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AL SPECI SUE! IS Featuring:

ADAMS INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY

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MAY 2023 NO. 181

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Vol. 3, No. 181 May 2023 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck Mark Lewis (Cover Coordinator)

Comic Crypt Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

William J. Dowlding David Baldy

Contents In Memoriam: Neal Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Stephan A. Friedt’s tribute to “an icon in illustration & creators’ rights.”

Cover Artist

Writer/Editorial/Article: Neal Adams & Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Cover Colorist

“I Listened To Stories” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Roy Thomas writes about his half-century pro & personal relationship with the artist.

Neal Adams Tom Ziuko

Adams biographer James Rosen on his colorful subject’s childhood and origins.

With Special Thanks to: Alfredo Alcala, Jr. Heidi Amash Pedro Angosto Richard J. Arndt Bob Bailey Alberto Becattini Al Bigley Jackson Bostwick Bronze Age of Blogs (website) Gary F. Brown Bernie Bubnis Mike Burkey Nick Caputo Howard Chaykin Bill Crawford Shane Foley Joe Frank Stephan A. Friedt Benito Gallego Janet Gilbert Tony Gleeson Grand, Alex Grand Comics Database (website) Walt Grogan George Hagenauer Heritage Art Auctions Robert Higgerson Sharon Karibian

Jim Kealy Todd Klein Eric Jansen Zorikh Lequidre Victor Lim Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Glenn McKay Patrick Moreau Mark Muller Ron Murphy Mears Museum NewText (website) Barry Pearl Robert Policastro Reddit (website) James Rosen Alex Ross Bob Rozakis Joe Rubinstein Randy Sargent Bill Sienkiewicz Anthony Snyder Bryan Stroud Dann Thomas Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999 (website) Marv Wolfman Mike Zeck

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Neal Adams

“He Is A Giant—And No Walk In The Park— But Yes, A Living Legend” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Howard Chaykin’s classic short interview with—well, you know!

“Carmine Sent Me” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Bryan Stroud speaks with Neal about his long career as a gadfly—and a great talent.

Neal Adams Talks About “A View From Without.....” . . . . . . 54 Richard J. Arndt converses with the writer/artist about his powerful tale of the Vietnam War

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Michael T. Gilbert’s 2023 Comic Art Portfolio, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Batman, Doc Stearn, and pretty much everything in between.

re: [correspondence, comments, & criticisms] . . . . . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #240 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Some FCA regulars pay homage to Neal Adams—the man and the myth..

On Our Cover: For some reason, DC Comics decided not to go with Neal Adams’ doublepsychiatrist’s-couch cover for what publisher John Morrow (who suggested it for this mag’s cover) believes was The Brave and the Bold #85 (Aug.-Sept. 1969), in which the artist introduced Green Arrow’s new, more Robin-Hoody threads. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time it’s ever been printed in color, with tints by Tom Ziuko! [TM & © DC Comics.] Above: Neal Adams may have drawn considerably fewer pages for Marvel than he did for DC back in the day—but, all the same, every time he touched pencil or pen or brush to a character of either, he made the artists, editors, and writers at both companies sit up and take notice. Like with this (commissioned?) set-piece of Thor confronting the Hulk. Thanks to dealer Anthony Snyder, who can be dealt with at anthony@anthonysnyder.com. [Both heroes TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM issue 181, May 2023 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid 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: $73 US, $111 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.

A CELEBRATION OF

– PART ONE

in memoriam

NEAL ADAMS

“An Icon In Illustration & Creators’ Rights”

by Stephan A. Friedt e lost a real hero in comics and advertising with the death of Neal Adams on April 28, 2022.

Neal was a staunch advocate of creators’ rights, helping in 1975 to secure pensions and recognition for Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster after decades of neglect concerning their creation of the comicbook/TV/movie blockhouse, Superman. Neal was born on Governors Island in New York, June 15, 1948. Growing up as an “Army brat,” he spent his childhood on military bases from Brooklyn to Germany. Returning to New York, he graduated in 1959 from the School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan. His first comics work was drawing “Archie” gags and fillers, followed by providing backgrounds for Howard Nostrand’s Bat Masterson newspaper strip. He soon went to work for the Johnstone and Cushing art service.

Thanks to his comic strip-like work there, Jerry Caplin invited Neal to draw a new newspaper strip, Ben Casey, in 1962. For the next 3½ years, Neal would provide art (and occasionally write) for it, later also ghosting the strips Peter Scratch and The Heart of Juliet Jones. In 1967, Neal was offered a new comic strip, Tales of the Green Beret, but suggested they approach Joe Kubert instead. When Kubert took that job, that left an artistic hole in DC’s war comics, and Neal saw his chance to get his foot in the door there. That led to runs on the Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope comics… and soon, work on super-heroes, first on covers, then illustrating The Brave and the Bold, where we saw his first rendition of Batman. His take on “Deadman” from 1967-69 brought him accolades and awards.

Neal Adams A portrait by fellow comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz, used by permission. With special thanks to former Adams studio associate Tony Gleeson, and to Art Lortie. At left is the final story page from The Spectre #4 (May-June 1968); script & art by Adams. Thanks to Bob Rozakis. [© 2023 Bill Sienkiewicz & DC Comics, respectively.]

Neal would also freelance at Marvel from 1969 through the mid-1970s (especially on X-Men and Avengers, with writer Roy Thomas), even while expanding his fanbase at DC on Batman, in whose pages he would co-create such characters as Man-Bat (with Frank Robbins) and Ra’s al Ghul (with Denny O’Neil). He and O’Neil would make waves with their revamp and controversial themes on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. He would take on creators’ rights with the formation of the Comics Creators Guild in 1978. That same decade, his Tarzan covers would appear on Ballantine paperbacks. From 1984-1994 his company Continuity Associates, formed with fellow artist Dick Giordano, would eventually add Continuity Comics to his list of accomplishments. Neal kept his hand in things relating to comics into the 21st century, providing occasional material for DC or Marvel, working with the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and attending conventions with his wife Marilyn and an entourage of artists that often included their son Josh. Neal will always be with us, thanks to his enormous body of work.

A CELEBRATION OF

– PART TWO

writer/editorial/article

NEAL ADAMS & Me A Personal Remembrance by Roy Thomas

A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: No, you’re not imagining things! I (Roy) elected to relinquish the lead spot this issue to Stephan Friedt’s obituary/tribute re the late great Neal Adams—since it needed to be read before interviews with that supremely talented artist. Also, for the second issue in a row, I’ve utilized (and greatly expanded) my “writer/editorial” space into an article. That’s because Neal Adams was my erstwhile colleague, my sometime friend, and my more-than-occasional sparring partner, and I wanted to set down my personal take on that relationship. My view certainly isn’t all sweetness and light—any more than his would’ve been concerning me, had he deigned to write one—but it’s as honest and complete as I can make it, at least in the space I’ve allotted to myself….

n the more than fifty years we knew each other, Neal Adams and I agreed about many things—and we probably disagreed concerning at least an equal number. met.

Starting with… when we

of comics professionals and fans held at various people’s apartments in Manhattan. I’m fairly sure it was at the domicile of fan (and future Charlton editor) Bill Pearson, no later than summer of ’67, since I don’t think I had yet seen Neal’s classic “Deadman”… and I myself had been hosting those gatherings until shortly before. I was already vaguely aware of his work, having seen at least one war story he’d drawn for DC. While I recall little of our exchange that night, I’m sure I expressed admiration for his art (I’d been impressed by his draftsmanship, mostly), and it’s inconceivable that I didn’t say I’d love to see him drawing for Marvel sometime.

This Beachhead Marvel! Writer/associate editor Roy Thomas (on left) and artist Neal Adams (on right) in photos taken at the 1971 New York Comic Art Convention—apparently contemplating the splash page of The Avengers #93 (Nov. 1971). Far as we know, the two weren’t participating in the same panel when these pics were snapped; but that July 4th Manhattan weekend took place not long after they’d teamed up to co-produce that epochal issue, which was destined to lead to considerable animosity (intermingled, at least, with continued respect) between them. The inking of this best-remembered issue of the fabled “Kree-Skrull War” is by titanic Tom Palmer. Special thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Neal stated, at least once, that he’d never even heard of me before he waltzed into Stan Lee’s office around the turn of 1968-69 and waltzed back out with the assignment to pencil The X-Men. I’ve little doubt he believed that whenever he said it, but it’s not accurate. Some time earlier, the two of us had introduced ourselves and carried on a conversation at one of the monthly get-togethers

Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be all that surprising if Neal didn’t recall that evening’s encounter, even though he was a cultivator of editors and by then I was Marvel’s associate editor, second only to Stan.

Be that as it may: On the day Neal became X-Men penciler, Stan informed him I was the comic’s writer, and I was called in to meet him… again. If Stan had really told him before I entered, as Neal says on p. 44, that X-Men was due to be canceled “in two issues,” he was making no more than an educated guess, since in late 1968 it was still very much publisher Martin Goodman who decided such live-or-die matters, not Stan as editor. Stan would’ve kept X-Men going till MG pulled the plug. No Marvel title in that era was ever scheduled in advance to be canceled “in two issues,” as Neal says Stan told him. After Neal and I left Stan’s office together, I quickly

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Art by Neal Adams & Tom Palmer. Captain America TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Batman hurls himself through the air in a dynamic panel from Detective Comics #395 (Jan. 1970). Script by Dennis O’Neil; art by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]

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A CELEBRATION OF

– PART FOUR

“He Is A Giant— And No Walk In The Park— But Yes, A Living Legend” HOWARD CHAYKIN Interviews NEAL ADAMS [NOTE: This interview, which was conducted in August 2020, originally appeared on the NeoText website and is © Howard Chaykin.]

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: I first became aware of Neal’s work in the pages of Scholastic and Boy’s Life, in his work shilling for GE. I had no idea who he was—I was just a kid—and the work made little or no impression on me.

later. But the comicbook work that began to flow from Adams flabbergasted me, just as, at the same time, the small cadre of comics enthusiasts who were my friends reacted with dismay to this material—with what can only be called the shock of the new.

I first met him in the 1960s, when DC Comics was still conducting tours of the office. He was slim, and good-looking, and a good ten to twenty years the junior of everybody else in the office. This was before I’d seen what would become his comicbook output—and before I’d seen and studied the brilliant Ben Casey newspaper strip.

His work was so radical a departure from what we were used to— the Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Joe Kubert stuff—that it demanded an entirely new and different way of thinking about comics. It’s been mostly forgotten over these many years, but those early jobs were often met with hostility from fans who, even then, were constricted by a conservative shortsighted constipation in their preferences.

Like most kids, I had no eyes, so that brilliance I mention above didn’t impress me until much

What struck us was the alarming(!) and eccentric approach

Neal Adams & Howard Chaykin Two singular comicbook artists—and a color commission by Adams of his early signature character Deadman. Courtesy of Heritage Art Auctions. [Deadman TM & © DC Comics.]

A CELEBRATION OF

– PART FIVE

“Carmine Sent Me” NEAL ADAMS On Being A Gadfly— And A Great Comics Artist

Interview Conducted by Bryan Stroud

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: My lifelong best friend had begun The Silver Lantern, a website dedicated to documenting the Silver Age of DC Comics that we’d loved so much as boys… and, thanks to some lucky breaks and a little boldness on my part, I started reaching out to creators from that period to interview. This began in January of 2007 with a call to letterer Gaspar Saladino. I thought I’d hit the pinnacle with interview #4, with Carmine Infantino, in May of that year. During the conversation he asked, “Have you talked to Neal?” “Well, no.” “Tell him I sent you.” Who was I to argue with Carmine Infantino? So I sent an e-mail to Neal Adams through his webpage, which I titled “Carmine Sent Me.” Neal responded, agreed to the interview, and it took place on May 28, 2007, as only the fourth one I’d conducted over the phone. I was on my way. BRYAN STROUD: When did you start at DC, exactly? NEAL ADAMS: Golly. There must be some historians around who can tell you that. I don’t know. It was in the ’60s. I’m sure some geek around will know exactly when that was, probably the month and the day. [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Wikipedia tells us it was 1967: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Neal_Adams.] BS: Oh, no doubt. Carmine was telling me that he knew more than one person who worshipped the ground you walked on.

Neal & Friends Neal Adams contemplates his cover for Batman #251 (Sept. 1973). Although others from Bob Kane through Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Sheldon Moldoff had made significant contributions to the Caped Crusader’s artistic look over the preceding three decades, it was Neal who restored to the masked hero the visual aspect of the “Darknight Detective”—on his way to becoming the grim “Dark Knight” of the 1980s and beyond. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]

ADAMS: That’s ’cause I walk in very special places. I don’t walk along those cold cracks. [chuckles] BS: He also told me… this one kind of surprised me… he said he first discovered you in the bullpen working on Jerry Lewis [comics], of all things. Is that true? ADAMS: No. I was first introduced to Carmine… Carmine was, of course, as with many comicbook artists, a bit of a hero of mine, because when the s**t hit the fan in the country when the book

Seduction of the Innocent came out [in 1954]… BS: Ah, yes, good old Doc Wertham… ADAMS: Many, many artists had to desert the field, or were hidden among the cracks and crevices in various places, like Al Williamson was doing, I guess, ghosting for certain comic strip artists, and I guess he would do a comicbook every now and then, and Alex Toth went to California to do animation, and all these guys really disappeared, and the few guys that were left were the guys at DC Comics. There was Joe Kubert, there was Russ Heath, there was Carmine, there was Gil Kane—Eli Katz was his original name.

And Carmine had a very unique style. He was then doing The Flash, and his style kind of got covered up, but I was a fan of his original style when he was doing “Pow-Wow Smith” and some of those other things, so as a fan, you know, to meet Carmine… and Carmine was actually working on staff… not really staff, he had a desk in with the romance editor… what’s his name? Miller. Jack Miller. Jack Miller and his girl assistant, and he was in there when I first came to DC Comics. I came to DC to try to get work with Robert Kanigher. The “much-beloved” A Jerry-mandered Cover Robert Kanigher.

Neal got a chance to draw the madcap comedian plenty of times on the cover of The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #104 (Jan.Feb. 1968). Courtesy of the GCD. (P.S.: Carmine Infantino you’ll see in a little bit!) [TM & © DC Comics.]

BS: Sometimes referred to as “The Dragon”? ADAMS: Who was a beast in human disguise. And I got to work with Bob, partially because he had lost Joe Kubert because I had recommended Joe to do

“Carmine Sent Me”

“Goddess From The Sea” a comic strip called The Green Beret Splash page drawn by Neal Adams for that I had been asked to do, and the Warren Publishing’s Vampirella #1 (Sept. comic strip people had no idea who 1969). Script by Don Glut. Thanks to Jim the good comicbook artists were, Kealy. [TM & © New Comic Company.] and when I realized that I really couldn’t do the strip… I was doing Ben Casey and I couldn’t handle two strips… I took the people from the syndicate and the writer down the path of possibly recognizing that there was such a thing as comicbooks, and rather than try to find somebody in the Ozarks, perhaps they ought to go to some of the best artists that were left in comicbooks, among whom was Joe Kubert, who was the perfect guy for the strip. BS: Oh, sure. All his war-comic experience. ADAMS: Yeah. So, I recommended him for The Green Beret to Elliot Caplin, the writer of the strip. [NOTE: Neal misspoke. The writer was apparently Jerry Caplin, the brother of Elliot—and of Al Capp (nee Caplin).] They interviewed him, and Joe worked on The Green Beret for the longest time; and Bob Kanigher, coincidentally, was a little short on artists. I had ended my syndicated strip, which was based on the Ben Casey TV series, and things were just a little bit slow for me. I had been doing some stuff for Jim Warren, and I realized I was putting way too much effort into that and it wasn’t worth it to me, and I thought maybe I’d give it a crack at DC Comics, in spite of the fact that, when I was a teenager and I’d left school, they wouldn’t even let me in the door. It was a very bad time then. An old fella came out to meet me, a guy named Bill Perry, and I showed him my samples, just to try to meet an editor, and he told me he couldn’t even bring me inside. It didn’t matter if my stuff was good, it didn’t matter anything. They weren’t interested.

BS: That’s surprising.

How Green Was My Beret Joe Kubert’s 12-3-67 Sunday strip for the feature whose actual title was Tales of the Green Beret. Script by Jerry Caplin, though the official writer was book author Robin Moore. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

ADAMS: No, not at all. For those times it was very typical. Not enough work to go around, The Caplin Brothers and they were (Left to right:) Elliot, Jerry, & Al Caplin, from feeding the a 1940 issue of Newsweek magazine. They’re mouths that examining a toy image of a Shmoo, the were faithful to creation of Al (as “Al Capp”) in his ultrathem, and they popular comic strip Li’l Abner. Thanks to Art just weren’t Lortie. interested. Nobody really got in easily. Once in a while some guys broke through, like John Severin did a little work for a while, but it didn’t seem like that lasted and I guess he found something else in Crazy [sic—Neal clearly meant Cracked] magazine. But when I went there as a teenager, this very nice old guy just told me I’m wasting my time. As far as they Joe Kubert were concerned, any minute the comicbook business would end.

A CELEBRATION OF

– PART SIX

NEAL ADAMS Talks About “A View From Without.....” A Story Of The Vietnam War Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: In 1971 Neal Adams produced and published one of the hardest-hitting Vietnam War stories to appear in the genre. Entitled “A View from Without…..,” it debuted in an independent black-&white magazine called Phase.

This 2015 interview, which features Adams talking about that story, ended up considerably different from what I had initially imagined. I had prepared a list of questions dealing with his obvious attempt to use this tale as a showcase for various art approaches to telling a comic story—since nearly every panel featured a different artistic approach or technique: straight pen & ink; pencils only; shaded charcoal; even a panel on every page in fumetti style, starring Adams himself as an alien narrator. I particularly wanted to discuss a tribute panel to Joe Kubert that appeared in the story, featuring an African-American soldier standing over an American grave, with the slain soldier’s rifle and helmet as a grave marker—a very familiar Kubert image for those who read his DC war tales. However, Adams was completely uninterested in discussing any of that. He wanted to talk about Vietnam, his feelings and perceptions about the war, and the way it was ultimately published—in an early independent/ground-level (and vastly overpriced for the day) magazine. It was the only war story in the magazine, which featured largely fantasy, science-fiction, and underground-type stories intended for adults. Adams’ desire to point the interview that way was, in my own opinion, entirely correct. RICHARD ARNDT: You published “A View from Without…..” in 1971, but you’ve mentioned elsewhere that you wrote and drew it some years earlier than that. NEAL ADAMS: Yes, I did. RA: Was there a particular magazine or project you were doing it for?

“View” Point The wordless “Prologue” page of “A View from Without…..” Written & illustrated by Neal Adams. Thanks to Glenn McKay & Art Lortie. [© Estate of Neal Adams.]

Neal Adams Talks About “A View From Without.....”

and it got in the palm of your hand it was best for you to let it eat through the hand and fall out the other side rather than try to get it off, because it would melt anything it touched. It was pretty firm in my mind that I was not going to do this comic strip, so I recommended Joe Kubert as the artist for the strip. Still, there were things that I was learning about Vietnam, which was essentially a civil war. The Vietnamese civilian population was embroiled in a conflict between opposing Vietnamese soldiers. Whichever side the civilians were on, they were pretty much grist for the mill. So, having heard these stories, I decided to draw a story dealing with that kind of event. A little story, with one person. So I did, and I was thinking of sending it off for the possibility of publication. But this was some time before things like the My Lai massacre had been revealed to the American public. [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: The My Lai massacre occurred in the Our Army At War—Vietnam Edition Vietnamese village of My Lai on March 16, One of the things interviewer Richard Arndt had wanted to discuss with Adams was this Joe Kubert 1968, committed by American troops, who homage panel from the fifth page of the story—but the artist (who had himself photographed in “alien” killed 504 civilians, including 182 women—17 makeup to narrate the yarn) had other ideas. Thanks to Art Lortie. [© Estate of Neal Adams.] of whom were pregnant—173 children, and 53 infants. The news of the massacre was covered ADAMS: I was contacted, in 1965 or so, by the brother of writer up and didn’t become public knowledge in the States until November Jerry Caplin, who wrote the Ben Casey comic strip I was drawing 1969.] Certain other atrocities that had been taking place were not at the time. Jerry was a brother of Al Capp, the creator of Li’l common knowledge. Abner. But this brother was Jerry’s other brother—Elliot Caplin [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: the original family name]—who was At that time, to put out that particular story without the more of a professional writer and was doing something like four general public having that knowledge, I thought, would perhaps different comic strips at the time. Elliot had the opportunity to be a danger, not only to myself, but to my family. My family was do the Tales of the Green Beret comic strip, which was based on the my biggest concern. I thought, “I’ve drawn it. It’s pretty good, but I best-selling book by Robin Moore. In fact, Moore’s name was on don’t want to do this.” I didn’t want to get hit by it. the strip, but Caplin actually wrote it. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: About a year or two later, some of that stuff started coming Whichever Caplin brother Neal met with, comic strip expert Alberto out, becoming Becattini informs us it was Jerry Caplin who actually scripted the early general Green Beret strip.] knowledge. I really couldn’t do two strips at once, but Elliot arranged Villagers were that I have lunch with Robin Moore and I did. I guess because being killed. Some I was “gung ho,” [laughs] he talked a lot about things that were were castrated, etc. happening in Vietnam. Some of them, the things he described as It was only after going on, were from my point of view quite disturbing. I was also that that I had the in touch with certain newspaper folk because I was a syndicated balls to see about strip artist, so I had access to certain things that I might not getting the story otherwise have access to. Things that many people at the time may in print. It was not have been aware of. because the truth of those things I As I said, the lunch was very disturbing, and I think that was writing and it went on for nearly three hours. I found Robin Moore to be drawing in that thoroughly reprehensible. He seemed to glory in the horror that particular story was going on in Vietnam. It was one thing to have a war. My dad were finally being was in the Army. He fought in World War II. When I was a kid I reported for the heard a lot of stories about war. There was the dark side to it, you general American know, and a noble side. The dark side was pretty rough. public. I cursed myself for being It was the “dark side” that Robin Moore focused on. The the coward that I idea of wearing a string of people’s ears around your neck was Robin Moore was for not putting delightful to him. I also heard things throughout during that Author of the memoir/history Tales of the out the story earlier. conversation with Moore that made me aware of some of the things Green Beret, and generator (and official Maybe I might have that were going on in that war—even as early as 1965. Things like writer) of the comic strip inspired by the book. saved some lives. You the use of napalm—and white phosphorus, which if you handled it

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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!

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. Also, ROY THOMAS reviews the new anti-STAN LEE bio! Plus—FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more!

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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.

FCA [FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA] issue—spearheaded by feisty and informative articles by Captain Marvel co-creator C.C. BECK—plus a fabulous feature on vintage cards created in Spain and starring The Marvel Family! In addition: DR. WILLIAM FOSTER III interview (conclusion)—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on the lost art of comicbook greats—the haunting of JOHN BROOME—and more! BECK cover!

Spotlighting the artists of ROY THOMAS’ 1980s DC series ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with artists ARVELL JONES, RICHARD HOWELL, and JERRY ORDWAY, conducted by RICHARD ARNDT! Plus, the Squadron’s FINAL SECRETS, including previously unpublished art, & covers for issues that never existed! With FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and a wraparound cover by ARVELL JONES!

The Golden Age comics of major pulp magazine publisher STREET & SMITH (THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, RED DRAGON, SUPERSNIPE) examined in loving detail by MARK CARLSON-GHOST! Art by BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, and others, ANTHONY TOLLIN on “The Shadow/Batman Connection”, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, PETER NORMANTON, and more!

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Celebration of veteran artist DON PERLIN, artist of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, THE DEFENDERS, GHOST RIDER, MOON KNIGHT, 1950s horror, and just about every other adventure genre under the fourcolor sun! Plus Golden Age artist MARCIA SNYDER—Marvel’s early variant covers— Marvelmania club and fanzine—FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Cracked Mazagine, & more!

Golden Age great EMIL GERSHWIN, artist of Starman, Spy Smasher, and ACG horror—in a super-length special MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT by MICHAEL T. GILBERT—plus a Gershwin showcase in PETER NORMANTON’s From The Tomb— even a few tidbits about relatives GEORGE and IRA GERSHWIN to top it off! Also FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), and other surprise features!

Celebrating the 61st Anniversary of FANTASTIC FOUR #1—’cause we kinda blew right past its 60th—plus a sagacious salute to STAN LEE’s 100th birthday, with never-before-seen highlights—and to FF #1 and #2 inker GEORGE KLEIN! Spotlight on Sub-Mariner in the Bowery in FF #4—plus sensational secrets behind FF #1 and #3! Also: FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, a JACK KIRBY cover, and more!

THE YOUNG ALL-STARS—the late-1980s successor to ALL-STAR SQUADRON! Interviews with first artist BRIAN MURRAY and last artist LOU MANNA—surprising insights by writer/co-creator ROY THOMAS—plus a panorama of never-seen Young All-Stars artwork! All-new cover by BRIAN MURRAY! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and beyond!

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A CELEBRATION OF

– PART SEVEN

FCA’s Farewell To NEAL ADAMS

Fans Of The Original Captain Marvel Pay Homage To The Artist’s SHAZAM! Art

FCA

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: We celebrate artist Neal Adams with tributes from four past and present FCA contributors: Zorikh Lequidre, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, who has worked for the Big Apple Comic Con since 2003 and is currently writing Captain Marvel Culture, a definitive history of all the characters with the Captain Marvel moniker… Mark Lewis, 20-year veteran animator for numerous Hollywood studios, as well as being FCA’s cover coordinator … Eric Jansen, a writer/artist who has produced Christian tracts distributed all over the world, including half a million copies of his Paraman mini-comic … and finally, Alex Ross, master comics painter who powerfully rendered Captain Marvel in DC Comics’ Kingdom Come, Justice, and Shazam: Power of Hope.

I myself was one of many who were enthralled with Neal’s superlative renditions of Captain Marvel for DC Comics products and licensees in the 1970s. His clear understanding of the character’s true essence shone forth in those illustrations that skillfully assimilated Cap back into the modern world. If only Neal had been given the opportunity to draw a full Captain Marvel story! Alas, such an addition to his long list of awe-inspiring achievements can now exist only in our mind’s eye. —P.C. Hamerlinck

ZORIKH LEQUIDRE:

Can You Spell “Iconic”? As you’ll see in this edition of FCA, fans—and pros—are still talking about this perfect image of Captain Marvel and Billy Batson that Neal Adams drew for the 1976 Super DC Calendar. Inks by Dick Giordano. [Billy Batson & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

I got to see Neal Adams regularly, and we became friendly acquaintances through my work with the Big Apple Comic Con over the years. I’ve been a fan of Neal’s since the 1978 release of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali [All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-56].

Zorikh Lequidre

In my research on the many Captain Marvels, I’ve sought out anyone who has done any work on any CM, and that included Neal. For Marvel Comics he drew “Kree-Skrull War” stories in The Avengers that featured Captain Mar-Vell …and he also did illustrations for DC that included the original Captain Marvel. He said that the “real” Captain Marvel was “the Big Red Cheese” and that he didn’t really count “the other guy.” And, just

as he fought for the rights of creators and artists to be adequately compensated and appropriately credited for their work, he had strong opinions about the whole business regarding Marvel’s hold on the Captain Marvel name. At the Big Apple Comic Con in 2008, he gave me just over a minute of priceless video footage. His statement, for the record, in its entirety, was as fine a piece of direct talk as there ever could be: “For anyone who is interested in my opinion, and I don’t feel it’s required that you be interested in my opinion, I think it would be very, very nice for Marvel Comics to encourage the idea within the company that Captain Marvel should be known as the character that is essentially owned by DC Comics now, should be called Captain Marvel on the cover of the comicbook. For the sake of copyright protection, for the sake of ego, for the sake of competition, Marvel Comics has, in effect, made it impossible to call Captain Marvel ‘Captain Marvel.’ We are a family business. We are a mom-and-pop business. That’s a stupid attitude to take. I don’t care whose