Roy Thomas’ Super-Heroic Comics Fanzine

$5.95In the USA

No. 15June2002

‘Nuff Said!

TRIBUTE TOA TITAN!John

BuscemaJohn

Buscema

Conan TM & ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc.Other heroes ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times 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@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues:$5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 elsewhere. All characters are © theirrespective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM ofRoy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada.

FIRST PRINTING.

ContentsWriter/Editorial: “John Buscema Can Draw Anything You Can Get Him to Want to Draw!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2“John Buscema: The San Diego 2001 Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Mark Evanier talks to the artist about his love/hate affair with comics.

“Drawing Was His Life!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Sal Buscema talks to Jim Amash about his big brother.

ACTOR Is Open for Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34At last—an organization dedicated to helping comics creators in need!

Stan Goldberg on John Buscema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35“Stan G.” on his friendship with JB—and a memorable trip to Italy.

A Few More Words about John Buscema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Brief tributes from a handful of the artist’s fellow pros.

More about Big John–––Kurt Schaffenberger–––& Others . . . Flip Us!About Our Cover: Owen O’Leary, John’s art commission representative during the last year ofhis life, put together this stunning montage—the artist surrounded by penciled images of someof the Marvel heroes with whom he was most associated. [Conan TM & ©2002 Conan Properties,Inc.; other heroes ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Above: A commission drawing of the Sentinel of the Spaceways, courtesy of Owen O’Leary.[Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Silver Surfer TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vol. 3, No. 15 / June 2002Editor Roy Thomas

Associate EditorsBill SchellyJim Amash

Design & LayoutChristopher Day

Consulting EditorsJohn MorrowJon B. Cooke

FCA EditorP.C. Hamerlinck

Comics Crypt EditorMichael T. Gilbert

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

Cover ArtistJohn Buscema

Cover ColoristTom Ziuko(with special thanks to Susan O’Leary)

Mailing CrewRuss Garwood, Glen Musial,Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston WallaceAnd Special Thanks to:

This issue is dedicated to the memory of:John Buscema • Kurt SchaffenbergerHenry Boltinoff • Chad Grothkopf

Landon Chesney • Rich Grasso

Don AndreBlake BellTom BernardoMike BurkeyMrs. Dolores

BuscemaJohn Buscema, Jr.Sal BuscemaJoey CavalieriGene ColanShel DorfPatrick DumasJean-Jacques

DzialowskiMark EvanierJohn FleskesGil FormosaKarl GaffordStan GoldbergGrass GreenGeorge HagenauerBob HallDavid G. HamiltonRon HarrisIrwin HasenTom HorvitzCarmine InfantinoJohn KellyAdam KubertAndy KubertJoe KubertStan LeeJean-Marc LofficierRuss Maheras

Mick MartinJim McLauchlinBrian K. MorrisDave NewtonEric Nolen-WeathingtonCharlie NovinskieJerry OrdwayMatthew LageOwen & Susan

O’LearyJoe PetrilakAdam PhilipsBill PearsonJohn G. PierceDan RasplerJohn RomitaStephanie SandersonMrs. Dorothy

SchaffenbergerMarie SeverinDavid SiegelRobin SnyderFlo SteinbergMarc SwayzeMarc SvenssonDann ThomasHerb TrimpeDr. Michael J.

VassalloHames WareAlan WeissRalph Rawson WernerEd ZenoMike Zeno

™

This fantabulous Buscema pencil-and-ink illo appeared both in black-&-white and in color (as the wraparound cover) in Sal Quartuccio’s 1978 publication The Art ofJohn Buscema. There was a 17"x22" color print, too. If you ever run across a copy of either item, snap it up! [Art ©2002 the estate of John Buscema; super-heroes TM &

©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Conan TM & ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc.]

Conducted by Mark Evanier Transcribed by Brian K. MorrisInterview Videotaped by Marc Svensson[INTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: At last year’s Comic-ConInternational in San Diego, I got to spend many hours interviewingthe likes of John Buscema, Marie Severin, John Romita and GeneColan. How great is that? About the chats with Buscema, I have—ofcourse—mixed emotions. Talking with the man is, of course, a happymemory... but why did that have to be his last public appearance?Logic tells you that everyone has to go eventually... and we should beglad that John got dragged out to San Diego where he could be inter-viewed, honored, applauded, and where he got to see Marie, John,Gene, and other colleagues whose friendship he treasured. Still,reviewing this transcript, I can’t help but think, “Boy, I wish I couldinterview John further at the next San Diego Con. And the next andthe next and the next...” Just to have him around.

[I must also admit to a certain amount of mixed feelings about JohnBuscema’s career—an ambivalence that John, it seemed to many,shared. He did an incalculable amount of work in comics, much of iton books I very much enjoyed reading... especially those done incollaboration with the editor of Alter Ego. John also drew an awfullot of comics that he didn’t especially like, doing the pencils (orlayouts) for work that would be finished by folks he found incom-patible, if not incompetent. It has always frustrated me that men such

as John Buscema were prisoners of a system, and that the system wasnot reconfigured to make maximum use of their talents. John was sogood that, even hobbled by the process, there was still a surplus oftalent in evidence. Perhaps I’m projecting, but I think he felt thatfrustration and that you can see some ofit peeking out between the lines ofwhat follows. —Mark Evanier.]

John Buscema�The San Diego ����Interview

John Buscema (l.) and Mark Evanier (r.) Photo courtesy of Ralph Rawson Werner.

4 John Buscema

[John Buscema enters the room. Mark Evanier rises to shake his handand John takes his seat.]

JOHN BUSCEMA: I’m sorry I’m late. [applause] I can’t beat that. I’mgoing home. [mocks rising from his seat]

MARK EVANIER: When have you ever been late in your life?

BUSCEMA: [smiles] All right, I ain’t getting paid for this.

ME: At 4:00 we have a panel that’s listed in the program book asbeing about art techniques. It’s not. It’s going to be a surprisebirthday party for Gene Colan. Gene is going to be 75 in a couple of

weeks, and we decided to have a party. He’s the only human being inthis entire Convention Center who doesn’t know about this. He’sgoing to be thinking, “I’m on this stupid panel about art techniques.”[laughs] And we’re going to do about a minute or two of that, andthen we’re going to bring in a cake and sing to him and talk about hiscareer. If you see Gene, do not give away the secret.

All right, let me formally begin here. To save time, I’m going tolist all the Marvel Comics that this man did not draw: [generallaughter] Patsy Walker; Brother Voodoo, and It, the LivingColossus. He drew just about everything else there. One time when Iwas up at Marvel, John was supposed to deliver a job, and he wasn’t

Two splashes penciled by John for Timely (later Marvel), from Romances of the West #2 (March 1950) and Amazing Detective Cases #3 (Nov. ’50), when he was only a year or two into his professional career. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, who provided the copies, suspects John may also have inked “Bonnie Parker.” In the latter, clearly the waitress and counter should have been drawn on the left, the bald guy with his hands up on the right.

As done, the three balloons are read in the totally wrong order! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

By the late ’50s, for the American Comics Group, John was doing polished work which heralded what was to come a few years later. These splashes are fromAdventures into the Unknown #165 and Forbidden Worlds #79, respectively. Thanks to Owen O’Leary. [©2002 the respective copyright owners.]

The San Diego 2001 Interview 5

there at the moment. I asked, “What time is it due?” and they said,“He’s supposed to be in at 2:00.” I said, “But it’s only, like, 1:45 now”and someone said, “We expect him to be early.”

Over the years, I can’t think of how many Marvel Comics wouldhave had blank pages or reprints, if not for this gentleman. Probably,most of you know his work from whatever you saw first. I think Iwas first conscious of him on The Avengers. Later on, he drew Sub-Mariner, he drew Thor, he drew Conan the Barbarian... truly, one ofthe inspirational, talented men of our business, Mr. John Buscema.[applause] Have you any idea how you came to the comics you drewthroughout your career?

BUSCEMA: I haven’t the slightest idea.

ME: At what age did you become aware that you could draw beyondthe way we all draw when we’re young?

BUSCEMA: I’m sorry, I don’t get that question.

ME: Well, when we’re young, we all draw with crayons and we candraw a little bit. At what age did you figure out that you could drawa little better than the norm and could maybe make a career out ofit?

BUSCEMA: I never really felt that I could draw the way I shoulddraw. And I’m still struggling, right up to today, really. And Ialways try to improve. I’m always trying to change. I’malways trying new techniques, new styles. I understandwhat you’re saying.

ME: But at some point, you—

BUSCEMA: No, no. I never reached that point. Ithink when I got my first job, and my first job—doI go on with this for a second?

ME: Yes, yes.

BUSCEMA: I think it was before any of you wereborn. Did you ever hear of a newspaper called TheHobo News? [pause] Never heard of The Hobo News?[audience laughs] I sold two gag cartoons to them. Ithink I was in high school. I got four bucks for it and Iwas on my way to fame and fortune. That’s what I thought, at

any rate.

ME: But at some point, you realized that you could draw well enoughto make a living.

BUSCEMA: No, no, no. Again, I’m going to say no, because I believedstrongly for many years, even when I was working—I felt every job Iturned in, they were going to fire me. This went on for years, really.

ME: [to audience] How many people here don’t buy this for a second?

BUSCEMA: No, I’m serious. I’m very serious. There were times I wasterrified to turn in a job. And I expected them to say, “John, what? Areyou kidding us?” And I went along that way for quite a few years until,I think, I signed a contract with Marvel. And then I thought I was goingto be fine, now that I had a contract. No, but seriously, I was neverhappy with what I’d done, right up to today. I’ve always felt that I couldhave done better, and someone would discover that I could do better,and they were going to fire me.

ME: Most people here have probably seen the originalartwork you’ve done. On the backs of the pages, there arethese wonderful sketches. Don Heck once told me hethought that the more sketches there were on the back ofthe pages, the less interested you were in front of the

pages.

BUSCEMA: That’s true.

ME: Maybe you weren’t satisfied withyour work, but at some point, yourealized that you were getting work,

that you were better than, at the veryleast, half the people in this

business. There’s some prettyawful people who get to work inthis business.

BUSCEMA: Yeah, I’ve heard that.

ME: But at what point did youfeel that you knew how to dothis?

BUSCEMA: No, seriously. Ithink if anybody is really serious

about their work, they’re never satisfied.They will feel like the guy who islooking at it is going to say the same

thing. He’s not up to what he shouldbe doing, and I’ve always felt thatway. And many times, I have to beat

a deadline and when I beat that deadlineand I’ve turned it in, I expect to get aphone call. It never comes and I’m happyand I can sleep at night.

ME: One of the things that other artistshave said about you many times is hownaturally you could sit down and draw

and it would just come out of you. You didn’t have artist’s block, andyou didn’t have to sit down and do twelve pages of roughs to buildup a finished page. If you sat down at the board, a finished pagewould come out before you stood up. Is this a correct perception?

BUSCEMA: Sometimes. There were times—well, it hasn’t happenedrecently, but in years past there would be a page where I wanted to get acertain effect and I would spend... now, my normal day I could do threepenciled pages a day. There were times I’d have a panel that would driveme up the wall and I would spend a whole day on just one panel,

Some of John’s back-of-the-page art inmixed pencil and ink, courtesy of John Kelly.

[©2002 estate of John Buscema. Hulk TM!&©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

6 John Buscema

Interview Conducted by Roy Thomas—2/19/02Transcribed by Brian K. Morris[INTRODUCTORY NOTE: John Buscema’s younger brother Salbegan his comics career inking for Marvel in the late 1960s, and wassoon penciling, as well, inheriting The Avengers at one of theoccasions when John was pulled off the title by Stan Lee. I wasthrilled to work with Sal, who could keep the established look on themagazine. Later we worked together on Sub-Mariner and other titles,as well, and Sal has had successful stints penciling for both Marveland DC. On February 19, 2002, we spoke by phone about John’spassing, which had occurred a few weeks earlier.]

ROY THOMAS: I was sorry to learn that you and John had anotherbrother pass away—only last year?

SAL BUSCEMA: Yeah, our oldest brother. His name was Alfred. Alwas 78 and, as they said, if you look at Al, Al was a miniature John. Thisis so tragic about the two, because it’s just very difficult to fathom howtwo guys—they weren’t at advanced years, and they were much, muchyounger than their years. Al, especially. I mean, this is a guy that lookedlike he was twelve to fifteen years younger than he actually was. Lasttime I saw him, he was pushing eighty.

RT: When I last saw John, just about a year and a half ago, at aconvention in White Plains, New York, he certainly didn’t look like

he was in his mid-seventies.

BUSCEMA: No. John was alittle—I won’t say he was a healthnut but he really was a very—heexercised religiously, believed inweight training for cardiovascularreasons, and all that. And he triedto watch his diet, too. I know hewas very, very conscious of that,and he was a very robust andextremely very strong guy. I wouldnot have wanted to get him angryat me, let’s put it that way. [laughs]And he had a temper, too. But thisis the tragedy—and, I mean, this iswhat life is all about—it doesn’tmatter. You contract an illness andin the space of a few months—andit could be the space of a fewweeks or days—you’re gone. Andthat’s what happened to both ofthem. My older brother had hadearlier problems; there were someproblems with his liver. He hadHepatitis C, and so on and soforth. In six months’ time, I saw

“Drawing Was His Life!”SAL BUSCEMA Talks about His Big Brother JOHN

Sal Buscema in a photo printed in theprogram book for the 1975 Mighty Marvel

Comic Convention... and a drawing hedid not too many years back for a

restaurant in San Diego. Alter Ego hasarranged to interview Sal ere long about

his own career—which sure ain’tchickenfeed! [Art ©2002 Sal Buscema;Hulk ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

28 Sal Buscema

this man reduced to a shadow of himself. And essentially, this is whathappened to John, too, from what I understand.

RT: Did you see John during the last few months of his life?

BUSCEMA: Actually, no, I did not. I did not, and I regret that. I talkedto him just before Christmas. My wife and I called together to wish himand Dolores a happy Christmas, and especially under the circumstances.And I got the impression that he was feeling pretty good. He told me hewas eating a little better and that he actually gained a pound or two, andso on. And then, just a little over a week later, they called and said he’dtaken a violent turn for the worse—and he was gone the next day. So Ididn’t even have an opportunity to come up there. Nobody dreamed itwas going to happen that quickly. Even though he was very ill, it was areal shock to all of us.

RT: Were you and and John fairly close? Did you talk a fair amounton the phone?

BUSCEMA: Absolutely. As a matter of fact, one ofthe things I pride myself on is the fact that myfamily is very close.

RT: Well, you’re Italian, you know. [laughs]

BUSCEMA: Yeah. It’s genetic, I suppose.[chuckles] Though I know of Italian families thatare not.

RT: One of the things that I know John said lastyear was that he didn’t encourage you to be acomic artist when you wanted to. He thoughtthat you should have been an actor. Did he evertell you this, or was this something he just toldother people?

BUSCEMA: I’m not sure that he encouraged me tobecome an actor. I suppose I had some talent in thatarea. As a matter of fact, I’ve been doingcommunity theater for the last twenty years andhad a great time doing it. It’s wonderful if you do itas a hobby, and people have told me, some peoplewhose opinions I respect—I think they’re exagger-ating—but they said I definitely could have beenprofessional. But John encouraged me to be anactor? I’m not sure.

RT: Well, maybe he said he thought you shouldhave been, more than that he encouraged you.

BUSCEMA: Oh, sure. Well, yeah. As a matter offact, that probably stems from conversations thatwe had, because I told him that I did not have thepassion for art, and drawing in particular, that hedid. I had a certain amount of talent, but it wasdeveloped with a minimal amount of effort. Where,in John’s case—I mean, this is a guy, as you know—he ate, slept, and breathed drawing. I mean, thatwas his life. He just had a great passion for it. I didnot have that passion. I do have a passion foracting, and in that sense, I suppose, yeah, heprobably said that I should have been an actorinstead of an artist. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy—how do you not enjoy something that you’ve donefor almost fifty years, professionally? I do enjoy it.I think the difference is that I didn’t have thepassion—that’s the best word I can think of—for itthat John did.

RT: What, if anything, did he have to do with youcoming to Marvel in the late ’60s?

BUSCEMA: Well, John and Dolores had come to visit us down here inVirginia this one weekend, and he just happened to mention—I wasworking for an art studio in Washington, D.C. and John had beenfreelancing for an art studio, a commercial advertising art studio inManhattan. And I’ve heard several versions of this story, that Stan calledJohn and that kind of thing. The incredible thing about it is that Stanand John bumped into each other accidentally in mid-midtownManhattan.

RT: I did not know that.

BUSCEMA: Yeah, and they greeted each other and said hellos and “howyou doing” and all that kind of stuff. And Stan said, “Hey, John, comicbooks are coming back, you know. Why don’t you consider doing somework for us?” Well, it just so happened that John hated the commute. Imean, he literally commuted five hours a day from his home in Port

A John Buscema page from Thor #217, inked by Sal Buscema. Repro’d from photocopies of the originalart, courtesy of Owen O’Leary. Script by Gerry Conway. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Talks about His Big Brother John 29

[NOTE: Stan Goldberg, who for more than three decades has been atop artist for Archie Publications, began his career at Timely/Marvelin the late 1940s primarily as a colorist, later drawing Millie theModel and other titles. As Marvel’s chief colorist during much of the1960s, he contributed to its rise that began in 1961 with the publi-cation of Fantastic Four #1, and a long interview with him wasplanned for this issue before it was decided turn it into a specialtribute to John Buscema. Stan has his own very special memories ofthis late great artist, and Jim Amash asked him about them. —R.T.]

STAN GOLDBERG: John Buscema was not one of the best artists towork in comics—he was the best artist who ever drew comics. Therehave been a number of great comics artists, but John was better thaneveryone.

I have a dear friend, San Kossin, who’s an award-winning illustrator.Sandy invited me over to his house for dinner one night, and some otherwell-know illustrators were there, too, including Barney Plotkin. Iremembered that John worked for a studio many years ago and said toBarney, “I know someone who was a studio man many years ago, andhe’s a terrific artist. Maybe you’ve heard of him? His name is JohnBuscema.”

Barney said, “John Buscema? We shared a studio many years ago. Hewas the best artist then, and I’m sure he’s a better artist than anyone inthe business today.”

There was a woman there, Elaine Harwetel, who illustrated romancenovels, and she remembered going to the School of Music and Art withJohn. She gave me her maiden name and I asked John if he rememberedher. He did. It’s something that here’s someone who remembered Johnfrom high school, which goes to show how great he was when he wasseventeen, eighteen years old.

Even though he worked primarily in comics, that was just the tip ofthe iceberg in regards to what John could do. I’ve seen some of his non-comics work and it’s amazing stuff. John knew how to draw, and always

had a flair for the dramatic. He knew how to explode a picture and tellthe greatest story in continuity.

He could draw six panels on a page for an entire book and you couldput any one of those panels on the cover of a magazine, and here he wasusing them to tell a story from beginning to end.

JIM AMASH: That’s one of the things I admired most about JohnBuscema. He drew a great picture in every panel without sacrificingstorytelling.

GOLDBERG: That’s a perfect description. I saw something recentlythat he had inked, and John was very proud of it. He once told me thatthere was a time when he was penciling around 150 pages a month. They

Stan Goldberg 35

Captain America vs. Thor—doubtless duking it out for some very good reason(like, a collector commissioned it). Buscema pencil-and-ink courtesy of

Owen O’Leary. [Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Capt. America & Thor TM &"#©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Stan Goldberg on JohnBuscema

Jim Amash Talks with “Stan G.” about Big John—and a Memorable Italian Sojourn

Three American cartoonists in Lucca, Italy, 1999. (L. to r.:) John Buscema,Jose Delbo, Stan Goldberg. Stan, who provided all photos in this section,

says, “We spent a lot of time together!”

were breakdowns, but they [Marvel] could give them to a good inkerwho knew how to draw and interpret them. It could have been TheAvengers or Captain America or even romance, which they had him doa few times. Many guys have told me that the greatest romance artist wasJohn Buscema.

I’ve seen those breakdowns and seen people work on them. Youcouldn’t just be an embellisher. You had to know how to draw, too, inorder to work on those pages. But everything you needed was there.Any artist with talent could take those pages and run with them.

JA: Some people did a great job and some didn’t.

GOLDBERG: Yes, and that’s unfortunate. Maybe the guy who coulddo it wasn’t there at that time and Marvel needed someone to do it. Theywanted John to do as much as possible because he could do a storybetter than anyone.

JA: John started at Timely before you did. He started in 1948 and youcame in the following year.

GOLDBERG: Right. I talked to Rudy Lapick [Timelyinker who now works for Archie Comics], who was in thebullpen when John started. I was coloring in a differentdepartment, so I didn’t get to know him then. Later on,John left comics and went into advertising.

He tried to get work at DC once and they didn’t wantto use him or couldn’t use him. I don’t think his style fitinto DC at that time. They had the Curt Swan look: veryslick, and every line meant something. It was very cleanstuff. John was all over the place, and they didn’t want him.

I remember when John came back to Marvel in the1960s. Stan Lee was very happy. We were taking a walk oneday and Stan said, “We got John Buscema now, and nowwe’ve got the best.” Stan knew what he had and what Johncould produce for him.

JA: Did you ever color his work?

GOLDBERG: I must have, but I don’t remember specifics.I wasn’t doing that much coloring when John came back toMarvel, so if I did, I probably did it when he worked forTimely.

JA: Did you get to know John when he returned toMarvel?

GOLDBERG: Not really. We were freelancers, and if weweren’t in the office on the same day, we didn’t see eachother. He was raising a family and so was I. It was just amatter of doing your work and getting it done so you couldgo on to the next job. Sometimes you didn’t know wherethat next job would come from. I’ve worked on manybooks that seemed secure and then you’d hear that saleswere slipping. If you’re doing three of them, one disappearsone month, and before long, all three of them are gone.John never had that problem, because he could adapt to somany different things.

I could never figure this out until John explained to mehow he did it. I said, “When you’re doing The Avengers(and they’d have five to seven members in the group,maybe more) and they are fighting all these bad guys withnuts and bolts and sticks on them, how do you rememberto keep the costumes straight from page to page?” John hada notebook with drawings of all these characters so hecould keep them consistent-looking. He didn’t have to goback to the earlier pages to keep them straight.

When I first got to know John, it was during the Marveldays. Sometimes I was lucky enough to be up there turning some workin, and maybe John was meeting with Roy Thomas. A couple of timeswe went out to lunch together with a few other guys, and then we’d goour own ways.

When ACBA [the Academy of Comic Book Arts] was formed in theearly 1970s, they had a couple of dinners, and John would say, “Let’s sittogether.” That’s when I met his wife Dolores. We’d sit around and talkabout getting together, but we never did. We were always busy working.Years later, we worked together on Archie Meets The Punisher. Johncame up to the Archie offices and we got together and talked about oldtimes. He talked about some of the trips he went on, including a trip toItaly he just loved. They had a comics convention there.

It wasn’t until about four years ago that we really got to be socialfriends. Mel Lazarus [creator of the newspaper strip Miss Peach] calledme up, mentioned that a bunch of cartoonists were taking a trip to thecomics festival in Italy, and asked if my wife and I wanted to go. We

36 Stan Goldberg

A re-creation by John, doing both pencil and inks, of his cover forAvengers Annual #2, 1968. Courtesy of Owen O’Leary.

[Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Avengers TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

TributesTributesA Few More Words About John Buscema

[Roy T. here: Had we the space and inclination, we could have filledthis issue with little besides tributes to John Buscema from his peersand fellow professionals. However, since webelieved that such accolades would be very wellrepresented in the pages of The Comics Buyer’sGuide, Comic Book Marketplace, The ComicsJournal, and elsewhere, we decided to solicitcomments from only a handful of John’scolleagues... and one or two of them sought us out,as well. Their remarks are printed here more or lessin the order in which we received them.

[I awoke on the morning of Friday, January 11,2002, to receive an e-mail telling me that John hadpassed away the preceding night. A bit later I sentan e-mail of my own to Stan Lee in California—certainly John’s most important editor and collabo-rator—to inform him of this sad fact, and to invitehim, should he wish to do so, to write a few wordsabout John. His initialreaction came back at once:]

I’ll try to write a few words for you this weekendif I can.

Damn! John was one great artist—and one greatguy!

[Later, being inundated by requests for commentby DC, Marvel, and others, Stan asked if I couldsimply make use of the paragraphs he had writtenfor them, and naturally I understood andconcurred:]

John Buscema was far more than one of ourfinest comic book artists. If Michelangelo hadelected to draw storyboards with pencil and pen, hisstyle would have been close to that of Big John’s.But, even more than a superb illustrator, John was

also a brilliant visual story-teller. Thinking back on all thestrips we had done together, Ihad only to given him thebriefest kernel of a plot and he

A late-’60s photo of Stan Lee, in front of the wall-full of Marvel covers in his office. TheAvengers and X-Men covers shown were penciled by John Buscema. Easily the mostfamous collaboration of Stan Lee and John Buscema was the first seventeen issues ofThe Silver Surfer in 1969-70. The above commissioned re-creation by John shows his

own version of the cover of the first issue; the original had been inked by Joe Sinnott.Courtesy of Owen O’Leary. [Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Silver Surfer TM & ©2002

Marvel Characters, Inc.]

STAN LEE

42 Tributes

would flesh it out with his magnificent illustrations so beautifully thatthe stories almost seemed to write themselves. Happily, the legacy ofartwork that my dear friend, the creative giant that was John Buscema,leaves behind, will bring wonder and enjoyment to generations ofreaders to come.

Excelsior!

JOHN ROMITAAfter knowing and working with John Buscema for 35-plus years, I

got to spend personal time with him in San Diego last July. With aterrible battle to face, and the petty annoyances which are common, heshowed me something of the grand person he strove to hide all theseyears. With every right to lose his patience, he stuck it out and did hisduty. All the world knows what a peerless talent he was; now we knowwhat a man he was. He set standards for me for decades, forcing me toimprove, making me a better artist, and then raised the bar for me tostruggle harder to be a better man.

We will not see another like John Buscema again.

GENE COLANI believe it was 1946 or thereabouts when

Stan Lee gave me my chance at comics. Veryshortly after that, John came along and joined usall in the Bullpen.

He was a natural! And I envied every line hedrew. All of his art was so skillfully drawn. Henever displayed any lack of confidence in hiswork... everything was seamless. It was notunlike John to carry on a conversation and,before it was noticed, a page was completed.These were my formative years, always trying toemulate the very best technique that I spotted insomeone else’s work.

John had a thick crop of jet-black hair that hegave a quick run-through when he came in towork. He reminded me always of the very coolactor Robert Mitchum.

I remember him being a very fast worker. Tome it was incredible how much work John couldturn out in such a short time. This ability to turnout the art rapidly was not my strong point. Iagonized over every line. It took me quite sometime to improve on speed. Deadlines had to bemet one way or another. The only option I hadwas to keep very late hours.

I never realized the scope of John’s work tillrecently. A book [The John BuscemaSketchbook, from Vanguard] has just beenpublished, revealing much of his work that wentbeyond comics. A good deal of the inner manquickly became obvious to me about John. Thefaces of people within the pages of this book toldme so much that I never knew about him before.The depth of the man and his knowledge andrange went so far beyond comics. He was aMichelangelo.

John was the backbone of the industry. Hispresence and influence will continue. I idolizedhim. Rest in peace, dear friend.

CARMINE INFANTINO(via phone with Jim Amash)

The first time I met John was at a comic book convention in Lucca,Italy. I was being honored there. Unfortunately, in all the years I workedin comics, I had never met John. I was shocked when I met him, becausehe was nothing like I thought he would be. He proved to be a warm,delightful human being and we got to be quite friendly. I was always afan of his work and was in awe of him.

The last time I saw him was this past summer at the San DiegoComics Convention. We talked about making a trip to Spain, but Johnwasn’t well enough to go. He’s going to be sorely missed in thisbusiness, because he was quite a talent, and you don’t replace a man likethat very easily. I will miss him and the business will miss him. He wasmagnificent.

I don’t think John really got the full appreciation he deserved. Hecould go in so many different directions. You know he was in adver-tising for many years, and his color work was unbelievable. No matterwhat kind of work it was, John could do it and do it better than justabout anyone else.

One of the things that always bothered me was that I couldn’t get

These pencil sketches by John ably illustrate Gene Colan’s point about John’s back-of-the-page work.Courtesy of Owen O’Leary. [Art ©2002 John Buscema; Conan TM & ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc.]

A Few More Words About John Buscema 43

JohnBuscema

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KurtSchaffenberger

featuring:featuring:

$5.95In the USA

$5.95In the USA

No. 15June2002

SPECIAL SALUTES TOJohn

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Roy Thomas’ Barbarous Comics Fanzine

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times 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@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues:$5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 elsewhere. All characters are © theirrespective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM ofRoy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada.

FIRST PRINTING.

Vol. 3, No. 15 / June 2002Editor Roy Thomas

Associate EditorsBill SchellyJim Amash

Design & LayoutChristopher Day

Consulting EditorsJohn MorrowJon B. Cooke

FCA EditorP.C. Hamerlinck

Comics Crypt EditorMichael T. Gilbert

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

Cover ArtistJohn Buscema

Cover ColoristTom Ziuko(with special thanks to Susan O’Leary)

Mailing CrewRuss Garwood, Glen Musial,Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston WallaceAnd Special Thanks to:

™

This issue is dedicated to the memory of:John Buscema • Kurt SchaffenbergerHenry Boltinoff • Chad Grothkopf

Landon Chesney • Rich Grasso

Contentsre: (correspondence & corrections on past issues) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A Timely/Atlas/Marvel special.

““Big John” and “Roy the Boy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Roy Thomas talks about 35 years of collaboration with John Buscema.

Presenting Grass Green’s “Da Scavengers” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Bill Schelly on one of fandom’s finest writer/artists.

The Wizard King: Wally Wood’s Unfinished Symphony . . . . . . 31Michael T. Gilbert on a master’s final major work, never before published.

Tributes to Henry Boltinoff and Chad Grothkopf . . . . . . . . . . . 38Two fine comic book artists remembered.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Marc Swayze—plus a special “Salute to Kurt Schaffenberger.”

John Buscema: The San Diego 2001 Interview, and more . . . Flip Us!About Our Cover: This Buscema pen-and-ink has been seen before—including in Savage Swordof Conan and ads for the 1978 Conan the Barbarian newspaper strip—but Owen O’Learysuggested it as one of this issue’s covers, and we agreed it was the perfect choice. Conan—afantasy world—and a beautiful woman: three of John’s favorite subjects in one masterful illustration! [Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Conan TM & ©2002 Conan Properties, Inc.]

Above: Conan and a slightly different type of gorgeous female, in a commission drawingcourtesy of Owen O’Leary. [Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Conan TM & ©2002 ConanProperties, Inc.; Red Sonja TM & ©2002 Red Sonja Properties, Inc.]

Don AndreBlake BellTom BernardoMike BurkeyMrs. Dolores

BuscemaJohn Buscema, Jr.Sal BuscemaJoey CavalieriGene ColanShel DorfPatrick DumasJean-Jacques

DzialowskiMark EvanierJohn FleskesGil FormosaKarl GaffordStan GoldbergGrass GreenGeorge HagenauerBob HallDavid G. HamiltonRon HarrisIrwin HasenTom HorvitzCarmine InfantinoJohn KellyAdam KubertAndy KubertJoe KubertStan LeeJean-Marc LofficierRuss Maheras

Mick MartinJim McLauchlinBrian K. MorrisDave NewtonEric Nolen-WeathingtonCharlie NovinskieJerry OrdwayMatthew LageOwen & Susan

O’LearyJoe PetrilakAdam PhilipsBill PearsonJohn G. PierceDan RasplerJohn RomitaStephanie SandersonMrs. Dorothy

SchaffenbergerMarie SeverinDavid SiegelRobin SnyderFlo SteinbergMarc SwayzeMarc SvenssonDann ThomasHerb TrimpeDr. Michael J.

VassalloHames WareAlan WeissRalph Rawson WernerEd ZenoMike Zeno

So my wife and I are walking toward the exit door of theconvention center when all of a sudden we hear this deep,booming voice:

“Roy Thomas!”

I recognize it instantly, of course, even though it’s beenseveral years since I last heard it in person... and months, at least,since I heard it even over the phone.

“Hi, John.”

John and Dolores Buscema are seated at a long table we’d justpassed, John signing autographs with a gruff patience on this lateafternoon at a comics convention in White Plains, New York.Not certain whether they have met Dann before, I introducethem again. “I didn’t think you’d made it here,” I add. “Theycancelled your panel.”

“You wanna hear a story? They sent this cab to pick us upout on Long Island...”

The gist of the tale is that the know-nothing cabbie got lostand drove for hours on the freeway trying to the find the right off-rampin Westchester County. By the time first White Plains, then itsconvention center, was located, John had missed the one-on-one panelwhich was his sole scheduled event. Not that he minds, he makes sure Iunderstand: “Iwouldn’t even behere, but mygrandkids told me Ihad to.”

We talk for a fewminutes about thisand that, includingthe project John iscurrently drawing—though officiallyhe’s been “retired”for a year or two—and Dann snaps apair of photos. Wesay our goodbyes,expressing a hopethat we run intoeach other again oneof these days.

And that’s thelast time I saw JohnBuscema.

As you get older,you get used topeople “passingon,” as they say.You wouldn’t thinkyou would, but youdo.

Although our

collaborations covered well over a third of a century, John and I werenever friends in the sense that I was at one time or another with BillEverett and Gil Kane and a handful of younger professionals, mostlywriters. I believe he and I liked and respected each other, but we rarely

spent any time together. Even so, thinking of a John Buscemaanecdote even now, as I write these words two months after hisdeath, in my mind I can still hear his voice as it was—robust,hearty, full of life—the last time we spoke, this past fall, when Iinterviewed him by phone about our 1960s/70s stint on TheAvengers.

Somehow, although at the time we were working on aprojected five-issue DC Elseworlds series

titled JLA: Barbarians, it seems fitting thatour last conversation dealt with The

Avengers. Because that’s the waywe’d started out, 35 years

earlier...

In the Beginning...I don’t really

recall the day Johnand I first met,except that it had tobe in mid-1966, atMarvel’s offices at625 Madison Avenuein Manhattan. I doremember being

shown, probably byproduction manager

Sol Brodsky rather thanby Stan Lee, a page of

sample illustrations John haddone. I don’t even recall if theywere of super-heroes or merely

figure studies. I only know they

“Big John” �“Roy The Boy”Rascally ROY THOMAS on Three-plus Decades of Collaboration with BIG JOHN BUSCEMA

“Roy The Boy” 3

(Left to right:) Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Dolores Buscema in a chance encounter at Joe Petrilak’s All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention in

June 2000. Photo by Dann Thomas.

Now—and then! At right, one of John’s penciled concept illos for JLA: Barbarians—and a re-creation of his cover

for Avengers #49 (Feb. 1968), above, which he inked thefirst time around, too. Commission art courtesy of

Owen O’Leary. [Art above ©2002 estate of John Buscema;Avengers TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.; “Kal-El the Barbarian” art ©2002 DC Comics.]

made an immediate impression of being beautifully and realisticallyrendered... far less “comic-booky” than anything I’d seen pass throughthe hallowed halls of Marvel in the year I’d been Stan’s editorialassistant, except for some of Gene Colan’s near-photographic work.

I was told that this big barrel-chested guy, John Buscema, had beenwith Marvel back in the “old days,” when it had been Timely Comics.He’d been working in the advertising field for years, but now he wantedto get into comics again. Stan had welcomed John with open arms; heknew good drawing when he saw it as well as anybody. But “gooddrawing,” as such, wasn’t really what Marvel Comics was about. Marvelwas about action, about drama, about excitement... and, artwise, in 1966that meant it was pretty much “about” Jack Kirby.

Stan had finally come to the reluctant conclusion that “Wild Bill”Everett, great as he was, wasn’t the right artist to go on drawing “TheIncredible Hulk” in Tales to Astonish, not even over pencil layouts byJack Kirby. An interim issue assigned to veteran Jerry Grandenetti (#82,Oct. 1966) had proved a disaster, in Stan’s mind. In fact, while the inkingon that ten-pager is doubtless Bill’s, and for all I know Kirby may havelaid it out, the art wound up being credited to “Almost the WholeBlamed Bullpen” (with no mention of Grandenetti or any other artist).In the final panel, beneath a drawing of Ol’ Greenskin stomping offmuttering, “Free—to do—what??!” was a blurb: “...And that’s just whatwe’ll find out—NEXT ISSUE!”

What readers found when they picked up Tales to Astonish #85 was astory credited to a new penciler—“John Buscema”—with inking by“Mickey Demeo” (longtimer Mike Esposito).

The art in “The Missile and the Monster!” is good, even if Buscemaand Esposito were not perfectly suited... but Stan felt John still wasn’t“there” yet and pressed him to take a look at Kirby’s work to see thekind of excitement he wanted. It was probably before he drew his nexttwo “Hulks” that John was given a “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”12-pager to pencil for Strange Tales #150. Stan wanted John to adjusthis illustrative look to accommodate Marvel storytelling. And the bestway to assure that was to have him work over Jack Kirby layouts.

Jack’s layouts/breakdowns, when done for another artist to finish,contained relatively few details, being mostly concerned with the story-telling and the motion and the attitude of the characters. Which meantthey were bursting with explosive action and hell-bent-for-leather story-telling. Still, any artist “tightening” those layouts had no choice but toreflect Jack’s point of view.

What’s more, since Stan scripted directly from those layouts, theywere already lettered by the time they were given to the “penciler,”further limiting the changes the latter could make to Jack’s work. Evenif, as Jon B. Cooke told me recently, John Buscema said he erased Jack’slayouts before he started penciling, the Kirby influence would still bethere. (A couple of years later, Tom Palmer would likewise erase GeneColan’s Dr. Strange far more finished pencils before he began to inkthem; but the result never looked like anything other than Gene Colaninked by Tom Palmer. Not that Tom intended it to.)

John’s splash for Tales to Astonish #87—and the remainder of his three “Hulk” stories—are on affordable view in The Essential Hulk, Vol. 1.

[©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The climax of Avengers #50: Hercules vs. Typhon, as seen in glorious black-&-white in The Essential Avengers, Vol. 3. And no, Alter Ego doesn’t get anything in return for the plug; we just like to help collectors locate

inexpensive copies of classic Golden and Silver Age stories. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

4 “Big John”

“Roy The Boy” 5

John’s “Hulk” stories in Astonish #86-87 improved as they wentalong... but when Gil Kane walked into the Marvel offices, willing towork under his own name this time, he got the “Hulk” assignment. AndJohn had only drawn one Strange Tales installment, because 1966 wasthe second summer in a row that a young Pennsylvania artist named JimSteranko came to a New York comics convention (and thence to Marvel)looking for work, and this time he’d gone away with the “S.H.I.E.L.D.”assignment—albeit initially over, you guessed it, Jack Kirby layouts.

So what to do with the supremely talented yet still-struggling JohnBuscema?

Avengers Forever... If I Had My Way about ItAt this time Don Heck was up to his ears drawing both the monthly

Avengers and the extra-length Avengers Annual #1, so John wasassigned to do a couple of fill-in issues, starting with #41 (June 1967).For the first time since his return, John would be working not with Stanthe Man, but with a relative newcomer—Roy the Boy (just turned 26, sonot all that young, really).

John and I had little personal contact in those days—just theoccasional phone call with regard to some point in the written two-or-three-page synopses I sent him for most issues. But I was instantlysmitten with his work, and persuaded Stan that Don should be movedover to other projects—eventually to The X-Men, which I was alsoscripting—so John could remain as regular Avengers penciler.

Nor do I remember Stan or John ever talking with me about thepossibility of John’s inking his own work; Stan clearly preferred he just

pencil. Even so, perhaps unhappy with the inking he was getting, Johngot Stan’s okay to ink Avengers #49-50, and they are the best-lookingones of that period. But John must have realized he’d make more moneyjust penciling, and that was the end of his inking for quite some time.Though sales were good, I can’t say we broke any sales records withthose early Avengers.

At this point I could wax eloquent for page after page about thedozens of Avengers issues John and I did together through 1972, when Irelinquished that title to concentrate on being Marvel’s editor-in-chief;but most such comments belong in an article about the group itself... andthis one is about the Buscema/Thomas collaborations.

Besides, Avengers constituted only half the work John and I weredoing together at this time.

Suddenly... The Sub-Mariner!When Prince Namor (like The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America,

S.H.I.E.L.D., and Dr. Strange) received his own monthly mag in 1968,John was tapped to pencil it. Behind a powerful cover inked by SolBrodsky, The Sub-Mariner #1 inaugurated a string of issues I enjoyedevery bit as much as Avengers... and which John probably enjoyedslightly more, not having so many heroes to juggle. He also liked thefact that the issue was embellished by Frank Giacoia, one of hispreferred inkers. For my part, I reveled to see the “Buscema touch”applied to recaps of Namor’s origin and WWII exploits, and to theevents in Fantastic Four #4 that had brought Sub-Mariner into the1960s. It was immediately apparent that John would be the ideal choiceto succeed Kirby on F.F., but of course in 1968 no one was thinking in

Re-creations of the covers of the Silver Age Sub-Mariner #4 & #6... courtesy of Tom Horvitz.[Art ©2002 estate of John Buscema; Krang & Tiger Shark TM & ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Introduction by Bill Schelly[In Alter Ego V3#1 we reprinted “Da Frantic Four”—Grass Green’s askew view of the early Lee & KirbyFantastic Four, which served as Grass’ introduction tocomics fandom when it appeared in The Comicollector #8in late 1963—and earlier, in the Hamster trade paperbackAlter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine,we re-presented 1964’s “The Bestest League of AmericaMeets Da Frantic Four” by Grass and Roy Thomas. Now,thanks to magnanimous Mick Martin, who published thelast three issues of the fanzine Komix Illustrated—andwho is co-author with Marsha Porter of the Video Movie Guide 2002for Ballantine Books—we’re delighted to be able to publish Green’slesser-known—but equally brilliant—parody of The Avengers, whichwas featured in Komix Illustrated #13, 1964.]

In 1962 popular fan artist Richard “Grass” Green received a letterthat rocked his world. It was from the comics artist he most idolized:

Jack Kirby.

Green’s admiration for Kirby was bornin the early 1950s, when Grass—then ajunior high student in Fort Wayne,Indiana—discovered Jack’s work in BlackMagic, Captain 3-D, Fighting American,and reprints of Stuntman. Kirby was theyoung artist’s greatest influence as Grassdeveloped his own prodigious drawingtalents.

When Green was discharged from theU.S. Air Force in the early 1960s, he beganpursuing his dream to become a profes-sional comic book artist. He was regularlyhaunting the newsstands in late 1961 whenhe saw a cover that caught his attention,not only because it was obviously byKirby but because it featured super-heroes.Fantastic Four signaled a new type ofcomic book from Marvel, and since Greenwas primarily a super-hero fan and hadenjoyed The Human Torch in his 1950sincarnation, he was thrilled with FF #1.

He had an idea: write to Kirby forguidance! Why not? What did he have tolose? Green packaged up some of hisartwork and penned a polite cover letter toJack asking for his comments. He askedsome questions, too, for example: “Howlarge is the original art done?” The packagewas sent to Jack Kirby c/o whatever nameand address Marvel was using at that time.

Imagine the young man’s excitement when he received, after sometime, a large package in the mail from Kirby. You could have knockedhim over with a feather when he realized that Jack had sent him someoriginal art from the Sky Masters comic strip! And there was a letterfrom Kirby, too—one which, you may be sure, Grass studied endlesslyfor all its nuances.

We at Alter Ego are thrilled that this letter has survived after all theintervening years, and that we are able to publish it here for what maybe the first time.

Presenting Grass Greens

“Da Scavengers”

Title 25Comic Fandom Archive

Back in late 1997, Grass did this self-caricature in a letter he sent to Roy

Thomas. [©2002 Grass Green.]

Some of Grass’ best known creations: Wildman andRubberoy, his personal “Grasshoppa” character, and

Xal-Kor, the Human Cat—who’s returning afterseveral decades. [©2002 Grass Green.]

�

It’s really a quite remarkable missive, containing as it does theallusion to Kirby’s feeling that life is like a prize-fight, a reference thatshows his acceptance that comics’ original art was not available to theartist, and the politeness and evident respect that Kirby always showedto young artists. There was even some concrete advice about how to layout a comics page... and anunexpected gift of twooriginals from Jack’s SkyMasters newspaper comicstrip!

The last paragraph is puregold: “If your interest in thismedium is intense, I’mcertain your ability willdevelop accordingly. Yourperserverance [sic] is boundto pay off. At any rate, nomatter where yourendeavors lead you, pleasefeel that I am in yourcorner.”

Such sentiments, typedand personally signed byJack Kirby, were ofinestimable, life-changingimportance to the youngman with a pencil.

No wonder Green’s workseemed more infused thanever with Kirbyism! And, nowonder the parody work hedid for comics fandom—which he would soondiscover—were so often oftitles drawn by the King.

Just as Grass Greenadmired and was inspired byJack Kirby, a young fannamed Mickey Martin wasinspired by Green and hisfriend Ronn Foss to try hishand at writing andpublishing.

Mickey (now Mick) Martin writes, “In 1964, at the age of 13, I tookover the publication of Komix Illustrated from Biljo White when hewent on to [become art editor of] Alter Ego. I wanted to feature myheroes from fandom, especially Ronn Foss and Grass Green. They weresuch enormously talented guys and their thoughtful letters gave me somuch encouragement.”

Martin had actually met Ronn when he eagerly accepted Ronn’sinvitation to help assemble the copies of A/E #5. Mickey begged hisfather to take him the “epic” 45 miles from West Sacramento toFairfield, California, for the occasion. Foss inspired him to write a scriptfor another strip featuring Ronn’s female costumed hero The Viper(“The Plan of Spy X!”). When Mickey assumed the helm of Komix

Illustrated (with the 11th issue), the new “Viper” strip was the leadfeature.

“Da Scavengers” was likely done in early 1964 (if the elements of TheAvengers that are parodied are any indication), though it didn’t appear

until KI #13 early 1965. Bythen, editor Martin wasdone with fanzinepublishing, though he haddone himself proud,offering work by suchleading lights as Alan Weiss,Mike Vosburg, and BillDubay, as well as Ronn andGrass.

Why did Martin dropout of fandom after such arelatively brief period ofinvolvement? “Somehow, Iwas lured away by rock ’n’roll and girls,” Mick writes.“The Beatles were on TheEd Sullivan Show the nightI was addressing theenvelopes for #11, my firstissue of KI. It only lastedfor two more issues.”

But fandom had morethan a fleeting impact onthe young writer. He writes,“Comics fandom has beenwith me in spiritthroughout my life. Becauseof Ronn, Grass, Biljo, JerryBails, G. B. Love (whoprinted my first ‘national’writing, ‘The FanCommentator’ in TheRocket’s Blast #16), RoyThomas, Larry Herndon,Bill DuBay, BuddySaunders, George R.R.Martin, Flo Steinberg,Ernest Bache, and otherkind people, I began tobelieve you could doanything if you really put

your mind to it. Komix Illustrated at such a crucial time in my life waswhat gave me the courage to pursue my dreams.”

We thank Mick for working hard (using some computer visualenhancement techniques) to make readable copies from the ditto-printedpages of KI #13, some of which were so light that we all despaired for awhile that nothing usable could be salvaged. “Da Scavengers” was one ofthose wonderful artifacts of a bygone age that might have been lostforever without his effort. Only a very small amount of re-touching onthe part of Yours Truly was necessary to achieve the results that are, asRod Serling used to say, “offered for your inspection.”

Art by future pro Alan Weiss graced the cover of Komix Illustrated #13.

[Art ©2002 Alan Weiss.]

Now turn this issue of A/E SIDEWAYS for “Da Scavengers”

26 “Da Scavengers”

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by Michael T. GilbertWally Wood was one stubborn guy. Nowhere was this more obvious

than with his efforts to bring to life the world of The Wizard King.

Wood created this imaginary world ofwarlocks, elves, and wizards when he was achild. In The Wally Wood Sketchbook Woodstated that it was “impossible for me to saywhen I started to work on The Wizard King.I thought of the title King of the World...before I was 10 years old.” In time, that earlyprototype became the basis for Wood’s variousWizard King stories.

As Wood grew up, he became an award-winning artist for Mad, Weird Science,Daredevil, and a legion of other classiccomics. But he never forgot his childhoodcreation. He made several attempts at sellinghis concepts to various comic book publishersand animation companies, with limited success.Bill Pearson recently described a meetingbetween animator Ralph Bakshi and Wood:

“[A]t one time Ralph Bakshi spent severaldays at Woody’s place, and had him all firedup about a Wizard King movie Bakshi said hewanted to produce. Well, if you ever saw theeventual movie Bakshi made [Wizards, 1977],

I’m sure you can spot many of Wood’s characters and scenes right out ofThe Wizard King. No mention of Wood in the credits.”

Finally, in 1968, Wood published the first two chapters of The Worldof the Wizard King in the 4th and 5th issues of witzend, his self-published prozine. These were the first sections of a three-part prosestory, profusely illustrated by Wood. Three years passed before heconcluded that first tale in issue 8. At the end of part three Wood wrote:

“This somewhat abbreviated account of the life and times of Odkinthe Sly will serve as an outline for an expanded version to appear inanother form and another place. Watch for it.”

Years passed, and The Wizard King project seemed to vanish. Itreappeared in the late ’70s when Wood started his own company. In hisWoodworks newsletter he promised his fans a three-volume series ofgraphic novels devoted to The Wizard King. True to his word, he cameout with the first volume in 1978. Three years later he published volumetwo. But time was running out for Wood.

As described in Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #8, Wood’s addiction to work andalcohol had ruined his body. He’d suffered a series of debilitatingstrokes, resulting in severely impaired vision. His assistants had largelycompleted the second Wizard King volume––and it looked it. He wasdisappointed with the results and planned to take greater control in thefinal volume. Unfortunately, Wood died that same year and the finalvolume never appeared. Like most of his fans, I assumed he had died

The Wizard KingWally Wood’s “Unfinished Symphony”

Two versions of Wood’s Skyboat. The first was done when he was a young teenager; the second is from witzend #8 in 1978, when Wood was 44 years old. [©2002 estate of Wally Wood.]

32 Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

A SALUTE TOSCHAFFENBERGER

Plus MARC SWAYZE’S “WE DIDN’T KNOW... IT WAS THE GOLDEN AGE!”

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A SALUTE TOSCHAFFENBERGER

Plus MARC SWAYZE’S “WE DIDN’T KNOW... IT WAS THE GOLDEN AGE!”

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D.Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Comics. The veryfirst Mary Marvel sketches came from his drawing table,and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including herorigin story; but he was primarily hired to illustrateCaptain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics andCaptain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote manyCaptain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while inthe military. After World War II and after illustratingtwo Fawcett stories, he made an arrangement with thecompany to produce art and stories for it on a freelancebasis out of his Louisiana home. There, he created artand story for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, inaddition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip forBell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor RussellKeaton). After the cancellation of Wow Comics, Swayzedid artwork for Fawcett’s romance comics, andeventually ended his comics career with CharltonPublications. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs havebeen FCA’s most popular feature since his first columnappeared in FCA #54, 1996. Continuing from last issue,Marc reflects further on his several attempts to sell asyndicated comic strip—and finally getting a bite!—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

Can you imagine the number of comic strip ideas,prepared with fervent hopes of a long-range contract, thatare submitted to the newspaper syndicates in a year’s time?The comics editor of King Features once remarked thatthe annual average would easily exceed two thousand.Must have taken a lot of writing and rewriting... drawing and redrawing.I know. Some were mine.

It couldn’t be called an avocation or hobby. Too muchwork involved. In my case it was an undertaking... amission I had assigned myself toward an end... a futurefor which I felt best suited. I guess most of us felt thatway.

When Clem, the dude ranch cowpoke, rode in fromthe syndicate trail and reined up at the Circle Mbunkhouse, it had been nine years since my first stab atthe syndicates. Nine years of feature ideas and as manymajor characters. Not necessarily, however, nine years offailure, though there still was no syndicate contract.

I don’t recall anyheartaches or heartbreaks orheart-whatevers. It was allpart of the game... a tough,tough game... in a league notmeant for regrets. As thesaying goes, if you can’t standthe heat...

Before Clem there hadbeen all those othercharacters... and all thosebackgrounds. Let’s see now...it started with a jungle girl,then a dog, then a militaryairman. They were followedby a blonde detective, a Stone-Age kid, a big-city private eye,a piano player. With RodReed there was a banjoplunker, then a comiccowboy... and with GlennChaffin, a roving reporter.There was the Cajun comic,LeBone...

Then what? Oh yes... thedog again. The GermanShepherd breed, with topbilling in the movies andheroic roles in the popularoutdoor stories of the day,became a personal favorite atan early age and has remainedso. Jango was a major

supporting character in my first syndicate effort and top star in thesecond. This time he would benefit from better, I hoped... at least moreexperienced... writing and drawing. The feature was prepared as a daily

A rare Mary Marvel sketch by Swayze, the character’sdesigner and first artist. [Art c 2002 Marc Swayze; Mary

Marvel TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

[Art & logo ©2002 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2002 DC Comics]

By

Jango strip sample by Swayze. [©2002 Marc Swayze.]

42 We Didn’t Know...

Edited by P.C. HamerlinckINTRODUCTION

Anyone familiar with CaptainMarvel, The Marvel Family, Lois Lane,or the Superman Family needs no intro-duction to the awesome artwork ofKurt Schaffenberger. Born on a smallfarm in central Germany, he migratedwith his family to the U.S. when he wasseven years old and settled in theHartford, Connecticut, area. Kurtgraduated first in his high school classand, with the scholarship he earned,attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.From Pratt he landed a job at JackBinder’s shop in Englewood, NewJersey. The Binder shop churned outartwork with its assembly-line-like production for the new field ofcomic books, with the majority of the studio’s comic output beingproduced for Fawcett Publications.

Exactly one year to the day after graduating from Pratt, Kurt wasinducted into the U.S. Army, where he remained for the next four years(three of them in Europe). Overseas, he was with the first Special ServiceCompany, providing various kinds of morale-boosting entertainment for

the troops in England. The postershe prepared for these events broughthim to the attention of a major whohad run an art agency back in theStates, and who was then in theprocess of initiating an artdepartment for the Army. For thenext two years Kurt helped producetraining posters, charts, and other

U.S. Army graphics. Able to speak German, he later joined the OSS andspent six months in Intelligence and counter-espionage work until hisdischarge as a Master Sergeant in late 1945.

Returning to civilian life, Kurt gravitated back to the comics and hisassociation with Fawcett Publications, producing legendary work inWhiz Comics, Ibis the Invincible, The Marvel Family, CaptainMarvel Adventures, Master Comics, Captain Marvel Jr., and other

A Salute toSchaffenberger

(Kurt P. Schaffenberger – 1920-2002 )

A Kurt Schaffenberger self-portrait, originallypublished in Jimmy Olsen #155—and one of his1970s panels of the Marvel Family, with new

dialogue added. [Art ©2002 DC Comics.]

Three Schaffenberger covers from the Golden Age of Fawcett: The Marvel Family #87 (Sept. 1953)... Ibis the Invincible #6 (Spring 1948)... and Master Comics #122 (June 1951). [©2002 DC Comics.]

Kurt Schaffenberger 45

titles with his delightful, clean style ofstorytelling art. After Fawcett ceasedpublishing comic books in 1953, hetried to re-establish himself andprimarily did general art work in a smallstudio… all while keeping a foot in thecomics field, including illustratingSoldiers of Fortune for ClassicsIllustrated.

Kurt went on to work for AmericanComics Group (ACG) and variousother comics companies, until OttoBinder—the prolific former CaptainMarvel/Fawcett writer who later wrotefor DC—recommended that he try outfor DC’s upcoming Lois Lane comicbook. Kurt got the job and took theonce-minor character and developed herpersonality into something distinctive,unique, and memorable. His style was anatural for Lois Lane, and he continuedto illustrate the character up until 1968,when he was assigned to draw“Supergirl” in Adventure Comics. Hewas a top artist at DC, and his long listof credits includes Jimmy Olsen,Superman, Superman Family, SuperFriends, and, of course, Shazam!,which re-united him once again withCaptain Marvel and the Marvel Family.

Along with the newsstand comics, Kurt did a substantial amount ofwork in the commercial comics field primarily for Custom Comics, aswell as a hugely diverse roster of freelance accounts including GeneralMotors, the New York Police and Fire Departments, and the U.S. AirForce.

In this issue of FCA, we say goodbye to our friend KurtSchaffenberger by proudly re-presenting the following interviewsconducted with Kurt by John G. Pierce and Matthew Lage,from the mid-1970s to the early ’80s. The material isexcerpted from the third and final issue of Pierce’s MarvelFamily-devoted fanzine The Whiz Kids, and from the Britishfanzine Fantasy Unlimited # 26, May 1975. Both interviewswere conducted by John Pierce. —P.C. Hamerlinck

PREFACE

by John PierceWhen I think of Kurt Schaffenberger, at least two adjec-

tives come to mind.

The first is “consistent.” Looking at his work fromFawcett from the mid-’40s onward, as well as his later workon Lois Lane and the other Superman features, not tomention returning to The Marvel Family in the ’70s, one seesvery little difference in style. It’s not that he didn’t improveduring that time; it’s just that his art was already so good thatlittle improvement or change was needed. His artwork neverfaltered; it was terrific from the beginning to the end of hiscareer.

The next adjective (plus an adverb) would be “extremelytalented.” Not many artists could draw such a variety ofcharacters in his own distinct style, while never violating

their appearance as set down by thealready established artists. His versionof Superman has long been my favorite(yes, slightly even above that of CurtSwan—no easy feat!), while hisCaptain Marvel rates a close secondbehind that of C.C. Beck. And anyportrayal of Lois Lane will always bejudged against the Schaffenbergerstandard.

Did I say two? There’s a thirdadjective, and that is “nice.” Hegraciously consented to my requestsfor interviews, sent me (totallyunsolicited) original art pieces; and,every December, the Schaffenbergerfamily Christmas cards (which hedesigned) would arrive in the mail.

Comicdom has lost one of its best,nicest, and too-often overlooked,talents: Mr. Kurt P. Schaffenberger.

INTERVIEWJOHN PIERCE: Besides Fawcett andDC, what other comic bookcompanies did you work for? Any ECwork?

KURT SCHAFFENBERGER: Besides Fawcett and DC, I worked forMarvel, Archie, American Comics Group, Street & Smith, ClassicsIllustrated, Gleason, and many others who were too small to even havetheir names on the door. As for EC, I started two strips for them backabout 1946: “Igor the Archer,” a Russian Robin Hood, and “Diggo Do& Diggy Don’t,” a father-and-son Chinese detective team à la CharlieChan. I’m sure they both died the horrible deaths they so richlydeserved many years ago.

JP: Did you find your work on Archie (1971) more or less difficultthan your natural style/superhero work? Who did you work with

Kurt’s cover for The Whiz Kids #3 (1980), John Pierce’s Marvel Family fanzine, from which much of this interview is taken.

[Art ©2002 estate of Kurt Schaffenberger; Marvel Family TM & ©2002 DC Comics.]

“I tried to draw Captain Marvel as much like Beck’s as I could, and then did myown thing from there on.” (L.) Beck’s Big Red Cheese, from a 1970 drawing done

for fan John Ellis, and (r.) Kurt’s cover for Whiz Comics #144 (April 1952). [Beck art©2002 estate of C.C. Beck; Whiz cover ©2002 DC Comics.]

46 A Salute to...

at Archie?

SCHAFFENBERGER: At Archie I worked directly with DickGoldwater and his assistant Victor Gorelick. I found doing Archierefreshingly simple compared to the exacting realism demanded by theSuperman line or romance or mystery stories. I would describe mynatural art style as sort of a caricatured realism.

JP: During what time period did you work on “Captain America”?

SCHAFFENBERGER: My work on “Captain America” was confinedto inking four or five stories in early 1946.

JP: Otto Binder had said that in many instances during the ’40s and’50s, when an artist received a story, he never read the entire scriptthrough. He just read one panel at a time, drawing the art for thatpanel as he went along. Did you do it that way? Was there anysingle comic writer whose scripts were so complex that they werehard to illustrate?

SCHAFFEN-BERGER: I don’tbelieve I have everstarted a storywithout reading theentire script.Sometimes it justwasn’t possiblewhen things werein a rush and Iwould be sent acouple of pages at atime, as fast as theycame from thewriter’s typewriter.It’s always a riskyproposition,because you candevelop a situationor character in onedirection and thenhave the last pageof the script forceyou to make amillion and onechanges to conformwith the conclusionof the story.

JP: As a person who was there in the Golden Age, what comic bookcompanies or company do you feel featured the best all-aroundartwork? Just to give an example, Otto Binder cited Quality Comicsas having the best writing staff.

SCHAFFENBERGER: I’ll have to pass on this question. I havehonestly never followed comics that much, except those which directlyaffected me. In other words, if Comics Company “A” went in for suchand such a style, and I was looking to land an account there, I would tryto adapt my style to conform. Other than that, I never more thanglanced at what the field in general is doing, either then or now. In otherwords, comics are my living, but not my life.

JP: When did you first start drawing? Were there any of artists thatyou’d consider an influence to your work? Were there any particularartists whose styles you tried to copy? Do you remember what yourfirst professional comic story was?

SCHAFFENBERGER: I have been drawing pictures for as long as Ican remember, even going back to before I started school. I suppose I

have been influenced by the various artists I admire, men like NormanRockwell, Lyendecker, von Schmidt among the illustrators, and AlexRaymond, Milton Caniff, and Hal Foster in the comic pages, but I havenever tried to copy any of them. I admire craftsmanship in any field, beit art or plumbing, and the men I have mentioned are not only artists,but also craftsmen. The first professional job I did was inkingbackgrounds for a “Captain Marvel” story in the Jack Binder studio.

JP: Mac Raboy drew “Captain Marvel Jr.” in a dark, serious tone.When he left the character, did the editor of Master Comics or CapJunior’s own magazine request any of the artists to carry on the style

set by Raboy?

SCHAFFENBERGER: By thetime I started doing “CaptainMarvel Jr.,” several other artists(Bud Thompson and Joe Certaare two who come to mind)had already had a whack athim, and Raboy’s style was athing of the past. What I didwas try to adapt him so that hewould fit in with the CaptainMarvel and Mary Marvel styleof art, as they were now allappearing together in MarvelFamily stories.

JP: Many people feel that,since C.C. Beck was the firstand most prominent of theCaptain Marvel artists, his

simple, cartoony style should be the guide for the other Capartists to follow. Did your art style prove to be a handicap inany way when drawing “Captain Marvel”?

SCHAFFENBERGER: I don’t believe my approach was anyhandicap, especially when you consider that the styles thatRaboy, Thompson, and Certa used on “Captain Marvel Jr,” andthe style Jack Binder used on “Mary Marvel,” were totallydifferent from Beck’s. I tried to draw Captain Marvel as muchlike Beck’s as I could, and then did my own thing from there on.

JP: In the many different strips that you worked on, did youuse a certain “different formula” with each of them, such asadding more dark/gothic elements to a strip like “Ibis theInvincible”… or using a fresh, buoyant style with “Captain

Marvel Jr.” like Raboy did?

SCHAFFENBERGER: The only “formula” I have ever had was to doas good as job as I was capable of doing with each story. When a story issuppose to be humorous, I throw in a little more slapstick andcaricature. When it is serious, I stick closer to realism. If the story wasdark/gothic/supernatural, I would try to convey an air of mystery byusing appropriate backgrounds and more blacks. Sometimes it works,sometimes it doesn’t.

JP: You were with Fawcett Comics until the very end in 1953. OttoBinder, when asked about the last story for Fawcett he worked on,answered, “The last one I wrote was a 3-part Marvel Family serialinvolving the Sivanas. When I got the bombshell news that Fawcettwere discontinuing all of their comics, I indulged in a repressive desireand wrote a parody of that serial in which each of the Marvels, inturn, is killed off—others thought it was funny, but not very.” Do youremember the day when you got the news?

SCHAFFENBERGER: I remember the day well. I had just picked up anew Marvel Family script the day before from Wendell Crowley andhad just finished penciling the first two pages when Wendell called me

“Comics are my living, but not my life.” Here we have both:Kurt at his drawing table, in a mid-’70s self-portrait—and acirca-1948 photo of Kurt with his daughter Susan, age ten

months. This photo, given to Roy Thomas by Otto Binder in1964, first appeared in 1997’s out-of-print Best of Alter Ego(Vol. 1, that is)... after which Roy sent the original to the

Schaffenbergers, who hadn’t seen it in half a century. [Art©2002 estate of Kurt Schaffenberger.]

Kurt Schaffenberger 47