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MARVEL ISSUE on Captain America and the gang! MARTIN GOODMAN’s Broadway debut, speculations about FF #1, the INVADERS issue that never was, interview with Golden Age writer/artist DON RICO, art by KIRBY, AVISON, SHORES, ROMITA, SEVERIN, TUSKA, ALLEN BELLMAN, and others! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER and BILL SCHELLY! Cover by BELLMAN and MITCH BREITWEISER!

3-D COMICS OF THE 1950S! In-depth feature by RAY (3-D) ZONE, actual red and green 1950s 3-D art (includes free glasses!) by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT, MESKIN, POWELL, MAURER, NOSTRAND, SWAN, BORING, SCHWARTZ, MOONEY, SHORES, TUSKA and many others! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover by JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY!

JOE KUBERT TRIBUTE! Four Kubert interviews, art by RUSS HEATH, NEAL ADAMS, MURPHY ANDERSON, MICHAEL KALUTA, SAM GLANZMAN, and others, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY’s Comic Fandom Archive, FCA’s Captain Video conclusion by GEORGE EVANS that inspired Avengers foe Ultron, cover by KUBERT, with a portrait by DANIEL JAMES COX!

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GOLDEN AGE ARTISTS L.B. COLE AND JAY DISBROW! DISBROW’s memoir of COLE and his work on CAT-MAN, art by BOB FUJITANI, CHARLES QUINLAN, IRWIN HASEN, FCA (Fawcett Collector’s of America) on the two-media career of Captain Video, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, Cat-Man cover by L.B. COLE!

AVENGERS 50th ANNIVERSARY! WILL MURRAY on the group’s behind-thescenes origin, a look at its first decade with ROY THOMAS, STAN LEE, JACK KIRBY, THE BROTHERS BUSCEMA, TUSKA, ADAMS, COLAN, BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, MERRY MARVEL MARCHING SOCIETY, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, FCA, Golden Age Blue Beetle artist E.C. STONER, unused Avengers cover by DON HECK!

MARC SWAYZE TRIBUTE ISSUE, spotlighting FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America)! Salutes from Fawcett alumnus C.C. BECK and OTTO BINDER, interview with wife JUNE SWAYZE, a full Phantom Eagle story from Wow Comics, plus interview with 1950s Dell/Western artist MEL KEEFER, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and a SWAYZE Marvel Family cover art from the 1940s!

X-MEN SALUTE! 1963-69 secrets, rare ‘60s BRAZILIAN X-MEN stories, lost ‘60s XMen “character sheet” by STAN LEE, ROY THOMAS on the 1970s revival, art and artifacts by KIRBY, ROTH, ADAMS, HECK, FRIEDRICH, and BUSCEMA—plus the MMMS fan club story, interview with Golden Age writer ED SILVERMAN, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, and JACK KIRBY’s unused X-Men #10 cover!

GOLDEN AGE JUSTICE SOCIETY ISSUE! Features on JOHN B. WENTWORTH (Johnny Thunder), LEN SANSONE (The Atom), and BERNARD SACHS (All-Star Comics inker), art by CARMINE INFANTINO, BOB OKSNER, HOWARD PURCELL, STAN ASCHMEIER, BEN FLINTON, and H.G. PETER, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more! Cover homage by SHANE FOLEY to a vintage All-Star image by IRWIN HASEN!

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Farewell salute to the COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE! TBG/CBG history and remembrances from ALAN LIGHT, MURRAY BISHOFF, MAGGIE THOMPSON, BRENT FRANKENHOFF, “final” CBG columns by MARK EVANIER, TONY ISABELLA, PETER DAVID, FRED HEMBECK, JOHN LUSTIG, classic art by DON NEWTON, MIKE VOSBURG, JACK KIRBY, MIKE NASSER, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

DENNY O’NEIL’s Silver Age career at Marvel, Charlton, and DC—aided and abetted by ADAMS, KALUTA, SEKOWSKY, LEE, GIORDANO, THOMAS, SCHWARTZ, APARO, BOYETTE, DILLIN, SWAN, DITKO, et al. Plus, we begin serializing AMY KISTE NYBERG’s groundbreaking book on the history of the Comics Code, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY and more!

We spotlight HERB TRIMPE’s work on Hulk, Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D., Ghost Rider, Ant-Man, Silver Surfer, War of the Worlds, Ka-Zar, even Phantom Eagle, and featuring THE SEVERIN SIBLINGS, LEE, FRIEDRICH, THOMAS, GRAINGER, BUSCEMA, and others, plus more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s Comics Code history, M. THOMAS INGE on Communism and 1950s comic books, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

Golden Age “Air Wave” artist LEE HARRIS discussed by his son JONATHAN LEVEY to interviewer RICHARD J. ARNDT, with rarely-seen 1940s art treasures (including mysterious, never-published art of an alternate version of DC’s Tarantula)! Plus more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s exposé on the Comics Code, artist SAL AMENDOLA tells the story of the Academy of Comic Book Arts, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 126 / July 2014 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

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Cover Artist Joe Kubert

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Mark Lewis Heidi Amash Jim Ludwig Richard Arndt Doug Martin Bob Bailey Robyn Dean Matt D. Baker McHattie Rod Beck Brian K. Morris John Benson Dr. Amy Kiste William Biggins Nyberg Bill Black Steve Perrin Jerry K. Boyd John G. Pierce Pete Carlsson Jay Piscopo Michaël Dewally Ken Quattro Gary Dolgorff Gene Reed Michael Dunne Randy Sargent Mark Evanier Peter Schiller Al Feldstein Vijah Shah Shane Foley Keif Simon Bob Furmanek (3-D Film Archive) Dann Thomas Fred Thompson Mike Gartland John Vadeboncoeur, Janet Gilbert Jr. Clizia Glussoni Jim Van Hise Jennifer T. Go Dr. M. Thomas Inge Hames Ware Lawrence Kaufman John Wells Steven Willis Jay Kinney Craig Yoe Pete Koch Henry Kujawa

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Nick Cardy & Carmine Infantino SPECIAL 3-D NOTICE: Many of the illustrations in this issue of A/E, like those in #115, are best viewed with two-color 3-D glasses. Print or digital readers can receive a pair of 3-D viewers by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614

Contents Writer/Editorial: Another 3-D-Lirium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Trials And Tribulations—In Three Dimensions! . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Ken Quattro details the 1953 legal dispute between EC & St. John Pub.—illustrated in 3-D!

My Comic Mom!!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 1940s Catholic comics artist Vee Quintal, remembered by daughter Robyn Dean McHattie.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code – Chapter 3 . . 43 Amy Kiste Nyberg on the 1954 Senate investigation of comic books.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Inkspots! –Part Two . . . . . . . . . 55 More of Michael T. Gilbert’s first-ever comic strip.

Comic Fandom Archive: Steve Perrin –Part 3. . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Bill Schelly covers the 1960s fan-writer… and Perrin covers SF/comics pro Edmond Hamilton.

Tributes To Nick Cardy & Carmine Infantino. . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 70 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #185 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck, John G. Pierce, and C.C. Beck on Golden/Silver Age artist Pete Costanza.

On Our Cover: For adventure-hero fans, there were really just two high points amid the 3-D comics of the 1950s: Joe Kubert’s prehistoric stalwart Tor, and Joe Simon & Jack Kirby’s Captain 3-D. Our first 3-D issue (#115) sported a Captain 3-D cover, so we thank the Kubert family (and Joe himself, who long ago gave us his okay to use any of his artwork in our mags, as long as we didn’t importune him to draw anything new!) for permission to adapt one of Ye Editor’s all-time favorite splash pages, from St. John Publishing’s 3-D Comics #2 (Sept. 1953), which was indeed the second 3-D comic book ever. Love this art in 3-D as Roy T. does, he’s happy it’s also been printed in color, most recently a few years back in DC’s Tor Archives series. [© Estate of Joe Kubert.] Above: On the opposing side from Joe Kubert, Norman & Leonard Maurer, and Archer St. John in a 1953 3-D-comics-related lawsuit were EC publisher Bill Gaines and one of his editors, Al Feldstein. So here are two famous panels from EC’s first 3-D effort, Three-Dimensional EC Classics #1 (Spring 1954)—from writer/editor Harvey Kurtzman and artist Wally Wood’s masterful collaboration “V-Vampires!” in Mad #3 (Jan.-Feb. 1953), as totally redrawn (and re-paced). Both versions were, like the title says, classics—illustrated! [© William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

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writer/editorial

3-D

is back!

Another 3-D-Lirium

In the movies, at least, the achievement of threedimensional images seen by wearing special glasses has made a considerable comeback. And I love it—from the recent Marvel movies (especially The Avengers) through the Oscarnominated Gravity.

In comic books, however, there’s been nothing remotely like the brief 3-D craze of 1953—or even like the 3-D revival led by the late Ray Zone back in the ’80s. Still, in Alter Ego, we’re making a second stab at a 3-D-centered issue, a sequel to the focus in issue #115. Ken Quattro, who’s previously contributed several top-notch articles to A/E, recently researched and wrote, for his excellent thecomicsdetective blog, a piece about EC Comics’ [de facto] lawsuit against St. John Publishing Co., Joe Kubert, and Norman & Leonard Maurer over a patent on the 3-D illustration process. Zone had covered this in his article in A/E #115, but Ken got hold of additional documents, including letters exchanged between the lawsuit’s principals—and transcripts of both the trial itself and of a tape recording secretly made by EC publisher William M. Gaines of a conversation in his office between himself, editor Al Feldstein, and Kubert. These new discoveries flesh out the history of 3-D comics with a vengeance! (In the end, alas, the secret-tape transcript’s 40+ typed pages proved too long to print in full, so Ken did a masterful summary of it, with enough excerpts to give the flavor of the back-and-forth talk… but if you’d like to read the whole thing, you can download a PDF file of it on TwoMorrows Publications’ link www.twomorrows.com/media/3dconfab.pdf.) Ken’s article also gives us another chance to showcase art from those 1953 3-D comics, to illustrate the points made in the text. Our only problem was the 3-D reproduction itself.

Cox

We worked hard back in #115 to get the 3-D images right, and even went to the added expense (for no hike in cover price, unlike in the 1950s comics themselves) of including 3-D “glasses” with the

issues… only to have the printer accidentally reverse the red and green lenses, so that one needs to bend them backward to make the red lens cover the left eye, the way one read most 3-D comics of the ’50s (though not EC’s). But at least most readers probably figured that out for themselves with a bit of trial-and-error. A bigger problem—pointed out by John Benson and Jay Kinney in this issue’s “re:” section—was what John B. calls “showthrough.” Part of that problem is that the new lenses were red and green… while the images in some of the old comics were red and blue, which isn’t quite the same thing. Well, not much we can do about that now. If you can’t find the 3-D specs you used to read A/E #115, you can get a pair fast by sending a stamped, selfaddressed envelope to: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. But they’ll be the same red-and-green ones we sent out last time. Part of the problem, too, may be, as JB and Jay believe, that A/E is printed on a slicker paper than the old comics. Yet another aspect may be that our reproduction was simply too good, and that a more “washed-out” printing job on the old comics pages, more closely matching the reproduction in the mags themselves, might’ve led to a better result. Publisher John Morrow tells us he checked out every single image for #115 on his own computer screen—“I got a headache from testing them as I was adjusting them all!”—and they looked fine there. “But,” he adds, “a computer screen displays light, while paper is ink, and the two don’t always coincide properly.” So, this time, John says he’s going to try a few additional tricks of the trade to see if some, if not all, of that “show-through” can be eliminated and readers can get a better idea of what people saw when they’d plunked down their quarter for a 3-D comic in 195354. We’re sure you’ll let us know how the experiment turns out. But even if there are still a few problems, we suspect you’ll agree that the story of the “Trials and Tribulations” related to the original 3-D comics is one worth telling. And illustrating. Bestest,

# COMING IN JULY 127 WILL EISNER & “BUSY” ARNOLD! The Early-1940s Colorful Correspondence Between Quality’s Two Leading Lights!

• Brand new hero-studded cover by JASON PAULOS & DANIEL JAMES COX! • “Letters of Quality!” 1940s missives (or maybe missiles) between WILL EISNER & “BUSY” ARNOLD (& JERRY IGER) about Quality’s comics, The Spirit comic section, story, and art—with some surprising revelations! Art by FINE • CRANDALL • COLE • ROBINSON • CUIDERA • CARDY • KOTZKY • NORDLING • TUSKA • McWILLIAMS, et al.! • “The Coming of the Comics Code—1955!” AMY KISTE NYBERG’s Seal of Approval continues! Plus: VEE QUINTAL, Part 2! • FCA • MICHAEL T. GILBERT with more “Now That’s a Fan!” • BILL SCHELLY—& MORE!!

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Trials And Tribulations —In Three Dimensions! The 1953 Legal Dispute Between EC Comics & St. John Publishing An Examination & Analysis by Ken Quattro

A/E

(Left:) Art from Three Dimensional EC Tales from the Crypt of Terror #2 (Spring 1954) by Joe Orlando. Thanks to Rod Beck. [© William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Back in issue #115 (March 2013), Alter Ego carried a featurelength article by the late Ray Zone on the 3-D comics of the brief period in 1953-54 when, on the heels of a spate of 3-D movies beginning with Bwana Devil, St. John Publishing Co. launched a series of “three-dimensional” comics. The fad lasted, at the outside, only nine months… yet, along with phenomenal sales followed by spectacular returns of unsold copies, a true boom-and-bust mini-cycle, 3-D comics even managed to cause a colorful lawsuit between two major comic book publishers, one that also involved the patent-holder of a 3-D process. At this point, we’ll step aside and let Ken Quattro relate the story at length, while we content ourselves with illustrating the tale with images from the various companies that published 3-D comics, as well as a few key documents provided by Ken. We think you’ll find the whole bizarre yarn well worth the ride. (Oh, and because Ken typed them that way and they were too much trouble to change, quotations in this article will generally be in italics, just this once….)

Part I – Two Views Of 3-D Comics

n the physical world, seeing in 3-D is easy. Our brain combines the images projected onto the eye’s retina with various visual cues (such as perspective, shading, and relative size) allowing us to understand the world in its three-dimensional glory.

But to perceive a flat image three-dimensionally requires two eyes. The binocular disparity between our two ocular orbs perceives everything from a slightly different vantage point. Optimally, the brain takes these two differing views, combines them, and comes away with the perception of three dimensions. In much the same way, there are two differing views of the creative story behind 3-D comic books, and it takes both views to get a complete picture.

(Right:) Art from St. John Publishing’s 3-D Comics, Vol. 1, #2 (Oct. 1953). Thanks to Rod Beck. [Tor art © Estate of Joe Kubert.]

As the tale of 3-D comics was inexorably tied to St. John Publications, I covered aspects of it when writing “Archer St. John and the Little Company That Could” [a version of which can be found in Alter Ego #77]. Since my history was obviously St. John-centric, I began my research by contacting artist/writer/editor Joe Kubert and Leonard Maurer. Leonard (aka Leon or Lenny) was an eclectic, colorful, and somewhat eccentric individual. His lengthy bio listed accomplishments from musician to engineer, from philosopher to inventor. It was in that last role, and as the brother of comic book creator Norman Maurer, that Leonard is vital to the story of 3-D comic books. It is, in fact, his telling of that story upon which everything else herein hinges.

Through Leonard Maurer’s Eyes It began for Leonard Maurer when he and Norman, along with their pal Joe Kubert, happened to be driving by the Paramount Theater in Times Square, New York City. Joe, according to Leonard, looked up at the marquee touting its latest attraction, Arch Oboler’s 3-D exploitation epic Bwana Devil, and said, “Gee, wouldn’t it be great if we could make a 3-D comic book?” 1 It sounded simple enough. Kubert has stated on several occasions that the idea first came to him when he was in the Army, “in Germany (1950/51) and saw a 3-D (photo) mag. I suggested a 3-D comic book. Norm Maurer and I worked it out.”2 Norman Maurer elaborated: “We worked all night, and I’ll never forget how we waited on the street for Woolworth’s store in mid-town Manhattan to open, because we figured we could get red and green cellophane from lollipop wrappers. We bought two packages and made a funny pair of glasses which, believe it or not, worked perfectly.”3

The 1953 Legal Dispute Between EC Comics & St. John Publishing

Three Who Jump-Started 3-D (Clockwise from top left:) Leonard (“Lenny”) Maurer at a 1950s advertising trade show, promoting the 3-D Illustereo process he had developed. This photo appeared in Craig Yoe’s 2011 book Amazing 3-D Comics. Thanks to Craig Yoe & Clizia Glussoni. His ad for the Illustereo process; thanks to Ken Q. for this scan and the next. A short piece about Illustereo from a 1953 issue of Advertising Age magazine. [© the respective copyright holders.] Norman Maurer (seated) and Joe Kubert, as drawn by the former for St. John Publications’ The Three Stooges #1 (Sept. 1953), which came out one month before the 3-D comics craze took over. Thanks to Craig Yoe. [© Estates of Norman Maurer & Joe Kubert.]

But between the inspiration and the execution there was the critical technical process. That’s where Leonard Maurer came in. Following Kubert’s speculative musing in front of the Paramount, Leon had a revelation. “Later, while driving home to Queens over the Midtown bridge, the whole process [of] depth shifts suddenly popped into my head,” he told interviewer Ray Zone. “With the idea fully formed in my head, I immediately turned around, picked up some acetates, went back to Norm’s

hotel room, and explained the process to him. We then collaborated on a short, short story, and he went immediately to work with pencil, brush, ink, and paint following my technical instructions, while I did the opaquing. Around 2:00 A.M. we finished the real World’s First 3-D comic book page, entitled ‘The Three Stooges in the Third Dimension,’ starring Moe, Shemp, and Larry.”4

Trials And Tribulations—In Three Dimensions!

Certainly the concept wasn’t new. British physicist Charles Wheatstone put forth the idea in the 1830s and soon began producing reflecting-mirror stereoscopic devices that allowed the viewer to see his slightly offset drawings (and soon after, photographs) in apparent three dimensions. Not long after, in 1853, Wilhelm Rollmann of Germany described a technique using complementary colored images viewed through glasses fitted with red and blue filters to achieve the three-dimensional effect. Frenchman Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron refined this anaglyphic technique for photographs, a technique that eventually provided the basis for the 3-D comic books. Was Leonard Maurer aware of any of the previous efforts using anaglyphs? Or did the idea come to him “fully formed” as his recollection suggested? In any case, the three men took their sample page to publisher Archer St. John, for whom they were already producing several titles. Norm Maurer recalled that St. John “almost fell out the window when he saw the drawings which literally popped from the paper.”5 St. John was on board, with a 25% stake in the new company named American Stereographic which brought with it a guarantee of a six-month exclusive license to their 3-D process. The comics were produced in secrecy to prevent anyone from stealing the process and beating them to the newsstand. When they were ready, the date was set. It would hit the stands on Friday, July 3rd, as the country was going into the holiday weekend. In the August 1953 Writer’s Digest, writer Aron M. Mathieu recounted the frenzy that accompanied the release of Three Dimension Comics #1, featuring Mighty Mouse. “The telephone switchboard of the Roxbury News Company flashed two red lights, and before the PBX operator inserted her first plug, two more lights beamed red at her. “Holy Cripes,” she sang out to the bookkeeper who was passing her board. “I bet you billed Glamour to all the newsdealers again and forgot to send the magazine. Now I listen to them raise hell.” “This is Stop 56,” said the first voice, Schultz’s by Main Street. “We’re outta 3-D. I can use 16 more.” “I’m Bellfontaine, your Stop 187,” said the next voice. “Finally you got something we can sell so you give me 4. I need 18 more 3-D right away.” But Stop 56 and Stop 187 didn’t get any more, for the nation’s craziest, zaniest fad, Three-Dimension Comics, had both kids and newsdealers by their ears as they fought to buy 40,000,000 copies in one month, with only a fraction of the desired supply available.6 While Mathieu’s number is a gross exaggeration, the excitement stirred up by the comic’s release was not. Others began to take notice. He continues: “The competition, Ace, Dell, Goodman, National Comics, Pines and all the others who missed the boat were burrowing into printing techniques trying to issue their own 3-D comics before the kids ran out of quarters or their parents raised hell because of eye strain.”7 “After terrific take-off of Mighty Mouse, 1st 3-D comic,” stated the July 31, 1953, edition of American News Company’s newsletter, The Lookout, “St. John is readying six companion pieces for August bow.”8

3-D-Licious! (Above:) This page of 3-D art may well be the very “Three Stooges in the Third Dimension” page that the Maurers and Kubert produced to sell publisher Archer St. John on the project! A/E reader Lawrence Kaufman, who worked on projects with the late Ray Zone, sent us the above scan. He says this page “was given to [Ray] by the late Leonard Maurer. Ray used it on his website. Ray was always convinced that was the first [sample] page, because Leonard had told him that in their conversation”—which, you’ve got to admit, is a point in its favor! Still, since this page doesn’t contain the try-out panel seen in Craig Yoe’s book Amazing 3-D Comics (and reproduced in A/E #115), maybe the 1953 trio whipped up more than one sample page? Thanks in part to the 3-D Film Archive website of Bob Furmanek, and to Lawrence Kaufman. [© Estates of Norman Maurer and/or Leonard Maurer.] (Left:) Archer St. John in the early 1950s. From a photo provided for A/E #37 by Fred Thompson & Matt D. Baker.

The August 28th issue of the same publication breathlessly noted the “Flood of 3-D titles to hit the stands in Sept. St. John’s Mighty Mouse leading the pack with a first issue sellout of 2,500,000 and starting 2nd issue with 2,300,000; additional 3-D Comics on the way are St. John’s Three Stooges and Whack!; Toby’s Felix the Cat; Archie’s Katy Keen [sic]; Fiction House’s 3-D Circus and Sheena… Independent coming out with Superman, a 3-D book, not a comic.”9 Throughout it all, Kubert maintained a pragmatic view. “We estimate that the first 40,000,000 comics we print will sell and then it will all be over,” he was quoted in the Writer’s Digest article. “Whoever gets his books out first wins. Publishers who

The 1953 Legal Dispute Between EC Comics & St. John Publishing

Despite their loss, Gaines and Feldstein eventually published their two 3-D comics. Despite their win, American Stereographic eventually folded—from lack of customers for their process and because of the predictable fading of the 3-D fad. Although Archer St. John probably lost as much as he had made on this debacle, he didn’t go out of business. While his comic book company withered, along with the rest of the industry at that time, his other publishing ventures did well, right up to his death by drug overdose on August 13, 1955. In addition to his continued success as a patent lawyer, Emanuel Posnack wrote several books on economics. His 1956 book World without Barriers proposed a theory of a global economy that presaged events decades later. William Gaines would go on to other battles, including an illadvised one with the Senate subcommittee investigating juvenile delinquency. A lesser skirmish with a lesser foe was fought by his attorney in December of 1953. Massachusetts Attorney General George Fingold, citing the depiction of Christmas in a “pagan” manner and Santa Claus as being divorced, had copies of EC’s Panic #1 pulled off the stands. Gaines’ lawyer, Martin Scheiman, decried the “wanton damage” suffered by his client, inflicted by people who had “come to the rescue of a wholly imaginary, mythological creature rarely believed to exist by children more than a few years old.”4 He would go on to represent Gaines in far more serious cases, including a copyright infringement suit over the image of Alfred E. Neuman and Irving Berlin’s attempt to prevent Mad from using his songs in their parodies. Scheiman, who counted Gaines cohort Lyle Stuart and radical

One Good Stooge Deserves Another Look familiar? This is the splash page of a 3-D story from The Three Stooges #2 (Oct. 1953) which was printed on p. 11—only here, Shemp has been redrawn to become the earlier (and even more popular) Stooge, Curly. Much of Norman Maurer’s Stooges 3-D work was adapted this way during the 1980s for comics published by Ray “3-D” Zone. Thanks to Lawrence Kaufman and to the 3-D Film Archive site of Bob Furmanek. [© Estate of Norman Maurer; 3-D effects © Estate of Ray Zone.]

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publisher Paul Krasner among his clients, would be found dead in the Time-Life Building in 1966, an apparent suicide. And Freeman H. Owens, the inventor who, Gaines had told Kubert in 1953, “is so near to death. He’s had seven strokes. He’s an old man… a little old man,” continued inventing until he died at age 89 in 1979.

Endnotes for Part III: 1 All quotes of Martin Scheiman and Emanuel Posnack come from the court stenographer’s notes for Owens v. American Stereographic Corp., et. al., United States District Court S. D. New York, Sept. 1-11, 1953. 2 Zone, Ray, “Leonard Maurer: 3-D Comics Pioneer,” www.ray3dzone.com/LM.html 3 Mathieu, Aron M., “3-D Comics Knock ‘Em Dead,” Writer’s Digest, Aug. 1953. 4 “Santa Claus Cartoon Damages Are Charged,” Palm Beach Post, Dec. 28, 1953.

My Comic Mom!!

Golden Age Artist VEE QUINTAL PEARSON Remembered by Robyn Dean McHattie

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Despite all the types of comics—even just “heroic” comics—with which Alter Ego has dealt in these past 126 issues of Volume 3, one area we had not yet touched on was the comic books and related magazines published under the auspices of the Catholic Church, Vee Is For Victory! especially in the 1940s and 1950s. (Left to right:) Artist Vee Quintal Treasure Chest was familiar to me Pearson, the artist who is the subject from the late 1940s at least, since a few of this article, as photographed in 1944 by Lester Mattison—a 1979 photo cousins we visited were Catholic, and I of Vee and her daughter Robyn Dean always enjoyed reading copies of TC at McHattie, author of this piece—and their home; we plan an article on them her cover for Catholic Publications’ in the future. But the other comics color comic book Heroes All - Catholic published by and primarily for Action Illustrated, Vol. 4, #14. All Catholics—such as Topix Comics, photos and artwork accompanying mentioned and depicted recently in our this article were provided by Robyn. serialization of Amy Kiste Nyberg’s [© the respective copyright holders.] history of comics censorship and related matters—were pretty much a complete explorers! Anything with noble actions, spirited horses—plus unknown in these quarters. Ditto the comics material contained in broadswords and armor–that was the adventurous landscape on magazines such as The Catholic Boy, The Catholic Miss, et al.—and, my mother’s drawing board. far more surprisingly, the full-scale color comic book titled Heroes All, which ran for the larger part of a decade. Thus, when I established contact Virginia (Vee) Quintal Pearson was born in 1918 in Minneapolis, with Robyn Dean McHattie on the subject of her artist mother Vee Minnesota. Her last name is French, and you say it: Quinn-TELL. Quintal Pearson, I was happy to offer her space in A/E for what amounts Not until long after her death in 1998 did I take complete stock of to an abridgement of her recent ebook My Comic Mom!! (See end of the comics she’d left behind. Stored since 1950 in a battered article next issue for more about this ebook.) At this point, we’ll let Robyn suitcase, the aging printed work held little interest for us as speak for herself… and for her mom…. children. But in the summer of 2012, when I began to sort and catalog the work she had saved, I discovered rarely-boasted-of y mother is so glad she is dead. Trust me on that. details of my mother’s commercial art career that spanned the ’40s. When her comic book career ended as her publishing The sheer volume of eight- and sixteen-page color comics, most house closed in 1948, she surrendered the next running several different stories per issue—plus the sudden twenty years of her time to raising four children—and I wouldn’t promotion at the animated film studio she worked at—revealed say she was happy about it. near super-human feats.

During the Golden Age, Vee worked within a unique fantasy world, as the illustrator of swashbuckling action comic book stories. Roman gladiators! Christians thrown to the lions! Knights and maidens! The Spanish Inquisition! Seafaring New World

The earliest photo I have of Vee is sitting on her Uncle Ade’s motorcycle, three little girl cousins seated in the sidecar. Sgt. Eckstrand was the newest form of mounted policeman. The date: 1926. That made my mother eight years old. Pudding-bowl haircut,

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Seal Of Approval:

The History Of The Comics Code Chapter 3 Of DR. AMY KISTE NYBERG's 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

Chapter 3 The Senate Investigation

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: We continue our presentation of the full text (with added art and photos) of the 1998 work Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code by Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg, Associate Professor of Communications in the Department of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey.

As we’ve said before: Seal of Approval is extensively “footnoted,” in the ALS style which lists book, article, or author name, plus page numbers, between parentheses in the actual text; e.g., “(Hart 154-156)” refers to pp. 154-156 of whichever work by an author or editor named Hart appears in the bibliography… which will be printed at the conclusion of our serialization, a few issues from now. When the parentheses contain only page numbers, it is because the other information is printed in the main text almost immediately preceding the note. (In addition, there are a bare handful of footnotes treated in the more traditional sense.) We have retained such usages and spellings from the book as “superhero,” an uncapitalized “comics code,” “E.C.” and “DC,” etc.; in the captions we have added, however, we have reverted to our own style. Those captions, naturally, do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Dr. Nyberg or the University Press of Mississippi, the original publisher of the book—the original print edition of which can still be obtained from UPM at www.upress.sate.ms.us. Our thanks to Dr. M. Thomas Inge, under those general editorship the volume was originally published as part of its Studies in Popular Culture series… to William Biggons and Vijah Shah, acquisitions editors at the U. Press of Mississippi… and to Brian K. Morris for retyping the text on a Word document for Ye Editor to edit. Last issue’s chapter deal with the attempts at censorship of comic books made by various hands—personal, religious, and occasionally governmental—up to the spring of 1954. At that time, in the aftermath of a rising tide of opinion against sexy, horrific, and particularly crimeoriented comic books, and the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s book Seduction of the Innocent, a Senate subcommittee was convened with great public fanfare to look into the matter of this alleged “horror in the nursery”…

he Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency conducted its investigation of the comic book industry in the spring of 1954.* [See footnote on next page.] The committee held three days of hearings in New York City (the location selected because most of the comic book publishers were based there), called twenty-two witnesses, and accepted thirty-three exhibits as

Exhibit A—For “Awful” (Clockwise from top left:) The Comics Code seal of the Comics Magazine Association of America… Dr. Amy K. Nyberg, 2014… and a photo taken during the 1954 hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, with some of its “thirty-three exhibits”—recent comic books that were deemed offensive. Note that, although so-called “crime comics” were indeed the principal focus of criticism at the time, roughly half the titles pinned up on the board would now be called “horror comics”— underscoring the A/E editor’s contention that the public mind at the time basically lumped them together—and one of them is a war comic. There are no comics shown of the third kind objected to, those with sexual themes or at least displaying a lot of cheesecake/“good girl” art. Thanks to AKN for the personal photo, and to Lawrence Kaufman and Richard Arndt for the 1954 photo.

evidence. When it was all over, the comic book industry closed ranks and adopted a self-regulatory code that is still in effect today in modified form. The driving force on the committee was Sen. Estes Kefauver. Sen. Robert Hendrickson was the chairman of the Senate subcommittee during the period in which the committee held its comic book hearings, but the committee is often referred to as the Kefauver committee, and when the 1954 elections returned control of Congress to the Democrats, Kefauver was given the chairmanship of the juvenile delinquency subcommittee. Under his direction, the committee wrote its report on the comic book industry, issued in March 1955, and continued its examination of violence and sex in the mass media with hearings on film and television. Kefauver, a Tennessee lawyer who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1939, ran a successful race for a Senate seat in 1948. He rose to national prominence for his investigation of organized crime in the United States beginning in 1950 (Gorman 74). That investigation attracted a great deal of public interest and acquired a prestige probably unequaled by any other Congressional probe, and Kefauver used the publicity in his bid for

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Inkspots! (Part 2)

by Michael T. Gilbert

tick around long enough and everything becomes history. Take my Inkspots! strip, for instance. Here’s part two of that bit of history, continued from last issue.

As previously discussed, after graduating college in ’73, I scored my first art job at Vizmo studios in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza, drawing graphics for NBC News, located right across the street from the NBC studios. It was great while it lasted, but a few months later NBC started its own in-house graphics department and I was out of a job. I scored another one designing advertising gee-gaws (key chains with company logos, letter openers, and such) for HIT Sales and made friends with the other artists. One of them, Edgar Bacellis, eventually quit HIT Sales to find fame and fortune in California. This was in late ’74. By then, I’d already published two issues of my underground, New Paltz Comix, and the thought of exploring the Bay Area comix scene intrigued me. If Edgar could make the move, why not me? I’d lived in New York all my life, but I was 23, single, and ready to try something slightly crazy. So I said goodbye to friends and family, stored my comics with some pals, and began a trip to California on a hippie-style “Grey

Rabbit” bus—complete with working woodstove. A week later, I arrived in San Francisco with $200 and four duffle bags stuffed with clothes and comics. I called Edgar when I arrived, and he invited me to crash at his cousin’s house in Santa Rosa, about an hour away from San Francisco. From there I hitched to the city every day searching for a cheap room to rent.

Flower Child! I was still looking when Edgar and I decided to check out Berkeley, counterculture capital of the universe. Stepping off the BART train, we were greeted by a young hippie chick straight from central casting. After introducing herself as “Evie Eden,” she gave us each a small flower. Then she invited us to a free meal that night in a large commune house a few blocks away, courtesy of something called the “Ideal City Project.” Hey, never let it be said that Michael T. Gilbert turned down a free meal! We had a few hours before our feast, so we walked a few blocks to the office of the notorious underground paper, The Berkeley Barb. The Barb had been publishing underground cartoonists, and I thought I’d stop by and see if I could get my foot in the door. Some layout guy working there told me about the Barb’s loosey-goosy approach to submissions. Cartoonist Larry Rippee, who worked for them beginning in 1974, recently described it: “I file my working with the Barb as one of my better cartooning

Inkspots! (Part 2)

experiences. I liked the casual offhand approach to the Barb. Nobody got uppity with me (that changed later). You could drop off your work in a basket, and if it was printed you could drop back by for check. In the cartooning game this was a tragically rare experience. My first stuff was all half pages they used as filler in the massage parlor section in the middle. I did these purposely “to size” [NOTE: the actual printed size] after noticing they sometimes

ran out of ads and would stick cartoons there. I got $50 for those pages (who needed Undergrounds; I was making twice the page rate!). Filler seems to have been my thing even in the UG comic books—I often thought of myself as the Henry Boltinoff of the Underground.” After we left the Barb, Edgar and I checked out the Comics and

thing objectively, I guess.

I can’t do that, all the time. I find myself getting too enthused over something, and then comes the dawn and the brown taste of disillusionment. Or conversely, some little problem faces me, and right away the end of the world is coming, and my nerves do the Jitterbug.

Part VII

Abridged & Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

One of the toughest things for me is making a decision, even a little one. I know it’s neurotic. The normal person would firmly make up his mind one way or another and then carry out his decision with single-tracked enjoyment. Period. Not me. I always have two desires and conflictions. I know, I’m a dual personality. There are two of me, and each hates what the other one likes and they’re always quarreling.

tto Oscar Binder (1911-1974), the prolific science fiction and comic book writer renowned for authoring over half of the Marvel Family saga for Fawcett Publications, wrote Memoirs of a Nobody in 1948 at the age of 37 during what was arguably the most imaginative period within the repertoire of Captain Marvel stories.

It occurs to me that everyone is neurotic, one way or another. Don’t we all have our little foibles and mental twists? I’m glad I’m not normal. I’d stick out like a sore thumb.

Aside from intermittent details about himself, Binder’s capricious chronicle resembles very little in the way of anything that is indeed autobiographical. Unearthed several years ago from Binder’s file materials at Texas A&M University, Memoirs is self-described by its author as “ramblings through the untracked wilderness of my mind.” Binder’s potpourri of stray philosophical beliefs, pet peeves, theories, and anecdotes were written in freewheeling fashion and devoid of any charted course — other than allowing his mind to flow with no restricting parameters. The abridged and edited manuscript—serialized here within the pages of FCA—will nonetheless provide glimpses into the idiosyncratic and fanciful mind of Otto O. Binder.

There is one thing in the world that is absolutely sure and positively certain. I can give you this soul-saving touchstone in one word. The only sure and safe and certain and eternal thing in the universe is … change!

In this seventh excerpt, Otto executes some self-examination in a chapter he titled “Confessions of a Neurotic.” —P.C. Hamerlinck. Are all writers neurotic?

Am I a neurotic? Are you a neurotic? Is that good? Is that bad? Don’t expect help from me. That’s your problem.

Yes, change. “And this too shall pass away.” You can bet your bottom dollar that the one thing you can rely on never to change is that all things will change. The sins of one generation are the virtues of the next. The ideals of one age are the stupidities of the next. But what’s that got to do with neuroticism? Oh well, how do you expect a silly neurotic like me to stick to the subject anyway? Next: THE EGO AND I

It would seem that most wordflingers are not “normal” or “average.” And that would include artists, too. And let’s toss in musicians just for good measure. Putting it on a broader basis, are all creative people somewhat on the neurotic side? Well, I can’t answer that question. I’m only God when creating stories. But in the process of some years of soul-searching and self-analysis, I can surmise that I am a neurotic. What is a neurotic? As I gather, it’s a person who lives in a dreamworld, or at least applies too much imagination to real life. The normal person, I suppose, takes life exactly as it comes, with quiet joy and strength, and is not to be deceived into using either rosecolored glasses or black paint … [with] a knack of looking at every-

A Fear Of Phobias (Left:) Self-confessed neurotic Otto Binder had Captain Marvel’s alter ego display some neurotic behavior in “Billy Batson’s Phobias” in Captain Marvel Adventures #84 (May 1948). In this story in which Captain Marvel appeared in just four panels, Billy’s unusual conduct was actually the result of Dr. Sivana’s Phobia Ray Projector—what else?! Art by C.C. Beck. (Right:) Did writer Binder’s dual persona emerge when he wrote “Captain Marvel Unites a Split Personality” for CMA #86 (July 1948)? Art by C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza. [Billy Batson, Dr. Sivana, & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Three For Pete’s Sake

A Triple Spotlight On Golden Age Fawcett Artist PETE COSTANZA I. A Brief Biography of Pete Costanza by P.C. Hamerlinck

eter Anthony Costanza was one of the main artists at Fawcett Publications during the Golden Age of Comics. Born May 19, 1913, in Manhattan to Benedict and Elvira Costanza, Pete was the only son and oldest of four children. His father worked in New York City as a tailor and the family resided in Bayonne, New Jersey.

After graduating high school in 1931, Costanza attended the Art Students League at the Grand Central Art School in NYC and studied with illustrator Harvey Dunn. Three years later he was creating interior illustrations for numerous pulp magazines, including Thrilling Adventures, Western, Action Stories, Super Sports, The Lone Ranger, Popular Detective, Dime Western, Sports Winners, Ace-High, Texas Rangers, Complete Northwest, and Famous Western. In the autumn of 1939, Fawcett Publications’ art director Al Allard hired Costanza to assist with the drawing for their new comic book line launched with Whiz Comics. With his experience illustrating Western stories, Costanza was the first artist assigned to “Golden Arrow”; he later took over drawing another Whiz feature, “Ibis the Invincible,” and also drew the “Jungle Twins” strip in Nickel Comics. 1940 continued to be a busy year for Costanza as he began to assist Captain Marvel’s chief artist and co-creator, C.C. Beck, with inking and drawing backgrounds on “Captain Marvel” stories. The collaboration would endure for many years, eventually evolving into a full-on business partnership. In 1941 Costanza married Yolanda Scarinci. That same year, upon Al Allard’s suggestion, Beck opened up his own studio to produce all of the “Captain Marvel” artwork for Fawcett. With the rising amount of “CM” story art needed by the publisher, Beck brought a few of the artists with him, including Costanza, to a small office space he rented on Broadway and 40th in NYC. As World War II intensified, Costanza entered the U.S. Army in June of 1942. He produced various military posters and publica-

tions while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. Having served in the armed forces for less than a year, he was honorably discharged in May, 1943. Returning to civilian life, Costanza went back to work at Beck’s studio, which had expanded with more artists working there. Besides churning out “Captain Marvel” art each month, the team landed other accounts, including the creation of the “Captain Tootsie” Pete’s Panoramic Views comic strip advertise(Above:) 27-year-old Artist Pete Costanza, seen ments for Tootsie here in 1940, made the jump from pulps to comic Roll, “Mini-Gym” ads books when he joined Fawcett Publications in the for eminent fall of ’39… a career in comics which lasted over weightlifter/ 30 years. stuntman Joey (Below left:) Costanza’s first assignment at Bonomo, program Fawcett was drawing “Golden Arrow,” as witness booklets for famed his crude but dramatic last panel to the Western stage magician/ hero’s origin tale from the first issue of Whiz illusionist Harry Comics (numbered #2, Feb. 1940). Script by Bill Parker. [Art © the respective copyright holder.] Blackstone, and packaging Vic Verity Magazine and Don Fortune Magazine. (We’ll have more on these B-C side ventures in future issues of FCA.) Beck and Costanza also took on training a group of Canadian artists to draw Fawcett comics characters for Toronto publisher Anglo-American. In early 1944, with the augmented workload, Beck opened a second shop, The Beck-Costanza Studio, in Englewood, New Jersey. Costanza supervised the Englewood shop, reporting in to Beck, who continued running operations at the NYC studio. (The Beck-Costanza studio’s artists over the years included Ken Bald, Dave Berg, Jack Bowler, Victor Dowd, Ray Harford, Ed Robbins, Kurt Schaffenberger, Irv Steinberg, Charlie Tomsey, Ernie Townsend, and several others. Even Jack Binder spent a couple of post-war years at BeckCostanza as a sales manager after his own shop disbanded, as did near-future “Captain Marvel” editor Wendell Crowley.) During this time, Pete and Yolanda relocated to Hasbrouk Heights, New Jersey, where the Costanzas raised two sons, Edward and Peter.

Alter Ego #126