Alter Ego #60 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas ’ Flashy Comics Fanzine

CELEBRATING

SCHWARTZ • KANIGHER INFANTINO • KUBERT BROOME & 1956’s

SHOWCASE #4!

6.95

In the USA

No. 60 July 2006

Twin BONUS!

PLUS:

FIFTY YEARS HAVE GONE BY IN A FLASH!

Vol. 3, No. 60 / July 2006 Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors

™

Special Issue CELEBRATING SHOWCASE #4

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 Artist

Writer/Editorial: Fifty Years Have Gone By In A Flash! . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Life From A Flash Of Lightning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Christopher Irving on the significance of Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956)!

Julius Schwartz & Carmine Infantino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A ten-years-after interview with Showcase #4’s editor and artist, by Shel Dorf.

Carmine Infantino

And Special Thanks to: Deane Aikins Heidi Amash Murphy Anderson Manuel Auad Mike W. Barr John Benson Daniel Best Dominic Bongo Ray Bottorff, Jr. Peggy Broome Mark Cannon R. Dewey Cassell Bob Cherry Jim Cleary Ernie Colón Ray A. Cuthbert Al Dellinges Michael Dewally Roger Dicken & Wendy Hunt Tony & Frances DiPreta Shel Dorf Don Ensign Mark Evanier Michael Feldman Patricia Floss Ron Frantz Keif Fromm Bob Fujitani Carl Gafford Earl Geier John Gentil Frank Giella Joe Giella Janet Gilbert Glen David Gold Matt Gore Ron Goulart Arnie Grieves Jennifer Hamerlinck Irwin Hasen Fred Hembeck Heritage Comics Carmine Infantino

CONTENTS

Christopher Irving Larry Ivie Gene Kehoe Robert Klein Jim Kingman Bob Koppany Joe Kubert Richard Kyle Ron Lim Mark Luebker Russ Maheras Dennis Mallonee Joe & Nadia Mannarino Maureen McTigue Sheldon Moldoff Matt Moring Brian K. Morris Edwin & Terry Murray Jim Murtaugh Marie O’Brien Denny O’Neil Andy Patterson Joe Petrilak John G. Pierce Craig Popplewells Ed Quinby Dan Raspler Linda Lessman Reinhold Alex Ross Marie Severin Keif Simon Robin Snyder Marc Swayze Tony Tallarico Dann Thomas Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Mark Waid Ted White Marv Wolfman Rodrigo M. Zeidan Michael Zeno

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Alex Toth & Dick Rockwell

“Written Off 9/30/49” – Part VII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Art from a never-published, Infantino-drawn “Flash” story from the Golden Age.

“I’m Responsible For The Silver Age” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Robert Kanigher on many subjects—including (briefly) Showcase #4.

Now You Don’t See Him—Now You Do! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Flash-y disappearance and reappearance of Joe Kubert, 1947, viewed by Al Dellinges.

“I Think I Was A Natural-Born Comic Writer” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 John Broome in San Diego, 1998—with Evanier, Schwartz, Anderson, & Barr.

“We Were A Very Happy Group” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Artist Tony DiPreta to Jim Amash about comic books, comic strips, & the people behind them.

Tributes To Alex Toth & Dick Rockwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: Twice-Told Gilbert!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Michael T. Gilbert presents more scenes that have been depicted twice—or even thrice!

The Fabulous ’40s – The First Full Decade Of Comic Books. . . . . . . 69 A 1966 panel featuring Golden Age artist Klaus Nordling at the one comicon he ever attended.

re: [comments, correspondence, & corrections]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #119 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze and Alex Ross.

About Our Cover: Quite frankly, we’re unsure precisely how this issue’s cover illo came to us, though we’ve had it sitting around for a while now. That it’s a probably-unpublished, full-color Flash drawing at least penciled (and signed) by Golden/Silver Age great Carmine Infantino, the man who drew Showcase #4 and the first decade of The Flash, we have no doubt… but as to who inked it, or colored it, we’re less certain. Carmine opines as how he might have inked it, though it doesn’t strongly resemble his other work… and he probably didn’t color it… but that’s the way it came, so that’s the way we printed it. The pluperfect cover to a book celebrating the 50th anniversary of Showcase #4! And thanks to those listed below for caricatures of the 5 creators. [Flash TM & ©2006 DC Comics; caricatures [l. to r.] ©2006 Estate of Gil Kane; Ernie Colón; the respective copyright holders; Estate of Norman Maurer; Shane Foley.] Above: Just for kicks, here’s a wide-angle panel from Carmine’s triumphal return to The Flash: issue #306 (Feb. 1982), to be exact. Inking by Bob Smith, script by Dan Miskin & Gary Cohn. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, with thanks to Michael Zeno. [©2006 DC Comics.] Alter EgoTM is published monthly, except Jan., April., Sept., and Nov. by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $9 ($11.00 outside the US). Twelve-issue subscriptions:$72 US, $132 Canada, $144 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.

See p. 25 for information on ANTHEM #1 & 2

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Celebrating SHOWCASE #4, 1956! part one

Life From A Flash Of Lightning The Significance of Showcase #4 by Christopher Irving

hen the revived Flash made his first appearance in Showcase #4 in July of 1956, he was a bolt of lightning that energized the struggling comics medium into a Silver Age. Fifty years after, one can still wonder what formula made the Barry Allen Flash the harbinger of new life where other heroes had failed. Sure, there’d been speedsters in the Golden Age: the original DC Comics Flash and Johnny Quick, Quality’s Quicksilver, Comic House’s Silver Streak, Timely’s Whizzer (with his unfortunate costume, as if he were a Yellow Streak) and Hurricane… there was nothing new about running fast, not really.

The Dawn Of The Silver Age You’ve probably seen ’em before, but we couldn’t do a celebration of Showcase #4 (cover-dated Oct. 1956 but on sale in early July) without showing the cover and both splashes from that legendary landmark issue. It’s fitting that the first splash had the hero rocketing out of an old issue of Flash Comics, ’cause in a sense that’s just what he was doing. Art by Carmine Infantino (pencils) & Joe Kubert (inks), and scripts by Robert Kanigher and John Broome, respectively, under the strong editorial aegis of Julius Schwartz. [©2006 DC Comics.]

So what was it that made this second Flash work? It may not have been the power alone, but the approach given the new Flash: one more sophisticated and non-political than many of the other super-heroes making comebacks and debuts in the 1950s.... Comic books had been dominated by funny animals, teenagers, cowboys, soldiers, ghouls, and spacemen for the early part of the 1950s, amid what eventually became a disastrous slump for the struggling industry. After 1953, when Fawcett threw in Captain Marvel’s towel and Quality’s Doll Man was discontinued, the only super-heroes still in print were the (dying) latter company’s Plastic Man and DC’s Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and, ironically, through 1954, Johnny Quick. When The Adventures of Superman television show starring George Reeves became a commercial success in the early ’50s, a few companies had either dusted off their old heroes, or invented new ones, trying to cash in its success. In some instances, the “Commies” were the new formulaic villains,

succeeding the Nazi and “Jap” antagonists of the ’40s, while atomic power proved itself (in comic books, film, and television) either the cause of mass destruction, a mutating horror, or the source of great power.

Atlas (earlier known as Timely, and destined one day to become Marvel) was the first to try to revive the super-hero, bringing back Captain America, The Human Torch, and The Sub-Mariner in December 1953’s Young Men #24. The Carl Burgos-drawn cover heralded a very short-lived return for the characters, in their new roles as “Commie-smashers” (a term plastered across each issue of a soon-

The Significance Of Showcase #4

tales of Communists and aliens. Sub-Mariner lasted for ten issues of his own book, primarily because of eventually failed negotiations with a producer for a liveaction television version of Namor. Sub-Mariner #33 was dated April 1954, while #42 wrapped up his return in October of the next year.

Sunrise of Steel It was doubtless the success of The Adventures of Superman on TV in the early 1950s, which meant increased sales on the Man of Steel’s various comics titles, that led to attempts by Timely/Marvel, Simon & Kirby, and others to “revive” the super-hero… but oddly, DC itself made no attempt to bring back its own Golden Age stars during this time, contenting itself with stories like this one from Superman #78 (Sept.-Oct. 1952), as scripted by Edmond Hamilton and penciled and inked by Al Plastino. Thanks to Ray Bottorff, Jr., & the GCD. [Superman, et al., TM & ©2006 DC Comics.]

following Captain America comic). The run of appearances of all three in Young Men would be over with by #28, eight months later; the trio had also shared billing during this period in two issues of Men’s Adventures. In the lead story, The Human Torch comes back from the dead and avenges himself by using his now atomically-powered flame to free his sidekick Toro from Communist brainwashing. An interesting detail thought up by the writer established that in 1945 the Torch had killed Hitler (who would return as The Hate-Monger a decade later in the pages of Fantastic Four). Russ Heath drew that first adventure, with subsequent “Torch” stories done by Burgos, Dick Ayers, and one still-unidentified artist. The Torch lasted through only three issues of his own revived book, 1954’s #36 to #38, which had picked up the numbering from where it had ended in 1949. Steve Rogers was now (as he had been in the late ’40s) a teacher at Lee School, teaching Bucky and his classmates about Captain America, his flag-wearing alter ego from World War II. As luck happens, Cap and Bucky are forced to suit up and go into action once again as The Red Skull strikes at the United Nations. It seems the Skull’s allegiance to the Nazi party is a thing of the past—he’s now a (surprise!) stinkin’ Red! Cap continued through three issues of his own series: #76 was cover-dated May 1954, the last issue, #78, September ’54. Much of the art was provided by John Romita, who in the 1960s would draw The Amazing Spider-Man. Last but certainly not least, Prince Namor returned in the capable hands of creator Bill Everett, who produced slick and beautiful “Sub-Mariner”

It’s very likely that Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the team that had created Captain America in 1941, came up with Fighting American in 1954 in response to Cap’s revival: the red-white-blue-and-gold-clad enemy of Communism was an increasingly satirical look at their earlier creation. When patriotic newscaster Johnny Flagg is brutally beaten by Commie agents, his physically frail brother Nelson’s mind is transferred into Johnny’s wellbuilt, revitalized body. Continuing Johnny Flagg’s life, Nelson dons the Fighting American costume and, with sidekick Speedboy (who bears an amazing resemblance to Bucky and Sandy, the Golden Boy, both of which Simon & Kirby had developed in the ’40s), fights the Red Menace. Jack Cole’s lingering Plastic Man of

Back From The Dead—But Not For Long As detailed in Alter Ego #35, Martin Goodman, Stan Lee, and Timely/Atlas brought back The Human Torch, Captain America, and Sub-Mariner with Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953), but the revival didn’t last long. Neither did Simon & Kirby’s Fighting American, though happily the entire seven issues plus were beautifully reprinted in the 1990s by Marvel in a deluxe hardcover edition that belongs on any comics fan’s bookshelf. Charlton also briefly revived the 1940s Fox hero, The Blue Beetle. [Young Men cover ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Fighting American ©2006 Joe Simon & Estate of Jack Kirby.]

Life From A Flash Of Lightning

7 Through his four-issue sojourn, the Captain encountered such villains as The Mirror Man, a reptilian alien who traveled through mirrors (much like the later Mirror Master of Flash fame); The Black Knight, a crazed scientist who stole a missile guidance system to sell to Communist nations; and The Actor, a master of disguise who tried to smuggle radium out to the black market. There were also some out-of-space aliens whose modus operandi uncannily precursored the theme of the later shortlived TV series The Invaders.

Two Flashes of Silver? It’s ironic that some would credit the Silver Age as beginning with the debut, at the start of 1955, of Sterling Comics’ Captain Flash. Pencils for all three issues’ worth of “Captain Flash” tales were by Mike Sekowsky, later the original artist of Justice League of America, a feature would would owe its life to a different super-hero with the word “Flash” in his name. However, certainly neither Captain Flash nor Magazine Enterprises’ short-lived Avenger (drawn above by Bob Powell) made a strong enough impact to inaugurate the Silver Age. Charlton likewise launched its new Nature Boy at the turn of 1956, still in advance of Showcase #4—but it was the DC comic that finally made things happen! [©2006 the respective copyright holders.]

the 1940s was the only straight man in a world of oddball criminals; the same can be said of Fighting American and his rogues’ gallery: Hotski Trotski, Poison Ivan, Commissar Yutz, and Count Yuscha Liffso, to name a few. Although it only lasted seven issues, Fighting American was the one Cold War comic that took the global contest between the “Free World” and the “Iron Curtain” countries lightly. While the Atlas experiment failed, it didn’t keep other companies from taking a stab at their own Commie-crushing or atomicallypowered heroes. A small company by the name of Sterling Comics, which lasted only a couple of years, became one of the first to hop on the nuclear bandwagon, and created what some consider the first original Silver Age hero: Captain Flash. Captain Flash was actually Professor Keith Spencer, of Atom City, who gained atomic powers when he was forced to shield an atomic isotope with his body. (There are enough “atomic” references in his origin to amount to an entire nuclear stockpile!) When Spencer clapped his hands, he was transformed into the blue-and-red-garbed Captain Flash; he had to clap his hands periodically to recharge the superpowers which enabled him to do everything from causing an avalanche (via hand-clapping, what else?) to encompassing his body in atomic fire. A young boy named Ricky was his partner, wearing a Bucky-like costume, and, like his forebear, still going by his real name. Captain Flash lasted a mere four issues, from November 1954 to May of 1955, ending when Standard itself folded. Although uncredited, all of the artwork was penciled by Mike Sekowsky, who half a decade later would draw Justice League of America for DC. Sekowsky’s artwork, though it often appeared rushed, had a quirky and kinetic quality.

Another Cold War hero who made his debut at roughly the same time was The Avenger. The red-clad enemy of Communism premiered in the first issue of his own title in 1954. Published by Magazine Enterprises, a company known primarily for Western comics (the original Ghost Rider, Tim Holt/Redmask, Straight Arrow, and Durango Kid), The Avenger was its only conventional super-hero… though ME also had Strong Man, who fought crime wearing a leopard skin.

When his brother is killed by Russian spies, millionaire scientist Roger Wright becomes The Avenger. With the help of his aide Claire Farrow, and armed with a Dissolver ray gun, he travels around the globe in his Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft, the Starjet. The first issue of The Avenger was drawn by Dick Ayers, with the origin written by Paul S. Newman. The other writer on the series was Gardner Fox, who had cut his eyeteeth co-creating such Golden Age features as “The Flash,” “Hawkman,” and “The Justice Society of America” for All-American/DC. By the second issue, artist Bob Powell reportedly undercut Ayers’ page rate and took over the art chores for the remaining three issues. The Avenger was as steeped in Commie-smashing as the Atlas Captain America, yet was much more intelligently done. While he did fight the occasional criminal like The Player (a sports prodigy), or a runaway robot, he primarily took the Starjet behind the Iron Curtain or fought Red spies aiming to destroy American freedom from the inside. Where the benefits of atomic power were the focus in Captain Flash, its destructive abilities were the focus of many “Avenger” stories, as a purple ray beam cut a swath of destruction in “The Metal Menace,” or a warhead threatened to detonate in “The Three Faces of Death.” The Avenger, for all its Red-baiting, was a fine comic that may have been ahead of its time. Gardner Fox would contribute to National/DC’s impending Silver Age— —which brings us to Showcase #4. The Silver Age of Comics officially started (not that the term was coined by fans of the medium till a few years later) when Showcase #4 (Sept.-Oct. 1956) introduced the new Flash, just a month before

The Significance Of Showcase #4 Broome’s script features what would become an earmark of the Barry Allen “Flash” stories: a healthy dose of scientific theory. (“By traveling fast enough, close to the speed of light, I can set up vibrations that will project our bodies into the future!” Flash says as he propels both himself and Mazdan into a later century.)

Quality and Plastic Man both bit the dust, leaving DC as the only company still publishing any comics starring costumed heroes—the more so since DC took over Quality’s Blackhawk at that time. The Silver Age Flash was a retooling of his Golden Age predecessor, and foreshadowed the return of the super-hero as a formidable genre in comic books. Barry Allen, the new Flash, was linked to his Golden Age predecessor, Jay Garrick, only through his knowing Jay as a comic book character. When Barry is hit by lightning and doused by chemicals, he gains the superspeed of his childhood hero. The debut story, “The Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt,” was written by Robert Kanigher (who had worked for DC, MLJ, and Fox Comics in the ’40s) and was penciled by Carmine Infantino, a DC regular. Both men, as well as the magazine’s editor, Julius Schwartz, had worked on the Golden Age Flash, so one would expect this one would be more of the same... right?

All Carmine, All The Time! For a special “All-Infantino” issue of DC Special in 1968, Carmine’s cover showed him surrounded by the DC heroes with which he was most associated. And, while Batman (a character the artist has said he never particularly enjoyed drawing) was placed front-and-center, prominence was also given to the Silver Age Flash, easily the creation on which Carmine had the greatest impact. With thanks to Raymond A. Cuthbert. [©2006 DC Comics.]

Infantino’s art had improved in leaps and bounds over the seven-year stretch between his stint on the two Flashes. While he had earlier been a Milt Caniff clone (particularly in his work on the super-heroine “Black Canary”), his work had grown more cinematic, utilizing close-ups and “widescreen” panels. Added to the visual equation was the embellishing by Joe Kubert, whose ink line lent Infantino’s pencils a grounding weight. The heavy Caniff-inspired blacks gave the artwork a more real-world feel… the folds in the characters’ clothes had a weight that added to the visual believability. Kanigher’s writing brought a new level to super-speed. Kanigher focused on that ability from the hero’s perspective: it was all relative. Barry Allen’s first burst of super-speed (manifested when he tries to catch a fleeing taxi), is less shocking than the scene a page or so later, in which he perceives falling dishes at a diner... hanging in mid-air as if falling in super-slow motion. Sure, speedsters had always moved quickly and caught bullets with their hands, etc. But Barry Allen was perhaps the first speedster who explored his super-speed with the reader. Rather than leaving it a gimmicky super-power, Kanigher made super-speed a way of life: Barry Allen didn’t just run fast, he saw things at an equally accelerated rate. The villain in that first story was the Turtle Man, not one who would go down in the ranks of the Flash’s distinctive Rogues’ Gallery, but an amusing start. The focus of Barry’s conflict with Turtle Man was reflective of Barry’s learning his new powers: while Barry thought in terms of super-speed, the Turtle Man thought in terms of being superslow, creating a conflict of wits. But, the story of the Tortoise and the Hare to the contrary, it was a decidedly unequal battle. The second story in Showcase #4, “The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier,” written by John Broome, placed The Flash against a slightly more conventional super-villain—Mazdan, a criminal from the future.

For a time the “Flash” stories would be alternately written by Kanigher and Broome, with Gardner Fox being added later. Bits of science thrown into stories would eventually come to be known as “Flash Facts.” While many of the prior super-heroes introduced (or, in many cases, reintroduced) in the 1950s leaned toward the political (the aforementioned Commie-smashers) or the fantastic (mirror dimensions, as per Captain Flash), “The Flash” kept the fantastic grounded in real science... or at least in reasonably believable psuedoscience. As a result, the adventures of Barry Allen felt more real and sophisticated, standing out from the pack.

“The Flash” would start the ball rolling on future Golden Age revivals, edited by Julius Schwartz, particularly “Green Lantern,” “Hawkman,” and “The Atom,” culminating in the formation of the “Justice League of America” (which actually pre-dated the latter two returns). Justice League of America, DC’s Silver Age answer to the Golden Age “Justice Society of America,” would enjoy sufficient success to spur Martin Goodman’s Timely Comics (or what was left of it) to launch The Fantastic Four... and that Stan Lee & Jack Kirby creation would, in turn, jumpstart the once and future Marvel’s position as contender and lead to the debut of Spider-Man and other Marvel mainstays. The Flash became the linchpin for the DC Universe, the character from whom new things would spring. While Superman and Batman had been a team in World’s Finest Comics since 1952, the more occasional team-ups of the new Flash and Green Lantern (originally in the former’s mag) became a special event. The introduction of EarthTwo, the parallel world where the Justice Society (including the Golden Age Flash) lived, would also occur in the pages of The Flash (#123, Sept. 1961). The JSA itself would return in The Flash #137 (June 1963), which would lead immediately into Justice League of America #21, initiating the first of many annual crossovers between the JLA and their Golden Age predecessors. In Graeco-Roman mythology, one of the tasks of Hermes (a.k.a. Mercury), the speedy messenger god, was to spirit the departing to the Underworld. His super-hero counterpart—the Barry Allen Flash— served as a harbinger for other heroes to return from limbo, and for the comic book industry to be reborn. And he was a harbinger announced by a sonic boom called Showcase #4.

Celebrating SHOWCASE #4, 1956! part two

JULIUS SCHWARTZ & CARMINE INFANTINO

Ten Years After Showcase #4, Two Of The Creators Of The Silver Age Flash Just Happened To Be In The Same Room… Interview Conducted by Shel Dorf

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

his previously-unpublished interview took place on April 26, 1966, in the office of National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics) editor Julius Schwartz, then the overseer of The Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League of America, Batman, Detective Comics, and several other comic magazines. Also present from the outset, in addition to Schwartz and interviewer Shel Dorf, was DC production man Ed Eisenberg. While the interview was in progress, they were joined by “Flash” artist—and, as it happened, near-future editorial director and publisher—Carmine Infantino. —Roy. SHEL DORF: And when did you first become a member of the Communist Party? JULIUS SCHWARTZ: Next question. SD: How did you get into comics? SCHWARTZ: I’ve told the story a hundred times. I don’t see why I have to repeat it. SD: On tape…? SCHWARTZ: [sighs] Very briefly, I was a literary agent. One of my clients was a guy named Alfred Bester, a well-known science-fiction writer. He was writing “Green Lantern” at the time, and he was working for Shelly Moldoff, who was the editor of the All-American Comics group. SD: Sheldon Mayer. SCHWARTZ: Oh, did I say Shelly Moldoff? I’ve got Shelly Moldoff on my mind. I mean Shelly Mayer. His [story] editor left, and he desperately needed an editor, and Bester recommended me, and I went down. I was interviewed by Mayer in 1944, and two days later I was an editor up at All-American Comics. My God, I’m actually an editor more than 22 years. Next question. ED EISENBERG: What is your favorite type of magazine? SCHWARTZ: Playboy. EISENBERG: We’re talking, now, about comics magazines. SCHWARTZ: Playboy comics. [laughs]

Got A House That’s A Showcase… At the All Time Classic New York Comic Book Convention held in June 2000 in White Plains, NY, both artists and the editor of Showcase #4 were on hand: (left to right:) Carmine Infantino, Joe Kubert, and Julius Schwartz. There were panels on the 60th anniversaries of the original Flash and Green Lantern, but this particular occasion was a panel just about that immortal issue of Showcase—ending with a surprise 75th birthday cake for Carmine. Photos courtesy of the con’s host: “Where have you gone, Joe Petrilak?” Above, John Broome, writer of the 2nd “Flash” story in that issue, gets the first of his many chances to really show what he can do with the concept of super-speed. Art by Infantino & Kubert. [©2006 DC Comics.]

Celebrating SHOWCASE #4, 1956! part four

“I’m Responsible For The Silver Age” ROBERT KANIGHER On Many Subjects—Including (Very Briefly) Showcase #4 Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Christopher Irving

Canary (Canary sings the birds out of the trees). Anyways, they changed the names of an entire frontline company!

obert Kanigher, the writer of The Flash’s origin story in Showcase #4, passed away in 2002. Chris Irving interviewed him in 1999, ostensibly on the subject of the Fox hero The Blue Beetle, for his upcoming book on that super-hero for TwoMorrows… not that that proved to be exactly RK’s favorite topic…! —Roy.

CI: That’s something else. That has got to be pretty flattering. KANIGHER: It’s unbelievable. I just found out that, all of a sudden, I seem to be getting Internet messages: I seem to be in the Internet!

CHRISTOPHER IRVING: I wanted to see if you had any insights that you could offer me. ROBERT KANIGHER: I wrote 100 pages a week. The Bouncer was the first character I created. After that, I created the rest for DC, probably 100 characters, from Sgt. Rock to Metal Men, Black Canary, Rose and Thorn. The Fiddler was a villain. Lee Elias complained; he played the fiddle and said, “I can’t use the fiddle like a bow and arrow.” Every time he did the strip, he kept complaining about it. I also created Poison Ivy, who became a movie star. CI: Yeah, Uma Thurman. KANIGHER: Yes, that single character made her a movie star. She went from there to other pictures. Schwarzenegger bought the movie rights to “Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.” CI: Do you know if he’s doing anything with it? KANIGHER: I destroyed it. I did about 420 stories about Rock and Easy. They were so realistic that I received mail from servicemen who claimed to have served with Rock. I received a letter from Vietnam; the sergeant said he was calling himself Sgt. Rock, they had renamed themselves Easy Company, and the other men were taking the names of the characters that I created: Little Sureshot, Loudman, Bulldozer,

“FLASH TAB RTLEM” R. Kanigher and daughter Jan, in a photo taken some years ago in a restaurant in Paris—juxtaposed with two “Flash” images. (Left:) The final four panels of his justly-famed origin story for Showcase #4. Always wondered about that newspaper headline in the last panel: “FLASH TAB”— with a word ending “RTLEM” which reads like someone starting to write “Turtle Man” and running out of room. Art by Carmine Infantino & Joe Kubert. (Right:) The splash of the Kanigher-scripted story “To the Nth Degree” from The Flash #197 (May 1970). Pencils by Gil Kane; inks by Vince Colletta. Thanks to Bob Cherry for the scan. [Photo ©2006 Estate of Robert Kanigher; pages ©2006 DC Comics.]

“I’m Responsible For The Silver Age”

I don’t know who did it. I don’t bother to seek those sources... I like it, because it ranges from somebody from Montana to [Robin] Snyder: “I understand that you received a letter of recommendation for Kanigher’s story…do you like it?” “Like it? I’m rabid about it! I have a friend who is even more so!” Another one came that said: “Kanigher should be stood up against a wall and shot for writing Blitzkrieg and ‘Enemy Ace’ and ‘Panzer.’” I wrote those from the German point of view. “Enemy Ace” is considered (I’m quoting and not making it up) “a worldwide achievement. There is nothing like it in Europe or anywhere in the world.” I made a sympathetic character who kills French, British, Americans. Neal Adams told me that, in Europe, they consider him the most psychological, complex character in all of American comics. CI: You said that you wrote some “Blue Beetle” stories.… KANIGHER: [This magazine] is called The Comic World, Vol. 1, #18; bimonthly by Robert Jennings, RFD 2, Whiting Rd., Dudley MA. 01570. This is [the issue for] September 1978.

All’s Not Quiet On The DC Front RK reveals that he received hate mail, as well as plaudits, for both “Enemy Ace” and his Blitzkrieg series, which were “written from the German POV.” The series itself has a “by Kubert & Kanigher” byline—and indeed Kubert was the editor at this time—while the art on this double-page splash from Blitzkrieg #3 (May-June 1976) is by Ric Estrada. [©2006 DC Comics.]

Victor Fox was the publisher [of Blue Beetle]. CI: I’ve heard he was a former accountant at DC. KANIGHER: Fox had nothing to do with DC. An accountant!? Jack Liebowitz was an accountant for Harry Donenfeld, who was a certified alcoholic. There are so many things that they get wrong that it’s unbelievable. CI: Did you write the first “Blue Beetle” story? KANIGHER: [quoting] “Kanigher may never have written for comics before”—it’s true; I never wrote comics, I never read comics, I never looked at comics—“but he was a natural-born storyteller with an ability to build fast-moving plots and intricate subplots into the framework of a short comics story. Once he ironed out his weak points, he began to turn out stories by the hundreds. He sold work to the MLJ titles, and then some to DC. He sold so many to DC, and they were of such consistently high quality, that he eventually landed a job as editor there in 1945.” I didn’t land a job—they called me up and invited me as a writer/editor. [Co-publisher Jack] Liebowitz and [DC/AA editor] Shelly Mayer invited me as an editor. I said, “I can make more money without even getting out of my pajamas at home.” They said, “We want you to be a writer and an editor; to be a staff editor and to be a freelance writer.” Anyway, Jennings writes: “Mixed in with the bad or foolish were occasional episodes that really stand out. Episodes that were so good, it seems incredible that any Fox character, even The Blue Beetle, should be entitled to that. One such adventure involved a scientist with a substance called ‘homodesiline,’ which has the ability to clone double cells of animals and humans. In other words, rapid cloning process.” I was the first for many things. There are some things that Jenette

Kahn killed. I could have been with the first female astronauts. [NOTE: Too bad RK didn’t elaborate on this point. —Roy.] This is why I left. I was the sole editor and writer of Wonder Woman for 22 years. Remember, I never read or saw a comic book. Even after I began writing them, I never looked at them. Once I proofed a book of mine, I never looked at it. Or anything that anybody else was doing while I was there as an editor/writer… or at Marvel. I was visiting Marvel. Joe [Kubert] told me to come over. When [Marvel editor-in-chief Jim] Shooter heard my page rate was $50 a page—[DC managing editor Dick] Giordano didn’t want to give me more; Carmine [Infantino] said that they wired up the sales; war books were very high sellers consistently—anyway, Jim says “$50 a page for you? You’re getting $65—my rate, retroactively.” I don’t know why you’d want to write about “The Blue Beetle.” CI: I’m doing a comprehensive story because nobody has before. There’s been an issue recently as to which artist created the character.… KANIGHER: I’m a painter, and when I say painter—there are no artists in the field. They are illustrators. They illustrate the written or verbal word. I am a writer and an artist. I’m an artist because I start with a blank canvas. I promised Ross Andru the wedding present of an oil painting. This story is legendary. So, I brought along paints, pigments, a brush, a pallete knife, and a stretched canvas. It was after work and people gathered around. I got down on my hands and knees (that’s the way I do oils, on the floor). One person said, “Where’s your sketch?” I said, “No sketch.” “What’s your subject matter?”

Celebrating SHOWCASE #4, 1956! part six

“I Think I Was A NaturalBorn Comic Writer” JOHN BROOME In San Diego, 1998—With MARK EVANIER, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, MURPHY ANDERSON, & MIKE W. BARR

A/E

Recorded, Transcribed, & Photographed by Don Ensign

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following panel took place at the San Diego Comic-Con on Aug. 14, 1998, to (ahem!) showcase writer John Broome, who was making his first appearance ever at a comics convention. Mark Evanier, writer for TV and comics, was the moderator. Also on the podium were Julius Schwartz, original editor of the Silver Age “Flash” and “Green Lantern” features, among others—artist Murphy Anderson, who often inked Flash and Green Lantern material, and also drew the Broomescripted “Captain Comet” and “Atomic Knights” features—and later comics writer & editor Mike W. Barr. Don Ensign’s transcript of this panel first A New-Flash Broome Sweeps Clean! appeared in full in Gene Kehoe’s It’s a John Broome on the panel in his honor at the 1998 Fanzine #48 (Winter 1998-99). Another San Diego Comic-Con—juxtaposed with a superversion of the panel appeared in The speed action sequence from his very first “New Flash” story, in Showcase #4. Art by Carmine Comics Buyer’s Guide. Our thanks to Infantino & Joe Kubert, who else? [Photo ©2006 Brian K. Morris for retyping the Don Ensign; page ©2006 DC Comics.] manuscript. We’d have loved to append a “John Broome Checklist,” and hope to print one in the near future; but there just wasn’t room this time around. For more info about Gene Kehoe’s It’s a Fanzine, contact him at fangene@aol.com. We thank him and Don for their blessing in reprinting this landmark interview.

‘I Wasn’t Good Enough To Be A Real Top-Notch Science-Fiction Writer” MARK EVANIER: You have an enormous number of fans out here. We have all loved your work for many years, and I can’t tell you how much I have stolen from you over the years. [laughs] I want to go back to the earliest part of your career. I believe the first comics you wrote were for Fawcett. What was the first? JOHN BROOME: I remember the very first one—I don’t remember much after that. [laughs] If I’m correct, and I might not be entirely correct, because that has been a long, long time ago, the first one wasn’t a super-hero at all, but was an ordinary guy in the South Seas called Lance O’Casey. It was just an adventure story, just like you might read in the South Seas magazine.

JULIUS SCHWARTZ: [South Seas magazine] was edited by Ray Palmer—who was the real Atom. [NOTE: In 1961 editor Schwartz named the Silver Age Atom’s secret identity after a real-life sciencefiction writer who was quite short. “Lance O’Casey” was a regular feature in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics. –Roy.] EVANIER: At that time you wanted to write professionally and write comics. BROOME: I think I realized that I wasn’t good enough to be a real top-notch science-fiction writer. You know, these things happen. You just want to be something and you don’t get to be it. Your wishes are completely disregarded by somebody who regulates these things. [audience laughs] And so when I found out that I could make money in comics, I became a comics writer. SCHWARTZ: I must interrupt, Mr. Broome. I was your agent for a while and I sold at least 12 sciencefiction stories. That’s not too bad! BROOME: Not too bad. But they weren’t very good. SCHWARTZ: I sold them—they must have been

John Broome In San Diego, 1998–––With Evanier, Schwartz, Anderson, & Barr

great. [audience laughs] BROOME: You were one salesman! EVANIER: What were your influences as a writer? What did you read that excited you?

Dais Ex Machina

the conclusion that it was a good friend of John’s—I think he went to Brooklyn College with you—named David Levine at that time. Then he changed his name to David Vern and wrote science-fiction and many comics under the name of David V. Reed. Also, David knew [DC editor] Mort Weisinger, and he came up and did some comics and he brought John along. This is about as close as we can get.

We don’t have any photos of the entire grouping from the actual 1998 panel, so we’ll show you its peerless personnel in palpitating pieces. (Left to right:) Mark Evanier from an earlier con… Murphy Anderson and Julie Schwartz, on the 1998 one… and John Broome and Mike W. Barr, in a photo taken later that day. (Mike didn’t speak on the panel, but later recorded his own interview with Broome, which was printed in Comic Book Artist #5.) Anderson-Schwartz photo by Don Ensign, Broome-Barr photo by Maureen McTigue; with thanks to Mike.

BROOME: I read everything. I read everything. I was a reader. I wasn’t a writer, I was a reader! I loved reading. I loved them all. All the great writers—H.G. Wells, Bernard Shaw, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. All of them. I read them all. That had nothing to do with my comics career. Comics is a very special field. And somehow, it suited me. That was what made me realize that somehow I was being cared over by something, somebody, somewhere. Somebody was taking care of me! I realized that all of a sudden—later on, it became more obvious. But at that time it was the first inkling that I wasn’t going to have to go out and hold out a tin cup in order to make my dinner. I could make my money writing comics. That was the big event of my life!

“I Heard That Fawcett Was Publishing Comic Books” EVANIER: What was your first page rate? BROOME: A dollar a page. [audience laughs] Julie, is that right? SCHWARTZ: Not at DC—I beg your pardon. [laughs] EVANIER: You worked for Fawcett. How did you get into Fawcett? BROOME: That’s a good question. I think I heard that Fawcett was publishing comic books. SCHWARTZ: Was it through Otto Binder? BROOME: No, I’m quite sure it wasn’t. I knew Rod Reed. Maybe Rod Reed told me. SCHWARTZ: Rod Reed was the editor-in-chief over at Fawcett at the time. BROOME: Then there was someone named Wendell Crowley who was editor at Fawcett, and somehow I got the chance to try out. To write a story and have it looked at. From then on it went like that. EVANIER: Was this before or after you sold the science-fiction stories? BROOME: I think it was right in the middle of it. SCHWARTZ: Yeah, right. I think he was doing both. BROOME: Julie and I were trying to figure out when we first met. SCHWARTZ: Not just when, but who first introduced us. We came to

BROOME: This is so long ago it is very hard to come up with details from that period. Especially when we were so young, we just didn’t think about things like we do now. EVANIER: Did you do any super-hero stuff at Fawcett? BROOME: Yeah, I did “Captain Marvel.” I know I did “Captain Marvel.” Captain Marvel was a good character. He wasn’t up to Superman or Batman, but he was a good character.

“I Immediately Put John On ‘Green Lantern’” EVANIER: How did you get from Fawcett to DC? BROOME: Julie, whom I was getting to know fairly well. Then the Army intervened. I was in the army for 2H years. After I came out, Julie was already established as an editor at DC, so all I did was to go up to Julie and start writing. SCHWARTZ: That’s not quite right. [audience laughs] When Alfred Bester, who got me my job at DC—or All-American, in that case— when Alfred Bester left, and he was writing “Green Lantern,” I persuaded a science-fiction writer named Henry Kuttner to do some “Green Lantern.” Which he did for a while, and then he decided to move on. I was doing fairly well with John on science-fiction. I said, “How about trying some comics?” That is about the most reasonable explanation I can think of. BROOME: Do you remember some editor of Amazing Stories, I think, or Astounding, [who,] when he read one of my stories, said, “This guy’s science is terrible!” Remember that? SCHWARTZ: No. BROOME: You sent him the stories and he told you, “This guy’s science is terrible.” Well, I never claimed to be a great scientist! [audience laughs] SCHWARTZ: But I bet I sold the story anyway! So, I think, I immediately put John on “Green Lantern” because I needed someone. And eventually he did some occasional “Flashes,” but the main thing he did, as far as I was concerned—he took over the stories that were appearing

“We Were A Very Happy Group” Artist TONY DiPRETA On Comic Books, Comic Strips, & The People Behind Them Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash Maulers & Monsters Tony DiPreta in the 1960s, at work on the Joe Palooka newspaper comic strip—flanked by a daily whose original art he generously inscribed to A/E editor Roy Thomas, and the splash page to a DiPreta-drawn story from Journey into Mystery #15 (April 1954). The horror art, too, is repro’d from a photocopy of the original art. [Joe Palooka TM & ©2006 McNaught Syndicate, Inc., or its successors in interest; Timely page ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.; photo ©2006 Tony DiPreta.]

ony DiPreta is the perfect example of a young man who climbed the ladder of success step by step. He started out at McCalls Photo Engraving as a colorist for Busy Arnold’s Quality Comics line, then became a staff letterer for Arnold. Before long, he became an inker, and worked his way up to doing complete art on his stories. Tony spent a long time in comic books, working for publishers Hillman, Lev Gleason, Timely, among others. He got a toehold early on in newspaper strips as a letterer on Tim Tyler’s Luck and later became Lank Leonard’s assistant on Mickey Finn. He eventually did full art on strips such as Joe Palooka and Rex Morgan, M.D. Tony looks back with fondness on those times, and helps us see comic book talents like Charlie Biro, Bob Fujitani, Fred Kida, Ed Cronin, Gill Fox, and a host of other fantasy makers in their element. Special thanks to my friend Bob Fujitani (not a bad artist himself) for putting me in touch with Tony. Except where otherwise noted, all photos & art are courtesy of Tony D. —Jim.

“Boy, We Were Millionaires, I’m Telling You!” JIM AMASH: I’d like to get a little background info first. When and where were you born? TONY DiPRETA: Stamford, Connecticut, July 9, 1921. I was the first of three boys, and the only artist. My brother Joe was just as good an artist as I was in high school, but he went in another direction, which was electronics. I took art in high school and decided to become an artist in junior high school. I was a fan of the newspaper strip artists. The paper we read was The Advocate, which only carried four strips: Salesman Sam, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Freckles and His Friends, and Boots and Her Buddies. I also took life drawing classes at the Silvermine Guild, as did a lot of guys—including Elmer “Red” Wexler and Bob Fujitani—who were both very good. I took these classes after high school, and took them for years. It was one of the few places where I could draw from models.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Bonus points! These aren’t exactly Twice-Told covers, but we thought you’d enjoy them! This imaginary All-Star Comics #31 cover at left, first printed in Alter Ego #14, illustrates an unpublished mid-1940s “Justice Society” story, “The Will of William Wilson.” And the imaginary More Fun Comics cover at right, a sequel to that of More Fun #56, was drawn in April 2006 for collector Deane Aikins. [JSA, Dr. Fate, Spectre, & Wotan TM & ©2006 DC Comics.]

Comic Fandom Archive

The Fabulous ’40s – The First Full Decade Of Comic Books A Panel Discussion With OTTO BINDER, LARRY IVIE, TED WHITE—And, For The First And Only Time, KLAUS NORDLING Part VII of “1966: The Year Of (Nearly) Three New York Comics Conventions” Edited by Bill Schelly (with Roy Thomas)

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris either in print or in public, and there were virtually no true reference works on comic books.

Introduction

s reported in previous installments of this series (which began in issue #53), the first of three seminal comics conventions held in New York City between mid-1966 and very early 1967 was hosted by comics historian John Benson in July of ’66. Although by then certain basic facts about the history of comic books had been clearly established, it must be remembered that only a small number of comics professionals who had been active during the Golden Age had ever been interviewed,

Thus, Benson put together a panel composed of moderator Ted White (already a professional writer, though in non-comics fields such as jazz criticism and science-fiction), Larry Ivie (a knowledgeable fan artist and writer who had done scripts for Marvel and Tower and would soon publish his own pro magazine, Monsters and Heroes), Otto Binder (Golden Age scripter of Fawcett’s “Captain Marvel” and other features, who in the mid-’60s was writing

…And Four To Go! Panelists (l. to r.) Klaus Nordling… Otto Binder… Larry Ivie… and moderator Ted White—juxtaposed with: (a) a Nordling “Lady Luck” splash… (b) the first meeting of the World’s Mightiest Mortal and Oggar, the World’s Mightiest Immortal, in Captain Marvel Adventures #61 (May 24, 1946) with story by Binder, art by C.C. Beck… and (c) the climactic page from Ivie’s solo scripting foray for Marvel, from Strange Tales #132 (May 1965), with art by Bob Powell & Mike Esposito. Ted White was about to commence writing the Captain America prose novel The Great Gold Steal. [Lady Luck art ©2006 Will Eisner Studios; CMA art ©2006 DC Comics; Human Torch/ Thing art ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.; photo ©2006 Jack C. Harris.]