AL PLASTINO
Superman, Batman, Robin, Supergirl TM & © DC Comics.
LAST SUPERMAN STANDING
An illustrated biography EDDY ZENO
Previous page: the artist’s self-portrait framed by DC Comics heroes and United Feature Syndicate funny folks. From a newspaper article discussing Plastino’s career highlights (circa late 1980s). The text is copyright © 2016 Eddy Zeno, except for the interviewees who hold copyright © 2016 personally or through their estates for their respective comments. The Foreword is copyright © 2016 Paul Levitz. All copyrighted images are used pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Sec. 107 and, insofar as known, are copyright © 2016 as follows: Al Plastino estate (pages 8-13, 15, 24-27, 30, 51, 64, 65, 69, 70-73, 102, 103, 105, 107); Archie Comics Publications, Inc. (page 23); The Barber Shop Company (pages 28, 30); DC Comics (pages 1, 5, 6, 32-50, 56, 64, 66, 67, 70, 74-78, 80-82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 92, 95, 97, 98, 100, 101, 104, 106, 108-111); DC Entertainment (pg. 104); Dell Publishing Company, Inc. (page 94); Exxon Mobil Corporation (page 96); Harry “A” Chesler, Jr. Features Syndicate (pages 15-23, 91); General Comics, Inc. (pages 94, 96, 105); Idea and Design Works, LLC (page 93); Kellogg Co. (page 64); Marvel Characters Inc. (pages 25, 26, 79, 99, 111); Merlin Entertainments Group (page 88); Michelin North America Inc. (pages 34, 83); News Syndicate Co., Inc. (page 55); Peanuts Worldwide LLC (pages 57-59); PIB Copenhagen (pages 61-63); Post Foods, LLC (page 31); Random House LLC (page 68); Sears Brands, LLC (page 105); Topps (pages 66-67); Trojan Publications (page 65); United Feature Syndicate (pages 1, 29, 54, 55, 59, 60, 68, 90, 91); VJIB, LLC (pages 56, 93). Published by TwoMorrows Publishing Book design by Jeff Weigel 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 Proofreading by Eric Nolen-Weathington 919-449-0344 • www.twomorrows.com First Printing • April 2016 • Printed in Canada • ISBN: 978-1-60549-066-3
Acknowledgments: First, to my beautiful wife, Mitzi, who passed away in 2013. For decades she wholeheartedly supported my passion for this crazy avocation. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to Melvin Higgins for his invaluable interviews and research. I thank Mel for his trust and encouragement in giving me the honor of continuing his work. A salute to Jeff Weigel for being the graphic designer of Last Superman Standing. A decade after Curt Swan: A Life In Comics, it was time to join forces again. Jeff is a best-selling book illustrator, children’s author, and comic book artist. To Jon B. Cooke, for bringing author and publisher together to make this book a reality. For behind-the-scenes legal assistance, editorial advice, general inspiration, and helping keep the ol’ anxiety level associated with such a labor of love down, my good friend and cartoon art aficionado David Applegate. Sincere appreciation goes to Johnny Lowe for adding his copy-editing skills. In addition to polishing others’ works for various publications, Johnny is a professional comic book letterer. Heartfelt thanks are also extended to Allen Bellman, John Bogdanove, Stacey Bredhoff, Nick Cardy, Stephen Charla, MaryAnn Plastino Charles, Mike Curtis, Sid Friedfertig, Joe Giella, Gary Groth, Mark Heike at AC Comics, Janice Plastino Iapaolo, Carmine Infantino, Bill Janocha, Jim Kealy, Gary Land, Joe Latino, Paul Levitz, Dan Makara , Jerry Ordway, Ann Marie Plastino, Fred Plastino, Arlene Plastino Podlesny, Ron Poe , David Siegel, Jerry Stephan, Bryan Stroud, Michael “Doc V” Vassallo, Mark Waid, Tom Ward, Hames Ware, Steven Weill, Kevin Williams, and Michael Zeno. And finally, to Al Plastino, a larger-than-life contributor to the history of comic book and newspaper strip art. The bulk of his quotes came from our phone calls during the past nine years. The artist supported and encouraged this tribute, which is long overdue. May the family enjoy it in his honor.
Contents
Foreword by Paul Levitz...................................................................................................
4
Introduction by the Author..............................................................................................
6
Globs Of Clay, Flecks Of Paint ......................................................................................
8
Harry “A”.............................................................................................................................
16
The War Years....................................................................................................................
24
Ten Cents For Toilet Paper...............................................................................................
28
The Big Three.....................................................................................................................
32
The “Most Plastino” Hero.................................................................................................
44
Man Of Action...................................................................................................................
50
Painting, Punching, And Pirates…Peanuts, Precision, And Pantomime..................
54
Special Projects..................................................................................................................
64
The Artist’s Super Power...................................................................................................
70
Paint Over The Pump—Draw Around The Balloons...................................................
72
Legacy.................................................................................................................................
76
Last Superman Standing...................................................................................................
84
Appendix & Art Gallery...................................................................................................
90
Cover Gallery..................................................................................................................... 108 My Pal, Al........................................................................................................................... 110
8 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
Globs of Clay, Flecks of Paint Frank
A
Al atop “Tony” while on vacation. He was 17 years old, the year was 1938, and he was already working in the nascent comic book industry.
Alfred wrote: “Here is a [1944] pencil sketch of my father at work in his hat factory in NYC—I was working for Steinberg Studio on Army field manuals for the Pentagon USG part time—and working for United Feature Syndicate freelance.”
lfred “Al” Plastino’s father, Francisco (Frank) Plastino, was born on December 3, 1890. He died in 1985 with a full head of hair. Growing up in Calabria, Italy (in the southern boot), he came to the United States between the ages of 12 and 14 years of age. Frank learned to read and write in English when Al was around 3 years old. The son didn’t grow up speaking Italian, but he could speak in broken English whenever he wished to mimic the family dialect. Frank was a really nice guy (the same way Al describes his own son today). He was 5'3", well dressed, meticulously clean, and full of energy. Always scurrying, Alfred had to run to keep up with him. That is how the Super-
man artist developed the habit of racing between United Feature Syndicate and National Periodical Publications (the company today known as DC Comics) to garner assignments. To this day it is impossible for him to walk slowly. Growing up, father and son went hunting and fishing together. Al continued to enjoy those endeavors as an adult— each brought welcome breaks from the grind of the drawing board. To them he would add the sport of golf, but not until turning nearly 30. Like many, the elder Plastino went through Ellis Island upon arriving in America. He settled in Danbury, Connecticut before migrating to the Bronx. From a stint shining shoes, Frank worked his
way up to a $100-a-week job as the floor manager for Long’s Hat Company. A century note every seven days was a lot of money during the Depression. Alfred’s dad always had a car. One in particular was the first ’36 Ford with a V-8 engine. When he first drove down the street in it, everyone stopped to cheer—autos of any kind were rare in the neighborhood at that time. Long’s Hat Company eventually closed due to the Great Depression, but Frank did not hesitate. He immediately began his own small business, F & J, on Alton Avenue near Fordham Road in the Upper Bronx. This was in roughly 1934 or 1935. He bought out his partner a couple of years later and opened a factory in Manhattan. It was then that the elder Plastino mastered the business of making custom hats. Everyone wore one in those days, and he eventually became known as “The Hatter of Manhattan.” From detectives in the NYPD to Mayor Fierello La Guardia, Frank would soon be fashioning hats for the nation’s leaders, beginning with President Harry S. Truman, followed by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Another U.S. President, however, almost put Al’s dad out of business. In 1960 Frank had the honor of crafting the top hat John F. Kennedy was to wear to his January 20, 1961, inauguration. Preferring no head covering, however, the presidentelect kept if off for much of the ceremony.
Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing • 9
So much for hats being in style! Still, Al’s dad was smart enough to adapt by converting to making equestrian riding hats in order to stay successful. Yet he never completely gave up making custom head coverings, including a Stetson for President Lyndon Johnson and a high silk riding hat for the previous administration’s First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Frank’s factory was at 10th and Broadway. When the Union tried to come in, he wanted no part of it. “They had two union men that drove him crazy,” Al said. “My dad had an open shop. He took good care of his 30 employees, mostly women, who sewed linings into the hats. He gave two weeks’ vacation with pay and paid their insurance.” Decades later Frank’s example may have influenced his son’s decision not to participate in a 1968 effort by some of the older creative talent at National (DC). When they banded together to ask for benefits like health insurance, Alfred refused to join them. He was comfortable with the living he was making and remained independent, bolstered by the fact that he always maintained concurrent accounts outside of DC. Al: “They tried to form a guild for comics; it was really a union. DC Comics gave me a check for $3,000. That was later and had nothing to do with my decision. They never said why, but that’s what it was for.”
Joanna
A
lfred’s mother, Joanna Artese, was born around 1894. Like Frank, she immigrated from Calabria but at a different time. The son remembered a beautiful homemaker, calm, often baking. That, or she was at the sewing machine making the kids’ clothes. She would look out of
their fourth floor window and wave at him in the Bronx. Taking him to the movies to see Rudolph Valentino and other actors of the silent film era, his mom bought him 5-cent ice cream cones at the theater. When the church across the street had a parade, she walked behind Alfred who was dressed as St. Anthony. He held a big candle as he marched. Toward the end when she got sick, Al and his brother Mario were sent to the nunnery for day care. Joanna died in 1925 from peritonitis due to a ruptured gallbladder. When the artist was 25 years old, his appendix ruptured and, like his mother, got peritonitis. He might have perished as well, but he was given a new drug developed during World War II, something the doctors called penicillin. He was told the revolutionary medicine might or might not work. In the hospital for more than a month, the drug did its job. Frank hired a day nurse and a night nurse to alternate taking care of his son. Plastino remembered how he particularly loved the latter caregiver, who was AfricanAmerican.
Al sounded forlorn when describing how he was never quite able to capture his mother’s essence in a painting. Remembering her long, shiny, dark brown hair: “She would brush it before braiding it, or she wrapped her gorgeous, dark hair in a bun.” On his 90th birthday the artist had another poignant moment: “You’ll think I’m crazy: Last night I woke up in the middle of the night. It was 3:45 a.m. and I lit a candle. I asked my mom, ‘Is that when I was born?’ She died so young; she was only 31. I always feel like she’s been watching over me and I still talk to her.” Time stopped on187th Street, where Alfred lived for a while as a young boy. There was always plenty to eat; he never went hungry. In 2009 he recalled that the same bakery and what seemed like the same fruit carts were still standing on 187th.
Moving
A
fter the kids lost their mother, they moved into their maternal grandparents’ apartment for approximately seven years. “It was a closed neighborhood; no one could get in if they weren’t Italian,” Al recalled.
A Plastino still life: oil painted on wood.
Photo with JFK and the outgoing Ike, dutifully wearing Plastino top hats. If only the incoming President had liked hats more!
16 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
Harry “A”
Enter the Comic Book Trade
B
Al noted that he penciled this self-portrait in pencil when he was “about 20 years old.” First two pages from the “Rocketman” story in Scoop Comics No. 3 (March 1942). Note how Alfred snuck his art credit onto the splash page by showing the diminutive bad guy handling stolen bills with “Al” and “Pla” on opposite ends. In addition, “Harry A. Chesler Features Syndicate N.Y.” is captioned at lower right.
esides Al Plastino, Nick Cardy, and Paul Winchell, many well-known comic book creators and other celebrities attended the School of Industrial Art. Alumni graduating between 1937 and 1947 included female comic book pioneering artist Violet Barclay, along with Chic Stone; Carmine Infantino; Joe Orlando; Joe Giella; Sy Barry; Alex Toth; John Romita, Sr.; and singer Tony Bennett, who is also a well-known painter.
In 1939, as high school graduation approached, Al was preparing to attend college at Cooper Union on East 8th Street: “Lincoln made a speech there. You’d walk in and smell the paint and hear the pianos. It’s so artistic, it makes you cry.” Five hundred applicants took the entrance exam and young Plastino was one of 50 who passed. Separate tests took one and a half days and included design, sculpting with clay, drawing from a live model, and
architecture. But there was a decision to make. Though he really wanted to go to Cooper Union for its prestigious art program, Al made the fateful decision not to attend college. After deciding to stay with his part-time job at Youth Today, Alfred saw a newspaper ad: “Black and White Artist Wanted.” Since he was learning to render without color for the magazine, he traveled to 23rd Street and 7th Avenue where he “saw all of these guys drawing
Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing • 17
comics.” At first he was less than impressed, but then a large man sporting an unlit cigar in his mouth came out to greet young Al. It was Harry Chesler, owner and head of the Chesler Studio. Scanning Alfred’s portfolio (which mostly showcased his Youth Today magazine work), Chesler said, “Hey kid. Throw that stuff away and come make money with me.” After talking to a few guys in the studio, Plastino decided to work there while simultaneously continuing with the magazine. It was the beginning of a lifelong philosophy: “Always have at least two accounts.” That guaranteed a fallback plan if laid off at one place. But perhaps most important to Al was his independence. Having more than one employer meant no one would ever have such control over him that he couldn’t say, “I quit,” if the need arose.
he was given the most basic of tasks, including ruling the pages and erasing pencil marks after they were inked. Alfred was extremely excited to be working in the shop and learning from professionals: “[At first] I didn’t mind how much I was making because I started to get interested in it all.”
There are two ways to look at the “cheap as hell” comment by the often-humorous artist. First, when fellow comicbook creators Joe Kubert and Carmine Infantino spoke about Chesler generously giving them $1.00 a day or $5.00 a week, they were a few years younger than Plastino. He was think-
Being a quick study, Plastino soon began drawing directly for Jack’s independent pulp magazine (mostly science fiction) projects. He didn’t actually illustrate for Harry Chesler for a long time: “I was penciling, then watching, watching, watching. Jack Binder gave me $5.00 a week; he was cheap as hell. I penciled and Jack, or others, probably, would ink. Then they gave me an exercise on how to use a brush. There were about 20 guys working there. One of the biggest things I noticed was that they were not using models, props, or photographs as reference. Instead they were using their minds.”
ing of making a living; they weren’t. Also, Joe and Carmine were alluding to the boss himself, who wanted to make sure they had transportation money and was most kind. Alfred was speaking of the art director, whom he described as a wheeler-dealer. Regardless, the feisty Plastino was better than most, even at a young age, for seeking a fair wage—a trait that would help him in coming years to be a good provider for his family. Upon graduation from the School of Industrial Art, Plastino became a full-time artist at the studio. Though the hours were from 9:00–5:00, Alfred
The Shop
I
n 1933, the first official American comic books were merely reprints of newspaper comic strips. However, as the format gained in popularity, the relative lack of material available combined with the expense to reproduce them necessitated the emergence of publishing original stories. In February 1935, National/DC’s New Fun Comics No. 1 became the first to devote an entire issue to never-before seen stories. As the medium continued to gain in popularity, comic art production shops emerged to fill the ever-increasing need for original art. While still in high school Al began visiting the Chesler Studio a few times per week. Eventually he met the art director, Jack Binder. Learning the business from the ground up,
The next two pages from the Scoop Comics No. 3 “Rocketman” story. Note its confining panels and horror aspects.
28 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
Ten Cents for Toilet Paper
“The Studio Was Another World”
P
The artist in studio (at 43rd St. and Lexington Avenue, New York City, 1948).
The Kreml man always has “keen and well-groomed” hair! Unfinished commercial art.
lastino likely met Jack Sparling at Fawcett Publications. One day Jack came in the art room for a visit. He was stepping down as the newspaper strip artist on the Hap Hopper, Washington Correspondent feature, and inquired whether his new friend might like to do the dailies. Al jumped at the chance, and thus began his long involvement with United Feature Syndicate. Some sources claim that Plastino’s stint on Hap Hopper commenced in 1943 but the artist is certain he did not contribute to the strip while at the Pentagon: “It started after I got back to New York. Sparling was still at Vanderbilt Avenue, and we took a liking to each
other. We hadn’t yet started our studio. They might have tried out a few guys for a while before having me take a whack at it.” Living at home once again and drawing there as well, Alfred was eager to rent a studio with Jack. It got him into Manhattan, which he adored: hot dogs were a nickel and a dollar got a parking spot next to the news building. Plastino owned a ’38 Ford convertible with no heater, and in the winter he had to drain the water out at night and put fresh water in the next morning (no antifreeze). “The city was cleaner then,” he said. “Guys with old-fashioned brooms and pushcarts swept the streets. The Horn and Hardart Automat restaurant at the corner of 42nd and 3rd
contained coin slots [that gave way to] beans and hot dogs for 25 cents or chicken pot pies for two nickels more. The Daily News and the Mirror were each two cents, the Journal America was five, and the Herald Tribune was seven cents, I believe. Those were great days.” Al described his colleagues: “The cartoonists then were real characters. Many were working half bombed. One night we picked up Gus Edson (he did The Gumps) off the sidewalk in the middle of the night, wearing a tuxedo in the rain. We brought him into the Cavalier Hotel. It was two dollars a night. The next morning, Edson got mad at us for putting him in a dump; he was insulted he was in such a cheap place. I was mad: ‘You son
Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing • 29
of a b----. You were in the street, out like a light. You could have been run over.’ It took three guys to get him upstairs. “The guy who did Moon Mullins [Frank Willard]: diabetic. He would lift up his leg and they would give him a shot of insulin in the leg. Milt Caniff [Terry and the Pirates and later, Steve Canyon], I met, though I didn’t get to know him until near the end of his life. I was awestruck. He was a very nice man. Hal Foster [Tarzan followed by Prince Valiant]: the greatest. I wish I had some of his original artwork. But he was arrogant. I met them all through the National Cartoonists Society.” Alfred moved to Manhattan when he began sharing the studio at 43rd and Lexington, over Kelly’s Bar: “The rent was $60 a month. We divided it three ways so we each owed $20.10. The ten cents included toilet paper.” Besides Jack Sparling, cartoonist Dow Walling was the other suite mate—Walling did the Sunday Skeets for the Herald Tribune. Al recalled Sparling: “Jack Sparling was from New Orleans. He was the fastest artist in the world! He would start in the morning typing up six scripts—then by afternoon he’d start very fast sketching—did a lot with the brush. He’d draw all six strips in a day, completely finished. He was normal till he had a few drinks in him. “I was pretty fast—you had to be—penciling and inking two pages, more or less, in a day. I don’t think I ever missed a deadline. Dow wasn’t fast, and Jack and I would help him out a bit. Sparling later did a strip called Claire Voyant for PM, a liberal newspaper. Walling was a college man, really sophisticated, and a true Republican. He didn’t like PM and called Jack
a ‘Communist Bastard.’ But it was a friendly thing—friendly enemies. The studio was another world. That’s when I started doing paintings again.”
Hangouts
“A
ll the cartoonists would go to the Inkwell right after the war,” stated Al. “Guys from the Daily News, Daily Mirror, PM newspaper, and the Herald Tribune. [Milton] Caniff—we all had drawings on the wall. The Inkwell was owned by two Irishmen. There was also Costello’s, Irish-owned even with a name like that. And the Pen and Pencil, on East 45th Street between Lexington and First [on what was known as Steak Row]. Right around the corner from the Pen and Pencil was the Palm, on 2nd Avenue, where we had our meetings once a month; it was real exclusive. The 21 Club—everyone went there, all the artists, writers, cartoonists, actors…Hopalong Cassidy, gangsters, you name ’em. The Palm had good musicians. There was a trio; they’d have jam sessions after their regular job that went till three in the morning. They were unbelievable! There used to be stockyards where the UN [United Nations] is now; there was a French place with kept girls. I knew every one of them. This is before I was married. One girl was with a little short guy. She said, ‘Al, take me out of here.’ I told her, ‘Uncle Al, at your service; no problem, honey.’ But the guy she was with stuck something in my back. I didn’t know if it was a gun or his finger and got the heck out of there. “The studio was like a hangout. Guys came up to watch. My brother Mario hung out with us once in a while. He was something else; Mario
thought everybody was a jerk. Dow Walling lived in Pelham Manor. He’d come in at three or four in the afternoon and cash a $15 check for whatever date he had that night. Once, he was struggling with ideas for his strip Skeets, and Jack and I finally helped him come up with a gag. Mario leaned over him to watch him draw. He said, ‘Dow, that looks so easy, I could do it.’ Walling was a big guy who’d been a rower—an oarsman—in college. The studio had these big windows that would open. Dow was gonna throw him out of the window if we hadn’t stopped him. “Then, Mario wanted to be a maître d’. He thought everything was easy and that he could bring customers in. Dad financed a
Two surviving fragments that Al kept from his days illustrating Hap Hopper (from the Feb. 25 and 26, 1947 dailies).
32 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
The Big Three
Destiny Waiting
I
The Silver Age Plastino: photo taken circa 1963 in his Wyckoff, N.J. home studio/garage. From the Kennedy Library collection.
About to shoot a love scene with “Miss Heartache:” panel from “Superman, Stunt Man!”
t was the pivotal Norman Steinberg who rescued Alfred from wartime conscription and later helped get him the job for which he will always be remembered. Co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were blacklisted from National (DC Comics) after filing an unsuccessful lawsuit in 1947 to try and regain ownership of Superman. Steinberg knew Harry Donenfeld, one of the publishers. Hearing of his need for additional help and knowing that Plastino had previously drawn for comic books, Steinberg informed the young man: “If you are interested, go up there, talk to
them, and bring a sample of your work.” Al asked with whom he should speak, and was told to see managing editor Jack Schiff. Plastino showed up at DC unannounced. When he referenced Mr. Steinberg, he was welcomed into Schiff ’s office and asked to see what he’d brought. Curious himself whether he could do it, Alfred had prepared a Superman sample page: “My brushwork was okay, but kind of corny in a way.” Schiff apparently liked what he saw, but he didn’t hire Al just yet—there was still payment to negotiate. “Wayne Boring was getting $55 a page,” the artist recalled. “They said he’d been there [almost] ten years and only offered me $35. I said no.” Then there was a lull. When finally given a trial Superman story to illustrate, Plastino was told: “If we like what you do now, we’ll give you $50 a page.” He then received one last instruction: “It has to look like Wayne Boring’s work.” (Given some of Boring’s original art to take with him for reference, those pages, and many other originals, were lost in a basement flood when Alfred later moved to Long Island.) Plastino doesn’t remember his first solo story for the company, which was likely “Superman, Stunt Man!” in Action Comics No. 120 (May 1948). This coincided with “The Un-Super Superman” in the May–June 1948 issue of World’s Finest (No. 34) and was immediately followed by “The Oracle from Metropolis” in Superman No. 53 (July 1948). Al
was up and flying. After a time, Plastino wanted to purchase a new car. He threw a question to Jack Schiff: “How secure is this job?” Schiff ’s response: “I can’t tell you that, kid.” Alfred bought the vehicle anyway: a Nash Rambler, circa 1950. Cost: $2,100. He instructed the automobile dealer to not cash the check until the following week. “On the following Monday l walked across the street from my studio into Chase Bank,” Alfred noted. “I knew the guys who worked there: ‘Hey Al, what did you buy?’ I said, ‘A car. Why do you ask?’ ‘Because we cashed your check last Friday.’ ‘Friday? I have no money for it.’ ‘We know; we covered the check [amount] for you.’ That’s how it was in those days.”
The Post-Shuster Big Three: Boring, Plastino, and Swan
P
lastino was impressed with Wayne Boring’s art: “They gave me some of his pencils to ink early on. This helped give me a feeling of how Wayne drew Superman.” He occasionally saw the older man (born in 1905) in the art room at DC, though not too often since most of the guys worked from home. The two illustrators got along fine, with Al adding: “Wayne had really tight pencils.” Nevertheless, Alfred had mixed feelings while in the senior illustrator’s shadow. Viewing the tale of “The Three Supermen from Krypton!” (Superman No. 65, July–Aug. 1950) from today’s
Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing • 33
perspective, Plastino noted: “That is crap because I was still influenced by [him]. But at least you can follow the story. My faces were lousy but they were consistent.“ Asked when he broke from following Boring’s lead, Al reported, “No one said change it. Wayne’s work was really cleancut and professional, though the characters were a little stiff. It almost hurt me to draw like him. I tried to keep the look consistent but it gradually did change.” Because Jack Schiff was handling Wayne Boring’s work, he was also Alfred’s first boss at DC Comics. The goal was to maintain Superman’s artistic continuity. Al: “Jack was one of the editors for Superman. He was a mild guy, very shy and gentle, nothing like Mort Weisinger. Jack was not a
good idea man, unlike Mort, who was a great idea man. He would just say, ‘Here is the story, Al.’ He wouldn’t give directions, per se. I started working with Mort a little later.” Though he could not remember when the relationship began in earnest, there exists a note for Plastino to call Weisinger regarding his cover preliminary for Superman No. 60. With an indicia dated Sept.–Oct. 1949, this means the artist and editor had dealings no later than spring of that year. In approximately 1951, fellow illustrator Curt Swan was getting terrible migraine headaches from Weisinger’s frequent demands to correct the art by adding more detail. In addition, Mort committed other forms of verbal bullying when he thought the artists
weren’t giving him his money’s worth. Swan’s headaches began dissipating when he began standing up to the editor. In the book Superman at Fifty! The Persistence of a Legend! (edited by Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle, Octavia Press, 1987), Curt wrote, “I did speak briefly to Wayne Boring about it when I took over drawing the syndicated Superman strip in the late ’50s or early ’60s, a couple of years before they killed it. He knew how difficult Weisinger could be on the subject of Superman’s looks. ‘Just hang in there,’ Wayne told me, ‘and don’t take any s---.’” Alfred had his own perspective when dealing with Mort, but the results were the same: “My attitude was, they’re not bosses, they’re editors. “Wayne was on the way out; they were feeding him less and less work. He had the newspaper strip. Then Curt Swan took over [the dailies but not the Sundays for a few years]. There wasn’t as much of a difference between Curt Swan’s style and mine as there was between mine and Wayne Boring’s. Curt’s style was more realistic and calm. I added more jazz, where Curt’s was more kind and a little monotonous because he would have no big changes between panels. But he was a good artist.” Al added that Swan was a nice guy with whom he enjoyed conversing when they happened to be visiting the DC offices at the same time. He felt that Swan doing pencils only— and not inking himself—helped lead to his early demise (Curt passed away in 1996). Al noted that controlling both tasks kept him from working himself to death. One time, when Mort Weisinger asked him to let someone else embellish his pages, Al turned in such sketchy work that no one could find
Wayne Boring’s powerful Superman pictured above Mr. Boring loading up his drawing board for vacation. Photo from Coronet (magazine, June 1954).
42 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing • 43
On previous page: a bevy of screen sirens with one Hollywood hunk thrown in for good measure. Al Plastino art from Jimmy Olsen No. 56 (Oct. 1961). Left: Alfred finally meets the Caped Kryptonian in this tongue-in-cheek 2006 color drawing.
Circa 2004, Al was asked to do his version of the Wayne Boring cover to Superman No. 53, July-Aug. 1948 (the origin of Superman).
44 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
The “Most Plastino” Hero
Closure on the World’s Finest Team
R
Drawing in his Shirley, Long Island studio: from the Nov. 21, 2008 Arts & Living section of The Press of Manorville and the Moriches. The photo accompanied an article by Jennett Meriden Russell.
Tugging at fun—1993 signed rendering of the World’s Finest duo.
edrawing Jack Kirby’s (with inker Vince Colletta’s) heads in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen was not what kept Alfred involved with DC Comics from 1968 to 1972. Rather, it was his four-year run on the Batman daily and Sunday syndicated strip, another career high mark. How did Al end up working on the Dark Knight detective half of the “World’s Finest” team? He explained: “I was drawing Superboy when Mort Weisinger was the editor. Mort had a lot of other things going on and was passing the editorial work over to Murray Boltinoff. I liked his brother [Henry], but not him. He was a little bit of a guy but stout; his expression reminded me of Edward G. Robinson—
that smug look. Boltinoff wanted to tell me that I was going to work for him now. He wanted to discuss Superboy. When you go into the office, you go into a big room with other artists, doing corrections, waiting for editors to look at the story, etc. I was talking with the guys when Boltinoff opened his door and called, ‘Hey, you.’ When I didn’t look up, he said it again: ‘Hey, you. You over there, what the hell’s your name?’ He talked down to everybody. Who did he think he was? He was just an editor, not God. Most were scared of him, but what was there to be afraid of? I went in his office, shut the door, and had it out with him. Whit Ellsworth heard the commotion and came in; he
thought I was going to kill Boltinoff. Murray didn’t say a word to me. His eyes were coming out of his head. I said I wouldn’t work for him if I had to sell pencils. When I told him I quit, Whit said, ‘How would you like to work with me on Batman?’” (Alfred did part of the featured tale in Superboy No. 149 [July 1968] before resigning in the middle of the story, according to the Grand Comics Database. The year prior, he had guest-illustrated World’s Finest Comics No. 165, and two issues later a reader’s letter of praise appeared: “Dear Editor: Who’s the new artist who did
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the March WF? I must congratulate him for capturing the true Batman. Let’s see more of his work in the future.” Perhaps fan reaction to Al’s foray in World’s Finest played a part in his being assigned the Gotham Detective’s strip for the papers.) Whitney “Whit” Ellsworth was the editorial director of DC prior to producing the Adventures of Superman television series from 1953 to 1957. Serving as the company’s liaison on other Hollywood projects before and after the TV show, Ellsworth was a special consultant to the Batman television series in 1965–1966 and wrote the Batman newspaper strip from 1966 until July 1970. Distributed by the Ledger Syndicate, the strip’s storylines
were handled by DC Comics’ creative people. When Joe Giella decided to return to inking comic books in 1968, Al took over as the strip’s primary artist. His first Sunday was dated March 17, 1968; the following Monday was his debut daily. The Sunday strip ended July 13, 1969, but the dailies continued to be illustrated by Plastino through January 1, 1972. E. Nelson Bridwell took over writing chores from Ellsworth, and Nick Cardy assisted Al toward the end. A new creative team took over the strip on January 3, 1972. It was completely revamped with Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson appearing sans secret identities (along with a new superhero named Galexo). That version closed in 1974.
Al remembered his time on what was formally titled Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder: “Whit was transferred to the West Coast. From there, he would send me scripts in the mail. He would also call me on the phone and send letters saying what a great job I was doing. He was a good guy, easy to work with. Whit understood artists because he ran the DC show for a long time. I never had any problems with him. “Don’t forget I had two accounts—except when I did Batman. Batman was a crazy setup. I would pencil and ink two weeks of dailies [12 total] the first week and two Sundays the second week. That’s the way we kept it up. The newspaper scripts weren’t as precise as the
The “most Plastino” hero in visage and pose: 1969 Batman dailies
50 • Al Plastino: Last Superman Standing
Man of Action
Parallel Careers
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Accompanying note from Al: “About Golf! Age 57—”
Arnold Palmer’s superhero caddies: donated drawing for charity auction held at Rock Hill Golf and Country Club (on Long Island).
hile working in the studio he shared with Dow Walling and Jack Sparling, Plastino continued illustrating newspaper strips after Barry Noble ended in 1949. In addition to his sporadic jobs with United Feature Syndicate, Al recalled advertising gigs and other endeavors: “I did a lot of stuff for A & P Stores [a supermarket chain that, at the time, was the nation’s largest] and stuff like that. Then I did commercial comics. I had
portraits going; I was painting a portrait of Mr. Singer, who was the head of General Comics.” Assignments for General Comics, Inc. included promotional 8- and 16-page stories. Alfred’s artwork also appeared in a magazine called Young Catholic. One of the oddest commissions of the industrious man’s career was done for a couple whose son was coming home from the Navy. Plastino: “She had the money; he [the husband] said, ‘Can you do
something in a week for me?’ The inside of his cellar was like the inside of a yacht. It had two giant portholes. You look at the bar window and you see the back of the ocean with the curtains.” Alfred went back to the studio, tacked up four large canvases, and painted “sky here, sky over here, sky over here… I put the dryer on and some guy helped me out, to put them on the wall.” Continuing with his life’s philosophy of maintaining two
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or more accounts, Al’s freelance assignments at DC Comics were steady. Still, it remained a hand-to-mouth existence. He explained: “I’d receive a call at the studio to pick up the next script from DC. They would pay the artists after turning in the art. If you worked on a story, it would take two weeks. They always paid by check.” Most of the illustrators, including Plastino, needed cash advances: “After getting married, I couldn’t live like this. Many of the other artists weren’t married; they didn’t have families to support.” Later, he arranged to receive half the money from DC up front and the other half upon completion of a job. Alfred acknowledged another option to end the occasional cash-strapped times— penciling and inking comic book pages all night to increase production. Deciding against it, the artist made another resolution he would honor for the rest of his life: he refused to become a workaholic. Determining he needed $100/day to make a living in comic books, his primary source of income, Al’s goal was to produce a minimum of two penciled and inked pages for DC every 24 hours (at $50 per). In truth this was not exactly the way he worked because he had many pages in various stages going at the same time. Yet he successfully met the requisite two-page average.
To Keep from Cracking Up
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hen he was 28 a new passion entered Plastino’s life—he decided to learn the sport of kings. In 2012 Al told his friend, professional golf instructor Tom Ward, “I took to the game pretty quickly because I was a good athlete growing up in the Bronx.”
He expounded to the author: “I needed the hunting and golfing to get outdoors. Otherwise, I might have cracked up.” The latter sport began with a dare: “Other artists at United Feature kept saying how hard it was. I told them, ‘It can’t be that hard,’ and started playing. They took me to a sports store on 42nd Street where I bought a set of Leo Diegel irons, two woods, and a bag for $35. I got a pair of golf shoes for $6. I told Tony— head of the syndicate’s art department and also the letterer for Rae Van Buren, who told me about the opening on Abbie an’ Slats—that if I couldn’t beat him in a year I would give him all of my clubs, golf balls, everything. I had a big slice but really liked the game and got into it. “I was just starting to play golf and went to watch golf tournaments with Ruby Moreira and John Celardo. Ruby with a Homburg, Celardo all dressed up to kill; they had canes and umbrellas. [chuckles] We were walking with Sam Snead and Tommy Bolt. In those days you could be right next to the pros. Bolt missed a shot; an airliner was passing overhead [Plastino mimics the drone of the plane]. Like an idiot I said, ‘Mr. Bolt, did that airplane bother you?’ This was after he broke the club. He looked at me with such disdain. I didn’t know where to go.” Al continued: “I played golf with celebrities like Perry Como, Fred Waring, and Jackie Gleason. This was at Shawneeon-the-Delaware. Shawnee was a golf course that Fred Waring owned. He was a very successful band leader at the time. He invited guests from the [National] Cartoonists Society for an outing every June 8, on his birthday. That’s where I met Jackie Gleason. He was a guest at the
cartoonists’ outing, and the next week I’d play with the entertainers at the ASCAP [American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers] tournament because Jackie Gleason would invite me as a guest. We played together six years in a row; he was great! Mr. Gleason called me a skinny Italian because I used to eat and eat. He was on a diet and could only watch, so it would drive him crazy. “Fred Waring had a big ego. When I played in his tournament he wanted to be with the golfers playing well, so I had to ride in the cart with him. Jackie Gleason put him in his place when he said, ‘Now I know why the Indians left Shawnee; it’s full of mosquitoes.’” At Shawnee, when the cartoonists approached the first tee, the announcer would introduce some with much more flair than others. One whose name was unenthusiastically mumbled was Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker. “When he asked me, ‘Al, how come they announce your name so loudly?’ I said, ‘It’s because I tip them the day before—several dollars. What do
“Left to right—Al Plastino, Jackie Gleason, Fred Waring: golf outing at Shawnee-on-the-Delaware, Annual National Cartoonist Society. June 8, 1957.” (Photo and caption provided by the artist.)
illustration for Rock Hill golf course school.