JOHNROMITAJOHN

ROMITA...AND ALL

THAT JAZZ!...AND ALL

THAT JAZZ!

$5.95In the USA

Roy Thomas’ Legendary Comics Fanzine

No.9JULY2001

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Vol. 3, No. 9 / July 2001EditorRoy Thomas

Associate EditorBill Schelly

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 ArtistsJohn Romita, Dick Giordano

Cover ColorTom Ziuko

Mailing CrewRuss Garwood, Glen Musial, EdStelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

And Special Thanks to:

Alter EgoTM is published 8x a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas,Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; E-mail:roydann@oburg.net. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US, $27 Canada, $37 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material© their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TMof P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Jim AmashJorge Iván ArgizDick AyersMike W. BarrMark BeachumAl BigleyJerry K. BoydMike BurkeySal BuscemaBart BushSteven ButlerMike CatronArnie CharkenoDave CockrumGene ColanRay A. CuthbertAl DellingesRich DonnellyShelton DrumMichael FeldmanRamona FradonJorge Santamaria

GarciaDonald F. GlutJennifer T. GoRick HobergAlan HoltzDave HooverAdam HughesRafael KayananRobert KnuistJon B. KnutsonPaul Levitz

Scott McCloudJesus MerinoBrian K. MorrisBill MorrisonEric Nolen-

WeathingtonGeorge OlshevskyJerry OrdwayKen QuattroTom PalmerFred PattenJohn G. PierceBud PlantBradley C. RaderEthan RobertsJohn & Virginia

RomitaJohn Romita Jr.Marie SeverinJeff SharpeDave SimJoe SinnottTod SmithJoe StatonRobert StrawieryMarc SwayzeMaggie ThompsonFrank TravellinHerb TrimpeGeorge TuskaJames Van HiseMichael J. VassalloEd ZenoMike Zeno

John Romita

Section

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ContentsWriter/Editorial: Eight Is Enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Alter Ego goes to eight times a year. Shades of 1960s DC!

Fifty Years on the “A” List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Jazzy Johnny Romita, Marvel’s art director supreme, interviewed by Rascally Roy Thomas.

The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Bill Schelly moderates a look back at fandom’s roots in the 1960s and ’70s.

Special Section on Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects, FCA, & Comic Crypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us!About Our Cover: John Romita had hoped to finish a brand new piece of art to be the cover of thisissue. However, he’s been so busy with projects for Marvel and others—even though he’s officially“retired”—that at the last minute he had to beg off. So we assembled one of our trademark montages:a 1980 self-portrait, amid a frame of many (though far from all) of the Marvel super-heroes he’sdrawn at one time or another. The framing art, according to Romita connoisseur Mike Burkey (who provided it) was previously used only as the back cover of a trade paperback in the 1970s. [Self-portrait ©2001 John Romita; Marvel art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Red Sonja ©2001 Red Sonja Properties, Inc.]

Above: This more humorous portrait by John R. of himself with the cast of The Amazing Spider-Manhas been printed several times, beginning in Marvel’s own fan-mags. But somehow, we just couldn’tbear to leave it out! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROY THOMAS: Okay, John, just to get it out of the way—you wereborn in Brooklyn in 1930, right?

JOHN ROMITA: Yeah. Just maybe five years too early—no, too late.Because one of my biggest regrets is that I wasn’t in the first generationof comic artists. While I was in junior high school, Joe Kubert, who’sonly a few years older than me, got in on it, doing “Hawkman”!

RT: Of course, if you’d had your wish, you’d be a decade older.

ROMITA: Yeah, I’d be eighty now. [laughs] I started drawing when Iwas five. Parents and relatives say, “Ooh” and “Ahh” and how great itis, and you continue drawing because you like to get the pats on theback.

I was a street performer when I was about ten. The gang of kids Ihung out with used to scrounge bits of plaster from torn-down

buildings, because we couldn’t afford chalk, and I would draw on thestreets. Once I did a 100-foot Statue of Liberty, starting at one manholeand finishing at the next. That was the distance between manholes inBrooklyn.

RT: “From sewer to shining sewer,” huh?

ROMITA: People were coming from other neighborhoods to see it andhoping it wouldn’t rain. I also used to draw Superman, Batman—all thesuper-heroes that were coming out. [Virginia Romita says something inthe background.] Virginia reminds me, as she always does, that I alsobecame the source of little drawings of nude girls for all the boys in theneighborhood. Guys would beg me to do them, and she would say shewas disappointed in me for doing those drawings. She was nine when Iwas eleven. Actually, she caused me to stop doing them.

A 1996 Romita Spider-Man sketch, flanked by Jazzy Johnny hard at work in1967 amid furniture he made himself (“I must’ve been crazy!” he says).

[Photo courtesy of and art ©2001 John Romita;Spider-Man ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Fifty Years On The “A” List

4 Fifty Years On The “A” List

A Candid Conversation With Marvel Artist/Art Director Supreme

John RomitaConducted by Roy Thomas

Transcribed by Brian K. Morriswith special thanks to Mike Burkey

When they did plays at the school auditorium, I was stuck with doingthe backgrounds and scenery. Once they taped a huge roll of wrappingpaper along the entire school corridor, and I did a mural down bothsides of all the heroes I knew of, even Zorro, Flash Gordon, and Tarzan.

RT: The comics pros a little older than you had grown up beforeSuperman, so when they started drawing super-heroes, it wasn’t asnatural a thing to them.

ROMITA: Yeah, but they probably did Washington and Lincoln, like Idid. I became a celebrity in school. I used to carve Lincoln heads,Mickey Mouse, things like that, out of cakes of soap. When I was 12-13,my buddies thought we were gonna go into business. They actuallybroke into the basement of a Turkish bath to get me a boxful of soap, sohelp me! I can still see this one kid half a block down the street in thetenement section of Brooklyn—you could see for two blocks, no trees,no nothing—there’s a policeman talking to him, and this kid—his namewas Louie McDuff and he was a real weasel—was practically in tears. Ican see him pointing to my house and telling the cop, “That’s the guywho told me to get the soap.” I never asked him to get the soap—I juststayed there in the cellar. I thought I was going to be arrested for

stealing a box of soap!

When I was choosing a high school, somebody told me about theSchool of Industrial Arts in the city, where you were taught by profes-sional artists. That captured my imagination. My local priest wanted meto go to a Catholic high school and later become a priest, but I wasn’tgoing to give up girls.

But one of my buddies, who was doing full-color posters when I wasjust doing line-art stuff—truthfully, he was much better than I was—headvised me, “John, you shouldn’t waste your time going to the School ofIndustrial Arts. You’re not polished enough.” He went to the sameschool I did, and he never, ever made a living at artwork. [laughs]

RT: Some people have talent but never get it together to actually doanything with it.

ROMITA: On my 17th birthday I graduated from high school and I gota job right away. This wealthy anesthesiologist at Manhattan GeneralHospital was creating a new branch of medicine called pneumatology,and he hired me at sixty bucks a week, which was a fortune to me, to do

A Candid Conversation With John Romita 5

You name ’em—Romita’s drawn ’em! John’s preliminary pencils to the wraparound cover of the 1996 Marvel one-shot Heroes and Legends. Courtesy of Mike Burkey. [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

a medical exhibit from scratch. I designed and illustrated and letteredand cut out the boards and pasted and hung them on frames in thehospital corridors. I had no experience, but I did the whole damn exhibitin six months.

While I was working in the hospital, several other doctors, includinga plastic surgeon and a heart specialist, asked me to illustrate their books.There were only one or two top guys in the country doing medical illus-trations, so I figured there’d be no competition. I thought I was going tobe a medical illustrator! But when I finished the exhibit, none of thesedoctors had written a single chapter of their books, so I had to go outand earn a living.

RT: They probably never even wrote their books.

ROMITA: I guarantee you, they never did. Theydidn’t need the money.

RT: Backing up a bit: In 1976, in a story with TheThing and The Liberty Legion, set in 1942, we showedyou as a kid, saying you “deliver[ed] packages for someof the doctors around here”—in Times Square. We alsohad you spotting some Nazi planes overhead, since yousaid you knew the silhouettes and markings of all theplanes at that time.

ROMITA: Yeah. I delivered packages when I wasfourteen, but not for doctors. I worked in the NewsweekBuilding for some minor-league outfit that used to mimeo-graph biographies of big band leaders like Louis Armstrongand Glenn Miller. Their customer was this agent uptown on57TH Street. I would run 200-300 copies off on mimeographand take them to theclient, so he could handthem out as press releases.

I’d go into the BrillBuilding, on what wascalled Tin Pan Alley. Allthe offices had musiccoming from them—people selling songs onthe piano, songwriterspushing their songs. Andwhen I’d go up to 20thCentury-Fox artdepartment, I could seethe posters from myfavorite movies beingdone, and I loved it.

RT: You never had a singing career like a couple of others inyour family?

ROMITA: I had three sisters and a brother. Every one of themcould sing and dance, and I can’t dance and I can’t sing. But Igrew up loving music.

RT: You’ve said you bought two copies of Superman #1, in1939? That’s why you’re rich today—you kept that spare copy,right?

ROMITA: [laughs] I kept one copy in a wax paper bag, theclosest equivalent to plastic we had, but eventually it disap-peared. I traced the other one until the cover was destroyed. Ikept pressing harder and harder, until I could do that drawingby hand.

RT: Were you aware, in ’39 and ’40, of the early TimelyComics?

ROMITA: I remember Human Torch, I remember Sub-Mariner, andthen Captain America. One of my favorite companies was Lev Gleason.Charlie Biro’s stuff [for Gleason] appealed to me. His Daredevil was myfavorite character. He wasn’t blind; he just had that split red-and-bluecostume.

RT: It’s funny that Biro’s Daredevil was one of your earliest heroes, andMarvel’s Daredevil was the first hero you drew in the ’60s.

ROMITA: I told that to Stan in ’65, and he said he thought Biro was agenius. I maintain that Biro did a lot of the stuff thatStan did later, but it wasn’t noticed, even though hewas putting a lot of personality into his comics.

George Tuska did a lot of work for Biro. When Imet Tuska in the late ’60s, I said, “I’ll tell you howfar back I’ve been noticing your work. I remember‘Shark Brodie’!” That was a back-up feature, ahobo adventurer connected with the sea. He wasalways on a dock somewhere. Actually, I’d seenTuska years earlier, when I was delivering ahorror story to Stan in the ’50s. I saw this big,strapping guy, and I didn’t know it was Tuskatill afterward. He looked like a super-herohimself!

RT: Doing Crime Does Not Pay stories forBiro, Tuska was one the most influentialartists in the field. Later, for several years inthe ’70s, he was one of only two artists whocould draw any Marvel book and it’d sell.

You were the other one. Iremember he did twoissues of Sub-Marinerand sales shot up. Theywent back down as soonas he left!

ROMITA: I remember.Everything he touchedwas great. He once did athumbnail version of aSpider-Man from a plotby Stan. I was supposedto blow the thumbnailsup and lightbox them—allcontrived to save me time.It was a very interesting-looking job, with a lot of

6 Fifty Years On The “A” List

In Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 (1976), set in 1942, John appeared at age 11—but weshouldn’t have given him so much baby-fat! Art by Sal Buscema & Sam Grainger.

[©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Two of John’s early faves were Charles Biro’s Daredevil and George Tuska’s anything! Here’s thecover of Daredevil #6 (Dec. 1941)—plus a handful of Tuska panels from Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not

Pay #60 (Feb. ‘48), by way of Mike Benton’s invaluable 1993 Illustrated History of Crime Comics.[Daredevil & CDNP art ©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

people in overcoats, and some beautiful shadows; I was dying to do it.But Stan said, “No, it just doesn’t look like a Spider-Man story,” and hedecided not to use it. I could kill myself for losing those thumbnails.

RT: Two of the comics artists most influential on your style—especiallyduring the period I became aware of your work back in the early ’50swith “Captain America”—were Jack Kirby and Milton Caniff. Thatwasn’t just my imagination, was it?

ROMITA: No. Milton Caniff was my god. Before I got into comicbooks, his Terry and the Pirates was my Bible. I used to spend hourslooking at those pages. I still have two or threeyears of Sundays in an envelope. I still look atthem and admire and sigh. Everything I’ve everlearned, I think, was established in those pages.

He did some beautiful work later in SteveCanyon, but the Terry and the Pirates stuff—well, it’s probably partly because of NoelSickles. They shared a studio for a time. Caniffhelped Sickles with storytelling, and Sickleshelped Caniff learn how to turn out a daily pagewithout laboring over it. If Sickles hadn’t gottentired of his own Scorchy Smith, there’s notelling how big it might have become, becausethat strip was an adventure story on the qualitylevel of a Hitchcock movie. I’m telling you, thestories, the visuals, were so great—I don’t knowabout the dialogue, because Caniff had his owndialogue, that probably surpassed everybody.

I had to scrounge up oldFamous Funnies comics to getall of Terry! Each issuereprinted maybe two or threeSundays, or maybe two Sundaysand the dailies in-between.

RT: Moving to the Kirby half ofmy Caniff-Kirby equation—you were probably one of thosekids who liked Simon andKirby without knowing whodid what.

ROMITA: I was aware ofeverything Jack did from the

time I was eleven. I’d tell my buddies, “This guy is great! Look at thisstuff that’s popping out of the pages. Look at how he does that!” Theythought the comics were some kind of tricky photo technique. Theywould say, “Aw, you’re crazy. Nobody’s going to do all those drawingsby hand.” Years later, I used to hear that echoing, and say, “What am I,crazy, doing 120 drawings for how many stories?” [laughs]

RT: You found out how many drawingspeople can do, right?

ROMITA: I learned the hard way. Butfor a while I definitely felt I was doingcomics only on a temporary basis. Inthe Army I did full-color illustrationsand posters. The Saturday EveningPost, Collier’s, Ladies’ HomeJournal—there were about a dozenmagazines that had double-page illustra-tions to make your mouth water; butthat field was slowly dying. My finalyear in art school, I studied magazineillustration and had given up on comics.I wanted to be a magazine illustrator.

RT: Not a baker? [laughs]

ROMITA: Well, not a baker—but I wasgoing to drive the bread truck. My

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

John (left) with his childhood idol Milt Caniff (center), circa ’70s. The longtime Marvel artist/production man at right jokinglytitled this pic: “Hey, who’re those two guys with Tony Mortellaro?” The Terry and the Pirates daily for 2-8-38 featured two ofCaniff’s trademark women—Burma and the ever-delightful Dragon Lady. As for Tony—he often slipped the name “Mort” onto

backgrounds when working with John. [Photo courtesy of John Romita; Terry art ©2001 Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, Inc.]

A Candid Conversation With John Romita 7

J.R. says: “I saw George Tuska at the MegaCon this April. He’s stilldrawing. He and Nick Cardy and I posed for pictures. It was wonderful.”

[L. to r.: Tuska, Romita, & Cardy; photo courtesy of John Romita.]

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

BILL SCHELLY: Welcometo the Golden Age of ComicFandom panel, where wehave the opportunity toexplore comicdom’s origins

beginning in 1961 before therewere comic book conventions, or price guides, or really any way for fansto get in touch with other fans. Until then, most fans appreciated comicson their own, and their relatives thought they were nuts. Fandom hasbeen a godsend to all of us; and we should remember that our panelists,and many, many hundreds of other people, did a lot of the work to get itstarted. I’ll begin by briefly introducing each of our panelists:

Fred Patten’s roots go back to science fiction fandom in the late1950s. He went on to write for many comics fanzines in the 1960s,including Alter Ego. Fred was also central mailer of the first comicsamateur press alliance, Capa-Alpha, for several years.

Maggie Thompson, a talented cartoonist, was co-editor with her latehusband Don of the fanzine Comic Art, and is a long-time columnistand editor of Comics Buyer’s Guide.

Roy Thomas was the co-founder of the fanzine Alter Ego, and thefirst well-known comics fan to graduate to pro comics.

James Van Hise is best known as the author of dozens of booksabout comics and other aspects of popular culture. As a member offandom beginning in 1963, however, he will always be remembered as

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

Michael T. Gilbert, who got involved in fandom in the late 1960s,was first drawn to comics of the 1940s, which were still shrouded inmystery because there was no body of literature to consult about them. Iguess it’s logical that he would become best-known for a hero he woulddevelop from an obscure Golden Age comic character by the name ofMr. Monster.

Finally we have PaulLevitz, who told me he“kind of sneaked in at theend of fandom’s GoldenAge.” He began at the top,

taking over the publishing reins of TheComic Reader, the first and mostimportant fanzine that published newsof upcoming pro comics. Today, ofcourse, he serves as vice-president andpublisher of DC Comics.

As for myself, I got into fandom in1964, published a fanzine called Sense of Wonder, and in recent yearshave been researching fandom’s past.

I believe this is the first time a panel has been put together of thiscaliber on the subject of fandom’s history, with a stellar assemblage fromits first decade. It’s a kind of historical event in its own right. Let’s beginwith Maggie and Fred—because a big part of the beginning of comicsfandom was the stream of fans who came in through the already-existingscience-fiction fandom. Maggie, how did you first hear about comicsfandom?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Well, we didn’t hear about a comics fandom,because there wasn’t a comics fandom to hear about. There had beenpublications that dealt at least tangentially with comics for some time inthe science-fiction universe. Dave Kyle, for example, had a prototypethat involved his enthusiasm about Flash Gordon; so, by somedefinition, that is a comics fanzine. My parents did a fanzine in the late1940s called The Cricket, because they had seen comic books in 1947and 1948 that they thought were cool, and they tried to tell their friendsabout it, to no avail. EC fandom came and went, but there was nocontinuing nucleus of people which slowly grew and grew into an

The Golden AgeOf Comic Fandom Panel

San Diego Comics Convention - July 22, 2000Edited and Abridged by Bill Schelly Transcription by Jon B. Knutson

A triptych of photos taken (under less than ideal circumstances) by Mike Catron at the Comic Fandom Panel. From left to right: Bill Schelly, Fred Patten,

Maggie Thompson, Roy Thomas, James Van Hise, Michael T. Gilbert, Paul Levitz.[Photos ©2001 Mike Catron.]

40 The Golden Age of Fandom Panel

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel 41

amoebae-like parasite, which took over theuniverse of the eclectic until much later.

BILL: Maybe you could tell us about the 1960World Con in Pittsburgh, where some peoplewere talking about forming a comics fandom?

THOMPSON: Well, the people was us! Whathappened was, there was a costume compe-tition, followed by a banquet. After thebanquet, Don and I were sitting with HalLynch and (I believe) Bill Thailing. We lookedaround the room full of people who shared ourenthusiasm about science-fiction andwondered, “Gee, could there be anything likethis about comics? Wouldn’t that be great?” Weactually conducted a correspondence with HalLynch in which we discussed what it would becalled. We didn’t think we could call it fandom,because fandom was science-fiction fandom.Hal suggested the word “comdom,” but thensaid maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.[laughs]

It was comics’ time. At that World Con,Dick and Pat Lupoff attended the masqueradeas Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel. Theywere distributing free copies of their fanzine Xero, which had the firstinstallment of a series about old comics called “All in Color for a Dime.”However, we didn’t see Xero #1 at that convention; somehow we missedit. But, when we got home from the con, Don and I—we were dating, soI was Maggie Curtis then—decided to do a fanzine about comics. Wedistributed a one-page flyer called Harbinger, in which we said, “We’regoing to do a fanzine; if you’re interested send us a postcard, and we’llsend you the first issue.” That was in October of 1960, and Comic Artcame out the following year, primarily to a readership of science-fictionfans. We didn’t know anything about what Jerry Bails and Roy Thomasand that other crowd were up to.

BILL: Also from the Eisenhower era and science-fiction fandom, wehave Fred Patten.

FRED PATTEN: My first personal experiencewith fandom was when the World Con came toLos Angeles, where I lived, in 1958. I met otherfans through that con, and eventually joined theLos Angeles Science Fantasy Society around 1960,when I was in college. The LASFS was a science-fiction club started in Los Angeles in 1934; it hadbeen meeting weekly since 1939. Forrest J.Ackerman was one of its biggest organizers.When I joined, I remember there were wholebunches of fanzines lying around to read, as wellas books and magazines.

BILL: When did you realize the super-heroeswere coming back in the comics?

PATTEN: We didn’t really become aware of ituntil about the time Green Lantern and TheAtom came along. A lot of us who were sf fansspotted the science-fiction references that [DCeditor] Julius Schwartz put into his stories. Ithink the first issues of Green Lantern and Atomhad references. Like The Atom’s secret identitywas Ray Palmer [actual name of a famous sfwriter and fan], and stuff like that. We respondedto that. Some of us remembered we had been fans

of super-hero comics when we were 9-12 yearsold, and thought it was cool they were comingback. Then we were very impressed whenMarvel’s stuff started. Stan Lee had his own veryirreverent approach, and he set his stories inNew York rather than mythical cities. Thatappealed to us.

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

PATTEN: That was mainly Bruce Pelz’ idea.Bruce, Ted Johnstone, and Jack Harness werethree of the most active fanzine publishers in theLASFS. They decided they wanted to make aspectacular showing at the masquerade event atthe 1962 World Con in Cleveland, and theyneeded other warm bodies to fill the costumes.So I became the Golden Age Flash. Someoneelse made the costume for me. We borrowedsomeone’s father’s World War I doughboyhelmet and spray-painted it silver. In our group

we had Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, and a fewmore.

BILL: Now that we’ve heard a bit about the ways science-fiction fansbegan to express an interest in comics, let’s go to Roy Thomas for thestory of how he met Jerry Bails.

ROY THOMAS: In late 1961 I wrote letters of comment to editorJulius Schwartz about issues of Justice League of America, The Flash,and Green Lantern, the hot new comics at the time. Julie wrote backthat since I mentioned I had been a Justice Society fan as a kid, I mightenjoy writing to the man who had written the JSA—and who was nowwriting JLA. He sent me Gardner Fox’s home address! It’s hard to

imagine an editor today sending a fansomebody’s home address, but he just did it. Iwrote a letter to Gardner, which I’m embar-rassed to say still exists. To my query aboutback issues of All-Star Comics, he said, “I soldthe ones I had a couple of years ago to a guynamed Jerry Bails, who lives in Detroit.”

Gardner gave me Jerry’s address and Iimmediately wrote to him. I got Jerry’sresponse a couple of days after my twentiethbirthday, in November 1960. He even sent mecomplete and quasi-complete issues of All-Star#4, 5 and 6, with a current street value of maybe$2,000 even in that condition—a gift!

BILL: How did Alter Ego get started?

THOMAS: Like Maggie mentioned, it’s sincebeen documented that Don and others weresaying at a World Con that they wanted to starta comics fandom, but we didn’t know anythingabout that. Jerry was interested in pushing theJLA comic. He wanted to do a publicationcalled The JLA Subscriber, which would beavailable only to people who could prove theysubscribed to JLA. I was skeptical of this,because the last comic I’d subscribed to was

Fred Patten in 1962, in the costume he wore at theWorld Science-Fiction Convention. See Dr. Fate,

Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, as well, in BillSchelly’s The Golden Age of Comic Fandom.

The cover of Comic Art #1 (“Spring 1961”). Alter-Ego #1 (“March 1961”) seems to have hit the mails slightly earlier, but the Thompsons’fanzine had been in the work months longer.

[©2001 Maggie Thompson.]

Roy Thomas’Dream Team Comics Fanzine

$5.95In the USA

No. 9JULY2001

Plus:

BEACHUMAYERS

BECK

BRUNNERBORING

BUSCEMABUTLER

COCKRUMCOLAN

DITKOFRADON

GARCIAGILBERTHEATH

HOBERGHOOVER

HUGHES

KANEINFANTINO

KAYANANMERINONEWTON

ORDWAYRADER

REYESROMITA JR.

SEVERINSINNOTT

SMITHSTATONSWAYZE

TOTHTRAVELLIN

TRIMPETUSKA

&

FEATURINGRARE ART BY:

Characters TM & ©Marvel Characters, Inc.

Alter EgoTM is published 8x a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas,Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; E-mail:roydann@oburg.net. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US, $27 Canada, $37 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material© their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TMof P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Dream Projects�

Comic Crypt�

FCA Section

™

ContentsWriter/Editorial: Sweet Dreams, Baby! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Roy Thomas’ “Dream Projects” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Ye Editor kicks off an eight-a-year schedule with a survey of some series that time forgot.

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Michael T. Gilbert on “life after comic books” for the Man of Steel’s second artist.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #68 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39P.C. Hamerlinck presents another frantic Fawcett festival—featuring George Tuska, Marc Swayze, C.C. Beck, and Bill Morrison!

Spectacular Section on Marvel’s John Romita! . . . . . . . . . Flip Us!About Our Cover: We’re truly grateful to Dick Giordano for taking the time to do two versions of thedrawing that graces this section’s cover—the full-color one you just paged past, and another wherein hehad five of Marvel’s Invaders facing not their usual array of foes—but a quintet of DC’s Justice Societyand All-Star Squadron heroes from the World War II years. The companies prefer that we not mix DCand Marvel heroes on our covers, so we used this version, instead. For the five DC heroes as drawn byDick, see P. 18. And, to find out how to purchase Giordano re-creations, commission drawings, ororiginal art, e-mail him at < dickgiordano@yahoo.com >. Loads of great stuff available!Above: So what does this thought-provoking Adam Hughes illo, which appeared in the 1998 HeroesConvention (Charlotte, NC) program book, have to do with Roy T.’s “Dream Projects”? See Pp. 22-23. Thanks to Adam for permission to reprint it. [Art ©2001 Adam Hughes; Captain America©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Vol. 3, No. 9 / July 2001EditorRoy Thomas

Associate EditorBill Schelly

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 ArtistsJohn Romita, Dick Giordano

Cover ColorTom Ziuko

Mailing CrewRuss Garwood, Glen Musial, EdStelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

And Special Thanks to:Jim AmashJorge Iván ArgizDick AyersMike W. BarrMark BeachumAl BigleyJerry K. BoydMike BurkeySal BuscemaBart BushSteven ButlerMike CatronArnie CharkenoDave CockrumGene ColanRay A. CuthbertAl DellingesRich DonnellyShelton DrumMichael FeldmanRamona FradonJorge Santamaria

GarciaDonald F. GlutJennifer T. GoRick HobergAlan HoltzDave HooverAdam HughesRafael KayananRobert KnuistJon B. KnutsonPaul Levitz

Scott McCloudJesus MerinoBrian K. MorrisBill MorrisonEric Nolen-

WeathingtonGeorge OlshevskyJerry OrdwayKen QuattroTom PalmerFred PattenJohn G. PierceBud PlantBradley C. RaderEthan RobertsJohn & Virginia

RomitaJohn Romita Jr.Marie SeverinJeff SharpeDave SimJoe SinnottTod SmithJoe StatonRobert StrawieryMarc SwayzeMaggie ThompsonFrank TravellinHerb TrimpeGeorge TuskaJames Van HiseMichael J. VassalloEd ZenoMike Zeno

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

about Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Steve Englehart about CaptainAmerica, etc.

This is my way of answering those questions—illustrating myresponses with some great-looking art.

What follows are a few of the concepts which I’ve submitted—invain, as it turned out—to this company or that. I decided to limit myselffor the most part to showcasing those unrealized “dream projects”which involve heroes I first encountered during my comics-readingchildhood in the latter 1940s: The Justice Society of America (plus mylater augmentation of same, the All-Star Squadron); Captain Marvel and

For Collector’s Dream Magazine #5 (1978), Franco Reyes drew this lavish two-page portrait of Ye Writer/Editor and some of the Marvel heroes he’d scripted up to that point. Artful Al Dellinges has obligingly covered over a few of the Marvel stalwarts with adapted renditions of DC stars. (We’ll ignore the fact that Roy is

23 years older now and no longer wears beads around his throat.) Special thanks to CDM’s publisher George Olshevsky; the original art is from RT’s personalcollection. [Art ©2001 George Olshevsky & Franco Reyes; Captain America & Bucky, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Thor, Scarlet Witch ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.;

Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

All Of Roy Thomas“Dream Projects”Had Come True?

by Roy Thomas (who else?)

4 Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

�

company; and the Timely/Marvel “Big Three” of Captain America,Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner, whom in 1975 I combined as TheInvaders.

Besides ideas involving Golden Age heroes, however, there are a fewothers on my list—pet proposals involving the Justice League, the Kree-Skrull War, and one or two additional bits of flotsam and jetsam frommy four-color past, as you’ll see.

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

Part IWARTS, SCHWARTZ, AND ALL

A. All-Star Comics #58—Two Decades Early!Though I drew my first crudely-executed comics in 1948 at age

seven—a multi-story, 50-page All Giant Comics, one of whose heroes,Goliath, was visually based on the depiction of that Biblical bad-guy inthe then-recent All-Star Comics #38—my first attempt to write a script, asopposed to both writing and drawing a story, was made in 1954 or ’55.

Ostensibly, the major subject of Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer’s1954 Comic Book Illustrators Instruction Course, Lesson One (and, asit turned out, Only), was drawing the human head. But it also sportedexamples of two panels in script form, which I used as my template. (Forthis and other pages of the Course, see Alter Ego: The Comic BookArtist Collection, currently available from TwoMorrows.)

I no longer have that script, but it was written as All-Star Comics#58 (surprise, surprise), continuing the numbering of my all-timefavorite comic, which had been discontinued in 1950. The basic premiseand plotline of “The War That Never Happened!” was unabashedlylifted from a story of the same name and general story in WonderWoman #60 (July-Aug. 1953).

In my scenario, the JSA (expanding on Diana’s role in the original)are called in by the scientist Paula. In her “futuray,” which seemsbasically a souped-up version of Queen Hippolyta’s Magic Sphere, theybehold images of an Earth reduced to rubble by World War III, tenyears in the future. The All-Stars travel all the way to 1964 or ’65 tofight on America’s side, breaking into teams as per the later Schwartz-Broome All-Stars. I took my tale’s climax nakedly from the originalcomic, with Wonder Woman finding a way to stop the war from everbeginning: She prevents an auto accident which had kept US delegatesfrom getting to a crucial conference in time to vote against going to war.(Hey, don’t blame me! I didn’t write the original story—chances are BobKanigher did! But I liked it.)

I had fun writing the script, but Idoubt I ever showed it to anyone.

B. Jerry Thomas Lives!As it happens, the second unillus-

trated script I remember writingwas actually submitted (unsolicited)to DC—to editor Julius Schwartz,to be precise.

As a few doddering oldstersmay recall, in Jerry G. Bails’original 1961 Alter-Ego fanzine, atage twenty, I wrote and drew aparody of the JLA called “BestestLeague of America.” Later, inJustice League of America #16(Dec. 1962), Julie and authorGardner Fox paid Jerry and me

Warts, Schwartz, And All 5

Irwin Hasen drew the cover of Wonder Woman #60. Inside, “The War ThatNever Happened!”—whose history-altering denouement is shown here—was

the work of a tiring H.G. Peter. The 1953 issue was reprinted in 1977—as apremium given away by Pizza Hut! A zillion thanks to collector Bart Bush for

gifting Roy with what amounts to a copy of a comic he hadn’t owned oreven seen in nearly half a century! [©2001 DC Comics.]

The cover and panels from five stories in All Giant Comics #1, done when RTwas seven, with Elephant Giant, King O’Mighty, Goliath, Giant Caveman

(wearing Flash’s helmet), and Black Giant.[©2001 Roy Thomas; like anybody’s gonna steal it!]

the mind-blowing compliment of creating an offstage fan-cartoonistnamed “Jerry Thomas,” who in “The Cavern of Deadly Spheres!” hadwritten and drawn his own notion of a JLA case.

I didn’t think it likely, by any stretch of the imagination, that ayoung high school English teacher in Missouri would ever sell a scriptto a big New York comics publisher. Still, one day in 1963 I sat down atmy Smith-Corona portable and banged out a 25-page JLA story whichmade an onstage character out of Jerry Thomas.

In it he sent the heroes a second story he’d drawn—this one a parodyof them called, er, “Bestest League of America.” To their shock, theJLAers saw that various freak misfortunes which had just befallen them(tripping themselves up while chasing crooks, etc.) were all closelyforeshadowed in JT’s spoof, where they happened to their lampoonequivalents (Green Trashcan, Martian Manhandler, Aquariuman, etc.).Learning that Jerry Thomas had drawn the story using a strange penhe’d found, the JLA traced the pen’s origins to another dimension andfought some menace there. I don’t recall whether that weird pen hadwound up on our Earth by accident, or if it was part of someone’s cleverplan to lure the JLA into the other dimension.

I duly mailed my script to Julie, with whom I’d been correspondingsince late 1961. I said he could use it gratis if he wanted, or haveGardner Fox rewrite it. I don’t believe I ever got any response fromJulie, but I took that in my stride. After all, I remembered that once,when I’d mentioned in a letter that he hadn’t responded to a couple ofmy recent missives, Julie had written back to inform me, quote: “I’m abusy man!”—which was certainly true—so the last thing I wanted to dowas annoy him.

So obtuse was I back then that it never occurred to me that Gardnermight have had cause to be angered by my presumptuous action. Afterall, if Julie had used my JLA script, it might have replaced one of his—though at that time Gardner would have had something else to take itsplace on his schedule.

My main regret, though, is that, for whatever reason, that script nolonger exists. Small loss, I suppose.

C. By Any Stretch Of The Imagination(or, To Make An Elongated Story Short...)

That sample JLA script turned out to be good practice, because earlyin 1964 I received a letter from Gardner, who was my other majorprofessional correspondent at the time, and who of course had been theoriginal scribe of All-Star Comics in the 1940s, as well.

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

6 Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

The Roy Thomas half of the offstage “Jerry Thomas” amalgam wanted to move JT to center stage—and bring the Bestest League with him! JLA by Gardner Fox,

Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs; BLA art by RT for CAPA-Alpha #3, Nov.1965. [JLA #16 panel ©2001 DC Comics; Bestest League art ©2001 Roy Thomas.]

If Roy’s mid-’50s script for an “All-Star Comics #58” had seen print on some “Earth-22,” its splash might have resembled this 1948 Hasen-Oksner one—only with the threepix of the Magic Sphere displaying World War III images like the ones we’ve added.[Art from All-Star #48 and JLA #207 ©2001 DC Comics; art from covers of World War

III #1 (1953) and Atom-Age Combat #2 (1959) ©2001 the respective copyright holders.]

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond 33

Those familiar with Wayne Boring’s comic book work may besurprised to discover his lengthy secondary career as a syndicatedcartoonist.

Boring’s newspaper connections began early.In fact, he was doing layout work for one paper,The Virginia Pilot, when he spotted a want-adplaced by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, thecreators of Superman. Boring answered it, and hislife was changed forever.

By 1938 he was assisting the two on such DCseries as “Spy,” “Federal Men,” “Slam Bradley,”and of course “Superman”! Boring is said to havebeen only the second artist to work on thelegendary character. The bulk of his work on theMan of Steel began that year, ending around 1968when DC changed ownership and fired many oftheir longtime writers and artists. It was a brutaltime for many.

In 1973 the Canadian fanzine Now & ThenTimes published an excellent article on thecartoonist by a young Dave Sim, future creator ofCerebus the Aardvark. Accompanying the piece were two scathing editorial cartoons byBoring, drawn especially for the magazine. Eachreflects his lingering ill feelings towards thecompany for which he had worked for threedecades. We’re reprinting both cartoons here as arare behind-the-scenes look, drawn by a loyalcompany man, who felt abandoned after alifetime of service. Seen in that light, the bitter

tone of Boring’s caricatures is understandable. In the article, the artisthad this to say:

“I enjoyed working with National Periodicals for years. This was agood company until the original builders started leaving. I worked foryears with Jack Schiff, editor. When Kinney took over, I was in a boxwith Mort Weisinger. I bowed out due to editorial stupidity. My Sundayand daily strips had folded, anyway, which was my main effort.”

There may have been more to it than that. Comics expert MichaelFeldman recently cited a 1983 interview, conducted by Richard Pachterin Boring’s Fort Lauderdale home. In it, Boring tells of being fired bySuperman editor Mort Weisinger.

Astonished, Boring muttered, “You mean I’m not working for youanymore?”

Weisinger repeated, “You’re fired!”

Boring persisted, “Fired? What do you mean? All you’ve got to do isstop sending me scripts!”

To which Weisinger replied, “Do you need a kick in the stomach toknow when you’re not wanted?”

If the story is true, it was a rough way to lose your job after decadesof loyal service. Judging by one of the cartoons reprinted here, Boringwas well aware of the earlier shabby treatment of his old bosses, Siegel

and Shuster. Luckily, Wayne Boring hadother options besides comic books.Throughout his career, the artist had along history of illustrating newspaperstrips, working primarily on theSuperman strip from 1939-1950, andagain from 1959-1967. The day afterBoring was sacked by Weisinger, hecontacted Hal Foster and becameFoster’s first assistant on Prince Valiant.Of Foster, Boring wrote:

“Foster was okay, but a perfectionist.I did all those damn castles, snow in theforest and the boats and storms at sea.”

Wayne later worked with JohnPrentice on Rip Kirby, anothernewspaper strip, and with Sam Leff onDavy Jones. The latter had a strangehistory, as comics historian Alan Holtzrelates in a recent note:

“Wayne Boring had the dubiousdistinction of putting the venerable JoeJinks strip into Davy Jones’ locker(literally). Joe’s Car, which began in1918, switched titles to Joe Jinks in 1928,then to Curly Kayoe in 1945, then toButtons in 1959. The final title, Davy

Wayne Boring�Superman And Beyond

by Michael T. Gilbert

Wayne Boring at work, as seen in Coronet magazine, June 1954.The original caption read: “Boring’s drawings are from memory.”

[©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Boring’s classic pose of Superman was used as the basisfor the cover of 1971’s hardcover volume Superman: From

the 30’s to the 70’s. [©2001 DC Comics.]

34 Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Jones, came in 1961, and Boring handled the art from 1968-71. That,mercifully, was the strip’s last gasp (if I may stretch the metaphor).”

Whew! On the next two pages we’re reprinting a sample of that strip,and a rare Wayne Boring photo that appeared in the June 1954 issue ofCoronet magazine. While we’re at it, we’ll also pull out a sample of TheAwful World of Ticker Tynn, an unsold sci-fi strip Boring drew in 1966at the request of the Toronto Star Syndicate.

It would have been a bit of “wink-worthy” irony if he’d snagged thejob. When Siegel and Shuster created Superman, they originally namedClark Kent’s newspaper The Daily Star rather than the better-known(but later) Daily Planet. And they may have named it after that veryToronto newspaper! Hmmm... I wonder if Mr. Boring’s wife, Lois (!),would have appreciated the irony!

[Michael T. Gilbert, writer/artist of the recent book Mr. Monster:His Books of Forbidden Knowledge, Volume Zero fromTwoMorrows, extends a special tip of Mr. Monster’s cowl to KenQuattro, Dave Sim, Arnie Charkeno, Alan Holtz, Ray A. Cuthbert,and Michael Feldman for contribution art and information regardingthis article.]

The main players in the above cartoon appear to be DC co-publisher Jack Liebowitz holding Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in astranglehold. In the foreground, editor Mort Weisinger talks about “grabbing a Superman synopsis for a Batman yarn”; this is most likely a reference to his

reported habit of rejecting a plot from one writer, then handing it to another to script as if it were Weisinger’s idea! The two folks behind Liebowitz,according to retired DC editor (and Mort Weisinger’s longtime friend) Julius Schwartz, are probably editor Jack Schiff and one Herbie Siegel, who had

evidently done original DC publisher Harry Donenfeld a great favor in his Spicy pulp days, and afterward had a job at the company for life—though Juliesays he had no real function there. [Art ©2001 the estate of Wayne Boring; Superman ©2001 DC Comics.]

The cartoon at left shows editor Weisinger looming behind (and holding the wrists of) Wayne Boring. The nervous figure crouching behind the

drawing board is presumably artist/inker Stan Kaye. Though well drawn,Boring’s depiction of DC in the “good old days” is not a pretty picture!

[Art ©2001 the estate of Wayne Boring.]

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond 35

Plus: Marc SwayzeC.C. Beck& more!

in this issue...George Tuska

Pencils: George Tuska / Inks: P.C. HamerlinckArt ©2001 George Tuska & P.C. Hamerlinck / Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics

no. 68in this issue...George Tuska

Plus: Marc SwayzeC.C. Beck& more!In Memoriam:G.B. LOVERALPH MUCCIEBOB RILEY

[EDITOR’S NOTE: From 1942 to 1953, Marcus D. Swayze wasone of Fawcett’s top comic book artists. He was the first artist to bringMary Marvel to life on the drawing board, but he was hiredprimarily to illustrate (and write) “Captain Marvel” stories. Afterreturning from military service, he freelanced from his Louisianahome, where he produced art and stories for “The Phantom Eagle” inWow Comics and for many of Fawcett’s romance comics, in additionto drawing Bell Syndicate’s Flyin’ Jenny newspaper comic strip, whichhad been created by his mentor and friend, Russell Keaton. Marc’songoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA (and ourmost popular feature) since his first column appeared in issue #54,1996. This issue, Marc discusses his work for Charlton Comics shortlyafter Fawcett dropped its comic book department in 1953, and thepeople he met there—including, briefly, Jack Cole.

—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

When we speak of—and write about—the Golden Age of Comics, it’seasy to agree that it was the fun age, and that it began around 1939 or’40. Aside from the historians and scholars, however, who may haveestablished something definite, there doesn’t appear to have been a lot ofcompromise as to its finale. Seems to have been a personal matter insome cases.

It was in mine. I’ve associated it with my own career in comics. ButI’ve had second thoughts about that. If the Golden Age hadn’t alreadyslipped away by 1955, then at least the gold had begun to tarnish.

I could have unpleasant thoughts about the ten years that followedmy 1944 retreat to the Southland. But I don’t. Just look at it. CaptainMarvel, as we had known him, disappeared. So did Mary Marvel... and

The Phantom Eagle... and Wow Comics, theromances... all Fawcett comics... gone! Flyin’ Jenny,too, took off down the runway... up into theclouds... gone!

On the other hand, I had married the girl Iwanted, had four of the children I wanted, thehouse I wanted, the hobby I wanted. As I’ve said,comics were good to me. It was still the GoldenAge!

Toward the end of 1954 I found myselfexchanging correspondence with a man I didn’tknow, regarding a subject with which I was scarcelyfamiliar, and a company that rang only a faint bell in

my memory. The man was Ed Levy, co-owner of Charlton Publications.Quoting from Levy’s letter of December 14, “... we can use a satisfactoryartist of comics experience here in Derby...”

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

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

We Didn’t Know... 41

“Captain Marvel, as we had known him, had disappeared.” A previouslyunpublished Capt. Marvel sketch by Marc Swayze. Nice, huh?

[Art ©2001 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

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

[Art & logo ©2001 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics]

By

One of the former publishers of thereprint material was Fawcett. Thefeatures, however, were not the ones thatI knew... mostly westerns. Later Ilearned that the reprints includedFawcett romances, some my own. Iassume the reason I never saw them wasbecause they didn’t need the cleaning-uprequired by the Code.

The first person I met in the Charltonoffices was a young fellow named ChadKelly... an artist, but not of comics...talented, personable, and talkative. Idon’t know how long he had been withthe company, but he seemed to knoweverything about the place andeverybody in it.

Chad told a story of ayoung Italian immigrant who, after watchingsome bricklayers at work, said to himself, “Ican do that!” And he did. A few years later, ashe prepared for a trip into the City, a familymember requested that he get her a popularsong of the day. When the store clerk broughtout the sheet music and quoted the price, ourman asked, “How much for just the words? Shecan’t read music!”

Many people couldn’t. There was once thefamiliar scene on the streets of New York of apink publication of “just the words” beinghawked... by a peddler who miraculously disap-peared at the approach of a police officer.

The need was legitimate, though... andevidently “just the words” were now beingpublished legally, appearing prominently on thenewsstands... by permission of the copyrightowners. That was the start of CharltonPublications.

The other co-owner of Charlton was JohnSantangelo. It was a big outfit... in its ownbuilding... offices on the ground floor, pressesbelow... lots of employees. And yet, no evidence ofa chain of command. Everybody, from where I sat,seemed to report to either “John” or “Ed.”

Which was okay with me. I learned that I was tobe provided with assistance, and shortly afterwardsChad Kelly introduced the newcomer. I had neverheard of Jack Cole, an easy-going guy with a senseof humor. Jack seemed interested in the work ofothers, but rarely spoke of his own. It was Chadwho told of the long Cole career of comic book accomplishments inwriting and drawing. I was impressed with Jack’s tiny relief illustrationsthat appeared regularly on the letters pages of Playboy... neat, tastefullittle nudes with long black hair and stockings.

Jack Cole left after a few weeks, explaining that the regular hoursinterfered with his freelance work. What a nice fellow. Knowing him,even so briefly, was a highlight of my stay at Charlton.

One of the wittiest individuals I have ever known followed Cole toassist with the reprints. Rocky Mastroserio loved to hear people laugh...and he made them laugh. His stories of being brought up in New York

City... experiences as a Marine trainee, night club doorman, TVrepairman... kept us in stitches.

It was from Rocky that I learned that... perhaps, after all... the GoldenAge was over. He told of freelance work for publishers of “slow pay”and “no pay.” In efforts to collect, he said, he had been to the smallclaims court so many times the judges knew him by name. “You hereagain, Rocky?”

Not far into 1955, somewhere in the Charlton Building, somebody,undoubtedly Ed or John, or both, must have said, “Let’s get into thiscomic book business with both feet... start putting together stories andart and publishing original stuff!” Or something like that.

Anyway, there was a big reception held in the building, attended by aswarm of comic book writers and artists from all over. Quite an unusualoccasion at Charlton. It was shoulder to shoulder, like at a crowdedcocktail party... only we were having beer and pizza. At one point Iheard my name being spoken behind me. Then a voice: “Know him? Ibrought him up from the South!” It was Ed Herron, first editor of the

comics department at FawcettPublications, whom I hadn’t seen ineleven years. I enjoyed talking withEd, but I never saw him again afterthat day.

The reception had immediateresults. Within a short time cameartists Bill Molno, Stan Campbell,Maurice Whitman, and Chic Stone...and writer Joe Gill... all with comicbook experience... plenty of it!

Meanwhile, things werehappening to the building...construction work. When it wascompleted, there was to be a wholenew upper-floor section with aninterior that suggested office workof some kind. It was the newComic Book Department. Wow!

Rocky’s contact with the newartists was Molno; my contact wasRocky. When he told me thearrangement was that they were towork on a page rate... in the officespace provided... I began to puttwo and two together. The pagerate was unimpressive... but I wasfast... and at my speed....

I went straight to the top. Youcouldn’t always reach JohnSantangelo, but when you did hewas easy to talk with. When I

laid out my thoughts before him, his answer was, “So?”

“So I want with those guys,” I said.

“Okay.” As simple as that. Rocky, who had been standing nearby,moved closer. John turned to Rocky. “What do you want?”

Rocky made it short. “Me, too,” he said.

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

42 We Didn’t Know...

Jack Cole, creator of PlasticMan—oh yeah, and briefly the

assistant to Marc Swayze atCharlton Comics, 1955.

The splash page of Gabby Hayes #58 (June 1956); art in this and the following splashes is by Marc Swayze.

[©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

[George Tuska, artist andcomic book pioneer, reflectsback on his long career, withspecial emphasis on the timehe illustrated some of theearly issues of Fawcett’sCaptain Marvel Adventures,as well as “Golden Arrow”stories. Thanks to MikeGartland for his assistancewith this article.—PCH.]

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

After high school I visited my aunt in New York City, where Iended up working a few odd jobs. One was designing women’scostume jewelry. It was fun, but I soon found out that it just wasn’t mything. Shortly thereafter, a friend of mine invited me to work out withhim, lifting weights at a local gym. I exercised for five hours that day.The next day I was so sore I couldn’t get out of bed. My friend cameover, and we dropped in to visit a friend of his who was a sculptor. Hisstudio was on one of the West 70s Streets, overlooking Central Park. Inever got to know his name, but he knew I was interested in art, so herecommended me to the National Academy of Design. At the time itwas located at 104th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Thus began my artcareer!

I had filled out an application as an artist and cartoonist at a profes-sional agency in New York City. Will Eisner and Jerry Iger called forme to submit some art samples. I was soon accepted and asked to workin their studio. I worked alongside Bob Powell, Lou Fine, and MikeSekowsky. Later the studio expanded, with Charles Sultan, JohnCelardo, Nick Cardy, and Toni Blum joining in. I worked on “SharkBrodie,” “Spike Marlin,” and other strips.

I soon left the Eisner & Iger studio to go work for Harry Chesler’sshop. Chesler was currently handling some comics for FawcettPublications, who couldn’t keep up with the production of theirsuccessful and expanding line of comics. It was at this time I drewseveral early issues of Captain Marvel Adventures, as well as someother strips. We had a good group of artists at the Chesler shop: RubenMoreira, Mac Raboy (who later worked for Fawcett), Ralph Astarita,and Charles Sultan, whom I had first met at Eisner & Iger’s studio.

I left Chesler and found myself working again for Will Eisner, whohad just separated from Iger. Will had his group of artists, includingAlex Kotzky and Tex Blaisdell. Will was busy with The Spirit and alsohandled comics for Busy Arnold [Quality Comics]. While with Eisner,

I penciled some Spirit and “Uncle Sam” stories.

To make some additional income, I decided to freelance a bit on theside. I paid a visit to the Fawcett offices at the Paramount Building. Imet briefly with Fawcett Publications art director Al Allard. I ended updrawing a few more “Captain Marvel” stories. Allard had asked me todraw as close as possible to the way Captain Marvel had first appearedin Whiz Comics. I also drew two or three “Golden Arrow” storieswhile freelancing for Fawcett. A girl named Judy, I believe, handled thescripts for me. I would complete the entire final page; I drew all thefigures and backgrounds, and inked everything. I was about 24 or 25 atthe time. After those freelance jobs, I never worked for Fawcett again.

I went on to work for Lev Gleason, drawing Crime Does Not Payand others. From there I illustrated the Scorchy Smith newspaper stripfor the Associated Press, then the Buck Rogers strip for the NationalNewspaper Syndicate.

44 “I Didn’t Stay In One Place!”

“I Didn t Stay InOne Place!”

by George TuskaEdited by P.C. Hamerlinck

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

Splash panel from Captain Marvel Adventures #3, Aug./Sept. 1941. Art by George Tuska. [©2001 DC Comics.]

This one could only have beenproduced in the early 1950s, a timewhen most of the super-hero titles ofthe 1940s were dead, and the survivorswere trying nearly anything to stayafloat.

The cover of The Marvel Family#79 (January 1953, FawcettPublications) is a perfect example ofthe desperate lengths that a mid-century comic book publisher wouldgo to in order to increase sales.

At the time, humor and horrorcomics were doing great business, andit wasn’t uncommon to see yourfavorite super-heroes in situations thatwere either creepy or comedic.However, editor Wendell Crowleymust have decided—or had beenforced—to cover all the bases.

Cover artist C.C. Beck depicts theMarvels in an Egyptian tomb, makinggoofy faces and yelling “BOO!” inorder to scare away a mummy whoyells “Yipe! Let me out of here!” Andmaybe I’m imagining things, but thatmummy looks suspiciously like anemaciated gorilla (and we all know thata gorilla on a comic book cover is asure-fire sales spike)!

And here’s the best part! Notice the blurbabove the logo, which reads “Read THE MADMUMMY! IT’S CRAZY!” The word “MAD,”as lettered, is a near perfect rip-off of EC’sMad’s original comic book logo; Mad was abig seller at the time. Also worth noting is theuse of the word “CRAZY” in the blurb, a hipbeatnik slang term of the day. Maybe Fawcettwere also trying to attract the coffee housecrowd.

Inside, the actual story, entitled “The MarvelFamily Battles the Dynasty of Horror,” offersup more thrills than chills.

Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and CaptainMarvel Jr. lend a helping hand to a group ofarchaeologists who are trying to get inside an

ancient Egyptian pyramid they’vediscovered on the bottom of the ocean.After freeing one of the scientists fromthe grip of a giant killer octopus, theydecide to make things easier bybringing the pyramid up onto dry land.There, they smash a big hole in the sideof this wonder of ancient architectureinstead of wasting time looking for adoor.

After switching to their alter egos,the Marvels join the archaeologists inan exploration of the pyramid. Theyignore an inscription warning themaway from the tomb of The MadMummy, and soon find a secret switchwhich opens a wall, revealing hisdreaded sarcophagus. As it happens,another inscription reveals that thewizard Shazam himself has imprisonedthe Mad Mummy here. The messagewarns the scientists not to “let thishorror loose upon the world!” But ofcourse they do, and Billy and MaryBatson and Freddy Freeman are forcedto speak the magic words which changethem into their Marvel forms.

A little mummy-bashing ensues, andthe moldy monster is quicklyvanquished—or so it seems! TheMarvels switch back to their mortalforms, just as the entrance to the tombslams shut. Mary notices that The MadMummy has vanished; and, before the

trio can speak those magic words again, hesneaks up from behind and bops them uncon-scious. Bound and gagged, they’re put into thearms of a giant sphinx and the Mummylaunches it out of the pyramid. They sailthrough the air on a collision course for thecity as the chapter ends!

In chapter two, “The Horn of HowlingHorrors,” Billy manages to stretch the moldyold mummy wrappings with which he’s beenbound, and yells “Shazam!”—just in time tofly out as Captain Marvel and prevent thesphinx from crashing into the metropolis.

Down, but not out, The Mad Mummy rollsout a malevolent device called the Horn ofHorror, an enormous black horn of plentywhich spews forth a plague of demons. TheMarvels make demon paté out of them andreturn to the pyramid to find the Mummy and

46 Oddball Fawcett

Oddball Fawcett�

The Marvel Family #79��by Bill MorrisonEdited by P.C. Hamerlinck

The awkward marriage of super-heroics, horror, and comedy. The madand crazy cover of The Marvel Family #79, Jan. 1953. Art by C.C. Beck.

[©2001 DC Comics.]

Billy, Mary, and Freddy in a familiar predicament, in apanel from TMF #79. [©2001 DC Comics.]

The world of art is filled with ghosts—creatures who write and draw,but are invisible. Almost every cartoonist has assistants who come andgo like phantoms, or like elves who creep out of their crannies at nightto make the shoes that the shoemaker sells the next morning.

I started out as an assistant to a syndicated cartoonist, doing hislettering. When I went to work for Fawcett Publications in the ’30s, Iredrew old cartoons for reprinting, as the original art had been thrownaway. For a time I drew a daily panel which appeared under the name ofone of the Fawcett brothers. I had my own ghost assistant to do thelettering by this time.

When Fawcett assigned me to draw Captain Marvel, neither thewriters nor I signed our names to the work. Later, as Fawcett’s comics

expanded in the ’40s, I was given the title of “Chief Artist” and wassupplied with a whole staff of ghost artists to do the work.

None of us ever cared that we were being kept invisible; that was justthe way things were done in those days. If the publisher made bigmoney, lived in a big house, had his own private plane and so on, thatwas just dandy. We were all his elves, happy with a few crusts and a fewpats on our little pointy heads now and then.

After Fawcett folded their line of comic books in 1953, I moved toFlorida and became a ghost for a commercial artist. I did all the workand he signed it. He got paid, I didn’t. I got my crusts and my pats onthe head now and then. He never allowed me to meet his clients, whowere all wealthy men with big cars, hunting lodges, luxurious offices,mistresses, and more. I worked in a back room, hunched over mydrawing board, while he went to cocktail parties, meetings, and on tripswith the clients.

Somehow, during the course of my life, I have developed a belief thatnot only the field of art but most other fields of human activity are runby a few big shots in expensive clothing who gallop around in all direc-tions without having the faintest idea of what they’re doing. We knowour jobs and they seem to know nothing.

I have never met any big shots. I have met writers, artists, actors,stuntmen, musicians—all hardworking ghosts like myself. A fewpublishers I have met seemed likable enough, but they all assured methat they, too, were only workmen. The real big shots, they told me, theones who decide everything and put their names on contracts and collectmillions of dollars for our work, are invisible.

Perhaps my view of the world is warped and foolish, but I believethat my fellow workers and I may be the only real people on this globe.We are the ones who take paper and ink and by a sort of magic turnthem into stories, artwork, music, plays, and things which make otherswealthy. We never see those “others.”

Perhaps they’re only unreal, phantom-like creatures of our imagina-tions. They and the public... that vast, incomprehensible monster thatruns everything... may be nothing but ghosts themselves.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: FCA presents another previously unpublished essay from our archives by the original Captain Marvel’s first and chiefartist, C.C. Beck. I was fortunate to enjoy an 11-year correspondence and friendship with Mr. Beck, up until his death on November 22, 1989,in Gainesville, Florida. The multi-talented C.C. was always modest, warm-witted, sincere, and, with his strong convictions, was never afraid tospeak his mind!

[C.C. wrote in February 1978: “I have been an artist for more than fifty years. My once-shining eyes are now dim with age, and my face looksmuch like an old mud turtle. Inside, of course, I’m still as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I was when I started out, but nobody can see thistoday. Now I am called ‘feisty,’ ‘opinionated,’ and an old ‘curmudgeon.’ Others have been less kind!”

[More unpublished works by C.C. Beck will be featured in each edition of FCA.—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

Ghostsby C.C. Beck

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

48 Ghosts

A Beck caricature of himself scribbling away on Shazam’s throne. And, under the text, a previously unpublished pencil sketch of Captain

Marvel by Beck. Talk about ghosts! [Art ©2001 the estate of C.C.Beck;Captain Marvel ©2001 DC!Comics.]

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