Alter Ego #125

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June 2014

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“Batman’s Partners!” MIKE W. BARR and ALAN DAVIS on their Detective Comics, Batman and the Outsiders, Nightwing flies solo, Man-Bat history, Commissioner Gordon, the last days of World’s Finest, Bat-Mite, the Batmobile, plus Dark Knight’s girl Robin! Featuring work by APARO, BUSIEK, DITKO, KRAFT, MILGROM, MILLER, PÉREZ, WOLFMAN, and more, with a cover by ALAN DAVIS and MARK FARMER.

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“Let’s Get Small!” Marvel’s Micronauts, The Atom in the Bronze Age, JAN STRNAD and GIL KANE’s Sword of the Atom, the rocky relationship of Ant-Man the Wasp, Gold Key’s Microbots, Super Jrs., DC Digests, and Marvel Value Stamps. Featuring the work of PAT BRODERICK, JACKSON GUICE, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, BILL MANTLO, AL MILGROM, ALEX SAVIUK, ROGER STERN, LEN WEIN, & more. Cover by PAT BRODERICK!

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by Jared Burks, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by Christopher Deck, BrickNerd Pop Art by Tommy Williamson, and more!

DENIS KITCHEN close-up—from cartoonist, publisher, author, and art agent, to his friendships with HARVEY KURTZMAN, R. CRUMB, WILL EISNER, and many others!

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BERNIE WRIGHTSON interview on Swamp Thing, Warren, The Studio, Frankenstein, Stephen King, and designs for movies like Heavy Metal and Ghostbusters, and a gallery of Wrightson artwork! Plus writer/editor BRUCE JONES; 20th anniversary of Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror with BILL MORRISON; and interview Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre's BATTON LASH, and more!

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ALTER EGO #126

ALTER EGO #127

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ALTER EGO #129

KIRBY COLLECTOR #63

Second big issue on 3-D COMICS OF THE 1950s! KEN QUATTRO looks at the controversy involving JOE KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, BILL GAINES, and AL FELDSTEIN! Plus more fabulous Captain 3-D by SIMON & KIRBY and MORT MESKIN— 3-D thrills from BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, JAY DISBROW and others— the career of Treasure Chest artist VEE QUINTAL, FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

1940s WILL EISNER/”BUSY” ARNOLD letters between the creator of The Spirit and his Quality Comics partner, art and artifacts by FINE, CRANDALL, CUIDERA, CARDY, KOTZKY, BLUM, NORDLING, and others! Plus Golden Age MLJ artist JOHN BULTHIUS, more of AMY KISTE NYBERG’s History of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLY, cover by DANIEL JAMES COX and JASON PAULOS!

CAROL L. TILLEY on Dr. Fredric Wertham’s falsification of his research in the 1950s, featuring art by EVERETT, SHUSTER, PETER, BECK, COSTANZA, WEBB, FELDSTEIN, WILLIAMSON, WOOD, BIRO, and BOB KANE! Plus AMY KISTE NYBERG on the evolution of the Comics Code, FCA, Mr. Monster, BILL SCHELLEY, and a new cover by JASON PAULOS and DANIEL JAMES COX!

Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure heroes in comics! With art by FOSTER, HOGARTH, FRAZETTA, MANNING, KANE, KUBERT, MORROW, GRELL, THORNE, WEISS, ANDERSON, KALUTA, AMENDOLA, BUSCEMA, MARSH, and YEATES—with analysis by foremost ERB experts! Plus, the 1970s ERB comics company that nearly was, FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Cover by TOM GRINDBERG!

MARVEL UNIVERSE! Featuring MARK ALEXANDER’s pivotal Lee/Kirby essay “A Universe A’Borning,” KIRBY interview, MARK EVANIER and our other regular columnists, a look at key late-1970s events in Kirby’s life and career, STAN LEE script pages, unseen Kirby pencils and unused art from THOR, NICK FURY, HULK and FANTASTIC FOUR, plus galleries of ETERNALS, BLACK PANTHER, and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 125 / June 2014 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck

If you’re viewing a Digital Edition of this publication,

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

PLEASE READ THIS:

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

Rob Smentek William J. Dowlding

Cover Artists

Harris Levey, aka Lee Harris (restored and recolored

by Tom Ziuko)

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With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Dave Asselin Bob Bailey Robert R. Barrett Allen Bellman William Biggins Jerry K. Boyd Christopher W. Boyko Bernie Bubnis Joe Cicala Shaun Clancy Brian Cremins Craig Delich Leonard De Sa Danny Fingeroth Shane Foley Janet Gilbert Jennifer T. Go Al Gordon Michele Hart Ben Herman Dr. M. Thomas Inge William B. Jones, Jr. Jim Kealy Jonathan Levey Mark Lewis Jim Ludwig Glenn MacKay Doug Martin Will Meugniot

Steven Mitchell Brian K. Morris Frank Motler Amy Kiste Nyberg Steve Perrin Rich Pileggi Jay Piscopo Sandy Plunkett Warren Reece Dale Roberts Tony Rose Allen Ross Cory Sedlmeier Vijah Shah Bill Spicer Jeff Taylor Dann Thomas Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Eddy Zeno

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Al Plastino & Larry Ivie

Contents Writer/Editorial: The Unusual Suspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The (Air) Wave Of The Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Lee Harris (nee Harris Levey) as revealed to Richard Arndt by son Jonathan Levey.

Seal Of Approval:The HistoryOf The Comics Code:Chapter 2. . 25 Strategies of would-be comic book censors, 1948-54, from the book by Amy Kiste Nyberg.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Inkspots! Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert on his Kurtzman-inspired 1970s strip—clever stuff!

Comic Fandom Archive: “I Was There. I Remember.” . . . . . 62 Part 2 of Bill Schelly’s interview with noted 1960s fan/writer Steve Perrin.

Tributes To Al Plastino & Larry Ivie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 re: [correspondence, comments, and corrections] . . . . . . . 70 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #184 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Otto Binder, Brian Cremins, & Mr. Tawny—in that order!

On Our Cover: Harris Levey, who drew comics for several years under the name Lee Harris, was the original artist who brought the imaginative super-hero Air Wave (not to mention his aphorismspouting parrot Static) to life in the pages of National/DC’s Detective Comics, in the long shadow cast by Batman and Robin. He may also have been the first cartoonist ever to draw his own caricature in a comic book (see p. 5). A later self-portrait of Levey/Harris, from Detective #70 (Dec. 1942), adorns the cover of this issue of Alter Ego, along with images from several other “Air Wave” splash pages, with thanks to Doug Martin & Dale Roberts—and to layout man Christopher Day, who put them all together. The 1940s scripters and colorists, alas, are unidentified. [© DC Comics.]

Above: The “Air Wave” splash page by Lee Harris/Harris Levey for Detective Comics #129 (Nov. 1947) is reproduced from a tearsheet kept by the artist and scanned for us by his son Jonathan Levey. We could have sent out a call for a copy in better shape—but we liked the idea of using a page torn from an old comic book by the guy who drew it. Scripter unknown. [© DC Comics.]

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.

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writer/editorial

2

A

The Unusual Suspects

s editor of Alter Ego, I often feel like someone who’s won an Oscar or an Emmy or something and is suddenly overwhelmed trying to remember the names of everyone he should thank—besides his ever-indulgent spouse, of course.

Take, for instance, this issue of A/E….

It goes without saying (well, not really) that I’m proud of Richard Arndt’s interview with Jonathan Levey, son of the Golden Age artist best known as “Lee Harris”—and I put in several days’ more work than usual working on this month’s chapter of Amy Kiste Nyberg’s book Seal of Approval, though I think it was well worth it. Along the way, I laughed out loud at a couple of Michael T. Gilbert’s Inkspots! strips, and greatly enjoyed the FCA’s look at two of my favorite Fawcett characters, Mr. Tawny and Otto O. Binder. But it was this issue’s art spots that really made me stop and think about the way this mag is produced.

Alter Ego is the result, each and every issue, of a lot more than whatever Roy Thomas feels like pulling together in a given time period—more, even, than the sum of the other editorial hands such as contributing editors Bill Schelly, Jim Amash, Michael T. Gilbert, P.C. Hamerlinck, and co-publisher John Morrow. Each of these provided images this time, as they usually do. In addition, there’s a veritable army of contributors who all but deserve a place on our masthead—which is one reason I list them in the “Special Thanks” columns on the contents page each issue.

This time, for instance, while Jonathan Levey enthusiastically provided the majority of the scans for the piece on his father, we also needed hi-res scans of several “Air Wave” splashes for our cover, which were provided by Doug Martin and Dale Roberts— while Jim Kealy, Jim Ludwig, and Shaun Clancy also sent crucial pieces. The Seal of Approval chapter leans heavily on covers available in the invaluable Grand Comics Database, but also on

scans provided by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., Jim Kealy, Michael T. Gilbert, Jim Amash, Tony Rose, Jim Ludwig, Glenn MacKay, and Bob Bailey. Several of these really went above and beyond to help us find color versions of Wertham’s illustrated section in Seduction of the Innocent, since Doc and his publishers didn’t bother (or didn’t dare) to identify the sources of anything on those 16 pages.

Then there are the “usual suspects”—who have been unusually kind to A/E—who may not have been called on to provide art this time, but who are there for us whenever needed: the “Yancy Street Gang” (Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, Barry Pearl, and Nick Caputo); Dewey Cassell, Rod Beck, Chet Cox, Joey Eacobacci, Sean Howe, Mark Muller, Dave Reeder, Mitchell Senft, David Siegel, Michael Dunne, Ray Cuthbert, Aaron Sultan, Dominic Bongo, Craig Delich, Michael Feldman, Bruce Mason, Gene Reed, Mark Lewis, Jay Piscopo, Tony Rose, John Benson, Bernie Bubnis, Brian Cremins, John G. Pierce, Cory Sedlmeier, Harry Mendryk, Stephan Friedt, Warren Reece, Eric Schumacher, Gregg Whitmore, Ethan Roberts, Aaron Caplan, Jerry K. Boyd, Steven Rowe, Frank Motler, Douglas (“Gaff”) Jones, Eddy and Michael Zeno, Henry Kujawa, Ken Quattro, Greg Theakston, Randy Sargent, Larry Guidry, Tom Zuiko, Shane Foley in Australia, Ger Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, Dominique Leonard in Belgium, Pedro Angosto in Spain… the list could go on and on. And hopefully it will, each issue on our contents page.

To all the above—to our peerless proofreaders Rob Smentek and William Dowlding—to layout guru Chris Day—and to the dozens of others who’ve helped Alter Ego with art scans and photocopies and CDs and whom I’ll soon be kicking myself for neglecting to mention here—as well as to the writers and interviewers and fact-checkers and information-providers who are a crucial part of the mix—you have my sincere thanks. And, more importantly, the thanks of everyone now reading this issue. Let’s not break up a winning team!

Bestest,

# COMING IN JUNE 126 MORE 3-D COMICS OF THE 1950s!

Calling All 3-D Fans: 3-D goggles won’t be included with copies of A/E #126—but if you’ve misplaced yours since #115, you can get a pair by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope RIGHT NOW to: TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 te of Joe Kubert Tor is a trademark of the Esta Art © Estate of Joe Kubert;

• Vintage 3-D Tor cover by the late great JOE KUBERT! • 3-D Comics in the 1950s! The craze—the controversy— the cockeyed lawsuit—all put under a microscope by KEN QUATTRO! Featuring the work (& sometimes words) of KUBERT, MAURER, FELDSTEIN, & GAINES—plus more 3-Dimensional thrills from SIMON & KIRBY • MESKIN • POWELL • NOSTRAND • WOOD • KURTZMAN • KRIGSTEIN • EVANS • HEATH • DAVIS • ELDER • ORLANDO • CRAIG • BARRY • COLAN, et al.!

• Catholic Publications action artist VEE QUINTAL, remembered by her daughter!

• The U.S. Senate Investigates Comic Books—1954! Continuing Seal of Approval by AMY KISTE NYBERG! • Plus FCA—MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Inkspots! – Part 2—BILL SCHELLY with a STEVE PERRIN finale—& MORE!!!

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3

The (Air) Wave Of The Future!

JONATHAN LEVEY Remembers His Father HARRIS LEVEY, AKA Golden Age Artist LEE HARRIS Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

I

NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Golden Age artist Harris Levey (1921-1984) assumed the name “Lee Harris” when he began his career in the Eisner & Iger comics shop circa 1938-39. In 1940, through that studio, he worked for publisher Victor Fox at Fox Comics, doing spot illustrations and drawing “Super Sleuth” and “The Flame.” Later that year, he moved to MLJ Comics (later to become Archie Comics), where he drew “The Green Falcon.” From there he moved to DC Comics, where in 1941 he co-created, with editor Mort Weisinger, the super-hero feature “Air Wave,” drew that character’s adventures till 1943 along with at least one adventure of “Lando, Man of Magic,” and may have provided inking on both “Batman” and “The StarSpangled Kid.” After military service during World War II, Levey/Harris returned to DC and “Air Wave” from 1946-1948, following which he ended his comics career. This interview was conducted on Feb. 4 & 19, 2012, with his son Jonathan Levey.

“A Lot of Early Comics Professionals…

Graduated From DeWitt Clinton” RICHARD ARNDT: Jonathan, can you tell us a little about your father’s background?

JONATHAN LEVEY: My dad’s father was Joseph Levey. Joseph worked in the garment industry in Manhattan, primarily for a hat manufacturer. Dad’s mom was Nan Rifkin. He had a sister, Dorothy, who was a few years his senior. I never knew his mom or dad. Dad married my mom, Elinor Seidl, in 1955 and they had two sons, myself in 1956 and Theodore in 1960.

Dad was born August 13, 1921, and grew up in the Bronx. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School there. DeWitt Clinton turned out some students that would later be very famous. Leonard Stern, who was a TV producer, and many other famous people, but probably the biggest in the comics world was Stan Lee. He and Dad were a year apart, from what I understand. Dad was the older

A Family Takes To The “Air Waves” Golden Age comics artist Lee Harris (real name for most of his life = Harris Levey) in a photo self-portrait taken in 1945 at age 24 (top left)—and his son, Jonathan Levey, seen with his family (wife Monique and son Samuel), from their 2013 Christmas card—flanking the former’s “Air Wave” splash page done for Detective Comics #68 (Oct. 1942). Thanks to Jonathan Levey and Doug Martin, respectively. [Page © DC Comics.]

of the two. Both of them worked on the school newspaper, as far as I know. The newspaper was called The Clinton News, but there was also some kind of school literary publication called The Magpie. My dad did illustrations for both magazines. After graduation, Dad went to live in, I think, Lake George to do sketching, caricatures as a summer job.

Dad was very close with his mom, and she died when he was in his teens. During her illness, when she was in the hospital, he went to live with his aunt and uncle in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. I

4

Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

Family Values (Clockwise from above left, all courtesy of Jonathan Levey:) Harris Levey’s parents (Joseph and Nan) at the beach, a photo likely taken in the early 1930s.

Harris (at about age 6) and his sister Dorothy (age 8) with their mother, circa 1927.

Harris’ wife, Elinor Levey, in an oil painting by her husband, done circa 1984.

A self-portrait of Harris Levey/ “Lee Harris,” done at about the same time. Son Jonathan says of it: “Painted during the last year of his life, he looks (to me) so much sadder than usual.”

Oil painting of Jonathan Levey, done by his father in 1979.

[All art in this grouping © Estate of Harris Levey.]

Mr. & Mrs. Harris Levey (Right:) They were married in 1955, after Lee Harris had changed his name back to his birth-name. Photo taken in August 1983. Thanks to Jonathan Levey.

The (Air) Wave Of The Future

5

remember going on a tour with my dad to see his old childhood haunts and seeing the high school in Wilkes-Barre that he attended.

He did theatre work there, and somewhere there’s a photo of him playing a prince of some sort. He was stretched out, playing dead.

My dad had a comic side to him, a theatrical side. He also told me that during that time he drew pictures of boxing matches for the local papers. That was another way he earned money as a youth.

He eventually went back to the Bronx, although I don’t know if his mom was still alive at the time or not, but if she was, she died soon after. It seems that at the end of his junior year he went back and finished up his schooling at DeWitt. Because of all this moving about, he actually graduated a year after Stan Lee, in 1940, although Dad was a year older. There were a lot of early comics professionals that graduated from DeWitt Clinton—Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Irwin Hasen, and Will Eisner were also alumni. And there were a lot more in the entertainment field.

Shortly after that, Dad left home and went to work as an assistant to a magician named Dante, who did a traveling magic show called “The Sim Sala Bim.” He was a double, on stage, during the show. Dante was one of the most famous magicians of the time. As I recall, Dad’s participation in the show was that either he, or his double, would get raised up in a basket over the audience. It was a locked-up sort of cage, suspended over their heads, and then somehow, in a flash of light, my Dad or the double would end up on the stage. One of his other jobs was to feed the lion, who was also part of the act. He apparently did the show for about a year.

It’s interesting to me,

School Days, School Daze This photo shows Harris Levey “as an 18-year-old, sitting with artwork at a table located in DeWitt Clinton High School. Seems he was drawing a poster for an upcoming (Jan. 1940) Class Nite dance party.” Thanks to Jonathan Levey.

because I’ve done magic all my life. In fact, on weekends I perform magic shows as a sideline.

I think Dad started in comics at a studio run by Jerry Iger. Jerry Bails reported some information about this for his [1970s print] Who’s Who of American Comics. According to Bails’ research, Dad also worked for Victor Fox and Fox Comics on something called “Famous Detectives” and then at Archie [then still MLJ] before he worked for DC. At Archie, he worked on “The Green Falcon.”

Sometime in 1941 he went to work for DC. I know he worked on something called “Star-Spangled…”

Famous Fuzz The earliest feature done by “Lee Harris,” probably while working for Jerry Iger’s comic shop, consisted of the “Famous Detectives”/”Super Sleuths” one-pagers seen above. “Famous Detectives” started out in Fiction House’s Jumbo Comics #1 (Sept. 1938)—and its sketch of Harris interviewing the detective (blown up in insert) means he was one of the earliest cartoonists to depict himself in a comic book. The feature then jumped to Fox’s Mystery Men, where it soon changed its name. The Jumbo page is reproduced from Blackthorne’s 1985 black-&-white reprinting of issue #1; the other pair of pages are from Mystery Men #3 & #4 (Oct. & Nov. 1939). Chances are that Harris/Levey also scripted these. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© the respective copyright holders.]

6

Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

“Green Falcon, Green Falcon, Riding Through The Glen…”

(Above:) “The Green Falcon” (scripter unknown) was an odd strip, in which the Falcon seems to be standing in for Robin Hood, fighting the evil Prince John, romancing “Maid Marion” [sic], and carousing with comrades like Jolly Roundfellow and Tuck, obvious stand-ins for Friar Tuck and Little John, respectively. Seen here are the first and last of its six pages from MLJ’s Blue Ribbon Comics #8 (Dec. 1940), with thanks to Jim Kealy. Scripter unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

“I Just Want To Start A Flame In Your Heart” (Above:) During this period, Lee Harris also drew this story for Victor Fox’s The Flame #1 (Summer 1940), doing a pretty fair job of emulating the establishing work of Lou Fine on that hero in Wonderworld Comics. Harris/Levey may also have done some “Flame” stories in the latter title after Fine departed.

Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The (Air) Wave Of The Future

Man. The Tarantula used suction boots.

Air Wave used some kind of magnetic current that allowed him to walk up drainpipes.

“That Tarantula Drawing Of Dad’s Is A Mystery” RA: Star Spangled Comics was a DC title that featured The Star-Spangled Kid and his adult sidekick, Stripesy.

LEVEY: Well, Roy pointed out to me that this sketch features a fullmasked character, while the DC version, which first appeared in Oct. 1941, doesn’t wear [a full mask]. The Tarantula that my Dad drew seems to suggest some of the origin of how Tarantula came to be, but I don’t know if Dad’s version matches the published “Tarantula.” So that Tarantula drawing of Dad’s is a mystery I hope someday to solve.

LEVEY: Yes, that’s it. Though he wasn’t the penciler there, he did inking on “The Star-Spangled Kid.” I sent Roy a sketch Dad did of Tarantula, a character Dad told me he created or helped create. Dad’s sketch is dated April 24, 1941. There’s even a copyright sign on the drawing. There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding it, I guess. I can’t be certain that Dad actually worked on the “Tarantula” strip [that saw print], but one of the reasons I’m doing this interview is to see if anybody out there has more information on the sketch and to what extent my Dad was actually involved in the creation of Tarantula.

RA: When I was doing some of the research for this article, I noticed that some of the gimmicks, the gadgets that the published version of “Tarantula” had, were similar to the gadgets that Air Wave used.

LEVEY: I didn’t notice that relationship.

RA: Both of them could walk up the side of buildings, somewhat like the later Spider-

7

Star-Spangled Banter (Above:) Hal Sherman was the artist of the “Star-Spangled Kid” strip that led off the unhyphenated Star Spangled Comics beginning with the first issue (Oct. 1941). Jonathan recalls his father telling him that he had inked the feature at some time.

The writer was Jerry Siegel, co-creator of “Superman.” Thanks to Doug Martin. [© DC Comics.]

I have vague memories of Dad telling me he worked with Stan Lee, although I don’t think extensively.

I’m also not sure if he was referring to his high school days on the news staff or if it was something later, in the professional comics. It came up in a conversation we had because I’d seen Stan Lee at my college. It’s interesting that they went to the same school at the same time.

Dad also mentioned that he worked on “Batman.” I thought he might have done some drawings of Batman, but apparently it was inking that he did prior to the war, maybe even after, I just don’t know.

Action Comics In Detective Comics (Above:) Harris/Levey’s second and third “Air Wave” splash pages, from Detective Comics #61 & 62 (March & April 1942), repro’d from the artist’s tearsheets, and an action page from the latter. The Grand Comics Database credits later major “Batman” inker Charles Paris with the inking of these stories—and wonders if DC editor Murray Boltinoff may have written them. Thanks to Jonathan Levey & Bob Bailey. [© DC Comics.]

8

Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

I’ve Got A Still-Secret Origin!

In the above photo, Harris/Levey ponders how to get his twice-up artwork into a rural mailbox. The “Air Wave” series made its debut in Detective Comics #60 (Feb. 1942), on sale in late ’41—without benefit of an origin, as you’ll notice in perusing these three pages from that story. However, he did have the unique distinction of being the only hero we know who donned a fake mustache in his true identity, as per the final panel in the page reproduced directly below. Mort Weisinger is said to have written this first tale. Alter Ego’s editor just wishes he’d been able to continue writing Golden Age yarns for DC’s 1980s Secret Origins comic long enough to concoct an origin for Harris’ character! Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© DC Comics.]

Future “Superman” editor Mort Weisinger, circa late 1930s. As a writer, he scripted the first tales of “Green Arrow,” “Aquaman,” “Johnny Quick,” “Vigilante,” et al.

From Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction

by James Gunn (A&W Visual Library, 1975).

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RA: Well, Bob Kane did use a lot of ghost artists and inkers, starting very early on in the “Batman” stories. The most well-known ones from the period you’re talking about would have been Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Since George and your dad were such good friends, maybe that’s how your dad got work inking the “Batman.” Kane was usually credited with penciling or inking the figure of Batman himself, but that may not be 100% correct, either. It’s possible that your dad worked on just backgrounds or figures other than the actual Batman himself.

LEVEY: The information that I’ve gotten indicates that Dad was an inker of some kind on “Batman” from 1941 to 1942. In any case, at the time Dad drew the Tarantula sketch, he was just starting out at DC. Dad’s first official credits there were for Detective Comics #60 (Feb. 1942)…

RA: Which would have come out in November or December of 1941.

LEVEY: …which was the first “Air Wave” story. He worked on “Air Wave” from then until Detective Comics #74, when he went into the war. It was three years before he came back to work on “Air Wave.”

[Continued on p. 12]

Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave…

(Above:) A true mystery from the early days of comics! It’s well documented that artist Harold “Hal” Sharp drew (and Mort Weisinger probably wrote) the origin story of “Tarantula” in Star Spangled Comics #1 (Oct. 1941), a copy of which was provided by Michael T. Gilbert. As readers of that origin’s retelling in All-Star Squadron #66 (Feb. 1987) are well aware, the real name of the Tarantula in that series was bestselling crime author John Law. (Right:) However, Jonathan Levey has in his possession, passed down from his dad, the original art to a quite different “Tarantula” splash page—with a slightly different costume, an alternate origin (related in the caption), and even a different civilian identity! Its writer, whether Lee Harris or someone else, has not been identified, but the specimen of twice-up artwork is dated in dim pencil at the bottom left (“April 24, 1941”), which is around the time that stories for SSC #1 would’ve been in preparation; the page even has a handwritten 1941 copyright notice for “Leland Harris” (the artist’s legal name at the time) at bottom right. Yet no art of Levey/Harris’ was ever used in the “Tarantula” feature in Star Spangled.

Did Levey/Harris make a start on the feature, only to be relieved in favor of Sharp? And why the differences in backstory and costume and secret identity? The Harris artwork has never before been printed, so its art and text don’t belong to DC, even if the hero Tarantula, as published in Star Spangled, does… but then Marvel also has had several characters named Tarantula, from 1967 through the present. Anybody out there got any theories (or, better still, hard info) on the DC anomaly? [DC art © DC Comics; Leland Harris artwork © 2014 Estate of Harris Levey.]

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Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

Making A Splash – Part I We interrupt this magazine to bring you a special section of “Air Wave” splashes drawn by Harris Levey, aka Lee Harris, before his service in the USAAF during World War II, with scans provided by Jonathan Levey and/or Doug Martin.

Writers unknown. We think these pages pretty much speak for themselves… not that that’s stopped us from throwing in our own two cents’ worth:

(Right:) From Detective Comics #64 (June 1942): Even before the interim period when “Air Wave” was drawn by George “Inky” Roussos, noted for his use of heavy blacks in his work, Lee Harris could splash on dark India ink with the best of them! [© DC Comics.]

(Above:) From Detective Comics #67 (Sept. 1942). This was the heyday of young Frank Sinatra, often lumped with the “crooners” in his early days— and besides, Bing Crosby was still going strong! [© DC Comics.]

(Right:) From Detective Comics #69 (Nov. 1942). Harris and the unidentified scripter turned a nursery rhyme into a tale of social responsibility. [© DC Comics.]

The (Air) Wave Of The Future

(Right:) From Detective Comics #71 (Jan. 1943): This splash page seems to us to show the influence of Mort Meskin and/or Jerry Robinson. But then, we’ve always felt that Harris’ “Air Wave” work, like that of Roussos after him, shared traits with those two masters. [© DC Comics.]

(Above:) From Detective Comics #72 (Feb. 1943): It had to happen! “Larry Jordan vs. Air Wave!” Well, why wouldn’t a fightin’ D.A.—even one with a fake mustache—go after a masked vigilante? [© DC Comics.]

(Right:) From Detective Comics #74 (April 1943): Can’t help commenting on the fact that, most early issues, Harris had to think up a brand new “Air Wave” logo—while lead feature “Batman” had the same one pasted down, month after month after month! In #74, though, he seems to have reused the logo from #72. [© DC Comics.]

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Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

[Continued from p. 9]

“Dad Returned To ‘Air Wave’ [After The War]” RA: I assume that George Roussos filled in on “Air Wave” during that time?

LEVEY: Yes. George Roussos took over from my dad on “Air Wave” once Dad went into the service. There’s a photo of George from that period that I have with George sitting at his art table, and if you look closely at it, with a magnifying glass, you can see a photo of my dad, showing him in uniform, up on George’s wall.

They were pretty close buddies, from what I understand. Even years after the war and Dad’s time in comics, Mom told me that George came over to supper. Mom’s still around and in great shape at age 81, but my dad’s comic career was over long before he met my mom and they didn’t talk a lot about it.

During the war Dad worked as a photographer, both on the ground and in bombers following the bombing raids. His flights came after the bombing raids so he could take aerial photos of where the bombs actually hit. I remember seeing some of those aerial photographs showing the bomb holes or craters. I was pretty awestruck about that stuff as a kid. At the close of the war, or at least in the liberated areas, he also was one of the photographers who photographed the ovens and the piles of dead bodies in the concentration camps. One of the photos says on the back: “Buchenwald Camp, in Germany, inside the crematorium, five days after the camp was liberated.” As a kid, those photos gave me nightmares, but as an adult I recognized their historical value, so I donated them to the Holocaust Museum in Montreal.

During the war he also did a comic called “Krazy Kraut” that we lost and don’t have any more. He told me he did it for the troops as a morale-booster. It was a humor strip. The one I remember seeing featured a short guy in a German helmet with a spike on the top. He looked like a [Mr.] Potato-Head to me. He had little tiny legs.

RA: He may have been doing those for his division newspaper. I think a lot of the larger military units had their own newspaper, even though the army as a whole had Stars and Stripes. Sort of like a local newspaper as opposed to the national newspaper. Alex Toth, who was one of the giants in the comics field, did an adventure strip for his division newspaper during his hitch in the military in the 1950s, called Jon Fury. Dashiell Hammett, the great detective writer, wrote columns for his division newspaper during World War II, as well.

LEVEY: Hmm… I have notes that say that Dad went into the service on September 29, 1942, and was discharged on September 29, 1945, and his first post-war work was for something called Real Fact Comics [a DC title]. Have you seen any of those? I have a number of the pages. “Rin-Tin-Tin”… “Lon Chaney.” Talking about their bios, I don’t know if he wrote the scripts for those, but he did the illustrations. He seems to have drawn the “Rin-Tin-Tin” episode mostly in black and white and gray tones. He used this innovative technique to depict flashbacks and/or past sequences in the lives of the hero. Perhaps George Roussos picked up on this earlier style of my dad’s when he took over the “Air Wave” series during the war, since you’ve mentioned to me that George became noted for incorporating this all-black or all-gray-scale technique into it during this time.

Then Dad returned to “Air Wave” with Detective Comics #113 (July 1946). Unlike his first run, where he was only credited with penciling the character, this time he did pencils and inks. He drew every episode for another two years.

A lot of the soldiers getting out at that time went to the Art

Up In The Air Jonathan Levey sent this 1943-44 photo of his father in USAAF gear in front of his plane. “Dad,” he writes, “was a photographer with the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Photo Unit. He wrote a note to the family on the face of this photo, in blue ink, which reads: ‘Well, I look like a pilot anyway. Love, Sonny.’” Throughout his teen and young adult years, Harris Levey was known to his entire family (mother, father, uncles, and aunts) as “Sonny”— “an endearing term, of course,” Jonathan adds.

Students League of New York, thanks to the G.I. Bill. I know he took several courses there, and one in particular was influential on him. He studied painting with Henry Hensche, who was noted for the way he dealt with light. You can see that play of light in my father’s oil paintings. For all of Dad’s life, painting was a serious and cherished endeavor.

I think I should mention here that Dad was color-blind, which I find extraordinary and worth noting. It was a secret that he kept, since, you know, it could have caused him trouble in his job, whether it was paintings or comics or advertising. Sometimes he would show me and the rest of our family art he was working on and ask us “Does that look like a brown brown to you, or is it an off-brown?” He would have to check, sometimes. He was the art director and had to know. There must have been pressure on him to keep that quiet for so long. Back then, I expect it would have been seen as a big handicap, but he didn’t let it stop him. In fact, over the years he somehow trained himself to compensate and find a way or system to work things out and get great results. I do think it’s important for other people who may have the same challenges to know that they can still have a career in art even if they may not be able to distinguish colors the way most people can. I’m very proud of him for overcoming this challenge. I’d like to think that Dad’s career can give a little bit of hope to some aspiring artist.

RA: I hope so, too. He’s not the first color-blind artist I’ve heard of, but it may be the first in comics. There was something I wanted to ask about his work before the war. He’s listed only as the penciler on the pre-war “Air Wave” stories. Do you happen to know who the inker was?

LEVEY: My records show that after the war he did the complete artwork, pencils and inks, for “Air Wave,” but before the war there

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“Inky” Roussos Takes Over

must have been another inker. I know that George Roussos was inking for “Batman” at that time and my Dad may have done some inking on “Batman,” as well. I have a photo that shows George sitting by his table, and he had a bunch of classical records near him. They’re right by his side, so he must have really loved listening to them while he worked.

RA: Do you happen to know who the early writer on “Air Wave” with your father was? I’ve heard both Mort Weisinger or Murray Boltinoff mentioned.

LEVEY: I believe it was Mort Weisinger. I think he was the actual co-creator of the character.

There’s a photo of Dad in his parents’ home. He’s looking [Continued on p. 16]

(Top left:) Longtime comics artist George Roussos, second “Air Wave” artist, is seen at his drawing desk sometime in the first half of the 1940s—but he’s not the only artist in the photo. Jonathan Levey, who sent it, writes: “If you look closely on George’s wall (in front of him/in back of his table), you will spot a small framed (5” x 7”) black-&-white shot of my dad in [Army] Air Force uniform (lower left corner of what appears to be a framed and enclosed-in-glass bulletin board with other artwork mounted on it). As you might imagine, I was touched when I discovered this photo. I had to use a magnifying glass to really confirm it was a photo of my dad—the same one as the hard-copy version that I have in my dad’s small collection of Army photos. It meant a lot to me— the fact that George had taken over drawing my dad’s ‘Air Wave’ [feature] when my dad went off to serve in the war, yet there was no animosity or professional competitiveness between them. Instead, the opposite occurred, as they remained or became good friends during this time of separation.” At present, that photo is in the possession of Jonathan’s mother, so he sent us a circa 1943-44 image of his father in his USAAF uniform, in Wyoming—although he would soon find himself in Normandy, Luxembourg, Berlin, et al. on his reconnaissance missions.

(Above:) Meanwhile, Roussos had assumed the “Air Wave” art chores one issue prior to Detective Comics #76 (June 1943), whose splash page is seen above. He increasingly brought his trademark “art noir” shadows into play; he also lettered and colored his stories. Script credited by the GCD to Joe Samachson. Thanks to Doug Martin. [© DC Comics.]

(Left:) Since Harris/Levey returned to “Air Wave” soon after war’s end, Jonathan wonders if it was his father or Roussos who drew and colored that hero on this 1946 envelope he acquired: “The fact that the postcard was sent on August 12, 1946, from New York City is (I believe) significant, since my dad certainly lived in NYC at this time and had returned from his service in WWII to draw both real-life comics and his character Air Wave just prior to that time…. The ‘H’ in ‘Best Wishes’ shows the sharp and dynamic pen stroke [that] seems to match almost exactly the way my dad signed the ‘H’ in his own name repeatedly on the splash pages of his ‘Air Wave’ comics.” But, of course, George Roussos lived in New York, as well. Thanks to Jonathan for the photo & to Shaun Clancy for the envelope scans. [Air Wave TM & © DC Comics.]

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Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

Making A Splash – Part II This second special section contains a potpourri of “Air Wave” splashes from the post-WWII period, after Harris/Levey returned to drawing “Air Wave.”

Writers still unknown.

(Right:) From Detective Comics #119 (Jan. 1947): Another great Meskin/Robinsonstyle splash page—and plenty of Roussosstyle blacks, too—all with the distinctive Lee Harris touch! [© DC Comics.]

(Above:) From Detective Comics #115 (Sept. 1946): His third published “Air Wave” story after his military service. [© DC Comics.]

(Right:) From Detective Comics #121 (March 1947): You’ll notice that, in the case of many of the tearsheets originally owned

by Harris himself, there is a date handwritten in… in this case, nearly a year before the cover date of the comic.

Chances are it indicates the date the artist handed in the story, though we can’t be certain about that. [© DC Comics.]

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Atomic Comics (Right:) With help from some folks on a Grand Comics Database chatline, Jonathan Levey figured out that this photo of his father (seen on left) was taken sometime after mid-January 1946, as the Life magazine on the table (with its atomic mushroom cloud) is the issue for Jan. 26 of that year, and went on sale about a week prior to that date. But as to who the gent in the glasses is—an editor, friend, fan, fellow artist, writer?—we haven’t a clue! Do you?

(Left:) From Detective Comics #122 (April 1947): The "Uncandid Camera" title might seem a reference to Allen Funt's famous TV series Candid Camera, except that the program only began—on radio, unalliteratively titled Candid Microphone— in June of that year. It wasn't launched on TV as Candid Camera till August of '48—so Lee Harris was again ahead of his time. [© DC Comics.]

(Above:) From Detective Comics #128 (Oct. 1947): Another imaginative splash page, with the “Air Wave” logo rendered three-dimensionally across the ringing bell, though spatially separated from it. [© DC Comics.]

(Left:) From Detective Comics #133 (March 1948): In this story about the amateur “ham radio” enthusiasts of the day, there’s a reference to “Gotham”—more likely intended to refer to Gotham City, home to Batman, than to New York City. Note that, in 1947, Harris went back to using the “Air Wave” logo from Detective #72. [© DC Comics.]

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Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

Just The Real Facts, Ma’am!

Fresh out of uniform, Harris/Levey drew two stories in DC’s Real Fact Comics #2 (May-June 1946), about movie dog Rin Tin Tin and Louis Braille, inventor of a famous system of reading and writing for the blind… and the tale of film actor/makeup expert Lon Chaney for #3 (July-Aug. ’46). All three scripts are attributed by the GCD to a combination of editors Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, and Bernie Breslauer, although probably in each case one or more of those contributed only editorially. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© DC Comics.]

[Continued from p. 13] at an issue of “Batman.” That comic, which was Detective #62 and featured The Joker holding up a bunch of Joker balloons, was one of the few complete, intact comics that I had [left from him] after all these years. I sold it on eBay about a year ago, before I really started my research into my Dad’s work. After selling it, I came across this picture of Dad holding that exact issue and looking at it.

The eBay product was in transit, but I called the guy in Vancouver and told him the circumstances and told him I’d give him a full refund, if I could get it back. He was very nice and sent back the comic to me. Because of the sentimental value, I hope to frame the comic and the photograph in some sort of collage and put it up. I thought that perhaps that was one of the “Batman” stories or covers that Dad worked on, but perhaps not. [NOTE: The cover is credited to Fred Ray (layouts) and Jerry Robinson (finished art), while the inside “Batman” art is credited to Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and George Roussos—but it’s certainly possible that Lee Harris gave an uncredited assist to his buddy George. —RA.] RA: Being a co-creator, do you know if he had input on the powers that Air Wave had?

LEVEY: I have no idea. As Roy and others have pointed out to me, and I agree with it, many of the comics that creators worked on are

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co-creations—put together by a writer and an artist. When Dad talked about his artwork in the comics, or his advertising work in the 1960s or the 1970s, he didn’t go into great detail.

Dad kept many of his original artworks and comics, but it seems that they may have been thrown out or lost over the years during various moves. One of the things that did survive was a press pass and three tickets to the 1939-40 World’s Fair. It says “July 1940” on the press pass. I think he went as a press photographer or illustrator of some sort. I just pulled out the tickets and press pass, which are stapled together, and the date is July 23, 1940. The press pass is issued to Lee Harris. He legally changed his name from Harris Levey to Leland Harris sometime in the late 1930s. That’s how he signed his comic book work, as “Lee Harris.” The press pass also mentions “Art Staff, Blue Ribbon,” and in parenthesis “(Mag).” Was there a Blue Ribbon magazine of some sort?

RA: Well, actually, there was. MLJ (nowadays Archie Comics), for whom your dad worked during that time period, did publish a book called Blue Ribbon Comics. It ran from 1939 to 1942. That’s where “The Green Falcon,” which your dad drew for them, appeared. The Green Falcon was a medieval knight. It’s possible that somebody at MLJ got your dad the tickets. [NOTE: See “The Green Falcon” on p. 6.]

LEVEY: Interesting! Dad didn’t sign Leland Harris very often, however. It was usually Lee Harris or just Harris on most of the artwork that I’ve seen. The Tarantula illustration is signed Leland Harris, though. It’s interesting to me—Lee Harris, Stan Lee… they were all using those types of names, weren’t they?

RA: Well, I think partly to disguise the Jewishness of the original names.

Stan Lee’s original name was Stanley Lieber. Jack Kirby started life as Jacob Kurtzberg. Many of the women writers in comics and the pulps used a male name or initials for their first names. Changing your name to fit in a little better was not unusual back then.

LEVEY: Dad changed his name back to Harris Levey, legally, just before he got married in 1955 to my mom. A lot of accounts of Dad’s history spell the name as Levy but it was always Levey.

RA: While looking at the early super-heroes, I was struck by how many of them had gadget-oriented super-powers. Batman, like many of the gadget heroes, started off with not so much at first, but then acquired quite a lot of gadgets. But Air Wave started off almost immediately with gadgets. He had the antenna and the listening devices that allowed him to eavesdrop on police channels. That was fairly high-tech for back then. Actually, it’s fairly high-tech for today.

LEVEY: Yes , it does seem to foreshadow something of today’s technology. When I was a kid, Dick Tracy had those wristband radios. Air Wave could not only listen into radio waves, but he could also listen to sound waves conducted through metal. I have one comic where Air Wave is sitting on the statue outside the

True Detective The cover of Detective Comics #62 (April 1942), generally credited to Fred Ray and Jerry Robinson—the splash page of that issue’s “Batman” story, with art credited to Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, & George Roussos and script to Bill Finger—juxtaposed with a vintage photo of young Lee Harris reading that very comic. He may or may not have provided an art assist on the “Batman” entry, but he’d definitely drawn his third “Air Wave” adventure therein. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [Pages © DC Comics.]

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Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

Many of those heroes were members of law enforcement or the legal system who became super-heroes to get around the laws that seemed to them to protect or be insufficient to deal with the criminals. Today, ironically, that exact process or mindset would be considered extremely conservative! Things change over the years in odd ways. Jack Kirby’s Guardian [in DC’s “Newsboy Legion”] was, in his everyday life, a beat cop. Then, after work, he’d don his super-hero togs and go out to battle crime, not bothering with pesky search warrants or anything like that. Your dad’s creation, Air Wave, was a clerk for a district attorney, at least when he started out, and became an actual D.A. later in his run.

LEVEY: Yes, Air Wave became a full-fledged D.A. when his boss got rubbed out by the mob. I really wasn’t aware of that aspect of super-heroes, though.

There is something, though, that I’d like to make sure comes up in this interview. Dad worked, late in his run on “Air Wave,” on a story called “The City of Glass” [Detective Comics #136, June 1948].

He only did one more story after that, at least, according to the Grand Comics Database.

Anyway, the “City of Glass” story was cited or, at least referred to, as being very futuristic in the architectural lines of the buildings; and, of course, glass buildings were just beginning to be seen or talked about back then. It was, I think, an exciting thing to see in print. The stories, and it wasn’t just “Air Wave” but a lot of comic stories, featured robots long before they became a reality.

Another story I’d like to see mentioned is one where Dad drew himself into the story. It was Detective Comics #70 (Dec. 1942) and

Harris Returns To The Air Waves Harris began drawing “Air Wave” again with Detective Comics #113 (July 1946). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© DC Comics.]

Palace of Justice Hall in Washington, D.C., and he’s listening to a trial—but he’s not just listening to the trial, he’s projecting the words that will win the case to the lawyer! It’s amazing because that technology exists today!

RA: I noticed that, after Air Wave ended his run, DC modified some of his powers for other characters. Air Wave used to travel along the phone lines using the electricity from the phone calls to power his skates. The 1960s Atom traveled along the phone lines as well, only he used to shrink down and actually hitch a ride on the electricity flow inside the phone cables.

LEVEY: Airwave used skates, though… collapsible skates.

RA: Yes, sort of like the skates that kids use today. Skates hidden inside their tennis shoes.

LEVEY: I’m not saying my Dad had any inkling about how the Internet would come about or anything. But to the end of his life he was always interested in the new forms of communication and the technology that was being developed to transmit it. I think that interest shows up strongly in “Air Wave.” He had a bit of a vision in that way. He liked to get creative in his artwork, in the studio, when he was coming up with ideas. Dad was very much a creative force during what today would be called the “Mad Men” age.

“Who Rubbed Out The Editor?”

RA: One of the things I noticed when I was doing research for an article on the Comics Code was that early super-heroes, those of the 1930s/early 1940s, were considered by conservative elements to be extremely liberal.

Rocketeering Harris’ “Air Wave” splash from Detective Comics #118 (Dec. 1946). Thanks to Doug Martin. [© DC Comics.]

The (Air) Wave Of The Future

Maybe All Those Characters Were Featured In Defective Comics?

This oddest of “Air Wave” yarns, “Who Rubbed Out the Editor?,” appeared in Detective Comics #70 (Dec. 1942), and involved the murders of the editors of “Keen Arrow,” “Sunburned Kid,” and “Showerman” from magazines published by Kolossal Komics. Harris/Levey drew himself on the splash page, but it’s probable that the editors in the story are also caricatures.

Thanks to Doug Martin & Dale Roberts for these pages. [© DC Comics.]

was called “Who Rubbed Out the Editor?” The splash page shows my Dad’s portrait of himself, sitting at his DC art table, and Air Wave is popping out of the page he’s working on. I’m not sure if this concept was used prior to this, although I gather it’s been done a number of times since.

RA: Yes, you sent me a copy of that page. That’s your dad at the art table?

LEVEY: Yes, although someone else wrote about that story and said it was a different artist, which wasn’t the case. You can look at it and see the similarities with my Dad. RA: I’m sure if he was drawing the strip and the script called for the artist of the strip to be present, he would have drawn himself.

LEVEY: Exactly. I do like the way Air Wave is popping off the comic’s page. I think that is kind of interesting. Woody Allen did something similar to this in his movie Purple Rose of Cairo. I suspect other people did this sort of thing before my Dad, if not in comics then maybe comic strips. I really have no idea. It’s a nice splash page, though, and another glimpse of my Dad. RA: Even Woody Allen wasn’t the first in movies to do that. Buster Keaton featured that notion in his Sherlock, Jr. movie in 1924. The notion wasn’t new, but it wasn’t all that common, either. I don’t know if

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Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

there’s an earlier example in comic books, though. 1942 was less than a decade after the first full-fledged comic books. Will Eisner may have done it in The Spirit before that. He certainly introduced a lot of innovations that other creators picked up on. It’s certainly a notion that’s been used in comics, at least, many, many times since.

LEVEY: That issue may also help in pin-pointing who was the actual editor of Detective then. Whoever is caricatured as editor or editors in the story was probably the real-life editor of Detective Comics at the time. I once had the full episode. Sadly, I no longer have the splash page. I went to frame it and it got lost. I just have the image scan and the other pages which somebody else sent me.

RA: Perhaps somebody else has the complete story so that those questions could be answered.

LEVEY: I also think the coloring on “Air Wave” was very interesting. I don’t know if my Dad would have done anything like that or not.

RA: It may be impossible to identify a colorist for a 1942 comic.

Credits were scarce back then. When researching old stories, artists’ styles help in identifying pencilers and inkers, but writers, who rarely received credits prior to the 1960s, are much more difficult. I know that some writers have been identified in recent years by comparing certain recurring phases that pop up in their stories, or certain sound effect noises that they use repeatedly. That sort of thing is difficult and time-consuming, though. There’s probably a computer app that could do it much faster. You can identify old Jack Oleck stories because he had a habit of re-cycling his stories. For example, he’s not identified for his script on the Jack Kirby/Joe Simon story “Maniac” that ran in Black Magic around 1953 or 1954, but he reused the story for an EC Comics Picto-Fiction title in 1955 and then again, this time with his name credited, as “The Lunatic” for a DC House of Mystery story in 1971 or so. The identification of artists and writers prior to credits often requires research or forensic skills.

“People Who Live In Glass Houses… Shouldn’t!”

Pages and panels from “The City of Glass” in Detective Comics #136 (June 1948), the second-from-last story in the “Air Wave” series. By now, D.A. Larry Jordan had thrown away his fake mustache, probably having figured out that a mask with antennae was enough of a disguise. Thanks to Jim Ludwig & Jim Kealy. [© DC Comics.]

The (Air) Wave Of The Future

LEVEY: You’re probably right that writers are hard to identify, but line art by artists should be easier, due to their unique pen or brush stroke. That’s why I thought that comparing the very first published page of “Tarantula” to my Dad’s sketch might be both interesting and helpful in figuring out if he also drew the published character.

As a kid in the 1960s I read “Batman” and “Superman.” I was aware that my Dad had done comics. Dad had an art studio in Teaneck, New Jersey. We moved there, to a suburb, a couple of months after John Kennedy was killed, so January 1964. My Dad would take the bus into New York City every day to work at the ad agencies. But, at home, we had an attic that Dad converted into his own art studio. He did a lot of his drawings for the advertising world out of there. That’s where I started seeing his artwork for the comics, and we’d talk about it a bit. I was still very young, only nine or ten or eleven. I saw a lot of original artwork there. The artwork would be larger than how it appeared in publication.

Again, that was years ago and it’s all vanished. Such a shame, really.

Another thing that might be interesting was the character of Static.

RA: You’re talking about the parrot that appeared in “Air Wave”?

LEVEY: Yes, he said a lot of sarcastic, philosophic things.

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RA: One of the things that editors of the time liked was having their hero have someone to talk to. Part, though not all, of the reason for so many kid sidekicks was to both engage young readers with somebody just like them being a super-hero, and to give the hero someone to talk to. Talking constantly to themselves probably made them seem even nuttier than dressing up in a colorful costume did. Having a partner or a parrot to talk to gave the writer more chances for dialogue.

LEVEY: I didn’t know that. It makes sense, though.

RA: Most of the recorded credits seem to show your dad doing seven or eight pages a month of “Air Wave” and some pre-war inking, and then post-war only the work on “Air Wave.” It would have been difficult for an artist to survive on that small amount of work. Do you know of any other art work or employment he may have had during those years?

LEVEY: No, he did other work. “The Green Falcon” and “The Flame.”

RA: Yes, I have records of those, but those records show only a small amount of work per month, and it would have been earlier. I was wondering if there was other work he may have been doing during that time to augment his income. I have to assume that he either did other work at the same time he worked at DC, or there was other DC work that he hasn’t been credited for.

LEVEY: Well, that could be. He likely did work that he just didn’t

Wanted: Magic Moments Except for the coloring, “Lando” looks nearly identical to his fellow DC magician, “Sargon the Sorcerer”—or even “Ibis the Invincible” over in Fawcett’s Whiz Comics, and a few other comic book mages. The former resemblance is probably because Howard Purcell was the original artist of both “Sargon” and “Lando.”

But the real problem with the “Lando” feature is that the unidentified writer (which might have been Purcell) hasn’t given Lando much to do; even when he uses magic on page 2, he does so in between panels. Maybe that’s one reason the character didn’t have a long run. These pages, sent by Doug Martin and Jonathan Levey, are from World’s Finest Comics #7 (Fall 1942)—Lando’s seventh and final appearance, and the only one drawn by Lee Harris. [© DC Comics.]

22

Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

“We’re All Mad Here!”

A clockwise triptych, courtesy of Jonathan Levey, of his father Harris Levey (as his name again was by then) in the advertising world of the 1960s through the early 1970s, when he was one of the original “Mad Men”: Levey shown on a cover of Advertising Techniques magazine (Dec. 1972), when he was art director of Foote, Cone, & Belding advertising agency.

A photo of Harris Levey from inside that issue. By now, he’d grown a mustache à la Larry Jordan—but we’ll bet it was a realie!

Also from that issue: a pair of ad campaigns with which Levey was involved. [© the respective copyright holders.]

get credit for. I know he worked on something called “Lando, Man of Magic.” In fact, as a kid, I thought that he’d created that, too, although I came to find out that it was likely someone else’s creation.

“[My Dad] Considered Himself A Person With A Vision” RA: So your dad left comics in 1948. Did he go directly to advertising, or were there other jobs in between?

LEVEY: He did freelance work in between and some cover work on magazines. He did the cover for the science-fiction magazine Amazing Stories (Mar. 1953). We used to have a cover he did for a Western magazine. I don’t remember the publisher, although I recall that it was a fairly well-known publisher. I clearly recall that it showed the head and shoulders of a cowboy creeping just above a large boulder, with a rifle in hand. He wore a large brown hat (square top, not rounded) and a red kerchief around his neck.

Eventually he wanted to work on TV commercials. He went back to school and got his degree when he was in his mid-50s. He went to night classes at Emerson College and earned his bachelor’s degree in communications in the late 1970s. He received a lot of what they called “Life” credit, because of his experience, but he also had to take courses.

Dad had a great sense of humor. I remember him and a friend acting out a scene from The Sandy Becker Show. Becker was a local New York TV personality in the early 1960s who did shows for children. Well, the skit that Dad and his friend did was a silent bit about a cook in a white chef’s hat stirring a pot. The character was called Norton Nork. I was the try-out audience, and I found their body movements and facial expressions to be very funny. Part of the magic show that I do today involves some silent comedy in addition to the magic and mentalist bits. Dad’s skit must have really inspired me. Although my degrees are from Ithaca College (BSc in Photography & Cinema Studies) and subsequently from

He also worked at the New York Journal-American [newspaper] in the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. I have drawings he did of court cases for that newspaper. Probably the more sensational cases. He worked for the paper for four or five years, until they closed.

RA: Yes, the courts didn’t allow photographers in the courtrooms in those days. Any visuals of a trial would have to be drawn.

LEVEY: I guess so. He also did ads for the paper. I passed by the building a lot as a kid. I think it was near the East River. Then he moved into advertising, as did a lot of comic creators. Comics were a bit of a launch-pad for advertising artists. I remember he worked in the Pan-Am Building for years. I used to visit him there. He worked for a number of top advertisers, such as Foote, Cone, & Belding, Ted Bates, and N.W. Ayer & Son, among others. The Bomstein Agency, Dad’s last job, was located in Washington, D.C. He did a tremendous amount of innovative ad work for major clients such as the U.S. Army, Clairol, Bell Telephone, and others.

Down On His Luck We don’t have access to any of the courtroom drawings done by Harris/Levey, but this illustration done for the New York Journal-American newspaper circa 1961 should dispel all doubts that he could have done a great job of it! Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The (Air) Wave Of The Future

Amazing—But True!

Harris/Levey painted this cover for the March 1953 issue of the science-fiction pulp magazine Amazing Stories. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© the respective copyright holders.]

McGill University (Bachelor of Social Work), most of my professional work over the last 30 years in Montreal has been in areas of employment counseling (Federation CJA) and fund-raising (McGill University). Part of the magic show that I do today on the side involves some silent comedy in addition to the magic and mentalist bits. Still, even while he was working on his steady ad work as an art director, he did freelance and ad work up in his attic studio for years. It was a lot of fun to watch him work. He was quite a rapid artist.

23

was on a pond in the Adirondacks where he liked to fish and where he painted oil still-lifes and portraits. He passed away on August 18, 1984. For most of his life he was a pretty healthy guy.

He was an early riser, doing yoga exercises and Transcendental Meditation. Besides his artwork and the activities at the cabin, he was an avid photographer and loved to play tennis and chess.

I want to thank you, Roy, Doc Vassallo, and Mark Zaid, the Golden Age collector who first put me in contact with Doc. V., for showing such genuine interest in my Dad and his work, and to your readers who hopefully will find this story of interest.

Jonathan Levey was born in New York City in 1956. He has a B.S. degree in Cinema Studies and Photography, and served a year in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. In 1984 he and his wife Monique moved to Montreal, Canada. He later acquired a second degree, in Social Work, and he has more than 25 years of experience in Employment Counseling. As “Max & Maxine,” he and his wife have entertained at thousands of corporate and private functions for more than 25 years; he performs a silent comedy-magic show and one entitled “Jonathan's Mysteries of the Mind.” They have one son, Samuel, who is studying Mechanical Engineering at Dalhousie University Richard J. Arndt is a librarian/writer from Nevada. He recently published the comics-related books Horror Comics in Black and White and The Star*Reach Companion.

I’ve mentioned Dad’s parents, but I didn’t really mention Dad’s sister, Dorothy, who moved out West around the time that Dad and Mom got married, so I never met her. Dad went to visit her a few years before he died, just to stay in touch. They had lost contact for many years.

In 1981 Dad told me that he was moving to Washington, D.C., to work in TV commercials. It was then that he and Mom worked out an arrangement where they had separate places and visited each other every weekend in order for him to pursue his career. He really wanted to work as an art director for commercials. He worked for the Bomstein Agency, which was quite an important ad agency for a number of years. He was thrilled to teach the young people just starting out at Bomstein his art and ad approaches, and they seemed to respect him. He loved that job. He won a number of awards for his work, including a Clio and several Andy awards.

He worked on the Clairol shampoo account in his earlier years at one of the New York ad agencies, Foote, Cone, & Belding, where he also worked as art director on such accounts as Ethicon and Mobil. In fact, his photo was featured as the cover profile on the Dec. 1972 issue of Advertising Techniques (Vol. 8, No. 2), and a summary of his achievements and vision in the advertising world was featured in the same magazine. In this article, they quoted my dad as saying: “I started out as a painter, and it took me years to learn layout. I’m a concept man. I enjoy getting it all together.

Working with a writer, I enjoy his concept graphically.” He considered himself a person with a vision, who could see the bigger picture.

At the end of the article, the interviewer asked him what he thought was in store for advertising in the future. Keep in mind this was in 1972. His response was as follows and closed the article on a visionary note: “I think the TVTelephone is going to change everything from here in the City to anyplace.”

Dad really enjoyed the family cabin, which

High Wire Act Another photographic self-portrait of a young Lee Harris/Harris Levey—and an exciting page from Air Wave’s debut story in Detective Comics #60 (Feb. 1942), at a time when the hero still had a slightly chunkier “Batman” look, which was soon replaced by a sleeker figure who looked more at home running along telephone wires. Repro’d from Harris’ tearsheets. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [Page © DC Comics.]

24

Jonathan Levey Remembers His Father, Golden Age Artist Lee Harris

LEE HARRIS Checklist [The following Checklist is adapted from information found in the online edition of The Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999, established by the late Dr. Jerry G. Bails. Some additional information provided by son Jonathan Levey. Key: (w) = writer; (a) = artist; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only.]

Name: Harris Levey, later legally changed for a time [from late 1930s till 1955] to Leland Harris (Aug. 13, 1921-August 1984) - artist

(1973-75); N.W. Ayer, Inc. (1976-80); The Bomstein Agency (1980-83), a.k.a. The Bomstein-Gura Agency – art director at one or more of these

Pen Name: Lee Harris

Awards: Andy (advertising award) 1977, 1978, 1980; New Jersey A/D [Art Directors?] Club 1978; Clio (advertising award) 1977; as Harris Levey

Education: Empire State College, graduate with B.S. in Communications; Art Students League of New York; School of Visual Arts; NYU Film Production; Maine School of Photography (dates unknown) Comics Shop/Studio: S.M. Iger Studio circa 1938-39 (perhaps while it was still Eisner & Iger)

COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream U.S. Publishers)

Archie Publications (MLJ): The Green Falcon (a) 1940-41

DC Comics: Air Wave (p) 1942-43, (a) 1946-48; Batman (some i?); Lando One of Harris Levey’s Andy Awards, given to him by the Advertising Other Art: Cover of Amazing Stories (a) 1942; Star-Spangled Kid (some i?)

Club of New York. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. magazine, March 1953 issue – 1942 over Hal Sherman pencils paperback book covers (according to [NOTE: the “Batman” and “StarWikipedia), plus other pulp covers not identified at present Spangled Kid” credits are less certain than other credits]

Handy Andy

Newspaper Work: New York Journal-American late 1950s to early 1960s (court drawings, ads, etc.)

Fiction House: Famous Detectives (a)(possibly w) 1938, in Jumbo Comics #1

Advertising Agencies: Fuller & Smith & Ross (1967-69); L.W. Frohlich (1969-70); Foote, Cone, & Belding (1970-73); Ted Bates

Fox Comics: Famous Detectives (a)(possibly w) 1939; The Flame (a) 1940; Super Sleuths 1939

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books 1928-1999 Online Edition Created by Jerry G. Bails FREE – online searchable database – FREE www.bailsprojects.com – No password required

A quarter of a million records, covering the careers of people who have contributed to original comic books in the US.

$500,000 $500,000 PAID PAID FOR FOR ORIGINAL ORIGINAL C COMIC OMIC A ART! RT! COLLECTOR COLLECTOR PAYING PAYING TOP TOP DOLLAR DOLLAR FOR FOR “ “ANY ANY YA AND ND A ALL” LL” O ORIGINAL RIGINAL C COMIC OMIC B BOOK OOK A AND ND C COMIC OMIC S STRIP TRIP A ARTWORK RTWORK FFROM ROM T THE HE 1 1930S 930S T TO OP PRESENT! RESENT! C COVERS, OVERS, P PINUPS, INUPS, P PAGES, AGES, IIT TD DOESN’T OESN’T M MATTER! ATTER! 1P PAGE AGE O OR RE ENTIRE NTIRE C COLLECTIONS OLLECTIONS S SOUGHT! OUGHT! CALL CALL OR OR EMAIL EMAIL ME ME ANYTIME! ANY YTIME!

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Lee Harris’ “Air Wave” splash panel for Detective Comics #117 (Nov. 1946). He only signed his initials to this one. Thanks to Jonathan Levey. [© DC Comics]

H4 4266 P.O. P .O. BOX BOX 455 455 • RAVENNA, RAVENNA, O OH 44266 CASH IS IS WAITING, WAITING, S O HURRY!!!!!

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25

Seal Of Approval:

The History Of The Comics Code Chapter 2 Of Our Serializing Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

A/E

by Amy Kiste Nyberg

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: For the past two issues, we have been reprinting the above-named book, by kind permission of the original publisher, University Press of Mississippi, with thanks to William Biggins and Vijah Shah, acquisitions editors, and with special thanks to Dr. M. Thomas Inge, under whose general editorship the volume was originally published in 1998 as part of its Studies in Popular Culture series. The original print edition can still be obtained from the University Press of Mississippi at www.upress.state.ms.us. It is our aim to print the text of Dr. Nyberg’s book with the addition of photos and illustrations not in the original. Dr. Amy Kiste Nyberg is Associate Professor of Communications in the Department of Communication and the Arts at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code, being an academic work on comic book censorship, is extensively footnoted, though in the ALS style which lists book or article or author name, plus page numbers, between parentheses in the actual text: e.g. “(Hart 154-156)” refers to pp. 154-156 of whichever work by an author or editor named Hart is listed in the bibliography—which will appear at the conclusion of our serialization, several issues from now.

When the parentheses contain only page numbers, that’s because the name of the author, editor, and/or work is printed in the main text almost immediately preceding the note. (In addition, there are a couple of footnotes that are treated as footnotes in the more traditional sense.)

We have retained such spellings as “superhero,” etc., and the non-capitalization of “comics code” as they appear in the published book, even though our A/E “house style” would render those as “super-hero” and “Comics Code.” The book prints “E.C.” for one company, “DC,” without periods, for another; no big deal. We do, however, revert to our own style in captions, which are written by Ye Editor; naturally, neither Dr. Nyberg nor the University Press of Mississippi is responsible for any error or opinion in said captions.

In the very rare instances in which Ye Ed felt a need to correct or at least quibble with a judgment or statement of fact in the main text, that is done—and clearly labeled, we hope—in captions, as well. Oh, and another thank-you to Brian K. Morris for re-typing the entire book specifically for Alter Ego.

A Coffin Fit

(Clockwise from top left:) Dr. Amy K. Nyberg—the Comics Code Seal adopted Last issue we re-presented Chapter 1, “Comics, Critics, and in 1954-55—and the cover of Ribage Publications’ Crime Mysteries #3 (Sept. 1952), Children’s Culture,” which featured an overview of attempts at a title from an obscure publisher that displayed all three types of subject matter censorship of such predecessors of comic books such as dime novels, that had the “public” up in arms at the time: a sexy woman, a criminal with a gun, newspaper comic strips, and motion pictures. The call for censorship and elements of horror. Artist unknown. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for of comic books began with literary critic and author Sterling North most cover art that accompanies this chapter of Nyberg’s book. [© the respective in 1940, and helped lead to the major companies creating “advisory copyright holders.] boards” made up of psychologists, children’s book experts, celebrities, and the like. Partly as a result of this early debate, comic books made, however, until after the end of World War II, when publicity about became definitely considered by the general public as intended for and the alleged rise in juvenile delinquency came to the fore…. primarily read by children. No serious headway on censoring them was

26

Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

Chapter 2 Censorship Strategies

C

raised about comic books and juvenile delinquency. In most cases, the campaigns were highly successful; retailers visited by such teams agreed to remove whatever titles the crusaders identified as objectionable. The decency campaigns operated in relative isolation, and there was no national effort to organize or coordinate a campaign against comics. But decency campaigns were able to draw upon the work of two groups that reviewed comic books and provided the lists used to purge local newsstands of bad comics.

One was the National Office of Decent Literature (later known as the National Organization for Decent Literature), a Catholic Church organization. The other was the Committee on the Evaluation of Comic Books in Cincinnati, whose work was publicized by Parents’ Magazine.

omic book crusaders fought their battle on two fronts. Critics undertook community decency crusades, often ignited by a Sunday sermon against the evils of comics, suggested by a local librarian who was the guest speaker at a women’s club luncheon, or triggered by an article appearing in a popular national magazine or local newspaper. Then, as community crusades gained attention, legislators responded by launching investigations of comic books and proposing legislation to control or stop their distribution. The decency crusaders, although they occasionally invoked city ordinances dealing with obscene material, did not The Heirs A-Parents’ have the force of the Parents’ Magazine (see cover of law behind their 1947 issue), which publicized the demands. Instead, they relied on negative post-World War II work of the publicity and its resulting economic consequences Committee on the Evaluation of as the primary tools in achieving their objectives.

Comic Books, had a few comic Legislators, on the other hand, sought legal mags of its own that received remedies by drafting ordinances and statutes that passing marks, including True outlawed the sale of certain types of comic books Comics #58 (March ’47) and Jack to minors. Such laws could be enforced by police Armstrong #2 (Dec. ’47). The and the courts and violators punished with fines, latter was a popular radio show; its hero was invariably identified time in jail, or both.

The Catholic Church’s success with the Legion of Decency, which pressured the film industry into enforcing a selfregulatory code and also established a rating system that provided Catholic filmgoers with a list of approved films, led to the establishment of the National Office of Decent Literature in December 1938. NODL was the only pressure group formed to direct attention against literature at the national level (Blanchard 186). In the beginning, NODL was concerned only with magazines and published a list of those it found objectionable, titled “Publications Disapproved for Youth.” The organization was concerned with materials as “Jack Armstrong, the Allavailable to youth, and it did not pass judgment on The decency crusade has a long history, and American Boy.” Artists unknown. adult reading material. The introduction of [© Parents’ Magazine or its one of the earliest crusaders was Anthony successors in interest.] paperback books and comic books broadened the Comstock. As a result of his lobbying, Congress range of publications available to children and passed the first comprehensive obscenity law in youth at newsstands, and NODL responded by expanding its activ1873, known as the Comstock Act. That fall, Comstock formed the ities in 1947 to evaluate these publications. The stated goals of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, an outgrowth of his NODL program were to remove objectionable comic books and work for the YMCA begun in 1872. While Comstock was other publications from the places of distribution accessible to empowered by the state to make arrests under the charter granted youth, to encourage publishing and distribution of good literature, to the society, he found the threat of legal action was sufficient in and to promote plans to develop worthwhile reading habits during most cases (Boyer 10). His crusade against the dime novels popular formative years (Gardiner 110). in that period can be compared to the campaign against comics some 60 years later (Mark West 43). Like comics, the dime novels It is interesting to note that the NODL goals incorporated both really could not be prosecuted under existing statutes, since they the “elite” criticism against comics, discussed in the previous were not obscene, so Comstock resorted to economic pressure, chapter, with the criticism of the content of comics. The idea that urging parents: “Let your newsdealer feel that, in just proportion comics were bad literature and encouraged children to develop as he prunes his stock of that which is vicious, your interest in his undesirable reading habits was still an underlying force in such welfare increases and your patronage becomes more constant” campaigns. It demonstrates that earlier criticism of comics, instead (Comstock 42). These tactics would prove just as effective against of being abandoned when the content of comics came under comics as they had been against dime novels. scrutiny, was incorporated into the later campaigns against comics.

This helped to forge links between the various groups who The efforts in the postwar period against comics, however, were objected to comics on different grounds. Although teachers and much more organized. Crusaders took to the streets in teams, librarians had an agenda different from that of the morality armed with lists of objectionable comic books, visiting local crusaders from various religious organizations, each saw the newsstand dealers and urging them to remove the “bad” comics campaign as a means to an end. In much the same way, psychiafrom their stands. These community decency campaigns occurred trist Fredric Wertham would strike an alliance with conservative nationwide and were organized by church groups, women’s clubs, religious groups, whose objections to comics extended far beyond parent-teacher associations, and others who heeded the alarm

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

the concern with violence to their “moral” content, in order to try to get legislation passed to ban the sale of comics to minors.

The concern with “morality” as well as violent content is reflected in the criteria used by NODL in its reviews of comics.

Publications rated as objectionable by NODL exhibited one or more of the following characteristics: 1. glorified crime or the criminal

2. described in detail ways to commit criminal acts 3. held lawful authority in disrespect

4. exploited horror, cruelty, or violence 5. portrayed sex facts offensively

6. featured indecent, lewd or suggestive photographs or illustrations

7. carried advertising which was offensive in content or advertised products which may lead to physical or moral harm 8. used blasphemous, profane or obscene speech indiscriminately and repeatedly 9. held up to ridicule any national, religious or racial group.

(Gardiner 110)

Under the NODL procedure, magazine titles were reviewed twice a year. One individual read the magazine, wrote an opinion, and returned it to the national office. Five others reviewed the initial opinion, and if all rated the magazine objectionable, it was placed on the “objectionable” list. The procedure for reviewing books was somewhat more elaborate, and NODL selected reviewers who appreciated “literary values” (Gardiner 111). The organization confined its activity to material available at newsstands and did not investigate libraries or book stores (117). Comic book titles also were evaluated every six months. A committee of 150 mothers, divided into groups of five, received a specified number of comics. Each group member read and rated the comics as either acceptable,

27

borderline, or objectionable. If all five found the comic book acceptable, it was set aside for six months. If, after six months, another group of reviewers also rated the title acceptable, it was placed on the list distributed by NODL of “acceptable” comics (111). NODL published a separate “White List” of acceptable comics, listing unacceptable comics with other “condemned” publications. One typical NODL monthly list contained thirty-five condemned comic books, along with the titles of 440 unacceptable paperbacks and magazines (Blanchard 187).

The NODL lists were made available to the general public; individual parishes were urged not to post the list, however, since the office did not want the list in the hands of adolescents who might be enticed to search out material that the church had condemned. Catholics were urged to use the lists in local decency campaigns. The NODL literature outlined specific procedures for conducting such campaigns. Every two weeks, members of the local committee were to visit each establishment selling magazines, comics, and paperback books. Members were urged to work in teams of two or three, with each team assigned to visit three dealers.

On the first contact, teams were encouraged to explain the purpose of the decency crusade, emphasizing that the goal was to protect “the ideals and morality” of youth. The team gave the dealer a NODL list and got permission to examine his racks at twoweek intervals. This inspection, the literature advised, was to be offered as a voluntary “service” to the dealer, with members explaining that they understood that many proprietors simply did not have the time to check their racks. When the team found something objectionable, they were to report it to the manager. If the manager refused to take action, the decency crusade team was to leave the establishment silently, rather than confront the manager, and report the refusal to their pastor. Lists of stores that cooperated with the local decency crusades were announced in church and printed in parish publications (Gardiner 112). In some cases, cooperative store owners were issued certificates of compliance, but the national office discouraged that practice, pointing out that the dealer could continue to display the certificate while restocking his shelves with objectionable material (117).

Running With Scissors

NODL promoted the lists as tools for the busy retailer, noting ideally, sellers should exercise their own moral responsibility rather than abdicate to any group or list, but that it was unrealistic to expect the retailer to read everything on his racks (122). The decency crusades targeted retailers rather than publishers because, according to NODL literature, “most of the filthy books and magazines are put out deliberately by publishers who know that they will sell. They are not interested in their effect on youth, and cannot be reasoned with” (115).

(Left:) “A cartoon stand-in for Bishop John Francis Noll, founder of the National Organization for Decent Literature, sweeps the newsstands clean.” So read the note accompanying this cartoon by artist “Barney” when it was reprinted in David Hajdu’s excellent 2008 study The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America.

(Above:) The anonymous cover of Fox Comics’ Crimes

by Women #12 (April 1950) must violate at least two or three of the nine characteristics that would have earned a comic book an “objectionable” rating by the NODL. [© the respective copyright holders.]

To get widespread support for conducting decency crusades, NODL urged Catholics to form citizens’ committees made up of members of educational, social/fraternal, and religious organizations. At the initial meeting of the committee, examples of the types of literature of concern to the community were shown. The help of nonCatholic groups was then enlisted to clean up literature made available to juveniles in the community (112).

28

Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

nities should strive to give children quality books and magazines at a moderate price (“To Burn” 5). An editorial by Adrian Tielman of Roosevelt College in Chicago, published in the May 1949 issue of Educational Administration and Supervision, suggested that comic book burning sent children the wrong messages (300). Such actions, he argued, were “inadequate training for a democracy” (301).

Critics charged that the decency crusades effectively censored not only material available to children but adult reading material as well. The church’s position was that while removal of such material might infringe on an adult’s “right to read,” good citizens should be willing to waive their rights in order to protect children (Haney 95). Other critics argued that the NODL decency code was too sweeping and its standards more severe than most obscenity statutes (Blanchard 193). The comics editor of the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate, Harold Straubing, feared that pressure groups failed to recognize comics were valuable as a means of communication and learning. He added that “nobody bothers to investigate the person who is criticizing; when it comes to the comics, every Carrie Nation who waves a hatchet makes everybody tremble” (McMaster 46).

Crime Paid In 1946… And 1947… And 1948… And… The ringleader and still champion of crime comics in 1946 and for some years thereafter was Lev Gleason Publications’ best-selling Crime Does Not Pay, edited by Charles Biro and Bob Wood. Biro is credited with the cover art of CDNP #44 (March ’46). Thanks to Jim Amash. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Although NODL’s literature noted that the list was not to be used for purposes of boycott or coercion, it frequently was used for just those purposes (Haney 92). In other cases, NODL’s lists were used by police in communities to clear newsstands of objectionable material, even if such material was not found to be obscene under state law (Gardiner 118). In nearly all cases, a request from the police department did not need to be followed up by legal action.

Samuel Black, vice president of the Atlantic Coast Independent Distributors Association and a distributor in Springfield, Massachusetts, told a House committee investigating paperback books and comics in 1952 that when a complaint was filed with the police department, the chief of police gave his company twentyfour hours’ notice before any official action was taken. Police censorship was preferable to volunteer censorship groups, Black told the committee, because the latter accomplished little more than generating “personal glory for some that want to see their names in the press” (House Select Committee Hearings, 38-39).

One of the more drastic forms of action taken was the burning of comic books organized in several communities. An editorial in Senior Scholastic February 2, 1949, questioned both the wisdom and effectiveness of such a move, pointing out that book burnings and emotion orgies “partake of the very violence we deplore in bad comic books.” It warned: “Flames can be dangerous things.

Sometimes they get out of control and destroy priceless literature.”

Rather than burning comic books, the editorial suggested commu-

But decency crusades aroused little protest in specific cities where they were conducted. Since they were usually organized by civic and religious leaders in the community, few would speak out against their work. Also, most adults were not familiar with the content of comic books and were willing to accept the evaluations of the decency crusaders without question, or simply did not care.

But perhaps most important, the issue was carefully constructed as one concerning the welfare of children, rather than being a censorship issue. Those who might have argued against censorship and invoked the First Amendment would have seemed to be advocating giving children access to material that community leaders were condemning as bad. Throughout the campaign against comics, the critics insisted the issue was not censorship, although it clearly was, at least in part. The First Amendment, they argued, was not meant to protect corporate greed and irresponsibility at the expense of children. Being able to define the battle against comics in the minds of the public as one of child welfare rather than one of censorship was a major victory for the anticomic book forces.

NODL had a definite impact in communities with active decency crusades. Retailers relied on the good will of their community to remain in business and were sensitive to public opinion. In testimony in 1952 before a House committee investigating pornography, church representatives reported that 99 percent of the dealers were very cooperative. In addition, the NODL organization provided a model for other civic and religious organizations that sought to rid newsstands of objectionable periodicals and paperback books. For example, in 1954 an organization titled the Citizen’s Committee for Better Juvenile Literature was formed in Chicago. One of the committee’s stated goals was to work for the elimination of material seen as detrimental to or having no beneficial value to the intellectual, social, cultural, or spiritual growth of children. Volunteer reviewers read material purchased by the group. A list of materials rated “objectionable” by those volunteers was given to organized teams who visited neighborhood retail outlets and requested that the items be removed (Twomey, “Citizen’s Committee” 624-28). The group was the outgrowth of an editorial campaign against comic books conducted by the Southtown Economist, a southside Chicago community newspaper.

In fact, many community campaigns against comic books were triggered by newspaper crusades. A series of articles in the

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Sacramento Bee in spring 1954 brought about a move for cooperative action to ban horror-type comic books from newsstands. Quoted in the June 26, 1954, issue of the trade publication Editor and Publisher, the Bee defended its campaign to ban the comics this way: “This is not a matter of suppression of ideas or of unconventional literature. It is a matter of protecting youth and the community against sewerage. To repeat, this Three To Get Ready… is not a civil liberties issue.

Three titles (though not necessarily these particular issues) rated circa 1954 by the Committee on the Evaluation of It does not involve Comic Books, as duly reported in Parents’ Magazine (see next page): Superman #78 (Sept.-Oct. 1952), featuring one of suppression of ideas” those “sinister creatures” drawn by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye… Shock SuspenStories #14 (April-May 1954), whose Wally (“Daily Is Leader” 38).

Wood cover drove the CECB folks crazy in six delicious flavors… and Tweety and Sylvester #4 (March-June 1954, actually the first issue), whose death trap for puddytats apparently received the “no-objection rating”; artist unknown.

Another Editor and [Superman cover © DC Comics; Shock SuspenStories cover © William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.; Publisher article published Tweety and Sylvester cover © Time Warner or successors in interest.] two weeks later noted that the religion editor of the some felt that the committee’s work was more thorough and trustDayton Journal Herald wrote a series on lurid comic books that worthy than that of NODL (Blanchard 274). The chairman was caused the city manager to order police to check newsstands and Jesse L. Murrell, a Methodist minister from Covington, Kentucky. bring in examples of objectionable comics (“Religious Editor” 50).

He headed an executive committee of ten and a reviewing staff of approximately 130 individuals. The committee reviewed and rated One exposé that received national attention and was widely comic books and published lists of the results. Each comic book reprinted was the Hartford Courant’s four-part series on comic story was evaluated in terms of its cultural, moral, and emotional books. The idea for the series came from a column by editorial tone and given a rating of no objection, some objection, objecwriter Thomas E. Murphy, who speculated about factors tionable, or very objectionable. Only comic books falling into the contributing to juvenile delinquency in Hartford, Connecticut. first two categories were deemed suitable for children. Reviewers When he discovered that children in troubled areas of the city included mothers, educators from both public and parochial spent a larger portion of their leisure time reading crime and schools, PTA members, juvenile court workers, librarians, horror comic books than other children, he wrote a column asking clergymen, and members of the business community. The results parents, “Do you know what your children are reading?” A series were made available to anyone for a nominal fee to cover mailing devoted to the problem of comic books followed; the first story ran costs. In addition, Parents’ Magazine published the committee’s list February 14, 1954. In order to stress the importance of the problem, each year. the Courant ran the story above the newspaper’s nameplate, a format it had seldom used in its 190-year history. The headline In the August 1954 report in Parents’ Magazine, comics rated was: “Depravity for Children – 10 Cents a Copy!” (Towne 11). The objectionable or very objectionable in the “cultural” category first article was simply a collection of plot summaries gleaned from included those that belittled traditional American institutions; the comic books that reporter Irving M. Kravsow purchased in comics that used obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, or language of the Hartford and spent two weeks reading. He warned parents that underworld; stories expressing prejudice against class, race, creed, any child could buy a “short course in murder, mayhem, robbery, or nationality; stories that treated divorce humorously or as rape, cannibalism, carnage, sex, sadism and worse.” Kravsow then glamorous; those that expressed sympathy with the criminal went to New York to interview publishers for the second article, against law and order; and those that made criminals and criminal which appeared February 15 with the headline: “Public Taste, acts attractive. Books that were rated “morally” objectionable Profit Used to Justify ‘Horror’ Comics.” The third article in the included those in which women were used to glamorize crime; any series printed the reactions of educators, religious leaders, and situation having a sexual implication; figures that were dressed civic officials to comic books. The final story in the series noted indecently or unduly exposed; stories that provided details or that the United States district attorney was warning publishers that methods of crime, especially enacted by children; the portrayal of they must “clean house.” The response was immediate. Emergency law enforcement officials as stupid or ineffective; and the portrayal meetings were scheduled by service and civic organizations and of drug addiction or excessive use of alcohol. Comic books rated as committees were formed to address the problem (Towne 11). “morbidly emotional” and objectionable included any showing kidnapping of women or children; characters shown bleeding, One of the earliest organizations of this type, the Committee on particularly from the face or mouth; use of chains, whips, or other the Evaluation of Comic Books in Cincinnati, formed in June 1948, cruel devices; morbid picturization of dead bodies; stories and achieved national status when its work was publicized by Parents’ pictures that had a sadistic implication or suggested use of black Magazine. Since it confined its activities to reviewing comic books,

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Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

magic; portrayal of maiming or disfiguring acts of assault or murder; and people being attacked or injured by wild animals or reptiles. A comic book like Superman was rated as having some objection because it depicted criminal acts or moral violations (even if legally punished) and because it featured “sinister creatures” portrayed in a grotesque, fantastic, or unnatural way. A horror title such as Shock SuspenStories was rated as very objectionable in six different categories. “Funny animal” books like Tweety and Sylvester were about the only titles to receive the noobjection rating.

It is important to note that while crusades against comic books were often begun with the idea of eliminating from the newsstand those comics containing graphic violence or sex, the groups rating comics quickly expanded their goals, monitoring the cultural and moral values depicted in the pages. Rating the violent content of comic books proved difficult. Is it acceptable, say, in a Western comic to show men having a fist fight but not shooting at each other? And must the violence be specific, or is the threat of violence, either spoken or implied by a raised hand or a close-up of a gun, enough to condemn the comic book? Extending the rating system into the areas of cultural and moral values opened the door for purges that left only the most innocuous comic books on the stands. As will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter, some of the better crime and horror comic books took a stand on social issues of the day. By condemning all references to race as being racist, for example, reviewers effectively closed off all discussion of racism.

The difficulties inherent in reviewing comic book content is made apparent in comparing the work of different groups.

Although the Cincinnati committee had the same goals as NODL, their lists often did not agree. In 1949, for example, the Cincinnati Committee rated 29 percent of comics as fully acceptable, and the Catechetical Guild of St. Paul gave an “A” rating to 25 percent of comics using the NODL lists. But on the Catholic list were five comics given a “very objectionable” rating by Cincinnati reviewers (Blanchard 248-49).

Articles in local newspapers frequently provided the impetus for decency crusades, but national media attention to the problem of comic books also launched several campaigns. While the comic book industry ignored local media attacks, national publicity was another matter. After the publication of Marya Mannes’ article in New Republic in February 1947 (see chap. 1), the publishers formed a trade association, the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, but it took another national attack on comics to spur the publishers into action.

In March 1948, a debate on comic books was broadcast on the ABC Radio Network program “America’s Town Meeting of the

Capp And Brown In a 1948 edition of the radio series America’s Town Meeting of the Air, drama critic and frequent radio-show guest John Mason Brown (left) faced off with Al Capp, creator of the popular comic strip (and even comic book) Li’l Abner. Capp, bless his heart, defended comics of every stripe!

Air.” The March 2 program generated more than six thousand letters, a record response.

Newsweek’s March 15 coverage described the discussion as a duel between John Mason Brown, scholarly drama Nursery Crimes critic of the Saturday Review of Already by 1948, Dr. Fredric Wertham (left) was Literature, author, one of the primary figures behind the “public outrage” over crime comics—but it was Judith and lecturer, and Al Crist (right), later a movie reviewer for TV Guide, Capp, who actually wrote one of the first key articles, in “wisecracking the form of an interview with the good doctor. cartoonist” who That article’s title was “Horror in the Nursery.” drew Li’l Abner.

The photo of Wertham is from the back of his 1954 Marya Mannes tome Seduction of the Innocent. argued on Brown’s side, and George Hecht, publisher of a line of educational comics and Parents’ Magazine, stood with Capp. The opening statements by Brown and Capp were reprinted in the Saturday Review of Literature on March 20. Brown’s attack was based on the comic book’s contamination of children’s culture, a familiar criticism. He argued that comic books were the lowest, most despicable, and most harmful form of trash, designed for readers who are too lazy to read. In a statement that was often repeated, Brown called comic books “the marijuana of the nursery; the bane of the bassinet; the horror of the house; the curse of the kids; and a threat to the future” (Brown 31-32). Capp’s defense of the comics centered around arguments that the murder, crime, and violence found in the pages of comic books were no different from that in the newspaper and that comic strips were “as old a form as the written word itself” (Capp 33).

It is important to recognize that in the beginning, the response from the industry and other spokesmen defending comic books was much less organized and much less persuasive than the arguments the critics presented. As noted earlier, attacking community leaders who purported to have the welfare of children at heart was not likely to influence many. Even after the association of comic book publishers reorganized in 1948, the group did not have the funding to launch a public relations campaign of sufficient scope to counter the critics. Other groups that might have spoken out were reluctant to become “tainted” with the negative public image of comic books. Comic strip cartoonists, for example, generally considered comic books the poor step-cousin of the comic strip and most were anxious to disassociate themselves from the medium. Capp’s assertion that comics were an art form to be appreciated was probably an argument ahead of its time, coming in a period when few recognized the value of studying popular culture. And when Fredric Wertham entered the fray, comic book defenders had no expert waiting in the wings to put up against the noted psychiatrist.

In March, Wertham released his findings about the effects of comic books to his colleagues in a symposium on comic books he organized for the Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy and to the public in an article written by Judith Crist for Collier’s, “Horror in the Nursery.” Wertham maintained that comic book reading was an influencing factor in the case of every delinquent or disturbed child he studied (Crist 22).

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

The Company They Kept Three speakers at a 1948 symposium on “The Psychopathology of Comic Books.” (Left:) Self-taught folklorist Gershon Legman. Someone in the early1960s SF/comics fanzine Xero described Legman as “the kind of person who runs blushing from hot dog stands.” They weren’t far wrong. (Center:) Dr. Hilde Mosse, a close associate of Dr. Wertham’s back in the day. (Right:) Future creator/editor/writer/artist of Mad (but in 1948 still “just” a comic book artist) Harvey Kurtzman, seen in a 1960 photo; he and several other comics people were invited to be on that ’48 symposium, as well… but none of them got a chance to say much. Incidentally, a 1968 radio debate between Mosse and Marvel editor/writer Stan Lee was transcribed in the 2011 book The Stan Lee Universe, edited by Danny Fingeroth and Roy Thomas— still on sale wherever fine books on Stan Lee are sold… namely, on TwoMorrows Publishing’s website.

The symposium, titled “The Psychopathology of Comic Books” was held on March 19, 1948, at the New York Academy of Medicine. Also speaking at the symposium were Gershon Legman, Dr. Hilde Mosse, Paula Elkisch, and Marvin L. Blumberg. Their remarks and a summary of the discussion that followed were published in the American Journal of Psychotherapy. All the speakers condemned the comic books, accusing them of being unhealthy escape mechanisms, of teaching children that violence was the

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only solution to their problems, and of stirring primitive impulses that retarded the development of socially desirable behavior and attitudes. Comics were defended by representatives of the industry who attended the symposium, including Charles Biro, Alden Getz, and Harvey Kurtzman, but they were not given much opportunity

by Wertham to present their views (Wertham, “Psychopathology” 490). When criticized for not allowing industry representatives to speak, he remarked: “I am even more guilty than that: I once conducted a symposium on alcoholism and didn’t invite a single distiller” (Wertham, “Comics… Very Funny” 29).

For her article in Collier’s, published March 27, 1948, Crist illustrated Wertham’s points with anecdotal information gleaned from case histories of the children the psychiatrist treated, a technique Wertham was himself to use successfully in later articles and books. Sandwiched between the horror stories of children who acted out the comic book stories they read, however, were several key ideas that would be repeated throughout Wertham’s decadelong fight against comic books.

First, Wertham wanted his audience to realize how popular comic books were. He estimated that there were more than sixty million comic books in circulation per month and pointed out that some of his young patients reported reading as many as twenty a week, trading with siblings and friends (Crist 22). Second, he saw himself as “a voice for the thousands of troubled parents who, like myself, are concerned primarily with their children’s welfare.”

Wertham told Crist he had heard parents express anxiety about comic books literally hundreds of times in letters and during conferences (97).

Third, he attacked those in his profession who served as consultants to the publishers,

Say It Ain’t So, Jo-Jo! Three illustrations that were printed in conjunction with Dr. Fredric Wertham’s article “The Comics… Very Funny!” in the May 29, 1948, issue of the Saturday Review of Literature, which is discussed by Dr. Nyberg on the next page: The cover of Fox Comics’ Jo-Jo Comics #15 (May 1948—“Congo King” wasn’t part of the official title), plus a panel from inside that issue (sent by Leonard de Sa); artists unknown. The label beneath that panel in SRL read: “Marijuana of the Nursery.” What was it with all the “nursery” references in those 1948 attacks on comic books, already? Were there rumors that kids were sneaking copies of Tales from the Crypt into their cribs? “Tales from the Crib”? (The images in SRL were all black-&-white; we’ve chosen to print the actual color version of the cover.)

Also in that issue was the would-be-infamous Jack Cole “icepick in the eye” panel from Magazine Village’s True Crime Comics #2 (May 1947). Wertham would use that image again, including in his 1954 tome Seduction of the Innocent. [© the respective copyright holders.]

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noting that many of them were “psycho-prima donnas” who did no clinical work with children. He said: “The fact that some child psychiatrists endorse comic books does not prove the healthy state of the comic books. It only proves the unhealthy state of child psychiatry.” He refuted the consultants’ claims that comic books were simply healthy fantasy outlets for aggression and that children were aware that the world of comic books was one of make-believe (Crist 23). In addition, he rejected the idea that comic books could serve as educational tools: “Not only are comic books optically hard to read, with their garish colors and semiprinted balloons, but they are psychologically bad, turning the child’s interest from reading to picture gazing” (Crist 96).

adversely affected by comic books; and second, he disputed the notion that comic books prevent crime and delinquency because the stories always end with the triumph of law enforcement. He concluded by restating his position that “comic books represent systematic poisoning of the well of childhood spontaneity” (29).

What was missing from this article is perhaps more important than what was included; nowhere in “The Comics… Very Funny!” was his call for legislation against comic books repeated.

These latest attacks on comic books prompted the ACMP to reorganize in June 1948, and publishers appointed committees on public relations and advertising, censorship, editorial improvements, and research (Smith 1652). On July 1, 1948, the association announced the adoption of a code to regulate the content of comics. The six-point code forbade depiction of sex or sadistic torture, the use of vulgar and obscene language, the ridicule of religious and racial groups, and the humorous treatment of divorce. As Newsweek noted in its coverage of the new code, the most detailed provision dealt with the issue of crime: “Crime should not be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy against law and justice or to inspire others with the desire for imitation. No comics should show the details and methods of a crime committed by a youth. Policemen, judges, government

Finally, and perhaps most important, Wertham took the opportunity to press for legislation against comic books. If publishers were unwilling to clean up comic books, he argued, “the time has come to legislate these books off the newsstands and out of the candy stores.” He believed that present penal laws in most states could be used to eliminate comic books (Crist 22). He decried the unwillingness of law enforcement to take action: “It is obviously easier to sentence a child to life imprisonment than to curb a hundred-million-dollar business” (Crist 23). Also sharing the blame were mental hygiene associations, child study committees, child care councils, and community child welfare groups who failed to speak out against comics. Countering Association of Comic Magazine Publishers arguments about the freedom of the press, Wertham said: “We are not dealing with the rights and privileges Comics Code of adults to read and write as they choose. We are 1948 dealing with the mental health of a generation—the care of which we have left too long in the hands of unscrupulous persons whose only interest is greed and The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, realizing its financial gain” (Crist 97). responsibility to the millions of readers of comics magazines and to the public generally, urges its members and others to Wertham used the material he prepared for the publish comics magazines containing only good, wholesome symposium as the basis for an article on comic books entertainment or education, and in no event include in any solicited by Norman Cousins, editor of Saturday Review magazine comics that may in any way lower the moral of Literature. It was titled “The Comics… Very Funny!” standards of those who read them. In particular: and appeared in the May 29, 1948, issue. It was condensed for the August issue of Reader’s Digest, and 1. Sexy, wanton comics should not be published. No drawing letters to Wertham poured into the offices at both publications, many of them offering help or advice for a should show a female indecently or unduly exposed, and in national movement to get comic books off the shelves. It no event more nude than in a bathing suit commonly worn in also triggered police action against comic books in more the United States of America. than fifty cities (Gilbert 98-99; Wertham, “Comics… Very Funny” 7). The article begins with an extensive listing of 2. Crime should not be presented in such a way as to throw anecdotal evidence demonstrating that children were sympathy against law and justice or to inspire others with imitating the violent acts they read about in comic the desire for imitation. No comics shall show the details and books. Illustrations included two comic book panels, one methods of a crime committed by a youth. Policemen, judges, showing a woman being attacked by an ape and another Government officials, and respected institutions should not be showing a needle about to be plunged into the eye of a portrayed as stupid or ineffective, or represented in such a helpless woman, and the cover for an issue of Jo-Jo – way as to weaken respect for established authority.

Congo King, with a scantily clad woman in the foreground being pursued by a man dressed in a 3. No scenes of sadistic torture should be shown. loincloth riding a water buffalo. These illustrations were labeled “Marijuana of the Nursery” (7), a title no doubt inspired by drama critic John Brown’s scathing attack on 4. Vulgar and obscene language should never be used. Slang comics two months earlier. Wertham noted: “Comic should be kept to a minimum and used only when essential books are the greatest book publishing success in history to the story. and the greatest mass influence on children… one billion times a year a child sits down and reads a comic book.”

5. Divorce should not be treated humorously nor represented Next, Wertham listed seventeen of the arguments made as glamorous or alluring. in favor of comic books, refuting each one with a sentence or two included in parentheses. Wertham had 6. Ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never presented most of these arguments in the Collier’s article. permissible.

But he did introduce two new elements: first, he took issue with the idea that only abnormal children are

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supported the new code, and that number dwindled until, by 1954, there were only three publishers left in the organization and the prepublication review process had been abandoned.

That Was Then—This Was Later!

Covers for Gleason/Biro’s Crime Does Not Pay #48 (Nov. 1946) and Magazine Enterprises’ Manhunt #14 (1953). Biro’s illo was the type of cover the Association of Comic Magazine Publishers’ 1948 code was meant to forestall—but Biro himself kept crankin’ ’em out for the next six years—and, as the anonymous Manhunt cover shows, so did other mainstream comics companies. Thanks to Jim Amash for the CDNP art. [© the respective copyright holders.]

officials, and respected institutions should not be portrayed as stupid or ineffective, or represented in such a way as to weaken respect for established authority” (“Purified Comics” 56). The emphasis on regulating depictions of crime reflected concerns about possible links between comic books and juvenile delinquency. Many felt that even children who did not exhibit other delinquent behavior might be enticed into imitating crimes pictured in detail in their favorite comics, and children who did not act on what they read were still getting the wrong message about authority from the stories that glorified criminals.

The ACMP hired a staff of reviewers who read the comics before they were published, and approved comics were allowed to carry the association’s seal of approval on the cover. The president of the association, Phil Keenan of Hillman Periodicals, warned the public not to expect overnight miracles, because the improvements would be made to comic books currently in production, and those books would not be put into circulation for several months (“Code for the Comics” 62). Almost immediately, the industry ran into trouble trying to enforce its code. While there had been strong support initially for a trade association, many of the largest publishers broke ranks. Some left the organization because they did not want their companies associated with those publishing what they felt were inferior comics, some because of objections to the code, some because of the time and expense involved in supporting prepublication review, and some because of what ACMP executive director Henry Schultz characterized as “internecine warfare in [the] industry.” As a result, only about a third of the publishers actually

A Concrete Plan Perhaps one of the “criminal ideas” that Dr. Wertham thought might be implanted in a child’s mind by comic books was that of sticking an enemy’s feet in cement, letting it dry, then dropping him into the nearest river. Bob Fujitani drew this cover for Hillman Periodicals’ Crime Detective #1 (MarchApril 1948). [© the respective copyright holders.]

In August 1948, Wertham attacked comic books and denounced the code at the Seventy-Eighth Annual Congress of Correction of the American Prison Association. His paper, “The Betrayal of Childhood: Comic Books,” was a five-part analysis consisting of case histories, content analysis, an evaluation of effects, an examination of the industry, and a proposal for action. Wertham said that the case histories demonstrated that the behavior of young children was influenced by reading comic books; a study of typical cases “shows that whatever antecedent factors existed, the factor of imitation (as is well-known to parents, even if not to the experts of the comic-book industry) is often very important” (71). He called comic books a “correspondence course in crime” because of their detailed explanations of how crimes are committed and noted that during the first six months of 1948, there was a drastic increase in the number of comic books that capitalized on crime and violence (57).

Then Wertham listed seven ways in which

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Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

comic books affect children: 1.Comic books may suggest criminal or sexually abnormal ideas.

2.They create a mental preparedness or readiness for temptation.

3.They suggest the forms a delinquent impulse may take and supply details of the latest techniques for its execution.

4.They may tip the scales in the behavior of an otherwise normal child and act as the precipitating factor of delinquency or emotional disorder.

5.They supply the rationalization for a contemplated act which is often more important than the impulse itself.

6.They set off a chain of undesirable and harmful thinking.

7.They create for the child atmosphere of deceit, trickery and cruelty. (58) Wertham concluded that children who spend time and money on comic books “have nothing to show for it afterwards.” If the Pure Food and Drug law can protect children’s bodies, Wertham argued, then “surely the minds of children deserve as much protection.” He stated that the self-regulation of the industry, represented by the code passed two months earlier, was a “farce” and while he did not advocate censorship, he suggested his solution for legislation was a “democratic” one—the protection of the many against the few (59).

The failure of the industry’s attempts at self-regulation in 1948 gave impetus to calls for legislation at the local, state, and national levels. Decency crusades and media campaigns were carried out in towns and cities all across America and were highly effective at the local level in controlling the distribution of comic books deemed unsuitable by the church and civic groups that organized against

the comic book menace. But many felt that scattershot efforts at controlling comic books were not enough. One of the proponents of state and federal legislation was Wertham, who was seeking a ban on the sale of all comic books to children under age sixteen.

Some of the strongest support for legislation against comic books came from the National Congress of Parents and Teachers and from the National Education Association. A resolution adopted by the National Congress on September 16, 1948, spelled out a “Plan of Action” against unwholesome comics, motion pictures, and radio programs. The proposal called for studies of the effects of mass media on children and urged the national group to meet with publishers and producers to improve productions. In addition, state groups affiliated with the National Congress were urged to organize local radio listener councils, motion picture councils, and evaluating groups for comics and other publications.

In addition, members were asked to review state and local laws and to initiate community action to improve and enforce existing laws (“Plan of Action” 12). Mabel W. Hughes, president of the National Congress, wrote in her editorial in the organization’s publication, National Parent-Teacher, that comic books deserved not only censure, but censorship (Hughes 3). Her call for censorship was echoed by the editor of the NEA Journal, Joy Elmer Morgan, who condemned the exploitation of the immature minds of children by commercial interests. Responding to the comic book industry’s charges that censorship undermined press freedom, Morgan wrote: “We fail to see the point. Freedom of the press cannot be separated from responsibility of the press. Press freedom… was never intended to protect indecency or the perversion of the child mind” (Morgan 570).

Others, however, felt that legislation against comic books would set a dangerous precedent. The Nation went on record in its March 19, 1949, issue as being opposed to legislation directed against comic books, adding: “Comic books are an opening wedge. If they can be ‘purified’—that is, controlled— newspapers, periodicals, books, films, and everything else will follow” (319). The trade publication of the newspaper industry, Editor and Publisher, also saw the possibility of a dangerous precedent being set with the legislation of comic book content.

In an editorial in its December 18, 1948, issue, it called on newspapers to fight laws against comics. The editorial pointed out that various community ordinances made public censors of city officials. It warned that it would be difficult to restrain such officials from extending censorship to other media. It concluded: “For instance, wouldn’t it be the next logical step for such censors to forbid the sale to minors of newspapers carrying news stories of crime? Censorship breeds censorship!” (“Censorship of Comics” 36). Not surprisingly, the comic book industry opposed legislation, using the same argument Changing Topix about the dangers of censorship and (Left:) The list of comics “approved” by Topix Comics, a comic book published by the Catholic organization maintaining that industry selfcalled the Catechetical Guilt Educational Society. This page is from issue Vol. 8, #2, published for Dec. 12, 1949. regulation was the proper course.

Thanks to Frank Motler.

Henry Schultz, executive director of (Right:) The inside front cover of Topix Comics, Vol. 5, #4 (Dec. 1947), whose cover and a splash page were seen in the previous issue of Alter Ego. [© the respective copyright holder.]

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

the industry trade association, noted that self regulation was the “true and lasting solution.”

Censorship, he argued, “can do naught but lead us down a dark and dangerous road from which there may be no returning” (Schultz, “Censorship” 22324).

While the ACMP and the comic book industry had seemingly found allies, most of those who defended comic Hey, Kids—NOT Comics! books against Cover of a vintage issue of the “adult crime censorship did not magazine” Headquarters Detective, subtitled condone the publiTrue Cases from the Police Blotter. The U.S. cation of crime and Supreme Court reversed lower-court decisions horror comic books. making it illegal to distribute such literature…

In fact, if there had but first you had to get to the Supremes! been a way to assure [© the respective copyright holders.] such groups that censorship laws would be limited to comic books, they no doubt would have thrown their support wholeheartedly behind such legislation. This conclusion is reflected in the fact that decency crusades in local communities were praised by the very same people who opposed censorship laws. In many ways, the decency crusades were a more insidious form of censorship, since there was no legal recourse against such actions.

Decency crusades, however, had their greatest impact on retailers and on the readers whose selection of comic books was dictated by a small group in the community intent on policing public morality. Such actions had little impact on the industry. Of more concern to publishers, however, was the work of legislators who sought laws to control or ban the publication of comics. The threat of legislation directly affected the economic well-being of the comic book publishing industry. A major hurdle, however, was the constitutionality of any legal remedies targeting comic books.

The legal case of most concern to those drafting state and federal legislation against comic books was a case that dealt, not with a comic book, but an adult crime magazine, Headquarters Detective, True Cases from the Police Blotter. Two thousand copies of the magazine were seized in New York under a section of the New York Penal Code that made it illegal to publish, distribute, or sell any book, pamphlet, magazine, or newspaper made up primarily of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures, or stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust, or crime. The book dealer was convicted, but after more than seven years of litigation, lower court decisions were reversed by the United States Supreme Court on March 29, 1948, on the grounds that the law was unconstitutional. Similar statutes in eighteen states were overturned by the decision in Winters v. New York (Twomey, “Anti-Comic Book Crusade” 16 – 17; Mitchell “Evil Harvest” 36-37).

The Supreme Court found the laws prohibiting depiction of crime and violence in the media unconstitutional as written, since

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they violated both the First and Fourteenth amendments. Although obscenity and pornography were not protected under the First Amendment, the Court ruled that crime magazines, while containing little of value to society, were as much entitled to free speech protection as the best of literature (Winters 667). The Court also noted that while words such as obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent, or disgusting were “well understood through long use in criminal law,” the provisions against crime and bloodshed were unconstitutionally vague because the clause had no “technical or common law meaning.” Without a precise definition, it was impossible for an individual to know when he or she was in violation of the law. Therefore, the New York law was also in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing due process.

Gershon Legman, speaking before the Association for the Advancement of Psychotherapy as part of a symposium on comic books organized by Fredric Wertham, noted that the Winters decision would make it difficult to pass legislation against comic books. Legman interpreted the Supreme Court decision to mean the court had separated obscenity from violence and ruled that the latter had constitutional protection. He commented that it was hypocritical that after looking at hundreds of pictures in comic books showing half-naked women being tortured to death, critics could only complain that the women were half naked. He added, “If they were being tortured to death with all their clothes on, that would be perfect for children” (476).

The Supreme Court’s decision in 1948 set guidelines for media content that are still at issue today. Laws regulating obscenity and pornography are on the books in almost every city and state, but the regulation of violent content in the media, while it spurs periodic public outcry and legislative investigation, ultimately remains the responsibility of the media industries and their self-regulatory bodies. Opponents of crime comics took heart, however, from one section of the Winters decision that left the door open for legislators to rewrite state laws. The court noted that states do have the right to punish the circulation of objectionable printed matter not protected by the First Amendment provided that “apt words” were used to describe the prohibited publications (Winters 672). In addition, the strong dissenting opinion by Beetle Mania three justices gave The woman on the cover of Fox’s Blue Beetle #53 hope to legislators (Feb. 1948) may not be quite “half naked,” and that a law directed she’s being strangled rather than tortured for against “objectorture’s sake—but somehow we kinda doubt tionable” comic the autodidactic scholar Gershon Legman would’ve liked this image, either. Artist books would be unknown—which is just as well. [© the upheld in the future respective copyright holders; Blue Beetle is now if it contained clear a trademark of DC Comics.]

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Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

Censors And Six-Guns Three Timely editorials against comic book censorship, probably written by Stan Lee, appeared in Two-Gun Kid #4 & 5 (Feb. & May 1949) and Marvel Mystery Comics #92 (June 1949), the flagship title’s final issue. Interestingly, TGK #5 contains the two panels shown below—one drawn by Syd Shores (writer unknown), in which the Kid gives a recalcitrant female a spanking in his best John Wayne manner; while, in the other, public humiliation for a corrupt politician is served up by Arizona Annie (creative team unknown). The 1954 Comics Code probably wouldn’t have allowed either scene, the latter since it would be against the rules to show disrespect for public officials by portraying any of them as corrupt in the first place. Thanks to Frank Motler, Steven Mitchell, & Cory Sedlmeier. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

and precise language (Twomey, “Anti-Comic Book Crusade” 18; Feder 21).

At Least There’s No Mud In Sight!

By showing so many covers published by Victor Fox—including this one for Crimes

by Women #6 (April 1949)—we don’t mean to imply that Fox Features Syndicate was the only company turning out material that would-be censors found objectionable. But V.F. sure did his best to hold up his end of things! His company would already be out of business, however, by the time the 1954-55 Comics Code kicked in. Artist unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

In their dissenting opinion, Justices Frankfurter, Jackson, and Burton noted that laws such as the New York statute were an attempt by legislators to deal with the persistent problem of crime and with its prevention. By striking down these laws, they argued, the court had given constitutional protection to publications that, in the court’s opinion, had nothing of any possible value to society, but denied to states the power to prevent the evils that such publications cause (Winters 676).

One of the first tests of the Winters decision as it related to legislation aimed at curbing crime comics was an ordinance passed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. After studying the Winters decision, Los Angeles County Counsel Harold W. Kennedy and Deputy Counsel Milnor E. Gleaves issued a legal opinion with suggestions on how legislation banning crime comics should address the problems of vagueness cited in the Supreme Court decision. They concluded that the three problems facing a city that wanted to draft an ordinance to meet the test of the Winters case were: (1) drafting legislation that did not violate the provisions of the First Amendment and its guarantee of the freedom and speech and the press; (2) drafting an ordinance that answered the problems of being vague and indefinite; (3) writing an ordinance that drew on the appropriate statutory power for enforcement. Legislation should make a definite distinction between allowable and forbidden publications and should use technical or common law meaning in defining the crimes that it would be illegal to depict (Rhyne 7-12).

The ordinance passed by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors on September 21, 1948, excluded newspaper accounts and illustrations of crimes and listed precisely which crimes could not be depicted. Those crimes included: arson, assault with caustic chemicals, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, kidnapping, mayhem, murder, rape, robbery, theft, or voluntary manslaughter.

The ordinance provided for a five-hundred-dollar fine or a sixmonth jail term for selling crime comics to children under eighteen (Rhyne 11; “Unfunny Comic Books” 38). County police were responsible for enforcement of the ordinance, although county officials said volunteer groups, such as the various parent-teacher groups who were instrumental in getting the ordinance passed, might be asked to help monitor newsstands. An informal survey taken by the county board ten days after passage of the ordinance revealed that virtually no objectionable comic books were on sale in the area.

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The Association of Comic Magazine Publishers, an industry trade group representing about one-third of the publishers, issued a press release October 18 denouncing the Los Angeles ordinance, calling the restrictions “a grievous error which undermines the principle of press freedom.” Henry Schultz, executive director of the association, said the publishers were prepared for “a fight to the finish” on the issue. He added that the ordinance “unwittingly opened the editorial offices of American publications to the menace of press censorship.” The association announced it was retaining a Los Angeles law firm to institute legal action to test the constitutionality of the ordinance (“Comics Group Plans to Test” 32; Morgan, “Ubiquitous Comics” 570).

The Los Angeles County ordinance covered only the rural areas of the county, but some groups hoped the California legislature would enact the ban statewide. No retailers were prosecuted under the ordinance, and on December 27, 1949, the law was declared unconstitutional by the California Superior Court. Quoted in the December 31, 1949, issue of Editor and Publisher, Judge Harley Shaw commented that under the ordinance, even school history textbooks devoting chapters to Lincoln’s assassination or the incident that touched off World War I, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo, and that contained illustrations of these events, would be banned. He concluded: “The central question is the validity of a county ordinance which is commonly thought to outlaw comic books. We conclude it runs counter to the state and federal constitutions” (“Ban” 10). The issue here was not the language used in defining which depictions of crime and violence were to be outlawed, but rather the broader issue of how to define a comic book. A major problem that emerged in legislation targeting comic books was how to formulate a legal definition of a comic book narrow enough to exclude other illustrated matter. Although comic books were clearly a separate medium from newspaper comics and other illustrated material, writing a legal definition of comics proved to be quite difficult.

Apparently the problem stumped the Los Angeles legal staff; while some called for an appeal of the court decision, no further legal action was taken (“Psychiatrist Charges Stalling” 9).

Although Los Angeles abandoned its attempt to pass legislation regulating comic books, other cities and states considered various ordinances and bills to control or prohibit the publication of objectionable comic books. Nowhere was the effort more sustained than in New York, home to the comic book publishing industry.

Between 1948 and 1955, the New York State legislature conducted an extensive investigation of comic books and tried on several occasions to pass legislation controlling comics.1 The New York legislature, in response to the Winters decision, began by passing an amendment to Section 1141, Subdivision 2, of the Penal Law that had been found to be unconstitutional in the Winters case. That bill, sponsored by Senate Republican majority leader Benjamin F. Feinberg at the request of the New York District Attorneys Association, was intended to address the court’s concern that the language was too vague. The original statute outlawed printed matter “principally made up of criminal news, police reports, or accounts of criminal deeds, or pictures, or stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime.” The amended version modified the wording of the statute as follows: “… principally made up of 1 This account of the work of the New York legislature is constructed from many sources. Two unpublished master's theses dealt with the work of the committee: John E. Twomey, “The Anti-Comic Book Crusade,” M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1955; and Steven E. Mitchell, “Evil Harvest: Investigating the Comic Book, 1948-1954,” M.A. thesis, Arkansas State University, 1982 (also serialized in the trade publication Comics Buyer's Guide).

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Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

accounts or pictures depicting sordid bloodshed, lust or heinous acts.” Legislators apparently believed the addition of “sordid” before bloodshed and the changing of “crime” to “heinous acts” would provide a more precise definition of material to be prohibited by the statute (“Comic Book Curb Vetoed” 20).

Newspapers and magazines provided detailed accounts: “Comic Book Curb Vetoed by Dewey,” New York Times, 20 April 1949, 20; “State Bill to Curb Comic Books Filed,” New York Times, 14 January 1949, 18; “Comics Censorship Bill Passes New York Senate,” Publishers’ Weekly, 5 March 1949, 1160; “Comic Book Bill Assailed,” New York Times, 11 March 1949, 23; “State Laws to Censor Comics Protested by Publishers,” Publishers’ Weekly, 12 March 1949, 1244; “New York Censors” (editorial), Editor and Publisher, 12 March 1949, 38; Editorial, New York Times, 25 February 1949, 22; “State Senate Acts to Control Comics,” New York Times, 24 February 1949, 17; “Delayed Comic-Book Curb,” New York Times, 18 January 1950, 23; “Witnesses Favor Comic Book Curbs,” New York Times, 14 June 1950, 29; “Hold Hearings on New State Curb on Comics,” Advertising Age, 19 June 1950, 65; “Comics Publishers Speak Up against State Regulation,” Advertising Age, 14 August 1950, 38; “Oppose State Regulation,” New York Times, 9 August 1950, 24; “Psychiatrist Asks Crime Comics Ban,” New York Times, 14 December 1950, 50; “New York Legislature Gives Warning to Comics Publishers,” Advertising Age, 26 March 1951, 16; “Comics Producers Get Censor Warning,” New York Times, 27 April, 1951, 15; “Comics Publishers Warned of Possible Legislative Action,” Advertising Age, 7 May 1951, 74; “Health Law Urged to Combat Comics,” New York Times, 4 December 1951, 35; “Comics Trade Solid to Balk State Rule,” New York Times, 5 December 1951, 37; “New Move Likely on Car Inspection,” New York Times, 7 March 1952, 21; “Comic Book Curbs Vetoed in Assembly,” New York Times, 13 March 1952, 42; “Auto Inspections Backed in Albany,” New York Times, 14 March 1952, 17; “Comic Book Curb Vetoed by Dewey,” New York Times, 15 April 1952, 29.

An Eerie Canal The first true horror comic was Avon Periodicals’ Eerie Comics #1 (Jan. 1947)—whose cover manages to embody horror (a robed ghoul), crime (hey, he’s got a knife, ain’t he?), and mild sexual titillation (if you’re eight).

Cover artist unknown—but since Bob Fujitani drew two of the three stories inside and his style is similar, he seems a likely candidate. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The committee itself issued three reports: Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics, Interim Report (Albany: Williams Press Inc., 1950); idem, Report, Legislative Document No. 15 (Albany: Williams Press Inc., 1951); idem, Report, Legislative Document No. 64 (Albany: Williams Press Inc., 1952). Additional information was found in recorded testimony, Hearings before the New York Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics, 4 February 1955.

Governor Thomas Dewey’s opinions and correspondence were

contained in Governor’s Bill Jacket, Veto no. 117, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

The comic book industry, naturally, opposed passage of this bill.

The head of the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, Henry Schultz, wrote Gov. Thomas Dewey urging him to veto the bill. In a letter dated April 1, 1949, Schultz argued that the bill was unconstitutional. He also suggested that the legislation was based on the premise that magazines (including comic books) that contained accounts of crime were harmful, and that this assumption was not supported by any valid evidence and “rests entirely upon opinion, emotional and unscientific.” Schultz also suggested that the program of self-regulation recently adopted by the trade association was the only practical solution to the problem posed by comic books.

Although the bill passed both houses, it was vetoed April 18, 1949, by Governor Dewey. The primary difficulty with the proposed legislation lay in defining what materials would be prohibited. In his veto memorandum, Dewey cited the case of Winters v. New York, noting the bill made little change in the language already held invalid by the highest court in the land.

Dewey felt the addition of the adjective “sordid” and the substitution of the words “heinous acts” for the word “crime” did not adequately address the objections in the Winters case. He concluded: “The bill is therefore unconstitutional within the language of the Winters case and it is disapproved.”

In addition to his attempt to rewrite the state’s penal code, Senator Feinberg also introduced a proposal, cosponsored by Assemblyman James A. Fitzpatrick, that would have created a comic book division in the state Department of Education to review all comic books and issue permits for publication, similar to the procedure used to license motion pictures. All publishers would be required to apply for a permit before publication. The fee was set at three dollars for each application. Appeals could be made to the Board of Regents. If the permit was denied, the publisher could still publish the comic book, but he would be required to carry a notice on the title page of the comic book that a permit had been denied. In addition, he would be required to file a copy of the comic book with the district attorney in each county where the comic book was to be distributed thirty days in advance of publication (“State Bill” 18; Mitchell, “Evil Harvest” 67; “Comics Censorship Bill” 1160). Such a procedure obviously would have been so expensive and cumbersome for publishers that they would have been unable to publish and sell comic books in the state of New York—no doubt the intention of the lawmakers introducing the bill.

Opponents to the bill warned Governor Dewey and legislators that the Feinberg-Fitzpatrick bill was an attack on the constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press that could extend censorship to the newspapers and set a dangerously repressive precedent (“State Laws” 1244). A New York Times editorial published February 25, 1949, noted that a censor who was asked to read all comic books published “would quickly go mad” and opposed the creation of such a position in the Department of Education. Instead, the state should rely on public opinion to bring about needed reforms. Although such a remedy might take longer than imposing state regulation, such legislation was a “dangerous invasion” of freedom of the press (Editorial, 38). Despite this opposition, the bill was approved by the senate February 23, 1949, on a 49-6 vote. Feinberg called the measure a progressive step and a method of regulation that would be free of politics. However, the bill later died in committee in the assembly (“State Senate Acts” 17).

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

During the legislative debate over comic book regulation, one of the opponents of those bills, Sen. Harold I. Panken, introduced a resolution February 28, 1949, to defer action until a study had been made by a legislative committee. The Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics was created on March 29, 1949, and fifteen thousand dollars was appropriated for its work. The appointment of the joint committee marked the beginning of the first systematic study of the comic book industry by a state legislative body. Serving on the committee were Panken, Sen. Henry W. Griffith, another Democrat who had opposed the Feinberg-Fitzpatrick bill, and assemblymen Joseph Carlino, Lawrence Murphy, and James Fitzpatrick. Carlino was selected chairman of the committee at its first meeting in Albany June 24, 1949 (“State Laws” 1243).

One of the first actions the group took was to ask Committee Counsel Thomas Collins to prepare a memorandum of law regarding the legal issues involved in regulating comic books. In addition, the committee conducted a survey of county court and children’s court judges, state district attorneys, probation officers, and city clerks. The legislators asked these officials to submit data on juvenile delinquency and evidence that would indicate there was a connection between juvenile delinquency and reading crime comic books. The committee also requested information on legislation passed in other states.

The results were inconclusive, and on January 17, 1950, the committee announced that no legislation would be proposed (New York Legislative Interim Report 11; “Delays Comic-Book Curb” 23).

In its February 1951 report to the legislature, the legislature’s comic book committee wrote: “The intensive work done by the Committee and its staff to date convinces it that it lacks sufficient data upon which to form an opinion as to whether the charges set

39

forth in the resolution justify legislative remedies.” In order to gather additional information, the committee decided to conduct hearings in order to allow experts on both sides of the debate to testify and present evidence. During 1950, the committee held hearings in June, August, and December (New York Legislative Interim Report 11; “Delays Comic-Book Curb” 23; Mitchell, “Evil Harvest” 67).

At the June hearings, most of the witnesses called to testify before the committee favored some sort of state regulation to curb objectionable comic books. These included judges, assistant district attorneys, child psychiatrists, and representatives of women’s groups. These witnesses called for legislation targeting comic books dealing with sex or glorifying crime, horror books, and books full of lust and bloodshed. None of the witnesses had any complaints about books such as the “classic” comics or the Walt Disney types (“Witnesses Favor” 29). Following the June hearings, Lev Gleason, now president of the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, issued a statement noting that publishers disagreed with the views expressed at the hearing and asking for an opportunity to present the publishers’ side of the case before the committee (“Hold Hearings” 65).

Publishers got their turn in August, and they urged the committee to reject the idea of legislation in favor of industry selfregulation, since, in the words of trade association director Henry Schultz, state regulation would be both unfair and unworkable.

Harvey Zorbaugh of New York University, who also testified in favor of self-regulation, told the committee that parents should provide more guidance in children’s reading (“Comics Publishers Speak” 38; “Oppose State Regulation” 24). In December, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham appeared before the committee to ask for what he labeled as “public health laws” to ban the sale of crime comics to children under fifteen. Wertham cited several cases in which there was evidence crime comic books led teens to commit crimes. He rejected the idea of selfregulation, telling legislators, “The crime comic book industry sees children as a market of child buyers and no more.” (“Psychiatrist Asks” 50).

Taking Their Marvels And Going Home The 1950 hearings of the New York state legislature began to add “horror” to “sex” and “crime” as objectionable subject matter, as horror comics were coming to the fore.

Although ACG’s Adventures into the Unknown had led the way in ’48, Timely Comics (predecessor to Marvel) had jumped on the bandwagon only months later—when, after re-telling the origin of The Human Torch in Marvel Mystery Comics #92 (June 1949), the next issue abruptly dropped super-heroes, switched genres, and became Marvel Tales #93 (Aug. ’49). Timely horror titles would proliferate over the next few years, especially after EC raised the stakes. The Torch artists are uncertain, but the MT #93 cover has been identified from records as being the work of the late Mart Nodell— major co-creator, nearly a decade earlier, of DC’s “Green Lantern”—not Gene Colan, as was previously believed. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Following its year-long investigation, the New York legislative committee again declined to propose any legislation, but it took a strong anti-comic book stand in its report, published in early 1951. Among the findings of the committee: crime comics impaired the “ethical development” of children and described how to make weapons and commit crimes; comics with sadistic and masochistic scenes interfered with the normal development of sexual habits in children; and crime comics were “a contributing factor leading to juvenile delinquency” (Report [1951] 10).

Although the committee believed the majority of comic book publishers were “responsible, intelligent and rightthinking citizens with a will to improve their industry,” a “small, stubborn, willful, irresponsible minority” of publishers were responsible for the bad reputation of the industry. In addition, the entire industry was “remiss in its failure to institute effective measures to police and restrain the undesirable minority” (9). The committee also condemned the practice of crime comic publishers of hiring legal and public relations counsel “in a deliberate effort to continue such harmful practices and to fight any and every effort to arrest or control such practices” (10).

Legislators stopped short of calling for regulation, however, commenting that they had no wish to burden another industry with regulation and that they would take steps to regulate comics only as a last resort. Instead, the

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committee urged publishers to adopt a self-regulatory code, noting: “This has been done successfully in the field of entertainment, radio, television, motion pictures, newspaper and magazine publishing. It can be done in the comic book industry” (16-17). The unwillingness of publishers to cooperate with one another was criticized in the committee’s report: “The industry must eliminate inter-company distrust and must approach this common problem intelligently and in a spirit of mutual cooperation without curtailing legitimate competition and rivalry for public support of their respective editions.” The committee also warned that failure to heed the justified public clamor that comics be improved would mean “the State will be compelled to do it for them” (Report [1951] 17; “N.Y. Legislature” 16).

The problem of state regulation also was recognized. In calling for nationwide voluntary regulation, the legislators noted, “It is conceivable that a substantial number of the forty-eight states might pass individual review laws which would destroy the industry entirely because of the difficulty in submitting to so many different agencies” (Report [1951] 20-21). However, the committee rejected arguments that such laws would be unconstitutional: “The Committee entertains no doubt of the validity of legislation drawn by counsel if and when enacted.” The report added the committee was unimpressed with testimony offered by publishers “as to the impossibility of drafting a bill that could withstand a test in the courts” (20).

The committee urged the largest publishers to take immediate steps to create a self-regulatory association and appoint an independent administrator with no industry connections to act as a reviewer. Such an agency should be in place before the legislature convened in 1952. The committee also encouraged voluntary citizens’ community review groups to continue to seek support from newsdealers and distributors in rejecting unsuitable comic books (21). The chairman of the committee, Assemblyman Joseph Carlino, appeared before the Association of Comic Magazine Publishers, the association’s third annual meeting held April 26, 1951, to reinforce the committee’s call for industry self-regulation.

Carlino told publishers, “If the comic book industry cannot adequately police itself, the legislature of this state, I know, will have to take affirmative action.” Carlino stressed that he did not want to drive comic book publishing from the state, but added, “If you would like to avoid government interference, get together and you will have no fears from this state in the direction of interference with your business.” Harold A. Moore, president-elect of the association, replied: “We have been urging self-regulation for three years. We therefore heartily agree with the assemblyman that the whole industry should be represented in an organization to undertake self-regulation” (“Comics Publishers Warned” 74).

Despite the warning, the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers did nothing to revamp its code or beef up enforcement.

The largest publishers, who by their position in the industry would have had the power to put some teeth into self-regulation, did not want to associate themselves with companies that were publishing material they considered to be in questionable taste. Rather than seizing control of the trade group, these publishers tried to distance themselves from the rest of the industry.

In 1951, the New York legislative committee met several times to review the progress of the industry toward self-regulation. When no action was forthcoming from the comic book publishers, the committee conducted hearings December 3 and December 4, 1951, in order to determine the “form and content of the regulatory legislation” to be recommended concerning comic books in the 1952 legislative session (Report [1952] 11). In his opening statement, Chairman Joseph Carlino commented that it had been the hope of

all committee members that objectionable comics would be eliminated without the necessity of governmental control or state legislation.

However, the industry had been given the opportunity to correct existing abuses and nothing had been accomplished toward industrywide regulation (11). He noted the “respectable publishers” had “shirked their public responsibility in failing to perfect effective self control,” and concluded: “We must, therefore, go forward and set the pattern in New York state which undoubtedly will be adopted and followed in other states in order that this intolerable condition be eliminated” (11).

Adventures Into The Known We’ve printed this landmark cover once or twice before—but it was historically important, so here it is again: the American Comics Company’s Adventures into the Unknown was the first regularly published (as opposed to one-shot) horror comic.

The cover of the first issue (Fall 1948) was reportedly drawn by Edvard Moritz. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham once again appeared before the committee, urging them to pass legislation to protect children against the “virus” of comic books. He testified that most of the eighty million comics were the cause of “psychological mutilation” of children. He told legislators that the publishers would not police themselves because the harmless comic books do not sell (“Health Law Urged” 35). Rev. Charles C. Smith, director of the National Organization for Decent Literature office of the Albany diocese, urged the re-passage of the Feinberg-Fitzpatrick bill creating a comic book censorship division in the New York Department of Education. Mrs. Charles S. Walker, legislative chairman of the New York State Congress of Parents and Teachers, pressed legislators for an outright ban of objectionable comics (“Health Law Urged” 35). Ten publishers and representatives of the industry also testified, presenting a solid front against prepublication censorship or an amendment to the penal code that would make selling certain comic books illegal. Some accused committee members of being biased against the industry and of being victims of self-seeking propagandists (“Comics Trade” 37).

The committee rejected arguments made by the publishers that legislation against comic books would be an unconstitutional infringement on press freedom. In their report, the legislators argued that the constitution was never intended “to be a license to endanger the health, welfare, morals, or safety of a considerable number of the public.” They noted that the First Amendment was not intended to protect “ruthless individuals” in their quest for profits “at the expense of the health and safety of children” (Report [1952] 14-15). The committee wrote that appeals for self-imposed restraints had “fallen upon deaf ears” and “it is regrettable that the comic book industry has refused to adopt [them].” The committee singled out for criticism the large publishers with their “ostrich-like attitude.” Even though the large companies produced wholesome material for the most part, the committee felt those publishers should have taken the lead in forming a regulatory body.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

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Commented the legislators: “With their prestige and position, these major publishers could bring about industry-wide reform for their own preservation and future well-being as well as that of their minor competitors” (17).

The committee recommended passage of six laws targeting the comic book industry, noting that the industry had given them no other choice (18). Two of the proposals submitted for consideration in 1952 to the legislature were similar to earlier attempts at comic book regulation that had failed to win legislative approval or had been vetoed by the governor. The first was an amendment to the state statute that had been Coming Down With A Code invalidated in the Winters decision. The proposed By the time the censorship issue was amendment would prohibit publication of material coming to a head in 1953-54, the ACMP “principally made up of pictures, whether or not had become pretty much a dead letter— accompanied by any written or printed matter, of but its two-part symbol still appeared (thought not particularly large) on a fictional deeds of crime, bloodshed, lust or heinous acts, number of comic books, including those which tend to incite minors to violent or depraved or of Timely/Atlas… such as the Carl immoral acts.” It differed from earlier legislation in that Burgos cover for Young Men #25 (Feb. it was intended to cover only fictional accounts, and it 1954). The rectangle above reads: was worded in such a way that the intent of the law “Authorized A.C.M.P.,” while the words was to protect minors (19). The second bill proposed in the star are: “Conforms to the Comics was for the creation of a comic book division in the Code.” [Cover © Marvel Characters, Inc.] New York Department of Education. The mechanisms for prepublication review and the issuing of permits forbidding the publication of fictional accounts of crime, was identical to those proposed in the earlier Feinberg-Fitzpatrick bloodshed, lust, or heinous acts (21-24). bill (19-21). The rest of the legislation recommended by the The legislation was formally introduced on February 20, 1952. committee gave various New York courts jurisdiction to try cases The New York Times reported the industry was expected to put up a that arose from the violation of the proposed state statute “fierce battle” against the legislation. The New York Assembly passed the amended state statute March 13 on a 141-4 vote, and the Senate approved it the following day. But the proposal for prepublication review by the Education Department was killed in committee in both the assembly and the senate. The amended state statute was vetoed April 14, 1952, by Governor Dewey on constitutional grounds, since the minor changes in the law did not cure the basic deficiency of the earlier law.

Opponents of comic books in New York were no closer to seeing laws against comics enacted than they had been when the legislature began its investigation four years ago. Although the committee continued its work, the failure to pass any of the legislation proposed in 1952 destroyed any credibility the committee had. New York was not alone in its inability to pass legislation against comic books. While more than one-third of the states investigated amendments or proposals relating to the distribution and sale of comic books and other literature, most of these proposals were either defeated in committee or never gained sufficient support to pass both houses of the state’s legislature (Feder 23).

Edward Feder, in summarizing the attempts to draft such legislation, wrote, “It has proved to be a difficult task to write effective legislation of this kind which does not infringe upon constitutional provisions guaranteeing due process and freedom of the press” (Feder 20).

Once the initial threat had passed, the trade association formed by the comic book publishers, the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers, became inactive, largely due to lack of support from most of the major publishers. The association no longer provided any prepublication review of comics under the six-point code adopted by the association in 1948. Instead, the few remaining members adopted a provision by which they agreed to do their own censoring and put the seal on the cover of those comics that in their judgment conformed to the code (Senate Hearing 72).

Innocent’s Abroad!

The cover of the 1954 edition of Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent. [© Rinehart & Co. or successors in interest.]

The work of the New York Legislative Committee to Study the Publication of Comics highlights the difficulties faced by state

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Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

legislatures around the country wrestling with the idea of passing laws against comics. One problem was the lack of legal precedent for outlawing violent content. While the courts had clearly established that obscenity and pornography did not enjoy First Amendment protection, the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Winters case struck down laws denying such protection to publications with violent content. Another difficulty was in the legal definition of comic books.

Lawmakers were never able to describe comic books in such a way that laws intended to restrict them didn’t also apply to magazines and other illustrated material.

pressure from the comic book publishers (Wertham, “Curse of the Comic Book” 403). In addition, the bibliographic notes at the end of the book were removed by the publisher after the book was published, which Wertham felt also demonstrated the power of the comic book publishers (Reibman 8).

With his book, Wertham clearly hoped to rekindle interest in the type of legislation for which he had lobbied at the federal and state levels; the book was written primarily to alert parents and others that crime and horror comics existed and were read by children. Wertham believed that most adults had no idea of the content of comic books. Parents assumed that comic books were mostly of the “funny animal” variety. Those who were aware of the existence of crime comics were complacent because of a mistaken belief that such comics were sold to and read by adults, or they thought that by forbidding their children to read such comics they were providing adequate protection.

Wertham also provided graphic descriptions of the sex and violence to be found in comic book pages, complete with illustrations.

The failure of the industry to police itself, however, left publishers vulnerable to further attacks. The impetus for the next wave of criticism was provided by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. Perhaps as a result of the failure of lawmakers to take action, Wertham again turned to the popular press as a forum for his views about comic books. He collected his articles and lectures describing his research on the effects of mass media violence into a book-length study and Rinehart and A-Haunting We Will Go! Company agreed to publish it. The Martin Barker’s 1984 book A Haunt of Fears dealt with “the book originally bore the title All Our campaign against American comic books in Britain.” Its cover The illustrations Wertham chose Innocents, but Wertham’s editors was designed to look like an issue of EC’s Shock were single panels presented out of changed it to the more evocative SuspenStories—complete to an imitation of editor Al Feldstein’s context. But they were powerful drawing style! [© 1984Pluto Press or successors in interest.]

Seduction of the Innocent (Reibman 17). images nonetheless. One book The book was not published until reviewer described them this way: spring 1954, but excerpts were printed in the November 1953 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal in an article It is a shocking gallery, including a landscape in which the titled “What Parents Don’t Know about Comic Books.” Those phallic symbolism could scarcely escape an observant sixexcerpts were drawn primarily from three chapters of Seduction of year-old; a baseball game played with a corpse’s head for the Innocent: “What Are Crime Comic Books,” “The Effects of the ball and with entrails for the base paths; pictures Comic Books on the Child,” and “The Struggle against the Comicshowing men and women being hanged, dragged face down Book Industry.” and alive behind cars, branded, having their eyeballs Historian Martin Barker, who examined the campaign against American comic books in Britain, noted that Wertham’s book was the most famous and influential investigation of comics ever published. It became the “primer of the American campaign” and has been cited since in almost every study of comics (Barker 57).

The book summarized the case against comics, drawing on case studies of children Wertham had dealt with over the years, and it was intended for a popular audience. It was considered for inclusion as an alternate selection for the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Wertham maintained later that the Book-of-the-Month Club withdrew its offer and refused to distribute the book because of

pierced with needles (a favorite motif), and their blood sucked by beautiful female vampires; representations of nudes in all shapes and conditions (this is apparently known in the trade as “headlight” art), usually being bound or beaten, or both; and helpful diagrams illustrating the latest methods of breaking into a house or fracturing an Adam’s apple with the edge of the hand. These examples appear in black-and-white, but it is explained that they were considerably more effective in the three-color [sic] originals.

(Gibbs 134-41)

[Continued on p. 52]

A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: We interrupt this fanzine to bring you, beginning on the facing page, the 16 pages of artistic “evidence” printed in the middle of Fredric Wertham’s 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. The accompanying new captions beneath the reproduced pages will give additional information about some of the art, retrieved from several sources… most particularly the website SeductionOfTheInnocent.org. (The magazines and, in some cases, the artists have been identified by diligent researchers over the decades—but except in the case of EC and DC, no writers have been identified.) Once we had that in hand, it suddenly occurred to us that it would be fun to reprint the images from those pages of Dr. Wertham’s book in color—which is surely the way he and the publisher would have preferred it at the time.

Thus, where we’ve been able to locate them, we’ve superimposed color images from the original comics over the black-&-white ones that were printed in Seduction (or SOTI, as it’s often referred to for short on websites). Of course, in order to get two pages of SOTI onto one page of A/E and still make them as big as possible, we’ve had to print them sideways. But you’ve probably noticed that already….

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

A comic-book baseball game. Notice the chest protector and other details in the text and pictures.

(P. 1) The infamous baseball game from EC’s The Haunt of Fear #19 (May-June 1953). Art by Jack Davis; story by Al Feldstein (from a plot by William M. Gaines). Thanks to Jim Kealy and Glenn MacKay.

Cover of a children’s comic book.

(P. 2) This page’s “exhibit” was Johnny Craig’s cover for EC’s Crime SuspenStories #20 (Dec. 1953-Jan. 1954), minus the logo. Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [Images on pp. 1-2 © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.] 43

44

An invitation to learning.

Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

Pity was the keynote when Homer described a dead body dragged beneath a war chariot. Dragging living people to death is described without pity in children’s comics.

Giving children an image of American womanhood.

What comic-book America stands for.

A sample of the injury-to-the-eye motif.

(P. 3) The top and bottom right panels are from different stories in Magazine Village’s True Crime Comics #2 (May 1947)—while the Statue of Liberty caption/panel, by an unidentified artist, is from Lev Gleason’s Crime and Punishment #59 (Feb. 1953). In TCC #2, the artist of “Boston’s Bloody Gang War” is uncertain; but the infamous ”injury to the eye motif” panel is from “Murder, Morphine, and Me,” drawn by “Plastic Man” creator Jack Cole. Thanks to Jim Kealy, Frank Motler, and Michael T. Gilbert. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(P. 4) The top panel (drawn by Walter T. Johnson) is from St. John’s Authentic Police Cases #6 (Nov. 1948); the bottom panel, by an unidentified artist, is from Fox Comics’ Women Outlaws #1 (July 1948). Thanks to Tony Rose, Jim Ludwig, Jim Kealy, & Glenn MacKay. [© the respective copyright holders.]

The title of this comic book is First Love.

Children are first shocked and then desensitized by all this brutality.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Erotic spanking in a Western comic book.

The wish to hurt or kill couples in Lovers’ Lanes is a not uncommon perversion

Indeed!

Sex and blood.

(P. 5) One panel from the story “Tangled Love” in Avon Periodicals’ Frontier Romance #1 (Nov.-Dec. 1949), drawn by Walter T. Johnson… and two from Key/Gilmore Publications’ Weird Mysteries #7 (Oct.-Nov. 1953), with art by Tony Mortellaro and Vince Fodara, respectively. Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., and Bart Bush for the former scan, and to Jim Ludwig & Tony Rose for the latter. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Stomping on the face is a form of brutality which modern children learn early.

45

(P. 6) The two panels on the left are from Harvey Comics’ First Love Illustrated #35 (Nov. 1953, art by Bill Draut) & Essankay’s Law against Crime #3 (Aug. 1948), for which we have no artist info. The two (now colored) panels on the right are from Trojan’s Beware #6 (Nov. 1953) and Charlton’s The Thing! #9 (July 1953), respectively. The Beware artist is unidentified; the Charlton story was drawn by John Belfi. Thanks to Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., Jim Kealy, & Jim Ludwig, respectively, for the color scans. [© the respective copyright holders.]

46

Caricature of the author in a position comic-book publishers wish he were in permanently.

A girl raped and murdered.

(P. 7) Herb Rogoff, assistant editor at Hillman Periodicals at the time, says Dr. Wertham’s claim in Seduction that this cover for Crime Detective #9 (July-Aug. 1949) is a caricature of the psychiatrist is nonsense. Artist unknown. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(P. 8) Maurice Whitman drew the offending panel (including the alleged hidden naughty bits) in the “Tabu, Jungle Wizard” tale in Fiction House’s Jungle Comics #98 (Feb. 1948)— while the milkman panel from Ribage Publishing’s Crime Smashers #1 (Oct. 1950) is credited by the GCD to Adolphe Barreaux. Thanks to Tony Rose, Jim Kealy, & Jim Ludwig. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

In ordinary comic books, there are pictures within pictures for children who know how to look.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Sexual stimulation by combining “headlights” with the sadist’s dream of tying up a woman.

Children call these “headlights” comics.

(P. 9) In PS Artbooks’ hardcover Roy Thomas Presents Phantom Lady, Vol. 1, comic art identifier par excellence Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., reports that the oft-reprinted cover of Fox’s Phantom Lady #17 (April 1948) isn’t by the fabled Matt Baker as long thought—but probably by soon-to-be EC artist/writer/editor Al Feldstein. As for the panel from Fox’s Blue Beetle #54 (March 1947), we don’t know from nuthin’ about that one! [© the respective copyright holders.]

Treating police contemptuously is a comic-book commonplace.

47

(P. 10) Clockwise from top left, the four art specimens are from: Headline/Prize’s Justice Traps the Guilty #58 (Jan. 1954), art attributed to Mort Meskin… DC’s Strange Adventures #39 (Dec. 1953), “The Guilty Gorilla,” scripted by John Broome & drawn by Murphy Anderson (Wertham’s publisher removed the gorilla’s thought balloon)… an unidentified panel that may be from an H.G. Peterdrawn “Wonder Woman” story, but that’s just a half-educated guess… and Fox’s The Hunted #13 (July 1950), with all personnel unidentified. Thanks to Tony Rose, Jim Kealy, & Jim Ludwig for these scans. [Strange Adventures panel © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

48

Corpses of colored people strung up by their wrists.

Outside the forbidden pages of de Sade, you find drawing a girl’s blood only in children’s comics.

(P. 11) The top panel equals most of a splash from a story of “The Echo” in Dynamic Comics #17 (Jan. 1946); art by Paul Gattuso. The bottom panel is from a “Veiled Avenger” story in St. John Publishing’s Authentic Police Cases #3 (Aug. 1948); art by Gus Ricca. Thanks to Jim Kealy, Jim Ludwig, & Tony Rose. [© the respective copyright holders.]

(P. 12) The part-panel at the top is from the “Rulah, Jungle Queen” story in Fox’s All Top Comics #14 (Nov. 1948)… while the “Kid Melton” art is from Timely’s Lawbreakers Always Lose #7 (April 1949). Thanks to Jim Kealy & Glenn MacKay, respectively. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

Children told me what the man was going to do with the red-hot poker.

Children’s drawings found by police on boy-burglars.

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

Comic-book map for crime.

How to prepare an alibi.

Diagram for housebreakers.

(P. 14) The full-page “hurt” diagram is from Street & Smith’s Top Secrets #7 (Jan.-Feb. 1949). Art may be by Eddie Hoffman. Thanks to Glenn MacKay. [© the respective copyright holders.]

49

(P. 13) The top drawing was made by a kid and was reprinted with a newspaper article, while the three diagrammatical comic book panels below it, counterclockwise, are from DC’s Gang Busters #3 (April-May 1948—art by George Roussos) and D.S. Publishing’s Exposed #6 (Jan.-Feb. 1949 – “Airtight Alibi”) & #7 (March-April ’49 – “The Fatal Reflex”). Except for the fact that sender Jim Vadeconcoeur, Jr., feels the Exposed #6 panel was inked by Violet/Valerie Barclay, the identities of the Exposed artists are—unexposed. Thanks respectively to Michael T. Gilbert and Jim V. [Gang Busters panel © DC Comics; other art © the respective copyright holders.]

How to hurt people.

50 Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

A young girl on her wedding night stabs her sleeping husband to death with a hatpin when she realizes that he comes from a distant planet and is a “mammal.”

(P. 15) Three panels taken from the final, climactic page of EC’s Weird Science #15 (MayJune 1953), with script by Al Feldstein (from a Bill Gaines plot) and art by Bill Elder. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert for the color scans. [© William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

Comic books are supposed to be like fairy tales.

(P. 16) Avon/Realistic Comics’ Reform School Girl! (1951, no issue number) had a photo cover which the Grand Comics Database says was reprinted from a digest-sized 1948 paperback book. [© the respective copyright holders.]

Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code

51

Bibliography For A Book-Burner Rare indeed is the person whose copy of Seduction of the Innocent contains this two-page “bibliography,” which the publishers had cut out—mostly by hand!—probably in fear of a lawsuit from one of the comics publishers, since the panels and covers in the 16-page illustration section had no copyright notices. Bob Bailey has a complete copy, though—and he generously made those two pages available to us. Thanks, pal! [© the respective copyright holders.]

“Murder, Morphine, And Me” (Left:) Splash page of the Jack Coledrawn story from True Crime Comics #2 (May 1947) that contains the notorious “injury to the eye motif” panel seen back on p. 44. (Right:) Cole’s cover for that mag. Thanks to Jim Kealy. [© the respective copyright holders.]

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Chapter 2 Of The 1998 Work On Comic Book Censorship

[Continued from p. 42]

The publication of Wertham’s article in Ladies’ Home Journal coincided with the announcement in early 1953 of the formation of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. The primary goal of the committee, according to Sen. Robert Hendrickson, would be to furnish leadership and stimulate activity at the state level.

The committee was established April 27, 1953, and in preparation for hearings scheduled to begin in November, the committee sent out a questionnaire to about two thousand individuals, including experts, social workers, and representatives of service organizations, church groups, and others concerned with the problems of youth, requesting their opinions about the extent and causes of delinquency (Gilbert 149-50; “Senate Committee” 1). More than 50 percent of those responding to that questionnaire placed some blame for delinquency on films and comic books. In addition, the committee received thousands of unsolicited letters from citizens, and nearly 75 percent of these letters reflected concern over comic books, television, radio, and the movies (Gilbert 150). Most of the letters sent to the Senate subcommittee specifically addressing the comic book issue were written following the publication of excerpts of Fredric Wertham’s book. As a result of this pressure to investigate the mass media, the committee scheduled a series of hearings on media effects and delinquency. That investigation began with the comic book industry in April 1954.

The Senate investigation will be the topic of the chapter of Seal of Approval that will be reprinted in the next issue of Alter Ego.

The Senate Will Come To Order—People Around!

These covers of two key comics titles that were on sale during the first few months of 1954 represent the three key elements that the new Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency would be investigating in April: crime, horror, and sexual titillation in comic books. Seen are Charlie Biro’s cover for Lev Gleason’s Crime Does Not Pay #135 (June ’54) and Jack Davis’ cover for EC’s Tales from the Crypt #41 (April-May ’54). [© the respective copyright holders & William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., respectively.]

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55

Right: The first two of Michael’s Inkspots! strips, drawn for The Berkeley Barb. These strips appeared on May 16, 1975 and June 13, 1975. [©2014 Michael T. Gilbert.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Inkspots!

[All art and scripts in this Comic Crypt ©2014 by Michael T. Gilbert; photo on previous page by Al Gordon.]

Inkspots! – Part 1

by Michael T. Gilbert In the early ’70s, I made a few unsuccessful attempts to break into mainstream comics. Failing that, I even hawked copies of my own self-published underground, New Paltz Comix, on campus during my final year in college. Finally, in 1975, I said “so long” to New York and “hello!” to San Francisco, where I’d hoped to join the underground comix movement.

Unfortunately, my timing couldn’t have been worse. Comix sales had plummeted, and new titles were few and far between— though I did eventually sell stories to Slow Death, Dope Comix, and Bizarre Sex. In time I also cracked the “groundlevel” comics market, with stories in Quack!, Star*Reach, and Imagine. Then it was on to Pacific Comics, where I drew my first color series, Elric of Melniboné, in collaboration with Craig Russell, with scripts by our own Roy Thomas.

But my first real sale had occurred earlier, to the notorious counterculture newspaper The Berkeley Barb. The Barb was your usual mixture of rock, radical politics, and “dope-is-swell” articles.

Inkspots! — Part 1

Sex ads in the back paid the bills. The 25¢ paper came out each Friday, and in 1975 included a “Friday Funnies” section featuring comic strips, mostly by local cartoonists. The roster of strips changed week to week, so newbies had a better than average chance to break in. That seemed like the perfect place for me to pitch my wares.

57

My strip Inkspots! took inspiration from Harvey Kurtzman’s “Hey Look!”—a series Kurtzman drew in the late ’40s for Marvel.

Years before creating Mad, he sharpened his humor chops with a slew of one-page “Hey Look!” fillers that cleverly played with the medium’s conventions. One strip had Harvey’s cartoon guy staring up at the reader and telling his pal, “When you look close, you can see the little dots that make the color!” Kurtzman’s characters, and

58

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

sometimes Kurtzman himself, often talked directly to the reader.

If was good enough for Kurtzman, it was good enough for me!

And since the “Friday Funnies” strips used a single color overlay each week, I initially made that the focal point of my gags.

I submitted my first strips to The Barb and waited. And waited.

And waited! Finally, on May 16, 1975, just a week after my 24th birthday, the paper published my first Inkspots! strip. What a rush!

The pay wasn’t much, only $25, but I was thrilled. My career was off and running!

Inkspots! — Part 1

Between 1975 and 1981 I drew a total of 26 strips. Less than a dozen ever saw print. In fact, the majority of the strips are printed here for the first time since they were drawn almost 35 years ago.

We’ll have the rest next issue—including the strip that got me fired from The Barb!

59

One last thing. After finishing this article, I spotted tiny pencil layouts on the back of a comic page I did in 1975, shortly before starting Inkspots! The light pencils had almost faded, but upon closer inspection I saw they were mini-scripts for six of my first Inkspots! However, I was surprised to see that one of the layouts—a

60

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

gag about off-register color overlays—had never been drawn.

Even for me, that’s gotta be a new record in procrastination!!

So, in a fit of nostalgia, I sat down last month, dusted off my old Ames Lettering Guide, and drew one final Inkspots! You’ll find it at the beginning of our article, numbered as “#0.” And to think, it only took 38 years to finish.

Till next time...

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Comic Fandom Archive

62

“I Was There. I Remember.”

Part 2 Of Bill Schelly’s Chat with STEVE PERRIN, Co-Creator Of “The Black Phantom,” The African-American Crimefighter Published In Mid-1960s Fanzines!

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

CFA

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: In Part 1, Steve talked about how he got involved in comic fandom in 1961, contributed to numerous fanzines (including Spotlite and Yancy Street Journal), and began his “collaboration” with Margaret Gemignani on Mask and Cape. In a way, this was all a prelude to the discussion of his costumed hero Black Phantom, his stellar achievement in early fandom. But that’s not all, as Steve also discusses his involvement in the Society of Creative Anachronism, writing pro comics and role-playing games, and much more in the second part of our phone conversation of December 4, 2011.

—Bill Schelly.

BILL SCHELLY: In a way, all your fanzine writing seemed to lead up to your contributions to Bill Spicer’s Fantasy Illustrated. In FI #4, you wrote scripts for two strips. There was “Who Is the Mystery Patriot?” with art by Buddy Saunders, and “Dreamsman and Lucky” with art by Bill DuBay. Then in FI #6, there was “The Black Phantom,” with art by Ronn Foss.

How did your association with Spicer come about?

Perrin & Prejudice Steve Perrin, sometime in the 1970s—and Ronn Foss’ splash page for Steve’s “Black Phantom” text story in the Perrin fanzine Mask and Cape #4 (1964). Foss was skilled at producing nice work in the ditto medium—and Perrin wrote some of the best and hardest-hitting ama-strips [=amateur strips] in fanzines of the mid-1960s.

[Page © Steve Perrin & Estate of Ronn Foss.]

STEVE PERRIN: As it happened, Bill lived a couple of houses down from my grandmother.

So we would visit my grandmother, and then I would go visit Bill. I saw him about three times that way, and somewhere along the line he said he was doing a super-hero issue of Fantasy Illustrated. I sent him the manuscripts, and he decided he liked all three.

BS: How did Ronn Foss end up handling the art for “The Black Phantom”?

PERRIN: I was in college, and we collaborated on “Black Phantom” after both Grass Green and Bill DuBay turned it down. Grass felt it was too

rabble-rousing, and Bill’s father forbade him from working on it.

Bill was still in high school. But Ronn wanted to do it.... If memory serves, we worked out that he would do spot illos for the “Black Phantom” text story in Mask and Cape #4, and then do the full strip for Fantasy Illustrated.

BS: In 1964, there weren’t any African-American costumed heroes in comics or fanzines. How did you get the idea for “The Black Phantom”?

PERRIN: I was going to San Francisco State, right across the bay from Berkeley, and the whole Civil Rights thing was very big at that point in time. So this was in the back of my mind. I did a lot of

“I Was There. I Remember.”

63

Fantasies—Illustrated Two of the three features on the cover of Bill Spicer’s Fantasy Illustrated #4 (1965) were Perrin creations.

“Who is the Mystery Patriot?” was illustrated by Buddy Saunders—while “Dreamsman and Lucky” was drawn by Bill DuBay. The bottom-left illustration on the cover is by Jeffrey Jones, from the “Ku! Primordial” story reprinted in Hamster Press’ Fandom’s Finest Comics [Vol. 1], 1997. [Art © the respective artists.]

costume drawing of new character ideas, using outlines drawn by other people because I can’t draw. And I think I came up with the costume before I came up with the character. I drew a guy with a full face-mask, and thought, “Wait a minute, a full face mask would work great with a costumed hero who was actually a black man. Great!” It went on from there. “Freedom Riders, busses....

Okay, yeah. That’s cool.”

BS: The story didn’t pull any punches. Right there on page one, the first word is the N-word.

PERRIN: Yep! BS: Was the “burning cross” page layout your idea or Ronn’s?

PERRIN: It may have been Bill’s. He always had a good graphics sense and had no problems acting like an editor. He added some dialogue, particularly where the local sheriff was calling Lafe a “spade,” which is jazz slang and wouldn’t have been used by a Southern sheriff. Don and Maggie Thompson pointed that out in their letter of comment in the next issue of FI. BS: It was just very hard-hitting. Of course, it also had a positive message in that Black Phantom’s sidekick, Wraith, was a white teenager, and they worked together.

PERRIN: Well, I had several theoretical teachers, and I still feel pretty strongly about a lot of what’s in there. So yeah, I Buddy Saunders, was trying for the late 1960s. hard-hitting “let’s bring comics into the modern day” kind of idea there. It got noticed....

Bill DuBay, 1964.

BS: Castle of Frankenstein ran a page from it in one of their issues.

PERRIN: Yeah, one of those things I never knew about at the time.

BS: You did three strips for Spicer. What about the other two?

PERRIN: Yeah... Bill’s the one who arranged for Buddy Saunders to draw the “Mystery Patriot.” Bill DuBay did “Dreamsman” as a sort of a compensation for not having done “Black Phantom.”

BS: Those were some of the better amateur costumed-hero strips from that era. Another one you scripted was “The Case of the Curious Crusader,” which appeared in Intrigue, a spin-off of Rich Buckler’s Super Hero zine. That was 1967 or so. It featured your characters Doc Darkness and Capt. Liberty.

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Comic Fandom Archive

PERRIN: That must have been written much earlier.

BS: Maybe your script was handed down to Buckler from Mike Tuohey, the original publisher of Super Hero.

It was drawn by Buckler and Hugh Surratt. Captain Liberty reminded me of Fighting American.

PERRIN: Yeah. I did an article on Fighting American for some fanzine; I don’t even remember which one at this point. Shortly thereafter, Harvey Comics had their short-lived revival of Fighting America, and they reprinted my article. I didn’t know it would be in there until I picked up the comic book.

BS: [laughs] So, obviously, you didn’t get paid anything.

PERRIN: Nope. Not only that, the fanzine article had several typos in it, because of course the guy had retyped it onto a master, as usual. And as far as I could tell, Harvey had added more typos.

More Fantasies—Illustrated Costumed hero features that didn’t fit into Fantasy Illustrated #4 became part of FI #6, which sported an SF-themed wraparound cover by D. Bruce Berry. That included “The Black Phantom.” [Art © the respective copyright holders.]

\Double Cross As evidenced on the breakdown page (above), the “flaming cross” image and layout was indeed determined by Spicer, with some directions to Foss on how to complete the page (at right). [Art © Estate of Ronn Foss; text © Steve Perrin.]

“I Was There. I Remember.”

Spicing It Up (Above:) Fantasy Illustrated editor Bill Spicer provided artist Ronn Foss with script breakdowns for the first “Black Phantom” comics story by typing the placement of the captions and balloons on blank pages. Foss added rough sketches as they came to mind, as on the splash panel (above left). The finished inked version (above right) was augmented by a background of images from the story, to create a more impressive effect. Perrin/Foss/Spicer was a real collaboration. [© Steve Perrin & Estate of Ronn Foss.]

Ronn Foss in 1964.

“Call Me Lafe” Bill Spicer in a vintage photo.

(Right:) Panels from “The Black Phantom” by Perrin & Foss, in FI #6.

Perrin’s choice of teaming a black man with a white sidekick put a positive emphasis at the center of his story. [© Steve Perrin & Estate of Ronn Foss.]

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66

Comic Fandom Archive

“Crusader” Rare Bits Perrin’s “The Case of the Curious Crusader” was penciled by Rich Buckler and “inked” on ditto masters by Hugh Surratt. Splash panel from the fanzine Intrigue #1 (1967). Doc Darkness and Captain Liberty owed something of a visual debt, at least, to DC’s Dr. Mid-Nite and Simon & Kirby’s Fighting American. [© Steve Perrin, Rich Buckler, & Hugh Surratt.]

BS: When did you graduate from college?

PERRIN: January of 1968. It took me 4½ years in college because, my first semester, I only had twelve units, so I had to make it up eventually. [My degree was in] English. Creative Writing, in fact.

At the time I graduated, I had just gotten married to Luise, and I was working part-time as a general office clerk for a small insurance firm. They even gave me a 10¢ an hour raise because I was getting married. Shortly after that, I started looking for a fulltime job, since I wasn’t going to school anymore, and ended up in the warehouse of another insurance firm, working full-time, pulling claims and doing mail-sorting occasionally, and so forth.

Then I got a job with Blue Shield as a correspondent, a beneficiary services correspondent. Complaint department, basically, for the Medicare program, which Blue Shield was administering at the time.

BS: When I interviewed Ronn years ago, he told me that you two were involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism in the late 1960s. How did that come about? How did you and Ronn link up for that?

PERRIN: I came across a copy of the science-fiction fanzine Niekas, which is the Lithuanian word for “nothing.” The publisher of it, Ed Meskys, was working at Livermore Grad Lab, and his co-editor, who did most of the typing and so forth, was a lady named Felice Rolfe, who lived in Palo Alto. I noticed she lived close, and wrote her a chatty letter. She invited us down, and... a bunch of people showed up, and this continued. We essentially Rich Buckler circa 1969. entered into the party circuit there, and Photo courtesy of Jean through that, we found out about a couple Bails, from collection of guys who were going to have a Jerry G. Bails. tournament in their backyard. Diana Paxson, now a fantasy author, was a student at Mills College. She was about to go into the Peace Corps, so they were going to have a tournament to celebrate the occasion. They had made very nice shields, and swords made out of lathe, and sabre-fencing helmets.

The word got out [and] a horde of people showed up in Diana’s backyard in Berkeley, and virtually everybody was in costume of some kind. I was wearing a liner for a raincoat turned inside out with the fur out, and a sweatshirt to represent chain mail, and Ace Bandages wrapped around my legs to look like leggings. And people fought and did the whole proto-SCA thing and, essentially, the SCA was born.

BS: So that was when it was actually born? I guess that makes you one of the founding members.

PERRIN: I was there. I remember.

BS: Very cool. In a way, it kind of relates to your interest in role-playing games. When did role-playing games first emerge?

PERRIN: 1973, 1974... I forget which. That’s when Dungeons and Dragons first got published. My friend Steve Henderson picked up the very first edition. It was in a little brown box, with the rule books and so forth. He ran off copies for about five of us. We were already gamers, playing war games, and so we got those and made characters, and created dungeons, and the whole thing got started.

BS: Yeah, I mean, I guess you can say things like Risk, and so forth, were like role-playing games.

PERRIN: A big one for us in college was Diplomacy.

BS: How would you describe the appeal of those games?

PERRIN: The ability to be a super-hero.... and also, for good or ill,

PERRIN: I’m married and I’m out of college and working, and I get this call. It’s, “Hi, is this Steve Perrin, author of ‘The Black Phantom’?” I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Well, this is Ronn Foss, artist of ‘The Black Phantom.’” [Bill chuckles] He and Coreen, his wife at the time, were living in the San Francisco Bay area. My wife and I introduced them to the Society for Creative Anachronism, and had a fairly close association until they moved away a couple of years later to Missouri.

BS: How did you get involved in the SCA?

A Really Old-Fashioned Wedding (Above left:) Steve Perrin as Stefan de Looraine, at an SCA event. (Above:) On Jan. 6, 1968, Steve and Luise were married in true Society of Creative Anachronism fashion. Photos courtesy of Steve Perrin.

“I Was There. I Remember.”

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Heroic And Vigilant Three 21st-century projects by Steve, who has written numerous role-playing games as well as comic books: Heroic Publishing’s Witchgirls Inc. #2 (Dec. 2005, with cover art by Frank Brunner) and Flare #35 (Sept. 2006, main cover art by Henry Martinez), and Vigilance Press’ forthcoming Windsinger & The Williwaw #1 (cover art by Denise Jones). The Heroic issues can be ordered at www.heroicmultiverse.com/heroicpub/store/backissues.php. [Witchgirls cover © Frank Brunner & Heroic Publishing, Inc.; Flare cover © Heroic Publishing, Inc.; Windsinger cover © Vigilance Press or the respective copyright holders.]

it’s a great avenue of creative expression. When I’m running games, I’m having to come up with a whole storyline and so forth, and the whole background and rules. So it’s very creative. I’ve created several different worlds, many of which I’d like to see as comic books.

BS: There’s a similarity between creating a comic book story and creating a role-playing game.

PERRIN: Oh, yeah. It’s all creative juices, except that you don’t have to worry about the dialogue when you role-play because that’s supplied by the players and the action and so forth. I don’t have to figure out who did what to who. I just roll the dice and take it from there.

BS: You got into Chaosium and doing your own role-playing games. Did you go from working for Blue Shield and to making your living that way?

PERRIN: Well, I was doing some of the role-playing game stuff while working in Blue Shield. I moved over to Kaiser Permanente for a year, but that one did not work out. And shortly thereafter, Greg Stafford at Chaosium offered me a full-time, very low-paying job, so I started working there. I wrote and developed games.

BS: What were your major credits, as a role-playing game creator?

PERRIN: RuneQuest, Stormbringer—which is based on the Elric stories—Superworld—I did the official Elfquest Role-Playing Game, again for the Chaosium. I also did a mecha game for Hero called Robot Warriors. And I’ve done several sourcebook and adventure packs for different games.

BS: You also got to write some pro comics, right?

PERRIN: Yes. In fact, I’m still doing stuff for Heroic Publications.

The publisher, Dennis Mallonee, is a role-playing gamer… and since he’d gotten the license to do the Champions stuff from Hero Games, he wanted to do several books and he didn’t want to write them all. We already knew each other, and he asked me if I’d like to write the Marksman comic book, so I did until absolutely no sales convinced him that he probably shouldn’t keep publishing it. I’ve done more for him over the years. He’s one of my regular players, so we see each other every other week or so.

BS: Are you still interested in comics?

PERRIN: Oh, yeah. I stopped buying monthly comics a couple years ago when I lost my last high-paying job, but I still buy the occasional graphic novel. Until then, I’d been buying every week, every Wednesday. A lot of the old favorites: JSA and so forth.

BS: There are a lot of great reprint books that are very tempting...

PERRIN: Extremely tempting, but not quite tempting enough. I’ve hardly gotten any of them. I think I have one of the All-Star Archives because it included some of the major books in the series.

BS: Looking back on fandom now, how do you feel about that period of time in your life? Like in the ’60s.

PERRIN: Oh, it was a great deal of fun. I still treasure a lot of the associations I had then.

BS: Would you say that you’re retired?

PERRIN: I’m involuntarily retired.

BS: Of course, the employment situation is tough....

PERRIN: Yeah, and for people who’ve been out of work for a year and a half, it’s virtually impossible. I’m 67. But I’m doing occasional writing for Heroic, and doing some stuff for Vigilance Press. None of it pays much.

BS: So you’re looking for anything you can pick up on a freelance basis.

PERRIN: That’s right.

BS: Are you and Luise still married? I hope that’s not a rude question!

PERRIN: [chuckles] Yeah, we’re still married… 45 years. We were married on January 6th at the Second SCA Twelfth Night Celebration.

Coming Next to the Comic Fandom Archive: “Steve Perrin, Writer at work,” Part 3 of our series honoring the uniquitous writing from fandom’s Golden Age, including his entire “Meet the Pro” piece on writing great Edmond Hamilton. If you wish to share comments with Bill, you can email him at: hamstrpres@aol.com or contact him through Facebook. Several of his Hamster Press books are still available.

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In Memoriam

Al Plastino

(1921-2013) “Last Superman Standing”

A

by Eddy Zeno

lfred John Plastino was born on December 15, 1921. He died on November 25, 2013. Al illustrated “Superman” from 1948-1968 for National (later DC Comics) and Ferd’nand from 19701989 for United Feature Syndicate. He was working on comic books and newspaper strips, however, long before those assignments. His comic book career began when, still a teenager, he answered an ad for the Harry “A” Chesler Studio circa 1939. His newspaper days ensued when he took over the Hap Hopper strip in the mid-1940s.

For Chesler, Plastino became a super-hero artist during comic books’ Golden Age, drawing such features as “Dynamic Man,” “Rocketman,” and “Johnny on the Spot.”

Soon he was moonlighting at Funnies, Inc., assisting with the art on Bill Everett’s “SubMariner” and inking “Captain America.”

When Hap Hopper, Washington Correspondent morphed into Barry Noble in 1947, Plastino continued on the strip until it ended in 1949.

Some of the other newspaper comics on which he worked included Casey Ruggles, Abbie an’ Slats, Terry and the Pirates, and Nancy. Al was even asked to stockpile a run of Peanuts dailies and Sundays in case Charles Schulz couldn’t continue on the strip (they were never published).

He took over the Ledger Syndicate’s Batman newspaper strip from artist Joe Giella in 1968; the dailies of that incarnation continued through January 1, 1972. Toward the end, having recently added Ferd’nand to his workload, Plastino asked his old high school buddy Nick Cardy to pencil the Batman dailies, which he then inked. For the record, that is when he felt his prowess as an inker peaked.

Career highlights: receiving 8 draft deferments while attempting to design a flying PT boat to help the Allies win World War II (it proved infeasible without jet engines, which were not yet available); gaining admittance to the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (thanks to the coaxing of comic book artist and mentor Mac Raboy); working on Joe Palooka, one of the most popular newspaper strips of all time; illustrating the first story dealing with Kryptonite in comic books (Superman #61, Nov.-Dec. 1949); co-creating the space-pirate Brainiac, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Supergirl with writer Otto Binder; painting Revolutionary War hero John S. Hobart’s portrait, which still hangs in the same-named elementary school and is registered with the Library of Congress; receiving an Inkpot Award at Comic-Con International in 2008; hosting a oneman art show of his oils, watercolors, and even some super-hero drawings; and mastering two of the hardest skills he ever performed in the strips writing pantomime on Dahl Mikkelsen’s Ferd’nand and inking the sweeping line of Nancy’s jaw with the precision of creator Ernie Bushmiller.

Two Men Of Tomorrow Al Plastino proudly holding the splash page of Superman #170 (July 1964), and a pencil drawing of the Man of Steel . Thanks to Eddy Zeno for both. [Superman TM & © DC Comics.]

Upon meeting Ann Marie Perkins, Al asked her to be his model for an assignment done on spec. Using watercolors, he pictured himself as a lieutenant kissing her on the cover of a love story pulp magazine. Plastino was proud that it was the only time a pulp cover was published with art done in that medium: “Normally, the red, blue, and yellow colors had to be exaggerated in oils, because the printing was so terrible.” He is survived by that beauty, whom he married in 1957, as well as four children and six grandchildren.

Plastino’s first solo story for National/DC was likely the one titled “Superman, Stunt Man!” in Action Comics #120 (May 1948).

His final regular assignment with the adult Man of Steel was in the May 1968 Superman #206, a 15-pager. After retirement, Al was often asked to draw the Caped Kryptonian for private commissions or to raise money for various charities. He was content knowing it was Superman with whom he would be forever identified. When he was interviewed for public-access cable television, circa 2007, he alluded to the era during which he illustrated the hero: “By the way, I’m the last one left alive.”

The artwork Al considered most important to his legacy was “Superman’s Mission for President Kennedy.” Scripted and partially drawn to publicize JFK’s physical fitness program, the tale was quickly pulled from the schedule when the President was assassinated on November 22, 1963. It was only reinstated in Superman #170 (July 1964) after the Lyndon Johnson administration gave the go-ahead. Plastino redrew the splash page as a fitting memorial and realized he was completing something special. The full story of that historically important artwork will be told in my forthcoming book on Al’s life.

Though Alfred is gone, his dream was not realized too late, for it had become his family’s vision, as well. Score one for the last Superman standing.

At the time of his friend’s passing, Eddy Zeno was completing work on a forthcoming biography titled Last Superman Standing: The Al Plastino Story. Thankfully, the artist had five years to share his narrative. Zeno’s previous book was Curt Swan: A Life In Comics. Al Plastino was also interviewed in-depth in Alter Ego #59.

In Memoriam

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Larry Ivie

(1936-2014) “An Important Voice… In Early Comic Book And Science-Fiction Fandom”

T

by Sandy Plunkett

here are always certain men and women who influence the course of their chosen profession without receiving significant prestige for their accomplishments. In a few cases, that sort of recognition simply isn’t a priority. I believe Larry Ivie belonged to that rarefied group. He had a career so diverse and eclectic that it all but defied the conventional definition of “career.” He was a writer, artist, and historian, but he will probably be remembered most as an important voice in the development of early comic book and science-fiction fandom.

He was born in Utah in 1936 to parents who gladly indulged his passion for every form of adventurous fiction, including comics, radio, movie serials, Big Little Books, and fantasy literature, especially the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Unlike more conventional minds of his era, he not only saved and collected this material, but struck up correspondences with creators he admired.

Larry moved to New York City in the 1950s, motivated largely by the desire to attend Burne Hogarth’s School of Visual Arts, a breeding ground for successful comic book artists. Within a short while, Larry formed a friendship with SVA alumni Al Williamson that lasted, if only as a correspondence, until Williamson’s death in 2010. It was Larry who introduced Al to Archie Goodwin (then a fellow student at SVA) and to John Prentice, who was then looking for an artist to assist him on his newspaper strip Rip Kirby. For his part, Williamson introduced Larry to the many artists in his circle.

He and Roy Krenkel, in particular, formed a close friendship.

The ’50s and ’60s were Larry’s most productive years. His hopes for a career in comics were stymied by the fact that the business was still suffering from the effects of Fredric Wertham’s crusade to vilify the medium. Instead, Larry turned his talents to sciencefiction illustrations, producing some of his best work for If and Galaxy magazines. But these efforts constituted only a fraction of his creative output.

Most notable of his achievements is doubtless his fondly remembered magazine Monsters and Heroes, an eclectic mix of articles and artwork pertaining to just about every aspect of fandom imaginable. M&H was the first comic-oriented publication to print the work of Jeff Jones and Bernie Wrightson professionally—i.e., it was the first to pay them for their art. For many of its readers the highlight of each issue was Larry’s “Altron Boy” series, which he both wrote and drew.

Larry contributed to and helped shape early fan publications put out by the likes of Richard Lupoff and Ted White. He helped Calvin Beck shape the early issues of the newsstand publication Castle of Frankenstein. With Don Glut, he produced many 8- and 16millimeter super-hero movies. For a while, and not very happily, Larry was an assistant to Wally Wood during the artist’s run on Daredevil. He was simultaneously receiving many freelance writing assignments for companies such as Marvel, Dell, Harvey, and King.

There is controversy surrounding the extent to which he contributed to the founding of the Warren books (Creepy and Eerie) and later to Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents titles, but it is clear from existing evidence that his role was substantial, if under-appreciated.

Despite all these involvements, I believe his most important and profound legacy is the effect he had on those around him. His love and enthusiasm for heroic fantasy was infectious, inspiring anyone with an imagination who came within his sphere. He was generous, almost to a fault, giving unstintingly of himself to young artists who came to him seeking advice and guidance in starting their career in comics.

Larry moved to Millbrae, California, in the early ’70s to care for his ageing relatives. Though his creative output diminished in these years, he was still the “go-to” guy for many writers and researchers because of his encyclopedic knowledge.

Larry died in nearby Redwood City on January 16th, 2014, after a brief fight with lung cancer. He is survived by his cousin Marcia Exter.

Larry Ivie in 1964 (above right), along with his “Altron Boy” cover for the 5th issue of his magazine Monsters and Heroes (July 1969) and his dust jacket illustration for the 1960s Canaveral Press hardcover edition of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel At the Earth’s Core. Thanks to Bill Schelly for the photo. [M&H cover © Estate of Larry Ivie; ERB art © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.]

Sandy Plunkett has been a comic book artist since the 1970s and was a longtime friend of Larry Ivie.

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the Jungle was not only like Sheena [Queen] of the Jungle, but had actually started life as a Sheena cartoon. The Godzilla Power Hour was originally going to feature Godzilla and Sheena in their own halfhour segments, but a rights issue emerged with Sheena. It’s been almost 35 years since [artist] Doug Wildey told me the tale, but if memory serves, the studio had incorrectly assumed Sheena was public domain when they sold the show, and when the rights-holders came forth, they were demanding a lot, knowing that they had HB over a barrel. Doug quickly threw together the Jana pitch, and that was it. Wildey had drawn a couple of spectacular 24”x36” Sheena art boards which he kept in his office.

It’s a shame that show didn’t get made.

“As for the shows Don worked on at Hanna-Barbera, the bulk of his efforts were on Jana and Godzilla for Wildey. They’d known each other from Timely/Atlas back in the late ’40s and early ’50s.

Though we didn’t discuss it, I suspect Don might have been Doug’s editor on some of his early comics work. Things were very

S

hane Foley pulled double-duty on this issue’s “maskot” illo, both drawing and coloring it, masterfully, based on a vintage Lee Harris pose of Air Wave. Seems regular colorist Randy Sargent has been having some computer problems for the past few weeks… but we’re assured he’ll be back in business soon. [Captain Ego TM & © Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly; created by Biljo White.]

Meanwhile, here are a few cogent comments gleaned from e-mails and postal missives sent to us re Alter Ego #114, the issue centered around Marvel mavens Don Rico, Allen Bellman, and Martin Goodman, in addition to our usual departments. As per usual, my (Roy Thomas’) comments are in italics, and I’ve temporarily abandoned the editorial “we” in favor of the more personal “I”:

Michele Hart, who was Don’s wife—and the subject of her own illuminative interview in issue #114—drops us a line about the occasional disparity in listing Don’s age: “Don was definitely born in 1912. He was never ‘modest’ or untruthful about his page. I distinctly recall the occasion of Don getting a passport. His birth certificate could not be found, due to a fire where the records were kept. (I’m not sure if that would have been Albany, or Rochester, the city of his birth.) The passport office accepted his baptismal certificate from St. Anthony of Padua in Rochester, which stated his date of birth as Sept. 26, 1912.” That’s good enough for us, Michele—and thanks again to you and son Buz for all your help with the issue!

Robert R. Barrett, expert on Edgar Rice Burroughs and many other things pulpish, ID’s the artists of a couple of items mentioned in the issue: “The paperback cover for The Last of the Breed by Don Rico on page 23 was painted by Robert Stanley, who, from the late 1940s until the early 1960s, established the look of the paperback covers for Dell, packaged by Western Printing and Lithographing Co., whom Stanley worked for…. The great Moe Gollub was the layout artist for the Hanna-Barbera Saturday cartoon show depicted on page 30. Moe painted many outstanding covers for Dell comics packaged by Western.” Thanks, Bob! Thanks, too, for pointing us to a person or two who’ll be writing about ERB in the comics when issue #129 rolls around in a few short months.

Will Meugniot, who’s been a comic book and animation artist for the past few decades, knew Don Rico and wanted to add some info about the Jana of the Jungle show for which Michele Hart did some modeling: “The Don Rico and Michele Hart interviews were the highlight for me, having known both of them during Don’s Hanna-Barbera days. It might be of interest to the A/E audience that HB’s Jana of

That Was Lorna—But She’s Only A Dream!

Don Rico apparently had a thing about Queens of the Jungle! Besides working on the animated series Jana of the Jungle, which Will Meugniot informs us had started out to be a Sheena, Queen of the Jungle series, he had earlier written stories for Timely/Atlas’ comic book Jann of the Jungle, as we noted in A/E #114—and he also did scripts for its Timely/Atlas sister mag Lorna, the Jungle Queen. This splash page, drawn by Werner Roth (later artist of The X-Men), is from Lorna #1 (July 1953). This story was reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Jungle Adventures, Vol. 1. Thanks to Dave Asselin for this scan from the actual comic. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

[comments & corrections]

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Craig Delich sends this possible correction: “In the Don Rico section, there is a splash shown of ‘Blackout,’ and it is stated that it appeared in Captain Battle #2.

The GCD [Grand Comics Database] shows that ‘Blackout’ first appeared in #1, and that story was reprinted in issue #5 in 1943.

Captain Battle does not have a ‘Blackout’ story that I know of. The splash does give the origin of the character, and I’m assuming it came from #1.” You’re right, Craig. The one and only appearance of the Don Rico character Blackout was in Captain Battle Comics #1 (Summer 1941). Glad you caught that one!

Rich Pileggi: “I guess you’ve been alerted by now that the Tri-Borough Bridge (now the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge) connects Manhattan, the Bringing Home The BayCon! Bronx, and Queens, but not Brooklyn (my former home).

Though Don Rico & wife Michele lived in the Los Angeles area in the 1970s, Don contributed drawings—and perhaps even his presence?—to the first two BayCons held in the San Francisco-Oakland area. These sketches, done for the con’s The Queens part of the program book, were photocopied for Alter Ego by Jerry K. Boyd. [Art © Don Rico.] bridge is in Astoria.” I stand corrected, Rich. But how do you lively for us neo-pro artists/comics fans on that block of shows, feel about my theory that Don Rico may have named the “Doctor since the staff also included Russ Heath and Mike Sekowsky, and it Strange” villain Tiboro after that bridge? Assuming, that is, that Stan was great to hang out with so many of our idols. Plus, when other Lee or Steve Ditko didn’t make up that name before Don inherited the comics guys like Alex Toth, Jack Kirby, and Norman Maurer were dialoguing. in the building, they’d stop by the Godzilla area for a chat. I’m sorry to read that Don wasn’t happy at the studio. He was such a pro Ben Herman: “Nice to have another article on Allen Bellman! I that he never let on. He was a sweet guy and a pleasure to have really enjoyed the in-depth interview with him back in #32. I really known.” Amen to that, Will! appreciate the fact that you and other contributors to this magazine have done so much to rescue many artists from obscurity and Bernie Bubnis has a thought or two about the Don Rico interview: introduce them to a brand new audience.

“Nothing scares me more than being at a party with someone like “I also appreciated the lengths you went to in order to reprint Dr. Levitt [interviewer of Don Rico in the piece reprinted in A/E the 1977 interview with Don Rico, which I found informative, even #114]. Psych 1 taught me to trust no one, especially Dr. Levitt. Don if it does not really go into too many specifics regarding Rico’s Rico volleyed with him as well as anyone I have ever known. To work. Dewey Cassell’s conversation with Rico’s wife Michele Hart quote a respected editor, ‘We’re talking comic books, after all.’ It was was a very nice companion piece. Prior to Alter Ego #114, my a fascinating look into Don Rico.” That it was, Bernie. But then, he knowledge of Rico was confined to the fact that he had illustrated was a fascinating guy. a portion of The Invaders Annual #1, and that you had recruited him William B. Jones, Jr., author of the definitive study of Classics for that story due to his having worked for Marvel/Timely in the Illustrated, has this to say about a speculation of mine in a caption in 1940s. But I was unaware of any details of his career in the Golden #114: “You are correct: The Moonstone was published in its first and Age, so this issue of Alter Ego was definitely enlightening. only Classic Comics incarnation in September 1946. See the publi“I also liked the look at the ‘Captain Video’ story that inspired cation history on pp. 321-322 in [my] Classics Illustrated: A Cultural you and John Buscema to create Ultron. That rampaging robot is History, Second Edition, and also the mention in the Don Rico my all-time favorite Avengers villain, so I enjoyed the glimpse of section of Chapter VI, p. 57. I have a pristine copy of CC #30—the his predecessor.” Why not do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of that first book I purchased from ‘the father of Classics collecting,’ story, and quite a few other fine science-fictional adventure tales, in the Raymond True, at what seemed the staggering price of $10 in PS Artbooks hardcover Roy Thomas Presents Captain Video? And I 1978—and used its cover in the first edition of the CI book.” Don’t haven’t even mentioned the superb George Evans artwork. Well, actually, remind me of all the later-invaluable treasures that passed through my I guess I just did! own hands at one time or another, Bill. But at least it’s good to know that those items still exist out there somewhere, and haven’t been relegated to Allen Bellman: “Afraid some of your intro of me is really not the trash bins where society, and the comics’ publishers, would long ago correct. I was not a fill-in man but penciled and inked many scripts have consigned them if not for fans like us, right? given to me by Stan…. Working for Timely was not all fun and games under Robby Solomon. When I spoke to Joe Simon in 2007,

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he told me that Solomon picked on him, too, and that he [Simon] felt very unkindly to him, to put it mildly. Solomon in my feelings was a tyrant bullying the artists to draw like Lou Fine and Mac Raboy while Goodman was outselling all the other publishers. I was told that Solomon was a ladies’ hat salesman before coming to Goodman. Surely not the making for an art director.

“On page 28 there are two [splash] pages of ‘The Whizzer.’

The artist who drew them is none other than the late Tom Elmer Tomasch. No ifs or buts. He was a bundle of talent. (His first name was Elmer, but he called himself Tom; perhaps his middle name was Tom.) He was my mentor and I know his work. Tom penciled and inked most of his work. He wrote a book on anatomy. He taught art in a Midwest college and his wife was an ice-skating instructor. They lived in Lake Placid in upstate New York.” We’re well aware that you drew lots of complete strips, Allen, even though we don’t know what many of them were because you signed so few of them.

We merely meant that, in those days at Timely, you were also valuable as one of the guys who’d pitch in to help finish a particular job another artist may have begun. And thanks for ID-ing the Tomasch “Whizzer” artwork, which was pretty fair for its day!

Jeff Taylor: “The Don Rico stuff was fascinating, but I must admit I found the interview by the university professor rather amusing, because it was obvious he kept trying to get Rico to say something that would offer support to some over-intellectualized theory he was trying to prove. (I really shouldn’t criticize academics too much about this, because obviously there are a lot of journalists out there who are guilty of the same sort of thing!)” Don took his work seriously, Jeff… but not himself. There’s a lot to be said for that.

Christopher W. Boyko: “I particularly enjoyed the articles on Don Rico, whom I did not know much about (though I did notice he got credit at the end of the Avengers movie, probably for scripting the first Black Widow story in Tales of Suspense). The other article of note for me was the ‘almost-was’ secret origin of The Human Torch

by Warren Reece. His layout was convincing, and, had you continued scripting The Invaders, it would have worked as a plot line. A nice piece of fitting together the bits of history.

“The one thing I was not crazy about was the explanation of how the Torch became super-powered. On p. 54, Dr. Horton sets his creation’s ‘Krepp cycles’ in motion. Now, either Warren is making this up, or he was misremembering the correct terms for the energy-generating pathway of cells, which is the Krebs cycle (or citric acid cycle). Also, I’ll buy an ‘overload of activation energy’ as causing the Torch’s first ‘flame on’—but a nitrogen deficiency? That would probably make him lethargic, grow poorly, and perhaps have given him diarrhea, but it would not cause him to burst into flame! Too much oxygen? Well, maybe, but he’d have to be a plant to pull that trick off. I’m just going to go with ‘activation energy’ and leave it at that. Probably never a good idea to try and be too scientific in explanations of how comic biology (or chemistry, or physics) works, or else you have to try and explain away all those giant arthropods that defy the law of gravity and don’t collapse on themselves. Or how Plant Man’s gun really works. Or the abuse of “cloning” to explain a whole lot of things that were probably better left unscripted. Or about a million other things! When in doubt, make up something that sounds good (adamantium, uru metal, vibranium) and let it go at that.” A little science can often add salt and even pepper to a comic book concoction, Chris—but you’re right, it can’t be taken too far, or super-hero strips in particular will collapse of their own weight.

Warren Reece: “A few corrections: The photo of my autographed Marvel Comics #1 and me was snapped by Anastasia Walsh for the Sun-Sentinel in 2001. My Marvel work of the period in which this plot was written was submitted as ‘Warren Reece,’ which is my legal name.” You would know, Warren—but I’d swear that the name on

re:

the copy of the synopsis that I had sported your other last name, not that it matters much.

Joe Cicala: “Not sure if anyone else caught this, but wondering if there may be something of historical significance on page 7. The earliest use of the term ‘super-hero’ of which I previously had been aware appeared in a word balloon of The Guardian’s in The Newsboy Legion’s April 1942 first appearance. It seems, however, that whoever wrote the Don An Almost-Instant Correction To Last Issue!

Rico splash at In A/E #124, p. 17, we printed what we believed was a upper right was color drawing of Herb Trimpe & Gary Friedrich’s WWI six months ahead flying hero Phantom Eagle as supposedly done by of Simon & Herb’s artist idol Jack Davis in the late 1980s as a gift Kirby.” By Krypton for Herb, arranged by his buddies Bill Peckmann and if you’re not right, John Verpoorten. Alas, it turns out that interviewer Joe! Looks like Don Dewey Cassell sent us the info on said illo—but beat even S&K to somehow we never received the Davis drawing itself, the punch! Of and somehow that more stoic artwork, probably by course, as we Herb himself, got substituted for it. But here’s the real mentioned last issue McCoy—Mad’s own Jack Davis’ rendition of Phantom Eagle! Enjoy! [Phantom Eagle when we reprinted TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] that S&K page from Star Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942), either Jerry Siegel or Joe Shuster had used the phrase “super-hero” on a Superman conceptual page back in 1936—but that sheet was never printed, or even known about by any but a literal handful of people, until it was printed in Les Daniels’ book Superman: The Complete History in 1998, so Don (who we suspect scripted as well as drew that ‘Daredevil’ story in Silver Streak Comics #15 [Oct. 1941]) may have used the term in print, or at least in comic books, before anyone else did. Anybody got any earlier claimants? Personally, we’re kinda glad that Siegel & Shuster page from ’36 turned up—because who better to have coined the term “super-hero,” however it’s spelled or hyphenated, than the Cleveland boys who revolutionized the field with the concept in 1938?

Send your coo-ing or carping to:

Roy Thomas e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135

And don’t forget to sign up with the Alter-Ego-Fans online chat list at group.yahoo.com/group/alter-ego-fans. As we say every issue, if you have trouble getting on board at first, contact overseer Chet Cox at mormonyoyoman@gmail.com and he’ll walk you through it.

Whenever I can, I try to break some news about upcoming items in Alter Ego on that list… and anyway, it’s a great place to discuss comics in a friendly atmosphere. Check it out!

Art & colors by Jay Piscopo. Billy Batson & Mr. Tawny TM & © DC Comics.

#184 June 2014

Art ©2014 Mark Lewis

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Part VI

Abridged & Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

O

tto Oscar Binder (1911-1974), the prolific science-fiction and comic book writer renowned for authoring over half of the Marvel Family saga for Fawcett Publications, wrote Memoirs of a Nobody in 1948 at the age of 37, during what was arguably the most imaginative period within the repertoire of “Captain Marvel” stories.

Aside from intermittent details about himself, Binder’s capricious chronicle resembles very little in the way of anything that is indeed autobiographical. Unearthed several years ago from his file materials at Texas A&M University, Memoirs is self-described by its author as “ramblings through the untracked wilderness of my mind.” Binder’s potpourri of stray philosophical beliefs, pet peeves, theories, and anecdotes was written in freewheeling fashion and devoid of any charted course— other than allowing his mind to flow with no restricting parameters. The abridged and edited manuscript—serialized here within the pages of FCA—will nonetheless provide glimpses into the idiosyncratic and fanciful mind of Otto O. Binder.

In this sixth excerpt, Otto imagines a futuristic scenario, and also reveals his sanctuary to escape to while in The Big Apple. —P.C. Hamerlinck.

Nonsense And Naughtiness All prudes and Puritans beware! This may burn your ears off.

Join me in a little excursion into the future. Just for the sake of round numbers, let’s go to One Million A.D. You are a man, or a woman, walking down the street on a hot summer day. If you’re a man, you’re wearing perhaps a short loose tunic and a pair of sandals. That’s all. If you’re a woman, you are bedecked quite simply in a bra and G-string.

You, the man, pass this woman, and your eye runs appreciatively over her figure. You, the woman, also return the gaze in like manner, running your eyes appreciatively over his figure. The man goes up to the woman, smiles in a friendly fashion, gives his name, and then allows as how he would consider it a great honor and delight to indulge in sexual intercourse with her.

Now, they are total strangers, mind you. But the woman doesn’t slap his face, scratch his eyes out, and yell for a gendarme. She smiles prettily, and having an hour to spare, she accepts the kind offer. It being a beautiful day, they simply repair to the nearest park, taking care not to disturb other couples on the grass but yet not turning their eyes away in embarrassment. The park is quite full of couples who have made their assignations as above on the

Beauty And The—(Not Our Cap!) Sex in “Captain Marvel” comics? Never. Our hero was far too bashful for such shenanigans. Panel from the Otto Binder-scripted “The Beauty in Black,” Captain Marvel Adventures #142 (March 1953); art by C.C. Beck.

[Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

spur of the moment, and are now consummating their mutual desires.

And you do the same, right out there in the open, with the green grass for a couch, and the blue sky for a roof. An hour later, you bid each other a pleasant farewell. Chances are you will never meet again.

Fantastic? Maybe so. Maybe not. Who can say how society will someday solve its ever-present, ever-pressing, and perfectly normal sex-urges?

I’m not pulling any punches. Nor am I trying to be merely lascivious. I’m just toying with the speculation of what the future does about sex. No law against it.

To expand the picture a bit, perhaps the people of One Million A.D. will wear little badges if they are sexually available at the moment, as they fare through the city. A man seeking sex, just as at other times he seeks a restaurant for food, then can take his pick of females passing him, who wear badges, showing they are ready to accommodate. And since, in this far future world, it has finally been agreed upon that women have sex desire quite as strongly as men, a female may also look over all males wearing badges, and choose as she desires when the urge strikes her. Then a tap on the shoulder, a smile, and it is arranged. There is no money involved in this transaction at all. Superb, isn’t it?

On the other hand, any man or woman not wearing a badge is left strictly alone. No man would insult a badge-less woman by accosting her. And vice versa. Thus, those who are surfeited, or not in the mood, or otherwise not having any, are fully protected from unwanted attentions.

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we’re even. But wouldn’t any healthy red-blooded man or woman like such a set-up which would eliminate from puberty on all the tortured and twisted problems of sex?

That is, if it would. It might, in turn, create a whole new and worse set of problems.

Anyway, I’ll make one prediction: sex is here to stay.

Any arguments?

More Trivia I was walking down Broadway the other day and found myself between appointments with editors. I had an hour to kill, and the newsreel theatre is ideal for that.

As you pass out of the bright, noisy street into the cool quiet atmosphere of the theatre, you feel as if suddenly you are in another world. There is a lounge downstairs, lined with comfortable seats, carpeted thickly, and with concealed speakers giving out soft, dreamy music.

I suspect the manager of the theatre calculated exactly what it should be—a sort of quiet haven in the heart of New York City. A little cozy niche into which you can drop, for odd change, and enjoy a brief minute or hour of rest, as you choose. There is no one to bother you or chase you away. Some of the people look as if they have been there most of the day, unwilling to leave and brave the workaday world again. In fact, I’m sure that some of them don’t even bother going upstairs to view the hour’s showing of news and cartoons. They just park themselves in this lounge and soak up ease and contentment.

When “Good Humor” Meant An Ice Cream Bar Perhaps the 1950 film The Good Humor Man starring Jack Carson, George Reeves, and a gang of Captain Marvel Club members played at Otto Binder’s favorite Manhattan theatre to which he frequently escaped in between meetings with editors. Otto himself wrote the TGHM one-shot comic book published by Fawcett that same year; art by C.C. Beck. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

We can assume that in this intriguing future, I think, all frustrations and inhibitions due to sex are practically wiped out.

Psychiatrists would be bemoaning their dwindling numbers, and how lousy business is. Nobody comes in for treatments anymore.

Nobody has any complexes, at least not about sex. The human race has been de-Freuded and de-frosted.

Of course, the above picture is much too simplified. What of children? What of home? What of rivalries and jealousies? Would two people, with the parental urge upon them, then decide to live together faithfully, and not wear any more badges? Or would children be brought up in community homes, loved by all, while the fathers and mothers owed no allegiance to each other beyond getting together at times for the sole purpose of procreation?

You figure out the rest for yourself. I’m not interested in further dreary details. Have I shocked you? Well, I’ve shocked myself. So

As you look around at the faces, you see tired lines that have softened. And lax bodies whose unstrung nerves have succumbed to the quiet witchery of the surroundings. And when you stay a few minutes, the world outside recedes farther and farther. There is never a loud noise down there. If two people are talking, they bend their heads together and whisper, as if it would be sacrilege to speak aloud. You will see a man reading his newspaper with such a faraway look that it is pure sham.

The lady in the next armchair is dozing quietly. And even children, walking through the lounge to the restrooms, instinctively become soundless little angels.

It’s hard to describe, this unearthly little pocket of peace under the sidewalks of New York. You’d have to see and feel it yourself. I would be willing to wager that even on V-J Day, when the news came through to them, that there was no shouting and tumult down in that cubbyhole. A few eyebrows went up, perhaps, faces smiled at each other, but the quiet calm went on. For it’s like a little way-station along the road to eternity, where all these things sink to their true levels, and the doings of man vanish to zero.

But it’s damnable in a way. For the longer you stay, the harder it is to go. It is only with great effort that you finally tear yourself away, with a last backward sigh and glance, as if leaving a bit of Paradise. And each step toward the street, and the outer world awaiting you with all its blaring fury, takes an effort of will.

A long sigh is released as we fondly take leave of the lounge of the newsreel theatre, oasis of calm in a stormy world.

Next: Confessions of a Neurotic

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77

The Secret Life Of Mr. Tawny Captain Marvel Adventures #102 & James Thurber’s Walter Mitty

by Brian Cremins Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

J

ames Thurber’s 1939 “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the simple tale of a middleaged man’s shopping trip with his wife and the daydreams he has along the way, remains one of the most popular American short stories of the 20th century. In December 2013, Hollywood released Ben Stiller’s big-budget version of Thurber’s beloved, if often misunderstood, classic.

Even Her, the recent Spike Jonze film, echoes Walter Mitty’s struggle to find the balance between his waking life and his fantasies. We might trace the origin of Thurber’s story to narratives like Cervantes’ Don Quixote, in which the hero inhabits a world of the imagination to escape from the mundane, often harsh realities and disappointments of his life. In dreams, anyone can be a hero, even a world-weary but charming talking tiger like Captain Marvel’s friend, Mr. Tawny.

Did Otto Binder and C.C. Beck read Thurber’s story? Or did they have the 1947 film version starring Danny Kaye in mind when they created “Captain Marvel and the Adventure within an Adventure,” published in Captain Marvel Adventures #102 (dated Nov. 1949)? Like Ben Stiller’s 2013 version, the 1947 film bears little resemblance to Thurber’s story. Danny Kaye’s Walter Mitty, however, makes better use of his imagination than either Thurber’s original protagonist or Ben Stiller’s skateboarding, worldMitty Marvel travelling, David Bowie-listening hero: in a touch Otto Binder’s “The Adventure within an Adventure” (Captain Marvel Adventures #102, Nov. 1949) that might have intrigued Otto Binder, the 1947 suggests a link between James Thurber’s 1939 short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and Walter Mitty is a pulp-magazine writer. So far, I Mr. Tawny’s adventures. Art by C.C. Beck. (Top right:) Photo of James Thurber. haven’t come across any letters or notes that [Shazam hero & Mr. Tawny TM & © DC Comics.] suggest a direct link between Thurber’s short story and Mr. Tawny’s adventures, but the two Companion, “was one of the most real characters ever to appear in share a number of structural and thematic similarities. Like comic books.” Like Don Quixote and Walter Mitty, Mr. Tawny is a Thurber’s yarn, “Captain Marvel and the Adventure within an fantastic character who just happens to be obsessed with fantasy.

Adventure” is obsessed with the idea of time—time as a villain, time as an obstacle, time as a threat, and time as an opportunity for Since its first publication at the close of the 1930s, “The Secret change or for escape.

Life of Walter Mitty” has remained popular with readers, teachers, and literary scholars. In his 2008 essay on Thurber’s story, Terry W. As Otto Binder explained in his letter to Alter Ego [Vol. 1, #7], Thompson summarizes decades of other critical responses to published in October 1964, Mr. Tawny was a character who “lent Walter Mitty and his troubles, and then turns our attention to the himself more to orthodox concepts” than Captain Marvel did and, character’s fascination with and fear of technology. “Simply put,” perhaps as a result, proved very popular with Captain Marvel Thompson writes, “‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ addresses the fans—so popular, in fact, that Binder and Beck further developed angst of a small and unimportant man who is threatened, diminthe character “as a possible syndicate newspaper strip.” One of ished, by the complicated technology of twentieth century those “orthodox concepts” was this philosophical investigation of progress.” the passage of time, of joy and disappointment, of wisdom and mortality. “Mr. Tawny, in his own way,” John G. Pierce explains in While I would agree that Mitty’s daydreams reflect Thurber’s his essay on the talking tiger in the TwoMorrows book Fawcett own discomfort with modern forms of technology—a comical

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The Secret Life of Mr. Tawny

The setting of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” provides readers with a subtle symbol that Thurber’s hero is at war with the passage of time itself. What readers and critics often ignore is the fact that Thurber’s story takes place in Waterbury, Connecticut. In the opening paragraphs, Thurber describes Mitty and his wife as she scolds him for driving too fast. Her scolding snaps Mitty out of his dream of being a fighter pilot: “Walter Mitty drove on toward Waterbury in silence, the roaring of the SN202 through the worst storm in twenty years of navy flying fading in the remote, intimate airways of his mind.” But why set the story in Waterbury?

Although best known as the Brass City because of the brass- and metal-working industries that dominated its economy for most of the twentieth century, Waterbury was also once the home of the Waterbury Clock Company. In Act One of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which debuted in New York in February of 1949, Willy Loman tells his sons Biff and Happy of his travels as a salesman in New England, including stops in Providence, Boston, Portland, and Bangor.

After a cup of coffee with Providence’s Mayor, Willy explains, he drove to Waterbury, “a fine city. Big clock city, the famous Waterbury clock. Sold a nice bill there. And then Boston— Boston is the cradle of the Revolution.” In these lines, Willy might be referring to Waterbury’s famous clock tower, built in 1909, but also to the Waterbury Clock Company, which first became famous because of the inexpensive pocket watches they began manufacturing in the 1890s. The company, which, as Richard Oliver explains on his website, eventually evolved into the Timex Corporation, is also well known among collectors for the Mickey Mouse watches they later manufactured.

As the website for Bowers Watch & Clock Repair in Atlanta Georgia reminds modern readers, even Mark Twain makes reference to the inexpensive Waterbury Clock Company in his essay “The Turning-Point of My Life.” As he looks back over his life and his career as a writer, Twain compares himself to the Waterbury pocket watch: “Some rare men,” he writes, “are Daydream Believer wonderful watches, with gold case, compensation balance, Beck and Costanza’s lush Western landscape illustrations give way to the talking and all those things, and some men are only simple and sweet feline’s further heroic daydreams. [Shazam hero & Mr. Tawny TM & © DC Comics.] and humble Waterburys. I am a Waterbury. A Waterbury of that kind, some say.” Is Mitty, like Willy Loman and like Mr. obsession perhaps best expressed in Chapter 2 of the author’s 1933 Tawny, also a Waterbury of this sort—often confused, but also memoir My Life and Hard Times—I would also suggest that Walter “simple and sweet and humble”?

Mitty, like Beck and Binder’s Mr. Tawny, lives in fear of time itself, and of the machines that measure the progress from day to night and from the present to the future. Neither Mitty nor Mr. Tawny has much of an interest in the past, but they remain characters fascinated by a form of nostalgia Svetlana Boym describes in her 2001 study The Future of Nostalgia.

“I realized,” Boym writes, “that nostalgia goes beyond individual psychology. At first glance, nostalgia is a longing for a place, but actually it is a yearning for a different time—the time of our childhood, the slower rhythms of our dreams.” In “Captain Marvel and the Adventure within an Adventure,” Mr. Tawny explores these “slower rhythms” of his daydreams while at the same time searching for adventure in the American West with Captain Marvel. Although he might appear to be a cousin of Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, Mr. Tawny might in fact be read as a close—and impeccably well-dressed—relative of Thurber’s Walter Mitty, Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, even Harlan Ellison’s Jeffty from the short story “Jeffty Is Five.” What all these characters share in common is the desire to escape time by existing in the realm of daydreams and heroic fantasy.

Despite Mr. Tawny’s popularity with “Captain Marvel” readers, he’s always posed a bit of a problem for critics. In his famous and influential essay “The Big Red Cheese,” Dick Lupoff admits that he “never warmed to Mr. Tawny.” While Lupoff spends the rest of the essay describing his childhood affection for Captain Marvel and the other Marvel Family characters, he remains unable to understand the Talking Tiger’s appeal. “It may sound strange,” Lupoff explains with a touch of humor, “but I think it was because he seemed unrealistic. I mean, the whole Marvel sequence was about this little boy who could summon magic lightning to transform him into an invulnerable flying man. That I could believe. But a talking tiger? It just didn’t fit.” Maybe the young Dick Lupoff had difficulty relating to the concerns of a middle-aged tiger obsessed with wealth, status, and mortality. “If young readers could identify with Billy Batson,” John G. Pierce explains in his essay on the character, “older readers—of whom, reportedly, there were many— should have been able to identify with Mr. Tawny.” While Billy Batson’s alter ego was the glorious, if often befuddled, Captain Marvel, Mr. Tawny was an alter ego of a different sort—a stand-in for writer Otto Binder himself.

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As C.C. Beck explains in the essay “The Human Quality of the Captain Marvel Characters,” “Mr. Tawny, the talking tiger, was actually…who else? Otto Binder! Otto had a lot of fun laughing at himself in the Mr. Tawny stories.” Once we begin to read Mr. Tawny as a version of writer Otto Binder and of fictional protagonist Walter Mitty, a new, more complex portrait of the talking tiger begins to emerge. Like Ben Stiller’s contemporary version of Thurber’s hero, Mr. Tawny seeks an escape from his life by travelling to distant, sometimes exotic (to the hero, anyway), often idealized landscapes. Just as Ben Stiller’s Walter Mitty travels to Iceland and the Himalayas on a quest to find his photographer friend Sean O’Connell (played by actor Sean Penn), Mr. Tawny and Captain Marvel travel across the United States in a search for a young woman who might be in grave danger.

Ego in 1964. Mr. Tawny wants adventures, but, like other Americans of the late 1940s and early 1950s, he also wants to travel. Mr. Tawny, however, spends most of the story ignoring the beauty of the spaces unfolding before him. If we return to Svetlana Boym’s argument for a moment, we’ll see that Mr. Tawny is a character searching for a different time and for a different place, something other than his job and his beautiful but otherwise ordinary new home. However, when that new world presents itself, he fails to see it because he is so caught up in his desire to be someone other than himself—in this case, Captain Marvel.

Although Jack Kerouac’s On the Road would not be published until 1957, Mr. Tawny’s behavior anticipates that of Kerouac’s protagonist Sal Paradise, a man unable to get out from under the shadow of his risk-taking, flamboyant friend Dean Moriarty.

“Captain Marvel and the Adventure within an Adventure” begins in the city, as Billy Batson shows Mr. Tawny the offices of Station WHIZ. Upon hearing a woman’s voice plead for help over a radio transmitter, Billy springs into action and says his magic word. As he does so, Mr. Tawny exclaims, “Golly! There’s Captain Marvel, ready to go on some exciting, unknown adventure! How I’d like to go along and share the thrills of action!” Unlike Walter Mitty, Mr. Tawny has a close friendship with a super-hero, so pursuing this adventure is as easy as asking, “Captain Marvel!

Would you—uh—take me along?” What follows, as the title of the story suggests, are two adventures, although, as I read the story now, I find at least three parallel narratives: the search for the young woman, Mr. Tawny’s fantasies, and Binder and Beck’s American travelogue, those lush drawings of a variety of Western landscapes. Before we reach the climax of the story, Mr. Tawny also experiences three heroic daydreams.

Like the other Mr. Tawny stories, this one ends with a lesson. In the story’s final panel, Mr. Tawny explains, “I daydreamed so much that I finally got confused as to which was dream and which was real! But it was a good lesson anyway—that, with courage, what you dream, you can do!” But is this the only lesson of the story? If we read this adventure again in relation to “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” we might begin to see a few other parallels, and perhaps even a few other narratives just under the surface.

In the first one, Mr. Tawny and Captain Marvel rescue the redheaded young woman from a card-playing mob of gangsters. In the next one, Mr. Tawny resembles a more colorful version of The Lone Ranger as he and Captain Marvel save the same red-headed woman—this time dressed a cowgirl—from a gang of outlaws, one of whom exclaims, “Owwww! What a stupid idjit I am! I should have knowed nobody can outdraw Two-Gun Tawny!” In the last of the three daydreams—each one of which takes place as Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawny fly west—Mr. Tawny defends her from a bear and from two robbers. Before the end of each dream, Mr. Tawny, like Walter Mitty, awakens before he can enjoy his reward—in Mr. Tawny’s case, a kiss from the young woman.

These daydreams give Beck (in unison, on this particular story, with his artistic collaborator, Pete Costanza) the opportunity to draw one beautiful, detailed landscape after the other. First, we see Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawny flying over a farm, a few grey hills in the distance. The story’s most remarkable panel appears on the fourth page, where we find a desert landscape with a cactus in the foreground and two buttes in the background of the image.

Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawny are tiny black specks just above the center of the panel, which is filled with thin, white clouds in an otherwise crisp, clear blue sky. In this panel, Captain Marvel says, “Still no sign of a girl in trouble! We’ll keep going straight west!”

The next page of the story ends with a similar image. The artists fill the final panel of the story’s fifth page with the drawing of a snowcapped mountain. A ridge of evergreen trees surrounds the base of the mountain, and, once again, Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawny are two black specks to the left of the panel. Neither one of them is the focus of the action. Rather, as readers, we focus our attention on these expertly rendered landscapes, each one further away from the city.

Why include one landscape after another? Maybe this is another of the “orthodox concepts” Binder wrote about in his letter to Alter

Unlike Walter Mitty, or Willy Loman, or Sal Paradise, Mr. Tawny finds peace at the end of his adventure, although even the talking tiger must face a moment of terror. This final adventure was no dream—he and Captain Marvel have just fought a small band of alien invaders and, even more startling, the young woman has kissed him. But Mr. Tawny’s story does not end with the same threats of violence as Thurber’s short story or Miller’s play. A show of violence, after all, was never really Binder or Beck’s style. As

Tawny The Titan Mr. Tawny doesn’t hold back in his fantasies.

[Mr. Tawny TM & © DC Comics.]

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Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2008. 110-112.

Bowers Watch & Clock Repair. “The Waterbury Watch.” Online: www.bowerswatchandclockrepair.com/waterburywatch.htm Accessed December 30, 2013.

Boym, Svetlana. The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books, 2001.

Lupoff, Dick. “The Big Red Cheese” in All in Color for a Dime. Eds. Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson. New Rochelle: Arlington House, 1970.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: The Viking Press, 1977.

You’re Getting To Be A Rabbit With Me From page 351 of James Thurber’s The Thurber Carnival (New York: The Modern Library, 1957). Originally included in Thurber’s 1943 collection Men, Women and Dogs. [© Estate of James Thurber or successors in interest.]

Beck explained in his essay “May We Have the Next Slide Please?” for the Winter 1974/75 issue of Inside Comics, nothing much happens in many of Captain Marvel’s Golden Age adventures. “As I look at the old Captain Marvel stories I see page after page of people walking around, talking, thinking, sweating, and doing other interesting but hardly earth-shattering things.” Beck’s description of his work with Otto Binder might just as easily describe James Thurber’s fiction. While Thurber’s characters, like Binder and Beck’s, might not spend much time doing “earthshattering things,” they remind us of our own capacity to dream, and also of the limitations of those fantasies.

These discrepancies between fantasy and reality are a familiar theme in Thurber’s fiction, essays, and cartoons. In 1943, Thurber published Men, Women and Dogs, selections from which you’ll find in the 1957 collection The Thurber Carnival, which remains an excellent introduction to the writer’s work. While many of the cartoons in Men, Women and Dogs echo “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” one of the most striking is Thurber’s drawing of a woman and her analyst, seen at the top of this page.

Thurber’s signature rests in the lower right-hand corner of the cartoon, gently but firmly reminding us of his presence, and, like Binder and Beck, inviting us into this strange landscape of the imagination. Is the woman going mad? Is this a prank? Is she at the mercy of her physician? Or is he just as mad as she is? Then again, maybe she’s right. Maybe she’s surrounded by rabbits, after all.

And, anyway, a talking rabbit? That’s not so strange, not really, at least compared to an educated tiger in a suit and tie or a little boy with a powerful, secret, forever magical word.

References and Further Reading: Beck, C.C. “The Human Quality of the Captain Marvel Characters” in Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA. Ed. P.C. Hamerlinck.

Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001. 28-29.

Beck, C.C. “May We Have the Next Slide Please?” Inside Comics Vol. 1 Number 4 (Winter 1974-1975). 24-26.

Binder, Otto. “Special! – A Long, Long Letter from Mr. Marvel Family Himself—Otto Binder!” in Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine. Eds. Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly.

Oliver, Richard. “Waterbury Clock Company History.” Antique Clocks Guy. Online: www.clockguy.com/SiteRelated/SiteReferencePages/Waterbury History.html Accessed December 30, 2013.

Pierce, John G. “ ‘One of the Most Real Characters Ever to Appear’: An Analysis of Mr. Tawny” in Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA. Ed. P.C. Hamerlinck. Raleigh: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001. 31.

Thompson, Terry W. “‘He Sprang the Machine’: ‘The Secret [Technological] Life of Walter Mitty.’” South Carolina Review. 41.1 (Fall 2008): 110-115.

Thurber, James. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” in The Thurber Carnival. New York: The Modern Library, 1957. 47-51.

Twain, Mark. “The Turning-Point of My Life.” Available online: classiclit.about.com/library/bletexts/mtwain/bl-mtwain-turning.htm Accessed December 30, 2013.

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