Alter Ego #176 Preview

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Cover art & The Shadow TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./Condé Nast.

Roy Thomas' SHADOW-Haunted Comics Fanzine

$10.95

In the USA

No. 176 July 2022

BONUS!

Vol. 3, No. 176 July 2022 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Assoc. Editor) Mark Lewis (Cover Coordinator)

Comic Crypt Editor

Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll

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

Proofreaders

William J. Dowlding David Baldy

Cover Artist

Writer/Editorial: On The STREET & SMITH Where You Live . . . . 2 What The Shadow Didn’t Know! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Mark Carlson-Ghost relates the star-strewn history of Street & Smith in four colors.

Walter Gibson Remembers Street & Smith’s Comics . . . . . . . . 42

Charles Coll

The Shadow’s most important author, pulp & comics—interviewed by Will Murray.

Cover Colorist

The Greene Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Unknown

With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Ger Apeldoorn Dave Berge Ricky Terry Brisacque Bernie Bubnis Mark CarlsonGhost John Cimino Chet Cox Mark Ellis Shane Foley Joe Frank Jeff Gelb Janet Gilbert Grand Comics Database (website) Jill Greene The Vernon Greene Family

Contents

Gwandanaland Comics William B. Jones, Jr. Jim Kealy Jim Ludwig Dennis Mallonee Bruce Mason Mike Mikulovsky Brian K. Morris Mark Muller Will Murray Warren Reece Randy Sargent David Saunders Scott Shaw!

Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama Dann Thomas Anthony Tollin Geoffrey Wyncoop

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Richard Lupoff, Steve Perrin, & Dan Nakrosis —also of Walter Gibson & Vernon Greene

The life and times of S&S artist Vernon Greene, explored by Anthony Tollin.

ForeSHADOWing The Batman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The pulp-to-comics connection between the Knight of Darkness and the Dark Knight.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! It’s a Cracked, (etc.) World—Pt. 2 . . . 55 A Michael T. Gilbert salute to Cracked’s greatest-ever artist—John Severin.

John Broome – The Penultimate Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Part XIX of the Golden/Silver Age scripter’s 1998 memoir.

Tributes to Richard Lupoff, Steve Perrin, & Dan Nakrosis . . . . . 65 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #235 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 P.C. Hamerlinck presents Carl Shinyama’s look at Captain Marvel’s split personality.

On Our Cover: There were quite a few covers of Shadow Comics that would’ve made viable fronts for this issue centered on The Shadow and his colorful Street & Smith compeers, drawn by the likes of George Rozen, Vernon Greene, and Bob Powell, impressive talents all—but this fine symbolic image for Vol. 7, #2 (May 1947), by Charles Coll, with its overlapping pages, gave us a chance to ballyhoo what’s inside our issue, and we’re more than happy with our choice! Thanks to the Grand Comics Database. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

Above: Probably the most endearing (and enduring) Street & Smith creation conceived especially for its comics line (as opposed to its pulps) was Supersnipe, “The Boy with the Most Comic Books in America”— and who lived a rich fantasy life because of them—the ultimate wish-fulfillment of just about every kid who ever read a comic. Incidentally, the archetypal cover of Supersnipe Comics, Vol. 1, #6 (Oct. 1942) by his creator, George Marcoux, was actually the first issue of his own title. Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

Alter Ego TM issue 176, July 2022 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage pending at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Alter Ego, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

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. Six-issue subscriptions: $68 US, $103 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only. All characters are © their respective companies. All material ©their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

CRED! Part One

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What The Shadow Didn’t Know!

The Secret History Of Street & Smith’s Comicbook Line

by Mark Carlson-Ghost

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hat evil lurks in the hearts of men, The Shadow knew all too well.

But the motives of the publisher, editor, and writer who produced his stories were far more complicated.

The tone and tenor of the comicbooks published by Street & Smith were largely driven by three decidedly different men: publisher Allen Grammer, editor William de Grouchy, and writer Walter Gibson. Bits and pieces of their story have been scattered across various articles and books. Most popular culture historians have been more interested in the history of the characters of The Shadow and Doc Savage. Yet the story of the company that published them has its own intriguing twists and turns.

The focus on their two star characters is understandable. In pulp magazines and later comicbooks, these heroes operated in a world of dark forces at work behind the scenes, a realm in which light struggled to break free of—yes—shadow. A feel of ’30s Pulp Fiction—The Mags, Not The Movie! menace permeated their stories, in which The two kingpins of Street & Smith’s pulp-hero line, depicted on classic magazine covers: The Shadow heroic vigilantes were almost as unfettered (Jan. 1, 1933) and Doc Savage (August ’33). Art by George Rozen & Walter Baumhofer, respectively. Thanks in their methods as their foes. (More on them to Anthony Tollin. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.] later.) But to understand the forces behind the creation of these compelling characters, we The reader will not be surprised by the last names of the two need to explore an origin story of a decidedly different sort. And it entrepreneurs. Francis S. Street, 36, was a businessman. Francis first unfolds in 1855!

S. Smith, 24, was a writer. Smith’s first byline appeared on an

Street & Smith’s Popular Fiction Roots Street & Smith’s stewardship of popular fiction stretches back to the 19th century.

That story is most fully told in the company’s official history, The Fiction Factory by Quentin Reynolds. Therein, Reynolds relates how in 1855 two employees purchased The New York Weekly Dispatch, the struggling periodical for which they worked. The Weekly’s subtitle was “A Journal of Useful Knowledge, Romance, Amusement, etc.” Though to say “purchased” doesn’t quite capture the arrangement. The owner, one Amos Williamson, offered his two employees a sweetheart deal: no down payment required, just pay him the $50,000 asking price from whatever profits they managed. The two employees readily agreed.

excitingly sordid serial entitled “The Vestmaker’s Apprentice; or, The Vampyres of Society.” Sales of the Dispatch doubled before the serial ended. By 1859, their debt largely paid, Williamson declared the two men fully in charge of the Weekly. The partnership of Street & Smith (always with an ampersand, not an “and”) was successfully launched. It was a venture that would flourish for over a hundred years!

Street & Smith, In The Flesh The two founders of a great magazine empire: Francis Scott Street (1831-1883) and Francis Shubael Smith (1819-1887).

Thanks to Jim Kealy.

The success of the Weekly meant better rates for writers.

By 1869, the periodical was home to the first serial written

by Horatio Alger, Jr., who would soon find a lucrative niche in telling stories of

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ambitious American boys overcoming poverty. Later that same year, the first of a series of extraordinarily popular sagas featuring Buffalo Bill saw print.

The Secret History Of Street & Smith’s Comicbook Line

to romance. As told in Theodore Peterson’s Magazines in the Twentieth Century, the wildly successful Love Story was the brainchild of editor Anita Fairgrieve. But it achieved its greatest success under the watchful editorial eye of Daisy Bacon. Love Story quickly progressed from a quarterly to a weekly publication schedule.

Having Ormond Smith served as the (1860-1933), flanked creative force by a 1908 issue of behind Street & the New Nick Carter Smith’s success Weekly and an 1897 for thirty-some edition of Tip Top Library, starring years, Francis “Frank Merriwell at Smith died in Yale.” Thanks to Jim 1887. His son Ormond took over as president of the Kealy for the photo.

The Shadow’s History On Radio company, a position he would hold for the next four decades. His brother George served as vice president & In The Pulps equally as long. Members of the Street family were no The Shadow’s origins are deeply rooted in the history of Street longer involved in the publishing venture, though their presence & Smith.

It is commonly known that The Shadow was originally in the company’s name proved just the unseen host of a radio show enduring. who would utter the famous words, Street & Smith continued to “Who knows what evil lurks in the be home to some of the best-known hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” popular-culture characters of the at the start of every episode. Those era. Nick Carter, splendid detective lines and the eerie laugh that followed and master of disguise, first made enlivened the imaginations of listeners the scene in 1886. With 1889, Ormond across the country.

Smith began publishing dime novels, What is less commonly known is singularly devoted to unbridled that the name of the radio show that and often fantastic adventure. Frank The Shadow hosted was The Detective Merriwell, military school cadet, Story Hour, which had debuted on likewise began his adventures in that the CBS network in 1930. Detective format in ’96.

Story was another of Street & Smith’s Under the leadership of Ormond highly successful pulps. The yarns Smith, the company seamlessly that unfolded on the radio show made a necessary transition from were adaptations of ones that had dime novels to pulp magazines appeared in the magazine. Street & to better cater to changing tastes.

Smith sponsored the show as a way Pulp historian Ed Hulse describes of promoting its pulp line, as well as how New Buffalo Bill Weekly became broadening the scope of its business.

Western Story Magazine, with editor Radio was a booming market, and the Frank Blackwell overseeing the savvy publisher capitalized on it. The transition. By 1921, Western Story was radio show would continue with The enjoying a circulation of over half a Shadow as nothing more than its host million. Other pulp magazines were until 1937. The total Shadow takeover soon added. Western Story rose to of the program followed. But that new heights, making a home for the was only long after the debut of The wildly popular stories written by Shadow’s own periodical.

“Max Brand” (real name: Frederick Fascination with the mysterious Faust). His best-known characters, Casting A Long Shadow radio host prompted Street & Smith’s Destry and Silvertip, first appeared in The cover of the first issue of The Shadow pulp magazine, decision to develop a fully developed Western Story serials. cover-dated April 1931. Coming along just as the Great character to be featured in a pulp Depression was moving into high gear, Street & Smith’s Nor was Street & Smith only magazine devoted to his adventures. new magazine would nonetheless prove a considerable interested in action pulps for men.

The Shadow Magazine appeared on success. Cover by Modest Stein. Courtesy of Anthony Tollin.

In 1921 the company also issued the newsstands in the spring of 1931.

[TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./ first pulp magazine entirely devoted The Condé Nast Publications.]

What The Shadow Didn’t Know!

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Now You See Him… (Left:) The second Shadow Comics cover on which the image of the Night Master was “color-held” in order to indicate his invisibility was that of Vol. 2, #1 (Jan. 1942), by by Vernon Greene (see photo on p. 49). Hopefully The Shadow was able to cloud the minds of insects as well as men. Thanks to the GCD. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

Fools Gruskin Where Angels Fear To Tread (Bottom left:) A page from the lead story in Supersnipe Comics, Vol. 2, #12 (a.k.a. #24, Nov.-Dec. 1945) by writer Ed Gruskin and artist/creator George Marcoux.

(Bottom right:) This immediately post-WWII letter from Gruskin to editor William de Grouchy led to Marcoux drawing (from a photo) a sketch of Gruskin in uniform. A real behind-the-scenes treasure from the Golden Age of Comics…

(Right:) …and Marcoux’s cover of Supersnipe V2#12 that de Grouchy requested in response to Gruskin’s letter. Thanks to Mark Carlson-Ghost.

[TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Magazines.]

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The Secret History Of Street & Smith’s Comicbook Line

Orson Welles Knows…

This somewhat whimsical four-page feature on The Shadow radio program appeared in Shadow Comics, Vol. 2, #11 (Feb. 1943). We’ve repro’d the first two pages. Scripter & artist unknown. Thanks to Jim Kealy. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

villain, inextricably linking The Skull to Savage’s own origins. It emerged that Doc Savage’s father had tried to create a superior man prior to the birth of his son, but that experiment had gone badly awry and his guinea pig had become the Nazi known as The Skull. The villain returned a final time after the war, revealed to be the behind-the-scenes leader of the Black Room Society, actively pursuing atomic secrets he believed only Savage possessed (Shadow, Vol. 6, #7-9).

Other Street & Smith Heroes The Hooded Wasp and his identically dressed sidekick made a rather impressive appearance on the cover of Shadow Comics #7, which promised the story of his origin inside. An explorer named Bob—no last name supplied—traveled to ancient Egypt to find a magic scarab. In a bit of logic only the 1940s might have allowed, the scarab transformed Bob into The Hooded Wasp, who actually sported a helmet instead of a hood. And while Bob seemed to have a secret identity, his similarly costumed young ally was simply known by his name, Jim Martin. It took several issues before Martin was christened Wasplet, which may not have felt like much of an improvement.

“They Say, Ruby, You’re Like A Dream…”

The first-ever cover of Doc Savage as a super-hero sporting a “red ruby… with mystic attributes”—Vol. 1, #5 (Augt. 1941), drawn by Jack Binder—who can be glimpsed on p. 73 of this A/E issue. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

What The Shadow Didn’t Know!

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Smith’s Red Dragon. His origin provided a basis for the terrible hatred young Bob Reid felt for the Japanese.

How he acted on that hatred is particularly sobering for the modern reader.

The story of how Bob Reid became the Red Dragon was told in Red Dragon Comics #6 (3/43). Red Dragon, the comicbook, had debuted the issue before without its eponymous hero, a continuation of the poor-selling Trail Blazers.

“Ouch!”

This odd 8-page feature attempted to defend kids’ reading of comics by showing how the latter were often harbingers of the future. Sadly, Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace Comics #10 (April 1943) seems to be one of the most difficult issues to track down. Mark Carlson-Ghost, who sent these scans, writes: “Thirty years or so ago… I traveled to Michigan from Minnesota to spend five days of a vacation researching what MSU had on everything Golden Age, not just Street & Smith. And of course with no thought of the scans being for publication. I remember the frantic ordering up of microfilm reels, taking super-quick notes and a few select scans [off microfilm readers] when I felt there was too much relevant info to quickly transcribe or summarize in notes, all the while knowing the hours left of my trip were rapidly evaporating. It was then I knew for sure I was a genuine comic history geek! Hope you find something in this that meets your needs.”

We certainly did, Mark—even if the microfilm was in black-&-white and some of the lettering had already faded to nigh-incomprehensibility. We wanted to reproduce the first page of “Ouch!,” which sets up the anti-comicscensorship premise… and page 4, in which the comic art of Charles Coll, Peter Riss, Jack Farr, and Jack Binder seems to have been utilized to demonstrate that S&S heroes were downright educational! [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

Now That’s Our Idea Of A Red Scare!

The cover of Red Dragon Comics, Vol. 1, #7 (July 1943)—actually just the third issue of a five-issue title that began with “#5”—and only the second issue that actually featured the young hero Red Dragon! Here he uses his own “war powers”—in a method that was only a little more violent than some other comics covers out there during World War II. Did we mention that feelings ran high in the U.S. against the architects of Pearl Harbor? Yes, there was doubtless some racism involved—but, in the view of A/E’s editor, since the Chinese were treated sympathetically in these comics, it probably had more to do with an enemy than it did with “race.” Artist unknown. Thanks to Mark Carlson-Ghost. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

Living with his parents in China, the adolescent is studying magic under a learned Chinese scholar.

After mastering the last of his teacher’s secrets, Bob learns the Japanese have killed all the whites in Hong Kong, including his mother and father. The boy declares that “It is the nature of the wronged to avenge!” He proclaims Bob Reid dead as

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The Secret History Of Street & Smith’s Comicbook Line

claim that the demand for pulp fiction was dead.

New versions of the Street & Smith characters also began to appear in comicbooks and have continued to reappear periodically to the present day. The fantastic threats and dynamic characters of a bygone era continue to draw in readers of successive generations.

To tell the story of all of those appearances, however, would require another article beyond the scope of this one.

Walter Gibson, William de Grouchy, and Allen Grammer

engaged in a decade-long struggle between practical realities and creative visions, played out on the pages of a comicbook company that few talk about today. It seems only right that it is Gibson’s memory that’s most celebrated. There’s nothing wrong with making a profit, a necessary evil many might say. But it has always been bright dreams fueling the most successful fiction factories, then as now. That’s something, for all the darkness that still surrounds him, even The Shadow surely knows.

Bonus Feature:

A Baker’s Dozen Street & Smith Heroes You’ve Never Heard Of Biff Morgan

The Black Crusader

When youthful air cadet Morgan rescues a paralyzed scientist named Dr. Harrison from a saboteur’s explosion, the scientist advises the youth to remove a belt from a hidden drawer. There, Morgan finds a chronogen belt. Dr. Harrison explains to him that, “when you turn that dial, the chronogen gas will be released from the capsules, giving you the power of a speed such as no human has ever dreamed.” Indeed, Morgan goes so fast that he appears to fly and his clothes are burned off of him in the process. Harrison directs him to a closet where a friction-resistant costume awaits. [Bill Barnes, Vol. 1, #7-10; Supersnipe, Vol. 1, #4 (1942-43).]

“From out of the misty vale of time that is history, Joe Mills, the man of a thousand faces, draws on the creed of the Crusaders, liberators of the oppressed, liberators of the sacred ideal of human freedom. And robed in the dark secrecy of his supreme disguise this master of masquerade pledges his life to his native America and sallies forth to battle her enemies as the Black Crusader!!”

Mills’ ancestry includes a Knight Templar. When his father is kidnapped by a group of hooded Nazi sympathizers, Mills adopts a form-fitting black costume (with a white two-barred cross on chest and cowl) to save him. Sadly, he fails and his father dies and Joe is severely beaten. So badly, in fact, that Joe discovers he has a blood clot in the brain and could die at any time. Unswayed by risk, Mills resolves to conduct a Crusade of his own against evil men, adopting a variety of disguises to do so. [Red Dragon, Vol. 1, #6 & 8 (1943).]

Biff Morgan

by Bruce Elliot (writer) & Jack Binder (artist) in Red Dragon Comics, Vol. 1, #8 (Oct. 1943). Thanks to Jim Ludwig. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

was the star of the “Air Warden Cadets” feature that began in Bill Barnes, America’s Air Ace, Vol. 1, #7. This splash is from #8 (1942). Thanks to Mark Muller. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

The Black Crusader

What The Shadow Didn’t Know!

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Captain Jack Commando The Captain represents the Spirit of Liberty in World War II, just as famous heroes embodied that spirit before him. Captain Jack wears a red, white, and blue paramilitary uniform and wields both a rifle and a dagger. ]Red Dragon, Vol. 1, #5-7 (1943).]

Chuck Magnon, Immortal Man Chuck is a Cro-Magnon man who obtained the secret of immortality thousands of years ago in prehistoric times. He lives on today, dedicating his unending life to fighting evil. [Red Dragon, Vol. 1, #9 (1944).]

Captain Jack Commando Apparently, at least mentally, there’s supposed to be a dash between “Jack” and “Commando,” since the latter wasn’t actually his last name.

From Red Dragon Comics #5 (Jan. 1943). Scripter & artist unknown.

Thanks to Mark Muller. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

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Chuck Magnon, Immortal Man

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(Above:) Don’t worry, folks! The thunderbolt doesn’t turn the Cro-Magnon man into a charred slagheap—it just makes him immortal, so that on the next page he lives to see the fall of Atlantis, the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome, and the Middle Ages—finally emerging by p. 3 into the present day (as a doctor named Chuck Ro-Magnon) in Red Dragon Comics, Vol. 1, #9 (Jan. 1944). Art by Jack Binder; scripter unknown. Thanks to Mark Muller. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

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CRED! Part Two

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WALTER GIBSON Remembers Street & Smith’s Comics The Shadow’s Most Important Scribe— On Pulp Paper & In Four Colors

O

by Will Murray

ne of the most significant contributors to Street & Smith’s comicbook line was Walter B. Gibson, who wrote their Shadow novels as Maxwell Grant and scripted the character’s adventures in Shadow Comics between 1940 and ’46. Gibson’s involvement went beyond scripting. He conceptualized many titles for S&S, including Super-Magician Comics, which starred his friend, magician Harry Blackstone. Coordinating with editor William de Grouchy, Gibson organized Penn-Art, a “shop” consisting of out-of-work Philadelphia Ledger Syndicate newspaper artists, which produced many S&S comics features. It was also Gibson’s idea to depict The Shadow as a blue surprint whenever he was invisible.

On January 27, 1985, I interviewed Walter about his comics career. It was fortunate I did so when I did. He passed away that December.

Otherwise, most of this information would have been forever lost….

WILL MURRAY: When did your comics career begin?

Walter B. Gibson in his later years, with George Rozen’s cover for Street & Smith’s Shadow Comics, Vol. 1, #1 ([Jan. 12] 1940). Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Wyncoop, via Will Murray; thanks to Jim Ludwig for the cover image.

[Cover TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

WALTER B. GIBSON: In 1937, I talked to Street & Smith about doing comics, and [S&S General Manager] Bill Ralston said, “The trouble is the syndicate comics are all being used up. You can’t get them anymore.” I said, “That means getting up your own.” He said, “That’s a lot of expense. The way to do these comics is to buy old ones from syndicates.” I said, “Why not get up some and sell them to syndicates, start comics, get paid by the syndicates, and get the rights to use them in comicbooks?” And I said we should begin with The Shadow.

We didn’t do that right away. William de Grouchy later came in, and then they decided to do comics, starting with The Shadow.

De Grouchy was a promotion man. Street & Smith was treating comics as promotion. As soon as they began, I went right in and insisted they use my scripts. Ralston okayed that, and so I did all the Shadow Comics. But I also did some “Doc Savages” and particularly some of the “Nick Carter” stuff.

De Grouchy didn’t know how to get hold of artists, so he looked for someone to do it, and ran into that guy “Chiseler.” His real name was Chesler, but we called him “Chiseler.” He was a character, kind of a whimsical guy.

WM: Harry “A” Chesler was one of the early comic “shop” proprietors.

GIBSON: Jack Binder was his right-hand man. So they gave Binder the first Shadow comic. Now they gave him a sort of synthetic “Shadow” script. They may have taken one of the radio plots. They just wanted to see what he could do with it. When I came in, they had that made up. So I said, “Go ahead and run it.” That was the first issue. From then on, I took over and tied them in with the pulp magazine. So de Grouchy broke off with Chesler and went with Binder.

WM: I noticed that you recycled some of your Philadelphia Ledger Syndicate Shadow newspaper strips for Shadow Comics.

GIBSON: The Shadow comic strip was actually my comic. I was the agent. I sold it, and I said they will also give us the rights to use it in any way. And so the same comic stories could be taken later and used in the Street & Smith comicbooks by breaking them into episodes. In one story, there was a blonde named Valda. The Shadow got into some place that had costumes and was moving around in the dark. And she found a black cat costume. She put that on and she was doubling for The Shadow. You couldn’t see her because she moved around in the dark, like he did. Well, that ran

Walter Gibson Remembers Street & Smith’s Comics

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Harry “A” Chesler in a news photo from later years—and Gus Ricca’s cover for the Chesler-published Dynamic Comics #12 (Nov. 1944), whose chess-playing mobster type was rumored to have been visually modeled after Chesler himself. [© the respective copyright holders.]

and was later reprinted in Shadow Comics. One day I walked into Street & Smith and talked to de Grouchy. He said, “We’re going to get sued by the Bell Syndicate.” “What do you mean?” “What have you been doing—stealing their comic?” “What do you mean, stealing their comic?” “They’ve got a comic [strip] called Miss Fury, and Miss Fury goes around dressed as a black cat.” “Hey, don’t you remember my Valda in the Shadow strip two years ago? That’s where they got the idea.” They didn’t sue. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: According to Mark Carlson-Ghost in our lead article, Valda Rune’s

The Shadow Nose!

(Above:) A page from the lead story from Shadow Comics #1, drawn by Jack Binder. Scripter uncertain. Courtesy of Anthony Tollin. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

cat-suit did not actually precede the launching of Tarpé Mills comic strip Black Fury (soon retitled Miss Fury).]

WM: Super-Magic Comics came next, I believe.

GIBSON: Street & Smith were always thinking of doing new comics at that time. So, the deal I proposed was this: The comics were selling for a dime, and would they give Blackstone returns at 5 cents apiece? That meant that Blackstone could order a thousand

Full Of Sound And Miss Fury (Above:) Valda Rune gets bereft of her cat costume in a “Shadow” story scripted by Walter Gibson and drawn by Vernon Greene. From Shadow Comics, Vol. 3, #2 (May 1943), reprinted from earlier newspaper strips. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

(Right:) The masthead of Tarpé Mills’ Black Fury Sunday comic strip, which debuted on April 6, 1941, and was soon retitled Miss Fury. Reproduced from IDW’s hardcover Tarpé Mills – Miss Fury – Sensational Sundays 1941-1944, edited by Trina Robbins. [TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]\

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The Shadow’s Most Important Scribe—On Pulp Paper & In Four Colors

Blackstone the Magician became, with the aid and abetment of Gibson, the star of the single issue of Street & Smith’s SuperMagic Comics (May 1941), then of 55 editions of Super-Magician Comics, beginning with Vol. 1, #2 (Sept. ’41). Both covers drawn by Charles Sultan. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

a week, hold a matinee on Saturday, and the theatre would pay 5 cents.

So I called Street & Smith and talked to de Grouchy: “How many do you have to print to make a comicbook go over?” He said, “We could get by with 50,000 returns and stash 50,000 or so.” I said, “Fine, I’ve got your 50,000 for a year. Blackstone will buy them at a nickel apiece. At cost.” “Oh, boy!” he says, “that’s great! You can’t lose.” So we made a deal right then.

I took a drawing room on the day train from Boston to New York and knocked out the first script to Super-Magician. They had some other things they could throw in the first issue. But we began to run more magic-related things as Super-Magician went along.

They sold that so fast and did so well with it that they couldn’t supply Blackstone with the copies he wanted. They were selling everything out. See, what they did, they did not send them all out.

They kept some in reserve. Every newsstand that sold its quota could get more. So when they finally came to take stock of what they had left over, they had been shipped out. They didn’t do that business of just returning a cover to get credit. They had them all sitting at the place. They gave Blackstone the surplus, you see. He plugged it at the show. It was beautiful.

The only reason I had to quit it eventually was because it involved Blackstone the Magician. That’s what made [his comic] so successful, because he plugged it with the shows; he was tied in with it. But then, in their stupidity, [Street & Smith] said they had all rights to any comics, as well as to magazine stories. Well, that was all right with The Shadow and other things, but it wasn’t all right with Super- Magician. So I just told them they couldn’t. I called a lawyer on it… Whittenberg. He represented Blackstone on it, and Blackstone was letting them use it without any payment. He said no, he wasn’t going to let them use the stuff. Blackstone reserved the rights to do whatever he wanted with his own name. In fact, the Blackstone radio program that we were getting up was utilizing some of the same plots that were in the comics, so we had to stop it.

That was when we started Blackstone, Master Magician for Vital. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: This was a 3 ¼”x6 ½” comic, probably produced in

Out On Baal!

Jack Binder illustrated many of the “Blackstone” comics stories written

by Gibson, including this one for Super-Magician Comics, Vol. 1, #12 (April 1943). Thanks to Mark Muller. [TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./ The Condé Nast Publications.]

CRED! Part Three

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The GREENE Shadow

The Life & Good Times Of Artist VERNON GREENE

by Anthony Tollin

T

he Shadow has appeared in numerous comicbook series since his four-color debut in Shadow Comics #1, with his adventures visualized by many talented cartoonists and illustrators.

However, Vernon V. Greene holds the distinction of drawing The Shadow’s first illustrated adventures in both comicbooks and newspaper strips!

Vernon Van Atta Greene (Sept. 12, 1908–June 5, 1965) was born in Battle Ground, Washington, and grew up on a 650-acre ranch. After working as a logger and blacksmith, he attended the University of Toledo before beginning his art career in 1927, producing sports cartoons for the Portland Telegram. He moved to the Toledo News-Bee in 1929, and continued his career at the Toledo Blade (1930-32).

“Around that time, Vernon Greene left Toledo, Ohio, where he had been doing sports cartoons, and came to New York to do political cartoons,” Walter Gibson recalled. “A highly versatile artist, Vernon took on other assignments and in 1935 began ‘ghosting’ the black-&-white daily strip for the popular comic Polly and Her Pals. He liked the work so much that he began looking forward to the day when he could illustrate a comic strip on his own.

“Late that same year I met the manager of the Ledger Syndicate on a train from New York to Philadelphia. I gave him a copy of Zemba, my latest Shadow novel, and after he read it, he called me up and said that when the time was right, he would like to start a new comic strip based on my Shadow novels.

“That time came in 1940 when Street & Smith decided to add comicbooks to their magazine line, with The Shadow as the leader. I reduced excerpts from ‘Shadow’ stories to short comic strips, and one was turned over to Vernon Greene, who was intrigued by the possibility of extending the continuity to cover the entire novel. I contacted the Ledger and they liked the idea, so Vernon finished the first week of art while I was finishing several weeks of continuity.

We went to Philadelphia together and made an instant sale. Back in New York, terms were approved by Street & Smith, who arranged to have the strip remade into pages for the Shadow Comics.

“From then on, the project really rolled. We went over the scripts together in New York, except when I mailed them in from Maine or Florida, though there were times when I sent them out to Washington; Vernon liked to go there for vacations, but he

Vernon Greene as a young man with his own 1942 Christmas card—and (below) a 1940 sample of his Shadow comic strip, as scripted by Walter Gibson. Thanks to Anthony Tollin, Jill Greene, & the Green Family Archives. [Shadow strip TM & © Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc./The Condé Nast Publications.]

always took some work along. The finished artwork went directly to Philadelphia, where it was duly processed into strips that the syndicate sold to an increasing list of newspapers; then it came to Street & Smith, where it was made over into comic pages.”

As the strip’s newspaper list shrunk during the early months of the war, Gibson often didn’t receive compensation for his newspaper continuities until he resold the scripts to Street &

CRED! Part Four

52

ForeSHADOWing The BATMAN The Pulp-To-Comics Connection Between The Knight of Darkness & The Dark Knight

by Anthony Tollin

W

hile visiting with a wealthy friend, Gotham’s police commissioner receives a call informing him that a chemical executive has been murdered. Arriving at the crime scene, the commissioner and the young socialite learn that detectives consider the victim’s heir to be the prime suspect. However, the relative reveals that the murdered man had three business partners in a chemical syndicate, one of whom phones to report that he, like the victim, has received a death threat.

The commissioner, minus his friend, departs for the caller’s mansion where murder is already claiming its second victim. The killer steals a document from his victim’s safe, but he and an accomplice are stopped by a “bat-like” crimefighter during their rooftop escape. Arriving police The Shadow Of The Bat mistake the black-garbed crimefighter The Shadow may have preceded Batman as for the murderer, but the mystery man a fictional character by several years—but escapes with the recovered document.

Batman made it into comicbooks first, on Meanwhile, one of the two surviving Bob Kane’s iconic cover for Detective Comics partners arrives at the laboratory and #27 (May 1939). The cover of 1940’s Shadow is imprisoned in a glass gas chamber, Comics #1 was seen on p. 42, so at right is but the mystery man enters the a later Vernon Greene cover (for Vol. 2, #6, deathtrap and plugs the gas jet with Sept. 1942) on which The Knight of Darkness a handkerchief. Escaping from the swings on a rope à la the Dark Knight. Thanks to the GCD & Mark Carlson-Ghost. [TM & © DC gas chamber, he captures the hidden Comics & Advance Magazine Publishers/The plotter’s accomplice and prevents Condé Nast Publications, Inc., respectively.] the murderous mastermind from killing his final partner. The Knight of Darkness reveals the details of a sinister plot to take over ownership of the chemical plant, gleaned from the recovered document. The next day, a police official expresses interest in the Dark Avenger’s crimefighting activities, while the socialite discusses the events with a man who has no inkling that the millionaire is secretly the master sleuth who solved the case.

This plot, originated by pulp writer Theodore Tinsley for Partners of Peril, is familiar to legions of comics fans who have never read his 1936 Shadow novel—since every key plot point in it was lifted by Bill Finger for Batman’s

1939 debut, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate”!

In fact, Batman’s co-creator freely admitted that his “first script was a take-off on a ‘Shadow’ story.” Bob Kane also acknowledged The Shadow as a major influence on Batman’s creation: “I suppose both The Shadow’s cloaked costume and double-identity role, as well as the extraordinary acrobatics of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., did more to my subconscious to create the character and personality of Batman than any other factors.”

Later statements by Bob Kane assigned more credit to Johnston McCulley’s Zorro, as portrayed by Fairbanks in the 1920 film The Mark of Zorro. However, it now appears that even the connections to Zorro and Fairbanks’ acrobatics may have originated with Finger rather than Kane. As historian Jerry Bails observed, “Bill maintained (well into the 1960s) a file of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., photo stills. He showed me the file and said that he would attach selected photos to finished scripts for Bob and his assistants to use as models. I recognized pose after pose. The stills I saw (and had never

55

Severin by Severin from Cracked #347 (Sept. 2000).

[TM & © Cracked Entertainment or successors in interest.]

56

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

It’s A Cracked, Cracked, Cracked, Cracked World!

(Part 2)

by Michael T. Gilbert

W

hen I was a kid, Cracked was the magazine you’d buy if Mad was sold out. Unless Sick was on sale.

It’s not that Cracked was bad. There were actually some excellent art and some decent articles. Early on, you might find stories illustrated by Russ Heath, Al Williamson, Joe Maneely, Bill Elder, or Jack Davis, and in later years, excellent work by Steve Ditko, Bill Wray, Dan Clowes, and Mort Todd. I even sold them a story once (which gives you a rough idea of their sometimesquestionable standards!). And of course, Bill Ward’s sexy women got young male hearts beating a little faster.

But it wasn’t Mad. Still, over the years Cracked grew on me, as the magazine developed its own distinct personality. And a large part of that personality came courtesy of former Mad artist John Severin. He became Cracked’s house artist, often drawing multiple stories each issue, as well as most covers.

Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson once wrote, “I don’t think I’m alone in thinking of Cracked for most of its run as ‘a bunch of crap… and John Severin.’”

Not entirely fair, but I think you get the idea.

Certifiably Mad The Western parody “Varmint!” in the color comicbook Mad #1 (Oct. 1952) was Severin’s debut in that mag, years before he defected to Cracked. [TM & © EC Publications, Inc.]

The Original Mad-Man! Severin was one of the original Mad-men, drawing his “Varmint!” story for Mad #1 for October 1952. The artist contributed to nine issues between 1952 and 1954 before parting ways with Kurtzman, the only one of the original Mad artists to do so.

Severin and Kurtzman both stated that the two old friends had a falling out over critical comments Harvey had made concerning John’s art. Additionally, Kurtzman insisted on providing layouts for all the artists, which Severin resented. That would explain why he also opted not to join Kurtzman on his other ill-fated ventures (though Severin did take over the editorial reigns of ECs Two-Fisted Tales when Kurtzman quit the title due to Harvey’s ever-increasing Mad workload).

Severin didn’t lack work in 1954. Fast and talented, he was kept busy by Marvel doing war, horror, and even humor for some of their own short-lived Mad clones (Crazy, Wild, and Riot). He also did a long stint on Prize’s Prize Comics Western, illustrating his signature character American Eagle (your typical “noble Indian” warrior).

John Severin in the 1960s, flanked by a few his many covers. In addition to Cracked, we can see EC’s Two-Fisted Tales, Prize’s Prize Comics Western, and Timely/Atlas’ Sailor Sweeney.

Enter…Cracked!

But Sev really made his mark when he drew a quiz show parody called “The $64,000,000 Cracked-Pot Question” for Cracked’s

JOHN BROOME – The Penultimate Chapter Part XIX Of The Golden/Silver Age Scripter’s 1998 Memoir

A/E

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: For nineteen issues now, though not quite in an unbroken string, this magazine has serialized writer Irving Bernard (“John”) Broome’s slim volume My Life in Little Pieces – “An Offbeat Autobio,” which was published at the turn of 1998, roughly a year before he passed away at age 85. Our thanks to his daughter, Ricky Terry Brisacque, for her kind permission to reprint this very limited-edition book… and to Brian K. Morris for retyping it onto a Word document….

Temper, Temper I once asked wife Peggy: Why, when the world could so quickly forgive tennis wight John McEnroe his court antics and temper tantrums and take him so lovingly to its bosom on his retirement, she couldn’t seem to forgive or ever forget a single one of her spouse’s occasional outbursts down the decades of our marriage; and she replied: “I’m sorry. You’re just not a good enough tennis player.”

And yet a reasonably mercurial temper came to me legitimately enough, it’s pretty clear, via my paternal grandfather, squat, burly, mustachioed lgnatz Broome, he who presciently spared his progeny-to-be (three girls and two boys, not to speak of their offspring) such unenviable life experiences as being frozen to death in an experimental ice-filled Jacuzzi, or being done equally to death in showers unexpectedly laced with—of all things—potassium cyanide, by shaking the dust of his native Poland from off of his feet fifty years before Hitler and making his way young and alone to the terrifying but alluring New Land across the seas. ****** In the family, Grandpa Broome’s temper was as celebrated as Grandma Broome’s cooking—twin memory bits that segued together at the yearly Passover seder evenings, held usually in their home, where a single look from Grandpa’s dark flashing eyes lasering across the spotlessly white tablecloth laden with pitchers of Grandma’s honeycolored raisin wine and platters piled high with succulent patties of her special gefilte fish—the gentle lady, it was said, had as a young girl been a cook, or at least a scullery maid, in the kitchens of Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary—could instantly immobilize a restless l0-year-old, seated foremost among the small fry as the family’s first male grandchild, with the force of a true laser shot. ******

John & Peggy Broome on the left, during the period of his service in World War II, with a pair of unidentified friends—and a page from JB’s Carmine Infantino-illustrated yarn “Danger on the Martian Links,” one of the “Strange Sports Stories” in The Brave and the Bold #46 (Feb.-March 1963). Maybe the renowned Golden/ Silver Age comics scribe wasn’t a “good enough tennis player” for his wife’s tastes, but he could sure spin a mean tale about playing golf on the Red Planet for his editor (and the best man at their wedding), Julius Schwartz. Thanks to Ricky Terry Brisacque & Jim Kealy. [Page TM & © DC Comics.]

61

73

Getting In The Spirit Of Things

Captain Marvel’s (and Billy Batson’s) Forgotten Ability!

by Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama

A

n age-old question: When Billy Batson says his famous magic word and transforms, does he actually become Captain Marvel, or does Billy go into limbo once Captain Marvel appears?

This puzzler has been asked over the course of many decades, following the original Captain Marvel’s heyday at Fawcett, one that fans continue to inquire about and debate to this day.

It has, at different points in time, been posed to C.C. Beck, Captain Marvel’s artistic co-creator, and to Otto Binder, Captain Marvel’s main and most prolific writer in the Golden Age. In what is arguably a surprising fact, despite both Beck and Binder being Captain Marvel’s longest-tenured artist and writer respectively, Beck and Binder each gave differing answers.

Jack Binder, C.C. Beck, & Otto Binder (Left to right:) The “Mary Marvel” artist≥… the artist/co-creator of “Captain Marvel!”±… and the major writer of “Captain Marvel”… all enjoying a convivial moment in the 1940s. This is part of a photo sent

by Binder to A/E’s editor circa 1964.

In Beck’s case, citing his work from Whiz Comics #2 (Feb. 1940—actually the first issue), he made it plain that in Captain Marvel’s first appearance, Billy Batson became Captain Marvel.

Nothing more, nothing less. States Beck: “In the first issue of Whiz Comics old Shazam told Billy that by speaking his name he would become Captain Marvel and vice versa. It was that simple; I don’t know why anyone ever felt the need to analyze it.” [Fawcett Companion, p.143] Indeed, as Beck correctly says, in Whiz #2, when Billy Batson first said the magic word and transformed into Captain Marvel, the text in the caption box stated plainly: “As Billy Batson speaks the magic word he becomes Captain Marvel!”

Meanwhile, Binder’s answer was that Billy Batson and Captain Marvel were separate individuals. Or rather, he acknowledged that that was how they were written in the comics:

When Friends Fall Out This installment of FCA explores the question of whether Billy Batson and Captain Marvel were one entity—or two. If the latter, then what could’ve been more inevitable than that, sooner or later, they’d have a quarrel! Art for the cover of Whiz Comics #53 (April 1944) by C.C. Beck & Pete Costanza.

[Shazam hero & Billy Batson TM & © DC Comics.]

74

Fawcett Collectors Of America

and even minor telepathy. However, unlike those abilities, Billy Batson’s and Captain Marvel’s astral communication with their other self was truly one of a kind.

This ability first appears in Whiz Comics #11 (Dec. 1940). Billy Batson, under orders from WHIZ radio-station owner Sterling Morris to gain admission into Marvel College to expose suspected corruption in the school’s football program, undergoes the school’s entrance exam. Unable to answer the test questions on his own, Billy rationalizes that, because he and Captain Marvel are the same person, the latter’s powers are his as well, so he summons Captain Marvel by whispering, “Shazam!” This brings Captain Marvel forth in something of an astral form, where he stands next to Billy, whispering the test answers to his younger counterpart. With Captain Marvel’s help, Billy scores perfect marks in every category, ensuring his admission into the school.

Boy, What A Man! Billy Batson and Captain Marvel captured the imagination of thousands—indeed, millions— following their first appearance in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940) by writer Bill Parker and artist Charles Clarence Beck. [Billy Batson & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

“We at Fawcett didn’t bother about such esoteric details and simply treated it as if Captain Marvel was Billy as a grown man. I know that Cap always referred to Billy as a separate person, and vice versa, so perhaps the more logical viewpoint is that they were separate individuals and that when one appeared, the other went into some sort of ‘limbo’...” [Fawcett Companion, p. 62]

While some might debate the ethics of Billy’s actions and whether or not it was cheating, I feel compelled to note here that Billy Batson did not use this ability for personal gain, whether in that instance or in any other, and that it was ever used only in the pursuit of helping others.

Of particular note is Billy Batson’s spoken dialogue, which contrasts the panel before, wherein he said that he and Captain

Binder did, however, say that he felt that readers more or less assumed that the two of them were one and the same.

“I think most readers simply assumed that Billy changed to a grown man, the World’s Mightiest Mortal. That was the great secret of why Captain Marvel outsold Superman and all the other superheroes. What boy reader, identifying with Billy, didn’t feel the thrill of changing into a big and powerful hero? It was the perfect [FawcettTHIS Companion, p. 62] IFformula.”

YOU ENJOYED PREVIEW,

CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS differing answers from those directly involved ISSUE INNaturally, PRINT ORwith DIGITAL FORMAT! in the production of Captain Marvel’s adventures, how can fans know the truth?

Which of them is right?

Both are right.

Of course, it is not quite that simple. To truly understand the answer to that question, we must look to the comics, where we find a forgotten ability of Captain Marvel’s (and Billy Batson’s, for that matter).

The ability I speak of was Billy Batson’s and Captain Marvel’s unique power of astral communication.

That is, the ability of either Billy Batson or Captain Marvel, ALTER EGO whichever of the two#176 is physically present in the material world,

The Golden Age comics of major pulp magazine publisher STREET SMITH (THEconverse SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, RED to&be able with his other self virtually at will, the latter DRAGON, SUPERSNIPE) examined in loving detail by MARK of which may appear either in astral form (like a Jedi ghost) or CARLSON-GHOST! Art by BOB POWELL, HOWARD NOSTRAND, and others, ANTHONY on “The otherwise in the TOLLIN thoughts ofShadow/ the other.

Batman Connection”, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, PETER NORMANTON, and more!

Like any long-established character, Captain Marvel has a (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 history of(Digital forgotten abilities from his early years, which included Edition) $4.99 and ranged from such powers as super-hypnosis, intangibility, https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=133&products_id=1648

Let’s You And Him Fight!

Even with Captain Marvel’s astral form advising him, Billy’s own courage is impressive, going against an older boy who is a whole foot taller than he! This panel appeared in “The Adventures with the P.A.L.” (writer & artist unknown) from Captain Marvel Adventures #8 (March 1942), and is the basis of this issue’s FCA cover illustrated by our author, Mr. Shinyama. [Billy Batson & Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]