early stuff, but stuff he didn’t care about. His work was great almost from the beginning. He was a fine illustrator. Sadowski is doing a book of Krigstein stories for Fantagraphics this year, and the emphasis is not on EC. There are EC stories, but there are stories throughout his comic book career. That’s exciting, and you’ll see that he did great stuff before EC. He did great westerns and crime stories for Hillman, and for Ray Herman. And horror stories, too, for Atlas. I don’t know what Greg is choosing, whether he’ll choose the stories that I would, but I think there’s over thirty stories. It’s going to be a hefty book. [NOTE: The book has since been published by Fantagraphics.]

BS: Around this time, didn’t you also do your interview with Harvey Kurtzman?

BENSON: No, that was after the Krigstein came out. That was recorded in August 1965. There’s no story behind that. We did the one with Krigstein and I thought, “Well, okay. Now I’ll do one with Kurtzman,” and I did. Well, I’d already interviewed him three times, I guess. Short interviews, like in Image and in Spoof. The Talk with H. Kurtzman also came out a year later than I did the interview, but that time I maybe had a better excuse. Again, I House-ad blocs for EC’s “New Direction” comics ran, among other went through the several hand-typed places, in Mad #1 (March 1955)—but this reproduction from Russ Chochran’s blac-&-white hardcover volumes allows the art by drafts. But, unlike Krigstein, Kurtzman Krigstein (top) and Wally Wood (bottom) to be seen more clearly. made massive changes to the transcript.

The two Krigstein panels repro’d from Impact #1 made a powerful When I got it back, I was just sick, and I impact on John Benson, if not on Funnyworld editor/publisher really didn’t want to publish it. Finally, I Mark Barrier. [©2003 William Gaines, Agent, Inc.] talked to him, and I asked him if he would consider reinserting things he’d cut, and I sent him a revised version where I accepted his changes I felt were not important, and got him to reinsert the material that I thought BS: Before we leave Krigstein, could you tell me if you think that you was most important. I can’t remember all his cuts, but the thing that have a favorite Krigstein story? The obvious choice would be “Master upset me the most was his comments about the war comics, and about Race.” war. Basically, he allowed that to be put back in.

BENSON: After the Krigstein issue of Squa Tront, Mike Barrier wrote BS: Interesting. What do you think about “Little Annie Fanny”? and said, “Oh, Krigstein’s a cold fish. ‘Master Race’ puts me to sleep.

How can you get excited about this stuff?” And I responded in Squa BENSON: I have a long rap about Kurtzman and Gaines and “Annie Tront 7 that the first time I saw Krigstein’s dramatic stuff was in the ad Fanny” which could take the next twenty minutes of this interview. for Impact in Mad. They ran two panels from “Master Race,” and one was the long shot of the two guys sitting in the subway car. I responded to Mike, “Here’s this neutral, apparently objective long-shot of these two guys sitting there, where he pulls back from the drama, but that’s the panel they chose to push the story. And when I saw those panels in Mad, I said, ‘I’ve got to read this story. This looks really intense.’ And when I first read ‘Master Race,’ it knocked me out.” I can’t say the order I saw the stories, but I especially remember “The Catacombs,” “The

BS: I’d like to hear it.

BENSON: Well, let’s start with the fact that Kurtzman’s leaving Mad is generally looked at in today’s light as Gaines having screwed Kurtzman.

“He didn’t get royalties, he didn’t own his work, Gaines became a millionaire and Kurtzman got nothing,” and that whole line. That’s not the way it was. What happened was simply that Kurtzman screwed

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John Benson

Gaines with a tremendous power play that didn’t pan out. Kurtzman thought that he was Mad. The interesting part of this was that Gaines thought that Kurtzman was Mad, too. You could say that Gaines was actually a patron of the arts in that sense. He believed in the integrity of art, and he believed that Mad was Kurtzman. He believed that absolutely. And when Kurtzman said that he was going to leave, Gaines thought that was the end of Mad, that he would have to stop publishing.

He thought, “This is it.” And it took cynics like Lyle Stuart to convince Gaines that he didn’t need Kurtzman. This is all spelled out accurately in Frank Jacobs’ book The Mad World of William M. Gaines. I don’t like Jacobs’ book all that much, because it’s written from the point of view of Feldstein’s Mad, but I think it’s very accurate. He checked with Kurtzman when he wrote it, and I believe his version of the events is factually correct.

Picture the situation at the time: Gaines had lost his profitable horror comics. He’d gone through the nightmare of testifying before Kefauver’s committee and been pilloried in the press. He’d tried “clean” comics, and lost his shirt, and he’d tried horror in the guise of magazines, and he’d lost his shirt. And then his distributor went bankrupt! He’d been through really a very rocky time. And the only bright spot, the only thing that was going to pull him through, was the success of Mad. And then Kurtzman comes and says, “I’m leaving.” Actually, he didn’t. He sent an emissary, Harry Chester, to tell Gaines that he wanted to have ownership control of the stock in EC! He didn’t even go himself! How can you describe this as anything but a power play? How could Gaines view this as anything but a betrayal? It was a betrayal. Don’t forget, too, that he took the entire art staff except for Wood with him! Kurtzman was making the baldest power play. He believed he could dump Gaines and hitch his star to Hefner. He was on the way up and he would continue to rise. So what can that be but a betrayal? [laughs] The second part of this rap is that Gaines got rich on Kurtzman’s creation, and Kurtzman got nothing. First of all, he didn’t get nothing. There was a settlement in a lawsuit, the amount of which was not disclosed.

BS: But we can assume it wasn’t a huge amount in comparison to what Mad has made over the years.

BENSON: Correct. But it was Feldstein’s Mad that made all that money over the years. Feldstein’s Mad far outsold Kurtzman’s Mad, and the financial success of Feldstein’s Mad was due to Feldstein’s conception of the magazine. The vast majority of the readers who made Feldstein’s Mad a success over the years had never even seen Kurtzman’s version. I think it’s possible to say that the majority of those readers would have preferred Feldstein’s version, even though I wouldn’t agree with them. And what about all those creators who filled those pages over forty years? Didn’t they have something to do with Mad’s long-term success? It’s difficult to assign the value of the initial creative impetus.

Certainly it’s true that Mad would never have existed without Kurtzman. But it is possible to overstate the initial creator’s contribution. You can see this on Saturday morning cartoon shows, where someone comes in and

designs some characters, essentially creating a model sheet, and gets paid a nice amount for every show, but the entertainment value, to the extent that there is any, is actually provided by the writers and the animators week after week. The financial value of the initial creator’s contribution is a tricky subject. You have to remember that it was Kurtzman’s decision to leave Mad. How appropriate would it be for him to get royalties over the years for the title of a magazine that was less and less like the one he started?

There’s another important point to consider. If Kurtzman had stayed with Mad, would it have become the long-term successful phenomenon that it was? Of course, answering this question is pure speculation. I was recently talking with Adele Kurtzman and she agreed that Mad would not have had that longevity. She said that Harvey would not have been content to do the same Mad stuff over and over for all those years. He would have continued to produce a viable magazine for some period of time, probably, but not with the circulation of Feldstein’s Mad. We’ll never know. Actually, the smartest thing that Kurtzman could have done was accept Gaines’s offer of 10% of Mad’s stock, and then left. He would have done very well on that deal.

But really, all of this is a preamble to my real point about Kurtzman and Gaines. Kurtzman’s fight with Gaines about the magazine Mad was that Gaines didn’t give him enough money for editorial purposes. It wasn’t his personal salary. It’s possible that he wanted more money personally, but that wasn’t his fight with Gaines. His beef was that Mad was making money and he wanted to pour that money back into the magazine with bigger names and more production values, and so on, and Gaines was pouring the money down a rathole with Picto-Fiction. That was really the fight they had.

Kurtzman didn’t stop to think that Gaines had carried his war comics when they were losing money, or that he had carried Mad for nearly a year at the beginning when it had lost money. I suppose you could say that Gaines was investing in Mad then because he believed in its eventual success, but I think that Gaines was as surprised as anyone else when Mad became a hit. He carried Mad because he liked it. He published the war and science-fiction comics at a loss because he liked them.

BS: Pretty unusual.

BENSON: Unique. Kurtzman acknowledged that, in the Con transcripts in the latest Squa Tront, something to the effect that “Gaines’s talent was that he gave us freedom.” Gaines believed in Kurtzman as an artist. He would never have gone to Kurtzman and said, “You know, Harvey, you shouldn’t do this.

Let’s change this. Let’s ‘fix’ that,” or whatever. He believed in the integrity of the material. Kurtzman had total artistic freedom within a structured environment with Gaines. But he thought that what he needed was money to pour into a package, and Hefner was going to give him that. And this is the biggest lesson you can learn in life, to beware of what you wish for because you may get it. That happened to Kurtzman.

The cover of Benson’s A Talk with H. Kurtzman utilized one of the artist’s “Hey Look!” cartoons, originally done for Stan Lee and Timely Comics. [Art ©2003 Harvey Kurtzman.]

Kurtzman went to Hefner, Hefner gave him the money. He gave him the money for Trump, he gave him the money for “Annie Fanny.” “Annie Fanny,” you know, had by far the highest per-page rate of any comic ever produced. So Kurtzman got what he wanted, but he lost what he needed, which was a patron, which is what Gaines was, really. People undervalue Gaines’ contribution to Kurtzman’s... not only to his success but to his maturation as an artist.

You can’t underestimate the value of a structured,

Comics Fandom Archive

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nurturing environment for an artist, and that’s what Kurtzman had at EC. It’s difficult to imagine where else Kurtzman could have found that at that time. What he got with Hefner was something completely different. He got the ability to create a fancy package, both in Trump and “Annie Fanny,” but he completely lost any creative independence, certainly with “Annie Fanny.”

BS: He had to do this sexy strip.

BENSON: Yes, first of all there was the conception of the strip, but it went beyond that. Hefner nit-picked every strip personally. He actually okayed the individual gags. He nit-picked the stories, he nit-picked everything. So Kurtzman gained a package, but lost everything, artistically. I think we’re lucky that Hefner wasn’t around in 1950 to seduce Kurtzman.

BS: Did Kurtzman ever admit anything like that to you?

BENSON: Not the irony of leaving Gaines for Hefner the way I expressed it, no. But he did admit, in the latter days of “Annie Fanny,” that the strip had become a trap. He had gone off and bought a big house, figuring that that would be the way to make money follow, and he was stuck.

BS: Are we finished with your Kurtzman rap?

BENSON: Just one more thing. Kurtzman had this internal mechanism which said that if you’re getting a thousand dollars a page, then you have to spend a year on it. [laughs] If he had just done it the way a normal person would, he could still have done very well financially. Hefner’s idea was that “Annie Fanny” was going to appear every month in Playboy, and be a five- or six- page strip. If Kurtzman had done an “Annie Fanny” for every Playboy, he would have been fine, financially, but he spent, like, six months on each strip, so he didn’t make a lot of money.

BS: Which of Kurtzman’s magazines, Mad, Trump, Humbug, or Help!, is your favorite?

BENSON: Each one was different, in tone and in a lot of ways. It’s hard to say which was the best. Humbug was really great, probably the best, and it’s so forgotten today. I remember so well the moment that I saw the first Humbug. It was up in the Poconos, in a little country store. We were at the checkout counter, and, of course, I was always looking at the magazine racks. I still do, even though there’s nothing interesting on them any more. And here was this magazine with “The end of the world is coming” on the cover, and I thought it was real. [laughs] I’m up in this backwoods country store and I thought, “Boy, this is a goof. Maybe it’s a real tract. I’ll buy this.”

Like once, I bought The Police Gazette, which even into the ’70s looked like an 1890 magazine. There were these gags in Mad about how The Police Gazette always had “Hitler Is Alive” on the cover. And I found a Police Gazette on the stands with this 1890 logo that actually had a headline, “Hitler Is Alive.” I said, “I’ve gotta buy this.” [laughs] So I actually picked up the first issue of Humbug and bought it as an artifact, so to speak, and I opened it up, and it was by Harvey Kurtzman! None of my fan contacts had indicated that there was going to be another Harvey Kurtzman magazine. By the way, Fantagraphics is planning to reprint all of Humbug. Then, some time later, I contacted Kurtzman again, because I had loved the books that Peter Bogdanovich did, book-length interviews with movie directors. Bogdanovich interviewed John Ford, Fritz Lang, and Allan Dwan. Was there another one?

I really loved those books. Also, suddenly there were a lot of books about movies coming out.

When I was first interested in movies, I would go down to this used book store in Philly, which was a five-story store, a famous store that’s no longer in existence. Anyway, you’d go in there and you’d ask about

Besides the one with Bernie Krigstein, some of John Benson’s best-known interviews are those he conducted with Harvey Kurtzman and Gil Kane, both separately and together. Here Kane (left) and Kurtzman (right) draw part of a cartoon mural at the Newcon in Boston in 1975.

movies and they’d say, “Oh, yeah. Theatre section.” There’d be this whole big section on theatre and there’d be, like, eight, ten books on movies. That would be all the books that were ever published on movies, because this was a used book store. And then, in the ’60s there was this great explosion of books on movies.

So I went to Kurtzman and said, “I want to do books like this about comic artists and you’ll be the first one.” He said, “Okay, fine. But, you know, me talking for a whole book, that’s going to be pretty dull. Let’s do different chapters and we’ll bring in different people. We’ll make an evening of it. We’ll have dinner, we’ll have somebody over each time.”

So that’s just what we did. We did that whole book on five evenings over, maybe, a period of a year and a half. Adele Kurtzman did these beautiful dinners. And then we’d sit around afterwards and talk. The first one was with Gil Kane in 1973, ’74, because Kurtzman and Kane worked together for Louis Ferstadt when they were kids.

My wife would go because it was, like, a dinner evening, you know.

And Kane’s wife, and Adele Kurtzman. But basically, it was Kurtzman, me, and Kane talking, the first one. The second one was Kurtzman and Gaines, and that was the first time they had been together since their lawsuit. Adele knew that Gaines was a gourmet, so she did this Chateaubriand for Gaines, and it was delicious. Then we did Kurtzman together with Roth and Jaffee; and then Kurtzman and Chester. I think we did them in chronological order. Harry Chester was the production man for Humbug and Help. Actually, he started at Kurtzman’s Mad. He was an old childhood friend of Kurtzman’s. He was working in the family garment business or something, and Kurtzman asked him to come to Mad. The final interview was with Elder. The Roth and Jaffee one appeared in the latest Squa Tront, thirty years late. The Gaines and the Elder ones appeared in Squa Tront 9, and I’m going to run the Chester one in a future Squa Tront. The Chester one is where Kurtzman talks about being trapped by “Annie Fanny,” the first time I ever heard him say that, and the first time Chester ever heard him say that, too.

[NOTE: In next issue’s conclusion, John Benson discusses how he met and interviewed Will Eisner, his involvement with Wally Wood and witzend, the monthly meetings of comics people in New York City in the late 1960s and ’70s, and the return of Squa Tront. Meanwhile, remember that back issues of Squa Tront are still available from John.

See his ad on the following page.]

Missing a Back Issue?

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

MGILBERT@EFN.ORG

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

GUARANTEED TO SET ANY EC FAN’S HEART TO RACING

SQUA TRONT 10

After a twenty-year hiatus, the legendary EC magazine is back with an all-new issue! It’s more than worth the wait, too, with a recent interview with Al Feldstein (supporting art by Roy G. Krenkel); a 1978 panel discussion with Wally Wood, Bernard Krigstein and Harvey Kurtzman; a conversation with Kurtzman, Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth; previously-unseen Wally Wood art; interior color art by Feldstein, Kurtzman, Wood, and Jack Davis; early fanzine ephemera, and much more! Edited by John Benson. Only $7.95. Ask your retailer for a copy, or order direct from www.fantagraphics.com.

BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE from Editor: #3 (1969/75) 80 pages.

Feldstein, Bradbury, Frazetta, Evans, Crandall, Williamson, Krenkel, Wrightson, Metzger. More! $30. #6 (1975) Special Krigstein issue: revealing, heavily illustrated 28 page interview.

Detailed checklist. $15. #7 (1977) Krenkel horror art; Kurtzman; Elder, Davis, Williamson, Krigstein. $15. #8 (1978) Complete transcripts of 1972 EC convention; Wood, Evans, Davis, Krenkel, Feldstein, Williamson, etc. $20. #9 (1983) 100 pages, interior color. Interviews with Feldstein, Elder, Gaines, and Kurtzman; early Wood art; EC’s writers; overflowing with art by Feldstein, Elder, Kurtzman, Ingels, Severin, Crandall, Davis, etc. $20.

Please add $5 for Priority Mail postage & handling.

JOHN BENSON 205 W 80th ST (#2B) NEW YORK NY 10024 (No phone orders, please.)

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[NOTE: All art on the following five pages is ©2003 the respective copyright holders.]

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Spot That Style!

Comic Crypt

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Spot That Style!

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Bonus Question:

ENCYCLOPEDIA: Wally Wood MACBETH: Joe Sinnott ANDERSON: Bob Powell

Okay, I already told you I inked this issue’s Mr. Monster intro page. But who’s our mystery penciler?

Why, MIKE GILBERT, of course. See? I said you’d instantly recognize the name!

But wait—not this Mike Gilbert. Nope! I’m talking about a second one! Hey, You were warned this was a trick question! So, here’s the story…

CANDY: George Evans (possibly with Angelo Torres or George Woodbridge)

JOLIET: Al Williamson (possibly with Al Williamson)

CROCKETT: Reed Crandall JESTER: Joe Orlando

ANSWERS:

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Spot That Style!

The Other Mike Gilbert In late 1973 I published an underground comic called New Paltz Comix. It came out shortly before I graduated SUNY New Paltz, and featured my first stories. Before I left campus to begin student-teaching, I sent review copies of my comic to various fanzines. I didn’t really expect much response, but months later I received a surprising letter from (you guessed it!) Mike Gilbert!

This Mike Gilbert had read about my comic in a sci-fi ‘zine. When he heard New Paltz Comix featured sci-fi and fantasy stories by Mike Gilbert, he quite naturally wrote to ask if someone had printed some of his work. I assured him we hadn’t and sent him a comic to prove it. We both got a chuckle out of the misunderstanding and exchanged a few letters.

Turned out this unexpected “twin” was also a cartoonist, a mere four years older than I, who’d drawn a handful of comic book stories.

Spooky! Like me, Mike specialized in fantasy and science-fiction, and (unlike me!) had even been nominated for a Hugo Award (as Best Fan Artist of 1967). After graduation, I moved several times and we lost touch for almost twenty years.

Around 1990 Mike spotted my address somewhere and wrote another letter. I discovered he’d been busy over the decades, painting covers and spot illos for DAW Books and other sci-fi publishers. He also included samples of his game illustrations. In return, I sent him some Mr. Monster comics and suggested it might be fun to see another Mike Gilbert draw my character. Mike readily agreed, and weeks later I received a wonderfully gory Mr. Monster pencil drawing. I inked it and mailed him a copy, promising to print it when I found the right spot.

More years passed, and we lost touch again.

Sadly, I recently learned that my “other self” passed away on August 14, 2000, at the age of 53, due to complications from heart surgery. Even though we’d never met in person, it still came as a shock. I wish Mike were still with us, but I’m happy that our one-of-a-kind collaboration is finally out of storage and in print at last—as our Crypt “cover” illo on p.

27. But, even more, I’m happy that I had the privilege of making the acquaintance of—the other Mike Gilbert!

Wait! Don’t go yet. I asked another old friend to write a little background on our other illustrations this issue. I think you’ll like the results!

Introduction

by Michael T. Gilbert A couple of years back, an old buddy from my Texas days mailed me a beat-up brown box. Inside, I found a ratty set of old children’s books titled Art Linkletter’s Picture Encyclopedia for Boys and Girls. I wasn’t particularly impressed. The books contained page after page of typical ’50s-style illustrations on a variety of topics. Frankly, they looked a little dull and old-fashioned.

“Must be garbage day at the Deschaine house!” I thought.

Then I looked a little closer. Say! Could that be George Evans? And Wally Wood? And say, isn’t that…?

Well, I was hooked, and curious to learn more about this strange series. So I asked Scott for a little history behind TV host Art Linkletter’s Picture Encyclopedia, and he graciously complied. Now, without further ado, here’s the scoop on this forgotten piece of comic history!

Art Linkletter’s Comic Book Connection: The Story Of Art Linkletter’s Picture Encyclopedia for Boys And Girls.

by Scott Deschaine Rediscovery of a lost Picasso? Yawn!

An ancient pyramid unearthed? Ho hum!

A relatively unknown 1950s illustrated encyclopedia with over 2000 pages of art by comic book masters like Reed Crandall, Wally Wood, George Evans, and Bob Powell? Now you’ve got my attention! But you must be dreaming!

Think again—this last item is real.

I’m fascinated by the way the comic book format has helped educate young people. So I picked up a worn copy of a single volume of the Harwyn Picture Encyclopedia, because I had been told it featured comic book style illustrations.

The original cover to the Harwyn Picture Encyclopedia. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Flipping through the pages, I was astounded, unprepared for what I found. There were many pages of lackluster artwork by unknown artists. But dozens of pages featured artwork by EC artists Wood, Evans, Crandall. There was art by Joe Orlando and Joe Sinnott, and work by many more. Particularly outstanding were the pages of highly detailed artwork by Bob Powell, known for his 1940s and 1950s work on The Shadow, The Man in Black, Cave Girl, and Jet Powers, to name just a few.

Role-playing art by the other Mike Gilbert. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

One full page by Reed Crandall shows Davy Crockett and his companions battling furiously at the Alamo. A full page by Wally Wood explains the history and use of “Comics,” and features a display of bogus educational comic book covers created by Wood. Bob Powell shows Hans Christian Andersen at his writing desk, as more than a dozen of his popular fairy tale characters spiral out the page and spring

Comic Crypt to life around him.

The Harwyn Picture Encyclopedia was published in 1958 by Harwyn Publishing Company of New York. It contains 12 separate volumes, with laminated hardback covers around high quality paper with fullcolor printing. Each 7” by 10H” volume covers common topics beginning with two letters of the alphabet. Volumes average about 180 pages each, totaling over 2000 pages of art. No production credits are featured on this version.

33 many, many outstanding pages by top-quality artists. * Pages by Bob Powell are numerous and, as previously mentioned, often outstanding. As the series progressed, Powell (and presumably his assistants) used a variety of drawing styles, perhaps for no other reason than to keep themselves interested! Powell often hid his name and the name of his assistants in his comic book work.

In this volume, Powell’s name appears at least once, on the side of an “Outboard Motor.”

A “Deluxe” hardback edition from 1958 contains the same material, rebound into six volumes. Each volume features two volumes * Unlike most of the other of the prior edition. For example, “Volume artists, the late, great George Evans 1-2” (one book) contains “A-D.” In this signed many of the pages he drew— edition, production credits appear. Jack often hiding his name in unlikely Kamen is listed as the “Director of Art.” places!

Kamen, of course, is the EC artist known for his lush depictions of ordinary persons in the Bob Powell cuts a rug! [©2003 the respective copyright holder.] grip of extraordinary passions. In a recent The Harwyn Picture Comics Journal interview he recalls how Al Encyclopedias and Art Linkletter’s Picture Encyclopedia for Boys and Robbie, his representative at the time, had an associate, Bud Norton.

Girls may not appeal to many comic readers. There are no “comics” as Norton’s “drinking buddy” was Harvey Siegel of Harwyn Press. Siegel such. And much of the art is clumsy hackwork. and Norton convinced Robbie to get Kamen to art-direct the encyclopedia.

But there’s something amazing about seeing some of the greats of the field working their craft on the best pages in these volumes. Seeing Reed Kamen recalls how the enterprise was “another adventure that soured Crandall draw a series of faces of young boys expressing a wide range of me on comics.” He was allowed to hire some of the artists, including “Emotions” reminds one of a great musician practicing his scales. For some of his friends from EC. But some of the artists he hired were “Dancing,” Bob Powell shows pure love of drawing, showing 28 joyful inexperienced and turned in “lousy work.” Kamen had to fix it up figures in a variety of costumes to represent 13 different styles of dance. before he felt it was ready to publish. Strangely enough, Kamen’s own Wally Wood’s panorama of subjects covered by “Encyclopedias” is art does not appear in the Encyclopedia, apparently because Norton impressive in itself but also symbolic, representing in a nutshell only a only wanted him to art-direct, not draw. tiny fraction of the many subjects covered by these books.

Norton had promised Kamen he would make a lot of money from Produced shortly after the institution of the Comics Code, these the job, including “a bonus for a Corvette.” The riches never materibooks feature some of the best artists in comics’ history at the top of alized, and Kamen says he was paid only “very minimally” for the work. their form. Faced with dwindling outlets for their talents in the comic book field, they turned for a while to this massive work. Within these Harwyn repackaged the bulk of the material and republished it in pages, unfettered by panel borders, they stretched their artistic muscles 1961 as Art Linkletter’s Picture Encyclopedia for Boys and Girls, in 18 to show modern and historical subjects—the real and the fantastic. These volumes. Most of the contents are the same as the earlier version, but “Picture Encyclopedias” are a little-known piece of comic book history. there are omissions and additions, as well. According to Kamen, the They are well worth seeking, for the many gems hidden in their more Linkletter volumes were given than 2000 pages of art. away as premiums by Tide Oil gas stations when a customer [Scott Deschaine owns Custom Comic Services, which produces filled their tank. Imagine the educational and advertising comic books. He also wrote and designed kids screaming, “Come on, the critically-acclaimed Screaming Eagle graphic novel, illustrated by Mom! Let’s get gas at Tide! I the late Golden Age comic book artist, Mike Roy. Scott can be want to see how Joe Sinnott reached by e-mail at: scott@customcomicservices.com.] draws the history of North America and Nursing!” Kamen Thanks, Scott! By the way. issue #240 of The Comics Journal is also credited as Director of features a lengthy interview with EC artist Jack Kamen in which he tells Art in the Linkletter version. how he was hired to art-direct this unusual series. Kamen signed up many of his fellow EC artists to illustrate these volumes, including Wally Some noteworthy elements Wood, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, George Evans, and Al Williamson of the Encyclopedia: (possibly assisted by Al’s pals, Angelo Torres and George Woodbridge).

Together they made this series something of an EC class reunion. * The quality of the work rises and falls throughout the That’s it for now, art (Linkletter!) lovers. More surprises next issue! series. There are many pages of mediocre work, and whole ’Til next time… volumes near the end of the set seem the work of tired, underpaid artists. But there are The cover to the re-issued series. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

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Pierce Rice

A Brief Tribute to

Pierce Rice (1916-2003)

by Roy Thomas Artist Pierce Rice died of pneumonia, at age 86, on May 23. His wife, Marilyn Young Price, had died in 1992. The Brooklyn-born Pierce was one of the first real generation of comic book artists, after study at the Pratt Institute and the National Academy of Design in New York.

The Washington Post, whose obituary is the source for much of the information in this brief tribute, erroneously reported that he began his career drawing “Green Hornet,” “The Zebra,” “Captain Freedom,” and “Black Cat” for Harvey Comics. In fact, he started working for Harvey only circa 1941, but had been employed by the Jerry Iger shop beginning in 1939. It was probably through Iger that he drew such Fox features as “Thor,” “Blue Beetle,” “Spider Queen,” et al., between ‘39 and ’42.

Between 1939-45 he also drew for Fawcett (“Atom Blake”), Ace (“Captain Gallant,” et al.), DC (“Spectre,” “Seven Soldiers of Victory,” “Sandman,” etc.), MLJ (“Steel Sterling,” “Hangman,” “Shield”), Centaur (“Man of War”), Hillman (“Bald Eagle” and others), Timely (“Jack Frost”), Prize (“Ted O’Neil”), and Pines (“Jimmy Cole”).

Figure in Western Art, in which, as quoted by the Post, he stated: “The great tradition of Western art has been and should continue to be, not merely representational work but the idealization of the human form, the glorification of both heroic individuals and the heroic possibilities of mankind.”

In January 2000 he was the subject of an excellent extended interview

by Gary Groth in The Comics Journal. It, along with data he supplied to Jerry Bails and Hames Ware’s Who’s Who in American Comic Books (source of much of the comic book listings above), will probably remain the major source of information about this unassuming but talented artist.

The Post reports that Rice “served in the Army during World War II and was a recipient of the Bronze Star.” After the war he drew for various comics companies, including Timely, Lev Gleason, Eastern Color, Ziff-Davis, Sterling, and Dell/Western.

Leaving the comics field by the early 1950s, he became a portrait painter in Washington, D.C., contributed art essays for what would become the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America in New York, and did other commission artwork over the years. In 1987 he wrote the book Man as Hero: The Human

By the time he drew these panels for Green Hornet #9 (Oct. 1942), Pierce Rice had moved beyond the relatively crude art of his “Bald Eagle” stories in early issues of Hillman’s Air Fighters Comics. Perhaps the only comics story of his currently in print is the “Spectre” chapter he drew for All-Star Comics #14 (Dec. ’42-Jan. ’43), which has been reprinted in The All Star Archives, Vol. 3, in which he was essentially ghosting Bernard Baily as part of the latter’s small comics shop. Thanks to Jerry G. Bails. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

re:

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re: Another pair of panels featuring our mascots Alter and Captain Ego, from the one-and-only tale written and drawn of the pair by the late Biljo White in 1964.

[Art ©2003 Estate of Biljo White; Alter & Capt. Ego TM & ©2003 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.] Really crowded this issue, so let’s get right to our first letter—which comes from pro comics writer and editor (and old friend) Mike W. Barr: Dear Roy: I just read the John Rosenberger profile in the new A/E. The model sheet for the “Jaguar Girl” was actually used for a revamp of a Jaguar villain, “Cat Girl,” later in the series. I was briefly involved in the mid’90s almost-revival of the Archie super-heroes, until they pulled the plug. I would have been writing The Jaguar, who was always my favorite of the new Archie characters anyway. I realize he was just a retake of The Fly, but to me, he always seemed to be The Fly done right.

A jaguar is a powerful, fearsome, graceful creature. A fly spoils picnics and eats s***.

Mike W. Barr Thanks for the info, Mike.

Next comes a wealth of info on A/E #23 interviewee Bob Fujitani from Alberto Becattini, who is one of several Italian experts on U.S. comics that Roy met during his and wife Dann’s sojourn at the Torino Comics convention in Turin, Italy, this past May: Dear Roy, I very much appreciated Jim Amash’s interview with Bob Fujitani in A/E #23. Fujitani has always been one of my favorite Golden Age artists, and one I have intensively done research about, so I think I may offer some more information about his career.

1940s.) Whether it was the editors at Western who requested Fujitani to adopt this slicker style, or whether it was Fujitani himself who realized that comics publishers in general were now favoring a “clearer” style of drawing, he made this dramatic change with no seeming difficulty, which shows his great versatility as an artist.

Following, in case someone is interested, I’m listing Fujitani’s syndicated comic strip work (he also briefly ghosted Mandrake the Magician in 1966), as well as the several Dell/Western comic book titles to which he contributed: SYNDICATED STRIPS DRAWN BY BOB FUJITANI Flash Gordon (daily strips): inks, some pencils and inks: 25 Feb. 1963–1 June 1964; inks, some pencils and inks: 12 Oct. 1964–16 Jan. 1965; pencils and inks, some inks only: 6 Sept. 1971–24 June 1978; pencils and inks: 26 June 1978–10 May 1986. (NOTE: From 1963–65 and 1971–77 Fujitani assisted and ghosted on the strip for Dan Barry. Finally, Barry gave him a co-credit as of 17 Jan. 1977. A sequence from 1981 was rereleased from 22 July 1990 to 7 Oct. 1990, without the “Barry and Fujitani” signatures.)

Flash Gordon (Sunday pages): pencils and inks: 23 March 1969–June 1986. (NOTE: Dan Barry gave Fujitani a co-credit as of 5 April 1981.

In the interview Fujitani mentions his one-time partnership with writer Bob Bernstein. Well, it was within that partnership that, in 1945, they produced (under the respective pen names “Bob Brent” and “Bob Wells”) their first syndicated strip, Judge Wright. Strongly influenced by the film noir vogue, the strip dealt with the good-looking judge Jonathan Wright, who spent many a night hunting for (and often snuffing) criminals who had previously managed to get away with their crimes in court. Judge Wright, a daily only, started on September 10, 1945, released by United Features Syndicate. Fujitani drew the strip in his best expressionistic style, at least until mid-August 1946, when he started penciling only (the inking being done, perhaps, by the same guy who did the finishes on “The Eyes of the Tiger,” an Avon comic book story three pages of which were shown in A/E #23). Fujitani’s last daily was released on November 19, 1947 (the art chores were taken over by Fred Kida and later by George Roussos, who drew the strip till its demise on April 3, 1948), which means that Fujitani’s partnership with Bernstein was over by October 1947.

Another aspect of Fujitani’s career which is not underlined in the interview is the substantial change his style went through in the early 1950s. From the semi-caricatural “noir” style which characterized his “Bob Fuje”/”Bob Wells” period up until 1950 or so, he changed to a slicker, far more realistic approach, which he would utilize in all his comic book work for Dell/Western (starting with Prince Valiant in 1954) and later in the Flash Gordon strip. (A similar change took place in Lou Fine’s style when he started doing work in advertising in the late

Since we only had room for a single Bob Fujitani-drawn “Catman” page in A/E #23, here’s a splash from Catman Comics #28 (1945), with grey tones added by the talented crew at AC Comics (that’s publisher Bill Black, plus Mark & Stephanie Heike). They put out some of the best black-&-white Golden Age reprint comics ever. See their ad elsewhere in this issue for info on how to contact them. [Restored art ©2003 AC Comics.]

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re:

Sundays originally released from 19 April 1981 to 5 July 1981 were rereleased from 22 July 1990 to 7 Oct 1990, without the “Barry and Fujitani” signatures.)

Judge Wright (daily strips): pencils and inks: 10 Sept. 1945–25 July 1946; pencils, some inks?: 26 July 1946–9 Nov. 1946. (NOTE: The strip was attributed to “Bob Brent,” a pen name for writer Robert Bernstein, and “Bob Wells,” a pseudonym for Bob Fujitani.)

Mandrake the Magician (daily strips): pencils and inks: 28 Feb. 1966–5 March 1966. (NOTE: All strips are signed by [Lee] Falk and [Fred] Fredericks.)

Rip Kirby (daily strips): pencils and inks, some inks only: 21 Nov. 1994–1998. (NOTE: Although Fujitani had retired from comics in mid1986, he came back to assist and ghost on Rip Kirby for John Prentice from 1994–98. Fujitani usually drew 3-4 strips a week, sometimes doing full weeks by himself or inking over Prentice’s pencils.)

COMIC BOOKS FOR DELL/GOLD KEY/WESTERN DRAWN BY BOB FUJITANI Boris Karloff Thriller #2 (Jan. ’63). Fujitani drew one filler story, “Find the Traitor.”

Brain Boy – Four Color #1330 (April-June ’62). Fujitani inked one story over Gil Kane pencils.

Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1 (Oct. ’62) through #5 (Sept. ’63).

Second story in #5 inked by Frank Bolle.

Hennesey – Four Color #1280 (Feb.-April ’62). Fujitani drew one story, plus inside back cover and back cover gag pages.

Jungle Jim #17 (July-Sept. ’58) through #19 (Jan.-March 1959).

King of the Royal Mounted #20 (March-May ’56) to #28 (March-May ’58) and Four Color #935 (Sept. ’58).

Fujitani also drew the backup series “Men of the Wilderness.”

Turok Son of Stone #16 (June-Aug. ’59) to #18 (Dec. ’59–Jan. ’60) and #21 (Sept.-Nov. ’60). Fujitani drew #18 together with Ray Bailey.

Alberto Becattini Florence, Italy We’re constantly indebted to our readers, Alberto—even more so when they’ve written books about comics—and we look forward to finding just the right spot to publish a couple of articles you’ve sent us, one of them about the artists of Quality and Fiction House, the other about Superman. Next, reader John Haufe, Jr., weighs in: Dear Roy, Finally John Rosenberger gets some recognition, thanks to Roger Hill’s “Jaguar” piece and your astute inclusion of same in Alter Ego. I’m mainly interested in John R.’s ACG work, which I’ve been reading since the late 1950s. Two points here: First, on p. 28 (2nd paragraph, left column), Mr. Hill states that “Custom Comics [was] affiliated with Dell Publishing.” Custom was an ACG imprint, as related in Michael Vance’s 1996 book Forbidden Adventures: The History of the American Comic Group.

Second, as far as his ACG work is concerned, John R.’s artistic style did evolve over the years, at least to my eyes. The earlier 1950s stories are more detailed, darker in color, with more shading. In the 1960s his ACG art is brighter and cleaner—but just as interesting and competent.

His work really stood out!

I have made a couple of quick copies to prove my point: “The Crystal Collector” from Adventures into the Unknown #37 (Aug. ’57), and two examples from the 1960s, “Unknown Journey” and “The Jewels of Chimbor,” likely both from Unknown Worlds. Incidentally, “Jewels” was drawn on September 14-16, 1960, according to the Rosenberger ledger page illustrated on page 30 of the Hill article.

John Haufe, Jr. 2404 San Rae Dr., Apt. C Dayton, OH 45419-2758 Your letter, John, gives us an excuse to reiterate that just because we publish an interview with or article about an artist or series doesn’t mean we’re through with him/it. Look for more about and by John Rosenberger, as well as the other subjects of pieces in past issues of Alter Ego. For instance, we had lots of black-&-white photocopies of Rosenberger super-hero art that we didn’t get a chance to use in #23, because we were limiting ourselves to what had been supplied by writer Roger Hill—and that material will pop up in a future issue—and, as you can see, even this one!

Laramie – Four Color #1223 (Sept.Nov. ’61). Fujitani inked one story over Gil Kane pencils.

Lassie #45 (April-June ’59) to #59 (Oct. ’62). Fujitani may have drawn more issues in the Gold Key series during 1963.

Lowell Thomas High Adventure – Four Color #949 (Nov. ’58), #1001 (Aug.-Oct. ’59).

New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Four Color #1245 (Nov. ’61 to Jan. ’62).

Even A/E’s ace interviewer Jim Amash is never really finished with a subject, as can be seen by this addition to his talk with Archie editor Victor Gorelick:

Prince Valiant – Four Color #567 (June ’54), #650 (Sept. ’55), #699 (April ’56), #719 (Aug. ’56), #788 (April ’57), #900 (May ’58).

Roy,

Sir Lancelot – Four Color #606 (Dec. ’54).

Smokey the Bear – Four Color #932 (Aug. ’58). Partly reprinted in 1959 and 1960 as The True Story of Smokey the Bear giveaway.

This John Rosenberger splash page from Adventures Into the Unknown #87 (Aug. 1957) was supplied by John Haufe, Jr. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

While reading my Victor Gorelick interview in A/E #23, I realized something I should have noticed long ago. Belmont Books were part of Archie Comics, and they published several Shadow novels in the 1960s. Since they

re:

37 “Finesque” style with his elongated Hangman figures than by the style in Flash Gordon. Another surprise is that I enjoyed very much the study on John Rosenberger.

got the rights to do those paperbacks, it seems logical they also had the rights to do The Shadow comic books.

The Rosenberger section that Roger Hill put together was excellent, though I’m not sure Richard Hughes actually owned ACG. Wasn’t that company owned by Sam Iger?

I’ve also heard that DC had a connection to that company.

However, I was disappointed by the Wonder Woman drawing with the black bands [covering parts of a nude Diana]. I understand your reasons, but after forty years of censorship (Franco’s dictatorship) in Spain, I hate those black bands! Many thanks for your excellent publication.

Jim Amash

Jaime Echevarria

As Irwin Donefeld revealed last issue. Anybody want to help Jim and A/E out on his other points? Meanwhile, here’s longtime DC colorist Carl Gafford with still more comments about the Archie Adventure heroes and their creative teams:

Glad you’ll put up with the occasional bit of self-censorship, Jaime. Since we didn’t want to cause potential trouble to any comics shop which might carry Alter Ego, we really felt we had only two choices: either not to print the picture at all, or to print it as you saw it. Since we don’t like stamping black bars over Roy— pictures of people’s private parts, we usually just don’t print such A correction on the John Here, courtesy of Scotty Moore, is John Rosenberger’s logo-less original art material—but Roy’s been running Rosenberger and Victor (well—a copy of it, but you know what we mean) for Adventures of The Fly #22— across copies of that picture for Gorelick articles. John Giunta which came out in 1963, if our reverse-engineering math is any good. [©2003 decades now, and he thought it was did not replace Rosenberger Archie Comic Publications, Inc.] high time that somebody put it into on The Fly when The Jaguar print—if only to see if anyone else had any opinions or info on whether’s started. Rosenberger, in fact, replaced Giunta on The Fly and continued it’s a genuine H.G. Peter or not. But all anybody seemed to want to talk on the book even after The Jaguar started. Simon & Kirby did Fly #1-4; about was Princess Diana’s state of undress. The more things change.... #5 is the infamous ish that updated Tommy Troy to “Thomas Troy, attorney” (art looks like a regular Archie artist—reminiscent of Al Our Usual Corrections and Additions: Hartley’s work on that one “Thor” in Journey into Mystery #90 from A/E founder and editor emeritus Jerry G. Bails says the Jan. 1963). Giunta took over with #6 (March 1960) and continued for the rest of the year. Rosenberger began with #11 (Jan. ’61) and continued “Hangman” splash depicted on p. 7 from that hero’s first story, in Pep Comics #17, was not drawn by Harry Lucey, as ID’d, but by George almost to the very end, with the last two issues (#29 and 1963 and #30 in 1964) by Giunta. Now, when the super-hero backups started in Laugh Storm, who also drew “The Whip” for DC’s Flash Comics—and that the “Airboy” splash from Air Fighters Comics #2 was indeed laid out and Pep, Giunta was the main artist there, with Rosenberger only occasionally the artist (and I often wondered if Rosenberger’s stories

by Charles Biro, with finished art by Al Cammarata, a.k.a. Al Camy. were intended for the regular Fly and Jag books and just got re-routed).

Thanks, Jerry.

Incidentally, with regard to the Bob Fujitani interview: the artist on that Dr. Solar panel you ran [on the top of p. 20] was not Fujitani, as identified, but Frank Bolle, who took over the strip with the advent of the costume in the back of issue #5 (Fuje having drawn the first story in the book). Bolle stayed on the book until 1967, when he was replaced by Alden McWilliams (who drew a gorgeous Dr. Gail Saunders), who a year later was replaced by Ernie Colón. The last ish came out in January 1969 and had Bolle inks over Paul Norris pencils.

“Gaff” (Carl Gafford) Gracias, Gaff. (We said “Gracias” just to avoid having to say “Thanks” yet again.) Oddly, although readers seemed to enjoy the other features in issue #23, we didn’t get much mail about them—not even our cover and lead feature about a “lost” Wonder Woman story. But one or two others echoed the chief thought in this e-mail from Jaime Echevarria: Roy, I have read Alter Ego #23, especially the Fujitani interview. Jim Amash is to be congratulated. The “60-40” repeated anecdote is curious, indeed, and I have been surprised by the similar personalities of Dan Barry and Stan Drake. I was more attracted by Fujitani’s ancient

Robin Snyder, editor of that fine monthly ’zine The Comics!, who was editing the Archie Adventure Comics line in 1984, tells us the cover of that year’s Blue Ribbon Comics #5 was actually penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Rich Buckler, rather than drawn by Buckler in a Kirby vein. Afraid we got that cover confused with other “Shield” art that Rich had penciled à la Kirby, apparently at the company’s request.

And, re Roger Hill’s exhaustive John Rosenberger piece, Steven Rowe informs us that “the Science Leads the Way comic was one of many that Custom/ACG did for the A.C. Gilberton company”—and that the 1961 ‘Man of Magic’ comic mentioned is mostly likely ACG’s short-lived series John Force, Magic Agent. We remember it well, Steven!

Send any comments to: Roy Thomas/Alter Ego Rt. 3, Box 468 St. Matthews, SC 29135

Fax: (803) 826-6501 e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com

See you in thirty—with our Happy Halloween issue!

No. 87 Our 30th Year!

MARC SWAYZE on the Golden Age 1 9 7 3 - 2 0 0 3 GEORGE HAGENAUER on Fawcett Digest STEVE SKEATES remembers Isis DON NEWTON & E. NELSON BRIDWELL’s Monster Society of Evil

[Ibis & Taia penciled by Mark Lewis, inked by P.C. Hamerlinck. Art © Mark Lewis & P.C. Hamerlinck; characters TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

40

Marc Swayze But I wish I had known him. I liked his way of thinking big. The grand manner in which he blew into town with his business, his ideas, his family… the whole shebang… and set up shop not at the outskirts, but in the heart of the world’s greatest metropolis, to occupy several floors of a most prestigious of office buildings…was a firm assertion that he and his domain were not to be sneezed at. And they weren’t!

Yes... I wish I had known Captain Billy. He created and left behind an aura of success… the atmosphere into which I strode in 1941, my heels yet stained with cow manure.

By

[Art & logo ©2003 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2003 DC Comics]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Comics. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including her origin in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. 1942; but he was primarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and CMA. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. Soon after leaving the Army, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton) for the Bell Syndicate. After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s topselling line of romance comics. After the company ceased publishing comics, Marc moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comics career in the mid-’50s. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been FCA’s most popular feature since his first column appeared in FCA #54, 1996. This time, he tells more about his early days at Fawcett... and his own musical background.

—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

I never knew Captain Billy Fawcett. Our paths probably would never have crossed had he still been around when I joined the company ranks.

The two levels on the organization chart were simply too extreme to suggest such a possibility.

Comic books were new. Let there be no mistake about that. Legitimate, accurate historical accounts describe their having already been around for several years… as well as the related studios that supplied art for them. But let’s have no misunderstanding… comic books, as we came to know them, were still new in ’41.

Newsstands, which existed mainly along the sidewalks of the very large cities… and magazine racks, which existed in drug stores, post offices, and pool halls throughout the land… had to make room for this outrageous little thin, limp, cheap, stapled newcomer that had crept in from nowhere.

The intrusion, however, could be taken as only temporary. There was no way for these novelties to stay around long… slanted almost exclusively for boy readers of pre and early teen-age… and only the ones with a little pocket change to spend.

How many generations ago was that? Three? Maybe four? More?

Long time.

A lot of things were new around that time. I stopped in the lobby of the Grand Central Station behind a crowd of commuters attracted by something going on against one wall…a display or demonstration of some kind.

“What is it?” I asked a fellow at my elbow. “A receiving set,” he answered. “Radio?” I asked. “Television,” he replied. I stood on tiptoe and peered over the heads to see what he was talking about… a box… with no dimensions of more than 2 or 3 feet…the foremost side with a screen… showing people moving about. And you could hear them talking… just like on a small movie screen. That box must have contained a lot of wires and things to bring all that about. I went on my way, certain that the average American family would never be able to afford such a complicated device.

“What orchestra was it you were with?”

It was the voice, later in the day, of Fawcett art director Al Allard, who had just come in from conducting a tour of Hollywood guests through his department. “I was asked that and had to make up an answer,” he laughed.

A pair of Swayze panels: from “Captain Marvel and the Return of the Trolls” in Whiz Comics #37 (Nov. ’42) and Phantom Eagle story in Wow Comics #32 (Jan. ’45). [Phantom Eagle TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

“There were several,” I

We Didn’t Know...

41

Al Allard, Fawcett Publications art director.

(Above:) One of Marc’s many musical gigs—this one, a live ABC radio broadcast (that’s Swayze, left, on guitar). (Below:) June, who later became Marc’s wife, was vocalist and pianist on some of the orchestras in which he performed. Courtesy of Marc & June Swayze.

said. “But no really big names.” Pressed for details, I related having been with half a dozen or so music groups during the college years, most of them fashioned after the popular radio and recording big bands of the day.

Allard conducted those tours with charm and dignity. The Fawcett executive and editorial offices were situated next door to the Astor Hotel, stopping-off place of many movie dignitaries. The stars knew… and their agents and studio publicity people knew… of the major movie fan magazines published by Fawcett. Furthermore, it was generally understood that art departments provided more interest on such occasions than editorial offices. Think about it. An editor, no matter how beautiful, seated at a typewriter…is not likely to command as much attention as an artist, no matter how ugly…seated at a drawing table bearing sketches of such heroes as Captain Marvel, et al. Al Allard knew that. So did Fawcett Publications.

I knew it, too… so as our conversation continued I made special effort to highlight experiences that might be entertaining to Fawcett visitors… the smaller combos, jam bands… the honkytonks and ballrooms… even the ludicrous antics of a lively western band. I agreed with Allard’s assumption that it was indeed a life of fun, but I added that it helped me through school and, too, there were disappointments. As an example I told of a neat collegiate combo we had that was booked for a summer of voyages on the famous ocean liner, the Ile de France… which, much to our regret, was destroyed in port before we ever set foot aboard!

Oh, well…back to the drawing board!

Mo n t h l y ! Edited and published by Robin Snyder

[Marc Swayze will be back next issue for more memories of the Golden Age of Comics.]

Write to: Robin Snyder, 2284 Yew St. Rd. #B6, Bellingham, WA 98226-8899

42

Fawcett Digest

Fawcett Digest

Walter Klett’s cover for the rare Fawcett Digest from 1946, printed at approximate size of the magazine. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Discovering a Rare Captain Marvel Appearance from the 1940s

by George Hagenauer Edited By P.C. Hamerlinck To this day it’s not uncommon for undocumented older comic books to be discovered that are giveaways or from the more obscure publishers. It is rare that an undocumented story or comic is found featuring a major character or super-hero.

That’s why I was quite surprised when I stumbled upon the first and only issue of Fawcett Digest.

I have been involved in doing background research for the historical novels of Max Allan Collins, creator of Road to Perdition, among other solid accomplishments. Thus, I spend a lot of time digging through older magazines and looking for material that may relate to future stories he has planned. This involves going over many piles of all sorts of odd magazines at book fairs, antique malls, flea markets and shows.

During one of these quests some months ago, I stumbled upon Fawcett Digest. The little 162-page magazine is about the size of a Reader’s Digest and sports a beautiful full-color cover by Walter Klett. Originally I thought this was perhaps some short-lived competitor to Reader’s Digest; but the first page states that it is a limited edition, printed in 1946, and reprints examples of material from every Fawcett magazine published in 1945. It obviously appears to have been a Fawcett promotional magazine (since there is a warning that it is not to be sold) geared towards distributors and advertisers, allowing them to view samples of all of the magazines Fawcett published at the time... including their comic books.

Several years ago, while meeting with Roscoe K. Fawcett, former coowner and circulation manager of Fawcett Publications, P.C. Hamerlinck reports having viewed several promotional and intercompany type publications (including Fawcett Distributor) which were produced in the ’40s and were developed by Roscoe Fawcett himself.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Even more surprising was to learn, by perusing Roscoe’s bookshelf, was that some of these promotional magazines— and Fawcett comics—were also produced as deluxe hardcover compilations! —PCH.] Prior to this, Fawcett had worked hard to upgrade the quality of many of their magazines, such as converting their True magazine from a sleazy men’s magazine featuring women in bondage on the cover to a very slick publication featuring major writers and illustrators... and with covers depicting wildlife hunters and men at work. True had become the type of magazine no one would feel ashamed to have on their coffee table. It’s interesting that Fawcett were apparently as proud of the quality of their comics as they were of their major slick magazines... and promoted the comics equally in Fawcett Digest, even though advertising revenue from the comic books must have been minimal compared to slicks like True, Today’s Woman, and Mechanix Illustrated.

While they don’t reprint an example from every Fawcett comic book, they do reprint a complete “Captain Marvel” story (“Capt. Marvel and His Mission to Mercury”) from Whiz Comics #69 (Dec. 1945). The magazine’s introduction tells of 5,000,000 readers a month for Fawcett comic books and lists their editorial board.

There is also a list of 28 different comic book titles in the front of Fawcett Digest, though a number of the titles seem never to have been printed. Listed are Radar the International Policeman, Sherlock the Monk, and Benny Beaver and Fuzzy Bear, none of which were published separately under those titles. Also listed are All Hero Comics, America’s Greatest Comics, and Commando Yank, although none of those had been published since 1943 (“Commando Yank,” aside from being one of the Fawcett “Mighty Midget” giveaway comics, never actually had its own title).

It may be possible that, with the post-World War II relaxing of paper restrictions, some of the titles listed were planned but never appeared.

1946 did see a number of Fawcett titles resume publication, and at least one comic on the list (Animal Fair) may not have been published at the time the digest appeared.

Fawcett Digest

A cover for Fawcett’s True magazine, from its “trash” period, prior to its facelift. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

43

There is no indication on actually how “limited” was the limited edition of Fawcett Digest. The magazine is full-color throughout and must have been an expensive publication to produce in a limited quantity... but it provides a nice overview in one magazine of what Fawcett was publishing in 1945. The opening section also states that it is the second annual compilation, which indicates that a first issue from early 1945 highlighting 1944 stories also exists. It is not known whether the first Fawcett Digest reprinted any comic book material or not.

Fawcett Publications was once a giant in the publishing field; now they are only a faint memory to a few… and to collectors who leaf through stacks of magazines at local swap meets.

[George Hagenauer lives in Verona, Wisconsin. People with information about other issues of Fawcett Digest can reach him at yellowkd@terracom.net or P.O. Box 930093, Verona, WI 53593.]

Call us now to participate either buying, selling or for an insurance or estate apprasial!

l et us help you realize the highest prices possible for all your prized possessions!

Fawcett Digest reprinted this story that had been originally seen in Whiz Comics #69 (Dec. 1945). Art by C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza.

[Captain Marvel TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

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44

Isis

What It Is Is Isis A Writer’s True Confessions of the Shazam! Spin-off Egyptian Goddess Super-hero from the 1970s

by Steve Skeates Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck A quick glance inside a comic book shop and— Yipes! What is this?

Women blowing men away, seventeen or eighteen at a clip, with but the slightest flick trigger-wise of one or another impossibly huge hand-held laser-canon!

Women decapitating men with an effortless swipe of a razor-sharp ceremonial épée! Women who kill with their thighs!

All such “hoo-hah” aside, however, even as we return to considerations of my own reckless involvement—okay, okay, so I’m not the only one who’s to blame for the egregiousness of that particular comic book (and, for the record, what I still perceive as particularly terrible are issues #2 and #3!). DC itself had rather cheapened out— no longer numbering the pages of its comics in hopes that the readers wouldn’t notice that the books which for so many years had possessed at least 23 or 24 pages of story were now down to a mere seventeen. Artist Mike Vosburg may have been (and in fact was) particularly adept at drawing comely women, yet his storytelling abilities in this series left a lot to be desired; he seemed in fact infused with an uncommon knack for making even the most exciting scene come off with all the color and flair of a PBS pledge

It’s hard to imagine in light of this so-called “bad girl” mania (is it not?) that women were once anathema as far as comics were concerned—that all but every pencil-wielder in the industry had but one stock woman he knew how to draw, that he’d use her (that one and only) whenever called upon to incorporate into a story someone of the feminine persuasion and nobody much noticed (let alone cared) because women were that far from important story-wise—that the conventional “wisdom” at DC, Marvel, and elsewhere was: “Female characters simply do not sell!!”

In other words, when (back in 1975, to be exact) the only work I seemed to be able to find within the comic book industry was fulfilling the scripting chores for DC’s Isis comic book (based of course upon that strangely unexciting half hour live-action Saturday morning Filmation television program on CBS), it was as though (at least as far as I was concerned) I were being punished for something (being a malcontent? arguing with editors? caring a bit too much how previous scripts of mine had been transmogrified into entities even I had a hard time recognizing as my own?) via being relegated to working upon a comic that obviously had no chance of ever selling! To say I was unhappy would be putting it mildly and then some! Truth be known: even today, I can (though for some reason I rarely wish to) look back at those four “Isis” tales I wrote for DC—plus the one I co-authored (the plot by me but the words by up-and-comer Jack C. Harris)—and abruptly find myself (thanks to my own steel-trap memory) sadly sinking fast beneath huge ungainly gobs of utter embarrassment.

Then again, though, shouldn’t it have been the producers of that TV show who were, deeper than any of us others, dipped in absolute complete industrial-strength embarrassment? Didn’t they know that the original Isis, that Egyptian goddess of yore, fell out of favor with the Pharaohs because too many orgies were being held in the temples devoted to her worship, thus just flat-out tiring out too many of that society’s workers? Is that any sort of a proper goddess upon which to base a Saturday morning TV show?

(Top left:) On the Filmation CBS-TV series, Isis was played in the 1970s by Joanna Cameron. (Right:) The Egyptian goddess/heroine seemed to be off to a good start when she flew from TV directly into comics, premiering in Shazam! #25 (Oct. 1976). Repro’d from the original Kurt Schaffenberger cover art, which was presented to AC Comics publisher Bill Black in exchange for a donation to the comics cartoonists’ Milt Gross Fund. [Captain Marvel TM & ©2003 DC Comics; Isis TM & ©2003 the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Isis

45 But with mighty Isis, a character who dressed all in white… well, she may have looked nifty on TV but was bland as all get-out there in the comics. Like I said, my heart just wasn’t in it. Could have been upon my part mere petulant disgust over this being the only work I could land. In addition, however, being a long-time subscriber to the general theory of multiple causation, I dare say there may well have been a bit of burnout mixed in there, as well. I had, after all, at that point, been making my living writing comics for over ten years, and prior to being saddled with that fetching Egyptian goddess, had just come down from a seemingly endless stint of production for five separate companies: DC, Marvel, Warren, Gold Key, and Red Circle.

In any event, ultimately in an attempt to actually write for the Isis comic book something I (at least) considered halfway worthwhile, I pushed things very much and too far in the wrong direction, shoved this Egyptian goddess over a certain hurdle and into the wonderful world of abject silliness via producing a tale in which Isis (in order to prove to a rival deity that the people of America did not worship her in the same way the folks in ancient Egypt had) took a pie in the face. Did, at that juncture, editor Denny O’Neil begin to fear that Filmation would so object to the irreverence of our sudden application of custard all over the countenance of a goddess that they might possibly yank DC’s rights to do a comic book based on their show? I still quite honestly believe that that was the case. Makes sense, especially in that it could then have been merely to demonstrate to Filmation that he would brook no such irreverence that O’Neil (immediately upon the publication of the tale in question) rather resoundingly booted me off the book.

Two splashes from Isis #2 (Dec. 1976-Jan. 1977) by writer Steve Skeates, pencils

by Mike Vosburg, inks by Vince Colletta. If the art by Vosburg and Colletta seems a bit quiet, as per Steve’s analysis, perhaps it’s what the editors felt the TV people wanted? [Isis TM & ©2003 the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

break. Furthermore, Vince Colletta’s inks, rather than enhancing Vosburg’s pencils, seemed to add a flatness even my worst words had yet to attain.

All that said, however, I still in no way can (thanks, I would venture to guess, to some disconcertingly inherent honest streak upon my own part) worm my way out from under my own responsibility here. The sorry fact is I was merely going through the paces, making the motions, and doing the dance… but with neither my heart nor my soul involved, writing the most hackneyed, clichéd plots possible: an electrical monster from another dimension, rowboats upon a stormy sea, a birdwatcher falling off a tall billboard—hardly much of a challenge for a character who possessed seemingly limitless powers. And therefore hardly any drama there at all.

Actually (even as I attempt to be objective here, rather than merely what most comic book scribes tend to be, i.e., some out-of-control and basically pathetically insecure egomaniac), I had done quite well by the various female characters I had previously handled. During my threeyear stint as the sole writer for Aquaman, I had elevated his wife Mera from a mere supporting character to near equal footing with the sea king himself, so that much of the fan press back in those crazy days (the early 1970s) cited Mera as one of the strongest female characters in all comicdom. Also, aided and abetted by such superb plotmeisters as Marv Wolfman and E. Nelson Bridwell, I was able to construct a number of Supergirl sagas (a character I forever saw as the exception to the rule that female characters never sell) that are still considered “classics.”

46

Isis

The Mike Vosburg/Bob Smith cover and a splash page for Isis #4 (April-May 1977). [Isis TM & ©2003 the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

To be quite truthful, I have not the slightest inkling as to what happened to the Isis comic book once I departed. Were there further issues? How many? Don’t ask me.

I was out of there, and, in fact, seeing the utter blandness of this character (and all the trouble I got into via trying to change that very factor) as rather the proverbial last straw, I adroitly disassociated myself from comics in general—for quite some time anyhow—and took up bartending as my new profession.

And so it goes.

Steve says concerning the above page and cover: “I have nothing but fond memories concerning working for the Golden Book people, the New York Gold Key guys for whom I wrote a number of Underdog and Tweety and Sylvester comic stories! Also, I’m rather proud of the way the book turned out, especially the middle story—nice pulpish science-fiction with some weird psychedelic dreamlike sequences and characters with nifty names, like trouble-shooting roving diplomat Warren Pease and computer expert Anna Liszt!” The Isis Golden All-Star Book (1977) was written by Steve Skeates and drawn by Jack Sparling. [Isis and art TM & ©2003 the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Everyone deserves a

Golden Age!

GiVE BACK TO THE CREATORS WHO GAVE YOU YOUR DREAMS.

www.ACTORComicFund.org Captain America is a trademark of Marvel Characters, Inc. Copyright © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

BACK ISSUE OF THE ISSUE! If you enjoy the coverage of Joe Maneely in this issue of Alter Ego, grab hold of a copy of A/E, Vol. 3, #3, and revel in the story and art of one of Maneely’s great 1950s colleagues at Timely/Atlas—none other than Wild Bill Everett, creator of The Sub-Mariner, The Fin, Hydroman, and other heroes!

Order it today from TwoMorrows Publishing. See their ad bloc elsewhere in this mag. (What? You thought we bought advertising space in Field and Stream?)

48

Monster Society of Evil

Low Society The MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL Struck Back–––and Struck Out–––in 1980-81

by Walt Grogan Edited By P.C. Hamerlinck As the bad-guy contingent in the first extended comic book serial, the Monster Society of Evil wasn’t even a formal group when it first appeared in its original Fawcett version from 1943 to 1945... although it contained the major and several minor Captain Marvel villains of the time. This assemblage, formed by the mysterious Mr. Mind– who was eventually revealed to be a mere worm, though one from another planet—plagued the World’s Mightiest Mortal between issues #22-46 of Captain Marvel Adventures. (The entire serial, crafted by writer Otto Binder and editor Wendell Crowley and illustrated by the C.C. Beck studio, was beautifully reprinted in a limited slipcasehardcover edition from England’s Hawk Books in 1989.)

(Above:) With Captain Marvel serving as prosecutor in the trial of Mr. Mind in Captain Marvel Adventures #46 (May 1945), the worm from another world was found guilty of murdering 186,744 people in cold blood, with script

by Otto Binder, art by the C.C. Beck shop. (Left:) In Shazam! #14 (Sept.-Oct. 1974), the O’Neil/Schaffenberger/Schwartz team pitted the revived Marvel Family against a new version of the Society. [©2003 DC Comics.]

Captain Marvel eventually captured Mr. Mind after 25 eventful chapters and, after a brief court trial, the wicked worm was executed—never to be heard from again.

In the Golden Age, that is.

For, when DC Comics licensed and revived the Marvel Family in 1973, with original “Captain Marvel” artist C.C. Beck as illustrator for a brief spell, it soon resurrected Mr. Mind. After that, it was only a matter of time till the nefarious alien worm re-formed his band of evildoers, and in Shazam! #14 (Sept.-Oct. 1974) he did just that! “The Evil Return of the Monster Society” was written by Denny O’Neil, with art by Kurt Schaffenberger. They were unable to capture the excitement of the original “Monster Society of Evil” adventure within the mere 20 pages they had to work with, and with a much-reduced roster of villains that had the Sivana Family and Ibac joining forces with Mr. Mind. This was the last appearance of the Monster Society drawn in the traditional style. To revive flagging interest in the revived Marvels, DC Comics took drastic action and updated both the art and stories of the World’s Mightiest Family.

The Shazam! series went through this radical change with issue #34 (April 1978). Artists Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein gave Cap, Mary, and Junior a muscular, more realistic look in a story that featured the Marvel Family battling the evil Captain Nazi in the skies over Chicago. With #35, Weiss and Rubinstein were replaced

by Don Newton and Kurt Schaffenberger, while E. Nelson Bridwell continued as writer. Newton would become the artist most associated with the “new look” Captain Marvel and was vilified by both fans and C.C. Beck himself for this updating. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Cap’s “new look” period will be dissected further in a future edition of FCA. —PCH.] The Shazam! series was cancelled after the 35th issue, and Captain Marvel immediately

Monster Society of Evil

49

Immortal, resume his true form.

Black Adam had been Shazam’s champion in ancient Egypt. Soon after gaining the powers granted by Shazam, Adam turned evil. Shazam banished Adam to the farthest star in the universe. Black Adam eventually made his way back to Earth after a 5000-year journey and landed in the United States in 1945. After a brief battle with the Marvel Family, he was tricked by Uncle Marvel into saying the wizard’s name and turned back into his mortal form of Teth-Adam. Captain Marvel’s tap to Teth-Adam’s chin caused Adam’s millennia-old body to crumble to dust, and it seemed as if Black Adam’s first appearance from the Fawcett-era in Marvel Family Comics #1 would be his last. DC revived Black Adam during a series of city-visiting stories in the 1970s. His return was Dr. Sivana’s doing. Sivana used a reincarnation machine of his own design to reincarnate the body of Teth-Adam. The newly-living Adam wasted no time into changing into his super-powered form by shouting the name of the ancient wizard Shazam! But Captain Marvel was successful in defeating Black Adam and placing him in jail.

In the 1980 World’s Finest serial, the warden of the prison that held most of the Monster Society members alerted Cap to their escape. Black Adam was immediately spotted in Cairo, Egypt, and Cap realized he would need help from a secret weapon. After landing near Cairo, Cap changed to Billy Batson to do some reconnoitering of the area and was soon confronted by Oggar, who made Billy mute so that he couldn’t turn back into Captain Marvel. Soon joined by Black Adam, Oggar created an army of soldiers from the sands of the Egyptian desert to conquer Cairo.

“The Monster Society of Evil Strikes Back!” The beginning of the fourpart serial, by Bridwell, Newton, and Hunt, in World’s Finest Comics #264 (Sept. 1980). [©2003 DC Comics.]

Just as the army was to set off for Cairo, Cap’s secret weapon swooped down: Mary Marvel, the World’s Mightiest Girl. Since his powers had a built-in limitation of ineffectuality against the fair sex, Oggar called down a bolt of magic lightning to change Mary Marvel back into her mortal form. Mary’s quick thinking allowed her to place Billy into the path of the bolt. He was changed back into Captain Marvel, and he and Mary quickly mopped up the sand army and had all but defeated the villains when Oggar used his powers to return them all to the Monster Society headquarters. Realizing that the Monster Society had once again banded together, Cap knew he and his fellow Marvels were in for the fight of their lives.

moved over to a DC anthology title, the dollar-sized World’s Finest Comics, with issue #253.

With a new creative team in place, the Monster Society of Evil was soon re-formed in World’s Finest Comics #264-267 (Aug.-Sept 1980Feb-Mar 1981). The splash page of “The Monster Society of Evil Strikes Back!” by E. Nelson Bridwell, Don Newton, and inker Dave Hunt revealed the new line-up of Mr. Mind’s gaggle of felons: Dr. Sivana, Mr. Atom, Ibac, Black Adam, and Oggar (who had appeared in his own short-lived serial back in Captain Marvel Adventures). Mr. Mind’s objective had not changed between reorganizations; he still wished to “crush” Captain Marvel with help from the other villains.

Oggar and Black Adam, neither of whom was in the classic “Monster Society,” took center-stage in the first chapter.

“The Monster Society of Evil Strikes Back!”

Oggar had originally been a student of the great wizard Shazam.

When he was granted immortality, Oggar became part of the septet of elders that formed Shazam’s name, changing it to Shazamo. When Oggar turned evil, Shazam dropped the “o” from his name, banished Oggar from the group of elders, and gave Oggar cloven hooves and horns. The sorceress Circe imprisoned him in the body of a boar and tossed the boar over a cliff. And Oggar was nearly never seen again.

Unbeknownst to Captain Marvel, during a battle with that wicked worm, Mr. Mind, he unwittingly helped Oggar, the World’s Mightiest

Oggar, who’d had his own brief serial in the ’40s, was back in World’s Finest #264. [©2003 DC Comics.]

50

Monster Society of Evil knowledge, which Kull used to place himself in suspended animation after the rest of his race had been exterminated by the humans of that time. Kull came out of suspended animation in the ’40s and proceeded to attack the human race with great tidal waves created from pulling the moon from its orbit. Like Mr. Atom, King Kull had a hatred of humans but often worked with them for his own nefarious purposes.

Under Mr. Mind’s direction and along with the enormous atomic power of Mr. Atom, King Kull devised a machine that would turn the Earth inside out, changing the topology of the earth. Captain Marvel noticed the effects of Kull’s machine on the planet and quickly visited his friend Freddy Freeman at the latter’s boarding-house. Professor Edgewise, a brilliant and absent-minded scientist who also resided there, had an invention that could track the source of the power that was causing the natural disasters. [EDITOR’S NOTE: “Crowley’s Furniture Store” is seen in one of the panels of this story—artist Don Newton’s obvious nod to Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley. —PCH.] The device led Cap and Junior to the beast-man’s cave, but the stalwart duo was prevented from entering by a powerful force field attuned to their super-powered selves. Their more vulnerable counterparts, Billy and Freddy, were able to enter the cave but were quickly overcome and bound and gagged

by Kull and Mr. Atom, even though neither of the villains was aware Billy and Freddy were really Cap and Junior.

When Kull made an indentation in the cave floor, Billy was able to loosen his gag on the newly formed stalagmite. He changed into Captain Marvel and freed Freddy, who changed into Cap Jr. in front of Kull (who must now know the secret of their identity), and the two Marvels destroyed Kull’s machine. But, just as they were about to capture Kull and Adam, the evildoers disappeared, presumably back to Monster Society headquarters.

“Sivana’s Space Armada” Battling Captain Marvel then fell to Dr. Sivana and Ibac in World’s Finest Comics #266 (Dec. 1980-Jan. 1981). Inker Chiarmonte was replaced with Joe Giella for this story.

Billy and Freddy in a tough spot, thanks to King Kull and Mr. Atom.

Script by Bridwell, art by Newton and Chiaramonte. [©2003 DC Comics.]

“The Plot against the Human Race” This next chapter appeared in World’s Finest Comics #265 (Oct.Nov. 1980). This time writer Bridwell and penciler Newton were joined by inker Frank Chiaramonte, and Cap teamed up with Captain Marvel Jr. to battle the team of King Kull and Mr. Atom.

Mr. Atom was an atomic-powered robot created by the inventor Dr. Charles Langley. Langley’s intent was to demonstrate that the power of the atom could be used to create life. In an unfortunate accident, an explosion brings life to Mr. Atom earlier than intended. Without the careful steps that Langley was to take in the robot’s creation, Mr. Atom soon realized that with his tremendous power he could dominate rather than serve humankind using his keen robotic mind, super-strength, and atomic blasting power. Although captured and imprisoned many times

by Captain Marvel, Mr. Atom apparently later learned to tolerate the company of humans as a new member of the Monster Society of Evil.

King Kull, the beast-man, was the last survivor of a race of evil subhumans who ruled the planet Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago.

These sub-humans, brutish in appearance, possessed great scientific

Dr. Thaddeus Budog Sivana, the self-styled Rightful Ruler of the Universe and World’s Maddest Scientist, was Captain Marvel’s greatest enemy. Sivana’s evil schemes and dastardly inventions were often foiled by “The Big Red Cheese” (as Sivana not-so-lovingly referred to Cap). Sivana often used the other evil members of his family, Thaddeus Jr. and Georgia, to battle the rest of the Marvel Family. Tireless in his efforts to defeat Captain Marvel, he often made use of space ships and time-travel devices in his attacks on Cap. Ibac, like Black Adam, was the evil opposite of Captain Marvel.

Small-time thief Stanley “Stinky” Printwhistle was granted the powers of a quartet of the most evil humans of all-time by Satan himself. When Stanley said the name “Ibac,” he was granted super-human strength through the combined might of Ivan the Terrible, the cruel Borgia, Attila the Hun, and Caligula. Like Captain Marvel, Jr., Ibac was unable to say his own name or he will transform, in a burst of green flame, back into “Stinky” Printwhistle.

An oft-defeated Dr. Sivana finally realized that the conquest of other worlds should come before Earth. He used the massive strength of the evil Ibac to kill the rulers of other planets in the galaxy and to become the supreme ruler of each of the conquered worlds. The narcissistic Sivana forced each planet’s population to build spaceships in the form of his own head, and an incredible armada of Sivana-headed spaceships

Monster Society of Evil

51

In the 1970s RBCC Special #8 (left), Don Newton drew an early rendition of Dr. Sivana; in World’s Finest Comics #266 in 1981, he got a chance to draw his version for the “Shazam!” feature (right), with inks by Joe Giella. [1970s art ©2003 Estate of Don Newton; 1981 panel ©2003 DC Comics; Sivana and Ibac TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

King Kull knocked each other out because of the quick thinking of Fat and Tall Marvel; Mr. Atom was hurled into an uninhabited universe by Captain Marvel where he could do no harm.

battled Captain Marvel. Cap used the wisdom of Solomon along with the strength and speed of Hercules and Mercury to play an outer space game of billiards with the spaceships, destroying them all. But Sivana and Ibac, too, vanished just before capture. Cap knew he would need the help of Mary and Junior to defeat this new Monster Society.

“Assault on the Rock of Eternity”

The only member of the evil Monster Society yet to be captured was its cagey leader, Mr. Mind. Captain Marvel discovered the wily worm hiding in Shazam’s beard—and thus ended the plans of Mind’s latest band of bad men.

Writer E. Nelson Bridwell did an admirable job with his version of the Monster Society of Evil. He was particularly clever in choosing the teams that would do battle with the Marvel Family. In the first chapter Black Adam and Oggar were naturally teamed, due to their relationship with Shazam. Mr. Atom and Kull were a perfect fit because of their shared hated of the human race. The team of Sivana and Ibac was

The final battle with the new Monster Society of Evil occurred in World’s Finest Comics #267 (Feb.-Mar 1981), an installment inked by Bob Smith and co-starring even the Lieutenant Marvels.

The wizard Shazam had seen that occasionally a threat might be too powerful for even Captain Marvel to handle and had granted his powers to three other lads who were also named Billy Batson. “Fat” Billy Batson hailed from Brooklyn, “Hill” Billy Batson lived in the South, and “Tall” Billy Batson worked on a ranch in Texas. If all three said the name of the ancient wizard together, they were transformed into “Fat” Marvel, “Hill” Marvel, and “Tall” Marvel, and gained the same set of powers as Captain Marvel.

Knowing he needed Shazam’s advice, Billy visited the abandoned subway tunnel and brought forth the spirit of the wizard. Shazam made it clear that every member of the Marvel Family was needed to combat the Monster Society, so Captain Marvel proceeded to gather the alter egos of the three Lieutenant Marvels. With Captain Marvel, Jr. and Mary Marvel also in tow, the combined might of the Marvel Family was ready to take on the Monster Society.

Racing to the Rock of Eternity, Shazam’s dwelling-place at the center of the universe, each member of the Marvel Family fought a member of the Monster Society. Mary tricked Oggar into thinking she was her brother and easily defeated him, due to Oggar’s inability to harm women with his powers. Captain Marvel Jr. tricked Black Adam into saying the name of the wizard and kayoed Teth-Adam. Hill Marvel destroyed the last of Sivana’s space ships and captured the evil doctor. Mr. Atom and

Captain Marvel Jr. tricks Black Adam in the serial’s conclusion in World’s Finest #267. [©2003 DC Comics.]

52

Monster Society of Evil not seen again until after the Crisis on Infinite Earths brought the Shazam! characters into the DC Universe proper. In 1998 Jerry Ordway reconstituted the Monster Society for his Power of Shazam! series.

Otto Binder’s idea of the Monster Society of Evil is a concept that just won’t die, with every generation of Captain Marvel fans getting the opportunity to see a new take on the concept. To that end, Bone creator Jeff Smith will handle both the writing and drawing of the eagerly awaited four-part mini-series, Shazam!: Monster Society of Evil, due for release in early 2004, wherein the lowest members of society—and a little alien worm—will once again rear their ugly heads.

[Walt Grogan is a computer language trainer and developer who lives in the Chicagoland area with his wife, twin daughters, and cat. He can be reached through his website at www.marvelfamily.com.]

Guess who’s hiding in Shazam’s beard!? All the Marvels were on hand for Mr. Mind’s downfall in WFC #267 (March 1981). The three in the back row with Shazam, left to right, are Fat Marvel, Tall Marvel, and Hill Marvel. Script by Bridwell, art by Newton & Smith. [©2003 DC Comics.]

unusual, but inspired, because of their opposing natures… Sivana’s intellect matched with Ibac’s raw power.

Don Newton’s artwork was saddled with a round-robin of inkers. That’s not to say that any of them were bad. Rather, it’s a testament to Don’s craftsmanship that his style is able to shine through each inker. Particularly surprising are Joe Giella’s inks, which could often overwhelm other artist’s pencils.

The Society Lives An “untold tale” of the Monster Society from the 1940s that chronologically occurs before the 1943-45 Fawcett outing later appeared in 198586 issues of Roy Thomas’ All-Star Squadron. After that, the group was

(Left:) Since the four-part Monster Society storyline that began in All-Star Squadron #51 (Nov. ’85), set in 1942, was done as a prequel to the one that ran in Captain Marvel Adventures from 1943-45, Mr. Mind flew about in a hovering microphone and didn’t reveal his worm-identity to the members (left to right: Oom, Nightshade, Mr. Who, and Nyola—foes of Spectre, Sandman, Dr. Fate, and Hawkman, respectively.) Their captives seen here are Sandy, Dr. Fate, Hour-Man, and Hawkgirl—four JSA-related heroes who hadn’t just been “Shanghaied into Space,” as per 1942’s All-Star Comics #13. Art by Mike Clark & Tony DeZuniga. (Above:) In Power of Shazam! #38-41 (May-Aug. 1998), Jerry Ordway wrote and Peter Krause drew a scaled-down modern-day Society. Pictured is Jerry’s cover for issue #39. [©2003 DC Comics.]

Now—FLIP US for our Joe Maneely Marathon!

Edited by ROY THOMAS

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STAN LEE gets roasted by SCHWARTZ, CLAREMONT, DAVID, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, and SHOOTER, ORDWAY and THOMAS on INFINITY, INC., IRWIN HASEN interview, unseen H.G. PETER Wonder Woman pages, the original Captain Marvel and Human Torch teamup, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, “Mr. Monster”, plus plenty of rare and unpublished art!

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Interviews with KUBERT, SHELLY MOLDOFF, and HARRY LAMPERT, BOB KANIGHER, life and times of GARDNER FOX, ROY THOMAS remembers GIL KANE, a history of Flash Comics, MOEBIUS Silver Surfer sketches, MR. MONSTER, FCA section with SWAYZE, BECK, and SCHAFFENBERGER, and lots more! Dual color covers by JOE KUBERT!

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DC and QUALITY COMICS focus! Quality’s GILL FOX interview, never-seen ‘40s PAUL REINMAN Green Lantern story, ROY THOMAS talks to LEN WEIN and RICH BUCKLER about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, MR. MONSTER shows what made WALLY WOOD leave MAD, FCA section with BECK & SWAYZE, & ‘65 NEWSWEEK ARTICLE on comics! REINMAN and BILL WARD covers!

1974 panel with JOE SIMON, STAN LEE, FRANK ROBBINS, and ROY THOMAS, ROY and JOHN BUSCEMA on Avengers, 1964 STAN LEE interview, tributes to DON HECK, JOHNNY CRAIG, and GRAY MORROW, Timely alums DAVID GANTZ and DANIEL KEYES, and FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and MIKE MANLEY! Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON and JOE SIMON!

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MARVEL BULLPEN REUNION (BUSCEMA, COLAN, ROMITA, and SEVERIN), memories of the JOHN BUSCEMA SCHOOL, FCA with ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK, and MARC SWAYZE, tribute to CHAD GROTHKOPF, MR. MONSTER on EC COMICS with art by KURTZMAN, DAVIS, and WOOD, and more! Covers by ALEX ROSS and MARIE SEVERIN & RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlighting LOU FINE (with an overview of his career, and interviews with family members), interview with MURPHY ANDERSON about Fine, ALEX TOTH on Fine, ARNOLD DRAKE interviewed about DEADMAN and DOOM PATROL, MR. MONSTER on the non-EC work of JACK DAVIS and GEORGE EVANS, FINE and LUIS DOMINGUEZ COVERS, FCA and more!

STAN GOLDBERG interview, secrets of ‘40s Timely, art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, MANEELY, EVERETT, BURGOS, and DeCARLO, spotlight on sci-fi fanzine XERO with the LUPOFFS, OTTO BINDER, DON THOMPSON, ROY THOMAS, BILL SCHELLY, and ROGER EBERT, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD ghosting Flash Gordon! KIRBY and SWAYZE covers!

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The IGER “SHOP” examined, with art by EISNER, FINE, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, BAKER, MESKIN, CARDY, EVANS, BOB KANE, and TUSKA, “SHEENA” section with art by DAVE STEVENS & FRANK BRUNNER, ROY THOMAS on JSA & All-Star Squadron, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, UNSEEN 1946 ALL-STAR ART, FCA, and more!

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X-MEN interviews with STAN LEE, DAVE COCKRUM, CHRIS CLAREMONT, ARNOLD DRAKE, JIM SHOOTER, ROY THOMAS, and LEN WEIN, MORT MESKIN profiled by his sons and ALEX TOTH, rare art by JERRY ROBINSON, FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY on Comics Fandom! MESKIN and COCKRUM covers!

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VIN SULLIVAN interview about the early DC days with art by SHUSTER, MOLDOFF, FLESSEL, GUARDINEER, and BURNLEY, MR. MONSTER’s “Lost” KIRBY HULK covers, 1948 NEW YORK COMIC CON with STAN LEE, SIMON & KIRBY, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, HARVEY KURTZMAN, and ROY THOMAS, ALEX TOTH, FCA, and more! Covers by JACK BURNLEY and JACK KIRBY!

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ALTER EGO #33

FRANK BRUNNER interview, BILL EVERETT’S Venus examined by TRINA ROBBINS, Classics Illustrated “What ifs”, LEE/KIRBY/DITKO Marvel prototypes, JOE MANEELY’s monsters, BILL FRACCIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, JOHN BENSON on EC, The Heap by ERNIE SCHROEDER, and FCA! Covers by FRANK BRUNNER and PETE VON SHOLLY!

ALEX ROSS on his love for the JLA, BLACKHAWK/JLA artist DICK DILLIN, the super-heroes of 1940s-1980s France (with art by STEVE RUDE, STEVE BISSETTE, LADRÖNN, and NEAL ADAMS), KIM AAMODT & WALTER GEIER on writing for SIMON & KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA! Covers by ALEX ROSS and STEVE RUDE!

DICK AYERS on his 1950s and ‘60s work (with tons of Marvel Bullpen art), HARLAN ELLISON’s Marvel Age work examined (with art by BUCKLER, SAL BUSCEMA, and TRIMPE), STAN LEE’S Marvel Prototypes (with art by KIRBY and DITKO), Christmas cards from comics greats, MR. MONSTER, & FCA with SWAYZE and SCHAFFENBERGER! Covers by DICK AYERS and FRED RAY!

Timely artists ALLEN BELLMAN and SAM BURLOCKOFF interviewed, MART NODELL on his Timely years, rare art by BURGOS, EVERETT, and SHORES, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age (with art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, and more), FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more!

Covers by DICK GIORDANO and GIL KANE!

Symposium on MIKE SEKOWSKY by MARK EVANIER, SCOTT SHAW!, et al., with art

by ANDERSON, INFANTINO, and others, PAT (MRS. MIKE) SEKOWSKY and inker VALERIE BARCLAY interviewed, FCA, 1950s Captain Marvel parody by ANDRU and ESPOSITO, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by FRENZ/SINNOTT and FRENZ/BUSCEMA!

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ALTER EGO #34

ALTER EGO #35

ALTER EGO #36

ALTER EGO #37

ALTER EGO #38

Quality Comics interviews with ALEX KOTZKY, AL GRENET, CHUCK CUIDERA, & DICK ARNOLD (son of BUSY ARNOLD), art by COLE, EISNER, FINE, WARD, DILLIN, and KANE, MICHELLE NOLAN on Blackhawk’s jump to DC, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on HARVEY KURTZMAN, & ALEX TOTH on REED CRANDALL! Covers by REED CRANDALL & CHARLES NICHOLAS!

Covers by JOHN ROMITA and AL JAFFEE! LEE, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, & THOMAS on the 1953-55 Timely super-hero revival, with rare art by ROMITA, AYERS, BURGOS, HEATH, EVERETT, LAWRENCE, & POWELL, AL JAFFEE on the 1940s Timely Bullpen (and MAD), FCA, ALEX TOTH on comic art, MR. MONSTER on unpublished 1950s covers, and more!

JOE SIMON on SIMON & KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, and LLOYD JACQUET, JOHN BELL on World War II Canadian heroes, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Canadian origins of MR. MONSTER, tributes to BOB DESCHAMPS, DON LAWRENCE, & GEORGE WOODBRIDGE, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and ELMER WEXLER interview! Covers by SIMON and GILBERT & RONN SUTTON!

WILL MURRAY on the 1940 Superman “KMetal” story & PHILIP WYLIE’s GLADIATOR (with art by SHUSTER, SWAN, ADAMS, and BORING), FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and DON NEWTON, SY BARRY interview, art by TOTH, MESKIN, INFANTINO, and ANDERSON, and MICHAEL T. GILBERT interviews AL FELDSTEIN on EC and RAY BRADBURY! Covers by C.C. BECK and WAYNE BORING!

JULIE SCHWARTZ TRIBUTE with HARLAN ELLISON, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, KUBERT, GIELLA, GIORDANO, CARDY, LEVITZ, STAN LEE, WOLFMAN, EVANIER, & ROY THOMAS, never-seen interviews with Julie, FCA with BECK, SCHAFFENBERGER, NEWTON, COCKRUM, OKSNER, FRADON, SWAYZE, and JACKSON BOSTWICK! Covers by INFANTINO and IRWIN HASEN!

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ALTER EGO #39

ALTER EGO #40

ALTER EGO #41

ALTER EGO #42

ALTER EGO #43

Full-issue spotlight on JERRY ROBINSON, with an interview on being BOB KANE’s Batman “ghost”, creating the JOKER and ROBIN, working on VIGILANTE, GREEN HORNET, and ATOMAN, plus never-seen art by Jerry, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, RAY, KIRBY, SPRANG, DITKO, and PARIS! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER on AL FELDSTEIN Part 2, and more! Two JERRY ROBINSON covers!

RUSS HEATH and GIL KANE interviews (with tons of unseen art), the JULIE SCHWARTZ Memorial Service with ELLISON, MOORE, GAIMAN, HASEN, O’NEIL, and LEVITZ, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, NOVICK, DILLIN, SEKOWSKY, KUBERT, GIELLA, ARAGONÉS, FCA, MR. MONSTER and AL FELDSTEIN Part 3, and more! Covers by GIL KANE & RUSS HEATH!

Halloween issue! BERNIE WRIGHTSON on his 1970s FRANKENSTEIN, DICK BRIEFER’S monster, the campy 1960s Frankie, art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, BORING, OKSNER, TUSKA, CRANDALL, and SUTTON, FCA #100, EMILIO SQUEGLIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Covers by WRIGHTSON & MARC SWAYZE!

A celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, rare art by KIRBY, DITKO, and AYERS, Hillman and Ziff-Davis remembered by Heap artist ERNIE SCHROEDER, HERB ROGOFF, and WALTER LITTMAN, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and ALEX TOTH! Covers by FASTNER & LARSON and ERNIE SCHROEDER!

Yuletide art by WOOD, SINNOTT, CARDY, BRUNNER, TOTH, NODELL, and others, interviews with Golden Age artists TOM GILL (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS, exploring 1960s Mexican comics, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Flip covers by GEORGE TUSKA and DAVE STEVENS!

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18

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

JSA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. special!

Interviews with KUBERT, HASEN, ANDERSON, ORDWAY, BUCKLER, THOMAS, 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR ADLER, art by TOTH, SEKOWSKY, HASEN, MACHLAN, OKSNER, and INFANTINO, FCA, and MR. MONSTER’S “I Like Ike!” cartoons by BOB KANE, INFANTINO, OKSNER, and BIRO! Wraparound ORDWAY cover!

Interviews with Sandman artist CREIG FLESSEL and ‘40s creator BERT CHRISTMAN, MICHAEL CHABON on researching his Pulitzer-winning novel Kavalier & Clay, art

by EISNER, KANE, KIRBY, and AYERS, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER’s “lost” Jon Jarl story, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and ALEX TOTH! CREIG FLESSEL cover!

The VERY BEST of the 1960s-70s ALTER EGO! 1969 BILL EVERETT interview, art by BURGOS, GUSTAVSON, SIMON & KIRBY, and others, 1960s gems by DITKO, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, JERRY BAILS, and ROY THOMAS, LOU GLANZMAN interview, tributes to IRV NOVICK and CHRIS REEVE, MR. MONSTER, FCA, TOTH, and more!

Cover by EVERETT and MARIE SEVERIN!

Spotlights MATT BAKER, Golden Age cheesecake artist of PHANTOM LADY! Career overview, interviews with BAKER’s half-brother and nephew, art from AL FELDSTEIN, VINCE COLLETTA, ARTHUR PEDDY, JACK KAMEN and others, FCA, BILL SCHELLY talks to comic-book-seller (and fan) BUD PLANT, MR. MONSTER on missing AL WILLIAMSON art, and ALEX TOTH!

WILL EISNER discusses Eisner & Iger’s Shop and BUSY ARNOLD’s ‘40s Quality Comics, art by FINE, CRANDALL, COLE, POWELL, and CARDY, EISNER tributes by STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, & others, interviews with ‘40s Quality artist VERN HENKEL and CHUCK MAZOUJIAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER on EISNER’s Wonder Man, ALEX TOTH, and more with BUD PLANT! EISNER cover!

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ALTER EGO #49

ALTER EGO #50

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

Spotlights CARL BURGOS! Interview with daughter SUE BURGOS, art by BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, MIKE SEKOWSKY, ED ASCHE, and DICK AYERS, unused 1941 Timely cover layouts, the 1957 Atlas Implosion examined, MANNY STALLMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER and more! New cover by MARK SPARACIO, from an unused 1941 layout by CARL BURGOS!

ROY THOMAS covers his 40-YEAR career in comics (AVENGERS, X-MEN, CONAN, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY INC.), with ADAMS, BUSCEMA, COLAN, DITKO, GIL KANE, KIRBY, STAN LEE, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, ROMITA, and many others! Also FCA, & MR. MONSTER on ROY’s letters to GARDNER FOX! Flip-covers by BUSCEMA/ KIRBY/ALCALA and JERRY ORDWAY!

Golden Age Batman artist/BOB KANE ghost LEW SAYRE SCHWARTZ interviewed, Batman art by JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, SHELDON MOLDOFF, WIN MORTIMER, JIM MOONEY, and others, the Golden and Silver Ages of AUSTRALIAN SUPER-HEROES, Mad artist DAVE BERG interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WILL EISNER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JOE GIELLA on the Silver Age at DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, and JULIE SCHWARTZ, with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, SEKOWSKY, SWAN, DILLIN, MOLDOFF, GIACOIA, SCHAFFENBERGER, and others, JAY SCOTT PIKE on STAN LEE and CHARLES BIRO, MARTIN THALL interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! GIELLA cover!

GIORDANO and THOMAS on STOKER’S DRACULA, never-seen DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strip, MIKE ESPOSITO on his work with ROSS ANDRU, art by COLAN, WRIGHTSON, MIGNOLA, BRUNNER, BISSETTE, KALUTA, HEATH, MANEELY, EVERETT, DITKO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, BILL SCHELLY, ALEX TOTH, and MR. MONSTER! Cover by GIORDANO!

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ALTER EGO #54

ALTER EGO #55

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

MIKE ESPOSITO on DC and Marvel, ROBERT KANIGHER on the creation of Metal Men and Sgt. Rock (with comments

by JOE KUBERT and BOB HANEY), art by ANDRU, INFANTINO, KIRBY, SEVERIN, WINDSOR-SMITH, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, TRIMPE, GIL KANE, and others, plus FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! ESPOSITO cover!

JACK and OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with SWAYZE and EMILIO SQUEGLIO, rare art by BECK, WARD, & SCHAFFENBERGER, Christmas Cards from CRANDALL, SINNOTT, HEATH, MOONEY, and CARDY, 1943 Pin-Up Calendar (with ‘40s movie stars as superheroines), ALEX TOTH, more!

ALEX ROSS and ALEX WRIGHT covers!

Interviews with Superman creators SIEGEL & SHUSTER, Golden/Silver Age DC production guru JACK ADLER interviewed, NEAL ADAMS and radio/TV iconoclast (and comics fan) HOWARD STERN on Adler and his amazing career, art by CURT SWAN, WAYNE BORING, and AL PLASTINO, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, and more! NEAL ADAMS cover!

Issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas superhero stories by MICHELLE NOLAN, art by SIMON & KIRBY, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, SHORES, SCHOMBURG, MANEELY, and SEVERIN, GENE COLAN and ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely super-heroes, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY! Cover

by JACK KIRBY and PETE VON SHOLLY!

GERRY CONWAY and ROY THOMAS on their ‘80s screenplay for “The X-Men Movie That Never Was!”with art by COCKRUM, ADAMS, BUSCEMA, BYRNE, GIL KANE, KIRBY, HECK, and LIEBER, Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA interview, ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely bullpen, FCA, 1966 panel on 1950s EC Comics, and MR. MONSTER! MARK SPARACIO/GIL KANE cover!

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19

ALTER EGO #59

ALTER EGO #60

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

Special issue on Batman and Superman in the Golden and Silver Ages, featuring a new ARTHUR SUYDAM interview, NEAL ADAMS on DC in the 1960s-1970s, SHELLY MOLDOFF, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA interviewed, SIEGEL & SHUSTER, RUSS MANNING, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

Celebrates 50 years since SHOWCASE #4!

FLASH interviews with SCHWARTZ, KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, and BROOME, Golden Age artist TONY DiPRETA, 1966 panel with NORDLING, BINDER, and LARRY IVIE, FCA, MR. MONSTER, never-before-published color Flash cover by CARMINE INFANTINO, and more!

History of the AMERICAN COMICS GROUP (1946 to 1967)—including its roots in the Golden Age SANGOR ART SHOP and STANDARD/NEDOR comics! Art by MESKIN, ROBINSON, WILLIAMSON, FRAZETTA, SCHAFFENBERGER, & BUSCEMA, ACG writer/editor RICHARD HUGHES, plus AL HARTLEY interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! GIORDANO cover!

HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN ISSUE, featuring: MIKE PLOOG and RUDY PALAIS on their horror-comics work! AL WILLIAMSON on his work for the American Comics Group—plus more on ACG horror comics! Rare DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strips! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on the 1966 KalerCon, a new PLOOG cover—and more!

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Never-before-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Articles about Toth by TERRY AUSTIN, JIM AMASH, SY BARRY, JOE KUBERT, LOU SAYRE SCHWARTZ, IRWIN HASEN, JOHN WORKMAN, and others! Plus illustrated Christmas cards by comics pros, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

ALTER EGO #68

Fawcett Favorites! Issue-by-issue analysis of BINDER & BECK’s 1943-45 “The Monster Society of Evil!” serial, double-size FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, EMILIO SQUEGLIO, C.C. BECK, MAC RABOY, and others! Interview with MARTIN FILCHOCK, Golden Age artist for Centaur Comics! Plus MR. MONSTER, DON NEWTON cover, plus a FREE 1943 MARVEL CALENDAR!

NICK CARDY interviewed on his Golden & Silver Age work (with CARDY art), plus art

by WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, CARMINE INFANTINO, JIM APARO, RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and others, tributes to ERNIE SCHROEDER and DAVE COCKRUM, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, new CARDY COVER, and more!

Spotlight on BOB POWELL, the artist who drew Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Sheena, The Avenger, The Hulk, Giant-Man, and others, plus art by WALLY WOOD, HOWARD NOSTRAND, DICK AYERS, SIMON & KIRBY, MARTIN GOODMAN’s Magazine Management, and others! FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

Interview with BOB OKSNER, artist of Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Angel and the Ape, Leave It to Binky, Shazam!, and more, plus art and artifacts by SHELLY MAYER, IRWIN HASEN, LEE ELIAS, C.C. BECK, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, JULIE SCHWARTZ, etc., FCA with MARC SWAYZE & C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on BOB POWELL Part II, and more!

Tribute to JERRY BAILS—Father of Comics Fandom and founder of Alter Ego! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, plus art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JERRY ORDWAY, JOE STATON, JACK KIRBY, and others! Plus STEVE DITKO’s notes to STAN LEE for a 1965 Dr. Strange story! And ROY reveals secrets behind Marvel’s STAR WARS comic!

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ALTER EGO #69

ALTER EGO #70

ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

PAUL NORRIS drew AQUAMAN first, in 1941—and RAMONA FRADON was the hero’s ultimate Golden Age artist. But both drew other things as well, and both are interviewed in this landmark issue—along with a pocket history of Aquaman! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Cover painted by JOHN WATSON, from a breathtaking illo by RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlight on ROY THOMAS’ 1970s stint as Marvel’s editor-in-chief and major writer, plus art and reminiscences of GIL KANE, BOTH BUSCEMAS, ADAMS, ROMITA, CHAYKIN, BRUNNER, PLOOG, EVERETT, WRIGHTSON, PÉREZ, ROBBINS, BARRY SMITH, STAN LEE and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, a new GENE COLAN cover, plus an homage to artist LILY RENÉE!

Represents THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, the long out-of-print 1970s book

by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana, Thunderfist, and others, plus new INVADERS art by JOHN BYRNE, MIKE GRELL, RON LIM, and more, plus a new cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY!

SCOTT SHAW! and ROY THOMAS on the creation of Captain Carrot, art & artifacts

by RICK HOBERG, STAN GOLDBERG, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JOHN COSTANZA, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CAROL LAY, and others, interview with DICK ROCKWELL, Golden Age artist and 36-year ghost artist on MILTON CANIFF’s Steve Canyon! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, GRAHAM INGELS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

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20

ALTER EGO #74

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

ALTER EGO #77

ALTER EGO #78

STAN LEE SPECIAL in honor of his 85th birthday, with a cover by JACK KIRBY, classic (and virtually unseen) interviews with Stan, tributes, and tons of rare and unseen art by KIRBY, ROMITA, the brothers BUSCEMA, DITKO, COLAN, HECK, AYERS, MANEELY, SHORES, EVERETT, BURGOS, KANE, the SEVERIN siblings—plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL—with an ALEX ROSS cover! Double-size FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with P.C. HAMERLINCK on the many “Captains Marvel” over the years, unseen Shazam! proposal by ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK on “The Death of a Legend!”, MARC SWAYZE, interview with Golden Age artist MARV LEVY, MR. MONSTER, and more!

JOE SIMON SPECIAL! In-depth SIMON interview by JIM AMASH, with neverbefore-revealed secrets behind the creation of Captain America, Fighting American, Stuntman, Adventures of The Fly, Sick magazine and more, art by JACK KIRBY, BOB POWELL, AL WILLIAMSON, JERRY GRANDENETTI, GEORGE TUSKA, and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

ST. JOHN ISSUE! Golden Age Tor cover by JOE KUBERT, KEN QUATTRO relates the full legend of St. John Publishing, art by KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, MATT BAKER, LILY RENEE, BOB LUBBERS, RUBEN MOREIRA, RALPH MAYO, AL FAGO, special reminiscences of ARNOLD DRAKE, Golden Age artist TOM SAWYER interviewed, and more!

DAVE COCKRUM TRIBUTE! Great rare XMen cover, Cockrum tributes from contemporaries and colleagues, and an interview with PATY COCKRUM on Dave’s life and legacy on The Legion of Super-Heroes, The X-Men, Star-Jammers, & more! Plus an interview with 1950s Timely/Marvel artist MARION SITTON on his own incredible career and his Golden Age contemporaries!

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ALTER EGO #79

ALTER EGO #80

ALTER EGO #81

ALTER EGO #82

ALTER EGO #83

SUPERMAN & HIS CREATORS! New cover

by MICHAEL GOLDEN, exclusive and revealing interview with JOE SHUSTER’s sister, JEAN SHUSTER PEAVEY—LOU CAMERON interview—STEVE GERBER tribute—DWIGHT DECKER on the Man of Steel & Hitler’s Third Reich—plus art by WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, NEAL ADAMS, GIL KANE, and others!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY COMICS! Learn about Crom the Barbarian, Viking Prince, Nightmaster, Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Beowulf, Warlord, Dagar the Invincible, and more, with art by FRAZETTA, SMITH, BUSCEMA, KANE, WRIGHTSON, PLOOG, THORNE, BRUNNER, LOU CAMERON Part II, and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood,

by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover

by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, with a focus on Conan the Barbarian by ROY THOMAS and WILL MURRAY, a look at WALLY WOOD’s Marvel sword-&-sorcery work, the Black Knight examined, plus JOE EDWARDS interview Part 2, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #84

ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stores, and in court), RICH BUCKLER on Captain Marvel, plus an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and pioneers WHITNEY ELLSWORTH and CREIG FLESSEL, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CURT SWAN, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, focus on DC advisor DR. LAURETTA BENDER, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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

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

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

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

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

21

ALTER EGO #89

ALTER EGO #90

ALTER EGO #91

ALTER EGO #92

ALTER EGO #93

HARVEY COMICS’ PRE-CODE HORROR MAGS OF THE 1950s! Interviews with SID JACOBSON, WARREN KREMER, and HOWARD NOSTRAND, plus Harvey artist KEN SELIG talks to JIM AMASH! MR. MONSTER presents the wit and wisdom (and worse) of DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE, & more!

SIMON & KIRBY and NOSTRAND cover!

BIG MARVEL ISSUE! Salutes to legends SINNOTT and AYERS—plus STAN LEE, TUSKA, EVERETT, MARTIN GOODMAN, and others! A look at the “Marvel SuperHeroes” TV animation of 1966! 1940s Timely writer and editor LEON LAZARUS interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, the 1960s fandom creations of STEVE GERBER, and more! JACK KIRBY holiday cover!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL! Big FCA section with Golden Age artists MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO! Plus JERRY ORDWAY on researching The Power of Shazam, Part II of “The MAD Four-Color Wannabes of the 1950s,” more on DR. LAURETTA BENDER and the teenage creations of STEVE GERBER, artist JACK KATZ spills Golden Age secrets to JIM AMASH, and more!

New cover by ORDWAY and SQUEGLIO!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY, PART 3! DC’s Sword of Sorcery by O’NEIL, CHAYKIN, & SIMONSON and Claw by MICHELINIE & CHAN, Hercules by GLANZMAN, Dagar by GLUT & SANTOS, Marvel S&S art by BUSCEMA, CHAN, KAYANAN, WRIGHTSON, et al., and JACK KATZ on his classic First Kingdom! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER’s fan-creations (part 3), and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “EarthTwo—1961 to 1985!” with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, ANDERSON, DELBO, ANDRU, BUCKLER, APARO, GRANDENETTI, and DILLIN, interview with Golden/Silver Age DC editor GEORGE KASHDAN, plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and a new cover by INFANTINO and AMASH!

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

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

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

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

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

ALTER EGO #94

ALTER EGO #95

ALTER EGO #96

ALTER EGO #97

ALTER EGO #98

“Earth-Two Companion, Part II!” More on the 1963-1985 series that changed comics forever! The Huntress, Power Girl, Dr. Fate, Freedom Fighters, and more, with art by ADAMS, APARO, AYERS, BUCKLER, GIFFEN, INFANTINO, KANE, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, SIMONSON, STATON, SWAN, TUSKA, our GEORGE KASHDAN interview Part 2, FCA, and more! STATON & GIORDANO cover!

Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH madcap parody mag from 1967-69, examined with rare art & artifacts by ANDRU, COLAN, BUSCEMA, DRAKE, EVERETT, FRIEDRICH, KIRBY, LEE, the SEVERIN siblings, SPRINGER, SUTTON, THOMAS, TRIMPE, and more, GEORGE KASHDAN interview conclusion, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MARIE SEVERIN!

Focus on Archie’s 1960s MIGHTY CRUSADERS, with vintage art and artifacts

by JERRY SIEGEL, PAUL REINMAN, SIMON & KIRBY, JOHN ROSENBERGER, tributes to the Mighty Crusaders by BOB FUJITANE, GEORGE TUSKA, BOB LAYTON, and others! Interview with MELL LAZARUS, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Cover

by MIKE MACHLAN!

The NON-EC HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s! From Menace and House of Mystery to The Thing!, we present vintage art and artifacts by EVERETT, BRIEFER, DITKO, MANEELY, COLAN , MESKIN, MOLDOFF, HEATH, POWELL, COLE, SIMON & KIRBY, FUJITANI, and others, plus FCA , MR. MONSTER and more, behind a creepy, eerie cover by BILL EVERETT!

Spotlight on Superman’s first editor WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, longtime Kryptoeditor MORT WEISINGER remembered by his daughter, an interview with Superman writer ALVIN SCHWARTZ, tributes to FRANK FRAZETTA and AL WILLIAMSON, art by JOE SHUSTER, WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, and NEAL ADAMS, plus MR. MONSTER, FCA, and a new cover by JERRY ORDWAY!

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

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

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

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

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

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

ALTER EGO #99

GEORGE TUSKA showcase issue on his career at Lev Gleason, Marvel, and in comics strips through the early 1970s—CRIME DOES NOT PAY, BUCK ROGERS, IRON MAN, AVENGERS, HERO FOR HIRE, & more! Plus interviews with Golden Age artist BILL BOSSERT and fan-artist RUDY FRANKE, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more!

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

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ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL is a celebration of 100 issues, and 50 years, of ALTER EGO, Roy Thomas’ legendary super-hero fanzine. It’s a double-size triple-threat BOOK, with twice as many pages as the regular magazine, plus special features just for this anniversary edition! Behind a RICH BUCKLER/JERRY ORDWAY JSA cover, ALTER EGO celebrates its 100th issue and the 50th anniversary of A/E (Vol. 1) #1 in 1961—as ROY THOMAS is interviewed by JIM AMASH about the 1980s at DC! Learn secrets behind ALL-STAR SQUADRON—INFINITY, INC.—ARAK, SON OF THUNDER—CAPTAIN CARROT—JONNI THUNDER, a.k.a. THUNDERBOLT— YOUNG ALL-STARS—SHAZAM!—RING OF THE NIBELUNG—and more! With rare art and artifacts

by GEORGE PÉREZ, TODD McFARLANE, RICH BUCKLER, JERRY ORDWAY, MIKE MACHLAN, GIL KANE, GENE COLAN, DICK GIORDANO, ALFREDO ALCALA, TONY DEZUNIGA, ERNIE COLÓN, STAN GOLDBERG, SCOTT SHAW!, ROSS ANDRU, and many more! Plus special anniversary editions of Alter Ego staples MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA (FCA)—and ALEX WRIGHT’s amazing color collection of 1940s DC pinup babes! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (NOTE: This book takes the place of ALTER EGO #100, and counts as TWO issues toward your subscription.)

(160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • ISBN: 9781605490311 Diamond Order Code: JAN111351

ALTER EGO #101

Fox Comics of the 1940s with art by FINE, BAKER, SIMON, KIRBY, TUSKA, FLETCHER HANKS, ALEX BLUM, and others!

“Superman vs. Wonder Man” starring EISNER, IGER, SIEGEL, LIEBERSON, MAYER, DONENFELD, and VICTOR FOX! Plus, Part I of an interview with JACK MENDELSOHN, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by Marvel artist DAVE WILLIAMS!

NEW!

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

ALTER EGO #102

ALTER EGO #103

ALTER EGO #104

ALTER EGO: THE CBA COLLECTION

Spotlight on Green Lantern creators MART NODELL and BILL FINGER in the 1940s, and JOHN BROOME, GIL KANE, and JULIUS SCHWARTZ in 1959! Rare GL artwork by INFANTINO, REINMAN, HASEN, NEAL ADAMS, and others! Plus JACK MENDELSOHN Part II, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by GIL KANE & TERRY AUSTIN, and MART NODELL!

The early career of comics writer STEVE ENGLEHART: Defenders, Captain America, Master of Kung Fu, The Beast, Mantis, and more, with rare art and artifacts by SAL BUSCEMA, STARLIN, SUTTON, HECK, BROWN, and others. Plus, JIM AMASH interviews early artist GEORGE MANDEL (Captain Midnight, The Woman in Red, Blue Bolt, Black Marvel, etc.), FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and more!

Celebrates the 50th anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the birth of Marvel Comics! New, never-before-published STAN LEE interview, art and artifacts

by KIRBY, DITKO, SINNOTT, AYERS, THOMAS, and secrets behind the Marvel Mythos! Also: JIM AMASH interviews 1940s Timely editor AL SULMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and a new cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT!

Compiles the ALTER EGO flip-sides from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #1-5, plus 30 NEW PAGES of features & art! All-new rare and previously-unpublished art by JACK KIRBY, GIL KANE, JOE KUBERT, WALLY WOOD, FRANK ROBBINS, NEAL ADAMS, & others, ROY THOMAS on X-MEN, AVENGERS/ KREE-SKRULL WAR, INVADERS, and more! Cover by JOE KUBERT!

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

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

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

(160-page trade paperback) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $4.95

HUMOR MAGAZINES (BUNDLE ALL THREE FOR JUST $14.95)

ALTER EGO:

BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

Collects the original 11 issues of JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS’ ALTER EGO fanzine (from 1961-78), with contributions from JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, and others—and illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! Plus major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS and BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by JULIE SCHWARTZ. (192-page trade paperback) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905887 Diamond Order Code: DEC073946

COMIC BOOK NERD

PETE VON SHOLLY’s side-splitting parody of the fan press, including our own mags!

Experience the magic(?) of such publications as WHIZZER, the COMICS URINAL, ULTRA EGO, COMICS BUYER’S GUISE, BAGGED ISSUE!, SCRAWL!, COMIC BOOK ARTISTE, and more, as we unabashedly poke fun at ourselves, our competitors, and you, our loyal readers! It’s a first issue, collector’s item, double-bag, slab-worthy, speculator’s special sure to rub even the thickest-skinned fanboy the wrong way!

(64-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 • (Digital Edition) $2.95

CRAZY HIP GROOVY GO-GO WAY OUT MONSTERS #29 & #32

PETE VON SHOLLY’s spoofs of monster mags will have you laughing your pants off— right after you soil them from sheer terror! This RETRO MONSTER MOVIE MAGAZINE is a laugh riot lampoon of those GREAT (and absolutely abominable) mags of the 1950s and ‘60s, replete with fake letters-to-the-editor, phony ads for worthless, wacky stuff, stills from imaginary films as bad as any that were really made, interviews with their “creators,” and much more! Relive your misspent youth (and misspent allowance) as you dig the hilarious photos, ads, and articles skewering OUR FAVORITE THINGS of the past! Get our first issue (#29!), the sequel (#32!), or both!

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

(48-page magazines) $5.95 EACH • (Digital Editions) $1.95 EACH

These sold-out books are now available again in DIGITAL EDITIONS:

NEW!

MR. MONSTER, VOL. 0

TRUE BRIT

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

Collects hard-to-find Mr. Monster stories from A-1, CRACK-A-BOOM! and DARK HORSE PRESENTS (many in COLOR for the first time) plus over 30 pages of ALLNEW MR. MONSTER art and stories! Can your sanity survive our Lee/Kirby monster spoof by MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MARK MARTIN, or the long-lost 1933 Mr. Monster newspaper strip? Or the terrifying TRENCHER/MR. MONSTER slug-fest, drawn by KEITH GIFFEN and MICHAEL T. GILBERT?! Read at your own risk!

GEORGE KHOURY’s definitive book on the rich history of British Comics Artists, their influence on the US, and how they have revolutionized the way comics are seen and perceived! It features breathtaking art, intimate photographs, and in-depth interviews with BRIAN BOLLAND, ALAN DAVIS, DAVE GIBBONS, KEVIN O’NEILL, DAVID LLOYD, DAVE McKEAN, BRYAN HITCH, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH and other fine gents! Sporting a new JUDGE DREDD cover by BRIAN BOLLAND!

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! It covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor—peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS—and is illustrated with RARE AND UNSEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art! Plus: an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes

by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS, and an Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

(136-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $4.95

(204-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

(176-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $5.95

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: GENE COLAN

TOM FIELD’s amazing COLAN retrospective, with rare drawings, photos, and art from his 60-year career, and a comprehensive overview of Gene’s glory days at Marvel Comics!

MARV WOLFMAN, DON McGREGOR and other writers share script samples and anecdotes of their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER, STEVE LEIALOHA and others show how they approached inking Colan’s famously nuanced penciled pages!

Plus: a NEW PORTFOLIO of never-seen collaborations between Gene and masters such as BYRNE, KALUTA and PÉREZ, and all-new artwork created just for this book!

(192-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

ART OF GEORGE TUSKA

A comprehensive look at GEORGE TUSKA’S personal and professional life, including early work at the Eisner-Iger shop, producing controversial crime comics of the 1950s, and his tenure with Marvel and DC Comics, as well as independent publishers. Includes extensive coverage of his work on IRON MAN, X-MEN, HULK, JUSTICE LEAGUE, TEEN TITANS, BATMAN, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and others, a gallery of commission art and a thorough index of his work, original art, photos, sketches, unpublished art, interviews and anecdotes from his peers and fans, plus the very personal and reflective words of George himself! Written by DEWEY CASSELL. (128-page Digital Edition) $4.95

23

OTHER BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

PENCILER, PUBLISHER, PROVOCATEUR

COMICS’ FAST & FURIOUS ARTIST

THE ART OF GLAMOUR

MATT BAKER

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE

Shines a light on the life and career of the artistic and publishing visionary of DC Comics!

Explores the life and career of one of Marvel Comics’ most recognizable and dependable artists!

Biography of the talented master of 1940s “Good Girl” art, complete with color story reprints!

Definitive biography of the Watchmen writer, in a new, expanded edition!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95

(176-page trade paperback with COLOR) $26.95

(192-page hardcover with COLOR) $39.95

(240-page trade paperback) $29.95

QUALITY COMPANION

BATCAVE COMPANION

ALL- STAR COMPANION

AGE OF TV HEROES

The first dedicated book about the Golden Age publisher that spawned the modern-day “Freedom Fighters”, Plastic Man, and the Blackhawks!

Unlocks the secrets of Batman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, following the Dark Knight’s progression from 1960s camp to 1970s creature of the night!

Roy Thomas has four volumes documenting the history of ALL-STAR COMICS, the JUSTICE SOCIETY, INFINITY, INC., and more!

(256-page trade paperback with COLOR) $31.95

(240-page trade paperback) $26.95

(224-page trade paperbacks) $24.95

Examining the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes, featuring the in-depth stories of the shows’ actors and behind-the-scenes players!

CARMINE INFANTINO

SAL BUSCEMA

(192-page full-color hardcover) $39.95

MARVEL COMICS

MARVEL COMICS

An issue-by-issue field guide to the pop culture phenomenon of LEE, KIRBY, DITKO, and others, from the company’s fumbling beginnings to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity!

IN THE 1960s

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

MODERN MASTERS

HOW TO CREATE COMICS

Covers how Stan Lee went from writer to publisher, Jack Kirby left (and returned), Roy Thomas rose as editor, and a new wave of writers and artists came in!

20+ volumes with in-depth interviews, plus extensive galleries of rare and unseen art from the artist’s files!

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

Shows step-by-step how to develop a new comic, from script and art, to printing and distribution!

(128-page trade paperbacks) $14.95 each

(108-page trade paperback) $15.95

IN THE 1970s

A BOOK SERIES DEVOTED TO THE BEST OF TODAY’S ARTISTS

FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

FOR A FREE COLOR CATALOG, CALL, WRITE, E-MAIL, OR LOG ONTO www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows—A New Day For Comics Fandom!

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • Visit us on the Web at www.twomorrows.com