Alter Ego #188 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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ALTER EGO SPECIAL

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ROY THOMAS' 25TH ANNIVERSARY COMICS FANZINE

Scoop! “STAN LEE’s

Dinner With

ALAIN RESNAIS” By Sean Howe

No. 188

JULY 2024

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All characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

A QUARTER-CENTURY OF MARVEL MADNESS AT TWOMORROWS, FEATURING DAVID ARMSTRONG’S AWESOME MINI-INTERVIEWS WITH: JOHN BUSCEMA • MARIE SEVERIN • JIM MOONEY & GEORGE TUSKA!

Satiate Your Sinister Side!

“Greetings, creep culturists! For my debut

All characters and properties TM & © their respective owners.

issue, I, the CRYPTOLOGIST (with the help of FROM THE TOMB editor PETER NORMANTON), have exhumed the worst Horror Comics excesses of the 1950s, Killer “B” movies to die for, and the creepiest, kookiest toys that crossed your boney little fingers as a child! But wait... do you dare enter the House of Usher, or choose sides in the skirmish between the Addams Family and The Munsters?! Can you stand to gaze at Warren magazine frontispieces by this issue’s cover artist BERNIE WRIGHTSON, or spend some Hammer Time with that studio’s most frightening films? And if Atlas pre-Code covers or terrifying science-fiction are more than you can take, stay away! All this, and more, is lurching toward you in TwoMorrows Publishing’s latest, and most decrepit, magazine—just for retro horror fans, and featuring my henchmen WILL MURRAY, MARK VOGER, BARRY FORSHAW, TIM LEESE, PETE VON SHOLLY, and STEVE and MICHAEL KRONENBERG!” (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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CRYPTOLOGY #2

CRYPTOLOGY #3

CRYPTOLOGY #4

The Cryptologist and his ghastly little band have cooked up more grisly morsels, including: ROGER HILL’s conversation with our diabolical cover artist DON HECK, severed hand films, pre-Code comic book terrors, the otherworldly horrors of Hammer’s Quatermass, another Killer “B” movie classic, plus spooky old radio shows, and the horror-inspired covers of the Shadow’s own comic book. Start the ghoul-year with retro-horror done right by FORSHAW, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, RICHARD HAND, VON SHOLLY, and editor PETER NORMANTON.

This third wretched issue inflicts the dread of MARS ATTACKS upon you—the banned cards, the model kits, the despicable comics, and a few words from the film’s deranged storyboard artist PETE VON SHOLLY! The chilling poster art of REYNOLD BROWN gets brought up from the Cryptologist’s vault, along with a host of terrifying puppets from film, and more comic books they’d prefer you forget! Plus, more Hammer Time, JUSTIN MARRIOT on obscure ’70s fear-filled paperbacks, another Killer “B” film, and more to satiate your sinister side!

Our fourth putrid tome treats you to ALEX ROSS’ gory lowdown on his Universal Monsters paintings! Hammer Time brings you face-to-face with the “Brides of Dracula”, and the Cryptologist resurrects 3-D horror movies and comics of the 1950s! Learn the origins of slasher films, and chill to the pre-Code artwork of Atlas’ BILL EVERETT and ACG’s 3-D maestro HARRY LAZARUS. Plus, another Killer “B” movie and more awaits retro horror fans, by NORMANTON, the KRONENBERGS, LEESE, VOGER, and VON SHOLLY!

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Vol. 3, No. 188/July 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

Gil Kane & John Romita

Cover Colorist Unknown

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Henry Andrews David Armstrong Bob Bailey Jean Bails Rod Beck John Benson Ricky Terry Brisaque Mike Bromberg Mike Burkey Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell John Cimino Shaun Clancy Comic Book Plus (website) Comic Vine (website) Pierre Comtois Chet Cox Daniel James Cox Jennifer DeRoss Leonardo de Sá Craig Delich Al Dellinges Diversions of the Groovy Kind Michael Dunne Mark Evanier Shane Foley Julia Fox Terri Fox Joe Frank Stephan A. Friedt Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Alex Grand Jeff Hamett Dan Hagen Rob Hansen Ben Herman Sean Howe Richard Howell R.A. Jones John Joshua

Jim Kealy Lambiek Comiclopedia (website) Tom Lammers Tristan Lapoussiere Dominic Leonard Jean-Marc Lofficier Art Lortie Jim Ludwig Eve Machlan Magnus Doug Martin Gustavo Medina Mike Mikulovsky Dusty Miller Mark Muller Jerry Ordway Palantine News Network (website) Barry Pearl Pinterest (website) pulpartists.com (website) Todd Reis James Rosen Allen Ross Dan St. John Ignacio Fernández Sarasola Randy Sargent Sasquatch Media David Saunders Cory Sedlmeier Richard Seeto Mitchell Senft Craig Shutt Walter Simonson Derrick Smith Emilio Soltero J. David Spurlock Dann Thomas Robert Tuska Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Delmo Walters, Jr. Mark Witz

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Tim Sale, Dan Green, & Mike Machlan

Contents Writer/Editorial: Taking Marvel’s Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “[The Comic Business] Gave Me Three Square Meals A Day” . . 3 John Buscema interview, the first of nine this issue conducted by David Armstrong.

“Why Is She Doing Paste-Ups In Production?” . . . . . . . . . . 19 That’s the question Marvel publisher Goodman asked re interviewee Marie Severin.

“I Really Enjoyed Working As A Cartoonist” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 George Tuska on Marvel, DC, Crime Does Not Pay, Buck Rogers, etc.

“Why?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Jim Mooney discusses his high-profile work at Marvel & DC.

Stan Lee’s Dinner With Alain Resnais . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 When The Fantastic Four met Hiroshima Mon Amour—annotated by Sean Howe.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! “We All Have To Start Somewhere!” . 59 Michael T. Gilbert presents Part 2—the early work of Gil Kane.

Tributes To Tim Sale, Dan Green, & Mike Machlan . . . . . . . 65 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #247 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Ignacio Fernández Sarasola on the influence of Captain Marvel on Franco Spain.

On Our Cover: It was publisher John Morrow who suggested we adapt the cover of The Avengers #141 (Nov. 1975) to front the “Marvel side” of this issue’s flip double-header… but he may have had A/E’s editor in mind, since Roy Thomas not only co-created the Silver Age Vision with John Buscema but actually designed the precise costumes of Squadron Sinister/Supreme members Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum, and the [other-Earth] Whizzer… and scripted the debut of Golden Archer and Lady Lark as well. Still, it was Gil Kane who penciled this cover, and John Romita who inked it, doubtless making a few of his own trademark alterations along the way. The Squadron was Roy T’s homage to DC’s “Earth-Two.” [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: Perhaps the last of several collaborations between two of this side’s intrepid interviewees—John Buscema as penciler and George Tuska as inker—took place in The Avengers #54 (July 1968), in a tale scripted by Roy Thomas. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM issue 188, July 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.

Article Title writer/editorial

Taking Marvel’s Side

ou could’ve knocked me over with a feather-duster when publisher John Morrow pointed out to me, roughly a year ago, that issue #188 would mark Alter Ego’s 25th anniversary as a stand-alone title in the TwoMorrows family of magazines.

And, in fact, he was only talking about Volume 3 of the fanzine first launched by Jerry Bails with my help in March 1961. If we count A/E, Volume 2, which was the truncated flip side of Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist #1-5, our debut actually occurred in 1998, a full year earlier. But nobody celebrates 26th anniversaries, right? So A/E #188 it would be! I still remember the day publisher John M. and CBA editor Jon B. consulted with (read: ganged up on) me and strongly, er, suggested that Alter Ego leave its perch as CBA’s flip side and become a separate quarterly mag all its own. Sounded like fun— but how long would I be able to scrape up enough material to fill 80 pages every three months? But, what the hell. I was about to take a job teaching (yechh!) high school English again after 3½ decades, so I figured I could use a distraction—just as A/E, Vol. 1, had been during my teaching circa the JFK/LBJ era. Besides, though I was still doing a bit of pro-comics writing, I figured I could always use a few extra bucks to pay off the mortgage on our “40-acres-and-a-pool” spread in the middle of South Carolina. So here we are at 188 issues, each of which has run at least 80 pages plus covers (and we were filling 100 pages per issue for a little while there), and still going strong. Oh, and we paid off the

mortgage years ago. So when John Morrow suggested a doublesized celebratory 25th-anniversary edition, I was all for it—the more so since, by coincidence, he and I had recently been handed a treasure trove of short-to-medium-length interviews conducted by our longtime associate Dave Armstrong at various San Diego Comic-Cons between 1997 and 2001. And nine of those—plus special features on two mentors of mine, Stan Lee and Gardner Fox—plus the regular “re:,” FCA, and “Comic Crypt” features, and tributes to a few of our colleagues who have passed on, would definitely fill a 160-page special to overflowing! In particular, I loved John’s suggestion to use, as this issue’s covers, a matched pair of DC and Marvel artworks that echo my interest in the super-heroes of parallel worlds: Earth-One vs. Earth-Two on the DC side… while, on this side’s Marvel cover, The Avengers face the Squadron Sinister, the group I conceived in 1969 as Marvel’s answer to “Earth-Two,” even to the point of personally designing the costumes and colors of Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum, and the second Whizzer. On this side, we proudly present four interviews with artists associated largely (though not solely) with Marvel—plus an intriguing look “inside Stan Lee”—plus Michael T. Gilbert on the early Gil Kane. And, when you flip this mag over, you’ll encounter five Armstrong interviews related to mostly-DC artisans, plus a special photo-feature on the family and descendants of the late great Gardner Fox. Yes, TwoMorrows and I are definitely celebrating this time around. But you know what? So are you!

Bestest,

COMING IN AUGUST

189

A TITANIC TRIBUTE TO

JOHN ROMITA!

ers, Inc. Art TM & © Marvel Charact

• A wondrous & well-deserved salute to the memory of JOHN ROMITA—the artist who, among many other things, helped turn Amazing Spider-Man into Marvel’s top-selling comic! • Highlights from a pulsatin’ podcast recorded only days after John’s regretful passing—featuring JOHN ROMITA JR., JIM STARLIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, BRIAN PULIDO, ROY THOMAS, JAIME JAMESON, JOHN CIMINO, STEVE HOUSTON, & NILE SCALA! • Plus—DAVID ARMSTRONG’s 2001 San Diego Comic-Con interview with The Jazzy One—and ROMITA’s “top ten” greatest hits, by JOHN CIMINO! • Not to mention—FCA with C.C. BECK at DC, the early artwork of MURPHY ANDERSON, presented by MICHAEL T. GILBERT—& MORE!!

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“[The Comic Business] Gave Me Three Square Meals A Day” A 2001 Interview with BIG JOHN BUSCEMA Conducted by David Armstrong Transcribed by Alex Grand

A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: John Buscema, as most readers of this magazine (or of comicbooks over the past half-century) already know, was one of the greatest draftsmen in the history of the field, and one of Marvel Comics’ most prolific and important artists in the last third of the 20th century. This interview with him, conducted

by Dave Armstrong at the San Diego Comic-Con in summer of 2001, was one of the last that John gave, since he passed away of a returning cancer on January 10, 2002. At the time of this talk, however, the cancer seemed to be in remission and John was enjoying his retirement after so many decades in the comics industry.

John Buscema A 2000 photo, sandwiched between the first splash page he ever drew for Conan the Barbarian (#27, June 1973) and the final splash he drew for any color comic starring the Cimmerian: Conan: Death Covered in Gold #3 (Dec. 1999), the finale of a three-issue mini-series that pretty much closed out Marvel’s Conan license, the first time around. Buscema’s artwork for CTB #25 & 26 was published before #27, of course; but the latter issue was entirely drawn before the other two. Buscema was inked by Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua) in #27, and inked his own pencils in the ’99 series. Scripts by Roy Thomas. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the #27 scan. [TM & © Heroic Signatures, LLC.]

Art by John Romita. Captain America TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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“I Really Enjoyed Working As A Cartoonist”

GEORGE TUSKA On Crime Does Not Pay, Buck Rogers, Marvel, & DC Interview Conducted by David Armstrong Transcribed by Alex Grand

A/E

Genial George Tuska may be holding up a latter-day Superman drawing in this vintage photo, but he did his best-remembered super-hero art for Marvel’s Iron Man series. Case in point: the cover of issue #5 (Sept. 1968), inked by Frank Giacoia—George’s very first cover for Stan and the gang. Thanks to the GCD. [Cover TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

EDITOR’S NOTE: George Tuska was a real gentleman. You could sense it whenever you encountered him, even briefly. He was also one of those rare comicbook artists who have enjoyed more than one period during which they were successful and even influential. He was admired by most of the industry for his work on the Biro/Wood Crime Does Not Pay of the 1940s & ’50s… he achieved the common comicbook illustrator’s dream of drawing a major newspaper strip (Buck Rogers), and for several years at Marvel, he was one of the artists who could most be counted on to sell a comicbook—not just Iron Man but The Avengers, Sub-Mariner, and others. And he would top it all off with another comic-strip stint, on DC’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes, starring Superman. This brief interview was conducted by Dave Armstrong at the 1997 San Diego Comic-Con. GEORGE TUSKA: My mother was born in Kiev, Ukraine. She came into the United States in 1880, and my brother and sister were born in New York. My mother moved to Hartford , Connecticut, so I was born [there] on April 26, 1916. When I was young, I was in a hospital for an appendix operation, and after the operation I was able to walk around the hospital, where an elderly patient showed me how to draw Uncle Sam, cowboys, and Indians. That was the start. Before working for comics, I went to the National Academy of Design art school. I did the cosmetic drawing for bracelets, planning design. I didn’t care too much for it; that was my first job, and I don’t think we can call it art, but it was not my thing. I went to school to learn painting, alternative media, because my biggest desire was to become an illustrator. Back then there was a lot of illustration art: Argosy, Saturday Evening Post, American magazines. But when I got into comics, it was just about the same thing. It was illustration. But later on the illustrators disappeared because the magazines had gone away. It became different. DAVID ARMSTRONG: You went to school with Jack Kirby? TUSKA: The first time I met Jack Kirby was at an art school downtown in Manhattan, and he did comical pencils, which is fast, and I enjoyed watching him do all that. We had lunch together; he

Jim Mooney Discusses His High-Profile Work At Marvel & DC

Classy Reunion Talk about a high-scale homecoming! Jim Mooney drew this undated panorama depicting himself with characters he had drawn for DC, Marvel, and several other companies over the decades—and he drew in the bound volumes on the shelves in the background just to make certain he didn’t forget anybody. Thanks to Shaun Clancy. [DC characters TM & © DC Comics; Marvel characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art either TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders, or © Estate of Jim Mooney.]

and a little girl. It was really just great. She was sitting there, very morose, and she was playing with her hair, and I thought, I know I’m not going to get her to pose, but I took a shot of it. That’s the greatest, because you can get so much color in that skin. You can work color in various areas. You get a little purple here, a little red there, and sometimes even a shade of green. It’s magnificent. They’re magnificent to paint. DA: When is the show? MOONEY: I don’t have enough for a one-man show. DA: If you had to sum up your career in a sentence, what would it be? MOONEY: Sometimes: “Why?”

STAN LEE’s Dinner With ALAIN RESNAIS

The Writer/Co-Creator Of Fantastic Four Meets The Director of Hiroshima Mon Amour by Sean Howe

Our Colorful Cast (Left:) Stan, wife Joan, & daughter Joanie (now J.C.) Lee circa 1970 at their home in Hewlett Harbor, Long Island, NY. From the Sept. 9, 2007, edition of The New York Times Real Estate Magazine. [Photo TM & © Estate of Stan & Joan Lee.] (Right:) French film director Alain Resnais, around the time these comments were taped. And, in the center: the cover of Sean Howe’s 2012 comics history Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, published by Harper. [cover © the respective copyright holders.]

A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: While reading Sean Howe’s groundbreaking and unauthorized 2012 comics history Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, I was intrigued to encounter brief quotations from a tape recording Stan Lee had apparently made on May 14, 1969, of himself, his wife and daughter, and renowned French “New Wave” film director Alain Resnais. Of course, I knew that, around mid-1971, I had wound up writing the first four issues of The Amazing Spider-Man not scripted by Stan… solely because Stan had taken four months off from scribing comics in order to write a speculative screenplay with Resnais, who was then residing temporarily in Manhattan. I met Resnais myself that year, lunching with him once (at his invitation) at a Chinese restaurant near Marvel… and dining one evening, along with my wife Jeanie, with Alain and his first wife at the apartment they were subletting from the novelist Vladimir Nabokov (or was it the novelist’s brother’s place? One or the other). But I had no memory of Alain having dropped by the Marvel offices two years earlier, though he clearly had. If I met him at that time, it had been only in passing, and I had forgotten it.

assessment of the comicbook industry and of his place in it. This was a side of my boss and mentor that I had only rarely (and barely) glimpsed, and I longed to have a chance to listen to the entire tape.

What interested me about the couple of paragraphs of Lee quotes from that 1969 evening in Howe’s book is Stan’s aggressively negative

Stan Lee met the French filmmaker Alain Resnais in Manhattan in the spring of 1969. The director of Hiroshima Mon

I still haven’t had that opportunity—but, in 2023, Sean Howe wrote a lengthier account of the contents of that tape (to which he had obviously had access) for an online article… and we thank him for allowing us to reprint it below. Needless to say, Sean’s analyses and opinions in the piece are his own. It begins with Stan speaking at the commencement of the tape…. “…Now let’s try it. This is Wednesday, May the 14th, and here in the home of Stan and Joan Lee in New York we are privileged to have as our guest Alain Resnais, world-famous director and cinematographic great, who is just about to make a statement about his study of English as it pertains to Marvel Comics! And now, for all of our fans here and abroad, we present Mr. Alain Resnais!”

ALTER EGO #190

ALTER EGO #191

ALTER EGO #192

KIRBY COLLECTOR #92

KIRBY COLLECTOR #93

MITCH MAGLIO examines vintage jungle comics heroes (Kaänga, Ka-Zar, Sheena, Rulah, Jo-Jo/Congo King, Thun’da, Tarzan) with art by LOU FINE, WILL EISNER, FRANK FRAZETTA, MATT BAKER, BOB POWELL, ALEX SCHOMBURG, and others! Plus: the comicbook career of real-life jungle explorers MARTIN AND OSA JOHNSON, FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

#191 is an FCA (FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA) issue! Documenting the influence of MAC RABOY’s Captain Marvel Jr. on the life, career, and look of ELVIS PRESLEY during his stellar career, from the 1950s through the 1970s! Plus: Captain Marvel co-creator BILL PARKER’s complete testimony from the DC vs. Fawcett lawsuit, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and other surprises!

MARK CARLSON-GHOST documents the mid-1950s super-hero revival featuring The Human Torch, Captain America, SubMariner, Fighting American, The Avenger, Phantom Lady, The Flame, Captain Flash, and others—with art by JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA, BILL EVERETT, SIMON & KIRBY, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MORT MESKIN, BOB POWELL, and other greats! Plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

IN THE NEWS! Rare newspaper interviews with Jack, 1973 San Diego panel with Jack and NEAL ADAMS discussing DC’s coloring, strips Kirby ghosted for others, unused strip concepts, collages, a never-reprinted Headline Comics tale, Jimmy Olsen pencil art gallery, 2024 WonderCon Kirby panel (featuring DAVID SCHWARTZ, GLEN GOLD, and RAY WYMAN), and more! Cover inked by DAVID REDDICK!

SUPPORTING PLAYERS! Almost-major villains like Kanto the Assassin and Diablo, Rodney Rumpkin, Mr. Little, the Falcon, Randu Singh, and others take center stage! Plus: 1970 interview with Jack by SHEL DORF, MARK EVANIER’s 2024 Kirby Tribute Panel from Comic-Con, neverreprinted Simon & Kirby story, pencil art gallery, and more! Unused Mister Miracle cover inked by MIKE ROYER!

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BACK ISSUE #155

BACK ISSUE #156

BACK ISSUE #157

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #36 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #37

THIS ISSUE IS HAUNTED! House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Unexpected, Marvel’s failed horror anthologies, Haunted Tank, Eerie Publications, House II adaptation, Elvira’s House of Mystery, and more wth NEAL ADAMS, MIKE W. BARR, DICK GIORDANO, SAM GLANZMAN, ROBERT KANIGHER, JOE ORLANDO, STERANKO, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and others. Unused cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ & WRIGHTSON.

BRONZE AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS! 1980s GNs from Marvel, DC, and First Comics, Conan GNs, and DC’s Sci-Fi GN series! With BRENT ANDERSON, JOHN BYRNE, HOWARD CHAYKIN, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, JACK KIRBY, DON MCGREGOR, BOB McLEOD, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. WRIGHTSON cover.

KEITH GIFFEN TRIBUTE ISSUE! Starstudded celebration of the prolific writer/ artist of Legion of Super-Heroes, Rocket Raccoon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Justice League, Lobo, Blue Beetle, and others! With CARY BATES, TOM BIERBAUM, J.M. DeMATTEIS, DAN DIDIO, ROBERT LOREN FLEMING, CULLY HAMNER, SCOTT KOBLISH, PAUL LEVITZ, KEVIN MAGUIRE, BART SEARS, MARK WAID, and more!

TOM PALMER retrospective, career-spanning interview, and tributes compiled by GREG BIGA. LEE MARRS chats about assisting on Little Orphan Annie, work for DC’s Plop! and underground Pudge, Girl Blimp! The start of a multi-part look at the life and career of DAN DIDIO, part two of our ARNOLD DRAKE interview, public service comics produced by students at the CENTER FOR CARTOON STUDIES, & more!

STEVE ENGLEHART is spotlighted in a career-spanning interview, former DC Comics’ romance editor BARBARA FRIEDLANDER redeems the late DC editor JACK MILLER, DAN DIDIO discusses going from DC exec to co-publisher, we conclude our 100th birthday celebration for ARNOLD DRAKE, take a look at the 1970s underground comix oddity THE FUNNY PAGES, and more, including HEMBECK!

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RETROFAN #35

RETROFAN #36

RETROFAN #37

Saturday morning super-hero Space Ghost, plus The Beatles, The Jackson 5ive, and other real rockers in animation! Also: The Addams Family’s JOHN ASTIN, Mighty Isis co-stars JOANNA PANG and BRIAN CUTLER, TV’s The Name of the Game, on the set of Evil Dead II, classic coffee ads, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

Feel the G-Force of Eighties sci-fi toon BATTLE OF THE PLANETS! Plus: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.’s STEFANIE POWERS, CHUCK CONNORS, The Oddball World of SCTV, Rankin/Bass’ stop-motion Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, TV’s Greatest Catchphrases, one-season TV shows, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

The Jetsons, Freaky Frankensteins, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling’s HOLLYWOOD, the Archies and other Saturday morning rockers, Star Wars copycats, Build Your Own Adventure books, crazy kitchen gadgets, toymaker MARVIN GLASS, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: 1945-49

Covers the aftermath of WWII, when comics shifted from super-heroes to crime, romance, and western comics, BILL GAINES plotted a new course for EC Comics, and SIEGEL & SHUSTER sued for rights to Superman! By RICHARD ARNDT, KURT MITCHELL, and KEITH DALLAS. (288-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $49.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-099-1

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From “Shazam!” To“¡Sarka!”

The Curious Influence Of Fawcett’s Super-heroes In Spain During Franco’s Dictatorship by Ignacio Fernández Sarasola, Ph. D. Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

Censorship Of U.S. Comics In Spain

merican comics arrived in Spain during the Second Republic (1931-1936) with the publication of comic strips such as Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Tarzan, The Phantom, Prince Valiant, Tim Tyler’s Luck, Jungle Jim, and Terry and the Pirates. Many of them came from Italy, through the publisher Lottario Vecchi, who had acquired the publishing license from King Features Syndicate. When Mussolini vetoed the publication of American comics in Italy, Vecchi saw his only option as publishing them in republican and democratic Spain, where there were not the same restrictions as in his country. But all that changed with the coup d’état of General Francisco Franco (1936), the outbreak of the Civil War (1936-1939),

The World’s Mightiest Mortal(s) (Above:) Captain Marvel plays Sancho Panza— squire to Spain’s greatest hero, Don Quixote! From El Capitán Marvel #54, Hispano Americana de Ediciones, 1950. (Left:) Superfuerte (“Super Strong”) is an alien with powers very similar to Captain Marvel’s, but he’s actually a robot who’s referred to as “the plastic man,” as per the translation of this cover title. From an issue of Superfuerte (Ferma, 1958). Writers & artists of both Spanish series unknown. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics; Superfuerte splash TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Article Title writer/editorial

Taking DC’s Side

ou know what? Just to save myself some repetition, I’m going to assume you’ve already read my scurrilous little editorial on the flip side of this issue… and I’m gonna veer off in a slightly different direction. I’ll confess: I feel a little uncertain whether to count the Marvel or DC side of this double-length “flip” issue as the “A” side. After all, I’ve done the great majority of my professional work for Marvel Comics, between 1965 and 1980, then again between 1987 and the end of the last century—plus the occasional foray for Marvel since the Y2K threat turned out to be a non-starter. At the same time, DC Comics was my main love in childhood, and the company I started with in 1965 (albeit for only a week or two), as well as one to which I was under contract from 1981-1986 and for which I’ve done a bit of work since.

But, you know what? (That phrase again!) That’s the beauty of a book with half its pages printed upside down from the other half. Except for the minor matter of these editorials, it doesn’t really matter which side you sample first. The other one will still be there waiting for you, fresh as a Daisy air-rifle, when you finish this one. At the risk of a bit of repetition, John Morrow and I were thrilled to receive, shortly before we decided on this extra-sized celebration, a whole passel of shortish interviews conducted by longtime fan David Armstrong at various San Diego Comic-Cons between 1997 & 2001. Dave graciously made them available, already transcribed (many by Alex Grand of the well-regarded

“Comic Book Historians” podcasts), to TwoMorrows. John himself understandably vacuumed up the one with Joe Simon for The Jack Kirby Collector, but left the rest to me. I utilized most of the Marveland-DC-oriented ones for this special issue. (And I hope to feature the rest of Dave’s mother lode in future issues.) Actually, there is one among those interviews that definitely would’ve been in this edition, except for the unkind workings of fate. While this issue was in the early stages, my friend and Marvel colleague John Romita passed away after a long illness, so I’ve saved Dave’s talk with him for the very next issue of Alter Ego, which will be almost entirely devoted to Jazzy Johnny. Meanwhile, by sheer happenstance, four of the five DC-related interviews that follow are with folks associated with Showcase #4, the “Flash”-reviving comic that launched the Silver Age: editor Julius Schwartz, penciler Carmine Infantino, writer (of the second story in that mag) John Broome, and inker Joe Kubert—with future Flash cover embellisher Murphy Anderson tacked on at the end. And, fittingly, Jennifer DeRoss, who wrote the 2017 Gardner Fox biography Forgotten All-Star, is on hand with a photo-feature on the writer who scribed the very first story of the original Scarlet Speedster, back in Flash Comics #1 at the tail end of 1939. If you don’t already feel celebratory, you will by the time you’ve finished these 160 pages!

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“30¢ Was The Only Money I’ve Ever Spent On Comics In My Whole Life” JULIUS SCHWARTZ On Being A DC Editor For Four Decades

A/E

Interview Conducted by David Armstrong

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Silver Age of Comics really began with Julius Schwartz, editor of “The Flash” revival in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956)—and moved into high gear with his subsequent reincarnations of “Green Lantern,” “Justice League of America,” “Hawkman,” and “The Atom.” By then, however, the self-styled “Man of Two Worlds” had already been active in the wacky world of comicbooks for more than twenty years—in the world of science-fiction fan and even professional life for a decade and a half before that. You won’t find out all that much about Julie’s life from the responses he gave Dave Armstrong in this August 13, 1999, interview… but we all may learn a thing or three, all the same….

Julius Schwartz as pictured on the cover of his 2000 (co-written) autobiography—framed between comicbook images representing the early days of his Golden and Silver Age careers: (Left:) A couple of years after Julie went to work as Sheldon Mayer’s story editor at All-American, which was soon bought outright by DC, he would have storyedited this lead tale for Flash Comics #72 (June 1946). Script by Gardner Fox; art by E.E. Hibbard. Thanks to the Lambiek Comiclopedia website. (Above:) The Silver Age of Comics would be launched—even if nobody knew it at the time—with the debut of a new Flash in Showcase #4 (Oct.-Nov. 1956). He assigned the script for the origin story to Robert Kanigher… the art to penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Joe Kubert. [TM & © DC Comics.]

“It Was A Tough, Tough Way To Make A Living”

CARMINE INFANTINO Speaks About Being Artist, Writer, Editorial Director, & Publisher Interview Conducted by David Armstrong Transcribed by Alex Grand Carmine Infantino

(on left) with his friend/associate David Spurlock in April 2000, at the first comics convention at which the artist had appeared since leaving the post of DC Comics publisher. Photo by Mark Witz. Juxtaposed with it are the final Golden Age “Flash” solo splash that Infantino (or anybody else) drew, for the final issue of Flash Comics (#104, Feb. 1949), as inked by Frank Giacoia, and scripted by either John Broome or Robert Kanigher—reproduced from The Flash Archives, Vol. 1— —and Carmine’s cover for the very first Silver Age “Flash” appearance, in Showcase #4 (Sept.-Oct. 1956), inked by Joe Kubert and designed by Robert Kanigher. [TM & © DC Comics.]

A/E

Carmine Infantino Speaks About Being Artist, Writer, Editorial Director, & Publisher

EDITOR’S NOTE: Although he’d been a comics artist since the mid-1940s or so, Carmine Infantino became the first truly celebrated artist of the so-called Silver Age of Comics, since he penciled the “Flash” series that started it all in 1956, continuing on that feature for more than a decade. Later he became first in charge of DC’s covers, then the company’s editorial director, and then its publisher for several years. After that stint ended, he drew for Marvel, Warren, and even DC Comics again—but his heart clearly lay with the years when he was running things. And who’s to say he was wrong about that? Dave Armstrong conducted the interview on Aug. 14, 1999, at the San Diego Comic-Con. DAVE ARMSTRONG: When did you start drawing?

And I got a little work off him, some inking, some penciling, not very much. And then they asked me to work on staff, and my father said, “No way, you’re finishing school.” So that took care of that. And, a year or so later, Al Capp wanted me to come work for him in Boston. And again, my father said, “No way.” I didn’t think I was going to be a cartoonist, after all this went on. But I kept going. It was all right. DA: Well, it was a good way to make money, considering. In fact, you were still in school…. You made money while you were still a teenager. INFANTINO: Yeah I was making some money, but I wanted to go full blast. I wanted to get out of school. I wanted the works, you

CARMINE INFANTINO: I was a kid… I think seven, eight years old. I started to draw, and my father looked at the drawings and says, “You’re copying these things. Where are you getting them from?” And I didn’t. He never believed me. He never quite believed me. And from there, it just progressed onward. DA: Do you have any formal training? INFANTINO: Oh, yeah. I studied at the Museum of Brooklyn Art, the School of Industrial Art. I went also to the Art Students League. About 15 years I studied, you know, it was quite a bit. And then, later on, I went to the school I’m teaching at now, the School of Visual Arts. I studied there about three years, so I had quite a few years in. DA: Who were the biggest influences? INFANTINO: [Hal] Foster and [Milt] Caniff, to a degree, [Mort] Meskin and Jack Kirby, both. Edd Cartier… he was a big influence. I loved his work. Did you follow the pulps? I used to read The Shadow. Doc Savage. And then [Hillman comics editor] Ed Cronin put me on to Somerset Maugham, and so on and so forth. DA: When did you sell your first professional piece? INFANTINO: The first one I did was rejected…. It was a place called Fox Comics, a tiny outfit…. I think I was 16 at the time and I brought it in and I was looking forward to my check, but [the editor] said, “I can’t accept this. It’s not professional,” and they turned it away. Then I got more determined, and the next job they took it. I think I was about 17½ or so. My first job. DA: And what year was that? ’43? ’44? INFANTINO: Just about that, yeah. I did one job [for Fox] and that was it. Then I said, No way, that’s it. I got even. DA: Did you find out from the rest of the business that he was the cheapest guy in the business?

A Heap Of Trouble

INFANTINO: Well, nobody else would hire me, so it was the only place I could go. So that’s the only reason I worked there. I made the rounds…. Joe Simon was the editor in those days of Timely Comics… Marvel Comics today.

Carmine relates how Hillman editor Ed Cronin pushed him to write, as well as pencil, stories such as (probably) this one for “The Heap” in Airboy Comics, Vol. 5, #4 (May 1948). We’re re-presenting a climactic page because the original comicbook swampster didn’t appear on the splash page anyway. Inks by Leonard Starr. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. Oh, and A/E’s editor was honored to present a hardcover three-volume series of the complete Hillman “Heap” stories for PS Artbooks a decade or so back. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

“It was A Tough, Tough Way To Make A Living”

know?.... And in those days, you got to remember, if you finished high school, that was it. To go to college was just out of the question…. [After high school] I worked for a number of smaller companies. I worked for a place called Hillman Comics, a man [named] Ed Cronin over there…. And before that, there was a wonderful guy on 23rd Street. He called it a “factory,” where they had artists sitting there drawing day and night. Harry Chesler. Harry would give me five bucks just to come in, sit there, watch people draw, go back and forth and eat every day, which is very nice. Now, a lot of people hated him, but he was awfully good to me. I can never say a [bad] word about him. DA: He treated younger artists who were getting into the business better than the guys who [were already working for him]? INFANTINO: Yeah, the other guys—oh, boy! He was rough. And he was a character, with his little derby [and] the desk. There was a rickety elevator that went all the way up to the fourth floor, and you got out, and he’s facing you behind this old desk and puffing on a cigar. And he had a Milton Caniff drawing in back of him. That was his standard. And the other room was like a prison, really; artists were sitting. It was interesting. But I learned and I learned; that was important. DA: When you were at Chesler, did you end up learning composition or layout from any of the guys? INFANTINO: No, I went to the Art Students League. There was a teacher there named Jim McNulty, an elderly guy, but brilliant. He’s the one that taught me composition design, just a tremendous man. That’s where I got most of it from. From there, I went to Hillman Comics. That was editor Cronin. He was a great teacher. He’s the one that made me study writing. He kept pounding on me, and he made me write some stuff for him. I wrote things like “The Heap,” “Airboy,” a couple of crime stories for him, and then he put me onto Somerset Maugham and de Maupassant, et cetera, et cetera. So I began picking up my writing skills there, right? Early age. I was about 17 at the time. DA: And where did you learn story flow?

The Tortoise & The Hero We couldn’t find any evidence that Infantino ever drew the Golden Age “Johnny Quick” feature, which wouldn’t have been for editor Shelly Mayer in any event—but Mayer did put him on “The Flash” in such issues as Comic Cavalcade #24 (Dec. 1947-Jan. 1948). Inks by Frank Giacoia; script by Robert Kanigher. (NOTE: The “Johnny” series that Carmine was talking about was probably “Johnny Thunder.”) Thanks to Rod Beck. [TM & © DC Comics.]

INFANTINO: Oh, that’s adapting. Just doing and doing and doing. That’s how you got it. I was working for DC for a while, and then I got a call from Simon and Kirby: would I come work for them? I knew they were cheap…. But working with Kirby was worth it. So I went down there. I didn’t quit DC. I did that stuff at night, and I went there to work with Jack…. I learned a hell of a lot from him. I’ll never forget that fast guy. Tremendous. Tremendous. We got to be good friends over the years. DA: And what kind of stories did you do at DC?

INFANTINO: I think I started on a thing called “Johnny Quick” or something. This was the whole transition period when Sheldon Mayer had taken over and he was moving the older guys out and he moved [in] people like myself. Kubert and Alex Toth were coming in at that time.

DA: And what was it like to work with someone like Shelly? INFANTINO: I loved him…. Frank Giacoia—he’s gone now, he’s dead—we went to his office, very impressed with him. We’re sitting there, and all of a sudden, the door opens behind us and little [Irwin] Hasen comes in with a T-square, leaps on the desk. Shelly grabs a T-square, and they start dueling all around the room, and Frank and I look at each other. What the hell is going on? It’s supposed to be a business. And then they touch swords, they kiss each other, and Hasen walked out, and that was our initiation. National Comics. They were both crazy. Shelley was really mad. DA: He was a cartoonist.