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January 2022
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GOLDEN AGE—
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Vol. 3, No. 173 / January 2022 Editor
Roy Thomas
Associate Editor Jim Amash
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Christopher Day
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Sharon Karibian Paul Allen Jim Kealy Heidi Amash Jack Kelly Richard J. Arndt Mark Lewis Bob Bailey Jim Ludwig Bernie Bubnis Mike Mikulovsky Glen Cadigan Barry Pearl Colin Cameron Ken Quattro Nick Caputo Mark Reznicek John Cimino Randy Sargent Chet Cox David Saunders Justin Fairfax Jim Shooter Shane Foley William Foster III Amber Stanton Tony Tallarico Stephan Friedt Dann Thomas Janet Gilbert Jim Thompson Alex Grand Grand Comics Database (website) Bruce Guthrie Keith Hammond JayJay Jackson William B. Jones, Jr.
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Joye Kelly, Carl Gafford, & Norman Saunders
Contents
Writer/Editorial: Black Is The New Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Black Heroes—Silver Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A new look at the “Silver” & “Marvel” Ages by Barry Pearl.
“You Need Somebody To Give You A Sense Of That History” . 37 And William Foster III is the man to do it, say interviewers Alex Grand & Jim Thompson.
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Don’t Get MAD—Get ANGRY! . . 57 Michael T. Gilbert on Mad’s black-&-white competitors—and imitators.
Tributes to Carl Gafford & Joye Kelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #232 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Part II of David Saunders’ spotlight on artist Norman Saunders.
On Our Cover: Since the main thrust of Barry Pearl’s lead article is how black heroes, both super- and other, came to Marvel, DC, and other mainstream comic companies, primarily over the course of the 1960s and ’70s, it was all but inevitable that (as neither DC nor Marvel wants us to “mix and match” its characters with those of its rival on our covers) we piece together one made up of Marvel stalwarts— since DC had relatively fewer such during that period. The Black Panther figure is by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott… The Falcon by Gene Colan & Joe Sinnott... Luke Cage by Billy Graham… and Black Goliath by Rich Buckler & Frank Giacoia. [Art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: But don’t worry—DC Comics and other companies get their fair share of four-color coverage from Barry (as well as from interviewee William Foster III) in this issue, from Lobo to Fast Willie Jackson. And here’s one of the biggest of them all—Black Lightning, as drawn by Rich Buckler & Vince Colletta for the month of August in the 1978 Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters. [TM & © DC Comics.] Alter Ego TM issue 173, January 2022 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage pending at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Alter Ego, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. 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: $68 US, $103 Elsewhere, $29 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. FIRST PRINTING.
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writer/editorial
Black Is The New Black
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perspective, and which discussed black creators as well as characters.
ome issues of Alter Ego are born great— —and others have greatness thrust upon them!
That last is pretty much what happened to this particular issue. Some months ago, regular A/E booster and helpmeet Barry Pearl sent me a link to a new article he had written for his blog “Barry’s Pearls of Comic Book Wisdom.” It dealt with the evolution of the comicbook field in the 1960s and ’70s with regard to handling (or even simply introducing) black and/or AfricanAmerican characters… super-heroes, cowboys, teenagers, spies, the whole megillah. I liked the piece, on which he had been assisted by his fellow Yancy Street Gang member, Nick Caputo. It was basically an overview of the field during those two decades, with a bit of prelude related to the 1950s. Not a detailed look at the characters and situations, but a bird’s-eye glimpse at what was going on… not just at DC and Marvel, but at Archie, Western, Charlton, and every other mainstream company. So I e-mailed Barry and we quickly came to an agreement that the study would be the cover feature of this edition. Oh, sure, I’ve made a few minor editorial emendations, as is my wont: a new title (the one he’d given it suggested political overtones that I didn’t feel like dealing with in a comics-history magazine; nor, for that matter, did Barry—his title really had little to do with the article itself)… plus some re-arrangement of paragraphs in an even more chronological order.
I had met William briefly a few years back, when some folks who were filming a documentary about diversity in comics flew me up to a warehouse-cum-film-studio somewhere in New York City so that I, like him, could be a talking head. Happily, I got the chance to sit in a “green room” and observe an hour of him being filmed and recorded… and after he was done, we exchanged a few friendly words before he moved on and my own turn before the cameras came. Our paths haven’t crossed since then, and I’m sorry about that, because although we probably don’t agree on everything (what two comics fans do?), we’d clearly have a lot to talk about and I suspect we’d have a high old time doing it. Which is precisely what Grand and Thompson clearly had when they interviewed William, who is currently retired from a long career as a college teacher. Unfortunately, because of A/E’s commitments to its regular departments, each of which is worthwhile in its own way, I wasn’t able to squeeze all the Foster interview into this issue. However, the second half—which deals primarily with the 1970s—will be a featured highlight of #174, two short months from now, and we think you’ll find it well worth the wait. And why not? After all, I’ve been waiting years now to do this sort of “theme issue”—just biding my time till a handful of talented people did most of my work for me by putting together an article and an interview that they could dump in my lap.
Then, only a few days or so after Barry and I came to our meeting of the minds, reader Alex Grand sent me the transcribed text of an interview that he and his buddy Jim Thompson had conducted with William Foster III, the author of 2005’s out-of-print Looking for a Face Like Mine, which had been arguably the first book ever to deal with comicbooks from an African-American
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COMING IN FEBRUARY #174 C.C. BECK, CAPTAIN MARVEL, & FOUR-COLOR CASTLES IN SPAIN!
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• Cover illo by BECK, co-creator of Billy & the Captain! • FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America] Phantasmagoria, with an illustrated essay by the ever-irascible C.C. BECK—plus the whole Shazam! crew in a series of dramatic tradingcards from Spain—many never before seen! • Extra added attractions! WILLIAM FOSTER III–Part 2 of his interview on black heroes, artists, and writers in comics, from Lobo to Fast Willie Jackson to Black Lightning— MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Mad and its ire-inducing imitators (finale)—the haunting of JOHN BROOME—& MORE!!
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Black Heroes—Silver Pages A New Look At The Silver & Marvel Ages by Barry Pearl, F.F.F. (with special thanks to Nick Caputo, F.F.F.) A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: This piece appeared earlier, in a slightly different form, on Barry Pearl’s blog “Barry’s Pearls of Comic Book Wisdom.”
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his is not the history of African-Americans in comics. It is a chronology of African-American characters in the Silver and Marvel Ages of Comics, between 1956 and 1977.
During that double era, I did not have the African-American experience of growing up and living in America. But many of my closest friends did. And I read comics with them! Growing up, and even in adulthood, I saw and heard their concerns about isolation, exclusion, housing, schooling, jobs, and personal safety. We had read comics, and my friends were looking for someone to relate to. Often, Spider-Man was their favorite, because his mask covered his full face and he could be anyone behind it.
From Waku To Jefferson Pierce (Left:) Although his primary focus in the following piece is the late 1950s through the latter ’70s, author Barry Pearl gives a shout-out to the “Waku, Prince of the Bantu” series that ran in all seven mid-1950s issues of Timely/Atlas’ Jungle Tales. This splash page from #1 (Sept. ’54) is by Ogden Whitney; writer unknown. The “Waku” yarns dealt with Timely/Atlas’ version of the historical Bantu people in an era that seems to pre-date contact with whites; its all-black cast were not portrayed as the primitive, superstitious tribesmen on display in most other 1940s-50s jungle comics. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Above:) As a necessarily arbitrary bookend to his article, Barry chose DC’s Black Lightning series, which made its debut with a date of April 1977. Cover art by Rich Buckler & Frank Springer. Except where otherwise noted, all art accompanying this article has been supplied by Barry Pearl. [TM & © DC Comics.]
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A New Look At The Silver & Marvel Ages
The term “African-American” refers to Americans with ancestors from Africa. In science-fiction I use the term “black” (whether capitalized or un-) because we often don’t know the nationality of the character—or even what planet he is from. William H. Foster III’s book Looking for a Face Like Mine is relevant. Mr. Foster explains why it was so important to him to have black characters in comics even if they were stereotypes. Mr. Foster writes: The images of black characters in mainstream comics in the 1960s and ’70s were almost non-existent, terribly
stereotypical, but didn’t represent any models worthy of emulation. All in all, people like me just didn’t seem to exist in comics. And, while this didn’t destroy my enjoyment of comics, it did leave me with a disquieting feeling that people who look like me weren’t welcome, not just in comics, but society as well. There were a few black supporting characters before 1960, but I am discussing the Silver and Marvel Ages—two somewhat indistinct (and partly overlapping) terms. In the early 1960s it was impossible for me to read the defunct newspaper comics section that had starred Will Eisner’s The Spirit and featured Ebony… or Atlas/ Timely/Marvel’s 1954 Jungle Tales with its series “Waku, Prince of the Bantu,” a dignified take on an African prince and perhaps a model for T’Challa, Marvel’s Black Panther.
Baby Steps (Clockwise From Above) While Ebony White was drawn and written in stereotypical fashion in Will Eisner’s acclaimed Sunday-supplement comicbook The Spirit, he was nonetheless treated as a sympathetic, admirable, and often triumphant character. In addition, as per the episode for Oct. 13, 1946, it should be noted that the young lady who’s the object of Ebony’s affections is no more a caricature than are The Spirit and Commissioner Dolan on the same page. Reproduced from DC’s Will Eisner’s Spirit Archives, Vol. 13. [TM & © Will Eisner Estate.] In a real rarity for the Golden Age at a major comics company in that era, the black hero “Waku, Prince of the Bantu” was spotlighted on the covers of all seven Jungle Tales issues, with each of the mag’s four series given its own box. Issue #3 (Jan. 1955) cover by Joe Maneely. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] And then there’s “Voodah,” drawn by African-American artist Matt Baker (writer unknown). Ken Quattro, in his book Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books, refers to Voodah as “the first clearly Black hero to have his own feature in a comic book,” starting with McCombs Publications’ Crown Comics #3 (Fall 1945), whose splash is pictured here… though Voodah’s and others’ skin tones print lighter here than on subsequent pages. Ken, who’s written several studies for Alter Ego, reports that Voodah appeared, but “white-skinned,” on the cover of Crown #5—then was colored as a Caucasian both on covers and in stories from #6 onward. More about Matt Baker next issue! [© the respective copyright holders.]
Black Heroes—Silver Pages
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The Happy Days Syndrome
The Invisible Men Subtitled Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books, Ken Quattro’s excellent study went on sale in 2020. [Cover TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
Early on, TV networks would produce a particular episode to show they were inclusive. The popular 1970s-80s series Happy Days contained an episode in which an African-American family moves in next door and encounters bigotry. But the leather-jacketed teenager Fonzie likes them, and then everyone does, and at the end of the episode they have dinner with the Cunninghams…. …AND THEY ARE NEVER SEEN AGAIN.
Another aspect of this syndrome is that black characters must appear in plots involving prejudice. There were hundreds of innocuous plots on Happy Days about dating, cars, staying out late, etc. However, when a black character shows up, the story has to be about prejudice.
Late 1950s & Early 1960s In the late 1950s into the 1970s, DC would often print publicservice announcements about friendship, equality, and brotherhood.
Oh, Happy Days! The Fonz (Henry Winkler), recent arrival Bill (Jack Baker), and Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) in “Fonzie’s New Friend,” the first Happy Days installment (season 3, episode 12) to deal with racial prejudice. It aired Nov. 25, 1975. Happy Days ran on TV from 1974 to 1984. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
characters, who are included in the British version. DC, however, not only re-colored the black characters to make them white; it had their faces redrawn to look Caucasian. (An earlier adaptation of Doctor No had been produced as a comic strip in Great Britain’s newspapers in 1960, drawn by John McLusky. There, too, black characters had been left intact.) An example of the Happy Days Syndrome: The “Sgt. Rock” feature introduced a one-shot black character, Jackie Johnson, in Our Army at War #113 (Dec. 1961). The cover showed only the back of his head, which was partly swathed in a bandage, making it easy
Even so, there were no AfricanAmerican people working at The Daily Planet or attending Superboy’s school in Smallville. Justice League of America and the Legion of SuperHeroes had green people, purple people, orange people, but no black people for years. There were no black youngsters at Supergirl’s orphanage or anywhere else. Mr. Foster points out that there was one story about black people on Krypton—and they lived on an island. “Even on Krypton,” Mr. Foster said, “we were segregated!” [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: By happy coincidence, the first installment of an interview with William Foster III follows this article. Meanwhile, an image from the aforementioned story can be seen on p. 34.] DC’s Showcase reprinted Doctor No, an adaptation of a James Bond novel that had first been published in Great Britain’s edition of Classics Illustrated. Much of the story takes place in Jamaica and spotlights Jack Schiff several black
“People Are People” Superman starred in these two early-’50s anti-prejudice “public-service” pages reportedly written by editor Jack Schiff. The one on the left, drawn by Al Plastino, appeared in Action Comics #143 (April 1950), as well as in other DC titles… while the other, drawn by Win Mortimer, popped up in, among other places, Mystery in Space #13 (April-May ’53). Since in the former the boys are reacting primarily to the Jewish name “Levy,” it’s likely that many readers had no idea exactly what kind of prejudice the lads were displaying! (Antisemitism, of course.) [TM & © DC Comics.]
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“You Need Somebody To Give You A Sense Of That History” Author WILLIAM FOSTER III Talks About AfricanAmericans In Comics—Both As Characters & As Creators Interview Conducted by Alex Grand & Jim Thompson
A/E
Looking For A Face Like Mine EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: William Foster III’s much-lauded 2005 William Foster III was, for years, trade paperback on blacks in comics to quote from TheRumpus.net’s is unfortunately out of print, and used transcription of a 2013 comics symposium, a “longtime copies command a premium price writer, educator, and researcher.” He was formerly an English these days—so we’re fortunate to have instructor at Naugatuck Valley Community College, and his this recent interview with the comics official title now is “Bro/Prof. Emeritus.” He has also been historian by Messrs. Grand & Thompson the consultant for several comics-history exhibitions and to cover at least some of the same is the author of the sadly out-of-print books Looking for ground, over the course of this A/E issue and the next. Cover art by Omar a Face Like Mine and Dreaming of a Face Like Ours. Bilal; thanks to WFIII for the ID. [Art © As that website paraphrases his words: “The importance the respective copyright holders.] of recognizing [early comics history and the stories of its creators] is even more urgent because it is in danger of being JT: And where did you lost in obscurity.” Alter Ego wishes to thank Alex Grand move to? and Jim Thompson for making available in print this transcription FOSTER: Oh, dude, from their recent conversation how much time have with Foster on their Comic Book you got? [chuckles] Historian Podcast. The text has I went to school in been lightly edited, omitting Massachusetts, and then small portions of back-and-forth moved to Connecticut. and brief interjections… and, I was working for Weekly Reader, except where otherwise indicated, of all places. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but it was a lot of fun. all accompanying photos and And that’s where I am now, in Connecticut. Love it here. illustrations were provided by Alex Grand and, in some cases JT: Okay. All right, so no other parts of the country. Never lived in the indirectly, William Foster III. This South or anything like that? interview is being presented in two parts, with the second to follow in FOSTER: No. Detroit for a minute… and that was a blessing. our next issue, just two months [chuckles] I’m sorry. That’s wrong. But no, I got to tell you, I love from now…. New England, man. It really has an allure of its own. William Foster III ALEX GRAND: Today, we have a very special guest, Professor William Foster III, a historian in comics who specializes in African-American representation in the medium. I’m Alex Grand, with my co-host Jim Thompson. Professor Foster, thanks so much for joining us today. WILLIAM FOSTER III: Listen, it’s my absolute pleasure. Thank you, gentlemen, for extending the invitation. AG: We’re going to start with your early involvement in comics. Then we’re going to talk about your book, that we both enjoyed very much… Looking for a Face Like Mine. [It features] different articles on black representation in comics, which I found really moving and just really great history. Jim, go ahead and start. JIM THOMPSON: So, Professor Foster, where are you from? FOSTER: Originally, Philadelphia.
JT: That’s nice. Yeah, I’m from Virginia, originally, so I’m a Southerner. But… FOSTER: That’s where my dad’s from. Richmond. JT: Where in Richmond? Because which side of the river makes a great difference. FOSTER: [laughs] Doesn’t it always? Isn’t that true for every city? AG: I lived in Detroit for a year,
Alex Grand & Jim Thompson See the skinny on our intrepid interviewers at the end of this issue’s installment.
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William Foster III Talks About African-Americans In Comics
but I was in Boston for a year, and you’re right. There is something about that New England vibe. I do love it, too. It’s multicultural, it’s really interesting. FOSTER: I’m telling you, it’s part of that New England… that Northeastern brain trust that goes on in our country. I love that. JT: So, let’s talk about your entry to comics. When did you start reading? What books or lines were you interested in? FOSTER: I started reading comics when I was about 11. But I was a voracious reader. You know that old insult that you’d give somebody, “Eh, go read the encyclopedia.” That was me. I was the, “Eh, read me the encyclopedia”… I couldn’t get enough. And comicbooks were just great. I mean, they told a story vividly, and in bright colors. Superman and Batman were my two favorite characters in the comics I could afford. And I was lucky that I had a couple of buddies who are twin brothers, and their parents were a little higher financial scale, so they bought them all the new comics, as soon as they came out. And I would come over and they’d let me read them. I’d say, “Hey, you guys are all right. I don’t care what anybody else says about you.” JT: What era of Superman and Batman are you reading? Because I don’t know your age. FOSTER: Silver Age. It was like the early ‘60s, and Curt Swan is my favorite Superman artist. AG: So, what’s the year of your birth, then? FOSTER: 1953. AG: Yeah, okay. This is kind of the approximate year of birth of a lot of our guests, it seems. Early ’50s, yeah. FOSTER: It was free, and cheap, entertainment. Everybody told us we were going to die and go to hell if we read comics. It was a great
time. Actually, it got better after people said that, because that way, now we really wanted to read them. [chuckles] JT: So, you were reading Curt Swan-drawn Superman, and you were around during the “New Look” Batman right before the time of the [TV] shows, so Infantino’s new look. FOSTER: Absolutely, but you know the Batman Annuals were reprinting stories from the ’50s before I was old enough to read them. Man, I ate those up, because Batman was just more dynamic. I mean, you couldn’t cross a roof without having a giant toothbrush or a razor, or something… It was great. JT: So now, did you limit yourself to those two characters at that point? Or did you step into Justice League, and The Flash, and all those other characters? FOSTER: Every Superman title I pretty much read, including Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. World’s Finest, of course, was obviously combining my two heroes; I loved that one. But my parents cleverly got me into Classics Illustrated. And then my cousins read all the Harvey Comics books—Hot Stuff, Spooky—and my sisters loved Archie… yeah, my sisters, it wasn’t me… never me… [chuckles] I had a really wide range of comics I was looking at. Even some Charlton Comics occasionally would drop by my way. Some old EC… my dad brought home a box of those, one time. It had a real heavy mildew smell. Like I cared… I just went through those, man. JT: So, which ones, the horror books, or the science-fiction? FOSTER: All of them. Had a nice selection. I used to love the fact that… this is something that the critics of comicbooks never got… something bad would happen to you, but only if you weren’t a good person. If you were an evil person or you had an evil plan, if you kill somebody for their money or you kill somebody’s husband so you could go out with their wife, you know what’s coming for you. And that’s the part us kids were looking for. JT: Oh, yeah. EC was really good about that, too. That if you were cheating on your girlfriend, you were probably going to end up with your head taken off and used as a bowling ball. FOSTER: Yeah, or served up to somebody with the eyeballs still in it. [chuckles] JT: Yeah, don’t sell tainted meat because you’re going to get it. AG: [chuckles] Tainted meat, that’s so true. JT: All right. So, it’s interesting, you haven’t mentioned Marvel yet. Did… FOSTER: When Marvel came out, I was hooked. But before that, I was a big DC fan, or a lot of different publishers. But when they brought out Spider-Man, Fantastic Four… those are two I kind of read. “Doctor Strange” I loved.
Your Two Favorite Heroes—SUPERMAN And BATMAN—In Separate Stories! Two more covers from the prof’s childhood: Superman #126 (Oct. 1962), with art by Curt Swan & George Klein (the classic story inside was scripted by Edmond Hamilton)… and Batman Annual #3 (Summer 1962), whose main “Gorilla Boss” cover scene is adapted from a 9-year-old cover by Winslow Mortimer and Lew Sayre Schwartz. Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © DC Comics.]
And then, as they moved into more titles… “Captain America” was okay, I liked him. “Thor,” not so much. “Iron Man,” okay. But Spider-Man primarily. Because, first of all, as history tells us, he was the first teenage super-hero, if you don’t count Superboy and Robin. They were sidekicks. Spider-Man was on his own, and he had a real complex life. JT: Now, with the EC Comics, they actually dealt with
“You Need Somebody To Give You A Sense Of That History”
39
and every stereotype’s in play, but in the first two pages of the book, they had this ad talking about “We’re all brothers.” I say, “Hmm… Yeah… I see that. Right now, I see the ‘brothers’ thing.” [chuckles] JT: Some of the genres, even in the DC comics and in the Marvel comics, allowed for black representation. I’m thinking of Gabe Jones and the Howling Commandos, and Sgt. Rock. There was one black soldier and… FOSTER: Sure… Gravedigger. JT: Yeah… Well, there was Gravedigger too. So, you had some of that stuff. Did you seek those books out? Were you happy or pleased to see black representation or did it matter? FOSTER: I noticed that it was missing but it didn’t actually detract from the story. But, it’s funny you should mention that because… the non-super-hero characters I saw that were people of color were in Marvel. Peter Parker’s high school had a black kid in it. Peter Parker had walked through … JT: Yeah, and Robbie Robertson. I mean, he had a real job. FOSTER: They had a black cop. You know, like you’d see them at any point in time, and it wasn’t like, “Well, you have to wait till some Negroes come along so you can go arrest them.” I mean, he was doing his job. And that was what stuck out in Marvel. AG: Yeah. It seemed like Stan Lee was more progressive than Carmine Infantino when it came to stuff like that. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually, this period largely pre-dates Infantino’s tenure as DC Editorial Director.] FOSTER: I met Neal Adams at a show. I brought my entire
“’Tain’t The Meat… It’s The Humanity!” That’s the title and theme of the lead story from EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt #32 (Oct-Nov. 1952) about which interviewers and interviewee share a good laugh, referring both to its punnish-ing title and to its grisly “shock ending.” Script by Al Feldstein; art by Jack Davis. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]
race, especially in Shock SuspenStories and things. But in others, too, they actually acknowledged that there were other people. Not so much with the comics that you’re talking about. FOSTER: It’s true. Now, that’s funny… in DC Comics, as I got older, and I started looking at the images over and over again, I noticed that the only time they had black person in a DC comic was when they were at the UN. And then they weren’t AfricanAmericans, they were Africans. JT: Yeah, had the whole… all the iconographic images of it. FOSTER: Yeah, but ironically, they used to do a bunch of public service announcements in the books. And there, you could see people of color. Of course, they’re in poor countries, being served food, and building schools and stuff like that… but that was pretty much it for the longest time. AG: Yeah, Jack Schiff was [writing] a lot of those ads in DC comics. FOSTER: I did a piece on those at the Popular Culture Association in Nashville Convention, and I just had the time of my life, because I had all these examples. And people who had never seen them didn’t know what I was talking about, but they had some good advice: Be a good citizen. Be open to other cultures. That was good, but that was the only time you saw it. In fact, I read a Superboy comic where Superboy goes to Africa
Present At The Creation Panels from the very first appearances of Foster’s two favorite Marvel concepts—Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), by writer Stan Lee, penciler Jack Kirby, & a still-unidentified inker who is probably George Klein… and Spider-Man’s debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962) by Lee & artist Steve Ditko. While both pencilers certainly contributed to the plotting, the above phrasing is still probably the best way to credit those seminal comicbooks, since the extent of each man’s contribution is disputed and unlikely to ever be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Thanks to Bob Bailey for the latter scan. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
Don’t Get MAD… Get ANGRY! By Michael T. Gilbert
A
l Feldstein was fed up. After Harvey Kurtzman abandoned Mad in an attempt to catch lightning in a bottle a second time (with Trump magazine), Feldstein had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of the man who was the heart and soul of the ten-cent Mad comicbook (and later, briefly, Mad the 25¢ black-&-white magazine).
Enough Is Enough! Feldstein finally had enough, and commissioned a two-page article in Mad #41 (Sept. 1958), purporting to make it even easier for imitators to copy Mad. He began by reprinting Jack Davis’ stunning Mad #27 cover (from April 1956), instructing the competition to “design a cover for your imitation that looks like Mad. Here’s an old Mad to copy. Note the border. Note the confusion. Note that our covers don’t even look like this anymore!” And indeed,
Though failure seemed inevitable, under Feldstein’s editorship Mad actually increased its already impressive sales and firmly secured its place as America’s #1 humor magazine. And what thanks did he get? Why, imitations, of course, sprouting like weeds. Over a dozen of them. Shoddy knockoffs with names like Thimk, From Here to Insanity, Snafu, Cracked, and Zany. One publisher even stole the name of Feldstein’s own Panic, after EC dropped that title. Now that’s chutzpa! Of course, this was nothing new. Mad creator Harvey Kurtzman had faced the same problem earlier. He had responded with his wicked “Julius Caesar!” parody in Mad #17 (Nov. 1954), a story both brilliant and audacious. In that eight-page tale, Kurtzman and artist Wally Wood deconstructed one of their own stories, demonstrating panel by panel precisely how to do a cheap Mad knockoff. I wonder what Al Feldstein thought of Kurtzman’s parody, knowing it was also aimed at EC’s own Mad clone Panic, which he was editing? Now, a few years later, as the editor of Mad itself, Al was in the same position, with imitators nipping at his heels.
What, Me Copy? From Mad #43 (Dec. 1958), the first page of their article “How to Put Out an Imitation of Mad.” Writer uncertain. [© E.C. Publications, Inc.]
Don’t Get Mad—Get Angry!
under Feldstein the ornate Kurtzman border had been eliminated, streamlining the magazine’s appearance. Mad also helpfully provided a listing of Mad synonyms, including “crazy, cracked, nuts, loco, frenzy, panic, wild”—all of which were actually used by the Mad copycats. Ironically, the listing even included the words “trump” and “humbug,” two of Kurtzman’s subsequent satire magazines!
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Let’s Get Plastered! (Right:) Cracked’s mascot, master plasterer Sylvester P. Smythe, on the cover of Cracked #15 (Aug. 1960). Art by John Severin. [© Major Publications.]
Mad likewise took a swipe at the competition’s mascots,
instructing the copycats to create someone like Alfred E. Neuman… but different. “You could use a plasterer or a cat that drinks whiskey, or… a crutch… you know, really funny stuff like that.” The “plasterer” line was a clear swipe at Cracked’s Sylvester P. Smythe, who began his career plastering the cracks on the covers of the early issues, before morphing into a (very!) simple janitor. A Mad reprint of the issue’s actual index page followed, complete with handydandy liner notes to help future would-be thieves imitate Mad. It was an amusing in-joke, but if Feldstein and the article’s uncredited writer hoped it would end there, they were sadly mistaken.
Take That, Mad! Judging from the angry response from the competition, Mad hit its target squarely between the eyes. From then on, it was war!
All The Angry Young Men “How to Put Out an Imitation of Angry, the Sorehead Magazine,” from Thimk #4 (Dec. 1958). Artist (mercifully!) unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]
The most direct response was from Counterpoint Publishing’s Thimk #4 (Dec. 1958). Appearing three months after the offending Mad article, Thimk basically published a point-by-point rebuttal under the title “How to Put Out an Imitation of Angry, the Sorehead Magazine.”