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PRESENTING:

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C.C. BECK

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No. 174 March 2022

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PLUS: • WILLIAM FOSTER III on BLACK SUPER-HEROES - PART II! • MICHAEL T. GILBERT SHOWCASES THE EARLY RIVALS OF MAD MAGAZINE! • THE HAUNTING OF GOLDEN/SILVER AGE WRITER JOHN BROOME!

Vol. 3, No. 174 March 2022 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

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Contents

Writer/Editorial: High Cost Of [Historical/Nostalgic] Living . . . . . . . 2 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #233 [interior cover] . . . . . . . 3

William J. Dowlding David Baldy

A special double-size edition presented by P.C. Hamerlinck

Cover Artist

The late artist C.C. Beck rendered his opinions on comics without fear or favor.

C.C. Beck

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Bob Bailey John Benson Jon Bolerjack Ricky Terry Brisacque Gary Brown Bernie Bubnis R. Dewey Cassell John Cimino Shaun & Erika Clancy Comic Book Resources (website) Chet Cox Brian Cronin Mark Evanier Shane Foley William Foster III Stephan Friedt Janet Gilbert Don Glut Javier Gonzalez Alex Grand Grand Comics Database (website)

Heritage Art Auctions Sean Howe Jim Kealy Lambiek Comiclopedia (website) Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Glenn MacKay Mike Mikulovsky Brian K. Morris Peter Normanton Vince Olivia Barry Pearl Matthew Peets Ken Pierce Bud Plant Ken Quattro Charlo Ramon Randy Sargent Scott Shaw! Dann Thomas Jim Thompson Robert Tuska

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Román Arámbula, & Richard Corben

Captain Marvel—As Remembered By His Co-Creator . . . . . . . . . . . 4 When Captain Marvel Built Card-Castles In Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Javier Gonzales gives a guided tour of the 1949 FHER Marvel Family trading cards.

“You Got To Stumble Sometime, So You Can Figure Out What You’re Going To Be” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The conclusion of Alex Grand & Jim Thompson’s interview with William Foster III.

The Haunting Of John Broome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 The classic writer of “Flash” & “Green Lantern” & “The Legend of Deuel Hollow”

The Original Wolverine Sketches—Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 John Cimino & Roy Thomas ogle John Romita’s 1974 concept art—and Roy signs it.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Don’t Get Mad—Get Angry! . . . . . . . 63 Michael T. Gilbert continues his examination of the early Mad and its imitators.

From The Tomb Presents: “Executions: Pre-Code Style!” . . . . . . 69 Peter Normanton says hanging (or the chair) was too good for ’50s comics bad-guys!

Tributes to Richard Corben & Román Arámbula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 On Our Cover: For some years before he passed away in 1989, original “Captain Marvel” (and later Shazam!) artist Charles Clarence Beck drew or even painted commissions featuring the World’s Mightiest Mortal and many another subject—either re-creating vintage artwork or creating new compositions. One of the best of the latter was “Billy Batson’s Bad Dream.” Our thanks to Shaun & Erika Clancy for making it available as this issue’s cover. [Shazam hero, Billy Batson, and the Sivana Family TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of C.C. Beck.] Above: Not all black super-heroes instantly integrated as smoothly with their white counterparts as did The Black Panther and The Falcon… as witness these final panels of a story from Superboy #216 (April 1976), as will be seen on p. 48. But racial (and professional) harmony conquered all by the final page, and Tyroc became a Legionnaire. Script by Cary Bates; art by Mike Grell. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.] Alter Ego TM issue 174, March 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.

writer/editorial

The High Cost Of [Historical/Nostalgic] Living

sually, I employ these “writer/editorials” to wax eloquent, or at least as eloquent as I can, about something in the wonderful world of vintage comicbooks from the dawn of history (i.e., the Depression 1930s) through the mid-1970s. Just this once, however, forgive me if I feel like talking about the great unmentionable subject for a magazine like Alter Ego. In other words… money. No fool you, you probably noticed that the price of this magazine, and of others in the TwoMorrows lineup—not unlike that of your groceries and trips to the gas station—has risen. Or, if the price of this, that, or the other thing hasn’t actually gone up—well, it’s quite possible that the amount you receive of said thing in exchange for the usual amount of cash or credit card is a bit less than it used to be. Same difference. Now, I’m not gonna go into why that’s happened—partly because that would involve a political discussion, and we’ve all had quite enough of those already, thank you very much; and partly because, despite acing two college-freshman Economics classes in the late ’50s, I’m ill-equipped to explain such matters. That’s my lovely and brainy wife Dann’s department… at least it was, till she ceased teaching Economics at a local tech college a few months back. Suffice it to say: TwoMorrows and I dropped the number of pages in each issue of A/E from 100 (counting covers) to 84 two years or so ago, and we didn’t want to downsize further. I still miss

those 16 glorious pages, each and every issue, because they allowed me to sneak in an extra feature or two that wasn’t quite flashy enough to deserve a mention on the cover. So the alternative was to raise the mag’s price, keeping the page count the same. You’ll be getting the same amount of material, you’ll just be paying slightly more for it—unless you’re a regular US subscriber; that price is staying the same, at least through 2022. Dann tells me that things like Alter Ego are an example of “inelastic demand.” I.e., presumably (and TwoMorrows and I are the ones doing the presuming), this periodical’s audience has already decided the contents of an issue are worth the price being charged for it, even if that moves upward from time to time due to inflation, etc. So only a small percentage of readers are likely to be so put off by a price hike—at least a reasonably smallish one—that they stop buying the magazine. Hopefully, for each benighted soul who goes away because of that extra buck, there’s at least a chance that someone else will stumble upon a copy of A/E for the first time, or else decide to come back to the fold after an absence, either because he discovered he really missed it or because he recently struck oil in in his backyard. Either way, we—all of us here at Alter Ego, from publisher John Morrow down to our ever-squinting proofreaders—hope you’re one of those who decided the combined historical/nostalgic approach of this magazine is worth an extra hundred pennies. And we’ll keep striving to make you feel that way.

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Captain Marvel— As Remembered By His Co-Creator Mini-Essays By C.C. Beck

FCA

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: For this special edition of FCA, I decided to dust off and excerpt from my files various noteworthy commentaries from hundreds of hand-written, previously-unpublished pages of postulations, reminiscences, viewpoints, and essay “warm-ups” that Captain Marvel’s co-creator and chief artist Charles Clarence Beck (1910-1989) put to paper during the early 1980s as editor of FCA/ SOB—and later for his debate-by-mail group “The Critical Circle,” whose members included Richard Lupoff, Trina Robbins, Jim Amash, and myself. —P.C. Hamerlinck.

C.C. Beck & “Billy’s Bad Dream” Charles Clarence Beck as a special guest at Phil Seuling’s Comic Art Convention on July 14, 1979, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—plus three of his initial “thumbnail sketches” of the Captain-Marvel-vs.-Sivana-Family situation, one of which wound up constituting this issue’s cover—from the original art collection of Shaun Clancy. Shaun’s wife Erika provided us with the photo-scan of the final painting. “Billy’s Bad Dream” was originally commissioned years ago by then-comics dealer/book publisher Ken Pierce, who remembers Beck as being a professional who “put a lot of care into his work” and was “very dedicated to being a good artist.” Beck had painted “Billy’s Bad Dream” a second time for a different collector; it was published in 2011 by The New Yorker. [Art & characters TM & © DC Comics.]

Captain Marvel—As Remembered By His Co-Creator

No Credit, Thank You World War II started at about the time Captain Marvel did, and its finish in 1945 also marked the end of the Golden Age of the super-hero comicbooks. I’ll not deny that Captain Marvel had become a super-hero—in both appearance and action—quite early on in his career when Fawcett farmed out some of the work to other artists and writers, who proceeded to present the World’s Mightiest Mortal as the World’s Mightiest Imitation Superman— bouncing bullets off his chest and looking like a ham actor in a shoot-’em-up movie. In addition, Fawcett created a whole line of Captain Marvel spinoff characters which were drawn by other artists in styles quite unlike mine. Finally, Art Director Al Allard and I persuaded Fawcett to let me supervise the production of at least the Captain Marvel books. I was given the title of Chief Artist in charge of a studio filled with assistants and given some name recognition in the comics, but the writers were never given any credit at all, and to this day few people are aware that comic illustrators work from scripts instead of making everything up as they go along. That is why today I refuse to accept any credit for creating Captain Marvel, pointing out that I was merely the first— and the last—artist to draw him in his original form. I want no credit whatsoever for drawings made by artists over whom I had no control and whom, as a matter of fact, I never met in some cases.

Al Allard Art director of Fawcett Publications’ comics in the early 1940s.

Not At His Beck And Call

George Tuska in a photo taken c. 1938-41. Courtesy of George’s son Robert, via Dewey Cassell.

I never had any control over the stories, either, although many have said that I had. The stories were simply handed to me to be illustrated as they had been in the beginning. Most of them were well-written and, as people have often told me, the plots and characters were better developed and more imaginative than in most other comics.

How To Talk Without Saying Anything

C.C. Beck made it clear he wanted absolutely no credit (or blame) for “Captain Marvel” artwork he’d had nothing to do with—such as this scene from Captain Marvel Adventures #2 (Summer 1941), with art by George Tuska and script by Rod Reed, in a tale featuring the Arson Fiend. Art director Al Allard had hired Tuska to draw the entire second and third issues of CMA, probably fearful of overloading Beck with art assignments. Tuska would make his super-hero mark years later, with Iron Man. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

This way of regarding the illustrations in comicbooks was due to our having grown up reading the syndicated comic strips in the newspapers. I had myself once worked as a lettering man for a syndicated comic artist; Marc Swayze and some others had been assistants to syndicated cartoonists. I had spent the better part of six years at Fawcett as a “spot cartoonist” drawing single-panel cartoons before I was assigned to Captain Marvel. Pete Costanza had been an illustrator of Western pulp stories, in which one or two drawings were added to the typeset copy simply to break up the monotony. Most syndicated comics of today have retained the off-hand, simplified (“cartoony”) way of illustrating the copy; the over-drawn comic strips can go on and on for years without accomplishing anything.

Rod Reed Early Fawcett editor and sometime scripter, seen in 1942.

Back in the Golden Age some artists, such as Mac Raboy, spent many hours lovingly feathering their lines, adding shadows and texture everywhere, and showing in minute detail all the muscles, tendons, bones, veins, arteries, eyelashes, and teeth of their figures. Others, such as myself, Pete Costanza, Marc Swayze, Ed Robbins, and many more who worked on Captain Marvel used a simpler drawing style now called “cartoony.” We cartoonists could turn out three pages of camera-ready artwork while the fine artists were still drawing one panel. Captain Marvel, we believed, was designed to be read, not to be admired as art. To us, the pictures were mere adjuncts, that is, things added to but not necessary parts of the essential story.

There seems to be a law governing the production of illustrated copy that says, “The more pictures you add, the less story you will tell.” Today’s comicbooks, in my opinion, are almost all picture, with only a minute, feeble, meaningless amount of story… or perhaps none at all.

Otto And Wendell One time, back in the Golden Age, when I was producing comics for publishers other than Fawcett (with their permission), Otto Binder came into my office with about a dozen plot outlines for stories. “Why so many?” I asked. “Can’t you tell the difference between good ideas and bad ones?” “What do you mean?” Otto answered. “These are all good ideas!” And he was right; they were. Only in later years did Otto turn out bad stories to order for another publisher who shall remain nameless.

Fawcett Collectors Of America

C.C.’s Last Stand The splash panel for Beck’s final Shazam! story drawn for DC Comics—which also, sadly, marked his last-ever illustrated comicbook story—from issue #10 (Feb. 1974). Beck never had anything good to say about DC or its revival of Captain Marvel, but some buyers of Shazam! still enjoyed what they read. [TM & © DC Comics.]

is considered by many to have written the best stories in the 1970s run of DC’s Shazam! comic.

Available for the

first time in 50 YEARS This This collectible collectible portfolio portfolio features features 12 12 ready-to-frame ready-to-frame reproductions reproductions of of the the iconic iconic Marvel Marvel Comics Comics black black light light posters posters

INTRO BY

Roy Thomas

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THE OFFICIAL ROY THOMAS CHARACTERS, CONCEPTS, AND CREATIONS DATABASE

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Art by Joe St. Pierre. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

E. Nelson Bridwell

super-hero instead of what he was originally, a creature of magic and fantasy. His stories now are filled with bad English, puns, and inside jokes, and are presented in pictures gathered together at random as if they were pages from a scrapbook pasted together by an amateur. For heaven’s sake, why can’t they leave the old fellow alone to live in the memory as he was when he was young and in his prime?

When Captain Marvel Built Card-Castles In Spain The 1949 FHER Hazanas De Capitán Marvel Trading Cards by Javier Gonzalez

hen one crosses paths with esoteric collectibles from distant lands, one may wonder how many hands have held these fascinating finds… or how they endured their long journey across an ocean divide… and what miraculously preserved them over decades before they finally found their way to new homes. In essence, we become the curators of these collectibles and ultimately navigate their next earthly destination. My passion for card collecting, with a wish to bring greater awareness of

vintage international finds to other like-minded collectors, eventually led me to create the online Tomorrowsgems.com. And it was this same enthusiasm and zeal that led me to discover—and eventually acquire—a complete set of the 1949 FHER Hazanas de Capitán Marvel [Adventures of Captain Marvel] cards from Spain. The concept of Captain Marvel, originally created in 1939 by William Parker and C.C. Beck for Fawcett Publications’ Whiz

How Do You Say “Shazam!” In Spanish? (Left:) The cover for the FHER card album in which to affix all 144 cards from the set Hazanas de Capitán Marvel, illustrated by Spanish artist Nogueras. (Right:) Title page art from the interior of the card album; artist unknown. [Shazam heroes TM & © DC Comics.]

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“You Got To Stumble Sometime, So You Can Figure Out What You’re Going To Be” Part II Of Our Interview With WILLIAM FOSTER III On African-Americans In Comics Conducted & Transcribed by Alex Grand & Jim Thompson

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Our preceding issue [#173] spotlighted two pieces on black people in comicbooks—an overview by Barry Pearl, and (due to spatial limitations) the first half of an interview with retired college teacher William Foster III, author of the 2005 study Looking for a Face Like Mine. This concluding installment deals primarily with comics characters and creators in the 1970s and since….

is interesting because, in the ’70s, there are a lot of movements where the ‘60s start to manifest into mainstream. There’s a delay, and then suddenly it starts showing up in pop culture, more in the ’70s, like an explosion.

ALEX GRAND: So, as far as the ‘60s, we talked about Robert Crumb, we talked about Franklin in Peanuts… so now we’re going to enter the ’70s. This

FOSTER: Absolutely.

WILLIAM FOSTER III: Absolutely. AG: You mentioned Inner City Romance by Guy Colwell… Super Soul Comics, 1972, Richard “Grass” Green…

AG: Don McGregor’s Jungle Action series with

William Foster III at a comics symposium in 2013— sandwiched in between young African-American artist Billy Graham’s action-packed “Black Panther” splash page for Jungle Action #13 (Jan. 1975), with script by Don McGregor & inks by Craig Russell … and Gus Lemoine’s cover for the teenage title Fast Willie Jackson #4 (April 1977). This issue’s interview segment runs the gamut! All art scans accompanying this interview were provided by Alex Grand and/or William Foster III, unless otherwise noted. “Black Panther” page supplied by Barry Pearl; cover courtesy of the Grand Comics Database. [JA art TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; FWJ cover TM & © Fitzgerald Periodicals, Inc.]

Part II Of Our Interview With William Foster III On African-Americans In Comics

As We Were Saying… (Top left:) Actually, despite Alex’s commentary, interviewee Foster hadn’t actually mentioned Guy Colwell’s Inner City Romance by name earlier in their conversation (at least the taped portion of it)… although that 1970s underground comicbook was no doubt implicit in some of their remarks. Its five issues dealt with what Fantagraphics called, when reprinting them in a single volume in 2015, “the unpleasant realities of life in the inner city, where opportunities were limited and being on the lowest end of the economic ladder meant that one’s vision of the American dream was more about survival than lifestyle choices.” [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] (Around the page:) Richard “Grass” Green and the cover of his 1972 Super Soul Comix #1 were on view in A/E #173, but its single issue from Kitchen Sink Press deserves a second look… as per these splashes from the lead-off super-hero tale and the “Black Eye” entry therein, plus its explosively four-color back cover. Like R. Crumb, only from a black man’s POV, Green used often-outrageous stereotypes to lampoon (and lambast), but always with a sense of humor and satire that threw the unwary reader off-balance. [TM & © Estate of Richard Green.]

“You Got To Stumble Sometime, So You Can Figure Out What You’re Going To Be”

Black Panther… Luke Cage. Tell us, as you were reading these in real time… what did you feel was going on? FOSTER: Oh, man, it wasn’t easy. It’s that the counterculture was taking over. When you see a major trend come in or a major wave is coming through, it’s making money and you want to make money, too. So you try things out. You start seeing a lot more women manifest themselves in the comicbook world, and not just as superheroes but as policemen, or police chiefs in some cases, heads of government agencies, and politicians. It becomes easy for them. Like now, we have a template. The first ones were, like we said, there’s that kind of humor: “Oh, I got to go to the Senate and pass a bill, but first, I got to get my nails fixed.” But I’m remembering plainly, I had friends telling me they were told, “I don’t care how many degrees you have, every woman here starts in the typing pool.” Or, “You are not going to be able to get this job. Why should I hire you when you’ll just get pregnant, and go get married to someone, and I got to train somebody else?” Right to their faces, with no shame whatsoever. What I’m saying, and that’s horrible, is I’m coming in to the age where women are trying to get a fair shake, and a fair shake is for everybody. So, the ’70s is that. The language changes… Or ask anybody you know about Luke Cage. And that’s the last time you had a black guy say, “Sweet Christmas!” [chuckles] JIM THOMPSON: Well, it would have been on the Netflix show, two years ago. FOSTER: I was talking to one of the guys who did the Milestone Comics, and he was cracking me up with that. He said, “Yeah, me and the brothers are sitting around, and I heard somebody say, ‘Sweet Christmas!” [chuckles] I said, “Please, you’re killing me.”

There’s Always A “But”! This yarn by writer Stan Lee and artists Gene Colan & John Romita was the second tale in Marvel’s Our Love Story #5 (June 1970). The lead-off “confession,” with white protagonists, was titled “But He’s Not the Boy for Me!” (by Lee & John Buscema)—while the follow-up, from an AfricanAmerican perspective, was titled “—But He’s the Boy I Love!” Clearly, the implication of using the word “Boy” for a black man in 1970 slipped right past The Man—and his proofreading crew. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

But, also, there was another phase where every black super-hero had to have “Black” in front of his name. And that kind of got to be a joke. Even now, it’s still kind of a joke. But I understand what that was: Being black was important to say. And if this is the only way you can say it, that’s fine. JT: Did you see the Harvey Birdman [TV] episode with Black Vulcan. Have you gotten to that one yet. Alex? AG: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve finished the Harvey Birdmans; they are funny. JT: Black Vulcan is on the stand, and he doesn’t want to be called Black Vulcan. And he says, “I said to Aquaman, ‘Why don’t you call yourself White Fish?’” [chuckles] Continued on p. 33

Sidebar:

When Did Luke Cage First Say “Sweet Christmas”? by Brian Cronin A/E EDITOR’S INTRO: This piece, with lots more panels reproduced to underscore its points, was first published online on the “Comic Book Resources” website and is © 2016, 2021 by Comic Book Resources. Our thanks to CBR and Brian Cronin for allowing its publication.

n [the “Comic Book Resources” series] “When We First Met,” we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects, or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said “Avengers Assemble!” or the first

appearance of Batman’s giant penny [etc.]. Today, reader Chris Ghostly asked me on Twitter when was the first time that Luke Cage said his famous catchphrase “Sweet Christmas!” in a comicbook. Let’s find out! The first time Cage used any sort of exclamation was in Hero for Hire #2 (Aug. 1972)—by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, & Billy Graham—when he shouted, “Mother of…!” He would use that expression in issues #5 & 15 as well.

Part II Of Our Interview With William Foster III On African-Americans In Comics

The Weed Of Crime Bears... Bitter Root #1 (Nov. 2018) was the start of an 18-issue run for this Image Comics title by writers Chuck Brown & David Walker and artist Sanford Greene. The primary cover (at far left) was by Sanford Greene, though several alternate covers were also published, including the one at near left by Mike Mignola. Courtesy of the Grand Comics Database—which, however, has only the sketchiest info on the series. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

had something positive to say. Everything you write, there’s a positive side to what you’re putting. I always found that really fascinating, and I’d always study your comments. I’d be like, “Wow, that’s a great perspective.” So, it was exciting for me to read the book and to also meet with you today. Thanks so much for joining us today. Jim and I had a great time.

William Foster III

FOSTER: Well, listen, gentlemen, I had a great time as well. Oh, by the way, just to let you know, I’m negotiating for a third collection of essays, coming up. I’ll keep you guys posted.

in front of a montage of images of Luke Cage, Static, Black Panther, and Lobo—at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, where he accepted an Eisner Award on behalf of the late Orrin C. Evans, publisher of the groundbreaking 1947 All-Negro Comics. (See A/E #173 for coverage of the latter.) Thanks to Alex Grand for the photo and information.

AG: Yeah, absolutely. What’s the second one called?

At right is the cover of Foster’s second book, Dreaming of a Face Like Ours. [Characters TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

FOSTER: Thank you. Okay, now, you may have to go through me to get that one, too. But don’t worry, like I said, I’ll hook you up. [chuckles]

FOSTER: Dreaming of a Face Like Ours. AG: I’ll read that one next.

The Haunting Of JOHN BROOME

Part XVIII Of The Golden/Silver Age Writer’s 1997 Memoir EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: As we near the end of Irving Bernard (John) Broome’s short and “Offbeat Autobio” My Life in Little Pieces, courtesy of his daughter Ricky Terry Brisacque, we encounter the closest thing to a “ghost story” that he offers up therein. It springs from his and wife Peggy’s (and their offspring’s) days in the quiet community of Wingdale, in rural Duchess Country, New York. Thanks again to Brian K. Morris for retyping the text for us….

A/E

Deuel Hollow Summers particularly, when Wingdale’s “little red schoolhouse” was locked and boarded up against flying squirrels and other equally cute

John & Peggy Broome in a photo taken during the early 1940s, when the whole world was at war—and when John had fairly recently sold a prose yarn to the Summer 1942 edition of Fiction House’s Planet Stories pulp magazine, which would even slap his name on the cover. His entry was titled “The Cosmic Derelict,” and its spooky interior illo by Robert Leydenfrost is as good a mood-setter for this issue’s installment of his book as we can come up with. Cover art by Norman Saunders. Thanks to Glenn MacKay & Art Lortie. For a pic of daughter Ricky, alas, you’ll have to hie you back to A/E #171 or before, since we’ve long since printed all the photos we have of the Broomes’ Baby-Boomer daughter.

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RETROFAN #21

Our BARBARA EDEN interview will keep you forever dreaming of Jeannie! Plus: The Invaders, the BILLIE JEAN KING/BOBBY RIGGS tennis battle of the sexes, HANNABARBERA’s Saturday morning super-heroes of the Sixties, THE MONSTER TIMES fanzine, and more fun, fab features! Featuring ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW!, and MICHAEL EURY.

Interview with Bond Girl and Hammer Films actress CAROLINE MUNRO! Plus: WACKY PACKAGES, COURAGEOUS CAT AND MINUTE MOUSE, FILMATION’S GHOSTBUSTERS vs. the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, Bandai’s rare PRO WRESTLER ERASERS, behind the scenes of Sixties movies, WATERGATE at Fifty, Go-Go Dancing, a visit to the Red Skelton Museum, and more fun, fab features!

MAD’s maddest artist, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, is profiled! Plus: TV’s Route 66 and an interview with star GEORGE MAHARIS, MOE HOWARD’s final years, catching up with singer B.J. THOMAS, LONE RANGER cartoons, G.I. JOE, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet JULIE NEWMAR, the purr-fect Catwoman! Plus: ASTRO BOY, TARZAN Saturday morning cartoons, the true history of PEBBLES CEREAL, TV’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and SEARCH, the MONKEEMOBILE, SOVIET EXPO ’77, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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RETROFAN #14

RETROFAN #15

RETROFAN #16

RETROFAN #17

Exclusive interviews with Lost in Space’s MARK GODDARD and MARTA KRISTEN, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Hogan’s Heroes’ BOB CRANE, a history of WhamO’s Frisbee, Twilight Zone and other TV sci-fi anthologies, Who Created Archie Andrews?, oddities from the San Diego Zoo, lava lamps, and more with FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY!

Holy backstage pass! See rare, behind-thescenes photos of many of your favorite Sixties TV shows! Plus: an unpublished interview with Green Hornet VAN WILLIAMS, Bigfoot on Saturday morning television, TV’s Zoorama and the San Diego Zoo, The Saint, the lean years of Star Trek fandom, the WrestleFest video game, TV tie-in toys no kid would want, and more fun, fab features!

Sixties teen idol RICKY NELSON remembered by his son MATTHEW NELSON, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rural sitcom purge, EVEL KNIEVEL toys, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Saturday morning’s Super 7, The Muppet Show, behind-the-scenes photos of Sixties movies, an interview with The Sound of Music’s heartthrob-turnedbad guy DANIEL “Rolf” TRUHITTE, and more fun, fab features!

An exclusive interview with Logan’s Run star MICHAEL YORK, plus Logan’s Run novelist WILLIAM F. NOLAN and vehicle customizer DEAN JEFFRIES. Plus: the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons of 1966, H. R. Pufnstuf, Leave It to Beaver’s SUE “Miss Landers” RANDALL, WOLFMAN JACK, drive-in theaters, My Weekly Reader, DAVID MANDEL’s super collection of comic book art, and more!

Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.

RETROFAN #9

RETROFAN #10

RETROFAN #11

RETROFAN #12

NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with ’70s’ Captain America REB BROWN, and Captain Nice (and Knight Rider’s KITT) WILLIAM DANIELS with wife BONNIE BARTLETT! Plus: Coloring Books, Fall Previews for Saturday morning cartoons, The Cyclops movie, actors behind your favorite TV commercial characters, BENNY HILL, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, 8-track tapes, and more!

NOW BI-MONTHLY! Celebrating fifty years of SHAFT, interviews with FAMILY AFFAIR’s KATHY GARVER and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour’s GERI “FAKE JAN” REISCHL, ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH, rare GODZILLA merchandise, Spaghetti Westerns, Saturday morning cartoon preview specials, fake presidential candidates, Spider-Man/The Spider parallels, Stuckey’s, and more fun, fab features!

HALLOWEEN ISSUE! Interviews with DARK SHADOWS’ DAVID SELBY, and the niece of movie Frankenstein GLENN STRANGE, JULIE ANN REAMS. Plus: KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER, ROD SERLING retrospective, CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, TV’s Adventures of Superman, Superman’s pal JIMMY OLSEN, QUISP and QUAKE cereals, the DRAK PAK AND THE MONSTER SQUAD, scratch model customs, and more!

CHRIS MANN goes behind the scenes of TV’s sexy sitcom THREE’S COMPANY— and NANCY MORGAN RITTER, first wife of JOHN RITTER, shares stories about the TV funnyman. Plus: RICK GOLDSCHMIDT’s making of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, RONNIE SCHELL interview, Sheena Queen of the TV Jungle, Dr. Seuss toys, Popeye cartoons, DOCTOR WHO’s 1960s U.S. invasion, and more!

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TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:

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The Original WOLVERINE Sketches—Revisited A Brief Reunion In Art—When 2020 Met 1974 by John “The Mego Stretch Hulk” Cimino

n 1974, it occurred to Marvel editor-inchief Roy Thomas that probably something like 5% or so of Marvel’s readers lived in Canada, so it seemed well past time that there should be a Canadian super-hero in a Marvel comic. And why not base that character on a tough and fearsome Canadian animal? Roy briefly considered the name The Badger, but the connotations of the word “badger” included pestering, bothering... i.e., being annoying. While a wolverine was not only a fierce little beast that was known to attack animals far larger than itself—its name also was close to the word “wolf,” and thus a much more dramatic word than “badger.” So “Wolverine” it was! So Roy called in Signing Bonus Incredible Hulk writer Len Wein and directed him to (Left to right:) Wolverine co-creator Roy Thomas, his manager John Cimino, and sketch(es) owner Vince Olivia pose with the framed John Romita concept drawings for the hero/villain, done in advance of the character’s debut at the introduce a Wolverine “villain” end of Incredible Hulk #180 (Oct. 1974). The setting was the headquarters of the Certified Guaranty Company in in that mag’s next issue. The Sarasota, Florida, where Roy had driven so he could sign a couple of thousand vintage comics sent in by fans. character was to be Canadian… Photo by Jon Bolerjack. also short, and fearsomely bad-tempered like his bestial introductory panel is based closely on Romita’s original design namesake. While Len was sketch for the character. working on the synopsis for the story, art director John Romita was asked to design the character, which he did with little or no input And where has Jazzy Johnny’s original sketch (actually a pair from Roy or Len. Len’s plot was soon given to regular Hulk penciler of sketches) been hiding? Herb Trimpe, and “The Wolverine” made his debut in the final panel of issue #180, leading into a full-fledged tale in the following On December 16, 2020, Roy was doing a special in-house issue… thus birthing one of the greatest and most popular comics signing at the headquarters of the CGC (Certified Guaranty characters ever created. An evolution Roy is still astonished by to Company) in Sarasota, Florida, when collector Vince Olivia brought this very day. in those very pieces and asked Roy to sign them. Vince originally bought the two-piece set from John Romita himself for a mere $100 Well, astonished or not, Wolverine is a hot commodity in in the mid-‘80s; but John decided that price was a little low and, the world of collectibles. The original art for the final page of The a couple of days later, asked for an additional $200 for it. Vincent Incredible Hulk #180, which features the first published appearance gladly paid both times. Today, I would estimate the value of the of Wolverine, sold for $657,250 in 2014, through Heritage Art two-sketch set could reach anywhere from $400,000 to $1,000,000 on Auctions. It should be noted that Wolverine’s pose in that final auction.

Edited by ROY THOMAS The first and greatest “hero-zine”—ALL-NEW, focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America], MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY’S Comic Fandom Archive, and more!

EISNER AWARD Winner Best Comics-Related Periodical Go to www.twomorrows.com for an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

ALTER EGO #165

ALTER EGO #166

DIEDGITIIOTANSL BLE

AVAILA

ALTER EGO #162

ALTER EGO #163

ALTER EGO #164

WILL MURRAY presents an amazing array of possible prototypes of Batman (by artist FRANK FOSTER—in 1932!)—Wonder Woman (by Star-Spangled Kid artist HAL SHERMAN)—Tarantula (by Air Wave artist LEE HARRIS), and others! Plus a rare Hal Sherman interview—MICHAEL T. GILBERT with more on artist PETE MORISI—FCA— BILL SCHELLY—JOHN BROOME—and more! Cover homage by SHANE FOLEY!

The early days of DAVE COCKRUM— Legion of Super-Heroes artist and co-developer of the revived mid-1970s X-Men—as revealed in art-filled letters to PAUL ALLEN and rare, previously unseen illustrations provided by wife PATY COCKRUM (including 1960s-70s drawings of Edgar Rice Burroughs heroes)! Plus FCA—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on PETE MORISI—JOHN BROOME—BILL SCHELLY, and more!

Spotlight on MIKE FRIEDRICH, DC/Marvel writer who jumpstarted the independent comics movement with Star*Reach! Art by NEAL ADAMS, GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN, IRV NOVICK, JOHN BUSCEMA, JIM STARLIN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, FRANK BRUNNER, et al.! Plus: MARK CARLSONGHOST on Rural Home Comics, FCA, and Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Justice League of America cover by NEAL ADAMS!

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ALTER EGO #167

ALTER EGO #168

ALTER EGO #169

WILL MURRAY showcases original Marvel publisher (from 1939-1971) MARTIN GOODMAN, with artifacts by LEE, KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, MANEELY, BUSCEMA, EVERETT, BURGOS, GUSTAVSON, SCHOMBURG, COLAN, ADAMS, STERANKO, and many others! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt with more on PETE MORISI, JOHN BROOME, and a cover by DREW FRIEDMAN!

FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA (FCA) Special, with spotlights on KURT SCHAFFENBERGER (Captain Marvel, Ibis the Invincible, Marvel Family, Lois Lane), and ALEX ROSS on his awesome painting of the super-heroes influenced by the original Captain Marvel! Plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s “Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt” on Superman editor MORT WEISINGER, JOHN BROOME, and more! Cover by SCHAFFENBERGER!

Salute to Golden & Silver Age artist SYD SHORES as he’s remembered by daughter NANCY SHORES KARLEBACH, fellow artist ALLEN BELLMAN, DR. MICHAEL J. VASSALLO, and interviewer RICHARD ARNDT. Plus: mid-1940s “Green Turtle” artist/creator CHU HING profiled by ALEX JAY, JOHN BROOME, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster on MORT WEISINGER Part Two, and more!

Two RICHARD ARNDT interviews revealing the wartime life of Aquaman artist/ co-creator PAUL NORRIS (with a Golden/ Silver Age art gallery)—plus the story of WILLIE ITO, who endured the WWII Japanese-American relocation centers to become a Disney & Warner Bros. animator and comics artist. Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more, behind a NORRIS cover!

Spotlight on Groovy GARY FRIEDRICH— co-creator of Marvel’s Ghost Rider! ROY THOMAS on their six-decade friendship, wife JEAN FRIEDRICH and nephew ROBERT HIGGERSON on his later years, PETER NORMANTON on GF’s horror/ mystery comics, art by PLOOG, TRIMPE, ROMITA, THE SEVERINS, AYERS, et al.! FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster, and more! MIKE PLOOG cover!

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TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.

ALTER EGO #170

ALTER EGO #171

ALTER EGO #172

ALTER EGO #173

JACK KIRBY is showcased cover-to-cover behind a never-before-printed Kirby cover! WILL MURRAY on Kirby’s contributions to the creation of Iron Man—FCA on his Captain Marvel/Mr. Scarlet Fawcett work—Kirby sections by MICHAEL T. GILBERT & PETER NORMANTON—Kirby in 1960s fanzines—STAN LEE’s colorful quotes about “The King”, and ROY THOMAS on being a Kirby fan (and foil)!

PAUL GUSTAVSON—Golden Age artist of The Angel, Fantom of the Fair, Arrow, Human Bomb, Jester, Plastic Man, Alias the Spider, Quicksilver, Rusty Ryan, Midnight, and others—is remembered by son TERRY GUSTAFSON, who talks in-depth to RICHARD ARNDT. Lots of lush comic art from Centaur, Timely, and (especially) Quality! Plus—FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more!

ALFREDO ALCALA is celebrated for his dreamscape work on Savage Sword of Conan and other work for Marvel, DC, and Warren, as well as his own barbarian creation Voltar, as RICH ARNDT interviews his sons Alfred and Christian! Also: FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, PETER NORMANTON’s horror history From The Tomb, JOHN BROOME, and more!

BLACK HEROES IN U.S. COMICS! Awesome overview by BARRY PEARL, from Voodah to Black Panther and beyond! Interview with DR. WILLIAM FOSTER III (author of Looking for a Face Like Mine!), art/artifacts by BAKER, GRAHAM, McDUFFIE, COWAN, GREENE, HERRIMAN, JONES, ORMES, STELFREEZE, BARREAUX, STONER—plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS.

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(Above:) “Julius Caesar!” splash page from Mad #17 (Sep. 1954). Script by Harvey Kurtzman; art by Wallace Wood. [TM & © EC Publications, Inc.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

inside dirt at EC. I’m not aware if Gaines or Feldstein (who was also briefly mentioned in the story) had any comments on it. Still, it had to hurt. Of course, Mad had the last laugh. Fifty years after that notorious parody, Mad is still publishing (reprints, at least!), while the National Lampoon, (which folded in 1998), didn’t even make it to the 21st century. There must be a lesson there…somewhere! If any of you schmendricks find it, let me know… ‘Till next time…

What, Me Funny? “Jazzy” Johnny Romita executed this faux Mad cover for National Lampoon’s Mad parody for their Nov. 1971 issue. Nicely done, but was former Mad cover artist Kelly Freas (my favorite!) busy that month? [© National Lampoon, Inc., or successors in interest.]

(Left:) Harvey Kurtzman, Bill Gaines, and even Wally Wood appear in the “Citizen Gaines” parody of Mad from National Lampoon #20 (Nov. 1971). Script by John Boni; art by Ernie Colón. [© National Lampoon, Inc., or successors in interest.]

by Peter Normanton

he hangman’s noose, the axeman’s block, Madame Guillotine, Old Smokey: their very mention is likely to arouse a whole host of emotions, every once in a while bordering on the extreme. Even supposing our liberal views, when so impassioned, how long would it be before we too threw the switch?

Fear not, for we are not here to debate the morality of the death sentence in modern-day society; rather, the next few pages will tread that dark corridor to uncover the odious glee relished by the horror comics of 70 years past in their sentencing of the condemned to a most unceremonious demise, invariably graphic in the finality of its display. In researching this piece, I was surprised to learn the United States remains the only country listed amongst the Western democracies to advocate the use of capital punishment in certain of its states, the governing institutions across western Europe having taken measures to abolish the practice towards the end of the last century. However, during the early 1950s, such harrowing decrees were commonplace amongst each and every one of these nations, making them fair game for the unscrupulous publishers of those disreputable horror comics. Let’s go back a few years further, for execution scenes were not the sole reserve of the crime and horror comics proliferating the newsstands of the late 1940s and early ’50s. These torturous spectacles were occasionally evidenced during the celebrated Golden Age of Comics. It’s hard to deny the notoriety of MLJ’s Hangman Comics, a title which left nothing to the imagination. From the covers you will see accompanying this piece, Hangman Comics was explicit in its exploitation of this form of punishment, as was its predecessor Special Comics.

From The Tomb

Timely were known to dabble with the execution-styled motif, with the cover to Marvel Mystery Comics #55 immediately springing to mind. When citing Timely Comics, we should remember they had Alex Schomburg at their behest, an artist whose bizarre sense of design could conceive the most elaborate ways of torment, before swiftly disposing of those who had fallen into his path. The potency in these images would be the precursor to the excess that followed, as this war-torn decade rolled into the four-coloured horrors of the next. Crime made a quite significant mark on the world of comicbook publishing during the 1940s, led by Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay. This title briefly flirted with electrocution covers not long after the war, as did Magazine Enterprises’ Manhunt and Prize’s Justice Traps the Guilty. Readers would have to wait until the autumn of 1953 for Justice Traps the Guilty #57 to showcase a true rarity—the suffocating terror of the gas chamber. In reality, such covers were few and far between. These comics were more inclined towards the violence dispensed by the genre’s ruthless scions of criminality. However, it wasn’t unusual for the denouements within to contain an unsettling reminder as to the day when judgment was finally pronounced. Such scenes were invariably short-lived, unlike those now spilling forth from the dreaded horror comic. Of all these terrifying titles, it was those published by EC Comics, a company which from humble origins had prospered to become one of the most impressive enterprises of the day, while simultaneously earning themselves a reputation for shameless audacity that set the benchmark. Their staging of these deathly punishments was macabre, pushing the boundaries of acceptability ever further, turning this also-ran outfit of the late 1940s into the one every other publisher took care to maintain a watchful eye for. As early as the summer of 1951, Crime SuspenStories #6 flabbergasted its newfound audience with Johnny Craig’s depiction of a hanged man, recently returned from the dead with but one thing in mind, the unassailable compulsion to seek out retribution. The attendant story “Jury Duty,” introduced by the Old Witch and ably abetted by her accomplice at the drawing board, one Ghastly Graham Ingels, was a characteristically grisly affair, its hideous narrative redolent of the Haunt of Fear. The Old Witch disclosed the tale of Peter Kardoff, a man who, having survived the gallows, forthwith sought to

Getting It In The Neck Whether it was death by hanging, the guillotine, or the dreaded electric chair, comicbook publishers couldn’t resist snuffing out a life or three, as evidenced by these covers: Timely’s Marvel Mystery Comics #55 (May 1944; art by Alex Schomburg)… Et-Es-Go’s Suspense Comics #12 (Sept. ’46; art by L.B. Cole)… EC’s Crime SuspenStories #6 (Aug.-Sept. ’51; art by Johnny Craig). No less grisly were stories in the latter issue by writers Bill Gaines & Al Feldstein & artist Graham Ingels, or in Tales from the Crypt #27 (Dec. ’51-Jan. ’52; script & art by the same team) and “The Hangman” in MLJ’s Special Comics #1-and-only, produced for Winter 1941, with art by Harry Lucey; writer unknown. [MMC cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; EC covers & interiors TM & © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.; Special Comics TM & © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

Execution: Pre-Code Style

exact his revenge on those who had previously wronged him. Johnny Craig’s fascination with the hangman’s noose would see him return just a few years later to create the infamous head shot for Crime SuspenStories #20, a close-up of which appears at the introduction to this piece. Strangely, this time there was no obvious supporting story, an omission which continues to rankle, but the cover was designed to shock, and shock it most certainly did, making it one of the most desirable issues in comicbook history. As the shock waves diminished, Craig produced another hanging image for the cover to Vault of Horror #37 (see p. 72); but this was not just any death scene. His portrait is remembered for its stark exposition, the like of which has never since been repeated. Inasmuch as it was not strictly an execution, this remains a deeply haunting image. The air permeating this scene is unduly morose, imparting a sense of a man forsaken, left alone to die. The depth abounding in this illustration is distanced from the sensationalism attributed to so many of the covers of the period. Unfortunately for Johnny, the anti-comicbook crusade didn’t see it this way; his perturbing creativity was later singled out in the Senate Subcommittee Hearings on Juvenile Delinquency. Al Williamson and Angelo Torres would assume a more subdued approach when they guested as the art team for “Take Care,” the tale ushered in by John’s distressing cover. Despite their delineation of the death scene being mellow by comparison to the cover, it was nonetheless sinister, enhancing what was an atmospherically paced narration. That same issue gave those with a hankering for the execution-styled story one

Let Me Count The Ways… (From top right of page:) Similarly, the covers of MLJ’s Hangman Comics #2 (Spring 1942; art by Harry Lucey) & #8 (Fall ’43; art by Bob Fujitani) and Special Comics #1 (Lucey)… Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay #42 & 47 (Nov. 45 & Sept. ’46; art by Charles Biro)… and Timely’s All-True Crime Cases #27 (April ’48; penciler unknown, inks by Vince Alascia) all revelled in the terror faced by those forced to face their unholy destiny. [Covers TM & © respectively by Archie Comic Publications, Inc., the respective copyright holders, & Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Alter Ego #174