Alter Ego #75 Preview

Roy Thomas’ SHAZAM-STUDDED Comics Fanzine

THE

SHAZAM CURSE!

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[Shazam! characters & art TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

ALEX ROSS, MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, & P.C. HAMERLINCK ON THE MANY DEATHS OF A LEGEND

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BONUS! MARVIN LEVY

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In the USA

No. 75 January 2008

Vol. 3, No. 75 / January 2008 Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

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

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, CookieSoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

Cover Artist Alex Ross

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Mrs. Jill Baily Mrs. Regina Baily Alberto Becattini Bill Black Dominic Bongo Richard Boucher Mike Bromberg Shane Foley Ron Frantz Janet Gilbert Ian Hamerlinck Jennifer Hamerlinck David G. Hamilton Roger Hill Heritage Comics Carmine Infantino William B. Jones, Jr. Marvin & Barbara Levy Arthur Lortie Bruce Mason

Peter Meskin Philip Meskin Brian K. Morris Nick Noble Eric NolenWashington John G. Pierce Charlie Roberts Bob Rogers Herb Rogoff Alex Ross J. David Spurlock Henry Steele Marc Swayze Dann Thomas Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Michael Vance Delmo Walters, Jr. Hames Ware Jerry Weist Alex Wright

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Paul Norris & Mike Wieringo Top right: As noted, the double-size FCA section for this issue begins on p. 65— with a dynamic illustration by Alex Ross. But Alex also sent us pencil versions of several of the drawings that appear in his piece “Call My Name— Shazam!”—and we couldn’t resist using one of those on our cavortin’ contents page, as well! [Shazam! characters TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

Contents Writer/Editorial: Turning Off The Fawcett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Alter Ego 1943 Calendar Goes 2008! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Alex Wright re-casts pulse-pounding WWII pin-ups as the super-heroines DC & Marvel can’t buy!

“I Think I Always Knew I Wanted To Be A Cartoonist!” . . . . 12 A candid conversation between Golden Age artist Marv Levy and Jim Amash.

Maxwell Elkan—The “Hard Luck” Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., and Hames Ware on a 1940s-50s “Great Unknown.”

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Twice-Told Marvel Heroes (Part 3). . 51 Michael T. Gilbert presents the Golden Age answers to Giant-Man and The Wasp.

Tributes to Paul Norris & Mike Wieringo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 re: [comments, correspondence, questions, & corrections] . . 59 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #134 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 P.C. Hamerlinck presents and presides over an in-depth look at the many demises of Captain Marvel

by Alex Ross, Marc Swayze, C.C. Beck—and himself.

On Our Cover: Super-star artist (and occasional A/E contributor) Alex Ross pays homage to Michelangelo’s Pietà, carved by the legendary sculptor in 1498-99 for St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Rome. And, considering how many times Captain Marvel has died and been reborn/re-imagined/re-defined/etc. by everybody and his brother since Fawcett ceased publication of the World’s Mightiest Mortal in 1953, this striking illustration makes the ideal cover to accompany a recounting of “The Shazam Curse,” as FCA’s editor calls it.. We were quite content with it just as Alex painted it—and you can see it that way in some advance ads— but, as per Alex’s preferences, P.C. Hamerlinck and John Morrow added to it a myriad of Cap figures drawn by various talented artists over the decades (clockwise from top center): Tom Mandrake, Jerry Ordway, Joshua Middleton, Bob Oksner, Alan Weiss, Kurt Schaffenberger, Marc Swayze, Howard Porter, C.C. Beck, and Don Newton. The Newton CM was inked by Kurt S. [Shazam! characters TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year 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.

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The Alter Ego 1943 Calendar Goes 2008!

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hird time’s the charm—not that the first two were anything to sneeze at, mind you! In December of 2005, A/E #55 spotlighted a “1943 calendar” created by Alex Wright, utilizing Golden Age DC, Quality, and Fawcett super-heroines as pin-ups for a New Year, as “portrayed” by stars, starlets, and models of the World War II years. It was all in fun, and readers loved it and clamored for more—not knowing that, in point of fact, the wondrous Mr. Wright had already prepared ample images for no less than two more such calendars! In issue #64 (Jan. 2007), we were proud and pleased to present Alex’s second twelvemonth of costumed cuties—the lovely and lethallypowered ladies of 1940s Timely (future Marvel) Comics.

This time around, we’re equally happy to showcase another delightful dozen of Alex’s colossal compositions…wondrous women [mostly] from ’40s comic book companies besides DC, Quality, Fawcett, and Marvel! (Yes, believe it or not, there were other publishers featuring super-doers in those days—quite a few of them, in fact!)

So here we go—with commentary by both Alex and Ye Editor:

Ann Blyth as Moon Girl

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After appearing on Broadway in Lillian Hellman’s 1941 drama Watch on the Rhine, diminutive Ann Blyth broke into Hollywood musicals in 1944 (Chip off the Old Block). But she achieved her greatest success—and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress—as Joan Crawford’s ungrateful daughter in the tearjerker Mildred Pierce in 1945. In 1949 she starred in both the fantasy movie Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (with William Powell)—and as herself (who was maybe also a mermaid) alongside Superman, no less, in Action Comics #130 (March 1949)! Here, her likeness is loaned to EC Comics’ Moon Girl, who starred (moonlighted?) in her own comic from 1947 to 1949, written by Gardner Fox and mostly drawn by Sheldon Moldoff—a Wonder Woman wannabe if ever there was one! Alex says: “I chose Moon Girl as January’s pin-up because a new moon represents a new start. Ann Blyth had a warm smile that seemed right for the character.” [Moon Girl TM & ©2008 William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]

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Third Times The Charm!

Yvonne DeCarlo as The Woman In Red

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Alex writes: “I decided to do a ‘Film Noir’-style Valentine’s Day for February. Yvonne DeCarlo always had a sultry look to her, and I thought she might suit the role of The Woman in Red.” Indeed—since DeCarlo emerged as a star doing a torrid dance in the 1945 film Salome Where She Danced. She also had a good femme fatale role opposite Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross, but it is as Lily Munster in the 1964-66 TV series The Munsters that she’s most remembered. As for The Woman in Red, that character can be considered the earliest comic book super-heroine, except that she had no super-powers, only a mask and costume.

She appeared in Pines/Nedor’s Thrilling Comics and America’s Best Comics between 1938 and 1945.

[Woman in Red TM & ©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

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Carole Lombard as Lady Luck Though Lady Luck appeared in Smash Comics and its continuation Lady Luck from 1943 to 1950, she was owned not by “Busy” Arnold’s Quality Comics Group but by Will Eisner. The comic book stories were merely reprints from Will Eisner’s Spirit Section, a newspaper supplement during the 1940s. “March’s biggest holiday is St. Patrick’s Day,” says Alex Wright, “and what heroine better embodies ‘the luck of the Irish’ than Lady Luck herself?” He couldn’t resist tossing in her chauffeur, as well. Carole Lombard could’ve used some of that fabled luck, even after she became a movie star with 1940’s One Million B.C. Still, she was a pinup favorite during World War II, and in 1944 wrote the book Four Jills in a Jeep based on one of her USO tours, and it was made into a movie that same year.

[Lady Luck TM & ©2008 Will Eisner Studios, Inc.]

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“I Think I Always Knew I Wanted To Be A Cartoonist” A Candid Conversation With Golden Age Artist MARVIN LEVY Interview Conducted by Jim Amash

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

M

arvin Levy’s comics career wasn’t overly long, but it sure took some interesting turns along the way.

Starting out as an apprentice at the Harry “A” Chesler shop, Marvin also spent time in the Bernard Baily and Lloyd Jacquet [Funnies, Inc.] studios, rubbing shoulders with luminaries such as Carmine Infantino, Mort Lawrence, and Mac Raboy. Sandwiched around those stops, Marvin freelanced for Harvey Comics, Ziff-Davis, Spark Publications, Centaur, and Standard Publications, before leaving the field for advertising.

I found Marv’s recollections to be fascinating and occasionally revelatory, and I think you will, too. Special thanks to Herb Rogoff (Marvin’s former Ziff-Davis editor and my good friend) for giving me the contact information for Marvin. —Jim

A Burnt-Out (Berndt-Out?) Christmas Marv Levy, in a Dec. 1997 photo, views his exhibited work—including art from the Christmas giveaway comic pictured below—as it hangs alongside that of fellow “Berndt Toast Gang” cartoonists at the “Firehouse Gallery” at Nassau County Community College, NY. The Berndt Toast Gang is the Long Island, NY, chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, named after artist Walter Berndt. Photo courtesy of Barbara Levy.

(Left:) “While still in high school,” Marv writes, “I drew this presentation page for the [Human] Torch in 1942. (Lloyd Jacquet rejected it—obviously!)” He notes that “three years later, after WWII service, I did lots of work for Jacquet [Funnies, Inc.]—but not ‘Torch’!” This previously unpublished page shows, actually, that the 17-year-old Levy would surely have developed into a good super-hero artist, had that been his inclination. A couple of nice touches: the Torch turning off the fire from his legs in panel 2 so he won’t burn the floorboards, and Toro’s comment in panel 5 that he’ll “break my neck flaming off like this some day.” And besides, the artist’s name was “Marv L.”!

[Human Torch TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2008 Marv Levy.]

(Left:) One of a series of covers for Christmas comic book giveaway premiums done by Levy between 1951 and 1965. See details on pp. 38-41. The store’s imprint would be added to the publications’ front or back cover.

The editor of Woolworth’s Jolly Christmas Book, he reports, was Stella Rose. [©2008 Promotional Publishing, or successors in interest.]

“I Think I Always Knew I Wanted To Be A Cartoonist”

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See You In The Funny Papers!

Three vintage newspaper comic strips that strongly influenced Marv Levy.

(Clockwise from above left:) A 1929 daily from Sidney Smith’s The Gumps, launched in 1917 and credited as the first strip to tell a continuing story. The domestic misadventures of Andy and Min were as closely followed as those in any later radio or TV soap opera. [©2008 The Chicago Tribune—NY News Syndicate, Inc., or successors in interest.]

This undated drawing by George McManus, creator of Bringing Up Father, was used as a chapter heading in a 1973 collection of that name. [©2008 King Features Syndicate, Inc.] In this panel from only the fourth Li’l Abner daily by Al Capp, from 1934, the Yokums prepare to leave Dogpatch for the big city… while Daisy Mae pines for Abner, as she would for several decades, till they were finally married. [©2008 Capp Enterprises, Inc., or successors in interest.]

“I Think I Always Knew I Wanted To Be A Cartoonist” JIM AMASH: You know what I’m going to ask you first.

MARVIN LEVY: When and where was I born? [mutual laughter] I was born February 21st, 1925, in Albany, Georgia. Actually, my parents were living in Pelham, Georgia, at the time, but the hospital was in Albany. We lived there until I was eight, when my parents moved to New York in 1933. I think I always knew I wanted to be a cartoonist. I was inspired by the newspaper comics. I showed some talent, at least to my teachers, in drawing. That’s where I began to feel that I wanted to do comics as more or less what I had seen in the newspapers, like The Gumps, Bringing Up Father, and some others. Later on, Li’l Abner became a big inspiration to me.

At that time, there was one comic book which was not really a comic book. It was a giveaway by Gulf gas stations called The Gulf Weekly. It was a folded-over sheet, a few times, and it was about the size of a comic book. I remember my father would go to the gas station and I would say, “Dad, I’d like to get a comic book.” That’s when I first saw the newspaper strip reprint comics, like Tip-Top Comics and Famous Funnies. I saw myself more as a humorist, rather than as an illustrator, because most of the super-heroes didn’t come around until later, after “Superman.”

I started doing my own comic book on regular typing paper in 1933, right after we moved to New York. I was also very interested in flying at that time, so I thought I would try writing and drawing a little war adventure story, rather than something funny. When I look back now, I realize how juvenile they were. Of course, we had no television. We had radio, which was good for the imagination, and the movies. Most of my inspiration came from the movies or from listening to the radio, the adventure serials at the time, or from the comic books of that period.

JA: You went to the High School of Music and Art from 1939 to ’43.

Did you know Dave Gantz?

LEVY: Dave Gantz was ahead of me. He entered the school in, I think, the first year it opened. Music and Art was set up, I think, in 1936 or

‘37 as a specialty school for talented children, either in music or art, and it was split up as a part of the parochial school in where it was located in upper Manhattan, around 135th Street. They only could take a certain amount of students and, of course, they figured that the socalled talented ones wouldn’t be less in number than a regular high school. So they gave tests for you to get in, and Gantz, I know, went to school with Al Jaffee, Harvey Kurtzman, John Severin, and Will Elder.

I didn’t know these fellows at the time because [chuckles] when you’re a freshman and they’re a junior, there’s very little contact. [NOTE: See Alter Ego #13 & #35 for interviews with and photos of Dave Gantz, Al Jaffee, et al., in those days.]

As a matter of fact, comics were not the kind of thing that the school thought too much about. Those of us who did go into it did it on the side. The great thing was that, after school, you could go down to the publishers, knock on doors, and maybe get an editor to look at your work and give you a critique. Then you went home, fixed it up or did it over, or added something, and then came back another day. That was great. And if you were lucky enough, as I was, to find an editor who would look at my work and critique it, I thought I was learning something. This was not known to the schoolteachers, because they frowned on anything like that.

The teachers saw me as an artist, and I always got prizes and was picked out as the artist of the school or that particular class, or whatever it might be, so I had already been making a little bit of a reputation for my industrious efforts.

“Harry Chesler Was Sort-Of A Learning Process” JA: As far as I can tell, you started with Harry Chesler while still in school.

LEVY: Harry Chesler was a sort-of a learning process. In those days, there were quite a few ads for cartoonists under the “Artists” heading in The New York Times, and I would go down and show samples of my work. I may have been told by an editor, “This is not the way we do things,” or “Keep it up, you need a little more drawing experience,” whatever it may have been. So that particular summer, when I was 16, I went to Chesler’s. He saw some promise in the fact that I was

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A Candid Conversation With Golden Age Artist Marvin Levy

Original Art From “Earth-22” “Earth-22” is the name Ye Editor uses as a catch-all (maybe we should say, “Catch-22”) name for some parallel world on which the comics industry took a different turn—as per this trio of previously unpublished pages from a pair of stories Marv Levy (as “Marv Lev”) wrote and drew on spec in 1941 and 1942, respectively.

The two pages above introduce “Mann Mountain and Moal Hil,” a pair of “American aviators” in a common mold of the day. Marv tells us it was done for Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies, Inc., though never bought or used.

The second splash page heralds the debut of the even more imaginatively named “Bill of Rights and Liberty Belle”—though he didn’t say if it was done for Jacquet or Chesler. Here Marv was even more on target, if anything, as costumed heroes were the coin of the comic book realm in 1942. It would be the following year before DC would launch its own quite different “Liberty Belle” feature in the first issue of Simon & Kirby’s Boy Commandos. If Marv’s series had found a quick berth, Libby Lawrence might never have been created, or would probably have sported a different monicker and look!

While this pair of stories never appeared in an actual comic, it’s probably as much by sheer happenstance as anything else. They’re just the type of feature that the Chesler, Jacquet, and other shops were turning out for the comics companies during this era. [©2008 Marv Levy.]

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A Candid Conversation With Golden Age Artist Marvin Levy

The Going Rates - 1946 We should all thank our lucky stars that Marv Levy was such a packrat, in the best sense of the word! Here’s a 1946 list of comic book companies’ page rates, which he’s saved for more than six decades! Marv isn’t sure who composed the list.

“Very Few Writers Got Any Recognition” JA: So are there any other personal Bernard Baily stories?

LEVY: When I entered the service, I found myself in the Infantry during basic training. I wanted to transfer to the Air Force. I saw myself as a glamorous cadet, flying. But to do this, I needed a statement from my former employer to attest to my character and reliability, and all this stuff. I wrote my mother, “Can you go up to Bernard Baily’s studio and get a letter of recommendation?” She went up there, and he signed this form, and she sent it on to me. So I put in an application for transfer to the Air Force. You had to take four tests, and I took three tests, one which each time I came to the bulletin board, and I passed the first test, the second test, and the third test. The fourth time we’re supposed to take a test, there’s a notice saying, “All transfers canceled.”

JA: Were things any different with Baily when you came back to work for him?

LEVY: Baily had moved to a much larger office. It was in an elevated building on, I think, 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue. It was a corner

building that had an elevator, and he was up on the fourth floor. It had a wide open windowed office like a dance or an art studio. He was in

“I Think I Always Knew I Wanted To Be A Cartoonist”

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one big room and there were a couple of smaller rooms—cubbyholes, actually—he was the only one in that room. It was a big office that he was in, like you had to walk 20 feet to get to his desk. He was at the far end of that room and yet there was not another soul that I remember there. I think there might have been one little art table on the side, but nobody sat there.

In the other room, the one room that I saw, was Carmine Infantino.

I had known Carmine from my brother who had gone to the High School of Industrial Arts and had introduced me to him one time. I got to know Carmine pretty well. He had a very distinctive bass baritone voice. He was a strong presence and big.

Baily had a writer that was working there named Jerry Gale— which, by the way, brings up a point that I’ve always had a sort-of a sadness about, the fact that very few writers ever got any recognition.

JA: You’re right. I always try to fix that whenever possible. But the problem is, since artists seldom signed their work and writers even less frequently, it’s virtually impossible to know who wrote the stories.

LEVY: Well, the reason I mention it is, probably a lot of the writers went on to bigger and better things, and maybe they didn’t want it known they were doing comics.

JA: There’s some of that, too... Mickey Spillane, of course, being an exception.

LEVY: Well, he’s the one. In fact, I have an original script of his.

[NOTE: See next page.] I sent Spillane a copy of the script and he never acknowledged it. [chuckles] The reason I sent it to him is because I knew another mutual friend who worked with Mickey Spillane way back when, and he thought that Mickey might be interested. I said, “You know, it’s a funny thing that when the script came to me, it didn’t come from him directly. It came from the editor at Lloyd Jacquet’s and it had Mickey Spillane’s byline.”

JA: Who else was there?

LEVY: Well, there was an old-time cartoonist who used to do a newspaper ad called “Two-fer Nickel.” I think it was for Hostess Cupcakes or something like that. I guess they were two for a nickel and he had his character, Two-fer Nickel. I was introduced to the artist by Carmine Infantino, who happened to be there the day that I came up to Baily’s for something or other.

That’s all the people I saw. It didn’t look like he had a shop any more. It just looked like it was his own art studio, with space arrangements where maybe the artist paid for a desk to have a location, maybe like Carmine did, to do his own work or maybe some work for Baily. I don’t remember what Carmine was working on at the time. I don’t know if he was doing it for Baily or if he was doing his own work and renting the space. [NOTE: Carmine states that he was working for Bernard Baily, and not renting space. –Jim.] Carmine was very affable and sincere. If he shook your hand and smiled at you, he was glad to know you. He was a very pleasant guy. Over the years, we would bump into each other and he’d say, “Hi, Marv, how are you?

How’s your brother?”

JA: What do you remember about Jerry Gale?

LEVY: Jerry was a fast thinker. I was on furlough, and came up to say hello to Bernard Baily; Jerry was there. I had just done a sample humor page to get my hand back into the style of things. Baily said, “We have an idea for a comic book that we’re going to be putting out.” I think it was going to be published by Feature. [NOTE: That company was also known as Prize and/or Crestwood. –Jim.]. It was Wonderland Comics. He said, “We could use a story on a character Jerry wrote

How Do You Get To Wonderland? Clearly, During A Gale!

The splash from the 6-page “Fantastic Ferdy” tale in Wonderland Comics #3 (Feb.-March 1946), produced by the Bernard Baily studio for Feature Publications. The writer, Marv says, was Jerry Gale. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

called ‘Fantastic Ferdy,’ a little medieval Jack the Giant Killer kind of a character. I want you to work up a page.” I went home and drew a page. A couple days later, I went back and Bailey said, “That looks good. What do you think, Jerry?” And Jerry said, “I think it’s great.

Why don’t I write the story around that?,” because I had just made up a little situation for a story. Jerry wrote a story around it, incorporating that page.

We did five stories of that feature. Howard Post was the key artist on that magazine. He did the covers and stories. Howie went to Music and Art with me, and he left after the third year because he had a problem with his family. He had to help support them and he had to find a way of getting work quickly, so he became an animator and then a director of animation for Famous Studios in New York. The funny thing was, we had been in touch before I went into the service, and then one day while I was overseas in the hospital, I received a rolled-up comic book and it was his first comic book that he had work in—it was Prize Comics. He had sent me his first comic book just to show how far he had made it in comics, as well as the fact that he’d been in animation.

During the war years, a lot of comic book companies were fly-bynight operations. One of the key issues was the matter of who got the paper. Paper was rationed, and if you were a bigger publisher like DC and Timely, then you got your paper quota. If you wanted to come out with something and you were not in the publishing business, then you had a problem.

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A Candid Conversation With Golden Age Artist Marvin Levy

The Evolution Of A Comics Feature (Left:) The first page of a script written in 1945 by the late Mickey Spillane (seen in photo), creator of the world-famed Mike Hammer.

It was done for the Funnies, Inc., feature “Smarty Pants”—but that name has been crossed out at top left, and it has been rechristened “Jackie the Slick Chick.”

(Below:) Marv Levy retained copies of the original art of these two splash pages of 5-page “Jackie” stories, done for Lloyd Jacquet’s shop in ’45. He has no idea if either was ever published. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

(Below left:) A letter to Marv from Funnies, Inc., editor Irv Weinstein re the name change, 1945. Note the “fi” symbol on the letterhead— and the once-familiar “Special Delivery” stamp on the envelope.

“The Great Unknowns” Part V

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MAXWELL ELKAN— The “Hard Luck” Unknown Fawcett Editor Wendell Crowley Never Revealed Why He Called The Artist That, But…

by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. & Hames Ware

M

axwell Elkan? You may believe you’ve heard that name before, but you’re probably not sure where. Well, as a “Great Unknown,” Elkan is easily the most traveled of any that we’ve featured to date, so it could have been in relation to any of the major comic book companies: Quality, Fiction House, DC, EC, Standard, Fawcett, Dell, Hillman, or Ace—as well as many of the notso-major ones. He even signed a story here and there over the years. So why is he so obscure?

Years ago, Hames ran a myriad of comic book artist names past longtime Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley. In that list, he included the name of one of the many obscure artists whose work he had found to have that something special that made it unique and distinctive: Maxwell Elkan.

From Sappiness To Sagebrush What? You were expecting maybe a photo of one of the subjects of Jim and Hames’ “Great Unknowns” series? What kind of “Unknowns” would they be if we knew what they looked like!? (Not that we wouldn’t be delighted if someone out there suddenly sent us a photo of the esteemed but obscure Max Elkan, you understand.)

This pair of images, however, clearly demonstrates the artist’s versatility—a one-page gag filler for Standard’s Real Life Comics #41 (Sept. 1947), and the cover of Avon’s Western Adventures #2 (Dec. 1948), featuring The ross-Draw Kid, whose unusual way of wearing his pistols (back-to-front in the holster— check it out) doubtless owes something to B-movie star Wild Bill Elliott, who did the same thing even in his Red Ryder Saturday afternoon oaters.

Incidentally, the scripters of all art used with this article are sadly even more unknown than Max Elkan! [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

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Study Elkan’s vivacious Dale and supporting cast, then look at the hohum work by succeeding artists who finished out and finished off a comic that had started off with zest and style—thanks to Max Elkan (and perhaps the able assistance of the brilliant Ray Willner).

Elkan rarely signed, but his creativity was clear from the outset, as can seen on “Lightning” and “Tom, Dick, and Harry” in Jumbo Comics at Fiction House, as well as simultaneously on “Samar” in Feature Comics at Quality (where it is possible that collaborative work with Reed Crandall influenced his sparkling style). The very earliest we can confirm his art is in Feature #47 (Aug. 1941), where he looks to be just another young Crandall-inspired Iger Shop artist. In issue #48, the last panel is initialed “MDE”—albeit not so clearly. (For years this signature was interpreted as “MOE,” and the art thought to be by Clare Moe.) This early phase of his career lasted for two years and probably ended with service in the military during World War II, which may explain why we don’t see his style again until 1946. In that year he returned to Quality and began his series of short stints with a variety of high-profile publishers:

A Master Of Comic Art This is the one piece of Max Elkan art in this article that we’ve run before: a “Nyoka the Jungle Girl” splash page from a late-1940s issue of Fawcett’s Master Comics, as restored and reprinted in AC Comics’ Jungle Girls #10 (1992); see ad for Bill Black’s “All-Old” comics company of vintage reprints on p. 11. Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley once referred to Elkan to Hames Ware as a “little guy”—but then, Crowley was nearly seven feet tall!

[Retouched art ©2008 AC Comics.]

Elkan hadn’t really done that much at Fawcett, so it was surprising when Wendell actually nodded his head and replied, “Good artist... who had some hard luck.”

One manifestation of that “hard luck” seems to be that he never stayed very long in any one place and never became associated with any one company. Yet he seemed to make an impression on many of his fellow artists. Beyond Wendell’s cryptic musing, other personal memories came from Rudy Palais and from Louis Zansky’s widow.

Palais, who rarely, if ever, collaborated, recalled having done so with... Maxwell Elkan. This was at the Iger Shop where solo work was the exception, but all those years later Rudy Palais remembered Elkan.

And at Ace, Elkan made such an impression on Zansky (who probably deserves his own “Great Unknowns” column) that even his widow remembered the name.

Another unsung but dynamic collaboration occurred in 1948 with Ray Willner, when they worked together on early issues of Blazing West at ACG, on Western Adventures at Ace, and on Dale Evans at DC. To see the contrast an artist like Maxwell Elkan could bring to a feature, just take a look at Dale Evans #1 at DC, a company where Elkan worked anonymously on a number of features over the years.

Happy Trails To You An Elkan-drawn page from Dale Evans Comics #1 (Sept.-Oct. 1948).

Jim V. and Hames suspect fellow artist Ray Willner may have had a hand in this work. During this period, as we’ve mentioned, it would’ve taken a three-company teaming to have movie co-stars Roy Rogers, his wife Dale, and comedy sidekick George “Gabby” Hayes in the same comic book, since their comics were then published by Dell, DC, and Fawcett, respectively. [©2008 DC Comics.]

48

“The Great Unknowns,” Part V

You Can Hide A Lot Of Things In That Jungle Foliage Note the “MDE” signature in this final panel of the “Samar” story in Quality’s Feature Comics #48 (Sept. 1941). In case you can’t tell, Samar was a Tarzan wannabe. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

“Tom, Dick, And Harry” (Above:) Elkan may have been no better known than any Tom, Dick, or Harry when it came to his mostlyunsigned artwork—but that was the name of the aviation-adventure feature he drew in Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics #32 (Oct. 1941). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

The Fight Club (Left:) Two pulchritude-packed Elkan pages from Fight Comics #55 (April 1948). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

[Avengers cover Š\2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art Š2008 the respective copyright holders.]

52

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Twice-Told Marvel Heroes!

(Part Three)

by Michael T. Gilbert

I

n the previous two issues, we explored some unusual Golden Age super-heroes that bore an uncanny resemblance to some familiar Silver Age heroes, starting with Daredevil in A/E #73.

In #74, we discussed Quality’s Bozo the Robot, often referred to as Iron Man. This Iron Man was a flying robot controlled from within by two-fisted adventurer Hugh Hazzard. Bozo began his 41-issue career in Smash Comics #1 (Aug. 1939).

That same year, Fox’s Weird Comics #1 depicted another familiar super-hero—Thor, God of Thunder! This time, Grant Farell (a delicate blond fellow) was granted all the powers of Thor by the thunder god himself. He fought crime for five issues with his mighty hammer.

Sound familiar? It’s not surprising, since these early heroes are remarkably similar to characters Stan Lee co-created for Marvel in the early 1960s.

Which is not to suggest anything questionable on Stan’s part. Far from it!

Rubbing Out Super-Heroes Ant-Man got super-sized in Tales To Astonish #49 (Nov. 1963). Art by Don Heck. This must be the month in Alter Ego for villains to erase super-heroes! See p. 68. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Most of the characters shown here date from 1941 or before, and Stan only began his comic book career at Timely in that year, decades before he started the 1960s Marvel revolution.

It’s possible Stan saw these obscure heroes as a teenager and that a tiny seed was planted, waiting to sprout decades later. However, it’s more likely that he never saw them at all.

In any event, with hundreds of heroes out there battling evil, there was bound to be a little duplication. But just how many precursors of Stan’s original Avengers were there? We’ve already checked off Iron Man and Thor. Next, lets take a look at...

The Golden Age Giant Man! What do you get when you graft Stan’s size-changing Goliath with Tarzan, king of the jungle? Why, you wind up with Kalthar, MLJ’s own Giant Man! As told in Zip Comics #1 (Feb 1940), Kalthar’s father died saving a tribe of savage natives from Arab slavers. In gratitude, the Ugarnas raised the boy, and named him “Kal-Thar,” or “God-son.”

Big Man In The Jungle The splash of the first Kalthar tale, from MLJ’s Zip Comics #1 (Feb. 1940). [©2008 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

When the youngster reached manhood, the natives made him chief.

The tribe’s witch doctor, Ta-Lo, whipped up some “magic” grains, allowing Kalthar to grow fifteen feet tall and to shrink back to normal later. This was two feet taller than Marvel’s hyphenated Giant-Man in his first Silver Age appearance.

58

In Memoriam

Mike Wieringo (1963-2007)

“He Was Always Striving To Be Better”

by Eric Nolen-Weathington

O

n Sunday, August 12, 2007, Michael Wieringo died of a heart attack at the far too young age of 44. Mike was in excellent health. A few years ago, he started having back problems, thanks to the many hours spent hunched over his drawing table. So he started working out, and from then on he went to the gym several times a week. And Mike was a vegetarian, though that decision was made from his love for animals and his desire to never cause another living, thinking creature harm. The health benefits were merely an added bonus.

Mike also loved comics. At an early age, Mike knew he wanted to be a comic book artist. In 1991, he finally got his chance with Millennium’s Doc Savage: Doom Dynasty mini-series and two backup stories in Justice League Quarterly. And then came... The Flash.

In teaming up with Flash writer Mark Waid, Mike found a kindred spirit. For Mike Wonders By Wieringo not only loved The pencil illo at left was done for the program book comics—he of the 2006 Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC. Photo thought they

by Todd Dezago. [Superman TM & ©2008 DC Comics; should be fun.

Captain America TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] And amidst the storm of post-Watchmen, post-Dark Knight Returns grim and gritty comics, Mark and Mike’s run on The Flash shone like a beacon of hope that, in fact, super-heroes could still be fun. Mike held that beacon high throughout his career, whether he was drawing Robin, The Sensational Spider-Man (written by his best friend, Todd Dezago), or Fantastic Four (again with Mark Waid), with penciling full of energy and emotion.

But it was with Tellos—the series he created with Todd Dezago—that he found his greatest joy. As much as Mike loved the super-heroes he had grown up with, creating his own stories with his own characters was his greatest desire. All the more tragic, then, that he passed away just when he was he was close to being able to fulfill that desire again. A Tellos movie deal had been struck, which would have allowed Mike and Todd to return to the world of their own making for the foreseeable future.

When Modern Masters, Vol. 9: Mike Wieringo was announced, I saw many doubters on the Internet questioning the decision. “What’s he really done?” “Has he done enough to justify it?” I’m sure Mike—who seemed to be everywhere online, making friends wherever he went—saw them, too. And a large part of him probably doubted his qualifications, as well.

When I first asked him about being part of the series, his response was, “Why would you want to do a book about me?”

And that was not false modesty on his part... that was how he truly felt.

But that was what made him such a terrific artist. He was always striving to be better. He was never satisfied.

More importantly, it’s what made him a terrific person. He always put the needs of others ahead of his own. He was selfless, supportive of other artists regardless of their level of talent, and he had a great laugh that he loved to share with others. He was the type of person we should all strive to be.

And I am proud to have been his friend.

Eric Nolen-Weathington is the editor of TwoMorrows’ Modern Masters line.

Art by Alex Ross.

[Shazam! characters TM & Š2008 DC Comics.]

67

By

[Art & logo ©2008 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2008 DC Comics]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Publications. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, “Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. ’42); but he was primarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military.

After leaving the service in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton). After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics, including Sweethearts and Life Story. After the company ceased publishing comics, Marc moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comics career in the mid-’50s. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA since his first column appeared in FCA #54, 1996. Last issue Marc looked back at his very first syndicated comic strip attempt, Judi the Jungle Girl. In this installment he joins in on this issue’s theme by reflecting on the demise of our favorite hero in red. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

I

Flying Into Comics Marc Swayze’s first job as an artist was assisting Russell Keaton, creator of the syndicated newspaper comic strip Flyin’ Jenny. Years later, Marc became the feature’s artist of record. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

don’t know how the others in this game took it, but my memories of the characters I wrote and drew in the Golden Age linger on as though they had been real people … each representing a distinct period in the career.

Flyin’ Jenny, for instance, is remembered as having been the means of my getting into comics … to be employed by a seasoned pro whose unending encouragement began that very first day when my assistance was hardly more than sweeping the studio floor.

Mary Marvel was the opportunity to create graphically a new featured character that was to continue in popularity and eventually head up her own book.

Absolutely unforgettable is Mickey Malone, the Phantom Eagle, with whom was spent a most spacious span of the career, during which was realized a home, a family, and a very pleasant life style … all for which I am truly thankful today.

Most memorable among those “people” I knew so well stands the World’s Mightiest Mortal … you know … Captain Marvel. It is he who is fondly recalled as having dislodged me from a comfortable seat in the Southland and replaced me high over Times Square in the heart of Manhattan where, the advice had been, I ought to be … in the swim of things.

Sisterhood Is Powerful The original sketches of Mary Marvel came from Marc’s drawing board, and he drew her first two stories, in which she guested in Captain Marvel tales before spinning off into her own series in Wow Comics.

[Shazam! heroes TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

68

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

Endurance Flight Mickey Malone, the Phantom Eagle, was Marc’s regular assignment during the mid- and later 1940s, up till the day the Wow Comics feature was cancelled. It was his longest ongoing assignment in comic books. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

“Memories… Pressed Between The Pages Of My Mind” “My preference was to remember him just as I had drawn and written him in the Golden Age….” A rare Captain Marvel illustration by Marc Swayze. [Shazam! heroes TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

And I am thankful for that.

Was I disturbed in the early ’50s, at the report that Captain Marvel was to be discontinued forever? Of course not. I simply refused to believe it. Captain Marvel was not one to be rubbed out with a single sweep of the eraser! And Fawcett, not an organization to permit it!

But they were. And he was. We learned that later. And I was disturbed by it. Captain Marvel was one of those fictional friends I knew best. To be perfectly frank about what happened to him … I’m sorry. Who wouldn’t be?

I never followed those later attempts to revive the super-hero. A glimpse now and then told me it was not the jovial guy we had known down the street. My preference was to remember him just as I had drawn him and written him in the Golden Age, always easily seen at the end of the pencil or pen in my hand.

And we know he’s out there yet, somewhere, don’t we? Waiting to come to the rescue if we need him. And all we have to do is utter that magic word, “SHAZ: … you know!

More of Marc Swayze’s memories of the Golden Age will appear in our next issue.

“Captain Marvel Was Not One To Be Rubbed Out With A Single Sweep Of The Eraser” Or maybe he was—at least on C.C. Beck’s cover for Captain Marvel Adventures #97 (June 1949). [©2008 DC Comics.]

69

The Shazam Curse The Post-Fawcett False Starts & Fizzles Of The Fabulous Marvel Family History And Opinion by P.C. Hamerlinck

“C

urses!” cried the World’s Maddest Scientist as the World’s Mightiest Mortal hauled him off to jail. The first curse inflicted upon Captain Marvel, the best-selling comic book character of the Golden Age, wasn’t the scornful words of his nemesis Dr. Sivana—but the years where lawyers bickered back and forth before a bored judge during a contentious courtroom circus.

Fawcett Publications’ decision to stop the bleeding from that battle and sacrifice any further production of stories of “Captain Marvel” and “The Marvel Family” at least enabled the company to get on with its life of publishing profitable magazines and paperbacks.

Despite a desperate-appearing move to incorporate then-trendy horror themes late into its run, VP/circulation manager Roscoe Fawcett once assured me that sales of Captain Marvel Adventures were “still very healthy and profitable” (Fawcett Companion, p. 12) in 1953, before the company determined that the super-heroes’ better days were long gone and that the ongoing expense of fighting for the Marvels in court would have wiped out their publishing empire.

Captain Marvel, once one of the most popular comic book characters in America, became a mostly forgotten figure of fiction ... a folklore hero exiled to Brazil, cursed to lie dormant for years in his homeland as precious time slipped away wherein he could have been developing, growing, and maintaining his legendary iconic status. Yet, hindsight later revealed that Captain Marvel’s greatest curse was caused by his own proverbial “revival” conducted in 1972. Cap’s well-intentioned but ultimately flawed false start subsequently caused a vast, repetitious chain of unfortunate fumbles and outright failures which have spanned the course of 35 years (over twice as long as the original Fawcett run). These foibles have resulted in the character being unable to regain even a slight slice of his once widespread popularity.

“Curses!”

Just in case you doubt our word that Dr. Sivana actually did spout the above epithet on occasion, here’s Exhibit “A,” a panel from what is considered by many to be one of the best-ever tales of the Big Red Cheese: “Captain Marvel Battles the Plot against the Universe!” from Captain Marvel Adventures #100 (Sept. 1949). [©2008 DC Comics.]

One of the accursed judgment calls from the early planning stages of the revival was that, instead of going with their initial gut instinct to develop an updated Captain Marvel for the modern 1970s audience— one that would fit snugly next to a Curt Swan Superman (“Make Way For Captain Thunder!” in Superman #276, June ’74, reveals that such an approach would have stood a good chance of succeeding)—DC chose instead to travel down memory lane. The nostalgia crowd was going to pull this book … so they thought … and hopefully grab new readers along the way with a funny, light derivative of the Captain.

(The majority of readers at that time—small children to college students—had no idea what Shazam! meant or stood for.) The decision not to mature Cap after all those lost years, but rather to keep him as a throwback from another era, waiting to be plucked out of “suspended animation,” ultimately became the foundation that cemented a curse for future generations. The original Captain Marvel of the Golden Age was beautifully perfect … but to survive in modern times, a new strike of lightning was needed to successfully transform him into today’s world.

(In contrast, Captain America seemed to better acclimate himself after his 1960s defrosting.)

Carmine Infantino, artist-turned-editorial-director-turned-publisher, initiated the acquisition for one of his old personal favorite characters.

Since The Creeper and the like weren’t exactly penetrating Marvel Comics’ dominance of the marketplace, Infantino turned instead to obtaining ancient properties in an attempt to rejuvenate the DC line. As irony played itself out, the very people who helped give Captain Marvel a ride to the cemetery would be the inevitable Dr. Frankensteins to plunder his grave and raise him from the dead (thanks to the old decree stating that Fawcett couldn’t do anything with Cap without the consent of Supie’s publisher). A unique licensing deal between the two companies was struck, and Cap would soon emerge into the 1970s.

Additionally, another setback occurred because the new magazine couldn’t bear as its title the name of its main character! DC would probably have titled the comic Captain Marvel (whether they had started with a #1 or had picked up Fawcett's old numbering sequence from Captain Marvel Adventures), but the ever-astute Marvel Comics, insuring that no else could use that Marvel-ous name, had already intervened when rights to the CM handle had lapsed by trademarking the name for themselves in 1967, and launching its own “Captain Marvel,” a Kree warrior created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. DC editor Julius Schwartz suggested Shazam! as a compromise title, and unfortunately, from then on, Captain Marvel has been cursed by being referred to all too often by the name of the old Egyptian wizard who gave him his powers. Even Schwartz stamping “With One Magic Word...” above the title wasn’t enough to assist the already-confused public.

However, DC didn’t foresee the perils of handling a character from the past ... and moreover, one that had been so sharply written with its own individualized style. Thus began a long series of multi-layered curses profligated upon the character.

Another cursed decision had christened Julie Schwartz as Shazam! editor. Even his editorial assistant E. Nelson Bridwell bemoaned the fact that Schwartz (already with a string of several successfully resurrected DC heroes under his belt) wasn’t a Cap fan, as ENB himself

70

The Post-Fawcett False Starts & Fizzles Of The Fabulous Marvel Family

“Make Way For Captain Thunder!”

(Above:) In Superman #276 (June 1974), penciler Curt Swan and inker Bob Oksner rendered a promising hero who was the original Captain Marvel in virtually everything but name and a couple of costume details. Script by Elliot S! Maggin. [©2008 DC Comics.]

(Above right:) Since 1986, “Captain Thunder” has meant the super-hero created by Roy & Dann Thomas. He and son Blue Bolt have returned of late, as per original CT&BB artist Dell Barras’ cover for Champions #38 (Aug. 2008), with two more issues since and more in preparation.

They’re available for $4 each from Heroic Publishing, at www.heroicpub.com/orders. [Captain Thunder & Blue Bolt TM & ©2008 Roy & Dann Thomas; Huntsman TM & ©2008 Heroic Publishing.]

Past Perfect?

(Right:) An unused cover drawn by Charles Clarence Beck for Shazam! #8 (Dec. 1973). The four scenes within the circles were Photostatted from Fawcett comics of the 1940s and ’50s. They were used on the published version, but with a new Beck drawing of Captain Marvel alone. [©2008 DC Comics.]

The Shazam Curse

was, and may never have really had a vested interest in the character. Schwartz added a curse of his own to the mix by assigning two of his favorite writers to the book: Denny O’Neil and Elliot Maggin, neither of whom had ever read a single issue of Captain Marvel Adventures before spearheading the project.

Many wondered: If C.C. Beck was being brought back as artist, why not also writer Otto Binder, author of over half the tales of the Captain Marvel mythos during the Golden Age—a scripter who had even previously worked for DC (including alongside Schwartz and Bridwell) from the mid-1950s until he retired in 1969. But the tragic death of Otto’s daughter Mary had taken its toll on Binder—and his having once joined a movement petitioning DC for improved benefits hadn’t exactly endeared him to management or encouraged further assignments from them. In addition, in an interview published in FCA #5, Oct. 1974 (reprinted in the book Fawcett Companion), he told Matt Lage that he would never begin to try to recapture “the whimsy and gaiety we used 30 years before.”

71

produce well-crafted, fulfilling scripts in 8 or fewer pages, the new writers were working in an era where longer stories, prolonged fights, and deeper characterization were emphasized. With their ingrained formula—and with fewer pages in which to construct anything interesting—the new stories had to be sliced and diced to the bare bones, leaving only trite and trivial matters standing. It became painfully obvious early on that the Shazam! writers were cursed never to construct anything resembling a welldeveloped plot.

To further add salt to the widening wound was the new reduction of original art page size, which prevented Beck from using too many panels or very much detail.

Beck was certainly one of the medium’s major proponents of simplicity in storytelling art, but with Shazam! he appeared to be creating work that was too simple ...

Off On A Binder literally vacant of backgrounds (quite Beck caricatured his old Fawcett colleague Otto O. Binder unlike the deceptively simple yet stylized (rhymes with “cinder,” not “finder,”) in the first story in artwork he had done for Fawcett). While Shazam! #1 (Feb. 1973). [©2008 DC Comics.]

Beck has been criticized for the highly simplistic style DC’s 24-page format at the time of Cap’s revival—ideal for an he used in the exciting book-length tale—was definitely a curse if one is trying to new stories, he cram three stories into one issue, as DC tried to do. (Well, at least one was flying solo of the stories was a Fawcett reprint.) While longtime fans were thrilled on Shazam! to see their beloved Captain Marvel again in new stories—illustrated (just as he had

by Beck, his chief artist and co-creator—it wasn’t long until the the previous nostalgic novelty of it all grew immensely thin. The shortcomings of decade on writers O’Neil and Maggin in handling Captain Marvel, and Milford’s Schwartz’s limiting 3-stories-per-issue format, had reared their ugly Fatman; hence composite head. The Shazam! characters were never given anything the stylistic very exciting to do in their brief stories. Even though Golden Age similarity of writers like Otto Binder, Bill Woolfolk, and others had been able to the two), working without his “My Salad Days, When I Was Green In former assisJudgment” tants who had A panel from the infamous (among vintage Fawcett fans, handled anyway) story “The Invasion of the Salad Men” from backgrounds, Shazam! #10 (Feb. 1974). Art by Bob Oksner (p) & Vince inking, and Colletta (i). Script by Elliot S! Maggin. [©2008 DC Comics.] lettering. When I once asked Beck why his Shazam! artwork was simplified so much as compared to his Golden Age work, he said the art merely reflected the “infantile” tone of the stories he was given; drawing more-realistic artwork wouldn’t have made any difference or improved the stories.

That same year also saw another per-issue page reduction at DC— this time from 24 to 20 (it would drop three more pages even after that, allowing additional room for revenue-raising advertising). Yet Schwartz still stuck with the insufferable 3-stories-per-issue format. (Even a 10page Marvel Family reprint had to be continued into the next issue.)

At His Beck And Call Beck’s art in Shazam! was far simpler and more “cartoony” than his work on late Fawcett tales, which was often done in concert with Pete Costanza.

He maintained the new art merely reflected the “infantile” tone of the stories. Still, Beck drew himself into this panel in Shazam! #4 (July 1973). [©2008 DC Comics.]

Beck’s being driven away from Shazam! by insipid scripts and Schwartz’s editorial tactics has been well-documented over the years in the pages of FCA and elsewhere. Dave Cockrum also begrudgingly left the book after drawing only one “Captain Marvel Jr.” story, which he had to re-draw after Schwartz complained that it wasn’t modern-

78

The Death Of A Legend The Final Funeral Of A Fawcett Fable

by C.C. Beck Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck [In 1987, two years prior to his own death, artist C.C. Beck wrote this “obituary” of the character he had co-created with Bill Parker back in the Golden Age. This previously unpublished 1987 essay was unearthed from the vaults of PCH’s Beck estate files specifically for this issue’s theme. —PCH.

T

he news that the legendary Captain Marvel, one of the most successful and best-loved characters in comic books, has shuffled off the mortal coil comes as a shock, but not a surprise. After all, he was known as “The World’s Mightiest Mortal,” not immortal. He had been in failing health for some time, and his end, when it came, was a blessing. Now, as was said at Abraham Lincoln’s deathbed, he belongs to the ages.

A myth had grown up during Captain Marvel’s lifetime that he had been the first super-hero to use comedy in his stories. This myth was without foundation. Captain Marvel was not a super-hero; he was simply a large, powerful man. The super-heroes were a grim lot, stern faced and solemn. Captain Marvel was an amiable young fellow, and was drawn in cartoon style, not in the heavy-handed, realistic style used in the super-hero comics. He could smile, laugh, and enjoy a good joke now and then, just like any other mortal.

Four Decades And A Funeral

But Captain Marvel was not a wisecracking In Captain Marvel Adventures #88 (Sept. 1948), Charles Clarence Beck (with the aid of Pete Costanza) buffoon, spouting one-liners and making a fool drew a story titled “Captain Marvel’s Funeral!” In his 1987 article printed here, he felt that funeral had come about under somewhat different circumstances nearly 40 years later. [©2008 DC Comics.] of himself, as many supposed. There was humor in the “Captain Marvel” stories, but it was situation humor, not standup-comic style menagerie of other-than-human characters in the stories. Because the humor. Captain Marvel himself was not funny, but he got into some feature was drawn unrealistically, anything could happen—and did, laugh-provoking situations at times. usually in a funny way.

The basis of humor is incongruity. Two of Captain Marvel’s deadliest enemies were Sivana, “The World’s Maddest Scientist,” and Mr. Mind, “The World’s Wickedest Worm.” Sivana was old, bald, and about five feet tall. Mr. Mind was an armless, legless worm who wore glasses and spoke through a loudspeaker hung around his neck. Just seeing either of these villains in the same panel with Captain Marvel was laugh-provoking, because the sight of a small, feeble villain and a large, powerful hero about to engage in mortal combat was so ridiculous that it was laughable. It was the David and Goliath tale turned upside down!

There is no need to cite examples; everyone familiar with the original “Captain Marvel” stories published in the 1940s can find them for himself. Those who knew the World’s Mightiest Mortal only from the comics of the 1970s and 1980s (when he was under the control of a different publisher and was sometimes called “Shazam”) will find examples of what the new editors considered to be humor but was really the worst kind of non-humor, because the new editors and writers were under the impression that Captain Marvel had been a funny super-hero who cracked jokes and acted like a clown.

Because the “Captain Marvel” stories were drawn in comic strip style, secondary characters could be cartoon-like, with shoe-button eyes and potato noses and other outlandish features. They could be inhuman: there were talking tigers and crocodile men and a whole

Although humor is based on incongruity, merely saying or doing things that are unexpected or out of context will not automatically bring laughs from an audience. Wearing a silly costume and making funny faces, running around knocking things over, doing pratfalls, and tossing off puns and stale jokes is not amusing when there is no reason

81

The 2005 Proposal To Bring Back The Real Captain Marvel

by Alex Ross Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck [Alex Ross has made a career out of rekindling his childhood enthusiasm, beginning with his part as the artist/painter of the 1990s series Marvels, which has since been followed up by such DC series as Kingdom Come. It is no exaggeration to say he is today one of the bestknown people in the comics field. As both a long-time fan of the original Captain Marvel and something of a modern-day advocate for that hero’s rightful and prominent inclusion in high-profile projects, he continually reinterprets the World’s Mightiest Mortal for today’s world. While others have essentially buried the Beckinspired version, with the recently rejected/ignored pitch of Ross’ Say My Name – Shazam!, unveiled here for the first time, the artist reveals that he still shares with many others the hope that a classic rendition of Captain Marvel will soon return. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

I

n early 2005, many changes were bouncing around the DC Universe, particularly around the continuity-redefining Infinite Crisis series. As part of this, there would be many characters killed, rebooted, and/or created from whole cloth. (Earlier in the year, fan favorite Blue Beetle was murdered for the sake of just such a reboot.)

I was working at the time on my largest project to date, the 12-issue series Justice. Maintaining a very focused work schedule of painting 14 pages a month (a bi-monthly comic book) didn’t allow me much time to collaborate on other projects. It was around the time leading up to my book’s, and then Infinite Crisis’, release, that I was contacted about Shazam! DC was looking for a costume

Father To The Man (Left:) Alex Ross at work. (Above:) Concept drawings of Billy Batson and Captain Marvel done by Alex Ross to accompany his proposal for Say My Name—Shazam! And yes, the above title logo for this piece was also designed by Alex. When he’s enthusiastic, he’s enthusiastic!

[Shazam! characters & phrase TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

82

Alex Ross’ 2005 Proposal To Bring Back The Real Captain Marvel

creative equality to those icons. In later works, I’ve always tried to incorporate him more strongly in the classic Justice League, giving him a substantial role in the recent Justice series.

At one time, all of this seemed like enough for me, even though I had many recurring delusions of a traditional comic book run that I would somehow do with Shazam! DC awoke a passion in me that was always there, lying dormant. DC’s letting me know that they were effectively destroying the Billy Batson/C.C. Beck-style/Fred MacMurray-inspired lead hero I had always loved was too much to bear. I was self-assured that I could somehow save Captain Marvel.

Well, I was wrong. But here’s what I came up with to try to change their minds. First, I thought through how one might “touch up” the classic Captain Marvel outfit without really changing anything.

Previously, both Jerry Ordway and I had simultaneously channeled our love of the original buttoned-jacket design back from his more military dress uniform inspiration. I additionally adopted the sash and gold fabric look featured in the 1940s Tom Tyler movie serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel. These details served the purpose of returning Marvel to his roots but not necessarily to my first point of contact with him: Jackson Bostwick, whose portrayal of Captain Marvel on the mid-70s Shazam! TV series was the formation of my love for the character.

…But Have You Ever Seen Them Together On TV? Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel and Michael Gray as Billy Batson, from the 1974 Shazam! CBS-TV series. That program was Alex Ross’ introduction to the Big Red Cheese. [©2008 DC Comics.]

redesign as well as enlightening me of the idea of Captain Marvel Jr. taking over in the lead role. Moving the players around, as Jerry Ordway had suggested in future-based stories that Captain Marvel would ultimately take over for the wizard Shazam, was an immediate road that DC wanted to take. As anyone can now be aware, the position of red-costumed lead did go to Junior (Freddy Freeman), as well as the actual name Shazam, for the obvious reasons of having the word most people associate with the character finally be his actual name. Upon hearing this plan, I was aghast at the possibility of it and argued passionately against the complete change-over of my favorite corner of DC Comics’ library. Charged by that love of the character and his mythos, I began contemplating a pitch to save Captain Marvel.

Much like Roy Thomas and many other creators, I always had designs on how I thought the Marvel Family characters could be successfully interpreted for a modern audience. Also like Roy, I had my hand in a number of uses just short of an extended series. When I was first working on the four-issue Marvels series, I had done a certain amount of planning and designing for a post-Crisis (the 1985 one) Shazam! re-presentation series intended for the bookshelf format.

Jerry Ordway’s Power of Shazam! graphic novel and eventual followup ongoing series pre-empted the possibility of my plans coming to fruition. Captain Marvel’s appearance as a threatening counterbalance to Superman in the Kingdom Come Elseworlds series was a fairly visible use of the character, making the kind of impact I wished to make with him, as well as a chance to associate myself with the Fawcett heroes. My creative road led to a series of oversized one-shot graphic novels where Captain Marvel was featured on a short list with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, indicating his historic and

I had always toyed with doing a rebooted design that hearkened back to that inspiration. If one is trying to “sex up” a costume, two things come to mind: enhancing the naked muscular form of the human body, and showing off its power. If the Marvels are sired by magical lightning, then why not let electrical tendrils dance around them, accompanying their look? Letting the classically-colored-yellow costume parts glow with an unearthly light that sparks off additional energy was the driving force of my new design. Why should The Flash be drawn with these little lightning accents of power, and not Captain Marvel? Embracing the ’70s era of letting his hair down, I lengthened the Captain’s hair, but had it spiking upward as if he had his own personal wind machine that he sat on top of, creating an impish, hornhaired appearance. Artistically I imagined the leaner body shape, but more exaggerated muscular definition, of Neal Adams’ style. By having a glowing chest emblem, his face could appear constantly up-lit; and, adding to this, lightning power is seen within his eyes.

The overall look from all of these effects combined in a very SubMariner-like “dark hero” quality. Aging Billy Batson up to a 16-yearold modern long-haired kid (à la Michael Gray, TV’s Billy Batson) enhances his ability to relate to modern teens, as well as to the idyllic age many readers fondly recall. These visual points of inspiration opened the door for my storyline, which intended to fulfill part of the goals for which DC’s various Shazam! series had strived.

DC’s wish was (and has been) to have Freddy Freeman rise up to multiple tasks that mirror the Twelve Labors of Hercules to win back the powers of Shazam (thus the name The Trials of Shazam!). My idea focused on teenaged Billy Batson, de-powered following their Days of Vengeance saga, begrudgingly drawn to reclaim the Shazam power, letter by letter, from different individuals who acquired these gifts of the gods. Presumably the various powers were scattered across the Earth following the events in DC’s plan to shatter all magical forces.

My plan’s little wrinkle was that each Shazam gift empowered a fullydeveloped character, each based on only one-sixth of the magic word.

This idea provided six new super-humans, including: For Solomon (wisdom): A cosmically aware young AfricanAmerican man who spreads his will like a virus.

For Hercules (strength): A gawky, Hispanic teen who becomes a distorted, hulking powerhouse.