Issuu

Roy Thomas' Go-With-The-FLO Comics Fanzine

REMEMBERING FABULOUS

No. 153

In the USA

AND THE MARVEL AGE OF COMICS (& BEYOND)!

July 2018

FLO STEINBERG

$9.95

BONUS! FLO'S SENSATIONAL SUCCESSOR 1

82658 00121

ROBIN GREEN

& HER 1971 MARVEL ESSAY FOR ROLLING STONE !

Vol. 3, No. 153 / July 2018 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)

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

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

Contents

Writer/Editorial: “This Little Light Of Mine” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Roy Thomas remembers Flo Steinberg as 1960s co-worker—and as friend in two centuries.

Comic Fandom Archive: “Fabulous Flo” & The 1st New York Comicons . . 5 Bill Schelly explores the lady’s fandom connection, which goes waaaay back.

Craig Wolden, Jack Kirby, Al Hartley, & Stan Goldberg

Cover Colorist

“It Was My First Job In The City!” – An Interview With Flo Steinberg . . . 8 The early days of the Marvel Age, recalled in 1984 by Stan Lee’s corresponding secretary.

25 Facts That Made Flo “Fabulous” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Neal Adams AM New York (newspaper) Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Ger Apeldoorn Richard J. Arndt Bob Bailey J. Ballmann Mark Basso Jon Berk Tom Brennan Tom Brevoort Gary F. Brown Eliot R. Brown Bernie & Lucille Bubnis Jean Caccicedo Aaron Caplan Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell John Cimino Todd Tamanend Clark Maddy Cohen Comic Vine (website) Jon B. Cooke Chet Cox D.D. Degg Wayne DeWald Mark Evanier Justin Fairfax Linda Fite Shane Foley Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Robin Green Larry Hama Heritage Comics Hero Initiative Sean Howe Sharon Karibian

Flo Steinberg & Carolyn Kelly

Jim Kealy Paul Kirschner David Anthony Kraft Lambiek Comiclopedia (website) Stan Lee Mark Lewis Art Lortie Ralph Macchio Jim MacQuarrie Mike Mikulovsky Brian K. Morris Denny O’Neil Barry Pearl Richard Pini Mike Ploog Gene Reed Ralph Reese Trina Robbins John & Virginia Romita Jim Salicrup Bob Schuller Stu Schwartzberg Marie Severin Walt Simonson Dann Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Mike Tuohey Michael Uslan Dr. Michael J. & Maggie Vassallo James Warren Alan Weiss John Wells Kendall Whitehouse Craig Wolden Marv Wolfman Mike Zeck Dwight Jon Zimmerman

J. Ballmann & Co. serve up fascinating factoids about Flo—and her mysterious predecessors.

“Wait A Minute! FLO STEINBERG???” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Dr. Michael J. Vassallo was the lady’s fan—and friend—and dentist!

Tributes, Si! Tears, No! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Pros and fans alike pay tribute to Flo Steinberg and the Marvel-ous mark she left on comics.

A Few Minutes With Robin Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 For Flo’s ambitious and talented successor, Marvel Comics was barely the beginning!

“Face Front!!! You’re On The Winning Team!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Robin Green’s groundbreaking piece on Marvel, first seen in Rolling Stone magazine, 1971.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! “Dan Adkins & The Incredible Tracing Machine” Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Michael T. Gilbert examines the borrowings, homages, and swipes of a skillful 1960s artist.

Tribute To Carolyn Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #212 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Part III of Mike Tiefenbacher’s “Captain Marvel ©opyright ©risis!”

On Our Cover: We were pondering what would make the best cover for this issue when longtime reader and benefactor Jim Kealy e-mailed us a scan, from the infinite Internet, of a fine pencil drawing by Craig Wolden that filled the bill perfectly! It depicted the late and much-missed Flo Steinberg in the dual role of Marvel “corresponding secretary”—and of The Invisible Girl, as per 1978’s What If? #11. Through Jim, Bob

Bailey, and Sharon Karibian, we contacted Craig, who is art director at a production company in Bloomington, Illinois. Happily, he was amenable to our using his illo. We combined it with some artwork Flo knew well: the framing hero-figures that, for much of the 1960s, graced Marvel’s official stationery, featuring art by Al Hartley (Patsy Walker & Hedy Wolfe), Stan Goldberg (Millie the Model), and Jack Kirby (just about everything else). The result, we hope you’ll agree, is a fitting tribute to a remarkable and beloved professional. [Main illo © 2018 Craig Wolden; Marvel artwork TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Above: As artist/writer Larry Hama points out on p. 48, legendary comics illustrator Wally Wood used Flo as the model for the character Madame Toy in his comics feature Cannon. See the aforementioned page for more about that long-running series. [TM & © Estate of Wally Wood.]

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, $99 Elsewhere, $30 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

She liked the job best, I know, before her colleague Jack Abel died; he’d been an inker for Marvel since the mid-’60s. One day in the fall of 2016, she told me she’d informed Marvel she wouldn’t be coming in that winter; it was just too cold to bother. If they welcomed her back come spring, that’d be fine, but her stance was non-negotiable. I guess Marvel accepted it. Like many of her friends who were a bit outside her inner circle, I didn’t know about the last and fateful downturn in her health until I abruptly heard—only a few weeks after we’d last talked by phone— that she was in the hospital, and that the prognosis wasn’t good. Somehow, that information just refused to register. Flo was barely older than I was; besides, I’d known her the whole of my professional life. She was a fixture. She was a rock. She wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what doctors said. All the same, I sat down at once and drew a get-well card, making reference to that Dylan concert now more than a half-century in our mutual rear-view mirror, and mailed it off.

“But I Was So Much Older Then…” The handmade card Roy sent Flo in July 2017… but it arrived too late.

By the time it reached the hospital address I’d been given… Flo had left us. She never saw the card. That hardly matters in the greater scheme of things… but I wish she had. The notion of one final, fleeting communique between us would’ve given me solace. I suspect she might’ve remembered our seeing Dylan. I’m pretty sure she’d have smiled.

Did I mention that Fabulous Flo Steinberg had a wonderful, wonderful smile?

Bestest,

PS: Unfortunately, due to all the material related to Flo and to Rockin’ Robin Green, we had to delay the fifth chapter of John Broome’s 1998 memoir till next issue.

COMING IN AUGUST NOW 100 PAGES!

154

MORE “TITANS OF MARVEL” From The ’40s To The ’70s!

• Timely/Marvel (and this-issue cover) artist ALLEN BELLMAN tells DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO still more Golden Age comics secrets about STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, JOHN BUSCEMA, SYD SHORES, SOL BRODSKY, et al.—and about his own amazing new life on the comicsconvention circuit! • “Shattering the Glass Ceiling—Marvel Style!” The Marvel solo heroines of 1972, showcased in incredible RICHARD ARNDT interviews: The Claws of The Cat (LINDA FITE, PATY COCKRUM)—Shanna the She-Devil (CAROLE SEULING)—& Night Nurse (ROY THOMAS, re JEAN THOMAS)! Art by SEVERIN • WOOD • ANDRU • MORTIMER • TUSKA • FRADON, et al.! • Plus: JOHN BROOME, Part V—FCA’s finale of MIKE TIEFENBACHER’s “Captain Marvel ©opyright ©risis”—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on DAN ADKINS, Part II—BILL SCHELLY on comics rs, racte Cha vel Mar © rica, Sub-Mariner TM & Human Torch, Captain Ame an & Dan Davis fan RAYMOND MILLER—& MORE!! Bellm Allen © art r othe Inc.; Subscribe! Six 100-page issues: $65 Economy US, $77 Expedited US,

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Fabulous FLO STEINBERG – Part 2

Comic Fandom Archive

“FABULOUS FLO” & The First New York Comicons by Bill Schelly

[Abridged & edited from his “Sense of Wonder” column #8 for Comics Source #8 (Jan. 1996), published by Warren Ventures Corp., edited by Jon R. Warren.]

hen one remembers the glory days of comic fandom in the 1960s, it’s impossible to overlook the fact that many fans’ interest in comics was a result of the meteoric rise of Marvel Comics. Would the fledgling comic fan movement have gotten off the ground had National/DC entirely dominated the scene? I don’t think so. After Fantastic Four #1 debuted in August 1961, it soon became apparent that readers loved Stan Lee’s bickering, realistic protagonists. To his surprise, Lee had begun receiving unusually intelligent letters, enough to institute the Fantastic Four Fan Page in FF #3. By the time Amazing Spider-Man #1 appeared, Stan could no longer handle the mail himself. Enter: Flo Steinberg, whose perky, vivacious personality earned her the sobriquet for which she will always be remembered: “Fabulous Flo.” In a recent conversation with Flo, she described how she got the job as Stan Lee’s assistant in March 1963. “I grew up in Boston, got a Liberal Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts, and [at age 23] came to New York to look for a job.” An employment agency sent her to interview for an office job (“gal Friday”) at a publishing house called Magazine Management. Flo had no idea she was about to become a part of the comics industry: “Although I’d always liked comics as a kid, I wasn’t looking for comics work, per se. Magazine Management was a very large company. So I dressed up in my pearls and gloves, and nervously entered the building. I was interviewed by Stan himself. There was no one else! Marvel had just one little cubby hole on the floor.” “He was so nice,” Flo recalled of Stan. He described the job: answering the phone, opening the mail, keeping tabs on the artists, sending material to the Comics Code Authority and then to the engraver in Connecticut. He offered Steinberg a job then and there. “He said, ‘Well, if you’d like to start’ ... and I did! It was that simple. I think the job paid $60 a week, which was the going rate in 1963.” At the time, there were no other comics staffers at Marvel, though Sol Brodsky would come in once a week to prepare the house ads. All the artists worked at home. The sudden influx of letters impressed and heartened Stan and Flo. Increasing sales figures told one story, but the letters revealed that the Marvel super-heroes were appealing to a different breed of reader. “It was a shock to us, a real surprise, when we noticed the readership getting older,” Flo said. “We would get letters from college students, and servicemen ... or even [laughs] the occasional girl!” Just as their readers took the comics seriously, Stan and Flo

“Fabulous” Flo Steinberg & Stan “The Man” Lee The only two Marvel staffers in March 1963! The photo of Stan was taken in fall of ’65 for the inside front cover of Fantastic Masterpieces #1 (Feb. ’66)… the pic of Flo in December ’64. In Comics Interview #17, where the latter first saw print, she said of it, “A bit of cheesecake…. I was so embarrassed to have my slip showing! Nylons and heels were de rigueur at the time.” Stan seems to be projecting a Sinatra-style image, à la the film Pal Joey and various album covers. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the Stan photo scan. [Stan pic © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Fabulous FLO STEINBERG – Part 3

“It Was My First Job In The City!”

The Early Days Of The Marvel Age, As Remembered By FLO STEINBERG—Corresponding Secretary To STAN LEE Conducted by Dwight Jon Zimmerman & Jim Salicrup, 1984

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRO: This is one of the first and longest true interviews ever conducted with Marvel’s beloved “corresponding secretary.” It appeared, under the title “Fabulous Flo Steinberg,” in Comics Interview magazine #17 (Nov. 1984), published by David Anthony Kraft and © 1984 by Fictioneer Books, Ltd. Reprinted by permission. A few of the photos and illustrations included in this edition appeared with that first printing; many others have been added. Accompanying the interview was a full transcription of the original Merry Marvel Marching Society recording from 1965, which has been omitted here. Thanks to Art Lortie and Brian K. Morris for their help in obtaining an editable e-file of the manuscript…. 1984 INTRO BY DWIGHT JON ZIMMERMAN: I met Flo Steinberg while working on the Sol Brodsky biography for Marvel Age, and during the course of her interview discovered a warm, thoughtful woman who, though she has been away from the comicbook business for many years, still keeps in contact with many of her friends. And, because Flo recalled more events about the early days of Marvel than could be included in Sol’s biography, I arranged to interview her later for the express purpose of finding out what the early years of Marvel were like and what she is doing now. Several short weeks later, Jim Salicrup and I were sitting in Flo’s memorabilia-laden apartment discussing the subject warm to us all—the early years at Marvel…. JIM SALICRUP: I’ll sit back and relax and Dwight will ask the questions... DWIGHT JON ZIMMERMAN: …and Jim will provide the Howard Cosell commentary. FLO STEINBERG: You’ll laugh when I say something funny, right? JS: I’ll say “laughter,” and they’ll write that in the magazine. Then people will really think we were laughing.

Dwight Jon Zimmerman & Jim Salicrup Conductors of the 1984 interview. Since then, Zimmerman has gone on to author various books, including in conjunction with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, while Salicrup had a long career as a comics editor at Marvel and Topps, and currently heads Papercutz, which publishes a revived Tales from the Crypt, et al. Thanks to Comic Vine for the Salicrup photo.

DJZ: Okay! We are in the memento-strewn apartment of Flo Steinberg with her illustrations from Trina Robbins, photos of John Verpoorten, drawings by Herb Trimpe.

“Fabulous Flo” in artist Herb Trimpe’s biplane—plus panels penciled and scripted by Jack “King” Kirby in What If? #11 (Oct. 1978); inks by Mike Royer & Bill Wray. In the comic, Flo comes back to sound a warning to Stan and Jack, in the offbeat story “What If The Fantastic Four Were the Original Marvel Bullpen?” When he conceived the notion and gave it to Kirby to write and draw, editor Roy Thomas specified that Flo should become The Invisible Girl. The above photo appeared on the first page of this interview when it was printed in Comics Interview #17, so we decided to start out with a color version! [What If? page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JS: This is the part you’re supposed to write in the introduction, Dwight! DJZ: I don’t like writing that section—I prefer to just talk about it. By the way, Flo, Jack Abel says “Hi. “ STEINBERG: Oh, thank you! DJZ: Flo, we’d like to start the interview with when and how you were hired by Marvel. STEINBERG: Well, it was March of ‘63. I had just come to New York from Boston where I was born and raised and schooled. I had come to New York City and moved into one of the “Y’s” [YWCAs]

“It Was My First Job In The City!”

Jack Kirby used to do. And the girls’ comics like Millie the Model and Patsy Walker. The Fantastic Four was probably starting then. But, the atmosphere was really low-key. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Flo’s memory tends to be a bit hazy re when this or that comic started—e.g., F.F. had been going since summer of 1961—but this doesn’t affect the basic narrative.] DJZ: Stan was low-key? STEINBERG: Oh, no! Stan always had this high energy level. It’s just that the office was very small. There was just a small amount of comics to get out. And Stan wrote them all. And as I remember, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, or Don Heck, or Dick Ayers—a small group—drew them. Sol Brodsky would come in to do production work. DJZ: So everybody except you and Stan was freelancing—there was no production staff.

Millie The Marvel (Left to right:) No pearls or gloves, but this Stan Goldberg “Modeling Tips” pin-up page from Millie the Model #136 (April 1966) roughly dovetails with what Flo said about the kind of outfit she needed to wear to job interviews in the mid-1960s. Thanks to Barry Pearl. Next to it is a story-panel from that issue; “Stan G.” co-plotted and drew, with a Roy Thomas script—but the fashion note at bottom was written by Flo Steinberg. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Below:) Two talented artists Flo worked with in the 1960s: Stan Goldberg (on left) and Joe Sinnott.

and I started job-hunting. It was all through agencies in those days. I went on different interviews, stuff like that, in my traditional interview outfit of a black dress and pearls and gloves. It was a different time, back then. [laughter] One was a secretarial assistant at this magazine company. And I went up and talked to this man, Stan Lee. And the interview was in this teeny little cubbyhole of an office. Well, let’s see, the offices were always on Madison Avenue. This might have been the farthest one uptown… 650, no—625 Madison Avenue—after 60th Street, anyway. And the whole Magazine Management company was on one big floor with partitions set up. And Marvel Comics was the teeniest little office on the floor. There was Stan and his desk, then another small desk. At that time, as I remember, it was mostly bimonthly comics. The monster comics like what Steve Ditko and

STEINBERG: Yes, that’s right, it was just the two of us. There really wasn’t much work in my job. There wasn’t much fan mail coming in at the time. The most fan mail that came in was for the girls’ books—the little outfits pages that appeared in the comics would feature clothing designs suggested by the readers. And I wrote all the little captions for those. Stan Goldberg or Al Hartley would draw the actual designs and then we’d have these letters from people who sent designs. And if someone sent in a design for a dress, we’d match it with the drawing of a dress, a bathing suit suggestion with a bathing suit drawing, etc. And then I’d write the caption saying “darling dress by—” and put that person’s name in. So the kids got their names in the comic. The drawings bore no relation to the designs the kids sent in, of course. Trina Robbins is doing a teenage book now for Marvel. It’s not on the schedule yet, from what I hear, but it’ll have fashion pages and stuff like that in it. In fact, I think her character’s aunt will be Millie the Model. As for how the comics were produced back then, Stan would write the synopsis and the artist would go home and draw the story. He’d bring the art into the office, and then Stan would write the final story. Artie Simek and Sam Rosen were the only letterers. And they’d come in to pick up and drop off work. But it was not that hectic. There’d always be time to sit around and chat. Artie, he’s dead now, but he used to play the spoons and the harmonica. Sam never came in. His brother Joe would always be the one picking up and delivering the work. Stan Goldberg would come in for the coloring. And… well, I don’t remember being very busy in the very beginning. Stan and I used to argue over who would address the envelopes that would go over to the Comics Code. The people over at Magazine Management would make fun of us. It was a big organization back then. The only time the different departments ever really came together was when we heard that President Kennedy had been killed. Everybody sort of dropped

The Flow Before Flo...

Letters From Judy Walsh (L. to r.:) The second of these two letters preserved by Mike Tuohey, the one dated 10-25-62, mentions the upcoming debuts of “Iron Man,” Sgt. Fury (with “Sergeant” spelled out, or rather misspelled out), and Amazing Spider-Man. Probably, by the fall of ’62, Trudy and Helena had moved on?

Millie The Model #119 (March 1964)

Oct. 29, 1962 (Above left:) This letter to Mike, dated four days after the one at top right, is personally signed by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby— and also sports huge initials that Mike feels are “F.F.,” for the Fantastic Four themselves. Perhaps it had also been typed by Judy Walsh, but signed only by Stan and Jack?

Ye Editor Roy T. here: “A few years ago, while doing research for the Taschen books 75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen (2014) and the soon-forthcoming The Stan Lee Story, I e-mailed Stan a query about Judy Walsh (I hadn’t yet heard of Trudy Ross or Helena Sher)… asking whether he recalled having a secretary by that name. His response: “‘So now the secret is out. Judy Walsh is the lady Stan keeps in the attic who has been writing all the great super hero stories that Stan has been taking credit for.

her.’

(Left:) This pinup page penciled by Stan Goldberg (inker unknown) includes a hairdo credited to “Judy Walsh” of “Port Sulpher,” Louisiana. If this is the same Judy Walsh, her name is appearing quite late—since Flo Steinberg had been corresponding secretary for half a year by the time this issue’s contents would’ve gone to the printer in the fall of ’63! Flo, who said she never heard of Judy, Trudy, or Helena, would have added the names in the fashion captions. Usually they were those of girls (or the occasional boy) who’d sent in drawings of clothes or hairstyles, though monikers of Flo’s friends and co-workers were occasionally dropped in, just for a zane. Thanks to D.D. Degg and “Glenn.” [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“‘I wish I could help you, Roy, but actually I never heard of

“Given Stan’s infamous memory—on top of Walsh’s relatively short tenure at proto-Marvel—it’s hardly surprising he doesn’t recall her. And alas, it’s far too late to ask Sol Brodsky or Stan Goldberg. But ‘Fabulous Flo’ Steinberg stuck around for more than half a century after going to work for Marvel… and it’s she, and her contributions, that the preceding and following pages celebrate….”

Fabulous FLO STEINBERG – Part 3

25 Facts That Made Flo “Fabulous”

A Tribute To—Who Else!—Fabulous FLO STEINBERG by J. Ballmann

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: J. Ballman is a researcher of the early days of comic fandom, and the author of The 1964 New York Comicon: The True Story behind the World’s First Comic Convention (Totalmojo Productions, 2016). Here he has compiled a list of 25 fascinating factoids about Flo Steinberg—though he stresses that, except for following a certain chronological logic, the two-dozen-plus-one accomplishments are presented in no particular order. 1. Flo figured out her job all on her own when she began working at Marvel in March 1963. Nobody trained her or gave her a manual or “showed her the ropes.” Flo never knew her predecessor —or even her predecessor’s name—but the fact is that she had replaced Stan Lee’s previous secretary, Miss Judy Walsh. Early 1960s fanzines such as Super-Hero and Comic Heroes Revisited document the secretaries in the office in 1962: Judy Walsh, Trudy Ross, and Helena Sher. Yet, when Flo arrived on her job the first day, none of these three was anywhere to be found. Stan welcomed her, and Sol Brodsky answered all her questions as she took on the work of three previous secretaries, so there was lots of work to do, and Flo hit the ground running. And for five years she never stopped.

2. Flo read all the Marvel comics. That is, she read them all once she started working at Marvel. In her words, “I had to, so I could answer all those questions when fans wrote or called.” She said her favorite Marvel comic was Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. 3. Flo sold back issues for Marvel as early as 1963. When

Postcards From The Ledge This postcard dated April 25, 1963 (by the recipient on this side, on the date he received it—it’s postmarked a couple of days earlier on the other), was sent by Flo to fan Gary Acord, and was signed by Flo as “Stan + Jack,” with a handwritten final line. The “plus” sign in the signature is her telltale mark, J. Ballmann notes. Flo confirmed later to him that this was indeed her handwriting.

“Fabulous Flo” Hard at work at Marvel Comics, sometime in the latter half of the 1960s. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

someone picked up a Marvel comic and became instantly hooked during that “Marvel Age of Comics,” that reader would instinctively write to Marvel to seek out earlier issues. Flo was in charge of the back-issue stock and even mailed out the latest price lists—typed up by her—of back issues to prospective buyers, making her one of the earliest back-issue comic-sellers ever. 4. Flo screened Stan’s mail. In Fantastic Four #24, Stan announced, “[W]e get HUNDREDS of letters every week,” and he requested, two issues later, in #26, “Keep your letters brief…” Even if it were a fraction of the number stated, it would have been overwhelming for one person. But Flo read through the letters and sorted them into ones that could potentially be printed on the letters pages and those that would not. The better letters, of course—a manageable handful of them—would be passed on to Stan, who would make the final decision about which letters would be printed in the letter columns. Stan gave Flo very specific instructions about the letters. Certainly he would look at any intelligent letters or ones that stood out, but letters from college students, members of the armed services, and professionals such as doctors and teachers— and, yes, females—were almost certain to be picked out and passed on to Stan for his consideration. For it was Stan’s never-ending quest to dispel popular perceptions about his comics and to present Marvel’s readership as something more than the much-dreaded demographic of pre-adolescent boys and adults in various stages of “arrested development.” Letters from college students were additionally forwarded to Debby Ackerman, Marvel’s college liaison, who was in charge of college campus surveys. Without Flo’s help with this initial sorting, Stan would never have had time to write any comics, much less edit them—or to stand on his desk to famously act out plotlines for his artists. One point of monumental

Fabulous FLO STEINBERG – Part 5

“Wait A Minute! FLO STEINBERG???” by Dr. Michael Vassallo

[This piece originally appeared at http://timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com/2017/07/fabulous-flo-steinberg-1939-2017.html, and was retyped for Alter Ego by Brian K. Morris. It has been edited slightly for this printing in Alter Ego.]

his one is tough.

I was out west this year once again at the San Diego Con with a large family contingent. The trip went as one might imagine … incredible crowd sizes, frenetic, hectic craziness... but a lot of fun. My middle younger brother Nicholas flew out from Minneapolis, and it was the first time we attended a con together since the days of Phil Seuling in the 1970s, when Harvey Kurtzman once saw him (my brother) fall off a chair during a panel, inquiring from the dais, “Are you OK back there?”

“This Gal, This Darlin’!” Flo in a great shot against a Manhattan skyline, some years back—and Marie Severin’s faux cover for Fabulous Flo! comics, which first appeared in Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist #18 (2002). Do yourself a favor and get hold of this great back issue! Thanks to Michael Mikulovsky for the latter scan; thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for most other art and photos accompanying this article. [Art © Marie Severin.]

Contrary to complaints that the show isn’t about comicbooks any longer, there were many, many dealers at the bottom of the arena, and I was able to purchase a nice handful of Timely teen issues of the Cindy Comics and Lana Comics variety, as well as about 20 issues of Mad magazine from the 1960s.

I caught up with friends from fandom—Batton Lash, Jackie Estrada, Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, Craig Yoe, Ger Apeldoorn, Alex Grand, even my pal Bill Cole—missed seeing a ton of others (I could not find Danny Fingeroth), took a lot of photos and video, attended several Jack Kirby panels celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth, and there even was a meeting with Stan Lee himself. Well, my wife Maggie had the meeting with Stan. An accidental one. On Saturday of the con, as we always do, my family splits up upon arrival. I go immediately to the comic dealers section and she heads for the craziness of the rest. My children go off on a third route, I have no idea where. At some point in the afternoon, we all get a group text message and a close-up photo of Stan Lee. Now, I should have really been more in tune with convention guests, and I think I’d heard Stan was a scheduled guest somewhere, but the recent passing of his wife Joan made me feel Stan might not attend.

Maggie’s Marvels (Left:) The photo snapped by Doc V.’s wife, Maggie, at the time of her brief encounter with Stan Lee at the San Diego Comic-Con, 2017. (Right:) Maggie and a Robert Downey, Jr., lookalike in an Iron Man costume, probably at the same con. Photo by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. Both photos courtesy of Maggie Vassallo.

Well, I was wrong. My wife ended up, completely by accident, somewhere in the middle of all the con craziness, standing right next to Stan Lee. She extended her hand and introduced herself as Michael Vassallo’s wife. Stan, to his credit, immediately replied, “Mike Vassallo! I know him! Nice to finally meet you!” And

“Wait A Minute! FLO STEINBERG???”

with a parting “Excelsior!” he was whisked away by his “Secret Service” detail to wherever it was he was going. Which proves one indelible point. No matter how much you hate the main non-comics convention venue, always stay beside your wife or you’ll be sorry. I am. The last day, Sunday, started as always with me checking online as I got myself ready for breakfast at our hotel. Pulling up the page on my iPad, a short post in my Facebook feed at the very top stopped me cold … “R.I.P. Flo Steinberg.” Blood drained from my face and I immediately felt queasy with my heart pounding. I was stunned, yelling to my wife that an online report was saying Flo had died, which made her gasp in horror. I immediately texted my friends Nick Caputo and Barry Pearl and asked them if they could confirm this, and Nick, at 12 noon New York time, wrote back immediately the solitary word: “Yes.”

Background It all started with Nick Caputo. Many years ago, 1996, 1997—I forget what year—Nick and I attended a con in New York and Flo was a guest, or just an attendee—I also don’t remember which. We were in the main dealers’ room and Nick pointed out a smiling cute-as-a-button woman to me across the long aisle, exclaiming, “Hey! Flo Steinberg is here!” Standing all alone, with no one even recognizing her. Nick and I walked over and he introduced me, having previously known her from numerous talks and phone calls about the early days of Marvel. Flo was exactly as we all knew her, sweet as can be, smiling wide as the Cheshire Cat, friendly as a spring flower, and probably somewhat embarrassed by my gushing. We spoke for quite a while and then we parted, exchanging contact information so I could pursue additional questions in the future. The fact I was Nick’s friend was a good enough “letter of introduction” for her. No one had any paper to write on and all I had in my wallet was one of my business cards, so I gave it to her and asked her to pay no attention to the front, while I wrote my home number on the back. She joked about needing a good dentist and we parted ways, Nick and I just thrilled by the meeting. I never did call Flo, as time slipped away. Jump forward ten years. 2007: I was in between secretaries, and my wife Maggie filled in for what ended up being two years. One day I was perusing my appointment book and saw the name “Florence Steinberg” penciled in later in the week as a new patient, the appointment made by my wife, who took the call. At first glance, nothing registered. In fact, I have several “Steinbergs” as patients, so my thought was that it likely a relative of one of them. On the day of the appointment, I continued to inexplicably ponder the name, actually saying it over and over in my mind… Florence Steinberg… Florence Steinberg ... something just bothered me, as if I was partially recognizing the name on a subconscious level. Then in a flash it struck me: “Wait a minute! FLO STEINBERG??? It couldn’t be!” I asked Maggie what she remembered about the woman on the phone and she replied something to the effect that it was just a nice-sounding lady, nothing more she could recall. Well, as the time approached, I kept looking out to my small waiting room, straining to see if anyone had walked in. Soon I was busy and could not pay further attention, taking care of business and losing track of the time. At some point Maggie poked her head in and said casually, “Florence Steinberg is here,” and I froze, rose, and walked out to my waiting room to finally see who it actually was.

The Yancy Street Gang The self-styled “Yancy Street Gang” look over one of Barry Pearl’s scrapbooks. (Left to right:) Barry Pearl, Nick Caputo, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. Courtesy of all three—but it was sent by Barry.

It was Flo. She smiled and exclaimed, “Hi, Doc!” We hugged and embraced like old friends. Recall that I had met her only one single time previously, ten years earlier. I could not believe she was standing in my office. As Flo explained it, she had kept my old business card (10 years!) and when the time came, decided to call me up. I told her that I didn’t care how insulted she was, I could never, ever, ever (ever!) accept remuneration for anything, something she was not initially happy about, but I was adamant and she relented. That began a ten-year period of friendship that was as deep as it was wide. Flo came up every three months and we would have two-hour lunches, usually at her favorite place, Burger Heaven on Lexington Avenue and 62nd Street, occasionally joined by my wife Maggie. Before you know it, Nick Caputo, Barry Pearl, Flo, and I were frequently having dinner together—a “real” Yancy Street Gang we were, with a bona fide charter member in our midst! For real! We were regulars at places as diverse as The Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal and The Pastrami King on Lexington Avenue. What great times we had, talking about everything under the sun, and rarely about comics. One evening, after a New York Comicon that Flo didn’t even attend, she met us afterward for a nightcap of coffee and apple pie at her favorite diner on Lexington Avenue. Of course, our conversations were occasionally about Marvel, as Flo spun wonderful stories about her old days there. Flo and I missed sharing a birthday by a single day. She was born on March 17 (in 1939) and I’m March 18. She grew up in Boston, graduating from UMass Amherst in 1960 and volunteered in campaigns of all three Kennedy brothers at one time or another. Her first job was with the New England Telephone Company, but by March of 1963 she was being interviewed by Stan Lee for a secretarial job at the nascent Marvel Comics, where her job as Stan’s “Gal Friday” or “corresponding secretary” actually included nearly everything under the sun short of actually creating the comics. Dubbed “Fabulous Flo” by Stan Lee, she answered the phones, greeted guests, made sure the art went to the printer, and answered fan mail that would bear Stan’s signature. And she was a beloved figure in that tiny office, with only a thin partition separating them from Goodman’s Magazine Management department. Flo early on dealt closely with the small production staff… Sol Brodsky, Stan Goldberg, letterers Artie Simek and Sam Rosen, then later Marie Severin, Roy Thomas, and Herb Trimpe… but all the

A Few Minutes With ROBIN GREEN For This Ambitious & Talented Lady, Marvel Comics Was Barely The Beginning! Interview Conducted by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Robin Green succeeded Flo Steinberg as Stan Lee’s “Girl Friday” and editorial assistant for several months in 1968. She later became a journalist, working for Rolling Stone and other publications. From that field, she segued to being a television writer, earning one Emmy for her work on Northern Exposure and two more for her scripts for The Sopranos. She’s also won three Golden Globes and two Peabody Awards. In addition to those two series, she’s also written scripts for A Year in the Life, Almost Grown, and the Showtime movie Critical Choices. She was a showrunner for Southend and created, with her husband Mitchell Burgess, the television show Blue Bloods. Her new book The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone Magazine is due to be published on August 21 by Little, Brown & Co. This interview was conducted by phone on February 8, 2017.

Ravishin’ Robin Green That’s how Stan referred to his first post-Fabulous-Flo “corresponding secretary,” in the only Marvel Comics reference to her that we’ve found to date: namely, on the Bullpen Bulletins page in the month that such mags as Fantastic Four #84 (March 1969) went on sale, with its Kirby/Sinnott cover. But, oddly, that brief item served mostly to proclaim that Robin’s successor would be Jean Thomas, Roy’s bride of only a few months! Recent Robin photo courtesy of RS. Robin, for her part, moved on to Rolling Stone magazine, and eventually to writing scripts for such top TV fare as The Sopranos. Seen below is a scene from the 3rd season’s memorable Green-co-scripted episode “Employee of the Month,” in which Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) comforts Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco)—as first aired by HBO on March 18, 2001. [Cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Sopranos pic TM & © HBO or successors in interest.]

RICHARD ARNDT: Let’s begin with your early history, before you worked for Stan. ROBIN GREEN: Okay. I was the first generation of my family to go to college. I studied with my grandparents. I got a scholarship to Pembrooke University in 1963. My parents thought I should go to an Ivy League school if I was going to college. They felt that would be good for me in the long run and it was. [chuckles] So I graduated with a degree in American Literature, but I was determined that I was going to be a writer. There was a lot of other stuff, though, first. I went to Martha’s Vineyard and was a waitress. I went to Boston and worked briefly, four weeks, for Houghton Mifflin. Then I moved to New York in the winter of 1968 and went to an employment agency. At that point, I wanted to be in the editorial system in publishing. They sent me on three interviews for either secretarial or editorial assistant positions. It was just labeled

a secretarial job back then, but it’s more correctly called an editorial assistant today. Two of the interviews were with advertising agencies and the third was at Marvel Comics. One of the ad agencies didn’t want me, and the other might have, but when I went to Marvel Comics the work there was just closer to what I really wanted to do. I guess mostly in terms of atmosphere. I wasn’t a comics fan. I think I was drawn to the friendliness and the liveliness of the place. It just seemed brighter in atmosphere from the other two and so I took the job. I don’t think I was thrilled, because it really wasn’t what I was aiming for. I wanted to be at a publishing house or a magazine. Something like that. But it turned out to be a great decision in the long run, because it ended up getting me my job with Rolling Stone. RA: You also mentioned that it was closer to where you were living at the time, and that that was a factor as well.

A Few Minutes With Robin Green

GREEN: I lived in Greenwich Village and Marvel was in mid-town Manhattan, so I took the subway to work. They didn’t have pick-up-after-your-dog laws in those days, so you’d have to just step nicely along the sidewalk. [laughs] So I went to work uptown. It was kind of lonely at first, because I was new to New York, but I got into a kind of routine. Gradually I became friends with some of the people in the office, such as Herb Trimpe and Linda Fite. The office was fun. RA: If you were the editorial assistant, what was Linda Fite doing there at the time? GREEN: Linda was working up front. She was the receptionist. She was in the front of the office and was greeting people. We had the occasional visitor, but I don’t remember anyone getting a tour at that time. That might just be my memory, though. Linda would probably know better about that than I. I took over from Flo Steinberg, all of her old duties. I read a lot of the fan mail. I sent out a lot of those—what were they called?— oh, No-Prizes! It was just an empty envelope! I guess you got a membership card as well, maybe? [laughs] Stan loved that! He just loved the idea that there were no prizes for stumping the Marvel writers. [laughs] I don’t know whose idea that was, but it was certainly a cost-effective way of rewarding somebody. I sat at the desk on one side of the office, and there was a small hallway separating myself from Stan’s office. I could see him, in case he wanted me to call somebody or contact him when I was on the phone. There was no window, just an open door. My desk was placed so I could see through the door. Stan always had an open door. I don’t think he ever shut that door. We didn’t shut our doors, either. The offices were just down that small corridor, about five feet or so from the bullpen. On one side was Stan’s door and on the other side was my office. It really was an office. It wasn’t a cubicle, like in the bullpen. Roy Thomas’ office was right behind me. He was back there at a window. He had a window table. I seem to recall a drawing board. Would that have been possible? He wasn’t an artist. You might ask him about that. I just don’t remember him at a desk. RA: Maybe they were being cheap and wouldn’t give him a desk. GREEN: [loud laughter] Maybe! You’re going to have to ask him

The [Human?] Torch Is Passed… As per J. Ballman, who provided it, the address side of this postcard is dated in “April 1968,” a month after Flo [Steinberg] resigned in March. “This card (the handwriting is obviously different; no plus sign is used in the signature) was written by Robin Green, who carried on the correspondence traditions Flo and Stan established…”

Sidebar by Roy Thomas

remember two things in particular about Rockin’ Robin Green from her days at Marvel— when, admittedly, I was pretty much engrossed in my associate editor job.

Roy Thomas From the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual

First, I recall Robin telling me, while she worked there, that she’d brought with her to Manhattan a letter of introduction to someone of import at a daytime-TV soap opera. She told me that that person had asked her to write a sample script (or maybe just sample pages) for the series; but, because of quickly landing a 9-to-5 job, that work took her longer to finish than she’d have liked. When she took the material in to her contact, he/she admonished Robin that TV soaps were a 5-days-a-week proposition, and that she should have got the samples back to her more quickly. Not too fair, perhaps—but Robin has the last laugh, since now she can look at those Emmys, Golden Globes, and Peabody Awards on her shelf, right? Also: One of her tasks at Marvel was to check over the vouchers submitted by freelancers and staff (since staffers like myself generally did our writing or drawing as “freelance,” The Young And The Restless outside the office). was one of a number of TV daytime soap One morning I was operas being broadcast five times a week from working away when New York City in 1968-69, as per this publicity Robin, who’d been shot from that era. It wasn’t necessarily the series at which Robin Green had a contact, going over some though. [TM & © CBS.] vouchers of mine, suddenly announced to me: “You know, I’ve been adding these things up—and you’re kind of a catch!” I don’t recall quite what my reaction to her quip was… but, however it was intended, I’ve remembered it with amusement for the past five decades. (Coincidentally, this wasn’t long before I eloped with my first wife Jean.) As for Robin’s description on the preceding page of my 1968-69 work station: After I graduated from my original corrugated-metal table near the door of the small production office—and let’s not forget that Magazine Management moved at least once between 1965 and the end of the decade, so we might even be talking about two different rooms—I did indeed have a drawing board, at a 45° angle, which faced the streetside wall and served for proofreading and the like. (I’d gotten that idea from Stan, though the one in his office was raised, so that he was always standing when he was at it.) When I turned from the drawing board toward the office doorway, to my right of which sat Robin, I’m pretty sure I also had a desk for more mundane tasks. Though she recalls my area as an “office,” it was really just the un-walled-off corner of the room we both shared with production manager Sol Brodsky; it wasn’t even a real cubicle. I never had a separate office until I became editor-in-chief in 1972. Curiously, Robin seems to have largely forgotten Sol—even though much of the work she did, assuming she performed basically the same tasks Flo had, involved phoning printers and engravers, etc., on Sol’s behalf. But then, it was fifty years ago, people!

Marvel Comics Was Barely The Beginning

and that they wanted to use it with a cover. They wanted a Marvel artist and so they got Herb Trimpe, who drew the Hulk for the cover. I think he also did some art on the inside, or maybe it was the Rolling Stone art department. The bad news was that they were going to save it and use it for inventory, for a time there wasn’t any big rock’n’roll news coming out. Burn it off, basically, at a less valuable time. So that was sad, but I got another assignment right away. I did four or five that first year, 1970-1971. The piece finally came out in Sept. 1971, probably printed in August, and my editor took me down to the printing press so I could watch my first cover come off the presses. The other articles, which appeared first, hadn’t been cover articles. It was thrilling to see! It was just like seeing the first TV show that you write come on the air. That’s just as good as it gets. I’m sure you know what that’s like. RA: Yes, my first cover was a big kick. Actually, all of them are, but the first one is special.

New York, New York Robin and her husband, Mitchell Burgess (also her co-writer on The Sopranos), flank New York City food writer Karen Page at an event in 2013. A final P.S. from Roy T.: “Irony time: I turned up this photo on the Internet—but when I went searching thereon for information about the woman identified as ‘Karen Page,’ I kept getting nothing but photos of Deborah Ann Woll—the actress who now plays ‘Karen Page’ on the Marvel/ Netflix series Daredevil! I finally had to e-mail Robin, who kindly ID’d the NYC journalist for A/E. Thanks for everything, Robin—including that memorable time we all spent together at Marvel Comics half a century ago!” [Photo © the respective copyright holders.]

GREEN: Exactly. I’m currently working on a book called The Only Girl, for Little Brown, which is somewhat about being a pioneer in male-dominated work settings. It won’t be out till 2018. RA: Well, maybe that will work out for you, since this interview isn’t likely to appear until 2018, either. Maybe they can tie in together. I want to thank you for talking to me. GREEN: You’re welcome.

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t was three years ago that I went to work at Marvel Comics. I replaced Flo, whose place I really couldn’t take. Fabulous Flo Steinberg, as she was known to her public, was as much an institution in Marvel’s Second Golden Age as Editor Stan (the Man) Lee himself. She joined Marvel just after Stan had revolutionized the comic industry by giving his characters dimension, character, and personality, and just as Marvel was catching on big. Now there’s a sign on the door of the office which says “SORRY, NO VISITORS” to those who manage to find Marvel’s hidden location. But in Flo’s days the office was located at 625 Madison Avenue, just as it says in the comic books. There was a reception room and Flo would go out to meet the fans. She was the only one they ever saw. They called her “Miss Flo” because “Flo” was too personal for them. Most of them were nice, the little ones were really sweet. But sometimes there’d be older ones, 12 and 13, who would try to get past her. She’d put her foot out and trip them, and say, “I’m sorry, are you all right? Poor thing.” And sometimes they’d come convinced that Spider-Man himself

Robin Green with an old friend, in a pic taken on the day she interviewed the Marvel Bullpen, in the summer of 1970. This photo did not appear with the Rolling Stone article. [Photo © 2018 Estate of David E. Leach; used by permission of Jean Caccicedo.]

“…When You Get Your Picture On The Cover Of The Rolling Stone…” – Take 2! Herb Trimpe’s classic cover for the Rolling Stone issue dated Sept. 16, 1971— roughly half a year after ex-Marvel staffer Robin Green had written this Marvel piece. [Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; Rolling Stone logo, et al., TM & © Wenner Media or successors in interest.]

was right there behind the door. She’d say, “Oh, I’m sorry, he’s out covering a robbery.” Because she didn’t feel it was her place to destroy fantasies. Hundreds of letters came in every week from fans, and Flo was the one who opened them. One time there was a letter addressed to Sergeant Fury from a man in Texas, a real rightwinger, who said, “I notice in Sgt. Fury that you’re anti-Nazi. Well, if you’re anti-Nazi, that must mean you’re pro-Commie, and you’re all a bunch of no-good dirty kikey commie pinko people, and I have a gun and I’m going to come to New York and shoot you.” It was addressed to Stan Lee and the Marvel Comics Group. Flo passed the letter around the office, and everyone got hysterical because this guy was going to come and machine-gun everybody. Flo didn’t know what they were hysterical about, because she was the one who went out to meet the people. Flo was loyal, but for a hundred bucks a week you don’t get shot. So they called the FBI and a man came down. He said, “Wilkins, FBI,” and Flo said, “Steinberg, Marvel.” But Wilkins was very serious and he handled the letter with a handkerchief. Of course they had already put their hands all over it. He said he’d forward it to the anonymous letters file in Washington, and see what could be done. They gave him a whole bunch of comics (their usual tactic, cover them with comics). And for days everyone avoided the reception room and sneaked out early.

Captain Marvel & The ©opyright ©risis – Part III Fawcett Was Far From The Only Company Confused By U.S. Copyright Law! by Mike Tiefenbacher FCA EDITOR’S INTRO: In our preceding two issues, Mike T. launched his attempt to clarify copyright complexities and trademark tribulations concerning Fawcett Publications, dealing with the disposal and dispersal of both that company’s Marvel Family-related concepts and its non-Shazamic properties circa 1953, from Ibis the Invincible to Hopalong Cassidy. Along the way, he’s traveled the road from Myron Fass’ 1967 android Captain Marvel comic to Marvel Comics’ acquisition of that hero-name—DC’s late-1950s acquisition of the assets of Quality Comics and its early-’70s licensing of the original Captain Marvel and the beginnings of its Shazam! series—how that dovetails (or doesn’t) with Fawcett’s renewing (or not renewing) its various copyrights related to its 1950-53 comicbook issues—and, because his researches led him there, to other companies’ attitudes toward the renewing of its copyrighted comics material.

ormal copyrights usually cover a particular work—a book, a story, a song, a work of art. Where it gets complicated is in the serial aspects of comicbooks.

The difference between a serial and a book is obvious: a book is considered a whole—story, dialogue, characters. A comic with continuing characters? The particular story of an issue or installment of a comic (or a radio or TV series episode) is one copyright, but the situation and the characters in it are another, i.e., the intellectual property copyright. Often, these differences are ignored, and even judges have come to bizarre and contradictory conclusions which have tended to blur them. The difficulty arises when speaking of precedents of copyright, because the recent ruling regarding the status of the Sherlock Holmes franchise differs in many ways from any of the situations outlined in our preceding chapter, despite the fact that many people online would like to see it as a parallel to the Captain Marvel situation. The Holmes case involved the copyright law prior to 1923 (as with Tarzan and John Carter, two other characters who preceded the change in the copyright laws, as mentioned in a previous installment)—a very different circumstance from that of Captain Marvel, who made his debut in the latter part of 1939. There is no question of the public-domain status of most of the original canon of Sherlock Holmes stories, as they were created under an earlier version of the Copyright Act, which didn’t feature a renewal period. What the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle was contending in the lawsuit was that the author’s stories written and published after 1923, properly copyrighted and maintained by Conan Doyle and then by his estate, contributed enough in their content and

More Stars Than There Are In Cement At The TCL Chinese Theatre! By the time of its giant-size 1941 Xmas Comics #1 with its Mac Raboy cover, Fawcett Publications had a stellar lineup of valuable characters, including Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Minute Man, Mr. Scarlet, and Bulletman—plus Ibis the Invincible, Golden Arrow, et al.—with Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, and even the Marvel Bunny soon to come! Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [Shazam hero & other characters TM & © DC Comics.]

refinement of the Holmes character to affect the entire intellectual property copyright. They maintained that their status as the licensee of the Sherlock Holmes character and oeuvre had been violated by a packager who had originally paid for reprinting rights, then had published a collection of unauthorized new Holmes stories for which he had not. The judge ultimately ruled in the defendant’s favor, declaring that the public-domain status of the earlier Holmes stories had not been changed by any subsequent laws, and that the Conan Doyle estate was not due any payment by the packager. As far as I can tell, this has not in any way diminished the estate’s licenses for its movies or TV series (Elementary in the U.S.; Sherlock in the UK; the two Robert Downey, Jr., films), with the credits of each still carrying the estate’s notice of authorization. There is still value in the “Estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle” name. (In 1975 and 1976, DC and Marvel each published comics starring Sherlock Holmes, both companies believing the character to be in the public domain; each prospective series was shut down when the Conan Doyle estate objected, something that had happened earlier to Charlton concerning its two-issue run in 1955.) Where this differs from comicbooks, other than the then-current copyright law under which they were created, is that Conan Doyle himself was the copyright owner. The creation and writing of the stories were not done as work for hire, as most comicbooks were. As can be seen by the differences in how the current copyright law treats the two classes (e.g., the term of copyright is for the life of the author plus 70 years, rather than a flat 95 years for a work-for-hire copyright), this could alter the

The Sign Of The Three (Top left:) The cover of Charlton’s Sherlock Holmes #1 (Oct. 1955) may have been penciled by Dick Giordano and inked by Vince Alascia. The several “Holmes” stories inside—original yarns rather than adaptations—were drawn by Bill Molno & Vince Alascia; writer unknown. [Art © the respective copyright holders.] (Top right:) Walt Simonson’s cover for DC’s Sherlock Holmes #1 (Sept.-Oct. 1975). The adapted Conan Doyle tales inside—two of them!—were scripted by Dennis O’Neil and drawn by E.R. Cruz. [Art © DC Comics.] (Right:) Ken Barr painted the cover of Marvel Preview #5 (April 1976); inside, scripter Doug Moench and artist Val Mayerik adapted The Hound of the Baskervilles in that issue and the next. Interior art from this two-part black-&-white adaptation was seen in A/E #146. [Art © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

fundamentals of the situation enough to make the Holmes case irrelevant. In addition, the Conan Doyle estate is not a publisher or producer of any of the licensed properties. In all of the above situations, DC is both owner and publisher of the copyrights. Also, although the trademark is now Shazam! (and the overall appearance of the character’s costume and likeness has undergone changes over the years), there is no doubt that DC has properly maintained and endeavored to keep current both the trademark and the copyright. Since 1973, DC has published Shazam! (1973-78), Superman vs. Shazam! (1978), World’s Finest Comics (1978-82), DC Comics Presents (1981-82, 1984), Adventure Comics (1982-83), All-Star Squadron (1984, 1985), Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), Legends (1986-1987), Shazam! The New Beginning (1987), Justice League (1987), Action Comics Weekly (1988), Shazam! Visits Portland, Oregon in 1943 (1989), War of the Gods (1991), The Shazam! Archives, Vol. 1-4 (1992, 1999, 2002, 2004), The Power of Shazam! (1994-99), Shazam! The Power of Hope (2000), Bizarro Comics (2001), JSA (2001-2005), Shazam! and the Shazam! Family Annual (2002), Just Imagine: Stan Lee’s Shazam! (2002), Day of Vengeance (2005), Superman/Shazam! First Thunder (2005-06), The Shazam Family Archives, Vol. 1 (2006), The Trials of Shazam! (200608), Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil (2007), Outsiders Five of a Kind: Katana/Shazam! (2007), Showcase Presents Shazam! (2007), 52 (2007), Final Crisis: Superman Beyond (2008-09), Billy Batson & The

Magic of Shazam! (2008-10), Shazam!: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (2008), The Power of Shazam! (2010), DC Comics Presents Shazam! (2011), Justice League (2011-16), Young Justice (2012-13), Injustice: Gods among Us (2013-16), Tiny Titans: Return to the Clubhouse (2014), Convergence Shazam! (2015), Multiversity: Thunderworld (2015), Shazam!: A Celebration of 75 Years (2015), Justice League: The Darkseid War – Shazam! (2016), Scooby-Doo Team-Up (2016), and whatever will follow in 2017-18. (Of note is that the Stan Lee issue used the Shazam name but nothing else of the concept, while Trials of Shazam! featured Freddy and not Billy using “Shazam” as his code name.) Add to these a 1974-76 live-action TV series, a 1981-82 cartoon series, and repeated usage in Warner Bros. TV cartoons and made-for-DVD cartoon movies of the past twenty years, and there’s no doubt that, despite their schizophrenic (to be kind) approach to the characters, no one could question the fact that Captain Marvel/Shazam is a current DC character. Intriguingly, the new copyright act also allowed copyright holders the option of registering multiple copyrights in lists rather than single-issue entries. Seemingly, this was limited, for new entries, to issues published in a single year, but it also enabled long-existent copyright holders to reinforce their copyright claims by registering everything they’d ever published in one single listing. Marvel did it a couple of times, movie companies did it, other publishers did it. In 1992, DC Comics did its registering; and for the first time, there was actual recorded proof that they had negotiated the acquisition of the Fawcett copyrights. Though the list has various typos attributable either to DC’s employees or to Copyright Office clerks who had no familiarity with the comics enumerated, the list featured the following: Captain Marvel Adventures #1-180 [sic], Captain Marvel Jr. #1-119, Captain Marvel Story Book #1-4, Captain Marvel Thrill Book #1, Funny Animals #1-91, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny #1-15, The Marvel Family #1-89, Mary Marvel #1-28, Master Comics #1-133, Whiz Comics #2-155, and Wow Comics #1-69, along with the Quality-cum-DC Blackhawk #1-273 (presumably thus including Uncle Sam #1-8), Doll Man #1-47, Heart Throbs #1-146, Plastic Man #1-64, Police Comics #1-127, and Robin Hood Tales #1-14. It erroneously lists Real Western Heroes #70-75, as well as EC’s Fat and Slat #1-4 (while not listing Ed Whelan’s Joke Book Starring Fat and Slat, which DC did publish), the baffling Warlock 5 (an Aircel title with no known DC connection); in addition, Spiral Zone was referred to as Special Zone. The listing skipped many pertinent titles starring Fawcett or Quality characters that DC had used to that point, as if it were compiled by someone doing it by memory, rather than using the available data. Just going by prior and future usage, it would have

Alter Ego #153