Roy Thomas’ OTTO-matic Comics Fanzine
&
$
9.95
In the USA
No.147 July 2017
Proudly Presenting:
The Wondrous Writings Of GOLDEN & SILVER AGE GREAT
OTTO BINDER - Starring – CAPTAIN MARVEL SUPERMAN CAPTAIN AMERICA DOLL MAN MARVEL FAMILY SUPERGIRL CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT THE HANGMAN CAPTAIN BATTLE BLACK OWL & A Zillion Others!
1
82658 00094
Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics; other new art © Estate of C.C. Beck.
3
Vol. 3, No. 147 / September 2017 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 Artist
C.C. Beck (probably)
Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko
With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Ger Apeldoorn Dave Armstrong Bob Bailey Jean Bails Shaun Clancy Comic Book Plus (website) Al Dellinges Shane Foley Stepahn Friedt Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Jim Kealy Sean Kleefeld
Mark Lewis Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Doug Martin Will Meugniot Mark Muller Warren Reece Eric Schumacher Marc Svensson Dann Thomas Tony Thomas Steven Thompson Anthony Tollin Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Yocitrus Mike Zachary
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Otto Binder
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
Contents Writer/Editorial: On Otto-matic Pilot! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Binder’s List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 P.C. Hamerlinck (& the FCA), Bill Schelly, & Roy Thomas visually annotate Otto Binder’s mid-’60s record of his many comic book scripts written from 1939-1965.
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: It’s An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World! . . . . 91 Michael T. Gilbert’s tour of some of the strangest comic book ads of all time!
On Our Cover: Collector Mike Zachary sent this drawing of the original Captain Marvel and America’s Uncle Sam to P.C. Hamerlinck, who suggested it be used as the central image of this issue’s cover. The illo was probably done, back in the wartime 1940s, by none other than Charles Clarence Beck, the talented cartoonist who was the artistic co-creator of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. We can’t be 100% sure—but it certainly matches his style, and doesn’t seem to have been done by his colleagues Pete Costanza or Marc Swayze. P.C. and his FCA cover coordinator Mark Lewis framed the two figures amid various pieces of classic Fawcett art by Beck, Bob Powell, Mac Raboy, & Kurt Schaffenberger. [This art spot & next: Shazam heroes art TM & © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.] Above: Look familiar? Yep, it’s the very same Captain Marvel/Uncle Sam illustration used on our cover—minus Tom Ziuko’s cavortin’ coloring! We wanted you to see it in black-&-white as well as color, and the head of this contents page seemed as good a place as any! We’ve wondered if perhaps it was done as possible cover art for Captain Marvel Adventures #28 (Oct. 1943), which is also on display above, but then Fawcett had Beck draw a different angle for Cap and his Uncle instead. No way to know…! Alter Ego TM is published 6 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. Six-issue subscriptions: $65 US, $102 Elsewhere, $29 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.
2
writer/editorial
Y
On OTTO-Matic Pilot!
eah, that’s what I thought this issue was gonna be, all right. Otto-matic = automatic. A snap!
I mean, after all, Bill Schelly had turned over to P.C. Hamerlinck and me scans of all 70-plus pages of the list that Golden and Silver Age writer Otto Binder had compiled in the mid-1960s (see Bill’s intro on next page)—and P.C. would supply most of the Fawcett illustrations for the sprawling FCA segment that would make up more than half of the coverage. And I had enlisted longsuffering A/E contributor Bob Bailey to send me scans from a goodly number of the Superman-related and science-fictional yarns that made up much of Binder’s post-Fawcett career at DC Comics. All I’d have to do was track down art to spotlight Otto’s pre-Fawcett stories, edit P.C.’s drafts of captions and write my own—stick in a few ads and “Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt” (no room for a letters section this time)—and voila! This very different issue of Alter Ego would be ready to be sent to press! Yeah, right. Turns out that, though P.C. did indeed send loads of Fawcett scans, he hadn’t had a chance to coordinate them with the Binder pages, so there might be three art spots that should go on one particular page (where we just had room for two) and only one for another page (which also needed two). Besides, during the early part of Otto’s tenure at Fawcett, he was also writing for Timely, Anglo-American, and other companies, and we needed to showcase art from those, as well—yes, even in the FCA section—so it was down to me to come up with it. Which meant that I was, as always, dependent on the kindness of—well, not of strangers, but of correspondents and collectors, a number of whom came through for A/E… especially Warren Reece (who else owns copies of most of the really early Timely comics and would photocopy those precious, fragile pages for me?), Jim
Ludwig, Doug Martin, Jim Kealy, Art Lortie, Stephan Friedt, Mark Muller, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, Anthony Tollin, and several others who provided an odd scan or two. You can see my indebtedness to them—and to the online Comic Book Plus site—on many of the pages in of this issue. So what I’m saying is, this issue of A/E turned out to be quite a bit more work than I expected. But hey, nobody ever held a gun to my head and said, “You will spend an inordinate amount of time in your later years putting out a heavily illustrated magazine about the Golden and Silver Ages of Comic Books!” Bill, P.C., and I had agreed that Otto’s list should be published. Otto was not only one of the greatest and most prolific writers of the original Captain Marvel… and a major contributor to the “Mort Weisinger Mythos” of the 1950s-60s “Superman” comics line… he was also one of nature’s nicest people, a gentle soul who, from the moment he discovered comics fans (like Dick and Pat Lupoff) in the early 1960s through those of us he befriended a couple of years later (Jerry Bails, Bill Spicer, and myself in particular), was unstinting of his aid and encouragement. In addition, his exhaustive mid-’60s list of his stories was one of the things that helped jumpstart the Who’s Who of American Comic Books and today’s Grand Comics Database. If not for pros like Otto helping the above Silver Age fans and others, we wouldn’t have the plentiful digitized data that is now at the beck and call of anybody with a PC and a typing finger. You were one of the special ones, Otto—and that’s why this issue is dedicated to you, the third patron saint of Alter Ego (along with Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox)! Even above and beyond the stupendous stories you wrote, we wanted to honor Otto Binder— the man!
Bestest,
COMING IN AUGUST
148
#
The LAST—& GREATEST— Golden & Silver Age Comics Convention Ever!
Art TM & © DC Comics
EACH ISSUE NOW 100 PAGES!
• Dynamic cover featuring art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, & GIL KANE! • Panels, patter, & pictures from JOE PETRILAK’s ALL TIME CLASSIC NEW YORK COMIC BOOK CONVENTION, held in White Plains, NY, in 2000—featuring 60th-Anniversary Celebrations of The Flash & Green Lantern & the talents of KUBERT • INFANTINO • SCHWARTZ (JULIE, ALVIN, & LEW SAYRE) • MOLDOFF • NODELL • HASEN • LAMPERT • BUSCEMA • GILL • DRAKE • GREEN • AYERS • SEVERIN • CUIDERA NOVICK • BOLLE • FOX • FLESSEL • GOULART • THOMAS, et al.! • Bonus! A spectacular 4-page spread of RUSS RAINBOLT’s magnificent 60-foot mural, done for that con, showcasing the greatest heroes of the Golden & Silver Ages! • Plus—P.C. HAMERLINCK’s FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America]—MICHAEL T. GILBERT & MR. MONSTER on Peter Cannon – Thunderbolt creator PETE MORISI—BILL SCHELLY with SF/comics aficionado TED WHITE [Part 2]—& MORE!!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.
Subscribe! Six 100-page issues: $65 Economy US, $83 Expedited US, $102 International, $29 Digital Only
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: twomorrows.com
OTTO BINDER’s Big Look Back
st Li n ’suctio ERod D intr IN n B a
Comic Fandom Archive
3
An Introduction
I
by Bill Schelly n 1960, just when Otto Binder thought he had left his comic book writing career behind, he came into contact with his first comic book fans.
“It just never occurred to me that there could be such a thing as comics fans,” he told Tom Fagan, J. Randolph Cox, and Frank Miller, when they visited him in 1973. “I knew there were sciencefiction fans and movie fans and such, but—I just assumed people read [the comics], enjoyed them for what they were, and threw them away. I was astounded when Dick Lupoff called me up and invited me to a meeting of comics fans at his house. They all knew Captain Marvel backwards and forwards.” Backwards and forwards? Not quite, although there was one fan who did aspire to that kind of thoroughness. Enter: Jerry G. Bails. Jerry read Dick Lupoff’s All in Color for a Dime entry titled “The Big Red Cheese” in Xero #1 in February of 1961, just as he was planning to launch a comics fanzine called Alter-Ego with help from his correspondent Roy Thomas. The Lupoff science-fiction (and pop culture) fanzine was loaned to him by DC editor Julius Schwartz during or shortly after Bails’ visit to New York City in February of that year. One can readily imagine Jerry Bails finishing “The Big Red Cheese” and immediately wondering if there was any way to determine how many “Captain Marvel” stories had actually been written by “Eando Binder.” The fact that Otto, not “Eando,” wrote the “Captain Marvel” stories was revealed by Lupoff in Xero #3, which Schwartz had also loaned Bails. Otto had used the “Eando” pseudonym for his science-fiction writing, although his writing partnership with his brother Earl—thus, “E-and-O”—had ended in 1936. It wasn’t long before Jerry, a natural-born data collector, wanted to know who had written and drawn all the comic books from the comics era that Lupoff soon suggested should be deemed a “Golden Age.” Bails wanted to honor those creators, but one needed to identify them first. In Otto Binder, Jerry was presented with a man who was (though neither realized it at the time) likely the most prolific comic book scribe of the 1940s. Bails wasn’t one to let the grass grow under his figurative feet, so it’s safe to assume that he quickly obtained Binder’s address from Lupoff (or Schwartz) and wrote to Otto by late 1961 or early 1962. We
Dr. Jerry G. Bails The science college prof and #1 comics fan of the 1960s—a pic taken during the Alley [Awards] Tally held at his Detroit-area home in 1964. Photo courtesy of Jean Bails.
Otto Oscar Binder at the 1965 New York comics convention, with dealers Carole and Phil Seuling as Mary and Captain Marvel. Photo taken by Dave Armstrong.
do know that Jerry’s interest in fanzine-publishing itself waned in 1962, because he passed the editorship of Alter-Ego to popular fan-artist Ronn Foss after A/E #4 appeared in the fall of that year. Bails’ goal of accumulating creator credits had risen to the level of obsession, and it soon became the centerpiece of his fan activity. This led eventually to the creation of his Who’s Who in American Comic Books, co-edited by Hames Ware. At some point early on, Otto Binder informed Bails that he had written not only many of the stories of the various members of The Marvel Family and those of other characters at Fawcett, but had also done a great deal of writing for other publishers, notably Timely, National (DC), EC, and numerous smaller houses. Hence, it’s no surprise that Bails asked Binder if he had records of those writing credits. Obtaining such information from one as prolific as Binder would be an invaluable influx of information for his files.
Two Who Made A Start Otto Binder and Jerry Bails, over the course of their mid-1960s correspondence, started the ball rolling for the amassing of comic-book-related data, which would culminate in the 4-volume 1970s print edition of Who’s Who of American Comic Books and in its current online counterpart (see ad on p. 89). Here is part of the Oct. 18, 1964, letter from Binder to Bails quoted in the main text of this introduction. Thanks to Bill Schelly.
8
S
Binder’s List—Part One
OOB’s Earliest Comics Scripts
ince Binder at first freelanced for a number of different companies, FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck and Ye A/E Editor agreed that the latter would cover many of OOB’s early features and forays, before P.C. begins the Fawcett Collectors of America section proper. We’ve reprinted all the 70+ pages of the list except a handful of redundant ones....
“Dan Hastings” was reported by Binder as the first comic book story he ever scripted, though it was not done for “Chesler Pub[lication]s” as per his list, but rather for Harry “A” Chesler’s comics shop, which then supplied art and story for MLJ, the future Archie Comics Group. OOB gives the date as “Oct. 1939,” which may represent when he began to write it (he does refer to that as a “starting date”) or some arcane Chesler schedule or something else entirely; the actual cover date of Blue Ribbon Comics #1, which contained the above very first “Dan Hastings” tale, was Nov. 1939. Art probably by Clem Gretter. Thanks to the Comic Book Plus website (abbreviated “CBP” for the remainder of this coverage) for both scans on this page. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]
“Scott Rand” Otto’ second script. On this equally science-fictional effort, he received a byline as “Eando Binder,” the name under which he’d written or co-written all his pulp fiction. From MLJ’s Top Notch Comics #3 (Feb. 1940). Art probably by his brother Jack. Thanks to CBP. [TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]
The Early Years of Otto Binder
“Little Nemo!” Although Robert McCay, son of the great Winsor McCay, is credited as both writer and artist of this continuation of his father’s legendary early-20th-centurty comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, Otto noted that he “ghosted” the script for McCay the younger in Street & Smith’s Shadow Comics, Vol. 2, #4 (May 1942). Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., d/b/a Condé Nast.]
“Bulletman” Jack Binder’s shop provided the art for this early Fawcett outing scripted by Otto for Bulletman #3 (Jan. 1941). Thanks to P.C. Hamerlinck. [Bulletman TM & © DC Comics.]
9
t
Part II
B IN D
pa E rt R TW’s O L
is
20
OTTO BINDER’s Fawcett Universe
An Introduction To The Fawcett-Related Pages Of OOB’s Writing Records by P.C. Hamerlinck
W
ith a tobacco-less pipe planted firmly between his teeth, and clad in an interplanetary bathrobe uniform, Otto hopped into his spaceship and flew from the prose of pulps over to those colorful new pamphlets curiously called comic books. Otto’s first stop on his sojourn was at Harry “A” Chesler’s studio/comics shop. That experience was okay, but less than a year later he was already searching for something more—a prominent, friendly environment perfect for a freelancer to nurture a promising new art form and run untamed with a sprightly, unstoppable imagination. Hello, Fawcett! Otto fine-tuned his sequential storytelling craft on such B-list adventurers as “Captain Venture,” “Mr. Scarlet,” and others (as illustrated in early pages of this issue) before finally meeting his destiny with the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Suddenly, upon editor Ed Herron’s departure, Otto— perhaps reluctantly—accepted an editorial position at Fawcett in mid-January 1942. He now had a commute, his own desk, a
Otto In His Writing Studio, Circa 1944 When Binder sent this photo to Roy Thomas in 1964-65, he wrote: “During this era of greatest production, I did up to 200 scripts a year. Pajamas and robe represent ‘working clothes.’ I was so busy I didn’t have time to dress and go out for days at a time—no joke. When my wife was out and I answered the door for random salesmen and callers, I’m sure they thought I was a ‘kept man.’ True irony! I was working like a dog!”
secretary, and morning coffee. He traded in his bathrobe for a shirt and tie. He was at the office day after day, editing Wow Comics and other titles. But his heart wasn’t in it. He quit six months later, returning to freelancing with a mission to write better… hitting full stride, notably in the post-war years, at a wonderful, rhythmic pace (often in unison with artists C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza) where a folksy, good-natured lightheartedness prevailed in his tales… relatable (often satirical) themes reflecting our soul and humanity and the drive and purpose behind the human spirit … varied and absorbing narratives cheerfully set on limitless worlds where seemingly anything could occur at any moment, whether on a distant planet, or in the future, or within an artist’s painting, or downtown at the dry cleaners.
Captain Marvel Adventures #9 (April 1942) “Captain Marvel Saves the King” was Otto Binder’s first non-prose “Captain Marvel” comic book script, written in December of 1941, on assignment by editor Ed Herron. (See p. 5 for OOB’s listing.) Still more irony: Binder’s first “CM” outing didn’t rate a Beck art job; the artist of this tale is unknown! All art in this super-size FCA section was provided by P.C. Hamerlinck, unless otherwise noted. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]
Otto’s numbers were staggering. From 1941 to 1953, he authored 986 out of 1,743 “Captain Marvel”/“Marvel Family”-related tales— yes, over half of them. And this doesn’t count his scripts for all those other guys in capes and tights… or the cowboys… or the movie adaptations… or the supernatural stuff… or his “Jon Jarl” prose short stories used as text fillers. Prolific, yes. But Otto wasn’t mindlessly hacking them out like a robot working on the assembly line. He was an architect with a vision, building upon and enriching a mythology whose solid foundation had been set earlier by Parker and Beck, and which
Otto Binder’s Fawcett Universe
had been nurtured at different moments by other creative minds (Reed, Crowley, Woolfolk, and on and on). Otto gave us Mr. Mind… Black Adam… Mr. Tawny… Uncle Marvel… Freckles Marvel… the gawky Sivana offspring… and, existing beyond the realm of mankind, the mystical dwelling of Shazam: the Rock of Eternity. Color me repentant on one point: Otto did indeed co-create Mary Marvel with artist Marc Swayze. Marc had convinced me otherwise, since he was more or less certain that editor Herron had conceived the idea of giving Billy a twin sister, and he had surmised that Herron had probably written the first “Mary Marvel” story or two. And I reported the revelation, of all places, as part of a DC Shazam Archives introduction! Sigh. I mean, who was I to debate the issue with someone who had actually been there during the creation process —even though it contradicted what Otto had relayed in interviews during the ’70s? But alas, it wasn’t the case. Herron might well have ordered them up, but those early tales and the development of “the Shazam Girl” were all navigated by Otto. So, I’d like to apologize to you, Otto, wherever you are, in whatever galaxy. Like Beck, Otto Binder always treated his readers as equals. I wish I could have met him. I know many others who feel the same
Captain Midnight #2 (Nov. 11, 1942) Captain Midnight had begun life as a radio series in 1938. When Fawcett licensed the aviator, it turned him into a bit more of a super-hero, along the lines of its Spy Smasher. This Jack Binder-drawn story bears no title, but Otto’s title “Jap Juggernaut” is used on the contents page. Thanks to CBP for this scan and the next. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
21
way. But I do have friends who met him and who can attest to his kindness. I wish he could’ve kept pressing on and have written stories forever. But the universe doesn’t work that way, not even in Otto’s universe, where everything and anything was possible. Now, although Otto’s earliest forays into Fawcett’s pages were noted to some extent in the previous section, it’s time to deal in earnest with his tenure and writing at the House of Captain Marvel. We’ll start with listings that he dates as “Jan. 1942” on the lesser Fawcett heroes (which he didn’t entirely drop when he began scripting tales of the World’s Mightiest Mortal), and which include tales of the colorful mostly-“coed” characters so ably drawn by veteran artist Will Meugniot on our FCA cover: Mary Marvel, Bulletgirl, Ibis’ ladyfriend Taia, Freckles Marvel, and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny—plus wild card Nyoka the Jungle Girl, one of the few long-running Fawcett stalwarts that, so far as we know, Otto never scripted. Throughout the mostly-Fawcett-related pages that follow are sprinkled additional examples of his contemporaneous work for Timely Comics—with a spate of Fawcett-style scripting for WWII-era Canadian comics tossed in—before we get to the Big Red Cheese and his immediate Family….
Spy Smasher #11 (Feb. 26, 1943) The hero’s solo mag died with this issue, perhaps partly due to wartime paper quotas. Fawcett used Otto’s story-title (“The Man without a Flag”) this time— but since the splash was a two-page spread, we’ve opted for this action page instead. Artist unknown. [Spy Smasher TM & © DC Comics.]
REED CRANDALL Illustrator of the Comics
From the 1940s to the ’70s, REED CRANDALL brought a unique and masterful style to American comic art. Using an illustrator’s approach on everything he touched, Crandall gained a reputation as the “artist’s artist” through his skillful interpretations of Golden Age super-heroes DOLL MAN, THE RAY, and BLACKHAWK (his signature character); horror and sci-fi for the legendary EC COMICS line; Warren Publishing’s CREEPY, EERIE, and BLAZING COMBAT; the THUNDER AGENTS and EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS characters; and even FLASH GORDON for King Features. Comic art historian ROGER HILL has compiled a complete and extensive history of Crandall’s life and career, from his early years and major successes, through his tragic decline and passing in 1982. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER includes NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTOS, a wealth of RARE AND UNPUBLISHED ARTWORK, and over EIGHTY THOUSAND WORDS of insight into one of the true illustrators of the comics.
(256-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $49.95 • (Digital Edition) $19.95 ISBN: 978-1-60549-077-9 • SHIPS JULY 2017!
It’s
GROOVY, baby!
Follow-up to Mark Voger’s smash hit MONSTER MASH!
All characters TM & © their respective owners.
From WOODSTOCK to “THE BANANA SPLITS,” from “SGT. PEPPER” to “H.R. PUFNSTUF,” from ALTAMONT to “THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY,” GROOVY is a far-out trip to the era of lava lamps and love beads. This profusely illustrated HARDCOVER BOOK, in PSYCHEDELIC COLOR, features interviews with icons of grooviness such as PETER MAX, BRIAN WILSON, PETER FONDA, MELANIE, DAVID CASSIDY, members of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, CREAM, THE DOORS, THE COWSILLS and VANILLA FUDGE; and cast members of groovy TV shows like “THE MONKEES,” “LAUGH-IN” and “THE BRADY BUNCH.” GROOVY revisits the era’s ROCK FESTIVALS, MOVIES, ART—even COMICS and CARTOONS, from the 1968 ‘mod’ WONDER WOMAN to R. CRUMB. A color-saturated pop-culture history written and designed by MARK VOGER (author of the acclaimed book MONSTER MASH), GROOVY is one trip that doesn’t require dangerous chemicals!
(192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-080-9 • DIGITAL EDITION: $15.95
SHIPS OCTOBER 2017!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com
OTTO BINDER
71
st
The DC Years
Li ’sREE ERTH D rt IN pa B
Part III
by Roy Thomas
F
rom the 1953 demise of Fawcett’s comics department through the mid-1960s period when he was preparing these listings for Jerry Bails, Otto worked mostly for DC Comics, primarily under “Superman” line editor Mort Weisinger and science-fiction editor Julius Schwartz. But before we peruse that work, below (and on the following page, which displays Binder’s sheet) are pages from that era done for Standard and EC, and for a third DC editor (officially Whitney Ellsworth, as was also the case with Weisinger’s and Schwartz’s titles, but actually probably Jack Schiff)…
Lost Worlds #6 (Dec. 1952) For this Standard/Pines SF comic, Otto scripted “The First Man to Reach the Moon,” which was illustrated by Art Saaf. Here’s the story’s shock ending, which gave the writer yet another shot at toying around with robots. Thanks to Comic Book Plus. [© the respective copyright holders.]
Weird Science-Fantasy #27 (Jan.-Feb. 1955) OOB teams up with EC star artist Wally Wood—and editor Al Feldstein must’ve liked Otto’s title! Thanks to Tony Thomas. [TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]
House Of Mystery #32 (Nov. 1954) Moodily drawn for DC’s original (and always very mild-mannered) “horror” comic by Bill Ely. Thanks to Art Lortie. [TM & © DC Comics.]
ROY THOMAS PRESENTS
14 VOLUMES OF CLASSIC OUTER SPACE ADVENTURES...
Long before Star Wars, there was Planet Comics, home to a veritable parade of steely-jawed interstellar adventurers and some of the most gorgeous damsels in distress you could ever wish to find...
FEATURING THE COMPLETE 73-ISSUE SERIES FROM 1940-1953
STD BOOKSHOP PRICE: $55 SLIPCASE EDITION PRICE: $70
Available for order NOW! Go to either
www.psartbooks.com or www.pspublishing.co.uk
COMICS’ GOLDEN AGE LIVES AGAIN! RULAH • BULLETMAN CAT-MAN BLACK TERROR AVENGER PHANTOM LADY DAREDEVIL CRIMEBUSTER CAPTAIN FLASH SPY SMASHER SKYMAN • STUNTMAN THE OWL • MR. SCARLET COMMANDO YANK PYROMAN • GREEN LAMA THE EAGLE • IBIS
Captain America TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
© AC Comics.
The above is just a partial list of characters that have appeared in AC Comics’ reprint titles such as MEN OF MYSTERY, GOLDEN AGE GREATS, and AMERICA’S GREATEST COMICS. Virtually all issues published to date are still available for purchase 24/7 with PayPal, Visa, or MasterCard. To find over 100 quality Golden Age reprints, go to the AC Comics website at <www.accomics.com>.
91
Headline Headline 2 Author
X
(Right:) Cheesey Jail-Jamas ad from Story Pubs.’ Love Diary #33 (Feb. 1953).
92
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
It’s An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World!
O
by Michael T. Gilbert
K, it’s 1954, and you’re a sweet teenage girl reading a juicy copy of Brides Romances, dreaming of the day you, too, will be a blissfully romantic bride. Suddenly you turn the page, and what do you see? Why, an ad offering an actual honest-to-God tombstone …”Direct from the Factory to You!” And all for a mere $14.95! Talk about a buzzkill!
Death Be Not Cheesy! Now all that sweet young thing can think about is her own fleeting mortality! Ugh! The poor girl then picks up her brother’s Dead-Eye Western comic. Uh-oh. Another, uh, grave mistake! Dear God, it’s a second ad from the Rockdale Monument Company, offering a different death-stone. But hey, this one’s even a bigger bargain. These monuments start at a mere $9.95, including shipping that huge slab of granite anywhere in the U.S. For those not feeling particularly flush, they even offer a... ahem... layaway plan. Wow! A tombstone for under ten bucks. Nothing but the best for your future husband, or maybe even mom and dad!
Two “Monumental” Ads! (Above & right:) The first is from Quality’s Brides Romances #5, (May 1954), followed by Hillman’s Dead-Eye Western #3 (March 1949). [© the respective copyright holders.]
Don’t like gravestones? Well, how about owning your very own steam engine... Free!... courtesy of Tip Top Comics? Every kid’s dream, right? Just plunk down a buck for 24 thrilling issues of The Open Road for Boys and it’s yours. Won’t Mom be surprised? If the idea of Tarzan and Ella Cinders selling steam engines or a tombstone advertisement in a love comic surprises you, well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
A Steamy Offer! Tip-Top Comics #20, (Dec. 1937) advertised a free steam engine to all “red-blooded he-boys”! Wow! Sign me up! [© the respective copyright holders.]
It’s An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World!
93
A Hole In The Ending! At right you’ll see the last two panels of “A Hole in the Head“ a 1953 story from Prize’s Black Magic #27, illustrated by Steve Ditko. Sturdy Steve sent Mike Britt a stat of the story in 1959, with the last panel blank except for a caption on top. The empty space was reserved for an intended newspaper clipping, but the typesetting was never done. I’ve approximated it for this article (see top right). The story’s plot? Three archeologists, a gal and two gents, discover an ancient human skull with a mysterious perfectly round hole in his head. They somehow travel back in time, where a murderous prehistoric human attacks them. The beast kills the two men, but not before one fatally shoots it in the head (hence the hole in the skull they found 1000 years later!). The woman, Martha, faints. When she wakes up, she’s back in the 20th century. Naturally, after Martha tells the police what happened, they stick her in the booby-hatch. In the original version, the writer envisioned an extra twist ending in which a newspaper headline confirms her crazy story. But apparently the editors decided typesetting that final panel wasn’t worth the money. Instead they made a couple of bucks by pasting “The End” on the next-to-last panel and replacing the last pic with a … pimple ad?! Nice surprise ending, cheapskates! Sheesh!
Talk About A Shock Ending! (Above:) The last two panels of “A Hole in the Head” from Prize’s Black Magic #27 (Nov. 1953). The top tier is how the writer hoped the story would end. Below, pimple ad and all, is how it actually looked when printed! Art by Steve Ditko; scripter unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]
Nobody’ll Notice! Of course one lousy pimple ad is nothing compared to the marketing geniuses at Fiction House. If they spotted a page with an empty space, they’d slap on an ad. And if there wasn’t empty space, they’d slap one on anyway. I mean, who’s gonna notice, right? The “Any Photo Enlarged” ads pasted over the art suggests that Fiction House hired Broadway hucksters Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, (lead characters in Mel Brooks’ film The Producers) to sell ads. Then it all went bad. ”Max, what are we going to do?” asks Bloom. “We sold more ads than we have pages! We’ll be arrested. Or worse, have to return the money!” “Don’t worry, Leo,” says Max, grinning like a crazed Zero Mostel. “I’ve got a great idea…”
Photo Too Tiny? (Left:) Panels from Fiction House’s Fight Comics #31 (April 1944), and Jungle Comics #51 (March 1944). “Wambi of the Jungle” art by Henry C. Kiefer. [© the respective copyright holders.]