Alter Ego #140 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Standing-Room-Only Comics Fanzine

CELEBRATING GOLDEN AGE GREAT

IRWIN HASEN 8.95 FROM THE JUSTICE SOCIETY TO DONDI— AND BACK AGAIN!

In the USA

No.140 June 2016

82658 00052 1

Characters TM & © DC Comics.

Ir win Was Here!

Vol. 3, No. 140 / June 2016 Roy Thomas

Editor

Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Associate Editors Christopher Day

Design & Layout John Morrow

Consulting Editor

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

FCA Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Comic Crypt Editor

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

Editorial Honor Roll

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Proofreaders

Shane Foley (adapting the work of Irwin Hasen)

Cover Artists

Tom Ziuko

Contents Writer/Editorial: Chasin’ Hasen . . . . . . . 2 Hasen—The Documentary. . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Cover Colorist

With Special Thanks to:

Neal Adams Aaron Allen Heidi Amash Sergio Aragonés Bob Bailey Robert R. Barrett Alberto Becattini Rick Beyer Christopher Boyko Alan Brennert Aaron Caplan Janice Chiang Shaun Clancy Comic Book Plus website Craig Delich Sean Dulaney John R. Ellis Jules Feiffer Michael Feldman Danny Fingeroth John Fishel Shane Foley Henry G. Franke III Bill Gallo Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database Jay Harford

Steve Harford Brett J. Jim Kealy Robert Kennedy Michael Learn Paul Levitz Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Dan Makara Doug Martin Chellie Mayer Wallace McPherson Michael Norwitz Charles Pelto Steven Rowe Randy Sargent Tom Sawyer Elizabeth Sayles William Sayles Sheila Shapira Anthony Snyder Mark Squirek Dann Thomas Jim Tyne Michael Uslan James Van Hise Hames Ware Steven G. Willis Eddy Zeno

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Irwin Hasen, Murphy Anderson, & Leonard Starr

A transcript of Dan Makara’s unseen film about (and starring) Golden Age artist Irwin Hasen.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! The Wallace McPherson Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Michael T. Gilbert presents Shaun Clancy and the fan who may have created MLJ’s Black Jack!

Comic Fandom Archive: Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Part 4 of Bill Schelly’s multi-issue tribute to G.B. Love, founder of the RBCC adzine.

Tributes to Murphy Anderson and Leonard Starr . . . . . . . . 61 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #199 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 P.C. Hamerlinck completes his study of artist Ray Harford & the Ghost Army of WWII.

On Our Cover: Several years ago, as an illustration for an “alternate history” in which M.C. Gaines’ All-American Comics Group had taken over National/DC instead of vice versa, Shane Foley created what is basically a sort of “alternate inking” (which included altering four characters into four different ones) of Irwin Hasen’s classic cover for All-Star Comics #37 (Oct.-Nov. 1947), with Superman and Batman standing in for Johnny Thunder and The Atom—and The Joker and Luthor replacing The Gambler and The Thinker. (Shane also re-positioned Dr. Mid-Nite, to help Superman and Batman be spotlighted more clearly.) Not only was All-Star’s “Justice Society of America” one of Irwin’s major comic book assignments—and not only was one of the JSA the Golden Age Green Lantern, the hero for whom he was a regular artist both before and after his Army service in World War II—but Hasen even seems to have drawn the “Superman” and “Batman” chapters in All-Star #36 (Aug.-Sept. ’47). That made this well-executed adaptation illo ideal for the cover of this edition of Alter Ego. The photo of Irwin was taken by Mad artist Sergio Aragonés. [JSA heroes & villains TM & © DC Comics.]

Above: The most noteworthy of several 1940s heroes that Irwin Hasen co-created was “Wildcat,” in All-American’s Sensation Comics, behind cover heroine Wonder Woman. These dramatic panels are from Sensation #14 (Feb. 1943). Scripter unknown. Hasen always maintained that the initial concept of the series was his, but that Bill Finger was brought aboard by editor Shelly Mayer to write the early stories. Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © 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: $73 US, $116 International, $31.60 Digital Only. 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

Chasin’ Hasen

rwin Hasen was very special to me.

Not that the two of us were ever close friends or anything like that. Matter of fact, I’m not even quite sure when I first met him. Probably at some comics convention back in the 1970s. The first personal memory I can associate with him is that, sometime in the ’80s, long-distance, I offered him a modest sum to re-draw/ trace and color for me his wonderful cover for the 1947 All-Star Comics #35. That’s the iconic “hourglass” cover, with Degaton and a whole mess of devolving technology swirling around inside said timepiece, while the seven heroes of the Justice Society of America look on in awe. As did I.

of those, too. I’d always kinda liked the strip. Not as much as AllStar Comics or Green Lantern—but I’d liked it.) In later years, he mostly came to cons as Julie’s minder, especially after the irascible Mr. Schwartz was largely confined to a wheelchair. But it gave him a chance to sell art, which he liked… and to schmooze, which he liked even more. Once, I remember our having a drink together at a hotel bar in San Diego, and I dragged out my page of twice-up original art from the 1947 “Green Lantern” story in which he first fought Crusher Crock, the guy who, by his second appearance, would don a costume and become The Sportsmaster. It’s a nice page, with some polo action and Alan Scott changing to GL by the bottom. Irwin just stared at it blankly. Far from definitely remembering it, he expressed momentary doubt that it was his work. But after I assured him it was, he readily autographed it for me. I treasure that page, since it’s the only authentic Golden Age page by Irwin Hasen that I own.

Irwin always said that was the first “re-creation” he ever did. (Not that we used that term then.) But boy, did he do a lot of them after that— of that cover, of his other All-Star covers, of Green Lantern and Doiby Dickles Alex Toth and I didn’t and Harlequin and Wildcat agree about a lot. But we and his cover girl Wonder did agree that Irwin Woman—even of Dondi, Hasen was a great comic once in a while. I myself book artist. later commissioned reHe was best, in my creations of his also-iconic mind, in that first year or covers of All-Star #33, 36, so after the war, when he 37, 42, & 43. In fact, he did returned to “Green #33 for me twice, the Lantern” and suddenly, second time replacing the with All-Star Comics #33, formidable Solomon also found himself Grundy with the equally replacing the overmatched formidable Julius Larry Naydel as the artist Schwartz, specifically to be of the full-“JSA” chapters used as a cover on Alter of those issues. He had Ego #38, a full-issue tribute this kind of solid, blockish to Julie, one of the most Now We Belong To The Ages! style… a bit stiff, important editors of perhaps… but I loved it. comics’ Silver Age—and Roy says: “This is one of my favorite photos from my years in comics—me with three guys I greatly admire, particularly for their work in three different decades: Irwin Hasen on the Still do. The “JSA” introIrwin’s longtime friend. I left, the drawer supreme of the ‘JSA’ stories of the late 1940s… John Romita, whose 1950s ductions and conclusions bought that colored ‘Captain America’ I consider the high point of his career (not that his later Daredevil and in All-Star #33-37 are to drawing from him, too… Amazing Spider-Man were exactly chicken fat)… and Stan Lee, the most important me, as they always were though I probably didn’t comics writer and editor of the 1960s, as well as my personal benefactor. The pic was to #1 JSA fan Jerry Bails, a pay him enough. Later, I taken after the ‘Stan Lee Roast’ at the 1995 Chicago comics convention, in which Jazzy high point of that even cajoled him into Johnny and I took part.” landmark series. And drawing old-costumed when he was given the versions of Hawkman and entirety of All-Star #39 (“Invasion from Fairyland”) to draw, it The Atom so I could get them digitally super-imposed over the became a true Hasen tour de force. later-costumed figures of that pair on his re-creation of All-Star #43’s cover. He probably thought I was crazy when I asked him to Still, his basically cartoony approach to art probably doomed do those figures. But my check was good. him at DC, as drawing styles got a bit more serious and naturalistic in the late 1940s. Arthur Peddy replaced him on the “JSA” Along the way, he also did a Green Lantern figure for me, material, and Carmine Infantino and even his one-time fan Alex magic lamp and all (seen on p. 28)… and a rare drawing of GL Toth were tapped increasingly to draw “Green Lantern.” No rescuing Dondi from gun-toting criminals (you can view that one matter. The JSA’s era at DC ended even before Irwin’s did, and he on p. 41). He also did—completely unbidden, I believe—a drawing finished out his time there drawing mostly humorous fillers. of my wife Dann with a couple of beasties from our South Which he did rather well, come to that. But they weren’t going to Carolina farm… you can see that in Alter Ego, Vol. 3 #1. I’ve still keep him gainfully employed in the comics industry. got every one of them up on our walls. Irwin and I never had any deep personal conversations the way he and Dan Makara did. When we ran into each other at a con, we’d just yak away at each other across a table-top piled high with his re-creations, sketches, and old Dondi strips. (Yeah, I bought one

I heard him tell, several times, the story alluded to in passing in this issue’s documentary transcription (and related in greater detail in the quote on p. 30, which I lifted from my interview with him in A/E V3#1) about how DC managing editor Whit Ellsworth

writer/editorial

basically fired him without letting him realize it. I never could quite see how that could happen, but Irwin said it did—and anyway, it’s a great story. Fortunately for Irwin, and for us, he met Gumps writer/artist Gus Edson at just the right moment, and the result was a threedecade run on Dondi, for much of its tenure a top-ranked comic strip. And after that, there was the teaching at Joe Kubert’s cartooning school, where a whole new generation could learn from observing his storytelling skills. From what I’ve seen, they could still use him. The film turned out very well indeed, and it’s a true shame that almost no one has ever seen the end product—but I was wildly enthusiastic when collector Dan Makara told me he was going to work with Irwin on a documentary about the artist’s life. I’ll let Dan tell you about that, beginning on the next page, but I’m sure that, the moment I learned about it, I told Dan I’d be honored to be in it if he ever had any use for me. I know that Paul Levitz and even that old comic book curmudgeon Carmine Infantino felt the same way. And there are others who’d have been proud to say a few words for the camera about Irwin, too, if they’d still been around. Guys like Alexander Toth… and editor/boy cartoonist Shelly Mayer… and Joe Kubert… and Julius Schwartz. Each of the forementioned was worthy of a documentary all his own… but they’d all have been happy and proud to be in Irwin’s first. Thanks for letting me be a part of your doc, Irwin… And a part, however minor, of your life. Bestest,

COMING IN JUNE

141

RICH BUCKLER

—FROM DETROIT TO DEATHLOK! He Hit The Ground Running In 1970!

Characters, Inc. Deathlok TM & © Marvel

• Dynamic painting of Deathlok the Demolisher by creator RICH BUCKLER! • RICH BUCKLER talks to RICHARD J. ARNDT about his first half-decade in comics— horror for Warren—Hawkman, Robin, & Rose and The Thorn for DC—Fantastic Four, Avengers, Daredevil, Thor, Hulk, Ka-Zar, Man-Thing, Doc Savage, Invaders, Power Man, Zombie, Dracula, & even Conan for Marvel—plus the bold beginnings of Deathlok! • RAY ASTARITA—a Golden Age master (Fiction House, Quality, Avon, Standard, et al.) examined by HAMES WARE & DAVID SAUNDERS! • Plus FCA #200! Starring C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, NAT CHAMPLIN, & 1940 Fawcett photos—MICHAEL T. GILBERT revisits the lost 1967 issue of Fatman the Human Flying Saucer by BECK & OTTO BINDER—BILL SCHELLY presents four fans’ remembrances of G.B. LOVE—& MORE!!

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HASEN –

The Documentary A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great IRWIN HASEN by Dan Makara

I. Twin Introductions by Dan Makara

A. My Friend Irwin

have many “best” friends. My wife is my best friend. My son, my dog, even my cat… we are best friends.

Irwin Hasen was my Best Friend. I’d wanted to meet him because I thought All-Star Comics was the numero uno comic book of All Time… and Irwin had drawn the best of the best All-Star stories.

Irwin Was Here! Irwin Hasen (on left, above) and Dan Makara a few years ago at the Wonder Woman Museum in Bethel, Connecticut; it was founded by the family of WW co-creator William Marston. Also on this page are a Hasen re-creation of his very first “Justice Society” cover, for All-Star Comics #33 (Feb.-March 1947)—and a classic color sketch of the comic strip waif Dondi atop a duffel bag. The latter image was used as the cover of Classic Comics Press’ collection Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen, Vol. 1 (2007); courtesy of Charles Pelto. That series’ two volumes are still in print; see ad on p. 3. The All-Star re-creation is courtesy of owner Mark Squirek. [JSA & Solomon Grundy TM & © DC Comics; Dondi TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

Hasen—The Documentary

But when I met him in 1999, all that hero worship went out the window. Meeting him that first time, I became aware that, no, I was not in the presence of an adult comics genius. What was so great about Irwin was that, yes, he may have been 80-something back then (and a comics genius), but the person I met and conversed with that first day… well, if I were a blind man, I could have been speaking to a 12-year-old. And that was what was great about Irwin Hasen. Irwin… you never grew up! Irwin would talk to you, or anyone, with the innocence of a kid. And yet, child though he was, sometimes Irwin would wax sentimental over the times he’d grown up in. “Things today are all screwed up! It’s not like the old days!” he’d say. I would counter that with “The good old days… like concentration camps?” He’d laugh and go on about, “Well, I’m famous, you know?” And I’d always tell him, “Irwin, you’re a giant among cartoonists!” Being short in stature, he always appreciated that. I actually met Irwin thanks to Alter Ego. That first full “new” issue in 1999 gave out contact info for Irwin. I wanted to buy a recreation of his cover for All-Star Comics #33. I’d loved that cover the first time I’d seen it, when it had been reprinted in a 1960s issue of Justice League of America. That cover was so similar to a Kong poster, with the giant menace leering down at the helpless heroes… a huge white-faced Frankenstein figure looming above what I recognized to be a glowing green globe of the Green Lantern’s will power. In the center of the globe, Wonder Woman calmly stands amidst swirling confusion, a striking “Beauty and the Beast” counterpoint to the monster overhead. This wasn’t just a comic book cover; this could easily have been a movie poster, and I was hooked. To the lower left of the Amazing Amazon’s foot was a signature… Hasen.

Green Grow The Lanterns

Was this the same Hasen who illustrated the adventures of Dondi appearing every day in The New York Daily News? In those pre-Internet days, it took me until Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1, to determine that it was! (How many Dondi dailies I own that, while deceptively simple in execution, are brilliantly dramatic in framing… cutting from close-up to mid-ground to long shot. Irwin was a filmmaker!)

“Green Lantern” splash page for All-American Comics #27 (June 1941), the story that introduced the hero’s taxi-driving sidekick Doiby Dickles. Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks/finishes by Irwin Hasen. Script by Bill Finger, who’d written the very first “GL” story back in AA #16, although the Emerald Gladiator had been conceived by artist Mart Nodell (hence Nodell’s official credit for AA #27 art, though he didn’t actually work on this story). Thanks to Doug Martin. [TM & © DC Comics.]

When I finally called Irwin that first time, his message machine said, “I’m summering at the Hamptons… be back after Labor Day.” I thought, Wow! And, given his NYC address, which I knew was down the block from the Metropolitan Museum, I figured this cartoonist business must be totally lucrative! I’d find out later that his Hamptons residence was a cold-water garage apartment rented to him by the mayor of Southampton, who’d been a fan of Dondi.

fixed rent was far cheaper than any apartment one could find in Connecticut, where I live, and his landlady was none too pleased by Irwin’s longevity. “It’s because of you my daughter can’t go to college!” she’d tell him. Since his passing, the monthly rent on that apartment has gone up from in the vicinity of $700 per month to $7000 a month.)

When I finally got in touch with Irwin over the phone, he said to me in his radio Walter Winchellesque voice, “You live in Connecticut, kid? Well, why not just come into the city?” So, within a week’s time, there I was walking into this brownstone, expecting to see a baby grand in the foyer, a terrace overflowing with exotic flowers, a fancy silver tea service. What I encountered was far better, by far the most unique apartment in New York. It was like entering a time tunnel, crossing a threshold into the foggy past. The overstuffed pink furniture, artwork on the walls dating from his trip to Europe after being let go by DC just prior to Dondi, tschotchkes and ashtrays everywhere (he didn’t smoke)… the refrigerator that looked like an icebox that contained only an open bottle of Vermouth and half-empty bottles of Coke and lots of ice in the freezer… this was a circa-1955 bachelor pad. (He’d begun renting in the late ’50s after the success of Dondi. His

“Do me a favor,” he said. “Grab some ice in the bucket on the counter. How about a Scotch?” My belief has always been “when in Rome,” so when I agreed, Irwin’s face notably lit up as he poured the twelve-year-old elixir into two glasses. As the warm yellowy malt tingled my palette, I sat back as Irwin went into a lengthy monologue about everything from Joe Kubert to Vaudeville. He sang a few bars from “Sonny Boy” by Al Jolson, did an impression of Mae West, but mostly went on about New York City, “The Greatest City in the World,” he’d say. After a couple of hours I’d completely forgotten that I’d come to hear about The Green Lantern. “Did you know that when Rube Goldberg moved to New York from San Francisco, his father set him up with his own whorehouse?” Who knew? What I was becoming aware of was that this guy Hasen was

A Film—& Soundtrack—About Golden Age Great Irwin Hasen

about area musicians who might provide affordable music. He hooked me up with a guy in the next town who loved Irwin and was in between projects at the time. Brian Keane does many of Ken Burns’ documentaries… New York, Civil War, etc…. and he redid the majority of the costly music and redid the now-beautiful soundtrack and even redid the sound to the highest possible quality. However, trying to negotiate anything with the owners of the visual comics and movie art proved costly to the extent of being nearly impossible. So the film documentary Irwin – A New York Story may never see the light of day… except in the transcript form that Roy Thomas graciously invited me to present here in Alter Ego. My thanks to Roy, Danny Fingeroth, Neal Adams, Sheila Shapira, Chellie Mayer, Michael Uslan, Ruben Abreu, Frank Borres & crew, and all the many individuals who assisted on this… and most of all, to Irwin Hasen himself! Now, on to Irwin—A New York Story!

A Harlequin Romance (Above:) Hasen penciled and inked the “Green Lantern” story in All-American Comics #89 (Sept. 1947), which introduced the hero’s lovestruck nemesis, The Harlequin—the co-creation of writer Robert Kanigher. [TM & © DC Comics.]

background. I afterwards found that, while the tune was written in 1903, the music copyright was still held by the heirs of the composer. Each time the song is played anywhere, from ballgames to movies to TV, they get paid. The heirs wanted something like $1500 for the three minutes of air time. I’d heard of “Fair Use” doctrine as a justification for using copyrighted material in cases where the individual had actively participated, as Irwin had done with “Green Lantern,” Dondi, or “Wonder Woman.” I’d even entered an eBay search to find anything related to the 1960 Miss Universe competition. To my surprise, I found someone in Seattle who had a closet full of old scratchy film from the 1960 competition, where Irwin appears as a judge. (How rare is that?) I figured to use that, as well. Why not? However, one afternoon, film producer Michael Uslan was kind enough to explain at length why I should not even consider showing my final project. “You could be sued by the Chicago Tribune, Time Warner, [then Miss Universe owner] Donald Trump, and on & on & on…. Do you really want to spend months in court?” So I began to alter things. “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was the first to go. I asked a friend at the local alternative radio station

Buoys Will Be Buoys (Above:) A color re-creation done by Irwin Hasen of one of his most famous covers—that of the “all-Harlequin” issue of Green Lantern (#29, Dec.1947-Jan. 1948). Donor uncertain. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Hasen—The Documentary

IRWIN – A NEW YORK STORY A Documentary Film by Dan Makara Transcribed by Sean Dulaney

[Images from early Dondi comic strips.] CHILD’S V/O: The story of Dondi. A little war orphan found cold and starving by two kind-hearted G.I.s. They feed him and treat him with affection. For the first time in his life, Dondi has a home and finds real happiness. But then, suddenly, the bottom drops out of his world. Word comes that his G.I. buddies are to be sent back to America. But the resourceful lad hides aboard a troop ship. After an arduous journey, the little refugee secretly enters the United States. DONDI: [seeing the Statue of Liberty from the ship] I know you, Big Lady. You Miss America! IRWIN HASEN: I was born in Harlem. I weighed a pound and a quarter. Pound and a quarter, and the doctor at the hospital, the Women’s Hospital in New York, said, “If he survives he’ll be a genius.” They said, “Don’t count on it.” My earliest memory is when my mother and father, after I was born, after about two years, began to measure me against the wall. You never forget a thing like that. “Why are they measuring me?” And I think it stayed with me. My father came from Russia. He came from the old country where, if you have a son, you put him out in the fields… to work. And he was a little nonplussed by having a little son. My parents, whenever they moved—they moved four or five times a year, terrible—and they’d put me in a little room in the back of the apartment. And I’d sit there with the radio—the radio was my life’s blood— and I’d sit with my drawing board in a lonely room. I don’t know how the hell I did it. I don’t know. When you think about [it,] almost all cartoonists did it. A lonely room. Cartoonists are like little children. Even when they’re 80. They’re not children. They’re old children. They never lost that spell of being young. Cartoonists. Even the word “cartoonist” is a funny word. I collected the most beautiful bunch of friends. Not being in the business world, but by being a cartoonist. I was there at the beginning. I just walked into it. A little kid with a portfolio. That’s how the whole thing started… how the world started.

Dondi Esta… Montage of 1955 Sunday and daily panels from Dondi, by writer Gus Edson & artist Irwin Hasen, as glimpsed in screen saves from the doc. Ye Editor has always wondered if Edson got the name from the Spanish word “Donde,” meaning “Where”… since the lad was lost from his homeland, then lost for a time in the New World. As a kid, Roy—and, he’s since learned, lots of other people—thought Dondi was Korean, since the war on that Asian peninsula had ended only two years before, in an uneasy truce that still endures. [TM & © Tribune Media Services, Inc.]

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With a comics career dating back to 1941, including inking early issues of Captain America, AL PLASTINO was one of the last surviving penciler/inkers of his era. Laboring uncredited on SUPERMAN for two decades (1948-1968), he co-created SUPERGIRL, BRAINIAC, and the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES, drawing those characters’ first appearances, and illustrating the initial comics story to feature KRYPTONITE. He was called upon to help maintain the DC Comics house-style by redrawing other artists’ Superman heads, most notoriously on JACK KIRBY’S JIMMY OLSEN series, much to his chagrin. His career even included working on classic daily and Sunday newspaper strips like NANCY, JOE PALOOKA, BATMAN, and others. With a Foreword by PAUL LEVITZ, this book (by EDDY ZENO, author of CURT SWAN: A LIFE IN COMICS) was completed just weeks before Al’s recent passing. In these pages, the artist remembers both his struggles and triumphs in the world of comics, cartooning and beyond. A near-century of insights shared by Al, his family, and contemporaries ALLEN BELLMAN, NICK CARDY, JOE GIELLA, and CARMINE INFANTINO—along with successors JON BOGDANOVE, JERRY ORDWAY, AND MARK WAID—paint a layered portrait of Plastino’s life and career. And a wealth of illustrations show just how influential a figure he is in the history of comics.

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At Ease (Left:) The inscription on the back of the photo on the left says: “AA78 Bancroft San Diego, Ca. 1940 – Wallace McPherson ‘Boy Scout’– 1936 Ford.” (Above:) An ad introducing MLJ’s Black Jack, From Top-Notch #20 (Oct. 1941). [© 1941 MLJ Publishing]

The Wallace McPherson Interview

Introduction by Michael T. Gilbert

ast issue, we featured an interview between Shaun Clancy and a comic fan whose winning contest entry was published in a 1941 issue of MLJ’s Top Notch Laugh Comics. Well, detective Shaun is back at it again! This time he’s found a forgotten piece of comic history in which a young fan may actually have helped create a classic MLJ super-hero! And now, without further ado, we present…

The Wallace McPherson Phone Interview (10/1/10) by Shaun Clancy SHAUN CLANCY: I saw your name in print in a 1941 publication which had you listed at 4478 Bancroft Street, San Diego, California? WALLACE McPHERSON: You got that right. That’s me. SC: This publication is called Pep Comics [#22, Dec. 1941], and this issue actually features the first ever appearance of the character Archie Andrews. McPHERSON: Oh? SC: Your name is mentioned as a fan who wrote in on the super-heroes that the comic featured before Archie was created. McPHERSON: I remember when I was a little kid… getting one person who contacted me from that. I wrote that person one letter but I never heard back. I also never saw the mention of me in the comic or what title and issue it appeared in. SC: I thought I’d track you down and verify that the mention of your name in this comic was legit and that MLJ wasn’t just posting fictitious names. I have heard of some publishers doing that. McPHERSON: I did send a letter and, as I recall, I even sent a drawing of a super-hero that I did.

Two Of A Kind! Steel Sterling introduces the latest MLJ superstar, Black Jack, on the cover of Zip Comics #20 (Nov. 1941). Art by Irv “The Nerve” Novick! [© Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

And from what I can remember, he had a big spade on his chest. At that time, everyone was drawing Superman and Batman because we all read comic books when we were that age. In 1941, I would have been 12 years old. [NOTE: Wallace McPherson was born in 1929.]

SC: The character that they mention in the letter column would be in reference to the superheroes The Shield and The Hangman. Those were the super-heroes that were appearing in this comic book title at that time. In fact, there was a Shield GMan Club that you could join. Do you still have your comics?

SC: Do you remember if the editors for that comic ever personally responded to your letter?

McPHERSON: No, I don’t. That was so long ago. I think that the hero that I designed and sent in was a character that I called “The Ace of Spades.”

McPHERSON: Yes. In those days, prior to World War II, there were little book stores that moms and pops ran right on Elkahorn Boulevard, and if you took in two used comic books they would let you get one new one out of the stack. That’s how we kept circulating the comic books. That’s the way it worked in those days. You took two in to mom and pop in the little house they lived in, because they’d do it out the front room in San Diego, and we’d get

McPHERSON: No. I only had the one response from a fellow fan that had seen my name in the comic, just like you just did. The publisher never contacted me. In 1941, we moved out to another area in Spring Valley, which is where I still live in right now. That comic would have come out around the time of that transition and at the start of World War II, so it’s possible that they may have sent something to our old address, which may have never been forwarded. SC: Did you continue to read Pep Comics after they introduced “Archie” in it?

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

new comic books. All the neighborhood kids did that in San Diego because nobody had any money because of the Depression. Sometimes, my friend would have one and I would have one and we’d put them together and trade them in and get one, which we would share. SC: Was there also a paper drive going on at that time? McPHERSON: Not at that time. Most people did recycle, even in those days, because the Depression was still on and didn’t really end until World War II was under way. SC: How old were you when you stopped collecting comics? McPHERSON: At that time we moved out to the country, which is now the city, and we were labeled RFD, which meant rural mail delivery, and so we didn’t get much mail, but I did manage to get a few more copies of Archie after that. SC: Did you relate to the character of Archie as a child? McPHERSON: Yes. Some of the situations that he would get himself into, we could relate to, and if not, we could imagine that we were experiencing it. Some of my friends were actually learning to read better and better from reading comic books. In those days, they didn’t misspell words like they do today, and they didn’t invent words like they do today. There were a few words like “Ugh” and “err,” but for the most part, the English was correct and the spelling was right.

character Black Jack, I immediately said, “Oh, my God! That’s my guy!” Referring back to our last discussion and describing the character I mailed in, you can see it wasn’t a put-on. You have to remember that I was only twelve years old at the time. SC: The time frame for your character The Ace of Spades and the introduction of Black Jack falls in line with your story. You have to remember that comics took about 3 or 4 months to hit the newsstand, so when Pep Comics #22 [Dec. 1941] referred to your fan letter, they actually received it 3 or 4 months prior, and so the Nov. 1941 appearance of “Black Jack” was probably due to your Ace of Spades submission. [NOTE: The character’s name was sometime written as one word, “Blackjack,” in ads, but more often as two words—and always as two words in the title masthead.] McPHERSON: I had never heard anything about them using my character, nor had I ever seen the Black Jack character until you wrote me. That doesn’t mean that MLJ didn’t write me back, as I had moved right after my sending in my letter and so a lot of mail never made it to us. SC: I know the copy I sent you was in black-&-white, but the color version of the Blackjack character has him in a red outfit with a black spade on his chest….

SC: Did you know Archie is still being published today? McPHERSON: No. My comic book situation ended when I entered the Navy after high school, which was at the end of World War II. I enlisted when I was 17. My mother signed for me to enlist right after I graduated from high school. I ended up in experimental aircraft up in China Lake in the Inyokern Desert. I’m the only guy in the Navy that went to the desert. [mutual laughter] My uncles were all professional military men, and they thought it to be very funny that I was stationed in a desert while in the Navy. That was back in 1947 and 1948. SC: The reason I asked if you have kept up with the Archie character is because you happen to be the only one who is still around whose name is associated with the first-ever appearance of “Archie.” McPHERSON: I believe that. I’d like to ask you a favor. Please send me a copy of that page so that I can see it. SC: That would be no problem to do, and I would be happy to do so, unless you have e-mail? McPHERSON: Oh, no. I tell my sons that I entered this world with a big yellow lined pad of paper with a number 2 pencil and that’s the way I’m going to go out. [mutual laughter] [NOTE: Shaun then followed up with the following exchange with Mr. McPherson from July 22, 2011:] SC: Did you see the picture of the Black Jack character I sent, and is he the Ace of Spades super-hero that you sent to MLJ? McPHERSON: When I opened up your last letter and saw the Zip Comics #20 cover [Nov. 1941] with the

Immortality! 12-year-old Wallace McPherson got a mention at the bottom of a MLJ fan page. Using this clue, Shaun Clancy was able to track him down 70 years later! From Pep Comics #22 (Dec. 1941).

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G.B. Love. (1939-2001) Photo by Robert Brown.

Alter Ego’s Multi-Part Tribute To G.B. Love & RBCC – Part 4 Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life by John Ellis

ntroduction: The first three parts of our look at G.B. Love and his influential ad-zine, Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector, appeared in A/E #133-135, which included the first half of an interview with James Van Hise, who was Love’s assistant editor on RBCC before assuming full editorship of it in 1974. But Jim came along only in 1970. For a picture of G.B. Love that begins even before Van Hise entered the scene, we reached out to John Ellis, who graciously agreed to tell the story of how he met the Big Name Fan and participated in various SFCA (South Florida Comics Association) endeavors, including the first comic collectors club in Florida.

John is a prime example of someone who benefited greatly from G.B.’s generosity and tutelage, one of the reasons he was able to go on to a multifaceted career in the popular arts. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know John as you read more about the editor and publisher of the Rocket’s BlastComicollector, the estimable Gordon Love, whose life and fanzine we are celebrating. Special thanks to Jim Van Hise and Aaron Caplan for help on some of the visual aspects of this piece. —Bill Schelly.]

ordon Belljohn Love published fanzines for almost 13 years. I knew him well for the latter half of that period, and he changed my life.

To tell G.B.’s story, I need to tell mine.

I was born in March of 1955 in Wilmington, Ohio. One of my earliest memories, from the late 1950s, is of my brother Larry teaching me to trace Donald Duck from his comic books. In the early 1960s my mom would bring home comics occasionally, mostly funnyanimal comics. One day in May 1964 she brought me a Blackhawk and a Magnus Robot Fighter from El Blackie’s Party Store and “set the hook.” My new quest for more comics led me to discover the comics display in the Wilmington Drug Store. Then came the historic moment in June 1964 when I turned the corner in the store to see a spread of Marvel comics for the first time. I still have the Marvel Tales Annual #1 that I bought that day. My one close “comic book pal” was my sister-in-law Carol Day, who was several years older than me. We were

Amazing, Man! John Ellis in 1970, not long after meeting G.B. Love and helping form the South Florida Comic Club—and the cover of the first issue in Ellis’ subscription to RBCC: #61 (1969), which featured John Fantucchio’s extraordinary Amazing-Man drawing. Fantucchio contributed many outstanding cover illustrations to G.B. Love’s fanzine. Photo courtesy of John Ellis. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

Gordon Belljohn Love Changed My Life

Hatchet Job (Above:) G.B. Love’s first step in establishing a comic book club in Florida was placing this announcement in the classified ad section of RBCC #65 (1969). (Right:) According to the caption in RBCC #77, where this photo appeared: “Ye editor welcoming local fan John Ellis to the SFCA offices. Proof-positive that fans are always welcome.” Photo by Andy Warner. John Ellis adds, “G.B. just got his C.C. Beck ‘Conan’ battle axe and wanted to try it out... on me!!! Note C.C. Beck ‘Buck Rogers’ blaster on the wall above our heads. It was actually only half of the gun, to be able to fit flat against the wall for display.”

comic book fanatics. We copied drawings from the comics. I remember drawing Sgt. Fury and talking about becoming a comics artist. My only other comic book pal was Frank Kelley, who lived in Kentucky and sometimes visited his relatives (our neighbors). Frank knew about Golden Age comics and further opened up my world with tales of ancient comic book lore. In the summer of 1966, when I was 11, my family moved from Ohio to South Florida for my mother’s health. In West Palm Beach in 1967 I made friends with Larry Calvert, a schoolmate who was a Marvel collector and a talented artist. Larry, Carol, and Frank were really it for me, in my world, the lonely comic-collecting secret universe. I had also made friends through the mail and over the phone with Howard Rogofsky from his ads in Marvel comics. Howard sold me “less than perfect” Golden Age comics cheap (on my budget). He was really nice and honest and probably didn’t make any money from me, but made me one happy kid. I was 13 in December 1968. As a Christmas gift, Frank Kelley

Let’s Call This Meeting To Order! First meeting of the Southern Florida Comiclub, at Andy Warner’s house, September 1969. Clockwise from front left corner: unknown fan’s head, G.B. Love (adjusting his collar), unknown fan, Andy Warner (white shirt, leading meeting), fan artist Mike McKenney, Gary Brown. Photo courtesy of John Ellis.

bought me a subscription to something called RBCC, the Rocket’s Blast & Comic-Collector, and my world began to change. My first issue was #61, with the great John Fantucchio’s Amazing-Man cover. The ads for old comics, articles, and artwork really blew my mind. Three more issues arrived through the summer of 1969. It was hard to wait the two months between issues, each one better than the last. In RBCC #65, I saw an ad for the “South Florida Comics Council,” a club forming in Miami. I excitedly called the phone number and talked to a guy named Andy Warner. The next day, Andy and artist Jon Farwell made the drive all the way up to West Palm Beach to meet me. They dropped off a Care package of EC comics, fanzines, Witzend, Graphic Story Magazine, and a whole bunch of stuff that filled me with a new sense of wonder. I was in awe, seeing those beautiful pro-printed fanzines with Wood, Frazetta, Crandall, and Bodé for the first time. Truly a “gosh-wow golly-gee-whiz” moment for me. Later that month, on a Saturday morning, I took a Greyhound bus to Miami to the first club meeting and met a whole slew of fans. It was something I never imagined: a group of people like me, openly into comic books. Attending were Jon Farwell and Andy Warner (of course), artist Mike McKenney, fan editor and publisher Gary Brown... and G.B. Love. Andy led the meeting, and we decided to put on a one day convention in December. It was very gratifying to be accepted by this group and to actually be made a board member. Andy and his family invited me to stay over, and I was surprised when G.B. asked if I wanted to come to the SFCA offices the next day (Sunday) and work in the office. I remember saying, “What does that mean?” and G.B. and Andy chuckling. Andy said, “You’ll get paid for it. I’ll be working too, I work for G.B. all the time!” G.B. laughed and said, “What, you think I’d make you work for free?” It was an amazing thing: my first paying job ever, and for working on a fanzine. I had quite an experience at G.B.’s place the next day. We listened to an audio recording of the Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial, and I typed subscriber addresses on file cards and helped open mail. There was always a lot of mail to open, as well