Issuu

Roy Thomas’ Mean & Green Comics Fanzine

GREEN GROW THE LANTERNS NODELL, KANE, & THE CREATION OF A LEGEND—TIMES TWO!

7.95

In the USA

No.102 June 2011

82658 27763

Edited by ROY THOMAS The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

2011 EISNER AWARD Nominee Best Comics-Related Journalism

Other issues available, & an ULTIMATE BUNDLE with all issues at HALF-PRICE!

ALTER EGO #90

ALTER EGO #91

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BL AVAILA

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and early editors WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, VIN SULLIVAN, and MORT WEISINGER, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CREIG FLESSEL, FRED GUARDINEER, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #92

ALTER EGO #93

ALTER EGO #89

HARVEY COMICS’ PRE-CODE HORROR MAGS OF THE 1950s! Interviews with SID JACOBSON, WARREN KREMER, and HOWARD NOSTRAND, plus Harvey artist KEN SELIG talks to JIM AMASH! MR. MONSTER presents the wit and wisdom (and worse) of DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE, & more! SIMON & KIRBY and NOSTRAND cover! (100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #94

BIG MARVEL ISSUE! Salutes to legends SINNOTT and AYERS—plus STAN LEE, TUSKA, EVERETT, MARTIN GOODMAN, and others! A look at the “Marvel SuperHeroes” TV animation of 1966! 1940s Timely writer and editor LEON LAZARUS interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, the 1960s fandom creations of STEVE GERBER, and more! JACK KIRBY holiday cover!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL! Big FCA section with Golden Age artists MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO, and interviews with the FAWCETT FAMILY! Plus Part II of “The MAD Four-Color Wannabes of the 1950s,” more on DR. LAURETTA BENDER and the teenage creations of STEVE GERBER, artist JACK KATZ spills Golden Age secrets to JIM AMASH, and more! New cover by ORDWAY and SQUEGLIO!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY, PART 3! DC’s Sword of Sorcery by O’NEIL, CHAYKIN, & SIMONSON and Claw by MICHELINIE & CHAN, Hercules by GLANZMAN, Dagar by GLUT & SANTOS, Marvel S&S art by BUSCEMA, KANE, KAYANAN, WRIGHTSON, et al., and JACK KATZ on his classic First Kingdom! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER’s fan-creations (part 3), and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “EarthTwo—1961 to 1985!” with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, ANDERSON, DELBO, ANDRU, BUCKLER, APARO, GRANDENETTI, and DILLIN, interview with Golden/Silver Age DC editor GEORGE KASHDAN, plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and a new cover by INFANTINO and AMASH!

“Earth-Two Companion, Part II!” More on the 1963- 1985 series that changed comics forever! The Huntress, Power Girl, Dr. Fate, Freedom Fighters, and more, with art by ADAMS, APARO, AYERS, BUCKLER, GIFFEN, INFANTINO, KANE, NOVICK, SCHAFFENBERGER, SIMONSON, STATON, SWAN, TUSKA, our GEORGE KASHDAN interview Part 2, FCA, and more! STATON & GIORDANO cover!

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ALTER EGO #95

Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH madcap parody mag from 1967-69, examined with rare art & artifacts by ANDRU, COLAN, BUSCEMA, DRAKE, EVERETT, FRIEDRICH, KIRBY, LEE, JOHN and MARIE SEVERIN, SPRINGER, SUTTON, THOMAS, TRIMPE, and more, GEORGE KASHDAN interview conclusion, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MARIE SEVERIN! (84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #96

Focus on Archie’s 1960s MIGHTY CRUSADERS, with vintage art and artifacts by JERRY SIEGEL, PAUL REINMAN, SIMON & KIRBY, JOHN ROSENBERGER, tributes to the Crusaders by BOB FUJITANE, GEORGE TUSKA, BOB LAYTON, and others! Plus an interview with MELL LAZARUS, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more! Cover by MIKE MACHLAN! (84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #97

ALTER EGO #98

ALTER EGO #99

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

Spotlight on Superman’s first editor WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, longtime Krypto-editor MORT WEISINGER remembered by his daughter, an interview with Superman writer ALVIN SCHWARTZ, art by JOE SHUSTER, WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, AL PLASTINO, and NEAL ADAMS, plus MR. MONSTER, FCA (FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA), and a new cover by JERRY ORDWAY!

GEORGE TUSKA showcase issue on his career at Lev Gleason, Marvel, and in comics strips through the early 1970s—CRIME DOES NOT PAY, BUCK ROGERS, IRON MAN, AVENGERS, HERO FOR HIRE, and more! Interview with 1950s Timely/Marvel editor AL SULMAN (“personal associate of STAN LEE!”), MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 102 / June 2011 Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

NOW WITH 16 PAG ES OF COLOR!

Proofreader Rob Smentek

Cover Artists Mart Nodell, Gil Kane, & Terry Austin

Cover Colorists Mart Nodell & Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Henry Andrews Finn Andreen Ger Apeldoorn Terry Austin Bob Bailey Mike W. Barr Jim Beard John Benson Jared Bond Dominic Bongo Wendy Gaines Bucci Mike Burkey Glen Cadigan Mike Catron Shaun Clancy Richard Corben Chet Cox Simon Deitch Leonardo De Sá Don Markstein’s Toonopedia Michael Dunne Eda Edwards Mark Evanier Michael Feldman Jules Feiffer Shane Foley Nancy Ford Rudi Franke Todd Franklin Stephan Friedt Janet Gilbert Frank Giella Joe Giella Scott Goodell Grand Comics Database Gordon Green Larry P. Guidry George Hagenauer David Hajdu Jennifer Hamerlicnk Heritage Comics Orlan Hill

Bob Hughes Sean Howe Betty Tokar Jankovich Robert Kennedy David Anthony Kraft R. Gary Land Jim Ludwig Monroe Mayer Jack Mendelsohn Raymond Miller Ken Moldoff Shelly Moldoff Lynn Montana Brian K. Morris Frank Motler Will Murray Jacque Nodell Spencer Nodell Jake Oster Jennifer Pederson John G. Pierce Gene Reed Bob Rozakis Rich Rubenfeld Randy Sargent John Schwirian Darci Sharver Jay Slowineski Andy Smith David Sorochty Marc Svensson Desha Swayze Marc Swayze Barbara Lucey Tancredi Dann Thomas Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Lynn Walker Hames Ware Douglas WheelerNicholson Nicky WheelerNicholson & Jason Brown

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Mart & Carrie Nodell, Vic Dowd, & Jerry Grandenetti

Contents Writer/Editorial – “Caught In The Creative Act” . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Eternal Green Lantern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Will Murray’s overview of the Emerald Gladiators of two comic book Ages.

“Marty Created ‘The Green Lantern’!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Mart & Carrie Nodell interviewed about GL and other wonders by Shel Dorf.

“Life’s Not Over Yet!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Jack Mendelsohn on his comics and animation work (part 2), with Jim Amash.

Bob & Betty—& Archie & Betty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 An interview with the woman who probably inspired Betty Cooper—conducted by Shaun Clancy.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! — “The Missing Letterer!” Part 2 . . 51 Michael T. Gilbert tells how he and wife Janet tracked down Spirit letterer Abe Kanegson.

The Secret History Of All-American Comics, Inc. . . . . . . . . . 57 Bob Rozakis with the “Earth-22” story of the end of All-Star Comics.

Comic Fandom Archive: The Rudi Franke Interview—Part II. . 61 More scintillating talk with one of fandom’s finest earliest fan-artists.

Tributes To Jerry Grandenetti & Vic Dowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 69 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #161 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze and the Golden Age giant All-Hero Comics! On Our Cover: For years, we’d wanted to find just the right Mart Nodell image of Green Lantern to run on a front cover of Alter Ego, and Dominic Bongo finally found it for us in the Heritage Comics Archives, bless ’em both! And for the Gil Kane half of the “two GLs” equation, Dom found one of the best Kane-GL pencil figures Ye Editor has seen, which we had inked by embellishing great Terry Austin. (You can see Gil’s unadorned original on p. 8.) All that, plus a marvelous background montage which layout man Chris Day assembled from published and unpublished art by the likes of Nodell and Kane, as well as Irwin Hasen, Carmine Infantino, Paul Reinman, Neal Adams, Mike Sekowsky, & Dick Dillin. Above: For the cover of the 1980 small-size reprint comic DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #4 (the title was almost bigger than the book itself!), Dick Giordano drew this classic pose of the two Green Lanterns who really matter. Thanks to Michael Dunne for a scan of the original art. Especially colored for A/E by Randy Sargent. [©2011 DC Comics.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Eight-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $85 Canada, $107 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

“Caught in The Creative Act”

he above phrasing is the name of a popular course taught at the University of South Carolina by novelist Janette Turner Hospital. But the temptation to apply it to this issue’s central theme of the original Green Lantern and his Silver Age revival doppelgänger was well nigh irresistible. For, as these words are written in April, the busiest year yet of superhero movies is hard upon us, with The Green Hornet already a fleeting memory, and with Thor and Captain America and Green Lantern queued up at the starting gate. I’ll let others ponder what this potential glut may say about the final triumph of the graphic art form and/or the ultimate decline of Western culture. I’m more concerned about credits. Comic book writers and artists have fought hard, and justifiably so, for recognition of their contributions to key characters. I can recall the thrill I felt, more than three decades ago, when I saw the full-screen credit for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster projected on a big screen in Hollywood (actually, Westwood, near UCLA) at the opening of the 1979 Superman movie—and much of the audience erupted in applause. Clearly, the message had gotten through, and to more than just die-hard comics fans, that the men who had conceived the Man of Steel deserved as much credit as Christopher Reeve or Richard Donner or, heaven help us, the Salkinds. This joy was tempered, a few years later, by the Batman movie’s solo credit for artist Bob Kane, who, despite his undeniable contribution to the Dark Knight, spent much of his life seeing to it that writer/co-creator Bill Finger was denied his rightful share of creative credit (and money). But at least, in those two cases, the situations were relatively uncomplicated. Few would add other names to the list of creators of Superman and Batman. Green Lantern, however, is a different kettle of fish. There can be little doubt that the late Mart Nodell came up with “Green Lantern” on his own, in sample pages drawn (and written) for AA editor Sheldon Mayer in 1940. Yet, the first published story had been so

substantially reworked and added to by scripter Bill Finger that the latter, in many minds, deserves co-creator status. (Mayer acted primarily as a keeneyed facilitator, though a case could be made for him, as well.) Things get truly complicated, though, when one turns to the Silver Age GL. I strongly suspect that, when the comic book credit flashes on the screen at the premiere of the Green Lantern movie, it will read: “Created by John Broome and Gil Kane.” And certainly those two gents deserve to have their names up there. I would argue, however, that, if justice were the ultimate aim, at least five names should be up there on the screen: One would be that of editor Julius Schwartz, because it was he who, on the heels of the success of the revived Flash, pushed for a reinterpretation of Green Lantern. Resuscitating the Emerald Gladiator was almost certainly his idea, not Broome’s or Kane’s. Also, I contend, the 1959-60 Green Lantern was, for all its original touches, basically just a retooling of an idea already previously created— in 1940—by Mart Nodell and Bill Finger. If “truth in advertising” were to prevail, the film credit would read: “Created by Mart Nodell, Bill Finger, Julius Schwartz, John Broome, and Gil Kane”—reflecting the order in which each man made his seminal contribution to the concept. But Hollywood—and the general public—prefer simple explanations. They want to believe that one person creates each work of art—at most, two. Hence the ludicrousness of the over-reaching “auteur” theory in film, as if the sole “creator” of each movie was the director. (My own possessory credit on this very magazine, of course, could be heralded as yet another example.) At most, a pair of names can be applauded as creators: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Gilbert & Sullivan, Gervais & Merchant. And they’re not too sure about that last one. But—five? Horrors! Next thing you know, comic books—even, Crom forbid, movies—might actually be looked on as a collaborative medium! Bestest,

COMING IN JULY

103

THE DAWN OF STEVE ENGLEHART! The Early Years—1971-75 • Writer STEVE ENGLEHART talks about his first half-decade in comics—with art by SAL BUSCEMA • NEAL ADAMS • BOB BROWN • JIM STARLIN • TOM SUTTON • DON HECK, et al.! (This interview will be completed in Back Issue! #51!) • JIM AMASH interviews 1940s artist GEORGE MANDEL about Blue Bolt, The Woman in Red, The Angel, The Patriot, Black Marvel, Dr. Strange (yes!), and other Golden Age goodies—and about being a best-selling novelist in the 1950s! • FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with MARC SWAYZE & the (slightly delayed) Captain Marvel/Thor connection—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on ABE KANEGSON, Part 3— BILL SCHELLY presents tributes to ED LAHMANN & JOE VUCENIC—& MORE! Edited by ROY THOMAS rs, Inc. Art ©2011 Marvel Characte

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The Eternal Green Lantern An Overview Of The Emerald Gladiators Of Two Comic Book Ages by Will Murray

I. The Golden Age Green Lantern

he star-spanning exploits of Green Lantern began with a modest set of sketches that came close to being rejected.

Martin Nodell was the artist. He submitted drawings of a new hero he dubbed The Green Lantern to All-American Comics, Inc., editor Sheldon Mayer in 1940. He reported that the idea came to him on the subway ride home from Mayer’s New York offices after their first meeting. “While I was waiting around 34th Street, I noticed the train man inspecting his tracks and waving a red lantern,” Nodell remembered to Comics Scene magazine. “When he OKed the tracks, he got behind the pillar and waved a green lantern, and the train rushed in. I thought, ‘That’s interesting. A green lantern. I don’t know what it means or what I’m going to do,’ but I hoped to get something out of it. I put down the words ‘green lantern,’ and thought, ‘There have been ‘Super-man’ stories and ‘Bat-man’ stories. Maybe it won’t be ‘Green-man.’ Maybe I should change it completely. How about using it as a power source?” Weaving elements out of Chinese mythology and a meteorite strike, then designing a super-hero costume inspired by Greek theatre mixed with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., as The Black Pirate from his 1926 film of that name, Nodell arrived at an opening situation. As he related to Kim Howard Johnson: “At first, I thought of seeking an honest man with the lantern, but it didn’t quite work. I was interested in Wagnerian operas, so the Ring Cycle made me think of rings. I felt I could do something with the ring, maybe have the lantern activate a ring. I wrote it up, along with a few drawings. In those days, you pencilled, inked, and lettered a job. I drew up the figure and the completed pages, a concept sheet, and my philosophy of it all.” When he took his concept sketch back to Mayer, the young editor was doubtful. Mayer recounted the genesis to Ron Goulart in Comics: The Golden Age: “Nodell’s drawing was crude. What he did have, crude as he was apt to be in his drawing, was an effective first page. He had taken the lead from the Superman motif and applied the Aladdin formula to that. I don’t know if he included the ring, but he did have the hero with the magic lantern. I didn’t want to take that. I thought, what the hell, this is the direction we’re already going in, and Nodell didn’t seem good enough to handle the feature. And yet he had walked in with the idea. I wasn’t going to use Green Lantern and do it with somebody else. So Bill Finger and I fleshed out the concept….” “Batman”’s Bill Finger was one of the hottest comic scripters of that time. He has been credited as an equal in the creation of “Green Lantern,” but Nodell never saw it that way.

Going For The Green This commissioned drawing of the Golden and Silver Age Green Lanterns was done a couple of years back by Andy Smith, known for his work on Crossgen’s The First, DC’s Green Lantern, et al.; it has been colored especially for Alter Ego by Randy Sargent. Thanks to dealer Anthony Snyder (see ad on p. 68) for providing us with a copy of this art—and to Andy himself for then sending us a hi-res scan, as well as for his permission to print it. [Green Lanterns TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

“After I had done three pages—which they used, along with a few other pages that I worked on, as the introduction—they brought in a writer,” Nodell told Comics Scene. “I didn’t know one writer from another. They brought in Bill Finger, who had been doing ‘Batman’ with Bob Kane. He was the first writer with me on it. Apparently, DC, in claiming him to be co-creator, had something else in mind—I don’t know. They have me down as co-creator, but what I gave them was the beginning of ‘Green Lantern.’” Finger recalled his input for the Steranko History of Comics: “We needed a name for his alter ego, so naturally I thought of Aladdin and his magic lamp. I suggested the name Alan Ladd and Shelly said, ‘That’s ridiculous. Who’d believe that?’ So we substituted the name Alan Scott. A little while later Alan Ladd turned up as a movie star. Shelly could have kicked himself every time he thought of the publicity we might have had.” The origin story was steeped in quasi-scientific mysticism. Construction engineer Scott pulls a weirdly-glowing green signalman’s lantern from a train wreck—and it speaks to him! Fashioned from a green meteor, it had already been remade many times. Forging a ring from the

An Overview Of The Emerald Gladiators Of Two Comic Book Ages

Arrow gained us a lot of swell publicity and didn’t lose any money,” he noted in Amazing World of DC Comics. “But the younger readers didn’t want relevance. They wanted entertainment, and for them the two didn’t match. We gave it a hearing and that’s all we could do.” This was not the end of Green Lantern, of course. Other revivals followed, and Kane returned numerous times to the character he had co-created. Before his death in 2000, one of his final efforts was a “Green Lantern” story for Legends of the DC Universe. It co-starred his other Silver Age super-hero, The Atom. Kane once admitted to “Space.com”: “It was during the run of Green Lantern that I first began to apply myself to the idea of craft. The strips became a basis for self-development and the beginning of a mature professional identity.” As for the continuing parade of Green Lanterns, now reaching deep into the 21st century, perhaps the last word belongs to the editor who had first seen the concept’s potential back in 1940. “It’s a talisman,” Sheldon Mayer once told Ron Goulart. “A St. Christopher medal. The kids could actually visualize themselves owning the ring.”

Bibliography: Amash, Jim. “Joe Giella Is like Fine Wine—He Gets Better with Age.” Alter Ego #52, Sept. 2005. Benton, Mike. Superhero Comics of the Golden Age. Taylor Publishing Company, 1992. Benton, Mike. Superhero Comics of the Silver Age. Taylor Publishing Company, 1991. Carter, Gary M. “From Hawkman to the Atomic Knights.” Comic Book Marketplace #32, Feb. 1996. Cooke, Jon B. “Gil Kane on Jack Kirby.” Jack Kirby Collector #21. Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Little, Brown and Company, 1995. Evanier, Mark. “John Broome interview.” “POV Online,” April 16 & 29, 1999. Fallon, Robert M. “A Conversation with Gil Kane.” Comic Book Marketplace #74, Dec. 1999. Fox, Gardner. “Letter.” Robin Snyder’s History of the Comics, Vol. 2, #2, Feb. 1991. Gafford, Carl and Anthony Tollin. “Julie Schwartz Leads the Way.” The Amazing World of DC Comics #3, November 1973. Goulart, Ron. “The All American Branch.” Comics: The Golden Age, 1987.

Johnson, Kim Howard. “Emerald Origins.” Comics Scene #45, Aug. 1994. Kane, Gil. “Foreword.” Green Lantern Archives, Vol. 1, 1993. Lillian III, Guy. “What It All About, Alfie?” Challenger #25, Winter 2007. Mougin, Lou. “Alfred Bester.” Comics Interview #32, 1983. Sullivan, Darcy. “Dynamic in Action.” Comics Scene #38, Oct. 1993. Voger, Mark. “Julius Schwartz.” Comics Scene Spectacular #6, July 1992.

Groth, Gary. “Gil Kane & Denny O’Neil on Comics Writing.” The Comics Journal #64, July 1981. Groth, Gary. “Interview with Gil Kane, Part 1.” The Comics Journal #186, April 1996. Groth, Gary. “The Amazing Gil Kane!” The Comics Journal #226, Aug. 2000. Janulewicz, Tom. “Gil Kane, Space-Age Comic Book Artist, Dies.” “Space.com,” Feb. 1, 2000.

Voger, Mark. “Gil Kane.” Comics Scene Spectacular #7, Sept. 1992. Thomas, Roy. “Remembering Gil.” Alter Ego, Vol 3, #4. Spring 2000. Schwartz, Julius, with Brian M. Thomsen. Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Comics and Science Fiction. Harper Entertainment, 2000. Steranko, James. The Steranko History of Comics, Supergraphics, 1970. Whitaker, Steve. “Gil Kane.” “FA Online.” Retrieved March 8, 2011.

“Marty Created ‘The Green Lantern’!” A Conversation With MART & CARRIE NODELL Conducted by Shel Dorf (Year & City Unknown)

A/E

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

EDITOR’S NOTE: Roughly ten years ago, the late Shel Dorf, who among other things was the co-founder of both the 1964 Detroit Triple FanFair and, in 1970, of the San Diego Comic-Con, sold TwoMorrows and me several taped interviews, of which this is one. He says at a couple of points on the (undated, probably 1980s or ’90s) tape that it was being done for David Anthony Kraft’s late lamented Comics Interview magazine… but it was never published there, or anywhere else. Now, alas, Shel is gone and we can’t ask him to clarify these things. The tape naturally deals to a considerable extent with Mart Nodell’s comics career, particularly his work on the “Green Lantern” feature he originated… but large portions, with no apology, also deal with the lifelong love affair between Mart and his wife Carrie. They were an engaging couple, whom I—along with, I suspect, hundreds of other people—greatly enjoyed conversing with at conventions over the years in San Diego, in Florida, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and elsewhere. So just pull up a seat and listen, as Shel, his own fannish enthusiasm very evident, eggs on first Carrie, then later Marty, to talk about their personal lives as well as about Marty’s career. Here and there, the conversation may get a bit tough to follow for a few lines… but bear with it—you’ll be able to hop back aboard the train of thought in a moment! Those of us who reveled in the pleasure of their

company still miss them, half a decade and more after their passing, a couple of years apart. The tapes, which have had to be considerably edited and abridged, begin in mid-conversation. With Marty in the room but saying little, Shel abruptly turned on his tape recorder while Carrie was relating some history not of her own family, but of Marty’s….

“He Said, ‘I Just Did That’—And It Was All-American #16” CARRIE NODELL: [Marty’s father] left Russia when he was about four years old, with the circus. He didn’t leave Russia—he left home, with his family. Four years old, playing the piano—a great pianist, but his fame was for the mandolin. And he traveled with the circus; he went to school a little bit. Somehow, he got to the Philippines. He traveled through the country; he picked up a Filipino [sic] there and brought them to the U.S. Marty would be able to give you more detail on it. SD: Oh, no. This is great. Keep going. CARRIE: And they got to the U.S., that plane from the Philippines, across Europe, and called a rich uncle, the one who was the leather merchant. And he said, “Get me a room… the best hotel… the Ritz in New York”… and “Get me this” and “Get me that.” He set himself up, and I think it was about 20-some odd years— SD: I’ll bet that was good vaudeville.

Call Me Marty! (Or Just Mart!) (Top of page:) Carrie & Marty Nodell and their fan Roy Thomas at a comics convention—probably Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the 1990s or early 2000s. Marty, incidentally, told Ye Editor on more than one occasion that he disliked being called “Martin,” so we’ve mostly used just “Mart” or “Marty” in this issue. Photo probably by Dann Thomas. Back in 2000, Roy interviewed Marty for A/E, Vol. 3, #5; that issue is out of print, but still available from TwoMorrows in a digital version. And of course Marty and Roy teamed up on a three-page “Green Lantern” sequence in All-Star Squadron Annual #3 (1984). (Left:) A commission drawing done some years back by MN for collector John Schwirian, who also edits and publishes The Aquaman Chronicles. Guess you couldn’t persuade Marty to draw the Sea King, huh, John? [Green Lantern TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

A Conversation With Mart & Carrie Nodell

Pros And Cons (Above:) Comics fan and Alter Ego benefactor Gene Reed talks with Marty and Carrie Nodell at a Mid-Ohio Con in ’97 or ’98. The Nodells were a welcome fixture at comicons for a number of years. Thanks, Gene. (Right:) Another of Marty's colorful GL sketches, done in 1994. Thanks to Heritage Comics Archives and Dominic Bongo. See yet another Nodell GL sketch on p. 77. [TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

And her family was very wealthy. They lived behind an iron gate with a dispensation from the Czar. Marty’s grandfather, or great-grandfather, was a lackey of the Czar. And when his tenure was up, or whatever it was, the Czar said to him, “Go out, take a horse and ride. And as much land as you cover, that will be yours.” The man was so greedy, he covered quite a bit of land, and the horse collapsed and he went under it. [laughs] We can laugh about it now. SD: What a story! CARRIE: The land remained in the family with special permission, with this big house. In fact, during the Pogroms, my mother-in-law told me they would save the Catholics, because the Pogroms were against the Catholics, also. SD: Oh, I didn’t know that. CARRIE: Yes. And so my mother-in-law would go out and bring the nuns through our back gates, and her family would shelter them until the Cossacks left. So anyway, the land remained in the family [unintelligible conversation mentioning “Communists”]… and the later years, just before Uncle Dave passed away, he was trying to get papers, and we don’t know what happened to them. The government was going to pay the Apollon family—and that would have meant Marty—for the land. The papers were never found. There’s a niece living in Siberia. I don’t know if she’s done anything about it. But I thought there was somebody in Israel whom Marty has not connected to, [who was] contacted. But that was the story.

“Life’s Not Over Yet!” The Conclusion Of Our Interview With Comics And Animation Writer JACK MENDELSOHN Conducted by Jim Amash

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

ack Mendelsohn has certainly had a variety of jobs in his professional career as a writer/artist. From the ’40s through the ’60s, he wrote humor comics at Archie, DC, Dell, EC [Panic and later Mad magazine], Quality, Tower, Standard, and Ziff-Davis. Among the many things he did for which he is rarely credited is writing comic book stories for his close friend and former studio mate, the late Howard Post (whose own interview will appear in an upcoming issue of A/E). His newspaper credits include Felix the Cat and the fondly remembered Jackys Diary. His animation writing includes The Beatles, The Impossibles, Milton the Monster, Wacky Races, “Fearless Fly,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and he co-wrote the movie Yellow Submarine, among other cartoon features. On live TV he wrote for The Carol Burnett Show, Laugh-In, Three’s Company, Chico and the Man, and Carter Country, and many other series.

As is our wont, we focused on Jack’s comic book days and the people with whom he worked. But we did not neglect the other parts of Jack’s career, and judging by the quality of the stories he told me, you’ll be glad we didn’t. Special thanks to David Hajdu (author of The Ten-Cent Plague) for giving me Jack’s phone number a few years back. And thanks to Jack for his patience in granting such a long interview, and for waiting for us to get this into your hands! —Jim.

“I Sort Of Adopted Jerry [Siegel]” JA: For Ziff-Davis, you wrote “Dolly in Dreamland” and Nursery Rhymes. MENDELSOHN: Yes, I remember that. I would write an entire issue in rhyme.

South Of The Border Jack Mendelsohn at work in his Mexico City studio in 1956—and (below) a birthday card with a Mexican theme that he wrote and drew for his father, most likely during the period when he was living in that country. Thanks to JM for the art, and for all photos accompanying this interview unless stated otherwise. [©2011 Jack Mendelsohn.]

JA: What was it like to work for Jerry Siegel? I assume that’s where you met him. MENDELSOHN: That’s right. I was living with my parents in Great Neck, New York, and he was living in Great Neck. I remember reading a big front-page story in the local paper one day where he went on a hunger strike. He had a wife and baby, and he felt that he was being treated very unfairly by DC, so he went public with it, literally going on a hunger strike. How that was resolved, I don’t know, but three years later, he was with Ziff-Davis as an editor. He was a strange guy. Later, in the late ’60s, I was working at Hanna-Barbera when I got a call from Joe Barbera—“Come into my office. There’s an old buddy of yours here”—and I couldn’t figure out who he was talking about. It was Jerry Siegel, who I never considered “an old buddy.” But Jerry must have mentioned my name somehow, and Joe made that connection. I was a staff writer, and the next thing I knew, Barbera put Jerry in my office as a writer. I guess Joe thought we were old pals, and that Jerry would feel at home. When I spoke to Joe about it, he said, “I don’t know. The guy seems to have just one idea, and he doesn’t understand film at all. He’s still writing comic books, and I don’t want comic filmic ideas.” Jerry had created a character that was a rip-off of The Joker, called “The Gagster,” or something like that. He kept trying to sell Joe on it, and he spent weeks rewriting and

Bob & Betty —& Archie & Betty The Betty (Cooper) Tokar Interview, 11-16-10 by Shaun Clancy AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION: On a May 2010 trip with my brother Mike from Bellevue, Washington, to my home town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, we were reunited with our dad after 35 years. Our talks took us down memory lane and, before long, the discussion of Haverhill High School led to its connection to the Archie comic book and comic strip, and its creator, Bob Montana. The thought finally occurred to me that perhaps this story should be researched, and thus began my year-long project of factfinding. Who better to tackle this project than myself, who grew up in the area? Never did I suspect how involved this task would be, nor how much information had been previously provided about the origins of Archie Andrews. In one of the many interviews I did, Eda Edwards suggested I talk with a fellow by the name of Rich Rubenfeld, who had written a few interviews with and articles on artists Harry Lucey and Joe Edwards (Eda’s late husband) that had yet to be published. Rich and I immediately hit it off, and in fact I arranged for those interviews to be included in my upcoming book. He soon put me in contact with Barbara Lucey Tancredi, Harry’s daughter; she in turn relayed a story in passing about her aunt Betty having once dated Bob Montana. From my research to date on the subject of who inspired which characters in the Archie world, I immediately believed, from Barbara’s description of Betty’s life, that I had found the woman whom both Bob and Peg Montana had mentioned in earlier interviews as the inspiration for Betty Cooper. The following is a very slightly abridged version of the interview I had with Mrs. Betty Tokar Jankovich; I hope you will find it as entertaining as I did, and will wish to read the rest. For more on the people and places that Bob Montana utilized to help created the “Archie” world, I would suggest you keep an eye out for my book, forthcoming in December of 2011, which will be the 70th anniversary of Archie’s debut in comic books…and it is not 1941’s Pep Comics #22, as everyone believes! The book will also feature interviews with the families of Montana, Harry Shorten, and others… as well as key interviews with current and former employees of MLJ and Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

Everything’s Archie—And Betty! (Above:) The oft-reprinted first page of the first “Archie” story, from Pep Comics #22 (Dec. 1941), as per the 1991 trade paperback Archie Americana Series: Best of the Forties, Vol. 1. Written and drawn by Bob Montana, with Vic Bloom. [©2011 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.] (Left:) Bob Montana and Betty Tokar at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, in 1942. Courtesy of Barbara Lucey Tancredi, via Shaun Clancy.

n the spring of 1941 to the fall of 1942, original “Archie” writer and artist Bob Montana and Harry Lucey, a great “Archie” artist in his own right, became good friends while working at MLJ (the company that before long would change its very name to Archie Publications) and even shared a studio together. They remained in contact all their lives, with Harry even helping occasionally on the Archie daily newspaper strip (launched in 1946) when Bob needed immediate help. As you’ll see below, Mrs. Elizabeth (Betty) Tokar Jankovich—who is referred to for convenience in this piece by her maiden name of “Tokar,” since that was her name when she knew Bob Montana—did not step forward with her story earlier because her late husband was not aware of her past relationship with Montana. For the first month of the courtship, Betty, Helen (Betty’s sister), Bob, and Harry would meet in the lobby to chat; they would then have lunch as a group but were still unsure of who was really “dating” whom. If one stretches his/her imagination, this can be seen as yet another example of the potential Betty/Archie/Veronica romantic triangle which became the essence of the “Archie” feature. At last, it was Harry Lucey who made the first move, asking Helen out on a date, which then led to Bob and Betty dating for 6 to 9 months. During the beginning stages of the relationship, they would double-date with Harry and Helen. Harry and Helen eventually married, but the romance between Betty and Bob ended in the summer of 1942. One can only

Bob & Betty—& Archie & Betty

Harry liked my sister more than he liked me, and then Bob and I were paired. We liked each other, also. SC: I recall a Gil Kane interview stating that, when he worked at MLJ, he saw Charles Biro pointing out to the other people that you could peek into the next-door locker room by looking through the transom above the connecting door. Was this true? TOKAR: I don’t recall that, but I know you could hear sounds and conversations from next door, but that was as far as it went. Our office was on the same floor as theirs. This was on 60 Hudson Street in New York. SC: Were you working there long before you met Bob? TOKAR: I started there at about the time war broke out in Germany, so about 1937 or ’38. SC: Are you older than your sister Helen?

High School Comicfidential

TOKAR: I’m younger by a year and a half…. I got her a job there.

Two specimens of Bob Montana’s youthful hometown writings: (Above:) An illustrated 1937 “note home,” later printed in a 1939 issue of the local Brown and Gold high school magazine. (Right:) Cartoon done for the Haverhill High School newspaper, Jan. 27, 1939. Thanks to Shaun Clancy for these items. [©2011 Estate of Bob Montana.]

SC: This place you worked at, what did they do?

speculate as to what might have been, if they had stayed together. Maybe the “Archie” world we know today might have been totally different. We will never know, but it’s definitely fun to speculate….

TOKAR: It was a 23-story Western Union building, so it was the telegraph business…. I [worked for] the Nestlé Company, which was new back then, and they had their own private dining room, so I used to wait on the men there. They were all men….no women at all.

SHAUN CLANCY: I was in your area last weekend, and your niece, Barbara Lucey Tancredi, tells me that you just celebrated your 90th birthday last Saturday?

SC: Do you remember how long you and Bob were seeing each other?

BETTY TOKAR: She should have invited you to it. There were lots of people there, but mostly family. There’s nothing nicer than family.

TOKAR: It was a nice relationship, but somehow we drifted apart… let’s put it that way. He was a very, very nice young man, and slender. I think he, his sister, and his mother lived together.

SC: She did mention it, but unfortunately I was involved in taping a TV Show for PBS called The History Detectives…. I am writing a book on the creation of “Archie” comics and its characters, and a majority of the book will be about Bob Montana. Bob went to high school in Haverhill, Massachusetts, from 1936 to 1939, before graduating in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1940. I grew up in the Haverhill area, plus both my parents and both sets of grandparents also went to Haverhill High School, so I’m very familiar with the influences and inspirations Bob Montana used in his “Archie” work…. I’ve interviewed many of his former classmates from both schools. I’ve also interviewed many people who were involved in MLJ and Archie Comics, and recently talked with Rich Rubenfeld, who was a very close friend of Harry Lucey. In addition, I’ve talked with your niece Barbara Lucey. Both have highly recommended that I talk with you next about a little-known fact—that, in addition to being related to the Lucey family, you also dated Bob Montana in 1941-42.

SC: That’s right. It was his sister Ruth. His mother, Roberta, had another child who would have been maybe three at the time, named Georgie. I heard that Georgie passed away as a child, so that might have happened before you met them. Did you ever meet Bob’s mother?

TOKAR: I believe I met Bob when the book was already well established.

TOKAR: Very few people had cars at that time. We traveled by subway and by trolley and such…. I know [Harry’s] mother and father had a car.

SC: “Archie”’s first appearance had the cover date of December 1941, so do you recall if you met Bob before or after Pearl Harbor? TOKAR: I believe Pearl Harbor happened after [I met Bob], but I’m not sure. Our work locker room was next to the MLJ offices, and my sister and I met Harry and Bob in the lobby of the building we all worked at.

TOKAR: I visited the apartment once. I think he wanted to introduce me to his mother. It was somewhere uptown in Manhattan, because I lived in lower Manhattan near Delancy Street and Houston Street. SC: Did you and your sister live with your mother then? TOKAR: Yes, we did. SC: Did Bob meet your mother? TOKAR: Yes, he probably did. SC: Did Bob have a car?

SC: When you went to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire with Bob, how did you get there? TOKAR: He and his mother had a cabin up there, and I took a bus from New York. When I got off the bus he was waiting there with a rowboat, and he rowed me across the lake to the cabin.

The Betty (Cooper) Tokar Interview, 11-16-10

Lazin’ By The Lake (Above:) Archie and Betty—whoops, we mean Bob and Betty—at Lake Winnipesaukee in 1942. With the whole world going to war, you had to take your fun where you could find it. Thanks to Barbara Lucey Tancredi & Rich Rubenfeld. (Right:) Bob Montana and Betty Tokar may not have had easy access to a car in ’42, but Betty Cooper “enjoyed” a cruise in Archie’s jalopy in Zip Comics #25 (March 1942). Repro’d from Archie Americana Series: Best of the Forties. [©2011 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

them were Franciscan monks. There were a total of eight of us in our family. My sister Helen died about 3 or 4 years ago. SC: What was Harry Lucey’s opinion of Archie [the comics company]? Did he ever express it? TOKAR: I think he really liked working there.

Lynn Montana’s Response to the Betty Tokar Interview, 1-7-2011: Hello Shaun, I read it and am grateful to you for sharing it with me. It seems she is being extremely polite and discreet and appears to be a very lovely woman. Sounds like nothing happened much between her and my Dad, nor is she too impressed that she might have been the poster girl for Betty in the strip. You know as much as we do. After all, this all took place before any of us kids were born and Dad only revealed that Betty was partly derived from a former girlfriend, so maybe we can speculate that Ms. Tokar may have been that person. To be honest with you, I think our family always thought the mystery of where any cartoon character comes from, is fine just as that—a mystery. Is anyone going around trying to figure out where “Superman” came from, or “Charlie Brown,” or even “Scarlett O’Hara,” “Oliver Twist,“ or “Forest Gump”? Where does any character come from—the mind of its creator and from their personal life interactions with other people. Enough said. In Dad’s case, there are several people who claim that they are the prototype for a particular character. As I said before, we and they have no proof of this and one can only guess. Their claims do not make it so. But the family of Bob Montana will not rain on their parade, so to speak. We take all this as a compliment to our father. Lynn Montana

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

On Sept. 20 I sent Mr. Feiffer my query and included scans of the album with Kanegson’s photo. A few days later, the following e-mail arrived in my mailbox. September 23, 2010 Dear Michael, Yes indeed, that is Abe, and I am grateful to you for the photo. I have recently learned that he went into square dance calling in his post Eisner years. He had no stutter when he sang, as he often did in the office. Many thanks, JF

Bam! Nailed it. All that remained was to find out exactly why Kanegson died so young. I returned to the eBay record listing that had started all this. The listing included scans of the back cover, but they weren’t clear enough to read online. Luckily the bidding was still open, so I bid and won. Afterwards I spent anxious days waiting for the 1969 memorial record to arrive. What would the liner notes reveal? Quite a bit, as it turned out. Next issue: Abe Kanegson—in his own words. Till next time...

A Worthy Note

This 1964 letter, written a year before Abe’s death, is a rare example of Kanegson’s cursive writing. It comes courtesy of the University of New Hampshire’s special collections.

hat if, instead of selling his half-ownership of All-American Publications to National/DC co-publishers Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz in 1945, as happened in The World We Know, AA co-publisher Max Charles Gaines had instead purchased DC from them?

Just imagine: a comic book industry in which (due to legal problems involving Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Bob Kane which resulted in there being two competing versions of Superman and Batman on the nation’s newsstands in the late 1940s, with both renditions eventually being cancelled) the AA characters Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman had instead become the surviving Golden Age super-heroes— stars of comic books, radio, movie serials, and early TV?

That was the premise of Bob Rozakis’ series of articles which appeared in eight issues of Alter Ego in 2008-2009, as well as in a number of issues of our sister TwoMorrows mag Back Issue! However, after the final A/E installment had appeared, Ye Editor asked author Bob Rozakis if he’d be interested in clearing up a few questions left unanswered to date. This piece is the result: not a dream (precisely)… not a hoax (because we’re telling you about it up front)… just an imaginary tale of an alternate universe we call Earth-22… even though, in Our World, all art on the next four pages features characters which are TM & ©2011 by DC Comics. So, enjoy with us now the ultimate A/E segment of…

The Secret History Of AllAmerican Comics, Inc. by Bob Rozakis

Book One – Bonus Chapter: “Ask The Answer Man!”

Under Western (All-) Stars The published cover of All-American’s All-Star Comics #58—the final issue—with its Wild, Wild West theme and villains. Art (perhaps) by Arthur Peddy & Bernard Sachs; repro’d from the original art, from the joint collection of Larry Guidry & Shane Foley. Flanking the printed cover are a couple of gems from Larry’s solo collection: the original not-positively-ID’d pencil sketches for the “monster” and “crime” covers which were considered for #58, if the decision had been made to go in one of those directions as far as content.

All For One The Story Of The Fawcett One-Shot All Hero Comics by P.C. Hamerlinck

“T

he Fawcetts could do it as well, or better, than anybody,” remarked the former Fawcett Publications vice-president, Roscoe K. Fawcett, in a 1997 FCA interview.

Indeed, one such paradigm was the publishers’ America’s Greatest Comics—Fawcett’s unabashed response to its DC Comics predecessor, World’s Finest Comics. Both anthologies came with a 15¢ price tag, heavier paper stock for covers, and a hefty 100 pages of strips. But even with WFC’s inclusion of superlative heroes Superman and Batman, Fawcett’s AGC still made for a more appealing and “greater” product than its newsstand rivals in a number of ways. Where DC used a variety of genres in World’s Finest (costumed

heroes, humor features, straightforward adventure), Fawcett situated within America’s Greatest predominately nothing but the crest of their super-heroes for the duration of its eight-issue run. Additionally, AGC encompassed lengthier and therefore more fully developed tales of its heroes exploits than those within WFC. It must have been difficult for youngsters, even with its increased cost from a standard comic, to resist such a compelling package containing not only the imaginative tales of the well-liked Captain Marvel, but of his Axis-fighting comrades, as well. America’s Greatest Comics #1 (Fall 1941), which went on sale at approximately the same time as DC’s World’s Finest Comics #3, is regularly measured as one of Fawcett’s most revered early comic book releases. Roscoe Fawcett also made the observation that his company was always going into competition with itself. One case in point was when they endeavored to replicate the success of America’s Greatest with their second 15-cent, 100-pager: All Hero Comics, dated March 1943, appeared between America’s Greatest #6 (Feb. ’43) and #7 (May ’43). All Hero, however, was “all finished” shortly after its debut—an ill-timed casualty of stringent wartime paper restrictions. (America’s Greatest Comics itself was already dead by the summer of that same year.) The one-shot release of All Hero Comics was, in essence, an expanded issue of Whiz Comics, featuring Spy Smasher, Lance O’Casey, Golden Arrow, and Ibis the Invincible … with the only differences being the inclusion of Captain Marvel Jr. instead of Captain Marvel (although Cap senior did appear with Jr. on the front cover, as Fawcett’s top star routinely did to help jumpstart a new title), as well as the addition of licensed radio hero Captain Midnight.

“Captain Marvel Jr. Smashes The Helicopter Blitz”

Join The Fun … Momentarily Hot on the heels of America’s Greatest Comics was Fawcett’s second 100-page comic book anthology, All Hero Comics, appearing at the turn of 1943 with a March cover date. Intended as an ongoing series, the title was hastily cancelled after its debut issue, due to wartime paper conservation. The publisher discontinued a number of its comics that same year, and as the war raged on, Fawcett thinned out the page count of their surviving books. Special thanks to Raymond Miller. [Shazam heroes TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr. learns of a Nazi espionage plot involving stationed telescopes doubling as searchlights and bombs set to be dropped from helicopters over New York City by a secret militia headquartered out at sea. (The Germans actually did employ helicopters for a brief period during WWII. And Junior's locale was generally New York City, before writer Otto Binder moved the strip to a more suburban setting.) But the impending invasion is halted by the World’s Mightiest Boy, who takes down the helicopters, demolishes the ships from which they came from, and delivers the perpetrators to the Navy. (The story’s unknown author made the recurrent error of having Captain Marvel Jr. speak his name without a transformation taking place …while the [Shazam hero TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

All For One

uncredited illustrator did his best to emulate Mac Raboy’s venerable work with the usage of artist swipes and paste-ups.) The story closes with Freddy writing a somewhat cryptic entry into his diary: “In your next number of All Hero Comics I’m scheduled to meet a menace that I cannot write of … now. It’s too secret, too dangerous, too important. But watch for the next issue of this magazine—and you’ll see what I mean!” While the bewildering teaser ultimately left young readers high and dry, it does substantiate that All-Hero was indeed intended to continue beyond its first issue.

“Lance O’Casey And The Pirate Who Hated Blood” Artist Harry Anderson depicts the account of sea adventurer Lance O’Casey and his sailing buddy Mike Bellew shanghaied by Blackbeard the Pirate’s crew in the South Pacific and brought before the swashbuckling scourge to undoubtedly meet certain death. Soon thereafter, Blackbeard privately confides to his two captives that, before becoming a pirate, he was a wandering beachcomber with an affinity for “little birds and flowers,” but he had always been ridiculed by others. Then one day he stumbled upon an abandoned ship, assembled a crew of outcasts like himself, and began a murderous reign of terror on the high seas. But he could never quite pull it off. “You see, I cannot stand the sight of blood or the thought of hurting anyone!” He then describes how, when someone was made to walk the plank, he would toss the victim a life preserver when his crew weren’t looking. But some of the crew have overheard Blackbeard’s testimony and tie him up to the muzzle of the ship’s cannon. Lance and Mike decide to help Blackbeard out of his jam as the two men skirmish with the crew—until [Lance O’Casey TM & ©2011 respective the ship is copyright holders.] attacked by a Japanese submarine. With the fracas on the ship brought to an abrupt end, Lance and Mike form a team with the motley crew to go onboard and stop the submarine. “Lead on, Red-head!” says one of the pirates to Lance. “My knife, she love Jap meat!” Lance leads the counter attack underwater and takes the enemy by surprise on the other side of the sub, imprisoning its occupants. However, back on the ship, where one from Blackbeard’s crew had stayed behind because he refused to fight against the Japanese, the benevolent Blackbeard again just couldn’t help himself: when everyone else was off fighting the Japanese, he had supplied the detainee with provisions and sent him on his merry way with a small getaway boat.

“Spy Smasher Battles Hitler’s Headsman” In a story perfectly illustrated by Emil Gershwin, one of the oftenneglected artists from the Golden Age, Spy Smasher himself provides the narrative about the time he took on, all at once, three of his old Nazi adversaries: The Headsman, The Man in the Iron Mask, and America Smasher. Adolf Hitler had given the merciless executioner, The Headsman, a hit-

list of enemies that the dictator wanted eliminated. Augmented by The Man in the Iron Mask and America Smasher, the terrible trio violently begin making their way down the list. Spy Smasher arrives a little too late as a German chemist/ American ally becomes the first victim to be beheaded. Admiral Corby, Chief of Naval Intelligence (and father of Spy Smasher/Alan Armstrong’s fiancée, Eve Corby) is next on the list, but SS prevents him from being murdered. The champion of democracy also halts a third person from being axed, but when he goes to rescue the next man on the list, both are apprehended and taken to a Nazi HQ located somewhere in the American countryside to await trial and execution. Spy Smasher is thrown into a cell with Carl Berg, a remorseful Bundist still in uniform. Before the Nazi guards arrive to take SS away to his death, Berg knocks the hero unconscious. Later, the Nazi guards escort Spy Smasher to The Headsman, where he is decapitated. Only it was Berg—who had swapped clothes with the goggled hero back in the cell— who was executed. Thus he had hoped to atone for his sins. Spy Smasher, now in Bundist uniform, strolls unnoticed from the cell and outside to his nearby Gyrosub, where he slips into a spare costume and returns to obliterate the Nazi hideout and take into custody the three super-villains. But SS would rather “deliver them to a junkyard!” instead of to the FBI. Readers are then encouraged to “Watch Spy Smasher crack the Axis every month” and “take a whack yourself by buying war bonds and stamps!”

“Ibis The Invincible In The Mystery Of The Modern Monster” In an attempt to benefit from popular trends and provide Ibis the Invincible with a child sidekick for young readers to identify with, Banshee O’Brien, Boy Enchanter, made his debut and briefly pooled resources with the Egyptian prince. (Apparently neither Wow Comics’ Atom Blake, Boy Magician, or Master Comics’ Balbo the Boy Magician was up to the task). In a tale drawn by Alex Blum, Ibis’ ancient magic was challenged by modern-day black magic in the form of a multi-headed Hydra. The mystical monster, who had already killed innocent citizens, is confronted by Ibis, who uses his Ibistick to exterminate the beast, but to no avail. Ibis construes that his wand works best only with ancient black magic, and the monster is obviously a contemporary creation, “born of the foulness and disease of modern great cities!” A young boy steps up and informs the Hydra that “I’m gonna woik a charm!” The lad shouts a few magical incantations and the beast waddles away into the ocean. Over a piece of pie and a glass of milk (served by Ibis’ lovely partner, Taia—her sole task in the story), Banshee O’Brien relays his origin to Ibis, telling how he received from a dying old man a book that revealed the secrets behind the newer forms of magic. After hearing the boy’s account, Ibis promptly requests that O’Brien become his apprentice: “You’re just the one I need for a partner!” (Poor Taia!) When they encounter the Hydra for a second time, O’Brien doesn’t have the same success combating the malevolent creature as before, so Ibis—with a wave of the Ibistick—endows himself and the kid with power-plastic suits of armor and, with swords made of the same material,

Alter Ego #102