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ALLEN BELLMAN

Roy Thomas' Marvel-Maniac Comics Fanzine

PLUS:

In the USA

No. 154 September 2018

Human Torch, Captain America, Sub-Mariner TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art © Allen Bellman & Dan Davis

BLASTS FROM THE 1940s TIMELY/MARVEL BULLPEN!

$9.95

The

Wondrous Women

Of 1970s Marvel: SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL! NIGHT NURSE! & CLAWS OF THE CAT!

82658 00122

Vol. 3, No. 154 / Sept. 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)

Comic Crypt Editor

Contents

Editorial Honor Roll

Writer/Editorial: “When Gold And Silver Becks Me On” . . . . 2 “All I Had Was My Memories!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

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

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Timely artist Allen Bellman spills more Golden Age secrets to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.

The Female Of The Marvel Species, 1972

A 4-part panorama on the trio of “girls’ comics” introduced by Marvel in the early ‘70s:

Cover Artists

“I Know There Aren’t A Lot Of Heifers In The Bullpen” . . 22

Cover Colorist

“That’s The Bullpen! It’s… Magic!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Allen Bellman (pencils) Dan Davis (inks)

Paty Greer (Cockrum) brought her own wonderment to The Cat—& to 1970s Marvel!

Gerry Turnbull

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Heather Antonelli Ger Apeldoorn Sergio Aragonés Richard J. Arndt Bob Bailey Allen & Roz Bellman Lee Benaka Ricky Terry Brisacque Mike Broder Eliot R. Brown Bernie Bubnis Tim Burgard John Caputo Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell John Cimino Shaun Clancy Paty Cockrum Comic Book Plus (website) Pierre Comtois Mark Conlon Adelso Corona Bob Cosgrove Chet Cox Dan Davis Fred deBoom Michael Dunne Jim Engel Mark Evanier Wendy Everett Justin Fairfax Linda Fite Shane Foley Ramona Fradon Benito Gallego Janet Gilbert Don Glut Golden Age Comic Book Stories (website) Grand Comics Database (website) Gary Groth Micah S. Harris Russ Heath Rick Hoberg Larry Houston Alex Jay Benton Jew

Linda Fite talks to Richard Arndt about The Cat—and a little bit of Night Nurse.

Scott Joseph Jim Kealy Tom Lammers Wilfredo Lee Mark Lewis Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Dennis Mallonee Pat McGreal Jim MacQuarrie Winji Mezadieu Mike Mikulovsky William Mitchell Brian K. Morris Bill Morrison Jacque Nodell Richard O’Hara Audrey Parente Janna Parker Barry Pearl Robert Policastro Rubén Procopio Russell Rainbolt Gene Reed Matthew Reynolds Allen Ross Randy Sargent Andrew Satterfield Patrick Scullin Carole Seuling Earl Shaw Scott Shaw! Mark Sinnott Anthony Snyder J. David Spurlock Jim Starlin Ronn Sutton Jeff Taylor Dann Thomas Mike Tiefenbacher Bobby Timony John Trumbull Gerry Turnbull Mike Uslan Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Mike Vosburg John Wells Terry Wilson Marv Wolfman Steve Wyatt Mike Zeck

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Raymond Miller, Dave Hunt, & Martin Greim

“I Created Shanna To Be A Very Intelligent Woman” . . . . 41 Carole Seuling on Shanna the She-Devil—a jungle queen with a long reign.

The Night Of The Nurse! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Roy Thomas discusses Jean Thomas’ tenure as the major writer of Night Nurse.

“A Trick of Memory” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Part V of major Golden/Silver Age scripter John Broome’s offbeat memoir.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! “Dan Adkins & The Incredible Tracing Machine!” Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Chapter 2 of our coverage of the Adkins “swiping” controversy of the latter 1960s.

Comic Fandom Archive: In Memoriam – Raymond Miller . . 73 Bill Schelly’s celebration of a prominent researcher, writer, and Golden Age comics fan.

Tributes To Martin Greim & Dave Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 80 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #213 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 P.C. Hamerlinck winds up Mike Tiefenbacher’s “Captain Marvel ©opyright ©risis.”

On Our Cover: It was the next-best thing to finding a never-printed piece by Alex Schomburg, the guy who drew so many of those great World War II-era Timely Comics covers on which Captain America, The Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner took on the Axis hordes! Allen Bellman penciled, delineating the Big Three heroes he’d drawn from time to time in the 1940s—Dan Davis supplied some vintage-looking inks—and Gerry Turnbull splashed on the cataclysmic colors! It originally appeared on the cover of the program book for the first annual Cincinnati Comic Expo in 2010— complete with a feel of a few torn spots as if it were an actual Golden Age comicbook cover! With thanks to that con’s host, Andrew Satterfield. [Captain America, Human Torch, & Sub-Mariner TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art © Allen Bellman & Dan Davis.] Above: The first issue of Marvel’s The Cat (cover-dated Nov. 1972) combined the verbal talents of Linda Fite, the storytelling prowess of Marie Severin, and the dazzling finishing and embellishment of Wally Wood. Our heroine looks as if she’s tearing apart some of those gleamingmetal machines with which Wood used to fill the spaceship-happy panels of EC’s Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. Sacrilege! [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] 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

“...When Gold And Silver Becks Me On” L ike many an editorial-scribbler before me, and hopefully many after me, I love to begin a piece with a Shakespearean quote… even one from a relatively little-known play. Naturally, the reference overhead is to the so-called Golden and Silver Ages of Comics, both of which are on prominent display this issue. The above words also appeal to me because the poetic line that precedes them in the historical drama King John is quoted far more often: “Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back…” Yes, the “bell, book, and candle” of Roman Catholic excommunication… and the title of a comedic Broadway play in 1950… and of a 1958 movie version with Jack Lemmon and Kim Novak… …and the ultimate “inspiration” for the somewhat tortured title of my writer/editorial way back in Alter Ego #32 (Jan. 2004): “Bellman, Burlockoff, and Candle.” Fourteen years ago, that issue’s lead features were an interview by Jim Amash with 1940s comics artist Sam Burlockoff… and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo’s first recorded talk with Allen Bellman, who’s the cover-featured artist on this one as well. Michael, a foremost expert on Timely Comics and its personnel of the late ’40s through the ’50s, had “tracked Allen down”—Doc V.’s words—in the late ’90s, when the retired artist was pursuing a second career as a photographer; a firm friendship had soon been struck up. Soon after A/E began its current incarnation in 1999, Michael interviewed Allen for it, so a new generation could be made aware of this gentle man who had joined the Timely bullpen as an adventure artist in 1942. Allen mentioned to Michael that he imagined his former colleague Sam Burlockoff had long since died;

but soon afterward, as kindly fates would have it, Michael received an e-mail from Jim Amash, who was then A/E’s chief interviewer. Jim mentioned in passing that he was currently talking to… Sam Burlockoff!

It was quickly decided that both interviews would appear in the same issue…by which time the two old friends had been able to meet again face to face. While Sam Burlockoff, alas, passed away in 2007, Allen and his effervescent wife Roz have become popular guests at comics conventions. Recently, he published a memoir… and he, Michael, and I decided that a new A/E interview should cover things that fell through the cracks the first time around. Enjoy! As for this issue’s 1970s content, it consists of conversations between Richard Arndt and three women who were key personnel on the trio of titles (The Cat, Shanna the She-Devil, and Night Nurse) that Stan Lee conceived in ’72 in hopes of garnering new female readers. Linda Fite, Carole Seuling, and Jean Thomas were the series’ primary writers (though in this A/E I had to stand in for my first wife Jeanie), and Paty Greer/Cockrum penciled an issue of The Cat. (Artists Marie Severin and Ramona Fradon were likewise involved.) The triple experiment wasn’t a raging success, yet Shanna has had a long life as a recurring Marvel heroine… The Cat’s alter ego soon became Tigra the Werewoman (while Patsy Walker later adapted her basic costume as Hellcat)… and one of the three heroines of Night Nurse had graduated to M.D. status by the time of the 2016 film Doctor Strange. We thought it might prove instructive to treat these three series—and the distaff quotient of their creative teams—all in the same issue. We think it worked out pretty well, and we hope you do, too!

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holders; e trademark & copyright& copyright holders Art TM & © the respectiv ective trademark resp the © & TM ges Three Stoo

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CELEBRATING GOLDEN AGE ARTIST, WRITER, & EDITOR

NORMAN MAURER!

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• NORMAN MAURER—artist (& more) of Crimebuster, the original Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, The Three Stooges, etc., and 1950s co-creator of the very first 3-D comics with fellow legend JOE KUBERT—remembered by his wife, JOAN MAURER, daughter of MOE HOWARD of the Stooges! Plus Norm’s work for Marvel, DC, Gold Key, Fox, et al.—and as the producer of 1960s Three Stooges movies! An incredible interview about an incredible guy, conducted by RICHARD ARNDT! • FCA focus on Golden Age Fawcett writer FRANCE “ED” HERRON—a talk with MADDY COHEN, a.k.a. “Mischievous MIMI GOLD,” late-’60s/early-’70s Marvel staffer— Part VI of JOHN BROOME’s memoirs—MICHAEL T. GILBERT presents the conclusion of “DAN ADKINS & The Incredible Tracing Machine”—BILL SCHELLY on RAYMOND MILLER, Part 2—& MORE!

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“All I Had Was My Memories!” Allen & Roz Bellman at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con… the year Allen got his Inkpot Award. Thanks to Audrey Parente & Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.

ALLEN BELLMAN On Golden Age Timely/Marvel & On Being Rediscovered

Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Where has the time gone? It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since my interview with Allen Bellman was originally published in Alter Ego #32 (Jan. 2004). When I tracked Allen down in 1998, my intentions were to speak to one of Timely’s early unknown links, get his story for posterity, and in the process shed some well-deserved light on a career long forgotten by comics history. I knew of his accomplishments; but for the most part, very few others did. What I got, instead, was a life-long friend. In the ensuing years, the interview was uploaded to my Timely-Atlas blog, the wider world was exposed to his story, and quite simply, to use the parlance of the digital age… Allen went viral! Like an explosion, he (with his lovely wife Roz) became one of the most popular guests

Three Cheers For The Red, White, & Blue! This montage could almost be titled 75 Years of Allen Bellman Art, since the Bellman-autographed “Patriot” splash page was drawn by Allen (scripter unknown) for Marvel Mystery Comics #70 (March 1946)… while the color Captain America illo was done quite recently. The former art appeared in Allen’s 2017 book Timely Confidential: When the Golden Age of Comics Was Young, and was supplied by co-editor Audrey Parente; a photocopy of the latter was given to Ye Editor by the artist himself. In this issue, Alter Ego has tried, to the extent possible, to avoid repeating art or photos that previously appeared with Bellman material in A/E #32, 65, or 114, or which are on view in Timely Confidential… but repeating some of them was unavoidable. [Patriot & Captain America TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Dr. Michael J. Vassallo wrestling with a copy of Taschen’s 17-pound 2014 volume 75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen, for which he and his Yancy Street Gang buddies Barry Pearl and Nick Caputo wrote the original drafts of many of the captions. Some guy named Thomas wrote the main text. Photo courtesy of BP.

Allen Bellman On Golden Age Timely/Marvel & On Being Rediscovered

on the national convention circuit, bringing his memories and stories of working in the Empire State Building in the 1940s for a young Stan Lee to fans everywhere. Allen can lay claim to being the last man left standing who drew “Captain America” during the war years of the Golden Age, beginning his career in 1942. This fact has not gone unnoticed by fandom and by Marvel in particular. When the Captain America: The First Avenger film opened in Hollywood in 2011, Allen walked the Red Carpet there!

anywhere else. And I say this truthfully: I’ve spoken to many people from the Timely era, most of them people you’d know, and not everyone was as gracious as you’ve been. Many have been wonderful, but others were suspicious of my motives—or at least, they were “cautious” about what they wanted to tell me. I honestly couldn’t understand why. Some couldn’t believe I was even interested in that old stuff, and felt that they’d gone to bigger and better things. One of those was Valerie Barclay, whom I know you knew well.

And he still hasn’t slowed down. His story has been filmed by a documentary company for a future release, last year he threw out the first ball at a Miami Marlins baseball game, and as I write these words, his autobiography, Timely Confidential, has been released by Bold Adventure Press. I had the pleasure of co-editing the book (Allen knows where the bodies are buried!), and I recommend it to everyone interested in hearing a first-hand account of what it was like to work on staff at Timely Comics.

BELLMAN: I did know her. We went to school together.

As he has reached the youthful age of 93, I thought now would be a good time to catch up with Allen and re-visit his life since our last interview. I called him at his home at the turn of 2018 and he was more than happy to oblige, catching his breath between convention appearances.

MJV: I had lunch with her one afternoon near my office. This was before I called you for the first time. She allowed me to tape-record our lunch, but later that night I was horrified to find out that the tape was nearly ruined because we’d been sitting near the kitchen and the loud sounds drowned out nearly everything spoken. I still want to try to forensically transcribe that tape. David Gantz was another. He finally warmed up to me, but the first time I spoke to him he thought I was nuts worrying about Timely history and the “junk art” (his words) he did back then. I told Valerie that I had spoken to Gantz, and she wanted to know everything he told me. She insisted on knowing whether Gantz had told me anything about George

MICHAEL J. VASSALLO: Happy New Year, Allen! ALLEN BELLMAN: Thank you, Michael. I wish you an even happier one! You and your family. MJV: Roz is well? BELLMAN: Yes, thank God. Where would I be without her? She takes care of me, orders my medication… everything is in order in my life because of her. I’m very blessed. MJV: Allen, it’s been almost 15 years, if you can believe it, since my interview with you was published in Alter Ego. In fact, it’s now 19 years since I first called you up way back in 1998. BELLMAN: It still seems like yesterday to me. MJV: A lot has happened to you since that interview. I recall, in one of our very early talks, you mentioned how it bothered you that no one believed you’d ever worked for Stan Lee long ago. BELLMAN: It was very frustrating, mostly because I couldn’t tell them what I did. I had no copies and barely remembered. MJV: And now there’s almost no one who doesn’t know you. You’re a major convention draw. You have thousands of Facebook friends... you’ve walked the Red Carpet! BELLMAN: Thanks to you. MJV: I did nothing, Allen. I just told your story. BELLMAN: It wasn’t nothing. I’m convinced I’m still around and kicking because of this second life you’ve given me. You changed my entire life, man! You gave me the life! I’d probably be dead right now if it wasn’t for you! MJV: [probably turning red] Well, for whatever small part I’ve played, Allen, I’m extremely happy. And it’s been reciprocated many times over. I’ve had a window to Timely I couldn’t have found

Secrets Behind The Comics: A Krazy Love Triangle Caricature of Violet (later Valerie) Barclay, drawn by Ken Bald for Stan Lee’s small 1947 volume Secrets behind the Comics—juxtaposed with a crowded page from Krazy Komics #12 (March 1943) that includes two of her reputed lovers. Mike Sekowsky is the blond guy at top right who’s talking— and the guy whose head he’s painting with his brush is George Klein. The main guy in panel 3 is the tale’s penciler, Ed Winiarski; inker & writer unknown. Most of the other people caricatured in this picture have not been 100% identified. Both Sekowsky and Klein remained prominent in the comicbook field for years, working for both Marvel and DC. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo & Jim Ludwig. [Barclay pic © Famous Enterprises, Inc.; Krazy panel TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“All I Had Were My Memories!”

Klein! I’m not making this up! This is 50 years after the fact! BELLMAN: They were an item back then, Klein and Valerie, whom I knew then as Violet. MJV: Well, they were an item behind Mike Sekowsky’s back, it seems, and she still wanted to dish dirt 50 years later! But we’re getting off track here, so let’s just say it’s all worked out wonderfully for the both of us. BELLMAN: People like myself didn’t understand all this. It’s because of you guys that we’re finally being recognized for the work we did. MJV: There are a lot of folks like me, Allen. There’s an entire industry now devoted to comics history, shedding light on creators of the past. John Morrow’s company, Fantagraphics Publishing, Roy Thomas, and many close friends and researchers online, all do the stuff I do and have now for years. But let’s move on to talking about your post-interview life. I still want to revisit some old Timely matters, but a lot of the focus will be on the “new.” The last time I formally interviewed you, we covered your early life and your comicbook career, both on staff and as a freelancer, at Timely. Within a few years, the floodgates opened and you became a sought-after convention guest. BELLMAN: Someone offered to put up a website for me, which further got me noticed. I remember that you came to visit me…. MJV: That was shortly after I first contacted you. You were up from Florida in New Jersey for a family function, and you invited my family to dinner. BELLMAN: I honestly couldn’t believe you actually came. It meant so much to me. MJV: So much to you? Do you have any idea what it meant to me? I track down a heretofore long-unknown Timely comicbook artist who drew superheroes during the war years, and he invites my family out to dinner! BELLMAN: But you don’t understand, Michael. All I had were my memories! You sent me all my stories, and now people would believe me when I told them I drew comicbooks in the 1940s. And you wanted to talk to me about them. I’d never had that before. No one to talk to who knew what I was even talking about. This was like an opening into my past, a past long buried and forgotten. I couldn’t wait to meet you in person, someone to talk to me about things no one believed. You drove all the way to just see me. MJV: We had a wonderful time. In the photos we took, my children were so small! My daughter was 8; she’s 26 now. Some photos from that visit are in your new book. BELLMAN: That beautiful photo of Roz and me. MJV: My wife Maggie took that photo. After ten years now of almost non-stop convention appearances, do you still get as much enjoyment out of it all?

guys from the Marvel movies. They called me on stage first. The audience started cheering me! I looked around for Stan Lee, thinking he must have walked into the place and that’s why they were cheering. Stan wasn’t anywhere, and I realized they were cheering me! They knew who I was! There had been hundreds and hundreds on line at the signing booth, waiting to meet Play It Again, Uncle Sam! me and get a signature or Allen’s cover for the 2011 Florida SuperCon program book, as inked by Mervyn McKoy, was, of course, an a handshake. homage to the Joe Simon/Jack Kirby cover of Captain And now they America Comics #1 (March 1941), on which the spankingwere cheering new Sentinel of Liberty played a bit of chin music on a me. So I’m on foreign head of state. Thanks to con host Mike Broder. the stage and I [Captain America & Bucky TM & © Marvel Characters, want to show Inc.; con mascot TM & © Mike Broder; other art © Allen the crowd Bellman & Mervyn McKoy.] my shield fingernail so I slowly raise my hand into the air, and someone at Marvel yells out, “He’s giving them the finger!” The crowd was both cheering and laughing at the same time. I certainly wasn’t giving them the finger. “It’s a shield!” I was trying to say! So then later, at the booth, I’m getting a poster autographed by all the actors and Samuel Jackson says to me, “I want to take a photo of that finger.” He takes out his phone and begins fumbling with the camera. He says, “How do you use this thing?” [laughter] MJV: That’s a great story. What about walking the red carpet at the first Captain America movie? BELLMAN: I was sitting in the back, in a kind of loge area, where people who walk by can see you. A man comes by, walks over to me, and says, “I’m Chris Evans’ grandfather. You look important.” I was caught off-guard and I jokingly replied, “That’s because I am important.” He walked away from me. I felt terrible. You know me, I don’t want to offend anyone. I thought I’d offended him.

BELLMAN: Oh, they’ve been my life-saver! I’d be in a rocking chair if I didn’t have places to go. But I am starting to cut down now. I guess I’m getting a little old. [laughs] I was even going back-to-back on successive weekends. The promoters who’ve used me before call me every year now. Sometimes there are even conventions in different cities scheduled on the same day! The way I handle it is, I honor whoever calls me first.

A year later or so, I’m in San Diego and Marvel’s movie guys are there, same show as the fingernail incident. I’m at the signing booth with Marvel’s editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada. I go over to Chris Evans and ask if his grandfather was still with us, and he said yes. I told him about the red carpet incident with his grandfather and told Chris to tell his grandfather that I apologize from my heart for speaking flippantly to him. I wanted him to know I was caught off-guard.

A lot of the young kids at shows don’t know who I am. One year, at San Diego, I had Captain America’s shield painted on my finger by Roz’s manicurist. Marvel kept me in their signing booth with Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans—you know, the

MJV: Allen, I’m sure it didn’t come off flippant at all. It sounded just like a joke to me. What was that like, the long line of people swarming the booth for autographs?

The Female Of The Marvel Species, 1972 – Part I

“I Know There Aren’t A Lot Of Heifers In The Bullpen…” A Conversation with LINDA FITE About The Cat

Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Linda Fite went to work at Marvel in 1967 because she fell in love with Marvel Comics while in college. After two years of working in editorial and production, she left for a variety of writing and production jobs for various companies, returning to Marvel for a period in 1972-73 as a freelance writer. She was married to Marvel artist Herb Trimpe for many years. This conversation took place over the phone on March 9, 2016. RICHARD ARNDT: Can you tell us a little about your early upbringing? LINDA FITE: I was born in Louisiana. My dad was in the Air Force, so I traveled around all my childhood. Moved every two or three years. I went to high school in Plattsburgh, New York. I went to college in Virginia, and that’s where I first read a Marvel comic. Not until college. A friend of mine named John Peden ran a coffee house in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was way cool and he was way cool. He had some Marvel comics lying around. This would have been in 1967. I read them. I’d always liked comics when I was a kid, but I wasn’t a big collector. I would read Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Little Lulu. I loved Little Lulu. RA: Well, who didn’t? That was a great comic. [both laugh] FITE: Anyone who doesn’t love Little Lulu is weird! [laughs] So, anyways, I thought those Marvel comics—from 1966-1967—were so fun that I started buying comics. I would go into Lynchburg, Virginia, and buy comics at the newsstand. I really liked them. So everyone in my class was getting ready to get jobs or go to grad school. I had a contact at Life magazine. My mother knew someone who knew someone. I had another contact at Forbes and still another at NBC. So I had all these possibilities, but I wanted to work at Marvel Comics! [laughs]

“Little Lulu, I Love You-Lu Just The Same!” Irving Tripp’s cover for Dell/ Western’s classic comicbook Marge’s Little Lulu #34 (April 1951). The stories inside were written by John Stanley. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Linda Fite (above center) in Cornwall, England, in 2013—plus the Fite-scripted splash page of The Cat #1 (Nov. 1972), as penciled by Marie Severin, inked/embellished by Wally Wood, and co-plotted by Roy Thomas. Thanks to Linda for the photo, and to Barry Pearl for the art scan. [Page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

So I wrote Stan Lee a letter from college. I got a letter back from Flo Steinberg! [laughs] Stan underlined the things in my letter that he thought were good, and one of the things that I wrote was that I could type. [laughs] Stan had underlined that! It was a very typical jackassy letter on my part. I swear to God I had a line in there that went “I know there aren’t a lot of heifers in the bullpen….” [much laughter] But Flo wrote back [Linda does impersonation of Flo Steinberg’s high-pitched voice], “Stan is so impressed. Give us a call!” Or maybe she called me. If you’ve ever met Flo Steinberg, she has the most amazing voice. It’s like

“I Know There Aren’t A Lot Of Heifers In The Bullpen...”

Fabulous Flo Steinberg Marvel's far-famed corresponding secretary, 1963-68. Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.

Betty Boop on acid! It’s a great voice! [NOTE: This interview took place some months before Flo’s 2017 passing.]

incorrect. [laughs] It was so long ago!

She told me that Stan can’t give me a job but he would love to meet me—if I came to New York. Which is exactly, by the way, what Stan replied to Barry WindsorSmith, when Barry wrote Marvel Comics. “I would love to meet you if you come to New York.” Only in Barry’s case it was across the freakin’ ocean!

FITE: I’d quit Marvel. They wouldn’t give me enough money. That’s pretty much why they let Flo go, too. I was asking for a $25 raise. I was making so little money! Stan said he’d give me $5. So I left.

So I moved to New York with my friend. We got an apartment on the Upper West Side. I called and went down and had an interview at whatever company was publishing Life. They offered me a job. So did another place, but Marvel offered me a—get this—summer job. [laughs] It was substantially less money than the other places, but I wanted it soooo much! I said “Yes!” I started working there the summer after college.

RA: After those three initial stories, there’s a big gap in your bibliography. Was there a reason you weren’t writing any longer?

I went and got another job. I was the art director for a trade magazine. Trade magazines aren’t sold to the public. They’re distributed to people in a particular trade—like plumbing or airlines. The one I worked for was called Mass Retailing Merchandiser. It went to companies like K-Mart and Woolworth’s. Variety, which covers the entertainment industry, is a trade magazine. There were lots of these type of magazines back in the day. Unless you’re in the trade itself, though, you don’t really hear much about them. I worked there from 1969 until 1972 or so. They were bought by a company in Chicago and they moved the whole magazine there. They asked me if I would go. They would move me out there but I just didn’t want to leave New York.

RA: What did the summer job entail? FITE: It was called an editorial assistant position. Mostly I was helping Flo with fan mail and anything else that came across the transom. I was writing stuff for the “Bullpen Bulletins” page. Little items for that. Some production work—literally cut-and-paste or whiteout stuff on camera-ready art. Just whatever they needed. The summer job ended and they said they’d keep me on and give me $15 more a week or something like that. I took that. I just kept doing whatever they needed done in the office from them on. I also kept bugging Roy to let me write. “Please let me write!” I wanted to write. RA: Roy wasn’t the editor at that time, though, was he? FITE: No, Stan was still the editor, but Roy had a lot of clout. He made a lot of assignments for writers. Always in consultation, for sure. RA: Do you remember the first story that you got assigned? FITE: I think he gave me a Western. The Westerns at Marvel had two stories per comicbook, a lead story and a back-up story. Writers back then started out doing back-up stories or stories for the anthologies, I guess, although Marvel didn’t have many of those at the time. Roy let me write a little Western—”Kid Colt Outlaw” or the “Rawhide Kid” or somebody. I’m sure it was a moment of “Let’s see if she can do this.” Werner Roth drew it and Herb Trimpe inked it. Then I did a little thing for The X-Men. A Jean Grey story. That was fun. It was just a five-pager, but it’s been reprinted so many times! I get something like $7.27 every time it is. [laughs] It’s free money. I did the work 45 years ago and am still getting paid for it! RA: I have you writing a couple of back-up Westerns. There’s the first one, which appeared in Rawhide Kid, but was a “Kid Colt Outlaw” story, and another that appeared in Kid Colt Outlaw but was a “Two-Gun Kid” story. FITE: I don’t remember the characters very well, but I remember the title of the first one—“Dixie or Die!” It was so politically

Just Kid-ding Around (Above:) “L.A. Fite” scripted this “Kid Colt Outlaw” backup story in Rawhide Kid #67, with pencils by recent X-Men artist Werner Roth and inks by newcomer Herb Trimpe. Ye Editor isn’t sure whether Linda chose to use her initials rather than her first name, or if Stan Lee and/or Roy Thomas felt at that time that ID-ing a female writer might not go down well with Marvel’s mostly male audience. Either way, it’s a problem that was soon resolved, as witness the very next art spot! Thanks to Nick Caputo. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Female Of The Marvel Species, 1972 – Part II

“That’s The Bullpen! It’s… Magic!” Artist PATY (GREER) COCKRUM On Putting Out The Cat— & Lots Of Other Stuff Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Paty Greer became a letterhack and major fan of Marvel Comics in 1970. She did several art jobs for Marvel on their romance and “women creator” titles. She was on staff at Marvel from 1974-1982, and generally went by the single name “Paty” (which she pronounces PAY-tee), which she adopted when someone misspelled her nickname “Patty” in a letter to her). During that time she married Dave Cockrum, the artist on the “new” X-Men and many other titles; they were married until his death in 2006. After leaving her staff job, she continued to work for Marvel’s merchandising department as a freelancer. She became legally blind in 1999 but in recent years has done some work in the independent comics field. This interview, which covers Paty’s Cat work among many other facets of her career, was conducted by phone on Aug. 30, 2013…. RICHARD ARNDT: Can you tell us when you got involved in professional comics?

Paty Greer (top of page) often signed herself simply “Paty” (pronounced “Pay-tee”); later she’d take the name “Paty Cockrum” when she wed second husband/ artist Dave Cockrum. Photo taken in the Bullpen, October 1976, by fan Bill Mitchell on a memorable visit, and printed with his blessing. We wish he’d been around to photograph the cast and crew more often, since his pics are some of the best we have of that period’s Marvel misfits in action. Oh, and that’s secretary Mary McPharron blurred on the right. (Above:) Paty’s rough pencils were credited as “layouts” on the splash page of The Cat #3 (April 1973), while Bill Everett’s finishes are simply listed as “inks”—which would tend to indicate that the “penciling” was more or less divided between the two of them. The panel’s caption suggests Everett was originally intended to fully draw this issue, and that Paty stepped in to help out by doing layouts. She says, however, that she was originally told Wally Wood would be inking #3, as he had #1. Mixed-up Marvel musical chairs, anyone? Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

PATY COCKRUM: When I went to work for Marvel, I didn’t live in the city. I had to commute and work an eight-hour day there for peon wages, but I was Stan’s star performer. When he had guests in from other companies he would point me out in the hallway and say, “She’s the one!” They ask me, “You commute six hours a day to work here?!?” I go, “Yah!” Then they’d ask, “How come?” and I’d say, “If you have to ask that question, you probably will never understand. But—see that door back there?” They go, “Yeah…” and these are all executives, mind you... and I’d go, “That’s the Bullpen. It’s… magic!” They’d all look big-eyes over my shoulder and I would say “Gotta go now, ‘bye!” [laughs] They had the big eyes and the expectation and they’d walk towards the Bullpen… [laughter] It was wonderful. Now, what can I do you out of? RA: How did you get acquainted with comics in the first place? COCKRUM: I read comics as a kid, and then just about the time I graduated from high school in 1960 I was looking around and all I could see on the stands was Jack Kirby art. I didn’t like Jack Kirby art. I hated it! It was ugly! He couldn’t draw horses. He couldn’t draw humans. What I learned later on, as I became an art teacher, was that his art was very, very, very cubistic, and I hate cubism.

“That’s The Bullpen! It’s... Magic!”

Make Mine Marvel—Eventually! Paty didn’t care much for Jack Kirby’s 1960s artwork, as perhaps exemplified by his cover for The X-Men #6 (July 1964), inked by Chic Stone—but she was intrigued by Sal Buscema’s work on comics like Sub-Mariner #27 (July ’70), with inks by Mike Esposito, featuring the selfsame Commander Kraken she herself would pencil in The Cat #3—and she really fell in love with The Avengers as penciled by John Buscema and inked by Tom Palmer, as per #75 (April ’70). Well, we concur with the lady’s tastes on two out of three, anyway! Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for the covers. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

There were people like Mike Esposito or Frank Giacoia who would “fix” his art. Round it off a bit. Try to do something with the very skewed musculature and anatomy. Later, at Marvel, I had to work with black-&-white art, and sometimes I had to work with his art, and finally I sat down with it and said to myself, “Why do I get headaches every time I see this art?” I finally figured it out. I took black-&-white representations of his art and took out the Zap lines. Zap lines are lines in a drawing that had no meaning except that they were there. They had no costume meaning. They had no anatomy meaning. They had absolutely no meaning except they were there. I call those lines Zap lines, a phrase I coined myself. They were in his figures. They were in his backgrounds. They were all over the place. I whited them out. Lo and behold, everything in the drawing went static. I said, “Wait a minute.” Kirby’s supposed to have so much movement, and what happens, at least in his art at that period, was that the Zap lines made your eyes jump around. They strobed your eyes. Some people more, some people less, but with me it was very pronounced. Those Zap lines gave movement to the panel on the page. Anyway, in 1960 Kirby art was everywhere and I didn’t like it, so I quit reading comics for about ten years. Then, in 1970 or 1971, I was living in upstate New York with my first husband and I couldn’t find any interesting paperbacks on my neighborhood spinner rack, so I looked over at the comicbook stand and there was a comicbook that was well-drawn. It was by Sal Buscema and featured one of my favorite early super-heroes—the Sub-Mariner. I went “Wooh! That’s Subbie! That’s good art! Wooh!” I bought it and loved it. It was a good story. It was great art. I went, “Hmmm. Marvel Comics. I never heard of them. Let’s see what else they do.” I picked up a copy of The Avengers. Oh my God! And that started me off. I was a big Avengers fan. Roy Thomas was the writer. John Buscema and Tom Palmer were on the art. It was wonderful! I started writing letters to the letters pages. Only, on my letters I would draw art all around the edges of it. People do that today, too, but I think I was the first person to ever do it. The people who trumpeted it to the world were CBG—the Comic Buyer’s Guide— which was a buyer’s guide put out by Maggie Thompson. I wrote

them a letter with art all around it and they were like “Wow! Hey, people, look at this! This is a great letter we got!” So I started writing letters to Marvel dealing with various and sundry aspects of their comics and… look, I’m a weird duck. I’m an artsy-craftsy person. So I decided as a hoot that I would make Stan Lee a Spider-Man rug. I made one 36 to 40 inches in diameter. I hooked it and it was about two or three inches thick, with the Spider-Man insignia. I think he still has it. In fact, someone told me they saw an interview with him and he had it on his wall, behind him.

That rug sort of introduced me to the Bullpen. When I finished it up, I rolled it up in this big round brown paper package and put art all over it. I put on the package: “To Stan, from Marveldom Assembled!” I took it down to New York, left it at the front desk, and left. I was only a couple of hours above the city, so it was no big deal to drive in and drive back out. They took it into Stan’s office and told him it came in to the front desk. They unwrapped it and oohhed and ahhed about it. Stan asked who it was from. The package only said “Marveldom Assembled.” It was either John Romita or Marie Severin who looked at it and said, “Wait a minute. We know that art. It’s been on letters. Paty sent that!” So Stan had Mary McPharron, who was his secretary at the time, call me up and asked me if I left something for Stan. I told her yes, and that it was a giant toilet bowl cover for the executive ass. She laughed! She asked me if she could tell him that and I said sure. [laughs] She called back and said that Stan wanted to meet me the next time I was in the city. So the next time I was in the city I walked around to Marvel. Mary had a tiny little desk next to this door. I walked in and she asked if she could help me. I said that I was Paty, and she went, “Oh, my God!” Now, Stan had this office way in the back with J.J. Verpoorten. She put me in the seat beside her desk and ran off to get Stan. This was when Marvel was really small and you could see everything. Everything was in this one tiny little office, so I could see where Johnny Romita

Mary McPharron Marvel secretary who welcomed Paty in the early 1970s. From the 1975 Marvel Con program book. We wish we had a pic of the Spidey rug Paty had made at the time she first came to the offices, but though she tells us that it’s appeared, hung up behind him, in a couple of photos taken of Stan, we couldn’t come up with one of them by deadline time.

Artist Paty (Greer) Cockrum On Putting Out The Cat

All Cats Have Claws In The Darkness (Left:) A penciled page from Paty’s 7-page story “Dear Darkness,” which appeared not long ago in a British comic, from a script by Rivka Jacobs—and (right) a climactic action page by Paty & Bill Everett from The Cat #3, with script by Linda Fite. Thanks to Paty and Barry Pearl, respectively, for the scans. Thanks also to Paty’s friend Richard O’Hara for his help in sending some of the scans printed in this interview. [TM & © respectively Paty Cockrum & Marvel Characters, Inc.]

PATY COCKRUM Checklist [This checklist is adapted from the online edition of the Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999, established by Dr. Jerry G. Bails (see ad on p. 62). The last entries to this website were made in October 2006. Names of features that appeared both in comicbooks of that title and in other magazines as well are generally not italicized. Paty Cockrum is the source of some information on this checklist. Key: (p) = penciler; (i) = inker.] Name & Vital Stats: Paty Cockrum (b. 1942) – artist, colorist

Deluxe Comics: support (colorist) 1984-86 [imprint: Lodestone]

Pen Name: Paty

Warp Graphics: support (colorist) 1992-94

Previous Name During Pro Work: Paty Greer

Orang Utan Comics [UK]: Faster Than Light 2011

Education: B.S. (art education), Towson State College [Maryland]

COMICBOOKS (U.S. Mainstream Publishers):

Family in Arts: Dave Cockrum (husband)

Marvel Comics: Amazing Spider-Man (p)(i) 1985; The Cat (p) 1973; covers (i) 1985; Epic Illustrated (w)(p)(i) 1985; Marvel Universe (p) 1983; My Love (p) 1973; support (colorist) 1983-85, 1990-91; support (sales) 1974-83 (comics & merchandise); What If? (p) 1983

Influences: John Buscema, Michelangelo Commercial Art & Design: Hulk crossword book (interior) 1978 Other Career Notes: Teacher: art classes, Goshen, NY 1963-64

The Female Of The Marvel Species, 1972 – Part III

“I Created Shanna To Be A Very Intelligent Woman”

An Interview with CAROLE SEULING, First Writer of Shanna The She-Devil

arole Seuling had only a short career as a comics writer, with the great majority of her scripting work being on the first four of the five issues of Shanna the She-Devil. However, she is also linked to comics by her earlier marriage to Phil Seuling, who produced comics conventions in New York City from 1968 through the 1980s; he also basically created the direct distributor system and, thereby, the modern-day comicbook store. This interview took place via phone on Sept. 8, 2013.

SEULING: Basically I just enjoyed looking at them. I actually did write little stories but they were not for comic books. RA: So how did you get involved in professional comics? SEULING: Well, I was married to Phil—Phil Seuling—and when he started collecting comics and then selling them, that was my chance to have a Wonder Woman collection. Of course, I always

RICHARD ARNDT: Carole, I’d like to thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could we start off with your youth and when you first encountered comic books… CAROLE SEULING: I started reading comics during World War II. In fact, my father used to read Archie to me before I could read. Then, when I turned three or possibly four, I took the comic away from him and read it to him. I know I was reading before I went to school. I read the Disney books and the Archie titles. I remember having lots of comics as a kid because I was reading them. My parents were happy because I was reading, and they gave me what I wanted, which included fairy tale books as well as comics. But I really enjoyed the comics. Later on, I started reading Wonder Woman. I wasn’t into Superman or Batman that much. It seems to me I was always reading comics. I have a collection of foreign comics. Foreign language books from the 1940s and 1950s. My grandparents had a boarder who was in the Danish Merchant Marine, and he used to pick up whatever comics were on the boats and bring them home with him and then he’d give them to me. RA: I’ve heard that many cargo ships carried bundles of comics as ballast during that time period. SEULING: I have Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in Greek, German, Spanish, French. You name the European country, and I probably have a comic from that country. It’s interesting, because sometimes I had the American version of that comic and I could tell what they were saying. RA: Did you make up stories to fit the ones you didn’t have American copies for?

Carole Seuling (at top center) holding a tiger cub a few years back—and the splash page of Shanna the She-Devil #1 (Dec. 1972), penciled by George Tuska & inked by Vince Colletta. Plot & script by Carole; additional dialogue by Steve Gerber. Thanks to Carole and her daughter Heather Antonelli for the photo, and to Barry Pearl for the art scan. [Page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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The Female Of The Marvel Species, 1972 – Part IV

The Night Of The Nurse! ROY THOMAS On The Night Nurse Series By JEAN THOMAS & WINSLOW MORTIMER Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

Jean & Roy Thomas at the 1973 ACBA Awards banquet. Seen at far left is the splash page of Night Nurse #3 (March 1973), the best of those drawn by artist Winslow Mortimer; script by Jean Thomas. Photo from The Academy of Comic Book Arts Newsletter, Vol. I, #21. Thanks to Jacque Nodell for the scan of the splash. [Night Nurse page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

It was probably his idea to team Marie Severin with Wally Wood on Cat #1. Otherwise, he left concept development and the art and story assignments mostly to me. He didn’t feel a need to concern himself with the details: there’s a cat-powered super-heroine; a jungle queen—we did decide up front she’d be an ecological jungle queen for the 1970s—and a nurse involved in dramatic situations at a big-city hospital.

NTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Night Nurse was the third of the trio of Marvel titles launched in 1972—along with The Cat and Shanna the She-Devil—that were aimed at female readers and were scripted primarily by female writers. Night Nurse ran for four issues, cover-dated Nov. 1972 to May 1973. Its main creative crew consisted of writer Jean Thomas and artist Winslow Mortimer. Jean declined to be interviewed for this issue, so this conversation with Roy Thomas, Jean’s ex-husband and then-editor, was conducted by phone on Dec. 9, 2017. RICHARD ARNDT: I guess we should start with the rationale behind doing the female-centered books. ROY THOMAS: All three titles and concepts were Stan’s. They were set in motion by winter or spring of ’72, not long before I became editor-in-chief. By the time they were published, I was the editor of record. There was The Cat—or The Claws of The Cat, though that wasn’t the official title—and Shanna the She-Devil—I assumed that name was inspired by Fiction House’s “Sheena,” though Stan never said so—and Night Nurse. He and I initially discussed all three in the same conversation.

I decided it would be a good idea— both for point-of-view in writing and for possible PR benefit down the road—to have women write all three comics. Stan Photo from the 1975 Marvel happily went along with that. I also Con program book. wanted women to draw them, where possible. Hence, besides Marie, the work by Paty and Ramona Fradon on The Cat… though Ramona’s story was sadly left unpublished when that mag was canceled. It was that issue I lured Ramona back into comics to draw, and I followed it up by having her pencil a Fantastic Four before she decided she’d feel more comfortable back at her alma mater, DC. She hated working “Marvel style,” but I’m still happy to have played my small part in bringing her back into comics. I’d have put more female artists on those titles, but there weren’t many in the field then, and I didn’t have the time to go looking for new ones. None of the three titles were intended to be treated as romance comics, not even Night Nurse. We were trying to appeal to both girls and boys, especially with The Cat and Shanna. RA: There’d been a Timely comic called Linda Carter, Student Nurse about a decade earlier. It ran for nine issues, from Sept. 1961 to Jan. 1963, and was written by Stan Lee with art by Al Hartley. Except for having the same name and occupation, the two Lindas didn’t really have anything in

Alter Ego #154