Alter Ego #65 Preview

Roy Thomas’ Cardy- Carrying Comics Fanzine

DC & QUALITY ARTIST

NICK CARDY IN THE GOLDEN & SILVER AGES $

6.95

In the USA

No. 65 February 2007

Plus Art & Artifacts By: WILL EISNER NEAL ADAMS JIM APARO CARMINE INFANTINO RAMONA FRADON MURPHY ANDERSON CURT SWAN LILY ORLANDO RENEE JOE IRV NOVICK BOB HAN LEE ELIAS EY SEKOWSKY MIKE SEKOKY & Many More!

BONUS:

All characters TM & ©2007 DC Comics.

Vol. 3, No. 65 / February 2007

™

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

Editor Emeritus Mike Friedrich

Editorial Honor Roll Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ross Foss, Biljo White

Production Assistant Chris Irving

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, Seastone Marketing Group

Cover Artist

Writer/Editorial: “The Best of Times... The Worst of Times” . . 2 “When You Do A Lot of Super-Heroes, All You’re Drawing Is Men In Long Underwear” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 But Nick Cardy still talks to Jim Amash about those guys and other things.

The Siegel & Shuster Deal At 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Nick Cardy

Murray Bishoff helped get the ball rolling for Superman’s creators back in the mid-1970s.

With Special Thanks to: Jack Adams Heidi Amash David Armstrong Allan Asherman Bob Bailey Mike W. Barr Marty Baumann Mark Beazley Alberto Becattini Spencer Beck Allen & Roz Bellman John Benson Daniel Best Murray Bishoff Bill Black Dominic Bongo Richard Boucher Frank Brunner Mark Burbey Mike Burkey Glen Cadigan Nick Caputo Jim Cardillo Nick Cardy R. Dewey Cassell Bob Cherry John Cogan Ray A. Cuthbert Teresa R. Davidson Michael Dunne Mark Evanier Michael Feldman Shane Foley Jeff Gelb Joe & Frank Giella Janet Gilbert Laura Gjovaag Glenn Greenberg Steve Griffin Darrell Grimes George Hagenauer Jennifer Hamerlinck William Harper Heritage Comics Larry Ivie Jonathan G. Jensen Larry Kashdan

Contents

Henry Kujawa Larry Lieber Alan Light Dan Makara Don Mangus Bruce Mason Bob McLeod Sean Menard Clifford Meth Linda Monaco Luis Morales Mario Morales Frank Motler Mark Muller Andy Patterson Lily Renee Charlie Roberts Trina Robbins Herb Rogoff Rich Rubenfeld Constance Schroeder Paul Schroeder Pat Sekowsky Carole Seuling David Siegel Jean Siegel Robin Snyder J. David Spurlock Emilio Squeglio Bhob Stewart David Studham Marc Swayze Richard Deane Taylor Joel Thingvall Dann Thomas Michael Uslan Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Nicholas Viscardi Mike Vosburg Tom Weaver Len Wein Marv Wolfman Lynn Woolley Spiros Xenos Eddy Zeno

The Best “Will” In The World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Another Reinman “Green Lantern” page from that never-published 1940s JSA story!

Hollywood Comes To Hollywood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Golden Age artist Allen Bellman met two Lois Lanes at the 2006 MegaCon!

Comic Crypt: “Oooh…That’s Cheesy!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Michael T. Gilbert on some not-so-gouda comic book covers.

Comic Fandom Archive: Monsters & Heroes At His Beck And Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly tell what little they can about the 1967 Calvin Beck Con.

Tributes To Ernie Schroeder, Dave Cockrum, Mart Nodell, & Andy Warner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 re: [comments, corrections, & correspondence] . . . . . . . . . . 67 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze, Emilio Squeglio (part 2), and a tribute to artist Tom Laughlin.

About Our Cover: The venerable and estimable Nick Cardy painted this cover of himself and a few of the many comic book heroes he’s drawn especially for this issue of Alter Ego. We envy the lucky soul who gets to buy this one off Nick! But what’re you lookin’ at, Batman? [All characters except Nick TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

Above: The pencil sketch for yet another cover drawn by Nick Cardy for a recent publication— in this case, the hardcover Silver Age Teen Titans Archives, Vol. 1. Hope you got paid a little better for that one, old buddy! Thanks to Spencer Beck & Glen Cadigan. [Teen Titans TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Dave Cockrum, Mart Nodell, Bob Laughlin, Ernie Schroeder, & Andy Warner Alter EgoTM is published monthly by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 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: $9 ($11.00 outside the US). Twelve-issue subscriptions:$72 US, $132 Canada, $144 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. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

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“When You Do A Lot Of Super-Heroes, All You’re Drawing Is Men In Long Underwear” NICK CARDY On Illustrating Comic Books In The Golden & Silver Ages Interview Conducted by Jim Amash

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

I

imagine everyone reading this issue already knows who Nick Cardy is and what he’s done, especially since John Coates wrote such a great book on him a few years ago. It turned out to be an easy task, because Nick’s career covers so many bases—and if you need a refresher, a glance at the Checklist on p. 32 will fill you in fast! Unfortunately, we only have a finite number of pages to work with, so we decided to concentrate on Nick’s comic book days—but luckily, a brand new book (see ad on p. 11) deals at length with his newspaper strips, and our sister mag Back Issue #13 recently showcased his 1970s cover art for DC. That leaves us free to concentrate on his work through the mid’70s, which is A/E’s basic franchise, and still leaves us with plenty to cover! So, without further ado, here’s my friend and one of my favorite comic artists (and yours, too, I’ll wager): Nick Cardy! —Jim.

“The Strip That Influenced Me Most Was Hal Foster’s Tarzan” JIM AMASH: Now for the interrogation!

When and where were you born?

NICK CARDY: October 20, 1920, on the Lower East Side in New York City—on Third Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in New York City.

JA: Gee, couldn’t you pinpoint it a bit more? You probably didn’t hear commercial radio until you were almost a teenager.

When Cardy Carried Carmine (Just Joking, Guys!)

Considering all the covers Nick Cardy drew in the 1960s and 1970s for DC editorial director Carmine Infantino, it seemed only fitting to start out with the above photo taken at the 2001 Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, of Nick holding a snapshot of himself and Carmine taken at the previous con. Both pix by Bob Bailey.

He’s flanked here by two of those many covers—for Aquaman #44 (March-April 1969) and Bat Lash #2 (Dec.Jan. 1969)—done for Carmine, and for editors Dick Giordano and Joe Orlando, respectively. With thanks to Mike Burkey & Jonathan G. Jensen for the scans. For more about the Aquaman cover, see p. 22.

[Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

CARDY: Radio was just getting popular when I started doing comics, which was about 13 or 14. I did my drawings at home, even before I became a professional. I listened to The Lone Ranger, Sgt. Preston, The Shadow... anything that had adventure,

4

Nick Cardy In The Golden & Silver Ages

Wannamaker’s, which was a big department store. I won a couple of awards there.

At that time, the strip that influenced me most was Hal Foster’s Tarzan, which was reprinted in Tip Top Comics. And then Foster started Prince Valiant, which I liked. I liked Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, too, but I favored Prince Valiant.

“And Then Someone Gave Me Will Eisner’s Address” JA: Did the comic book reprints influence you more than the newspaper strips themselves?

CARDY: They were in the Sunday paper, and we didn’t get a daily paper. We just got a Sunday paper.

No Genre Left Behind

When I graduated from the School of Industrial Arts. I received the Saint Gauden’s Gold Medal of Honor, because I was the honor art student, but I didn’t get out to receive it because I was backstage with the other guys, painting another mural. I felt bad about it, because my mother and sister were sitting out there. I used to blush red like mad, you know, and I was very self-conscious of that, so I didn’t go out. I should have, I guess.

Nick says one art teacher had him doing murals. Alas, none of those have survived, but we wonder—did they look anything like this pencil rough he did for Warner Bros./The Movie Channel? The finished version appeared as a double-page spread in TV Guide. [©2007 Time-Warner.]

while I drew. You can’t do that with television. I tried that with television once. There was a sequence where a detective was walking to a house, and there was no dialogue, so I felt maybe something was wrong with the TV until I heard his footsteps.

JA: Old Time Radio was theatre of the mind, and you had to imagine what was going on in your head. Did radio influence your ability to visualize scenes?

CARDY: First of all, my family didn’t have enough money to send me to art school, so I went to the library to look up whatever I needed.

And by reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, or some science-fiction, or adult fairytale-type things, I got the sense of storytelling. Later on, I got hooked on movie directors like John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and René Claire. If you really want to see some good storytelling, watch the first And Then There Were None [based on the book] by Agatha Christie.

JA: So your sense of storytelling came more from the movies and books, rather than radio.

CARDY: Yes. Now, in radio—it was storytelling, but it wasn’t something that I was analyzing. After you heard enough shows, you got the rhythm of what they were doing. They’d start with a beginning, and then they’d set up a situation. Then you had the middle sequence, and a happy ending where the villain gets caught. With the Europeans, they end a story in tragedy.

I lived in a brownstone building as a youngster. We had a backyard, and I used to play there in the lot. You know, a lot of climbing fences from one lot to another. I used to take a dowel rod from a broom handle. A dowel rod was like the rods they put in the closets to hang your clothes, but they were a little thinner. I’d take a broken broom handle and a little penknife that had two blades, and carve an image.

When I was ten, I carved a male and a female back-to-back, locking arms, from the handle of a dowel rod. I still have the thing. [laughs] I made all kinds of things.

In art class, our teacher had another student and me do murals for the school. We did the murals of the different things that happened in the classroom. I did one concerning sports, and he did another one that we both worked on in oil. A major New York newspaper printed those two posters. And prior to that, they’d run art contests for Sam

I went to school with Al Plastino and Gil Kane. The ventriloquist Paul Winchell was at the school, too. Elizabeth Murray was my art teacher. She liked my work, but knew I didn’t have any money, so she bought me this thick book that had illustrations by Michelangelo and said, “You should do this.”

There was a Boy’s Club where I took art classes. A teacher said, “Here, copy this,” and he gave me a Raphael painting of a child in a Madonna’s lap. While I was at the Boy’s Club, I won three 1st Prize awards for sculpture, and some other prizes for life drawing. The Literary Digest magazine wrote an article about me and printed some of my drawings. And so I had a lot of build-up, in the sense that they said I could sculpt, which gave me some confidence. After I finished high school, I got a job with an advertising agency. While I was there, I did more or less clean-up work and errand-running. They had an illustrator up there that was doing some nice water colors and I learned from him. His name was Weaver. And then someone gave me Will Eisner’s address.

The first person you saw when you came in was Lou Fine. Right next to him was George Tuska—next to him was someone else—and there was Charlie Sultan. Bob Powell was there, too.

Charlie Sultan drew the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen. And then sometimes he’d do a head shot, and we used to call it “faking,” where he did the eyes and the profile shape, and then he’d cast a shadow from the left side of his face, going across his nose, and the lower part of his face was black, so it’s very dramatic. [mutual chuckling] In those days, when they couldn’t draw something, they’d put a lot of hay lines over it and use deep shadows. I told the guys he was doing some beautiful cars and they were sort-of grinning. I found out he took car ads out of the newspapers and pasted them in, and they came out beautifully.

JA: Were Eisner and Iger still partners?

CARDY: Yes. What happened was they were separating. Eisner had his own group, because he was doing books for Quality. Jerry Iger had

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Nick Cardy In The Golden & Silver Ages

tore into Mort Weisinger. Gene Colan had his troubles with Bob Kanigher. Kanigher was quite a character. He looked like he was angry when you looked at him. [laughs] You know, he had that look.

Well, with Murray, when you came in there, and he had a job... this always used to break me up. He was a very serious person. He very, very seldom laughed, but he was kind in a lot of ways. So when I’d come in, sitting there for a while, he says, “Hey, Nick. Come with me.”

I said, “Where?” He says, “Come on,” so I’d go. He’d go to the bathroom, stand at the urinal, and I’m saying to myself, “What the hell am I doing here? [mutual laughter] I don’t have to go,” and he’d walk out. I told this to Ramona Fradon, and she said, “Oh, Murray was a nice guy. He was very nice,” and I said, “Did he ever ask you ever to go to the bathroom with him?” [mutual laughter] And she said, “No, no, no.” She said, “Well, Murray was a nice guy,” and she did most of her stuff with him. And she liked—loved Joe Orlando, but she said he was a letch. [laughs] JA: Murray’s been described to me as a guy who looked over his shoulder a lot and was kind-of nervous.

CARDY: Well, he was a little nervous. I always felt that sometimes, when Murray was sitting there, doing his job, he looked like he’d rather be someplace else. You know what I mean? He did his job and he wasn’t emotional about it. He knew what was right as far as writing and the art. He gave me the script, and sometimes I didn’t follow the script completely. If there was a panel where I could include part of one panel and another panel; and then on another one, maybe I’d add an extra panel to add a little more emphasis, or something like that. He gave me that leeway. But I think sometimes, when you came in at, say, one o’clock or something, he got very upset. He had to come from Long Island, drive down to New York, [mutual chuckling] and go to work in the morning, but we freelancers came in whenever we wanted.

I think he resented the acts of the other guys. But he got a pension and I didn’t. [laughs]

A House of Cardys The splash from House of Mystery #21 (Dec. 1953). Thanks to Mark Muller for the scan. [©2007 DC Comics.]

time I was there; he was a nice guy. Murray Boltinoff was, according to Arnold Drake (whom I agree with), the best editor in the business, but nobody ever told Murray Boltinoff that. They used him as a workhorse. Whenever someone would come in to DC, they’d say, “Show it to Murray Boltinoff!” He was the one you went to, so I went to him first.

JA: Do you think that might have also been because Murray might have been more open and maybe more responsive than some of the other editors?

CARDY: Well, my opinion, when I think back on it now, is that they had a pecking order and I think that Mort Weisinger was a big pecker. [mutual laughter] Mort was at the top of the pecking order, over Julie Schwartz, and so he couldn’t be bothered with details. Mort Weisinger looked at you as if you were supposed to be in awe of him. He was a very big man and he was like the rabbit in Alice In Wonderland. He says, “I’m late,” and you go inside, he’s talking on the phone, he says, “Okay,” and you see him and he says, “I’m in a hurry,” and he’s always going somewhere. He may be just going to the bathroom, but he was doing something. But I never dealt with Mort Weisinger.

JA: And you were lucky. [laughs] CARDY: Yeah, because a lot of people didn’t care for him. On the panel in San Diego, they were talking about the guys, and they really

Murray was babysitting his five-year-old son at work one day, and the kid was jumping around. Murray said, “Sit over there,” while he’s talking to me, “Sit over there, read a comic book.” The kid said, “I read all the comic books.” So Murray says, “Well, here.” He took a box of pencils and says, “All right, sharpen them.” I went out to clean up a page and I brought the stuff back, and heard Murray yelling, “What did he do?” The kid took all the pencils and he sharpened them clear up to the ferrules. [mutual laughter]

“No One Ever Inked My Pencils, Because They Were Very Ethereal” JA: There was a time period where Murray, George Kashdan, and Jack Schiff all kind-of worked together. Do you remember it?

CARDY: I remember Jack Schiff. I liked him, but I don’t know if he was Murray’s senior or not. It seemed like he was. Jack was very pleasant, always had a pipe in his mouth; he was a lean, tall fellow. He wasn’t very tall, but he was a nice guy, very quiet. My dealings with him were very minimal.

JA: You brought your pencils in to be lettered and then you inked them, right?

CARDY: Yeah, I just penciled them. I don’t know if I showed them the pencils. Later on, I didn’t have to show them the pencils.

JA: Would Murray critique your pencils?

CARDY: No, no. Well, maybe the first few times. Like he had a scene in Gang Busters where these gangsters were supposed to kill this guy, go out the fire escape, and fire machine guns at him and kill him, and I

“All You’re Drawing Is Men In Long Underwear”

didn’t care for any violence. I very seldom showed blood in my stories, because kids were reading the book. I don’t want to see this guy drilled with bullet holes, so I had the guys open the window from the fire escape, and they’re looking at the guy, and then you could see the machine guns going off. I put the guy in the shower and a curtain was there. You see the bullets going through the curtain, maybe a little silhouette—you didn’t see any blood, and then you may see a silhouette arm up in the air or something. You didn’t get the blood effect.

Or, if I had to draw a woman who’s going to be killed while sitting at a vanity table, I would show the feet of the killer; and then going up towards the knees, you see a blade. The guy had a hand with a blade in it, and she’s singing, and then he goes inside, and you can hear her screaming, but you don’t see him killing her. I left that to the imagination of the readers. Everyone has a different way of looking at a scene, so you let their mind work for them, because you want them to participate.

JA: So your pencils were fairly complete before you inked them?

CARDY: No one ever inked my pencils, because they were very ethereal. I knew where I was going, but if I had three or four lines delineating the side of an arm, the inkers wouldn’t know which one to follow. And sometimes I’d go between the lines or if I changed my mind, I would erase it and put the leg over a different place. I had a rough idea where it was going, then I could put a little snappy line right in there. And then if I’d find that the upper side of the leg was a little too thin, I’d correct it. I felt the things out and sometimes, when I had a figure and I put a nice shadow on the underside of the leg, I didn’t draw an outline on the other leg. I would bring some object, put a black in it, and let the lines of—say you’re putting a chest of drawers and you’re showing half a chest of drawers, you’d have the lines going across. As soon as they hit the leg, they stop and that makes the outline for the figure. The only problem with that is, sometimes, you can’t get the colorist to follow it. [laughs]

15

we don’t have to do that. We can do that here and send it down there.”

See, so that tripped us. [laughs]

“[Sol Harrison] Rubbed Me The Wrong Way” JA: Sol wanted to make sure you stayed in your place, is that it?

CARDY: Well, Sol, he was very efficient. But you remember a movie actor named Lionel Atwill? Sol reminded me of Lionel Atwill when he was at his meanest. [Jim laughs] He’d come up—he never said anything bad to me. Say that there’s a water fountain, and I’m drinking, and he’s standing there. I’d say, “Hi, Sol.” He’d just look at me, see. He wouldn’t say anything. One time, I was cleaning up pages in this little room that the artists came in, and Sol came in the room, and stayed right up against the desk. I was the only one in the room. He’d come up, staying at the desk, he looked at me, and I looked up, “Could I help you?” And he’d just look for a while and then he turns around and walks out.

And so I spoke to Dick Giordano, “What’s with Sol Harrison? You know, the guy bothers me. I mean, he doesn’t say anything, but he sort-of bothers me.” And he says, “No, he’s all right.” And so I figured it must be something I’m doing, but he rubbed me the wrong way, in a sense.

One time, I went to an advertising agency and showed them my work. It was a big agency and the art director said, “We want to do

JA: [chuckles] That would always be a problem. Now let’s finish up with Murray. Did you feel that Murray was a little on the insecure side?

CARDY: Well, he had moods and sometimes, he was good. Sometimes, he didn’t talk a lot, and sometimes, he was irritated. So I figured he may have had problems at the office, but he also may have had problems at home. Who knows?

JA: I just wondered if the fact that Murray was not on the highest rung of the pecking order maybe had something to do with the way he was. You see what I mean?

CARDY: Yeah, I know, but I think that Murray didn’t get into that sort of crap. There was some infighting in the offices. One guy’s watching what the other guy is doing and Jack Adler said that Mort Weisinger said, “You come in and give me some gossip about these people, and I’ll take care of you.” He wanted to know what the hell everybody was doing, you know, but that’s the sort of thing that was in the office. When I did Aquaman, Jack Liebowitz had the people come in the office. I went there and a few of the guys like George Kashdan and Sol Harrison had just assigned something with some Australian outfit to do Aquaman animation. And Liebowitz says, “Well, look, why don’t we send the artists down there?” Sol Harrison said, “Well,

“I Became President Of DC Comics” Production head Sol Harrison (left) was not one of Nick’s favorite people… but in his own realm he presided over such fare as the artist’s story for My Greatest Adventure #12 (Nov.-Dec. 1956)—and went on to far loftier heights. The photo is from Amazing World of DC Comics; thanks to Mark Muller for the scan. [Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

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Nick Cardy In The Golden & Silver Ages

JA: There is an Aquaman cover that was supposed to be for the cover of Aquaman #44. Aquaman’s upside down, tied up, hanging from the dock. You drew the cover, and then it was altered. Why were changes made? Who was unhappy with it?

CARDY: I don’t know what happened. These gangsters had him tied up at the edge of a pier and his head was about six inches from the water. Then I did another version which looks almost the same. I can’t understand what the big deal was. When you’re working in your cubbyhole with an editor, you’re working there.

Once you get it into on the upper floors, there’s a different feeling about the covers. You’re not in control any more.

JA: Jim Aparo told me that when he took over Aquaman from you, he thought you’d had some warning that you were going to be replaced. Jim said, “Well, Nick made those last couple of Aquaman stories so good that it was impossible for me to follow him because the art was so good.”

CARDY: Oh, I never heard that. That’s good. [laughs] That’s nice to hear that. I never met him, I never spoke to him, and I just knew the name.

JA: When you knew you were leaving Aquaman, did you take the same attitude you had with that Teen Titans Christmas story, to do extra?

CARDY: No, no, nothing extra. I didn’t know he was going to do it.

The Deep-Six Detective Just as the Sea King was making the transition from Adventure Comics to his own title and Ramona Fradon was departing the feature, Nick Cardy drew this “Aquaman” page for Detective Comics #293 (July 1961). Scan from original art provided by Laura Gjovaag. [©2007 DC Comics.]

his covers. But after a while, you would see duplicates of that cover with a different character. I did a cover where an unconscious Superman is being carried on the shoulders of some soldiers in the rain. Then I did another cover with Aquaman on the shoulders of some characters. He was knocked out, and it was more like a funereal type thing, you see. And then I saw Neal Adams doing the same thing on that. They were all just variations on a theme that Carmine thought would attract the readers. He had certain ways of doing a cover, and when you saw the cover at an angle, you knew that was Carmine’s idea, because he liked unusual camera angles.

JA: Describe the process of doing a cover with Carmine.

CARDY: He did the layouts, and he was very understanding. He’d say, “I’d like it this way,” and then I would make little suggestions. I said, “What if I made this more prominent to that?”

And we’d play around with it. He respected my work, Talk About Sea Power! and never said a cross word to me; he always praised me. Generally, I followed his ideas, though I designed One of the most dramatic drawings all the Aquaman and most of the Teen Titans covers we’ve seen of Aquaman. Nick’s done it again! [Aquaman TM & myself. ©2007 DC Comics.]

“All You’re Drawing Is Men In Long Underwear”

Silver Is As Silver Does In July 2000 DC issued a brand new “Silver Age” tale of the Teen Titans, with art & cover pencils by Nick Cardy—and script by Marv Wolfman, who’s written the characters both in late 1960s and in the 1980s’ New Teen Titans. This dynamic cover—whose “X” design really draws the eye into the picture—was inked by Dave Gibbons (right). Nick’s original layout below is courtesy of Jim Cardillo, forwarded by Glen Cadigan. Thanks, guys! [©2007 DC Comics.]

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With the Titans, there were four characters first. And then Speedy joined the group. It was a little more work, but it was different. Since they were kids, I used simpler line work. I didn’t put in a lot of hay. I made it like you would make a cartoon where they could put a lot of color in. I worked it so the lines would have their weight, but they were open for color. It was only when I did like a “Teen Titans” for The Brave and the Bold that I went into heavy shadows.

JA: Wasn’t that a matter of artistic temperament as much as anything else?

CARDY: Well, I was experimenting. If you look at my work, you could see one job looks different than another. One time, Gil Kane said to me, “I saw the job you did. I can always tell your work.” Gil Kane was nice that way. I said, “How the hell could you tell my work?” He says, “Oh, I could recognize it.” I always figured maybe

JA: Did it bother you to give up Aquaman?

CARDY: Well, no, it was just that I was getting waterlogged anyway. [mutual laughter] I started getting prunish. [more laughter] I was ready for another challenge.

“You Have All Those Characters To Draw” JA: Speaking of challenges, it is certainly harder to draw a team book than a solo super-hero title.

CARDY: Right. That’s the only part that bothered me. I like one or two characters. When you have five of them, it’s just like doing the Fantastic Four or the Justice League. You have so many heroes going back and forth. I think what they should do is usually try to feature one or two; the others will be back-up characters. But you still have all these characters to draw.

With The Teen Titans, it took a little longer to draw a page because of the number of characters. At first, I put the same amount of time— in fact, it’s more time, because with the water, you don’t have to put windows, you don’t have to put buildings. You just put a line of waves and sometimes, when I was rushed, I couldn’t spend the time putting all the fish that belonged there, see? And sometimes Sol Harrison said I didn’t put enough fish in there, which was true, but I was so deadlined, because by the time you draw one fish—you can’t use one fish, you’ve got to put about 50 of them if you’re putting in a school. But there’s ways of faking it. You put in one big fish, and the others smaller behind him, and then dots for the rest. [mutual laughter]

A Titans Triple Play (Or More) A page from Teen Titans #10 (July-Aug. 1967), autographed by Nick to collector John Cogan—who sent a copy to Glen Cadigan—who forwarded it to us—all for you! Script by Bob Haney. [©2007 DC Comics.]

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The Siegel & Shuster Deal At 30 One Of Fandom’s Pioneering Columnists On The Superman Settlement

A/E

by Murray Bishoff

EDITOR’S NOTE: Men Of Flesh—And Man Of Steel Alter Ego #56 featured a previouslyWriter Jerry Siegel looks over artist Joe Shuster’s shoulder in a photo from the Nov. 1941 issue of unpublished 1975 Cornet, then a popular digest-sized magazine… interview by Alan Light and Murray juxtaposed with a powerful montage of Superman Bishoff of Jerry Siegel and his family, heads drawn by artist supreme Curt Swan. Surely, conducted only a few months before the having lost all rights to their co-creation, Jerry historic agreement between DC Comics on and Joe must’ve felt all the emotions expressed the one hand, and Jerry Siegel and Joe over the years. Photo courtesy of Michael Feldman; Shuster on the other, which finally gave a art photocopy courtesy of Joe & Frank Giella. lifetime pension to the co-creators of [Art ©2007 DC Comics; photo ©2007 the respective Superman. Murray wrote this contextual copyright holders.] piece for A/E #56, but there was no room for it in that issue, so we’re pleased to present it at this time. Again, I must stress here, as I did in #56, that the National/DC regime which Siegel and Shuster sued in 1947 was not composed of the same people who were in charge in the mid-1970s. And Murray is certainly correct in his assumption that Carmine Infantino, publisher of National/DC at the time the controversy erupted anew, had no authority to make any settlement with the pair, and neither his nor any subsequent DC administration is to be considered as indicted in any way by this article.

In addition, while convinced of the essential rightness of Siegel & Shuster's argument, and concurring that the settlement was a landmark instance of (belated) justice, we nonetheless recognize that there are other aspects of the case not dealt with in Murray's piece; and we stand committed to air those arguments, as well, if someone wishes to make them.

The Buyer’s Guide For Comics Fandom It hardly seems possible that 30 years have passed since the settlement between DC Comics and Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. It’s just as unbelievable that only 40 years ago the United States turned the corner on racial prejudice when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1965. These were pivotal moments in history, passing as we barely recognized them. Looking back, there was even more, for 1975 was the year comics fandom grew up.

Think about it. In terms of creation, it was the year Otto Binder, James Blish, Vaughn Bodé, and Moe Howard died, the year of the fifth Overstreet Price Guide. You could still buy a decent Fantastic Four #1 for $125. Alan Light and I were at ground zero for fan activity, The Buyer’s Guide for Comics Fandom. In its fourth year, TBG became the door that opened fandom into a national force, a body that interacted in a language that anyone could understand––money—-and a body that generated ideas that had to be reckoned with on a national stage.

With issue #87 (cover date July 18, 1975, but dated two weeks after publication), TBG went weekly, up from a twice-a-month tabloid. The number of pages published in TBG were determined by what advertisers submitted, and they had found that Alan Light had indeed built a better mousetrap. Ads poured in at such a rate that issues got too big, and it only made sense to print them faster. The story is in the numbers: in the issues published in calendar year 1975 (#75, dated Feb. 1, 1975, to #113, dated Jan. 16, 1976), The Buyer’s Guide published 2,708 tabloid pages, compared to 1,532 in 1974 (issues #50-74). Nothing like that had ever occurred before in the history of comics fandom. The sheer volume of trade was at unprecedented levels, and those who were in the business of producing comic books began to think seriously about the fan market, now that they could see it, and touch it. Alan Light even negotiated a full-page ad in DC Comics for TBG, a heretofore unheard-of proposition for mere comics fans; and, by the end of the year, TBG had over 8,000 paid subscribers. Even in its heyday, the Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector, the fanzine that pioneered advertising to collectors, had never topped 3,000 subscribers.

The Sigel & Shuster Deal At 30

35

This was a whole new world. Comic conventions had begun proliferating in the mid-’70s, popping up all over the country. Now they didn’t have to rely on regional audiences. There was a way to attract fans and dealers from anywhere in the country. And 1975 was the biggest year anyone had yet seen.

The fan press had been maturing for several years, the Youth Shines A “Light” standard of writing set early by Publisher Alan Light (left) and Alter Ego and others settling columnist Murray Bishoff proudly peruse down through the layers of the then-latest 1970s issue of The Buyer’s Guide for Comics Fandom, which would “gosh-wow” ruminations by metamorphose, after Light sold it, into kids into those who were trying today’s Comic Buyer’s Guide. Photo to make a statement. More and courtesy of Alan. Not all that much more, fan writers had a purpose, younger were the “Jerry and Joe” to explore, critique, and improve who saved the Earth from aliens in both the comics they loved and “If Superman Didn’t Exist…” in Action their ability to talk about them. I Comics #554 (April 1984)—by creating had pioneered convention Superman. This modern classic was reporting in TBG, reporting scripted by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Gil Kane; thanks to panel discussions and market Bob Cherry for the scans. trends, bringing photos back.

[Action art ©2007 DC Comics.]

Others followed with details on their shows, especially photos.

More and more, the faces of comics creators were appearing in print.

The comics companies had released news for years to fanzines. Now it was getting out more consistently, as fanzines survived beyond a few issues. When TBG went from monthly to twice a month, then weekly, it was like an information earthquake, like the invention of the telephone. News that before could take two to eight weeks to circulate was now suddenly in front of the public nationally in a matter of days.

Under Post Office standards, Alan had to fill 25% of TBG with nonad material to meet second-class qualifications. He was not only running columns by Don and Maggie Thompson, Marty Greim, Dave McDonnell, Don Rosa, myself as the in-house news column, and others, but also printing newspaper clippings about comics, cartoonists, and nostalgia from around the country. With its ads, columns, newspaper pieces, letters to the editor, and breaking news, TBG became a real newspaper for fandom.

Rereading that year’s issues today tells strikingly what was going on nationwide, a remarkable record that really needs to be put on microfilm or DVD and made available again. On top of that, Alan bought a pile of Fawcett Comics story proofs at a convention and reprinted them, the first look a new generation had at many Golden Age stories. Adding new comics stories by Alan Hanley and other fan artists, he created a collectible in TBG, though we hardly recognized it at the time.

Breaking News In the midst of this earthquake of information and tsunami of fan activity came the stories we wrote about. There is legislation across the country called Sunshine Laws, meant to force disclosure of public meetings. The effect of such laws is that, when some things reach the light of day, the knowledge of them hits like a lightning bolt. Nothing is the same after that. Thus it was with the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The world may not have changed overnight, but once the fire was lit, nothing could stop it as it spread.

Someone whose identity will never be known mailed to TBG a photocopy of a legal journal’s documentation of the end of Siegel and Shuster’s long-running lawsuit against DC over the Superman copyright. I got that piece of paper. Here is what I wrote, the first that anybody knew of what had been going on with Siegel and Shuster, and the only published account of the story anywhere (from TBG #79, dated April 1, 1975, p. 25): “Another chapter in the sad story of how Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster got nothing for Superman has passed. For many years the two have co-renewed the copyrights to the Superman comic strip, having given up on the comic book rights as the sole property of National.

National contested the Siegel-Shuster renewal, and all three went to court to have the case resolved once and for all.

“After one hearing and an appeal, the decision came against Siegel and Shuster for another painful reason. In 1947 Siegel and Shuster had attempted to annul their contracts with National and had failed because in the beginning the team had signed contracts giving National “exclusive rights to the use of the (Superman) characters and story.”

(I’m quoting from the Bureau of National Affairs Patent, Trademark and Copyright Journal #209.) This “exclusiveness” did not say anything about copyright renewals, but it generally applies. The New York State Supreme Court in 1947 refused to regard Superman as a product of “work for hire” because he had been created far in advance of his association with National. Under the “work for hire” law, all renewal rights immediately belong to the employer. The court finally ruled against the creators “only on the ground that the 1947 state court action, in interpreting the agreements between the parties, precludes the plaintiffs from contesting ever again that all rights in Superman,

36

The Superman Settlement

including the renewal copyright, have passed forever to the defendants (National).

“So the two men that made the super-hero an American reality end up with nothing. Fandom has done very little to ease this wound, and we really can’t let this go. We can’t change the law, but we can make these men heroes in their own right. Remember, a great man makes himself; people make heroes. Shel Dorf—Jerry Siegel lives out in California; get him to some of your conventions. Let’s find Joe Shuster and give him the honor he deserves. Fandom has stood still on this issue long enough.”

The Fandom Strikes Back Fandom did not take this news lying down. There had never been a story like this, no cause to get behind other than keeping series alive and championing the greatness of various artists. Shel Dorf immediately went to Jerry Siegel, and the San Diego Convention Committee signed him up to come to the biggest West Coast convention in August.

This news was mentioned at the end of my column in TBG #83 (June 1, 1975, p. 43). A photo of Shel with Jerry ran in TBG #86 (July 15, 1975, p. 48).

As yet, there was no course of action to take, beyond my suggestion to let Jerry and Joe know how we felt about them. Alan and I headed off to the San Diego Convention with great anticipation. It was a summer of significant activity for us, as Alan was getting a feel for the depth of this burgeoning fan market. I had already been to Houstoncon, and we’d been to Phil Seuling’s glorious July New York City convention, for years the annual gathering of fans after which all other conventions modeled themselves and ultimately paled in comparison. Alan decided he would take his reel-to-reel recorder to San Diego, tape the panels, and produce an LP vinyl record from the proceedings, again something that had never been done before. Key to that trip was interviewing Jerry Siegel, the interview that appeared in Alter Ego #56.

I can’t describe my excitement in meeting the Siegels on the convention floor, when they found us at our dealer’s table. I was used to flamboyant characters like Gil Kane and Jim Steranko, and I’d seen men of absolute confidence and ego, like Burne Hogarth and Will Eisner, certain of their place in history and worthy of any adulation fans could extend. But Jerry Siegel was not like them. Carefully dressed in a modest business suit, this creative giant was very reserved and soft-spoken, shy, almost embarrassed that anyone would pay attention to him. He was about 5'6", and did not stick out in a crowd. He said he’d come mostly to see me, for what I had written. I sensed this was a private man with much to share, but not in front of a crowd, and indeed he was not scheduled to speak at the convention, though he appeared on stage numerous times. I felt a responsibility, standing in for all fans, to make a connection with him when we had time to talk.

I found Jerry Siegel to be a deeply injured man emotionally; not bitter, for bitterness poisons one’s viewpoint about everything. He was bitterly disappointed, let down by those he had trusted. He’d carried this hurt for over 20 years, from the time he hadn’t been able to bring himself to speak to George Reeves on a New York sidewalk, leaving the industry, then later swallowing his pride to return to work for the very people he felt had abused him. Though his voice didn’t get very loud, he was articulate, unwavering in his narrative, stopping occasionally as he’d get tears in his eyes, recalling how he’d been treated. We never got much insight into his creative process. It seemed the characters and adventures he wrote simply flowed effortlessly out of him. We also found his wife Joanne and daughter Laura to be utterly charming. Joanne was the strong one, the rock that obviously kept Jerry steady, and much more talkative. When we did our interview, there were times when she would begin speaking to me while Jerry was answering Alan, and I’ve often worried if the overlapping voices hadn’t caused us to lose a chunk of the story.

Beating The Drums For Siegel And Shuster The convention ended with the annual banquet, at which time the Inkpot Awards were given out. Jerry received one that year, and as the crowd cheered, he posed for the group photo with Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Bob Clampett, Daws Butler, and June Foray. I was so happy for him, for this was what I had hoped would happen. Yet he was so quiet. He later told me the moment was so emotional for him that he simply could not speak.

When we got back to the office, here’s what I wrote (for TBG #95, Aug. 22, 1965, p. 32): “I had the delightful opportunity to meet Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman. Thanks to Shel Dorf and something I wrote in this space a few months back, Mr. Siegel chose to attend the con, and he was presented with the convention’s Inkpot Award and ACBA’s Shazam Award in recognition of his and Joe Shuster’s fine work. We had a chance to speak to Mr. Siegel, his wife, and their daughter Laura, who incidentally played Mary Anne in the CBS television series Sons and Daughters, in private, and we discussed the long years of hardship the family has suffered because of the ownership battle for Superman and the end result.

The Man Of Tomorrow—And The Day After By the early 1940s, Superman was already a merchandising phenomenon—and he has been ever since. This amalgamation of goodies appeared in a photo in Sotheby’s art auction catalog for June 18, 1994. [Superman TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

“Mr. Siegel has written so much for comics, in the early years and even in the sixties, when he wrote a large percentage of the Superman family stories. He knows comics well, yet today he is no longer part of the industry. He blames the gradual dehumanization of the Man of Tomorrow on company pressures begun in the forties, and feels Superman must return to the early ‘realistic’ format to avoid total stagnation. He has always considered Captain Marvel a direct copy of his creation, and he feels fans who revel in the Big Red Cheese’s superior humor don’t know his Superman well enough. That makes me wonder,

40

The Best “Will” In The World

Part VII

Found! One More Entire Page From That Long-Lost 1940s “JSA” Story!

by Roy Thomas

W

ould you believe it? Yet another full page has been found of the never-published mid-1940s “Justice Society of America” story “The Will of William Wilson”!

As can be seen on the facing page, it’s page 2 of the “Green Lantern” chapter—the first art from this segment that’s turned up since August 2000, when pro writer Len Wein sent me a photocopy of three of its Paul Reinman-drawn, Gardner Foxscripted panels. This new discovery brings to a total of eight the number of tiers (rows) of panels from the “GL” chapter now accounted for. The other five were printed in The AllStar Companion, Vol. 1—but I’d like to think anyone reading this piece already knows that. (If not, see the TwoMorrows ad bloc in this issue.)

Collectors David Studham and Dominic Bongo informed me in late 2006 of the sale of this original art on eBay, and they e-mailed scans of it just as The All-Star Companion, Vol. 2, was going to press, featuring an additional 7 pages’ worth of art from “Will” that had come to light since 2000. But I elected not to shoehorn the “new” page into that 240page tome. A few days later, after I forwarded a scan to him, A/E founder Jerry G. Bails “cleaned up” a version of the image somewhat, only a few weeks before his untimely passing this past November 23.

Fortunately, the “GL” page was purchased by Dan Makara, long a benefactor of A/E, and he sent us a pristine scan just in time for this issue. You’re a champ in our book, Dan! Like most (but not all) of the known extant art of “Will,” this “GL” page was sliced into horizontal thirds at some past date—probably by Marv Wolfman, when he was an editorial intern at DC in the late 1960s and did so as the only way he could preserve Golden Age art he’d otherwise been ordered to cut up for stuffing into the company incinerator. At some point in time, someone taped the three pieces back together. Most likely, it was a member of TISOS (The Illegitimate Sons of Superman), the fan-group amongst whom Marv, the future writer of classic runs on Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula and DC’s New Teen Titans, et al., distributed the hundreds of tiers of art and story that DC had “written off” for tax purposes on Sept. 30, 1949, and which Marv had rescued from the flames. (See All-Star Companion, Vol. 1, or the TwoMorrows trade paperback The Alter Ego Collection, Vol. 1, for details.)

This “page 2” art comes before any of the previously-located tiers of the “Green Lantern” segment. It shows the hero being warned by an expert about the perils of diving to an ocean depth of 23,000 feet. He then flies off to his destination, the Nares Deep (which

Not All Mysteries Lie Asleep In The Deep The above notice that the All-American line of comics will henceforth be “published and identified” as a separate imprint is reproduced from the Dec. 1944 issue (Vol. 1, #8) of Independent News, the house organ of the company of that name. Independent News distributed National/DC’s comics, the related AA group, and other magazines—and was wholly owned by National. The black-&-white house ad printed with the notice included the cross-company title All-Star Comics #23, the last issue to sport a Superman-DC Publications symbol before the change.

It’s tempting to wonder if this announcement doesn’t point the way toward the answer to a question that’s long vexed many DC fans: whether, at the turn of 1945, AA co-founder M.C. Gaines really broke away entirely from DC proper, half a year or so before he sold his share of the company to his co-owners, DC publishers Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz—or whether the apparent split between the two comics lines was more apparent than real, perhaps conceived for some purely business reason, such as hanging on to a precious wartime newsprint allocation by claiming that DC and AA were indeed two companies rather than one. (Which, for the most part, they were, since Gaines never owned any part of DC proper.) Gaines’ son William, later the publisher of EC Comics, claimed that by the mid-’40s his father quarreled constantly with his two partners and eventually insisted that they buy him out.

In this formal late-1944 announcement, however, Liebowitz is listed as co-publisher of the “new” All-American group of comics… making it clear that Gaines was not splitting from both his partners at that time. This makes it likely that at this stage Donenfeld, too, was still a co-owner of AA as well as of DC… but that, perhaps for some technical or legal reason, he preferred to remain officially unconnected with it. (Note that there is no company symbol —either the standard DC one, or the new AA one which would soon be used—on any of the issues pictured; when published, some of these covers would sport DC logos, others that of AA.) At any rate, sometime in mid-1945, after approximately eight months of the official newsstand existence of “All-American Publications,” M.C. Gaines sold his part of AA outright to Donenfeld and Liebowitz, and the company was subsumed into National/DC. At that time, the regular DC sigil was restored to Mutt & Jeff, Funny Stuff, and all comics featuring Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Flash. With thanks to Jack Adams & Michael Feldman. [©2007 DC Comics.]

42

Hollywood Comes To Hollywood Superman Stars Shine With Comic Book Artists At Florida SuperCon

by Allen Bellman

E

DITOR’S NOTE: Allen Bellman was an artist for Timely/Marvel (mostly), as well as for Lev Gleason and Charlton, from 1943 through the mid-1950s, as detailed in the in-depth interview conducted by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo in Alter Ego #32.

We’ve asked Allen to share his various memories and doings with us from time to time—and this, we’re happy to say, is one of those times. There’ll be others.

It all began when I received a phone call from a woman who was a freelance writer, wanting to interview me about my comic book background. We arranged a time and date. She arrived a little late, bringing with her a young man in his twenties. It didn’t take long for me to realized this gentleman was a comic book fan who had just wanted to meet a live comic book artist from the past. Being the nice guy that I am, I went along with this, even autographing his Marvel comic books and honoring his request to pose with me for a photograph. It turns out he gives such autographed books away at various conventions and comics stores.

Bell(man), Dick, & Candle Allen Bellman standing next to artist (and former DC Comics managing editor and Charlton editor) Dick Giordano at the SuperCon, held in Hollywood, Florida, on November 3-5, 2006. Below are some of the recent pencil sketches of a blazing Human Torch, Cap, and Namor that Allen took to the SuperCon, which were printed as a montage in connection with a newspaper article. Photo by Roz Bellman. [Human Torch, SubMariner, & Captain America TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Because of this young couple, I was invited to participate in a forthcoming SuperCon to be held here in Hollywood, Florida, as this young man knew Mike Broder, the promoter of the upcoming event.

This was followed by a call from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Chicago Tribune publication asking me for an interview. What followed prior to the SuperCon was a great story in the Sunday edition of the TV and entertainment section. They reproduced some of my Timely pages on the cover, along with a heavy-font “BELLMAN RETURNS!!” (with apologies to Michael Uslan of Batman Returns fame). They referred to me as a legend. Stan Lee, would you kindly move over, just a little.

My wife and I arranged to stay at the Hollywood Beach Resort for the three days, as this was where the convention was to be held. I had a large table in the company of some comic book greats, which included Dick Giordano, Pablo Marcos, Bob Layton, Alex Saviuk, Ted McKeever—and let’s not forget Allen Bellman. Of course, there was also Margot Kidder, who portrayed Lois Lane with the late

The Bellman Always Rings Twice “Bellman Returns!!” So shrieks the cover of the magazine section of the Oct. 29, 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which spotlighted some of the work Allen did in the 1950s for Timely/Marvel. Hmm… if Ye Editor remembers correctly, jazzman Chick Corea, mentioned at the bottom of the cover, also has a Marvel connection. Didn’t he take part in the January 1972 Evening with Stan Lee at Carnegie Hall? [Art ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Hollywood Comes To Hollywood

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If It’d Been A Green Lantern Movie, They Could’ve Called Him Jack O’Lantern Jack O’Halloran as a super-villain from the Phantom Zone in the 1980 movie Superman II—and at the 2006 SuperCon, as snapped by Allen Bellman. [Movie still ©2007 Time-Warner.]

Christopher Reeve. And who can forget Noel Neill, who had played Lois in the longrunning television series?

Then there was Jack O’Halloran, who co-starred in Superman I & II, along with Kidder and Reeve.

O’Halloran’s screen credits include Farewell, My Lovely with Robert Mitchum, the 1977 version of King Kong, Dragnet in 1987, The Flintstones, and a host of other films.

Generations Allen with his twin granddaughters Jeaneen (left) and Doreen (right).

Both are well-known artists in Kentucky. Photo by Roz Bellman.

Hollywood, Florida, has a boardwalk with restaurants and gift shops which we took advantage of while they were setting up in a large hall of the hotel on Friday. The next day was Showtime, and it didn’t take long for the people to start arriving. I had brought many pencil sketches of Marvel characters, and did not have a problem selling them. I found that there was no need to ink or color my work.

Gene Colan is very successful in selling his tight pencil sketches at many of the convention he attends.

The article on my past with Timely/Marvel and the names of comic book and movie star greats, along with a former wrestler known as The Iron Sheik, brought many people to the Con, hoping to meet those they knew from movies and comics.

My twin granddaughters, artists in their own right, made the trip to Florida from Louisville, Kentucky, to be with Roz and me. They have drawn two Kentucky Derby posters and PGA posters, and both have donated their work, which has brought many dollars to their favorite charities. Marv Hamlisch, Barbra Streisand’s musical arranger [also the co-writer of the song “The Way We Were,” the music for A Chorus Line, et al.], purchased one of Jeaneen’s paintings when it was on exhibit in The Hamptons in New York.

Jeaneen suspects that it was a wedding gift for Barbra Streisand, who was to be married at the time. Jeaneen’s images hang in well-known art galleries in Florida, New York, Carmel (California), and elsewhere, while Doreen’s commercial accounts keep her busy as she works from her studio in Louisville. At one time in their lives, they wanted to be comic book artists, and because of their styles I know they could do it.

Getting back to the Con: I approached Margot Kidder, with writing this article in mind, and asked her if she would pose with me. At first she balked, asking me to buy her autographed photo for $20. I looked her straight in the eye and stated that professional courtesy was in order here. I then explained why I wanted the photograph. That did it. Sitting next to her was Noel Neill, Lois Lane in the TV series starring George Reeves in the 1950s. (Strange that both important Superman actors had virtually the same last name, and both met tragic deaths in the prime of their lives.) Neill gladly posed for a picture with me. It had never dawned on me in my early years that I would have the pleasure of meeting these two fine ladies at the same time.

…And More Generations!

(Left:) The ever-gracious Noel Neill poses for Allen’s camera at the SuperCon. Noel, of course, was the very first actress to play Lois Lane in a visual medium (following Joan Alexander on the Superman radio show), portraying the reporter in the Columbia movie serials Superman and Atom Man vs. Superman opposite Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel, before George Reeves inherited the role. Phyllis Coates became the first TV Lois, but by the second season Noel was playing Lois again—and hers remains the image most people think of when they recall the TV series.

When Ye Editor was located near her at a one-day convention in South Carolina a couple of years back, he was amazed that the indefatigable Ms. Neill stood the whole time, signing autographs and being perhaps the friendliest face most of the fans had ever seen!

(Right:) Margot Kidder, the memorable Lois of the Christopher Reeve Superman films, poses with Allen, who’s drawn a super-hero or two of his own in his day. Hey, Allen—why didn’t you take a photo of the two great Lois Lanes together? Did anybody? Photo by Roz Bellman.

Cover of Charlton’s My Little Margie #7 (May 1956). [Š2007 the respective copyright holders.]

46

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Oooh, That’s Cheesy!

by Michael T. Gilbert

T

This Cover? Not So Gouda!

he only thing cheesier than a stick-figure cover is, well, no cover at all! And in late 1950, when Lev Gleason’s Daredevil #82 hit the stands, that’s exactly what the kiddies got. Yep, instead of seeing The Little Wise Guys clonking some crook, the readers were treated to a tiny box of type set into a girly-pink cover. Nowadays, you’d call that high-concept. Back then, it was just a big screw-up!

So what happened? Who knows? Maybe some artist missed his deadline or the art got lost in the mail. But editor Charles Biro was clearly against the wall with this one. The presses were about to roll, and Charlie didn’t have a cover. What to do?

Well, in this case Biro (or co-editor Bob Wood) decided to coverfeature a snappy “Scramblehead” contest—in microscopic type, no less!

Did they think larger lettering would be too readable?

So what was “Scramblehead”? Basically a cheesy jigsaw puzzle featuring cut-up pictures of the comic’s kid heroes. The readers could win prizes by snipping the sections out of the comic and pasting them together. The readers were then told to send in the glued pictures along with a 25-word letter “stating why you like the Gleason-Biro-Wood comics best of all.” Cheesy, huh? Me, I like the Gleason-Biro-Wood comics best of all ‘cause they don’t have scary pitchers on the cover!

In case you can’t read the type in the box, it says: See Inside Page 11 – “ginzambo flexojo!” For Your Big Chance To Win $100.00.

What is Scramblehead? Buy This Issue Quickly! It May Prove To Your Advantage!

Is it just me, or does that read like one of those poorly-translated Japanese instructional booklets that tell you how to set up your clockradio? By the way, I’ve tried scrambling and unscrambling the words on the cover—with no luck. So I’m starting my own contest.

Go ahead, figure out what “ginzambo flexojo!” means, then send me the answer along with a 25-word letter stating why you love “Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt” best of all. The best entry gets a signed Mr. Monster comic. Nothin’ cheesy about that!

Cover of Daredevil #82 (Jan. 1952).

[All art this page ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

A Comic Fandom Archive Special Multi-Part Series

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Monsters & Heroes At His BECK And Call Notes Toward An Article On The Castle Of Frankenstein Comicon Of 1967 Part IX of “1966: The Year Of (Nearly) Three New York Comics Conventions”

by Roy Thomas with Bill Schelly, et al.

Y

es, A/Eficionado, you read it right: this final installment of the Comic Fandom Archive’s long-running series on the three comicons held in New York City during the one-year period between July 1966 and early 1967 is being scribed not by Bill Schelly, but by the editor of Alter Ego. However, I hasten to add that, though Yours Truly was indeed present at each of the above trio of events, I’m covering the last one utilizing virtually no hard information except a very few vague memories, and (more importantly) what’s been provided to me by Bill Schelly himself and by several others, the majority of them actual attendees: Bhob Stewart, Larry Ivie, John Benson, Carole Seuling, and Rich Rubenfeld.

Bill had to otherwise beg off on this one, as he completes the writing on a major project that we hope to tell you about real soon, since it’s one that’ll be of interest to virtually all A/E readers. You’ll see.

As for that third and final comicon of the period under consideration: it is remembered, if at all, mostly for the appearance there of noted 1930s Olympic athlete and later movie/TV star Larry “Buster” Crabbe—who, among other things, headlined the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, once portrayed Tarzan, and starred as a Foreign Legionnaire with his son Cubby in the 1950s.

The 1967 event is recalled by different people under various names: (a)“The Castle of Frankenstein Con,” after the name of the moviemonster magazine which officially sponsored it—a publication inspired by Warren Publications’ trend-starting Famous Monsters of Filmland, which had debuted in 1958;

(b)“The Beck Con,” because its host was that mag’s publisher, Calvin Beck—aided and abetted by his mother, Helen Beck. (c) “The AssociationCon,” because—well, if I had to guess, I’d suppose it was because Dave Kaler had referred to his 1965-66 conventions as “Academy Cons,” connected to the Academy of Comic Book Fans and Collectors, so Beck felt his own needed an equally high-sounding title.

Now, onward, with the comments of each of the (mostly) eyewitnesses quoted below separately, and with Ye Editor’s occasional interpolations duly placed in italics—and we’ll see if we can pull together enough information to make up an article on what I’ll refer to hereafter, for the sake of brevity, as the Beck Con. First, we hear from the gent who was usually listed on the contents page of Castle of Frankenstein as “Editor and Designer”— while Calvin T. Beck was noted as “Executive Editor,” Helen Beck as “Associate Publisher”—and, oh, yes, “Charles Foster Kane” as “Publisher.” Others listed as “Contributing Editors,” incidentally,

Castle of BECKenstein CoF co-publisher Calvin Beck (in a photo borrowed from the website mentioned on p. 54) is seen at top right, replacing a mere werewolf image on the cover of the Castle of Frankenstein 1967 Annual, which Bhob Stewart says came out in mid-1966. This rendering by artist Russ Jones of a “Ghoul Gallery”—not of fans who attended the con—was supplied by Michael Uslan; the “Fearbook” contained a short article by John Benson, “CoF Goes to a Superhero Convention,” but that piece dealt with David Kaler’s 2nd Academy Con of August 1966! (If John ever wrote a piece for CoF on his own July ’66 con, we’re unaware of it.) [©2007 Gothic Castle Publishing Co. or its successors in interest.]

included Joe Dante Jr. (future film director—Gremlins, et al.), Lin Carter (science-fiction and fantasy writer and anthologist), Larry Ivie (see below), Chris Steinbrunner (film buff and historian), Jim Harmon (author of books on old-time radio, et al.), Larry Hama (future Marvel editor, writer, and artist), John Benson (see below), and J. Ramsey Campbell (horror writer in the H.P. Lovecraft tradition). Take it away—

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The Castle of Frankenstein Comicon Of 1967

Bhob & Buster

Bhob Stewart This science-fiction and EC Comics expert has worked for various media and pop-culture organizations over the years— including for TV Guide in the 1960s. Bill Schelly writes: “Here’s what Bhob Stewart said (in a telephone conversation on June 4, 2005) about meeting Buster Crabbe in late 1966 or early 1967, which would have led to Crabbe appearing as the Guest of Honor at the so-called ‘AssociationCon’ that Calvin Beck put on in early 1967”: I started working for Calvin Beck on Castle of Frankenstein on the third issue, finishing it up, and then did all the issues from #4 on.

Calvin was my friend, but over time I came to realize that his business methods were all wonky.

Somehow this thing came up that Buster Crabbe lived in Rye, New York, and we organized this expedition to interview him. This consisted of Calvin, his mother, me, a photographer that was a friend of mine, and a guy named Danny. Calvin had said, “Bhob, Danny is the world’s greatest expert on Flash Gordon.”

So we went there, and Crabbe is a very pleasant guy, very friendly, and welcomes us all in. He seems to be “up” and really into all this.

Then all of a sudden Calvin says something about TV Guide, and suddenly it hit me: Calvin had told him that we were coming over to interview him for TV Guide! So I called a halt to things, and I said, “Yes, I do work for TV Guide, and I don’t want to be misrepresented here. I have no assignment to do anything with TV Guide regarding you.” When I say that, Beck was like crawling into his chair. On the other hand, Crabbe doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by this. He says, “Oh, that’s okay.”

We then proceeded to interview Crabbe anyway. The result was this incredible tape, with like a two-hour, incredible interview with Buster Crabbe. And Calvin gave this tape to Allan Asherman, and Allan Asherman never came back with a transcript. It was such a good interview that it should have been published, instead of just evaporating.

Now I understand that the interview wasn’t even important. Beck had phoned up Buster Crabbe, told him people from TV Guide were coming over, and that was his way of gaining access to Crabbe. The purpose was to get Crabbe to accept an invitation to be Guest of Honor at Beck’s convention, which he apparently did.

A bit later, in preparation for this article, Bhob sent me an e-mail which I quote: I recall many things about Cal from 1961 until the time of his death with razor sharpness. At no time did he ever mention to me that he was staging a convention. However, I do recall a curious event that remains somewhat mysterious to me. We were driving around, and he said we were going to drop in on some event at a hotel. We entered a huge empty hotel ballroom. In the center of the room, about ten chairs were arranged in a circle, and about seven or so fairly young people were quietly sitting there. No one else was in the ballroom.

We went over and joined them. Cal began talking in an enthusiastic

manner, and Cal and I began some jocular repartee back and forth. The seven (Right:) Buster Crabbe with kid actor Jackie stared at us somewhat like Moran in Universal’s 1939 Buck Rogers serial. they were the children from Village of the Damned now grown into teenagers. They continued to stare, not speaking. Cal and I did all the talking. Soon we got up and left, leaving the silent seven still sitting there. I do not know what this event was. I have the vague impression that Cal arranged for those people to be there and that they were sitting there waiting for him to arrive.

(Left:) Bhob Stewart, in a photo taken by Henry Wessel, circa the 1960s.

To specifically answer your question: The 1967 Castle Fearbook and Castle #9 were published simultaneously in the summer of 1966.

So issues 9 to 12 carry one through 1966 to 1968. I just looked through every page of these issues, and there’s nothing about any [Beck/CoF] convention.

Was this convention you describe a monster con or a comic con?

The truth is that Cal had little interest in the comics material I was constantly putting into Castle, and at one point he suggested that my efforts in that direction were destroying his magazine. When I learned about the black-&-white Spider-Man magazine Marvel was putting out, I went to [TV producer] Steve Krantz, got a Spider-Man cel, and designed a wonderful Castle cover with Spider-Man filling the entire cover. My idea was that many readers would mistakenly pick it up, thinking it might be Marvel’s new magazine, and we would sell out the issue.

After I completed the issue and left, Cal (without my knowledge) yanked the cover, substituted a washed-out color still from One Million Years B.C., and reduced Spider-Man to two inches in the upper right corner (against a blue background!). When that issue was published, by total coincidence, it went on sale exactly one week before the b&w Spider-Man magazine. As per the Wim Wenders title, “Faraway, So Close!” And typical of how Cal would usually arrive after the parade had passed by….

A personal aside from RT: In answer to Bill Schelly’s queries, I myself told him that I remembered precious little about the Beck Con except that it did exist and I did attend… that it was a confused thing with people milling about in the dealer’s room… and that my most vivid memory was of Calvin Beck’s mother aggressively pushing her way through the crowd ahead of her son, ordering people to make way, make way, as if she were the herald of Julius Caesar.

Carole Seuling I asked my longtime friend Carole, who in 1967 was the wife of old-comics dealer (and high school teacher) Phil Seuling, and who beginning in 1969 would help Phil put on his first couple of New York comicons, if she was at the Beck Con, and she had this to say via e-mail: If that was the con held at the 23rd Street Y in New York, I was

Monsters & Heroes At His Beck And Call

there (we had a table). Buster Crabbe was an honored guest. Steranko was there, too. Not only did Calvin Beck’s mom run interference for him; she lectured anyone who would listen on the aliens who had recently landed in her back yard! That was one of the creepiest crowds I’ve ever seen at a con—and I’ve been to plenty of comic and sci-fi cons.

home in the later ’60s when he was working for Woody Gelman at Nostalgia Press.

Mmm… at least we may know now that the Beck Con was held at the 23rd Street YMCA in Manhattan. Now if we only knew the date…!

Rich Rubenfeld Rich was an active early fan, and a member of TISOS, The Illegitimate Sons of Superman, a prominent New York-area fangroup, of which more below. Today he’s a professor of art history at Eastern Michigan University, who has also mounted successful comic art exhibitions at that institution, as well as exhibitions of World War II propaganda and vintage pinball machines. He has also hosted panels of comics professionals in conjunction with the comics shows. In late 2005, he sent these remembrances to Bill for adding to the mix, after Bill e-mailed him that he’d learned the Beck Con was held in very early 1967, not in 1966 as he’d originally believed. Rich didn’t recall much about the con, but his memories of early cons are still worth printing here for context: So, the Beck Con was in early 1967, not 1966. Maybe that is why I had difficulty conjuring memories. Somehow it didn’t sit right that it was the second con I attended; it was the fourth. I’ve had a hard time remembering specific things about the early comicons in NYC. My most vivid memories of those early cons are those involving the people I met who went on to become close friends.

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So Who’s Otto Playing? Uncle Marvel?

We ran this photo in A/E #20 with an article on Dave Kaler’s 1965 comicon, but it seems appropriate here, as well: Carole Seuling and then-husband Phil, dressed as Mary and Captain Marvel for the masquerade, with Otto Binder, who scripted some of the Big Red Cheese’s most memorable adventures, including the entire “Monster Society of Evil” serial covered last issue. Photo taken by Steve Griffin; courtesy of Steve & David Armstrong.

At the early cons I met Tom Fagan, Shel Dorf, Peggy Gemignani, Mike Friedrich, and soon-to-be pros like Jim Steranko. Beyond that, I think of the joy of being surrounded by people who loved comics the way I did. I didn’t have much money to spend, but I managed to fill in some gaping holes in my collection, including The Brave and the Bold #28 [the first “Justice League of America” story] (a neighbor had borrowed my first copy not long after it came out, but his family moved and I never got it back) and Fantastic Four #3. And I attended what panels and presentations I could.

Your recent piece on the Benson Con really brought back memories of Jack Kirby’s speech.

In 1968, I was able to have dinner with my neighbor and idol, [artist] Harry Lucey, along with his old buddy Charlie Biro, Tom Fagan, and one of his friends who was a reporter/photographer for Newsday [a very popular Long Island newspaper]. Meeting the pros, of course, was always a thrill.

I do recall that Buster Crabbe attended the Beck convention. I know that he autographed the Frazetta drawing of him [Crabbe] on the back cover of witzend #1. I do recall that Kirk Alyn [star of the Blackhawk and both Superman movie serials] was at that con, as well.

John Benson Asked about the Beck Con, John, who had hosted the July 1966 convention covered in the first seven installments of this series, had this to say, admittedly as hearsay evidence: I don’t remember when Calvin’s con happened, but I know it did happen. I wasn’t there. I heard that Buster Crabbe

I think I mentioned TISOS to you before. I met most of those guys at the 1965 and 1966 cons—Mark Hanerfeld, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Ron Fradkin, Stan Landman, Eliot Wagner, and Andy Yanchus. Pat Yanchus, Irene Vartanoff, and her sister Ellen were TISOS members, as well. I got to know Dave Kaler fairly well. I helped with the registration for his Academy Con. He often stayed at my

The Fan, Flash, & Frazetta For young Rich Rubenfeld (center of page), Buster Crabbe autographed the illustration Frank Frazetta had done of him, which was published around that time in the first issue of Wally Wood’s seminal “prozine” witzend. This isn’t that autographed copy, though. [Art ©2007 Frank Frazetta.]

Just Picture Him Two And A Half Years Younger John Benson (on left in photo) at Phil Seuling’s 1969 SCARP-Con, talking to Phill. Courtesy of JB.

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In Memoriam

Ernie Schroeder (1916-2006)

A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ernie Schroeder was a remarkable artist, and a remarkable man… and, without meaning to rank in order the worth of people’s lives, we decided to air a somewhat lengthier-than-usual tribute to the artist of “Airboy,” “The Heap,” and so many other comics features, who was interviewed at length for Alter Ego #42, just a little over two years ago. Thus, we asked both Jim Amash, who conducted that interview, and Ernie’s old friend Herb Rogoff, who was his editor at both Hillman and Ziff-Davis comics companies, and who shared space with Ernie in A/E #42, to have their say. Jim first… —Roy.]

“I’ve Never Met An Artist I Respect More Than Ernie”

by Jim Amash Glad did I live, and glad did I die, and I laid me down with a will… home is the sailor, home from the sea, and the hunter home from the hill.”

—Robert Louis Stevenson.

Ernie Schroeder got his start in comics as an assistant to artist Bob Powell. His work first appeared in the Harvey Comics features “Captain Freedom,” “The Spirit of ’76,” and “Shock Gibson.” Ernie soon branched out on his own, working for Parents’ Magazine’s Calling All Boys, Calling All Kids, “Bigbrain Billy,” and True Comics. Ernie found anonymous fame at Hillman Publications, where he co-wrote and drew “The Heap” and “Airboy” features in Airboy Comics in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After that, he co-wrote and drew GI Joe for Ziff-Davis Publications. A few brief stops at a handful of small publishers followed before Ernie left the comic book business.

I used the term “anonymous fame” because Ernie never signed his comic book work. Fans only knew he was a singular comic book artist. Fortunately, four-color historian Hames Ware needed a haircut one day and found, at the barbershop, a magazine containing illustrations by Ernie. Hames recognized the style and, though Ernie didn’t sign this work, either, he was credited at the front of the mag. At last we knew the name of the great “Heap” and “Airboy” artist!

Unfortunately, we didn’t know anything else about him.

When I interviewed Ernie’s former Hillman and Ziff-Davis editor Herb Rogoff, I naturally asked about Ernie, and Herb had a lot to say about his former colleague. In the middle of our discussion, I noticed that he spoke of Ernie in the present tense. “Is Ernie Schroeder alive?” I asked. Herb said he hadn’t spoken to Ernie in a couple of years, but was sure that he was alive, and he supplied me with his phone number.

Ernie And Friends Ernie Schroeder, a few years back— flanked by two pages he drew (and probably also wrote) for Hillman Periodicals’ Airboy Comics, Vol. 8, #3 (April 1951): an “Airboy” sequence at left, a “Heap” exploit below. Ernie’s love of ships and all things associated with them was never more apparent than in the former tale, which deals with an atom-powered vessel. All photos accompanying this article were provided by Constance Schroeder, through Jim Amash & Teresa R. Davidson. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Illustration by Emilio Squeglio

Capt. Marvel TM & Š2007 DC Comics

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U.S.A. borders!

Some of his references, however … cast in our direction, were cause for an occasional fidget: “Another artist who drew Fawcett’s leading character … as a barrel-chested, beefy guy who didn’t look quite as tall as he should have …” I’m glad John wasn’t around with that kind of talk to influence my employers … who always seemed quite happy with what I was doing.

By

[Art & logo ©2007 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2007 DC Comics]

[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 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 shared with us the samples of his music-oriented strip, Neal Valentine. In this installment he discusses the approach he took in drawing Captain Marvel during the Golden Age … and dispels some myths along the way. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

In the recounting of historical events, there’s this thing of “unfavorable grouping” or “inaccurate ganging” … or something like that. Not clear? Say, then, you’ve been included as a member of the human race … “as were Adolf Hitler and Ivan the Terrible.”

See what I mean? Why not nice guys like George Washington and Moses?

Consider the Pierce paragraph describing certain work as “notable assistance to C.C. Beck along with that of Kurt Schaffenberger and Pete Costanza.” Sounds like a warm, cozy gathering of the three, sharing thoughts and drawing “the face.”

Not so. The rendering of Captain Marvel, face and figure, was under strict house control after the Captain Marvel Adventures #1 fiasco. It remained so until the final days of 1942, by which time Beck had assembled a nucleus for his shop to be … and likely to a great extent, thereafter. It’s difficult to understand how the aforementioned “assistance” occurred during that period. Costanza was there, though rarely called upon beyond layouts and inking, and Kurt, according to accounts, had gone directly from Pratt schooldays to the Binder shop, thence to the army.

I drew one face only, the face that along with my résumé had satisfied Fawcett Publications. It was identical, I’ve always thought, to the one being drawn by its originator, C.C. Beck.

T

he question was about hero worship: “When you’re in a music store, whose recordings do you look for?” I like the immediate reply of legendary jazz trombonist Carl Fontana: “My own!”

Quite similar was that of Pete Costanza, legendary friend and assistant of C.C. Beck, co-creator of Captain Marvel. Pete, when asked which comic books he read, answered, “I’ve never read comic books … except the stories containing my work.”

It was a matter of self-criticism: “I did the work yesterday, but let’s see what it looks … or sounds like … today!” Today’s review might reveal some little bad things about it … some lessons to be learned … that escaped us yesterday.

And, to be honest, there was always the morsel of personal satisfaction that comes from hearing again the old choruses … or seeing the old pages … that featured your own endeavors.

It was on just such a mental excursion that I ran across a piece prepared a while back by comic book fan/historian John Pierce …

“The Many Faces of Captain Marvel” (FCA/SOB #18 (FCA #29), March-April ’83).

I had no idea there had been so many “faces” … or so many artists involved! And for so many years … even extending beyond our

Critic’s Choice In this panel from Mary Marvel’s origin story in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942), does Cap looks especially “barrel-chested,” “beefy,” or “[not] quite as tall as he should have”? Marc is glad his Fawcett employers didn’t think so in 1942! Repro’d from the 1977 book Shazam! from the 40’s to the 70’s. [©2007 DC Comics.]

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Emilio Squeglio Adventures–Part II The Fawcett Staff Artist Is Back—And In His Own Words!

Transcribed & Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

A

s detailed in our previous issue, Emilio Squeglio was a staff artist for Fawcett Publications from 1947 through 1955— working primarily, for the first several years, on Fawcett’s line of bestselling comic books. He was interviewed in depth by Jim Amash in Alter Ego #41, but here he speaks entirely for himself. Last time out, he voiced his own views on the Superman-Captain Marvel lawsuit and other such matters. This time, he talks of his post-comics work, starting with his stint on Fawcett’s other magazines—but also reminisces some more about the comics. —PCH.

True Facts After working on comics page corrections at Fawcett for more than six years, things finally came to an end in 1953. Al Allard called everybody into his office and told us the company was going to stop publishing comic books [because of the settlement of Superman-DC’s lawsuit over copyright infringement]. A lot of the guys left because they wanted to stay in comics.

But, during my years there, I had gotten a taste of Fawcett’s advertising department, and it interested me. At the time I thought, “I still got a job here if I want it… it’s a nice company, nice people … why go wander the streets when I have a job here?” So I stayed briefly with Al Pauly in the advertising department.

But by late ’53 I got the yearning to work on the magazines. I went up to see Al Allard and told him I’d like to try magazine work, since I’d been studying design at Pratt Institute during the evenings. Al said, “Okay, if you want to try it, I’ll put you on one of our magazines.” A few days later Al called me and said he had an opening on one of the detective magazines, True Police Cases. And that’s when I switched to magazines.

I started doing page layouts, and also worked on other detective magazines—I was able to lay out an issue in just a couple of days. Al liked how I handled pictures in layouts. I also started working on some True magazine spin-offs, auto magazines, etc. One day in ’54 he asked me to go up and work on True magazine in Frank Taggart’s office. After a month working on True, Al informed me that Frank wasn’t coming back.

“He’s very sick,” Al said.

“He’s had a nervous breakdown. Go empty out Frank’s desk … you’re now officially on True.” I stayed with the magazine until late ‘55, working with Norman Kent, the magazine’s art editor. He was also an artist … a very art gallery-type of guy. He used to do woodcuts and linoleum cuts, and once gave me a set of cutting tools for Christmas and taught me how to do woodcuts. (I tried everything in art because I

From Super-Heroes To Sleuths (Above:) Maybe when the World’s Mightiest Mortal triumphed as usual over Dr. Sivana at the end of “The Stolen Shazam Powers” in Captain Marvel Adventures #144 (May 1953), it might’ve looked as if Cap’s fan club was getting bigger and bigger and bigger—but only half a year (and six issues) later, Cap and Fawcett comics both bit the dust. Art by C.C. Beck. [Captain Marvel TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

(Left:) Luckily, though, Emilio had a parachute! Here’s he’s seen (on left in photo) with Phil Cammerata, art editor of Fawcett’s detective magazines, in the early 1950s. It was at this time that Emilio left the advertising department and joined the magazine division. All photos in this section courtesy of Emilio.

wanted to see what I liked, which was most things… except computers!)

Len Bowen was one of the editors when I started at True. He was a nice man who was much older than me. He used to visit a bar on 6th Avenue every morning before work and tank up until 9 o’clock—then he’d come into Fawcett completely stoned. Yet he always knew what he was doing, and did his best work while under the influence.

Emilio Squeglio Adventures—Part II

81

But I was now married, had a child on the way, and had to think long-term about my career. As much as I loved working on True, I couldn’t die there. I felt I had gone as far as I could with the company. I first broke the news to True editor Bill Kennedy. He didn’t want me to leave and tried to convince me to stay, but he understood about me wanting to further my career. “I wish you all the best, Emilio,” he said.

“But remember one thing: if you don’t like those bums over there, you come back here!” Then I went up to see Al Allard.

“Emilio, why do you want to leave?” Al asked, leaning back in his chair.

To Thine Own Self Be True Emilio in 1954 with John Culin, design partner for True magazine, a Fawcett publication. At right is a True cover done by another former Fawcett comics artist—Richard Deane Taylor—for the magazine’s Nov. 1956 issue, done for art director Al Allard. [Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

True had beautiful illustrations, and that’s when I began meet so many great artists. The one who left the greatest impression on me was Norman Rockwell. What a gentleman he was! I was up at his place a few times. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rockwell!” I said when I first shook his hand. “Emilio … please … Mr. Rockwell was my dad.

I’m Norman! Would you like to see my studio?” In his studio I saw all the original paintings he did for the Saturday Evening Post. I had lunch in his kitchen with him and his wife.

“I don’t,” I said, “but it would further my career.

American Artist is a good magazine. I love the art field and I’d be closer to the business and to the artists.”

“Okay,” Al replied, “I’m not going to try to convince you to stay, but remember: if they as much raise an eyebrow with anything you’re doing or treat you bad, then you tell them to go to hell and come back here. You’ll always have a job here.” I thought it was wonderful for him to say that. I always respected Al as being a fair and honest guy.

On my last day at Fawcett, Bill Kennedy said to me, “Look, in

One day at work, Norman Kent came in and told me that he had just been let go from True. A few weeks after Norman had left, I got a call from him asking if we could have lunch together.

American Artist During lunch, Norman Kent told me he was taking over editorship of American Artist magazine: “I need an art director, and I’d like you to come over with me.” So here I was, associate art editor of True, one of the best magazines in the business, and he asks me to be the art director at American Artist. It was like a whirlwind. I thought about it for maybe five minutes and then said, “Okay!” I gave Fawcett a two-week notice. I hated to leave them, because Fawcett was an absolute dream company to work for. The Fawcetts were just plain wonderful with their birthday cards, Christmas bonuses, and everything … and all their employees were wonderful, too, so it wasn’t easy for me to leave.

From One American Artist To Another The cover of the Jan. 1961 issue of American Artist, the sixth “Annual Buyer’s Guide” issue, as designed by Emilio. The July 1955 photo of Emilio at right, taken when he joined that magazine, was used therein to introduce him to readers as its new art director. [Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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The Fawcett Staff Artist Is Back

Hogarth Muscles In Pages from the first edition of Burne Hogarth’s book Dynamic Anatomy, designed by Emilio Squeglio. It won an award as one of 1958’s best books. Hogarth, of course, was famous both for his anatomy texts (and related classes that he taught) and for drawing the Tarzan Sunday newspaper comic strip from the late 1930s through the 1940s. In the center of this page is a panel from the strip for Sept. 7, 1947.

[Book cover ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Tarzan TM & ©2007 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

about a week or so, I’m gonna give you a call. Be ready to come over to the 13th floor—you’ll find out why when I call you!” So I left Fawcett and started working at American Artist. A couple of weeks had gone by when I got a call from Bill: “Emilio, what are you doing Friday night after work?” “I’m going home” I said. “No you’re not!” he said. “You’re coming over here. We’re going to give you a party!”

Fawcett threw great parties all the time. I went over there and they had the biggest party you ever saw. I’ll never forget it … everybody was there … and it was for me! “What’s going on?” I asked. “Well, we didn’t want ya to leave, ya bastard!” Bill said. “We were hoping to convince you to come back!” Everyone was saying, “Emilio, when are ya comin’ back? We didn’t want you to go!” I almost convinced myself that night to go back to them… that’s how convincing they were!

A Designing Man (Above:) Emilio in his office at Reinhold Publishing Corp., circa the mid-1960s. He was senior designer of the trade books department, with a staff of six book designers.

(Right:) Emilio at Reinhold, having a chat with one of his assistants after a morning staff meeting in 1965.

The same year I had started at Fawcett, in ’47, I began to take design courses at night at Pratt Institute for about four years. When I went to American Artist and found out I was going to be designing books, I went to NYU and spent two years there studying design, then another year after that at Columbia University, where I studied psychology because I thought it would help me understand people better. Well, after only a year of that stuff, it was bringing me down and making me talk to myself, so I said, no more.

Dynamic Anatomy I designed all kinds of books, including the first edition of Burne Hogarth’s Dynamic Anatomy. I think it’s the nicest book I ever designed. It was published in 1958 and awarded one of the best 50 books of that year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. They would select fifty of the best commercially-designed books in the U.S. and put them into a show. (Besides Dynamic Anatomy, I actually had another among the 50 best-designed books, Robert Fawcett on the Art of Drawing, but it was stolen from me by Eugene Ettenberg. I designed the book but he got the credit for it.) Those fifty books that year went over to Russia on the government’s Cultural Exchange Program. I’m very proud of that and of Dynamic Anatomy. Burne was a special friend of mine, and we became closer friends after the book was published. He loved how I designed it, by giving it a lot of complementary space which projected his artwork.

Fawcett City [Thinking back on his days at Fawcett:] We all got along at Fawcett. I clearly remember always being happy there, and so was