Alter Ego #114 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Marvel Comics Fanzine

STILL MORE

DON RICO— ALLEN BELLMAN— In$8.95 & MARTIN GOODMAN! the USA TIMELY/MARVEL TITANS!

No.114

82658 27763

Dec. 2012

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!

2012 EISNER AWARD Nominee Best Comics-Related Journalism

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

ALTER EGO #101

ALTER EGO #102

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BL AVAILA

ALTER EGO #98

ALTER EGO #99

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (AE #100)

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!

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!

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!

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ALTER EGO #103

ALTER EGO #104

ALTER EGO #105

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!

Celebrates the 50th anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the birth of Marvel Comics! New, never-beforepublished STAN LEE interview, art and artifacts by KIRBY, DITKO, SINNOTT, AYERS, THOMAS, and secrets behind the Marvel Mythos! Also: JIM AMASH interviews 1940s Timely editor AL SULMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and a new cover by FRENZ and SINNOTT!

See comic art and script BEFORE and AFTER the Comics Code changes, with art by SIMON & KIRBY, DITKO, BUSCEMA, SINNOTT, GOULD, COLE, STERANKO, KRIGSTEIN, O’NEIL, GLANZMAN, ORLANDO, WILLIAMSON, HEATH, and others! Plus: FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, JIM AMASH interviews Timely/Atlas artist CAL MASSEY, and a new cover by JOSH MEDORS!

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ALTER EGO #106

ALTER EGO #107

ALTER EGO #108

ALTER EGO #109

ALTER EGO #110

DICK GIORDANO through the 1960s—from freelance years and Charlton “Action-Heroes” to his first stint at DC! Art by DITKO, APARO, BOYETTE, MORISI, McLAUGHLIN, GIL KANE, and others, Dick’s final convention panel with STEVE SKEATES and ROY THOMAS, JIM AMASH interviews Charlton artist TONY TALLARICO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and ROY ALD, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, GIORDANO cover, and more!

Big BATMAN issue, with an unused Golden Age cover by DICK SPRANG! Interviews SPRANG and JIM MOONEY, with rare and unseen Batman art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON, WIN MORTIMER, SHELLY MOLDOFF, CHARLES PARIS, and others! Part II of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

1970s Bullpenner WARREN REECE talks about Marvel Comics and working with EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, STAN LEE, MARIE SEVERIN, ADAMS, FRIEDRICH, ROY THOMAS, and others, with rare art! DEWEY CASSELL spotlights Golden Age artist MIKE PEPPE, with art by TOTH, TUSKA, SEKOWSKY, TALLARICO Part 3, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!

Spectre/Hour-Man creator BERNARD BAILY, ‘40s super-groups that might have been, art by ORDWAY, INFANTINO, KUBERT, HASEN, ROBINSON, and BURNLEY, conclusion of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH, MIKE PEPPE interview by DEWEY CASSELL, BILL SCHELLY on “50 Years of Fandom” at San Diego 2011, FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, PÉREZ cover, and more!

SHAZAM!/FAWCETT issue! The 1940s “CAPTAIN MARVEL” RADIO SHOW, interview with radio’s “Billy Batson” BURT BOYAR, P.C. HAMERLINCK and C.C. BECK on the origin of Captain Marvel, ROY THOMAS and JERRY BINGHAM on their Secret Origins “Shazam!”, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, LEONARD STARR interview, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

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

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $2.95

Vol. 3, No. 114 / December 2012 Roy Thomas

Editor

Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Associate Editors Christopher Day

Design & Layout John Morrow

Consulting Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck

FCA Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Comic Crypt Editor Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

Editorial Honor Roll

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Proofreaders

Allen Bellman & Mitch Breitweiser

Cover Artists

Elizabeth Breitweiser

Cover Colorist

With Special Thanks to:

Sean Howe Heidi Amash Rob Hunter Ger Apeldoorn Eric Jansen Atomic Romance William B. Jones, Jr. (website) Sharon Karibian Rodrigo Baeza Jim Kealy Bob Bailey Komikero Dot Com Rod Beck (website) Robert Beerbohm Richard Kyle Allen & Roz Robert Levitt Lanyi Bellman (Dr. Ronald Levitt) David Bernstein Mitch Lee Dominic Bongo Paul Leiffer Jerry K. Boyd Dominique Leonard Elizabeth Boyle Alan Light Elizabeth Jim Ludwig Breitweiser John Lustig Mitch Breitweiser Bruce Mason Mike Broder Lesley McGrew Bernie Bubnis Harry Mendryk Larry Buckstead Joyce Moed Connie Carlton Brian K. Morris Dewey Cassell Mark Muller Shaun Clancy Barry Pearl Chet Cox Warren Reece Bill Croskey Donato Francisco Pete Crowther (Buz) Rico III Rob Deighton Tone Rodriguez Craig Delich Randy Sargent Mark Evanier Eric Schumacher Justin Fairfax Dan Sehn Michael Feldman Cory Sedlmeier Juan Fernandez Mitchell Senft Shane Foley Marc Swayze Nikki Frakes Stan Taylor Allen Freeman Dann Thomas Steven Freivogel Michael Uslan Janet Gilbert Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Glen David Gold Dr. Michael J. Larry Good Vassallo Tom Grindberg Jennifer Hamerlinck Hames Ware Gregg Whitmore Michele Hart Wiley-Blackwell Bill Henley (John Wiley & Ben Herman Sons) Hero Initiative David Williams Rob Hunter

Contents Writer/Editorial: Names To Conjure With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Once And Future Don Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Robt. Levitt Lanyi’s 1977 interview with the 1940s-70s Timely/Marvel artist, writer, & editor. Michele Hart talks about her time with husband Don Rico—and her own colorful career.

“We Had A Great Life Together” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The life and Timely/Marvel times of Golden Age artist Allen Bellman, by Joyce Moed, et al.

Bellman, Book, And Candle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Timely/Marvel’s peerless publisher’s unlikely career in show business, by Ger Apeldoorn.

Martin Goodman, A.K.A. The Angel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Warren Reece and the almost-was secret origin of the original Human Torch.

The Invaders Issue That Nearly Was! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Michael T. Gilbert and Mr. Monster examine parodies of the classic Charles Atlas ads.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Charles Atlas, Part 3! . . . . . . . . 57 John Lustig and nameless Charlton artists take an irreverent look at the Amazing Amazon.

Wonder Woman’s Last Kiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Tributes to John Celardo, Tony DeZuniga, & Ernie Chan. . . 65 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 68 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #173 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 P.C. Hamerlinck presents a classic George Evans tale from Captain Video #3.

On Our Cover: 1940s-50s comic artist Allen Bellman and a current rising young star, Mitch Breitweiser, teamed up to produce their own dramatic entry in the proud line of illustrations that depict Captain America getting physical with Adolf Hitler. Coloring by Mitch’s wife Elizabeth Breitweiser. [Captain America TM & ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2012 Allen Bellman & Mitch Breitweiser.]

Above: “Red Comet” panels drawn (and perhaps written) by Don Rico for Planet Comics #5. There’ll be other art from that May 1940 Fiction House tale later in this issue. Thanks to Jim Kealy. [©2012 the respective copyright holders.]

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Don Rico, John Celardo, Tony DeZuniga, & Ernie Chan 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 China. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

Names To Conjure With

ee—Kirby—Ditko—Romita—Heck—Ayers—Colan— Everett—Wood—Buscema (two of ’em)—Severin (ditto)— Steranko—Tuska—these are some of the most familiar names associated with Silver Age Marvel Comics… what Stan Lee himself preferred to call “The Marvel Age of Comics”…

…while the big names in the Golden Age of its predecessor, Timely Comics, were guys like Simon & Kirby (him again!)— Everett (ditto)—Burgos—Gustavson—Avison—Shores…

…and the names that might’ve rung visual bells for readers in those interim days when the Atlas globe loomed above Timely/Marvel’s hero-bereft 1950s landscape were Maneely—Heath —Everett (couldn’t keep that guy down!)—Ayers (ditto)—Tuska (double-ditto)—Severin (John)—Sinnott—Sekowsky—Hartley— DeCarlo—maybe a few others, including a guy named Lee.

But there were other artists and writers—their names mostly unknown today except to the more historical-minded comics aficionados—who likewise contributed substantially, even importantly, to the body of work that today’s Marvel is reintroducing to the world through its hardcover Marvel Masterworks series, via a triple-track policy of reprinting comics material from the 1940s (Timely), the 1950s (Atlas), and the 1960s and beyond (Marvel).

Two of those talents, in some ways nearly at opposite ends of the spectrum from each other, were this issue’s featured creators, Don Rico and Allen Bellman.

Don Rico was seemingly everywhere in comics’ early days, his work and often even his byline surfacing at many a company, though mostly at Timely. To over-simplify just a bit: in the 1940s he mainly drew… in the 1950s he increasingly wrote… and in the mid-1960s he scripted a trio of tales for Stan Lee’s up-and-coming Marvel Comics, even if two of them were under a pseudonym. Don had also functioned for several years as an editor.

Allen Bellman mostly drew, rather than wrote, but during most of the 1940s and early ’50s he only rarely affixed his byline to a story—except for the one- and two-page “Let’s Play Detective” entries that he both drew and scripted for Atlas’ crime comics. Much of the time, he was one of those bullpen stalwarts who pitched in wherever they were needed—a full panel or page here, a face or figure there, a bit of penciling and/or inking anywhere. He swears he drew at least one “Jap-Buster Johnson” exploit scripted by later best-selling novelist Mickey Spillane; but for the life of him, neither Allen nor his interviewer (for A/E #32) and now good friend Dr. Michael J. Vassallo can ID a single episode of that series as definitely containing his art!

The third Timely/Marvel name on our cover is one that was probably even less well-known to the general comics-buying public before at least the 1960s than even those of Rico or Bellman: that of publisher Martin Goodman. But of course he was the head honcho, the man who bossed even editor Stan Lee and made the life-or-death decisions for comics and a small empire of more “adult” magazines. In this issue, we get a glimpse at another, even more esoteric side of him. You’ll see. So what’s my point?

Mainly, that as long as there’s an artist or writer or editor or staffer left standing from a given era, there’ll be something—and someone—worth our time to talk to and spotlight. Even surviving loved ones—spouses, children, occasionally friends or other relatives—can often shed light on the dynamic, ever-shifting tableau that was the World of Comics at any given moment in time. And, hopefully, you’ll allow us to be right there to chronicle it. Bestest,

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The Once And Future DON RICO A 1970s Interview With A 1940s-70s Timely/Marvel Artist, Writer, & Editor by Robert Levitt Lanyi

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: I first learned of this interview with my erstwhile L.A. colleague Don Rico from reader Mitch Lee, who sent me a copy of it several years ago. It had appeared in the magazine The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (Summer 1979), and had been conducted by Dr. Ronald Levitt, under the reasonably transparent pen name “Robert Levitt Lanyi.” Dr. Levitt is currently an adjunct associate professor in the English department of Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California. While the 1977 conversation between the two men is light on the specific details of Don’s comics career, and I wish someone had also talked to him in depth about such matters, we have the interview that we have—and it’s a very good one. Between it and Dewey Cassell’s talk with Don’s widow Michele Hart, which follows on p. 21, this issue presents, I think, a reasonably well-rounded picture of a talented man who contributed materially to three (actually four) decades of comics history—as well as to numerous other fields.

A/E

On a related front: Acquiring the rights to reprint this interview was a tricky procedure, and several times it looked as if it simply wasn’t going to happen. Rights to material published in The Journal of Popular Culture are currently controlled by Wiley-Blackwell—an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing concern owned by John Wiley & Sons—and may be viewed for a fee at their website. They do lease reprint rights, as well, but for rather more than Alter Ego’s limited budget would allow. However, after several back-and-forth e-mails and particularly through the good offices of Elizabeth Boyle, Editorial Assistant/SSH Journals, she and her colleagues at Wiley-Blackwell volunteered to waive their fees—declining even to accept the sums I could offer, or proffered ad space in this issue. I can only presume that this decision came, pretty much out of the blue, because they realized that Don was a friend of mine— never a really close friend, to my eternal regret, but an esteemed comrade nonetheless— and that my desire to preserve the interview in the pages of A/E was as much in the

Double-Dare(devil) Don Rico, looking down on samples of his work as both artist and writer, in a circa-1970s photo courtesy of Mark Evanier. (Left:) His cover for New Friday’s Silver Streak Comics #12 (July 1941), showcasing the original Daredevil. Circa 1970, Rico seems to have told Who's Who researcher Jerry Bails that he scripted the first “Daredevil” story, which was drawn by Jack Binder, for Silver Streak #6 (Sept. 1940), although the pseudonymous script byline there reads “Captain Cook.” There is a criminal “Ricco Gang” in that first story… but that name could just as likely have come from the 1930s Warners gangster movie Little Caesar, starring Edward G. Robinson (“Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Ricco?”). Rico was credited in the 1970s print edition of The Who’s Who of American Comic Books with working on that very first story, so the accreditation is probably based on correspondence with him. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [©2012 the respective copyright holders.] (Above:) Splash page from Spellbound #4 (June 1952) of a story scripted by Rico and drawn by Dick Ayers. [©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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“We Had A Great Life Together” MICHELE HART Talks About Her Time With Husband DON RICO—And Her Own Colorful Career Conducted by Dewey Cassell

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Don Rico found in Michele Hart his soul mate, and vice versa, and they married in 1962. Whatever difference there was in age paled in comparison to what they had in common, including an interest and aptitude in the arts. Together, they shared 22 wonderful years and raised a son. Here, then, is a delightful interview with Michele Hart, who sheds light on the later life and career of Don Rico, a true Renaissance man. This interview was conducted June 24, 2012, and was later copy-edited by Michele Hart. —Dewey.

Michele Hart—And Loved Ones (Left:) Michele with Don and their son Buz at the latter’s 6th-grade graduation at the Garner Street School, West Hollywood, California. Don and Michele were married on Sept. 28, 1962, two days after Don’s 50th birthday. Michele reports that Don was definitely born in 1912, not 1918 as is generally recorded. (Right:) Michele’s current head shot from her acting portfolio. The photo was taken by Larry Buckstead. Both pics provided by Michele Hart.

“You’ll Never Make Any Money As An Artist”… “Yes, I Will!”

DEWEY CASSELL: In reading about Don, I learned that you are an actress.

MICHELE HART: I am.

DC: Are you the actress that was in General Hospital? HART: Yes. My God, did you watch that?

DC: [laughs] I did. When I was in college, I used to come home from school and watch General Hospital. It was the only soap that I watched.

HART: [laughs] I am an actress and a dancer; I have done extensive ballet and jazz dance, both. And I acted as much as I danced, or danced as much as acted. And yes, that’s me.

On, Comet… Some of Don’s earliest comic book artwork—after the brief experience with Victor Fox—was done for Fiction House. This “Red Comet” yarn appeared in Planet Comics #5 (May 1940); with thanks to Jim Kealy. The whole story will be seen in PS Artbooks’ forthcoming hardcover Roy Thomas Presents Planet Comics, Vol. 2. Meanwhile, grab up Vol. 1! [©2012 the respective copyright holders.]

DC: I read about the dancing, too. You were a principal dancer in the ballet?

HART: I was principal in two small ballet companies in Los Angeles which did what ballet companies in Los Angeles do, which is to go out of business because they can’t get backing. Lord

Michelle Hart Talks About Her Time With Husband Don Rico—And Her Own Colorful Career

Home Is “The Wanderer” (Above:) Influenced by artist Lynd Ward, who in 1929 and the 1930s created wordless graphic novels by a similar art technique, Don Rico produced this 5” x 7” wood engraving, which he titled “The Wanderer.” It was, Michele Hart says, one of a kind, not part of a “novel in graphics.” (Above right:) A Paul Bunyan wood engraving by Rico, also probably not done as part of a story. “He just liked the character,” Michele states. “He also did a ‘John Henry’—I think he liked heroic characters before Captain America.” Thanks to Michele for both scans. [©2012 Estate of Don Rico.]

from a friend of his in New York—this was, I believe, in the beginning of the ‘80s—asking him if he was aware that some of his work was being shown at the Metropolitan Museum in a show of works of the WPA Arts Project. DC: That is amazing.

HART: He flew back to New York to look at it. You know, if you’re an actor, it’s the Academy Award; if you’re an artist, the Metropolitan. DC: Absolutely.

HART: His work is in many museums all over the world, including some of them that I didn’t even know about. The University of Michigan got some prints; the Oslo, Norway, Museum has some, and he didn’t know about it for years.

DC: When did Don pass away?

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HART: 1985. There were obits picked up in the press when he died— the Associated Press picked it up. It was in The L.A. Times and in The New York Times and a number of other papers nationally when he passed.

You know, just prior to Don’s becoming ill with lung cancer, he was learning to use a computer. He bought what was then state-ofthe-art, a Kaypro II. It was before the mouse existed, and he was teaching himself prompts. That was typical of Don… always learning, always moving forward.

DC: He truly was a Renaissance man.

HART: If you are a Renaissance person, and you start telling people what you can do, they look at you funny, you know? We have all learned that phrase “jack of all trades, master of none,” and a lot of people assume that if you say you do one thing well, it means you don’t do the other things well or that you do everything badly. And Don did a lot of things well.

Dewey Cassell is a regular contributor to TwoMorrows publications and author of the new book Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics.

BELLMAN, Book, And Candle A 4H-Part Look At The Life And Timely/Marvel Times Of Golden Age Artist ALLEN BELLMAN EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: In this year of 2012, Allen Bellman celebrated the 70th anniversary of the day in 1942 when he joined the staff of Timely Comics, under its editor, Stan Lee. (I suppose that’s the day he lit the symbolic “candle” of my whimsical overall title above.) While Dr. Michael J. Vassallo’s interview with Allen was published in Alter Ego #32 in 2004—an issue now out of print primarily because Allen himself bought up so many back issues in order to give them out at comics conventions over the past decade!—we felt we should use the occasion for a somewhat briefer revisiting eight years later of this artist, perhaps the “last man standing” among those who drew super-hero adventure comics for Timely during the 1940s.

A/E

This special coverage is divided into four parts:

A short overview of Allen’s career by his friend, Joyce Moed…

Salutes by two other buddies, Michael Uslan and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo… …and a few words from Allen himself to round things out.

And now, since time (and the page count) are a-wasting…!

“Patriot” Games Seems like only yesterday to Allen Bellman (seen above in 1945, at age 21) that he was drawing things such as the “Patriot” splash page (pictured at left) for Marvel Mystery Comics #62 (March ’45)—and, next thing he knows, it’s several decades later and he’s posing for a photo at a comics convention with his old boss Stan Lee (below)! Though Allen mentions to Joyce Moed that Stan’s “real name is Stanley Lieber,” actually Stan changed it legally years ago. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for the art scan; this rare, identifiable Bellman-drawn splash originally appeared with his interview back in A/E #32—but this time we can show it in color! Only thing we can’t do is tell you who scripted the story. [Page ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A 4H-Part Look At The Life And Timely/Marvel Times Of Allen Bellman

Addendum:

Hooray For Hollywood! Walking The Red, White, And Blue Carpet by Allen Bellman he invitation came. It was from the office of Kevin Feige, the producer and president of Marvel Films. It was our invitation to the premier showing of the Captain America: The First Avenger film. Jeez... never did I think, when I joined the bullpen of Timely/Marvel Comics in 1942, that this would ever happen to me.

Arrangements had to be made for the hotel and for air flights to Los Angeles. We had a night flight, non-stop to LA, and had a beautiful suite at the Roosevelt Hotel just across the street from the El Capitan Theatre where the movie was to be shown. We met Syd Shores’ daughter Nancy and her family, who were among those who received an invitation. Syd Shores took over “Captain America” when Simon and Kirby left Timely to work for DC Comics. Wow! Here we were on Hollywood Boulevard, having lunch at Mel’s Diner. We arrived one day before and had the opportunity to walk the street of the stars. Later on, while Roz was enjoying the pool at the hotel, I walked around the pool’s edge. There were four young people sitting on a lounge. I “jokingly” asked if they had room for this ol’ guy to sit down. All four got up and I shook my head and said I was not serious. But four, two males and two females, perhaps in their twenties, gave me the feeling that, somehow, they were here for the movie, and I was right. They were Emily, Michael, Jedd, and Julian, the grandchildren of Joe Simon. They were there representing Joe, who would pass away some months later.

Just Follow The Red, White, And Blue Road! A triptych of images of Allen Bellman at the premiere of the 2011 movie mega-hit Captain America: The First Avenger. Our thanks to Steven Freivogel for all three photos. (Counterclockwise from right:) Allen on the “Red, White, and Blue Carpet.” Allen with Syd Shores’ daughter Nancy Shores Karlebach and Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Films and one of the movie’s producers. Allen and Nancy felt that they and Joe Simon’s grandchildren were standing in for all the artists and writers who had created the “Captain America” stories of the 1940s. Allen with actors Derek Luke (“Gabe Jones” in the movie’s version of the Howling Commandos) and Neil McDonough (“Dum Dum Dugan”).

Then it was showtime, and Roz and I took the short walk to the El Capitan Theatre, where there were crowds on both sides of the closed street. Security guards were all over in their black suits, looking like funeral directors. Getting past the guards was no easy task even with our invitation in hand, but we were escorted in by a vice president of Marvel Comics whose name escapes me. We then walked the Red, White and Blue Carpet. Roz had to check her small Canon camera, and we were escorted to our seats. We had box seats in back of the theatre. We had the privilege of meeting the vice president of Paramount Pictures, a beautiful young lady who told us her grandfather was the English actor Reginald Denny from the 1930s and ’40s. An organist onstage entertained the guests as they made their way to their seats. A gentleman came over to me and said he was the grandfather of Chris Evans (who plays Captain America in the film), and how did I get to sit in a very special seat? Without thinking I said,”That’s because I’m a very important person.” This is not me, and I would have liked to apologize to the gentleman.

After the movie, it was party time at the Supper Club for invited guests of the movie. We then had the opportunity to meet Kevin Feige, the producer, to whom I mentioned that the Red Skull in the movie was too slick-looking, sporting a beautiful set of teeth and eyes, not what the usual decent skull should look like. I posed with people in the cast, and it was a night to remember.

Dedicated by Allen to the memory of two good friends: Syd Shores & Gene Colan.

Martin Goodman, A.K.A. The Angel Timely/Marvel’s Peerless Publisher’s Unlikely Career In Show Business by Ger Apeldoorn

Introduction

ccording to the Internet Broadway Database, Marvel publisher Martin Goodman twice in his career tried his hand at producing something other than comics and pulp magazines.

In June 1944 he was the “angel” (financial backer) behind the Broadway play Love on Leave, written by A. B. Shiffrin and produced by Charles Stewart, whose credits include several productions for The Ballet Theatre in 1941 and a revival of Porgy and Bess in 1942.

And in October 1955 a “Martin Goodman” is reported to have backed Leonard Lee’s Deadfall, directed by the blacklisted Michael Gordon, who in 1959 would return to the movies as the director of Pillow Talk (the first of several ultra-successful Rock Hudson/Doris Day romantic-comedy vehicles).

Both times, the producers must have hoped for a big success and a nice profit, but neither of the above productions lasted longer than a couple of weeks. Love on Leave came to a halt after four days and seven performances. Deadfall lasted 20 performances.

These facts came to our attention when Golden Age Timely/Marvel artist Allen Bellman mentioned in Alter Ego #32 that he and the rest of the Timely staff were invited to the premiere of Love on Leave. No one was invited to the premiere of Deadfall, so Goodman must have learned at least that much from his earlier failure.

The plays themselves must have been eminently forgettable. But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, at least some information could be found concerning them....

If I Had The Wings (Or Even The Cape) Of An Angel… (Top of page:) Timely/Marvel publisher Martin Goodman is seen in 1941 perusing cover proofs of Captain America Comics #11 (Feb. 1942)—hovering above images of both of his company’s heroes called “The Angel.” (Oh, and thanks to Nikki Frakes for the photo scan.) (Above:) Goodman apparently believed his company’s comic-book costumed detective called The Angel was going to be as popular as his inspiration, Leslie Charteris’ prose hero The Saint—so he had the guys at the Funnies, Inc., comics shop stick him on the cover of Marvel Mystery Comics #2 (Dec. 1939), and again on that of #3, though in both cases he was shown minus his moustache. That’s probably because the covers were drawn not by the character’s artist/co-creator Paul Gustavson but by Charles J. Mazoujian. In 1941 there was even a single issue of The Angel Detective pulp magazine—but minus mustache and costume! (Left:) The later mutant called The Angel had actual wings—and they worked! This detail from the splash page of The X-Men #1 (Sept. 1963), like the rest of the issue, was scripted by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Paul Reinman. Repro’d from Ye Editor’s personal bound volumes. [Both pages ©2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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The INVADERS Issue That Nearly Was! WARREN REECE & The Almost-Was Secret Origin Of The Human Torch INTRODUCTION BY ROY THOMAS: It’s well-known nowadays that, in 1971, while penciling the classic The Avengers #93 issue that launched the full-scale Kree-Skrull War, artist/co-plotter Neal Adams suggested to me, as his co-plotter, scripter, and de facto editor that, while rummaging around at minuscule size inside the comatose form of The Vision, Henry Pym, a.k.a. Ant-Man, would “see something” which would later turn out to be proof that the android Avenger’s physical body had originally been the equally non-human form and material of the 1939 Human Torch. This concept was followed through in later Avengers issues by writer Steve Englehart.

Now add to that another retro Torch item: Sometime circa 1977, while I was editing and usually (but not always) scripting The Invaders, the retroactive-continuity title I’d developed featuring the exploits of the Torch, Captain America, and Sub-Mariner during the Second World War, I received a written synopsis for a proposed “Invaders” story from Warren Storob, a young collector who was briefly a Marvel staffer. (Now answering to the name Warren Reece, that worthy will be familiar to readers of this magazine as the author of the lengthy and offbeat article “With the Fathers of Our Heroes” in A/E #108.) As Warren related there, sometime in the mid1970s, through the good offices of our mutual friend Gary Friedrich, he submitted to me “a plot for an untold portion of the origin of the Golden Age Human Torch,” which I expressed an interest in potentially utilizing as the basis of a future issue of The Invaders. When Warren dug out a copy of that vintage synopsis and mailed it to me a few years back, it jogged my memory and I recalled the essence of it—though not what precise alterations I might have intended to make to it, if I’d gotten around to using it before Invaders was canceled in 1979 with issue #41.

Still, Warren’s story—which expands creatively upon the oft-related events of 1939’s Marvel Comics#1—could well have served as the springboard for some issue from #42 on, if I’d gone back to writing the comic myself instead of farming out the scripting, as I increasingly did near the end. Thus, he and I agreed that perhaps, after roughly 3½ decades, it was high time to shine a spotlight on his presentation, precisely as I first read it circa 1977…

Carrying A Torch (Left:) Synopsis-writer Warren Reece holds up his personal copy of the Oct. 1939 edition of Marvel Comics #1, with its Frank Pauldrawn cover that was the world’s introduction to The Human Torch. This 1980s photo taken by Anastasia Walsh for a South Florida newspaper was also seen in A/E #108. [©2012 the respective copyright holders.] (Above:) Don Rico—a name you read a lot earlier this issue—drew and colored his personal take on the Torch at some undetermined date several decades ago for a friend or collector. This image was retrieved by Dominic Bongo from the Heritage Comics Archives. As in the sketch which Torch-creator Carl Burgos drew in late 1939 for a “new Human Torch” (again, see A/E #108), this Torch’s facial features are clearly visible, as they rarely were in printed Golden Age comics. [Human Torch TM & ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“The Torch of Remembrance” (A synopsis to explain important unanswered questions about the original Torch)

by Warren Reece (as W.R. Storob) s many of us know, the original Human Torch was an android robot, who debuted in Marvel Comics #1, October, 1939. One of the questions that may have crossed the minds of many readers is, “How did the newly-created Torch know our language?” Moreover, how did he have this seemingly innate knowledge of what a racketeer was, or feel a “natural” hate of being used for selfish gain or crime? This is what I hope to explain.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’

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“Vini, Video, Vinci!” The Full, Unfettered Story Of How CAPTAIN VIDEO’s Greatest Foe Inspired The Ultimate Enemy Of Marvel’s AVENGERS!

ltron.

by Roy Thomas

Easily the most popular villain amongst the relative handful of that species that I cocreated for Marvel Comics during the 1960s and ’70s. Ahead of The Grim Reaper—Tiger Shark—Arkon—Sauron—ManApe—Thundra—not to mention The Banshee and Sunfire (a pair of mutants who started out as villains in The X-Men but later cleaned up their act). Naturally, that doesn’t count Wolverine.

Of course, all comic-book villains have antecedents of one kind or another. The Red Skull’s name was apparently lifted from the title of a Doc Savage pulp novel. Dr. Doom was Alexandre Dumas’ Man in the Iron Mask given added armor and turned into an archfiend.

And the ultimate inspiration behind Ultron was a living robot called Makino, in the third issue of Fawcett Publications’ Captain Video comic book, cover-dated June 1951.

Maybe FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck and I are doing things backward, but we’ve scheduled an overview of the 6-issue Captain Video comics series for A/E #117, three issues from now, after the aforementioned Makino story has been fully reprinted. All the same, you need to know these minimal facts about that series up front:

Captain Video was, first and foremost, a very early children’s program on the DuMont Television Network, which aired from 1949 to 1955. To quote the first paragraph-plus of the rather good Wikipedia coverage:

“Set in the distant future, the series followed the adventures of a group of fighters for truth and justice, the Video Rangers, led by Captain Video. The Rangers operated from a secret base on a mountain top. Their uniforms resembled U.S. Army surplus with lightning belts sewed on. The Captain had a teenage companion who was known only as the Video Ranger. Captain Video received his orders from the Commissioner of Public Safety, whose responsibilities took in the entire solar system as well as human colonies on

Two Types of Video Recorder

planets around other stars.”

(Above:) Al Hodge (on the right, as the good Captain) and Don Hastings as the Video Ranger in a publicity still from the Captain Video TV series, courtesy of a Wikipedia entry. (Left:) The photo-cover of Fawcett’s Captain Video #3 (June 1951). Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [©2012 the respective copyright holders.]

When Fawcett’s licensed Captain Video comic made its debut (#1, Feb. 1951), it strayed in several key ways from the TV series. For one thing, although the uniforms of the Captain and the Ranger were light brown on the covers (all six of which utilized photos—either color ones or else black-&-white ones which had been “colorized”), they were blue in all interior stories. Moreover, the comics were set in the present day (i.e., early 1950s), not in some far-flung future where space travel is a given; in fact, I haven’t been able to ascertain that Video’s comic book Whirlojet—which can fly only as high up as the stratosphere, not into outer space—was the precise equivalent of any of the vehicles he used on the TV show. Also, there were slightly more Video Rangers in evidence in the comic, apparently, than on the small screen. Still, Dr. Pauli, the Captain’s arch-foe on the TV series, did make an appearance or two in the four-color version.

“Vini, Video, Vinci!”

Fawcett threw in the towel (it essentially quit publishing comics in late 1953), its titles could be found only at a small five-and-dime, called Cox’s, which carried no other companies’ comics. Separate but unequal treatment.

What made Captain Video worth seeking out during its 1951 run were the art and story. Though the tales bore no credits, the detailed, realistic pencils of all “Captain Video” tales were by George Evans, whose name I’d later come to know through EC Comics; the inking was mostly by Martin Thall (see his interview in A/E #52), with some of the embellishment being by Evans himself and even, according to Evans, by a very young Al Williamson. The scripts, like the art, were more adult than the usual kiddie comics fare—probably much more so than the TV show.

And no “Captain Video” story made a stronger impression on me than the lead tale in issue #3.

Klang, Klang, Klang Went The Robot Marc Swayze, who celebrated his 99th birthday this past July 17, has been an important part of each and every issue of Alter Ego, Vol. 3, beginning with its very first issue in 1999. Marc wrote and drew this tale starring a far earlier Fawcett evil robot for Captain Marvel Adventures #15 (Sept. 1942). [Shazam hero TM & ©2012 DC Comics.]

As a kid of ten, I loved the Captain Video comic. Only problem was: during this tail-end of Fawcett’s first foray into the comics field, the company’s titles were rarely on sale in the two drugstores which were the major comic book outlets in Jackson, Missouri, and which were the places where I purchased DC, Timely, Dell, and most other comics firms’ product. For the last year or so before

Because I’ve always wanted to do so even before Alter Ego went to full color a few issues, back, FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck has indulged me and named me a sort of “guest associate editor” for a trio of issues—and so FCA will serialize the 19 pages of that story over A/E #114-116—annotating it in this introduction and at the bottom of each reprinted comics page. We’ll be show-and-telling how the Makino episode influenced not only the creation and emergence of Ultron over the course of The Avengers #54-55 & #57-58, but also his second story arc in #66-68.

And now, with art scans courtesy of collector Rod Beck and P.C. Hamerlinck:

Long before artist John Buscema and I designed Ultron-5… even longer before I coined the name “Adamantium” for the hardest material imaginable in the second Ultron outing… there was…

Makino—“The Indestructible Antagonist!”…

Showing His True Metal (Left:) Ultron had a somewhat convoluted debut. When first seen in The Avengers #54 (July 1968), he seemed merely a robot stand-in for the mysterious criminal known as The Crimson Cowl—while in that issue’s final panel (not reprinted here) it appeared the true Cowl was none other than The Avengers’ very own butler, Jarvis! Script by Roy Thomas, pencils by John Buscema, inks by George Tuska. (Center:) In Avengers #55 (Aug. ’68), however, it was revealed that it was Ultron—or Ultron-5, as he first identified himself, being the fifth version of a robot prototype—who was the real criminal mastermind all along. That’s poor Jarvis he’s pummeling, by the way. Script by RT, pencils by JB, inks by George Klein. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan. (Right:) By the final panel of Avengers #57 (Oct. ’68), Ultron-5, who had created the android known as The Vision in an attempt to destroy the assembled superheroes, had apparently been destroyed “forever,” with his head being booted around a vacant lot by a kid playing kick-the-can to the tune of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandias.” The origin of Ultrons 1 through 4 in the lab of Dr. Henry Pym would be revealed via flashbacks in #58. [©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc.]