Doc V” On The Life & Legacy Of Syd Shores

A Star-Spangled Salute to SYD SHORES – Part III “DOC V” On The Life & Legacy Of SYD SHORES

A Comics Historian’s View Conducted & Transcribed By Richard J. Arndt

INTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, better known to comic fans as “Doc V,” is one of the primary authorities on the company that started out as Timely, became Atlas, and ended up as Marvel Entertainment. His website timely-atlascomics.blogspot.com is an excellent place to gain more information on all things related to that company. At Nancy Shores Karlebach’s suggestion, we contacted Doc V for his take on Nancy’s father—Syd Shores. This interview took place July 27, 2018. RICHARD ARNDT: Michael, it’s nice to finally talk to you. I’ve admired your work for quite some time. It’s been invaluable to comic historians.

MICHAEL J. VASSALLO: Thank you.

RA: I guess we should start out on how you got acquainted with Syd Shores.

VASSALLO: I remember seeing his work, back in the early 1970s,

Syd Shores In The Marvel Age Of Comics Doc V reports he first encountered Syd Shores’ work as inker of Jack Kirby’s Captain America (as per above splash from #107, Nov. 1968), with script by Stan Lee—but his first glimpse of what Syd himself looked like was most likely his self-portrait that accompanied his full-art job in Tower of Shadows #5 (May 1970), scripted by Gerry Conway. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

on sort of secondary features at Marvel, and elsewhere as a penciler. I also remember his inking Jack Kirby on Captain America. This would have been the 1960s revival, which started off with #100, taking up the numbering from Tales of Suspense, which Syd also inked for a bit. I also remember the little blurb stating he’d passed away. Those two events bookended roughly five or six years’ time.

However, when I started getting involved with the history of Atlas and Timely, I realized that this guy was all over the place, and, man, was he good! That pretty much opened my eyes to Syd Shores.

RA: One of the things I’ve noticed about his early work was that a lot of 1940s artwork can appear to be rather static to modern eyes. Syd’s 1940s work is anything but! It’s quite dynamic. It may not be quite as kinetic as Jack Kirby’s was at the time, but it wasn’t far behind. VASSALLO: No, it is not. His work is extremely dynamic. I know from talking to Nancy that Syd was somewhat upset that he wasn’t really able to break in at Marvel as a penciler when he came back to comics in the latter part of the 1960s. Stan Lee was seemingly hesitant to put him on any top features.

RA: That’s always seemed a little odd to me. If nothing else, his 1960s art style would have seemed perfect for Iron Man. VASSALLO: I agree totally. I don’t think he was given the chance. Years ago, Mark Evanier mentioned, I think it was on the old, old, old Kirby list from the mid-1990s, that folks were complaining to Marvel, and so pretty much directly, to Stan Lee, that Shores’ inking looked very old-fashioned. It was being called muddy, which may have referred to the way it looked when printed. The original artwork is actually quite crisp. Mark suspected that may have happened due to the way Syd inked. He didn’t use a bottle of ink. Mind you, I’m completely ignorant of the tools used in inking, but from my remembrance of what Mark said, Syd used a solid ink block, which had to be repeatedly dipped with or in water. That sounds crazy to me. I don’t really know anything about it, but that type of inking apparently made the reproduction extremely muddy and that was the main reason that he was soon taken off inking Kirby.

RA: You’re right in saying that really makes no sense, as I’ve seen original pages of Kirby/Shores work for that time period and the inking looks just fine. He was also inking Gene Colan’s work on Daredevil at the time, and the type of production problems you’ve mentioned should also have been appearing there, but I recall those pages as being quite nice. [NOTE: For the record, I’ve looked at both the Epic (color) and Essential (black & white) Captain America reprint volumes for those issues, and Syd’s pages are indeed much darker (muddier, if you will) than the preceding issues inked by either Frank Giacoia or Joe Sinnott, or the issues directly after inked by Dan Adkins and George Tuska. The reproduction, even in black-&-white, is not as clear. Syd also appears to have routinely reworked Cap’s head on the interior pages on a regular basis, causing it to appear to be a Syd Shores head and not a Jack Kirby one, and also completely redrew The Red Skull’s head whenever he appeared on covers—this, at least, apparently in an effort to appease the Comic Code requirements.]

VASSALLO: True enough. Well, it was a Mark Evanier story that described Stan’s complaining about Syd Shores’ inking around 1968-1969 or so.

RA: It’s hard to believe there would have been that many complaints from readers about any artist at Marvel at that time, when they were still running strong with fans. Still, who knows? VASSALLO: Exactly. Who knows? Mark might have some inside information on that situation, since later he was Jack’s assistant, but who knows?

Syd Was A Real Sport! But this wasn’t a sports-oriented comic mag in which he depicted a flawlessly drawn boxing match—it was the crime comic Tales of Justice #57 (Dec. 1955)—so you can bet there was some skullduggery involved before too many more panels. Scripter unknown. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RA: That kind of complaint didn’t make it into the letters pages in any great detail, since that would have been memorable. VASSALLO: You’re right. It didn’t.

RA: I actually admired his work inking Gene Colan on Daredevil quite a bit.

VASSALLO: I do, too, and Gene was a huge admirer of Syd Shores. Every time I talked to Gene, he would rave about how much Syd helped him on that title, how great an artist he was—on and on. In fact, with most of the Timely/Atlas/Marvel artists that I’ve talked to over the years, Syd’s name always comes up. I believe that he, in an unofficial position, was acting as the art director at the Timely and Atlas bullpen. He was a mentor to every new artist who was trying to break in on staff. They all went to him with their problems. How to flesh out a scene, how to do pacing, how to do this or that. Syd apparently always took the time to help everybody who needed it. He was also usually older than everybody else, too.

RA: Not that much older than everybody, was he? VASSALLO: Yeah, he was in his late twenties when he got into comics and would have been in his thirties or older during the postwar Timely years. Only Christopher Rule, I suppose, would have been older than Syd. Syd died young, at age 58 or 59, but

he was considerably older than the teen-agers also breaking into the business in the 1940s or the 20-somethings in the early 1950s. Anybody who was breaking into comics in those days would have considered anyone five years or older than them to be a father-figure.

He was acting as the art director, although, as I’ve mentioned, it was an unofficial title. I think Stan Lee laid claim as the official art director. In fact, I’ve seen that mentioned in print in some of the Timely credits—“Editor and Art Editorial: Stan Lee.” So Stan grabbed the official art director title, but he was not the actual art director. Syd Shores was the acting one for those Timely years. Timely, and then later Atlas, was putting out dozens of titles a month, and no one person could have done both jobs for that many books.

RA: Syd started off inking Captain America covers, and then moved to the interiors when Jack Kirby was still the lead artist of the 1940s book. VASSALLO: Syd came to Timely by way of the Harry Chesler shop. Some of the early work that appeared from him at Timely, like “The Terror” in Mystic Comics #1, I’m convinced he didn’t actually do for Timely but instead did for Chesler, and Martin Goodman bought them for Timely. If you saw the first works of Syd’s that appeared in Timely books, they were written by Phil Sturm, who was also working at Chesler. Phil was Syd’s wife Selma’s cousin, if I’m remembering right. [NOTE: Please note that Wikipedia lists Harry Chesler as Syd’s cousin. However, both

Singing For His Supper As Marvel writer and associate editor at the time, A/E’s editor certainly had no qualms about Syd’s inking during their long run with Gene Colan on Daredevil. Seen here is the splash page of their second teaming on the title, Daredevil #56 (Sept. 1969). Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Think While You Ink! You can judge for yourself re Kirby as inked by Syd Shores and other embellishers. Here, from the black-&white Essential Captain America, Vol. 1, are Frank Giacoia’s inks from Tales of Suspense #79 (July 1966) and Syd’s from Captain America #100 (April ’68). [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A Vision Of Loveliness Besides working on “Captain America” and serving as a sort of unofficial art director (or “art associate”), Shores racked up some super-hero solo credits even in his early days, as per this “Vision” story from Marvel Mystery Comics #30 (April 1942). Scripter unknown. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Nancy and Doc V stated to me that the cousin was actually Phil Sturm.] Selma and Syd were already married by this time. Obviously, being relatives, both Phil and Syd were working in the same shop. However, Joe Simon, then an editor at Timely, picked up Syd from somewhere and had him join that loose set of artists who produced the first ten issues of Captain America, all credited to Simon & Kirby.

Everyone thinks that Simon & Kirby did those issues on their own, but it’s not solely Simon & Kirby. They were the creators and prime movers who did the first couple of stories. Kirby penciled a lot and did all of the splash pages. Simon did some penciling and inking. There were all kinds of ancillary artists helping out, including Syd, plus Al Liederman, Al Avison, Al Gabriele, Bernie Klein, George Klein, George Roussos, Reed Crandall, Charles Wottkoski, Ernie Hart, Mort Meskin, and Mike Sekowsky. Simon & Kirby were operating their own shop, producing Captain America for Timely. Some names, like George Klein and Mike Sekowsky, were some of the earliest Timely staffers, and their contributions could have come via a staff position rather than through that loose Simon & Kirby shop. At some point in the run of the first ten issues, Simon & Kirby were only doing the splash pages and the rest of the story pages were seemingly done by the others.

For a considerable time, Syd was credited with inking the cover to Captain America #1, the one where Kirby has Cap punching Hitler. I think that credit came from a short interview that Syd gave to Al Hewetson in the early 1970s. However, I don’t believe he is the inker. It’s possible that he did work on the cover, though. Like I said, this book was a Simon & Kirby shop effort. Syd may have drawn a line here or inked a small part there.

RA: He’s not credited with cover inks for #1 anymore, although he is for #5 and #7.

VASSALLO: I’m not certain Syd inked those, either. It’s possible, however. When I collated the credits for Marvel’s Golden Age Captain America Omnibus, after the deepest analysis of the first ten issues ever done, we left the credit for #1 blank because there’s just no credible evidence as to who did what vis-à-vis the inking on the first issue’s cover. If only there was a “pay copy” of Cap #1, like there is for Marvel Comics #1!

Al Avison was the first artist to take on Captain America when Simon & Kirby were forced out of Timely. Al had been the primary non-Kirby Captain America penciler on those first ten issues and was well versed with the character. Syd began to ink Avison. When Avison left the book several issues later, Syd took it over. For the rest of the 1940s, he was the de facto artist on the character, for the most part. There were a lot of “Captain America” stories appearing in other titles, so they had need of other artists to draw those stories—Don Rico, Fred Bell, Allen Bellman. In the main book, in the lead story, however, Syd was the Captain America artist.

RA: Captain America was eventually phased into a horror title… VASSALLO: It was. Its last couple of issues introduced horrorthemed stories, culminating with a complete switch over to

all-horror content coinciding with the boom in the horror genre and Terror Firma We showed you the splash page of “The Terror” by writer Phil Sturm and artist

Syd Shores (his first solo job) back on p. 5—here’s the final page from that odd early mash-up of super-hero and horror from Mystic Comics #5 (March 1941). Thanks to Doc V. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RA: Timely/Atlas had a tendency to fire everyone in the bullpen, probably its introduction at Timely-Atlas in 1949. Syd also drew some issues of the Blonde Phantom. VASSALLO: Towards the end of the original Captain America run, 1948-1949, there were a lot of artists drawing the stories. I’ve even uncovered two Gene Colan stories at Timely, which just blew my mind when I found them. Then the title became Captain America’s Weird Tales at the end of the run, just for the last two issues. The final all-horror cover, #75, was also drawn by Gene Colan. All the Timely super-hero books ended by the close of 1949 or earlier. VASSALLO: That’s true. [laughs]

In 1947, when Timely decided to branch out—at the time they were only publishing two types of comics—super-hero and humor—they started doing crime comics. Syd was right on top of that. He drew the covers for both of the first two issues of the crime books, which appeared simultaneously [NOTE: Justice #7 and Official True Crime Case Comics #24—both Fall 1947]. They’re beautiful covers. when they had a lot of inventory…. VASSALLO: The first time was at the end of 1949. The staff was in the Empire State Building at the time and, for whatever reason you want to pick, although the usual story is that Martin Goodman opened up a closet and found it full of unpublished inventory. He blew a gasket and then realized that he could save a lot of money firing everybody and replacing them with freelancers. The fact that the freelancers were often the same artists who’d been fired from the bullpen didn’t seem to make any difference.

I’ve also heard there were tax reasons that came into consideration. Still, at the end of 1949, the Timely staff in the Empire State Building was let go. All that was kept on was a small production staff. Everyone else became a freelancer.

RA: Stan Goldberg told me about a mass firing, and the 1949 one must have been the one he was referring to.

FYI, Russ Heath told me that the mass firing was his fault. He had come up with some innovation involving reproduction that was much cheaper than the old way. VASSALLO: Oh, I’ve heard that story! He came up with a way to

Were Thine That Special Face? A/E’s editor says: “I don’t know about anybody else, but every time I look at this splash page from the second story in Captain America Comics #2 (April 1941), I’m convinced that someone besides Jack Kirby drew at least Cap’s face on it—if not the Cap figure itself.” None of this detracts from the supreme accomplishment of Simon & Kirby’s first ten issues of that title, but it took a lot more than two guys to turn all of them out. From the hardcover Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Captain America, Vol. 1. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

RA: Yes, Nancy tells me that he was the co-creator of that character.

RA: At least Cap didn’t lose his title to a dog, like Green Lantern did.

reprint stories using only pencils, without them having been inked.

The Joke’s On—The Jester! Yet another Shores/Alascia action page from “The Jester of Death” in Captain America #40 (July 1944). Thanks to Jim Kealy. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

He even said he produced a few stories that way. I’ve never been able to identity of those stories, though. I don’t believe that’s the reason, Rich.

RA: I’m not necessarily saying he’s right, either. He might have thought so, however, because the mass firing came very shortly after he went to Timely with his reproduction innovation. It might be a part of the reason, though.

VASSALLO: It could be a part of it, I guess. Yet whatever technique it was, it was never instituted, so I’m doubtful. But Goodman fires the staff and everyone becomes a freelancer, scrambling for work. Syd immediately was back at work for Timely, freelancing. I think he also went over to Orbit, I think, to work on Westerns. Whoever published Wanted [NOTE: Wanted Comics—and yes, the publisher was Orbit], I’ve found him doing crime comics for another publisher but most of his work was freelance for either Timely or Orbit.

RA: I know that, in the 1950s, with super-heroes largely out of the picture, especially at Timely/Atlas, that most of the stories would have been short stand-alone tales for various genres—Westerns, crime, war, horror, romance, etc.

VASSALLO: Yes, in the 1950s those would have been the genres and it would have been mostly anthology titles. However, he worked on a lot of recurring characters in the 1950s as well. In the war books, he had a character called Battle Brady, who ran in Battle Action, as well as in his own title and even once in a while in Battle.

He was wonderful doing Westerns. He introduced the “Two-Gun Kid.” He drew “Kid Colt,” “Rex Hart,” and on “Black

“Horror-ay For Hollywood!” (Top left:) The GCD credits this Shores-penciled cover for Blonde Phantom #13 (Spring 1947) as being inked either by Syd himself or by Vince Alascia. Thanks to the GCD. (Above:) An action page from Blonde Phantom #14 (Summer 1947) by Shores, scripted by Otto Binder. Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

We’ve Got These Covered, Too! Doc says the Shores covers of Timely’s Justice #7 and Official True Crime Cases Comics #24—both dated Fall 1947 and both actually the first issues of their series—are “beautiful covers”… and who are we to argue with an expert? Thanks to MJV for the scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Rider” he had a long run penciling the character, both in his own book and on excess stories for other Western titles. For Atlas Western fans, Black Rider is well loved! Syd’s artwork there is really beautiful, and he picked up Christopher Rule as his inker, making for a lush combo.

RA: Syd also did a lot of Westerns in the 1960s and 1970s as well. VASSALLO: True, but at that point Westerns were nearly dead. To me, anyone doing Westerns in the late 1960s, the editors were just giving them the assignments because the artists needed work desperately, not because the title was expected to sell well.

RA: Then Atlas had their implosion. DC had theirs in 1978, but Atlas had theirs in 1957. Nearly every Atlas issue of the time had Sept. 1957 as their final issue. VASSALLO: Yes, Atlas imploded in the spring of 1957, when those last books would have gone on sale. They canceled dozens of titles when their distributor, the American News Company [ANC], went under. Up until that point, though, Syd was drawing everything you could ask of him at Atlas. Besides the genres already mentioned, he was even drawing Bible stories and jungle stories. His jungle work was “Man-oo the Mighty,” “Lo-Zar,” covers for Lorna the Jungle Girl, and a feature called “The Unknown Jungle.” I think those were actually reprinted in three volumes by Marvel in the Marvel Masterworks Atlas series. He worked on Sailor Sweeney—he did twelve or thirteen stories for that series. He drew “The Black Knight” and “The Crusader“ for the last issue of Black

Who Is That Masked Man? A mid-1950s British reprinting of a great Shores/Western cover: Black Rider #4, from L. Miller & Sons. Courtesy of the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Knight [#5, Apr. 1956]. Christopher Rule inked the issue.

RA: After the Atlas implosion, he quit comics for roughly a decade, correct?

VASSALLO: He did advertising for much of that time and, mind you, I’m not an expert on this, but he also did a lot of illustrations and covers for the men’s-adventure magazines. They were often known as “sweat” magazines. Not for Martin Goodman, though, because I would know about those. He worked for other companies, although Goodman published the “sweat” magazines as well. I’m pretty sure that Syd didn’t do any illustrations for Goodman’s titles in that genre.

He did, however, do interior illustrations in the 1940s for Goodman’s true crime magazines. We reproduced a lot of those for my and Blake Bell’s book The Secret History of Marvel Comics. His work for those is actually pretty nice and was done for Amazing Detective Cases, Complete Detective Cases, and National Detective Cases. He also did illustrations for pulp magazines— Western pulps for Martin Goodman that has Syd Shores art inside, replacing Western art traditionally drawn in Goodman’s pulps by L. F. Bjorklund. The years probably span 1946 to about 1952.

The “’48” State Two Shores efforts for Timely in 1948 were the Human Torch cover of Marvel Mystery Comics #85 (Feb.), possibly inked by Alascia—and a full-issue team-up with editor and writer Stan Lee in Complete Mystery #2 (Oct.). Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert & the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] RA: He probably wasn’t the only comicbook artist to do work in Goodman’s pulp and crime magazines, since Goodman would have gone to the same artists he used for everything else. VASSALLO: Right. If you get my book, we reproduced a lot of those artists in the interior. There wasn’t as much new art as you might think. In the 1930s there was new art, but by the 1940s Goodman just reused artwork that had been done for stories in

Horror Ya Doin’? (Above left:) Syd was a Timely horror mainstay from the very beginning of the company’s foray into the field, as per this cover for Marvel Tales #96 (June 1950), only a few issues after the title had changed from Marvel Mystery Comics. The vignettes along the side are by Joe Maneely. Thanks to Doc V. (Above right:) This page alone from Astonishing #14 (June 1953) should prove that Shores would’ve been a great artist to draw Marvel’s Werewolf by Night comic in the early 1970s. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [Both pages TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

the 1930s. The original Goodman pulp interior artist, as I mentioned, was L.F. Bjorklund, a dynamite Western artist who illustrated 90% of Goodman’s 1930s Western pulps. Goodman used the art over and over and over. In the ’40s and ’50s, though, Goodman raided his comicbook artists, with Syd moonlighting a few new illustrations. Bill Everett did a few. George Klein, Allen Bellman, Carl Burgos, and others did as well. I scanned all the new art from that period to use in our book.

RA: I saw just the tail end of the “men’s sweat” magazines in the late 1960s and maybe the early 1970s. I mostly remember a lot of women in bondage and Nazi covers. They had really good art, though.

Let There Be… Battle! This archetypal cover for Battle Brady #14 (June 1953) was signed by artist Shores. But, with the Korean War having ended in a truce around the time this issue went on sale, war comics would soon no longer be a growth industry. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] VASSALLO: Very good art. I’m pretty sure, Rich, that Syd didn’t do any “men’s sweat” work for Martin Goodman. He did a lot of it, but not for Goodman. At least up through the early 1960s. After that my interest and expertise wanes.

RA: So, from the Marvel implosion of 1957 until 1967 when he started inking Daredevil, he wasn’t doing comics at

“To Live Outside The Law You Must Be Honest” Kid Colt started out as “Hero of the West” with issue #1 (Aug. 1948)—but by #3 (Dec.) had quickly metamorphosed into Kid Colt Outlaw, clearly a more glamorous calling. Shores drew both covers, though it’s not certain if he inked that of issue #1. Kid Colt Outlaw became Timely/Marvel’s longest-running Western title. Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

all. He was doing the men’s-adventure magazines but, according to his daughter Nancy, he couldn’t make enough to live on doing that, so he was also working in advertising of some sort or the other. VASSALLO: Someone at some point also said that he was driving a cab during those years, but that’s incorrect. He was not driving a cab. That comment made it into the Wikipedia page for Syd, but Nancy was quite vehement that Syd never drove a cab. That comment made her quite angry. For a while, every time we changed it, it would be changed back. I think what happened was that Roy [Thomas] contacted the person making that claim and he eventually stated in print that Syd was never a cab driver. Once it was printed, that printed version was shown to Wikipedia and they finally took out that piece of misinformation from the article.

RA: You know, some of those stories refuse to die, and carry on by moving from one artist or writer to another. I’ve heard the “dangling Mort Weisinger out the DC office window” anecdote a half dozen times or more, and it’s nearly always a different writer or artist who’s doing the dangling. The person being dangled changes sometimes, too, but it’s usually Mort Weisinger. I assume that something close to that story may have actually happened, but whether it was actually dangling or simply the threat to dangle him or maybe just wishful thinking on the part of those who had to deal with Weisinger, it’s really hard to say at this point in time. VASSALLO: I know. It’s a funny story but you’re right—it’s never the same guy twice. Anybody who could verify it has either passed away or is in their 90s now. All the Golden-Agers are gone, except for a handful, and they’ve all gone rather quickly, in the last ten to fifteen years. Of course, It’s A Jungle In There! that makes sense—they’re In the pages of Timely/Atlas’ Jungle quite old! Action #3 (Feb. 1955), that is—for which Syd drew that issue’s “Man-oo the RA: And, of course, those who are Mighty” feature, whose star was—a left, their memories of those days silverback gorilla. Truly beautiful work. are seventy years or more old! Repro’d from the hardcover Marvel Masterworks: Jungle Adventures, Vol. 2 VASSALLO: There may be (of three—collect ’em all!). [TM & © some writers, artists whose Marvel Characters, Inc.] names are not well-known or who were only in the comics industry for a short time who may still be alive, but how would you find them?

RA: You’re right about that. I recently tracked down and interviewed Joye Hummel Murchison Kelly, who wrote “Wonder Woman” stories for three or four years in the 1940s. Very few people knew who she was at the time, because she wrote those stories under William Marston’s pen-name. She hasn’t had anything to do with comics since 1947. While interviewing her, I persuaded her to consider and accept an offer from the San Diego Comic-Con to attend the 2018 convention, where she received the Bill Finger Award. That was pretty cool. She had good memories of her days writing “Wonder Woman”… but not so much about the stories themselves. That was work she’d done seventy or more years ago. Still, she was a joy to talk to.

I also interviewed a gentleman who used to draw comics for the Iger Shop in the mid to late 1940s. He also was a very nice man, but because he drew for the Iger Shop, he really had no idea where his stories ended up, since the Iger Shop supplied art to numerous publishers. In addition, he often did partial work on many stories and pages that he really retained no memory of. And again, he hadn’t had anything to do with comics since he left that shop in the late 1940s. He was 93 when I interviewed him.

Anyways, back to Syd. He was inking Gene Colan and Jack Kirby, but was drawing/inking only back-up stories and Westerns

Beating The Bad Guys To A Pulp Two so-called “double-truck” illustrations done by Syd Shores for pulp magazines—actually, at a time when he was very much in demand at Timely Comics (and before the pulps all but went out of existence over the coming decade). They’re from Complete Detective Cases for July 1944, and Western Novels and Stories, Vol. 11, #9 (April 1949)… you guess which is which! Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [© the respective copyright holders.]

at that point, I think. He did do lead work for Westerns when Sol Brodsky started Skywald.

VASSALLO: He was also doing Red Wolf for Marvel. That feature had two different Red Wolfs— one in the 19th Century and one whose adventures were set in the 1970s.

RA: The 1970s version debuted in The Avengers, if I remember right. John Buscema and Tom Palmer drew the debut, though. VASSALLO: Yes, but Syd drew

The Devil, You Say! As Doc V says, this illustration by Syd Shores appeared in one of Martin Goodman’s non-comics magazines: Complete Detective Cases, Vol. 6, #3 (July 1944), to be precise, accompanying a story titled “Devil’s Weed.” Wonder what it was about? The illo appeared in Blake Bell & Dr. Michael J. Vassallo’s excellent 2013 study The Secret History of Marvel Comics. [© the respective copyright holders.]

most of the rest of the stories, especially in the Red Wolf title. [NOTE: Syd penciled the 19th-century Red Wolf’s first solo adventure in Marvel Spotlight #1 (Nov. 1971) and then drew the first eight issues (1972-1973) of the Red Wolf title, where the 19th-century character headlined for the first six issues and the 20th-century character carried on for another three issues. Dick Ayers penciled the last issue, probably due to Syd’s death.]

VASSALLO: To tell you the truth, I’m so used to his 1940s-1950s work that when I saw his 1970s work— drawing modern fashion and such—it always looked a little funny to me. I’m not sure even how to express what I mean there. It just seemed like he missed the 1960s and came back to the 1970s and drawing modern stuff. There were no fedoras on men’s heads, no older cars, and that always seemed strange. Maybe if I’d seen his work progress through 1957 to 1970, it would have

Blonde On Blonde Syd Shores drew both the cover and an early “Blonde Phantom” story for All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946). The writer of the story is unidentified. Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Hail, Hail, The Gang’s All Here! Syd may not have been drawing super-heroes—or much of anything else in comicbooks—during the decade from 1957 to 1967; but he’d certainly done his share of them prior to that. Case in point: the cover of All Winners Comics #21 (Winter 1946-47), in which he at least penciled all seven members of the short-lived All Winners Squad, which included Timely’s “Big Three,” two kid sidekicks, Miss America, and The Whizzer. He penciled much of the interior book-length story as well. It’s not known if he inked the cover. Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

What A Bunch Of Characters! As Doc V mentions re the character sketches on this page and the next, the late Timely artist Marion Sitton told him several years ago: “Stan [Lee] had Syd Shores draw up these sketches and he passed them out to the artists in the bullpen so we could see the type and style of work we should try to emulate…. I believe [this was] sometime in 1949.” Thus proving that, approximately seven decades ago, Syd was the gold standard of artistry at Timely Comics. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

been easier to handle.

RA: I always looked at Syd Shores’ 1970s work, which I’m most familiar with, whether it appeared at Marvel or Warren or Skywald, as being the Marvel equivalent of Curt Swan’s work at DC.

VASSALLO: What do you mean by that?

RA: Swan had a reputation for solid drawing. Dynamic, but not overly so. Syd’s style, to me, was just like that. Solid, well-drawn work, but not overly so. Kirby, Colan, in fact the entire Marvel line of artists largely featured exaggerated action work, which was one of the innovations that Marvel brought to comics in the 1960s, but where the Marvel artwork was quieter—like the pre-Neal Adams X-Men—the stories didn’t seem all that much different from DC’s run-of-the-mill titles.

VASSALLO: Yeah, in that respect I agree with you. Syd drew real people with real clothing, who moved like real people do. Back in the Timely days, Sid did character studies of how men would look like in a suit and then how that man would look in different poses. There was a separate page dealing

with women. Head shots from every angle. Really, really nice stuff. It’s an example of how he was the Timely bullpen head and the things that he would do to help out artists. I have copies of those character studies that I acquired from Timely artist Marion Sitton, another artist mentored by Syd in 1948.

RA: Again, that reminds me of Curt Swan, as a friend of mine has a page of various head shots of Superman, seen from different angles that Swan drew, which was probably done to help other artists stay on model when drawing him.

Syd Shores in a heavily shadowed photo (above) from the defunct Now and Then Times tabloid—plus a sampling of his “quite prolific” output in the last year or so of his life, as per interviewer Richard Arndt. You can mostly read for yourself the other (clockwise) credits for Red Wolf #2 (July 1972)… Daredevil #99 (May ’73)… Dracula Lives #2 (’73)… Tales of the Zombie #1 (’73)… and the “Frankenstein” yarn from Monsters Unleashed #2 (Sept. ’73)… while the final chapter of Tales of the Zombie #1 (’73) was by Steve Gerber (script), John Buscema (layouts), and Syd Shores (finished art). Richard also mentions Skywald’s Bravados, but that title had been dormant since ’71. Thanks to Barry Pearl for the scans. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

VASSALLO: Yes, right! The two of them were probably the go-to guys on how to do-it-right.

If Syd hadn’t gotten ill and then passed away, I think he would have been a major 1970s artist for Marvel. He certainly was a tier below John Buscema but perhaps a tier up from Don Heck, and that’s no insult to Don, whose work I adore. Plus, he was fast! He probably could have done anything given to him. The last things he worked on, to my knowledge, were Ghost Rider and the black-&white version of [The Monster of] Frankenstein. Horror stuff.

RA: Or horror-adventure stuff, since Marvel only rarely did straight-out horror in the 1970s.

VASSALLO: His illness and death just took away the chance. I don’t know if he got enough practice doing that sort of modern Stan Lee-Jack Kirby style of doing a book. The synopsis/then plot/pencils/then dialogue/then inking that they developed for super-hero comics. However, if he’d had the chance to do more of that, I think he would have been just fine.

RA: Syd was actually quite prolific in the last year of his life. In addition to Red Wolf, he completed penciling and inks for a “Daredevil” story

The Bible Tales Me So No disrespect intended by the above pun, but Timely’s Bible Tales for Young Folk had a somewhat puzzling history, though we do know that Shores drew the “Samson” story in issue #2 (Oct. 1953). Jerry Robinson, Fred Kida, and other fine artists likewise contributed to this five-issue series. Scripters unidentified. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Spotlight On A Spirit The mystical origin of Red Wolf, as depicted by writer Gardner Fox, penciler Syd Shores, and inker Wally Wood in Marvel Spotlight #1 (Nov. 1971). Thanks to Barry Pearl. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

[#99], completed pencils and inked a “Dracula” story for Dracula Lives #2, drew or inked various mystery stories, was drawing The Bravados for Skywald, and was inking Ghost Rider. VASSALLO: I’m glad that people are getting around to looking at Syd Shores’ work again. It’s long overdue.

Dr. Michael J. Vassallo is a noted comics historian, frequent Alter Ego contributor, and a chief authority of the Timely/Atlas period of Marvel’s history. A Manhattan dentist by day, Doc V is the co-author of The Secret History of Marvel Comics, has written twenty introductions to Marvel Masterworks volumes, as well as providing writing and editorial support to Taschen Publishing (75 Years of Marvel, The Stan Lee Story), and is editor of Allen Bellman’s biography Timely Confidential and the upcoming Atlas at War anthology, to be published by Dead Reckoning, the graphic novel division of the Naval Institute Press. He is working on an art biography of Atlas titan Joe Maneely, maintains his busy blog www. timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com, and resides in Westchester County with his wife Maggie (and their sheltie Holly), where they raised their two children, Michelle and Jason.Dr. Michael J. Vassallo and wife Maggie.