BILL EVERETT & JOE KUBERT INTERVIEWED BY
GIL & NEAL KANE ADAMS
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DAN ADKINS ROSS ANDRU DICK AYERS CARL BURGOS JOHN BUSCEMA SAL BUSCEMA GENE COLAN DAN DeCARLO AL FELDSTEIN PAUL GUSTAVSON LLOYD JACQUET JACK KIRBY RUDY LAPICK BOB POWELL MIKE SEKOWSKY JOHN SEVERIN MARIE SEVERIN AL WILLIAMSON WALLY WOOD MICHAEL T. GILBERT LANDON CHESNEY BILL SCHELLY JIM AMASH ROY THOMAS & MORE!!
Art ©2003 Estate of Bill Everett; Sub-Mariner TM & ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.
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Vol. 3, No. 22 / March 2003
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Editor Roy Thomas
Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash
Design & Layout Christopher Day
Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke
FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck
Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert
Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White, Mike Friedrich
Production Assistant Eric Nolen-Weathington
Cover Artists/Colorists Bill Everett C.C. Beck
Mailing Crew Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace
And Special Thanks to: Neal Adams Heather Antonelli Boris Aplon Bob Bailey Dennis Beaulieu Blake Bell Jack Bender John Benson Bill Black Jerry K. Boyd Frank Bresee Tom Brevoort Mike Burkey Diego Ceresa Russ Cochran Bob Cosgrove Rich Danny Teresa R. Davidson Al Dellinges Shel Dorf Linda S. Downey Jack Elmy Don Ensign Mark Evanier Wendy Everett Al Feldstein Keif Fromm Grant Geissman Joe Gill Jason Gillespie Ron Goulart James P. Greiss The Guys at The Mint David G. Hamilton Jim Harmon Bill Harper
Ron Harris Gary Patrick Hart Mark & Stephanie Heike Hal Higdon Roger Hill Elaine Kane Robert Knuist Joe Kubert Rudy Lapick Mitch Lee Jon Lundin Don Mangus Simon Miller Fred Mommsen Matt Moring Pete Morisi Brian K. Morris Karl Nelson Jerry Ordway James Plunkett Richard Pryor Rich Rubenfeld Carole Seuling Gwen Seuling Mike Shields Robin Snyder Bill Spicer Kevin Stawieray Marc Swayze Dann Thomas Mort Todd Alex Toth Michael J. Vassallo Hames Ware John Wells Bob Wiener
Bill Everett & Friends Section
Contents Writer/Editorial: “It Is an Ancient Mariner” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Four of a Kind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Bill Everett & Joe Kubert interviewed by Gil Kane & Neal Adams in 1970! Prince Namor, the Sub-MaREENer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Roy Thomas on his nearly 60-year love affair with Bill Everett’s aquatic creation—with art by the Buscemas, the Severins, and other great Namor delineators.
InJackSearch of Lloyd Jacquet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Elmy on his quest for information about the mysterious founder of Funnies, Inc.! Lapick of the Litter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Jim Amash interviews Golden Age Timely inker Rudy Lapick about his life and times. Landon Chesney (1938-–2001) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Bill Schelly, Jason Gillespie, and Bill Spicer on a major artist of 1960s fandom. The Incredible Mystery of the “Lost” EC Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Michael T. Gilbert re-examines a couple of Wally Wood’s little-known landmarks. Captains Courageous! Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: In 1947, after an exhaustive (and doubtless exhausting) effort, young future novelist and comics historian Ron Goulart finally got Bill Everett to draw an illustration of The Sub-Mariner for him. In fact, Bill rendered it in color, and even worked in his apology for the delay! Ron says he sold the piece years back, alas, long before it commanded the price it did recently when collector Mike Shields purchased it. We thank Mike for sharing this sunken treasure with us—and Ron for getting Wild Bill to draw it in the first place! [Art ©2003 Estate of Bill Everett; Sub-Mariner TM & ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: Ye Editor feels strongly that, groundbreaking as the first 2-3 years of “Sub-Mariner” were before Bill Everett went into the Army after Pearl Harbor, his Namor artwork reached its peak in the 1950s. This panel from Young Men #26 (March ’54), Bill’s third outing during the 1953-55 Timely super-hero revival, is reproduced from photocopies of the original art. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published monthly by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8 ($10 Canada, $11 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $120 Canada, $132 elsewhere. 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 Canada. FIRST PRINTING.
Title writer/editorial
2
“It Is An Ancient Mariner...” No, I’m not gonna launch into paeans of praise for the late great Bill Everett again, much as I feel like doing so. Marie Severin and Ramona Fradon skewered me pretty good on that score on their marvelous cover for Alter Ego #16. Still, re-reading the text of Gil Kane interviewing Bill at a New York convention for the first time in more than thirty years did remind me of what remains, and what has been taken away. Bill passed away less than three years after that July 1970 luncheon... Gil nearly thirty years later. Yet their words, their images, their contribution to the comic art form remain... alongside those of Joe Kubert and Neal Adams, who shared that luncheon with them and the also-departed Phil Seuling. I was surprised to find even my own hyperactive self quoted in that interview, piping up from the audience to say my two-bits’ worth about a question put to Bill, and play just a mite to the Peanut Gallery. I’m not exaggerating, in my article herein, about my affection for Bill’s hero, The Sub-Mariner... either for the character himself, or for the way his best artists and writers have handled him over the years. In my couple of stints on Namor, I probably didn’t do as well by him as I should have, but I tried. And if it’s been a decade or two since I really followed what the latest young hotshot was doing with the “deep-sea avenger”—well, at some stage, you’ve just gotta let go. I prefer to think of The Sub-Mariner pretty much as he was in the 1940s, and in the ’50s, and to some extent in the ’60s and ’70s... and I don’t care much about what’s been done with him since, good, bad, or ugly. If you do care, more power to you. There’s plenty to do examining what Bill Everett and Carl Pfeufer (who’s actually covered in this issue for his Tom Mix work more than for his Sub-Mariner) and comic-shop entrepreneur Lloyd Jacquet and others did with the character during his first thirty or forty years. Let somebody else pick up the slack from there. We’ve got enough to do. “It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three.” I’m just glad I was one of the ones that Bill Everett stopped—first as a child in the 1940s, then as a teenager in the ’50s, and again in the 1960s when, lo and behold, he turned out to be real flesh and blood, after all, behind that fancy signature and that wonderful writing and artwork. They’re all flesh and blood, behind the words and the drawings. Let’s keep on trying to find out what they were/are like, and why and how they did what they did. I’ll keep at it if you will. Bestest,
A splash page from Sub-Mariner #22 (Spring 1947). Certainly not Bill Everett. Probably not Carl Pfeufer or Lee Elias, either. So who? Syd Shores? Possibly. Mike Sekowsky? Maybe. Or maybe two or three or even more artists pitched in for a jam session, to beat a deadline. And naturally we have no idea who wrote the story. But collector Matt Moring kindly sent us this scan... and even if the art is by that muchmaligned artist known as “Anonymous,” it’s still worth printing. Like the other great super-heroes, The Sub-Mariner is bigger than those who have written and drawn his adventures. Who made up Paul Bunyan? [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
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Four Of A Kind
Four Of A Kind BILL EVERETT & JOE KUBERT Interviewed By GIL KANE & NEAL ADAMS July 1970
Bill Everett (left) and Joe Kubert (right), at the 1970 “power luncheon.” They’re flanked here by exquisite examples of their art—courtesy, respectively, of Rich Rubenfeld and Jim Amash. [Art ©2003 Estate of Bill Everett & ©2003 Joe Kubert, respectively; Sub-Mariner TM & ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Hawkman TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]
[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: During the decade-plus period from the late 1960s through the early 1980s when Phil Seuling’s New York Comic Art Conventions over July 4th weekends were the biggest held anywhere, our amiable host had a practice of holding a special luncheon on one day of each convention. One or more major guests would lunch on the dais with Phil, while other conventioneers—inevitably including pros as well as fans—ate at other tables. After lunch, Phil would either interview the guests, or have someone else do the honors. In 1970 he did a super-talent tag-team, inviting artist Gil Kane to interview writer-artist Bill Everett, creator of “The Sub-Mariner,” “Amazing-Man,” and other features, with relative artistic newcomer Neal Adams there to ask questions of one of his idols, Joe Kubert, known especially for his work on “Hawkman,” Tor, and DC’s war comics. The interview was later edited by John Benson and was printed in the 1971 convention’s program book. All photos accompanying this reprint of that interview are from the latter. Thanks to John Benson and to Phil Seuling’s daughters Gwen and Heather—and for that matter to Joe and Neal—for their blessing to re-present the interview... and to Fred Mommsen for supplying a pristine copy of the program book so we could get the best photo reproduction possible at this late date. Special thanks, too, to Carole Seuling, for putting us in touch with Fred, Gwen, and Heather... and to Joe, Neal, Wendy Everett, Elaine Kane, and John Benson for their blessing re this re-publication. —Roy.]
Bill Everett & Joe Kubert Interviewed By Gil Kane & Neal Adams GIL KANE: It’s my privilege to introduce Bill Everett. Bill was one of my original inspirations... and the thing that I always thought of in connection with Bill was, he was an artist of great facility, but more than that, he was an unparalleled storyteller.
actually had only two years of art training, and I didn’t really have that. I was credited with two years of training because I got through three years in about a year and a half, and this was only due to an inborn talent and drive. I had to get somewhere fast. That’s about the size of my formal training. I think that anything else was just an innate talent and a desire to put things on paper.
I think that, for instance, in Aman, the Amazing-Man, he did one of the most remarkable jobs of telling a story. You could follow the action so perfectly from panel to panel. The dynamic storytelling, the tension buildup, the action, the continuity of movement: all of these things were done so beautifully that you didn’t realize you were looking at single frames. There was just this feeling of continuity all the way through. And, of course, when he started to do “Sub-Mariner,” why, he was virtually at the peak of his capacity as a storyteller, and he did absolutely brilliant stuff. Regrettably, he hasn’t done much work on “Sub-Mariner” since that time. Bill was the best artist on “Sub-Mariner” because he had the best feeling for the character, and the character had a life and personality all its own that it never had for anyone else. And it was in that certain storytelling quality and that special characterization that Bill really rose above most of the other artists in comics. Bill, what is your background? What sort of art education did you have?
5
KANE: You were always, in my estimation, one of the best writers that comics ever produced. The writing on the Amazing-Man was just superb. And I thought Sub-Mariner was one of the great character creations in comics. It was the first time someone attempted to do a leading character who was a villain, but still attractive, you know; he created the tension in the feud with The Human Torch. Were you interested in pulps? Were you interested in movies? What shaped your taste in stories? EVERETT: I knew Gil was going to ask me some tough ones, and this is a tough one to answer. I came into the comic Centaur’s Amazing-Man Comics, the first comic book named business almost by accident, by necessity. I after a super-hero, started with #5, picking up the had done some writing; but as far as my numbering of an earlier mag. Issue #11 sports the best of inspiration, if I were to use that term, I Everett’s covers for the title, near the end of his tenure, don’t know that I really had any. I was as he elected to devote himself to Timely Comics and “The Sub-Mariner.” Thanks to Pete Morisi for the color sort-of led into cartooning by my father’s photocopy from his own (obviously well-read) copy. wish. He always wanted me to be a [©2003 the respective copyright holder.] cartoonist, and he died, unfortunately, before he saw that come true. But that probably was in back of the whole thing.
BILL EVERETT: First, I want to thank everybody here for the honor of sitting at this table. Without you people I don’t think we’d amount to too much today. Certainly not what we are. To answer Gil’s question, my formal art training was never complete. I have to first state that I was born with this talent and can take no credit for it. If I take any credit at all, it’s in having been able to do something with it. I’ve had a pencil in my hand almost all my life. I
Gil Kane (at left) interviews Bill Everett. At right is Gil’s cover for The Invaders #24 (Jan. 1978), which fronted for a reprinting of the first Namor/Human Torch team-up (as opposed to battle) by Everett and Carl Burgos, from Marvel Mystery Comics #17 (March 1941). Inks by Frank Giacoia. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
As far as storytelling is concerned, I read a great deal when I was very young, through junior high school and high school. I read what was then considered the deeper novels, the high-class literature. I didn’t go much for pulp material. I didn’t even read the daily comics. My education was very limited. I dropped out of high school; I dropped out of the art school, as well. I had to make up for this in reading, and I wanted to be a writer. But if I had any idol at all, it would have been Jack London. I
16
Four Of A Kind EVERETT: Again, let me affirm that I have absolutely no editorial sayso now in the writing of The Sub-Mariner. Roy can answer that better than I. I think it’s being handled OK, a far as today’s standards are concerned. I don’t see any great objection to it. But what the future will be, we don’t know; no one can tell about that. I see no damage being done by it. When we’re struggling for anything that can reach the reader, if that’s the trick that does it, then it’s OK for now. But tomorrow may be something new. KUBERT: I agree with what Bill said earlier this evening, in that we are primarily an entertainment medium. I think that within the scope of entertainment, though, we could touch an awful lot of areas that are perhaps a little more serious and very much cogent, and of our times. However, I agree again with Bill when he says that, once we become a preaching media, we kind-of toll our own death knell. Primarily and foremost, I think the stories have to be exciting, have to be entertaining, have to be something that one wants to read. If we’re going to try to jam lessons down people’s throats, I think we’d be making a terrible mistake. However, that’s not going to negate the fact that certain important issues can, should, and will be incorporated in most of the material that will be coming out of National. SEULING: I’d like to ask you all to join me in thanking all of these people up here. [applause]
[Above:] An Adams sketch of everybody’s favorite Caped Crusader, a character Neal helped define for the 1970s and since. [Below:] For a late-’70s DC Calendar, Joe Kubert drew the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman battling The Gentleman Ghost. Thanks to Al Dellinges. [Adams art ©2003 Neal Adams; Batman TM & ©2003 DC Comics; Hawkman art ©2003 DC Comics.]
quite questionable. I doubt it. I would like to, but if I did I would probably bring it back to his initial origin, the Antarctic, and take it from there. Yes, Roy? ROY THOMAS: I can probably answer that better than Bill. Three or four years ago, for a period of about three years, Bill shared an apartment with me, first in the [Greenwich] Village and then later on East 87th Street, and we talked an awful lot about The Sub-Mariner. So the recent return, with Sal Buscema penciling, to the shape of the head and some other features of the ’40s Sub-Mariner were all indirectly influenced by Bill through a conscious desire of mine to undo what has been done with the character for the last four or five years, albeit by very talented people. Probably I may never be able to implement this completely, but I guarantee that the first time that I feel that I have total carté blanche (I have about 50-50 now), The Sub-Mariner will, within a period of a few issues—you can’t do it just overnight—probably regress to the point of using the same kind of slang [Bill used]. I don’t know about “Galloping guppies,” but—[laughter] Even if he stays a prince, I would find ways to get back to something more of my idea of a human being. And I can practically guarantee that one would never again read in a Marvel comic book the expression “Imperius Rex!” [applause] QUESTION SIX: Recently, characters such as Green Lantern and The Sub-Mariner have been active in some of the social issues of the day, such as ecology and the race problem. I’d like to ask Mr. Everett if he is in agreement on how The Sub-Mariner is being handled in this matter. And I’d like to ask Mr. Kubert, is this going to be a major part in the future of comics, with heroes combating social problems?
[POSTSCRIPT: For those interested in learning more about the foregoing foursome: the most extensive interview ever done with Bill Everett, circa 1970, was reprinted in the 1997 trade paperback Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine; after officially going out of print, a handful of copies were found by Hamster Press publisher Bill Schelly, and are available through his website; see his ad elsewhere in this issue. A short 1963 interview and other features on Joe Kubert and Tor are on view in A/E V3#8. Both Gil Kane and Neal Adams are featured in the trade paperback Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection; Gil is also spotlighted in A/E, Vol. 3, #2-4. All except the Hamster volume are available from TwoMorrows Publishing; see its usual ad section.]
Prince Namor
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Prince Namor, The Sub-MaREENer! A Brief Look at a Six-decade Love Affair with Bill Everett’s Aquatic Creation by Roy Thomas Fathoms of the ’40s Yep, that’s what I—and every other comic-book-reading kid I knew back in the late 1940s—called him: The Sub-MaREENer—accent on the third syllable. It makes more sense than you might imagine. No pre-teen in those days was likely to have read Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, from which Bill Everett always claimed he took the post-hyphen part of that cognomen. Fact is, the unhyphenated word “submariner” (pronounced just as in the title of this piece) had been used during the Second World War, if not before, to refer to a member of a sub’s crew... not that I consciously recall hearing that phrase in the latter half of the ’40s. From 1946, at the age of five and six, when I first read comics, I never used the “The” part of his monicker, either, since it wasn’t part of the logo... nor do I recall ever thinking of him as “Namor”—just plain “Sub-Mariner.” What does puzzle me in retrospect is that, though I was aware from an early age of both SubMariner and DC’s equivalent hero, Aquaman, it was always the Timely hero I imagined myself when playing games in the shallow end of the local swimming-pool. Since Aquaman had a flashy costume (in those days when Namor wore black trunks with yellow stripes) and could order sea creatures around, I can only imagine it was a combination of Namor’s striking physical attributes (pointed ears, quasi-triangular head with wildly arched eyebrows, and winged feet) and the fact that he had his own comic, that made me prefer him. Aquaman only got to wade around for a few pages a month in Adventure Comics, and was never depicted on covers. My love for Sub-Mariner got me into trouble in the first grade. To my later sorrow, from an early age I often would cut hero figures out of my comics and use them to make up my own stories. One day in school, a fellow inmate and I were passing cut-outs of Subby and the Human Torch back and forth in the same row—when the teacher spotted us and confiscated them. I recall feeling it woefully unfair that he wouldn’t give
(Left:) Though Bill Everett drew the story “The Shark Strikes!” within, Syd Shores drew the cover for Sub-Mariner #23 (Summer ’47). (Above:) Namor and Namora in a full page of Everett-drawn action, in #30 (Feb. ’49). Thanks, respectively, to Blake Bell and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
them back to me even when the school day was over. I doubt I ever again brought a comic book to school. I’d like to say I was always aware that some of the “Sub-Mariner” stories between 1946 and ’49 were drawn by Bill Everett and were head and shoulders above the rest. But I’ve no recollection of that. I just liked Sub-Mariner... period. And I was very sad when, in ’49, both SubMariner and Marvel Mystery Comics, as well as other favorite Marvel and non-Marvel titles, abruptly vanished from the Jackson, Missouri, drugstores where I bought them. (And yes, those comics were always “Marvel Comics” to me, because of the logo they sported off and on during the late ’40s—never “Timely,” a term I didn’t hear till the early 1960s.)
24
In Search Of...
In Search Of Lloyd Jacquet An Account of One Man’s Quest for an Elusive Figure in Comics History by Jack Elmy
The problem is this: information on Lloyd Victor Jacquet is scarce. For a man who was there at the birth of comic books in 1934, and remaining a major player for the next quarter of a century, there is precious little on him. Hell, he was instrumental in launching Marvel Comics, yet is only mentioned in passing in Les Daniels’ huge Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics. I became interested in the elusive Mr. Jacquet while researching Bill Everett, the creator of The Sub-Mariner. Everett worked closely with Jacquet for four years. Since learning about Jacquet might shed some light on Everett, I set out to find what I could. What follows are the ups and downs of my search for Lloyd Jacquet. My first source was Bill Everett himself. Though he died in 1973, he left behind two important records: a biographical letter to Mad’s thenassociate editor Jerry de Fuccio in 1961, and an interview conducted by Roy Thomas for the first volume of Alter Ego circa 1970, wherein Everett recounted how he met Jacquet in 1938 at Centaur Comics. Jacquet was an editor and Everett was just getting into the business. A year later, Jacquet and Everett jumped ship to form Funnies, Incorporated, a studio that prepared comics for publishers. Everett and Jacquet were the lifeblood of Funnies, Inc., until 1942, when they had a falling-out.
(Left to right:) “Funnies, Inc., president and comic book pioneer” Lloyd Jacquet, Frank Torpey, and Ray Gill. This photo appeared in The New York World-Telegram in 1942 in conjunction with a three-part article by “staff writer Douglas Gilbert,” which was recently reprinted in Comic Book Marketplace—Special Edition #5 (Summer 2002) from an early-1990s issue of CBM. Frank Torpey was reportedly the man who talked Martin Goodman into publishing comic books—while artist Ray Gill was the brother of writer Joe Gill; both Torpey and the latter are mentioned in this article about what it called “comic strip magazines.” Our thanks to CBM editor Russ Cochran for his blessing to pick up this historic 60-year-old photo. Anytime we can return the favor, Russ....
[A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Generally, Alter Ego or related magazines feature either an interview with a comics creator, or an article about him/her. When Jack Elmy contacted me recently about his attempts to learn more about Lloyd Jacquet, a major but mysterious figure in comic book history from the late 1930s on, I found myself fascinated to hear about the process—the hunt, as it were—and I thought the story of his mission to date might make interesting reading, showing the trouble that comics historians must often go through behind the scenes, before that article or interview emerges. Enjoy! I did. —Roy.] Sometimes I wish ghosts were real. At least that way there would be a chance of waking up in the middle of the night to find Lloyd Jacquet’s spectre sitting at the end of my bed, lighting his corncob pipe, ready to answer my questions. But I don’t live in the anything-goes world of comics. If Jacquet is to answer my questions, I’ll need to find another way to ask them.
Next, I reached for the various history books on comics. I have about twenty of them, some more trustworthy than others. They didn’t, however, have much more to offer. Most of their information on Jacquet was from Everett’s letter and interview. Jerry Bails and Hames Ware’s 1970s Who’s Who of American Comic Books supplied a few more facts, but nothing biographical, except the name of Jacquet’s wife, Grace. My next source was an unlikely one. Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist #9 was wholly devoted to Charlton Comics, which I wasn’t interested in at the time, just two or three years ago. I skimmed through it anyway, however, and stumbled upon a reference to Jacquet in an interview with writer Joe Gill. Gill had freelanced for Funnies, Inc., after World War II. He didn’t say much about Jacquet, though, only that she was a wonderful woman to work for. What? It took me a minute to realize that Gill must be referring to Grace Jacquet. I was intrigued enough to track down Joe Gill. The interview was conducted by Chris Irving, whose e-mail address I got hold of. Chris put me in touch with Gill, with whom I exchanged a couple of phone calls and letters. The “wonderful woman” Gill had referred to was indeed Jacquet’s wife, who, Gill told me, was an essential part of the shop’s day-to-day operation. Something curiously absent in the history books. Joe Gill knew Lloyd Jacquet, too, but they weren’t close. According to Gill, he was a gentleman, but also a “stuffed shirt.” Gill mainly dealt with Grace. He had a couple of other facts for me. Jacquet was in the Naval Reserve and was called to duty in Naval Intelligence during World War II. He was middle-aged when Gill knew him in the late 1940s, and at one point his wife became ill and had to have a lung removed. A friend of Joe Gill’s, popular novelist Mickey Spillane, freelanced for Jacquet before the war. In 1999 Spillane wrote an introduction to The
...Lloyd Jacquet Golden Age of Marvel, Vol. 2., wherein he wrote: “Our boss, Lloyd Jacquet, a dead ringer for Douglas MacArthur (corncob pipe and all) was a wonderful man, but could never understand living among wildcat writers and artists.” I was lucky enough to get in touch with Spillane. When I asked him to describe Jacquet, he only needed one word: puzzled. According to Spillane, Jacquet didn’t have the business acumen to take full advantage of the booming comic book industry. When I thought about this, I had to agree. Funnies, Inc., had a proven track record of supplying the material that launched companies and made publishers rich. Why couldn’t Jacquet find enough financing to get into publishing himself? Instead, he was constantly staving off bankruptcy and paying his freelancers subpar rates. When I asked Spillane about Grace Jacquet, he said he knew of her, but she rarely visited the office. At first that seemed at odds with Gill’s story. But when I realized that Spillane worked with Jacquet before the war, and Gill worked with him after, it added up. In all likelihood, Grace Jacquet took an active role in the shop when her husband reentered the service, and simply remained after he returned.
25 Comics) wrote to me, saying: “I brush away the cobwebs of my mind and see Lloyd Jacquet at his desk, pipe ’tween his lips and in a tweed jacket. Mickey Spillane had it so right! Jacquet did indeed remind one of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (sitting on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri signing the surrender papers for the Japanese in 1941!). In this case giving me my first assignment (‘The Ferret’ or ‘The Fox’?!). At that time, in the small world of comic book publishers, Jacquet had that touch of class—in a class by himself.” I next checked the Social Security Death Index, which lists several Lloyd Jacquets. There is Lloyd Jacquet of Louisiana (1906-1965), who maybe could be ours; another Louisianan Jacquet (1933-1972) who is obviously too young; and a Lloyd Jaquet (no “c”) who was born March 7, 1899, and died in March 1970. Despite the missing “c” in the name, this was the most promising match.
Of course, Internet newsgroups can be a rich source of information. It was on the Silver Age/Golden Age Yahoo! Groups message board (also known as SAGA) that I came across a gem. The first of the first: Bill Everett’s splash page for the 8-page “Sub-Mariner” story that appeared Collector/historian Robert first in the black-&-white, Jacquet-produced Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 in 1939. Soon afterward, with four new pages added, it was reprinted in color in Martin Goodman’s Marvel Beerbohm had unearthed Comics #1. Thanks to Bob Wiener for sending Roy (again!) copies of that b-&-w art; he first did an article Jacquet had so years ago, so the 8-pager could be reprinted for the first time ever in The Invaders #20 (Sept. written for the 1977). Its most recent re-presentation was in the 1997 trade paperback The Golden Age Newsdealer trade of Marvel, Vol. 1. (See p. 10 in this issue for how Everett retold this episode in 1954.) At this point I was magazine in 1957, called beginning to realize that Some comics researchers have long questioned whether Sub-Mariner grew out of a planned “The Coming of the but never-realized movie about sunken Atlantis; Ye Editor frankly doubts it, but would love to none of my sources had Comic (Book),” in which know for sure! If so, that might explain why Atlantis, which Bill admitted in his circa-1970 been really close with Jacquet recounts his interview for Alter Ego was part of his inspiration for the hero’s origin, is never mentioned in Lloyd Jacquet. Neither beginnings in comic books the feature until 1962, when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revived Namor in Fantastic Four #4. Hey, Everett, Gill, nor Spillane with Major Malcolm d’you suppose Bill will finally get recognition on-screen (or his kids any money) if and when ever described him as a Wheeler-Nicholson in the proposed Namor the Sub-Mariner film comes out? [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] friend or mentor. A picture 1934. In addition to his begins to emerge of fascinating account of the Jacquet, a military man twenty years older than the “wildcat writers and early days of comics, Jacquet gives us a biographical nugget when he artists” he works with, having a hard time clicking with the younger refers to the newspaper The Brooklyn Daily Eagle as his old alma generation. I did, however, find one “Wildcat” artist—quite literally— mater. who had only nice things to say about the man. The most intriguing thing about the article is the introduction, which Irwin Hasen (co-creator of the “Wildcat” feature in DC’s Sensation
30
Rudy Lapick
Lapick Of The Litter A Timely Conversation with RUDY LAPICK about the Late-’40s Bullpen Interview & Transcription by Jim Amash [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: Unless you’ve been reading Archie Comics for the past few decades, you may not know who Rudy Lapick is or have seen his work. That’s a shame, because it’s very possible that Rudy has inked more comic book pages than any other inker in comics history. Along with his former partner Dan DeCarlo, Rudy spent most of the past fifty years making kids laugh at Timely features like My Friend Irma, Millie the Model, and My Girl Pearl, and later at all the Archie characters in Riverdale, USA. On his own, Rudy’s pen work over nearly all the other Archie artists during the last three decades helped define (and refine) the Archie “look.” I don’t know how many pages Rudy has inked in his career, and I can’t ask him to count them, because he’s still sitting at the drawing board adding to his total. Hey, at least I got him away from the board long enough for a brief look at Timely Comics and its colorful 1940s personnel! —Jim.] JIM AMASH: When and where were you born? RUDY LAPICK: I was born in the Bronx, New York. November 17, 1926. JA: Is your name pronounced “La-pick” or “La-pick” or “Lay-pick”? LAPICK: It’s pronounced “la-pick.” It’s my fault for any confusion, because the family spelt the name “Lapick.” My brother told me to spell it “LaPick,” because people kept mispronouncing my name. But that’s not my true name anyway. When my grandparents came to this country from Italy in the early 1900s, Italians weren’t too popular, so he changed the family name from Lapicarelli to Lapick. You know, when I got married, I intended to change my name to Lapicarelli, because I was proud of being Italian. But there was a lot work involved in doing that, so I didn’t bother.
Though his name wasn’t on the stories, Rudy Lapick inked much of penciler Dan DeCarlo’s best work for Timely/Atlas, as per this splash from Sherry the Showgirl #2 (Sept. 1956); we’re not certain if Rudy inked the cover, as well, but we’ve tossed it in, just in case. For some reason, DeCarlo often signed his name on the last page of his Timely stories—while Stan Lee stuck his printed logo on the first, as here. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for the photocopy of the art. Sorry Rudy never got around to sending us a photo of himself. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
JA: What got you interested in drawing?
was a short little guy. We used to hang out in groups at the front of the school, and he’d give me a headache because he was always singing. Some time after we graduated, this girl I knew was giving me a ride in her car and she said to me, “Remember that guy, Anthony DiBennett? He used to give you headaches?” I asked, “What about him?” She said, “Well, he’s Tony Bennett, the singer.”
LAPICK: My father used to draw and it came naturally to me. I used to draw in grammar school and did backgrounds for plays. The teacher was interested in me and saw to it that I took a test to get into the School of Music and Art. Then I went to the School of Industrial Art (S.I.A.). I didn’t like the School of Music and Art because it was primarily a painting school and I didn’t go for that. I found out that S.I.A. had a comic book and advertising courses, so I switched schools.
I went to the School of Music and Art with Norman Maurer and Joe Kubert. They were making a fortune because they were already working in comics. But they kind-of looked down on the rest of us. And Maurer married a woman who was the daughter of Moe Howard of the Three Stooges. Maurer went into the Navy and was still doing comics. He signed his work “Norman Maurer, U.S.N.R.” He must have had a cushy job while he was there.
Another guy who went there the same time I did drove me crazy. He
I graduated in 1944 and enlisted in the Navy. I wasn’t there too long because I got hurt during training. I had a choice of either staying in and
Lapick Of The Litter
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Remember him? Stan was kind of tall and thin like him. He did have this one joke that I didn’t care for. He’d walk into the room and look at you and say, “You’re fired.” I hated that. I’d be in the bullpen and making everybody laugh and Stan would time it. He’d walk in and say, “You’re fired” and walk out. Then everybody would go “Wwoooooo...” That was his joke. Stan used to play that flute all the time, too. He didn’t spend much time in the bullpen. He’d usually go and talk to Syd Shores or Sekowsky. I like to mimic people, and sometimes I’d be in the elevator with Stan and he’d ask me to do impressions. In fact, I met him about twenty years later at a show and he remembered my impressions. JA: What year did you start working there? LAPICK: I started as a staff inker in November 1947, and worked there until they let everyone go in February 1950. They had several rooms, and we worked from nine to about 4:30. I worked in a large room and Gene Colan sat in front of me. In front of him was John Buscema. Bill Savage, an adventure inker, sat behind me. Sol Brodsky was there and so was Dan DeCarlo. Mario Acquaviva and Vince Alascia were there as inkers. Syd Shores and Mike Sekowsky were there, too.
The climactic panels from a Gene Colan horror tale from an early-’50s Timely comic, as reprinted in Marvel’s black-&-white mag Monsters Unleashed! #4 (Feb. 1974). You can see the splash panel in A/E #16. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
getting a desk, or getting a discharge. I figured I’d go home. JA: Did you read comics as a kid? LAPICK: All the time. I used to get these second-hand comics for a penny or two cents. I had a lot of comics and copied them. I was always very interested in comics, and I liked Flash Gordon in the newspapers. I also liked Eisner’s Spirit and Tarzan. I was more into super-heroes than other stuff. Captain America and Captain Marvel were favorites. JA: Where did you break into comics? LAPICK: I started with Cinema Comics, which was on 45th street in New York, in 1945. Richard Hughes was the editor. I inked adventure comics for them. Bob Oksner was a kid and he worked on staff, as did Ken Battefield. They penciled. I worked on staff about a year and made about $45 a week. Then, for some reason, they let me go. I don’t know why. I had all kinds of other jobs and I don’t remember how I ended up at Timely Comics. They may have had an ad in the paper, because they were looking for people. I went to see them and had my Cinema Comics work in my portfolio. Alan Jaffee was one of the art directors and he interviewed me. I liked Al Jaffee. He was a nice guy and very amiable. He talked to Stan Lee and I was hired. JA: What did you think of Stan Lee? LAPICK: I liked Stan Lee. I was the only one who thought this, but he reminded me of Robert Walker, the actor.
When Gene Colan was working for Timely, he was just a kid. He looked like he was about fifteen. One day, he got real mad because he was driving his dad’s car and a cop stopped him because he didn’t think Gene looked old enough to drive. I really love Gene. We both like the same things. And he’s such a great talent. Gene was also a fast artist. Did you know I gave Gene a tattoo? I accidentally jabbed him in the wrist with my crow quill and he still has the India ink under his skin. Gene says, “I can’t forget you.” JA: Do you remember what the big sellers were? LAPICK: Patsy Walker and Millie the Model sold real well, and so did Captain America. The westerns sold well, too, but I can’t give you any details. JA: Martin Goodman published his comics under several different company names. Do you remember what company name was written on the check? LAPICK: We didn’t get a check; we got an envelope with money in it. That was the olden days! I made a lot of money in those days. They hired me at $55 a week. That was in November. By May, I was making $75 a week. So I got married. In fact, they were making money off of me. They were paying $14 a page for inking and I was doing two pages a day, five days a week. So I was putting out a $140 a week worth of work and getting seventy. JA: Didn’t that bother you? LAPICK: No. I was a kid and was happy. I could have taken freelance work home, but I didn’t want to do that. Rudy Lapick says that, even when he began working there in late 1947, Captain America was one of Timely’s best-selling comics—yet by #70 (Jan. ’49) sciencefiction and even horror themes were beginning to force their way into C.A. The mag died later that year. Artist may be Syd Shores; and that’s Bucky’s latterday replacement, Golden Girl, at left. [©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
2
Title writer/editorial
Captains of Our Fate As I write these words on January 1, 2003—the first day of the New Year—I’m aware they won’t be read till March. Makes it tempting to skip the whole thing, like I did the past couple of years. But this year is different. On January 28, 2002, I was walking down our road to pick up the mail when I suddenly noticed a grey, semicircular shadow over the left part of my right eye, through which I could not see. By late morning of January 30—Dann’s birthday, as it happened—I was having an emergency operation in Columbia, SC, for a detached retina. I made a full and relatively painless recovery, but even new glasses will never enable me to see with 20-20 vision again, which makes driving, proofreading, and the like a wee bit more difficult than before. So why do I feel lucky? Because, had this situation happened to me a couple of decades ago, I would almost definitely have lost the full sight of my right eye. Like the man says: consider the alternative. Dickens said it most succinctly: “The best of times, the worst of times.”
support)... and TwoMorrows staffer Eric Nolen-Weathington... and Comic Book Artist editor Jon B. Cooke, all of whom came through when needed. Associate editors Bill Schelly and Jim Amash for diligence above and beyond. P.C. Hamerlinck and Michael T. Gilbert and Jerry Bails and Dann Thomas, each of whom deserves a special place on A/E’s masthead. Chris Day, who’s worked wonders squeezing so much artwork into so few pages. All the many contributors, whether they be professionals who consented to be interviewed and/or donated artwork for use, or the folks who interviewed them or wrote articles or even letters about them. People like Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, Blake Bell, Mike Costa, Jim Vadeboncoeur, John G. Pierce, Michael and Eddy Zeno, Jerry K. Boyd, Jack Bender, Steve Whitaker, Paul Handler, George Hagenauer, Mike Burkey, Ethan Roberts, Ray Cuthbert, all the guys in CFA-APA, and— Well, I’ve only got a page here, so I’d best stop. But I sincerely believe each of these guys is giving a helping hand to a worthwhile enterprise—the preservation of the history of comic books—and I thank them for it. And you for supporting our efforts. Now to see if I actually can put out twelve issues of Alter Ego in 2003!
In 2002, while working (as is Dann) on a long-delayed master’s degree in the humanities, completing all the requirements except the dreaded thesis, plus a bit of comics and other work now and then, I was somehow able to convert Alter Ego from eight times a year to monthly, so that interviews and articles and artwork related to the history of a field I love can be put into print more quickly. A 50% increase. How many people can have 50% more fun simply by deciding to work longer and harder hours—and by convincing a publisher (in this case, the esteemed John Morrow) to let you work longer and harder hours.
With your help, I just might. Now get busy and read about Captains Midnight, Marvel, and Marvel Jr.—three heroes who were always captains of their own fates, and who inspired us to try to be captains of our own. Bestest,
So it seems appropriate, at this time, to thank all the people who’ve been of especial help over the past year. The aforementioned John Morrow (and his wife Pam, for her indirect
If you’re viewing a digital version of this publication, PLEASE read this plea from the publisher! his is COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, which is NOT INTENDED FOR FREE T DOWNLOADING ANYWHERE. If you’re a print subscriber, or you paid the modest fee we charge to download it at our website, you have our sincere thanks—your support allows us to keep producing publications like this one. If instead you downloaded it for free from some other website or torrent, please know that it was absolutely 100% DONE WITHOUT OUR CONSENT, and it was an ILLEGAL POSTING OF OUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. If that’s the case, here’s what you should do:
Ye Editor in a recent photo, wearing the Captain Midnight jacket customized for him years ago by wife Dann. Roy says, “Actually, this is her second effort: the first, a leather flight-style jacket onto which she handstitched her first winged clock, looked so good to some San Fernando Valley thug that, a few days before we moved to South Carolina, he smashed in the window of our Sunbird and stole it. Unforgiving soul that I am, I’ve always kinda hoped that one dark night its sleeve would get caught on the door handle of his car while he was speeding toward a cliff at 80 m.p.h., like Buzz Gunderson in Rebel without a Cause—but hey, that’s just me. Anyway, even that act of vandalism had a good result: it made me feel even better about moving!” (Photo by Dann Thomas.)
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Captain Midnight
3
Twelve O’Clock In Shadow Turning Back the (Winged) Clock on CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT by Jim Harmon Radio Flyer For many months in the mid-1980s I had lunch once a week with the best-known of radio’s Captain Midnights—that is, of the several actors who had played the role—and with a number of others from old-time radio, at the Masquers’ Club in Hollywood. I often tried to guide my conversations with Ed Prentiss to discussion of his old show. It seldom happened. Most of the conversation was devoted to which of the old gang had died this week. “Did you hear about…?” “Yeah, and his wife, too.” Prentiss did tell one story about how the FBI paid them a visit when the storyline concerned a fictional attack on a great American base. As a matter of fact, he told the story twice—once naming the base as Pearl Harbor, and another time as the Panama Canal. I found out later that he was having problems with his memory. I suppose I might have got him to open up more if he had liked me better. Unfortunately, Prentiss, unlike (happily) most of the many oldtime radio actors I’ve met, truly seemed to dislike me. Perhaps it was
A Midnight for many media! In this Fawcett house ad that appeared in Captain Marvel Adventures #14 as well as other comic books, the publisher tied in its Sept. 1942 debut of a Captain Midnight title with the aviator-hero’s four years on radio and the 15-chapter movie serial earlier that year. By its second issue, the comic became a monthly. Artist unknown—probably someone (or someones) in the Jack Binder comic shop. Thanks to Jim Harmon for providing many of the illustrations that accompany his study. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]
because I really did not have the professional credentials to be a part of the Chicago radio actors group, the “Bridge Is Up Club,” referring to the excuse that actors often made about the drawbridge over the Chicago River in order to excuse themselves for being late. Fortunately, Art Hern, Prentiss’ last “Ikky,” did like me. He was like an uncle to me, and thought I would enjoy the meetings. (He would soon be ninety, his last year on Earth, and did not have much recall of specific details of the show.) But, after a few months, I decided I was not really welcomed there by several members, especially Prentiss. It was quite a contrast to my relationship to radio’s Tom Mix, Curley Bradley, who I’m told looked on me as an adopted son. Captain Midnight director Kirby Hawkes makes a point to actors Jack Bivans (“Chuck Ramsey,” center) and Ed Prentiss (“Captain Midnight,” right, at microphone), circa 1942. This photo appeared, courtesy of Boris Aplon (“Ivan Shark”) in Jim Harmon’s 1992 book Radio Mystery and Adventure from McFarland & Company.
So, while it might seem as I’ve had some opportunities to obtain a golden insight into the series, most of my information about Captain Midnight comes from public sources... and from years of research.
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We Didn’t Know...
1940 gag cartoon by Marc Swayze while he was working with artist Russell Keaton. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]
I was a young teenager when I met a local writer who was interested in illustrations for his stories of World War I. It was baseball season, but this sounded so good… like the real thing… “magazine illustration.” I went for it. “Terrible!” was all I could say when they came out and I saw my drawings in print. In self-defense, though, I was still so naïve as to think that to have done research on the doughboy gear would have been ‘cheating.’ In college, dreams of a career in art had dimmed as much as had dreams of the Cardinal infield and a chair with Guy Lombardo. After graduation I found Dolly as cantankerous as ever. Dolly, the beautiful, mean, bay mare that once had walked out of the shafts of my milk wagon and left me shouting “Whoa!” at the top of my lungs… right in the middle of Jackson and DeSiard Streets, the most populous corner in town. Throughout my senior year a series of portraits of campus beauties had been on display in the school cafeteria. The large pastel drawings were very likely an influence when the head of the art department learned of a comic strip artist who sought an assistant, and I was recommended. The artist was Russell Keaton and the title character of the comic strip, a beauty herself, was Flyin’ Jenny. I guess I was on my way… to the Golden Age of comic books! [Marc’s memories of the Golden Age continue next issue.]
From Flyin’ Jenny Sunday strip, Sept. 19, 1945. Art by Marc Swayze. [©2003 The Bell Syndicate.]
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Fantasy and Fantastic Inventions
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Captain Marvel Jr.: The Post-War Years by Don Ensign Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck Part IV
Fantasy–-And Fantastic Inventions [NOTE: In our previous three issues Don Ensign has examined the artists and various themes of the “Captain Marvel Jr.” tales in a cross-section of Master Comics and his own comics title (though not in The Marvel Family) in the years after World War II. Last issue dealt with horror, science-fiction, funny animals, and “human interest.” This time around our series concludes with a discussion of other themes. —PCH.}
Stories about Captain Marvel Jr. Many Captain Marvel Jr. stories centered on the problems of other people, as shown in the section on human interest tales. However, there were CMJ yarns that centered on the personality of the World’s Mightiest Boy himself. “Twenty-Four Hours to Live!” (CMJ #35) tells of an impending death: Captain Marvel Jr.’s own! Having invented a scanning machine that can predict the longevity of any animal or human, Dr. Elijah Longlife scans Junior and announces he has only 24 hours to live. This depressing news spurs Junior to go after his two greatest enemies, Brutal Bill Banion and Sivana. At the end of the 24 hours he returns to Dr. Longlife’s lab. The scientist learns he made a mistake—it was his own plate (scan) he’d read, not Junior’s. Longlife dies and Junior destroys his scanning machine. This story actually has Junior displaying some emotions (sadness, depression) and resolving to do the right thing with the short time he has left. Courtroom drama occurs in “Capt. Marvel Jr. Proves His Existence!” (CMJ #65). An unscrupulous scientist named Doc Skeem makes a deal with local gangsters to prove Cap Jr. is only a myth. In court, through clever deceptions, he makes the case that Junior is actually a boy he raised and to whom he gave powers by scientific means. A frustrated Junior receives 24 hours to prove Skeem’s testimony false—which of course he does. At story’s end the onceskeptical judge proclaims, “We, the people of the state, do affirm and agree Captain Marvel Jr. is truly and indubitably the World’s Mightiest Boy!” This is a well-
In wartime issues, as on this Mac Raboy-drawn cover for Master Comics #29 (Aug. 1942), Captain Marvel Jr. had the Axis bad boys to chastize. After the war ended, however, he, like other super-heroes, had to find other themes and genres to explore, if he were going to hold his audience! Thanks to Keif Fromm for the nice copy. [©2003 DC Comics.]
plotted tale that provides some suspense: just how is Junior going to resolve the situation? “Freddy Freeman’s Big Day” (CMJ #65) gives the readers insights into Freddy’s resourcefulness when he’s so plagued by unstoppable hiccups that he twice fails when he tries to call on Junior to rescue endangered people, and must save them himself. Eventually, when bound by a baddie named Doc Mixum, who (for complicated reasons) is about to scald his throat with boiling water, this scares the hiccups out of Freddy so he can call on Junior to deal with Mixum and his henchman. When Junior completed a dangerous mission in “The City Sleeps,” from Master Comics #83 (Sept. 1947), which was discussed last issue, the kindly Mrs. Wagner never knew he’d ever left his bed! Art by Bud Thompson. [©2003 DC Comics.]
The World’s Mightiest Boy’s opinions on politics are revealed in “Captain Marvel Jr. for Mayor” (CMJ #67). The voting public is suspicious of two mayoral candidates after a third one is proven dishonest. Junior makes a public speech