‘Tis Roy Thomas’ Stan-Fan Comics Fanzine!
Verily, In all the universe, there was only one such as Stan Lee!
$9.95
In the USA
No. 161 November 2019
A full-issue tribute to
STAN LEE. ’Nuff Said.
Galactus TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Thus, Shall I 1
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Ponder the significance of such a unique being as he!
Vol. 3, No. 161 / November 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 Artist
Jack Kirby (penciler) & Vince Colletta (inker)
Cover Colorist
Writer/Editorial: The Last Gathering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Guest editorial by John Cimino, about Roy T. & himself visiting Stan on Nov. 10, 2018.
An Interview With Stan Lee – Conducted On-Air By Carole Hemingway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 In 1975, junketing to plug a book, Stan had a great time with one talk-radio lady.
Tributes To A Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Marvel minions Thomas, Wolfman, Shooter, Isabella, Kraft, & Englehart on Stan Lee.
Stan Lee & Moebius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Jean-Marc Lofficier on bringing two legends together to produce Silver Surfer: Parable.
Glenn Whitmore
With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Ger Apeldoorn Richard Arndt Josh Baker J. Ballmann Al Bigley Bill Black Jon Bolerjack Chris Boyko Bernie Bubnis Nick Caputo John Cimino Shaun Clancy Jon Cornell Chet Cox Brian Cremins Brian Cronin Jim Engel Steve Englehart Shane Foley Ron Frantz Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Walt Grogan Roberto Guedes Dan Hagen Carole Hemingway Robert Higgerson Michael Hill Roger Hill Rand Hoppe Tony Isabella Eric Jansen Brian Kane Jim Kealy Rob Kirby
Contents
David Anthony Kraft Tom Kraft Robert Landau Paul Levitz Mark Lewis Alan Light Jean-Marc Lofficier Art Lortie Robert Menzies Will Meugniot Mike Mikulovsky Will Murray Joe Musich Barry Pearl John Pierce Bud Plant Paul Power Marshall Ramsey Gordon Robson Bob Rozakis Rich Rubenfeld Randy Sargent Jim Shooter Bryan Stroud Benedikt Taschen Dann Thomas Stephen Tice Mike Tiefenbacher Michael Uslan James Van Hise Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Marco Tulio Vilela Mark Voger Ray Wergan Nyla White Jay Willson Marv Wolfman
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Stan Lee, Ken Bald, Ed Silverman, & Ellen Vartanoff
Stan Lee, Al Landau, & The Transworld Connection . . . . . . 48 Rob Kirby spotlights the man who succeeded Stan as president of Marvel Comics.
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Charles Biro—The Other Stan Lee! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Michael T. Gilbert showcases the comics creator Stan admired—and maybe even imitated!
Comic Fandom Archive: My (Admittedly Minor) Encounters With Stan Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Bill Schelly showcases his few (but meaningful) contacts with The Man.
re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 72 Tributes To Ken Bald, Ed Silverman, & Ellen Vartanoff . . . . 81 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 P.C. Hamerlinck presents a multitude of Fawcett collectors—remembering Stan Lee!
On Our Cover: Publisher John Morrow sent us a mock-up of this artwork and text pretty much as it appears here—and, from Ye Editor’s perspective, it was an easy sell. After A/E #150’s hero-panorama by John Buscema, a Jack Kirby cover was certainly in the cards—and this huge, page-filling Galactus head from Thor #160 (p. 13) more than filled the bill. Inks by Vince Colletta. The original scan was provided by Tom Kraft at the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center (www.kirbymuseum.org). [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: Since it was Benjamin J. Grimm who made Ye Ed fall in love with The Fantastic Four and Stan Lee’s writing (I already was a Jack Kirby art fan since the age of five or so) in that Nov. 1961-cover-dated #1, Roy T. figured there was no better illustration to top this page than the world’s first full frontal look at the guy Stan would soon dub “the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.” Inks by George Klein, if Dr. Michael J. Vassallo’s researches are correct—and they probably are! Reproduced from Roy’s bound volume. [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: $67 US, $101 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
The Last Gathering by John “THE MEGO STRETCH HULK” Cimino
A/E EDITOR’S INTRO: Yes, you read it right, above. This issue, because I wanted to place my own brief reminiscences of Stan Lee—in this edition primarily devoted to celebrating The Man—alongside those of other Marvel Age staffers, I decided to utilize a piece written by my friend and manager, John Cimino, as a guest writer/editorial. John’s comments lead into my own, anyway, since both deal largely with the last time I saw Stan in person, just a couple of days before his passing. And since it was John who, at least from our side, set the whole thing up, it seemed to make sense that his account be read first…
A
sk me something about math or world history and I probably couldn’t give you the right answer. But if you asked me something about super-heroes and comicbook history, well, then I could make even a genius like Albert Einstein proud. Even as a child, I always wished that “Comics 101” was a real school subject, because I was always intrigued how these comics—or, as I like to say, these “colorful love letters from Heaven”—came to be. Sure, the characters and stories always fueled my imagination, but they had to come from somewhere! Who created them? Who came up with the ideas? What was their story? I, of course, in later years, read a ton of books on comics history and never missed an issue of Alter Ego (was that a shameless plug?). That magazine in particular, because it was one of the definitive sources chronicling
the back stories behind the comics creators and events that gave us this modern mythology without any fluff. And, being an obsessed fan, it always fascinated me to read about the legends and lore of what went on “behind the scenes” in the comic industry. The creators were a fraternity that no one else was privy to, and they were living a life that I could only dream of being part of. So, sitting here at my laptop to write this article, because I’m actually now a small part of that history—well, that’s something I couldn’t have ever imagined. But somehow it’s true. Somehow the fates allowed me to befriend Roy Thomas (or as he likes to say, I just kind of showed up and never left) and orchestrate a plan to get him and Stan together for one last time and bookend Stan’s illustrious career forever in the pages of time. So before I continue, I would like to thank Roy and Dann Thomas for letting me into their lives and giving this little dreamer from Massachusetts the thrill of a lifetime. Here’s my moment in comicbook history: Hopping on a plane with my daughter Bryn to the annual Roy and Dann Thomas Halloween party in South Carolina in late October is always a treat (especially since it often takes place on the weekend of the anniversary of when I got into this business). The food and festivities are a-plenty and the costumed ghouls and ghosts that swarm about are good people who bring warm smiles. My daughter was in charge of taking photos in 2018, because the year before, that task was left up to Roy and things didn’t go so well (something about a big blurry finger on the camera lens, but I digress). Bryn dressed up as one of Roy’s co-creations, Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel), while snapping pics and enjoying the animals on the Thomas spread. She did her job well and got paid very well. Things finally slowed down in the wee hours of the
COMING IN DECEMBER
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“A Prophecy In FOUR COLORS?” The Possible Pulse-Pounding PREDECESSORS Of Some Of Comics’ Greatest Heroes!
Art © 2019 Shane Foley.
• Color-splashed cover by SHANE FOLEY, after PEDDY, SACHS, PETER, & KANE! • WILL MURRAY on the “1932 Batman” by FRANK FOSTER & on Star-Spangled Kid artist HAL SHERMAN’s memories of his pre-William Moulton Marston “Wonder Woman”! PLUS: Air Wave illustrator LEE HARRIS’ Tarantula re-examined—a prototype version of Timely’s wartime Patriot—and DAN HAGEN on the Japanese super-hero The Golden Bat— of 1931! Does comicbook history need a rewrite? • Who’da thunk it? ROY THOMAS Day in his Missouri hometown, February 2019! • ALSO: FCA—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on CHARLES BIRO, “The Other Stan Lee,” Part 2— BILL SCHELLY—JOHN BROOME—& MORE!!
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The Last Gathering
morning, and after my daughter fell asleep on the couch, Roy eagerly removed his Flipper the dolphin costume and met me in their upstairs entertaining area (and library) to talk business and our plans for the following year.
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and Stan got together. This was a big moment for those guys, where they could just chill out without any pressure and talk about Roy’s new upcoming book from Taschen called The Stan Lee Story and whatever else they wanted. In recent years, the two legends mostly had e-mail correspondence with each other, and Roy hadn’t been to Stan’s house since the ’80s when he was there for only a few minutes, so this was long overdue.
After an intense conversation about achieving world domination, I said to Roy that we should call a fellow comics dealer/friend of mine named Chandler Rice to see if he could open up some avenues to get him and Stan Lee together When the time came and one more time. You see, since we were being driven to Stan’s 2016, I’d been trying to get Roy home, Roy confided in me that Smiles All Around! and Stan together, but there had he was a little nervous. I said to (Left to right:) Stan Lee, John Cimino, and Roy Thomas in the last of the three been some major roadblocks him, “You don’t have anything photos snapped during the visit to Stan’s Hollywood Hills home on November (the less I say about those, the to worry about. Stan doesn’t 10, 2018. Photo taken by Jon Bolerjack, with John C.’s phone/camera. better). So now, with certain have the power to fire you people out of Stan’s life, this anymore.” He got a good laugh would be the perfect opportunity to ask, because even though Stan out of that. Soon enough, Roy and I were dropped off at Stan’s had retired from doing appearances at comic conventions, Chandler doorstep and let in by Jon. For me personally, the experience was still did private signings with “the Man” at his Hollywood Hills surreal. Stan Lee and Roy Thomas were two of my heroes growing house. I told Roy that I was going to call him and see if I could set up. Their stories entertained me for literally decades and gave me something up. the ability to achieve much in my own life. Now to actually be in Stan’s house and setting up this “supa-dupa” reunion, I was able Without hesitation I call Chandler, totally forgetting (or not to give them something special back. Sitting on Stan’s couch in his caring) about time zone differences. “Hello, John—do you know living room and watching the two legends talk shop was nuts. I was what time it is?” Chandler says as he groggily answers the phone. just taking it all in and thinking, “Jeez, those are the two guys that “Who cares?” I retorted with a smile. “I’m with someone.” Chandler thought up Spider-Man and Wolverine.” then says “Who?” There’s a long pause as I pass the phone to Roy, who says, “Hello, Chandler, this is Roy Thomas.” With a gulp and When I eventually walked into the room where they were I’m sure some shock, Chandler says, “Hello, Roy.” Now all of the talking, the first thing Stan said to me was, “Hello, John.” I’m, like, sudden he perks up and is chock-full of energy. I eventually take he knows my name? I knelt in front of him and began to tell him my over the conversation and tell Chandler that I want to get Roy and feelings for Roy and that I’ll always have his back no matter what. Stan together as soon as possible. He informs me that Stan has a Stan held my hand and said, “God bless you. Take care of my boy new handler named Jon Bolerjack, who happens to be a really good Roy.” Then I literally sat at Stan and Roy’s feet as they continued guy, so he’ll talk to him for me. I was ecstatic because it had been so talking. It was magical, like I was a mere mortal at the top of Mount difficult getting to Stan in the past. After our conversation ended, Olympus. I have no idea how long it lasted, but it ended with me I sat back, crossed my arms, and looked at Roy with a triumphant taking two pictures of Stan and Roy and then joining in on the last yet sinister smile that would make even the late Martin Goodman one. Stan said “God bless” as Roy and I were leaving. Honestly, I proud. I knew the die was cast, my plan was in motion, and even couldn’t tell if anything that just happened was real. Roy’s pessimism wasn’t going to stop it. But reality set in soon enough, sadly, as Stan passed away less A week or so later, after getting a number from Chandler, I left than 48 hours later. a message with Jon. He soon called me back, saying that Stan hadn’t As I said at the beginning, when I look back and think about all been feeling well for a long time and hadn’t wanted to see anybody this, it’s astonishing to fathom that I really am part of a “timeless” in weeks. But when Jon mentioned to him that Roy wanted to drop moment in comicbook history. The last gathering of the two greats by for a visit, Stan happily made the exception. Jon and I decided will forever be mentioned when fans gather together and celebrate to get the two icons together as quickly as possible, because Stan’s the lives of Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and comicbooks in general. And health was failing. The timing couldn’t have been better, as Roy’s after enduring a lot of stress and chaos in the later years of his life, birthday was coming up on Thanksgiving and Christmas was right Stan was able to just sit back and talk with his protégé one last time around the corner, so I figured I could save a few bucks and give without any pressure or concern and enjoy the moment. Yeah, I him this as a special all-in-one “bundle” present. When I told Roy helped make that happen. Not a bad accomplishment for a dreamer. the news, he was ecstatic and couldn’t believe I’d delivered on yet another “impossible” promise. Exactly a week later, on Saturday, Excelsior indeed… November 10th, Roy and I were in Beverly Hills, California. BOOM!!! A/E EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE: Comics writer John Broome’s serialized Jon told me we could see Stan at 3:00 p.m., so Roy, Chandler, memoir will return next issue. his sidekick Jason Howell, and I met up a few hours before to do a private signing at a diner called Mel’s Drive-In. It was a perfect location, because we were just a few minutes from Stan’s house. I told Jon privately that I didn’t want anyone else around when Roy
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ALL-NEW FULL-COLOR ADVENTURES —NOW PLAYING ON AN INTERNET NEAR YOU!
by ROY THOMAS & BENITO GALLEGO
A 1975 Radio Interview With STAN LEE
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Conducted On-Air By Carole Hemingway, KABC-Talk Radio, October 1975 Transcribed by Steven Tice – with Additions by Rand Hoppe
A/E
CAROLE HEMINGWAY: Hi, everybody. The time is 9:05 at KABC-Talk Radio… this is ridiculous! Why did I invite you here? [chuckles; Lee laughs] Who can talk about comicbooks? Nobody can talk about comicbooks for an entire hour. They’re boring and violent… bloodshed!
EDITOR’S INTRO: In October 1975, Stan Lee, then still living on the East Coast and serving as Marvel Comics’ publisher, made one of his periodic trips to Los Angeles—in this case, to help promote the new Simon & Schuster/Fireside hardcover Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, the sequel to 1974’s Origins of Marvel Comics. Both books were composed of stories he had scripted in the 1960s for the early days of Marvel, with Lee also providing new prose introductions to each tale. One of his most memorable appearances was on talk-radio station KABC in L.A., where the nighttime hostess was Carole Hemingway. Hemingway had begun on the station a year earlier, and had quickly become a very popular presence on the nighttime air waves, remaining there until 1982, and later having another such radio gig (though in the afternoon) from 1986-93. She also later owned a media consulting firm operating out of Beverly Hills, California, and for some time wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column of social commentary.
STAN LEE: Just ask me some questions. Just introduce the thing. There is violence, there is bloodshed, but these are Marvel Comics, which are a model of decorum. HEMINGWAY: No, no, no… I’ve been reading this… LEE: You lucky devil… HEMINGWAY: No, no, no… you’re the devil. LEE: The introductions that I wrote, did you know… HEMINGWAY: No, they are pretty bad, actually. LEE: Well, it’s been nice seeing you! I’m glad the settings are not turned on or anything. [chuckles]
Carole Hemingway & Stan Lee bookend the cover of the brand new 1975 Simon & Schuster/Fireside hardcover book that Lee had come west to ballyhoo: Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, with its dramatic painted cover by John Romita. [Cover art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
When I first read a transcription of some of the latter part of this hour-long interview with Stan Lee, I thought—as, apparently, did a few other readers as opposed to listeners— that Carole and Stan had gotten off on the wrong foot and were hostile to each other. However, after the entire talk was transcribed, it was apparent that it was nothing but a good-natured verbal “love & insult fest,” perhaps a welcome aperitif to all the radio shows on which Stan did little but plug product. He and Hemingway made a good match—and when I discovered that none other than the legendary Jack Kirby had called in near the end of the show to toss in his 2¢ worth (at a time when he had only recently returned to Marvel for what would become, alas, merely a three-year stay), I decided that it had to be spotlighted in this celebration of Stan the Man….
HEMINGWAY: This is Stan Lee, by the way. He originated Marvel Comics and all those people with some sort of extra-fantastic power. We have Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Iceman, Iron Man, Magneto, Wasp, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man…
LEE: I love The Silver Surfer. HEMINGWAY: He’s mean and cruel. LEE: No, he’s sweet and adorable—almost Christ-like in his aspect and demeanor, and the college kids are really into The Silver Surfer. HEMINGWAY: They’re into The Silver Surfer… LEE: There’s a lot of philosophy… Your problem is…
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Conducted On-Air By Carole Hemingway
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (left to right) in a photo taken at the MiamiCon in December 1975, at a time when Kirby had returned to Marvel and all seemed well with the world. That, of course, is also the period during which the Carole Hemingway interview took place. Thanks to James Van Hise and John Cimino. At right is a page from the heights of the days of Lee-Kirby collaboration: Fantastic Four #56 (Nov. 1966), as inked by Joltin’ Joe Sinnott. On it, the besieged F.F. prepare to fight back against Klaw, Master of Sound, who has invaded the Baxter Building. ’Way too much dialogue, of course—and yet, by means of all those word balloons, Stan turned Jack’s splendid several-panel sequence of Reed Richards arming the Thing in a hastily concocted CounterSonic Harness into a real triumph. When he first proofread it at his desk in ’66, youngster Roy T. laughed out loud at the combined art and dialogue in panel 4. For Ye Ed, it never got any better than this—not even in the Galactus Trilogy. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scan. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
talking about you to the wrong one... I could [tell Carole] you’re Michelangelo, and she’d say, “Mike who?”... I mean, culture she’s not dripping with. But anyway, it’s good to hear from ya! What are you doing listening to this nothing show? KIRBY: I’ve been drawing comics at a bar mitzvah here.
HEMINGWAY: Thank you for your call. Bye-bye.
LEE: I’ll be darned. Listen, I’m gonna be in San Francisco tomorrow. I’ll call you. Tomorrow night. It’ll be cheaper to call you from there.
LEE: Talk to ya later, Jack.
KIRBY: That would be fine. HEMINGWAY: Do you guys have anything else you’d like to say? While everybody’s listening... KIRBY: This has been a wonderful show really. I’ve been listening and... HEMINGWAY: Jack, you’ve got to be kidding. This has been probably one of my worst shows. KIRBY: Oh no, it’s just been great, because, well, because being in comics myself... LEE: “...being in comics”? He’s practically the whole comics business! KIRBY: Stanley’s covered a lot of details, and they’ve been extremely interesting, really.
KIRBY: So long! HEMINGWAY: That’s Jack from Thousand Oaks. LEE: You know, seriously... your listeners are gonna say, “My God, was that Jack Kirby? “You don’t know who you were talking to!? I’ve gotta spend hours with you later and tell you all about it. HEMINGWAY: In the Mercedes… I cannot believe… LEE: Hugh Hefner’s. Wait until Jack finds out. Hugh Hefner is probably listening and is going to call in and say, “Get that guy away from it!” HEMINGWAY: Jack, did you hear this? This is Stan Lee. The book is a paperback, a rather flimsy thing. LEE: Thanks a lot. HEMINGWAY: It’s called Son of Origins…
HEMINGWAY: Jack, you sound like a rather “stane and sable person.”
LEE: We’re giving it away later.
KIRBY: Well, I’ll buy that testimonial.
HEMINGWAY: Oh, my God, I would keep you on, but I can’t take anymore.
LEE: Jack, next time, call sooner and save me, will ya? KIRBY: Yeah, gee, I tried to get through and we all, you know… LEE: It was tough borrowing a dime way up there in Thousand Oaks!
LEE: I’ll tell you the whole history of the comicbook magazine. HEMINGWAY: You can tell me while we’re driving. [End of transcription; basically end of show]
Tributes To A Titan
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A Few Of Those Who Worked For & With Him Remember STAN LEE Assembled by Roy Thomas
A/E
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Because another issue of Alter Ego (#150, to be exact) was dedicated to Stan Lee in conjunction with his 95th birthday, just under two years ago, I felt freer than I otherwise might have in setting up the precise contents for this one, which will be on sale nearly one year after his passing on November 12, 2018. I invited a handful of key people who worked editorially for Marvel Comics in New York City when Stan was on the scene as editor and/or publisher to share their thoughts about working with him. I realize I could have approached any number more, and perhaps I should have. Maybe some of those folks will share their thoughts with us for a future issue.
The first tribute-payers below are three of the surviving gents who served under publisher Stan as his editor-in-chief, presented in the order in which they served: myself, Marv Wolfman, and Jim Shooter. Two others, Len Wein and Archie Goodwin, sadly, have left us—and Gerry Conway, who served for a few weeks in early 1976, sent his apologies but did not at present feel up to putting his thoughts on paper. Others accepting our invitation were Tony Isabella, who came on staff in the early 1970s; David Anthony Kraft, who signed on a year or so later; and Steve Englehart, only briefly a staffer but another of Marvel’s top writers of the 1970s. Here are their thoughts, in roughly the order in which they were piped aboard, beginning with myself, because I came to work for Stan in July of 1965 and served as the company-wide editor (Stan and I agreed on the hyphenated title “editor-in-chief”) from 1972 to 1974… a period of a few months over two years….
A Trio Of Tributes by Roy Thomas Because I’ve written at length about Stan in many places, including in Alter Ego #150 and in the sizable Taschen book The Stan Lee Story (not to mention in 2014’s 75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen), I’ve decided to mostly limit my thoughts to those related to my final face-to-face meeting with him—on November 10, 2018—as it would turn out, less than two days before he passed away. First, though, I thought I’d reprint the few paragraphs I wrote in 2017 as an “Afterword” for the first, 1200-copy edition (counting 200 “artist’s proofs”) of The Stan Lee Story, which by sheer coincidence would go on sale at bookstores around the time of Stan’s death. That page would be replaced in the general edition of the book (published in July 2019) by a truncated account of our final encounter. Here is my original “Afterword,” by courtesy of copyright-holder Taschen: Stan Lee is a whirlwind I first encountered in the pages of Marvel Comics in 1961… then in person four years later. Ever since the latter day, he has been a dominant presence in my life, whether I was employed by Marvel at the time or not. For the next several years after 1965, he was for me a one-man course of instruction on the way to write—and to edit—thrilling yet humanized comicbook heroes.
Beyond “Bullpen Bulletins” The cover of the New York Daily News for Nov. 13, 2018, the day after Stan Lee’s passing. With thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
Until I met him, I’d had other comics writers and editors after whom I might have patterned myself; but standing on his right hand, morning after weekday morning for years, mostly swept those other influences away, much like those rivers that Hercules channeled through the Augean stables. For here, I quickly realized, was a man who was very clearly in command of what he was doing as both writer and editor… and who knew how to get the best, the very best, out of writers and artists (and other editors) alike. This book, as was surely apparent long before you reached this page, is not and never was intended to be a biography. It is, rather, the story of one man’s—of Stan the Man’s—journey through the vine-encrusted jungles of 20th- and 21st-century popular culture, both reacting to what had come before and greatly influencing what has come after. In harness with some of the finest action and humor artists ever to wander into the mad, mad world of comicbooks, and working from his own personal and commercial instincts, only rarely with a preconceived road map, he charted a course that has been a pathway for all who have come since, whether they know it or not. (And mostly they do.) Working with and for him, in one capacity or another, for much of the past 50-plus years has been a privilege and good fortune of which a boy in the trans-Mississippi Midwest could scarcely have dreamed when first reading the four-color exploits of Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner in the latter 1940s. Once, when it had abruptly occurred to him that there was an 18-year age gap between the two of us, Stan squinted at me and said, “You know, I could have been your father!” In many ways, Stan… you damn near were. My manager/pal John Cimino gave his POV of the events of November 10, 2018, in this issue’s guest editorial on pp. 2 & 3 of this issue. Here is my own, an expansion of the necessarily brief remarks that appear in the “Afterword” of the general edition of The Stan Lee Story. Both versions are based on notes I wrote on November 12th of last year— the day after I’d flown back from L.A. to South Carolina and the very morning I learned of Stan’s passing:
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STAN LEE & MOEBIUS When Titans Clashed—Together! by Jean-Marc Lofficier
I
only worked with Stan once—on the Silver Surfer graphic novel he did with Jean “Moebius” Giraud in 1987-88.
Jean and I, who were then business partners, first met Stan in a one-on-one at the American Booksellers’ Association convention in May 1987 in Anaheim, California, then again at the San Diego Comic-Con a couple of months later. Stan was very eager to find a way to work with Jean, and the feeling was reciprocated. The problem was that Jean was unfamiliar with most of the Marvel characters. He had first discovered them in their French editions in 1969 in the magazines Fantask, then Strange, published by Editions Lug, the current successor of which is Hexagon Comics, of which I am today editor-in-chief. The one series that had most impressed him was Stan and John Buscema’s glorious Silver Surfer of 1968-70, which had garnered much praise from French writers and artists, and had even been wonderfully parodied by top cartoonist Marcel Gotlib
Jean Giraud (aka “Moebius”) & Jean-Marc Lofficier That’s “Moebius” on the left, around the time of his and Stan Lee’s Silver Surfer: Parable graphic novel—while Jean-Marc is seen (on right) walking his dogs in the countryside earlier this year. Jean Giraud, of course, drew and colored the cover of the Marvel/Epic graphic novel. The two separate issues won the 1989 Eisner Award for “Best Finite/Limited Series.” Thanks to Jean-Marc for the photo of himself; the pic of Moebius was found on the Internet. We figure you know what Stan looks like by now—and alas, we have no photos of him and Moebius together. [Parable cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
in his humor magazine Fluide Glacial (which also published Carmen Cru, which my wife Randy and I translated for the US market under the title French Ice). So, when we had lunch at Comic-Con, I suggested the Surfer as the best “candidate” for a collaboration. This was greeted enthusiastically by Stan, since it was his favorite character. I also suggested to Stan that he should write a stand-alone story, with just the Surfer, without a plethora of other Marvel guest-stars, like the other stand-alone he had done with Jack Kirby to try to sell a Surfer movie, which had ended up being published by Simon & Schuster in 1978. This was, he said, something that fit his vision perfectly, and he wouldn’t have dreamed of doing otherwise. Jean was very intent on having his name on a “real” American comicbook, one printed on newsprint, colored with the Ben Day process. Archie Goodwin, who was then Epic’s editor, came up with the concept of publishing the story as two comics first, reusing the original Surfer logo from the ’60s, then collecting it in a jacketed hardcover with some additional features six months later. Stan went home to write the plot, almost suffering from stage fright, which I thought was both surprising and endearing. After all, if Moebius was Moebius, he was Stan “The Man” Lee. And Jean was not an intimidating figure; he and Stan had visibly clicked during the lunch and had found much in common in their philosophies of life. I genuinely don’t recall how long it took Stan to write the plot
Stan Lee & Moebius
“The Coming Of Gallic-tus?” (Above:) French cartoonist Marcel Gotlib’s parody of the Stan Lee/John Buscema Silver Surfer comic first appeared in L’Echo des Savanes #7 in 1974. Thanks to JeanMarc Lofficier. [TM & © Marcel Gotlib.] (Top right:) The last real comics collaboration between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby was their 1978 Simon & Schuster graphic novel The Silver Surfer—which resembled a replay of 1966’s Fantastic Four #48-50, only with the F.F. replaced by a gal named Ardina. Inks by Joe Sinnott. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
of what became Parable. I’d say a couple of weeks, perhaps a month, but I’m not sure. Eventually, I did get the typewritten plot in the post (remember the post?) and took it to Jean who, at the time, lived in a lovely house in the hills near Topanga in the L.A. area. I liked it, but my opinion in the matter was irrelevant; however, I thought Jean would like it, too, and I was proven right. He was delighted with it. I remember that Stan called me a few days later and, sounding rather insecure, asked if Jean had liked his story; and he was over the moon when I reported that he had, indeed, very much loved it. Jean then broke down the plot in rough pencil breakdowns (some of which were reproduced in that first hardcover edition), ending up with 43 pages (the story was supposed to have 44), which provoked his admiration about Stan’s plotting ability. He often had to add or cut bits when working with his other writers. Truth to tell, I “plotted” the third
War And Pieces Penciler John Buscema rendered his own version of Edward Hicks’ famous 1826 painting “The Peaceable Kingdom”—for Stan Lee to script, and his brother Sal B. to ink—in The Silver Surfer #4 (Feb. 1969). Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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STAN LEE, AL LANDAU, & The Transworld Connection by Rob Kirby
Stan Lee and web-headed friend in a photo taken in 1974, during the period when Lee and Landau were publisher and president of Marvel Comics, respectively. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn.
W
Al Landau in a photo taken sometime in the 1980s. Courtesy of his grandson, Robert Landau. Albert Einstein Landau was the godson of Albert Einstein... named after the renowned physicist in honor, Rob Kirby discovered, of his having helped to raise funds to keep The Jewish Telegraphic Agency going between the world wars.
hile greater knowledge and insight into comics’ history has been accumulating in print during recent decades, both in book form and in magazines such as this one, there are possibly have become aware of the Mighty World Of Marvel #2 (Oct. 14, 1972) undoubtedly many other tantalizing Transworld name. The same holds We showed you the cover for MWOM #1 (Oct. 7, 1972) in secrets still waiting to be uncovered equally true for those aficionados conjunction with Robert Menzies’ article on Marvel UK in Alter and deciphered. One such mystery has of the many and varied reprint Ego #150—so here’s the Jim Starlin/Joe Sinnott cover for issue #2, long surrounded a company known as which spotlighted the ever-Incredible Hulk. Thanks to the Grand comics published in Australia, Transworld Feature Syndicate, Inc., and Comics Database. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] New Zealand, and on mainland how exactly it became involved with Europe—likewise the products Marvel’s global expansion. Through my of a variety of local publishers—where the Transworld name researches into the origin and development of Marvel’s own line would again often be displayed somewhere within their copyright of British comics, it’s now clear that, despite Transworld Feature information. Beyond that, there was little to go on. Syndicate being involved with the comic giant’s overseas activities Who, and what, exactly, was Transworld? The puzzle seemed until the 1980s, it was never owned by Marvel, or indeed by any unsolvable. of the companies that later bought Marvel. This discovery is somewhat at variance with what, for example, Roy Thomas seems The origins of the Transworld family were equally a mystery to have assumed when writing 75 Years of Marvel: From the Golden to me when I first began research for a history of Marvel UK after a Age to the Silver Screen (p. 494), but as you’ll discover in these pages, decade-long search to index every single story published by Marvel Transworld initially operated in quite a different area altogether. in Britain since 1972—not an easy task, pre-Internet. There was next to nothing to be found about who Transworld were; and. after the Read All About It! birth of the web… actually, there still wasn’t that much extra to go on. I would eventually find out more, but only after widening my If you’ve ever read any of Marvel’s own British reprint comics purview to take into account all those licensed comics referred to from the first half-decade or so of their existence—or indeed above that preceded Marvel’s creation of The Mighty World of Marvel any of the earlier licensed comics pre-1971, which used material in 1972, a lineage that went as far back as 1951. from the Marvel/Atlas vaults, hailing from companies such as Thorpe and Porter, Alan Class, Odhams, and IPC—you might In looking back right to the beginning, there were hints that
Stan Lee, Al Landau, & The Transworld Connection
Transworld could well have played a vital role in the genesis of the entire British project, although final confirmation of that came only after tracking down one elusive key player in the story. As I started to piece things together, it also became clear that I needed to track the development of Marvel from its origins as Timely Comics, to help explain how it seemed to me that parts of Stan Lee’s career, in hindsight, led almost inexorably towards their later British invasion on their own terms. Although I touched upon Transworld in my previous article on Marvel UK’s early years in TwoMorrows’ Back Issue #63, with Stan’s recent passing it seems an ideal time to look further at the company, and how his connections to Transworld helped set in motion the events leading up to Marvel’s adventures in the United Kingdom.
What’s In A Name? To begin with, I should make it clear that we’re not talking here about the similarly named “Transworld Publishers.” That entity was founded by Bantam Books, Inc., back in 1951 (and later purchased by the Bertlesmann group), and published paperback lines such as Corgi. The Transworld Feature Syndicate, Inc., in the frame here had been formed a year earlier by Ida Landau. A graduate of New York University, she had not long begun work as a lawyer before meeting and marrying Jacob Landau in 1921. The Viennese-born Jacob ran The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), which had other offices situated all around the world, from Warsaw to Jerusalem. In a far-sighted move, during the inter-World War years, the JTA had originally been set-up as a way of propagating the experiences of Jewish people right across the globe, and they are still active online today. Ida would eventually switch careers and join the JTA as its business manager until 1942, after which she went on to manage the Overseas News Agency (ONA) for Jacob until 1951, reporting on the plight of refugees towards the end of World War II. After setting up Transworld, and following the death of her husband the previous year, she began travelling around the world during 1953. In October of that year, she sustained head injuries in a car crash, which eventually led to health concerns that forced her to take a backseat in the new company. Based in midtown New York at 23 W. 47th Street during the
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early 1960s, as its name suggests, Transworld Feature Syndicate, Inc., provided a photo-and-features service for the international press. It employed illustrators to create magazine artwork and syndicated work by many photographers, such as the awardwinning Peter Skingley (who netted the UPI’s Overseas Press Club Special Award in 1968 for his news reportage). Transworld joined a long line of specialist agencies such as Rex Features, Magnum, and Getty Images, in providing such services to the news trade. It had taken the company a while to build up to this level of diversity, though, having started out as a syndication agency re-selling material in Central and South America, along with illustrative material destined for women’s glossy magazines.
Syndicated Adventures It wasn’t long before Transworld had branched out into comics as well, after coming into contact with Marvel publisher Martin Goodman, who also produced a whole host of magazines through the rest of his company Magazine Management. Transworld soon began handling the worldwide syndication of Goodman’s comicbook features, which grew into a much bigger concern as the new super-heroes forged in the Marvel explosion came to prominence. Any comics company wishing to use material from the Timely/Atlas/Marvel archives, or indeed any of the other American publishers that they would eventually represent (including Tower, Charlton, and the American Comics Group), would simply contact Transworld, requesting to purchase the rights to incorporate the strips they required for their own comics. Whatever they purchased appears usually to have been supplied in the form of prints, although Alan Class has previously mentioned that he received negatives, too. As foreign publishers began to latch on to the sales possibilities inherent in this new wave of super-heroes, it made sense for comics companies to have such outside agencies handling the time-consuming demands of licensing specific material to interested publishers around the world, and specialist companies such as Transworld Feature Syndicate, Inc., became vital. In time, this elusive organization would also help provide the key to unlocking the full potential of the UK marketplace for them. In the meantime, Ida’s health was now worsening and she naturally turned to her son, in the hope that he’d take over the business, keeping the company firmly within the family. This happened gradually, though, as Albert Landau was still studying for a law degree at Columbia University at that time.
All Around The World
Ida Landau
Jacob Landau
(1899-1986). Photo of Al Landau’s mother, founder of Transworld Feature Syndicate, Inc., located on Internet.
Al’s father died in 1952. Decades earlier, he had founded The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which connected people of Jewish heritage all around the world. This photo appeared in The New York Times, and is from its online archive. [© the respective copyright holders.]
As the 1960s swung by, Albert Landau would assume complete control over the business. Expanding now on what I wrote in Back Issue #63, that “there were actually two separate businesses sharing the Transworld name, along with a network of subsidiary offices spread across the world”—these were located in various key cities including Milan, Paris, Helsinki, Mexico City, Stockholm, Munich, and Buenos Aires, amongst others. Landau then became permanently based in London as he built up the business there, punctuated by visits home to New York to oversee the head office. Understandably, he became increasingly keen to return home for good, and the means to do so came during his return visits to New York, after meeting up with the recently resident Ray Wergan. A former British sports reporter of note, Wergan [see photo on p. 53] had begun his career as a trainee reporter on The Manchester Evening Chronicle in 1957, before moving over to Thomson Newspapers in 1960. A year later, he took up the post of syndication manager at the Express newspaper group, and after their New York
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The Man Who Succeeded Stan Lee As President of Marvel
Postscript by Rob Kirby
Two Sides To Every Story?
I
n creating this extract on Albert Landau that stresses the importance of his role in helping to sell Marvel’s work overseas, as well as in helping Stan Lee set up the company’s British division, I realize that—in plucking a few paragraphs here and there from the working draft of my (admittedly) long-overdue book From Cents to Pence!—I’ve painted quite a different picture of Landau from what many Alter Ego readers may have read elsewhere… at least in the few places that anything has been written about his career. Getting the balance between differing points of view, or conflicting reports, is the major challenge in writing any history. Most of the information about Landau and his family background presented here came initially from the many conversations I’ve had with Ray Wergan, who had worked closely with him for some years, as you’ve now read; that was further fleshed out by my own research as I began looking further into various aspects of the story Ray was revealing. This is how I came to discover the full story behind Landau’s first and middle names, Albert Einstein—which I’d first learnt from Sean Howe’s engaging and forthright 2012 book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Basically, the famed physicist Albert Einstein had struck up a friendship with his father Jacob Landau and had later provided some funding to support The Jewish Telegraphic Agency during the inter-war years. A close friendship had come out of their regular correspondence, with Einstein later being asked (and accepting) to be the godfather to their firstborn son.
the perspective of his interactions with staff at Marvel in New York after he took over from Lee as president for two-plus years. Based on a myriad of personal conversations (not with Landau himself) conducted by Howe, the overall impression formed from reading Marvel Comics: The Untold Story paints a different picture of Landau as president of Marvel—that he forcefully made snap decisions over creative placements, over the heads of editorial—in the case of the Superman/Spider-Man team-up for instance, where he and editor Len Wein nearly came to blows—and was also keen to sue Martin Goodman’s Atlas-Seaboard Comics for any overt plagiarism, at least until that rival line rapidly imploded. With the passing of time, and with no personal interviews or contemporary accounts to dig into, building a fuller picture of the man from these differing impressions is much more difficult now. As you’ve seen, I’ve suggested another possibility, based on what I’ve uncovered, as to how Landau could have been selected to become president of Marvel, given his previously unrecorded close working relationship with Goodman, and then Lee. In the end, the difficulty with writing about certain folks who crop up in comics history is that they often weren’t interviewed at all (e.g., Ray Wergan had never spoken about his deep involvement with the UK division, so tracking him down was a landmark moment, and added a whole new dimension to my work, reshaping what I’d already written into something far more complex than I could have guessed), whereas Stan Lee and others were regular fixtures in the fan press, and in Lee’s instance the national and international press as well. Landau’s departure from Marvel was certainly a sudden one. From the only published account thus far, those speaking to Sean Howe show someone trying to stabilize Marvel but getting caught up in the way business was conducted before the direct market came into existence as a potential method of solving distribution discrepancies. Returning from vacation in 1975, Landau is said to have been shocked to find Jim Galton at his desk, and collapsed in shock at a subsequent lunch with Barry Kaplan and Galton after being told that Sheldon Feinberg had decided to replace him. I’ve since discovered that Landau, by 1981, took a step back from Transworld, with Elsa Zion appointed to take over as president.
I also, briefly, came into contact with Beryl Clampton, who’d joined Transworld (UK), Ltd., two years after Ray Wergan, and who provided Who Do That Voodoo? secretarial services for Landau This undated 7th issue of the British reprint title Voodoo (from whenever he was visiting the UK. L. Miller) contained mystery stories from several different Apparently, “he always stayed at the publishers, including a Kirby-penciled story and others from Savoy,” Clampton discloses. “I would late early-’60s, plus other yarns that look to be from Charlton get a phone call at some ungodly and Ajax/Farrell. It was this type of multi-company mishmash hour to get there as soon as possible. that Marvel-booster Stan Lee started Marvel UK to avoid. [TM & He expected 110%, but he was very © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] generous financially.” One thing in Had I been working on my book particular stands out for her about some decades earlier than I did start, and discovered at that time Landau: “He was so ethical—even to the point of not handling his involvement with the UK side of Marvel, I would have loved some material that would have made him a fortune. Ray taught me to have spoken to Al Landau, and with Sol Brodsky, too. Still, at a lot, too—a very interesting and amusing person. He had a lot of least I’ve been lucky enough to talk to many, many others, on both friends on all the newspapers, and his experience with them was sides of the Atlantic, who all played their own parts in the story of invaluable.” Marvel in Britain over the decades. Recording the Apart from a few lines in passing in various interviews over thoughts, stories, and history of the medium for the years, including by the editor of this very magazine, it fell to posterity remains a vital task as the years pass, lest Howe’s book to contain the first overview of Landau, mostly from that information be lost forever.
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(Clockwise:) Marvel’s Daredevil by Stan Lee and Wally Wood from Daredevil #8 (June 1965). Stan and Joan Lee, late 1940s. Drawing of Biro from Daredevil #12 (Aug. 1942). Biro’s Golden Age DD from Daredevil #12 (Aug. 1942). [© Marvel & Gleason Publications.]
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Comic Fandom Archive
My (Admittedly Minor) Encounters With STAN LEE I
by Bill Schelly
Bill Schelly & Stan Lee\ That’s Bill on the left in a recent pic, and Stan Lee “at home in the early 1960s” on the right, not long before he and artist/co-plotter Steve Ditko produced the superb Amazing Spider-Man #7 (Dec. 1963). This was the first Marvel comicbook that Bill ever bought, drawn in by Steve’s excellent artwork and Stan’s seductive verbiage. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
f there hadn’t been Stan Lee, then someone would have had to invent him.
Wait—that’s exactly what happened: A Jewish kid from New York City named Stanley Martin Lieber invented “Stan Lee,” the character most of us grew up admiring—the fun-loving uncle who shamelessly bragged about Marvel Comics, who wrote many of them, who loved comicbooks and, yes, who loved us, his fans. I first heard of Stan Lee in the fall of 1963, when I pulled a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #7 from the dark recesses of a giant magazine rack at my local drugstore. The first cover blurb by Stan that I read was: “Here is Spider-Man as you like him… Fighting! Joking! Daring! Challenging the most dangerous foe of all, in this— the Marvel Age of Comics!” I thought: that’s different. DC comics didn’t have cover blurbs like that, except maybe putting the title of the story on the cover –certainly nothing so seemingly personal, addressing me, the potential reader (“as you like him…”). Intrigued, I opened it and read: “Never let it be said that the Marvel Comics Group doesn’t respond to the wishes of its readers!” And then, outright bragging: “A tale destined to rank among the very greatest in this… The Marvel Age of Comics!” “What’s ‘The Marvel Age of Comics’?” I asked myself. “It sounds like there’s a whole bunch of different comics being published that I’ve never heard of!” By the time I finished reading Spidey #7, I was thoroughly bowled over by the fabulous Ditko artwork and Stan’s deft, humorous script. Turning to the letter column, “The Spider’s Web,” I found letters that were fairly typical of a Green Lantern or The Flash letter column, but the answers were “straight from the shoulder” responses that seemed to take me inside the comicbook business. The “Special Announcements Section” began: “Here it is, the section we like best! A place for us to get together, relax a while, and chew the fat about comic mags.” It then went on to talk about the two newest Marvel comics, The Avengers and The X-Men, and the changes in a couple of their other titles: “Don’t delay in letting us know how you like the big changes in Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense.” Ant-Man had become Giant-Man, and Iron Man had a new suit of armor. “Hope you like it!” Stan said, adding, “That’s probably the most unnecessary phrase ever written! If you don’t like the mags we edit for you, we’ll shoot ourselves!”
The column ended with: “Okay, time to close shop for now. So let’s put away our little webs till next ish, when we’ll bring you another book-length epic which all you armchair critics can tear apart to your heart’s content! Till then, keep well, keep happy, and keep away from radioactive spiders!” Suddenly I realized I had a grin on my face. I really
My (Admittedly Minor) Encounters With Stan Lee
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One of those copies was sent to Stan Lee, c/o Marvel Comics Group. Why had I sent Stan a copy? To my (by this time) 13-year-old mind, it was no more complicated than “I love Marvel comics” so if I send one to Marvel, maybe Stan—or more likely Flo Steinberg, whose letters had appeared in Yancy Street Journal— might respond. I somehow had the temerity to include a request for an interview with Stan for the next issue of my fanzine. Flo responded, and said Stan would answer a few written questions if I would send them along. When Stan’s answers to my questions arrived, I was disappointed that he had merely scribbled very brief answers to my questions. But, they were still from “Smilin’ Stan,” so I dutifully included them in Super Heroes Anonymous #2 (May 1965). As essentially worthless as the “interview” is today, it’s still among the earliest ones Stan did for a fanzine. But not as early as the one in Crusader #1, which was conducted in late 1964. (See pg. 39 of Stuf’ Said! from TwoMorrows for a portion of it.) I seem to recall that there were one or two other “questionnaire” interviews that appeared in fanzines around this time, much like mine. And Stan was famously interviewed by Ted White for Castle of Frankenstein magazine in 1965 (not published until 1968). (That talk was
That’s Really “Special”! The “Special Announcements Section” was unlike anything at DC comics. Lee managed to make the plugs for upcoming Marvel publications into what felt like a personal interchange with the reader. The illo nicely reminds the reader who The Sandman was—although it was all news to Bill! The last paragraph “sealed the deal” as far as he was concerned! [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
liked this guy, whoever Stan Lee was. But, er … “Next ish”—What’s an “ish”….? I contend that any comicbook fan who read Amazing Spider-Man #7 as his first Marvel title would be instantly, irrevocably hooked—all in one fell swoop (of The Vulture)! Because not only was the story astoundingly good and incredibly well-drawn, but the hero was a teenager, and the people who wrote the book seemed to respect my intelligence. Seduction, thy name is Stan Lee! I was just 12 years old when I discovered this comicbook, and the world of Marvel Comics. I would have been shocked if I’d known that I would have a few encounters with Stan in the ensuing years. No, I don’t claim to have been a friend or fan who knew Stan quite well… but, in remembering what Stan means to me, I do recall these minor encounters quite clearly. That being the case, as a tribute to Stan and what he meant to me in my life, I’m going to share them now.
Encounter #1 It’s February 1965, about the time Fantastic Four #39 (“A Blind Man Shall Lead Them!”) hit the stands, when the first encounter took place. I had discovered the wonderful phenomenon of comics fandom several months earlier, had received my first fanzines (Batmania, Yancy Street Journal, RBCC), and had published my own. Thirty-five copies of Super-Heroes Anonymous #1 were shoved into a neighborhood mailbox, and—voila! I was a publisher!
And Stan The Man Shall Lead Them! Time jump: By the time Bill was publishing fanzines in early 1965, Fantastic Four #39 was on the stands. (And a great issue it was!) Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Chic Stone and (on Daredevil figure) Wally Wood. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]