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See comic art and script BEFORE and AFTER the Comics Code changes, with art by SIMON & KIRBY, DITKO, BUSCEMA, SINNOTT, GOULD, COLE, STERANKO, KRIGSTEIN, O’NEIL, GLANZMAN, ORLANDO, WILLIAMSON, HEATH, and others! Plus: FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, JIM AMASH interviews Timely/Atlas artist CAL MASSEY, and a new cover by JOSH MEDORS!

DICK GIORDANO through the 1960s—from freelance years and Charlton “Action-Heroes” to his first stint at DC! Art by DITKO, APARO, BOYETTE, MORISI, McLAUGHLIN, GIL KANE, and others, Dick’s final convention panel with STEVE SKEATES and ROY THOMAS, JIM AMASH interviews Charlton artist TONY TALLARICO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and ROY ALD, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, GIORDANO cover, and more!

Big BATMAN issue, with an unused Golden Age cover by DICK SPRANG! SHEL DORF interviews SPRANG and JIM MOONEY, with rare and unseen Batman art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON, WIN MORTIMER, SHELLY MOLDOFF, CHARLES PARIS, and others! Part II of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

1970s Bullpenner WARREN REECE talks about Marvel Comics and working with EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, STAN LEE, MARIE SEVERIN, ADAMS, FRIEDRICH, ROY THOMAS, and others, with rare art! DEWEY CASSELL spotlights Golden Age artist MIKE PEPPE, with art by TOTH, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, & LUBBERS, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!

Interview with inker SCOTT WILLIAMS from his days at Marvel and Image to his work with JIM LEE, and PATRICK OLIFFE demos how he produces Spider-Girl, Mighty Samson, and digital comics. Also, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!

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LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S NEW ALIEN CONQUEST SETS that hit store shelves earlier this year, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!

Go to Japan with articles on two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus take a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of the BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

LEGO EVENTS ISSUE covering our own BRICKMAGIC FESTIVAL, BRICKWORLD, BRICKFAIR, BRICKCON, plus other events outside the US. There’s full event details, plus interviews with the winners of the BRICKMAGIC CHALLENGE competition, complete with instructions to build award winning models. Also JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customizing, building tips, and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 25 / June 2003

™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

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 Alex Toth (with Jack Cole) Bill Schelly & Friends

Cover Colorist

Contents

Writer/Editorial: “He Stretches, Shrinks, and Bends!!”. . . . . . . . . 2 Jack Cole––Artist and Enigma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Jim Amash on the creator of Plastic Man... plus a checklist by Jerry Bails & Hames Ware.

A Lonnnnnng Stretch of Tall Talent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Alex Toth on Jack Cole—times four!

“Other Super-heroes Weren’t Like That!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 A candid and revelatory interview with Jack Cole’s brother, Dick Cole.

Tom Ziuko

And Special Thanks to: Manuel Auad Mike W. Barr Allen Bellman John Benson Bill Black Carl E. Borg Ray Bottorff Jr. Jerry K. Boyd Steve Brumbaugh Jack Burnley Tony Cerezo Chris Claremont Shawn S. Clay Dave Cockrum Lynda Fox Cohen Dick Cole Dave Cook Teresa R. Davidson Craig Delich Al Dellinges Terry Doyle Michael Feldman Creig Flessel Gill Fox Jeff Fox Ron Frantz Paul Gambaccini Ron Goulart Martin L. Greim Ron Harris Mark & Stephanie Heike Tom Horvitz Bob Hughes Bob Koppany Alan Kupperberg Richard Kyle

JACK COLE & PLASTIC MAN Section

Kevin Lafferty Mort Leav Stan Lee Paul Levitz Linda Long Russ Maheras Dan Makara Scott M. Martin David Morefield Matt Moring Will Murray Hari Naidu Mart & Carrie Nodell Michelle Nolan Jerry Ordway Art Paul George Ramsey Ethan Roberts Trina Robbins Steven Rowe Rich Rubenfeld Julius Schwartz Bill Seay Carole Seuling David Siegel Robin Snyder J. David Spurlock Mark Stratton Marc Swayze Dann Thomas Alex Toth Mike Vosburg Hames Ware Robert Wiener Ike Wilson Andy Yanchus John Yon

This issue is dedicated to Jerry G. Bails –––and to the memory of Jack Cole and Bill Woggon

“He Could Do Anything!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Pioneer DC artist Creig Flessel talks about his friend, Jack Cole. “I Always Considered Him to Be a Genius!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Original Playboy art director Art Paul on Cole’s life and mysterious death.

“He Was a Very, Very Interesting Talent!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Playboy cartoonist Bill Seay shares his memories of Jack Cole. Lost Comics Lore, Part 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Everything Will Murray needs to know about comics... he learned from the Writer’s Digest!

Bill Woggon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 A fond remembrance of the creator of Katy Keene, by Trina Robbins.

re: [comments, corrections, & correspondence] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Golden Age Section (“The Titans of Timely/Marvel,” Part II). . Flip Us! About Our Cover: In 1992 Alex Toth, one of Jack Cole’s biggest admirers among the pro ranks, drew and colored this beautiful drawing of Plastic Man for two grateful Italian fans whose names are shown on the next page. Having seen this piece printed in the acclaimed volume Toth: Black & White, edited and published by Manuel Auad, we thought it would look magnificent surrounded by a muted montage of published Cole/Plastic Man panels (at least, we hope they’re all by Cole!). And it does, don’t you think? [Toth art ©2003 Alex Toth; Plastic Man TM & ©2003 DC Comics.] Above: One of the few instances in which DC’s editors heeded Roy Thomas’ solicited advice in putting together the wonderful but sadly out-of-print 1990 hardcover The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told was to include Plas’ battle with the salt-eating alien Amorpho, from 1950’s Plastic Man #21. Here are a pair of panels from that masterful tale, representative both of Jack Cole’s unique talent—and the frustrating attempt by various people for more than four decades to solve the mystery of his untimely suicide. Jack, we hardly knew ye! [©2003 DC Comics.] 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, $11.00 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

“He Stretches, Shrinks, and Bends!!” Yep, that’s the line of copy which some unknown editor had lettered at the bottom of the cover of Plastic Man #1 in 1943. Not content with the words alone, the word “STRETCHES” was stretcccchhhhhed out with a particularly wide first “E”—“shrinks” was squeezed into a relatively narrow space—and “bends” was lettered in a flowing horizontal curve, as if it were on a roller-coaster ride. The cover blurb was the equivalent of the cover art, which depicts Plastic Man stretching his arms and legs out of the eye sockets and open mouth of a giant skull, to grab and/or punch four hapless criminals. And you want to know the great, the wonderful, the truly amazing thing about that sixty-year-old comic book cover? It’s this: in the year 2003, it and dozens of Plas-starring Police Comics and Plastic Man covers like it, plus their interior stories, are all on view in a quartet of gorgeous hardcover books, The Plastic Man Archives, from DC Comics... a total of some 800 pages! I know it sometimes must seem as if I’m shilling for the mainstream companies when I constantly call attention to DC’s Archives series, Marvel’s Essentials and Masterworks volumes, even Archie’s recent Shield book. But I’m not. It’s just that I want to do everything I can to call attention to the fact that classic Golden and Silver Age stories are on view in (relatively) inexpensive books— because, back in 1961, when Alter Ego was first published, and for decades afterward, precious little of comics’ historical heritage had been reprinted in any form whatever, let alone between hard covers or in a quality paperback edition. To me, what is available these days seems like Wonderland and Oz rolled into one—when it used to seem like a Never-Never-Land!

“Plastic Man” exploit from the beginning in 1941 through the end of 1945, with more hopefully to come, is so overwhelming that I have to think of the glass as 90% full, not 10% empty. Nowadays we’ve got the early and/or most important work of Cole... Eisner... Siegel and Shuster... Kane (Bob and Gil)... Simon & Kirby... Infantino... Kubert... Cuidera... Crandall... Everett... Burgos... Beck... Kurtzman... Feldstein... Lee... Ditko... and so many others... sitting on our bookshelves, up there with Homer and Hemingway and Heller and Hirschfeld and Herriman and others who helped shape the culture of the 20th Century, and whose influence now extends into the 21st, as well. This issue, we concentrate on one of those masters of comic art... Jack Cole... as seen by five different artists and his brother. And, thanks to those generous souls whose names appear in the “Special Thanks” section on our contents page, you can see samples of his genius, not just read about it. What’s more, if you saved your pennies or got lucky at Christmas, you can also go and read the original stories, and you can marvel, with me, that these tales have been preserved, even in imperfect form, for future generations.

The other night Dann and I were having dinner with some good friends, admittedly a few years younger than I (but then, who isn’t, these days?), and I was telling them a bit about the mysterious circumstances of Jack Cole’s suicide in 1958... about which I myself knew nothing until sometime in the 1960s. I referred to Cole It may seem odd to accompany the paean of praise to Jack Cole on this offhandedly as both a prominent page with a drawing of Plastic Man not by his creator but by ardent cartoonist for Playboy and, more admirer Alex Toth. However, there’s plenty of Cole art on display in the importantly, the creator of Plastic pages that follow, never fear! We wanted you to see this piece of art in Man. Gradually, I realized from their black-&-white as well as in color on our cover—with the names of those blank stares that neither of that couple two Italian fans emblazoned on it, as they are on the original. As for the So, with all due respect, I’ll let my had ever heard of Plas. And I felt a artist’s sentiments expressed thereon—well, maybe Jack Cole did do it longtime (and Pulitzer-winning) genuine sadness... for I honestly feel “better,” since he was, after all, the heart and soul of Plastic Man—but acquaintance Art Spiegelman complain sorry for anyone who has never Alex Toth is definitely one of the best of the hero’s latter-day interpreters, as well as a comics legend in his own right. Alex has plenty about the quality of the retouching of immersed himself in the manic to say about Cole and Plas, as well, beginning on page 10. Thanks to Jack Cole’s art in the four Plastic Man pleasures of a good “Plastic Man” tale Manuel Auad. [Art ©2003 Alex Toth; Plastic Man TM & ©2003 DC Comics.] by Jack Cole at the height of his Archives editions. He may well be powers. To me, that would be like right—and as the chief guardian of never reading The Iliad or Catch-22, never seeing Fawlty Towers or Cole’s heritage, by dint of his 1999 article in The New Yorker and its expansion into the 2001 book Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms King Kong or Krazy Kat or Pogo or the early four-color Mad. Stretched to Their Limits, I’ll defend to the death Art’s right to agitate A few things in this world are just this side of perfect. for better, ever-better repro of Cole’s art. I knew how he felt when I saw some rather poor restoration of Irwin Hasen’s and others’ art (left over I just mentioned eight of them. from 30-year-old reprints) in the recent hardcover that reprinted, among other stories, All-Star Comics #36. But I was still glad it was done. Bestest, And, to me, just the notion of being able to own each and every

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Jack Cole

Jack Cole–Artist and Enigma Celebrations and Speculations on the Creative Genius behind “Plastic Man” seemed to be the case for his fictional friends, whether they were in the newspapers, books, movies, or radio.

by Jim Amash Rebel with a Cause —and the Cause Was Art Jack Ralph Cole realized his childhood dreams more fully than most people. He was a dreamer who was also a doer. Even at an early age, the spark of genius and creativity seems to have been within him. Was it the antics of E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theater, Rudolph Dirks’ Captain and The Kids, George McManus’ Bringing Up Father, and others, that awakened the spirit of inventiveness in Cole? Most likely, it was these influences and more, as Cole—like most children—derived invention from the world around him. To start with, his father, DeLace Cole, was a dry goods salesman who performed in variety shows around the small town of New Castle, Pennsylvania. It seems likely that Jack got the idea from his father that he, too, could perform for others, whether it be on the stage (which he did do, in school), or on paper. And where can a performer have more freedom than on paper? Jack, like his artistic heroes before him, could be stage director, sound man, writer, costume designer, actor, and cameraman... all for free, without answering to anyone. His characters could go anywhere he chose and do whatever they wanted, without parental guardians to keep them in check, and while Cole was at it, they could win him the attention and respect of his friends and family. Only the lack of drawing supplies could stand in his way. And if there were no drawing supplies, other materials worked just as nicely, since Cole was also very good with his hands. He made furniture, tapped the telephone line so he could listen to his sisters talk to their boyfriends, and published his own little newspaper, among other things. The world must have seemed wide open for whatever Cole wanted to accomplish. After all, that

Not everyone shared Cole’s enthusiasm for his ideas. His parents and teachers were more practical in their own lives, unable to understand that you can make anything happen if you try. However, there were people who admired the young man’s precociousness and undoubtedly encouraged Jack to break through the old-fashioned values of a small town. Jack also had a rebellious streak. When he couldn’t get the money to take the Landon School of Cartooning’s correspondence course, Jack secretly pocketed his lunch money, hollowed out a book, and placed homemade lunches inside, fooling his parents until he saved enough money to take the course. His newspaper, The Scoop, got him into trouble at New Castle High, as he scandalously lampooned and revealed the secrets of his classmates. The Cole family were Republicans, so Jack became a Democrat. When he couldn’t get the money to bus his way to see the 1932 Olympic Games in California, Jack took his bicycle and made the trip anyway. He didn’t get to see the games, but returned home on different bicycles as New Castle’s version of Marco Polo. As excited well-wishers waited for him outside his house, he rode into town the back way, and surprised them by being inside the house as they waited outside. He just couldn’t help putting an antic final twist on his trip.

This story from Plastic Man #21 (Jan. 1950), reprinted in the 1990 DC hardcover The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told, which pits Plas against an alien who can shape-change as readily as he can, is Jack Cole at his best! But Cole himself was a mystery masquerading as an enigma... whom nobody has ever really figured out. The photo at top of the writer/artist appeared, among other places, in that 1999 issue of The New Yorker. [©2003 DC Comics.]

Dream Girl, Dream Career In 1934, Jack and his brother Bob planned a canoe trip down the Mississippi, but love interfered when Jack married his girl friend, Dorothy Mahoney. Even in marriage, Jack was unconventional. The couple eloped to New Brighton, Pennsylvania, and kept the marriage a secret for a while. The dreamer had found his dream girl. Dorothy was almost as short as Jack was tall. She was quiet and moody, but the Cole family

Artist and Enigma

As comics historian Ron Goulart wrote in Comics: The Golden Age #2 (May 1984), Cole’s “first shape-changing hero wasn’t the red-clad Plastic Man but rather an obscure chap named Mantoka,” an Amerindian who appeared in three issues of a Centaur mag. In his origin tale in Funny Pages, Vol. 4, #1 (Jan. 1940), he turned into an eagle, became a mist that passed through cell bars, and swelled to twice his normal size—and that doesn’t count setting fire to a crook’s hand and freezing a cascading flood of water. During this same Chesler-shop period, his “King Kole’s Court” appeared in comics published by three different companies! On “Mantoka” he used the pseudonym “Richard Bruce,” taken from a brother’s first and middle names; on “Kole” (which, curiously, was basically his own name) he let writer George Nagle take all the credit. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

seemed to like her very much. Dorothy and Jack’s relationship has been described as intense by at least one friend. Although his endeavors brought him attention, Jack himself was often shy. When Jack was happy (as he usually was), he was as happy as he could be, but his depressions were as deep as his highs were stratospheric. This dark side of Jack’s personality is substantiated by the story of Cole’s bloodying his fists punching trees after a fight with Dorothy. Another time, Jack left Dorothy to stay with cartoonist friend Bob Wood until the couple made up. Overall, the marriage seemed to be a happy one. With the help of local friends, the Coles moved to New York as Jack tried to break into the cartooning business. He finally made it when he became a shop employee of Harry “A” Chesler in 1937, joining other hopefuls Mort Meskin, Charlie Biro, Bob Wood, and Gill Fox. Cole was already lettering and writing his own material (having demonstrated that talent earlier when he wrote about his bicycle trip for Boy’s Life), honing skills that would eventually release him from the studio situation and allow him to become his own man. During his stay at Chesler’s, Cole wrote and drew “Down on the Trail,” “Mantoka,” “King Kole’s Kourt,” “Slim Pickens,” “Little Dynamite,” and several other features for Centaur Publications. In 1939, Cole left the Chesler shop and began freelancing for several companies. At Hillman Publications, he wrote and drew “The Defender.” Novelty Publications snared him just long enough for Jack to visualize “The Hi Grass Twins.” Cole spent some time at MLJ (later Archie Comic Publications), where he started revealing the wild side of his personality on features like “The Comet.” The Comet didn’t mind killing the bad guys, which was a rarity in those more innocent times. “Ima Slooth” and “Manhunters” were the other features he did there. Also at MLJ were Cole’s former Chesler mates Bob Wood and Charlie Biro. Within a short time, all three men gravitated to Your Guide Publications (also known as New Friday Publications and later as Lev Gleason Publications). For the company’s Silver Streak Comics, Cole wrote, drew, and created The Claw, Silver Streak, and Dickie Dean, Boy Inventor (for whom Cole could have been his own inspiration). According to reports, he also created the original Daredevil (although the Overstreet Price Guide states that Jack Binder drew the first story). The ensuing “Claw versus Daredevil” stories gained Cole wide attention in the comics field, and the stories themselves became legendary to

Under another pseudonym, “Ralph Johns,” Cole created Silver Streak. On this inside front cover for the 6th issue of the Lev Gleason comic of that name (cover-dated Sept. 1940), he drew not only the super-fast hero, but nearly two dozen contest winners! [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Dick Cole

“Other Super-Heroes Weren’t Like That!” JACK COLE’s Brother, DICK COLE, in a Candid Conversation with JIM AMASH [INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: People have a way of keeping the past vibrant in human memory. One example is Jack Cole, creator of “Plastic Man” and many other comic book features. Cole’s later work at Playboy magazine introduced him to a new readership and elevated his status as an artist. Sadly, Jack Cole was never interviewed, and thus his fans missed the opportunity to hear his story as he would have told it. Fortunately for us, his youngest brother, Dick Cole, generously gave of his time and memories so that we might get a glimpse into the man who will always be remembered as a gentle human being and a terrific creative talent. —Jim.]

“A Lot of History There!” JIM AMASH: How many children did your parents have?

Samuel’s son John married Suzannah Hutchinson, who was the daughter of Anne Marbury Hutchinson, who was very famous in New England. Anne was the first women’s-libber. She didn’t believe everything the Puritans taught and was eventually excommunicated by Governor Winthrop from the Puritan Church. Her family was massacred, except for her, and she was raised by Indians for a while. She eventually married John Cole. A lot of history there. In fact, there’s a statue of Anne Marbury Hutchinson in Massachusetts. She was my seventh-great-grandmother.

Dick Cole today, juxtaposed with one of his brother Jack’s classic splash pages, from Plastic Man #19 (Sept. 1949). Even the logos were endlessly inventive... and it’s not as easy to turn a flexible hero into a boxing ring as you might imagine! Unless otherwise noted, all photos accompanying this interview are courtesy of Dick Cole. Plas page thanks to Steve Brumbaugh. [Art ©2003 DC Comics.]

DICK COLE: Six. DeLace, Jr., was born in 1908 and died in 1919. He was run over by a truck when he was eleven years old. Doris Eloise was born in 1911; she died in 1986. Jack Ralph was next; he was born in 1914 and died in 1958. Betty Jane was born in 1916 and died in 1988. Robert Vincent was born in 1919 and died in 1993. I was born in 1929 and I’m still vertical. [laughs] JA: [laughs] I’m glad to hear that. So there’s a 21-year age difference between you and your oldest brother. My family’s like that: the oldest was born in 1949 and the youngest in 1973. We got your family beat! [laughs] You told me when we set up this interview that your family is descended from William the Conqueror. That’s some history! COLE: Yes, it is. The first Cole I have a record of in America was Samuel Cole, who was born in Mersea County in Essex, England. He and his wife Anne and three children arrived in Massachusetts in June 12, 1630. They sailed from Yarmouth, England, aboard the Arabelle, which was part of Governor Winthrop’s fleet. In 1633, Samuel Cole opened the first public inn. His Three Mariners Inn was referred to in a poem by John Endicott. My cousin, down in Arkansas, did all this research. He went around New England and visited gravesites and got dates.

JA: That’s astounding history. I take it that you were born into a middle-class family. COLE: Yes. My parents’ names were DeLace and Cora Belle. My mother was a school teacher in Elmira, New York, before she married my father. She didn’t teach once she got married. My mother was a very quiet woman. A beautiful lady. My father died in 1968 and my mother died in 1954. My father’s career was mostly in the dry goods business. He was the manager of several stores throughout the years. In the late ’30s, he purchased his own store in Greenville, Pennsylvania, a small town about 25 miles from New Castle. However, it didn’t pan out, and after three years, went bankrupt in 1941. We moved back to New Castle, and at the age of sixty he started a new career. He became a State Farm agent, passed the realtor’s exam, and worked with another realtor and insurance agent. After a few short years, he opened his own agency and was very successful. He was active with State Farm for twenty years and retired at the ripe young age of eighty.

“Other Super-Heroes Weren’t Like That!”

17 JA: Your family settled down in New Castle, Pennsylvania, which isn’t that far from where I was born. Tell me a little about where you were brought up. COLE: It was a small to medium industrial town. We had a tin mill and pottery was made here; engineering companies were here, too.

The extended Cole family in a photo taken probably in the midto-late 1930s. [Left to right, standing:] Betty Jane Cole (sister); Doris Eloise Cole Thompson (sister) and her husband Don; Jack and Dorothy Cole. [Left to right, sitting:] Delace Cole (father); Dick (brother); Cora Belle Cole (mother); Robert Vincent Cole (brother). To the right is a photo of Jack’s father.

My dad was very outgoing. He was an entertainer, a song and dance man. He was in shows for the Rotary Club, the Masons, and did minstrel shows. He had his own little orchestra and went around to Veterans’ Homes and the like. They called themselves The King Cole’s Corn Crackers. Jack used to call Dad “the old publicity hound” because he was always getting his name in the paper. Dad used to send him newspaper clippings.

My career was in the military. I was full time in the National Guard and when I left, I came back to New Castle and worked for Shenango Pottery. I went back to the Guard full time as a technician for 33 years.

“You’ll Never Amount to a Damn!” JA: What are your earliest memories of Jack? I notice there was fifteen years between the two of you. COLE: Jack wasn’t home too much when I was small. He was working and going to school. When I got to school age, he was gone from the house. I can remember him building a canoe in the backyard. That was after his bicycle trip to California, which he started on July 12, 1932, right after graduation. Jack had intentions of taking a trip down the Mississippi in a canoe. In the meantime, my mother found out that Jack and Dorothy were secretly married, and she said, “Go live with your wife.” That’s why he didn’t take the canoe trip. JA: He certainly was the adventurous type. I can’t imagine riding a bicycle from New Castle to California. Of course, you couldn’t do that now, because it’s illegal to ride a bicycle on interstate roads now. Was Jack going alone on his canoe trip? COLE: I think he had a friend who was going to go along with him. JA: Why did he keep his marriage to Dorothy secret? COLE: I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want to tell her parents right away.

One of Cole’s first lessons with the Landon School of Cartooning Correspondence Course, circa 1935, according to Ron Frantz, who provided us with it. Thanks, Ron! [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

Jack and Dorothy “rented a great big farmhouse when they lived in Barrington, Massachusetts... about thirteen rooms, with several hundred acres, mostly forest.”

Creig Flessel it’s Jack Cole, or Kotzky, or Spranger imitating him, because they were trying to follow his style anyway. But Cole’s the one that really set the pace for it and created the character, and everything. FLESSEL: Yeah. RT: Is there anything else you happen to remember about him? FLESSEL: I remember he bought a camera, an 8mm camera, and he was into photography, and he took pictures of everything that happened. And he was a Renaissance man. He could do anything—write, or whatever he decided to do, he’d do. No matter what he had gotten into, he would have been a leader, and he was. RT: Yeah, it’s a shame he didn’t stick around to enjoy more of the fruits of that. Thanks very much for talking with me, Creig. FLESSEL: Thank you. And take care.

Ron Frantz’s Ace Comics title Daredevil Battles The Claw (May 1987) printed this clean version of what “vintage comics authority” Lee Boyette cited as “Jack’s first cover, out of the Chesler Shop 1937-38.” The cover date of Star Ranger #12 from Comic Magazines—or was it Ultem? or Centaur?—was May 1938. To find out about many great old-comics reprints still available, contact Ron at <Magilla445@aol.com>. [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

RT: You probably hadn’t seen him then for a while, had you? FLESSEL: No. He came back once. We had a big party for him at The Illustrators Club. And Chuck Cuidera, and Alex Kotzky; and, oh, a half dozen guys were there. We had a party for him when he came back, when he closed up everything and went back out. But he was very devoted to his wife, and I never could figure it out. RT: People speculate different things, but that’s not our main concern. Still, it’s hard not to at least touch on it. We’re mostly interested in the fact that he was such an exceptional talent.

A nice Cole “Comet” page from MLJ’s Pep Comics #3 (April 1940). His visor and ray-powers predated those of Cyclops of The X-Men by well over two decades. Thanks to Shaw S. Clay. [©2003 Archie Comic Publications, Inc.]

FLESSEL: Yeah, he reminded me of Dik Browne [the artist/creator of Hagar the Horrible], whom I knew very well. Dik was a genius, you know. And Jack Cole was all by himself. I think he was under-appreciated. I don’t think he really got his due credit. He was breaking new furrows of the field, you know. And it was a prodigious amount of work that he did.

Monthly! Edited and published by Robin Snyder

RT: Of course, Alex Kotzky did a lot of the “Plastic Man” work later. And there was another guy... Jack Spranger. FLESSEL: I never knew Spranger. He made a big splash by being another cog in the wheel. RT: Right. Sometimes, it’s hard—I think even Artie mentioned in his article and book that sometimes it’s very difficult to be sure whether

Write to: Robin Snyder, 2284 Yew St. Rd. #B6, Bellingham, WA 98226-8899

Art Paul on Jack Cole

“I Always Considered Him To Be A Genius!” Playboy Art Director ART PAUL on the Life and Death of JACK COLE Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash [INTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Art Paul was with Playboy magazine at its inception, working hand in glove with founder Hugh Hefner. He freelanced design work on the first three issues before joining the staff in 1953; he retired in 1982. A lifelong Chicagoan, Art’s influence has reached far beyond the Windy City, as the many imitators of his design work would tell you if they were being honest. And we haven’t even mentioned his contribution to the Playboy legend, which Art himself will reveal to you. Art’s observations about Jack Cole are just as cogent and the mystery surrounding their final encounter just as puzzling as Cole’s subsequent suicide. —Jim.] ART PAUL: I’ll tell you, Jim, it’s not like I saw Jack almost every day. I had some poignant times with him and always considered him to be a genius. I thought he was just an absolutely marvelous cartoonist and felt that Playboy was fortunate to have Jack working for us.

because I wasn’t getting the type of work that I was really proud of. Things were really developing; the first issue was really more like a sketchbook, but it had everything in it that we’d later use.

I designed the famous Rabbit Head symbol in 1953. I designed it Art Paul eyes Jack Cole’s wacky cover for Police Comics #71 for the first issue, although it wasn’t JIM AMASH: Tell me how you got (Oct. 1947). Thanks to Steve Brumbaugh for the cover scan. necessarily meant to be a logo at that started at Playboy. Photo by Suzanne Seed. [Art ©2003 DC Comics.] time. It was supposed to be a symbol with a dot after it to signify the end PAUL: I was freelancing for about two of each article. It wasn’t until the third issue that we actually used the years, when a mutual friend told me about Hugh Hefner. Hef was bunny on the cover, which of course is still in use today, although I looking for an illustrator for stories in his [projected] new magazine, don’t think they use it as adventurously as we had. which was called Stag Party. He came up to my office with the intention of doing illustration work, when he saw the work I had up on my walls. Some of it was work that I liked and some I hadn’t sold because the subject matter was adventurous. He looked at the stuff and asked, “Is this your work, or things you like?” I said it was some of both, so he got very interested in me as designer and art director. He asked me to commit to his new magazine. I thought the name Stag Party was a big hindrance in going too far because of the way Hef had talked about it being sophisticated and things of that nature. That name seemed to counter that. However, after some persuasion, and this took a while because I wasn’t sure I should get involved... it seemed like he might change his mind about Stag Party. And I’d never art-directed anything before, so this was a fun opportunity and I decided to go ahead and do the first issue. I was working in my own studio and Hef was working in his kitchen at home, so he’d bring material in to me because I didn’t have time to go out and track down work. However, I had to change a lot of things

JA: You were in the office when Jack Cole’s work first came in. What was the general reaction? PAUL: It was great! Hefner loved it and I loved it. Hefner really did the negotiations with him, because he had the contact. JA: Do you remember what was in that first portfolio? PAUL: Not specifically, but they were wonderful drawings. Of course, Jack was responsible for “Plastic Man.” I think Hefner knew more about him than I did. There was great, sensitive feeling inherent in Jack’s work... just beautiful. I’m sure Hefner realized Jack Cole had done “Plastic Man.” Hef was the cartoon editor. In the beginning, I think the cartoon area was his greatest strength. JA: Why do you think it was so important for Hefner to want Jack Cole to move from the Northeast to be near him?

Title Comic Fandom Archive

I began researching the history of comic fandom in 1992, because I wanted to make sure the energetic efforts of fandom’s earliest boosters were recognized and celebrated. The occasion of Jerry Bails’ 70th birthday gives me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one!) to focus on his numerous contributions to fandom, especially in that first exciting decade—contributions I’m calling…

Jerry Bails’ Ten Building Blocks of Fandom by Bill Schelly I. Alter-Ego, with a Hyphen Since we’ll be examining these building blocks in roughly chronological order, the place to start is with the fanzine Jerry Bails founded (with the help of Roy Thomas) slightly more than 42 years ago. The initial idea was to publish a newsletter to boost the Justice League of America, who had recently been launched Jerry Bails in the 1980s—and (since we in their own comic book title. featured all eleven 1960s-70s Alter Ego After visiting with Justice covers back in ish #10) the montage League of America editor Julius cover of the 1997 collection of the best of Schwartz and writer Gardner the first volume of A/E. This 160-page Fox in New York City in trade paperback is virtually out of print, February of 1961, his projected though Bill Schelly recently stumbled upon a few spare copies; contact him The JLA Subscriber gave way to via Hamster Press. Photo courtesy of something much more ambitious: Jerry Bails and Bill Schelly. [Cover art an amateur journal devoted to ©2003 the respective copyright holders.] the revivals of the costumed heroes at DC and elsewhere, as well as historical studies of what Bails deemed “The First Heroic Age of Comics.” Its title hyphenated at first (and originally planned to be spelled with a lower-case second “e”), Alter-Ego #1 (March 1961) was sent out free to people on Jerry’s growing mailing list, compiled largely from the DC letter columns (mostly Schwartz’s) that now contained full addresses. Clearly, Bails tapped into a lot of pent-up interest in comics, and in just one year his mailing list topped 500 names. Many who had enjoyed the medium in solitude came out of the woodwork, most of them older than the eight-to-twelve-year-olds who were DC’s target audience at the time. A number of them were talented writers and artists, and soon they were contributing to Alter-Ego or starting their own fanzines. A grassroots movement arose, forming the foundation for a fandom just about comics.

At first, Jerry planned to run such ads in each issue of A/E, but it soon became clear that it couldn’t be published often enough. Thus, in September 1961, just six months after A/E debuted, he brought out The Comicollector #1, the first comics advertising fanzine. Labeled “the companion to Alter-Ego,” this 20-pager carried ads by Bails and such early stalwarts of fandom as John McGeehan, Claude Held, John Pierce, Ronn Foss, Paul Seydor, and others. The only article was a review of the first issue of The Fantastic Four, called “Four of a Kind,” by Roy Thomas, actually written for inclusion in A/E. Bails published The Comicollector for a year, then handed the reins to Ronn Foss. In 1964 it merged with Gordon Love’s Rocket’s Blast, forming the venerable RB-CC, which lasted into the 1980s.

II. The Comicollector One of the main purposes of fandom, then as now, was to bring fans together for the purpose of adding to their comic book collections. Edgar Rice Burroughs and science-fiction fans had The Fantasy Collector, which occasionally offered old comics for sale or trade, but there was a need for a publication devoted primarily to the field of comic art.

The masthead of the first issue of JGB’s Comicollector (Sept. 1961). There were few illos in the early issues.

Jerry Bails

With A Little Help From His Friends... A Few of JERRY BAILS’ Collaborators and Correspondents Have Their Say about Fandom’s Founding Father I. Julius Schwartz [By the day in February 1961 when Jerry Bails met Julius Schwartz, fabled editor of Justice League of America, The Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Detective Comics, Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, et al., Julie had been editing comic books for almost exactly 17 years. Since his retirement well over a decade ago, Julie has served as a roving good-will ambassador for DC, and still goes into the office—where he retains a desk—one day a week. I asked him about his meeting with Jerry, which was so important both to Alter Ego and to comics fandom, and the result was the following mini-interview.] ROY THOMAS: Long before he came to New York, of course, Jerry was writing you letters. JULIUS SCHWARTZ: Yes. I think he won the artwork for the first issue of Justice League of America. RT: Right. The first thing I got was the Flash story with the Three Dimwits, with art by Carmine Infantino. Jerry and I were both “guest critics” in the first “Hawkman” letters page in The Brave and the Bold, too. Then, in February of 1961, he was invited to speak at Adelphi College out on Long Island, and he used that as an excuse to come to New York and meet with you and Gardner [Fox]. I was just wondering if you remember anything about that. SCHWARTZ: I know it happened, but I actually have no recollection of him sitting in a chair across from my desk and my talking to him. I may have given him a copy of Dick Lupoff’s fanzine Xero.... RT: I know you gave him copies of the first three issues, because later he sent them on to me.

SCHWARTZ: Right, and I told him about science-fiction fandom, and the rest—and it evolved—or devolved—into comic book fandom. RT: Yes. Before he came to New York, Jerry had told me about this idea he had for a “JLA Newsletter,” but after he talked to you and found out about science-fiction fandom, and Xero, that helped him metamorphose into being a bit more ambitious about it. So you helped jump-start comics fandom, whether you like it or not... just as you did science-fiction fandom in the ’30s. [laughs] I think you and he and Gardner went out to lunch. SCHWARTZ: I don’t recall. After all, that’s 42 years ago. RT: [laughs] And you don’t remember it? SCHWARTZ: You and Jerry had both been in touch with Gardner Fox, hadn’t you? RT: Yes. It was Gardner who sent me Jerry’s address in November of 1960, after you had given me Gardner’s address.... SCHWARTZ: 52 Crotty Avenue, in Yonkers. RT: Now that you remember!

With A Little Help From His Friends...

15 When I go to science-fiction conventions, I always ask audiences what’s the first thing they turn to when they buy a new issue of a science-fiction magazine—if you’re a true fan—what’s the first thing you turn to? I ask you that question. RT: The letters page?

Though Julie didn’t recall it, he and Jerry did meet a second time, evidently at DC’s offices—”circa 1971,” if Bill Schelly was correct when he sent us this photo of Neal Adams (at left), Julie, and Jerry. A couple of years earlier, Neal had drawn the cover of the Schwartz-edited JLA-JSA team-up in Justice League of America #74 (Sept. 1969). Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art. [Cover art ©2003 DC Comics.]

SCHWARTZ: How did I remember that? RT: Probably because he wrote his address on thousands of scripts you edited, for all those years. SCHWARTZ: There are things you remember, and things you want to remember and can’t.

SCHWARTZ: Many people say that. You turn to the letters page to see if your letter got printed. But that is not the first thing. If you’re a true science-fiction fan, the first thing you turn to is, what’s coming up next issue! RT: Really? I never thought about that for comics, because when I was growing up, they usually didn’t tell you what was coming up next issue. SCHWARTZ: But science-fiction magazines did. I looked to the future. I don’t care what’s happening today. What’s happening tomorrow? And that’s what I’d tell Jerry in the letters I’d write to him.

RT: What was it about Jerry that was different? After all, you must’ve gotten letters from lots of fans. Was it because he was a college professor? SCHWARTZ: When I wrote to Jerry, or when I met him, to me he was just an enthusiastic fan. I did not regard him as a “college professor.” He was just a fan—who reminded me of myself. Don’t forget, I got my start operating a science-fiction literary agency with Mort Weisinger, and that developed from the fact that we used to go up to the [sf magazine] editors, and they gave us information. So, in the same respect, you might say I’m the godfather of Jerry Bails, because what I did with Mort is exactly what Jerry did. We went out and started a fan magazine! And Bails did the same damn thing! It’s a parallel universe! RT: And he was encouraged because you promised him advance news for his newsletter, which became Alter-Ego. SCHWARTZ: Well, sure, because when I went up to the editors, I’d say, “Please let me know what’s coming up in the coming issues!”

In the early 1960s Mike Vosburg was a young Detroit fan-artist, and the return of Hawkman a cause celebre in the fanzines of the day—with Jerry Bails among a fannish foursome invited by editor Schwartz to “review” silver prints of the debut of a new Hawkman in The Brave and the Bold #34 (Feb.-March ’61). In 2002 Mike, by now a longtime comics pro, drew this powerful illo of two of his favorite Silver Age heroes, which is repro’d here from the original art. [Art ©2003 Mike Vosburg; Hawkman and Hawkgirl ©2003 DC Comics.]

The Men Called “X” part nine, cont’d

“I Trusted His Instincts and I Hoped He Trusted Mine!” Part 2 of Our Interview with X-Men Scribe X-traordinaire CHRIS CLAREMONT— Mostly about Working with DAVE COCKRUM that they’d have to handle it, because what’s the alternative? [laughs] The thing that gave “Dark Phoenix” [as the storyline came to be called] its power was a series of serendipitous events resulting in my being forced to think outside the box. We’d gone the whole route because she’d committed the unforgivable act of murder. Do we throw her in jail for life or do we kill her? And if we do throw her in jail, what happens next? And if we do kill her, what happens next? Out of that, came a story with a lasting, tremendous emotional punch.

Conducted and Transcribed by Jim Amash [INTRODUCTION: The first onethird of this interview with Chris Claremont was published last issue in our over-full “X-Men” special, under the title “I Was in the Right Place at the Right Time.” However, it’s been apparent to pretty much everybody for the past nigh-three decades that Chris was also the right man in that place and time, and that it was not just coincidental that he wrote The X-Men during those crucial years when it finally became a break-out hit mag and eventually Marvel’s top seller. Last time, he spoke about the revival of the comic in 1975 with artist Dave Cockrum— whose art is a major feature of both last issue and this—and how they began to develop the characters of the New X-Men. —Roy.]

If Dave and I had told that entire story, would we have come to that end? I don’t know. That was the synergy of me and John Byrne as much as me and Dave. I should say it wasn’t just me and Byrne. It was also my editors along the way, like Roger Stern, Jim Salicrup, and finally Louise Simonson. Chris Claremont in a photo from the 15th issue of Marvel’s self-published fanzine F.O.O.M. (Sept. 1976)—and a 2003 commission drawing by Dave Cockrum of Dark Phoenix. You should see it in color! To find how to purchase original art or special commissions by Dave, e-mail him at <parrotstew@in4web.com>. [Art ©2003 Dave Cockrum; Phoenix TM & ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Mutant Multitude JIM AMASH: When you brought Jean back into the book, was it in your mind that she was to become The Phoenix? CHRIS CLAREMONT: Dave and I were kicking ideas back and forth. We wanted to kick one of The X-Men up to the next level, and she was it. JA: When you decided to turn her into The Phoenix, just how powerful did you intend her to be? Certainly not as powerful as she later became as Dark Phoenix? CLAREMONT: We wanted to push the envelope as far as we could. I think we were always thinking about her achieving a cosmic level. In the back of our heads was always the realization of a conflict. There had to be the dark side of the force, or else what’s the point of doing it? There has to be a confrontation. The idea in terms of Jean was like taking a character from ordinary human to sorcerer supreme in one stage, without going through Dr. Strange’s rising and advancing of the spirit. What would happen if you made one of our characters the next best thing to God? Could they handle it? Our presumption, because we were still thinking inside the box, was

Chris Claremont

JA: One character whom I thought was less welldeveloped, even though I liked him because he had the most normal face of all, was Banshee. What were your feelings about this character? CLAREMONT: Again, Banshee’s presence gave the book a measure of age. He was obviously not a kid and had been around the block a few hundred times. He had a history that Len himself had established. Part of the problem is that the more characters you have in a book—and back then, we only had seventeen pages—the more limited the amount of screen time you have. You not only have to have a number of heroes, but also an equivalent number of villains, which means that half the time you’re running two teams in the book. Comics is a shorthand medium to begin with, and when you have seven main characters in every issue, you find yourself limited to what you can establish, and how deeply you can investigate each character. Banshee had too many cool characters to compete with. There’s Nightcrawler, Colossus, and the rest. To some extent, exploring who the new guys were was more fun than playing with the old guys. Nightcrawler and Wolverine were more interesting to explore, and so was Cyclops, even. We did set up some stuff with Black Tom, Juggernaut, and the castle in Ireland, but again, it’s bouncing back and forth, trying to find the balance. Dave loved Nightcrawler as a character, therefore Nightcrawler tended to get a lot of cool face time. John Byrne loved Wolverine, therefore Wolverine started getting a lot of face time. I loved Storm—([laughs] therefore Storm got a lot of face time. We were all sort of pulling for our guys, subconsciously, if nothing else. And you’re thinking, three or four issues down the road, where am I going to go with this character? Who do we hook him up with and how do we do it? JA: How do you balance everything in the straitjacket of seventeen pages in a bimonthly book? Everybody’s got to get some screen time. CLAREMONT: That’s it. And the problem was, after the first six months, trying to balance it so we could get the Dave says this is a “rejected rough for a Nightcrawler poster.” What were they thinking? book on schedule in order to jump to a monthly status. The [Art ©2003 Dave Cockrum; Nightcrawler TM & ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc.] fact is that sales justified it within a year, and there was no hope in hell that we could get it out monthly at that for budgetary reasons, with a Tony DeZuniga-drawn story. The filler particular time. In those days, it took ten months to get final sales that became 106 had been commissioned when the book was first figures. We started racking up sales in the high 40s, into the 50s in terms started, because the consensus was that we’d sooner or later need it. We of sell-through percentage, which was extraordinary back then. And the just kept fighting and stalling not to use it, but eventually we had no sales kept going up. We knew by issue 100 that, if we could get on choice . schedule, we could go monthly. It was after a year of John being on the book that we finally did it. JA: Why didn’t you write that fill-in story? Originally, #107 was supposed to be a non-crossover over with The Legion of Super-heroes. Paul Levitz and I had gotten together and decided that I would handle the story from The X-Men’s point of view in 107, and then Paul could tell the story about the Legion coming up against these five nut cases [laughs] who look faintly like The X-Men. It’d be the same story but from different perspectives. It’d be a noncrossover crossover. But Paul was so far ahead on his schedule, and it turned out that Dave took four full months to turn out issue 107, and even then we barely made it.

CLAREMONT: Bill Mantlo wrote it, but by the time it saw print, the treatment of the characters’ personalities and the visuals were so wrong, that it needed a complete rewrite. At that particular time, Bill Mantlo was writing fill-ins for every book in the line. That was a period, ’75, ’76, when we were having major title cutbacks, and the amount of available work was very limited for writers, due to contractual obligations to Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, and Len Wein. We were all hurting for work, and in my case I was trying to get a regular book out, so I didn’t have a lot of time.

JA: Four months?

JA: How much thinking time were you putting into each story? Sounds like you were taking an extraordinary amount of time with each story.

CLAREMONT: Well, we were bimonthly, and Dave drew issue 105. 106 was a fill-in, and then there’s issue 107. That gave him four months, and we barely made the deadline with 107. John had to jump right in with issues 108, 109, and 110, because we had to burn off another fill-in,

CLAREMONT: Well, not so much, per se. Dave and I knew what we wanted to do and had no problem doing it. I don’t think it was a lot

Alter Ego #25