Alter Ego #72 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ 24- Carrot Comics Fanzine

2007 EISNER AWARD WINNER!

BEST COMICS-RELATED PERIODICAL

SCOTT SHAW! & ROY THOMAS ON CREATING

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In the USA

CAPTAIN CARROT & HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW!TM

No. 72 September 2007

PLUS:

DICK ROCKWELL THE GHOST OF

82658 27763

MILT CANIFF

AND:

Vol. 3, No. 72 / September 2007 Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant Chris Irving

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

Cover Artist Scott Shaw!

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Robert Latona Rob Allen Scott LeMien Heidi Amash Arthur Lortie Nick Arroyo Bruce Mason Paul Bach Fran Matera Bob Bailey Jim McQuarrie Rod Beck Sheldon Moldoff Frank Brunner Brian K. Morris Mike Catron Charles Chamberlin Will Murray Jim Murtaugh Mike & Carole Ken Nadle Curtis Dave O’Dell Jeff Dell Jake Oster Michaël Dewally Mark Paniccia Chris Elliott Barry Pearl John R. Ellis Rubén Procopio Charles Ettinger Robby Reed Michael Eury Steven Rowe Mark Evanier Scott, Judith, & Rex Ferrell Kirby Shaw! Greg Fischer Keif Simon Shane Foley Bhob Stewart Janet Gilbert Marc Swayze Stan Goldberg Jeff Taylor Tim Gordon Dann Thomas Harry Guyton Jennifer Hamerlinck Dave Trimble Ken Van Court David Hedgecock Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Fred Hembeck Michael Vance Rick Hoberg Dr. Michael J. Shawntae Howard Vassallo Jeff Kapalka Greg Vondruska Denis Kitchen Hames Ware Richard Kyle Thomas G. Lammers Mike Zeck

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Don Christensen & Marshall Rogers

Contents Writer/Editorial: Bringing Out The Beast In Me . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Rabbits And Turtles And Pigs—Oh, My! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Mike Curtis takes an affectionate look back at the Zoo Crew.

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas on the 1981 creation of Captain Carrot—and beyond.

Pens And Nadles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Ken Nadle on Golden Age DC humor-mongers Larry & Martin Nadle.

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Dick Rockwell talks to Jim Amash about drawing comic books and Steve Canyon.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Kooky Krossovers (Part 2) . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert finishes off those tintinabulatin’ 1940s team-ups at MLJ & Quality.

Robert Schoenfeld, R.I.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Bill Schelly & Bob Latona salute the late-1960s editor of Gosh Wow!, et al.

Tributes To Don Christensen & Marshall Rogers . . . . . . . . . 68 re: [comments, correspondence, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 71 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #131 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Marc Swayze on scripting and C.C. Beck on drawing—presented by P.C. Hamerlinck. On Our Cover: Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! began life as a funny-animal version of the Justice League of America, so original CC artist Scott Shaw!—he of the exclamatory monicker—flawlessly executed this anthropomorphic homage to the iconic Mike Sekowsky/Murphy Anderson cover of The Brave and the Bold #28 (March 1960). ’Nuff said? [Characters TM & ©2007 DC Comics.] Above: One of Scott’s very first concept sketches of the good Captain—never before published! See pp. 12-25 for more of same! [©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 US ($11.00 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $78 US, $132 Canada, $180 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.

writer/editorial

Bringing Out The Beast In Me A

ctually, I thought long and hard before I decided to do this issue of Alter Ego.

For several years now, cartoonists Scott Shaw! and Jim Engel and I have been discussing an issue of A/E devoted to funny-animal super-heroes like Supermouse, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny—and Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!, the comic book Scott and I co-produced in the early 1980s. We may get around to it yet.

A few months ago, however, Scott e-mailed me that he’d just been asked to draw a revival of Captain Carrot—without me as writer. After both of us getting nowhere making individual proposals from time to time over the years for a revival of the title, we had agreed neither of us would make a separate approach to a DC editor again— but Scott hadn’t initiated this series; an editor had gone to writer Bill Morrison of Bongo Comics, then to Scott. While I remain virulently hostile to the idea that a new Captain Carrot series has been launched with one of the series’ two main creators cut out of the loop very much against his will—let there be no mealy-mouthed mistake about that!—I didn’t have it in me to ask Scott to turn down the opportunity to draw the characters again. After all, they’re a far larger percentage of his comic book legacy than they are of mine—and I’m keeping quite busy with the Marvel Illustrated series and work for TwoMorrows and Heroic Publications, thank you very much. So let me make it clear that I’ve no animosity toward Scott—or Bill—for taking the gig. As to those involved over their heads… well, don’t get me started. On the other hand, I was slightly (if only slightly) mollified to learn that, in conjunction with this revival, Captain Carrot #1-20—i.e., the

entire canon, except for the final 6 issues, which were put together as the three-issue mini-series The Oz-Wonderland War in 1985-86— were to be published as a 500-page Showcase volume. Moreover, I received a reasonably hefty royalty check for my work reprinted therein—and it arrived two months before the black-&-white book went on sale! You’ve gotta give at least a few points credit for that. So Scott and I decided we’d talk about the original Captain Carrot run for an A/E issue to come out around the same time as the new one—and I invited Mike Curtis, editor and co-publisher of Shanda Fantasy Press, to write a brief overview of the 1980s comic. By coincidence, I’d also recently invited Ken Nadle to write about his father, Golden Age DC humor-comics editor Larry Nadle, and his uncle Martin Nadle. The latter had been the 1940s artist of “McSnurtle the Turtle—The Terrific Whatzit,” a speedster terrapin who’d made a comeback guest appearance in an ’80s issue of Captain Carrot. That seemed like a perfect fit for the issue, as well. But we’ve also got plenty of goodies for readers who prefer their heroes, artists, and writers human—including an interview with the late Dick Rockwell, 1950s comic book artist who ghosted Milt Caniff’s newspaper strip Steve Canyon for more than a third of a century. We regret that Dick passed away a year or so back, not long after Jim Amash interviewed him… but we know his family, as well as many comics enthusiasts, are looking forward to reading the interview at last. Bestest,

# COMING IN OCTOBER 73 A HALLOWEEN TRICK-OR-TREAT

WITH BRUNNER, BIRO, & ALL THAT BUNCH! • Never before seen! A gorgeous FRANK BRUNNER painting of Dr. Strange and Clea hangin’ out at 177A Bleecker Street! • Formerly far-out FRANK BRUNNER annotates his own spooky art of Dr. Strange, Howard the Duck, Death, and the whole gruesome gang! • CHARLES BIRO—the “murderous maestro” of Golden Age comics like Crime Does Not Pay, Boy Comics, & Daredevil! A never-published interview—plus, JIM AMASH talks to BIRO’S DAUGHTERS about their fabulously talented and influential dad! • A Deadly Dose of REALITY! ROBERT GERSON tells RICHARD ARNDT about his early-’70s horror comic—as illustrated by MICHAEL W. KALUTA, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, JEFFREY JONES, & others! • Plus—MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Comic Crypt—FCA with C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE— L. BING by JIM VADEBONCOEUR & HAMES WARE—& MORE!! Edited by ROY THOMAS

[Dr. Strange & Clea TM &

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Rabbits And Turtles And Pigs—Oh, My! An Affectionate Look Back At Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew!

ooking through the DC comics of the mid-1980s, one sees names that are still household words among comic fans today. Titles like Arion—Lord of Atlantis! Or Omega Men! Or I, Vampire! Sword of The Atom! Or even “How to Sell GRIT”! Well... I guess these names aren’t really so well remembered. But there’s one series which flourished during that decade and which still has a fan following today, even of advance of its return in the next few weeks—Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew! Captain Carrot certainly was an offbeat series, especially for a title published within that decade. DC had greatly expanded just a few years before, only to suffer the Great Implosion at the end of the 1970s, and the canceling of many of their titles—some of them about to go to press. In the ’80s, it was once again a time for new ideas. Some great talents came together for this spoof of super-heroes done in the funny-animal vein.

by Mike Curtis before. (The one exception to this will be discussed later.) The only “fly in the ointment” regarding this character was the later decision to call him Rodney, after Disney announced its forthcoming film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The good Captain became the iconic “Superman” of his anthropomorphic world and was attracted to teammate— ALLEY-KAT-ABRA, a.k.a. Felina Furr. In the world of furry fandom where I am most active, this doll still shows up in fan art and pinups, not to mention in erotic fan fiction. In my own Shanda the Panda, the characters sometimes take on lives of their own and “write” themselves. I suspect that this is what happened with Felina. The token magician of the group, her Mew Orleans background may have added to the feisty attitude she exhibited early on. On several occasions she seemed to be trying to make the Crew a duo of herself and Roger, although she has a semi-sidekick in her magical focus object, “Magic Wanda.” She also had an ongoing feud with the other female Zoo Crewer—

In the article that follows this one, Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! tell the tale YANKEE POODLE, a.k.a. Rova of their efforts on the creation of the Zoo Barkitt. Every group needs a patriotic Crew. But let me add that, at that time, So Zoo Me! character, and this is the only icon there was probably not a better creative The cover of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! #1 missing from DC’s Justice Society. While team that could have been assembled. (March 1982) was penciled by Scott Shaw! and Ross Andru, the the “USA” theme only extended to YP’s Scott Shaw! is still a legend in the furry latter drawing the Superman figure; inks by Bob Layton. costuming and powers, her abilities were community, although he rarely ventures Thanks to Bob Bailey. [©2007 DC Comics.] surprisingly innovative. Yankee used into comics these days. And Roy Thomas stars from one hand to repel and stripes could have used James Robinson’s title from the other hand to draw things toward her. In her secret identity, Pocket Encyclopedia as his own. At that time, other than his writing the Poodle was a Hollywood gossip columnist and friend to— tag-team partner E. Nelson Bridwell on Carrot, there was probably no one else more well-versed in comic book history than Thomas. And comic history played a large part in Captain Carrot. RUBBERDUCK, a.k.a. Byrd Rentals. The Plastic Man of the group, in real life he was a movie star, just as in our world, Burt Reynolds was But before we examine the adventures of the group, let’s look at the one of the biggest stars of the 1980s. Most of his character and dialogue individual members of The Zoo Crew. were pure Hollywood. He was probably the least developed of the group personality-wise. Unlike— CAPTAIN CARROT, a.k.a. Roger Rodney Rabbit. It was a brilliant stroke to make Roger (sorry, that’s what I’m going to call him) a comic PIG-IRON, a.k.a. Peter Porkchops. The muscleman (or musclehog) of artist and writer. This unique profession made him the perfect leader the band. He was an update of the 1950s DC comic star named above. for a team of super-heroes in a world that had never experienced them Here’s where both Roy’s and Scott’s love of the past came in. The only

An Affectionate Look Back At Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew!

not from the same sources as the rest of the team, but from ingesting a piece of irradiated lunar green cheese. Little Cheese was a hero in the tradition of the Silver Age Atom, as well as Quality’s Doll Man. The series was co-created by Roy Thomas, Scott Shaw!, and Gerry Conway, but the list of people who labored on these adventures could have had their own DC series called The Legion of Super-Talents! DC legend E. Nelson Bridwell did some scripting later, as did Shaw. The list of artists includes greats like Archie talent Stan Goldberg, Justice League of America’s Mike Sekowsky, and even famous Howdy Doody/Hoppy the Marvel Bunny cartoonist Chad Grothkopf. Hey, I even saw Carl Gafford’s name in there, and we (Shanda Arts) publish some of his stuff ourselves! One of my favorites on late Captain Carrot was underground cartoonist Carol Lay, who took over on the three-issue Oz-Wonderland War mini-series that followed the regular 20 issues of Captain Carrot. With so much DC history (and historians) behind the series, it’s no surprise that it definitely existed within the company’s regular continuity, right from the start. Carrot debuted as a 16-page insert in The New Teen Titans #16, with special guest star Superman. The cause of their origins and their first opponent was longtime JLA foe Starro the Conqueror. Basically, the Man of Steel grabbed a glowing meteor that was menacing Earth, and when it blew up into six pieces and he crossed over a dimensional barrier, those six pieces gave the original six members of the Zoo Crew their powers. Got it? Good. Sounds like something Mort Weisinger might have written. Oddly enough, in the first issue of their own comic (March 1982), there’s a “Batman” Hostess Twinkies ad featuring what would be recognized today as a fursuiter who is kidnapping dogs. In any case, Roger Rabbit (yes, that was the original name of Captain Carrot’s alterego-to-be), who has a super-hero costume left over from a costume party and dons it when the irradiated carrots in his window-box gave him powers, visits the other five recipients of the “Spawn of Superman” meteors, and together they rescue the Man of Steel.

In Comic Books No One Can Hear You Scream— They Have To Read It! Scott drew this cataclysmic crossover clash between the Zoo Crew and Alien for a website spoof. [Captain Carrot & Zoo Crew TM & ©2007 DC Comics; Alien TM & ©2007 20th Century-Fox or successors in interest.]

problem was that Pig-Iron had a much more aggressive personality than Peter had. Then again, I suppose falling into a vat of molten metal would make you talk like Ben Grimm. And remember that previous super-hero on Earth C?— FASTBACK, a.k.a. Timmy Joe Terrapin. The only “legacy hero” of the group. Just as Barry Allen was inspired to become The Flash by reading about the adventures of Jay Garrick, Timmy had an uncle who had been a super-hero in the 1940s! One of the original funny-animal super-heroes, McSnurtle the Turtle, had once fought crime as the Terrific Whatzit. The Whatzit of 1942-46 issues of the DC comic Funny Stuff (see pp. 18 & 31-38) was not only super-fast, but could also fly and bend steel in his bare hands! He even took his costume from DC’s premier 1940s speedster. And, later on— LITTLE CHEESE, a.k.a. Chester Cheese. A latecomer to the team, this miniscule mouse first appeared in CC&HAZC #12. He later joined the team in their last issue (sob!), #20. He acquired his power

Issue #2 featured guest penciler Alfredo Alcala and was very much a semi-replay of The Avengers #2. The group is formed, but Pig-Iron isn’t interested at first. Super-heroes can’t just argue about their differences, so we get some fight scenes. This is where Felina first proposes a smaller group composed mainly of her and the Captain. I think it was love, or at least a mild interest, at first sight. In #3, we get a great gag lifted from Froggy the Gremlin involving the President. This is only fitting, since Frogzilla is the cover villain, and the behind-the-scenes baddie Brother Hood enlists three giantpowered animals to do his bidding. Former Funny Stuff stars Dunbar Dodo and J. Fenimore Frog (of “The Dodo and the Frog” feature) also reappear in the DC universe. There should be a reader warning noted here. Captain Carrot contained even more puns than the Richie Rich comics I used to write. In Issue #3 we also meet Jailhouse Roc and Kongaroo. Just so you know. DC’s Swamp Thing had been optioned for a low budget flick (and not much else was getting optioned besides Superman for film at the time). Therefore, issue #4 features a swamp thing of sorts—based more along the lines of JSA foe Solomon Grundy. There’s another scene where Felina urges Roger to forget those “other 4 losers” and take a trip with her. Man, was Roger dense or what? Movies are still a large influence as #5 features Oklahoma Bones and some very scarce scenes of the Crew in civvies. This marks the Crew’s first two-part adventure. Issue #6, the second half of the story, features an alien rabbit who resembles Bugs Bunny. In this issue, we also get our first solo adventure, when the Captain stars in a backup feature.

Rabbits And Turtles And Pigs—Oh, My!

The ’80s movie influence is still there in #7, as witness the Bow-Zar the Barkbarian cover, just around the time the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Barbarian was coming out. As a special treat for the readers, each member of the team also gets a biography page with new art. Issues #8 and #9 feature another two-parter. The Zoo Crew finally gets a government-sponsored HQ in “Follywood,” along with special vehicles (which we don’t see much of after this). The Time-Keeper, as villain, does a Muppet Babies preview as the team is regressed to toddlers while advancing the Captain to a senior citizen. Shaw and Thomas collaborate on a script that brings back several of DC’s funny animals from the 1940s and ’50s. Issue #8 also has a Yankee Poodle solo tale—or is that “tail”? In the second half, issue #9, we learn that The Time-Keeper kept Alley-Kat-Abra behind because he’s infatuated with her—told you she was the sexiest one! The Crew visits Nero Fox, The Three Mouseketeers, and The Terrific Whatzit (more DC funny-animal stars from yesteryear) during their segments back in time. Felina gets the solo backup story. By this time, the title was getting lots of fan mail for Felina, and she moved into a deputy-leader type of role, and often summoned the other members via her magic powers. Issues #10 and #11 again have a two-part storyline. In these issues, Peter Porkchops/Pig-Iron fights an old comic book adversary—Wolfie. However, Wolfie’s character has taken an unusual twist. He becomes part-human—a Wuz-Wolf! Fastback and Rubberduck get the backups in these two comics. The aforementioned debut of Little Cheese occurs in #12. (It ends up with a promo for the anticipated crossover with the Just’a Lotta Animals, issue after next.) Cold Turkey is the baddie for #13. This polar poultry causes snowstorms in Califurnia in a convoluted scheme involving animal versions of the Marx Brothers. We get some more civilian scenes of the Crew, as well, all just a warm-up for the big event. In Issues #14 and #15, the series takes an upswing with the eagerly anticipated two-issue crossover with the Just’a Lotta Animals. Scott Shaw! and E. Nelson Bridwell co-produced the script. Shaw penciled and had wonderful assists from Al Gordon and Carol Lay on final pencils & inking. Even the covers are excellent homages to the later JSA/JLA team-ups, as are the tales inside. Also, echoing the human heroes’ “Crisis” classics of 1963-85, two villains from each of the worlds (Earth-C and Earth-C-Minus) team-up. They gather muscular hoods from each plane of existence, intending to wipe out their specific super-teams. Of course, when they meet, the heroes fight briefly. This is such a standard story bit nowadays that it seems almost quaint to realize that when the Justice League first met the Justice Society, the Green Lanterns smiled at each other and compared their rings instead of their punch power. I won’t list the six participating JLA members here, nor the dozen or more that appear on one page. Suffice it to say that DC’s Amazon princess becomes Wonder Wabbit, and Roger takes an instant “bunny like” to her, much to the chagrin of Super-Squirrel. Oddly enough, Felina expresses no interest in the situation, although as the groups’ resident sorceress, she gets to do final battle with Feline Faust. I feel that these two issues are the highlight of the series and would serve as an instant introduction to any new readers. After #15, it was time for our heroes to rest from their great labor, so another homage comes along in #16. It is combined with an ET movie tie-in, as well. If the excellent series Blackhawk is remembered for nothing else, it would be known for the quirky villainous weapon The War Wheel which came back again and again. In this issue, it’s known as the Screeching Tire. Shades of roadkill? Or was it a premonition that the DC number-crunchers would be looking at Carrot’s sales?

If Ever A Wuz Of A Wolf There Was… Scott’s dramatic cover for CC&HAZC #11 (Jan. 1983) was reminiscent of several Jack Kirby covers—and especially John Buscema’s for Sub-Mariner #8 (Dec. 1968), which featured Namor vs. The Thing—only Scott added symbolic hero heads. Repro’d from a scan of the original art, courtesy of Scott. [©2007 DC Comics.]

I have a particular fondness for the cover of Captain Carrot #17. It’s one of those “bursting out of the cover” covers. Plus, there’s Felina’s remark that “Nobody likes comics about funny animals.” Yeah, I’ve heard that for 15 years now. Inside, a framing device brings us solo stories of Rubberduck (easily his best outing so far), Fastback, and Pig-Iron. More solo stories had been planned, and the cover to issue #18 features the individual logos of the Zoo Crew. Inside, Alley-Kat-Abra gets the lead, followed by Fastback and Rubberduck. Frogzilla returns in #19, and Felina again gets a solo spotlight at the start of the adventure. As a wrap-up to the original run of Captain Carrot, The Teen Titans (or at least Beast- Boy) guest stars, along with mainstream DC villain Gorilla Grodd. Little Cheese returns and joins the team officially just as DC pulls the plug on the series—or does it? Inside the story, there’s a reference to the next adventure, which is announced as a 6-issue miniseries. But three years later in real time, only three (but double-sized!) issues debuted. In these, we finally got to see the Zoo crew in the OzWonderland War trilogy by E. Nelson Bridwell, Joey Cavalieri, and Carol Lay.

An Affectionate Look Back At Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew!

I don’t know if it was planned that way, but the Zoo Crew get their largest shot of character development in these three issues. In today’s field of anthropomorphic comics, the personalities drive the storylines. If Carrot had continued, I think we might have seen it develop along those lines. The Captain is commanding, but also shows human qualities, in his own way. Even Pig-Iron shows some a hint of his quiet side. Felina gets several key scenes in which she displays realistic emotions, which are made more immediate since her character’s been the most developed through the previous 20 tales. She and the Captain finally show their affection for each other. She makes an effort to be team leader when he’s out of the picture, as opposed to her non-team sentiments early on. She and Yankee Poodle have a true-to-life disagreement with no jokes, while Rubberduck and Fastback hold up their ends of the story. Even Little Cheese gets some solo time, with romance thrown in. Extrapolating from this, I think we might have seen a more slice-of-life approach with fewer puns and gags. If there had been more Zoo Crew. Sigh. Except for a single page in Evan Dorkin’s World’s Funniest, that was the last we got to see of the Zoo Crew in an actual comic book from then to now. Yes, I am ignoring the terrible updating in Teen Titans, where Little Cheese was murdered by Felina—just as most fans of the series have. Roy Thomas has said that, in that storyline, not only was the Little Cheese who was “killed off” a clone—but all seven characters were! And, him being the original guy behind the series, he ought to know. That being said, and with a new series now hitting the nation’s comic shops, it’s fitting that at last the original classic 20 tales (21, counting the Teen Titans insert) are being reprinted, as one of those black-&-white Showcase books. If we’d had that one around earlier, I wouldn’t have had to borrow Roy’s bound volumes to write this overview!

When Fantasy Worlds Collide Carol Lay’s great cover for The Oz-Wonderland War #1 (Jan. 1986) showed the Captain trying to keep the worlds of Carroll/Tenniel and Baum/Denslow/Neill apart—but editor/conceptualizer Roy Thomas was determined that they were gonna collide! [©2007 DC Comics.]

I have to admit that I have mixed feeling about the swan song of the Zoo Crew. I think Lay’s artwork on the Crew is at its best, as are her layouts. She even manages to bring to the comics the art style of Oz artist John R. Neill, as well as of Sir John Tenniel’s Wonderland. But I find the combined effect of these art styles a bit jarring. In fact, I find it downright peculiar. The plot involves the Nome King Roquot. He allies himself with baddies from Wonderland in an attempt to take over both fairylands. Probably the highlight of the mini-series is the “AllRabbit” issue, wherein Captain Carrot teams up with Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and Wonder Wabbit, as well as other comic and famous lepines.

Costumed Critters Two mags of anthropomorphic adventures from Mike & Carole Curtis’ Shanda Fantasy Arts: SFA Spotlight #1: Valiant Varmints (1998), with cover by Mike Sagara, and SFA Spotlight #5: Zebra Comics, with cover by longtime DC staffer Carl Gafford. The covers, of course, are tributes to Jack Kirby’s The Avengers #1 and an Andru/Esposito Wonder Woman. [©2007 SFA.]

Mike Curtis writes and co-publishes Shanda the Panda (for 15 years now!), under his and wife Carole’s comic imprint Shanda Fantasy Arts, along with Carole’s Katmandu and other fine anthropomorphic comics. He is also a comics historian and Superman collector. Check out their website at www.shandafantasyarts.net

“Not Just Another FunnyAnimal Comic!” A Conversation Between SCOTT SHAW! And ROY THOMAS About The Creation Of Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew!—1981 Interview Conducted by Roy Thomas & Transcribed by Brian K. Morris Italicized Text by Roy Thomas

oy here—and, below, wherever italics are used in this piece. It was a tricky subject to cover: the creation of the Captain Carrot comic book for DC in 1981, and its subsequent development and handling over the years 1982-86 by Scott Shaw!, myself, and a handful of others. In May of 2007 Scott and I talked on the phone for an hour or so, with the intention that the resulting interview would be one section of this issue’s coverage of the series… and I’d do a text article that would precede it (since the concept’s roots predate Scott’s role in things, however essential he became to the mag later).

Man Of Steel, Bunny Of Bronze (Age, That Is) (Above left:) Roy T. figures you had your fill of photos of him in issue #70, so here’s a sketch of RT executed, for some unfathomable reason, by Mike Zeck, and sent to us by Barry Pearl. Thanks to both! [©2007 Mike Zeck.] (Above right:) Scott Shaw! and son Kirby, who’s named after The King. Special thanks to Judy Shaw. (Left:) The first that most of the world saw of Captain Carrot was on this interior “cover” of the 16-page Preview insert in The New Teen Titans #16 (Feb. 1982). Ross Andru penciled Superman, Scott Shaw! penciled everything else, and editor Dick Giordano inked the whole magilla. From the very beginning, like the topline said, Captain Carrot was “Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!” Repro’d from a scan of the original art, courtesy of Scott. Incidentally, all scans of Scott’s original CC art for this piece were made by Dave Hedgecock. Dave’s the editor/co-publisher of Ape Entertainment and the artist of Slave Labor’s Gargoyles comic, and cites reading Captain Carrot 25 years ago as a major influence on his becoming a cartoonist. [©2007 DC Comics.]

But that didn’t seem to work, somehow. So many things I’d want to say in my account would necessarily pre-empt and undercut matters Scott and I discussed, so that parts of our conversation would either have to be deleted as redundant, or else seem like mere footnotes. So I decided to take a slightly different tack. I’d start out by writing my own account of the creation, which antedates Scott’s involvement, dealing with events more or less in chronological order—then dovetail into and out of the interview with Scott. So that’s what you’ll find below…cribbed from my own and Scott’s memories (without time or space to seek out much input from the other writers, artists, and editors involved), with my own memory augmented somewhat by the text pieces I wrote for the first couple of issues of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! A word about the illustrations that accompany this hybrid piece:

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Hare-Brained Sketches Sam Grainger’s concept drawings (late 1960s? 1970s?) for a potential “Super Rabbit” revival for Marvel. The heroic hare’s costume is similar to the one Captain Carrot would sport years later, but he has quite different physical proportions—suggesting that “Super Rabbit – the Marvel Bunny” (as Roy planned to christen the series) might’ve been in more of a kiddie vein than Captain Carrot. The red-and-blue coloring of the garb of the figure repelling bullets is reminiscent of both Superman and the original Super Rabbit; the yellow-and-red gear of the waving figure is closer to Mighty Mouse’s. From the personal collection of Roy & Dann Thomas. Photo of Sam Grainger from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual. [Art ©2007 Estate of Sam Grainger; photo ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

I. Captain Carrot B.S. (And No, It Stands For “Before Shaw!”)

with images of rabbits, in memory of the days in San Pedro, California, when Dann and I had as pets a number of bunnies, some of them indoor pets: long-eared quasi-rodents with names like Rumpole, Featherstone, Harriet, Captain (yes!), and an identical bunch of angora rabbits we couldn’t tell apart so we called them all collectively “Bob.” There, on one wall, among several pages of original art from Captain Carrot comics and a drawing of the Zoo Crew by animator Dave Bennett—and across from Chad Grothkopf’s original cover for Fawcett’s Animal Fair #1 (1945), featuring Hoppy the Marvel Bunny—are two framed, colored drawings of a cartoon rabbit sporting an outfit suspiciously like that of CC, plus an image of that hare-y hero’s civilian ID. In one pose, bullets are bouncing off the colorful critter’s chest—a chest which sports an image of a carrot, crowning leaf and all, much like the one that would embellish CC’s torso, a decade or more later.

While CC&HAZC artist and sometime writer Scott Shaw! could doubtless relate his own backstory as regards his earliest interest in funny animals in general, and in funny-animal super-heroes in particular, Captain Carrot was initially birthed out of my own love of both. There’d been funny animals in tights and capes since not too long after Superman started tossing cars around as if they were flapjacks in 1938. It started on the silver screen with Supermouse (soon altered into the much more enduring Mighty Mouse) and with another “Supermouse” in comic books (nor did this one have to change his name)—and over the ensuing years, many a species had its own variant of the Man of Tomorrow.

Though unsigned, both art and coloring are the work of Sam Grainger, a North Carolina commercial artist I met through the mail during my latter fanzine days, circa 1964. In early 1969, Sam spent a week in New York, at Marvel’s invite, getting a few pointers on art and inking John Buscema’s cover to The Avengers #66. It was probably at that time, or during the ensuing months when Sam was inking Avengers, that we discussed the idea of reviving Super Rabbit. Whether it was my idea or Sam’s to stick that carrot sigil on his chest is anybody’s guess; but if Sam didn’t come up with it on his own, then I would have anyway, since I was a big believer in chest symbols. All the better-dressed super-heroes had them.

Marvel Comics, for whom I was working when I got the notion of writing and editing a super-funny-animal title, had had its own “Super Rabbit” for several years in the 1940s; as a kid during that decade, I was quite familiar with it. He even wore a blue-andorange-and-red outfit not unreminiscent of a certain costumed Kryptonian! And, far as I can figure, I probably first thought of doing something fairly close to Captain Carrot in the late 1960s… though it could’ve been a bit later.

For whatever combination of reasons, the idea of a Super Rabbit comic never really went anywhere at Marvel—and I can’t for the life of me remember if I ever even mentioned the concept to Stan, let alone showed him Sam’s sketches. So the idea languished.

Because, in conjunction with its forthcoming revival of CC&HAZC, DC is also releasing a 500-page Showcase volume containing all 20 of the title’s regular issues (plus the Preview, of course), we’ve reproduced relatively few pages from the actual comics… though some which do appear have been repro’d from photocopies of the original art, much of which Scott still owns. I opted instead to feature preliminary sketches and the like, and other relatively rare and even unseen materials. And now, without further ado (or even “a-don’t,” as we used to say in Not Brand Echh and maybe even in Captain Carrot):

The reason I say this? All you’d need to do is look at the kitchen walls in the Thomas homestead—which is decorated in large part

Fast-forward to 1981. Having signed a writing contract with DC Comics in late ’80, I was eager to add to my quiver of Thomascreated titles such as All-Star Squadron and Arak, Son of Thunder—partly because, unlike at Marvel, at DC I could own a piece of anything I co-created, and partly because I wanted to avoid

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

writing any more Superman, Batman, and/or Legion of SuperHeroes, all of which had been foisted upon me in my first days there. So I pitched DC the idea of a funny-animal super-hero. His name was—Thunder Bunny. No, no, I’m not about to claim that I came up with that concept and name before my 1960s comics fandom colleague Martin Greim, who in the 1970s had created a “Thunder Bunny” series in which a human boy turned into a super-funny-animal the size of a man. What had happened was simply that I had read a story or two of Marty’s that utilized the character, had forgotten (on a conscious level) that I’d ever seen them, and had then invented my own character and christened him “Thunder Bunny” with no waking knowledge that there’d ever been a hero with that name before. Naturally, somewhere along the line, the truth would have dawned on me and we’d have changed the name prior to publication, but that’s neither here nor there in what follows. My idea was a sort of follow-up to the What If? title I’d conceived a few years earlier, and answered the musical question: “What If Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Had Created a Funny-Animal Super-Hero?” Both the setting and cast were going to be animatedstyle beasts, but the tenor of the series, as I “sold” it to the powersthat-were at DC, was to be nearly as “serious” as an issue of Green Lantern—or Thor, the ultimate inspiration of the concept as it first emerged (what little I recall of it). Think of the thunder god turned into a rabbit, and just far enough removed to avoid a lawsuit, and you’ve pretty much visualized my initial idea. It wouldn’t have been a “funny animal” comic book in the usual sense—my Thunder Bunny would’ve been closer to the spirit of a normal Bronze Age series, but with stylized animals rather than humans in the lead roles. And who was going to be the artist of this Thunder Bunny comic? None other than Happy Herb Trimpe—who was anything but happy at Marvel at that particular moment in the early 1980s. I don’t recall if Herb and I had ever discussed “Thunder Bunny”

When Thunder Had Long Ears Martin Greim’s one and only Thunder Bunny. One of that halcyon hero’s first appearances was in MG’s excellent Comic Crusader Storybook, circa 1977. In the page above, drawn by future pros Gene Day (pencils) and Jerry Ordway (inks), young Bobby Caswell becomes a cottontailed super-hero by making like Captain Marvel—the one drawn by Gil Kane in 1969-70. In the 1980s, Thunder Bunny starred in a number of comic books for Archie. [Thunder Bunny TM & ©2007 Martin L. Greim.]

The Incredible Hulk And His Amazing Rat Crew? Far as we know, the closest Herb Trimpe came to drawing funny animals during his long and successful run on The Incredible Hulk was this story in #154 (Aug. 1972)— and that ain’t too close! Inks by John Severin; repro’d from Essential Incredible Hulk, Vol. 4. Photo from the 1975 Mighty Marvel Comic Convention program book. [Hulk art ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

during my latter days under contract to Marvel, but I did know he was less than pleased at being stonewalled concerning raises—and he had agreed to jump ship and come over to DC to draw Thunder Bunny and doubtless other features for the older company. I don’t recall if Herb ever actually drew any sketches—seems to me he may have, at some stage—but everything was set for his move to DC. Then, just as Herb was about to announce he was leaving—maybe Jim Shooter got wind of it, or maybe Herb gave them an ultimatum—Marvel suddenly gave him the long-sought-after raise. And that was the end of “What If Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe Created a Funny-Animal SuperHero in the Tradition of Lee and Kirby?”

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Somewhere around this time, I must have finally realized my error in naming the character “Thunder Bunny”— and besides, I had a new brainstorm: Just’a Lotta Animals. In a text piece that appeared in CC&HAZC #2, I had the following to say about the moment of conception of the series, which apparently occurred while Gerry Conway and I were conferring on the plot of DC Comics Presents #34 (May 1981), the second half of the Superman-Captain Marvel two-parter that would make a surprise guest star out of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, who hadn’t been in a comic book since the latter 1940s. This occurred just as the clock was running out on my old Marvel contract:

Did They Still Call Him “Merry Gerry”? Gerry Conway, co-creator of the Just’a Lotta Animals and the Zoo Crew, as caricatured by Dave Manak in Amazing World of DC Comics #14 (March 1977). [©2007 DC Comics.]

seek out an adventure artist to draw the new series. (But I wonder why not. After all, Rich Buckler had done a fine job on the Marvel Bunny in DCCP #34.) The DCCP #34 text says that Gerry and I, “working closely with editor Dick Giordano,” soon lined up “our friend and veteran TV animator Scott Shaw!”— although at that stage Scott had been working in the world of Saturday morning cartoons for only a few years, at most. And that brings us to the beginning of my May 2007 interview with Scott Shaw!

In the course of working on the plot of #34, we hit upon the idea of sticking in a single panel showing a funny-animal version of the JLA, called Just’a Lotta Animals. Its membership, designed by Gerry and myself (with two names added by my then-fiancée, now-wife Danette [now Dann], just to keep the creative record straight), would consist of SuperSquirrel, Batmouse, Aquaduck, Wonder Wabbit, Green Lambkin, and the Crash—a turtle, what else? [Text ©2007 DC Comics.] Perhaps I should mention here that, during the first half of the 1980s, Gerry and I were doing a fair amount of collaborating, both in comics and in screenwriting. We wrote and sold a number of screenplays, two of which were actually filmed in one form or another: the Ralph Bakshi/20th Century-Fox animated film Fire and Ice and the Universal live-action feature which eventually became Conan the Destroyer, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gerry and I were a sort of bush-league Lennon and McCartney, and shared creator credit on comic book several properties, some of which were mostly the work of just one of us—such as Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt, a few comics related to Atari video games (Atari Force, Swordquest), The Sun Devils (originally conceived of as a revival of Blackhawk, even using that name)— and Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! (We were also jointly responsible for the longest JLA-JSA team-up of the original 23, leapfrogging between five issues of Justice League of America and All-Star Squadron.) To paraphrase more of that 1982 text page, both DC publisher Jenette Kahn and editorial director Joe Orlando took a liking to the “Just’a Lotta Animals” idea, if not necessarily the name, and “we were soon set with a monthly comic book tentatively titled Super-Squirrel and the Super-Animal Squad, with a lead-in [scheduled] in DC [Comics] Presents in which Superman would more or less ‘introduce’ them.” One purpose of that story would be to establish that the world on which these animals existed was as real as Earth-One, Earth-Two… or Earth-Prime. It’s hard to correlate the funny-animal JLA with my “Thunder Bunny” concept, since I didn’t mention anything about it in those early text pages. It wouldn’t have worked to our advantage to mention what the original form of the series was to be, or who the artist might have been, or what name it would have had. Since the particular impetus of this new idea was now less the “What If Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Created a Funny-Animal SuperHero?” approach than a hopefully more humorous series, I didn’t

“What If Scott Shaw! Became A Professional Cartoonist?” Scott and Roy’s first professional association was in the Thomas-edited What If? #8 (April 1978), for which Scott wrote and drew the story “What If the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human?” He used a caricature of Roy as a parody of the story-spinning Watcher. The tale is available again today, in the full-color trade paperback What If? Classic, Vol. 2. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

II. I Came, I Shaw, I Conquered ROY THOMAS: As you mostly discuss in your own unsolicited testimonial in this issue [see pp. 28-30], I moved to the Los Angeles area in July of ’76, and lived for a year and a half in a mostly-singles complex on Barham Boulevard, up the hill from the Warner studio, and we met because you then worked at the American Comic Book Company only ten minutes away in Studio City. I think you served as the middle-man there for me to buy Danton Burroughs’ copy of that very first Tarzan one-shot comic book, the one that had been his grandfather Edgar Rice Burroughs’ personal copy. I had that for years. SHAW: Yeah. Danton used to come in and sell things out of the Burroughs Archives so he could buy jukeboxes. [mutual laughter] It was a good shop. They had a really good back issue selection, stuff nobody else seemed to carry. They had tons of Richie Riches and Archies, all that sort of thing. RT: So [as Scott relates on p. 28], it was roughly three years after your “Man-Spider” story in What If?, and after I’d been at DC for a little while, that the Captain Carrot thing came up. SHAW: I was very eager to take it. You already had the basic concept. RT: It had evolved from my idea of a rabbit version of Thor, which

was sort-of a What If? idea all its own. After Herb Trimpe decided not to come over from Marvel to draw it, I figured, “Well, let’s take a little different approach”—a bit less like Kirby and a bit more like Hanna-Barbera, but still the same general story approach. So I approached you, instead of going to some other “serious” artist. I thought, we’ll take that route and maybe get an animated TV series out of it, to boot. And we very nearly did! SHAW: Joe Staton once told me folks from DC approached him with it. But I don’t know precisely when that was. RT: It may have been at a really early stage, after Herb dropped out but before you were approached. The Staton thing makes sense, but I don’t remember even knowing about it. SHAW: Both Herb and Joe, though they’ve done lots of straight stuff, were guys I’ve identified with, because they were much cartoonier than a lot of artists. You told me you also have drawings of an early Captain Carrot-type character by Sam Grainger—he was another guy I always liked, because his work had a nice cartoony look to it. RT: Now, once you were the definite artist, we started to work on “Super Squirrel and the Just’a Lotta Animals”…. SHAW: We did a two-page sampler that was more or less a take-off on Galactus, except it was a giant carrot. It was kind-of crude, looking

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

back on it. But at the same time, it was better than I thought it would be. But then we were asked to switch over and create characters that bore no trace of any previous DC property, to facilitate any problems with other people that might license them. Roy again: Gerry must’ve still been involved in think sessions at that time, as I duly reported in CC&HAZC #2. But clearly Scott was soon brought into the creative loop, as well: RT: Yeah. We started working on new characters, and we came up with a few that didn’t make the final cut. One was based on a character I’d made up as a kid—Whirlybird, a tornado-type character. I made her up long before DC had its 1960s Red Tornado. There were a few others, too, that didn’t make the cut. SHAW: We knew we wanted to start with the rabbit, and we populated the strip based on character types we knew would work well on a team. We were still thinking Justice League, only making up funny-animal equivalents. RT: Of course, a speedster was a natural, given the JLA origins. And that’s how Fastback came about. SHAW: At the time, it never occurred to us that Jack Kirby had that character Fastbak in The New Gods, because I think he only appeared in a couple of panels. RT: I knew that name, but he wasn’t a hero they were really using. And I remembered The Terrific Whatzit, whose stories I’d read in the mid-’40s before it was dropped from Funny Stuff. I was always

fascinated by the fact that its artist was the same guy who was drawing some of “The Flash”—Martin Naydel—except he was better suited to the Whatzit. SHAW: Yeah, he really was. RT: We had different tentative names for our DC group, but none that DC went for—like “The Critter Commandos” and “Critters, Inc.” This is before Infinity, Inc. Did you suggest those names or any others? I don’t remember. SHAW: The one name I suggested, and the character I brought in because of being a Kirby fan—we were thinking, “We really need a big bruiser on the team.” So that’s how I came in with Pig-Iron. He was my response to Ben Grimm. The Thing was my favorite super-hero character ever. RT: He’s one of mine, too. Pig-Iron was our Thing/Hulk type. I hadn’t been thinking of trying to include a Marvel-type hero, because we were basically thinking “JLA.” But when you came up with Pig-Iron, the character and the name were both so perfect that we ended up with six Zoo Crewers instead of five. Whose idea was it to make his alter ego Peter Porkchops? SHAW: I think that was yours. But I’d always read Peter Porkchops when I was a kid, so it seemed natural. I did rough drawings of all the characters, and they were very much a cross between my own underground style and a Hanna-Barbera kind of thing. And Joe Orlando did sketches of them, too. You don’t associate Joe with super-hero-type stuff. He beefed them up into real super-hero characters and showed us

The Liltin’ Lineup One of the boys’ first names suggested for the post-“JLA” grouping was “The Critter Commandos”—but that got vetoed by the front office. Note the differences between this initial Shaw!-drawn assemblage and what would finally emerge: a possible alternative name (“Captain Crash”) for Captain Carrot—a variant spelling of Alley-Kat-Abra—the presence of Whirlibird (Roy used his pencil to turn that second “i” into a “y”)—an early version of Fastback tentatively called Blue Streak (but already marked for a possible name change)—and Big Cheese, who’d sprout the opposite super-power and become Little Cheese some issues down the line. Also on this sheet, Roy asked (in penciled comments that don’t show up here) that Alley-Kat-Abra’s cape be changed from magenta to red or green, and he scribbled other possible last names for Captain Carrot: Cosmic, Cosmo, Krypton (?), Cottontail, Comet (!), and Cony! All in all, we think things turned out for the best. [©2007 DC Comics.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

that, if we’re going to do it, it’s got to look more like super-heroes than funny animals. RT: I knew what Captain Carrot should look like—I could tell somebody that—but on the other characters, I don’t recall having a firm idea as to their costumes before Joe’s and your drawings. Still, when you start thinking about a fast turtle, or a duck who stretches like Plastic Man, there are certain things that naturally occur to you. SHAW: Quite honestly, I was intimidated from the beginning, because Joe drew them in a weird way, looking much straighter than I’d have done them, because my art was really, really cartoony at the time. It took a while for me to even figure out how to draw them. And I think that was one reason why I was so slow in the early days. RT: But they had a consistent look from the very start, so you must have solved the problems. SHAW: I guess I was nailing it, but part of it, too, was just the idea of, “Jeez, I’m working for DC,” and it was kind of mind-blowing. RT: Yeah, from doing a one-shot What If? story for Marvel, to suddenly doing a monthly book for DC. SHAW: Yeah, well... [mutual laughter] I didn’t do a very good job of turning it out monthly. RT: Well, not everybody is geared to the same pace. We probably needed more lead time. But, like always, as soon the comic was put

Funny Business (Above left:) On the cover of Peter Porkchops #3 (March-April 1950), the puckish pig exhibits a truly homicidal streak à la “Itchy and Scratchy,” but the stories inside told of a kinder, gentler swine. Thanks to Tim Gordon Comics (trgordon@peoplepc.com). (Above:) The origin of the Peter Porkchops/Pig-Iron connection, as depicted in CC&HAZC #1 (March 1982), repro’d from a scan of the original art, courtesy of Scott Shaw! Inks by Bob Smith. (left:) Soon after the debut of CC&HAZC, DC issued a couple of Best of DC digests using the old title Funny Stuff, and composed of reprints of 1940s-1960s funny animals—including “Peter Porkchops.” The new cover drawn for #34 (June 1983), like one other such digest, sought to capitalize on Peter’s new secret identity. Cover by Sheldon Mayer, the brilliant editor of the All-American lineup from 1939 to 1948, including the early years of Funny Stuff. [©2007 DC Comics.]

on the schedule, it was late. [chuckles] There wasn’t much time for gearing up, so we ran into problems right away. It really wasn’t fair to think you could automatically go from not drawing a regular book to suddenly turning out 20 or so pages a month. Let’s talk about that first issue and the Preview in Teen Titans #16. Of course, Ross Andru was involved in both those. SHAW: I was so happy to have Ross Andru in there, because he has always been one of my all-time favorite cartoonists, and it was just such an honor to have my stuff on the same page as his. RT: I don’t remember why Ross, as opposed to another artist. But this big Superman and the Fortress of Solitude tabloid had been one of the first things I wrote for DC. As you know, I’m a big Andru fan, too, and had worked with him at Marvel on Sub-Mariner, Fantastic Four, Marvel Team-Up, Kull the Conqueror, Doc Savage, et al. So he made sense drawing the Superman figures. I think your and his style meshed very nicely together. SHAW: He drew a very solid-looking Superman. At that time I wasn’t aware of Get Lost!, the parody comic he and Mike Esposito had done in the 1950s. A year or two later, I found copies of those, and I couldn’t believe how good he was at that. Mike has said they were both interested in getting either into animation or into comic books, and they decided to stay in New York, near their families. They did a parody of “Who Killed Cock Robin?” and it looks like a Warner Bros. cartoon— it’s that good.

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Still, we were off to a fairly good start. For a little while there, Captain Carrot was [DC publisher] Jenette Kahn’s favorite comic. SHAW: And it was selling quite well. I remember we got some royalty checks because it sold over 100,000 copies, which now would just be mind-blowing. RT: It did quite well at the outset, and was even optioned [by ABC] for a Saturday morning TV show. I have the bible and the script for the pilot. It was done pretty faithfully, except they dropped AlleyKat-Abra. Maybe they didn’t want a magic character, or else they wanted only five heroes. And since the city name “Gnu York” wouldn’t work when spoken on TV, they changed that to “New Yak,” which was good. SHAW: I heard that, when they renewed the option for a second year, they had the crazy idea, maybe at ABC’s request, to team the characters up with Wonder Woman. They were reacting, I think, to Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, which was a straight super-hero and a funny animal, teamed up. But the idea of Wonder Woman teaming up with the Zoo Crew is just bizarre. We’d done it with Superman—but not on a regular basis. RT: The reason I’d wanted Superman in the first storyline was to definitely establish that this wasn’t just another funny-animal comic

If You Carrot All Alas, if copies of Joe Orlando’s reportedly masterful concept drawings of the Zoo Crew still exist, they’re in other hands than those of Scott or Roy. But here’s Scott’s earliest solo rendering of Captain Carrot—logo and all! It’s never been published before. Not bad for a first try, Mr. S! [©2007 DC Comics.]

RT: I had this great name for the alter ego of Captain Carrot, which was “Roger Rabbit.” [Scott laughs] By then, I think the paperback novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? had been published, and I may even have had a copy of it, but I hadn’t read it. Still, when you start thinking up names for rabbits, what are you going to call it? Robert? Reginald? Roy? Roger was as logical a name as any. Later, when the upcoming movie was being publicized, we had to change his full name to “R. Rodney Rabbit” and have him called by his middle name. By #2, we’d come up with this wonderful idea of gaining some time on the schedule by having Alfredo Alcala pencil an issue, but it didn’t quite work out. SHAW: Alfredo had a pretty flexible style, but the characters were—of course, he didn’t have much to go by, either. So I wound up inking over his stuff and redrawing a lot of it, and a lot of people didn’t even notice the difference. RT: I think you wanted to ink it partly to bring Alfredo’s art in line with your style—and, I believe, partly just because you got enthusiastic about wanting to ink it. SHAW: Yeah, I always enjoy inking other people’s work. RT: Even so, as a result of that, we didn’t gain much time on #2.

Pluto’s Retreat The splash of CC&HAZC #1 shows off the formidable talents of both Ross Andru and Scott Shaw! Repro’d from the original art, courtesy of Scott. The joke in the title “The Pluto Syndrome” was that not only did Starro send his rays from the (then) planet Pluto, but it made animals act like animals— and, of course, in Disney’s movie cartoons, Mickey Mouse’s mutt Pluto was the only animal that acted like a four-legged pet instead of talking and walking around on two legs! [©2007 DC Comics.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

that existed totally outside DC continuity. Rather, it simply took place in another dimension, which was as real as Earth-One or Earth-Two. Earth-C, for “Carrot.” SHAW: You even wrote a blurb: “Not just another funny-animal comic!”—like you did with that golden gorilla: “Not just another giant gorilla story!” RT: I was always proud of that Fantastic Four cover line, I’ll admit. DC did a nice poster of the first issue of Captain Carrot. But they came up with the blurb: “Funny animal antics at its best!”—which is bad grammar! Still, they were pushing the book. You know the idea Jenette Kahn had for the TV series, don’t you? I remember her telling it to Gerry Conway and me while we were with her and the Atari people up in the Silicon Valley, back in the early ’80s when Gerry and I were working on video game projects. She wanted the TV show done with human actors in

costumes, like that awful Superpup pilot of the 1960s. We didn’t know what to say. So she just smiled and said, “Of course, I realize that not everyone shares my dream.” [mutual laughter] Naturally, we’d have been happy to take the money, but I felt a Captain Carrot series should be animated. SHAW: I’ve never heard anybody mention it, but I’ve always thought it was very interesting that we came out a year, if not two years, before the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff. RT: Well, we did give funny animals in “serious” situations a higher profile. DC and Marvel hadn’t been doing much in the way of animation-type characters in comics for a time, and never anything like Captain Carrot. We did it, and it sold for a while and was optioned for TV. Of course, Turtles was a wee bit more successful. SHAW: It would’ve been nice if we could’ve gotten a piece of that niche.

TV Or Not TV—That Was The Question Roy could swear he once had concept drawings, as well as scripts, from the proposed early-’80s ABC-TV animated series Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!—but darned if he could find ’em by press time! Anyway, at left is an intro page from the projected series’ “bible,” as written and revised in February and March of 1982, only a couple of months after CC #1 had gone on sale. The title of the pilot episode was “Frankenfrog.” (Gotta admit, we like “Frogzilla” better.) Frankenfrog was actually Prof. Sal M. Ander; his assistant was named Eelgor, what else? Other potential future episodes listed in the bible are “Time Varmints” (a nod to the popular film Time Bandits) with scientist Dr. Guaca Mole and a bunch of Crow Magnons, two names which wouldn’t have worked well aurally—“Raiders of the Lost Aardvark” (with an aardvark mummy— but this is before the comic introduced “Oklahoma Bones”)—and “What’s a Wonder Woman like You Doing in a Place Like This?” The latter was apparently a first-season version of the notion of combining the two DC properties, though in the one-page précis there’s no indication whether the Amazon was to be handled via animation or live action; the villain was P.T. Bearnum. Lynda Carter, of course, had starred as WW in the late-’70s TV series; the WW art below center is by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano. The Zoo Crew shot is from CC #7. The scripter of both bible and pilot was Jeffrey Scott, probably the hottest TV animation writer of that period. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Maurer—and Norm, of course, had been one heckuva comic book artist in his day, drawing Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay, Daredevil, and Boy Comics, St. John’s The Three Stooges, et al. [Script page ©2007 Ruby-Spears, Inc., or successors in interest; Zoo Crew & Wonder Woman TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

RT: It didn’t work out as well as we’d have liked, but it was worth a shot. Chad’s “Hoppy” was a big influence for me on Captain Carrot, even more than The Terrific Whatzit or, say, Mighty Mouse. I don’t remember why we ended up doing a takeoff on Indiana Jones in the mag, but it was a good idea, I guess. After all, the movie was new and popular. SHAW: It’s funny—there’s a kid that both Sergio [Aragonés] and I have mentored over the years named Manuel Carrasco, and he’s a big deal now in video games. He told me the other day that he loved Oklahoma Bones so much that he drew two or three “Oklahoma Bones” stories himself. [Roy laughs] RT: Of course, if we’d done more stories with Oklahoma Bones, we’d have had trouble from Spielberg and Lucas. Besides Peter Porkchops, we also brought in other old DC funny animals. The one I remember best was Frogzilla, who was J. Fennimore Frog. “The Dodo and the Frog” was a feature I always liked even better than “The Fox and the Crow.” I didn’t know it then, but Gardner Fox was one of the main writers of “Dodo and Frog” when it started.

Beauty And The Beasts DC publisher Jenette Kahn was, for a time, Captain Carrot’s biggest fan—after Roy and Scott, of course. The 1982 poster at right (utilizing art from #1) promoted the comic’s debut. Jenette (seen with Superman on the Jan. 1984 cover of Savvy magazine) clearly had eyes for the Kryptonian’s furry rivals. Her support helped get the series optioned for TV—but she wanted to see it done in live-action, as per the Superpup kiddie-TV show proposed in 1958. Thanks to Mike Curtis for the still, which shows Superpup (alias Bark Bent) and Pamela Poodle, as portrayed by Billy Curtis & Ruth Delfino. [©2007 DC Comics.]

RT: Well, we still own a piece—you and I and, for that matter, Gerry Conway. We’ll all come in for money if anything ever happens. It’s only been 25 years, after all. I know that one of our original aims was that, every issue, we would parody a different character or genre. Were there any that you feel you were especially interested in doing, of those we did? SHAW: I always liked the “His Name Is Mudd!”— RT: The “Heap” homage. SHAW: —because I’ve always been a fan of swamp monsters. It was also interesting because Chad Grothkopf inked it. He was a tremendous inker, but I think he wasn’t used to inking someone else’s stuff, because he would change things around. I’ll never forget, we got one issue back where I think Pig-Iron is in a subway, and Chad suddenly decided to draw him like out on the street. I remember, at the last minute, we got it back and I had to patch that stuff up. But, with him having done Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and Howdy Doody and all those great things, it was kind-of cool to have him on.

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

The Dodo May Be Dead—But He Died A Winner “The Dodo and the Frog” was an original DC feature that mimicked the popular “Fox and the Crow”—except that Crawford Crow occasionally bested Fauntleroy Fox in their series loosely based on Columbia movie cartoons, while J. Fenimore Frog always lost out to Dunbar Dodo—always! So JFF was determined to triumph as “Frogzilla”— but he didn’t, of course. The “Dodo and Frog” house ad at right appeared in comics dated May 1947; the writer and artist are unknown, but Flash/Hawkman/Dr. Fate/JSA co-creator Gardner Fox wrote many of the 1940s stories. The cover, below right, of CC&HAZC #3 (May 1982) is by Shaw! & Smith. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [©2007 DC Comics.]

SHAW: And then we did that time travel story. RT: Yeah, that was one of my favorites. I seem to recall coming up with the name of the villain, The Time-Keeper. If you’ve got a minute—he’ll take it and keep it! SHAW: I look at that now, and see that I overwrote it so much that all the characters looked hunchbacked. [mutual laughter] But I loved it, because I had a good collection anyway, and I bought as many old DC funny-animal books as I could, because I was always looking for new stuff to incorporate—and I discovered “Nero Fox, the JiveJumping Emperor of Ancient Rome.” RT: Right, and we had “The Three Mouseketeers.” And we included The Terrific Whatzit from Funny Stuff’s “McSnurtle the Turtle” strip and put him in World War II because he’d been in comics that were published during that period. In that story, we utilized a bunch of funny animals who actually were pre-existing DC properties from different periods of history. It was a lot of fun to do. One thing I liked later was where we took the Wolfie from Peter Porkchops

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

exactly like my stuff.” I learned that, instead of statting it, they had somebody down there do as close a copy of my cover as they could. RT: Maybe they didn’t get a Photostat of the cover from DC. I seem to recall we flirted with the name “Canine the Barkbarian” for that character. But we decided, or DC may have decided for us, that that was too close to “Conan.” We’d have had a problem if—as we hoped—he’d wound up being popular enough to have his own comic. I loved writing Captain Carrot, but I knew you could write it. I gradually edged myself off the scripting. Do you remember how that happened?

Got A Minute? Then Watch Out For—The Time-Keeper! CC&HAZC #9 (Nov. 1982) cover-featured the villainous Time-Keeper and several actual 1940s DC funny animals (clockwise from above): Nero Fox (seen here on the cover of Leading Comics #21, Oct-Nov. 1946) and The Terrific Whatzit and The Three Mouseketeers (pictured from Funny Stuff #2, Fall 1944, and #13, Sept. 1946, respectively). The CC cover is by Scott Shaw!; Nero Fox was possibly drawn by Ed Dunn, the Whatzit definitely by Martin Nadle, and the Mouseketeers maybe by Ron Santi—before Disney or even Tom and Jerry used the term. The Time-Keeper was a take-off on The Legion of Super-Heroes’ foe, The Time-Trapper. [©2007 DC Comics.]

and made him The Wuz-Wolf. SHAW: I did the covers on those issues, as well as backup stories. RT: Then there was Bow-Zar the Barkbarian. SHAW: I think that was the first issue Stan Goldberg drew— and the first one I scripted. I did the covers. One weird thing—a few years ago, we were down in Mexico and I found they had these digest-sized reprints of Captain Carrot, and I was looking at one and thinking, “Well, this looks pretty good, but gee, it doesn’t look

SHAW: I don’t remember exactly. I know you were real busy, and I’ve always been a writer as well as a cartoonist. I look at those now and I wince, because I sure wish I’d written less. I think I was playing “Watch Me Top Roy,” and that was the last thing I could have done. RT: The trouble with both of us was that we’d keep thinking of

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

all these wonderful gags and puns we could do—street names and city names and characters and everything else. And we’d end up throwing in extra balloons just to get off an extra joke that we really didn’t need. You just did even more of it than I did, that’s all—you’re definitely more of a gag writer than I am—and if you can outdo Roy Thomas in terms of heavy copy, you know you’re getting carried away. Still, readers seemed to like it. I think the book just kind-of ran out of gas eventually. Maybe if you and I had stayed together as the creative team, we might’ve made it. But then it got a little dissipated with other folks working on it, even though they were very talented people. SHAW: For the last maybe ten years or so, I’ve been meeting people who are now adults at the comic conventions and shops who say that was the first comic they ever read. I think it’s because it looked like a funnybook, but it was a super-hero book, too. It was before the Turtles, and they all said that they responded to it because it felt like something completely different. RT: I’d always thought, “Gee, why not a super-funnyanimal book?” Because there’d been Mighty Mouse and Hoppy and Super Rabbit… Super Duck was a super-animal for a couple of issues… plus Cosmo Cat and Charlton’s Atomic Mouse and Atomic Bunny and The Terrific Whatzit and a whole mess of other characters. SHAW: One of my favorite characters was Wonder Wart-Hog, who had started out in Mad-type parodies, but wound up in underground comix. RT: Do you think Pig-Iron was partly inspired by Wonder Wart-Hog? SHAW: Oh, absolutely. Because I’d done underground comix—not that I was sneaking in anything objectionable—so I still kind-of had that bit of an edge in my art. I think that set it apart, too, to a certain degree. RT: I wonder—if we’d kept Super-Squirrel as the lead, would we have made his secret identity Nutsy Squirrel? SHAW: [chuckles] We might have. RT: On the second issue of that Zoo

Crew/Just’a Lotta Animals crossover, you drew J. Rufus Lion and Nutsy Squirrel and other DC funny animals at the bottom of the cover, just so you could draw a couple more characters. [Scott chuckles] Our idea was that a young kid ought to be able to read Captain Carrot, yet an older reader would get a kick out of some of the puns and other things that might go over the head of a young kid. And I think, for the most part, we walked that tightrope reasonably well. SHAW: Yeah. If people didn’t like puns, that wasn’t the book for them. RT: Not really! I love puns. In the last year or so I’ve started doing caption headings in Alter Ego which are often outrageous puns… the more outrageous, the better. I was bitten by Forry Ackerman at an early age. [laughs] [Friend and fellow comics writer] Don Glut and I used to get into punning matches in LA. But I think he could outdo me on those things. SHAW: Yeah, Don may be the all-time champ. [continued on p. 22]

The Betty and Veronica Of The Zoo Crew Stan Goldberg is mostly noted for drawing Millie the Model for Marvel for years, and since the 1970s as one of the top Archie artists—but he stepped admirably into Scott Shaw!’s anthropomorphic boots for several issues, as well. His CC&HAZC work is on view in the new Showcase volume—but not these previously unpublished pencil sketches! The one below was a character study for CC #13 (March 1983). For more of Stan G.’s Zoo Crew art, see his careerspanning interview in Alter Ego #18. [Zoo Crew TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Interlude:

A Change Of Rabbit (& Other Species) Besides The Terrific Whatzit, the Golden Age of Comics was reasonably rampant with funny-animal super-heroes, as witness these exemplars:

Mighty Mouse

Hoppy The Marvel Bunny Probably the foremost hero in this sub-genre created specifically for comic books, Capt. Marvel Bunny was drawn (and perhaps written?) by Chad Grothkopf, who’d later ink Captain Carrot #4 & 5. He’s seen here with Billy the Kid on the cover of the British edition of Fawcett’s Funny Animals #53 (1947). [©2007 DC Comics.]

Supermouse The cover of Supermouse #1 (Dec. 1948)—though “The World’s Greatest Mouse” had earlier appeared in other comics from Animated Cartoons, Inc. (one of the early names of the Pines/Nedor/Standard company). The question mark chest symbol was later replaced by a square “S.” Art probably by Carl Wessler, says Steven Rowe. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Super Rabbit The “Super Rabbit” splash from an I.W. (Israel Waldman) reprint of that title, featuring the 1940s Timely/Marvel character. Since a number of pics of Super Rabbit have previously been printed in Alter Ego (see #13, et al.), here’s one where he isn’t wearing his super-hero suit with the words “Super Rabbit” emblazoned on his chest—but is relaxing on the beach, reading an issue of Captain America! Artist unknown—though Syd Shores may have drawn the Cap head. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Bee-29 Even insects wanted to get into the act! The cover of Latest Comics, Vol. 2, #1 (real #2), circa 1945. Alas, we’re not certain who the “JCA” who drew the cover and “Bee-29” story is—but the airborne bug leads his fellow bees in an attack on a (human) Japanese spy! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

The most celebrated super-funny-animal ever! He started out called Supermouse in his first few movie cartoons, but had become Mighty Mouse by the time his licensed exploits were published by Timely/Marvel—probably because the Nedor “Supermouse” feature started around the same time. Here’s the cover of Mighty Mouse #7 (1947); artist unknown. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

Atomic Mouse Al Fago was the creator and artist (and probably writer) of this Charlton character—though his brother Vince said he had a hand in it, as well. This is the back cover of Atomic Mouse #8 (May-June 1954)—but, though it’s signed by Fago, that sure looks like Hoppy, the alter ego of Fawcett’s Marvel Bunny, at bottom right! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Freddy the Firefly What? Another super-powered insect!? As discussed back in A/E #49, this blazing bug, published by early EC, was an imitator of Timely/Marvel’s Human Torch, down to the red coloring in most issues! Here’s the cover of Animal Fables #2 (Winter 1946). [©2007 Fables Publishing Co., Inc., or its successors in interest.]

Atomic Bunny Never as good a character as fellow Charltonian Atomic Mouse, he still got in a good lick or two, as per this splash from Atomic Bunny #18 (Sept. 1959). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Cosmo Cat

Super Goof

Originally published by Fox Publications, then by others, Cosmo Cat last starred in the I.W. reprint from which this splash is taken. No date—but probably late 1950s or early ’60s, using earlier material. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Soopermutt (Far right:) This is the only super-feat he manages in his 5-page lead feature in Animal Adventures #2 (no date, though this issue may be a 1950s or early-’60s reprint of earlier material), from Accepted Publications, Inc. But hey, he did wear a cape! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Whew! And we didn’t even have room to show you Super Duck, an Archie quackpot who was only super-powered for his first couple of issues (as seen A/E #71). Maybe we’ll yet have to do that special all-funny-animal-super-heroes issue of Alter Ego we’ve been talking about for so long with Scott, Jim Engel, et al.!

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Swine of Steel—And Pig Of Iron Scott cheerfully confesses that his creation Pig-Iron was partly inspired by Gilbert Shelton’s underground comix hero Wonder Wart-Hog (far left). The drawing below is one of Scott’s first concept drawings of Pig-Iron (and Peter Porkchops), never before published. [Peter Porkchops & Pig-Iron ©2007 DC Comics; Wonder Wart-Hog ©2007 Gilbert Shelton.]

SHAW: One thing I’d like to mention is how much of an inspiration and help and kind-of silent collaborator Dann was. RT: Definitely. Not that she was really silent. [laughs] Nor did we want her to be. SHAW: She had lots of good ideas, and she really was a good sounding-board. RT: The three of us would sit around, kicking things around, and some of her ideas were incorporated. And she and I would talk things over even when you weren’t there. [continued from p. 19] RT: It’s because he has no shame at all. The rest of us have certain reservations about how far we’ll go to make up a pun; Don has none. [mutual laughter] That reminds me again of the problem we had coming up with a name for the feature. While I didn’t know it at the time I wrote the first text pieces in Captain Carrot, it was [DC editor] Andy Helfer who coined the name “Zoo Crew” at an editorial meeting. They practically had a contest: “Name the funny-animal superhero group.” It was probably the only time Andy Helfer and I ever agreed on anything. [mutual laughter] But he didn’t propose it to me directly; it came through Jenette or Dick or whoever. And I thought, “Gee, that’s a wonderful name.” Using the word “Zoo” in that context wouldn’t have occurred to me… because to me a zoo was something on Earth-One or Earth-Two or Earth-Prime, not on Earth-C. But it works!

SHAW: She was a good catalyst. For somebody who didn’t do comics professionally, she got it! RT: Well, she was already working with me on Arak, Son of Thunder and later even more so on Infinity, Inc. and Jonni Thunder. The only comics she’d read growing up were the occasional Uncle Scrooge or Donald Duck or something like that. So she probably kept us from indulging some of our fanboy impulses, where

SHAW: Since then, I’ve heard of a number of early morning radio shows that have called themselves “The Zoo Crew.” RT: Yeah, and there was at least one radio guy who called himself “Captain Carrot.” I think he had something to do with carrot juice or at least health. Whenever Dann and I go to a zoo, people see our license plate, “Zoo Crew,” and think we’re part of the staff! We got that plate back in LA in the early 1980s and carried it over to South Carolina by paying extra. We originally did it because our dogs often rode around in the car with us. Now it’s because we have so many animals on our spread.

Nuts And Jolts (Above left:) Just as Pig-Iron was given a secret identity as Peter Porkchops, perhaps Super-Squirrel of Just’a Lotta Animals might’ve been made the alter ego of Nutsy Squirrel. Nutsy was the cover star of DC’s Funny Folks, and later took over the whole mag. (Above right:) The cover of CC&HAZC #15 (May 1983), which features Super-Squirrel—and whereon Nutsy makes a cameo appearance. Art by Scott Shaw! [©2007 DC Comics.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

And Digger O’Doom, because I was a big fan of The Life of Riley show.

we might have gotten a little too esoteric for our own good.

SHAW: Sure, with Digger O’Dell, the friendly undertaker.

SHAW: Do you remember the time you and Dann and I went to the demolition derby together?

RT: I knew much of the readership wouldn’t know who Digger O’Dell was, so they wouldn’t get the joke, but it was still an okay name, just on its own. I look at the cover of Captain Carrot #15, and there’s Digger O’Doom, and he has this kind-of Wonder WartHog underground look to him. A bit less Hanna-Barbera than the other characters.

RT: Yeah. I think it was with a kid you were Big Brothering.

SHAW: Well, years before we did Captain Carrot—when even [creator] Gilbert Shelton hadn’t done anything with Wonder Wart-Hog for a long time—I actually did samples and approached him and said, “If you want to approve my stuff, I’d be happy to do a Wonder WartHog strip and pay you the lion’s share of it.”

SHAW: And we were sitting there, kind-of plotting an issue in between crashes, [Roy laughs] and some kid sitting Hogging The Limelight behind us who was a While we’re on the subject of Pig-Iron—modelcomic fan tapped us maker Jeff Kapalka sent this photo of his own on the shoulder and three-dimensional version of the character, done said, “Are you like for his private amusement. Photo by Ken Van talking about Court. [Pig-Iron TM & ©2007 DC Comics.] Captain Carrot? Are you Roy and Scott?” And we’re thinking, “This is the last place on Earth we expected to be recognized!” RT: Another of your contributions to the series was the Z Building, which was inspired by The Teen Titans having a building shaped like a T. The letter “Z,” of course, is the most impractical shape possible for a building, so it was wonderful to see that. SHAW: It was like the Baxter Building, in that it had a slope so they could take off in the Starhopper spaceship. One issue, I did like a cutaway view, showing all the different things in there. That was really fun.

RT: Shelton was amazed when we attended the same comics conclave in Spain a few years ago, and I told him I was a “Wonder Wart-Hog” fan, and both Dann and I were fans of “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.” Later I sent him a copy of Avengers #50 [1968], in which Hawkeye says, “We’re running so short of members I’m about ready to nominate Wonder Wart-Hog.” [mutual chuckling] Shelton was surprised anybody would mention Wonder Wart-Hog in a 1960s mainstream comic book. SHAW: I’ve always thought Gilbert may be the best master of comic timing in print for comedy, and he’s a major influence of mine. I was always surprised that he never wound up with a regular newspaper strip. RT: You can see Kurtzman and other people in his work, but he’s got his own style, too. “Freak Brothers” was brilliant, partly because he took the conventions of the Sunday comic strip and turned them into this head trip. You don’t seem to remember exactly how you took over writing the book. Of course, I know we had a bit of trouble over deadlines and things…

Birds Of A Feather RT: The last of the Zoo Crew to make it into print was Little Cheese. Too bad we never got a chance to also make him become Big Cheese, like the Ant-Man/Giant-Man thing. SHAW: That’s who our original extra character was, in the early version: Big Cheese. RT: And then you brought him in as Little Cheese,” who became our Atom surrogate. He added that seventh hero I always like in a group, since that’s how many members there were in the “Justice Society” when I read them in the ’40s. It also added a mouse. A mouse is always good in a funny-animal series. That was the story with Fat Cat, your takeoff on The Kingpin, right? SHAW: Yeah. Al Gordon was inking the book at that time, and either he was over at Bill Sienkiewicz’s studio or vice versa, and Sienkiewicz inked a few pages of it. RT: I look at the covers and I remember a couple of names I was proud of making up— but correct me if you really made them up—like Armordillo and Jailhouse Roc.

Dann Thomas in the late 1970s—clearly gazzing into the future, as she peers at one of Scott’s concept drawings of Whirlibird from 1981. Well, Whirlibird was colored a sort of magenta—and Dann’s a redhead. Neither art nor photo has ever before seen print. Photo by Nick Arroyo. [Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Seven For Stardom (Or A Reasonable Facsimile Thereof) Still more of Scott Shaw!’s previously unpublished concept drawings, which he drew and colored in 1981—featuring Rubberduck… Big Cheese (who didn’t make the initial cut)… Alley-Kat-Abra (again, an early spelling)… Pig-Iron… Fastback… Whirlibird (an also-ran)… and Yankee Poodle. [©2007 DC Comics.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

kidded me about how I fought to get you on the book, and then by the second issue we weren’t speaking to each other. But I don’t actually think we were ever not speaking. [laughs] But we did have deadline problems. SHAW: You were very frustrated, because I had the best of intentions, but I kept dropping the ball. RT: Well, I’ve dropped a few balls myself, from time to time. Luckily, we had other good artists who could spell you. Rick Hoberg wasn’t naturally a humor artist, but he picked up the ball very well. And Stan Goldberg was a natural, and there were a couple of other people. The artist I found the biggest disappointment, because I really wanted him to work out, was Mike Sekowsky. He never seemed to get the Zoo Crew’s proportions right. SHAW: You are absolutely right. RT: He’d make their bodies too long, so that they didn’t have the same builds as in your version. It was like he couldn’t follow a model sheet. SHAW: He was having his own problems at the time, and it was a disappointment, because he’d done so many great funny-animal things back for Timely. RT: Another guy who was good, although even cartoonier, was John Costanza, who was best known as a letterer but who was also an artist.

Say “Cheese!” Scott’s other 1981 concept drawing of Big Cheese, also previously unpublished. Of course, considering how the character eventually emerged, it’d be just as easy to rewrite the artist’s note to read: “Little Cheese’s transformation into a 3-inch shrimp”! [©2007 DC Comics.]

SHAW: I was more and more stumped by the deadlines. DC never said this in a memo or anything, but I remember being told that the expectation was that I make this just as detailed as possible. I think Dick [Giordano] mentioned that he thought it should look as much like George Pérez as possible. And I thought, “Gee, the stuff I’m doing now is as labor-intensive as I can possibly do.” I mean, I was throwing everything into them. RT: I don’t remember anybody mentioning any of that to me—and I was the book’s editor. Not that Dick had done, but sometimes there were secret agendas up at DC that occasionally worked against my DC titles, after Dick made me a long-distance editor. SHAW: Well, my big problem was—you treated me great, and this isn’t a complaint with you, but I remember that was the first time I’d had an experience that, quite honestly, at the big comic companies, they want guys that do super-heroes, and it was always assumed, somehow, I think, that doing humor was somehow easier or faster. And I remember they kept saying, “You get that next issue in on time and you’ll get a page rate raise.” And I was like, “Well... okay,” but it never seemed to come, and I was having to take on other work just to pay my bills. RT: Right, and that, of course, interfered with the deadlines some more. I understood why you were doing other work. At the same time, I had to get the books out, so I got caught in the middle on that. SHAW: Yeah, I was flaky, and I still regret that. RT: You were’nt flaky. You did fine work. You may have had trouble delivering it, but the work was good. Dick Giordano once

Lord Love A (Rubber) Duck! Since there’s only one more concept drawing done by Scott in 1981 that hasn’t hasn’t seen print before—here it is! Rubberduck—whom Roy wanted sometime to give a snooty English cousin named Lord Luvaduck. Even today, Roy (and probably Scott) finds himself unavoidably making up names for animal characters and thinking, “Boy, that’d go great in Captain Carrot!” He’s quietly proud of the fact that Millard Fillmore was President of the USA in Captain Carrot years before there was a newspaper strip of that name. [©2007 DC Comics.]

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

Malice In Wonderland The late E. Nelson Bridwell, as caricatured by Dave Manak for Amazing World of DC Comics #14 (March 1977), loved literature—and he was super-conversant with the twin subjects of The Oz-Wonderland War, which he plotted from Roy T.’s general concept. The Tenniel-inspired scene at left, superbly penciled and inked by Carol Lay, is just one of many highlights of that series. Dialogue by Joey Cavalieri. [©2007 DC Comics.]

SHAW: Yeah, he was great. RT: Ernie Chan drew one, too. We also had a couple of other writers. When I was looking for somebody to write the book, Jenette Kahn suggested Joey Cavalieri, and he did a good job. SHAW: He wrote some, and Jim Engel wrote a couple. RT: Yeah, another fine talent. Even though he’s an artist, he didn’t draw any “Captain Carrot” stories. SHAW: Jim, I always thought, was the best funny-animal cartoonist of my generation. It’s too bad more people don’t get to see his stuff, because he mainly works for companies designing premiums for fast food places.

From what he told me, the head of DC’s sales department argued with Dick because Dick wanted to salvage those six issues and put them out as a three-issue mini-series, an idea I came to like. He was told that such a double-size comic would have to sell a whole whopping 15,000 copies, I believe it was, to break even, and sales didn’t think it would do it… and Dick bet the sales head that it would sell a lot better than that. And it did—at least twice that amount—so Captain Carrot went out nicely in the black.

RT: Nelson Bridwell did some nice work, too, especially on plots. But gradually Captain Carrot sank. I tried to save it by bringing in The Changeling of The Teen Titans [laughs] as a guest star, and different things, but it was too little, too late. By then, I had come up with the idea of an “Oz-Wonderland War” as a several-issue story arc, sort-of a funnyanimal version of the “Kree-Skrull War”— but even though I was familiar with both Baum’s and Carroll’s work, I was too busy to research that concept the way I needed to if I were going to do it. So I got Nelson, who was very familiar with that stuff, to write it… and then Carol Lay became the artist, and eventually did a lot of the dialogue. That storyline was supposed to be six regular issues of Captain Carrot, then a six-issue mini-series after Captain Carrot was Dark Zoo Crew? canceled, but DC wound up combining Rick Hoberg (who drew himself in the above-right Johnny Quick-style mask for a bio in an early-’80s issue of them into three after they were drawn. I’ve All-Star Squadron) sent us the moody illustration directly above, and wrote: “This was a piece I did when I was associated with a couple of writers who wanted to pitch a new CC series to DC. When there got to be too told you the story about how Dick many cooks in that kitchen, my interest quickly waned and I ended up with a decent piece of art.” Thanks Giordano won his little bet with the Sales for sharing it, Rick—and for more of Rick’s art, readers should seek out Showcase Presents… Captain Carrot Department on that one. and His Amazing Zoo Crew! [Hoberg caricature ©2007 DC Comics; Zoo Crew TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

Shanda Had A Fantasy… If Mike and Carole Curtis’ Shanda Fantasy Arts had succeeded in licensing CC&HAZC from DC back in the ’90s, as they and Roy hoped, the first thing they’d have done, of course, would be to see if Scott Shaw! was interested in drawing it! If he hadn’t been, the three of them would’ve turned to other artists—and here are a pair of recent such drawings forwarded by Mike, especially for this issue. The one on the left is by Shawntae Howard—the one on the right by Charles Ettinger. Nice pics, guys! [Captain Carrot & His Amazing Zoo Crew! TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

Dick’s said to me since then that maybe DC should’ve had us do the Just’a Lotta Animals version instead of coming up with new characters. That would’ve eliminated any potential merchandising, because people licensing Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman or whoever would’ve objected to DC trying to license funny-animal versions of those heroes separately. But Dick feels maybe it would’ve sold better as a comic that way. Me, I dunno. But DC—and I don’t blame them—had merchandizing dollars in their eyes. You know, I don’t recall offhand whether or not we got money out of the TV option. Did we? SHAW: We got some money. I mean, honestly, it was considerable. I think I remember getting a check for a couple of thousand dollars. RT: DC was usually good about honoring a contract, often even just the spirit of a contract. My friend Phil Seuling used to say, many years ago, “If DC owes you $3 in royalties, they’ll track you down in a coal mine to give it to you.” SHAW: Well, I’ll never forget that money, because it came at a time when I really needed it. It was like an old serial where the cavalry showed up unexpectedly. RT: It could’ve made a lot of difference if Captain Carrot had become a TV show. But, once the book died, DC didn’t use the characters for decades, and they wouldn’t let anybody else use them, either. Maybe a decade ago, Shanda Fantasy Arts, this small funnyanimal comics company, wanted to license Captain Carrot for me to write, and maybe for you to draw, but Mike Curtis, who runs Shanda with his wife Carole, told me that DC wouldn’t even talk to him about a deal. He, like me, was told those characters were never coming back, period. I suppose this is the point where the transcriber should write “[rueful chuckle].” SHAW: With a lot of big companies, it’s kind-of like, “We don’t want to use it; but if we let you use it, then you might make some money and we could have made a lot more.” It’s this alternative thinking that binds their hands. RT: Yeah, but except for that—and, of course, for my not being allowed to

write the current series, something I won’t even pretend that I accept graciously—I had a pretty good experience with DC on Captain Carrot. You inked a lot of the series, but then Al Gordon came in. How did he get involved? SHAW: I don’t remember how we wound up with Al. But, quite honestly, I think he was the best inker I ever had. He gave everything a nice solidity and a precision. I remember he suggested we do those “Fact Files,” which were very much like the pin-ups in the first Fantastic Four Annual. I don’t know if you want to run this, but I swiped the pose from the Hulk for the Pig-Iron one, because that drawing has always been my all-time favorite drawing Jack did of the Hulk. The one where the Hulk’s kind-of holding his hands up, and the Hulk has this lower jaw—he almost has tusks! I felt, “Well, jeez, I love that drawing. I’m just going to do my version of it.” I didn’t actually swipe it— RT: Yeah, sure! SHAW: —but I’ve always thought that was such a great Hulk drawing. RT: Did you keep any of the original art from the series? SHAW: I’ve got a lot of it. My friend David Hedgecock is scanning a lot of it for the issue. RT: All I’ve got now is a page or two of Carol Lay’s from The OzWonderland War, and a page from Captain Carrot #2 penciled by Alfredo and inked by you… the one where he takes the elevator up

Captain Carrot By “Kez” One of CC’s very few appearances in the past two decades occurred in this “comic strip daily” by Kevin S. Wilson, which appeared on the comics page of a “Special Invasion Edition” of the Daily Planet, printed in Nov. 1988 in conjunction with one of DC’s maxi-series. [©2007 DC Comics.]

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

and gets his cape stuck in the elevator door. That’s a favorite page of mine. SHAW: I think I’ve got all the covers. I never sold any of them. The one thing I did that I don’t know whatever happened to it was the “Flash of Two Worlds” takeoff. I don’t know if that ever ran. RT: It was printed—but maybe somebody “liberated” the original art. SHAW: Well, it’s not like that hasn’t happened a million times. RT: Sorry I messed up our original interview by not having the tape recorder working last week. I’m not too mechanically inclined. To me, a wheelbarrow is complicated machinery. [laughs]

SHAW: Me, too. I always tell [my wife] Judy, “How come I can handle things in two dimensions just fine—but when it’s in three dimensions, I can screw up the simplest things?” RT: Yeah, we’re great at doing Galactus-type battles, but opening a can of soup is something else again. SHAW: One time, I tried to put a door-closer on my kitchen door. The big selling point was, “You only need a screwdriver to install it.” And by the time we were done, we had to call somebody else to replace all the molding on the door. [Roy laughs] I’d completely torn everything apart. RT: Maybe it’s a good thing we can do comic books. [mutual laughter] Well, thanks very much, Scott.

Addendum:

Rascally Roy, Captain Carrot, And Me! by Scott Shaw! In this issue of Alter Ego—one of my favorite publications of any type, by the way—Roy “Ye Editor” Thomas and I discuss how DC’s Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! first came to be, over 25 years ago. But my friendship with Rascally Roy began long before that.

What’s Doin’ At The UN When, after he’d drawn pages 1-4, circumstances forced Scott Shaw! to turn over the penciling of the remainder of CC&HAZC #15 to Rick Hoberg, Scott had already penciled his own pp. 5 & 6, which for some reason weren’t used and have never been published till now. Odd, too, because these pages, showing the Zoo Crew and Just’a Lotta Animals storming the United Natures Building, could very easily be sandwiched in between the published p. 4 and p. 5. Apparently Scott had already written dialogue and captions for the page, as well. But, because he generously gifted them to Roy some years back, we can at least savor them here! Too bad they weren’t finished and shoehorned into the Showcase volume! [©2007 DC Comics.]

“Not Just Another Funny-Animal Comic!”

It’s Always Fair Weather… Scott and Roy worked together on several other projects both before and after Captain Carrot, though, regretfully, none of them ever quite got off the ground. Here’s some sensational Shaw! art from three of them: (a) In 1979, Dann (then still legally named Danette) came up with the notion of The Barx Brothers, a funny-animal version of the Marx Brothers—and Scott, who was already a friend of the not-yet-married couple, worked up these two concept drawings. But reality quickly seeped in and made the trio realize that the estates of the various Marx siblings might take umbrage at such a feature. Well, thanks to Scott, Roy and Dann have these nice drawings to remember the idea by, anyway! [Art ©2007 Scott Shaw!]

(b) In 1980 Roy was asked by someone representing the licensing of the film The Secret Life of Plants to develop a newspaper comic strip with that name—and immediately involved Scott as artist. Though Roy (along with Danette and sometimes Scott) scripted many of the samples, this Sunday, entirely conceived and executed by Scott, is Ye Editor’s favorite—and Scott generously gave it to the Thomases. After the film flopped, they revamped the strip under the name of Renfield, the feature’s Venus flytrap, but though it garnered a smidgen of interest here and there, it never quite sold. [Art ©2007 Scott Shaw!]

(c) Sometime in the 1990s, Roy’s agent told him that Tribune Media Services had spoken with him about seeking a new writing-and-art team for its popular daily strip Animal Crackers… so Roy and Scott gave it a shot. These two dailies are from the several weeks’ worth of samples they did— before the agent was told the syndicate had changed its mind and didn’t need a new writer and artist after all. Some folks are very generous with other people’s time… but again, it’s nice to have the work to look at! [Animal Crackers TM & ©2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc., or successors in interest.]

A Conversation Between Scott Shaw! and Roy Thomas

networking years before the term was coined. After all, who loves comic books more than cartoonists? Well, I did befriend a number of H-B staffers, but I also had a number of experienced pros from the comic book industry as regular customers. These included Bob Kane (one of the few cartoonists whose personality impressed me in a negative manner), Steve Gerber (for whom I’d eventually contribute to his fund-raising Destroyer Duck #1), and an affable, talkative Midwestern fellow by the name of Roy Thomas.

Although I was born in Queens, New York, in 1951, my family soon moved to San Diego, California, since my father—a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941—was an officer in the US Navy. Growing up in San Diego in the 1950s and 1960s made for a wonderful childhood—especially since every one of the naval bases there had a fully stocked comic book rack! In the late 1960s, I was part of a group of comic book fans and aspiring cartoonists (including John “Garbage Pail Kids” Pound) who put together the very first San Diego Comic-Con. It was at one of these that I first met Roy Thomas, although I doubt if Roy remembers it; after all, it was fairly soon after Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian was first published (cover-dated Oct. 1970), thanks to Roy’s efforts. Although the esteemed Mr. Thomas was already the hottest writer at “The House Of Ideas,” everyone with a spare 15¢ in their jeans was talking about this new funnybook of his, and therefore, nearly everyone in attendance was seeking a moment or two with Roy, including Yours Truly. [NOTE: Roy suspects it was the 1972 San Diego Comic-Con, the first he attended.] The second time I met Roy was after I’d moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in the hopes of establishing myself a career as a professional cartoonist. I’d already written and drawn a number of stories for the “underground comix” (note the “x,” although very few if any of my subterranean tales were X-rated), but I was hoping to crack into mainstream comics, animation, or both. To do so, I took a job as manager of the Studio City branch of the American Comic Book Company, owned by my friends Terry Stroud and David T. Alexander. I even set up an art studio in one of the store’s back rooms, where I’d work on my cartooning after hours. Since the shop was only a few miles from Hanna-Barbera Productions—whose cartoons of the late 1950s and early 1960s were a major inspiration to me to become a cartoonist back when I was a kid—I reasoned that it was likely that some of their staff artists would visit the store… and voila—I’d be

Roy lived nearby and was a regular visitor to the funnybook store on Ventura Blvd., and seemed surprisingly interested in my fledgling efforts in Mike Friedrich’s then-current Quack!, an all-funny-animal “ground level” comic (as opposed to “underground”) that was intended to exploit the recent wild popularity of Gerber’s Howard the Duck. Since Roy was editor of Marvel’s new alternate-universe comic, What If?, he eventually—and, to me, startlingly— suggested that I work up a concept for a humorous funny-animal back-up story for the book. Before long, his generosity and my cartoonery bore fruit in the form of an 8-page tale “What If the Spider Had Been Bitten By a Radioactive Human?”—colored by Carl Gafford, lettered by Carol “Story Minute” Lay, and with last-minute inking assists by Dave “The Rocketeer” Stevens, Ms. Lay (credited as “The Dawn Patrol”), and Mr. Gafford—in the pages of What If? #8 (April 1978). (Surprisingly, that issue remains something of a collector’s item, due to the legendary Dave Stevens’ participation in inking my story, which has been reprinted more than once in trade paperback collections,) And, although my “Man-Spider” story didn’t exactly set the comics world on fire, its unusual approach did garner some favorable attention, as well as strengthening Roy’s and my friendship. We began to collaborate on a variety of development “pitches,” including a comic strip based on the feature film The Secret Life of Plants (a popular documentary shot with time-lapse photography by my Crawford High School pal Louis Schwartzberg) and The Barx Brothers (a concept for an animated cartoon series based on canine versions of Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx). I even drew the invitation for Dann and Roy’s 1981 wedding outside the Griffith Observatory high above LA’s Griffith Park (see A/E #58). And eventually—as no surprise to anyone perusing this issue—we co-created an odd little funny-animal series for DC Comics titled Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! The details of that anthropomorphic comic’s genesis are recounted a few pages back, but possibly the most pleasurable aspect of our collaboration was the evenings Roy, Dann, and I spent together plotting stories over her delicious spaghetti dinners. I’ll always be grateful to Roy for bringing this rank amateur to DC’s attention and risking his reputation for nurturing promising talent with my relatively untested abilities. Although my career in the funnybook field has nearly hit the 40-year mark, I’ve never been a “hot property” in the comic biz— which is probably why I’ve never “cooled off”—but if anything ever “put me on the map,” however briefly, it was Captain Carrot—and I owe that almost entirely to Roy. I may never be able to pay him back for the many kindnesses he’s extended to me, but I certainly try to “pay it forward” whenever I can help out a talented newcomer, just as he did for me. Thanks, Roy. They may call you “Rascally,” but to me, you’ll always be “Respected.”

Pens And Nadles Golden Age Humor-Mongers LARRY & MARTIN NADLE

by Ken Nadle

cerry Bails, late founder of Alter Ego and the world’s #1 JSA fan, would have loved to read the following article! Ken Nadle, a photographer by trade, is the son of Larry Nadle, who was editor of DC’s humor comics (both human and funnyanimal variety) from the mid-1940s through the early 1960s—and the nephew of Martin Nadle (who also spelled his name “Naydel”), artist both of DC humor and of the “Flash” and “Justice Society of America” series during the mid-’40s. When I established contact with him online, I invited him to write a memoir of his father and uncle for A/E, and I’m delighted that he accepted my offer. All photos were sent to us by Ken; two of them, as noted, were forwarded by him from Martin’s son, Jeff Dell. —Roy. When I was seven, my father, Larry Nadle, showed me a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer strip (he was the ghost writer for Robert L May, and Rube Grossman did the art) in which Santa yells from his sleigh, “Hurry, Rudolph, we’ve got to get this present to Kenny’s house!” I was that Kenny. But I didn’t really understand what my father did for a living until he took me to visit his office. It was sometime in the early 1950s, and National Periodicals [DC Comics] had just moved from 480 to 575 Lexington Avenue. I must have been nine or ten at the time. This is one of the earliest memories I have of him in connection with his work as an editor of comic books. He was born Lawrence Malcolm Nadle in Manhattan on Sept. 29, 1913, the middle son of three. His older brother by two years was Martin, and his younger brother by two years was Henry. They had one sister, Jean, but this story is really about the three brothers, and in particular, about Larry. Larry distinguished himself as being a good writer

when he was just nine. He won a story-writing contest and had his picture in the newspaper. He never went to college. Instead, he teamed up with his best friend, Jack Arnold (who later directed the movies The Mouse That Roared and The Creature from the Black Lagoon), and they performed an acrobatic/tap dance/comic routine in vaudeville. I think Larry was embarrassed about not having gone to college, but he shouldn’t have been. He could spell any word in the dictionary. When we went riding in our car, he would often point out misspelled words on storefronts. He wrote everything in capital letters, and every Sunday would finish the New York Times puzzle with his black ballpoint pen in less than an hour. Sometimes, as a game, I would sit with a dictionary in my lap and randomly pick some fancy words for him to spell—and sure enough, he’d get them right. He married very young. My mother was sixteen, he was eighteen. They eloped, and when they returned from their honeymoon, she went back to stay with her mother and he returned home to his parents house. The need to get a place of their own may have been his motivation to get a job outside of show business. His father Joseph was a children’s clothing buyer, and my father became a buyer of men’s clothing.

A Family Affair (Left:) The Nadles in the family car—a photo taken circa 1914 depicting (l. to r.) Joseph (father), Martin (brother), Anna (mother), & Larry. Below: the splash of the “McSnurtle the Turtle – The Terrific Whatzit” story from Funny Stuff #9 (May 1946), as edited by Larry and drawn by Martin. [Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

Golden Age Humor-Mongers Larry & Martin Nadle

The Nadle Brothers And Their Four-Footed Friends (Above, left to right:) Henry, Martin, & Larry, on ponyback, c. 1916… and (at left) the cover of the 1950 edition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the first issue). This once-a-year DC comic book is probably the Rudolph “strip” of which Ken Nadle writes, and was scripted by his father Larry. Art probably by Rube Grossman. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

my mother, cruel to Larry. I tell this as something my mother told me, but having two brothers myself, I understand how such things happen. One example was the time Martin tricked Larry into going out onto the roof of their apartment building without a coat in a snowstorm and then locked the door. A neighbor finally heard Larry’s shouts and let him back in. Another time, they were climbing up the fire escape and Martin, who was in the lead, tried to close their apartment window before Larry could get in. In his haste not to let this happen, Larry lost his balance and fell several stories, luckily hitting the first floor fire escape, which broke his fall, and he ended up

Soon after I was born in 1943, his job relocated us to Louisville, Kentucky. We lasted a year down there. Back in New York City, my father started to write and edit the clothing industry’s union newspaper, and I guess it was this work that led him to take writing seriously. My uncle Martin was also young when he displayed his talent for drawing. He was also, as I have been told, a temperamental artist. Once, when he was doing a drawing in his parents’ apartment, he made a mistake and, in anger, smashed a bottle of India ink against the white living room wall. He was, according to

Stop, Look, And Listen Martin Nadle and his cover for the sleeve of the 1941 Listen-Look Picture Book recording “The Three Little Pigs.” There was at least one other record in the series, “Little Black Sambo.” Thanks to Martin’s son Jeff Dell for the photo. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

“The American Sherlock Holmes” Martin Nadle earned a real place in comic book history as the writer and artist of The Adventures of Detective Ace King, the 1933 one-shot which became one of the earliest comic books, period—as well as one of the earliest devoted to a single subject, namely a detective. It and another 1933 one-shot, Detective Dan, beat DC’s Detective Comics out of the starting gate by four years! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Pens And Nadles

Nadle Observatory A potpourri of Martin Nadle/Naydel’s comic book artwork. (Clockwise from above left:) The “McSnurtle the Turtle/Terrific Whatzit” splash page from Funny Stuff #7 (Winter 1945)… the “Flash” splash from Comic Cavalcade #11 (Summer 1945)… a “Flag Facts” half-page filler from All-Star Comics #50 (Dec. 1949-Jan. 1950)… a “Pencils the Clown” half-pager from All-Star #53 (July-July 1950)… and a montage of the Comicode daily panel he tried unsuccessfully to syndicate as “Martin Dell.” Thanks to Jeff Dell for the Comicode art, and to Jeff Kapalka for the “Whatzit” splash. The scribe of the 15 “McSnurtle the Turtle” stories is unknown, but may well have been Naydel himself, since he seems to have scripted Detective Ace King in 1933. Note that, on the “Flash” story, though writing co-creator Gardner Fox’s name remained on the feature (whether or not he wrote this particular entry), the name of longtime artist E.E. Hibbard has been removed. For Naydel’s mid-1940s “Justice Society” art, including several “Flash” chapters, see The All-Star Companion, Vol. 1-2, still on sale from TwoMorrows… and, of course, DC’s All Star Archives, Vol. 6 & 7. [McSnurtle, Flash, Flag Facts, and Pencils the Clown ©2007 DC Comics; Comicode ©2007 Estate of Martin Nadle.]

Golden Age Humor-Mongers Larry & Martin Nadle

Everybody Wants To Get Into The Act! Henry Nadle, striking a Durante-esque pose in a photo inscribed to Larry and Sylvia Nadle—and a DC house ad for the first issue of The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (July-Aug. 1952). So how come we placed these two images together? See the text! Artist uncertain—but collector Bob Hughes suspects it may be Howie Post. [Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

unconscious on the concrete courtyard below. My grandfather carried him to a hospital in his arms. Miraculously, no bones were broken. But it was also Martin who opened the door for Larry to get some writing assignments with King Features Syndicate. At the time, Martin was working for them using the name Martin Naydell. [NOTE: Ken admits the latter spelling may have been “Naydel,” as he sometimes wrote it at DC. —Roy.] Martin was very clever, a good artist, and had a forceful personality. The earliest of Martin’s work that I know of is Adventures of Detective Ace King in 1933. At DC his contributions as a penciler and cover artist go back to 1940, maybe earlier. He was the major artist for All-Flash in 1944-46, also drew “The Flash” in Comic Cavalcade, developed a character known as “McSnurtle the Turtle,” and contributed to various issues of Detective Comics, Adventure Comics, and “The Justice Society” [All-Star Comics]. Some other series for which he did art include “Everything Happens to Harry,” “Ol’ Judge Owl,” “Play Army,” and “Slam Bradley.” Later, using the name Martin Dell, he created the Jumble word puzzle game featured in The New York Daily News. After my father died at the age of 50 in 1963, Martin came to our house once for dinner, and that was the last time I saw him. He told me that when his contract with the Daily News had expired, they kept running Jumble, using a ghost. At the time of Martin’s death, I believe in 1965, he was suing the Daily News over their theft of his creation.

Henry, the youngest brother, found his gift was as a singer and a comedian. His stage name was Henny Naydell, and he often performed in the so-called Borscht Belt, but reached the peak of his career with an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show as a nervous Soviet cosmonaut eating his last meal before going into orbit. He was also on The Jackie Gleason Show a few times and was making somewhat of a comeback— he had lost his cabaret license for some reason, but now was able to perform again in New York. Walter Winchell wrote about it in his column, claiming Henry was so down on his luck he had to borrow money to buy a pickle, which was an important prop in his act. He appeared once again in Winchell’s column when he had an untimely death by heart attack in front of the Stage Deli. I met Henry only once or twice, when I was a teen. He had never married, and whenever he was mentioned at the dinner table, it was always some bad luck story involving him. Larry wrote comedy routines for him and helped support him financially. According to Walter Winchell, Henry would hang out at the Stage Deli or the Stork Club in the hopes that he would run into some “show business” friends like Jackie Gleason or Rodney Dangerfield who might be able to spare a few bucks. The oddest and, if it’s true, saddest story I ever heard about Henry is that when he was up and coming, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis approached him to see if he wanted to team up with them, and he turned them down. This is, of course, Nadle family lore, and there is no one left except Jerry Lewis who could verify it.

Pens And Nadles

And Later, Nutsy Almost Became Super-Squirrel! (Above:) Larry Nadle talking to an unidentified DC staffer who’s proofing “Superboy” pages—date unknown. (Left:) Correct us if we’re wrong, but it seems likely that, after he came aboard in 1944, Larry N. took over editorship (at least under Shelly Mayer, through 1948) of all the humor titles published first by M.C. Gaines’ All-American Comics group—and, after AA was fully purchased by DC in ’45, of the parent company’s humor titles, as well. Two of the comics shown in this house ad—Comic Cavalcade and Leading Comics—had originally been vehicles for super-heroes, but the times, they were a-changing! The ad appeared in A Date with Judy #24 (Aug.-Sept. 1951). [©2007 DC Comics.]

Henry was the first brother to die. He was 49. Larry was next at 50. I think Martin died at around age 54. They all died of heart attacks, and they all were very heavy smokers. Larry smoked at least two packs of Benson and Hedges a day. Considering that he had had an earlier heart attack at 35, smoking so much was like a slow suicide, but he never gave them up. His only other vice that I know about was his fondness for betting on the horses. He told me once that, when he died, he wanted me to scatter his ashes on every racetrack in America. This never happened, because my mother had him buried. Gambling may have sometimes gotten him into

Some Early “Teen Titans” Larry Nadle (in a Polaroid photo taken by son Ken) is generally credited with editing Scribbly (the creation of his editorial predecessor Sheldon Mayer), and may have also edited Leave It to Binky (another Mayer co-creation, with art by Bob Oksner) and A Date with Judy, based on a popular teenagecomedy series on radio. This house ad appeared in Buzzy #26 (July-Aug. 1949)—another teen-humor title Nadle may have edited! [©2007 DC Comics.]

Golden Age Humor-Mongers Larry & Martin Nadle

If You Want Something Done, Give It To A Busy Person (Above:) Larry Nadle, on the far right, talks to students from the High School of Industrial Arts, who’re sitting beneath the famed H. Ward painting of Superman that hung in DC’s editorial offices for years. Nadle was on the school’s advisory board. (Right:) Whether it was LN or fellow DC editor Jack Schiff (or both) who spearheaded it, Peter Porkchops (the future Pig-Iron) and his friend Wolfie headlined this “public service” page in A Date with Judy #24. [©2007 DC Comics.]

financial trouble. It’s possible that at times these situations challenged his ethics. It wasn’t unheard of in those days for an editor to seek a kickback, and some of Larry’s contemporaries remember him doing so on occasion. After his death, stories were told connecting Larry to double-billing improprieties—stories I did not learn of until recently and have no means to evaluate. I don’t believe anyone who knew Larry would describe him as dishonest. Larry was an idea man. Besides the comics he edited and wrote, he had big ideas for many things. At the time of his death, he was cowriting a Broadway show with [former comics writer/artist] Kin Platt. He was also working on a new comic strip called Little Crissy Tree about a Christmas tree that could talk. I think this was intended to be an advertising theme for some product. He wanted to manufacture vitamins in a lollipop called Vita-Pops. He was going to bring out coffee in teabags. He thought one-piece suits would be a big new trend in clothing for men and had even considered opening his own clothing store. He wrote TV ads for Tootsie Rolls. I remember that, when he returned from a tour of the Tootsie Roll plant to see how they were made, his first words upon entering the house were “Don’t ever eat a Tootsie Roll!” It seems to me that he was quite prolific. I remember writing a piece about George Washington for him (I was just sixteen). It was to be used in an encyclopedia to which he was submitting material. He never asked me to write anything else, so maybe what I submitted wasn’t that good. The point is that he was a very busy guy. It wasn’t until the last few years of his life that his name started to appear as the editor in each edition. Before that, it always read “Whitney Ellsworth, Editor,” because Ellsworth was the overall editor of the DC line, but even then my father was the actual editor. I believe he was the editor of all the DC humor titles, and on occasion of a romance title, as well. Despite his involvement with as many as 21 comics a month, when

his friend Sol Harrison (DC production manager) asked him to be the Vice President of the Brain Injured Children’s Association, he found the time. When he was asked to be on the advisory board of the High School of Industrial Arts, he found the time. When he was asked to direct a local production of Guys and Dolls, he found the time. It wasn’t that he was a type-A personality; he just was able to get things done without a lot of forethought or over-analysis. He would just sit down and start putting the words in all-caps down on white unlined paper, and there would never be cross-outs or trial versions. Larry also had a hand in many of the “celebrity” comics at DC, including The Adventures of Bob Hope, Sgt. Bilko, Private Doberman, Dobie Gillis, The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis—and, after the latter’s breakup, The Adventures of Jerry Lewis—and Ozzie and Harriet. He also did the Pat Boone comic book and was disappointed when his suggestion that they include in each issue a section depicting various dance steps was rejected by Pat Boone for religious reasons. Years later, seeing Pat Boone dancing on TV, I remember thinking, “What a hypocrite.” With Bob Oksner as artist, Larry wrote the syndicated newspaper strip I Love Lucy under the name Bob Lawrence. Just recently, I found out that he had developed a character for the DC comic I Spy called “Yankee Doodle, Master of Disguise.” But if there was one thing he did that most impressed me, it was ghosting the syndicated strip Nero Wolfe. The creator of the famous detective character was also impressed. I have a letter from Rex Stout to my father stating, “Today I received the text for the 6th, 7th, and 8th weeks of the third daily sequence, have read and enjoyed it…”

Pens And Nadles

From Wolfie To Wolfe—Nero, That Is! Larry Nadle may or may not have written the above Nero Wolfe daily from Nov. 21, 1957, but a letter from the popular detective’s creator, famed mysterywriter Rex Stout, which was dated Feb. 20, 1957, indicates that Nadle had become scripter of the feature by early that year. The “Herron” in the signature box is France “Ed” Herron, who is generally credited with writing the strip during 1955-56; but whether he was actually still scribing it in late ’57 is not known; Arthur Lortie tells us John Broome also wrote the strip under that byline. Art by James O. Christiansen. Thanks to Arthur Lortie for both scan and info. [©2007 Columbia Features, Inc., or its successors in interest.]

The following two Checklists are adapted from information appearing in the online Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1928-1999), originated by Jerry G. Bails. See next page for information on how to access this invaluable website. Names of features which appeared both in books with that title and also in other magazines are generally not italicized below. Some of the information below was provided by Ken Nadle. Key: (ed) = editor; (w) = writer; (a) = full art; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only; (d) = daily newspaper comic strip or panel; (S) = Sunday newspaper strip or panel.

LARRY NADLE Checklist

Name: Lawrence (Larry) Nadle (19131963) (editor, writer) Family In Arts: brother Martin Nadle (comic book artist & writer); brother Henry Nadle (singer, comedian); son Ken Nadle (photographer) Syndication: I Love Lucy (d) (w) 1952-55 for King Features Syndicate (as “Bob Lawrence,” which may have been intended as a pen name for both Nadle and artist Bob Oksner); Nero Wolfe (w) (dates unknown) COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Publishers): [NOTE: Larry Nadle was the editor of all the following:] DC Comics (Including All-American):

The Adventures of Bob Hope 1950-c. 1964; The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis 195257; The Adventures of Jerry Lewis 1957-c. 1963; Comic Cavalcade 1946-54; Flippity and Flop 195160; The Fox and the Crow 1951-c. 1963; Funny Folks 1946-56; Funny Stuff 1944-54; Girls’ Love Stories (also w) 1963 (other?); Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners 1956-58; Leave It to Binky 1948-58; The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (also w) 1960-64; Nutsy Squirrel 1956-57; Pat Boone (also w) 1959-60; Peter Porkchops 1949-60; Real Screen Comics 1944-1960?; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 1950-62; Scribbly 1948-51; Sugar and Spike 1956-c. 1963; Three Mouseketeers 1956-60; et al. [NOTE: It is likely that Nadle also edited most if not all of DC’s other humor titles, of both the human and funny-animal variety, between the mid-1940s and the mid-1960s.]

They Loved Lucy—Just Like Everybody Did Writer Larry Nadle watches as Bob Oksner draws their comic strip version of the super-popular I Love Lucy TV series, which of course starred Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz. The byline on the feature was “Bob Lawrence,” which Oksner considered as intended to be a joint pseudonym for the two of them. For more, see Jim Amash’s Bob Oksner interview in Alter Ego #67. Below is the daily for April 20, 1954. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Golden Age Humor-Mongers Larry & Martin Nadle

MARTIN NADLE (a.k.a. NAYDEL) Checklist Name: Martin Nadle (c. 1911 – c. 1965) (writer; artist) Pen Names: Martin Naydel; Martin Dell, “mn,” possibly Martin Naydell Family in Arts: See entry in Larry Nadle Checklist Influences: Sam Loyd, great puzzlemaker at turn of 20th century Member: National Cartoonists Society Syndication: Jumble [puzzle] (d)(S) (w)(a) 1954-c. 1950; Pogo and Penny [puzzle feature] (w)(a) King Features Syndicate 1954-c. 1950 Comics in Other Media: Kiddies Heaven [puzzle feature] New York Evening Graphic (dates unknown); Noodleteaser Family (w)(a) [puzzle feature] New York Post (dates unknown); Jumble (w)(a) 1955 collection of the scrambled word game COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Publishers): [NOTE: M. Nadle was generally the letterer of material he drew.] DC Comics: covers (a) 1944-51; Everything Happens to Harry (a); fillers 1940s-1950s; The Flash (a) 1943-48; Green Lantern (asst a) 194546; Justice Society of America (a) 1945-47; McSnurtle the Turtle (a) 194446; Money Stuff (w)(a) filler 1954; Ol’ Judge Owl (w)(a) filler 1944-46; Play Army (a) filler 1955; Play Rover (w)(a) filler 1954; Quizzlers (w)(a) filler 1954; Slam Bradley (a) 1944; Winky, Blinky, and Noddy (i) 1947 Humor Publishing: The Adventures of Detective Ace King (w)(a) 1933 (original comic book) Parents’ Magazine Press: True Comics (a) 1941

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books (1928-1999) FREE – online searchable database – FREE http://www.bailsprojects.com No password required

A quarter of a million records, covering the careers of people who have contributed to original comic books in the US.

Super-Heroes And Stooges Martin Nadle/Naydel (top center), and a “Flash” splash page from Comic Cavalcade #12 (Fall 1945) which showcased both his humorous and super-hero work. It features both the “Fastest Man Alive!!” and his buddies Winky, Blinky, and Noddy, the Three Dimwits, who were DC’s answer to Moe, Larry, and Curly. By now, original writer Gardner Fox’s name has been dropped from the masthead. Photo courtesy of Jeff Dell. [Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

Monthly! The Original First-Person History!

Write to: Robin Snyder, 3745 Canterbury Lane #81, Bellingham, WA 98225-1186

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary” DICK ROCKWELL On Being The 36-Year Ghost Of The Great Milt Caniff Interview Conducted by Jim Amash

he late Dick Rockwell, whom I interviewed in December 2004, has two of the most interesting claims to fame a former comic book artist can have. He was the nephew of the great Norman Rockwell, whose Saturday Evening Post covers were among the most important reflections of 20th-century life. He was also the long-time assistant to the legendary Milton Caniff on the Steve Canyon newspaper strip. He spent a few years in the comic book field, both before and after the Canyon years; and, while he doesn’t remember a lot about those particular times, you’ll find his observations about Caniff—who was one of the most influential artists comic books ever had—particularly fascinating and revealing. Special thanks to Scott LeMien for putting me in touch with Dick Rockwell—Scott did all of us a very great favor. —Jim.

“I Just Always Knew I Was Going To Be An Artist” JIM AMASH: When and where were you born? DICK ROCKWELL: I was born in Mamaroneck, New York, on December 11, 1920. My father was somewhat of an artist, a model builder, and so forth. My uncle was Norman Rockwell, and the house, of course, always had Norman’s paintings. And I could draw and took a great interest

Maybe Crime Doesn’t Pay—But Comics Do! Dick Rockwell (ab0ve) with one of his court sketches—juxtaposed with images from the two comics-related phases of his career: a comic book splash page done for the legendary Charles Biro, for Crime Does Not Pay #121 (April 1953)… and the Steve Canyon comic strip daily for July 26, 1957. Thanks to Mark Evanier’s newfromme.com website for the photo, and to Mike Catron for the art. [CDNP page ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Steve Canyon strip ©2007 Field Enterprises, Inc., or its successors in interest.]

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

in it. My father did a lot of drawing, and, after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, became a toy designer and designed educational toys for preschool kids. In school, I drew for the school papers and things like that. I just always knew I was going to be an artist. As a matter of fact, after the war [World War II], I went to Pratt Institute, but, after about a year and a half there, I had to get out. We had the first child of our marriage, and I had to begin to make some money, although I was the super of an apartment house, so I had a free apartment in Brooklyn. So I had all these full-color painted illustrations, and I was out in the countryside, looking for opportunities—and the first opportunity that came up was comic books. And I met this one guy in mid-Manhattan, and he sent me to Stan Lee. JA: The date I have for you starting comics is 1949. Would that be right? ROCKWELL: Either that or 1948. The feature was “Blaze Carson, Sheriff of the West.” The problem is that the comic book days didn’t last that long. It was ’48 to ’52. Then I started on working with Milton Caniff on Steve Canyon. But I did some comics off and on through that period, and then the second big thing I did for myself was courtroom illustration.

JA: Did you see much of Norman Rockwell, growing up? ROCKWELL: Not a great deal, because we lived in Rye, New York, until the Crash in ’29. Right after the Crash, because of the expenses and everything, my father elected to move to Rochester, NY, where he was going to try to continue to be a bond salesman, though his business in Wall Street was completely gone. After a very brief period in Rochester, probably a year and a half, he had made contact with an outfit in Kane, Pennsylvania. Kane was kind of an industrial town and had this woodworking plant, which became the whole Gate Toy Company. My father designed the toys. So we moved away from Norman, who had moved by this time to Arlington, Vermont. And then Norman moved down to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so we were almost a thousand miles apart all the time. But I did see him on occasions and, of course, when I returned from the war, the first thing I did was—I was still in uniform—visit him in his studio. JA: So then he really wasn’t an influence on you when you were young. It sounds like your father might have been more of an artistic influence. ROCKWELL: Well, the influence was, I sold Saturday Evening Posts when I was a little kid to the neighborhood. I remember when the Post cost 20¢. Norman was a member of the family, and we had these genuine oil paintings on the wall. I admired the work and studied it, and sort-of knew every painting he made. So he was my education, and the figure drawing, and the empathy... which is something you understand—that, when you’re drawing people in action, you assume the action yourself, mentally, in a physical way. You can see that in Norman’s paintings; the tension in the bodies, for instance.

“I Was In The Normandy Invasion” JA: What branch of the service were you in? ROCKWELL: I was in the Army Air Corps, and I learned to fly down in Lubbock, Texas. Primary school was Sikeston, Missouri, and Basic Training was in Independence, Kansas, and Lubbock, Texas, was where I graduated. I became a pilot in the Troup Carrier Command, C-47s; we dropped paratroopers, and towed ladders, and that sort of thing. And I was in the Normandy Invasion. JA: At the initial landing on D-Day [June 6, 1944]? ROCKWELL: Yes, although my first flight was not at midnight, but in the morning. We crossed over. In the morning daylight, you could see the whole action of the Normandy coast there. You know, left to right, bombs and all that stuff. I think our first mission was paratroops. We dropped the paratroopers, and then, the second mission, we towed in gliders and so forth. JA: How long were you in the service? ROCKWELL: Early ’42 ‘till ’45. And then I think I started at Pratt Institute in January of ’46. I was a First Lieutenant when I was discharged. JA: And you were happy to get out, I’m sure. [mutual laughter]

Over Land… Over Sea… Though Dick Rockwell was a member of what Tom Brokaw has christened “The Greatest Generation,” and even took part in the D-Day invasion of July 1944, he did not draw stories set in that era until the ’80s, when he illustrated this Mark Evanier-scripted back-up story in Blackhawk #260 (July 1983). Thanks to Bob Bailey. [©2007 DC Comics.]

ROCKWELL: Oh, yeah. I was thrilled, because I went to Norman and he said, “Well, everybody is sending their kids to Pratt Institute.” So I went to Pratt Institute, and I remember Mr. Boudreau, who was the chairman of the Illustration Department, announced to the auditorium that [dramatically] “even Norman Rockwell is sending his nephew to this school.” [mutual laughter] As I melted into the seat.

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

“I Was Recommended To Stan Lee” JA: So you went to Timely Comics. Did you have an appointment with Stan in advance? ROCKWELL: Yes. I was recommended to Stan Lee by… oh, I can’t remember… by someone I had gone to see, an art director who said he knew a guy that I would want to see, and who gave me Stan’s name. Stan immediately put me in the Bullpen with the rest of the guys for about two months; and then, because they needed the space, they said that anybody who wanted to work at home could do that and still get a weekly check. JA: Do you remember how much you got paid as a staffer? ROCKWELL: I don’t know, but it seemed the cost of things was very—[laughs] well, I know we had a duplex apartment in St. James Place in Brooklyn. When I went down to get the job with Stan Lee, I called home to announce that I had the job. My first wife Ellen immediately announced that we were going to take an apartment down the street, and I would no longer be the super, and we would pay $65 a month for a duplex apartment. I had a studio and everything in that house, with a backyard. We paid $65 a month, so you could figure that if I was making, you know, $100 a week, I was doing very well. JA: You started out doing “Blaze Carson.” ROCKWELL: Yeah, I could draw horses because, when I was ten

years old, we moved to Rochester, New York. The kids in the neighborhood all rode at a stable that was just south of the neighborhood, right in the woods there just below. So I began to ride with them, and I just loved horses and got to drawing them. So there was no problem in drawing horses when I drew Westerns. Of course, in those days, they had the pulp magazines on the newsstands, full of drybrush illustrations. That was the thing then, black-&-white drybrush. And those guys could draw horses! I loved drawing horses, so that’s why Stan gave me a Western. JA: Timely, at the time, had several editors under Stan. Was he the only editor you worked for? ROCKWELL: I remember other people and things. You came in, and there was a little desk there, and Stan’s office was behind that desk, though he was often seated out front, talking to you, and then going back in. And then you went into the large room where all of the drawing boards were. Stan was really running the whole operation there. I can’t remember if there were other editors. JA: As far as you were concerned, Stan was giving you the assignments, though. Is that right?

ROCKWELL: Yes. When they let us work at home, I started working for “Busy” Arnold at Quality, too, and I did go to that office for a while.

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

JA: Okay, when did you become just a penciler then? ROCKWELL: I know, for Biro-Wood, I was doing the penciling for Black Diamond Western. JA: Did you like working with Stan? What was he like? ROCKWELL: Well, he seemed a very charming, sort-of friendly, very young guy. JA: Would Stan or any editors request changes of you? ROCKWELL: Not really. I was never edited, so to speak. They just accepted what I did.

“Running Back And Forth” JA: I have a few other 1949 dates for you, and I want to see if you remember any of them or think they’re accurate. The Who’s Who says you did some crime stories in 1949 for a company called Feature Comics. ROCKWELL: I have a vague recollection of going to an office while I was working for Timely and then going uptown. JA: I also have you working for Victor Fox, doing something called “Bronco Mall” in 1949.

When Red Wasn’t Only The Color Of Lipstick Girl Comics was far from a romance mag, as seen in this Rockwelldrawn splash from issue #8 (May 1951)—a Cold War thriller! Thanks to Michaël Dewally. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Okay, so what would happen? Would you come in and turn in the work and just get paid and get a script? ROCKWELL: Yeah, after a few months of going in every morning in the subway and then sitting there and penciling and stuff, then I took it home and would bring in the completed job, and then get another script and take it home. That was the way we worked. JA: But you didn’t always know what you’d be getting next, did you? ROCKWELL: No, no. If they switched from one subject to another, I didn’t mind that. The business of drawing the same character again and again was quite a struggle, but I just thought it was great to have it and to be able to do it, and work at home. I’d block the lettering in for the letterer. JA: So you didn’t have to submit your pencils for approval? You just took a script and penciled and inked it and then brought it back, right? ROCKWELL: I’m trying to remember, but I think that the idea of an inker was already in practice. And so I almost became a penciler, but I remembered being sort-of dismayed at the idea that I penciled and somebody else inked. Most of what I did for Stan Lee, and then later for Biro-Wood [Charles Biro and Bob Wood, at Lev Gleason Publications], was penciling, and I really was a penciler the majority of time I worked in the comics.

Destination Fawcett The splash of Fawcett Publications’ 1950 comic book adaptation of the George Pal film Destination Moon—16 years before the real thing! The mag’s official title was Fawcett Movie Comic, and it was the third issue—but there was no number in the indicia. Pencils by Dick Rockwell; inks by Sam Burlockoff. Thanks to Bruce Mason. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

Give ’Em Hillman Though he doesn’t mention it in this interview, Dick did a fair amount of work for Hillman Periodicals, as per this quartet of splashes provided by Rod Beck. (Clockwise from above left:) Dead-Eye Western, Vol. 2, #2 (Feb-March 1951)… the odd quasi-romance radio-spinoff title Mr. Anthony’s Love Clinic, Vol. 1, #1 (Nov. ’49) (that’s the mustachioed host behind the desk)… Romantic Confessions, Vol 1, #1 (Oct. ’49)… and Western Fighters, Vol. 1, #7 (April-May ’49), with its “true story” of an outlaw who devised a bulletproof vest—as per the panel shown from a later page. Thanks to Rod Beck for the scans. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

some pages of it not long ago and I was a little dismayed. I could have done a better job.

“Reed Crandall… Was Considered To Be Quite A Genius” JA: You said you worked for Quality Comics in their office? ROCKWELL: Yes. I would come downtown and work in there at a drawing table. I battled back and forth, you know, working home, and I felt that working home meant that people were going to forget about me. I’d better get downtown and be present to get jobs and so forth. After all, I had four children with my first wife, so it was important to keep things going. JA: I have you as doing adventure stories and also some Blackhawk. ROCKWELL: I think so, yes. Now, Reed Crandall: there’s a name that sticks with me. He was considered to be quite a genius there. JA: What do you remember about “Busy” Arnold? ROCKWELL: Well, I never saw very much of him, because the editors were the people I dealt with. But he was a short man, wasn’t he? And he was sort-of in and out. I can’t remember really speaking to him, though he was the man who hired me. By that time, it was sort of comforting to be back and be part of a crew in an office. And we had moved, or were getting ready to move, up to the country, New City. And we moved out to the same road, without knowing it, that Milton Caniff lived on. JA: So Arnold wasn’t really running the place so much. He was delegating some of it?

We Fight To Keep Men Free… Bob Bailey says this story from Quality’s Blackhawk #35 (Dec. 1950) is one of a handful of that period not penciled either by Reed Crandall, Bill Ward, or John Forte…and thus might well have been drawn by Rockwell. Anybody out there got a contrary but informed opinion? Crandall, the series’ second artist, set the style for “Blackhawk” stories. [©2007 DC Comics.]

ROCKWELL: I don’t remember that, but I could have worked for them. JA: Also in 1949, I have you, on-and-off, from 1949 to 1951, as working for Fiction House, doing fillers for them. They published Fight and Wings and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle [Jumbo Comics]. I don’t know if any of those ring a bell with you or not. ROCKWELL: Not at the moment. This is wakening experiences of running back and forth between these different assignments. JA: Street & Smith was another place you freelanced for. ROCKWELL: I was thrilled to work for them, because they published pulp magazines. I was running from assignment to assignment, so I don’t remember much about the companies I worked for. I do remember working for Harvey Comics, though. JA: In 1950, you did Destination Moon for Fawcett. ROCKWELL: Yeah, that was my first full-blown book. JA: Right, but you had an assistant on that: Sam Burlockoff. Do you remember him? ROCKWELL: No, I’m afraid not. That was too many years ago. Many times, you didn’t meet the guy who inked your piece. I think that was an assignment handed to him by the editors. I came across

ROCKWELL: Yes. I think, and this is only a guess, that he dealt with his editors, but he didn’t come out and talk with the artists in the bullpen that much. But he ran an efficient business. JA: You only seemed to work there about a year or so. Why did you leave? ROCKWELL: Well, it was right around this time that I moved to South Mountain Road. And Milton Caniff called me and said, “How’d you like to work for me?” JA: How did he hear about you? ROCKWELL: I had submitted samples of my work to the National Cartoonists Society. Caniff was the president, or was going to be president, and I guess he found out I lived right down the road. He called me up and said, “How’d you like to work for me?” [laughs] I picked myself up off the floor and I said, “Yeah.” JA: Well, it wasn’t exactly that somebody had to tell you who he was, right? How often does God phone, anyway? [laughs] ROCKWELL: Yeah. Of course, he was very famous.

“Charlie Biro Was A Big Operator” JA: Before we talk about Caniff, I’d like to ask about Charlie Biro and Bob Wood. ROCKWELL: I remember they both shared an office; they didn’t have separate rooms. That’s another place where I came in and did a lot of work, because I think it was part of my pattern to make myself present when I was finishing up jobs... to be there, because I felt more comfortable in terms of getting the next job.

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

Three By Biro & Wood A trio of pages drawn by Rockwell for editors Charles Biro & Bob Wood of Lev Gleason Publications. (Clockwise from above left:) The masked cowboy of Black Diamond Western #32 (March 1952)—an illustration for a text story featuring Crimebuster, the hero of Boy Comics/Illustories, from Daredevil #75 (Sept. 1949)—and the final page of the tale from Crime Does Not Pay #121 that appears on the first page of this interview, so you can see how it all turned out. Thanks respectively to Bob Bailey, Bruce Mason, and Mike Catron. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

It [Lev Gleason Publications] wasn’t a big place, but the room we worked in had enough room for four drawing boards. Mostly, I worked at home, but I can remember that the street that they were on was just below Park Avenue. Charlie Biro was a big operator, a big part of the Cartoonists Society. When you went to the meetings, you always saw Charlie Biro mixing with people. I have very little memory of Bob Wood. He was a quiet business type, and Charlie was the connected guy. JA: Did you ever meet Lev Gleason? ROCKWELL: Not that I can remember. JA: Well, you’re not the only one. [laughs] For Lev Gleason, I have you doing Black Diamond, Crime and Punishment, Crime Does Not Pay—which was really their big book—I also have you doing Uncle Charlie’s Fables. [laughs] ROCKWELL: I remember doing Uncle Charlie’s Fables. I remember it as being a special kind of an assignment. It was fun to do it. You

know, that was right during the time of the Congressional investigations into the comics, and so Charlie Biro and Bob Wood invented Uncle Charlie’s Fables. It tried to penetrate, without leaving the comic book world too much, the old world of fantasy. You know, fairies and so forth. We tried to make it a little elegant. I thought, gee, I was getting the opportunity to do something righteous. [mutual laughter] JA: How did you get that original Black Diamond cover? ROCKWELL: Oh, that was Biro-Wood stuff and I think I just was

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

What? No Brother Bob—Or Papa Lev? A story page from Uncle Charlie’s Fables #2 (March 1952)—and that same issue’s back cover. Both by Dick Rockwell. Thanks to Michaël Dewally. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

able to, because I would go in there and I was able to pick up an original from the table and say, “You done with this?” and take it away with me. They didn’t mind once the job was done. JA: What do you remember about working for Dell? I have you as doing The Knights of the Round Table, Sir Walter Raleigh, and The Sword and the Rose. Does any of this sound familiar? ROCKWELL: The Sword and the Rose does, but not the others.

“Milton [Caniff] Wasn’t One To Fool Around” JA: Okay, then we’ll move on. In fact, we’ll move on to Canyon. [mutual chuckles] So Caniff lived down the street and he called you, right? ROCKWELL: Yeah, he found out that I had just moved. We moved up in ’52 to South Mountain. We answered an ad in the newspaper, and I didn’t know that South Mountain Road was a gathering place for artists. Early film people were out there, and it was quite an artist’s community, a gathering place for film people. Lotte Lenya lived there; she married the famous German composer Kurt Weill, and [editorial cartoonist] Bill Mauldin lived on the South Mountain Road. He had contacted Caniff during the war, or right after it. Caniff had something to do with the servicemen who were cartoonists. So when he came

back, why, there was a beautiful house out on South Mountain Road, and Mauldin jumped right into it. He later moved to Chicago. Back to Caniff: I immediately went down there, and Milton wasn’t one to fool around. He handed me a week’s sequence, which I penciled and brought back. He seemed, right from the very beginning, very satisfied with what I did. He seldom made changes, and of course, for about the first six or eight years, I penciled... well, when I got the strips, Frank Engli had already lettered the balloons. And then I composed and penciled in everything. JA: You mean Caniff didn’t do any breakdowns or give you any thumbnails, even at the beginning? ROCKWELL: No, he didn’t indicate anything. He might make a note in case I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. But by the time we really got into it, we were so close in a relationship to the story that I never had to be told what was happening because I anticipated what he wanted. But we would talk it over, and in those early days of television, I remember sitting in his house, often with his wife Bunny, watching television. Milton had a very different way of doing his panels. He would write a story and put in the word balloons. And then the first thing he would do is put in the heads. If there was going to be a wide shot with small

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

Away From The Pirates… And Into The Canyon Milt Caniff (to right of easel in the sketch) and fellow cartoonist Bill Mauldin (creator of the immortal “Willie and Joe” during World War II) at a 1957 chalk talk… and a 1946 newspaper ad for the brand new Steve Canyon comic strip. Caniff developed Canyon because he had no ownership of Terry and the Pirates, the feature which had brought him fame but, apparently, not quite enough fortune. More power to ’im, sez we—even if Canyon, by common consent, never quite attained to the lofty imaginative heights of Terry. But then, what could have? Repro’d, respectively, from Kitchen Sink Press’ Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon #14 (Feb. 1986) & #19 (Dec. 1987). [Art ©2007 Estate of Milton Caniff & News America Syndicate, USA, or successors in interest.]

ROCKWELL: Yes. He had seen my samples, and apparently what I did in the samples appealed directly to him; the way I drew and everything. You know, during the war, Sickles had worked with Milton, so I think what Milton saw in me was a guy who could sort-of do the same thing that Sickles had done. JA: I’m curious as to why he felt he needed penciling help. ROCKWELL: Oh, I think it was that he had been through a horrendous time from the late ’20s through the ’30s and ’40s. The war, you know, and the constant production—and I don’t think he used any drawing assistants until he found me. So he was looking for somebody to make life a little easier for him, because he had tremendous communication with people all over the country. JA: I think Ray Bailey helped him before you did.

figures, the heads would be smaller; and if it was a tight shot, the heads would be larger. But he would place the heads in relation to the word balloons. He obviously had in mind exactly what the panel was going to look like. But my way of looking at it was to see the panel in the action of the characters and everything in full and try to place my image in there with a positioning of the characters in relation to the balloons, but not specifically. I never specifically would put the head at a certain spot, as he did. And so that was always a different approach. JA: So when he hired you, he hired you to be his penciler.

ROCKWELL: Yes, Bailey did a couple of sequences. What he did was actually hand Ray Bailey, and maybe a couple of other guys, a whole sequence, six or eight weeks. And they would pencil and ink it. Then he would take it and maybe make a few corrections or changes, but he would use a ghost that way. The first couple of weeks, he had me inking, as I remember now. Then he brought me in and said, “Now I want you to just pencil.” And I sort-of thought I was being put down there. I didn’t say anything, but then I realized that he could use my penciling to ink his style over it, and we worked best that way. After about eight years, because he wanted more help, Milton asked me to ink and outline. Well, wait a minute! I think I suggested it because I wanted more money. Yeah, I wanted to enhance my income a little, so I suggested that I ink and outline all the background details. JA: Okay, so that was around 1960? ROCKWELL: Yeah, somewhere in there. What happened at that time was, I got a divorce from South Mountain Road and my family, and moved to the city, where I lived a bachelor’s life. The divorce was in ’61 or ’62, somewhere in there. It didn’t interrupt the Steve Canyon production or anything like that. I just had to find a spot to work in,

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

there, and for some reason he actually got sicker because of where he moved to, and he died out there. And after that, Shel Dorf— well, Shel had been a fan of Milton’s for many years and had presented his lettering samples. So Shel Dorf started to letter right after that, and he stayed with Caniff right to the end. JA: There were several times after you started working for Caniff where there were still some other ghosts who worked on Steve Canyon. Alex Kotzky did some work in the mid-to-late ’50s, as well as Fred Kida. ROCKWELL: Yeah, there were two or three different sequences that Perhaps one reason none of the various Steve Canyon collections from Kitchen Sink and other publishers contained the penciled these guys did because versions of dailies or Sundays is that they might have been the pencils not of Milt Caniff but of Dick Rockwell—but the finished Caniff felt that he was product was a tribute to both men. Interestingly, many of the reprinted strips are partly inked outside the panel borders, as in these panels from the Sunday for Aug. 22, 1954. The extra art wouldn’t be seen by newspaper readers; but, after all, an artist’s getting too close to brush hand doesn’t automatically stop moving just because it comes to a panel border! Repro’d from Kitchen Sink Press’ Milton deadline and pressure Caniff’s Steve Canyon #20 (March 1988). [©2007 Estate of Milton Caniff & News America Syndicate, USA, or successors in interest.] and stuff. So he gave a complete sequence to and I met Jane Florey out on Fire Island, and so I lived with her for somebody else to fit it in there and gain six, eight, ten weeks. about four years, and then she wanted to get a divorce from her JA: But didn’t that cut into your income? husband, so she asked me to leave the apartment because she didn’t want any investigators to find that she was living with somebody else. ROCKWELL: No, and it didn’t really cut into our pace because it just So I went to 22nd Street. Jane was on 23rd, on the corner near Eighth helped, you know. And it took the pressure off, because we would get Avenue, and I moved to 22nd Street. And it wasn’t long before I met down to six weeks, five weeks—really tight deadlines, running in and Beatrice and we were married, and we’ve been married for 36 years out of the city to deliver the strips. So he would have others come in now. and do a sequence, because these were guys whose technique and style were pretty close to his.

Across Enemy Lines

“It Was All Work”

JA: Okay, now I’d like to get a contrast, because you worked with Caniff for 30-some years; ’52 to ’88—he died in ’88, so that was 36 years. ROCKWELL: Yeah. I did the last ten weeks of Canyon by myself. JA: What was he like to work with at the beginning? Was it different than at the end? I mean personality-wise as well as professionally? ROCKWELL: No, he was a very consistent person. He knew the profession, respected your abilities and your efforts, and he was an easy person to work for—companionable. But there wasn’t a lot of socializing. It was all work, and he led a very busy life there. There was Adelaide Gilchrest, his secretary, and Frank Engli, who did the lettering. We all lived up there in Rockland County, and then Frank was the first to move away. He moved out to Nevada, Utah, somewhere out in the West, because Frank suffered from viral reaction to flora and fauna. Frank suffered from allergies, and he moved out

JA: That’s right. I think Don Heck might even have done a little work for Caniff. ROCKWELL: That’s not a familiar name with me. But that doesn’t mean anything, because I forget so much these days. [mutual laughter] JA: Now I take it that, because you worked with him so long, he must have treated you pretty well. ROCKWELL: Oh, yes. We got along very well, almost brotherly, you might say, although he was a bit older than I was. JA: And did he criticize your work very often? ROCKWELL: No, he never really had anything critical to say about what I did. He was very pleased with it. Oh, there may have been some little things here and there, but nothing of significance. JA: Was it well-known that you were working for him? Did you consider yourself to be a ghost? I’m curious about that arrangement.

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

War Is Hell (Above:) Caniff was fond of military types, and vice versa. Here he’s seen at a 1947 Air Force Association Convention, between General (and future President) Dwight D. Eisenhower and General James Doolittle, who had led the first US air raid over Tokyo in spring of 1942. From the Kitchen Sink Press volume Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon #16 (June 1986). [©2007Estate of Milton Caniff.] (Right:) Caniff drew criticism from some quarters for his support of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early ’70s—but he had always been a staunch anti-Communist. In the latter 1950s, he illustrated the memoirs of Father H.W. Rigney, a Divine Word missionary who operated in China from 1946 through the early ’50s—from which is taken this drawing of a Red executioner about to shoot a prisoner. One of the most famous photos of the Vietnam years was of a South Vietnamese soldier about to do the same to a North Vietnamese—and as the war fell from favor, so did the patriotic stances of Caniff, Bob Hope, and others. Ye Editor disagreed with that re-evaluation at the time, and still does so today. [©2007 Estate of Milton Caniff.]

ROCKWELL: I was his assistant. We never used the word “ghost,” and yes, the people in the NCS all knew I was working with Caniff. And there were times, for instance, when we were in meetings—I have a vague recollection of being maybe in Ohio, or something, for the annuals—where we were actually working on the strip in the hotel because we were close to deadline and had to take the work with us. JA: Was Caniff a fast artist? ROCKWELL: Oh, yes. I used to stand over him and watch him ink. And with his brush, he moved along very rapidly, but he was very conscientious about it. Because of the illustrative quality of the strip, it wasn’t like drawing, say, Peanuts, or something like that where you knew precisely what each character looked like and what he was doing, because you had different situations all the time, inside the cabin of an aircraft, to guys stuck on some raft in the middle of the ocean... all kinds of situations like that.

JA: Dd he ever have writing help, or did he do all the writing? ROCKWELL: As far as I know, he wrote everything. I can’t remember any moment where a script was substituted for his writing. No, I don’t think that ever happened. He was a very, very creative talent, and had he not also been a cartoonist, he probably would have been a writer— maybe even a film writer, because he had that kind of spirit and talent. He was a very bright man.

“Caniff Had Physical Problems” JA: He got a lot of criticism, as you know, during the Vietnam War for Steve Canyon. How did that affect him personally? ROCKWELL: Oh, he never, never showed any kind of emotion about it. He just took it as in its course and maybe expressed himself with a little “what do you think of this?”... things like that. But it didn’t distress him a great deal. He just took it as part of the business. I never ran into him when he was very distressed about anything. Milton was always calm and serious about everything and saying, “What’s the next thing we have to do?” And because of the density of the stories, the detail and so forth, there wasn’t a great deal of time to relax and chat. It was deliver and pick up and deliver and pick up and keep it going, you know?

Last Call In the Canyon Rockwell reports that he wrote and drew the last ten or so weeks of Steve Canyon on his own, after Caniff’s death. Here, courtesy of John R. Ellis and Harry Guyton of the Estate of Milton Caniff, is “the last continuity-daily (non tribute) Steve Canyon strip.” [©2007 Estate of Milton Caniff & News America Syndicate, USA, or successors in interest.]

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

swimming with the rest of us. He wasn’t a participant in things like that. But he never seemed to be so ill he couldn’t work, until the last few weeks of that last year. I remember going to the hospital in New York and showing him what I did, and Bunny was there with him. JA: She died not too long after he did, right? ROCKWELL: That’s right. There wasn’t anything to live for, I guess, for Bunny. I remember visiting them. But he didn’t really want to see what I was doing. He had sort-of turned it off, so to speak. I think he knew that he wasn’t going to get his strength back, so he wasn’t even advising me. I went once and showed it to him. He didn’t make any comment, and that was it. JA: But he was writing it up until he died, right? ROCKWELL: Well, I don’t know what he was writing. As I say, I did about eleven weeks of the end of the strip. The story was completely something I dreamed up. It was the story about the princess that was a child of a camp of people who had fled from Europe, or something, in the Second World War. JA: Why didn’t the Caniffs want the strip to continue? ROCKWELL: I think it was contractual. And I think, in the contract, Milton didn’t want anything to continue beyond his death. But nobody spoke to me about it. When he died, it was over.

“I Like Keeping Busy” JA: How’d you feel about that?

One Giant Step (Sideways) For Mankind Collector Rob Allen recently sent us a column by writer/artist Fred Hembeck that pointed out the following Stan Lee quote from the Special Announcements column of the letters section of Fantastic Four #31 (Oct. 1964): “Here’s another scoop—starting with ish #61 [of Tales to Astonish], Dick Rockwell, the dean of detailed drawings, will be illustrating ol’ highpockets [i.e., the “Giant-Man” feature]! Wait’ll you see it!” Alas, nobody ever did see it—for when Astonish #61 (Nov. ’64) hit the stands, it featured art by a different team, plus this splash page “Editor’s Note”: “We had announced that another artist would draw this strip. But, circumstances beyond our control caused a change in plan. With Dick Ayers on a brief vacation, Steve Ditko quickly penciled Stan’s script while George Bell inked it seconds before deadline time! Our sincere thanks to them both!” The fact that Stan’s own credit is lettered with the added parenthetical phrase “(He’s getting to be a habit!)” suggests that perhaps other credits had already been lettered, as well—which might mean that Ditko had actually been intended to lay out the story from the start and had done so for Rockwell to finish-pencil and perhaps ink. But Dick R. didn’t remember, so we’ll probably never know. Thanks to Bob Bailey for the scan. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: I don’t know how much involvement with Steve Canyon he had at the very end when he passed away, because I don’t know what his illnesses were like. So I was curious: in the 1980s, did you take on greater responsibility? ROCKWELL: Well, Caniff had physical problems, because he was not an athletic type person at all. He was married to that drawing board and the job. From the time he was in college, he was producing, going way back, so he wasn’t a person of great physical health. You never saw him in a bathing suit, or at least I never did. Even when we’d go to one of the weekends at Fred Waring’s, or something like that, he didn’t go

ROCKWELL: Well, it was part of the routine, and I had started, by that time, drawing courtroom scenes, so there was plenty to do there. I didn’t have a period of being without work. As a matter of fact, it eased the burden a little bit, because I was going to court during the day, and then I’d come back and have to work most of the night. And so there was a long time in my life when I only got four to six hours sleep a night. JA: How long did you do the courtroom stuff? ROCKWELL: My last court job was 2001 or ’2. I had been going to the city on Mondays and staying in a studio on 17th and Broadway until Friday, leaving my family up here in Peekskill [NY], and I would be available because, very often, you were called to go to court about 8:30 in the morning to get seated and ready for the day’s business and the trial. When I quit, I just picked it all up and went on up to the country and more or less retired from the courtroom thing. But there are one or two things that I continue to do. But I’m just content now. I’m 84 years old and although I would enjoy sitting there, drawing people, there’s a whole kind of energy you need when you do this, because you go to court and, very often, something happens very late in the day, so there isn’t time to finish. And then you have to go back to the studio and finish up, and get the drawings shot for the Six O’clock News, or other times, the later version. It was a tight job, because often you’d go there and they would have people to shoot your drawings at noon as well as the afternoon because they were ongoing. This trial that we’re watching now, this Scott Peterson case? Yeah, [chuckles] what dreadful drawings that artist is doing! You’d think, by this time, he would have gotten Peterson’s likeness down. [laughs] JA: There’re a couple of other questions about comic books I want to ask you. Around 1964 or ’65 it was reported that you were going to do a “Giant-Man” story for Stan Lee, and it didn’t work out. Do you remember that? ROCKWELL: Well, I did one “Spider-Man” story, seven pages. You

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

know, it was one of those comic books they put out, in a sort of an annual. And that “Spider-Man” story was the only super-hero story I did, and I don’t think there was a tryout or anything like that. To me, it was just doing the story. JA: The story you did featured Spider-Man’s Aunt May. ROCKWELL: That’s right. I don’t remember anything about the “Giant-Man” story you mentioned. I know I didn’t draw one. JA: Mark Evanier got you to do a couple of “Blackhawk” stories for him in the 1980s. ROCKWELL: Yeah, I remember that. JA: I also have you listed as doing something for DC called “Wild Dog.” ROCKWELL: Yeah, I ran across the “Wild Dog” things just a couple of days ago. I have some “Wild Dog” pages I use for my class at Fashion Institute of Technology of Manhattan. I’ve been a teacher of comic art, of drawing and so forth, since 1970. JA: You also did something for Acclaim Comics called The Legend of Zelda in 1990.

Only Mad Dogs And Caniff Assistants Go Out In The Noonday Sun A “Mad Dog” page from 1988’s Action Comics (Weekly?) #620. Thanks to Gregory Fischer. [©2007 DC Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

ROCKWELL: Yes. I had a couple of Zelda pages out for samples to the kids in the last class period. JA: Did you pursue this work, or did they come to you? ROCKWELL: I can’t remember whether I was contacted or I contacted. I probably contacted them and they said okay. JA: It looks like, after you lost Canyon. that you tried to get a little bit of work. because I see that you also did some inking for First Comics on Jon Sable. ROCKWELL: Sable, ah, it seems to me—but you mean I did the inking? I think I did the penciling. I don’t think I ever did an inking job for anybody. I have some pages from Sable. A fight scene and stuff like that. I don’t particularly care for the way I inked it. [chuckles] But these figures are fighting all over the page, you know, back and forth and stuff like that. JA: Tell me about your teaching experience.

Another Lifetime Ambition Achieved, No Doubt Near the end of his professional career, Dick Rockwell finally drew a superhero story—the “Aunt May” tale in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23 (1989). With thanks to Gregory Fischer. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROCKWELL: Right after I got married, I thought that teaching would be a good secondary income. I went down to NYU [New York University] and enrolled. And the first course I took was with Professor Conant, who was the chairman of the Illustration Department. After the course, he called me in and asked me if I would

Dick Rockwell On Being The 36-Year Ghost of Milt Caniff

like to teach, because of a paper I wrote. Some of the illustrations I put in it interested him. So I started to teach Anatomy. Then I went to Parsons School of Design, and taught a course called Reportage as well as Figure Drawing. And the course, Reportage, was my word for drawing as a court reporter. JA: When did you teach at Parsons? ROCKWELL: I think somewhere about ’75, ’76 to ’89. I went from Parsons to FIT in 1989. I also do illustrations for a magazine about stamps, called Stamps. JA: Do you ever see yourself completely retiring? ROCKWELL: Oh, God, no. The drawing board is my sanctuary. [mutual laughter] I’m also doing a visual autobiography and things of that nature. And I did a whole period of editorial cartooning for Cartoonists and Writers Syndicate, Jerry Robinson’s outfit in New York. I worked for them for about ten years. That’s how I got the Stamps assignment. They wanted cartoonists and writers, and Jerry assigned me to the job. And then for some reason—I can’t remember exactly why—they broke off with Cartoonists and Writers and just gave the job to me, because, I think, Cartoonists and Writers didn’t want it any more because they hadn’t sold any of the feature to anybody else. It wasn’t published in any papers or anything. But I like keeping busy and intend to stay busy.

I’ve Got A Secret In the late 1980s, Rockwell did some work for DC Comics, as per the “Blackhawk” story seen on the first page of this interview, and the above cover of Action Comics Weekly #629 (Dec. 6, 1988), from the brief period when the comic book that had introduced Superman to the world in 1938 was transmogrified into a weekly anthology title. This cover illustrates that issue’s “Secret Six” chapter. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [©2007 DC Comics.]

DICK ROCKWELL Checklist See p. 39 for the Key to the abbreviations in this Checklist, adapted from Jerry Bails’ website Who’s Who of American Comic Books. Some additions and corrections by Dick Rockwell via Jim Amash. Name: Richard Waring Rockwell (1920-2006) (artist) Education: BS (art education) Family in Arts: Father: Jarvis Rockwell (toy designer); Uncle: Norman Rockwell (painter) Member: National Cartoonists Society Print Media (Non-Comics): Courtroom artist for news Other Career Notes: Teacher: Fashion Institute of Technology; teacher: Parsons School of Design. Syndication: Flash Gordon (asst p) 1993 (briefly, for King Features Syndicate); Steve Canyon (d)(S) (ghost pen) 1953-88, for Field Enterprises. Comics in Other Media: Editorial cartoons (a) for Peekskill Evening Star, Peekskill, NY COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Publishers): Acclaim Comics [Valiant Imprint]: Legend of Zelda (p) circa 1900 DC Comics: Blackhawk (a) 1989; Blackhawk Detached Service

Diary (a, 1983); Blackhawk Express (a) 1980; covers (a) 1988; Who’s Who in the DC Universe (Pen) 1989 entries; Wild Dog (p) 1988 Dell Publications: Knights of the Round Table (a) 1954; Sir Walter Raleigh (a) 1955; The Sword and the Rose (a) 1953 Fawcett Publications: Destination Moon (p) 1950 Fiction House: adventure (a) c. 1949-51; fillers (a) 1949 First Publishing: Jon Sable – Freelance (p) 1988-89 Fox Comics: Bronco Moll (a) 1942 Harvey Comics: Love Problems (p) 1951 Hillman Periodicals: crime (a) 1951; Mr. Anthony’s Love Clinic (a) 1949; Western (a) 1948-51 Lev Gleason: Adventures in Wonderland (a) 1955; Black Diamond Western (a) 1951-53; crime (a) 1950-53; Crime and Punishment (a) 1951-53; Crime Does Not Pay (a) 1951-53; fillers (a) 1952; illustrations (a) 1951-52; Uncle Charlie’s Fables (a) 1952; Western (a) 1952 Marvel/Timely: Aunt May (p) 1989; Blaze Carson (a) 1949; Crime

“The Drawing Board Is My Sanctuary”

Exposed (a) 1951; Girl Comics (a) 1951; Man Comics (a) 1951; sports (a) 1951; spy (a) 1951; Suspense (a) 1951; war (a) 1951-52; Western Outlaws and Sheriffs (a) 1951

Quality Comics: adventure (p) 1950; Blackhawk (a) 1950-51 Street & Smith: Cal Colt (a) 1949

Teamwork In The Skies Aerial action, complete with beyond-theborders art, from the Steve Canyon strip for Sunday, Dec. 19, 1954—with penciling probably by Dick Rockwell, and a title logo reportedly designed in 1946 by Caniff’s lifelong friend and sometimes Terry and the Pirates ghost Noel Sickles. From Kitchen Sink Press’ Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon #21 (Dec. 1988). [©2007 Estate of Milton Caniff & News America Syndicate, USA, or successors in interest.]

West With The Knights Two more splash pages by Dick Rockwell from the latter days of the Golden Age: (Left:) Hillman’s Western Fighters, Vol. 3, #3 (Feb. 1951) and (at right) Lev Gleason’s Black Diamond Western #39 (Oct. 1952). Thanks, respectively, to Rod Beck & Bruce Mason. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Kooky Krossovers! (Part 2) by Michael T. Gilbert Crossovers? You want ’em, we got ’em! Last issue we presented the first part of a most unusual “Dotty and Ditto” tale, in which little girl Dot falls asleep reading a lethal combination of Archie and Black Hood comics. She wakes up to find another MLJ character, Super Duck, peering through her window. Talk about creepy! Then that daffy duck hands her a saddle for the night-MARE (as in horse!) that pops in seconds later. Her nightmare tosses Dotty far into space, where the poor girl starts hurtling towards a planet beneath her! Luckily, The Shield, MLJ’s reigning super-hero, shows up to catch Dotty in the nick of time. “Imagine being in the arms of The Shield!” sighs the smitten lass. “If Ah’m dreamin’, don’t wake me up!” We wouldn’t dream of it, Dotty! In the story’s conclusion, reprinted here, Dotty and The Shield discover the ultimate fanboy’s dream-come-true—an entire castle made out of comic books! Once inside, Dotty has a Kooky Krossover with some other MLJ comic book characters, including Suzie, The Tweedles, Wilbur, The Shield (again), Super Duck, plus Archie and Jughead, of course! At the (Right & below:) The final three pages from Pep Comics #58 (Sept. 1946) by Bill Woggon. Archie, Suzie, The Shield, and The Tweedles also had stories in the issue. [©2007 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Kooky Krossovers (Part 2)

end, it was all just a dream (or was it?!). Regardless, this story still marks the first time that many MLJ characters starred in a single story. Notice the scene where Dotty thinks Jughead’s beanie is a crown? Actually, his pal Archie should be wearing it, since he quickly dethroned The Shield to become MLJ’s comic book king! By decade’s end, the rascally redhead had replaced virtually all of the MLJ superguys. In fact, over the course of this page and the next, you can see the transformation from heroics to high school hijinx in these Kooky Krossover Pep covers. The one on issue #44 shows the new guy, Archie, getting kicked around by the book’s star player, The Shield! The following issue, our boy’s high as a kite—literally! And he’s nothing but a poor fish in issue #48. But by #50 he’s the star, with The Hangman and The Shield reduced to puny cameo insets. Of course, anyone looking at the cover to Pep #47—the one in which Archie pictures himself replacing the Shield—knew that was coming all along.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Covers to Pep #47 (March 1944), #48 (May 1944), #49 (June 1944), and #50 (Sept. 1944). Harry Sahle signed the covers to issues #45, 46, 48, 49, and 50. Those for issues #44 and #47 were probably drawn either by Sahle or by Bob Montana (who drew the first Archie/Shield team-up cover for Pep #36). [©2007 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Kooky Krossovers (Part 2) (Right:) The MLJ Gang’s all here in this Kooky Krossover ad from Pep Comics #17 (July 1941). Let’s see, there’s Steel Sterling, The Shield and Dusty, The Hangman, Sergeant Boyle, The Fireball, Madame Satan— and what appears to be one of the seven dwarfs! (Below:) Beginning in Life with Archie #42 (Oct. 1965), Johnnycome-lately super-hero Archie Andrews became Pureheart the Powerful. For more background on Pureheart, check out Robby Reed’s excellent “Dial B For Blog” entry at: www.dialbforblog.com/archives/226/ [Art ©2007 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

The final insult occurred decades later, when Archie actually became a super-hero! His alter ego, Pureheart the Powerful, debuted in Life with Archie #42 and soon spun off into his own title. But it just wasn’t the same. Gone were the good old days when The Shield, The Hangman, and all their MLJ buddies would hang out in each other’s books and shoot the breeze. Ah! Truly the Golden Age of Kooky Krossovers!

Hmm! The villain in Captain Pureheart #6 (at right) seems strangely familiar, right down to the classic blue-and-yellow X-Men costume! The fellow is never actually named. Lucky thing, too, or Marvel’s lawyers would have had a field day. Oh well, this Nov. 1967 issue was Pureheart’s last, anyway! [©2007 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

And Lest We Forget... Last issue, we promised to conclude the first-ever Quality Comics crossover from Uncle Sam #2, so here’s the final page in all its glory! How can you lose with The Ray, Uncle Sam, and The Black Condor? But when th’ heck did the Condor start wearing a mask? Kooky!

That’s it for now, four-color fiends! Next issue, Mr. Monster will unearth more goodies from his Comic Crypt. Be there! Till next time...

The final page of “The Villains’ Revolt!” from Quality’s Uncle Sam Comics #2 (Winter 1941), in which the Nazi bad guy gets crushed in a comic book printing press. How ironic! We printed the rest of the story last issue. [©2007 DC Comics.]

Previously Unpublished Brunner Art

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Comic Fandom Archive

ROBERT SCHOENFELD, R.I.P. A Tribute To The Late-1960s Editor Of On The Drawing Board & Gosh Wow!

by Bill Schelly

only talked to Bob Schoenfeld two or three times, way back in the summer of 1967, so I can’t claim to have been a friend. I was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which seemed a universe away from St. Louis, Missouri, where Bob made his home. Instead, I thought of him as a respected colleague, another fanzine publisher who was doing an excellent job at the helm of one of fandom’s most central publications.

In late 1966, Bob Schoenfeld came out of nowhere, and suddenly burst into fan-prominence as editor of On the Drawing Board, a magazine founded by Jerry Bails back in 1961. Bob came out of nowhere? Well, that’s how it seemed at the time, at least to those of us who weren’t part of the burgeoning comics scene of the Gateway City. I’m sure members of the Golden Gate Comic Art Fan Club knew Schoenfeld before he leapt to national prominence. What was soon clear to all of us was that Schoenfeld had the energy, ability, and motivation to keep that important fanzine flying high. Former editors of OTDB (as it was often abbreviated), beginning with founder Jerry Bails, had found the frequent deadlines required of a news-oriented publication extremely demanding. Glen Johnson, who took over from Jerry, has also been voluble in his recitation of the litany of problems that plagued him throughout his editorship of The Comic Reader (as it was alternately titled). Since On the Drawing Board served as the “official” instrument of the Academy of Comic Book Fans and Collectors, its editor had a tiger by the tail. After New Mexico-based Johnson ended his tenure in 1965, Derrill Rothermich had taken over the reins, and quickly realized the demand for copies required photo-offset printing. (Ditto masters could produce at most 250 copies, and demand for the zine easily topped 300 at this time.) Rothermich, an engineering college student at the School of Mines and Metallurgy in Rolla, Missouri, published some excellent issues of TCR through late 1965 and 1966, and then was drafted into the Army. From him, presumably because he knew the St. Louis fans, the magazine passed to the Gateway Comic Art Fan Club. One of its most active members, it turned out, was a slender, dark-haired teenager named Robert Schoenfeld.

THUNDER On The Right (& Left!) Bob Schoenfeld (on the right in photo) with artists Wally Wood and Vaughn Bodé (the latter seen from behind) at the 1968 SCARP Con in New York City— and Wood’s dynamic Dynamo back cover for the second issue of Bob’s fanzine Gosh Wow! [Dynamo TM & ©2007 John Carbonaro.]

Bob jumped into the “lion’s den” and soon proved his mettle as editor, perfecting the photo-offset look of OTDB at a time when professionally printed fanzines were few, and often bore a rudimentary appearance. In the editorial in On the Drawing Board #53 (Oct. 1966), he wrote, “This is the first issue of OTDB to be completely in the hands of the Gateway Comic Art Fan Club, and we are very anxious to know your feelings [about] our effort. There are three people to thank for this. The first is Glen Johnson, who supplied us with his old TCR subscription file, the second is Dave Kaler and the Academy for

Comic Fandom Archive

From The Drawing Board

supplying the funds necessary to finance this, and the third is Ray Fisher, a club member who is doing our printing.” He ended his first editorial by exhorting comics fans to expend more energy documenting the history of the medium. “The real superheroes are the artists and writers and their lives in the world of comics,” Bob wrote. “We have to wake up today or we may find the past forever lost to us! Or, worse yet, persons only casually interested in comics may be producing the books we should be researching and working on right now!” Over the next year, Bob saw to it that On the Drawing Board appeared near-monthly, and was a pulpit for many of the most active and vociferous comics fans. David Kaler, who had become Executive Secretary of the Academy of Comic Book Fans and Collectors, often contributed news of the New York pros, as well as Academy updates. Others such as Bill Spicer, Bob Latona, John McGeehan, and a cadre of letter-writers kept the pages of the news-zine lively, and its circulation topped 500 copies per issue before long. True, Bob’s grasp of spelling was often tenuous, and a lot of the material about the Academy was of marginal interest to some of the readership, but there was always plenty of news and information about pro comics to justify the price of 25¢ per issue (though this would go up) to any fan. Also, many of fandom’s emerging new crop of amateur artists found a showcase in its pages; that’s where folks like Alan Hutchinson, Jim Sullivan, Jim Gardner, Ken Keller, Rich Buckler, and others gained prominence in the fan firmament. Schoenfeld also published his own general interest fanzine called Gosh Wow!, which was more or less to fill the gap left when Alter Ego was on hiatus. (A/E had last appeared in 1965.)

This art from On the Drawing Board #53 & #61 (1966-67) was drawn, respectively, by fan-artists Alan Hutchinson and Rich Buckler. The cover of #53, the first “official” issue of OTDB published by the Gateway Comic Book Club, depicts Harvey’s short-lived heroes Spyman, Pirana, and Jigsaw—and The Spirit, whose adventures Harvey was then reprinting. A young, pre-pro Rich Buckler of Detroit drew Green Arrow in a Kirby mode for the cover of OTDB #61 (July 1967). [Harvey heroes TM & ©2007 Lorne-Harvey, Inc., or the respective copyright holders; The Spirit TM & ©2007 Will Eisner Studios, Inc.; Green Arrow TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

Bob’s interests went beyond comic art. In On the Drawing Board #63 (Nov. 1967), one of the last issues of the zine published by Bob, his love of rock and roll music emerged. He wrote, “Off the subject here, I’d like to talk about something of personal interest—popular music. I’ve been a ‘more or less’ fan of rock & roll music for some time, but as of late I’ve gained a much more serious interest in view of several exciting (to me) events. To make it even more interesting I’ve discovered that many comic fans share my interest…. Mayhap a column or zine could be produced to cater to comic fans with this interest. I wouldn’t mind hearing from other R&R enthusiasts, but be warned, if you’re a Monkees fan you’d best forget it. Oh, yes, every rock & roll fan should be a regular reader of Crawdaddy—a magazine I’ve found to be the best for the rock-fan.” Though Bob (actually the Golden Gate Comic Art Fan Club) stopped publishing On the Drawing Board in 1968—it was revived as The Comic Reader that year by Mark Hanerfeld—he did publish the second issue of Gosh Wow! that summer, and attended the SCARP Con in New York City. That 1968 comicon, which stretched over five days, was the most impressive and well-attended gathering of comic fans yet, and Bob was in evidence in many of the photos taken there. The following summer saw Schoenfeld’s last comics fanzine, Gosh Wow! #3, which was comprised mainly of an article with lots of photos of the 1968 SCARP Con, and a lengthy “Moondog” strip by George Metzger. It was a slim 36-page issue, but a fine capstone to Bob’s three years as a prominent fanzine publisher. Apparently, Bob’s interest in

Robert Schoenfeld, R.I.P.

rock and roll had, by this time, gained dominance; this brought an end to his comics zine days. Nevertheless, his contribution was a major one, filling an important function at a time when the ranks of fandom were growing by leaps and bounds. Bob’s energy and enthusiasm were appreciated by this writer, and will always be remembered.

Now here’s a more personal look at Bob, from his old friend Robert Latona, who has been a reader of Alter Ego beginning with #2 in 1961.... and who edited his own fanzine Vanguard a long time ago....

In Memoriam: Bob Schoenfeld by Robert Latona What little I know about Bob Schoenfeld, post-1973, is a paste-up of surmise and Internet scraps. So it took me a while to learn of his death last October “peacefully in his sleep”... but 57 is still way too soon. His passing was noted in venues where non-mainstream pop music is illuminated by dedicated scholarship and promoted by enterprising indie labels, the milieu in which he chose to vest his passion for Jamaican music and the blues and make them the basis of his professional life. Marriage, kids, any of that stuff? Dunno—someone would have mentioned, I guess. But neither do I find mention of Gosh Wow! or On the Drawing Board, the fanzines Bob edited and published in pre-Cambrian comics fandom of the 1960s, which was where and how we knew each other. Living thousands of miles apart, it was a friendship conducted mostly by mail, except for the couple of times we shared a room at conventions; but I felt it was a real friendship then and still feel that way today. There’s a picture of Bob in Bill Schelly’s Golden Age of Comic Fandom taken at the signing table at the 1968 New York Comicon, where Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson are scribbling away. (The great and powerful Oz commands you: pay no attention to the plump, dorky fanboy standing behind them.) A year later we were again with Al, who had contributed to both our zines, at Phil Seuling’s shindig in the New York Statler, and Bob mentioned how he would love to attend an outdoors music event slated for later that summer not too far from the Williamsons’ upstate home. Al’s truly wonderful wife, Arlene, immediately invited Bob (who was up from St Louis) and me (down from Buffalo) to come and stay at their place (“crashing,” in period vernacular) to access the rock fest. But the gig was six weeks away,

neither of us had money, and Bob was publications editor for the World Science Fiction Convention set for Labor Day in his hometown, so we managed to blow our big chance to stay with the Al Williamsons and simultaneously attend what of course turned out to be Woodstock. Even then Bob was veering off towards music, not an uncommon shift of focus for those outgrowing comic books and straying off into the counterculture wonderland of the late ’60s, with underground comix pointing the way. There was Paul Gambaccini, who became the BBC’s foremost DJ, critic, and commentator on American rock, and whose quarters and dimes Bob and I, like many other fanzine purveyors in that age of innocence, had peeled from Scotch-taped pieces of cardboard inside the envelopes we retrieved from our parents’ mailboxes. I’m sure there were many more who made the transit. What I remember is how Bob previewed his gift for promoting other people’s talent with his discovery of Vaughn Bodé, fresh out of Syracuse University with wife and toddler son and head still screwed on more or less in place, handing out samples and originals at that year’s St. Louiscon. Thinking back, I realize all Bodé’s good work had already been done by then—Cheech Wizard, the lizards, and so forth—because I saw it all in St Louis, and took a lot of it home with me. I don’t think anyone would dispute that the discovery of Vaughn Bodé was entirely Bob’s doing, and a foretaste of what he would later do with reggae groups like the Intels and Justin Hines and the Dominos. In retrospect, it was also a signal that he was leaving Batman behind. Back to St. Louis, late summer of ’69. For some time previous, Bob

SCARP-Face Robert Latona mentions this photo of writer/editor Archie Goodwin (center left, in tie and glasses) and legendary artist Al Williamson (center right, also wearing tie) at the 1968 SCARP Con, which appeared in Bill Schelly’s landmark history The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. That’s Bob Schoenfeld in the short-sleeved shirt in the center. SCARP (The Society for Comic Art Research and Preservation) was a short-lived organization spearheaded by high school teacher & comics dealer Phil Seuling, French comics historian Maurice Horn, and others. By the next year, a fatal falling-out between the two major forces in SCARP had led to Seuling’s beginning his own round of monumental New York City comicons.

Comic Fandom Archive

at the time that his contacts with the St. Louis music scene had set him on a path considered not in the least bit appropriate for nice, middle-class Jewish boys from St Charles, Missouri. But eventually it led him to Jamaica, the country whose people and music he loved and that would focus his energy for the rest of his life. First, though, we were going to bring out our semi-pro zine, reflecting the maturity acquired since we first went public as geeky 17-year-olds, not-yet consolidated distribution channels opened up by the undergrounds (and if not, there would still be those quarters and dimes under the Scotch tape), and a commitment to the “graphic story” as conceptualized by Richard Kyle, Bill Spicer, and John Benson (whom Bob and I had visited on the Upper West Side and by whom we were shown one of the first examples of Japanese manga porno). We had a couple of nice items lined up for a debut issue, including a panel-by-panel analysis of Krigstein’s “Master Race” done by Art Spiegelman as an undergraduate at SUNY Binghamton. I had come back from Argentina with a mindbogglingly original comic called Mort Cinder that really seemed to deliver what the graphic story’s advocates were talking up. But Bob had already committed emotionally to Jamaica, and within a few years I would be living permanently in Spain. We kept our hopes alive by correspondence, until Spiegelman got fed up with waiting; and, a few years on, one of the Mort Cinder coauthors, Hector Oesterheld, was murdered by the military junta in Argentina, along with his four daughters and their families. There was one last trip down to St. Louis, where Bob was living on his own and already pressing records. I had the first

Wizards Of Oz! Two primo covers of Bob Schoenfeld’s fanzine Gosh Wow. That of #1 (1968), drawn by Australian pro artist John Dixon, depicted several major Down Under heroes. (For more on these, see A/E #51.) The cover of issue #2 (1968 or ’69) was drawn by major underground artist Vaugn Bodé, who, Bob Latona says, was “discovered” by Bob Schoenfeld. [Australian heroes TM & ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Bodé art ©2007 Estate of Vaughn Bodé.]

had been referring to his longtime girlfriend as his fiancée—a ring was acquired, I believe—but she dumped him, brutally and without warning, right when he was busiest trying to make the con work. Totally crushed, disconsolate, broken up, his distress was pretty easy to spot, but the only person who had the decency to ask was… ready for this… James Warren, the publisher of Creepy, Vampirella, and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Picture a hotel room, late afternoon, drapes pulled closed. Jim Warren is telling a story (in third person, to begin with, about “someone I know real well,” and then, confronted, downshifting to first) the moral of which is that there’s nothing to be done when the future in which you have placed all your love and trust and hope explodes in your face, walking Bob through his hurt by confiding painful details of his own private life to some kid he hardly knew. I understand that James Warren is not on a whole lot of “favorite people” lists, but he’ll have my respect and admiration forever for what he did that day. The following year, I was through with college—Bob never went, which was sort of odd, given his background. I didn’t know

Robert Schoenfeld, R.I.P.

Portraits From The Golden Age Of Comic Fandom Bob Schoenfeld (on right in photo) with popular fan-artist John Fantucchio at the 1986 SCARP Con—and the cover of On the Drawing Board #56 (1967) by another fan-artist of the day, Jim Sullivan. [Green Lantern TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

one he midwifed—a single by some lost luminary of the local rock scene doing a touching ’70s romantic ballad called “Would You Like to Get High and Ball.” Actually, it had a nifty beat. So others can speak with authority of how Bob afterwards built up his personal collection of Jamaican music on the original vinyl into one of the most extensive ever assembled, which in turn became the basis for Roots Knotty Roots, a discography cataloguing more sub-varieties of reggae than anyone ever knew existed. Says one of the people who wrote in response to news of Bob’s death: “He was one of the gentlest, most generous men I’ve ever known. His Nighthawk Records label was not only the very model of a labor of love, it was one of the finest independent labels of an era in which the words ‘independent label’ hadn’t yet found their way into anyone’s vernacular, much less the proto-hipster’s.” I wasn’t around for any of that. But just because you haven’t seen or heard from someone for 35 years, it doesn’t mean that one day you won’t miss them just the same.

Gateway To Tears Sounds like the title of a 1950s comic book romance story set in St. Louis, doesn’t it? Though Bob Schoenfeld produced this flyer for his 1969 Gateway II comics convention, Bob Latona relates that he was going through a personal crisis at this time. [Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

In Memoriam

Don R. Christensen (1916-2006) “One Of The Most Prolific Writers The Medium Has Ever Seen” A Brief Personal Remembrance by Roy Thomas

remember “Don Arr Christensen” (as he signed himself on a 1981 wedding cartoon he did for bride Dann and me) and his wife Ivy-Carol as two of the sweetest, most likable people you’d ever want to meet. We were never close friends or anything like that—our paths crossed only at social events—but, in the mid-1970s, soon after I moved to L.A., Don was a co-founder (along with Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés) of CAPS—the Comic Art Professionals Society. From that day until Dann and I moved away from Southern California near the end of 1991, he and Ivy-Carol came to virtually every party we threw— and we tossed at least one big one every year—and they were always welcome and pleasant guests.

(The wedding cartoon mentioned above was printed last year in Alter Ego #58. At that time, I made an attempt to get into contact with him, to no avail. Several folks said he and Ivy-Carol had moved to Las Vegas, but we didn’t turn up any contact info.) According to information culled from Wikipedia and from an e-article by Dominic von Riedemann on the website www.toonzone.net, Don worked— after graduating from the Minnesota School of Art in Minneapolis—as a “sketch artist” for Walt Disney Studios from 1937-41, including on such classic films as Pinocchio and Dumbo… later moving over (in the 1940s) to Warner Bros.’ cartoon division, working primarily with Bob Clampett’s production unit. As a comic book writer for Western Publishing from the 1950s through the early 1970s, he scripted a multitude of the company’s licensed humor characters (including Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, et al.), and also some more adventurous fare, including a tale or three for the legendary Magnus, Robot Fighter, drawn by artist Russ Manning. Comics historian Mark Evanier has called him “one of my favorite people” and “easily one of the most prolific writers the medium has ever seen.” Mark adds that one comics special Don R. wrote—Donald in Mathmagicland—is one of his favorite comics, that he was Western’s “go-to” guy when they needed something that had to do with puzzles, and that he also authored numerous non-comics works for Western.

Don Arr, The Great Don R. Christensen at Roy Thomas' birthday party in 1989. The Russ Manning-drawn splash from Magnus #20 (Nov. 1967) was reprinted in Dark Horse's hardcover volume Magnus Robot Fighter, 4000 A.D., Vol. 3. Photo by Dann Thomas. [©2007 Random House, Inc., under license to Classic Media, Inc.]

In later years Don worked as art and/or story director or many animated TV series, including (again per von Riedemann) the Kwicky Koala Show in 1981, and wrote scripts for My Little Pony before retiring in the late ’80s. He died on October 18, 2006--and some

sources believe that Ivy-Carol passed away a short time earlier. If anyone has any additional information, it's hoped they will contact Alter Ego. I very much regret our losing touch these past years, for they were good people. No, they were great people.

In Memoriam

Marshall Rogers (1950-2007) “An Amazing Love Of Comics” by Mark Paniccia

n March 25th, the comic book industry lost one of its legendary visionaries, Marshall Rogers. Marshall had an amazing love of comics and a great respect for his fans, an attribute forever appreciated by those who met him in person. Marshall was born on January 22, 1950, in Flushing, New York, and was raised in Ardsley, NY. He attended Kent State University, where he studied architecture, but left halfway through in pursuit of a career in comics. It is commonly thought that his architectural training influenced his cityscapes—-especially his portrayal of the dark and

imposing Gotham City in his revered Detective Comics run (#471476); however, he later clarified that his biggest inspiration was the pre-1950s buildings he saw and studied while living in Manhattan. “They’re works of art. They’ve a life of their own,” he said, “The detail in the stonework is fascinating to me, and I try to translate that to my pages.” In the mid-1970s, Marshall broke onto the scene with a few random-but-memorable short stories at DC and several full-length “Daughters of the Dragon” features appearing in Marvel’s black-&white magazines (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #32 & 33 and Bizarre Adventures #25), but his brief run on Detective Comics in 1977 made him a superstar of the time and one of the most definitive Batman artists in the character’s history. Prior to his last issues of Detective, Marshall helmed the enthusiastically received but short-lived return of Mister Miracle. In 1981, he took on a 6-issue arc of Doctor Strange after Frank Miller bowed out due to scheduling commitments. Marshall did a significant amount of creator-owned and independent projects with Eclipse Comics and produced Cap’n Quick and a Foozle, Coyote, Scorpio Rose, and Detectives Inc. While known for his inspiring detail and architectural command, one of the things that made Marshall’s art stand out most from that of his contemporaries was his approach to page design. In an era where six-panel grids were still a standard, Marshall reprocessed the script and expanded on it, often allowing sound effects, perspective, backgrounds, and silhouettes to play an important role in his compositions. He was also one of the first comic artists to use the nowpopular widescreen layout. Marshall cited Jack Kirby as his greatest comic book influence, apparent in the case of stiff yet dynamic poses, ridged and angular anatomy, and overpowering capes. And whether the setting was Gotham City, New York, or Apokolips, Marshall brought the reader into the environment of the fantasy world he was charged with. “It’s my job to make sure the readers connect with the story, that they feel like they’re part of it,” he said.

Strange Days Marshall Rogers (top right), juxtaposed with art from Dr. Strange #52 (April 1982). Marvel editor Mark Paniccia, who wrote this tribute, chose this piece as representative of the “surprising detail and architectural command” of Marshall’s work. Photo courtesy of Jim Murtaugh & Keif Simon. [DS page ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

His last projects were the second Dark Knight chapter (almost 30 years after the first’s publication) with original collaborator Steve Englehart for DC and What If the Fantastic Four Were Cosmonauts and Strange Westerns Starring the Black Rider for Marvel Comics.

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launched. The Patriot and Miss America, of course, were founding members of The Liberty Legion, while Dr. Strange, Hulk, and Sub-Mariner stand for The Defenders. Oh, and the guy who’s largely obscured by The Invaders is Tarzan, while the drawing in Alter Ego’s hand represents my 1972-74 run as Marvel’s editor-inchief. A whole decade of professional work—right there on the table! [Art ©2007 Shane Foley; Alter & Captain Ego TM & ©Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly; Alter Ego TM & ©2007 Roy & Dann Thomas; Conan, Kull, & Solomon Kane TM & ©2007 Paradox Entertainment, Inc.; Red Sonja TM & ©2007 Red Sonja Properties; Tarzan TM & ©2007 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.; Marvel heroes TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Now, while we’ve still got room, on with our letters page concerning A/E #59! We’ll start with this note from Michaël Dewally, a college prof who has contributed numerous art spots to recent issues (including this one), but who has something to say in a “texting” mode, as well…. Hi Roy, A/E #59’S mix is perfect, from Suydam to Plastino to Siegel’s European work to Matera’s interview. On page 53, though, it mentions that the splash “China Mission” is from Fightin’ Marines #4, whose cover is also reproduced. It’s actually not from that issue (I own a copy). Sadly, I can’t tell you where it appeared.

o what, you may well be asking yourself, does this month’s “re:” illo above, by Australia’s own Shane Foley, have to do with either funny-animal super-heroes, the cover feature of this month’s Alter Ego—or with Batman or Superman, the twin foci of A/E #59, the issue dealt with in letters below? Answer: nada. But it’s a fine homage to the inspired Buckler/Giordano cover of 1981’s AllStar Squadron #1—with the subject matter altered to reflect subjects connected to the career of Ye Editor—Roy Thomas—or, to put it starkly: “me.” Y’see, Shane prepared two images for A/E #70, the ish that covered “my so-called career” (to steal a 1977 phrase from Harrison Ford) during the 1970s. Through my error, this one didn’t get used! But it was too good, I felt, to languish unseen… so I looked for a chance to print it. And I didn’t have to wait long. Nice work, as usual, lad! The subjects of the pics being held up by this mag’s three (out of a possible four) “maskots” probably don’t need a visual key. Most are Marvel characters, including three (Iron Fist, Warlock, and Werewolf by Night) whom I co-created, while the Spider-Man with a partly-seen “5” on his chest refers to the first issue of the What If? series I conceived— and the crucified spaceman is adapted from Frank Brunner’s cover (which in turn was loosely inspired by Michael Moorcock’s awardwinning story “Behold the Man”) which was painted for Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #6 (Nov. 1975), the black-&-white comic I

And, while I know that A/E is generally super-hero-focused, seeing the Tony DiPreta interview is coming up, I’d like to suggest interviews with two guys you might want to consider interviewing, since they worked at least briefly in comics in the early ’50s. First is Harold LeDoux, recently retired artist of the Judge Parker comic strip; I know he did quite a bit of work for Famous Funnies. Second is Mel Keefer, most famous for his ’70s Mac Divot strip; Keefer worked quite a bit for Toby. Michaël Dewally Assistant Professor of Finance Marquette University, Starz Hall, 318 P.O. Box 1881 Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881 Thanks for the Fightin’ Marines info, Michaël. Actually, a Mel Keefer interview’s been on tap for a while now, courtesy of Alberto Becattini—but it’s so long we haven’t found a spot for it quite yet! And Jim Amash tells me he recently completed an interview with Harold Ledoux, which is currently being transcribed. So we’re right up with you! Next, regular correspondent Jake Oster has these words about a reference in #59’s interview with Arthur Suydam: Roy— Nice collection of informative interviews. The Arthur Suydam piece contains a splash page from a story he drew, scripted by Michael Fleischer, with “art continuity” by Russell Carley. This rather confusing term was explained by Fleischer himself in an interview in The Comics Journal #58 (June 1979): “Russell Carley is a fine artist, a painter, who’s a very close friend of mine, and when I first began to write comics regularly, I really had no experience in coming up with the plots, for example, or breaking down the stories…. So Russell and I would… sit together on a Saturday afternoon and we would throw ideas back and forth and we would produce a plot. After I’d gotten the plot okayed, Russell would

[comments, correspondence, & corrections]

take the plot and… make a breakdown of it—that is, he would take sheets of paper and divide them into panels, and he would describe in each panel, very briefly, what was to take place, and then…I would write the script. When we started out, we wanted to say, “Story by Michael Fleischer and Russell Carley,” but Joe Orlando felt that we should distinguish between what he did and what I did…. There was no standard title in comics for what Russell was doing, so we made up a term. In retrospect, it was a confusing term, and no one really knows what Russell did. So maybe that was a bad idea. Russell and I did that for 18 months, but now… I do them on my own.” Perhaps a better term might have been “script continuity.” Hope that helps. Jake Oster Probably any notation would have been unclear without an additional editorial explanation, Jake. But we’re appreciative of the info, which we must’ve forgotten from the first time around.

…Does Whatever A Spider-Man Can… A “Spider” splash with art by Reg Bunn, and script probably by “Superman” co-creator Jerry Siegel—from the beautiful 2005 volume King of Crooks, published by Titan Books of London. [©2007 IPC Media, Ltd.]

Next, a missive from comics historian Will Murray about a point made by longtime “Superman” artist Al Plastino: Roy— I was interested in the Al Plastino interview. He mentions Jack Sparling scripting—apparently—Hop Hopper. I knew the late Charles Spain Verral, the pulp writer who scripted Hap Hopper, later called Barry Noble, for both Sparling and Plastino. He showed me sample strips on his wall once, featuring their works. Verral must have replaced Sparling at some point. Drew Pearson was the alleged creator of the strip. Sparling probably ghosted it for him in all senses of the term. The pulp house Plastino mentions was an offshoot of the Spicy pulp line founded by Harry Donenfeld. Small wonder it was officed next to DC! Will Murray Thanks for the info, Will. Jeff Taylor has some more—just on a different subject: Roy— Here’s some more information on the British super-villain turned super-hero The Spider, covered in your latest issue. Titan Books in the UK has printed quite a wonderful hardcover collecting his first few adventures under the title King of Crooks (obviously, Marvel wouldn’t let them use the name “Spider” on the dust jacket, although turnabout is fair play, because if you check out the cover of Essential Killraven, you’ll see the House of Ideas wasn’t allowed to mention War of the Worlds, either!). Titan have also published a quite nice book about the invisible avenger known as The Steel Claw. The Spider has made other recent appearances, first in the comic Jack Staff, and later in the Alan Moore-created mini-series Albion. Finally, I found it interesting that The Spider is known as Spiderman in Italy, because on eBay I discovered that in France he was published under the name Blackman, although I have no idea if that was because of his dark-colored costume or if it was a sly reference to an earlier similarly-clad character called Blackboy which was itself a sequel to the banned-by-the-government Fantax. Jeff Taylor Victoria, BC, Canada

Could be, Jeff. (See A/E #31 for more on the French heroes Fantax and Blackboy.) But are you sure Marvel just didn’t stick Killraven’s name on the reprint of “War of the Worlds” stories because the hero’s name eventually became the title of the strip? Admittedly, it might have been a minor problem back in the 1970s, if Marvel had wished to reprint them in Britain, where the copyright laws are somewhat different. Perhaps I should have simply posited the series as a sequel to H.G. Wells’ 1997 novel (as indeed I did) but not called it by the same name. As for The Spider—you may be right there, too, but there are other possible explanations. For instance, Stan Lee once told me that when he used the phrase “The Spider” in next-week blurbs in the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip (e.g., “The Spider and the Fly”), he got complaints from the copyright owners of the 1930s pulp hero The Spider, whose exploits were being reprinted in paperback form—and perhaps it was they, rather than Marvel, who’d have given Titan Books grief. Next: anytime we mention Bob Kane, there’s always a controversy— often involving reader Rex Ferrell, who certainly has a right to his opinion (with which we don’t even totally disagree): Dear Roy— I started not to buy Alter Ego #59 despite the fact that it had my favorite character on the cover, namely The Batman. I thought it would just be filled with some more cheap shots directed at Bob Kane, and I was not going to waste my hard-earned money on it. However, when I saw that one interview subject was Sheldon Moldoff, I thought I’d give it a shot. As far as the Kane “ghosts” were concerned, I had always been strictly a Dick Sprang man, but after I stumbled upon some of Mr. Moldoff’s “Hawkman” stories and learned that he was responsible for the luscious background inking on the “Dr. Death” and origin stories in the “Batman” series, I started to become a true believer. Am I ever glad I picked up this issue! It seems Mr. Moldoff is a truly creative guy who just couldn’t catch a break! Not only did he give Bob Kane the general idea for a kid super-hero, which would later become Robin the Boy Wonder, but he also inspired Bill Gaines to create his line of EC horror comics, which was recently verified in Grant Geissman’s book Foul Play: The Artists of EC Comics. I truly felt Mr. Moldoff’s pain when Kane decided to “close up shop,” as I had experienced that displeasure a couple of times

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myself (as have thousands of other working Americans). Interviewer Shel Dorf did a wonderful job of keeping the interview moving by focusing the perspective within the context of general comics history. Rex Ferrell Rex had more to say, but it would take pages to print and mostly, we feel, cover points which have been dealt with before in print. We’ll just say what we’ve said before, that we consider Bill Finger the cocreator of “Batman,” who should have shared, officially or informally, in Kane’s residuals for the hero. On the other hand, in a recent panel at the SuperCon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sheldon Moldoff stated categorically: “Bob Kane created Batman. Period.” We still don’t agree, but we have to respect the opinion of the man who was, albeit briefly, Kane’s very first assistant on the Darknight Detective. Chris Elliott had something to say about an earlier letter from Rex Ferrell:

The Family That Flaps Together…

Hi, Roy! First off, let me say that I’ve been buying comics since 1971 and have never

A commission drawing of the “Batman Family,” done in color by Sheldon Moldoff for collector Dave Trimble. With thanks to both! To contact “Shelly” re commission drawings, write to him at 3710 Inverrary Hill, Lauderhill, FL 33319. [Characters TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

ever written to any comic company or fanzine before! But your absolutely fabulous Alter Ego and the letters page of #59 made me want to write. In regards to Rex Ferrell’s missive, I’m glad you admonished him. I do not think for one minute you could ever have too much coverage of Timely or Marvel. Sure, it’s great that you cover all the rest, because, since discovering Alter Ego back in Comic Book Artist, I’ve bought every issue and have become a comic book history buff, too! All the great articles and illos you use have whetted my appetite, and I have begun to buy back issues by the boatload, finishing off my Marvel Silver Age issues, then onto Atlas, then DC Silver Age, and down into the Atom Age and Golden Age! This was at a time when my interest in comics was severely draining. I have to thank you for kick-starting me! (I’ve always enjoyed your writing, especially if it involved your “war books,” either at Marvel or DC.) Chris Elliott Thanks for the kind words, Chris. Whenever we get discouraged about the lack of interest among most of today’s comics readers in anything that happened more than a few years ago, or before 1986, or maybe even before yesterday, an e-mail like yours cheers me up and suggests that all that work every month is almost worth it! And this from reader/contributor Paul Bach: Dear Roy, Loved the Fran Matera interview. Can’t get enough of the Quality Comics stories, tidbits, etc. Can you forward a note to Mr. Matera re commissioning a Doll Man sketch from him? The ones he sent you and Jim Amash were great. Paul Bach

You’re A Doll, Fran! A recent pencil drawing of Doll Man by Golden Age Quality artist Fran Matera; courtesy of the artist and Greg Vondruska. See text at right for how to get your own Matera sketch! [Doll Man TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

I forwarded it, Paul. And, as was mentioned in A/E #67, Matera admirer Greg Vondruska has set up a Fran Matera website at http://penandbrush.net/MATERA. Fran can be reached via that

[comments, correspondence, & corrections]

site, as he still draws a few commission pieces of Doll Man or other Quality characters and others. I have a Matera Doll Man pencil sketch myself, and it’s wonderful!

have gone up substantially for the publications divisions and down for the distribution division. Why did Goodman not notice this? Why did no one point it out to him?

A passing mention of a movie cowboy who had his own comic book prompted this from Charles Chamberlin:

And what about that “somehow negotiated”? These things don’t happen by accident. Goodman was a successful publisher, and had been in the business for many years. He was known as a hands-on publisher, as well.

Roy— I’m a great fan of Alter Ego and the comics of an older era. I was pleased to see a mention of Sunset Carson in the Fran Matera interview in the June issue. I was a Sunset Carson fan because he was a star from his first movie, 1943’s Stage Door Canteen, until his last guest role, on Simon & Simon [TV], in 1985. He was top-billed in 29 movies and even produced a Western in later years. For those who are real Bcowboy fans, he was one of “The Greatest Cast of Western Stars Ever on the Screen” assembled for 1945’s Bells of Rosarita, which starred Roy Rogers and a plethora of other Western heroes (but he was billed after Trigger). But I was a fan most of all because, in the ’80s, when my daughter wrote him a fan letter, he responded with a photo, autograph, and hand-written letter. Nice guy. Glad to hear the compliments about him in your interview.

* “The Zinger.” I have heard many, many stories about the dissolution or liquidation of the American News Company. They never quite agree on fundamental issues. What are the reasons ANC went under? The first story I hard was that ANC (the only national magazine distributor in the country, with outlets in all key regions) was purchased through a leveraged buy-out, then liquidated, with the new owner walking away with an immense profit. I have heard bankruptcy, which is apparently incorrect. I have heard about Mafia involvement, not only with the ANC, but also with another major distributor—but have never seen confirmation on either. The story here does not nail this down. And it is important, not only because it establishes Froehlich’s responsibility for the implosion

Charles Chamberlin Schaumburg, IL And Bells of Rosarita was virtually a Justice Society of the American West, Charles! P.C. Hamerlinck forwarded this note from artist Rubén Procopio, whose art of Captain Marvel and other subjects, as well as his friendship with the late great Alex Toth, was covered in #59’s FCA section: WOW, Paul! Just got copies of the issue, and it looks fantastic! Thank you so much for the wonderful article, layout, etc. I did show it to Dana Toth, Alex’s oldest daughter, who really liked it, as well. All the kids were here this week, and we had a gathering to remember Alex at my place. It was a memorable day. I wish Alex could have seen the article, but I tell you, I think he has already, in spirit. It meant a lot to me and is a bit surreal to see myself in a magazine and in a section I’m such a big fan of. Rubén Procopio It’s the artists and writers and others in the comics industry who are the reason for this mag’s existence, Rubén, not the other way around! But we’re glad you enjoyed the feature… and thanks for your remembrances of Toth in #63, as well. Richard Kyle sent this letter which is perhaps peripheral to things actually discussed in depth in A/E #59, but which deals with a subject of great interest to all who are intrigued by the history of comic books in general, and Marvel in particular. It’s actually a “carbon” of a missive written to Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., concerning a point Richard originally raised in 1999 about the so-called “Atlas Implosion”: Dear Jim [V.], I enjoyed your letter in Alter Ego #59. Your mention of “The Great Atlas Implosion” reminded me of a letter I wrote John Morrow in 1998, which was never published (and about which I’m still curious if Mr. [Monroe] Froehlich got a hiding he may not have deserved): Jim Vadeboncoeur’s “The Great Atlas Implosion” is extremely interesting, but I wish more questions were answered. There are loose ends: * “The Ploy.” If Froelich “somehow renegotiated the contract between the publishing arm and Atlas magazines so that the latter received a lesser percentage of the price of each publication for the distribution service,” then (since both arms of the larger publishing structure were owned by Martin Goodman and his wife) profits would

You’ll Wonder Where The Yellow [Claw] Went (Sorry, folks—old Pepsodent toothpaste slogan, left over from the 1940s. Couldn’t resist. Didn’t even try.) Above is one of no less than four Jack Kirby splash pages from The Yellow Claw #3 (Feb. 1957). As pointed out in A/E #57, Yellow Claw was the last “hero” title from Timely/Atlas before the “Atlas Implosion.” Fortunately, Marvel will probably be reprinting its four-issue run in a near-future edition of Marvel Masterworks: The Atlas Heroes. Repro’d from a Photostat of the original art. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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of Goodman’s comics, but because the collapse of ANC triggered the collapse of all newsstand magazine sales. Its consequences are felt to this day. ANC’s local competitors, the independently owned IDs, did not initially have the resources to handle all of ANC’s titles, and this resulted in the cancellation of a tremendous number of magazines—and a subsequent monopoly by the IDs that, inevitably, further eroded newsstand sales. We’ve been given a schematic of the situation, when what we need is more detailed information. On the surface, signing with ANC was not necessarily a bad idea. At the time, ANC was the oldest magazine distribution company in the country, with a long history of survival. Goodman’s magazines would have been a good fit for them. And, as I understand it, the “collapse” of ANC was a surprise to everyone. It is said that “Arthur Marchland [of Atlas Distribution] had tried to warn Goodman of the potential problems, but he was viewed as merely playing in office politics against Froelich.” Where did the authors obtain this information? Were there additional sources? And why did Goodman fail to take action, since the arithmetic should have been right in front of him? Was Marchand ignored, not because of “office politics,” but because he had failed to understand what was actually taking place? * “The Crash.” Note that, not “having time to re-establish his old network, Goodman was forced to lay off the entire staff.” Note Brad Elliott’s discovery that the Atlas cover dates were not “totally accurate.” * “The Aftermath.” As the authors quote Ayers’ business director for 1952, Marvel was listed as selling twice the comics of DC and a third more than Dell. In the “historical interlude,” they state that, in 1957, “Atlas was simply the largest comics company that had ever existed.” Yet they also state that, according to Ayers, their comics circulation had fallen that year, and they were now a distant fourth, presumably due to the collapse of ANC. (Perhaps there was a misprint here, and, instead of 1957, the year 1952 was meant.) Now, consider, if the Ayers figures are correct: In 1952 Goodman’s Atlas distribution was so good that he was outselling every other comic book company in the country, and by a wide margin (and with a rather poor product)—yet, four years later, he closes down Atlas, which apparently was also distributing both his paperback line and his successful men’s magazines. Huh? This needs much further explanation. And are those 1952 figures correct? If (see “The Crash,” above) cover dates were being manipulated in 1957, isn’t it possible that total circulations were also being manipulated at an earlier time by assigning comics to “unnatural” dates? And, were these Audit Bureau of Circulation figures? Or were they numbers released by the Goodman organization? (If the latter, sales figures for a given month could be manipulated at an earlier time by assigning the dates of bi-monthly or quarterly or one-shot titles to a single chosen month—and that month then cited as a characteristic month for advertising or other purposes.) The reason I make this point is that Dell had a truly wonderful distribution during this period. I don’t recall Atlas comics having comparable display space—which their [alleged] market dominance would require. (Further, if Atlas sales had been as strong as it’s claimed, why was Marvel’s later and seemingly lesser success so commented on by the industry?) And why, when he once had an incredibly good distribution system—based on the figures cited—didn’t Goodman re-establish that system? The price Goodman paid for going with IND was a vastly restricted publication schedule for his comics line—and the loss of his Lion Books paperback imprint. Why didn’t he temporarily kill his comics line, sign with IND for his magazine list, and then re-create Atlas for his comics and paperbacks? If the comics line had been closed down for six months, what difference would it have made—assuming

An Astonishing Reject Collector Dave O’Dell sent us this image of an unused Bill Everett cover for Astonishing #61. Since Astonishing was discontinued in 1957 after issue publication of #63, it’s quite possible this cover might have be re-slated for #64 or later. It’s way too beautiful to toss out—unless Martin Goodman had gone art-blind, in addition to any other flaws he may have acquired in the late 1950s. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

that sales were as good as we are told? (Goodman’s contract with IND may have prevented him from re-establishing his own distribution system for the comics and paperbacks, but we do not know that.) Finally, what happened to Monroe Froehlich? Was he canned? Did he remain with the company? As what? And if he remained, why? Now, everything may be exactly as the authors say. What I’m doing is asking the questions that normally occur while you’re reading. An explanation of those events should be able to able to refute—and I’d be delighted if they did—the following possibilities: That Atlas never had the circulation claimed—that the figures cited were manipulated, either by Goodman or by elements inside the Goodman organization. Or that the sales figures may have been accurate, but included non-Goodman titles distributed by Atlas, if any. Or that the reason Atlas was folded is that comics (and magazine and book) sales were down significantly, and Goodman could see the handwriting on the wall. And that, for internal reasons, Goodman prepared for this by making the distribution arm the financial loser and the publishing arm the winner—both to give Atlas a tax loss, and to enhance the publishing arm’s potential value, if the company were sold, bank loans sought, or new distributors romanced.

[comments, correspondence, & corrections]

We close with a letter we’ve been meaning to print for quite a while now, from the aforementioned Thomas G. Lammers:

That corporate politics played a secondary role—if any—in all this. Goodman owned the business. No one else could make a final decision. That Goodman did not retain his apparently successful business manager, Robert Solomon, for some as yet unexplained reason. (We should also consider the interesting oddity that Froehlich, a “golfing partner” and possibly a personal friend of Goodman’s, came aboard in 1952, when the Atlas comics were at their— asserted—peak in sales. Further, we might consider if there is a relationship between Froehlich’s lack of control over Atlas and predecessor Solomon’s presumably greater control. Could Froehlich have been a figurehead for Goodman?

Roy—

That Goodman was not the passive figure portrayed in the article. It is very unlikely a man as successful as Goodman would allow serious business decisions to be taken out of his hands. Did he bring Froehlich in to accomplish some purpose of his own? (See above.) Understand, everything may be as the authors say. I’d like it nailed down—or at least the issues above considered and dealt with.

Imagine a Marvel Comics story featuring a boy named Grimm in love with a blind girl! Fantastic Four, you say? No, it’s job #5635, “When Love Was Blind!” (8 pp.), in Love Secrets #1 (Oct. 1949)! Actually, it’s two guys named Grimm—brothers Alex and Ronald—the Brothers Grimm, I guess. But they’re not ugly mugs; they’re handsome, suave doctors. And the girl’s name isn’t Alicia Masters; it’s Eleanor Hughes. And she’s a stewardess, not a sculptress, and she gets over being blind. Other than that, it’s identical! Thomas G. Lammers

Thanks for the info, Tom. Hey, maybe they could double-date with the “Peter and Gwen” couple that another letter-writer some issues back had found in a DC romance comic. Anyway, we’ve included the panel you sent from that Timely mag.

Richard Kyle 3644 Lewis Av., Long Beach, CA 90807-4118 Whew! Now we’ll wait to let Michael Feldman, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, Thomas Lammers, and perhaps others weigh in on the matter, Richard.

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“Faulkner”? Yes … young member of the local Blanks family back home … pal of mine … left-handed shortstop with the Pine Street Tigers. My story, for sure!

[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 a vital part of FCA since his first column appeared in FCA #54, 1996. Last issue, Marc presented another one of his syndicated strip tryouts. In this installment he discusses writing scripts for Captain Marvel.

The title of that 12-pager was “Captain Marvel and His Country Cousin” (CMA #26, Aug. 1943). By the time it appeared in print I was nestled in a Ft. Oglethorpe barracks and never certain who did the art. I’ve always thought, though, I saw in it the sense of humor and gifted hand of Ed Robbins, who was with the C.C. Beck studio in New York about that time, and later did the syndicated Mike Hammer strip. Whoever it was knew how to cartoon … and his portrayal of the two gangsters, “Number 27” and “Number 32,” was excellent. So also was the work on Captain Marvel, parading around in comical attire as a second country cousin. It wasn’t the first time he had been seen in such ridiculous array. In “Henry’s Grandmother” (CMA #14, July 1942) I had him scampering through 5 or 6 pages in a long, flowered dress! Captain Marvel was a pretty serious fellow when I first met him …

—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

hen I was drawing Captain Marvel and had begun to toss in a story now and then, I found that, whereas it was easy to recognize your own artwork when it appeared in print, the writing was another matter. The stories, in print, were so difficult to recall that as far back as 1941 I began to tinker with little devices that might stir the memory. An example was to include something familiar … personal … like, in one story, a street address, which had once been that of a musician pal (Captain Marvel Adventures #19, Jan. 1943 - “The Training of Mary Marvel”). A weird little urge I couldn’t resist was tacking unlikely … but familiar … names on the hoodlums. In another story … and I can’t remember which it was … I had a trio of mobsters contemplating a dangerous descent from a high perch … the leader growling to a henchman: “You go first, Woodrow!” “Woodrow” … a classmate with whom I had biked to school each day in the fifth grade! There was another story not recognized until I came upon a panel wherein lurked a pair of zoot-suited gangsters plotting to do away with Captain Marvel and friend. One furtively whispers to a crony: “Git yer blackjack out, Faulkner!”

“186 Desiard Street” Mary Marvel’s destination in her second appearance, “The Training of Mary Marvel” in Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (Jan. 1943), was in reality the address of one of Marc’s old musician pals. Script & art by Marc Swayze. [©2007 DC Comics.]

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

“The Country Cousin” Willard’s story of his visit to the big city… his brush with crime… and his meeting with Captain Marvel appeared in CMA #26 (Aug. 1943). (Clockwise from above left:) The splash introduces the story… Captain Marvel, unforgettably clad, parades the streets with Willard, on the prowl for members of the widespread scam operation… which he finds and polishes off. Script by Marc Swayze; art by the C.C. Beck Studio, perhaps Ed Robbins. [©2007 DC Comics.]

er … first began to draw him. Captain Marvel Adventures, the magazine, was featuring him in four stories each issue. That required variety. A touch of humor here and there was part of the game. But at neither drawing board nor typewriter was it ever my intention to make fun of our hero. The scripts I wrote were meant to place him in situations that called for emotions and expressions beyond the grim determination seen on so many super-hero faces. Willard, the “cousin,” never becomes a member of the famous Marvel Family. In a big book labeled “All About Family Trees,” Billy Batson learns that Willard is not really a relative. After ample comic book scuffling, Willard takes leave of the big city, happy to have fought side by side with the World’s Mightiest Mortal!

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America)

“Henry’s Grandmother” From CMA #14 (July 1942). The splash… and Cap, as directed by Swayze, “scampering through 5 or 6 pages in a long, flowered dress.” Story by Marc, art by the Beck Studio. [©2007 DC Comics.]

I wasn’t a writer. That is, I hadn’t been employed as one. The scripts I wrote were for the character I drew. I wanted Captain Marvel confronted with situations that I, and the reader, might have to deal with. Situations that would provoke everyday emotions and expressions, like consternation, boredom, awe, even fear. Fear? Captain Marvel? Yes … like when he was chased by the clubwomen in “The What-Not Adventure” (CMA #18, Dec. 1942). You see, in my opinion, those were things that made him different … special … and remembered, even to this day! And stories like “Country Cousin” may have provided the World’s Mightiest Mortal with the “cartoony edge” he held over so many of his super-hero competitors in the comics of the Golden Age. Marc will return with more memories from comics’ early days in our next issue.

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Originality In Art Essay by C.C. Beck [A previously unpublished essay from 1986 by Captain Marvel’s cocreator and chief artist—from the vaults of PCH’s Beck estate files. Since he was described and dubbed by many as a “crusty curmudgeon,” you’ll find Beck’s thought-provoking observations either hopelessly conservative … or delightfully worthwhile. —PCH.]

any years ago, when I used to go around to grade schools giving illustrated talks on comic book work, I met a teacher who told me that she wouldn’t allow her pupils to draw established comic characters but insisted that they create their own. “I insist that they learn to express themselves, not just copy other artists’ work,” she declared. I didn’t bother to explain to this teacher that even grown artists with many years of experience have extreme difficulty in creating their own comic characters, and that children could hardly be expected to come up with new, wonderful characters which the world would welcome with open arms. There are a lot of things about art that are not worth explaining to teachers, who don’t realize what a cold, cruel world professional artists face. There are two reasons why originality in art— “expressing one’s self,” as the teacher put it—is not the great thing that many think it is. The first reason is that almost anything that anyone can come up with in art has probably been done before. As in securing a patent, originality is almost impossible to establish; somewhere, at some time or other, somebody else has probably come up with the same idea. Some ideas, like buttonholes and safety pins, are centuries old; others are like trick vegetable-slicers and electric toothbrushes, which are more trouble than they’re worth. In the field of art, airbrushes are a new invention, although their basic idea is thousands of years old. In caves studied by archeologists there are paintings and designs which were made by blowing powered pigment through a straw. When I was young, fixative was applied by blowing through a little tin apparatus we stuck into a bottle of shellac. Today’s spray cans and airbrushes are only mechanized versions of the caveman’s

Kids And Coloring Books (Above:) Two photos of Charles Clarence Beck’s “illustrated talks” to grade-schoolers, given August 23, 1979, at the Fort Meade, Florida, library. Photos scanned directly from Beck’s clippings scrapbook. (Right:) All art that accompanies this article—and the cover of this FCA section—consists of Beck’s illustrations from Fawcett Publications’ 1941 Captain Marvel Coloring Book, from pages that had previously appeared in its comics. [©2007 DC Comics.]

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

Originality In Art

In comic books there has always been a movement fostered by some writers, artists, and publishers to make the stories and art more realistic not by drawing or writing more realistically but by making the readers believe that distorted drawing and fantastic, unbelievable characters and situations are true accounts of actual events. Unfortunately, the average reader, who is unable to distinguish between a photograph and a line drawing, can easily be duped into buying such deceptive storytelling and art, just as he can be lured into buying vitamin pills, wrinkle creams, get-rich-quick newsletters, and miracle-working bracelets and charms. Young artists who have been taught that they should express themselves in their art often think that merely doing the opposite of whatever is established will bring them instant fame and fortune. This is a great mistake; thousands of artists have starved to death trying to upset the world with their original, never-seen-before art. The few artists who did succeed in introducing new elements in art were almost all derided and hooted at during their lifetimes, and much of what was later acknowledged to be new and different was seen to be worthless or even harmful by later generations. Why art should be regarded as a way of revealing to the world what goes on in one’s own life and mental adjustment (or maladjustment) to it is a mystery to me. Art—or cartoon art, at any rate—should not be produced for people with warped personalities, for psychopaths, for inmates in insane asylums or prisons … but for normal, average, everyday citizens. Just as average citizens would rather associate with other average citizens than with weirdos and perverts, average citizens would rather read about and look at pictures of normal, happy people doing things that everyone understands and enjoys. Making pictures that look just like photos of normal people and writing stories about people who behave exactly like average citizens does not provide much in the way of entertainment, however. Such work may be useful for classes in good citizenship and for textbooks and sociology reports, but it won’t sell comic strips or comic books. [©2007 DC Comics.]

powered ochre and reed or straw. In my opinion, paintings made with airbrushes are monstrosities, worse than pictures made by people who glue together scraps of newspaper headlines, chunks of linoleum, and odds and ends from trashcans and then put their “creations” on display in avant garde salons. Computer-generated pictures, which are being hailed as a great leap forward in art, are no more than paint-by-the-numbers work or jigsaw puzzles produced electronically and are of about as much value as pictures made by gluing together butterfly wings or by dripping paint onto canvas while standing on top of a ladder. The second reason that originality in art should not be encouraged is that, if you come up with something new and original, it will in all probability not be any better than what the world had before. In the field of cartooning, Hal Foster and Alex Raymond came up with the idea of drawing comic strips as if they were museum paintings or art school studies in anatomy, costume, and design. Second-rate artists (and many fans) adored this perversion of cartooning and launched the school of realistic comic strips, which flourished for a few years in the syndicated comics, then died out as the field went back to mostly cartoon-style comics again.

In my way of thinking, comic art is a form of entertainment. It should never touch, except very lightly, on serious subjects such as religion, sex, child and substance abuse, various kinds of perversions, and ethnic and racial matters. Few cartoon producers are qualified to handle such material, and even if they are, putting such matters into cartoon form trivializes them and doesn’t entertain the kind of people who read comic strips and comic books (there are some people who don’t, remember). To be entertaining, comic stories and art must be exaggerated from the way things are in the real world. Cartoon characters can have noses two or three inches long (but not two or three feet long); cartoon children can be about a foot tall with their heads taking up half their heights; animals can walk around on their hind feet and talk; young heroes can be over six feet tall and weigh 200 pounds, but cartoon heroes over seven feet tall with chests the size of refrigerators and thighs like those of Macy Parade balloon figures are disgusting. One or two distortions of real life are enough for any comic book story, I believe. Like jokes, comic book stories should be brief and to the point. Epics and pseudo-religious mythologies leave me cold; they’re all worse than the old epics and mythologies of years ago. I believe it was Alexander Pope who wrote: “True art is nature to advantage dressed; what oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed.” I [Continued on p. 86]

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America)

Originality In Art

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America)

[Continued from p. 83] wish that more young artists, and more art teachers, would put that saying up where they could see it and follow its philosophy instead of trying to make up their own. “But if you don’t try for originality in your work, won’t it be monotonous and dull?” young people ask. “How many want to read the same old stories and look at the same old pictures over and over?” “Very few,” is the answer. That’s why comic characters go out of style after longer or shorter periods of time. But if comic characters are aimed at particular audiences, especially young ones, there will always be new readers coming along to replace the ones who outgrow particular kinds of characters and stories. Comics featuring children will always be popular, as will comics featuring married couples, workers and bosses, bumbling but lovable misfits, smart-aleck animals (but not uppity servants anymore); and of course tales of heroes and villains will always be popular. The trick is this: Don’t use up your characters and plots too fast. Good comic characters come to life and will burn themselves out if not kept under control. They’re like rock stars and athletes and celebrities of any kind. Over-exposure and exploitation beyond all reason can destroy a comic character in very short order. There are only so many things that any one character can do; if he’s made to do all of them too early in the game, he’ll run out of steam very quickly and lose all his readers.

There really is nothing new under the sun; it just seems that way when someone points out something that others hadn’t noticed before or had forgotten about. Bringing out things that people have forgotten about is always a great way to entertain audiences … if they’re pleasant things or if they were embarrassing at the time but can now be seen not to have been serious. Bringing up old miserable experiences is not entertaining at all, at least in my estimation. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet, yet countless stories can be written using them. There are only 12 notes in the chromatic musical scale, yet millions of melodies can be composed of them. In art there are uncounted ways of combining just a few colors, values, and shapes; why try to think up new colors, values, and shapes? Personally, I have enough trouble with the ones already available. How about you?

Edited by ROY THOMAS The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #2

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Featuring a never-reprinted SPIRIT story by WILL EISNER, the genesis of the SILVER AGE ATOM (with GARDNER FOX, GIL KANE, and JULIE SCHWARTZ), interviews with LARRY LIEBER and Golden Age great JACK BURNLEY, BOB KANIGHER, a new Fawcett Collectors of America section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, and more! GIL KANE and JACK BURNLEY flip-covers!

Unseen ALEX ROSS and JERRY ORDWAY Shazam! art, 1953 interview with OTTO BINDER, the SUPERMAN/CAPTAIN MARVEL LAWSUIT, GIL KANE on The Golden Age of TIMELY COMICS, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and SCHAFFENBERGER, rare art by AYERS, BERG, BURNLEY, DITKO, RICO, SCHOMBURG, MARIE SEVERIN and more! ALEX ROSS & BILL EVERETT covers!

Interviews with KUBERT, SHELLY MOLDOFF, and HARRY LAMPERT, BOB KANIGHER, life and times of GARDNER FOX, ROY THOMAS remembers GIL KANE, a history of Flash Comics, MOEBIUS Silver Surfer sketches, MR. MONSTER, FCA section with SWAYZE, BECK, and SCHAFFENBERGER, and lots more! Dual color covers by JOE KUBERT!

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ALTER EGO #8

ALTER EGO #9

Celebrating the JSA, with interviews with MART NODELL, SHELLY MAYER, GEORGE ROUSSOS, BILL BLACK, and GIL KANE, unpublished H.G. PETER Wonder Woman art, GARDNER FOX, an FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, WENDELL CROWLEY, and more! Wraparound cover by CARMINE INFANTINO and JERRY ORDWAY!

GENE COLAN interview, 1940s books on comics by STAN LEE and ROBERT KANIGHER, AYERS, SEVERIN, and ROY THOMAS on Sgt. Fury, ROY on All-Star Squadron’s Golden Age roots, FCA section with SWAYZE, BECK, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, JOE SIMON interview, a definitive look at MAC RABOY’S work, and more! Covers by COLAN and RABOY!

Companion to ALL-STAR COMPANION book, with a JULIE SCHWARTZ interview, guide to JLA-JSA TEAMUPS, origins of the ALL-STAR SQUADRON, FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK (on his 1970s DC conflicts), DAVE BERG, BOB ROGERS, more on MAC RABOY from his son, MR. MONSTER, and more! RICH BUCKLER and C.C. BECK covers!

WALLY WOOD biography, DAN ADKINS & BILL PEARSON on Wood, TOR section with 1963 JOE KUBERT interview, ROY THOMAS on creating the ALL-STAR SQUADRON and its 1940s forebears, FCA section with SWAYZE & BECK, MR. MONSTER, JERRY ORDWAY on Shazam!, JERRY DeFUCCIO on the Golden Age, CHIC STONE remembered! ADKINS and KUBERT covers!

JOHN ROMITA interview by ROY THOMAS (with unseen art), Roy’s PROPOSED DREAM PROJECTS that never got published (with a host of great artists), MR. MONSTER on WAYNE BORING’S life after Superman, The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Panel, FCA section with GEORGE TUSKA, C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, BILL MORRISON, & more! ROMITA and GIORDANO covers!

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ALTER EGO #10

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Who Created the Silver Age Flash? (with KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, and SCHWARTZ), DICK AYERS interview (with unseen art), JOHN BROOME remembered, never-seen Golden Age Flash pages, VIN SULLIVAN Magazine Enterprises interview, FCA, interview with FRED GUARDINEER, and MR. MONSTER on WAYNE BORING! INFANTINO and AYERS covers!

Focuses on TIMELY COMICS (interviews and features on SYD SHORES, MICKEY SPILLANE, and VINCE FAGO), and MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES (including JOE CERTA, JOHN BELFI, FRANK BOLLE, BOB POWELL, and FRED MEAGHER), MR. MONSTER on JERRY SIEGEL, DON and MAGGIE THOMPSON interview, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and DON NEWTON!

DC and QUALITY COMICS focus! Quality’s GILL FOX interview, never-seen ’40s PAUL REINMAN Green Lantern story, ROY THOMAS talks to LEN WEIN and RICH BUCKLER about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, MR. MONSTER shows what made WALLY WOOD leave MAD, FCA section with BECK & SWAYZE, & ’65 NEWSWEEK ARTICLE on comics! REINMAN and BILL WARD covers!

1974 panel with JOE SIMON, STAN LEE, FRANK ROBBINS, and ROY THOMAS, ROY and JOHN BUSCEMA on Avengers, 1964 STAN LEE interview, tributes to DON HECK, JOHNNY CRAIG, and GRAY MORROW, Timely alums DAVID GANTZ and DANIEL KEYES, and FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and MIKE MANLEY! Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON and JOE SIMON!

A look at the 1970s JSA revival with CONWAY, LEVITZ, ESTRADA, GIFFEN, MILGROM, and STATON, JERRY ORDWAY on All-Star Squadron, tributes to CRAIG CHASE and DAN DeCARLO, “lost” 1945 issue of All-Star, 1970 interview with LEE ELIAS, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, & JAY DISBROW! MIKE NASSER & MICHAEL GILBERT covers!

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ALTER EGO #15

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JOHN BUSCEMA ISSUE! BUSCEMA interview (with UNSEEN ART), reminiscences by SAL BUSCEMA, STAN LEE, INFANTINO, KUBERT, ORDWAY, FLO STEINBERG, and HERB TRIMPE, ROY THOMAS on 35 years with BIG JOHN, FCA tribute to KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, plus C.C. BECK and MARC SWAYZE, and MR. MONSTER revisits WALLY WOOD! BUSCEMA covers!

MARVEL BULLPEN REUNION (BUSCEMA, COLAN, ROMITA, and SEVERIN), memories of the JOHN BUSCEMA SCHOOL, FCA with ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK, and MARC SWAYZE, tribute to CHAD GROTHKOPF, MR. MONSTER on EC COMICS with art by KURTZMAN, DAVIS, and WOOD, and more! Covers by ALEX ROSS and MARIE SEVERIN & RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlighting LOU FINE (with an overview of his career, and interviews with family members), interview with MURPHY ANDERSON about Fine, ALEX TOTH on Fine, ARNOLD DRAKE interviewed about DEADMAN and DOOM PATROL, MR. MONSTER on the non-EC work of JACK DAVIS and GEORGE EVANS, tributes to DAVE BERG and VINCE FAGO, FCA and more!

STAN GOLDBERG interview, secrets of ’40s Timely, art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, MANEELY, EVERETT, BURGOS, and DeCARLO, spotlight on sci-fi fanzine XERO with the LUPOFFS, OTTO BINDER, DON THOMPSON, ROY THOMAS, BILL SCHELLY, and ROGER EBERT, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD ghosting Flash Gordon! KIRBY and SWAYZE covers!

Spotlight on DICK SPRANG (profile and interview) with unseen art, rare Batman art by BOB KANE, CHARLES PARIS, SHELLY MOLDOFF, MAX ALLAN COLLINS, JIM MOONEY, CARMINE INFANTINO, and ALEX TOTH, JERRY ROBINSON interviewed about Tomahawk and 1940s cover artist FRED RAY, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD’s Flash Gordon, Part 2!

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ALTER EGO #20

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Timely/Marvel art by SEKOWSKY, SHORES, EVERETT, and BURGOS, secrets behind THE INVADERS with ROY THOMAS, KIRBY, GIL KANE, & ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS interviewed, 1965 NY Comics Con review, panel with FINGER, BINDER, and FOX, MORT WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, RABOY, SCHAFFENBERGER, and more! AL MILGROM cover!

The IGER “SHOP” examined, with art by EISNER, FINE, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, BAKER, MESKIN, CARDY, EVANS, BOB KANE, and TUSKA, “SHEENA” section with art by DAVE STEVENS & FRANK BRUNNER, ROY THOMAS on the JSA and All-Star Squadron, more UNSEEN 1946 ALL-STAR ART, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, FCA, and more! STEVENS & HASEN covers!

BILL EVERETT and JOE KUBERT interview by NEAL ADAMS and GIL KANE in 1970, Timely art by BURGOS, SHORES, NODELL, and SEKOWSKY, RUDY LAPICK, ROY THOMAS on Sub-Mariner, with art by EVERETT, COLAN, ANDRU, BUSCEMAs, SEVERINs, and more, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD at EC, ALEX TOTH, and CAPT. MIDNIGHT! EVERETT & BECK covers!

Unseen art from TWO “LOST” 1940s H.G. PETER WONDER WOMAN STORIES (and analysis of the “CHARLES MOULTON” scripts), BOB FUJITANI and JOHN ROSENBERGER interviewed, VICTOR GORELICK discusses Archie and The Mighty Crusaders, with art by MORROW, BUCKLER, and REINMAN, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD! H.G. PETER cover!

X-MEN interviews with STAN LEE, DAVE COCKRUM, CHRIS CLAREMONT, ARNOLD DRAKE, JIM SHOOTER, ROY THOMAS, and LEN WEIN, MORT MESKIN profiled by his sons and ALEX TOTH, rare art by JERRY ROBINSON, FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY on Comics Fandom! MESKIN and COCKRUM covers!

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ALTER EGO #25

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JACK COLE remembered by ALEX TOTH, interview with brother DICK COLE and his PLAYBOY colleagues, CHRIS CLAREMONT on the X-Men (with more never-seen art by DAVE COCKRUM), ROY THOMAS on All-Star Squadron #1 and its ’40s roots (with art by ORDWAY, BUCKLER, MOLDOFF, and MESKIN), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by TOTH and COLE!

JOE SINNOTT interview, IRWIN DONENFELD interview by EVANIER & SCHWARTZ, art by SHUSTER, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, and SWAN, MARK WAID analyzes the first Kryptonite story, JERRY SIEGEL and HARRY DONENFELD, JERRY IGER Shop update, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and KEN BALD! Covers by SINNOTT and WAYNE BORING!

VIN SULLIVAN interview about the early DC days with art by SHUSTER, MOLDOFF, FLESSEL, GUARDINEER, and BURNLEY, MR. MONSTER’s “Lost” KIRBY HULK covers, 1948 NEW YORK COMIC CON with STAN LEE, SIMON & KIRBY, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, HARVEY KURTZMAN, and ROY THOMAS, ALEX TOTH, FCA, and more! Covers by JACK BURNLEY and JACK KIRBY!

Spotlight on JOE MANEELY, with a career overview, remembrance by his daughter and tons of art, Timely/Atlas/Marvel art by ROMITA, EVERETT, SEVERIN, SHORES, KIRBY, and DITKO, STAN LEE on Maneely, LEE AMES interview, FCA with SWAYZE and STEVE SKEATES, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Covers by JOE MANEELY and DON NEWTON!

FRANK BRUNNER interview, BILL EVERETT’S Venus examined by TRINA ROBBINS, Classics Illustrated “What ifs”, LEE/KIRBY/DITKO Marvel prototypes, JOE MANEELY’s monsters, BILL FRACCIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, JOHN BENSON on EC, The Heap by ERNIE SCHROEDER, and FCA! Covers by FRANK BRUNNER and PETE VON SHOLLY!

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ALTER EGO #30

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ALTER EGO #33

ALTER EGO #34

ALEX ROSS on his love for the JLA, ROY THOMAS on the ’60s JLA (with rare art by SEKOWSKY and DILLIN), the super-doers of 1940s-1980s France (with art by STEVE RUDE, STEVE BISSETTE, LADRÖNN, and NEAL ADAMS), KIM AAMODT & WALTER GEIER on writing for SIMON & KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA! Covers by ALEX ROSS and STEVE RUDE!

DICK AYERS on his 1950s and ’60s work (with tons of Marvel Bullpen art), HARLAN ELLISON’s Marvel Age work examined (with art by BUCKLER, SAL BUSCEMA, and TRIMPE), STAN LEE’S Marvel Prototypes (with art by KIRBY and DITKO), Christmas cards from comics greats, MR. MONSTER, & FCA with SWAYZE and SCHAFFENBERGER! Covers by DICK AYERS and FRED RAY!

Timely artists ALLEN BELLMAN and SAM BURLOCKOFF interviewed, MART NODELL on his Timely years, rare art by BURGOS, EVERETT, and SHORES, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age (with art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, and more), FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Covers by DICK GIORDANO and GIL KANE!

Symposium on MIKE SEKOWSKY by MARK EVANIER, SCOTT SHAW!, et al., with art by ANDERSON, INFANTINO, and others, PAT (MRS. MIKE) SEKOWSKY and inker VALERIE BARCLAY interviewed, FCA, 1950s Captain Marvel parody by ANDRU and ESPOSITO, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by FRENZ/SINNOTT and FRENZ/BUSCEMA!

Quality Comics interviews with ALEX KOTZKY, AL GRENET, CHUCK CUIDERA, & DICK ARNOLD (son of BUSY ARNOLD), art by COLE, EISNER, FINE, WARD, DILLIN, and KANE, MICHELLE NOLAN on Blackhawk’s jump to DC, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on HARVEY KURTZMAN, & ALEX TOTH on REED CRANDALL! Covers by REED CRANDALL & CHARLES NICHOLAS!

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Covers by JOHN ROMITA and AL JAFFEE! LEE, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, & THOMAS on the 1953-55 Timely super-hero revival, with rare art by ROMITA, AYERS, BURGOS, HEATH, EVERETT, LAWRENCE, & POWELL, AL JAFFEE on the 1940s Timely Bullpen (and MAD), FCA, ALEX TOTH on comic art, MR. MONSTER on unpublished 1950s covers, and more!

JOE SIMON on SIMON & KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, and LLOYD JACQUET, JOHN BELL on World War II Canadian heroes, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Canadian origins of MR. MONSTER, tributes to BOB DESCHAMPS, DON LAWRENCE, & GEORGE WOODBRIDGE, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and ELMER WEXLER interview! Covers by SIMON and GILBERT & RONN SUTTON!

WILL MURRAY on the 1940 Superman “KMetal” story & PHILIP WYLIE’s GLADIATOR (with art by SHUSTER, SWAN, ADAMS, and BORING), FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and DON NEWTON, SY BARRY interview, art by TOTH, MESKIN, INFANTINO, and ANDERSON, and MICHAEL T. GILBERT interviews AL FELDSTEIN on EC and RAY BRADBURY! Covers by C.C. BECK and WAYNE BORING!

JULIE SCHWARTZ TRIBUTE with HARLAN ELLISON, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, KUBERT, GIELLA, GIORDANO, CARDY, LEVITZ, STAN LEE, WOLFMAN, EVANIER, & ROY THOMAS, never-seen interviews with Julie, FCA with BECK, SCHAFFENBERGER, NEWTON, COCKRUM, OKSNER, FRADON, SWAYZE, and JACKSON BOSTWICK! Covers by INFANTINO and IRWIN HASEN!

Full-issue spotlight on JERRY ROBINSON, with an interview on being BOB KANE’s Batman “ghost”, creating the JOKER and ROBIN, working on VIGILANTE, GREEN HORNET, and ATOMAN, plus never-seen art by Jerry, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, RAY, KIRBY, SPRANG, DITKO, and PARIS! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER on AL FELDSTEIN Part 2, and more! Two JERRY ROBINSON covers!

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ALTER EGO #40

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ALTER EGO #44

RUSS HEATH and GIL KANE interviews (with tons of unseen art), the JULIE SCHWARTZ Memorial Service with ELLISON, MOORE, GAIMAN, HASEN, O’NEIL, and LEVITZ, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, NOVICK, DILLIN, SEKOWSKY, KUBERT, GIELLA, ARAGONÉS, FCA, MR. MONSTER and AL FELDSTEIN Part 3, and more! Covers by GIL KANE & RUSS HEATH!

Halloween issue! BERNIE WRIGHTSON on his 1970s FRANKENSTEIN, DICK BRIEFER’S monster, the campy 1960s Frankie, art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, BORING, OKSNER, TUSKA, CRANDALL, and SUTTON, FCA #100, EMILIO SQUEGLIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more! Covers by WRIGHTSON & MARC SWAYZE!

A celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, rare art by KIRBY, DITKO, and AYERS, Hillman and Ziff-Davis remembered by Heap artist ERNIE SCHROEDER, HERB ROGOFF, and WALTER LITTMAN, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and ALEX TOTH! Covers by FASTNER & LARSON and ERNIE SCHROEDER!

Yuletide art by WOOD, SINNOTT, CARDY, BRUNNER, TOTH, NODELL, and others, interviews with Golden Age artists TOM GILL (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS, exploring 1960s Mexican comics, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Flip covers by GEORGE TUSKA and DAVE STEVENS!

JSA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. special! Interviews with JOE KUBERT, IRWIN HASEN, MURPHY ANDERSON, JERRY ORDWAY, 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR ADLER, art by TOTH, SEKOWSKY, HASEN, MACHLAN, OKSNER, and INFANTINO, FCA, and MR. MONSTER’S “I Like Ike!” cartoons by BOB KANE, INFANTINO, OKSNER, and BIRO! Wraparound ORDWAY cover!

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ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

ALTER EGO #49

Interviews with Sandman artist CREIG FLESSEL and ’40s creator BERT CHRISTMAN, MICHAEL CHABON on researching his Pulitzer-winning novel Kavalier & Clay, art by EISNER, KANE, KIRBY, and AYERS, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER’s “lost” Jon Jarl story, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and ALEX TOTH! CREIG FLESSEL cover!

The VERY BEST of the 1960s-70s ALTER EGO! 1969 BILL EVERETT interview, art by BURGOS, GUSTAVSON, SIMON & KIRBY, and others, 1960s gems by DITKO, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, JERRY BAILS, and ROY THOMAS, LOU GLANZMAN interview, tributes to IRV NOVICK and CHRIS REEVE, MR. MONSTER, FCA, TOTH, and more! Cover by EVERETT and MARIE SEVERIN!

Spotlights MATT BAKER, Golden Age cheesecake artist of PHANTOM LADY! Career overview, interviews with BAKER’s half-brother and nephew, art from AL FELDSTEIN, VINCE COLLETTA, ARTHUR PEDDY, JACK KAMEN and others, FCA, BILL SCHELLY talks to comic-book-seller (and fan) BUD PLANT, MR. MONSTER on missing AL WILLIAMSON art, and ALEX TOTH!

WILL EISNER discusses Eisner & Iger’s Shop and BUSY ARNOLD’s ’40s Quality Comics, art by FINE, CRANDALL, COLE, POWELL, and CARDY, EISNER tributes by STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, & others, interviews with ’40s Quality artist VERN HENKEL and CHUCK MAZOUJIAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER on EISNER’s Wonder Man, ALEX TOTH, and more with BUD PLANT! EISNER cover!

Spotlights CARL BURGOS! Interview with daughter SUE BURGOS, art by BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, MIKE SEKOWSKY, ED ASCHE, and DICK AYERS, unused 1941 Timely cover layouts, the 1957 Atlas Implosion examined, MANNY STALLMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER and more! New cover by MARK SPARACIO, from an unused 1941 layout by CARL BURGOS!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC042992

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN053133

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: FEB053220

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR053331

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: APR053287

ALTER EGO #50

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

ALTER EGO #54

ROY THOMAS covers his 40-YEAR career in comics (AVENGERS, X-MEN, CONAN, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY INC.), with ADAMS, BUSCEMA, COLAN, DITKO, GIL KANE, KIRBY, STAN LEE, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, ROMITA, and many others! Also FCA, & MR. MONSTER on ROY’s letters to GARDNER FOX! Flip-covers by BUSCEMA/ KIRBY/ALCALA and JERRY ORDWAY!

Golden Age Batman artist/BOB KANE ghost LEW SAYRE SCHWARTZ interviewed, Batman art by JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, SHELDON MOLDOFF, WIN MORTIMER, JIM MOONEY, and others, the Golden and Silver Ages of AUSTRALIAN SUPER-HEROES, Mad artist DAVE BERG interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WILL EISNER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JOE GIELLA on the Silver Age at DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, and JULIE SCHWARTZ, with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, SEKOWSKY, SWAN, DILLIN, MOLDOFF, GIACOIA, SCHAFFENBERGER, and others, JAY SCOTT PIKE on STAN LEE and CHARLES BIRO, MARTIN THALL interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! GIELLA cover!

GIORDANO and THOMAS on STOKER’S DRACULA, never-seen DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strip, MIKE ESPOSITO on his work with ROSS ANDRU, art by COLAN, WRIGHTSON, MIGNOLA, BRUNNER, BISSETTE, KALUTA, HEATH, MANEELY, EVERETT, DITKO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, BILL SCHELLY, ALEX TOTH, and MR. MONSTER! Cover by GIORDANO!

MIKE ESPOSITO on DC and Marvel, ROBERT KANIGHER on the creation of Metal Men and Sgt. Rock (with comments by JOE KUBERT and BOB HANEY), art by ANDRU, INFANTINO, KIRBY, SEVERIN, WINDSOR-SMITH, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, TRIMPE, GIL KANE, and others, plus FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! ESPOSITO cover!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY053172

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN053345

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL053293

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG053328

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP053301

ALTER EGO #55

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

ALTER EGO #59

JACK and OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with SWAYZE and EMILIO SQUEGLIO, rare art by BECK, WARD, and SCHAFFENBERGER, Christmas Card Art from CRANDALL, SINNOTT, HEATH, MOONEY, and CARDY, 1943 Pin-Up Calendar (with ’40s movie stars as superheroines), ALEX TOTH, and more! ALEX ROSS cover!

Interviews with Superman creators SIEGEL & SHUSTER, Golden/Silver Age DC production guru JACK ADLER interviewed, NEAL ADAMS and radio/TV iconoclast (and comics fan) HOWARD STERN on Adler and his amazing career, art by CURT SWAN, WAYNE BORING, and AL PLASTINO, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, and more! NEAL ADAMS cover!

Issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas superhero stories by MICHELLE NOLAN, art by SIMON & KIRBY, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, SHORES, SCHOMBURG, MANEELY, and SEVERIN, GENE COLAN and ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely super-heroes, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY! Cover by JACK KIRBY and PETE VON SHOLLY!

GERRY CONWAY and ROY THOMAS on their ’80s screenplay for “The X-Men Movie That Never Was!”with art by COCKRUM, ADAMS, BUSCEMA, BYRNE, GIL KANE, KIRBY, HECK, and LIEBER, Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA interview, ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely bullpen, FCA, 1966 panel on 1950s EC Comics, and MR. MONSTER! MARK SPARACIO/GIL KANE cover!

Special issue on Batman and Superman in the Golden and Silver Ages, ARTHUR SUYDAM interview, NEAL ADAMS on 1960s/70s DC, SHELLY MOLDOFF, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA interviewed, the first comic book Thor (not the one you think!), SIEGEL & SHUSTER, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: OCT053396

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC053401

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN063429

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR063545

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: APR063474

ALTER EGO #60

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

ALTER EGO #64

Celebrates 50 years since SHOWCASE #4! FLASH interviews with SCHWARTZ, KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, & BROOME, Golden Age artist TONY DiPRETA, 1966 panel with NORDLING, BINDER, & LARRY IVIE, FCA, MR. MONSTER, never-before-published color Flash cover by CARMINE INFANTINO, and more!

History of the AMERICAN COMICS GROUP (1946 to 1967)—including its roots in the Golden Age SANGOR ART SHOP and STANDARD/NEDOR comics! Art by MESKIN, ROBINSON, WILLIAMSON, FRAZETTA, SCHAFFENBERGER, & BUSCEMA, ACG writer/editor RICHARD HUGHES, plus AL HARTLEY interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER, & more! GIORDANO cover!

HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN ISSUE, featuring: MIKE PLOOG & RUDY PALAIS on their horror-comics work! AL WILLIAMSON on his work for the American Comics Group—plus more on ACG horror comics! Rare DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strips! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on the 1966 KalerCon, a new PLOOG cover—& more!

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Never-before-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Articles about Toth by TERRY AUSTIN, JIM AMASH, SY BARRY, JOE KUBERT, LOU SAYRE SCHWARTZ, IRWIN HASEN, JOHN WORKMAN, and others! Plus illustrated Christmas cards by comics pros, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Fawcett Favorites! Issue-by-issue analysis of BINDER & BECK’s 1943-45 “The Monster Society of Evil!” serial, double-size FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, EMILIO SQUEGLIO, C.C. BECK, MAC RABOY, & others! Interview with MARTIN FILCHOCK, Golden Age artist for Centaur Comics! Plus MR. MONSTER, DON NEWTON cover, plus a FREE 1943 MARVEL CALENDAR!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY063496

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN063522

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG063690

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: OCT063800

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: NOV063991

ALTER EGO #65

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

ALTER EGO #68

ALTER EGO #69

NICK CARDY interviewed on his work in the Golden & Silver Ages, with CARDY artwork, plus art by WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, CARMINE INFANTINO, JIM APARO, RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and others, ERNIE SCHROEDER & DAVE COCKRUM tributes, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, new CARDY COVER, and more!

Spotlight on BOB POWELL, the artist who drew Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Sheena, The Avenger, The Hulk, Giant-Man, and others, plus art by WALLY WOOD, HOWARD NOSTRAND, DICK AYERS, SIMON & KIRBY, MARTIN GOODMAN’s MAGAZINE MANAGEMENT, and others! FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

Interview with BOB OKSNER, artist of Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Angel and the Ape, Leave It to Binky, Shazam!, and more, plus art & artifacts by SHELLY MAYER, IRWIN HASEN, LEE ELIAS, C.C. BECK, GIL KANE, CARMINE INFANTINO, and JULIE SCHWARTZ, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on BOB POWELL Part II, and more!

Tribute to JERRY BAILS—Father of Comics Fandom! Features a cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, plus art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, IRWIN HASEN, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JERRY ORDWAY, JOE STATON, MIKE VOSBURG, RICH BUCKLER, JACK KIRBY, and others! Plus, the story behind Marvel’s 1977 STAR WARS comic by THOMAS, CHAYKIN, et al.

PAUL NORRIS drew AQUAMAN first, in 1941—and RAMONA FRADON was the hero’s ultimate Golden Age artist. But both drew other things as well, and both are interviewed in this landmark issue—along with a pocket history of Aquaman! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more! Cover painted by JOHN WATSON, from a breathtaking illo by RAMONA FRADON!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC064009

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN073982

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: FEB073887

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR073852

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: APR074098

ALTER EGO: BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

ALTER EGO COLLECTION, VOL. ONE

Collects the original 11 issues (from 196178) of A/E, with contributions from KIRBY, DITKO, WOOD, BUSCEMA, SEVERIN, EVERETT, MANNING, SWAN, & interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! Edited by ROY THOMAS & BILL SCHELLY, intro by JULIE SCHWARTZ.

Collects ALTER EGO #1-2, plus 30 pages of NEW MATERIAL! New JLA Jam Cover by KUBERT, PÉREZ, GIORDANO, TUSKA, CARDY, FRADON, & GIELLA, new sections with art by GIL KANE, WILL EISNER, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, CARMINE INFANTINO, MURPHY ANDERSON, & more!

(192-page trade paperback) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905887 Ships February 2008

(192-page trade paperback) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905597 Diamond Order Code: APR063420

ALTER EGO #70

ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #73

Spotlight on ROY THOMAS’ 1970s stint as Marvel’s editor-in-chief and major writer, plus art and reminiscences of GIL KANE, BOTH BUSCEMAS, ADAMS, ROMITA, CHAYKIN, BRUNNER, PLOOG, EVERETT, WRIGHTSON, PÉREZ, ROBBINS, BARRY SMITH, STAN LEE and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, a new GENE COLAN cover, plus an homage to artist LILY RENÉE!

Represents THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, the long out-of-print 1970s book by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana, The Penguin, Thunderfist, The Dreamer, Johnny Canuck, et al.! Plus new Invaders art by BYRNE, LIM, GRELL, CHAN, and a new cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY!

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 synopsis for the origin of Man-Thing, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY073879

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN074006

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074112

COMPANION BOOKS

KRYPTON COMPANION

JUSTICE LEAGUE COMPANION VOL. 1

TITANS COMPANION VOL. 1

A comprehensive examination of the Silver Age JLA written by MICHAEL EURY (co-author of THE SUPERHERO BOOK). It traces the JLA’s development, history, imitators, and early fandom through vintage and all-new interviews with the series’ creators, an issue-by-issue index of the JLA’s 1960-1972 adventures, classic and never-before-published artwork, and other fun and fascinating features. Contributors include DENNY O’NEIL, MURPHY ANDERSON, JOE GIELLA, MIKE FRIEDRICH, NEAL ADAMS, ALEX ROSS, CARMINE INFANTINO, NICK CARDY, and many, many others. Plus: An exclusive interview with STAN LEE, who answers the question, “Did the JLA really inspire the creation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four?” With an all-new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the NEW TEEN TITANS, this comprehensive history features interviews with and rare art by fan-favorite creators MARV WOLFMAN, GEORGE PÉREZ, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, LEN WEIN, & others! Also included is a comprehensive Silver Age section featuring interviews with NEAL ADAMS, NICK CARDY, DICK GIORDANO & more, plus CHRIS CLAREMONT and WALTER SIMONSON on the X-MEN/TEEN TITANS crossover, TOM GRUMMETT, PHIL JIMENEZ & TERRY DODSON on their ’90s Titans work, rare and unpublished artwork by CARDY, PÉREZ, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GRUMMETT, JIMENEZ, and others, a new cover by JIMENEZ, and an introduction by GEOFF JOHNS! Written by GLEN CADIGAN.

(224-page trade paperback) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905481 Diamond Order Code: MAY053052

(224-page trade paperback) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905504 Diamond Order Code: SEP053209

More amazing secrets behind the 1940-51 ALL-STAR COMICS and the 1941-44 SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY, an issue-by-issue survey of the JLA-JSA TEAM-UPS of 1963-85, the 1970s JSA REVIVAL, and the 1980s series THE YOUNG ALL-STARS and SECRET ORIGINS, new cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, and more!

(240-page trade paperback) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905610 Diamond Order Code: MAY063443

(224-page trade paperback) $31 US ISBN: 9781893905801 Diamond Order Code: MAY078045

ALL- STAR COMPANION VOL. 1

ALL- STAR COMPANION VOL. 2

ROY THOMAS has assembled the most thorough look ever taken at ALL-STAR COMICS, featuring: Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON! Issue-by-issue coverage of ALL-STAR COMICS #1-57, the original JLA-JSA teamups, & the ’70s ALL-STAR REVIVAL! Art from an unpublished 1945 JSA story! Looks at FOUR “LOST” ALL-STAR issues! Plus rare art by BURNLEY, DILLIN, KIRBY, INFANTINO, KANE, KUBERT, ORDWAY, ROSS, WOOD and more!

ROY THOMAS’ new sequel, with more secrets of the JSA and ALL-STAR COMICS, from 1940 through the 1980s, featuring: a wraparound CARLOS PACHECO cover! More amazing information, speculation, and unseen ALL-STAR COMICS art! Unpublished 1940s JSA STORY ART not printed in Volume One! Full listing of all the 1963-1985 JLA-JSA TEAM-UPS and the 1970s JSA REVIVAL! Full coverage of the 1980s ALL-STAR SQUADRON and YOUNG ALL-STARS by ROY THOMAS, with scarce & never-published art!

(208-page trade paperback) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905054 Diamond Order Code: APR042953

SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION

BLUE BEETLE COMPANION

Summarizes, critiques and lovingly recalls the classic science-fiction series edited by JULIUS SCHWARTZ and written by GARDNER FOX and JOHN BROOME, from DC’s 1960s STRANGE ADVENTURES and MYSTERY IN SPACE! Includes story-by-story reviews of ADAM STRANGE, ATOMIC KNIGHTS, SPACE MUSEUM, STAR ROVERS, STAR HAWKINS and others! Writer/editor MIKE W. BARR tells you which series crossed over with each other, behind-the-scenes secrets, and more, including writer and artist credits for every story! Features rare art by CARMINE INFANTINO, MURPHY ANDERSON, GIL KANE, SID GREENE, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and many others, plus a new cover by ALAN DAVIS and PAUL NEARY!

His history from 1939 to today! Reprints his first appearance from MYSTERY MEN COMICS #1, plus interviews with WILL EISNER, JOE SIMON, JOE GILL, ROY THOMAS, GEOFF JOHNS, CULLY HAMNER, KEITH GIFFEN, LEN WEIN, never-seen Blue Beetle designs by ALEX ROSS and ALAN WEISS, as well as artwork by EISNER, JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, KEVIN MAGUIRE & more! By CHRISTOPHER IRVING.

(160-page trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905818 Diamond Order Code: JUL073885

(128-page trade paperback) $21 US ISBN: 9781893905702 Diamond Order Code: DEC063946

ALL- STAR COMPANION VOL. 3

Unlocks the secrets of Superman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, when kryptonite came in multiple colors and super-pets flew the skies! Features all-new interviews with ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, , MOONEY, O’NEIL, OKSNER, PASKO, ROZAKIS, SHOOTER, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and others, plus tons of rare and unseen art! By BACK ISSUE magazine’s MICHAEL EURY!

(240-page trade paperback) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905375 Diamond Order Code: AUG063622

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS COMPANION The definitive book on WALLACE WOOD’s super-team of the 1960s! Included are interviews with Woody’s creative team, plus writers and artists involved in the T-Agents resurrections over the decades, and a detailed examination of the origins and exploits of the characters themselves! A perfect compendium to sit alongside the recently-published T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS ARCHIVES volumes, it features reams of artwork, much of it rarely-seen or previously unpublished, including a 27-page story drawn by PAUL GULACY & TERRY AUSTIN, UNPUBLISHED STORIES & ART by GULACY, GARRY LEACH, ALAN DAVIS, and others, and a JERRY ORDWAY cover! Edited by JON B. COOKE. (224-page trade paperback) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905436 Diamond Order Code: MAR053228

HOW-TO BOOKS & DVDs

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 2

WORKING METHODS

COMICS 101:

COMIC CREATORS DETAIL THEIR STORYTELLING & CREATIVE PROCESSES

HOW-TO & HISTORY LESSONS FROM THE PROS

Art professor JOHN LOWE puts the minds of comic artists under the microscope, highlighting the intricacies of the creative process step-by-step. For this book, three short scripts are each interpreted in different ways by professional comic artists to illustrate the varied ways in which they “see” and “solve” the problem of making a script succeed in comic form. It documents the creative and technical choices MARK SCHULTZ, TIM LEVINS, JIM MAHFOOD, SCOTT HAMPTON, KELSEY SHANNON, CHRIS BRUNNER, SEAN MURPHY, and PAT QUINN make as they tell a story, allowing comic fans, artists, instructors, and students into a world rarely explored. Hundreds of illustrated examples document the artists’ processes, and interviews clarify their individual approaches regarding storytelling and layout choices. The exercise may be simple, but the results are profoundly complex!

TwoMorrows has tapped the combined knowledge of its editors to assemble an all-new 32-page comics primer, created just for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! You’ll learn: “Figure Drawing” and “How To Break Down A Story” from DRAW!’s MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS, “Writing Tips” from WRITE NOW!’s DANNY FINGEROTH, plus ROUGH STUFF’s BOB McLEOD provides “Art Critiques” of promising newcomers! There’s even a “Comics History Crash-Course”, assembled by ALTER EGO’s ROY THOMAS and BACK ISSUE’s MICHAEL EURY! (32-page comic book) $2 US Diamond Order Code: FEB070050

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 1 Compiles material from the first two sold-out issues of DRAW!—a wealth of tutorials, interviews, and demonstrations by DAVE GIBBONS (layout and drawing on the computer), BRET BLEVINS (drawing lovely women, painting from life, and creating figures that “feel”), JERRY ORDWAY (detailing his working methods), KLAUS JANSON and RICARDO VILLAGRAN (inking techniques), GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY (on animation and Samurai Jack), STEVE CONLEY (creating web comics and cartoons), PHIL HESTER and ANDE PARKS (penciling and inking), and more! Each artist presents their work STEP-BY-STEP, so both beginning and experienced artists can learn valuable tips and tricks along the way! Cover by BRET BLEVINS!

Compiles material from issues #3 and #4 of DRAW!, including tutorials by, and interviews with, ERIK LARSEN (savage penciling), DICK GIORDANO (inking techniques), BRET BLEVINS (drawing the figure in action, and figure composition), KEVIN NOWLAN (penciling and inking), MIKE MANLEY (how-to demo on Web Comics), DAVE COOPER (digital coloring tutorial), and more! Cover by KEVIN NOWLAN. (156-page trade paperback with COLOR) $22 US ISBN: 9781893905580 Diamond Order Code: APR063421

(200-page trade paperback with COLOR) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905412 Diamond Order Code: OCT043046

(176-page trade paperback with COLOR) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905733 Diamond Order Code: MAR073747

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

TOP ARTISTS DISCUSS THE DESIGN OF COMICS Art professor DURWIN TALON gets top creators to discuss all aspects of the DESIGN of comics, from panel and page layout, to use of color and lettering:

HOW TO DRAW COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

COMICS ABOVE GROUND

SEE HOW YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS MAKE A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS

DVD

HOW TO CREATE COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

COMICS ABOVE GROUND features comics pros discussing their inspirations and training, and how they apply it in “Mainstream Media,” including Conceptual Illustration, Video Game Development, Children’s Books, Novels, Design, Illustration, Fine Art, Storyboards, Animation, Movies and more! Written by DURWIN TALON (author of the top-selling book PANEL DISCUSSIONS), this book features creators sharing their perspectives and their work in comics and their “other professions,” with career overviews, never-before-seen art, and interviews! Featuring: • BRUCE TIMM • LOUISE SIMONSON • BERNIE WRIGHTSON • DAVE DORMAN • ADAM HUGHES • GREG RUCKA • JEPH LOEB AND OTHERS!

REDESIGNED and EXPANDED version of the groundbreaking WRITE NOW! #8 / DRAW! #9 crossover! DANNY FINGEROTH & MIKE MANLEY show stepby-step how to develop a new comic, from script and roughs to pencils, inks, colors, lettering—it even guides you through printing and distribution, & the finished 8-page color comic is included, so you can see their end result! PLUS: over 30 pages of ALL-NEW material, including “full” and “Marvel-style” scripts, a critique of their new character and comic from an editor’s point of view, new tips on coloring, new expanded writing lessons, and more!

(168-page trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905313 Diamond Order Code: FEB042700

(108-page trade paperback with COLOR) $18 US ISBN: 9781893905603 Diamond Order Code: APR063422

• WILL EISNER • SCOTT HAMPTON • MIKE WIERINGO • WALT SIMONSON • MIKE MIGNOLA • MARK SCHULTZ • DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI • MIKE CARLIN • DICK GIORDANO • BRIAN STELFREEZE • CHRIS MOELLER • MARK CHIARELLO If you’re serious about creating effective, innovative comics, or just enjoying them from the creator’s perspective, this guide is must-reading!

Documents two top professionals creating a (208-page trade paperback with COLOR) $29 US comic book, from initial idea to finished art! ISBN: 9781893905146 In this feature-filled DVD, WRITE NOW! Diamond Order Code: STAR19844 Magazine Editor DANNY (Spider-Man) FINGEROTH and DRAW! Magazine Editor MIKE (Batman) MANLEY show you how a new character evolves from scratch! Watch the creative process, as a story is created from concepts and roughs to pencils, inks, and coloring—even lettering! “The closest thing you’ll find to Packed with “how-to” tips and a comic creation tutorial; an tricks, it’s the perfect companion to the WRITE NOW #8/DRAW essential reference for anyone who’s #9 CROSSOVER, or stands ever hoped to self-publish or make a alone as an invaluable tool for amateur and professional serious bid at a career in the field.” comics creators alike! (120-minute DVD) $35 US ISBN: 9781893905399 Diamond Order Code: AUG043204

ink19.com on HOW TO CREATE COMICS

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

JOHN ROMITA... AND ALL THAT JAZZ!

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: THE ART & LIFE OF GENE COLAN

DICK GIORDANO CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

BRUSH STROKES WITH GREATNESS: THE LIFE & ART OF JOE SINNOTT

The ultimate retrospective on COLAN, with rare drawings, photos, and art from his nearly 60-year career, plus a comprehensive overview of Gene’s glory days at Marvel Comics! MARV WOLFMAN, DON McGREGOR and other writers share script samples and anecdotes of their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER, STEVE LEIALOHA and others show how they approached the daunting task of inking Colan’s famously nuanced penciled pages! Plus there’s a NEW PORTFOLIO of never-before-seen collaborations between Gene and such masters as JOHN BYRNE, MICHAEL KALUTA and GEORGE PÉREZ, and all-new artwork created specifically for this book by Gene! Available in Softcover and Deluxe Hardcover (limited to 1000 copies, with 16 extra black-and-white pages and 8 extra color pages)! Written by TOM FIELD.

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! Covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor, peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS on his career milestones! Lavishly illustrated with RARE AND NEVER SEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art (includes a color section)! Also includes an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, plus a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

During his 56-plus-year career in comic books, JOE SINNOTT has worked in every genre, and for almost every publisher, from 1940s Timely Comics to Charlton Comics, Treasure Chest, and Dell as a top penciler. But his association with Marvel Comics in the ’60s as its top inker cemented his place in comics history. This book celebrates his career, as he demonstrates his passion for his craft. In it, Joe shares his experiences working on Marvel’s leading titles, memories of working with STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY, and rare and unpublished artwork from his personal files. It features dozens of colleagues and co-workers paying tribute to Joe, plus an extended Art Gallery, and a Checklist of his career. Written by TIM LASIUTA, with a Foreword by STAN LEE, and Afterword by MARK EVANIER.

(176-pg. Paperback with COLOR) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905276 Diamond Order Code: STAR20439

“Jazzy” JOHN ROMITA—the artist who made THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Marvel’s #1-selling comic book in the 1960s—talks about his life, his art, and his contemporaries! Authored by former Marvel Comics editor in chief and top writer ROY THOMAS, and noted historian JIM AMASH, it features the most definitive interview Romita’s ever given, about working with such comics legends as STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY, following Spider-Man co-creator STEVE DITKO as artist on the strip, and more! Plus, Roy Thomas shares memories of working with Romita in the 1960s70s, and Jim Amash examines the awesome artistry of Ring-a-Ding Romita! Lavishly illustrated with Romita art—original classic art, and unseen masterpieces—as well as illos by some of Marvel’s and DC’s finest, this is at once a career overview of a comics master, and a firsthand history of the industry by one of its leading artists! Available in Softcover and Deluxe Hardcover (with 16 extra color pages, dust jacket, and custom endleaves). (192-page softcover) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905757 Diamond Order Code: APR074018 (208-page hardcover with COLOR) $49 US ISBN: 9781893905764 Diamond Order Code: APR074019

(136-page softcover with COLOR) $22 US ISBN: 9781893905726 Diamond Order Code: MAR073744

(168-page softcover with COLOR) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905450 Diamond Order Code: APR053190 (192-page hardcover with COLOR) $49 US ISBN: 9781893905467 Diamond Order Code: APR053189

INNE RD WO A W RY! A EISNESRT SHORT ST BE

HERO GETS GIRL! THE LIFE & ART OF KURT SCHAFFENBERGER COMICS INTROSPECTIVE VOL. 1: PETER BAGGE Profusely illustrated bio of KURT SCHAFFENBERGER,

• BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH • SERGIO ARAGONÉS • MURPHY ANDERSON • JOE KUBERT • JACK KIRBY • BRENT ANDERSON • NICK CARDY • RICK VEITCH • ROY THOMAS & JOHN SEVERIN • SAM GLANZMAN • PAUL CHADWICK • EVAN DORKIN • C.C. BECK • WALTER SIMONSON • ART SPIEGELMAN • Cover by STEVE RUDE • Foreword by WILL EISNER

the preeminent Lois Lane artist and important early Captain Marvel artist who brought a touch of humor and whimsy to super-hero comics! Covers his LIFE AND CAREER from the 1940s to his passing in 2002, and features hundreds of NEVER-SEEN PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS from his files! Also includes recollections by family, friends and fellow artists such as MURPHY ANDERSON, WILL EISNER, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE KUBERT, ALEX ROSS and MORT WALKER! Written by columnist MARK VOGER (Schaffenberger friend for the final 13 years of the artist’s life), with a Foreword by KEN BALD.

(160-page trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905047 Diamond Order Code: STAR11522

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905290 Diamond Order Code: SEP032545

STREETWISE Featuring NEW autobiographical comics stories by:

TwoMorrows’ new book series spotlights INDY COMICS TALENT with an outside-the-box approach, combining original photography, multiple art gallery sections, and an introspective dialogue with each subject. Volume One features PETER BAGGE, whose work runs from political (his strips for reason.com), to absurdist and satirical (the Batboy strip for Weekly World News), and dramatic (Apocalypse Nerd). From his Seattle studio, Bagge lets us in on everything from what was on his mind with his long-running Gen X comic Hate!, to what’s going on in his head as a political satirist. Written by CHRISTOPHER IRVING. (128-page trade paperback) $21 US ISBN: 9781893905832 Diamond Order Code: MAY073779

ART OF GEORGE TUSKA A comprehensive look at GEORGE TUSKA’S personal and professional life, including early work at the Eisner-Iger shop, producing controversial crime comics of the 1950s, and his tenure with Marvel and DC Comics, as well as independent publishers. The book includes extensive coverage of his work on IRON MAN, X-MEN, HULK, JUSTICE LEAGUE, TEEN TITANS, BATMAN, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and many more! A gallery of commission artwork and a thorough index of his work are included, plus original artwork, photos, sketches, previously unpublished art, interviews and anecdotes from his peers and fans, plus the very personal and reflective words of George himself, making this book a testament to the tremendous influence Tuska has had on the comic book industry and his legion of fans! Written by DEWEY CASSELL. (128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905405 Diamond Order Code: DEC042921

MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON, these trade paperbacks and DVDs are devoted to the BEST OF TODAY’S COMICS ARTISTS! Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more! And don’t miss our companion DVDs, showing the artist at work in their studio!

MODERN MASTERS DVDs (120-minute Std. Format DVDs) $35 US EACH

GEORGE PÉREZ

ISBN: 9781893905511 Diamond Order Code: JUN053276

MICHAEL GOLDEN ISBN: 9781893905771 Diamond Order Code: MAY073780

VOL. 1: ALAN DAVIS

V.2: GEORGE PÉREZ

V.3: BRUCE TIMM

V.4: KEVIN NOWLAN

V.5: GARCÍA-LÓPEZ

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905191 Diamond Order Code: STAR18345

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905252 Diamond Order Code: STAR20127

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905306 Diamond Order Code: APR042954

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905382 Diamond Order Code: SEP042971

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905443 Diamond Order Code: APR053191

V.6: ARTHUR ADAMS

V.7: JOHN BYRNE

V.8: WALTER SIMONSON

V.9: MIKE WIERINGO

V.10: KEVIN MAGUIRE

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905542 Diamond Order Code: DEC053309

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905566 Diamond Order Code: FEB063354

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905641 Diamond Order Code: MAY063444

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905658 Diamond Order Code: AUG063626

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905665 Diamond Order Code: OCT063722

V.11: CHARLES VESS

V.12: MICHAEL GOLDEN

V.13: JERRY ORDWAY

V.14: FRANK CHO

V.15: MARK SCHULTZ

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905696 Diamond Order Code: DEC063948

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905740 Diamond Order Code: APR074023

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905795 Diamond Order Code: JUN073926

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905849 Diamond Order Code: MAY078046

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905856 Ships December 2007

UPCOMING BOOKS: MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON, these trade paperbacks are devoted to the BEST OF TODAY’S COMICS ARTISTS! Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more!

Vol. 14: FRANK CHO

Vol. 15: MARK SCHULTZ

Vol. 16: MIKE ALLRED

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905849 Ships October 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074034

(128-page TPB) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905856 Ships December 2007

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905863 Ships February 2008

MORE MODERN MASTERS VOLUMES ARE COMING IN 2008: GAIJIN STUDIOS AND JOHN ROMITA JR.! SEE OUR JANUARY CATALOG FOR DETAILS!

t o

KIRBY FIVE-OH! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #50) ALTER EGO: THE BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

(10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) In 1961, JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS launched ALTER EGO, the first fanzine devoted to comic books and their colorful history. This volume, first published in low distribution in 1997, collects the original 11 issues (published from 1961-78) of A/E, with the creative and artistic contributions of JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, & others—and important, illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! See where a generation first learned about the Golden Age of Comics—while the Silver Age was in full flower—with major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS & BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by the late JULIUS SCHWARTZ.

Picks up where Volume 1 left off, covering the return of the Teen Titans to the top of the sales charts! Featuring interviews with GEOFF JOHNS, MIKE MCKONE, PETER DAVID, PHIL JIMENEZ, and others, plus an in-depth section on the top-rated Cartoon Network series! Also CHUCK DIXON, MARK WAID, KARL KESEL, and JOHN BYRNE on writing the current generation of Titans! More with MARV WOLFMAN and GEORGE PÉREZ! NEAL ADAMS on redesigning Robin! Artwork by ADAMS, BYRNE, JIMENEZ, MCKONE, PÉREZ and more, with an all-new cover by MIKE MCKONE! Written by GLEN CADIGAN.

(192-page trade paperback) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905887 Ships February 2008

(224-page trade paperback) $31 US ISBN: 97801893905870 Ships March 2008

TITANS COMPANION VOLUME 2

The publication that started the TwoMorrows juggernaut presents KIRBY FIVE-OH!, a book covering the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career in comics! The regular columnists from THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine have formed a distinguished panel of experts to choose and examine: The BEST KIRBY STORY published each year from 1938-1987! The BEST COVERS from each decade! Jack’s 50 BEST UNUSED PIECES OF ART! His 50 BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS! And profiles of, and commentary by, the 50 PEOPLE MOST INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! Plus there’s a 50-PAGE GALLERY of Kirby’s powerful RAW PENCIL ART, and a DELUXE COLOR SECTION of photos and finished art from throughout his entire halfcentury oeuvre. This TABLOID-SIZED TRADE PAPERBACK features a previously unseen Kirby Superman cover inked by “DC: The New Frontier” artist DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER, helping make this the ultimate retrospective on the career of the “King” of comics! (A percentage of profits will be donated to the JACK KIRBY MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER.) (168-page tabloid-size trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905894 Ships January 2008

HOW-TO MAGAZINES

DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation, featuring in-depth interviews and step-by-step demonstrations from top comics professionals. Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

WRITE NOW! features writing tips from pros on both sides of the desk, interviews, sample scripts, reviews, exclusive Nuts & Bolts tutorials, and more! Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

ROUGH STUFF features never-seen pencil pages, sketches, layouts, roughs, and unused inked pages from throughout comics history, plus columns, critiques, and more! Edited by BOB MCLEOD.

DOWNLOAD DIGITAL EDITIONS OF OUR MAGS FOR $2 95! GO TO WWW.TWOMORROWS.COM FOR DETAILS!

NEW MAGS: T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, plus rare and unpublished art. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

ALTER EGO focuses on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster & more. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

BACK ISSUE #23

BACK ISSUE #24

BACK ISSUE #25

BACK ISSUE #26

“Comics Go Hollywood!” Spider-Man roundtable with STAN LEE, JOHN ROMITA, SR., JIM SHOOTER, ERIK LARSEN, and others, STAR TREK comics writers’ roundtable Part 1, Gladstone’s Disney comics line, behindthe-scenes at TV’s ISIS and THE FLASH (plus an interview with Flash’s JOHN WESLEY SHIPP), TV tie-in comics, bonus 8-page color ADAM HUGHES ART GALLERY and cover, plus a FREE WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW!

“Magic” issue! MICHAEL GOLDEN interview, GENE COLAN, PAUL SMITH, and FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, Mystic Art Gallery with CARL POTTS & KEVIN NOWLAN, BILL WILLINGHAM’s Elementals, Zatanna history, Dr. Fate’s revival, a “Greatest Stories Never Told” look at Peter Pan, tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS, a new GOLDEN cover, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #6 PREVIEW!

“Men of Steel”! BOB LAYTON and DAVID MICHELINIE on Iron Man, RICH BUCKLER on Deathlok, MIKE GRELL on Warlord, JOHN BYRNE on ROG 2000, Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Machine Man, the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes comic strip, DC’s Steel, art by KIRBY, HECK, WINDSOR-SMITH, TUSKA, LAYTON cover, and bonus “Men of Steel” art gallery! Includes a FREE DRAW! #15 PREVIEW!

“Spies and Tough Guys”! PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCH in an art-packed “Pro2Pro” on Master of Kung Fu and their unrealized Shang-Chi/Nick Fury crossover, Suicide Squad spotlight, Ms. Tree, CHUCK DIXON and TIM TRUMAN’s Airboy, James Bond and Mr. T in comic books, Sgt. Rock’s oddball super-hero team-ups, Nathaniel Dusk, JOE KUBERT’s unpublished The Redeemer, and a new GULACY cover!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY073880

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL073976

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships November 2007

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

ALTER EGO #74

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

SCOTT SHAW! and ROY THOMAS on the creation of Captain Carrot, art & artifacts by RICK HOBERG, STAN GOLDBERG, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JOHN COSTANZA, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CAROL LAY, and others, interview with DICK ROCKWELL, Golden Age artist and 36-year ghost artist on MILTON CANIFF’s Steve Canyon! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

STAN LEE SPECIAL in honor of his 85th birthday, with a cover by JACK KIRBY, classic (and virtually unseen) interviews with Stan, tributes, and tons of rare and unseen art by KIRBY, ROMITA, the brothers BUSCEMA, DITKO, COLAN, HECK, AYERS, MANEELY, SHORES, EVERETT, BURGOS, KANE, the SEVERIN siblings—plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL—with an ALEX ROSS cover! Double-size FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with WALT GROGAN and P.C. HAMERLINCK on the many “Captains Marvel” over the years, unseen Shazam! proposal by ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK on “The Death of a Legend!”, MARC SWAYZE, interview with Golden Age artist MARV LEVY, MR. MONSTER, and more!

JOE SIMON SPECIAL! In-depth SIMON interview by JIM AMASH, with neverbefore-revealed secrets behind the creation of Captain America, Fighting American, Stuntman, Adventures of The Fly, Sick magazine and more, art by JACK KIRBY, BOB POWELL, AL WILLIAMSON, JERRY GRANDENETTI, GEORGE TUSKA, and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL073975

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074112

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships December 2007

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships March 2008

DRAW! #15

WRITE NOW! #17

WRITE NOW! #18

ROUGH STUFF #6

ROUGH STUFF #7

BACK TO SCHOOL ISSUE, covering major schools offering comic art as part of their curriculum, featuring faculty, student, and graduate interviews in an ultimate overview of collegiate-level comic art classes! Plus, a “how-to” demo/interview with B.P.R.D.’S GUY DAVIS, MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP series, a FREE WRITE NOW #17 PREVIEW, and more!

HEROES ISSUE featuring series creator/ writer TIM KRING, writer JEPH LOEB, and others, interviews with DC Comics’ DAN DiDIO and Marvel’s DAN BUCKLEY, PETER DAVID on writing STEPHEN KING’S DARK TOWER COMIC, MICHAEL TEITELBAUM, C.B. CEBULSKI, DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, Nuts & Bolts script and art examples, a FREE BACK ISSUE #24 PREVIEW, and more!

More celebration of STAN LEE’s 85th birthday, including rare examples of comics, TV, and movie scripts from the Stan Lee Archives, tributes by JOHN ROMITA, SR., JOE QUESADA, ROY THOMAS, DENNIS O’NEIL, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, JIM SALICRUP, TODD McFARLANE, LOUISE SIMONSON, MARK EVANIER, and others, plus art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, and more!

Features a new interview and cover by BRIAN STELFREEZE, interview with BUTCH GUICE, extensive art galleries/commentary by IAN CHURCHILL, DAVE COCKRUM, and COLLEEN DORAN, MIKE GAGNON looks at independent comics, with art and comments by ANDREW BARR, BRANDON GRAHAM, and ASAF HANUKA! Includes a FREE ALTER EGO #73 PREVIEW!

Features an in-depth interview and cover by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more!

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074131

(80-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074138

(80-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074137

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

NOW SHIPPING FROM TWOMORROWS!

BACK ISSUE #24

DRAW! #15

WRITE NOW! #17

ROUGH STUFF #6

KIRBY COLLECTOR #49

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $9 US Ships October 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074131

(80-page magazine) $9 US Ships October 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074138

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships October 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074137

WARRIORS, spotlighting Thor (with a look at hidden messages in BILL EVERETT’s Thor inks), Sgt. Fury, Challengers of the Unknown, Losers, and others! Includes a rare KIRBY interview, new interviews with JERRY ORDWAY and GRANT MORRISON, MARK EVANIER’s column, a pencil art gallery, a complete 1950s story, a wraparound Kirby Thor cover inked by JERRY ORDWAY, and more! SHIPS IN OCTOBER!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL073976

JOHN ROMITA... & ALL THAT JAZZ! The artist who made AMAZING SPIDERMAN Marvel’s #1-selling comic book in the 1960s talks about his life, his art, and his contemporaries! Authored by former Marvel Comics editor in chief and top writer ROY THOMAS, and noted historian JIM AMASH, it features the most definitive interview Romita’s ever given, about working with STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY, following Spider-Man co-creator STEVE DITKO as artist on the strip, and more! Lavishly illustrated with Romita art, it’s a career overview of a comics master, and a firsthand history of the industry by one of its leading artists! Available in Softcover and Hardcover (with 16 extra color pages, dust jacket, and custom endleaves). (192-page softcover) $29 US ISBN: 9781893905757 Diamond Order Code: APR074018 (208-page hardcover w/ COLOR) $49 US ISBN: 9781893905764 Diamond Order Code: APR074019

SILVER AGE MEGO 8" SUPERSCI-FI COMPANION HEROES: WORLD’S In the Silver Age of Comics, space was GREATEST TOYS!TM the place, and this book summarizes, critiques and lovingly recalls the classic science-fiction series edited by JULIUS SCHWARTZ and written by GARDNER FOX and JOHN BROOME! The pages of DC’s science-fiction magazines of the 1960s, STRANGE ADVENTURES and MYSTERY IN SPACE, are opened for you, including story-by-story reviews of complete series such as ADAM STRANGE, ATOMIC KNIGHTS, SPACE MUSEUM, STAR ROVERS, STAR HAWKINS and others! Writer/editor MIKE W. BARR tells you which series crossed over with each other, behind-the-scenes secrets, and more, including writer and artist credits for every story! Features rare art by CARMINE INFANTINO, MURPHY ANDERSON, GIL KANE, SID GREENE, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and many others, plus a glorious new cover by ALAN DAVIS and PAUL NEARY! (160-page trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905818 Diamond Order Code: JUL073885

Go to www.twomorrows.com for FULL-COLOR downloadable PDF versions of our magazines for only $2.95! Subscribers to the print edition get the digital edition FREE, weeks before it hits stores!

Lavishly illustrated with thousands of CHARTS, CHECKLISTS and COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS, it’s an obsessive examination of legendary toy company MEGO (pronounced “ME-go”), and the extraordinary line of super-hero action figures that dominated the toy industry throughout the 1970s. Featuring a chronological history of Mego, interviews with former employees and Mego vendors, fascinating discoveries never revealed elsewhere, and thorough coverage of each figure and packaging variant, this FULL-COLOR hardcover is the definitive guide to Mego. BRAD MELTZER raves, “I’ve waited thirty years for this magical, beautiful book.” And CHIP KIDD, internationally-recognized graphic designer and author of BATMAN COLLECTED, deemed it “a stunning visual experience.” Written by BENJAMIN HOLCOMB. (256-page COLOR hardcover) $54 US ISBN: 9781893905825 Diamond Order Code: JUL073884

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

ALL- STAR COMPANION V. 3 More amazing secrets behind the 194051 ALL-STAR COMICS and the 1941-44 SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY—and illustrated speculation about how other Golden Age super-teams might have been assembled! Also, an issue-by-issue survey of the JLA-JSA TEAM-UPS of 1963-85, the 1970s JSA REVIVAL, and the 1980s series THE YOUNG ALL-STARS and SECRET ORIGINS, with commentary by the artists and writers! Plus rare, often unseen art by KUBERT, INFANTINO, ADAMS, ORDWAY, ANDERSON, TOTH, CARDY, GIL KANE, COLAN, SEKOWSKY, DILLIN, STATON, REINMAN, McLEOD, GRINDBERG, PAUL SMITH, RON HARRIS, MARSHALL ROGERS, WAYNE BORING, GEORGE FREEMAN, DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, TONY DeZUNIGA, H.G. PETER, DON SIMPSON, and many others! Compiled and edited by ROY THOMAS, with a new cover by GEORGE PÉREZ! (224-page trade paperback) $31 US ISBN: 9781893905801 Diamond Order Code: MAY078045 Surface

Airmail

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

$44

1st Class Canada $56

$64

$76

$120

BACK ISSUE! (6 issues)

$40

$54

$66

$90

$108

DRAW!, WRITE NOW!, ROUGH STUFF (4 issues)

$26

$36

$44

$60

$72

ALTER EGO (12 issues) Six-issue subs are half-price!

$78

$108

$132

$180

$216

(84-page tabloid) $13 US Diamond Order Code: JUN074028

MODERN MASTERS VOLUME 13: JERRY ORDWAY Features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from Jerry’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art! By ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON. (120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905795 Diamond Order Code: NOV068372

MODERN MASTERS: MICHAEL GOLDEN DVD Shows the artist at work, discussing his art and career! (120-minute Std. Format DVD) $35 US ISBN: 9781893905771 Diamond Order Code: MAY073780

For the latest news from TwoMorrows Publishing, log on to www.twomorrows.com/tnt