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A STAR-STUDDED SPECTACULAR! STAN LEE•MURPHY ANDERSON DON HECK•GEORGE TUSKA MARIE SEVERIN•MICHAEL T. GILBERT MIKE MANLEY•MARC SWAYZE•C.C. BECK ROY THOMAS Interviews JOHN BUSCEMA
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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!
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!
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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, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, & LUBBERS, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!
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LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S NEW ALIEN CONQUEST SETS that hit store shelves earlier this year, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!
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Vol. 3, No. 13 / March 2002
™
Editor Roy Thomas
Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash
Design & Layout Christopher Day
Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke
FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck
Comics Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert
Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich
Cover Artists Murphy Anderson Joe Simon
Writer/Editorial: Avengers Re-Assemble! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “Avengers Is Mine!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Roy Thomas scans his own (and Stan Lee’s) 1960s tenure on The Avengers.
Cover Colorists Murphy Anderson III Joe Simon & Tom Ziuko
Mailing Crew Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace
And Special Thanks to: Trey Alexander Murphy Anderson Murphy Anderson III Blake Bell Al Bigley Bill Black Jerry K. Boyd Tom Brevoort Frank Brunner John & Dolores Buscema William Cain James Cavenaugh Mike Costa Rich Donnelly Shelton Drum Ron Frenz Dave Gantz Grass Green George Hagenauer David G. Hamilton Mark & Stephanie Heike Roger Hill Carmine Infantino Daniel Keyes Batton Lash
Contents
Stan Lee John Paul Leon Dennis Mallonee Mike Manley Joe & Nadia Mannarino Matthew Moring Will Murray Michelle Nolan Eric NolenWeathington Don Perlin Dan Raspler Mrs. Edmee B. Reit Joe Rubinstein Marie Severin Gilbert Shelton Joe Simon J. David Spurlock Flo Steinberg Daniel Tesmoingt Dann Thomas George & Dorothy Tuska Michael J. Vassallo Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. William Woolfolk
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
John Buscema Johnny Craig Gray Morrow Seymour Reit
One Heck of a Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 A verbal and visual tribute to early Marvel mainstay Don Heck.
An Avengers Interview––Sort of––with John Buscema . . . . . . . . . 16 John B. and Roy T. reminisce about their collaboration on Marvel’s greatest heroes.
Stan Lee’s Double Date! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Michael T. Gilbert re-presents an historic 1964 interview with The Man. The Eye Is Still Watching You!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 The great 1960s fandom hero is back, courtesy of Bill Schelly.
Tributes to Johnny Craig, Gray Morrow, and Seymour Reit . . . 34 Far too few words about three greats who have left us.
FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #72. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 P.C. Hamerlinck proudly presents Marc Swayze, Mike Manley, and C.C. Beck.
Golden Age Section (“The Titans of Timely/Marvel,” Part II). . Flip Us! About Our Cover: From the moment Roy saw Murphy Anderson's fabulous cover on the program book of the 2001 Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC, he had to have it as a cover on Alter Ego! Con host Shelton Drum suggested to Murphy the notion of inserting the original Avengers into the situation of the legendary cover Mr. A. had drawn four decades earlier for Justice League of America #1—and Murphy, aided by the coloring and technical expertise of his son Murphy III, executed it beautifully! Our sincere thanks to all three gents—and to Shel's wife Cynthia, without whom there probably wouldn't be a Heroes Con in the first place! See info on their 2002 convention on our very next page. [Art ©2002 Murphy Anderson & Murphy Anderson III; Avengers © & TM 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: John Buscema drew this exquisite pencil sketch of the then-new Black Knight and his winged steed Aragorn in 1969 for Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #10; it hangs today on a staircase in Roy & Dann Thomas’ South Carolina home. [Art ©2002 John Buscema; Black Knight © & TM 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8 ($10 Canada, $11 elsewhere). Eight-issue subscriptions: $40 US, $80 Canada, $88 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.
writer/editorial
2
Avengers Re-Assemble! Silver Age Forever! That motto (like its complement re the Golden Age of Comics) appeared on the Jerry Ordway-drawn cover of our very first issue, in a banner billowing above the parading figures of Silver Surfer, The Thing, Jade and Fury of Infinity, Inc., The Atom, and Green Lantern—not to mention Stan Lee and Julius Schwartz garbed as Spider-Man and The Flash, respectively. Still, as a few readers have pointed out to me, I’ve perhaps been guilty in Alter Ego of somewhat neglecting the Silver Age, that nebulous epoch that began with the second Flash’s debut in Showcase #4 in 1956 and ended—well, folks can’t rightly agree on exactly when it expired, but somewhere in the early-to-mid-1970s, at the latest. And they’re right, those finger-pointing fans. In recent months I’ve been fortunate enough to stumble across such a treasure trove of Golden Age art and artifacts—while at the same time Jon B. Cooke was presenting plenty of Silver Age material over in his Comic Book Artist mag (even before he went monthly!)—that Silver Age stuff seems to keep getting shelved in favor of that from the ’40s and ’50s. (As if something from “only” 30-40 years ago isn’t old enough!) Yet, as a guy who entered the comics field in 1965, somewhere in the “Late Middle
Ages” of Silver, it ill behooved me (the finger-pointers politely insisted) to keep spotlighting Golden Age goodies and my ongoing history of my 1980s series All-Star Squadron, while neglecting the decade or so that yawned between. So, with this issue already scheduled to feature the second part of the “Titans of Timely” series we kicked off two numbers back, I decided for the first time ever to devote virtually an entire issue of A/E to Timely/Atlas/Marvel. Even Michael T. Gilbert, out on a walkabout with Mr. Monster, ran across an intriguing 1964 Stan Lee interview which also has a fair amount of historical value, to further the theme. Silver Age Marvel, like Silver Age DC, is a pretty broad topic... so this time around I’ve chosen to concentrate on my 1966-72 stint on The Avengers, my favorite among the many super-hero comics I wrote for Stan during the latter ’60s—and the series for which I wrote the most issues (70 in a row, plus a few Annuals and later one-shots, as recently as last year’s Avengers: The Ultron Imperative, done with Kurt Busiek and others). The Avengers theme gave me an excuse, if any were needed, both to spotlight a fine piece on Don Heck written by William Cain, and for me to interview my longtime collaborator John Buscema on that limited topic. As it is, in my own Avengers overview, I only had room to skim over Stan’s issues, and deal with the first fifteen or so I scripted. Well, you’ve gotta leave ’em (hopefully) wanting more, right? And if you’re more of a Golden Age than Silver Age fan? Fear not, effendi (as somebody once said)—just turn this mag upside down, and have a ball! Bestest,
NOTE: Not long before this issue went to press, we learned the sad news of John Buscema’s passing. We shall say more concerning this unfortunate event on Page 16.
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The TwoMorrows Two-Fer! Prepay for two ads in Comic Book Artist, Alter Ego, Draw!, or any combination and these discounts apply: TWO FULL-PAGE ADS: $500 ($100 savings) TWO HALF-PAGE ADS: $300 ($50 savings) TWO QUARTER-PAGE ADS: $175 ($25 savings) The above rates are for black-&-white ads, supplied on-disk (TIF, EPS, or Quark Xpress files acceptable) or as camera-ready art. Typesetting service available at 20% mark-up. Due to our already low ad rates, no agency discounts apply. Sorry, display ads are not available for the Jack Kirby Collector. Mirthful Marie Severin, the mischievous mainstay of Marvel’s Not Brand Echh during the late ’60s, drew this scintillatin’ spoof for Shelton & Cynthia Drum’s 2001 Heroes Convention program book. This year, that great Charlotte, NC, con is being held on June 14-16, with the admission still only $10 a day, or $20 for a 3-day pass. For more info, phone (704) 375-7462 or go on-line to <www.heroesonline.com>. Roy’ll be there—and so will George Pérez, Nick Cardy, Carlos Pacheco, Adam Hughes, and a whole passel of pro guests—who knows, maybe even Marie! Thanks to Shelton and to his artful associate, Trey Alexander. [Art ©2002 Marie Severin; Avengers © & TM 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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“Avengers Is Mine”
“
3
Is Mine!”
A Personal Look Back at (Some of) the World’s Greatest Heroes by The Avengers’ Second Scripter Part I by Roy Thomas I. The Coming of The Avengers Everybody knows the (perhaps apocryphal) story: after playing a round of golf circa 1961 with DC publisher Jack Liebowitz, who bragged about sales of his new Justice League of America, Martin Goodman returned to his own little stump of the former Timely Comics and told editor Stan Lee to come up with a super-hero group of their own. The resulting Fantastic Four soon turned Goodman’s foundering company into the mighty Marvel Comics Group, restored F.F. artist/cocreator Jack Kirby to the prominence he had enjoyed during the ’40s and ’50s, and made Stan Lee the nearest thing comic books have ever had to a household word. Except for featuring a super-group, however, Fantastic Four had less in common with the JLA than one might think. The League was
composed of buddy-buddy costumed stars of seven current DC features, while the F.F. came out of nowhere (even its “Human Torch” was a new version); they didn’t even wear uniforms at first, let alone individualized costumes. They fought amongst themselves, too, something which would have been inconceivable then at DC.
Before long, Fantastic Four was giving even JLA a run for its money, probably as much on the strength of the differences between the two titles as on their similarities. And that’s when—whether he thought about it consciously or not (I suspect not)—Stan Lee decided to return to the JLA prototype, and this time to follow it a bit more closely in creating a second Marvel group. This gang’s heroes would be ones who already starred in four solo series: Thor from Journey into Mystery, Iron Man from Tales of Suspense, Ant-Man and The Wasp from Tales to Astonish, and The
This re-creation of Kirby’s cover of The Avengers #1 was done in the 1990s by Dick Ayers, original inker of the cover and issue. It and the original art to the splash of issue #8 (Sept. 1964) are repro’d from a Sotheby’s art catalog. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
“Avengers Is Mine”
10
None of this is intended as a dig at George Tuska, of course. From the days of his superb work on Charlie Biro’s Crime Does Not Pay through his long, best-selling stint on Iron Man, he has been both a gentleman and one of the finest artists in the field. But Archie’s line still had me on the floor.
young ocelot I had named Gollum, after a character in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was a mistake. I had entertained visions of this cat, which looked just like a baby leopard and might grow to weigh as much as 25 pounds, sitting atop our TV set when Len and I threw a party, its claws daintily dangling while we sipped cocktails and talked about comics. Instead, the spotted feline terrorized Len and me—and Len’s pet collie Laddie—so that I had to keep my bedroom door shut at all times and, at night, keep my head under the covers while the ocelot prowled around, growling, occasionally leaping across my round bed—and my face. (I sold Gollum after roughly a month; we couldn’t legally keep him in our apartment anyway.) So what’s this got to do with Avengers #48? Well, one morning, I rose to find that the ocelot had urinated on George Tuska’s penciled splash page for it. When I took it into the office, I ran into fellow writer Archie Goodwin and told him what had happened. His wry comment: “Everybody’s an art critic.”
On the last page of #50, Hawkeye sarcastically suggests a surprising candidate for Avengers membership—and the Hog of Steel looks as if he might be taking him seriously, in a panel lifted from a recent Spanish reprint Wonder Wart-hog, El Superserdo, given to Roy T. by creator Gilbert Shelton. [Avengers ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Wonder Wart-hog ©2002 Gilbert Shelton.]
With the next issue, John Buscema returned to The Avengers—and both penciled and inked #49-50, the only two issues of the mag he ever fully illustrated. He may have opted to do so because much of these issues took place in Olympus and the Greek underworld, which allowed him to draw the kinds of things he liked, as opposed to Kirby-style machinery and modern-day metropolises. Check out those two issues, if you want to compare authentic vintage Buscema with his pencils as inked by others. The last few pages of #50, in which the Titan Typhon is hurled down into Pluto’s domain, really turned me on, and I waxed as Shakespearean thereon as I ever did before or after in a superhero mag. It’s there that I had John toss in a couple of helmet-masked minions of Zeus I named Kratos and Bia— “Force” and “Might” in ancient Greek. I took the names from two minor characters in Aeschylus’ 5th century B.C. tragedy Prometheus Bound— from the same Richmond Lattimore translation thereof, in fact, in which I ran across the rare adjective “adamantine,” later my source for the name “adamantium.”
But, not everything can be all mythological and high-falutin’. On the final page, as a trio of Avengers discuss finding a replacement for Hercules, who has decided to remain in Olympus, I tossed in a passing homage to one of the few underground cartoonists I really liked: Gilbert Shelton, creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. In a reference to an earlier character of his, I had Hawkeye, frustrated with the group’s diminished numbers, say, “About now, I’m ready to vote in anybody this side of Wonder Wart-hog!” (I finally met Gilbert Shelton in October 2001, when we were guests at a comics convention in Gijon, Spain. He seemed mildly amused that the Hog of Steel had been referred to in a “mainstream” comic book.) Then, in #51, I decided it was time for my most audacious step... since I wasn’t really going to be able to induct a wart-hog into The Avengers. I decided it was time to bring back Thor and Iron Man....
A clean-shaven Hercules battles Typhon in #50, one of the only two Avengers issues John inked. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
To Be Continued... One of These Days
One Heck of a Professional
11
One Heck of a Professional An Appreciation of Marvel Artist DON HECK career in architectural drawing. But Don’s interests lay elsewhere. As a teenager he began a series of correspondence courses in art and cartooning at Woodrow Wilson Vocational School in Jamaica and at the Brooklyn Community College. These experiences, and an obvious display of talent, led to his first professional job in the field, repasting photostats for Harvey Comics. While Harvey didn’t exactly allow Heck to showcase his artistic skills, the job exposed him to the inner workings of the industry and allowed him to study the work of his idol, Milton Caniff, creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, and another legendary artist then working for Harvey—Jack Kirby.
by William Cain Quickly, now—what are the names you think of when someone mentions “The Marvel Age of Comics”? Certainly Stan Lee appears at the forefront, along with mainstays like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Dick Ayers. No one could argue against any of those names. The creativity and marketing genius of Lee, the power of Kirby, the mystery of Ditko, and the efficiency of Ayers (among a handful of others) all played a tremendous role in Marvel’s rise to prominence in the early 1960s. But among those stars toiled another professional whose solid performance and remarkable dependability stamped him as one of the most reliable and well-liked artists in the history of the comic book field. This man was Don Heck. For an artist who admittedly preferred the “realistic” comics (westerns, war, mystery, and romance) to the super-hero genre, Heck is nonetheless associated with some of the most significant hero comics of the Silver Age.
In 1992 and 1993 Don Heck drew these never-before-published illustrations: a self-portrait, and a closeup of Iron Man and his alter ego of Tony Stark. They prove, if it needed proving, that, even in his mid-sixties, Don remained a consummate pro. Courtesy of William Cain. [Art © 2002 the estate of Don Heck; Iron Man & Tony Stark © & TM Marvel Characters, Inc.]
One of his best-known runs came with “Iron Man,” beginning with the character’s very first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963) and including what many consider to be the Golden Avenger’s definitive look. He also provided the art to a groundbreaking run on The Avengers, eventually penciling or inking virtually every major hero in both the Marvel and DC universes. Among longtime comics fans and professionals, his name is immediately associated with the giants of the industry. His attention to detail, coupled with his efforts to constantly improve his craft, mark him as one of the best ever to man a draftsman’s table. Just who was Don Heck, and how did he come to be such a valued and admired storyteller in the field of comics? Like most of his contemporaries, Don was attracted to drawing at an early age. Born January 2, 1929, in Jamaica, New York, his artistic talent was quickly recognized by his father. Unable to see much of a future in comic art, however, the elder Heck tried to persuade him to pursue a
Heck wanted to draw, but the Harvey editors showed little interest in his artistic capabilities. By 1950 his friend and fellow production artist, Pete Morisi, departed to begin a career as a freelance artist. Not only was Don not considered by Harvey to be an artist for their magazines; he was now expected to pick up the departing Morisi’s workload.
“I figured that was my cue to perfect my samples and get some work of my own,” Heck later explained. “The Harvey editors weren’t interested in my work. They wanted me back in the production department. So I picked a couple of comic book companies out of the phone book, visited them one day, and went home a professional comic artist.”
Those companies turned out to be Quality and Hillman, who assigned him short mystery stories. With his initial work under his belt and a fledgling portfolio to showcase, Heck soon found work with Toby Press and Media Comics. Media assigned him the lead art chores on a horror comic titled Horrific. While honing his craft working on the short-lived series, Heck drew the monster and vampire stories with shocking covers that were the vogue for the comics of the early ’50s, including shrunken heads, witches, and the obligatory Jack the Ripper. While neither the series nor the company lasted long, Heck had his foot in the door, displaying the talent and professional demeanor that would propel him for the rest of his life. He also penciled features stories for characters like “Duke Douglas,” “Torpedo Taylor,” “Cliff Mason,” and
16
John Buscema
An Avengers Interview--Sort Of-with John Buscema A Conversation between Two Longtime Collaborators about a Half-remembered Sojourn Conducted by Roy Thomas
[NOTE: Even as I was in the final stages of proofreading this issue of A/E, I learned the sad news of John Buscema’s passing. As you might expect, it still seems unreal to me as I write these words, only an hour or so later, for last-minute inclusion. I’ll have far more to say about John two issues from now, in A/E #15, much of which will be devoted to this Titan among comic book artists; but I preferred to let the following short interview stand. From 1967-72 I scripted for Stan Lee a 70-issue run of The Avengers, quite a few of them penciled by John Buscema, who was one of Marvel’s major artists from 1966-67 through the 1990s... and he was my major collaborator, as well, on both Conan the Barbarian and The Savage Sword of Conan in the 1970s—and on the latter, again, in the ’90s. In November of last year I began working with the semi-retired “Big John” on a new five-issue series for DC Comics, and he graciously agreed to speak with me about our Avengers work. It was unspokenly agreed between us that there would be no mention of his recent diagnosis of stomach cancer, or of the chemotherapy he was undergoing at the time, though we did speak briefly of it between ourselves. Of course, during the recorded interview, we detoured off onto such subjects as Conan and the 1940s Timely, as well... and we made tentative plans to return to both topics in near-future issues. But this plan, like the one I’d forged with Gil Kane a couple of years earlier, was not destined to be realized. To jog John’s memory in preparation for our talk by phone, I mailed him photocopies from many of our Avengers issues. When I phoned him, he expressed half-serious amazement that I had bothered to save all those comics, let alone (as I informed him) had them professionally bound so they could sit proudly on bookcases. At this point I turned on the tape recorder:] ROY THOMAS: You wonder why I saved the stuff? BUSCEMA: Well, Roy, I’m not a fan of comics.
Transcribed by Brian K. Morris
Juxtaposed with perhaps his most famous Avengers cover, which heralded the coming of The Vision (#57, Oct. 1968), John and Dolores Buscema smile for Dann Thomas’ camera at Joe Petrilak’s All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention held in White Plains, NY, in June of 2000. They’re looking pretty cheerful, considering that the chauffeur hired to drive them from Long Island to White Plains got lost and took several hours to get them there! John said he went to this con and one in San Diego because “my grandkids made me!” [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
RT: No kidding. [laughs] BUSCEMA: As far as I’m concerned, if I never saw another comic—! The only thing I’ve saved is a couple of Conan books we worked on, and that’s it. I got rid of everything. One of the reasons, which upset me
An Avengers Interview––Sort Of
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(At left:) Buscema’s splash from Avengers #44 (Sept. 1967), inked by Vinnie Colletta. John sort-of recalls The Red Guardian, but had more enthusiasm for Hercules (below) facing the Psychotron’s manifestation of the mythological Hydra in #43, inked by George Roussos. Taken from the b-&-w images of Marvel’s Essential Avengers, Vol. 2. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
remember being put on The Avengers? I think that was the first fullbook assignment you had when you returned to Marvel. BUSCEMA: Yeah, because I started back in ’66, and it must have been right after that. RT: You’d done “S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Hulk” over Kirby breakdowns. Then Stan had you do a fill-in issue or two of Avengers with me while Don Heck was busy elsewhere... and I kept you on for another year or so. Had you ever done a super-hero group book before? BUSCEMA: No, that was the first. RT: [chuckles] And, hopefully, the last, huh? BUSCEMA: Well, you know, if you know how to pace it so that you don’t have seventeen guys in each panel... [laughs] RT: You did that well. At one point, we had Hercules shave off the beard he had in Thor. Do you remember, is that something you and I both wanted? I can’t remember. BUSCEMA: I don’t, either. You know, all these Xeroxes of pages you sent me, they don’t even ring a bell. [laughs] I completely forgot all about this stuff. RT: Not even in #43-44—where you designed The Red Guardian, in his Russian Communist outfit? BUSCEMA: I sort of vaguely remember that one.
over the years, is that other people were inking my stuff, and that is not my work. I can’t look at it. The ones I inked, yes, I keep. Anything with super-heroes, I’m not interested. Only the Conans. RT: You inked the last Conans we did together—that three-issue series two or three years ago. And that graphic novel you plotted, penciled, inked, and even colored in the ’90s, then asked me to dialogue—Conan the Rogue—was some of your best work ever! Of course, you always had the option of inking Conan. You just didn’t want to, generally. BUSCEMA: No, it was a matter of trying to keep up with the schedules, because at one time, if you remember, Roy, I was doing the black-&-white and the color book. RT: [laughs] And, of course, Stan wouldn’t have really wanted you inking all that work, because he’d rather get more penciling out of you. Me, too. So, obviously, very few of your Avengers stories were inked by you. Taking a brief look at our Avengers work together: the first one you penciled, back in 1967, was #41. Do you
RT: You always seemed to come to life when we’d be doing the mythological stuff, like Hercules fighting some of these gods or monsters. BUSCEMA: That I enjoyed— because I don’t have the restrictions of the goddam automobiles and skyscrapers. I can create anything that comes into my imagination. That’s why Conan appealed to me. I had a lot of freedom in those books. I could do anything with the buildings and create costumes. Again, I don’t like drawing mechanical things. I just don’t enjoy it. I like animated stuff, you know. RT: Every artist has different things they enjoy drawing. BUSCEMA: Well, Herb Trimpe used to draw the most beautiful airplanes. He loved doing airplanes. And I hate drawing them. [laughs] RT: There were fans who wrote to me when I started doing Conan and doing less super-hero work: “Why don’t you quit that stupid Conan and go back to the super-heroes?” But what I enjoyed most was doing a little bit of everything.
Title Comic Fandom Archive
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The Eye Is Still Watching You! by Bill Schelly [On the occasion of the 47th anniversary of “The Eye, Underworld Executioner,” Alter Ego takes a look back at the bizarre hero who dazzled comics fandom in the 1960s... and gives you the lowdown on his return in a new millennium!] Imagine for a moment: You’re one of that superstitious, cowardly lot known in pulp stories and comic books as a “cheap hoodlum.” You’ve just committed a robbery and now you’re desperately running from the police sirens through the darkened alleys of an eastern metropolis. Finally, the sirens fade and you slow down to catch your breath. “Lousy coppers,” you gasp, “they’re not quick enough to get me!” Then you hear it—the sound of footsteps coming closer in the shadows. “Who’s there?” your voice rasps. “Better back off or you’ll eat lead!” Suddenly, a weird shape emerges into the moonlight. It’s a man clad in colorful garb. But what’s wrong with his head? Then you realize… the red and blue figure has a giant, naked eyeball where his head should be! He seems to tower above you, maybe because you’re cowering with fear. You want to run but there’s something about that weird figure that leaves you spellbound. You manage to stammer, “W-who are you?” An eerie voice emanates from the giant eyeball: “I am The Eye who sees all. Your days of preying on society are over.” “Oh yeah?” You try to raise the gun in your quivering hand, but a stabbing beam of light leaps from the eyeball into your brain, and suddenly you can’t move a muscle. Your limbs are frozen. Then—a sudden flash of blinding light, and everything goes dark. For a guilty party, The Eye is the thing most to be feared. Discovery! Exposure! Apprehension!
For us comics fans, however, the appearance of The Eye in Star-Studded Comics #3 in 1964 heralded the beginning of an exciting new comics hero, who offered a twist from the squeaky-clean heroes of the day: a hero whom everyone thought was a In 1997 Biljo White presented this color sketch of The Eye villain. While Marvel to another longtime fan—Roy Thomas—as a gift. [©2002 Comics had experiBill J. White; The Eye © & TM 2002 Bill Schelly.] mented with the hero who wasn’t always appreciated by society, few (with perhaps the exception of The Hulk) were truly thought to be “bad guys” at that time. As with The Eye’s victims, there was something that held me spellbound at the sight of a costumed hero with a giant eyeball for a head. There was something disturbing about it, especially if one thought it was an actual flesh-and-blood eyeball—slimy, pulsing, ribbed with tiny veins. He looked like a mutant of some kind—maybe a refugee from one of those cheesy low-budget science-fiction movies of the 1950s. But what of that costume: red tunic, blue pants, and white cape, gloves, and boots? Why was this bizarre character garbed in the primary hues of Captain America and the other patriotic heroes so common during World War II? Why not a more somber fashion palette? First, a little background: I was thirteen years old when I first encountered The Eye’s early adventures in the pages of Star-Studded #3 and Fighting Hero Comics #10 in 1964. Both were printed in the sometimes crude—but always charming—spirit duplicator process. More than any other original character of the fanzines of the era, and the majority of the heroes in professional comics, too, The Eye grabbed my attention. A brilliant character design will do that. Just one look should be enough to captivate the potential reader. This one sure does. Then I found out more about his genesis, and my fascination increased. I’d assumed The Eye was wholly the brainchild of the very talented
Panels by Biljo White from “Introducing the Eye” in The Eye #1. [©2002 Bill J. White; The Eye © & TM 2002 Bill Shelly.]
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Marc Swayze I had definite convictions about the romances. The scripts were not always what you’d want to call literary jewels. Ponderous dialogue and unwieldy panel descriptions occasionally suggested that some of the old pros might have fled the scene. But to my way of thinking, regardless of what came off the typewriter, the picture romance story was told on the drawing board... through the expressions and emotions of the characters. The readers of romance wanted... probably always had and always will... pure, simple, sincere realism. From our house they got it. By
mds& logo ©2002 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2002 DC Comics] (c) [Art
[FCA EDITOR’S NOTE: From 1941 to 1953, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Comics. The very first Mary Marvel drawings came from his drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including her origin story; but he was primarily hired to illustrate “Captain Marvel” stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many “Captain Marvel” scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. Soon after World War II, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his home in Louisiana. There he both wrote and drew stories for “The Phantom Eagle” in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton. After Wow’s cancellation, he did artwork for Fawcett’s romance comics. Marc Swayze’s ongoing professional memoirs have been FCA’s most popular feature since they began to appear in issue #54, 1996. Last time, Marc further analyzed his romance work. In this issue he returns to the subject, regarding his several “syndicate tries” while at Fawcett, which included collaborations with Rod Reed and Glenn Chaffin. —P.C. Hamerlinck.] In preceding installments I mentioned ten Fawcett romance comics. I have since learned of two more: Love Memories and Romantic Western. There may have been others. A more notable discovery was that Sweethearts passed the two million sales mark. Enough cause for a pause: it stands to reason that many of those copies were read by more than just the individual
I was just as serious about the syndicate tries. “Syndicate Tries” is the title I gave to a thick file of sketches, idea notes, typed scripts, finished art, photostats, and correspondence, accumulated in fourteen years of effort to achieve a goal. The goal was a syndicate contract to write and draw a newspaper feature of my own conception. It is difficult to tell about those endeavors without feeling somewhat apologetic. That’s because they are so unrelated to Fawcett Publications and the Golden Age of Comics, compared to other subjects we attempt to cover. I proceed, however, on the strength of their having been created by one who was there, at that time, affiliated with that company, and who participated... and how! It wasn’t really a secret, my doing much of the work after hours, often in cramped quarters... with never a word to friends or affiliates. It was simply a matter I considered to be my own private business. Judi was the start of it–Judi the Jungle Girl, who, tucked away in a homemade portfolio, called on the syndicates of New York City with me, only to return without a contract. The next try featured Judi’s canine companion. The art for Jango had something of a Captain Marvel flavor... probably because I was now on the Fawcett payroll. After about four daily strips had been completed, and a full week laid out, we entered World War II and the feature was shelved in favor of something more timely. The original text for Jango, fourteen weeks of typed script with a synopsis of the story continuation, bears a date of 6-1-44, suggesting I
purchasers. It would also be very likely that the sales of Life Story had exceeded the previously reported 700,000 per issue. Surely those figures, with a modestly estimated total for the eight sister romances would amount to... Do you see what I’m getting at? Could a fellow be forgiven for allaying moments of despair over an obscure career, with the thought that 3,000,000 people—some lonely, some ill—were made happy every month because he left his milk route and took to the comics?
“That’s my sis!” Rare Captain Marvel pencil sketch by Swayze—and two nice panels from Mary Marvel’s origin in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942). [Art ©2002 Marc Swayze; Capt. Marvel © & TM 2002 DC Comics.]
We Didn’t Know...
In 1950 Sweethearts passed the 2,000,000 mark in sales. Fawcett romance page layout by Swayze. [©2002 Marc Swayze.]
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Lucky Bill. [©2002 Marc Swayze.]
had later intentions to pursue the project. I must assume it was interrupted that time by my agreements with Daigh of Fawcett and Agnelli of Bell, and heading south. Jango’s place on the small drawing stand at West 113th Street was taken by Bill O’Brien, America flyer. Work on Lucky Bill was held to a slow pace by the daytime demands of Captain Marvel and Mary, and brought to an abrupt halt by my own entry into the service. A week of strips with near-finished penciling, some partly inked, all lettered, were stored away when I departed. Strip number 6 left Bill stranded on a mountain in enemy territory. But Bill had tenacity. Recently I was looking at the old drawings, and there was Bill, still clinging to the mountainside, after 58 years!
Judi the Jungle Girl by Swayze—with Jango already waiting in the wings for his own big chance at stardom. [©2002 Marc Swayze.]
Although I scripted a number of Captain Marvel stories when in the military, I don’t recall ever having one thought about the syndicate tries. Then, several months on a hospital bed, an injured leg stretched out before me, I drew Trudy, a girl private detective. One Sunday page, lettered and inked, was completed when the work began to reveal a serious lack of what Russell Keaton and I had often discussed... spontaneity. Another idea, begun under the same circumstances and continued later, was Little Ug-Li, a youngster dwelling in a mythical bygone age. It wasn’t a bother when I realized later that the idea might be taken as a
“The art for Jango had something of a Captain Marvel flavor....” [©2002 Marc Swayze.]
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Power Luncheon—1974
Power Luncheon-Joe Simon, Stan Lee, Frank Robbins, & Roy Thomas at a Mid-’70s Seulingcon [NOTE: From the late 1960s through the 1970s, comics entrepreneur Phil Seuling was host to a series of major New York City Comics Conventions, which, until they were eventually eclipsed by those in San Diego, were the biggest in the world. Four of the major guests at the 1974 “Seulingcon,” as they were colloquially known, were the four gents listed above. By sheer coincidence they included three of the first four editors-in-chief of Timely/Marvel Comics: Joe, Stan, and then ed-in-chief Roy. (Only 1942-45 head honcho Vince Fago was missing to make it a full house!) Seuling gathered Stan, Joe, and Roy (with his first wife Jean, also a writer for Marvel), plus artist/writer Frank Robbins, together at a luncheon in a packed meeting-room at the Hotel Commodore, after which he initiated a question-and-answer session. The following transcription was printed in Seuling’s 1975 convention program booklet, along with photos. Alas, we’re not sure who originally sent us photocopies of various Seulingcon materials, but our hat’s off to him—and to A/E consulting editor (and Comic Book Artist editor) Jon B. Cooke for helping us get the best possible reproduction of the photos. Since many of the panel’s comments were of mostly transitory interest (queries asked of Stan, or of Roy because he had been Marvel’s main editor for two years), Phil’s interview has been considerably edited to emphasize the more pertinent remarks. —RT.] PHIL SEULING: Joe Simon, you were the editor at Marvel Comics when the 17year-old Stan Lee came to work there, which means that between you two and Roy Thomas we have three generations of Marvel editors on this panel. That’s quite true, isn’t it, Joe? What was it like then?
From left to right: Frank Robbins, Joe Simon, Phil Seuling, Roy Thomas, Jean Thomas. Stan Lee got crowded out at far left, but see later pics—and besides, you’ll see a photo of The Man in the “Comic Crypt” in our flip section! [©2002 the respective copyright holder.]
STAN LEE: I’d just graduated. SIMON: Just graduated? Well, we gave him the text page to do because nobody ever read the text page, even the editors! And Stan wrote his text, signed his name to it, and we printed his name. He made it very important and he made everything important after that. And that’s why he’s where he’s at, I guess. LEE: At the end of the table. SIMON: At the end of the table. [laughter] SEULING: Roy, you’ve seen a heck of a lot of writers and artists go through Marvel Comics. Who are the people who are not with Marvel any longer that you still feel some vibrations from? ROY THOMAS: Good or bad? SEULING: Either. It’s an open luncheon.
THOMAS: I’ve been working for Marvel for about nine years. And the people who have worked for Marvel that I think contributed the most, and who aren’t there any longer, are the same ones the readers would like to see—since I was a reader of Marvel Comics. JOE SIMON: Well, Stan was Jack Kirby, certainly. Stan Lee—he’s sort of not there any more as just telling me that the last far as writing goes! I wish he were... I keep asking him to do The time he left me, 1939, I was Silver Surfer, but he doesn’t have time right now. Obviously, a guy like eating then, and nothing’s Steve Ditko, who sort of wandered out the door and never came back— changed. When Stan came guys like Jim Steranko and Barry Smith. Some people that I admire have to us, he was very eager, he gone on to other places, like Bernie Wrightson, who did his first covers wanted to do some writing, for Marvel, and a couple of stories.... It would be the same people, and I think he was still in probably, that you would want working for Marvel. In other words, high school, weren’t you, Stan? everybody in the business who’s any good! We have a goodly percentage of them now. I wish we had those Joe Simon contributed this drawing of Captain America to the program book of Shelton and people and a few more. Cynthia Drum’s 1998 Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina... which was held on the 4th of July. Incidentally, don’t miss the ad in this very issue for Vanguard Press’ re-issue, with new material, of Joe’s biography The Comic Book Makers, written with his son Jim. [Art ©2002 Joe Simon; Captain America © & TM 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
Joe Simon, Stan Lee, Frank Robbins, & Roy Thomas
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of gives you a visual challenge and you try to dramatize and imagine what the dialogue might or might not be. You get a pretty good picture of what you’re doing as you go along, and it’s very freewheeling, you know. I like it. It’s a different way of handling things. THOMAS: I’d just like to mention that we may be the first people— Marv Wolfman, Tony Isabella, and I—ever to ask Frank Robbins if he can draw any faster. [laughter] SIMON: I have something to say about that. I just met Frank last night for the first time, but I remember his work from when Kirby and I first started, and Jack used to have Frank Robbins’ work in front of him. He was influenced by this man here. SEULING: There are so many ties in this business from one person to another, from one company to another. I think these luncheons have brought out many of these interwoven threads. Stan, I’d like to ask you a question, since you have a few of the people that you’ve worked with through the years here. When Roy first came to New York, and we met each other for the first time, he said he would favor working with Marvel because of a flavor, or spirit, some certain characteristic about Marvel that at that time the fans really admired. Now, the question would be this: Of the people that you like to call the “Marvel people” through the years, what would you say are the characteristics that they have in common? LEE: The one common denominator is you have to be a little bit insane... and enthusiastic. I think maybe, if nothing else, the people at Marvel, at our batty bullpen, as I cordially call it, are pretty enthusiastic.
(Above:) In the mid-’50s Joe Simon and Jack Kirby co-created Fighting American near the end of their days as a team; this splash from issue #1 (April-May 1954) is repro’d from the original art as printed in a Christie’s auction catalog. (Right:) In the 1970s they teamed up one last time, at the urging of DC head Carmine Infantino in 1973-74: this version of the original art for the cover of The Sandman #1 (Jack penciled and Joe scripted—presumably the inks are by Mike Royer) was provided by Joe & Nadia Mannarino. Visit their All Star Auctions website at <allstarauc.com> or contact them at <allstarauc@aol.com>, and tell ‘em Alter Ego sent you! [Fighting American © & TM 2002 Joe Simon & the estate of Jack Kirby; Stuntman © & TM 2002 DC Comics.]
SEULING: I want to ask this question of Joe Simon. How much are you a fan of comic books? SIMON: I’m afraid I haven’t read a comic book in many years, but I do look at the pictures. The graphics are considerably improved over the early years and what they called the Golden Age. At that time we had less than a handful of really good artists—Lou Fine, of course Jack, and there were maybe three or four others, but today almost every artist is superb. I couldn’t keep up with them today. SEULING: Speaking about writing—Roy said that some of the finest artists and writers are working for Marvel Comics right now. That’s hard to contradict when you’ve just added to your work force a man who’s written and drawn, oh, 10,000 pages or so. Frank Robbins, how do you like the Marvel style as you’ve found it so far? FRANK ROBBINS: The Marvel method of working? Well, they have a different approach than I’ve been used to, in terms of the way they lay out the script in synopsis form and then you work the pictures and then add the words later. But it’s very intriguing. I like it very much. It sort
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Dave Gantz
A Long Glance at Dave Gantz A Conversation with One of Comics’ Top Golden Age Humor Artists— about the Timely/Marvel Bullpen and Other Oddities! Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash [INTRODUCTION: Dave Gantz is a Renaissance man in Modern Art clothes. To call him anything but the “compleat artist” would be shortsheeting his long, varied career. From humor and horror at Timely to Mad magazine and advertising art to newspaper strips and editorial musings from his pen and brush, Dave has always managed to make art where it’s needed. After I was given his number by our mutual friend, artist Stan Goldberg (whose own Alter Ego interview will be coming up in an issue or two), Dave spent many telephone hours letting me bend his ear— so please forgive him if he’s starting to resemble Vincent van Gogh. But I’ll pay the doctor bills for you, Dave! —Jim.]
JIM AMASH: When did you start drawing, Dave? DAVE GANTZ: I was born in the Bronx, December 6, 1922, and I started drawing when I was six. I’ve never stopped. I always knew I was going to be an artist. I loved the newspaper strips—Gasoline Alley, Dick Tracy, Smilin’ Jack, Abie Kabibble, Happy Hooligan, among others. I was in love with Smitty, which was done by Walter Berndt. I’m a member of the Berndt Toast Gang. The group started when a few of us cartoonists started getting together for lunch on a regular basis more than thirty years ago: Creig Flessel, Frank Springer, Lee Ames, Al Jaffee, and a few others. We’d go to the Northport Veterans Center in Long Island, New York, to entertain the mental patients. When Berndt died, we drank a toast in his honor and named the group after him. JA: You were born around the same time commercial radio came into being. Did radio shows influence you? GANTZ: We didn’t get a radio until I was eight. We were the first family to have one in our tenement. People used to drop by and listen. We’d all sit and stare at the radio while we listened. I translated what I heard into pictures in my mind. JA: Did movies influence you? GANTZ: Oh, sure. The Chaplin films. Skippy, which was a movie version of Percy Crosby’s newspaper strip. Those silent films with Douglas Fairbanks were great. On hot, humid days, they’d take the projector outside where they had a screen and benches set up. JA: Did you go home and draw what you had seen on the screen? GANTZ: Sometimes. I remember drawing a pirate scene when I was about twelve and put that in my portfolio when I applied to the School of Music and Art. But I was drawing mostly from life. I’d draw my parents and go out sketching. JA: Comic books came into being in 1933. Did you read them? GANTZ: I saw Famous Funnies, which was all newspaper reprints, but I was mostly interested in the fine arts. I copied Rembrandt and the old masters. My father bought me a book on El Greco when I was eleven and it really blew me away. I often visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum was my best teacher. (Above:) Dave Gantz as caricatured (probably by Ed Winiarski) in Krazy Komics #5 (Jan. 1943). While he and the other bullpeners were both having fun and blazing trails in humor comics, the long-underwear boys were still flying high. The splash at left (by Syd Shores and Vince Alascia?) is from Captain America Comics #22 (also Jan. ’43). Caricature courtesy of Jim Vadeboncoeur; see his article later this issue. [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
Dave Gantz
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But Martin Goodman’s kookie krew would soon find success mixing super-heroes and funny animals, as Super Rabbit became one of Timely’s biggest stars. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, a.k.a. Doc, who covers the “Fago Age” in an article later this issue, identifies this undated cover as Dave Gantz’ work. Incidentally, Supe’s shirt was light blue; his pants sky-blue; his gloves, cape, and boots red. Remind you of any Men of Steel we know? Oh yeah—and his face was pink and his tail white! [©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
I started at Music and Art when I was 12H. I got out when I was 16H; they had rapid advancement classes in junior high school. It was a wonderful learning experience. In high school we concentrated on the fine arts, as there were no commercial art classes taught there. I also went to the YMCA on 92nd Street for life drawing classes, because they wouldn’t allow nude models in high school. Our teacher was Zero Mostel, before he became an entertainer. Art was his first love, and he maintained a studio on 28th Street throughout his career. Mostel was paid by an offshoot of the WPA [Works Progress Administration] called the FAP [ Federal Arts Project]. They paid artists $23 a week, but you had to teach an art class. Don Rico was a member of the FAP before he got into comics. I remember seeing his lithographs. JA: Where did you go after you graduated from high school? GANTZ: I got a scholarship to attend the National Academy of Design, but only stayed there for six months. I didn’t like the way they taught. They had us drawing from dead white plaster casts. I decided to go to Iowa University in Iowa City, and I was there for a year when my father suffered a heart attack. I returned home because I had to assume responsibility for the family and I didn’t know what to do for work. I had worked since I was eight years old, but this was different. One day in 1940 I was walking down the street and bumped into Al Jaffee, whom I’d known since I was thirteen. I told him I was looking for a job and Al asked if I’d help him do comic books. That’s how I became a cartoonist.
Talk about finds! This shadowed photo provided by Dave Gantz is one of the only ones known of the 1940s Timely bullpen—and it’s from the early ’40s, to boot! He suspects it was taken when they were in the McGraw-Hill Building, but says it might be the Empire State Building, to which they moved in 1942. Left to right: Chris Rule, Barbara Clark Vogel, David Gantz, Marcia Snyder, Mike Sekowsky, & Ed Winiarski.