Alter Ego #95 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Roy Thomas’ Merry Marble Comics Fanzine

WHO SAYS A COMIC BOOK HAS TO BE GOOD? NOT MIRTHFUL MARIE SEVERIN — AND

NOT BRAND ECHH!

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No.95 July 2010

Edited by ROY THOMAS The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

2007 EISNER AWARD WINNER Best Comics-Related Periodical

Other issues available, & an ULTIMATE BUNDLE with all issues at HALF-PRICE!

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SWORD-AND-SORCERY COMICS! Learn about Crom the Barbarian, Viking Prince, Nightmaster, Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, Beowulf, Warlord, Dagar the Invincible, and more, with art by FRAZETTA, SMITH, BUSCEMA, KANE, WRIGHTSON, PLOOG, THORNE, BRUNNER, and more! New cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood, by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, in-depth art-filled look at Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, DC’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Dagar the Invincible, Ironjaw & Wulf, and Arak, Son of Thunder, plus the never-seen Valda the Iron Maiden by TODD McFARLANE! Plus JOE EDWARDS (Part 2), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #92

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and early editors WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, VIN SULLIVAN, and MORT WEISINGER, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CREIG FLESSEL, FRED GUARDINEER, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

HARVEY COMICS’ PRE-CODE HORROR MAGS OF THE 1950s! Interviews with SID JACOBSON, WARREN KREMER, and HOWARD NOSTRAND, plus Harvey artist KEN SELIG talks to JIM AMASH! MR. MONSTER presents the wit and wisdom (and worse) of DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE, & more! SIMON & KIRBY and NOSTRAND cover!

BIG MARVEL ISSUE! Salutes to legends SINNOTT and AYERS—plus STAN LEE, TUSKA, EVERETT, MARTIN GOODMAN, and others! A look at the “Marvel SuperHeroes” TV animation of 1966! 1940s Timely writer and editor LEON LAZARUS interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, the 1960s fandom creations of STEVE GERBER, and more! JACK KIRBY holiday cover!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL! Big FCA section with Golden Age artists MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO, and interviews with the FAWCETT FAMILY! Plus Part II of “The MAD Four-Color Wannabes of the 1950s,” more on DR. LAURETTA BENDER and the teenage creations of STEVE GERBER, artist JACK KATZ spills Golden Age secrets to JIM AMASH, and more! New cover by ORDWAY and SQUEGLIO!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY, PART 3! DC’s Sword of Sorcery by O’NEIL, CHAYKIN, & SIMONSON and Claw by MICHELINIE & CHAN, Hercules by GLANZMAN, Dagar by GLUT & SANTOS, Marvel S&S art by BUSCEMA, KANE, KAYANAN, WRIGHTSON, et al., and JACK KATZ on his classic First Kingdom! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, STEVE GERBER’s fan-creations (part 3), and more! Cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

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Vol. 3, No. 95 / July 2010 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

Editorial Honor Roll Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

NOW WITH 16 PAG ES OF COLOR!

Cover Artist Marie Severin

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Jack Adler Heidi Amash Bob Bailey Dominic Bongo Christopher B. Boyko Brian’s Drive-In Theater Mike Burkey John Butler Nick Caputo Dewey Cassell Teresa R. Davidson Betty Dobson Mark Evanier J. Fairfax Gary Friedrich Stephan Friedt Shane Foley Janet Gilbert Don Glut Golden Age Comic Book Stories Grand Comics Database Jennifer Hamerlinck Barbara Harmon

Heritage Comics Archives Bernie Hogya KAS Graphics Larry Kashdan Greg Koudoulian Darrell McNeil Clifford Meth Brian K. Morris Michelle Nolan Barry Pearl Bill Peckmann Gene Reed Steve Rude Bob Rozakis Randy Sargent Mitchell Senft Marie Severin Desha Swayze Marc Swayze Dann Thomas Dave Thorne Mike Tiefenbacher Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Eddy Zeno

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Shel Dorf & Jim Harmon

Contents Writer/Editorial: “Not A Spittoon – Not A Cartoon – Not A Harpoon – But A LAMPOON!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 “ECHH” Marks The Spot! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Roy Thomas’ very personal guided tour of Marvel’s Not Brand Echh, 1967-69!

“I Learned To Do A Little Bit Of Everything”. . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Bernie Hogya’s 1977 chat with artist Marie Severin about Not Brand Echh, Spider-Man, and more.

“[The DC Editors] Often Got Into Arguments” . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Part III of Jim Amash’s lore-laden talk with DC Golden/Silver Age editor George Kashdan.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Twice-Told EC – Part 2! . . . . . . 61 Michael T. Gilbert is seeing double—or is it quadruple?

Crudzine: Steve Gerber’s Fanzine That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Bill Schelly introduces more manic 1960s madness from the co-creator of Howard the Duck.

Tributes to Shel Dorf & Jim Harmon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #154 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze—and Darrell McNeil on Mary Marvel. On Our Cover: We’ve been waiting a long time to do this one! We first printed this drawing by multi-talented Marie Severin back in A/E #16—and we’ve known ever since that, when we finally got around to doing an issue on Marvel’s Not Brand Echh comic, it was the illo we wanted to use as our cover. Nothing else would’ve made any sense. Thanks, Marie—for everything! [Marvel heroes TM &©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2010 Marie Severin.] Above: When we were forced, regrettably, to delay this issue’s letters section till next month, we were left with this fine take on Forbush-Man with our maskots Alter and Captain Ego by Shane Foley— done as an homage to the Stuporman and cub reporter figures on the cover of 1968’s NBE #7. We suspect ultimate lampooner Marie Severin will get a kick out of being lampooned just a wee bit herself—with the added help of colorist Randy Sargent. [Alter & Captain Ego TM & © 2010 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly; created by Biljo White; Forbush-Man TM & ©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art elements ©2010 Shane Foley.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year 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. Eight-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $85 Canada, $107 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. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial

“Not A Spittoon – Not A Cartoon – Not A Harpoon – But a LAMPOON!” C omics fans of a certain age and inclination will probably recognize the above as one of the many humorous billboards and background bits (a.k.a. “chicken fat”—see p. 7) which festoon the eight-page parody “Bat Boy and Rubin!” in Mad #8 (Dec. 1953-Jan. 1954).

When he and artist Wally Wood stuck those notices throughout that classic takeoff on “Batman and Robin,” editor/writer/layout artist Harvey Kurtzman was both hedging his bets and sticking out his figurative tongue at National/DC. Earlier in 1953, after all, DC had threatened EC publisher William M. Gaines with grievous bodily legal harm after the publication of the even more classic “Superduperman!” in Mad #4… and eight months later, EC wanted to do everything it could to deflect the wrath of the older, far bigger, and deeper-pocketed DC. It apparently worked. DC seems not to have bothered Gaines over “Bat Boy” or the later “Woman Wonder”—and it would be left for the venerable but clearly humorless Life magazine to feel strongly enough about EC’s parody (on the cover of Mad #11) of its general cover format to actually sue Entertaining Comics. And, happily, lose… just as DC would’ve deserved to, a year earlier. The courts decided there was little danger the reading public would confuse a 7"x10½" color comic book (with a cover composed of a whiteon-red logo above a cityscape photo behind the ugliest female head that even Basil Wolverton could draw) with a 10"x13" tabloid magazine. For Life to have won, justice would have needed to be not only blind but deaf and, especially, dumb. What that all means to us is that, ever since, parody has thrived in

comics, freed from the danger that some overly touchy target would deprive US citizens of that most basic of human rights—namely, the right to laugh their butts off. Recalling how all those early Mad wannabes were allowed to publish and perish on their own merits and demerits back in the mid-1950s (as seen in A/E #86 & 91)… and how many copycats there were later of the even more successful black-&-white Mad… and how Marvel was able to launch (Not) Brand Echh in 1967 with no real worries about a lawsuit… I am joyed and buoyed both by nostalgia, and by historical perspective… except when I see what the “political correctness” crowd is doing in the alleged name of multi-culturalism and “good taste.” Also, of course, it’s amusingly ironic that, nowadays, Mad is basically owned by DC Comics… while both are now part of a conglomerate once known as “Time-Life, Inc.” partly after the very publication that sued Gaines. What goes around comes around. And keeps going round… and round… and round…. Bestest,

P.S.: Alas, we had to forego our letters section again this issue… and even delay the conclusion of our three-part George Kashdan interview till, well, Part 4, next month. Bear with us—we’ll catch up soon (it says here)!

COMING IN AUGUST

THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS! Archie Comics’ 1960s Team Extreme! • Color-splashed cover by MIKE MACHLAN—an homage to the work of PAUL REINMAN! • “Too Many Super-Heroes!” The Fly (a.k.a. Fly Man) & Fly Girl—The Jaguar—The Shield —Hangman—Black Hood—and many, many more! WILL MURRAY introduces us to the 1960s+ annals of JERRY SIEGEL • PAUL REINMAN • JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY • JOHN ROSENBERGER • JOHN GIUNTA • GEORGE TUSKA • AL WILLIAMSON • RICH BUCKLER • GRAY MORROW • BOB FUJITANI, et al.! • Golden Age artist/writer MELL LAZARUS talks to JIM AMASH about the 1950s at Toby Press alongside CAPP • FRAZETTA • CAPLIN • SULTAN • SPARLING • BOLLE • KEEFER • BROWN & GANTZ • GILL • SCHROEDER, & others—plus the beginnings of his long-running comic strips Miss Peach and Momma! • The cosmic conclusion of JIM AMASH’s interview with GEORGE KASHDAN! • FCA with MARC SWAYZE, plus DARRELL McNEIL on doing Shazam! at Filmation— MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Jimmy Corrigan, The Super-Man—& MORE!! Edited by ROY THOMAS ie Comic Publications, Inc.] [Heroes TM & ©2010 Arch

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“ECHH” Marks The Spot! A Goofy, Gregarious Guide To Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH - 1967-69

by Roy Thomas (Who Was There!)

elcome aboard! Step lively now, ’cause this locomotive’s about to leave the station at bullet-train speed, to cover the 13 issues of Not Brand Echh in a single trip. This will be a distinctly personal tour, since so many of the people involved are no longer with us, and Marie Severin’s health did not allow for a new interview. But, adding to my own travelogue, co-engineers Gary Friedrich and Bill Peckmann offered up a few welcome reminiscences… so at least this whistlestop tour will be conducted by folks who rode this route on the maiden voyage. If anything gets skipped or wrongly identified as we roll merrily along, hopefully some alert passenger will pull the cord overhead and clue us in. End of tortured metaphor… beginning of journey.

since I’d quickly ceased being a salaried “staff writer” in favor of performing proofreading and other menial editorial chores, I hadn’t had any title, not even “editorial assistant.” Marvel in the latter ’60s, only slowly beginning to expand again after the skeleton crew of the late ’50s and early ’60s, didn’t bother much with formal job descriptions, since there were maybe a dozen people on staff. By the turn of 1967 those included, besides Stan, Gary, and me, the following intrepid souls: Production manager Sol Brodsky… Production staffer Marie Severin (who’d recently begun doubling as artist of the 10-page “Dr. Strange” and “Incredible Hulk” features)… Staff artist John Romita (drawing The Amazing Spider-Man, and already being utilized as a sort of informal assistant art director)…

Brand Echh A-Borning Guess you might call it a “power lunch,” 1967 style… at least within the narrow confines of Marvel Comics as it then was. It may well have been the only time that editor/chief writer Stan Lee, new editorial assistant Gary Friedrich, and I ever went out to eat as a threesome. In fact, that might’ve even been the same day that, out of the cerulean blue, Stan abruptly announced to us: “Y’know, we need some titles around here. I’m the editor… so I guess that makes Roy the associate editor... and Gary the assistant editor.” And lo, it suddenly was so. For the past year-plus, ever

Corresponding secretary (what they then called a “gal Friday”) Flo Steinberg… Morrie Kuramoto, staff letterer… New production man John Verpoorten (if he was there by then)…

They Had Us Covered! The Jack Kirby-penciled, Stan Lee-dialogued cover of Brand Echh #1 (Aug. 1967)—plus clockwise images of Stan the Man and King Kirby—plus Rascally Roy Thomas, Groovy Gary Friedrich, and Jolly Solly Brodsky, who are spuriously “quoted” on it. The photos first appeared in the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual; our thanks to Bob Bailey and J. Fairfax. The cover scan is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database (see p. 76 for more info). And see p. 10 for commentary on the cover of Brand Echh #1. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Daredevil” cocreator Bill Everett as staff artist... …and maybe one or two others. Gary had recently replaced short-time editorial assistant Ron Whyte, a talented young playwright who hadn’t quite jelled on staff. In late ’65 I’d persuaded Gary, who back in our hometown (Jackson,

A Goofy, Gregarious Guide To Marvel’s NOT BRAND ECHH—1967-69

Mad About Super-Heroes Panels from two classic super-hero parodies in the four-color Mad— from #4 (April-May 1953) and #8 (Dec. 1953-Jan. 1954)—by the team of Harvey Kurtzman (editor/writer/layout artist) and Wally Wood (artist), with coloring by a very young Marie Severin. It doesn’t get any better than this! [©2010 E.C. Publications, Inc.]

Missouri) had been my best friend, a fellow movie usher, and rockbandmate, to move to New York. There, he was soon banging out scripts for Charlton editor Dick Giordano till I could wangle him a shot at taking the Marvel “writer’s test” and landing a job on Stan’s little staff. Which he duly did by the latter part of ’66. Anyway, back to that lunch: Stan was looking for new concepts he could convince publisher Martin Goodman to put out. Besides superheroes, Marvel still produced a handful of Westerns (mostly written by Stan’s brother Larry Lieber, plus the new Ghost Rider by Gary and artist Dick Ayers), the two wilting “Millie the Model” titles, and the quasisuper-heroic war comic Sgt. Fury. That day, over a meal probably at Schrafft’s Restaurant (whose specialty was their ice cream), Gary and I tossed out to Stan the notion of doing a comic along the lines of the early Mad. I’d always believed it was Gary who brought it up; but, this past February, when I asked him for any anecdotal memories he had about NBE, Gary e-mailed: “I recall it having its genesis in several conversations you and I had about doing a book along the lines of the original Mad comic book, not the later b&w one. I remember you coming up with the idea to call it Brand Echh, which I thought was great, in that we’d be doing a lot of take-offs on DC characters.” I myself have no recollection of the comic’s title being my idea, though I’d be delighted to take credit for it—even if the phrase itself was totally Stan’s, as detailed on the next page. Since its early days, I’d been a rabid fan of Harvey Kurtzman’s brilliant four-color Mad #1-23 published from 1952-55 before it metamorphosed into a black-&-white “magazine”… and, having also purchased Timely/Marvel/Atlas’ own parody comics Crazy, Wild, and Riot in the mid-’50s, I knew they’d had a few good moments all their own (as detailed in A/E #86, hint, hint). Gary adds of his own days as a kid back in smalltown Missouri: “My friend Paul Roussel and I would get a new Mad and go over it word for word in the swing on his front porch. My early favorites were Melvin Mole and the Shane takeoff, ‘Sane.’ Also liked the Blackhawks story.” That makes Gary, who’s 3-4 years younger than I am, a Mad reader at least as early as I was! I’d been a whole twelve when Mad #5 & #4 (in that order) had suddenly hit me like a broadside. When I’d suddenly “got it.”

Whichever of the two of us first brought up the idea of Marvel doing a parody comic, Stan loved it—but instantly decided that, rather than poking fun at rival companies’ heroes, or putting out a general satire/spoof title, it should be specifically devoted to burlesquing Marvel’s own characters. At first blush, I didn’t like that concept nearly as much as our original one—but in retrospect I realize it was a far better choice commercially. Our readers were far likelier to buy a comic featuring ribald renditions of Marvel heroes than one that showcased latter-day equivalents of Kurtzman & Wood’s “Superduperman!” and “Bat Boy and Rubin!” In fact, since Marvel wouldn’t have been able to publish ongoing adventures of parody versions of other companies’ heroes without quickly encountering problems with their attorneys, under Gary’s and my plan we’d soon have run out of characters we could lampoon! For his part, Gary says, “I remember going into the meeting all pumped up about the possibility of doing a book like my old favorite Mad comic, and leaving it feeling like we’d made a really big mistake suggesting it in the first place.” If I was initially disappointed at the direction Stan decided to take the proposed new title—and I was—Gary liked it even less. Stan had no immediate intention of our lampooning other companies’ heroes… and indeed, there’d be precious little of that in the first issue. Gary believes the idea of calling the mag “Not Brand Echh,” rather than “Brand Echh,” was brought up by Stan at that lunch—while, based on my own vague memories and a perusal of the comic’s various indicia, I suspect the “Not” part came about a few weeks later, when Stan had to work up a cover logo and topline for the new title. (More on that in a minute.) But—why Brand Echh… with or without the “Not”? Since at least 1960, TV and print ads had been rife with references to “Brand X”—the always-unnamed competitor to whatever sponsor was buying the ad. Brand X’s true moniker, wink wink nod nod, couldn’t be revealed for legal reasons; but its merchandise—whether laundry detergent or mouthwash or whatever—was of course invariably and demonstrably inferior to the name brand. According to an article in the Oct. 31, 1960, issue of Time magazine, by then the phrase had even inspired a few enterprising companies to turn out actual “Brand X” cigarettes, cleaners, popcorn, and whiskey, with more suchlike on the way. (No real-life Brand X product of that era ever sold well, though—surprise,

“ECHH” Marks The Spot!

surprise!—and ere long all had vanished into limbo.) As unearthed by intrepid researchers Barry Pearl and Nick Caputo, it was a letter from two Forest Hills, NY, fans printed in Fantastic Four #7 (Oct. ’62) that had first used the disapproving term “Echh” (yep, two “h’s”)—to refer, among other things, to Stan’s ubiquitous “wisecracks.” Our Leader himself introduced the phrase “Brand X” into Marvel in the letters page of FF #26 (May ’64), though he used it there to refer to Marvel itself rather than to rival companies! The use of that term for the competition first popped up on the letters page of Amazing Spider-Man #31 (Dec. ’65), where Stan wrote of one fictitious entity: “He must be a Brand X character—we don’t remember using him.” In the meantime, beginning in the letters section of FF #43 (Oct. ’65), Stan had added his own spin and begun referring to Marvel’s competitors as “Brand Echh.” In a boxed comment, he wrote: CHEE! Have you noticed the sorry mess of Marvel IMITATIONS making the scene lately? Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery and all that jazz, but we wanna make darn sure no dyed-in-the-wool Marvel madman gets stuck with one of those inferior “Brand Echh” versions of the real thing! So, lull yourself to sleep each night with these imperishable words: “It isn’t a Marvel masterpiece unless it SAYS Marvel on the cover trademark!” Don’t ever settle for less—you’re far too important to us! Remember—we found you first! The “Echh” was probably an unconscious riff on Mad magazine’s frequent use of the term “Ecch”—note the different spelling—to connote disdain or disgust. (Later, when a letter-writer referred in Amazing Spider-Man #34 to “Brand Ecch,” Stan good-naturedly corrected his spelling!) Stan’s earliest “Brand Echh” digs were doubtless aimed mostly at DC Comics’ belated attempts to emulate certain Marvel traits (like hip buzzwords, an informal editorial attitude, and, yes, character development)—but the origins of what would soon be the Archie group’s Radio Comics line (starting with Fly Man) had gone on sale by spring of ’65, as well. Still, when a fan-letter from future Dr. Strange artist Frank Brunner, printed in The X-Men #20 (May ’66), challenged him to name Marvel’s “competitor” and “stop beating around the bush (FORbush?),” Stan responded: “As for why we don’t name Brand Echh, it’s because we have more than one competitor—so Brand Echh stands for all of ’em. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice! Besides, we did name ’em—who do you think made up the appellation ‘Brand Echh’?? (Nyahh!)” Two months later, in the Bullpen Bulletins page that appeared in all Marvel comics dated July 1966, he responded to letter-scribe Mike Murano’s admonition to cease and desist with the “name-calling” thusly: Actually, we’ve never tried to single out any one competitor for criticism. By BRAND ECHH, we really meant all of them. But, that’s beside the point. What we want to know is—do most of you

Stupor Market A few months before Brand Echh was launched, Roy T. alternated with Topps Chewing Gum Co. exec (and friend) Len Brown on a series of sixteen tiny 8-page color parody comics, each with one panel to a page and packaged like Bazooka bubble gum cards. The artists were Wally Wood and Gil Kane. Len worked out the covers and titles with future Pulitzer winner (for Maus) Art Spiegelman. One of those Roy wrote was “Blunder Woman,” drawn by Wood... which cameo’d Topps’ own Stuporman in one panel. [©2010 T.C.G.]

agree with Mike? If so, we won’t mention Brand Echh again. Personally, we get a kick out of the mutual letter-col needling that goes on—but, as always, our job is to please YOU!! So, clue us in, frantic ones—and we’ll announce your decision as soon as the mail is in. For, by now, along with a Marvelesque series or three at National/DC (e.g., Doom Patrol, Metamorpho, and “Eclipso”) and the burgeoning cast of Archie’s Fly Man that would soon coalesce into The Mighty Crusaders (a source of supreme annoyance to both Goodman and Stan because of its over-the-top attempts to appropriate the Marvel style), a new if less imitative company called Tower had recently introduced the super-hero comic T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, under the artistic aegis of living legend (and recent Daredevil artist!) Wally Wood. And still more companies, it seemed, were entering the super-hero sweepstakes every month, especially since the recent blockbuster success of Batman on TV, a phenomenon which during 1966-67 dwarfed even the powerful effect Marvel was having on the comics field. On the Oct. ’66 Bulletins page, after giving readers time to respond to his “poll,” Stan announced that the resultant mail had left him “more confused than ever!” [The mail is] evenly divided—fifty percent in FAVOR of our roasting our competition every chance we get, and fifty percent OPPOSED to our carrying the batty bickering on any longer! It looks as though there’s nothing left to do but play it by ear— we’ll mention ’em when we feel so justified—and ignore ’em when we think they deserve it (like most of the time)! While I myself mostly read Marvel fan-mail only when Stan or Flo routed letters to me, I suspect his estimate was a fairly accurate reflection of readers’ response. After that, true to his word, he did use the term “Brand Echh” less often in Bullpen Bulletins and letters pages. Then, in all Aug. ’67 issues (after a teaser mini-ad the month before), Stan led off the Bullpens page with a self-proclaimed “BOMBSHELL!” item which announced that Marvel’s new mag Brand Echh #1 was on sale. Why this title and its humorous format, whose cover was depicted in a full-page house ad earlier in the same comics? Smiley explained: If everyone else is determined to imitate Marvel, we figure that your ol’ Bullpen can do a better, nuttier, funnier, more exciting job of poking fun at itself than anyone else can do! But why call

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“I Learned To Do A Little Bit Of Everything” A 1977 Interview With Artist MARIE SEVERIN About NOT BRAND ECHH, Spider-Man, And Lots More Interview Conducted and Transcribed by Bernie Hogya

A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: For the March 1977 issue of the fanzine Fans of Central Jersey, comics enthusiast Bernie Hogya interviewed Marie Severin at the Marvel offices. Our thanks to Barry Pearl and Nick Caputo for providing us with a copy of that mag, and to Bernie for permission to reprint it. This piece is a snapshot of its era, when Marvel was struggling to emerge from the related problems of shrinking sales outlets and the relative lack of profitability of comic books due to their low cover price. Of course, no one knew at that time that Marvel was about to get at least a temporary reprieve from those problems as the company’s six-issue adaptation of the 1977 film Star Wars, whose first issue had just gone on sale, would go on to seven figures’ worth of reprinting.]

“I Started Doing Comics At EC”

Marie, The Dawn Is Breaking… Editor David Anthony Kraft’s interview with Mirthful Marie Severin for FOOM #16 (Dec. 1976) did indeed begin with the query: “Where were you born?” Her answer was “Oceanside, Long Island”—and that when she was born was nobody’s business but her own. FOOM, of course, was the magazine published by Marvel for members of its mid-1970s fan club. That issue’s cover was a wraparound schematic masterpiece (complete with staff and freelancers) of the Marvel offices; it also showed how much Marvel had grown in the decade-plus since she had come to work there on staff in 1964-65. Curiously, despite her unwillingness to provide interviewers a birth date, Marie had provided the photo above right of herself as a toddler, so it could be printed in FOOM #8 (Dec. 1974), along with the more recent snapshot. [©2010 Marie Severin.]

BERNIE HOGYA: Where were you born?

pany at that time to work for that was really doing storytelling.

MARIE SEVERIN: They did an interview with me in the newest FOOM magazine [#16], and their first dumb question was, “Where were you born?” Now, nobody cares about that, do they? What they really want to know is how old I am, and I’m not going to tell them that. [laughter]

I was at EC till the beginnings of Mad magazine, and after that, I worked for Stan Lee at Timely. There, I learned to do a little bit of everything—lettering, designing mastheads, coloring, writing, costume design, comics production—the line of it is, I’m a jack-of-all-trades. That’s good today, because we lost a whole generation of people when comic groups went out of business in the ’50s. A lot of, for instance, letterers—there wasn’t anyplace for them to work then, so now we have to scrounge around for letterers. We have so many books, but not enough letterers. It’s the same with writers. It isn’t too bad with artists, because a lot of artists have no place to go but comics. In the old days, there was magazine art, like in The Saturday Evening Post. Very few artists do magazine fillers today. There’s really no need for it. A lot of the guys that would be working there are seeking out comics. So we get a lot from that crowd.

To get into a past history of myself, as you may or may not know, I started doing comics at EC. My brother John was working there, and I came as a girl Friday, but I soon progressed to full-time production and coloring. EC had such a small staff that we had a lot of fun, but we also learned a lot—it was early in the game, and EC was the only com-

Also, there’s a resurgence of interest in comics. People your age like them. Our readership ranges from little kids, age nine up, to and past your forties. Anyway, because I’ve been in comics so long, and know the different aspects of it, I’m very handy to have around. I can jump in at almost any instance, to help someone out. I know I can’t do it as good, as if, say, a correction is needed on a Neal Adams story—well, I don’t draw like Neal Adams, but I can sort of know maybe a shortcut of how he might draw an arm turned a different way. I’d prefer if he’d do it himself, but if he wasn’t around, I could do it. So, that’s my history in comics. In short, I began doing comic work for EC. After that, I did some stuff for Timely. When comics went out of

A 1977 Interview With Marie Severin

other hand, they’ve done all these dopey things with him, like the Krypton thing, and Superdog, Superboy, Supergirl, and Super-Rat, or whatever they’re doing. HOGYA: Now, they’ve even gotten rid of Kryptonite, so nothing can hurt him. At least Spider-Man can get ulcers. SEVERIN: Yeah, that’s the thing, anything can happen to him, and he’s appealing because of it. Everybody has problems. One of our problems with the [Sunday] strip was with the coloring and reproduction. We did the coloring on it very carefully, and we sent it to the syndicate—they sent us a proof that looked great—full page, and all. Now, The [Daily] News printed it on a half page, with all the colors changed to a stronger intensity than what was specified. Where I had a 20% red, the proof had a 50% red, with the printed strip at almost 100% red. They’ve promised us at the News that they’ll eventually carry the strip full page, and they’ve already begun running the dailies. Years ago, there were all kinds of adventure strips, and all of them were great! Full pages of Flash Gordon, Terry and the Pirates, and Prince Valiant, all colored as good or better than our comic books today. But the comics in those days sold newspapers. I don’t think they sell that many today. For the past twenty years, they didn’t have anything to color with real detail. You have mostly cartoon stuff, which is very flat color. Spidey is the only adventure strip which is jumping around in color, because of the anatomy, figures, and action. It’s an adventure strip, and there’s nothing like it today, except maybe Rex Morgan, where you’ve got a bunch of people just constantly talking, and that’s all; or Mary Worth and

Brenda Starr, which has gotten absolutely dumb—with its fluffy “lady art.” It’s OK for what it is, but Spidey is the only one of it’s kind today. The color separators have no experience in separating color for a strip like Spidey. But it’s gonna get better. I’ve been coloring in comics since about 1953. When Barry Smith started doing Conan [the Barbarian], it would make you cry to see all the lines that were lost. It was beautiful, but he was too detailed—that’s when coloring gets to be a problem. Earlier, when Barry first came to Marvel, he tried to draw like Kirby. Marvel’s style at that time was Kirby. But you should never try to draw like Kirby. Rather you should try and think like Kirby. There’s only one Kirby. It is the Marvel way how he draws, and you may not like what he does, but he’s got the dynamics. You’ll look at it whether you like it or not. It will catch your eye. One thing Stan has always said is, when you pick up a comic off the stands and flip through the pages, there should be something on each page that jumps out at you and intrigues you enough to buy it. And that is Jack Kirby’s thing! He’s got it! I think we’re going to have to stop now, fellas. The place is really jumping here, and I’ve got to get back to work. HOGYA: Just one more question… where were you born? SEVERIN: See ya, guys. HOGYA: Wait, how old are you?

Spidey Does Sunday This very first Spider-Man Sunday newspaper strip, dated Jan. 9, 1977, was scripted by Stan Lee, drawn by John Romita—and colored by Marie Severin. Talk about starting off at the top! With thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. The Spider-Man comic strip is still going strong, well over three decades later, still written by Stan, and with art now by a combination of Larry Lieber, Alex Saviuk, and Joe Sinnott—Ye Editor’s involved in it now, too. [©2010 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“[The DC Editors] Got Into Arguments” GEORGE KASHDAN On Editing And Writing Comics In The Golden Age – Part III Conducted by Jim Amash Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

eorge Kashdan (1928-2006) was a writer and editor for DC Comics from 1947 until sometime in the 1970s, and later wrote for the comics of Western Publishing and for Filmation TV animation. As editor and/or writer, he handled many of DC’s top characters at one time or another, including Superman, Batman, and Aquaman. Although, as related more fully in our previous issues, he was a bedridden stroke victim when this interview was conducted by telephone in bits and pieces, he felt it was important to relate his version of the history of DC as a company… even if his view of some of his associates was less than flattering. Last issue contained much of Kashdan’s discussion of artist Jack Kirby’s serious, even legal, differences with DC editor Jack Schiff over monetary arrangements for the comic strip Sky Masters. —Jim.

George Does It Again! George Kashdan (on right in photo at top) with his brother Larry, who kindly provided us all photos of George used in conjunction with this several-part interview. Since George was both an editor and a writer, here is an introductory glimpse of his work in both capacities: (Left:) A dynamic action page from The Brave and the Bold #58 (Feb.-March 1956), the second “Metamorpho” issue. Script by Bob Haney; pencils by Ramona Fradon; inks by Charles Paris. Editor GK was proud of this series, which he says was his original conception. Thanks to Stephan Friedt. The covers of B&B #57 & 58 were seen last issue. [©2010 DC Comics.] (Above:) The splash page of an adaptation of renowned science-fiction great Poul Anderson’s short story “Call Me Joe,” scripted by GK and drawn by Adolf Buylla for Western Publishing’s Starstream #4 (1976). For more about Kashdan’s experiences writing for Western, see next issue. [©2010 Western Publishing Co., Inc., or its successors in interest.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Twice-Told EC—Part 2! by Michael T. Gilbert

Picto-Fiction! The Picto-Fiction line was EC’s attempt to avoid the restrictive Comics Code and to reach a more mature audience. Combining art with blocks of type, the ambitious experiment quickly died, largely due to distribution problems. Shock Illustrated #1 was their first title, cover-dated Oct. 1955.

The next year, for July 1956, they published their final Picto-Fiction magazine, Shock Illustrated #3. In 2006, Russ Cochran and Gemstone Publishing collected every Picto-Fiction magazine in a deluxe fourvolume set, including four previously unpublished issues! While the Picto-Fiction line was never very popular, even among EC fans, the magazines contain some outstanding art. The more upscale format encouraged many artists to produce some of their finest work. Better yet, the re-worked tales allow us to compare different versions of the same story illustrated by different artists, or even years later by the same artist! [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: This “Crypt” column was originally written around the time of A/E #91, which featured John Benson’s coverage of two stories mentioned on the following pages—“Ivan’s Woe!” and “Low Noon”—and at that time we asked Michael to delay its publication. Hence, this “Crypt” echoes a bit of information covered a few issues back—but as always, Michael’s put his own distinctive spin on things, so we both felt it was best to print the piece exactly as originally submitted. Enjoy!] (Top:) Jack Kamen drew two different splash pages for Confessions Illustrated #1 (Feb. 1956). The one at right is the published version, while the version at top left is a rejected splash, printed for the first time in Russ Cochran’s 2006 Complete EC Library. Lettering was added to the page for this printing. [©2010 EC Comics] (Left:) Different artists would sometimes re-do stories. George Evans drew “Curiosity Killed…” for Tales From The Crypt #36 (June 1953), and it was later reworked by Reed Crandall for Shock Illustrated #3 (July 1956).

Twice-Told EC—Part Two!

“The Thing From The Grave!” ’Good Lord! (Choke!) EC really got their money’s worth with this ofttold tale! It started life as a measly little text page titled “Out of the Grave!” in Moon Girl Fights Crime #7 (May 1949). The page was then reprinted in the first Haunt of Fear (#15, May 1950). Al Feldstein next drew the same story as an 8-pager for Tales from the Crypt #22 (Feb. 1951), as seen above right. A few years later, Joe Orlando redrew the whole furshlugginer thing in 3-D for Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror! (seen at right). Then on May 8, 1990, it was adapted for HBO’s Tales from the Crypt TV series (seen below). Quite a run, eh? And that’s not even counting the various reprint comics and book collections over the years! The story? Jilted lover kills his ex’s boyfriend and buries him. After the creep locks up the girl, her boyfriend’s rotting corpse returns with a vengeance. Sort of like this story!

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Publications. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, “Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. ’42); but he was primarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military. After leaving the service in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home. There he created both art and stories for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton). After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics, including Sweethearts and Life Story. After the company ceased publishing comics, Marc moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comics career in the mid’50s. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA since his first column appeared in FCA #54 (1996)—and last issue we re-presented that debut column for the very first time in the pages of Alter Ego, wherein Marc took us back to 1941 and his first day at Fawcett Publications. We now reprint his second “We Didn’t Know…” installment from FCA #55 (1996), as the artist brings us back to the end of his second day at Fawcett Publications, when he and C.C. Beck grabbed a bite to eat and talked shop at a nearby café. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

C.C.

Beck and I were seated across from one another at the Blue Ribbon Café on, I believe, 45th Street. We had just left work, my second day at Fawcett Publications. It was 1941. On our walk over from the Paramount Building, Beck had begun to talk, and I got to know him pretty well that night. He obviously enjoyed discussing comics and drawing, and he kept me laughing at the manner in which he illustrated his views.

Café Conversation “I like to see some logic behind the directions the characters take,” he said. “If a guy says he’s going to the kitchen and he heads off to the right, then in the next panel, still on his way to the kitchen, he is drawn—for sake of composition, I suppose — heading to the left, some little kid just learning to read is going to say, ‘Hey, look! He’s coming back from the kitchen!’” Beck laughed, “And he hasn’t even been there yet!”

(Above:) Marc Swayze and C.C. Beck talked shop and got better acquainted with one another at the Blue Ribbon Café in NYC after Marc’s second day on the job at Fawcett in 1941. During their conversation, Beck informed Marc that “some of the top comic book artists in the city” had submitted Captain Marvel samples to Fawcett, but none of their renderings really looked liked the World’s Mightiest Mortal … except for Swayze’s. At top is a photo of Marc Swayze from the ’50s, next to a 2006 sketch he drew for Belgian collector Dominique Leonard; directly above is C.C. Beck’s cover to CMA #3, (Aug.-Sept. 1941), plus a ’42 headshot of Beck at Fawcett. [Shazam hero TM & ©2010 DC Comics]

We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!

Rogers. He was then assigned one of the first flying strips, Skyroads. Some months prior to my joining him, he signed a contract to do his own strip, Flyin’ Jenny. When I reported, he was doing the whole thing by himself, writing the daily strip and Sunday page, penciling, inking, and lettering. “What did you do when you first got there?” Beck asked. “Lettering,” I said. “And I was terrible! I’m surprised he didn’t send me home the first day!” Beck wanted to hear of other professional work I had done, so I told him of having illustrated when in high school a magazine featuring a couple of World War I doughboys, and while with Keaton, of selling gag cartoons to music magazines. “How’d you end up here?” he asked. “With Fawcett, I mean.” Russell Keaton had said I was wasting my time as an assistant and ought to be where the action was … New York or Chicago.

“Good-Bye, Dolly!” Marc Swayze retired as a milkman to become comic strip artist Russell Keaton’s assistant—and in the Sept. 21, 1940, Flyin’ Jenny strip, Swayze integrated into a panel his former occupation and his old horse Dolly who used to pull his milk wagon. [Flyin’ Jenny TM & ©2010 The Bell Syndicate]

“I like for the pictures to tell a story,” he said. “And I don’t like to see a page cluttered up with a bunch of odd-shaped panels fitted into it like a jigsaw puzzle. Why make the reader have to go to a lot of trouble to follow the story?” “As for action,” he continued, “action should appear where it belongs … where the story calls for it … not in every panel along the way. It annoys me to see a beautifully drawn scene of a character dashing at full speed … to answer the telephone. When action is wasted like that, it is less effective when it’s really needed.” Then he suddenly asked, “What did you do before you came here?” It was apparent he had not seen the résumé I sent to Eddie Herron and Al Allard. So I gave him the whole ball of wax, skimming over the childhood drawings of horses and cowboys, the teenage sketches of ballplayers, the yearbook illustrations. I told of finishing one school in music and another in art, of working at summer camps, of playing ball and holding down a double job playing music at night and delivering milk during the day. Beck must have been bored with it all, but he perked up when I mentioned working with veteran comic strip artist, Russell Keaton. “How’d you get that job?” he asked. It was easy to remember. I had just come in from my milk route and had a call from Louisiana Tech. A member of the faculty, a relative of Keaton’s, learned he was looking for an assistant. I sent him some samples. “He called, we talked, and then it was good-bye, Dolly!” I said. “Who was Dolly?” asked Beck. “The horse who pulled my milk wagon!” I laughed. I’ve referred to Russell Keaton as a veteran, but he must have been barely thirty when I joined him. In pure knowledge of comic strips and drawings, however, he was indeed a veteran. He attended the Chicago Academy and had gone directly to work with Dick Calkins on Buck

“So I sent out résumés,” I told beck. “Eddie Herron’s response was one of the first.”

Funny thing, in all the days that I knew C.C. Beck, he never once told me that Captain Marvel had been modeled after actor Fred MacMurray, although in later years the claim was made in his interviews and editorial writing. On that night he simply said he had borrowed features from various movie actors. He mentioned Frederic March, Robert Young, and Cary Grant, and MacMurray’s name may have been among them. It’s pretty obvious in looking back through the Fawcett books that there was a strong resemblance between Captain Marvel and the latter actor. But not in the beginning! In the very early art, both face and figure were thinner, the nose less tilted, the mouth tight-lipped. I would have thought first of Frederic March as a likeness. For that matter, the early Captain Marvel resembles somewhat the actor who played the part in the first Captain Marvel film, Tom Tyler. This would be purely coincidental, of course, as it is doubtful that a movie was in mind in 1939. (Tom Tyler must have been one of the ageless wonders. He was one of my favorite cowboy actors when I was a kid. Another coincidence!)

I believe Beck was sincere in both instances. As time passed, Captain Marvel underwent the changes common in the development of so many cartoon characters. The need for a greater variety of expressions, for example, may have brought about a roundness of the jaw, more emphasis on the dimples, and so on. It is possible that Captain Marvel came to resemble that great actor who played such a variety of roles, without anyone realizing the change. Then, when it became apparent and Beck was asked about it in later years, he may have given the simpler answer. At any rate, I’m glad that I wasn’t concerned with getting a likeness of a living person. After all, I was not there to draw MacMurray or March or anyone else. My job was to draw Captain Marvel. I felt very comfortable as we left the café when Beck said: “I’m glad you’re here. Before you came, the work of some of the top comic book artists in the city was reviewed, but their samples just didn’t look like Captain Marvel. Yours did.” Marc Swayze’s Golden Age memoirs will continue next issue.