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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!
Next we have a letter from Mr. Powell’s first wife, Mrs. Florence Feustel, (originally Florence Marie Dzimian from Buffalo, New York). She was briefly Mrs. Bob Pawlowski, before the name change to Powell. They divorced in 1960. Dear Michael, John did say that you would contact me in reference to Bob Powell. Let me think back and see if I can be of any help, as after all these years I have a dim memory of many things past. Bob and I were friends in high school in Buffalo, NY. He was a big man on campus as a football player and in ice hockey. After that we had no contact the four years of college. Bob attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. I resided in Buffalo, and in the late ‘30s his comic strip Mr. Mystic appeared in the Buffalo Evening News. [MTG NOTE: Mr. Mystic actually appeared slightly later, as a back-up feature in Will Eisner’s first Spirit section on June 2, 1940.] At the time Bob was working for Will Eisner in NYC. We met again in 1941, married and moved to Williston Park, L. Is. [Long Island], NY. Bob worked for Will Eisner commuting to NYC. When World War II broke out Bob was getting a bit old, A picture-perfect Christmas, starring Bob, Florence, Rob, and John Powell age 25, for the Air Corps, which he preferred, so he enlisted (at bottom of photo), taken in 1946. in the Air Corps in 1942. His basic training was in Mississippi?? There on to Milwaukee for Navigator training not remember) mailed story lines which Bob illustrated in between and a commission. There to Santa Ana, Calif[ornia], for more training. flying time. Again, I have no recollection of the comic books. Next move to San Antonio, Texas, where he instructed Navigation to Bob ended his service career in Idaho, discharged Oct. 1945. cadets, including black cadets. While in Texas the publisher (who I do Used VA money to buy a house in Williston Park, L.I. There was a studio upstairs where he and two assistants drew comic books. We had a house built on Laurel Hollow, L. Is. And moved in in 1949. Bob had a separate studio, with 2 assistants, drawing comic books until 1959. Of course, I do not remember any titles. Bob was interested in cars. Besides a Jeep we had a “Siata,” an Italian sports car. [It was] uncomfortable and unreliable. For transportation we had a station wagon [Studebaker] to haul kids and dogs around. We had a 1920 “Model T” Ford which preceded the 1909 “Hupmobile” in the antique category. Bob belonged to the “L.I. Antique Car Club,” and the “Sports Car Club Of America.” He had a Porsche that he drove in the Bridgehampton, L.Is. Race track. [MTG NOTE: Son Robert recalls that Bob’s race was actually at the Suffolk Air Force base.] The Bridgehampton race track was established by Bob and several other sports car enthusiasts. My favorite car was the 1955 Ford “Thunderbird” which we had for several years. Sorry I have no memory of comic book titles Bob drew. Good luck in this venture. Best wishes, Florence Feustel
“That old gang of mine!” The Bob Powell studio on Long Island, looking at the splash to the 1951 Magazine Enterprises comic American Air Forces #5. [Clockwise:] Howard Nostrand (leaning over), George Siefringer, Marty Epp, and Bob Powell (seated).
In a letter to Seth Powell a few years back, Bob’s colleague Will Eisner mentioned Mrs. Feustel, recalling how Bob once “brought ‘his girl’ (later his wife) to the studio. I remember her as red haired and very pretty.” Indeed she was. According to their sons, The Scarlet Arrow’s beautiful lover Roxanne was based on her.