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(NOW WITH 16 COLOR PAGES!) “AllInterview Issue”! Part 2 of an exclusive STEVE ENGLEHART interview (continued from ALTER EGO #103)! “Pro2Pro” interviews between SIMONSON & LARSEN, MOENCH & WEIN, and comics letterers KLEIN & CHIANG. Plus JOHN OSTRANDER, MICHAEL USLAN, and longtime DC color artist ADRIENNE ROY! Cover by Englehart collaborator MARSHALL ROGERS!

“Gods!” Takes an in-depth look at WALTER SIMONSON’s Thor, the Thunder God in the Bronze Age, “Pro2Pro” interview with TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ, Hercules: Prince of Power, Moondragon, Three Ways to End the New Gods Saga, exclusive interview with fantasy writer MICHAEL MOORCOCK, art and commentary by GERRY CONWAY, JACK KIRBY, BOB LAYTON, and more, with a swingin’ Thor cover by SIMONSON!

“Liberated Ladies” eyeing female characters that broke barriers in the Bronze Age: Big Barda, Valkyrie, Ms. Marvel, Phoenix, Savage She-Hulk, and the sword-wielding Starfire. Plus a “Pro2Pro” interview with JILL THOMPSON, GAIL SIMONE, and BARBARA KESEL, art and commentary by JOHN BYRNE, GEORGE PEREZ, JACK KIRBY, MIKE VOSBURG, and more, with a new cover by BRUCE TIMM!

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THE BEST IN COMICS AND LEGO MAGAZINES!

ALTER EGO #105

ALTER EGO #106

ALTER EGO #107

ALTER EGO #108

DRAW! #22

See comic art and script BEFORE and AFTER the Comics Code changes, with art by SIMON & KIRBY, DITKO, BUSCEMA, SINNOTT, GOULD, COLE, STERANKO, KRIGSTEIN, O’NEIL, GLANZMAN, ORLANDO, WILLIAMSON, HEATH, and others! Plus: FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY, JIM AMASH interviews Timely/Atlas artist CAL MASSEY, and a new cover by JOSH MEDORS!

DICK GIORDANO through the 1960s—from freelance years and Charlton “Action-Heroes” to his first stint at DC! Art by DITKO, APARO, BOYETTE, MORISI, McLAUGHLIN, GIL KANE, and others, Dick’s final convention panel with STEVE SKEATES and ROY THOMAS, JIM AMASH interviews Charlton artist TONY TALLARICO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and ROY ALD, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, GIORDANO cover, and more!

Big BATMAN issue, with an unused Golden Age cover by DICK SPRANG! SHEL DORF interviews SPRANG and JIM MOONEY, with rare and unseen Batman art by BOB KANE, JERRY ROBINSON, WIN MORTIMER, SHELLY MOLDOFF, CHARLES PARIS, and others! Part II of the TONY TALLARICO interview by JIM AMASH! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

1970s Bullpenner WARREN REECE talks about Marvel Comics and working with EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, STAN LEE, MARIE SEVERIN, ADAMS, FRIEDRICH, ROY THOMAS, and others, with rare art! DEWEY CASSELL spotlights Golden Age artist MIKE PEPPE, with art by TOTH, ANDRU, TUSKA, CELARDO, & LUBBERS, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, cover by EVERETT & BURGOS, and more!

Interview with inker SCOTT WILLIAMS from his days at Marvel and Image to his work with JIM LEE, and PATRICK OLIFFE demos how he produces Spider-Girl, Mighty Samson, and digital comics. Also, MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ “Comic Art Bootcamp”, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work by BOB McLEOD, art supply reviews by “Crusty Critic” JAMAR NICHOLAS, and more!

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LEE & KIRBY: THE WONDER YEARS (KIRBY COLLECTOR #58)

Special double-size book examines the first decade of the FANTASTIC FOUR, and the events that put into motion the Marvel Age of Comics! New interviews with STAN LEE, FLO STEINBERG, MARK EVANIER, JOE SINNOTT, and others, with a wealth of historical information and Kirby artwork!

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BRICKJOURNAL #17

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“Kirby Vault!” Rarities from the “King” of comics: Personal correspondence, private photos, collages, rare Marvelmania art, bootleg album covers, sketches, transcript of a 1969 VISIT TO THE KIRBY HOME (where Jack answers the questions YOU’D ask in ‘69), MARK EVANIER, pencil art from the FOURTH WORLD, CAPTAIN AMERICA, MACHINE MAN, SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL, and more!

LEGO SPACE WAR issue! A STARFIGHTER BUILDING LESSON by Peter Reid, WHY SPACE MARINES ARE SO POPULAR by Mark Stafford, a trip behind the scenes of LEGO’S NEW ALIEN CONQUEST SETS that hit store shelves earlier this year, plus JARED K. BURKS’ column on MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION, building tips, event reports, our step-by-step “YOU CAN BUILD IT” INSTRUCTIONS, and more!

Go to Japan with articles on two JAPANESE LEGO FAN EVENTS, plus take a look at JAPAN’S SACRED LEGO LAND, Nasu Highland Park—the site of the BrickFan events and a pilgrimage site for many Japanese LEGO fans. Also, a feature on JAPAN’S TV CHAMPIONSHIP OF LEGO, a look at the CLICKBRICK LEGO SHOPS in Japan, plus how to get into TECHNIC BUILDING, LEGO EDUCATION, and more!

LEGO EVENTS ISSUE covering our own BRICKMAGIC FESTIVAL, BRICKWORLD, BRICKFAIR, BRICKCON, plus other events outside the US. There’s full event details, plus interviews with the winners of the BRICKMAGIC CHALLENGE competition, complete with instructions to build award winning models. Also JARED K. BURKS’ regular column on minifigure customizing, building tips, and more!

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Vol. 3, No. 21 / February 2003

™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editors Emeritus Jerry Bails (founder) Ronn Foss Biljo White Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant Eric Nolen-Weathington

The Iger Comics Kingdom

Cover Artists/Colorists Irwin Hasen Dave Stevens

And Special Thanks to: Heather Antonelli Dick Arnold Bob Bailey Jeff Bailey Jack Bender Frank Brunner Rich Buckler Lee Caplin Diego Ceresa Lynda Fox Cohen Bob Cosgrove Ray A. Cuthbert Al Dellinges Jay Disbrow Shel Dorf Ken Dudley Will Eisner Michael Feldman Jeff Fox Gordon Green Martin Greim George Hagenauer Paul Handler Merrily Mayer Harris Irwin Hasen Adam Hughes Andy Ice Ed Jaster Tim Lapsley Rich Larsen

Joe Latino Richard Lieberson Dan Makara Linda Long Lanny Mayer Simon Miller Fred Mommsen Jerry Ordway Robert Overstreet John G. Pierce Dan Raspler Trina Robbins Ethan Roberts Don Rosick Alex Ross Steve Schanes Carole Seuling Gwen Seuling Robin Snyder Dave Stevens Marc Swayze Joel Thingvall Dann Thomas Alex Toth Jim Vadeboncoeur Hames Ware John Wells Steve Whittaker Andy Yanchus Ken Yodowitz Ray Zone

Contents Writer/Editorial: The Iger Counter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Iger Comics Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Golden Age artist Jay Disbrow on Jerry Iger & his comic art studio—featuring art by some of the greatest talents of the 1940s and ’50s—and today!

A Footnote on the Eisner and Iger Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Which artists worked for Iger—and which for Eisner & Iger? Jerry Bails’ full listing! re: [John Buscema] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Special JUSTICE SOCIETY Section, plus FCA . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: In 1985 Dave Stevens, now celebrated as creator of The Rocketeer among his other artistic accomplishments, drew a stunningly sensuous cover featuring Sheena for Jay Disbrow’s book The Iger Comics Kingdom. Thanks to Dave for allowing us to use it as the cover of this issue, which reprints and revises that 1985 tome—and there’s more Stevens Sheena art on p. 43! [Cover Art ©2003 Dave Stevens; Sheena TM & ©2003 Paul Aratow/Columbia pictures.] Above: One of the shining artistic lights of the Iger Studios was Maurice Whitman, who did some of his best work on the Tarzanic “Kaänga” feature in Jungle Comics and in the hero’s own title. This splash page from Kaänga Comics #20 (Summer 1954—the final issue, alas) shows why his work is held in high esteem by collectors and fellow professionals alike. Reproduced from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of George Hagenauer. [©2003 respective holder.] Alter EgoTM is published monthly by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $8 ($10 Canada, $11 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $120 Canada, $132 elsewhere. 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 Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Title writer/editorial

The Iger Counter Whew! This half of the issue turned out to be such a mammoth undertaking, and to contain so much gorgeous and/or historic artwork, that I barely had room to squeeze in even this one-page introduction!

several nice pieces from a couple of other folks—and picked up still more from the 1970s Who’s Who in American Comic Books edited by Jerry Bails and Hames Ware.

For about a year now, I’ve been eagerly looking forward, with the permission of author (and Golden Age artist) Jay Disbrow, to print a slightly revised version of his 1985 book The Iger Comics Kingdom, which tells the story of the legendary 1930s-50s comics shop of Jerry Iger (who was in partnership, at least for a time, with Spirit creator Will Eisner). After Jay wrote a piece about Fawcett editor Wendell Crowley for P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA in Alter Ego #14, I contacted him at once, and we had the first of many enjoyable phone conversations. Jay was amenable to seeing his out-of-print opus reprinted, the more so since we meant to utilize more of the (unused) drawings he had done for that first edition. But there were problems. Aren’t there always?

Our main frustration is that often we couldn’t be 100% certain if artwork from Fiction House, Quality, Gilberton, or other companies was done by the Iger Studios, or by that particular company’s own inhouse staff. More: did an “Iger artist” draw such-and-such a page when he/she was employed by Iger—or later, directly for the company? As it is, we’ve included a handful of (identified) pieces of art which are almost certainly not from the Iger shop—usually to prove some point or other. But, for the most part, we’ve limited ourselves to reprinting material turned out by Jerry Iger and his talented associates. Even so, we have so much comic art (especially Fiction House!) left over that we’re gonna have to find some excuse to run more of it soon!

For one thing, Jay no longer had Also of enormous help with our his original manuscript. We both Herculean task was Steve Whitaker wanted to correct some errors that of England, who was suggested to us had crept into the first edition, based by his fellow collector Michael as it was on interviews and conversaFeldman. Steve, like Michael himself, tions Jay had with Jerry Iger, who Jerry Bails, and a handful of others, passed away in 1990. Even circa 1985, has done extensive research on the Jay had found Iger’s memory not Iger shop—and both he and I went always reliable, as he details in his new over the 1985 manuscript with a fineintroduction. Nor could Jay be certain tooth comb. Our object was to at this late date if perhaps, in the change as little in the original text as course of the editing of his manuscript possible, while at the same time nearly two decades ago, some alteraltering anything that more recent ations had been made or additional scholarship had shown to be untrue errors crept in. He also rewrote, from Bob Webb’s powerful cover to Seven Seas Comics #2 (June 1946), or, at best, undependable. (For memory, the seventh chapter, which apparently inked by Ann Brewster, was published by instance, you’ll find some problems deals with his own career in comics, “Universal Phoenix Features/Leading Publications,” according to the below about the approximate date which had been left out of the first Gerbers’ Picto-Journal Guide to Comic Books. A joint publishing when Will Eisner and Jerry Iger edition. The original art for his own venture between Iger and another? Thanks to George Hagenauer. dissolved their partnership—and we (unused) cover for the book was long [©2003 the respective copyright holder.] excised all mention of the possibility since lost, as well, but at least he had a that actor Martin Landau was once a member of the Iger shop, since photostat of it, which was good enough to reproduce from inside, if not Landau denies it and no precise records have ever shown differently.) as a cover. Still, Jay concurred with my wish to see his book reprinted—and it was just short enough that we could squeeze it into half an issue of A/E. Steve Schanes, whose Blackthorne Publishing had put out the original edition, generously gave his consent to utilizing material from it that was not covered by Jay’s own copyright, for which we thank him and Lee Caplin, and we were off to the races. At that point, I needed just one more little thing: art. Lots and lots of art. For, though there was quite a bit of art in the 1985 edition, I wanted to reproduce more and different illustrations, from the original artwork wherever possible. Fortunately, as they always seem to do in these cases, several magnanimous collectors came through for A/E and for the cause of comics history. At a Baltimore comics convention in 2000 I had met Paul Handler, who collected (among other things) Fiction House art, and when I contacted him again he came through with a number of pages. So in particular did regular A/E contributor George Hagenauer, who sent us a veritable cornucopia of Fiction House and Iger art. We also received

Doubtless, errors remain—and, after the text has gone through the hands of various writers and editors over the past nigh-twenty years, they are not really the fault of any one person. The Iger Comics Kingdom can be considered a “work in progress,” with every knowledgeable A/E reader invited to send in suggestions as to corrections and additions. We plan to run an extended section on these updates a few issues from now. But meanwhile, we think you’ll find the Alter Ego revised edition of Jay Disbrow’s The Iger Comics Kingdom a worthwhile and entertaining read. And that’s not counting all the pictures—which most definitely do count! (Hey, you didn’t think we were gonna get all the way through this piece without justifying its title “The Iger Counter,” did you?) Bestest,

Jay Disbrow’s cover painting for his 1985 book wasn’t used, except for the logo (which was joined with Dave Stevens’ Sheena cover art, which also appears on this issue of Alter Ego). We’re pleased to print Jay’s version for the first time, even if we couldn’t give it the color it deserves. [Art ©2003 Jay Disbrow; Doll Man, Black Condor, & Blue Beetle TM & ©2003 DC Comics; The Flame, Kaänga, & The Hawk (of the Seas) TM & ©the respective TM & copyright holders; Sheena TM & ©2003 Paul Aratow/Columbia Pictures.]

with additional textual material provided by Steve Whitaker, Jerry Bails, & Roy Thomas

Introduction (2002) How This Book Came to Be Written Many will remember that the late Phil Seuling has frequently been called the “father” of the modern comics convention. From the 1960s through the early ’80s, he produced his famous Comic Art Conventions which were held each year either in New York City or in Philadelphia, on or about the 4th of July. Phil was the man who enabled me to contact Jerry Iger after many years had elapsed since I had been an employee at the Iger Studios. Thus were put into effect the conditions that led to my writing The Iger Comics Kingdom. Sometime prior to 1981 I came across one of Phil Seuling’s newsletters. In it he mentioned a telephone conversation he had recently had with Jerry Iger. This came as a shock to me, because I had erroneously assumed that Jerry had died. Nearly thirteen years had passed since I had last seen him, and he had been

Jay Disbrow in front of his home, July 2002. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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The Eisner & Iger Shops

A Footnote on the Eisner & Iger Shops G. Bails, in conjunction with others, has amassed a detailed and reasonably comprehensive list of the two shops’ personnel, based in large part upon responses from the artists and writers themselves, back when so many more of them were still amongst us. He has made this painstaking research from his online version of Who’s Who in American Comic Books available to Alter Ego—for which we humbly thank him. If there are any suggested corrections or additions to this list, please contact A/E at <roydann@ntinet.com>—or contact Jerry at <JerryBails@aol.com>. In addition, you can visit Jerry’s information-filled Who’s Who website at <www.nostromo.no/whoswo/>. Also helpful was Howard Keltner’s monumental Golden Age Comic Books Index (1935-1955): The Revised Edition.

by Roy Thomas (utilizing the contributions of Jerry Bails and Steve Whitaker) While many of the artists, writers, and production people who worked for the Eisner & Iger, Ltd., shop, or later the S.M. Iger Studios, are mentioned by name in the course of Jay Disbrow’s The Iger Comics Kingdom, as reprinted this issue in slightly revised fashion, the 1985 book made no attempt to feature a full listing of the two shops’ personnel between the late 1930s and the mid-to-late 1950s when the Iger shop was finally dissolved, or a few years later when the last of its inventory was used up. To some extent, indeed, a truly complete listing of Eisner/Iger’s cast of characters may well be beyond the possibility of human accomplishment at this late date, the more so since some creators worked for one or both shops on some sort of freelance basis, rather than being on staff. However, since he began his researches in the early 1960s, Jerry

Jay Disbrow’s tribute to Will Eisner’s “The Hawk,” which would resurface later as “Hawks of the Seas.” For a “Hawk” panel, see p. 12... and see the 1986 Kitchen Sink volume Hawks of the Seas for the later version. [Art ©2003 Jay Disbrow; character TM & ©2003 Will Eisner.]

Eisner & Iger Shop According to JGB’s Who’s Who, this shop was also called at one time Syndicated Features Corporation, and at various times between 1937-39 produced work for at least the following: Wags magazine (U.K.), Okay Comics Weekly (U.K.), and the comics lines of Quality, Fiction House, Fox, and Harvey. Features created in the shop during this period include “Hawks of the Seas,” “Yarko,” “Sheena,” “Spencer Steel,” and others. In the listings below, a question mark (?) after a creator’s name means that whether or not he worked for the shop in question is unverified at present.

Eisner & Iger Shop Personnel Vince Alascia (artist)–c. 1938-39 Jack Alderman (inker)–1939 Gerald Altman (lettering, backgrounds) –c. 1938-39 Larry Antonette (artist)–1939 Stan Aschmeier (artist)–1939 Rafael Astarita (artist)–c. 1939 Bernard Baily (artist) –1937-39 Winnifred Belefant (secretary) –c. 1938-39 Alex Blum (artist)–1938-39

Toni Blum (writer)–1938-39 (later married to Bill Bossert) Bill Bossert (writer)–1939 George Brenner (artist) –1936 (pre-Eisner & Iger) Dick Briefer (writer/artist)–1937-39 Ray Burley (artist)–1939 Nick Cardy (then Nick Viscardi) (artist)–1939 Arthur Cazeneuve (artist) –1939 Grieg Chapian (artist) –1939 Reed Crandall (artist)–1939 (continued on next page)

Whether it was Ruth Roche or someone else who wrote the adaptation of Homer’s Iliad in Classics Illustrated #77 (Nov. 1950), the combined script and Alex Blum art had such a powerful impact on Ye Editor, then just turning ten, that after reading it he located an abridged version of the original, and soon followed that with Samuel Butler’s 19th-century prose translation. It became his favorite work of pre-20th century literature... even though Blum drew Ajax the Greater and Ajax the Lesser, two distinctly different heroes, as if they were twins when they stood side by side! [©2003 the respective copyright holder.]

“Them Justice Guys”

“Them Justice Guys” The Artists of All-Star Comics’ Pinnacle Issues by Roy Thomas Although the title of this piece is a quote voiced by a hoodlum in AllStar Comics #6 (Aug.-Sept. 1941), anyone who’s read The All-Star Companion or my prefaces to DC’s All Star Archives knows that I consider All-Star #33-41 (1947-48) the quality high point of the 55 original tales of the Justice Society. Fellow JSAficionados Jerry Bails and Craig Delich concur in this view, as do others. Consider these foes and themes: Solomon Grundy, The Wizard, Per Degaton conquering time, guest stars Superman and Batman, the Injustice Society, the “deaths” of all six male JSAers, an invasion from Fairyland, a special issue on juvenile delinquency—and a second Injustice Society! What’s more, all three Golden Age “JSA” writers worked on that year-and-a-half’s worth of epics—Gardner Fox (#33-34), John Broome (#35, 39-41), and Robert Kanigher (#37-38)—and one or more of them probably scripted the enigmatic #36, as well. Just as outstanding as the concepts and writers were the artists— especially those who represented the “new blood” coming into National/DC at that time.

Thus, with seven of these nine primo issues reprinted in the recent Volumes 7 & 8 of the All Star Archives, and the remaining two doubtless slated for Vol. 9, let’s take a fast look at the “lucky 13” artists who penciled—and in some cases inked—the interior artwork of AllStar #33-41. (Win Mortimer drew #36’s cover, but no verified interiors.) Here they are, in roughly the order in which their artwork appeared in the issues, starting with:

Irwin Hasen

(#33-37, 39, 41) Recently, Irwin re-created his splash art for All-Star #35 for collector Dan Makara; thanks to both gents for sharing it below. This scene echoes the very first JSA cover (All-Star #3), with the heroes sitting around their meeting table. This splash was unique in using the Justice Society’s emblem as the story logo. To contact Irwin about commission work, write to him at 68 E. 79th St., NYC, NY 10021, or phone (212) 861-6879. [Art ©2003 Irwin Hasen; JSA TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

The Artists of All-Star Comics

Joe Kubert (#33-37)

Editor Shelly Mayer gave several pages of original 1945-46 Kubert “Hawkman” art to replacement Chet Kozlak as reference; this one’s from “The Land of the Bird People” in Flash Comics #71 (May 1946). Probably written by Gardner Fox, it introduced Feithera, birthplace of Northwind of Ye Editor’s later group Infinity, Inc. Thanks to Joel Thingvall and Al Dellinges. [©2003 DC Comics.]

Stan Aschmeier (as “Stan Josephs”) (#33)

“The Revenge of Solomon Grundy” marked “Stan Joseph’s” final appearance in All-Star... at roughly the same time as this tale from All-American Comics #84 (April ’47) heralded his last “Dr. Mid-Nite” art. Apparently he later taught at the University of Minnesota, among other accomplishments; Ye Editor met him circa 1970 through the good offices of Marvel inker Vince Colletta. [©2003 DC Comics.]

Shelly Mayer

book) he wrote and drew for DC. But when he left the editorship in 1947, he worked out an agreement with DC. They obtained ownership of “Scribbly,” but Shelly got a pension, as well as insurance. It helped him pay for his wife’s illnesses. She’d had lung cancer since November 1989. Mrs. Mayer died a year or so after Shelly died. At the time I spoke to Shelly, his wife needed 24-hour nurse’s attention.

Despite this 1948 ad for Scribbly #1, Mayer’s young hero wasn’t a hit saleswise—maybe because by then he’d lost the charm he’d had when Mayer was doing him in All-American Comics as a teenage cartoonist. But Mayer’s later creation Sugar and Spike went on for years and is rightly considered a classic. The page below from a projected (but scrapped) early-’70s digest-size Sugar and Spike Pocket Treasury was first printed in 2000 in Robin Snyder’s The Comics! [©2003 DC Comics.]

Mayer stopped doing Sugar and Spike in 1971 because he was going blind. He had an operation to restore his sight. When he could see well enough to draw again, he started doing Sugar and Spike for the foreign market. MAYER: The strip wasn’t doing well enough in the U.S., but it was a big hit overseas. He said he still owned a “Batman” story that he wrote and drew (in pencil) in a straight style. MAYER: I did it to prove a point. He told me he had also done a lot of science-fiction work and had won the Jules Verne Award for a story he did. He was very close friends with Bill Gaines. In fact, Bill Gaines had come to see him only a few days before I called him in 1991. Mayer was having financial problems because of all the medical bills both he and his wife were accruing. Bill wanted to help, so he bought them an air-conditioner. They called it “Bill Gaines’ air-conditioner.” Mayer had known Gaines since Bill was fourteen. MAYER: Bill was a fun kid, kind of round. We had the same interests and always got along well. Bill’s a great man. Too bad his dad didn’t see him become a success. His dad was hard on Bill. When I told Shelly that I was an artist and had a master’s degree in fine art, he started questioning me about art. What did I like, who were my favorite artists? How much studying had I done and was I still trying to learn? Mayer then started giving advice on how to draw figures, and especially children. MAYER: Go to a playground and quick-sketch every kid you can. Sit somewhere where you won’t attract too much attention. Don’t draw to please people. That’s show-biz! Draw to improve yourself. Pay attention to body proportions of small kids and notice how they change as kids get older. The envelope of the human form is always most important. Fill up all the sketchbooks you can. Mayer told me he didn’t stay in touch with many people. MAYER: I like people, but with my problems and my wife’s problems, I keep to myself most of the time. Artists tend to be

solitary people, anyway. He also said that he usually kept people at arm’s length. MAYER: I don’t allow many people to come and visit. There’s too much going on here and I like things quiet. But I do like talking on the phone with those I like. That includes you. He did care if people still remembered him, and asked if there was a market for his originals. I told him there was, and he said he had thought about selling the Sugar and Spike originals he had left. I asked if he had managed to save any “Scribbly” pages, and he said he didn’t have any. MAYER: I do have a couple of re-creations, but they’d be so expensive I don’t know if I could find a buyer. I loved doing Scribbly and wished I could have kept on doing that strip. But it quit selling. I liked Mayer’s sense of humor. He struck me as a combination of Alex Toth and Sid Caesar. When he was describing his wife’s medical condition, Mayer informed me that he had to switch phones. When he came back, he said: MAYER: I’m on a portable phone and am sitting in an embarrassing place. But I was in the way of the nurses. Mayer told me about his own medical problems; at one point he listed them all. MAYER: They’ve worked on my stomach, my large intestines, small intestines, colon, semi-colon... I started laughing. “Semi-colon?” MAYER: Yeah. I wanted to see if you were paying attention. He had a big, hearty laugh. Very endearing.

Alex Toth

“About Irwin & Shelly & Us!!!” ALEX TOTH on SHELLY MAYER and IRWIN HASEN [EDITOR’S NOTE: When I mentioned to Golden Age giant Alex Toth that two others of his species—namely 1940s DC/All-American editor Sheldon Mayer and Green Lantern/Justice Society artist Irwin Hasen—would be touched on in a JSA-related issue of A/E, he responded with a seven-page handwritten note on these talented gents, accompanied by several intriguing sketches. I’ve retyped his words below, preserving as much as possible his precise pacing and punctuation (for, as my friend and Fitzgerald/Hemingway scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli says, “To change an author’s punctuation is to change his style”)—and I hope Alex will forgive me for tossing in a bit of actual comic book art to illustrate the points he makes. —Roy.]

I met one because of the other—yup! I loved Irwin Hasen’s wonderful ‘Wildcat’ series art—yes, it was early on, ’42 or ’43, so Irwin’s simpler style— Canifflike, and echoes of Willard Mullins’ sports cartoons’ figural boldness therein, posterlike simplicity prevailed, nice black-spotting, Wildcat’s black body, cowl, etc.—so like his earlier ‘The Fox’ series (for MLJ? not sure, sorry)—I was Irwin’s dedicated kidfan of 14 or so—and I wrote him a fan letter, not knowing Irwin was already drafted into the Army, “special services,” and, if I’m correct, was in hospital, recuperating from surgery (?), and my letter, via Gaines’ 225 Lafayette St./NYC/NY/editorial offices, and noted by editor Shelly Mayer there, did reach Irwin at Fort Dix/NJ, or (?). I did get nice reply from him, and it made my visit to the Gaines/Mayer offices possible— with my meagre godawful sample comic pages and cardboard portfolio in hand, I met Shelly, the marvelous generous wonderful loud and effusive funny maddening crafty brilliant guy, mentor, who, like Irwin, formed my attitudes, disciplines, studied explorations and revelations and assessments about the yay and nay, yin/yang, fun and fury, sweat and joy, inner satisfactions of the medium I grew to love ever more through the decades of my peculiar career! Shelly, then 30, 31, was a cartoonist! Created and produced his ‘Scribbly’ backup short 4, 5, 6 page series for All-American Comics and was editor, too—9 to 6, 5 days a week! Innovator he, Shelly created the novel new Movie Comics—short-lived—in which he adapted current hit movies to color comic book format, via use of foto-stills, much-cropped, with captions/dialogue balloons further crowding scenes/panels, in very abbreviated versions of said films—a couple, three (?) per issue—and somehow managed to run Ben-Day screens of color dots over the

screened fotos—without (as I recall) the moiré patterns such combinations produced—no doubt, Shelly used solids of primary colors, and little dot-screened tints, to pull it off! But he did it! I think a Bela Lugosi movie serial, too, was running feature, issue to issue (?). Anyhoo, Shelly was quite an original thinker—and he, too, very much fancied Irwin’s work—we, of kindred spirit, tastes, affections, hit it off—I was made to feel welcome— he critiqued my few penciled and inked page samples—I can’t recall his tone or words—but he stressed that I should learn to do all of a job myself! That meant pencil/ink/and—ouch—lettering!!! Somehow, writing, and coloring, wasn’t cited—and I wish writing had—’cuz I came to it very late in the game—and I wrote only sporadically, when asked to/expected to/had to/wanted to/etc.—so I never quite got the hang of it—thus couldn’t accept the label! Shy sneaky generous Shelly, during our quite long chat, had spoken

Irwin Hasen’s Wildcat, from Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. ’42), as reprinted in the 1990 hardcover The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told. Words by Bill Finger. Irwin must’ve liked animals, since in the early days he also drew Holyoke’s “Cat-Man” and MLJ’s “Fox.” [©2003 DC Comics.]

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“It’s What Goes into the Balloon That Counts” she’d written scripts for Fawcett Comics. It seems the dark worldview of her novels would never have cut it in Fawcett’s comic books aimed at kids back then.” His father also mentioned noted trash-noir suspense novelist Mickey Spillane as having written for Fawcett Comics. (Of course, Spillane also worked for various comics shops before he made his big breakthrough in the late ’40s with his first Mike Hammer novel, I, the Jury.) Richard also related an interesting tale from his father’s publishing career:

L. to r.: Fawcett Comics writer/editor Dick Kraus, editor Wendell Crowley, and executive editor Will Lieberson; date unknown. Co-worker/editor Ginny Provisiero says, “Dick loved playing the guitar and often brought it into the Fawcett offices and would strum a song during lunchtime. Dick edited many of the western comics. After a couple of years he decided he preferred to sing westerns rather than to edit them. He left Fawcett and I inherited some of his comics. Dick played and sang very well.” Photo courtesy of Richard Lieberson.

Cap, Mary, and Junior may have had to stop a hillbilly feud in this C.C. Beck art from Marvel Family #20 (Feb. 1948)—but the Fawcett editorial & art staff look like one big happy family in this 1947 photo, no doubt taken on the day the shipment of Captain Marvel sweatshirts arrived! [L. to r.:] Bob Laughlin, Roy Ald, Ginny Provisiero, Edna Hagen, Kay Woods, Len Leone, Wendell Crowley, Elinor Mendelsohn, Will Lieberson. A partial version of this photo appeared in Fawcett Companion, the FCA trade paperback collection still available from TwoMorrows Publishing. Photo courtesy of Richard Lieberson.

“My father used to write stories—under a variety of pseudonyms—for Behind the Scenes, a Confidential-type magazine that dished out various dirt on celebrities. [In the book Fawcett Companion, Will says writer Bill Woolfolk was the publisher of this magazine.] In high school or college, I was playing a Hank Williams record once when my father produced an issue of Behind the Scenes with a story he’d written (as ‘Sanford Mabry,’ or something like that) regarding Hank’s alleged backstage dalliances with underage girls. The issue, which appeared after Hank’s death, contained other stories he’d written under other pseudonyms. He told me he’d made it all up, and that I’m never to believe anything I read!” Unless it has to do with saying a magic word to change into Captain Marvel, Richard!

Captain Marvel Jr.

Captain Marvel Jr.: The Post-War Years by Don Ensign Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck Part III

Horror, Science-Fiction–And Human Interest [NOTE: In our past two issues Don discussed the artists and several themes of the “Captain Marvel Jr.” tales in Master Comics and his own title (though not in The Marvel Family) in the years after World War II, including the bound-and-gagged motif, super-villains, various types of crime stories, plus mad and/or evil scientists. This time he moves on to other themes which became popular between 1946-53. —PCH.]

The Horror! The Horror! Occasionally the “CMJ” writers scripted a story containing elements of the then-popular supernatural/horror genre. In “Capt. Marvel Jr. Haunts the Ghost Vigilantes!” (CMJ #38, May 1946) Junior encounters ghosts who are the former inhabitants in an abandoned western town. After his fists prove ineffective against the phantoms, Junior tricks thems into leaving the town to its new living human inhabitants. A macabre atmosphere pervades “Capt. Marvel Jr. Faces a Grave Situation” (CMJ #40). Freddy Freeman, as a Newsboys Club initiation rite, takes a walk through a local cemetery at night and falls into an uncovered grave. He climbs out, only to find another open grave. Both graves belong to deceased bankers. A greedy sculptor called “The Great Bernardo” has been exhuming bodies and dipping them in molten copper to make life-like statues to sell to their wealthy widows! Freddy is eventually knocked in the head (twice!) and gets bound and gagged. But when Bernardo starts pouring the hot copper over him, it burns his gag away, allowing him to call out for Cap Jr. Rather than be captured, Bernardo dives into the vat of molten metal. This story is uncharacteristic in that it takes place mostly at night, with dark blues and purples predominating in the color scheme. Heavy spotting of blacks is also used; normally Junior’s artwork has bright daytime colors. The cemetery setting and the digging up of dead bodies give the story an eerie feel; this was several years before horror comics were to become popular. [See splash in A/E #19.] In “The Ghost of Captain Marvel Jr.” (CMJ #71) two ghosts try unsuccessfully to kill Junior—because the ruler of good ghosts, the merciful Queen of Shades, believes only he (as a ghost) could defeat “the Evil One”—a Pan-like disgruntled ghost. Junior learns from the ancient wizard Shazam that his foe “wants to spread evil in the world by killing all the good people.” Shazam temporarily changes Junior into a ghost, and his phantom defeats the Evil One, who is forced to sign a contract to only do good thereafter.

It’s not just in the U.S.A. that Captain Marvel Jr. was a super-popular hero for many years. In Brazil, as we’ve mentioned before, the adventures of the Marvel Family were published in new Portuguese-language stories for several years after Fawcett discontinued its comics line in 1953—and Cap Jr. was so ~ Marvel Magazine with new art and well-liked that, as in this issue of Capitao stories, his story was printed in the front of the comic, while Cap’s tale brought up the rear! Note that Brazil had its own Comics Code! Thanks to John G. Pierce. [Captain Marvel & Capt. Marvel Jr. TM & ©2003 DC Comics.]

A classic movie monster confronts the World’s Mightiest Boy in “The Werewolf of London” (CMJ #117). This story of international spies plays up the horror aspect, when a panel shows Baron Drakis change into the giant werewolf, accompanied by such captions as: “The Baron’s body grows taller, stronger, and a thick mantle of fur envelops him! Teeth become fangs, and the contours of his face change into an expression of horror!” This 1952 story was clearly trying to fit into the then-popular horror genre.

Alter Ego #21