Alter Ego #155 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas' forever-MAURER Comics Fanzine

SHINING THE SPOTLIGHT ON

NORMAN MAURER

—GOLDEN AGE ARTIST OF CRIMEBUSTER, DAREDEVIL, CRIME DOES NOT PAY—

The Three Stooges ®/© 2018 C3 Entertainmen t, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.threestooges.com ; DD/Iron Jaw commiss . ion © Joan Maurer; othe © the respective holders; r art Daredevil is a trademark of Marvel Characters, Inc.

—&, O THESE H YEAH, G HIS IN COMPUYS— IN-LAWARABLE S!

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In the USA

No. 155 November 2018

Vol. 3, No. 155 / Nov.. 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

Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

Contents

Cover Artist

Writer/Editorial: Thanks For The Memories! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Joan Maurer Remembers Norman Maurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding Norman Maurer

Richard Arndt & the Golden Age artist of Daredevil, Crimebuster—& The Three Stooges!

Cover Colorists

“[Being In Comics] Was An Important Time In My Life” . . . 37

Tom Ziuko, et al.

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Terrance Armstard Richard J. Arndt Bob Bailey Rod Beck John Benson bleedingcool (website) Ricky Terry Brisacque Michael Browning Bernie Bubnis Mark CarlsonGhost John Cimino Shaun Clancy Maddy Cohen Comic Book Plus (website) Comic Vine (website) Chet Cox Val Dal Chele Craig Delich Al Dellinges Mark Evanier Justin Fairfax Shane Foley Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Golden Age Comic Book Stories (website) Grand Comics Database (website)

George Hagenauer Heritage Comics Auctions Ellen Harris Lawrence Kaufman Jim Kealy Bob Klein Todd Klein Paul Levitz Mark Lewis Jim Ludwig Jeffrey Maurer Joan Maurer Robert Maurer Robert Menzies Mike Mikulovsky Brian K. Morris Will Murray Ken Quattro Barry Pearl Bill Pearson Sandy Plunkett Trina Robbins Bob Rozakis Jim Salicrup Randy Sargent Eric Schumacher Earl Shaw Anthony Snyder Ronn Sutton Dann Thomas Michael Uslan Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Lindsey Wilkerson Donald Woolfolk

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Norman Maurer, Fran Hopper, & Bill Harris

An interview with Maddy Cohen, a.k.a. (during the Marvel Age) Mimi Gold.

“Paris When It Sizzles” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Part VI of Golden/Silver Age super-writer John Broome’s offbeat memoir.

The REALLY SECRET Origin Of The Justice League . . . . . . . 55 Larry Ivie’s 1990s thoughts on interfaces with Shelly Mayer & Julius Schwartz.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! “Dan Adkins And The Incredible Tracing Machine!” Revisited – Part III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Michael T. Gilbert lets the late Silver Age artist speak for himself re the controversy.

Comic Fandom Archive: My Friend, Raymond Miller . . . . . 71 Bill Schelly presents Jeff Gelb’s reminiscence of the 1960s ultra-fan.

Tributes To Fran Hopper & Bill Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 81 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #214 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 P.C. Hamerlinck with Michael Browning’s study of comics writer France “Ed” Herron.

On Our Cover: From the early 1940s through the mid-1950s, artist Norman Maurer did the majority of his comics work for two publishers, specializing in Daredevil Comics and Boy Comics (starring Crimebuster) for editors Charles Biro and Bob Wood at Lev Gleason Publications—and The Three Stooges and Whack at St. John Publishing Co. Solid, often inspired work—which we tried to do justice on our montage cover assembled by layout guru Chris Day. The photo is courtesy of Mrs. Joan Maurer, via Shaun Clancy. [Pages © the respective copyright holders; DD/Iron Jaw drawing © Estate of Norman Maurer. Daredevil is now a trademark of Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: Another Norman Maurer moment—this one, an excellent splash page of Crimebuster from the pages of Boy Illustories #64 (April 1951), just as things were beginning to heat up again concerning “crime comics.” Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. For the probable reason why Boy Comics became Boy Illustories—see p. 17. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] 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

Thanks For The Memories!

ne of the primary reasons I’ve stuck around putting together Alter Ego for the past two decades is all the stuff I learn in the preparation for each issue. Take this one:

First, the lead interview with Joan Maurer, widow of Golden/ Silver Age artist Norman Maurer and daughter of Moe Howard, the head honcho of the immortal Three Stooges. I probably first met the Maurers at the 1983 San Diego Comic-Con they attended… and Dann and I were honored when they came to a party at our home in San Pedro, CA. In addition to seeming genuinely nice people, they possessed for me an almost hypnotizing aura. Besides his other excellent work, Norman had been part of the Kubert-&Maurer team that had produced the wonderful Tor, Three Stooges, and Whack (plus the world’s first 3-D comicbooks) for mid-1950s St. John Publishing… and Joan was Moe’s offspring, also the niece of Curly and Shemp—a royal family of wonderfully lowbrow comedy if ever there was one. (Fellow Stooge Larry Fine wasn’t technically a Howard, but Joan’s said he was always treated like a member of the family… which is why I refer to the Stooges as Norman’s “incomparable in-laws” on this issue’s cover. It’s only a slight exaggeration.) It was fascinating for me to learn, through Richard Arndt’s deft questions and Joan’s thought-out answers, that Norman developed a type of “animation without artists” (in which Moe appeared as a cutlass-wielding pirate!)… that the Little Wise Guys of Daredevil Comics were only the second kid gang with that name at Lev Gleason Publications… that there was almost a “Three Stooges” comic strip. And their son Jeff, with whom I exchanged a few e-mails, was the guy who (amid a zillion other TV-animation projects) wrote the early-’80s “bible” and pilot episode of a Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! cartoon show when CBS optioned that comicbook series I’d co-created. I’m naturally pleased when readers express their appreciation for things they learn in A/E… but they’re no more chuffed than I am to have been privileged to meet folks like Joan and Norman Maurer. This issue, in fact, is virtually an “old-home” week for me:

Maddy Cohen, who as “Mimi Gold” worked for Marvel in the late 1960s/early ’70s, was a delight when I knew her then… and speaking with her on the phone not long ago swept aside the four-plus decades in between as if they had never existed. Larry Ivie, recently spotlighted by his friend Sandy Plunkett in A/E #152, was someone I knew less well; but he was a fascinatingly opinionated (and forever enthusiastic) figure on the 1960s fan/pro scene, and I’m happy to finally showcase an article he wrote for A/E—even if I disagree with a few of his conclusions. John Broome I met only once, in San Diego in 1998—but he’d been a major part of my comics-reading life from 1947’s All-Star Comics #35 through his final “Green Lantern” story in the 1980s, and I’m thankful I got the chance to tell him how much his work had meant to me—even though he couldn’t enlighten me where the name “Per Degaton” came from. Dan Adkins was one of the first artists I met outside the DC and Marvel offices after I moved to New York—it was at the studio of the fabulously irascible Wally Wood—and despite problems with his art swipes and occasional whoppers, I liked the guy. While I didn’t personally know the late fan Raymond Miller, I—like many another—thoroughly enjoyed his drawings and info on Golden Age super-heroes that surfaced in vintage fanzines. We were birds of a feather, even if from a distance. Sadly, I never got to meet the late artist Fran Hopper—but Gold Key editor/writer Bill Harris was a pipe-smoking presence at the 1965 New York comics convention, and it was good to see him at the helm of King Comics a couple of years later. The final e-mails we exchanged, a few months prior to his passing, brought back fond memories of a bygone time. So: no great point to be made in this issue’s writer/editorial. I just wanted to say— Thanks to A/E’s ever-supportive readers for giving me an excuse to be in touch with all these wonderful people—and to learn, with you, all the marvelous things they can share with us!

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JOAN MAURER Remembers NORMAN MAURER

Celebrating The Golden Age Artist of Daredevil, Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay—& The Three Stooges! Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Joan Maurer’s husband was the artist, writer, and film producer Norman Maurer. He entered the comics field in 1942, illustrating stories for Lev Gleason Publication’s titles Crime Does Not Pay, Boy Comics, and Daredevil Comics, drawing characters like Daredevil (the 1940s version), Bombshell, Robinhood [sic], and Crimebuster. During a stint in the military during World War II, where he still drew after duty hours for the comics, Norman met Joan at a party and they soon married.

Norman & Joan Maurer (top right) in a photo taken Nov. 1, 1983, by San Diego Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf—above examples from two of Norman’s most noted comicbook series runs. (Left:) A “Crimebuster” splash drawn for Lev Gleason Publications’ Boy Comics #33 (April 1947). This story, like most in that and other Gleason titles, was officially credited to editor Charles Biro, but various other writers probably wrote some of the scripts under his direction, and his “story” credit probably often reflected his merely giving the actual scripter a concept for a story. (Directly above:) Maurer’s cover for The Three Stooges #1 (Feb. 1949), the premiere issue of the first of two different Stooges series he wrote and drew for St. John Publishing Company, under its earlier name “Jubilee.” Thanks to Comic Book Plus website. [Boy page TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders; The Three Stooges are a registered trademark of C3 Entertainment, Inc.]

Celebrating The Golden Age Artist Of Daredevil, Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, & The Three Stooges

After the war, Norman continued to work for Lev Gleason through 1956, now concentrating on Daredevil and his kid gang—the Little Wise Guys—who by 1951 took over the magazine. In 1949 he drew the Three Stooges in a comic book for the first time, for Jubilee [St. John] comics. Norman had a unique “in” for the title, since Joan’s father was none other than Moe Howard, and her uncles were Curly and Shemp Howard— three of the four people who made up the Three Stooges during their amazingly successful 1934-1956 run of comedic theatrical shorts! That first comicbook series lasted only two issues, but Norman again took up the Stooges in 1953 for St. John Publications. That version lasted for two years and seven issues. Following the collapse of both Lev Gleason and St. John in the mid-1950s, Norman produced mystery, war, and Western comics for Atlas. When that work dried up, Norman began working as the Three Stooges’ manager and, eventually, as producer on their feature-length films and the 1960s cartoon show. In the late 1960s he produced several fine non-Stooges comedies, including the excellent 1967 film Who’s Minding the Mint? When his work in film began to dry up, his old friend and classmate Joe Kubert convinced him to return to comics at DC, where he drew the “Medal of Honor” back-up segment for editor Kubert’s war books for much of the 1970s. He also worked, yet again, on Three Stooges comics with The Little Stooges for Gold Key in the early 1970s. Norman passed away in 1986, at the age of 60. This interview was conducted by phone on May 23, 2016….

RA: How much do you know about Norman’s early life? MAURER: Quite a bit. He was born in Brooklyn on May 13, 1926. His home wasn’t too far from Ebbets Field, where the Brooklyn Dodgers played. The crowd noises were loud enough during games that they would keep him up at night. In retaliation he became a Giants fan! [laughs] Norman always wanted to be an artist and loved to draw. He did some very interesting work for the high school newspaper. He was drawing things at a very young age. He became fascinated, as many young people were at the time, with syndicated comic strips in the newspapers, and from that to the comicbooks. In later years, after meeting my dad, he became equally fascinated by film. There were so many parts of comics that lent itself to films. RA: Many films are based on storyboards, which is basically comics-style format, following a comicbook story right down the line. MAURER: Right. When he was seventeen, he went to the Manhattan’s High School of Music and Art. That’s where he met Joe Kubert, who became his life-long friend. They used to cut class together so they could work at a comicbook company erasing pages. RA: Joe started as a professional at an extremely young age. I think he was only twelve or thirteen.

“Joe Kubert… Became His Lifelong Friend” RICHARD ARNDT: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Joan. Norman was born in 1926… JOAN MAURER: Yes, I was born in 1927. I’m a year younger.

The Maurer The Merrier! There were three Maurer brothers—in descending order of age: Lenny, Norman, & Robert. (Left to right above:) Norman and Lenny as kids—Norman in 1939, at age 13—and youngster Robert with Lenny. All photos provided by Robert Maurer, via Shaun Clancy, who had conducted his own interview with Joan Maurer but kindly shared these pics with us. The high school cartoon drawn by Norman is from Joan Maurer’s memoir/proposal Life in 3-D, dealing with her husband, herself, and her famous film family. Wouldn’t it be great if some enterprising publisher did indeed produce an entire book about this remarkable extended family— which also includes a couple of sons who gained prominence in the world of TV animation! [Art © Estate of Norman Maurer.]

Joan Maurer Remembers Norman Maurer

A Lifelong Mutual Admiration Society—And Deservedly So! Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer were friends from the 1940s through the latter’s death in 1986. Joan Maurer contrasts Kubert’s dynamic depiction of the human body with her husband’s clear storytelling—though of course both men were adept in each department. Seen above are Joe’s splash page from Tor, Vol. 1, #3 (May 1954—actually the fourth issue, since there’d been two 3-D editions between #1 & #3), and an action page from Norm’s “Medal of Honor” story of John Mitchell, a U.S. Navy hero of the Boxer Rebellion in China, as related in DC’s Our Fighting Forces #135 (Jan.-Feb. 1972). The artists also scripted both tales. Thanks to Ye Editor’s bound volumes and Jim Kealy, respectively. Photos of Kubert can be seen on pp. 7, et al. [Tor page TM & © Estate of Joe Kubert; OFF page TM & © DC Comics.]

MAURER: Joe was really good at anatomy and drawing the human body. Especially when I look at Tor or books like that. Norman couldn’t draw the human body like Joe could, but he could do other things that Joe had a more difficult time at. I think what Norman was best at in the comicbook field was that you knew what the characters on the page were doing. He had a way of dramatizing things. You knew what was going on even without reading the dialogue balloons. RA: I would assume that Joe and Norman had, well, perhaps not so much a friendly competition, but a sort of support system for each other…. MAURER: I would say it was more support. Norman leaned towards humorous art that wasn’t all that realistic. Joe, because of his ability at anatomy, did things in a more realistic way. So, there was never competition between them. Norman joined the Navy when he was eighteen. This was during the [World War II] war years. He worked as a photographer for them. One of his Navy photos, taken from a blimp at the Bikini Atoll bomb test site, appeared on the cover of Newsweek.

The Navy Gets The Gravy… Two photos of Norman Maurer in the Navy, circa 1945—the first, courtesy of Robert Maurer via Shaun Clancy; the second, showing Norman “moonlighting” drawing a comicbook story, courtesy of Comic Vine website.

Celebrating The Golden Age Artist Of Daredevil, Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay, & The Three Stooges

How The Mighty Are Fallen! Maurer drew Crimebuster battling Iron Jaw in a violent action page for Lev Gleason Publications’ Boy Comics #13 (Dec. 1943)—but, by Boy Illustories #92 (Aug. ’53), Iron Jaw had been reduced to second billing in a humor strip—which, however, led off the issue. Both stories attributed to Charles Biro. Thanks to CPB. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Strange Tales (p)(i) 1955; Tales of Justice (p)(i) 1955-56; Sergeant Barney Baxter filler (p)(i) 1956; Two-Gun Western (p)(i) 1957; Western Kid (p) (i) 1955; Wild Western (p)(i) 1956; Wyatt Earp (p)(i) 1956-57 St. John Publishing: covers (p)(i) 1953-54; fillers (w)(p)(i) 1953; The House of Terror (p)(i) 1953; Lil Stooge (w)(p)(i) dates uncertain; Mighty Mouse (w)(p)(i) 1953; The Three Stooges (w)(p)(i) 1949, 1953-54 (ed on latter issues); Whack (w)(p)(i) 1953-54; Western (w?) (p)(i) 1953; The Wizard of Uggh (p)(i)(ed) 1953 Western Publishing: The Little Stooges (w)(p)(i) 1972-74 William H. Wise & Co.: Complete Book of True Crime Comics (p)(i) 1944 [reprint of Lev Gleason material from Crime Does Not Pay]

Norman Maurer in 1967. Thanks to Joan Maurer & Shaun Clancy.

“[Being In Comics] Was An Important Time In My Life”

An Interview With MADDY COHEN, A.K.A. MIMI GOLD Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Mimi Gold entered the comicbook field via a rather unusual process: she had a blind date with Jim Steranko. (For details, see below.) She was briefly Stan Lee’s secretary in the waning days of the 1960s. She soon moved on to become an editorial assistant and to write scripts for Marvel’s mystery titles, as well as stories for Iron Man and “The Black Widow.” She was also a colorist, working on many of Marvel’s main titles, including most of the first dozen issues of Conan the Barbarian. In 1972, she moved to DC, first working in production for Sol Harrison and Jack Adler; she soon became an assistant editor (under Dorothy Woolfolk) on the romance titles and Lois Lane. After that, she left comics for an editorial position at McGraw-Hill. Along the way, she legally changed her name to Madeline Cohen and is currently a partner in a film production company in New Jersey. This interview was conducted by phone on Dec. 7th, 2013. RICHARD ARNDT: I guess the first question would be: where did the “Mimi Gold” name come from and where did it go to? MADDY COHEN: My given name when I was born was Miriam. From the time I was a toddler, my nickname was Mimi. I basically used that nickname for many years until I changed my name to Madeline and my nickname became Maddy. That happened about 24, 25 years ago. I was Mimi until I was about forty. My full last name was Goldenberg, but when I first got into comics I was dating Jim Steranko. I was a writer. I was always a writer and a filmmaker—no matter what the medium was, I wanted to write. That’s not how or why I got into Marvel Comics, but as soon as I was there, working as a secretary for Stan Lee, I wanted to be a writer, because that’s what everybody at Marvel wanted to be. So Jim Steranko and I were talking and he said, “Look, you just can’t use your full name. It’s not commercial enough. It’s not snappy enough. Let’s shorten it.” So he made the Goldenberg “Gold” and I became Mimi Gold. It was that name not only throughout my time in the comicbook industry but through my next couple of business moves in

“Me And Skippy” Little Miriam Goldenberg in 1949, with the family dog. Photo courtesy of MC.

Mimi Gold (Now Maddy Cohen) in 1970, by the River Thames in London—and the splash page of the “Black Widow” story she scripted for Amazing Adventures #4 (Jan. 1971), with powerful pencils by Gene Colan & incredible inks by Bill Everett. The photo of Mimi was snapped by artist Barry Smith (now Windsor-Smith), when she was visiting him in England. Thanks to Maddy for the pic, and to Barry Pearl for the comic art. [Page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

book publishing. Gold stuck with me for fifteen years and Mimi for twenty. RA: Was there any particular reason you changed it? COHEN: Yeah. By the time I was forty, I hated everybody calling me Mimi. I hated that nickname! It was something my mother

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“Paris When It Sizzles”

Part VI Of JOHN BROOME’s My Life In Little Pieces A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Since A/E #149, we’ve been presenting, a few pages at a time, the “little pieces” (i.e., vignettes and anecdotes) of the 1998 reminiscence by John Broome (1913-1999). Broome was a comicbook writer in the Golden Age and, in the Silver Age that began in 1956, was the primary writer of tales of both “The Flash” and “Green Lantern,” along with a fair amount of science-fiction comics yarns for DC Comics. In the mid-’60s, he, his wife Peggy, and their daughter Ricky moved to Paris; he would spend the final two decades of his life teaching English in the schools of Japan. Our thanks to Ricky Terry Brisacque for permission to serialize her father’s book, and to Brian K. Morris for retyping it onto a Word document for editing. In this installment, John recalls a few memorable days on the boulevards of gay Paree. Oh, and we should warn you up front: one or two of these memories are a bit spicier (though not by that much) than the usual fare in Alter Ego. Parental discretion is advised… though in most of our cases, it’s a bit late for that…. that’s just in case the title quasi-quotation above from a famous Cole Porter song lyric didn’t already clue you in….

Paris – The 1960s

cIntyre was a minor poet from Canada with a reputation for having, in his salad days, disassembled the furnishings of a couple of Montparnasse cafes, but when l knew him, he was near seventy and a massive stroke had just felled him. lt couldn’t kill the man, but did its damnedest, leaving him completely paralyzed and bedridden the last ﬁve years of his life. He could still drink and smoke if someone ﬁlled his glass and lit his cigarettes. And he could still listen to dirty stories. He loved dirty stories. I used to save up for him any new ones I heard and tell them as best I could on my occasional visits. Though it was always an ordeal to watch a laugh try to work its way up through that frozen visage and emerge from that defeated but still indomitable wreckage of a face—one eyeball all white and rimmed with blood—in sounds not resembling laughter at all, or only in a ghastly sort of way. Marion, Mac’s still youthful wife, had taken a job to make ends meet, but they had a hard time keeping a maid to take care of Mac. As may be imagined, he was no easy patient. Once, Marion told us, they had had a likely prospect, a young mademoiselle fresh from the provinces whom she had liked especially, but that one ‘s stay proved to be particularly short.

As Marion put it, “She took one look at Mac’s rigid digit and ﬂed for her life. “It was then I realized that that part of a man might be the very last part of him to die.” *** Tatsy and I were sitting in the Coupole watching a pair of lovers on the banquette just across from our table. The girl was a bewitching blonde, in a mini-skirt of course, this being the ’60s, and she was all over the boy so that you could hardly get a glimpse of him—as if we cared about that. The girl’s restlessly moving

John Broome at the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con—and don’t worry, he wasn’t a contortionist. That’s a friend’s hand on his shoulder. From Comic Vine website. (Left:) Probably one of the earliest stories Broome wrote that had as its locale his later-beloved Paris was the Flash chapter of “The Justice Society of America” yarn “The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives” in the Golden Age All-Star Comics #57 (Feb.-March 1951), the final issue. Someone is stealing the famous gargoyles atop Notre Dame Cathedral—and not a Hunchback on hand to stop them—so enter the Fastest Man Alive! Pencils by Arthur Peddy; inks by Bernard Sachs. Thanks to Jim Kealy. [TM & © DC Comics.]

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KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID!

(JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #75)

This first-of-its-kind examination of the creators of the Marvel Universe looks back at their own words, in chronological order, from fanzine, magazine, radio, and television interviews, to paint a picture of JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s relationship—why it succeeded, where it deteriorated, and when it eventually failed. Also here are recollections from STEVE DITKO, WALLACE WOOD, JOHN ROMITA SR., and more Marvel Bullpen stalwarts who worked with both Kirby and Lee. Rounding out this book is a study of the duo’s careers after they parted ways as collaborators, including Kirby’s difficulties at Marvel Comics in the 1970s, his last hurrah with Lee on the Silver Surfer Graphic Novel, and his exhausting battle to get back his original art—and creator credit—from Marvel. STUF’ SAID gives both men their say, compares their recollections, and tackles the question, “Who really created the Marvel Comics Universe?”. Edited by TwoMorrows publisher JOHN MORROW. (160-page trade paperback) $24.95 • (Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-086-1 Diamond Order Code: MAY182059 • SHIPS OCTOBER 2018!

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: The 1990s

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: THE 1990s is a year-by-year account of the comic book industry during the Bill Clinton years. This full-color hardcover documents the comic book industry’s most significant publications, most notable creators, and most impactful trends from that decade. Written by KEITH DALLAS and JASON SACKS. (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $44.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.95 • SHIPS NOVEMBER 2018! ISBN: 978-1-60549-084-7 • Diamond Order Code: MAY182060

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

THE 1990s was the decade when Marvel Comics sold 8.1 million copies of an issue of the X-MEN, saw its superstar creators form their own company, cloned SPIDER-MAN, and went bankrupt. The 1990s was when SUPERMAN died, BATMAN had his back broken, and the runaway success of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to DC Comics’ VERTIGO line of adult comic books. It was the decade of gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers. But most of all, the 1990s was the decade when companies like IMAGE, VALIANT and MALIBU published million-selling comic books before the industry experienced a shocking and rapid collapse.

The REALLY SECRET Origin Of The Justice League by Larry Ivie A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Issue #152 of this magazine saw one of the longest pieces ever to appear in its pages: pro artist Sandy Plunkett’s masterful study of his late friend Larry Ivie (1936-2014), who had been one of the most prominent comics fans of the late 1950s and the 1960s, and who’d had a modest career as a comicbook professional during the mid- and late ’60s. Left unpublished in A/E #152, due to space limitations, were a number of penciled, scripted, and occasionally even inked pages that Larry had prepared in the latter half of the 1950s as examples of what a revival of the 1940-1951 “Justice Society of America” could look and read like. Those pages will appear next issue.

The All-American Way The 1944 Big All-American Comic Book, which Ivie makes the starting point of his essay, was 128 pages long (132, counting cardboardstock covers) and contained stories of all the All-American company’s heroes depicted here. Since its debut in 1939, All-American Comics, Inc., had been affiliated with National/DC and been distributed by its Independent News organization; but, despite the “DC” symbol that graced its comics’ covers, it was basically a separate company, headed by Max C. Gaines in partnership with Jack Liebowitz and, probably, Harry Donenfeld. Note that the “DC” symbol does not appear on the Big All-American cover. Beginning with spring 1945 issues, All-American’s comics would sport an “AA” symbol similar to the DC one for more than half a year. Cover art is a compendium of the work of numerous artists, including (at the very least) E.E. Hibbard, H.G. Peter, Howard Purcell, Joe Kubert, and Sheldon Mayer. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © DC Comics.]

In the meantime, I remembered that, several years before he Larry Ivie passed away, Larry had sent me an article meant as a follow-up Photo courtesy of Sandy to one he’d written for Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #5, back in 2000. He Plunkett. had titled the earlier one “DC vs. the Justice Society of America,” because he was convinced that DC in general—and 1948-51 worst-edited issues All-Star Comics editor Julius Schwartz in particular, though he didn’t ever (although the refer to JS by name—was committed to only the most juvenile approach all-time poorest—the to scripts and art, both of which Larry felt were mired in “silliness.” That appallingly inept A/E issue is long out of print, though available via digital download from Batman #500—would TwoMorrows Publishing. not appear until 1993). For various reasons—not least because Larry’s second article repeated several anecdotes related in the first, though with additional information, A search including the use of Julie Schwartz’s name this time—I had never gotten through the finished around to publishing the later submission. Yet I always intended to do so art of The Big one day, perhaps after I’d talked to Larry about revising it slightly. But it All-American Comic recently occurred to me that it might be a good idea to commit it to print Book finds no lead even before the publication of Larry’s “JSA”-related story pages coming in page visually worthy of the issue’s first inside page. The closest #156… and so, with the permission of Sandy Plunkett, executor of Larry was that for “Wonder Woman”! What should have begun the issue Ivie’s estate, it follows. I do feel a need to state up front that some of Larry’s was the traditionally beautiful “Hawkman” feature. But this issue’s opinions (as opposed to verifiable facts) may be controversial, the more so “Hawkman” had to be buried near the end, because instead of the since Julie became a figure so beloved by much of comics fandom, including familiar signature “Shelly” on it, it had been done by someone new, most definitely Yours Truly; still, Larry’s article is a combination of someone seemingly incapable of drawing adequate faces, or legs of opinion and fact—and facts, in particular, are what history, comicbook or realistic thickness. Fortunately, the near-future issues of Flash Comics otherwise, is made of…. saw a much-welcomed return of art by “Shelly” [Sheldon Moldoff].

he first step toward the end of the Golden Age of superheroes was made in 1944 by what should have been one of its most wondrous highlights—a super-thick issue titled The Big All-American Comic Book, featuring popular heroes from a variety of DC titles—Hawkman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Wildcat, Wonder Woman…. But, the inside “art” was surprisingly poor—one of the

Long after, when I asked 1944 editor editor Shelly Mayer if he knew what had gone wrong with the Big All-American, he said that, although it seemed a good idea when initiated by publisher Max Gaines, the major editors of the time had been so busy on their regular titles that the decision-making on the special was scattered among many at the company, including, under a different name on the company records, Julius Schwartz.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

“Dan Adkins And The Incredible Tracing Machine!” Revisited (Part 3) by Michael T. Gilbert

ecapping from the previous two issues: The 1969 fanzine MCR (Modern Collector’s Review) #3 featured an article by a budding art expert, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., in which he called cartoonist Dan Adkins to task for his extensive use of swipes. Vadeboncoeur also included a detailed, cross-referenced list of the copies to back up his case (as seen on our splash page). The writer had been a huge fan of Adkins, and seemed crushed to discover his idol was only human. At the time, an MCR editorial stated, ”Dan Adkins and the Incredible Tracing Machine” must be the most controversial article ever printed in fandom. The amount of response was phenomenal!” Last issue we reprinted letters discussing the ethics of copying, by some of the industry’s brightest lights—as well as comments on their comments by Jim Vadeboncoeur on the firestorm he inadvertently started. Now let’s hear what Dan Adkins himself had to say on the subject, in a circa 1969-70 letter to MCR’s editor, John McLaughlin: Dear John, I finally got around to seeing a copy of MCR #3 with the article on my swiping art. I’d heard about it from Jim Steranko and a few other friends. I had also seen one along the same lines about two years ago, and heard of a few others. My reaction upon first seeing all those swipes laid out was one of amusement. One of the rules to swiping is not to get caught. Early in the game, I sort of threw out that rule. I didn’t care if I got caught. I still don’t. But, I am getting tired of playing the game. It seems so silly.

Notes To You, Buddy! Dan Adkins wrote this amusing intro to his article. He was just kidding, folks! Er…wasn’t he…?

Strange. Mainly because I think I could have drawn it better myself. Stan Lee was always saying, “Make it look like Ditko,” and I sure did. Although, even after all that swiping, I got a little part of myself in there. Still, it was silly, wasn’t it? Jim Vadeboncoeur, you must have gone through a lot of trouble to make the checklist. I think that was also silly. At least, a waste of time. You could have figured out that I did a lot of swiping after finding a small portion of the art on that list. Or just asked me. I would have told you the facts. If Jim was trying to find out if everything I drew was swiped, the answer is no. But about 70% has been. The checklist is not accurate in total. I will give you an example. My painting for the cover of Eerie #12 was from a movie still supplied by [publisher] James Warren, not from the small drawing done by Joe Orlando in a story he had done. Joe took his drawing from the movie still. I could hardly paint a realistic cover from the small panel drawn by Joe. Jim seems to be surprised to find that artists swipe. Anyway, that he found that I swiped. I can understand that. He hasn’t been around much. Now I would be surprised to find an artist that didn’t swipe. Not that I’m saying there aren’t artists who draw most of their stuff. There are a few. But it is clear to me that Jim doesn’t have the knowledge that I do or understand the game at all. As I have said, I didn’t play the game very well. I thought it was stupid. It still seems that way to me, but I’m beginning to see that if you play the game, it’s better to play by the rules.

I think it was silly of me to take all those Ditko swipes for Dr.

J’accuse! In his original article, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., accused Dan of swiping his Eerie #12 (Nov. 1967) cover for Warren Publications from a Joe Orlando drawing from Warren’s Monster World #2 (Jan. 1964). But both artists had actually swiped a movie still from the 1944 movie, The Mummy Strikes. [© New Comic Company, LLC.]

“Dan Adkins And The Incredible Tracing Machine!” Revisited (Part 3)

I’ll try to show you what I mean without going to all the trouble that Jim did with his checklist. Let’s take an example. In Eerie #10 I did a story called “It.” Have you ever found the swipes for my hero’s face? I doubt it. All the heads for the hero were taken from a British comic book: a beautiful Western comic. Most of the stuff on your checklist was easy to find. That’s what I mean about my playing the game in a silly manner. But, caught or not, every last one of those heads was a swipe. The point is, not many people have that British comic. I gave my comic to another artist for him to use, so even I don’t have a copy any more. That’s the way the game should be played. Of course I goofed up and used movie stills for most of the monster shots; not all, but most. Those were pretty easy to spot on that job. The trouble with playing the game is the money and time spent in finding swipes that people won’t notice. You need a good file of old stuff, mostly from out of the USA. You take Roy Krenkel’s Ace cover for Edgar Rick Burroughs’ The Cave Girl. It’s a direct swipe from a British magazine publisher there in January 1944. The artist on the original was F. Matania [MTG NOTE: Fortunino Mantania]. Krenkel has a big collection of his stuff, and Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta are great fans of Matania. I don’t blame them, he’s great. But who else has that stuff? I got a few pieces of Matania stuff from Bill Pearson, who got it from Krenkel’s extras. I don’t have any Eagles, either, a great British comic. [MTG NOTE: Adkins mistakenly called the comic “Engle” throughout his article. We’ve corrected it for this printing.] Al Williamson’s gladiator story in Creepy #6 was taken almost entirely from Frank Bellamy’s art from Eagle.

Pip! Pip! Adkins states that the faces in his “It” story from Eerie #10 (July 1967) were swiped from a British comic. Since we don’t have a copy, we’ll take his word for it! [© New Comic Company, LLC.]

That’s what I mean by the whole thing being silly. I know that some of the best artists around swipe. I see it. They tell me! But you don’t have the old stuff or the British stuff to catch them and I don’t have it to play the games. Not that I could play as well as Al anyway. I could play the same, but he’s a better artist.

How Much Wood…? Dan Adkins (on left) and his boss/mentor Wally Wood in a photo taken by Colin Cameron circa 1964-65. If we could read those namecards, we’d know at which event the pic was snapped!

Let’s take an example. Try Strange Tales #167. In the second panel of the last page of the Dr. Strange story, I have a horse coming up out of the mystic disc. I swiped it from an Eagle comic, which I borrowed from another artist. Six months after the comic came out with my drawing, Jeff Jones had a cover come out that looked like a swipe from me, [on a book] called The Moon of Comrath by Alan Garner, from Ace. He had also swiped from the Eagle comic, using the same illustrations to swipe from that I had. He had borrowed his Eagles from me. I could go on, showing how Neal Adams takes from the Spanish comics doing a better job than the swipe he uses, but it’s silly.

FRANCE “ED” HERRON

Comics’ Mightiest Mystery Man by Michael Browning Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

FCA EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION:

key player from the Golden Age of Comics, former Fawcett editor France Edward Herron passed away on Friday, September 2, 1966, at Manhattan Veterans Hospital with little fanfare. He only reached 48 years of age, and had been living at the Chalfonte Hotel in Manhattan. Regrettably, in later years, very few Fawcett alumni ever had much to say about him, forever leaving an aura of mystery attached to him. Herron was freelance-writing for various publishers, including Fawcett, before that company offered him an editorial position based on the high-caliber “Captain Marvel” scripts he had previously sold them. In the same month that Bill Parker departed to serve in the National Guard, Herron took his place as Fawcett’s comics editor on October 10, 1940.

Captains Clockwise France “Ed” Herron mapped out a spine-tingling trilogy to introduce his new creation to comics readers: Captain Marvel Jr.! The editor placed scripting in the capable hands of freelance writer Bill Woolfolk (who’ll be featured in the FCA-centered A/E #157, as well as in #159). Next, desiring to contrast the new young hero with Cap Sr., he brought in artist Mac Raboy to render the Blue Boy with fine-line realism. Herron’s magnum opus commenced in Master Comics #21 (Dec. ’41) with the introduction of Woolfolk’s wicked Captain Nazi, and an early comicbook crossover starring Bulletman and Captain Marvel. That tale was continued that same month over in Whiz Comics #25 —where Captain Nazi inadvertently sets in motion the debut of Captain Marvel Jr., featuring a rare, one-time collaborative artist mash-up between C.C. Beck and Raboy. The trilogy was wrapped up in Master Comics #22 (Jan. ’42), wherein Junior joined forces with previous cover star Bulletman. The two Master covers are drawn by Raboy; the Whiz cover was illustrated by Beck; and the Whiz #25 interior page at left, with Junior’s first appearance, is a collaborative effort by both artists. [Shazam heroes, Captain Nazi, & Bulletman TM & © DC Comics.]

France “Ed” Herron

Cap’s Second Solo Flight

Just under half a year later, to capitalize on the popularity of Whiz Comics’ cover star, Fawcett launched Captain Marvel Adventures with Herron at the steering wheel. Having worked with him on Timely’s Captain America (and co-creating the Red Skull in the process), Herron commissioned the first CMA issue’s interior artwork from Jack Kirby (working with his partner Joe Simon), without even mentioning the fact to Captain Marvel’s artistic

Due to reader demand, and to profits awaiting the publisher, editor Herron helped launch and edit a new ongoing solo title for the World’s Mightiest Mortal after Fawcett had successfully test-driven a Cap solo one-shot book in 1940 by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck, called Special Edition Comics. Herron outsourced the interior artwork of Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (Spring 1941; see cover at left) officially to Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, though Kirby seems to have done the actual penciling. Herron had stayed in touch with Kirby since working on Captain America Comics prior to his being hired by Fawcett. In the first CMA story (seen at right), Captain Marvel takes on writer Manly Wade Wellman’s “Z,” in addition to Dr. Sivana; Dick Briefer assisted on the inking. Beck was not made aware in advance of the new title being put together, but was later called in to supply its single-figure cover art. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

co-creator, C.C. Beck. However, Beck artwork was utilized for the book’s cover. A few months prior to the new Captain Marvel solo book, Herron had conceived a new hero named Mr. Scarlet for the debut issue of Wow Comics. Again, the interior artwork was outsourced to Kirby. Many have concluded that therefore Kirby is the co-creator of the character. But that is not the case. Beck informed me that, besides Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, and Ibis the Invincible, he also originally designed “most of Fawcett’s

A Study In “Scarlet” One of France Herron’s first projects after being hired by Fawcett, even before Captain Marvel Adventures #1, was his creation of “Mr. Scarlet,” the lead feature for Wow Comics #1 (Winter 1940-41). The editor also provided the first script, and the hero was designed by C.C. Beck, who also drew the issue’s cover. But Herron out-sourced the story’s artwork to the ubiquitous Jack Kirby, who provided both pencils and inks for a one-time gig. [Mr. Scarlet TM & © DC Comics.]