Alter Ego #66 Preview

Daredevil & Sub-Mariner TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Atoma & caricatures ©2007 Estate of Bob Powell; Sheena TM & ©2007 Paul Aratow/Columbia Pictures; The Shadow TM & ©2007 Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications; Mr. Mystic TM & ©2007 Will Eisner Studios, Inc; other art ©2007 the respective copyright holders

Roy Thomas’ Daring Comics Fanzine

THE PEERLESS POWER OF

BOB POWELL

PLUS:

$

In the USA

6.95

No. 66 March 2007

Vol. 3, No. 66 / March 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

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

Editor Emeritus

Contents

Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant Chris Irving

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

Cover Artist Bob Powell (adapted by Michael T. Gilbert]

Cover Colorist

Expert Ed Lane on one of the most prolific (and best!) artists of the Golden Age.

The Flyin’ Fool Cover Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Roger Hill tells how a long-lost Powell illo was finally restored—and published!

Bob Powell: A Brief Stopover In The Marvel Age . . . . . . . . 42 Nick Caputo investigates an enigma: Why didn’t Powell ever draw a solo Daredevil tale?

Comic Crypt: The Powell Family Album! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Bill Aguilera Dave Baker Alberto Becattini Jack Bender Bill Black Dominic Bongo Chris Brown Nick Caputo Gregg Clifford John Cochran Mike Conroy J. Randolph Cox Mike & Carole Curtis Al Dellinges Tony DeMaria Blanche Fago D’Ann Calhoun Fago Michael Feldman Florence Feustel Gary Friedrich David George Janet Gilbert George Hagenauer Jennifer Hamerlinck Paul Handler Peter Hansen Heritage Comics Roger Hill Jonathan G. Jensen

Writer/Editorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Peerless Power Of Bob Powell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Denis Kitchen Ed Lane Jim Ludwig Bettina Lussier Bruce Mason Shelly Moldoff Frank Motler Dave O’Dell Dennis O’Neil Edith Penty Jay Piscopo John Powell Kyle Powell Robert Powell Seth Powell Ken Quattro Ethan Roberts Herb Rogoff Scott Rowland Ramon Schenk Jim Simon Joe Simon Marc Swayze Stan Taylor Dann Thomas Anthony Tollin Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Hames Ware Cat Yronwode

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Bob Powell

Michael T. Gilbert hosts a family reunion with photos—four sons and two Mrs. Powell.

“Make Mine Magazine Management!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Editor David George on the “good ol’ days” at Martin Goodman’s magazine empire.

“We’ll Just Get It Done!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Jim Amash talks to Blanche Fago about Al & Vince Fago and Charlton Comics.

FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze, a Marvel Family mystery—and Bob Powell!

On Our Cover: As detailed on pp. 43-44, Bob Powell worked with another master comic artist, Wally Wood, on several 1965 issues of Daredevil, but always inked by Wally. Since so much of Powell’s style depended on his powerful inking, both Michael T. Gilbert and A/E editor Roy Thomas wondered what a “purely Powell” DD would’ve looked like. Thus, since the mid-1950s Magazine Enterprises hero The Avenger looked so much like Daredevil, Michael used digital magic to transform the one into the other for this issue’s cover… also peopling the page with [left to right] Shock Gibson, Atoma, Sub-Mariner, Avenger (as himself this time), Scarlet Arrow, baby John Powell (see pp. 46 & 51), The Man in Black, Sheena & her chimp Chim, Black Cat, The Shadow (minus mask), The Spirit of ’76, and Mr. Mystic—plus a selfcaricature of the artist. Something for everybody! [Daredevil & Sub-Mariner art ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Sheena art ©2007 Paul Aratow/Columbia Pictures; Mr. Mystic art ©2007 Will Eisner Studios, Inc.; other characters art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Above: The hopefully familiar cover of The Avenger #3 (a.k.a. A-1 Comics #133), Magazine Enterprises’ short-lived 1955 super-hero, drawn by Bob Powell. This “robot robber” (also seen on p. 13) is one of the best-designed robots in any vintage comic… and, Roy T. admits, was the major visual inspiration of “the Ultimate Ultron” in The Avengers #68 (Sept. 1969). Thanks to Mike Conroy and Ken Quattro for the scan. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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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The Peerless Power Of BOB POWELL A Remembrance Of One Of The Most Skilled And Prolific Of Golden Age Artists A Personal Appreciation by Ed Lane (with special thanks to Peter Hansen)

L

et me begin this article by momentarily indulging in some personal nostalgia. I became addicted to the art of Bob Powell in about 1946. At the time, I thought that he was one of the best comic book artists in the business—and now, over 55 years later, I am still convinced my judgment was correct. Even today, his work still ranks with the best.

For twenty years, Powell was so prolific that I could not keep up with buying all his work off the newsstands. But I doggedly stuck to my task, and this two-part article sees the publication of all of the data I have accumulated in the intervening time frame.

The first part of this article deals with Powell the artist: Who was he? Where did he come from? How did he get started? Who worked for him? This section includes a sampling of the very few interviews Powell ever gave on his life and art.

Cheesecake, Beefcake, & Bob Powell The artist, circa 1960, in his Williston Park studio—flanked by primo examples of his art drawn 15 years apart: (Left:) Splash for Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics #25 (March 1941). Powell signed the final page of this “Sheena” tale; “W. Morgan Thomas” was a house name. The identities of the scripters of most stories mentioned in this article are unknown. (Right:) The wordless cover art for Magazine Enterprises’ 1955 The Avenger #4 (a.k.a. A-1 Comics #138), as restored for AC Comics’ The Avenger #0 – Special Ashcan Edition (1996). Thanks to Jonathan G. Jensen and Bill Black for the respective art scans, and to Seth Powell for the photo. [Sheena TM & ©2007 Paul Aratow/Columbia Pictures; retouched Avenger art ©2007 AC Comics & estate of Vin Sullivan.]

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One Of The Most Skilled And Prolific Of Golden Age Artists

With a brush, his style became a less stilted, more flowing, and dynamic one, which epitomized those golden years from 1945 to 1955.

A great many early comics characters bore the Powell moniker, such as “Dr. Fung” and “Secret Agent D-13” at Fox; “Gale Allen,” “Camilla,” and “Inspector Drayton” at Fiction House; also “Abdul the Arab,” “Lee Preston,” “Betty Bates,” and “Spin Shaw” at Quality. Many early Powell stories have the by-line “W. Morgan Thomas,” which was an Eisner shop name that Powell adopted for himself. Early “Sheena” and Mr. Mystic stories carried the “Thomas” credit, but Powell’s tiny signature can often be found discreetly tucked away in a panel of the story.

When Eisner started his own studio after dissolving his partnership with Jerry Iger, Powell went with him. Powell went freelance in 1941, starting his own studio and working for the Harvey brothers before joining the Army in 1942. After leaving the service in late 1945, he relaunched his studio, working mostly for Harvey, but also for Street & Smith, Timely/Marvel, and other publishers.

When the bottom fell out of the comic book market in the mid-’50s, Powell turned his focus to commercial art. In the early ’60s he did some work for Sick magazine, and in the mid-’60s drew a number of stories for Marvel Comics. From January 1966 until his death, Bob Powell was art director at Sick, which in its February 1966 issue printed an article about his joining the magazine. That piece is reprinted in full on p. 47 of this issue of Alter Ego.

A Letter To Jerry DeFuccio

Powell Was No Dummy Reportedly, Powell’s first professionally published work was this “Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy” story (part of a movie adaptation) from Jumbo Comics #2 (Oct. 1938). By coincidence, though this issue hit the newsstands a month or so before that cover date, October 30, 1938, is the night on which Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast panicked much of America—when people listening to the far more popular Bergen & McCarthy program changed stations during a commercial, and suddenly found themselves bombarded by “eyewitness” reports of an invasion from Mars!

Thanks to Bruce Mason for the scan. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

The second part discusses the voluminous amount of artwork he produced, which I have compiled into an Index of his work (see end of article for how to obtain a copy). The Bob Powell Index data listed represents probably 95% of the artist’s work through 1960.

Who Was Bob Powell?

Stanley Robert Pawlowski, who legally changed his name to S. Robert Powell in 1943, was born October 6, 1916, in Buffalo, New York, and died on October 1, 1967, in Huntington, New York, at the age of 51.

Powell’s earliest comic book work was done in 1938 when he worked in the Eisner-Iger shop, which supplied comics to Fiction House, Fox, and Quality, among other publishers. From the very beginning his work had a distinctive style which can be instantly recognized today as one peruses comic books of that era. The major difference seen between his early-1940s style and his late-1940s style is due to the fact that he switched from pen to brush inking, though his stylistic flair remained the same.

Few interviews were ever done with Powell, and those that exist give only a slight insight into the man himself. One such is the following letter from Powell in response to queries sent by mail in 1966

by Mad magazine associate editor Jerry DeFuccio, a lifelong historian of the Golden Age of Comics. From the tone of his responses, Powell was obviously still put out by the commercial art establishment, which had nothing but disdain for mere comic book artists. This piece saw print in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #10 (2001), but is repeated here. In it, Powell recounts: You caught me unawares with your letter and I must say that this resurgence in comic book sales and the avidness of the fans is somewhat ridiculous, albeit nicely rewarding. For years we were bums and most of us had to learn to redraw in order to make a living, and now all of a sudden we are little tin gods. I’m afraid I’m not impressed, but because of our long friendship I’ll try to run off some of my checkered career. However, at best, my memory isn’t very good, and ye gods, after reading your letter and some of the things you mention, you should be telling me!

In 1938 I started with Eisner and Iger. With them I did various and sundries, the most known of course was “Sheena.” God, we must have had over a hundred characters before Chuck Mazoujian and I split off with Bill Eisner to do Spirit, [Mr.] Mystic, and Lady Luck. Busy Arnold, bless his little old thieving heart, gave me the opportunity to break off from old pinchpenny and go on my own. I’ve been freelance ever since. That was what? 1940-1?

Harvey came into the picture then and when MM [Mr. Mystic] folded I did all the ones you mentioned, along with “Tommy Tween” and “Chickie Ricks.” “Man in Black” was my favorite, of course, and my baby exclusively (though Harvey owns, natch). I understand it’s coming out again, but because of an agreement I made with Stan Lee, I’ve refused to take it over again.

Along came marriage, a son, and the war. I was hot to be a flyer, so before I got too goddam ancient (I was 26), I enlisted and was sworn in three days after my son’s first birthday. (Incidentally, he is an ensign in the regular Navy as a career officer and is about to get his wings as a jet pilot. He’s married and has presented me with the

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One Of The Most Skilled And Prolific Of Golden Age Artists

“The Epitome Of Powell” That’s what Ed Lane calls Powell’s 1950-54 work for Magazine Enterprises—and here, juxtaposed with a photo of the artist a few years later, no doubt contemplating his past creations as he strolls along a beach—are some items offered in evidence which some folks might just consider “proof positive”! Photo courtesy of Seth Powell.

[All art ©2007 the respective copyright holders; retouched Avenger art ©2007 AC Comics.]

(Clockwise from top left of facing page:)

• Jet (that was the title, period) spotlighted the science-

•

• A cheesecake-at-war page from a “Mike Battles” story in American Air Forces #11, a.k.a. A-1 Comics #79 (1953). Thanks to Jonathan G. Jensen.

• The Avenger may have been clad almost entirely in red, but as a “Commie-smasher” this mid-’50s ME hero gave that decade’s Captain America a run for his money! This restored splash page appeared in AC’s The Avenger #0 – Special Ashcan Edition.

•

•

•

•

fictional adventures of white-haired adventurer Jet Powers, who looked as if modeled after movie actor Jeff Chandler. This is the splash of the first story in Jet #1 (1951). The writer was Flash/Hawkman/JSA cocreator Gardner Fox, who’d been a childhood friend of ME publisher Vin Sullivan (see A/E #27).

Splash panel from the origin tale in 1953’s Cave Girl #11 (a.k.a. A-1 Comics #82). Only this fur-clad heroine, of the myriad of jungle queens in Golden Age comic books, might’ve sparred with Sheena for her crown, but she entered the game too late.

Another page from Red Hawk #11 (1953), probably written by Gardner Fox. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Ed Lane.

Strong Man was a quasi-super-hero, with a physique like those of the wrestlers trained by Powell’s father (see next issue’s “Comic Crypt” section). Thanks to Bruce Mason.

Frank Frazetta drew Thun’da #1; Powell took over for #2-6. The premise was basically Tarzan in a primeval setting. This splash was sent by Bruce Mason. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Major Inapak the Space Ace (1951) was a 16-pagesplus-covers commercial comic produced by Magazine Enterprises with all-Powell art. The “Space Ace” name was shared by a totally different sf hero who also starred in one issue of his own comic.

The Peerless Power Of Bob Powell

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One Of The Most Skilled And Prolific Of Golden Age Artists

BOB POWELL Checklist [This Checklist is adapted from information appearing in the online Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999, established by Jerry G. Bails. See p. 32 for information on how to access this invaluable website. Names of features which appeared both in comic books of that particular title and also in other comics are generally not italicized. Reprinted material is only sporadically listed—more this time than ordinarily, however, because of the voluminous Harvey romance reprints mentioned in Ed Lane’s article, which reflect instructive changes dictated beginning in 1955 by the Comics Code Authority. Some data below has been added by Bob Powell and his son Seth R. Powell, by Ed Lane and Peter Hansen—and the detailed issue-by-issue listings below in some areas are adapted from a voluminous checklist of their own sent by Alberto Becattini and Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Key: (a) = full art; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only; (w) = writer; (d) = daily newspaper strip; (S) = Sunday newspaper strip; (rep) reprint] Name: Stanley Robert Powell (born Stanley Robert Pawlowski) (1916-1967) (artist; writer)

Magazine Annual (Pyramid) early 1960s; Man’s World (Atlas) early 1960s; Rage (Natlus) 1961-64; South Sea Stories (Counterpoint) 1961-64; Sportsman (Atlas) early 1960s

Pen Names: Gregory Torey (house name at Brookwood/Harvey 1939-40); Terrence Macauley (house name at Quality, 1940-41); Powell Roberts; S.T. Anley; Major Ralston; Henry Ralston (?); S.R. Powell; Arthur Dean; Buck Stanley; Bob Stanley; Bud Ernest, Rex Smith; W. Morgan Thomas

Commercial Art & Design: displays for convention exhibits 1960s Other Career Notes: teacher: Pratt Institute

Education: Pratt Institute; Milwaukee State Teachers College (now part of University of Wisconsin) Member: Long Island Old Car Club (president) Books (as artist): Adolph Pupp’s Basketball Guide 1967; Picture World Encyclopedia 1959; Art Linkletter’s Children’s Encyclopedia 1961; Harwyn Picture Encyclopedia 1958; Yogi Berra’s Baseball Guide 1966; Science Is in the Air: An Inspirational Textbook Told Almost Exclusively in Pictures 1947 Trading Cards (all for Topps): penciler: “Mars Attacks” 1962, “Batman” 1966-67; penciler: trading cards “Civil War” 1962 (all painted by Norman Saunders) Magazine Illustrations: Action for Men (Atlas/Diamond) early 1960s; Action Life (Atlas) 1963-64; Adventure (New) early 1960s; Escape to Adventure (Escape) early 1960s; How Champions Play (Street & Smith) 1948; Man’s Daring (Candar) 1959-66; Man’s Magazine & Man’s

The Illustrating Man This moody illo by Powell was clearly done for a non-comics book or magazine—but which one, we’ve no way of knowing.

Thanks to Seth Powell. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Syndicated Comic Strips: Bat Masterson (S)(a) 1959-60 for Columbia Features (writer: Ed Herron); D-13 (S)(a)(w?) 1939-40 for Fox Features Syndicate (rep of comic book stories); Dr. Fung, Master Sleuth of the Orient (S)(a)(w) 1940 for Fox Features Syndicate (rep of comic book stories); Lady Luck (S)(w only) 1940-41 for Register & Tribune Syndicate; Mr. Mystic (S)(a)(w on most) 1940-43 for Register & Tribune Syndicate in The Spirit section; Secret Agent D-13 (rep of comic book stories) (w)(a) 1939-40; The Spirit (S) (assist. w) 1940, some (a); (assist. a)(assist. a)(some w) 1943-44, for Register & Tribune Syndicate; Teena a Go Go (S?)(a) 1966 (writer: Bessie

This Was Sandwiched In Between Blondie And Peanuts?

The subject matter of this Teena a Go Go Sunday strip may seem a bit offbeat for your average newspaper—but hey, it was the ’60s!

Thanks to Anthony Tollin. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

The Peerless Power Of Bob Powell

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To Languish Unseen—Till Now A daily by Powell for an unsold Nick Carter newspaper comic strip, starring the famous detective hero of the early pulps.

Thanks to Anthony Tollin & current owner J. Randolph Cox. [©2007 estate of Bob Powell.]

Little) Comics in Other Media: Mister Ken Doodid (w)(a) c. 1943 weekly at Milwaukee State; various features (w)(a) for men’s magazines

(a) 1950-54; True Confidences #4 (a) 1950; True Sweetheart Secrets #4, 5 (a) 1950; Vic Torry and His Flying Saucer [no #] (a) 1950; Worlds Beyond #1 (a) 1951; Worlds of Fear V1#2, 4, 5 (a) 1952-53?; Young Marriage #1 (a) 1950

Promotional Comics: Buster Brown Comics #9 (giveaway)(a) 1945; Major Inapak, the Space Ace (a) 1951 premium for Magazine Enterprises Trading Cards: Topps – Batman cards (p), painted by Norman Saunders Comics Studio/Shop: Eisner and Iger Studio (art dir) 1938-39; Eisner Studio (w)(a) 1940; Powell Studio (head)(w)(a) late 1940s to early 1950s COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Producers): Archie Comic Publications: The Adventures of The Fly #3, 4 (i) 1959-60; Blue Ribbon Comics (reprint of Fly)(a) 1984; The Shield (i) 1960 Charlton Comics: cars (a) 1954, 1957; Clint Curtis (a) 1954, 1957; covers (plot, p) 1955; jungle (a) 1956; Nature Boy #4 (Pecos Bill)(w)(a) 1956; Soldier and Marine (a) 1954; The Thing! #17 (a) 1954; This Magazine Is Haunted #3-5, 11, 12, 17 (a) 1957-58; Western (a) 1955 Cross Publications: crime (a) 1950, 1954 (?); The Perfect Crime #1, 2, 4 (1949-50) DC Comics: Strange Adventures #4 (a) 1951 Dell Publications: covers (a) 1950s; Henry (p) 1961 Fawcett Comics: Battle Stories #2 (a) 1952; Beware! Terror Tales #1, 2, 8 (a) 1952-53; Cowboy Love #10, 11 (a) 1959-51, reprinted by Charlton 1955; Down with Crime #2, 4 (a) 1952; Exciting Romances #8-10 (a) 1952-53; Fawcett Movie Comics #7-8 (w/Rocky Lane, Lash LaRue, Monte Hale (a) 1950; Hot Rod Comics #1-7 (covers & stories)(a) 1952-53; Lash LaRue (a) no date; Life Story #13, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 39 (a) 1950-53; Love Mystery #3 (a) 1950; Motion Picture Comics #104, 105 (Rocky Lane, The Red Badge of Courage); On the Spot [no #] [#1](a) 1948; Red Badge of Courage (a) 1951; Romantic Secrets #5, 7, 12, 16, 17, 20, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36, 37 (a) 1950-53; Romantic Story #7, 8, 16, 20, 30 (a) 1950-53 (some reprinted by Charlton 1955); Romantic Western (a) 1949; Strange Suspense Stories #1, 4 (a) 1952; Sweethearts Diary [# uncertain] (a) 1950; Sweethearts #90, 101, 106, 107, 113, 117, V2#26

Clearly It’s Not “Take An Indian To Lunch” Week These four drawings of Western ritual torture by Powell (preserved in rare pencil form!) look as if they, too, were destined for trading cards—what used to be called “bubble gum cards,” in the days when the companies still put gum in the packets. Courtesy of Seth Powell. Our apologies to the great Stan Freberg for our caption heading. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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The Flyin’ Fool Cover Art How A Long-Neglected Powell Illustration Was Restored—And Finally Published!

by Roger Hill

I

’ve been doing my own art restoration for over twenty years now and find it to be most rewarding. It can also be very frustrating and time-consuming, but is always worth the effort in the long run. It’s a proud accomplishment when you can take a dirty, scuffed-up, stained page of old original comic art and return it to a state very near its original condition. Every piece of art is different, of course, and has its own unique problems, which must be solved during the restoration process. Since I collect many older comic covers from the 1940s and 1950s, I’m almost always faced with replacing the title logos and other, smaller cover stats or blurbs that have fallen off over the years. This is also true with interior pages that have lost a pasteover word balloon or lettering of some kind. These things are minor obstacles and can usually be overcome quickly by locating a copy of the comic, and using that image to work from.

Once you’ve scanned or re-photographed the logo off the comic, it’s just a matter of blowing it up to the correct proportion in size to the original art, then cleaning it up and eliminating the color residue to convert it back to a black-&-white image. This clean-up process can be done by various methods; one of the most accepted these days is using a computer with Photoshop capabilities. If you have the patience and skills to use the process, you can produce a title logo that looks just as good as the original. The logos are usually the easiest thing to deal with. The other things like paper-loss, rubber cement, coffee stains, tears, dirt, grime, warping, etc. are another matter, indeed. By at least replacing a title logo when it’s missing, I feel it’s a worthwhile contribution to the overall look and survivability of any comic cover. If you don’t replace the logo, then you have to live with a bad glue stain, which can be very distracting from the overall beauty of the piece.

I have collected Bob Powell original artwork and his published work in pulps, comic books, magazines, and wherever else I could find it, for over thirty years. I consider him one of the greatest and most prolific comic artists ever to have worked in the genre. He had a unique style, unlike anyone else I can think of. His work may not demonstrate the power and forcefulness of Jack Kirby, or a fine line delineation of Lou Fine or Frank Frazetta, but two things he was capable of: he could draw anything required of him and make it look easy, and he could visually tell a story ten times better than many of his peers. Because of his heavy output during the early to mid-1940s, I’ve always thought of him as one of the fastest artists in the business and certainly one of the most easily identified styles in comics.

It was during the 1987 Chicago Comic Con that I first saw an original piece of cover art by Powell that I didn’t recognize. I knew it had to be a piece of Harvey Comics art because, at the time, a lot of 1940s art had been turning up out of the Harvey warehouse deal. The Harvey warehouse inventory of artwork was originally purchased by Steve Geppi and Harry Metetsky and was beginning to make its way into the hands of collectors all over the country through different dealers. I was a bit disgusted when I first saw this original, because the entire upper third of the piece was only a huge rubber cement stain where the title logo had been. As much as the art itself appealed to me, I was not familiar with the characters portrayed in the image. So I knew right away that tracking down the comic was going to be a little

First Glimpse Of A Flyin’ Fool Roger Hill writes: “This is the cover as it looked when I first saw it, with bad glue stain at upper logo area. Note [the] ‘P’ in lower right-hand corner—odd way for Powell to sign something, but then, Harvey didn’t allow some artists to sign their work.” All art accompanying this article was provided by Roger, except where otherwise stated. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

more difficult than usual.

Another problem was the white-out on the piece. Powell was known to be a heavy user of white-out paint to more or less smooth out rough edges, or to make last-minute changes, before he turned a piece of art in to the publisher. The white-out on this cover was flaking off rather badly, too. But that’s never been a problem for me to replace.

A steady hand and a number 2 sable brush will do it every time.

Fortunately, when white-out flakes off a page of art where it’s been for over forty years, it leaves a track you can follow in order to lay it right back down again.

This cover also didn’t sport the usual “Powell” signature seen on a lot of his work, but instead just a “P” placed in the lower right corner, also applied with white-out. It was also beginning to flake-off. The art

The Flyin’ Fool Cover Art

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Victory Adventures #2, dated August 1943, drawn by Powell. This was followed by his second appearance in #3; then he wasn’t seen again until All-New Comics #7 (March 1944). After brief appearances in All-New #13 (July-Aug. 1946) and a 2-page text story in #14 (Jan.-Feb. 1947), he finally wound up being serialized by Powell in Joe Palooka #7 -#25 (except for #15, which had his “Atoma” one-shot story instead).

The Flyin’ Fool’s Test Flight A half-page Harvey house ad from Speed Comics #43 (May-June 1946). Note the Flyin’ Fool cover next to one for Black Cat Comics at right. Harvey had quite a lineup in those days, including Stuntman and Boy Explorers and occasional other features by the Simon & Kirby team! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Along with his letter, Ed also sent me a Xerox copy of the story from Joe Palooka #8 (Feb. 1947). The interesting thing about this particular story is that the scene depicted on my cover actually appears in this story. In the story, Chickie Ricks actually gets nicknamed “The Flyin’ Fool” because he maneuvers his plane—an Australian-built Bristol 152 Beaufort—close enough to strike and kill “Tatar,” yet not injure “Maylene.” It’s also very apparent in this story that Chickie Ricks has just met up with his old Marine buddy “Gootch.” During the final panels of the story, they decide to gang up with “Maylene,” who has become Chickie’s newfound girlfriend. So, this appears to be an introductory story for leading off the “Flyin’ Fool” series, and the Flyin’ Fool comic book. Not having seen the stories that preceded this one, I can’t be positive about it. But that was my theory.

was what I would call a basket case, but I couldn’t pass it up. Even with all the problems it had, I couldn’t walk away from it. I considered it a real challenge and knew that, if I walked away from it, it might never get restored. So I paid the dealer’s price and took it home.

Naturally, the first thing I did with the cover when I got home from the convention was to throw it in a drawer and forget about it for six months. But eventually I dug it out and began researching the piece, which led me to pull out a copy of Ed Lane’s Bob Powell Index. Ed Lane, for those who might not know, is probably the world’s foremost authority on Powell’s work in comics, magazines, gum-cards, and everything else. Looking through his invaluable index and checklist, I spotted several war or aviation comic titles on which this cover could have been used. Because the art was signed with a “P,” I suspected Powell had drawn it sometime in the mid-1940s. I say that because most everything I’d seen by him from about 1947 on was boldly signed with his full last name.

Since this was in the days before Ernie Gerber came out with his Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books, I wasn’t having much luck finding this cover on a comic. After going through everything in my collection, I decided to send a letter off to Ed Lane, along with a Xerox of the cover art. Shortly afterward, his response arrived back in the mail and informed me that the unidentified art was the cover of an unpublished Harvey comic called Flyin’ Fool Comics. As Ed explained in his letter, this cover was first advertised by Harvey in several house ads.

He even sent me a Xerox copy of the house ad from Joe Palooka #6 (Oct.-Nov. 1946) and told me the ad had run in issues #6 through #9, and in various issues of Green Hornet. Later, while digging through my own collection, I found an earlier-dated house ad for that issue in Green Hornet #30 (May-June 1946). This helped me with my bestguess of when Powell might have drawn the cover. I eventually concluded it was between late 1945 and early 1946.

Ed identified the characters on the cover, whose names I had not heard before. They consist of the pilot Chickie Ricks, his bumbling sidekick Gootch, and Maylene, a beautiful outlaw who lived in an Oriental country near Tibet. The Cossack-looking villain on the horse, with his rope around Maylene, is “Tatar the Terrible.” Further research revealed that the “Flyin’ Fool” had first debuted in Harvey’s War

Grounded!

The first page of the “Flyin’ Fool” story from Joe Palooka Comics #8 (Feb. 1947). This story was doubtless originally intended to be printed in Flyin’ Fool #1. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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Bob Powell: A Brief Stopover In The Marvel Age The Golden Age Virtuoso Never Quite Found His Footing In The “House of Ideas”

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by Nick Caputo

ob Powell was an extremely talented and versatile artist who had been in the business since 1938, drawing war, Western, crime, horror, and super-hero features with a unique flair. He worked in the EisnerIger studio, notably on “Sheena,” and for Eisner on the comic strip Mr. Mystic.

Powell also worked for Harvey Comics (e.g., on “The Man in Black”), at Magazine Enterprises (The Avenger, et al.), and drew effective, atmospheric covers for Street & Smith’s Shadow comic book. In the mid-1940s Powell opened his own studio. In the 1950s he worked on many short stories for Stan Lee on Timely’s genre books, and even drew two “SubMariner” stories.

In late 1964 Powell returned to the newly christened Marvel Comics, where editor Stan Lee gave him jobs to pencil and co-plot. It appeared as if Powell would be firmly embedded in the Marvel line-up, but circumstances turned out quite differently.

Powell had a distinctive style; he produced strong layouts and drew expressive characters. One important ingredient was missing, though: at Marvel, Powell was not inking his own work.

Powell had used uncredited inkers in the past, but this had been under his own supervision. At Marvel, practically everyone had a crack at inking Powell, and his pencils suffered from the erratic results.

Powell took over the “Giant-Man” feature beginning in Tales to Astonish #65 (March 1965), which debuted “The New Giant-Man.” Stan Lee never seemed to get a grip on that character and made another attempt by giving Hank a cybernetic helmet and a slightly different costume to spice things up. [NOTE: See Powell’s model sheet on p.

33. —Roy.] Lee apparently had (excuse the pun) high hopes; the credit box read: “Produced by Marvel’s newest creative team.” Don Heck inked the strip, and while his work was distinctive, it was incompatible with Powell’s design and inventive layouts. Powell had a strong sense of perspective, which made the adventures of a character who had the ability to change size exciting, and his use of multiple panels was different and effective. Surprisingly, he was able to present a very menacing, ugly spider, which grew in size and threatened a normalsized Henry Pym for several pages. This was quite a feat under the then-powerful Comics Code. It was a promising debut for the ailing strip.

One Giant Takes On Another The lead tale in Tales to Astonish #66 (April 1965) was perhaps the most artistically successful of “Beamin’ Bobby Powell’s” five “Giant-Man” forays. Not only did he deliver a nice splash-page schematic, but, thanks to Frank Giacoia’s faithful embellishing, Madame Macabre more nearly resembles a classic Powell female than anything else in the artist’s short Marvel sojourn. All Marvel art accompanying this article is from black-&-white Essentials volumes. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The “Giant-Man” story in Tales to Astonish #66 opened with a wonderful splash page of the hero viewed through two floors of a building, fixing a rooftop antenna. Frank Giacoia (under the pseudonym “Frankie Ray”) inked this issue, and his crisp lines were complementary to Powell’s style. The latter’s use of multiple panels and busy pages continued, although the story, featuring a minor-league female Mandarin named Madame Macabre, was less than compelling.

Powell’s (and the series’) final three “Giant-Man” adventures were weakened considerably by incompatible inking. Neither Chic Stone (Jack Kirby’s primary inker in this period) nor Vince Colletta nor John Giunta (his only work at Marvel, I believe) added anything to Powell’s art. Lee scripted all but the final tale, which was penned by Al Hartley.

What appeared to be a strip for which Powell was ideally suited never got off the ground. Perhaps, with time, Powell and Lee might have found their way, but “The Sub-Mariner” replaced Hank Pym in Tales to Astonish, and somehow Lee and Powell never seemed to mesh.

Bob Powell: A Brief Stopover In The Marvel Age

When the Fab Four Met Half Of The Fantastic Four (Above:) We’ve always wondered—-did Marvel get formal permission for Powell to pencil the phenomenally popular Beatles in Strange Tales #130 (March 1965), or did Stan Lee simply assume they could be depicted because of their supercelebrity status? Of course, not many years later, Paul McCartney mentioned Magneto and Titanium Man in a song… and didn’t we hear that Smilin’ Stan himself is doing something-or-other with Ringo Starr, even as we speak? Inks

by Chic Stone. The photo of Stan is from Marvel Tales Annual #1 (1964.) [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Right:) Bob Powell did a more faithful rendition of the Liverpool lads in one of his Teena a Go Go strips from the 1960s. Thanks to Anthony Tollin. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Powell concurrently drew “The Human Torch and The Thing” strip in Strange Tales, beginning with #130 (March ’65), the infamous “Meet the Beatles!” story. Powell was again burdened with revolving inkers: Chic Stone, Dick Ayers, Mike Esposito (as “Mickey Demeo”)—-for a whole two issues—-and, finally, a teaming with the great Wally Wood.

Unfortunately, these stories were even less compelling than GiantMan’s, which isn’t saying a lot. Lee, along with Larry Ivie (in Strange Tales #132), turned in pedestrian stories with the likes of The Mad Thinker and The Puppet Master. Powell’s final “Torch and Thing” story was his best, enhanced by the inking of Wally Wood, whose lush lines added luster to Powell’s pencils. Powell seemed to be cursed with working on strips that were headed for cancellation. Both “Giant-Man” and “The Human Torch and The Thing” were gone in the same month, replaced by “Sub-Mariner” and “Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD.” Powell was again teamed with Wally Wood for three issues of Daredevil. He began penciling over Wood’s rough layouts, with Wood then inking (Daredevil #9, Aug. 1965).

While Wood’s style is strong, there is a good sense of Powell throughout the book, and the team turned in a suitably moody job in a tale that featured knights and castles.

Men Without Peer After three Daredevil issues fully credited to him, Wally Wood (seen in 1977 photo) decided to work with another penciler on the mag… though whether the particular addition of Powell was suggested by Wally or by Stan Lee is unknown. In their last of three teamings, in DD #11 (Dec. 1965), “Bobby Powell” is duly listed as penciler… but Stan, who’d been promoting Wally as a Marvel star for the past year, cannily laid out the credits so that his and Wood’s names appeared in tandem. The cover of this issue of A/E, of course, shows how an all-Powell Daredevil might have looked. Thanks to Richard Pryor for the Wood photo. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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46

Art Courtesy Of Robert Powell. All Characters TM & Š2007 Their Respective Trademark & Copyright Holders; See p. 1.

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THE POWELL FAMILY ALBUM!

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by Michael T. Gilbert et’s begin with this tongue-in-cheek Bob Powell biography—by Bob himself! This originally appeared in Sick #42 (Feb. 1966).

Who Was Who In 1945 Ed Lane has ID’d most of the following Golden Age heroes in the 1945 drawing on the facing page: Maylene (a “Dragon Lady” type in early “Chickie Ricks” stories)… an unknown masked swashbuckler (anybody recognize him?)…

The Scarlet Arrow (from early Black Cat)… probably Banks Barrow (aviator in bkgd., USMC pilot from “Loops ’n’ Banks” in early Military Comics)… diminutive professor who hosted an educational series on “The Human Body” in Treasure Chest… Susan (sometime love interest) & The Spirit of ’76 from Green Hornet… The Man in Black… Sheena (’nuff said!)… Powell’s infant son John (see p. 50 for details) Abdul the Arab from early Smash Comics… Black Cat… Chowderhead (red-headed comic relief) & Mr. Mystic, both from the latter feature.

[Characters TM & ©2007 the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

The art includes many of Powell’s greatest characters, now mostly middle-aged! [Sick material ©2007 Joe Simon.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Next we have a letter from Mr. Powell’s first wife, Mrs. Florence Feustel, (originally Florence Marie Dzimian from Buffalo, New York). She was briefly Mrs. Bob Pawlowski, before the name change to Powell. They divorced in 1960.

Dear Michael, John did say that you would contact me in reference to Bob Powell. Let me think back and see if I can be of any help, as after all these years I have a dim memory of many things past.

Bob and I were friends in high school in Buffalo, NY. He was a big man on campus as a football player and in ice hockey. After that we had no contact the four years of college.

Bob attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. I resided in Buffalo, and in the late ‘30s his comic strip Mr. Mystic appeared in the Buffalo Evening News. [MTG NOTE: Mr. Mystic actually appeared slightly later, as a back-up feature in Will Eisner’s first Spirit section on June 2, 1940.] At the time Bob was working for Will Eisner in NYC. We met again in 1941, married and moved to Williston Park, L. Is. [Long Island], NY. Bob worked for Will Eisner commuting to NYC. When World War II broke out Bob was getting a bit old, A picture-perfect Christmas, starring Bob, Florence, Rob, and John Powell age 25, for the Air Corps, which he preferred, so he enlisted (at bottom of photo), taken in 1946. in the Air Corps in 1942. His basic training was in Mississippi?? There on to Milwaukee for Navigator training not remember) mailed story lines which Bob illustrated in between and a commission. There to Santa Ana, Calif[ornia], for more training. flying time. Again, I have no recollection of the comic books.

Next move to San Antonio, Texas, where he instructed Navigation to Bob ended his service career in Idaho, discharged Oct. 1945. cadets, including black cadets. While in Texas the publisher (who I do Used VA money to buy a house in Williston Park, L.I. There was a studio upstairs where he and two assistants drew comic books. We had a house built on Laurel Hollow, L. Is. And moved in in 1949. Bob had a separate studio, with 2 assistants, drawing comic books until 1959. Of course, I do not remember any titles.

Bob was interested in cars. Besides a Jeep we had a “Siata,” an Italian sports car. [It was] uncomfortable and unreliable. For transportation we had a station wagon [Studebaker] to haul kids and dogs around. We had a 1920 “Model T” Ford which preceded the 1909 “Hupmobile” in the antique category. Bob belonged to the “L.I. Antique Car Club,” and the “Sports Car Club Of America.” He had a Porsche that he drove in the Bridgehampton, L.Is. Race track. [MTG NOTE: Son Robert recalls that Bob’s race was actually at the Suffolk Air Force base.] The Bridgehampton race track was established by Bob and several other sports car enthusiasts. My favorite car was the 1955 Ford “Thunderbird” which we had for several years.

Sorry I have no memory of comic book titles Bob drew.

Good luck in this venture.

Best wishes, Florence Feustel

“That old gang of mine!” The Bob Powell studio on Long Island, looking at the splash to the 1951 Magazine Enterprises comic American Air Forces #5. [Clockwise:] Howard Nostrand (leaning over), George Siefringer, Marty Epp, and Bob Powell (seated).

In a letter to Seth Powell a few years back, Bob’s colleague Will Eisner mentioned Mrs. Feustel, recalling how Bob once “brought ‘his girl’ (later his wife) to the studio. I remember her as red haired and very pretty.”

Indeed she was. According to their sons, The Scarlet Arrow’s beautiful lover Roxanne was based on her.

The Powell Family Album!

(Above:) Bob, age 14, circa 1931. “Baseball and hockey were his universe as a kid,” says son John. “He had an offer to play hockey professionally.”

(Top:) Bob and his beloved Siata. His interest in cars came in handy illustrating Fawcett’s Hot Rod Comics! (Seen at right is the cover of issue #4, Aug. 1952.) Directly above is a photo of Powell racing his Porsche 356 (lucky #26) at Suffolk Air Force Base in 1954. [Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

(Left:) Previously-unpublished drawing featuring The Scarlet Arrow and Roxanne.

They debuted in Black Cat #5 (April 1947), and made one final appearance the following issue. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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58

“Make Mine Magazine Management!”

The Good Ol’ Days At MARTIN GOODMAN’s Colorful Magazine Empire

by David George

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRO: On the day in early July 1965 that I went to work for Stan Lee at Marvel, I had never heard the very phrase “Magazine Management.” Probably few people had, if they didn’t either work for that organization or have some sales connection with it. But, by the 1950s, that had become the overall name for the publishing company owned by Martin Goodman, which included the Timely (and later Marvel) comic books, but, far more importantly to him, a sizable group of men’s adventure, confession, crime, movie, cartoon, “girlie”-photo, and even crossword puzzle magazines whose cover prices (and thus potential profits) dwarfed those of “funnybooks,” even by the mid1960s when Lee, Kirby, and Ditko had revitalized the line. Sometime in the first year or so I worked for Stan, I recall being told (by whom, I don’t recall) that the comics represented at most one-third of Magazine Management’s value. Who’d have guessed then that, less than a decade later, Marvel Comics would bestride the comic book world like a four-color colossus… while most

Isn’t Anyplace In New York City Safe?

David George (above)—and (at right) an early-1950s pic of Martin Goodman, founding publisher of Timely/Marvel and its umbrella company Magazine Management. Some felt that, with his silver hair, Goodman strongly resembled actor William Boyd, a.k.a. Hopalong Cassidy.

The recent photo of David was taken by Bill Aguilera; that of MG was supplied from Male [magazine], Vol. 3, #10 (Oct. 1953), by Stan Taylor.

Juxtaposed are two MM covers with May 1967 dates: For Men Only, Vol. 14, #5… and The Amazing Spider-Man #48. The former is by Mort Künstler, who went on to achieve fame as a painter… while the latter, drawn by rising comics star John Romita, introduced a new and younger Vulture to torment Marvel’s most popular hero. [For Men Only cover ©2007 the respective copyright holders; comic art ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Make Mine Magazine Management!”

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of those “real” magazines were in the process of disappearing forever from the face of the Earth?

Even so, the non-comics part of Magazine Management—a sizable dog which was not yet being wagged by its four-color tail—has a rich history of its own, one that both intersects with Marvel’s and is, in its own way, just as fascinating. Some time back, through Gary Friedrich (who worked for both the comics and magazine branches of “MM” at one time or another), I re-established contact with a talented and amiable MM editor I’d known slightly during my time at Marvel: David George.

David agreed to scribe some memories of his Magazine Management days for us, and sent some mags and photos to illustrate his reminiscences. I haven’t been able to resist adding a bit of personal commentary to the accompanying pics and artwork… and David and I hope the combination will add appreciably to the picture of pioneer comic book publisher Martin Goodman and his color-splashed kingdom. —Roy.

Welcome To Martin Goodman’s World It was a warm, humid day in June when I climbed the subway steps and made my way west up 59th Street. The year was 1964 and I was headed for 625 Madison Avenue and the offices of Magazine Management.

It had been an eventful year, or as author Jon Margolis, former political reporter for the Chicago Tribune, referred to it in his book, The Last Innocent Year, “the beginning of the ’sixties.”

It was the year the Civil Rights Act became law. Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston. China tested her first atomic bomb. The US Surgeon General warned against cigarette smoking. Nelson Mandela began serving a life sentence for opposing Apartheid. Honda diversified into car production. A World’s Fair opened in New York’s Flushing Meadows. Chemotherapy was first used in the treatment of cancer. The Berlin Wall went up. Liz Taylor married Richard Burton. Timothy Leary set out on his psychedelic journey. And the Beatles arrived in America.

While young men started burning their draft cards, rioting black men set fire to neighborhoods, and women began to wonder if the male sex was their oppressor, I hurried up 59th Street to keep my own date with destiny. As I neared the corner of 59th and Madison, a pigeon indiscriminately deposited its finest droppings on the sleeve of my new, olive-green lightweight summer suit.

“It’s good luck,” Noah Sarlat responded as I sat in his office a few minutes later, chuckling good-naturedly while I rubbed furiously at the black-and-white splotch with a wet paper towel.

Noah was one of two editorial directors at Magazine Management. I had interviewed with him following a cold call I’d made on the advice of my friends Bob Shea, who had been an associate editor with me at

Sarlat, Stag, Sin, And Soldiers

Fawcett’s True magazine, and Larry Shaw, an editor at Lancer Books.

(Left:) This 1951 paperback, issued by Goodman’s Lion imprint, announced inside that its text was “taken from full-length articles that originally appeared in Male, Stag, and Eye magazines. Not one word has been censored from the magazine pieces that startled Americans from their lethargy in the face of syndicated crime.” Noah Sarlat is credited within as “editor of Male and Stag”; he was also editor of the paperback line. The “71” beneath his cover byline represents a sequential numbering device (similar to that of the comics) to help distributors and retailers track new releases and newsstand returns… while Eye was originally one of MM’s cheap photo mags loaded with “girlie” shots. The Lion paperback line was discontinued in 1956, when Goodman dissolved Atlas Distributing so the rest of his output, including the comic books, could be handled by American News Company—only to see ANC close down its national periodical distribution division six months later, nearly spelling an end to Goodman’s empire. Thanks to Michael Feldman for much of the above info. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

“I don’t have anything at the moment,” (Right:) In the early 1960s, editor Sarlet presented Mort Noah had Künstler’s original cover painting for the Dec. 1961 issue advised me of Stag to Gen. Curtis LeMay in the latter’s Pentagon over the office. The accompanying story had been titled: “The phone, “but I American General Russia Fears Most—Air Force Chief of suspect there Staff Curtis LeMay.” [Photo ©2007 the respective might be an copyright holders.] opening any day now.” And sure enough, a few weeks later, following the resignation of a young associate editor, Noah called me in for an interview and promptly hired me.

The men’s magazine department was split up into two divisions, with the associate editors divided into two separate “bullpens” of six each, plus one secretary. Noah headed up my group, which consisted of Stag, For Men Only, Complete Man, Action for Men, and Sportsman. The other group was presided over by Bruce Jay Friedman and included Male, Men, Man’s World, and True Action. There were other titles published from time to time, including so-called “annuals” twice a year. These annuals consisted primarily of reprints from the major titles, Male, Men, Stag, and For Men Only. They were simply repackaged with new titles, different photos and/or art. Blurbs and captions were also rewritten to give the issues a “fresh” look. Action for Men, True Action, Man’s World, and Sportsman also ran a lot of recycled material, although some original articles were included.

Noah put me right to work that day, writing blurbs and captions for a four-page Stag spread that featured at least two dozen World War II photos, each demanding a two-line caption. But first he introduced me to Vera Jirsa, managing editor of Stag at the time.

73

“We’ll Just Get It Done!”

BLANCHE FAGO On Her Comic Book Career With The Fago Brothers & Charlton Comics

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Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash

lanche Fago’s comic book days were short-lived, consisting solely of her being an editorial assistant at Charlton Comics to husband Al, an artist. Her brother-in-law, artist (and wartime editor-in-chief of Timely/Marvel Comics) Vince Fago, prompted me to interview Blanche in 2001; Vince’s own interview appeared in Alter Ego #11. This long-delayed printing finds us in the position of not knowing the whereabouts of Blanche; we hope someone can put us back in touch with her. In the meantime, here’s a candid look at her and Al’s days in comics, mostly at Charlton. —Jim. JIM AMASH: There’s not much known about your late husband, Al Fago. In fact, it’s not generally known that you had worked for Charlton, too.

BLANCHE FAGO: I still have fans who write me about my husband, who’s been dead since 1975. He did a lot of his comic book work for Charlton Press in Derby, Connecticut. They were publishing other things besides comics, but I didn’t follow up on what

happened to Charlton, because the two men who were the head of the company died [John Santangelo and Ed Levy]. I lost track of all the artists who worked for us, too.

JA: A couple of years after the company closed, the building that housed Charlton was torn down for a shopping center and a parking lot.

FAGO: They did? Well, you’d be surprised that we were all in that building in the Fall of 1955 when Connecticut had major floods, and Derby was down at the bottom of all that. The water got up on that particular building to about 18 feet, and the people were still in there. My husband was up on the roof, helping people out and getting them on helicopters so they’d be safe. He was the only one with a hand camera, and no one believes that. That flood destroyed everything, and was one of the worst ones that Connecticut ever had.

[NOTE: See a photo of that flood in A/E #64.]

I can’t tell you too much about Charlton, but my husband also worked for an animation studio that was owned by The Saturday Evening Post.

That was the early days.

He also drew Elsie the Cow for Borden for several years, and some designs for the Sunbeam Girl, who’s been around for many years. I once had some of the originals, but lost most of his art when I moved from Orange, Connecticut. The people who were supposed to

Blanche, Two Brothers, And A Mouse (Top center:) Blanche & Al Fago in the 1950s, and (above) Vince Fago in 1974, at age 60—juxtaposed with a vintage “Atomic Mouse” splash reprinted by Charlton in Funny Animals #1 (Sept. 1984). The latter mag was an reprint-laden attempted relaunch of the title they’d bought from Fawcett circa 1953; it even utilized the original logo.

The photo of Al & Blanche appeared in SFA Spotlights Atomic Mouse #11 in 2001, published by Mike & Carole Curtis of Shanda Fantasy Arts. The pic of Vince was sent by VF himself when he was interviewed by Jim Amash for Alter Ego #11; Vince passed away in 2002.

“Atomic Mouse” is the most noted of the many features on which Al Fago worked; his brother Vince, also a cartoonist, maintained that he himself created and did considerable work on the character, though it never bore any signature but Al’s. “It was okay for him to take credit,” Al said in the 2001 SFA mag, “as he was the editor.” Blanche, in this interview, says that Vince “helped” Al with Atomic Mouse and Atomic Rabbit. [Atomic Mouse art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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Blanche Fago On Her Comic Book Career

eight years, and I was Personnel Director when I left. And Al, like many other comic book people, had other interests. He was an inventor and also collected antique furniture. He’d go downtown every Saturday morning and buy radio parts, so he could make radios. This business takes so much out of people for very little reward, as you know. And it’s terrible. The money’s very little payback for what you put into it. But it’s very easy to fall into that trap.

JA: When Al started up the studio, do you recall who worked for him?

Voyage Of The Space Beetle Al Fago in 1934, at age 30. This photo, likewise sent by Vince in 2001, shows his older sibling “in front of a graph (squares) of a rug he was designing for Alexander Smith-Bigelow-Sanford.”

At right, from the days when Al & Blanche were editing at Charlton, is the Al-signed cover of Space Adventures #13 (Oct.-Nov. 1954); this issue reintroduced the Golden Age Fox super-hero The Blue Beetle in that era when The Adventures of Superman was the hottest kids’ show on TV. (And our abject apologies to the ghost of A.E. Van Vogt for our mutation of the title of his vintage sciencefiction masterpiece The Voyage of the Space Beagle.] [Blue Beetle is a trademark of DC Comics.]

bring it to me somehow lost it, and I don’t have the energy to fight it.

I’m a very old lady now. [NOTE: Blanche Fago was 91 at the time of this interview.]

Al worked very hard as a youngster, and he went to Pratt Institute at night, where he got a college education on a scholarship. He also designed rugs for the Bigelow Rug Company.

JA: How did you meet Al? FAGO: His mother and my mother were friends. Al was five years older than me, and he was born in Yonkers, New York. We knew each other most of our lives. He’d go to the “Y” and we’d see each other.

Then I grew up and we went to different schools. Then he married and went off in a different direction. I married a newspaperman, so Al was my second husband. We married in 1949. We dated when we were teenagers, before we went separate ways. Al had a daughter from his first marriage who came to live with us. I had two girls from my first husband. Al and I never had any children together. When we met each other again, Al was freelancing for Borden.

JA: Was Al working in comics when you got together again?

FAGO: No. But we started a studio on 42nd Street in New York City, and we were buying art to sell to comic book companies. Then we went to work for Charlton Press and moved to Connecticut.

JA: Was Al doing much of the art himself?

FAGO: Yes. He always did that; Al and his brother Vince both did that. He also did oil paintings for private collectors. They all were sold, so we never had any for our family. Supporting yourself as an artist was difficult to do, especially during the Depression, but Al managed to do it. He must have done all right, because when we met again, he had money in his pocket.

I had a job with the Research Institute of America in New York for

FAGO: There were several people, but I can’t remember their names.

There was one fellow who did science-fiction, and he was excellent because he went on to other things, though I don’t remember where.

Two or three guys did the romance stories, but I don’t remember their names, either. I thought Vince might remember....

JA: He doesn’t.

FAGO: ....but he’s pretty old, too. And he looks it! [laughs] He looks like Father Time! But he always looked like that! Even when he was a kid, he looked like that. He built his own home and all that crazy stuff.

Vince is a very nice guy and a fundamentally great person. A very sweet person. And so is his wife [D’Ann]. A great lady.

JA: Did the studio have a name?

FAGO: It wasn’t there that long. It was just Alfred V. Fago Studios, I guess. It was on 55 West 42 Street in New York. He did lots of humor work for a lot of places. He started at Charlton in 1952.

JA: What did he do for a living in between the studio and Charlton?

FAGO: He continued to do package comics. In fact, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster came around looking for work because they were starving.

They always looked like a couple of vagrants. They lost the Superman account—which they created—and we took them in and gave them some work. That’s when we went on staff at Charlton Press. We had already been working for them while we were living in New York, packaging comics. Charlton was our one big client.

I was there all the time, helping Al with the business end. I also helped edit the stories, especially the two-page text stories. I bought stories from one writer who went on to become famous: Ray Bradbury.

He sent in those two-pagers and we put them in the books. He came in once in a while and was very nice. Same for Joe Gill, who wrote tons of stuff for us.

Siegel and Shuster just did stories for us on a freelance basis. I was the one who decided whether or not to hire them, which I did. This was before we were at Charlton, because they didn’t do any work for us once we were on staff at Charlton. [NOTE: Actually, Siegel and Shuster did a small body of Charlton work in the 1950s, though not as a team. —Jim.] I didn’t get to know them. They were just the usual kind of “schmoes.” They weren’t outstanding in any way that I ever noticed, and I don’t think their work was that outstanding. They were just trying to stay in the comic book business. And no one was really inter-

#125 March 2007

[New art Š2007 Sheldon Moldoff.]

80

Hollywood scripter Keaton had sought out to relieve him of the pressures of that chore, had, himself, after eight months, requested relief. The replacement was Glenn Chaffin, cocreator of an earlier aviation strip, Tailspin Tommy. The work of neither writer was under criticism.

We were at war, and Russell Keaton, a licensed pilot, wanted to be a part of it! In the spring of ’44 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Reserves. The Bell Syndicate retained the services of Gladys Parker to continue the Flyin’ Jenny art.

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 discussed the approach he took in drawing Captain Marvel during the Golden Age. This issue he sets the record straight regarding his work on the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

T

he woman just wouldn’t stay out of my life. Without a word of encouragement or persuasion, she kept popping up all along the way. And she belonged to somebody else!

I’m talking about Flyin’ Jenny, fairhaired aviatrix of the newspapers, the creation of veteran comic strip artist Russell Keaton. Jenny had been appearing in daily and Sunday papers only a month or so when I reported for my first employment in the business, in 1939 … as a very green assistant.

Parker was a good artist. Her Mopsy was one of the finest one-panel newspaper features of the day. Her ability to produce six drawings a week, year after year, and never to sink into a boresome similarity, was incredible. But to expect her to become suddenly a continuity comic strip storyteller was absurd.

Flyin’ Jenny was indeed in need of help … and the Syndicate insisted I was the one to provide it. When I eventually agreed, it was with the conviction that the inclusion of a credit line justified the decision.

I suspect, though, that a feeling of loyalty might have had something to do with it … like a covenant … with Flyin’ Jenny.

Taking the Sunday page art was not a wise business deal. It meant giving up one of the two Fawcett features I had counted on, and settling for a fraction of the income previously expected. And there was the question of whether the name credit would ever become as beneficial to the career as thought.

As best I’ve been able to piece together the events of 1944, when I took over the Sunday page art in May, Gladys Parker continued the daily strip art … until July. By that time Russell Keaton announced his Corps duties had been arranged so as to allow him to resume the daily strip art. It was a valiant gesture. It must have been a very weary artist who sat at the drawing board night after night … after a full daytime schedule as a flying instructor. Weary … and, although it wasn’t known at the time … ill.

In August Keaton received his honorable discharge from the Air Corps Reserves … but asked that I continue the Sunday page art. When he requested in December that I draw the daily strip as well, while he went to the hospital … for tests. I agreed, with the understanding that no money be involved. His death in February was deeply felt. I had lost a true friend, and to a great extent, an ideal.

I didn’t want Flyin’ Jenny. I was comfortable doing the art and much of the writing of the Phantom Eagle in Fawcett’s Wow Comics. But the insistence of the supervising executive at The Bell Syndicate, and the attorney representing Mrs. Keaton, was powerful … and convincing.

And here she was again … five years later … this time in the offices of the Bell Syndicate … and Keaton miles and miles away. A report of that occasion, published elsewhere, pictures my having crept in, hat in hand, humbly begging for work. The fact is, I was quite satisfied with the arrangement I had with Fawcett Publications, and was there simply to speak briefly with those I knew at the Syndicate.

The warmth of their greeting was surprising. Flyin’ Jenny, apparently, was in trouble. And it wasn’t due to the writing of the strip. Col. Frank Wead, the

Smile And Say “Big Red Cheese!”

Marc Swayze and P.C. Hamerlinck pose before a painting by Marc of Captain Marvel, during P.C.’s visit to the Swayzes’ home in 2005. Photo by Jennifer Hamerlinck.

I enjoyed drawing Flyin’ Jenny … both the daily strip and the Sunday page. And collaborating with easygoing, thoroughly professional Glenn Chaffin was a pleasure. It was my opinion that when the story had Jenny stranded on an island with friends Timber, Scoop, Red Richmint, and the wild man, “Unk” … we were producing top grade, post-war continuity comic strip.

I thought so then … and as I look back over it … I think so now!

“We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!”

Flyin’ High With Flyin’ Jenny

[©2007 The Bell Syndicate or its successors in interest.]

Marc considers the Nov.-Dec. 1945 episode of which these eight dailies are a part to be among his favorite work on the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip:

81

86

A Marvel Mystery

by Gregg Clifford Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

I

t appeared one day amongst a hundred old comic books … delivered in a grocery bag.

In May 2006 my friend Dave Baker, owner of Comic Collectibles in Burton, Michigan, acquired an assorted lot of comics from the 1946 period. About a dozen of the books were promotional or “giveaway” comics, but there was one oddity that stood out. At first glance it appeared merely to be a ragged copy of Fawcett’s Marvel Family Comics #1 from December 1945. But upon closer inspection we discovered the book contained only 16 pages, and its interior pages had entirely different contents from Marvel Family #1.

The book’s front cover features the color cover art from Marvel Family #1 without price, number, month, or any other of the original cover verbiage (which includes the “Mighty Marvel Family Joins Forces vs. Black Adam” text box and “A Fawcett Magazine,” which was immediately below the “M” in the title logo). However, it retains the names of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, and Uncle Marvel on the large book depicted leaning against Shazam’s

The cover of the “Marvel Mystery” edition of Marvel Family Comics… largely derived from the 1945 cover of Fawcett’s Marvel Family Comics #1,

by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza. [All art in this section ©2007 DC Comics.]

throne (though it is stripped of “In Full Color” above the names from the original cover). Interestingly enough, “Copyright 1946 Fawcett Publications, Inc.” is added in the lower left hand corner of the rare book. The paper for the covers is unfinished, non-glossy pulp stock.

The story, “The Marvel Family Moves a Town,” begins on the inside front cover. The first six pages are in black-&-white; the last two pages are in color. This story was originally the lead story in Marvel Family #3, July 1946.

The back cover art of the mystery comic consists primarily of Beck & Costanza’s front cover art for The Marvel Family #3 (July 1946).

Next, page 10 features b&w cover art from Captain Marvel Adventures #51 (Jan. 1946), with no title logo, number, month, or the cover blurb/text box. Page 11 is b&w cover art from Captain Marvel Jr. #42 (Sept. 1946), again with no original cover verbiage; page 12 is b&w cover art from Mary Marvel #5 (Sept. 1946) (with no text); page 13 is b&w cover art from Captain Marvel Adventures #53 (Feb. 1946) (no text); page 14 is b&w cover art from Captain Marvel Jr. #36 (March 1946) (no text); page 15, the inside back cover, is b&w cover art from Mary Marvel #3 (July1946) (no text).