MORE TITANS OF
TIMELY/MARVEL
BELLMAN, BURLOCKOFF, & NODELL! Plus:
AVISON • BURGOS • COLE • CRANDALL • EVERETT KOTZKY • REINMAN • ROY • SAHLE • SHORES
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No. 32 January 2004
All characters TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Vol. 3, No. 32 / January 2004
™
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 Dick Giordano Gil Kane
Covers Colorist Tom Ziuko
MORE TITANS OF TIMELY/ MARVEL Section
And Special Thanks to: Mark Lewis Enrico Bagnoli Mile-High Comics Jeff Bailey Michael Baulderstone Mark Muller Will Murray Alberto Becattini Mart & Carrie Blake Bell Nodell Allen Bellman Michelle Nolan Ray Bottorff, Jr. Warren Reece Sam Burlockoff Paul Rivoche Jack Burnley David A. Roach Mike Carlin Steven Rowe Jon B. Cooke David A. Simpson Ray A. Cuthbert Joe Staton Mark Evanier Richard Steinberg Michael Feldman Marc Swayze Keif Fromm Joel Thingvall Carl Gafford Dann Thomas Janet Gilbert Antonio Toldo Dick Giordano Alex Toth Mike Gold George Hagenauer Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Roger Dicken & Vassallo Wendy Hunt Hames Ware Robert Justice Mrs. Hazel White Marc Kardell Eddy Zeno Gene Kehoe Mike Zeno Richard Kyle
This issue is dedicated to the memory of
Pete Morisi
Contents Writer/Editorial: Bellman, Burlockoff, and Candle . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 A Golden Age Reunion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1940s-50s Timely (also Quality, etc.) artists Allen Bellman & Sam Burlockoff meet again after half a century! Interviews by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo and Jim Amash.
Mart Nodell’s Time at Timely. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Blake Bell asks the genial co-creator of Green Lantern about when he traded in GL’s ring for Captain America’s shield.
Panoramic Potpourri Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover & Contents Page Illo: What can we say? Roy implored his old friend and colleague (and sometime boss) Dick Giordano to draw this cover—he photocopied drawings of dozens of vintage Timely/Marvel super-heroes as reference—and Dick came through like the champ he is, starting with the above layout. Originally, we planned to have each and every hero’s “photo” colored individually, but we didn’t want to risk giving colorist Tom Ziuko a nervous breakdown. We’d also considered lettering each hero’s name with his/her likeness, but frankly, even Ye Editor forgot who a couple of these guys were! So, tell you what—falling back on the time-honored tradition of all those no-prizes Stan Lee used to make Roy mail out to folks, Alter Ego will print (and send a free copy of issue #37 to) the writer of the first letter or e-mail we get that correctly identifies all 29 super-heroes on our cover and layout. Ready... set... go! [Art ©2004 Dick Giordano; heroes TM & ©2004 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, $11.00 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
2
Bellman, Burlockoff, and Candle
I admit it—once again, I’ve been genetically unable to resist using a pun as the title for these introductory notes. This one’s a riff on the famous stage play and movie Bell, Book, and Candle—but, of course, if I have to explain the pun, as I probably do to any non-old movie addict under the age of fifty, it’s probably not a very good one. Never mind. It’s done. Let’s move on. Actually, interviewers Michael J. Vassallo, Jim Amash and I will probably also need to explain who our two long-form interviewees are, since the talented Allen Bellman and Sam Burlockoff are only slightly better known, even to diehard comics fans, than was their Timely colleague Bob Deschamps before A/E #20! Allen and Sam signed a slightly larger percentage of their work than Bob did (which was none), but both left the field nearly fifty years ago, to make their primary marks elsewhere... though that doesn’t mean they don’t have some great stories to tell, and considerable light to shed on the Golden Age of Timely Comics.
What’s most amazing, perhaps, is that, although the pair were friends back in their youth, they hadn’t been in touch with each other for half a century—and at least one of them even thought the other was long since deceased, until a juxtaposition of fortunate circumstances (i.e., their interviews for Alter Ego) led to their getting together again for a happy reunion! But I’ll let Doc V. and Jim A., as well as Allen B., tell you about that in their own inimitable words. Oh, and just to hit you over the head with it—the “candle” in the title is an oblique reference to the light of the first Green Lantern, which originally shone forth at the behest of artist Mart Nodell, who is briefly interviewed by Blake Bell about his late-1940s tenure at Timely/Marvel. Hmm... maybe we should’ve just titled this page “Three Interviews” and let it go at that! Bestest,
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ott; Comics Joe Sinn 04 DC Frenz & ca TM & ©20 04 Ron eri Art ©20 eague of Am L Justice
• A star-spangled symposium on M IKE SEKO W SKY, with M ARK EVANIER, SCO TT SHAW !, DAVE STEVENS, & FLO YD NO RM AN —with rare art by “Big Mike,” M URPHY ANDERSO N , CARM INE INFANTINO , GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN , GEO RGE PÉREZ, BILL EVERETT, CARL BURGO S—plus an intriguing interview with PAT “M RS.M IKE” SEKO W SKY! • Golden Age Timely/Marvel inker VALERIE BARCLAY talks to JIM AMASH about STAN LEE, GEO RGE KLEIN , DAVE GANTZ, CHRIS RULE—and, oh yes, M IKE SEKO W SKY! • “Lost Comics Lore, Part III” by W ILL M URRAY! • FCA with M ARC SW AYZE and a marvelous parody of Captain Marvel by RO SS ANDRU & M IKE ESPO SITO ! • Plus: ALEX TO TH —M ICHAEL T.GILBERT on HARVEY KURTZM AN —PAT CALHO UN —BILL SCHELLY—& MORE!! Edited by ROY THOMAS • 108 PAGES!
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Allen Bellman
A Golden Age Reunion
3
Old Friends and Timely/Marvel Artists—ALLEN BELLMAN and SAM BURLOCKOFF Interviewed by DOC VASSALLO and JIM AMASH
I. Two Timely Talks with ALLEN BELLMAN by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo
Allen had no copies of his comic book work, and I was able to supply him with hundreds of pages—a sizable portion—of his Timely work. This material was drawn in the 1940s and early 1950s, and had not been seen by him in over half a century, nor had his family, his wonderful wife Roz, or his children or grandchildren ever seen it. Our friendship, and the validation of an artist’s long career, have proven to be as gratifying to this author as they have been to Allen.
[DOC V’S INTRODUCTION: The name Allen Bellman conjures up a smile of recognition among historians and aficionados of Timely Comics. From his beginnings as a teenager doing backgrounds for Syd Shores’ “Captain America” stories in 1942 up through “The Patriot,” “The A photo from the recent happy reunion, after half a century, of Allen Bellman [One point of very special Destroyer,” “The Human Torch,” (left) and Sam Burlockoff (right), taken in the latter’s Florida home—above interest: when the major part of “Jap-Buster Johnson,” his selfa Bellman “Patriot” splash from Marvel Mystery Comics #62 (March 1945) and this interview was originally created continuing crime feature the Jack Cole-penciled, Burlockoff-inked cover of Quality’s Plastic Man #33 conducted, Allen referred to his “Let’s Play Detective,” the Atom (Jan. 1952), from an idea Sam says he suggested to Plas’ creator childhood friend Sam (see p. 36). Photo courtesy of Allen and Sam; thanks to Doc V. for the art. Age “Jet Dixon of the Space Burlockoff, saying he had long [Patriot art ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Plastic Man art ©2004 DC Comics.] Squadron,” and scores of presince passed away. During this Comics Code horror, crime, war, piece’s long preparation, Jim Amash e-mailed me one day and asked and western tales for Atlas, Allen Bellman entertained us—whether we knew it or not—with a quirky, distinctive, and original comic book style. His career spanned the entire breadth of Timely/Atlas from the early Golden Age to the dissolution of the Timely bullpen. He then joined hundreds of freelancers whose work filled the myriad genres of titles that flourished after the decline of the costumed heroes into the early 1950s. [I tracked Allen down in Florida about five years ago, thanks to a tip from Paul Curtis, and began a close friendship that remains to this day. He is a storehouse of Timely reminiscences and looks back fondly on his career in the comic book industry.
4
A Golden Age Reunion
if I had ever heard of, or had any copies of Timely work done by, an artist he was in the process of interviewing—named Sam Burlockoff! I froze in astonishment and told Jim that I was at the same time interviewing that artist’s boyhood friend Allen Bellman, and that Bellman thought him long deceased! [Jim, Roy, and I immediately realized that we had a unique opportunity here. We would print both interviews in the same issue of A/E and be able to get these two long-lost friends back together in the process! Happily, the two old friends have gotten together in person since that day—as photos accompanying these interviews well illustrate. Even so, I elected to keep the original interview as is, and the reader will note that, when Allen mentions Sam early on, it’s with the assumption that he was deceased—but, by the end of the interview, conducted after the happy revelation, he refers to Sam in the present tense. —Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.]
“I Must Have Been Able to Draw Something!” MICHAEL J. VASSALLO: Let’s start at the beginning, Allen. Where and when were you born? And tell me a little about your family. ALLEN BELLMAN: I was born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, on June 5th, 1924. Sometimes I get all choked up just thinking about how long ago it was and how quickly it seems to have passed. A lot of my contemporaries were also born on the Lower East Side. My parents came from Russia. They were Jewish immigrants running away from the pogroms in the early part of the century. I have a picture of them that I’d never seen until recently. My sister, who passed away, had it. My father is sitting in a chair with a stiff collar. You could just imagine that time.
I was not in my teens yet, and I was drawing comic strips on notebook paper, in pencil. Later on I created characters like “Mander the Mystic” and “Big Hank O’Malley” that were run on the “Aunt Jean page” of the defunct Brooklyn Eagle. The New York Daily Mirror published one of my cartoons, a box panel called “Pete.” It went something like this: one person says to the other, “I hear Hitler wants to be an athlete.” The other replies, “Yeah, he wants to jump over the poles.” They paid me $2 and that was the beginning of my career. This was at the time when dark clouds of war hovered over Europe, and Hitler was marching on Poland. I drew a comic strip called Air Patrol for my school newspaper in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. I still remember that neighborhood well, with the Grand Street Theatre. MJV: I think it’s still there! I know that area; my roots are in Greenpoint, also. The different ethnic groups change over the years, but the houses are all the same from the turn of the century. In addition to the comic strips you read when you were young, did you also read comic books and think about art as a possible career? BELLMAN: Well, I didn’t think about it as a “career.” I liked to do it, and in all honesty I didn’t think I was too good. I developed when I started working. Well, someone did hire me, so I must have been able to draw something! As for comic books, I remember when I was in junior high school. On our lunch hour there was a candy store. I went in and paid 10¢ for the first “Superman” in Action Comics. I remember there was a guy running towards you and Superman was holding up a car. I remember it clearly. There was nothing previously on the newsstands like that. I wish I still had it.
I don’t know why there hasn’t been a movie made about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. What happened to them is very sad. I should suggest it to Mike Uslan. I knew him a long time and was a Allen at about age three. friend of his father. But it would show National, Photo provided by the artist. I had one brother and two sisters. A picture of much of the time, in a less than favorable light. I my brother is looking down at me as we speak. remember Joe Shuster working as a messenger My parents were in the bakery business, along with two or three of my for a company that made photo-offsets. He delivered these pieces of art uncles. They were the Bellman Brothers, but after a while the to National. Can you imagine that? The man who made the company, partnership split and the brothers went their separate ways. My parents reduced to a messenger boy? What an injustice! migrated to Brooklyn, along with my two sisters and brother, when I was six or seven. I was the youngest of the four, and that allowed me more privileges than the rest of my siblings, so they tell me. It was the old Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Same place Mike Tyson came from. MJV: There certainly was a lot of animosity remaining from their MJV: That’s a tough neighborhood now. lawsuit with National over Superman. But what prompted you to seek a job as an artist? Did you put together a portfolio of samples? BELLMAN: Then it wasn’t. It was a middle-class Italian, Jewish neighborhood. Brownsville was the home of the Jewish Mafia, widely known BELLMAN: Yes. They wouldn’t have ever hired me without seeing as “Murder, Incorporated.” My father opened a bakery store, and I some samples. I attended the High School of Industrial Arts, and on and attended the local public school. In the bakery store, everything was put off at Pratt Institute. At age 18 I saw an ad in the newspaper—I think it in brown paper bags. At some point I started drawing on the bags. I was the New York Times. The newspaper ad said, “Background artist suppose this was the start of printing on paper and plastic bags that we wanted.” It was for Captain America. I’m not sure it stated that in the know today. [laughs] I always wanted to tell a story in pictures. ad, but I think it did. Airplanes intrigued me tremendously. As I got older, I started trying to I showed it to my father, may he rest in peace. He encouraged me to draw my own comic strips. They were very crude. go down there. I told him it was Columbus Day and they’d probably be I remember when Flash Gordon came out. I’ll never forget the first closed. He said, “You gotta try.” Maybe I was a little lazy or I didn’t time I saw it in the New York Journal-American. Boy, what beautiful think I’d get the job—I don’t know—but I went. It was Timely Comics work! I was so impressed by it. Alex Raymond was one of my idols. His and they were in the McGraw-Hill Building. I went up and told them I untimely death was a great loss. was there to apply for the job. The receptionist disappeared in the back
“Background Artist Wanted”
Mart Nodell
45
Mart Nodell’s Time at Timely From Green Lantern’s Ring to Captain America’s Shield by Blake Bell [INTRODUCTION: Few people in the comic book industry are as eloquent as Mart Nodell, the creator of the Golden Age Green Lantern. His quick wit and his ability to speak clearly, and concisely, suggest one is speaking to a man in his fifties, not his eighties. Marty saw it all in the early ’40s at DC, but few people know he also spent three years in the Timely bullpen, working for Stan Lee and Syd Shores, from 1948-50. We caught up with Marty at his table at the 2001 San Diego Comic-Con’s Artist Alley and discussed his time at Timely. —Blake.] BELL: How did you end up at working at Timely Comics? NODELL: I had been doing “Green Lantern” for about eight years, but I decided to take a little time away from the “Green Lantern,” and Stan Lee said he needed someone on his staff, so I went to work for Stan. I met Stan on a floor at the Empire State Building. At that point, it was an area where there were, I’d say, about a dozen artists—where we just worked as we wanted right there. In other words, tables set up as a studio. We all enjoyed working that way. BELL: So you specifically worked in the bullpen, in the Empire State Building? NODELL: We all worked in the studio at the Empire State Building. I forget whether it was the 13th floor, but it was a good floor. Everyone
Mart and Carrie Nodell met in 1941, roughly a year and a half after Marty came up with the concept of The Green Lantern. They’re seen here a few years ago with sculptor Randy Bowen’s exquisite sculpture of the Golden Age GL; Bowen and sf writer Harlan Ellison own the other two of only three copies ever made. Sorry, but we’re uncertain who took this photo of the Nodells.
who worked with Stan enjoyed the work they did. It was fun and games. Everybody had their work to do. We were fairly well paid. We were not well-paid, but it was fair and we enjoyed our work. The crew we had was Stan Lee as the editor... there was Syd Shores, who was the head of the [art] department. As we worked various other jobs, we were given scripts from Stan, and finishing that, the fellows who did the penciling handed them over to the inkers, who finished up the work, and that was about it. BELL: It doesn’t sound like an artist did one specific story. It almost sounds like a “conveyor belt” scenario. NODELL: Well, you may believe so, but it really wasn’t exactly like that. Actually, we were set up so that we were on three walls, plus Stan with his office, and Syd ran the works. He did mostly the “Captain Americas,” and he was an easy-going chap, who worked well with everyone else. Syd was the kind of fellow who accepted only excellent work, but it was easy working with him. Every once and awhile, a chap named Sekowsky came in during the daytime with about three or four different pages and he’d show us what he had there. He’d go see Stan, of course, and then he’d go home. At night he’d come back and he’d have about another six pages, he worked so swiftly. It was great working with Mike. BELL: Did you ever work with Bill Everett? NODELL: I don’t recall that I ever did. I don’t remember too much about him.
Because there were generally at least two artists on postwar “Big Three” stories (penciler and inker), and often more, as Mart Nodell describes, it’s difficult to be certain who the artists are. These panels from a later-1940s “Sub-Mariner” tale is a case in point—or, if there’s somebody who feels he can ID the artist(s) for sure, we hope he’ll let us know! Thanks to Jerry G. Bails. (See A/E V3#5 for an unfinished Nodell Sub-Mariner cover, at least, that is definitely Marty’s work.) Thanks to Jerry G. Bails. [©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.]
BELL: Did you receive scripts from Stan that he had written himself, or were they from other writers? NODELL: I don’t recall whether he wrote them, but I think the scripts were from other writers. I know that they were finished scripts, very little changes. They were finalized scripts on typewriter paper—typed out and given to the fellows.
46
Mart Nodell did Dan DeCarlo, who did a lot of the girlie work. He was there before I showed up. BELL: What about Joe Maneely? Was he there at that time? NODELL: Another nice easy-going guy. He didn’t leave too much of an impression. BELL: Did you ever get a chance to meet Alex Schomburg? NODELL: I really don’t believe I ever got to know him at all. We really got to know Syd Shores. We had him home for dinner all through then. He was a good friend. BELL: Did you stay friends with him after 1950?
One of numerous copies of recent Nodell colored art that Marty and Carrie sell at comicons around the country. In honor of his time at Timely, Marty composed this one with the top heroes he drew for both Timely and DC. [Art ©2004 Mart Nodell; Captain America TM & ©2004 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Green Lantern TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]
BELL: What kind of books did you do at Timely during that period? NODELL: I worked on the big three super-heroes of the time [Captain America, Human Torch, & Sub-Mariner]. I did pencils on them. Inkers were separate, and every once and a while there’d be a rush job, so I’d do three pages, somebody else would do another page or two, another page or two for another artist, and they’d all finish up the work as pencils; then the inkers would get them. No one would ever really know who did what, or what work was done by anybody. It was very difficult to judge, for anybody. BELL: Do you remember doing any other kind of genre work, like romance or western? NODELL: I did some westerns—very few westerns. Pierce Rice did most of the westerns. He was very good. BELL: What about other individuals there? NODELL: They were all a really great group. Gene Colan was there. He was one of our young artists. He was the “kid on the block.” Everyone kidded him about being the youngster, as he was a little bit younger than we were. Gene was an easy-going fellow, but he could speak up for himself. His work was good. We always had fun with him. Everyone was really nice and pleasant, except me. [laughs] There was John Buscema, who was always super-good, and he did a lot of work. So
A MART NODELL Timely Checklist [NOTE: Jerry Bails also sent this information from the online Who’s Who of 20th-Century American Comic Books. Key: (a) = full art; (p) = pencils only. The names of the features have not been italicized because they appeared in more than one title at the time and it is not known precisely in which title the work appeared, i.e., The Human Torch or Marvel Mystery Comics.] Full Name and Date of Birth: Martin Nodell (born 1915) —artist, writer. Work at Timely/Marvel: Captain America (p) c. 1948; horror (a) c. 1948-49; Human Torch (p) c. 1948; science-fantasy (a) c. 1948-49; Sub-Mariner (p) c. 1948; war (a) c. 1948-49. Some data provided by Mart Nodell.
NODELL: No, but there it was just a matter of being away from New York, and going to Chicago, and from there to Florida. We couldn’t be in touch. Part of the problem was that people in advertising did not especially care for anyone connected in the business of comics in general.
BELL: Was it a fun atmosphere up there in the Timely bullpen, or was it just hard work? NODELL: Yes, to both questions. There were times we really had to do a great deal of work, all within one day, and finish up a job. We’d begin in the morning, and by mid-day we’d have to have a lot of work done. BELL: Was there a lot of business there in the late ‘40s? You never felt a “crunch” from lack of work? NODELL: There were crunches at Timely, and there were rushes, but it worked out pretty well. BELL: Why was your stay at Timely so short? NODELL: I had made the decision in 1950 to get into advertising because I had begun to see a lot of work on storyboards, that kind of work, as well as animation. I thought I should really take advantage of that. And we were not all that well-paid in comics, whether it was “The Green Lantern” or afterwards. So by 1950 I went right into advertising. It worked out well, as I became an art director for a number of agencies. I worked for about five big agencies, and it worked out fine. BELL: You never went back to comics? NODELL: In 1975 I had a few friends drag me back into comics, because people wanted to know about me, and see me. We moved to Florida in 1976, and from that time until about 1980, I worked at the newspaper there, and it was fun doing work for them. We started coming to conventions mostly around 1982, and my wife likes it, so here we are, year after year. [Blake Bell, as he says in his current TwoMorrows book I Have to Live with This Guy!, “has had poems published in London, articles in Comic Book Artist, and currently resides in Toronto.” Now he can add Alter Ego to his résumé. Blake has also been generous with information and material related to Timely and some of its top creators. In addition, he runs Steve Ditko’s “unofficial web haven for serious fans” at <www.ditko.comics.org>... the 1950s Atlas [Timely/Marvel] Cover Gallery at <www.timely-atlas.comics.org>... the “Golden Age Legends – Bill Everett/Alex Schomburg/Syd Shores” website at <www.ess.comics.org>... and the Gene Colan Art Gallery at <www.geocities.com/gcolan/>. So tell us, Blake—what do you do in your spare time?]
2
Title writer/editorial
A Guest Editorial by Jerry Bails [NOTE: Alter Ego’s founding editor and publisher Jerry G. Bails recently sent us the following thoughts about errata and corrections —and we felt they were worth printing as our first (but not necessarily last) guest editorial.] Books about the people in the comics industry are real jewels that we all prize, but they allow errors to persist long after the author is embarrassed by them. On the other hand, the Internet is a wonderful medium that allows researchers to get instant feedback and rapid correction of their errors. It saves writers from a good many errors—not all, but it sure helps.
especially when it was farmed out to the Jack Binder shop and was being published in Prize Comics. The later appearances of The Green Lama in his own magazine from Crossen’s Spark Publications seem to have been primarily written by Horace Gold. Gold was a friend of Jerry Siegel’s, who, according to a letter from Siegel, assisted him by supplying plots for early “Superman” adventures. Okay, I’ve got one more error to clean up—for now. In the introduction to the recent Spectre Archives, Vol. 1, I repeated the conventional wisdom about Victor Fox, who published “Wonder Man,” a rip-off of “Superman” that was immediately sued out of existence. I repeated the traditional story that he was a former accountant for Harry Donenfeld at DC. As the story went, once Fox saw the sales figures of Action Comics, he went off and started his own line of comics.
However, even with archives of Internet discussions preserved somewhere on the Web, errors discussed on the Internet do not yet rise to the level of print as the last word on a subject. That is where Alter Ego is so important. It is a living, growing instrument of research into the comics medium, and because Roy Thomas is so careful in publishing errata, it will serve for many years as a reference tool for Michael Feldman has since writers. They may not always credit An early Will Eisner panel—from Wonder Comics #1 (May 1939). convinced me that this widely-told Alter Ego or get the facts straight, [©2004 the respective copyright holder.] tale is very likely apocryphal. Fox but the beauty of A/E is that it will would have had to have access to be a research tool on the shelves of writers for decades to come, and we considerable capital to launch numerous titles, as he did in 1939. It’s can consult back issues, knowing you cared enough to print additions unlikely that an accountant working for a second-rate publisher in those and corrections, for which you are to be justly rewarded with an days had access to that much capital. There are numerous other ways honorary degree from the School of Hard Knocks. that someone in advertising, merchandising, publishing, distributing, or I’d like to take advantage of this wonderful aspect of the magazine to correct a few errors of my own that have appeared in book form in recent years. I believe that I can make the points so that they will be of general interest to its readers. The first error appeared in the introduction I wrote for The Golden Age Green Lantern, Vol. 2. I mentioned in passing what I thought was a radio pilot based on the origin story in All-American Comics #16, by Bill Finger and Mart Nodell. I have had that recording in my possession for over twenty years. It had circulated with Old Time Radio recordings, some of which were pilots for shows that never got a sponsor. I presumed—wrongly—that this was the case with the “origin of GL” tape. As I learned on the Grand Comic-Book Chat List (www.comics.org), it was actually one of three recordings DC licensed in the late Silver Age (exact date unknown to me). The other two were Silver Age characters—one being Aquaman, I’m told. I never saw this set for sale. I would have been flabbergasted to discover a Golden Age character released on a record during the Silver Age. Maybe one of your readers can enlighten me as to how that happened. Anyway, the recording is a faithful adaptation of the very first “Green Lantern” story from 1940, which should be of interest to Golden Age collectors. In the very next paragraph of that same Archives introduction, I also mentioned The Green Lama and attributed his creation to Ken Crossen, a writer and later publisher. That may have been only partially true. Crossen was using the writing talents of Horace Gold to produce many of the “Green Lama” stories. I have no idea who initiated the idea, or how much input Crossen had, but I suspect he had some. I have evidence of other writers (like Ken Jackson) writing the feature,
the paper industry might have learned early on of the success of “Superman.” We have yet to learn where Fox raised his capital, but I am now highly suspicious of the traditional story.
Nevertheless, we can all put Fox Publications in the same large office building as early DC Comics. That was 480 Lexington Avenue, known as the Grand Central Palace. It was a large building occupying an entire block, with at least one other street entrance. Will Eisner, who created “Wonder Man,” has told the story of Victor Fox opening the entrance doors on DC’s floor and spitting out to show his disdain for Donenfeld. Well, Fox did lose that legal battle over “Wonder Man.” I hasten to add that I photographed the Grand Central Palace on my family’s trip to New York in the summer of 1948. So I was in New York City that summer. I just couldn’t find the Seuling convention covered in Alter Ego #27. Someone must have made that up. Jerry G .Bails [So how about it, A/Enthusiasts? Keep spotting those errors, in Alter Ego and elsewhere. For instance, we hope Craig Delich (or somebody else) will find time soon to do a piece correcting the ID mistakes— including my own—that’ve sneaked into DC’s basically excellent Archives series. Let’s forget this “Print the legend” bull that often passes for both journalism and history nowadays, and examine any and all assumptions, even if they come from a revered comics icon. If it’s truth, it’ll withstand the scrutiny! Oh, and please—don’t automatically trust anything you read on the Internet, either—it’s a valuable tool, but it’s also the greatest spreader of mis-information in the history of humankind! Bestest,
Mike Gold
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Crisis On Silver Age Earth The Year (or So) the Future Started by Mike Gold [EDITOR’S NOTE: Mike Gold was one of the founding editors of First Comics in Chicago in the mid1980s, and from the late 1980s through much of the ’90s, he served as an editor at DC Comics. His current bio follows this piece, which he wrote at the time of Alter Ego V3#1 and which has been sitting undeservedly on a shelf for more than thirty issues, awaiting a berth. —Roy.] It was a deeply fearful time for the comic book industry. Business was bad and a great many writers and artists who had dedicated their livelihoods to the medium found themselves staring unemployment in the face. A legion of talent left in search of reliable engagement elsewhere. Many new titles fell into the abyss, discontinued shortly after their debut. Most smaller comics companies had already gone out of business. Distributors were folding, as well—major, well-known distributors. Retail outlets were disappearing, with no replacement venues on the horizon. A great many people believed the end was near. Riddle me this: when did this happen? Here’s a clue: at the time, just about the only comic with variant cover art was Mad. And Mad had become a magazine several years earlier, no longer counted as a comic book. The time was the end of comics’ third decade: 1958 and 1959. Market conditions were not unlike those of recent years, although the response to the problem was quite different. The concept of generating a multitude of expensive artificial collectibles was not an option. Indeed, those clever few that had kept their wits and their jobs believed the best way the medium could ward off oblivion was through creativity and talent. As an outlet for the publication of new material, the comic book medium was a mere two decades old. For much of that time, it had suffered through castigation, restriction, and external censorship; if they wanted to stay in business, the few surviving publishers had a very good idea what they should not publish. To start with, they could not publish
Mike Gold (as sketched a few years ago by DC editorial head honcho Mike Carlin) ponders a six-pack of Superman covers from the 1950s, a montage done for the 1971 hardcover Superman from the 30’s to the 70’s. In many ways, Gold feels, a looming era of transition related to the Man of Steel was the starting-point for comics events of the late 1950s and beyond. Read it and find out how! [Sketch ©2004 Mike Carlin; Superman art ©2004 DC Comics.]
violent crime and horror comics—two significant profit centers for the first half of the 1950s. Western comics had peaked, and science-fiction titles had never truly taken off. With the obvious (and important) exception of “Archie,” teen humor had been hitor-miss, and the broader funny-animal genre had run aground. Only Dell and Harvey Comics were committed to its continuance. Even though certain Dell titles were, by some accounts, selling more than three million copies each month, Harvey was moving away from newspaper strip reprints towards a line of funny ghosts, funny devils, funny witches, and funny people with really thick ankles. Sports, music, and movie star titles were short-lived, and romance comics were a matter of tonnage: successful at present levels, but without room for expansion. Super-hero comics had been the staple of the industry throughout the 1940s, but the hundreds of super-hero titles had been whittled down to perhaps half dozen a month, in a good month. A few years earlier, Marvel had tried a revival with Captain America, The Human Torch, and The Sub-Mariner; all three had been major successes during the 1940s, but in revival, the first two lasted only a year, and Namor only two. At roughly the same time, the most successful post-Siegel andShuster creative team in comics history, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, flopped with Fighting American, which lasted only seven issues. National Comics still had Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, along with Aquaman and Green Arrow in six page back-up features, and the Blackhawks, who almost qualify as costumed heroes. National’s
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Crisis On Silver Age Earth And, as we all know—in comics, nothing stays dead forever!
1958–1959 was one of comics’ most innovative periods, and those innovations stemmed from one simple philosophy: to an unprecedented degree, the medium opened its ears to its readers and took their desires to heart. Approaches and concepts that came out of that time last to this very day.
[Mike Gold currently heads up Arrogant Media, a schizophrenic New England operation that packages comic books and graphic arts projects and provides consulting and agenting services to comics creators, non-profit organizations, political causes, and Internet companies. He is the author and/or editor of a wide range of books, including How to Draw Those Bodacious Bad Babes of Comics (Renaissance/St. Martin’s Press) with industry veteran Frank McLaughlin.]
In order to survive, it is time for comics to reinvent itself once again, drawing on the virtues of this unique medium. It can be done—people of vision like Mort Weisinger, Julius Schwartz, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby did it in 1958.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: We inadvertently omitted David Siegel’s name from the credits in our recent LEGION COMPANION book. David supplied the great Jim Mooney commissioned drawing on the back cover. We at TwoMorrows apologize for the oversight.
A recent photo of Mike Gold—flanked by two more panels from Adventure Comics #253—and a Gil Kane/Joe Giella panel from Showcase #22 (Sept.–Oct. 1959) which was adapted from black-&-white photostats in the house fanzine The Amazing World of DC Comics #3 (Nov. 1974). Its final word balloon would hardly be startling even in a DC mag by the late ’60s, but it sure surprised Ye Editor—and probably Mike G., as well—a decade earlier! [©2004 DC Comics.]
Submit Something To Alter Ego! Alter Ego is on the lookout for items that can be utilized in upcoming issues: • Convention Sketches and Program Books • Unpublished Artwork • Original Scripts (the older the better!) • Photos • Unpublished Interviews • Little-seen Fanzine Material We’re also interested in articles, article ideas, or any other suggestions... and we pay off in FREE COPIES of A/E. (If you’re already an A/E subscriber, we’ll extend your subscription.) Contact: Roy Thomas, Editor Rt. 3, Box 468 St. Matthews, SC 29135 Fax: (803)826-6501 • E-mail: roydann@ntinet.com
Submission Guidelines Submit artwork in one of these forms (in order of preference): 1) Clear color or black-&-white photocopies. 2) Scanned images—300ppi TIF (preferred) or JPEG (on Zip or floppy disk). 3) Originals (carefully packed and insured). Submit text in one of these forms: 1) E-mail (ASCII text attachments preferred) to: roydann@ntinet.com 2) An ASCII or “plain text” file, supplied on floppy disk. 3) Typed, xeroxed, or laser printed pages.
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: 1) Go ahead and READ THIS DIGITAL ISSUE, and see what you think. 2) If you enjoy it enough to keep it, DO THE RIGHT THING and purchase a legal download of it from our website, or purchase the print edition at our website (which entitles you to the Digital Edition for free) or at your local comic book shop. We’d love to have you as a regular paid reader. 3) Otherwise, DELETE IT FROM YOUR COMPUTER and DO NOT SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS OR POST IT ANYWHERE. 4) Finally, DON’T KEEP DOWNLOADING OUR MATERIAL ILLEGALLY, for free. We offer one complete issue of all our magazines for free downloading at our website, which should be sufficient for you to decide if you want to purchase others. If you enjoy our publications enough to keep downloading them, support our company by paying for the material we produce. We’re not some giant corporation with deep pockets, and can absorb these losses. We’re a small company—literally a “mom and pop” shop—with dozens of hard-working freelance creators, slaving away day and night and on weekends, to make a pretty minimal amount of income for all this work. We love what we do, but our editors, authors, and your local comic shop owner, rely on income from this publication to stay in business. Please don’t rob us of the small amount of compensation we receive. Doing so will ensure there won’t be any future products like this to download. TwoMorrows publications should only be downloaded at
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Writer’s Digest Magazine
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Lost Comics Lore
Part 2: Continuing Our Look at the Early Comic Book Biz— as Witnessed in the Pages of Writer’s Digest Magazine by Will Murray [EDITOR’S NOTE: In Alter Ego #25 Will began his examination of the Golden Age comic book industry as a market for would-be scripters, as reported in the pages of a major “trade magazine.” This three-part series provides an intriguing analysis of the best-laid plans of comics publishers and editors ganging aft aglay. —Roy.]
suffering a relapse, the company seems livelier and more prosperous.... Two new comics are also going to appear under the imprint of this group, but the titles are not yet released.” Captain Battle and Daredevil were the new books. Change came swiftly With a combination of amazement and alarm, in June 1941 Bradfield noted:
For years, Writer’s Digest ran a column called “New York Market Letter” by former love-pulp editor and writer Harriet A. Bradfield, featuring market tips for writers. Bradfield rarely covered comic books, but when she did, it meant that something new and different was in the offing. Her April 1940 column noted the shifting sands of an early comic book and pulp company: “Lex Publications, 381 Fourth Avenue, which superseded Ultem and Resolute Publications, is in its turn out. [...] But there are plans afoot for new corporation names. Brookwood Publishing Company is one of these, issuing Speed Comics. No outside market on this. Tem Publishing is another of the names to be used.” This outfit metamorphosed into Continental, later Holyoke—while Speed Comics ultimately became a Harvey title. In May of that year, Bradfield ran this correction: “In the March Market Letter we said that ‘Your Guide Publications, formerly known as Astro Distributors, seems to have folded up.’ This was incorrect, and we wish to apologize for the error. Two of the group of Your Guide Publications were sold to Daniel Gilmor, publisher of Friday. These are Popular Psychology Guide and Silver Streak Comics. The rest of the group has been moved to offices of its own at 114 East 32nd Street, Room 903. Far from
“The number of comics on the stands continues to grow in unbelievable fashion. It is reported that there are 115 of them on the stands now, and that by September this will be increased to 135!” Bradfield also reported this: “If you are an artist living in the New York area and interested in a staff job doing comic strips of a high order, or if you are a writer with pulp experience and interested in a staff connection with a publisher, you might get in touch with Harry A. [sic] Chesler, at 163 West 23rd Street. He was a pioneer in this comics business; got out his own books for a while, then did a lot of them for several well known companies of high standards. Now he is planning to get out a series of his own—eight, at least. And he needs good, experienced men.”
Writer’s Digest magazine announced two new comics from Your Guide Publications, even if its reporter wasn’t told their names. Captain Battle soon metamorphosed into the far more popular Boy Comics starring Crimebuster, while Daredevil lasted for years, even if the split-screen super-hero was gradually edged out of his own magazine in the postwar years by The Little Wise Guys. [©2004 the respective copyright holders.]
Also in that issue, a separate notice provides a complete roster of projected titles: “Harry ‘A’ Chesler Feature Syndicate of 163 West 23rd Street, New York, will publish a group of ten cent comic books to be known as Yankee Comics, Victory Comics, Scoop Comics, Punch Comics, A.B.C. Comics, Dynamic Comics, Kayo Comics, and Dandy Comics. Also the following six quarterlies will feature the lead
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[Quoted text ©2004 Jon B. Cooke.]
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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt Based on that statement, it appears that James Warren was indeed familiar with Eerie Tales and possibly Weird Mysteries, as well. If one or both did indeed influence Warren’s own breakthrough titles years later, then these two long-forgotten titles may have had an impact on the comics field far greater than anyone suspects. Regardless of any influence on Warren’s magazines, Weird Mysteries and Eerie Tales remain a fascinating oddity—a “missing link” of sorts for fans of horror comics. Indeed, these two failed and forgotten titles were the first true horror comics to crack the Comics Code. As such, they paved the way for Creepy, Eerie, and all that followed to shatter the creative chains that had, for far too long, imprisoned the comic industry. When you think about it, that’s a pretty impressive failure!
Our sincere thanks to Hames Ware, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., and Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for their expert art-spotting. Thanks, too, to Marc Kardell for helping us obtain a copy of Weird Mysteries, and to my wife Janet for her editorial and proofreading assistance. And finally, an extra-big thank-you to Mike Feldman, our “expert on publishing,” for sharing his fascinating insights into the industry’s inner workings. That’s all for now, horror fans. See you next month! Till next time…
Al Williamson’s beautiful “Lower Than Hell” from Eerie Tales. [©2004 the respective copyright holders.]
Missing a Back Issue? Got a hole in your Mr. Monster collection? We’ll gladly e-mail you a free Mr. Monster EEEK-Mail Catalog! Just Contact Michael T. Gilbert at:
MGILBERT@EFN.ORG
For a printed version, send one dollar to Michael T. Gilbert, P.O. Box 11421, Eugene OR 97440
Title Comic Fandom Archive
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“We Miss You, Capt. Biljo!” A Tribute to Comic Book Collector, Amateur Writer-Artist, and Fanzine Editor WILLIAM JOSEPH (a.k.a. BILJO) WHITE (1929–2003) by Bill Schelly Introduction Early in 2003, when I received word that Biljo White (a.k.a. Capt. Biljo) had passed away, it came like a bolt out of the blue because it was completely unexpected. Biljo hadn’t been ill; in fact, the last time we had had one of our periodic telephone chats, he was still working at the Veterans Administration hospital in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. A conversation with his widow Hazel filled in the gaps. Biljo White died of Burkett’s Lymphoma, which came on so suddenly that he never experienced any pain, merely a loss of appetite. Reacting poorly to chemotherapy, he died within eight days of being diagnosed, at age 73. Just as we had for oldtime fans and friends Grass Green, Ronn Foss, G.B. Love, and Landon Chesney who had passed away in the prior two years, Roy and I ran a tribute to Biljo in A/E (#24, May 2003)… but it was necessarily brief, because the issue had been about to go to press when the sad news reached us. However, his importance to fandom, and to the hobby of comic book and strip collecting, called for a lengthier tribute. This, then, is Part I of a two-issue look at Biljo’s fannish life as collector, artist, writer, editor and publisher. Also on hand is J.E. Smith, fan and collector who is now assistant director of auctions with Heritage Comics, with a remembrance of his friendship with Biljo White in recent years.
Amateur Artist Extraordinaire In the 1960s, fans often speculated which of the outstanding amateur artists would graduate first to the ranks of professional comics. Would it be Ronn Foss, whose “Eclipse” won fan awards? Or Grass Green, whose “Human Cat” feature became the toast of Star-Studded Comics? Or would it be Biljo White, whose original characters “The Eye,” “The Fog,” “Astro Ace,” and “The Blade” demonstrated his undeniable ability to write and draw entertaining amateur comic strips? Biljo himself was strangely silent on the matter. History would show that his only serious attempt to break into pro comics occurred in the mid-1950s, when he was fresh out of the U.S. Army. But DC editor Jack Schiff had given him short shrift, which effectively ended his dream of one day drawing “Batman.” As far as I know, there were only two other times he drew something for professional consideration. The first was a
A photo of Biljo White, taken just a couple of years back—and the cover of his 1968 Capt. Biljo Presents publication, which featured new stories—and a reprint of his “Alter and Captain Ego” feature from 1964’s Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #7, which supplied the current incarnation of A/E with one of its pair of mascots. Thanks to Mrs. Harriet White for the photos. [Art ©2004 Estate of Biljo White; Captain Ego TM & ©2004 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.]
“Son of Vulcan” done circa 1966–67 with Roy Thomas for a suggested comeback of that character; the second was... well, let me refer you to J.E. Smith’s appended comments for info on that. But the point is that Biljo made few attempts to become a pro. There are, perhaps, understandable reasons for this. For one thing, he was earning a decent living as a firefighter in his home town of Columbia, Missouri, and wasn’t about to leave his comfort zone for the vicissitudes of life in or around New York City, at a time when proximity to Manhattan was a necessity for a comic book professional. He was, at heart, a small-town boy—and a rather shy one, at that. He had moved from Columbia only once, to take a job in Portland, Oregon, as an artist for a large department store; but when his daughter Julio Jo died of childhood meningitis, he and his homesick first wife Ruthie had returned to Columbia. Biljo almost never left Columbia again, not even to attend any of the increasing number of comicons around the country. When Batman fans planned a special meeting at the 1965 New York Comicon, it fell to Tom Fagan to chair the meeting and relay Biljo’s regrets that he couldn’t attend. (He did, however, send a giant full-color poster to be displayed at that event, which is reproduced here for the first time anywhere.) He