Alter Ego #45 by TwoMorrows Publishing

5.95

In the the USA USA In

No. 45 February 2005

THE

SANDMAN COMETH!

PLUS: PLUS:

Vol. 3, No. 45 / February 2005

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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

Contents

Production Assistant

Writer/Editorial: The Sandman Cometh! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó. . 3

Cover Artist

In Search Of Bert Christman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Eric Nolen-Weathington Creig Flessel

David Alexander on the short, eventful life of the creator of The Sandman.

And Special Thanks to:

Heidi Amash Ger Apeldoorn David Armstrong Richard Arndt Bob Bailey Paul Bach, Jr. Brian H. Bailie Mike W. Barr Michael Baulderstone Mike Burkey Mark Cannon Michael Chabon Bob Cherry Lynda Fox Cohen Richard Cole Teresa R. Davidson Guy Davis Howard Leroy Davis Craig Delich Al Dellinges Michael Eury Mark Evanier Creig & Marie Flessel Shane Foley Todd Franklin Jean-Paul Gabilliet Carl Gafford Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Mike Gold Duncan Goodyer Paul Gravett Beth Gwinn Dan Hagan Jostein Hansen

Golden and Platinum Age artist Creig Flessel interviewed by Jim Amash.

Jennifer Hamerlinck Robert Justis Gene Kehoe Tim Lapsley Stan & Joan Lee Dan Makara Bruce Mohrhard Scotty Moore Frank Motler Lou Mougin Mark Muller Will Murray Mart Nodell Joe Petrilak Steve Piersall Charlie Roberts Ethan Roberts Eric Schumacher Diana Schutz David Siegel Harvey Sobel Joe Staton Marc Svensson Marc Swayze Stan Taylor Greg Theakston Dann Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Anthony Tollin Alex Toth Herb Trimpe Delmo Walters, Jr. Hames Ware Alan Weiss Dylan Williams Marv & Noel Wolfman

This issue is dedicated to the memories of

Bert Christman, Fred Guardineer, Harry Lampert, Irv Novick, & Christopher Reeve

ÒChristmanWasWellOnHisWayToBecomingAnotherNoelSicklesÓ. . . 36 Alex Toth pays homage in words and art to Bert Christman.

The Saga Of The Sandman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 A look at DC’s Sandmen from 1939 to the present, by Lou Mougin.

The Amazing Adventures Of Michael Chabon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The author of the Pulitzer-winning Kavalier and Clay e-mails Roy Thomas.

Comic Crypt: Warren Confidential – Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert on Warren Pubs’ “young Turks” of the 1960s and ’70s.

Getting To Know ÒVeteranComics FanÓJaunty Jeff Gelb . . . . . . . . . 61 Bill Schelly talks to the editor of Men of Mystery—and Strange Bedfellows.

Brief Tributes To Fred Guardineer, Irv Novick, Harry Lampert, & Christopher Reeve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 re: [comments, correspondence, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #104 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Paul Hamerlinck presents C.C. Beck, Marc Swayze, and Otto Binder’s Jon Jarl.

About Our Cover: When we decided to feature Jim Amash’s Creig Flessel interview in this issue, editor Roy Thomas phoned Creig and asked if he might know the address of someone who owned one of the several re-creations he had done in the 1990s of his 1939-1941 Sandman covers for DC Comics. Creig, however, said he’d prefer to do a new color Sandman drawing for us. At age 92, he came through like Gang Busters—and we’re delighted with the result, which celebrates 65 years since Creig’s cover for Adventure Comics #40! [Art ©2005 Creig Flessel; Sandman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.] Above : The splash panel of the first “Sandman” story in Adventure Comics (#40, July 1939), drawn by Bert Christman. As David Armstrong (who sent this scan) emphasizes in his article that begins on p. 18, this was probably the second story of that hero written and drawn. [©2005 DC Comics.] Alter EgoTM is published monthly by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, N C 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. 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

“T

The Sandman Cometh!

he Sandman”—one of DC’s earliest and, as detailed on pp. 39-43, most durable hero names.

By the end of 1938, the year in which Superman had hurled his first flivver on the cover of Action Comics #1 (on sale during the spring, but with a June cover date), National/DC was already clearly casting about for additional ways to cash in on the sudden interest in this new phenomenon, the comic book super-hero. As it turned out, DC’s first in-house “mystery men” after “Superman” owed as much or more to earlier, non-super-powered types like pulpmagazines’ The Shadow (nee 1931), radio’s Green Hornet (1936), and the newspapers’ The Phantom (also ’36), not to mention those guys’ own pulp-mag predecessors. The first of DC’s post-Superman secret-identity heroes was “The Crimson Avenger,” launched in Detective Comics #20 (Oct. 1938), just four months after Action #1 and probably not influenced by Siegel & Shuster’s creation at all. The second, on sale in late winter or very early spring of 1939, in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), was Bob Kane (and Bill Finger)’s “The Batman,” who sported a Superman (and Phantom)-influenced costume; but he, too, lacked abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Or was “The Batman” DC’s second masked hero? It’s hard to be 100% sure.

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After all, although “The Sandman” made his regular-series debut in Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939), it may be that his earliest newsstand appearance was in the 1939 New York World’s Fair Comics, which was apparently published in April of that year, just as the Fair itself opened for business. The artist was a young man in a hurry named Bert Christman— and the writer was either Christman himself, or his friend Gardner Fox. Not many months afterward, when Christman quit comics to fly off to war—and to a tragic rendezvous with destiny—Creig Flessel, already a long-established DC artist (and the illustrator on all “Sandman” covers to that date), stepped into his place in the batting order. We’re pleased this issue to present Jim Amash’s in-depth interview with Creig Flessel about his own illustrious career—a study of Bert Christman, by David Alexander—a Christman appreciation by Alex Toth—plus a brief overview by Lou Mougin of the various Sandmen in DC mags from 1939 through the present. Even Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon and I touch on Flessel, at least in passing, in our e-mail interview. The Sandman cometh—and it’s pretty safe to say that he’s not gonna goeth—not for a long, long time yet! Bestest,

COMING IN MARCH

WILD BILL EVERETT HIS LIFE AND TIMELY/MARVEL TIMES! Plus—SOME OF THE BEST OF THE 1960s-70s ALTER EGO— And a Spotlight on Golden Age Artist LOU GLANZMAN!

• The classic BILL EVERETT & MARIE SEVERIN cover of A/E (Vol. 1) #11—first time ever in full color—featuring Bill’s greatest heroes! • BILL EVERETT’s definitive circa-1970 interview with ROY THOMAS—with a submerged iceberg of added art! The secr et origins of Sub-Mariner, Daredevil, Amazing-Man, Namora, The Fin, Hydroman, Funnies, Inc., and more—with rare art by EVERETT, CARL BURGOS, CARL PFEUFER, PAUL GUSTAVSON, LEE ELIAS, MIKE SEKOWSKY, WALLY WOOD, JOE MANEELY, GENE COLAN, JOHN SEVERIN, & still more Timely/Marvel greats! • 1960s gems from Alter Ego (Vol. 1) by STEVE DITKO, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, ROY THOMAS, JERRY BAILS, Comics Code authority LEN DARVIN, and others—most of them never before reprinted! Plus additional, oft-rare art by JACK KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, GIL KANE, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER AL AVISON, etc.! • Extra! LOU GLANZMAN, 1940s artist of Amazing-Man, The Shark, Air Man, et al., interviewed by JIM AMASH—with exciting artwork by LOU and his brother SAM GLANZMAN! • Tributes to BOB HANEY, DC Golden/Silver Age publisher IRWIN DONENFELD, & French Silver Age entrepreneur MARCEL NAVARRO! • FCA presents MARC SWAYZE, MARK LEWIS, C.C. BECK, & OTTO BINDER—BILL SCHELLY on early Alter Ego—MICHAEL T. GILBERT—plus SURPRISE BONUS FEATURES!!

mics

Edited by ROY THOMAS

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“What Led You To Get A Job In Comic Books?”

“Hunger! What Else?” Comics Pioneer CREIG FLESSEL Talks About The Golden AgeÑAnd Before! Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash

NTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Creig Flessel was in the comic book business soon after it started— and still would be today, if he so desired. His early covers for DC Comics are nothing short of masterpieces of illustration, capturing the imagination of his readers and helping to legitimize a wholly original, American art form. And he still has the magic touch, as his cover for this issue demonstrates. Creig was a star artist everywhere he worked, and though the focus of our interview is on his early DC work, the Checklist at the end of this interview will give you a taste of what else this thoughtful, tasteful, brilliant artist has done. In the meantime, he opens the curtains on the early days of DC, and gives us a peek at the men who laid the foundation for what DC was to become in later years: a powerhouse company whose characters have spanned many countries and entertained generations of readers. —Jim.

ÒAGood Way Of ApprenticingÓ JIM AMASH: I’m curious about your middle name, which is Valentine. When were you born? CREIG FLESSEL: I was born in Huntington, Long Island, in February 2, 1912. I lived on Long Island for 89 years. Valentine was a family name. JA: I thought maybe you were born on Valentine’s Day, but you almost made it. What were your early art influences? FLESSEL: Books and magazines. My father was a great reader of fiction and there was reading material around: Saturday Evening Post, The Country Gentleman, Good Housekeeping, among others. I was fascinated by the newspaper strips. The Hearst newspaper, The Journal American, had a

(Above Right:) Craig Flessel at the 1991 San Diego Comic-Con. Photo by Jim Amash. (Above Left:) A humorous sketch from the outside of an envelope on a letter Creig sent to Roy Thomas in 2001, a nod to the already-planned Alter Ego interview. (Left:) A 1994 Flessel pencil sketch of The Sandman, courtesy of Todd Franklin. Other modern-day Sandman illos by C.F. have appeared in Alter Ego #5 & 14, and in The All-Star Companion, Vol. 1 (collect them all!). [Art ©2005 Creig Flessel; Sandman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.]

Sunday supplement and always had black-&-white illustrations by a man named Lee Conrey. His work was amazing, and he spent his life working for Hearst. JA: Who were your favorite magazine illustrators? FLESSEL: First off, there was Howard Pyle. Dean Cornwell, Henry Raleigh. J.C. Leyendecker did great covers, as did Norman Rockwell. This was before the advent of photography. There were many great artists whose work I liked. Later, people like Al Dorne and Robert Fawcett influenced me, too. There were many newspapers strip artists I liked: Billy DeBeck, George McManus, Winsor McCay, and others. I also liked sports cartoonists like Willard Mullin. I always drew. It was a way of amusing myself. My brother could draw and my mother painted flowers. JA: You went to Grand Central Art School, right? FLESSEL: That’s right. You’re talking 1929, 1930—the depth of the Depression. I needed to earn money. A neighbor was taking her kid to New York and asked what was I going to do. I said I’d probably dig ditches; I didn’t know what I was going to do. She told me to come to New York with her and check out schools. We found the Grand Central Art School, and I managed to wrangle a scholarship by being a janitor and bouncer at the school. People had a tendency to wander into the art school to look at the nudes, and it was my job to throw them out. So I managed to get two years of art school in. And then I started doing

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age art for the pulp magazines. JA: Before we get to that— when did you go to Pratt Institute? FLESSEL: I took a night class in illustration in 1937. The reason everyone wanted to take this course was because the teacher was the art director for Street & Smith Publications. He’d hand out manuscripts to the students and told us to illustrate them for a project. If he liked what you did, he bought it. It was a good way of apprenticing.

By at least issue #3 (April 1935) of Major NicholsonÕsNew Fun, Creig was drawing the one-page-per-issue series ÒDon Drake on the Planet Saro,Ó which he inherited from artist Clemens Gretter (a.k.a. Clem GrettaÑ see A/E #26). New Fun, of course, was the first comic book ever published by the company that would one day become DC Comics, and the first regularly-published comic book to print new material as opposed to reprints of existing newspaper comic strips. Thanks to Frank Motler for finding us the scan. [©2005 DC Comics.]

I’d go to places and they’d ask what have I done? And since I was doing those samples for Street & Smith, I’d tell them I did work for Street & Smith. It wasn’t the truth, but that was a way of showing I had a background. That’s what you did back then. I don’t think anyone can do anything about it now. [laughs]

In this title illustration to ÒMurder Blackout,Ó from the pulp-magazine The Shadow, Vol. XXXIV, #2 (June 15, 1940), Sheridan Doome gets the drop on the bad-guys. ÒCommander Sheridan Doome,Ó says Will Murray, pulp-mag expert who sent us this illo, Òis with Naval Intelligence. A near-fatal World War I explosion destroyed his face, leaving it a skull-white mask. HeÕs assisted by Lt. j.g. Rush Evans. The series ran in The Shadow for almost ten years, starting in the early Õ30s.ÓThanks to Will, and also to Anthony Tollin. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: I’m amazed at this, because you were already a working professional doing comic books. FLESSEL: Sure. In 1935, I was already working for Major Nicholson at National Publications. [NOTE: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was the original publisher of the company which eventually became DC Comics. —Jim.] I was doing double-page spreads like “Fishy Frolics” and “Acorn Antics,” which was a Walt Kelly type of thing. I did “Don Drake on the Planet Saro” and a couple of other things. Eventually, I went to New York and sat down in the offices to work. That’s when they started needing covers and asked me to do them. JA: When did you start doing pulp art? FLESSEL: About 1935. Everything started coming together for me at that time. I think Street & Smith was the first place I worked for. I illustrated a backup feature in The Shadow called “Sheridan Doome.” He was a lieutenant in the Secret Service part of the Navy and wore a white

outfit. He had been in a terrible fire and his face was like a skull. I did some art for the Shadow pulp, but not The Shadow himself. I worked for other pulp outfits, too. In 1937, I was ghosting for John Striebel on Dixie Dugan for Liberty magazine, as well as ad work for him. And then Dixie turned into a newspaper strip. Dixie was a showgirl, but Blondie proved that a showgirl strip didn’t fly in the newspapers, so Dixie Dugan became a single secretary. I did that for one year. I was also doing ad work for Johnstone and Cushing, pulp work, and comics for National Comics.

Ò[Wheeler-Nicholson]Had Everything But The MoneyÓ JA: What led you to get a job in comic books?

This 1990s cartoon by Flessel was printed back in A/E #27, with an interview with the late Vin Sullivan, as well as in The All-Star Squadron, Vol. 1Ñbut we had to print it in this issue, as well! C.F. depicts himself and three of the earliest powers-that-be at proto-DC. CreigÕsthe young artistÑ editor Sullivan stands at left, smoking a cigarÑfounder Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson chomps on a cigarette-holderÑand editor Whitney Ellsworth brandishes a cigarette and T-square. Wonderful drawing! Thanks to Creig and to David Siegel, who first sent it to us. Photos of Sullivan, Nicholson, and Ellsworth are on display in A/E #11, 26 & 27. (Shameless plug to encourage back-issue sales.) [©2005 Creig Flessel.]

FLESSEL: Hunger! What else? [laughs] I saw an ad in The New York Times. So I ended up at Major Nicholson’s outfit. JA: Then, before you noticed the ad, you hadn’t really seen comic books? FLESSEL: I really hadn’t. We didn’t

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó

have them around the house, and I wouldn’t have spent 10¢ for them. I might have seen them at the paper store. I was aware of pulp magazines, but comics were a phenomenon that didn’t occur until the mid-1930s. There were the comics William Cook published, which were mainly reprints, but not much else. JA: Do you remember the first time you went to see Major Nicholson? FLESSEL: Yes. I remember the poverty of the place. It was a dump. I had been uptown looking for ad agency work. I remember Nicholson had a secretary. Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth were there. Nicholson was busy taking the freight elevator or escaping down the back staircase. He owed everybody money. There were process servers looking for him. I (Left:) The first ÒSpeed SaundersÓ story appeared in Detective Comics #1 (March 1937). Art by Creig Flessel? ThereÕs didn’t know what process servers no signature, but he says on p. 6 that he created the character and did Òthe first stories,Ó soÉ. ReproÕdfrom the were in those days. We were on 2001 Millennium Edition reprint, bless it! the fourth floor and we’d look out (Right:) Major Nicholson was evidently proud enough of this Òyellow perilÓ story in that same first issue of Detective the window, watching these to put his name on it. It took up 13 pagesÑand was continued, to boot! Wonder if he adapted it from one of his old people waiting for Nicholson. If pulp-magazine stories. Art by Tom Hickey. [©2005 DC Comics.] the Major didn’t go out the freight being told, “You’ll do this and you’ll do that and I’ll give you this, that, elevator, he’d go out the front door and they’d nail him as he walked and the other thing.” Nicholson would say, “It was my idea, you know.” down the street. They’d say, “Yeah, but where are you going to get the money to produce JA: Who actually hired you? it? Where are you going to get the distribution or the printing?” They owned everything. FLESSEL: That’s a good question. If you brought work in, they all looked at your work and made a decision. I guess it was either Sullivan JA: Was Nicholson a talkative man? Or was he a quiet person? or Ellsworth. The Major kept out of sight most of the time. He was FLESSEL: He was quiet. He wasn’t a Harry Chesler and I wouldn’t say either talking to people about money or hiding from them. Nicholson he was a great businessman or a great leader. He was a dreamer. He was was a good writer in his past; he was a pulp writer and had written a writer and he had an idea of what he wanted to do. several books. He had been in the service as a major in the Cavalry. JA: Would you give me a visual description of him?

JA: Would you say Nicholson was a likable person?

FLESSEL: He always wore a beaver hat and a double-breasted overcoat. He always carried a briefcase, a cane, and a pipe with a longette. He had a small, round bald head with very blue eyes and bad teeth.

FLESSEL: Oh, yeah. Sure. Of course, he had to make promises, and a lot of people disliked him because they didn’t get paid. He’d lie if he said he was going to pay you next week. He was hoping that the money would appear somewhere. I don’t know how he figured that would happen, but for dreamers like that, money sometimes appears and sometimes it doesn’t.

JA: Did you talk to Nicholson that much? FLESSEL: He was there and we talked. I had one-on-one conversations with him, and we’d talk about this, that, or the other thing. I liked him. I felt sorry for him. He had the idea to do new material for comics. He had everything but the money. Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz just squeezed him out, but I think it was probably the Major’s own fault. He wanted to be the big cheese. At one point, they told him they’d give him so much money a week to keep out of the business... to buy him out. But he wanted to go down in history as being the first producer of new comic books. Donenfeld and Liebowitz took over; they were “uptown.” They had the money, the distribution, the printing... they had everything.

JA: You wouldn’t classify him as a crook, would you? FLESSEL: No, he wasn’t sleazy. A crook is a guy who hopes to make a lot of money. Nicholson didn’t fit that pattern. He might have been a crook and he might have been dishonest, but you didn’t suspect him of it. I wouldn’t label him as a crook. I’d label Harry Chesler as a sleazy character, with his big cigars. He looked like a crook and sounded like a crook. Now that I’m thinking about it, the Major was soft and quiet and would maybe rob you blind, quietly. Harry Chesler would rob you blind and knock your teeth out.

JA: Was Nicholson a bad businessman?

JA: Were you a staffer at DC when you worked there?

FLESSEL: Yes. He had a certain amount of success in the Army. He made major and was used to commanding troops. He wasn’t used to

FLESSEL: No. I never had a straight salary even when I worked for the Major at the downtown offices. I just did piece-work and sat in the offices. If I did that, they’d see me and pay me. If I’d been out of their

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age JA: In that case, I’ll check it out. Would you say Nicholson was a good idea man? FLESSEL: He was good at surrounding himself with talent. Whoever came in with whatever... well, he couldn’t be choosy. He grabbed whatever there was to grab. That’s why so much of the early stuff was so bad—because it was warmed-over takeoffs on other material. They were paying $5 a page for the whole job: writing, penciling, inking, lettering, and color guides. JA: You did color guides, too? FLESSEL: Oh, yeah. You had to do an awful lot to make money or you’d starve. JA: Did Nicholson get along well with Sullivan and Ellsworth? FLESSEL: Oh, yeah. He was a retiring person, never a hollerer or a shouter. He was a short guy with a slight build. He probably didn’t weigh 140 pounds, ringing wet. JA: A little guy with big dreams. FLESSEL: Yep. That’s a good description.

ÒVin,Whit, And MyselfÓ JA: How did Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth handle editorial? Were they co-editors? FLESSEL: They were co-editors. Co-survivors, you might call them. Whitney would do most of the writing. Vin was the one who’d answer the mail and package work and do other chores. Whitney was a man in a hurry. He had a girl friend, Jane Dewey. She had a contract with Paramount and went to Hollywood. Ellsworth followed her out there and married her. Eventually, when DC needed a producer for the Superman television show [in 1953], Ellsworth was on hand. A 1995 re-creation by Creig of his cover for Detective Comics #15 (May 1938).` [Art ©2005 Creig Flessel; original comic cover ©2005 DC Comics.]

sight, they’d have said, “We’ll pay him next week.” When the company moved uptown, I got busy with Johnstone and Cushing. This was in 1938, about the time “Superman” got started. JA: Where were the Major’s offices located when you started? FLESSEL: The fourth floor in a building on 28th Street and 4th Avenue in the garment district. I remember going to the delis and getting cheese blintzes. At one point, we were in the old Holland Hotel, and then we moved uptown to the old Graybar building, on Lexington Avenue, when DC started. JA: So Nicholson wasn’t in the offices that often because he was hiding from people. FLESSEL: Well, he’d appear every day, but don’t count on him. He’d come in to sign the checks. JA: How much editorial input did he have in the comics? FLESSEL: Not too much, because Vin and Whitney did that. The Major would come up with ideas and they’d listen to him. They were desperate for copy, so if I came in, they’d say, “We need something.” So I’d do something like “Speed Saunders” or “Steve Conrad”... you name it. If they needed a sports filler, all they had to do was tell me and I’d do it. It was like a circus. Have you read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? It’s a book that won a Pulitzer Prize. My name is on page 144. You should read it. It’s a great parallel on Siegel and Shuster. [NOTE: Creig’s first name is misspelled “Craig” in Kavalier and Clay. —Roy.]

Vin could have stayed with DC, but he wanted to do his own thing. He died a couple of years back, but we stayed in touch, and he’d call me up with ideas every so often. In the mid-1980s, we worked up ideas, but I knew they weren’t going anywhere. I did them to please him, but he was forever digging up old ideas, thinking they were going to go. He had the same spirit he’d always had. Vin, Whit, and myself would sit around sometimes, thinking up ideas for comic book titles for copyright purposes. Smash Comics, Big Bang, and other titles. If the idea pleased us, we’d make up a “dummy” and copyright it. If someone came out with a good idea for a name, we could claim it was ours. JA: That’s why Whiz Comics was called that. They had originally wanted to call it Flash Comics, but DC already had the title. FLESSEL: Oh, sure. I remember sitting in on the brainstorming sessions, when they were coming up with titles. JA: Both Sullivan and Ellsworth had art backgrounds because they had been cartoonists. They did a lot of early covers for Nicholson. FLESSEL: Yes. Whitney was a bigfoot cartoonist and had worked for King Features. They were both writers who wanted to be cartoonists. Their stuff was pretty dated, though. JA: Do you recall what your first DC work was? FLESSEL: I did little fillers. “Pep Morgan,” “Speed Saunders,” and “Steve Conrad.” “Steve Conrad” was one of my first features. He was an adventurer and scientist and had a boat. He went to a tropical island, and I remember drawing a map of that island. All the stuff I wrote was like the Joseph Conrad type of material.

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó I wrote a lot of the stories I drew. Gardner Fox came in, and Whitney wrote things, too. Fred Guardineer wrote his own stuff, also. I was only there in the beginning and didn’t stay too long. Guys like Siegel and Shuster cut their teeth on comics and stayed in there a long time. JA: “Speed Saunders” and “Steve Conrad”: did you create them?

eventually did. I remember he drove out in an open touring car with his suitcase. We looked out of the window that Wednesday and he’s waving, on his way to Hollywood. JA: Do you remember what the original name of the company was when you started there?

FLESSEL: Those were my titles. The first stories, as bad as they were, were mine. Same for “Pep Morgan.” That was named after a friend of mine, Tom Morgan, who became a lawyer and worked in New York City for Mayor O’Dwyer.

FLESSEL: It was called Nicholson Publishing, I think.

JA: Did you also write the filler features?

FLESSEL: Well, that was in the beginning. If you do research, you’ll find that in the beginning there was a man there named Bill Cook. Then he and the Major split and Cook stayed in the business.

FLESSEL: In some cases I did. JA: What kind of writer was Whitney Ellsworth? FLESSEL: He was a very good writer. Vin was a good writer and an idea man. In the early comics Vin wrote stories under the name Paul Dean. He was always using family names as pseudonyms. Whitney would use a fake name, but he was “Hollywood” and wanted to write there. But he didn’t have the wheels.

JA: I think at one point it was called National Allied Publications, too.

JA: Cook stayed in the business with a guy named John Mahon. They had an outfit named Comics Magazine Company. FLESSEL: That’s right. JA: I noticed that Siegel and Shuster and Shelly Mayer had strips that ran in both companies’ magazines.

JA: Were you encouraged to use pen names?

FLESSEL: Yes. Things were loose-knit in those days.

FLESSEL: Sometimes I used a pen name or no name at all. On some of the stuff, I wish I had left my name off. Today, I occasionally get a check for something DC thinks I did, but I didn’t. They tell me that I inked Curt Swan, but that was a different period of time altogether.

JA: Describe the offices to me.

JA: So you never inked Curt Swan? FLESSEL: No. And I never worked with Jim Amash, either. JA: Until now. [laughs] FLESSEL: Yeah. It’s all his fault. He puts words in my mouth. JA: I don’t mind taking the blame. FLESSEL: We’ll all go to jail together.

FLESSEL: We had one fairly big-sized room that we worked in. Vin was in one corner and Whitney was in another corner. The Major had his own private office. I had my drawing table in the middle of the big room, and there was a filing cabinet where they kept illustration boards and things like that. And a work table. There was a beaten-up old leather couch that visitors sat on, either waiting to see the Major or just killing time. That was in back of me. That was an education. JA: Was your drawing board the only one in the office? FLESSEL: There was another one, but that was used for cutting and pasting up artwork. I bought my own table when I came in. That’s how poor things were when I came in. And when I left, I took it with me.

JA: Well, at least I’ll be entertained. [laughs] At least, you’d have a ready-made audience with me. FLESSEL: That’s right. With all the inmates in jail. Sure. JA: So Ellsworth and Sullivan approved everything together? FLESSEL: Well, it was very loose. You didn’t question anything. One of them could okay something and the other guy wouldn’t even see it. They’d go to the printers together, and it wouldn’t even be proofread. It was a hairy business... like building the Model T Ford. It was crazy. JA: Were they paid well? FLESSEL: No. [laughs] They probably had contracts to get a piece of this or that. JA: Who dealt with the printers?

(Left:) Creig says he drew this cover for New Adventure Comics #16 (June 1937), though itÕsusually credited to Joe Shuster, who drew the ÒSteve CarsonÓ feature inside.

FLESSEL: I think maybe Vin Sullivan was the business end of it. He’d have probably talked to the printers. Whitney wanted out because he wanted to go to Hollywood. Which he

(Right:) As ÒLeger and Reuths,Ó the Siegel & Shuster team did ÒDr. OccultÓ for early issues of New Fun/More Fun. At storyÕsend, Occult says goodbye to The Seven after they help him defeat the evil Koth. A panel or two before, Doc, too, was wearing a cape and a triangle on his chestÑa precursor of the Superman costume. [©2005 DC Comics.]

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age

JA: I can understand that. Did you do any paste-up or production work there? FLESSEL: No. Right at the beginning, I told them I didn’t letter. You’d get stuck in a trap otherwise. So you’d insist on not doing it, so you’d have time to do other stuff. They would find people to do the lettering. If there was no one else, then Vin or the other editors would do it. But I insisted that I was very bad. I proved it by doing bad lettering. It paid off because, in the end, even when I was working for Johnstone and Cushing, I didn’t letter. If you’re a good guy and say, “Sure, I’ll do the lettering,” then you’d be doing it. JA: Then Sullivan and Ellsworth were doing production work? FLESSEL: Oh, yeah. They were doing production and lettering. Everything.

(Left:) This ÒBelieve It or NotÓ-style illo and copy depicting the late cartoonist Gill Fox when he was doing the newspaper panel Side Glances became the cover of the 1979 Art of Gill Fox, published by Al Dellinges and Bill Sheridan. Not sure of its original source. Art by Donna Fox Woodward.

JA: Do you remember any of the early letterers?

(Right:) The splash page of a humor strip from QualityÕsFeature Comics #120 (March 1948). According to Howard Leroy Davis, who sent us a copy, Gill Fox drew this story. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

FLESSEL: Jack Meltzer did lettering for the Major and for Cook. I think I did a lot of my own lettering, though I tried not to. It was bad, but I’m sure I did some of it.

ÒALot Of People Worked For Nicholson And DidnÕtGet PaidÓ

JA: Were you around when they brought “Superman” in? FLESSEL: Well, I tell the story that I was there when they brought it in and Vin decided to use it. They needed copy. I can’t say I saw the work at the beginning and was impressed by it. Their early work was not that impressive and didn’t excite me. JA: Gill Fox told me he met you at Major Nicholson’s.

JA: I’d like to ask you about some of the early artists who worked there... starting with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

FLESSEL: That’s right. That’s a funny story. I said to him, “What else have you been doing?” He said, “I’ve been doing stuff for Johnstone and Cushing.” I said, “Is that so? I did a couple of jobs for them.” Gill was lying. He did what I did when I told people I had worked for Street & Smith. Gill had submitted stuff but hadn’t worked for them. A few years later, he came to me and said, “Fless, I got to confess. I was lying to you.” I said, “It wasn’t a lie. It was part of the business.”

FLESSEL: They submitted stuff early. JA: They were there by 1935. FLESSEL: Let’s see. They were doing “Dr. Occult” and “Federal Men.” There were covers that Joe Shuster gets credit for that I did; you know, like [ones featuring] Federal Men. In fact, Shuster gets credit of one of the covers I did [New Adventure Comics #16]. The one with Steve Carson pointing at the reader and saying, “I want you!”

JA: Gill told me that story and said it taught him never to lie.

JA: Did you get to know Siegel and Shuster at all?

FLESSEL: Well, you had to stretch the truth. I will verify that lie. [laughs]

FLESSEL: Just briefly. They were from Cleveland and were in and out, but Joe Shuster was in the background. He was in an oxygen tent most of the time, because he wasn’t that well. I saw Siegel more often, because he delivered all the work while he had Shuster chained to his desk. Early on, they were trying to sell work and not getting any recognition or money.

JA: Gill didn’t do much work for Nicholson, did he? The cover of Adventure Comics #49 (Aug. 1939), credited to Leo OÕMealia,was the last one not to feature a super-hero on the cover. The Hour-Man had debuted only the issue before, wresting the cover spot away from The Sandman. [©2005 DC Comics.]

FLESSEL: No. I don’t really remember his early stuff at all. JA: He did just a few things but wasn’t paid.

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó

9 got paid or not. I didn’t keep records as precise as Freddie’s. JA: How long did you work for Harry Chesler? FLESSEL: I only worked there for two weeks. I worked there, got a paycheck, and got out. I don’t think you can find two pieces I did for them. Charles Biro was there, as were Raphael Astarita and Guardineer.

(Left:) The pre-moustache Zatara by Fred Guardineer in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). In later years, Guardineer claimed he wrote at least that first story, besides drawing it, and that Gardner Fox was brought in by his childhood chum Vin Sullivan to script later ones.

JA: Do you remember Tom Hickey?

FLESSEL: Yeah. He had a moustache. He wasn’t that (Above:) By the time Guardineer drew the ÒZataraÓ story in the 1939 successful, but he liked Alex New York World’s Fair Comics, the Master Magician sported his Raymond’s stuff. I said, “Wow! trademark Õstache(or rather, he sported Mandrake’s, which must not I know where you got that have been trademarked, at that!)Ñalthough Zatara wasnÕtyet drawing.” He said, “Yeah. Can casting spells by speaking words backwards. The entire 1939 and FLESSEL: A lot of people worked for Alex Raymond draw horses?” I 1940 World’s Fair issues, plus the 1944 Big All-American Comic Book, Nicholson and didn’t get paid. They’d try to are currently on view in the hardcover volume DC Comics Rarities said, “You need Harold Von get paid when they turned in the work but that Archives, Vol. 1. Creig Flessel drew a tale that was printed in both Schmidt.” He was copying. I didn’t usually happen. issues, as well. [©2005 DC Comics.] said, “What you got is thirdJA: There was a guy who signed his name hand.” [laughs] All these guys “Sven Elven.” Do you happen to know who he was? had a background. They came out of college and were all in their early twenties when I knew them. They were all very nice people. FLESSEL: “Sven Eleven.” That was a pseudonym, but he was a big Ichabod Crane type. He came from upstate New York and would come JA: Did you socialize with any of them? down on the train once in a while. They’d load him up with work and FLESSEL: No. I was living in Brooklyn and was married, and before he’d go back. I didn’t know his real name and never thought much about that I was living at home. There wasn’t much time to socialize. I didn’t it. join the National Cartoonists Society until later on. I belonged to the JA: Did you know Leo O’Mealia? Illustrators Club from about 1946 to 1956. Stan Drake and I were proposed membership in the NCS by Elmer Wexler the same night. We FLESSEL: Oh, sure. Later on, he reminded me of the Mummy from the were both proposed and were turned down. Do you know why? Boris Karloff movie. Leo O’Mealia was the cigarette-smokingest man I ever met. He already had a career in illustration and comics and was at JA: No. DC trying to fill up his time. Then Paul Gallico, the sports editor at The FLESSEL: We were working in advertising, and people like Hal Foster, New York Daily News, got Leo to work for him. He did very well after who had two or three drinks in him, said, “We don’t want people who that for several years. don’t sign their work in here. We want people who sign their work. I’ve JA: I thought he was one of the best of the early DC artists. Very always signed my work.” We said, “If you sign your name on one detailed. cigarette ad, you can’t work for another cigarette agency.” I was doing work for Checker Board Square in St. Louis while I did work for Post FLESSEL: Yes. A good illustrator. He had a good touch and did some Raisin Bran. So I never signed anything. We were refused admission. elegant things. “Fu Manchu” and so forth. He was a funny guy and was Can you imagine Stan Drake being refused admission? Stan later became so wrinkle-faced. He always had a hat on and I didn’t know if he had president of the NCS, but people choose to forget what had happened. I any hair or not. He was an old-time cartoonist, you know. He’d ask, got inducted later, in the 1950s, and am still a member. “Hey, Fless. You like my work?” I said, “Yeah. Sure.” He needed assurance all the time. JA: What do you remember about Bill Ely? JA: You said Fred Guardineer wrote his own stuff. FLESSEL: Yep. He lived out on Long Island and I met him at Harry Chesler’s. Then he went to work for DC and Vin Sullivan. Eventually, he decided that being a mailman would give him a pension and left the business. He was very competent; a hard worker with a good background. He was smart enough to get out. JA: Gill Fox told me he was a precise kind of man. FLESSEL: Yes, he was. I was with him and Vin Sullivan years later and Fred was going through his old ledgers and said, “Here’s one I didn’t get paid for.” I told him it was too late to do anything about it now. [laughter] If you can get hold of some of his ledgers, you’d have a whole history of what he did, how much he got paid, and whether he

FLESSEL: Bill Ely was very dapper. He wore a porkpie hat and was very handsome. He probably became an insurance salesman, because he didn’t look like a cartoonist. JA: He worked in comics up until the 1960s, at least, because I’ve seen his work at DC. FLESSEL: He did? Okay. Everybody smoked in those days, you know. Except for me. I was a purist. You know why I didn’t smoke? JA: No. Why? FLESSEL: I couldn’t afford it. JA: Good reason. I’m a pipe smoker. I never liked cigarettes. I’m like Bill Clinton... I never inhaled.

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age

Two Decades of Bill Ely. (Left:) Before there was The Batman, there was ÒThe BatÕsWing!Ó A trio of panels from ElyÕsÒScoop ScanlonÓ in the 1939 New York World’s Fair Comics. (Right:) Bill Ely had a long career in comics, as per this splash from Rip Hunter, Time Master #10 (July 1962). Script by Jack Miller. Thanks to Carl Gafford for ID-ing the issue number and date of this page, and to Michael Baulderstone for sending a photocopy from an Australian black-&-white reprint. Michael will be covering DownUnder comics heroes in a near-future issue of Alter Ego. [©2005 DC Comics.]

FLESSEL: [laughs] Well, I know about you guys. Keep your hands on the table. JA: No, I never smoked anything funny. I’m a pretty straight guy. FLESSEL: Okay. I won’t tell anybody. JA: Do you remember Bob Kane? FLESSEL: I didn’t know him. Just a nodding acquaintance. JA: Gardner Fox? FLESSEL: A very competent, good writer. He was a trained lawyer, and a sweater. He’d come into a room and everyone was cool and he’d be wiping his forehead. Vin Sullivan got him in. I guess he went to St. Francis Prep School or something like like. A good, old-fashioned Catholic. He was a quiet man; better at writing than being a lawyer. He probably realized that.

JA: Do you remember Jim Chambers? FLESSEL: He was competent. A good salesman. He knew how to sell himself. He was my age, I think. I was 24 or 25, and he was right around there. JA: Hugh Fleming? FLESSEL: The old-timer. I thought he was a hundred years old when I met him, but he was probably in his fifties. He was from the West and knew cowboys. An oldtime, run-of-the-mill illustrator, and he wound up working for Vin. JA: Walt Kelly did a little work for Nicholson. Did you meet him? FLESSEL: He did pages once in a while. He might have mailed them in, because I never saw him in the office. I met Kelly years later when he did the Pogo newspaper strip and I was doing David Crane.

Jim ChambersÕÒCrimson AvengerÓ beat out ÒBatmanÓ by half a year as the first masked crime-fighter in Detective Comics (#20, Oct. 1938, as opposed to #27, May 1939)Ñbut he was spotlighted only on two covers. The above splash panel of the Green Hornet-derived hero led off his early storiesÑand, as you can see at right, he had no compunctions about using a real gun, even if only to shoot holes in the tires of getaway cars. Later, he donned super-hero tights and made a comeback with art by Jack Lehti. [©2005 DC Comics.]

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó

Homer Fleming drew for DC for years, as per these panels of ÒThe Whip.Ó The splash of this story from Flash Comics #40 (April 1943) was seen in Alter Ego V3#4Õshistory of that 1940-49 mag. [©2005 DC Comics.]

ÒIWas AroundÉ.Ó JA: Were you there when Nicholson lost control of the company? FLESSEL: I was not working in the office at that time. I had already gotten out. But I was around and knew what had happened. I remember when they had the first meeting of all the cartoonists uptown. Jack Liebowitz wanted to meet me. I think he had me in mind to be art director, and I wanted no part of that. I remember all of us standing

there with Liebowitz, Donenfeld, and Whitney Ellsworth. I don’t remember Vin Sullivan being there. JA: Why didn’t you want to be art director? FLESSEL: Who’d want a job as art director? I wanted to starve. I liked being a freelancer. JA: Did you get to know Donenfeld or Liebowitz? FLESSEL: I knew and respected Jack Liebowitz. A very astute and smart man. Donenfeld was his partner. ’Nuff said. JA: Do you remember Shelly Mayer? FLESSEL: Oh, sure. He was a delightful person. I didn’t get to know him when he was a kid. He was there, filling in backgrounds. JA: How did you get to be the cover artist? You did some incredible covers for New Adventure Comics and the other titles. FLESSEL: I was just there, as I’ve said. They needed somebody to do them. They’d say, “We need a cover for The Sandman [Adventure Comics]. Do something.” The covers were my ideas, my work, no complaints. They just used the covers and they ran. JA: But there were other people they could have used. I always assumed they used you because you were the best artist they had. This purposely photo-dot method of reproÕinga photo of DC accountantturned-co-publisher Jack Liebowitz was used in the 1986 publication 50 Who Made DC Great. Thanks to Jerry BailsÑwho was named as one of those fifty. Cartoons by Steven Petruccio. [©2005 DC Comics.]

FLESSEL: [laughs] No, it was just because I was just there. There were a lot of people better than me. Joe Shuster created techniques and really stayed with it long enough. I did these covers off the top of my head. You’ve seen the covers. They vary in style. I was trying different things,

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age

(Left:) Fellow legend Irv Novick makes a point while Creig smiles at a comicon in 1999. Photo courtesy of Tim Lapsley. (Right:) Creig Flessel between artist colleagues Don Orehek (heÕsthe one in the hatÑwe think) and Mel Erikson, at a meeting of the Berndt Toast Club in January 2000. For more about the Berndt Toast Club, see the Stan Goldberg interview in A/E #18 and the Emilio Squeglio confab in #41, among others. Not sure if Tim L. or someone else sent us this photo, alas!

in order to establish a real technique. I never had to submit cover roughs in advance. Generally, we’d talk briefly and I’d go right ahead and finish it up. Luckily, they never made any changes except for the famous one with the skull head. They killed that one. That was the only one I ever had turned down. It was so horrible that in those days, they couldn’t print it. Can you imagine? JA: Did they pay you even though it was turned down?

that I admired what he had done. He thanked me and flew off. Christman was wearing his leather Eisenhower jacket and his long hair, and he was on his way to fly with General Chennault and the Flying Tigers. He was eventually shot down. He parachuted out of his plane and was shot to death while in his parachute. JA: Was Gardner Fox writing the feature when you started? FLESSEL: I think I wrote the first few and then he came in. The ones that are badly written, I did.

FLESSEL: I don’t recall.

JA: You really feel that way?

JA: What was your favorite work that you did for DC? FLESSEL: I couldn’t say. I liked “The Sandman.” I liked doing covers. I probably wouldn’t have been successful doing finished art longterm. I probably would have ended up doing pencils or something like that, because I never had the patience to do a ten-page feature. I had done features and things like that, but I don’t think I could have stayed in there as long as Siegel and Shuster.

FLESSEL: I do. Yeah. I’m not a writer. I have the wrong attitude.

ÒIWas Going To Take Over ÔSandmanÕÓ JA: Let’s talk about “The Sandman.” FLESSEL: You know the story about Bert Christman? Whether it was his original idea, I don’t know. He designed the character. I don’t know who wrote the early ones. JA: But you came onto that feature very early. FLESSEL: Yes, I did. I met Christman in the Graybar building when he was on his way to the Far East. I met him because I said I was going to take over “Sandman” and

(Left:) From the very outset in Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939), Flessel drew the covers of issues that featured ÒThe Sandman.Ó For Bert Christman art and info, see the following article. (Right:) CreigÕscover for Adventure #44 (Nov. 1939). [©2005 DC Comics.]

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó

JA: As nearly as I can tell, Bert Christman drew five “Sandman” stories, then you drew two stories, and then there were three Ogden Whitney stories before you took over as the regular artist. In the last Bert Christman story, he used bigger panels and his work looked more rushed; he was already on his way out the door. Was there a deadline problem that necessitated you and Whitney splitting the duties for a while? FLESSEL: At that time, you must remember, the industry was really fly-by-night. I don’t have any recollection of the Ogden Whitney stories; I hardly remember what I did. JA: It could be that you were under deadline pressure because you were working for Johnstone and Cushing at the time, but on some of the “Sandman” stories, it looks as if you had a little help with either the penciling or the inking. Do you recall if you did? FLESSEL: Yeah, I had a young guy—I can’t even remember his name now—who was my assistant. I can’t answer the question of what he did. I should probably plead not guilty. [mutual laughter] JA: So you wrote some of the “Sandman” stories, and Gardner Fox did the rest. What determined when you wrote them or when he wrote them? FLESSEL: Deadlines, and whether I was busy with other things. Had I not been busy doing advertising, I would have written them all. I like the idea of storytelling; that’s what it’s all about, but sometimes good storytellers are impeded by editors and space restrictions. There’s a good idea, and your outfit might be able to do it: Siegel and Shuster. Who knows who Siegel and Shuster were? Without them, we’d still be in the dark ages. You realize that there hasn’t been a new idea in 60 years? Everything is based on “Superman.” You go to a convention like the one in San Diego, and there are no big banners for Siegel and Shuster. I’d like to start a campaign to get them marked down in history. I appreciate what you guys are doing, trying to nail down all these people, places, and times. I enjoy Alter Ego, and reading about the different guys. I knew about certain things that they did, and disagree about some of their versions of what happened, but at this late date, I’m content to let things stand where they are.

(Top left:) A Flessel Sandman figure graces the cover of DCÕsrecent Golden Age Sandman Archives, Vol. 1. The latter reprints the first 22 ÒSandmanÓ stories ever drawn (all by Christman or Flessel or Ogden Whitney), except for those that appeared in the earliest issues of All-Star ComicsÑso weÕll spotlight the latter here. (Above:) According to researcher Craig Delich, the ÒSandmanÓ 8-pager in All-Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940), from which this splash is taken, was written by Gardner Fox, penciled by Creig Flessel, and inked by Chad Grothkopf. Grothkopf himself confirmed his own work on the storyÑand said he had penciled, inked, and even lettered the ÒSandmanÓ 6-pager in issue #1. [©2005 DC Comics.]

JA: On another subject: since you knew Jack Cole and his wife Dorothy well, could you tell me what they were like together? FLESSEL: They were great. He was the greatest husband. He bought all her dresses, and she was very retiring. It was the ideal love match. We’d travel with them, and we’d visit them at their place in Connecticut and up at the big place he had in Massachusetts. I met his brother Dick and their father up there. I never could figure out what went wrong with Jack. It was a mystery to me, as it was to everybody else. JA: When I met you at San Diego Con, we had a discussion about him, and your wife Marie mentioned that she thought that maybe Dorothy had had an affair. Creig Flessel (bottom left) and Gardner FoxÑa ÒSandmanÓ team supremeÑat Vin SullivanÕsbachelor dinner on April 6, 1940. This entire ultra-historic photoÑwhich also showed Sullivan and artist Fred GuardineerÑappeared in full in Alter Ego #27. Courtesy of Creig Flessel; the handnotation is his.

FLESSEL: Well, that’s a lady’s angle on it, which makes sense. JA: Being a man, I’d think that you would have known Jack better than you knew Dorothy. Is that a fair statement? FLESSEL: Yes. I knew Jack, and I didn’t know him. I’d see him at social events and at vacation times, when he was at his best. Whatever happened, I never knew. [continued on p. 16]

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age

(Above & left:) A 1950s newspaper photo of Jack ColeÑand a pair of panels from the wonderful ÒPlastic ManÓ story in Police Comics #100 (June 1950). With thanks to Dick Cole, Jim Amash, & Teresa R. Davidson for the photo. [©2005 DC Comics.]

(Above left:) ÒJibby JonesÓ first appeared in National/DCÕsNew ComicsÑthen, after editor Vin Sullivan jumped ship to co-found the Columbia Comics Group, in Big Shot Comics and The Skyman. Actually, weÕrenot sure which comic or company this page is from. (Right:) An ÒR.C. and QuickieÓ commercial comics page done by Flessel to advertise Royal Crown Cola, years before they changed the name to simply RC Cola. This ad appeared in various comic books circa 1943. Thanks for both scans to Jerry G. Bails. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó

(Above:) Creig & Marie Flessel at the 2000 All Time Great New York Comic Book ConventionÑwith Roy Thomas lurking in the background. Thanks to Joe Petrilak, who made this one of the best conventions ever for Golden Age talent on hand! (Left:) Another Flessel cartoon done on an envelope sent to Roy, lampooning A/EÕs editor. Nice to have all that original art, Creig! [©2005 Creig Flessel.]

(Above:) The splash page and an action panel from the Flessel-drawn ÒSandmanÓ story in Adventure Comics #51 (June 1940), as reprinted circa 1970 by DC and then re-reprinted in an Australian black-&-white comic. Only a month or two after its initial appearance, the panel in which The Sandman leaps at a crook became part of the montage cover of the first issue of DCÕsnew anthology title All-Star Comics. With thanks to Mark Muller. [©2005 DC Comics.]

Comics Pioneer Creig Flessel Talks About The Golden Age

[continued from p. 13] JA: What sort of person was Dorothy?

FLESSEL: I just sent it in. You wouldn’t believe the things that were going on back then. It was fly-bynight, I’m telling you. The money was there, and the money wasn’t there. And of course, Whit Ellsworth, Vin Sullivan, and the Major had been just trying to hold things together. Things were just falling apart: the money was coming from uptown, and sometimes it didn’t get to the right places. That’s when the Major left.

FLESSEL: Withdrawn. I always felt that she’d had a tragedy in her family, but whatever it was, I never questioned it. She was very devoted to him, though, and he was very devoted to her. She had a certain sadness within her. After they moved to Chicago, he only came back to New York once, and we had an affair at the Illustrators Club. Chop-Chop Cuidera, and Alex Kotzky were there, too. Will Eisner was with us at first, but he and ChopChop had an argument, and Eisner left.

JA: Then Liebowitz and Donenfeld came in. I imagine there was more stability once they took over. FLESSEL: Yeah. Money and stability, that’s what the story is all about. Survival, you know.

JA: You’re the second person I’ve met who called Chuck Cuidera “Chop-Chop.” FLESSEL: I never knew his real name until years later, when I met him in Westchester at a convention. People always called him Chop-Chop: Chop-Chop Cuidera. JA: I have one last Sandman question for you. When you wrote “Sandman” episodes, did you have to get approval of the stories before drawing, or did you just send in a complete story, art and all?

JA: Yeah, I see pictures of people from the Depression, and they all have hard looks and hard faces.

A Boys’ Life Triptych by Creig Flessel (Top left:) The first page of a 2-page (!) adaptation of DickensÕÒA Christmas CarolÓ done for Boys’ Life, the Boy Scout magazine. Date uncertain. (Top right:) Splash of a more leisurely adaptation of ÒA Christmas CarolÓ from a 1957 issue. Creig may only have penciled this version. (Above:) Cover of the Aug. 1957 issue. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn for all three scans and for the IDs. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

FLESSEL: That’s the way they took pictures in those days. You remember your high school yearbook, how you looked so serious? As you get older, things become laughable.

ÒWhatLed You To Get A Job In Comic Books?ÓÒHunger!What Else?Ó

CREIG FLESSEL Checklist [NOTE: The following is taken from information provided by Dr. Jerry G. Bails from his Who’s Who of 20th-Century American Comic Books, which can be accessed online at www.nostromo.no/whoswho/. Additions and corrections are invited. The names of features which appeared both in anthology magazines and in their own titles are not generally rendered in italics below. Some of this data provided by Creig Flessel.. Key: (a) = full art; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inking only; (w) = writer; (d) = daily comic strip; (S) = Sunday comic strip.] Name: Creig Valentine Flessel [b. 1912] (artist, writer)

Assistant: to Al Capp 1958-59 Comics in Other Publications: Boys’ Life; cover strip (w/a) 1940s in Playbill; “Our Town Oddities” (w/a) 1940s in New York subways; “Tales of Baron von Furstinbed” (w/a) 1980-88 in Playboy

Pen Names: Valens Moreno; Valentine (in syndication); C.F. (in advertising); Fless (in 1930s) Influences: John Striebel, Al Capp, Albert Dorne, Robert Fawcett, Norman Rockwell, et al.

Gag Cartoons: “thousands” Staff: Columbia (art director) 1943-44

Member: National Cartoonists Society; Society of Illustrators

Comics Shop Work: Chesler (a) 1937-38

Book: How to Draw 50 People (w/a)(with Lee Ames) 1992 Book Illustrations: Huckleberry Finn (Moby Books) 1979; textbooks (Ginn Pub. 1950s); Know Your Bible Series (Doubleday) 1950s

COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US): Centaur/Comics Magazine Co./& related (all for Chesler): Air Patrol (a) 1939; Cutter Carson (a) 1937 (reprinted in 1938); Lariat Law (a) 1937; Lucky Coyne (a) 1937 (reprinted in 1938); River of Death (a) 1937; Silver Saddle (a) c. 1937; Trouble Hunters (a) 1937; Valley of Living Death (a) 1937; Wanted Men (a) 1937

Magazine Illustrations: Black Hood 1941-42; Boys’ Life (1950s and?); pulp magazines; Pictorial Review (Sunday supplement)(cover) c.1957 Advertising Art: Bostitch Staplers 1948-51; Vimms Vitamins 1942; other commercial work; advertising comic art for Bulova, Campbell’s Soups, Camels; Ralston; Stebler Bikes; Nestles Tollhouse Cookies; YMCA, churches, et al. Advertising Comics [through Johnstone & Cushing 1937-60s]: “Betty Bite Size” (for General Foods cereals); “R.C. and Quickie” (194349 for Royal Crown Cola); “Trailer Twins” (for Post Raisin Bran); “Vic and Sade” (asst John Striebel) for Farina Wheat Teacher: School of Visual Arts (dates uncertain) Honors: nominated by NCS for Illustration 1980; nominated by NCS for Special Features 1982; Inkpot Award (San Diego Comic-Con) 1992 Syndicated Credits (Newspaper Comic Strips): David Crane (w/S) 1960-1970; Dixie Dugan (d/S)(asst p) 1938; Friday Foster (d/S) 1973-74

Monthly! The Original First-Person History!

Chesler Publications: Gun Boss (a) 1937 Columbia Comic Corporation: Jibby Jones (a) 1940-41 DC Comics & related: Adventurer vs. Arabs (a) 1938; The Bradley Boys (a) 1936-38; Bret Lawton (w?/a) 1937; Buzz Brown (a) 1930s; Champion Sports (i) 1973-74; covers (a/p/i) 1937-41; 1951-56; 1973-76; Don Drake on the Planet Saro (a) 1936; Federal Agent (9) 1949; fillers (w/a) 1936; The Green Team (i) 1975, 1978; Hanko the Cowhand (a) 1937-38, 1940; illustrations (a) 1937-38; Jimmy Olsen (i) 1959-60; Nature Study (a) c. 1936; New Talent Showcase (The Death of Me Yet) (i) 1985; New York World’s Fair Comics (misc.)(a) 1939 (some reprinted 1940); The Outsiders (i) 1976; Pep Morgan (a) 1936-38; Prez (a) 1973-74, 1978; public service page (i) 1951; (Sgt. O’Malley of the) Red Coat Patrol (a) 1939; romance (a) c. 1973-74; The Sandman (a/some w/some p) 1939-41; Santa Claus and Striking Elves (a) 1939; Shining Knight (a) 1941-42; Speed Saunders (w/a) 1937-38; Steve Conrad Adventurer (a/some w?) 1936-38; Superboy (a) 1958-59; (i?) 1952, 1955-57; Thrilling True Stories (a) 1936-37 Green Publishing/UPF: Atomic Comics (a) 1946 Harvey & related/precursors: My Pal, the Alien (a) 1966 K.K. Publications/Dell (to 1962): Jungle Jim (a) 1957-58 Lev Gleason & related/precursors: Crime Does Not Pay (a) 194749 Magazine Enterprises: American Armed Forces (a) 1944-45; Funnyman (cover) (a) 1948; Keen Teens (a) 1947; U.S. Marines (a) 1943-44

Write to: Robin Snyder, 3745 Canterbury Lane #81, Bellingham, WA 98225-1186 Look familiar? You've seen this ad for Robin Snyder's excellent monthly publication The Comics! in each issue of A/E. But did you realize that "CF" signature stands for "Creig Flessel"? And of course that's The Sandman running at the head of the pack. [Art ©2005 Creig Flessel; Sandman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.]

Marvel/Timely & related: Joker Comics (a) 1942 Mayfair Publications: The National Crumb (a) 1975 St. John/Jubilee: war (a) 1944 Stanmore & related: horror (a) c. 1972

In Search Of Bert Christman The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ by David Armstrong

The Early Years – 1915-1936

ert Christman is one of those rare individuals. He was a true innovator in graphic storytelling of high adventure. He was also someone who sought and lived that adventure to heroic proportion.

Allen Bert Christman was born May 31, 1915, in Fort Collins, Colorado. He showed great artistic aptitude at an early age. Bert was close to his family. He had two sisters, Ruth and Joanne. Ruth was three years older, and Joanne was eleven years younger. He was particularly close to his father, a railroad man for the Burlington Railroad.

(Left:) Bert Christman at his drawing table. David Armstrong says this photo and two others, including the one which ends this article, dropped out while he was going through a letter Christman had sent home, and dated from 1937. Those are no doubt Scorchy Smith dailies on his table. (Above:) Splash panel from 1939 New York World’s Fair Comics, probably the earliest ÒSandmanÓ story done. The heroÕsfirst 22 forays (except for those in All-Star Comics #1-3), as illustrated by Christman, Flessel, Whitney, and Grothkopf, are on view in DCÕs Golden Age Sandman Archives, Vol. 1Ñan invaluable volume, even if the contents-page art credits are mostly wrong (but correct in Jim AmashÕsintro to the book). Except where otherwise noted, all art and photos for this article were provided by its author. [Sandman panel ©2005 DC Comics.]

When Christman was only thirteen years old, his father suffered a fatal work-related accident. This must have been a crushing blow to Bert, imbuing him with a sense of responsibility at an early age. He started working, while in high school, as an artist for a local department store. Following high school, he enrolled in Colorado A&M (now Colorado State University) and majored in mechanical engineering. During the break between his

sophomore and junior year, in 1934, he went north to Alaska and spent the summer working in a fishing cannery. Upon completing his final year, in June 1936, he decided to seek professional work in New York City. He was told, through family friends, to look up George Baker at the McClure Syndicate. He gathered his savings and, with a portfolio full of cartooning and art samples, he set out by rail (he had a lifetime rail pass) for New York. He made a stop in Cincinnati to see his sister Ruth, who had married and settled there. He arrived in New York in late June and started religiously writing home concerning his progress. He took a room at the William Sloane House—the first of many. Finding that George Baker was no longer at McClure, he set about to find a job. Within weeks, he landed employment with Fairchild Publishing. Fairchild was (and still is) the leading publisher in the worlds of retail and style, with Women’s Wear Daily being its flagship publication. Bert found himself doing cartoons and retouching photos for a variety of clothing and merchandising trade papers.

He worked during the day and spent the evenings getting art instruction. He also continued doing cartoons that he could take to various publishers, looking for additional freelance work or the possibility of better employment. It was

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ The statement of ownership from More Fun, Vol. 1, #7 (Jan. 1936). The word ÒComicsÓ wasnÕtadded to the cover title till #9. Earlier issues bore the subtitle ÒThe Big Comic MagazineÓÑ while the statement inside calls it ÒThe National Comics Magazine,Ó a reference to Major Wheeler-NicholsonÕsoriginal name for DC. William H. Cook and John F. Mahon would soon leave to form the Comics Magazine Co., and Vin Sullivan would move up to full editor. [©2005 DC Comics.]

during this period that he got his first comic book work. The comic book field, in the mid-1930s, was a brand new business with lots of promoters and entrepreneurs. One of the most colorful was a man who started National Comics, which would eventually become DC Comics. “He was Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson—hyphenated name,” remembered the late Vin Sullivan, his assistant editor, production manager, and cover artist, in a personal interview with the author on Feb. 13, 1998. “He had been in the Army. And he married some gal he met in Europe, I think… on top of the Eiffel Tower or some ways up in there [laughing]. But, he was quite a character. He had a beaver hat, carried a cane, wore spats occasionally. He was quite a sharpie.” Wheeler-Nicholson was producing all original material—not reprints, as most of the other comics publishers of the day were printing. “I still don’t recall how I met Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, who was the fellow who originated the comic books themselves, or the original comic books I guess you’d call them,” Sullivan continued. “I can’t recall how I met him… but in any event I did, and then I met Whit Ellsworth and the both of us… the three of us started these books off.” Money

was Wheeler-Nicholson’s major weakness. “The only thing I didn’t take care of was financing. That was Nicholson’s job... and he did a terrible job,” Sullivan noted.

In an interview on the same date, Creig Flessel, who was a fledgling artist in the mid-’30s, was aware of the problem when he started and figured a solution. “Well, I didn’t have to worry about getting paid because I was there. I decided that the money was scarce, and I saw guys come in and out screaming for money. They’d lay down on the floor, crying and kicking, and I figured I wasn’t going to do that. I could, but I wouldn’t—not a very good actor. So I sat there and I got my check every week. They never ended up owing me... not a cent, and I got a wonderful experience.” There was no formal training for graphic storytelling. As related by Will Eisner in San Diego on July 23, 1997: “I could get a lot of guys who were coming out from the art schools, illustration—Pratt [Institute], Cooper Union, places like that would be turning out artists. But there were no comic book schools. There was no comic book art. Nobody knew about comic book art. There was no cohesion. Nobody said, ‘Ah, this is the beginning of the Golden Age of Comics.’ Just nobody thought that.” Lots of artists sought work from these new publishers. Flessel saw many of them at National (DC): “Everybody came through there. Siegel and Shuster came in, of course they were only 17, and they had ‘Dr. Occult’ and they had the ‘Federal Men,’ and they had this other thing about… ‘Superman’—you know, the guy with the cape….” William Cook and John Mahon had been Managing Editor and Business Manager, respectively, at National Comics for Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. They decided, in early 1936, to start their own comic books with non-reprint, original material. They started with The

(Left:) A page from the third ÒSpinnerÓ yarn, ÒThe Case of the Broken Skull,Ó in Comics Magazine Co.ÕsFunny Picture Stories #1 (Nov. 1936). (Center:) The ÒSpinnerÓ splash from Funny Picture Stories #2 (Dec. 1936). (Right:) A page from the fourth and final ÒSpinner,Ó from Detective Picture Stories #1 (Dec. 1936). [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

In Search Of Bert Christman

Comics Magazine (which became the company name), Funny Picture Stories, and later that year introduced the first single-themed comic, Detective Picture Stories.

ÒTheSpinnerÓof Tales Christman made the rounds with his portfolio and landed a job with Cook and Mahon’s startup company, Comics Magazine Company. He wrote and drew four stories for those early books—all with “The Spinner,” a storyteller who introduces and spins the tale. His first was a two-pager titled “Deep Sea Dan” in Funny Pages, Vol. 1 #7 (Dec. ’36). This was followed by “The Case of the Broken Skull” in Funny Picture Stories #1 (Nov. ’36), “Christmas Kid” in issue #2 (Dec. ’36), and “The Tale of Timothy O’Toole” in Detective Picture Stories #1 (Dec. ’36). These early stories are adventure yarns. “Timothy O’Toole” is set in the rough-and-tumble days of the early 19-teens in a seafaring town, “Broken Skull” in the mountains, and “Christmas Kid” in Alaska. They could have all taken place in Alaska, as they seem to draw on Christman’s days there. Though the drawing style is crude and raw, it’s interesting to note the page layout. These pages were not simply six or eight panels to a page: page 4 of the “Christmas Kid” story is a full page, with only a single panel inset at the bottom right! Christman used the page layout to tell the story—unusual, given that most artists at the time were using newspaper formats for laying out pages. Since he had no experience coming into this business, he had no preconceived ideas about what he could and couldn’t do. The first “Spinner” tale is a simple two-pager about a deep sea diver who is rescued by someone he called a coward. The other three are all mysteries and/or police dramas. They all reflect Christman’s background and experience. Bruce Berry, the hero of “Broken Skull,” is a highway engineer (Bert was a mechanical engineer major) who falls in love with an engaged woman, Cecilia Chambers. The boyfriend is mysteriously killed after a non-fatal fight with Berry. Cecilia investigates—and solves the case after a jury sentences Berry to death. She finds the real culprit and discovers gold in the process. “Christmas Kid” is set in Alaska with a young child who is apparently abandoned, raised by a couple who discover him. They die while “the Kid” is still quite young: “Thrown on his own at such an early age, the Kid grew up to be an extraordinary individual—he had all the courage, daring, and great skill, and he always adhered to the rugged principles of righteousness as they were instilled in him by the Kingsleys.” Was this an expression of what Christman felt about his upbringing? He certainly brings his Alaskan trip to the setting of this mystery. The final story, “Timothy O’Toole,” is set on a barge. O’Toole, despondent over the break up of a relationship, decides to end it all. While sitting in a boat, with an anchor around his neck to facilitate drowning, he hears a dog in trouble, rescues him, and falls in with kidnappers who are holed up on a working barge. Tim helps capture the kidnappers and marries the captive. I tend to think the only part of that tale that relates to Christman’s life is his working by the sea. It’s interesting to note that the progression of these stories was documented by Christman himself. Each story is signed and has a byline that lists the previous story. “Christmas Kid” is signed, “A ‘Spinner Feature’ by Bert Christman, author of ‘The Case of the Broken Skull.’” Another fascinating note is that there is at least one other “Spinner” tale, which was never published—well, at least there’s a finished splash page. I found it while going through the collection of Bert’s artwork to which his sister graciously allowed access. It is titled “The Spinner featuring Tessie Tilton” and begins the story of dance hall lady who’s also quite a woman with a gun. The story points out an interesting fact—that all of

Christman’s women are very strong characters. They are in the early tales, and also in the later DC work.

Scorchy Smith In late summer of 1936, Christman wrote home that he might have a possible job at Associated Press. On August 28th, he wrote that he had accepted the AP position at $35 a week. He quickly became the assistant to Noel Sickles on the newspaper comic strip Scorchy Smith. Noel Sickles had taken over Scorchy Smith, first ghosting for John Terry (who was dying of tuberculosis) for six months, then getting the strip in December 1933. Sickles had been Milton Caniff’s roommate in college and would later work on Terry and the Pirates with him. Prior to taking over Scorchy, he had been doing political cartoons for Associated Press. In the early days, he had to mimic John Terry’s style because the AP didn’t want any newspapers to become alarmed with any artist change and drop the strip. It took over six months before Sickles could start to develop his own style on Scorchy. But, within a short period of time, Sickles produced one of the finest adventure strips to come out of the ’30s. It was a perfect environment for Christman to learn and work. It is obvious from his work during this period, both on the Scorchy strips and the DC story that he worked on in the summer of 1937, that he was influenced by Noel Sickles. The growth in his rendering and storytelling from his early “Spinner” stories for Cook and Mahon to his work on Scorchy is dramatic. As his technique matured, it is obvious that he was far more capable and assured.

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

(Above:) A Scorchy Smith daily by the legendary Noel Sickles. (Left:) A 1939 sketch of Bert Christman, done by Sickles. (Right:) A drawing of Scorchy by Christman, who first assisted Sickles on the strip, then took it over in 1937. It appeared on the inside front cover of Famous Funnies #47 (June 1938), and is reproÕdfrom a photocopy of the original art provided by a fellow artistÑname of Alex Toth. [All art ©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

to the Society of Illustrators’ Hall of Fame.

Within a brief period, Christman took over the strip from Sickles. Sickles had not been happy with the inequity of payment on the strip. He would eventually leave comic strips and work as a brilliant illustrator for such magazines as The Saturday Evening Post and Life. In 1983, he was elected

In a memo dated October 13th, W.T. McCleery, Executive Editor, Feature Service at Associated Press notes that: …Mr. Sickles will be assigned to draw the daily news cartoon: and Mr. Christman will be assigned to draw “Scorchy Smith.” I believe Mr. Sickles will bring a fresh point of view to the daily cartoon and that the creation of one effective picture each day is better suited to his talent than the production of comic strips. Mr. Reilly and I will work with him on ideas. Christman had mixed feelings about taking over from Sickles, as evidenced in the following note home: “I certainly felt like a snake-inthe-grass for a while, for I liked him so, but here I was taking his strip away from him. When I talked to him, though, he relieved me of this feeling.” From October 26th, Bert took over Scorchy, and from November 23rd, he was also given the writing chore and credit. Bert continued to learn and polish his drawing style while working on Scorchy. The strip also piqued his interest in flying. In 1937, he started taking flying lessons on Long Island. He had his pilot’s license by the end of 1937.

In Search of Adventure – 1938-39 Pensacola became a focus of new attention when, in 1935, the Navy inaugurated its Aviation Cadet training program. In 1938, federal legis-

lation authorized a 3,000 aircraft ceiling for Naval Aviation, which in turn brought additional growth to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. In 1938 there were 543 cadets that received their wings in Pensacola as compared to 82 in 1920 and 348 in 1930. In early 1938, Christman decided to seek adventure, further his flying career, and join the Navy. In April he wrote: “It won’t hinder my cartooning career, but help it. I’ll be a better man for the experience. Naturally, this adventure will delay the day that I climb the success ladder in cartooning. But it’s like school, college, or other study. When I do climb, if ever, I’ll climb faster and higher because of this.” Christman looked for freelance jobs while he finished his commitment to Associated Press. He was waiting for his trip to Pensacola where he would start cadet training. Toward the end of summer, on August 22nd, Bert wrote home: Dear Mother: Concern yourself naught o’er your wayward son. He has this day presented himself before the doors of Detective Comics Inc. and he has been taken in with gracious arms. His sample, last week’s work, he did sell for thirty-six dollars, and he has been told that the next week’s work, and the next, and the next, and all the work he shall present shall be accepted at the rate of six dollars per page. So the Lord hath taken him by the hand, and hath led him from the evils of idleness and from the dangers of starvation. Amen. Since work can be mailed from out of town, I have a strong desire to pick some little village, say, for instance, a town in Virginia, Carolina, Georgia, or Florida—just some little, rustic place—and work there until I’m called to Pensacola. It would cost less to live, I could buy a cheap car, and have one helluva good time. This just occurred to me, so don’t take it too seriously. But it does sound good, doesn’t it? Don’t be too surprised if you get a shipment of my file and books soon.

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

I may move anytime! Another nice feature about this comics magazine angle, is that I could work for it in my spare time while in Pensacola, without following any definite schedule, no dead line [sic]. That’s one of the reasons I was particularly desirous of making this contact. Well, mama, I’ve spouted long enough. Thump my sister’s nose for me. Love, Bert Bert had, in fact, sold the story “The Lucky Ring” to DC. It appeared in Adventure Comics #33 (Dec. 1938) and, of course, had to do with a pilot—a test pilot for Army aircraft. The ring is his wife’s good luck ring which had brought them together at an air show. It later helps rescue him from natives in Brazil after he is forced down in an air race to South America! His wife organizes a search party and sees the ring on a native after months in the jungle. Sometime during this period, Christman struck up a relationship with a writer who would become prolific in the comic book business— Gardner F. Fox. In a September letter, he related that he had not left for parts south. “Gardner has leased another place, and I shall live with him until I get my orders to Pensacola. …and I’m giving Gardner the furniture in exchange for living with him, rent free, until I leave.” Based on this, it seems obvious that Gardner Fox and Christman talked about various stories while they shared this apartment, including quite possibly a character that would become The Sandman. Whether Bert took the stories to Florida or Gardner sent them is open to conjecture. By October of ’38, Christman was in Pensacola and had started his cadet training. He settled in with his classmates for twelve months of training and was commissioned an officer on Oct 15, 1939. During his training, Bert met many fellow cadets with whom he would maintain relationships during his tenure in the Navy (Above:) ÒSandmanÓ writer and beyond and probably co-creator to the Gardner Fox in the late American 1930s. Fox stated on Volunteer occasion that he based the character on the early pulp hero, The Gray SealÑbut he was Group. One never one to claim any credit that might be due to anyone of the else. Photo courtesy of Lynda Fox Cohen. strongest (Right:) This yearbook photo shows Bert Christman in bonds was uniform while in cadet training at Pensacola, Florida, 1939. with David

David Lee ÒTexÓ Hill, in a photo taken by Bert Christman in Burma, 1941.

Lee Hill, from San Antonio, Texas, who was (and is) known as “Tex.” Tex Hill was the son of Presbyterian missionaries, born on July 13, 1915, in Kwangju, Korea. He graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and entered the Navy for flight training in 1938. In an interview conducted in San Antonio on Jan. 26, 2000, he recalled, “I first met Bert at Pensacola, when I entered there as a cadet. We were there together. Bert was one class ahead of me. He was in 120, I believe. I was in 121C.” Tex knew Bert was “working on a strip there for Scorchy Smith….” Christman still had an ongoing obligation to the syndicate. He had driven to Florida in a car he had purchased in New York, and as his sister Joanne explained in an interview: “On Bert’s off hours from the Navy in Florida, he had a drawing board set up in his car and sent things to New York every week.” Eventually, by the end of 1938, Christman turned over the Scorchy Smith comic strip to Howell Dodd, briefly, and then to Frank Robbins. (Dodd subsequently concentrated on painting pulp illustration and covers, while Robbins continued Scorchy until 1944, when he launched Johnny Hazard, his long-running strip, which lasted till 1977. Robbins worked, also, for both DC and Marvel during the late 1960s and ’70s.) Christman needed time to concentrate on his studies and put aside his drawing career for the time being, but would return the following year.

In Search Of Bert Christman

New York World’s Fair Comics (1939) (Left:) From the outset, Bert ChristmanÕsmoody use of blacks showed the influence of Noel Sickles (and post-Sickles Caniff), but he was a more-than-able storyteller in his own right. (Above:) A quartet of silent panels, unusual for that day. Wonder if Gardner Fox wrote them that way? Note that Christman was not an artist who worried about keeping his hero in costume. [©2005 DC Comics.]

In 1939, Tex Hill states: “When I finished Pensacola, I was assigned to the Saratoga in Torpedo Three. Bert went to the Ranger in Bombing Four.” There he practiced aerial gunnery, dive-bombing, and carrier take-offs and landings. He also got back to drawing comic book stories.

ÒTheSandmanÓ– 1939 DC Comics had introduced a new character into a new book they started to accompany More Fun and Adventure—Action Comics. The character was Superman, and he drastically changed the comic book publishing business. Overnight, original comic book material was hot. The original vision of Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson had borne fruit just after he’d left the business. All the publishers, including DC, wanted costumed heroes.

Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939) On the second story page and in the first panel of the next, Wesley Dodds prepares to go into action against The Tarantula. The phrase ÒMr. SandmanÓ probably comes from the earlier popular song of that title (ÒMr. Sandman, send me a dream/Make him the cutest that I’ve ever seen…Ó)Ñwhich may or may not have been an inspiration for the heroÕsname. [©2005 DC Comics.]

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

(Above & top right:) The splash and later panels from the untitled ÒThree SandmenÓ tale in ChristmanÕspenultimate ÒSandmanÓ outing, in Adventure Comics #42 (Sept. 1939). The hero never appears in costume therein, although all three aviators wear versions of his modified gasmaskÑcolored totally yellow rather than blue and yellow. [©2005 DC Comics.]

Bert Christman and Gardner Fox collaborated on creating a hero for Adventure Comics—“The Sandman.” Though there is controversy about whether the first story was done for Adventure #40 (July 1939) or the 1939 edition of New York World’s Fair Comics, it appears that the ten-page story in the latter was produced first. If you read the first panel of each story, the World’s Fair entry has more introductory language. The stories are signed by “Larry Dean,” a pen name for either Fox or Christman—or both. Perhaps Bert didn’t want to be identified for his moonlighting work. This first story introduces Wesley Dodds (heir to the Dodds-Bessing fortune and millionaire playboy) with his suit, cape, gas mask, and gasgun that puts criminals to sleep—criminals who steal plans for a deadly ray-gun (invented by Wesley for exhibit at ’39 World’s Fair). Luckily The Sandman recovers the plans The “Sandman” stories are full of adventure. They are told in a very straightforward manner with regards to page layout. But, among the stories, there are some very strong sequences. One of the best is from the 1939 World’s Fair entry, where Wesley Dodds (The Sandman) sneaks onto a boat. In four panels, he dives into the water, pulls himself up the anchor chain and over the boat’s side, and draws his pistol. The sequence

In Search Of Bert Christman

ÒThree AcesÓ Times Two (Left:) Final page of ChristmanÕsfirst ÒThree AcesÓ story, in Action Comics #18 (Nov. 1939)Ñone month after his final ÒSandmanÓ appeared in Adventure. (Right:) First page of ÒThree AcesÓ in Action Comics #21 (Feb. 1940). Note ChristmanÕswinged ÒChristopherÓ byline. [©2005 DC Comics.]

has no word balloons or narrative, and the effect is perfect for the story. All the Adventure “Sandman” stories are six pages long. Issue #40 has Vivian Dale kidnapped by The Tarantula, while in #41 narcotics smugglers capture a nosey lady reporter. Of course, The Sandman rescues the lady and captures the smugglers. One story that is pure Christman appears in Adventure #42. Dr. Clyde Dunlap, artist Happy O’Shea, and Wesley Dodd are brought together to solve a series of murders that are related to their days, six years earlier, as Navy pilots! There are some great airplane shots, and they are laid out to show them to best advantage. This story was obviously written by Christman, and it is also, most probably, the inspiration for his next strip at DC, “The Three Aces.” Christman’s last “Sandman” story appeared in Adventure Comics #43 (Oct. 1939), after which the character was left in the very capable hands of Creig Flessel. Flessel had done all the covers for the character, several of which are stunning. The following month, Bert was to work on something closer to his heart.

ÒTheThree AcesÓ “The Three Aces” was a small back-up feature to “Superman” in Action Comics. But it was Christman’s ticket to adventure. Starting in Action #18, The Three Aces were Fog Fortune, Gunner Bill, and Whistler Will. They had fought side by side in the Spanish Civil War in 1937: “Thrown together by this strife, three winged soldiers-offortune….sick of war, its futility and tragedy...pledge themselves to a

(Left:) Three of Bert ChristmanÕsaviator buddies (l. to r.:) Charlie BondÉ Tex HillÉ and Ed Rector. (Charlie Bond is not mentioned in the text.)

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

new kind of adventure – And thus they came to roam the globe, working for peace and sanity….helping here….helping there….spreading their bit of good and winning the title Three Aces.” Christman did five stories, all of which were six-pagers. The adventures were set in various locales, with the first story taking place in Baghdad, where the locals want to hijack the three planes. Fog is captured, but with the help of the Royal Air Force, all three of our heroes fly into the sunset. The next story is about the sabotage of a new aircraft engine being tested, and how they discover the culprit. The next three stories (Action #20-22) start in Alaska while our boys are helping to do an aerial survey for the “Koyukuk Dam.” The first story is a rescue, as the photos turn up the word “HELP” written in the snow. Gunner parachutes to help a young lady, Tony M’Crea, and her father. We find out that Gunner Bill is an orphan, as we learn his background. His mates turn up, in the nick of time, just as Gunner and Tony run out of food and ammunition and the wolves attack. The next story opens with Tony whipping someone who attacks her father—there’s that strong woman, again. There’s a property dispute involved, and a lost gold mine is discovered, as with the earlier “Broken Skull” story in the “Spinner” series. The final story from Christman opens in Alaska, but soon Whistler Will leaves for the old homestead in Arizona. His stepsister is getting married and recounts Whistler’s childhood to her fiancé. Whistler is an overachiever and… an orphan. The rest of the story is about a jilted lover who wants revenge on the groom, makes a deal with the local Mexican bandits, and gets kidnapped in a double-cross. Whistler saves the day, of course. Each of the stories was signed “Christopher,” in a rectangle being borne by a pair of wings in flight. Chad Grothkopf took over the strip after Christman left. Amazingly, all of this National (DC) work was done while Christman was a young Naval officer. This was to be his last comic book work—in fact, the last published work Christman would produce. Ironically, Bert Christman was about to link up with two other pilots to become “Three Aces” in real life. Tex Hill came back into Bert’s life: “We met up about a year later, on New Year’s Eve of 1940. We wound up in the same squadron, Ed Rector, me, and Bert.”

The Real-Life ÒThreeAcesÓ The late Edward F. Rector was born on September 28, 1916, in Marshall, North Carolina. He grew up there and attended Catawba College on a football scholarship, graduating in 1938. He joined the Navy in 1939, was accepted for flight training, and graduated at Pensacola with a reserve commission as an ensign in June 1940. In an interview with the present author on Nov. 23, 1993, Ed Rector related that he went to Norfolk and “met Bert Christman in August of 1940 at the Junior Officer’s Mess and quarters at Naval Air Station Norfolk. I reported in, after about ten days of leave, having gotten my wings and graduated from Pensacola. Bert was one of the first members of the bomb squadron, Bombing Four on the Ranger, that I was assigned to. Since starting that day, we became very fast friends.” Rector and Christman continued to perfect their pilot proficiency: “Realize that we were dive bomber pilots in the Navy. In addition to being dive bomber pilots, we had shot for aerial gunnery qualification. Over two-thirds of the pilots got E’s for dive bombing, but only Bert Christman and I got additional E’s for aerial gunnery. So both of us thought we were pretty good. I, growing up in my youth, did a lot of

David Lee ÒTexÓ Hill (left) and Edward R. Rector (right), fliers for the AVG, in photos that appeared in Life magazine, March 30, 1942. Photos by George Rodgers. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

bird shooting, so I knew angle off-shooting, and Bert, growing up in Colorado, did the same. And Tex had done the same in San Antonio, and we became a triumvirate.” Bert continued to work on his drawing and developing new ideas. Rector recognized that “the reason that he joined the Navy, as an aviation cadet, was to get the experience and background to draw his own comic strip. But as an example of how dedicated he was to his drawing, before we went down to the Caribbean on the aircraft carrier Ranger, we were in Newport News. On weekends, Fridays, we would go to Virginia Beach, only 21 miles away—a great summer resort—and Bert would go with us about half the time. The rest of us would go out there for a lot of girls—pretty girls—and a lot of seaside activity. But half of the time, Bert would stay home and we’d come back at ten or eleven, twelve o’ clock at night and he’d be drawing away.” The USS Ranger was assigned to escort duty in the Caribbean. Tex Hill recounts: “At that time, we were escorting British convoys out of Bermuda. When a convoy would make up, it’d head out and then we’d carry ’em all the way to the Azores. But we were just another set of eyeballs ’cause they had a British task force right in the area, going along with us. Anything we saw, we’d just call it out in the clear. I know that, one day, on one of my watches, we ran across a tender and two submarines. We called it out and never will forget the heavy cruisers came in there, on our second trip out. The [HMS] Diomede was the name of that cruiser, and there was nothing but oil slick.”

The Flying Tigers - 1941 Claire Lee Chennault, from Waterproof, Louisiana, was recruited as an instructor and adviser for the Chinese Air Force. Japan had invaded China in July of 1937, and Chiang Kai-Shek’s China desperately needed to modernize its air force. Chennault had been forced to retire from the US Army Air Corps, ostensibly for his loss of hearing from years of open cockpit flying. But the probable truth was that his book The Role of Defensive Pursuit insisted that fighter planes could destroy incoming bombers before they reached their target—heresy at the time. Chennault spent the next three years teaching and organizing the Chinese. He also observed the tactics of the Japanese and developed defensive and offensive strategies. Soong Tzu-wen, better known as T.V. Soong, was Harvard-educated and came from a very prominent Chinese family. He was the governor of the Central Bank of China and minister of finance. One of his sisters, Soong Ch’ing-ling or Song Qingling, a Wesleyan College graduate, married Sun Yat-sen (known to both Nationalists and Communists as “the Father of the Chinese Revolution”). Another sister, Soong Mei-ling (who died just last year at 105!), was a Wellesley College graduate and

In Search Of Bert Christman signing of the Executive Order, and in March 1941 a retired Navy officer named Rutledge Irvine toured U.S. Navy bases on the East and West Coasts. “Well, we came down off a flight, actually,” Tex Hill remembers. “We walked into the ready room, operations. Gus Widhelm, he grabbed us and he said, ‘Here’s some guys that’ll go with you.’ And we didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. He introduced us to Commander Irvine. Commander Irvine was the recruiter for the Navy. So, he explained to us that we needed to keep the supplies going into China to keep China in the war. We didn’t even know where Burma was. He pulled a big map down. He said, ‘This is Burma, and this is the Burma Road. This is what you’ll be patrolling.’ And he did mention that, in the contract, that he later brought, he said, ‘And by the way, if you happen to shoot down a Japanese airplane, why…’ he said, ‘we’ll pay you five hundred dollars.’ That wasn’t written in the contract, but it was a gentlemen’s agreement and they paid off on it, two hundred and ninety-seven airplanes.”

“Bert, Tex Hill, and myself,” Ed Rector added, “were the three representatives from Bombing Four Claire Lee Chennault (on left), founder of the famed Flying Tigers, with Generalissimo and Madame to join the AVG. And we were recruited by a reserve Chiang Kai-Shek. This photo appeared in The Flying Tigers, a 1963 book written for young people commander in the Navy. We came back from the by John Toland, a noted World War II historian. ÒChristman, Allen Bert (ÔCrixÕ)Óis mentioned Caribbean, towards the Christmas holidays, and we’d on 11 pages in this 170-page book, though the first reference to him states that he had Òhelp[ed] heard there was a man recruiting people to go to Milt Caniff draw Terry and the Pirates for two years,Ó when in fact he was drawing Scorchy Smith, China. So, Tex and myself went down and we were first with Noel Sickles and then on his own. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.] interviewed and ‘Crix,’ as we called him, Bert, interviewed the same man the next day and we were all married Chiang Kai-shek in 1927. T.V. was well connected politically, eager to go to that far-flung land that we’d just read about and didn’t and lived in Washington, DC. think we’d ever have the opportunity to see. This was right up Bert’s alley and was right up my alley because I had read everything Kipling Chennault had formulated a plan to utilize volunteers to form an had written by the time I was twenty years old—some of it twice over.” American Volunteer Group. The first of these would be a pursuit (fighter) group; the second would be a bomber group. He went to Tex knew Bert was working on developing another comic strip: “I Washington to lobby his case, with T.V. Soong, to President Franklin think Bert, actually, went because he wanted to live the adventures that Roosevelt. Fortunately, Roosevelt was already looking for a way to aid he would be writing about in his series. But Bert had a thing, I’ve never China against the Japanese. Chennault was authorized to return to seen it, but I know he had a thing called Logan’s Log.” China with 100 Curtiss P-40B fighters that had originally been intended for Britain as a part of the Lend-Lease program. Christman had, indeed, started a log which he labeled “Adventure On April 15, 1941, an unpublished Executive Order, signed by President Roosevelt, authorized reserve officers and enlisted men to resign from the Army Air Corps and the Naval and Marine air services for the purpose of joining the American Volunteer Group in China. The actual recruiting was done through a subsidiary of International Aviation, known as Central Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (CAMCO). A band of recruiters, including some retired US Navy commanders, combed Army, Navy, and Marine bases looking for volunteers with a sense of adventure and some aviation experience. In exchange for signing a one-year contract, they were told that when their time was up they could go back to their old ranks. The agreement stated that “Resignations or discharges will be approved to accept employment with CAM Co.” and “It is the intent of the War and Navy Departments that, upon completion of their employment with CAM Co, they will be accepted for re-commission or re-enlistment in the active Reserve in such rank or grade and under such conditions as will give them the same seniority and other benefits, including disability benefits, as they would have enjoyed had they remained on active duty in the Army or Navy Reserve.” In essence, they would be returned exactly where they had started. One hundred pilots with two hundred ground crew and administrative personnel were recruited. Recruiting started prior to the formal

Log.” He started recording, in verse, the events that were taking place. In April, 1941, he wrote: The Proposition “How would you like To go to China to fight; In P-40 planes, With pay that is right?” A civilian gentleman asked, Inviting us Navy pilots To the important task Of defending China’s vital Burma Road. “But before applying… Know conviction deep; For there you’ll be flying And shootin’ for keeps!” He warned in a voice All ringing with chill. And I knew then my choice Would favor the thrill Of defending the Burma Road!

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

(Left:) Ed Rector, in a photo taken in Burma by Bert Christman, 1941. (Center:) ÒChennault pins a Distinguished Flying Cross on the tunic of Major Edward F. RectorÓ: so states the caption that accompanies this photo in TolandÕsFlying Tigers. (Right:) Also from that book: Chennault Òbids good-by to two of his acesÑRector and HillÑbefore they return to the States for well-earned leaves.Ó In a better world, Bert Christman might have been going with them. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

His second entry, in May, spoke of delays, but on June 27th, he writes that “Ed and Tex and me” would not be sailing with their shipmates, but leaving for the Burma Road. Bert left Norfolk, stopped in New York, where he met Creig Flessel for the first and only time. “I met Bert Christman, I remember, at the Graybar Building,” Creig recalled. “He had a leather Eisenhower jacket before Eisenhower even knew about it. He had this blond hair down his back and he was on his way to go out with General Chennault and the Flying Tigers.” Christman drove home to Fort Collins (and had an accident in the rain which rolled his car) to spend the next twelve days at home catching up with family and friends. He left instructions to pay his insurance installments and to pay his little sister Joanne’s allowance— $5 a week, a substantial sum in those days! He left for Denver and San Francisco on July 16th. He hooked up with his squadron mates for some R&R in San Francisco and boarded the steamship Bloemfontein on July 22nd.

1. Javanese boys aboard M.S. Bloemfontein 2. crossing-the-equator ceremonies Once in Rangoon, they traveled 150 miles north to Toungoo, where they trained on a British Royal Air Force airfield. They needed training, since the vast majority had no experience with the P-40. Certainly none of the Navy or Marine pilots had flown the Army fighter. Chennault also trained the pilots about the flying habits and characteristics of the Japanese pilots which he had observed over the previous four years. He had developed tactics to fight, which he instilled in this American Volunteer Group, which would come to be known as the Flying Tigers. The sharkmouth design for the P-40 of the Flying Tigers was adopted from a British war journal that showed a P-40 in the African desert. After Erik Schilling asked Chennault if they could use the design as the squadron markings, Chennault decided to use it as the entire group markings.

The next seven weeks would be spent mostly at sea with stops in Honolulu, Manila, Batavia, and Brisbane, Australia. They arrived in Singapore on the morning of September 1, 1941. Several days later, they boarded a small coastal steamer, arriving in Rangoon on September 15th. While at sea, Christman observed, wrote, and drew. His “Adventure Log” became “Logan’s Log” as he outlined six daily strips. He sketched people and events on board to use later. He also listed ideas that he could base sequences around. His notes include:

The group was divided into three squadrons. The First Pursuit Squadron became “the Adam & Eves” (a pun on First Pursuit)—the Second Pursuit became the Panda Bears (no one quite remembers why)—and the Third Pursuit became the Hell’s Angels (the name of a popular 1930 movie about aviators, long before it was the name of a motorcycle group). The Adam & Eves had an insignia with stick figures of Adam chasing Eve on a green apple. The Hell’s Angels were striking red-silhouetted women with halos above. The Panda Bears were a little more unique. [continued on p. 32]

A full page of photos of Bert Christman as a member of the American Volunteer GroupÑthe ÒFlying Tigers.Ó In the three-man shot, Christman is on the far left, with Ed Goyette and Ed Rector. ÒNote the cameras,Ó says David Armstrong. ÒEveryone had one!Ó The photos at top left and with P-40 (at right) were taken at Toungoo, where the fliers trained. The bottom two photos were taken in Rangoon, amid locals.

In Search Of Bert Christman

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

The Flying Tigers (Left:) Ed Rector gets ready to start his P-40 Tomahawk. As Toland tells it in his 1963 book: After Òthree of the menÓ showed Chennault the photo of P-40s in Africa mentioned in this article, the General Òagreed to let them use the tiger shark as the GroupÕssymbol. In a few days Christman and other artists had painted sharks on every plane. Improving on the British model, they added a red tongue and a staring red eye behind the propeller.Ó The photo of Christman seen on p. 35 of this issue is printed in the book. (Right:) Examining the rudder from a shot-down Japanese plane are (l. to r.): Tex Hill, Noel Bacon, Tom Cole, Ed Rector, Frank Lawlor, Frank Schiel. Both photos by George Rodgers from Life, March 30, 1942. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

Five examples of the Ònose artÓ Bert Christman did for his fellow Flying Tigers of the Second Pursuit (Panda Bear) Squadron.

In Search Of Bert Christman

Two Christman sketches dated ÒNov. Õ41Ð Toungoo,Ó Burma. On the left, a damaged P-40. On the right, one of the fighter planes has been hoisted onto a truckbed for maintenance. David Armstrong says that, according to correspondence shared with him by artist Alex Toth, ChristmanÕsmother sent Òa batch of drawings and newspaper clippingsÓ some years ago to Tomahawk and DC cover artist Fred Ray. These two sketches are from that batch, and came to David via Alex. Toth, David reminds us, did a Flying Tigers story titled ÒBurma RoadÓ in DCÕsOur Fighting Forces #146Ñand dedicated it to Bert Christman. [See pp. 36-38.] [©2005 Estate of Bert Christman.]

[continued from p. 29] “All the other squadron insignias were the same, but ours were different, in that Bert figured the personality into the individual who had the plane,” Ed Rector explained. “As an example, John Petach was in the Second Squadron. And John was always on a bicycle with his camera strung out behind him, pedaling off when he had off time to take in the local sights and take pictures. So, here’s a panda bear on a bicycle, camera strung out behind, and that portrayed Petach. But that was the individuality that the Second Squadron had in portraying each individual as Bert saw us.” Tex agreed: “So, when our squadron was designated the Panda Bear Squadron, he personalized a lot of the panda bears. He got through about eight of them. But that panda bear would have some characteristic in it, and you could look at that panda bear and know whose airplane it was.” The Second Pursuit Pandas are inside jokes: Jack Newkirk as a partying New Yorker (Scarsdale Jack)—Moose Moss, a down-home boy with a jug of moonshine and a checkerboard—Gil Bright parachuting to safety (after a mid-air collision with John Armstrong)—Tex Hill as a cowpoke—and Peter Wright, who was kidded about his prominent rear end. Although AVG markings expert Terrill Clements says that the cowboy did make it onto the fuselage of the Tomahawk crashed by Tex Hill on the first night of the war, the only photograph that survives of any of the marked planes is that of John Petach, with Bob Layher standing in front. As he got time, Bert continued to sketch. Throughout November, he drew the local surroundings. He also sketched the planes being serviced, as well as accidents—everything around him. And these drawings are very accomplished renderings. As the squadrons continue to train, the shocking news came of the attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, as well as the other Japanese attacks across Asia that quickly followed. The group was put on constant alert, and on Dec. 11th Christman and Rector escorted a photo

This photo is apparently the only one which survives showing ChristmanÕs Panda Bear art. Here, pilot Bob Layher stands in front of John PetachÕs P-40. Note cartoon of Petach on his bicycle, with cameras slung around his neck. Photo courtesy of Bob Layher.

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

plane for a long-range reconnaissance mission over the Bangkok, Thailand, main airfield. The mission was a success, but it revealed a massive buildup of Japanese aircraft—set to attack Burma. For safety, Chennault moved his First and Second Squadrons back to Kunming. It was near that city, in southern Yunnan Province, that these two AVG squadrons first met the Japanese Air Force in air battle on December 20, 1941. The Japanese force lost ten bombers to a single AVG plane. The next battles would be over Rangoon with the Third Squadron’s eighteen planes. In two days of air battles—December 23 and 25—the “Hell’s Angels” lost two pilots and half a dozen Tomahawks, but the survivors shot down at least fourteen and probably seventeen of the enemy. Most of their victims were heavy bombers, meaning that the Japanese army lost 90 men in less than two hours of combat over Rangoon. The AVG also destroyed two fighters. The battle for Burma had begun over Rangoon. Bert and the Panda Bear Squadron were sent to Kunming, China, while the “Hell’s Angels” remained to defend Rangoon, but the Second Squadron was soon rotated in to relieve the defenders. They arrived at the Mingaladon airfield, north of Rangoon, on December 30, 1941. On January 4th Bert, one of six fighters attacking 27 bombers, was shot down, his plane riddled with bullets, and he was forced to parachute to safety. One of the rounds had traveled through his cockpit and grazed his neck. He was hospitalized briefly and told a local newspaper, “I guess I’ll be fine in a day or two. I’m sure going to get a couple—or more—of those Japanese smarties before long.”

The Final Flight – Jan. 23, 1942 On January 20th he returned from another mission with a badly damaged aircraft. On Friday, January 23, 1942, 72 Japanese aircraft attacked Rangoon. Christman was one of the 18 planes that were launched to intercept them.

“Four fighters had taken off—Bert Christman and I were second two,” Ed Rector remembered, “taking off late. We took off on a different runway and I was on Bert’s wing, because the radar had picked up many unknowns coming in from the northeast. And that’s all the radar was capable of doing then… the original radar was not that well defined. And we took off. As we started climbing, our gear up, Bert looked over to me and signaled, ‘Can you hear?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And he pointed to me to take over, to take the lead, and he got on my wing. I listened to the controller, who told us, ‘A bit left.’ We kept climbing at max speed. We got up to over fifteen thousand feet, I looked up ahead and there are 27 dive bombers in a tight formation. They were fixed landing gear dive bombers, 27 of ’em in three ‘v’ of ‘v’s. Behind ’em there was an escort, I could see, of Zero fighters escorting them, a mile to two miles to the rear. Bert saw them and I called the other squadron, the other four guys, who had proceeded us in the take-off. I said, ‘Spotted…’ and I told them, ‘We’re attacking now.’ Noel Bacon, the leader of that flight, said, ‘We’re coming over to join you.’ “Well, I got about 400 feet up above the formation, coming at us. Bert was out here, and he’d pulled out, right on my wing as I was going in. And I went by that formation. I did not aim at one plane, they were just all together—I just strafed the whole damned formation. I pulled through it and pulled around. I came back and made a head-on pass and the Zeros were just catching up to the maelstrom and I saw the other P-40s—I heard them coming in. There was a hellacious dogfight that took place. It was all over. I had claimed I blew up one Zero and I don’t know whether I got one of the dive bombers or not—I never claimed it. “We all came back then, after the fight, and landed and… no Bert. And I thought, ‘Oh, hell.’ Because Bert had

In Search Of Bert Christman eager to engage the enemy. The third time, he was shot down and killed. He always made cool, well-calculated decisions under fire.” And in his final remarks: “This officer was one of the highest assets that the squadron had, and his death is a loss far more serious than the loss of his companionship.” It is truly our loss that such a vital artist, who sought, lived, and portrayed adventure was cut down so early in life. One can just wonder at where someone with Bert Christman’s talent would have gone had he survived the war. Another shame is that this innovative creator who worked for so short a time is little remembered by today’s comic reader. The scarcity and cost of the early pre-hero comics, as well as the early “Sandman” stories in Adventure and early Action Comics have made any broad view, by collector and scholar alike, almost prohibitive. Fortunately, the recent Sandman Archives collection from DC Comics will give Christman’s contributions new light and the recognition he so richly deserves.

In retrospect, it’s also important to remember that, though he was serious about adventure, Christman appeared to have enjoyed This photo from TolandÕs1963 book shows four fliers in front of a plane with a cartoon tiger insignia. having fun. As Tex tells it: “Bert told a funny (L. to r.): John Alison, Tex Hill, Albert Baumler, and Mack Mitchell. The actual American Volunteer Group, story one time, I’ll never forget the joke. These known as Òthe Flying Tigers,Ó was disbanded in July 1942, when the 10th Air Force organized the China Air Task Force with three fighter groups. These four men were then regular Air Force (Hill stayed on with five pigs were up before the magistrate. He asked other pilots from the AVG). [©2005 the respective copyright holders.] him want he was charged with. One of the pigs said, ‘Making bubbles in the mud.’ So the next the regard and the respect of all of us. He was a great pilot, a great pig said, ‘I was charged with the same thing. Making bubbles in the thinker, a great planner. And I said, ‘Well, I hope he made it. I hope he mud.’ And he turned to the third pig and said, ‘Who are you?’ He said, bailed out and we’ll hear from him.’ Within two hours, no, within an ‘I’m Bubbles.’ That was Bert’s contribution.” hour after we landed, we knew that, 35 miles northeast or north and a Bert Christman didn’t make bubbles—he made history. bit east of Rangoon, Bert’s body was found. And he was brought in that night. We had several testimonials from natives, as well as British officers—that he had bailed out and four or five fighters strafed him while he was coming down in his chute and riddled his body.” “I don’t think he saw the guy, the last time,” added Tex. “But that combat was real heavy in those days. You know, there’s so damned many airplanes in the air. Bert, he was shot down twice before. And this time they got him in his parachute. He, as a matter of fact, was hit in the neck. His parachute was riddled.” He was buried the next day at the Church of Edward the Martyr in Rangoon. After the war, Christman’s body was moved to an English cemetery in Calcutta, India, where it was placed in an above-ground vault. When his mother learned of this, she requested that his remains be returned to Ft. Collins. On Saturday, February 4, 1950, Allen Bert Christman was finally laid to rest. Famous Funnies and Associated Press printed tributes, and Paramount Newsreels produced a segment tribute to Bert Christman. Jack Newkirk, the unit commander, in his final report, made two statements that also serve as tribute: “This officer was twice shot down yet displayed no lack of courage and was always

The Short And Adventurous Life Of The Man Who Created ÒTheSandmanÓ

[David Armstrong has been in the entertainment business for over 30 years. He started at the American Film Institute and was a film editor on John Cassavetes’ A Woman under the Influence. He was active in theatrical distribution and segued to the television business. Most recently, he was VP of Programming & Acquisition for USA Networks International and Senior VP of International Television Distribution for MGM. He is currently head of Business Development at G7 Animation (www.g7animation.com). He is also President of the American Association of Comicbook Collectors (www.aacc-info.com).]

(Above:) This tribute to Christman appeared in a 1942 issue of Famous Funnies, and reproduced one of his 1937 Scorchy Smith dailies. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.] (Left:) Another late-1930s photo of Bert Christman, probably taken at the same time as the one on p. 3.

BERT CHRISTMAN Checklist [NOTE: See the Creig Flessel Checklist on p. 17 for the key to the information below.] Name: Allen Bert Christman [1915-42] (artist, writer) Pen Names: Christopher; Spencer Trent (?) Education: Colorado State University Influences: Noel Sickles Honors: Christman Air field in Fort Collins, Colorado, is named in his honor. Syndicated Credits (Newspaper Comic Strips): Scorchy Smith (w/a) 1936-38 COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US): Centaur Comics (incl. Chesler, Comics Magazine Company, et al.): The Spinner (1936-37) DC Comics: The Lucky Ring (Action Comics); The Sandman (1939-40); The Three Aces (1939-40)

“Christman Was Well On His Way To Becoming Another Noel Sickles” ALEX TOTH On The Art Of BERT CHRISTMAN

INTRO NOTE: As per usual, we’ll mostly let our Golden/Silver Age master artist speak for himself, but first, thanks are in order to David Armstrong, who forwarded this two-page missive penned by Alex in 2000. And perhaps we should point out in advance that the Christman drawing of Scorchy Smith which he mentions below is the one printed on p. 21. The late Jerry de Fuccio was the longtime associate editor of Mad magazine, and was an inveterate comics researcher and collector. —Roy.

(This page & opposite:) The first and final pages of the story ÒBurma SkyÓ from Our Fighting Forces #146 (Dec. 1973-Jan. 1974). Note the dedication by Toth, on the final page, to Bert Christman. Script by Archie Goodwin. Thanks for the scans to Bob Bailey and Bob Cherry. [©2005 DC Comics.]

ÒChristmanWas Well On His Way To Becoming Another Noel SicklesÓ

TothÕsletter suggests the most likely source of the Ògas maskÓ which Bert Christman gave his Sandman. Here, the evil Captain Judas gets the drop on Terry, Connie, and Big Stoop in the Terry and the Pirates daily for Nov. 22, 1937. Christman further modified/simplified the mask, although some latter-day artists draw it like a true vintage-1940 gas mask. It was never intended to be that. Incidentally, if you ever get a shot at any of the NBM/Flying Buttress volumes of Milt CaniffÕsTerry, grab Õem!Adventure comic strips didnÕtget any better, before or since. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

Alex Toth On The Art Of Bert Christman

A year and a half later, Alex Toth illustrated a second ÒFlying TigersÓ storyÑthis one for Atlas/SeaboardÕsSavage Combat Tales #2 (April 1975), and starring a hero code-named ÒWarhawk.Ó Script again by Archie Goodwin. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

(Above:) The ÒD.X. LawlerÓ of Archie GoodwinÕsscript was probably inspired by the name of Frank Lawler, one of the original Flying Tigers.

The Saga Of The Sandman 75 Years Of The Master Of Dreams––A Quick Overview by Lou Mougin

ontrary to what some newbies may think, the Sandman of comics didn’t start out as the pale-faced Lord of Dreams.

(Above:) Even though The Sandman made his first appearance (above), drawn by Bert Christman in the 1939 New York World’s Fair Comics, an origin story would have to wait till Secret Origins #7 (Oct. 1986)! [©2005 DC Comics.]

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman had a lot of predecessors. All of them, except for one Marvel Comics super-villain namesake, stemmed from a single source, and that source itself stemmed from radio’s Green Hornet of the 1930s. If the idea of Dream evolving from a green-clad, gas-gun-toting vigilante makes you check your sanity reading, don’t worry. We’ll explain it all, in time.

Adventure Comics needed a “name” character to carry the load in 1939. Action Comics had hit paydirt the year before with “Superman,” and Bill Finger and Bob Kane’s “Batman” had just debuted in Detective Comics. The first wave of super-heroes were bursting out of the gates, and DC, the originator of the trend, needed other mystery-men

(Above:) While the art credits on ÒThe SandmanÓ after the first few by Christman and Flessel are in dispute, Ogden WhitneyÑlater noted for ÒSkymanÓ and ÒHerbieÓÑdrew the story in Adventure Comics #46 (Jan. 1940). (Right:) And Chad Grothkopf verified to art researcher Craig Delich that he not only penciled and inked the ÒSandmanÓ story in All-Star Comics #1 (Summer 1940), but inked and lettered it, as well! According to Jerry Bails, the one in AllStar #2 was penciled by Creig Flessel and inked by Grothkopf. [©2005 DC Comics.]

to headline its remaining titles. Two months after Batman’s first appearance, Adventure #40 had its own masked avenger. To be precise, it had a gas-masked avenger. The cover showed said hero in mask, hat, cape, and business suit, spraying a hoodlum with gas from his handgun. A banner above the logo said, “Beginning this issue: The daring exploits of THE SANDMAN!” And so it was. The first “Sandman” story was credited to “Larry Dean.” In it,

socialite Wesley Dodds used his dukes and his gun full of sleeping gas to take on a bad-guy called The Tarantula, and set the tone for his earliest run of exploits. After a few issues, we learned more details of Wes’ earlier life: he had been “in the service” six years earlier as a pilot (probably ending in 1933), he was a “steel magnate,” and he had two old Army buddies, Dr. Clyde Dunlap and Happy O’Shea, who formed “The Three Sandmen” with him for a one-shot appearance in issue #42. (In that issue, Wes didn’t even appear in costume.) His girlfriend was Dian Belmont, who showed up in issue #47 and who alone knew his double identity. Her father was the district attorney. From The Green Hornet he took his modus operandi; from the pulpmag hero The Shadow, his playboy otherself. There was enough swiping to make the character familiar, but enough originality (or at least conflicting swiping) to keep the lawsuits away. There was no origin, and would be none until Roy Thomas wrote one for him in the 1980s. Nobody seemed to care.

75 Years Of The Master Of Dreams Sandman was given a spiffier yellow-and-purple skin-tight costume (complete with cape) and, yes, a kid sidekick, in “The Case of the Giant Bees!” Sandy Hawkins arrived to help him in that story, saying he’d always been a fan of The Sandman; he dressed up in a similar costume to lend his hero a hand, and stuck around for the rest of the run. Dian Belmont immediately faded from view, except for a cameo or two in AllStar Comics, in whose 10th issue his new costume made its first appearance. Norris and Grothkopf also drew the stories in Adventure #70-71. But the big change was yet to come. With “The Riddle of the Slave Market” (Adventure #72), Joe Simon and Jack Kirby arrived to do the art and scripting chores. Hot from their Captain America stint at Timely, the pair were bursting with ideas to foist on DC, including their “Manhunter” strip which would debut in the next issue. They were hired to further rework Sandman and Sandy, and that’s just what they proceeded to do.

Splash of Adventure Comics #69 (Dec. 1941), in which Sandman first sported his purple-and-yellow garb and hooked up with Sandy. A caption on page 2 relates: ÒActing swiftly, Wes Dodds throws off his clothes and appears in the glamorous costume of the Ð Sandman!Ó But there was no mention that it was a new Òglamorous costume.Ó Paul Norris informed Craig Delich that the editor told him to imitate Bob KaneÕsstyle in this story. [©2005 DC Comics.]

Taking their cue from the name of the hero, Joe and Jack built their “Sandman” stories around dreams. With titles like “Dreams of Doom,” “Footprints in the Sands of Time,” “The Man Who Couldn’t Sleep,” and “The Unholy Dreams of Gentleman Jack,” they delivered up tales of yellow-and-purple-clad heroes who haunted the nightmares of every evil-doer who dared to dream at night, which was apparently all of them. The gas-gun was summarily retired; this Sandman and Sandy put their foes to sleep with their fists, though they did swing from building

Creig Flessel drew The Sandman’s earliest cover apearance on Adventure #40. Bert Christman illustrated the first five stories, after which Flessel drew the episodes in Adventure #44-45. Ogden Whitney stepped in to illo the next three, after which Flessel returned. The earliest “Sandman” stories were six pages in length; later they expanded to ten pages. “The Sandman” also appeared in anthology issues #1-2 of AllStar Comics in 1940, and with #3 became a charter member of the new and groundbreaking Justice Society of America, attending every meeting through #21 in 1944. The Sandman held the cover spot on Adventure #40, 42, 44, and 46, alternating with generic adventure scenes. Then, in #48, Adventure gained a second hero, one with a more colorful costume: The HourMan. After that, The Sandman looked positively moribund. In addition, his stories were increasingly run-ofthe-mill. He commandeered covers only on #51 and #60 before Starman arrived, with an even neater costume and better art than Hour-Man. Clearly, if the gas-gun gladiator was to survive amid all this competition, he’d have to try a new tack. Green Hornet ripoffs were so yesterday. By Adventure #69 (Dec. 1941), a makeover went into effect. In a story drawn by Paul Norris (pencils) and Chad Grothkopf (inks), The

(Left:) Simon & KirbyÕsvery first Sandman cover, for Adventure Comics #74 (May 1942), established the dream motif. (Above:) The ÒSandmanÓ splash from World’s Finest Comics #7 (Fall 1942) is reproÕdfrom a copy of an Australian b&w reprint comic, with thanks to Shane Foley and Mark Cannon. Since this story was never reprinted by DC, Shane suspects it was retouched by Greg Theakston for one of his Kirby reprint projects. [Sandman & Sandy TM & ©2005 DC Comics; retouched art ©2005 Greg Theakston?]

The Saga Of The Sandman to building on a wirepoon handgun. Thanks to Joe and Jack’s actionpacked tales, they never lacked reason to use them. The new art-andstory team also made a few minor adjustments to the costume, including dropping the cape. One other trademark was added to the character during Joe and Jack’s reign. Whenever he triumphed, The Sandman usually left a note behind, pinned to his fallen foe’s body: There is no land beyond the law Where tyrants rule with unshakeable power! It’s but a dream from which the evil wake To face their fate—their terrifying hour! The SANDMAN It wasn’t exactly Keats or Shelley, but it seemed to do the job even better than a few grains of sand had previously. With issue #74, The Sandman returned to the covers of Adventure Comics, and held the spot for nearly all issues through #102. For a short time, he’d alternate with Simon & Kirby’s own Manhunter, but that was it. Beginning in 1944, Simon & Kirby confined themselves to drawing just the covers and were spelled on the interior art, usually by up-andcoming young artists like Gil Kane. Then, in 1946, Adventure Comics underwent a huge format change. More Fun Comics had just been turned into an all-humor title, and its several hero features needed a new home—namely, Adventure Comics. As Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Johnny Quick piped themselves aboard, the only Adventure hero to be retained was The Shining Knight. With Adventure #102 (Feb.-Mar. 1946), Sandman and Sandy were put to bed, seemingly forever.

he showed not only why Sandy was absent, but why Wes Dodds had changed from his yellow-and-purple gear back to his business suit. A failed experiment with his sand-gun had transformed Sandy into a rampaging monster. Wes had finally subdued the lad, but had to keep him in suspended animation for decades. Feeling remorse, Dodds had torn up his yellow uniform and retired. When he returned in ’67, in a story penciled by Dick Dillin, he wore his gas-masked getup. Now Sandy had escaped, and it took a JLA/JSA teaming to round him up again. The monstrous kid regained his mind and memory, but he still looked like a big, ugly, silicon-based monster. The Sandman vowed to help his protégé regain his humanity. Some years later, in a two-parter in the back of DC Comics Presents, he did just that. After that, The Sandman made only a few brief appearances in preCrisis on Infinite Earths DC—not counting Roy Thomas’ All-Star Squadron from 1981-86, which took place in 1941-42 and thus utilized the Simon & Kirby version. In stories set in real time, it was revealed that Wes Dodds had suffered a stroke and could only walk with the aid of a cane. He showed up with Sandy to testify on behalf of his old team in Thomas’ 1985 mini-series America vs. the Justice Society—then, in 1986, both he and the kid were packed off by writer Thomas and artist David Ross to an alternate dimension to fight Surtur in the Last Days of the Justice Society Special. That was the last anyone heard of Wesley Dodds for a long time.

And so it stayed for 21 years. Then, in 1967, somebody turned the hourglass over, just a bit. Since 1963, Justice League of America had been running annual twopart team-ups with the group’s predecessors, the Justice Society. In each appearance, editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox brought back at least one old JSA member who hadn’t been seen before by modern audiences. In 1967 the candidate was The Sandman. However, it wasn’t the guy in yellow-and-purple who came back. Fox and Schwartz might have been able to make Simon & Kirby’s Captain Americaesque crusader work, but they evidently saw no reason to. Fox was more familiar with the original version of the hero, which he himself had co-scripted, probably from the start, and that was what he and his editor went with. The Sandman was back in his business suit, hat, and gas mask. But this time, instead of a gas-gun, he used a rayweapon that could mold sand into whatever form he needed, like bricks to bonk crooks over the head, or glass to encase their gun hands. While this offended a few purists, it made the character more than just another costumed, non-powered adventurer. These two issues of JLA were the ones seen by a very young Neil Gaiman, and, in decades to come, they would lead him to the creation of his own Sandman, Master of Dreams. The Sandman cameoed or starred in several other JLA-JSA team-ups, not being deemed a heavy enough hitter to get his own team-up or tryout as several other Golden Age heroes had. By 1971, DC expanded the page count of its comics to 52 pages and filled the backs of their titles with reprint features. Jack Kirby, for his Fourth World titles, used stories he and Joe Simon had produced back in the Golden Age. That meant modern readers got a chance to see The Sandman and Sandy in the back of The Forever People, in all their dreamy, fisticuffing glory. They did leave a favorable impression, but it set readers and modern comics scripters to wondering: whatever happened to Sandy, anyway? Len Wein answered that question in JLA #113 (Oct. 1974), in which

In Justice League of America #113, Sandman shredded his Simon & Kirby outfit and went back to gas mask and cape. Script: Len Wein. Art: Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano. ReproÕdfrom photocopies of the original art, courtesy of Brian H. Bailie. [©2005 DC Comics.]

75 Years Of The Master Of Dreams “Sandman phenomenon” on its hands, editorial director Carmine Infantino had the series continued with scripts from Michael Fleisher and Kirbyesque art from Ernie Chan and longtime Kirby inker Mike Royer. Kirby himself came back to pencil issues #4-6, but in the end the book just wasn’t strong enough to warrant continuation. With one story—“The Seal Men’s War on Santa Claus”—left unpublished, it went into the can. The character didn’t quite stay there, though. In Kamandi’s postKirby storyline, writer Jack C. Harris decided to connect Jack’s other series to Earth After Disaster. He crafted an arc of stories in which Kamandi entered the Dream Stream, met The Sandman, and learned that he was—himself, another incarnation of the hero, à la Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion. One issue was to be built around a firsttime printing of the unpublished Fleisher/Kirby story. Unfortunately, before it could see print, Kamandi fell victim to the DC Implosion. “Seal Men” was finally printed a few years later in a DC Christmas digest. The new Sandman couldn’t quite be kept down, however. He showed up in 1983’s Justice League of America Annual #1 (by writers Paul Levitz & Len Wein and artists Rick Hoberg & Dick Giordano) to help the group against their dream-based foe, Dr. Destiny. Then, in Wonder Woman #300 (written by Roy & Dann Thomas, with related pencils by Gene Colan and Keith Giffen), he tried to woo and win the Amazing Amazon herself for a bride, but failed. It would later be revealed that, in the post-Crisis world, this version of The Sandman committed suicide, which is about as far from a Kirby character denouement as you could get. But he was already being replaced by a new Sandman.

The giant-size Wonder Woman #300 (Feb. 1983) not only finally gave an origin to the 1970s Simon & Kirby Sandman, but also introduced Lyta (Fury) Trevor, who would cohabit with one incarnation of Sandman and give birth years later to another. Script by Roy & Danette (now Dann) Thomas, art by Keith Giffen & Larry Mahlstedt. Thanks to Shane Foley. [©2005 DC Comics.]

But it wasn’t the last of The Sandman.

In Infinity, Inc. #49 (April 1988), the 1974 version of The Sandman showed up on the cover, apparently about to molest a sleeping Lyta Hall (a.k.a. Fury). In the story by writer Roy Thomas and penciler Vince Argondezzi, the new Sandman was unmasked as her lover, Hector Hall, son of the Golden Age Hawkman and formerly The Silver Scarab—who had been dead for several issues. The next ish revealed that Hector’s soul had been thrust into the Dream Stream, where Brute and Glob had implanted him in the corpse of Garrett Sanford. As the new Sandman, Hec was able to reunite with his pregnant lover. By story’s end, Lyta went into the Dreamworld with Hector. This was to have long-reaching implications.

In the wake of the Fourth World’s cancellation and the death of The Demon, Jack Kirby was assigned to various and sundry DC experimental projects. One of these, in 1974, was a one-shot comic entitled The Sandman #1. It reunited Jack with ex-partner Joe Simon for the first time since the late 1950s. Rather than reviving the Golden Age Sandman, Joe (as scripter) and Jack (as artist) opted for a new hero based partly on their old one, but amping the dream connection to a higher pitch.

Infinity, Inc. died in 1988. The next year, a talented new scribe named Neil Gaiman was looking for old DC heroes to refurbish, as he already had The Black Orchid. The possibility of The Sandman came up. But Neil was pointedly not interested in a straight revival of any version of the character that had gone before. Instead, he opted to write the über-Sandman: Morpheus, the god of dreams. Melding the DC mythos with mysticism and myth, Gaiman created a series that became the big hit of the succeeding decade, and one of the most literate comic books of all time.

This time, The Sandman, who wore a red-and-yellow costume with an hourglass insignia on its chest, was Dr. Garrett Sanford, a scientist whose experiments had caused him to become enmeshed in the “Dream Stream,” the realm of dreams that humans enter while sleeping. He could emerge from this world for short periods (not unlike, say, Freddy Krueger some years later), and could mainly be accessed by a young boy named Jed, who dreamed a lot. The Sandman had a pair of assistants in the nightmare realm, the globbish Glob and the brutish Brute, both of whom were actually fairly good-natured, and the story was pitched at the kiddie market. (The name of the villain, “General Electric,” was a pretty clear indicator of that.) When a fluke distribution situation caused The Sandman #1 to sell so well that DC briefly imagined it had a

Within a Sandman story arc, we learned what had become of Hector and Lyta. Hec had become slightly dotty, a cruel parody of the 1970s Simon & Kirby hero; Lyta, who lived with him, Brute, and Glob in the Dream Stream, had become listless and unfocused, carrying her baby for years without giving birth. The true Sandman arrived and demanded an accounting. Brute and Glob admitted they had wanted to develop their own Sandman in their master’s absence, and had schemed to put first Sanford, then Hall, in that place. Morpheus summarily dissolved Hector Hall, bidding his soul go to the place set aside for it, and Lyta Trevor Hall was banished from the Dreaming, to deliver her baby in due time in the real world. The Sandman promised he would return one day to take her child with him. Eventually he did, which drove Lyta half-mad and

The Saga Of The Sandman

Many artists have taken a crack at The Sandman over the years, in one of his guises or another. (Left:) A sketch by 1970s ÒJustice SocietyÓ artist Joe Staton for collector Duncan Goodyer. [Art ©2005 Joe Staton; Sandman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.] (Right:) This one, rendered by Sandman Mystery Theater artist Guy Davis, comes courtesy of the artist and collector Robert Justice. [Art ©2005 Guy Davis; Sandman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.]

was the spark of the “Kindly Ones” arc; at the climax of that story, Morpheus finally was taken by Death, and Lyta’s son Daniel became the new Sandman. Keeping things in the family, so to speak. But there was still one more incarnation to be covered. It was revealed in the Gaiman Sandman #1 that Wesley Dodds had carried a shard of the Sandman’s soul in himself, and had been subconsciously inspired by Morpheus to design his own heroic identity with a gas mask that partially mirrored the Dream King’s own battle helmet. The cameo and name similarity stirred up enough interest in the character that in 1993 DC launched a new title, Sandman Mystery Theater, starring Wes Dodds and his gas-masked alter ego, along with Dian Belmont and several other time-honored (or -worn) characters. The title came out under DC’s Vertigo imprint and, as written by Matt Wagner and Stephen Seagle, tried for heavy atmosphere and nostalgia. Gaiman popped in for a special that let Dodds meet Morpheus, very briefly. The series lasted most of the decade. At present, save for some Sandman Presents specials, cameo appearances by the new Sandman (Daniel Hall) in various titles, and odd one-shots whenever Neil Gaiman feels like revisiting the character, The Sandman is mostly dormant. Sooner or later, however, a new incarnation or a repackaging of an old one is bound to turn up at DC. After all, it’s hard to kill a dream. And, if you want to read something about the Marvel Sandman, write your own article! [Lou Mougin is a native of Texas, and has been reading, writing about, and occasionally even writing comic books over a span of four decades. He hopes you won’t hold that against him.]

The Amazing Adventures Of MICHAEL CHABON The Author Of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Talks About Researching The Golden Age Of Comics

E-Mail Interview Conducted By Roy Thomas

OTE: By now, everyone who has even a quasi-serious interest in the history of comic books has heard about, whether or not he/she has actually read, Michael Chabon’s 2000 novel, which is named above. Chances are you also know that it won a Pulitzer Prize. The novel is, of course, a work of fiction, although strong echoes of the real-life careers of “Superman” creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and to a lesser extent those of other Golden Age talents, can be found within its pages. In addition, numerous true-life creators make cameos therein, as in one memorable scene where Stan Lee, Gil Kane, and Bob Powell share a lunch (and conversation) with the fictitious Frank Pantaleone, Marty Gold, and Julie Glovsky. This brief interview, conducted by e-mail after several attempts to accommodate both our schedules for a phone talk failed to pan out, deals not with the literary aspects of the novel, but with Chabon’s research on the Golden Age, as detailed in his “Author’s Note” at the end of the book. —Roy. ROY THOMAS: Assuming you consciously know—what inspired you to write a novel using the early comic book industry as the background? MICHAEL CHABON: That is actually a big assumption. After it’s all over, and some time goes by, and you start doing interviews, you sort-of create this secondary narrative of the origins of the story— when, a lot of

times, it’s really a piecemeal and, as you suggest, unconscious business. But I think the book has a dual origin. Its roots lie in my father’s Brooklyn childhood of the 1940s and ’50s, and the stories that he used to tell me about it. Comics were a big part of that Michael Chabon (top left)Ñand the cover of the childhood, as they paperback edition of The Amazing Adventures of were of mine—my Kavalier and Clay. We printed the wraparound dust jacket of the hardcover edition in Alter Ego dad made sure of that. #39. [Art ©2005 the respective copyright holder; So there was always photo ©2005 Patricia Williams.] this connection in my mind and imagination between old comics, “old-time” super-heroes, and New York City of the Golden Age. Of course, this connection was reinforced by the content of the books themselves, since the “Gothams” and “Metropolises,” etc., in those stories were just versions, to me, of New York. The second point of origin came many years later, long after I had stopped reading comics, when I had a pair of encounters, one after the other. One was with an article about Siegel and Shuster in some magazine, maybe Smithsonian. I was struck anew by the pathos of their story, by their Jewishness, and by the echo of the world of my father’s youth. The other encounter was with the lone surviving box of comics from my boyhood collection, which sort-of tumbled out of a closet one day when I was preparing to move—all the Jack Kirby books that were what I had saved. I had been carting it around for years without ever opening it. The smell of those old books seemed to carry an overwhelming odor of the past, of history, and, I thought, remembering that magazine article about Superman’s fathers, of story. RT: How did you go about researching the early-’40s comics? Did you borrow a bunch of them?

The cover of JulesÕFeifferÕs1965 Dial Press book The Great Comic Book Heroes. Excerpted a few months earlier in Playboy, this combination of prose by the cartoonist/satirist plus a dozen fullcolor vintage super-hero stories (and one lone page of ÒCaptain Marvel,Ó all that could be published at the time because of the 1953 DC-Fawcett legal settlement) marked the beginning of an adult public consciousness of comic booksÑor at least of a willingness to admit to nostalgia for them. FeifferÕstext, recently reprinted by Fantagraphics Books, is still well worth reading. [Superman art ©2005 DC Comics.]

The Amazing Adventures Of Michael Chabon

CHABON: I started where I started—with Jules Feiffer’s Great Comic Book Heroes, which was the first exposure I ever got as a kid to the comics of the Golden Age. I still had my old copy. Next I went down to Hi De Ho Comics in Santa Monica (I was living in L.A. at the time) and bought a few cheap, low-grade comics... an old Doll Man, and a Captain Marvel Jr., and a couple of others. RT: I’d like to ask you about the contributions of the people you especially mention in your

Gil Kane in 1991 at the DC offices. While he made groundbreaking attempts at more adult content in the 1970s with His Name Is Savage and his early paperback graphic novel Blackmark, in terms of mainstream comics Gil is remembered particularly for his co-creation of the Silver Age Green Lantern and Atom at DC, and for a long and important run on MarvelÕsAmazing Spider-Man. [Photo ©2005 Beth Gwinn.]

“Author’s Note”… starting with Gil Kane, whom you cite as a particular source for reminiscences. How much time do you estimate that you spent talking— by phone or in person—with Gil? What were some special insights there? CHABON: Gil was amazing. He invited me over to his apartment, and sat with me for over three hours while I pestered him. I guess it’s no secret that he was an opinionated and voluble guy. He didn’t have any trouble answering my questions at length! RT: Elaine Kane, Gil’s widow, says she hasn’t been able to read your book because there’s a lot there that she feels is Gil, so she finds it a bit painful. Of course, Gil intended that it be used… and she doesn’t dispute this. CHABON: Gee, I’m really sorry to hear that! I don’t think I really used all that much that was directly biographical or unique to Gil. A lot of the things he told me, the things he remembered, were

(Top Right:) Gil did full-art chores on this splashÑand the story that went with itÑfrom Green Lantern #50 (Nov. 1966). Our thanks to Shane Foley for sending a photocopy from a black-&white Australian reprint; and thanks to Carl Gafford for the issue ID. [©2005 DC Comics.] (Above & right:) A three-part progression from Amazing Spider-Man #123 (Aug. Õ73):GilÕslayoutsÑhis finished pencilsÑand the page as partly re-drawn by John Romita, and inked by Romita with the assistance of Tony Mortellaro. Thanks to Mike Burkey (or to some other generous benefactor whose name we misplaced) for photocopies of the original art. [©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Author Talks About Researching The Golden Age Of Comics

common to many of the first-generation comics men, and I don’t think I used any of the relatively few things he told me that were unique to him. It was pretty general New-York-City-upbringing stuff. The big exception to that, I think, would be the fact that, like Sam Clay, Gil had a “swipe” book, in which he kept poses and panels cut out from comics by other artists, and which he copied for his own work. But I’ve seen him talk about that in other interviews— how he underwent a kind of revolution in the early ’50s that led to his groundbreaking Green Lantern work. The truth is that, when Gil sat down to talk to me, he had no idea who I was (nobody did!), and I doubt that he thought anything would ever come of it. I know that’s what Will Eisner thought—he’s told me so! RT: You mention Will, and Stan Lee, as the two next in importance after Gil. What did they contribute? Did Stan actually remember anything?

(Top & above:) Will Eisner at the 2001 San Diego Comic-ConÑand his durable hero The Spirit, seen here in WillÕsoriginal line drawing for what became the cover of Warren PublishingÕsSpirit magazine #8 (June 1975). Others painted the cover. [Art ©2005 Will Eisner; photo ©2005 Marc Svensson.] (Left:) Above the July 30, 2000, Sunday entry of the long-running Spider-Man newspaper comic strip (with art by Alex Saviuk & Joe Sinnott) is a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Stan Lee. Stan titled this one: ÒJoanie never goes anywhere without her bottle of champagne!Ó The Lees have had a lot to celebrate in their half-century-plus togetherÑincluding, since 1978, one of the few adventure strips still going strong. Photo courtesy of Stan & Joan Lee. [Spider-Man strip ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Amazing Adventures Of Michael Chabon

(Top & above:) Artist Dick Ayers at dinner during a Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, in the 1990sÑjuxtaposed with perhaps his greatest co-creation, the original Ghost Rider, done for Vin SullivanÕsMagazine Enterprises. This page from Tim Holt #33 (1952), reproÕdfrom a photocopy of the original art, is courtesy of Ethan Roberts. Though Dick is justly proud of this work today, heÕsrelated how, in the early Õ50s,Dr. Wertham and his crowd were hot on the trail of even The Ghost RiderÑas a Òhorror comicÓ! Photo by Dann Thomas. [Art ©2005 the respective copyright holders; Ghost Rider TM & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Left:) Sheldon ÒShellyÓ Moldoff (in the striped shirt) and this issueÕsGolden Age interviewee Creig Flessel at a WonderCon in Berkeley, California, 1995. Although Shelly served a memorable stint as Bob KaneÕsÒBatmanÓ ghost from 1954-67, heÕsalso noted for his artwork on the early ÒHawkman.Ó This page is from his very first outing on the Winged Wonder, in Flash Comics #4 (April 1940). This story was reprinted in FeifferÕs1965 tome. Photo courtesy of David Siegel. [Hawkman panel ©2005 DC Comics.]

CHABON: Yes, he did. He was great! He gave me an hour on the phone. The thing is, I wasn’t really asking these guys the kind of questions they tended to get asked: “How did you come up with The Spirit, etc.?” I was asking, “Where did you go for a cheap date? What brand of cigarette did you smoke? Did you like to listen to the radio while you drew or wrote...?” That kind of stuff. Trying to get the texture of their lives at the time, more than actual biographical incidents or insights into the creation of certain characters. I did have a lot of questions about the production side of things, the sales and marketing of comics, because there seemed to be a paucity of information about that in the material I had access to. RT: What about the others you mention, such as Dick Ayers and Sheldon Moldoff, for example? CHABON: These were much shorter Q&A sessions that I conducted impromptu at WonderCon in 1996 after sitting down for an hour with

The Author Talks About Researching The Golden Age Of Comics

Will (and Ann). I just sneaked up beside these two gentlemen, introduced myself, and took advantage of their time for a little while. Moldoff seemed quite bitter; that made an impression. Ayers vividly communicated his memories of the embarrassment and even shame he felt about being a comics artist back in the Wertham era. RT: Next you list Marv Wolfman—and Lauren Shuler Donner (with whom I’m unfamiliar). CHABON: Marv was a friend of a friend; he was my conduit to Will and to Gil. Lauren is a movie producer and had worked with Stan, and she put us together. RT: How did you utilize the Kirby Mailing List and the website for Lev Gleason’s Comic House? CHABON: They were both valuable resources of information, tidbits, lore, history, etc. Being a member of the K-list also helped plug me back into the comics community, and I was able to glean a lot about the more recent history of comics from reading the members’ posts, all the years I’d missed. RT: The first major work to deal with vintage comics, of course, was Jules Feiffer’s The Great Comic Book Heroes, which you said was your first exposure to old comics. What do you feel you took from it— besides the inspiration for the name of Amazing Midget Radio Comics? (I’d forgotten that, till you told me in a previous e-mail.) CHABON: Well, as I’ve said, the Feiffer book was my first exposure

(Top center:) Marv Wolfman on the balcony at his lovely home in Tarzana, CaliforniaÑon a hillside where Edgar Rice Burroughs himself once wrote his sagas of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. Photo by Noel Wolfman. (Above:) Though Marv is also noted for scripting MarvelÕsTomb of Dracula, DCÕsNew Teen Titans, and numerous other comics, one of his favorite projects was his and artist Gil KaneÕscollaboration on ÒIf Superman DidnÕt ExistÉÓ in Action Comics #554 (April 1984). Marv related the story behind that minor classic in A/E #38. On this climactic page, two kids named Jerry and Joe (you guess their last names) create an entity to battle aliens who have robbed the Earth not only of all its heroesÑbut even of the memory of them. Thanks to Bob Cherry for the scan. [©2005 DC Comics.]

ever to characters like the old Human Torch, the Golden Age Green Lantern, and so on. There was that one tantalizing, deep-legal-entanglement page of the old Captain Marvel. Re-reading that book, I was mostly impressed by the world that Feiffer evokes in his introduction, both of his childhood in New York, and of his early days working in the business. RT: Anything else especially from the work of Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson—Ron Goulart—Mike Benton—Robert C. Harvey—Jim Steranko—Joe & Jim Simon—Marty Nodell?

Now it can be told! Michael Chabon says he got the inspiration for the title Amazing Midget Radio Comics in his novel from this drawing by Jules FeifferÑa homemade comic cover he did as a kid. (WeÕdsay Feiffer drew it in January 1941Ñbut maybe he post-dated his issue, just like the real comics did.) This artwork appeared in FeifferÕs1965 Great Comic Book Heroes volume. [©2005 Jules Feiffer.]

CHABON: Tons. Lupoff and Thompson—facts. Information. Ditto with Benton and Goulart—plus they make helpful evaluations of the quality of the work and stories. Harvey really got me thinking about comic art in a new way, looking at the art as storytelling in a way that I had never quite done before. Steranko is a special case. I got the first volume of his History as a present right after it came out, and it followed very closely on the heels

The Amazing Adventures Of Michael Chabon

49 memories of The Gibbon, who first appeared during my prime years of comics readership. He was a typically pathos-ridden villain of the day. RT: In doing the above, would you say that your view essentially concurs with that of Richard Kyle, expressed recently in a letter to Alter Ego—which is that Siegel and Shuster not only created Superman, but can be rightly credited with the creation of every single super-hero that came after? CHABON: That doesn’t strike me as an especially radical or hard-to-defend assertion! RT: You mention Philip Wylie’s novel Gladiator, too… and Tarzan… but not John Carter of Mars, a closer model for Superman. Or don’t you feel that it is?

Mart Nodell, genial artist and co-creator of the original Green Lantern, sent these two (color) sketches to Paul Bach, Jr., who generously shared them with us. Marty is another Golden-Ager who helped Michael Chabon with his researches. [Art ©2005 Mart Nodell; Green Lantern TM & ©2005 DC Comics.]

CHABON: Don’t I mention it? You’re right! Coincidentally, right now A Princess of Mars is the current reading material for my nightly story time with my two oldest kids. They’re loving it, but I have to confess I’m finding it a bit sawdusty. The action scenes are great, but there are fewer of them than you might recall.

of my exposure to Feiffer’s book. That one-two punch really gave me a sense that there was something called Comics History, that it was fun and silly and fascinating and incredibly rich in detail and incident. And Steranko’s giving primacy to the pulps, to their seminal role in comics history, that was crucial for me, too. RT: I presume Joe Simon’s tales of Nazi threats after the publication of Captain America #1 was a source of some of the events… CHABON: That, and of course the opening incident in his book, in which he describes Jerry Siegel threatening to jump off the building that housed DC Comics, wearing a Superman suit. I’m still trying to find out if that really happened.… RT: In a book that is basically realism—perhaps not even “magical realism”—you still have the legendary Golem make an actual, if immobile, appearance. I’m curious as to why. Were you concerned that that magical-type event might undercut the realism of the rest of the novel? Or did you feel there should be one quasi-fantasy element in the work? CHABON: I felt the narrative could handle it; I wasn’t making any supernatural claims, except perhaps at the end when the Golem turns up by rather inexplicable means. RT: Are you familiar with the 1944-45 version of the Golem legend that Joe Kubert did for, ironically, some Christian comics company? CHABON: Yes, I read about it someplace...! I can’t remember where or when. Of course, what I remembered was the short-lived Golem character who appeared in a couple of Marvel books back in the mid’70s. RT: Was it fun to play around with Kavalier and Clay’s nearcreation in the late 1930s of characters with now-fabled names, from Hawkman and The Owl and Catman to Wolverine? Did you think of Stan Lee’s Spidey villain The Gibbon when you mentioned that character? CHABON: Yes, that was really fun to write, and it always goes over well with audiences when I read it aloud. And yes, I have really vivid

Michael Chabon utilized the Jewish legend of the Golem as a major theme in his prize-winning bestseller. In the mid-1940s, a teenage Joe Kubert drew a comic book version of that medieval myth for the Protestant digest, The Challenger. Thanks to Al Dellinges. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

The Author Talks About Researching The Golden Age Of Comics

RT: I was curious that, with Sammy’s father being nicknamed “The Mighty Molecule,” you didn’t ever have him create a super-hero with that name. Is the source of this “The Mighty Atom” in early AllAmerican, or something else? CHABON: “The Mighty Atom” and my Molecule both have their source in Eugene Sandow, the performer and pioneer of “physical culture” (weight-lifting, Indian clubs, medicine balls, etc.) who was powerful and tiny (and Jewish). [NOTE: See photo of Sandow in A/E #37. —Roy.] RT: You have a “gigantic, step-gabled apartment block called Patroon Town” in New York City which is “a notorious tomb for the hopes of cartoonists.” Is it based on anything? (Probably derived from some such originally Dutch area?) CHABON: Uh, hmm. I think I was thinking of Tudor City and Stuyvesant Town and putting them together. I think Will had an office in Tudor City for a while. As for the “notorious grave, etc.,” was I referring to that, or to the little rowhouse in Chelsea where the two boys flop in the beginning?

RT: Do you feel that Jack Kirby’s Mr. Miracle was a conscious influence on The Escapist? (Or Steranko, for that matter?) CHABON: Steranko. I read about his career as an escape artist in Comic Book Marketplace, right as I was trying to get a handle on Joe Kavalier. The super-powered escape artist character came much later in the writing of the novel... a couple of years. At that point, Mr. Miracle was if anything a counter-influence. I almost scrapped the idea, thinking that it would seem like too much of a ripoff. But I was reassured by the thought that Kirby had also been influenced by hearing of Steranko’s career. Anyway, my guy would be coming first! RT: Creig Flessel mentioned that you told him you were going to try to get the spelling of his first name corrected in the paperback edition… but it didn’t get done. I presume it was just overlooked. CHABON: What can I say? I forgot! RT: Why did you single out Creig, among so many earlier pre“Superman” comic book artists? CHABON: I mentioned him because he was, in my view, one of the best. RT: “Iroquois Color,” I assume, was Eastern Color? You gave it a street (Lafayette) where EC later was based. CHABON: Really? I have no idea why I named it that, or why I chose that address.

Stan Lee conceived The Gibbon as a foe for Spidey when someone challenged him to do so while they were standing in front of the gibbon cage in a zooÑat least, thatÕshow Roy T. remembers Stan telling the story at the time. Cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #110 (July 1972) by Jazzy Johnny Romita, as reprinted in the b&w Essential Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 5. Presumably, it was only a coincidence that that issue turned out to be the last one Stan scripted; with #111, Gerry Conway took over to help artist/co-plotter Romita finish off the grapple with The Gibbon. [©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RT: You eventually had Empire housed in the Empire State Building—but I don’t believe you ever utilized the fact that Timely was based there, too, from at least around the end of 1941 or beginning of 1942. Was that just too confusing? CHABON: This is all taking place, of course, on Earth-K, where Timely never moved into those offices! RT: I lived in the Yorkville area of Manhattan for some years, and

The Amazing Adventures Of Michael Chabon

still encountered whitesupremacy groups handing out pamphlets on street corners in 1966-67. How did you research that part of the book? CHABON: I didn’t, beyond reading that Yorkville was the center of both German and proNazi life in New York, in my WPA Guide to New York City. Whatever details there are probably come from that book, and from the walks I took around the neighborhood sixty years later. RT: Did you have fun coming up with all those names for comics heroes—Mr. Machine Gun, The Four Freedoms, Luna Moth, The Monitor, etc.? Did you have others you wanted to use—only to discover there had already been a character by that name, perhaps a bit too prominent to ignore? Did you utilize the Overstreet Price Guide for that purpose?

(Left:) Jack Kirby was depicted as the protagonist of this 3-page story from Mystery Tales #50 (Feb. 1957), drawn by the late great Gray Morrow. Thanks to Gene Kehoe. [©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Right:) More than a decade later, Jack penciled this splash for Mister Miracle #1 (March-April 1971). It would be reprinted in black-&-white (with grey tones added by Jim Amash) in DCÕs1998 trade paperback Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle. Jim Steranko, whose career as magician/escape artist influenced Kirby re Mr. Miracle and Chabon re The Escapist, hasnÕtgiven us his blessing to print images of him or his great covers for his two-volume History of Comics, and weÕrehonoring his requestÑbut we still think youÕrethe greatest, Jim! [©2005 DC Comics.]

CHABON: You got it! Huge fun, and also frustrating when I found how often I had been anticipated, even when I went way, way out on a limb. And the Overstreet was always a very helpful resource in that regard. RT: You mention pre-Wonder Woman super-heroines “The Woman in Red” and “The Sorceress of Zoom.” I’m aware of the former, and of the pre-costume “Miss America” by Elmer Wexler over at Quality— but not the Sorceress of Zoom. Was she a real character? CHABON: I can’t believe I stumped Roy Thomas! I got it from: http://www.camelot4colors.com/interact.htm#The%20Sorceress%20of% Zoom: “The Sorceress of Zoom “This obscure feature about a villainous sorceress ran in all twenty issues of Fox Features’ Weird Comics in the early 1940s. The Sorceress’ encounter with Gareth, Merlin, Morgana Le Fay, Mordred, and one of the several Arthurian women named Elaine is related in ‘The Sorceresses of Camelot’ (Weird Comics #7, Oct., 1940). (Source: the Grand Comics Database.)” RT: That shows me! What was the inspiration, if any, for All Doll Comics, with Kid Vixen, Venus McFury, Greta Gatling, et al.? CHABON: It just seemed like a good idea at the time! RT: If you’d known there was a Canadian comic during World War II called Triumph Comics, would you have changed that name?

Actually, it’s amazing there wasn’t an early US Triumph to go with Victory Comics, etc.—though there was a Triumph Comics (or at least the name Triumph) at DC finally in 1995. CHABON: Probably I wouldn’t have used it, had I know about the Canadian title... but you’re right about how much I tried to avoid repeating or duplicating actual titles and characters. It took work, and I compiled lists. Probably I thought, “Victory Comics!” and then checked my list and saw that there already was a Victory Comics, and fired up the mental thesaurus, came up with “Triumph,” checked the list, and saw it wasn’t there. I never worried about “subsequent history.” If I’d seen the ’95 DC title, I would just have decided, “They copied my guys.” RT: But, amazingly, there never was a real Kiss Comics during the romance craze—nothing before Steve Gerber came up with a Kiss comic based on the rock group. CHABON: Yeah, how about that! They left a stone unturned. RT: You have Sammy enamored of the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair—so am I, though I was never able to see it, only the 1965 one. Do you have any special interest in that Fair yourself? CHABON: Absolutely. Always did. Both of them. And then my interest was deepened by David Gelernter’s fascinating novel-cumimaginary-memoir-cum-social-history, 1939: The Lost World of the Fair. RT: One of my favorite of your titles is Weird Date. You ought to write some issues of that one! CHABON: Stay tuned, there a “reprint” coming up soon.

The Author Talks About Researching The Golden Age Of Comics

ÒThe Sorceress of Zoom,Ó from early issues of Victor FoxÕsWeird Comics, was not strictly a super-heroine, says Stan Taylor, who sent the scan at left: ÒSheÕs more in the mystical mode. She has a magic mirror through which she can cast spells and control objects. SheÕsnot a Ôduke-it-outÕ-stylesuper-heroine. In fact, this story from issue #3 (June 1940) is the first time she is a do-gooder. She started out as a villainess. Joe Simon, who edited this issue, uses her as a template for his Green Sorceress in ÔBlueBolt.ÕIn fact, many of the characters Joe Simon and Jack Kirby would bring to Timely were thinly-veiled copies of Fox characters Ñthough much better drawn! I believe this story is by Don Rico, but IÕmnot 100% certain.Ó At right, the Sorceress in mystic action from Weird #19 (Nov. 1941) Ñstill a month pre-Wonder Woman debut!Ñcourtesy of Eric Schumacher. Thanks guys! [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

RT: You made up romance comics Love Crazy and Heartache—but the third title, Sweetheart, was almost identical to Fawcett’s Sweethearts. An oversight? CHABON: That’s a kind word for it. RT: And I’m real eager to read the Classics Illustrated adaptations of Gargantua and Pantagruel and Vathek… whether Sammy Clay wrote them or not. CHABON: You should see his version of Les Fleurs du Mal. RT: Other in-jokes—the S.S. Miskatonic…. CHABON: I thought of it as less of an in-joke and more of a reference to [H.P. Lovecraft’s short novel] At the Mountains of Madness, to which the whole Antarctic section of the novel, of course, alludes. RT: I’m curious—your book has the Escapist TV series, with “a young Peter Graves,” go on TV from 1951-53… before The Adventures of Superman. Did you just feel it would be fun to upstage the Man of Steel in that medium, rather than indicate The Escapist got a show as a result of Superman, as Sub-Mariner was once supposed to? CHABON: No, it was just that the show had to precede the termination

of the character’s existence in 1954, and come after the rise of network television. Simple as that. RT: You mention a Mad parody of The Escapist. Since this was 1954, it would have appeared in the four-color comic. Did you have a particular artist in mind for that parody? CHABON: Jack Davis. RT: Do you really feel as harshly about Dr. Fredric Wertham as you indicate in your novel? CHABON: No, I think Wertham was a very good man. Just a bad reasoner. I don’t think the book’s narrator ever casts any aspersions on him. The characters, maybe, but then they would. RT: How did The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist at Dark Horse come about? Were you surprised when it became a reality? CHABON: They contacted me and asked me if I thought it would be fun. I thought that it would. And it has been. And fun, of course, is good. RT: You go beyond the period of the novel in your pseudonymous “Escapism 101” essay in Dark Horse’s Escapist #1-2. Did you work this out before or while writing the novel, or was it a later addition?

The Amazing Adventures Of Michael Chabon

(Above left:) Dark HorseÕsquarterly comic Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist features stories of the super-hero created by the protagonists in his novel. The former has even spotlighted text pieces on the publishing background of the character, written by Malachi B. Cohen (which a few cynical souls have dared suggest is a pseudonym), plus a couple of leftover Alter Ego articles by Roy Thomas. Here, done to accompany the latter, is a pencil rough by RoyÕs1970s Incredible Hulk collaborator Herb Trimpe for the ÒcoverÓ of a late-1960s Escapist comic. The inked version of ChabonÕshero being grabbed by The Snapping Turtle appeared in issue #3 of the Dark Horse mag. Thanks to DH editor Diana Schutz. [©2005 Michael Chabon.] (Above right:) Jim StarlinÕscover for Strange Tales #180 (June 1975), starring WarlockÑone of Michael ChabonÕsfavorite series, and a true highlight series of the so-called Bronze Age of Comics! Thanks to Bob Bailey for the scan. [©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

CHABON: I had a great time writing that! It was done for the comic book series—and to me it is in the nature of a separate narrative, not necessarily the continuation of the story of the novel. RT: I’ve heard rumors of a planned sequel to Kavalier and Clay. Are they true—assuming you don’t mind this being mentioned in the interview? CHABON: I won’t rule it out. I would love to tell a story set in the New York of the early ’70s, about the guys, like this Thomas fellow, who were writing and drawing the comics that I grew up loving. RT: Who was your favorite comic book super-hero, ever? CHABON: I don’t think I ever cared more about a comic book character’s life and fate, or had my mind blown more completely, than with Warlock, during Jim Starlin’s run on the character in the mid-’70s. RT: Oh, yeah—and who’s stronger, Thor or the Hulk? CHABON: A god beats a monster—that’s the rule.

As per A/E #36Õsin-depth look at Canadian comic books, there was never a Triumph Comics in the USA during its Golden, Silver, or even Bronze AgesÑ hard as that is to believeÑbut there was one during World War II, north of the 49th parallel! It starred the ever-popular Nelvana, as per Adrian DingleÕs cover for issue #12. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

[Michael Chabon is the bestselling author of Werewolves in Their Youth, Wonder Boys, A Model World, and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, novelist Ayelet Waldman, and four children. His latest novel is The Final Solution: A Tale of Detection, published by Fourth Estate.]

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(NOTE: Order from your retailer. Can NOT be ordered from TwoMorrows Publishing.)

Comic Crypt

The 1960s were a tough time to break into comics. Openings for new artists were few indeed. Aspiring comic book creators largely found themselves locked out of Marvel and DC. Luckily, James Warren had the perfect solution. In late ’64, Warren began publishing Creepy, a lushly-illustrated black-&-white horror comic. And issue #5 featured a ghoulish drawing of horror-host Uncle Creepy asking the readers to submit their own art and stories. Once Warren Publishing opened the fan floodgates, an ocean of new talent gushed forward! Later, Warren introduced two more b&w comics magazines, Eerie and Vampirella, which featured similar fan pages. Some magazines submissions were quite good––so good, in fact, that a few newbies snagged professional assignments. Jim Warren was no dummy. It was a great way for him to spot hungry young talent willing to work cheap! Even those who didn’t break in at Warren often went on to forge successful comic careers elsewhere. Don’t believe me? Check out these drawings pulled from the fan pages of Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella— and see how many future super-stars you recognize! [Unless noted otherwise, all art for this section is ©2005 Warren Publishing, Inc.]

Here are a couple of gruesome pics from horrific high schooler Frank Brunner! FrankÕsghoulish ÒTales from the TombÓ illo above appeared in Creepy #10 (Aug. 1966)Ñfollowed by his Frankenstein drawing (at left) in Creepy #23 (Oct. 1968). He later drew a number of Warren stories professionally. FrankÕsart for MarvelÕsHoward the Duck and Dr. Strange remain his most famous comic book work.

(Above:) Uncle Creepy literally wields a club in this nifty Jack Davis Creepy Fan Club logoÑwhich weÕvegood-naturedly appropriated above for our own nefarious (but temporary) purposes.

Warren Confidential: Part I

(Left:) Creepy Fan Club Member #856 Nick Cuti parlayed this werewolf illo from Creepy #21 (July 1968) into a scripting gig at Warren, where he went on to win a Warren Award for ÒBest All-Around Writer.Ó Nick also co-created fanfavorite hero E-Man for Charlton.

(Right:) This sexy Vampirella pic from Vampirella #4 (April 1970) is by Alan Weiss, who later illustrated numerous features for Marvel and DCÑ as well as his own Steelgrip Starkey character for Epic. [Vampirella TM & ©2005 Harris Publishing, Inc.]

(Above:) Marshall RogersÕfloating-skull drawing is from Eerie #45 (Feb. 1973). Marshall gained fame penciling ÒBatmanÓ (in Detective Comics) and Dr. Strange in the late Õ70sand early Õ80s.

(Above:) This portrait of Cousin Eerie by Arvell Jones and Greg Theakston appeared in Eerie #28 (July 1970). Arvell went on to draw comics for Marvel and DC, including a long stint on Roy ThomasÕAll-Star Squadron. Greg, though an accomplished cartoonist, is best known for preserving comic book history under his Pure Imagination imprint.

Comic Crypt

Bill DubayÕssci-fi illo above popped up in Creepy #12 (Dec. 1966). Bill wrote, drew, and published fanzines while still in his teens. Later, he became one of Warren PublishingÕsmost accomplished editors. His art and scripts also appeared in various Warren magazinesÑincluding the very one in which this fan drawing saw print!

And last but not least… The tiny illo at right appeared in Eerie #37 (Jan 1972). It’s a panel from In the Interests of Science, an EC-inspired newspaper strip written by Harvey Sobel and drawn by a 19-year-old Michael T. Gilbert. At the time, Harvey was a high school senior attending Commack High, on Long Island. I’d recently graduated from that esteemed institution, and was commuting to nearby Suffolk Community College. Even though I was a couple of years older than Harvey, our love of comics easily bridged the age gap. When he suggested we collaborate a comic strip, I signed on. In the Interests of Science ran in the Commack High School paper, Varohi, starting Dec. 1, 1970, with a new strip appearing every few weeks. When the last strip was printed on June 16, 1971, I celebrated. My previous attempts at drawing comics had ended in failure, abandoned after the first page or two. Now I’d completed my first comic book story, and my comic book career was off and running. Afterwards, Harvey mailed samples to Warren, hoping to make a sale. To our great delight, assistant editor J.R. Cochran wrote back a few weeks later. In a letter to Harvey dated 7/15/71 Cochran wrote: Thanks very much for letting us see In the Interests of Science. Mr. Warren turned over your letter of July 5th and the strips over to me. We thought the strips were particularly good. Strip #’s 1-2-3 were just fair, but he loved the art on #’s 5-6-7-8-9 & 10, especially. We plan to use a panel from one of the strips in an upcoming Eerie Fanfare section. Why not submit a 1-pager in pencil (you to write and Michael to draw)––& if we like it we’ll run it as page 2 material in either Eerie Fanfare, Vampy’s Feary Tales or Creepy’s Loathsome Lore. Our work is done with a 7 x 10 area. Thanks again for letting us see your work. This personal letter, typical of Warren’s hands-on approach, was welcome news indeed! Harvey and I each sent in one-page scripts, and one of mine (about malevolent fairies!) got the OK. I drew it up (agonizing over every pencil stroke!), mailed the pencils, and waited for their reply. To my great delight, they approved the pencils and asked me to ink it. It looked like I was about to make my first professional sale—but, for whatever reason, the story got nixed at the inking stage and I was back to square one. Close, but no cigar. Still, I can’t complain. During the course of all this, our strip was plugged on Eerie’s fan page—and we even got a face-to-face meeting with James Warren himself. So all’s well that ends well. Part of Warren editor J.R. CochranÕs 1971 letter to Harvey Sobel.

Except it didn’t end there. Which brings us to our next story about my second visit to Warren.

Warren Confidential: Part I

“Pay The Dollar!” first appeared in Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist #4 in February 1999—and it’s as terrifying a tale as any told by Uncle Creepy! Consider yourself warned, gentle reader…

Pay The Dollar! by Michael T. Gilbert In 1973, I was a college senior who secretly yearned to be the next Frank Frazetta or Steve Ditko. A year earlier I’d met Larry, another aspiring cartoon-genius, and we soon became friendly campus rivals. Between art classes, we drew comics, each trying to the other. Eventually, we both decided to journey to the big city and try to sell our work. We knew our best chance of breaking in was with a small, quirky publisher—and they didn’t come smaller or quirkier than Warren Publishing! As a teenager, I devoured each issue of Warren’s main horror magazines, Creepy and Eerie. In their prime, they boasted clever stories by Archie Goodwin—illustrated by such cartoon giants as Alex Toth, Gray Morrow, Tom Sutton, Steve Ditko, and many of the legendary EC cartoonists. The quality of the books varied, depending on Warren’s financial situation at any given time, but when they were good, the Warren books were unbeatable. For years, I’d dreamed about someday seeing my work side-by-side with my favorite cartoonists. I finally took a shot at it in 1971. At my friend Harvey Sobel’s suggestion, we made the trip to the city to meet James Warren and show him some of our work. The experience was both exhilarating and intimidating. While offering encouragement, Warren ultimately rejected my submission. He felt my work had promise, but “didn’t make the mark, professionally.” He encouraged me to try again. I was disappointed, but hopeful. Now I was ready for another try. I called for an appointment, and Larry and I arranged to get together during school break. Weeks later, the two budding cartoon geniuses met at Grand Central Station, where we caught a subway to the offices of Warren Publishing. Minutes later, we were ushered into James Warren’s office. We were slightly terrified, as Warren had a well-deserved reputation as a rough, abrasive person-

ality. He certainly didn’t disappoint! Warren appeared to be in his early 40s, looking every inch the harddriving businessman he was. He growled at us to sit down, then immediately went on the offensive. “Why were you so late?” he barked. “Do you know how valuable

This penultimate In the Interests of Science strip featured a very gruesome EC-inspired vivisection scene. The entire story was reprinted in MichaelÕs self-published underground comic New Paltz Comix #1 in 1973. [©2005 Michael T. Gilbert.]

Comic Crypt Brunner, and Richard Corben among the list of superstar talent. Larry’s mouth dropped as he read name after name. Then Warren moved in for the kill. Glaring at Larry, Warren pointed out that as the head of a huge publishing company, his time was worth about $500 an hour. He added that he’d spent an hour of his very valuable time with us. How unfortunate that Larry didn’t feel Warren’s time was worth so much as a single dollar! Larry flushed. Warren then mentioned invaluable editorial experience he’d acquired through decades of hard work. Warren gave another withering glare. How sad that Larry felt all that knowledge wasn’t even worth a single dollar! By this time Larry was sweating profusely, and wishing he were anywhere else. Warren, of course, was playing for effect—and no doubt having a grand old time. Watching Larry wilt, I couldn’t help thinking I’d never spent a dollar more wisely. But for the grace of George Washington, that could easily be me slowly melting on the hot-seat. Eventually the tirade stopped. Completely ignoring Larry, Warren asked to see my work. I nervously pulled out some pages, and he stared at them, silently. When he finally spoke, it was a very different James Warren than Larry had experienced. Warren gave my pages a long, thoughtful critique, taking time to carefully point out what worked and what could be improved. I didn’t make any sales that day, but I was happy that he’d taken my work seriously. At least now I felt there was a chance I could someday “make the mark, professionally.” Finally, our meeting ended. Jim shook our hands, and thanked us for coming. Larry didn’t say a word. Michael T. Gilbert almost made a sale to Warren with this ÒFairiesÓ one-pager. It eventually saw print (with Uncle Creepy removed) in New Paltz Comix #4. [©2005 Michael T. Gilbert.]

my time is?” Larry and I looked at each other, mouths agape. We had actually arrived half an hour early, just to play safe. When we explained the situation, Warren instantly switched gears. “Don’t ever do that again!” he snarled. “This is a busy office and I don’t want anyone loitering!” I could see we weren’t going to get off easy. While Larry and I nervously squirmed in our chairs, he demanded to know why we had the nerve to think we were good enough to work for Warren Publishing. I decided not to give him the obvious answer (“Because it’s easier than breaking into Marvel”) and instead stammered some half-baked response. Clearly, he was enjoying playing cat-andmouse with these two green college kids. Finally, after a little more small talk, Warren got to the point. We wanted him to look at our art and critique it? Fine—but there was one catch: We’d have to pay him. One dollar—cash! Larry was aghast! A typical college student, he fancied himself quite the “artiste.” He told Warren in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t going to pay an editor to look at his work. My ego was pretty healthy, too, but I wasn’t about to leave without finding out if a real publisher liked my work. Not after traveling all the way from Long Island by train. Not for a single dollar! I took a bill out of my pocket, and Warren ordered me to sign it. Larry tossed me a scornful look as I scribbled my name. That look quickly faded as Warren reached into his large desk and pulled out a thick wad of dollar bills—each signed by some of the best young cartoonists in the business! As Larry watched, wide-eyed, he added mine to the stack. Apparently, Warren had been pulling this stunt for years with artists who’d come looking for work. I seem to recall Berni Wrightson, Frank

After the interview, the two of us walked back to the train station, both slightly shell-shocked. Larry never did find out what Warren thought about his art. At this point, the poor guy was probably grateful. Larry and I lost touch after graduation, and I haven’t heard from him in decades. For better or worse, I eventually became the comics professional I dreamed I’d be—perhaps in part because of James Warren. And Larry? Beats me! But I do know he’s not making a living drawing comics— and maybe James Warren had a small part in that, also.

If there’s a lesson in this story, it’s this: Don’t ask James Warren for advice unless you can take it. And if you do ask, for God’s sake... PAY THE DOLLAR!!! That’s it for this month, fear-fiends. We’d like to thank to Richard Arndt for helping us uncover some of the fan-art used this issue. Expect more future superstars next month in Part Two of…Warren Confidential! Till next time…

Contact Michael at MGilbert00@Comcast.net

Title Comic Fandom Archive

Getting To Know “VETERAN COMICS FAN”

JAUNTY JEFF GELB By Bill Schelly

Time: Present Day. Place: Los Angeles, California.

Jeff Gelb knows all about labors of love. When he was just thirteen years old, he became a fanzine publisher with a little Xeroxed publication called Heroic. The year was 1963, a time when no more than a few dozen comics fanzines helped herald the dawning of a fandom they could call their own.

It’s well into autumn in Burbank, and that means it’s only 75 degrees outside, instead of the usual 85. Inside Dark Delicacies, America’s only all-horror bookstore (and perhaps the world’s, for that Once ignited, largely by the revival of matter), a diverse crowd packs the the costumed heroes in the late 1950s and place: young and old, trendy and early 1960s, the fannish spirit burned nerdish, goth and retro. They have brightly in the bespectacled youth from gathered to have the latest Hot Rochester, New York. No matter that his Blood volume (Strange Bedfellows) amateur publications, crude at first, signed by series editor Jeff Gelb, as weren’t exactly central to the emerging Photos of Jeff Gelb at age 11 in 1962 and in 2004 (we figure you well as one of the anthology’s comics subculture. He was there, doing can tell which is which) flank Dave StevensÕscrumptious cover contributors, comics legend Marv it, before all but a handful. That makes for the issue of Dark HorseÕs Bettie Page Comics for which Jeff Wolfman. Marv has joined a long Gelb a pioneer, though he would never wrote a story. You think we needed more excuse than that? list of comics scribes who have describe himself in those terms. [Art ©2005 the respective copyright holders.] written stories for Jeff Gelb’s twenty anthologies of erotic horror, which includes Grant Morrison, Peter David, Kurt Busiek, and Mark Verheiden. Jeff Gelb was born on December 12th, 1950, in Rochester, New York. The room is noisy, crowded, and getting warmer by the minute, His first memory of comic books was his mother reading Little Lulu but no one seems to mind. The energy level is high as the sound comics to him when he was sick as a young child. “When I got a little system plays an amalgam of horror movie themes and alternative older, I bought the Atlas pre-hero monster comics by Stan Lee and Jack rock. Editor Gelb looks around the room, obviously pleased to see a Kirby by the bushels,” he recalled in a recent conversation. “I read DCs bunch of smiling faces and happy customers. The signing will be a and enjoyed them, but when I bought Fantastic Four #1 off the success, which can’t help but remind him that his books actually have drugstore shelves, I knew comics were about to change forever, and that fans and even collectors— Hot Blood books aren’t usually found at I was going to follow them forever.” used book stores. It’s got to be a nice feeling, even if his editorial Shortly thereafter, Jeff was introduced to the world of Golden Age avocation hasn’t made him rich. There’s a strong component that comics, first by an acquaintance whose father had kept some of his glues all the loose ends of the enterprise together, similar to the reason vintage comics in his basement. “I vividly remember seeing copies of so many are driven to work in the comics industry on a part-time Fighting American in that basement collection,” he remembered. “I basis: it’s a labor of love.

A Love Affair With Comics Begins

Comic Fandom Archive

suddenly realized that there was this whole world of comics that were published before I was born. That was a stunning revelation.” Then Gelb met some local Rochester comics fans, like Margaret (Marge) Gemignani, who already had a collection of old comics. Something about Golden Age comics especially appealed to him. “I was transformed into a rabid fan and collector of back issues,” Gelb said. “By the time I was fourteen, I had amassed such a large collection of old comics that the local newspaper did a story about me! Unfortunately, the reporter got the story wrong, calling me a ‘fanzine’ rather than a ‘fan’! I was so mortified by that mistake that I’ve never shown the article to anyone.” Of course, building a sizable collection of old comics was greatly aided and abetted by Jeff’s discovery of comics fandom, through letter columns in comic books and Famous Monsters of Filmland, some time in late 1962 or early 1963. Jeff bluntly stated, “Fanzines saved my life in high school. I was a social outcast, a real nerd… or so I thought at the time. I had few friends and certainly no girlfriends on the horizon, so fanzines were a real life preserver.” The world of amateur publications offered him the opportunity to communicate with like-minded people.

The writer of this 1964 article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on young teenager JeffÕscollection of Golden Age comics thought a ÒfanzineÓ wasÑwell, read the headline! (ItÕsin the first paragraph of the article, too.) ÒCheck out the comics I already had!Ó Jeff recalls. ÒThis is the only photo ever taken of my collection at that time. Stupid kid, huh?Ó HeÕseven lost the last half of the articleÑwhere they probably got still more ÒfactsÓ wrong! [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

Getting To Know ÒVeteranComics FanÓJaunty Jeff Gelb

In addition, fanzines introduced Gelb to some of the very talented folks whose work adorned their pages: “When I first saw the artwork of Grass Green, Biljo White, and Ronn Foss, my brain went into overdrive. I was immediately a huge fan, and I followed their characters in the various fanzines of the 1960s, from StarStudded Comics to Batmania to RB-CC. “Those were wonderful times to be a comics fan,” Gelb enthused. “Not only were pro comics getting better by the issue, but I was also exploring the length and breadth of the Golden Age, plus the new world of fanzines, all at once!”

Men Of Mystery At a very young age, Jeff (like so many other fans) started creating his own super-heroes and drawing his own comic strips. Some he sold to pals for a couple of pennies per issue. Heroes, his first publication, had a print run of exactly five copies—all done by a friend’s dad who worked for Xerox. He partnered with a fellow high school pal and entrepreneur Howard Brenner (who later founded the Mar-Bren Sound company which sold old-time radio shows) to publish Glory Comics, Flare Comics, and finally their signature fanzine, Men of Mystery. Men of Mystery featured more substantial articles on characters and creators than Jeff’s tyro efforts, had photooffset covers, and contributions by some “names” wellknown in fandom circles: Larry Herndon, Dave Herring, Dave Bibby, and a future member of the rock group Kiss, Gene Klein, a.k.a. Gene Simmons. MoM improved steadily through its four-issue run. The final issue, which appeared in October 1966, boasted a cover created especially for the mag by Lone Ranger artist Charles Flanders, and a lengthy article on the man and famous character by Allen Logan. The interior was still printed via mimeograph, but with the kind of fine results that could be achieved by those who knew what they were doing. MoM #4 is a worthy addition to anyone’s fanzine collection.

The best (and last) issue of the fanzine Men of Mystery was dated 1966Ñbut both Jeff and Bill claim it was delayed and actually appeared in early 1967. Anybody know for sure? Cover by Lone Ranger comic strip artist Charles Flanders, with a logo designed by Dave Herring. [©2005 the respective copyright holders; Lone Ranger TM & ©2005 Lone Ranger Television, Inc.]

Jeff also found himself in demand from other fanzine editors, often due to his remarkable ability to trace Golden Age covers onto ditto masters with amazing accuracy. This period of greatest activity was in 1966 through 1968. Then he went on to college, and was forced to spend his spare time on other matters. But Gelb’s intense love of comic books would never leave him. One highlight of his fannish life occurred in 1975: a visit to the home of Jack and Roz Kirby. Just being able to meet the “King” was thrill enough, but a star-struck Gelb was overwhelmed when Jack drew a sketch of Captain America for him. And, though he never collected original art to the extent of some other fans, Jeff has owned originals from a diverse list of legendary pros. “I once owned pieces by Frank Frazetta, C.C. Beck, and a host of others,” he said recently. “Strangely enough, though, one that has a special place in my heart is a drawing done for me in 1990 by my fan fave Richard ‘Grass’ Green. It’s still hard for me to believe that he passed away a couple of years ago. I always loved his stuff.”

ÒVeteranComics FanÓ Recently, the President of DC Comics, Paul Levitz, deemed Jeff Gelb a “veteran comics fan.” I can think of no more apt description, given the fact that he was collecting comics well before encountering Fantastic Four #1 on the stands; was publishing fanzines during the Kennedy administration; joined comics apa (amateur press alliance) CAPA-alpha in 1982; and has contributed some 200 issues of Men of Mystery to those hallowed pages. He is still a member of K-a: “Obviously I have fanzine ink in my blood permanently. I just love having a soapbox for my thoughts on comics and pop media. I admit it seems foolish to do fanzines these days. If I created a website, I’d probably get a larger audience for my rants and reviews. I love the Internet, but doubt I will ever give up actually printing my own fanzine. I heartily recommend apas like CAPA-alpha.” And so, some forty years after entering fandom, Jeff Gelb is still going strong, just as enthusiastic as ever about the rich history of comics, and still buying new titles as they hit the stands. While it’s true that his anthology paperbacks dedicated to horror and suspense (Hot Blood,

Comic Fandom Archive

Flesh & Blood, Fear Itself, Shock Rock, and most recently Dark Delicacies) have been his major creative outlet over the years, he has contributed much to his comic book hobby, as well. He has written articles on comics and creators for various comics-oriented publications including Comics Buyer’s Guide and Comic Book Marketplace, and even scripted a Bettie Page one-shot from Dark Horse that was drawn by his long-time buddy Dave Stevens. When he moved to San Diego to take a job as a radio air personality in the 1970s, Jeff began attending the newly-minted San Diego ComicCon (now Comic-Con International). You could count the number of those cons that he has missed on one hand, and still have a couple of fingers left over. He’s hosted or otherwise participated in dozens of panels over the years. Because of his regular appearances at the San Diego convention, and certainly as a function of his friendly, outgoing personality, Jeff Gelb seems to know just about everyone in comicdom—and “prodom” as well!

Jeff poses with Jack Kirby (and drawings of a couple of The New Gods) in the KirbysÕCalifornia backyard in 1975. It was on this visit that Jack drew the Captain America sketch below for Jaunty Jeff. [Art ©2005 Estate of Jack Kirby; Captain America TM & ©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Getting To Know ÒVeteranComics FanÓJaunty Jeff Gelb

(Above left:) Shock Rock is a collection of erotic horror stories with a rock ÕnÕroll theme. When Stephen King was a teenager, he was known as ÒStevie King.Ó His first story was published in the fanzine Comic Review. (Above right:) Strange Bedfellows is the latest (Vol. 12) Hot Blood collection, published in November 2004. GelbÕshorror novel Specters stands as his only full-length work to date. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

Jeff with his wife Terry and son Levi, in a photo taken in the early 1990s.

Meanwhile, he and his wife Terry have recently celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary, and their son Levi is studying to become a rabbi in Crown Heights, New York. By day, Jeff Gelb is the mild-mannered director of sales and service for a company called Mediabase, which supplies radio airplay data to the music industry. But underneath that unassuming exterior beats the heart of a true-blue, died-in-the-wool comic book fanatic, who proudly sports a permanent Captain Marvel thunderbolt tattoo on his left shoulder, and who will undoubtedly continue to share his boundless enthusiasm for comics until that heart beats no more. Since it was Mother Gelb who introduced Jeff to the wonderful world of comic books, let’s have a special cheer just for her! Hip, hip, HOORAY!! Thanks, Mrs. Gelb, for giving us Jaunty Jeff—in more ways than one!!

For those who have enjoyed Bill Schelly’s books on fandom’s First Great Days, check out the ad on p. 80 for his latest, The Best of StarStudded Comics. Bill has selected 22 of the best comic strips from that legendary fanzine, and has reproduced them complete along with chatty annotations, interviews, and a whole bunch of surprises. And, if you haven’t checked out our associate editor’s bombastic books, and his Hamster Press—now is the time! Info also available at www.billschelly.com.

In Memoriam

Fred Guardineer (1913-2002) Master of Magical Arts by Mark Evanier Fred Guardineer (at far left in photo) at the American Association of Comics Collectors dinner at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1998, with (l. to r.:) former Comic Book Marketplace editor Gary CarterÑcollector Jon BerkÑand legendary DC editor/ME publisher Vin Sullivan. Photo courtesy of Jon Berk.

The following notice was posted on Mark Evanier’s e-mail site www.newsfromme.com several months ago. Stumbling upon it recently reminded us that, through error, we never acknowledged Mr. Guardineer’s passing because we, too, learned about it late. With Mark’s permission, we are reprinting his brief tribute from 2004, with slight editing. —Roy.

strip for Chesler was a thing called “Dan Hastings.”

have just learned that one of the first comic book artists, Fred Guardineer, passed away on September 13, 2002, a month shy of what would have been his 89th birthday.

Shortly afterward, he began freelancing for Centaur and also for DC Comics, where he did “Zatara,” “Speed Saunders,” and “Pep Morgan,” as well as many striking covers. He drew for other companies, as well, including Marvel, Magazine Enterprises, Hillman, and Lev Gleason , often whipping out “Zatara” clones like “Tor the Magic Master,” which he did for Quality. When the industry hit a slump in the mid-1950s, Guardineer decided the time had come to get out, and he went to work for the Post Office.

Guardineer was best known for the character “Zatara the Master Magician,” a rather close knock-off of Lee Falk’s Mandrake the Magician… and Guardineer didn’t stop there. He did a couple of other similar characters for other publishers. He was born in Albany, New York, on October 3, 1913, and acquired a Fine Arts degree in 1935, by which time he was already doing illustrations for a number of New York-based pulp magazines. In 1936 he went to work for the shop of Harry “A” Chesler, whose studio was producing stories and artwork for some of the earliest comic book publishers; his main

He remained effectively out of comics for the rest of his life. But in the 1960s, comic historian Jerry de Fuccio (then the associate editor of Mad magazine) tracked him down, interviewed him, and became the first of several collectors to pay what Guardineer considered tidy sums to re-create some of his old covers and even whole stories.

After a time, Guardineer again lost contact with the comic art community, but in 1998 comics fan Dave Siegel located him in Northern California and got him to attend that year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. I was pleased to have him on two panels there, one of which was a gathering of every surviving person who had had a hand in the creation of the historic Action Comics #1. I also got to present him with the convention’s coveted Inkpot Award, which meant a lot to him. Fred was confined to a wheelchair by then, but with great effort he insisted on standing as he made a brief but eloquent acceptance speech. Later, Dave got him to a WonderCon in Oakland, and again Fred had a wonderful time meeting people who treasured his work. A nice man and a good artist I’m sorry to hear he’s no longer with us.

[NOTE: Several years before Fred Guardineer passed away, Dylan Williams conducted a massive interview with him, a small portion of which—that concerning Vin Sullivan’s Magazine Enterprises company, for which he had drawn The Durango Kid and other comics—was published in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #10. The remainder of that interview will finally be printed in an early issue.]

In Memoriam

Irv (1916-2004) Novick

A Blue Ribbon Artist––In More Ways Than One by Mark Evanier NOTE: Reprinted with permission, very slightly edited, from Mark Evanier’s website www.newsfromme.com.

nother great comic book artist of the medium’s first generation has died. Irv Novick passed away on the morning of December 10, 2004, following a long illness and a recent fall. He was 88 years old and had been drawing comics, pretty much without stopping, from 1939 until his retirement more than fifty years later. He was a graduate of the National Academy of Design. In 1939 he worked briefly in the studio of Harry “A” Chesler, who paid low rates to young illustrators who cranked out pages in what Novick later called a “sweat shop atmosphere.” Everyone told Novick he was good enough to get work on his own… and, after a few months, he did. He went to work for MLJ (the company now known as Archie Comics), and his first known work there appeared in Blue Ribbon Comics #2 (Dec. 1939), where his art introduced a new feature, “Bob Phantom,” which

stuck around for several years. The very next month, he drew the cover and lead story of Pep Comics #1, which debuted “The Shield,” the first “patriotic” super-hero. Written by Harry Shorten, “The Shield” pre-dated “Captain America” by a year, offering a similar premise and—because both heroes wore the American flag—similar costume. Thereafter, Novick was MLJ’s lead super-hero artist, drawing all its costumed characters at one time or another, including “The Hangman” and “Steel Sterling,” until the company began cutting back on heroes and increasing its “Archie” titles around 1946. From ’46 to ’51, he worked on two syndicated strips—Cynthia and The Scarlet Avenger—neither of which received wide circulation. He also began working intermittently in advertising, but that wasn’t steady, so he started drawing for DC Comics, hired by editor Robert Kanigher, who had written many of the stories he had drawn for MLJ. Kanigher was the DC war editor, so Novick became a war artist, his work appearing in Our Army at War and all the DC combat titles, and occasionally in the romance books during the occasional periods when Kanigher worked on them. Kanigher had a reputation for being rough on artists, but he loved Novick’s work and, according to Irv, they never had a cross word in all their years of working together. For many years, Novick drew for DC and also freelanced for Boys’ Life magazine and for the Johnstone and Cushing advertising service. In the mid-1960s, Johnstone and Cushing offered him a full-time position and he briefly left comics. Novick was unhappy in the job, and Kanigher was unhappy to lose one of his two favorite artists, Joe Kubert being the other. With Kanigher’s intervention, Novick landed a then-unprecedented freelance contract with DC. It included many perks not available to other artists and guaranteed him the company’s highest rate and steady work. When he finished one job, he had to immediately be given another. Kanigher had no trouble keeping him busy, though other artists complained that assignments promised to them would sometimes be suddenly diverted to Irv. After 1968, when Novick began working for other DC editors, there was sometimes a wild panic in the company’s office: “We have to find a script to give Irv tomorrow!” The one story I wrote that Novick drew came about in part because editor Julius Schwartz needed something to keep Novick busy. (By that time, many artists had such contracts, but for years Novick was the only one who did.) 1968 was the year artist Carmine Infantino was promoted into management at DC and was charged with improving the look of the company’s line. One of his first decisions was to rotate artists around, breaking up old editorial holds on certain talent. Novick stopped penciling and inking war titles and became a full-time super-hero penciler. His immediate tasks were Batman and Lois Lane, but he eventually drew most of the top DC titles, including a long stint on The Flash. He only cut back as his eyes failed him in the late 1980s.

Irv & Sylvia Novick with Mark Evanier (left) and Dave Siegel. (right) at a comics convention a few years back. Thanks to Mark.

I was honored and frustrated to interview Irv on several convention panels over the years—an impossible task, for in front of an audience and microphone, he claimed to remember very little of his career and to

Irv Novick

have absolutely no fondness for any job or character over any other. Apart from a mild preference for working with his friend and neighbor Bob Kanigher, he insisted it didn’t matter. “I just drew what they gave me to draw,” he’d say. “If it was ‘Batman’ or ‘Captain Storm’ or ‘Flash’… I didn’t care.” Some of his contemporaries would chide him for saying such things, for they’d seen the care and effort that went into Novick’s pages… and, in private, talking one-on-one with the man, you wouldn’t get quite such a noncommittal attitude. And, of course, you’d know it wasn’t true when you looked at his art. I’m going to miss seeing him at conventions and trying with no success to get a decent answer out of the guy. He leaves behind an amazing body of top-notch comic illustration. [NOTE: An interview with Irv Novick, conducted several years ago, is scheduled for a future issue of Alter Ego.]

In Memoriam

Harry(1916-2004) Lampert From The Flash To Fast Pairs by Roy Thomas

hen Harry Lampert passed away from cancer on Nov. 13, 2004, at age 88, it ended a too-brief era when, at occasional comics conventions in San Diego, Charlotte (NC), or Florida, one might see, side by side at the same table, the original artists of All-American Comics’ two most popular male superheroes of the Golden Age—The Flash and Green Lantern. As artist of the first “Flash” story, Harry co-created the Fastest Man Alive with writer Gardner F. Fox and, most likely, editor Sheldon Mayer.

In an interview in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #4, Harry said he began drawing professionally in 1933, inking animated cartoons for Fleischer Studios. He worked alongside the likes of Gill Fox (later cartoonist and Quality Comics editor), Hal Sherman (later co-creator of “The Star-Spangled Kid” for DC), and Frank Engli, who would later assist Milt Caniff for years on Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. Harry’s first professional gag cartoon appeared in the New York American newspaper in 1934. Some of his earliest DC work, in the late 1930s, was “Spot Savage,” starring a reporter. In 1939 he drew “The Flash” for Flash Comics #1-2, which had early-1940 cover dates. After #2, he said: “I didn’t just leave [the feature]… it left.” He recalled that he was transferred from “The Flash” to another series in that title—“The King,” about a crime-fighting master of disguise. He also drew “Red, White, and Blue” and cartoon

Harry (on the left) with Hal Sherman, artistic co-creator of The StarSpangled Kid, at a comics convention in June 2000. Harry and Hal had both worked for Fleischer Studios in New York in the 1930s. Photo by Dave Siegel. At right is one of HarryÕsre-creations of The Flash, courtesy of owner Bruce Mohrhard. [Art ©2005 Estate of Harry Lampert; Flash TM & ©2005 DC Comics.]

fillers for DC titles. His orientation was toward humorous art rather than adventure. While in the Signal Corps during World War II, Harry drew a popular strip called Droopy the Drew Field Mosquito for the Tampa, Florida, camp newspaper. After the war, he drew for DC such features as “Winky, Blinky, and Noddy” (The Three Dimwits from “The Flash”) and “Cotton-top Katie,” which grew out of “Drag-Along,” a series he’d done for Parents’ Magazine’s comics line. He also sold cartoons to magazines through 1953. In 1947, in conjunction with his wife Adele, he started a successful advertising agency, which occupied his attention until he retired in 1976. At one point he also taught at the New York School of Visual Arts. After “retirement,” Harry launched yet another career, as the author and illustrator of two very successful books on contract bridge, beginning in 1978 with the self-published The Fun Way to Serious Bridge, which was eventually reissued by Simon and Schuster and continues to sell to this day. In the mid-1990s, while attending a bridge teachers’ convention in San Diego, Harry was persuaded by a friend to speak to a group of cartoonists. There he met fan David Siegel, who arranged for Harry to attend the San Diego ComicCon. After that, he and Adele attended other comics conventions, selling original sketches and re-creations of The Flash and other characters Harry had drawn. He is survived by his wife Adele, their daughter, and two grandsons. Harry’s smile and enthusiasm for his work, and for meeting fans—whether of his comic work or bridge books—was infectious. I’m only glad that, for a few too-short years, I was privileged to know him, ever so slightly.

In Memoriam

Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) You Believed A Man Could Fly

A Brief Tribute by Delmo Walters, Jr.

had to wait until I turned 11 years old to see Superman: The Movie. You see, it premiered December 15, 1978, and my birthday was January 6, so my mother decided to wait until my birthday to take me to see it. Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t go out of my mind during the wait. I also can’t believe none of my classmates ruined the movie for me. All they said was that it was great! So the day finally comes, and we go to the theatre. Now, before Christopher Reeve, the only live-action Superman I was familiar with was George Reeves, whom I loved—but when I saw Chris in that “bad outfit,” he looked like Neal Adams’ version come to life! Never have I seen such perfect casting before or since. My classmates were right—it was great! Over the years, I watched Chris’ subsequent films as Superman and the other movies he did that piqued my interest. Then came that day in May of 1995, when he went from playing Superman to becoming one. I followed his activities afterwards, as he fought to regain the use of his legs and lobbied for more money and better research, sure in the knowledge that, if anyone could get up from that chair, he could. Unfortunately, time ran out for Christopher Reeve. As I saw and read the tributes on TV and in print, I tried to think of a way I could pay tribute to him. This drawing is what I came up with. Thanks, Chris, for making me believe a man can fly!

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 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135 Fax: (803)826-6501 • E-mail: roydann@ntinet.com

Submission Guidelines Submit artwork in one of these forms (in order of preference): 1) Clear color or black-&-white photocopies. 2) Scanned images—300ppi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (on Zip or floppy disk). 3) Originals (carefully packed and insured). Submit text in one of these forms: 1) E-mail (ASCII text attachments preferred) to: roydann@ntinet.com 2) An ASCII or “plain text” file, supplied on floppy disk. 3) Typed, xeroxed, or laser printed pages.

This artistic joint tribute to Christopher ReeveÑand to George Reeves, who portrayed Superman on television from 1951-57Ñ was drawn by Delmo Walters, Jr. [Art ©2005 Delmo Walters, Jr.; Superman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.]

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re: R

oy here, first person and all. Alter Ego—the super-hero who appeared in the four-issue mini-series my wife Dann, artists Ron Harris and Rick Burchett, and I did for First Comics in 1986— lives again in Heroic Publications’ brand new, full-color trade paperback edition, which takes care of our “maskot” appearance for this issue; check out the ad on page 54. So we’re starting off this section with a Joe Kubert panel from the “Hawkman” chapter of All-Star Comics #33 (1947), with a dialogue change, courtesy of Al Dellinges and Chris Day. [Art ©2005 DC Comics.]

Below, though we’re still far short of catching up on lapsed letterssection time, here are comments related to A/E #37, the issue which focused mostly on the mysteries of Superman, and on comic book/Phantom artist Sy Barry. While the latter

interview received considerable praise and interest, surprisingly it seems to have been the Superman-related material which spurred most of our e-mails and missives, starting with this communication—made up of two separate emails from collector Dan Makara: Hi Roy: Just when I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about comics… I read Will Murray’s article on Gladiator. I’d read before that Philip Wylie’s novel had been an inspiration on “Superman.” Jeez, the book should be called a blueprint! I recall that the first cover Shuster did of “The Superman,” which was reprinted in the Steranko History, showed the hero in a T-shirt holding up a thug and being blasted by a machine gun. The Siegel & Shuster original conception did not even have the circus suit, making their hero a dead ringer for Gladiator! My view of “Superman” as an original concept has forever been altered. The way Will Murray spelled out all the similarities—I’m astonished. Now I need to find a copy of “Man-God”!

Was Wylie’s book actually a bestseller? How is that status determined? I can’t imagine that Gladiator was ever a household word. Instead of trying to publish Gladiator as a comic (the four penciled pages by Ron Harris were terrific!), you might have considered the movie potential for the storyline. The drawback might be that people would consider it a swipe of Superman! Someone like Terry Gilliam would do a fantastic job on Gladiator! By the way, I just obtained a copy of the magazine in which Gladiator was first printed—the March 1930 issue of The Book League

In a paragraph weÕvelifted from his letter printed on this page, Dan Makara pointed out the effects of a thunderbolt on the different heroes on these three covers, for The Book League Monthly (March 1930), Superman #32 (Jan.-Feb.1945), and Whiz Comics #22 (Oct. 3, 1941): ÒHugo Danner gets hit by lightning and is killed. ÒSuperman gets hit by lightning and ÔIttickles!Õ ÒBilly Batson gets hit by lightning and is transformed into Captain Marvel.Ó ThereÕsa lesson there for all of usÑif we only knew what it is! [BLM art ©2005 the respective copyright holders; Superman & Whiz Comics art ©2005 DC Comics.]

[comments, correspondence, & corrections] during the Depression, I imagine its sales were not at historic heights.” If anyone out there ever runs across any more info about Gladiator—any info—I hope he’ll share it with us, since Will and I (like many another comics-history buff) consider that novel a probable major influence on the birth of the super-hero comic, and thus on the history of the comic book field itself.

Monthly. It has no interior illustrations. The cover is of the climax of the novel. ******** Here’s something which I just discovered and wondered if anyone’s ever noticed. I was looking through Les Daniels’ Superman: The Golden Age book, which came with the Masterpiece Edition [based on materials from Superman: The Complete History]. On pp. 46-47 are two photos of the H.J. Ward Superman painting. Compare the two images. They are markedly different.

Details from the two photos of H.J. WardÕsfamous Superman painting, which

Next, some corrections and additions concerning the radio version of “Superman” from longtime DC colorist Anthony Tollin, who writes extensively about old-time radio for collections by the Smithsonian, Radio Spirits, and others:

hung for years in the DC offices. See Dan MakaraÕsaccompanying letter and If you look closely, you’ll see compare! [Superman TM & ©2005 DC Comics.] that the black-&-white photo on the left has the very early triangle Roy (and Will), “S” circa 1939…while the color one on the right has an updated “S” like I’ve seen on Macy’s 1940 Xmas stationery announcements for the I presume Will has probably already informed you that it’s Bud Superman show they had had. The other most notable difference is that Collyer standing in front of the Superman painting on p. 29, not Robert the heads are different: the b&w image is overly thick and crudeMaxwell. The photo was taken circa 1946, when Collyer’s performance looking… plus the hairstyle is way different. The b&w version covers as Superman was being promoted in connection with the highly-praised his forehead… the color version has the familiar spit curl. If you look “Unity House” storyline that pitted the Man of Tomorrow against hateclosely at the color photo, you can actually see the faint outlines of the mongers in a battle against racial and religious intolerance. earlier head. Re your caption on p. 26: George Lowther was the original director

The photo on p. 52 with Harry Donenfeld and Budd Collyer shows the revised version of the “S.” Dan Makara

Interested readers can check this out at the top of this very page, Dan. Thanks for pointing it out. It sure looks as if an update was done at some earlier stage… something I’ve never seen reference to before. And the 1930 cover of The Book League Monthly appears on the preceding page, to illustrate your point about it. Actually, from time to time Hollywood announces a planned movie based on Gladiator, but it never comes to pass. (In fact, Gerry Conway and I tried without success to interest a producer or two in the novel ourselves, back when we were cowriting screenplays in the early 1980s.) And veteran artist John Severin told me a year or so ago that he was illustrating an adaptation of the novel for one of the DC imprints—but that hasn’t appeared yet, either. And there’s been an announcement, I’m told, of still another DC version that is set to debut right about now. Incidentally, I apologize for getting the credits wrong in A/E #37 for “Man-God,” the adaptation I scripted of the first half of Wylie’s novel for Marvel Preview #1 (Winter 1976). ’Twas Rich Buckler, not John Buscema, who penciled the art, for Tony DeZuniga to ink! Will Murray says that his statement that the novel had been a “bestseller” in 1930 was based on something he believes he read some time ago, though he couldn’t confirm it at present. “If I recall right,” he e-mailed, “Gladiator was a bestseller. But how many bestsellers of the ’30s are remembered today? And since hardcover book sales slumped

of The Adventures of Superman radio series, not the Superman one, which was directed by Jack Johnstone. (Superman was the title of the original 1940-42 syndicated radio series, while The Adventures of Superman was the title of the 1942-51 network version.)

On p. 28, Will writes: “It’s important to realize that it was not until February of 1941 that the radio Lois actually encountered the radio Superman.” Actually, Lois first appeared on Feb. 26, 1940, in the seventh episode of the original syndicated serial. A source of Will’s states that was the first time Lois actually met Superman (as opposed to Clark). Regardless, I don’t think it’s clearly stated that Lois had been a recurring character on the Superman syndicated series since its first month (and had even appeared in at least one of the 1939 radio audition recordings). Lois’ ongoing presence in the Superman radio broadcasts since February 1940 makes it that much more likely, methinks, that Robert Maxwell may have been responsible for killing the initial “K-Metal” story, realizing the importance of keeping things consistent between the various media versions of the characters. Certainly major changes would have had to be made in the radio series if Lois had learned Clark’s true identity in the comics. Wasn’t there a similar case in the newspaper strip, where Jerry Siegel had written a story in which Superman and Lois got married?

Alter Ego #37 showcased the covers of several printings of Gladiator. HereÕsthe cover of a 1949 versionÑwhich, rather than a circa-1956 cover we showed in that issue, mustÕvebeen the first paperback edition. Thanks to Dan Makara. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

Also, the timing of Kryptonite’s 1945 return to the radio series (in the episodes immediately leading up to “The Scarlet Widow” storyline) makes me suspect that the two-year delay between the first two “Kryptonite” radio series was likely due to our government’s ban on “atomic energy” storylines. Kryptonite was reintroduced on The Adventures of Superman in September 1945, the month after the bombing of Hiroshima. The radio

re: show at the time really played up the atomic energy connection, with Jackson Beck asking, “Has [Superman] become the victim of that strange, mysterious power—atomic energy? The power that brought the warlords of Nippon to their knees—has it now brought Superman to his knees, never to rise again?” Up, up, and AWAY— Anthony Tollin Ah, yes… the famous 1945 “Atom Man” storyline, which I had fun adapting in World’s Finest Comics #271 (Sept. 1981) very soon after I began writing for DC. Fans of the Superman/Batman team might want to seek this one out in the back-issue bins, since, as per the concept of editor Jack C. Harris, I tied all the two heroes’ previous comic book meetings together—and added their first radio team-up and “Atom Man” bit on my own. You’re a wealth of info, Tony, and thanks for the clarification on Lois’ early appearances, etc. The mistake in ID-ing one photo of Bud Collyer as radio producer Bob Maxwell was mine, based on a less-than-100%clear caption in my source; but at least the photo next to it actually shows Maxwell. For even more about Maxwell, check out Will Murray’s article on this elusive but important figure in the Superman mythos in Comic

75 Book Marketplace #116 (Oct. 2004). Oh, and super-hero fans should pick up Masked Marvels, the latest Radio Spirits CD package with an informative (32-page) booklet by Anthony! It contains vintage radio exploits of Superman/Batman, The Green Lama, Green Hornet, The Shadow, Lone Ranger—and The Scarlet Cloak! Call (800) 833-4248 or visit www.radiospirits.com. Here’s a short but welcome comment from former First Comics and DC Comics editor Mike Gold: Roy— Just got my A/E #37 in the mail. Absolutely great cover! Wayne Boring was my “official” Superman artist—not putting Curt Swan down, but I grew up with Boring’s stuff. This is a great piece, and the timing is fantastic. Mike Gold A good drawing by Wayne Boring is always timely, Mike—at least with a lower-case “t.” (Although I did have Wayne pencil issues of Thor and Captain Marvel at Marvel during the 1970s, being likewise a fan of his.) The following note is from reader Delmo Walters, Jr. who also wrote and drew the Christopher Reeve tribute on p. 70: Dear Roy, I’m surprised that you miscredited the two Young All-Stars covers. They were both drawn by Howard Simpson and inked by Malcolm Jones III. Delmo Walters, Jr. I checked with Howard, whom I ran into last summer at the San Diego Comic-Con, and he replied: “I did not draw those particular Young All-Stars covers. I did the next set of covers. Those guys did.” By which I take it he believes the covers of YAS #10-11 were indeed drawn by Brian Murray and Michael Bair/Hernandez (while that of issue #1, as stated in A/E #37, was by Brian. Hey, anybody out there know how to get in contact with Brian and Michael? Been trying for some time to reach them, with no luck. Incidentally, Will Murray wrote in to say, “I was just reading one of Novell Page’s 1934 Spider novels, and I came across two references to The Spider in which he is called a ‘man of steel.’ This is not the first time I’ve come across that phrase in an early Spider, either. Well, Siegel did admit to reading lots of eerie-hero pulp mags….” And, as Gerard Jones points out in his excellent new study Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (Basic Books, 2004), it was the MLJ super-hero Steel Sterling who was first called “The Man of Steel” (in Zip Comics), with Superman appropriating that phrase to replace “The Man of Tomorrow” only after Sterling went into meltdown. Of course, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s pseudonymous last name also meant “man of steel” in Russian, a fact doubtless reported in many places at least as far back as the 1920s.

Another page from the “K-Metal” story! Charlie Roberts, bless Õim, sent us a copy of this ninth page known to exist (so far) of the 26-page ÒK-MetalÓ story that was covered in AE #26 & #37 by Mark Waid and Will Murray. ItÕsreproÕdhere from a mediocre photo which is all that Charlie hasÉ but we wanted to document the page, whatever the quality of the reproduction. Actually, weÕveheard rumors that still more pages from that story are in private hands, and we hope that one day these folks will see fit to share those images. IÕlladmit that I personally find few things about collectors more distasteful than the practice of hoarding and withholding info and/or artwork, whether re comic art or fine art. After all, if one wishes (understandably) not to let the whole world know where a given piece of art is, one can always remain anonymous, and that anonymity would always be respected by Alter Ego. [©2005 DC Comics.]

By the way, be sure to pick up (and actually read) Gerard’s book. It’s a virtual non-fiction equivalent of Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and centers on the lives and interplay of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and DC publishers Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz. Unavoidably (as I know only too well), a few errors and unproven points did slip in, such as the (possible, but still undocumented) assumption that Siegel reviewed Gladiator in his fanzine Science Fiction; but by and large Men of Tomorrow is one of the most important (as well as best-written) books published to date on the history of comic books! I asked Gerard about the above point, and he replied: Hello, Roy, To address your question about the Gladiator review in Science

[comments, correspondence, & corrections] one-sided and, I contend, erroneous picture. The above are merely two blemishes among many in a fatally flawed, and thus almost useless, book, I’m sorry to say—especially since I think the writer was basically well-intentioned. Meanwhile, here’s a note about the Thomas oeuvre, from reader Steve Piersall, that likewise came in response to A/E #37: Hello—

I especially enjoyed #37’s article on Gladiator. It did bring to mind a small mystery concerning “Iron” Munro of The Young All-Stars. Perhaps Roy wouldn’t mind telling us what connection he had in mind for Arn and Übermensch—a plot point that sadly was not resolved before the untimely end of that One of the first Òsuper-menÓ in comics format, as reported in A/E #37, was J. KoernerÕsHugo Hercules, a Sunday comic. Actually, an entire article newspaper strip which ran in 1902-03. Here, sent by Will Murray from another source of which weÕrenot certain, is the one for Nov. 30, 1902. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.] by Roy on what plans and developments he intended for both The Young All-Stars and AllFiction, I’m afraid I was guilty of wishful thinking in reaching my Star Squadron would make fascinating reading. I’m sure I’m not the conclusion. I tracked down a couple of parties who had owned runs of only one interested in “what might have been.” His account of that Siegel’s fanzine at one time and found that both had sold them to buyers whole crazy period of Crisis-spawned, ever-changing editorial decisions who couldn’t be named. One person who had read through them before that played such havoc on his books would, at this late date, be valuable the change of ownership, however, told me that he could assert that he just as an historical record; but I’m also interested in how he sees those had seen the Gladiator review. He said he remembered it being very events today, now that time has dulled the loss somewhat. Believe me, I short, barely more than a plot summary. I took that as the evidence I loved Roy’s whole sensibility and the obvious love and care he put into needed that the stories of the review were true, but obviously one should those books as much as anybody. I think All-Star Squadron, as a whole, have a lot more than that before making a positive assertion. It’s still stands as a high-water mark in comics writing. I thought I’d take the obviously possible that there was some misremembering and wishful opportunity to tell Roy not only “thank you” but also to say that what thinking involved. he was trying to do did matter to many fans like myself, who “got it.” Gerard Jones It’s amazing that Crisis on Infinite Earths is approaching the 20year mark. With “hypertime,” The Kingdom, Elseworlds, and various Grateful for your response, Gerry. Again, a note to A/E’s readers: Buy other near-monthly reality-bending events, we seem to be in a period I this book! Despite the (perhaps!) mistake gone over in detail above, Men like to call “Post-Continuity”—that is, continuity no longer seems to of Tomorrow is an indispensable addition to any serious collection of the matter very much. The entire reasoning behind Crisis now seems more literature on comic books. (See ad on p.72) ironic than anything else. Roy’s original solution, to continue to tell To digress: Ah, if only Ronin Ro’s recent book Tales to Astonish: Jack Earth-Two tales set in the past, now seems as viable as anything else. Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution had been What might have been, indeed! Now that the Crisis is practically ancient half as conscientious about checking and/or listing its source material! If history by comics standards, Roy’s take on the whole matter is a story I’d had the room (or inclination), I thought about writing a full-scale that should finally be told. review of that book, probably titled “Tales to Admonish”! In addition to dozens of other questionable statements in Ro’s book (including the acceptance of the unconfirmed and quite probably spurious story about Bill Everett getting the idea for “Sub-Mariner” from an unproduced movie serial), Ro reports—just for an instance—on my 1960s-70s collaborations with the great artist Neal Adams on X-Men and Avengers by accepting without question a quote from somewhere by Neal that friction between us was caused by my letting personal matters get in the way. I’ve certainly no quarrel with Neal himself at this late stage—we’ve simply agreed to disagree on various matters of historical fact, as people of good will often do—but I do have a real problem with Ronin Ro totally ignoring my various statements over the years that the tensions in that collaboration were almost totally connected to deadlines. It’s not that I wanted Ro to take “my side”—far from it! However, by ignoring my explanation (which appeared in A/E V2#4 and was reprinted in A/E: The Comic Book Artist Collection, among other places), he gives a

Steve Piersall

I’ve often toyed with the notion of devoting space in A/E to Crisis on Infinite Earths and its consequences, Steve. But, with TwoMorrows’ Back Issue magazine now on the scene, I’d probably settle for covering just the way it affected my own titles and my relationship with DC Comics. Perhaps one day soon I’ll do it. As for Arn “Iron” Munro (son of Hugo Danner) and Übermensch (the Nazi “superman”) in the post-Crisis series The Young All-Stars I developed for DC, I believe I had it in mind that a scientist—perhaps even Arn’s grandfather Abednego Danner—had some crucial connection with the serum that gave the German similar powers; but unless I either have a memory jog or stumble across some left-over notes, I can’t be certain. There’ll be coverage of The Young All-Stars both in future issues of A/E and in the upcoming All-Star Companion, Vol. 2, so

re: maybe by then…! Most readers who commented on the in-depth Sy Barry interview conducted by Jim Amash for A/E #37 simply stated how much they enjoyed it, and we second that emotion. Still, inevitably, there were bound to be a few quibbles with particular aspects of it. Here is a useful correction, courtesy of Craig Delich, who is often called upon by DC Comics (and by Yours Truly!) to identify art styles on unsigned stories. Hi Roy! Just read over the Sy Barry interview. I already knew about his inks over Bob Kane (they are found in World’s Finest #47, 48, & 52). However—he could not have done a “Batman” over Jerry Robinson’s pencils during the time he stated, because Robinson left DC in 1946 for Nedor and others. His inks over a “Superman” Swan-penciled story in the early to mid-1950s could never have happened, either. There are obvious mistakes in his memory. Craig Delich Of course, nobody’s memory is perfect, Craig. But we wonder—was the error that Sy Barry didn’t ink those two pieces of art at all—or simply that the dates are a bit off?

77 Your comments are always welcome, Mike, as are your occasional contributions. Next, Alter Ego’s founding editor Jerry G. Bails weighs in, with information gleaned from his online Who’s Who in 20th-Century American Comic Books, which can be accessed at www.nostromo.no/whoswho/. This was in response to a query about the various talents who have worked over the years on The Phantom newspaper comic strip. As per checklists we run in many issues, the key to the abbreviations below is as follows: (a) = artist; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only; (S) = work on the Sunday strip; (d) = work on the daily strip. The word “ghost,” of course, means the work was uncredited. Dear Roy, Many ghosts lurk in the Phantom strip. Here’s a history: Olesen, George - (d)(ghost p) 1962-76, 1982-94; (d)(p) 94-99; (S) (ghost i) 1962; (ghost p) 1962-76, 1982-94; (S)(p) 1994-99-. Falk, Lee – (w) 1936-99 (assisted by his wife Elizabeth in the 1990s). Bester, Alfred – (S/d)(ghost w) c. 1942-45. Infantino, Carmine – (S)(ghost a) 1961 (1 week).

And here’s a letter from longtime comics writer and editor Mike W. Barr on another feature in issue #37:

Lignante, Bill – (S)(ghost a) 1961-62.

Dear Roy:

Forgione, Bob – (d)(ghost p) 1962-63.

The most interesting aspect of A/E #37 was John G. Pierce’s article “The World’s Finest Big Red Cheese.” As a longtime Captain Marvel fan, I’ve finally realized that I’m not really comfortable with any rendition of The Cheese that’s not generally in accordance with the original Beck version. When I edited World’s Finest Comics for a time in the early 1980s, which included “Shazam!” with Don Newton as penciler, I asked a couple of times about returning the strip to its classic Beck look, since the “New Look” wasn’t setting any sales records, but I was given essentially the same answer by Joe Orlando that I got the day before I quit staff: “When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you!”

Roussos, George – (ghost p) 1968-69 (?).

Barry, Sy – (d)(p) 1961-62; (i) 1961-71, 1971-94; (S)(p) 1962; (i) 1962-94.

Giella, Joe – (d)(p) 1971-76; (d/S)(i) 1971-88.

None of this is intended as any kind of slight toward Don Newton, who accomplished a difficult task with all the skill he could muster. And his Captain Marvel was my favorite of the realistic versions. Likewise, E. Nelson Bridwell was the only one at DC, then or now (you weren’t there then, and you’re not there now) who had any clue as to what The Marvel Family was about. I don’t think Nelson was overly fond of the “realistic” Captain Marvel, either, but, as usual, the freelancers, the guys who have to do the actual work and who get fired if the company’s brainstorms fail, are never consulted. (By the way, I think Pierce quoted from the interview I did with ENB in The Amazing World of DC Comics #16 in paragraphs 4 and 5 of page 38. As Archie Goodwin [Rex Stout’s, not the comics’] says, “I’m just telling you.”) Mike W. Barr

Heck, Don – (d/S)(bkgd?) 1972; (d)(p) 1973. Rosenberger, John – (d/S)(asst p) 1974. Buckler, Rich – (d)(ghost p) 1978; (S)(p) 1978-79; (ghost p) 1980s. Delbo, José – (d)(p) 1979. Springer, Frank – (d)(ghost p) 1979, 1987 (??). Le Blanc, Andre – (S)(ghost p) 1986-87 (??). Williams, Keith – (d)(i) 1994-2000; (S)(i) 1994-95. Fredericks, Fred – (d)(i) 1996; (S)(i) 19952000. De Paul, Tony – (S) 1999 (adapted from his Swedish Phantom comic book). Raab, Ben – (?? – possibly adapted from his Swedish Phantom comic book). Snapinn, Milt – (S/d) letterer Oda, Ben – (S/d) letterer Reed, Rod – (w) (dates unknown) Jerry Bails

ƒbermensch (German for ÒOver-ManÓ or ÒSuper-ManÓ) cocks his fist to finish off a prostate ÒIronÓ Munro on the cover of The Young All-Stars #24 (April 1989). Oh, and thatÕsthe WWII Soviet super-heroine Sonya Chuikov, whose Russian name translates into English as ÒFireball,Ó streaking to ArnÕs rescue. Art by Ron Harris & Bob Downs. [©2005 DC Comics.]

Once again you’ve earned our gratitude, Jerry. Any additions or corrections to the above list should be sent either directly to you, or via Alter Ego. And, of course, I’m sure we agree that, whoever the precise artist at a given date, Sy Barry’s was the masterful hand that guided The Phantom back to greatness during those years!

re:

A Few Short Corrections & Additions to A/E #37: Jim Amash wrote to underscore a point in A/E #37: “If the ‘Adapted by Dan Barry’ credit is on a crime story [in a Lev Gleason comic], that means he probably did write it. Sometimes Charles Biro would tell an artist to do a story on so-and-so, and then the writer would get info out of a book or most likely a newspaper and adapt the story.” Paul Gravett, knowing we’d want to set the record straight, advised us that “the huge pan-European publishers of The Phantom mentioned by Sy Barry on p. 26 of A/E #37 are known as Egmont, not Eggmont.” Which leaves with egg on our face, Paul. Michael Tiefenbacher is fairly sure, even though he doesn’t own a copy of Adventures into Weird Worlds #15, that “the splash reproduced on page 14 of the Sy Barry interview (‘Back from the Dead!’) was actually penciled by Carmine Infantino. Check out panel 3’s layout, especially the hands… pretty characteristic of Carmine, and unlike anything Sy penciled himself.” Duly noted, Michael, even if it’s hard to be certain about these things.

Reader Scotty Moore says he only recently got caught up on reading issues of A/E: ÒI came across Jim VadeboncoeurÕsfine effort on the work of Italian artists for Fiction House and St. John. I especially found his comments on Antonio Canale (a.k.a. Tony Chan) enlightening. IÕveread (well, looked at the pictures of) many issues of ChanÕsAmok from Italian reprints and find it unusually effective noir storytelling. JimÕs noting of ChanÕsÔboldcontrast between black and whiteÕcouldnÕtbe more appropriate. IÕvehad one of AmokÕscover originals in my collection for many years and hope youÕllfind it of interest.Ó We definitely do, ScottyÑthanks! [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

Jostein Hansen of Norway points out that Sy Barry worked on the Tarzan strip with his brother Dan for United Features Syndicate, not King Features. We knew that… but got careless.

Jean-Paul Gabilliet, who had a mini-exchange in A/E #37’s “re:” section with Jean-Marc Lofficier over the latter’s coverage of French Silver Age super-hero comics in #31, says he still disagrees with some of JML’s conclusions, but that there are no hard feelings: “As far as I’m concerned, the discussion is over.” He also mentions that he has just completed a French-language “cultural history” of the US comic book industry titled Des Comics et des hommes: Histoire culturelle des comic books aux Etats-Unis, which was scheduled to be published by Editions du Temps in January. Best of luck with it, Jean-Paul. Makes me wish my own French was a bit (well, actually, a lot) better!

Send any comments, corrections, etc., to: Roy Thomas

e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com

32 Bluebird Trail

fax: (803) 826-6389

St. Matthews, SC 29135 And don’t forget, as they say, to reserve your copy now of our next issue. It features some of the best, mostly never-reprinted features from the 1960s-70s Alter Ego. It headlines a newly and lavishly illustrated version of the most extensive interview ever given by Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett, plus a brand new interview by Jim Amash with veteran artist Lou Glanzman, plus our regular features!

Artist Sy Barry restored a classic (and classy) look to The Phantom, as per these two panels from the daily for March 17, 1965. Thanks to Shane FoleyÑI thinkÑ for the copy of the Australian reprint comic. [©2005 King Features Syndicate.]

81 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. Last issue, Marc discussed his syndicate strip sample—the humorous Louis LeBone—the missing link and origin to his Louis LeNoir strip—and, as revealed in this issue—reworked again as The Great Louis … eventually leading to The Great Pierre—the strip which finally led to a contract for syndication. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Publications. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, “Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. ’42); but he was primarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. After leaving the service in 1944, 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 for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton). After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics, including Sweethearts and Life Story. After

When the Louis Le Noir art was taken to the syndicates, it had with it an added sales impetus not present on previous similar occasions: photostatic copies of the work. Black-&white copies, in the 1940s, were not as readily available as we find them today. Nor as economical. In the case at hand it had been necessary to leave the art with a local photostat service where negatives were shot, then reproduced in positive in quantities desired. The process took weeks... and money. I must have come to realize at long last that if the cost had been a deterring factor in earlier efforts to syndicate, the expense would have been a sensible investment... considering the importance of “leaving something” when a syndicate expressed interest. You can bet, when the Le Noir work was carried in at the West 46th Street address of McClure Syndicate, a package of the “stats”... neatly trimmed and stapled in handy book form... was included.

(Above:) LouisÕCajun accent, considered too heavily emphasized for easy reading, had to be altered. (Below:) Photostatic copies of Louis Le Noir, trimmed and stapled in book form, were distributed among interested syndicates. [©2005 Marc Swayze.]

The response was several months in coming but was encouraging. “We have had favorable

ÒWeDidnÕtKnow... It Was The Golden Age!Ó

reaction to your samples... the way the continuity is held together... and the idea of a big handsome braggart who can deliver when necessary.” The letter, signed by Andre F. L’Eveque, went on, proposing a title change to something more easily and consistently pronounced, less emphasis on the dialect, and a clean-shaven chin for the hero. Use of the plural “We,” and the lapse of time, suggested the comments having had input from sales personnel and hence from prospective newspaper customers. Lots of professional wisdom behind those criticisms. The “stats” had paid off. The project had begun in 1953... the year Fawcett turned off the lights in the comic book department. I neither recall nor believe the despair that has been hinted about that. The company... perched there virtually atop Times Square... widely considered the most prestigious in its field... did not die with Captain Marvel. Nor with the comic book department. Some shuffling around may have taken place among the creative suppliers, but not much, if any, complaint from office personnel. No excitement about it at our house, either. For five or more years I had been illustrating Fawcett romances... “as much as you care to handle,” editor Roy Ald had put it. June and I were comfortably settled in our home in Louisiana with four of our children... Chris yet to come. The romances, Phantom Eagle, et al, had been generous. Fawcett, too. Somewhere in my head dwelt the conviction that should we ever arrive at a decision to leave the South, the same confidence expressed by the company for years could be relied upon. And there were the syndicate efforts. Photostat copies of other titles produced during that period were distributed among interested syndicates and results were surfacing... some pleasing. An itinerary scribbled on an envelope dated April ’54 described another journey to New York: “Mon. - appt. tomorrow with L’Eveque. Saw Harry [Gilburt] at United... thinks story [Jango] moves too slowly... captions say same thing pictures show... a monkey with the same name at La Fave[?].” “Tue. - a.m. - Left Louis originals for Miss Bellah at McNaught... p.m. - saw L’Eveque at McClure... wants 3rd wk. of art and rewrite of dialect, 1st two weeks. Mac [Raboy] called... talked to Byck [at King Features]... wants to see me.” Correspondence with L’Eveque continued throughout the year... the suggestions all good... and complied with as promptly as I could manage. The lead character remained the same in general appearance and personality, but his name changed... as well as his background and purposes in the story... even the title of the strip. And the dialogue, the accent having been considered too heavily stressed for easy reading, had to be altered. It all added up to more writing and drawing... work... the situation reaching a point where criticisms were overlapping criticisms. The suggestion, for example, to affiliate the hero in some way with the Border Patrol. When three new strips, complete with text and art, were finished I looked at them with a feeling of frustration. They were to be the introduction to the initial episode. The original intro, the bayou bank home of the Avairs, had been fixed in my mind since before

McClure Newspaper Syndicate editor Andre F. LÕEvequeÕsletter of comment to Marc, written Dec. 3, 1953.

the first page was typed... the scene sketched repeatedly from various angles as though to have us... the readers, hopefully, and I... feel comfortable there for the first two or three weeks of story. Now, here I was, offering a new introduction in its place. Then, to top it off, once that was in place, the old stand-by criticism came in: “The story now moves too slowly.” In the final analysis, only one of the three new strips was used. Oh, well.... The criticisms, rewrites, changes and expansions to the strip continued. In November, with six more newly prepared strips, I wrote: “Don’t you think I’m entitled to something in writing by this time? It was spoken of last May... We seem to have come to agreement on financial terms, policies, etc.... How about a contract?” L’Eveque’s reply was received within the week: “…Some of our salesmen will return around the middle of December... You will hear from me then.” I didn’t, though... ever again. The next letter, with the McClure

Marc Swayze letterhead, was signed by Joseph B. Agnelli: “... Frank [L’Eveque]... resigned from our organization in December .…” I have never known what the situation was between the two syndicates, Bell and McClure... whether it was a merger of some kind... or simply a buy-out. Correspondence regarding the comic strip, now titled The Great Louis, was kept up by Joe Agnelli, whom I had known since the Flyin’ Jenny days.

I don’t know what became of Andre F. L’Eveque. His confidence in what I was doing, his encouragement and helpful suggestions were not forgotten. I am thankful to have known him. [Marc’s memories of the Golden Age continue next issue.]

The Great Louis – Three Strips In order to affiliate the hero with the Border Patrol, a new introduction was prepared as seen below, for the Le Noir feature. Then, when that sequence was criticized as moving too slowly, two of its strips were deleted.

Celebrating Otto BinderÕsinduction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, we present É

The “Lost” Jon Jarl Story Otto BinderÕsRecently-Discovered Final Prose Piece Intended for Captain Marvel Adventures Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

Introduction by Bill Schelly

ne of the first things I did when I decided to write a biography of Otto Binder [Words of Wonder: The Life and Times of Otto Binder, still available from Hamster Press; see ad in this issue. —PCH] was to canvass all my contacts in comic fandom, to see what kind of primary source material would surface. Otto’s letters, notes, scripts, and much more came to light, including a startling item from Bill Spicer (publisher of Fantasy Illustrated and Graphic Story Magazine): what appeared to be a never-before-published ‘Jon Jarl, Space Detective’ short story—one of the type that appeared in consecutive issues of Captain Marvel Adventures as a “text filler” during the post-war period, penned under Otto’s pseudonym “Eando Binder.” Unlike most such prose features, which comic books ran to fulfill second-class mailing requirements, Binder’s “Jon Jarl” tales were avidly read, due to their charm and imagination … staples of Binder’s fictional storytelling. According to Binder’s own records, he wrote 86 of these short tales. Yet, the title “The Missing Moon Man” isn’t among them. While it’s possible the title was changed for publication, the story does not seem to fit any of the list of titles in Otto’s records. Therefore, the following story must be considered the 87th “Jon Jarl” adventure, heretofore unseen.

The Missing Moon Man by Eando Binder “Digby!” The cry rang through the bungalow, in feminine tones. “Digby, where are you? That man, I can never find him when I want him!” Digby Ditherton was in the hall, using the visi-phone. At his wife’s ringing cry, he hastily spoke to the small image of the man’s face on the visi-screen. “Gosh—it’s Maybelle—my wife—got to hang up, Pete!” Guiltily, he bracketed the phone and tried to sneak down to the basement, but a little curly-headed face was peeking from the livingroom, and childish tones said—“Shall I help you hide from Mama, Daddy?” Only little Gerty, aged 3H, forgot to lower her voice and Mrs. Maybelle Ditherton marched up with a stern face. “Digby, how thoughtless of you to try such things before the children! Come now, I want you to beat the rugs.” Digby suppressed a groan. As bad as that? He hoped it might be washing the dishes, or repairing the sun-lamp, but beating the rugs—the

Master Of Imagination: Otto O. Binder in front of his typewriter during the Golden Age, dreaming up yet another Captain Marvel or Marvel Family adventureÑor possibly a ÒJon JarlÓ story!

job he hated most. Maybelle handed him the big woven-glass rug, all rolled up, and then clamped the all-glass oxy-helmet around his head. “Don’t forget to keep it on,” she warned. “I remember once you took it off outside, to wipe your forehead, and you nearly suffocated before I dragged you in.” “Yes, my love,” said Digby meekly. With oxygen circulating through his helmet, Digby dragged the rug out through the double air-locks of the front door. He climbed the stone steps to the lip of the small crater in which their bungalow was built, and surveyed the landscape stretching for miles in all directions. Or rather—the moonscape. The Dithertons lived on the moon, in this year of 2261 A.D. Their bungalow was hermetically sealed, and aerated with artificial air produced by the Air-o-vat. In all directions, wherever there was a protective crater, lay other bungalows. This was the

Otto BinderÕsFinal Prose Piece Intended For Captain Marvel Adventures

The title heading and illo for the ÒJon JarlÓ story that appeared on the inside front and back covers of Captain Marvel Adventures #144 (May 1953). Though he wrote many a story of the various members of The Marvel Family, Otto BinderÕsonly written credit in any Fawcett comics was as ÒEando BinderÓ on these science-fiction short-shorts. [©2005 the respective copyright holders.]

township of Lunaville, and all the men worked and made their living at the giant Space Port, where the space ships of Earth stopped off on their long runs to distant planets. Taking the rug some distance from the house, Digby spread it on the flat rock and prepared to beat it with the same kind of rug-beater husbands had used way back in the 20th century. Shucks, thought Digby, with all the scientific advancement we’ve had since those days, wouldn’t you think they could invent some new and easy way to beat rugs? You could fly in a space ship even to Pluto, but when it came to beating rugs—well, you just had to beat the rug. Hours passed, as recorded on the chronometer in the house. Night came—according to the clock—but no darkness fell. The days on the moon were two weeks long, Earth time, and this was the beginning of the moon day. However, Maybelle put the children to bed, for they were on an Earthly schedule, and then wondered why Digby hadn’t come in. Angrily, she marched out, in a glassine helmet, but her anger turned to dismay, then fright. Digby was gone! The rug lay there, looking unbeaten, but there was no sign of Digby Ditherton, her husband. Panic flooded into Maybelle’s mind. She suddenly recalled all the horrible stories of the lurking dangers on the moon. There were nameless, horrible beasts which lived in the deep caverns, where there was air. There were also treacherous patches of moonscape which crumbled under one’s feet and tumbled one down into bottomless pits. And worst of all, if a meteor came whizzing down and hit you, it was worse than the atomic bomb. The Earth had a protective blanket of air which burned up the thousands of meteorites that fell each day, but the moon had no such cushion of atmosphere. Had Digby wandered off and been flattened by a meteor? Eaten by a cavern beast? Fallen into a pit? Rushing back into the house, Maybelle frantically jiggled the spacephone. “Help! Police! My husband is missing! Police!.....”

Jon had a talk with the wailing wife, gathered all the essential details through her sobs, and strode out of the bungalow again. He stood at the spot where the rug was beaten, looking for tracks. None were visible, but Jon took out his vest-pocket ultra-violet light. Under the invisible but searching rays, Jon saw a faint trail of footprints going away across the rocks. “Wonder where he was going?” mused Jon. “Seems he had some definite destination. His tracks go in a straight line. At least he wasn’t struck by moon-fever.” Following the tracks, Jon had no warning, as suddenly a tremendous concussion threw him off his feet. There was no sound, because sound only travels in air, and there was no air. Jon picked himself up and thanked his lucky stars. It had been a meteorite, as big as a football. It had struck two feet back of him, and made a hole in the rock. Curls of smoke came out. If the meteorite had hit Jon, there would have been only a brief report—“Lt. Jon Jarl struck by meteorite. No body found, only shreds of his uniform.” “The moon is a dangerous place to live on,” Jon thought. “I wonder why people ever come here to make a living? But then, why did the pioneers on Earth, way back in the 18th century, hack their way through the wilderness? I guess it’s human nature to want excitement and danger.” He went on, apprehensively glancing in the sky now and then. In story books, the members of the Space Patrol were utterly fearless souls who laughed at death. But Jon frankly admitted his nerves were shaken. He couldn’t help looking up, in case another meteorite fell. And because he was looking up, he failed to see where his feet were going. It was as if the bottom of the universe dropped out from under his feet, as a thin shell of rock broke and plunged him down into a black pit. He had fallen into one of the hideous pits on the moon’s pockmarked surface. Men seldom came out of them alive. But after the first shock of surprise, Jon’s mind turned icy calm, even as he fell. With a speed as great as drawing his ray-gun, he whipped the flashlight from his belt and shone it on the walls past which he flashed. Then he saw it—an out-jutting tongue of rock. He grabbed it with one hand—clawed his fingers in—and stopped falling.

At the police station, the officer in charge picked up the phone and listened to the excited babble. “Now calm down, madam…..Your husband is missing?....went out to beat rugs? … didn’t come back? All right, I’ll send a man right over.”

Panting, he swung his feet up and gained a firmer hold. His arm felt as if it had been wrenched out of his shoulder-socket, but he was saved. It would not have been possible to stay his plunge on Earth. But on the moon, where you only weighed one-sixth as much, gravity was your friend.

He turned to the tall, slim young lieutenant with whom he had been chatting. “Got to send a man over to locate a missing husband, Jon. It happens every day almost. Guess I’ll send Hank….”

Then, using a coil of thin wire from his belt-kit, Jon cast a loop upward again and again till he caught an edge of rock above. It was short work then to clamber up to the surface, hand over hand.

Jon Jarl interrupted. “Wait, I’ll go. This is my day off from space patrol, and all that, but I feel like doing something. I’ll find this lady’s husband.”

Jon looked back down the black pit which had nearly claimed his life, and shuddered. There was no visible bottom. It was estimated some of the pits went down 100 miles.

“Okay, Jon,” the officer waved. “Address, Crater 16, Luna Lane. Name is Digby Ditherton.”

“I’ll be a nervous wreck before I find Digby Ditherton—if I find him.”

The ÒLastÓ Jon Jarl

Jon went on, following the ultra-violet footprints, and they led into a cave, finally. Now what was Digby doing in here? Jon passed a side tunnel, not aware of gleaming eyes, until abruptly a nightmare form hurtled out. It was one of the cavern-beasts, with horns like a bull, scales like a dragon, and the jaws of an alligator. It pounced on Jon and hurled him to the ground. But before the saw-edged teeth could snap him up, Jon had pulled his ray-gun. He fired straight into the jaws. The beast coughed, staggered, and then fell limply. Had the moon beast gotten Digby Ditherton before? But no—his footprints went on, deeper into the cave. Jon stepped through into a larger cavern, lit by hanging flashlights—and gasped. The most startling sight of all met his eyes, in all this moon adventure.

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Jon Jarl, as visualized by comics fan and aspiring artist Alan Weiss in Bill SpicerÕsFantasy Illustrated #1, 1964. Alan, of course, went on to a pro career in the field in the 1970s and beyond. [Art ©2005 Alan Weiss.]

Four men, with glassine helmets, were sitting around a table, playing cards. One of them turned, seeing the blue-and-gold uniform of the Space Patrol. “Oh shucks,” said Digby Ditherton. “I suppose Maybelle sent you for me. I’ll go, officer—but please, promise me one thing— don’t tell our wives where this cave is. It’s the only secret place we can sneak off to at times, for a quiet game of pinochle.” Jon Jarl promised, grinning. There was nothing in the code of a Space Cop which said he must reveal to wives their husbands’ secrets.

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88 INTRODUCTORY NOTE: This issue’s FCA cover is a 1975 painting by chief Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck, entitled “Thorin – King under the Mountain”—based on the character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. From the collection of P.C. Hamerlinck. We wrap up this issue with another essay by Beck, originally presented in FCA #21 (FCA/SOB #10), Oct.-Nov. 1981, during Beck’s tenure as editor of FCA/SOB. —P.C. Hamerlinck.

The Great Heroes Were All Losers by C.C. Beck

he great heroes of literature have always been unheroic types. The great macho-sadistic-all-conquering-super-characters have been the villains against whom the heroes were pitted.

In Greek mythology such heroes as Perseus, Ulysses, and Daedalus were mere mortals without special powers. Their enemies were the gods who had super-powers. In the Middle Ages, King Arthur and Robin Hood spent their lives battling evil characters much stronger and with more powers at their command than they had. Sometimes they lost out; both died ignominiously in the end.

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck throats propaganda that comic characters had to spread. While the all-powerful, invincible, godlike super-characters have always been second-rate in literature, Captain Marvel was at one time well on the way to becoming a true hero in the classic style. His stories had a wide variety of plots and settings. There were humor, and magic, and drama, and characters who were young, old, handsome, and ugly in

Don Quixote was a doddering old idiot; Lemuel Gulliver was the original gullible tourist, falling into one tourist trap after another and never learning to take care of himself. Robinson Crusoe was a castaway whose worst and only enemy was himself. D’Artagnan was an innocent country boy from the backwoods of France. The reason that such heroes were popular with readers is that they were human, fallible, and even more unheroic than the rest of us. Ichabod Crane was the hero of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, not Brom Bones, who was big, strong, and handsome. Readers like to see the “little guy” in trouble and having a terrible time. Things happen to such heroes, not the other way ’round. They don’t go looking for trouble; it comes to them. If the little guy ever comes out on top it’s a fluke of some kind. Not aware of this, ignorant producers of penny-dreadful stories have again and again created heroes with vast, supernatural powers. The stories about Paul Bunyan and other mythical backwoodsmen were completely ridiculous. Even Daniel Boone and Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill were turned into mythical characters who did all sorts of impossible things. Comics are our modern penny-dreadfuls. During World War II they reached the depths of silliness. We had Commando Yank, Captain America, The Shield, and other such heroes stopping invasions, destroying Nazi and Japanese armies single-handed, and “saving the world for democracy.” Even Captain Marvel and The Marvel Family were suckered into such actions. It was their undoing. Where Superman was born with inhuman powers and went around looking for excuses to use them, Captain Marvel was really only a small boy who always had things happening to him. He used his powers as The World’s Mightiest Mortal to get out of trouble, not into it… at first. Then came the fateful change. The 1940s were the days when we were told that America was the most powerful country in the world and that it was up to us to remake civilization in our image. Reading old comics of the 1940s is sickening when one sees the chauvinistic, ramming-down-people’s-

Captain Marvel was one of many heroes Òsaving the world for democracyÓ in the 1940sÑalthough CapÕschief artist C.C. Beck felt that was the characterÕs Òundoing.Ó Cover of Whiz Comics #17 (May 1941); art by Beck. [©2005 DC Comics.]

The Great Heroes Were All Losers

them. Everyone was not six feet tall and impossibly beautiful, as in Flash Gordon, or repulsively ugly as in Li’l Abner. This is what people remember of Fawcett’s comic books of the Golden Age: the human qualities of the characters. Billy Batson was a boy announcer, Freddy Freeman ran a newsstand, Mary Marvel was a little girl. They had friends: Mr. Morris, the kindly owner of station WHIZ; Uncle Dudley Marvel, a lovable old fraud; Mr. Tawny; Professor Edgewise; Whitey; the three Lieutenant Marvels. Today, many young people are horrified at the lighthearted way we treated comics during the Golden Age. These young people look on comics as a sort of religion. To them, a super-hero never sweats, eats, or goes to the bathroom. He spends all his time frowning, looking heroic, and flying about reshaping the world. It was when Captain Marvel and his Family forgot that they were human and became super-heroes like all the other penny-dreadful characters of the day that their popularity disappeared. They will never come back until comic publishers realize that great heroes have always been—not winners but— losers. Fawcett’s comic book characters were the biggest losers of all.

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