Roy Thomas’ Rapid-Fire Comics Fanzine
RICH BUCKLER FROM DETROIT TO DEATHLOK!
$ TM
8.95
In the USA
No.141 AUGUST 2016
PLUS: MR.MONSTER’S
COMIC CRYPT TH THE 200TH FABULOUS ISSUE OF
COMIC FANDOM ARCHIVE
RAFAEL ASTARITA “ONE OF THE BEST COMIC ARTISTS WHO EVER DREW”
1
82658 00055
4
Deathlok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Vol. 3, No. 141 / August 2016 Editor
Roy Thomas
Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash
Design & Layout
Christopher Day
Consulting Editor John Morrow
FCA Editor
P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Assoc. Editor)
Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert
Editorial Honor Roll
Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich
Proofreaders
Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding
Cover Artists
Rich Buckler
With Special Thanks to:
If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,
PLEASE READ THIS: This is copyrighted material, NOT intended for downloading anywhere except our website or Apps. If you downloaded it from another website or torrent, go ahead and read it, and if you decide to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and buy a legal download, or a printed copy. Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR DEVICE and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. If you enjoy our publications enough to download them, please pay for them so we can keep producing ones like this. Our digital editions should ONLY be downloaded within our Apps and at
www.twomorrows.com
Alan Hutchinson Heidi Amash Bill Johnson Pedro Angosto Jim Kealy Richard J. Arndt Robert Kline & Bob Bailey family Alberto Becattini Mark Lewis Larry Bigman Art Lortie Judy Blackman Jim Ludwig Swayze Doug Martin Gary Brown Harry Matesky Robert Brown Raymond Miller Bernie & Lucille Bill Mohalley Bubnis Barry Pearl Rich Buckler Gene Reed Nick Caputo Mildred Champlin Randy Sargent David Saunders Shaun Clancy Arlen J. Schuler John Coates Allen Smith Jon B. Cooke Bryan Stroud Comic Book Plus Dann Thomas (website) Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Craig Delich James Van Hise Diversions of the Hames Ware Groovy Kind Who’s Who of (website) American Comic John Ellis Books 1928-1999 Rocky Fawcett (website) Shane Foley Steven G. Willis Stephan Friedt Andy Yanchus Janet Gilbert Mike Zeck Grand Comics Database (website) Heritage Comics Auctions
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Rafael Astarita & Nat Champlin
Contents Writer/Editorial: History Golden/History Silver . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “Just Living My Dream!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Rich Buckler talks to Richard J. Arndt about his first decade at Warren, DC, & Marvel.
Rafael Astarita – Comic Book Pioneer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Hames Ware & David Saunders on a great Golden Age artist who remembered everything!
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Michael T. Gilbert on that strange 1967 comic by Otto Binder & C.C. Beck.
Comic Fandom Archive: Remembering RBCC—With Love. . 57 Five fans reminisce about G.B. Love & the Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector.
re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 P.C. Hamerlinck presents a celebration featuring Beck, Swayze, Champlin, & a 1940 Hollywood party—attended by Captain Marvel himself!
On Our Cover: While Rich Buckler has drawn, at one time or another, just about every major hero for every major company, he probably remains proudest of his creation of “Deathlok,” the cyborg who starred in Astonishing Tales during the last half of the 1970s and has often reappeared since, including in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC-TV. It was his suggestion that this recent painting of Deathlok become the cover of this issue of Alter Ego, and he didn’t have to ask us twice! [Deathlok TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: This issue, too, we applaud the 200th edition of FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], 141 of which have appeared in this third volume of A/E. And there’s nobody whose art could better represent FCA than C.C. Beck, artistic co-creator of the original Captain Marvel and the first artist of the “Marvel Family” series. This 1979 painting of Cap, Cap Jr., and Mary came to us courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. [Shazam heroes 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 Standard, $88 US Expedited, $116 International. 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.
2
R
writer/editorial
History Golden/History Silver
emember Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1, in 1999, more than a decade and a half ago? Back in the era (up through issue #43) when I was committed to the notion of “flip covers”—two different covers, upside down from each other, with the two halves of each issue similarly situated? The concept had originated because A/E, Vol. 2, had been initiated the previous year as a flip-side appendage to Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist magazine. And I continued the flip sections when A/E once again became a full mag of comic book history. Its first issue featured, on one cover, a re-creation by Irwin Hasen of his “JSA” cover for 1947’s All-Star Comics #36—and, on the other, a new illo by 1980s All-Star Squadron/Infinity, Inc. artist Jerry Ordway with the same basic layout, depicting a mix of Silver and Bronze Age heroes from DC and Marvel (with DC’s Julius Schwartz costumed as The Flash, and Marvel’s Stan Lee as SpiderMan). Half of A/E V3#1 was devoted to Golden Age matters (an interview with “Green Lantern”/“JSA” artist Hasen, an examination of the two “Wonder Woman” scripts written for 1942’s AllStar Comics #13, and a look at a vintage Brazilian comics story costarring the 1940s Captain Marvel and Human Torch)… while the other half was dedicated mostly to Silver Age material (the transcript of a “Stan Lee Roast” at a 1995 con, Grass Green’s 1962 parody of Fantastic Four, and a French “Silver Surfer” story that utilized art from 1968-70 Marvel comics.
Clearly, my original plan was to divide each Alter Ego equally between features related to the Golden Age and those connected to the Silver Age (as broadly defined to extend through 1974-75)— with my own work cheerfully covered anytime I felt like it.
and his creative teams emphasized on one flip side, Hawkman and cohorts on the other. Pretty soon, I gave up on the original plan for good. The only things remaining from it were the flip covers, preserved mainly because having one cover with broader appeal (perhaps because it was by a Kubert or a Kirby) let me put almost anything I wanted to on the other one, including showcasing lesser-known artists or subjects (like when we utilized Ernie Schroeder’s one and only painting ever of Airboy and The Heap). But the idea of doing a balancing-act in A/E’s pages between the Golden and Silver Ages has never truly died—and this issue is a case in point. Its cover and lead interview spotlight my longtime friend and oft-time collaborator Rich Buckler, who eased into the comics field in the late 1960s and made himself a super-star at Marvel in the 1970s—and Rafael Astarita, a less-well-known but equally talented artist from the 1940s and early ’50s. As per usual, I depend upon the expertise of others to give these titans their due: intrepid interviewer Richard Arndt in the case of Buckler… comics-shop guru Hames Ware and pulp-mag historian David Saunders re Astarita. Alter Ego has ever endured with one foot planted solidly in the Golden Age, the other no less firmly in the Silver…and so it will remain. And, for those of you interested in the later Silver Age and beyond—which definitely includes Yers Truly—TwoMorrows has a mag titled Back Issue, on which Michael Eury and his merry crew do an excellent job, issue after issue. Between us, we run the gamut of comic book ages and eras. That’s why we call it “history.”
Already by #4, however, I’d abandoned that scheme in favor of celebrating the 60th anniversary of Flash Comics, with The Flash
Bestest,
COMING IN AUGUST #142 Bringing “Forgotten” GOLDEN AGE ARTISTS To SAN DIEGO!
man, Sandman, Flash, Shazam Bunny, Aqua & © DC Comics Batman, & Blackwhawk TM
• Super-fan DAVID SIEGEL reveals to RICHARD ARNDT how he located many 1940s-50s comics pros and helped get them to the San Diego Comic-Con, 1990-2005—including AYERS [“Ghost Rider”] • BOLLE [“Red Mask”] • CARDY [“Aquaman”] • CUIDERA [“Blackhawk”] • FLESSEL [“Sandman”] • FRADON [“Aquaman”] • GIELLA [“Batman”] • GILL [“Lone Ranger”] • CHAD [“Marvel Bunny”] • HASEN [“Green Lantern”] • LAMPERT [“The Flash”] • MOLDOFF [“Hawkman”] • NORRIS [“Aquaman”] • NOVICK [“The Shield”] • SCHAFFENBERGER [“Marvel Family”] • SULLIVAN [first “Superman”& “Batman” editor] • ALVIN SCHWARTZ [“Superman”], & others! • RICH MORRISSEY on how he, Dave Siegel, et al. got Golden/Silver Age star writer JOHN BROOME [“JSA,” “Flash,” “Green Lantern”] to the only comics convention he ever attended! • Plus: FCA • MICHAEL T. GILBERT • BILL SCHELLY, & MORE!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.
SUBSCRIBE! Eight issues: $73 US, $116 International, $31.60 Digital Only
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: twomorrows.com
3
“Just Living My Dream!” RICH BUCKLER On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist
I
Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt
NTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Rich Buckler began his comic book career in 1967 with a back-up tale in Flash Gordon #10. After a two-year gap, he began doing short mystery (for color comics) and horror (for black-&-white magazines) stories for DC, Warren, Skywald, and Marvel. He was soon doing regular backup features in such titles as Batman and Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. His first work on a lead feature was The Avengers #101 (July 1972) working from a plot by Harlan Ellison (as edited and later scripted by Roy Thomas). Over the next two decades, he worked on nearly every major character and title at DC or Marvel and drew hundreds of covers for both companies. He has also produced work for Archie’s Red Circle characters. He created the Marvel character Deathlok and penciled the first five issues of DC’s All-Star Squadron with Thomas. In recent years, he launched another career doing stunning surrealistic paintings. He is the author of How to Draw Dynamic Comic Books and still frequents conventions, often with Don McGregor, with whom he worked on both “The Black Panther” and “Killraven” series in the 1970s. This interview was conducted via e-mail on December 19-22, 2014.
Portrait Of The Artist As A Very Busy Young Man A self-portrait of Rich Buckler (being painted by his own hand)—surrounded by examples of his work for three mainstream publishers in the early 1970s (clockwise from above right): Warren Publications’ Creepy #36 (Nov. ’70), script by Greg Theakston... “Hawkman” in DC’s Detective Comics #434 (April ’73), inks by Dick Giordano & script by E. Nelson Bridwell... and the cover of Marvel’s The Avengers #101 (July 1972), inks by Dan Adkins. With thanks for the comics-page scans to the Diversions of the Groovy Kind website, Steven G. Willis, & Chris Day, respectively. The portrait, retrieved online, is done in acrylic on a board that measures 13 11/16" x 22¼". [Portrait © Rich Buckler; Creepy page TM & © New Comic Company; “Hawkman” page TM & © DC Comics; Avengers cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
4
Rich Buckler On His First Decade As A Comic Book Artist
“Comic Books Actually Saved My Life, In A Sense” RICHARD ARNDT: Let’s start this off with some information on your background. I know we’re both originally from Michigan.... RICH BUCKLER: I was born in Detroit, but up to age nine I spent my time in a house built by my father and my grandfather. I mean, they actually built the place from the foundation up. This was in upstate rural Michigan, just off Houghton Lake. The nearest town was Prudenville. When I was ten years old, my family relocated to Detroit. So I’m both country- and city-bred—but mostly city. I have a younger sister Peggy, and a younger brother Ron. My father passed away when I was very young, so we were raised by my mom. RA: What comics were you enthused about when you were a kid? Were there any that made you sit up and take notice? BUCKLER: I started out reading and collecting Superman. That character, and the creations of animator/filmmaker Ray Harryhausen, sparked my imagination in early youth. Then Batman and Justice League and The Flash and eventually all of the DC comics line. Not long afterward, I picked up on Marvel, especially with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. By that time I was completely obsessed with comics! By the time I was a teen-ager in Detroit, I was a die-hard comic book collector, and I bought just about everything on a weekly basis.
before he founded the first Detroit Triple Fan Fair, which was in 1965. I took over the publishing of the fanzine Super-Hero from Mike Tuohey, beginning with #4, while I was still in high school. Mike was going off to college, so I took over the journalistic reins and continued to publish both Super-Hero and my other fanzine, Intrigue, which featured amateur comics creations by me and other fan artists. Through networking via telephone and the postal services, I also contributed art to many other fan publications of the time. I was a bit of an overachiever, even at that young age. For the very first Detroit Triple Fan Fair, I worked on the organizing committee. My job was art production and doing liaison work with the comic book professionals. I helped bring in guests like Jim Steranko, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, and Al Williamson. At the very beginning, I did all of the convention’s progress reports and program books. I was co-chairman with Robert Brosch for one of the later Detroit conventions. This was all during the late 1960s. I was also very fortunate to have met Jerry Bails. That meeting and the friendship that followed sparked a lot of creativity for me. Professor Bails was sort of the father of the whole organized comics fandom movement. If you could call it a movement. It was more like a relentless phenomenon, one that no one had any idea would grow to the epic proportions that it has today. Professor Jerry Bails was very much an early mentor for me. He thought I was some kind of young genius. I thought he was just being nice. As a matter of fact, it was Jerry who gave me my very first paid art assignment for one of his publications.
Comic books actually saved my life, in a sense. From an early age, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up—a full-time professional in the comic business. My teen years were magical because I was fortunate to fall in with some very key figures in the nascent comic book fandom scene in Detroit.
It was also through Jerry that I met Roy Thomas. This was way back when Roy was an English teacher and was just taking over the publishing of the 1960s version of Alter Ego. Roy was very supportive of my efforts as an artist even in those early fan days, long before he went pro and became Stan Lee’s assistant.
RA: You were very active in the fan scene. How did your involvement in comic fandom come about?
In those early days, I was very actively participating in fan publications. I did art and stories for many fanzines like StarStudded, Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector, The Comic Reader, Comic Crusader, Bombshell, and so many others.
BUCKLER: Actually, I was involved in the organizing of comics fandom in its earliest days. I met Shel Dorf when I was a teen-ager,
Detroit Daze (Left:) Rich Buckler (on the left) and Dr. Jerry G. Bails, founder of Alter Ego and, at least to some extent, of organized comics fandom—both entities being launched in spring of 1961. This photo was taken in Detroit circa the mid-’60s. Thanks to Rich Buckler & Richard Arndt. (Right:) Rich at a Detroit Triple Fan Fair. Both Bails and Shel Dorf were involved in getting that early fandom event begun in 1965, only a year after the first true comics convention ever; Buckler got involved a couple of years later.
“Just Living My Dream!”
5
Fan-tastic Art Buckler’s progress as an artist even during his fannish days is demonstrated by his work in amateur-comics-oriented fanzines (clockwise from above left): Superhero #4 (Winter 1966, published in late 1965)... his Thor/Odin cover for Tony Rutherford’s Bombshell Ama-zine #7 (1967)... and his wraparound cover done for Jerry Bails' 1969 Collector's Guide: The First Heroic Age. Despite the skill displayed in the Thor illo, probably few fans would’ve predicted that, less than five years later, he’d be drawing the thunder god professionally in The Avengers #101. Thanks to Bill Schelly for the above two scans, one of which appeared in his fan-history The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (1995). [Thor, Odin, & Destroyer TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc., Shazam hero & Spectre TM & © DC Comics; Shield TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.; Skyman TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; other art © Rich Buckler.]
[Captain Marvel art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
$500,000 $500,000 PAID PAID FOR FOR ORIGINAL ORIGINAL C COMIC OMIC A ART! RT! COLLECTOR COLLECTOR PAYING PAYING TOP TOP DOLLAR DOLLAR FOR FOR “ “ANY ANY YA AND ND A ALL” LL” O ORIGINAL RIGINAL C COMIC OMIC B BOOK OOK A AND ND C COMIC OMIC S STRIP TRIP A ARTWORK RTWORK FFROM ROM T THE HE 1 1930S 930S T TO OP PRESENT! RESENT! C COVERS, OVERS, P PINUPS, INUPS, P PAGES, AGES, IIT TD DOESN’T OESN’T M MATTER! ATTER! 1P AGE O PAGE OR RE ENTIRE NTIRE C COLLECTIONS OLLECTIONS S SOUGHT! OUGHT! CALL CALL OR OR EMAIL EMAIL ME ME ANYTIME! ANYTIME!
3 330-221-5665 30-221-5665 m mikeburkey@aol.com ikeburkey@aol.com O OR RS SEND END YOUR YOUR LIST LIST TO: TO:
MIKE MIKE B BURKEY URKEY
H4 4266 P.O. P .O. BOX BOX 455 455 • RAVENNA, RAVENNA, O OH 44266 CASH IS IS WAITING, WAITING, S O HURRY!!!!! HURRY!!!! !!! CASH SO
35
RAFAEL ASTARITA Comic Book Pioneer Two Easy Pieces On “One Of The Best Comic Book Artists Who Ever Drew”
A/E
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Comic book or comic strip artists often have a champion who make it his/her business to make certain that that artist is not forgotten, and that his/her accomplishments are noted and documented for posterity. Comics and pulp artist Rafael Astarita (1912-1994) is fortunate in having two such champions, who have pooled their resources in the following pair of entries. Hames Ware, no stranger to readers of this magazine, was originally a voice actor. In the early 1970s he was the co-editor (with Dr. Jerry G. Bails) of the four volumes of the print edition of the Who’s Who of American Comic Books, forerunner of the current online website which lists data connected to the careers of
Hames Ware
Rafael Astarita Photo courtesy of Hames Ware, with thanks to David Saunders.
comic book professionals up through the year 1999. He probably knows more than any man alive about the comics shops/studios from the early days of comic books… and part of what he knows first came from artist Rafael Astarita. David Saunders (born 1954 in New York City) came to his interest in the history of pulp magazines and their artists as a matter of David Saunders birthright: his father was Norman Saunders, a major pulp-mag cover artist. David is, in fact, an artist himself, and has taught at various art schools. His website www.pulpartists.com contains a wealth of information on numerous classic American illustrators, and on the history of the pulps.
I. An Interview With HAMES WARE – Conducted by DAVID SAUNDERS DAVID SAUNDERS: Why is Rafael Astarita important? HAMES WARE: He is important because he was one of the best comic book artists who ever drew. He was a part of the beginning of comics. His first work appears in 1935 in Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s titles [forerunners of DC Comics]. He was already drawing in a way that was superior to most of the other work that appeared in those comic books. Generally, the subjects of the comics that he drew were classic legends or fables of historical adventures, which the average cartoonist at that time was not really able to handle, and yet as early as 1935 and 1936 he was already drawing things like “King Arthur” and “Allan de Beaufort.”
I Don’t Want To Leave The Jungle… (Left:) Astarita’s Kaänga cover for Fiction House’s Jungle Comics #47 (Nov. 1943). From the Comic Book Plus website of public domain comics, the ultimate source of several other scans accompanying these pieces, as well. (Right:) Later, for Fiction House’s pulp magazine Jungle Stories (Feb. 1947), he drew this illustration for the “Ki-Gor” lead story; scan courtesy of David Saunders. Both writers unknown. A Ki-Gor by any other name would be Kaänga! [© the respective copyright holders.]
52
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1)
S
by Michael T. Gilbert
ometimes you can get too much of a good thing. Case in point: Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer!
On paper, it must have seemed a stroke of genius. By 1967, Adam West Batmania was in full swing, and every comic publisher
hoped to cash in on the “camp” craze. Harvey Comics had already tapped Joe Simon to create a new “Thriller” line of comics. Tower had their T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and even Archie had launched their Mighty Comics line, scripted by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. Everyone hoped their hero would be the next Batman. With all that activity going on, it’s no surprise that newcomer Milson Publications decided to throw its cape into the ring. Fawcett scholar P.C. Hamerlinck recently shared some background on the company’s origins: “Will Lieberson was the editor of the first couple of issues,
Fatman To The Rescue! We see not only Fatman in action, but three Milson staff members, too… sort of! From Fatman #3 (Sept. 1967). [© Milson or successors in interest.]
Fatman, The Lost Issue (Part 1)
The Big Three! There were three advertised Milson books, though only two titles saw print. (Clockwise:) Fatman #1 (April 1967), with art by C.C. Beck… an ad for the never-published Captain Shazam (from Fatman #3, Aug. 1967)… and Carl Pfeufer’s Tod Holton, Super Green Beret #1 cover (April 1967). Todd was a teenage Billy Batson clone until a magic beret turned him into a Commie-smashing super-soldier.[© Milson or successors in interest.]
before he brought Wendell [Crowley] in on the third one because Beck and Binder weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on the book (according to Beck, which he had relayed to me). Milson was started by four guys: Will Lieberson and his brother Martin, and Bernard Miller and his brother Joe.” It was all in the Fawcett family, as Bernie Millier had written “Captain Marvel Jr.,” “Radar the International Policeman,” and filler stories back in the Golden Age. The company got its name by combining the Miller and Lieberson brothers’ last names. I also asked P.C. about Kenneth Dennis, credited as editor in issue #1. “Kenneth Dennis? That’s a Lieberson pseudonym, using his son’s names. Will used a lot of different names for various projects, especially when he started publishing porn.”
They’re Back! The fledgling company initially planned to produce three different titles under the Lightning Comics logo, with Will Lieberson running the line. As a former Fawcett editor, Lieberson naturally gravitated to creators he’d worked with so successfully in comics’ Golden Age. The editor touted their Marvel-ous creators on issue one’s editorial page:
53
56
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
good Captain as “A Turned-On Super Swinger!,” that was undoubtedly a blessing! And so ended the short career of Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer. Well, almost.
The Fatman Rocks! Longtime Alter Ego readers may recall an article in issue Vol. 3,
#11, way back in November 2001. Gary Brown’s “The Lost Fourth Issue of C.C. Beck’s Fatman” appeared as part of P.C. Hamerlinck’s Fawcett Collector’s of America section, and talked about a final issue of Fatman that never saw print. Gary’s piece was an abbreviated version of a fanzine article he’d written for CAPA-alpha #324 in October 1991. Briefly, circa 1967, Gary and his friends Wayne DeWaid, both teenagers, were hoping to get an interview with fellow Floridian Beck for their Comic Comment ’zine. Beck was agreeable, and the two were invited to his studio. During the meeting, Beck revealed to the wide-eyed fans that he was getting back into comics again with his upcoming Fatman series. The kids were thrilled! But the thrill turned to disappointment when they visited again a few months later. Beck informed them that Milson was no longer publishing comics, and that work on Fatman #4 had been stopped. The kids were understandably disappointed, but that was tempered by a parting gift from C.C. Beck—the unfinished art and scripts for issue #4! Some of that work was published in Alter Ego V3#11, but more remained unseen since its original printing in 1991. So we thought it would be fun to show more of this rare Beck/Binder hero. We’ll have more next issue. Till next time…
Van-tastic! Our hungry hero, Van Crawford, depicted by C.C. Beck. [© Milson or successors in interest.]
Comic Fandom Archive
57
Alter Ego’s Multi-Part Tribute To G.B. Love & RBCC – Part 5
G.B. Love. (1939-2001) Photo by Robert Brown.
Remembering RBCC — With LOVE Five Fans Reminisce About G.B. Love & Contributing To His Classic Fanzine, The Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector Introduction by Bill Schelly
M
any, many fans contributed to RBCC in the 1960s and 1970s. We venture that all of them have stories to share about working with, and knowing, G.B. Love. For this installment of our series, we’ve asked five of them to share some memories of those halcyon days.
It’s fitting that we begin with those of Bernie Bubnis, since he contributed a piece to Gordon Love’s very first fanzine, The Rocket’s Blast #1 (Dec. 1961). Bernie is best remembered as the key organizer of the 1964 New York Comicon, as recounted most recently in A/E #137 & 138. We continue with artist Robert Kline, whose covers are among the most memorable to appear on RBCC (and other top fanzines of the era— as well as later in Marvel’s Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, Savage Sword of Conan, etc.). Next come the reminiscences of Gary Brown, whose “Keyhole” column was one of the zine’s most popular features. Gary later found his calling as a newspaper journalist, while continuing his Ibid contributions to CAPA-alpha to the present day. Then, after a brief piece by our FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck, we close with Larry Bigman’s affectionate recollection of events leading up to G.B. Love’s life-altering move to Houston, Texas, including Love’s first experience with plane travel.
BERNIE BUBNIS The need to share my comic book fascination was so strong that I eagerly responded to Gordon’s letter in Mystery in Space #72 (Dec. 1961). Along with my dues to the SFCA [South Florida Comics Association], I sent a 226word short story titled “I Loved Her,” about shortcircuiting my robot girlfriend. He told me it was too long and could I shorten it? Then and Now Hey, Gordon, Bernie Bubnis, then (c. 1964) and, more or less, now (okay, I’m a 13-year2014), photographed by his wife Lucille.
Adkins Diet When Bernie’s G.B.-rejected story “I Loved Her” appeared in Yandro #118 (Nov. 1962), it was accompanied by an illustration by Dan Adkins. [© Estate of Dan Adkins.]
old geek just sitting in my room with a few hundred comic books. I’ve got nothing else to do. I’ll write another story with only 80 words. The “Dividing Line,” about a visitor from the fifth dimension, saw print in The Rocket’s Blast #1. “I Loved Her” appeared in Yandro #118 (Nov. 1962), a sci-fi fanzine, accompanied by an illustration by Dan Adkins. Thank you, Gordon.
72
Hometown Hero A Vintage 1945 Newspaper Article On Golden Age Great MARC SWAYZE by P.C. Hamerlinck
E
DITOR’S INTRODUCTION: No FCA anniversary issue would be complete without the presence of Marc Swayze. Marc, an important part of our family here at FCA/Alter Ego/TwoMorrows, passed away on October 14, 2012, at the age of 99. His continuous narrative, “We Didn’t Know… It was the Golden Age!” graced hundreds of our pages for years, and his colloquial yet illuminating memoirs were unprecedented amongst his Golden Age artist peers.
In case you didn’t previously get to know him in our magazine: Marcus D. Swayze was one of the top artists for Fawcett Publications from 1941-53. The first Mary Marvel sketches emerged from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest tales; but Marc was originally hired by Fawcett to draw “Captain Marvel” stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote several “Captain Marvel” scripts while in the military. After his discharge from the Army in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his home in Monroe, Louisiana. There he worked on “The Phantom Eagle” featured in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip, originally created by his mentor, Russell Keaton, for Bell Syndicate. After the cancellation of Wow in 1948, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s successful line of romance comics. After the company ceased publishing comics, and after a brief stint with Charlton Publications in the mid-’50s, Marc left comics for corporate work. His first “We Didn’t Know …” column appeared in FCA #54 (1996). Now, here’s an opportunity to get to know Marc even more as we present this rare 1945 article showcasing “Monroe’s Comic Creator” from his hometown newspaper, the long-defunct Monroe Morning World. —PCH.
Schoolboy Hobby Becomes Career For Local Artist M.D. Swayze Draws Well Known Comics Flyin’ Jenny, Phantom Eagle
A
by Paul Martin
lmost all boys—and girls, too—have at some time in their lives tried their hand at cartoons or other drawing endeavors, but very few have had their schoolboy hobbies develop into careers. One of the few is Monroe’s own M.D. Swayze, descendant of one of the South’s oldest families, who is turning out the well-known comic strip Flyin’ Jenny, which appears daily and Sunday in newspapers from Alaska to Mexico and coast to coast. Swayze was born and reared here and turns out his work in a
Through A Glass, Darkly The front page of the Monroe (Louisiana) Morning World from 1945 featuring hometown hero Marc Swayze—referred to throughout as “M.D. Swayze” by the author of the article. Unfortunately, the photo is of poor quality, having been shot through a glass frame. If you can see it, on Marc’s home studio drawing table is a Flyin’ Jenny original Sunday page he was working on, along with an issue of Wow Comics (#37, July ’45) featuring one of his “Phantom Eagle” stories. Seen on the wall behind him is C.C. Beck’s going-awayfrom-Fawcett gift to him, the original cover art to Whiz Comics #19… and a portrait Marc drew of Mickey Malone, aka “The Phantom Eagle.” Special thanks to Judy Blackman Swayze.
small studio at his home, 2007 South Grand Street, where he lives with his father and two sisters, May and Daisy, who take a keen interest and pride in the work of their son and brother. “Flyin’ Jenny” is a beauteous blonde aviatress whose love for the airways leads her from one adventure to another, and current daily strips find her involved in an interesting experience with two convalescing GIs who are treasure-hunting for Nazi loot. Her adventures are timely with her new thrills, after activities in which she recently was testing jet propulsion planes, having a decided postwar theme.
Hometown Hero
73
It’s a full-time job, but he keeps his work several weeks ahead of publication dates and mails his drawings to Bell Syndicate each weekend. The syndicate handles distribution to subscribing papers. Often scenes in his drawings are from actual buildings and places right here in Monroe, and in a recent Flyin’ Jenny daily strip there was a drawing of Conway Memorial Hospital. The scene called for a hospital building in the background, so Swayze drove to the institution a short distance south of his home and sketched the Monroe building. Because his drawings of airships are so up to date and true to actual designs, Swayze is considered something of an authority on planes. Manufacturers of such ships keep him supplied with pictures of new planes and designs they are turning out, and frequently he finds an occasion for sketching the new craft into his strips, much to the pleasure of the plane designers. But Swayze frankly admits he’s not the airship authority some think him to be. “I’ve been up in a plane only three times in my life,” he said. “The first time I was curious. The second time I was indifferent. And the third time I was just bored.”
This Is A Job For—Well, Maybe Not Captain Marvel In his final year, Marc Swayze identified for me that he illustrated “Captain Marvel and the Job He Couldn’t Do!” from Captain Marvel Adventures #13 (July 1942)—but Marc could sure do the job! Scripter unknown. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]
But Jenny is not Swayze’s only endeavor. He is also drawing “The Phantom Eagle” for Wow Comics, a monthly magazine publication, and prior to turning his efforts to Flyin’ Jenny he was a staff artist for Fawcett Publications, New York, drawing and writing the well-known comic character, “Captain Marvel.” Swayze’s partner in creating the Flyin’ Jenny strips, which is also published in two foreign languages, Spanish and French, is Glenn Chaffin, one of the originators of Tailspin Tommy. Chaffin, whose home is in Corvallis, Montana, prepares the script and plot, then Swayze draws it up. Swayze’s sister Daisy assists in the inking and lettering. But she has only been able to lend her aid since the artist’s return here from New York, where he was for some time doing illustrations and commercial art for magazines before taking to the fruitful comic field. The war interrupted Swayze’s work for a while and he served a year and a half with the United States Army before being honorably discharged about a year ago. He has since been elected first vice commander of the L.B. Faulk Post No. 13, American Legion, here. With his Army discharge the young artist returned to New York briefly before heading home with the Flyin’ Jenny and “Phantom Eagle” assignments. For the past year, Swayze has been drawing the Sunday page, but recently he took over the daily strip as well and now has full charge of the artwork, daily and Sunday. “New York is all right for those who like it,” Swayze declared. “But I am all Southerner, and I took to the comic field as a means of being able to come home.”
Educated in the city schools of Monroe, young Swayze found his teachers encouraging, and Miss Louise Moore, art instructor for the city school system, gave him special attention as a student at Neville High School from which he graduated. He was art editor of the Neville yearbook during his senior year. Then he attended Northeast Junior College of I.S.U., where he was art editor of the college yearbook. He is also a graduate of Louisiana Tech, where art was his principal study. The Swayze family is one of the oldest in the South, the first Swayzes settling in this country near Natchez, Mississippi, in 1772, when this part of the country was under South rule. The family has spread out over
Bound For The Big City! Marc Swayze, right before heading to New York City for the first time to meet… Captain Marvel!