Alter Ego #9 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas ’ Legendary Comics Fanzine

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No. 9 JULY 2001

JOHN ROMITA Characters TM & ©Marvel Characters, Inc.

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(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “AllInterview Issue”! Part 2 of an exclusive STEVE ENGLEHART interview (continued from ALTER EGO #103)! “Pro2Pro” interviews between SIMONSON & LARSEN, MOENCH & WEIN, and comics letterers KLEIN & CHIANG. Plus JOHN OSTRANDER, MICHAEL USLAN, and longtime DC color artist ADRIENNE ROY! Cover by Englehart collaborator MARSHALL ROGERS!

“Gods!” Takes an in-depth look at WALTER SIMONSON’s Thor, the Thunder God in the Bronze Age, “Pro2Pro” interview with TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ, Hercules: Prince of Power, Moondragon, Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga, exclusive interview with fantasy writer MICHAEL MOORCOCK, art and commentary by GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, BOB LAYTON, and more, with a swingin’ Thor cover by SIMONSON!

“Liberated Ladies” eyeing female characters that broke barriers in the Bronze Age: Big Barda, Valkyrie, Ms. Marvel, Phoenix, Savage She-Hulk, and the sword-wielding Starfire. Plus a “Pro2Pro” interview with JILL THOMPSON, GAIL SIMONE, and BARBARA KESEL, art and commentary by JOHN BYRNE, GEORGE PEREZ, JACK KIRBY, MIKE VOSBURG, and more, with a new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

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THE BEST IN COMICS AND LEGO MAGAZINES!

ALTER EGO #105

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See comic art and script BEFORE and AFTER the Comics Code changes, with art by SIMON & KIRBY, DITKO, BUSCEMA, SINNOTT, GOULD, COLE, STERANKO, KRIGSTEIN, O’NEIL, GLANZMAN, ORLANDO, WILLIAMSON, HEATH, and others! Plus: FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, JIM AMASH interviews Timely/Atlas artist CAL MASSEY, and a new cover by JOSH MEDORS!

DICK GIORDANO through the 1960s—from freelance years and Charlton “Action-Heroes” to his first stint at DC! Art by DITKO, APARO, BOYETTE, MORISI, McLAUGHLIN, GIL KANE, and others, Dick’s final convention panel with STEVE SKEATES and ROY THOMAS, JIM AMASH interviews Charlton artist TONY TALLARICO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and ROY ALD, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, GIORDANO cover, and more!

Big BATMAN issue, with an unused Golden Age cover by DICK SPRANG! SHEL DORF interviews SPRANG and JIM MOONEY, with rare and unseen Batman art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON, WIN MORTIMER, SHELLY MOLDOFF, CHARLES PARIS, and others! Part II of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

1970s Bullpenner WARREN REECE talks about Marvel Comics and working with EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, STAN LEE, MARIE SEVERIN, ADAMS, FRIEDRICH, ROY THOMAS, and others, with rare art! DEWEY CASSELL spotlights Golden Age artist MIKE PEPPE, with art by TOTH, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, & LUBBERS, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!

Interview with inker SCOTT WILLIAMS from his days at Marvel and Image to his work with JIM LEE, and PATRICK OLIFFE demos how he produces Spider-Girl, Mighty Samson, and digital comics. Also, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!

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LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S NEW ALIEN CONQUEST SETS that hit store shelves earlier this year, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!

Go to Japan with articles on two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus take a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of the BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

LEGO EVENTS ISSUE covering our own BRICKMAGIC FESTIVAL, BRICKWORLD, BRICKFAIR, BRICKCON, plus other events outside the US. There’s full event details, plus interviews with the winners of the BRICKMAGIC CHALLENGE competition, complete with instructions to build award winning models. Also JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customizing, building tips, and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 9 / July 2001 ™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Bill Schelly

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

John Romita Section

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comics Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder), Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich

Cover Artists John Romita, Dick Giordano

Cover Color Tom Ziuko

Mailing Crew Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

And Special Thanks to: Jim Amash Jorge Iván Argiz Dick Ayers Mike W. Barr Mark Beachum Al Bigley Jerry K. Boyd Mike Burkey Sal Buscema Bart Bush Steven Butler Mike Catron Arnie Charkeno Dave Cockrum Gene Colan Ray A. Cuthbert Al Dellinges Rich Donnelly Shelton Drum Michael Feldman Ramona Fradon Jorge Santamaria Garcia Donald F. Glut Jennifer T. Go Rick Hoberg Alan Holtz Dave Hoover Adam Hughes Rafael Kayanan Robert Knuist Jon B. Knutson Paul Levitz

Scott McCloud Jesus Merino Brian K. Morris Bill Morrison Eric NolenWeathington George Olshevsky Jerry Ordway Ken Quattro Tom Palmer Fred Patten John G. Pierce Bud Plant Bradley C. Rader Ethan Roberts John & Virginia Romita John Romita Jr. Marie Severin Jeff Sharpe Dave Sim Joe Sinnott Tod Smith Joe Staton Robert Strawiery Marc Swayze Maggie Thompson Frank Travellin Herb Trimpe George Tuska James Van Hise Michael J. Vassallo Ed Zeno Mike Zeno

Contents Writer/Editorial: Eight Is Enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Alter Ego goes to eight times a year. Shades of 1960s DC! Fifty Years on the “A” List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Jazzy Johnny Romita, Marvel’s art director supreme, interviewed by Rascally Roy Thomas. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Bill Schelly moderates a look back at fandom’s roots in the 1960s and ’70s. Special Section on Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects, FCA, & Comic Crypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: John Romita had hoped to finish a brand new piece of art to be the cover of this issue. However, he’s been so busy with projects for Marvel and others—even though he’s officially “retired”—that at the last minute he had to beg off. So we assembled one of our trademark montages: a 1980 self-portrait, amid a frame of many (though far from all) of the Marvel super-heroes he’s drawn at one time or another. The framing art, according to Romita connoisseur Mike Burkey (who provided it) was previously used only as the back cover of a trade paperback in the 1970s. [Self-portrait ©2001 John Romita; Marvel art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Red Sonja ©2001 Red Sonja Properties, Inc.] Above: This more humorous portrait by John R. of himself with the cast of The Amazing Spider-Man has been printed several times, beginning in Marvel’s own fan-mags. But somehow, we just couldn’t bear to leave it out! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8x a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; E-mail: roydann@oburg.net. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US, $27 Canada, $37 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. FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial writer/editorial

Eight Is Enough! A

(...And All That Jazz—Including Jazzy Johnny Romita) drum-roll, if you please. Maybe even a toot on a trumpet.

Before we begin our humongous interview with John Romita, I’m proud and happy to announce that, beginning this issue, Alter Ego changes its publication schedule from quarterly to—not six times a year, but eight. Why? Well, mostly it has to do with all this great material that’s been pouring in since A/E became a full-fledged mag again. I’ve had early contributions from Mike Gold, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Fred Patten, and others sitting on the shelf for the past two years— and I didn’t see the situation getting any better. Au contraire, I was getting more and more fine contribs from pros, fans, collectors... not to mention things I’d turn up on my own. Things were backing up. The answer, obviously, was increased frequency.

the employ of Stan Lee and Martin Goodman after an absence of 7-8 years, while I was new to the field. Yet, in a certain sense, I’ve always felt we were roughly complementary to each other, and—more than that— that we represented a kind of sea change in the life of Marvel Comics. Stan, of course, with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko in particular, had been gearing up slowly at Marvel with Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, etc., over the preceding four years. Even after the success of FF, false starts had still been the order of the day: a six-issue run for The Incredible Hulk... the lone Amazing Fantasy #15... AntMan/Giant-Man... a clunkylooking, grey-shelled Iron Man... a lackluster Human Torch series. All the same, John’s and my joining Stan’s parade happily coincided with the period when Marvel was, as he told John by phone, “starting to move.”

But frankly, what finally pushed me toward eight, rather than half a dozen, issues per year was one Jim Amash. Jim, a youngish inker for Archie and other companies who lives in North Carolina (seems a lot of TwoMorrows personnel these days dwell in one Carolina or the other—must be something in the air), has an enthusiasm for Golden Age comics that belies his years, and kept asking me if I’d mind if he interviewed this creator or that. After I saw the stellar job he did on the first one—which will see print next issue—I gave him an unequivocal green light.

In mid-to-late 1965, Stan and the crew were preparing material that represented a growth spurt in both quantity and quality. The “Galactus Trilogy” in FF... the magnificent ThorHercules-Pluto serial in Journey into Mystery... new art and story heights in Spidey... the climax of Wally Wood’s brief run on Daredevil... it was an exciting time, and John and I were fortunate enough to parachute down right into the middle of it: I, to gradually take over the writing of series as Stan relinquished them (Sgt. Fury, The X-Men, The Avengers); and John to draw first the rising star Daredevil and then, most spectacularly, to inherit Spider-Man and help finally push that book over the top to become Marvel’s best-selling comic. Eventually I became editorin-chief under Stan, only the fourth in Marvel’s first third of a century—and John soon assumed the official mantle of art director.

Still, that meant that, with Jim’s output added to that of Bill Schelly, Michael T. Gilbert, and P.C. Hamerlinck, on top of my own, a quarterly A/E was going to become increasingly backlogged. So, when publisher John Morrow agreed the time was ripe, and with Christopher Day aboard (as of V3#8) as layout man, we bit the bullet. This issue is coming out a bit less than three months after #8—and #10 will come out only two months after this one. As for the two extra issues a year, my guess is that we’ll sandwich them in at “peak” times of the year... just like DC used to do with Superman, Batman, Flash, et al., back in the 1960s. See? Even when we make a move in the 21st century, we can’t help tying it in to the Golden and/or Silver Age of Comics. The real star of this issue, of course, is John Romita.

For nearly a decade, John and I were invisibly yoked as Stan’s artistic and writer/editorial prosthetic devices, carrying out The Man’s will and, yes, even whims in our twin areas of endeavor. But while I stepped down as editor-in-chief in 1974, John remained as art director and, later, as art director for special projects, all the way to his (and wife/traffic manager Virginia’s) retirement bash in 1996. This guy not only had talent—he had staying power! More than any artist except Jack Kirby, John Romita is the embodiment of the Marvel artist.

[Left to right:] John Romita at the Orlando MegaCon 2000 with a few friends: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, Munificent Mike Burkey, and Smilin’ Stan Lee—plus some guy in a mask and union suit. Pencil sketch is courtesy of Mike, who says it’s a “cool unpublished Spider-Man/MJ Valentines card art, which John still hopes will eventually be published!” Wait no longer, John—though Alter Ego isn’t necessarily the venue you had in mind for showing off Mary Jane’s new hairstyle. Photo courtesy of (who else?) Mike Burkey. [Art ©2001 John Romita; Spider-Man & MJ ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

I’ll admit I’ve always felt an odd connection with the Jazzy One (as Stan used to call in him in the Bullpen Bulletins). I find something symbolic in the fact that John and I came to work at Marvel in the Summer of 1965 within two weeks of each other. John was returning to

Mike Burkey thinks so, too.

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Over the past decade or so, this avid fan has amassed one of the largest collections of art by a single comics artist—namely, John Romita. Mike currently owns some 3000 pieces of art penciled, inked, or both by John. He generously made that collection available to us. With that added to a few pieces from Jeff Sharpe and Al Bigley, plus art we reproduced from the comics themselves—most notably from John’s splendid 1953-54 run on “Captain America”—we found our cup positively running over. Again and again, painful choices had to be made as to what to use, what to drop. For every piece of art that appears this issue, there were several more—many of them equally beautiful, even equally important—that we simply could not print.

except our letters section and “The All-Star Compendium,” whose additions and corrections to our trade paperback The All-Star Companion will have to wait till next issue to be completed... and recent addition Jerry de Fuccio.

We had also scheduled sidebars with Virginia Romita and John’s son John Jr., both of whom have had notable careers of their own. But at the last minute we realized we couldn’t really do them justice, so we’re holding off their comments for a future issue, when Mike Burkey gives a “guided tour” of more of his Romita art.

P.C. Hamerlinck has put together yet another banner edition of FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), with the usual (but welcome) suspects Marc Swayze and C.C. Beck, and guest-starring George Tuska.

One parting Romita note: You’ll notice that nowhere in this issue, outside of this sentence, does the phrase “John Romita Sr.” appear. That is by design. Since 1953 I’ve been ogling the signature “John Romita” on artwork, and I couldn’t see appending a “Senior” appellation at this late date, whatever others may do. The “Jr.” tag on his son’s name seems to me to be a clear enough differentiation between them. This is certainly not to slight John Jr., who has become one of the best artists in the field... but it represents my own firm conviction that John Romita needs no qualifier of any kind attached to his name. I doubt if John Jr. would disagree. All of which doesn’t leave much room to talk about the rest of the issue. Well, actually, there’s a separate writer/editorial in the flip section about my “dream projects” section—but at least we’ve found room to squeeze in what could be considered A/E’s regular “departments”... all

Michael T. Gilbert presents the first part of a two-issue focus on Wayne Boring, probably the second artist in the world to draw Superman... and one of the most important. Partly to celebrate the anniversary of Alter Ego (forty years old this past March/April!), Bill Schelly recounts his “Golden Age of Comic Fandom” panel from last year’s San Diego Con.

All three of these guys have full-fledged trade paperbacks just out or forthcoming from TwoMorrows, as well, from the Alter Ego launchpad: Michael’s Mr. Monster: His Books of Forbidden Knowledge, Vol. Zero—P.C.’s Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA—and Bill Schelly’s imminent Sense of Wonder, which deals with his personal journey through comics fandom in the 1960s and ’70s. Congrats on the books, guys! But now we’d better get to work on the next issue of A/E! After all, starting here and now, we’re gonna be presenting twice as much amazing artwork and behind-the-scenes info per year as before! You know something? Maybe the Golden Age of Comic Fandom never really ended, at all...! Bestest,

Fifty Years On The “A” List

A Candid Conversation With Marvel Artist/Art Director Supreme

John Romita A 1996 Romita Spider-Man sketch, flanked by Jazzy Johnny hard at work in 1967 amid furniture he made himself (“I must’ve been crazy!” he says). [Photo courtesy of and art ©2001 John Romita; Spider-Man ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROY THOMAS: Okay, John, just to get it out of the way—you were born in Brooklyn in 1930, right? JOHN ROMITA: Yeah. Just maybe five years too early—no, too late. Because one of my biggest regrets is that I wasn’t in the first generation of comic artists. While I was in junior high school, Joe Kubert, who’s only a few years older than me, got in on it, doing “Hawkman”! RT: Of course, if you’d had your wish, you’d be a decade older. ROMITA: Yeah, I’d be eighty now. [laughs] I started drawing when I was five. Parents and relatives say, “Ooh” and “Ahh” and how great it is, and you continue drawing because you like to get the pats on the back. I was a street performer when I was about ten. The gang of kids I hung out with used to scrounge bits of plaster from torn-down

Conducted by Roy Thomas Transcribed by Brian K. Morris with special thanks to Mike Burkey buildings, because we couldn’t afford chalk, and I would draw on the streets. Once I did a 100-foot Statue of Liberty, starting at one manhole and finishing at the next. That was the distance between manholes in Brooklyn. RT: “From sewer to shining sewer,” huh? ROMITA: People were coming from other neighborhoods to see it and hoping it wouldn’t rain. I also used to draw Superman, Batman—all the super-heroes that were coming out. [Virginia Romita says something in the background.] Virginia reminds me, as she always does, that I also became the source of little drawings of nude girls for all the boys in the neighborhood. Guys would beg me to do them, and she would say she was disappointed in me for doing those drawings. She was nine when I was eleven. Actually, she caused me to stop doing them.

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

When they did plays at the school auditorium, I was stuck with doing the backgrounds and scenery. Once they taped a huge roll of wrapping paper along the entire school corridor, and I did a mural down both sides of all the heroes I knew of, even Zorro, Flash Gordon, and Tarzan. RT: The comics pros a little older than you had grown up before Superman, so when they started drawing super-heroes, it wasn’t as natural a thing to them. ROMITA: Yeah, but they probably did Washington and Lincoln, like I did. I became a celebrity in school. I used to carve Lincoln heads, Mickey Mouse, things like that, out of cakes of soap. When I was 12-13, my buddies thought we were gonna go into business. They actually broke into the basement of a Turkish bath to get me a boxful of soap, so help me! I can still see this one kid half a block down the street in the tenement section of Brooklyn—you could see for two blocks, no trees, no nothing—there’s a policeman talking to him, and this kid—his name was Louie McDuff and he was a real weasel—was practically in tears. I can see him pointing to my house and telling the cop, “That’s the guy who told me to get the soap.” I never asked him to get the soap—I just stayed there in the cellar. I thought I was going to be arrested for

stealing a box of soap! When I was choosing a high school, somebody told me about the School of Industrial Arts in the city, where you were taught by professional artists. That captured my imagination. My local priest wanted me to go to a Catholic high school and later become a priest, but I wasn’t going to give up girls. But one of my buddies, who was doing full-color posters when I was just doing line-art stuff—truthfully, he was much better than I was—he advised me, “John, you shouldn’t waste your time going to the School of Industrial Arts. You’re not polished enough.” He went to the same school I did, and he never, ever made a living at artwork. [laughs] RT: Some people have talent but never get it together to actually do anything with it. ROMITA: On my 17th birthday I graduated from high school and I got a job right away. This wealthy anesthesiologist at Manhattan General Hospital was creating a new branch of medicine called pneumatology, and he hired me at sixty bucks a week, which was a fortune to me, to do

Fifty Years On The “A” List RT: You never had a singing career like a couple of others in your family? ROMITA: I had three sisters and a brother. Every one of them could sing and dance, and I can’t dance and I can’t sing. But I grew up loving music. RT: You’ve said you bought two copies of Superman #1, in 1939? That’s why you’re rich today—you kept that spare copy, right?

a medical exhibit from scratch. I designed and illustrated and lettered and cut out the boards and pasted and hung them on frames in the hospital corridors. I had no experience, but I did the whole damn exhibit in six months. While I was working in the hospital, several other doctors, including a plastic surgeon and a heart specialist, asked me to illustrate their books. There were only one or two top guys in the country doing medical illustrations, so I figured there’d be no competition. I thought I was going to be a medical illustrator! But when I finished the exhibit, none of these doctors had written a single chapter of their books, so I had to go out and earn a living. RT: They probably never even wrote their books. ROMITA: I guarantee you, they never did. They didn’t need the money. RT: Backing up a bit: In 1976, in a story with The Thing and The Liberty Legion, set in 1942, we showed you as a kid, saying you “deliver[ed] packages for some of the doctors around here”—in Times Square. We also had you spotting some Nazi planes overhead, since you said you knew the silhouettes and markings of all the planes at that time. ROMITA: Yeah. I delivered packages when I was fourteen, but not for doctors. I worked in the Newsweek Building for some minor-league outfit that used to mimeograph biographies of big band leaders like Louis Armstrong and Glenn Miller. Their customer was this agent uptown on 57TH Street. I would run 200-300 copies off on mimeograph and take them to the client, so he could hand them out as press releases. I’d go into the Brill Building, on what was called Tin Pan Alley. All the offices had music coming from them— people selling songs on the piano, songwriters pushing their songs. And when I’d go up to 20th Century-Fox art department, I could see the posters from my favorite movies being done, and I loved it.

ROMITA: [laughs] I kept one copy in a wax paper bag, the closest equivalent to plastic we had, but eventually it disappeared. I traced the other one until the cover was destroyed. I kept pressing harder and harder, until I could do that drawing by hand. RT: Were you aware, in ’39 and ’40, of the early Timely Comics?

ROMITA: I remember Human Torch, I remember Sub-Mariner, and then Captain America. One of my favorite companies was Lev Gleason. Charlie Biro’s stuff [for Gleason] appealed to me. His Daredevil was my favorite character. He wasn’t blind; he just had that split red-and-blue costume. RT: It’s funny that Biro’s Daredevil was one of your earliest heroes, and Marvel’s Daredevil was the first hero you drew in the ’60s. ROMITA: I told that to Stan in ’65, and he said he thought Biro was a genius. I maintain that Biro did a lot of the stuff that Stan did later, but it wasn’t noticed, even though he was putting a lot of personality into his comics. George Tuska did a lot of work for Biro. When I met Tuska in the late ’60s, I said, “I’ll tell you how far back I’ve been noticing your work. I remember ‘Shark Brodie’!” That was a back-up feature, a hobo adventurer connected with the sea. He was always on a dock somewhere. Actually, I’d seen Tuska years earlier, when I was delivering a horror story to Stan in the ’50s. I saw this big, strapping guy, and I didn’t know it was Tuska till afterward. He looked like a super-hero himself! RT: Doing Crime Does Not Pay stories for Biro, Tuska was one the most influential artists in the field. Later, for several years in the ’70s, he was one of only two artists who could draw any Marvel book and it’d sell. You were the other one. I remember he did two issues of Sub-Mariner and sales shot up. They went back down as soon as he left!

Two of John’s early faves were Charles Biro’s Daredevil and George Tuska’s anything! Here’s the cover of Daredevil #6 (Dec. 1941)—plus a handful of Tuska panels from Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay #60 (Feb. ‘48), by way of Mike Benton’s invaluable 1993 Illustrated History of Crime Comics. [Daredevil & CDNP art ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

ROMITA: I remember. Everything he touched was great. He once did a thumbnail version of a Spider-Man from a plot by Stan. I was supposed to blow the thumbnails up and lightbox them—all contrived to save me time. It was a very interestinglooking job, with a lot of

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

J.R. says: “I saw George Tuska at the MegaCon this April. He’s still drawing. He and Nick Cardy and I posed for pictures. It was wonderful.” [L. to r.: Tuska, Romita, & Cardy; photo courtesy of John Romita.]

people in overcoats, and some beautiful shadows; I was dying to do it. But Stan said, “No, it just doesn’t look like a Spider-Man story,” and he decided not to use it. I could kill myself for losing those thumbnails. RT: Two of the comics artists most influential on your style—especially during the period I became aware of your work back in the early ’50s with “Captain America”—were Jack Kirby and Milton Caniff. That wasn’t just my imagination, was it? ROMITA: No. Milton Caniff was my god. Before I got into comic books, his Terry and the Pirates was my Bible. I used to spend hours looking at those pages. I still have two or three years of Sundays in an envelope. I still look at them and admire and sigh. Everything I’ve ever learned, I think, was established in those pages. He did some beautiful work later in Steve Canyon, but the Terry and the Pirates stuff— well, it’s probably partly because of Noel Sickles. They shared a studio for a time. Caniff helped Sickles with storytelling, and Sickles helped Caniff learn how to turn out a daily page without laboring over it. If Sickles hadn’t gotten tired of his own Scorchy Smith, there’s no telling how big it might have become, because that strip was an adventure story on the quality level of a Hitchcock movie. I’m telling you, the stories, the visuals, were so great—I don’t know about the dialogue, because Caniff had his own dialogue, that probably surpassed everybody. I had to scrounge up old Famous Funnies comics to get all of Terry! Each issue reprinted maybe two or three Sundays, or maybe two Sundays and the dailies in-between.

A recent Tuska illo of heroes he drew during the 1970s. For info on how to obtain original Tuska art, see his interview in our FCA section! [Art ©2001 George Tuska; heroes ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

time I was eleven. I’d tell my buddies, “This guy is great! Look at this stuff that’s popping out of the pages. Look at how he does that!” They thought the comics were some kind of tricky photo technique. They would say, “Aw, you’re crazy. Nobody’s going to do all those drawings by hand.” Years later, I used to hear that echoing, and say, “What am I, crazy, doing 120 drawings for how many stories?” [laughs] RT: You found out how many drawings people can do, right? ROMITA: I learned the hard way. But for a while I definitely felt I was doing comics only on a temporary basis. In the Army I did full-color illustrations and posters. The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, Ladies’ Home Journal—there were about a dozen magazines that had double-page illustrations to make your mouth water; but that field was slowly dying. My final year in art school, I studied magazine illustration and had given up on comics. I wanted to be a magazine illustrator. RT: Not a baker? [laughs] ROMITA: Well, not a baker—but I was going to drive the bread truck. My

RT: Moving to the Kirby half of my Caniff-Kirby equation— you were probably one of those kids who liked Simon and Kirby without knowing who did what. ROMITA: I was aware of everything Jack did from the

John (left) with his childhood idol Milt Caniff (center), circa ’70s. The longtime Marvel artist/production man at right jokingly titled this pic: “Hey, who’re those two guys with Tony Mortellaro?” The Terry and the Pirates daily for 2-8-38 featured two of Caniff’s trademark women—Burma and the ever-delightful Dragon Lady. As for Tony—he often slipped the name “Mort” onto backgrounds when working with John. [Photo courtesy of John Romita; Terry art ©2001 Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, Inc.]

Fifty Years On The “A” List father was a baker, and he had a chance to open up a bakery when I was 14-15. He envisioned me delivering bread when I got my license. It sounded like a good family business. But we’d have had to relocate upstate, near Albany, and my mother didn’t want to leave her family and friends in Brooklyn. That was probably the reason, not me. But she said, “No, he’s going to stay in the city. He’s going to become an artist.” Can you believe it? RT: Clearly, she had faith in you. What were your other pre-comics jobs in the late ’40s?

ROMITA: The first one, a couple of months after the hospital exhibit, was for $26 a week with Forbes Lithograph. I took home $21 after taxes, working forty hours a week and also having to go in sometimes on Saturdays. They did speculation stuff, mostly on companies like Coca-Cola. You know the festoons they used to have behind soda fountains,with a big picture of a girl and some flowers drawn strung up, and then on the end they’d have Coke bottles?

Well, designing those festoons and printing them in their litho plant was Forbes’ main business. I was there from the middle of ’47 until at least the middle of ’49. I did a lot of full-color comprehensives and a lot of touching-up of Coke bottles to the point where, I think, if I had to do one tomorrow, I’d be ready! [laughs] You know how they used to do the water dripping down the side of the bottle? I had that technique down perfect, because I had to match the style of Haddon Sundblum and Harry Anderson, who were the best Coke artists in the world. The sunlight and the reflected firelight on Santa Claus’ face— those were all Haddon Sundblum. He was a genius, and I dreamed of doing that stuff. If not for comics, I’d probably have become a lithographic illustrator. RT: Which brings us at last to comic books. You mentioned at the 1995 Stan Lee Roast in Chicago [NOTE: See A/E V3#1] how in ’49 you started out penciling for a guy who was really an inker, but who pretended to Stan that he was penciling material which you ghosted for him. Don’t you think it’s time you finally told us who that artist was? ROMITA: The reason I never gave his name was, I didn’t want to embarrass him. His name was Lester Zakarin. I met him for the first time in forty years in 1999, at a convention in New York, and he told me he wasn’t offended by any of the interviews I’d given. I’d always say that this artist I was ghosting for would tell Stan he could pencil, but actually I’d do the penciling for him, and he just inked my pencils. But Stan was one of the few editors who’d ask guys to make changes. And when he asked Lester Zakarin to change something, he would panic. So I would go into the city with him and I’d wait at the New York Public Library, which was very close to where Timely was, at the Empire State Building. Zakarin would get the corrections from Stan and tell him, “I can’t draw in front of people. It has to be absolutely quiet. I’m going to a friend’s office. I’ll do these corrections and bring them back in the afternoon.” Then he’d meet me at the library, and I’d do the

corrections, and then he’d go back to Stan. [laughs] RT: Sounds like Woody Allen in The Front. But you never denigrated that guy; in fact, you always maintained he was a good inker. ROMITA: Well, I did say the guy couldn’t draw at all. It’s nice of you to be so charitable. Somebody asked me if that’s the same Lester Zakarin who worked with Bob Bean. Bean was one of the guys who used to stand outside Stan’s office looking for work when I did. I also met Jack Abel and Davey Berg and Ed Winiarski that way. [NOTE: For caricatures of Winiarski and Berg, see Alter Ego V3#6-7.] RT: Who else do you remember from the late ’40s and early ’50s? ROMITA: I’m trying to remember names. I don’t think Tuska ever had to wait for anything! We were hopefuls, and we’d wait sometimes two hours back in ’50 and the beginning of ’51. They’d tell me about the other people in the business. I met Gene Colan then; the next time I saw him was 10-15 years later. I remember meeting maybe a dozen guys, sort of like a rotating cast, at Stan’s and at other places, like Avon. I started working for Stan before I went into the service in ’51. I remember the first time I went up there. He had this beautiful blonde secretary—he always had beautiful secretaries—and I said to her, “Stan

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

He didn’t need reference, he didn’t need anything. He just sat there, and between 10:30 and, say, 12:30, he had penciled this doublespread in, very roughly. After lunch—I think I just went out and got a hot dog—I come back and he’s starting to ink it, and he finished the damn double-spread before we finished the afternoon session! He was just a staggering talent!

Lee doesn’t know my name, but I’ve been working for him for over a year. If he’ll look at the work done by Lester Zakarin, he’ll see my penciling.” She came out a half hour later with a script. I said, “When do you need the pencils to check?” And she said, “No, no. Stan just said to go ahead. When you get the pencils finished, we’ll get it lettered, and you can ink it.” And I was about to tell her, “I don’t ink,” and I thought, “No, I better not. She might not give me the script.” So I just said, “Oh yeah, sure. I’ll ink it.” I almost died. That was the first professional inking job I did. RT: That’s the horror story, “It,” about the baby that turns out to actually be a murderous alien? ROMITA: That was the first time I put pen to paper. Soon after, I came up with this crazy technique with all the shadows. Stan was crazy about it. And the rest of the guys wanted to kill me because he now wanted them to do all that extra work. [laughs]

“Kids! What’s the matter with kids today?” A climactic panel from Romita’s first pencil-and-ink job for Timely— or for anybody else. The story was reprinted in full in the sadly out-of-print 1996 Marvel hardcover The Art of John Romita. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RT: When did you actually meet Stan? ROMITA: When I went in with the “It” job. We went over the story. He was the first editor I had run into who paid attention to what you did. Most editors just looked at the work and grunted or told you it was no good or it was okay. But Stan immediately started giving me feedback—and, in fact, he’s the one who triggered me into doing that damn photographic style. Maybe that was the story I remember where this guy kept trying to take his mask off, and it turned out he shredded his own skin off his face. [laughs] He was like a Ku Klux Klanner with a mask—a vigilante beast—and after his crimes, his conscience got to him. It was probably an Edgar Allan Poe ripoff. He kept looking at himself in the mirror and seeing the mask and tearing it off, and there was another one under it, so he’d tear that one off, and so on. And at the end, they said, “We don’t know what happened to this guy, but he pulled all the skin off his face.”

Maneely is the first guy I realized could put in bone structure with a pen line. In other words, he didn’t make everything round. He had these nice bone structure prominences on people’s faces and clothing. The word “crisp” immediately popped into my mind. He would do the whole thing with a thin pen line; then he would take a big, bold brush and do all the blacks. And for years after that I worked that way. I was a brush man at heart, but I couldn’t stop working the way he did for a while. RT: His thin-line backgrounds gave his stuff a feeling of depth many comics didn’t have.

ROMITA: He could get away with it, because there was a rather clean reproduction in those days. So for years I did my backgrounds with no shadows at all. He influenced me tremendously, and I think I learned more in that one day than I did in ten years of previous work. RT: He died in 1958, when he fell off a train. Bill Everett told me he and Maneely used to drink their lunch and “lose Fridays” sometimes, so some people think that may have been a factor. But who knows? ROMITA: He was 38 years old, I think. If he’d lived, not only would he have been up there with Kirby and Ditko when Marvel got started, but

RT: A nice little morality tale. ROMITA: Right after that first story—it had some weaknesses, especially in the inking—Stan calls up [Timely artist] Joe Maneely and tells him, “I’m going to send this guy out to spend a day with you. Give him as many pointers as possible.” And the next day, I think, I went out to Flushing, probably from 10:30 in the morning until about 4:30 in the afternoon. I watched Maneely; and while he’s talking to me, giving me pointers, he turned out like two or three pages, one double-spread with an entire pioneer fort in Indian country with Indians attacking from the outside, and guys shooting from the inside.

Some of Joe Maneely’s most memorable work was the Black Knight series he created with Stan Lee three years before his untimely death. Splash from BK #1 (May 1955). Note Maneely’s fine-line backgrounds, as discussed by John R.—who drew the “Crusader” story in Black Knight #4. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Fifty Years On The “A” List the end of the world. The thing is, keep it alive.” And he was dead right. I could be very accurate, and the work would die. RT: So you worked for Stan until you got drafted, during the Korean War? ROMITA: Yeah. I got drafted in the Spring of ’51. I tried to get out to Governor’s Island, which would keep me from going overseas like the coward that I was. [laughs] I pushed up my induction date; it’s what they called “voluntary induction.” Instead of waiting to be called, I showed my artwork to this Air Force captain who was the art director on Governor’s Island, and he said, “I’d love to have you here. If you can manage to get to”—I think it was Camp Upton, in New Jersey—“then I can get you assigned to Fort Dix. But if you don’t get to Camp Upton, you could end up going to Georgia, and then you’re stuck on their infantry list.” I did manage to get to Camp Upton, and he put in the paperwork to reserve me. So I got assigned to Governor’s Island and to do my Basic Training at Fort Dix in Jersey. That was July of ’51. I had worked with Stan, maybe over six months. I’d done maybe 10-12 stories for him. RT: So you were in the service when you and Virginia were married? ROMITA: Yeah. That was a year and a half later, in November of ’52. If you had nine months to go, you could be sent overseas—but as soon as you went under nine months, they couldn’t send you overseas. My term was going to be up in seven months, and we got married. So on my honeymoon I go to Canada as a serviceman. We go through the Canadian border and Virginia says, “Gee, it’s funny to leave the United

“This is Korea,” which depicted President Harry Truman, came out after the war had ended and congratulated our G.I.s for “a job well done!” Art by John Romita, from Battle #26 (Feb. 1954). Courtesy of Michael J. Vassallo. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

he’d have been Stan’s ace in the hole. I jokingly said once that, if Joe Maneely had lived, half of us would have been out of work! [laughs] RT: And Ditko and Kirby could have handled what he didn’t draw! A few guys like that could be a whole art department. Some people don’t let anything stop them, including doing research or worrying too much over things. ROMITA: That’s exactly what Jack always told me. He used to say, “You’re too technical. Don’t worry about it. If it’s a little bit off, it’s not

“Romita’s War”—not to mention Timely’s—spilled over into Captain America, months after a truce was declared in Korea. This POW-camp tale from #77 (July 1954) is printed from Roy’s bound volumes, so a bit of art is cut off—though not JR’s signature. But Namor and the Torch were fighting the Reds, too, as per these Everett and Ayers panels from Young Men #26 (Sub-Mariner) and Human Torch #38 (Aug. 1954). [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Candid Conversation With John Romita States.” First time we’d ever done it. And I said, “Oh my God, I’m a deserter! They could put me in irons for 25 years!” I’d never told them where I was going on my honeymoon. I could have never come back if I wanted to. RT: A decade and a half later, a lot of young men would be going that same route, only on purpose. You kept on working for Timely through a lot of this period? ROMITA: Yeah. I became a corporal 7-8 months after I got to Governor’s Island, and I was allowed to live off the post. I got an apartment in Brooklyn. I was going to Governor’s Island by ferry every morning, and every night I would go home. The whole thing is like a dream to me. Once you reached a certain status, a “Class A” pass allowed you to leave the post any time you were not on duty. So I would go uptown to Stan’s to deliver packages and talk to him about a new script and then come down and get back on the ferry and go to work again. RT: That was Romita’s War, huh?

years you can retire and take another job part-time and live like a king”—that was his theory. When I was in the Army, I became a corporal, then a sergeant, and then they offered me a master sergeant’s rank at $488 a month. To my father, that was a fortune. I made more in comics, but he didn’t buy it. RT: Maybe he saw 1957 coming. Which is more than most Timely people did! [laughs] ROMITA: When we had black days, my father would say, “If you were still in the Army, you wouldn’t have to worry about all this.” Anyway, I got out in July of ’53. RT: You must’ve jumped right away into that “Captain America” work. ROMITA: I was doing war stories while I was in the Army—and westerns. And then, yes, I think I started “Captain America” just after I got out. RT: Stan told me once that Timely’s comics were being kept out of Army PXs during the Korean War, because its war stories basically said war was bad—a little like what EC was doing. Were you ever aware of any feeling against Timely?

ROMITA: [Marvel letterer] Morrie Kuramoto, years later, told me he always wondered ROMITA: I didn’t hear any who the hell that soldier was grumbles, but I didn’t spend a who was always delivering lot of time at the PX. But I artwork! And I alienated all know there was a lot of public the Midwesterners in the Yeah, we kinda thought this might get your attention. No, it’s not one of those annoyance because of the recruiting mill there. These naughty sketches John drew at age 11 for his beady-eyed buddies, but a full-size pencil Commie-fighting stuff. A lot of guys were all my buddies, drawing of Medusa (in between costumes) that he generously did for Rascally Roy critics were down on Captain circa 1967, with the proviso that it never be published. Thanks for letting us change your ’cause when I first got there, I America being a Commiemind, John—even if we had to censor it a bit for a “family magazine”! was in the barracks with them. fighter. [Art ©2001 John Romita; Medusa ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] We’d do G.I. parties together, we’d scrub floors. When I got RT: As a kid of 12-13 when married, I was no longer there, so that alienated me a little bit. Then Young Men #24 brought back Torch, Cap, and Namor, I thought all that somebody ratted, told them I was doing comics uptown—and when Red-bashing was great. they heard I was making more in a week than they would make in a month, even the master sergeants, I no longer had any friends in there. [laughs] I was in the Army for 24 months exactly. They offered me a master sergeant’s rank, and my father got angry when I decided to not stay in the Army. He said, “You got two years done. All you got is another 18 years, and you can retire with full pay. How could you turn down a deal like that?” I told him, “It’s not me. I want to get the hell out.”

Monthly! Edited and published by Robin Snyder

RT: Adults who lived through the Depression—as opposed to kids, like you were—tend to have ideas about financial security that go far beyond what most people could appreciate nowadays. ROMITA: Well, my father was a fanatic about it. During my young years, he’d say, “I know you don’t want to be a policeman and I don’t want you to be a fireman, but you can certainly join the Sanitation Department.” Meaning, Civil Service was the answer. “After twenty

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Fifty Years On The “A” List

ROMITA: I did, too. But there was a period during the war when the American flag itself became a liability. There was a backlash from all the peaceniks, or whoever, saying we had no business going to Korea to fight, nationalism and chauvinism were destroying our American way of life, etc.—and Stan took the rap. Captain America was almost an American flag with legs, so he got a lot of adverse publicity. I believe Stan told me that’s why he dropped Captain America first, because Human Torch and Sub-Mariner had none of that.

super-hero comics that Timely/Atlas put out from ’53-’55 is way more than anybody put out except DC. You may feel your Captain America was a failure, but that combination of Caniff and Kirby, I think, really worked well. ROMITA: I set out to do an absolute swipe of Kirby, but I never succeeded. Caniff kept sneaking in there. RT: I loved the combination. The women and the shadows were very Caniff, which I recognized even at 13. I was also following a newspaper strip that had started in 1951 called Chris Welkin, Planeteer; it was sort of Terry and the Pirates Go to Mars. It was drawn by Art Sansom and written by Russ Winterbotham. It had a Dragon Lady character, Chris Welkin was like Pat Ryan, and there was a kid who was like Terry. There was a lot of good Caniff-influenced stuff coming out between the ’40s and the ’60s.

RT: Actually, Bill Everett had tons of Redbashing in Sub-Mariner. So did the Torch. It went on right up to the end of the revival. In fact, the very last Torch issue had a story set in a North Korean P.O.W. camp. But Captain America lasted every bit as long as Human Torch! Both heroes were in seven anthology issues—Young Men #24-28 and Men’s Adventures #27-28—plus both appeared in three issues of their own comic.

ROMITA: I know, I know. Along with Frank Robbins and Lee Elias, there was Bruce Gentry, by Ray Bailey, who ghosted Caniff for a while.

ROMITA: I thought the Torch went on longer.

The classic Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953) launched RT: You worked for Famous Funnies and Steven RT: No, although evidently a fourth Torch issue an Indian Summer of Timely super-hero comics, Douglas, who was one of the first and most was prepared in 1954. One story from it popped but Captain America and Sub-Mariner got important comic book editors. When was that? up, drawn by Dick Ayers; we printed it, two distinctly second billing on Carl Burgos’ cover. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] decades late, in the 1970s Human Torch reprint ROMITA: That was my first job, and it was with mag. But the Torch and Cap solo titles were Lester Zakarin. I spent two weeks penciling a 15cancelled within a few weeks of each other, at most. Sub-Mariner lasted page romance story for Steve Douglas, who I found out was a philananother year, probably because of that TV deal that was pending in thropist: He bought artwork from beginners, knowing he’d probably 1954-55 for Namor, which Bill Everett told me about. never use it. He was financing our education. He was a hell of a guy.

There’s a special place in heaven for him, I’ll tell you. I don’t think Lester Zakarin ever got to ink it, because Douglas put it on his pile; he had a stack of artwork on his desk that must have been a foot high. When he died, I wanted to go to the services, just to tell his wife what a blessing he was to guys like me. He was one in a million. The thing is, I never should have taken a romance story. I had spent all my life doing airplanes and horses and heroes and war stories. I tried to do women for the

Young Men #26 (April 1954) is the only time in the 23-issue revival in which Cap, SubMariner, and the Torch appear together. But how did Namor wind up so much shorter than the other two? [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROMITA: Right. That I heard. Stan told me about that once when I confessed to him that I felt I was the guy who kept Captain America from succeeding. He said, “No, there was no problem.” He liked it. RT: There was a brief revival of super-heroes in comics in that period, because of the Superman TV show. Mike Sekowsky drew a new hero called Captain Flash who lasted four issues... Simon and Kirby’s Fighting American went seven... Charlton’s Blue Beetle didn’t last long, either. None of them lasted over a year at most. Matter of fact, the 23

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

13 Thar’s gold in them Caniffornia hills! Winterbotham & Sansom’s Chris Welkin, Planeteer had its Caniff-inspired cast (as seen in this daily clipped out of a 1952 newspaper by 11year-old Roy)—Frank Robbins’ Johnny Hazard (1945)—Lee Elias’ Beyond Mars from sometime in the ’50s—and a decidedly Caniff/Sickles-style panel from Ray Bailey’s Bruce Gentry, which ran from 1945-52. [Chris Welkin ©2001 NEA Syndicate; Johnny Hazard ©2001 King Features Syndicate; Beyond Mars ©2001 the respective copyright holder; Bruce Gentry ©2001 Post Syndicate.]

first time in that comics story, and I almost went nuts! In those two weeks I must have fallen asleep 3-4 times at the drawing board, working past midnight, and I’d wake up freezing cold because all my circulation was gone. And I would have a line running all the way down the page where I fell asleep. I wasn’t prepared to do a love story, and Douglas was right in never using it. But he paid me $200 and it never got into print; so to me, that was a miracle. RT: Couldn’t you have fallen back on all those nudes you did as a kid? ROMITA: This was a whole different ball game, because I had to do girls with dresses, trying to dance, and strolling slowly. If I’d done my kind of woman, I’d have done the Dragon Lady with a knife in her hand. [laughs] RT: Milt Caniff warped a whole generation’s image of women! But I believe you also got an assignment from Simon and Kirby at about that time....

the day at Forbes, and I killed myself. I worked four or five hours penciling something. I think I even swiped it from Alex Raymond, for some reason. I wanted to have something polished. I tried to do the inking like Raymond, too. If I’d known it was Kirby, I wouldn’t have done that. I worked like a dog. It probably wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I really hated it and I was mortified by it. I never took it up there. That must have been 1948 or ’49.

ROMITA: That was even a little earlier. When I was still working at Forbes, I answered an ad in The New York Times. It said, “$40 a week, cartoonist needed.” The address was 500 Fifth Avenue, which was within walking distance from where I was working. So I go up there at lunchtime, and I didn’t know Simon and Kirby were behind the ad. I talk to somebody—it may have been Joe Simon, for all I know, ’cause I didn’t know anybody in the business then. He said, “Draw up a page and ink it and bring it back A Kirby-style Cap and a Caniff-style female spy—fused in Romita art from Young Men #25 (Feb. 1954). This tomorrow.” I went home after working the rest of

Cold War classic’s final panel was “blown up” in 1965 by Flo Steinberg, Denny O’Neil, and Roy Thomas from photostats they found in the Marvel offices. RT’s framed copy still hangs on his wall. When you see a repro of that panel minus the caption (as in The Art of John Romita), it’s been repro’d from that retouched stat! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

So about five years later, I’m talking to Jack Kirby, and I tell him, “I almost worked for you.” I had found out later that was a Simon and Kirby stable. They were hiring young fellows to do what they called “in-between pages.” Jack and Joe would do the splash and maybe two other pages, then they’d slip in a kid’s artwork and they would ink it and maybe save it. And then they’d do another page and they’d slip in another kid’s artwork. And so they would do five pages and end up

Fifty Years On The “A” List with a ten-page story. When I told Jack, years later, “I didn’t have the guts to bring it up,” he said, “God, all the years you wasted. You could have been a dynamite artist.” If I’d had the gall to bring it up, I probably would have been working for Jack from 1948. RT: When did you draw for Avon? ROMITA: While I was working for Lester Zakarin, I would have times between jobs, and he had a list of all the editors in the city, all the companies in the city, maybe half a dozen. I went up to Avon Comics, whose editor was a guy named Sol Cohen. He was a nervous wreck who spoke a mile-a-minute, had no patience, and was cruel—as cruel as could be. He treated young artists like dirt. He used to tell me, “You call this artwork? This is crap. This is no good. This is garbage.”

Romita’s original sketch to the cover of C.A. #77 (July 1954), since lost—juxtaposed with the published cover—and an, er, “homage” cover for Ajax/Farrell’s revived Phantom Lady #2 (Feb.-March 1955). John’s octopus got upgraded into a shark! [Captain America art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Phantom Lady art ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

I did love stories for him, and he had somebody ink it who must have used a toothbrush or a whiskbroom on it. I labored over a love story, and this guy went over it with a big, heavy hand and mutilated everything. The second story I did, I complained to Cohen about the inking: “You know, I could ink this better than this guy.” He says, “Who the hell do you think you are? This guy’s a professional. You could never ink as good as him as long as you live!” He tried to tear down my confidence, but I knew better. I mean, that guy was a terrible inker! I remember Carmine [Infantino] and Joe Kubert did a western for Avon while I was working there. I think it was Jesse James. That might be the job they said they did in a day or two, but to me it was like a work of art. And Edward Raymond Kinstler did covers for Avon; he later became an illustrator. These guys knocked my socks off, which didn’t help my ego. It was very embarrassing to bring my artwork in. But I only did a few issues for Avon. That’s another place I used to run into Jack Abel and Ed Winiarski and other guys. John Forte was there, and Tony Di Preta, who later did Joe Palooka. Colan did some westerns for Avon, too, I think. I worked for one guy who was a real strange duck. I sometimes think he didn’t really have an office but was using somebody else’s office at lunchtime, when I would deliver work to him. The outfit was called Trojan Comics. He was doing bondage covers. Every time I did a western cover for him, there were no horses on it. Instead, there was a girl with half her blouse torn away, tied up on a chair, with some villain approaching her with his gun, and the hero comes crashing through the window, or something, to save her. I did maybe two or three western covers for this guy, and he paid me $45 a cover, more than anyone else paid at the time, so I couldn’t stop doing them. I don’t remember that guy’s name. But I know he was a nebbish.

John informs us the splash panel of the “C.A.” story in Young Men #24 had already been drawn by Mort Lawrence when he inherited the series. Panels 2 & 3 are pure Romita. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RT: Maybe Alter Ego’s readers will track down Trojan Comics. Getting back to that mid-’50s super-hero revival: When I showed you the splash

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

ROMITA: By the way, that guy hanging there was originally Bucky. If you look at the sketch, it not only was Bucky, but I even had two possible positions for the head. RT: And already, I see Cap’s shield has only two stripes, with no inked lines in them. ROMITA: I sold Stan a bill of goods on that one. Actually, I was good at drawing circles. I could draw them freehand, and guys would think I was using one of those aids they call an ellipse. But I didn’t want to spend time drawing all those circular stripes on Cap’s shield, so I talked Stan into having them just color-held, with no black lines. It didn’t work out very well, though. [laughs] RT: They evidently didn’t use color-hold markings, ’cause the red stripes wandered all over the place. They were just blobs of color! Do you know anything about the decision to bring Cap and the other two heroes back in ’53?

for the first “Captain America” story in it [Young Men #24], you said it was by Mort Lawrence, though you drew the rest of the story. You thought he might’ve been slated to be the original artist. ROMITA: I think he started the story and Stan stopped him, for some reason. When I came in, the splash was done and it was signed “Mort Lawrence.” Stan asked me to do the rest of the story. I’m not sure if there were any panels underneath the splash or not. RT: The two other panels on that page in the printed book are by you. In fact, the only “Captain America” work in 1953-54 that wasn’t by you was that first splash—one story totally drawn (and signed) by Lawrence—and I presume the first of the three covers of the Captain America title—#76, which has that thin-line approach for backgrounds we were discussing—and there’s a cartoony smile on Cap’s face. ROMITA: Stan probably had somebody touch it up. Whoever was out in his waiting room, Stan would call them in and have them do corrections on the spot. RT: Your cover for Cap #77 is the pier scene with a guy dangling over a big octopus. The cover and all three title-hero splashes of C.A. #78. How could John R. ever have imagined his art was responsible for the failure of Cap’s 1950s revival? But note the lack of inked stripes on Cap’s shield. The single red and white stripes in the printed issue were laid in crudely by the hard-pressed ladies at Eastern Color! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROMITA: I don’t remember Stan telling me anything about it. I was just so excited that he’d let me do “Captain America”! I was paralyzed with fear, but excited, and I was feeling so lucky to get the chance that I never even questioned it. I was just thinking that it foretold a good period of steady work; that’s all I cared about. RT: It turned out not to last very long. But I can see where it looked like the coming thing, because by the time those books were cancelled, there’d been five different comics titles starring the “Big Three,” counting the two anthologies. Young Men had even gone from bimonthly to monthly!

Fifty Years On The “A” List determined to learn everything I can about those 1950s issues. If not you, then who else am I gonna ask? Stan? Like he says, he does good to remember what he did last week! We don’t even know who wrote the “Cap” stories, though you’ve said you think Stan wrote some of them. Not to start you feeling like a failure again, but do you have any theory as to why, even though Cap was the most popular of Timely’s “Big Three” back in the ’40s, he got less play than the other two in the ’50s? Young Men #24 has a 9-page “Torch” and an 8-page “SubMariner”—but only a 6-page “Captain America,” tucked in between them. And the division in the other six anthology issues was 8-7-8, with “Cap” always a page shorter than the other two. Also, the Torch was cover-featured on all seven anthology issues—and there wound up being fewer stories of Cap than of the Torch, let alone Sub-Mariner with his TV option. ROMITA: I have no idea. Maybe Mort Lawrence had done a whole issue and Stan decided not to print it. Dick Ayers was working steadily for Stan at that time, and maybe he was turning out more stories than me. I know that Dick was always his first choice, or sometimes the only guy available to him when he wanted to get work done. RT: Yeah, but Dick only began drawing “Torch” stories four months after they started. Russ Heath, of all people, drew the first one, in Young Men #24; then Carl Burgos did them in #25-28. Ayers’ first work was in Human Torch #36—where virtually every one of his Torch figures had a Burgos Torch pasted over it! Makes me wonder why Burgos, who created the character, didn’t just do all the “Torch” stories.

ROMITA: I think I inked all the Captain America stories until Jack Abel inked the three stories in the last issue [#78]. I think we did something with a Korean prison camp, too. RT: You actually drew two POW-camp stories— one in Cap #76—and another in #77, which you signed. The one in #76—with the charming title, “Come to the Commies!”—is not signed. Did you sign stories when someone else inked them?

ROMITA: Maybe he was too busy. He was on staff, working 9-to-5 in the office. And, in fact, he did do cover sketches. I don’t know if I told you, but he did cover sketches for Captain America. In fact, Burgos may have had something to do with that first Captain America cover [#76] whose artist you couldn’t identify. RT: Yeah, it does have a little of the look of Burgos’ work. Maybe even Maneely’s. ROMITA: On the Electro cover [Captain America #78], I distinctly remember that Burgos gave me a sketch. I don’t remember if I changed it or not, but he was giving me cover sketches for about a year. I believe the one with the octopus is the only cover sketch I did. Burgos was sort of like a cover editor.

ROMITA: No. RT: Then you must have inked all of the last issue, because all three “Cap” stories in #78 are signed by you! Besides the two stories Lawrence worked on, there are only four “Cap” stories out of the 16 in that whole revival that aren’t signed by you: the first and last stories in Captain America #76—the lead story in #77—and the one in Young Men #27. All four of those look like your art, though, even the splashes.

RT: He’d do the sketch, but you’d do your own drawing, right? You weren’t working over his layout?

ROMITA: Maybe somebody else fixed them up. I remember vaguely that I was hurt that Stan rejected one of my splashes.

ROMITA: No. They were very rough sketches, on bond paper, not full-sized pencils. The one I did from scratch [#77], I scaled up.

RT: Now that you mention it, the two unsigned stories in Cap #76—“The Betrayers!” and “Come to the Commies!”—do look as if they could have been inked by Jack Abel. They have a thinner, less bold and thick line than you were using then. ROMITA: I remember the one with the prison camp, because the reference I had for the Communist uniforms was like a pinstripe or crossstitch, like a pinstripe suit—and Jack did a very fine line on it, finer than I would have, very delicate, and I was conscious of it. RT: I don’t expect you to have total recall, but I’m

RT: Credits were less common in comics in that period, after the Siegel-Shuster DC lawsuit in the late ’40s. Was signing your covers your idea, or did Stan suggest it? Les Daniels’ praiseworthy 1991 tome Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics lists the cover artist of C.A. #76 as Syd Shores, but we’ve still got our doubts. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROMITA: Well, he never objected to it. If you remember, for a while, all the westerns were signed by Stan Lee and not necessarily by the

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

artist. It was probably the artist’s choice. But over at DC, I was given the impression—it was mostly subliminal and sort of unsaid—that they considered it egotistical to sign your artwork. RT: God forbid. [laughs] ROMITA: Really! They thought you ought to be a pro and not go putting your name all over everything. It worked out okay. This way nobody could blame you if you did bad stuff. For the whole eight years I worked for DC, I don’t think I signed any of my romance work. RT: I was devastated when those Timely ’50s heroes were discontinued because, except for the stories being too short, I just loved them. Why did Timely always cram in four stories—for example, three “Cap” stories of six pages each, plus one five-page “Torch” filler? DC in that period would have three 8-pagers in, say, Superman and Batman. ROMITA: Timely used to do 3-to-5-page fillers in the westerns, too. I think Stan’s system was to get a lot of stuff in inventory, so he could juggle. If they sold extra ad pages, he could use a 3-pager instead of a 4pager. I think what Stan had up his sleeve was, if the full books didn’t last, he could use any inventory he had in an anthology book. RT: If so, it didn’t work. All the hero books except Sub-Mariner were cancelled at almost exactly the same time. And the remaining seven issues of Sub-Mariner didn’t have any “Cap” or “Torch” stories—just sea-related fillers. Anyway, your art kept getting better throughout the revival. Your Chinatown story in Captain America #77 had real mood, with lots of black shadows and a lot of the feel of Caniff. ROMITA: Oh, it was definitely Caniff! I started trying to do Kirby, and I wound up with Caniff! [laughs] And I’ll tell you, when I was doing brushwork, I was at my best. Whenever I tried to do penwork like Jack Abel, I had trouble.

Contrary to John’s memory, the cover of Western Kid #1 (Dec. 1954) looks like John Romita’s work. Maneely did the next several. And here’s one of the Gil Kane Rex covers John used for inspiration. Sorry we couldn’t scrape up any of those scrumptious Lee/Romita man-dog-horse fights in time for this issue! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The best stuff I ever inked—it’s lost forever; I can’t find any copies of it—are my western things. Not The Western Kid, but the earlier years, when I was doing generic westerns. I did some with a number five brush, because I had heard that Tuska used a number five brush! It’s a big watercolor brush for big bold lines, and I did a 7-page western story over a weekend for Stan. It was a pencil-and-ink job, seven pages, which, for me, was like lightning speed. I got it on a Friday, I went home, I started roughing it in, I penciled it on Saturday and inked it on Sunday and brought it in on Monday, much to my own surprise. But I did the best job I ever did inking because I was in a hurry. I don’t know if I signed it or not. It was one of those things where there was a bully in town. [NOTE: Any help out there?—Roy.] RT: I liked your Western Kid. Did you draw that from the beginning? ROMITA: Yeah. Maneely created his outfit, because he did the first cover. He had this bright yellow shirt, with some kind of floral patterns on the pockets. It was probably supposed to be white, but Stan made it yellow because he didn’t like the blankness of it. RT: How did you like having to draw not only a horse, but a dog, too, in every issue?

The story in Suspense #20 (July 1952, on left) is an example of John’s “photographic” style that had other Timely/Atlas artists upset with him—while “The Man Who Never Was” (Strange Tales #3, Oct. 1951) reveals that, though John never knew it till now, Lester Zakarin—the inker for whom he ghost-penciled—did sign his and John’s last names on at least three stories, as per this page generously sent by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROMITA: It became a nightmare. Invariably, whenever there was a battle scene, Stan would write that the dog would attack one villain, the horse would rear up and strike

Fifty Years On The “A” List work, ruling up the pages, lettering the balloons, and blocking in the figures on a story—and here comes a call from his assistant—she had beautiful bangs, beautiful brown hair, I forget her name but she was adorable—and she says, “John, I have to tell you that Stan says to stop work on the western book because we’re going to cut down on a lot of titles.”

two other villains, and The Western Kid had to shoot two other guys down, or at least shoot the guns out of their hands. Every time I had them in action, I had the three heroes and four or five villains, so every battle scene in the street or in a bar turned out to be a damn epic! And I used to complain to Stan. RT: I guess the inspiration for the dog was Roy Rogers’ Bullet.

I said to her, “Well, I spent three days on it. I’d like to get $100 for the work, to tide me over.” She said, “Okay, I’ll mention it to Stan.” I never heard another word about the money, and I told Virginia, “If Stan Lee ever calls, tell him to go to hell.” [laughs] And that was the last work I did for him until 1965.

ROMITA: Oh, definitely. Roy Rogers had a German Shepherd, I think. And, of course, he, The Lone Ranger, Gene Autry—they all had celebrity horses. And Tom Mix, before your time, before my time, had a “Wonder Horse” named Tony. He was a trick horse who would bow down; he would pick up notes and stuff them in his pocket or take notes out of his pocket and give them to a girl, things like that. Champion, of course, was supposed to be the most intelligent horse. Trigger became a star, too.

RT: Stan told me that Goodman would give him the word to fire everybody, and then Goodman would go off to Florida and play golf. [laughs]

ROMITA: Oh, I understand Stan’s pain, because I went through that, too, towards the end of working at Marvel in the ’90s, I guess John never did tell Stan Lee to go to hell! and it was no fun. I remember I had just A late-’70s publicity photo, courtesy of JR. ROMITA: The westerns were fun, even fought for and gotten a raise for one guy though they were a lot of work. I learned in the spring—and then in the summer we how to draw horses. I did one Western Kid story I was very proud of. had to let him go. And I’m telling him, “Listen, it’s got nothing to do His horse Lightning saved a herd of horses that was being turned into a with your work. They’re just cutting down everybody here.” But it was maniac outlaw herd on the open range. Some white stallion was doing mortifying to have to do that. I had to watch him get this incredulous some damage, and Lightning got out and handled the whole case look on his face, saying, “Are you kidding me?” But, yes, that’s how the himself. I did nothing but horses for five or six pages there. Lightning Timely thing ended, and I wound up going to DC. was a black horse. If he had been a white horse, it would’ve saved a lot RT: Hadn’t you done a little work for DC during that last year before of work. [laughs] I had a lot of black and feathering to do on that. Timely collapsed? And the dog—you want to know something? The dog in Western ROMITA: Yeah. I did a couple of romance stories Kid is almost invariably swiped from Rex the Wonder for them, trying to supplement my income; but it Dog. I had half a dozen issues of Rex by Gil Kane in front was too much hard work, because I was not fast of me every time I had to do that dog! I used Gil’s work enough to do two stories at once. So that would for animating him. Gil had this great ability to twist his always cut into how much I did for Stan. Stan had body— me in once and said, “I notice you’ve been doing RT: He was one of the best guys around for drawing some romance stuff for DC.” I said, “Yeah, to get animals in action. So how did things go bad for you at some extra money.” And he said, “Well, I gotta tell Timely? RT: He and Champion even had their own comics for a while! [laughs]

ROMITA: Around 1957 was when Stan and I were at our lowest ebb in our relationship. In the last year, he cut my rate every time I turned in a story. He was not even talking to me then. He was embarrassed, because he had given me raises for two years every time I went in, and then he took it all away. I went from $44 a page to $24 a page in a year. RT: As Gil was fond of saying, “Comics giveth and comics taketh away.” ROMITA: Virginia kept saying, “Well, how long are you going to take the cuts until you go somewhere else?” And I told her, “I’ll hang on, I’ll hang on.” Then, when it came time that he ran out of money and had to shut down, or cut down to the bone, I had done two or three days’

Batman, yes! But Metamorpho didn’t ring Jazzy Johnny’s chimes. He’d have been a perfect successor to Ramona Fradon on the Element Man—but Stan was far happier to see him return to Marvel in July of ’65! Batman convention sketch courtesy of Mike Burkey (and dig JR’s imitation Bob Kane sig!)—and Ramona’s cover for Metamorpho #3 (Dec. 1965). [Sketch art ©2001 John Romita; Batman and Metamorpho ©2001 DC Comics.]

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

ROMITA: I did that in ’56, but that was mostly for exercise. I was getting fat. I almost got a job on the docks. Some longshoreman friends were going to get me a longshoreman union card, and I figured I could work 2-3 days a week and get all the exercise I needed and make some extra money. RT: You’d have had to watch out for all those Communist octopuses! ROMITA: More that that: I’d have had to watch out for gang bosses that would have you beaten up if you tried to get work. But then I saw this newspaper route for sale—$4000 to deliver 300 papers a day—so I borrowed the money and I got the route. I used to get up at three in the morning and deliver papers until seven, then take a nap and get up again around ten or eleven and start working on comics. That was like a year and a half before Stan cut me off. Even though it was a drag to get up seven days a week and deliver papers, it kept us solvent for a while. But when Timely folded, Virginia said, “The paper route is not enough money,” so she got a job. And then a week after that, I brought in a bigger check than I had ever got at Stan’s! Virginia had taken a job to fill in for vacationers, and she felt embarrassed to leave them in the lurch. So she stayed for most of the summer, and it killed her because it was a pork-rendering place. They would reduce fat to chemicals. From what I hear—I have no sense of smell—it was the worst smell in the world. And she had to work in that building for two months, and I don’t think she ever got over it. [laughs] RT: When you went back to DC, was Zena Brody still there?

JR’s rough pencils for a Marvel Age cover (we think) depicting the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic. At one time or another, John drew each of these mostly-Kirby-designed heroes for Marvel—but he can’t help wondering how he’d have fared on The New Gods or Mr. Miracle! Courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©Marvel Characters, Inc.]

you, you know you’re on my ‘A’ list, meaning if I got two scripts, you’re gonna get one of them. But I’m going to have to take you off my ‘A’ list if you’re going to do work for DC.”

ROMITA: I believe she was just leaving, but she recommended me highly, so I worked for this other, very sweet girl who had a severe limp. And then a very good person took over, Phyllis Reed. She and I worked together very well for years. She used me as her main artist. I would work out the cover ideas out with her, and she’d have the writers base the scripts on our covers. And then I would get the story that fit the cover. They’d use the cover as the splash on one story, which was usually the last story in the book. That saved them the cost of a page, so the cover cost the same as one of the pages. You’d get a 15-page job and only get 14 pages of artwork.

So I called up Zena Brody, the romance editor at DC—she was a nice girl and a pretty good editor, too—and told her I couldn’t do any more for her, and she was very upset. She said, “Gee, I was counting on you.” She was talking about doing a steady series with me. I told her, “I’m sorry, but Stan Lee is giving me the bulk of my work.” She said, “We’ll try to get you more work.” But I said, “I have to decide now because I can’t gamble. If you can’t give me the work Stan is giving me, then I’ll be out.” And then, six months later, he let me go through his secretary. I was so mad, partly because he had kept me from making extra money. Stan didn’t know that I couldn’t really earn any extra money— [laughs]—although he had gotten an idea by then that I was pretty slow. But that really tore me up, because I was thinking, “Gee, I’ll never get into DC again.” And a little later I walked in there and they welcomed me with open arms and I went from $24 a page to $35-$38 a page. RT: If they’d made that offer before, you’d probably have been there a year earlier. ROMITA: No, because I was making over $40 a page at Timely before the cuts started. It’s funny, too, because when I lost the work from Stan, Virginia had run right out and got a job! RT: Was it you or she who once had a route delivering newspapers?

RT: Several Timely people like Colan and others went over to DC after the ’57 collapse.

ROMITA: Jack Abel was there, too. I met Frank Giacoia doing romances. I met Sy Barry. I worked with Sekowsky but I never met him; I inked a couple of his romance stories—very educational. Working on Sekowsky’s strong pencils was a great boon to me; I learned how to do a lot of things. There was Werner Roth, who later did X-Men.

I inked Arthur Peddy a few times. The only problem with him was, I had to shorten all the arms. He had the habit of making people’s upper

Fifty Years On The “A” List pieces, and so did Stan, from time to time. I did a story of the Revolutionary War, which is one of my pet stories of all time. Stan wrote a very interesting 10-page story dealing with a family in Boston that was torn apart by the Revolutionary War. Half the family was Tory, and half the family was Patriot. That’s one of my stories that I use to show people what writers do to artists! I should have saved it. The script called for a splash showing a street in Boston, and outside this house there was a balcony above the entrance. And on the balcony was the father of the family, and four sons and, I think, a daughter. The family was looking at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the background—so I had to show Bunker Hill and the other hill [ED. NOTE: Breed’s Hill], with gunfire and smoke from one of the M.C. Wyeth illustrations. Oh yes, and there was a division of Redcoats marching down the street! [laughs] So there’s a thousand soldiers, this family, and other people looking out the windows and looking, in the distance, at the Battle of Bunker Hill. And I called up Stan and I said, “How in the hell do you expect me to get all this into one drawing?” I think he even had a panel at the bottom of the page, too; it wasn’t even a full-page. It took me forever; it took me two days just to get reference. I should have used the Jack Keller system—have a lot of smoke obscuring things.

In 1965 John was surprised to learn Spider-Man was Marvel’s second-bestselling title. “I apologized to Ditko years later,” he says. Repro’d from photocopies of the original art, from Amazing Spider-Man #12 (1963). [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

arms so long and gorilla-like they would reach their lap. I never asked the editor; I just corrected them. I couldn’t stand them. Sort of like Rob Liefeld, back in the ’90s. I had to shorten the legs and arms on everything he did. I inked almost as much as I penciled, for a while; but maybe that was before I left Stan. When Phyllis Reed came, I did all pencils and very little inking. RT: Was there anyone besides Stan counted as an editor at Timely in the late ’40s or early ’50s? Don Rico seems to have functioned as one, earlier—at least Gil told me he handed out assignments—Vince Fago was editor-in-chief while Stan was in the Army—and Dorothy Woolfolk, or Roubicek, was there briefly in the mid-’40s. But none of them was editing at Timely by ’49.

The things of mine Stan liked best were the horror stories. I remember one horror story I did; in the last panel I had the villain or somebody grasping a severed head, holding it up in triumph. I asked Stan, “Are you sure we can get away with this?” He said, “Oh, yeah. As long as it’s not red blood.” [laughs] RT: The Bill Gaines approach. How did you feel about doing horror stories? ROMITA: I didn’t like them, although I turned out to be good at them. I don’t like horror stories. I still, to this day, don’t understand the attraction of Dracula movies. It was always a mystery to me that EC was so famous for their horror stuff. I hated them and I hated, even worse, blood and slashing knives. I just had to make a living. RT: Other people, like Bill Everett, seemed to really like it.

ROMITA: Don Rico wasn’t doing drawings then; I only knew him as a name on a script. Vince Fago—I remember the name, but I never dealt with anybody at Marvel except Stan until you took over. The only other editors I worked for were the romance editors at DC, and Sol Cohen at Avon. RT: You did a fair amount of horror and crime at Timely in the ’50s, didn’t you? ROMITA: I have two pages from a racetrack gangster story I did in 1949. The Marvel book [The Art of John Romita] reproduces a gangster splash with an old 1920s car and machine-gun fire. Biro did period

Stan Lee may have talked John out of going into advertising, but years later he drew plenty of commercial art for Marvel—including this piece for Slurpee displays at 7-11 stores. Repro’d from original art, courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

RT: Each DC editor had his own stable, and they didn’t poach on each other’s preserve, nor did they want an artist getting off the reservation. They were pretty territorial.

ROMITA: He really did. He did some quality mood stuff. I had to inject as much mood as I could, like bottom lighting and gristle and stubbled beards and clenching hands. I put in as much black as I could to try to hide what I was doing. [laughs]

ROMITA: It was worse than that. Frank Giacoia used to get this: If you were unfortunate enough to be doing stories for two of them at the same time, each of them would watch you like a hawk. And no matter whose story you turned in second, you were in trouble; you’d lose that book as an assignment. I thought to myself, “Gee, I’d just as soon not work for guys who were that bloodthirsty.” I had been used to Stan, who was very benign and benevolent. And these guys, I heard, were cutthroats, and, boy, you better not cross them or you’ll never get work again.

RT: At least Stan never had this feeling that Charlie Biro had—that blacks were “cheating,” and that he wanted to see everything. ROMITA: That was one of his trademarks—that everything was High Noon in a Charlie Biro story. There were a lot of blacks in Stan’s mystery stories.

RT: You had done lots of adventure comics and some Captain America comics that were better than most of what DC was turning out at the time. Yet, when they started Doom Patrol in ’63, they gave it to Bruno Premiani. Good as he was, he was more of a romance artist than a superhero artist.

RT: In ’57, American News had failed and Timely had collapsed, so you’d gone to work for DC. But by 1965 that phase of your career was all over, right? ROMITA: I ran out of work at DC. Phyllis Reed must have quit before I left, because my last year or so I worked for another editor. He may have been let go almost at the same time that I left. He wanted kickbacks. He used to leave gift certificates on his desk for you to sign. [laughs] It was really blatant.

Now it can be told! John’s first Marvel task was to ink Kirby’s Avengers #23 cover the way it looks at left, as (eventually) seen in Marvel Masterworks, Vol. 27 (1993). However, in 1965 the Comics Code decided Kang’s right hand looked a bit too, well, frightening ’way up there in the middle of the air, so it had to be moved down and to the left, as per the printed cover at right. See how the Code saved you from all those nightmares? [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RT: When you went to work for DC in the late ’50s, did you do anything but romance? ROMITA: I never drew anything else for them. In fact, it used to hurt me. Although I never spoke to the other editors—I think I said hello to Julie Schwartz once—I was hoping I would bump into them and they’d ask me to talk to them about some work. I was too shy, and much too lacking in confidence, to stay around and join anybody for lunch.

John, Julius Schwartz, and Murphy Anderson at the 1995 Chicago ComiCon. So how come these three guys never got together during the 7-8 years John was at DC? Photo courtesy of John Romita.

Before I came over to Marvel, Mike [Esposito] told me that DC wasn’t too happy with the finished faces he and Ross [Andru] were doing on Wonder Woman, so they were talking about me ghosting Wonder Woman’s face. But it never came to anything.

ROMITA: Right, he was more like an illustrator. It hurt, because in my daydreams one of those editors would say to me, “How would you like to do Batman,” or something, “as a filler?” I was itching for it, but I didn’t have the confidence to go in and ask anybody. It was my fault. I’ve kidded Julie Schwartz many times: “You guys let me go. You never paid attention to me, and then a week later you offered me Metamorpho, but by then I had a handshake deal with Stan to do Daredevil.” By then I had inked one Avengers story and gotten the Daredevil assignment, so it was probably two weeks when [DC Editor] George Kashdan called me and said, “I heard you weren’t doing any work for us. I was on vacation. If I’d known you were without work, I would have offered you this book. Can you do it? It’s yours if you want it.”

RT: Metamorpho? ROMITA: Ramona Fradon had just left it. And he said, “Boy, I’d love for you to do Metamorpho.” And in my mind, aside from the fact that I had a handshake deal with Stan, Metamorpho was not a book I wanted

Fifty Years On The “A” List organized to utilize their artists well. ROMITA: Also, I think they didn’t want to take on new artists. If they had enough good artists, they weren’t willing to break up their routine just to break in an artist who might be better down the line. I don’t think I impressed them enough in the romance. But I did have a shot, back in the ’50s, at doing Flash Gordon for Dan Barry. Sy Barry and I had worked on a romance story together, and we became friends. He recommended me to his brother. Dan Barry sent me a letter from Austria. He was living in a castle there, I heard, and writing European television stuff and doing storyboards for them. He was looking for an artist to ghost some of Flash Gordon, so he could do more writing. I sent him some love stories as samples, and he wrote back that he liked them very much and that as soon as he got organized and could make a transition, I would help him out. Later he called me up and said, “I’m going to send you a script on Monday.” The day he was going to do it, the Journal-American [NYC newspaper] went on strike, and they could not pay him for Flash Gordon until the strike was settled. It went on for three or four weeks, maybe more. And he called me up from Europe and said he had to hold off because he wasn’t getting enough money to pay an artist to help him out. RT: He wouldn’t have been able to keep water in his moat. [laughs] ROMITA: He probably could have afforded it. He just didn’t want to do it, because he didn’t know how long the strike would last. That cost me the Flash Gordon try-out. I had a close call with Milton Caniff in the ’70s, too. He asked me to do Steve Canyon—I’d been recommended by Shel Dorf—and I sent a couple of Sunday samples, and he told me, “As soon as I get organized,” etc. And then he had an emergency operation. He was in the hospital,

to work on, even though I think I could have done a good job on it. The only thing that could have made me go back on my word to Stan was if they had offered me a major title—even a second-line character, not Superman or Batman—just a title that was recognizable. I was just too damned straight-arrow to do it, under those circumstances. Once I’d told Stan I would do Daredevil, I stuck to the deal as though I had signed a contract. So I don’t know if that was trying to save their ass to the bosses—“How did you let him go?” and all that stuff—but it took them about two weeks to notice I was even gone. RT: I wonder if they’d noticed that, months earlier, Gene Colan had started drawing “Sub-Mariner” for Marvel. But, of course, he did it as “Adam Austin.” ROMITA: He used the phony name because he was still drawing romances for DC. Somebody suggested I might use a phony name at Marvel—it must’ve been when I was doing work for both companies— and I wrote out “John Victor,” for my two boys. Then I said, “This is crazy. Who am I kidding? Everybody’s going to know I’m doing it, so why use a phony name?” Remember “Gary Michaels”? That was Jack Abel. RT: Gil Kane was “Scott Edward,” and Werner Roth was “Jay Gavin,” both named for their kids. “Mickey Demeo” was Mike Esposito, and Frank Giacoia was “Frankie Ray.” Stan and I would chuckle about how DC had all these great hero artists buried in their romance department. It wasn’t that DC was disorganized. It’s more like they were too

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A Candid Conversation With John Romita and he had already assigned some stuff on an emergency basis.

will be buried and nobody will know anything about you.” I couldn’t argue with it, but I was tempted.

RT: You had a run of great luck with newspaper strips there, didn’t you?

I’ll never quite forgive myself for not giving that a try, notwithstanding Virginia’s protests, because there’s no telling whether I could have made a difference on Mister Miracle. He might not have gotten so exhausted on the whole thing.

ROMITA: Yeah. Actually, Virginia was rooting against it. She figured I’d become a clone of Caniff. And I also had a close call with Kirby in the ’70s, of course....

the story—you know I’m going to DC.” I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “Here’s what I’d like you to do: I would like you to come over with me and help me. What I want to do is, I want to write more than I draw.” In other words, he envisioned writing a line of books, like Stan, and he wanted to get me to draw some of his main characters. I might have worked on New Gods or Mister Miracle... probably Mr. Miracle. He said he’d love to have me do the pencils for his stuff, and we could set up some kind of a stable. He said, “I got some great inkers ready to work on your stuff. It would be great for me, and I think I can make it worth your while. It would be a terrific idea.” And I said, “You know, I got to think it over, Jack.” I told Virginia, and she almost had a heart attack. She said, “First of all, if you go with Jack, you’re going to be a Jack Kirby clone.” And I said, “Well, I don’t know how. I’m not going to be working on his artwork. He’s going to be writing and I’m going to be penciling”—although he might have broken them down for me. But he could break down a hundred stories for me and it wouldn’t affect me, because he didn’t do details on his breakdowns. He did silhouettes and rough scribbles. She said, “No, you’re going to end up working for Kirby. Your personality

RT: You’d also have been in line to be an editor, since Carmine was hiring artisteditors by then. We never When John began drawing Spider-Man with know what might’ve issue #39 (Aug. 1966), he started right out with happened on the road not The Green Goblin. This 1970s convention pencil Just a day or taken. In the very early sketch is courtesy of—you guessed it— two after Kirby ’70s, when Stan was having Mike Burkey. [Art ©2001 John Romita; left Marvel, he Green Goblin ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] trouble with Goodman called me up near the end, he met with and said, DC about going over there. I didn’t learn about it till later. He told me, “John, here’s “If I’d gone to DC, I’d have taken you with me.” Of course, I might’ve decided to stay at Marvel and Steve Ditko’s rough pencils (left) for a page Amazing Spider-Man #38 become editor-in-chief a year or so (July 1966)—and John Romita’s far tighter pencils (below) for issue #51 early. Still, I’d probably have gone (Aug. 1967). In both cases the penciler inked the stories. with him; I felt a great loyalty to Courtesy of John Romita. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Stan. Besides, DC had all these heroes I liked! Sometimes I even wonder—what if Mort Weisinger hadn’t been so impossible and I’d stayed at DC in ’65 instead of going to Marvel? ROMITA: Imagine, you could have wound up editor-in-chief of DC! Just like I often wonder what would have happened if I had accepted Kirby’s offer. It’s a wild gap in my life, and I would love to have seen how it would have worked out. RT: You never have done any work for DC since ’65, have you? ROMITA: No, I never have. RT: Bob Kanigher edited mostly war stuff. Did you do any work for him? ROMITA: I drew some of his romance stories. Phyllis Reed gave me her two main titles, Young Love and Young Romance. She had steady soap opera series in both books: “The Diary of a Nurse,” and another one about an airline stewardess. So I had steady characters—a brunette airline stewardess and a blonde nurse. The blonde nurse was based on Kathy Tucker from Terry and the Pirates. [laughs] I couldn’t help that.

Fifty Years On The “A” List she shielded me. But every once in a while he and I would meet in the corridor. I didn’t want to work for him because I had seen him berate Gene Colan in the bullpen once. He just had laid him out. He said, “Your women are too fat; they don’t have long enough legs. What the hell kind of drawing is this?” And Colan was enraged. I think he wanted to kill him. Kanigher was a very hard guy to work with, so I wasn’t interested in working for him, so I was glad I never got work from him. He was a good writer, but he used to ask for the damnedest things! I remember one episode about a romance at a ski resort. He had this scene where the two of them are standing on skis at the top of a hill and they’re kissing. I called him up and said, “Gee, I’m going to have a hard time with this, because how the hell do I have them look like they’re not going to fall over?” He had actually written in the script: “I know this is going to be hard to do but it can be done. I’ve done it.” [laughs] Like he’s trying to brag to me.

Now here’s a girl who knew how to make an entrance! First, the final two panels of Amazing Spider-Man #42 (Nov. 1966)—then John’s penciled and inked versions of 1990s “card art” showing that same scene. Card art courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Towards the end of my stay at DC, Kanigher and I were in an elevator going down and he said to me, “I like your stuff. The stories are really coming out good.” I said, “Gee, I’m glad it doesn’t bother you that I make changes.” And his eyes almost popped out of his head. I said, “You know, sometimes I separate your balloons and move a balloon from one panel to the next, or I put in an extra narrow balloon as a transition panel when I think it needs it. Sometimes I break up your captions into two different panels.” [laughs] Well, he almost had a heart attack, and before I got to the ground floor, he destroyed me! He said, “Who the hell do you think you are, you young punk? You’re changing my scripts? Where do you come off doing that?” I said, “You just told me you liked the stuff.”

I guess he didn’t read the finished stories through too carefully. He just thumbed through them. I got such a kick out of that in retrospect, but while it happened, I thought, “Oh, sh*t. There goes my career.” He could have killed me. He could have had my head if he wanted. So I give him credit that he didn’t. Maybe he looked over the stories and realized that I’d improved them, because a lot of times he left no transition time in between panels, so I would have somebody walking away, instead of, from one panel to the next, they’re just gone. RT: Didn’t Stan call you a time or two about work during that period?

All the captions were done longhand, as if out of the nurse’s diary. I did the longhand, and Ira Schnapp, the letterer, would follow my lettering on it. I used to letter every word in pencil and outline every caption and every balloon. In fact, after a while, I was in such a hurry that I used to outline the balloons in ink and Ira would fit the copy over my pencil copy inside the balloons. So I would put pointers on balloons and caption outlines in the story and then ink them, and he would letter them after I had finished the inking. I did those two series, and Kanigher wrote both of them. I didn’t work for him; he was not my editor. Phyllis Reed was, and

ROMITA: He called me in ’63 and ’64 and said, “We’re starting to move.” And I knew that they’d started to sell, because DC used to have conferences about, why is Stan Lee selling? I was at one of them—I guess because I had been there for eight years. They had Stan’s covers up, and they put some DC covers up next to them. They were trying to decide what the hell made Stan’s books sell. They said, “Stan Lee’s covers look crude. Look at those big, ugly blurbs”—with the big, jagged edges Artie Simek used to do. RT: You remember in ’66, when they made Andru and Esposito do a sort of campy copy of H.G. Peter’s work on Wonder Woman? I asked Mike [Esposito] about it at a poker game at Phil Seuling’s, and he said it was because the DC editors were convinced that the secret of Marvel was bad drawing. ROMITA: That’s what I remember them saying: “Maybe the stuff is like

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

25 DC, and I wished I could do a hero strip, even a western like “Johnny Thunder.” I was proud to tell people I was at DC. I felt like DC was the Cadillac of the industry. I bought their line that Marvel was crudelooking. I never read any of Stan’s stories. I just saw the covers. I never read one Spider-Man book or even knew it existed until Stan came in with a pile of them and said, “How would you like to try Spider-Man?” The only thing I knew they were doing was Fantastic Four. When he showed me SpiderMan, I said, “You know, this looks funny. This looks like a teenaged Clark Kent.” I apologized to Ditko years later. I was surprised to hear it was a good-selling book!

One of the earliest style guides of Mary Jane from the 1960s, drawn by Marie Severin and John Romita—and a 1980s penciled convention sketch of MJ as “Spider-Woman.” Art courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

rock’n’roll, you know? It makes kids feel like they can be in that world,” that kind of stuff. It was hysterical, the way they were talking. Most of them said, “Ahh, it’s a fad. It will pass. Hey, what are you trying to find good? It’s garbage.” RT: But you knew that one of the secrets was Jack Kirby. ROMITA: DC had let Kirby go because he wasn’t disciplined enough. They wanted neat, clean stuff, and Jack was a wild man. He told me he almost killed an editor once because the guy told him he didn’t show the shoelaces on a Cavalry man’s boots! And Jack almost went ballistic. “What the hell does anybody care about shoes?” [laughs] And another editor told him he had an Indian get on a horse from the wrong side. Kirby said, “You’re out of your mind. You think the kids care about that?” You know, he would never put Cavalry buttons on the right way. He would rather invent a new uniform. RT: So Stan would offer you work, but I guess the money was less? ROMITA: He would say, “John, we’re really starting to roll. It would be great if you could come back.” And I’d say, “Stan, I’m making $45 a page. What are you paying?” He’d say, “Twenty-five a page.” And I’d say, “How can I take a $20 a page cut?” “Well,” he says, “maybe we can make it up to you.” I said, “Stan, I can’t give this up as long as I’ve got it, you know.” He called me three or four times, and I just kept telling him no. But I didn’t tell him to go to hell, like I’d threatened. [laughs]

RT: Why did the work run out for you and others at DC? ROMITA: Some big-shot up there found a stack of inventory stories and art in the closet—stuff they had paid for, but never used—and he said, “Why the hell are we paying thousands of dollars every month for new stuff when we got a closet full of artwork here?” And they just shut down; everybody in the romance department was let go. And it was typical. Martin Goodman used to say the same thing to Stan years ago: “If we’ve got inventory, then why are you buying new artwork?” So DC just closed down the romance original-art department, and I was out of work. RT: In other words, don’t eat for six months and maybe we’ll give you work again? They did that with young mystery writers in the late ’60s, which is how we got Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, and several other guys over at Marvel. ROMITA: DC didn’t even say that. When [editor] Jack Miller told me—and of course he was on the frying pan already—I remember asking him, “Could you introduce me to some of the other editors?” And he said, “Nah, I don’t think so—they aren’t looking for anybody.” He never even got off his ass to introduce me to anybody. He told me, “Listen, you’re a freelancer. You’re not on contract. You’re free to go and get work anywhere.” I said, “Well, gee, thanks.” [laughs] “After eight years of being exclusive to DC,” I said, “that’s a pretty cold thing to say.” He said, “Listen, my hands are tied. I can’t give you any work.” And I said, “Then why don’t you get me an editor?” He never answered me. He was a real cold fish. RT: But you still didn’t automatically think of going over to talk to Stan, did you?

RT: Did you feel a secret glee that you were able to say no, after that other period? ROMITA: Actually, I felt vindicated. It helped that DC had wanted me, too, and that I was making more money there. Besides, I didn’t trust Stan at that stage. I thought he would go up and down like a roller coaster. Frankly, I wanted to stay at

ROMITA: The truth is, I had been going through a little bit of a slump, an artist’s block. I was having days when I couldn’t produce a page. It reduced me to tears a couple of times, because I wasn’t bringing any money in, and I was thinking, “What the hell’s gonna happen?” Suppose I could

Fifty Years On The “A” List have known he could never keep. He promised me he would give me $250 a week whether I worked or not. I swear! RT: I’m sure he meant it, but Martin Goodman would never have gone for that. ROMITA: No, Stan wouldn’t have been able to keep that promise. But, like an idiot, I thought, “Stan Lee told me I’m going to get the money!” Many times in the next few years, you remember how Martin Goodman used to come around and ask, “What does John Romita do here?” RT: He wondered, because your name wasn’t on many stories.

never do another story! Deadlines used to terrify me, and I wasn’t the kind of guy to fake it. So when this happened, I told Virginia, “I’m not going to Stan Lee. He’s not paying enough. I’m going to get into advertising.”

Now it can be told (Part 2)! John Romita didn’t really sprain his wrist and need a fill-in Spidey story penciled by Ross Andru (and inked by Bill Everett); yet somehow the finished story wound up in the oversize Marvel Super-Heroes #14 (May 1968). But Ross shone for sure on the first-ever crosscompany super-hero slug-fest in 1976 (inking by Dick Giordano). [Spider-Man ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Superman ©2001 DC Comics.]

I had been talking to Mort Meskin, whom I had seen a couple of times at DC. He had visited and had lunch with the guys; he was working at BBD&O [a major advertising firm], doing storyboards. He told me, “Comic artists are in demand over there. They don’t even have to show them anything. If you tell them you’ve been making a living in comics for more than two years, they’ll hire you on the spot.” And it just so happened that one of my neighbors and fellow volunteer firemen was one of the creative directors up there. His name was Al Nomandia. He had been a famous panel cartoonist, a very bright guy. I called him and he said, “Sure, come on in.” So I went in on a Thursday, I think, and they hired me. They were going to pay me $250 a week. It was $75-$100 more a week than I was making in comics. I took the job. And then on Friday, like an idiot, I went over to Stan. I had already told him I would come over to Marvel. In fact, I had inked The Avengers over Don Heck, and I’d inked the Kirby cover, and I loved it. RT: That’s the Kirby cover with that towering figure of Kang? ROMITA: I enjoyed that job. I told Stan I would love to just ink, but when he asked me to pencil, I told him, “No, I don’t think I can.” That’s when I got the job at BBD&O. But when I called up Stan to tell him, he said, “Come on in. I’ll take you to lunch.” So we went to lunch and he spent three hours browbeating me. And he gave me everything: “Why do you want to be a little fish in a big pond when you can be a big fish in a little pond? I’ll guarantee you to match their salary.” In fact, he promised me something that I should

ROMITA: He wanted to know what I did up there—and I was doing everything for Stan. I was correcting artwork, I was doing covers, I was correcting covers. I mean, it was ridiculous, but if Goodman saw me talking to somebody, he wanted to know how come I wasn’t working. [laughs] Anyway, I told Stan I’d take the job, but on one condition: I can’t work at home. I obviously cannot get my work out on my own schedule. I need a 9-to-5 situation. He said, “You come in. I’ll have a drawing table for you. I’ll have an office for you as soon as I can afford it.” In fact, I was on a freelance basis. If I came into the office and then did some work freelance overnight, I didn’t have to come in the next day. So it was a pretty nice situation. I used to come in two or three days a week and do freelance whenever I could. Later I was on staff when I started doing Spider-Man. RT: When you and I were introduced in July of ’65, I’d been working at Marvel all of two weeks, but you thought I’d been there for years. I recall how surprised you were when I told you I remembered all that great work you did on Captain America and The Western Kid back in the ’50s. It had never occurred to you that anyone would remember your work a decade later. I’d have recognized your name if I’d heard it at DC during the two weeks I was there; but of course no one ever mentioned it to me.

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

ROMITA: No, I was a secret. A couple of years later, John Verpoorten told me that he had always admired my father’s work. [laughs] I said, “My God!” And he said, “Yeah, didn’t he do Captain America in the ’50s?” And I said, “No, that was me.” He couldn’t get over that. He thought my father had done it. RT: When you came over, Wally Wood had already told Stan he was quitting. That’s why his last Daredevil cover was actually just stats. He didn’t do a cover for it. ROMITA: Stan showed me Dick Ayers’ splash page for a Daredevil. He asked me, “What would you do with this page?” I showed him on a tracing paper what I would do, and then he asked me to do a drawing of Daredevil the way I would do it. I did a big drawing of Daredevil. I sold it recently to Mike Burkey. It was just a big tracing paper drawing of Daredevil swinging. And Stan loved it. RT: Like he hadn’t known you could do super-heroes? ROMITA: He thought I’d been paralyzed doing romance, because I had told him I’d rather not pencil. Then, when I did my first Daredevil story, he threw out the first three pages I brought in because they were too dull, like a romance story. And I had to agree with him that they were quiet. He got Jack Kirby to break down the first few pages for me. As soon as I saw Jack’s breakdowns, I knew exactly what Stan meant by pacing. Jack laid out two issues. I still have the original art to those two stories. [ED. NOTE: Among other places, one of those pages from DD #12 was reprinted in Alter Ego V3#1... but you’ll have to search for a copy, because our first issue is now out of print.] RT: How did you end up with that? They usually didn’t give back original art then. ROMITA: In the ’70s Irene Vartanoff was in charge of returning original art. She used to tell me horror stories about stuff getting water damage,

Stan and three of his trouble-shooters, 1968: [L. to r.:] Stan Lee, Marie Severin, John Romita, and Roy Thomas (in a Spider-Man costume left over from a Macy’s parade).

and fire damage, and being stolen. She told Stan one day, “There’s a bit of John Romita’s artwork at the warehouse, and I’m afraid it’s going to be stolen or damaged.” This is after art returns had been given to other people, but by then I wasn’t doing any new stories. Stan signed a slip and I ended up getting probably two out of every five stories I ever did. I got a batch of Spider-Man stories, and I got the two Daredevil stories in one big envelope. And here’s the heartbreaking thing: One of the pages in the envelope was a page of layouts by Jack Kirby that I had not used! It was a perfect example with all of Jack’s notes and the way he used to do the layouts. But I think I loaned it to somebody, and I haven’t seen it since. RT: Daredevil had picked up nicely under Wally Wood; then you did it for eight issues. I remember that, although Daredevil had a smaller print run than Spider-Man or FF, for at least a couple months while you did it, it had the highest percentage sales of any Marvel comics. ROMITA: I know. I was beaming from that. That was one of my proudest moments. RT: When Stan had you take home some of Ditko’s Spider-Man books to read, to gueststar Spidey in Daredevil, did you feel it might be a try-out for that book?

[Opposite and this page:] JR’s pencils for two classic Amazing SpiderMan covers—#68 and #112—with the finished art for #87 in the middle. The lines on #112 that look like they’re made by tape—were made by tape. Courtesy of Mike Burkey. The two sketches appear as a preview of Vanguard Publications' John Romita Sketchbook. See ad on P. 22 in this issue. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROMITA: Actually, I did think so, but I was hoping against it, believe it or not. People laugh when I say this, but I did not want to do

Fifty Years On The “A” List

Spider-Man. I wanted to stay on Daredevil. The only reason I did Spider-Man was because Stan asked me and I felt that I should help out, like a good soldier. I never really felt comfortable on Spider-Man for years. I had felt at home immediately on Daredevil. On Spider-Man I felt obliged to ghost Ditko because—this may sound naive, but I was convinced, in my own mind, that he was going to come back in two or three issues. RT: Even though he and Stan hadn’t been speaking to each other for months if not a year before Steve left? ROMITA: I didn’t know a lot of that. RT: It wasn’t a secret within the company. I thought you’d have learned that from Sol [Brodsky] or somebody, even if Stan hadn’t mentioned it to you. ROMITA: I had heard rumors that Ditko was plotting the stories because he and Stan couldn’t agree on plots. But he had done 38 issues and two annuals—and I couldn’t believe that a guy would walk away from a successful book that was the second-highest seller at Marvel. I said to myself, “Naw, he’s not going to stay away.” I didn’t know Ditko. I assumed he’d do what I would have done—he’d think about how he had given up a top character, and he’d be back. And I was sort of counting the days until I could get back on Daredevil.

John made a triumphant (but too-brief) return to Captain America in 1971-72, as in this Joe Sinnott-inked page. The promotional figure above right was both penciled and inked by John some time later. C.A. #141 page courtesy of Al Bigley; Cap figure courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In fact, when I did the SpiderMan/Daredevil stories [Daredevil #16-17], I really felt it was obvious that I couldn’t do Spider-Man as well as I could do Daredevil. I was amazed when Stan gave me SpiderMan to do. I felt he was desperate. So I did the book to help him out, hoping all the while that it would be temporary. After six months, when I realized it wasn’t temporary, I finally stopped trying to ghost Ditko. Till then, I was using a thin line. On #43, the one with Jameson’s son, I outlined the whole thing with a Rapidograph and then used the big, bold brush to put ink in. I thought that was

Ditko’s style. Looking back on it now, I realize I wasn’t doing a very good Ditko imitation, but I was not being myself, either. In Daredevil #18, my last issue, I was doing that big, bold thing that Frank Giacoia inked; and when I inked myself, like on the covers, it was a big, bold style with a big, heavy line. But on Spider-Man I was doing these nine-panel pages and the thin line, and I was doing Peter Parker without any bone structure—just like Ditko was doing, I thought. The only reason it wasn’t better was that I couldn’t ape him any better. RT: Do you think Stan would’ve got around to showing Mary Jane when he did if you hadn’t taken over the book? Because he did it only a few issues later. ROMITA: I think he once hinted to me that he had stalled at showing her. Maybe he suspected a while in advance that he and Ditko were not going to stay together. RT: I remember the day Ditko quit. He came into the office I shared with Sol and Flo Steinberg, dropped off some pages, and left. Sol scuttled in to see Stan right away, and then I learned about it. At the time, Sol had a memo on his desk for a $5 a page raise for Steve, which was fairly substantial for 1965. I don’t think he ever even got around to mentioning it to Steve, not that it would’ve made any difference. So, whether Stan was stalling with regard to Mary Jane or not, he was definitely not trying to edge Steve off Spider-Man. But Steve gave them no choice. He just quit. He told Sol, “I’ll finish these jobs I’m working on now, and that’s it.” ROMITA: I think Stan was just subconsciously holding back on revealing Mary Jane.

John didn’t want to draw Fantastic Four when Kirby ankled for DC—but sales still spiked! These are JR’s pencil designs for the mid-’70s FF medallion. Courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RT: If so, do you think it was partly because, good as Ditko was and is, he didn’t draw women as pretty as you do?

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

ROMITA: Stan wanted her gorgeous, while Steve’s women were a little bit stiff and conservative-looking. They didn’t move their bodies the way Stan liked. He wanted Mary Jane to be like a go-go dancer. That’s what I did. But that first panel of Mary Jane looked so much better in the pencils. I did myself in with the inking. I lost the right expression. RT: I know a generation of Spider-Man readers who might disagree with you. ROMITA: Stan used to accuse me of favoring Mary Jane over Gwen. He’d want me to make Gwen more glamorous. But Gwen was more serious, especially after her father [Captain Stacy] died. I kept telling Stan, “Gwen’s a lady—she’s not the same kind of airhead that Mary Jane is. I can’t have her smiling all the time.” When he had me start putting Gwen in mini-skirts, I didn’t feel it was right for her. Pretty soon it was hard to tell Gwen and Mary Jane apart. They were like Betty and Veronica—the same girl except for the hair color. RT: So that’s the real reason you killed off Gwen Stacy! [laughs] ROMITA: Somebody—maybe it was Gerry Conway, who was writing the book then—suggested we should kill off Aunt May. Gil Kane was penciling Spider-Man then, but I was still supposed to keep an eye on it, and Gerry and I would talk over plots. I didn’t feel Aunt May’s death would make much of an impact. To do that, we had to kill off one of the main girls, and Gwen was the one Peter was in love with. Mary Jane wouldn’t have meant as much; she was going with somebody else. RT: As editor-in-chief at the time, I know that Stan, at least verbally, “signed off” on the idea of Gwen’s death at some early stage. Like I once

From Amazing Spider-Man #123, the funeral of Gwen Stacy. [Left:] Previously unpublished pencils by Gil Kane; and [right:] the inked page by John R.; both are repro'd from photocopies of the original art—and the latter reveals significant changes—most of them, certainly, at Stan's specific instructions. In Panel 1 John removed, as extraneous, Robbie Robertson and the lady who'll join Aunt May in Panel 2; Peter has no coat draped over his arm; May's hat and gloves have been removed, and her left hand is more closed; even Mary Jane has been turned away, in order to concentrate on Peter and May. In Panel 2 several mourners have been turned away from us, to concentrate on the two women and “Doc Ock's guard.” Peter & Flash Thompson (originally Robbie) have been considerably redrawn, even repositioned, in Panels 3-4. In Panel 5 even shrubbery has been added, and the clouds removed in Panel 6 because Robbie's balloon covers most of them anyway. In Panel 7 Peter and MJ have been redrawn so as to be more static and restrained, less dynamic, with MJ's clothes changed to something more appropriate to a funeral, and the few background details altered—even to the point of a sign being added to show the trio have left the cemetery, and several shadows to indicate where the other mourners are now. Whew! And Martin Goodman wondered what John Romita did for a living! Romita art courtesy of Mike Burkey; Page 32 will tell you how you can reach Mike. Kane art courtesy of Jeff Sharpe, who collects “Spider-Man” original art by various artists from Ditko on; he can be reached at (920) 426-2849, or via e-mail at < jsharpe@vbe.com >. And see his website at < www.vbe.com/~jsharpe/asf.html >. [© 2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Fifty Years On The “A” List

A key reason for the failure to sell a Spider-Man newspaper strip circa 1970 is revealed for the first time in this interview—but since some of those trial dailies have been reproduced numerous times, we’re presenting just one here—the only Spidey daily ever drawn featuring Gwen Stacy (because she was still alive when it was done). Good thing Stan and John got a second chance out of the gate! Repro’d from the original art, courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

said about you, Gerry, and me: None of our mothers raised any sons stupid enough to kill off Gwen Stacy while Stan Lee was out of town and present him with a fait accompli! [laughs]

“I want to thank everybody who made this night necessary!” [L. to r.] John Romita, Yogi Berra, artist Frank Giacoia, artist/production manager Sol Brodsky at a (late-’60s?) gathering. John and Frank often collaborated in Amazing Spider-Man, but what the heck did this “Yogi” guy draw? Photo courtesy of John Romita.

It’s interesting that you felt the death of Gwen would be more symbolically important than Mary Jane’s. But some of the main problems you got into with Stan were because of your penchant for ultra-realism, wasn’t it—with the turtlenecks and all?

ROMITA: Stan would ask why I always had Peter wearing a turtleneck, and why he didn’t wear his shirt open. I would say, “It’s because he’s got his costume on under his clothes!” Stan didn’t think I should worry about that, but I didn’t want readers to think I’d forgotten. That’s why we had him have to take off his shoes and socks when climbing a wall—and I made up the web sack because I figured, if he had to put on his Peter Parker clothes when he arrived somewhere as Spider-Man, we had to show how he transported his clothes. It drove me nuts, and I drove Stan nuts with it, but sometimes it led to some interesting storylines. RT: When you were drawing Spidey, Stan was always trying to find ways to get more out of you—like with those Tuska thumbnails. Then there was that “Spider-Man” story penciled by Ross Andru that wound up in Marvel Super-Heroes #14 [May 1968]. I don’t recall much about it, but I’ve always figured it was meant to be a fill-in issue of SpiderMan, but that Stan didn’t like it much, and that’s why it got sidetracked into another mag. ROMITA: Or maybe it had to do with the fact that the story was about voodoo. It was a good story, but a little different for the way SpiderMan was being done at that time.

RT: Yet Stan had at least co-plotted it. I don’t think he was ever as much an admirer of Ross’ art as you were, as I was, as a lot of the other guys at the time were. ROMITA: I think the thing that showed how good Ross was, was that Superman vs. Spider-Man book. Do you remember that two-page spread at the start of the book? That was terrific! RT: As Gil used to say, Ross was one of the few comics artists who had a real “sense of space.” When he drew a city seen from the air, you could get vertigo staring into the pencils! But somehow some of his penciling strengths never quite translated when the work was inked. Ross clearly wasn’t the answer for what Stan wanted with Spider-Man. ROMITA: Stan was always trying to speed me up. He had Don Heck penciling over my breakdowns for a while. Stan would have me lay out the story. Then, when Don had finished the pencils, he’d call me in to fix up anything Don had done that he didn’t like. Even after it was inked, he’d have me changing what the inker had done. I told him, “This was supposed to save me time, but it isn’t!” He tried Dick Ayers at it, too. In fact, there’s one splash page that was used, based on what Dick did—it was a splash that was mostly just webbing. But Stan didn’t like the way Dick drew Peter Parker, so we settled on John Buscema. RT: Who hated drawing Spider-Man. Yet he became the third Spidey penciler. ROMITA: Yeah, though he mostly just did layouts. I’d call him up to give him a quick plot outline, and he’d say, “We’re not A detailed “Femizon” drawing from the early ’70s, courtesy of Mike Burkey. [Art ©2001 John Romita.]

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

The first page and final panels of John and Roy’s only story collaboration— the “Satana” four-page intro in Vampire Tales #3 (Oct. 1973); it’s reprinted here from the Spanish edition of The Art of John Romita. And, before anybody mentions it—yeah, Roy swiped the opening, and even some of the sound effects, from Harvey Kurtzman’s “V-V-Vampires!” in Mad #3 (Feb.-March 1953). [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

John’s original design for Brother Voodoo, plus the cover of Strange Tales #169 (Sept. 1973), both repro’d from photocopies of the original art. ST cover courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Fifty Years On The “A” List

gonna do another one of those, are we? I hate Spider-Man!” But then he’d do this great job. I wish I could have inked some of his stories, but I was busy on Fantastic Four and Captain America. RT: I was very happy when you took over Cap for a while, obviously. How did you feel about doing that book again? I think its sales had been dropping a bit. ROMITA: That’s why I was put onto it. In some ways the book I was happiest doing was Captain America. That was a character I always felt comfortable with. RT: You and Gary Friedrich turned out some good Cap issues. Meanwhile, Stan saw to it that you always had a “presence” on SpiderMan. ROMITA: He kept my name on that book with all kinds of ploys. Do you remember? I was “artist emeritus” for a while, whatever the hell

that means. I was always kept busy doing other things. I would go in to see Stan with a problem, and he’d tell me, “Okay, call this guy, or that guy, and get him to do something.” I used to ask Stan, “How come I come in to you with one problem, and I walk out with two?” RT: That’s because Stan knew there were guys he could trust to take the burden off his shoulders—in those days, it was you, Sol Brodsky, and me... Marie Severin, too. I’ve got to ask you this: You’ve said that, when you found out Kirby had quit, you thought at first that Marvel would have to drop Fantastic Four. Did you really feel that? Carmine Infantino supposedly said the same thing to people over at DC at the time....

MIKEis searching BURKEY for

Spider-Man TM & ©Marvel Characters, Inc.

ANY AND ALL ORIGINAL COMIC ART FROM 1930s TO PRESENT— especially AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #39-297. Any page from any issue! Contact: http://www.theartboard.com/RomitaMan

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

Think we’re gonna miss a chance to toss in some X-Men art? Pencil roughs for X-Men cards, 1993-94. Repro’d from photocopies of the original art—all except The Beast courtesy of Al Bigley. To contact Al re sales, trades, or his recent Image comic Geminar, phone (704) 289-2346, or e-mail him at < geminar@earthlink.net >. Beast rough courtesy of—you guessed it—Mike Burkey, whose e-mail address you’ll find on the preceding page. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Fifty Years On The “A” List

ROMITA: Yeah, because I didn’t think there was anybody else who could do it. I asked Stan who was going to draw it, and he said, “You are!” I thought he was out of his mind. He took me off Spider-Man—which had become our #1 book—to do Fantastic Four, which was our #2 book. RT: Well, it was still Marvel’s flagship title, so to speak. It said up there at the top of every cover: “The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine!”—so Stan felt an obligation to try to live up to that. Hey, John, you ought to know as well as anybody—“With great power, there must come great responsibility!” [laughs] ROMITA: But I didn’t think I was the guy to do the FF. If you look at those four issues I did, you’ll see everything was taken from Jack. If there’s any Romita in there, it’s only because I couldn’t find a shot to swipe! I was glad to get off the book after a few issues. Besides, Stan still had me doing fix-up work on Spider-Man at the same time!

RT: Yet, for those few issues you did, the sales of Fantastic Four actually went up. ROMITA: I think it’s just because everybody was watching and wondering what the hell was gonna happen! RT: How did it work out with Gil Kane penciling Spider-Man? ROMITA: Gil was great. He thought about Spider-Man in a different way from the way I did—and from the way Stan did—but it worked out pretty well for a long time. I loved inking him, though that meant changing his work somewhat and adding lots of blacks. RT: In the early ’70s Martin Goodman’s son Chip became publisher of Marvel, which had been bought a few years earlier by Perfect Film [a conglomerate which soon changed its name to Cadence]. Do you remember dealing with Chip?

ROMITA: By that point, I don’t think Chip Goodman liked Stan, so there was friction. In 1972 Stan and I did two weeks of dailies and a year’s worth of plots for a Spider-Man newspaper strip. We gave it to Chip in a big envelope; he was supposed to try to sell it to a syndicate. Months later, when he was gone, we found the envelope still on his desk, still sealed. He had never even

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

[NOTE: For more on this subject, see the interview with Gary Friedrich in Comic Book Artist #13!] ROMITA: After Goodman sold the company to Perfect Film in the late ’60s, he was supposed to stick around for three years, or whatever it was. Chip was supposed to take his place. But that part of it must not have been on paper, because as soon as Martin was gone, they got rid of Chip. That’s why Martin started Atlas Comics. It was pure revenge. RT: In 1972 Stan had gained control of the company and was both publisher and president of Marvel for a while. That’s when I became editor-in-chief, and Frank Giacoia became “associate art director.” Didn’t you still do unofficial art-directing during those several months, before you officially became art director? ROMITA: Stan told Frank he could lay out covers, which was what he wanted to do, and Frank started saying he was the art director. Or maybe Stan let him do that, instead of paying him more money. RT: Frank was an excellent inker, but he was never secure in his penciling, so his job designing the covers didn’t work out for long. I think he held it against you—and probably against Stan and me, as well. Which is a shame, because we were really all in his corner. You say in The Art of John Romita that I was editor-in-chief for “three or four years.” Actually, it was just a little over two. It probably just seemed longer, John—to you and me both! But I think we made a good team. ROMITA: Yeah, even though we never worked together on a book. RT: Well, we did do that four-page “Satana” story. Stan wanted to introduce her fast, before anyone else used the name. I thought, “Here’s my chance to finally do something with John Romita!” I guess she was supposed to be Marvel’s answer to Vampirella.

JR’s very early style guide drawing of The Black Widow (top right)—a 1970s drawing used for Crackerjack stickers (above left)—and two panels from the 1942 Miss Fury comic strip (below) by Tarpé Mills which inspired John’s design. B&W pieces repro’d from the original art, courtesy of Mike Burkey. [Black Widow art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Miss Fury ©2001 Tarpé Mills.]

We won’t have room in Alter Ego to go at length into your days as art director at Marvel—maybe we can do “John Romita, Part II” later—but obviously that situation worked out well for as many years as you wanted it to. What surprised me, I’ll admit, was reading recently that Stan once offered you the job of editor-inchief! ROMITA: Yeah. I think that was after you quit [in August 1974]. But I’d seen what the job did to you—you didn’t have any time left over to be creative—you just had to come in and put out fires every day. I didn’t want the job. Actually, I think I turned down that job twice. The first time was when Sol Brodsky left to help start Skywald in about 1971. Stan wanted me to take over his administration chores and offered me the job of editor-in-chief. RT: That’s odd, since Sol was production manager, not an editor. Stan had the editor-in-chief title at that time. In fact, he wasn’t wild about letting me call myself that in 1972; I was originally supposed to be “story editor.” Whatever he had called you, you’d probably have wound up handling administration, which you would have hated.

opened it. I always thought that maybe the reason why he didn’t try to sell it was because he didn’t want Stan to have any more success. I don’t think he had the knife in for me, but maybe he had it in for Stan. RT: Chip tried hard, but he could never live up to his father’s expectations. I believe he had a brother who was sort of a black sheep and refused to have anything to do with his father’s publishing empire.

ROMITA: Obviously, being editor-in-chief was a killer job. You had it, then Len Wein, then Marv Wolfman, then Gerry Conway for two weeks, then Archie Goodwin for a couple of years. Archie was good, but he was maybe a little too sympathetic to every complaint the artists and writers had. He tried too hard to keep everybody happy, and an editor can’t always do that.

Fifty Years On The “A” List RT: I liked the outfit you designed, which straddled the line between voodoo and super-hero. What about Luke Cage? I remember the two of us discussing him, with me looking over your shoulder, though I think you came up with most of the actual visuals. ROMITA: We did it together. The chains were because we wanted the slavery angle. His costume was supposed to say super-hero, yet not super-hero. It was whatever he salvaged when he escaped from prison. He had the yellow shirt and headband and wristbands to contrast with his black skin. RT: This was in the aftermath of the success of Shaft—which is ironic, because Shaft was created by Ernest Tidyman, who not long before had been a writer, and maybe editor, for Goodman’s magazine division down the hall! For a second try at selling a Spider-Man comic strip, John penciled a number of dailies, including the pair above— which were later combined and used in part as the basis of the new strip’s first Sunday, for Jan. 9, 1977 (below). Courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

What about “The Femizons,” which you and Stan did for the first issue of Savage Tales?

ROMITA: That was supposed to be a 40-page epic, but we only published the first part. It was so long before Savage Tales #2 came out that the momentum was lost. We even had a movie company interested in it at one point. It broke my heart not to be able to continue it. RT: I’d forgotten that you designed Wolverine, after I told Len Wein I wanted a character by that name. Why you, and not Herb Trimpe, who was going to draw him in that first Hulk story? ROMITA: Len came to me and asked me to do it. My way of doing things is to look them up in an encyclopedia. So I saw that a wolverine is a mean, vicious little animal with claws, kind of catlike, and I went with that.

RT: Of all the guys you just mentioned—and those who came later— Archie was the only one who didn’t especially want the editor-in-chief job. I recall his telling me, several years earlier, that he didn’t see how I could enjoy handling a whole line of books. To him, that would just be getting “bogged down”—I remember he used that exact phrase. Actually, by mid-’74, I’d pretty much come to agree with him! Now let’s take a fast look at a few of the many characters you helped design. We’ve done Mary Jane, so—how about Brother Voodoo? We’ll start with one of Marvel’s real triumphs. [laughs] ROMITA: [laughs] People make fun of that character. I guess he was kind of goofy.

RT: That’s interesting, because I’d told Len— whether he passed it on to you or not—that I wanted Wolverine to be short and really fierce. If the story had come in with a six-foot Wolverine, we’d have had a problem! And I wanted him to be Canadian—but that’s not something that would’ve affected your drawing. You did the initial drawing of Gerry Conway’s concept for The Punisher, too. ROMITA: Gerry had drawn a rough sketch. He had a skull and crossbones on his chest, and looked a little like that 1940s character The Black Terror. I thought just a regular skull was too simple, so I expanded the skull and wrapped it around his body. I made the cheekbones into his pecs, and his belt buckle was the teeth, and I wrapped the top of his skull around The Punisher’s collar. That framed his head at the top of the skull, since the blank top of a skull is just wasted space.

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

Goodman had wondered what you were doing all the time in the office! [laughs] You and Stan finally got a Spider-Man strip off the ground in 1977. It debuted along with Conan and The Hulk—and Howard the Duck soon followed—but only Spidey has endured for a quarter of a century. Still, you left it after a few years. ROMITA: My deal with Stan was, I would stay with it for as long as it was growing. I was killing myself doing seven days a week of it, but I couldn’t have stood it if I’d let somebody else take it over while it was on its way up, and then it had become a big smash. RT: Other than you and Stan, and with Ditko having taken himself out of the picture long ago, who had a better right? ROMITA: Finally, around the beginning of its fourth year, the strip leveled off, and then it started to drop. Soon after that, I got off, as I’d said I would. I hated leaving it, because I loved the idea of reaching such a big audience in newspapers all over the world. That’s about the time I stopped being art director of the comic books and became art director of special projects. At that point I was supervising, doing corrections, hiring artists, doing cover sketches—for pop-up books, puzzle books, everything. RT: Virginia came in to work at the Marvel office, too, and became traffic manger.

RT: It certainly was striking. You designed the second Black Widow outfit, didn’t you? ROMITA: Yeah. I was influenced in that by Tarpé Mills’ Miss Fury. Her character was just someone who went to a party dressed as a black cat. She got involved with a crime, so she made that outfit her costume. RT: The Dazzler was supposed to be a role for Bo Derek, wasn’t it?

ROMITA: Initially she just came in to help me for a little while—to help me get organized. Then they offered her that job. Her assignment was to get everything on schedule. She did it by assigning fill-in books to a lot of people who weren’t always the best who could have done the books—but that was her job. She got Marvel on schedule for the first time in years. She ended all the late fees we’d been paying, which were sapping the company’s profits. But, as soon as they were back on schedule, [editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter decided that now he could have everything rewritten or redrawn at the last minute. In a little while, they were back in the same bad shape as before, and Virginia just threw up her hands.

ROMITA: Yes, but it didn’t work out that way. [laughs] RT: What about The Hobgoblin? ROMITA: I didn’t design Hobgoblin. That’s an error that got into print. John Jr. designed him, and I just inked it. RT: I liked the Sub-Mariner costume you designed in the early ’70s, when we decided he needed one, to boost sales. Of course, in the end the book died anyway. ROMITA: I’m glad you liked it, because some people gave me grief about giving Sub-Mariner a costume. But I felt it worked. RT: You did a lot of character designs over the years! And here Martin Johns Sr. and Jr.—and their joint cover for the 1991 hardcover called simply Romita, published by Marvel Comics Italia. [Art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Shooter had been great for the first two or three years. He got the creative people treated with more respect, got us sent to conventions first-class with our ways paid, and we thought the world of him. Then his Secret Wars was a big hit, and after that he decided he knew everything and he started changing everybody’s stuff. Secret Wars II didn’t make much of an impact. And

Fifty Years On The “A” List ROMITA: Yeah. We were gonna have a “family feud” panel at MegaCon this year—a quiz thing, with John Jr. and me against Joe and his boys—but they couldn’t make it. RT: You’d have been outnumbered. You’d have had to get Virginia up there to make it three against three! Why did you eventually quit Sol Brodsky’s special projects department around 1985? ROMITA: The reason I finally quit that department was those damn ATeam books. We had to do three books a month, from start to finish— plot and art and script and coloring, everything. The printer and the engraver had two months, but we only had one! I felt like material would be promised to anyone on any kind of schedule, and then we’d have to break our backs to do it. I was ashamed of that A-Team series. But then, at a convention a little while back, somebody came up to me with all three issues to sign! RT: No matter how much any of us may hate something we’ve done— to somebody, somewhere, that’s his favorite comic! A John Romita Jr. Daredevil drawing, done for a 1991 portfolio for Italy’s “la edizioni Déesse.” [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROMITA: I had hated doing them—but this guy loved those three issues!

eventually, because of that and maybe the “New Universe” fiasco, things started going downhill for him, and we had some bad years.

RT: Hard as it is to believe, every year in comics is somebody’s “Golden Age”!

RT: I wish we had more time and space to go into this next item—but how did it feel, seeing your son John Jr. make such a success in the comics field himself?

ROMITA: You’re right. And that’s what it’s all about! Well, I’ll see ya, kid.

ROMITA: I’m very proud of him. He’d always wanted to be in comics, and I left it up to him. My worst fear was that he would try and fail. But he got a job at Marvel, and for two years he was your right hand after you moved to California. He ran the Conan department and learned a lot working with you. Once he got his chance as an artist, especially starting with Iron Man, he really came into his own. RT: And now, of course, he’s as big in the field as you were. That doesn’t happen often—though Joe Kubert’s sons Adam and Andy do pretty well, too.

RT: ’Bye, John. These days, it’s always great to talk to somebody who still calls me “kid”! But in this case it’s been a special pleasure. [NOTE: By sheer coincidence, believe it or don't, at the same time that this issue of Alter Ego goes on sale, so does a 192-page trade paperback from Marvel, entitled Spider-Man Visionaries: John Romita Sr., and featuring several of John's favorite and most famous outings. Maybe the House of Ideas is finally gonna start doing this reprint business right, with its “Visionaries” series—even if thus far it's been limited to a focus on artists—and with the return of the Marvel Masterworks series.]

If you think we’re gonna end with art from one of those A-Team issues John mentions, you’re crazy! Howzabout a self-portrait, sandwiched in between rare art of Spidey and Mary Jane? Thanks to John Romita and Mike Burkey for photocopies of the original art. [Spidey & MJ ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; self-portrait ©2001 John Romita.]

Prime8 2001 Jo

TM & © oke.

n B. Co

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The Golden Age of Fandom Panel

The Golden Age Of Comic Fandom Panel San Diego Comics Convention - July 22, 2000 Edited and Abridged by Bill Schelly

Transcription by Jon B. Knutson

[INTRODUCTION: With the year 2001 marking the 40th anniversary of Alter Ego, and by my reckoning the 40th anniversary of comics fandom as we know it, it’s only fitting that we showcase this panel discussion of fandom’s early days by a group of its founders and most active participants. It was my great pleasure to moderate, though I hasten to add I was not the one who named it after my own book. That was the doing of Gary Sassaman, director of programming for Comic-Con International: San Diego.—Bill S.]

the person who first assisted on, then took over, the legendary comics advertising fanzine Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector from Gordon Love.

BILL SCHELLY: Welcome to the Golden Age of Comic Fandom panel, where we have the opportunity to explore comicdom’s origins

Michael T. Gilbert, who got involved in fandom in the late 1960s, was first drawn to comics of the 1940s, which were still shrouded in mystery because there was no body of literature to consult about them. I guess it’s logical that he would become best-known for a hero he would develop from an obscure Golden Age comic character by the name of Mr. Monster. Finally we have Paul Levitz, who told me he “kind of sneaked in at the end of fandom’s Golden Age.” He began at the top,

A triptych of photos taken (under less than ideal circumstances) by Mike Catron at the Comic Fandom Panel. From left to right: Bill Schelly, Fred Patten, Maggie Thompson, Roy Thomas, James Van Hise, Michael T. Gilbert, Paul Levitz. [Photos ©2001 Mike Catron.]

beginning in 1961 before there were comic book conventions, or price guides, or really any way for fans to get in touch with other fans. Until then, most fans appreciated comics on their own, and their relatives thought they were nuts. Fandom has been a godsend to all of us; and we should remember that our panelists, and many, many hundreds of other people, did a lot of the work to get it started. I’ll begin by briefly introducing each of our panelists: Fred Patten’s roots go back to science fiction fandom in the late 1950s. He went on to write for many comics fanzines in the 1960s, including Alter Ego. Fred was also central mailer of the first comics amateur press alliance, Capa-Alpha, for several years. Maggie Thompson, a talented cartoonist, was co-editor with her late husband Don of the fanzine Comic Art, and is a long-time columnist and editor of Comics Buyer’s Guide. Roy Thomas was the co-founder of the fanzine Alter Ego, and the first well-known comics fan to graduate to pro comics. James Van Hise is best known as the author of dozens of books about comics and other aspects of popular culture. As a member of fandom beginning in 1963, however, he will always be remembered as

taking over the publishing reins of The Comic Reader, the first and most important fanzine that published news of upcoming pro comics. Today, of course, he serves as vice-president and publisher of DC Comics.

As for myself, I got into fandom in 1964, published a fanzine called Sense of Wonder, and in recent years have been researching fandom’s past. I believe this is the first time a panel has been put together of this caliber on the subject of fandom’s history, with a stellar assemblage from its first decade. It’s a kind of historical event in its own right. Let’s begin with Maggie and Fred—because a big part of the beginning of comics fandom was the stream of fans who came in through the already-existing science-fiction fandom. Maggie, how did you first hear about comics fandom? MAGGIE THOMPSON: Well, we didn’t hear about a comics fandom, because there wasn’t a comics fandom to hear about. There had been publications that dealt at least tangentially with comics for some time in the science-fiction universe. Dave Kyle, for example, had a prototype that involved his enthusiasm about Flash Gordon; so, by some definition, that is a comics fanzine. My parents did a fanzine in the late 1940s called The Cricket, because they had seen comic books in 1947 and 1948 that they thought were cool, and they tried to tell their friends about it, to no avail. EC fandom came and went, but there was no continuing nucleus of people which slowly grew and grew into an

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel

41 of super-hero comics when we were 9-12 years old, and thought it was cool they were coming back. Then we were very impressed when Marvel’s stuff started. Stan Lee had his own very irreverent approach, and he set his stories in New York rather than mythical cities. That appealed to us.

amoebae-like parasite, which took over the universe of the eclectic until much later. BILL: Maybe you could tell us about the 1960 World Con in Pittsburgh, where some people were talking about forming a comics fandom? THOMPSON: Well, the people was us! What happened was, there was a costume competition, followed by a banquet. After the banquet, Don and I were sitting with Hal Lynch and (I believe) Bill Thailing. We looked around the room full of people who shared our enthusiasm about science-fiction and wondered, “Gee, could there be anything like this about comics? Wouldn’t that be great?” We actually conducted a correspondence with Hal Lynch in which we discussed what it would be called. We didn’t think we could call it fandom, because fandom was science-fiction fandom. Hal suggested the word “comdom,” but then said maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. [laughs]

BILL: [Holds up a copy of The Golden Age of Comic Fandom with photos of sf fans dressed as members of the JSA] Would you tell us how these photos came about? I don’t know if we can get Fred to re-enact this pose for us now... [laughter] but there was one time you wore a Flash costume at a World Con.

PATTEN: That was mainly Bruce Pelz’ idea. Bruce, Ted Johnstone, and Jack Harness were three of the most active fanzine publishers in the LASFS. They decided they wanted to make a spectacular showing at the masquerade event at the 1962 World Con in Cleveland, and they The cover of Comic Art #1 (“Spring 1961”). needed other warm bodies to fill the costumes. Alter-Ego #1 (“March 1961”) seems to have hit So I became the Golden Age Flash. Someone the mails slightly earlier, but the Thompsons’ It was comics’ time. At that World Con, else made the costume for me. We borrowed fanzine had been in the work months longer. Dick and Pat Lupoff attended the masquerade [©2001 Maggie Thompson.] someone’s father’s World War I doughboy as Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel. They helmet and spray-painted it silver. In our group were distributing free copies of their fanzine Xero, which had the first we had Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, and a few installment of a series about old comics called “All in Color for a Dime.” more. However, we didn’t see Xero #1 at that convention; somehow we missed BILL: Now that we’ve heard a bit about the ways science-fiction fans it. But, when we got home from the con, Don and I—we were dating, so began to express an interest in comics, let’s go to Roy Thomas for the I was Maggie Curtis then—decided to do a fanzine about comics. We story of how he met Jerry Bails. distributed a one-page flyer called Harbinger, in which we said, “We’re going to do a fanzine; if you’re interested send us a postcard, and we’ll ROY THOMAS: In late 1961 I wrote letters of comment to editor send you the first issue.” That was in October of 1960, and Comic Art Julius Schwartz about issues of Justice League of America, The Flash, came out the following year, primarily to a readership of science-fiction and Green Lantern, the hot new comics at the time. Julie wrote back fans. We didn’t know anything about what Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas that since I mentioned I had been a Justice Society fan as a kid, I might and that other crowd were up to. enjoy writing to the man who had written the JSA—and who was now BILL: Also from the Eisenhower era and science-fiction fandom, we writing JLA. He sent me Gardner Fox’s home address! It’s hard to have Fred Patten. imagine an editor today sending a fan somebody’s home address, but he just did it. I FRED PATTEN: My first personal experience wrote a letter to Gardner, which I’m embarwith fandom was when the World Con came to rassed to say still exists. To my query about Los Angeles, where I lived, in 1958. I met other back issues of All-Star Comics, he said, “I sold fans through that con, and eventually joined the the ones I had a couple of years ago to a guy Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society around 1960, named Jerry Bails, who lives in Detroit.” when I was in college. The LASFS was a sciencefiction club started in Los Angeles in 1934; it had Gardner gave me Jerry’s address and I been meeting weekly since 1939. Forrest J. immediately wrote to him. I got Jerry’s Ackerman was one of its biggest organizers. response a couple of days after my twentieth When I joined, I remember there were whole birthday, in November 1960. He even sent me bunches of fanzines lying around to read, as well complete and quasi-complete issues of All-Star as books and magazines. #4, 5 and 6, with a current street value of maybe $2,000 even in that condition—a gift! BILL: When did you realize the super-heroes were coming back in the comics? BILL: How did Alter Ego get started? PATTEN: We didn’t really become aware of it until about the time Green Lantern and The Atom came along. A lot of us who were sf fans spotted the science-fiction references that [DC editor] Julius Schwartz put into his stories. I think the first issues of Green Lantern and Atom had references. Like The Atom’s secret identity was Ray Palmer [actual name of a famous sf writer and fan], and stuff like that. We responded to that. Some of us remembered we had been fans

Fred Patten in 1962, in the costume he wore at the World Science-Fiction Convention. See Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, as well, in Bill Schelly’s The Golden Age of Comic Fandom.

THOMAS: Like Maggie mentioned, it’s since been documented that Don and others were saying at a World Con that they wanted to start a comics fandom, but we didn’t know anything about that. Jerry was interested in pushing the JLA comic. He wanted to do a publication called The JLA Subscriber, which would be available only to people who could prove they subscribed to JLA. I was skeptical of this, because the last comic I’d subscribed to was

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel selling comics, and also some used bookstores that began selling comics through the mail, and you could fill in a back issue like Fantastic Four #15 for ten cents or a quarter. BILL: How did you become Gordon Love’s editorial assistant? VAN HISE: In 1970 I went to a small comics convention in Oklahoma City. Buster Crabbe was a guest. Maybe 300-400 fans turned out, but there was a good-sized dealer’s room and lots of old comics for sale. It was a revelation! That’s when I got to know Gordon Love better. I moved to Miami after that and started working with him on Rocket’s BlastComicollector. It had recently gone from mimeograph printing to photo-offset. The first issue I actually worked on was #74.

G.B. Love had cerebral palsy since birth. He was living with his parents, and publishing RB-CC and numerous other fanzines to make a modest living. His parents had given over almost half the house for his RBCC #74, with its Rich Corben cover, was the first issue on which James Van Hise worked. The dynamic Don Newton cover is from #82 (1971). [Art ©the respective copyright holders; Hawkman ©2001 DC Comics.] office and for a back room where he stored all the back issues and supplies. For a while his mother had a pet monkey she kept in a big cage in that room. He All-Star, and I got just one issue and then eleven of something called didn’t care much for that monkey but he had to put up with it at the All-Star Western! [laughter] time. In February of 1961 Jerry visited the New York DC offices and Julie I’d go with him to the printer, and began pasting up some of the Schwartz. He came back with the name Alter-ego. At that point it was pages. I began re-typing things for him, because he used to type everyhyphenated, and “ego” was spelled with a small “e”. He either made it thing himself, and his cerebral palsy made typing very difficult for him. up on the trip, or right after the trip, as the new name for the He’d hold a pencil in his hand to type, because his fingers didn’t work newsletter… which would no longer be devoted exclusively to the JLA. well enough to use a typewriter. He’d hit the keys with the pencil eraser He had promises of advance news from Julie. He invited me to and hunt-and-peck. That’s why his fanzines up to the late 1960s had lots contribute to the magazine, and named me co-editor. That was very of cross-outs for mistakes. I did anything to help him out. I stuffed generous, since Jerry edited my stuff, but I never edited any of his. envelopes and got everything ready to mail. I worked for him for four Anyway, Alter-Ego #1 came out at the end of March 1961, about the years making $80 a week, which in those days wasn’t bad; I had previsame time, or maybe a week or two before, Don and Maggie sent out ously worked in a department store where I’d made $40 a week. Of Comic Art #1. course, now I had to work six days a week! THOMPSON: It was just the right time. The only reason G.B. decided to stop doing it and turn it over to me THOMAS: Yes. If we hadn’t done it, somebody else would have, before was because Alan Light long. At first Alter-Ego was just Jerry and me, but then all of a sudden a had started The Buyers bunch of other people were sending in stuff for the fanzine. It just grew. Guide for Comic I felt lucky to be in there. Dick and Pat Lupoff, and Don and Maggie, Fandom, offering a free and Jerry were really the people who got it going. I feel like a minor lifetime subscription to character compared to them. subscribers. They kind of forgot about that over the BILL: One of the most important fanzines of early comics fandom, years, but it helped them along with Comic Art and Alter Ego, was The Rocket’s Blastget established. [laughter] Comicollector. This was the advertising vehicle where people would buy and sell old comics. It was the early-’60s version of the Internet! It was BILL: If my memory is founded by an exceptional individual named Gordon Love. As the correct, didn’t you take decade progressed, RB-CC had the largest circulation of any fanzine, over in mid-1974? and was almost the engine of comic fandom. G.B. Love couldn’t be here VAN HISE: Yes. Initially, today. However, his successor James Van Hise is with us. I’d like to ask I wasn’t sure I could Jim how he got involved in comic fandom, and to paint us a portrait of make a go of it, so I got what he knows about the earliest, formative years of RB-CC. [NOTE: this job working in a Sadly, G.B. Love perished of injuries sustained in an automobile bookstore; but after two accident on January 17, 2001, about six months after this panel weeks, with people discussion.] sending in subscriptions, JAMES VAN HISE: I started buying comics in the early 1960s. I think with hundreds of dollars Gordon Love was the first fanzine publisher to put ads in Marvel coming in, I realized, “I comics. He had letters in DC letter columns saying, “I’m doing this don’t need another job!” fanzine,” but he actually put ads in Marvel Comics, saying to send in $5, So basically, full-time, or $3, or whatever it was, for a subscription to RC-CC; so I did that. It seven days a week, I The first page of the first issue of the Thompsons’ was a very crude fanzine at first, but there were ads from all these people

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel worked on RB-CC from that point until its demise six years later. BILL: What was the circulation of RB-CC at its peak? VAN HISE: Somewhere around 2500 or so. That was a lot for a fanzine in the 1960s. After I took over, the circulation faltered a bit because of the in-roads TBG had made, so we started doing more articles and features. Bud Plant and other dealers started carrying it after I took over, and I can vouch for the 2500 circulation figure. THOMPSON: Putting that in perspective, I think the peak circulation of Comic Art was 500… but we deliberately kept it small. We were printing by mimeograph, and more sales just meant more physical work to get it out. We didn’t want that.

43 met there. Then, Mark Hanerfeld, one of the early fans from New York City, persuaded DC to try to imitate the Marvel Bullpen pages. They gave him some space in their comics for a column, and he plugged his fanzine, The Comic Reader, which had been founded by Jerry Bails in late 1961. It had mysteriously passed through several different editing hands over the years. It was kind of like a relay race, where a racer would fall down exhausted and pass the baton to the next runner, who would publish it for a time and then pass it on again. The Comic Reader was my first connection to the world of fanzines.

I learned in particular about the New York Comic conventions. I’d missed them because the Jewish-Italian pre-air conditioning working class behavior in New York was, you migrated en masse into the Catskills starting the week before July 4th. Literally, stores in our neighborhood BILL: In fandom’s early years, a circulation of would close, and re-open on the main street of a one or two hundred was considered average The cover of the final issue of Comic Art (#7, 1968) small town in the Catskills to serve this group! for a fanzine printed by mimeograph or spirit sported a 1948 cover illo by “the good duck artist”— [laughter] You got to take one little box of duplicator. So RB-CC in comparison had a the late great Carl Barks. [Donald Duck and his comics with you, and that had to keep you going phenomenal circulation well into the 1970s. Of nephew © & TM 2001 Walt Disney Productions.] except for the ones you could manage to buy off course, it didn’t hurt that you and Gordon had a couple of newsstands there. In The Comic a couple of guys named Don Newton and Reader I read about the conventions, so I knew they existed, but I John Fantucchio, who produced some of the most beautiful covers ever couldn’t get to them at first. done for a fan-oriented publication. And you published numerous articles about comics of the Golden Age and the EC era. At this point, let’s bring in our next panelist, Michael T. Gilbert, because he recently told me that one of the things about comics fandom that meant the most to him was the information in the fanzines on the comics from the past. What was it like, Michael, finally being able to have the Golden Age of Comics open up for you? MICHAEL T. GILBERT: It was very exciting for me. Unlike these other people on the panel, I wasn’t publishing fanzines, but I was reading them early on. The first exposure I had to the original Captain Marvel was in Alter Ego #7. I’d heard a little about the Golden Age Captain Marvel, but I didn’t know what his costume looked like or anything. It was fascinating. We take the history of comics for granted nowadays because it’s so accessible. All the ECs have been reprinted, the wonderful DC Archives collections are out there. In the 1960s, every original scrap of information you could get your hands on was a treasure. One of the early fanzines—Fan-to-Fan, I think—ran an article about EC. Though I’d heard something about EC, this was the first I had a chance to hear about Weird Science and connect it to Mad comic books and such. So it was a wonderful, valuable place to start finding things out, and it just continued over the years. BILL: Between the time Alter-Ego and Comic Art appeared in 1961, and Who’s Who In Comic Fandom appeared in 1964, the fandom movement had really begun to snowball. In the Who’s Who, Jerry Bails listed something like 1500 addresses of active fans! Obviously there was a need, there was a hunger in all of us who were a part of it back then. As the decade progressed, wave after wave of new comics fans joined in. One of those people riding a somewhat later wave was Paul Levitz, who will tell us about that experience. Paul? PAUL LEVITZ: I had the luck of growing up in New York, which at that time was where a disproportionate amount of the comics people were. My earliest collecting was from the used bookstore in Brooklyn. It was owned by the people who owned Passaic, who were some of the earliest advertisers for back issues. People just sort of wandered in and out of there, and I began to become aware of fandom through people I

Then Mark, like others before him, ran out of steam on The Comic Reader. The last place to get news—at least, that I managed to find— was Newfangles, the mimeo fanzine that Don and Maggie Thompson had moved on to after Comic Art. It was about six or eight pages. THOMPSON: We only guaranteed one sheet per issue. [laughter] LEVITZ: Newfangles was a nice mixture of gossip and genuine comics news, observations about the field, and what had happened in their lives. I guess Don and Maggie decided to give it up because it was too much to produce this regular... monthly thing, I think, at this time? THOMPSON: The saga was, at one o’clock in the morning we were handling our mailing list. We were sitting at a card table, about this far apart from each other, and we were putting stamps on each copy as fast as we could. Don suddenly went, “AAAAGH!” One of our cats, attracted by the swirling stamps, had batted at his leg with a claw. He said, “We’ve got to quit this.” [laughter] LEVITZ: As a consequence, they announced a year in advance they were going to give it up, so they didn’t have to refund any subscription money. I was sharing fanzines and fan gossip by this time with a friend named Paul Kupperberg. We were sitting around the living room, looking at this announcement from Don and Maggie, saying, “Oh, my God, in eleven months we’re not going to know anything! We’re going to have do something about this!” With the foolish courage of our age— he was fifteen, I was fourteen—we decided to try to fill in that gap. We put together $16, made a couple of phone calls to Marvel and DC, and stole an outrageous amount of information from previously published fanzines. Nelson Bridwell, one of the early fans, was an assistant editor at DC. We managed to get Nelson to give us some information on what DC was currently doing for our previews section. That was our first issue. We sent one in to Don and Maggie, and they were kind enough to plug us. We were able to build up a little bit of a circulation to keep coming out monthly, and after about six months of this, I met Mark Hanerfeld. By then I was allowed to show up at the DC offices. Marvel’s policies on giving out news to the fan press were a little

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel

more complicated. Roy managed to sneak some information out to us during occasional phone calls, where I would be frantically scribbling to keep up with him.

very close to the end of its natural life.

THOMPSON: Another contribution of fandom was the recognition finally given professional writers and artists in the THOMAS: What year was that? ’Cause I medium who had previously toiled in don’t remember any of this! anonymity. For example, the last issue of Comic Art profiled a gentleman for the first PAUL: 1971. There were wonderful conversatime who was symbolic of the Golden Age. tions where for a month or two Marvel would We wanted to run an article on this say, “We can’t give you advance information gentleman, and we wrote to the publisher of because it’s not fair to our regular readers,” but this material for permission to reprint some it kind of varied back and forth. samples to help illustrate the interview. The owner of rights to that material wrote back After we’d been going for about six and declined. The name “Walt Disney” months, Mark Hanerfeld gave us his blessing appeared on everything the gentleman did, to use The Comic Reader name and continue Bill Schelly finally met Tom Fagan, one of the best of and they did not want to disappoint the the early comics fandom writers, after this panel at it. He handed me a manila envelope full of children of America by revealing that Carl San Diego 2000. quarters, and dollar bills, and dimes. Mark was Barks did comic books with Walt Disney’s a very pure and honest soul, and he had not name on them. So, not only did we not have permission to run the art, only not spent all the subscription money, he hadn’t even put it in the but they put pressure on us not to print the interview. Well, Disney died bank. It was still in the same envelope with all the cards and everything a few months later, and then it was obvious to even the smallest child else from the last three years, waiting for someone who could pick up that he couldn’t be drawing all those comic books and strips. [laughter] the baton. I went from having two or three hundred subscribers to over a thousand in a minute, and suddenly, it was a profitable little business for a kid. BILL: In 1964 and 1965 comic fandom began getting noticed by the media. News articles began appearing in newspapers. People started calling up Jerry Bails, this nutty professor in Michigan, and asking him why in the world he collected comics. Finally, there was a story on fandom in Newsweek in February of 1965, called “Superfans and Batmaniacs.” This article got a lot of attention, and suddenly Grandma remembered she had a few old comics up in her attic, and they might be worth money. There were all these headlines, “Comics are worth big bucks!!” That’s how the rise of comic fandom indirectly saved many, many Golden Age comics that would probably have rotted or been thrown out otherwise. That was one effect of fandom. I’m sure our panelists have some other examples on other ways it impacted the comic collecting hobby. Anyone? THOMPSON: Fandom began the information compilation that was so necessary for the history of comics to be understood. “When was this published?” “How many issues did this title run?” “What issues of Airboy were never published because they screwed up the volume/issue number?” We didn’t know. Fans began to compile that information. That’s a major effect that fandom had. We could collect it because we know what’s there. LEVITZ: I think something Bill alluded to before was very true. The high proportion of the books from the ’40s and ’50s that had survived the paper drives were getting very close to the end of their natural life. The people who had them stored in their attics or basements were of the age to be having everything cleared out by a stranger. Many were going to be downsizing their homes, moving into a retirement center, or whatever. If comics had continued to be perceived as having no value, some of those collections might have gone to a kid in the family or younger relative, but a lot of them would have disappeared entirely. The timing of it, coming 20 or 25 years after the beginning of comics, was probably very close to the last moment to have saved those issues, and to enable us to have the fairly large number that we’ve got. The large difference between the survival of the Golden Age comics and the Marvel comics beginning with Fantastic Four, despite the fact that there were very, very few active collectors in 1961, is that the people who originally bought them hadn’t had time to dispose of them before fandom began publicizing their value. But the Golden Age stuff was

BILL: Last year, not long before his death, John Broome attended his first comicon. He’d been writing comics since the 1940s, yet I doubt if he ever knew how much his work was appreciated till he came to San Diego. When he entered the large room to appear on a panel, it was jammed with fans and pros who gave him a standing ovation that went on for a long time. He entered from the back of the room and moved forward through this sea of people who were on their feet, applauding him like mad. It was quite a moment. [At this point Bill and other panel members field a handful of questions from the audience.] BILL: I’m sorry to say that we’re out of time! Let’s give everyone on our panel a big hand. [applause] AUDIENCE MEMBER: Shouldn’t we thank the convention for putting this on, finally? BILL: Yes. Thanks to Gary Sassaman, who really wanted it to happen. [tumultuous applause]

[Bill Schelly’s new book Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom is currently being solicited in Diamond Previews for September. Check out the ad elsewhere in this issue for details about this informative and funny memoir of Bill’s personal experiences during fandom’s Golden Age, which is being published by TwoMorrows. You won’t want to miss it!] [NEWSFLASH: At the eleventh hour, Bill informed us that, while exploring the dark recesses of the vast Hamster Press warehouse, he was startled to stumble across fifty (count 'em, 50) copies of the officially “sold-out” Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine, the trade paperback which he and Roy Thomas co-edited in 1997, collecting the best material from “Volume 1” of Alter Ego, 1961-78—including interviews with Gil Kane and Bill Everett, and rare art by Gil, Bill, Ditko, Kirby, Swan, Manning, Infantino, Buscema, Beck, Kubert, Wood, and others. Send $18 in check or money order to Hamster Press, PO Box 27471, Seattle, WA 98125. You won't regret it!]

Now—FLIP US for “The Comics That Time Forgot!”

Roy Thomas ’ Dream Team Comics Fanzine

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FEATURING RARE ART BY: AYERS BEACHUM BECK BORING BRUNNER BUSCEMA BUTLER COCKRUM COLAN DITKO FRADON GARCIA GILBERT HEATH HOBERG HOOVER HUGHES INFANTINO KANE KAYANAN MERINO NEWTON ORDWAY RADER REYES ROMITA JR. SEVERIN SINNOTT SMITH STATON SWAYZE TOTH TRAVELLIN TRIMPE TUSKA & Characters TM & ©Marvel Characters, Inc.

No. 9 JULY 2001

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 9 / July 2001 ™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Bill Schelly

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

Dream Projects Comic Crypt FCA Section

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comics Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder), Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich

Cover Artists John Romita, Dick Giordano

Cover Color Tom Ziuko

Mailing Crew Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

Contents Writer/Editorial: Sweet Dreams, Baby!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Roy Thomas’ “Dream Projects” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Ye Editor kicks off an eight-a-year schedule with a survey of some series that time forgot. Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Michael T. Gilbert on “life after comic books” for the Man of Steel’s second artist. FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #68 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 P.C. Hamerlinck presents another frantic Fawcett festival— featuring George Tuska, Marc Swayze, C.C. Beck, and Bill Morrison!

Spectacular Section on Marvel’s John Romita! . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: We’re truly grateful to Dick Giordano for taking the time to do two versions of the drawing that graces this section’s cover—the full-color one you just paged past, and another wherein he had five of Marvel’s Invaders facing not their usual array of foes—but a quintet of DC’s Justice Society and All-Star Squadron heroes from the World War II years. The companies prefer that we not mix DC and Marvel heroes on our covers, so we used this version, instead. For the five DC heroes as drawn by Dick, see P. 18. And, to find out how to purchase Giordano re-creations, commission drawings, or original art, e-mail him at < dickgiordano@yahoo.com >. Loads of great stuff available! Above: So what does this thought-provoking Adam Hughes illo, which appeared in the 1998 Heroes Convention (Charlotte, NC) program book, have to do with Roy T.’s “Dream Projects”? See Pp. 22-23. Thanks to Adam for permission to reprint it. [Art ©2001 Adam Hughes; Captain America ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8x a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; E-mail: roydann@oburg.net. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US, $27 Canada, $37 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. FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

Sweet Dreams Baby! (with apologies to another Roy, surnamed Orbison)

ream projects. Everybody has them.

Every writer and artist and editor in the comics field could list “the one (more likely, the several) that got away”—their pet concepts, their labors of love, which never quite got off (or maybe even to) the drawing board. If it hasn’t happened to them yet—well, not to worry. Sooner or later, it will. I’ve been lucky that, for much of my 36-years-and-counting of writing comics, I was in a position to turn most of my visions into actual comic books— partly because I was often also an editor at Marvel and DC.

The decision was solidified when I realized how much exciting, mostly unpublished art I had on hand that went with those unrealized projects— art by folks like Dick Giordano, Dave Hoover, Mark Beachum, Rick Hoberg, Don Newton, Steven Butler, and others, which should not have bloomed to blush forever unseen. After all, one of my original reasons for reviving A/E three years ago was to showcase some of the great but unglimpsed artwork (or photocopies thereof) that I had on my walls or languishing in file drawers. To that, I added other illos tangentially connected to my concepts. Reviewing these projects in order to write about them has been a bittersweet process, as I’m sure you can imagine. Eventually, I elected not to name any editor or other authority figure I might be thought to be criticizing. Settling old scores or scratching at old scars in public is not my purpose.

Still, from 1965 through the mid’80s, while working exclusively first for Marvel, then for DC, I knew that in the long run I’d lose control of any characters I created. As a result, some concepts I had I never presented to either company. At Marvel I generally Just consider the long, multi-part preferred to revamp pre-existing heroes article that follows to be in line with (like the 1950s Black Knight, the 1940s Alter Ego’s usual policy of examining Vision, Him-into-Warlock, WWII the history of the comic book field. heroes such as The Invaders, Red SonyaOnly, in this case, it’s a history that, into-Sonja, etc.—in addition to adapting for one reason or another, didn’t Conan and Kull), in part because I happen. knew I’d resent it if a character I cocreated became a runaway success and I I’m not pioneering something didn’t own a piece of it. Even from new here. Some of Jack Kirby’s ’81-’86 at DC, which by then Two of our miraculous mascots—Alter and Captain Ego—may have some unrealized projects have been guaranteed creators a royalty, I knew “dream projects” of their own going on, courtesy of the Zeta-helmet. A big covered in TwoMorrows’ flagship I couldn’t control my creations’ thank-you to “Captain Biljo,” who created the pair for Alter Ego V1#7 back in publication, The Jack Kirby 1964, for doing this great new illo. [Art ©2001 Biljo White; Alter & Captain Ego destines forever. (Witness, e.g., the Collector—Peter David has ©2001 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.] diaspora of Infinity, Inc.—what do digressed long enough to print an you think I think of it? How do you unused synopsis or two in The think you’d feel?) Comics Buyer’s Guide—and Harlan Ellison once let Don and Maggie Thompson’s fanzine Comic Art reprint an unbought Hawkman plot Fortunately, like many another fan-turned-pro, I had come into the with the names changed to protect the innocent (which led to my field as much to play with the many, many toys that were already there, adapting it as The Avengers #101). as to make up a lot of new ones. Still, once I no longer had editorial status at Marvel or DC by the late 1980s, I found myself at the notBut surely there are more unglimpsed gems out there—the neveralways-tender mercies of this editor or that, doing what he/she wanted adopted brainchildren of writers and artists of the Golden and Silver me to do, rather than what I thought should be done. Ages and beyond. If this special coverage induces a few of them to let those “dream projects” see the light of day at long last... In other words, I was at last in basically the same situation that other writers and artists had been, earlier, in relation to me. ...then, in one sense, that history did happen, didn’t it? Thus, I decided to celebrate the start of this third year of Alter Ego, Bestest, Volume 3—and its newly increased frequency—by indulging myself, and detailing in print some of my personal “dream projects” over the past fifteen years since I became a freelancer instead of a staff or contractual writer/editor.

Writer / Editorial

A PERSONAL ASIDE ON A PAIR OF AWARDS: I'll admit it: I was somewhat taken aback when, again this year, Alter Ego was not nominated for a Harvey award in its category—and I was even more surprised that The All-Star Companion was passed over for nominations, as well. More recently, when the Eisner nominations were announced, the Companion was again overlooked—in fact that San Diego crowd dropped the entire “comics-related periodicals” category, even though it had been on ballots sent to the nominating committee. Further proof, if any were needed, that the gap between my own interests and standards, and those of the folks who do the nominating, is a bit too great to be bridged. Accordingly, I elected to remove myself from the group which nominates Harvey’s “hall of fame” awards, after some years’ participation—and I voted in neither the Harveys nor the Eisners. In fact, neither of those awards will be mentioned further in Alter Ego unless in material put together by someone other than myself; I just don't feel they warrant my attention in the future. Now, Harvey Kurtzman and Will Eisner—that's something else again. Those guys are definitely worth a mention, and always will be! But good luck to all nominees, wherever and for whatever— including especially TwoMorrows’ own splendid Streetwise trade paperback and S. Aragonés’ hilarious gorilla yarn therein (great seeing you at WonderCon, Sergio!)—not that either of the above needs an award to make Streetwise worth your $24! And let’s not forget Jon B. Cooke’s Eisner nomination for his Comic Book Artist Collection, Vol. One; another great package! —Roy

Submit Something To Alter Ego! Alter Ego is on the lookout for items that can be utilized in upcoming issues: • Convention Sketches and Program Books • Unpublished Artwork • Original Scripts (the older the better!) • Photos • Unpublished Interviews • Little-seen Fanzine Material We’re also interested in articles, article ideas, or any other suggestions... and we pay off in FREE COPIES of A/E. (If you’re already an A/E subscriber, we’ll extend your subscription.) Contact: Roy Thomas, Editor Rt. 3, Box 468 St. Matthews, SC 29135 Fax: (803)826-6501 • E-mail: roydann@oburg.net

Submission Guidelines Submit artwork in one of these forms (in order of preference): 1) Clear color or black-&-white photocopies. 2) Scanned images—300ppi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (on Zip or floppy disk). 3) Originals (carefully packed and insured). Submit text in one of these forms: 1) E-mail (ASCII text attachments preferred) to: roydann@oburg.net 2) An ASCII or “plain text” file, supplied on floppy disk. 3) Typed, xeroxed, or laser printed pages.

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Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

All Of Roy Thomas “Dream Projects” Had Come True? by Roy Thomas (who else?) In one sense, this long, four-part article was suggested by the readers of Alter Ego and of the comics I’ve written over the years—intrepid souls who, in recent years, have come up to me at comics conventions (or sent me a letter or e-mail) asking me, in so many words: “Why aren’t you writing any stories with the JSA/All-Star Squadron (or The Invaders, The Avengers, or Shazam!) any more? Don’t you want to do any more with those characters?” I haven’t made a survey, but I’d wager that quite a few of my artist and writer contemporaries from the ’60s, ’70s, and even ’80s get asked the same type of questions about their own earlier areas of endeavor—Marv Wolfman about Dracula, Denny O’Neil

about Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Steve Englehart about Captain America, etc. This is my way of answering those questions—illustrating my responses with some great-looking art. What follows are a few of the concepts which I’ve submitted—in vain, as it turned out—to this company or that. I decided to limit myself for the most part to showcasing those unrealized “dream projects” which involve heroes I first encountered during my comics-reading childhood in the latter 1940s: The Justice Society of America (plus my later augmentation of same, the All-Star Squadron); Captain Marvel and

For Collector’s Dream Magazine #5 (1978), Franco Reyes drew this lavish two-page portrait of Ye Writer/Editor and some of the Marvel heroes he’d scripted up to that point. Artful Al Dellinges has obligingly covered over a few of the Marvel stalwarts with adapted renditions of DC stars. (We’ll ignore the fact that Roy is 23 years older now and no longer wears beads around his throat.) Special thanks to CDM’s publisher George Olshevsky; the original art is from RT’s personal collection. [Art ©2001 George Olshevsky & Franco Reyes; Captain America & Bucky, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Thor, Scarlet Witch ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

Warts, Schwartz, And All

I no longer have that script, but it was written as All-Star Comics #58 (surprise, surprise), continuing the numbering of my all-time favorite comic, which had been discontinued in 1950. The basic premise and plotline of “The War That Never Happened!” was unabashedly lifted from a story of the same name and general story in Wonder Woman #60 (July-Aug. 1953). In my scenario, the JSA (expanding on Diana’s role in the original) are called in by the scientist Paula. In her “futuray,” which seems basically a souped-up version of Queen Hippolyta’s Magic Sphere, they behold images of an Earth reduced to rubble by World War III, ten years in the future. The All-Stars travel all the way to 1964 or ’65 to fight on America’s side, breaking into teams as per the later SchwartzBroome All-Stars. I took my tale’s climax nakedly from the original comic, with Wonder Woman finding a way to stop the war from ever beginning: She prevents an auto accident which had kept US delegates from getting to a crucial conference in time to vote against going to war. (Hey, don’t blame me! I didn’t write the original story—chances are Bob Kanigher did! But I liked it.) I had fun writing the script, but I doubt I ever showed it to anyone.

B. Jerry Thomas Lives! As it happens, the second unillustrated script I remember writing was actually submitted (unsolicited) to DC—to editor Julius Schwartz, to be precise. The cover and panels from five stories in All Giant Comics #1, done when RT was seven, with Elephant Giant, King O’Mighty, Goliath, Giant Caveman (wearing Flash’s helmet), and Black Giant. [©2001 Roy Thomas; like anybody’s gonna steal it!]

company; and the Timely/Marvel “Big Three” of Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner, whom in 1975 I combined as The Invaders. Besides ideas involving Golden Age heroes, however, there are a few others on my list—pet proposals involving the Justice League, the KreeSkrull War, and one or two additional bits of flotsam and jetsam from my four-color past, as you’ll see.

As a few doddering oldsters may recall, in Jerry G. Bails’ original 1961 Alter-Ego fanzine, at age twenty, I wrote and drew a parody of the JLA called “Bestest League of America.” Later, in Justice League of America #16 (Dec. 1962), Julie and author Gardner Fox paid Jerry and me

But let’s start back in the ’40s and ’50s, when the very idea that I would one day be a professional comic book writer and/or editor would have been an “impossible dream” project, in and of itself...

Part I WARTS, SCHWARTZ, AND ALL A. All-Star Comics #58—Two Decades Early! Though I drew my first crudely-executed comics in 1948 at age seven—a multi-story, 50-page All Giant Comics, one of whose heroes, Goliath, was visually based on the depiction of that Biblical bad-guy in the then-recent All-Star Comics #38—my first attempt to write a script, as opposed to both writing and drawing a story, was made in 1954 or ’55. Ostensibly, the major subject of Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer’s 1954 Comic Book Illustrators Instruction Course, Lesson One (and, as it turned out, Only), was drawing the human head. But it also sported examples of two panels in script form, which I used as my template. (For this and other pages of the Course, see Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection, currently available from TwoMorrows.)

Irwin Hasen drew the cover of Wonder Woman #60. Inside, “The War That Never Happened!”—whose history-altering denouement is shown here—was the work of a tiring H.G. Peter. The 1953 issue was reprinted in 1977—as a premium given away by Pizza Hut! A zillion thanks to collector Bart Bush for gifting Roy with what amounts to a copy of a comic he hadn’t owned or even seen in nearly half a century! [©2001 DC Comics.]

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects the mind-blowing compliment of creating an offstage fan-cartoonist named “Jerry Thomas,” who in “The Cavern of Deadly Spheres!” had written and drawn his own notion of a JLA case. I didn’t think it likely, by any stretch of the imagination, that a young high school English teacher in Missouri would ever sell a script to a big New York comics publisher. Still, one day in 1963 I sat down at my Smith-Corona portable and banged out a 25-page JLA story which made an onstage character out of Jerry Thomas. In it he sent the heroes a second story he’d drawn—this one a parody of them called, er, “Bestest League of America.” To their shock, the JLAers saw that various freak misfortunes which had just befallen them (tripping themselves up while chasing crooks, etc.) were all closely foreshadowed in JT’s spoof, where they happened to their lampoon equivalents (Green Trashcan, Martian Manhandler, Aquariuman, etc.). Learning that Jerry Thomas had drawn the story using a strange pen he’d found, the JLA traced the pen’s origins to another dimension and fought some menace there. I don’t recall whether that weird pen had wound up on our Earth by accident, or if it was part of someone’s clever plan to lure the JLA into the other dimension. I duly mailed my script to Julie, with whom I’d been corresponding since late 1961. I said he could use it gratis if he wanted, or have Gardner Fox rewrite it. I don’t believe I ever got any response from Julie, but I took that in my stride. After all, I remembered that once, when I’d mentioned in a letter that he hadn’t responded to a couple of my recent missives, Julie had written back to inform me, quote: “I’m a busy man!”—which was certainly true—so the last thing I wanted to do was annoy him.

If Roy’s mid-’50s script for an “All-Star Comics #58” had seen print on some “Earth22,” its splash might have resembled this 1948 Hasen-Oksner one—only with the three pix of the Magic Sphere displaying World War III images like the ones we’ve added. [Art from All-Star #48 and JLA #207 ©2001 DC Comics; art from covers of World War III #1 (1953) and Atom-Age Combat #2 (1959) ©2001 the respective copyright holders.]

So obtuse was I back then that it never occurred to me that Gardner might have had cause to be angered by my presumptuous action. After all, if Julie had used my JLA script, it might have replaced one of his— though at that time Gardner would have had something else to take its place on his schedule. My main regret, though, is that, for whatever reason, that script no longer exists. Small loss, I suppose.

C. By Any Stretch Of The Imagination (or, To Make An Elongated Story Short...) That sample JLA script turned out to be good practice, because early in 1964 I received a letter from Gardner, who was my other major professional correspondent at the time, and who of course had been the original scribe of All-Star Comics in the 1940s, as well.

The Roy Thomas half of the offstage “Jerry Thomas” amalgam wanted to move JT to center stage—and bring the Bestest League with him! JLA by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs; BLA art by RT for CAPA-Alpha #3, Nov. 1965. [JLA #16 panel ©2001 DC Comics; Bestest League art ©2001 Roy Thomas.]

I had already learned on the Q.T. from Julie that he’d been assigned to edit all the Batman titles to give them a “New Look,” and that, starting in Detective Comics #327 (cover-dated May 1964), Gardner would be scripting a new back-up featuring The Flash’s stretchable supporting star, The Elongated Man. To my amazement, Gardner told me he was so busy with other work that, with Julie’s permission

Warts, Schwartz, And All

7 headed man and provides him with a little spare-time employment,” in accordance with the will of the group’s founder, Jebediah Scarlett. All Hiram had to do for his stipend was report to an office each weekday and spend two hours looking up and copying information about “famous red-headed people of history.” With Jameson watching the bookstore, Hiram had been doing this easy work five mornings a week. However, this very morn, he had found the Carrot-top Club’s office locked, with a note on the door saying it had been dissolved. Hearing this tale, Ralph feels that “the entire affair seems somehow vaguely familiar, as if I’d been through it before—somewhere, sometime.”

(encouragement?), he was inviting me to try my hand at writing a tenpage “EM” script I could submit directly to Julie. He even sent me the carbons of his script for the first solo tale, which hadn’t yet appeared. As the kicker, he informed me that the “Elongated Man” series was being drawn by Flash artist Carmine Infantino, one of my favorites. He didn’t have to ask me twice! Naturally, I had read all appearances to date of Ralph Dibny—“the only super-hero who has publicly revealed his true identity.” (Well, the only DC hero, anyway. They didn’t count The Fantastic Four, over at upstart Marvel.)

Poring over the script for “Ten By story’s end, as aficionados of Miles to Nowhere!” with a fineSherlock Holmes would have long tooth comb, I felt Gardner had done since guessed, Ralph realizes (when a first-rate job, especially considering Sue obligingly mentions the Sage of that all EM’s earlier forays had been Baker Street in passing) that the Club written by John Broome. I particuwas merely a ruse to get Hiram out larly enjoyed the opening pages, of his bookstore, so Jameson and wherein Ralph masks his growing some minions could work at digging annoyance that, even after learning a tunnel from its basement into the his name(s), neither a customs officer museum. Jameson had consciously nor a motel clerk recognizes him. lifted his scheme from Arthur Conan And Page 7 contains a line that made Doyle’s Holmes story “The me laugh out loud when I first read Adventure of the Red-headed it: To eavesdrop on two criminals, League.” He and his men attempt Ralph elongates his ear down a that night to steal the Egyptian cabin’s chimney, only to have one Carmine Infantino did ‘way-too-rare penciling and inking on the “Elongated treasures, but are caught by The of the crooks accidentally flick a Man” series, starting with the initial story in Detective #137. Repro’d from Elongated Man. lighted cigarette onto it. When photocopies of the original art, courtesy of Ethan Roberts. [©2001 DC Comics.] Ralph yelps in pain, the other As an added twist, in the hoodlum gawks and exclaims: “An denouement we learn that the ear—in the fireplace!” I loved it! Dibnys are in Midway City, and that one of Ralph’s great desires while Knowing that Julie wanted to stress the “detective” aspect of Detective Comics, I made my own script a modern-day riff on a tale starring the most famous sleuth of all:

there was to work on a case with “one of my great idols—Hawkman!” But, alas, apparently it was not to be. (Of course, the curator of Midway City’s museum, never shown or mentioned by name in the story as I wrote it, is Carter Hall—alias the Silver Age Hawkman.)

In my spec story “The Curious Case of the Carrot-top Club!” Ralph and his recent bride Sue, passing through an unnamed Midwestern city, drop in on his uncle Hiram’s bookstore. The plump Hiram, a redhead like his nephew, introduces them to his assistant Jameson, a mystery buff, and informs them that “jewels and artifacts from the tomb of King Ptah-Amon-Ra,” an Egyptian pharaoh, are on display at the museum across the street for this final day. But Uncle Hiram is edgy; for, weeks earlier, he was made an odd offer in a letter from an organization calling itself the Carrot-top Club: Each year, said the missive, the Club “picks out some deserving red-

I never received any word back directly from Julie about the story, but some time later Gardner mentioned in a letter that Julie had said it “wasn’t quite what he wanted.” Naturally, I was disappointed, but I was grateful for the opportunity. This script I got back, and kept. Just for the record: 37 years later, I think Julie was right to reject the story—if he was judging primarily by the polish of the writing. But then, he often edited Gardner’s scripts very heavily, as he’d doubtless have done to mine. Since my story had plenty of super-hero action, I still believe it would’ve fit right in with the other early

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects good property for the company to license. But, since I quickly fell in love with the prose of Robert E. Howard and with his Cimmerian creation, Conan became perhaps the only series I ever did which, for pure unadulterated pleasure, rivaled working with Golden Age heroes in a ’40s setting.

Pages 1 & 6 of Roy’s 1964 spec script for “The Elongated Man.” Gardner Fox drew a “suggested [panel] layout” at the end of his description of each story page, so Roy followed his example. [©2001 Roy Thomas.]

“Elongated Man” backups. While making no great claims for “The Curious Case of the Carrot-top Club!” I long nurtured a hope that one day I’d be in a position to re-dialogue it a bit and see it drawn by Carmine or by Dick Giordano, his successor artist on “EM.” Anyway, there you have them: my first two (well, three) “dream projects,” after a fashion—scripts for “All-Star #58” and Justice League of America and “Elongated Man.” If the world were a perfect place, they would have become my first published comics work, instead of the final issues of Charlton runs of Son of Vulcan and Blue Beetle, and Modeling with Millie #44.

D. Fields Of Dreams Soon after moving to New York City in 1965 to take a job as Mort Weisinger’s assistant on his six Superman-starring magazines, I changed horses in mid-stream to become Stan Lee’s assistant editor; and, over the next fifteen years, there weren’t many Marvel features I wanted to write that I didn’t get a crack at. Oh, Stan vetoed my introducing a Japanese or Japanese-American mutant into The X-Men right off the bat in 1967 (so I had to sit on Sunfire till 1970), and I had to make The Banshee a male even though I knew better; but those were hardly “dream projects”—just a couple of ideas I had in passing. At that time, the concept of a 1940s comic starring Timely’s terrific trio from the World War II years was only a vague thought, at most. Had I proposed it (and for all I know, I did), Stan would’ve patted me on the head and sent me back to the regular series whose reins I was picking up as he gradually relinquished them. The Avengers, the second super-hero series I wrote on an ongoing basis, was in many ways Marvel’s answer to All-Star and Justice League. Thus, amid a run of seventy regular issues, I was able to write long Avengers Annuals in a JSA multi-chapter format, albeit with one artist doing the entire issue, and to work a few favorite JSA themes into Avengers stories. In the mid-’70s, of course, I got my chance to launch The Invaders and the related “Liberty Legion,” writing Marvel’s 1940s heroes in new vintage-era exploits. Even Conan the Barbarian, which I inaugurated for Marvel in 1970, wasn’t a “dream project” to begin with, merely something I thought a

When I left Marvel in 1980, I found myself still in a position to write mostly the kinds of comics I wanted to—only now for DC. I could have jumpstarted All-Star or a Justice Society title, even one set in the ’40s. But for reasons explained in The All-Star Companion I preferred to develop All-Star Squadron instead as DC’s Wartime-hero title. It was only following 1986, when after two decades in the field I was still making a good living but was no longer able to pick and choose among projects to the same extent as before (hey, even Alfred Hitchcock had to direct Topaz!), that I found that some of my favorite projects weren’t coming to fruition. Still, about that time, another “dream project” of mine did come true—in a way—only to eventually turn into something of a frustration, if never quite an absolute nightmare...

Not Your Father’s Captain Marvel!

Part II NOT YOUR FATHER’S CAPTAIN MARVEL! An Artist-by-Artist Account of a Doomed Quest for a 1980s Shazam! Series A. Don Newton In 1980, after fifteen years writing and editing for Marvel, I signed a three-year writing contract with DC. It contained clauses giving me the right of first refusal to script any series featuring DC’s Golden Age super-heroes—and any projects involving Captain Marvel and related characters. In fact, my first work for my new employer was DC Comics Presents #33-34 (May-June 1981), in which—in concert with Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, and Dick Giordano—I had Superman and Captain Marvel switch bodies and powers, and brought Hoppy the Marvel Bunny back into comics for the first time since the latter ’40s! Later I co-wrote two more Superman-CM crossovers, including an annual drawn by Gil Kane. But DC didn’t think the time was quite ripe yet for a new, full-blown Shazam! series, even though Captain Marvel was one of DC’s most licensable characters.

In ’83 my contract was renewed for another three years, proprietary clauses and all. By then DC was eager for me to write—and now, thanks to Dick Giordano, I would also edit—an ongoing Shazam! title with artist Don Newton, who’d done a great job on Captain Marvel, mostly in World’s Finest Comics. I felt that one member of a re-launched Marvel Family should be a wheelchair-bound African-American teenager, who’d become not “CM Jr.” but “Captain Thunder,” using what had been intended as the name of the World’s Mightiest Mortal himself just

prior to publication of the first issue of Whiz Comics in 1939. Don’s drawing of the young hero even appeared in an issue of The Comics Buyer’s Guide—but with some curious caption information. [See illo.] At that time, however, DC was still a year or three away from owning The Marvel Family outright, and merely licensed them; I was told it might be tricky to get Fawcett’s permission to radically revamp one of the trio. Truth is, I got the distinct impression that nobody at DC even wanted to ask Fawcett. It might have involved a bit of negotiation, and lawyers cost money, I’ve heard. Sadly, the whole matter soon became academic, when Don Newton passed away unexpectedly on August 19, 1984, at the far-too-young age of 49, soon after starting to pencil a third issue of Infinity, Inc. The Shazam! project was temporarily shelved.

Roy’s note that accompanied this Don Newton drawing (which was printed in The Comics Buyer’s Guide #538 in 1984) said it depicts “an Earth-One Captain Marvel”—with no hint that “Captain Thunder” was actually meant to replace Captain Marvel Jr. Why he wrote that, Roy has no idea at this late date; maybe that was his and DC’s intention, for a forgotten nanosecond or two—come to think of it, CT does look a bit older than CMJr ever did. Ironically, Don’s pencils were inked by Jerry Ordway, as a favor to the guys. Jerry’s own Power of Shazam! would follow some years later. Logo by David Cody Weiss.Thanks to John G. Pierce. [Art ©2001 estate of Don Newton; Captain Marvel costume ©2001 DC Comics.]

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

B. Tom Mandrake

By 1986, however, it was revived in the wake of the Legends series by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne. DC okayed a four-issue try-out of a postCrisis on Infinite Earths origin which my wife/collaborator Dann and I would cowrite, with a verbal agreement that, though my contractual “lock” on the Marvels would expire late that year, we would also write (though not edit) any regular series that resulted from Shazam! The New Beginning. This promise was in recognition of the fact that it was only because of Don’s untimely passing that I was not already writing a monthly series starring Captain Marvel.

Tom Mandrake, a recent graduate of Joe Kubert’s school, was tapped as artist. I liked his work on the series, especially the covers we worked out together, though DC and I felt Billy appeared a bit too tall and muscular; perhaps this was overcompensation for the fact that in Legends he had looked so young and short that when he sat on a chair his feet didn’t touch the ground. We made Black Adam, who had appeared in only one 1945 story in the Fawcett days, integral to Cap’s new origin. But storywise, much as I adored the Otto Binder/C.C. Beck Cap of the ’40s and early ’50s, it was my

opinion—and that of DC management—that the time had come to give the World’s Mightiest Mortal a more contemporary, serious look and feel—a goal we accomplished, despite understandable complaints from some longtime Cap fans. (Some, not all: As a Captain Marvel reader since ’45, I wasn’t exactly a newcomer to the Big Red Cheese myself.) The direct orders on Shazam! The New Beginning, while declining in the usual pattern from #1 to #2 through #3, jumped up again nicely with the 4th and final issue, which outsold the previous two. When that occurred, I was told, it meant sales of #1 in comics stores had been good, since the last issue of a four-part monthly series was the first one whose orders reflected actual sell-through. The mini-series was a hit—and, though Tom Mandrake moved on, we had every reason to believe a regular Shazam! would be a good seller.

C. Mark Beachum By early 1987, even before full sales were known on New Beginning, Dann and I were given the go-ahead to start on a monthly comic. At this point the only member of The Marvel Family in the post-Crisis DC Universe was Cap himself. Our plan, agreed to by management, was to use the first few issues to introduce the second Family member—a new Mary Marvel. (In the 1940s, Junior had preceded her.) This Mary would not be Billy’s sister, unlike the one introduced in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 in 1942, which had been written by Otto Binder and drawn—as we now know—by Marc Swayze. This situation would allow for a romantic and even sexual tension between her and Cap—a decision which, in retrospect, I’m not sure was the best one. Far from being sweetness and light like the original, this Mary would be the very opposite of Billy; in fact, the two of them would be like oil and water. “Spike,” as we called her (though her real name would turn out to be Mary Bromfield), was one tough customer, a charter member of punk culture. What’s more, when she said “Shazam!” she would change into a super-powered adult, just as Billy did; it had never made sense to me that the Golden Age Mary didn’t. In

Not Your Father’s Captain Marvel!

addition, this Mary Marvel—who would initially disdain and resist such a cornball name—would wear a far sexier costume than the World’s Mightiest Girl ever sported! A few issues afterward, we would introduce the new Captain Marvel Jr. He’d still be a wheelchair-bound African-American youth whose magic words were “Captain Marvel!” But he wouldn’t be called Captain Thunder. In the wake of the fiasco over that name in ’84, I had used it in Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt, the creator-owned series Dann and I developed for Dennis Mallonee’s Heroic Comics, because I believed there should be a character in comics by that name and I didn’t feel DC had been especially interested in my earlier suggestion. (CT&BB are slated for an early return.) A young artist was chosen about whom both DC and I were enthusiastic: Mark Beachum. He had the kind of lush, illustrative style we all wanted for the new Shazam! As Dann and I began to plot the first issue, Mark was set to work doing design drawings.

The original concept drawing by Mark Beachum, with the youthful Cap and Billy Batson on the left, plus Spike and various frocks she might have worn as Mary Marvel on the right. We don’t know about you, but we’d have bought a subscription! [©2001 DC Comics.]

who’s talking to him, mutters a brief recap of Legends and New Beginning.

Dann’s and my 24-page story (later slated for 23) became a still-extant nine-page plot: It opens with Cap swooping through San Francisco, the setting of New Beginning—where a state-of-the-art “human bomb” atop a bridge has given an ultimatum: “In the name of some ridiculous Middle Eastern holy war, I’m going to blow up this bridge if California doesn’t make the camel the state bird.” (Naturally, that was only a rough paraphrase.) Cap tears the bomb off the terrorist and streaks up into the air, where it explodes.

Meanwhile, Billy returns to the apartment he shares with his Uncle Dudley and his unc’s pet rabbit Hoppy. Mrs. Thickert from WHIZ-TV has phoned, demanding that Billy, the station’s new star, get an interview with Captain Marvel. So Billy has Dudley videotape him asking a question—then answering it as Cap, etc. At the station, where Dudley hosts a kiddie show dressed in clown getup, using Hoppy as a magic prop, Billy delivers the tape to Mrs. Thickert, a character transparently based on “Edith Prickly,” played so wonderfully on SCTV by Andrea Martin.

Dr. Sivana watches these events via satellite TV in the Mexican cantina we saw at the end of New Beginning #4. Having fled the US, he grouses to see Cap survive and to witness a “Caphappy” Bay Area in the grip of “Marvelmania,” with lots of fast-buck merchandising: Cap Cola, “Capsicles” (popsicles), CM statues and T-shirts with incorrect costume details (since there are so few photos of him). Sivana’s daughter Beautia and son Magnificus can’t talk him into leaving the cantina. When he passes out at the bar, we see that the worm in the bottom of the tequila bottle at his elbow is a far more alien, less cuddly version of Mr. Mind—seen in a single panel in New Beginning. When the creature whispers in his ear, Sivana, too drunk and beaten even to know

A young gofer named Whitey tells Billy that his sister is downstairs in the lobby, saying she’s got to talk to him. Billy says he has no sister, but as he goes to investigate he muses how he’s always wished he had one, visualizing “a lovely girl of about his own age, dressed in blousey sleeves, etc.” But what he encounters in the lobby is Spike, described as “a real punk type... about the same height [and age] as Billy... multi-colored hair sticking every which way, cut short and spiked... short and tight black leather skirt... equally skimpy shirt or halter top... a dog-spiked collar for a bracelet, maybe a tattoo on her ankle, loads of makeup, chomping gum.” Spike informs Billy that she saw him enter a certain MUNI subway tunnel the other night, change to

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Not Your Father’s Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel in front of some old guy (Shazam), then vanish. She had thought she’d been dreaming—till she saw Cap on TV. She made up the bit about being Billy’s “sister” to arouse his curiosity, but she isn’t there to blackmail him over money; “if money were all she wanted, she’d be working the streets by now, like her so-called boyfriend wants.” She demands Billy take her to the old wizard and get him to give her the same powers he has as Captain Marvel! When Billy stalls, she hops onto a table in the crowded lobby, shouting, “I know who Captain Marvel really is!” When he pulls her outside, she gives him a black eye. Billy/Cap agrees to take Spike to Shazam; she’s to meet him at midnight. Back in Mexico, Sivana bursts in on Beautia and Magnifica, shouting that he’s found a partner who can help him defeat CM. He holds out his hand—on which writhes a particularly repulsive worm. Magnificus angrily knocks it onto the floor and steps on it. “Suddenly, like in a Warner Brothers cartoon, Magnificus is grabbed by the tiny worm and spun around, till he winds up sprawled over the fly-fan overhead, dazed. The fly-fan falls, pulled from the ceiling by his weight, and it and Mag “crash to the floor (bed? if so, it collapses).” The Sivana kids finally realize this is no ordinary worm: He tells them he’s not even from this galaxy: “He’s MR. MIND, more powerful than anything on this planet, including Captain Marvel.” To be continued. A decidedly different Shazam!, to be sure. I can accept that some fans of the original, and even of the 1970s Marvel Family, might not have gone for it. That’s what makes horse-racing. It’s also what top-level DC editors and Dann and I felt the times called for, and I don’t disown anything in it even today—although we might have wound up softening the notion of the 15-year-old Spike having a “boyfriend” who wanted to turn her into a prostitute.

Alas, for reasons I never learned, Mark never delivered the full story. What I eventually saw was some 16 pages of pencils for #1 in various stages, from a nearly complete splash, to a number of partly-finished pages, to others only lightly laid out. Virtually everything looked great, but for some reason weeks turned into months and no further work was forthcoming. I know Mark was living out of the country by the early ’90s; so perhaps a change in locale and lifestyle had caused him to lose interest. With a sigh, after roughly half a year of waiting for the finished art to #1 to arrive from Mark, we began to cast about for a new artist.

D. Rick Stasi Somewhere along here, it was decided we’d do a “Shazam!” story for Action Comics Weekly, which then featured four seven-page chapters of continuing stories a week, starring Superman and rotating backups. This would keep Captain Marvel before the public in the wake of the successful New Beginning, while we waited for the new Shazam! #1 to be penciled. A young Kansas City commercial artist, Rick Stasi, was to pencil the four-part “My Week in Valhalla.” It would introduce a new Captain Nazi—or, as we called him among ourselves, Captain Neo-Nazi— a 90-pound weakling transformed into an übermensch with powers far beyond the original’s mere ability to fly. (His origin somewhat echoed the Nazi Master Man I’d developed for Marvel in The Invaders, but that direction was irresistible.)

Dann and I spent hours in the library at her alma mater, UCLA, researching white supremacy movements in the contemporary US. What we read gave us the creeps, but we were pleased with the story that emerged, in which Billy went undercover as a reporter, attending a NeoNazi youth camp, “The Sons of Valhalla.” We studded the story with authentic touches, like a T-shirt emblazoned “Adolf Hitler - European Tour Captain Neo-Nazi, from Action Comics Weekly #626 (Nov. 15, 1988); - 1939-1943.” (Why neo-fascists Mark Beachum soon turned in a art by Rick Stasi and Rick Magyar. Billy Batson narrated this four-part played up a catch phrase which undermouth-watering wide-angle pen-andserial in first person. [©2001 DC Comics.] scored what happened in 1944-45, I’ve ink drawing which depicted his never quite understood.) conception of Captain Marvel, a Marksmanship practice was held, as in the camps we researched, with somewhat Michael-Jacksonish Billy Batson, a head-and-shoulders shot blowups of Henry Kissinger and Jesse Jackson as targets. We even threw of Spike, and several potential “looks” for Spike as Mary Marvel. The in a few chillingly authentic anti-Semitic posters. All 28 pages were all only flaw, we felt, was that Mark had rendered the World’s Mightiest nicely inked by Rick Magyar. Mortal so slim and young-looking that he looked more like Cap Jr. than the adult Cap. Some of the Mary outfits were a bit too skimpy, as well, but that could be fixed. Spike was dead-on. Perhaps in response to our comments, Mark also did a pencil sketch of CM, plus a head shot of what he wrote was “Billy (for my money).” It was for ours, as well. His Cap, Mark said, was “based on today’s icons—Bruce Springsteen, Clint Eastwood, Prince, Michael Jackson. He is cool! Not a cartoon.” And definitely “not Fred MacMurray.” Mark also gave him a “longer cape—if it is that important.” (I’ve no idea why he wrote that last. Captain Marvel had always had a fairly short cape. Did someone ask Mark to make it longer?) Mark was duly assigned to begin penciling the first issue. The precise Mary Marvel costume could wait, since it wouldn’t appear until #2, which Dann and I were already plotting.

One touch I liked was having Billy bound and gagged in a burning building. In the old comics, of course, he always found a way to loosen his gag so he could shout “Shazam!” But this time he didn’t. At the last moment, Captain Nazi himself yanks off Billy’s gag, in search of information—and gets the surprise of his life. Dann and I had a few unhappy surprises in store ourselves, as well.

E. Frank Travellin & Mike Gustovich I’m a bit unclear of the precise order in which a few events occurred. Around this time, a young artist named Frank Travellin, who had few if any professional credits but whose work we all found promising, was given a stab at drawing Shazam!

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects knocked through the wall into the cantina! He soon discovers that beneath Mag’s bandage is a tiny “control booth” installed in the young Sivana’s brain. As I described it for the artist: “It’s as if Mag’s forehead is now transparent—his brain too—and Mr. Mind is inside, co-existent in space with Mag’s brain. The image of Mag’s brain should be transparent. This makes Mr. Mind literally Mister ‘Mind,’ right? Try to make this look as nonridiculous as possible now; we’ll explain details later.” This second issue ends with Magnificus and Captain Marvel squaring off for battle, as Beautia and Dr. Sivana watch.

By now Dann and I had finished the plot for #2. In it Billy returns to WHIZ-TV and sees Uncle Dudley make a “flying” entrance (via wires) on his kiddie show, attired as “Uncle Marvel”; even his rabbit is dressed awkwardly as “Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.” When Billy asks Mrs. Thickert if they have CM’s okay for this, she snips that there’s no trademark on the name “Captain Marvel”—but she wants Billy to get Cap to sign an agreement with the station. Billy runs into the station’s investigative reporter, whom we meant to eventually become his rival at WHIZ. The reporter says he has a tip in his pocket as to where Billy’s Uncle Sivana is hiding (did I forget to mention we’d made Sivana Billy’s other uncle in New Beginning?). Dudley deftly pickpockets a photo of the three Sivanas in a Mexican locale which he recognizes.

Again—to be continued.

But first, meeting Spike at midnight at the MUNI station, Captain Marvel flies with her past the Seven Deadly Sins. When Spike lights the brazier with her cigarette, the spirit of the dead wizard appears. Shazam is aware of pretty much everything—including Spike’s real name, which she hasn’t used since she ran away from home three years ago. Cap figures her rude manners will assure that Shazam refuses her request for powers, but the old wizard tells her to “Speak my name!”—and when she does, she becomes Mary Marvel! With a curt thanks, she flies out. Cap overtakes her near the inert Sins, and they scuffle before she gets away. Cap lands in the arms of Pride—which it turns out will subtly influence him through the rest of the issue. Spike/Mary swiftly locates her would-be boyfriend/pimp. When he shoots at her, she winces, before realizing she’s now bulletproof. She throws him and his Cadillac into the Bay, then raids a closed mall to do a bit of five-finger shopping. She’s still Spike, after all. Captain Marvel meanwhile locates the Sivanas in a Mexican lab. He pridefully invites Magnificus—who sports a super-hero outfit and a bandage around his forehead—to take a poke at him, and winds up being

But, for better or for worse, depending on your point of view, it never was.

The only thing I’m 100% certain was planned for subsequent issues is that #1-2 were to lead into “a storyline featuring Captain Nazi (returning from Action Comics Weekly) which would introduce a new Captain Marvel Jr.—a 15-year-old black, in a wheelchair rather than sporting a crutch—so that by the end of a year or less, the three members of the Marvel Family would be in place.” It never happened. Frank Travellin penciled #1-2 in full, well over forty pages. He broke some of our sequences down into multiple panels, as when Sivana falls asleep drunk and the very alien Mr. Mind crawls up his arm to whisper in his ear. Though Frank was still developing, he told a story rather well. His Spike caught much of the feel of Mark’s version. However, after Frank had turned in all the pencils—and it’s highly unlikely that no one but me was seeing the art as he delivered it in segments and it was forwarded to me in Los Angeles—and even after Dann and I had completed the dialogue for #1—DC belatedly decided that drastic alterations were needed. We soon mutually agreed on Mike

Not Your Father’s Captain Marvel!

Gustovich as the new artist, at the suggestion of Mike Friedrich’s Star*Reach Agency. Mike G., who had recently inked part of a Crimson Avenger limited series Dann and I had done, was to largely re-pencil Shazam! #1-2, inking as he went along; the decision of what to keep and/or omit of Frank’s work was his. I hoped Mike could fix up the pencils to the liking of everyone— except probably Frank, since no artist likes to be redrawn. It would appear from a letter I would write to DC in January 1989 that Mike “penciled his versions of those first two plots... nearly fifty pages.” Apparently DC wasn’t satisfied with his work, either. Quite frankly, by this point, I’d begun to suspect that someone at DC was deliberately putting stumbling blocks in the path of this project, knowing that, if this series were ever officially cancelled, my hold on Shazam! would expire with it. Maybe I just had a suspicious mind. Or maybe I was just being a realist.

F. Tod Smith That January ’89 letter to DC doesn’t mention Frank Travellin, so perhaps Mike had wound up using nothing of what he’d drawn. In any event, I have no photocopies of Mike’s work, only Frank’s—indeed, I don’t recall ever seeing Mike’s version.

At some point, when one editor left the Shazam! project and another inherited it, the penciler became Tod Smith, who had recently drawn Vigilante for Marv Wolfman. I have poor photocopies of all 24 pages of what I believe is Tod’s (rather than Mike Gustovich’s) version of that Shazam! #1, which now began with a several-page flashback to events of New Beginning and Justice League, replacing the “human bomb” sequence.

Around this time, things really began to fall apart. I have scant documentation to support my memories of this period, and in any event I’ve no interest here in pointing what Walt Kelly called “the fingerbone of suspicion” at anyone. At this late stage, as the saying goes, it’s all blood under the bridge. I’m simply documenting what happened in terms of who wrote and drew what, and when—not necessarily why—partly because I don’t think there is any sane reason why some of these things happened. We now had two if not three fully-penciled versions of the new Shazam! #1—and that doesn’t even count Mark Beachum’s 16 partial-pages! All of them were just sitting on a shelf.

Meanwhile, all four parts of “My Week in Valhalla” came out in Action Comics Weekly, and many readers doubtless figured that was the only follow-up that was intended to the four issues of New Beginning. By this time at least a year and a half had passed since the final issue of the latter series. At some point—I was getting a bit punchdrunk by now—the new editor for unfathomed reasons decided Dann and I should write what I described later to DC’s head honchos as “a new, stand-on-its-own, standard super-hero story to ‘reintroduce’ a hero who, after all, had just been reintroduced in mid-1987 in the fine-selling mini-series and in early issues of Justice League—hardly a lifetime ago.” But I swallowed hard, unclenched my fists, and set to work. I’m a pro, right? If they knock you down, you get yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. But this crap was starting to get old, and I was beginning to doubt that my promised Shazam! series was ever going to be allowed to materialize. Roy and Dann’s 12-issue overview for the revamped Shazam! series, with the Mammoth/Shimmer “stand-alone” story shoehorned in as #1. [©2001 Roy & Dann Thomas.]

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects Actually, he did two sets; the first apparently went lost in the mail. I submitted his drawings with my enthusiastic request that he become the series’ artist, but I can’t even recall getting any kind of official reaction. Moreover, about this time, I was informed that my contractual hold on the Marvels had expired, and that in fact another DC editor already had what they termed “an editorial hold” on the heroes—along with plans that did not include me. At this point, since even Job would have become impatient by now, I blew my stack at various folks above me in the DC chain of command, in the multi-addressed January ’89 letter mentioned above. I reiterated the problems—most of which I felt had to do with DC’s not supplying me with an artist who could deliver the work and whom they liked. Since I wasn’t the series’ editor now, this was DC’s responsibility, not mine, and they had blown it for two years.

Spike yells “I know who Captain Marvel really is!”—and a very alien Mr. Mind barks orders to the Sivanas— in this poorly-photocopied montage of penciled panels which (Roy thinks) is the work of Tod Smith, not Mike Gustovich. But if either of them is out there—!? [©2001 DC Comics.]

With Marv Wolfman’s cooperation, Dann and I plotted a #1 in which, after a dream sequence to “reintroduce” Cap, our hero spends most of the issue battling the Hulkish super-villain Mammoth from The New Teen Titans. After Tod penciled it, we wrote the dialogue. At the end of “A Life in the Day,” after a battle royal in San Francisco’s famous Ghirardelli Square, we learn that Mammoth was tearing the place up looking for a birthday present for his sister, Shimmer.

If the Mammoth story was a bit light, I said, it was because I’d been ordered to do a “standalone” story, against my better instincts, after already plotting a #1 and #2 which had been approved and had even been drawn by several artists. That storyline, I maintained forcefully, was the one that should launch the new Shazam! I reminded my bosses that earlier I had relinquished my contractual hold on two of DC’s Golden Agers, The Spectre and Dr. Fate, before I legally had to, because I’d been told: “You’ll still have Shazam!” But now I didn’t have that, either. I didn’t feel that any of those I was addressing had done this on purpose; they had simply, through inattention, allowed it to be done to me by others who (I won’t go into details here that I can’t substantiate in black-&-white) wanted to get their own mitts on Captain Marvel.

This tale was eventually deemed to be too trivial to launch a new Shazam!— nor was there any mention of going back to the older, more substantial plots. With this decision, the series I had been promised was effectively dead. And so, apparently, my hold on The Marvel Family, unless a miracle occurred.

My letter met with silence, or something akin to it. I’d prefer to think simply that no one was willing to attempt to defend what was basically indefensible. I wrote no further letters on the subject. It’s hard to type with your teeth gritted that hard. At this point I finally accepted as fact that the promise that Dann and I would do a new regular Shazam! series was, as they said in the Watergate era, “no longer operable.” By then I was starting to get quite a bit of work from Marvel again, so I figured it was time to stop hitting my head against a brick wall with regard to Captain Marvel.

G. Rick Hoberg My friend and sometime collaborator Rick Hoberg had evinced an interest in drawing Shazam!, so I suggested he do a sample drawing. His dynamite display illo showed all three of the Marvels, plus Billy, a slightly more feminine Spike, and an African-American Freddy Freeman in an automated wheelchair. Rick also did up color sketches of possible Mary Marvel costumes.

Not Your Father’s Captain Marvel!

Well, at least I’d had a chance to do some Shazam! work with Rich Buckler and Gil Kane and Tom Mandrake and Rick Stasi—and, for that matter, with Mark Beachum, Rick Hoberg, et al., even if no one was ever gonna see much of it. How many people ever get to plot a full-scale origin for Captain Marvel and his Family? Now, on to the ‘90s....

H. Jerry Ordway Since then, of course, various talented souls have vied to “do something” with Captain Marvel. Eventually, Jerry Ordway (who, I hasten to assure one and all, was in no way connected with any of the preceding skullduggery) gained permission to proceed with The Power of Shazam! as a graphic novel, and doubtless some may feel it was for the best. I won’t argue the point, since to me that is irrelevant: In 1993 Dann and I should have been several dozen issues into our own Shazam! series. Truth to tell, I liked what little I saw of Jerry’s work with Captain Marvel. I know that he, too, had brought Black Adam into Cap’s origin (his third—collect them all!)—and that Captain Marvel was the reincarnation or something of Billy Batson’s deceased father. Made sense to me. Naturally, I loved Jerry’s cover paintings—everything but Mary Marvel in a white dress. Yellow I could have accepted, reversing the relative prominence of red and yellow in her old garb, but seeing all that white made me want to grab a crayon and color it in. Still, that’s a minor cavil, and I’m glad Jerry had some degree of success with the series, completing nearly fifty issues. Myself, though I long ago stopped bearing any grudges over what happened between 1986 and 1989, I’ve never really read any new Shazam! work by Jerry or anyone else. That was the first of my post-contractual “dream projects” which fell through—but, in the words of a Hollywood friend: “Some of these things take a long time to die.”

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

Part III “WORLD WAR II! YOU ONLY THINK YOU KNOW WHO WON!” A. Rumblings Of A Long-dead War The concept, if not yet the quote above, hit me suddenly one day around the beginning of 1993. But first, a bit of background: From 1975-79, as ancient-history buffs may recall, I conceived, edited, and (usually) wrote The Invaders and a handful of related super-hero stories set during World War II. In 1980 I moved on to DC, where I inaugurated All-Star Squadron and a few other series with the same early-’40s timeline. Though I never wanted to write only comics set in the WWII era—as shown by the rest of my output in those days, from Conan the Barbarian through Infinity, Inc.—I envisioned a comics field whose temporal settings were not limited to the present or a science-fictional future. Later, I freelanced for Marvel two limited series partly set in WWII: The Saga of The Sub-Mariner (twelve issues, 1988-89) and The Saga of the Original Human Torch (four issues, 1990), both beautifully penciled by Rich Buckler. I proposed a Captain America series along the same lines, but that one didn’t get off the ground.

Timely/Marvel’s greatest heroes of the WWII era, as drawn by Steven Butler for the program book of Shelton Drum’s 1998 Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. [Art ©2001 Steven Butler; Captain America & Bucky, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch & Toro ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Dick Giordano’s spanking-new sketch of five of DC’s All-Star Squadron was done for an alternate version of this issue’s cover. Hey, maybe we should’ve done a Mad-style “fold-in”! [Art ©2001 Dick Giordano; Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, Liberty Belle, & Amazing-Man ©2001 DC Comics.]

“World War II! You Only Think You Know Who Won!”

provided by the heroes and supporting characters, one or two of whom might be newly created, so that the reader would be interested in their eventual fates.

In 1989 the storyline of TSR’s game book Marvel Super Heroes: All This and World War II—the “first in the exciting TIME WARP series of adventures spanning the course of human history!”—had The Avengers journeying back in time to fight the Nazis alongside Cap, Torch, Namor, and Sgt. Nick Fury. This smacked of my Avengers #71 (Dec. 1969), which had foreshadowed The Invaders—and the 1977 Fantastic Four Annual, in which I’d had the FF time-hop back to WWII and meet Timely Comics’ “Big Three.” I suggested Marvel do a limited series related to TSR’s game, but the idea never went anywhere. Nor, around the same time, did my proposal for a revival/revamping of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, the first hero series I’d ever written for Marvel, starting in 1965. It would have emphasized fantastic weapons and Invaders-style Axis bad-guys like Baron Zemo. Harking back to the approach I’d come up with in 1974 for resuscitating The X-Men, I suggested that only one or two of the original Howlers be kept around for the new series, and that the new recruits might be as farout as an early cyborg—or even (gasp!) a woman.

Since we’d have to get cracking if a first issue were to go on sale by December of ’91, I added a page-long overview of all four years. I needn’t have bothered. For all the response I got, I might as well have written the proposal, stuffed it into a bottle, and let it drift out to sea.

B. World War II Forever!

Not that I was entirely without a WWII project to call my own during this period. In late ’92 editor Mike Rockwitz asked me to write a four-issue Invaders series with penciler Dave Hoover (who as a result of his work on it became the regular artist on Captain America). Early in ’93, as I was winding it up, I fired off a letter to Mike and a higher-level editor. After saying, quite sincerely, how much I had enjoying doing the mini-series, I stated the obvious: I’d love to script a regular Invaders book again.

Then, citing an idea I’d been mentally toying with for years, I went on: In late 1990 I sent Marvel a concept for a series I called The World on Fire (a song popular at the time of Pearl Harbor, whose title I’d used for the story in All-Star Squadron #1), with an a.k.a. of The Second World War. Since December 7, 1991, would mark the 50th anniversary of America’s entry into WWII, I proposed a humanized “history” of the War—à la Marvel’s own The ’Nam, but with emphasis divided between battlefields, political leaders, and the Home Front. I suggested my erstwhile Incredible Hulk collaborator Herb Trimpe as artist, since he knew the period and its military hardware.

Crosstime and alternate-world and alternate-future series like Guardians of the Galaxy and What If and Marvel 2099 and the like seem to be doing well now—and there’s a different way to approach an Invaders title, should you prefer not simply doing stories in which the futures of at least Cap, Torch, and Namor—even of World War II itself—are fairly well mapped out.

In early ’91, having received no response on that one, I submitted a concept for a fouryear super-hero “maxi-series.” After reiterating all the hoopla which would accompany the many anniversaries of WWII events over the next four years, I wrote that, since the Torch, Sub-Mariner, and even Captain America had been on the scene by late ’41:

Abruptly, at least two things would occur which would let the readers know that all bets are off, and that everything he thinks he knew about World War II in the Marvel Universe is up for grabs: In #1, we kill off President Franklin Roosevelt (since few other people alive in 1942 would be well enough known for their deaths to jar many readers)!

I propose a four-year limited series to be entitled Marvel: The War Years (or Marvel Goes to War, or whatever), to run from the end of 1991 through the end of 1995. It would feature extended sequences of adventures both old and new (in either case, unseen in any form by most readers) starring major and minor Timely/Marvel super-heroes. Events each month would parallel what was occurring at that time both in Timely Comics and in the world at large. A human touch running through the series would be

What if, with Invaders #1 of a new monthly series, we suddenly and startlingly diverged from history—both from known history and from Marvel Universe history!?

And, in the course of trying to defend FDR, we also kill a prominent Invader— not the Torch (who as an android the readers would figure could be reconstructed), but possibly Namor—and preferably CAPTAIN AMERICA!

From this point on, while the regular Marvel Universe would continue with business as usual (with Steve Rogers having been iced in ’45, revived decades later, etc,

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

etc.), in this parallel-Earth Invaders Steve Rogers is D*E*A*D, never to be revived, merely replaced eventually as Captain America—by a second “super-soldier” we create in the course of the storyline. Captain America is dead—long live Captain America! And we’d continue in that history-rewriting vein. Other world figures and heroes could die as necessary, without affecting the continuity in any other title. FDR’s death, maybe even Cap’s, could set off chains of events in which the whole course of the War is altered—and not for the better.

my teeth into—a series I felt in my bones could be far more successful than the original series, whose nearly fifty stories (counting the “Liberty Legion” in Marvel Premiere, a trio of annuals, et al.) had comprised a decent run in the ’70s, especially for a title set three decades in the past. Some months later I tried again, with another high-level editor or two. This time around, figuring I’d suggest merely a limited series, I gave it a longer name: The Invaders: The Janus Imperative, i.e. the two faces of history. I polished the writing slightly and began by emphasizing that:

For instance, an American city such as New York or Washington could be bombed off the map by the Nazis or Japanese, who might complete their own atomic bombs (or with early V-2 rockets, etc.). In fact, I think such a thing should be done in an early issue, to underscore the change. How can the reader ever think things would go back to “normal” after all this?

The drawback of a series set in the 1940s is that the past is as alien to most American kids as the dark side of the moon, yet still it seems like a world that everyone “knows.” But suddenly, in the middle of 1942, things change—forever. At a sub-launching, the main Invaders—Captain America & Bucky, The Human Torch & Toro, Namor, Miss America, The Whizzer, and new recruits Silver Scorpion, maybe Blazing Skull, hopefully the Polish/Jewish Golem— have been summoned to safeguard President Roosevelt and other notables.

Afterward, events would naturally continue to diverge from our reality: There’d be a new President (Henry Wallace, V.P. from 1941-45), new heroes, new villains, new circumstances both in the US and abroad. The sky’s the limit— yet fifty earlier issues of The Invaders (and What If #4’s post-WWII destinies for all those heroes) would still be totally valid in the wider Marvel Universe. Along with this proposal I sent a photocopy of the back cover of the current Bud Plant’s Comic Art Update, which featured a striking-looking female Captain America drawn by Chris Achilleos, on which I scribbled a note: “The new Cap?”

Things go very, very wrong—how wrong, even our heroes never recognize—nor will the readers, until the very end of the first issue.

The new/alternate Captain America!? To his first alternate-WWII Invaders proposal sent to Marvel, Roy appended painted art from Bud Plant’s Comic Art Update of a striking female C.A. (left) from Chris Achilleos' gorgeous Sirens (from Paper Tiger Books), on which he scribbled a note: "The new Cap?" Thanks to Bud Plant for a copy of Sirens. To learn how to get a copy of Bud's wonderful comic art catalogues, phone (800) 242-6642. [Captain America ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; art ©2001 Christos Achilleos]

I’ve no memory of getting any reaction to this submission, though Mike declared himself quite happy with the Invaders mini-series itself. He later turned me loose to write several other WWII-related issues with 1994 cover dates: Captain America #423, recounting Cap’s previously-untold first encounter with Sub-Mariner... Captain America: The Medusa Effect, a special in which Cap tracked down secret weapons designed by Nikola Tesla before that great inventor’s death in January 1943 (at the hands of Master Man, it turned out!)... and Captain America Annual #13, which featured the starspangled Avenger in action in three decades: in 1994; in the final days of WWII Berlin in 1945; and in 1953, during Cap’s brief Cold War revival. But these weren’t enough for me. Sure, I was being kept quite busy by Marvel at the time, and indeed was having my best years ever economically—due to ludicrously high speculators’ orders even for the likes of The Secret Defenders #1, far and away the most profitable single issue of any comic book I ever wrote, through no fault or virtue of mine. But I wanted to write an Invaders series. Although during this period I enjoyed scripting Fantastic Four Unlimited, Dr. Strange, Thor, Avengers West Coast, and the Conan titles, some of my other assignments were only breadand-butter jobs. But The Invaders was something I could really sink

An Axis villain—perhaps The Red Skull—leads an attack of super-villains on the site. And, behind the scenes, a Nazi scientist using a mixture of science and the occult has come up with a unique but ultimately (unknown to him) uncontrollable weapon known as The Janus Bomb. He has convinced his superiors it will change the outcome of the War, since the American entry and the failure of Moscow and Britain to fall and the recent defeat of the Japanese off Midway have made an Axis victory look far less inevitable than it did half a year earlier.

There is a terrific BANG, aimed at FDR—with Cap rushing to try to save him. And when the dust is cleared, at the end of the first issue, there are two fatalities: President Roosevelt—and Captain America! The Nazi scientist has eliminated a leader and a hero, but whether that will change the outcome of the War remains to be seen. In fact, the scientist is depressed, saying, “I suppose I was a fool—for, in the end, nothing can change history!” Little does he know! This is not a dream—not an imaginary story—and no clones are involved, we cross our heart!

“World War II! You Only Think You Know Who Won!” In a caption at issue’s end, we let the readers in on the secret: This is a parallel world, a divergent reality, in which events have taken a sudden strange and tragic turn. From there, we can take it anywhere. Here are some parameters we can play around with: (1) There will be a new President—Henry Wallace. Even more of an unknown to our readers than Harry Truman, though not to the US public in 1942. He won’t necessarily make the same decisions FDR (or Harry Truman) would have. (2) We’ll find a way to bring in a new Captain America—but I think we should really do something different with this one. Utilizing basically the same costume, the new Cap should either be a Negro (in the parlance of the time), which would create its own problems we could play around with—or a woman. It would be a simple matter to give this new Cap the same formulaic powers of the original. (3) Literally almost anything can happen now, without anyone saying, ‘This event would have made the newspapers in 1942, and we’d know about it by now!’ (You could, after all, say the same thing about the past 30-plus years since Fantastic Four #1.) A city like San Francisco or New York can be destroyed if we wish—whether by enemy bombers or by a Godzillaor Shogun Warrior-like Japanese menace or by some Nazi superweapon. The whole course of the War should suddenly become uncertain; it’s no longer a dead certainty our side will win—any more than it should be, in ‘today’s’ Marvel Universe or in the 2099 books, that good will come out on top. There are enough pregnant possibilities in this concept that it could easily become an ongoing series.

I loved that phrase from the moment I thought it up. Still do. One alternate to killing off Cap, I wrote in a cover letter, would be to snuff Bucky and Toro along with FDR, instead. I didn’t want possible cold feet about the death of Cap, even in a divergent reality, to torpedo the series. The precise cast of this Invaders mattered little to me. It was the concept I cared about—passionately. This version was sent soon, if not right off the bat, to Richard Ashford, editor of the Conan titles— and of the biweekly Marvel Comics Presents. He was enthusiastic about trying out my concept in six issues of MCP, in the usual eight-page installments. But before we got much further, a top-level Marvel editor— for reasons neither Richard nor I could ever quite fathom—decided that, despite several alternate universes floating around Marvel in those days, the one I proposed to do in a mere 48 pages was the sidereal straw that broke the camel’s back— and he vetoed it. Soon afterward, MCP was cancelled, in any event. I didn’t know it, but that was the closest my concept would ever come to seeing fruition in the 1990s. In an October 1994 fax to the editor who had deep-sixed the MCP story, I tried to get things moving. I stressed that the new Invaders series could have either a similar tone to previous ones, or a harder edge, with Axis atrocities treated far more grimly than before. I finished: “I’m really itching to do this series. Isn’t there some way we could do it?”

No response. Nada. I respected the editors to whom I had sent versions of my concept—or at least I had, when the process had started— but, well, call it a quirk, but I had this notion that, as a longtime Marvel Dave Hoover’s powerful pencil drawing, previously unpublished, writer and editor with a reasonably for Roy’s proposed alternate-JSA/All-Star Squadron series. good track record, I deserved more [Art ©2001 Dave Hoover; Hawkman, Liberty Belle, Shining Knight, than this echoing silence. If Stan Lee Johnny Quick, Flash, & Wonder Woman ©2001 DC Comics.] had been dead, he’d have been spinning in his grave to see a veteran Marvel creator rudely ignored in Even if the series went on indefinitely, the reader could never be that manner. sure who would be alive or dead at the end of a storyline. President It seemed (and seems) to me that the comic book industry—and not Wallace—Namor—the Torches—public figures and Hollywood just with regards to myself, nor only at the “Big Two” companies, I’m personalities—established heroes and villains—Hitler, Stalin, sad to say—was increasingly taking on some of the more repugnant Churchill, Betty Grable, whoever—any of them could die or have aspects of the movie and TV fields which I had despised even while his/her brain put into a robot body, or anything else that makes a working in them in Los Angeles in the ’80s. Fortunately, there were still good story—merely keeping a minimal verisimilitude to normal a few editors who behaved in a professional way. technology, etc. Harry Truman once said, “The only thing new under the sun is the history you don’t know yet.” We would show just how right he was. Our motto and ad slogan, in effect: WORLD WAR II! You only think you know who won!

C. The Past Is Another Company At this point I decided it was time to see if I could sell my concept to DC. After all, what was a good idea for The Invaders was an equally good idea for DC... since the JSA had been my ultimate inspiration for the Marvel super-group in the first place!

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

Stars could also be utilized, Why hadn’t I taken the such as “Iron” Munro and notion to DC sooner? Fury. Well, for one thing, my Young All-Stars series The great thing about (successor to All-Star this series is that the reader Squadron) had ended only wouldn’t know what to a few years earlier. More expect. In fact, our tagline importantly, you have to could be: recall that, at that time, DC was still in thrall to “World War Two—You the notion of “One Big With so many editors coming and going at Marvel and DC during the ’90s, Roy often felt as if he’d only think you know who Happy Universe” in the wandered into a famous Dilbert daily by Scott Adams. [©2001 United Features Syndicate, Inc.] won!” post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era. Hypertime, Because, in this continuity, anything can happen. By killing whatever that is, was still off in the future somewhere, and “Elseworlds” Superman & Co. and also FDR in #1, we’ve set the stage for a truly was not yet a viable alternative. I had believed I’d have a better shot at unpredictable comic. E.g., imagine a storyline in which Hawkman is Marvel, where Chris Claremont had revealed The X-Men’s Days of slain on a mission—and Hawkgirl takes his place. Or in which The Future Past and Mark Gruenwald had scripted a maxi-series starring the Spectre becomes the ravening enemy of humankind for cosmic reasons Squadron Supreme I had co-created with Sal Buscema on Marvel’s first and becomes in essence a super-villain—not just for just one storyline, ongoing alternate Earth. but permanently. Perhaps Starman could become an invalid—so that he can fly, but he can’t walk! Still, I was even more enamored of the JSA and All-Star Squadron than I was of The Invaders—and anyway, what did I have to lose? The proposal also suggested the devastation of “L.A. or (more likely) Thus, in April 1995 I rewrote my concept so it would work for either San Francisco” by a Godzilla-sized monster controlled by the Japanese. of the 1940s DC groups and sent it in. After laying out the general Dave Hoover, penciler of the 1993 Invaders series, contributed a concept of what amounted to an ongoing “Elseworlds” title, I suggested concept illo that I sent with the proposal, because we both hoped he that, in issue #1, besides FDR, we kill off no less than nine DC heroes: could draw the series. Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Speedy, Aquaman—plus Green Lantern and The Flash! (I wince today when I Again, no response (imagine my see those last two names on the hit surprise). But at least I’d gotten the list, but there they are; I had a reason notion out there—to DC as well as to for including them, but this isn’t the Marvel. Actually, over the remainder place to go into it.) I continued: of the ’90s, I submitted the idea in one form or another to more than one DC editor. A nucleus of surviving heroes (e.g., Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Why not? After all, I had no Hawkman, Tarantula, Dr. Midofficial proof that anyone there had Nite, The Atom, Robotman, ever seen it, let alone read it! Firebrand—or numerous other One high-level editor did tell me candidates) would be the main once in the late ’90s, apropos of no heroes of the series, with others particular proposal, that if I did appearing as guest-stars from time to another series for his company he time. One or two of the Young Allwanted it to be “something as different and unexpected as when you started Conan.” To me this was unadulterated bull. Sure, it’s always great to come up with something new and off-the-wall (always assuming an editor would recognize it; besides, novelty alone is no guarantee of quality). But why should I be precluded from returning to a genre for which I had—in some others’ minds, as well as in my own—both an affection and an affinity? However, I learned years ago that, when editors (or producers) don’t want a particular thing done, they can devise endless irrelevant hurdles and stumblingblocks to keep you from doing it. Sometimes they even think they’re fooling you, or themselves. Rob Liefeld’s splash of The Allies in Youngblood Strikefile #1—and one of Herb Trimpe’s penciled sample pages of same, previously unpublished. Thanks to Chris Foss of Heroes & Dragons, Columbia, SC, for the comic. See H&D’s ad elsewhere in this issue. [The Allies and Youngblood Strikefile art ©2001 Rob Liefeld; Super-Patriot ©2001 Eric Larsen; penciled art ©2001 Herb Trimpe.]

Marvel, for its part, was then in the throes of its self-styled “Marvelution,”

“World War II! You Only Think You Know Who Won!” during which editors came and went with alarming frequency, like the “bungee boss” in a famous Dilbert strip. In one 1995 rendition sent them I even suggested the new Captain America might be, if not a black or a female, even “an exNazi”! Depending on who the editor was, I did or did not mention that I’d created and written the original Invaders and All-Star Squadron, as well as the ’93 Invaders series. I certainly couldn’t assume that all editors at either company were familiar with such antedeluvian events. In the meantime, The Invaders were used in flashbacks in Captain America or Namor from time to time, and the JSA was briefly revived.

D. From Allies... During this same period, along came Rob Liefeld—and The Allies.

23 into a human rocket—ready, willing, and able to demonstrate that his race should be equal partners in the battle against fascist aggression. DIVINE WIND—the Japanese word is “kamikaze,” but this young Nisei (first generation Japanese-American) prefers to use the English phrase, because she’s fighting for our side—without super-powers, but with a mastery of weapons that makes her a female super-samurai. A bow and arrow were part of the arsenal of Divine Wind (I’d previously put a “Kamikaze,” the Japanese word that translates as “divine wind,” in Young All-Stars). I also made up several super-Nazis, including the flying Black Eagle (named after a German icon) and Ersatz (German for “substitute”— “an artificial being who can turn into anyone or anything he can think of—a plastoid ‘man’ with a deadly mission”—and I’ll bet that sounds familiar to someone, too). Herb worked up some strong character designs for Bulleteer and Divine Wind, plus three sample pages of pencils. We utilized a “Shogun Warrior-like Japanese menace” from my first Invaders proposal, added Messerschmitts attacking New York City, suggested a few follow-up storylines, and sent the whole magilla off to Jim Valentino.

In the first issue of Youngblood Strikefile (April 1993) for the early Image, a company formed by several popular young creators who had ankled Marvel, Liefeld showcased a trio of World War II super-heroes: Die Hard (a retro version of his 1990s character, battling the Axis with hammer-hard fists and an indestructible shield), Super-Patriot (living, flying embodiment of American justice—a 1944 version of Previously unpublished inked page by Herb Trimpe of the revamped an Erik Larsen creation)—and Glory heroes, done for the Internet version. [Art ©2001 Herb Trimpe; characters ©2001 Roy Thomas.] (statuesque heir to the Amazons, no less, who played bullets-and-bracelets Unfortunately, either Liefeld had with the Nazis). On the splash page Die Hard shouts, “LOOK OUT, cooled off on the idea of an Allies title or had never really been that AXIS! Here we come!” interested in the first place; in any event, Jim eventually had to inform us These guys looked and sounded... familiar. Since Image was then on a roll, I thought I’d see if I could piggyback on it and have some fun in the process. I figured Liefeld wasn’t likely to be interested in writing and drawing a regular Allies book—but I was, even if his heroes could never ring my chimes in the same way the authentic 1940s DC and Marvel ones did. In answer to my query, Jim Valentino, who was handling certain publishing chores for Image, told me Liefeld had created The Allies as an homage to The Invaders and All-Star Squadron and might well be interested in having me write an Allies title, at least as a mini-series. I broached the idea of a collaboration to Herb Trimpe. Of late, Herb had developed a sort of quasi-Liefeld approach to his artwork which had led to his doing some X-Men work as well as our FF Unlimited; he was enthusiastic about drawing an Allies book. I drew up a proposal which added two new minority heroes to the mix: BULLETEER—a young black American from the ghetto, whose technological brilliance led him to develop devices which turned him

that nothing was likely to come of our efforts. At which point Herb and I decided to jettison the Liefeld content of what we’d done and change our samples into totally Thomas-Trimpe heroes. It was mostly just a matter of altering costume details. The three re-designed heroes became Dynaman, Captain Commando, and Amaiza (named after a femme fatale in the Chris Welkin, Planeteer newspaper strip of the 1950s). For some reason, Divine Wind became Golden Arrow, christened after an old Fawcett bow-slinger. Herb and I may even have submitted the reconstituted proposal to a company or two. I forget.

E. ...To Anthem!! Then, not long after the wheel-spinning at Image, I was approached by a young entrepreneur to create super-hero comics-style material for the Internet. It seemed possible in the mid-to-late ’90s to actually make money out of such a venture (and perhaps it will again, one of these days), so I decided to take a flyer. Understandably, since there was no money up front and no certainty that there would ever be any, Herb soon begged off reluctantly, but generously renounced any right to the

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

concepts. (Ere long he began a new career, with the story of his last days at Marvel and his becoming a junior high school art teacher winding up as a major article in the Education Life section of the Sunday New York Times .)

F. Four-color Castles In Spain But wait, there’s more! Even a happy ending—of sorts.

Because I didn’t feel I should utilize Herb’s specific designs, even with his blessing, I invited a young artist to draw his own versions from my verbal concepts. Somewhere along the way, I made a significant alteration. One super-heroine was to be called Anthem, a name suggested less by “The Star-Spangled Banner” directly than by Ayn Rand’s short novel of the same name (a copy of which I own but have never read). I soon decided that Anthem would make an even better name for the group itself. (This replaced the interim name “The Victorians,” also spelled “Victorions,” which I intended to tie in with “V for Victory,” but somehow it didn’t quite work.)

In Autumn of 1996 Dann and I were guests of a high-spirited comics convention in Gijon, a port city in the north of Spain, along with Peter David, Paul Gulacy, and Brian Talbot. A good time was had by all, and I believe I must have signed every copy of Conan the Barbarian and The Savage Sword of Conan ever reprinted in Spanish by Planeta/Forum— which is all of them. I was also interviewed for a Spanish fanmagazine by a personable young man named Jorge Iván Argiz.

Months later, I received an unexpected trans-Atlantic phone call from Jorge, informing me that he and some other folks were starting a new company with the very The title change, in turn, caused the series American name of Dude Comics; he asked if to go in a slightly new direction. Justice Jesus Merino’s 1997 drawing which appeared in Anthem I’d consider creating a comic or two for them. Society, Seven Soldiers of Victory, All Winners #1 (May 2000). Clockwise from upper left: “Rockets” Although Spain is a smaller market than the Redglare, Liberty, “Stonewall” Jackson, Dawns Squad, Invaders, Liberty Legion, All-Star US and rates were understandably lower, I Earlylight, and Bomb-Burst. As for the guy in the Squadron—each had been composed of preagreed, especially because it was agreed that middle with the star on his chest—well, that’s still RT’s existing DC or Marvel stalwarts. But the little secret. [©2001 Dude Comics and Roy Thomas.] one of the series could be Anthem. The heroes of Anthem had no past histories; they scripts I wrote would be translated into were created as a group, along the lines of the Spanish—with no English-language version in sight. Since my command later Fantastic Four and X-Men and Doom Patrol. To give Anthem a of Spanish is virtually nonexistent, I wouldn’t be able to read the printed sort of organic unity, I decided its heroes would be code-named, as comic! Still, it seemed an interesting experiment, and I set to work. At much as possible, after the lyrics of America’s National Anthem itself! Jorge’s request I wrote six plots, one of them a fill-in... although we later By happy happenstance, Bulleteer easily metamorphosed into agreed the fill-in would become issue #6. “Rockets” Redglare (from the line “And the rockets’ red glare,” of This book would be a bit grimmer than All-Star Squadron or The course), while Francis Scott Key’s next lyrics (“The bombs bursting in Invaders. Heroes would occasionally (or more than occasionally) die air”) spawned the name Bomb-Burst, for a Human Bomb type. “Whose and be replaced, or defect to the Axis, or whatever—just so the reader broad stripes and bright stars” suggested the names Stars and Stripes for wouldn’t get too comfortable. The series’ intended artist, Jesus Merino teenage twins, partly inspired by Yank and Doodle in 1940s Prize (who re-designed the heroes without access to any previous artistic Comics; this was well before DC’s similarly-titled comic. The phrase versions), drew a powerful pinup of the assembled Anthem. “dawn’s early light” sounded vaguely to me like an Amerindian name; thus was born a bow-wielding lass named Dawns Earlylight, who replaced Golden Arrow/Divine Wind. Perhaps because I’ve lived in South Carolina since 1991, I wanted a Southerner in Anthem, even if I couldn’t find justification for one in lyrics written during the War of 1812—so enter the rock-hided “Stonewall” Jackson. (With Bomb-Burst slated to be African-American, he and good ol’ boy “Stonewall” would inevitably clash in the world of the ’40s.) I believe the heroine called Liberty, as in “Statue of,” was also conceived during this period—though, if I had it to do over again, I’d prefer a heroine called Twilight (as in “twilight’s last gleaming”) who had power over darkness and light.

Merino, however, withdrew before drawing an actual story, having begun inking Avengers Forever over Carlos Pacheco for Marvel. He was capably replaced on Anthem #1 by Daniel Acuna, who designed unique heads for “Stonewall” Jackson and Agent 76 (the group’s mysterious civilian leader) and also painted a striking cover.

Alas, the Internet venture, though it dragged on for months, never made it past the conceptual stage. Though the new artist did a few costume designs, he never drew any actual “pages.”

In the first issue, finally published in May 2000, Agent 76 wakes the seven costumed youths in a windowless bunker sometime in 1943. He informs them that, after they were artificially given super-powers in late ’41 and put into cold storage to await America’s hour of greatest need, the Axis suddenly began to achieve truly astounding victories in the War. On the heels of Pearl Harbor, a huge Gonzilloid reptile stomped into San Francisco harbor at the spearhead of a Japanese invasion— while an armada of flying saucers devastated the East Coast, even destroying the White House—with President Roosevelt killed inside! The groggy super-youths are still coming to grips

“World War II! You Only Think You Know Who Won!”

with that bit of news when the walls of the bunker are abruptly smashed in, and they (and we) learn that it’s located in the heart of Manhattan—a Manhattan under the domination of Nazi soldiers, who promptly attack Agent 76 and his protégés.

young heroes, the heating-up of their guerrilla war, the startling origins of Agent 76—and the secret behind the amazing weapons that had enabled the Axis to conquer both US coasts. (I’ll give you a hint: It’s got something to do with Roswell, New Mexico.)

At this writing, after more delays (hey, it’s not easy being a small company in Spain or anywhere else in the current comics environment), Anthem #2 is written and drawn, with #3 and even the cover of #4 fully penciled. After #1-6 are all completed, it may even be time to seek a US publisher. Jorge tells me a few other countries have already purchased reprint rights. Dude Comics and I still have to straighten out the ownership situation, but I’m not greedy.

Along with seeing Anthem—and thus my alternate-WWII concept, at least in altered form—at last realized in print, one of the big thrills for me has been Jorge Santamaria Garcia’s imaginative depiction of Ersatz. I’d thought up that particular Nazi nasty for All-Star Squadron or The Young All-Stars, but had somehow never got around to introducing him. Like, I only had a hundred issues, right?

Anthem #2-3 were superbly penciled by Jorge Santamaria Garcia, who, like Merino, has gone on to work for Marvel. It was Jorge who visually designed the Nazi super-group I call The Ring—after Richard Wagner’s opera cycle, what else? The Ring includes The Black Eagle and Ersatz, plus additions Blitzshtral (“Lightning-flash”) and Shield-Maiden (well, I couldn’t exactly call her Valkyrie, could I? I did that already back in 1970 in The Avengers!).

But you know something? I still want to do the Invaders version of that other World War II—yes, and the JSA/All-Star Squadron approach, as well. Jorge Santamaria Garcia’s cover pencils for Anthem #2. The Anthem on the left, The Ring on the right; the guy in the center you already know. By the way, we hear Jorge’s cover for Anthem #4 is what got him a job penciling for Marvel. ’Way to go, Jorge—but Roy still wishes you were drawing Anthem! [©2001 Dude Comics and Roy Thomas.]

After all, there are a million parallel Earths out there, no two of them quite alike. And I’d like to investigate them all!

The first six issues of Anthem cover the death of one or more of the

Even Jerry Ordway’s cover for All-Star Squadron #31 (March ‘84), repro’d here from a b-&-w proof, shows only a small portion of the potential cast of Roy’s alternate-WWII concept. Ditto for the previously-unpublished illo of Timely’s WWII heroes at right; it was penciled by Steven Butler, inked by Jim Amash, and presented to a very surprised RT at the 2000 Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC. Hey, guys—you’re makin’ Ye Editor blush! [All-Star Squadron art ©2001 DC Comics; art on right ©2001 Steven Butler & Jim Amash; Captain America & Bucky, Sub-Mariner, Miss America, Human Torch & Toro, Angel, Destroyer, Vision, & Whizzer ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

In 1998 Dick Giordano, who till recently had been DC’s chief editor, drew this powerful concept illo for the series Roy was developing for Marvel. [Art ©2001 Dick Giordano; Venus, Phantom Eagle, Black Knight, Thundra, Capt. Savage, Black Panthress (a.k.a. Pantha), and Rawhide Kid ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Part IV SILVER AGE THREADS AMONG THE GOLD

To find out how to purchase Giordano re-creations, commission drawings, or original art, e-mail him at < dickgiordano@yahoo.com >. Loads of great stuff available!

A. Who You Gonna Call? Time Busters! Contrary to an impression perhaps given by the preceding segment, I didn’t spend all of my fifth decade trying to jump-start series set in World War II. I also submitted a number of slightly more mainstream efforts to Marvel, DC, and others—including a Mighty Marvel Monsters title featuring Fin Fang Foom and his ilk; a revival of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! with a more realistic feel; two or three proposals cocreated with Gil Kane, etc. But we’re talking “dream projects” here; besides, I said at the outset that this article would deal mostly with my favorite unrealized concepts that involved characters from the ’40s and ’50s. One concept that straddles the line between Golden Age and Silver Age heroes is Time Busters, a revamping of an idea I’d toyed with years earlier. In 1982 I flew to New York to present to DC an idea I called The Time Titans—though, because of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’ New Teen Titans, I figured its title would have to be changed; my alternate name was The Centurions. This was to be a time-traveling group made up of such other-era heroes as Black Pirate, Johnny Thunder (the cowboy), Miss Liberty (from Tomahawk), Silent Knight, and a few others—maybe even the Knight’s Golden Gladiator or Viking Prince compeers from the early days of The Brave and the Bold, or Fox & Infantino’s “SuperChief” from the 1961 All-Star Western; the precise cast was fluid.

Silver Threads Among The Gold However, as related in A/E V3#1, my wife/collaborator Dann and I went off on a tangent while on a sightseeing trip to the Statue of Liberty; and I wound up pitching to DC instead the idea of Infinity, Inc., starring the sons and daughters of the JSA—a concept I also originally called The Centurions. (I did, however, use most of the above other-era heroes in time-tossed issues of All-Star Squadron during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.) Twelve years later I suggested to Marvel a Time Titans comic in which a “central (new?) hero snatches up Marvel heroes from the past for time-related missions.” My candidates this time were the 1955 Stan Lee-Joe Maneely Black Knight; Friedrich & Trimpe’s World War I Phantom Eagle; Two-Gun Kid or another Marvel cowboy; Aarkus, the original Vision (or some other WWII super-hero not active in mid-’94); the “future Thor” from recent issues of the thunder god’s mag; and Venus, who’d had her own series from 194852. (Incidentally, in the same memo I also outlined a series I called The Crusaders, starring the 1950s proto-Avengers I’d assembled with Don Glut and Alan Kupperberg for 1978’s What If #9: 3-D Man, Venus, Marvel Boy, Gorilla-Man, and The Human Robot. Having written the three “3-D Man” solo tales in Marvel Premiere in ’77, I’d have loved to do more stories set in Elvis’ heyday—maybe even follow up on my hint therein that President Richard Nixon had been replaced by a Skrull. A few years later, of course, that hint was acted on by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco in Avengers Forever.) Time Titans aroused no interest at Marvel in ’94. But in 1997 Chris Claremont, then a special-projects editor, sparked to the idea under my new title: Time Busters. I had adapted the new name from an early-’50s ZiffDavis comic called Space Busters; but if echoes of two Ghostbusters movies helped sell the concept, great! Working from my initial list of prospective heroes, Chris added a notion or two of his own, and we ended up with a group composed of:

27 Marvel’s western stars; The original Black Knight (God, I love that character!); The Phantom Eagle (from Marvel Superheroes #16, 1968); A female Black Panther from a parallel Earth (Chris’ welcome addition; I might have wound up calling her “Panthress”—or more likely “Pantha,” after a jungle heroine in the Standard/Nedor comics of the late ’40s). I was paid by Marvel to develop a detailed outline for a 12-issue series. And Dick Giordano, who became enthusiastic about the project when I mentioned it to him, penciledand-inked an illo I sent in with my expanded plot. We were both hoping Dick could be the artist, or at least the inker, of the series. However, since I haven’t heard back from Marvel about it for three years, I assume they decided not to go ahead with Time Busters. Chris, of course, is no longer around, in any event.

B. God Favors The Big Batallions Not that I neglected sending DC a few of my “dream projects” during the late ’90s. Besides the alternate-JSA/All-Star Squadron series I broached from time to time, I submitted several other notions—even another one set during (sorry about that) World War II. With the JSA slated to return for a month’s worth of special issues in ’99, I sent in a concept for a series titled Justice Battalion, the name the group took when reorganized by the War Department in All-Star Comics #11 (1942). This comic would have related more of the heroes’ wartime exploits than were revealed in the quarterly All-Star. Here are a few of the questions I said the series might answer with regard to tales then being reprinted in The All Star Archives: Was the Black Dragon Society truly crushed forever at the end of All-Star #12—or did they create their own band of super-humans to counter the powers of the Justice Battalion?

Captain Simon Savage (from Marvel’s 1970s Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders—in place of Sgt. Fury, my own choice for group leader); Thundra, the towering Amazonian I’d created with John Buscema in Fantastic Four #129; The Rawhide Kid, longest-lived of

What if some of the interplanetary aliens from All-Star #13 (“Shanghaied into Space”)—or 25thcentury villains from #10—found their way to Earth—and enlisted in the Axis cause? Three possible “Time Titans” circa 1982: Golden Gladiator and Silent Knight (both drawn here by Russ Heath from 1950s issues of The Brave and the Bold), and Johnny Thunder (by Alex Toth, 1949). All repro’d from photocopies of original art, courtesy of Rich Donnelly. [©2001 DC Comics.]

What if dopplegangers of other Golden Age heroes combined forces to battle the Justice Battalion?

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

(Kapitan Swastika, The Living Flame, and The Manfish could form the nucleus of a very marvelous and dangerous Axis counterforce.)

The Red Star and Ivan the Terrible—not to mention a Presidential assassination attempt to put a “Manchurian candidate” in the White House while war raged in Korea.

I never received any kind of response to the above submission.

They would crush The Wizard’s third Injustice Society, and Brain Wave’s attempt to take over the exciting new medium called “television,” and Degaton’s latest time terror.

C. An All-Star Comics For The Fabulous ’50s

Superman and Batman would drop by for more adventures... but so might other still-active heroes like Green Arrow and Aquaman—even Shining Knight and Johnny Quick and Robotman,, at least in the very early ’50s—oh yeah, and that new mutant, Captain Comet— eventually maybe Blackhawk and a certain Manhunter from Mars.

Around that same time, I likewise submitted to DC a Golden-Age-extending concept I called “All-Star Comics #58— Plus!” To wit: INTRODUCTORY NOTE: Yes, I know there was an All-Star #58—and a #59—all the way through #74—back in 1976-78. But I’m not talking about that latter-day series. After all, there are now to be a new All Star #1 and #2—so why not a new #58-plus, as well? One makes as much sense as the other—and both notions can make for exciting comic books! We all know that after “The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives” in All-Star #57, which came out in Autumn 1950, the JSA did its own disappearing act. Adventure Comics #466 belatedly told how, in early 1951, the JSA were ordered to unmask by a Combined Congressional Committee on UnAmerican Activities—and that they chose instead to disband and to disappear in earnest.

Who knows? In some crossover universe, the JSA might even get a chance to take on Captain America, The Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner when those worthies came out of retirement in 1953. In this Elseworld, which could go on forever, there would be no Barry Allen Flash when 1956 rolled around— because there’d be no need for one. Aquaman could’ve shown up in post-#57 issues of All-Star— but he’d have had to leave Aqualad at home. Depicted in a ’90s Ramona Fradon convention sketch, courtesy of Mike Zeno; the lady was drawing the sea king by 1951. [Art ©2001 Ramona Fradon; Aquaman & Aqualad ©2001 DC Comics.]

What there would be would be The Justice Society of America—in a neverending series of adventures, set in 1951... 1952... 1953... 1954...

But what if they hadn’t? What if All-Star Comics had not been discontinued after #57?

D. Untold Tales Of The KreeSkrull War

What if, two months later, there had been a #58—and a #59 two months after that—in fact, a grand total of six issues with 1951 cover dates instead of only one? What if All-Star had continued into 1952 and beyond—just as Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman did?

The last two of my “dream projects” I’ll foist on you were both submitted in 2000—one to Marvel, one to DC.

What if... Refusing either to unmask or to disband by order of the Committee, the JSA decided to remain together as a force for right during the 1950s! They would fight all the subversive super-menaces the Reds could throw at them at the height of the Cold War—like H-Man (who’s even stronger than The Atom) and

My “All-Star #58+” proposal was likewise ignored, but I still think it would be a lot of fun as an ongoing “Elseworlds” or “hypertime” series, which wouldn’t interfere with current DC continuity—such as it is.

Avengers—Captain Marvel—Inhumans—there was no shortage of superheroes in Marvel’s original cosmic conflagration in 1971-72 (Adams-Palmer panels repro’d from photocopies of the original art, courtesy of Tom Palmer). But Untold Tales of the Kree-Skrull War would have shown the “Big Picture”—or rather, the “Even Bigger Picture”! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

To Marvel, which had recently published a gorgeous Kree-Skrull War trade paperback—its second quality reprinting of that crucial Marvel Universe event I had shaped with Neal Adams and the Brothers Buscema in early-’70s Avengers—I sent a proposal that was an expansion of another idea I had sent to Chris Claremont in ’97, along with Time Busters. I called this limited series Tales of the Kree-Skrull War—though in

Silver Threads Among The Gold

29 (7) Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. might have had other things to do than simply host The Avengers on their space station as they did in #96. Some Kree or Skrull ships might have attacked the station; earlier, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents might have uncovered some alien activities.

retrospect I prefer to refer to it as Untold Tales of the Kree-Skrull War: In 1971-72 (naturally, only a few years ago in Marvel time), the Kree-Skrull War erupted full-blown in outer space and soon involved the Earth, as seen in The Avengers #89-97, which of course I wrote and de facto edited. It was an epic battle, especially in the later issues as completed by Neal Adams and John Buscema.

(8) The Falcon, then Captain America’s partner, played no part in the Avengers series, but could easily have gotten involved, perhaps carrying out a mission for Cap—as could Hercules, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Black Knight, and/or a few others who were on the periphery of The Avengers at this time.

However, because companywide epics were then still a thing of the future, we could not deal at that time with all the aspects of this War. Only the events which directly concerned the then-Avengers (plus Ant-Man), Captain Marvel, and The Inhumans were related.

(9) Daredevil might have identified some aliens by their unearthly heartbeat. Maybe he even tried to unmask “Senator Craddock” early and nearly got himself killed for doing so. (Black Widow, who was about to team up with DD, might have wandered in, too.)

But, in point of fact, there could have been many more facets of the Kree-Skrull War, with other Marvel super-heroes of that era getting involved. I believe the time has The Sub-Mariner was drawn in the Silver Age by mirthful Marie Severin, who come to tell those stories. In did this convention sketch years later. Courtesy of Scott McCloud and Jerry K. Boyd. [Art ©2001 Marie Severin; Namor ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (10) Warlock was a newie on addition to other adventures which the Marvel scene, but could have (while not contradicting what was had his own close encounter of the Nth kind. So, for that matter, printed) could befall Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Vision, might even Dracula—or Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night. et al., virtually every Marvel hero of the ’71-’72 period could have been swept into the War, albeit in a somewhat peripheral way. For (11) Dr. Strange was then between his own series and The example: Defenders, wearing his blue-skin “mask,” but could have contributed (1) The Fantastic Four, besides being mightily to the cause. counterfeited in Avengers #93 by several Skrulls, had had some of Earth’s first (12) Even Conan the Barbarian could contacts with both Kree and Skrulls, and have encountered an early variant of one could well have had another around this race or the other, or both, in the time. Hyborian Age of 12,000 years ago. (2) The Sub-Mariner, who had his As bookends to the above-mentioned own book at the time, might have dozen or so solo-issue Tales of the Kreeencountered a part of the burgeoning Skrull War, there might also be an introWar that developed under the seas. ductory issue and a concluding one, which would supplement Avengers #89 (3) The Silver Surfer, plying the and #97, and which would deepen and skyways above the Earth, wouldn’t have strengthen the importance of that firstmissed these developments, and would ever war between Marvel aliens. The have wanted to help his adopted planet. Avengers need not be involved in these (4) The Hulk could have blundered issues, but many of Earth’s other heroes into some Kree and/or Skrull operations. might well have been. (5) Spider-Man would have gotten pulled in, perhaps even accused of being an alien by H. Warren Craddock, the Senator who turned out to be the infamous “fourth Skrull” from FF #2. (6) The X-Men, while being underground in this period between their two series, could hardly have escaped involvement.

The Inhumans took part in one issue of the original Kree-Skrull War—but who’s to say that’s all they did? Joe Sinnott sketch courtesy of Robert Knuist. [Art ©2001 Joe Sinnott; Black Bolt ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Naturally, I said, as both the conceptualizer and writer of the entire original War and the proposer of Tales, I should script the entire series. Anything else would amount to larceny—though I didn’t commit that last part to paper. As Mariel Hemingway says to Woody Allen at the end of his film Manhattan, “You’ve got to have a little faith in people.” (As it

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects submission to Marvel, I faxed a copy of the proposal to Neal Adams. Nothing could have pleased me more than to see Neal and his Continuity Studios handle at least some of the art; I even suggested that he and I might co-plot the stories officially this time, splitting the plotting fee and credit. Nothing’s come of my idea to date... but it should have, don’t you think? So do I.

E. Smile For The Camera, Mr. Spectre! From one of the landmarks of Silver Age Marvel—to a monument of Golden Age DC. Gentleman Gene Colan is still doing great work, as in this sketch of the Man without Fear. Sketch courtesy of Robert Strawiery. To contact Gene with regard to commissioning artwork, or to view original artwork for sale, try his website < www.GeneColan.com > [Art ©2001 Gene Colan; Daredevil ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

happens, I had written anywhere from a few panels to many issues of virtually every one of the above Marvel heroes at one time or another in the ’60s and/or ’70s.)

Sal Buscema, one of the War’s three original pencilers, is still very much around, as per this illo done a few years back for the Universal Theme Park in Florida; he could help carve a new chapter starring The Hulk or whomever. Thanks for sending it, Sal! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In October of 2000 I submitted an idea for an “Elseworlds” or “hypertime” graphic novel. As I explained in my cover letter: “What follows is not a polished plot synopsis. It is, rather, a concept, in which alternative possibilities may be offered.” The editor would either see its possibilities from the two pages I sent, or else my having a horde of carefully choreographed angels dance for him on the head of a pin wasn’t going to help. I called my concept:

In Untold Tales the solo issues of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, et al., would be drawn by various artists. While naturally there are plenty of illustrators around nowadays who could shine on such a series, I went on to suggest at least the possibility of a nostalgic “dream-team” of artists, starting of course with Neal Adams inked by Tom Palmer. Maybe John Buscema could be lured out of his latest retirement to draw an issue, and Sal Buscema might well be interested. In fact, I said, the entire series, with or without Neal and Big John, could probably be produced, if desired, by artists who’d been with Marvel in the early ’70s, at the time of the original Avengers series: Gene Colan (The Falcon or Iron Man); Dan Adkins (Daredevil or Sub-Mariner); maybe John Romita would lay out a Spidey exploit for old times’ sake; and let’s not forget about Herb Trimpe, Marie Severin, Dick Ayers, George Tuska, Joe Sinnott, et al. I concluded: “Tales of the Kree-Skrull War could be the mighty ‘Last Hurrah’ of the Silver Age Bullpen... though, if it were to prove a success, there’s nothing to stop there from being another ‘Last Hurrah.’” More or less simultaneously with my

The X-Men were between series at the time of the Kree-Skrull War—but that doesn't mean the original team couldn't have gone into action... maybe even a few of the “new kids on the block,” too! This rarely seen drawing is by Dave Cockrum, the first artist of The X-Men when the title was revived in 1975. Dave's website can be accessed at < www.davecockrum.com > and/or < www.thefuturians.com >. He currently does cover re-creations in both color and black-&-white, sketches, and other commission work; hey, he says he'd even be willing to consider doing new strip work, if somebody made an interesting enough offer! [Art ©2001 Dave Cockrum; X-Men ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Silver Threads Among The Gold

31 (1) Superman, Batman, and not-quite-JSAer Robin are said in All-Star #3 to be taking care of things while the other eight super-heroes dine. Thus, in some version of hypertime, DC’s three best-known heroes could be prominently featured. (2) Dr. Occult, the psychic detective, has been inactive for a while... but he is mystically warned of impending doom for the JSA and decides to intervene, perhaps aided by Rose. (3) The Crimson Avenger had just decided to finally put on a costume and come out of retirement after a year, and might be a bit put off that he was left off the guest list... but he gets involved in foiling the Nazi plot. (4) Aviator Hop Harrigan (who of course had innumerable text stories in All-Star, including at least one that guest-starred the JSA!) would play a part.

“Alas, poor Yon-Rogg—I knew him well!” If an infusion of newer artistic blood were needed—well, how about these sketches of two of Marvel’s mightiest heroes of the Kree-Skrull War period by Rafael Kayanan, renowned for his 1990s work on Conan the Adventurer? [Art ©2001 Rafael Kayanan; Vision, Ultron, and Silver Surfer ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Night Justice Was Born One of the most famous images in the history of comics, first seen in 1940 and often reproduced since, from 1961 through twice this year (with the second printing of All Star Archives - Vol. 1 and the Millennium All Star #3), is the photo of the original eight members of the Justice Society of America sitting around a table, posing for posterity. In my All-Star Squadron series, this color photo was placed over the JSA’s mantle, and the date it was taken has been well established for two decades: Nov. 22, 1940. Someone with a camera must have shot this legendary photo... and thereby hangs a tale that should be told. A young would-be reporter (and/or photographer), trying to get work with a big newspaper, is told that he’ll get a job if he can get a story on and, more importantly, a photo of the first JSA meeting, which rumor says will be held at a major hotel that very night. (Other reporters would try to get the scoop, of course, but they’d suffer the same fate as the other folks in the hotel’s lobby—namely, being put to sleep by The Sandman’s gasgun.) The story would be a mixture of drama and comedy-of-errors as the reporter/shutterbug tries to get his photo. Because there are other things going on this night, as well—including crime on the street and, especially, a plot by a Nazi super-spy to blow up the entire hotel and the JSA with it. While the eight JSAers are necessarily rather passive in this story, mostly just sitting around telling their stories at the behest of uninvited guest Johnny Thunder, there are numerous other heroes who would be considerably more active outside the hotel dining room. For instance:

Just for a lark, Emmy-winning animator Brad Rader penciled Roy’s notion of a possible Kree-Skrull War scenario for Daredevil. DD lays low a couple of Kree who try to assassinate Senator H. Warren Craddock—only to discover, some time before the rest of humanity does, that the lawmaker is not quite what he seemed! [Art ©2001 Brad Rader; Daredevil, Kree, and Skrull ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects Even though I never had any reason to write a full plot synopsis for the suggested graphic novel, the mere act of drafting the proposal filled my head with myriad dramatic images from The Night Justice Was Born. Yes, I’ve seen Crimson Avenger grousing to his sidekick Wing about not being invited to the JSA’s first meeting; he considers crashing it á la Johnny Thunder, but he has too much class for that. (After all, in civilian life he’s a newspaper publisher. Hell, he might even be the guy who gave that young reporter/shutterbug the JSA assignment in the first place!) I’ve witnessed The Red Tornado blunder into the furnace room beneath the hotel, where a Nazi super-bomb is about to go off, and help foil a plot she didn’t even know existed.

Still another alternate grouping for the landmark cover of All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940), assembled by Al Dellinges. From left to right: Hop Harrigan, Dr. Occult, Tex Thompson/Mr. America, Superman, Batman, Robin, Red Tornado, and Crimson Avenger. And who knows—one of them might turn out to be The King in disguise! Well, at least they’ve got the legendary JSA “photo” hanging over the mantle! [New art ©2001 Al Dellinges; JSA meeting by E.E. Hibbard; all characters ©2001 DC Comics.]

(5) The King, master of disguise, and The Whip (both from Flash Comics), are other possibilities. The Whip’s origin was seen in the Millennium reprint of Flash #1. (6) Tex Thompson, adventurer, is still a month or so away from donning a costume as Mr. America (later Americommando), but he could take part in the night’s proceedings—which might lead to his taking a secret identity. (He is, of course, familiar to many as an Elseworlds villain in The Golden Age.) (7) Ma Hunkel, in her guise as The Red Tornado, stops by the JSA meeting for a moment, as per All-Star #3—but, after leaving, she could become embroiled in the Nazi plot, torn seat of her pants and all.

I’ve beheld Superman and Dr. Occult (two seminal Siegel-and-Shuster heroes, one physical, one psychical) fighting side by side against powerful forces unleashed by the Axis, which it takes their combined powers to defeat. I only wish you could have seen it all, too. It, and all those other movies—I mean, comic books—in my head. I think some of them weren’t half bad.

[END NOTE: Okay, Ye Editor has gotten that off his chest. Now he can go back to dealing with Golden and Silver Age comics that did get printed! Thanks for the indulgence.]

(8) Then there’s Zatara the Magician, from Action Comics, who has often appeared in the DC Universe and in DC reprints. In addition, near the end of All-Star #3, while Green Lantern relates his story to the after-dinner crowd, The Flash rushes to Washington, D.C., and back. During that time, without his mentioning it when he returns, the Fastest Man Alive could also have played a part in the story going on outside the hotel room where the JSA meet. And there, after a final paragraph re-expressing my enthusiasm, I let it lie. So, alas, did the editor to whom I sent it. Some days later I received an e-mail which informed me that there were plenty of Golden Age projects in the works at the moment, and he did not envision commissioning more. Oh well. But, you know what the great thing is?

1970s JSA artist Joe Staton kindly sent us copies of numerous drawings he did for a recent DC-licensed project. Here we’ve shown just the heroes who might have appeared in The Night Justice Was Born, but maybe one of these days...! [Art of Zatara, Mr. America, The Whip, and Dr. Occult ©2001 DC Comics.]

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Wayne Boring Superman And Beyond by Michael T. Gilbert tone of Boring’s caricatures is understandable. In the article, the artist had this to say: “I enjoyed working with National Periodicals for years. This was a good company until the original builders started leaving. I worked for years with Jack Schiff, editor. When Kinney took over, I was in a box with Mort Weisinger. I bowed out due to editorial stupidity. My Sunday and daily strips had folded, anyway, which was my main effort.” There may have been more to it than that. Comics expert Michael Feldman recently cited a 1983 interview, conducted by Richard Pachter in Boring’s Fort Lauderdale home. In it, Boring tells of being fired by Superman editor Mort Weisinger. Astonished, Boring muttered, “You mean I’m not working for you anymore?” Weisinger repeated, “You’re fired!” Boring persisted, “Fired? What do you mean? All you’ve got to do is stop sending me scripts!” Wayne Boring at work, as seen in Coronet magazine, June 1954. The original caption read: “Boring’s drawings are from memory.” [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Those familiar with Wayne Boring’s comic book work may be surprised to discover his lengthy secondary career as a syndicated cartoonist. Boring’s newspaper connections began early. In fact, he was doing layout work for one paper, The Virginia Pilot, when he spotted a want-ad placed by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman. Boring answered it, and his life was changed forever. By 1938 he was assisting the two on such DC series as “Spy,” “Federal Men,” “Slam Bradley,” and of course “Superman”! Boring is said to have been only the second artist to work on the legendary character. The bulk of his work on the Man of Steel began that year, ending around 1968 when DC changed ownership and fired many of their longtime writers and artists. It was a brutal time for many. In 1973 the Canadian fanzine Now & Then Times published an excellent article on the cartoonist by a young Dave Sim, future creator of Cerebus the Aardvark. Accompanying the piece were two scathing editorial cartoons by Boring, drawn especially for the magazine. Each reflects his lingering ill feelings towards the company for which he had worked for three decades. We’re reprinting both cartoons here as a rare behind-the-scenes look, drawn by a loyal company man, who felt abandoned after a lifetime of service. Seen in that light, the bitter

To which Weisinger replied, “Do you need a kick in the stomach to know when you’re not wanted?” If the story is true, it was a rough way to lose your job after decades of loyal service. Judging by one of the cartoons reprinted here, Boring was well aware of the earlier shabby treatment of his old bosses, Siegel and Shuster. Luckily, Wayne Boring had other options besides comic books. Throughout his career, the artist had a long history of illustrating newspaper strips, working primarily on the Superman strip from 1939-1950, and again from 1959-1967. The day after Boring was sacked by Weisinger, he contacted Hal Foster and became Foster’s first assistant on Prince Valiant. Of Foster, Boring wrote: “Foster was okay, but a perfectionist. I did all those damn castles, snow in the forest and the boats and storms at sea.” Wayne later worked with John Prentice on Rip Kirby, another newspaper strip, and with Sam Leff on Davy Jones. The latter had a strange history, as comics historian Alan Holtz relates in a recent note:

“Wayne Boring had the dubious distinction of putting the venerable Joe Jinks strip into Davy Jones’ locker (literally). Joe’s Car, which began in 1918, switched titles to Joe Jinks in 1928, then to Curly Kayoe in 1945, then to Buttons in 1959. The final title, Davy

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond

The main players in the above cartoon appear to be DC co-publisher Jack Liebowitz holding Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in a stranglehold. In the foreground, editor Mort Weisinger talks about “grabbing a Superman synopsis for a Batman yarn”; this is most likely a reference to his reported habit of rejecting a plot from one writer, then handing it to another to script as if it were Weisinger’s idea! The two folks behind Liebowitz, according to retired DC editor (and Mort Weisinger’s longtime friend) Julius Schwartz, are probably editor Jack Schiff and one Herbie Siegel, who had evidently done original DC publisher Harry Donenfeld a great favor in his Spicy pulp days, and afterward had a job at the company for life—though Julie says he had no real function there. [Art ©2001 the estate of Wayne Boring; Superman ©2001 DC Comics.]

Jones, came in 1961, and Boring handled the art from 1968-71. That, mercifully, was the strip’s last gasp (if I may stretch the metaphor).” Whew! On the next two pages we’re reprinting a sample of that strip, and a rare Wayne Boring photo that appeared in the June 1954 issue of Coronet magazine. While we’re at it, we’ll also pull out a sample of The Awful World of Ticker Tynn, an unsold sci-fi strip Boring drew in 1966 at the request of the Toronto Star Syndicate. It would have been a bit of “wink-worthy” irony if he’d snagged the job. When Siegel and Shuster created Superman, they originally named Clark Kent’s newspaper The Daily Star rather than the better-known (but later) Daily Planet. And they may have named it after that very Toronto newspaper! Hmmm... I wonder if Mr. Boring’s wife, Lois (!), would have appreciated the irony! [Michael T. Gilbert, writer/artist of the recent book Mr. Monster: His Books of Forbidden Knowledge, Volume Zero from TwoMorrows, extends a special tip of Mr. Monster’s cowl to Ken Quattro, Dave Sim, Arnie Charkeno, Alan Holtz, Ray A. Cuthbert, and Michael Feldman for contribution art and information regarding this article.] The cartoon at left shows editor Weisinger looming behind (and holding the wrists of) Wayne Boring. The nervous figure crouching behind the drawing board is presumably artist/inker Stan Kaye. Though well drawn, Boring’s depiction of DC in the “good old days” is not a pretty picture! [Art ©2001 the estate of Wayne Boring.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Curly Kayoe (above) by Sam Leff, who’d go on to draw Joe Palooka, had started life as Joe’s Car... and was on its last sea legs as Davy Jones when Wayne Boring drew the two dailies below. [©2001 United Features Syndicate, Inc.]

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond

The accompanying photo and drawing appeared in the 1954 issue of Coronet, with the following caption:

A cape-clad figure hurtles from the sky, catches a tottering Empire State Building and securely replaces it on Fifth Avenue. Superman has triumphed again. Created by youngsters Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the first Superman was sold in 1938. Now, his fantastic adventures are illustrated by Wayne Boring, who, while working for Siegel and Shuster, was captivated by this modern Paul Bunyan. Drawing to the strains of soft radio music from the scripts of three writers, Boring’s work day lasts from 9:30 to 9:30. During vacations he simply moves his drawing board to a Southern beach and steals enough time for a daily swim and some sun. [©1954 Esquire, Inc.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

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in this issue... no. 68 George Tuska

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We Didn’t Know...

The Phantom Eagle... and Wow Comics, the romances... all Fawcett comics... gone! Flyin’ Jenny, too, took off down the runway... up into the clouds... gone! On the other hand, I had married the girl I wanted, had four of the children I wanted, the house I wanted, the hobby I wanted. As I’ve said, comics were good to me. It was still the Golden Age!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: From 1942 to 1953, Marcus D. Swayze was one of Fawcett’s top comic book artists. He was the first artist to bring Mary Marvel to life on the drawing board, but he was hired primarily to illustrate (and write) “Captain Marvel” stories. After returning from military service, he freelanced from his Louisiana home, where he produced art and stories for “The Phantom Eagle” in Wow Comics and for many of Fawcett’s romance comics, in addition to drawing Bell Syndicate’s Flyin’ Jenny newspaper comic strip, which had been created by his mentor and friend, Russell Keaton. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA (and our most popular feature) since his first column appeared in issue #54, 1996. This issue, Marc discusses his work for Charlton Comics shortly after Fawcett dropped its comic book department in 1953, and the people he met there—including, briefly, Jack Cole. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

Toward the end of 1954 I found myself exchanging correspondence with a man I didn’t know, regarding a subject with which I was scarcely familiar, and a company that rang only a faint bell in my memory. The man was Ed Levy, co-owner of Charlton Publications. Quoting from Levy’s letter of December 14, “... we can use a satisfactory artist of comics experience here in Derby...”

When we speak of—and write about—the Golden Age of Comics, it’s easy to agree that it was the fun age, and that it began around 1939 or ’40. Aside from the historians and scholars, however, who may have established something definite, there doesn’t appear to have been a lot of compromise as to its finale. Seems to have been a personal matter in some cases. It was in mine. I’ve associated it with my own career in comics. But I’ve had second thoughts about that. If the Golden Age hadn’t already slipped away by 1955, then at least the gold had begun to tarnish. I could have unpleasant thoughts about the ten years that followed my 1944 retreat to the Southland. But I don’t. Just look at it. Captain Marvel, as we had known him, disappeared. So did Mary Marvel... and

Letter to Swayze from Charlton Comics president Ed Levy, 12/13/54... courtesy of the artist.

Here in Derby. That was interesting. It so happened that I was working with the people at Bell Syndicate, making revisions to a feature for release the following year... my own creation, The Great Pierre. Derby was within a reasonable drive of New York City. I took the Charlton job!

Levy had said that all art was prepared through an independent contractor. That meant their comic books were reprinted from proofs, plates, and/or originals purchased from various publishers. Trouble was, the Comics Code had sprung up in the meantime. My responsibility was to clean up the material to conform to Code Office guidelines... replace nasty words like “cop” and “babe” with “police officer” and “young lady”... and raise necklines, lower skirts, cover midriffs and anything else that needed it.

We Didn’t Know... One of the former publishers of the reprint material was Fawcett. The features, however, were not the ones that I knew... mostly westerns. Later I learned that the reprints included Fawcett romances, some my own. I assume the reason I never saw them was because they didn’t need the cleaning-up required by the Code.

Jack Cole, creator of Plastic Man—oh yeah, and briefly the assistant to Marc Swayze at Charlton Comics, 1955.

The first person I met in the Charlton offices was a young fellow named Chad Kelly... an artist, but not of comics... talented, personable, and talkative. I don’t know how long he had been with the company, but he seemed to know everything about the place and everybody in it.

Chad told a story of a young Italian immigrant who, after watching some bricklayers at work, said to himself, “I can do that!” And he did. A few years later, as he prepared for a trip into the City, a family member requested that he get her a popular song of the day. When the store clerk brought out the sheet music and quoted the price, our man asked, “How much for just the words? She can’t read music!” Many people couldn’t. There was once the familiar scene on the streets of New York of a pink publication of “just the words” being hawked... by a peddler who miraculously disappeared at the approach of a police officer. The need was legitimate, though... and evidently “just the words” were now being published legally, appearing prominently on the newsstands... by permission of the copyright owners. That was the start of Charlton Publications. The other co-owner of Charlton was John Santangelo. It was a big outfit... in its own building... offices on the ground floor, presses below... lots of employees. And yet, no evidence of a chain of command. Everybody, from where I sat, seemed to report to either “John” or “Ed.”

City... experiences as a Marine trainee, night club doorman, TV repairman... kept us in stitches. It was from Rocky that I learned that... perhaps, after all... the Golden Age was over. He told of freelance work for publishers of “slow pay” and “no pay.” In efforts to collect, he said, he had been to the small claims court so many times the judges knew him by name. “You here again, Rocky?” Not far into 1955, somewhere in the Charlton Building, somebody, undoubtedly Ed or John, or both, must have said, “Let’s get into this comic book business with both feet... start putting together stories and art and publishing original stuff!” Or something like that. Anyway, there was a big reception held in the building, attended by a swarm of comic book writers and artists from all over. Quite an unusual occasion at Charlton. It was shoulder to shoulder, like at a crowded cocktail party... only we were having beer and pizza. At one point I heard my name being spoken behind me. Then a voice: “Know him? I brought him up from the South!” It was Ed Herron, first editor of the comics department at Fawcett Publications, whom I hadn’t seen in eleven years. I enjoyed talking with Ed, but I never saw him again after that day. The reception had immediate results. Within a short time came artists Bill Molno, Stan Campbell, Maurice Whitman, and Chic Stone... and writer Joe Gill... all with comic book experience... plenty of it! Meanwhile, things were happening to the building... construction work. When it was completed, there was to be a whole new upper-floor section with an interior that suggested office work of some kind. It was the new Comic Book Department. Wow! Rocky’s contact with the new artists was Molno; my contact was Rocky. When he told me the arrangement was that they were to work on a page rate... in the office space provided... I began to put two and two together. The page rate was unimpressive... but I was fast... and at my speed....

Which was okay with me. I learned that I was to be provided with assistance, and shortly afterwards I went straight to the top. You The splash page of Gabby Hayes #58 (June 1956); art in this Chad Kelly introduced the newcomer. I had never couldn’t always reach John and the following splashes is by Marc Swayze. heard of Jack Cole, an easy-going guy with a sense Santangelo, but when you did he [©2001 the respective copyright holder.] of humor. Jack seemed interested in the work of was easy to talk with. When I others, but rarely spoke of his own. It was Chad laid out my thoughts before him, his answer was, “So?” who told of the long Cole career of comic book accomplishments in writing and drawing. I was impressed with Jack’s tiny relief illustrations “So I want with those guys,” I said. that appeared regularly on the letters pages of Playboy... neat, tasteful little nudes with long black hair and stockings. “Okay.” As simple as that. Rocky, who had been standing nearby, moved closer. John turned to Rocky. “What do you want?” Jack Cole left after a few weeks, explaining that the regular hours interfered with his freelance work. What a nice fellow. Knowing him, Rocky made it short. “Me, too,” he said. even so briefly, was a highlight of my stay at Charlton. One of the wittiest individuals I have ever known followed Cole to assist with the reprints. Rocky Mastroserio loved to hear people laugh... and he made them laugh. His stories of being brought up in New York

The new upstairs office with north windows allowed for five drawing tables. I made sure one was mine. The others went to Chic Stone, Bill Molno, Stan Campbell, and Rocky. Set up just outside our door, which

We Didn’t Know...

stayed open, was Joe Gill. Beyond Joe, in a comfortable area against the wall, was Maurice Whitman. We were the “Old Pros.” That title came about when, after we were established in the new “studio,” a young fellow came in rather hesitantly. “Are you the ‘Old Pros’? I was told to see if I could help the old pros in any way.” There was a devilish streak in Chic Stone. “Well, you might run out and get us some beer,” he said. That was all there was to it. No one thought any more about it until a half hour later when the young guy returned with two grocery bags filled with cold beer. You can bet the old pros leaned into the situation as though a beer session was a regular afternoon occurrence in the Charlton Building. Fact of the matter is, I doubt if such a thing had ever been heard of... or has since. It was about that time that the “younger group” began to materialize out in the larger area of the upper floor. “Younger Group” is not From This Is Suspense #26 (Aug. 1955). From Strange Suspense Stories #27 (Oct. 1955). intended to minimize their importance... [©2001 the respective copyright holder.] [©2001 the respective copyright holder.] younger in years, in most cases, but competent, dedicated professionals. In later letters from Maurice I’ve never read much about it since that week, but a dam had burst Whitman and Rocky Mastroserio, I was reminded of the staff under the above Derby and what we had accepted as rain water was overflow from direction of Al Fago... Vince Alacia, Sal Trapani, Charlie Nicholas, Jon the Naugatuck River. It was chaotic. First the word came to our floor D’Agostino, Dick Giordano, and Pat Masulli... and possibly others. that cars were being moved from the parking lot to higher ground. Then, I thoroughly enjoyed the work, environment, and company of that that windows were being smashed out of them when the keys were period. It was much like the old Fawcett days. I was able to work as I unavailable. preferred to... “doing it all”... penciling, inking, lettering... and frequently When I left the building, which was mostly evacuated by that time, I writing. I failed to come away with work records, but did manage to had to wade through knee-deep water near the loading dock. When a save some Charlton books containing my work: This Is Suspense #26 large truck came by, a hand was thrust toward me from the passenger (Aug. ‘55) - “Temptation” and “The Big Mistake”; Sweetheart Diary side and I grabbed it. Then I spied Rocky, wading toward the building. #34 (July ‘56) - “For Granted”; Strange Suspense Stories #27 (Oct. ‘55) “I’m going back to get something to work on over the weekend!” he “Melody of Hate”; Young Lovers #16 (July ‘56) - “Proof of Love” and shouted. “Judge Not My Heart”; Romantic Story #32 (June ‘56) - “Chance of a Lifetime”; Gabby Hayes #58 (June ‘56) - “Couldn’t Have Been Closer.” Rocky, I later learned, was one of the employees who left from the top of the Charlton Building by Navy helicopter. Rocky had a habit of getting up from his drawing table, strolling over to the screenless window, and surveying the community that lay beyond. John Santangelo had traits I couldn’t help but admire. One was the Directly beneath the window, very close to the building wall, stretched a refusal to give up. Standing before the meeting of comic book personnel railroad track, most likely a special switch track for Charlton shipments. that had been called, he first described the damage. From my seat on the back row, I glanced around. As far as I could tell, it was a 100% turnout. On this day the track was being used! The loud locomotive engine Whatever John had in mind, there’d be plenty of help. had been moving forward, then backward, then forward, just outside our window since we came to work... the way switch engines do. Rocky, his When he got into the part where we would all have to sacrifice, my elbows resting on the window ledge, watched for a while. Then, when thoughts began to stray to things like: “It’s only a few weeks till school the engineer quieted his engine, presumably to change direction once starts in Louisiana. I’ll have to see the nice people who leased us the again, Rocky leaned out and waved for his attention. beautiful place over on the Housatonic...” I quietly slid from my seat and made my way to the stairway. “Make uppa you mind!” he yelled. It was on another day... the rain had been coming down in buckets for hours... Rocky was reporting the conditions as seen from his favorite window. “The water is rising into the drive-in movie across the railroad!” he announced. Then: “It’s a foot high on the microphone posts!” He returned to his drawing momentarily, then again from the window: “It’s up on the microphones!”

Halfway down, I heard a footstep behind me and turned. It was Stan Campbell. “C’mon,” he said, “I’ll buy you a beer!” [Marc Swayze’s memoirs of his days in comics will continue next issue.]

“I Didn’t Stay In One Place!”

“I Didn t Stay In One Place!” by George Tuska Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

George Tuska in the 1960s—a photo take in Stan Lee’s office at Marvel Comics. Courtesy of G.T.

[George Tuska, artist and comic book pioneer, reflects back on his long career, with special emphasis on the time he illustrated some of the early issues of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures, as well as “Golden Arrow” stories. Thanks to Mike Gartland for his assistance with this article.—PCH.]

I was born in Hartford, Connecticut, eighty-five years ago. My first interest in art was looking at my brother’s pulp magazine illustrations of cowboys when I was about seven or eight years old. A few years later, I had an appendix operation. At the hospital where I was treated, an elderly patient showed me how to draw a cowboy and an Indian. (Western adventures were the big thing at the time.) As I watched him draw the figures on the paper before my very eyes, I began to feel a little artist in myself for the first time.

I penciled some Spirit and “Uncle Sam” stories. To make some additional income, I decided to freelance a bit on the side. I paid a visit to the Fawcett offices at the Paramount Building. I met briefly with Fawcett Publications art director Al Allard. I ended up drawing a few more “Captain Marvel” stories. Allard had asked me to draw as close as possible to the way Captain Marvel had first appeared in Whiz Comics. I also drew two or three “Golden Arrow” stories while freelancing for Fawcett. A girl named Judy, I believe, handled the scripts for me. I would complete the entire final page; I drew all the figures and backgrounds, and inked everything. I was about 24 or 25 at the time. After those freelance jobs, I never worked for Fawcett again. I went on to work for Lev Gleason, drawing Crime Does Not Pay and others. From there I illustrated the Scorchy Smith newspaper strip for the Associated Press, then the Buck Rogers strip for the National Newspaper Syndicate.

After high school I visited my aunt in New York City, where I ended up working a few odd jobs. One was designing women’s costume jewelry. It was fun, but I soon found out that it just wasn’t my thing. Shortly thereafter, a friend of mine invited me to work out with him, lifting weights at a local gym. I exercised for five hours that day. The next day I was so sore I couldn’t get out of bed. My friend came over, and we dropped in to visit a friend of his who was a sculptor. His studio was on one of the West 70s Streets, overlooking Central Park. I never got to know his name, but he knew I was interested in art, so he recommended me to the National Academy of Design. At the time it was located at 104th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Thus began my art career! I had filled out an application as an artist and cartoonist at a professional agency in New York City. Will Eisner and Jerry Iger called for me to submit some art samples. I was soon accepted and asked to work in their studio. I worked alongside Bob Powell, Lou Fine, and Mike Sekowsky. Later the studio expanded, with Charles Sultan, John Celardo, Nick Cardy, and Toni Blum joining in. I worked on “Shark Brodie,” “Spike Marlin,” and other strips. I soon left the Eisner & Iger studio to go work for Harry Chesler’s shop. Chesler was currently handling some comics for Fawcett Publications, who couldn’t keep up with the production of their successful and expanding line of comics. It was at this time I drew several early issues of Captain Marvel Adventures, as well as some other strips. We had a good group of artists at the Chesler shop: Ruben Moreira, Mac Raboy (who later worked for Fawcett), Ralph Astarita, and Charles Sultan, whom I had first met at Eisner & Iger’s studio. I left Chesler and found myself working again for Will Eisner, who had just separated from Iger. Will had his group of artists, including Alex Kotzky and Tex Blaisdell. Will was busy with The Spirit and also handled comics for Busy Arnold [Quality Comics]. While with Eisner, Splash panel from Captain Marvel Adventures #3, Aug./Sept. 1941. Art by George Tuska. [©2001 DC Comics.]

“I Didn’t Stay In One Place!” In the ’60s I met Stan Lee and made Marvel Comics my comic book home. I illustrated Iron Man and probably just about every Marvel Comics super-hero there was! When I retired, I was making $55 a page. When I first started out in the comic book business in the early ’40s, I made $10 a week. Today I am invited to comic conventions. They are nice, and attending them sort of brings up your spirits again. They’re also a good vacation away from home. I’m sure that, had I worked for Fawcett for a longer period of time, they would have treated me very well. I never really knew why I didn’t stay in one place.

George Tuska —Available for Commissions— 9"x12" or 11"x14" Pen & Ink & Color Write to George at: 899A Stratford Ct, Manchester, NJ 08759

Oddball Fawcett

The Marvel Family #79 ancient Egyptian pyramid they’ve discovered on the bottom of the ocean. After freeing one of the scientists from the grip of a giant killer octopus, they decide to make things easier by bringing the pyramid up onto dry land. There, they smash a big hole in the side of this wonder of ancient architecture instead of wasting time looking for a door.

by Bill Morrison Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck This one could only have been produced in the early 1950s, a time when most of the super-hero titles of the 1940s were dead, and the survivors were trying nearly anything to stay afloat.

After switching to their alter egos, the Marvels join the archaeologists in an exploration of the pyramid. They ignore an inscription warning them away from the tomb of The Mad Mummy, and soon find a secret switch which opens a wall, revealing his dreaded sarcophagus. As it happens, another inscription reveals that the wizard Shazam himself has imprisoned the Mad Mummy here. The message warns the scientists not to “let this horror loose upon the world!” But of course they do, and Billy and Mary Batson and Freddy Freeman are forced to speak the magic words which change them into their Marvel forms.

The cover of The Marvel Family #79 (January 1953, Fawcett Publications) is a perfect example of the desperate lengths that a midcentury comic book publisher would go to in order to increase sales. At the time, humor and horror comics were doing great business, and it wasn’t uncommon to see your favorite super-heroes in situations that were either creepy or comedic. However, editor Wendell Crowley must have decided—or had been forced—to cover all the bases. Cover artist C.C. Beck depicts the Marvels in an Egyptian tomb, making goofy faces and yelling “BOO!” in order to scare away a mummy who yells “Yipe! Let me out of here!” And maybe I’m imagining things, but that mummy looks suspiciously like an emaciated gorilla (and we all know that a gorilla on a comic book cover is a sure-fire sales spike)!

A little mummy-bashing ensues, and the moldy monster is quickly vanquished—or so it seems! The Marvels switch back to their mortal The awkward marriage of super-heroics, horror, and comedy. The mad forms, just as the entrance to the tomb and crazy cover of The Marvel Family #79, Jan. 1953. Art by C.C. Beck. slams shut. Mary notices that The Mad [©2001 DC Comics.] Mummy has vanished; and, before the trio can speak those magic words again, he sneaks up from behind and bops them unconscious. Bound and gagged, they’re put into the And here’s the best part! Notice the blurb arms of a giant sphinx and the Mummy above the logo, which reads “Read THE MAD launches it out of the pyramid. They sail MUMMY! IT’S CRAZY!” The word “MAD,” through the air on a collision course for the as lettered, is a near perfect rip-off of EC’s city as the chapter ends! Mad’s original comic book logo; Mad was a big seller at the time. Also worth noting is the In chapter two, “The Horn of Howling use of the word “CRAZY” in the blurb, a hip Horrors,” Billy manages to stretch the moldy beatnik slang term of the day. Maybe Fawcett old mummy wrappings with which he’s been were also trying to attract the coffee house bound, and yells “Shazam!”—just in time to crowd. fly out as Captain Marvel and prevent the sphinx from crashing into the metropolis. Inside, the actual story, entitled “The Marvel Family Battles the Dynasty of Horror,” offers up more thrills than chills. Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr. lend a helping hand to a group of archaeologists who are trying to get inside an

Down, but not out, The Mad Mummy rolls out a malevolent device called the Horn of Horror, an enormous black horn of plenty which spews forth a plague of demons. The Marvels make demon paté out of them and return to the pyramid to find the Mummy and Billy, Mary, and Freddy in a familiar predicament, in a panel from TMF #79. [©2001 DC Comics.]

The Marvel Family #79

his big horn gone. Then, for no apparent reason (yet), they smash the pyramid into rubble. After a fruitless search for the Mummy, they turn back into their alter egos again and consult with Shazam. He tells them The Mad Mummy once ruled the Nether World and tried to invade the land of the living— but the wizard defeated him and imprisoned him on the ocean floor, in the hope that he would never be found. He tells the trio the world is doomed if they don’t defeat that Mummy! But while the kids are trying to figure out how to find the Mummy, the Mummy finds them—and steals their voices with his magic sphinx ray as chapter two closes. In the thrilling final chapter, “The New Pyramid of Peril”, an army of mummies is summoned from the horn, and they force Billy, Mary, and Freddy to build a new pyramid (oh, so that’s why the old one had to be demolished!). Eventually, the three pretend to drop dead from thirst and The Mad Mummy wraps them in bandages to “rot through all eternity!” With our heroes out of the way, the Mummy proceeds to let loose a horde of demons, ghouls, witches, vampires, werewolves, etc., to wipe out the human race. However, the three kids, now dressed as mummies and able to blend in, sneak up on The Mad Mummy and swipe his sphinx ray. They smash it, freeing their tongues to shout those magic words once again. As The Marvel Family attempt to destroy the horn, the Mummy warns them that he’ll shoot a blast from it that will destroy the Rock of Eternity where Shazam lives. They back down, but then push the ground apart, causing an earthquake, which separates the Mad Mummy from his horrific horn. Without his weapons, the Mummy is easily defeated by the Marvels and sealed in his new sarcophagus by Shazam. Finally they throw the new pyramid back into the ocean where, hopefully, those meddlesome archaeologists will never find it again!

[Bill Morrison is an editor, writer, and cartoonist at Bongo Comics, and an art director on the Futurama animated TV series. Visit Bill’s web site at < http://www.littlegreenman.com >.]

A throwback to happier days! Here’s C.C. Beck’s preliminary sketch for a 1975 cover-painting re-creation of Marvel Family Comics #1—quite possibly the one he did that year for Roy Thomas, and which was used as a cover on Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #6! [Art ©2001 the estate of C.C. Beck; Marvel Family and Shazam ©2001 DC Comics.]

Ghosts

Ghosts by C.C. Beck Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck [EDITOR’S NOTE: FCA presents another previously unpublished essay from our archives by the original Captain Marvel’s first and chief artist, C.C. Beck. I was fortunate to enjoy an 11-year correspondence and friendship with Mr. Beck, up until his death on November 22, 1989, in Gainesville, Florida. The multi-talented C.C. was always modest, warm-witted, sincere, and, with his strong convictions, was never afraid to speak his mind! [C.C. wrote in February 1978: “I have been an artist for more than fifty years. My once-shining eyes are now dim with age, and my face looks much like an old mud turtle. Inside, of course, I’m still as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I was when I started out, but nobody can see this today. Now I am called ‘feisty,’ ‘opinionated,’ and an old ‘curmudgeon.’ Others have been less kind!” [More unpublished works by C.C. Beck will be featured in each edition of FCA.—P.C. Hamerlinck.] The world of art is filled with ghosts—creatures who write and draw, but are invisible. Almost every cartoonist has assistants who come and go like phantoms, or like elves who creep out of their crannies at night to make the shoes that the shoemaker sells the next morning. I started out as an assistant to a syndicated cartoonist, doing his lettering. When I went to work for Fawcett Publications in the ’30s, I redrew old cartoons for reprinting, as the original art had been thrown away. For a time I drew a daily panel which appeared under the name of one of the Fawcett brothers. I had my own ghost assistant to do the lettering by this time. When Fawcett assigned me to draw Captain Marvel, neither the writers nor I signed our names to the work. Later, as Fawcett’s comics

expanded in the ’40s, I was given the title of “Chief Artist” and was supplied with a whole staff of ghost artists to do the work. None of us ever cared that we were being kept invisible; that was just the way things were done in those days. If the publisher made big money, lived in a big house, had his own private plane and so on, that was just dandy. We were all his elves, happy with a few crusts and a few pats on our little pointy heads now and then. After Fawcett folded their line of comic books in 1953, I moved to Florida and became a ghost for a commercial artist. I did all the work and he signed it. He got paid, I didn’t. I got my crusts and my pats on the head now and then. He never allowed me to meet his clients, who were all wealthy men with big cars, hunting lodges, luxurious offices, mistresses, and more. I worked in a back room, hunched over my drawing board, while he went to cocktail parties, meetings, and on trips with the clients. Somehow, during the course of my life, I have developed a belief that not only the field of art but most other fields of human activity are run by a few big shots in expensive clothing who gallop around in all directions without having the faintest idea of what they’re doing. We know our jobs and they seem to know nothing. I have never met any big shots. I have met writers, artists, actors, stuntmen, musicians—all hardworking ghosts like myself. A few publishers I have met seemed likable enough, but they all assured me that they, too, were only workmen. The real big shots, they told me, the ones who decide everything and put their names on contracts and collect millions of dollars for our work, are invisible. Perhaps my view of the world is warped and foolish, but I believe that my fellow workers and I may be the only real people on this globe. We are the ones who take paper and ink and by a sort of magic turn them into stories, artwork, music, plays, and things which make others wealthy. We never see those “others.” Perhaps they’re only unreal, phantom-like creatures of our imaginations. They and the public... that vast, incomprehensible monster that runs everything... may be nothing but ghosts themselves.

A Beck caricature of himself scribbling away on Shazam’s throne. And, under the text, a previously unpublished pencil sketch of Captain Marvel by Beck. Talk about ghosts! [Art ©2001 the estate of C.C.Beck; Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

Now—FLIP US for a rambunctious ROMITA review!

Edited by ROY THOMAS

DIGITAL

The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with NS EDITIO BLE ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, A IL AVA NLY UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FOR O 5 FCA (Fawcett Collectors of $2.9 America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #4

ALTER EGO #5

ALTER EGO #1

ALTER EGO #2

ALTER EGO #3

STAN LEE gets roasted by SCHWARTZ, CLAREMONT, DAVID, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, and SHOOTER, ORDWAY and THOMAS on INFINITY, INC., IRWIN HASEN interview, unseen H.G. PETER Wonder Woman pages, the original Captain Marvel and Human Torch teamup, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, “Mr. Monster”, plus plenty of rare and unpublished art!

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

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

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ALTER EGO #6

ALTER EGO #7

ALTER EGO #8

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

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

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

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

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

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(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #9

ALTER EGO #10

ALTER EGO #11

ALTER EGO #12

ALTER EGO #13

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

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

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

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

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

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #14

ALTER EGO #15

ALTER EGO #16

ALTER EGO #17

ALTER EGO #18

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

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

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

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

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

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #19

ALTER EGO #20

ALTER EGO #21

ALTER EGO #22

ALTER EGO #23

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

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

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

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

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

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #24

ALTER EGO #25

ALTER EGO #26

ALTER EGO #27

ALTER EGO #28

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

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

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

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

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

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #29

ALTER EGO #30

ALTER EGO #31

ALTER EGO #32

ALTER EGO #33

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

ALEX ROSS on his love for the JLA, BLACKHAWK/JLA artist DICK DILLIN, the super-heroes of 1940s-1980s France (with art by STEVE RUDE, STEVE BISSETTE, LADRÖNN, and NEAL ADAMS), KIM AAMODT & WALTER GEIER on writing for SIMON & KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA! Covers by ALEX ROSS and STEVE RUDE!

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

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

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

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #34

ALTER EGO #35

ALTER EGO #36

ALTER EGO #37

ALTER EGO #38

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

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

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

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

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

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #39

ALTER EGO #40

ALTER EGO #41

ALTER EGO #42

ALTER EGO #43

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

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

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

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

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

(108-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

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

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

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

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

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

(100-page magazine) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #49

ALTER EGO #50

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

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

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

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

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

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

(100-page magazine) $5.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #54

ALTER EGO #55

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

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

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

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

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

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

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #59

ALTER EGO #60

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

Special issue on Batman and Superman in the Golden and Silver Ages, featuring a new ARTHUR SUYDAM interview, NEAL ADAMS on DC in the 1960s-1970s, SHELLY MOLDOFF, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA interviewed, SIEGEL & SHUSTER, RUSS MANNING, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

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

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

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

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

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

ALTER EGO #68

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

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

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

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

Tribute to JERRY BAILS—Father of Comics Fandom and founder of Alter Ego! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, plus art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JERRY ORDWAY, JOE STATON, JACK KIRBY, and others! Plus STEVE DITKO’s notes to STAN LEE for a 1965 Dr. Strange story! And ROY reveals secrets behind Marvel’s STAR WARS comic!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #69

ALTER EGO #70

ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

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

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

Represents THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, the long out-of-print 1970s book by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana, Thunderfist, and others, plus new INVADERS art by JOHN BYRNE, MIKE GRELL, RON LIM, and more, plus a new cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY!

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

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, GRAHAM INGELS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #74

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

ALTER EGO #77

ALTER EGO #78

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

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

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

ST. JOHN ISSUE! Golden Age Tor cover by JOE KUBERT, KEN QUATTRO relates the full legend of St. John Publishing, art by KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, MATT BAKER, LILY RENEE, BOB LUBBERS, RUBEN MOREIRA, RALPH MAYO, AL FAGO, special reminiscences of ARNOLD DRAKE, Golden Age artist TOM SAWYER interviewed, and more!

DAVE COCKRUM TRIBUTE! Great rare XMen cover, Cockrum tributes from contemporaries and colleagues, and an interview with PATY COCKRUM on Dave’s life and legacy on The Legion of Super-Heroes, The X-Men, Star-Jammers, & more! Plus an interview with 1950s Timely/Marvel artist MARION SITTON on his own incredible career and his Golden Age contemporaries!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #79

ALTER EGO #80

ALTER EGO #81

ALTER EGO #82

ALTER EGO #83

SUPERMAN & HIS CREATORS! New cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN, exclusive and revealing interview with JOE SHUSTER’s sister, JEAN SHUSTER PEAVEY—LOU CAMERON interview—STEVE GERBER tribute—DWIGHT DECKER on the Man of Steel & Hitler’s Third Reich—plus art by WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, NEAL ADAMS, GIL KANE, and others!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY COMICS! Learn about Crom the Barbarian, Viking Prince, Nightmaster, Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, Beowulf, Warlord, Dagar the Invincible, and more, with art by FRAZETTA, SMITH, BUSCEMA, KANE, WRIGHTSON, PLOOG, THORNE, BRUNNER, LOU CAMERON Part II, and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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, with a focus on Conan the Barbarian by ROY THOMAS and WILL MURRAY, a look at WALLY WOOD’s Marvel sword-&-sorcery work, the Black Knight examined, plus JOE EDWARDS interview Part 2, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #84

ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

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!

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stores, and in court), RICH BUCKLER on Captain Marvel, plus 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 pioneers WHITNEY ELLSWORTH and CREIG FLESSEL, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CURT SWAN, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, focus on DC advisor DR. LAURETTA BENDER, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #89

ALTER EGO #90

ALTER EGO #91

ALTER EGO #92

ALTER EGO #93

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!

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! Plus JERRY ORDWAY on researching The Power of Shazam, 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, CHAN, 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!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #94

ALTER EGO #95

ALTER EGO #96

ALTER EGO #97

ALTER EGO #98

“Earth-Two Companion, Part II!” More on the 1963-1985 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!

Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH madcap parody mag from 1967-69, examined with rare art & artifacts by ANDRU, COLAN, BUSCEMA, DRAKE, EVERETT, FRIEDRICH, KIRBY, LEE, the SEVERIN siblings, SPRINGER, SUTTON, THOMAS, TRIMPE, and more, GEORGE KASHDAN interview conclusion, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MARIE SEVERIN!

Focus on Archie’s 1960s MIGHTY CRUSADERS, with vintage art and artifacts by JERRY SIEGEL, PAUL REINMAN, SIMON & KIRBY, JOHN ROSENBERGER, tributes to the Mighty Crusaders by BOB FUJITANE, GEORGE TUSKA, BOB LAYTON, and others! Interview with MELL LAZARUS, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Cover by MIKE MACHLAN!

The NON-EC HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s! From Menace and House of Mystery to The Thing!, we present vintage art and artifacts by EVERETT, BRIEFER, DITKO, MANEELY, COLAN , MESKIN, MOLDOFF, HEATH, POWELL, COLE, SIMON & KIRBY, FUJITANI, and others, plus FCA , MR. MONSTER and more, behind a creepy, eerie cover by BILL EVERETT!

Spotlight on Superman’s first editor WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, longtime Kryptoeditor MORT WEISINGER remembered by his daughter, an interview with Superman writer ALVIN SCHWARTZ, tributes to FRANK FRAZETTA and AL WILLIAMSON, art by JOE SHUSTER, WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, and NEAL ADAMS, plus MR. MONSTER, FCA, and a new cover by JERRY ORDWAY!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

ALTER EGO #99

GEORGE TUSKA showcase issue on his career at Lev Gleason, Marvel, and in comics strips through the early 1970s—CRIME DOES NOT PAY, BUCK ROGERS, IRON MAN, AVENGERS, HERO FOR HIRE, & more! Plus interviews with Golden Age artist BILL BOSSERT and fan-artist RUDY FRANKE, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more! (84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL is a celebration of 100 issues, and 50 years, of ALTER EGO, Roy Thomas’ legendary super-hero fanzine. It’s a double-size triple-threat BOOK, with twice as many pages as the regular magazine, plus special features just for this anniversary edition! Behind a RICH BUCKLER/JERRY ORDWAY JSA cover, ALTER EGO celebrates its 100th issue and the 50th anniversary of A/E (Vol. 1) #1 in 1961—as ROY THOMAS is interviewed by JIM AMASH about the 1980s at DC! Learn secrets behind ALL-STAR SQUADRON—INFINITY, INC.—ARAK, SON OF THUNDER—CAPTAIN CARROT—JONNI THUNDER, a.k.a. THUNDERBOLT— YOUNG ALL-STARS—SHAZAM!—RING OF THE NIBELUNG—and more! With rare art and artifacts by GEORGE PÉREZ, TODD McFARLANE, RICH BUCKLER, JERRY ORDWAY, MIKE MACHLAN, GIL KANE, GENE COLAN, DICK GIORDANO, ALFREDO ALCALA, TONY DEZUNIGA, ERNIE COLÓN, STAN GOLDBERG, SCOTT SHAW!, ROSS ANDRU, and many more! Plus special anniversary editions of Alter Ego staples MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA (FCA)—and ALEX WRIGHT’s amazing color collection of 1940s DC pinup babes! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (NOTE: This book takes the place of ALTER EGO #100, and counts as TWO issues toward your subscription.) (160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 (Digital Edition) $5.95 • ISBN: 9781605490311 Diamond Order Code: JAN111351

ALTER EGO #101

Fox Comics of the 1940s with art by FINE, BAKER, SIMON, KIRBY, TUSKA, FLETCHER HANKS, ALEX BLUM, and others! “Superman vs. Wonder Man” starring EISNER, IGER, SIEGEL, LIEBERSON, MAYER, DONENFELD, and VICTOR FOX! Plus, Part I of an interview with JACK MENDELSOHN, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by Marvel artist DAVE WILLIAMS!

NEW!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #102

ALTER EGO #103

ALTER EGO #104

ALTER EGO: THE CBA COLLECTION

Spotlight on Green Lantern creators MART NODELL and BILL FINGER in the 1940s, and JOHN BROOME, GIL KANE, and JULIUS SCHWARTZ in 1959! Rare GL artwork by INFANTINO, REINMAN, HASEN, NEAL ADAMS, and others! Plus JACK MENDELSOHN Part II, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by GIL KANE & TERRY AUSTIN, and MART NODELL!

The early career of comics writer STEVE ENGLEHART: Defenders, Captain America, Master of Kung Fu, The Beast, Mantis, and more, with rare art and artifacts by SAL BUSCEMA, STARLIN, SUTTON, HECK, BROWN, and others. Plus, JIM AMASH interviews early artist GEORGE MANDEL (Captain Midnight, The Woman in Red, Blue Bolt, Black Marvel, etc.), FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and more!

Celebrates the 50th anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the birth of Marvel Comics! New, never-before-published STAN LEE interview, art and artifacts by KIRBY, DITKO, SINNOTT, AYERS, THOMAS, and secrets behind the Marvel Mythos! Also: JIM AMASH interviews 1940s Timely editor AL SULMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and a new cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT!

Compiles the ALTER EGO flip-sides from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #1-5, plus 30 NEW PAGES of features & art! All-new rare and previously-unpublished art by JACK KIRBY, GIL KANE, JOE KUBERT, WALLY WOOD, FRANK ROBBINS, NEAL ADAMS, & others, ROY THOMAS on X-MEN, AVENGERS/ KREE-SKRULL WAR, INVADERS, and more! Cover by JOE KUBERT!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

(160-page trade paperback) SOLD OUT (Digital Edition) $4.95

HUMOR MAGAZINES (BUNDLE ALL THREE FOR JUST $14.95)

ALTER EGO:

BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

Collects the original 11 issues of JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS’ ALTER EGO fanzine (from 1961-78), with contributions from JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, and others—and illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! Plus major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS and BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by JULIE SCHWARTZ. (192-page trade paperback) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905887 Diamond Order Code: DEC073946

COMIC BOOK NERD

PETE VON SHOLLY’s side-splitting parody of the fan press, including our own mags! Experience the magic(?) of such publications as WHIZZER, the COMICS URINAL, ULTRA EGO, COMICS BUYER’S GUISE, BAGGED ISSUE!, SCRAWL!, COMIC BOOK ARTISTE, and more, as we unabashedly poke fun at ourselves, our competitors, and you, our loyal readers! It’s a first issue, collector’s item, double-bag, slab-worthy, speculator’s special sure to rub even the thickest-skinned fanboy the wrong way! (64-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 • (Digital Edition) $2.95

CRAZY HIP GROOVY GO-GO WAY OUT MONSTERS #29 & #32

PETE VON SHOLLY’s spoofs of monster mags will have you laughing your pants off— right after you soil them from sheer terror! This RETRO MONSTER MOVIE MAGAZINE is a laugh riot lampoon of those GREAT (and absolutely abominable) mags of the 1950s and ‘60s, replete with fake letters-to-the-editor, phony ads for worthless, wacky stuff, stills from imaginary films as bad as any that were really made, interviews with their “creators,” and much more! Relive your misspent youth (and misspent allowance) as you dig the hilarious photos, ads, and articles skewering OUR FAVORITE THINGS of the past! Get our first issue (#29!), the sequel (#32!), or both!

DIEDGITIIOTANSL E

BL AVAILA

(48-page magazines) $5.95 EACH • (Digital Editions) $1.95 EACH

These sold-out books are now available again in DIGITAL EDITIONS:

NEW!

MR. MONSTER, VOL. 0

TRUE BRIT

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME

Collects hard-to-find Mr. Monster stories from A-1, CRACK-A-BOOM! and DARK HORSE PRESENTS (many in COLOR for the first time) plus over 30 pages of ALLNEW MR. MONSTER art and stories! Can your sanity survive our Lee/Kirby monster spoof by MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MARK MARTIN, or the long-lost 1933 Mr. Monster newspaper strip? Or the terrifying TRENCHER/MR. MONSTER slug-fest, drawn by KEITH GIFFEN and MICHAEL T. GILBERT?! Read at your own risk!

GEORGE KHOURY’s definitive book on the rich history of British Comics Artists, their influence on the US, and how they have revolutionized the way comics are seen and perceived! It features breathtaking art, intimate photographs, and in-depth interviews with BRIAN BOLLAND, ALAN DAVIS, DAVE GIBBONS, KEVIN O’NEILL, DAVID LLOYD, DAVE McKEAN, BRYAN HITCH, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH and other fine gents! Sporting a new JUDGE DREDD cover by BRIAN BOLLAND!

MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! It covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor—peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS—and is illustrated with RARE AND UNSEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art! Plus: an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS, and an Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

(136-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $4.95

(204-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

(176-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $5.95

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: GENE COLAN

TOM FIELD’s amazing COLAN retrospective, with rare drawings, photos, and art from his 60-year career, and a comprehensive overview of Gene’s glory days at Marvel Comics! MARV WOLFMAN, DON McGREGOR and other writers share script samples and anecdotes of their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER, STEVE LEIALOHA and others show how they approached inking Colan’s famously nuanced penciled pages! Plus: a NEW PORTFOLIO of never-seen collaborations between Gene and masters such as BYRNE, KALUTA and PÉREZ, and all-new artwork created just for this book! (192-page Digital Edition with COLOR) $6.95

ART OF GEORGE TUSKA

A comprehensive look at GEORGE TUSKA’S personal and professional life, including early work at the Eisner-Iger shop, producing controversial crime comics of the 1950s, and his tenure with Marvel and DC Comics, as well as independent publishers. Includes extensive coverage of his work on IRON MAN, X-MEN, HULK, JUSTICE LEAGUE, TEEN TITANS, BATMAN, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and others, a gallery of commission art and a thorough index of his work, original art, photos, sketches, unpublished art, interviews and anecdotes from his peers and fans, plus the very personal and reflective words of George himself! Written by DEWEY CASSELL. (128-page Digital Edition) $4.95

OTHER BOOKS FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

PENCILER, PUBLISHER, PROVOCATEUR

COMICS’ FAST & FURIOUS ARTIST

THE ART OF GLAMOUR

MATT BAKER

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE

Shines a light on the life and career of the artistic and publishing visionary of DC Comics!

Explores the life and career of one of Marvel Comics’ most recognizable and dependable artists!

Biography of the talented master of 1940s “Good Girl” art, complete with color story reprints!

Definitive biography of the Watchmen writer, in a new, expanded edition!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95

(176-page trade paperback with COLOR) $26.95

(192-page hardcover with COLOR) $39.95

(240-page trade paperback) $29.95

QUALITY COMPANION

BATCAVE COMPANION

ALL- STAR COMPANION

AGE OF TV HEROES

The first dedicated book about the Golden Age publisher that spawned the modern-day “Freedom Fighters”, Plastic Man, and the Blackhawks!

Unlocks the secrets of Batman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, following the Dark Knight’s progression from 1960s camp to 1970s creature of the night!

Roy Thomas has four volumes documenting the history of ALL-STAR COMICS, the JUSTICE SOCIETY, INFINITY, INC., and more!

(256-page trade paperback with COLOR) $31.95

(240-page trade paperback) $26.95

(224-page trade paperbacks) $24.95

Examining the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes, featuring the in-depth stories of the shows’ actors and behind-the-scenes players!

CARMINE INFANTINO

SAL BUSCEMA

(192-page full-color hardcover) $39.95

MARVEL COMICS

An issue-by-issue field guide to the pop culture phenomenon of LEE, KIRBY, DITKO, and others, from the company’s fumbling beginnings to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity!

IN THE 1960s

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

MODERN MASTERS

HOW TO CREATE COMICS

Covers how Stan Lee went from writer to publisher, Jack Kirby left (and returned), Roy Thomas rose as editor, and a new wave of writers and artists came in!

20+ volumes with in-depth interviews, plus extensive galleries of rare and unseen art from the artist’s files!

(224-page trade paperback) $27.95

Shows step-by-step how to develop a new comic, from script and art, to printing and distribution!

(128-page trade paperbacks) $14.95 each

(108-page trade paperback) $15.95

IN THE 1970s

A BOOK SERIES DEVOTED TO THE BEST OF TODAY’S ARTISTS

FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

FOR A FREE COLOR CATALOG, CALL, WRITE, E-MAIL, OR LOG ONTO www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows—A New Day For Comics Fandom! TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • Visit us on the Web at www.twomorrows.com