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GERRY CONWAY FIRST TIME AROUND AT MARVEL (AND DC )!

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Edited by ROY THOMAS The first and greatest “hero-zine”—ALL-NEW, focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY’S Comic Fandom Archive, and more!

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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!

Second big issue on 3-D COMICS OF THE 1950s! KEN QUATTRO looks at the controversy involving JOE KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, BILL GAINES, and AL FELDSTEIN! Plus more fabulous Captain 3-D by SIMON & KIRBY and MORT MESKIN— 3-D thrills from BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, JAY DISBROW and others— the career of Treasure Chest artist VEE QUINTAL, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

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1940s WILL EISNER/”BUSY” ARNOLD letters between the creator of The Spirit and his Quality Comics partner, art and artifacts by FINE, CRANDALL, CUIDERA, CARDY, KOTZKY, BLUM, NORDLING, and others! Plus Golden Age MLJ artist JOHN BULTHIUS, more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s History of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, cover by DANIEL JAMES COX and JASON PAULOS!

CAROL L. TILLEY on Dr. Fredric Wertham’s falsification of his research in the 1950s, featuring art by EVERETT, SHUSTER, PETER, BECK, COSTANZA, WEBB, FELDSTEIN, WILLIAMSON, WOOD, BIRO, and BOB KANE! Plus AMY KISTE NYBERG on the evolution of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLEY, and a new cover by JASON PAULOS and DANIEL JAMES COX!

Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure heroes in comics! With art by FOSTER, HOGARTH, MANNING, KANE, KUBERT, MORROW, GRELL, THORNE, WEISS, ANDERSON, KALUTA, AMENDOLA, BUSCEMA, MARSH, and YEATES—with analysis by foremost ERB experts! Plus, the 1970s ERB comics company that nearly was, FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover by TOM GRINDBERG!

CAPTAIN MARVEL headlines a Christmas FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) Fantasmagoria starring C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER, MARC SWAYZE—and the FAWCETT FAMILY (presented by P.C. HAMERLINCK)! Plus: Comic book/strip star artist DAN BARRY profiled, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more! Cover by C.C. BECK!

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Vol. 3, No. 131 / March 2015 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

Paul C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Assoc. Editor)

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

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Cover Artists

Shane Foley, Gene Colan, Gil Kane, Gray Morrow, John Buscema, & Michael Ploog (plus inkers)

Cover Colorist

Tom Ziuko & original Marvel colorists

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Richard J. Arndt Mark Arnold Bob Bailey Jean Bails Mike W. Barr Alberto Becattini John Benson June Swayze Blackman Christopher Boyko Mark Staff Brandl Mike Britt Larry Byrd Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell Shaun Clancy Gerry Conway Jon B. Cooke Chet Cox Brian Cremins Vince Davis Tina DeZuniga John Fahey Justin Fairfax Ed Fields Janet Gilbert

Grand Comics Database Sean Howe Dr. M. Thomas Inge “jgbook2007” Jim Kealy Dr. Jeffrey J. Kripal Stan Lee Mark Lewis Jim Ludwig Ribert Menzies Barry Pearl Jay Piscopo Warren Reece Gene Reed Randy Sargent Jim Shooter Marc Svensson Desha Swayze June Swayze Dann Thomas Chester Thompson Mike Tiefenbacher Jiro Tomiyama Ted White Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1929-1999 Mike Zeck

Contents

Writer/Editorial: Should Auld Acquaintance, And All That Good Stuff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Gerry Conway talks to Richard Arndt about his early years at DC, Marvel, & elsewhere.

Dan Barry & Flash Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Part II of Alberto Becattini’s look at the life and career of a controversial comics talent.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: The Mystery Of The Missing Comic! – Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert on Bob Powell’s Man in Black Called Fate (among other things).

Comic Fandom Archive: The 20-Cent Plague . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Bill Schelly chats with Jiro Tomiyama, editor of a little-known January 1961 fanzine.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 68 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #191 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck, Otto Binder, Brian Cremins—and Captain Marvel co-creator Bill Parker!

On Our Cover: Gerry Conway tells us he’s never been overly fond of the circa-1970 photo (see p. 3) that I asked Shane Foley to use as the basis of the portrait of GC that he drew for this issue’s cover. Only thing is—it’s the only photo we had of him from that period. (And besides, which of us does like all the pics taken of us at various stages of our lives?) Be that as it may, we hedged our bets by surrounding it with awesome art by Gil Kane (of The Punisher, Spider-Man, and Gwen Stacy, as inked by John Romita, Tony Mortellaro, Frank Giacoia, & Dave Hunt)—Michael Ploog (Werewolf by Night)—John Buscema (Thor, as inked by Vince Colletta)—Gray Morrow (Man-Thing)—and Gene Colan (Daredevil and The Black Widow, as inked by Tom Palmer). Ye Olde Editor suspects that Gerry’ll admit he’s rarely been in better company! [Marvel art © Marvel Characters, Inc.; portrait art © Shane Foley.] Above: Ye Ed would also be willing to bet a few old comics from his “Go-Go Checks” pile that this panel from The Phantom Stranger #11 (Jan.-Feb. 1971) represents one of the first times that mysterious mover-and-shaker ever just out-and-out slugged anybody. The blow was drawn by Jim Aparo—but neo-writer Gerry Conway evidently enjoyed writing that punch so much that he had the haunted hero throw another one on the very next page. Gerry’d go on to script not a few fearsome free-for-alls, for DC, Marvel, and others, over the next few decades. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Michael T. Gilbert for the scan. [© DC Comics.]

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Eight-issue subscriptions: $67 US, $85 Canada, $104 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

Should Auld Acquaintance, And All That Good Stuff

othing is so unfamiliar as one’s own actions, seen through another’s eyes.

I don’t know if that’s a garbling of a famous quotation; but if it isn’t, it ought to be. Because, while this issue’s chief artifact is Richard Arndt’s insightful interview with my old friend Gerry Conway, I’m the guy who commissioned it and who eventually edited it, and decided what artwork, photos, and captions would accompany it. And that inevitably meant dredging up and examining many of my own memories, in a way I never had to do when the interview subject was, say, Will Eisner or Dick Sprang. For, from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, Gerry and I were both colleagues and close friends. In ’81, a period well outside the scope of AE’s general franchise, he was best man at Dann’s and my wedding, and I’m godfather to his oldest daughter, Cara. For the first half of the ’80s, we were even writing partners, co-scripting and selling more than half a dozen screenplays, before we went our separate ways—not on the greatest of terms, a fact known by enough people to make me feel I needed to mention it up front. In 1985, I for the most part returned to writing comics, and he soon transitioned into a successful and well-deserved career as a TV writer and producer. And, to paraphrase a catchphrase of another old colleague, writer/artist Russ Jones, nobody’s throwing any benefits for either of us. Gerry and I have long since buried our differences; so, from a personal viewpoint, reading his memories of the first half-decade or so of his career is a bit like reading the autobiography of someone you once knew well but haven’t often run into in recent years. Inescapably, Gerry and I view various events of our thenoverlapping lives somewhat differently, but I was pleased to find our perspectives not nearly so much at odds as they might’ve been, given the discrepancy in our ages and relative positions at the time (editor and editee, for much of it). Gerry, on the one hand,

knew he was free to state any judgments he felt concerning those days. If I disagreed sufficiently with something he said, I was free to say so in a caption, perhaps even on the same page. That’s the way I handle this magazine, and I’ve never made any apologies for it.

As it happened, I did take issue with a very few of his statements, but only to correct what I believed to be minor errors of fact (like the length of time he wrote Fantastic Four) or, once, to give an alternate POV (as in a caption related to Howard the Duck). Otherwise, I figured I’d save any comments for the letters section dealing with this issue—which is a year and more away. There aren’t many such disagreements, in any event. For the most part, as with most other talks that have appeared in A/E, I was just one more enraptured reader, delighted that Gerry consented to be interviewed and was so forthcoming to Richard. And I chuckled to myself more than once, as I edited the manuscript in a Word document, moving freely between the two PCs on which I work, and between digital documents and artwork scans. The reason? If not for Gerry pushing me in the early 1980s— in a friendly fashion, but mercilessly—to learn to use what was then usually referred to as a “word processor” in our screenplay work together, it would’ve taken me years to become even as moderately comfortable with personal computers and the digital age as I now am. For that—and for all the good comics stories and good friendship he’s provided over the years—I stand in Gerry’s debt. Even if he did kill Gwen Stacy. Hey, I “killed off” Howard the Duck, or at least made poor Steve Gerber do so. Really—it’s all just comic books, after all. Words and pictures on paper. And Gerry has consistently delivered some of the best of those words. Bestest,

CROSSOVER WITH BACK ISSUE!

132

CELEBRATING THE FIRST 75 YEARS OF THE FLASH & GREEN LANTERN (AND LET’S NOT FORGET HAWKMAN!)

Art © DC Comics

• Cacophonous cover by ARTHUR PEDDY & BERNARD SACHS—or is it by IRWIN HASEN? Shot from the original 1949 “JSA” cover art of All-Star Comics #49! • KURT MITCHELL on the first three decades (1940-1970) of Flash, GL, & Hawkman— with our TwoMorrows sister mag Back Issue #80 picking up the story from there! Featuring vats of vintage art (some of it never before printed) by INFANTINO • KANE • ELIAS • LAMPERT • HIBBARD • NAYDEL • SHARP • NODELL • HASEN • REINMAN • TOTH • NEVILLE • MOLDOFF • KUBERT • SEKOWSKY • ANDRU • ANDERSON, et al.! • Golden Age Justice Society & Dr. Mid-Nite artist ARTHUR PEDDY, as remembered by his son-in-law DR. MICHAEL POSNER to RICHARD ARNDT! • Plus—DAN BARRY, Part 3… more of AMY K. NYBERG’s Seal of Approval (squeezed out of this issue, alas!)… PAUL C. HAMERLINCK’s FCA… MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Comic Crypt… BILL SCHELLY interviews Kubert fan supreme AL DELLINGES—& MORE!!

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“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity” GERRY CONWAY On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Gerry Conway launched his writing career in comic books while still a teenager. He began writing mystery (i.e. horror) stories for first DC, then Marvel, before scoring his first ongoing series work on “Ka-Zar” in 1970. Within a year he was writing four monthly series and was one of Marvel’s top writers. He was involved in the creation of “Man-Thing,” “Werewolf by Night,” and Marvel’s rendition of Dracula, and followed Stan Lee as the regular

writer of The Amazing Spider-Man. In 1976 he was briefly the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Over the past 4½ decades, he has written almost every major character in the DC and Marvel Universes. This interview took place by phone in July 2011, with a follow-up call in September 2013.

Gerry Conway, in an early-1970s photo from Marvel’s fan-club magazine F.O.O.M. (top), and a recent pic (directly above).

Phantoms From The Past (Left:) The splash page of Gerry’s first story featuring a continuing hero, from DC’s The Phantom Stranger #10 (Nov.-Dec. 1970)—and the final page of his most famous comics story ever, “The Night Gwen Stacy Died!,” from The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973). The credits for Gerry and artist Jim Aparo on the DC yarn came on its third page; the Marvel issue, whose story title was only announced on its last page, was penciled by Gil Kane and inked by John Romita & Tony Mortellaro. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Barry Pearl, respectively. [PS page © DC Comics; ASM page © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Gerry Conway On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere

“I Just Kept Banging My Head Against That Wall” RICHARD ARNDT: Can you tell us a little of your background? GERRY CONWAY: I grew up in New York City, born in Brooklyn in 1952. I lived there for ten years, then the family moved to Queens. That’s where I lived and grew up until I was about 18. My parents were middle-class, lower middle-class. I went to Catholic school. I got what I consider a fairly good education. I developed, I’m sure, a few personality quirks from [Catholic school]. [chuckles] RA: What got you interested in comics? CONWAY: When I was a kid, fairly early on, I fell in love with comics. Sometime in my early teens I found out that DC had a summer tour program where, every Thursday during the summer, you could go to the DC offices and they would take whoever had showed up on a tour of the insides. Once I started doing that on a regular basis, I drew up this ambition to be an artist. But I was encouraged to become a writer by the editors who saw my artwork. I was a kid. I kept pursuing it because I didn’t know any better. [laughs] I just kept banging my head against that wall. RA: You also wrote a lot of science-fiction short stories and novels in your early writing career. Did that start at the same time? CONWAY: I don’t know that I wrote a lot of science-fiction. That was the other area of interest that I had, science-fiction and short stories, but again that was based on the general notion of what was possible. I saw that there were these digest magazines that were buying stories, so I started writing them and sold some to Ted White at Amazing Science Fiction and Fantastic. Fantastic was fantasy-oriented. This was actually a few years after I’d started writing comics. I may have met White at one of the comic book hangouts—the comic folk used to have these gatherings Fridays, after work, once a month. It would be at various peoples’ homes in New York City. RA: That would be the “First Friday” gatherings? CONWAY: The gathering would go from people like Roy Thomas

one month to Archie Goodwin to… I think Bernie Wrightson hosted them at one point. It was just whoever’s apartment would be available. People would show up from all different areas of comics. Jeff Jones was a regular. Ted White, who edited the SF/fantasy digests I mentioned, came once or twice. I met Ted at one of the Friday gatherings. I said, “Gee, I’d like to send you some stories.” and he said sure. So he knew who I was when he got the stories. It was very nice. He was very encourFantastic Foray aging. I sold some prose The cover of a 1970 issue of the fantasy stories to him. He introduced pulp magazine Fantastic, which me to Terry Carr. Terry heralded one of Conway’s early sales to actually bought my first novel editor Ted White. Art by Michael J. for the Ace Science Fiction line. Kaluta. Retrieved from the sinceI wrote another couple of renamed Golden Age Comic Book novels after that. Still, I Stories website. [© the respective basically dropped writing copyright holders.] science-fiction sometime in the early to mid-1970s. I was just too busy writing comics and, later, films. RA: Your first stories that I’m aware of were at DC. How did you break in, since you were still a teenager when that happened? The editor would probably have been Dick Giordano. CONWAY: Yes, it was Giordano. There was this strange period…. As I was saying, I was going on these Thursday tours at DC and I basically went around [while on the tours] and introduced myself to a lot of the different editors. At one point, and I would have still been a freshman in high school, maybe even earlier, I asked the guy who was running the tour if there was any kind of free work I could do there. This was before they had interns, but I was asking if I could do the job that an intern would have today. I didn’t even know what an intern was. So, for a couple of weeks that summer, I worked for free at the DC offices. I was just cutting up old artwork, which is kind of horrible, I guess, but that’s what they had me do. RA: Would this have been for Sol Harrison?

Booked! Two early paperback SF novels by Conway: The Midnight Dancers (1971) and Mindship (1974). Cover art by Davis Meltzer & Kelly Freas, respectively. Thanks to Gene Reed. [© the respective copyright holders.]

CONWAY: No, this was for a guy named Walter Hurlachek. Sol was, I think, the guy who was in charge, but Walter was sort of like his assistant at the time. He led the office tours. He was a very nice gentleman, in his fifties at the time I was doing this. I guess he retired sometime after that. He brought me in to do just the art stuff. So, because I was there, I went around to the different editors and asked if I could submit stories to them. I just went from one editor to another. I started with people like Julie Schwartz because I was obviously a huge Julie Schwartz fan, as anybody who read DC Comics was. Julie wasn’t really very encouraging. Mort Weisinger actually asked me for some story ideas. He didn’t like anything I came up with. [laughs] I came up with some spec scripts for him. The first person who ever actually asked me to write something was Robert Kanigher. He was still an editor at DC at the time. He asked me to write a Metal Men script because he had gotten way behind on some assignments or whatever. He rejected it, though, when I’d finished it. He said it was no good, that he didn’t like it.

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”

Sidebar:

group-member Jeff Jones. It also featured Mike Hinge’s first cover for any SF magazine. And Gerry’s second-published story, also illustrated by Jones, appeared in the December 1970 Fantastic, which had Mike Kaluta’s first SF magazine cover. I met Mike in that same group, and he became a regular contributor to my magazines.

by Ted White

But Gerry’s third SF story didn’t appear in Amazing until the November 1972 issue—two years later—with “Star Walk.” As I explained in that issue, “When we introduced Gerry Conway to the SF field in our November 1970 issue, we said, ‘You’ll be seeing more of him, here and soon.’ Gerry was then a young, teenaged comic book writer working on his first novel, and soon after his first story saw print we bought his ‘Star Walk.’ In the ensuing months he sold his novel, The Midnight Dancer, to the Ace Specials line, accelerated his comic scripting, and asked us to hold his story until he could do some revisions on it. Time passed, and Gerry assumed the chore of writing four comic books a month for Marvel, graduating high school as a successful full-time professional writer. Somewhere along the line, the revisions on his story got lost in the shuffle. Now, after emerging for a gulp of air from the frenetic world of monthly deadlines, Gerry has sent us ‘what amounts to a new story’ and tells us that he’s eager to do more— one of which will be an upcoming cover story, written around a Mike Hinge painting.”

Gerry Conway’s Science Fiction

n the mid-’60s I was a member of an unnamed group of comics fans and professionals who met once a month—for a time in Roy Thomas’ Manhattan apartment. Through that group I formed many friendships, which I exploited when in late 1968 I became the editor of two SF magazines, Amazing Stories and Fantastic. I’m not sure if Gerry Conway was a member of that group, but I’m sure he was aware of my comics connections when he visited me one day in 1970, both to meet me and to sell me his stories. In my editorial in the November 1970 issue of Amazing I said, in discussing the contributors to that issue, “If [Bob] Shaw has taken the slow and deliberate route through fandom and fanzine writing to professional science fiction, Gerard Conway has made a quantum leap, feet first. Still in his teens and with a couple of years of comics scripting under his belt, Gerry made his first SF sales to me with ‘Through the Dark Glass’ and ‘Walk of the Midnight Demon’ (the latter story will be in next month’s Fantastic). Subsequently he has sold a novel to the Ace Science Fiction Specials line and I’ve purchased two more of his stories.” The November 1970 issue of Amazing was notable for more than Gerry’s first published SF story—which was illustrated by

That story, “The Once And Always War,” appeared in the August 1973 Amazing. It was also Gerry’s last sale to me, although I would have happily bought more stories from him. What happened? I don’t know. Maybe the low payment rates my magazines offered dissuaded him. More likely his career had taken another turn. I was too busy getting out two bimonthly magazines to find out. But I remember Gerry as an energetic young man, brimming with talent and eager to make his mark on the world. And for a brief time he was a bright new star in the SF firmament.

Amazing—But True! (Left:) The title spread of the first short story Conway sold to Ted White for Amazing (Nov. 1970), a latter-day incarnation of the first science-fiction pulp magazine. Illustrator Jeffrey Jones was later noted for his work in The National Lampoon and elsewhere, including comics. Gerry originally wrote prose fiction—and sometimes comics—under his fuller name of “Gerard F. Conway.” [© the respective copyright holders.] (Above:) Ted White blowin’ sax not long ago at the Orion Soundstage, a jazz club in Baltimore; the band is called Conduit. Back in the day, Ted was a SF editor—and writer, to boot. Photo by Chester Thompson. Thanks to TW.

I made my way down the various editors until I finally was talking to George Kashdan, who was one of the second- or thirdtier editors at DC at the time. He was, I think, under Murray Boltinoff. I think he was Murray’s assistant at one point or maybe both Murray and he were assistants to Jack Schiff. I don’t remember. George was given the Hawkman title when, I guess, Julie

took over some other book and he couldn’t handle the additional work. For a while, George was the editor of Hawkman and I was pitching ideas to him. He was very receptive and was very encouraging to some of my notions. I called him up one day to pitch another story to him because he’d been receptive enough to tell me that he’d take my next story, and he said, “I’m not going to be

Gerry Conway On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere

Ralph Reese at 1966 comics convention hosted by John Benson, who sent us this photo. It was reprinted in full in A/E #124.

Creepy 1971-72, 1978; Eerie 1971; horror 1970

Gerry Conway in a recent photo with daughters Rachel (on our left) and Cara, outside the Brooklyn apartment building where he grew up. Courtesy of GC.

The Day Before The Day The Sales Reports Came In Gerry Conway scripted the lead-off story in the first issue of a (short-lived) dream project of editor Roy Thomas’: Worlds Unknown (cover-dated May 1973), which featured adaptations of stories by major science-fiction writers. In the case of “The Day after the Day the Martians Came,” the original author was Frederik Pohl. Masterfully moody art by Ralph Reese. Turns out, though, that Marvel’s readers weren’t particularly interested in straight SF with no super-heroes. [Story © 1967 by Harlan Ellison for Dangerous Visions, but reprinted with the permission of the author, Frederick Pohl. Art & adaptation © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books 1928-1999 Online Edition Created by Jerry G. Bails FREE – online searchable database – FREE www.bailsprojects.com – No password required

Inhumans 1971-72; Iron Man 1971-72, 1976-77; Justice 1987; Ka-Zar 1970-72, 1974-75; Killraven/War of the Worlds (1973); Kull 1972-73, 1975; Legion of Monsters 1975; Logan’s Run 1976-77; Luke Cage, Power Man 1973; Man-Thing 1971-72; Mary Jane Watson 1989; Master of Kung Fu 1974; Monsters Unleashed 1973-75; Ms. Marvel 1977; The Punisher 1975, 1991; Satana 1974; Savage Tales 1973; Sgt. Fury 1971, 1974; Shanna (asst.) 1975; Sons of the Tiger 1974-75, 1994; Spider-Man 1970, 1972-77, 1989-92; Spitfire [2nd version] 1986-87; Sub-Mariner 1971-72; Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man (joint Marvel/DC publishing effort) 1976; Supernatural Thrillers 1973; support (e) 1976-77; Tales of the Zombie 1974-75; Thor 1971-75; Thundercats 1986; Tomb of Dracula 1972; Tower of Shadows 1970; Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction 1975; Vampire Tales 1974-75; Werewolf by Night 1972-73; Worlds Unknown 1973; Young Gods 1988, 1992 Skywald Publishing Co.: Nightmare (w)(p) 1971 Topps Comics: Nightglider 1993 Warren Publications: Vampirella (backup story) 1971;

Gerry Conway’s first script for a solo “Black Widow” story—in Amazing Adventures #7 (July 1971)—accompanied pencils by Don Heck and inking by Bill Everett. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

DAN BARRY & Flash Gordon

Continuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

A/E

By Alberto Becattini

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Last issue saw the first part of this artistic biography of Dan Barry (1923-1997), who in his day was both a leading comic book illustrator and the longrunning force behind the iconic Flash Gordon newspaper comic strip that had been created in 1934 by Alex Raymond. The previous installment dealt with Barry’s comic book career at DC, Lev Gleason, and elsewhere, his relatively brief stint on the Tarzan comic strip, a side foray into advertising, and his and King Features’ re-launching of the daily Flash Gordon comic strip in 1951, after a seven-year hiatus, while he was still drawing a few comic book stories for Ziff-Davis. This time around, Alberto Becattini covers the tempestuous

Flashes Of Two Worlds Dan Barry at the easel, in the early 1950s, pursuing his interest in painting—a photo flanked by his “Johnny Quick” splash page from Adventure Comics #145 (Oct. 1949), starring DC’s very own authorized imitation of super-speedster “The Flash” (scripted by Otto Binder)—and the artist’s vision of Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov sailing the seas of the planet Mongo in the Flash Gordon daily strip for July 21, 1956. The “JQ” scan was sent by Jim Kealy & Michael T. Gilbert; the latter is reproduced from a scan of the original art. Unless otherwise noted, all art & photos accompanying this article were provided by Alberto Becattini. [Adventure page © DC Comics; Flash Gordon daily © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

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(Right:) Bob Powell’s rejected intro page for Harvey’s Man In Black. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, from the Joe Simon collection. [© Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

The Man In Black Called... Death! (Left & fart left:) Bob Powell and Marty Epp introduce Fate in All-New Comics #11 (Nov. 1945). Another “Man in Black” story was published the same month in Front Page #1. [© 2014 Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

Comic Fandom Archive

The 20-Cent Plague A Chat With JIRO TOMIYAMA, Editor Of A Little-Known Comics Fanzine From January 1961! by Bill Schelly

Introduction

t has long been established that there were fanzines either partially or fully dedicated to comic strips and comic books as early as the 1930s. At first, most were published by members of science-fiction fandom, and later by those in the EC fandom that arose in 1953 with the publication of Bhob Stewart’s EC Fan Bulletin #1. After the demise of EC Comics and Picto-Fiction, some of the EC fanzines continued, most notably Ron Parker’s Hoohah. Then came fanzines that followed the work of the EC artists in other publications, or that imitated Mad, or that published a mix of SF and comics material, such as Larry Ivie’s Concept. In addition, a group of fantasy and comics fans in California united to form the West Coast Zines (WCZ) group, putting out a number of publications devoted to fantastic films and literature. One such fanzine was Jiro Tomiyama’s Plague (1961), a virtually all-comics fanzine that only had one issue. Seemingly forgotten, the Comic Fandom Archives is dedicated to giving this obscure amateur magazine the recognition it deserves. After all, it came before both Alter Ego #1 and

Comic Art #1, and it was a high-quality publication. When I contacted its editor, Jiro Tomiyama was amendable to an interview but requested that we do it through e-mail. It was completed in October 2013. BILL SCHELLY: When and where were you born? JIRO TOMIYAMA: I was born in the Boyle Heights district on the Eastside of Los Angeles, several months after the start of World War II. April 3, 1942, to be exact. Not long after, our family was moved with others to the relocation camp of Manzanar, California (now a national monument) till sometime in 1944. BS: Could you describe how your interest in cartoons and in doing your own artwork evolved before you got involved in fandom? TOMIYAMA: Like a lot of kids, I liked to draw from a very early age. One of the first lickings I ever got from my father was the time I drew a mural with crayons on the wall above my bed. I had to be six or seven at the

A Plague On Both Your Houses! Jiro Tomiyama in the late 1950s (left), and in November 2013 (right)—and the cover of Plague #1, printed partly via photo offset and partly (the red areas) via silk screen. Art by Jiro Tomiyama. [© Jiro Tomiyama.]

“A Leader Of Men” Bill Parker

BILL PARKER On King Arthur & The Origin Of Captain Marvel Excerpts From Parker’s 1948 Testimony with notes and commentary by Brian Cremins Edited by Paul C. Hamerlinck

ast summer I had the opportunity to visit the National Archives in New York City to read through the National Comics Publications, Inc., v. Fawcett Publications, Inc., case files. I was not sure what I would find. I’d read short excerpts from the trial transcripts in C.C. Beck’s “The World’s Mightiest Waste of Time and Money” (reprinted in TwoMorrows’ Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA, pages 14-15). Chip Kidd also includes copies of a few of the court documents in his book Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal (Abrams ComicArt, 2010). But I was curious to know how many of the trial records still existed. I asked my dad to act as my research assistant on the trip. He’s a Superior Court judge in Connecticut and worked as a corporate attorney for almost 30 years before he was appointed to the bench. I knew that

if I had any questions, he’d be able to answer them. The research is for a chapter about the lawsuit in my upcoming Captain Marvel book. I suspect that by writing about the legal squabbles between National and Fawcett, I’m also writing for my dad, who once hoped I’d go to law school. When I was a kid, I read Frank Miller’s Daredevil and decided that, like Matt Murdock, I might one day study law. I ended up studying comic books instead, but my dad, as always, has remained supportive (and is now helping me edit my lawsuit chapter, even though I suspect he likes Batman more than he likes Captain Marvel). The National Archives has nine boxes full of paperwork from the case, including depositions and courtroom transcripts. I was only able to read and copy a small fraction of the material during our visit in June 2014. I made photocopies of Beck’s deposition from 1944 and his testimony from 1948. I also managed to copy sections of Bill Parker’s direct testimony, also from the spring of 1948. I should mention that my academic research focuses on theories of memory and nostalgia. Although I devote very little of

Bill And Billy’s Trials & Triumphs Captain Marvel writer/co-creator Bill Parker (top left) and DC lawyer Louis Nizer (above) surround the first “CM” page from Whiz Comics #2 (real #1; cover-date Feb. 1940) that started it all: the beginning of the red-suited character’s success… and the start of Fawcett’s tribulations with publishing competitor DC/National. The Parker portrait, drawn by CM’s artist/co-creator C.C. Beck, first appeared within a special one-page strip for Steranko’s History of Comics 2 (1972)—later reprinted by Bill Harper in a late-’80s FCA newsletter. The Nizer cartoon, also by Beck, appeared in the Beck-edited FCA/SOB #8/19 (June/July ’81) to accompany the first part of the artist's article on DC's lawsuit against Fawcett, which he entitled “The World’s Mightiest Waste of Time and Money.” [Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics; Nizer cartoon © Estate of C.C. Beck.]

“A Leader Of Men”

my work to Parker—largely because my writing is more theoretical than specifically historical—I find his memories of the creation of the character fascinating. I’ve selected and transcribed a few excerpts from Parker’s testimony delivered on March 18, 1948. In doing so, I’ve followed the original format of the court records, including the placement of periods outside of quotation marks—nor has the name of a newspaper been italicized. You can read this testimony for yourself if you visit the National Archives in lower Manhattan. I’ve included page numbers for easy reference. If you visit New York, however, be sure to contact the archivists in advance, as the nine boxes of material are stored off-site. I’d like to thank Archivists Greg Plunges and Trina Yeckley for their kind assistance, as well as Archives Technician Kevin Reilly. I’d also, of course, like to thank my dad, the Honorable William T. Cremins, for accompanying me on another comic book adventure. On the morning of March 18, Fawcett’s attorney, Wallace H. Martin, asked William Parker to provide some biographical information. The following exchange will provide readers with a miniature portrait of William Lee Parker and how he came to work at Fawcett. For more biographical information on Captain Marvel’s co-creator, see also Paul C. Hamerlinck’s “Major Parker: The Life of Bill Parker … and His Mightiest Creation” from Alter Ego #23/FCA #82 (April 2003) and Dick Hanser’s “Bill Parker” on page 115 of Fawcett Companion. For now, however, here is Bill Parker in his own words:

Q: Mr. Parker, I believe you are employed by the defendant Fawcett, are you not? A: Yes, I am. Q: Will you state the nature of your present employment? A: I am the feature editor of the magazine Today’s Woman, a magazine for young housewives. Q: How long have you held that position with the defendant Fawcett? A: Since December 1945. Q: And prior to that I believe you were in the Army? A: That is right, I was. Q: How long were you in the Army? A: I went in the Federal Service on October 15, 1940, and was in continuously until December, 1945, when I went to work with the Fawcett company. Q: Prior to your Army service were you employed by the defendant Fawcett? A: Yes, I was. Q: When did you first start working for the defendant Fawcett? A: In September 1937. Q: Will you please state where you were educated, the schools that you were educated in. A: I graduated from Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and Princeton University. Q: When from Lawrenceville, what year? A: 1929. Q: And from Princeton? A: 1933. I graduated with the Bachelor of Arts Degree, and I majored in English Literature. Q: After you left college where were you first employed?

The Power of an Acronym In Whiz Comics #4 (May 1940), an amnesiac Billy Batson remembered what “SHAZAM” stood for, as Captain Marvel writer/co-creator Bill Parker later elucidated the meaning of the word during his March 1948 testimony. In the early stages of Captain Thunder’s development, Parker and Fawcett’s Ralph Daigh settled on the concept of the hero not being a leader of a group of men, but rather a singular hero with the attributes of others. At right is a UPI photo of Daigh (courtesy of Shaun Clancy) taken on 5-11-59 in Washington, DC. UPI’s caption: “Ralph Daigh, Editorial Director of Fawcett Publications (right), with Lloyd Mallan, Fawcett’s True Magazine science writer, compare notes as they wait to testify before the House Space Committee. The committee is holding hearings on the authenticity of the Soviet ‘Lunik.’ Mallan, who went to Moscow to talk to Russian scientists, claims the moon-shot last half was nothing but a ‘Big Red Lie.’” [Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

Alter Ego #131