Alter Ego #97 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Code- DISappro ved Comics Fanzine

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HORROR COMICS OF THE FEARFUL 1950s

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No.97 October 2010

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!

2010 EISNER AWARD Nominee Best Comics-Related Periodical

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MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood, by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, in-depth art-filled look at Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, DC’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Dagar the Invincible, Ironjaw & Wulf, and Arak, Son of Thunder, plus the never-seen Valda the Iron Maiden by TODD McFARLANE! Plus JOE EDWARDS (Part 2), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

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Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and early editors WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, VIN SULLIVAN, and MORT WEISINGER, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CREIG FLESSEL, FRED GUARDINEER, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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HARVEY COMICS’ PRE-CODE HORROR MAGS OF THE 1950s! Interviews with SID JACOBSON, WARREN KREMER, and HOWARD NOSTRAND, plus Harvey artist KEN SELIG talks to JIM AMASH! MR. MONSTER presents the wit and wisdom (and worse) of DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE, & more! SIMON & KIRBY and NOSTRAND cover!

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BIG MARVEL ISSUE! Salutes to legends SINNOTT and AYERS—plus STAN LEE, TUSKA, EVERETT, MARTIN GOODMAN, and others! A look at the “Marvel SuperHeroes” TV animation of 1966! 1940s Timely writer and editor LEON LAZARUS interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, the 1960s fandom creations of STEVE GERBER, and more! JACK KIRBY holiday cover!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL! Big FCA section with Golden Age artists MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO, and interviews with the FAWCETT FAMILY! Plus Part II of “The MAD Four-Color Wannabes of the 1950s,” more on DR. LAURETTA BENDER and the teenage creations of STEVE GERBER, artist JACK KATZ spills Golden Age secrets to JIM AMASH, and more! New cover by ORDWAY and SQUEGLIO!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY, PART 3! DC’s Sword of Sorcery by O’NEIL, CHAYKIN, & SIMONSON and Claw by MICHELINIE & CHAN, Hercules by GLANZMAN, Dagar by GLUT & SANTOS, Marvel S&S art by BUSCEMA, KANE, KAYANAN, WRIGHTSON, et al., and JACK KATZ on his classic First Kingdom! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER’s fan-creations (part 3), and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “EarthTwo—1961 to 1985!” with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, ANDERSON, DELBO, ANDRU, BUCKLER, APARO, GRANDENETTI, and DILLIN, interview with Golden/Silver Age DC editor GEORGE KASHDAN, plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and a new cover by INFANTINO and AMASH!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “EarthTwo Companion, Part II!” More on the 19631985 series that changed comics forever! The Huntress, Power Girl, Dr. Fate, Freedom Fighters, and more, with art by ADAMS, APARO, AYERS, BUCKLER, GIFFEN, INFANTINO, KANE, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, SIMONSON, STATON, SWAN, TUSKA, our GEORGE KASHDAN interview Part 2, FCA, and more! STATON & GIORDANO cover!

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Vol. 3, No. 97 / October 2010 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

Cover Artist Bill Everett

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Hurricane Heeran Heidi Amash Heritage Comics Ger Apeldoorn Archives Manuel Auad Mike Hoffman Bob Bailey Mike Howlett Alberto Becattini Dave Hunt Blake Bell Alan Hutchinson Jack Bender John Jacobson John Benson Glen Johnson Mike Benton Michael W. Kaluta Dominic Bongo Jack Katz Jerry K. Boyd Stan Lee Chris Boyko Dominique Leonard Brian’s Drive-In Dennis Lieberson Theater (website) Jim Ludwig Steve Brower Bruce Mason Chris Brown Marc Miyake Gary Brown Brian K. Morris Frank Brunner Dave O’Dell Mike Burkey Carlos Pacheco Mike Catron Fred Patten Shaun Clancy Bill Pearson Russ Cochran John G. Pierce Jack Davis Ken Quattro Dwight Decker Gene Reed Al Dellinges Bob Rozakis Michaël Dewally The Dick Dillin Family Greg Sadowski Pat Sekowsky Betty Dobson Ronn Sutton Walter do Carmo Marc Svensson Michael Feldman Desha Swayze Shane Foley Marc Swayze Wendy Gaines Jeff Taylor Janet Gilbert Dann Thomas Golden Age Comic Michael Vance Book Stories Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Grand Comics Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Database Hames Ware Walt Grogan Gary L. Watson George Hagenauer Jennifer Hamerlinck Lawrence Watt-Evans Dylan Williams Russ Heath

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Howie Post & Marvin Stein

Contents Writer/Editorial: Did Horror Comics Really Follow the “New Trend”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Other Guys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Lawrence Watt-Evans’ gargoyle’s-eye view of the non-EC horror comics of the 1950s.

Post Office Issues EC Stamps! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 You think A/E never carries news? What Alan Hutchinson has to say will definitely be news to you!

The Hand of Doom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Gary Brown’s gripping conversation with one of comics’ greatest stars of the 1950s & ’60s.

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten!”. . . . . . . . . . . 42 Jim Amash winds up his epic interview with Golden/Silver age editor & writer George Kashdan.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: “Clowns! $#%#% Clowns!” . . 59 Michael T. Gilbert sends in the clowns—the comic book variety, that is!

Tributes to Howie Post & Marvin Stein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 re: [comments & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #156. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck presents two of Fawcett’s greatest: C.C. Beck & Marc Swayze. On Our Cover: Alter Ego is generally centered around comic book characters and their creators rather than on individual, stand-alone stories—while the latter were the stock and trade of most 1950s horror comics artist. What’s more, A/E covers which showcase super-heroes usually outsell those that don’t. So we tried to split the difference: Bill Everett’s macabre splash panel from Menace #5 (July 1953), recently reprinted in the hardcover Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Menace, gave the world a still-enduring horror-hero by introducing the later star of Marvel’s black-&-white mag Tales of The Zombie, beginning with #1 in 1973. For more info, see p. 15. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: This partial-cover from Trojan Publishing’s Beware #11 (1954), drawn by shockmeister (and later schlockmeister) Myron Fass, depicted what might have been the nightmare of every vintage horror comic artist. Aw, those two ghoulies are probably just Dr. Wertham and Senator Kefauver in disguise! (See pp. 31-32.) Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.] 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. Eight-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $85 Canada, $107 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

Did Horror Comics Really Follow The “New Trend”?

hat’s the question Lawrence Watt-Evans posits in this issue’s “The Other Guys,” which examines the 1950s horror comics published by companies besides William M. Gaines’ fabled EC (Entertaining Comics) and its “New Trend” trio of Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and The Haunt of Fear. Lawrence’s answer to his own question may well surprise—even anger—some readers. We don’t want to give away his thesis in advance—nor is it our place here to agree or disagree with it. But we felt it deserved to be aired, and Alter Ego at Halloween-time seemed as good a place as any to do so.

In the course of expounding his views, of course, LWE surveys both the history and the variety of horror comics in that decade that began sixty years ago. Which is precisely what I asked him to do, when I sent out feelers, a year or so ago, for a study of the non-EC terror tales of that preComics Code period. For, too often, as Lawrence writes, the history of that genre in four colors is treated as if it were synonymous with EC… or at least as if all other horror comics were de facto inferior to what was produced by Gaines, his editors Al Feldstein and Johnny Craig, and their writers and artists. Now, let there be no misunderstanding: In my not-too-humble opinion EC’s straight horror (and related crime and science-fiction comics) were indeed some of the finest publications that the comics industry ever produced. But other companies had their moments, as well… and some of those moments were stretched out to a considerable length. Harvey’s horror titles were analyzed in last Halloween’s issue (and as regards that company, we’ll admit up front that our judgment differs from

Lawrence’s)… we’ve touched on Timely/Marvel/Atlas’ myriad macabre mags before (though never at length—and even here, there’s only room to scratch the surface of what Stan Lee and his 1950s bullpen wrought in that arena)… A/E #61 dwelt on both the pre- and post-Code horror comics published by the American Comics Group… and, even earlier, issue #41 went into some detail about Dick Briefer’s several contrasting approaches to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Monster. But what about—as Lawrence puts it—“The Other Guys”? In this issue you’ll run the gamut from “A” to “Z.” From Avon’s Eerie Comics #1, which could lay claim to launching the horror genre in comics, to Ziff-Davis and its short-lived spook spree behind tastefully painted covers. From Ace’s Web of Mystery to the zombies of Superior Comics that came shambling down across the border from Canada. In between, you’ll even meet a few series characters who traversed the genre—the aforementioned Frankenstein, of course, but also Hillman’s Heap and Toby’s perambulatin’ Purple Claw. And if you’re a die-hard EC fan—well, not to worry. We did manage to work in a brief but artful homage to the “New Trend,” on pp. 35-37. So now, enjoy. This Halloween, as always, we promise you tricks… and, we hope, treats as well. Bestest,

P.S.: Oh, and just in case you're wondering—we titled this issue's lead article long before we even heard of any upcoming movie starring Will Ferrell.

COMING IN DECEMBER

SCINTILLATIN’ SUPERMAN SPECIAL! • Sensational new Superman & Captain Marvel cover by JERRY ORDWAY! • Three Who Made Superman Great! 1940s DC/Superman head honcho WHITNEY ELLSWORTH (profiled by Will Murray)—Golden/Silver Age Superman editor MORT WEISINGER (remembered by his daughter Joyce Kaffel)—and major Golden/Silver Age Superman & Batman writer ALVIN SCHWARTZ (interviewed by Jim Amash)! • Lavish Golden & Silver Age DC art & artifacts by JERRY SIEGEL & JOE SHUSTER • CURT SWAN • WAYNE BORING • AL PLASTINO • LEO O’MEALIA • VIN SULLIVAN • FRED RAY • BOB KANE • NEAL ADAMS • et al.! • FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) featuring MARC SWAYZE, CAPTAIN MARVEL, & SUPERMAN • MICHAEL T. GILBERT on “Kooky DC Krossovers”— BILL SCHELLY’s Comic Fandom Archive—& MORE!! Edited by ROY THOMAS

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The Other Guys A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s by Lawrence Watt-Evans

“Had All The Horror Comics Of The 1950s Been Published By EC?”

hen I was a kid in the 1960s, most of the comics I read had this little white seal on them that said: “Approved by the Comics Code Authority.” Dell and Gold Key comics didn’t have it, but DC and Marvel and ACG all did. I didn’t know what it meant; no one I knew knew what it meant. It was just there. I missed this first clue entirely.

When I was a teenager, I came across a book in a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts—a great big book, just out from Nostalgia Press. On the front cover was the title Horror Comics of the 1950’s. (On the spine it said “The EC Horror Library of the 1950’s,” instead—I don’t know why.) It looked pretty nifty; the cover art showed a man locked in a mausoleum where a rotting corpse was climbing out of its coffin. I opened it to the title page and read again: “These were the terrible, shocking, sensational, appalling, forbidden... but simply wonderful HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950’S.” I had no idea what it was talking about. Horror comics? All I knew about were the mystery comics like House of Mystery, or the monster comics like Tales to Astonish before the super-heroes took over. (I’d really liked Tales to Astonish, though; #13, the first monster comic I ever read, gave me nightmares. I liked that one a lot.) That was my second clue to the existence of a whole lost era in comics history. The book was $19.95. I had maybe five bucks on me at the time, and I wasn’t that interested in old comics at that point anyway. I liked Kirby’s Fourth World and Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, but I wasn’t a collector yet. I didn’t buy it. But a couple of years later, when the Nostalgia Press volume was out of print, I was a collector. My interest in completing my run of Conan had led to other things; I’d picked up a couple of Golden Age books at flea markets, and now I wanted to know more about comics history. Among other things, I wanted to know what had come between the Golden Age in the 1940s and the Silver Age in the 1960s.

And They Think Baby Seals Got Problems! The famous/infamous Comics Code seal of approval gets terrorized itself on this Sam Kweskin-drawn cover for Timely/Atlas’ Adventures into Terror #17 (March 1953)—a fairly neat trick, since the seal only began appearing on comics covers at the very end of 1954. Okay, we admit it—we had A/E layout guru Chris Day doctor the cover just a bit to get our point across. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for the scan of the actual cover. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

So I picked up All in Color for a Dime and The Comic Book Book, two hardcover volumes both edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson, and I got Les Daniels’ The Comix, and I found a few other books and articles here and there, and I learned about the legendary EC comics. All the experts talked about how wonderful EC was in its prime, how great it was to buy Tales from the Crypt or Haunt of Fear or Weird Science off the newsstand for a dime. I realized that this was what had been in that big book I couldn’t afford—EC stories. But... but... had all the horror comics of the 1950s been published by EC? Those were the only ones anyone talked about, but surely there had been others?

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

that sucked the guts out of people through their mouths (sorry to share that latter memory with you but I’ve been stuck with it for 20 years and maybe this will unload it)—nauseating but not frightening. I must have bought a couple dozen of these things, all of them dreadful.” That was the longest mention of other horror comics I found anywhere; most writers dismissed them all as sleazy imitations of EC. The accepted wisdom was that Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, inspired by radio suspense shows like Lights Out, had invented horror comics out of whole cloth in 1950; that EC’s three horror titles had been immediate roaring successes so big that everyone else had slavishly but ineptly imitated them; that the entire censorship flap of the early 1950s, led by Dr. Fredric Wertham, was aimed at EC; that the Comics Code, the comics industry’s self-censorship mechanism introduced in the fall of 1954, had been specifically designed to kill EC. That still seems to be the accepted wisdom. There’s just one problem. It’s not true. It took me a while to realize this, but it eventually sank in, as I collected horror comics of all sorts and continued to study their history, that none of that was exactly what happened. The problem was that all the history had been written by EC fans; every single author who had published anything about the horror comics of the 1950s had been a devoted acolyte of William M. Gaines, and accepted what Gaines said as the true history of horror comics. Which it wasn’t, quite. I don’t blame Gaines; he told his story as he remembered it. He was, however, biased, since he’d seen everything from the point of view of EC’s publisher. And he’d never bothered to study up on any of this; after all, he’d been there, he’d seen it first-hand. Ask any cop about how reliable eyewitness accounts are. Especially a decade or more after the fact.

EC Street This very first collection ever of EC horror comics—which didn't acknowledge that there’d even been any other ones but EC’s—was published in hardcover in 1971 by one-time comic book writer & artist Woody Gelman (then a Topps Chewing Gum exec) and his Nostalgia Press. The tome was edited by Ron Barlow and Bhob Stewart, and its cover utilized Al Feldstein’s for Tales from the Crypt #23 (April-May 1951). Gelman had wanted to use a Wally Wood cover, but EC publisher Bill Gaines insisted that a Feldstein cover be utilized: “He’s the one who made me all the money.” And, given the success under Feldstein’s editorship of EC’s 1950s horror/crime comics and later the black-&-white Mad, it’s hard to argue with that line of reasoning! [Art ©2010 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

In “The Spawn of the Son of M.C. Gaines,” Don Thompson’s chapter on EC in The Comic Book Book, EC’s competitors get one paragraph: “I searched newsstands. I bought some godawful horror comics, the kind that blazoned on the cover: ‘We dare you to read these stories!’ They were nauseating—dealing in things like giant crabs stripping bodies until they looked like the diagrams of human musculature you see in the encyclopedia, and mummies

So here’s what did happen, as I’ve pieced it together through twenty years of collecting horror comics and reading everything about them that I could get my hands on. Comic books started out in 1933 with humor and adventure strips. In 1936 the first singlegenre comics appeared, featuring detective stories. In 1938 came the super-heroes. True crime arrived in 1942. By then there were hundreds of titles being published, and dozens of publishers, so a

Weird Tails Many of the “horror” pulps of the 1930s, such as the now-legendary Weird Tales, seemed more interested in showing bare female flesh than in depicting fearful supernatural menace. This cover by noted artist J. Allen St. John fronted the Oct. 1936 issue, which featured the C.L. Moore “Northwest Smith” moody space opera “The Tree of Life,” future Psycho author Robert Bloch’s Lovecraftian tale “The Opener of the Way,” and the final installment of Robert E. Howard’s Conan novella Red Nails. Few today remember that trio’s fellow author Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, but apparently his offering that issue contained what the editor considered the best cover possibilities. (Admittedly, a spicy encounter between Conan’s nude ladyfriend Valeria and a predatory princess had graced WT’s July cover.) From Ye Editor’s personal collection. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

lot of experimentation was going on; super-heroes and detectives still dominated the scene, but there were funny animals, humor strips, straight adventure, jungle stories, science-fiction, and any number of other genres represented. Comic books were clearly taking a great deal of their inspiration from the pulp magazines; generally, if something sold well in the pulps, it would turn up in comics not long after. Comics were surprisingly slow to pick up on two categories from the pulps, though. One was romance, which eventually arrived on the fourcolor page in the late ’40s; the other was “weird menace,” which we would now call “horror.” Actually, in that era, “weird menace” was a particular sort of formula horror, featured in pulps such as Terror Tales, Horror Stories, and Dime Mystery, where some unearthly menace would threaten pretty women before being defeated and revealed to not be supernatural after all. Since it had a very definite element of sexual sadism, perhaps it isn’t too surprising that it didn’t make the jump to comics. Comics were for kids. There don’t seem to have been any pulps that featured just plain horror stories as their only fare; besides the “weird menace” titles there was Weird Tales, but Weird Tales carried as much fantasy as horror.

Those Frightful ’40s At any rate, there were no horror comics as such in the earliest days. The first real horror series seems to have been the “Frankenstein” feature by Dick Briefer, in Prize Comics (from the company of the same name); it began in #7, dated December 1940, and ran until the title was cancelled in 1948. Prize Comics was originally a super-hero title, featuring “The Black Owl,” “The Green Lama,” and the like, except for this one aberration. “Frankenstein” didn’t stay unique, though. No, no other horror strips were added; instead, “Frankenstein” changed premises. The monster was turned into a good guy, and became a virtual super-hero, fighting the Nazis. And then, as World War II neared its end, super-heroes began to go out of style, and Prize Comics gradually replaced its masked do-gooders with humor strips. “Frankenstein” wasn’t replaced; the feature was converted to a comedy, which it remained from 1945 until 1952. It was successful enough that Frankenstein Comics began in 1945, and outlasted the original Prize Comics. So much, it would seem, for horror comics. In late 1943 it looked as if horror might have another chance. An outfit called Et-Es-Go, which later became Continental Magazines, put out Suspense Comics #1, featuring The Grey Mask and other detective heroes. In the course of twelve quarterly issues, Suspense Comics worked in a good many horrific images and stories; most of the covers didn’t show the

Frankenstein—From Horror To Har-Har! Splash (above) from writer/artist Dick Briefer’s “Frankenstein” as a horror feature the first time around, from Prize Comics #9 (Feb. 1941)— and the cover of Frankenstein Comics #4 (Oct. 1946), after the humorous version of the feature had won its own mag. But that’s hardly the end of the story—see p. 18! Thanks to Al Dellinges (via Manuel Auad) for the Prize Comics scan. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

usual hero fare, but instead depicted horror imagery such as spiders, eyeballs, devils, etc. In September 1944 someone named E. Levy started a super-hero title called Yellowjacket Comics; in the course of ten issues and two years it switched ownership twice, first to Frank Comunale, and then to Charlton Comics. It also ran horror stories as a back-up feature in eight of those ten issues, skipping only #2 and #5. These weren’t borderline stuff; they were labeled “Tales of Terror,” and were narrated by an old witch. Two of them adapted classic stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It wasn’t exactly a horror comic, but it was a horror feature, very definitely. And it had the old witch narrator that Bill Gaines later claimed to have introduced to comics—though it may well be that both Levy and Gaines were simply swiping from the same source, the 1931-38 radio show The Witch’s Tale. In 1945 Rural Home Publications (an established comics publisher at the time) put out two issues of Mask Comics, which looked like a horror comic. The covers, by L.B. Cole, were certainly horrific enough: one depicted moth people being lured by a candle labeled “EVIL,” while the other showed Satan himself. The interiors, though, were fairly ordinary detective adventure stuff. There were also a couple of one-shots in 1946 that bore at least a vague

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

Horrorbingers (That’s “harbingers of horror” spelled sideways.) Clockwise from top left: Charles Quinlan’s cover for Suspense Comics #1 (Dec. 1943), from Et-Es-Go… An unknown artist’s (and writer’s) splash for a 7-page adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart,” from the super-hero mag Yellowjacket Comics (#6, Dec. 1945)… L.B. Cole’s cover for Rural Home’s Mask Comics #1 (Feb.-March 1945)… Cover by John Giunta for Baily Publications’ Spook Comics #1 (1946)… And the Robert Webb cover of Classic Comics #26 (Dec. 1945—the series hadn’t yet been renamed Classics Illustrated)—which adapted Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. [Classic Comics cover ©2010 First Classics, Inc., a subsidiary of Classics International Entertainment, Inc.; other art ©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

resemblance to horror comics: Spook Comics #1, from Baily Publications, and Spooky Mysteries #1, from Your Guide Publishing. The former was more or less detective-adventure stuff; the latter, despite its title, was a humor comic. Both, however, used the imagery of devils and ghost stories. And I should mention that Classic Comics (later Classics Illustrated) didn’t hesitate to adapt literary horror stories, beginning with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in their twelfth issue. (It was a back-up feature to Rip Van Winkle.) #21 was 3 Famous Mysteries, with a horrific bent; #26 adapted Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; #40 was titled Mysteries and adapted stories by Poe. That brings us to 1947.

The Birth Pangs Of A Genre Despite all these warm-ups and experiments, it wasn’t until January 1947 that the first real, indisputable horror comic came along: Eerie Comics #1, published by Avon. Eerie Comics #1 had a striking cover that was, well... eerie, depicting a strange-looking man with a knife on the steps of some sort of ruin, approaching a bound woman. The stories inside were not particularly good, but they were horror, involving were-tigers and the like. It’s hard to point to a particular source or inspiration, such as radio or the pulps, as they were not adaptations and didn’t take their form from any existing series in another medium. Unfortunately, there was no second issue. Avon would later publish seventeen issues of Eerie, starting with a #1 in 1951, but there was no Eerie Comics #2. I don’t know why; presumably #1 didn’t sell well. The astute reader who knows his EC legend will notice that this means Avon published a horror comic at least six months before William Gaines inherited the job of publisher from his father, and a full three years before EC created their “New Trend” horror titles. Avon, not EC, was the

The Eerie Canal (Counter-clockwise from above left:) The cover, splash, and a crucial page from one of the tales in 1947’s Eerie Comics #1 (Avon)—with interior art (& perhaps the cover?) by Bob Fujitani; scripter unknown. Only the ending of the story contains any hint of real supernatural horror, but A/E editor Roy Thomas recalls being terrified reading this yarn as a kid; he has no memory whatever of the other stories in the issue, even though one of them was drawn by his favorite artist, Joe Kubert. With thanks to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories website, which repro’d “The Eyes of the Tiger” from another reprint comic. Also seen (at right) is the cover of Eerie #1 (Jan. 1951), which finally launched Avon’s ongoing series with a similar title. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

first horror comic publisher. It was left to a third publisher, however, a fairly new outfit called B&I Publishing, to produce the first successful horror comic book. It’s hard to imagine what the people at B&I thought they were doing when they published Adventures into the Unknown #1, cover-dated Fall 1948. They had previously published a handful of humor titles, such as Ha Ha Comics and Hi-Jinx, and nothing else but humor. The comics market was crowded at the time, publishers were going broke, and they started a horror title, when no one had ever made a success of horror in comics? It worked, though. Adventures into the Unknown (early on, the title was followed by an exclamation point!) ran 174 issues, ending in 1967—a respectable run by any standard. The B&I name changed to the much catchier “American Comics Group” with #4—ACG, for short. And they weren’t swiping from radio shows, either; behind a dark, moody cover of a young couple approaching a haunted house, that first issue adapted (briefly and badly) Horace Walpole’s classic gothic novel The Castle of Otranto, and it was plain throughout the title’s early days that the people at B&I were basing their comic books on traditional prose ghost stories, rather than radio drama or earlier comics. I suspect they didn’t even know about Avon’s attempt the year before, or any of the other previous tries at doing horror in comics form. (Incidentally, they also started a Western title at the same time— Blazing West. It did okay for a while.) At last there was an ongoing, successful horror comic. And EC apparently hadn’t noticed; EC was publishing Gunfighter, Crime Patrol, and War against Crime. Or maybe I’m being unfair, because in fact EC’s first horror story, “Zombie Terror,” appeared in the Fall 1948 issue of Moon Girl, their only super-hero title. Remember I said that the stories in Eerie Comics #1 and Adventures into the Unknown #1 weren’t very good? Well, they weren’t any worse than “Zombie Terror.” That story was an amazingly inauspicious start for a line that would one day be acclaimed as the best horror comics of all time. And Bill Gaines apparently thought so, too; EC’s second horror story didn’t run for another full year. It’s tempting to blame “Zombie Terror” for the fact that after Moon Girl #5 the title skipped a couple of months, apparently on the verge of

Known Milestone—Unknown Artist The cover of the very first issue of the very first ongoing horror comic— ACG’s Adventures into the Unknown #1 (Fall 1948). The artist has not been 100% identified, but most experts now feel it’s the work of Edvard Mortiz. See A/E #61 for Michael Vance’s extensive coverage of the American Comics Group and its forebears. Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

cancellation, but I’m sure that’s going too far. [EDITOR’S NOTE: See p. 23 for a bit more on these earliest EC horror stories, which were packaged by Moon Girl artist Sheldon Moldoff.] So Avon had created the first real horror comic, and B&I/ACG had published the first successful one. Was EC next? Nope. An outfit called Trans-World got in next, in November 1948, with a one-shot based on a radio show. Mysterious Traveler Comics #1, with its bright yellow cover and rather bland stories supposedly told by a mysterious man on a train, doesn’t seem to have sold very well. I still feel it necessary to mention it because, hey, it was a pre-Code horror comic before EC and their imitators.

Ah, yes, those EC imitators. In interviews Bill Gaines sometimes spoke disparagingly of the Atlas line of comics, claiming they flooded the market with cheap imitations of EC’s horror titles. At first glance the accusation Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt seems reasonable; EC published Bob Powell, no less, drew the cover and some interior art three horror titles to Atlas’ thirteen for Trans-World’s Mysterious Traveler Comics #1-andor so. But who was imitating only (Nov. 1948). By then, Powell had already been whom? drawing for Street & Smith’s Shadow Comics for a while— and it showed. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

Because the next publisher to get into horror after ACG and TransWorld was Timely Comics (occasionally called Marvel Comics in the late 1940s, and generally known by the end of 1951 as Atlas after its new selfdistribution symbol). In short, if anyone was imitating, it was EC who imitated Timely! Of course, Timely/Marvel/Atlas was probably imitating B&I/ACG. Timely’s first horror issue was Amazing Mysteries #32—the numbering was continued from the just-cancelled Sub-Mariner Comics. Super-heroes were dropping on all sides, and Timely publisher Martin Goodman seemed to think that the future lay in horror. In the course of a few months in 1949 he and his editor Stan Lee transformed all the company’s top super-hero titles to horror ones.

themselves. Incidentally, those early Timely/Marvel/Atlas horror issues really weren’t very different from what was to come; mad scientists, vampires, ghouls, and assorted monsters rampaged through their pages. No gutsucking mummies or scattered body parts yet, though; the stories were still relatively tame. Relatively. I’m sure that kids at the time found stories like “The Ghoul Strikes!” (Marvel Tales #93) to be pretty darn exciting stuff. It may seem as if I’ve been unduly harsh on EC. If I have, it’s only to counteract the rabid fans who have gone too far in praising them. EC did produce the best horror comics of the pre-Code era; they did have a huge influence on the field; and they were widely imitated.

Next after Amazing Mysteries came the transformation of Marvel Mystery Comics, Timely’s flagship title, into Marvel Tales, beginning with #93, dated August 1949. Marvel Mystery had featured super-heroes; Marvel Tales was all horror.

They were not, however, the first horror comics, or the only good ones, or the sole inspiration for the scads of others published between 1950 and 1955.

Captain America Comics, once Timely’s top seller, became Captain America’s Weird Tales with #74, dated October 1949—though Captain America still appeared in that one. #75 was entirely horror stories—no Cap. It was also, alas, the final issue.

It may well be that Bill Gaines did not know, in the early days of 1950, that anyone was publishing horror comics. He said he didn’t, that he got the idea entirely from radio. Perhaps horror comics were just an idea whose time had come.

EC Does It

In fact, despite its plunge, Timely/Marvel seems to have lost its nerve. With its third issue, Amazing Mysteries switched to crime stories; the fourth issue, #35, was the last.

And after Avon, ACG, Trans-World, and Timely, EC was the next to get into the field— in March 1950, when Gunfighter became The Haunt of Fear, Crime Patrol became The Crypt of Terror, and War against Crime became The Vault of Horror.

But Marvel Tales flourished. By the time EC began trying out “The Crypt of Terror” in Crime Patrol and “The Vault of Horror” in War against Crime, Marvel Tales had run three issues—and Adventures into the Unknown seven.

Enough has been written about EC’s “New Trend” elsewhere that I won’t go into it all again. Still, I can’t resist pointing out one other bit of false mythology. The legend has it that the three horror titles were immediately a

So much for the claim that Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein invented horror comics all by

From Heroes To Horror Marvel Comics’—excuse us, Timely Comics’—no, we mean Atlas’—no, actually, as the company symbol shows, we do mean Marvel Comics’ very first foray into the horror field was Amazing Mysteries #32 (May 1949), with a cover reportedly by Gene Colan. This issue picked up where Sub-Mariner Comics had left off. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. It was swiftly followed by Marvel Tales (formerly Marvel Mystery Comics) #93, cover-dated Aug. 1949— and Captain America’s Weird Tales #74 (Oct. ’49). In the lead story of the latter, Cap went to hell—literally— to battle The Red Skull. He won—but immediately lost his mag for five years just the same. Both covers noted in this paragraph, incidentally, are now believed to have been drawn by “Green Lantern” creator (and later Timely staff artist) Mart Nodell. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

EC To Love Hey, we had to show a few EC covers, didn’t we? So here are Entertaining Comics’ first issues of its trio of horror titles: The Crypt of Terror #17 and The Vault of Horror #12 (both April-May 1950) and The Haunt of Fear #15 (May-June ’50), all three of whose covers were drawn by Johnny Craig. With the early name change of the former to Tales from the Crypt, that company’s triad of terror was set—and comic books would never be the same again. EC may not have been first in horror, as the legend maintains—but they were, by and large, the best. [©2010 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.] See p. 36 for a photo of the EC publishing/editorial trio of Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, & Johnny Craig.

huge and obvious success. If so, then why were two of the three almost cancelled six months later? Vault of Horror was to be replaced by Crime SuspenStories; Haunt of Fear was set to become Two-Fisted Tales. Even Crypt of Terror soon got a name change, to Tales from the Crypt. It was only at the very last minute, when the covers for Crime SuspenStories #15 (following Vault of Horror #14) were already being printed, that sales figures came in and convinced Gaines to keep the horror titles and simply add the new titles, rather than switching. Crime SuspenStories #15 was renumbered as #1 midway through the print-run. Two-Fisted Tales kept the old numbering, and Haunt of Fear started over with #4. Apparently the very first “New Trend” issues didn’t do well. Maybe readers or newsstands didn’t know what to make of them. It was the second and third issues that took off. And those issues did take off. But they didn’t set any records—that’s another myth. Oh, they sold better than anything else that EC had published up to that point, but EC was a small and unsuccessful company. Their sales appear to have been in the 400,000-copy range, while Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay regularly topped a million. (The cover claim of five million readers for CDNP was based on a survey that indicated after hand-me-downs, trades, and so on, at least five kids read each copy.) Some people seem to think that, during the early 1950s, horror comics were as dominant as super-hero comics are now. This was simply not true.

The Other Guys

Axes Of Evil As in the case of EC’s Crime SuspenStories and Shock SupenStories, which were likewise devoid of supernatural occurrences, some of Atlas’ pre-Code nonfantasy titles contained elements of horror. Case in point: the Sol Brodsky cover and George Tuska splash panel from Men’s Adventures #24 (Nov. 1953). [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

At the peak of the market and the peak of the horror craze, in late 1953 and early 1954 (just before the boom-and-bust cycle went bust), there were about 500 titles on the newsstands; about 75 of them were horror— less than a sixth of the total. The others included super-heroes, sciencefiction, Westerns, crime, jungle comics, funny animals, teen humor, romance—a whole range of genres. Horror might have been the single largest genre for maybe six months or a year in there somewhere, before it all came crashing down; many of those 75 titles were started in ’53 or ’54 and only lasted a couple of issues. There were probably more Westerns than horror comics even at the peak of the horror craze. Still, all those disclaimers notwithstanding, starting in 1950 there really was a craze for horror comics. Whether EC’s three titles began it or were simply in the right place to cash in on it, I don’t know—nobody does. Whoever was responsible, plenty of publishers were quick to try to get a piece of the action. Those who were already doing horror had a head start, of course.

Worlds as of #36, dated Sept. 1950; Joker Comics became Adventures into Terror as of #43, Nov. 1950. (Both of those later adjusted their numbering.) The Atlas philosophy seemed to be “as much as the market will bear”; when they found something that sold, they’d keep on adding titles until the sales per title actually dropped. (Some things don’t change—or at least, they recur. Timely/Atlas is now Marvel, of course, and... well, have you counted how many Spider-Man titles there are out there?) The public’s appetite for horror was immense; proto-Atlas kept adding titles for quite some time. When 1951 rolled around they already had Marvel Tales, Suspense, Journey into Unknown Worlds, and Adventures into Terror, but they soon added Mystic, Astonishing (it started out as a science-fiction/super-hero title, but switched to horror), and Strange Tales.

Atlas Shuddered

And in 1952 they added Amazing Detective Cases (formerly a crime title, as you might expect, but for its last four issues, #11 through #14, it was pure horror), Adventures into Weird Worlds, Mystery Tales, Spellbound, Journey into Mystery, and Uncanny Tales.

Timely/Marvel/Atlas expanded rapidly. Suspense, based on the popular CBS radio series, shifted emphasis from crime to horror as of the third issue. A teen humor title, Teen Comics, became Journey into Unknown

Finally, in 1953, as the market reached saturation, Atlas only added one title: Menace. And they’d folded Amazing Detective Cases. At their peak, therefore, they were publishing thirteen horror titles. (They

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

Timely Terror (Concocted Clockwise On This Page And The Next) Goodman, Lee, and their creative team edged into horror a toe at a time, as witnessed by this (reportedly) Werner Roth cover for Venus #12 (Feb. 1951). Ere long, under writer/artist Bill Everett, Venus, which had started out in 1948 as a light-hearted romance comic, had turned into a horror mag pure and simple, albeit with the goddess of love still starring in the stories. The scripters of the tales on these two pages are unknown. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.

Joe Maneely contributed the grim cover, and Bill Everett used detailed noodling to dress up the splash page of “Ghost Story,” in Amazing Detective Cases #13 (July 1952) after it switched from being a crime comic to a short-lived horror title. Thanks to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories website for both images.

Sol Brodsky, the artist who’d later design the original Fantastic Four logo and ink FF #3-4 before becoming Marvel’s Silver Age production manager, drew this “cage-y” cover (which we’re told had nothing to do with any story inside) for Uncanny Tales #14 (Nov. 1953). Thanks to Jerry K. Boyd & the Grand Comics Database website (see p. 34 for GCD ad). Future X-Men inker (and Mighty Crusaders artist) Paul Reinman drew the moody “The One Who Was Dead” for Adventures into Weird Worlds #24 (Dec. ’53), while future “Legion of Super-Heroes” artist John Forte rendered that issue’s “Look Out for the Martians.” Perhaps the Timely/Atlas horror mags did in some ways imitate ACG’s Adventures into the Unknown more than they did EC’s titles, as Lawrence Watt-Evans suggests… but Ye Editor feels compelled to point out that readers found far more EC-style “shock endings” behind the Atlas globe than behind the ACG shield… including in both these yarns.

Russ Heath did the cover for Mystery Tales #17 (Jan. ’54), which dealt with 3-D movies—told with two-dimensional art. Thanks to Jerry K. Boyd. “Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble!,” drawn by one-time DC “Liberty Belle” artist C.A. (“Chuck”) Winter for Adventures into Terror #27 (Jan. ’54), was a re-casting of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth as a horror yarn—once again with a surprise ending, seen here, by an unknown scripter.

Bernard Krigstein was developing the storytelling style which would soon make him a standout, when he drew “Ghoul’s Gold” for Astonishing #14 (June 1952); splash repro’d from Greg Sadowski’s 2004 Fantagrahics hardcover collection B. Krigstein Comics. [All art in this spread ©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Other Guys

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

dropped Suspense—probably because they didn’t want to continue paying CBS for the license— shortly after adding Menace; that brought them back to twelve.) EC fans who think the Atlas line of horror comics were mere imitations of EC mags will please notice that Atlas’ titles, as listed above, generally looked a lot more like ACG’s Adventures into the Unknown than like EC’s The Vault of Horror. If Atlas was imitating anyone, it was ACG. EC started with three horror titles, and stayed at three, though they did add Shock SuspenStories, which included some horror, in 1952, and were planning a fourth title, Crypt of Terror, when the market collapsed in 1954. Their two science-fiction titles, their two crime titles, and even their pair of war books often had a horrific tinge, as well.

Metamorphoses Worthy Of Kafka As the horror boom gained traction, Timely publisher Martin Goodman directed editor Stan Lee to alter the contents and usually the titles of various mags dealing with “out-dated” genres. Compare Suspense #1 (Dec. 1949) to #3 (May ’50)… Teen Comics #35 (May ’50) to the science-fictionoriented Journey into Unknown Worlds #36 (Sept. ’50)… and Joker Comics #42 (Aug. ’50) to Adventures into Terror #43 (Nov. ’50). Over the following year, Journey into Unknown Worlds evolved from sf to sf/horror to straight horror, as did one or two other Timely titles… which by then bore the Atlas globe emblem pictured at right. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Zombie Jamboree Ball One Timely 1950s horror tale that still echoes eerily down the Marvel halls is writer/editor Stan Lee & artist Bill Everett’s “Zombie!” from Menace #5 (July 1953). The reason: nearly two decades later, associate editor Roy Thomas stumbled across Photostats of the yarn in a warehouse; and still later, when publisher Stan ordered a black-&-white Tales of The Zombie mag added to the lineup, Roy, then Marvel’s editor-in-chief, co-plotted the first chapter of its titular series with scripter Steve Gerber, decreed that the never-before-reprinted Lee/Everett 7-pager be worked into the series’ origin, and christened the walking-dead “hero” Simon Garth. Steve scribed the framing tale, working with layout penciler John Buscema… and a new Marvel star was born. Or rather, resuscitated. Seen at left is the ’73 page by Gerber, Buscema, & inker/finisher Tom Palmer that leads into the ’53 splash page (at right) of the reprinted story, with gray tones added, its lead-in caption rewritten, and a crucial amulet added even to the ’53 art. (Somebody considerably redrew the zombie’s hair, as well.) The entire “Zombie” saga from Tales of The Zombie #1 (“1973 issue”) was re-presented in the 2010 trade paperback Marvel Zombies 4. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.] And, since the 1953 mini-classic was reprinted in color yet again in the 2009 hardcover volume Marvel Masterworks Presents Atlas Era Menace, we hereby vow to try hard to resist the temptation to ever again run any art from it in Alter Ego!

The American (Comics Group) Way ACG added Forbidden Worlds in the summer of 1951, Out of the Night in early 1952, and Skeleton Hand later in ’52. Skeleton Hand lasted only six issues. In 1954 they also put out a one-shot, The Clutching Hand #1, which might have originally been intended as Skeleton Hand #7.

Sold To American! The success of its horror-flagship Adventures of the Unknown (which went monthly with #21, July 1951) led the American Comics Group to launch other such titles, including Forbidden Worlds. Seen at far right is the cover of FW #7 (July 1952). Both covers depicted here are credited to Ken Bald. Repro’d, as are a number of other covers accompanying this article, from Mike Benton’s hardcover study Horror Comics: The Illustrated History, part of his invaluable 7-volume history of comics issued by Taylor Publishing of Dallas, Texas, in 1989 through the mid-90s. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

All three titles were cancelled in the fall of 1952, for reasons that remain a mystery. They were apparently selling reasonably well—well enough that St. John Publishing bought the Nightmare name, at any rate. Ziff-Davis may have just decided that comics were more trouble than they were worth; the only title they continued was G.I. Joe. Whatever the reason, Amazing Adventures ended with #6, Weird Thrillers with #5, and Nightmare with #2.

Ace In The Hole The next contender was Ace. A.A. Wyn’s company was involved in magazines, paperbacks, and comics more or less equally at that point, as far as I can tell. A failing romance title, Love Experiences, became Challenge of the Unknown with #6—no connection with the later Challengers of the Unknown from DC. There was no #7; the next issue was The Beyond #1, a title that lasted thirty issues. Web of Mystery was added with the February 1951 issue, Baffling Mysteries in November ’51 (starting with #5; the numbering came from Indian Braves), and Hand of Fate a month later (starting with #8, following Men against Crime #7). All of those ran until 1955. Were they EC imitations? Maybe. If so, they were amazingly bad at it. Especially in the early issues, which were full of stolen pagan religious relics or myste-

Lazarus Rises To The Occasion For a short time, artist Harry Lazarus convinced ACG to produce some “3-D effect” comics in a process which consisted mostly of art overlapping the panel borders and black “gutters.” Still, it was interesting work. This splash page is from Adventures into the Unknown #51 (Jan. 1954), the first “TrueVision” issue. Thanks to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories website. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

And then came the new arrivals….

Ziff? As If! Ziff-Davis, primarily a pulp publisher, was getting into comics, and launched Amazing Adventures in late 1950. That was a mix of horror and science-fiction. They then tried for a straight horror title. Eerie Adventures #1 appeared with a Winter 1951 cover date, but there was no second issue; apparently Avon, which still owned the name Eerie, objected. Ziff-Davis then came out with Weird Adventures #10 (why “#10”? no one knows), for July-Aug. 1951, but that didn’t go, either; the next issue was Weird Thrillers #1. That one seems to have been okay. Their third horror title was Nightmare, begun in the summer of 1952. All the Ziff-Davis comics were notable for having painted covers, usually far more detailed and realistic than was the norm in comics. The stories were above average in quality, but still well short of EC’s level; they seemed to be plotted very much like pulp stories, and it‘s likely that they were, in fact, scripted by pulp writers. These were not imitation ECs; they were, rather, pulp spin-offs. That was obvious at a glance.

Ziff-a-de-do-da, Ziff-a-de-Davis! Many of Ziff-Davis’ early-1950s comics boasted painted covers, unusual for the day outside of Dell/Western. One such was Eerie Adventures #1 (Winter 1951)—no relation to Avon’s two Eerie #1 issues. The artist, alas, is unknown. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

Frankenstein Comics, last seen as a humor title, as serious horror, starting with #18, dated March 1952; it lasted through #33. Prize also produced an odd title, borderline horror, that resulted from Jack Kirby getting interested in Freudian dream analysis: Strange World of Your Dreams. That started in 1952 and lasted four issues. Like Black Magic, it was an oddball title that took a skewed view of the real world, rather than presenting the standard fantasy world of the comics. Where EC’s worldview was cynical, Prize stories seemed credulous and accepting; one got the impression that the writers actually believed in ghosts and psychic powers.

Harvey—As In “Comics,” Not “Kurtzman” The next publisher to enter the field was Harvey. Harvey had run some mildly spooky stories in the past, such as the “Man in Black Called Fate” back-ups in Green Hornet Comics, and in January 1951 they got serious about horror with Witches Tales #1. It was apparently a success, because a few months later it was joined by Chamber of Chills and Black Cat Mystery, and in 1952 a fourth title, Tomb of Terror.

Ace High Comic artist Lou Cameron was interviewed in A/E #79-80. Here’s a page from one of his Ace stories that was sampled there: a flesh-crawling woman-into-giant-spider entry from Web of Mystery #25 (July 1954). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

rious cults in odd corners of the world, the plots seemed more akin to the pulp stories in Weird Tales magazine than to anything EC published.

Eyes On The Prize Remember Prize Comics, where “Frankenstein” had appeared back during the war? Well, that was published by the Prize Comics Group, which also operated under the names Crestwood, Feature, and Headline. All the same company, whatever the name. They got into horror with Simon & Kirby’s Black Magic, starting in November 1950—a title that survived, much transformed and after the occasional hiatus, into the 1960s! Black Magic was not an EC imitation at all; it was, in fact, seriously weird, with the bizarre originality that Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were famous for. The reader wouldn’t find vampires and werewolves here, but psychics, freaks, witches, and nameless monsters. This wasn’t the world of the pulps, or of radio drama; this was, instead, the world of the tabloids. Prize had something unique here. It took Prize until 1952 to realize that they had already had another valuable property all along. When it did sink in, they revived

Above And Beyond After serving his apprenticeship in the Timely/Atlas bullpen, Gene Colan surfaced at Ace, drawing among other things this cover for The Beyond #18 (Jan. 1953). Repro’d from a scan of the original cover, autographed some time back for a collector; courtesy of Heritage Comics Archives, with thanks to Dominic Bongo. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

That Old Black Magic (Clockwise left & below:) The covers of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby’s Black Magic for Prize/Headline advertised “True Amazing Accounts,” but we’ve got our doubts about the Simon & Kirby lead story in issue #3 (Feb.March 1951)… even if we suspect Lawrence WattEvans is right and the gal in the tale isn’t really a werewolf at all. The splash of “A Curse on You!” was drawn for the same issue by Mort Meskin. Scripters unknown. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert for the scans. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Return Of The Monster (Left:) In 1952 Dick Briefer re-transmogrified Mary Shelley’s 19th-century Monster into a harbinger of horror— with a gruesome intensity that went way beyond the writer/artist’s early-’40s efforts. Cover of Prize’s Frankenstein Comics #24 (April-May 1953). Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

When A Black Cat Crosses Your Path (Left:) When the masked heroine Black Cat was “put out for the night” from her own Harvey mag, an attempt was made for a trio of issues to continue a “cat” motif on the covers to justify the title—mostly to the US Post Office. The other two such covers were seen last Halloween in A/E #89’S Harvey horror coverage; here’s Al Avison’s cover for Black Cat Mystery #32 (Dec. 1951). Thanks to John Benson. [©2010 Harvey Publications or successors in interest.]

Black Cat Mystery took over its title and numbering from Black Cat Comics, a super-hero(ine) book. The others started from scratch—I think. Chamber of Chills started with #21, progressed to #24, then dropped back to #5 and went on from there. Usually, this meant the publisher had changed another title but kept the numbering, so as to save the cost of buying another second-class mailing permit for subscription copies—the reader will have already noticed that a great many titles were created by changing something totally unrelated. However, in the case of Chamber of Chills, I’ve never found any reference to another title it could have picked up the numbering from, so they may have just started with #21 arbitrarily. This wasn’t unheard-of—Ziff-Davis often started titles with #10, Standard usually started with #5, etc. This was apparently done because, in sharp contrast with modern comics, comics with higher numbers sold better. They were established, they’d survived a few issues, so they must be good, in theory. The four Harvey titles sold quite well. Were they cheap imitations of EC? Well, yeah, they were. They are, in fact, probably where the general impression came from that the market was flooded with EC imitations. Just look at the titles: EC had its Tales from the Crypt (with its feature “The Crypt of Terror”), Harvey had Tomb of Terror. EC’s Haunt of Fear featured the Old Witch as a narrator; Harvey published Witches Tales. EC had The Vault of Horror, and Harvey had Chamber of Chills. The only one that looks original is Black Cat Mystery, and that was titled as it was mostly to save on a second-class permit by pretending it was the same as the old Black Cat Comics.

The Harvey! The Horror! Although A/E’s editor certainly wouldn’t categorize Harvey’s 1950s horror titles as “cheap imitations” of EC, not only does Lawrence W-E make a good argument that three of Harvey’s major terror-titles were basically riffs on the monikers and/or themes of EC’s mags—but 1950s Harvey editor Sid Jacobson cheerfully related, in A/E #89, that he told his staff of writers and artists to emulate EC’s “big three” as their only worthy competitors. And, indeed, a Harvey title was the only one ever specifically denounced by name in EC comics! Seen above are Lee Elias’ cover for Tomb of Terror #11 (Sept. 1953), and those of Witches Tales #9 (April 1952) and Chamber of Chills #23 (Oct. 1951), both by Al Avison. Thanks to John Benson. [©2010 Harvey Publications or successors in interest.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

Three For The Road (To Hell) Three of Harvey’s horror art aces (seen in art samples clockwise from above left) were:

Bob Powell, whose splash page from Black Cat Mystery #33 (Feb. 1952) suggests Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner; with thanks to Chris Brown… Howard Nostrand, former Powell assistant, represented here by a page from Chamber of Chills #23; with thanks to John Benson… And Sid Check, far less proficient than the other two but achieving a Wally Wood-like style that holds up well today. Thanks to Dave O’Dell for the scan of the original splash art from Tomb of Terror #14 (March 1954). Scripters of all three stories unknown. [©2010 Harvey Publications or successors in interest.]

Harvey even attempted to imitate EC’s distinctive art, with the talented Howard Nostrand swiping the styles of Wally Wood and Jack Davis. When Sid Check drew a story for EC, Harvey suddenly hired him to draw for them, as well. Several of Harvey’s stories stole their plots from EC. EC stories had a reputation for being shocking and gory. This reputation was exaggerated, as most of their stories were not actually gory (there were exceptions, such as “Foul Play” in Haunt of Fear #19 and “Dog Meat” in Crime SuspenStories #25); the shock usually came from the clever plotting, or by implication, rather than from anything actually drawn there on the page. Harvey didn’t notice this, and believed the reputation—or maybe they noticed, but realized they couldn’t match EC on the latter’s own terms. Harvey stories often were deliberately shocking and gory, filled with decapitations, dissolving flesh, and the like. There’s one other odd difference between EC and Harvey, quite aside from quality or originality. EC used vampires, werewolves,

The Other Guys

ghouls, and other traditional monsters, but there was one traditional sort of supernatural story they never cared for: deals with the Devil. I suspect it was because Bill Gaines wasn’t religious. EC’s worldview was essentially secular, with no place for Hell or the Devil.

At Harvey, on the other hand, Devil stories were a staple. They were all over the place. They got quite boring, in my opinion—but then, I’m not religious, either.

illustration, but alas, the scripts rarely lived up to it. EC imitations? I don’t think so. Avon was there before EC, and was just doing more of what they’d started with.

What’s The Story? A little outfit known variously as Story, Master, or Merit jumped in in 1951 with Mysterious Adventures and Dark Mysteries, which were generally pretty tacky. Lots of vengeful corpses and skeletons on the covers. They also published Fight against Crime, a crime comic that gradually progressed from gangsters to axe murderers and homicidal maniacs; the cover scenes switched from shoot-outs to decapitations. The later issues, while still officially having the same title, had covers that read:

Fight Against CRIME H O R R O R and T E R R O R This led some later cataloguers to list it under the title Crime, Horror, and Terror. And yes, though the first few issues were different, they imitated EC, obviously and deliberately, once they got going—Fight against Crime modeled itself after Crime SuspenStories. The first couple of issues of Dark Mysteries looked more like Avon, but by the second year it was clearly aping Vault of Horror.

And when people suggest that the Comics Code was written specifically to kill EC by banning the words “horror,” “terror,” “crime,” and “weird“ from comic-book titles, I sometimes wonder whether they’re really thinking about what they’re saying. EC didn’t have a comic book with “terror” in the title in 1954; Crypt of Terror had been changed to Tales from the Crypt back in ’50. But Harvey was still publishing Tomb of Terror. The Code was aimed at Harvey and others as well as EC. Harvey, of course, survived the Code by switching entirely to kiddie comics—Richie Rich, Little Dot, and the like. Their reputation has been so squeaky clean since 1956 that many people I talk to have trouble believing that Harvey, of all companies, could ever have put out truly gruesome comics about ghouls and zombies and the like. But they did. And in 1951 the flood began in full force. Companies ranging from the giant National Periodicals (now DC Comics) to fly-by-night outfits that changed names every few months to dodge their creditors began to put out horror comics. Not every company did; for example, Dell Comics, then the industry leader, was perfectly content with their mix of Westerns, humor, and adventure titles. Altogether, though, twenty-eight publishers produced horror comics.

Avon Calling! Besides those I’ve already listed, Avon returned; they reprinted stories from Eerie Comics #1 in Eerie #1, beginning a 17-issue run. Their second title was Witchcraft, which lasted six issues; and they produced half a dozen one-shots, most notably The Dead Who Walk, a single story running the entire issue that was genuinely creepy and suspenseful. Avon’s horror comics were known for covers depicting skulls, bones, and women in bondage; the interiors often had high-quality art in the style of book

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

Superior-ity Complex A Canadian publisher, Superior Comics, got into the act with Journey into Fear, Strange Mysteries, and Mysteries. (Mysteries called itself Mysteries Weird and Strange on the cover, but the actual legal title was simply Mysteries.) These had relatively weak art, provided by the Iger Studios production line, and especially in the later issues many of the stories were hackneyed and dull, but some of the earlier tales were bizarre and quirky and very enjoyable. I suspect this was because the writers didn’t yet know what they were doing; once they settled into the work, that initial odd charm faded. If these were intended to imitate EC, they weren’t very close. [EDITOR’S NOTE: See A/E #36 for more on Canada’s horror comics company.]

PL? PuhLease! I know almost nothing about PL Publications, but they put out three issues of Weird Adventures in 1951 that featured lurid, violent stories with crude art. They were more like the “weird menace” pulps than like EC. I thought they were fun, but parents in 1951 were probably appalled.

The Stanley P. Morse Code During the horror PL’s Destiny Was—Oblivion boom, a fellow The anonymous cover of Weird Adventures #3 named Stanley P. (Oct. 1951) proclaims: “Featuring Dr. Destiny.” A Morse had acquired narrator, most likely. [©2010 the respective the single most copyright holders.] important element of comics publishing at the time—a distribution contract—and used it to market comics under a wide variety of names: Stanmor, Aragon, Key, Gilmor (I believe he had a partner named Gilman for that one), MR. publications, SPM, Media Publications (not to be confused with Comic Media), and probably others I don’t know about. His titles often changed publisher from one issue to the next as he dodged creditors or changed partners, and would sometimes have cover art taken from a story in a different issue as deadlines were missed. If he came up a story short, he would simply reprint something. If he couldn’t get an artist for a particular slot, he’d have his editor cut up and rearrange the art from an old story to make a new one. Anyone who thought men like Bill Gaines gave comics a bad reputation had never met Stanley Morse. Naturally, he published horror comics, including some of the grossest and most vile. Mister Mystery ran nineteen issues, and featured several notorious covers—a white-hot poker approaching a staring eyeball, a man buried up to the neck in an anthill, etc. Weird Mysteries lasted twelve issues and cover-featured a brain torn from a skull and other such delights. Weird Chills lasted only three issues, all in 1954. In my decades of collecting and reading comics I think this may be the single most unpleasant title I ever read; #2 featured stories entitled “Violence!” and “Hate,” for example.

Feeling Superior This original art for a splash page from Superior’s Strange Mysteries #14 (Nov. 1953) is by an unidentified artist—but, as per the notation at the top of the paper he drew on, he was probably working for Jerry Iger’s art shop, which supplied material to the Canadian company (see more on it in A/E #36 & 71). Thanks to dealer/collector Mike Burkey, whose goodies-laden website can be viewed at www.romitaman.com. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Weird Tales of the Future, on the other hand, was usually fun, with a peculiar mix of science-fiction and horror stories, including some covers and stories by the unique Basil Wolverton. (Wolverton had stories in Weird Mysteries and Mister Mystery, as well.) The last issue, #8, was a reprint of Weird Mysteries #12 and is best ignored. I don’t think Morse was trying to imitate EC; I think he was trying to top them. Not in quality—that would never even have occurred to a man like Morse. No, he was trying to outdo them in gore, violence, and shock value.

The Other Guys

Opening The Fawcett Fawcett was best known for publishing the adventures of the original Captain Marvel and his family, but they, too, got into the horror craze. Their titles were This Magazine Is Haunted, Worlds of Fear (Worlds Unknown for the first issue), Beware! Terror Tales, Strange Suspense Stories, and Strange Stories from Another World (Unknown World for #1; I assume Atlas, publisher of Journey into Unknown Worlds, objected). None of those lasted very long; in 1953 Fawcett finally settled their lawsuits with DC and got out of comics publishing except for the kiddie comics they did under their Hallden imprint. They sold two titles, Strange Suspense Stories and This Magazine Is Haunted, to Charlton; the rest were cancelled. A shame; Worlds of Fear was getting interestingly surreal toward the end. The others were pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, loosely modeled after the EC format but not directly imitating EC’s approach.

This Magazine Was Cursed! When, as records indicate and even most EC fans accept nowadays, EC publisher Bill Gaines reneged on his late-’40s agreement with Sheldon Moldoff regarding the artist’s idea for the company to launch a horror comic (with SM having profit participation), “Shelly” had little choice but to take his concepts to Fawcett Publications under a lesser deal. The first result was This Magazine Is Haunted, here represented by the cover of #11 (June 1952); Fawcett’s Worlds of Fear was likewise a Moldoff concept. Artist uncertain. Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Inspecting Morse (Left:) Although Mister Mystery (whose title character was merely the stories’ narrator) began as a comic from Media Publications, launched by Mike Esposito & Ross Andru, it became a Stanley P. Morse title when the earlier publisher folded. Seen here is the cover of SPM’s issue #17 (June 1954); artist unknown. (Above:) The inimitable Basil Wolverton drew a number of stories for SPM’s Weird Tales of the Future, including this page for #3 (Sept. 1952). Nobody ever drew quite like Wolverton! Thanks to Mike Benton for both these scans. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

Fiction Was Stranger Than Truth Fiction House was primarily a pulp publisher, but had gotten into comics quite early and stayed there, with at least half a dozen titles at any given time. They’d never really gone in for super-heroes; straight adventure was their forte. That, and pin-up art—the term “good girl art” was invented to describe Fiction House. Their comics almost all had simple, straightforward titles that didn’t much limit what could go inside—Fight Comics, Planet Comics, etc. Their longest-running title was Jumbo Comics, which had long since ceased to be any larger than any other comic book by the time of the horror fad; for its final seven issues, numbered #161 through 167, the cover and lead feature were horror, though the rest of the book remained a mix. They also published two issues of Monster, and eleven of Ghost Comics, during the craze. They kept the Fiction House house style, not imitating EC or anyone else—pretty girls, stylish art, bland indistinguishable heroes, and lousy writing.

DC & EC—Only A Letter Away, But… National, publisher of the DC-Superman line, eventually got in on the fad with House of Mystery. The first few issues were actual horror, with werewolves and vampires, but well before the Comics Code came along they’d switched to stories where some supernatural menace threatens, but is revealed in the end to be an elaborate hoax. This was similar to the old “weird menace” pulp formula, but National/DC systematically removed any trace of sex or sadism—and the sex and sadism had, of course, been the major selling point of the pulps. I found these stories very tiresome, but apparently the eager young readers in the early 1950s didn’t. Even in the most horrific issues of House of Mystery there was never any gore or shock content. DC ran a clean, inoffensive line.

A Ghost Of A Chance “Good girl art” graces the cover of Fiction House’s Ghost Comics #4 (Fall 1952). Some of this series consisted of reprints of “Werewolf Hunter,” “Ghost Gallery,” and other ongoing features from various FH titles of a couple of years earlier. Artist uncertain. Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

With issue #107 (Jan.-Feb. 1952), they also converted their longrunning title Sensation Comics, formerly home to Wonder Woman, into a “mystery” title—I can’t quite bring myself to call it “horror.” Three issues after the switch, it was given a new title to reflect the change, Sensation Mystery, but it doesn’t seem to have helped; the last issue was #116, dated July/August 1953. DC also tried a hybrid of sorts, a supernatural super-hero called The Phantom Stranger who mostly debunked phony ghosts, but who was apparently a ghost himself. That lasted six issues. It also wasn’t really anything very new; Timely had had The Witness, Harvey had The Man in Black, and so on, all the way back to Trans-World’s Mysterious Traveler. The Phantom Stranger is interesting mostly because he’s still around, though in substantially different form. Imitate EC? Well, possibly at first, but by the third issue of House of Mystery they’d definitely reverted to the DC house style.

Is There A Witch Doctor In The House? (Far left:) House of Mystery had been the name of a Suspense-type radio series from 1945 to 1949, but National/DC seems to have simply glommed onto the name after the program had folded. The first issue was dated Dec. 1951; cover by Winslow Mortimer & Charles Paris. (Left:) The cover for the Wonder Woman-bereft Sensation Comics #109 (May-June 1952) foreshadowed that of Justice League of America #10 (March 1962), which can be viewed on p. 40. Researchers argue whether Carmine Infantino or Jim Mooney penciled this one. [Both covers ©2010 DC Comics.]

The Other Guys

Charlton Enters The Derby Charlton (of Derby, Connecticut) was always something of a secondrate comics publisher—not bottom-of-the-barrel like Stanmor, but they never quite made the big time, either. They were a bit slow to pick up on horror, but when they did they went at it full-force. The Thing! began in 1952 and lasted seventeen issues, featuring The Thing (never seen clearly) as a narrator. Although there was an obvious EC influence, the stories got wilder than anything the tightly controlled EC crew ever produced. Their other horror titles were relatively secondhand. A crime title, Lawbreakers, was transformed into Lawbreakers Suspense Stories, and as such lasted six issues, some of them with truly bizarre covers; the one where a maniac’s holding a handful of severed tongues is particu-

The Art’s The Thing! (Above left:) Steve Ditko’s first cover for Charlton’s The Thing! appeared on issue #12 (Oct. 1953). (Above:) This page of original black-&-white Ditko art from The Thing! #13 (April ’54) was reproduced in Blake Bell’s analytical study The World of Steve Ditko (Fantagraphics Books, 2008). [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

larly memorable, though the woman being eaten alive by moths is also striking. Then Charlton bought the name Strange Suspense Stories from Fawcett, and gave it to Lawbreakers Suspense Stories for its remaining seven issues. (When the Code came in, it was retitled This Is Suspense! for four issues, then switched back to Strange Suspense Stories.) They bought This Magazine Is Haunted outright, continuing the numbering from the Fawcett version. This Magazine Is Haunted and Strange Suspense Stories lacked the over-the-top charm of The Thing! and Lawbreakers Suspense Stories; I really don’t know why.

Toby Or Not Toby A small but respectable comics publisher was Toby Press, which also used the imprint Minoan; they put out one issue of Tales of Terror, then

In A Purple Haze Over The Purple Claw Two covers of Toby Press’ Tales of Terror were seen last issue—so here’s a splash from the 2nd issue of its horror-comic-with-a-hero, The Purple Claw, at least as reprinted by publisher Irving Waldman in 1963. Anybody know if the page was altered at that time? Pencils by Ben Brown, inks by David Gantz; thanks to Jim Ludwig. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

title), Shocking Mystery Cases, Terrifying Tales, Spook, Horrors of Mystery (a one-shot in a series called The Horrors; this one, #13, was the only actual horror comic in the series), and the confusing Blue Bolt Weird Tales and its successors. Blue Bolt Weird Tales took over from a superhero called Blue Bolt, then became Weird Tales (despite the existence of the pulp with that name), and wound up as Ghostly Weird Stories (probably because the publishers of the pulp Weird Tales protested). There were also two issues of Shock Detective Cases that were on the border between crime and horror. And a few others were announced or advertised, but never appeared. Star had this annoying habit of advertising titles, then deciding whether or not to actually publish them based on the response.

Going Farrell Farrell Publications could be annoying, too. For one thing, they sometimes labeled their products as “Ajax Comics,” sometimes as “A Farrell Publication,” and sometimes as both. Confusing. Their horror titles were Voodoo, Haunted Thrills, Fantastic Fears, and Strange Fantasy. They were all pretty cheesy, but the covers could be interestingly strange, with skeletons feasting or women in test tubes or other odd images. And Strange Fantasy has a peculiar history: the first two issues are both #2, apparently simply by mistake, and the cover of #9 was overprinted and used to bind a bunch of leftovers, so that anyone who bought it might get the horror comic he expected, or might get an issue of Boys’ Ranch or Black Cat from the Harvey warehouse. (Why Harvey? I don’t know. No one does. Records are mostly long since lost.) Farrell was one of the companies to survive the Comics Code, at least briefly, and managed it in part by transforming Fantastic Fears to Fantastic, and Voodoo to Vooda, “Vooda” being the name of a “jungle goddess.”

Youthful Enthusiasm

The Star Of Star Publications Star’s comics boasted many cover by L.B. Cole—including this catch-all cornucopia of creatures for Blue Bolt Weird Tales #111 (Nov. 1951). Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

got hit by a cease-and-desist order from EC, which used that title for their annuals. Toby dropped that and started over with Tales of Horror, which ran thirteen issues. Toby may be the only comics publisher to swipe the urbane and cynical stories of John Collier, rather than relying on Poe, Lovecraft, and the like, but other than that their horror stories were undistinguished—and not particularly like those of EC. For the lover of esoterica, Toby also put out three issues of The Purple Claw, one of the stranger supernatural super-hero series.

You’re A Star! Star Comics was run by L.B. Cole, a man who put great faith in bright colors and striking cover designs as a sales device, and didn’t worry very much about what he was selling with them. A typical Star issue would have an eye-catching surreal cover in swirling black and orange and green, one pretty decent horror story by Jay Disbrow, and a bunch of reprints from old jungle comics to fill out the rest of the pages. Numbering was erratic, and titles sometimes didn’t have much to do with contents. Star didn’t imitate EC; Cole had his own ideas. The titles were Startling Terror Tales, Terrors of the Jungle (a hybrid, at least in theory, but mostly a jungle

Youthful Magazines only had one horror series, but three titles. They started by changing the science-fiction adventure series Captain Science to Fantastic; that lasted two issues, and then became Beware (no relation to Fawcett’s Beware! Terror Tales). Beware was, as I understand it, packaged by Harry Harrison for Youthful. Harrison had started out as an artist and worked his way up to editor/packager; later, when the comics industry collapsed, he took up writing science-fiction instead, and has done very well for himself at it.

Do, Do That Voodoo That You Do To Me! Death (or his stand-in) judges a beauty contest on this cover for Voodoo #14 (March-April 1954). For some reason, Farrell Publications believed in having the tallest cover logos in the business! Artist unknown. Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

Back then, though, he was putting together Beware. And after three issues at Youthful, Harrison took the title over to Trojan. Youthful didn’t give up, though; they kept the numbering and found someone else to produce Chilling Tales for another five issues. Then they gave up, in October 1953. What’s odd is that each of the three titles has a distinctly different flavor. Fantastic was a crude mix of science-fiction and horror; Beware was an EC swipe, much slicker than Fantastic; and Chilling Tales had an almost primitive style, with plots borrowed from anywhere at hand, including some Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, not unlike the very early issues of Adventures into the Unknown.

The (Gruesome) Revelations Of St. John St. John was a mid-sized comics publisher with a varied list of titles, and in June 1952 they joined the horror binge with two titles, Strange Terrors and Weird Horrors. Strange Terrors ended after seven issues, to be replaced by Nightmare #3, picking up from the Ziff-Davis series. However—and I can’t explain this, only report it—they then combined the title Nightmare with the numbering from Weird Horrors, so that

Weird, Maybe! Horrors? Well… The covers of St. John’s Weird Horrors were fairly tame stuff for the period. Joe Kubert drew that of #8 (Aug. 1953). Thanks to Mike Benton & Ken Quattro. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Weird Horrors #9 and Nightmare #3 were followed by Nightmare #10. And after Nightmare #13 the title was changed to Amazing Ghost Stories for its final three issues. St. John was also heavily involved in the fad for 3-D comics, so it’s not surprising that they published the first 3-D horror comic, House of Terror #1, in October 1953. St. John was fond of zombies—even if they didn’t always know how to spell the word; they’re famous for a cover typo spelling it “zoombies.” They’re also notable for having some fine Joe Kubert art, and for publishing all the known comic art of William Elkgren. Ekgren did two Weird Horrors covers and one for Strange Terrors in an intricate, mazelike, hallucinatory style unlike anything else in the comics of the time—though it might not have looked so out of place in 1960s undergrounds. [EDITOR’S NOTE: See A/E #77 for more on this unique artist.] The early St. John issues seem to have tried to imitate EC and Atlas, but that didn’t last; the covers by Ekgren and Kubert weren’t like anything any other publisher was doing.

Standard Procedure Is The Ghoul Helping That Guy Out Of His Grave— Or Into It? (Right & above:) Matt Fox’s cover for Youthful Magazines’ Chilling Tales #13 (Dec. 1952)—and future major science-fiction author Harry Harrison’s splash for a story therein. Thanks to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories website. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Standard Comics did not believe in #1 issues. They were convinced that comics sold better if they appeared to have been around for a while, and therefore they started all their horror titles with #5. Those titles were The Unseen, Out of the Shadows, and Adventures

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

Out Of The Archives (Right:) This page of original Alex Toth-penciled art from Adventures into Darkness #5 (Aug. 1952)—actually the first issue—was found by Domini Bongo in the Heritage Comics Archives. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

into Darkness, each lasting about ten issues of fairly well-done EC imitations. They also produced a suspense one-shot, Who Is Next? #5, that deserves mention—it features a town terrorized by a serial killer.

Comic Media Is The Message Comic Media had no connection with Stanley Morse’s Media Publications. They were a respectable publisher that produced two horror titles, Weird Terror and Horrific, which ran thirteen issues each. The odd thing about these titles is that the publisher was convinced that faces sold comics; after the first two issues of each he insisted that every issue have some sort of a face dominating the cover, and Don Heck, his cover artist, obliged. Werewolf faces, monster faces, terrified faces—but always faces. It makes Comic Media comics rather noticeable. Oh, yeah—Horrific became Terrific for a 14th pre-Code issue. With a big scary face on the cover. The covers weren’t like EC at all, but the stories, alas, were insipid EC imitations.

The Original Facebook (Right & above:) Future “Iron Man”/Avengers artist Don Heck drew the “face” covers for Media Comics’ Horrific—including this one for #12 (1954)—while Rudy Palais contributed this climactic page to his story “Death Kiss” in #5 (May 1953). Thanks to Mike Benton & Bruce Mason, respectively. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

Web Of Plastic A Heap Of Horror Hillman may have mostly sat out the horror comics era—but in one sense it foreshadowed it, with its series “The Heap” that grew out of the “Sky Wolf” feature in early-’40s Air Fighters Comics (later Airboy Comics). During the pre-Code 1950s, in particular, many “Heap” stories contained a considerable horror quotient—though here, in Airboy, Vol. 9, #10 (Nov. 1952), the original jolly (light) green giant merely battles a squadron of Red Chinese soldiers—before he runs into a real-life dragon. Art and probably script by Ernie Schroeder. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

When Hillman Freezes Over Hillman Comics is not one of the 28 publishers who produced horror comics. They did, however, acknowledge the craze to the extent of putting horror covers on two one-shot crime titles, Monster Crime #1 and Crime Must Stop! #1. I wanted to mention that particular oddity in passing.

The Quality Of Murder Is Not Strained Quality Comics was a major player in the super-hero days of the 1940s, but they were in decline by late 1952, when they launched Web of Evil, their only horror title. It lasted 21 nondescript issues before the company sold out to National. The stories were too bland to identify as imitating anyone in particular.

The Trojan Wars Trojan, like Hillman, tried putting horror covers on crime comics— they pulled the stunt on Crime Mysteries and to a much lesser extent on Crime Smashers. They even snuck a few actual horror stories inside

“It’s Tim! He Won’t Stay Buried!” Yeah, that kind of thing can get downright annoying—as on the cover of Trojan’s Beware #6 (Jan. 1954). Artist unknown. Thanks to Mike Benton. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

toward the end of the run of Crime Mysteries. They didn’t try starting their own horror title, though; instead they bought Harry Harrison’s Beware away from Youthful Magazines.

A Grave Matter Some people don’t want to stay in their graves— while others resist climbing into them at all, as on the anonymous cover for Sterling’s The Tormented #1 (July 1954). [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

They didn’t get the second-class mailing permit with it, though, so after numbering the first four issues #13 through 16 they started over at #5. This resulted in some confusion, as there are two each of #13, 14, and 15, all from Trojan, but with different dates. (There are also two each of #10, 11, and 12, but from different publishers.)

There’s only one of #16, though, because the second #15 was the last issue. As it had been at Youthful, the Trojan Beware (see p. 1) was an EC imitation, even going so far as to use cover art on #6 that appears to have been partially traced from a Jack Davis Vault of Horror splash panel.

A Sterling Example Sterling was a very small company just trying to get started in 1954— which turned out to be bad timing, as the whole comics industry went through a major collapse in 1955-’57. They produced two horror issues before the Comics Code arrived: The Tormented #1 and #2. Both featured pretty girls in red dresses on the cover, and stories with above-average art but plots that were hardly new or exciting. #1’s best story is a cannibalism tale that would have been unspeakably shocking in 1950; but by 1954, readers were used to such things.

A Belated Premier And finally, Premier got started just in time to put out one issue of true pre-Code horror—but it’s a beauty. Horror from the Tomb #1 (Sept. 1954) is an over-the-top delight, absurd and funny and frightening all at once. Premier didn’t cancel it; with the second issue it became the cleanedup Mysterious Stories, and with #3 it was Code-approved; #7 was the last.

For What It’s Wertham And that’s the complete list of pre-Code horror publishers. Oh, a case might be made for including a couple of others, I suppose, but that’s all the definite ones. Quite a lot of them, weren’t there?

Too many. The field was overcrowded. And with all those publishers trying to top one another, the stories had gotten pretty nasty. Dismemberment and cannibalism were commonplace—old hat, in fact. One EC story hinted strongly at actual necrophilia—in 1954! Readers were jaded—and parents were furious. Complaints about comic books weren’t new; there had been articles denouncing them in the popular press as early as 1940. Comics were described as shoddy, debased, semi-literate; they were accused of keeping children from reading real books, of giving kids false ideas. The urban legend about the kid who tied a towel on as a cape and jumped out an upstairs window, thinking he could fly like Superman, dates back to at least 1944. But nothing had been done about it before. Then came Dr. Fredric Wertham. Ah, Dr. Wertham—the traditional villain of the piece! So just who was he? Fredric Wertham was a psychiatrist who fled Germany in the 1930s and wound up in New York, where he eventually landed himself a job as a court psychiatrist. I have the impression that he had failed to make it in private practice, but I admit I can’t document that. His job was to interview criminals to determine why they had committed crimes, and whether they were sane enough to be tried. He first came to public notice when he happened to be the man assigned to interview Albert Fish. Albert Fish was a serial killer—though the term didn’t exist at the time—who had preyed on children with impunity for years by confining his attentions to poor black victims. When he made the mistake of killing and eating a middle-class white girl, however, he was caught, tried, convicted, and executed. Fish was big news for a time— New York hadn’t had any other cannibals that anyone knew of. Furthermore, Fish was quite spectacularly deranged; as well as being a child molester, murderer, and cannibal, he was both a sadist and a masochist, and among other quirks had permanently embedded straight pins in his own flesh. And Wertham was the expert who interviewed him and described him to the press. Wertham loved

A Premiere And A Final Performance— All In One Premier’s Horror from the Tomb #1-and-only (Sept. 1954) with its unknown-artist cover is just one more reason that Ger Apeldoorn, in his coverage of Premier’s Nuts! back in A/E #91, wrote: “Their slogan was: ‘If it’s a Premier comic it’s a good comic,’ but a more accurate tagline would have been: ‘If it’s a Premier comic it’s probably the last one you’ll see.” [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

the attention. And the press loved Wertham when he told them that Fish had practiced every perversion known to Man and had maybe invented some new ones. Wertham followed up an earlier book he had written (Dark Legend, about a 17-year-old murderer) with an equally lurid one called Show of Violence, about Fish and other criminals he had interviewed. It sold fairly well. However, the authorities in New York don’t seem to have been particularly happy about it, and Wertham was reassigned to work with juvenile offenders—or, as they were known at the time, juvenile delinquents. I assume this was done so that he wouldn’t have anyone as spectacular and embarrassing as Fish to write his next book about.

Keep Your Eye On The (Eye)Ball! Small wonder that Dr. Fredric Wertham (left) is looking askance! This panel from the final page of the Al Feldstein-written, Jack Davis-drawn story “Foul Play!” from Haunt of Fear #19 (May-June 1953) was in somewhat doubtful taste. Art repro’d from the Nostalgia Press volume discussed on pp. 3-4. [©2010 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

So Wertham began interviewing J.D.s about their home lives, their spare time activities, and so on, trying to find out why they’d gone bad.

mostly from crime, rather than horror, comics.

One fact that struck him quickly was that they all mentioned reading comic books, and most of them specifically mentioned reading crime comics. It’s not really surprising that Wertham theorized that crime comics had contributed to their delinquency. If he’d done the same thing ten years later, they’d all have mentioned watching TV—and we have plenty of people now blaming TV for violence. In 1949 and 1950, though, slum kids didn’t have TV.

You’ll notice that while horror comics survived, admittedly in watereddown form, there are no more true-crime comics, and except for a few low-circulation oddities there have been none since 1956. Wertham wasn’t aiming at EC or at horror comics; he was after crime comics. And he got them. Horror just got caught in the overkill.

Dr. Wertham was a doctor, not a scientist; he didn’t think to test his hypothesis or look for flaws in it. He didn’t find a control group of normal kids and ask if they read comics—they’d have said “yes,” because back then virtually all American kids read comics. Instead, he only began looking for supporting evidence.

The 1950s were a paranoid era. The United States was the most powerful country in the world, and intended to stay that way; any perceived threat to the “American way of life” was attacked all-out. Communist conspiracies were seen on all sides (and a few of them were actually there).

None of the law-abiding adults he talked to had read comics as kids— because there hadn’t been comic books when they were kids. He remembered German kids as being well-behaved, and they had no comic books, because comic books were an American invention.

Dr. Wertham and the other anti-comics crusaders managed to make the American public perceive comics as a threat.

Wertham began collecting comics as evidence. Not horror comics— crime comics. The kids said they read crime comics. Except that Dr. Wertham had never entirely gotten the hang of American society or American English; to him, any book with criminals in it was a crime comic. Super-heroes fought criminals; therefore, superhero titles were crime comics. Vampires and werewolves kill people, so they’re criminals, so horror comics were crime comics. Westerns involve rustlers and train robbers, so those, too, were crime comics. And the final result of Dr. Wertham’s “research” was a book entitled Seduction of the Innocent, published by Rinehart & Co. in 1954 and chosen by the Book-of-the-Month Club as one of their leads. This book was sensationalistic in the extreme, aimed directly at parents, trying to convince them to keep their kids away from “crime comics” by any means necessary. It didn’t attack horror comics as such; they were lumped together with all the other “crime comics.” EC was not singled out for special attention. Yes, the final panel from “Foul Play,” from Haunt of Fear #19, was included—but that was really an exceptionally gory and tasteless crime story, with no supernatural element. The other EC material he used all came from Crime SuspenStories—the earlier of their two crime titles. Other publishers, such as Superior, were hit just as hard, and the illustrations included panels from Westerns and even romance comics, but were

The companies that depended on crime titles, such as Lev Gleason, got slammed much harder than any horror line.

And boy, was there overkill!

It wasn’t Wertham alone, by any means; the New York state legislature had investigated crime and horror comics back in 1951, before Wertham’s book was written, and had denounced them. (In fact, New York belatedly outlawed crime comics in 1955, a law that may still be on the books but has been ignored for decades.) Other crusaders—for literacy, for decency, for other causes—had attacked comics for years. But Seduction of the Innocent seems to have been the final trigger for public outrage. Comic book publishers received threatening letters, parents complained to store managers about their comics displays, legislators heard from angry constituents.

Senate’s Keystone Kops And Senator Estes Kefauver decided to do something about it. (Some fans lump the comics censorship movement with McCarthyism; this is inaccurate. Dr. Wertham was driven out of Germany as a suspected leftist and would hardly have been in Joseph P. McCarthy’s camp, and the Senator who went after comic books was Estes Kefauver, not McCarthy.) The Senate created a committee to investigate comics publishing, and invited publishers to testify on their own behalf; only Bill Gaines actually did testify, while any number of “experts” spoke against comics and other publishers began looking for a way out of the mess. That part of the EC legend is true.

A Gargoyle’s-Eye View Of The Non-EC Horror Comics Of The 1950s

In the end, the Senate committee did nothing—not because they were swayed by Gaines, whose testimony turned into disaster, but because those other publishers back in New York found a way out. They staged a public housecleaning and created the Comics Code Authority. Given

“King Of The Wild Frontier” (Right:) Senator Estes Kefauver, who led that legislative body’s charges against both crime and comic books, was an almost-candidate for the US Presidency in 1956. Years before the Davy Crockett craze, he took up wearing a coonskin hat in publicity pictures, as per this Time magazine cover. So why did we choose this picture of him to show in A/E? Hey, after all the trouble he and his committee gave comic books—you want we should make him look good? [Time cover ©2010 Time-Warner, Inc.]

a choice between cleaning up their own act or facing government intervention, they chose to censor themselves.

The Code Of The Rest It’s hard to say, in retrospect, whether this was a cowardly move that ruined comic books—or a wise decision that kept comic books from being totally destroyed. Would the US government have intervened directly, and unconstitutionally, to stamp out crime and horror comics? They might well have done exactly that. Things were different in 1954. At any rate, all the major publishers except Dell and Gilberton joined the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA). Dell had such a squeaky-clean reputation that they didn’t need to bother; Gilberton, publisher of Classics Illustrated, seems to have been considered a special case by everyone involved and was deliberately left out. Some of the minor publishers did

The Code War The “Comics Code,” as it’s called for short, was adapted on Oct. 26, 1954, and remained in force in that form through 1970, under the authority of the Comics Magazine Association of America, Inc. Note that, despite the oftrepeated claim that words such as “weird” were forbidden in the titles of Code-approved comic books, there is no outlawing of any specific words on covers except “horror” and “terror.” However, under the paragraph labeled “General Standards – Part C,” anything and everything “contrary to the spirit and intent of the Code” was prohibited… and whether publishers like William M. Gaines were ever specifically told that or not, that phrase was clearly used to eliminate anything the Code folks found offensive. Which was quite a bit. Certainly the Frankenstein Monster, as he was drawn in 1952 by Dick Briefer, would have been wasting his time applying for a job as a Code proofreader. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

The Other Guys

Oh, it watered them down—you couldn’t even call them horror comics any more, after all; they were now “mystery” comics, or monster comics, or suspense comics, or ghost comics. But they did survive—some of them. The granddaddy of them all, ACG’s Adventures into the Unknown, continued just fine; in fact, ACG editor Richard Hughes claimed to be pleased with the change, saying he was tired of vampires and zombies and that the new rules forced some originality into the stories. Atlas had to drop some titles— Adventures into Terror was out by virtue of its very title—but others thrived. Mystic, Marvel Tales, Mystery Tales, Spellbound, Strange Tales, Journey into Mystery, Adventure into Mystery, Astonishing, and Journey into Unknown Worlds all continued for years under the Code seal.

I Love A Mystery As our author points out, while virtually no straight “true-crime”-type comics survived the coming of the CMAA’s Comics Code Authority in late 1954, a number of “horror” mags were able to transmute themselves into what came to be referred to in the industry as “mystery” titles—quite literally, in the case of the two eventual leaders in the field, National/DC and Timely/Atlas/Marvel. Seen above are Ruben Moreira’s cover for DC’s House of Mystery #36 (March 1955, the first Code-approved issue) and Bill Everett’s cover for Atlas’ Adventure into Mystery #5 (Jan. 1957). [Covers ©2010 DC Comics & Marvel Characters, Inc., respectively.]

not join; instead, they went out of business. However, it wasn’t necessarily the Code that killed them. The comics market was declining at the time anyway. In 1957, a couple of years after the Code came in, there was a major shake-up in the magazine distribution system: the American News Company, by far the largest distributor in North America, was liquidated by its stockholders. The result was that the other distributors didn’t have the capacity to handle all the magazines being published, and were able to pick and choose which they would handle. Naturally, they picked the more profitable ones. That was what finally killed off the pulps. They’d been fading for years, and the distribution realignment finished them off. Fiction House folded completely; several other pulp publishers managed to get into publishing “slicks,” as the glossy, higher-priced magazines were called. Comics were more profitable than pulps, surprisingly—even at a dime each, you could fit so many into a bundle that they were still worth shipping. They weren’t much more profitable, though; titles and whole companies vanished. And fans, then and later, who knew nothing about the business side, blamed these extinctions on the Comics Code. So what did the Code do? Well, it banned the words “horror” and “terror” specifically from comic book logos. It required that every story end with good triumphing over evil. It required that women not be depicted in an exaggerated or titillating manner. It outlawed depictions of vampires, werewolves, or zombies. It basically tried to legislate decency and good taste into comic books—decency and good taste as defined by polite society in 1954.

Avon gave up comics entirely, to concentrate on paperbacks. Ace stuck it out until the distribution crisis forced them out, but all their horror titles had at least one Codeapproved issue. That was the story almost everywhere: a few cleaned-up, Codeapproved issues, sometimes with a title change, and then the distribution crunch would kill off the series, and sometimes the

entire company. A few didn’t even try to get past the Code, though; Stanley Morse shut down in the fall of ’54. And, of course, those that survived and got the Code seal of approval were tame by comparison with what had gone before—no more rotting corpses, no more scattered body parts, no gutsucking mummies or dissolving flesh or spouting blood, no cannibal feasts or double-twist shock endings. But would those have continued anyway? Sales were dropping in 1954 even before the full force of the censors hit; titles were already being cancelled. The horror fad was already burning itself out, and comics publishers were already in trouble. The distribution crisis would have been just as deadly without the Code. It’s impossible to say what would have happened if the Comics Code hadn’t been adopted. Yes, it watered down the field; yes, it may well have prevented a revival of horror comics in the 1960s; but the pre-Code boom was probably doomed anyway. While it lasted, though, kids across America were treated to a phantasmagoria of twisted pleasures—not just EC’s relatively sophisticated work, but hundreds of weird and wild stories across a whole range of quality and concepts. They were, as Nostalgia Press said about the EC books, “terrible, shocking, sensational, appalling....” They were also often gross, sometimes disgusting. And they were, above all else, fun.

That killed crime comics—but it didn’t kill horror comics, not really. Lawrence Watt-Evans.

Lawrence Watt-Evans has been reading comics since 1959 and has been a full-time writer since 1979. Although primarily a fantasy novelist, he combined comics and writing in a column for the Comics Buyer’s Guide from 1983 to 1987, as well as in various articles elsewhere.

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A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: While we try to keep reasonably abreast of current happenings in the comic book field, some events do manage to escape our notice until after the fact. One such was this past summer’s following official announcement, issued by the United

States Postal Service, which we learned about only when we saw it printed in the apa-zine CAPA-Alpha, which is circulated amongst its few dozen members. A copy was forwarded to us by Alan Hutchinson. Our thanks to Alan for sharing this information with us, and to Gary Brown for bringing the whole matter to our attention….

The 1950s Come Undead As Horror Icons Rise From The Grave As Stamps And Stamped Postcards SAN DIEGO, CA — The Crypt-Keeper, the Vault-Keeper and the Old Witch join other comic book legends in extending their immortality to postage in July when the U.S. Postal Service dedicates the “EC Horror Comics” commemorative stamps and stamped postal cards. The ceremony will take place at the world’s largest comic book and pop culture show—Comic-Con International 2010 (comic-con.org). The stamps and stamped postal cards are available in San Diego July 22 and nationwide July 23.

• Crime SuspenStories #16 (April-May 1953, drawn by Johnny Craig) • Crime SuspenStories #20 (December 1953-January 1954, drawn by Johnny Craig), • Crime SuspenStories #22 (April-May 1954, drawn by Johnny Craig) • The Haunt of Fear #12 (March-April 1952, drawn by Graham Ingels)

“We are here to celebrate a moment in time that most of us have shared,” said William Campbell, U.S. Postal Service Judicial Officer, in dedicating the stamps. “I am talking about that era when the PTA and church groups fought to stamp out horror and crime comics as being major contributors to the rise in juvenile delinquency in America. Spurred on by obsessed psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham, religious and political leaders joined forces to take away the reading material that we all loved so much. Well, they may have succeeded in stamping out horror comic books, but today, we in the Postal Service are bringing back our favorite comic books as postage stamps.” Joining Campbell in dedicating the stamps was former EC editor Al Feldstein. “The EC horror, science-fiction, and crime comics had been a beloved part of America’s culture for a brief five years, but through fan interest and multitudes of reprints in the last half-century, it’s almost like we’d never left,” said Feldstein. “It is both fitting and exciting for these comics to be commemorated as stamps by the U.S. Postal Service.” This is the first stamp pane honoring horror comic books, following 2006’s DC super-heroes and 2007’s Marvel characters. Although EC was primarily known for their horror, crime, and science-fiction books, notable also are their war and humor comics, including that most long-lived of satire magazines, Mad. The first three stamps depict the hosts of the EC horror comics: The Crypt-Keeper (drawn by Jack Davis), The Vault-Keeper (drawn by Johnny Craig), and The Old Witch (drawn by Graham Ingels). The fourth stamp is an image of EC publisher William M. Gaines, as painted in oils by editor/artist Al Feldstein. The remaining sixteen stamps feature the most memorable EC covers, as chosen especially for the USPS by EC editor Al Feldstein. They include:

Horror Icons Rise From The Grave As Stamps And Stamped Postcards

• The Haunt of Fear #15 (September-October 1953, drawn by Graham Ingels) • The Haunt of Fear #17 (January-February 1953, drawn by Graham Ingels) • Shock SuspenStories #6 (December 1952-January 1953, drawn by Wallace Wood) • Tales from the Crypt #23 (April-May 1951, drawn by Al Feldstein) • Tales from the Crypt #37 (August-September 1953, drawn by Jack Davis) • Tales from the Crypt #38 (October-November 1953, drawn by Jack Davis) • The Vault of Horror #30 (April-May 1953, drawn by Johnny Craig) • The Vault of Horror #32 (August-September 1953, drawn by Johnny Craig) • The Vault of Horror #35 (February-March 1954, drawn by Johnny Craig) • Weird Fantasy #17 (January-February 1953, drawn by Al Feldstein) • Weird Science #15 (September-October 1952, drawn by Wallace Wood) •Weird Science #17 (January-February 1953, drawn by Wallace Wood) Comic books aren’t simply “kid’s stuff.” Adults have always been among their fans, and the form has attracted its share of serious artists and writers. The EC stories addressed social and political issues from the start, fighting injustice and corruption during the Cold War, especially in Shock SuspenStories. Visitors attending Comic-Con International 2010 can obtain a special Comic-Con postmark available each day of the show—Thurs., July 22, through Sun., July 25, as well as the first-day-of-issue postmark—when visiting the U.S. Postal Service booth located in the Convention Center at Lobby A, first level at the northwest end.

Philatelic Products There are eight philatelic products available for this stamp issue: • Item 459862, First Day Cover Full Pane - $10.30 • Item 459864, Canceled Full Pane - $10.30 • Item 459865, Digital Color Postmark (DCP) Random Single - $1.50 • Item 459866, Stamped Postal Cards - $9.95 • Item 459868, Digital Color Postmark, Set of 20 - $30 • Item 459872, Comic Book - $18.50 • Item 459884, Uncut Press Sheet - $31.20 • Item 459899, Digital Color Postmark Keepsake w/DCP random sample - $9.30

How to Order First-Day Covers Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to: INFORMATION FULFILLMENT DEPT 6270 US POSTAL SERVICE PO BOX 219014 KANSAS CITY MO 64121-9014

Three More Ghoul-Lunatics The two main writers of the early EC horror titles were Johnny Craig (seen at left in photo) and Al Feldstein (center). Both were also artists and editors. Seated is publisher/managing editor William M. (Bill) Gaines, who in the early days dreamed up the basic plots for many of the stories, which he then passed on to Feldstein, who turned them into full scripts. Photo courtesy of daughter Wendy Gaines Bucci; special thanks to Michael Feldman.

How to Order First-Day-of-Issue Postmark Customers have 30 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, and at www.usps.com/news. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes, to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to: SEDUCTION OF THE INDOLENT FDOI STATION POSTMASTER PO BOX 8553022 SAN DIEGO CA 92186-5530 After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by Aug. 2, 2010. Since 1775, the United States Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, have connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency that visits more than 144 million homes and businesses every day, the Postal Service is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. It receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of $70 billion, it is the world’s leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world’s mail volume—some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year—and serves seven million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide, with more than 800,000 employees. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: We are obligated to report that, shortly before this issue of Alter Ego went to press, Alan Hutchinson forwarded to us a second announcement from the United States Postal Service related to the EC stamps. We have felt that our best action is to simply reprint the piece as it stands, without further comment….]

The 1950s Come Undead

PUBLIC OUTCRY HALTS RELEASE OF HORROR STAMPS SAN DIEGO, CA — The Crypt-Keeper, the Vault-Keeper, and the Old Witch will have to find another outlet for their gruesome brand of horror. The ceremony for their dedication as postal stamps and cards, which was to have taken place at Comic-Con International 2010 (comic-con.org) in San Diego, has been cancelled. The stamps and stamped postal cards that have already been printed will not be distributed, and orders have come down from Postmaster General John C. Potter that all existing product be destroyed. “It is a sad day for the Postal Service. This is the first time in our history that one of our issues has been recalled,” said William Campbell, U.S. Postal Service Judicial Officer. “Not even the Fat Elvis stamp caused such a public outcry.” “In an era when one would expect church groups and the PTA to concentrate their efforts on curbing teen pregnancies, illiteracy and drug abuse, it’s ludicrous that they would be this concerned with the subject matter of postage stamps. The freedom of expression that Baby Boomers fought so hard to achieve in the 1960s has taken a major step backward. It’s as if not the Crypt-Keeper or the Old Witch has risen from the grave, but Dr. Fredric Wertham instead. The specter of censorship has appeared at our bedroom windows, to frighten us and our children out of our Constitutional right to the reading matter, and postage stamps, of our choice. We have surely been driven back to the Dark Ages.” Joining Campbell in decrying this new wave of oppression was former EC editor Al Feldstein: “The EC horror, science-fiction, and crime comics have been put out of business once before, but I never expected that in this age of supposed enlightenment it would happen a second time.” said Feldstein. “It’s like McCarthy, Cohn, and all the rest of the fear-mongers of the Red Menace era have come back to life to haunt us again, a half century later. “One protester held up the Crime SuspenStories stamp with the woman’s severed head and asked me if I considered it in good taste. I replied that yes, for a comic book cover on a horror stamp, I thought it was,” added Feldstein. “Maybe if the head was held up a little higher so you could see the blood dripping out, sure, that’d be going too far. But then wasn’t this great country forged in bloodshed? I’m just saying.”

The Horror! The Horror! At a press conference in 1954, not long after his disastrous appearance before the Senate subcommittee investigating comic books, EC publisher Bill Gaines rips up a copy of Vault of Horror, announcing that the company was discontinuing its terror titles. Photo courtesy of Wendy Gaines Bucci; special thanks to Michael Feldman.

The stamps, which depict the hosts of the EC horror comics (The Crypt-Keeper, The VaultKeeper, and The Old Witch) and EC publisher William M. Gaines, as well as sixteen of the most lurid and sensational EC comic book covers, have been stockpiled in a warehouse in Washington D.C. Their destruction is to take place on

the playground of Estes Kefauver Elementary School in the nation’s capital, where a mammoth bonfire will consume every remnant of the EC postal stamps. Children will be encouraged to throw other objectionable material onto the pyre, including Harlequin romance novels, Britney Spears CDs, and Japanese manga comics. It is hoped that visitors A Modest Confession attending Jack Davis, one of the most prominent of EC’s horror Comic-Con artists, recently sent this sketch (with notation) to Belgian International collector Dominique Leonard. [Art ©2010 Jack Davis; Crypt2010 for the sole Keeper TM & ©2010 William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.] purpose of obtaining the First Day of Issue EC stamps will not change their plans. The Postal Service intends to rush into production a less objectionable set of Frankenberry, Fruit Brute, and Count Chocula stamps in hopes of avoiding riots by rabid horror fans.

How to Obtain a Refund for First-Day-of-Issue Postmark Orders Customers who have already sent in orders for the EC First Day of Issue sets will have their money refunded via FedEx. If you do not receive your refund by October 1, 2010, write to: SEDUCTION OF THE INDOLENT FDOI STATION POSTMASTER PO BOX 8553022 SAN DIEGO CA 92186-5530 Since 1775, the United States Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, have connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency that visits more than 144 million homes and businesses every day, the Postal Service is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. It receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of $70 billion, it is the world’s leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world’s mail volume—some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year—and serves seven million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide, while tormenting and abusing its more than 800,000 employees. A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Okay, okay—so it was all just an early April Fool’s joke! Give us a break!

The Hand Of Doom A Gripping Interview With The Two-Fisted Model For Numerous Comic Book Covers by Gary Brown

NTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Throughout publishing history, there have been many villains and part-time characters who have graced the pages of comic books at the various companies. One of the most prominent of these characters is The Hand of Doom, who worked under a variety of names during the 1950s and ’60s. The Hand was often a cover feature—one giant hand (or two) reaching down from out of the sky, threatening the comic’s hero or even all of mankind. Next to gorillas, and probably surpassing dinosaurs, The Hand of Doom was the best-selling cover feature in comics history. However, when comics changed in the mid-1960s and writers began looking for more “realistic” plots, Hand found himself with fewer employment opportunities. We were fortunate to be granted this exclusive interview with The Hand of Doom, which was done through the help of a signing specialist (since Hand has no ears or mouth). The interview was conducted by Gary Brown in Boca Raton, Florida, with the help of researcher and story consultant Alan Hutchinson. Brian K. Morris wishes it known that he did not transcribe this interview. GARY BROWN: Ah, Mr. Hand? Mr. Doom? Just what should I call you? HAND OF DOOM: Hand is fine. GB: Great. First of all, how did you get into comic books? HAND: Well, my older brother, Hand of Fate, got into the business in 1945 and did a couple covers for Street & Smith’s Shadow Comics, #s 56 & 57. Then, in 1949, he did ACG’s Adventures into the Unknown #6. In 1951, they tried him in his own comic book, The Clutching Hand, but it ran just one issue. Still, he hit the big time in 1954 with The Hand of Fate, which ran for 18 issues. Made some good money. He also did the cover to Atlas’ Journey into Mystery #1 (June 1952). He recommended I get into

the business and arranged several interviews. GB: So you didn’t have any comic-book modeling or acting experience? HAND: Nah, just the good fortune to be two big hands. By the way, I also had a cousin in the business, Pinkie Lee. Mostly TV, but he did some comics. Just small stuff. He was a little guy. GB: So what was the interview process like? Did you talk to the editors or publisher or what? HAND: Mostly to the editors: Jack Schiff, Julius Schwartz. People like that. I showed them my huge Hand of Doom clutching motion, and they pretty much bought it on sight. GB: And that was it? HAND: Oh no. I was on call

Give The Big Fella A Hand! (Above:) An archetypal cover posed by The Hand of Doom was that of Blackhawk #115 (Aug. 1957), which was utilized as the title page when this article was first published. H.D. manages to upstage all seven Blackhawks on this one! Pencils by Dick Dillin; inks by Chuck Cuidera. Thanks to Chris Brown for the scans associated with this interview. [©2010 DC Comics, Inc.] As for the other covers reprinted on the following four pages, those of Journey into Mystery #1 & #55 are ©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.—those of House of Secrets #1, Challengers of the Unknown #2, House of Mystery #80, My Greatest Adventure #32, Strange Adventures #110, Superman #125, Justice League of America #10, & Batman #165 ©2010 DC Comics; that of The Shadow #8 ©2010 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.; others ©2010 the respective copyright holders.

The Hand Of Doom

for stories. Had to talk to the writers about what two giant hands might do. And then there was the posing for the artists. Hours upon hours of staying in one pose so the penciller could get my appearance just right. Then I had to meet the inker and pose for him. The most difficult job was that Strange Adventures wash cover (issue #110). After the main art was done, I posed for the production staff for a week until they got it just right. GB: So, what did a cover and inside story usually pay you? HAND: Straight fee—$1,500 for a story and $2,500 for a cover appearance. Remember, this was the 1950s, so that money was pretty good.

got a Blackhawk assignment (#115, August). GB: And you had two covers in 1958? HAND: Right, a good year for me. First I was on the cover and in a fulllength story in Challengers of the Unknown #2. Working with Jack Kirby was a blast. He was quick. Very professional. I liked the way he drew me. They wanted my brother and me to team up on this one—you know, I play the right hand and he play the left—but he couldn’t work it into his schedule. GB: Too bad. And then came the House of Mystery cover and story?

GB: You have a condo here in Boca Raton and appear to be living well.

HAND: Yes, quite a breakthrough for me. For the first time I portrayed a hero, not a villain. House of Mystery #80 in November 1958. Drawn by Bob Brown. Great guy. We worked together the next year.

HAND: Oh, the comic book work was just the beginning. After that gig soured in the mid-’60s, I got work on rock albums, in commercials, TV and movies. Mostly bit parts, but it paid well.

GB: That would be on My Greatest Adventure?

GB: Let’s talk a little about your most famous comic book covers. What was the first one? HAND: House of Secrets #1, late in 1956. Ruben Moreira did the cover for “The Hand of Doom.” GB: Wow, named the story for you right off the bat. That must have been thrilling. HAND: They weren’t sure if the book sold well because it was a first issue or because I was on it. Eventually, they realized it was me. Then, in 1957, I

HAND: Right, #32—“We Battled the Hand of Doom!” Top billing and cover again. I was on top of the world. It was June 1959. I also did a Journey into Mystery cover for Atlas, #55, Nov. 1959, during that time. DC wasn’t very happy. But it was the only title my brother and I both had covers on. My mom hung those two on her wall. GB: And then came the Strange Adventures wash cover. HAND: Oh yeah, issue #110. Gil Kane drew me. It was difficult work, but what a great job! In 1960, I even did a Superman cover, #135 (Feb. 1960). You know, most editors want to color me green, for some reason.

A Candid Interview With The Two-Fisted Model For Comic Book Covers

GB: And that was your last work? HAND: Oh no. The very next month I modeled for “The Hand from Nowhere” for Batman #130 (March ’60). [EDITOR’S NOTE: Seen in A/E #93.] And in 1962 I was the cover model for “The Fantastic Fingers of Felix Faust!” in Justice League of America #10... though they marred it slightly by sticking super-heroes on the ends of my fingers! That year I also did a cover for Forbidden Worlds #102. In 1964, I did another Batman cover—#165, “The Man Who Quit the Human Race”—and also the cover of Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #8 (July 1964) for Gold Key. GB: I didn’t know that. Amazing. HAND: I’ll tell you, the JLA cover was really hard work. Playing a pair of hands smaller than you takes a lot out of a guy. GB: What was the reason your comic-book work dried up? HAND: Several reasons, actually, starting with my agent asking for a larger fee—and then damn Marvel Comics comes along with this “realistic” approach. But I wasn’t through. GB: What else did you do in comics?

HAND: I was in negotiations with Murray Boltinoff for my own superhero comic book, The Hand of Doom Patrol, but they decided to shorten the title and I was out. I did a one-cover appearance for Archie Comics on The Shadow comic, #8 (Sept. 1965). A few years later, DC came out with a comic called Strange Sports Stories, and I ghosted as Infantino’s model for the hands in the panel captions. Remember them? GB: I sure do. HAND: I was “Thing” on the Addams Family TV series for a while. That was a good gig. I also got work on TV commercials and did a number of rock album covers. Got to party with the Rolling Stones (I knew the tongue who modeled for their logo). Wild stuff. GB: And you’re retired now? HAND: Yes. I play handball, do some juggling, and play the piano. But I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t mind a guest appearance on a comic book cover—just for old times’ sake. GB: Well, it’s been fun talking to you. HAND: I’d shake your hand, but I’d probably crush you. Hah!

The Hand Of Doom

GB: Ha, ha. HAND: I’ll give you the finger instead. GB: Ha, ha, you’re a riot. Thanks again. HAND: A big thumbs up!! GB: Ha ha ha ha!!

Hand Now, Last But Not Least... Actually, The Hand of Doom was too modest by half. Unless he had a rival he didn’t mention to Gary Brown, he seems to have likewise modeled for oversize manual appendages on the covers of numerous other comics over the years—e.g., Charlton’s Out of This World #7 (Feb. 1958) and The Atom #2 (Oct.-Nov. 1962). The latter is currently on view in color in DC’s hardcover The Atom Archives, Vol. 1 (2001), and in black-&-white in Showcase Presents The Atom, Vol. 1. One of these fine days, we’ll have to ask D.H. about the likes of them! [Out of This World cover ©2010 the respective copyright holders; Atom cover ©2010 DC Comics.]

ATTENTION: FRANK BRUNNER ART FANS! Frank is now accepting art commissions for covers, splash panels, or pin-up re-creations! Also, your ideas for NEW art are welcome! Art can be pencils only, inked or full-color (painted) creation! Contact Frank directly for details and prices. (Minimum order: $150)

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Previously Unpublished Art by Frank Brunner

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten!” Concluding Our Epic Interview with Golden/Silver Age Editor/Writer GEORGE KASHDAN Conducted by Jim Amash

n this issue, continuing from A/E #93-95, George Kashdan (19382006) speaks of his later days as an editor and writer at DC Comics, as a scripter for Western Publishing—and of his days as an animation writer, often handling DC’s biggest heroes on the small screen.

“Old Pro[s]” JA: Let’s talk a little more about [writer] Arnold Drake. KASHDAN: Arnold was a steady, old pro. He always fought for an idea. If we said, “Bring us some plots for this character, or House of Mystery or Tales of the Unexpected,” he did it. But often, I had to say to him, “Arnold, look—as the editor of this book, I have to go by my gut instincts. I can’t let you give me the logic of why I must buy a story which I don’t think is going to work.” We had those kind of sessions. Arnold took a great deal of pride in his work. JA: Another guy who worked for you was [artist] George Roussos. KASHDAN: He was a serious man, and I think he did his best. Some of his stories were stiff and artificial-looking, but he did an intelligent job on anything you gave him. I know he was a great lover. [mutual chuckling] He was very cultured. He did a lot of reading and studying. He could go to the Museum of Modern Art and appreciate it very George Of The Jungle, Boy much. He also (Above:) George Kashdan circa late-’50s/earlytended to shepherd ’60s in fellow DC editor Murray Boltinoff’s office. Mort Meskin through (Left to right:) Kashdan, Boltinoff, Superman line editor Mort Weisinger (face obscured), and his tormenting period. JA: They were roommates for a while. KASHDAN: Yes. George used to explain Meskin’s behavior and said, “Artists want to bring something new to everything they do. That’s impossible when you’re doing comics.”

Jack Schiff (standing), with “Aquaman” (and future Metamorpho) artist Ramona Fradon. This photo was seen in Comic Book Artist [Vol. 1) #10 (Oct. 2000). Thanks to Ramona and to CBA editor Jon B. Cooke. Kashdan maintained that he didn’t believe, in principle, in both writing and editing for the same issue of a comic… yet he apparently filled both roles on the first five issues of DC’s Bomba the Jungle Boy title. Seen at right is artist Leo Summers’ splash page for issue #1 (Sept-Oct. 1967), with script by GK. [©2010 DC Comics.]

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris JA: Did you have many problems dealing with Mort Meskin? KASHDAN: I didn’t have much problem. JA: Why did he leave DC? KASHDAN: The pressure got him down. When he had a deadline to meet, the pressure was murderous. JA: At the end, he was doing mystery stories and the “Mark Merlin” feature at DC. KASHDAN: Jack Miller wrote some of those. I liked Meskin’s work. Murray Boltinoff, who had no ability to speak to anybody, was very heavy-handed in his conversations, and Meskin, I think, was overwhelmed by Murray. Often, Jack Schiff would say to Murray, “Calm down. Take it easy on these guys.” We all saw that Meskin was skilled.

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

[But] he drew many characters in many stories with a great similarity to them. JA: Jack Schiff created “Space Ranger,” is that right? KASHDAN: Yes, that would be right. JA: Do you remember working with [artist] Bernard Baily? KASHDAN: Baily was an old pro. He told stories about himself which were hard to believe—like how he helped his fellow jurors reach a verdict when he was on jury duty. The judge would tell the jurors to stay away from the scene of the crime. They could only reach their verdict based on the courtroom procedure that they heard. Baily told us that he secretly sneaked to the scene of the crime and did not do a very thorough search, but he was able to come [back to] the jury room and tell them what he saw. And he drew sketches of the crime scene, of what he saw. The jurors all looked at it, and agreed on the verdict. Now, we didn’t know if that was true, because the bailiff was sitting around the jury room. If they catch you talking about how you visited the crime scene, they would have you before the judge. And Baily would have been punished for contempt of court. But we thought he was spoofing us, you know. JA: Bill Ely drew Rip Hunter for a while. KASHDAN: He was a good artist, but he was having trouble adapting to

the comics medium. He used to paint canvasses, big scenes, giant buildings. He was an Old World gentleman, always willing to please. He did his own inking. Some years later, I saw him in the shopping center where my wife and I went. They had a section set aside for painters showing their paintings, which they sold there. And one day, sure enough, there was Bill with some Connecticut scenes on his canvasses, waiting for people to come up and ask how much he wanted for them. We chatted with him, and went off to shop. I thought, “He’s a good artist, but who needs canvasses like that around their house, just landscape scenes?” He may have done well. JA: Dan and Sy Barry. KASHDAN: They used to work [draw] for us. I remember them having a rather friendly relationship with Jack, and occasionally with Murray. I didn’t deal with them.

“[Schiff] Thought The Whole [‘Blackhawk’] Concept Was A Silly Idea” JA: When we were talking about the “Martian Manhunter,” we didn’t talk about the artist, Joe Certa. KASHDAN: He was dependable. There was nothing remarkably original about him. He didn’t have the Fred Ray or Mort Meskin quality to make the characters jump out at you. Certa was a pleasing artist. I know Mort used to work with him, since that idea [“John Jones – Manhunter from Mars”] was attributed to Mort as the creator. Certa was being cooperative and eager to help. If you asked him for corrections, he would do that. You could trust him to do it when he did the inking. The man everyone really liked working with was Dick Dillin, who drew Blackhawk. One of the jokes about him is that “He’s not an artist, he’s a writer.” You ask him to do something, he sits down right on the spot and does the corrections you require. He didn’t do his own inking; Chuck Cuidera, who created “Blackhawk,” did it. Once, they tried Cuidera as a penciler, and he made a mess of it. It was terrible. JA: Blackhawk was published by Quality Comics before DC got it. Schiff was the original DC editor on Blackhawk. Since it wasn’t a feature that Jack Schiff developed, do you think Jack cared about that book? KASHDAN: He thought the whole concept was a silly idea. [The name of the group is the Blackhawks] and its chief is a man named Blackhawk. And all those guys with their accents! Jack didn’t pay much attention to [the book]. Schiff was a thorough man, no matter what character he was working on. But he didn’t like that whole concept, a gang with accents in those old-fashioned costumes. Later on, we tried to update them. JA: You were the editor when they switched to red-and-green costumes. KASHDAN: They all became upwardly mobile Yuppies. I thought we had to fix their costumes, that they looked very old-fashioned. I may have asked [Dillin] to show me some ideas: “Make their uniforms more streamlined, more stylish. Put a little Brooks Brothers into them.” JA: So you were doing what you could to make it more interesting. KASHDAN: It was more than I could do. JA: Then you tried to make them more like super-heroes. You called them “the Junk-Heap Heroes” for a little while.

At Least He Didn’t Have A Kid Sidekick Named Arthur! A “Mark Merlin” cover for House of Secrets drawn by Mort Meskin, as transposed to the Mexican reprint comic Relatos Fabulosos #66 (Feb. 1, 1965). The name, of course, means “Fabulous Stories” in Spanish. Thanks to Fred Patten. A photo of Mort Meskin appeared in A/E #92. [©2010 DC Comics.]

KASHDAN: “Junk-Heap Heroes”? I don’t remember that. Anyway, sales never picked up on it. I can’t say I enjoyed doing the book. I don’t know why we took that series at all. I felt they had to be made more believable. We inherited a bad idea, and we were stuck with it. I don’t know why it was turned over to us. See, Ellsworth was a friend of “Busy” Arnold, the original publisher. They bought it from “Busy,” and “Busy” made himself

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

Over Land… Over Sea… We Fight To Keep Men Up-To-Date The longtime team of penciler Dick Dillin (top photo) & inker Chuck Cuidera (lower photo) began drawing Quality’s best-selling Blackhawk comic years before publisher Everett “Busy” Arnold sold the property to DC in the mid-1950s—and they did all the art on this page. The photo of Dillin is courtesy of the late artist’s family, sent for A/E #30; that of Cuidera is courtesy of his fellow artist Dave Hunt. (Top left:) The splash page for “The Return of Killer Shark” from Quality’s Blackhawk #70 (Nov. ’53). Scripter unknown. (Top right:) The feature took a distinct turn for the fantastic during its DC run, as per the splash of “King Condor’s Fabulous Birds” from Blackhawk #192 (Jan. ’64). Editing credited to Jack Schiff, script to Dave Wood. (Bottom left:) Even before they became “The Junk-Heap Heroes!” (#228, Jan. ’67), DC had changed the Blackhawks’ World War II-derived uniforms to red-and-green ones; but by now editor Kashdan, the DC brass, and even some Justice Leaguers were insisting the team was “washed up.” (Dig that wild and crazy Bob Haney Batman dialogue, enlarged at bottom center.) Over the course of the next two issues, each of Blackhawk’s six teammates was given a super-power! (Bottom right:) With great super-powers there must also come—individual costumes! On the cover of #230 (March ’67), the group resemble an ersatz JLA more than they do the Blackhawks of old! Blackhawk functioned as the non-super-powered leader of an Olaf who could leap tall buildings—“Hendy” (Hendrickson) was a master of weaponry—“Stan” (Stanislaus) was an armored gladiator—Andre was “M’sieu Machine”—Chop-Chop was “Dr. Hands”—and Chuck had super-hearing! All this and Go-Go Checks, too! [Pages ©2010 DC Comics.]

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

a profit on it. I don’t remember what they paid for it. They also bought rights to “Plastic Man,” and a cartoon was written about him. Arnold wrote the [comic book]. I remember when Dillin died. He died in a Veterans Hospital. He was very ill in the last part of his life. The doctors once put him on a very lowcalorie diet, and he said it was making him dizzy, all this lack of food. But he needed to lose weight. I got a call from his wife. She told me that Richard had just gone into the Veterans Hospital up there in Westchester County. I said to her, “He’ll be getting good care.” Some of these Veterans Hospitals are damned good. And then I later learned that he died. JA: Dick Dillin was good for penciling team books. After Blackhawk, he did Justice League for many years. KASHDAN: That was Dillin’s main contribution to DC. Dillin worked for Jack Miller and me when we were contracted to write The Mighty Hercules TV cartoon. Dillin was great to have. He learned the animation business very rapidly. That’s when he was known as “a writer, not an artist.” He would write great art. He was a very nice guy, always cooperative, uncomplaining, and he was always available up there in the studio to clean up the work of other artists. JA: Is there anything else about Chuck Cuidera that you remember? KASHDAN: Cuidera was disliked. He came from Newark, New Jersey, where racial prejudice was rampant, and he himself had this hatred of “n******,” as he called them, and used to speak up on that subject. Oh, he was creepy. He tried to pass himself off as a loving husband and father. And when we were slow in paying him, he used to cry to Murray. He was once talking to Bob Haney and me, and he said, “I won’t take that money and go out drinking and fooling around with women.” And we said, “Yeah, we understand, Chuck. We know you don’t. We know you’re a good man.” He had the mind of a child. JA: Did it seem odd to you that he created “Blackhawk,” yet he was only the inker? KASHDAN: It never occurred to me that he was a creative man. It did seem strange to me, the notion of him creating a character.

“We’re All In This Business Together” JA: The next artist on my list is Howard Sherman. KASHDAN: Howard Sherman was an old comics artist, soft-spoken. He lived in New Jersey. He was always around to do a House of Mystery or one of the other mystery books, but was not one of our top artists. He used to do foolish things. I remember, one day, he came into the office and then stood around like he was waiting for something to happen. What he was waiting for was [writer] Ed Herron coming in. He said, “Hey, Herron. Who were you calling a ‘fruit’ yesterday?” Herron denied it, and Sherman said, “Don’t tell me you didn’t say that. I heard you say it.” Herron had made a little remark, like in the Army when you saw a soldier or an officer with a lot of campaign ribbons, you used to say “he’s wearing a lot of fruit salad.” Herron made that kind of remark about all the “fruit,” and Sherman took that as a personal insult. I was afraid they were going to have a fist fight. And Herron was explaining and Sherman said, “All right, all right, I’m sorry.“ I thought it was rather foolish of him to come in early in the morning, and hang around the whole day to get into a fight with Herron. Herron was a big, sturdy, burly man. He could have crushed Sherman with a shot to the head. And when he left there, Sherman apologized to Herron and said he was so agitated, he didn’t think straight about it. And so they were good friends when he left. Sherman had one problem with his drawings. Whenever he had to draw a hero or main character, he always drew the same character. I always recognized Sherman by the faces he created. Sherman and his wife

Roamin’ In Wyomin’ Howard Sherman is best remembered today as the primary artist of the 1940s “Doctor Fate”—but he also had a long run on the “Wyoming Kid” feature, mostly in Western Comics. This splash from #3 (May-June 1948) required that he draw fifteen stampeding cattle. (Ye Editor knows how the Kid felt when he’s trying to feed hay to his and Dann’s herd of roughly the same number of Scottish highland cattle without getting trampled in the rush.) [©2010 DC Comics.]

were very kind-hearted people. They frequently adopted children, and he told me he was giving it up. You can get too emotionally involved with your wards. Pretty soon, their parents wanted the children back again. JA: What did you think about the “Robotman” feature, which was a back-up in Detective? Do you remember who wrote “Robotman”? KASHDAN: I don’t remember that. Maybe Herron wrote a few. I thought it was kind of bland. JA: Howard Purcell. KASHDAN: He could do a small feature if we gave it to him, and he drew Sea Devils for us. Purcell was a terribly agitated man. He also had a bad booze problem. I don‘t know if he was in the Army during the Second World War, but he had been [in it] a long time. He may have gotten some sort of discharge for some kind of illness that he had. You’ve met people like that. They sit in your vicinity, and the agitation creeps out of them all over you. Purcell came to us during a period when it was not fashionable to be anti-Vietnam. One day, he told us his kid was in the Army, and I said, “How does your son feel about going to war in Vietnam?” Purcell said, “Oh, hell, he found out a lot of things about those Vietnamese. He’s ready to go in and fight them, and I’m proud of him.” You might want to put in your article that Purcell was one of the few comics artists who favored our Vietnam adventure.

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

JA: Stan Kaye inked a lot of “Superman” and “Batman” stories. KASHDAN: He was always reliable. I forget who the artist was on Mr. District Attorney. Ellsworth or Liebowitz bought the rights to it, and I believe Purcell drew it, and Jack Miller wrote many such stories. The main characters were the D.A. and his assistant, Harrington, from the radio show. They were nice, tight little stories. I remember [inker] Stan Kaye being very friendly and willing to help. If Mort or Jack wanted some fix-ups, they could depend on Stan to fix an existing fault. JA: He smoothed out Wayne Boring’s pencils a little. KASHDAN: Oh, yes. You see, an inker was important to set up a story for coloring. The colorists had their favorite artists. Many didn’t care for Russ Heath. They said all his stories came out dark, and without excitement in the action sequences. I thought [his work] was good. I didn’t think it needed any corrections that the colorists called for. The man they all liked was Mike Sekowsky. They said he drew good, exciting scenes. For instance, [production manager] Jack Adler used to argue with us, and I said to him, “Why is an artist good only because you find him easy to color?” Adler said, “I don’t believe that. Russ Heath is the easiest man in the world to color. But his art comes out very unsatisfying, even after we color it up.” I think Nick Cardy was liked by the colorists, and he also drew exciting stories. JA: What do you remember about Russ Heath?

Oh Sea, Sea-Sea Devils, Oh See What You Have Done… First Russ Heath (right center), then Howard Purcell (bottom right), drew the “Sea Devils” series. The house ad above plugs Showcase #27 (July-Aug. 1960), with Heath art, before the feature received its own magazine; the cover of Sea Devils #25 (Sept.-Oct. 1965) is by Purcell. Thanks to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories website for the ad—to the Grand Comics Database for the cover—and to Russ Heath and Mike Catron, respectively, for the photos, which were seen in fuller versions in A/E #40 and The All-Star Companion, Vol. 3! [Ad ©2010 DC Comics.]

JA: Russ Heath had also drawn Sea Devils.... KASHDAN: Yes, Russ was kept busy by Bob Kanigher. Bob Haney wrote some Sea Devils, and he hated Purcell’s work. He said, “Purcell draws these agitated characters, right out of his psyche.” Purcell was not as effective an artist as Russ Heath. JA: Later, DC brought back the “Johnny Peril” character from the ’40s. KASHDAN: I do remember him. Purcell drew him. I don’t remember the reason he was brought back. JA: When you did, you used the same artist again, which I thought was pretty good. KASHDAN: I think that was the initial reason for the decision. Use the [original] artist, and maybe you’ll get good quality. They didn’t use that logic with Joe Shuster on “Superman.” Jack and Mort used Wayne Boring and Al Plastino and Ed Dobrotka. Eddie was a good ghost for these guys.

KASHDAN: He was a great ladies’ man. He loved to talk about his sexual experiences. They were kind of zany. The poor guy had a terrible marriage. Russ went on to greener pastures. He was an artist on “Little Annie Fanny” for Harvey Kurtzman and Playboy. The artwork there was really superior. Russ and his colleagues on “Annie” drew some lush pictures of her. JA: He wasn’t too good on deadlines with you, was he? KASHDAN: With me, he was no problem. With Schiff, he was kind of slow, and he asked Schiff for more money than we were paying in our department. Schiff yelled at him, “We don’t have that kind of money!” They argued about it. Heath didn’t quit Sea Devils; he just kept working with Kanigher, and he just naturally drifted away

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

from our department. After his argument with Schiff, I said, “What are you trying to do, get rich quick, Russ?” And he said, “I don’t need this kind of work.” Kanigher used to write his scripts while he was on vacation. If Kanigher was in Barbados, Russ said, “I might as well fly to Barbados and pick up a script from Bob.” It would have been worth the plane fare to him, is what he said. [mutual laughter] JA: This conversation with Russ Heath brings up an interesting point. We have the impression today that, if you worked for one editor at DC, you worked for that editor and not the others. KASHDAN: Kanigher was a son of a bitch about it. I needed a good cover. I asked Irwin Donenfeld for Kubert, but Kanigher refused to release him. You’d think Irwin would’ve had enough concern for the books to say to Kanigher, “Look, we’re all in this business together. We’re not competing with one another.” He could have done that, but he didn’t. I should have gone in there and said, “Irwin, what kind of a boss are you? Why are you letting Kanigher get away with this exclusivity of his?” I don’t know why Irwin had that attitude. I think he didn’t want to start fights in the office. JA: Generally, if you wanted to use an artist or a writer that was working for another editor, you had to go to that editor first, didn’t you? KASHDAN: Yes. I remember Schiff and Mort went for permission to Julie and Kanigher from time to time. Julie was rather generous with his artists.

“They Liked To Tell Stories” JA: Joe Kubert didn’t work for you, but did you get to know him? KASHDAN: Kubert started out as a childish kid. There was a saying among the writers in the bullpen—if you walk there along the entry corridor, and you see Kubert curled up in the corner, cover your arm. Kubert was getting some kind of Judo training or fisticuffs. If you came toward him and you seemed to be in his way, jokingly, he’d say, “Get out of the way,” and pound you in the arm. You wouldn‘t have the use of that arm for a while. After he got married, he kinda grew up. He was an amazing artist. His artwork was an extension of his personality, and the artwork grew with his personality. He liked to look after [artist] Sergio Aragones. Sergio used to love to come on strong with a woman when he was introduced to her. You’d find him down in a cocktail lounge, making love to her. [Jim chuckles] The whole gang at Mad magazine knew him, and he was a character. They liked to tell stories of how they were all in a hotel in Cuba or one of the Caribbean countries. They all saw Sergio go into the hotel with a new girlfriend he found, and they all cheered him. They waited on the street below, calling up there, “Hey, Sergio!” And he came running out of the room onto a balcony, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and clasping his hands in the victory sign. [Jim laughs] Somebody wrote a little remembrance of Mad magazine, and he told a story of Sergio in that hotel sequence. Sergio was an omnipresence.

The Perils Of “Johnny Peril” Although the early episodes of a revived “Johnny Peril” were written and drawn by originator Howard Purcell, the “Peril” story in Unexpected #107 (June-July 1968) was scripted by none other than George Kashdan! It was penciled by Jack Sparling; the bearded artist drew himself into panels 4 & 5. The inker is uncertain. The original art for the entire story is in the collection of Gene Reed. See The All-Star Companion, Vol. 3, for more on the 1947-51 “Johnny Peril” series. [©2010 DC Comics.]

frightened and worried while he was out there in the waiting room of the Emergency Ward. He was sitting with some sketching pads and tried to draw his characters with his left hand to see if he could make the transition if he had to lose his drawing arm. The next thing I heard was that Sergio is back in action. JA: Tell me about [artist] John Romita.

JA: He didn’t work for you, did he? KASHDAN: No. He was once assigned as a writer on Bob Hope, and wrote some stories [for other books]. He had a good, zany style. It was tailor-made for Mad. I remember, one day, Sergio got some pain and paralysis in his drawing arm, and I was with Murray when Joe Kubert was waiting to see Murray. Joe said, “Hey, Murray. I’ve got to take Sergio to the hospital. It looks bad.” And so they went off together. About a week later, I asked Joe what happened with Sergio at the hospital. He said, “I don’t know if Sergio was right-handed or left-handed.” It was his right arm that had gone bad on him. Joe said it was almost humorous. Poor Sergio was so

KASHDAN: He was a nice chap, yes. He was never resistant to making some corrections. He was all right. JA: Here’s a story he told me about you: He suddenly wasn’t getting any more work at DC. Jack Miller quit giving him work, so Romita went over to Marvel and Stan Lee hired him. Immediately after that—before John started to work for Stan—he got a call from you. You said, “I didn’t know you were out of work,” and you offered him Metamorpho. KASHDAN: That was when Ramona decided she had to retire. I offered it to him. Joe Orlando was unable to take Metamorpho [as editor]. I felt that [John] could copy the style Ramona had set up.

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

Seven With One Blow The great Joe Kubert (on the left in photo) smiled for the camera with A/E interviewer Jim Amash a couple of years ago. Below is a real find: a never-before-published try-out drawing done by Joe, circa 1944, with the idea of landing the job of drawing the book-length “Seven Soldiers of Victory” stories in Leading Comics. But, after issue #14 (Spring 1945), Leading was turned over to DC’s funny-animal contingent. Thanks to Heritage Comics Archives and Dominic Bongo for the art scan, and to Jim Amash & Teresa R. Davidson for the photo. [Seven Soldiers of Victory TM & ©2009 DC Comics.]

JA: Another artist we haven’t talked about is Murphy Anderson. KASHDAN: Murphy was very well-liked; everybody was fond of him. Gil Kane said, “Murphy Anderson is going to be canonized one day.” [Jim laughs] Any time you needed a favor and you went to Murphy, he was always Johnny-on-thespot to help you out. When New York had a transit strike, Murphy would invite people to ride with him. He’d get them home. JA: I always thought he was one of the most important artists at that company. KASHDAN: Yes, he was. He finally left to work for

Serg-ing Ahead Sergio Aragonés… and a sketch he drew (at the 1995 Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina) spoofing a scene from the original Star Wars film. Well, why not? In 1977 writer Roy Thomas and artists Howard Chaykin, Alan Kupperberg (uncredited), and Tom Palmer had caricatured Sergio as a space-bandito-style villain called “Sergi-X” in Marvel’s Star Wars comic #7-10. Thanks to comic art dealer Mike Burkey for the illo; his website is www.romitaman.com. [Art ©2010 Sergio Aragones.]

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

features that Jack Schiff wrote, and once they had a big argument. He was a reactionary, that Mortimer. Jack had written a piece about integration— involving story involving black and white kids going to school together, being friends together, maybe going to dances together, and Mortimer rebelled at that. Schiff told him, “If you don’t want to do that, get the hell out. I don’t need any work from you.” JA: Mortimer didn’t work for you, did he? KASHDAN: No, I never needed him for anything. JA: But you wouldn’t have not hired a guy because of his politics? KASHDAN: Right. I used to give work to [artist] Leonard Starr—who was a very good Republican and who went around saying things like, “Alger Hiss was a homosexual.” To him, “homosexual” meant “Democrat.”

“Sekowsky And Bob Haney… Hated Each Other” JA: You mentioned Mike Sekowsky, but we really didn’t talk about him. KASHDAN: I brought him in when we tried out a new character called “Tiger Ingwe.” Sekowsky was the only artist available. He didn’t make the character very appealing. We tried him in Showcase.

Julie Liked To Call This A “Spectre-acular”! Murphy Anderson’s splash for Showcase #60 (Jan.-Feb. 1966), the comic that returned Jerry Siegel & Bernard Baily’s Spectre to the DC Universe—as noted in our “Earth-Two” coverage in A/E #93. Script by Gardner Fox; editing by Julius Schwartz. Thanks to Bob Bailey & Betty Dobson. [©2010 DC Comics.]

Will Eisner [on P.S. magazine]. He thought Eisner was a very ethical man and paid good money. JA: Murphy generally worked for Julie Schwartz. KASHDAN: Yes. He was always in Julie’s office. His work was hard to criticize. It was always on the button. JA: “The Murphy Anderson Look,” in a certain sense, was part of the house style. Murphy doesn’t agree with me on this. He thinks that they would ask him to do work because he was working there in the office. But I think Murphy’s being too modest. Did you feel like he was part of the house style? KASHDAN: I thought he was above the house style. JA: You ended up taking over Hawkman from Julie Schwartz. Murphy left the book when Julie did, and you put Dillin and Cuidera on it. KASHDAN: Dillin did an excellent job, and Cuidera just had to ink him. But Hawkman was very old-fashioned, compared to the modern superheroes. Any kid opening the book could probably tell that this character was an old guy they kept around. There was nothing Murphy could do to rescue Hawkman from that perception. JA: And you weren’t able to do anything about it, either. What do you remember about Win Mortimer? KASHDAN: Win Mortimer occasionally drew some of the public service

“Batman And Robin Stand Up For Sportsmanship!” But the real subject of this public service page was racial and ethnic tolerance. Whether or not George K.’s less-than-favorable anecdote re Winslow Mortimer is accurate, that artist drew this page which appeared in DC mags dated Feb.March 1951. Script probably by Jack Schiff. Thanks to Gene Reed & Bob Bailey. A photo of Mortimer was seen in A/E #79. [©2010 DC Comics.]

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

JA: Are you sure you don’t mean “B’wana Beast”? KASHDAN: That might have been “B’wana Beast”—I don’t remember. And I had a lot of agitation from Sekowsky and Bob Haney. The two of them hated each other. They couldn’t work together. Haney didn’t like his artwork; he felt Sekowsky was a fat, sloppy guy, and imparted his fat and sloppiness to his character [B’wana Beast], which Haney took great pride in. I was getting weak artwork back from Sekowsky. I said to Irwin, “Would you settle this fight between those two children?” Irwin said, “Well, I spoke to Sekowsky, and he said he can’t help himself. Any time he gets a script from Bob Haney, he may trip up on the character and on the scenes.” It was all African jungle scenes. I wanted to say to Irwin, “Why don’t you tell him to cut out that crap?” Irwin [should’ve told Sekowsky], “Why are you so insensitive to your writer, that you have to turn in inferior work?” I didn’t say that. I was arguing too much with Irwin. JA: “B’wana Beast” was not really that strong a character idea, was he?

them nearly got into a fistfight. [Sekowsky’s art] didn’t grab me. It was competent. As I said, the colorists all thought he was the greatest. JA: Jack Sparling. KASHDAN: Sparling was an excellent artist. He was an artist for me on many characters. JA: He drew Bomba the Jungle Boy for you. KASHDAN: Bomba, the Jungle Boy? I don’t remember editing a Bomba series. I think he did some “Space Ranger.” Sometimes we would give him a mystery story or a science-fiction adventure. I remember he had all his time worked out efficiently. He would invite you to his studio to sit and talk with him while he did his inking. He lived in a great house, a couple of A-frames, one for visitors and guests, and the other was his studio. At that time, he was living in Falls Village, Connecticut. We were quite close.

KASHDAN: No, not especially. I don’t remember him jumping out and grabbing the reader. JA: What did you think of Sekowsky, personally? KASHDAN: I found him to be a friendly man. If you bumped into him at the bar, he’d buy you drinks. JA: But he was also known for being temperamental. He could be surly, sarcastic. KASHDAN: He was all that. He never got that way with me. It all came out on Haney, and the two of

Call Me B’wana “B’wana Beast” starred in Showcase #66 (Jan.-Feb. 1967), whose cover and splash panel are seen here, and in the following issue—to swiftly become, in some fannish circles, a byword for a bad comic book, even a bad concept. Not that it was really much better or worse than many other mags. More likely, the use of the presumedly ethnically-patronizing word “B’wana” (Swahili for “master” or “boss”) put off some readers, despite the highly-educated African seen narrating the splash page. Actually, since GK refers to the feature as “Tiger Ingwe,” it may have started out with that title instead—even though there are no tigers in Africa. Interior inking by George Roussos. The situation was complicated, Kashdan says, by the fact that scripter Bob Haney and penciler Mike Sekowsky loathed each other’s work. Bob Haney was seen in A/E #94; the above photo of Sekowsky, courtesy of his ex-wife Pat, was printed in full in A/E #33. (Oh, and in case you didn’t know: the phrase used in our heading was the title of a 1963 Bob Hope movie! Critics didn’t care much for it, either.) [©2010 DC Comics.]

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

Call Me Bomba A clockwise triptych of “Bomba” artifacts: the dust jacket of a later edition of the 1927 novel Bomba the Jungle Boy on Jaguar Island—a movie still of Johnny Sheffield in Bomba on Panther Island (1949)—and Jack Sparling’s cover for DC’s Bomba the Jungle Boy #3 (Jan-Feb. 1968). Bomba started life in the 1920s in Tarzan-imitation novels for youngsters, set at first in the Amazon jungle and written by “Roy Rockwood”; Jaguar Island was the fourth of the series. When actor Johnny Sheffield outgrew the role of “Boy” in the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films by the late ’40s, he moved on to twelve low-budget Bomba movies; Panther Island was the second—no jaguars, since the flicks were set in Africa (like some of the later Bomba novels). Because Sheffield was in his late teens, the initial movie was titled Bomba of the Jungle. The publicity shot at far right was posted on the Brian’s Drive-In Theater website—and doesn’t Roy T. wish he had all dozen of those Bomba films to add to his nigh-complete Tarzan collection! [Bomba #3 cover ©2010 DC Comics; book cover & still ©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

We tried writing a play together, but time ran out on us. He was a very straightforward man. He spoke his mind, and wasn’t afraid to be honest. JA: What about [artist] Gil Kane? KASHDAN: Gil, I remember, was up there frequently. He worked for Kanigher, I believe. JA: Yes, but he generally worked for Julie. KASHDAN: Whenever I think of that department, [I think of it as Julie and Bob together].... [Kane] often spoke his mind, and you could depend on him to make an honest statement about any situation. If he disliked a man’s work, he did not have the artificial kindness to say his work was great. He would say what he thought about it. He and I patronized the same dentist, and the dentist told me [that Gil had passed away]. JA: Gil was a guy who basically remade himself.

La Bomba What the hey— since we just finished a “Bomba” montage, we might as well illustrate Carmine Infantino’s considerable artistic skills by showcasing this dynamic cover he penciled for Bomba the Jungle Boy #1 (Sept.-Oct. 1967), around the time he became the company’s cover editor. Chuck Cuidera was the inker. Courtesy of the GCD. Carmine’s photo appeared in A/E #93. [©2010 DC Comics.]

KASHDAN: His first wife had told him she wouldn’t marry him unless he changed his name and got a nose job, so he went out and did it. I said to the guys, “Oh, is he in for a lousy marriage! Any woman who would do that to a man.…” Later, I heard he was sneaking time with this girl named Elaine, who he said he loved very much, and he couldn’t wait to get a divorce so he could marry her. I then became aware that wherever Gil went, even at the office, or if there was a gathering of writers and artists in the gin mill across the street, Elaine would be with him. He was a skillful artist. When you told him what you wanted, you got back precisely what you asked for. He was quite talkative and open in his opinion of people he liked or disliked. As I indicated, he thought Murphy Anderson was the greatest living human being.

“[Carmine Infantino] Tried To Make The Whole Company A Team” JA: Let’s talk about Carmine Infantino. When you started work there, he was just an artist. And of course, he eventually became an editor and publisher. I’d like to know what you thought about him in the early days. KASHDAN: The early days, I found him very personable and friendly. He even came to have lunch with Arnold and Jack Miller and me. JA: Did he talk politics? KASHDAN: No, no. He had the guarded quality of a man who couldn’t

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

afford to get excited about anything indecent. [chuckles] Jack Sparling had some of that. You know, Sparling was a reformed alcoholic. He would not talk politics with Jack Schiff, who got excited and could impart that excitement to anyone around him. And Sparling would sit back and watch him excite himself, and say nothing. JA: Carmine was like that, too? KASHDAN: No. I say it’s a possibility. He was a gifted artist [who really grew]. JA: Until he came in editorial, did you have much to do with him? KASHDAN: Not especially. He came in and did some stories for Jack, and Jack had no objection to his artwork. We all agreed that his “Batman” covers were kind of weak. Frequently, Batman didn’t come out looking heroic. He had an odd face [when Carmine drew him]. JA: I liked those covers, and I think he did a great job on The Flash. KASHDAN: Oh, yes. JA: And he was considered one of the more important artists at DC. KASHDAN: Yes. JA: When Carmine got into a position of power, what was it like working for him? KASHDAN: He tried to make the whole company a team. He was very friendly with Mort Meskin and George Roussos. He had to learn how to learn how to be an editor-in-chief. He came up with ideas. I remember he brought Bill Gaines up to the office as an adviser, and Gaines couldn’t understand what the big deal was about. Gaines didn’t do much in the way of advising. Maybe he’d look at a cover, he’d say, “This is funny. Tell this artist he’s got to smooth his ink lines out.” Carmine was very friendly and pleasant. I told him he should stop fighting with Mort Weisinger. They had a big tiff at an editorial conference. Carmine is a rather sensitive man. Mort howled imprecations at him and said, “Listen, Carmine, I don’t give a damn what you say. It’s got to be such-and-such a way,” on whatever they were arguing about, and I could see Carmine was very agitated by that. JA: Mort had been there so long, he didn’t want anyone telling him what to do, I’d imagine. You think that might have been part of the reason that Mort eventually retired? KASHDAN: Mort said that it was because Jack Liebowitz retired. I said, “Hey, Mort, I thought you were here until they locked the doors on this establishment.” He said, “Yeah, I wanted to spend my whole life here. I once promised Liebowitz I would not quit unless he quit.” So when

Liebowitz announced his retirement, Mort announced his retirement. JA: Did Carmine often butt heads with the editors? KASHDAN: Oh, yes! He and Dorothy Woolfolk were always fighting with each other like a pair of teenagers. I think he and Julie got along well. JA: They had worked together for so long. There were a few people who worked in production that I’d like to ask you about, starting with Ira Schnapp. KASHDAN: Ira Schnapp was a letterer. Ira was a classicist. It was always educational and entertaining to sit with him. JA: I understand that, before he was in comic books, he did the lettering for buildings such as the United States Post Office in New York.

Schnapp Decision Letterer Ira Schnapp; photo courtesy of Bob Rozakis. Photos of fellow letterers Milt Snappin and Joe Letterese and of production man Ray Perry, all also mentioned in this piece, were seen in A/E #56.

KASHDAN: He may have done that. Schnapp was a relative of Jack Liebowitz. He decided he would never make it as a painter or sketcher, so Liebowitz said, “Why don’t you come over and do some lettering for us? Then you can do whatever you feel like.” Ira was a hard-working man. He was kind of scrunched up and seated at his work bench all the time. All the artists in the department there used to kid him. They might be talking about a subject like the Civil War, and I was walking by the production office and heard one of them yell out, “Ira knows a lot about the Civil War, yeah, yeah. Because he was alive during it!” JA: Didn’t he design most of the logos for the comic books? I’m told he designed the Superman logo. KASHDAN: He may have. That required a good, strong, free hand and a nice swipe of the pen. When Ira’s eyes went bad on him, he came in and went to work for a steady-paying position, working for Milton Snappin. I remember Milton saying, “He’s great! I tell him to do something, and he gets it done in record time.” JA: Ray Perry. KASHDAN: Ray Perry was a fine artist who used to relax during lunch hours by inviting people to come pose for a portrait. And he would do a rather efficient one. He was an Old World conservative. He was straightlaced. He required respect, but he didn’t demand it openly. He never had an important position there. I think his function was touch-ups. There was a little group in there, consisting of Joe Letterese and a young fellow named Morris Waldinger. [NOTE: A photo of Morris Waldinger appeared in A/E #93. —Jim.] Whatever job came in there, before they reduced it to the coloring size, they gave the large artwork over to Joe and Morris. [They would clean up the pages.] Morris was very scrunched-up into himself. If you tracked him down, you might find he’s willing to talk to you, but he’d be very careful about what he said. I remember I got him a date with a woman, and he said it worked out rather nice, but no chance of romance.

Don’t Make A Production Out Of It! DC production chief Jack Adler (left) in the 1970s, in a detail from a photo he supplied us for A/E #56. Sol Harrison, who headed that department and later became the company’s vice-president, is seen in the pic at right, taken by DC writer and production man Bob Rozakis.

Joe Letterese was a very, very uptight man. When he had his first heart attack, nobody was surprised. It wasn’t because he ate poorly, but he seemed always tense, looking for work. He used to do freelance lettering when he was out of the office. JA: One of the guys that worked in production and became a big star later at Mad was Mort Drucker.

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

KASHDAN: Oh, yes. Mort was always a dependable artist. He was friendly, and he had a great sense of humor. You could tell by his artwork in Mad, I’m sure. JA: The other person in production: Jack Adler. KASHDAN: Jack was very hard-working. He kept taking home coloring work to do freelance. He enjoyed coloring. He had a photography hobby. He used to like to take his daughter out on photography trips. [Production man] Ed Eisenberg was constantly fighting with Adler over the work that Adler was getting. I think maybe [Adler] felt that Eisenberg was shorting him on coloring work. Adler and Sol Harrison were good friends. Eisenberg was friendly. He was unhappy there. He didn’t like having Sol Harrison as a boss. JA: Especially since they started out together. KASHDAN: Yes, they were friends outside the office. JA: What about Sol do you remember? KASHDAN: Sol was a difficult man to reach. When he colored up a cover for me, and I told him I didn’t like such-and-such a thing about the coloring, he would say, “Tell me what you want, just tell me what you want.” I would say to him, “Sol, I know exactly what I want. I want you to determine what I want, and bring back what you color up there.” He didn’t quite understand that, but we remained friendly. When they dumped Carmine, Sol came in and took his place.

JA: There was another long-time letterer named Gaspar Saladino. KASHDAN: He always had a girlfriend coming in; very often, they were twitty little things. Shelly Mayer would say, “She’s just the type of girl that Gaspar would wind up with.” He was a ladies’ man. JA: Another feature you may have worked on was “Tommy Tomorrow.” KASHDAN: Yes, that one I didn’t have to worry too much about. If I asked Gardner [Fox] for a Buck Rogers-type story... “Tommy Tomorrow” was Buck Rogers, updated. JA: You wrote some “Congo Bill,” didn’t you? KASHDAN: Yes, I did. [I wasn’t fond of it.] It’s funny—when Jack Miller wrote me a “Congo Bill”... in a caption, he wrote, “With a Tarzan-like leap, Bill reaches the—” whatever it was he was chasing. Maybe a tiger, whatever it was. So the story came out, and about a week later, a lawyer sent a letter, saying, “We represent the Estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and you referred in a ‘Congo Bill’ story that you published to the character Congo Bill taking a ‘Tarzan-like leap.’ This was done without permission of the owners of Tarzan. Please inform us as to how you intend to make amends for this error.” It was a typical lawyer’s letter. It was handed over to our on-premises lawyer, a man named Abraham Mennon. I think he called Jack Schiff and said, “Forget it. It’s all taken care of.” I think they agreed to a settlement with the Burroughs family. But that’s the sort of thing you run into.

From The Cosmos To The Congo Gene Reed, who owns the original art to the above-left late “Tommy Tomorrow” page from Showcase #46 (Sept.-Oct. 1963), believes it may have been scripted by George Kashdan. Art by Lee Elias. Tommy never quite did get a title to call his own. No scripter has been identified, even tentatively, for the “Congo Bill” tale from the same issue (above right). Did George K., who wrote both features at one time or another, perhaps script “The Derelict from the Deeps!”? Who knows? The “TT” pencils are ascribed to Curt Swan, the inks to John Fischetti; the “CB” artist was apparently by Ed Smalle, Jr. [©2010 DC Comics.]

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

JA: Did you like the Johnny Quick character? KASHDAN: I didn’t dislike him. I felt he was a little bit too childish. When I say “childish,” he [was dumbed down] too much to kiddies. They should have given him a better name.

“Give Us Plenty Of Scary Monsters!” JA: When you started writing for Filmation, writing the DC cartoons, were you still on staff as an editor, or did you start doing this afterward? KASHDAN: After I left editing comic books, I wrote one or two scripts and was hired as an editor. JA: How did you get into that position to be writing them? KASHDAN: It was while I was an editor. Jack Miller and I had collaborated for another producer on The Mighty Hercules, and when [then CBS-TV children’s programming head] Fred Silverman came over and convinced Jack Liebowitz to go into television, I was invited to write some pilots, and to help the artists do their storyboards. Then I got deep into it. JA: You wrote “Aquaman,” “The Atom,” “Batman,” “Flash,” “Hawkman,” “Green Lantern,” the “Justice League of America,” “Superboy,” “Superman,” and “Teen Titans.” Were there any restrictions on what you could write and what you couldn’t write? KASHDAN: Silverman went monster-happy. I remember Bob Haney and I went over to meet with him and he said, “Give us plenty of scary monsters!” There wasn’t much TV censorship. The list of Do’s and Don’ts was reasonably intelligent. JA: Did you have to do much in the way of rewriting? KASHDAN: No. The only rewriting was re-planning. When I had a storyline, I wrote a scenario and the producers expected that of me. When [Silverman] read the scenario, he said, “Look, we don’t want our hero to sound so stupid,” something like that. And that was the only you-couldcall-rewriting that was done. The ones I liked were the characters other than Batman and Superman. Those two were so well-known, and these [lesser-known ones] used to compete with them. The fantasy of an “Aquaman” and a “Teen Titans” and an “Atom” was more fun. The “Justice League” made a good, exciting bunch to write about. JA: There was talk around this time of doing a Plastic Man television cartoon. Do you remember? KASHDAN: Yes, I remember they tried a pilot. The producer was Hal Seeger. I don’t know why it failed. I thought it was pretty good. The fantasy worked. Arnold

Drake wrote that. Silverman turned it into comedy, which I thought was a bad mistake. He had voices there imitating Walter Brennan and Jimmy Stewart. JA: They considered Metamorpho for cartoons. How far did they get?

The “Zero” Apparently Stood For KASHDAN: It never went Amount Of Profit Participation into cartoons. Some Title cel for the 1967 series Johnny Cypher in producer up in Canada Dimension Zero, a concept George says he and wanted to do it, but DC Jack Schiff had developed for Oriolo Studios. didn’t encourage him. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.] When he came down to DC, he wanted to see what we had. He fell in love with Ramona Fradon’s artwork on Metamorpho, and what he had worked out was... he had a little gimmick. He took a comic book page, and reproduced it on a screen and ran the story so that whenever a character spoke, with the help of a balloon, they moved his mouth and had him blinking his eyes. But the artificial nature of it came across. JA: So the figures didn’t move, but the eyes and the mouths moved. KASHDAN: That’s right. I remember many of the competitors of our characters looked awful. The figures were all stiff. It was a little bit stinted when you looked at it. The limited animation was so apparent. The Mighty Hercules we wrote for a producer named Joe Oriolo. He had drawn Casper the Friendly Ghost and Felix the Cat. He was a very excitable man, and quick to threaten the use of his fists. He was lucky he didn’t get his teeth knocked down his throat with all those threats. He couldn’t express himself in correct English. He would get angry, and when he complained about a story that he didn’t like, it didn’t come out in civil language. Poor Joe is dead now. We remained friends after the series, and then he tried to screw Jack and me on a character we created for him: Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero. Our lawyer wrote his lawyer, and demanded some kind of a contract for us, and an acknowledgement of our creativity there. Their lawyer said he’d look after us, and that was before our lawyers got into it. And then we read in Variety that Oriolo Studios were doing a new character called Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero. Jack Miller asked one of the women at DC to call Oriolo, and to act like she was a reporter for Variety, and she’d like to know what he’s got planned. And Oriolo ran off at the mouth about what a great series it was going to be, and that he came up with all by himself. So we told our lawyer about it, and he wrote a letter to Trans-Lux, who was going to distribute it to the independent channels on TV, that this was in derogation of his clients’ rights. He demanded to know how they intended to compensate us. One day, I got a call from Oriolo. He said, “What’s going on here with you guys? What, are you trying to screw me?” I said, “No, Joe, we feel you tried to screw us,” and that went on, back and forth. We got nowhere. JA: Too bad that series never really got off the ground. I know that, on a couple of occasions, you adapted stories from the comics for the DC cartoons. Were you asked to do that? KASHDAN: You know what happened? When the Batman live show

A Bridwell’s-Eye View E. Nelson Bridwell, rather than editor Mort Weisinger, probably selected the stories that appeared in the giant-size Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #122 (Aug.-Sept. 1969). ENB is listed as “assistant editor” in the issue’s indicia, but he was full editor on various Batman and other super-sized reprint anthologies of the period, which are an early treasure trove of 1940s-50s DC, Quality, & Fawcett reprints. Art by Curt Swan (pencils) & Neal Adams (inks). Nelson was depicted in A/E #94. [©2010 DC Comics.]

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

went on TV, many of the stories there were done from synopses that [DC editor] Nelson Bridwell typed up for them. Poor Nelson was really exploited. He was one of the heroes of the young fan clubs. They’d come up to visit him. He was very brilliant and very well-read. Any time you needed a question about Shakespeare answered, you went to Nelson and he had the answer, right off the top of his head. His knowledge of comics was as encyclopedic as it was of Shakespeare and Dickens. JA: You said he was exploited. In what way? KASHDAN: They told him, “Take some old volumes of Batman, and type synopses of each story in there.” And those synopses became easy productions. There was almost a frightened quality about him. Mort Weisinger used to kick him around symbolically. We used to say, “Nelson, this is not good for you. You mustn’t let Mort terrorize you.” He was in such terror. Mort used to have a buzzer system. Mort was in another part of the office, and whenever he needed Nelson, he would press a button and it would buzz on Nelson’s desk. And Nelson leaped up as if someone had jabbed him with a knife in the ass. He leaped up and went running into Mort’s office. That meant that Mort found something that he could bawl out Nelson over. DC always rewarded Nelson whenever there was a dinner or luncheon for some occasion. I remember they called upon Nelson to make a speech, and he made the dullest, longest speeches.

“It Wasn’t A Matter Of Coming Back [To DC]” JA: In the ’60s and ’70s, you started writing for Murray Boltinoff and Dorothy Woolfolk. How did it feel, because you had worked with Murray for many years, and here you are working for him? What was it like to come back there? KASHDAN: It was pleasant. It wasn’t a matter of coming back. After I departed the editorial offices, I came back the next morning with story ideas. I remember I wrote some Tomahawk for him. JA: You did Tomahawk, Weird Mystery Tales, Weird War Tales. KASHDAN: I wrote some Weird War for [editor] Paul Levitz. Paul had a good story sense, and he was good and stimulating to write for. You could give him a plot idea, and he would contribute his own editorial ideas. I had a lot of respect for Paul. JA: You also wrote Ghosts for Murray Boltinoff, Girls’ Love Stories… KASHDAN: That was for Dorothy. Later on, I did it for Bob Kanigher. JA: Outside of Tomahawk, [during this period] you really didn’t write stories about super-heroes or regular characters. You generally didn’t write continuing features. KASHDAN: Not too often, right. That was the way it worked out. I often stuck my head in the office: “Murray, you need any plots for anything?” And he’d say, “Yeah, bring me some mystery… Tales of the Unexpected.” The synopsis consisted of my throwing an idea at him verbally. I worked that way with everyone. JA: Around 1966, in House of Mystery, there was the “Dial H for Hero” character. Do you remember him? KASHDAN: I didn’t like that character, so I did not write for it. [NOTE: At one point, George did edit the book. —Jim] That was a Jack Schiff concept. He thought it would appeal to all the young readers who dreamed of becoming super-heroes. He encouraged readers to send in ideas for heroes that the young protagonist of that series [could become]. JA: They had some truly terrible characters. KASHDAN: Oh, they were. The Wood brothers [Dick and Dave] wrote it.

You’re Warped! Among the stories Kashdan wrote on his return to DC was “The Righteous Ones” for Time Warp #1 (Oct.-Nov. 1979), which was illustrated by Dick Giordano. Another page from this story was seen in A/E #93. [©2010 DC Comics.]

JA: As long as Schiff had a job, the Wood brothers had work. He must have known they weren’t very good writers. Why do you think he kept working with them? KASHDAN: He figured he could edit them into legible form. [mutual laughter] Oh, I disliked that [“Dial H for Hero” feature]. JA: Robby Reed would say, “Sockamagee!” instead of “Shazam!” KASHDAN: Jack Miller said, “You know, that goddamn ‘Sockamagee’ makes me vomit every time I see it.” I don’t know who bought that comic. Nelson Bridwell used to read the letters that came in, and he’d read, “The man wants to do such-and-such a thing. Oh, is that funny!” [chuckles] After the readers submitted an idea, if that character was chosen, the kid who submitted it got a credit. Once, a kid’s father thought his son should be paid for it. Irwin Donenfeld consulted our corporate lawyer, who said, “Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to pay for that. It’s like a contest in which the reward was to see your name in print as the creator of this character.” The theory was that the winners would get their friends to buy the comic or they’d get their parents to buy many copies, which they would give out to friends and relatives. It never was a winner, I’m afraid.

Concluding Our Epic Interview With George Kashdan

Donny or Marie sipping a Coke. Mormons may not drink anything that contains caffeine. Coffee was also forbidden, obviously. Tea was forbidden. Western published them. Arnold and I also wrote comic versions of some well-known writers’ work, like Jack Vance. We took some of their prose fiction and turned them into comic stories. JA: For Twilight Zone? KASHDAN: No, but we wrote some Twilight Zone stories. These stories were their own comic books. [NOTE: Starstream, a four-volume trade paperback set. —Jim.] I remember they paid licensing money to Vance and to Harlan Ellison. JA: Let’s talk about how you started working for Western Publishing. KASHDAN: Well, the DC market thinned out, and Arnold introduced me to Wally Green, Western’s editor-in-chief, and some of the other editors around there. They had books like Boris Karloff and Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. Every story started with a speech by one of those guys. JA: I also have you as writing Turok, Son of Stone.

The Grab-Bag Super-Hero George K. claims he disliked the “Dial H for Hero” series so much that he refused to write for it. Young Robby Reed never knew what new superhero he’d turn into when he used his “fantastic ‘H’ Dial.” In the course of the 15-page lead story of House of Mystery #166 (April 1967), he became first the Yankee Doodle Kid (left), then (as per the splash) Chief Mighty Arrow. “Sockamagee!” as Robby was wont to say… and say… and say… though it wasn’t really a magic word like “Shazam!”—it was more the equivalent of Billy Batson’s “Holy Moley!” Script attributed to Dave Wood, pencils to Jim Mooney; the inker is uncertain. Surprisingly, there is now a Showcase volume reprinting “Dial H for Hero.” [©2010 DC Comics.]

“Writing For Western” JA: I’m looking through this list of your credits, and it states you were a distributor of Independent Television Films. It says you were a distributor from ’69 to ’74, and lists Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch as two films that you had something to do with. KASHDAN: No, I was never involved in distribution. But when I was writing for Western—like Arnold Drake—we each received assignments to do stories for licensed characters. Arnold had to write little detective stories for Donny and Marie Osmond, and I did Starsky and Hutch and Charlie’s Angels. It didn’t go too happily, because we were too limited in what we could write. Some of those stories of mine, I’m unhappy what they did to edit them. What I wrote was prose fiction for those characters. They were published in a nice little format, a book of short stories. Starsky and Hutch had three stories, and Arnold wrote three stories for a Donny and Marie book. And Arnold couldn’t write anything about

Islands In The Starstream Here, from Western’s science-fiction adaptation series Starstream (#4, 1976) is a page of “Report to the Plenary Council”—which was listed as “a Starstream Original” presumably written in prose form by the mag’s editor, Roger Elwood, and then adapted into comics format by GK. Art by Alden McWilliams. [©2010 Western Publishing Co., Inc., or its successors in interest.]

KASHDAN: No, I never got on Turok. But I wrote some Star Trek and Lone Ranger. At Western, they boasted, “We don’t go in for all these newfangled Archie-renditions with multiple speech balloons. We’re SearsRoebuck, and we want to stay that way. We‘re easier for the kids to understand.” I remember they once got this license from Disney Studios to do a comic book, which I think Disney hoped would bring an audience to the theatres. It was some bird-like character—what was he called? This was about a jerky guy who becomes a birdman. It had a lot of tongue-incheek. It wasn’t anything like Hawkman. [NOTE: The book and film were called Condorman. —Jim.] I wrote one story involving Russian

“It’s Important That We Don’t Get Forgotten”

spies. I also wrote Flash Gordon for them. Arnold wrote some of that stuff, too.

guess. And then, when my wife died in 1992, I had no reason to pursue money, so I stopped. I left the commercial rat race.

JA: Did you like writing Star Trek?

JA: What were some of the places you wrote for during that time?

KASHDAN: Yes, it was fun. I didn’t like the Trekkies who came around to tell us how to write it. My only reference material was to watch the reruns of Star Trek. I thought it was a pretty good series.

KASHDAN: What I did was buy a book of [writers’] markets, and I was shooting for the cheaper publications, and some of the electronic publications. They didn’t pay too well, which was all right with me. Some of my stories appeared on the TV screen, straight prose. [NOTE: None of this was actually adapted for television, according to George, so I’m not certain what he meant by this comment. —Jim.]

JA: Why did you quit writing for Western? KASHDAN: They were having financial problems, and couldn’t pay me what I was worth. [mutual chuckling] Arnold had that problem. He managed to get a raise out of them. That was sort of my swan song. I began writing straight prose fiction, some of which I had published in small prestige publications. I did that for about two or three months, I

I was a little reluctant when we first started doing this interview, but I’m glad we did it. I hope I helped you, and that people will care about the guys who made the comics. It’s important that we don’t get forgotten!

GEORGE KASHDAN Checklist [NOTE: The following Checklist is adapted from information contained in the online Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1928-1999), established by Jerry G. Bails; see website ad on p. 72. Names of features listed below which appeared both in magazines with that specific title and in other publications, as well, are generally not italicized. Key: (e) = editor; (w) = writer.]

Name: George Kashdan (1928-2006) (writer & editor) Pen Names: Jerry Case; Gus Kelly; Jack Kelly; George Kent; Jack Philips Education: B.A., University of Chicago Family in Arts: Brother – Bernard Kashdan (in accounting department of DC Comics) Print Media (Non-Comics): editor & writer – magazines, 1973+; writer – articles and books on diet and health; writer – juvenile books (incl. Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch for Western Publishing) Animation: Writer, Green Lantern, Justice League of America, Superboy, Superman, Teen Titans, 1967; story editor & writer, TransLux/Joe Oriolo, Mighty Hercules, 1960s; writer, Aquaman, Atom, Batman, Flash, Hawkman, Warner (no dates) [NOTE: Some of the preceding were segments of series rather than full series.]

Showcase (story e) 1962-64, (e) 1965-65, 1967; Space Ranger (w) 1962; Superboy (w) 1963; Superman (w) (no dates); support (associate e) 195962; support (assistant e) 1948-59; Tales of the Unexpected (w) 1957, 1964, (e) 1962-64; Teen Titans (e) 1966-68; Time Warp (w) 1979-80; Tomahawk (w) 1948, 1964-70, (story e) 1950-62; The Unexpected (w) 1957, 1964, 1968-82; Vigilante (w) 1949; Weird Mystery Tales (w) 1973-74; Weird War Tales (w) 1973-82; Western Comics (story e) 1948-53; The Witching Hour (w) 1971-73; Women at War (w) 1983; Young Love (w) 1971; Young Romance (w) 1974; Zatara (w) 1940s-50 Dell/Western Publications: Condorman (w) 1981; Flash Gordon (w) 1981-82; Lone Ranger (w) no dates; Starstream (w) 1976; Star Trek (w) no dates; Twilight Zone (w) no dates

Performing Arts: Writer – educational and promotional scripts for Pictorial Media, Inc. (no dates) Comics in Other Media: cartoons (w) for satire magazines COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream Publishers): DC Comics: Aquaman (w) 1947, 1950-52, 1958, 1961-64, (e) 1962-68; backup feature (w) in Sgt. Rock, 1987; Batman (w) 1956; Batman (story e) 1959-62; Blackhawk (e)(w) 1966, (story e) 1957-62, (e) 1963-68; Bomba the Jungle Boy (e)(w) 1967-68; Boy Commandos (w) 1947-48; The Brave and the Bold (e) 1962-68, (story e) 1960-62; Captain Compass (w) 1950s; Combat Cops (w) 1984; Congo Bill (w) 1947, 1950, 1955; Dark Mansion (w) 1973; Day after Doomsday (e) 1983; Detective Comics (story e) 195962; Dial H for Hero (e) 1966-67, 1981; Falling in Love (w) (no dates); Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion (w) 1973; G.I. Combat (w) 1978, 198087; Gang Busters (w) 1953-57; Ghosts (w) 1973-82; Girls’ Love Stories (w) 1970-73; Green Arrow (w) 1947-51, 1955, 1962; Hawkman (e) 1967-68; Heart Throbs (w) (no dates); House of Mystery (e) 1962-68; House of Mystery (w) 1956-63, 1973-77, 1981-83; House of Secrets (story e) 195962, (w) 1962, 1973-74; Johnny Peril (w) 1968-70; Johnny Quick (w) 1950; Judge Gallows (w) 1970-72; The Mad Mod Witch (w) 1972; Metamorpho (e) 1965-68; My Greatest Adventure (story e) 1955-62; Mystery in Space (w) 1980; Mysto, Magician Detective (w) 1954; Plop! (w) 1974-75; Real Fact Comics (w) c. 1947-49; Rip Hunter, Time Master (w) 1965, (story e) 1961-62, (e) 1965-65; romance (w) 1940s-60s; Sea Devils (w) 1967, (e) 1964-67; Secrets of the Haunted House (w) 1974-75, 1977-81; Secrets of Sinister House (w) 1974; Sgt. Rock (w) 1986-87; Shining Knight (w) 1947;

Feeding Time Splash panel of a Kashdan-scripted story for House of Secrets #142 (Oct. 1976), with art by Leopoldo Duranona. The host figure is closely based on sometime DC editorial assistant Mark Hanerfeld. Thanks to an unknown donor. [©2010 DC Comics.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

“Clowns! $#%#% Clowns!” by Michael T. Gilbert

ast October my wife Janet and I had the pleasure of meeting the talented and always-provocative Mike Hoffman at Minnesota’s FallCon. For those unfamiliar with Mike, he self-publishes a ton of great horror, good-girl, and sci-fi comics, all available from his mikehoffman.com website. Mike also drew the cool Mr. Monster pic on our title page.

Anyway, we hung out with him after the show, and the Hoff told us about his latest comics. More specifically, he talked about Super Clowns, a group of creepy clowns who somehow get super-powers. How could that fail to sell, eh? Easily, it seems. Overall the Hoff-Man was pleased with his con sales, with one notable exception. “Nobody buys clowns!” said Mike. “I can’t give ‘em away. Everybody hates $#%#% clowns!” Well, that was a mighty provocative statement, even for Mike. And it got me to thinking. Is it true? Why are clowns so despised? After thoroughly researching the question, I’m here to report my findings. It ain’t pretty, folks!

Killer Clowns! I didn’t have time to interview any real clowns. Instead, I went right to the source: old comic books. And what a treasure trove of terror and degradation I found therein! First up is The Joker, Batman’s arch-enemy. Despite his humorous name, Jerry Robinson’s creation was anything but funny. In Batman #1 alone, he poisoned at least three innocent people. Maybe you find that funny, but I usually don’t.

Clownin’ Around! But did that stop DC from bringing the “Clown Prince Of Crime” back? Again? And Again? And AGAIN? Nope! In issue after issue, The Joker would concoct some lame scheme to kill Batman and Robin. Sometimes he just tossed sleazy sexual innuendos at them. Pathetic!

(Above:) The cover of Super Clowns #1 (June 2009). [©2010 Hoffman International.] (Below left:) A Bob Kane panel from the first Joker story in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). (Below right:) A panel from “The Joker’s Comedy of Errors” in Batman #66 (Aug. 1951), penciled by Lew Schwartz & inked by Charles Paris. [These last two ©2010 DC Comics.]

“Clowns! $#%#% Clowns!”

Bozo Gone Bad! Some people may think I’m giving clowns a bad rap, but Casey Crime Photographer (seen at the bottom of the page) probably isn’t one of them. Getting a gat in the gut will do that to a guy. That’s one bad Bozo! Clowns are, by nature, mean. Don’t believe me? Look at the real Bozo’s comic at bottom right. Only a total psycho—or a clown—gets his jollies whipping kitty cats. Shameful! Does anyone like comic book clowns? Even Captain Marvel hates ’em—and he loves everybody! Go figure.

Hit ’im Again, Cap! (Right:) C. C. Beck’s cover to Fawcett Publications’ Captain Marvel Adventures #107 (April 1950). [©2010 DC Comics.] (Panel above & cover below:) Casey – Crime Photographer #2 (Oct. 1949). Pencils by Vern Henkel. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Below right:) Larry Harmon’s Bozo The Clown #3 (July 1963). [©2010 Dell or successors in interest.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

The Only Good Clown...! Happily, The Hangman gave as good as he got. In the first issue of his own MLJ magazine he met a killer clown in the classic Pagliacci mold. Though he couldn’t stop the white-faced fury from murdering a few blokes, The Hangman still got the last laugh. Good riddance, I say. But this is just the tip of the pointy hat. Golden Age comics are filled with more demented clowns than can squeeze into a teeny car. But for my money, the most irritating cutthroat comedian is a villain named (wait for it!)… The Clown!

“Clowns! $#%#% Clowns!”

Dear God, Please Make It Stop! The Clown was Ace Publications’ ace in the hole, or so they thought. Created as a foil to Magno the Magnetic Man (their Super-Mystery Comics headliner), The Clown joined the ranks of third-tier heroes from that fourth-tier comic company, with Magno’s kid brother Davey along for the ride. I discovered The Clown a while back, buried inside a pile of old Ace comics. It was hate at first sight! To my jaded eyes, the clown wasn’t funny or scary. The word “lame” comes to mind. Imagine my surprise when the poor man’s Joker popped up again in the next ish of Super-Mystery. And the issue after that, and that, ad clowneum. The only “super mystery” was why Ace featured him more than once. Their magnetic hero couldn’t even attract a decent villain. Now, keep in mind there were only 48 issues of Super Mystery and 32 issues of Four Favorites, Magno’s other hangout. That’s a total of 80 issues, of which Magno starred in a mere 60. Despite having only half the run in my collection, I counted no less than fifteen Clown stories. Guess the Ace folks thought they had a real winner. But the joke was on them! Eventually Ace wised up and ditched the threesome, but by then it was too late. The clown curse had struck again. Today we all know Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman. But Magno and Davey? Strictly D-list never-weres. In comic books, you are who you fight.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh! A creepy collection of covers and splash pages from Super-Mystery Comics and Four Favorites starring The Clown. (Top right:) The cover of Super Mystery #6 (Feb. 1941). Art by Jim Mooney. (Left:) Super-Mystery Comics, Vol. 4, #4 (Oct 1944); art by Lou Ferstadt. (Above:) Mini-versions of a number of other “Magno” splashes and Super-Mystery covers featuring the calamitous Clown. [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Alas, Poor Krusty! Okay, so now we have proof that clowns don’t sell. But did publishers take the hint? Apparently not! In early Spider-Man comics, another dope called The Clown (far right) briefly ran the Ringmaster’s Circus of Crime… into the ground! Later, geniuses at Marvel cooked up a foul-mouth fool named Obnoxio. The House of Ideas hoped it would be bigger than Howard the Duck. As it turned out, Obnoxio was the biggest thing since Howard The Duck… the movie. Tsk Tsk! Poor Krusty the Clown didn’t fare much better. Despite riding the Simpsons’ cash-green coattails, Krusty’s own comic lasted a measly three issues. Oy vey!

Coterie Of Clowns! (Counter-clockwise:)

In the 90s, Todd McFarland’s Spawn spawned another The Clown, but the less said about him, the better.

In conclusion, here’s some friendly advice to our friend Mike Hoffman. Steer clear of guys with red button noses, kid. Those Bozo’s’ll break your heart (and your bank account!) every time.

Krusty Comics #1 (Jan 1995). Cover by Matt Groening, Cary Schramm, and Mili Smythe. [©2010 The Simpsons or successor in interest.] Spawn #36 art by Greg Capullo & Todd McFarlane. [©2010 Todd McFarlane.]

And that’s no joke! Till next time...

Take This Tales To Stupefy Cover–– Please! (Left:) These felonious fools could crush a city with their size-1000 shoes, as seen in this pic from TwoMorrows’ Comic Book Nerd #1. [©2009 Pete Von Sholly.]

In Memoriam

Marvin Stein (1925-2010) “I Had The [Art] Bug When I Was Born” by Steve Brower (Utilizing a 2000 Stein interview conducted by Dylan Williams)

omics artist Marvin Stein died on his 85th birthday on February 11, 2010. He had a career of more than thirty years in comics, in addition to work in animation, advertising, illustration, and television broadcast graphics.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Stein told interviewer Dylan Williams in 2000 that at a young age he read the adventure comic strips Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and The Phantom. When Stein was twelve, his mother died, and his father married the widow Lennowitz, bringing together two teenagers, Marvin and Florence, as step-siblings. They would fall in love and later marry.

Ineligible to serve during World War II due to poor eyesight, Stein graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and in 1943 went to work for Harry “A” Chesler’s art studio, which supplied stories and art to the burgeoning comic book industry. Later he was one of the original seven students in Tarzan comic strip artist Burne Hogarth’s first class at the newly formed Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now the School of Visual Arts) in Manhattan. There he met fellow students Al Williamson and Don Perlin. Stein worked for Croyden Publications between 1944 and 1946. In 1945 he was hired by Joe Shuster to draw his and Jerry Siegel’s syndicated Funnyman comic strip and the Superboy comic book for National/DC through about 1948. Soon afterward, Stein began a long-standing relationship with Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, first on Boy Commandos at DC. He remained with Simon & Kirby when they left DC to produce material for other publishers, and drew for such titles of theirs as Black Magic, Headline, Justice Traps the Guilty, Young Love, and Young Romance, as well as freelancing for Timely/Atlas, Feature, Prize, Ziff-Davis, et al. After the mid-1950s crackdown on comic books and the enforcement of the Comics Code, as well as the rise of television, he decided to try his hand at advertising, drawing for a slide film studio called Cellomatic, which had ties with NBC’s news programs. “Cellomatic opened up doors to the [advertising] agencies,” he told Williams, and soon he was employed by the well-known ad agency BBD&O, which had previously scornfully rejected his application. He worked for BBD&O off and on between 1961 and 1965, eventually quitting when he and former Cellomatic colleague Bud Wexler launched a syndicated comic strip: McGurk’s Mob (which was signed with their joint pseudonym “Bud Marvin”). The strip ran from 1965 to 1968. Stein later worked for Steve Krantz’s big animation shop. “1967, ’68, ’69, I worked on Spider-Man, layouts,” he said. Stein returned briefly to comics in the early 1970s, creating art for Archie Comics. He also illustrated educational books. In 1993 he retired with Florence to Boynton Beach, Florida, and never drew again, preferring to go bowling. “At least we have very pleasant memories of our past,” he told Dylan Williams. “We had a hell of a lot of fun. I had the [art] bug when I was born, and I just followed through. I guess I was lucky. I was having a ball, doing my thing.”

When Stein Starred As Simon & Kirby (Top right:) Marvin Stein, circa 1949, as he appeared in a photo taken of the members of the Simon & Kirby studio, as seen in full in our coverage of Joe Simon in A/E #76—and (directly above) a reportedly all-Stein cover done as a very nice approximation of S&K for Prize’s Justice Traps the Guilty #64 (1957), repro’d from a scan of the original art. Thanks to John Morrow and Steven Brower, respectively. [Cover art ©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

Steven Brower’s upcoming books From Shadow to Light: The Life and Art of Mort Meskin [see p. 74] and Breathless Homicidal Slime Mutants: The Art of the Paperback are due out from Fantagraphics in July and Rizzoli in September, respectively. The above piece has been excerpted from a longer article written by Steven for an upcoming issue of Alter Ego. Interviewer Dylan Williams is a comic creator and the publisher of Sparkplug Comics, in Portland, Oregon.

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In Memoriam

Howard “Howie” Post (1926-2010) “A Terrific Humorist On Paper [And] In Person”

by Jim Amash

lot of cartoonists start out as childhood prodigies, and Howard “Howie” Post was no exception, although he might not have agreed that he actually was one. One of his favorite places to draw was under the kitchen table. He went to the High School of Music and Art, then studied animation at the Hastings School in New York.

When Howard’s father became ill, Howard was already working as an inbetweener at Paramount Pictures, but he starting making the rounds of comics publishers. The first person he talked to was L.B. Cole (at Holyoke), who “took my samples, had another artist trace them off, and didn’t pay me for anything.” Howard didn’t discover this until later, when he went to the Bernard Baily shop with his samples, and Baily clued him in. Howard also spent six months working for an artist named Ellis “Holly” Chambers, who was supplying art for the Leon Jason shop—and for L.B. Cole. Post penciled humorous features for Chambers, most of which he thinks saw print in various Holyoke publications, among other small companies, some of which Post claims printed their comics on black-market paper (paper being scarce due to World War II restrictions). This indicates to me that some of Post’s pencils for Chambers were done for companies not listed in the on-line Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1928-1999). Between working for the Baily, Chambers, and Jason shops, Howard’s work appeared in the following companies: R.B. Leffingwell & Co., Spotlight Comics (“Twinkle”), Prize Comics (“Alex in Wonderland,” “Jungle Jests,” “Little Chief Big Shot,” “M’Sieu Macaw,” “Mopey Monks,” “Wendy,” “Petty Larceny Pete,” and “Max the Magician”), Dell Publications (“The Brownies”), Baily Publications (Gold Medal), Comics Magazines Distributors (“Mutton Jeff ” and “Stone Age Stan”), Round Publishing Co. (“Tabasco”), and Ziff-Davis (“Kiddie Karnival” and “Nursey Rhymes”). Much of this work was written as well as drawn by Post. He also ghostwrote and drew one story for Walt Kelly on Dell’s “Wee People” series, and did a little work at Hillman Publications. When he got full-time work for the better-paying DC Comics, he gave up his other accounts. For DC, Howard worked on various features during the ’40s through the ’60s, and even into the 1970s, including “Ali Gator,” Angel and the Ape (writer only), Binky, The Adventures of Bob Hope, “Chick ’n Gumbo,” The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (and the later Jerry Lewis continuation), “Doodles Duck,” “Giggle-Toons,” Girl’s Love Stories (ashcan), House of Mystery (writer only), Inferior Five (writer

only), “J. Rufus Lion,” “Jimminy and the Magic Book” (writer/artist), “Jungle Jungles,” “Plato Platypus,” “ Presto Pete,” “Rodeo Rick,” and Weird War Tales (writer only). He scripted and drew various humor fillers and a few Westerns, as well. My favorite work of his from his DC days was Anthro, which he wrote and drew in the late 1960s; it unfortunately had a six-issue run (with Wally Wood inks on the final issue). During the ’50s and ’60s he also wrote and penciled for Harvey Publications on many features, including “The Ghostly Trio,” “Wendy,” “Spooky,” “Little Audrey,” “Casper,” and “Hot Stuff.” He also found time to work for Timely/Marvel Comics during the 1950s, most but not all of it humor work (Riot, Crazy, Wild, Men’s Adventures, Journey into Mystery, Nellie the Nurse, Secret Story Romances, “Coo-Coo Cat,” et al.). In the 1980s he drew for Marvel’s Star Comics line (“Danger Mouse,” Madballs, Count Duckula, Felix the Cat, Strawberry Shortcake, Heathcliff, Care Bears, and Wally the Wizard). He also had a brief stop at Western Publications on the “Wacky Adventures of Cracky” filler. Outside the comic book business, from 1962-65 Howard was a producer and writer for Paramount in the cartoon department, and was a writer on Hanna-Barbera’s Richie Rich TV series. His lone foray into newspaper strip syndication was The Dropouts, which lasted from 196882. He also taught art for several years at the School of Visual Arts. I thought Howard was not just a terrific humorist on paper, but in person, too. He was a very enjoyable interview subject, and at some point in the near future, you’ll see that interview in Alter Ego. I wish I had known him better. I’m sorry he’s gone, but I’m glad he was here.

Hi Roy!

e had to do it! It’s been downright discouraging, seeing ourselves (and that means me—Roy—no way I can blame anybody else for it!) slip further and further behind in the lead time between issues and our printing your missives re them… to the point where we’re now nearly two years in arrears. So I’m gonna make a concerted effort over the next few issues to catch up—and if that means truncating the excerpts from readers’ letters and e-mails, and emphasizing mostly the corrections, and squeezing two or three issues’ worth of comments into each such section—well, so be it! This time around, we’re covering A/E #81 & 82… so, away we go—

Oh, but first—our resident (well, he resides in Australia, actually) letterssection illustrator, spooky Shane Foley, drew two different possibilities for our art heading this time, utilizing our two costumed “maskots.” Each is based on drawings by Wild Bill Everett from Timely/Atlas’ Menace #5… so, since we’re covering two issues of A/E this time, we’re using both of ’em! The first shows the super-hero Alter Ego encountering a surfacing zombie—the other depicts the upper-case Zombie who, in the 1970s, would become the title character of Marvel’s black-&-white comic Tales of The Zombie, here garbed in Captain Ego’s E-emblazoned shirt. Thanks twice over, Shane! [Alter Ego TM & ©2010 Roy & Dann Thomas—costume designed by Ron Harris; Captain Ego TM & ©2010 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly – created by Biljo White; zombies TM & ©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2010 Shane Foley.] And NOW away we go… starting with notes re Alter Ego #81, whose main features were Richard Arndt’s article on the 1960s black-&-white horror comic Web of Horror and an interview with Golden Age artist Everett Raymond Kintsler, along with P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA and Michael T. Gilbert’s Comic Crypt:

I received the copies of #81 with my [Larry] Woromay tribute. Very nice… I’ll send his wife a copy; I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed. Corrections: The piece was excerpted from my forthcoming book The Weird World of Eerie Publications… and the artwork for “Twanng!” was from Atlas’ Adventures into Weird Worlds #11 (Oct. 1952), not from Eerie Pubs. Thank you very much for the opportunity to memorialize a great man and a great talent. Mike Howlett We’re only sorry it’s often quite some time after a creator’s passing that we’re able to pay tribute to him, Mike. Now, here’s a note from the pro artist who so generously drew our wraparound cover for The All-Star Companion, Vol. 2: Dear Roy! It was surprising to see that Mr. Lequidre state, in the FCA article about the similarities between [the original] Captain Marvel and Captain Mar-Vell, that all these years C. Marvel has been fighting against the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man instead of the Seven Capital Sins. When I worked on the JLA-JSA graphic novel, Geoff [Johns] and David [Goyer] asked me to pit the heroes against the Sins instead of the Enemies of Man. I don’t know if they were really conscious that they were changing the character’s history; I think everybody just wanted to have Power Girl being incarnated by lust. So I replaced the original image for Injustice with a new one for Lust. After our graphic novel, CM returned to his traditional gallery of statues, with Injustice again replacing Lust. Carlos Pacheco Thanks for the insider info, Carlos! Doubtless, Fawcett’s editors, seven decades ago, didn’t want to arouse any juvenile libidos with a mention of Lust, so substituted an image of general Injustice instead.

re:

Bob Rozakis forwarded this note that was sent to him re his “Secret History of All-American Comics” series, a chapter of which appeared in #81: Hi, Bob! Your series (including the art and photos that accompany it!) is the reason I buy Alter Ego and Back Issue! these days. I love both magazines, but I don’t have the money and have to be selective. If you could regularly contribute alternate history pieces, I’d be hooked for life! Fiction about comics history in comics history magazines… fitting, isn’t it? Marc Miyake We thought so, Marc—which is why I (and Mike Eury over at our sister publication) gave Bob R. a two-mag berth for the multi-part series, with its fine illos by Lawrence P. Guidry and Shane Foley. We have a final chapter waiting for the first A/E issue in which we can find room, so stay tuned—or whatever you do with a comic book as opposed to a TV or radio! Now, let’s get to a few very welcome corrections and additions re #81: Dear Roy, On p. 29, you note that [Everett Raymond] Kinstler’s “Zorro” of [Dell’s] Four-Color was based on the TV version. No, it wasn’t. The Disney show didn’t debut until 1959, and this art was from 1954. John G. Pierce The mistake, made in haste, was totally mine, John, not interviewer Jim Amash’s. Your fellow reader John Jacobson pointed out the same goof, and perhaps so did others. Roy— The Web of Horror story attributed to “Donald Norman” in issue #1 looks uncannily like the work of Carl Burgos, going by the splash page. The interview with [editor] Terry Bisson [in A/E #81] related how, in addition to the “young Turks,” he got in touch with a few “old hacks,” meaning Syd Shores and the artist called “Donald Norman.” Well, Shores certainly wasn’t a hack (though well past his prime) and was a colleague of Burgos’ going back to the 1930s. It’s possible that Burgos, who was working at the time for Eerie Publications (Myron Fass), could have moonlighted these. The only connection of “Donald Norman” to Norman Nodel is via the Who’s Who, which could be in error. Also, on p. 45, someone contributed a scan of Atlas art alleged to be by E.R. Kintsler, but it’s actually by Bob McCarty. The story is “The Old Man” from Wyatt Earp #3. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo

Wild Bill Everett Raymond Kintsler—And Friends Sadly, we’re not certain just what generous soul, a couple of years back, sent us a scan of this inside front cover of Avon’s Wild Bill Hickok #11 (1952), with its lovely line art by E.R. Kintsler—but if he/she will let us know, we’ll send on a copy of this issue. (But then, how’re they supposed to know we printed it, unless they already have a copy of this issue? Sigh.) Writer uncertain—perhaps Kintsler himself? [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

adaptation at Western. The inkers were Mel Keefer (pp. 1-14, 20-34) and John Celardo (pp. 15-19). In the CHECKLIST:

Hi Roy, I read the caption under the Alley Oop pages about your buying original artwork back in the late ’60s from a guy named Abe. In the 1970s, while visiting [pro artist] Pete Morisi in Brooklyn, we drove over to Abe’s, and I purchased a Blue Beetle original daily by Jack Kirby from him, [though Jim Steranko soon traded me out of it]. I noticed Kinstler mentions inking Ken Battefield. I hope one of these days someone writes something of Battefield, considering the amount of artwork he did. Glen Johnson Roy— A few E.R. Kinstler additions and corrections re A/E #81: P. 43: The “Return of the Blue Gorilla!” splash page is not by Kinstler, but by Gerald McCann. P. 45: Jim Amash asks ERK who inked The Conqueror [movie]

Delete: “Overseas Comics: Zorro (a) c. 1963.” This is Mel Keefer. Under “COMIC BOOK CREDITS,” a fuller listing would be: Archie Comic Publications: covers (a) 1946 [The Black Hood #17, 18] Avon Periodicals/Realistic Comics: Blazing Sixguns! (a) 1952; Boy Detective (a) 1952; Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch (a) 1951; covers (a) 1950-56 [Behind Prison Bars 1952; Blackhawk Indian Tomahawk War 1951; Blazing Sixguns! 1952; Boy Detective 1952; Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch 1951; Captain Steve Savage 1951-52/55; Chief Victorio’s Apache Massacre 1951; Dalton Boys 1951; Escape from Devil’s Island 1952; Fighting Daniel Boone 1953; Fighting Davy Crockett 1955; Fighting Indians of the Wild West! 1952; Fighting Undersea Commandos 1953; Gangsters and Gun Molls 1952; Geronimo 1951-52; Intimate Confessions 1951-52; Jesse James 1951-52/54; King of the Badmen of Deadwood 1950; Kit Carson 1950-55; Kit Carson and the Blackfeet Warriors (1953); Last

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Gilberton/Classics Illustrated: Classics Illustrated Special Issue (a) 1959-60 [Men, Guns and Cattle 1959]; The World around Us (a) 1959-60 [Pirates 1959; Navy 1959; French Revolution 1959; Hunting 1960] Green Publishing: covers (a) 1946 [Roly-Poly Comics] St. John Publishing: Amazing Ghost Stories (a) 1954-55; Wild Boy of the Congo (a) 1954 Superior Publishers/Four Star: Captain Flight (a) 1946 [in Captain Flight Comics] Ziff-Davis/Approved Comics: covers (a) 1952 [Baseball Thrills; HeMan]; Eerie Adventures (a) 1951; Nightmare (a) 1952; Women in Love (a) 1952 Alberto Becattini

Kit, Meet Wild Bill Michaël Dewally provided us with scans of two versions of a Kintsler cover for Avon—one pre- and one post-Code (and with a name change for the character, to boot!): “You can check the alterations to the girl’s décolleté for yourself. The hero’s shredded shirt is now intact and the collar moved up quite a bit…. “Also, did you notice that on page 42 [in A/E #81] the re-used version of the Blazing Sixguns! cover by IW actually has more details than the original? On the bottom right, outside of the saloon, there are now buildings in the background behind the reader that weren’t there on the original. I would have assumed the reverse.” [©2010 the respective copyright holders.]

of the Comanches 1953; Masked Bandit 1952; Murderous Gangsters 1952; Pancho Villa 1950; Parole Breakers 1952; Phantom Witch Doctor 1952; Prison Riot! 1952; Realistic Romances 1954; “Red Mountain” Featuring Quantrell’s Riders! 1952; Romantic Love 1954; The Saint 1950; Space Detective 1952; Strange Worlds 1951-55; Teddy Roosevelt and His Rough Riders 1950; U.S. Marines in Action! 1952; U.S. Paratroops 195152; U.S. Tank Commandos 1952-53; White Chief of the Pawnee Indians 1951; White Princess of the Jungle 1951-52; Wild Bill Hickok 1950-56]; Eerie (a) 1952; Escape from Devil’s Island (a) 1952; Fighting Daniel Boone (a) 1953; Fighting Indians of the Wild West! (a) 1952; Geronimo (a) 1951-52; inside front covers (a) 1952 [Blazing Sixguns!; Boy Detective; Jesse James; Phantom Witch Doctor; Prison Riot!; White Princess of the Jungle; Wild Bill Hickok; Witchcraft]; Intimate Confessions (a) 1951; Jesse James (a) 1951-52/55; Last of the Comandhes (a) 1953; Phantom Witch Doctor (a) 1952; Police Lineup! (a) 1952; Realistic Romances (a) 1951-52/54; Romantic Love (a) 1949/52/54; Sensational Police Cases (a) 1952; Space Detective (a) 1952; Strange Worlds (a) 1952; U.S. Paratroops (a) 1951-52; U.S. Tank Commandos () 1952-53; White Princess of the Jungle (a) 1951-52; Wild Bill Hickok (a) 1950-56; Witchcraft (a) 1952 Better/Nedor/Pines/Standard: Thrilling Comics (a) 1944-45 (#45, 48) DC/National (& Affiliated): Girls’ Love Stories (a) 1949 [#1]; Real Fact Comics (a) 1947 [#11]; Romance Trail (a) 1949 [#1] Dell/Wesern: [NOTE: I’ve rewritten all the credits at Dell with correct titles and dates. ERK did no work for Dell/Western after 1958. Credits beyond that date erroneously refer to stories drawn by Mel Keefer.] The Conqueror (p) 1956; Ernest Haycox’s Western Marshal (a) 1954-55; Max Brand’s Silvertip (a) 1953-58; Max Brand’s Silvertip and the Fighting Four (a) 1956; The Hand of Zorro (a) 1954; Luke Short’s King Colt (a) 1955; The Mask of Zorro (a) 1954; Santiago (a) 1956; Steve Donovan Western Marshal (a) 1956-57; The Sword of Zorro (a) 1953; Zane Grey’s Outlaw Trail (a) 1953 [NOTE: In Steve Donovan Western Marshal [a.k.a. Four Color Comic #675, 1956], the name “Ray Kinstler” appears in panel 3 of page 4, panel 2 of page 32, and panel 2 of the back cover.] Fawcett Publications: Western covers (a) 1946-48 [Tom Mix Western 1948]

Whew! You went to so much work over there in Italy to update items in the Kintsler Checklist, Alberto, that we felt we should run the whole thing. But we did alter your spelling “Hickock” (as in “Wild Bill”) to the correct “Hickok.” Hey, you’ve got to let us do a correction now and then, too, right? Incidentally, fellow readers Hames Ware and Gary L. Watson also spotted the misattribution of Gerald McCann’s “Blue Gorilla” story to Kintsler. Dear Roy, In a caption in your “The Thing about ‘Man-Thing’” piece, you wondered whether the vicious, scarred Ellen of that first story [in Savage Tales #1, 1971] ever reappeared… Ellen being the spy who betrayed Ted Sallis to the AIM agents and got a face-full of Man-Thing’s burns for her trouble. Yes, she did return, not long afterward. She popped up, head swathed in bandages, in the Tony Isabella-penned “All the Faces of Fear” in Monsters Unleashed #5. In that tale she unwrapped her face to reveal that she had been made pretty again by a plastic surgeon. She was touched again by Manny, but no burns this time, as she had made her peace with the past. And that should have been that, right? No, alas, she turned up again in the needlessly complicated Man-Thing Vol. 3 series with her face scarred again (and no mention of MU #5 ever happening). Maybe the b&w monster mags were in an alternate universe? Sometimes I think everything post-circa 1984 at Marvel should be considered an alternate universe…. Chris Boyko Hi Roy, A correction: Dave Graue [the second Alley Oop artist/writer] died in December 2001, the same year he retired. Incidentally, “Graue” rhymes with “Wowee.” Dave used to introduce himself that way. As a tribute to him, my wife Carole and I added a new recurring character, Dr. Dave Wowee, to our version of the strip after his death. Dr. Wowee is a scientist from the future and is Dr. Wonmug’s distant cousin. Jack Bender Jack Bender currently draws, and his wife Carole writes, the daily comic strip Alley Oop… and he’s only the third artist to sign that 75-year-old feature. Roy, You asked about the word “Brucutu,” the Brazilian name for Alley Oop. It is slang, created by comics pioneer Adolfo Aizen when the hero appeared in Brazil in the 1930s in the legendary tabloid Suplemento Juvenil. It means “rough, ugly, strong,” though you won’t find it in a Portuguese dictionary. With time, people began to use “Brucutu” to describe a lot of things that were rude and strong: military cars, security agents, soccer fullbacks, et al. Walter do Carmo Sao Paulo, Brazil What’s more, Walter, today’s Oop artist Jack Bender (see previous letter)

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informs us that in the Spanish translation of the strip, the hero is called “Trucutu,” with an accent on the last syllable! And now, a note from a talented gent who, as a young artist, drew some of the Web of Horror stories covered in Richard Arndt’s article in A/E #81: Hey there, Roy! I just devoured this latest Alter Ego, learning new bits of The History That Surrounded Me, and basking in Old Times. I even began to feel thin again (and I don’t mean my missing hair!). Synchronistically, including that photo of Steve Harper and me under the splash from “Dead End”— well, Steve modeled for the main character in that strip! I love it when things work like that. Michael W. Kaluta Hi, Roy— Was re-reading Zorikh Lequidre’s article comparing the original Captain Marvel and Marvel’s alien warrior version, and I was reminded of something. In my collecting I once came across an old animation fanzine that said Mar-Vell was actually created by Stan Lee at the request of an animation company that wanted to use the name “Captain Marvel” for a Saturday morning cartoon and asked specifically for the character to be an alien with a ray gun. The project fell through (I think the company went out of business), but Marvel went ahead and published the tie-in book anyway. The article claimed they [the fanzine’s editors] had documentation to back up their story, but unfortunately that fanzine is buried in a box somewhere (don’t even remember its name, but it did have a cool caricature of Tex Avery on the cover!). Did you ever hear anything like this when you were working there? It would explain to me why Marvel published a spaceman hero despite publisher Martin Goodman’s professed loathing for sci-fi series….

dead even when I was working on my history. In particular, 1940s editor Harry Shorten, who seems to have been the mastermind of the MLJ line, would have been the man I needed to talk to, but he was gone. So I interviewed Irv Novick a few years back, since he was the almost the last of the MLJ core personnel still alive. It was pretty disastrous, as Novick had never paid attention to what was going on in the office, and even if he’d heard something at the time, he no longer remembered it. Maybe I should have expected this, as I had seen him a year or so earlier on a lively Golden Age panel in San Diego, where he had seemed to take delight in appalling the fans by insisting that drawing comics had been just a job for him and he really didn’t care about the stories or characters. Still, some of us in attendance thought much of his claimed indifference was a defensive pose, perhaps the result of a lifetime of laboring in a field that had never been shown much respect by society at large, since his art showed he was a thoughtful craftsman who really did care about doing the best possible work he could. I didn’t get much useful information out of my interview, though Irv and his wife were delightful people and I came away feeling like I had found a new uncle and aunt. The ’90s interview you printed captured him when he was a bit younger and remembered more. I wish I had been able to talk to him then. In your reprint of the ’60s Nolan MLJ Index, you caught something that has bothered me for years—the phantom listing of a “Super Duck” strip in Hangman #8. I have a complete set of Hangman, and there isn’t a “Super Duck” strip in the lot. This seems to be an error that crept into an early MLJ checklist, whether Nolan’s or an earlier one, and has been

Jeff Taylor That tale of a projected Captain Marvel animated series in 1967 sure doesn’t ring any bells in Roy’s steeple-shaped head, Jeff… though it’s possible there were such plans and I was never told about them. I e-mailed Stan Lee about the allegations in the fanzine article, but he says he has no recollection of hearing from publisher Goodman about the possibility of an animated series—though, given the timing (after the Marvel Super-Heroes and Spider-Man shows of that period, in the aftermath of the Batman TV craze), stranger things have doubtless happened. Now, on to a handful of communiqués re Alter Ego #82, with its extensive Michelle Nolan MLJ index and Ron Goulart study of the MLJ heroes of the 1940s, as well as an excerpt from an interview with “Shield” artist Irv Novick: Dear Roy, For years, I’ve been diligently keeping an eye out for anything I can find about MLJ lore, because some years ago I had in mind to write the Ultimate MLJ History… not knowing that Ron Goulart had already done it. So, for me, A/E #82 is like a solid piece of pure, undiluted catnip. When I was working on the history (before rising prices finally defeated me in my goal of a complete set), I realized that to really understand MLJ, you have to know what the editorial staff was thinking, what was going on in the office. You can see the results of editorial decisions in the books themselves and reason backwards, but it’s no substitute for talking to someone who was there at the time to find out what was really happening and why things were done. Unfortunately, most of the principals were long

Novick – Sixty Years Before The Masthead Irving Novick (on right in photo) and Dwight Decker at the 2002 San Diego Comics Convention—and the final page of the Novick-drawn “Shield” story from Pep Comics #31 (Sept. 1942), with thanks to Mike Catron. Scripter unknown. Photo courtesy of Dwight and shutterbug Hurricane Heeran. [Pep page ©2010 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

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the story, up to 1949-50, when he moved on to Hillman, Ace, and Harvey.” Jim also points out that the Golden Age “Shield” splash on p. 61, though signed by Irv Novick, “is undeniably by Pierce Rice.” Hames likewise contributes these tidbits of MLJ info: “Two primary artists at early MLJ were Jim H. Phillips, who drew the ‘Old Witch’ feature, et al., and Edd Smalle, Jr. (not to be confused with Jon Small), who was maybe the primary artist on ‘Rang-a-Tang.’ But how was Norman Danberg ID’d as the cover artist on Blue Ribbon #1? I couldn’t spot a signature, and Danberg is a name I’d like to know more about, as surely he must have done more. Maybe he did pulp for MLJ and they pulled him over for that cover?” Can anybody help Hames out? George Hagenauer informs us that he currently owns the Bob Powelldesigned lampshade discussed in the FCA article by the late Jerry DeFuccio (and earlier in a column by Michael T. Gilbert), and that he was pleased to finally learn its origin. He adds: “Because of notes in the envelope that [the lampshade] came in, I thought Jerry had gotten it in a poker game with a former editor from Quality, since the note referenced that what was in the envelope was in payment for a poker debt! Now, of course, the question is, what was originally in the envelope—but thanks for providing provenance to one of the quirkier pieces of art in my collection!”

“We’ll Have These Moments To Remember…” These E.R. Kintsler-drawn panels from Black Hood #15 (Summer 1945) feature characters named for (but probably not modeled after) comic artists Bill Fix and Al McLean, utilized as “photos” in the hero’s yellowing college yearbook at class reunion time. Writer unknown. Thanks to Marc Svensson. [©2010 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

copied on subsequent lists by other people, even making it into the Overstreet Guide. Among the editorial policies of MLJ I’ve wondered about was what seems to have been a method of making a strip concept go further by making two of it. Two magician strips (“Kardak” and “Zambini”)… two contemporary military strips (“Sgt. Boyle” and “Corporal Collins”)… and two Little Nemo-like strips (“Dicky in the Magic Forest” and “Danny in Wonderland”). What makes this odd little trivium significant is that apparently the same thinking was involved with “Archie,” as the similar strip “Wilbur” debuted at MLJ three months before the red-haired kid from Riverdale. Nobody ever seems to mention this, as the ArchieCo line has always been that “Archie” was deliberately planned to be something special and that its potential for being a hit was known from the start. The existence of “Wilbur” [who even had his own comic from 1946 through 1963!] seems to indicate it was more like what you’d expect from a realworld publishing company living and dying by sales reports—throwing lots of concepts against the wall and hoping something sticks. Dwight Decker

Send those corrections and comments to: Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135 Who knows? Next time, maybe we can reach our goal of covering three issues of A/E in a “re:” column! But don’t hold your breath! (Oh, and the new e-address for Neil McEwan’s comic blog mentioned last issue is: neilnv22@hotmail.co.uk.)

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We wanted to print one long letter (well, at least roughly half of it) concerning the MLJ coverage in A/E #82, and yours presents plenty of food for thought, Dwight. Oh, and it was an eagle-eyed owner of the original Nolan MLJ Index who e-mailed us that Hangman/“Super Duck” correction prior to deadline… though, somehow, we failed to record who pointed it out. We apologize for the omission, the more so since we owe him/her a copy of the issue! Now for a couple of briefer notations on that issue’s contents: Hames Ware has been trying to discover why, in an issue of Black Hood drawn by E.R. Kintsler, two comic book artists—Bill Fix and Al McLean, as per the top of this page—were “featured as part of the story,” since Fix “apparently toiled in [romance comics, but only] in the late ’40s and ’50s.” Kintsler, when queried, said he had no recollection of either man. Hames’ buddy Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., writes that he and Hames have now documented artwork by Bill Fix in Close-Up romance comics in 1949: “Close-Up was an offshoot of MLJ, so possibly Bill Fix was working at MLJ from 1945, when the Black Hood writer put him in

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in the switch from pen to brush. While with Keaton, I had developed the use of the fine-pointed, highly flexible Jos. Gillette #290 pen for all but filling in solid black areas. Upon arrival at the Fawcett facilities I was surprised to see that the comic book artists were inking with the pointed watercolor brush #5 or 7, or thereabouts, for everything … outlining, feathering, and filling in blacks. I never told anyone, but in inking the samples I had mailed in for my interview, in order to achieve the bold Captain Marvel outline, I had used a Speedball lettering pen! By [Art & logo ©2010 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2010 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 stories 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 time we re-presented Marc’s 3rd column—from FCA #56 (1996)—for the very first time in the pages of Alter Ego where he explained how he liked “to do it all.” We now present the A/E premiere of Marc’s fourth column—from FCA #57 (1996)—wherein he covered a collection of topics, from drawing tools to colleagues Keaton, Raboy, Beck, and Costanza, to briefly assisting Zack Mosley with the Smilin’ Jack strip on a “date which will live in infamy.” —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

I experimented with the watercolor brush for a while, then eased over to where Mac Raboy was working. I didn’t know it, but Mac didn’t trust me. Rod Reed explained a few years later that at the onset Mac was suspicious of my accent. Southern drawls, said Rod, were all over Manhattan, particularly up and down Broadway … and most of them were faked. Mac, who despised pretentiousness, thought I was a phoney.

n the beginning I had grand and noble intentions about drawing Captain Marvel. I even went so far in the late hours as to sketch a variety of facial expressions and angles of the head with dramatic lighting, and extreme action shots. Then I came to my senses. I wasn’t there to improve on Captain Marvel, or to add any new aspects to the feature. It was necessary to remind myself then, and several times later, that my purpose was to draw Captain Marvel as he had been appearing in the few issues of his young life and as he had begun to achieve his mounting popularity.

It’s uncanny how a comic strip character seems to take on a personality when drawn daily. Russell Keaton and I had referred to Flyin’ Jenny by her first name and thought of her almost as a living being. And so it was at Fawcett with Captain Marvel. He occupied a position of respect, and I don’t ever recall his ever being referred to as “The Big Red Cheese” … unless it was done courteously by the non-comics fellows. I can hear now “No Balls at All” being sung by Eddie Hamilton, Jack Rindner, Eddie Richtscheid, and others, but somehow it didn’t sound disrespectful. They were fully aware that our super-hero was beginning to outsell all others … and might have been carrying the freight for the very magazines they were working on. Oddly enough, in the drawing of Captain Marvel my only problem was

A Good Girl Named Jenny Flyin’ Jenny creator Russell Keaton and his assistant Marc Swayze used to refer to the aviatrix on a first-name basis as if she lived and breathed amongst them during their daily grind of producing her newspaper strip. Above is the cover of Pentagon’s second Flyin’ Jenny comic book compilation from 1947, reprinting strips from the era when Swayze was her chief artist. The comic book’s cover, however, was drawn by none other than “good girl” art master Matt Baker. [Flyin’ Jenny TM & ©2010 Bell Syndicate or successors in interest.]

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America)

On his drawing board, to the upper left (Mac was left-handed), was a dirty piece of illustration board with something like a million brush strokes on it. Methodically dipping his brush in ink, he pointed it away from him, resting the sables at an angle on the illustration board. Then he drew the brush towards him, rolling it in one direction by twisting his fingers. After testing the fine point carefully on the board, he resumed his work. All in all, he must have spoken at least four words during the entire demonstration, perhaps a day’s record for that quiet man. In time, Mac Raboy became one of my best friends. The brush ceased to be a problem. The 290 pen, however, was not given up entirely. Eventually it became a means of distinguishing to some extent my work from that of others. This was not a matter of consequence until later on it was pointed out that the years I had spent as a Captain Marvel artist and writer were virtually

Faster Than Speeding Bullets (Above left:) A portrait sketch of artist Mac Raboy by Marc Swayze. At first, Raboy was suspicious of Marc Swayze and his Southern drawl, but before long the renowned Captain Marvel Jr. illustrator became one of Marc’s best friends. [Portrait ©2010 Marcus D. Swayze; Master cover ©2010 DC Comics.] (Above:) Marc Swayze recalls an art demonstration by the soft-spoken Raboy where the artist uttered very little—but the man of few words could produce striking illustrations, such as this cover for Master Comics #19 (Oct. ’41) featuring the Flying Detectives, Bulletman and Bulletgirl. [©2010 DC Comics]

unknown. Covers, particularly, seemed to have been of greater importance to those interested in Golden Age comics, and when asked which I had rendered, I realized that except for a few I wasn’t sure. But neither was C.C. Beck! On a visit to our home in the ’70s he was looking over some old issues featuring Captain Marvel. Holding one out, he asked, “Is that cover your work or mine?” His uncertainty was further indicated by a number of cover re-creations he did during his retirement, some of which, I am told, were originally rendered by me.

Master-ful Re-Creations

Interest in a positive identification of the covers has been heightened lately by the gift set of the Gerber’s Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books, two volumes of beautifully printed reproductions of 21,000 comic book covers. Though each cover is reduced to 2¼ x 1½ inches, the collection has provided a much needed overall view of the comic book world when I was a part of it.

C.C. Beck’s 1980 re-creation painting of Mac Raboy’s cover for Master Comics #23. It wasn’t the uncertainty of who originally did what that led to some of the comic book cover re-creations Beck rendered in his later years, but rather the requests of paying fans for him to re-do old covers by Shuster, Eisner, Everett, Kirby, Cole, Barks, Swayze, and others as well as his own original cover designs for Fawcett. [Shazam characters TM & ©2010 DC Comics]

Of the very early Captain Marvel covers, a couple were possibly done on the outside [i.e., not be Fawcett staff artists] and two or three are in the unmistakable style of Mac Raboy. In 1941 and 1942 the Fawcett covers featuring Captain Marvel were drawn by either C.C. Beck or me. Cover assignments came my way shortly after my arrival and increased as Beck became more involved with building an assembly line organization. It has

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

other Fawcett features—Golden Arrow, for one—had been moved over to assist Beck with rough-pencil layouts and some inking. The three of us were responsible for the Captain Marvel story art that appeared on the inner pages, and any promotional art, in Whiz Comics, Captain Marvel Adventures, America’s Greatest Comics, and several one-shot publications. It must have amounted to a tremendous 3-man output, for Beck was fast, I considered myself fast, and Pete Costanza was a veritable speed demon. By the end of the summer I had moved from Irwin Weill’s place and taken a small apartment just off Riverside Drive in the Columbia University neighborhood. Now I was a real New Yorker … or so I thought. The accent always gave me away. That accent! One morning I ordered pancakes for breakfast and asked the waitress for syrup. Only I pronounced it “surp,” as any true Southerner should, and would. She didn’t know what I meant until I went over it several times with an explanation. She had a good laugh, then went over and brought back the other waitresses and had me pronounce the word again. Then they, and several tables around us, also had a good laugh. I finally got the syrup … thin stuff made from the maple tree. What I wanted was some good old heavy country molasses, but I didn’t make an issue of it … I was outnumbered. I even got to liking maple syrup. Before the cold weather settled in, Russell Keaton came up from his home in Mississippi for a visit. It was a pleasure to introduce him to my friends at Fawcett, and particularly to C.C. Beck. I was also somewhat proud to relate to him my having written my first story, done a few noncomics illustrations, and rendered several covers. While he was there, Russell and I spent a weekend at the Long Island home of Zack Mosely, creator of Smilin’ Jack. Zack and Russell were old friends, having worked together early in their careers with Dick Calkins on Buck Rogers.

From Drawing Day To D-Day An undated Smilin’ Jack specialty piece by the strip’s creator, Zack Mosely (courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions). Little did Marc Swayze know that, while assisting Mosely on Smilin’ Jack, standing in for an unavailable Boody Rogers over that weekend of December 7, 1941, he was destined always to remember precisely where he was on that infamous date. [Smilin’ Jack art ©2010 Dave Clark Classic Comics.]

been estimated that of the forty or more Captain Marvel covers prepared during my tenure on the art staff, twenty or more were my creations. Nevertheless, having only a few issues of Whiz and Captain Marvel Adventures on hand, I have been hesitant to claim more than six or seven as having come from my drawing board. Friends are helping. A collector called to my attention recently to a Whiz cover I had not claimed as my work, pointing to areas shaded with a technique I had picked up when with Russell Keaton. Called “hooked shading” by Keaton, it is a style unlikely to be accomplished with other than a pen, and one I know of no other artist having employed in comics. Despite efforts to put away personal quirks of style and technique in favor of the established Captain Marvel style, they did creep into my work … and may be of some help in further identifications. I had a penchant for the “forced edge” in art, for instance, and out of habit applied it at times where a good solid black might have well sufficed. The thinking was that it lent a touch of flash or color to the style, and at times a third dimension. But it, too, not being common to the Captain Marvel style, was used unintentionally. Looking again at some of the old issues, however, it is evident that the forced edge also crept into my work in the Fawcett camp. As the year rolled on, the entire Captain Marvel art was being produced by Beck, me, and Pete Costanza. Pete, who had been doing

Weeks later Zack Mosely called me. He spoke of a trip he hoped to make and asked if I would come out and help him get ahead of schedule. Boody Rogers, he explained, Zack’s long-time right hand man, was away at the time. I arrived late Friday. Zack and I were up early the next morning for a full day on Smilin’ Jack. The following day we again rose early. Although I was familiar with the feature, I had never worked on Smilin’ Jack; thus it was necessary to have frequent conferences. It was during such a discussion, as we stood before one of the drawing boards, that the door was suddenly flung open and Zack’s wife said breathlessly, “Turn on your radio! The Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor!” It was December 7, 1941. Marc Swayze’s memoirs will continue in the next issue of Alter Ego.

When The Magic Went Out Of Comics by C.C. Beck Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck From PCH’s Beck archives comes a previously-unpublished 1988 essay by Captain Marvel’s co-creator & chief artist.

uite a few readers have written to me saying that I am wrong in trying to set limits on comic art. I would like to point out that I am not trying to impose limits on this form of art but to find the natural limits beyond which comic art becomes something else. Only the very young believe that limits are set to stifle and control aspiring artists;

as they grow up they come to see that all human activities have their limits, and that when over-eager individuals go beyond them they lose touch with their fellow humans and accomplish nothing. First, I would like to correct a few misinterpretations about what I’ve stated previously. I have never said that all comics had to be aimed at children (although the most popular ones always have been). Second, I did not say that all comics had to be funny (although the most popular ones were). If I were a publisher, it seems to me I would try to publish funny comics aimed at children rather than serious comics aimed at adults, because there are far more children than there are adults who read comic books. It seems to me that when comic book publishers started to produce comics aimed at adults their sales went into decline and have never since reached the heights attained during the Golden Age. Other elements are involved in this loss of sales, of course, but I believe that the change in comic books themselves was the chief element in the disastrous collapse of the comic book field in the early ’50s.

A Moving Artist (Top of page:) A C.C. Beck 1970 self-portrait originally done for Bill G. Wilson’s The Collector #11 (Feb. ’71). Beck once wrote that “Comics are, and always have been, no more than little, amusing, time-killing devices about as unimportant as crossword and jigsaw puzzles. To see them as anything else is not only rather silly but self-destructive.” But the Captain Marvel co-creator/chief artist cared enough about comics to recurrently write about them while he walked among us. [©2010 Estate of Charles Clarence Beck.] (Left:) Beck noted that the key appeal of comics was that, when properly done, they seemed to move which no other art form could. Captain Marvel faces an artist adversary in this C.C. Beck/Pete Costanza-illustrated page from “Captain Marvel Is Wiped Out!” in Captain Marvel Adventures #97 (June 1949). [©2010 DC Comics.]

When The Magic Went Out Of Comics

are of different subjects the effect is that of a slide show instead of a moving picture. When the pictures are of different sizes and shapes the effect is that of a picture book or album. Nobody is trying to force artists to work in sequential art style; they’re quite free to draw any way they want to. My question is why publishers waste money offering nonsequential art books to a public looking for sequential art. A second appealing feature of comic strips is that they have soundtracks which are heard inside the heads of readers. Not only do figures move as if alive but they speak and the reader can hear their footsteps, the sound of slamming doors, speeding cars, explosions, thunder, or the dropping of a pin. What other kind of art can be heard as well as seen? When comics are drawn with the copy separate from the pictures, as in the Prince Valiant strip, all the appeal of the talking picture is lost and the reader finds himself reading just a lavishly illustrated storybook. When the sound effects overpower the drawings and the speeches and story content are zilch, the reader finds himself dazzled and confused, and when the drawings have too many special effects in them the whole comic story has become simply an exercise in art and resembles a portfolio of sample drawings instead of a story told in sequential art form. For there should be stories in comic books, I maintain. Comic books should not be sermons, or propaganda, or attempts at analysis of social problems. Some readers misunderstand my insistence on story content, thinking that I want only childishly simplified nursery tales in comics. I

Storybook Heroes (Above:) C.C. Beck believed that, when comics are illustrated with the text separate from the drawings, the effect of the “talking picture” disappears and results in nothing more than an “illustrated storybook,” citing Harold R. Foster’s Prince Valiant as an example. The above PV Sunday strip is from Feb. 26, 1967. [©2010 King Features Syndicate.] (Right:) Beck gave the World’s Mightiest Mortal the storybook treatment in the fourth and final issue of Captain Marvel Storybook (1949)—where the red-clad hero pressed on no worse for the wear. [©2010 DC Comics]

Another misinterpretation of my statements about limits is that I am advocating censorship or banning of comics which go outside the limits of what I call good art. This is not true at all. I don’t care how many people may insist that there is no good or bad in art and that everything is a matter of opinion. I am not a moralist or a crusader, I am simply a person who has been in the art field for a very long time and who has come to the conclusion that the artists whose work appealed to the greatest number of people knew the limits of their art and stayed within them while those who strayed outside had only small, specialized audiences or none at all. The chief appeal of the comic strip, from which comic books were derived, was that it seemed to move, which no other form of art did. It produced this effect by presenting a series of pictures, each slightly different from the preceding one, in succession. This is why some people prefer the term “sequential art” instead of “comics” today. This business of presenting a series of slightly different pictures in sequence is the first limit of comics, or sequential art. When the pictures

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America)

don’t; I want stories of all kinds, written by talented writers, not hashed together to fit a collection of random pictures poured out by some noodling artist in a fit of experimental frenzy. This sort of comic book appeals mostly to would-be artists, not to the general public, and draws very limited audiences. One reader has written to me that he finds only five limitations: comics are two-dimensional, they have no sound, they have no action, the image size is small, and the art must compete with the copy within the limited space allowed. All these limits except the first are false. Comics are best when kept two-dimensional; too much foreshortening and perspective and leaping off the page is not good in comics, in my opinion. Comics, when properly handled, have sound, as explained earlier; they have action when done in sequential art style but not done in storybook or album style; the image size is immaterial but is best when the pictures are kept simple and not too many are put on a page; the copy and art in a good comic don’t compete but complement each other. One reader claims that in today’s comics the writer contributes only 10% of the job while the artist supplies the other 90%. This is exactly what is wrong with many of today’s comics, I believe. How many art lovers go to comic book stores in search of art? If a comic book is almost all pictures, won’t the customers just flip through the pages, then put the

Hail To The Chief (Above:) C.C. Beck recalled Will Lieberson—chief executive comics editor at Fawcett Publications—as once saying that “the main purpose of the copy in comics was to keep browsers from flipping through the pages and then not buying the magazines.” Beck added that the whole purpose of adding pictures to text in the first place was simply to attract readers to books. Photo courtesy of Dennis Lieberson; with thanks to Shaun Clancy. (Left:) Presumably, the pictures on this page of Billy Batson shrinking to ant-size and being grabbed by an evil scientist, from “Captain Marvel and the Unwilling Toys!” in Captain Marvel Adventures #14 (Aug. 21, 1942), should definitely have grabbed those browsers’ eyeballs and made the readers turn the page to find out what happened next! The story is credited to Beck as artist, and Otto Binder as writer. [©2010 DC Comics.]

book back on the rack? Will Lieberson, chief comics editor at Fawcett during the Golden Age, always said that the main purpose of the copy in comics was to keep browsers from flipping through the pages and then not buying the magazines. The original purpose of adding pictures to text was to attract readers to books. When the picture content of comics exceeds normal limits the magazines become “art” magazines and very few comic book illustrators are sufficiently talented to qualify as fine art artists. To my way of thinking, the appeal of a good comic feature—daily strip, single-panel feature, or comic book—is the same magic as that invoked by a puppet show—the modern versions of which are the famous Muppets, the dancing raisins, the singing doors, and other appealing television characters. All these highly artificial creatures are adaptations of the ventriloquist’s wooden dummy, which is a descendant of the ancient Egyptian priest’s talking statue of a god. This is why I say that comics are best when they’re unreal, not just copies of things in the real world. Things in the real world are mostly dull, ordinary, and nobody can do anything about them. But a ventriloquist’s dummy can say anything that the ventriloquist wants it to say; it can say things that a human can’t get away with. That’s what comic characters should be like, I believe. Ventriloquists’ dummies and puppets are never realistic; why should comic characters be? Until someone convinces me otherwise, I’ll continue to believe that when comic book characters become too real, too much like human beings with shortcomings and involvements in human problems, the magic went out of comics and they became just rather poorly drawn and wretchedly written little magazines presenting tales full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.

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