Alter Ego #186 Preview

Roy Thomas’ Reptilian-Brain Comics Fanzine

ANGELO TORRES

In the USA

No. 186 March 2024

82658 00518 1

Art © 2023 Angelo Torres.

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FROM THE MOONS OF MARS TO MAD MAGAZINE!

$10.95

Vol. 3, No. 186/March 2024 Editor

Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Jim Amash

Design & Layout

Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor

P.C. Hamerlinck J.T. Go (Associate 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

Proofreader

William J. Dowlding

Cover Artist & Colorist Angelo Torres

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With Special Thanks to:

Roger Hill Aaron Albrecht John Hitchcock Heidi Amash William B. Jones, Jr. Ger Apeldoorn Annie Gaines Ashton Sharon Karibian Arnie Kogen Sergio Aragonés Stefan Koidl Bob Bailey Jim Kealy Tom Batiuk Jason Levine Alberto Becattini Art Lortie Al Bigley Jim Ludwig Chris Boyko Ian Scott McGregor Bernie Bubnis The Meglin Family Josh Burns Clint Morgan Thommy Burns The Nerd Team John Cimino Harry North Jon B. Cooke Gilbert Ortiz Chet Cox Barry Pearl Ray Cuthbert Don Perlin Noel Daniels Ralph Reese Dick De Bartolo Robert L. Reiner Michael Elias S.C. Ringgenberg Miguel Angel Al Rodriguez Ferreiro Randy Sargent John Ficarra Carl Lani’Keha Shane Foley Shinyama Joe Frank J. David Spurlock Drew Friedman William Stout Stephan A. Friedt Bryan Stroud Miguel Angel Dann Thomas Ferreiro Andrew Torres Grant Geissman Angelo Torres Janet Gilbert John Torres Jon Gothold Dr. Michael J. Martin Gray Vassallo Tom Hamilton Sam Viviano Ron Harris Terry Wilson Heritage Art Curtis Woodbridge Auctions

This issue is dedicated to

Angelo Torres & to the memory of Al Jaffee

Contents

Writer/Editorial: And Now For Something Not Completely Different, But… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 What, Me Panic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Pros and fans alike salute the great comicbook & Mad artist Angelo Torres, in a publication overseen & bookended by Robert L. Reiner.

“Here Comes The Fleagle Gang!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 A brief interview with Angelo Torres, conducted by Bryan Stroud.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! My Life With Wally Wood (Part 4) . 59 Michael T. Gilbert presents the conclusion of Ralph Reese’s take on an iconic artist.

Tribute to Al Jaffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 67 Fawcett Collectors Of America [FCA] #245 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 P.C. Hamerlinck & Carl Lani’Keha Shinyama on The Marvel Family’s travels in time!

On Our Cover: This issue’s cover, drawn in 2018 by our noted honoree Angelo Torres, appeared in the Museum of Illustration program book celebrating Angelo’s work and his 90th birthday. Angelo’s name for it there was “Green Planet Revisited.” Obviously, the inspiration for its hero was Alex Raymond’s marvelous Flash Gordon, although, really, any space adventurer can wear fancy headgear like that. Thanks to Robert L. Reiner & Clint Morgan. [© 2023 Angelo Torres.]

Above: The young Angelo Torres must’ve made a singular impression on Timely/Atlas writer and editor Stan Lee, since The Man scripted and added a byline (for both of them) on several Western stories back in the day. Seen here is the powerful yet exquisite splash page by that duo for a story in Western Outlaws #15 (June 1956). Thanks to Bob Bailey. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM issue 186, March 2024 (ISSN 1932-6890) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid 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: $73 US, $111 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.

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A Presentation Of The Society Of Illustrators At The Museum Of Illustration, NYC, NY

(Above:) Torres at the opening of his celebratory exhibit at the Museum of Illustration hosted by the Society of Illustrators, May 2022. Photo by Jon Gothold. Special thanks to Robert L. Reiner and Clint Morgan for providing all photos and art scans that accompany this reprinting of the exhibit program book except where otherwise noted.

(Left:) The cover of the official publication connected with that celebration... the cover of EC’s Panic #6, with its strategically placed asterisk standing in for Angelo’s left eye in a Torres self-caricature. [Art © Angelo Torres; EC logo, etc., TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

I. Why PANIC?

M

by Robert L. Reiner, Curator ad magazine, the iconic satirical publication that skewered popular culture and boasted a circulation exceeding two million, began its life as a color comicbook.

Harvey Kurtzman created Mad to parody other comicbooks at first and then to broaden its reach to all manner of society. While the comic struggled at first, it soon hit its stride and took off from there. Success breeds copycats, and in short time there were dozens of Mad imitators. Not to be outdone, EC publisher Bill Gaines

decided in 1954 to launch an “authorized” knock-off of Mad—and Panic was born. Al Feldstein edited the new publication and had the luxury of drawing upon many of the same artists working for Mad. Kurtzman was upset, of course, but Gaines argued that they were all working for the same team.

Panic followed much the same path as Mad, but as the movement to censor comics was coming to a peak, Feldstein decided to publish an unusual cover. Although issue #6 carried the usual Panic masthead, except for an asterisk it was almost totally blank. At the bottom of the page was the statement: “This cover, the result of hours of conference, is EC’s final answer to the comic book controversy. Designed to offend no one, it is blank!”

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Celebrating Angelo Torres

Long-time EC fan and publisher Russ Cochran began reissuing the EC titles in the mid-1980s as hardcover collections, and then in the ’90s individual issues to replicate the look and feel of the original comics, including Panic #6 in June 1998. These are featured in this exhibition with new original art illustrations by Angelo Torres.

Why ANGELO TORRES? As the last remaining EC Comic artist (since, at the time of this writing, Al Jaffee is still alive and did draw for EC, but for Mad magazine, not for the comics), Torres was the logical choice to illustrate these imaginary covers. First, he remains immensely talented and versatile in his depictions of humor, horror, sciencefiction, crime, war, Western, and historical themes; and second, during his long career at Mad, Angelo had the opportunity to work with former Panic editor Al Feldstein and later with his old friend Mad co-editor Nick Meglin, bringing that DNA to bear on his artwork here.

The 2016 Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award winner celebrates his 90th birthday this year [2022]. He honors us by sharing examples of his stellar body of work, as well as new, neverbefore-seen illustrations, fresh from his well-used drawing board.

A Mugging On Lafayette Street

Kiss My Asterisk!* The “totally inoffensive” cover of EC’s Panic #6 (Dec. 1954Jan. 1955). Scan courtesy of Heritage Auctions. [TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

This was revolutionary and a clear poke in the eye of overreaching politicians and the anti-comics crusading psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham. But Panic would last only six more issues as the EC Comics line closed, and Mad would soon become a black-&white magazine. When Kurtzman left to chart his own direction, taking several artists with him, Feldstein took the reins as editor of Mad for the next 29 years.

Al Jaffee & Angelo Torres (left to right) toast each other a few years back as two of the last surviving oldtime EC artists. Alas, Al— the creator of the fabled “Mad fold-ins”—passed away on April 10, 2023, at the age of 102, after a long and full life (see tribute on p.65)… while, as this issue of Alter Ego goes to press, Angelo is still going strong at age 91. Thanks to Ian Scott McGregor.

Although it didn’t make the news at the time, a 23-year-old New Yorker was attacked in broad daylight for a drawing he did for a comicbook. The closed fist of the Comics Code Authority came down hard on a story, “An Eye for an Eye,” and ended the young man’s opportunity to have his first stand-alone story appear in an EC comicbook, Incredible Science Fiction #33.

Angelo Torres had collaborated on several EC stories previously with his friend Al Williamson, and often anonymously with Williamson and his other Fleagle Gang friends Frank Frazetta and Roy Krenkel. But here was publisher Bill Gaines sticking to his promise to publish Torres’ piece, only to have the censors block publication because the science-fiction story depicted a mutant. Gaines argued that there was nothing in the Comics Code mentioning mutants, but the censors wouldn’t budge. Gaines instead reprinted the even more controversial, openly anti-bigotry tale “Judgment Day,” and that was that.

What, Me Panic?

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before I knew who he was. As a youngster in the ’60s, I first discovered his artistry in the pages of Creepy and Eerie, then later as I gleefully stumbled into EC Comics, and then full-throated in the pages of Mad. I certainly never thought that I would meet and befriend the man.

As a long-time fan of the EC and Warren artists, I began collecting original art by these amazing talents. I was thrilled to exhibit this work in shows from coast to coast and most notably at the Society of Illustrators [in New York City]. One story in my collection that is dear to my heart is “The Shell Game” from Piracy #2, because it brought Angelo together with his good friend and frequent collaborator Al Williamson. Close observation of the beautiful panels shows an “Easter egg” where a boat bears the name Meglin—a nod to his close friend and later Mad co-editor Nick Meglin. These were crazy twenty-something kids having a ball in the 1950s.

Those of us who admire Ange’s work share a sense of memory and nostalgia with him. Although most of us weren’t alive or were too young at the time, we can feel the sense of wonder, excitement, and joie de vivre that he has experienced, just by being in his presence. When we meet over bagels and wine to talk about the “good old days,” it’s as if we’re watching scenes from a movie. Every detail is there, every nuance and

Eye-Eye, Sir! The splash page of “An Eye for an Eye,” repro’d from its first printing, in the Nostalgia Press tome. Script by Oleck, art by Torres. Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert.

[TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

No more original EC comics were published thereafter.

Experiments with other formats failed, and only Mad would remain to carry the EC banner, but as a magazine. Torres’ story did see the light of day in 1971, when Nostalgia Press published the hardcover book Horror Comics of the 1950’s, highlighting the best of EC Comics. Later, Russ Cochran would reprint the EC line in original comicbook form, placing “Eye for an Eye” in its proper place.

Angelo Torres was commissioned by fans of his work to re-create variations of his “An Eye for an Eye” splash page, a version of which appeared in the Museum of Illustration exhibition.

Cheers To Angelo Torres What happens when an artist is forced to do his best work with one arm tied behind his back? If you’re Angelo Torres, well, you complain a lot and then you do your best work. For more than two years I tortured the poor guy into, in his words, “drawing on the worst damn paper ever!”

“Shell” And High Water

Let’s take a step back. Like many of those you’re about to hear from through their thoughtful essays, I loved Torres’ work way

Reproduction of the original splash page art for “The Shell Game” from EC’s Piracy #2 (Dec. 1954-Jan. 1955), by Al Williamson and Angelo Torres. Scripter unidentified.

From the collection of Robert L. Reiner. [TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.]

What, Me Panic?

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“Ange, do you have time to talk about a few of the panels you’re working on for the “Make-Us Sickly, MC”’/Marcus Welby, MD satire?” Ange: “Fine!”

“Ange, we need to talk about the splash for the “Mirthquake:/Earthquake satire.” Ange: “When?”

Okay, so you get the picture.

Those were the kind of four-letter words he used most. What a sweetheart of a guy to work with!

Talented, funny, and mellow. Or to use my own four-letter word: “Nice!!”

DICK De BARTOLO, a.k.a. “Mad’s Maddest Writer,” has been in every issue of Mad magazine for 50+ years. His current assignment is the toughest ever: coming up with ideas to write about reprinted material for the current Mad.

A Signature Of Thunder (Above:) The Al Williamson/Angelo Torres splash page (note Angelo’s initials added to Al’s byline) for “A Sound of Thunder,” their—and scripter Al Feldstein’s—adaptation of the famous Ray Bradbury story done for EC’s Weird Science-Fantasy #25 (Sept. 1954). [Adaptation & artwork TM & © William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc.; original story © Estate of Ray Bradbury.]

TV Or Not TV (Above:) The cover of the paperback A Mad Look at TV, which featured the artwork of Angelo Torres—including said cover. [TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.] (Left:) Angelo with longtime Mad writer Dick De Bartolo, at the Museum of Illustrators exhibit. Photo courtesy of Robert L. Reiner.

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Celebrating Angelo Torres

Sting Like A Butterfly…

The first pages of the De Bartolo/Torres parody of the film Papillon, from Mad #170 (Oct. 1974). Thanks to Michael Elias. The “marginal” cartoon at top right, of course, is by Sergio Aragonés. [TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.]

X: Lucky Me

I

by Michael Elias

owe my love of movies and TV shows to Mad and Mr. Torres. My first encounter with his artwork was from German Mad bound volumes from the 1970s. The Papillon movie spoof was marvelous, and the Kojak splash was the funniest I had ever read.

My first Mad paperback was The Mad Make Out Book by Larry Siegel and Angelo Torres. Was it coincidence or puberty?

I think both. Much later, I was in touch with Mad artist Don “Duck” Edwing’s stepson, who one day surprised me with drawings from an unpublished book written by Frank Jacobs and illustrated by Edwing and Angelo Torres. The drawings of movie actors were so different, so stylish, so beautiful. A Facebook friend connected me with Mr. Torres, and I e-mailed

The Horror Hosts With The Mostest “Crypt of Madness Revised” by Angelo Torres (2020) is a redrawn version of the cover of The Crypt of Madness #1 from several years back. It was designed to be used as the cover of a future “Best-of” issue of the popular fanzine. From the collection of Michael Elias. [GhouLunatics & Alfred E. Neuman TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.; Uncle Creepy & Cousin Eerie TM & © New Comic Company LLC.]

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Celebrating Angelo Torres

XV. Angelo? Well, I Love The Guy

A

by John Hitchcock ngelo is one of my heroes. The first time I met him was on the printed page.

There was a very close-knit group of comic fans that understood from early on that somebody drew comicbooks. When I was a kid, I thought there was a big rubber machine that just

created this stuff. I mean, how could anyone sit down and draw like that? Comicbooks were a great mystery to me. But I soon understood these artists were just that good.

When I opened Creepy #1, and all that genius fell out, I was hooked for life. Angelo was one of those artists and he was as talented as anyone. Back in the ’80s I helped throw comicbook conventions in Greensboro, NC, and the guest lists were mind-bending. Archie Goodwin and Murphy Anderson were at the first show, and the next few cons had Will Eisner, Julie Schwartz, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, and Al Williamson. Yeah, I know, it was a very magic time for us all.

I opened my own store in 1989 and started to have shows. The first featured Al Williamson, George Evans, Dave Stevens, the Hampton Brothers, and Angelo Torres. Al gave me Ange’s phone number, but it took me a week to get up the guts to call him. There could not have been a nicer guy, and he agreed to come to the show.

Trust me, to be a fly on the wall and to listen to this group tell stories was a dream come true. One time Dave Stevens fell off his chair laughing so much. Something I always did was to call and keep up with these marvelous people because we all became good friends. How lucky can a guy be? Happy Birthday to my great friend Angelo.

JOHN HITCHCOCK is the owner of Parts Unknown, a comic book store in Greensboro, NC, and a long-time comic art collector.

XVI. Angelo

I

by Arnie Kogen

n your career at Mad you’ve illustrated over 35 Arnie Kogen articles. I’m so sorry Feldstein, Meglin and Ficarra put you through that hell.

You did a brilliant job on so many of my film and TV parodies. Among them M*A*S*H, The Partridge Family, Kojak, Happy Days, The Gladiator, The Karate Kid, Newhart, and The Golden Girls. This last piece was co-written with my son Jay. Jay went on to win four Emmy awards, but this Mad spoof (“The Olden Girls,” Mad #263) illustrated by Angelo Torres is one of his proudest career achievements.

Jeepers Creep-sters!

“Pursuit of the Vampire” in Warren Publishing’s Creepy #1 (1964) was not only the first collaboration between writer Archie Goodwin and artist Angelo Torres—but was also one of the former’s first two horror efforts, both published in that issue. Script by Archie Goodwin. Courtesy of John Hitchcock.

[TM & © New Comics Company LLC.]

In my home office I have framed the opening splash of The Untouchables (“The Unwatchables,” Mad #276)— another parody we teamed up for. We see your wonderful depictions of

Arnie Kogen

What, Me Panic?

XVII. Feliz CumpleAñ(gel)os

The Golden/Olden Age Of Mad First page of the Golden Girls parody from Mad #263 (June 1986), by writer Arnie Kogen and artist Angelo Torres. [TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.]

Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, Charles Martin Smith, and Robert DeNiro. The title of the article does not say “The Untouchables” or “The Unwatchables.” It says “Die Unausstehlichen.” It’s a German edition of Mad magazine. The credits are: “Text: Arnie Kogen” and “Zeichnungen: Angelo Torres.”

Congratulations again, Angelo. You are one of the most gifted zeichnungeners I’ve ever worked with.

ARNIE KOGEN is a multiple Emmy-Award-winning comedy writer.

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T

by Jason Levine

here is probably a reason I am a Mad fan/collector and not a contributor. I started reading Mad in 1977 at the age of eight, and my first issue, #189, had the Welcome Back, Kotter parody drawn by Angelo of one of my favorite shows at the time. As a younger “reader” of Mad I certainly gravitated to the shorter gag-type pieces, but it wasn’t long before I graduated to the TV parodies and eventually movie parodies. I would credit Mad for my learning to read, along with any pop culture knowledge I have, but that’s another topic….

I went from Mad reader to Mad saver to Mad collector. As a kid

“Here Comes The Fleagle Gang!”

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A Brief Interview With ANGELO TORRES Conducted (January 26, 2015) & Transcribed by Bryan Stroud

B

Angelo Torres RYAN STROUD: How did you become interested in art?

ANGELO TORRES: Growing up in the ’30s with the great Sunday funnies being drawn at that time and with so many great comicbook titles filling every newsstand, I began copying the characters and attempting to create my own.

My school notebooks were full of drawings, which didn’t help my grades, and by the time I got to high school all I wanted to do was draw a newspaper syndicated strip.

BS: What was your training?

TORRES: I attended the School of Industrial

c. 1958—at a time when he was already producing solo work like the splash pages (l. to r.) for Timely/ Atlas’ World of Mystery #1 (June 1956) and Harvey’s Alarming Tales #6 (Nov. ’58). Thanks to Robert L. Reiner & Michael T. Gilbert, respectively. [TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc., and the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

Art, a vocational high school in New York City, where I got my first formal art training.

Graduating in 1951, I went into the Army for the next two years, after which I used the GI Bill to study at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, which is now the School of Visual Arts.

BS: You have a very realistic style. What led you to comics?

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A Brief Interview With Angelo Torres

Working Wonders With Williamson A trio of tales in which Angelo inked the pencils of his friend and colleague Al Williamson. (Clockwise from above:) The lead splash page of EC’s Valor #1 (March-April 1955), written by Carl Wessler… the final page of “Harpooned” from EC’s Piracy #1 (Oct.-Nov. ’54); scripter unknown… and the first page of a tale from Billy the Kid #13 (Sept. ’58), writer unknown, from the temporarily leaner days after EC’s comics line folded. But can you believe that Charlton’s Billy the Kid lasted 145 issues, from 1957 to 1983?! Thanks to Michael T. Gilbert & Art Lortie. [EC pages TM & © E.C. Publications, Inc.; Billy page TM & © the respective trademark & copyright holders.]

TORRES: My dream had always been to do another Terry and the Pirates or Steve Canyon. I loved Milton Caniff’s work and tried to emulate it.

I was also a huge fan of Alex Raymond and Hal Foster, so even though I loved almost every strip appearing then, I wanted more than anything to draw in a realistic style. Attending classes at C&I, I found that my fellow cartooning students had no interest in doing a syndicated strip but dreamed instead of breaking into the comicbook business, with EC Comics as their main target. I found myself going in the same direction.

BS: You’ve done nearly every genre, from crime to adventure, war to Western, science-fiction, and even a little romance. Where did you feel most comfortable?

TORRES: I have always felt most comfortable and gratified doing historical work. My work on Prehistoric World and World War II for Classics Illustrated, the war stories for Warren, and the Civil War book for Marvel are still some of my most satisfying work.

BS: Tell me about the Fleagle Gang.

TORRES: Ah, the Fleagles. A couple of us from the art school, led

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

L

ast issue Ralph talked about his involvement with the magazines Web of Horror and the National Lampoon, as well as Wally Wood’s descent into alcoholism after a period of sobriety. Now let’s conclude…

My Life With Wood (Part 4)

by Ralph Reese

Wood’s Slow Decline…

After Woody moved to Connecticut, we didn’t see a lot of each other. I did go up there to visit a few times, memorably when he was getting married for the third time. The thing that really struck me at the time was that for a guy who was just getting married he did not seem very happy. The ceremony was very subdued, and he mostly just sat there looking kind of lost and sad. I had to ask myself, “Why are you doing this?” I guess at that time he needed to have someone to look after him, to see that his clothes got washed and that he ate once in a while.

I helped him out a little bit with the Wizard King book, inking a few backgrounds and stuff. I think he was hurt that, when pressed, I had to tell him I thought the story was maybe a little trite and that

Third Time Lucky?

Wally Wood married third wife Muriel Wood in 1977. That one ended badly, too. [Photo © Gilbert Ortiz.]

he didn’t need to put a skull on the villain’s shirt so that we would know he was the bad guy. Of course, Wood knew that he was dealing in archetypes; he was making an attempt to give his own slant to the Tolkien genre, but I don’t know that it was too successful. He self-financed it, and I think it was pretty disastrous for him.

We all went out shooting at the old quarry nearby a couple times, Wood, Wayne Howard, Paul Kirchner, and me, plinking at beer bottles and tin cans. Bill Pearson and Nick Cuti had also moved up there to work at Charlton, and helped Woody out with the Friends of Odkin fan club. I think he was still doing occasional work for Warren and some stuff for Screw, but I didn’t see a lot of it.

To be honest, it kind of made me sad to be around him, and to see how he was deteriorating, and I kind of avoided him for a while after that. Did I fail him as a friend? Maybe. But I couldn’t really stop him from drinking, or fix his life for him. And he had a lot of sycophants around him who pretty much went along with whatever he said. I had plenty of my own problems and was hardly without weaknesses or bad life choices.

Wood 1981 Wally Wood near the end of his life. [Photo © Gilbert Ortiz.]

During this period Wood developed a desire to become a musical performer, and put together and financed a self-published record album called Wally Wood Sings, as well as playing at open mikes, etc., at some local pubs and such. He had always played guitar and liked to do the old Hank Williams and Jimmy Rogers tunes, an interest which I shared; we had tried to play together a few times, but I found it difficult due to his slightly offbeat sense of timing. I know that Bob Layton became his assistant for some time, but I never met him then and am not really familiar with what they were doing. By that time Paul

It’s CAPTAIN MARVEL TIME!

75

The “Science” Of The Shazam Heroes’ TimeTraveling Ability

by Carl Lani‘Keha Shinyama

F

“Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space. If you can bend space you can bend time also, and if you knew enough and could move faster than light you could travel backward in time and exist in two places at once.”

– Margaret Atwood or the original Captain Marvel in the Golden Age of Comics, the above quote was quite true, thanks in large part to the character’s primary writer, Otto Binder.

From Here To [The Rock Of] Eternity Question: Does Captain Marvel travel to the future—or does the future travel to him? Panels from “Captain Marvel Reaches the Age of Perfection” by writer Otto Binder, penciler C.C. Beck, & inker Pete Costanza, from Captain Marvel Adventures #101 (Oct. 1949). In this story, the Big Red Cheese himself served as narrator. [Shazam hero TM & © DC Comics.]

Binder, known in early pulps primarily for his creation Adam Link, the sympathetic metallic hero of his short story “I, Robot” and its sequels, was a science-fiction (or “scientifiction,” a term coined by Hugo Gernsback in the 1920s) writer for pulps before he embarked on a comicbook-writing career. As a teenager, he had had a strong fascination with chemistry and astronomy; he had once aspired to be either a chemical engineer or a research scientist and was an avid reader of astronomy, even purchasing a telescope.

Though Binder had no formal scientific degree when he began writing science-fiction, he did have a love of science and a love of the genre, which he discovered in 1926 upon first reading Amazing Stories, a pulp magazine dedicated to the subject.

many others, including more obscure villains such as Disaster Master (Whiz Comics #144), who invented a machine called the Disaster Dealer, which could “hurl invisible forces by atomic power anywhere on Earth, causing catastrophes!”

Even early on, the super-hero genre was one that went hand-in-hand with science-fiction, what with the burgeoning number of heroes with pseudo-scientific origins and of mad-scientist villains. Binder’s keen interest in real science made him a natural fit for the young genre, and informed much of his approach in writing the stories he told, especially those starring Captain Marvel. In point of fact, even before Binder began writing “Captain Marvel” scripts, the hero’s greatest enemy was a mad scientist (Dr. Sivana). He also faced aliens and thugs who often used scientifically advanced weapons to combat the World’s Mightiest Mortal, so the foundations of his world and stories leaned decidedly sci-fi.

It didn’t stop there, either, as some of the notable supporting characters Binder introduced to Captain Marvel’s stories were scientists like Doc Quartz and Dexter Knox.

Even Mr. Tawny, one of Billy Batson’s and Captain Marvel’s best friends and perhaps Otto Binder’s most famous co-creation, became a talking tiger through the means of a scientific serum—one that was said to have “energize[d] his brain and enable[d] him to use his vocal cords for speech!”

And that’s without mentioning many of the inventions of Dr. Sivana’s, including numerous varied ray guns and projectors he invented, such as the Germ Wave, Caveman Radiation Projector, Fear Ray Projector, Idiot Ray (not kidding! see Whiz Comics #86), Mute Ray, Hunger Ray, and Anger Ray Gun, to name a few.

During his comicbook career in the 1940s, Binder was a pioneer, being one of the art form’s earliest writers to outright cite real scientific theory as fictional explanations for the impossible feats and that occurred in super-hero stories.

With such a writer taking the lead, it was seemingly inevitable that Captain Marvel’s stories would come to be even more sciencefiction-leaning. Indeed, Binder would go on to expand Captain Marvel’s rogues gallery to include an alien telepathic worm (Mr. Mind), an evil caveman scientist (King Kull), and

Otto O. Binder was the foremost author of Fawcett timetravel stories. He sent this photo in 1964 to Roy Thomas for use in Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #7.

Thus, by the time Captain Marvel began time-traveling by way of exceeding the speed of light, the adventures he had were in a primarily surreal world of sci-fi wonders. In other words, it was Otto Binder’s world.

When dealing with time travel, many of Binder’s Golden Age contemporaries more or less pulled things out of thin air with no scientific theories to support their explanations. Take Jay Garrick, a.k.a. The Flash, for instance. When he accidentally time-traveled 500 years into the future, writer Gardner F. Fox did not use any established scientific theory to support it. Indeed, when

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It’s Captain Marvel Time!

rather than rely upon the air to bring the sound to you. This is how IF the YOUsound ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, Captain Marvel was able to locate of elephant footsteps, CLICKThe THEMarvel LINK TO ORDER THIS despite the fact that they had escaped Family’s ability ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT! to locate them visually.

With such scientific acuity and a background in sciencefiction during his days as a writer for the pulps, it was hardly surprising that Binder came to be a sci-fi pioneer in the young and growing field of super-hero comics. Indeed, he would go on to be a forerunner, if not the defining influential force, for how real-world scientific theory would be used and applied in subsequent eras of super-hero comics.

Said Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen: “Otto Binder was a kind of titan, a precursor of the gods… because he came up with basic primordial forms that later writers would perhaps polish to a greater luster. But Binder hewed them out of solid rock. He was miningEGO the raw ALTER #186 Spotlights ANGELO TORRES, the youngest and last of the material.”

fabled EC Comics artists—who went on to a fabulous career as a horror, science-fiction, and humor artist for Timely/Marvel,

Flash Forward Jay Garrick, a.k.a. The Flash—the first super-hero ever to time-travel using super-speed, even if he didn’t mean to do so! From “The Liar’s Club,” Flash Comics #44 (Aug. 1943). Script by Gardner Fox; art by Lou Ferstadt.) [TM & © DC Comics.]

The Flash met a scientist in the future (Flash Comics #44), that scientist explained it thus:

It should be noted that Alan speaking WarrenMoore Publishing,was and MAD magazine!of It’s Binder a lushly illustrated retrospective of hisofstill-ongoing career—plus FCA (Fawcett coming into his own during the infancy comicbooks, which for Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s all intents and purposes was essentially a new medium of fictionComic Crypt, and more writing. With little guidance from which could draw, he had (84-pageBinder FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition)was $4.99 talking to figure things out on his own. That is what Moore https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1769 about. Still, his statement applies to Binder’s application of real scientific theory in Captain Marvel’s stories as well, since Binder’s peers were not yet really doing what he was, but many writers later on came to do so. Thus, Binder was a true pioneer in this regard.

“Time travels at a certain rate of speed, based on the ratio of the sun’s speed racing through space toward the fixed star Varga and the rotation of Earth on its axis.”

Yes, scientific observations had been made by the 1940s that the sun moves through space, and the speed of the Earth’s rotation had been calculated. But neither of those facts had any relation to any scientific theory that pertains to time travel. In Flash’s time-travel story, he might as well have time-traveled by way of magic!

Otto Binder, meanwhile, was fond of incorporating real science from scientific theory to simple scientific concepts and principles.

For example, in one story Binder wrote, Mary Marvel defeated King Kull (The Marvel Family #73) using the principles of centrifugal force, which pushes objects away from the center by rotation. By rotating Kull so fast, beyond a certain point, Mary was able to remove the nearly completely invulnerable armor from his body. That is similar to centrifugation separation—a very common technique used to separate different fluids with different densities from each other, or even liquids from solids. In the story, Binder drew from the real scientific applications of centrifugation and applied them towards super-hero pseudo-science, even if the actual execution of it may not be plausible in real physics.

Another example is found in Marvel Family #87, wherein Captain Marvel listened for the sound of elephant footsteps in the distance by putting his ear on the ground.

Here, Binder shows his scientific acumen. Sound travels faster and more effectively in liquid and solids than through air. That’s because sound waves need a medium through which to spread and travel and—generally speaking—the denser the medium, the faster and more effectively that sound travels, because there’s less space between molecules. It’s why you can hear a train coming, even if it is too far away to see, if you put your ear to the railroad track,

Kull-ing The Crop Centrifugation, a clever way to disarm an armored caveman mad scientist— King Kull! Panel from “The Marvel Family Battles the Crust Cracker” by Otto Binder and artist Kurt Schaffenberger, in The Marvel Family #73 (July 1952).

[Shazam heroine TM & © DC Comics.]