Alter Ego #105 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Code-Approved Comics Fanzine

No.105 Oct. 2011

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In the USA

PLUS:

CAL MASSEY

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 #94

ALTER EGO #95

“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!

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 #99

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

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, TEEN TITANS, HERO FOR HIRE, and more! PLUS: JIM AMASH’s interview with Golden Age Fiction House artist BILL BOSSERT, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and more! (84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BL AVAILA

ALTER EGO #91

ALTER EGO #92

ALTER EGO #93

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!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

(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 #101

ALTER EGO #97

ALTER EGO #98

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 Kryptoeditor 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!

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

ALTER EGO #102

ALTER EGO #103

A/E celebrates 100 issues, and 50 years, of ALTER EGO magazine in a double-size BOOK! ROY THOMAS interviewed by JIM AMASH about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY, INC., ARAK, other DC work, and more! Art by PÉREZ, McFARLANE, BUCKLER, ORDWAY, MACHLAN, GIL KANE, COLAN, GIORDANO, and more, plus Mr. Monster, FCA, BUCKLER/ORDWAY cover!

Fox Comics of the 1940s with art by BAKER, FINE, SIMON, KIRBY, TUSKA, FLETCHER HANKS, ALEX BLUM, and others! “Superman vs. Wonder Man” starring EISNER, IGER, MAYER, SIEGEL, and DONENFELD! Part I of an interview with JACK MENDELSOHN, plus FCA, Comic Fandom Archive, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by SpiderMan artist DAVE WILLIAMS!

Spotlight on Green Lantern creators MART NODELL and BILL FINGER in the 1940s, and JOHN BROOME, GIL KANE, and JULIUS SCHWARTZ in 1959! Rare GL artwork by INFANTINO, REINMAN, HASEN, NEAL ADAMS, and others! Plus JACK MENDELSOHN Part II, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and new cover by GIL KANE & TERRY AUSTIN, and MART NODELL!

The early career of comics writer STEVE ENGLEHART: Defenders, Captain America, Master of Kung Fu, The Beast, Mantis, and more, with rare art and artifacts by SAL BUSCEMA, STARLIN, SUTTON, HECK, BROWN, and others. Plus, JIM AMASH interviews early artist GEORGE MANDEL (Captain Midnight, The Woman in Red, Blue Bolt, Black Marvel, etc.), FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and more!

(160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 US • (Digital edition) $5.95

(84-page magazine with COLOR) $7.95 (Digital edition) $2.95

Vol. 3, No. 105 / October 2011 Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Jon B. Cooke

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

Proofreader

NOW WITH 16 PAG ES OF COLOR!

Rob Smentek

Cover Artists Josh Medors [after Steve Ditko]

Cover Colorist Tom Smith

With Special Thanks to: Roy Ald David Allen Heidi Amash Richard Arndt Matt D. Baker Tim Barnes Robert Barrett Rod Beck Robert Beerbohm John Benson Steve Bissette Lee Boyette Christopher Boyko Frank Brunner Mike Burkey Glen Cadigan Shaun Clancy Gerry Conway Brian Cronin CSBG Archive Ray Cuthbert Al Dellinges Michaël Dewally Jerry Edwards Steve Englehart Don Ensign Jon R. Evans Danny Fingeroth Shane Foley Willi Franz Stephen Friedt Janet Gilbert Don Glut Glen David Gold Andreas Gottschlich Randy Graves George Hagenauer Grand Comics Database Jennifer Hamerlinck Alan Hutchinson Tony Isabella

Ben Kanegson Louis Kanegson Paul Levitz Jim Ludwig Mark Luebker Tim Marion Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Cal Massey Jim McLauchlin/ Hero Initiative Brian K. Morris Mark Muller Denny O’Neil Barry Pearl Matthew Peets Len Peralta Rita Perlin Richard Pryor Gene Reed David Reeder Charlie Roberts Fred Robinson Allen Ross Scott Rowland Cory Sedlmeier Anthony Snyder Desha Swayze Marc Swayze Jeff Taylor Dann Thomas Maggie Thompson Matthew Thompson Bob Toomey Paul Tumey Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Jim Van Dore Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Barry Windsor-Smith Marv Wolfman Thomas Yeates Frank Young

Contents Writer/Editorial: Baby, It’s Code Outside! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Tales From The Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 How the Comics Code Authority changed comics—literally!—from 1954 to 2011.

“You Have To Earn Your Talent Through Discipline” . . . . . . 55 Artist Cal Massey talks candidly to Jim Amash about his comics career in the 1950s.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Abe Kanegson–Mystery Of The Missing Letterer–Part 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #164 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 P.C. Hamerlinck, Marc Swayze, & Roy Ald—together again for the first time. On Our Cover: See the whole story of artist Josh Medors’ fabulous homage to an iconic Steve Ditko cover on p. 30. [Spider-Man TM & © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: German cartoonist Andreas Gottschlich, whose “maskot” drawings have appeared in a number of past A/E issues, drew this one for our “Code-disapproved” issue last Halloween, but it got crowded out there— so we were determined to fit it in this time—even if we don’t have a letters section! We like to think that Doc Wertham and Judge Murphy wouldn’t have condoned this one in a 1950s comic, either! [Alter Ego hero TM & © 2011 Roy & Dann Thomas; costume designed by Ron Harris; other art © 2011 Andreas Gottschlich.] 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

Baby, It’s Code Outside! T

here are certain issues of Alter Ego that I always knew I’d do someday—and this spotlight on the Comics Code Authority, accompanied by a healthy sampling of the actual day-by-day changes it wrought in comic books from the turn of 1955 until quite recently, is definitely one of them.

“ooh-ing” and “ah-ing” and applauding and occasionally throwing ripe red tomatoes.

In fact, at least mentally, I’ve been preparing this issue for several years—ever since I asked my buddy Al Dellinges if he’d hand-design a special title for the article, which I referred to as “Tales from the Code” long before I knew who would actually write it, myself or someone else. Al’s splendid logo, based on that of EC’s Tales from the Crypt, has been sitting in a drawer for quite some time now, just waiting for me to get my act together (or at least to find someone who could do so). In one very real sense, that “someone” is Richard Arndt, who’s previously written about 1960s/70s mags such as Web of Horror and Reality (both comics with a high “weird” content). In another sense, though, this issue is another proof positive that Alter Ego is a sort of freewheeling co-op venture, in which, yes, I do the planning and overseeing—but to which the contributions of a number of fans/researchers/historians are absolutely crucial. A look at the litany of names in the captions accompanying the art spots in “Tales from the Code” will underscore this. I may be the ringmaster, and there are some regular star turns in the various rings (Amash, Schelly, Gilbert, and Hamerlinck, not to mention Swayze), with lots of specialty acts on an issue-by-issue basis… but in this particular four-color circus, many of the folks sitting out there in the wings are doing a lot more than just

For instance, Richard Arndt himself provided many of the scans that decorate the next 52 pages. Steve Englehart and Michael T. Gilbert both pointed the path to the Code’s wayward ways with Harvey’s Dick Tracy reprints. From Australia, Shane Foley reminded me that a censored Conan the Barbarian panel had accidentally been preserved in the 1990s Conan Saga magazine. Jim Ludwig came through with numerous definite and probable Code changes, from a multiplicity of sources. George Hagenauer and Michaël Dewally and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo and Glen David Gold and Gene Reed and Scott Rowland and Ray Cuthbert and Stephen Freidt and various other names already familiar to A/E readers will be seen as helping us out yet again. Also as per usual, Barry Pearl provided invaluable scans from various Marvel comics, since many of those I own are in unusable bound volumes. There are also a few relatively new names among the contributors, such as Dave Reeder and Matthew Peets and David Allen and Matthew Thompson and Allen Ross—as well as Willi Franz, author of various innovative war series for Charlton. Nor does that count my late-Silver Age contemporaries Denny O’Neil and Marv Wolfman, who graciously came through with e-mail remembrances… or those who contributed to other articles and interviews in this selfsame issue… or those who’ve helped with past issues and will do so in future ones. And if you didn’t contribute this time—well, cheer up! There’ll another one next month! For my part, all I can say is thanks—thanks to one and all! Bestest,

P.S.: Our crowded-out letters section will return next issue!

COMING IN DECEMBER

106

DICK GIORDANO REMEMBERED! The Legacy Of One Of Comics’ Nice Guys—& Great Talents! • Cover-featuring the offbeat action heroes drawn and/or edited by DICK GIORDANO at Charlton & DC through 1970—a montage of the art of STEVE DITKO, PETE MORISI, JIM APARO, & “Himself”! • Spotlight on DICK G. in the 1950s & ’60s—his Charlton days, and the first time around at DC—with art by DITKO, APARO, MORISI, BOYETTE, McLAUGHLIN, GRAINGER, KANE, et al.— plus DG’s final Charlotte, NC, Heroes Con panel, shared with SKEATES & THOMAS! Also tributes from EVANIER, LAYTON, RUBINSTEIN, LEVITZ, BASTIENNE, TOLLIN, ANDERSON, BRENNERT, ISABELLA, LUSTIG, & SIENKIEWICZ! • Part I of JIM AMASH’s interview with comics artist TONY TALLARICO, covering Blue Beetle, Son of Vulcan, and The Great Society Comic Book! • Plus FCA with MARC SWAYZE & ROY ALD—MICHAEL T. GILBERT & Mr. Monster—BILL SCHELLY’s Comic Fandom Archive--& MORE! Art ©2011 DC Comics Edited by ROY THOMAS • SUBSCRIBE NOW! Eight issues in the US: $60 Standard, $80 First Class • (Canada: $85, Elsewhere: $107 Surface, $155 Airmail). • NEW LOWER RATES FOR INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS! SAVE $4 PER ISSUE!

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How The Comics Code Authority Changed Comic Books— Literally!—From 1954 To 2011 by Richard J. Arndt The Comics Code Authority— Protecting Young Minds Since 1954! (Above:) The CCA seal of approval—and the title logo designed especially for this article by Al Dellinges, as touched up by A/E layout wizard Jon B. Cooke.

he anti-comics crusade that forced the Comics Code on comic book publishers, writers, and artists in 1954 didn’t come from nowhere. It wasn’t even the first anti-comics crusade. It was actually the third.

The First Crusade The first arrived on May 8, 1940, in the pages of the Chicago Daily News. A book review of “Superman” by children’s author Sterling North—

(Left:) Because Photostats or photocopies of artwork changed at the behest of the CCA were seldom preserved in their original form, we rarely have the opportunity to examine both the “before” and “after” versions of altered material, but only the page that was actually printed. Fortunately, however, a number of examples of “before” art do exist. Near left, Judge Charles F. Murphy, the CCA’s first administrator, poses in front of blow-ups of both renditions of the old woman (whom the Code folks insisted be prettified) in the Joe Sinnott-drawn story “Sarah,” from Timely/Atlas’ Uncanny Tales #29 (March 1955). Scripter unknown. This was surely one of the Code’s earliest forays in defense of American childhood. Far left is the tale’s splash page as printed, courtesy of Dr. Michael J. Vassallo; incidentally, Doc reminds us that Marvel reprinted the Code-approved version in Dead of Night #6 (Oct. 1974). [Page © 2011 Marvel Characters, inc.]

nowadays best known for his young adult novel Rascal—was prompted by his dismay at seeing how much time his sons were spending reading comics [see The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu, pp. 39-45, and “The Effects of the Censorship of the 1950s on Comic Books,” Anne Seddelmeyer, p. 1; a full bibliography of this article follows it on p. 54]. North’s article

How The Comics Code Authority Changed Comic Books—Literally!—From 1954 To 2011

described a wasteland of crudely drawn, badly printed, and brightly colored garbage that he felt was destroying children’s interest in reading books. Particularly, one suspects, his books.

were cool— long before the word “cool” was cool. Cool in the sense that there was something special happening in comic books that adults didn’t get but kids did. The tinge of badness, the smell of forbidden fruit, wafted up from every dust parHe also seemed to be very angry ticle created by turning the page. about the amount of money that comics Nowadays, this phenomenon is not unwere bringing in. In 1940, most children’s usual. Video games, music, some books novels (or, as we call them today, “young and book series, new applications for adult novels”) sold primarily to school or iPods and smart phones are media-based public libraries, not to the general public. products aimed directly at a teenage marThat limited the sales for many books to ket and are designed to have that cool around 5,000 copies, although North factor. Adults are used to knowing, from claimed sales of 30,000 for at least one of their own experience when young, that his books. The notion that comics were there are things their kids are crazy about selling hundreds of thousands of copies a that they will never get (and, as far as the month, were generating income four kids are concerned, shouldn’t get). But in times greater than the entire intake of Who Was That Masked Mammal? 1940, this was not the case. Most items, traditional children’s literature, and were Author (and comic book critic) Sterling North and friend. North’s particularly in media, were not marketed being sold, for the most part, directly to most famous work, Rascal, was about a boy and his pet raccoon. for a child to purchase but for parents to He didn’t care so much for masked entities in comics, though. children instead of to schools, libraries, buy for their children. This gave parents and parents seemed to infuriate him. a chance to keep a close eye on and control over what the child was getting, especially regarding reading material. The comic book field was only five years old when North wrote his But comic books largely bypassed that parental control, since they could be newspaper piece, but the dislikes he touched on would become very purchased by any kid with a grubby dime. familiar complaints in years to come. He felt parents were not watching their children’s reading habits closely enough. He remarked on the extreme violence he found in comics and on the possibility that it could make children more violent. He disliked the political stance of comics, which he perceived to be left-leaning. His complaints got noticed, although not at this time by the government. This first run of anti-comics editorializing came not from parents or national, state, or local authorities, but from academia. Teachers, librarians, and writers expressed their concerns about the new phenomenon of comic books, a form of communication that many simply did not understand. Some of this concern, particularly on the part of librarians, came from an educational belief popular in the 1920s and early 1930s that an excessive amount of fantasy, whether found in books, movies, or what-have-you, was not good for children, since it failed (according to the theory) to prepare the child for actual life. If you as a parent wanted your children to become responsible, productive adults, their indulging in fantasy stories or fairy tales past a very early age was a waste of valuable learning time. Comic books, both by their very nature and by their extreme popularity with children, were considered to be both childish and a major deterrence to reading “good” literature. Adults were also confused by the fact that comic books, in and of themselves, were largely a new medium and were not the same thing as the widely popular newspaper comic strips, which tended to be more adultoriented and usually better drawn. Comic books were brash, enthusiastic, and, most important for the child, they

Studies were done examining whether reading comic books caused children to read fewer “real” books than before. The conclusion, which surprised many, was that comics seemed to have no adverse effect on readers at all. Kids who read a large number of books before comics came into existence still read a lot of books. They just read a lot of comics in addition to the books. Kids who weren’t major readers of books still weren’t major readers of books, but they, too, often read a great many comics. Comics didn’t seem to affect the reading of traditional books at all, although they certainly seemed to promote reading of a sort. That fact seemed to perplex even the researchers who conducted the studies. More than one appeared to doubt the results of their own studies. It seemed to be a case of “comic books don’t hurt reading and, in fact, even seem to increase reading, but kids like them, so they must be wrong in some way, right?” Plus, they were in color. It seemed that every adult who wrote about comics had a problem with the fact that, unlike the daily strips, they were in color. That color was always described as garish, although to my eyes the color in comic books of that era and the color in the Sunday comic strips seem to be either much the same, or else was actually a little duller in the poorly printed comic books.

Make Mine Marvel Mystery During World War II, as per this newsstand photo dated July 1, 1942, super-hero titles predominated. Thanks to Richard Pryor.

Regardless, the advent of World War II ended the first anti-comics campaign. With a horrific war taking place, parents, librarians, and teachers had a lot more to worry about than the effects of a comic book on children. It was after the war ended that the second

Tales From The Code

Give ’Em Hellions! (Above:) In A/E #101’s coverage of Fox Comics, writer Richard Kyle described the lurid cover of Crimes by Women #3 (Oct. 1948). This is as good a place as any to actually show it to you. Artist unknown. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database; see GCD info on p. 66. [© 2011 the respective copyright holders.] (Right:) An overstuffed (and, untypically, roughly alphabetized) comic book rack in 1948. Even Crimes by Women might be lurking in there someplace! By now, crime comics were fighting it out with an ever-diminishing number of super-heroes (which were also crime comics, in their way) for space on the stands—but so were Westerns (likewise crime comics!) and funny animals and Archie-style teenagers and romance comics. Thanks to Richard Arndt.

anti-comics crusade began—and this one produced some characters who would have a dramatic impact on the third.

The Second Crusade In 1947-1948 comic books, particularly crime comics, were linked by some religious leaders and by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham to juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency had begun attracting attention during the war, when such films as Val Lewton’s Youth Runs Wild had begun focusing on teenagers and their use and abuse of an increasing amount of free time. This free time came about for various reasons, including an exploding teen population (even before the postwar baby boom, one quarter of the U.S. population was between the ages of one and eighteen), a lack of parental oversight (fathers were in the military and mothers were working in the war factories), and the population move from rural areas, where chores and work for teens were commonplace, to urban centers where teens often had far less family work to do and far more money in hand. After the war, this concern with teen lawlessness only grew, as laws enacted to tighten social controls on teenagers caused crime statistics on them to soar [TCP, p. 84]. Parents, courts, and law enforcement searched for both explanations and easy fixes for this new problem. Comics were an easy target. First, almost every kid read them, while most educated adults did not. The wartime restrictions on paper were being eliminated, so new comic titles were proliferating and crowding the newsstands. In addition, though super-hero titles were beginning to wane in popularity, the crime genre,

which Lev Gleason and Charles Biro had pioneered in 1942 with Crime Does Not Pay, rapidly increased in popularity. Partly this was because the stories themselves were quite exciting and, at times, very well done, and partly, I suspect, because their creators, many of them newly returned from the war, found that real life and the more grown-up stories available in the crime genre were more interesting for them to write and draw then the banal silliness in which many super-hero comics had been mired during the postwar years. However, crime comics had a hoop to jump through that other genres of comic book did not. Many states, particularly New York where almost the entire comics industry was based, had laws on the books prohibiting exploitive true-fact crime magazines, largely due to fears that such magazines encouraged rather than deterred crime. When reports of children either killing others or committing suicide were linked to comics, it wasn’t a big leap for authorities to attempt to transfer and to enforce onto comics the pre-existing laws that dealt with real-life crime magazines. Crime comics could even be considered especially vulnerable to these laws, because they often claimed to be based on actual crimes (although this claim was usually wildly inaccurate). By 1948 a grassroots campaign led by religious leaders, newspaper editors, teachers, and children themselves had led to a comic book burning campaign in which school children were urged to go from house to house in their communities, collect all the comics, crime or otherwise, that they could find, and incinerate them in public bonfires. Soon national attention was directed at the supposed crime comics/juvenile delinquency problem that comics supposedly fanned, and for a time, a strong anti-comics hysteria seemed to be building. But then studies began coming out that seemed to indicate that reading comics and breaking laws weren’t that closely aligned. The public comic burnings began to get some bad press when people started to be reminded of the Nazi book-burnings of the 1930s, which had also started with children stationed front and center to do the

How The Comics Code Authority Changed Comic Books—Literally!—From 1954 To 2011

P E R S O N A L

C O D E

S I D E B A R

# 2

MARV WOLFMAN Writer & Editor in Comics since 1968

n June 20, 2011, Marv Wolfman (seen below in recent photo) wrote, in answer to our query about Code anecdotes:

“First off, the Comics Code was actually more flexible than I expected. Although I got notes on virtually every issue of Tomb of Dracula, once I moved Dracula into a deconsecrated church, Leonard Darvin, the Code administrator at the time, give us a lot more leeway than he did other comics. We talked about it and he said—astutely, I think—that the name of the book immediately warned the audience about the material inside, and therefore readers and parents would know in advance it was not suitable for kids. So he allowed us to do many things I never could have done when I was also writing Spider-Man.

“But I used to get comments every issue when Dracula would rail against the portrait of Christ that was hanging in the church. My view was that Dracula was admitting weakness in the face of Christ, actually admitting he was helpless. But Leonard would want me to cut back on the dialog. It got to be that, knowing I’d get pulled back, I started to go over more overboard so we could cut it back to what I actually wanted. From time to time, I actually showed the script to some Christian friend to see if I was being tasteless, but they all felt it was fine. But as I once said to Leonard, we were two Jews arguing about how Christians would react to Dracula admitting Jesus was more powerful The die was cast. Swamp Thing became the first regularly published non-Code-approved comic since 1955 to have newsstand distribution (as well as direct sales) from a mainstream publisher.

Art Unsuitable For American Audiences In the mid-1980s Brits Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill teamed up for a 12-page “Green Lantern Corps” tale, intended as a backup story. “Tygers” revolved around the temptation of Abin Sur (the Green Lantern who had earlier crash-landed on Earth and, dying, given Hal Jordan his

than he was. I have to admit I found the irony amusing, even back then.” The entire Marv Wolfman/ Gene Colan/Tom Palmer Tomb of Dracula oeuvre is on view in three huge Tomb of Dracula Omnibus hardcovers, collecting what is perhaps the finest ongoing horror-hero comics series ever… so we’ve chosen to display a 1990s commissioned pencil drawing by Colan, sent by art dealer Anthony Snyder (see his ad on p. 77). [Marvel Dracula TM & © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ring) by a character called Qull of the Five Inversions. Qull answers three questions that Abin Sur asks, the answers of which have the effect of destroying Sur years later and, thus, creating the Green Lantern of Earth. The completed story was submitted to the Code office, and that’s when the trouble began. According to O’Neill [interview conducted by Douglas Wolk, online-Feb. 10, 2010, Part 3 of 5]: The editor of the book, Andy Helfer, rang me up and said, “There’s a problem with your ‘Green Lantern Corps’ artwork… there’s a problem with the Comics Code. I asked them what could be done [to correct the problem] and they said, “There’s nothing you can change—the [art] style is unsuitable!”

The Code didn’t just reject the story. They didn’t reject certain panels of artwork. They rejected O’Neill’s art in total as unsuitable for American audiences! With no chance for Code approval, the story was shelved until it appeared in a 1986 Green Lantern Corps Annual that appeared with no Comics Code seal on the cover. Since its initial appearance, “Tygers” has ironically become one of the cornerstones of Green Lantern Corps history, while Moore and O’Neill have continued working together—most notably on the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series of graphic novels. [EDITOR’S NOTE: See art on p. 50.] Article continued after color section, on pg. 49

Mucking Around For reasons covered in the main text, The Saga of the Swamp Thing #29 (Oct. 1984) became the first post-1954 DC comic to be published without the Comics Code seal on the cover. The sky didn’t fall— but the Code soon would. Pencils by Stephen R. Bissette; inks by John Totleben. With thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [© 2011 DC Comics.]

Tales From The Code

S P E C I A L A LT E R E G O C O L O R S E C T I O N

Color-Coded! 16 Pages of “Before” & “After” Goodies Submitted To The Comics Code Authority Over The Decades Notes by Roy Thomas (with a bit of help from his friends) This issue’s “before-and-after” theme seemed to cry out for a special color section, so here it is—annotated by Ye Editor and several other pros and students of the form. One of the first Comics Code-related anecdotes I recall hearing at Marvel after I went to work for Stan Lee in mid1965—either from Stan himself or from production manager Sol Brodsky, and quite possibly from both—was that one reason for the cancellation of The Incredible Hulk after six issues in 1962-63 was the sheer number of changes “requested” in the stories and art by the Comics Code Authority. It seems hard to imagine nowadays that the mere spectacle of a snarling green-skinned Frankenstein/Mr. Hyde hybrid so aroused the Code’s wrath, but apparently it did. Even so, lagging sales were no doubt the main factor in publisher Martin Goodman’s decision to discontinue the title. And I recall a lunch in Manhattan—probably at the well-known Schrafft’s restaurant—on one of the latter-’60s days when artist Jack Kirby ventured into the city from his Long Island home. I’m not sure if Stan was there, though Sol Brodsky and John Romita surely were. The talk turned at one point to Code censorship, and Jack remarked ruefully about his and partner Joe Simon’s fabled Bulls-Eye, starring the bow-wielding Western hero on whose chest an enemy had long ago branded a target. Jack said (and this is virtually verbatim): “They kept taking the tomahawks out of the Indians’ hands, and leaving me with a bunch of smiling Indians!”

Jack Kirby.]

The page at right, from Bulls-Eye #6 (June 1955), is undoubtedly one of the instances he was talking about. Prepared for Joe & Jack’s doomed Mainline company, it wound up being published by Charlton. Personally, I wonder how the name “Scalp Taker” slipped by the Code! Thanks to Scott Rowland for the scan; thanks also to Jim Van Dore. [© 2011 Joe Simon and estate of Jack Kirby.] Oddly, reader Jim Ludwig tells us that Bulls-Eye #7 (Aug. 1955), the second S&K Charlton issue, “is pretty violent, with lots of tomahawks present.”

Orientation Alert! Because so many of the “Color-Coded” examples require comparing one page or set of panels with another, we’ve deemed it best to print the remaining 15 pages of this segment sideways. You have been warned!

(Above:) As Steve Englehart pointed out (in Richard Arndt’s interview with him in A/E #103), Harvey’s Dick Tracy comics, because of the violence in the Chester Gould strips being reprinted, often had to be clumsily “fixed.” E.g., in these panels from Dick Tracy #111, circa the late ’50s, in which a gangster is physically threatening a little girl, the 2nd panel shown here was printed with no color, to soften the fact that he’s hurling a lamp at her (assuming the lamp didn’t actually strike her in the original version and have to be redrawn, as well)—in the 3rd panel, the hood’s gun has been whited out—not that that stops him from firing it in the 4th, even though neither the gun nor its black-line bullet trail can be seen!

(Above:) In Dick Tracy #112, supporting character Diet Smith is shot in the second panel depicted—though again the bullet’s trail is whited out (that vertical white line in that panel must be just a printing glitch). The “BANG” in the second tier is left white, perhaps to de-emphasize it (yeah, that’ll work!)—and in the second-from-last panel, it seems a woman’s corpse has been removed and her red-coated arm simply elongated to painful proportions in order to fill that space. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert for both scans. [© 2011 the respective copyright holders.]

How The Comics Code Authority Changed Comic Books—Literally!—From 1954 To 2011

See Dick Run—Out Of Black Ink!

Can You Hear The Violence Playing?

Tales From The Code

(Above:) The color-up—er, we mean, the cover-up—continues, as the bottom tier of this page from Dick Tracy #115 must’ve featured a panel (at right) that showed the body the cops found in the well. Apparently the Code found this page so offensive that there was no way for the Harvey editors to satisfy it but to Photostat and repeat the preceding panel—which they didn’t bother to re-color! And yeah, we could’ve gone trolling for the original versions of the censored panels in Gould’s original newspaper strips, some of which had previously been reprinted by Dell or Harvey (in pre-Code days) without any changes… but we figure you get the point.

(Above:) In Dick Tracy #117, a heinous hoodlum is really oppressing poor little Marge—so much so that his hand has probably been redrawn in the third panel shown so that it now merely lightly touches her hand; in the original version, it was probably gripping her strongly, maybe even twisting her arm. A pair of blacked-in silhouettes and a panel whose art has been totally whited out except for a single hand completes the transmutation of this violent page. Thanks again to Michael T. Gilbert for the scans. [© 2011 the respective copyright holders.]

How The Comics Code Authority Changed Comic Books—Literally!—From 1954 To 2011

Appendix Besides the various comics referenced in this article, the following titles were also consulted: Barker, Martin, A Haunt of Fears: The Strange History of the British Horror Comics Campaign, 226 pp.

Information was also provided from personal interviews and e-mails sent to the author by Steve Bissette, Frank Brunner, Steve Englehart, Willi Franz, Tony Isabella, Barry Pearl, Bob Toomey, Marv Wolfman, and Thomas Yeates—and to Roy Thomas and Marv Wolfman and Dennis O’Neil—as well as via news items that appeared on various comics news websites, such as bleedingcool.com, newsarama.com, comicscontinuum.com, the Timely-AtlasComics group at yahoo.com, and others.

Bissette, Steve, “Introduction: Cursed Earth & Uneasy Riders,” Saga of the Swamp Thing, Vol. 3, pp 6-10.

Comics Buyer’s Guide #1347 (Sept. 1999) Evanier, Mark, “Approved by the Comics Code

Authority,” Marvelmania #4 (1974) Gaiman, Neil, “Foreword: Love And Death—An Overture,” Saga of the Swamp Thing, Vol. 2, pp 8-9. Geissman, Grant, Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s EC Comics!, 272 pp. Goulart, Ron, The Assault on Childhood, pp. 177-211. Hajdu, David, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, 434 pgs. Johnson, Dan, Steve Bissette, & Rick Veitch, “Bissette and Veitch: Old Monster, New Tricks,” Back Issue #6 (Oct. 2004), pp. 48-66. Nyberg, Amy Kiste, Seal of Apporval: The History of the Comics Code, 208 pp. Pearl, Barry, “The Comics Code and a Clash with The Flash!,” Ditkomania #81 (Sept. 2010), pp. 12-13. Pearl, Barry, The Essential Marvel Reference Project (privately published), pp. 138-166. Rogers, Vaneta, “Archie Dropping Comic Code Authority Seal in February,” Newsarama (Jan. 21, 2011). Seddelmeyer, Anne, “The Effects of the Censorship of the 1950s on Comic Books” (Seddelmeyer Historical Paper— online). Schechter, Harold, Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, The Original ‘Psycho,’ pp. 90-91. Wertham, Fredric , A Sign for Cain: An Exploration of Human Violence, pp. 194-228. Wertham, Fredric, Seduction of the Innocent, 400 pp. Wertham, Fredric, “What Parents Don’t Know about Comic Books,” Ladies’ Home Journal (Oct. 1953), pp. 50-52, 214-220. Wertham, Fredric, The World of Fanzines, 144 pp.

Helluva Party! You might know it’d be Comic Crypt-keeper Michael T. Gilbert who had the last word on these “twice-told tales” from the Code era. Besides reminding us that many of the preCode Atlas horror stories were altered by the Code when they were reprinted in the early 1970s, he sent us this Steve Ditko-drawn page from the story “Masquerade Party” in Strange Tales #83 (April 1961), in which a woman goes out dancing and husbandhunting… and finds one. Michael feels that “the last panel was clearly changed at the last minute by the Code, so she wouldn’t wind up in Hell. Ditko didn’t have a chance to draw [the new panels], though possibly [Paul] Reinman did.” Thanks as always, Michael! [© 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“You Have To Earn Your Talent Through Discipline” Artist CAL MASSEY Talks Candidly About His Comics Career Conducted by Jim Amash Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

NTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Cal Massey’s comic book career, like many others of the 1950s, was cut short by the decline of the medium. He worked for Cross Publications, Lev Gleason, St. John, and Timely before moving on to the advertising world and book illustration. He was also the first medal designer for the Franklin Mint, and eventually settled into a career in fine arts. His paintings have been widely exhibited in many galleries. Still active as a painter, Cal Massey reaches out to his audience with thought and power during these difficult times, his message as potent as ever. —Jim.

“You Probably Have Heard Of Him —Joe Maneely “ JIM AMASH: Well, I’ll start with the easy question, which is when and where were you born? CAL MASSEY: I was born February 1926 in Morton, Pennsylvania, which

is a small town outside of Philadelphia. When I was four years old, I discovered the Sunday newspaper comics. My mother told me they were drawn, so I took the Sunday comics, put them up in the window, and let the sun come through pages so I could trace them. [chuckles] Of course, I got all the images from both sides of the paper, and it was a mess. So my mother said, “You stupid fool, you have to earn your talent through discipline.” And that’s how I got interested in drawing. The next step was just trying to learn to draw. While I was in high school, I met these two incredible twins who could draw with both hands. They were ambidextrous. I wanted to be as good as them. Then I found out that they were idiot savants. After graduating from high school in 1944, I went into the Air Force during World War II for two years; I was a pre-flight mechanic and radio mechanic . Then I came out of the service, and I met a guy named—well, you probably have heard of him—Joe Maneely, whom I met at the Hussion School of Art. JA: When you went to art school, did you have a goal in mind of what kind of artist you wanted to be? MASSEY: I knew I needed to go to art school; I had to learn how to draw. My goal was to be a comic book illustrator, and I met a wonderful teacher, Leonard Nelson. He separated me from the rest of the students and gave me split-hair criticism. It got to a point where I was kind of sick of it, you

Cal Massey In War And Peace The artist—flanked by his cover for Timely/Atlas’ War Action #6 (Sept. 1952) and one of his later paintings, this one depicting an angel. Scans of the photo and painting were provided by Cal; thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for the cover. [Cover © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.; photo & painting © 2011 the respective copyright holders.]