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SCIENCE-FICTION AND COMICBOOKS! THE ELECTRIFYING ENERGY OF
EDMOND HAMILTON
No. 187 May 2024
by Glen Cadigan Legion of Super-Heroes TM & © DC Comics.
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“WRITER OF TWO WORLDS!”
82658 00519
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WILL MERGE THEM BOTH INTO ONE FABULOUS FOUR-COLOR HIT SERIES!
The Best in POP Culture! ZOWIE!
THE TV SUPERHERO CRAZE IN ’60s POP CULTURE by MARK VOGER
HOLY PHENOMENON! In the way-out year of 1966, the action comedy “Batman” starring ADAM WEST premiered and triggered a tsunami of super swag, including toys, games, Halloween costumes, puppets, action figures, and lunch boxes. Meanwhile, still more costumed avengers sprang forth on TV (“The Green Hornet,” “Ultraman”), in MOVIES (“The Wild World of Batwoman,” “Rat Pfink and Boo Boo”), and in ANIMATION (“Space Ghost,” “The Marvel Super Heroes”). ZOWIE! traces the history of the superhero genre from early films, through the 1960s TV superhero craze, and its pop culture influence ever since. This 192-page hardcover, in pop art colors that conjure the period, spotlights the coolest collectibles and kookiest knockoffs every ’60s kid begged their parents for, and features interviews with the TV stars (WEST, BURT WARD, YVONNE CRAIG, FRANK GORSHIN, BURGESS MEREDITH, CESAR ROMERO, JULIE NEWMAR, VAN WILLIAMS), the artists behind the comics (JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA), and others. Written and designed by MARK VOGER (MONSTER MASH, HOLLY JOLLY), ZOWIE! is one super read! (192-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-125-7 SHIPS JULY 2024!
CLIFFHANGER!
All characters TM & © their respective owners.
CINEMATIC SUPERHEROES OF THE SERIALS: 1941–1952 by CHRISTOPHER IRVING Hold on tight as historian CHRISTOPHER IRVING explores the origins of the first on-screen superheroes and the comic creators and film-makers who brought them to life. CLIFFHANGER! touches on the early days of the film serial, to its explosion as a juvenile medium of the 1930s and ‘40s. See how the creation of characters like SUPERMAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, SPY SMASHER, and CAPTAIN MARVEL dovetailed with the early film adaptations. Along the way, you’ll meet the stuntmen, directors (SPENCER BENNETT, WILLIAM WITNEY, producer SAM KATZMAN), comic book creators (SIEGEL & SHUSTER, SIMON & KIRBY, BOB KANE, C.C. BECK, FRANK FRAZETTA, WILL EISNER), and actors (BUSTER CRABBE, GEORGE REEVES, LORNA GRAY, KANE RICHMOND, KIRK ALYN, DAVE O’BRIEN) who brought them to the silver screen—and how that resonates with today’s cinematic superhero universe. NOW SHIPPING! (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-119-6
COMIC BOOK IMPLOSION (EXPANDED EDITION) by KEITH DALLAS & JOHN WELLS
NOW IN FULL-COLOR WITH BONUS PAGES! In 1978, DC Comics launched a line-wide expansion known as “The DC Explosion,” but pulled the plug weeks later, cancelling titles and leaving dozens of completed comic book stories unpublished. Now, that notorious “DC Implosion” is examined with an exhaustive oral history from JENETTE KAHN, PAUL LEVITZ, LEN WEIN, MIKE GOLD, AL MILGROM, and other DC creators of the time, plus commentary by other top pros, examining how it changed the landscape of comics forever! This new EXPANDED EDITION of the Eisner Award-nominated book explodes in full cover for the first time, with extra coverage of LOST 1970S DC PROJECTS like Ninja the Invisible and an adaptation of “The Wiz,” Jim Starlin’s unaltered cover art for BATMAN FAMILY #21, content meant for cancelled Marvel titles such as Godzilla and Ms. Marvel, and more! SHIPS MAY 2024! (144-page FULL-COLOR SOFTCOVER) $26.95 • (Digital Edition) $10.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-124-0
IT ROSE FROM THE TOMB An all-new book written by PETER NORMANTON
Rising from the depths of history comes an ALL-NEW examination of the 20th Century’s best horror comics, written by PETER NORMANTON (editor of From The Tomb, the UK’s preeminent magazine on the genre). From the pulps and seminal horror comics of the 1940s, through ones they tried to ban in the 1950s, this tome explores how the genre survived the introduction of the Comics Code, before making its terrifying return during the 1960s and 1970s. Come face-to-face with the early days of ACG’s alarming line, every horror comic from June 1953, hypodermic horrors, DC’s Gothic romance comics, Marvel’s Giant-Size terrors, Skywald and Warren’s chillers, and Atlas Seaboard’s shocking magazines. The 192-page full-color opus exhumes BERNIE WRIGHTSON’s darkest constructs, plus artwork by FRANK FRAZETTA, NEAL ADAMS, MIKE KALUTA, STEVE DITKO, MATT FOX, WARREN KREMER, LEE ELIAS, BILL EVERETT, RUSS HEATH, THE GURCH, and many more. Don’t turn your back on this once-in-a-lifetime spine-chiller—it’s so good, it’s frightening! (192-page SOFTCOVER) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-123-3 • NOW SHIPPING!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Pop History.
Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com
TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
Vol. 3, No. 187/May 2024 Editor
Roy Thomas
Associate Editor Jim Amash
Design & Layout
Christopher Day
Consulting Editor John Morrow
FCA Editor
P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Associate Editor) 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
Proofreader
William J. Dowlding
Cover Artists
Curt Swan, George Klein, & John Forte
Cover Colorist Unknown
With Special Thanks to:
Ron Greilich Heidi Amash George Hagenauer Pedro Angosto Rob Hansen Bob Bailey Heritage Art Alberto Becattini Auctions [website] John Benson John Joshua Mark Bowen Sharon Karibian Bernie Bubnis Jim Kealy Glen Cadigan Calisphere [website] Jay Kay Klein Richard Kolkman Chris Calloway Jean-Marc Lofficier Nick Caputo Art Lortie Mike Catron Jim Ludwig John Cimino Bruce Mason Comic Book Plus Leslie Mason [website] Kevin McDougal Comic Connect Richard Mrozek [website] Comic Vine [website] Mark Muller Bud Plant Chet Cox pulpartists.com Dwight Decker [website] John Fahey Charlie Roberts Shane Foley Randy Sargent Joe Frank David Saunders Stephan A. Friedt Jim Sikela Nancy Gershwin Dann Thomas Janet Gilbert Dave Truesdale Grand Comics Database [website] Bradford Verter Eddy Zeno
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Edmond Hamilton —and of
Carlos Pacheco, John Floyd, Jose Luis Ruiz Pérez, Bill Mason, & Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr.
Contents Writer/Editorial: One Issue—Two Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Writer Of Two Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Glen Cadigan on the science-fiction and comicbook careers of the great Edmond Hamilton.
Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! We All Have To Start Somewhere! . . . 45 Michael T. Gilbert spotlights the early work of cartoonists Gray Morrow & Leonard Starr—with a postscript on a lost “Giant-Man” splash page by Dick Rockwell.
Tributes to Carlos Pacheco, John Floyd, José Luis Ruiz Pérez, Bill Mason, & Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 64 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #246 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 P.C. Hamerlinck showcases the Beck & Costanza Studio of the 1940s.
On Our Cover: The Legion of Super-Heroes cover of Adventure Comics #312 (Sept. 1963) celebrates the “two worlds” that were the double domain of our featured writer Edmond Hamilton, who had one very skilled foot in each camp, one after the other: science-fiction and comicbooks. The main artwork was done by Curt Swan & George Klein, but for some reason editor Mort Weisinger decreed that interior “Legion” artist John Forte redraw all the heads. To compare this art with the interior splash from #312 that depicted the same scene, see p. 41. [Art TM & © DC Comics.] Above: While Hamilton wrote far fewer “Batman” yarns than “Superman” ones, the former counted among them such classics as the story from Detective Comics #158 (April 1950), the most memorable visit to the Batcave during the latter years of the Golden Age of Comics. Hamilton came up with a reasonably good name for the one-time villain, too: Dr. Doom. Of course, there’d been Dr. Dooms in comics before—and there would be at least one more in 1962. Pencils by Bob Kane (apparently on his own this time around, and a good job he did of it, too); inks by Charles Paris. Thanks to Jim Kealy. [TM & © DC Comics.] Alter EgoTM issue 187, May 2024 (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.
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Article Title writer/editorial
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One Issue—Two Worlds!
ecause we needed to showcase both “flip” covers of the next issue of A/E (#188), as seen below, we didn’t leave ourselves a whole lot of room to ballyhoo this issue before you tear into it. But then, we shouldn’t really need to! If you’re a fan of Golden and Silver Age comics—and/or of magazine and book science-fiction in the first two-thirds of the 20th century—you probably already know the name “Edmond Hamilton.” Because the man was a “great” in both fields, occasionally at the same time! He was one of the first truly cosmic SF authors—while his 1940s-60s scripts for DC Comics starring Superman, Batman, and The Legion of Super-Heroes, on top of a host of stellar science-fiction yarns for Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space, make him important in the four-color field, as well.
So it was a natural for writer/researcher Glen Cadigan to title his study of Hamilton’s career “Writer of Two Worlds”—as an homage to EH’s oft-editor Julius Schwartz’s autobiography Man of Two Worlds, which in turn had tipped its conceptual hat to the “Flash of Two Worlds” comics tale that had combined super-heroes and SF concepts back in 1961. I myself was never fortunate enough to meet Edmond Hamilton—or his equally talented wife, writer Leigh Brackett (co-scripter of one of my favorite films, Rio Bravo), also celebrated in these pages—but, after reading Glen’s thorough and entertaining coverage of his life and work, I almost feel as if I had. So fasten your seat-belts and get set for several G’s of enjoyment in this star-studded issue of Alter Ego!
Bestest,
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COMING IN JUNE
25 YEARS OF ALTER EGO AT TWOMORROWS! A DOUBLE-SIZE CELEBRATION DESIGNED TO FLIP YOU OUT! ers, Inc. Art TM & © Marvel Charact
• Twice the pages—twice the thrills! 160 pulsating pages—with a pair of calamitous covers (Marvel & DC) and nostalgic “flip-book” format! • On the Marvel side: DAVID ARMSTRONG’s turn-of-the-century Comic-Con mini-interviews with JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, GEORGE TUSKA, & JIM MOONEY— plus SEAN HOWE on “STAN LEE’s Dinner with New Wave Filmmaker ALAIN RESNAIS!” • And, in this (DC) corner: Dave’s mini-interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOHN BROOME, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JOE KUBERT & MURPHY ANDERSON—and a special family photo-feature on writer GARDNER FOX by JENNIFER DeROSS! • All this, plus MICHAEL T. GILBERT on the early work of MURPHY ANDERSON—an FCA look at C.C. BECK’s correspondence during his contentious days drawing DC’s Shazam! in the 1970s—and MORE, if we can squeeze it in!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.
Art TM & © DC Comics
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Writer Of Two Worlds
The Science-Fiction & Comicbook Careers Of EDMOND HAMILTON
“I
by Glen Cadigan
began writing science-fiction when I was twenty years old, back in the first months of 1925. In fact, there weren’t any science-fiction magazines yet published when I wrote my first SF stories, and I sold them to the old Weird Tales.”1 So began the career of Edmond Moore Hamilton. When it ended, over fifty years later, he was the author of dozens of novels, hundreds of short stories, and numerous comicbooks. From the Interstellar Patrol through Captain Future into the worlds of Superman, Batman, and The Legion of Super-Heroes (and out the other side with the Star Kings and Starwolf), Hamilton was a professional writer for his entire adult life. He influenced young readers like Isaac Asimov, who wrote in Before the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s, “The earliest serial I remember reading and slavering over was ‘Cities in the Air,’ by Edmond Hamilton.... I still remember the dramatic [Frank R.] Paul cover illustration for that serial, with skyscraper cities shown on huge circular slabs in mid-air.
Edmond Hamilton holds the First Fandom Award with which he was presented at the 1967 NYCon, science-fiction fandom’s big event of that year. He’s flanked by specimens of noteworthy work from the “two worlds” in which he excelled: Malcolm Smith’s cover for Amazing Stories (Sept. 1947) showcases The Star Kings, one of Hamilton’s best-remembered science-fiction pulp novels, which would later be published in book form and spawn several sequels— —and, from the world of comicbooks, a splash page for Superman #76 (May-June 1952), the first-ever full-fledged teaming of DC Comics’ (and, at that time, the planet’s) best-known super-heroes, Superman and Batman. Pencils by Curt Swan; inks by John Fishetti. With thanks to Glen Cadigan (photo taken by Jay Kay Klein; from the University of California Riverside Libraries Eaton Collection, hereafter referred to as “Calisphere”), and to Bob Bailey for the comics page. [Superman #76 page TM & © DC Comics; SF art © the respective copyright holders.]
“The next serial I remember is ‘The Universe Wreckers’.... This one was also by Edmond Hamilton. Considering that, and the fact that Ed is the best-represented in this anthology (three stories) of any of the authors included, I can only deduce that Ed was my favorite author in those very early days.” 2 Hamilton also had the respect of his peers. Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, wrote, “In more than a half century of varied and prolific output he has been acclaimed as a brilliant new discovery, derided as a one-plot ‘world-saver,’ hailed anew as an innovator, dismissed as a hack, rediscovered for mature literacy—and now enthroned as science fiction’s Grand Master. “Let us hope that this enthronement is permanent. Certainly it is deserved—not just by reason of longevity and volume of published
A/E EDITOR'S NOTE: We prefer the spellings "comicbook" and "science-fiction." However, we have left those terms as two words where rendered thus in quoted material.
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The Science-Fiction & Comicbook Careers Of Edmond Hamilton
Isaac Asimov One of sciencefiction’s most prolific and respected authors, whose most famous work was the Foundation Trilogy. He included Hamilton’s “Cities in the Air” and “The Universe Wreckers” in his landmark 1974 collection anthology Before the Golden Age.
Before The Golden Age (Left:) The cover of Air Wonder Stories (Nov. 1929) spotlighted Hamilton’s story “Cities in the Air.” Cover by Frank R. Paul—who, ten years later, would draw the Human Torch cover of Marvel Comics #1. Thanks to Art Lortie. (Right:) Interior title art (minus half the title) by Hans Waldemar Wesso for Hamilton’s “The Universe Wreckers” in Amazing Stories for May 1930. Courtesy of Comic Book Plus website & Glen Cadigan; thanks to Art Lortie for the full name of the artist who signed his name simply “Wesso.” [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
Julius Schwartz in 1941, while Hamilton’s agent. After 1944, when he became an editor for All-American Comics, which was soon absorbed into National/DC Comics, Julie was often Hamilton’s editor. Thanks to Glen Cadigan.
Imperious Wrecks! Ed Hamilton’s story “The Accursed Galaxy” didn’t rate the cover when his agent Julius Schwartz sold it to the more prestigious (and better-paying) Astounding Science Fiction for its July 1935 issue, but it did garner a nice title drawing inside by Elliott Dold, Jr., for the author’s rather Lovecraftian tale of a close encounter with an alien life force. Thanks to David Saunders and his website pulpartists. com for both art and artist info. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.] Some years later, for Schwartz as editor, Hamilton scripted another weirdo monster outing in comics format for Strange Adventures #13 (Oct. ’51); art by Alex Toth & Sy Barry. Thanks to Jim Kealy and Mark Muller. [TM & © DC Comics.]
Writer Of Two Worlds
wordage, but by virtue of Hamilton’s amazing versatility, imaginative range, and continual development of style and skill in a field whose growth he had done so much to stimulate.” 3 Hamilton’s one-time agent and editor, Julius Schwartz, had this to say about his friend and former client: “In my entire career as a SF literary agent, one of the high points was selling a story of Hamilton’s entitled, ‘The Accursed Galaxy.’ It dealt with the theory of all galaxies receding from Earth. I was so impressed with it, with the principle, which had never appeared in SF before, that I rushed it off to Astounding, which in those days paid the highest rates in the field. Ed had been receiving a half-cent per word from Amazing and Wonder (on publication), but Astounding bought the story for a ‘whopping’ one cent per word on acceptance! We were both thrilled.” 4
Early Years “My birthdate was October 21, 1904—place, Youngstown, Ohio. Moved after a few years to Pennsylvania, where I had my school and college.” 5 Edmond Hamilton was the only son of Scott and Maude Hamilton, and was preceded by two sisters: Esther (b. 1901) and Adeline (b. 1903). He was followed by a third sibling, Betty (b. 1910), with whom he was closest. Remembered lifelong friend Jack Williamson, “He was an inveterate punster; he and his younger sister, Betty, used to enjoy duels of puns.” 6 According to a profile of the author written by Sam Moskowitz, his father was a newspaper cartoonist and his mother taught school before her marriage. The family attempted farming near Poland, Ohio, but moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1911 when Scott Hamilton was hired by a local newspaper. 7 Regarding Hamilton’s parents, Williamson recalled, “His mother was Pennsylvania Dutch, a small, vigorous, sharp-tongued woman, and I think the real head of the family. His father... struck me as an easy-going type, glad enough to leave responsibility to her.” 8 In his memoir Wonder’s Child: My Life in Science Fiction, Williamson added, “[Ed’s father] had taken leave of his family to join up for the Spanish-American War, serving in Alaska. Ed’s mother, perhaps since then, had been the real head of the household. She was... full of sharp-tongued advice which her husband and her children cheerfully ignored.” 9 The true celebrity in the family was Esther, a daily columnist for the Youngstown Telegram (and later, the Vindicator). Her feature “Around Town” covered community news such as “naming the YMCA swimming pool, new babies, news of retirees, people returning from vacations, an urgent need for a refrigerator, and her memories of interviewing Al Smith, a New York governor and presidential candidate.” 10
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She was the sort of local celebrity immediately identifiable from her headshot in the paper, the kind who hosted spelling bees and annual Christmas fundraisers. She even had her own weekly radio show (starting in 1946), and, in 1934, the Vindicator sent her to New Jersey to cover the Lindbergh trial. 11 Concerning her brother, Williamson said, “Ed regarded her with some awe; he once told me that the scar on his nose came from a knife she had thrown.” 12 According to a 1940 census, Esther, who was divorced, lived with their sister Adeline and her husband Bill, who was a steel company executive.
Influences “[T]o me, the all-time greats in the fantasy field are [H.G.] Wells, [A.] Merritt, [H. Rider] Haggard, [Olaf] Stapledon, the [M.P.] Shiel of ‘The Purple Cloud’ and the [E.R.] Eddison of ‘The Worm Ouroborous’.” 13 While growing up, Hamilton preferred the world of sciencefiction to conventional tales. “My interest in SF dates back to a time when I was so young I could barely read, but was fascinated by the illustrations of an H.G. Wells article, ‘The Things That Live on Mars,’ in the old Metropolitan Magazine.” 14 [NOTE: That article was actually published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, March 1908.] He later elaborated, “This was on a farm in Ohio back in 1908 when I was four years old.... It was, as I see it now, a follow-up to his very successful The War of the Worlds. And it had these pictures of tall, slender trees; strange-looking Martians moving about. I looked at that magazine until it wore out. I wasn’t yet able to read it, to read the article, but those pictures! I sat and wondered if Mars was a long way off and if it was a very strange place.” 15 Hamilton later said about the author, “Wells was a great literary artist, and also a very great mind. I think that [The Island of Dr.] Moreau was not only the best science fiction story, but the best
“The Things That Live On Mars” H.G. Wells’ article in the March 1908 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine was a seminal influence on young Edmond Hamilton. Hmm… maybe on Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well? After all, Under the Moons of Mars (book title: A Princess of Mars) was serialized in a magazine in 1912. Courtesy of Glen Cadigan. [© the respective copyright holders.]
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The Science-Fiction & Comicbook Careers Of Edmond Hamilton
Dick Spring & Charles Paris in later years, at a North Carolina comics convention co-hosted by A/E associate editor Jim Amash, who supplied this photo.
John Sikela
Catting Around Edmond Hamilton scripted this story co-starring Catwoman for Detective Comics #211 (Sept. 1954), with pencils by Dick Sprang and inks by Charles Paris. Thanks to Bruce Mason & Mark Muller. [TM & © DC Comics.]
“The Adventures Of Superman When He Was A Boy”—Even In The 30th Century! Hamilton wrote a few early “Superboy” yarns, such as this one for Adventure Comics #145 (Oct. 1949), drawn by John Sikela—but he became especially associated with the Boy of Steel during his 30th-century escapades with The Legion of Super-Heroes. Seen at far right, EH’s fifth “Legion” script, for Adventure #310 (July 1963) was the first of his outings in which Superboy appeared, though he isn’t around for the splash page. Art by John Forte. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]
had been an artist for the Joe Shuster art shop that produced “Superman” and related material for DC Comics in the 1940s. Courtesy of brother Jim Sikela and Eddy Zeno. The latter’s study of the early post-Shuster Superman artists will appear in Alter Ego #194.
John Forte was the long-running artist of the early tales of The Legion of Super-Heroes.
Writer Of Two Worlds
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Man of Two Worlds, “I was quickly ordered to refrain from doing so by the top brass.” On two occasions (Mystery in Space #2 and Strange Adventures #13, both published in 1951) Hamilton even revived his “Hugh Davidson” pseudonym, due to having two stories in each issue. He had last used it in Weird Tales in 1936, and had retired it when reader Charles H. Bert deduced that the two men were one and the same.141 Hamilton did not work exclusively in comics during this period. “During that time, I was still writing science fiction and produced a good many SF books and magazine stories. Working on both projects sometimes kept
My Name Is Legion! (Above:) Two intriguing splash pages written by Edmond Hamilton—for Adventure Comics #312 (Sept. 1963) and #342 (March ’66) , left to right. The first was drawn by John Forte, the second by Curt Swan & George Klein. Thanks to Mark Bowen & Bob Bailey. [TM & © DC Comics.]
John Giunta Courtesy of David Saunders’ pulpartists.com site.
Two For Mystery In Space #2 Julius Schwartz kept Hamilton busy in early issues of his two science-fiction comics—and Julie believed in crediting writers, if not artists, probably because so many of his writers had come over from the pulps where they got bylines. But when Ed scripted two stories for Mystery in Space #2 (June-July 1951), one of them had to appear under the pen name “Hugh Davidson.” Art by Murphy Anderson & John Giunta, respectively. Thanks to Bruce Mason & Michael T. Gilbert. [TM & © DC Comics.]
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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
We All Have To Start Somewhere! (Part 1) Gray Morrow Dwight Graydon “Gray” Morrow (March 7, 1934 – November 6, 2001) was a remarkably talented (and to my mind, criminally underrated!) cartoonist. His work spanned from mainstream features like DC’s “Zatanna” and “El Diablo” to Marvel’s “Man-Thing.” He also illustrated numerous stories for Classics Illustrated and various other publishers. Morrow grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, moving to New York City in winter of 1955. By the following spring, he’d met fellow comic artists Al Williamson, Angelo Torres, and Wally Wood. Gray soon sold his first comicbook story, a romance tale, to Toby Press. Which promptly went out of business before it could be published! Morrow next drew two stories for another company—a Western with original characters and an adaptation of pulp-fiction
Gray Morrow
writer Robert E. Howard’s “The Tower of the Elephant.” But this company, too, went defunct; later, Gray didn’t even recall its name. Likewise, samples sent to syndicated newspapers failed to make a sale. During this period Gray made a little cash providing backgrounds and layouts for Williamson and Wood. Then, with help from Williamson, Morrow began contributing to Atlas (Marvel), and his professional career took off.
Striking Art!
But, even as a teen, Gray Morrow was precocious, as demonstrated by this striking “Rex-Striker” sample page, drawn when he was just sixteen. This art, provided by Chris Overington, snagged the young lad an “Award in Cartooning” while he was in high school. Gray showed a real talent for syndicated cartoons in this picture. He would later illustrate many classic newspaper strips, including Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby, and Buck Rogers.
Sixteen-year-old Northside High School student Gray Morrow scored an art award with this handsome “Rex-Striker” page, after submitting it with the application form seen above top. Gray eventually illustrated many syndicated strips. [© Estate of Gray Morrow.]
Gray also drew brilliant comicbook stories for DC, Marvel, and many others, but is perhaps best remembered for his virtuoso art on Warren’s Creepy, Eerie, and Blazing Combat.
(above) at age 15, from the 1949 North Side High School, Fort Wayne, Indiana, yearbook. [© the respective copyright holders.]
We All Have To Start Somewhere
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Doing The Numbers (Above:) Though credited to Al Williamson, this story from Atlas/Marvel’s Kid Colt Outlaw #57 (Feb. 1956) is Gray’s earliest “Marvel” entry in the Grand Comics Database. An unofficial “Fleagle,” Gray sometimes helped Al with inking and backgrounds, as is likely the case here. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
You’re Invited… to see the above stunning page from Marvel’s Uncanny Tales #46 (Aug. 1956). Morrow’s mastery of the medium in his first year as a professional is clearly evident. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered! Gray’s career began in 1956, a little too late for him to officially work for EC. However, when Warren Publishing essentially revived the EC look in Creepy #1, Gray became one of the magazine’s finest artists––even providing the occasional cover. “Bewitched!” from Creepy #1 (Nov. 1964) displays his impressive illustrative skills. [TM & © The New Comics Company LLC.]
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In Memoriam
JIM VADEBONCOEUR, JR. (October 24, 1946 – July 7, 2023)
“Bud’s Farewell To Jim” by Bud Plant
[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. was a regular contributor to this volume of Alter Ego, especially during its early years (but as recently as #178, the Emil Gershwin issue), and that includes providing numerous tidbits of information and even loan of comicbooks that went unrecorded in the credits. For that reason, among others, we are honored to reprint in full his longtime friend Bud Plant’s reminiscence of him.]
M
y interest in comicbooks and their creators, and in magazine and book illustration, has brought me many amazing friends. Some of them date back more than 50 years, to my teenage years beginning in 1965 and 1966. Jim Vadeboncoeur was not only my friend for all of these years, but a mentor, a partner, a co-publisher. And we shared the passion of finding and appreciating the best in these worlds of art and artists, illustrators, and publishing history. And comics, absolutely comics. Jim was raised on the San Francisco peninsula, not very far from my own roots in San Jose. Early on he became part of a web of comicbook buddies in the area, gathering at one another’s houses to share our finds and enthuse about the latest new books. By this point Jim had moved out of his parents’ house and was living in Palo Alto, already together with his life-long partner Karen Lane. Jim, born in 1946, had five years on me. When we first met, I was about 14, not yet in high school. Jim was 19, already going to college with a part-time job. But what brought us together was a passionate interest in comics: in the art of Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko. Before the Price Guide, before online data sources, we were digging through stacks of comics, flipping through pages looking for hidden gems by our favorite artists… as well as keeping up with the latest releases from Marvel, DC, Charlton, Dell, and a few other companies. Jim’s first publishing project was a fanzine with an indecipherable name. I don’t know which of us came up with that idea, but it sure sounds typical of Jim. He was never one to go along with the crowd if he saw a better or more interesting way. We loved the “gobbledegook” lettering that Rick Griffin was doing at the time, so we said let’s make that our fanzine’s name. And we published our first issue, calling ourselves Promethean Enterprises. We consisted of four editors. Promethean, as it came to be called, brought together what we thought was the best and most interesting in modern comics, in vintage comics, and in underground comics. Editor Al Davoren knew R. Crumb, Spain, Griffin and more of the underground artists. Jim and I loved the work of those guys as well as Frazetta, Williamson, and other contemporary artists. Our first and second issues boasted covers by Rick Griffin, the third by R. Crumb, the 4th by Los Angeles air-brush master Bob Zoell, and the final issue was a fold-out cover by Robert Williams. Robert was yet another good friend of Al’s. We published these from 1969 to 1974, capping things with the first interview with R. Crumb, another fold-out with Victor Moscoso’s artwork, articles on vintage crime comics, artwork by Roy Krenkel and more folks. Jim was the master of layout, and got us in the back door of a local printer, since we had no budget to pay
Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. both as a young man—and in a more recent photo, taken a few years ago. Thanks to D.D. Degg.
others to do the zine. We paid a printer after hours and did the folding, binding, and boxing ourselves, until we splurged on the final issue and paid to have it all done professionally. And our enthusiasm overcame caution—we printed far too many copies, and that 5th issue remained in print for at least 20 years, just one of the many items I’d be handling in my business. But Jim immediately went on to other personal projects. He published The Movie Cowboy by Doug Wildey all by himself in 1971. This was possibly a first, an oversized format similar to today’s Artist’s Editions, showing every detail of the fine movie star portraits Wildey had done for his own personal satisfaction. Also in 1971 Jim put together Al Williamson: His Art, the earliest index of all (at least, all to that date) of Williamson’s comics and comic strip contributions that Jim and friends had tracked down. With Bob Napier, Jim published The Fandom Lampoon, which was a spoof of the early fanzine called Infinity, published by two youngsters on the East Coast. Infinity wasn’t a bad zine, per se, but it did have some problems typical of fanzines at the time. One has to remember that there were almost no professional publications on comics up to this point. Beginning in the early 1960s, the only way to learn about comics history and artists, and to see art by fans or professionals outside of comics themselves, was in fan-produced amateur fanzines. Infinity was well known for publishing relatively lame, almost throw-away sketches by big-name comic artists, as well as typo-ridden, lame interviews. Jim and Bob called their spoof Inanity, complete with an interview with Berni Wright-On. The picture supposedly of Berni was actually a high-school-aged Jim standing in for the real Berni Wrightson. All the artwork was spoofs, too. On a more serious note, Jim, Bob Napier again, and soon to be better-known writer Jan Strnad, published George. Another strangely named publication, George was a fanzine of reviews of other fanzines, another first in fandom. You can see a trend here. Our boys didn’t think much of many of the so-named crudzines proliferating at the time, while they also wanted to praise the incredible efforts to be found in superb titles like Jerry Weist’s Squa Tront, Wally Wood’s witzend, and Bill Spicer’s Graphic Story Magazine. For 11 issues they slammed the bad and praised the good. Jim also taught me layout. He’d gone to work for a printer
Jim Vadeboncouer, Jr. (1946-2023)
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in 1970, but it continued, and much of the information they put together was incorporated in the Guide. Jim also contributed to an APA called APA-5. An APA was a closed group of fans who periodically contributed to an anthology publication distributed to only those contributors. One example of his work was a piece on Golden Age artist Munson Paddock. This obscure artist was also one of the most interesting in the early Golden Age, contributing to DC’s earliest titles. He was often mixed up with a pseudonym of Celia Paddock and thought to be a woman. Jim found a library that had ended up with his archives. Paddock had been a lifelong railroad enthusiast, and when he passed away, he had left a huge archive of original glass negatives and more modern pictures of trains. Thus Jim was able to finally dispel the incorrect information and give Paddock a place in comics history. He did much the same for Matt Baker. For years, right up to today, a great many comics that Baker had nothing to do with have been attributed to him. The Iger shop, where Baker had once worked, liked his style so much, the artists went on to emulate it long after Baker had moved on (in this case, to his superlative romance comics for St. John). Jim once again studied the styles on each and every story and did his utmost to give Baker his due, but to stop the attribution of Iger Shop work as Baker’s. Myth buster? You could say that!
The Movie Cowboy Artist Doug Wildey’s work was featured in the 1971 art portfolio published by Jim V. [© the respective copyright holders.]
Through all this, Jim was also a hardcore collector. His first love was Atlas, and he amassed what could be one of the only known complete collections, all the way from Strange Tales #1 to the beginning of the Marvel super-heroes. Jim was also a true cheapskate. Or put another way, Jim wanted a lot of books but didn’t have unlimited funds. Fortunately, condition was totally unimportant to him. He wanted the book strictly for its contents, for what he could learn about the artist-contributors. So he happily bought low-grade books that he would promptly take out of their bags, throw out their boards, and put them in handy small boxes for quick access. At that point he had every Atlas comic except Strange Tales #1, since by then it was already beyond his famous $40
around this time. He discovered he hated his first job in business management. He’d gotten a business degree, but telling other people what to do gave him headaches and clearly turned out not to be his forte. So he decided “never again”… he would only work in jobs where he was his own boss and his work would speak for itself. So he started in the back room, doing production work for a local printer. I started my own business in 1970/71 (Bud Plant, no fancy names back then). I was typing up ads and simple typed-out flyers I’d put in with orders. That led to my first elementary catalogs. Jim offered to help, and he taught me layout as I watched him come up with an entirely new way of doing 3 “real” catalogs circa 1971-72. He also designed the 1973 Berkeley Con Program Books. This was the first underground comics convention, held at the UC-Berkeley campus. Meanwhile, he was researching comicbook artists like there was no tomorrow. He worked with the late Hames Ware to identify inkers and pencilers on Golden Age and early Silver Age books, particularly on his first love, the Atlas (later Marvel) line from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He and Hames contributed to Jerry Bails’ legendary Who’s Who volumes, which were the first time we began to see an overview of who worked on what throughout the 1930s to the 1960s. Much of this started before the first Price Guide came out
Matt Baker juxtaposed with his classic cover for Fox Comics’ Phantom Lady #15 (Dec. 1947). Cover image courtesy of the Grand Comics Database. Photo courtesy of Fred Robinson & Matt D. Baker. [Phantom Lady TM DC Comics.]
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The Beck And Costanza Studio
C.C. Beck 1944
The Non-Fawcett Work Of Two Of Fawcett’s Top Artists
Pete Costanza 1940
by P.C. Hamerlinck
A
s paper restrictions were eased after World War II, both established and anxious new publishers aspired to flood the field with comicbooks of any and all genres. And, as if they weren’t busy enough producing pages every month for Fawcett Publications’ flourishing Captain Marvel Adventures, Whiz Comics, The Marvel Family, and others, the Beck and Costanza Studios also contributed to the postwar comicbook influx, producing two new non-Fawcett titles for already over-crowded newsstands.
A Studio Is Born As Captain Marvel Adventures soared in the sales charts, his co-creator Charles Clarence Beck was pulling in $35 a week as a staff artist for Fawcett. When Beck calculated his weekly salary with his actual weekly comicbook page output, he realized he was only making a few dollars per page illustrating stories of comics’ top-selling super-hero. Beck asked Art Director Al Allard for a raise; what he got was a “Chief Artist” credit prominently placed on the table of contents pages, along with Allard’s suggestion that Beck launch his own art studio and produce work for Fawcett on a freelance basis. It was late 1941. Thus, Beck opened his small studio on Broadway and 40th Street in New York City, taking a few artists along with him, including Pete Costanza; more were hired and eventually the staff grew to 15 artists. By 1944, to keep up with Fawcett’s growing demand for artwork, as well as taking on commercial accounts (including “Captain Tootsie” advertisements for the popular candy Tootsie Rolls, and training Canadian comic artists at Anglo-American Publishing Co. in Toronto), Beck opened up a second studio in Englewood, New Jersey, partnering with Costanza as the Beck and Costanza Studios. Costanza was in charge of the Englewood studio, while Beck continued to operate out of the New York City studio—conveniently located just minutes away from Fawcett’s offices at 67 West 44th Street whenever he needed to go over and meet with comics editors Will Lieberson and Wendell Crowley, or come in to take care of a last-minute page touch-up.
Vic Verity Magazine In late 1945, now maintaining a staff of 20 artists, the Beck and Costanza Studios were contracted by Clifford Yewdall of YewdallKander Enterprises to package a new comicbook series featuring “High School Hero” Vic Verity, wherein the first-time publisher undoubtedly aspired to capitalize on the popularity of “Archie” and the increasing legion of comedic teen knock-offs. The inside front cover of Vic Verity Magazine #1 enthusiastically
“SHAZAM” On The March! Captain Marvel Adventures #8 (cover-dated March 6, 1942) went on sale around the turn of that year and was prepared at least three months earlier, at the time when artist/co-creator C.C. Beck was invited to launch his own art studio—which included Pete Costanza from the start. Ye FCA Editor believes this to have been the earliest CMA cover whereon Costanza inked Beck’s pencils, only the fifth of the title’s regular series, following three stand-alone specials. Courtesy of the Grand Comics Database. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]
introduced readers to the latest teen sensation and the book’s colorful co-stars: Vic Verity Magazine is something new in comics. The stories are fiction, but they are based on realities, and told
The Beck And Costanza Studio
in a dynamic, entertaining way. Vic Verity, himself, is a typical high school boy whom you might find in your own homes and schools. In order to keep these stories true to actual high school events and characters, the editors of Vic Verity Magazine have selected an actual high school teacher, Mr. Ellis D. Brown, to write them.
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Verity, I Say Unto You… (Clockwise from right:) All from Vic Verity Magazine #1 (1945), whose cover art by Beck & Costanza has been re-purposed as the FCA interior cover on page 71: the opening page of the first fun-filled adventure of the art team’s “High School Hero” Vic Verity (script by Ellis D. Brown)… the debut of the short half-life of their “Hot Shot Galvan” (script by Colin H. McIntosh)… and “Tom Travis and the Tiny People,” written and drawn by C.C. Beck, which was the high point in the premier issue. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]
Hot-Shot Galvan, the mighty electronic mite, is a live-wire character taken from the world of science. He is a cartoon characterization of the electron—one of the fundamental parts of the universe. In charming little adventure stories, this amusing character interprets the basic laws of electricity simply, humorously, and accurately. These stories are supplied us by a recognized author of technical books which have been used by the U.S. Army and Navy in their training programs, Mr. Colin H. McIntosh, Assistant Superintendent of Flying School Operations, American Airlines, Inc.
Perhaps the most fantastic-appearing characters in Vic Verity Magazine are ‘Tom Travis and the Tiny People,’ but they are not merely a wild flight of the writer’s or artist’s imagination. The characters and stories all have their setting in that world of smallness in nature that exists right in your own, or in anybody’s, backyard. The huge plants, the giant insects, the strange-looking backgrounds which you will discover in these stories are all drawn from actual objects as seen under a microscope. Much research, field trips to collect specimens, and several volumes of technical reference books are used in the preparation of each ‘Tiny People’ story.
Beck’s Take A few months before he passed away, C.C. Beck recalled working on Vic Verity Magazine in FCA & ME, Too! #8/FCA #44 (1989): “The comic book featuring High School Hero Vic Verity, Mighty Electronic Mite Hot-Shot Galvan, and Tom Travis and the Tiny People was put together in 1945, the peak year of the Golden Age…. [T]he comic book world started to collapse shortly after World War Two ended and has never since seen such halcyon days again. “I was instrumental in creating these characters, but only started Vic Verity and Hot-Shot Galvan off, then turned the work over to other writers and artists. I both wrote and [continued on p. 76]