$6.95In the USA

No. 76March2008

Roy Thomas’SIMONizedComics Fanzine

JOESIMON

CHANGEDTHE FACEOF COMICBOOKS!

NOW HETALKS TO

JIM AMASHIN A FACE-TO-FACE

INTERVIEW!

FACE IT!YOU DON’T

DAREMISS THIS

GREATISSUE!

FROM CAPTAIN AMERICATM

TO FIGHTING AMERICAN TM

--AND BEYOND!

JOESIMON

PLUS:

18265827763

5

03

Figh

ting

Am

erican

TM&

©20

08Jo

eSim

onan

dEs

tate

ofJa

ckKirby

.

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344.Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA.Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices.Single issues: $9 US ($11.00 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $78 US, $132 Canada, $180 elsewhere. All charactersare © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego isa TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. ISSN: 1932-6890

FIRST PRINTING.

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

John Ryan

ContentsWriter/Editorial: Not-So-Simple Simon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Simon Says! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Master creator Joe Simon talks to Jim Amash about the comic book biz, Jack Kirby, & a few other things.

The Secret History Of All-American Comics, Inc. – Book I,Chapter I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Veteran pro Bob Rozakis does a fantasy reconstruction of comics history.

Comic Crypt! – Alfred J. Walker, Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Michael T. Gilbert & Mr. Monster showcase an innovative Fiction House artist.

John Ryan – A Remembrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Bill Schelly & Howard Siegel celebrate the life of the late Australian fan/historian.

re: comments, correspondence, & corrections. . . . . . . . . . . 75FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #135 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze, C. C. Beck—& Bill Cosby?

On Our Cover: He may not have lasted long, or led to a revival of the super-hero the way Showcase#4 did in 1956, but one of the greatest character creations of the fabulous ’50s was very definitelySimon & Kirby’s Fighting American! This issue’s center-ring star, Joe Simon, re-created several ofdrawings from that too-short-lived series for this edition of A/E. And, in case anybody’s wonderingabout the truth-in-advertising of that middle word balloon: while Jim Amash conducted theinterview by phone, he and Joe have met a number of times in person—even if Jim was sorry torealize that he hasn’t a single photo to commemorate the occasion! [Fighting American ©2008 JoeSimon & Estate of Jack Kirby.]

Above:We promised you Captain America as well as Fighting American—so no time like thecontents page for keeping our promise. This Joe Simon illo was drawn not long ago for Belgiancollector Dominique Léonard, who echoes the words of that illustrious 1930s entrepreneur CarlDenham: “We’re millionaires, boys! I’ll share it with all of you!” [Captain America TM & ©2008Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vol. 3, No. 76 / March 2008EditorRoy Thomas

Associate EditorsBill SchellyJim Amash

Design & LayoutChristopher Day

Consulting EditorJohn Morrow

FCA EditorP.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt EditorMichael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor RollJerry G. Bails (founder)Ronn Foss, Biljo WhiteMike Friedrich

Circulation DirectorBob Brodsky,Cookiesoup Productions

Cover ArtistJoe Simon

Cover ColoristTom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to:Jack AdlerHeidi AmashGer ApeldoornBob BaileyTim BarnesAllen & Roz BellmanDominic BongoTeresa R. DavidsonCraig DelichAnthony DeMariaMartin FilchockShane FoleyJanet GilbertRoberto GuedesJennifer HamerlinckBob HughesGene KehoeJay KinneyDan KurdillaDominique LéonardBruce MasonHarry MendrykRobert Roy MetzScotty MooreLou Mougin

Mike NielsenBarry PearlBob RozakisCory SedlmeierJohn SelegueHoward SiegelJim SimonJoe SimonTed P. SkimmerAnthony SnyderHenry SteeleMarc SwayzeGreg TheakstonDann ThomasGeorge TuskaJim Vadeboncoeur, Jr.Alfred M. WalkerSteven V. WalkerJim WallsHames WareJohn WellsRobert WienerMarv WolfmanJohn Wright

oeSimon’scomic

book résuméalone is thickenough to chokean elephant, andthat doesn’t countother aspects ofhis career. Fromnewspapers tocomic bookcreations likeCaptain America,Boy Commandos,and “The NewsboyLegion,” theinvention ofromance comics, astint as a comicbook publisher, Sickmagazine, illustration, advertising, and political work, Joe’s seen it all,in every facet of printing. Hey, for all I know, Joe might’ve even turnedon the printing presses a time or two! It may be true that Joe is bestknown to fandom for his partnership with Jack Kirby, but that’s reallyjust one phase of his career. Joe has given interviews before, and haswritten the autobiographical book The Comic Book Makers with hisson Jim Simon. He’s also frequently discussed in TwoMorrows’ flagshippublication The Jack Kirby Collector, but none of that has been enoughfor me.

Joe was kind enough to wreck his vocal chords (and his hearing,considering how much I talk), so that Alter Ego could present an in-depth interview with him, covering some familiar bases, as well asaspects of his comic book days previously unseen in print. Special thanksgo to Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., for the loan of a number of comics, and forsuggesting several pertinent questions. Thanks also to Hames Ware forsuggesting the Worth Carnahan question… and to Joe’s son Jim Simonand to collector and Simon expert Harry Mendryck for their generoushelp in supplying materials and identifying Joe’s work.

Most of all, I can’t thank Joe himself enough for his patience andgraciousness in granting what turned out to be a longer interview thaneither of us expected. Good thing we both had a nice stash of cigars tosmoke while we chatted! But now the smoke’s cleared away, and what’s leftis Joe’s perspective on a rich and rewarding Hall of Fame career.—Jim.

“I Was Hired By Martin Goodman…”JIM AMASH: I recently re-read The Comic Book Makers, and I’d liketo ask you things that weren’t in the book, and amplify things that were.For instance, when you were editing comics at Timely, were you alsoediting their pulps?

JOE SIMON: I wasn’t editing the pulps, but I was putting them together.The pulps were fading away by the time we got there. They were nothing,though Jack and I did a few art jobs for them. I was putting together thedetective comics—the romance, detective “flats,” as we used to call them.You know what a flat is? It’s a glossy magazine without the gloss. So wehad the detective magazine, we had love magazines, and I was involved inall those. I was the art director. The editor was a guy named Levi. He wasan older guy who put together the detective magazines and the lovemagazines; a pretty tame business by today’s standards.

JA: How many people were working at Timely when you started?

SIMON: Elsie was the receptionist and part-time secretary. She was ayoung woman from Wheeling, West Virginia, a very nice woman. We hada relationship for a while. Robbie Solomon was there, as were Martin

Simon Says!JOE SIMON On The ComicBook Biz, Jack Kirby,

And A Few Other ThingsInterview Conducted by Jim Amash

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

JJ

5

Happiness Is Just A Guy Called Joe(Left:) Joe Simon with a young fan, plus a Simon rendition of The Fly,at the Big Apple Con in NYC, April 3, 2004. Thanks to Harry Mendryk.

[The Fly TM & ©2008 Joe Simon.]

(Above:) A few years back, beneath a late-’40s Simon & Kirby letterhead,Joe re-created one of the classic figures from the cover of his and Jack’s CaptainAmerica Comics #7 (Oct. 1941). A scan of this piece, autographed by both Simonand Kirby, was sent to us by Anthony DeMaria; it was drawn for a collector

named Jerome Tepper, who passed away 15 or 20 years ago. [Captain America,Bucky, & Red Skull TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Sandman, Guardian,

Newsboy Legion, & Boy Commandos TM & ©2008 DC Comics; Fly TM & ©2008 JoeSimon; other characters TM & © the respective trademark and copyright holders.]

Goodman’s three younger brothers, in descending order of age:Abe, Dave, and Artie. There was another young woman, thoughI don’t remember her name. I didn’t have an affair with her.[mutual laughter]

Artie was my buddy and was my age. We used to hang outtogether. We’d go horseback riding in Forest Park in Queens, and he’dsuddenly turn around and yell, “Rustlers! Rustlers!” And he’d gallop offand I’d follow him. Eventually, after I was there, he did coloring. He hadsome people come in and color for him, and actually, Artie brought meinto the office. His friend was another Artie: Arthur Weiss. We were veryclose, also. Artie Weiss represented Koppel Photo Engraving in Derby,Connecticut. Eventually, he switched jobs to Post Photo Engraving after ayear or two. We had a lot of fun. We had parties over at Artie’s house,where they had one tea bag for about six guys. [mutual laughter] Artie’sfather was aretiredpoliceman,and hismother andmy motherbecame veryfriendly.

ArtieGoodman was

a very gentle man. None of Martin’s brothers were doing much when Icame in there. Later on, Abe had some of those little humor magazines,like Humorama. He was the one that fired Jack and me, [mutualchuckling] and he was the elder brother. Abe was a bookkeeper, you know.Dave used to take photographs of these—

JA:Movie starlets?

SIMON: He used to claim thathe’d make them movie stars.[mutual laughter] But that washis life, taking pictures that neverappeared and bringing his womenup there. I lent him my car once,and he parked it and left the dooropen, and another car came overand ripped off the door. David wasnot much up there. Let me put itthis way: he was in the way, andUncle Robbie was a son of a bitch.He always interfered, told us howto do comics all the time, and hewas just a nothing.

Timely was in the McGraw-HillBuilding, a blue building at 330West 42nd Street. I was hired byMartin Goodman, who was a veryfrail man with a skin condition. Healways had to have pillows on his

seat wherever he sat. His lawyer, Jerry Perles, was there, as was a guy whodidn’t work there, but had a lot of influence. He had a circulation man:Frank Torpey. Martin had a lot of regard for him.

And then a friend of mine came in there. He came to see me, and hegot very friendly with Martin, and became a dear friend of mine: MichaelStern. He didn’t work for Timely. During the war, he was a war corre-spondent for McFadden Magazines. He bought a villa in Italy, moved hiswhole family, and lived there for the rest of his life.

A Real Keen Cover!Joe Simon, circa 1939—and one of his earliest covers, done for Centaur’s

Keen Detective Funnies, Vol. 3, #1 (Jan. 1940). Actually, this wasthe 17th issue of the title. Photo courtesy of Joe & Jim Simon; thanks

to John Selegue & Jonathan G. Jensen for scans of the cover.[©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Fire And Fury From Funnies, Inc.There aren’t many photos around ofLloyd Jacquet, founder and head of

Funnies, Inc.—so you’ll have to forgiveus if we lean yet again on this one froma 1942 newspaper. Jacquet is eyeing twoearly Joe Simon splashes: “The FieryMask” from Timely’s Daring Mystery

Comics #1 (Jan. 1940), and “T-Men” fromNovelty’s Target Comics #1 (Feb. 1940).Joe wrote and drew both stories for

Jacquet’s seminal comics shop. Thanksto Robert Wiener for the former art(repro’d from photocopies of the

originals) and to Michael T. Gilbert forthe latter. [Fiery Mask art ©2008 MarvelCharacters, Inc.; T-Men art ©2008 the

respective copyright holders.]

6 Joe Simon On The Comic Book Biz

JA:What was the first thing you did for Timely?

SIMON: This was before Kirby: “The Fiery Mask,” through LloydJacquet’s Funnies, Incorporated. Comics was everything at Timely,because the pulps were dying and the other books were marginal, butGoodman had a nice company in there between all of them.

The first story I did for Jacquet was a Western. I did a couple morestories before “The Fiery Mask.” And I did a lot of “Blue Bolt,” but notthrough Jacquet. I drew the first story myself, and Kirby and I teamed upfrom the second story on.

Jacquet was a good guy, soft-spoken, with an air of authority abouthim. He was respectful, and he was respected. I thought of him more as anewspaperman than a military man. That’s the way he struck me. But youknow, what is a military man? [mutual chuckling] Just a guy with auniform.

JA: “T-Men” was done through Novelty or Curtis Publishing.

SIMON: They were in Philadelphia. It was Curtis Publishing, that did TheSaturday Evening Post. They promised me money, but I never got it. Inever met the guys at Curtis. That job was done through the Jacquet shop,and then Victor Fox threatened to sue Jacquet, because I had a contractwith [Fox]. Then Fox backed down. He wasn’t going to take on the Curtislawyers in court.

JA:Who edited the Timely books before you did?

SIMON: Nobody. Well, Funnies, Inc., did. They completely packagedtheir product. They were responsible for some of those great characters:“The Human Torch” and “The Sub-Mariner.”

JA:What made Goodman decide he needed an in-house editor?

SIMON: The state of the comic books. They were getting very popular,and they were growing. The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner characterswere making very good money for them, but Goodman was bound byFunnies, Inc. They were at 45th Street, east of him. He had very littlecontrol at the beginning.

JA:When Funnies sold the work to Timely, did they sell the rights, too?

SIMON: I never saw their contract, but considering the state of thecomics—and probably even nowadays—the publishers used to usurp allthe copyrights.

“I Started The Timely Bullpen”JA: How did copyrighting Captain America occur to you?

SIMON: At 24 years old, I was just trying to make a living. I was aproduct of the times. The times were very bad, it was the Depression andI was just happy to make a living. We all were. All of us were like homelesspeople, happy for anything we got. People say, “Well, the Shusters and theSiegels, and the Simons and the Kirbys were stupid. They gave awayeverything.” But we never even thought about it that way.

It was my idea to work out a percentage deal on Captain America.Timely’s chief accountant was Maurice Coyne, a guy who promoted thatfor me; he didn’t like them very much. He was there at the beginning, buthe was also part owner of Archie Comics, then known as MLJ. Mauricewas the “M” in “MLJ”. He was a great guy, a bachelor. It was his idea thatwe arrange some kind of a 25% royalty for me. I gave Kirby part of it, butit was hardly anything. Maurice took me aside one day and told me theywere putting all the office expenses, all the salaries and everything, onCaptain America.

JA: You must have been the only one who had that deal. Were youaware that Captain America Comics was an immediate hit?

SIMON: Yes. Martin used to call me in and say, “If anyone asks you howit’s selling, you cry a little bit.”

JA: How did you discover it was an immediate hit? Did Martin tell you,or was it Maurice Coyne?

SIMON: Everybody knew it. Timely was distributed by the Kable NewsCompany. It was no secret. It was all over the industry. All the companieschecked out the newsstands, on each other’s business and everything else.

JA: Describe the McGraw-Hill Timely offices to me.

SIMON: They were very small. There was a waiting room with maybe twochairs, and then there was a window with a girl behind it. She was thereceptionist, and if you moved around, you turned in a circle, you did acircuit of the whole waiting room; a very small area.

Here’s what I remember: the waiting room—you sit there and you lookin the little cubicle where two secretaries worked. The entrance was to theleft of that cubicle. They had to push a button and let you in. Straightahead was a little office where Abe Goodman did his bookkeeping. To theleft of that was a bigger office which we turned into our art/editorialdepartment, and Kirby and I worked there, right out in the open. To theright was Martin Goodman’s office, which was the biggest office, and hadall the luxuries of the publisher. In between there somewhere was MauriceCoyne’s office, probably next to Martin Goodman’s.

Red Skull, White Paper, & Blue NazisSimon & Kirby expose The Red Skull’s true identity in Captain America

Comics #1 (March 1941). The ultimate Nazi died in this issue—but he got better.Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Joe Simon.

[©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Simon Says! 7

Like A Bolt From The BlueJoe wrote and drew the title-hero tale for Blue Bolt #1 (June 1940),whose splash page is seen above left. By #2 (July ’40, at top right),

he’d joined forces, at least informally, with Jack Kirby, whocontributed considerably to the art—and, within a few months, thefabled tag-team of Simon & Kirby was officially born, as per thesplash from issue #5 (Oct. ’40), seen at left. Thanks to Michael T.Gilbert & Bob Bailey for the scans—and to Harry Mendryck for the

photo. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

8 Joe Simon On The Comic Book Biz

Boy Oh Boy Commandos!When “The Boy Commandos” became a smash back-up to “Batman” in 1942 DetectiveComics, the series was swiftly given its own mag. In Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1942),

Kirby penciled DC editor Whit Ellsworth and co-publisher Jack Liebowitz (withmustache) into the introductory story, whose villain was the mysterious Agent Axis.The guy with his hand over his face at the bottom of page 2 is Jack Schiff, then a neweditor at DC. With thanks to Harry Mendryk and Michael T. Gilbert. [©2008 DC Comics.]

Simon Says! 19

The men who worked for us were hired and paid by us, not DC. Wehad no editorial interference or guidance, and packaged the completeproduct. We were at odds with MortWeisinger and Jack Schiff at the time.They wanted everything done theirway, with very fine inking. Jack and Iwere doing a lot of crosshatching.They were trying to get us to stop, butwe wouldn’t do it. We had a contract.Mostly they left us alone because ourwork was selling very well.

JA: There’s a “Newsboy Legion” storywhere they hear that The BoyCommandos were killed in action.Kirby drew Whit Ellsworth and JackLiebowitz in the story. Did they care tobe in the story?

SIMON: They were flattered. It waskind-of a funny story. We were fixatedon kid gangs at the time for somereason. We were the kid gang kings.

JA: Did the Dead End Kids moviesinfluence you on that?

SIMON: Probably. I think the main influence was from a book I readwhen I was a kid called The Boy Allies. That had inspired Young Allies atTimely.

JA: The Guardian’s shield was different from Captain America’s. WasThe Guardian a stateside version of Captain America?

SIMON:We were doing so many characters that we put a shield here, ashield back there... it was just a prop. [chuckles] I don’t think it had anymeaning at all. We didn’t sit down and talk about doing something thatlooked like Captain America, or anything like that. The kid gangs, weused them over and over again; they were all the same.

JA: Since you and Kirby were producing so much work for DC, can yourecall how much writing you were doing?

SIMON: No, I really can’t.

JA: How did you find the people you hired? Did they come to you? Didyou put the word out?

SIMON:We had a lot of people with us all these years, like CharlesNicholas, but we’d put the word out and get other people. There was oneguy who came over, an immigrant from Germany, and he had a style likeMilton Caniff ’s. One time, he came in to me, saying, “My inking veryimportant, is it?” I said, “Yeah, very important.” He replied, “I think Ishould be a partner.” And I said, “I think you should go home.” [mutuallaughter]

All The News That’s Fit To TranslateIn the 1970s many of Simon & Kirby’s early-’40s features were reprinted by DC

as backups in Jack’s “Fourth World” comics. Here’s a “Newsboy Legion”splash—as then re-reprinted in Latin America… in Brazil, to be exact. “Barriodo Suicídio” is Portuguese for the kids’ stomping-ground, “Suicide Slum.”

With thanks to Roberto Guedes. [©2008 DC Comics.]

Adventure Was His Avocation, TooJoe Simon cover and splash for the 1944 Adventure Is MyBusiness, done to promote the US Coast Guard. Joe and

fellow cartoonist Milt Gross spent time with that branch ofthe service researching the stories for a comic strip; thelater comic book publisher was Street & Smith. Thanks toJohn Selegue and Ger Apeldoorn. [©2008 the respective

copyright holders.]

20 Joe Simon On The Comic Book Biz

JA: At this time, were youand Kirby 50-50partners?

SIMON: Always, except atTimely, where I gave Jack10% of my percentage.

JA:When did you guysbecome a legalpartnership?

SIMON:When we went toDC, we had a contract thatmade us legal partners, sowe signed a contract withDC, specifying that we werea legal partnershipproducing work for them. Idon’t remember the length ofthat first contract, but...maybe a year, come to thinkof it.

JA:Were you or Kirbydrafted first?

SIMON: Kirby was draftedfirst. I wasn’t drafted. I joinedthe Coast Guard because I had achance to be with the horses inthe Mounted Patrol. I got a PettyOfficer rating for being such agreat horseman.

At first I was just doing beachpatrol, and I was pretty famousamong the farm boys there inmy beach patrol. Then I volun-teered to go to the Combat ArtCorps in Washington, DC, andthey put me to work doingcomic book work for TrueComics. I had a deal with thesyndicate that we would have aCoast Guard piece every thirdfeature. So they hired me out; Ididn’t get paid for it. It was fun to do comics. “Hey, comeon, take me! I’m still here.” [mutual laughter] I went intothe service at the end of 1942 and returned home aroundthe end of ’45.

JA: I want to get back to DC for a moment. On the coverof Boy Commandos #10, the lead figure looks a little likeJoe Simon to me.

SIMON: That’s the one where The Boy Commandos are inthe water. I might have done that one. I did some BoyCommando covers when I was in the service, to make abuck or two. One of them was the cover of issue 12, wheresomeone wrote, “Tokio, 5 miles,” and Tokyo is misspelled. Idescribed that as my weirdest cover, because the dog hasthe camouflage colors on, and nobody else is camouflaged.I think one of the Cazeneuve brothers inked it. Horribleinking. You see how crazy that is? It’s my weirdest cover.

There was a big shortage of artists. A good share ofthem were drafted, so anything I sent to DC was used.They were very happy to get them. They should have used

You Say “Tokio,”I Say “Tokyo” – Let’sCall The Whole Thing

OffJoe drew this cover forBoy Commandos #12 (Fall1945)—and got in yet

another plug for the CoastGuard! Most of the workinside, though, was doneby one or another of theCazaneuve brothers,

probably Louis, directlyunder DC’s editors.[©2008 DC Comics.]

At right, a sketch Joedrew of Rip Carterand the lads.

[Boy Commandos TM &©2008 DC Comics.]

Simon Says! 21

38 Joe Simon On The Comic Book Biz

The Triple Life Of Ex-Seaman Simon(Writer, Artist, & Editor)

The Simon & Kirby team may have officially been dissolved well beforethe two issues of Archie’s The Double Life of Private Strong were

published in 1959, under editor Joe Simon… but somebody who’d beentaking lessons from the lads penciled the lead story in issue #2 (June

’59), “The Strange Case of Lovable Lou, the Toy Master”… Joe is creditedwith scripting that tale, as well as all others. George Tuska illustrated“Upsy Daisy” and another story… Joe apparently also drew the “BoySentinels” two-pager that served as a teaser for The Adventures of The

Fly #1… and we kinda suspect he may have drawn the above illoaccompanying the text page “The General’s Favorite Private,” as well.But there’s definitely a lot of Kirby in the issue’s final offering, “TheUltra-Sonic Spies.” Archie reprinted the first four issues of The Fly in a

trade paperback in 2004. [©2008 Joe Simon.]

“[Sick] Supported Me Very Nicely For 25 Years”JA: Back to the past: how well did Sick magazine sell for you?

SIMON: The first issue sales were terrific. My publisher, Teddy Epstein,got the sales figures and immediately took it to another distributor wherehe’d get a bigger advance. So, after that, it went from like 80% sales downto something like 50%, 40%, instantly, because it takes a lot of mathe-matics when you change distributors. You know, you’ve got a whole list ofwholesalers, and all that and so forth. He screwed himself, but itsupported me very nicely for 25 years.

JA: I’ve got the first issue in front of me.

SIMON: You do? I did that cover.

JA: I know you did. And it’s a nice Jack Paar likeness, too. The credit boxlists, “Dee Caruso and Bill Levine, Feature Editors.” Who were they?

SIMON: Dee Caruso was with me for a long time. He always needed acollaborator. His specialty was writing stand-up scripts for importantstand-up comics. I don’t remember how I got him—somebody sent himto me. Both Dee and Bill Levine were from Syracuse. Bill had a job in anad agency. At that time, Bill Levine was his main collaborator. Theeditorial credit was really an honorary title. They were working freelancefor me, and they did great work.

JA: Angelo Torres did most of the art in the first issue.

SIMON: Angelo could do whatever he wanted. I loved his work. Angelowas a medium-sized guy, soft spoken, very American, very dependable,terrific artist. My favorite artist.

JA: I’m looking at this drawing of Ed Sullivan in the second issue. Youdon’t give yourself much credit for being a humor cartoonist, but youwere a good one. You don’t usually say much about your humor work.

SIMON:Well, I wasn’t in the same class with Dee Caruso. This guy was

Right Here On Our Stage…Joe drew some pretty fair parody material himself—as per the caricature at left of super-popular TV variety host Ed Sullivan, from Sick #2 (Oct. 1960)—and one

of President Lyndon Johnson in the ad spoof at right from the May 1965 issue. Thanks to Jay Kinney and Ger Apeldoorn, respectively. [©2008 Joe Simon.]

What? Me Sick?Joe Simon wrote and Angelo Torres drew “The New Age of Comics” forthe Nov. 1966 issue of Sick magazine. “Sam Me” is an obvious takeoff onStan Lee… and naturally Joe couldn’t resist having one of the super-heroparodied be the original Blue Bolt, whom he originated in 1939. Thanks to

Ger Apeldoorn. [©2008 Joe Simon.]

46 Joe Simon On The Comic Book Biz

SIMON: I’d like to do a lot more, if that’s a way to view myself. [Jimchuckles] If I live a couple more years, I want to do a few more things,that’s all.

A few years ago, Marvel asked to write an introduction to one of theirtrade paperbacks. I heard that Greg Theakston was doing some of the artreconstruction. He calls it “Theakstonizing,” but I showed him how to doit. It’s really “Simonizing.” [laughs] He changed it to “Theakstonizing.”

Here’s how you do it: Take a baking pan and fill it with bleach—or 409or any old bleaches. Put the comic books in it overnight, and it takes thecolor out. That’s the whole thing. That’s Simonizing, later changed toTheakstonizing. That’s no secret. Tell everybody to do it. Take your oldcomic books, bleach them overnight and then rinse them in cold water.You’ll have enough color out of it to make a nice Xerox. I have a newcompany now, and it’s called Unhomogenized Comics. [mutualchuckling]

Seriously, we don’t do that. We just use the original proofs, which Ihave. I have all the original proofs, the black-&-whites of most everythingkirby and I did. All the Harvey stuff, the first Captain America book, theArchie “Shield,” romance, a lot of Prize stuff.

Article Title Topline 51

Hail, Hail, The Gang’s All Here!Kirby penciled and Greg Theakston inked the art used as the wraparound dustjacket of the hardcover Jack Kirby Treasury, Vol. 2—but many of the heroes

thereon were Simon & Kirby co-creations: Captain 3-D, Fighting American andSpeedboy, Bulls-Eye, probably even the Challengers of the Unknown.

Repro’d by permission of Greg’s Pure Imagination Publications. [Challengersof the Unknown, Green Arrow, & Speedy TM & ©2008 DC Comics; The Fly &Private Strong TM & ©2008 Joe Simon; Fighting American & Speedboy TM &

©2008 Joe Simon & Estate of Jack Kirby; Yellow Claw & Jimmy Woo TM & ©2008Marvel Characters, Inc.; other characters TM & ©2008 the respective trademark

and copyright holders.]

[Sandman TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

ithout Max Charles Gaines, it is unlikely that comics historywould be what it is. From the earliest comic books collectingreprints of newspaper comic strips to the dawn of the

Golden Age, and throughout the heyday of comic book popularity in the1940s, Charlie Gaines (as he was generally called by those who knewhim) was a driving force.

At the beginning of 1945Gaines split officially withNational/DC and beganissuing the adventures ofWonder Woman, The Flash,and Green Lantern, as wellas Funny Stuff,Mutt & Jeff,and his favorite project,Picture Stories from theBible, under the All-American Publicationsbanner, with an “AA” symbolreplacing the previous “DC”sigil on covers. According to anotice in the Dec. 1944 issueof Independent News, the trade publi-cation of Independent News, the distri-bution company basically owned by thesame folks who owned National/DC, JackLiebowitz was officially Gaines’ co-publisher on the new AA line. [For details,see The All-Star Companion, Vol. 3.] TheAA “solo venture” was short-lived,however—lasting only about eight months—and sometime in 1945Gaines sold his share of the company to his DC partners Liebowitz andHarry Donenfeld, and soon launched EC (Educational Comics, a.k.a.Entertaining Comics) to publish Picture Stories and other, new titles.

But what if things hadn’t turned out quite that way?

Bob Rozakis, longtime writer and production director for DCComics, has imagined a distinct version of what Alter Ego’s editor likesto call “Earth-22”—combining the notions of Julius Schwartz/GardnerFox and Catch-22 author Joseph Heller—a parallel world on whichevents took a different, yet quite possible and not illogical turn. After all,in The Mad World of William M. Gaines (Lyle Stuart, 1972), theofficial biography of M.C. Gaines’ son, who became famous (andinfamous) as the publisher of EC’s Tales from the Crypt,Mad, et al.,author Frank Jacobs writes:

“[A]ll was not roses within the new partnership, especially after

Donenfeld, in one of his typically impulsive gestures, gave his half of theAll-American group to his accountant, Jack Liebowitz. Suddenly, Maxfound himself partnered with Liebowitz, and they didn’t get along. Billremembers that every afternoon his father would take a taxi to theuptown offices, where he, Liebowitz, and Donenfeld would scream ateach other for two hours. Something had to give and that something wasMax’s patience. In early 1945, he hurled out his ultimatum: ‘You buy meout or I’ll buy you out.’ They bought him out.”

But what if he had bought Donenfeld and Liebowitz out, instead?

In this opening installment (in which the art for all DC/AA charactersdepicted is TM & ©2008 DC Comics) of a new series which will bedivided between the pages of Alter Ego and its TwoMorrows sister magBack Issue, the author explores an alternate reality and reveals—

The Secret Historyof All-AmericanComics, Inc.

The Story Of M.C. Gaines’ Publishing EmpireBook One - Chapter 1 : Divide… And Conquer

by Bob Rozakis

WW

M.C. Gaines,The All-American Boy

Max Charles Gaines, circa 1942—and a 1945 ad displaying everyAll-American title except the

twice-a-year Picture Stories fromthe Bible.

54

first met Ted Skimmer when I started working at AA in 1973. Atthe time, Ted’s duties straddled the production and editorialareas… he worked in the film library and the stat room, but healso was the back-up proofreader and unofficial researcher. In

the latter role, he had custody of the AA library, bound volumes of allthe magazines the company had published, going all the way back to thevery first DC comics in the ’30s.

Ted’s tenure at AA began in 1944. Seventeenyears old at the time, too young for the draft, he’dbeen hired as a fill-in assistant for “just a coupleof weeks.” Thirty years later, he would joke, “Ikeep wondering when the weekend is coming.”

Over the years, Ted taught himself the skillsthat would earn him freelance money: coloringand lettering. “The coloring came first. Someartwork got lost and they had to slot in areplacement story, but there were no color guidesfor it. They were going to print it in black-&white, but I grabbed a set ofsilver prints and some dyes and in about an hour and a half had a set ofcolor guides. It was only a 6-page story and, frankly, looking back at itnow, it was some pretty ugly coloring. But at least there was something.”After that, Ted got a story from time to time. “Mostly it was last-minute emergency jobs. They had me doing them on staff time, sothey didn’t have to pay me extra.”

The lettering came later. “Lettering looks a lot easier, but it’sreally a pain in the ass. First you’ve got to rule in all the lines, thenyou letter in the words, draw the balloons, and erase all the pencillines. There’s a more immediate turnaround needed, though, so ifyou can bat out a few pages overnight, it keeps an inker or two busythe next day.”

Ted Skimmer worked on staff at AA until1997. He continues to do an occasional coloringjob, but his hands are too unsteady to allow himto do lettering anymore. “I could never figureout that computerized stuff, anyway,” he says. Tohis delight, he was asked to recolor that first 6-pager he’d done. “They were reprinting it in oneof the Archive books and one of the kids thoughtit would be appropriate. I didn’t want to changeit too much, since those books are supposed to befaithful reproductions of the originals, but I didtone down some of the garish solid colors.”

Ted had a front-row seat to more than 50years of the company’s history and was happy toshare it with me… and you.—Bob.

It was late in ’44, maybe early ’45, when Charlie Gaines called us alltogether in the production room. That was the biggest space in the officeback then. Nobody paid rent for conference rooms or anything like that.If you weren’t using the space all the time, you were throwing moneyaway.

Everybody was buzzing aboutwhat was going on. Gaines didn’tcall us all together for anythingsmall. Most of us figured it wasbad news from the war front, thatsomebody we knew had beenkilled in action. There were plentyof guys—freelancers and staffpeople—who had entered theservice since early in ’42.

Our resident doom-and-gloomguy started saying that we weregoing out of business, that paperrations were being cut so that wewouldn’t be able to publish anymore. As usual with this character,he professed to have read it in thepaper or heard it on the radio andhe was just passing along infor-mation. Some of the staff foundthese prognostications far moreupsetting than any war news wouldhave been.

As it turned out, neither thedoom-and-gloom guy nor the folkswho were guessing about the mostlikely candidate to have been killed inaction were correct. But by the timeGaines walked into the room, half thepeople were planning a memorialservice for some fallen colleague, andthe rest were planning one for us.Before Charlie could even say a word,

II

Okay, So Where’sCarol And Alice?(Left:) Author BobRozakis. (Above:)

Theodore Paul (“Ted”)Skimmer, circa 1973.Photos courtesy of TPS

& Bob Rozakis.

All-American Ad For All American Boys And GirlsPaul Reinman’s cover for All-American Comics #64 (March 1945), the first issueof that title to sport an AA symbol, which went on sale no later than Januaryof that year—juxtaposed with AA’s perhaps very first house ad, from its insidefront cover. All-Star Comics #23, pictured therein, actually came out with a DCsymbol; note that Starman and The Spectre are depicted in this AA mag afterthe split. Gaines was listed in the indicia as “General Manager,” Sheldon Mayer

as “Editor”—and the name of the firm was given as J.R. Publishing Co.

The Secret History Of All-American Comics, Inc. 55

one of the production guys asked him what kind of severance pay we weregetting.

What Gaines told us was as far from bad news as we could get. He hadsplit the company off from the DC line and we were going to be All-American Comics from now on. He’d had Sol Harrison, the headproduction guy, whip up a company symbol that looked kind-of like theDC one, but had an “AA” in the center instead of “DC.” He retained arelationship with Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz, the DC guys, sothat they would continue to distribute our books to the newsstand.

The split didn’t matter much for most of the books. We’d beenoperating as a separate company for the most part anyway. Nobody wasbeing fired; none of the books was being cancelled. I think the only bigdeal was with All-Star Comics, because a few of the DC characters werepart of the Justice Society. But Shelly Mayer, he was the editor-in-chief,got one of the artists, I think it was probably Marty Naydel, to draw GreenLantern in place of Starman in a story and Flash instead of the Spectre.

It wasn’t until after the war that things started changing, though mostof the turmoil was over at DC. We were hearing news second-hand,mostly through the freelancers who were working for both companies,and from the secretaries of the two companies, who still had lunchtogether once or twice a week.

Jerry Siegel got out of the Army and started pushing for the ownershipof “Superman.” He and Joe Shuster, who had continued to work for DCthroughout the war, were convinced by a lawyer that they could get thecharacter back from Donenfeld and Liebowitz. From what I heard, theywere receiving a decent amount of money without having to actually doany of the work, but they wanted more.

There are people who’ve said I have too much of a company-manmentality and don’t understand because I never created any characters.But, you know, Siegel and Shuster tried selling Superman for three or fouryears as a comic strip and nobody would touch it. If Gaines hadn’t pushedDonenfeld to use it in Action Comics, it might still be sitting on a shelfsomewhere.

And, yes, they did sell that first story for $130, so the rights weresigned over with that first check, but they made a lot more moneyproducing “Superman” comics after that. You have to wonder how thingsmight have turned out if they hadn’t pushed the lawsuits. I thinkDonenfeld probably would have been happier to hand over some moneyto Siegel and Shuster than spend what he did on lawyers. Certainly, theway Gaines dealt with Bill and Marty on “Green Lantern,” as well as the“Flash” and “Wonder Woman” guys, turned out to be a far more practicalapproach.

[ROZAKIS’ NOTE: Even before the decision was handed down in theSiegel and Shuster case, Gaines met with creators Bill Finger and MartinNodell, Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, William Moulton Marstonand Harry G. Peter, and negotiated buying their rights to any futureclaims on Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman, respectively.Though they had all signed the same back-of-the-check sign-away-your-rights agreement that Siegel and Shuster had, Gaines gave each of thema lucrative piece of future earnings in exchange for a binding contractthat they would not file a suit. Comic book industry lore has it thatHarry Donenfeld, hearing of this, told Gaines he was out of his mind,that he was throwing money away, and that it would eventually put himout of business. At the time, of course, Donenfeld was convinced hecould not lose the Superman lawsuit.]

Anyway, the judge finally made his decision, based what had happenedin a court case involving The Katzenjammer Kids, 30-some-odd yearsearlier. The judge ruled that Donenfeld owned “Superman” and had theright to continue to publish it. For their part, Siegel and Shuster had theright to continue writing and drawing stories starring the character but

could not call their magazine Superman. Of course, there was a majordifference in the two cases. The Katzenjammer comic strip was not thecornerstone of either of the newspaper syndicates involved in the earliersuit. Neither would’ve gone out of business if the judge had ruled theycouldn’t publish a particular strip. For Donenfeld, on the other hand,Superman was the lynchpin of his publishing line.

[ROZAKIS’ NOTE: Created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 for WilliamRandolph Heart’s New York Journal, The Katzenjammer Kids was oneof the most popular comic strips of its era. As the story goes, Dirkswanted a break after producing the strip for fifteen years, but Hearstsaid no. When Dirks left anyway, Hearst had Harold Knerr take overthe strip. Dirks then went to the rival Pulitzer newspaper and producedvirtually the same strip, under the name The Captain and the Kids. Theensuing lawsuit ended with both sides having some rights to thecharacters, and both versions of the strip continued to appear for manyyears thereafter.]

And if that wasn’t enough, as soon as Donenfeld walked out of thecourt with one ruling he didn’t entirely like, Bob Kane came to him andsaid, “I’m going to file the same lawsuit they did.” Rather than get lawyersinvolved again, Donenfeld said, “Fine, go publish your own ‘Batman’comics.”

The ironic part of the deal is that both sides screwed Bill Finger, whohad written the “Batman” stories from the start. Bob Kane had hiredFinger on his own; the only one DC paid was Kane, so Finger never had aclaim against the company. Not that it mattered that much to Bill. Gainesand Green Lantern were taking care of him nicely.

It was only a matter of weeks before Siegel and Shuster, allied with BobKane, formed SSK Comics and began producingMan of Steel andGotham Guardian comics to compete with Superman and Batman.There was no question that they had been squirreling away stories thatshould have been going to DC, anticipating that they would be publishingon their own.

After that initial inventory was exhausted, it quickly became obvious

The First Sons OfKrypton

Writer Jerry Siegel(standing) and artist JoeShuster, the creators

of Superman.

56 The Story Of M.C. Gaines’ Publishing Empire

“Greasemonkey Griffen” from Wings Comics #30 (Feb. 1943). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Introductionby Michael T. Gilbert

ntil recently, the life of cartoonist Al Walker has been a hugequestion mark in comics history. Fans of Al’s intricate 1940sFiction House art had to be content with the work itself, sincealmost nothing was known about the artist. Even the measly

few facts I managed to dig up about Al turned out to be wildly off themark. Did no one know the creator of stories featuring GreasemonkeyGriffin,Wizard of the Moon, and Norge Benson?

Last year I ran some of Al’s art on my website, along with hisWho’sWho of American Comic Books entry, which gave only his vital stats:born in 1878, died in 1947 at age 69. Imagine my surprise when StephenV. Walker, Al’s nephew, contacted me just a few days later! Stephen hadstumbled onto my site after googling his uncle. He was delighted to see Alin the spotlight, as was Al’s son, Alfred M. Walker. But they also informedme that Al didn’t pass on in 1947. He actually died decades later, in 1972.When he retired from comic books in 1948, he was only in his latethirties.

As it turns out, theWho’s Who had grafted Al’s comic book careeronto another Al Walker, Alanson Burton Walker, a turn-of-the-centuryartist for Judge and Life. Alfred John Walker was the Fiction House man.

Now we’re delighted to present Al Walker’s biography, courtesy ofStephen Walker (and edited by yours truly). Our interview will continuein the next two issues. So without further ado...

Take it away, Steve!

UU

Intrepid high school student Al Walker poses heroically.His dog is unimpressed.

(Above:) The other Al Walker. This devilish cartoon is by Alanson BurtonWalker, not Alfred John Walker, the Fiction House cartoonist.

[©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

(Left:) A beautiful “Norge Benson” splash pagefrom Planet Comics #13 (July 1941), featuring Slugthe penguin, the biggest bully you’d never wantto meet! [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

64 Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

70

ollectors considered him a fountain of knowledge. Professionalartists and writers sought his advice. Publishers commissionedhim to do books on comics. We calledhim dear friend. Righto on all counts,

mates!

I first became acquainted with John in 1968when I asked him to be the subject of a fandomprofile. This segment of my “Comics Collector’sComments” in the pages of RB-CC [Rocket’sBlast-Comicollector] highlighted some of thepeople who had made major contributions to theformation of organized fandom during what Iconsidered the pioneer years. Here then, in John’sown words, is his history as a collector andauthority….

“There is no disputing that my birthdayallowed me to become one of that uniquegroup . . . the first generation to be raised oncomic books. Almost from theirinception, US comic bookswere available in Australia. Myresearch leads me to believethat virtually every pre-war title,with the exception of theFawcett line, was available here.Like most kids on my street, Igrabbed my copies of AmazingMystery Funnies, Adventure,More Fun Comics,Wonderworld, Marvel MysteryComics, Pep Comics, SilverStreak, etc., just as avidly as my American counterpart. Consequently itis not as strange as it may seem to find Australians of my age groupwith a fairly intimate knowledge of US Golden Age comics.

“Up until 1941, the Australian comic book industry was very small,with almost the entire output devoted to reprints of US newspaperstrips such as The Phantom, Buck Rogers, Sky Roads, Felix the Cat,Red Ryder, etc. With the curtailment of supplies from the US andreduced supplies from England, the local industry increased theiroutput to capitalize on the market that had been virtually handed tothem on a platter. Initially they increased the quantity of newspaperstrips; but even these were hard to come by because of wartimerestrictions. And soon these supplies were used up. This situation wasresponsible for the creation of the original Australian comic book, bothdrawn and written by local talent.

“A large percentage of the material from that period was incrediblybad. It was crude in design, amateurish in execution, and totallylacking of any understanding of the field of graphic art. It might alsohelp you understand why Aussie addicts paid up to 40 cents for an

American comic book that had, somehow, made its way into thecountry. [AUTHOR’S NOTE: Comic books were used as ballast incargo ships during World War II.] And this was in the days when acomic book cost 5 cents and the average boy was lucky to get 10cents per week pocket money.

“While most of this original material plumbed the depth ofmediocrity, there was a small group of artists whose work was of ahigh standard. Syd Miller, Syd Nicholls, and Hal English were maturemen established in commercial art and the cartooning field prior to thearrival of the local comic industry. Anything they produced was worthreading. But it was the postwar years that brought into flower some ofour finest comic book artists: Stanley Pitt (Silver Starr, Yarmak), JohnDixon (Tim Valor, Crimson Ghost, Catman), Monty Wedd (CaptainJustice, The Scorpion), and Phil Belbin (The Raven, Ace Bradley). Thesewere some of the men who made 1946 to the mid-50s the Golden Ageof Australian Comic Books. During this period, with few exceptions, I

Two industrious comics fans who helped the burgeoning new organizedfandom go worldwide in the 1960s were a couple of Johns—J. Wright ofSouth Africa, and J. Ryan of Australia. The former was profiled in Alter

Ego #35-36. In this issue and the next, two fans who were there—including John Wright himself—talk about their correspondence andfriendships with the comics-history wizard of Oz. –Bill Schelly.

John Ryan—A Remembrance“Fountain Of Knowledge… And Friend”

by Howard Siegel

CC

Panel By Panel By RyanJohn Ryan and the cover of his book Panelby Panel: A History of Australian Comics

(Cassell Australia Ltd., 1979).Unfortunately, John did not live long

enough to enjoy the deserved plaudits forthis invaluable reference work, as hepassed away in December of that year.[Characters TM & ©2008 the respective

trademark & copyright holders.]

Comic Fandom Archive

In The Merry Old LandOf Oz

John Ryan at a 1976s gatheringat his home, with several primoAustralian comic book artists.(Left to right:) Phil Belbin, JR,John Dixon, Hart Amos, KeithChatto. Photo courtesy of

Howard Siegel.

While all these gents becamefar more polished in later

years, flanking the photo areimages from their earlier work.(Clockwise from top left:)“The Raven” by Phil Belbinfrom Gem Comic #16 (1949)…“Catman and Kit” by JohnDixon from Catman #12 (c.

1960)… cover of Climax ColorComic #8 by Hart Amos

(1948)… and Twilight Rangerby Keith Chatto (1956). For lotsmore on vintage Australiancomic books—and even JohnRyan—pick up a copy of AlterEgo #51, still available fromTwoMorrows Publishing. The“Catman” page, with graytones added, is from the AC

Comics reprint Men of MysteryComics #26; see AC’s ad on

p. 84. [Art ©2008 the respectivecopyright holders.]

John Ryan—A Remebrance 71

[Art ©2007 DC Comics.]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a topartist for Fawcett Publications. The very first Mary Marvel charactersketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliestadventures, including the classic origin story, “Captain Marvel IntroducesMary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. ’42); but he wasprimarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvelstories and covers forWhiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. Healso wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while inthe military. After leaving the service in 1944, he made an arrangementwith Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis outof his Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for ThePhantom Eagle inWow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jennynewspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentorRussell Keaton). After the cancellation ofWow, Swayze producedartwork for Fawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics, includingSweethearts and Life Story. After the company ceased publishing comics,Marc moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comicscareer in the mid-’50s. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been avital part of FCA since his first column appeared in FCA #54, 1996. Lastissue Marc reflected on the demise of our Captain Marvel. In thisinstallment he tells of two individuals at Fawcett Publications who left alasting impact on his career and life. –P.C. Hamerlinck.]

t’s something for which one can be truly thankful … therealization that everywhere you’ve ever been there werepeople who seem to have gone out of their way to make you

feel that you were somebody special. At Fawcett Publications thefirst that comes to mind is Al Allard. When, after scarcely morethan a week of employment with the company, I was called in forhaving erased the layout work of another artist; it was art directorAl Allard, with the accord of editor [Ed] Herron, who insistedthat I be left free to do future assignments all the way … fromscript through layout, penciling, and inking.

Several years later, upon my return from the military, it wasAllard again, I’m sure, whose influence persuaded executiveeditor Ralph Daigh to arrange for me to spend the rest of mycareer with Fawcett working from my home in Louisiana. Daighmade it clear from the beginning that it was the first instance …and I suspect the only one … that such an exception to regularcompany policy was made.

One day, long afterwards, when I had retired from comics andgone into industry, and was in New York City on a business trip,the taxicab in which I rode stopped at a crossing of pedestriansnear Grand Central Station. There, right before my eyes, pressedin against the crowd on foot, was my old friend ... long hair, darkshirt open at the collar … Al Allard.

Within the taxi, squeezed between two associates who would

have thought me insane, the impulse was to lower the cab window, leanout and shout, “Hey, Al!” The crowd, though, had already begun to moveon, and the moment was gone.

But I still wish I had.

I never saw a smile on the face of Ralph Daigh … in photo or in life.The office scuttlebutt that reached my ears had it that he was among theoriginal executives of the company, had been lured away briefly by acompetitive publisher, and had returned when the entire outfit picked upand moved to New York and Connecticut, about 1939.

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

By

81

II

First Star I See Tonight…Al Allard, Fawcett Publications art director, “looked as muchlike a Hollywood star as did the stars he escorted through his

art department.” Photo courtesy of P.C. Hamerlinck.

Daigh At NightRalph Daigh (left, pronounced “day”), Fawcett’s executive editor, and Al Allard (right)

at a Fawcett a soiree. Marc Swayze writes: “Ralph Daigh was a man who madedecisions and knew how to carry them out effectively.” Photo courtesy of

P.C. Hamerlinck.

Louisiana Pay-RideMarc feels it was chiefly through Allard’s intervention that he wasallowed to work from home—meaning Louisiana—after he returnedfrom military service in 1944. Before his time in uniform, Marc had

drawn, among other things, the two stories that had introduced MaryMarvel, including Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (Jan. 1943, above);script by Otto Binder. Afterward, he concentrated on The PhantomEagle (as per panel at right from Wow Comics #46, Aug. 1946) andlove stories (as per the splash below from Romantic Secrets #26, Jan.1952). [Shazam! characters TM & ©2008 DC Comics; Phantom Eagle &

Romantic Secrets art ©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

82 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America)

[A previously unpublished “Critical Circle” essay from 1987 by CaptainMarvel’s co-creator and chief artist from 1939 to 1953– from the vaultsof PCH’s Beck estate files.]

consider The Cosby Show to be the top television program. Itdoesn’t follow the formula used by all the other shows, but is almostexactly the opposite … just as Captain Marvel back in the ’40s

didn’t follow the standard super-hero formula, but was almost exactly theopposite.

Cosby is not the super-hero of his show. He is not eternally right,perfect, and noble … but human, with many failings. He is often pokedfun at, laughed at, and put down, but he is never made to be a perfectfool; he always comes out ahead in the end. Captain Marvel was the same:he was billed as “The World’s Mightiest Mortal,” not as a supernaturalbeing above all human understanding.

As a very human character, Cosby gets into trouble and often seems tobe completely wrong. This causes him to get into comic situations, notinto serious ones as so often happens in other TV shows. But as comic asthe situations become, Cosby himself never becomes a slap-happy clownor a blundering idiot. Captain Marvel didn’t, either, until new publisherstook him over and turned him into one.

Cosby allows others to show off their talents; he doesn’t hog the show.Although he is in most of the scenes himself, he lets other actors get thespotlight and do their stuff … just as Captain Marvel let Sivana, Mr.Tawny, Steamboat, Mr. Morris, and others get the attention of the readersnow and then. This sharing of time with others has always been one of themarks of a top-notch entertainer, but the failure to do so has killed off thecareers of many leading characters.

Cosby himself is a fascinating character, but he doesn’t appear ashimself on the show; instead, he is Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable. AlthoughCosby is a black American, as are most of the other characters on theshow, he never makes any particular mention of it and treats everyonewith dignity and respect. However, this doesn’t prevent him from allowingothers to make fools or villains of themselves. Producers of bad showsunfortunately fail to realize that no single group of people are all heroesnor all villains, thus turning away large portions of their audiences.

Cosby’s character is not the main character of his show at all. Otherproducers might have made a black American doctor who treats pregnantwhite women a crusading figure for equality and justice and democracy

Two GuysNamed BillThe Cosby Show AndCaptain Marvel

by C.C. BeckEdited by P.C. Hamerlinck

II

Separated At Earth?(Above:) Veteran TV star Bill Cosby. (Left:) Captain Marvelby C.C. Beck. [Shazam! character art TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

85

EDITOR’S NOTE: As an addendum to last issue’s “ShazamCurse” theme, FCA reprints this C.C. Beck essay originallypresented in FCA & ME, Too #2 (FCA #38), Winter 1987. Thearticle was spawned after I had sent Beck a copy of DC’s then-most recent Captain Marvel-related project, Shazam! The NewBeginning.—PCH.

n January 28, 1987, I received a phone call telling methat E. Nelson Bridwell was dead at age 55. Bridwellwas one of the fans of Golden Age comic characters

and, as an editor at DC Comics, was in a position to dosomething about preserving the personalities and appeal of theMarvel Family—Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and CaptainMarvel Jr.—along with Uncle Marvel, Sivana and his offspring,Mr. Tawny, Mr. Mind, and all the other great characters in theFawcett comics of the ’40s.

Bridwell had been retiredfor some time; he had beenreplaced by editors whowanted to destroy all theoriginal Fawcett charactersand replace them withdifferent characters of theirown creation. Bridwell hadlabored valiantly during the’70s to keep some semblanceof authenticity in the MarvelFamily characters which DChad revived—but he hadbeen fighting a losing battleagainst the revisionists whobelieved that comics of theGolden Age were too crude,childish, and simple-mindedfor modern readers toaccept.

Artist Don Newton wasone of these revisionists. Hedrew Captain Marvel andBilly Batson as realisticcharacters, complete witheyeballs, eyelashes, eyelids,teeth, and other featureswhich realistic artists insiston putting into cartooncharacters. Captain Marvel, in Newton’s hands, became an overweight,muscle-bound strongman dressed in a costume which Newton himselflike to call “painted on.” Newton was a great admirer of over-developedhealth faddists of the sort who appear at Mr. America contests to show offtheir pectorals, deltoids, and other bulging attributes … so he drew hisCaptain Marvel to look like a male beauty contest winner instead of whathe had originally been … simply an enlarged version of the boy, BillyBatson, whom he replaced now and then for story purposes.

Newton is gone now, too, and Captain Marvel, Billy Batson, and all the

great Fawcett characters have been replaced by characters who aresimply drawings, not people who seemed to be alive, full of ideasand ambitions (good and bad), and in conflict with each other—instead of being merely objects in artistically composed picturesscattered over the pages like displays of paintings in an album of art.

In Shazam! The New Beginning, DC’s latest version of the oldFawcett characters, everything has been changed. Uncle Marvel, inhis Uncle Dudley form, is now Billy’s real uncle; Sivana is now Billy’suncle, too. Shazam, the kindly old wizard, is now a wrinkled,

frightful, hawk-nosed old monster… and Billy Batson is a blubbering,sniveling, spineless wimp who spends all his time trying to figure outwhat’s going on.

When Captain Marvel first appears in DC’s latest version of his firststory, he has no idea who he is. He stands around in various poses—straddle-legged so that his crotch is prominently displayed—pats hisbulging biceps to show them off, scratches his head in bewilderment, andstares at the readers as he pops his eyes, bares his teeth, and looks moreconfused than Billy Batson at everything.

Shazam Scribes(Above:) Charles Clarence Beck, original artist and co-creator of CaptainMarvel, at a comics convention in Miami, Florida, in April 1979—with

Marvel head honcho Stan Lee, seen on our left. C.C. was not appreciativeof the Marvel approach to comics, but the two great talents seem to be

getting along just fine. Beck may not have been a “scribe” in the sense offormally writing stories, but his storytelling sense and cartooning talent

added to each and every tale he ever drew.

(Left:) E. Nelson Bridwell, as caricatured (along with all other JusticeLeague of America scripters to that date) by Dave Manak for DC’s housefanzine Amazing World of DC Comics #14 (March 1977). C.C. Beck felt thatENB did the best Binder/Woolfolk-style “Captain Marvel”/“Shazam!”

stories after the World’s Mightiest Mortal was published by DC beginningin the early 1970s. Many Fawcett fans would tend to agree. But that

wasn’t really what DC was looking for in the 1980s. [©2008 DC Comics.]

The Revisionistsby C.C. Beck

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

OO

87