Issuu

Edited by

ROY THOMAS

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL THE 100TH ISSUE OF ALTER EGO, VOLUME 3 Published by: TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. First Printing: March 2011 All Rights Reserved • Printed in Canada Softcover ISBN: 978-1-60549-031-1 UPC: 1-82658-27763-5 03 Trademarks & Copyrights: All illustrations contained herein are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders and are reproduced for historical reference and research purposes. All characters featured on the cover are TM and ©2011 DC Comics. All rights reserved. DC Comics does not endorse or confirm the accuracy of the views expressed in this book. Editorial package ©2011 Roy Thomas & TwoMorrows Publishing. Individual contributions ©2011 their creators, unless otherwise noted. Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135 • e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com Eight-issue subscriptions $60 U.S., $85 Canada, $107 elsewhere (in U.S. funds) Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to editorial offices. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Mike Esposito and Dr. Jerry G. Bails, founder of A/E

Gil Kane panel above from The Ring of the Nibelung – Book Two: The Valkyrie. Script by Roy Thomas, after Richard Wagner. [©2011 DC Comics.] Art on preceding page: cover of AlterEgo [Vol. 1] #1 ©2011 Roy Thomas; on cover of Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #1: Green Lantern, Flash, Atom, Fury, & Jade TM & ©2011 DC Comics; SpiderMan, Thing, & Silver Surfer TM & ©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2011 Jerry Ordway. Thanks to Doc Boucher for the 1961 scan. Characters and/or art in background Alter Ego covers TM & ©2011 the respective copyright holders.

Special Thanks to: Christian Voltar Alcala, Heidi Amash, Michael Ambrose, Ger Apeldoorn, Mark Arnold, Michael Aushenker, Dick Ayers, Rodrigo Baeza, Bob Bailey, Jean Bails, Pat Bastienne, Alberto Becattini, Allen Bellman, John Benson, Doc Boucher, Dwight Boyd, Jerry K. Boyd, Lee Boyette, Christopher Boyko, Frank Brunner, Bernie Bubnis, Rich Buckler, Mike Burkey, Sal Buscema, Nick Caputo, Michael Christie, Gene Colan, Ernie Colón & Ruth Ashby, Gerry Conway, Jon B. Cooke, Chet Cox, Les Daniels, Teresa R. Davidson, Michaël Dewally, Tony DeZuniga, Roger Dicken, Frode Dreier, Michael & Amy Dunne, Jim Engel, Steve Englehart, Michael Eury & Rose Rummel-Eury, Jon R. Evans, Jim Fern, Shane Foley, Richard Fowlks, Todd Franklin, Janet Gilbert, Dick Giordano, Glen David Gold, Luz Gonzales, Michael Grabois, Lawrence P. Guidry, Paul Gulacy, George Hagenauer, Jennifer Hamerlinck, Keith Hammond, John C. Haufe, Jr., Lee Hester, Jerry Hillegas, Rick Hoberg, Bernie Hogya, Dr. M. Thomas Inge, Tony Isabella, Arvell Jones, Richard Kyle, Matt Lage, Stan Lee, Steve Leialoha, Mark Lewis, Frank Lovece, Jim Ludwig, Richard Lupoff, Mike Machlan, Chris Malgrain, Bruce D. MacIntosh, Bernie McCarty, Brian K. Morris, Bill Morrison, John & Pam Morrow, Hoy Murphy, Mike Nielsen, Eric Nolen-Weathington, Jerry Ordway, Jack Oster, Steve Oswald, Matthew Peets, George Pérez, Gene Reed, Raymond H. Reithmeier, Trina Robbins, Peter Roe, John Romita, Bob Rozakis, Paul Sager, Randy Sargent, John Selegue, Marie Severin, Scott Shaw!, David Siegel, Keif Simon, Joe Sinnott, J. David Spurlock, Michael Stewart, Desha Swayze, Marc & June Swayze, Jeff Taylor, Dann Thomas, Maggie Thompson, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, Pete Von Sholly, Alan Waite, Lynn Walker, Chris Wallace, Matthew Wandersi, Hames Ware, Ted White, Derek Wilson, Marv Wolfman, Alex Wright

Vol. 3, No. 100 / March 2011 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

Proofreader Rob Smentek

Cover Artist Rich Buckler (pencils) & Jerry Ordway (inks)

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko On Our Cover: Some years back, Ye Editor commissioned artist Rich Buckler to re-pencil the magnificent interior “cover” featuring the 1941 Justice-Society of America (plus soon-to-be-member Wonder Woman) that he’d drawn for the All-Star Squadron Preview in Justice League of America #193 (Sept. 1981). This time, the art would be inked by Jerry Ordway, who’d embellished the 14-page introductory tale that had followed it—while the incongruous non-JSAer Shining Knight would be replaced, fittingly, by Starman. It’s been one of the treasures of Roy’s personal collection ever since. [JSA TM & ©2011 DC Comics.] Above: For this 100th issue, Shane Foley depicted our “maskots” Alter Ego and Captain Ego—and RT himself, garbed like the late-’30s Crimson Avenger—in an artful homage to Jerry Ordway’s cover for Infinity, Inc. #10 (Jan. 1985)— and ultimately to Irwin Hasen’s for AllStar Comics #37 (Oct.-Nov. 1947). Thanks a zillion, Shane—but why The Crimson Avenger? Roy always saw himself as more the Atom type! Oh, and thanks to Randy Sargent for the coloring. [Alter Ego TM & ©2011 Roy & Dann Thomas – costume designed by Ron Harris; Captain Ego TM & ©2011 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly – created by Biljo White; other art elements ©2011 Shane Foley.]

Contents Writer/Editorial: The First Hundred Issues Are The Hardest! . . . 4 “I Want To Do It All Again! ” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Roy Thomas talks about the 1980s at DC Comics—Schwartz, warts, and all.

Interlude I: The Wright Stuff—1940s Version . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Pulsating Golden Age pin-ups by our own dazzlin’ doctor of digitalization, Alex Wright.

Interlude II: Stretching A Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 RT’s 1964 spec DC script—thrillingly illustrated by Larry Guidry & Shane Foley.

The Annotated Alter-Ego #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 A 1965/2011 look backward at the origins of Jerry Bails’ epoch-making 1961 fanzine.

The Missourian Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Brief tributes to Alter Ego and (ulp!) to its ebullient editor, courtesy of Jerry K. Boyd.

“A Lot Of These Guys Have Great Stories To Tell!”. . . . . . . 106 Bruce D. MacIntosh turns the tables on A/E ace interviewer Jim Amash.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: Michael T. – The Fanzine Years! . . 113 The gregarious Mr. Gilbert serves as tour guide to artifacts of his early life and career.

A Tribute To Mike Esposito. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Comic Fandom Archive: The 1964 Super Hero Calendar . . 125 Bill Schelly & Bernie Bubnis & one of the great early fandom projects.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . 133 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #159 . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze, Captain Marvel, the All-Star Squadron—and Spider-Man?

writer/editorial

The First Hundred Issues Are The Hardest!

elcome to Alter Ego: Centennial, a.k.a. the 100th issue of Alter Ego, Vol. 3!

Or, if you count (a) the five truncated “issues” of Vol. 2 that appeared as part of Comic Book Artist in 1998-99, (b) the eleven issues of “Vol. 1” published between 1961 and 1978, and even (c) the four issues of the 1986 First Comics series starring a masked super-hero named Alter Ego, as currently being reprinted by Heroic Publishing in a 25th-anniversary edition (see p. 72)—well, then, make that the 120th issue! Any way you slice it, that’s a fair number of issues—if hardly a record—for a comics “fanzine,” even if we’ve deliberately stretched the meaning of that word a bit in this incarnation. All 120 issues, of course, have one thing in common—and that, with all due blushing, is Yours Truly.

The 50th anniversary of AlterEgo [Vol. 1] #1… And the present writer’s sojourn as a scripter and editor at DC Comics during the 1980s. Okay, so that last is not exactly an inevitability. Still, it made sense to Jim Amash and me to spotlight an A/E co-founder’s decade at the company whose Justice League of America title (and ultimately its 194051 All-Star Comics) were the primary reason Jerry launched A/E in the first place. But that interview, lengthy as it is—and even though anecdotes re my 1980s work for Pacific, First, Heroic, TSR, et al., will mostly have to wait for another day—makes up only one-third of this issue. Thanks to John Morrow of TwoMorrows Publishing, who decided that this 100th issue we’ve produced together should be a double-size spectacular, we also had room to include a number of other special items:

As a college senior, I was invited by my new correspondent Dr. Jerry G. Bails, a young assistant professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, to be the sole other contributor to the first issue of the comic book fanzine he had recently decided to produce. He christened it AlterEgo, complete with hyphen, and in #1 (postmarked and mailed out at the end of March ’61) generously listed me as “co-editor.” Well, actually, I did eventually become the only person to contribute material to every single one of those 120 issues. (I kept that streak going by the skin of my teeth in Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #5 in 1963, though, when two-issue editor/publisher Ronn Foss simply printed a Bestest League pin-up I’d sent him. Of course, at the time, I had no idea I was working on a “streak.”)

“The Alter Ego Story”—an account of the original fanzine’s genesis which I wrote in 1965 (it’s on view in the still-available book Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine, so I’ve sprinkled this issue’s version with new notes to put the whole thing in some kind of perspective)…

As for that March 1961 date: yes, it’s merely a serendipitous coincidence (though an amazing one!) that this 100th issue of A/E, Vol. 3, comes out exactly 50 years to the month since Jerry’s V1#1 hit the U.S. mails. Cue Twilight Zone music!

An interview done with instead of by A/E ace interviewer (and coassociate editor) Jim Amash…

The entire contents of Alter-Ego [Vol. 1] #1, which haven’t been fully reprinted since the early ’60s…

“Longarm of the Law”—a permutation of the script that, if editor Julius Schwartz had given it a thumbs-up in 1964, would’ve become the very first comic book story of mine published by DC or anybody else…

Michael T. Gilbert’s lively account of his own fanzine days…

That gave us all the excuse we needed to make this a triple-threat of an issue, celebrating:

P.C. Hamerlinck’s showcasing of the Captain Marvel connection in my All-Star Squadron comic and some Fawcett “spider men,” as well as his own interview with artist Marc Swayze…

The 100th issue of Alter Ego, Vol. 3…

Alex Wright’s salute to the pulchritudinous pin-ups of the 1940s, featuring some of DC’s most pneumatic super-heroines…

Co-associate editor Bill Schelly’s chat with early fan Bernie Bubnis and a re-presenting of The 1964 Super Hero Calendar, one of the landmark fan-projects of its day…

The Second Time Around (Top of page:) Roy T., in a photo taken in 2007 by his TV producer pal Alan Waite at the Hollywood home of some mutual acquaintances—plus (left) Joe Kubert’s cover for Alter Ego, Vol. 2, #1 (Spring 1998), repro’d from an illustration done for Bill Schelly. Oh, and in the photo—dig the customized Alter Ego watch Dann got Roy as a gift! [Hawkman TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

And, last but not least, A/E contributor Jerry K. Boyd’s assemblage of tributes to the 50-year, 100+-issue history of Alter Ego. All in all, we were lucky to be able to shoehorn all these goodies into a mere 160 pages—and to cover three past issues of A/E in our catch-up letters section, to boot. A word about the Thomas interview that begins on p. 4: When Jim and I finished it, I realized I’d given voice to a greater number of negative feelings about my 1980s tenure at DC than I had in A/E #50 and #70 about my initial 15 years at Marvel. But, unless I planned to disclaim my own memories, they needed to stay in. For me at DC in the ’80s,

writer/editorial

The Bald Ego alas, the bad vibes were intermingled with the good almost from the start, as you’ll see. Still, as I insist several times in the course of the interview, there was far more good than bad, and I can scarcely regret an era that gave me the opportunity to write adventures of the Justice Society of America, the AllStar Squadron, Infinity, Inc., The Young All-Stars, Captain Carrot & His Amazing Zoo Crew, the secret origins of many of DC’s Golden Age heroes, detective/human lightning-bolt Jonni Thunder, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, the Teutonic gods and heroes, Arak, Son of Thunder, and Valda the Iron Maiden—not to mention Mr. Mind and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. Frankly, for me, the experience of writing and editing AllStar Squadron alone would’ve made those years worth twice as much tsuris! As for the names I’ve named, in terms of a couple of folks who are clearly not my favorite memories of my DC decade—well, A/E’s letters section is open late for alternative viewpoints. And for my response to same. Will the second 100 issues of A/E really be easier to produce than the first?

In fact, look me up at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, which will celebrate 50 years of comics fandom (since Alter-Ego #1 and Don & Maggie Thompson’s April 1961 Comic Art #1)—and, with luck, I should be able to autograph your copy of issue #103! Bestest,

Will there ever be a 200th issue, in this day of the increasing digitalization of all things at the expense of printed books and magazines? We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? John Morrow surprised me, last summer, by telling me that several folks came up to the TwoMorrows booth at the San Diego Comic-Con and asked him if I intended to discontinue Alter Ego with #100… to consider, in short, my job of helping to record comics history finished and done. But this issue is only a milestone, not a gravestone.

P.S.: Thanks once again—most inadequately—to co-associate editors Bill Schelly and Jim Amash, “Comic Crypt” editor Michael T. Gilbert, and FCA editor P.C. Hamerlinck—and to co-publisher/consulting editor John Morrow—for all their many contributions to the past 100 issues; and to all those who donated their time, talents, scans, and photocopies. P.P.S.: A special, end-of-editorial thank-you to Chris Day, who has been in charge of layouts and putting A/E together for ten years now, and who has become all but indispensable to this mag. If Chris hadn’t existed, I’m not sure John Morrow and I would’ve been able to invent him!

COMING IN MAY 2011

101

Hunting VICTOR FOX! We Know All About Blue Beetle & Phantom Lady—But What About The Mysterious Would-Be Mogul Who Founded FOX COMICS? • Fabulous new cover by DAVID WILLIAMS (Spider-Man, et al.) featuring Fox’s finest! • “The Education of Victor Fox” by RICHARD KYLE—one of the greatest comics histories to come out of 1960s fandom, and still timely—with rare art & artifacts by JACK KIRBY • JOE SIMON • LOU FINE • MATT BAKER • GEORGE TUSKA • FLETCHER HANKS • ALEX BLUM • JACK KAMEN, & many others! • “Superman vs. Wonder Man – 1939!” KEN QUATTRO reveals the startling testimony in the first super-hero lawsuit ever—starring WILL EISNER • JERRY SIEGEL • HARRY DONENFELD • JERRY IGER • M.C. GAINES • SHELDON MAYER—& yes, VICTOR FOX! • “The Golden Age of JACK MENDELSOHN”—the veteran artist and animator’s days at DC, Quality, Standard, Dell, Archie, Ziff-Davis, et al.—interview by JIM AMASH! • MICHAEL T. GILBERT on ABE KANEGSON, the man who lettered EISNER’s Spirit—BILL SCHELLY talks with 1960s fan-artist RUDI FRANKE (part 2)—FCA with MARC & JUNE SWAYZE and the Captain Marvel/Thor connection—& MORE!! Edited by ROY THOMAS TM & ©2011 DC Comics; ers. Blue Beetle & Phantom Lady the respective copyright hold other heroes TM & ©2011

SUBSCRIBE NOW! Eight issues in the US: $60 Standard, $80 First Class (Canada: $85, Elsewhere: $107 Surface, $155 Airmail). NEW LOWER RATES FOR INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS! SAVE $4 PER ISSUE!

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“I Want To Do It All Again!” ROY THOMAS Talks About The 1980s at DC Comics— Schwartz, Warts, And All! Conducted by Jim Amash Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

he first decade and a half of Roy Thomas’ comic book career was spent writing and editing for Marvel, as we discussed in interviews in A/E #50 & 70. For this anniversary issue, we felt it was time to step into the 1980s and see, from Roy’s perspective, what it was like working for DC Comics on features such as Wonder Woman, All-Star Squadron, Infinity, Inc., Young All-Stars, Arak/Son of Thunder, Shazam! The New Beginning, Secret Origins, and Captain Carrot, among other titles. One might think scribing stories of his childhood favorites plus a bunch of newly minted heroes would be a pure blessing for any writer, but there were a number of bumps in the road, which Roy doesn’t shy away from discussing. While some fans may prefer Roy’s previous Marvel work, I find his DC work to be just as interesting and possibly more varied in style and substance than the work that brought him to a prominent position in the four-color world of comics. Not a bad way to spend a decade, huh? —Jim.

“Grand Gestures” JIM AMASH: You left Marvel for DC in 1980. How did you initiate contact with DC? ROY THOMAS: I didn’t. I’d been in contact, off and on. Carmine [Infantino, DC publisher] had talked to me about my coming over to DC around the time I left the editor-in-chief job at Marvel in ’74, and even before that, but I really wanted to stay at Marvel, partly out of loyalty to Stan [Lee]. Around the turn of ’76, I met [new DC publisher] Jenette Kahn. We even dated a couple of times, since by then I was separated from [my first wife] Jeanie for the final time. I met Jenette through [inker/DC assistant art director] Vinnie Colletta—who else? She and one or two others at DC made it plain that, if I wasn’t happy at Marvel—and they knew that increasingly I wasn’t, after Jim Shooter became editor—I could have a job at DC. I couldn’t be a writer/editor there, since they didn’t have that position then, but I was assured I’d have

All-Star Squadroom Roy in the 1980s, conducting historical research for All-Star Squadron in Winston Churchill’s underground London bunker from World War II days—juxtaposed with the Rich Buckler-penciled, Dick Giordano-inked cover of All-Star Squadron #1 (Sept. 1981), RT’s personal favorite among covers drawn for comics he wrote at DC—or anywhere else! Thanks to Gene Reed for the scan; photo by Dann Thomas. [Cover ©2011 DC Comics.]

something close to editorial authority over the scripts I wrote. So when I had my final blow-up with Shooter, I phoned Paul Levitz—he was editorial coordinator then—and told him I wanted to leave Marvel, since I felt Shooter had dealt less than honorably with me with regard to contract negotiations, something I took very personally and very hard. Paul said, “Fine,” and that was that. I promptly informed Shooter I was leaving when my contract ran out later that year. I didn’t try to negotiate with Marvel. Well, actually, [publisher] Stan and [president] Jim Galton had me drop by the Marvel offices to talk when I came to New York to meet with DC in the interim, but by then it was pretty much too late, since they hadn’t any real assurances to offer. What was done was done. JA: How did it make you feel to have to give up being your own editor? Because that changed everything for you, really. THOMAS: It was being changed anyway, since part of the disagreement between Shooter and me was that I’d told him I wouldn’t sign another contract with Marvel unless it was another writer/editor contract. [NOTE: See A/E #70 for Roy’s detailed account.] That was what I felt he’d been dishonest with me about—at the very least, in a Clintonesque

“I Want To Do It All Again!”

Now It Can Be Told! During the final days of his Marvel contract in 1980, Roy did fudge just a little bit and secretly help out his busy buddy Gerry Conway by dialoguing the above two stories Gerry had plotted for DC Comics Presents #31 & #32 (March & April 1981). Roy’s memory is that editor Julius Schwartz (shown at the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con, with Roy standing behind him) didn’t know about the subterfuge. Hope you can read the art credits! Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [©2011 DC Comics.]

sense. I figured, if I’m not going to be an editor at Marvel, what the hell?—I might as well not be an editor at DC. Maybe it was time to seize the opportunity to work with the JSA and features like that. It’s not that I was all that wild about DC’s set-up. But [editor] Julie Schwartz, after all, had been my first real contact in the field—and I thought, well, recent Marvel émigré [writer] Marv Wolfman was doing okay there. So, I figured, after fifteen years at Marvel, I might as well exit while I had a little capital left, rather than let it be frittered away at Marvel over the next few years—assuming I’d have lasted that long, which I sincerely doubted. JA: Did your DC contract have a length, or a quota of pages per month? THOMAS: It was a three-year contract; it called for a certain number of pages each month, but I don’t recall exactly how many. My Marvel contract had called for 100 pages’ worth of writing a month, with some of that covered by editorial work I did. The DC contract guaranteed a similar amount of work; I don’t believe I lost much if any money in the switch, though I don’t believe I gained any, either. I ended up doing three books a month that were well over 20 pages apiece, plus some specials. JA: You wrote The Fortress of Solitude. THOMAS: That Solitude tabloid was one of the first things I did for DC. While I was still under contract to Marvel, I met with the triumvirate of Jenette, Paul, and Joe Orlando, who’d flown Dann and me to New York. Jenette made a grand gesture: when Dann and I checked into our room at a nice hotel, it was filled with balloons. We were both amused and touched. But considerably few grand gestures were made at the meeting, and I was left dealing with just Joe after the first few minutes. Before she and Paul left, Jenette said to me, “I know you’d like to do something with the Justice Society.” The modern-day “JSA” series had recently been cancelled, so I said I’d prefer to do a World War II mutation of it, and that

was quickly agreed to. DC also wanted me to create a swordand-sorcery book, since the main two Conan titles had sold so well under me at Marvel. I also said I’d love to do “Captain Marvel,” but they weren’t interested in starting another Shazam! book right away; the feature had recently been discontinued, and besides, they still didn’t own those characters outright. They also nixed my suggestion that day of a Dr. Fate comic. Meanwhile, DC had other writers—Bob Rozakis, Jim Starlin, Jack C. Harris—plot stories that I could dialogue as soon as I was free to legally do so. I didn’t ask them to do that; I didn’t even want them to do it. I didn’t like the idea that my first DC work would be stories on which I was only the second-listed of two writers, but if that’s what they wanted, I felt I shouldn’t object. Also, for the DC Comics Presents title Julie edited, I gave Gerry Conway my idea for a “Superman/Captain Marvel” story I really wanted to do, and Gerry fleshed it out and of course got plotting credit (and payment) for it [as issue #33]. They also had me writing a special or two the moment I legally could, most involving Superman. Carmine always reminds me that at one stage he’d wanted me to come over to DC and handle all the “Superman” material… but in 1980 I told Jenette, Paul, and Joe that I didn’t want to work on either “Superman” or “Batman” on a regular basis, because there were other writers doing those characters. After all, I’d even given up writing Fantastic Four when The

Centennial Interlude #1

The Wright Stuff— 1940s Version Pulsating Pin-Ups By Our Dazzlin’ Doctor Of Digitalization

Text by Roy Thomas

rtist Alex Wright’s first “1943 Calendar,” in which World War II movie actresses were digitally transformed into DC-owned super-heroines, got a strong reaction when it appeared in Alter Ego #55 a half decade ago. No less esteemed a personage than sf writer Harlan Ellison phoned to tell Ye Editor how much he loved the flip cover, on which Alex’s talents had transmuted Veronica Lake into DC’s heroine Liberty Belle (who, after all, had clearly been modeled on Ms. Lake’s socalled “peekaboo” hairstyle).

That was followed up in #64 by a second “1943 calendar,” this time utilizing Timely/Marvel ladies. Alex’s computerized canvases have appeared in a few other issues since then, as well as in volumes of our AllStar Companion series… but we haven’t found space for all the Wright Stuff we’ve hoped to showcase. And we’ve long regretted that, except for a couple of flip covers, we haven’t been able to display any of it in color. Thus, with both color and 160 pages to play around with in this centennial edition of A/E, we decided—no more excuses or delays! It was time to spotlight a second multi-image project of Alex’s.

Namely, a couple of years back, he began transforming some iconic painted pin-ups of the WWII era, by some of the medium’s most noted artists, so that he—and we—could see what might’ve transpired if there’d been real, red-blooded super-heroines during the 1940s for the likes of Alberto Vargas, George Petty, and others to paint as calendars and socalled “nose art” on the fuselages of U.S. bombers. On the ensuing pages, we’re pleased to present Alex’s (and some very fine artists’) cheesecake homages to eight of DC’s most pulchritudinous paladins... counting a couple of distaff do-gooders later acquired from once-rivals Fawcett and Quality. This time around, we’ve foregone the actual “calendar” part of the equation—but hey, if we hadn’t said anything, we doubt if most of our beady-eyed readers would’ve noticed. For comparison purposes, we’ve also reproduced smaller images of the original pin-up art on which the newies were based, since we want one and all to appreciate the talents of those practitioners of so-called “calendar art.” Starting with:

HAWKGIRL Hawkman’s partner Shiera Sanders, the co-creation of writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville (while Sheldon Moldoff first drew Shiera as Hawkgirl)—as she might’ve looked if painted by Gil Elvgren, described by Wikipedia as one of the most important of 20th-century pin-up artists. Elvgren did much of his work for the prominent firm of Brown & Bigelow of St. Paul, Minnesota, which provided much of the “calendar art” of the period. Interesting that the word “Feathers,” printed on the hatbox in the original art, resembles the word “Feithera,” the name of that Arctic birdland where Hawkman journeyed during the 1940s, and from which later came Northwind, a 1980s stalwart of Infinity, Inc. [Hawkgirl TM & ©2011 DC Comics; Elvgren art ©2011 the respective copyright holders.]

The Wright Stuff—1940s Version

WONDER WOMAN The most famous super-heroine ever, of course, is the one created by writer William Moulton Marston & artist H.G. Peter—as adapted by Alex Wright from art by the equally noteworthy George Petty, whose “Petty Girls” were celebrated in Esquire magazine and Fawcett’s True. It was “nose art” based on Petty’s work that graced one of World War II’s most celebrated bombers, the “Memphis Belle.” Since, in Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942), Princess Diana of Paradise Island took over the identity of an Army nurse named Diana Prince (what are the odds?), Alex chose to turn a wartime image of a Navy WAVE into both aspects of DC’s Amazing Amazon. [Wonder Woman & Diana Prince TM & ©2011 DC Comics; Petty art ©2011 the respective copyright holders.]

MARY MARVEL Probably the second most popular female super-star of the 1940s was the Big Red Cheese’s (not quite identical) twin sister, first drawn by A/E and FCA’s own Marc Swayze (and most likely scripted by a 1960s A/E “angel,” Otto Binder) in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942). Despite flying solo in both Wow Comics and her own title for several years, by the late 1940s she appeared only in the pages of The Marvel Family. Pearl Frush, who produced the art on which Alex based his homage, was one of the few females producing pin-up art during the war years—and she did it in what has been described as an “almost photo-realistic style.” [Mary Marvel TM & ©2011 DC Comics; Frush art ©2011 the respective copyright holders.]

Roy Thomas Talks About The 1980s At DC

Let’s See What’s On Cable… (Right:) Ye Editor prefers to bookend this interview with one of the great covers Jerry Ordway drew for comics they worked on together in the 1980s— reproduced from a photocopy sent by Jerry of the original art for that of AllStar Squadron #27 (Nov. 1983)—one of his best, if it’s possible to choose from between so many. [©2011 DC Comics.]

as the weekend’s over, I’m on the horn to DC asking about Gil’s and my royalties on this edition. After they look into it and realize that somehow the little matter of our royalties had slipped through the cracks for several years, DC sent us checks, and they were fairly substantial. Unfortunately, Gil had passed away by then, but they paid his widow Elaine. That reminded me of what my old New York buddy Phil Seuling used to say about the contrast between dealing with Marvel and DC. He said that, if he was owed money for something, he always got his dough from Marvel, but he might have to chase them down and keep reminding them about it. “But DC,” he said, “will track you down at midnight in a dark coal mine to give you a check for a dollar.” JA: As we wind this up, I wanted to ask—may I assume your favorite series to write at DC was All-Star Squadron? THOMAS: It was my favorite series to write of all time. It took me a while to realize that. I don’t know if I totally felt that way at the time, but as I look back now, I know it was. Writing Conan—both Barbarian and Savage Sword—was my favorite series at Marvel, followed by The Avengers, The Invaders, and a couple of others. All-Star Squadron and Conan and The Invaders are the three series I could’ve gone on writing endlessly, for the rest of my life. I figured out the other day that, if AllStar Squadron had continued as it was going, with no cancellation, no Young All-Stars, we’d be approaching issue #300, and I’m dead positive I’d have stayed on it. Hey, for all I know, the mag might even be up to the year 1943 by now! [mutual laughter] Of course, Conan is the Marvel series I doubt if I would ever have left… and if I’d gone back to The Invaders and scripted it all myself, I could still happily be doing that, as well. Maybe in some Earth-22 I got my shot at all those things. But first among them all would’ve been AllStar Squadron. That’s why I was so turned off, a few years ago, when DC’s chief editor suggested I write a Justice Society/Infinity, Inc. series to be drawn by Jerry Ordway, and then he tried to micromanage it… to get me to do their kind of story instead of the story I wanted to do, which of course defeated the whole point of their asking me to write it in the first place. In one sense, I walked away from that series, and I printed my proposal in Alter Ego #69… in another sense, I got a curt three-sentence kiss-off from that editor. After I wrote an e-mail to DC’s publisher about the matter, he phoned me and we had a very friendly conversation and he volunteered to look into the matter and get back to me, with an eye to our working out something. That was a couple of years ago. I’m still waiting. A fitting footnote, I suppose, to my nearly a decade at DC. Still, in spite of all, I must repeat as we end up, in the interests of balance, that I thoroughly enjoyed doing the actual work I did there, and most of the folks I worked with; I think we turned out some decent stories together. All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc. are still being strip-mined for Justice Society and other titles. That’s very nice, I suppose… but I guess what I’d really want is what Walter Matthau says in the movie version of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite: “I want to do it all again!” And maybe we’d all do it better this time. JA: [chuckles] I guess that’s a good way to end this. THOMAS: [laughs] Better than some ways. A Roy Thomas Checklist was published in Alter Ego #50. Of course, it’s a little out of date by now.

The Annotated Alter-Ego #1 A 1965 & 2011 Look Backward At The Origins Of Jerry Bails’ Epoch-Making 1961 Fanzine Original Article & 2011 Notes by Roy Thomas

Introduction t the risk of repeating myself—and since an impatient few among you may not read the deathless editorial on pp. 4-5:

Fifty years ago this very month—at the tail end of March 1961—Jerry G. Bails released into the U.S. mails the first, frail frigate of what would ere long become an amateur armada: the premier issue of Alter-Ego. It can be called the first true comic book fanzine… certainly the first such that had ever been devoted primarily to heroic-adventure comics. I was privileged to have been invited to be the sole other contributor to that historic little publication. Although by then both of us were well aware of Dick & Pat Lupoff ’s 1960-birthed, mimeographed science-fiction fanzine Xero and its groundbreaking comics-nostalgia series best known as “All in Color for a Dime,” Jerry was content to put out his own zine by means of a lesser technology. By #4, however, he would switch to photo-offset printing, a distinct improvement. In 1962 Jerry decided to turn Alter-Ego over to artist Ronn Foss and a couple of his associates, so he himself could concentrate on other projects, such as collecting data on comics creators, the beginnings of what ultimately became the Who’s Who of American Comic Books. In late 1962 and 1963 Ronn published issues #5 & 6, dropping the hyphen out of the title. In 1964, Ronn in turn decided to relinquish the zine’s reins to a third editor/publisher… our mutual fan-friend Bill (“Biljo”) White of Columbia, Missouri. I was slated to be Biljo’s editorial helpmeet, much as I’d been Jerry’s. However, before he really got started on what would’ve been his initial issue, Biljo decided he’d prefer simply supplying art rather than writing, editing, and overseeing the printing and mailing. Thus, at his invitation, and with a mixture of enthusiasm and reluctance, I took over Alter Ego as editor and publisher, commencing with #7, in the fall of ’64. By the time I produced A/E #8 early the next year, despite my duties as a high school teacher in the St. Louis area, and with Jerry’s blessing, I’d decided to put together a photo-offset reprint of the best material from the first three, spirit-duplicator-printed issues. For a special feature therein, I would write “The Alter Ego Story”—“telling how super-hero fandom’s first zine was created.” (I called it “super-hero fandom” in this instance to avoid claiming any chronological priority over Don & Maggie Thompson’s mimeographed Comic Art, a fanzine devoted to comic strips and comic books as a medium; CA #1 seems to have hit the

First Look (Above:) This “house ad” from Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #8 (Winter 1965), which came out early in that year, included the first mention of the “Alter Ego Story” which Roy intended to write for a publication to be called The Bestest from Alter Ego Nos. 1-3. Art & text by RT. [©2011 Roy Thomas.] (Left:) That art was a parody of the cover of Justice League of America #31 (Nov. 1964), the issue that had—finally!—inducted Hawkman into the group. Pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Murphy Anderson. [©2011 DC Comics.]

mails a week or so after A/E #1, but had been in the planning stages months longer. I don’t recall ever really thinking of our burgeoning movement as “super-hero fandom.” To me, it was “comic[s] fandom.”) Of course, the ideal person to have written this recent history would have been Jerry himself, but he showed no inclination to do so. However, to assist me in scribing my tale of the origins of the fanzine, he sent me copies he had saved of most of the correspondence we had exchanged since November 1960, when we’d first contacted each other. (I wasn’t prescient enough to have made carbon copies of my own letters, or for the most part to have saved Jerry’s to me.) I had written the piece just about to the point where we’d commenced work on the second issue before I realized that, because of my new procomics job offer in New York, The Bestest of Alter Ego Nos. 1-3 wasn’t gonna happen… at least not for a while. As it worked out, my manuscript sat on the shelf until 1997, when my new correspondent and friend Bill Schelly, author of the landmark 1995 book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, and I decided to assemble a compilation of the best material from A/E #1-11, which had been published between 1961 and 1978. Bill’s Hamster Press would be the publisher of record; he and I would co-edit, with the blessings of and some participation by Jerry Bails and Ronn Foss.

The Missourian Chronicles Brief Tributes to Alter Ego And—Ulp!—Its Ebullient Editor Compiled & Introduced by Jerry K. Boyd

Introduction

ow often does a fanzine make it to its 100th issue? Not often. Thus, congratulations are in order to Roy Thomas (who’s a native of Missouri, hence my splicing together above of his origins with Robert E. Howard’s Nemedian source for tales of his favorite Cimmerian) for gathering all that much-needed history for us and for readers and historians yet to come. And, since I’m talking history and special occasions, Alter Ego: Centennial presented a unique opportunity for me to ask a number of TwoMorrows contributors, prominent fans, and comics industry professionals to wax philosophical about A/E’s importance… or to write about their favorite Thomas-written stories or series over the years… or just to relate experiences they had working with “Rascally Roy.” It became a “surprise party” of sorts, and Roy was receptive to the idea when I first told him about this project—in the fall of ’09, when it was already twothirds completed! Humbly, after he read my initial draft, Roy requested that I add a few more folks who could talk (in his words) “more about Alter Ego and less about me,” and I complied.

Hitting A Triple (Clockwise from directly above:) A/E founder Jerry G. Bails’ cover for A/E [Vol. 1] #3, a montage of work by various Golden Age “Green Lantern” artists, which has faded a bit since it rolled off his spirit duplicator (in color) in 1961— Roy Thomas with Jerry Bails, at their last meeting (in Detroit, 2002) before Jerry’s Nov. 26, 2006 passing; photo by Dann Thomas— And the flyer that was handed out at 1999 comics conventions to advertise A/E, Vol. 3, #1. A personal note from Roy re “The Missourian Chronicles”: “I feel I should state up front that I’d hoped this piece would deal only with Alter Ego, not with my comics career. Still, Jerry K. Boyd had already basically put it together by the time I first saw it, so there was little I could do but accept his heartfelt fait accompli and say… thanks, Jerry.” Photo by Dann Thomas. [Green Lanterns, Streak, Solomon Grundy, Harlequin, Vandal Savage, Gambler, Flashes, Atom, Jade, Fury, Batman, & Hawkman TM & ©2011 DC Comics; Spider-Man, Thing, & Silver Surfer TM & ©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2011 Jerry Ordway.]

So let’s take a few pages to celebrate the 100th issue of A/E, Vol. 3—plus the 50th anniversary of Jerry Bails and Roy’s AlterEgo [Vol. 1] #1 in March 1961—as well as writer/editor Roy! Many responses were sent via e-mail; others were made via phone calls, and I’d like to thank several of the participants for including unpublished or rarely seen art to go along with their commentaries….

RICHARD LUPOFF writer; editor of 1960s fanzine Xero Alter Ego #100?! That’s hard to believe. Fifty years?! You’ve gotta be kidding! It was only a couple of weeks ago, wasn’t it? Pat and I had barely got our fanzine Xero off the ground, Don and Maggie Thompson were busy starting up Comic Art, and Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails were putting together the inaugural issue of Alter Ego.

The Missourian Chronicles

From Xero To 50 Dick & Pat Lupoff (she’s on right, standing), co-publishers/editors of Xero, took time in 1966 to help friends Maggie Thompson (seen at left) and her husband Don—who probably took the snapshot—assemble copies of their equally legendary mimeographed fanzine Comic Art. Photo supplied by Maggie.

Fifty years? One hundred issues? Alter Ego is just getting started. I expect it to last another fifty years and another hundred issues at least— with Roy Thomas still at the helm!

RICH BUCKLER – artist/creator

Historians can argue to their hearts’ content over who was the initiator of comics fandom. And in fact there had been articles about the comics— Buck Rogers, Brick Bradford, Flash Gordon, Superman, Alley Oop—in the fan press ever since the 1930s. And there was the EC Fan-Addicts Club in the ’50s. Hey, I was a faithful member. But this was a new generation, in truth a new fandom. Xero was actually first off the press (or more accurately, out of the mimeo tray), but Xero was always a hybrid comics/science fiction fanzine. Comic Art took in the whole field of cartooning, emphatically including newspaper strips. And Alter Ego was the first to cast its lot with super-hero comic books. Or at least, that’s the way I recall it.

What can I say about Roy Thomas? Let’s see… I’ve known Roy and his work since the early fanzine days of the ’60s. I have gone on record many times stating that he is my favorite comic book writer. Well, he was probably my favorite editor at Marvel Comics, too. If not for Roy, no Rich Buckler on Fantastic Four or the Jungle Action “Black Panther” series— and no Deathlok. It was remarkably easy and rewarding to work with him a decade or so ago when he and I collaborated on two independent comics, The Forever Warriors and The Invincibles. Unfortunate that only one issue of each saw print. Maybe an opportunity will open up again for Roy and me to launch “Death Machine,” a character we co-created around that same time.

Late 1960—early ’61. Why then? Why hadn’t any of those earlier fumblings toward a real comics fandom ever taken root and flourished? And why did comics fandom soar once those three fanzines made their appearance? I’ll leave it to some social science major looking for a thesis topic to figure that one out. To borrow a phrase I’ve come across in another context, maybe it was just “comic book time.” Who would have imagined a comics fan world with hundreds of thousands of members, collectibles selling for a million dollars or more (“…and all in color for a dime”), super-hero movies among the biggest blockbusters coming out of Hollywood—a graphic novel winning the Pulitzer Prize—reprints of Golden Age comics lovingly produced on fine paper and bound in expensive cloth, and ancient Sunday pages in full size and color, comic book stores prospering in every city worthy of the name? We pioneers—I guess you’d have to call us that—didn’t set out to change the world. At least, Pat and I didn’t. We were just a couple of youngsters having fun. But it seems as if we did exactly that—at least, to a sizable piece of the world. Of course we’ve moved in different directions since 1960. Don Thompson and Jerry Bails, sadly, are both deceased. Maggie Thompson is a leading light in professional journalism, still covering the field of comics and cartoons. Pat Lupoff is a longtime professional bookseller, and Dick Lupoff has worked in various areas of cultural history when not writing novels and short stories of his own. But Roy Thomas is still at it, tending the home fires, defending the faith.

That’s Rich! Rich Buckler was seen on p. 21, so at left is a drawing of the super-hero Aegis, from The Invincibles one-shot comic he and Roy T. did a few years ago. The lads are determined it won’t be their last co-venture; in fact, they’re currently developing (believe it or not) a brand new World War II super-hero group, echoing the early days of All-Star Squadron. All they need is a publisher! [Aegis TM & ©2011 Rich Buckler & Roy Thomas.] On view above is Rich’s original sketch for the cover of A/E, Vol. 3, #7 (2000). We figured you might enjoy seeing a few behind-the-scenes moments from the past 100 issues of this incarnation of A/E, spread throughout this article and issue. [JSA & JLA TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

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“A Lot Of These Guys Have Great Stories To Tell!” JIM AMASH Talks About His Pro Career—And About Being Alter Ego’s Star Interviewer Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Bruce MacIntosh

A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: For roughly 90% of the life of this volume of Alter Ego, Jim Amash has been a virtually every-issue contributor—and, for nearly as long, one of its two associate editors. In the course of human events, he’s conducted in-depth interviews with everybody from Lee Ames to Les Zakarin. So Ye Editor decided that it was high time Jim himself was interviewed in these pages. A while ago, Bruce MacIntosh sent in a long talk with Jim that had appeared in the pages of CFA-APA, the apa-zine of a group of avid comic art collectors. (“Apa” stands for “amateur press alliance,” a term from science-fiction fandom which refers to a group of fans who print and mail their own smallish fanzines to a sort of “central mailer”—Jerry Bails’ term—who assembles them all into one big package or fanzine and sends them out to members only. And that’s all ye know or need to know about that.) The interview was, alas, far too long to be printed in its entirety, but we’ve excerpted major parts concerning Jim’s life and training, his interest in comics and their history, the comics conventions he helped put on, his pro artwork, and—because this is, after all, the 100th issue

Sit-In (Above:) Jim & Heidi Amash with artist Joe Sinnott in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, 2009, taken by Joe’s daughter Kathy Kiriny. (Left:) A caricature (or perhaps an almost photographic likeness) of genial Jim drawn by Joe. Jim has filled in for Joe from time to time on the long-running Spider-Man newspaper strip, whose Sunday page Joe regularly inks. [Art ©2011 Joe Sinnott.]

of this volume of A/E—his relationship to this magazine and to the professionals whose lives and careers he has so ably chronicled for the past decade. It will surprise no one who’s followed A/E for any reasonable part of the past decade that they’ll find numerous insights about Golden and Silver Age comics talents in the pages that follow— and see the end of the interview for information as to how to access the entire conversation. You won’t be sorry. —Roy.]

Catching The Comic Book Bug BRUCE D. MacINTOSH: Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me about your background, where you were born… JIM AMASH: I was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania… the home of the railroads. There were a lot of railroads there. You know the old saying, “across the tracks”? That’s exactly where we lived. The house we lived in was probably built in 1886. I sometimes think one of the reasons I like history is because I kind of grew up in it. I’ve always loved history. I can still remember what the cover of my first grade history book looked like. And in that book, there were some paintings, some engravings, and etchings of historic events and personalities like Daniel Boone. Stuff like that. That really got me interested in drawing. The thing that really got me interested in drawing, though, was George Reeves. As a little kid, I’d watch him on a black-&-white set, flying

“A Lot Of These Guys Have Great Stories To Tell”

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through the air, bursting through walls, getting hugs from Lois Lane. I was thinking, “Hey, that could be a good job!” I even had a red cape! Except my mother used it to clean up dirty dishes. That’s when you know you’re Clark Kent: when your mother uses your cape for a towel. And there was Adam West, when Batman came on the TV in 1966. I wouldn’t have missed that show for anything in the world! Then my nextdoor neighbor, Billy Fink, God bless him, gave me my first comic books. Everything kind of happened at that time: George Reeves, Adam West, the history book with the great drawings… and then I started drawing. BDM: What was your first comic book, do you remember? AMASH: I was given several, so I can’t really remember the first one. I know I was given the Detective Comics issue with the Joker house, which is one of Carmine Infantino’s favorite covers, and one of mine, too. Another one of those books I was given was an Action Comics with a Curt Swan cover and a Spider-Man by Steve Ditko. I can remember that the first comic book that I bought with my own money was a Steve Ditko Spider-Man. I had 15¢. That was 12¢ plus one cent for tax, which left me 2¢ for candy. [laughter] You know, you could actually buy penny candy back in those days. What I really wanted to buy was this Nick Cardy Aquaman, the cover with the giant Aquaman. I went back to get it when I got the money. That would have been my first comic book. But in the meantime, they changed the comic books that day, and it wasn’t there anymore. I remember being disappointed, so I bought Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man. So it wasn’t a total loss. Then, after that, it was the Fantastic Four. My jaw dropped the first time I saw Jack Kirby’s work. I became a Kirby fan for the rest of my life. BDM: So, you grew up favoring Marvel? AMASH: I think it was 50/50. My favorite comic book company was wherever Jack Kirby was. I think that’s fair to say, because he was my favorite comics artist. I had other favorites, of course: John Romita, Nick Cardy, Carmine infantino…. But no, I don’t know that I was really a “company” person. I wouldn’t say that. In the 1970s, Marvel published several Western reprint comics, which I loved, because you got Kirby, you got Dick Ayers, you got John Severin, you got Doug Wildey, and Joe Maneely. But DC, in their letter pages, gave you more background about their reprints. Most of the reprints were handled by E. Nelson Bridwell, who deeply cared about history. So I was able to learn more about history in the DC reprints than in the Marvel reprints. Once I realized that these characters had a past that stretched back many years, it became a primary interest of mine. BDM: You were a comics historian already.

Up, Up, And Away! Jim reports that his early interest in drawing was spurred by seeing George Reeves as Superman on TV. This stylized drawing of the Man of Steel, however—done for A/E transcriber Brian K. Morris—is a considerably more recent vintage, and is influenced by his love of the old Fleischer/Paramount Superman cartoons of the early 1940s. [Superman TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

AMASH: Not at that age! Well, maybe I was. But so was anybody who wanted to know “Who was that Lou Fine guy?” when they reprinted the “Black Condor” and “Ray” stories in a Superman 80-Page Giant. And there was that DC Special with Jack Cole “Plastic Man” reprints, which I read over and over. And the Shazam! comic, which I hate to call that. DC had to call it Shazam! for legal reasons, but to me it was Captain Marvel. I loved C.C. Beck’s drawing, but the new stories... frankly, the writing stunk. But the backup reprints of the old stuff—I read those before the new story, because they were better-written. Years later, I got to be a friend of C.C. Beck’s, and told him what I just told you. Beck laughed and said, “Well, you’ve got good taste.” [laughter] He hated those stories, too. And for a while, you got 52 pages for a quarter when you bought a DC comic. In the Jack Kirby books, there was “The Newsboy Legion,” “The Boy Commandos.” How could you not get hooked? Somewhere along the way, I discovered that Alex Toth drew comic books. I recognized his name from the Fantastic Four cartoon, which I loved as a kid. It was a lot of rotten animation, but it wasn’t Alex’s fault: he just did the storyboards. One day, I saw Alex’s work in whatever book it was—probably a war book—and then I was a Toth fan forever. I remember seeing the ads for Steranko’s History of Comics, but I knew that I could never afford those books. I didn’t see Steranko’s History until about 1975, when our library finally got them. I would check them out, and on renewal day I’d take them back and check them out again! The library also had the Les Daniels book [The Comix: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art, 1971] and the Seduction of the Innocent book... one of the editions with the addresses of the publishers, which was razored out of most copies. It was very valuable. Sometime in the early ’80s, I went back to see if that book was still there. I guess somebody had either thrown it out or somebody swiped it. I hope someone did steal it. That would be poetic justice, for someone to steal Wertham’s book! [laughter] He could have restarted his crusade over that! That library had record albums: the Little Orphan Annie radio shows, Superman, Dick Tracy, and The Shadow. That’s when I learned about old-time radio, and that these characters were in it! From that, I developed a love for old-time radio. I have over 20,000 shows on tape and CD. Maybe that’s why in my interviews I sometimes seem to be a little older than I really am, because I’m so interested in all the stuff that came before me.

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When he learned Swayze was being interviewed, former chief [Captain Marvel] artist C.C. Beck commented, “Swayze is a remarkable person, a fine Southern Gentleman, a great, great, artist, and a beautiful guitarist, pianist and violinist. In addition, he has a beautiful wife and family, a fine Southern mansion, and a marvelous sense of humor. He’s an outrageous punster. Last time I saw him he was working as a gypsy fiddler in a tea room and loving every minute.” By [Art & logo ©2011 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2011 DC Comics]

[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). This time around, we reprint, for the first time in the pages of Alter Ego, Marc’s interview from FCA #11 (Nov. 1978), conducted by Matt Lage and FCA founder Bernie McCarty … and including additions to the initial interview which were later published in Bill Harper’s FCA & ME, Too! #5 (FCA #41), Spring 1988. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

Former Fawcett editor Rod Reed, in an interview [FCA #5, Oct. ’74], gave Swayze just recognition for creating the pictorial concept of Mary Marvel. Reed noted, “Although Jack Binder is acclaimed for his work on Mary Marvel, Marc Swayze did the first portraits. I have before me the number one issue of her very own magazine, and her garb is amazingly mod with short skirt and boots to the knees. Swayze, of course, wanted to do the whole Mary series himself and it was my distasteful job to convince him that he couldn’t be spared from the Captain Marvel team.” FCA: When did you decide to study art? SWAYZE: When I got my degree [from Louisiana Tech] I went back to work at my uncle’s dairy farm delivering milk. I got an offer for a job through one of the faculty members, whose cousin, Russell Keaton, was doing Flyin’ Jenny. It was an important contact … and I look at it as a valuable apprenticeship that I was fortunate to get, as Russell was a firstrate comic strip artist and gentleman as well. I had left home to work with Russell and when I decided to move on up to something else I sent applications and got a reply for an interview with Fawcett as well as some others.

arcus D. Swayze is one of those special, multi-talented guys who make a lasting impression on everyone they meet. Artist, writer, musician, athlete … above all, Marc is charming and gracious, possessing that rare ability to make instant friends. This interview is primarily concerned with Swayze’s career as artist-writer for Fawcett [Publications]… and will attempt to illustrate the fact that he was one of the top people connected with the Golden Age of comic books. But it would be unfair to the man if discussion here were limited only to Marc’s association with Fawcett. He was also a newspaper comic strip artist and writer… and a professional jazz musician.

Shazam-Twofold When Fawcett Publications hired Marcus D. Swayze in 1940, it was to exclusively work on Captain Marvel. He later created the first drawings for Mary Marvel and drew her earliest adventures. Otherwise, it was just he and the World’s Mightiest Mortal until the artist left in 1942 to serve in World War II. And while in the military he wrote CM stories on a consistent basis. Seen here are Marc’s covers for Whiz Comics #36 ( Oct. ’42) and for Wow Comics #10 (Feb. ’43). [Shazam! heroes TM & ©2011 DC Comics.]

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

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FCA: Steranko’s History of Comics credits you with working on a variety of Fawcett features. Which specific feature did you do the greatest amount of work on? SWAYZE: It would probably be a toss-up between Captain Marvel and Phantom Eagle. I was hired in 1940 specifically to work on Captain Marvel. Except for the time it took to do the original drawings for the Mary Marvel character and drawing the first one or two stories for that feature, plus an occasional illustration for the non-comics magazines, Captain Marvel was all I did until I left for the armed forces in 1942. In the service I wrote stories for Captain Marvel on a fairly consistent basis. I took over Phantom Eagle shortly after my discharge in 1944, doing all the art and some of the writing until the feature was discontinued in Wow Comics [#69, Aug. 1948]. FCA: On a scale of Captain Marvel’s artists—with C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza heading the list—where do you believe you rate? And did you work on any other hero characters besides CM and Phantom Eagle? SWAYZE: Considering Beck the #1 Captain Marvel artist, I considered myself number two, probably because they told me I was. While on the Fawcett staff, from 1940 to 1942, nobody produced more Captain Marvel art than I did. And as I look back over the books that were published at the time, I am convinced that I contributed more Captain Marvel scripts than any other artist— and more than some of the writers. I returned to New York after my discharge from the Army. I did not join Beck’s shop or the Fawcett staff because I was determined to continue my career from my hometown of Monroe, Louisiana.

Flyin’ South Before leaving New York City and heading back home to Louisiana with the Phantom Eagle assignment from Fawcett, Swayze also signed a contract with the Bell Syndicate to draw the Sunday page of the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip. Marc had assisted on FJ with its creator Russell Keaton prior to coming to Fawcett. When Swayze took over the FJ Sunday, Keaton had moved on to work for the Air Force, but passed away soon thereafter. As a favor to Keaton’s widow, Swayze took over the daily strip, as well. A Glenn Chaffin-written, Marc Swayze-drawn FJ Sunday page from 6-17-45, courtesy of Ger Apeldoorn. [©2011 The Bell Syndicate or its successors in interest.]

In a few months I had accomplished that by an arrangement with Ralph Daigh, Fawcett editorial director, and with Will Lieberson’s approval, to produce Phantom Eagle, and a contract with the Bell Syndicate to draw the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip Sunday page. (Before leaving New York, I went by Bell … to tell some of the folks I knew I was leaving. They asked me to take over the Sunday pages of Flyin’ Jenny, as Russell was going to do some work for the Air Force … shortly after, Keaton got sick and died and, as a favor to his widow, I took over the daily strip.) During the several months these negotiations were being made, I drew one [story] of Ibis, Mr. Scarlet and Pinky, and maybe one or two others. FCA: Your working freelance “long distance” was rather unusual back then, wasn’t it? SWAYZE: I guess I was one of the first people that worked that way. When I suggested it to Fawcett, I was proud of their response. Ralph Daigh said, “We have never operated like this.” Before, they had always insisted that freelance people be in the New York area, almost as if they were on staff. I told them I had decided to go back South—even if I had to work as a truck driver for a living. Ralph said, “Hold on, I’ll talk it over with the staff.” So Ralph came back and told me that [art director] Al Allard said, “Marcus is one of the few artists who have a respect for deadlines.” So I was told to go to Will Lieberson and get an assignment.

FCA: Do you recall specific art/stories/covers that you did at Fawcett prior to taking over Phantom Eagle? SWAYZE: I have a few books from that era, and from them I have drawn the following list of work I did. It’s not a complete list by any means. Beck retouched all Captain Marvels whether they needed it or not, which was as it should have been for consistency of character. Cover art: Whiz Comics #36-39; Captain Marvel Adventures #12, 15, 19; Wow Comics #9, 10. Complete story art (layout, pencil, inks): “Capt. Marvel and Klang the Killer (CMA #15); origin of Mary Marvel (CMA #18); “The Training of Mary Marvel” (CMA #19); “Capt. Marvel and the Baron of Barracuda Bay” (CMA #30); “Capt. Marvel Gets the Heir” (CMA #40); “Ibis Makes a Pact with the Devil” (Whiz #59); “Mr. Scarlet and Pinky Wrestle with the Spectre of Death in the House of Beauty” (Wow #29). Writing: “Capt. Marvel and the Mad Hermit (CMA #25); “Capt. Marvel and His Country Cousin” (CMA #26); “Capt. Marvel and the Pledge of the Gremlins” (CMA #27); “Capt. Marvel and the Baron of Barracuda Bay” (CMA #30). There were quite a number of Fawcett romances [Sweethearts, Romantic Secrets, Life Story, etc.] containing two stories by me—art, that is. In digging out these old books, I noticed that in Life Story #21 (Dec.