Roy Thomas' Secret (Identity) Santa Comics Fanzine
COMING FOR CHRISTMAS!
PULSATING ALL-STAR PANELS FROM 2000’s
ALL TIME CLASSIC $9.95 NEW YORK COMIC In the USA BOOK CONVENTION! No. 156
All characters except Santa Claus TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Featuring MARVEL, DC, GOLD KEY, et al.!
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82658 00153
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January 2019
Vol. 3, No. 156 / Jan. 2019 Editor
Roy Thomas
Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash
Design & Layout
Christopher Day
Consulting Editor John Morrow
FCA Editor
P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Assoc. Editor)
Comic Crypt Editor
Michael T. Gilbert
Editorial Honor Roll
Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich
Proofreaders
Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding
Cover Artists
Writer/Editorial: Classic Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Introducing the All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention – Parts 6-8
“The Golden Age Of Comics” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Ron Goulart hosts Golden Age talents Cuidera, Hasen, Boltinoff—& two Schwartzes!
“Bronze To Present Age Marvel Comics” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Craig Shutt talks Silver/Bronze Age to Severin, Simonson, Shooter, Wolfman, & Thomas.
Will Meugniot & Chris Ivy
Cover Colorist
“The Gold Key Comics Chat” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Ken Gale rides herd on Wally Green, Arnold Drake, Frank Bolle, & Tom Gill.
Chris Ivy
With Special Thanks to: Doug Abramson Heidi Amash Richard J. Arndt Bob Bailey Frank Bolle John Brenner Ricky Terry Brisacque Bill Broomall Bernie Bubnis Wendy Gaines Bucci Nick Caputo James Cassara John Cimino Fraendy Clervaud Mike Colter Comic Book Plus (website) Chet Cox Diversions of a Groovy Kind (website) Michael Dunne Scott Edelman Mark Evanier Michael Feldman Jean-Michel Ferragatti John Firehammer Patricia Floss Shane Foley Mark Gaddy Ken Gale Paul Gambaccini Janet Gilbert Ron Goulart Grand Comics Database (website) Glenn Greenberg
Contents
Larry Guidry Sean Howe Bob Hughes Chris Ivy Jim Kealy Todd Klein Anthony Koch Mark Lewis Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Richard A. Lupoff Doug Martin Will Meugniot Mike Mikulovsky Bill Mitchell Brian K. Morris Mark Muller Hoy Murphy Audrey Parente Barry Pearl Joe Petrilak Sandy Plunkett Russell Rainbolt Gene Reed Steven Roman Randy Sargent Mitchell Senft Craig Shutt David Siegel Chris Smith Marc Svensson Jeff Taylor Dann Thomas Steven Tice Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Rick Weingroff Rick West Nicky WheelerNicholson
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Jay Disbrow & Nick Meglin
Cat Tales From A Comicbook Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Part VII of Golden/Silver Age writer John Broome’s 1998 memoir.
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: Larry’s Leftovers . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Michael T. Gilbert & Roy Thomas present Larry Ivie’s 1959 take on a JSA revival.
Comic Fandom Archive: The Fan P.O.V. Of The JLA—In 1962! 69
Bill Schelly & Nick Caputo introduce a vintage “Big Name Fan” roundtable discussion.
re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 77 Tributes To Jay Disbrow & Nick Meglin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #215 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
P.C. Hamerlinck presents Richard Arndt’s talk with SF pro/Fawcett fan Richard Lupoff.
On Our Cover: We don’t go around looking for excuses to feature a Christmas cover on Alter Ego, but when an opportunity this juicy pops up, how could we resist? Collector Michael Dunne sent us a scan of one of his recent Yuletide cards—executed by artist Chris Ivy over a layout from the Internet that turned out to have been drawn by fellow pro Will Meugniot. Will informs us that the blue-pencil version (see p. 23) was done some years ago at the behest of Stan Lee, who wanted to use a finished version to pitch the idea of a TV special starring most of the major Marvel heroes. The concept went nowhere, though—possibly because the rights to so many of those heroes were then tied up at various networks, movie studios, and production companies—and the layout wound up as an orphan image that was eventually re-purposed into simple Christmas greetings. Still, it’s nice to be able to share it, at last, with the world. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: One of the looming presences of the All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention in June 2000 was the 60’ x 20’ hero mural painted by Russell Rainbolt [seen in photo] especially for that event. It still exists, and was, for instance, prominently displayed at the TerrifiCon at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut in August 2017. And, since Timely/Marvel heroes were depicted thereon along with those of DC and just about every other comic under the Golden/Silver Age sun, that gave us an excuse to run this photo of Russ and just a fraction of the mural, taken at the White Plains, NY, confab. For the entire mural, turned into a four-page spread, see Alter Ego #148. Photo courtesy of Russell Rainbolt. [Characters 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.
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writer/editorial
Classic Comics
T
he writer/editorial for Alter Ego #148, the first issue to showcase panels and photos from the All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention held on June 9-11, 2000, in White Plains, NY, was titled “A Classic—Illustrated.” A nod, of course, to the fabled Classics Illustrated line of the 1940s-60s. This time, I decided to follow it up with one titled “Classic Comics”—the original moniker of the masterpiece-adapting comicbook series now better known as Classics Illustrated.
with several creators from the 1940s… a “Marvel Bronze Age” (and de facto Silver Age) one… and a “Gold Key Comics Chat” (that’s what Joe called it) that actually covered the whole of Western Publishing’s history from the 1940s (when its comics line was known to the public as “Dell”) through the Gold Key era that began in 1962. They are Parts 6 to 8 of the ATCNYCBC series... even if in #148 “Part 5” was accidentally mislabeled as “Part 6.” We think these three panels are more than worth the space; but we do regret that a few other panels from that con seem not to have been recorded. At least, no film or transcription has yet turned up of panels on the topics “Silver Age Marvel Comics,” “Silver Age DC Comics,” or “Bronze to Present Age DC Comics.”
In other words, these two issues of A/E (#148 & #156) are really two sides of the same coin.
Eight issues ago, we first toasted Joe Petrilak’s Golden/Silver/Bronze Age con with an overview by Joe himself, which I heartily Still, at least three other panels from the recommend you re-read. The meat of #148 2000 con do exist in transcribed form: “Today’s was three panel transcriptions: one apiece Comics with Yesterday’s Heroes,” “The Paul Roy T. (left) & con Host Joe Petrilak, for the 60th anniversaries of the concepts of S. Newman Awards,” and “Bernie Wrightson June 2000. “The Flash” and “Green Lantern,” and another Speaks.” Let us know if you’d like to see yet a starring what Joe termed his “Big Three”: Julius third issue of this magazine dedicated to that Schwartz, Carmine Infantino, and Joe Kubert, last and perhaps greatest of all the conventions that celebrated stillthe editor and artists of 1956’s Showcase #4, which had launched living talents of the Golden and Silver Ages. the Silver Age by introducing the second Flash. We topped it off Meanwhile, get set to enjoy yourself as a bunch of old pros with a four-page spread that reproduced artist Russell Rainbolt’s (many of whom are no longer with us, alas) sit around reminiscing humongous 60’ x 20’ mural that featured literally dozens of Golden about how it all went down circa the middle or so of the 20th and Silver Age comics heroes. (An “X-Men” panel from the con had century…. already seen print in A/E #24.) The panels this time around are neither of greater nor lesser importance than those mentioned above: a “Golden Age” panel
Bestest,
COMING IN FEBRUARY
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JOYE MURCHISON KELLY Writer of Wonder Woman, 1944-48 & BARBARA FRIEDLANDER
DC Romance Editor/Writer, 1960s!
TM & © DC Comics, Inc.
• A sensational shout-out to JOYE HUMMEL MURCHISON KELLY—assistant to Wonder Woman co-creator DR. WILLIAM MOULTON MARSTON and ghost writer of numerous mid-1940s Amazon sagas! An intriguing interview by RICHARD ARNDT, featuring artwork by H.G. PETER, et al.! Plus excerpts from Mrs. Kelly’s blockbuster 2018 San Diego panel, conducted by MARK EVANIER & TRINA ROBBINS! Golden Age history comes alive! • BARBARA FRIEDLANDER, assistant editor—and scripter—of 1960s DC romance comics, talks about life at DC—just down the hall from the Silver Age! Art by ROMITA, PIKE, GIORDANO, ABRUZZO, ROTH, ROSENBERGER, ESTRADA, et al.! • FCA spotlights Fawcett’s HENRY A. PERKINS, “The Stan Lee of ’43”!—MR. MONSTER sneaks a peek at “The PAM Papers, Part 4”—more JOHN BROOME memories— BILL SCHELLY & NICK CAPUTO on Marvel fans’ P.O.V. in the early ’60s—& MORE!
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ALL TIME CLASSIC NEW YORK COMIC BOOK CONVENTION PART The Cast & Crew:
Ron Goulart Award-winning science-fiction, mystery, and comics writer, in 2009.
“The Golden Age Of Comics”
CUIDERA, BOLTINOFF, HASEN, SCHWARTZ (& Others) Bring 1940s Comicbooks To Life—Whether They Want To Or Not! Panel conducted by Ron Goulart
Charles (“Chuck”) Cuidera Artist/co-creator of “Blackhawk,” longtime inker of same for both Quality and DC, at the 2000 con. Thanks for this and the following two photos to Russell Rainbolt.
Henry Boltinoff Veteran DC humor artist, taken at the 2000 con.
Irwin Hasen Artist of “Green Lantern,” “Justice Society of America,” “Wildcat,” Dondi, et al. From the 2000 con.
Alvin Schwartz Novelist and well-known scripter of “Superman,” “Batman,” etc. Photo taken at the 2000 con—perhaps by official photographer Anthony Koch.
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Transcribed by Steve Tice
A/E
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: This discussion was held from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 10, 2000, officially the second day of the convention, though there had been only two scheduled panels on the previous day. Announced in advance as the members of the Goulart-hosted event were Chuck Cuidera, Irwin Hasen, Henry Boltinoff, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Alvin Schwartz. However, as will be seen, LSS arrived late and sat in the audience, although he did participate. Also in the audience, either at the outset or arriving after it began, were three other 1930s/40s professionals: Red Wexler, Gill Fox, and Creig Flessel. It was quite a gathering of Golden Age talent! [Panel videotape ©2018 Marc Svensson.]
RON GOULART: This is the Golden Age—the general, generic Golden Age panel… [introduces panelists] Chuck Cuidera… Henry Boltinoff… Irwin Hasen… Alvin Schwartz. One of the many Schwartzes in comics.
beginning… I became the art director, and retired in 1988.
ALVIN SCHWARTZ: Lew Schwartz is supposed to be here.
GOULART: Let’s go on. By the way, I’ve got to mention that these gentlemen—because I’m much younger than these gentlemen, obviously—but these guys all corrupted my youth, because I read all of what they were doing, particularly [to Boltinoff] the fillers that you were doing, mostly for DC. [Henry Boltinoff’s first remark is unintelligible] You probably did more filler pages than just about anybody. You also did some straight stuff, too. “Young Doc Davis.” [to audience] Didn’t he do that?
GOULART: We got Lew, we got Julie, we got… SCHWARTZ: Julie’s not allowed in. [laughter] GOULART: Julie came in the last panel late and ate cake, so…. This is rather good. This is more general than the last one we did, which was about “The Flash,” so what I would like to do is have each of the gentlemen on the panel—we’ve got writers and cartoonists— [say] just a little bit about where you started. [to Cuidera] Your major character was “Blackhawk,” so do you want to start there? CHUCK CUIDERA: I started at Fox Features doing one called “The Blue Beetle.” I don’t know if some of you remember that. [brief interruption as Golden Age pros Gill Fox and Creig Flessel enter the room] So anyway… from Quality Comics, Bob Powell, who was a Pratt graduate, called me up and said, “The editor over here will double your salaries.” I said, “You’ve gotta be kidding.” So I went over there, and Will Eisner, who I was supposed to work for, was down south hunting. So I met the publisher…. He gave me top dollar, more than most of these guys were making. But, anyway, I got in there and I created a feature called “Blackhawk” and I did that from the
MRS. CUIDERA: [from audience] ’68. You said ’88. It’s twenty years different. [laughter]
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, he did that. IRWIN HASEN: [to Boltinoff] You did straight stuff? HENRY BOLTINOFF: Once. HASEN: I always thought you were straight. BOLTINOFF: You shut up. [laughter] GOULART: Can you tell us briefly—or longly, I don’t care—how you got into the comicbook business? BOLTINOFF: I was doing magazine cartoons. And you’d never know from week to week if you sold one or not. I was getting married, and I said, “Oh, I’ve got to pay rent now, the electric, the phone bill”…. So I met with
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Cuidera, Boltinoff, Hasen, & Two Schwartzes
Blue Beetle-Mania As Ron Goulart stated in A/E #148, Chuck Cuidera seems to have come to believe he was the “Charles Nicholas” (since the latter was his middle name) who is credited with the very first “Blue Beetle” story, in Fox’s Mystery Men Comics #1 (Aug. 1939)—but that Charles Nicholas was someone else entirely! Seen here are the tale’s splash page and first two pages showing The Blue Beetle as he was back when he was just another “Green Hornet” wannabe, before he got his unique costume and any super-powers. Thanks to Comic Book Plus website. [Blue Beetle is now a trademark of DC Comics.]
Whitney Ellsworth, DC’s editor. I went up to see him and said, “I’m getting married. Can I do some work for you?” He said, “Sure, you can do some filler pages, whatever you want.” In those days, the comicbooks had 64 pages. There was no advertising. They sold them for a dime. Now the comicbooks are half advertising. So I started doing some filler pages. Then he said, “I’m getting busy. I need an assistant. Do you know anybody?” So I sent my brother [Murray] up there. He had worked for the New York American, the newspaper, and the paper folded…. So I sent him off to Whit Ellsworth, and he went for it. He cursed me every year since. He was there for forty years or something. He said, “I hate the place.” “Murray, see the door? You can walk out if you don’t get along with it”…. Whenever I do a cartoon, I sign my name to it. If I’m embarrassed in any publication with my name, I wouldn’t work for that publication. Before, in the comicbooks, nobody signed their name. Now, if you get a comicbook, the first page it says, “Story written by, penciled by, lettering by, inked by, and the colorist.” Everybody gets a credit. [laughter]
“The Golden Age Of Comics”
This full-page ad appeared in the adzine Comic Buyer’s Guide #1382 (May 12, 2000). Host Joe Petrilak tended to get a bit mixed up on his comics “ages” (Jim Shooter and Roy Thomas, at the very least, were definitely also in the “Silver Age” category), but his heart was definitely in the right place—and his guest list was staggering. With thanks to Russell Rainbolt, who photographed the page. [© the respective copyright holders.]
So then I got out of that—I had done work for about 30, 40 years in the comicbooks—and did a syndicated feature for King Features. I did a couple, but the last one, I’m very happy because I can do a whole week’s worth in a day and a half. I’m working for [unintelligible] now, so I’m sort of semi-retired. So I do two weeks of work and go to the post office and mail them off to New York, to
the syndicate, and it’s great. I love it. I don’t want to stop doing it. GOULART: All right. Now we’re going to move to Irwin Hasen…. Initially you were the unsung “Green Lantern” artist for a while. HASEN: Well, I think in those days there were no [credited] creators except probably the two people called Siegel and Shuster,
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MARVEL’S 1970s CONAN BACK IN PRINT
IN A NEARLY 800-PAGE OMNIBUS! Re-presenting
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1-26
by THOMAS • WINDSOR-SMITH KANE • BUSCEMA Featuring nearly 150 pages of bonus materials, including unpublished art, synopses, etc. Regular Edition (John Cassady cover): ISBN #978-1-302-91512-4
Variant Edition (cover from CTB #1) ISBN #978-1-302-91513-1
$125 U.S. ($158 Canadian)
Release date: Jan. 16, 2019
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ALL TIME CLASSIC NEW YORK COMIC BOOK CONVENTION PART
7
“Bronze To Present Age Marvel Comics”
Craig Shutt then a.k.a. “Mr. Silver Age” in his regular column in Comics Buyer’s Guide magazine, moderated the Marvel Bronze Age panel. (Note: A photo of Marv Wolfman will appear at the point in the text where he joins the panel.)
SEVERIN, SIMONSON, SHOOTER, WOLFMAN, & THOMAS Throw In A Touch of Silver! Moderated by Craig Shutt
Transcribed by Steven Tice
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Marvel’s role in the 2000 All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention took some strange turns, as a look at the con’s panel schedule (reprinted in A/E #148) reveals. The “X-Men from 1963 to the Movie” panel was transcribed way back in A/E #24… but alas, the “Silver Age Marvel panel,” which Ye Editor moderated and which was also to have featured John Buscema, Dick Ayers, Marie Severin, and Joe Sinnott, was apparently not videotaped (though I’m pretty sure Buscema never made it to that event anyway—his limo got lost in the South Bronx)— or, if it was taped, nobody seems to have a copy of it. We do have, oddly, the middle part of the “Marvel Bronze Age” panel moderated by Craig Shutt, which showcased the
A/E
Jim Shooter
Marie Severin (artist of “Dr. Strange,” Sub-Mariner, The Incredible Hulk, Kull the Conqueror, and Not Brand Echh, among others) shares one of her sunny smiles with the con. Photo courtesy of Russell Rainbolt.
at a comics convention— precise event unknown. Active in the field since 1965 when he began scripting DC’s “Legion of Super-Heroes,” he was editor-in-chief of Marvel from 1978-87. Photo courtesy of Bill Broomall.
Roy Thomas
Walt Simonson is celebrated for his work on DC’s “Manhunter” and Marvel’s Thor, but has many, many other top pro credits under his belt. He entered the comicbook field in 1972.
in a selfie with hat-sporting Mike Colter (who stars as Luke Cage in the Marvel/ Netflix series of that name—a hero most would consider “Bronze Age”), and news anchor Fraendy Clervaud of WACH-TV in Columbia, South Carolina, who hosted a Colter/Thomas panel at the Soda City Con there on Aug. 25, 2018. Roy’s been in the comics field since 1965, working mostly for Marvel and/or DC. Photo from the WACH-TV website.
Have A Marvel-ous Christmas! Above, courtesy of Michael Dunne, is the Will Meugniot blue-pencil original art to the composition used as our capricious cover. See the “On Our Cover:” note on page 1 of this issue for the story behind it all. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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Severin, Simonson, Shooter, Wolfman, & Thomas
In Clockwise Conclusion… How about a five-star salute to the “Marvel Bronze Age” panelists that features a cover commissioned (and in a couple of cases drawn) by each of them: Marie Severin’s Not Brand Echh #6 (Feb. 1968) cover fronted a parody of a Marvel wedding. Despite the artistic presence in NBE of Jack Kirby and newcomer Tom Sutton, Marie was the heart and soul of that title. Roy Thomas, as writer/editor, called on “King” Kirby to pencil the cover for The Invaders #7 (July 1976), which was inked by Frank Giacoia, with some extra touch-ups by John Romita. Writer/editor-in-chief Marv Wolfman rechristened and launched his own fan-creation “Black Nova” in Marvel’s Nova #1 (Sept. 1976), with a cover by Rich Buckler & Joe Sinnott. Writer/editor-in-chief Jim Shooter led the way to block-bustin’ booty with Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1 (Sept. 1984), behind a cover by Mike Zeck & John Beatty. Walt Simonson served as both writer and artist on Thor #350 (Dec. 1984), in the midst of his legendary run on the thunder god. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
to terms.” And Stan felt—wrongly, I think—that I had mellowed during that couple of years. No, I was just indifferent. [laughter] I said, “If the offer is $49,999, the answer is no. If it’s $50,000, it’s yes.” So he went back, and Stan and Galton accepted the deal. Then, after doing that clever ploy, I realize I’m not going to have a vacation for another year or two after I take this job back. I’m going to have to prove I’m worth this money. So I decided to go out to L.A., spend a week with a woman friend whom I’d gone to high school with, and stayed at her place. It turned out she was busy off
substitute teaching, so I hang out with Don Glut and a few guys out there. It’s— [A/E EDITOR’S AFTERWORD: Alas, at this point the recording ends, before I finish telling how I quickly changed my mind about returning as editor-in-chief… after which Jim Shooter related his own experiences in ascending to the editor-in-chief position at the very end of 1977, following Archie Goodwin’s tenure. If we ever find out that the missing beginning or ending of this panel has been recorded elsewhere, we’ll stick it into the first issue we can!]
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ALL TIME CLASSIC NEW YORK COMIC BOOK CONVENTION PART
8
“The Gold Key Comics Chat” ARNOLD DRAKE, WALLY GREEN, FRANK BOLLE, & TOM GILL On Western’s Comics— And Yeah, There’s Plenty Of Stuff On Dell, Too!
Conducted by Ken Gale
Transcribed by Steven Tice
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Western Publishing and Lithographing Company, which published the fabled Dell comicbook line from the late 1930s through 1962 and then the Gold Key line from 1962 till the early 1980s, doesn’t always get its propers from comics fans—while Alter Ego’s primary mission, of course, is to document heroic comicbooks of the 1930s through the mid-’70s, so we don’t always help things all that much. However, we did make something of an attempt to deal with Western/Dell, Western/ Gold Key, and Dell solo A pair of screen captures by Marc Svensson, who filmed the 2000 Gold Key panel. (Left to right:) (in their various four-color Moderator Ken Gale… artist Frank Bolle… writer Arnold Drake… editor Wally Green… and artist permutations) back in A/E #151—and we’re Tom Gill, standing, gazing down at a comicbook Green’s rifling through. Thanks, Marc! Like we said pleased to present this five-man panel that took back in A/E #148, we couldn’t have done it without you! place on Saturday, June 10, 2000, at the All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention. run a radio show about comicbooks called ’Nuff Said! It’s a weekly Quasi-official documenter Marc Svensson (by show out of New York City. I’m moderating this as necessary. whom the film of the panel from which this transcription was made is ©2018) started filming the panel a few moments before some of the FRANK BOLLE: I’m Frank Bolle. Born in Brooklyn. participants realized it had begun, and we thus intercept veteran writer Arnold Drake in mid-sentence…. GALE: And what did you draw?
A/E
ARNOLD DRAKE: —strange little niche in the industry. It was off in a corner someplace, no one at stake. WALLY GREEN: Gold Key? Definitely. Didn’t belong to the Comics Code or anything. We said we didn’t need to. DRAKE: Right. You were clearing the Code. GREEN: Sure. We were. Have we started the discussion already? MARC SVENSSON: I’ve started filming. DRAKE: And if you were going to sell in the five-and-dimes, you had to be as [innocuous?] as possible. It had to do with distribution as much as anything else, I think.
BOLLE: I drew everything. I started out doing Westerns, and mysteries, and horror stories. I did romance stories until I did some science-fiction. Did Doctor Solar for Gold Key, and Boris Karloff, the Grimm stories, Ripley’s Strange—I don’t remember the title. EVERYONE: Ripley’s Believe It or Not! DRAKE: What else would it be? BOLLE: I did everything that came up, whatever was asked of me to do. DRAKE: And I wrote a lot of the stuff that you drew. GREEN: And who are you?
KEN GALE: Well, you may have gotten here before the panel began, but you actually arrived in the middle of a discussion.
DRAKE: I’m Arnold Drake. And I wrote a lot of the stuff that you [Bolle] drew.
DRAKE: So there.
BOLLE: Oh, good. We never met, because I was always delivering it and walking out when you were—
GREEN: Can you introduce everybody? GALE: That’s exactly what we’re going to do. I am Ken Gale. I
DRAKE: I always thought there was a conspiracy to keep writers
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Cat Tales From A Comicbook Master
Part VII Of Golden/Silver Age Writer JOHN BROOME’s 1998 Memoir A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Except for #153, each of the past eight issues of Alter Ego has sported a few pages from our authorized serialization of John Broome’s “Off-beat Auto-bio” titled My Life in Little Pieces. This small and idiosyncratic book was written just a year before Broome died in Istanbul at the age of 86; since the 1960s, he and his family had mostly lived in Paris, although he himself spent his later years teaching English in Japanese schools. Our thanks to his and wife Peggy’s daughter Ricky Terry Brisacque for permission to reprint this reminiscence, and to Brian K. Morris for retyping it onto a Word document.
had only too recently (no pain but rendering her pale and ill), she had at once left her apartment door open and plunged her feet and hands into hot water. She had, said Fernande, beaucoup du courage. (When the French say that, they don’t mean they have less fear but more and that they struggle strongly to survive.)
Last issue’s installment related a couple of anecdotes concerning people dining at the Coupole, a famed Parisian eatery. This time, John continues in that vein, with a change of species….
Minus And His Grey-Haired Mistress
M
inus was a cat. His mistress was a lightly-bearded old girl known simply as Fernande who always occupied the same seat in the cafe part of the Coupole. One night, when I got to talking to her, she told me about Minus and said that he had a fiancée and that he was amoureux. Naturally I became interested and a few evenings after, to start her off, I asked her if Minus was still in love.
“Oh, toujours,” she told me with sweet matter-of-factness. “Avec les chattes il y a des saisons. Mais pas avec les chats. Mais il va arriver peut-etre a maitriser ses sentiments.” She said Minus was very “ardent.” She went on to say it was like that with people, some were “ardent” all their lives, others never. I asked her about his fiancée, but she said nothing had happened. Apparently, the arranged nuptials hadn’t suited Minus after all. Incidentally, I seem to recall her telling me that Minus got his name because as a kitten he was so very tiny—“presque moins que rien.” Later, I learned that this Fernande had in bygone days been La Belle Fernande, a painters’ model—perhaps Picasso’s—much prized for her beauty. She still had a shapely leg which she took care to show me, but also an aneurism in her throat which she said would carry her off suddenly some day. When the aneurism attacked, as it
John & Peggy Broome in a picnic photo taken, according to daughter Ricky Terry Brisacque, in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, on Sept. 28, 1946—can you be any more precise than that? Although domestic cats are a primary focus of this installment of Broome’s memoir, and even though a kindly soul has provided us with a list of virtually every comics story he wrote in the 1940s and ’50s, we couldn’t find a single one that had a true “cat” theme. But Jim Ludwig kindly provided us this Broome-scripted splash from Hopalong Cassidy #126 (Nov.-Dec. 1957), with pencils by Gil Kane & inks by Joe Giella. Will a jaguar be close enough? [© DC Comics.)
Cat Tales From A Comicbook Master
Cats? Did You Say Cats?
On EUTHANASIA: Already there are places in the world where they take you in, surround you with all the comforts of modern life and then, in their own inimitable way, put you to death. They call these places hospitals.
Cats, contrary to dogs, do not lend themselves to any kind of frivolity when you set out to write something about them. There is hardly anything anywhere as solemn as a cat. But not merely solemn. An owl is solemn, too, but you can make fun of an owl. You can’t make fun of a cat, that’s the difference.
•••
Stones There are stones of the mind as well
Furthermore, cats, contrary to dogs, do not begin to resemble their masters or mistresses. Perish the thought! If anything, it is their mistresses who come to resemble cats. Dog owners, for their part, don’t come to resemble dogs, nor bird owners birds, as far as I have been able to see. This thing happens only with cats who alone have the power to enlist humans into their ranks, though how it happens remains a mystery, like so many things connected with cats.
as the body. What scalpel can bare the calcified desire? What knife excise a mummy of hope from the flesh? Adze-hard The fear-longing oysters lie buried in life-ooze Clinging with indissoluble fingers To their unfathomable perch. A riddle: What is the favorite food of the delegates of the United Nations in New York? (Clues: a near-homonym of delegate is delicate. Start with that and add a word that in a foreign language means eat.) •••
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Hi, Boys & Gargoyles! Remember ’way back last issue when we showed you the splash page of Broome’s Flash chapter for “The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives” from All-Star Comics #57 (Feb.-March 1951)? Well, therein we showed a situation, set in John’s beloved Paris, in which someone was somehow stealing the gargoyles from Notre Dame Cathedral—so we thought you might like to view the final page of that segment, to see how it turned out in that last Golden Age “Justice Society of America” adventure. Thanks to Jim Kealy. [© DC Comics.]
How I love to watch the clothes in the hot air dryer at the laundromat: the swooping towels, the nose-diving shirts, the parachuting underpants... Virtues and vices are in reality one and inseparable. Without virtue, there would be no vice—and vice versa. ••• Some jets had passed by And there was the sky Cracked in a dozen pieces. (“The sky is falling,” said Henny Penny. “A piece of it fell on my head!”) The screen goes dark. A long silence. Then, from a distance, the playful engaging mini-essay music is heard, pianissimo at first, then con spirito, rising up and under… Cats? Did You Say Cats?
Not long ago I read a man in Vermont taught his dog to respond to a total of 2,000 words. This startling feat points up another difference between dogs and cats. No cat has ever been taught to respond reliably to a single syllable of human utterance. Whereas dogs pride themselves on understanding their masters, cats, it is quite clear, have nothing but contempt for human speech—if not for the human race in toto.
Those who think I’m exaggerating and that cats and dogs are basically much alike, like brown and white eggs, should consider the names we give these pets of ours. We call dogs Fido or Rover. Did you, by any chance, ever hear of a cat named Fido? No, and you never will. No matter how faithful a cat may be (to their domicile, of course, not to their mistress), you still can’t call him or her Fido. And no matter if Tom is a bit of a gadabout, you still can’t call him Rover. Cats will simply not accept such inelegant un-catlike names, and that’s all there is to it. Clearly, cats have to be given names of character and distinction, such as here in Japan Suzume-chan (Little Sparrow) or Hiwa-chan (Little Goldfinch). Names like those are satisfying to cats and allow them to retain their natural dignity as they pad about the house or set out for a stint of mouse-catching. Would a cat named Rover ever catch a mouse? Ha! Obviously not! Now as it happens. Suzume-chan and Hiwa-chan are the names of two gentleman cats of my acquaintance here in Tokyo (belonging to the lady who for a while had that toilet paper receptacle on her table). Incidentally, l use the term “gentleman cats” in an honorific or meritus sense since both these chaps were altered when little, leaving them, alas, gentlemen no longer, but still
Previously Unpublished Brunner Artwork!
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Comic Fandom Archive
The Fan P.O.V. Of The Justice League of America —In 1962!
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CFA EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Bill Schelly here. With all the discussion arising from the adaptation of the Justice League from comicbook to film, including the mixed reception to the 2017 movie, we at Alter Ego thought it would be interesting to see how fans felt about the “new JSA” in fandom’s early days. Or, rather, super-fan Nick Caputo came forward with the idea, which we enthusiastically agreed to feature in the Comic Fandom Archive. Take it away, Nick!
Introduction by Nick Caputo
L
arry Herndon’s fanzine Hero #1, with a December 1962 cover date, is a time capsule into fandom’s past. Along with articles and art devoted to the growing “hero boom,” the zine’s first issue included a novel idea originated by Rick Weingroff (who wrote for RBCC and went on to publish Slam-Bang): assemble a group of well-known, knowledgeable fans for a discussion of DC’s popular Justice League of America comicbook and present it in an informal style, where one can imagine them chatting in a living room or at a diner. The JLA was not only a proven financial success, but garnered robust support from a majority of fans, including a portion that had collected All-Star Comics in the 1940s and early ’50s, which starred the original Justice Society of America. As the “chairman,” Weingroff posed questions to his virtual panel. This “Point of View” column was a popular feature and continued in subsequent issues of Hero. The round-table panelists were Rick West (comics and Disney scholar), Paul Gambacinni (who wrote for RBCC and became a published author and radio broadcaster for the BBC), and Roy Thomas (who would go on to write a few issues of the JLA for DC, along with the All-Star Squadron). In 1962, the pre-Rascally Roy never dreamed he’d become a comics professional and was simply an active fan who co-edited a little publication of Jerry Bails’ named Alter-Ego. And now, from the tattered pages of a fanzine over half a century old, here’s a look back at fandom’s thrilling past, presented with almost no editing:
Point Of View
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n order to present a cross-section of fan opinions, Hero now presents the first in a series of articles—a new idea in comic fanzines: opinions of various fans, in conversational tones on a topical subject, in this case the Justice League of America. As Chairman, and with the consent of Editor Herndon, each issue I will compile a list of questions on a different hero, or group of heroes, and send this list to various fans throughout this nation. The fans are picked mainly for their qualifications in judging comics, and our belief that they will present a fair answer to the questions. I reserve the full right to alter and edit these answers, in order to make a more smoothly moving article. I have further
“A Special Commendation For His Expert Assistance” Since this segment of CFA deals in large part with who should or should not have been a member of the JLA back in the early 1960s, what better visual to start the ball rolling than the Mike Sekowsky/Bernard Sachs splash page of Justice League of America #4 (April-May 1961)—the very first time a new member was added to the group’s original roster of seven! Script by Gardner Fox; edited by Julius Schwartz. [© DC Comics.]
taken the liberty of adding comments—however, they in no way change the opinion of the people queried. This issue’s questionees [sic] were Roy Thomas, Rick West, Paul Gambaccini, Don Foote, and Bernie Bubnis—however, for various reasons—for instance not meeting the deadline, and not presenting full enough answers— the latter two will be asked to comment on next issue’s article. Next issue, an entirely new line-up of fan writers will answer questions on the new Atlas [=Marvel] heroes. But now, on to the matter at hand: CHAIRMAN: In order to start the discussion, I’ll read the first question asked, and throw the floor open to comments: Should the JLA be further
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RICHARD A. LUPOFF: The Master Of XERO! An Interview by Richard J. Arndt Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck
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NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Richard A. Lupoff was born on February 21, 1935. He began his writing career as a fan-writer in the 1950s for various science-fiction fanzines before starting his own fanzine—the acclaimed Xero—in 1960. Xero, co-edited with his wife Pat and EC scholar Bhob Stewart, ran for ten well-remembered issues from 1960-1962 and won the 1963 Hugo Award for best SF fanzine. A list of contributors to Xero reads like a Who’s Who of science-fiction and comics fandom in those days, including Harlan Ellison, Avram Davidson, Frederick Pohl, James Blish, L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, future mystery writer Ed Gorman, future film critic Roger Ebert, future comicbook writer Roy Thomas, fan favorite Bob Tucker, and artists Dan Adkins, Larry Ivie, Steve Stiles, and Roy G. Krenkel. In the mid-1960s Lupoff was the editor of Canaveral Press, which reprinted numerous novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was a leading founder in the field of comics historians with his essay collections All in Color for a Dime and The Comic-Book Book, both co-edited with Don Thompson. He published his first book—Masters of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs—in 1965 and was soon writing science-fiction novels and short stories. In the 1980s, following a slump in the science-fiction field, he switched to mystery novels, including the comics-related novel The Comic Book Killer (1988), which has spawned eight sequels to date. He has published well over fifty novels, nonfiction books, story collections, and anthologies. The collection The Best of Xero, co-authored/edited with Pat Lupoff, appeared in 2005 from Tachyon Publications
and includes important early comics history essays by Lupoff, Thompson, and Thomas, among others. He is also the author of a recent autobiography titled Where Memory Hides: A Writer’s Life. My interview with Mr. Lupoff was conducted in June of 2018. RICHARD ARNDT: Let’s begin with a little about your early history and how you became interested in Captain Marvel. Did you start right off with Whiz Comics #2? RICHARD LUPOFF: I was about five years old. My father rented a cottage in Venice, Florida, and sent my mother, grandmother, brother, and myself there for the winter. I remember the trip south on the train, the famed Orange Blossom Special, eating in the dining car, getting off the train in that small town in Florida. A few days later my mother gave my brother Jerry a quarter and told him to take me into Venice’s downtown, such as it was. There was a single drugstore in Venice. Jerry bought us each an ice cream cone (chocolate for him, strawberry for me—5¢ each) and a copy of Whiz Comics #2. Despite the numbering, that was actually the first issue. I was an early reader—used to sit outside our rented cottage and amaze the neighboring kids by my almost supernatural ability to read. I read the “Captain Marvel” story in Whiz #2 and other stories in early issues. I remember the origin story… the abandoned subway station, the ancient wizard, Billy Batson’s transformation… as well as other
Richard Lupoff at a signing for both of the Arlington House hardcover comicbook histories he co-edited: All In Color For a Dime (1970), and its follow-up The Comic-Book Book (1974). Both were classic compilations of nostalgic essays edited by Lupoff and Don Thompson. Photo courtesy of Audrey Parente. [Art © the respective copyright holders.]
Richard A. Lupoff: The Master Of Xero!
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the other writers had glorious imaginations. Around 1945, there was an infusion of whimsy for the postwar stories, and I loved reading them. It’s important to note that I was growing up, then, and I certainly read with a different identity as a five-year-old in 1940, a ten-year-old in 1945, and a fifteen-year-old in 1950. I was on the edge of my seat for the serial where Captain Marvel battled another Whiz Comics hero, Spy Smasher [Whiz #16-18]. I took that one very seriously at the time, but I laughed at the later serial in which Captain Marvel battled Oggar [CMA #61-65]. I remember these two rivals frantically flipping pages in their notebooks in search of magic spells that they hadn’t used up yet. However, the later stories, with Korean War themes or horror images, were something of a turn-off for me. I think the last “Captain Marvel” story that made a strong impression on me was the origin of Radar, the International Policeman [CMA #35]. RA: What’s your take on Otto Binder and Bill Woolfolk’s work on the various Captain Marvel titles? LUPOFF: I never knew Bill Woolfolk, but I knew Otto quite well, and of course, his wife Ione and daughter Mary. Mary Binder’s death [NOTE: in a car accident in 1967 at the age of fourteen —RA] was a shattering blow to the Binders, from which neither of her parents ever recovered. Otto always spoke favorably of Bill Woolfolk. I don’t know how to distinguish Bill’s stories from Otto’s, largely due to Fawcett’s policy of omitting by-lines from their comics. RA: Were you a member of the Captain Marvel Club?
“Welcome, Billy Batson”—And Richard Lupoff With a strawberry ice cream cone in hand, young Dick was there, in the very beginning… for Whiz Comics #2. [Shazam & Billy TM & © DC Comics.]
characters: Dr. Sivana, Beautia, Magnificus, Sterling Morris… I was totally captivated. RA: Are there any specific “Captain Marvel” stories that you thought were particularly good? LUPOFF: The early stories set on Venus, with their weird sciencefictional creatures, intrigued me [Whiz Comics #4 & 15]. I remember the origin story of Captain Marvel Jr., who was crippled by Captain Nazi [Whiz # 25]. I vividly recall the lengthy serial, “Captain Marvel versus the Monster Society of Evil” [Captain Marvel Adventures #22-46], with such scenes as Billy Batson trapped in a giant ice cube so that he cannot say his magic word… and a scene in a later chapter in which the villainous Mr. Mind crawls out of a steak on Hermann Goering’s dinner plate. Another favorite of mine was “The Earth Dreamer” [CMA #52], in which it’s revealed that our entire universe is a dream in the mind of a farmer—I think he was a farmer—in a meta-universe. And, of course, the epic battle between Captain Marvel and Mr. Atom [CMA #78]. RA: Is there anything specific you’d like to comment on regarding the different periods of the Captain Marvel saga at Fawcett? LUPOFF: The earliest C.C. Beck/Bill Parker stories were actually pretty minimal. For example, I recall one in which crooked gamblers are working to fix a track meet [Special Edition Comics #1]. Captain Marvel doffs his super-hero tights in favor of running shorts, enters the track meet, and foils the gamblers. Now, really…! Once Bill Parker went to Mechanix Illustrated and Otto Binder was called in as chief writer, the stories really blossomed. Binder and
LUPOFF: Oh, yes! You mailed in a dime for your membership. I had a membership card and button, a Captain Marvel tie-clip, a Captain Marvel glow-in-the-dark pin-up. All gone now, alas! How about putting on an International Captain Marvel Alumni Association Convention? You can count me in! RA: What can you tell us about your captivation with Otto Binder’s 2-page “Jon Jarl” prose tales that appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures? LUPOFF: There was a lot of overlap between pulp and comicbook writers at the time [NOTE: Besides Binder, Alfred Bester—writer of the All-American “Green Lantern” stories—as well as National editors Julie Schwartz and Mort Weisinger, were either science-fiction writers or had strong ties to both science-fiction and comics. RA] and it took me a while to learn that “Eando Binder” was originally “Earl and Otto Binder,” but mainly Otto. His “Via Etherline” series in Thrilling Wonder Stories was a great favorite of mine. The “Jon Jarl” series of stories Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been…? were clever, entertaining, miniature space operas. Young Dick Lupoff was an original member in good standing of the Captain I’ve been trying for years Marvel Club… but he no longer has his to get them collected button or membership card containing into a book, and the last Cap’s secret code. [Shazam hero I heard, Wildside Press TM & © DC Comics.] had such a project in the