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TITANIC

TOM PALMER ON EMBELLISHING THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

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No. 184 Nov. 2023

ONE OF COMICS’ ALL-TIME GREATEST INKERS TELLS

ALEX GRAND & JIM THOMPSON ALL ABOUT WORKING WITH:

NEAL ADAMS GENE COLAN JOHN BUSCEMA WALLY WOOD DAN ADKINS JIM STERANKO HOWARD CHAYKIN JACK KAMEN DON HECK

BONUS!

JAMES ROSEN INTERVIEWS

PALMER ABOUT ADAMS!

82658 00516

& MANY MORE!

Characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Vol. 3, No. 184 Nov. 2023 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor

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Cover Artist & Colorist Tom Palmer

With Special Thanks to:

Heidi Amash Ger Apeldoorn Bob Bailey Charlie Boatner Bernie Bubnis Christopher Callaway Aaron Caplan Shaun Clancy Comicartfans.com (website) Comic Vine (website) ComicWiki (website) John Cimino Chet Cox Shane Foley Joe Frank Stephan A. Friedt Janet Gilbert Alex Grand Grand Comics Database (website)

Michael Grabois John Joshua Sharon Karibian James Kealy Johnny Blaze Leavitt Art Lortie Robert Menzies Patrick Moreau Mike Mukulovsky Mark Muller Barry Pearl Ralph Reese James Rosen Randy Sargent John Selegue Stephen Smith Bob Spizzo J. David Spurlock Bryan Stroud Dann Thomas Jim Thompson Hamp Thornton

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Tom Palmer, Lily Renee, Joe Giella, & Steve Skeates

Contents Writer/Editorial: Star-Crossed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The “Palmer” Raids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Tom Palmer talks to Alex Grand & Jim Thompson about inking—and changing— comics!

Tom Palmer & Neal Adams At Marvel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Excerpts from James Rosen’s interview with Palmer about a legendary art team.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: “My Life With Wood!” (Part 2) . 53 Ralph Reese shares more with Michael T. Gilbert about his work with the great Wally Wood.

Tributes To Joe Giella, Steve Skeates, & Lily Renee . . . . . . . 59 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 63 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #243 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 P.C. Hamerlinck & Shaun Clancy present the Whiz Bang life of Capt. Billy Fawcett, Part II.

On Our Cover: This breathtaking Tom Palmer painting appeared on the cover of The Avengers #402 (Sept. 1996), “The End of the Line”—which it was, since that was the final issue of the first volume of the series, until issue #500 came out, cover-dated Sept. 2004 and picking up the original numbering. Courtesy of Alex Grand & Jim Thompson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Above: Magneto (though not yet ID’d in the comic itself) and his mutant underling Amphibius think The Angel is dead. Hasn’t either of them ever read a comicbook before? Script by Roy Thomas; pencils by Neal Adams; inks by Tom Palmer—from The X-Men #62 (Nov. 1969). Thanks to Sharon Karibian. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM issue 184, November 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.

Article Title writer/editorial

Star-Crossed

n some ways,Tom Palmer and I had a star-crossed relationship.

When he was suggested as penciler of Doctor Strange #171 in 1968, I was a bit underwhelmed with him as the replacement for Dan Adkins, and even Adkins’ sticking around to ink that issue mollified me only a little. With #172, Stan Lee decided Gene Colan should become Doctor Strange penciler, which pleased me no end—but I was less sanguine on learning this guy Palmer would stick around to ink the comic. “Has anyone ever seen any of his inking?” I asked Stan. I think the answer came back negative, but I guess the fact that he’d worked briefly in Wally Wood’s studio predisposed them to take a chance on him. After all, that’s where Marvel had got Dapper Dan Adkins from, right? I confess to being skeptical—until roughly two seconds after I laid eyes upon the splash page of Doctor Strange #172 as penciled by Colan and inked by Palmer. While I wasn’t immediately aware of what particular talents the new kid brought to the table—pen instead of brush, advertising techniques rather than standard comicbook skills—I knew what I liked, as did Stan. Even though the Doctor Strange title would soon go into limbo for a time, we all knew this Palmer dude was definitely worth hanging onto. When Neal Adams came aboard a bit later to draw The X-Men, Tom was the obvious choice to ink him. Shortly afterward, I was fortunate to be able to snag him to ink a run of Avengers issues penciled by John Buscema. I also made sure he had a chance to hone his full-art abilities on a couple of horror classics adapted for Marvel’s “mystery” titles. And I made one of my better (and easiest) decisions as associate editor (with Stan’s blessing, of course) when I tapped him to embellish Gene Colan again, this time on Tomb of Dracula.

With all this history behind us, I was unpleasantly surprised when, not that long after reviving Alter Ego in 1999, I phoned Tom to suggest he be interviewed for the magazine. “I knew you’d ask me and I’ve been dreading it,” he said, “because I’m going to have to say no.” When I pressed him for a reason, he said he was again illustrating for Marvel (which I knew, of course), and he didn’t want to hash over his 1960s-70s work in public… because that would just remind Marvel’s editors of his age, and it might make them see him differently. That, I’ll confess, made little sense to me. After all, those editors could see him—and his vintage work was constantly being reprinted in hardcover editions—so his longevity in the field was hardly a secret. But I accepted Tom’s reasons (outwardly if never inwardly) and never bothered him again with an interview request. Still, when I learned about Alex Grand and Jim Thompson’s lengthy interview with him for their Comic Book Historians podcast, I couldn’t resist inquiring about its availability. I wouldn’t have asked them, as owners of the copyright, to go against Tom’s will; but I was delighted when Alex told me Tom had specifically said he’d love to see the interview in Alter Ego. I may have exchanged an e-mail or two with Tom about the interview, and how happy I was to publish it… and then, suddenly, he was gone. Whether or not he knew the CBH interview would be his last major one, I have no idea. But I’m happy to honor Tom Palmer— and thankful to have him honor Alter Ego—with the contents of this issue. He really was a transformative comicbook inker—as well as a helluva nice guy.

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The “PALMER” Raids A Wide-Ranging Interview with TOM PALMER—Marvel’s Foremost Inker Of The 1970s Conducted & Transcribed by Alex Grand & Jim Thompson Tom Palmer (1941-2022) in recent years, contemplating his two eras on Marvel’s The Avengers: first, as inker of Neal Adams’ pencils on the cover of #95 (Jan. 1972), next as penciler and inker of that of #255 (May 1985). That’s a whole lot of comics history and it’s only the beginning! Photo from the comicartfans website; covers courtesy respectively of the Grand Comics Database and Robert Menzies. [Covers TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

CO-INTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: I didn’t know, when we interviewed Tom Palmer on November 8, 2020, that I’d be making a friend. At one point, Jim and I decided to send Tom Palmer an interview invite for the Comic Book Historians YouTube channel and podcast, and maybe it was a shot in the dark, but he had been a hero of ours for years, so it was worth trying. The interesting thing was that we’d never met him before, but always had marveled at his work. After I e-mailed Tom an interview request, he mentioned that he got requests all the time but decided on us because he liked the way I typed my e-mails. The interview was what you see before you (moderately edited and condensed by A/E’s editor for reasons of space and occasional repetition), with everyone really enjoying the experience.

A Wide-Ranging Interview With Tom Palmer

Tom watched it on the YouTube Channel and responded: “I was very impressed from the start of the edited video PodCast by the constant movement on the screen of the graphics, all from books I had worked on and people/artists we were discussing. I was very impressed; [it was] very professional. After turning down many offers… I agreed to do yours with nothing but a hunch it was the right one and I was correct.” Afterward, Tom sent Jim and me some paraphernalia which was beautiful, like everything else he illustrated, but I couldn’t help myself and maintained more e-mail communications. It turned out I liked the way he typed e-mails, too! Everything he wrote was positive and joyful, and I enjoyed continuing that energy. At one point, he e-mailed me a curious inking request from a fan who wanted him to erase the original pencils of another comicbook pro, which he refused to do, of course. At the same time, I also continued to maintain a dialogue with Roy Thomas, who is really one of the stand-up comics historians and comicbook writers, a hero of mine. It occurred to me that Palmer’s first work at Marvel was with Roy, and I asked how they both felt about publishing the interview in Alter Ego. Roy was happy to do it, and Tom wrote me, “I am very pleased that my old friend, Roy Thomas, wanted to showcase your interview with me in Alter Ego next year. Roy and I have been good friends since our first meeting at the Marvel offices in 1968; it’s exciting to hear.” Tom was kind enough to submit high-quality scans for the cover being used here, and he went further with his kindness and wrote a blurb for my book Understanding Superhero Comic Books. I told him he’d get copies of the book and the Alter Ego issue with his interview. His last e-mail to me read: “Thanks for sending copies! Looks like you will have some exciting months ahead!” I didn’t know that was to be our last e-mail exchange, and when I found out that he had passed away a month later, I went back to our e-mails and fondly said my own private goodbye. There was a glow in the sadness: It is this interview, where he can be immortalized in Alter Ego, a publication edited by his old friend and first creative partner at Marvel Comics, Roy Thomas. We love you, Tom.

Alex

ALEX GRAND: Welcome back to the Comic Book Historians podcast, with Alex Grand and Jim Thompson. Today we have a very special guest, inker and illustrator Tom Palmer. Tom, thank you so much for joining us today, and talking about your history and your history in comics. Jim’s going to start at the beginning. TOM PALMER: Well, thank you for the invitation. Looking forward to it. JIM THOMPSON: Tom, let’s start. Actually, just even with your name—did you change your name from your full given name? Are you Tom Palmer legally now? PALMER: Well, my given name is Thomas John Palmer. Thomas J., and in some financial or legal [documents], I’ll sign John or J. But, even when I was a kid, no one called me Thomas; even the nuns didn’t. But Tom… it’ll be Tom. JT: Let’s go back to New York in 1942, when you were born. Which part of New York did you live in, growing up? PALMER: Queens, New York, Southwestern. I was born in Richmond Hill, Queens. Probably after high school, in my early 20s, is when I left [Queens]. JT: I know you lost your father at an early age. When was that?

PALMER: It was in the ‘50s. I was young. I can’t remember the exact year anymore, because I was young. JT: Was it before third grade and your hip problems or after? PALMER: Oh, you know more about me than I realized. [chuckles] Well, he was still alive when I had my hip problems, yeah. I have one brother who was How Green Was My Cover! about eight Mac Raboy’s cover for Green Lama #6 (Aug. 1945). The years older character had originally been a mystic pulp-mag (and than me. even comics) hero in a lama’s robes, but in the mid-1940s But I had Spark Publications turned him into a super-hero and got the incomparable artist of “Captain Marvel Jr.” (and, before a bunch of long, of Flash Gordon) to draw him. [TM & © the respective half brothers trademark & copyright holders.] and sisters that were old enough to be my parents, some of them. I have nieces and a nephew that was older than me. I have a niece right now, in North Carolina—she’s older than me. Because my father’s first two wives died, and then my mother was around and was related to the second wife. And out of propriety and everything else, he just had a big family. I think there were eight or nine children in all, and I was the last one. JT: So, in the house, when you were growing up, how many kids were in the house? Was your brother still there or not? PALMER: Yeah, he was, but he was so much older. I remember I never played with him. I got his old comicbooks, though. One was called The Green Lama. I think I saved a few of them. I don’t think he bought Batman, but EC Comics… he had those. But I really didn’t get caught up in it. I didn’t go out and start buying those comics. But then when I did go out, the EC Comics would grab my eye. I was kind of young yet, but Wally Wood, Al Williamson, [Frank] Frazetta… oh, and I got the newspaper strips. I didn’t get Flash Gordon… yes, I did, but this is after Alex Raymond, and I didn’t care for it if it wasn’t Mac Raboy. But Hal Foster on Prince Valiant. Oh, I saved every Sunday… poof, I cut that out. JT: So, when you developed those problems, you were in crutches from like third grade up until almost high school, for four years or so. Were you staying inside? I know that’s when you really started to draw and focus on that… and on comics, because you were drawing your own comics at that time, even as a kid, right?

The “Palmer” Raids

PALMER: Yeah. I guess I sat around a lot, because I got heavy. I don’t know if my dad was gone at that point. He passed away when I was on crutches. But I used to go out on crutches and walk around, get into… not into trouble, but I’d sometimes trip and fall, and people would go, “Awww…” But I’d get up. I was like a stunt man. [chuckles] And I got off crutches in the eighth grade, luckily, just before high school. JT: And so, when you were drawing, you had this archive of your older brother’s comics. And you were getting to know artists like Wally Wood. Which other EC artists were you drawn to? PALMER: Jack Davis, Al Williamson, and I should say [chuckles], Jack Kamen. The last studio I was in… I was bouncing around in New York, in advertising studios. And I went for a job at one on Madison Avenue. I don’t know if they were going to take me or not. And the fellow that owned the studio said, “This is our illustrator, Jack Kamen.” I said, “Jack Kamen? EC Comics?” He turns around and says, “Yeah.” It’s like a voice out of his past. Well, [the guy hires me] and says it was just the fact that I knew Jack Kamen. I was there a couple years. Jack sat not that far away from me at the drawing board. So the EC comics had a big connection in my life.

used to be able to do line work and everything else with the ruler, just bend the ruler. And he enjoyed the whole business. So, when he taught me something, it was: Make it enjoyable, whatever you’re doing. And the comics worked for him, too. JT: He had had kind of a mentor relationship himself, hadn’t he? A person that he looked up to? Maybe I’m thinking of Frank Reilly. PALMER: Oh… Yes, that’s a real father figure. JT: Let’s get through high school, and then we’ll go to that. All right, so you’re reading books, you’re also aware of illustrators at this point, not just comicbook artists. People like Jim Bama. I think most people know him as the Doc Savage artist. How was it you had become aware of Bama? PALMER: The paperbacks, Doc Savage and a few others. But before Bama was Norman Rockwell. I wanted to be Norman Rockwell. I even wrote him a letter when I was in high school. And I went up to meet him, up in Stockbridge; that was a big deal for me. I mean, for him to say, “Come up”…. Imagine today, just having a stranger come in to your [home]. There may be a lot of kooks out there. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. When we get to Reilly, then I’ll explain further about Rockwell.

AG: Could you recognize Jack Kamen with his pipe? Is that how you recognized him? PALMER: No. I just… Well, in the comicbooks, they had a biography with a photograph. But when I asked, “Are you the Jack Kamen from EC Comics?,” it could have been somebody else. He always looked the same, I think, even back when he was younger. But he wasn’t smoking a pipe in the studio [like in the EC photo]. I don’t think they allowed smoking. JT: I think Jack Kamen’s very important to your work, both in terms of how you got into comics, in terms of your contacts, but also in terms of molding you… I got the impression, not just as an artist, but also as a person. PALMER: Very much so. I think in that period of time, even before, I was always looking for a father figure, because I’d lost my father so young. When you’re young, you really need a dad, and I didn’t have one. And my brothers were older, and on their own. I have a half-brother; he had his own family. So, Jack was somebody I was really drawn to… and he was crippled. Not crippled, but he was laid up when he was a kid also. I think he fell off a bus or something; I don’t remember the whole story. So there was a connection between us, and I don’t know what he was doing during that time… maybe the same thing as I was: drawing. Who knows? He used to buy a cart of six or eight Winsor & Newton Series 7 #2s. They were in cardboard with a rubber band holding them in. Every Monday morning, he’d start out with a brand-new brush, and he would not ruin it intentionally, but he would swish it out when he got done at the end of the day and stand it upside down in a burger tray. All that ink went in there; that’s what happens. It’s not the tip, it’s what’s inside that ruins the hairs. So he was always passing me the brushes. And I just didn’t like them. I didn’t like the feel of them, and he was fantastic with them. He

Kamen Around The Mountain Artist Jack Kamen, complete with trademark pipe, in a photo that appeared with his biography in a 1950s EC comic—and one of his last comicbook covers, for that company’s Psychoanalysis #3 (July-Aug. 1955). Earlier for EC, he had drawn first romance comics, then horror stories, and he became a mentor of sorts to a young Tom Palmer. [Photo & cover TM & © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]

A Wide-Ranging Interview With Tom Palmer

It’s Disney’s World—We’re Just Living In It! (Far left:) A private commission by Tom Palmer featuring a montage related to the 1980 Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back. [Star Wars characters TM & © Disney.] (Left:) Our featured artist’s Silver Surfer cover for the June 1976 Marvel World #1, a so-called “pro-zine” (a fanzine with much or mostly pro content). Thanks to Aaron Caplan. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Captain America (i) 1967-1971; Conan (i) 1971, 1975; covers (p) (i) 1968-96; Daredevil (i) 1971-73, 1995; Doc Savage (i) 1973-74; Dr. Doom (i) 1971; Doctor Strange (p) 1968, (i) 1968-69, 1975-76, 1981; Dracula (i) 1972-79; Fallen Angels (i) 1987; Fantastic Four (i) 1996; Giant-Size Chillers (i) 1975; Howard the Duck (p) 1977, (i) 1977-78, 1980; Hulk (i) 1977; illustration (i) 1987, 1992; Illyana and Storm (i) 1983-84; The Inhumans (i) 1971; Iron Man (i) 1980; Jaws 2 (i) 1978 [film adaptation]; Lilith (i) 1980; Luke Cage, Power Man (i) 1977; Magik (i) 1983-84; Man-Thing (i) 1974-76; Marvel Universe (p) 1986-87; Meteor (i) 1979 [film adaptation]; Moon Knight (i) 1980,

1983, 1989-92; Ms. Marvel (i) 1977; mystery/ occult (i) 1968-79; New Mutants (i) 1984; Nova (i) 1975-79; Punisher, Nick Fury, et al. (i) 1995; Rom (i) 1984; Silver Surfer (i) 1982; Spider-Man & Avengers (i) 1996; Spider-Man & Blade (i) 1998; Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, & Dracula (p)(i) 1981; Star Trek (p)(i) 1981, (p) 1982, (i) 1978, 1982-85; Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (i) 1983-84 [film adaptation]; Star-Lord (i) 1979; support (c) 1978-96; support (lettering) 1975; Team America (i) 1982; Thor (i) 1978-79; Thunderbolts (i) 1997; The Transformers (i) 1985; Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction (i) 1975; Valannus and Kalligor (i) 1971; Venom (i) 1994; What If Nova… (i) 1979; Wolverine (i) 1990, 1992; The X-Men (i) 1969-70; X-Men: Heroes for Hope (i) 1985 Skywald Publishing: cover (p)(i) 1971 [for The Crime Machine]; Nightmare (p)(i) 1970 Topps Comics: illustration (p)(i) 1993

Stories selected and introduced by ROY THOMAS

Cover, slipcase and endpaper designs by LEINIL FRANCIS YU

includes replica of

The Avengers #1 e xcl us i v e ly ava i l a b l e from

foliosociety.com/marvel

TOM PALMER & NEAL ADAMS At Marvel

One Of The Field’s Greatest Inkers Remembers One Of Its Greatest Pencilers Interview Conducted & Transcribed by James Rosen A/E EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: As those who perused our extensive Neal Adams coverage in Alter Ego #182 may remember, national journalist James Rosen has been assembling materials for some years now for an eventual biography of that artist—and we eagerly look forward to it. When he learned we were doing a special issue on Tom Palmer, James offered to share with us a foretaste of that bio by allowing us to print excerpts from the long interview he’d done with Palmer

Tom Palmer and (below left) the first page he ever inked of Neal Adams’ work: the splash of The X-Men #56 (May 1969). Yeah, we know we printed this same page back in A/E #181, but it couldn’t be helped. Hope you won’t mind. Script by Roy Thomas. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the splash scan, and to Comic Vine for the photo. [Page TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

concerning his inking of Adams over the years—and how could we resist? Sure, some of the following info may duplicate to some extent parts of the Grand/Thompson interview earlier this issue, but there’s plenty of new stuff—plus additional insights and angles on what was reported there. This interview was conducted via telephone between Rock Hall, Maryland, and Oakland, New Jersey, on October 6, 2020.

JAMES ROSEN: You mentioned in one of [your previous] interviews that the first time you saw [Neal Adams’] work was that Roy Thomas had brought you a page, or a half-page, of one of Neal’s “Deadman” issues. Is that correct? TOM PALMER: I had just started doing work for Marvel. I was up working on Doctor Strange. It was the first comicbook I ever worked on. And [Roy] had a party. He was living on 86th Street at the time.... and everybody showed up there; even Stan [Lee] showed up for a short while. So it was quite an evening. Gil Kane, a bunch of other people. And Roy was kind of introducing people, or me, to people that were there. I was kind of new to the crowd. And that’s the night I met Bernie Wrightson and Neal Adams. They were sitting together. And that’s how we met, Neal and I and Bernie. Well, Bernie, I think, knew Neal prior to that. And I think it was before that, Roy had a—he purchased a half-page of, like you said, the “Deadman” page; it was the bottom half. And he had it framed in his house. And that’s really when I saw the work [for the first time]. I said, “Gee, that’s fantastic.” JR: When you say a half-page, he had purchased what—the original art, inked? PALMER: Yes, he had the original art, yeah. When I say a half-page, I guess DC—Marvel did at some point, but DC was known to kind of have, maybe, an ad on— JR: House ads and things. PALMER: Yeah. So they would run a page of the continuity, bottom half. But it was different in so many ways. What Neal had brought to the industry was really a complete change in the approach to doing comicbooks. And I was working in the studio, an advertising art studio [Remus Art] at 40th and Madison…. And Jack Kamen was the illustrator that was there, and I learned

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!

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ALTER EGO #175

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DIEDGITIIOTANSL BLE

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ALTER EGO #172

ALTER EGO #173

ALTER EGO #174

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!

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ALTER EGO #177

ALTER EGO #178

ALTER EGO #179

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!

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!

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ALTER EGO #180

ALTER EGO #181

ALTER EGO #182

ALTER EGO #183

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!

Special NEAL ADAMS ISSUE, featuring indepth interviews with Neal by HOWARD CHAYKIN, BRYAN STROUD, and RICHARD ARNDT. Also: a “lost” ADAMS BRAVE & THE BOLD COVER with Batman and Green Arrow, and unseen Adams art and artifacts. Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (Plus: See BACK ISSUE #143!)

An FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) special, behind a breathtaking JERRY ORDWAY cover! Features on Uncle Marvel and the Fawcett Family by P.C. HAMERLINCK, ACG artist KENNETH LANDAU (Commander Battle and The Atomic Sub), and writer LEE GOLDSMITH (Golden Age Green Lantern, Flash, and others). Plus Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt by MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Golden/Silver/Bronze Age artist IRV NOVICK (Shield, Steel Sterling, Batman, The Flash, and DC war stories) is immortalized by JOHN COATES and DEWEY CASSELL. Interviews with Irv and family members, tributes by DENNY O’NEIL, MARK EVANIER, and PAUL LEVITZ, Irv’s involvement with painter ROY LICHTENSTEIN (who used Novick’s work in his paintings), Mr. Monster, FCA, and more!

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(Clockwise:) Harvey Kurtzman and Wally Wood’s “Flesh Garden” from Mad #11 (May 1954). Next, Wood assists Dan Barry on the syndicated Flash Gordon strip in late 1957. Finally, below, a lovely 1991 Flash Gordon daily by Bruce Jones and Ralph Reese. [Mad splash TM & © EC Publications, Inc.; Flash Gordon TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

In Memoriam

Steve Skeates (1943 – 2023)

“25% Of What You Write Is Great…” by Bryan Stroud

unique voice has been silenced with the passing of Steve Skeates on March 30, 2023. Steve was born in Rochester, New York, on January 29, 1943. A self-described “dreamer,” he became one of the earliest of the new wave of talent entering the industry, when Stan Lee of Marvel Comics hired him in June 1965 as an editorial assistant and proofreader. It soon became apparent his talents were better utilized as a writer, and he soon found himself as a freelancer, scripting Westerns for Marvel. Embracing the freelance life, Steve built an impressive body of work for multiple publishers, including Tower, Charlton, Warren, Gold Key, Red Circle, Archie, and DC. He had an ability to expertly navigate genres from horror to humor with multiple points in between, and his gifts were recognized with multiple awards, including Shazam Awards in 1972 and 1973 for humor stories in DC’s House of Mystery #202 (May ’72) and Plop #1 (Sept.-Oct. ’73). He was also named Best All-Around Writer in the 1973 Warren Awards, and in 2012 was presented with the prestigious Bill Finger award in San Diego. Steve was the co-creator of DC’s The Hawk and The Dove, drawn by Steve Ditko, and had memorable runs on the Aquaman and Plastic Man titles, working with such talented artists as Gil Kane, Pat Boyette, Mike Sekowsky, Ogden Whitney, Dick Ayers, and Jim Aparo. Another notable work was one of the earliest unofficial “crossovers” between DC’s Aquaman #56 (March/ April 1971) and Marvel’s Sub-Mariner #72 (September 1974), which, ironically, were the respective final issues of each series. In a 2009 interview, he described, in his typically tongue-in-cheek manner, the perils and payoffs of writing: “It’s hardly a well-kept secret that when one is writing for a living, no way can every single thing said writer produces be a gem! In fact, the general consensus amongst all the other writers I’ve talked to about this tends toward being that there’s a 25-50-25 split going on here; i.e., 25% of what you write is great, stuff you can truly be proud of; 50% is so-so; with another 25% taken up by those pieces that truly suck! The trick is to make the so-so stuff and somehow even the sucky stuff just passable enough so that you don’t get fired!”

Steve Skeates circa the early 1970s, and a playful page by the writer and artist Jim Aparo for Aquaman #50 (March-April ’70). Thanks to Bob Bailey & Sharon Karibian for the page scan, and to Comic Vine for the photo. For featured coverage of Steve’s comics career, see Alter Ego #84. [TM & © DC Comics.]

Joe Giella

In Memoriam

(1928 - 2023)

“[He] Worked In Nearly Every Genre” by Bryan Stroud

ilver Age stalwart artist and inker Joe Giella passed away on March 21, 2023, at the age of 94. He was born June 27, 1928, in New York City. His education included attendance at the School of Industrial Art and the Art Students League, both in Manhattan. Joe’s career began at age 17 in comics’ Golden Age, on Hillman Periodicals’ “Captain Codfish,” published in Punch and Judy #11, cover-dated June 1946. Other early work included inking Fawcett’s “Captain Marvel” and some work at Timely on the Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, and Captain America characters. In 1949, Joe began his career with editor Julius Schwartz at DC Comics with work on such seminal characters as the Golden Age Flash, Green Lantern, and Black Canary. In a 2007 interview, he recalled of Schwartz: “I worked for him for 45 years. Julie ensured I had a job every week, and he always had a check for me upon

Joe Giella (on left) with Bryan Stroud at a comics conventions a few years back— juxtaposed with a Christmas card Joe drew celebrating his years as both penciler and inker of the Batman newspaper comic strip. Thanks to Bryan Stroud. [Batman TM & © DC Comics; other art Estate of Joe Giella.]

delivery. That meant a lot to me. We became good friends.” As the Silver Age took off in the 1950s, so did Giella’s career, where he was often teamed with pencilers Mike Sekowsky, Gil Kane, and Carmine Infantino, working on such landmark issues as the Silver Age incarnations of Green Lantern and The Flash and inking the “New Look” Batman transition in Detective Comics. In the same interview, Joe remarked that “Carmine Infantino’s drawings were tough to work on. You had to know how to draw and decipher. He’s a good layout man and a master of storytelling, but his pencils are very scribbly and scratchy.” Giella worked in nearly every genre, including Westerns, science-fiction (including the first appearance of Adam Strange), war titles, teen humor, mystery, romance, and of course his signature super-hero work. He was also the illustrator on the 1977 Mighty Marvel Superheroes Cookbook. Giella also found time to do commercial illustration, recalling, “I did a lot of licensing work, penciling and inking for Nabisco, for example. I’d go home and do the layouts and then get DC’s approval for the use of the characters and deliver the final product. I designed 21 T-shirts for Disney, too. I did a lot of agency work.” Joe’s talents expanded into the syndicated comic strip world with work on Flash Gordon with Dan Barry, The Phantom with Sy Barry, and with writer Whitney Ellsworth on Batman. He took over the Mary Worth strip for King Features in 1991, continuing with it until 2016. He continued to be active in producing commission work and attending conventions in recent years, but the center of his life was always his family. Joe Giella was a friend to all and indisputably one of the good guys.

The Fabulous Fawcett Family – Part II

The Whiz Bang Life Of CAPTAIN BILLY, Cont’d by Shaun Clancy

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck FCA EDITOR’S NOTE: Two issues ago, we presented Shaun Clancy’s interview with Roscoe “Rocky” Fawcett, Jr. (1936-2018), the grandson of Fawcett Publications founder Wilford “Billy” Fawcett. Last time, Shaun covered the early days of “Captain Billy” himself, including the initial history of his dynasty-building periodical, the once-popular gag-mag Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang, which burst upon the public in late 1919 with a title reflecting memories of the First World War. With this issue, we continue— and, at least in the sense of his own life, conclude—coverage of the career of the man whose company became for a time, among other things, one of the foremost comicbook publishers on the planet.

Whiz Conquest

he year 1920 saw Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang taking off along with sudden monetary success. 1920 was also the year Billy and his wife Claire divorced.

Captain Billy’s brothers Harvey and Roscoe moved to Minneapolis to help him run Fawcett Publications in return for a 10% ownership stake, apiece. Roscoe Fawcett had also been a captain in the US Army, as a fighter pilot. According to the Whiz Bang ownership statement from November 1921, the officers of Fawcett in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, at the time were: W.H. Fawcett; Claire Fawcett; George D. Meyers; Robert P. Kirby; Publisher & Editor , W.H. Fawcett; Business Manager, Harvey Fawcett.

Capt. Billy Fawcett (on left) being interviewed on CBS radio in 1938, by unidentified announcers. (Ironically, Fawcett Publications would be sold decades later to CBS.) His earliest claim to fame was as the publisher of Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang, represented here by the cover of the November 1929 edition—while in the 1940s Fawcett Publications would own the best-selling comicbook in the world, Captain Marvel Adventures, whose cover for issue #44 (Nov. 1944), by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza, is seen below. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Whiz Bang cover TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

The following year, Captain Billy married his second wife, Annette (Antoinette) Fischer (b. 1897), but he would again be divorced in 1932. (See the Calgary EyeOpener section coming up!) Whiz Bang was so successful by the end of 1921 that a city in Oklahoma changed its name from Denoya to Whiz Bang City, as stated in the January 1922 issue of Whiz Bang. The town of Denoya had been created when an oil strike was discovered and, a year later, they voted to change the name to Whiz Bang. At the time of the change in 1922, the town had a population of approximately 10,000 people. The Denoya name originated from a prominent French/Osage Indian family and, even though the residents renamed the town Whiz Bang City, the post office still went by the name of Denoya. It was a violent town with bank robberies. The city of Whiz Bang

The Whiz Bang Life Of Captain Billy, Cont’d

on-fact, naturalistic stories describing intimate life—the lights and shadows, the frailties and falls, the perfect images of the lives of the shoplifters, the drug users, the demi-mondes, the bootleggers, the burglars—the langours and lassitudes and tremors of breakfasting love—and so on through the gamut of life—evading none of the problems, veiling none of the faults, telling all of the truth without exaggeration. ... Advance orders for the initial issue of True Confessions truly have been phenomenal. More than one-quarter of a million readers will peruse the magazine this month—and the August issue is only the beginning.... At the time of Billy’s first publication of Whiz Bang in 1919, there were at least two other similar adult humor magazines already on the market—both which may have been influential in Captain Billy’s creation of his magazine: Jim Jam Jems was published from 1912-1929 as an editorial magazine, created by Samuel H. Clark (1885-1979) and C.H. Crockard. It was published in Bismarck, North Dakota, and even contained a “Monthly Preamble” written by Sam Clark which centered on sensationalism, propaganda, humor, and satire to expose corruption and spread truth. In its first year of publication, both Clark and Crockard were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fargo, North Dakota, for sending “obscene and immoral” reading matter in the interstate mail. News dealers throughout the Midwest—including in Minneapolis and St. Paul (where Captain

Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up… Captain Billy with his second wife, Annette. This 12-26-23 photo was published in the 1924 Whiz Bang Annual. This marriage, alas, did not end well.

started a gradual decline in population towards the end of the ’20s due to the oil reserves drying up, and eventually was abandoned sometime in 1942. Of notable interest is the fact that actors Clark Gable and Ben Jonson both worked those same oil fields before becoming movie stars.

Confessions & Competition In the year 1922, the Fawcetts tried their hand at a second publication, called True Confessions, which would go on to be one of their most successful magazines. The following is the introduction from its premiere issue: “With this issue there emerges from its chrysalis a new Fawcett Publication – TRUE CONFESSIONS. As its name implies, True Confessions is a magazine symposium of the most vivid romances of real life—irresistible masterpieces of realism. Its stories teem with dramatic situations that defy description; tear away the veils of pretense and paint the naked soul in indelible words of truth. In the announcement of our $10,000 prize story contest several weeks ago the editor particularly emphasized that True Confessions was in the field for based-

Tell Me True After Whiz Bang came True Confessions. Launched in 1922, it became one of Fawcett’s most successful magazines. Above is the May 1940 issue, with an exquisitely painted cover by Zoe Mozert. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Alter Ego #184