Alter Ego #68 Preview

Jerry-Built Roy T Thomas homas’ Jerry-Built Roy Comics F Fanzine anzine Comics

REMEMBERING COMICS FANDOM FOUNDER

JERRY BAILS

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In the USA

No. 68 May 2007

Art & Artifacts by: PÉREZ KUBERT INFANTINO KANE GIBBONS ISABELLA CARDY LEVITZ DITKO ORDWAY BUCKLER VOSBURG SWAYZE GILBERT SCHELLY HAMERLINCK AMASH THOMAS and more!

BONUS!

STAR WARS TURNS 30!

The Secret Origin Behind Marvel’s 1977 Comic!

PLUS:

05 1

82658 27763

5 Justice Society of America TM & ©2007 DC Comics.

Vol. 3, No. 68 / May 2007 Editor

™

This issue is respectfully dedicated to the memory of

Roy Thomas

Jerry G. Bails

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) Ronn Foss, Biljo White

Editor Emeritus Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant

Contents

Chris Irving

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

Writer/Editorial: Comics Fandom’s Johnny Appleseed . . . . . 2 “An Instigator With Vision” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cover Artist

A celebration of Jerry G. Bails (1933-2006), by Bill Schelly.

George Pérez

Of Fans And Fandom: The Jerry Bails Interview. . . . . . . . . . . 8

Cover Colorist

A 2004 e-mail talk with the founder of comics fandom, by Sean Kleefeld.

Tom Smith

With Special Thanks to: Jack Adams Heidi Amash Michael Ambrose Bob Bailey Jeff Bailey Jean Bails Michael Baulderstone Daniel Best Murray Bishoff Rich Buckler Dominic Bongo Ray Bottorff, Jr. Lance “Doc” & Krista Boucher Jerry K. Boyd Mark Burbey Mike Burkey Howard Chaykin John Cochran Jen Contino Teresa R. Davidson Fred deBoom Dwight Decker Craig Delich Al Dellinges Tony DeZuniga “Don Markstein’s Toonpedia” Lance Falk Michael Feldman Shane Foley Todd Franklin Mike Friedrich Carl Gafford Dave Gibbons Janet Gilbert Mike Gold David Hajdu Jennifer Hamerlinck Irwin Hasen

Heritage Comics Rick Hoberg Tom Horvitz Tony Isabella Glen Johnson Sean Kleefeld Alan Kupperberg Steve Leialoha Paul Levitz Ralph Macchio John & Gillian Moores Brian K. Morris Owen O’Leary Jerry Ordway Fred Patten George Pérez Steven Rowe Bob Rozakis Steve Sansweet Joan Schenkar Howard Siegel Joe Simon Gerry Sorek Joe Staton Dave Stevens Cory Strode Ed Summer Marc Swayze Dann Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Mike Vosburg Murray Ward Hames Ware Ted White Joseph Wise Bill Wray John Wright

The Future Of Fandom—Unlimited! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Even back in 1962, Jerry Bails pointed the way for future research.

Memoirs Of Jean Bails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Life with Jerry & comics fandom.

Tributes To Jerry G. Bails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 A handful of homages to a man who deserves them all—and more!

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: Alter-Ego’s Baby Brother! . . . . 47 Michael T. Gilbert tells the story of The Comicollector—Jerry Bails’ second fanzine.

“We Were A Wonderful Match!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Jim Amash interviews Hames Ware, Jerry's co-editor of the 1970s Who’s Who.

Star Wars: The Comic Book That Saved Marvel! . . . . . . . . . 63 Think we’re kidding? The secrets behind Roy Thomas & Howard Chaykin’s 1977 classic.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #127 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze, C.C. Beck, & Captain Marvel’s 1940 American cities tour.

About Our Cover: Let’s hear it for George Pérez, who gave us his blessing to use a previously unprinted Justice Society illustration of his as our cover tribute to Jerry Bails. “I’d be honored,” was his reply to our request. George, of course, drew some of the best-looking JLA-JSA teamups ever, back in the early 1980s. The photo of Jerry on the cover first appeared in Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #5 in 1962-63; it was digitally enhanced by Bill Schelly. [Justice Society of America TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

Above: Various JSAers from Earth-Two occasionally appeared, as well, in other Silver Age DC comics—as per this pair of panels from The Flash #170 (May 1967), with art by Carmine Infantino (pencils) & Sid Greene (inks); script by Gardner Fox. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, which was owned for some years by Jerry Bails. [©2007 DC Comics.]

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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writer/editorial

Comics Fandom’s Johnny Appleseed W

hat can I say about Jerry Bails that I didn’t say back in Alter Ego #25, when I managed to surprise my old friend by devoting a cover and a couple of dozen pages of coverage to him on the occasion of his 70th birthday?

1940s, when and where they appeared, etc.—an index with a real difference, and that filled a very real need; (l) and, of course, what must rank as Jerry’s most important contribution to the field and history of comics: the 1970s Who’s Who of American Comic Books, at least as he later mutated it into:

I don’t want to repeat here the oft-told tales of how DC writer Gardner Fox put Jerry and me in touch with each other in November 1960 by sending me Jerry’s Detroit address, or of how Jerry put together the original fanzine version of this magazine after a New York visit with DC editor Julius Schwartz in February of 1961. If you want to read my account of those events, A/E #25 is still on sale through TwoMorrows.

(m) the massive online Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1928-1999).

[See p. 4.]

Arguably, there are a couple of other “firsts” Jerry could have laid claim to, as well… but he was never one for selfJerry (left) and Roy in Chicago, 1997, for the Fandom Reunion Luncheon. Photo courtesy of Jean Bails. aggrandizement…or for hogging credit.

Still, an unfamiliar reader should know Without consulting me, he officially named precisely why this publication is celebrating me “co-editor” of the first few issues of Alter-Ego, even though I did this man’s life and accomplishments. After all, his name is hardly as no editing whatsoever, but merely wrote and drew material he edited. well known as that of last issue’s interviewee Bob Oksner, or next He acknowledged his debt to Hames Ware, who was so important to month’s Paul Norris and Ramona Fradon. And so, leaning in part on the 1970s Who’s Who, by duly listing him as co-editor of that fourBill Schelly’s accounting of “Jerry Bails’ Ten Building Blocks of volume publication.

Fandom” in A/E #25, I’ll briefly list his major achievements. Simply put, Jerry was either a primary or the sole creator of: (a) the first fanzine (Alter-Ego) wholly devoted to comic books, in March-April 1961; (b) the first comic book “adzine,” dedicated to advertisements for buying and selling old comics, later in 1961; (c) the first “newszine,” devoted to news of upcoming comics, likewise in 1961; (d) the first organization made up of fans of the field, the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors, also in 1961; (e) the first awards presented for excellence in comic book work (the Alleys, first given out by the Academy in 1962 for ’61);

Jerry was, to the extent any one person could be, the founder of modern comics fandom.

He was also my great and good friend, even though the two of us met face to face on fewer than a dozen occasions during the almost precisely 46 years I knew him, from November of 1960 till he passed away—in his sleep, just as he said he’d like to do but didn’t feel he would—on Thanksgiving of 2006.

The only time he’d become sharp with me, at least via cyberspace, was concerning my innate unwillingness to learn any more about PCs than I absolutely had to. “Oh, you are hopeless!” he chided me once… then gave me a digital lecture on how I could move one more evolutionary rung up the ladder and away from what he perceived as my luddite tendencies.

(f) the first orderly microfilming of 1940s comic books, begun in the mid-1960s;

Only a couple of weeks before he passed away, he sent to me—as he did, in various forms, to a number of people who he felt had been important in his life—a letter of farewell. I quote from it now, with his wife Jean’s permission:

(g) the first published super-hero comic book indexes, an All-Star Comics Index and a DC Index; (h) the “first sizable gathering of comics fans,” the “Alley Tally” held on March 21-22, 1964, to count the Alley Award ballots for 1963;

Dear Roy,

(i) the first “fandom directory,” the 1964 Who’s Who in Comic Fandom; (j) CAPA-alpha, the first comic book “apa”—a compendium of the minifanzines of a number of fans, distributed by a Central Mailer; (k) Collector’s Guide: The First Heroic Age, the first publication to list virtually all the super-heroes of the

Jerry at the University of Chicago, 1960, shortly before graduation… and less than a year before he launched Alter-Ego and comics fandom. Thanks to Jean Bails.

I suspect that any time now you’ll be hearing from Jean or Ray [Bottorff] that I have died. I am suffering 2 or more severe angina attacks a day now, and have a persistent sharp chest pain that even the nitro doesn’t totally eliminate. I take massive numbers of drugs at noon and midnight and find that 11 o’clock is becoming a terror to get through.

I refuse to go into the hospital because I have other conditions that are more likely to cause even more prolonged pain, and I have no desire ever to be in a hospital again. I am just wishing to die peacefully in

5

“An Instigator With Vision” A Celebration Of Jerry G. Bails (1933-2006)

by Bill Schelly

T

he news of Jerry Bails’ passing spread like wildfire on the Internet on Thanksgiving Day 2006, coming as a shock in various degrees to everyone who heard it. Some were doubtless unaware of the health problems that had plagued Jerry’s latest years, perhaps assuming by the level of his activity in newsgroups that the 73-year-old was doing fine. Those who knew of the man’s heart problems and other physical ailments were also susceptible to surprise at the unhappy news on November 23rd, because they hoped Jerry’s illnesses weren’t as serious as he made them out to be.

After the shock and sadness, Jerry’s passing is an occasion that causes us to consider how different our fannish world today would be if he hadn’t had the vision and desire to instigate so many projects in the early 1960s. What, we ask ourselves, would our collective history have been like without the efforts of this brilliant Midwesterner?

America’s breadbasket was the birthplace of many of the early movers and shakers in comic fandom (or comics fandom, if you prefer), including Bill Thailing, Ronn Foss, Mike Vosburg, Grass Green, Don Glut, Larry Raybourne, Don & Maggie Thompson, Roy Thomas, and Biljo White. Of all those in the Midwest, probably the most active from 1960 to 1965 was Jerry G. Bails, Ph.D., a young college professor living in Detroit, Michigan.

For Indianapolis-based Ed Lahmann, getting a letter published in one of his favorite Schwartz-edited DC Comics was a thrill, but nothing compared to the excitement and exultation he felt when he received his first issue of Alter-Ego (then hyphenated), a magazine

A Trace Of The Past (Left:) In 1961’s Alter-Ego #1, Jerry Bails traced off an Irwin Hasen illo of The Wizard from All-Star Comics #34 (1947) to head his article on that malevolent mage; it was Jerry’s first art for his new fanzine, not counting his tracing/rearranging of Roy Thomas’ cover. In 1988, Al Dellinges traced Jerry’s spirit-duplicator-purple image in ink, and that’s what is reproduced here. [Wizard TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

(Above:) Bill Schelly (on left) and Jerry in 1997, at the Comic Fandom Reunion Luncheon, held at the same time as the Chicago Comics Convention. (Photographer uncertain… but we’ll send him a free copy of this issue if he gives us a holler.) At that time, Bill and Roy’s trade paperback Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine, reprinting the best of the first (1961-78) volume of A/E, was about to be published. A 10th-anniversary reissue of that out-of-print volume is planned for autumn of this year.

devoted exclusively to the appreciation of comic books… and mostly to super-hero ones, at that. The “fanzine” came unsolicited, because Jerry sent out “sample issues” of A-E to dozens of addressees that he found in DC letter columns in 1961. His mission was to round up as many comic book fans as possible.

In its earliest stages, Jerry Bails’ “outreach” was partly a way for him to canvas for people with old comic books for sale or trade. His early letters were sent in pursuit of data about those Golden Age classics: the publishers, the writers, the artists, the editors, and the comic book production shops. Thus, from its inception in March 1961, Alter-Ego (a title that reflected Jerry’s interest in psychology, besides echoing a common aspect of the comic book super-hero) carried articles about comics of the past, alongside requests for more data, as well as want lists of the fanzine’s editor(s).

Nobody’d Dare Rain On This Parade!

It’s well known that Alter-Ego—and thus Jerry’s involvement with other comics fans—grew out of his enthusiasm for the Justice League of America as a quasi-revival of the 1940s Justice Society of America. So it was a real turning point when Jerry received from DC, in the summer of 1960, a postcard sporting the above Mike Sekowsky/Bernard Sachs art…no doubt sent because of his letters to editor Julius Schwartz. From the Jerry Bails Archives, courtesy of Jean Bails. [©2007 DC Comics.]

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A Celebration Of Jerry G. Bails (1933-2006)

Oops!

Enthusiastically accepting Roy T.’s 1961 suggestion of “the Alleys” as the name for the fandom awards, because what hero could have historically pre-dated the comic strip caveman Alley Oop, Jerry later transferred fellow fan Biljo White’s drawing of Oop onto the ditto’d cover of 1964’s CAPAalpha #3. [Alley Oop TM & ©2007 NEA Syndicate.]

the Alley Awards, publish The Comic Reader, endorse a code of fair practice in the selling and trading of comic books, publish a directory of comics fans, assist in the effort to establish an annual comicon, and more. The Alley Awards for 1961 were announced in the pages of Alter-Ego #4, in 1962.

As evidence of the outreach Jerry conducted, we have the Who’s Who in Comic Fandom (1964), a publication prepared at Bails’ behest (with a lot of assistance by Larry Lattanzi) which listed the address of the approximately 1,600 fans in Jerry’s massive card file. By the following year, with the publication of the Guidebook to Comic Fandom (1965)—which offered a textual introduction to the hobby written by the ubiquitous Bails—it was clear that comic book fandom had become an ongoing, self-sustaining movement.

One good idea led to another. The format of Alter-Ego was great for articles and other features, but fandom needed a more frequentlypublished vehicle for sale, trade, and want ads, and it also needed a newssheet of some kind, to inform comic book readers of the latest industry news. Thus, The Comicollector and On the Drawing Board (later called The Comic Reader) were founded by Bails, breaking out of the pages of A-E. [NOTE: See the Comic Crypt section, beginning on p. 47, for a full reprinting of Comicollector #1!]

The next step was the drive for a national or regional comicon. Jerry Bails hosted one of the earliest gatherings of a substantial number of comics fans—nineteen—at his home in Detroit in the spring of 1964, ostensibly to tally and compile the results of the 1963 Alley Awards.

Other sizable gatherings took place in the basement of Don Glut’s house in Chicago. Then, in mid-1964, both Detroit and New York sponsored regional gatherings, with the one in New York generally regarded as the first “real” comicon. In truth, the first real comic book convention took place the following year in New York City, and Jerry was there to lead the first panel (featuring Gardner Fox, Otto Binder, Bill Finger, and Mort Weisinger), lead auctions, and meet many of his

Quite a few of the fans who came out of the woodwork wanted to publish their own amateur journals, and new fanzines popped up like mushrooms in late 1961 and especially 1962. Bails himself found himself more interested in collecting data on “who’s who in comic books,” so after about a year, he handed off the editorial reins of both Alter-Ego (which would henceforth be unhyphenated) and The Comicollector to amateur artist par excellence Ronald E. “Ronn” Foss.

But Jerry continued churning out issues of The Comic Reader for another year or so, before turning it over to Glen Johnson.

Of course, fanzines weren’t a new idea when Jerry Bails set out to publish one. He was in contact with elements of science-fiction fandom, and it was there that he saw sf fanzines and yet another form of fan publication that he adapted to comic fandom: the amateur press alliance. CAPA-alpha, the first comics “apa,” debuted in October 1964. Members sent in 50 copies of their individual “zines,” and Jerry as Central Mailer collated them and mailed a set out to each member.

The idea caught on immediately, giving a forum to many fans who otherwise didn’t contribute to the other fanzines—and many who did.

CAPA-alpha (abbreviated “k-a” because “Kappa” is a letter of the Greek alphabet) has proved so durable that it continues to the present day—despite the Internet—having passed 500 mailings not long ago.

One way of promoting comic books was to give recognition for excellence in the medium. Roy Thomas’ suggestion of an “Alter-Ego Award” in a letter to Jerry in October 1961 was enthusiastically received by Jerry, who was also intrigued by Roy’s idea that the nominating committee for the award might be call “the Academy.”

Jerry drafted a proposed Academy charter, which was subsequently endorsed by fandom at large in 1963. The Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors was an umbrella organization that would conduct

Maybe This Bunch Held A “Non-Costume Party”?

When the first true “full-service” comics convention was held in New York City in 1965, Jerry Bails—who’d been pushing for such an event for several years—was there. Artist Ronn Foss wasn’t, but he drew this fantasy back cover for CAPA-alpha #7. [Art ©2007 estate of Ronn Foss; characters TM & ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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OF FANS & FANDOM The JERRY BAILS Interview

by Sean Kleefeld

N

OTE: The following is a relatively rare thing—an actual interview with Jerry G. Bails conducted in the past few years. It appeared on the website The Pulse (www.comicon.com/pulse) and was conducted by Sean Kleefeld, at the suggestion of Jen Contino, via several e-mail sessions in late July and early August 2004. The text is ©2007 Sean Kleefeld. His introduction to the piece has been omitted here, as it consists mostly of a brief overview of early fandom such as is covered elsewhere in this issue. We’re profoundly appreciative of Sean for giving us his blessing to reprint the piece, as it represents one of the last interviews Jerry gave. Sean also remarked on the enthusiasm with which Jerry spoke, despite his ill health at the time. —Roy. KLEEFELD: Between Roy [Thomas] and Bill [Schelly], I think they have indeed covered much of what you did and how you fit in the history of fandom, but I’d like to take a look at why you fit in the history of fandom. When you first discovered the Justice Society, what was your reaction? Most of the characters hadn’t been around very long prior to All-Star #3; were you already familiar with the Flash, Green Lantern, et al.?

JERRY BAILS: Yes, I was familiar with all the cover features of DC’s monthlies. I was wearing a Superman sweatshirt in 1940 in a family photo. At that time, I was hooked on afternoon radio series. The first ones that I recall were Jimmie Allen (a young aviator) and Little Orphan Annie. As the war progressed, I could instantly identify just about every airplane widely used by Allied and Axis forces. Despite living in the city called the Heart of America (Kansas City, Missouri), I was keenly aware of every plane that flew overhead, and took pride in identifying them. During a practice blackout in 1943, I was quarantined for three weeks with polio, and my two brothers and older sister were staying with relatives. My mom and I took the blackout very seriously, and I covered even the small light coming from our old Admiral radio, which served as my entertainment center throughout my entire childhood. (Well, at least until I put together my own crystal set to receive radio programs in my bedroom.)

Annie offered the first radio premium I recall

What’s Past Is Prologue (Top left:) Jerry Bails was always intrigued by technology and the future— and used a bit of digital magic to enhance one of his own photos, a couple of years back. He titled the one at top left “Gramps.” He was equally interested in the past, of course, and reveled in the completion of the hardcover color reprinting of all 12 volumes of the All Star Comics Archives by DC. Above is the great retro illo by Peter Poplaski used as the cover of Vol. 5, repro’d from a scan of the original art, retrieved from the Heritage Comics Archives by the ever-watchful Dominic Bongo. [Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

ordering. It was a big map-like fold-out with magic tricks and cryptograms. This began my fascination with cyphers. My mother taught me how to break simple substitution codes, and I corresponded during the war with my older sister’s boyfriend, who was in the Signal Crop, asking him all sorts of questions. I came up with a scheme to destroy letter frequency in English messages (similar to that which I offered in Alter-Ego #1), only to discover that it had been invented before. But that only encouraged me.

Radio adventures and the adventurous Sunday funnies set me up for enjoying comic books. I own the entire year 1940-41 of Jack

You Don’t Know Jack!

Photos of the cast of the radio adventure series Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy are hard to come by… but at least the unidentified artist who drew the cover of issue #1 of his Parents’ Institute-published comic book (dated Nov. 1947) knew what he should look like! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Of Fans And Fandom

Armstrong, still my all-time favorite adventure show. It highlighted photoluminescence (green ring that glowed in the dark), a pedometer, an autogyro, walkie-talkies, and lots of good stuff about sailing vessels, the Philippines, and the South China Sea. It is unsurpassed: a brilliant show for kids, and I love it as an adult.

I also loved the technological innovations in the Dick Tracy syndicated strip. The first such innovation that I recall was a submarine-tank.

I wish I knew how early that strip appeared. I devoured every word.

All-Star Comics [soon became] as a bimonthly, and despite the intention that it remain on the stands for two months, it seldom lasted that long. The glut of monthlies coming in each week prompted many retailers to drop unsold copies after a week or so into a box for return credit. They just didn’t have enough room for all the titles coming out.

Because of the short shelf time, I missed the “Justice Society” until I spied All-Star #6, with Johnny Thunder’s initiation. All those heroes together in one story was really a new wonder to me. I held on to that issue for years, re-reading it (along with my brother) until the cover and the outer fold was gone, alone with the centerfold.

I finally passed that particular All-Star along to Roy Thomas in 1960, since by then I had acquired the two bound volumes from author Gardner Fox. These contained issues #1-24.

These volumes cost me the princely sum in 1959 of $75. I felt a little guilty spending that much, but I had been looking for those issues since 1945.

Until I was 12, it never dawned on me to buy two copies of anything. The Depression and World War II had taught thrift. Kids wore hand-me-down clothes, and the

Crime On His Hands It was August of 1945 when Jerry’s mother (shown above in this 1930s photo) brought him home a copy of the Lev Gleason comic Crime Does Not Pay while he was bedridden; so it might have been the Nov. 1945 issue (#42) with cover art probably by coeditor Charles Biro. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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Jerry Gets—Well, Not Quite A Hotfoot Jerry (seen with his father in 1942) always said that the first issue of AllStar Comics he ever saw was #6 (1941). So, for the heading of this month’s “re:” section, Australian artist Shane Foley drew a pic with JGB replacing Johnny Thunder in that issue’s cover situation, being watched over by our “maskots” Alter Ego (left) and Captain Ego. Only thing is—there’s no LP this ish, so we figured we’d print Shane’s clever illo here! [All-Star art ©2007 DC Comics; “re:” art ©2007 Shane Foley; Alter Ego TM & ©2007 Roy & Dann Thomas; Captain Ego TM & ©2007 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.]

knees in our corduroys were frequently patched. It was no shame.

Everyone in working-class America did it.

As I have related elsewhere, my initial effort to preserve my favorite adventures was to cut and paste them into scrapbooks. I still have a couple of my favorite shots enlarged as color photostats adorning my office wall. Only about 1945 did I realize the desire to preserve the issues intact, and I began a hunt for back issues. There were no backissues comics stores, to my knowledge.

In those days, the regular paper drives had pretty well sucked up all the scrap paper. Schoolyards were piled high with newspapers and magazines for the war drive. By 1945, a lot depended upon finding people who hoarded old magazines and comics, or saved them to trade.

Comics were traded freely all during the 1940s. In that way, I got to read just about all the comics that interested me and then some.

SK: One of the classic fan stories I’ve heard repeatedly was that a child, bed-ridden with some ailment, found much of their solace in comic books.

You mention radio as a significant pastime, but I’m curious if you became more engrossed in your comics during that period, as well.

BAILS: I was already hooked on comics, but I took every advantage of the attention my mother gave me to get two of my favorite things: chocolate revel ice cream every afternoon when the ice cream truck came by (it was late August), and comics in the evening when my Mom would go to the drug store. Of course, I asked her to get any AllStar she could find. No issue came out during that interminable 3-week

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The Future of Fandom — UNLIMITED!

by Dr. Jerry G. Bails, Ph.D. Originator of the comic hero fanzine, former editor of Alter Ego, Publishing Editor of The Comic Reader…

[NOTE: The following piece, including subtitle, appeared in A/E [“Vol. 1”] #5, cover-dated “Winter 1962-63,” the first of the two issues edited and published by Ronn Foss, after inheriting the fanzine from Jerry. The article amply demonstrates Jerry’s prescience in pointing out directions comics fandom might take, only two years after it had been launched with the appearance of Alter-Ego, Comic Art, and a burgeoning number of zines. By the way, it was probably Ronn’s idea, not Jerry’s, to add that “Ph.D.” after his byline. —Roy.]

W

hen Alter Ego first appeared, a skeptical reviewer in one of those “established” science-fiction fanzines offered his opinion that a fanzine devoted to costumed heroes would soon run out of material, fans would lose interest, and the zine would die an early death. Well, that was two years ago. Today, Alter Ego is probably the most widely circulated fanzine on six continents, and its distribution is still growing. And as for material, we have only just scratched the surface of the great wealth of material on costumed heroes. Just let me suggest to you some of the many possible topics for articles. Hopefully, maybe I can persuade you to research one of these topics and come up with an article. In this matter, I would be more than happy to help in any way I can to locate material or assist in preparing an article for publication.

Of course, there is the article dealing with the history of a strip, comic magazine, publishing group, or an individual pro. However, there are many unique ways to approach these subjects. For example, an article could compare similar strips. Roy Thomas once suggested “The Cult of Mercury” as the title for a study of The Flash and all his imitators. Then, an article could easily be written which focuses on a villain or villains of a popular strip. (I’ve promised myself that one day soon I’ll write the second part of my Green Lantern article, which would tell the story of the original GL’s greatest enemies as seen through the eyes of his sidekick, Doiby Dickles—and by golly I will.)

A third theme for an article might be a study of the problems of identifying and distinguishing pencil artists and inkers. I intend to use these pages myself to comment on my 18-year study of art styles, and I’d enjoy hearing from other fen on the subject. [CURRENT A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: “Fen” was a word used in comics fandom at that time as the plural of “fan.” Comics fandom had appropriated it from the older science-fiction fandom.]

But let’s not forget that the comic book is not the only medium in which the costumed hero has appeared. Remember the great radio serials of the ’40s? There were Superman, Captain Midnight, The Shadow, Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, and a variety of noncostumed adventure heroes deserving of attention. I remember in particular exciting adventures of Jack Armstrong, Hop Harrigan (from the pages of All-American Comics), Terry and the Pirates, Tom Mix, and Buck Rogers. Surely, somewhere the original scripts for these famous radio shows exist.

The Way Of All-Flash (Top left:) Dr. Jerry G. Bails circa 1961—perhaps an official photo taken at Wayne State University, where he then taught—and the only image that accompanied his article when it appeared in Ronn Foss’ premier issue of Alter Ego. Fortunately, we can do a bit better this time around. Thanks to Bill Schelly for the touch-up.

(Above:) Jerry speaks, at left, of Roy Thomas’ idea for a fanzine article on “The Flash and all his imitators.” Boy, they’d both have been happy to have this copy of the original art for a splash page from the climactic chapter of the full-length story in All-Flash Quarterly #4 (Spring 1942)—but it was probably sent by artist E.E. Hibbard during an exchange of letters Jerry had with Hibbard in the mid-1970s. From the Jerry Bails Archives, courtesy of Jean Bails. [©2007 DC Comics.]

Perhaps someone even has access to transcriptions or tape recordings of the more exciting episodes. I’m sure many older fans remember when Batman and Robin guest-starred on the Superman radio show. They may even recall the famous mystery thriller, “The [Continued on p. 22]

22

By Dr. Jerry G. Bails, Ph.D.

Perhaps the radio chapter-plays were written on the wind and survive only in our memories, but this is not so with the great adventure strips of the newspapers. Maybe you are one of those many dozens of fans who have a collection of the famous strips: Tarzan, The Phantom, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Mandrake the Magician, Superman, Batman, or The Lone Ranger. If so, then why not share your enjoyment of these renowned strips with the many hundreds of fans, new and old, who read Alter Ego? Just a few of the things I’d like to know are: (1) What great artists and writers handled these strips over the years? (2) What newspapers carried them? (3) When and how were interesting supporting characters introduced into the strips? Can you answer these questions? If so, how about preparing an article?

Super-Heroes Should Be Heard And Not Seen (Left:) Bud Collyer (on right) starred on radio’s The Adventures of Superman in the 1940s and also hosted several quiz shows; he’s seen here with fellow quizmaster Bill Slater. Maybe that lifted leg indicates that Bud’s saying, “Up, up, and awaaaay”?

(Right:) Unlike Collyer, the lead actors on The Shadow occasionally posed in full costume for publicity photos. Old-time radio historian Jim Harmon, who featured these pics in his 2001 book The Great Radio Heroes, calls Bret Morrison, above, “the best-remembered radio actor in the role.” Orson Welles also played The Shadow, of course, but not for nearly as long a time.

[Continued from p. 19] Snow Man of Lake Placid,” on the Jack Armstrong program; but how many remember the story revealing that Britt Reid (alias The Green Hornet) was the son of Dan Reid, the nephew and frequent companion of The Lone Ranger? I for one would love to relive the exciting moments of these “breakfast-food operas” in the pages of Alter Ego. So, if you are one of those lucky people that have access to records of these great adventures of the airwaves, take pen in hand and give us a feature article.

Of course, comic books, radio, and newspapers were only a few of the many media in which the costumed hero appeared.

Fortunately, Ron Haydock has recalled for us many of the exciting moments of the movie serials, and Ed Lahmann has already led the way (in A/E #4) by recalling for us the dangerpacked adventures of Maximo, a Big Little Books hero; but there are other heroes of the movies and the BLBs that have not been covered. If you collect movie press books or BLBs, why don’t you try your hand at a feature article? Believe me, it is one of the best ways to gain even more enjoyment from your collection.

Well, by now you’ve got the idea, and are probably way ahead of me. You may be thinking of the great heroes of the pulp magazines like Doc Savage and The Shadow, or perhaps you’re remembering the novels which featured Superman, Captain Marvel, or some other hero.

All of these would be fine subjects for an article, but there are many other ideas I haven’t even touched upon.

Right now, I’m recalling with pleasure the visit of Ronnie Graham to my humble abode. He brought along his fabulous collection of original art. I encouraged him then and I encourage him now to tell us all how he acquired these precious drawings by such famous artists as Lee

All For A Dime—But Not In Color (Above:) Ron Haydock had written about the Batman movie serial in Alter-Ego #4, Jerry’s last issue; but there were still plenty of comic book heroes transferred to celluloid to be covered—not to mention The Black Commando, the pseudo-comic hero played by Paul Kelly in Columbia’s The Secret Code (1942). There was even a bookshop in that serial called—The Green Lantern! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

(Right:) Maximo, the Amazing Superman was a Big Little Book original, covered in detail by fan Ed Lahmann in A/E #4—with story by R.R. Winterbotham and art by Henry E. Vallely (here copied by Lahmann). [Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

What’s Up? Doc! Jerry was doubtless glad to see, last year, that Anthony Tollin had begun a regular series of reprints of Doc Savage and The Shadow pulp magazines, two stories to an issue, and utilizing the art of the original covers. Art by Walter Baumhofer. See ad on p. 46. [©2007 Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

25

Memoirs Of Jean Bails Life With Jerry Bails And Comics Fandom

J

ean Bails, who for four decades was Jerry’s wife and best friend, graciously agreed to write a few memories of her years with Jerry for Alter Ego, as well as for one or two JGB-related websites. The following is the portion of those episodic memoirs that were completed by A/E’s presstime. We feel they provide an invaluable insight into the private life of this most amazing man—and his spouse is pretty remarkable, too. —Roy.

How I Met Jerry And Learned That He Was “Into Comics” It must have been early in 1966, soon after his mother’s death in February. Jerry and a few other faculty members finally accepted the persistent invitations of the minister of the First Unitarian Church to come to luncheons with the students. It was near campus, and I was president of the Student Religious Liberals at the time. Though I was unaware of it and to this day cannot understand why, Jerry was quite “smitten with me” (in his words).

Soon after, he began to come to some of the evening programs, sometimes with his wife Sondra.

After that we went to Hell. I had planned a retreat with Unitarian college groups from several other states in Hell, Michigan, that was both recreational and educational. Jerry was one of the faculty volunteers doing a workshop there. When not doing the workshop, he was following me around, and I was quite busy as organizer of this production. He found a moment to talk to me alone and said his marriage had been over for quite some time and that he and Sondra had been separated for more than a year. He said that, with the death of his mother, he was finally released from all pretense of the marriage and a divorce would begin.

There were two young children involved whom he would allow to go with Sondra, with provision of visiting rights. I said, “That’s nice—I guess,” but still had no idea what he was up to or why he was telling me this. He was at the time either an assistant or an associate professor at Monteith College, Wayne State University, in Detroit. I was a student at Monteith but had not yet taken any of the Natural Science series and so I was unfamiliar with him there. Later, I had him for occasional lectures, but not for classes associated with the lectures. So he was not giving me grades.

Jerry was 12 years older than I and in personality quite different. He was very focused generally. whereas I was and still am a postmodern gal—the unusual being usual to me, and highly adaptable to any changes, no matter how bizarre. If I had not been like that, I doubt our relationship would have worked. Fandom was always there in our lives in its many aspects, and at times it was joyous, occasionally frustrating, but mostly interesting for me. I was not nearly as involved in it as Jerry, and I think that was probably also a good thing in making our relationship work. Monetarily, fandom and collecting comics were pretty much self-sustaining so not a problem in that way.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Jerry enjoyed comic book Christmas covers, such as this one by E.E. Hibbard, as adapted later from Comic Cavalcade #19 (Feb.-March 1947)—but there’s nothing like the real thing, as per this photo of Jerry and Jean, Christmas of 1967. All photos accompanying this memoir are courtesy of Jean Bails.

[Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

Early Memories Of The Mail-Order Business A few months before we were married, Jerry already had a mail-order comics business and had moved it to an apartment near the university. He had rented another apartment in the same building to live in. The apartment building was in what you would call the slums today and has long since been torn down for an athletic field complex. But in the ’60s slum was sheik, and I think each furnished apartment was something like $35/mo. I don’t know why two apartments were needed since there were only several shelves full of comics for sale—plus mailing supplies. Perhaps he wanted to keep it all separate from other parts of his life? So anyway, about 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. most days, I would help with packaging up the orders to be sent out and updating the current catalog with items sold.

Probably most of the Golden Age comics had been sold off by then, because it seemed like many of the orders were for less than $10. Back then, so I heard, it was still possible to get comic “collections” at a fairly good price—but probably 90% was in such bad condition that it had to be thrown out. I thought doing the orders was fun, and often Jerry told interesting stories about a comics title and the artists and production people who worked on it. I was getting a little free pop culture education in exchange for free labor with a benefit package.

Grin. Anyone remember getting comics sent from Brooklyn Street in Detroit, pre-Zip Code 02? I usually included a personal note of thanks for the order.

Pause For Historical Note Even before the second apartment on Brooklyn was rented for the comics, on my 21st birthday Jerry gave me a necklace of a chain with a little heart (it is a wonder it did not have an All-Star character instead)

26

Life With Jerry Bails And Comics Fandom

Marveling At Marvel

back to Detroit, the riot was winding down, but we wanted a closer look and stayed the night with friends near the Wayne “campus.” What we saw before the curfew—lock-in time—was not so much the rioting and burning but the tanks in the street and military-outfitted men with big guns.

That site, much more than the riot, struck a kind of terror in us that gave a small appreciation of the horror people must face during a foreign occupation of their home/community/country. It is a feeling of fear and outrage that cannot be forgotten. Back again on Morang Rd., Jerry’s children Brenda and Steve had come for an end of summer visit—one that would last for about 7 years, actually. We had to start legal custody proceedings, find a school and an affordable house near the school pronto. The kids were in grade school, and children were not allowed at the apartment building. Ugh!

Jerry doing research, 1969—and maybe enjoying himself just a little bit, too! Notice that he’s looking at a vintage copy of Marvel Mystery Comics. Who says Jerry only liked DC?

and asked me to marry him.

I said, “Sure.”

He was appalled that, given the engagement, I would continue with my plans to do humanitarian volunteering in Mexico (Patzquaro, Michocan). Mostly I was teaching adult literacy in Spanish there; and at the end of the service, I joined Jerry in Mexico City, where we did a little touring by train and then flew home. During the summer while I was away, Jerry had moved his meager possessions and what was left of the comics and fan projects to the outlying area of Detroit on Morang Road. I don’t remember the address, which may have been Morang or may have been Lakeview (it was on the corner of both), but I do remember the letter/number code for the phone number: JBSOB11.

Grin.

This was a year before the ’67 Detroit Riot, but things were heating up already in Detroit from a variety of factors. We thought it would be safer in the new apartment, but on the very first night there, the battery was stolen out of Jerry’s Corvair. Sigh. When the riot did hit, we were in Columbia, Missouri, for a two-month workshop on the tab of the University. And of course we visited Billy Jo White nearby and hit a convention in either Kansas City or St. Louis (or both). When we got

Jerry Reveals His Involvement In Comics Fandom—Well, Sort-Of… Soon after Jerry asked me to marry him—maybe later that day or the next—he was driving the car on a busy street. He suddenly became silent and then pulled over to the side of the road. He looked very nervous and his face had gone pale. He said, “There is something you should know about me before you make a final decision to marry me.”

I waited to hear what this horrible thing must be, but he wasn’t saying anything. The suspense was killing me and I began to imagine a host of horrible things, like the possibility he was a serial chain-saw murderer wanted in 50 states. Finally I asked or more like demanded of him, “OK, what?” He said that he was involved in and was a fan of comics.

I laughed in relief and said, “Is that it? So you read comics and collect them? That sounds delightful!” He said, “Well, actually, I don’t collect a lot of comics, and I only read certain ones, but it is deeper than just that.” I asked him, “How deep?” He said, “Very deep—really very deep.” I had no idea at all what he was talking about or why he was so serious about this. There was not any more explanation coming, either.

So I just said that it did not bother me or change my opinion of him that he was “deeply involved in comics” and he smiled and drove on.

Zing Went The Strings In 1969 Jean and Jerry tried their hands at archery, and Jean in particular looks like she’s taking it seriously—but probably neither of them would’ve given Green Arrow, Speedy, or Miss Arrowette cause for concern in World’s Finest Comics #113 (Nov. 1960), as reprinted in Showcase Presents The Green Arrow.

Script by Dave Wood; art by Lee Elias, who’d been a favorite “Flash” artist of Jerry’s in All-Star Comics. [G.A. page ©2007 DC Comics.]

30

Tributes To JERRY G. BAILS B

A Handful Of Homages To A Man Who Deserves Them All—And More

ecause of limited space, Alter Ego did not widely solicit tributes to Jerry for this issue. Crom knows, we could certainly have filled an entire issue with instances of fans and pros who were influenced by and/or benefited from his many comics-related projects over the years… to say nothing of his more academic or personal accomplishments. But we did want to present this less-than-random sampling of comments by his friends, admirers, and adherents… some of whom responded to our request for photographs of themselves. We begin with that of one who represents the twin worlds of fandom and pro-dom….

Tony Isabella Writer and editor for Marvel in the 1970s, creator of Black Lightning, and contributing editor of Comics Buyer’s Guide. He can be found online at www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony. The following is reprinted with permission, with slight editing, from Tony’s Online Tips for Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006.

Jerry Bails.

June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006.

I was writing yesterday’s column when I received the sad news that Jerry Bails had suffered a heart attack in his sleep and died. That was last Thursday, Thanksgiving, and it was probably good that all I was doing was editing alreadywritten reviews for the column.

postal mail, or online, if it weren’t for Jerry. He was at the forefront of just about every important event in the early days of comics fandom.

It’s not an exaggeration to call him the father of comics fandom and, by extension, to proclaim that he also had a profound effect on the comics industry.

I consider all the activities, magazines, and ventures Jerry started or of which he was a participant. Was not Alter-Ego something of a stepping-stone for the long career of editor and writer Roy Thomas, who, in turn, brought so many others into the field? Didn’t Jerry’s On the Drawing Board beget The Comic Reader, which was something of a stepping-stone for a young Paul Levitz, also a fine editor and writer, and currently President and Publisher of DC Comics?

How about CAPA-alpha, the first comics apa, which has been running for four decades and which currently reached its 500th issue?

The ever-changing roster of that organization includes most of our finest comics historians and literally dozens of comics pros, myself included. He was involved in the earliest comics adzines [founding The Comicollector in 1961], leading to Alan Light’s The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom, a publication now better known as Comics Buyer’s Guide… and who do we know who writes for that?

There’s the Alley Awards, the first recognition of excellence in the American comic book field. There’s The Who’s Who of American Comic Books, the first of Jerry’s unending efforts to identify the men and women who made the comics, to give credit in an industry where credit was so often denied and so greatly due. I bought the first (of four) volumes in 1973, and ever since, it has been within close range of, originally, my typewriter, and, today, my keyboard. Few weeks go by without my using it, even though Jerry eventually put

I don’t think I could have finished an all-new column.

Later that evening and into the wee small hours of the morning, I was getting ready for Mid-Ohio-Con, and it suddenly hit me that I wouldn’t be going there if it weren’t for Jerry Bails. I wouldn’t be communicating with fans in person, or via

Fate Is The Hunter Jerry Bails (left) and Tony Isabella (right) were both at the 1997 Fandom Reunion Luncheon held in Chicago—just not in the same photo, that’s all!

They’re looking admiringly at a Dr. Fate commission drawing by Jerry Ordway, who was likewise present (and provided this art). [Dr. Fate TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

Tributes To Jerry G. Bails

31

the data—updated, of course—online.

Jerry was changing my life even before I met him in person. I don’t think I would ever have considered a career in comics without having been part of comics fandom as a teenager. When I did meet him, he was every bit as generous, kind, and just plain smart as I could have hoped.

The first time I met Jerry was at a Detroit Triple Fan Fair. He had a dealer’s table. I bought an issue of Fantastic, a weekly comic from England, and also an issue of Gift Comics. Fantastic was a forerunner of The Mighty World of Marvel, a reprint done for a British audience, while Gift Comics was a giant comic from Fawcett in the 1940s. Jerry and I chatted about these alternate formats for a spell. He encouraged my fascination with and interest in them. I thought the weekly had possibilities for American publishers and was even more ebullient about that big fat issue of Gift Comics. Ironically, I would end up working on Marvel’s weeklies less than a year later, and, in recent years, would see a great many of my 1970s Marvel stories reprinted in Marvel Essentials volumes even thicker than that issue of Gift Comics.

My correspondence with Jerry was always sporadic, but he was always ready to answer my questions and share his vast knowledge of comics and comics creators.

In the past year or so, it has been my great joy to be a member of some of the same online groups as Jerry and to exchange e-mails. In those groups, I learned he was as brilliant and generous and progressive and thoughtful about the issues of the world outside comics as he was about the issues of comic books he loved. I was learning from him right to the end of his life, and I suspect I’ll continue to learn from him to the end of mine.

Jerry Bails.

The father of comics fandom.

June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006.

God bless you, Jerry… and thank you.

Dave Gibbons Artist of The Watchmen, et al.—and “supporting member” of 1960s comics fandom.

Can it really be so long ago? But here I am, in Jerry Bails’ Who’s Who in Comics Fandom for 1963, listed at my parents’ house, a supporting member, no less. On the same page, I recognize Don Glut, Steve Gerber and Paul Gambaccini, whom I was to meet in England and befriend some 25 years later, and several others whose names hover still on the borders of recognition.

And behind it all, Doctor Jerry G. Bails, a name almost as potent to me in those days as that of Doctor Fate or Hawkman, the custodian of the memories of an earlier age of wonder and promoter of the next era of comic books. Amazingly, he was not a kid or some kind of backward adult—he was a Professor, a man of undoubted learning and presumed sophistication, who loved comics as another might fine wines or the paintings of the Great Masters. I pictured him in an Ivy League library, puffing on a fragrant pipe and nodding sagely, a cultured eyebrow arched in appreciation, as he leafed through a yellowing leatherbound volume of All-Star Comics.

His mere presence in the hobby helped me believe that comics were an art form the equal of any other. Just as importantly, in a time when we comics fans were thinly and distantly spread across the globe, he made me feel part of an invisible nation, a hidden society of fellow souls. There was a generosity of spirit in early comics fandom that he

Twice As Terrific Dave Gibbons—and his Mr. Terrific art for the cover of JSA #70.

Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Dave.

[JSA page ©2007 DC Comics.]

took a leading part in establishing and that he exemplified, a selfless sharing of information, images, and even comic books themselves.

Jerry published, at cost, sets of photographs of Golden Age comics covers, tantalizing glimpses of past glories, even more exciting than the comics then being published by DC or Marvel. It was through them that I first encountered Simon and Kirby’s DC work, for example. It hit me on such a primal level that I find it almost impossible to describe the effect that, say, the cover of Adventure Comics #73 has on me. It’s an icon of almost spiritual significance, an inspiration beyond value.

And Jerry let me have it at cost price, at the age where such things lodge in the psyche for life.

To stand in the heaving belly of the comics industry today, the huge Leviathan that the San Diego Comic-Con has become, is to witness the nation that Jerry played such a pivotal role in creating. To see the excited lines waiting to see Superman or Batman or The X-Men at the local multiplex is to know that the country he helped to found is recognized and befriended by the world.

An academic to the last, Jerry took a leading part in establishing and maintaining the natural successor to his Who’s Who in Comics Fandom, in the form of a grand database of comics writers and artists.

The cultural historians of future ages, the Professors of Comicology in some far-flung cyberuniversity, will, in turn, owe him their own debt of gratitude. And the writers and artists, many uncredited and forgotten, that he took such great trouble to track down and give due mention will live on through it. As will he.

Back on a personal level, I feel that in no small part I owe my career to his efforts, and many of my longest friendships to the networks he fostered. I couldn’t be more grateful or more blessed.

Thank you, Jerry.

48

Mr. Monster’s Comics Crypt!

Alter-Ego’s Baby Brother!

by Michael T. Gilbert Jerry Bails’ importance as the “Father of Fandom” cannot be overstated. His accomplishments are simply too numerous to list in this brief space (and, luckily for us, have been covered earlier in this issue by others). For better or worse, Jerry sowed the seeds for much of what later grew into modern comic fandom. Take, for example, the first issue of The Comicollector, reprinted in its entirety over the course of the eight pages of this edition of Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

The Comicollector began in September 1961 as a spin-off of the original Alter-Ego magazine, which Jerry had started six months earlier.

Its “baby brother,” if you will.

Art by Sekowsky &^ Sachs. [©2007 DC Comics.]

A Nose For News In this era of media overkill, from Wizard magazine to endless comic book websites, it’s hard to imagine how hard it was to find information about comics in fandom’s early days.

Jerry helped fill that void by cultivating friendships with Gardner Fox, Julie Schwartz, and other pros, then collecting news about their comics.

Though primarily conceived as an adzine, The Comicollector also ran other features, such as Jerry’s “On the Drawing Board,” which first appeared in Alter-Ego #1. This column offered a peek at upcoming comic books—something that thrilled news-starved fans of the day. On The Drawing Board went solo in October 1961, mostly in the form of single-page news bulletins.

Six months later, it morphed into The Comic Reader, a full-fledged “newszine,” and under new editors became the industry’s foremost news magazine throughout the ’60s and ’70s.

56

“We Were A Wonderful Match!”

An Interview With HAMES WARE—Jerry Bails’ Co-Editor Of The 1970s Who’s Who Of American Comic Books Conducted by Jim Amash

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

H

ames Ware is better known to comics historians than he realizes. Among his many other accomplishments, Hames was the co-editor (with publisher Jerry Bails, of course) of the original fourvolume Who’s Who of American Comic Books. This seminal work has provided comics historians the necessary foundation for much of the work that has followed its original publication. Hames has never been one to toot his own horn; but now, finally, he goes on record to describe the origins of the Who’s Who project. Even though this issue focuses on Jerry Bails, Hames was long overdue for an interview, so we decided to make him talk about himself, too, whether he wanted to or not! It’s a revealing look into his working relationship with Jerry and beyond, so I’ll shut up and let you get to the good stuff. I got him started by asking him about his early interest in comics, and how that led to his involvement with Jerry on the 1970s Who’s Who. —Jim.

Who’s Who’s On First!

Jerry Bails (left) and Hames Ware in the summer of ’71, hard at work on the original four-volume edition of The Who’s Who of American Comic Books… flanked by the cover of Airboy Comics, Vol. 9, #10 (Nov. 1952), featuring the work of an artist they nearly missed—Ernie Schroeder, who drew both “Airboy” and “The Heap” during those features’ later years, as well as many other comics stories.

Hames even recalls once finding an issue of Airboy lying on a hedge outside a hospital window. Now that’s fate! Photo courtesy of HW, taken by Jean Bails. [Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

HAMES WARE: When I was six years old, my uncle gave me a subscription to Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. I was excited each month when it appeared in the mailbox, because the work inside was so great. It made me want to read more comics.

I got a lot of Dell Comics because they were family comics. That’s pretty much what my family bought when they let us have comic books. My granddad was a doctor. He had a farm, about 350 acres, with a lake on it. I spent most of my summers there. At night, I sat by the fire and read comic books. Comics mostly came into play when it was winter, and I had to stay indoors or if I was sick, so they provided an outlet.

A lot of friends’ moms periodically threw out their kids’ comics, which was traditional for the time. Every time I heard that a friend was going to have his comics thrown out, I would collect their comics before they were thrown away. I kind-of got the reputation that, if you had a bunch of old comics to throw away, just give Hames a call—he’ll come and get them. So I began this collection of assorted comic books, though I never did have any ECs or other horror comics. Those just weren’t allowed in my household, but I had a wealthy friend who was allowed to have everything he wanted. And part of what he had were EC Comics, which I read at his house.

They were scary and I really didn’t have any desire to buy them, but I was fascinated by them. When my sister was born, somebody threw a comic book out the old hospital window, and it landed in a hedge. I

remember taking it off the hedge and looking at it. It was [Airboy Comics with] “The Heap,” drawn by Ernie Schroeder. Of course at the time, nobody knew who Ernie Schroeder was!

My granddad gave me a lot of old unused ledgers which I used to catalogue my comics. I began to teach myself how to draw by looking at the comics, and fortunately in the 4th and 5th grades I had the good fortune to sit beside classmate Mercer Mayer, who as you know is one of the great modern-day children’s book illustrators. Mercer was great even then, and I learned a lot just by watching him draw. Just last year a number of my drawings were collected together and some sold at a local gallery, and I thought that was neat.

I had favorite artists. I began to learn their styles and how to associate names with the styles. I just had a knack for identifying styles of the artists, and I’d write their names down. And if their names weren’t there, I’d look for “sneaks.” I began to hone my abilities to look for hidden signatures or initials on license plates, stuff like that. It became a game. I built up a number of ledgers with this information: publisher by publisher, what artist worked for what publisher, what years they worked, etc. Then I discovered girls and my interest in comics waned. Incidentally, just as classmate Mercer Mayer went on to fame and fortune, Rhonda, the great early love of my life, went on to be a Miss Arkansas, and starred on Broadway in The Robber Bridegroom. We’re still very close, and I’m proud of that and of her.

She wrote a hit song for Jimmy Buffet, and worked with most of the Saturday Night Live gang on various projects... she sang at John Belushi’s funeral.

“We Were A Wonderful Match!”

57

thought that was a great idea, and he’d been thinking along the same lines, I’m sure. That’s how the Who’s Who really got started. Of course, I had a lot of comics from a lot of companies. My favorite companies were Quality, Fiction House, Dell, and the lesser companies.

I liked Magazine Enterprises, and Orbit, and especially Fawcett.

Sometime before I corresponded with Jerry, I wrote Wendell Crowley. Wendell Crowley had been editor for most of the Fawcett comic line. Like Rafael Astarita, he hand-wrote voluminous letters, and was very impressed with the information that I had gathered from the Fawcett comics that I had. By that time, he was in the lumber business, and periodically came through Arkansas to buy lumber or buy timberland. And so one day, the editor of my favorite company actually came to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I thought this was wonderful. I was still a teenager, I guess, and he came over to the house and sat down at a table that spread out all my Fawcett comics on.

He was a giant of a man—the nicest guy in the world—with a big booming voice. “Okay, Hames, what do you want to know?” This was a kid’s dream come true. I had the editor of Fawcett Comics sitting in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, saying, “Yeah, this is Carl Pfeufer and his inker John Jordan. This is Harry Fiske. And Bill Brady drew this funnyanimal comic book, and he only had vision in one eye, so some of the stuff you see is kind-of lopsided.” Wendell had personal memories of all these people, and he made me aware of the Binder Shop.

Holmes, Sweet Holmes It wouldn’t have taken Sherlock Holmes to figure out that, if Jerry Bails were going to index one artist’s work first, it was likely to be that of Joe Kubert. Joe himself had drawn an aged (and unnamed) Holmes in the “Hawkman” story for Flash Comics #69 (Nov. 1947). Thanks to Al Dellinges. [©2007 DC Comics.]

I didn’t go back to the comics for several years, and even then, when I went back, it wasn’t the same, but I had kept everything. That was about the time that I decided that I needed to fill in some of the gaps on some of these people I didn’t know.

My grandfather—I’m named after him; his last name was Hames, Scottish for “home”—gave our family a tape recorder. So I used to do these cartoon voices, and I’d get the neighborhood kids in when I’d perform. We made our own old-time radio-type shows. We did a mock soap opera, a Western, and a super-hero series, making up our own characters. So my imagination was really, really fostered well.

My granddad had practiced medicine in New York at one time, and around 1959 he got me a Manhattan telephone directory. I went through and circled any name that I thought belonged to a comic book artist. I remember circling “Rafael Astarita,” because it was such an unusual name.

In the midst of this, I discovered others who also collected comics, like Michael Barrier. His interests were animated cartoons and Dell Comics. There were a number of such people out there all along, but living in Arkansas, I wasn’t aware of them. Mike was the first person I knew from Arkansas who also collected comics. Then, Jerry DeFuccio suggested, “You should write to Jerry Bails, because he’s a fellow who’s trying to collect information, and is a comics historian.”

I told Jerry Bails something like, “I have all these ledgers where I put all this data. I have all these names of comic book artists, and I can recognize their styles pretty much. I can document the years that they worked in these comics.” I suggested that this information be collated in some fashion. He was very excited about that, and wrote back, “I think this is a great idea. Let’s spend our first year on Joe Kubert.” I wrote back, “I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. I’m saying every contributor, every artist who contributed to comic books: a Who’s Who of all of them. [chuckles] If we take one artist per year, we’re not going to be on Earth long enough to finish.” Jerry really

Wendell Crowley said, “Trying to identify the Binder Shop is difficult because the Binder Shop was more like an automobile assembly plant. It’d be like going back and trying to figure out who put the fender on a particular 1948 Studebaker, or who did the paint job.” Wendell told me as many people as he could remember from the shop. Later on, Jerry Bails pulled off a real coup because he knew Otto Binder, and through Otto he got in contact with Jack Binder, who supplied Jerry and the Who’s Who with an entire list of the Binder Shop employees.

We could have chosen anybody to dedicate the Who’s Who to. But because Wendell Crowley had been so instrumental, I felt—and Jerry agreed—that he deserved it the most. The Who’s Who was built on several different pillars of information. There was the input from those wonderful people themselves: Astarita, Wendell Crowley, Gill Fox, Lou Cameron, etc. Each artist who responded was an immense help.

I loved the cartoons and the people who voiced them. God blessed me with two abilities: not only could I identify comic book artists; I could also identify the people who did voiceovers for cartoons. I wound up later in life writing columns dealing with both subjects, as well as contributing to several books on the subjects. Being able to change my voice got me my first job, as a teenager, working for the local radio station, and when I went off to college, I continued to commute home on the weekends to work at the radio station, and to see my girlfriend, who was still in high school. The radio job, along with playing in a band, helped me pay for college; and fortunately I managed to get an assistantship at the University and obtain my Master’s degree there.

Another opportunity that arose was I got to visit the West Coast offices of Dell. Del Connell was there, and I got to meet a wonderful little fellow named Nat Edson, who drew a lot of their comic books.

He had a disability, though I don’t know exactly what it was. He said, “I can’t travel. I’ve never been to Arkansas, but would you send me a map of the state? I collect maps.” When I got back home, I sent him a map of Arkansas. He wrote me a really nice letter. He was a big help, filling in creator names for Dell Comics, who graciously let me go through all their comics, which was wonderful. They had copies of everything, all the way back to Crackajack Funnies, and some of their earlier titles.

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Star Wars: The Comic Book That Saved Marvel!

Think We're Kidding? Read On!

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: After the cover theme of this issue—the life and achievements of Jerry G. Bails—had been chosen, I learned, as I should have expected, that the 30th anniversary of the world premiere of George Lucas’ blockbuster film Star Wars in May 1977 was going to be the occasion of a certain amount of ballyhoo, just as several previous anniversaries had. It had long been my intention, one day in Alter Ego, to try to pen a more or less definitive account of my involvement with Marvel’s Star Wars comic book, from early 1976 through late 1977. So I decided that our May 2007 issue would be the occasion for that recounting—even though the first issue of the comic was released in March 1977. Previous, shorter accounts from my hand had appeared in Starlog magazine #120 (July 1987—the tenth anniversary) and Comics Buyer’s Guide for April 16, 1993 (the 26th anniversary??). Thanks to both for their blessings to incorporate some of those pieces in what follows.

I also invited each of the artists who worked with me on the first ten issues of Star Wars to participate, and we received sidebar-style responses of various lengths and kinds from Howard Chaykin, Steve Leialoha, Rick Hoberg, Bill Wray, Dave Stevens, and Alan Kupperberg—and even colorist Carl Gafford. In addition, I e-mailed my old friend Ed Summer, who was instrumental in the Star Wars comic existing in the first place; he hoped to write something for this issue, but we hadn’t received anything by deadline; we plan to run his commentary at a future date. Perhaps we’ll have some remarks at that time, as well, by a fellow named Charlie Lippincott, whose name, if it’s unfamiliar, will become known to you in what follows.

Everybody’s A Critic!

(Above:) Howard Chaykin’s right-on-the-money cover for Star Wars #1 (cover-dated July 1977, but actually on sale in March, by contractual fiat). All art in this issue of A/E from Star Wars #1-6 is repro’d from the black-&white reprint paperback The Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Star Wars, published later that year by Ballantine Books. We didn’t include any scenes from the movie itself, suspecting you might’ve already seen it. [©2007 Lucasfilm, Ltd.] But no, Roy Thomas isn’t really giving “thumbs down” to Star Wars—either the movie or the comic—in the grainy photo. It was probably taken as a gag shot for Crazy magazine, Marvel’s Mad wannabe, in the mid-’70s. It appeared in Marvel’s own FOOM #21, in the “1978 FOOM Awards” section, wherein Roy took first place as “Favorite Marvel Writer.” His assignments were listed as “Conan, Star Wars, etc.”

There follows my own account—sidebarred by the welcome contributions of each of the seven artists, in the chronological order in which they became involved with Star Wars the Comic Book. So, first:

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love STAR WARS—With Reservations A Personal Retrospective by Roy Thomas

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Think We’re Kidding? Read On!

I. Ed Summer & George Lucas Has it really been thirty years since Star Wars erupted upon the cinematic scene like a volcano suddenly thrusting to the surface in someone’s backyard? Certainly the world has changed a lot since I used to drive by Mann’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and see those lines stretching around the block. (I even stood in one of them. Once.)

But for me, those unbelievably long lines were more or less the end, not the beginning, of my involvement with George Lucas’ wonderful brainchild.

And let me say at the outset that, as far as I’m concerned, Star Wars was wonderful. Is wonderful.

more familiar with my work than I was with anything he had done besides American Graffiti. Of course, in George’s case, professionally, that was limited to THX 1138 (1971), which had grown out of a student film of his. The conversation was pleasant and eminently forgettable, until Ed and George began bantering back and forth about—The Star Wars.

Yes, that definite article “The” was positively there that evening, amplifying that now-famous phrase. My ears perked up at hearing it for the first time. After all, there hadn’t been much space-oriented science-fiction in movies since Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, half a decade before. It was nice to know that one of Hollywood’s bright new favorites was going to use his prestige to advance the genre. I didn’t even bother to wonder why he didn’t propose doing a movie based on Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man. Let’s not get ridiculous, shall we?

Whether in 1977 or today, I’m generally more a fan of the films of Woody Allen and Martin Scorcese than I am of the latest fantasy opus… Spider-Man I & II to the contrary notwithstanding. But, even though Harlan Ellison was doubtless right in ’77 in saying that Star Wars’ success would become an excuse for bad people to make bad movies (something they tend to do anyway, merely varying the subject matter from time to time), the first Star Wars movie—the one I’m always referring to when I use the term—was itself a marvelous achievement. I saw that right from the start.

Before the start, actually.

Because I vas dere, Charlie—back when the rest of the world would’ve thought that a reference to Star Wars was a typo for Star Trek (if they remembered Star Trek).

My Dinner With George And Ed (Left:) Ed Summer in a photo that appeared in A Marvel Comics Super Special #2 (1977), featuring Conan. Ed was involved in getting the first Conan movie off the ground.

(Right:) Star Wars writer/director

I recall little more about the conversation than the general impression that The Star Wars was planned to be an ambitious sf-type adventure… already seen as a potential series of movies…and that the name of the hero at that stage was Luke Starkiller…although Luke Skywalker, as an alternative, might have been mentioned, as well. The plot of the movie itself was clearly still a work in progress. Still, what little I heard about the projected film intrigued me. I wished it well.

I believe it was that very same evening that George impulsively came back with Ed and me to our apartment to see the Frank Frazetta oil painting Jeanie and I had bought a couple of years earlier. (It was the one called “Thor’s flight,” originally done as the cover of the Lin Carter paperback Thongor and the City of Magicians.)

Actually, I don’t recall exactly when I first met George Lucas, in a photo taken on the Over the ensuing months, I’d occasionally learn George Lucas. Sometime in very late 1974 or early Algerian set of Star Wars, probably in a confidential tidbit of information from Ed about 1976. [©2007 Lucasfilm, Ltd.] ’75. I remember my first wife Jeanie’s wide-eyed the project. (An interesting aside: George himself surprise when I told her I was going to have dinner never referred to Star Wars as “science-fiction,” but with George Lucas, so that dates it prior to summer as a “space fantasy”—and even, in one very early and very rare presskit of the latter year, when she and I went our separate ways. book I still own and treasure, as “sword-and-sorcery,” a genre with which I had some passing familiarity as the writer/editor of Marvel’s I had become friends with Ed Summer, bearded proprietor of the Conan the Barbarian and The Savage Sword of Conan.)

Supersnipe Comic Art Emporium, a comic book store on Second Avenue in Manhattan, just a couple of blocks away from our apartment Then, one night—it must’ve been in the first few months of ’76, on E. 86th Street. Ed was a former film student who often discussed around the time I decided I’d move to L.A. come July—things started with me a documentary he planned to make about such comic book happening. luminaries as Jack Kirby, Carl Barks, and one or two others, and I occasionally gave him encouragement and advice over dinner or his II. Charlie Lippincott shop counter. I also learned, somewhere along the line, that George (&, Incidentally, Ralph McQuarrie) Lucas was a silent partner of Ed’s—not in his comics store, but in the comic art gallery aspect of the Emporium. This news, of course, was That evening, Ed Summer dropped by my apartment (it was now not for public consumption, and I kept it secret. I was a big admirer of “my” apartment, Jeanie having moved out the previous summer) with Lucas’ 1973 film American Graffiti (“Where were you in ’62?”), which an associate of his, a tall, genial, mustachioed gent named Charlie at that time would probably have ranked in my list of ten favorite Lippincott, who carried a sizable briefcase—and who may or may not flicks; matter of fact, it would still rank fairly high. have been at that earlier dinner I’d shared with George and Ed. Then, one day, Ed asked if I’d like to have dinner with him and Charlie, Ed informed me, was George’s right-hand man on Star George Lucas that evening. He said that George, a comics fan, admired Wars (the “The” was by now a thing of the past). He was in charge of my comics writing. Even if I hadn’t felt flattered, naturally, I would merchandising, publicity, and like that, and he and George wanted have accepted.

Marvel Comics to produce a comic book adaptation of the movie, which had commenced shooting in Algeria and was scheduled to be At the dinner, it turned out that George, an amiable guy, was far released in spring of 1977. It would star Alec Guinness and would be

Star Wars: The Comic Book That Saved Marvel!

20th Century-Fox’s biggest picture for 1977, I was told, costing a thenwhopping $10 million. You could still get a lot of movie for $10 million in 1977.

George and Charlie thought Star Wars might appeal to the same people who read Marvel comics, and they naturally wanted every bit of possible insurance they could get. As I shall say more than once in the course of this piece—who knew?

I reminded Charlie and Ed that I had resigned as Marvel’s editor-inchief in August of ’74, and was now merely the contractual writer/editor of a handful of titles, including all the Robert E. Howard material (Conan, Kull, Red Sonja, et al.) that I had arranged for the company to license, The Invaders (Captain America and company in World War II action), and a smattering of other scripting. That was keeping me quite busy, as Conan, after a slow start, had become one of Marvel’s biggest moneymakers, especially with the success of the black&-white Savage Sword, which turned a sizable profit with its higher cover price and no need for the added expense of color.

The success and quality of the Conan titles, Charlie responded, were the double reason I was being approached. Conan, too, was an adaptation property (even though many issues of Conan the Barbarian were composed of original stories), and thus evidence of my skills as an adapter. I accepted the compliment graciously, as is my wont.

Flattered? Sure I was. Besides, I liked science-fiction, even if I wasn’t a hardcore devotee. And I liked George. But the proper person to contact about adapting this forthcoming film into a Marvel comic, I insisted to Charlie, was Stan Lee, who was the company’s publisher.

Well, matter of fact, Charlie and Ed informed me, they had already talked to Stan about it. And Stan, primarily interested in companyowned concepts, not adaptations (Conan to the contrary), had turned them down flat.

A bit ego-deflating, huh? I only got ’em on the rebound! I wasn’t a

65

first choice, only a last resort.

More importantly, as far as I was concerned, that meant the subject was closed. What could I do if The Man himself had turned thumbs down on the project? Besides, I wasn’t exactly looking for an excuse to write and edit a comic book with a movie studio looking over my shoulder, thank you very much—one Planet of the Apes fiasco (that had also been a 20th picture) and a raucous meeting on Broadway with the producers of Blacula that I had actually walked out of in disgust had long since cured me of that!

Charlie was persistent, though. From his briefcase, he brought forth full-color reproductions of a bunch of paintings (“production drawings,” they called them in Hollywood, but that was an inadequate description) by someone named Ralph McQuarrie.

And that’s when Charlie went into his spiel.

As he turned over painting after painting in sequence, he started telling me the plot of Star Wars.

So I’m hearing for the first time about this two-mooned planet named Tatooine where this teenager named Luke Starkiller lives—or maybe he’ll be called Luke Skywalker, it isn’t decided yet—and he gets involved in this adventure with two robots named R2D2 and C3PO (names usually spelled out nowadays, but this was a verbal spiel, remember), and the next thing you know the robots and this Princess Leia are captured by the villain, Darth Vader, and then Obi-Wan Kenobi shows up, and— “What?” I asked. “Obi-Wan Kenobi? Is he Japanese?”

Charlie just ploughed ahead. By this time, my head was spinning with the weirdest combination of proper names this side of a Russian novel, but I had followed the story just well enough to figure out already that the heroes were all off to see the sf equivalent of the Wizard of Oz. Sounded vaguely interesting, but if Charlie had paused for breath and asked me to repeat what he’d told me so far, I doubt I’d

“The Cantina Sequence” That’s how George’s right-hand man Charlie Lippincott referred to this “production drawing.” Sometime in 1977, all the Ralph McQuarrie paintings Charlie showed Roy that night were issued by Ballantine Books in a Star Wars Portfolio. It was this one that convinced Roy in early 1976 to try to persuade Marvel to adapt the upcoming film into a comic book—an act that may inadvertently have saved Marvel’s bacon in the process. Keep reading. [©1977 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation.]

[Beck caricature ©2007 Estate of C.C. Beck; Captain Marvel art ©2007 DC Comics.]

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time for a title character to be burdened with an entourage of six.

Much is implied in a remark by the Phantom Eagle’s girlfriend Jerry in an early story: “If only the Phoenix Squadron were here!” (Wow #28, Aug. ’44, “Trouble in Tibet”). In other words, with those guys around, who needs the Phantom Eagle?!! And thus went the hero’s rights to … to being a hero!

By

mds& (c) [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 time, Marc looked back on Christopher Chance, the scrapped syndicated strip collaboration with writer Glenn Chaffin. This issue he reveals the reasons behind the disappearance of the Phantom Eagle’s “Phoenix Squadron.” —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

R

emember the Phoenix Squadron? Or did you ever know them … that band of teenage aviators who flew the WWII skies with the Phantom Eagle? There was Sven, Hans, Nickolas, Pierre, Josef, and Hendrik … each from a conquered land … and, like Mickey Malone, too young to join the armed forces, and, yes, each flying a plane built from salvaged parts.

They were there, in Wow Comics, when I got back from the military in 1944. And, although it may seem odd, I saw them as a problem right away.

Their regular inclusion, story after story, would require space … and space we didn’t have. Already the shortage of paper was evident.

Comic book pages were crowded, panels smaller, stories shorter … often down to as few as five pages. It just didn’t seem an appropriate

Flight Of The Phoenix The Phoenix Squadron—young allies of the Phantom Eagle in Fawcett’s Wow Comics during World War II—built and flew their own planes. Maybe they were jealous because P.E. and Jerry always got the “center ring”?

Marc Swayze art from “The Traitor in the Phoenix Squadron!” in Wow #38 (Sept-Oct. 1945). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

The rescue mission likely to follow would mean an aerial dogfight … and those airplane squabbles high in the sky, no matter how diligently labored over at the drawing board, usually ended up as boresome comic book panels and pages … not, to me, the ideal of comic book pictorial subject matter.

I had no objections to Mickey Malone having “guests” along on his adventures … as long as there weren’t so many people in so little space!

Why not one at a time, like “Foggy Jones” in “The Runaway Rocket” (Wow #66, May ’48), who had something to contribute to the feature … in Foggy’s case, humor?

And there was the matter of hero vulnerability. The Phoenix Squadron was created and existed as a wartime adjunct to the Phantom Eagle … a feature based pretty much on realism … no mysticism … no

82

How’re You Gonna Keep Cap Down On The Farm...?

Captain Marvel’s City-Visiting Adventures – Part I

by John Cochran

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

B

ack in the heyday of the Golden Age of Comics, a new issue of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures appeared every few weeks, and its sales figures were rivaling and often squashing National’s Superman. Fawcett VP/circulation manager Roscoe K. Fawcett eventually ordered that CMA’s logo appearing on its covers’ upper left hand corner boast: “Largest Circulation of Any Comic Magazine.”

In an effort to bolster numbers even more, Fawcett writer-editor Rod Reed suggested that Captain Marvel visit a host of cities across the country where he would fly over local landmarks and meet esteemed city luminaries such as mayors, newspaper columnists, radio personalities, and magazine distributors.

“I’m the one who thought up the city gimmick and persuaded the brass it would be a circulation-builder,” Reed revealed in an interview with John G. Pierce [reprinted in Alter Ego #18]. “I wrote the prototype story, which was about Buffalo, New York. No research was necessary, as I had been a newspaperman there. As the series developed, a distributor in each town would provide us with data as to the leading citizens, unusual sights, principal streets, main industry, and anything else that might serve as background.”

Captain Marvel paid visits to 27 US cities in CMA, from 1943 to 1947. Since the earlier stories were written during the war years when there was a genuine threat of sabotage (crystallized by the attack on Pearl Harbor), the villains ran the gamut … from Nazis and Japanese determined to destroy America, to garden-variety criminals.

Beck Does Bok While Captain Marvel dropped in on many cities in many states in the 1940s—and in the 1970s, in DC’s Shazam!—he visited Florida only once: in this late-’70s specialty piece by former Lake Wales, Florida, resident C.C. Beck. Thanks to Mike Burkey; see his RomitaMan ads on pp. 46 & 55.) [©2007 DC Comics.]

Surprisingly, Captain Marvel never visited New York City or Greenwich, Connecticut, both Fawcett office locales—but he at least made treks to Hartford, Rochester … and Buffalo, thanks to Reed.

Reed’s concept became a success as circulation numbers ballooned even more, and his ingenuity to include cameos of actual city magazine distributors further insured the popularity of Cap’s city adventures.

(While a raft of real-life newspaper columnists and editors made cameo appearances in the city stories, researching any references to those appearances in the newspapers themselves proved problematic, since a number of the papers had folded … and those that were still in business expressed no interest in the matter. Yet it’s hard to believe that the newspapers cited in the “Captain Marvel” city stories at the time didn’t mention those appearances in any of their stories or columns.)

Minneapolis (CMA #24, June 1943) – The first of Captain Marvel’s city-visiting stories occurs, somewhat fittingly, in Minneapolis (since Fawcett Publications originated in Minnesota). Cap seems to be plummeting in the splash panel of “Captain Marvel and the Minneapolis Mystery,” but he’s actually being pulled toward the

The World’s Mightiest Minnesotan Rod Reed in 1942, surveying the city-visit splash from Captain Marvel Adventures #24 (June 1943). Reed evidently wrote the first (but not necessarily all) of the series. All art in accompanying captions in this series, unless noted otherwise, is by the C.C. Beck-Pete Costanza studio. [©2007 DC Comics.]

Captain Marvel’s City-Visiting Adventures

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and “which is going bankrupt.” Billy soon discovers that the reason the film company is in trouble is because the actors are all at war. All that’s left are “under-age and over-age leftovers from the manpower shortage!

Their relatives are all in the war, so they’re trying to keep the studio going for the duration.” Despite a Simon Legree-type banker who’s eager to foreclose, Cap helps them make a movie that’s such a hit Cecil B. DeMille buys it. And that’s saying a lot, since Cap had to do a love scene, which he threatened to walk out on. “I-I quit! I can’t make love to anyone!” However, he agrees to suffer through an anguishing kiss on the cheek from a matronly type after which he proclaims, “Whew!

I’ll never go through that again!”

Detroit Vs. The Original Axis Of Evil From Captain Marvel Adventures #25 (July 1943). [©2007 DC Comics.]

Foshay Tower (which is described in a bird’s-eye view of the city as “the most unique skyscraper in the world”) by an electric force created by the sinister Rain King. Despite his vow to make Cap smash into the electrified globe at the top of the tower “so hard he’ll be nothing but a red grease spot,” the Rain King and his Nazi pal fail to stop the Big Red Cheese from “raining” on their parade. Fawcett art director Al Allard apparently saw to it that his friend, local newspaper columnist Cedric Adams, played a supporting role in the story.

Detroit (CMA #25, July 1943) - Hitler’s minions struck again in “Captain Marvel Battles Doom in Detroit” when they tried to shut down Motown in what Billy Batson called “the biggest Axis plot ever to rear its ugly head in America.” In addition to cameos by a Detroit Free Press columnist, a sports announcer for WWJ, Detroit’s mayor, and one of the city’s top magazine distributors, the story highlights two city landmarks that become targets of Nazi sabotage: Briggs Stadium, “the home park of the Detroit Tigers,” and a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan. (While the Detroit Free Press and WWJ are still in business, Briggs Stadium closed in 1960.) The Nazi saboteurs strapped Billy to a flagpole and stuffed dynamite in his mouth. “Ha! Ha!” gloats one of the saboteurs. “Yell for help—if you dare! Der dynamite vill drop und blow up der building!” Billy sweated it out for a panel, and then decided to take his chances. Detroit still stands today.

San Francisco (CMA #28, Oct. 1943) - Admiral Tojo and Adolf Hitler himself both put in cameos in “Captain Marvel Fights the Phantom of the Frisco Fog!” Despite the fact that they were on the same side, Tojo wasn’t that enamored of Adolf. When Hitler greets Tojo over the wireless, he says, “Ach! Guten morgen, mein Nordic brother!” to which Tojo replies, “Bah! Save honorable hooey for Nazi suckers! Nipponese people very fed up with big noise from small wind-bag!” To which Hitler replies, “Vot?? Who you calling a vindbag, you monkey without a tail?” Given that the story was published in October 1943, Tojo, an architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, wants the paperhanger to make good on his promise to “set up new capital of Japan in San Francisco.” To effect that, Nazi saboteurs enlist the sinister services of a dwarf-like evil genius who turns himself into a fog-shaped villain with the aid of a gas mask and a gas tank strapped to his back. He keeps getting away with creating chaos until Cap literally blows him away, and exclaims, “That’s why nobody could hit you!

You’re so short we were hitting above you!!” After Cap spikes a vapor that makes people forget everything, a Nazi soldier points at a framed picture of Hitler and says, “Who’s dor funny-looking drip? Did you ever see such a dumb face yet? Und dot silly mustache!”

Portland (CMA #29, Nov. 1943) - “Captain Marvel Visits Portland Oregon or Knighthood Flowers Again” is a classic example of the whimsy Otto Binder and C.C. Beck infused into the title. Richard Chickenhart, a wealthy collector of medieval armor and weaponry, thinks he’s a knight in armor after an art collector who lusts after his collection tosses a helmet on his head. Captain Marvel even gets crowned with a halberd while he’s conversing with the Portland Mayor

Seattle (CMA #26, Aug. 1943) - Cap was a regular one-man band in “Captain Marvel and Sabotage in Seattle,” thwarting nefarious Nazi attempts to spike a war bond rally by playing all the sabotaged acts himself, including a puppeteer with a miniature Billy as a dummy. The sights included “the great Boeing plant, birthplace of the well-known flying fortress that is making history in this war,” and “the Lake Washington Bridge, the only concrete pontoon bridge in the world!”

Billy was introduced to Seattle by “Wheeler Smith, local newscaster,” and made the acquaintance of the mayor, a judge, and a prominent member of “the war savings staff.”

Los Angeles/Hollywood (CMA #27, Sept. 1943) - C.C. Beck modeled Captain Marvel after ’40s movie great Fred MacMurray … and Tom Tyler played Cap in a 1941 12-chapter movie serial. Now the Big Red Cheese starred in his own flick in “Capt. Marvel Makes a Movie Hit.” Sterling Morris sends Billy “and, er, Captain Marvel” to Hollywood to help him resuscitate a movie company he has stock in

Shazam-less In Seattle Cap’s no dummy in Captain Marvel Adventures #26 (Aug. 1943). [©2007 DC Comics.]