Alter Ego #74

Roy Thomas’ STANdard Comics Fanzine

STAN LEE ’Nuff Said?

Well, If We’ve Really Gotta Drop A Few More Names To Hook You, How About— KIRBY! KIRBY! DITKO! DITKO! ROMITA! ROMITA! BUSCEMA! BUSCEMA! COLAN! COLAN! HECK! HECK! AYERS! AYERS! KANE! KANE! SEVERIN! SEVERIN! TRIMPE! TRIMPE! TUSKA! TUSKA! WOOD! WOOD! MANEELY! MANEELY! SHORES! SHORES! EVERETT! EVERETT! BURGOS! BURGOS! (There!

(There! That Oughtta Hold Ya!) Characters TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

No. 74

$

December 2007

In the USA

6.95

PLUS:

Vol. 3, No. 74 / December 2007 Editor Roy Thomas

Stan Lee’s 85th Birthday Special!

Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim Amash

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editor John Morrow

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor Roll Jerry G. Bails (founder) Ronn Foss, Biljo White Mike Friedrich

Production Assistant Chris Irving

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, CookieSoup Periodical Distribution, LLC

Cover Artist Jack Kirby

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: Michel Maillot Gerry Acerno Nancy Maneely Heidi Amash Don Mangus Ger Apeldoorn Mike Manley Dick Ayers Norman Mark Bob Bailey Jim McLauchlin Allen Bellman Dr. Jeff McLaughlin Jon Berk Jean-Yves Mitton Al Bigley Brian K. Morris Dominic Bongo Frank Motler Mike Bourne Will Murray Jerry K. Boyd Steve Ogden Susan Burgos Barry Pearl Mike Burkey John G. Pierce Leslie Cabarga Rubén Procopio Nigel Cartwell Richard Pryor Gene Colan John Romita Rich Donnelly Marie Severin Danny Fingeroth Joe Simon Shane Foley Joe Sinnott Ron Frenz Paul Smith Chris Fricke Anthony Snyder Janet Gilbert Frank Springer Ron Goulart Marc Swayze Mike Grell Stan Taylor Arnie Grieves Jennifer Hamerlinck Greg Theakston David G. Hamilton Art Thibert Dann Thomas Richard Howell Herb Trimpe Geof Isherwood Pete Tumlinson Jay Kinney George Tuska The Jack Kirby Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. Estate Dr. Michael J. Robert Klein David Anthony Kraft Vassallo Mike Wellman Stan & Joan & Joan Cecilia Lee Ted White Dominique Léonard Mike Zeck Jay Maeder

Contents Writer/Editorial: He’s “The Man”!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of] Frankenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Ted White introduces his important 1968 interview with Marvel’s head honcho.

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy) . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1968 Lee interview from the pages of Eye Magazine, conducted by Norman Mark.

Stan Lee, The Marvel Bard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 A 1970 talk—Smiling Stan and marveling Mike Bourne.

Stan Lee: 1974. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Jay Maeder’s classic conversation with Marvel’s master from Comics Feature.

Marvel Characters Meet Their Maker! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The comic book cameos of Stan Lee, compiled by Jerry K. Boyd.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Twice-Told Marvel Heroes (Part Two) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Michael T. Gilbert and Will Murray on the pre-Marvel Iron Man and Thor.

“Once [Stan Lee] Put Me On Staff...” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Jim Amash talks to Golden Age artist Pete Tumlinson.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #133 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Marc Swayze’s Judi of the Jungle & John G. Pierce on Captain Marvel’s Christmas.

On Our Cover: There simply was no other choice for the cover artist of this issue celebrating Stan Lee’s 85th birthday! Jack Kirby was Marvel’s major artist (and artistic influence) from Fantastic Four #1 in 1961 until he split in 1970—and he was vitally important to Marvel both in 1940-41 and when he returned in the mid-’70s, to boot! This art was prepared on behalf of Toys for Tots, a charity Marvel supported every Christmas season for some years. With thanks to John Morrow and the Jack & Roz Kirby Estate. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: The legacy of Lee and Kirby was alive and well in the 1970s and early ’80s, which is probably when Marvel artist Ron Wilson penciled this powerful drawing—quite possibly for a Marvel-UK cover. Sorry a bit of it was missing from our photocopy, but we still think it’s great!

Thanks to Anthony Snyder. [The Thing & Absorbing Man TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344.

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.

Single issues: $9 US ($11.00 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $78 US, $132 Canada, $180 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. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING.

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writer/editorial

He’s “The Man”!

Y

ou’d think that, for me, a guy who’s worked for him and/or with him for much of the past four decades, putting together an 85thbirthday tribute to Stan Lee would be as easy as falling of a log.

Wrong, Inedible Bulk-breath!

I have every bit as much of a problem doing a “Stan Lee issue” of a magazine as any other editor might, and for the same reason: Stan has been endlessly interviewed over the past several decades—and he tends to answer the same questions with similar words and phrases. (And how could he not? Unless you’re making up new “facts” as you go along, there are only so many ways you can spin what is basically the same story. It’s really the fault of the interviewers, who keep asking the same questions over and over—but, of course, for the most part they’re merely asking the queries they feel their readers will want to know the answers to. It’s only us jaded “experts” on things comicbooky—and that includes a goodly percentage of those reading these words— who sigh and say to ourselves, “We’ve heard all this before!”)

I’ll admit—for just a little while there, I dared hope I might be able to get a fresh new interview out of Stan. After all, a number of folks had told me they felt I’d been able to elicit some previously unknown information when we had the conversation recorded in Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Artist (Vol. 1) #2 way back at the turn of this century. But I’d pretty much shot my wad on that one—so my new idea (well, actually, it was A/E associate editor Jim Amash’s notion) was to do a Stan Lee interview that wasn’t about Stan Lee. I would ask him about all the writers and artists and editors and such-like that he’s worked with over the years, and see if I could mine a few anecdotal nuggets that way.

Sure, Stan’s memory is famously just this side of a mental sieve, but with a bit of nudging, I might have been able to come up with a few raw diamonds.

Stan, however, just didn’t feel he could devote time or energy to such a project, either over the phone or via e-mail. So that was that.

planned to get tributes from the usual suspects (and probably a few unexpected folks, as well)… the John Romitas and Joe Quesadas of the world… and to print a lot of rare stuff from the Stan Lee Archives, now safely stored at the University of Wyoming. So I decided to concentrate on a handful of previously published (but still hopefully rare) interviews with the Smiling One, and add a few anecdotes where I could in the captions.

Now, right before you plunge into Interview-Land (whose landscape will be lovingly littered, of course, with exciting and often rare artwork by the greats and near-greats of Timely, Atlas, and Marvel), here’s a short piece which I myself wrote in 1968, about three years after I came to work for Stan. It was scribbled hurriedly (overnight, I seem to recall) for the program book of the SCARPCon convention… and I felt thrilled and honored to be the guy asked to write it. It’s called, logically enough:

Stan Lee

by Roy Thomas What is a Stan Lee? Many things… not a few of them paradoxical, if not downright contradictory.

An editor much given to belittling his own editing skills... but who can deftly improve a Shakespearian turn-of-phrase written by an ex-English instructor, a couple of sometime journalists, and an experienced movie scripter… among others.

A writer who has long since disavowed any attempt to impose his special writing style on others… but whose style is so strong that it generally does its own imposing.

A bearded non-hippie who has been lauded by conservative publications for his firm anti-radical bias… and who has been toasted by more liberal scribes for his New Left leanings.

A dynamo of energy who doesn’t mind taking a short vacation trip… as long as it’s Somewhere along the line, I by train, so that he can write a few extra also learned that our pages of Spider-Man en route.

TwoMorrows sister publication Write Now! was going to do its A self-declared non-artist whose own Stan Lee issue, in honor of ability to draw even a straight line that selfsame 85th birthday—which falls has been hotly debated… but who on Dec. 28, 2007, just for can use a few scribbled the record. Now, you’d scrawls to show an artist Stan Lee Finds New Career As “Maskot”! think that would seem like something he should have competition—but, in point Believe it—there’ll be plenty of photos of Smiley in this issue! First, though, we decided— seen in the first place. with the help of artist Stan Foley—to draft Our Fearless Leader into duty as the super-hero of fact, it was a welcome called Alter Ego, who is also one of the “maskots” of this mag. The “Stan-face” is based, A devoted husband and relief! Editor Danny he says, on Marie Severin’s caricature in Fantastic Four #167 (1976). Thanks for making it father… who nonetheless Fingeroth had already happen, Shane! [Alter Ego TM & ©2007 Roy & Dann Thomas; art ©2007 Shane Foley.] manages to turn out more

writer/editorial

work each week than the several bleary-eyed bachelors who write for him.

An accused grandstander who is supposed to have a tremendous, all-devouring ego… but who is genuinely moved when a parent calls up to congratulate him on the first issue of The Silver Surfer.

A comics-industry figure since the early 1940s… who became an overnight success in 1961.

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A mildly myopic perfectionist who pores over each month’s covers until the last detail of shading is correct… but who once failed to notice a figure of Captain America with a big white “A” on his chest.

A fantastically busy executive who scarcely has time to speak to his own staff for days on end… then calls them in for the world’s most leisurely discussion, over a twin helping of cigars and sourballs.

And, a Stan Lee is quite a few other things, as well…

An idealistic pragmatist who once spent a whole day laboring over four pages of “Forbush-Man”… but wrote twice that many pages of Thor by flickering candlelight on the night of the 1965 blackout.

…Including, most assuredly, a man who will vigorously disagree with at least half the things you just read about him.

A pragmatic idealist who had to let his other titles languish while he built up the super-hero line… then turned around and in two issues made Millie the Model one of Marvel’s best-selling titles.

A businessman supposedly interested only in sales charts and circulation figures… who will delay an already dangerously late book for an hour so that somebody can correct a few lopsided word balloons.

That’s how I felt about Stan and his accomplishments in 1968—and you know what? It’s pretty much how I still feel. Maybe, like the old saying goes, no man is a hero to his valet… but for any human failings he may have (as we all do), Stan Lee is still someone I admire and respect… if anything, even more today than I did four decades ago, as I view those accomplishments more and more in perspective… and as I see them loom ever larger, not smaller, on the pop-cultural landscape.

A Long Island suburbanite who lives father away from Manhattan than most members of his staff… and who is almost invariably at the office before any of them.

So here’s to you, Stan! May you find the Fountain of Youth (if you haven’t already) and hang around for 85 more—and may I still be here to sing you “Happy Birthday!”

A not particularly frustrated actor who can talk like the Hulk till you expect him to turn green… or give an artist an entire synopsis over the phone in the most solemn tones this side of Churchill.

Bestest,

COMING IN JANUARY

#

75

FAWCETT & FRIENDS! • Sensational new cover by ALEX ROSS! • Special Double-Size FCA Feature! ALEX ROSS’ never-before-seen proposal for a Captain Marvel revival—C.C. BECK & MARC SWAYZE on the death of the World’s Mightiest Mortal—P.C. HAMERLINCK on “The Shazam Curse”!

• MARVIN (Yellowjacket) LEVY—a Golden Age talent interviewed by JIM AMASH! • Nifty New “1943 Calendar”! This year, ALEX WRIGHT presents the fightin’ females not owned by DC or Marvel!

• Australian fan JOHN RYAN remembered by South African fan JOHN WRIGHT & Comic Fandom Archive’s BILL SCHELLY! • MICHAEL T. GILBERT on the 1940s precursors of Marvel’s Giant-Man and Wasp!

• Oh, yeah—& MORE!!

Edited by ROY THOMAS © DC Comics.]

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a.k.a. ALL THIS AND EARTH-TWO! Ed ited by ROY THOMAS • STILL MORE sensational secrets behind the 1940-1951 JSA! • Fabulous new JSA-JLA cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, drawn especially for this volume!

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5

Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of ] Frankenstein Interview Conducted by Ted White A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of the earliest Stan Lee interviews of substance ever done—which is only to be expected, since the 1965 interviewer was Ted White, a sophisticated science-fiction and comics fan. Ted’s early-1950s oneshot fanzine The Facts behind Superman was, as Bill Schelly writes in his 1997 book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom, “one of the earliest known attempts to write an authoritative in-depth article about a comic book super-hero.” In 1960 he wrote the second installment of Xero’s innovative “All in Color for a Dime” series—and in the mid-1960s and after, he was becoming a published science-fiction author (Phoenix Prime, et al.) and would soon be the editor of the sf magazine

Titans In Triptych (Top right:) One of the most famous photos of Stan Lee is this one of Mighty Marvel’s hat-bedecked editor, which was taken in autumn of 1965 especially for the inside front cover of the new reprint mag Fantasy Masterpieces #1 (Feb. 1966)—and was spoofed by Shane Foley a couple of pages back. But nobody ever talks about who snapped this oft-reprinted pic! Though he was around at the time, Roy doesn’t recall, either, but he wonders—could it have been the one Marvel artist who then had his own photography studio—namely, inker Vince Colletta? Be that as it may, thanks to Bob Bailey for the scan. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Right) Because virtually all Stan Lee’s major work from the ’60s and ’70s is back in print—in trade paperback, in hardcover, or both—this issue of A/E features relatively few images from the original comics. We’ll concentrate instead on drawings by major talents of some of Stan’s most famous co-creations—starting with this threesome done a few years back by the fine French comics artist Jean-Yves Mitton. It’s a commission sketch executed for Belgian collector Dominique Léonard, who kindly sent us numerous pieces of art that’ll be seen herein. [Thor, Spider-Man, & Daredevil TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Above center:) Interviewer Ted White circa 1966, acting as auctioneer at an early comics convention. This photo originally appeared in Larry Ivie’s magazine Monsters and Heroes—later in A/E #58. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

And is the Castle of Frankenstein cover (above left) the issue in which Ted's interview with Stan appears? The cover, which says "Interview with Marvel Comics" and sports a pic of Spidey, was printed in the 1968 SCARP-Con program book. [Spider-Man TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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1968 Interview Conducted By Ted White

Amazing. This interview has been reprinted a time or two, but since Ted was willing to write an introduction to give it added perspective, we’re happy to present it here yet again—with different art. Oh, and it was retyped for A/E by Brian K. Morris. And now—take it away, Ted….

I

met Stan Lee in 1965. We were both guests on an after-midnight radio show. The station belonged to New York’s Columbia University and the show was hosted by a former student there who was an acquaintance of mine. I’d been on his show several times. It was one of those shows where you talk for a while and then take calls from listeners. As I recall, there either weren’t too many listeners, or they weren’t in the habit of calling in. We’d get only a few calls. The phones were not lit up constantly.

When I was asked to be on this particular show, I was told Stan would be the other guest, and that delighted me. I’d been following Stan’s revitalization of Marvel since Amazing Fantasy #15 and Fantastic Four #1.

do a series of paperback “novelizations” of the Marvel characters. Coincidentally, I had, through my agent, been talking to Bantam about doing a Batman novel.

It was then a time of sudden pop-culture popularity for comic book superheroes.

Batman was going great guns on TV, and book publishers were interested in getting in on the action. But Bantam learned that rival publisher Signet Books had first refusal on all books resulting from DC’s comics characters (both Signet and DC Comics were then distributed by Independent News—which owned DC), which made Batman inaccessible to Bantam.

So Bantam had made a deal with Martin Goodman. They could do books using Marvel’s secondary characters—but not Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four. And Binder had gotten the contract to do a book featuring The Avengers.

When Stan heard about this, he was less than happy about it–and rightly so, as events proved. (Otto’s book was embarrassingly bad, and sold poorly.) So he insisted that the second book, featuring Captain America, be done by me. “Ted understands Marvel,” Stan told Bantam.

Our meeting was low-key, but friendly. Stan Ted, White, And Blue had not yet been lionized and turned into a The cover of the 1968 Ted White paperback novel college-campus celebrity. He had not yet Captain America: The Great Gold Steal was begun to wear a toupee. He was himself— evidently painted by Mitchell Hooks.

I got the contract to do the book after a naturally outgoing, gregarious, but pretty [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] half hour with a vice president and senior much a regular guy. I’d had a couple books editor at Bantam (we mostly talked about published by then, and I was an assistant editor Bantam author Ross Macdonald, whose work I’d admired for years) at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, so we met as quasiand a handshake. My agent wrapped up the deal. equals, guys who both labored in the vineyards of the professional publishing industry.

Once I had the contract in hand, I sat down with Stan to discuss the book. My initial thought was to more or less rework my plot for the In the course of the next couple of hours, chatting on air and responding to several callers, we bonded a bit. I honestly admired what Batman book, but Stan talked me out of it. He didn’t tell me what to Stan was doing with super-hero comics, and I asked him knowlwrite—the eventual plot was entirely my own—but he pointed me in a edgeable and sensible questions on-air without fawning on him like a fresh direction, and helped me clarify my thinking. “Put Batman fanboy, so we got on well. At one point I showed him my Merry entirely out of your mind,” he told me, and I did. The Great Gold Marvel Marching Society card, which I carried in my wallet, and Stan Steal was a great deal of fun to write, and seemed to almost write itself. autographed it with an inscription which read, “I’m flattered, Ted.” (I was particularly fond of the scene in which Steve Rogers is That, of course, left me feeling flattered. unmasked—and the villains realize they have no idea who he is.)

That was the beginning of a relationship which lasted over the next several years. In that time several things happened, not least among them Roy Thomas’ move to New York City and Marvel, and my friendship with him.

In the course of that time Stan asked me to write for Marvel, but I turned him down because I had no confidence in myself as a comics scripter—even using the “Marvel method.” I had begun my professional writing career in jazz criticism and journalism and was still learning (on the job, as it were) to write fiction. I was, I felt, weakest at dialogue—and comics writing was mostly dialogue.

But I did two other things. One of them was the interview republished here. The other was my Captain America novel. The Captain America book came about largely because of Stan.

Otto Binder, a long-time science-fiction pulp writer and “Captain Marvel” scripter, had been turned down by Stan when he sought work at Marvel, so he made an end-run around Stan and set up a deal between Martin Goodman, Marvel’s publisher, and Bantam Books to

When the book was written and the manuscript delivered to Bantam, I gave a copy of it to Stan. To my surprise, he did not read it, but turned it over to Roy to be vetted. (Roy actually used my description of the Avengers mansion, credited to me, in the subsequent Avengers Annual.)

That was in the fall of 1966. The book was supposed to be published early in 1967. In January 1967 Bantam published Binder’s Avengers book. I bought a copy and checked it out. The first chapter was devoted entirely to tedious descriptions of each of the Avengers’ costumes! I read no further. Apparently I wasn’t the only one. The book sold very poorly—so poorly than Bantam held off on publishing mine, and decided not to do any further Marvel books.

The Captain America book was finally published in the late spring of 1968—almost a year and a half later. By then the bloom was off the comic book fad among book publishers. The moment for such books had come and gone, leaving The Great Gold Steal in the dust.

Nonetheless, the book sold much better, essentially selling out its print run with low returns—outselling the Avengers book by better than five

Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of] Frankenstein

7

Heroes. I had a “Doc Phoenix” story in Volume Two, and I went to a book release party Byron threw. Stan was there, wearing a toupee and every inch the Grand Man, acting as if the party had been thrown for him. Stan said he remembered me, but I wasn’t sure he really did.

In the meantime, Bhob Stewart, who was and remains one of my oldest friends (we’ve known each other, initially by correspondence, since 1952, and were fellow EC fans) had become an editor at Calvin Thomas Beck’s Castle of Frankenstein, a horror movie magazine.

Larry Ivie and I had put together the very first issue of that magazine (then Journal of Frankenstein) for Beck in early 1960 in a one-day marathon session in Beck’s New Jersey basement, little realizing that his challenge to the far more successful Famous Monsters of Filmland would still be around a half dozen years later. By then edited by Ken Beale and Stewart, it had achieved a small niche in the publishing world.

When Bhob learned I knew Stan, he asked me to do an interview with Stan for his magazine. I was a bit surprised, because Marvel superhero comics seemed to me a bit outside the purview of a magazine devoted to horror movies. But I agreed, despite thinking that it would come to nothing.

I have very few memories of the actual interview, and I was mildly amazed when it was published. But looking back on it and rereading the interview, I think it went well and opens a window into Marvel

Just One Of Those Things Despite the presence in Fantastic Four of a new version of the once-stellar Human Torch, it was the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing that made comics fandom sit up and take notice in 1961. Here’s a portrait of bashful Ben Grimm in two stages—the pencils by Geof Isherwood, and the inked version

by Gerry Acerno. (Now where have we heard that name before?)

[Thing TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Adaptation By Frenz & Acerno” In motion pictures and TV, when anyone works on a character created by someone else—even if the story itself is totally original (like, say, a James Bond or even an Austin Powers movie), it’s technically counted as an “adaptation.” In keeping with Ted White’s “adaptation” of Captain America into a paperback novel in the 1960s, here’s a Kirbyesque battle scene penciled by Ron Frenz and inked by Gerry Acerno; Gerry sent us a copy. Nice work, guys! [Captain America & Super-Adaptoid TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

to one. If it had come out in February, 1967—or even been released first, before Binder’s book—the history of Bantam’s involvement in Marvel “novelizations” might have been vastly different.

When The Great Gold Steal was finally published, I inscribed a copy to Stan and took it up to him at Marvel.

He thanked me for it, we both admired its handsome packaging, and as far as I know to this day he has never read it.

Apparently he couldn’t bring himself to read it because he hadn’t written it himself.

The last time I saw Stan was in the ’70s, after the publication of Byron Preiss’ two initial volumes of Weird

8

1968 Interview Conducted By Ted White

during its ’60s heydays and into Stan before he was the darling of the college lecture circuit and a media celebrity in his own right.

The interview was republished in The Comics Journal’s 1995 Stan Lee Issue, but that’s more than a decade ago now, and deserves a new audience here in the New Millennium. Enjoy.

TED WHITE: You’ve been with Marvel since what... 1944?

STAN LEE: I’m pretty rotten at dates. But it’s been about 25 years, 27 years ... something like that. [NOTE: Actually, as is now well known, Stan came to work for Timely Comics in 1941. —Roy.] TW: But the new look in Marvel occurred relatively recently. To what do you attribute this?

LEE: Well, I guess it started with the first issue of Fantastic Four about five years ago. They were our first real offbeat super-heroes. They sort of started the trend.

TW: What led you to do those? Up until then there had been no super-heroes for about five or six years in this company.

LEE: Before I answer... would anybody like a sourball?

TW: Thanks....

LEE: What color? I seem to have red, yellow, orange... couple of greens.

TW: I feel very strange conducting an interview with a sourball in my mouth.

LEE: Well, I guess we were looking for something to hook some new readers. Also, I think boredom had a little to do with it. We had been turning out books for about 20 years.

Same old type all the time... so I figured, let’s try something a little more offbeat. Let’s try to...

I think the big policy was to avoid the clichés.

For example, in the Fantastic Four, the first cliché was: all super-heroes wore costumes [so we didn’t use them]. We soon learned that was a mistake because, much as the readers like offbeat things, there are certain basics that we must have, and apparently super-hero fans do demand costumes, as we learned in the subsequent mail.

TW: They’ve been after you to change costumes around ever since.

LEE: Yes. In fact, they... costumes were nothing that I ever worried much about, but I see that the rabid fans are tremendously interested in the attire of their super-heroes. The other cliché that we... I think we were probably the first outfit to break... was the cliché of all the superheroes being goody-goody and friendly with each other. If they’re members of a team, they’re all nice and polite, and.... We had our Fantastic Four argue amongst themselves. They didn’t always get along well and so forth. And this seems to have caught on very well.

TW: Actually, doesn’t this go back to company policy back in the days in the ’40s, when The Sub-Mariner and The Human Torch were fighting with each other?

LEE: Well, the only thing is... then, The Sub-Mariner wasn’t that much of a good guy. It was sort-of his personality that he would not get along well. They were natural enemies. Fire and water.

TW: Well, this was pretty unusual. I guess we can say that, in the comics, Marvel pioneered the whole idea of the anti-hero ... the super-hero who isn’t really a hero.

Violence In “Sea”-Sharp Numerous examples of the “first great days” of Bill Everett’s “Sub-Mariner” are currently on display in Marvel Masterworks volumes, with doubtless more to come. By the time this splash appeared in Sub-Mariner #27 (Aug. 1948), Namor was definitely on the side of the good guys—but, as you can see, he still didn’t mind cracking a few heads together. Scripter unknown (it may or may not have been Wild Bill)—but the editor was definitely a guy named Lee. With thanks to a sadly forgotten donor. Photo of Bill Everett from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

LEE: Yes, I think you could say that, because I think certainly SubMariner is the first one that I... that I can remember. Bill Everett did the first “Sub-Mariner”... he was sort of a hero-villain. He was really more hero than villain... but he wasn’t 100% hero in the sense that the heroes are today.

TW: The readers would see things from his point of view, of course.

Now you’ve got a full-fledged line, and you’re doing very little besides the super-heroes. Of course, you have branched out a good bit. You’ve got Sgt. Fury, which is about 50% super-hero and about 50% non-super-hero, depending upon whether you read his adventures in World War II or his adventures today. And the newest thing you’re doing is the TV series. Can you tell us a little about that?

How much work do the animators do on the original art?

LEE: Well, quite a bit. They use the actual story and art from the magazines. Basically, it’s using our still figures, our still pictures, our panels, and then animating the panels.

TW: They go back to your original black-&-whites?

LEE: Yes. [phone buzzer interrupts] Excuse me. Yeah?... Why, sure...

Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of] Frankenstein

9

BRODSKY: Like this...

LEE: Sure. just reaching. Any way that will make sense... see ... ’cause here he grabbed him. Instead of it being this way, we’ll turn it that way... and now he’s reaching to grab him, see?

BRODSKY: Yeah... we just drew it wrong.

LEE: Right. I just want to give you something. I understand Steranko is here. I’ll probably be another 20 minutes... so possibly he might want to look this over and then I’ll talk to him.

[Brodsky exits]

Surely We Jest—Not! Obviously, Stan and Marvel production manager Sol Brodsky (photo) are talking in part about a story drawn by then-current star Jim Steranko—and at this time, that probably meant an episode of “Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD” in Strange Tales. But didja known that Steranko also inked the cover (above) of Daredevil #44 (Sept. 1968), over pencils by Gene Colan? Well, he did! Photo of Sol B. from the 1969 Fantastic Four Annual. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Just one little interruption. Would you mind opening the door? I think it locks automatically, and Sol Brodsky is coming in. Thanks, yeah.

He’ll be in in a minute. [BUZZ] Whoops! [into phone] Yeah? I’ll give Sol something, something to look at. [Production manager Sol Brodsky enters stage left and confers with Stan over a comics page] SOL BRODSKY: Stan, he’s supposed to be catching him here on the rebound?

LEE: Or reaching for him.

BRODSKY: Reaching for him...

LEE: He doesn’t have to be actually catching him...

BRODSKY: Now he’s flying by this way... and the hand like this looks as if he’s throwing.

LEE: I thought the hand could just be like that, as if it’s going to...

Meet Me In St. Louis—Not To Mention Atlantis Sure, this is Stan’s interview, but since he mentioned Ye Editor—here’s a photo of a goateed Roy Thomas and his Missouri ladyfriend Jean Maxey at a comicon in St. Louis in July 1968, in the period of Ted White’s interview.

A day or so later, the couple eloped to Oklahoma—and Roy returned to New York a few days afterward with a brand new bride in tow. The pair parted company three decades ago, but he was delighted to hear she recently got hitched again (third time’s the charm!). Thanks to Michel Maillot for digging up this old pic.

The page of original art above is from The Saga of The Sub-Mariner #9 (July 1989), in which writer Roy, penciler Rich Buckler, and inker Bob McLeod retold classic events from the Stan Lee/Gene Colan “Sub-Mariner” era in mid-1960s pages of Tales to Astonish. With thanks to Anthony Snyder; dig his ad on p. 74. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

10

1968 Interview Conducted By Ted White

TW: We’re curious to know the exact procedure you follow when you brainstorm a story, especially one that will continue over several issues.

LEE: Well, what we usually do is, with most of the artists, get a rough plot... I mean as much as I can write in longhand on the side of one sheet of paper... who the villain will be, what the problem will be, and so forth. Then I call the artist—whoever’s going to draw the strip. . I read to him what I’ve written down, these few notes… and we discuss it. By the time we’re through talking for about 20 minutes, we usually have some plot going. And we talk it out. Lately, I’ve had Roy Thomas come in, and he sits and makes notes while we discuss it. Then he types them up, which gives us a written synopsis. Originally—I have a little tape recorder—I had tried taping it, but I found that nobody on the staff has time to listen to the tape again later... so it’s just too much of a waste. But this way he makes notes, types it quickly, I get a carbon, the artist gets a carbon... so we don’t have to worry that we’ll forget what we’ve said. Then the artist goes home... or wherever he goes... and he draws the thing out, brings it back, and I put the copy in after he’s drawn the story based on the plot I’ve given him. Now, this varies with the different artists. Some artists, of course, need a more detailed plot than others. Some artists, such as Jack Kirby, need no plot at all. I mean, I’ll just say to Jack, “Let’s let the next villain be Dr. Doom”... or I may not even say that. He may tell me. And then he goes home and does it. He’s so good at plots, I’m sure he’s a thousand times better than I. He just about makes up the plots for these stories. All I do is a little editing... I may tell him that he’s gone too far in one direction or another. Of course, occasionally I’ll give him a plot, but we’re practically both the writers on the things.

TW: He actually did do a script while you were away on vacation.

LEE: Yes. We had both plotted that out before I left, but he put the copy in on that one. I did a little editing later, but it was his story. Jack is just fantastic. We’re lucky. Most of our men are good story men. In fact, they have to be. A fellow who’s a good artist, but isn’t good at telling a story in this form... in continuity form... can’t really work for us. Unless we get somebody to do the layouts for him and he just follows the layouts. We’ve done that in the past.

TW: That’s what it means when you have a little note saying “Layouts by Kirby, Art by So-and-So...?

LEE: Yes. Now, that isn’t always because the artist can’t do layouts.

There are many extenuating circumstances. For example, an artist who hasn’t done a certain strip may have to do it because suddenly the other artist who is going to do it is ill or something. He isn’t familiar with the story line, and I don’t have time to explain it. Now Jack has been in on most of these things with me. I can call Jack down. I can say, “Jack, make it a 12-page story, and, roughly, this is the plot.” Jack can go home, and the next day he has the whole thing broken down. He gives it to the artist, and the artist just has to worry about drawing his work on the breakdowns. It’s a lot easier than me spending a whole day discussing the philosophy of the strip with a new artist. Also, there are some fellows who are starting a new strip, who are a little unfamiliar.

They’d rather have Jack break it down for them once or twice until they get the feeling of it.

TW: Of course, Jack has a very good sense of action.

LEE: The greatest...

TW: And his perspective... things seem to be coming out at you on the page. It seems to me that his layouts are a lot more dynamic... less static than a lot of the other artists who are working on their own.

LEE: Well, we refer to Jack—it started as a gag, calling him Jack “King” Kirby, but actually I mean it. I think that this guy is absolutely... in this particular field, he’s the master.

TW: Of course, he’s been working with Marvel on and off practically since Marvel started. He did the original Captain America, of course but he was doing work back before Captain America, back before he had his long collaboration with Joe Simon.

LEE: I don’t know anything about that because I wasn’t here at the time... and I think he had been with another company before Marvel.

TW: He did Blue Bolt.

LEE: Yeah... I think that was for Fox. They’re now out of business.

But Jack...

TW: No, actually that was for Curtis.

LEE: That who it was?

TW: They had a different name for the company.

LEE: Might have been...

TW: ... because The Saturday Evening Post didn’t have anything to do with comic books.

Things Don’t Get Any Better Than This!

By common consent, Jack (“King”) Kirby (seen as per the 1969 FF Annual) was at the height of his powers on Fantastic Four in the mid-1960s—and was perhaps never better inked than by Joltin’ Joe Sinnott. This pin-up is from the 1994 volume Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains, edited by Greg Theakston for his Pure Imagination Publishing. [Thing TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of] Frankenstein

11

Like A Bolt From The Blue Jack first worked with originator Joe Simon on the second “Blue Bolt” story, in Novelty Press’ Blue Bolt #2 (July 1940), though it was a couple of issues before the fabled team of “Simon & Kirby” was officially born. The vintage page above is reprinted from Pure Imagination’s Complete Jack Kirby, Vol. 1 1917-1940—while the later sketch, inked by Leslie Cabarga, appeared in the aforementioned Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains. With thanks to Greg Theakston. [Blue Bolt is now a trademark of Roy & Dann Thomas; retouched BB #1 art ©2007 Pure Imagination; Blue Bolt sketch ©2007 Estate of Jack Kirby & Leslie Cabarga.]

LEE: Yeah, I seem to remember now. You’re right. But Jack... I’m probably Jack’s biggest fan. And, of course, we have many other talented men—[phone buzzes] I think the staff we have now is really pretty terrific. Excuse me. ’Lo? Er ... listen, ask him if it’s urgent. If it isn’t, I’ll get back to him in about a half hour... I’m in that conference now. Okay? Thanks.

TW: Getting back to the TV shows, you’re using your own original script from the books?

LEE: Actually, they have to be changed to some degree because some of them aren’t complete in themselves. And the animation studio has to change the ending or ... it has to seem as if it’s a complete episode.

TW: How closely do you oversee this?

LEE: Pretty closely. In fact, I have some storyboards here. They give them to me in this form, you see, and I take them home with me and check them.

TW: Those are Photostats of the original panels? Is that it? Then, of course, they’re going to work with those from the point of view of the animation.

LEE: Yes. So I... I’m actually, I guess you might say, the story editor on the TV series.

TW: How closely do you feel that their animation has followed the style of the original artist, bearing in mind that so much of an artist’s style is in his handling of thickness of line and...

“When Captain America Throws His Mighty Shield…”

This ad appeared in all Marvel titles cover-dated Nov. 1966, and reflected the Grantray-Lawrence Marvel Super-Heroes rotating-hero series that premiered on television that September, utilizing artwork taken from Photostats of the original comics. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

12

1968 Interview Conducted By Ted White

Bugged (Clockwise) Even before he designed Spider-Man’s unique costume, Steve Ditko was used to drawing bug-eyed heroes… as per the above splash for a science-fiction story from Charlton’s Space War #6 (Aug. 1960). This story, and numerous others, can be seen in Vanguard Productions’ 2005 hardcover Steve Ditko: Space Wars. [Original work ©2007 Charlton; art modifications ©2007 Vanguard Productions.]

Steve Ditko; photo courtesy of Britt Stanton.

By the time Ted White interviewed Stan Lee, Sturdy Steve Ditko had left the “SpiderMan” feature he had co-created, and Stan and second artist John Romita were well on their way to making The Amazing Spider-Man Marvel’s best-selling mag. But nobody there would ever disparage Ditko’s contribution, as evidenced by this pin-up page sent out in answer to readers’ letters. It’s seen the light of day a time or two before— but it’s still essence of both Steve and Spidey! [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] And let’s not forget Steve’s other early co-creation with Stan—Dr. Strange, who else?

This pencil sketch by “S. Ditko,” done for the cover of the 5th issue of future pro Len Wein’s early fanzine Aurora, was reprinted by Steve Ogden in CAPA-Alpha #498 (April 2006) as part of his Ouroborus #19 entry. [Dr. Strange TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

LEE: Oh, very closely. They shoot the actual picture, and all that they animate is opening the mouths and shutting and opening the eyes and moving the arms and legs... but it’s the basic drawing that we’ve got there.

I don’t see how anything could be more faithful to the original artwork.

Now, naturally, they had to make some little changes . .. but I’ve had experience with other people who’ve taken properties. They usually don’t even bother with the people whose property they’ve taken. They just go out on their own. This particular outfit, Grantray-Lawrence, they’ve been an absolute joy to work with. They check with us on everything, and they’re tremendously anxious to keep to the spirit of our own strips and stories. I couldn’t be more satisfied with what they’ve been doing. They’re trying their best to keep it in the style, for better or for worse—the style that we have in our books.

TW: Did you ever see Jonny Quest?

LEE: Yes.

Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of] Frankenstein

13

this is 50% of our readership or 10% or so, I don’t know. But, as far as the mail is concerned, it’s about 50% of our mail... college students, soldiers...

TW: You’ve gotten a lot of attention on college campuses... I know a lot of the college magazines have devoted space to the Marvel characters.

LEE: And it seems to be growing all the time...

TW: It’s nice to see the Marvel shows taking away the lead Batman had two years ago.

LEE: That television show is so much the style of our comic magazines that, if we did our comic magazines live, we would almost look as if we were imitating Batman.

TW: Except that you do not present your characters in the light in which ABC presents Batman. It’s almost as if the producer is asking the audience to join him in sneering at the hero.

LEE: I agree 100%. You get the feeling that they’re ridiculing or laughing at their own characters. I would love for some of our characters to be done with the kind of budget that Batman has.

But I have no idea whether that’s in the works or not.

TW: It would be wonderful to see Fantastic Four done that way. Can you think of the special effects of The Human Torch?

LEE: Yeah. Or I would settle for any of them. For something even simpler... like Spider-Man. I can see Spider-Man making a magnificent show.

TW: Have you had any nibbles from the movie studios for full-length movies?

A Foggy Day It’s not easy to come up with any Wally Wood Daredevil art we haven’t already reprinted in A/E, either… but how about this character sheet of Foggy Nelson, as later seen in FOOM (Friend of Ol’ Marvel) #13 (March 1975)? Photo of Wood by Mike Zeck, courtesy of Richard Pryor. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

TW: What did you think of that? Would you prefer to see that type of animation?

LEE: That type of animation didn’t bother me. I think it has a certain charm. In many ways I think I prefer that to full animation which can ruin a human-type character. It’s so hard to animate a human being.

Technically, I think this is a very interesting... The way they’re doing our show technically. I’m delighted with that. I wouldn’t have been happy if it were animated like, you know, like Mickey Mouse... just regular animation.

TW: Do you feel that the form of animation they’re using is, in another sense, somehow related to the mass audience concept of camp which has had something to do with Marvel’s success with adults?

LEE: I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that you mention it, it very well could be.

TW: How do you feel about the way in which the Marvel audience breaks down into age groups? Have you made any effort to find out just what percentage is what age group?

LEE: No. I can just guess by the mail we receive, and the people I meet and so forth. I couldn’t give you a figure, but I would say we have a tremendous amount of young adults reading our books. Now whether

LEE: No, not that I know of. Again, I don’t know. The front office may have had some... It’s nothing that I really discuss with them until the thing is definite. But I haven’t been told of any. I wouldn’t be surprised, though.

TW: Has there been any conflict between your title The Avengers and the ABC-TV [live-action] show?

LEE: No. Apparently it didn’t mean anything to anybody.

TW: You were there first in this country.

LEE: Yeah.

TW: What is your feeling about the way in which the Marvel Group has grown in terms of circulation? You see any leveling off? Is it still growing?

LEE: It’s just incredible. We just seem to be growing at the same steady rate year after year.

TW: Does it put more pressure on you? Does it take pressures off you?

LEE: Well, the only thing that puts more pressure on us is if we physically produce more titles, and we’re not. We’re sort-of limited to the titles we have now. If our sales increase, the only pressure is one of jubilation. About five years ago, I guess we were selling about 13 million. Now we’re selling about 45 million a year... and this has been a steady rise over the past five years... and there seems to be no end in sight, I’m happy to say. I think we’re only limited by how many we can physically print and how many we can physically distribute. I think we can really sell many more if we can print them and distribute them.

14

1968 Interview Conducted By Ted White

TW: Well, you’re getting more competition all the time, of course.

New companies keep coming into the super-hero field. There are the Tower people... and Harvey Comics... Those are the most flagrant imitators. How do you feel in general about the imitators?

LEE: I wish they would peddle their papers elsewhere. The flattery kick—we’ve gotten over that years ago. We realize that we are rather popular now. We appreciate it. But the thing that bothers me... corny as it may sound... we really are trying to make comics as good as comics can be made. We’re trying to elevate the medium. We’re trying to make them as respectable as possible. Our goal is that someday an intelligent adult would not be embarrassed to walk down the street with a comic magazine. I don’t know whether we can ever bring this off, but it’s something to shoot for. At any rate, we try to do this. Now when other companies come out... and they try to make their books seem like our books, as if they’re all in the some class, the same milieu .. and yet the quality is inferior, the art is inferior, the writing is inferior, the plotting is inferior, I feel this does nothing but hurt us. The adults who don’t read comics, but whose youngsters try to convince them that comics are really pretty good... you know, who may read ours and like them, say “Why don’t you read one? They’re really good.”

And the people who are uninitiated but who have heard about comics and might want to pick one up and see what all the talk is about are very apt to mistakenly pick up one of these imitations, look at them, and say, “Aw, I knew it. That fellow who told me comics are good is really an idiot. They’re as bad as they ever were.” In this way I think we can be hurt by imitators.

to capture the Marvel audience... or enlarge upon it in any way... they should be less concerned with the superficialities... such as having “chatty” covers. That’s a gimmick they’ve taken from you, and now you’ve dropped it. They never attempt the quality of writing you’re doing. And you’ve kept changing your approach, evolving your characters. In Thor, for instance, you’ve gotten into some great mythological conflicts... and away from the nonsense with alter egos, the doctor turning into Thor, and...

LEE: We’ve gotten many letters from readers who say, “Heyl We haven’t seen Dr. Blake in a while!” So we’re trying to see how we can get back to that a little bit. Although I will admit I myself would like to just keep him Thor and keep the stories as they’re going. It makes it easier and more palatable to me.

TW: The imitators make themselves look so much like your line that many readers may think they’ve gotten hold of a Marvel Comic.

LEE: Exactly. Now, silly as this may sound, or hard to believe as it may sound, I wish our imitators did better books. If they put out books of comparable quality to ours.... Now, I don’t like this to sound as if I’m an egomaniac, but 1 think you see what I mean. If I felt myself that the art and stories were as good as our books, I would be happier, because I would feel that we’re all elevating the field.... and we’re all going to benefit by it.

TW: It would put more pressure on you to get even better...

LEE: Right. But, as it is, at this particular moment, I still think that we are doing the only somewhat significant work in this field. There’s the occasional exception.

TW: You’re up against something which is a periodic phenomenon in the comic book industry.

Back in the early ’50s, the EC group set really high standards. I don’t think you’ve beat them on art yet. When Mad came out, and it was a sleeper, someone realized, “My God! That thing is selling!” Suddenly, the stands were covered with Mad imitations. Whenever someone notices that someone is doing something original that is making money, they’ll all jump on the bandwagon. But for some reason none of them bother doing anything which has the quality of the original. It would seem that if someone wants

A Sight For Thor Eyes We don’t wanna lean too much on our old colleague Greg Theakston—though he and Roy were in the “First Fandom of Comics” together, and Greg gave Roy a button to wear that says so—but here’s one more from his Kirby Heroes and Villains book: Thor, with pencils by Jack and inks by pro artist Paul Smith. [Thor TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Stan Lee Meets [Castle Of] Frankenstein

15

Fantasy Mastermakers (Left:) A 1975 cover of Dez Skinn’s British fanzine Fantasy Advertiser International featured a photo of Stan Lee and images of Marvel heroes— including Conan the Barbarian, who at that time was very much one, while Deathlok was just starting out. Dez later launched the magazine which is now the very successful Comics International, currently published

by Peter Boyce and edited by Mike Conroy. [Conan ©2007 Conan Properties International, Ltd.; other heroes ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Below:) Ron Wilson penciled and Frank Giacoia inked this cover for the Dec. 1, 1976, edition of the British black-&-white reprint mag The Mighty World of Marvel. Thanks to Jerry K. Boyd for both pieces. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

TW: Originally “Thor” [i.e., Journey into Mystery] was a very schizophrenic thing. You had the “Thor” feature at the front, essentially a standard super-hero with his civilian identity and his civilian lovelife problems, and in the back you had your “Tales of Asgard,” which was pretty much pure myth reinterpreted in comic form. Now, although you are dealing less with myth in its original sense, you are including all the mythic figures... you’ve gotten into Grecian mythology... Pluto and the Underworld. That’s marvelous stuff; that’s sense of wonder stuff.

LEE: Oh, you’re quite right. Quite right. In fact, we don’t really have any set plan for anything... so you’ll always find changes in our books.

One day I’ll wake up in the morning... or Jack will... or any of our artists... or Roy Thomas... or anybody... and say, “Hey! Why don’t we do thus and such?” We’re very lucky that there is nobody clamping down on us and saying, “You have to stay within these prescribed channels” To me, any new idea is worth exploring. Even a bad new idea is better than a good formulized rut you might be in. So I like to change things. As for as the FF goes, they are getting a little bit sciencefictiony. I would like to give them a different feeling than, let’s say, Spider-Man, which isn’t science-fictiony. I’m very hard-pressed to find out how to make Spider-Man very different from Daredevil. I, sooner or later, will find a way. I would like all of our books to be different from each other... to have their own individual style. It’s difficult... because we still don’t have enough artists. Consequently, I have to alternate. One fellow may draw “Hulk” this month... he may have to draw Daredevil next month... and so forth. We still don’t have one artist for one feature except in the case of Thor and Spider-Man and a few others.

TW: Why is this?

LEE: We just don’t have enough men. So if one man is ill... or if one man breaks an arm... or anything... somebody else has to do his strip.

Then somebody else’s strip is now late. Somebody else has to do this.

We’re continually running into crises of that sort.

TW: Is there any way out?

LEE: Just getting more artists. We’re looking all the time. But this is what we’re up against. The reason I mention this about the art is that it’s one of the reasons that it’s a little difficult also to stay with a definite theory for each book. As you change artists, you change your approach, you see. But sooner or later things will level off. Maybe they never will, because we’re always in a state of flux. But it keeps it exciting.

TW: Well, our time is up.

LEE: I’m awfully sorry. Nobody enjoys this sort of thing more than I do. I wish we had another ten hours to go through it.

16

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy) Spider-Men May Be OK For Fighting Crime, But Would You Want Your Sister To Marry One?

by Norman Mark [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of the earlier articles that began to take comics, especially Marvel Comics, seriously in the postBatman-TV-craze, post-“camp” era, and we thought it worth reprinting almost exactly forty years later as an historical artifact— and a particularly lively one, at that. Reprinted from Eye Magazine (1968) by permission of author Norman Mark. With special thanks to Barry Pearl, Fearless Front Facer, for doing all the spadework on this one!]

S

ay comic book. Come on, say it. Comic book.

Feel silly, don’t you? You’ve got visions of all those cute animals jabbering and stealing carrots, of strange guys in tights and jockstraps flying through the air.

Read a comic book on a bus and people stare at you: “Look, Randolph, he’s reading a comic book, isn’t that stupid?” Mention them at a party, and you’re suddenly alone in a corner. Talk to a kid who

reads them and he thinks you’re trying to pass for an adolescent. But that’s all changing, brothers and sisters. No longer will you read your comics with a flashlight under the bedsheets, no longer will you wait for the cover of darkness to put down your 12 cents for a costumed crusader epic.

Comic books are surfacing, growing up, speaking out—maybe even becoming an art form!—and it’s time to take notice of them. One publisher at least, the Marvel Comics Group, is trying to raise this

Move Over, Gorgeous George And Honest Abe! Joe Sinnott, premier inker of the Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four and a fine artist in his own right, placed Stan the Man on Mount Rushmore in this gorgeous illustration. Hey, Joe—did you get that raise? (Just kidding! Joe’s one of the truly nice guys in the comic book field, as well as one of the most talented, and doesn’t need to kiss up to anybody! He still inks Alex Saviuk’s pencils on the Sunday Spider-Man newspaper strip, incidentally.) Thanks to Chris Fricke and Danny Fingeroth for the scan. Photo of Joe from 1969 FF Annual. [Human Torch TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.]

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy)

17

Man, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Silver Surfer, The X-Men—twenty-two in all and all with their own special peculiarities and hangups.

Stan Lee, the modern Aesop, is a tall, thin, bearded, bright-eyed, forty-five-year-old who lives on Long Island with his wife, 18-year-old daughter, and four dogs. He will feel his career in comics has been justified, he says, the day his wife “will go to a cocktail party and won’t be embarrassed when she’s asked what her husband does for a living.”

That’s a simple, humble wish, well known to hairdressers, ballet dancers, and second-story men.

But for Lee, it has not been easy to do. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, he took a job writing obituaries for living celebrities at a news service. At seventeen [NOTE: Actually 18. —Roy], he went to work for Marvel Comics. An editor left and Lee took the job temporarily. He has been an editor ever since, except for service in World War II when he wrote training films and held the military classification of “playwright” (no kidding).

“I had always considered comics a stopgap until I could find time to do better writing,” he says. “Finally, about eight years ago I realized I would be here for a while and why not make out of comics something I would like to read?”

The problem was to create characters with some sort of superpowers—real comic book characters, no soap opera types. “If you had super-powers, how would you act in the real world. If you were young, wouldn’t you still have a case of acne, asthma, girl troubles, occasionally lose fights, or be broke?” So gut reality broke into funnies.

Consider, if you will, Spider-Man, personality kid of comics. In reality, he’s Peter Parker, a normal college student who was bitten by a radioactive spider of human proportions [sic] sometime before October 1962. Now Peter has the strength of a spider of human proportions, but he still acts with all the bumbling ineptitude that you or I would display if we were in his tights.

Taking Up A Collection (Continued) Earlier this year, TwoMorrows published John Romita… and All That Jazz!, edited by Roy Thomas and Jim Amash, showcasing three major (and lavishly illustrated) interviews with this artist with the golden touch— whose photo is seen above right, from that 1969 Fantastic Four Annual. One of the many art spots in the popular Romita volume was John’s pencils for an unused Amazing Spider-Man cover in which The Avengers’ old foe, The Collector, tries to add no less than President Abraham Lincoln to his interstellar trophy room. Just to bring things full circle, here’s the finished version of that never-published cover, as inked by Joe Rubinstein.

Retrieved for A/E by Dominic Bongo from the Heritage Comics Archives. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

media to the level of a James Bond movie, a Mission: Impossible television series, or a Perry Mason novel. That is not bad company for a form despised by parents and ignored by critics. It all started about seven years ago when Stan Lee, an editor at Marvel, decided to create a new line of super-heroes which would be more… relevant. For instance, Captain America (he, The Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner were earlier the company’s biggest sellers) changed from a simpleminded, patriotic do-gooder to a brooding super-hero who realizes his zeal for right is out of joint with the times. “He knows he’s an anachronism, but he can’t change,” says Lee. “He’s sort of a contemporary Hamlet.”

A whole new team of antiheroes subsequently was created—Spider-

The people of his hometown, New York, do not trust him (would you want a spider living in your neighborhood?), the newspapers hate him, and he simply cannot cope with his uniform, which is constantly being torn in the line of duty and he has to stop and mend it himself.

(What tailor could be trusted with his secret?) Also, his outfit is not drip-dry, and he is continually jumping into a wet suit, which gives him colds. He has trouble with his widowed Aunt May, who suffers a heart attack in nearly every issue. Sometimes Spider-Man has to give her a call in the midst of fighting bad guys.

All of these things contributed to an inferiority complex that Peter has only recently controlled. But he still shows signs of paranoia, often has traumatic identity crises (he can’t tell anybody who he really is), has severe fits of depression, and feels terribly alienated.

Spider-Man is the only comic book character in memory who has matured. Six years ago when Lee created him, he was a nudnick chemistry major with a skin problem; he was extremely unsuccessful with girls (who hate spiders) and bullied by other students. Today, he dates sharp blondes, he has become more muscular, and has a handsome, square-jawed face with no pimples.

Early on, Spider-Man created a secret formula for steel-like webbing that adheres to buildings and helps him thwip (comic book for swing) around town. The webbing is also his most powerful weapon; he has been known to run out of it at crucial moments.

Spider-Man’s chief nemesis is The Green Goblin, but he doesn’t [Continued on page 20]

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Would You Want Your Sister To Marry A Spider-Man?

Photo Interlude:

Stan The (Family) Man The Sept. 9, 2007, Sunday edition of The New York Times Real Estate Magazine, of all things, spotlighted a major feature on Marvel’s creative head honcho, with rare photos supplied by Stan and Joan Lee. Thanks to Stan & Joan for permission to print them here, and to Bob Bailey for sending us the scans. For more photos from the Lees’ personal life, pick up a copy of Stan’s autobiography Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee, co-authored by George Mair and published by Fireside Books in 2002. [All photos on this two-page spread ©2007 Stan & Joan Lee.]

When Stan was 16, the Lieber family lived in this apartment house at 1729 University Avenue in the Bronx.

Young Stan on a pony. Any chance that its name was Marvel?

Stan and Joan Lee as newlyweds in their one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s East 90s, circa 1947-48. Stan married Joan Clayton Boocock on Dec. 5, 1947, just two weeks before his 25th birthday. In his autobiography, Stan’s co-writer scribes: “Stan always thought she was the best birthday or Christmas present he ever got.”

Stan prepares to carry Joan across the threshold of their new 3-bedroom home at 1084 W. Broadway, Woodmere, NY. The date on this picture is a rather vague “1949-52,” but we really doubt if it took Stan three years to carry her inside.

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy)

Stan, Joan, and daughter Joan Cecelia in their new home on Long Island, in a pic dated “1951.” Eventually, though the ladies were often jokingly referred to as “Big Joan” and “Little Joan,” the latter inherited some of her father’s height and was eventually several inches taller than her fairly diminutive mother.

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Here’s the little family group circa 1953-54, in front of the same house, whose address is given as 226 Richards Lane, Hewlett Harbor, NY.

Our Leader liked to write outside, weather permitting—which gave him plenty of room for his two-finger typing style! This snapshot of a bearded Stan banging out a script at home is dated “195560,” though since Stan probably typed out the note that says he was “about 30” when it was taken, that would make it closer to the early 1950s. The note says: “Always wrote standing up—good for the figure—and always faced the sun—good for the suntan!”

Stan, Joan (standing), and Joan Cecilia in the 1970s, in their Hewlett Harbor home. Are these three of the “beautiful people” of that era, or what?

Once in a while, though, a fellas just got to get out with the boys! Here’s Stan with a couple of unidentified pals, reportedly at 220 E. 63rd Street in Manhattan, circa 1975-80.

And now, back to our regularlyscheduled 1968 interview…!

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Would You Want Your Sister To Marry A Spider-Man?

Color Them Fantastic!

Though eclipsed in popularity in the late 1960s by Amazing Spider-Man, and since by The X-Men and maybe even Wolverine, Fantastic Four remains Marvel’s flagship title—and one of its most licensable. Here, for example, are the first and last pages of an “Activity Coloring Book” sold as part of a package with a vinyl record (remember them?) circa 1980, with pencils by Winslow Mortimer and inks by Joe Sinnott—very much in the classic Lee-Kirby style. Thanks to Al Bigley. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

[Continued from page 17] even hate him. (The Goblin is in reality Parker’s roommate’s father, and how can a guy kill his friend’s dad?) So when Spider-Man fights The Green Goblin, he pulls his punches. That was why, in November 1968, the Goblin managed to blow Spider-Man’s mind with psychedelic pumpkin bombs. Spider-Man recovered, captured one of the pumpkins, and forced the Goblin to breathe its fumes. During the bad trip which followed, the Goblin saw what a rat he really was and disappeared when the psychic shock of the revelation gave him amnesia.

Peter Parker works for a local newspaper as a freelance photographer. With a remote-control camera he gets exclusive pictures of Spider-Man rescuing everyone in sight and thus cashes in (as any normal, greedy American student would) on his super-powers. The hitch is that editor Jonah Jameson hates Spider-Man, hates all those pictures, and once offered $1000 for Spider-Man’s capture, screaming, “He’s really an egomaniac, a neurotic troublemaker, flaunting his power before the ordinary citizens whom he despises.” Depressed, SpiderMan threw his suit in a trashcan and retired. This action, by the way, led to one of Marvel’s finest satires when a David Susskind-type character asked his television panel, “Do you feel that the human arachnid’s proclivities preclude the possibility of this being a monumental bit of chicanery?” One guest refused to answer, claiming he didn’t understand the question; but a psychiatrist there said SpiderMan suffered “a schizophrenic withdrawal from reality! Or to couch it in layman’s terms, he’s out of his tree.”

Stan Lee admits to being in love with language. Spider-Man once got into a fight with the Nails Hogan gang , when they surprised him

placidly hanging from a ceiling, and shouted, “Look, it’s him.” “Tsk, tsk,” Spider-Man replied. “You mean, ‘It’s he.’ Nothing infuriates me more than BAD GRAMMAR. Or didn’t you know?” Ftoom.

This sophisticated approach to comics material has earned Marvel a passionate following on college campuses (and the six-year-old readers don’t seem to object, either). The readership is reflected in the volume of letters Marvel receives—up to one thousand a day during the summer—some of which are reprinted on letters pages. One writer, from Clam Gulch, Alaska, pointed out, “Recently, there’s been a tendency to cut down on the amount of word balloons and human interest in your mags! Well, don’t!” Another elated reader proclaimed that a Fantastic Four issue (ish, to a Marvel fan) contained 2,532 words of dialogue. Yet another, writing about Hulk, described him as “the true existential man,” and quoted Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Ovid in support of his theory.

“Marvel readers must be among the most fanatical in the land,” says Lee. “They ask questions, find mistakes, make suggestions.” Lee and his 35 staff and freelance artists often take the advice of readers. An art professor from the University of Connecticut who spent $200 collecting the complete [Amazing] Spider-Man asked that Peter Parker be outfitted with a helmet when riding his motorcycle (later, he was); the artists have been faulted for forgetting to put the webbing under Spider-Man’s arms, for putting too much grease on Peter Parker’s hair, for changing the hair-dos of his girl friends, and for making shadows go the wrong way. An Air Force sergeant asked, “Since both The Thing and Mr. Fantastic served in World War II, will Flame [sic] (now a teenager) serve as well?”

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy)

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Lee’s first creation in 1961 was the Fantastic Four, a quartet of normal people who were zapped by cosmic rays during a space shot.

They became Mr. Fantastic (actually Reed Richards, master scientist who can stretch any part of his body any length), The Thing (a huge, strong, orange-colored, rocky creature in blue briefs who was Ben Grimm, star football player), The Flame (teen-ager Johnny Storm, who can fly around in a mass of fire at the command, “Flame On”), and Invisible Girl (Johnny’s older sister, Sue Storm, who can disappear behind an impenetrable force field). (FF follows close behind SpiderMan, who has over 5,000,000 readers, in popularity.)

After a pregnancy of over a year, our time, Sue had a little boy in November 1968, and retired from the Fantastic Four to raise him.

Crystal, the exquisite elemental and Flame’s girl friend, took Sue’s place, perhaps stimulating another super-hero population explosion.

For a long while the Fantastic Four really detested each other. The Flame and The Thing constantly bickered, Invisible Girl acted like a typical snotty older sister, and Mr. Fantastic just tried to keep the team spirit high.

Numerous other questions about the birth of the child come to mind: Will the baby want The Thing as an uncle? Can an elemental and a human have children? What really happened on a honeymoon between a man able to stretch any part of his body any length and a woman with an impenetrable force field? We didn’t ask him, but we were sure he had the answers to every one of them.

All the while, Mr. Fantastic was dating Invisible Girl, although he had competition from Sub-Mariner, who lived under the water and in another comic book. Finally they married, with every villain in the world (Dr. Doom, Puppet Master, The Red Ghost, The Mole Man, The Mad Thinker, the Human Top, etc.) trying to crash the nuptials. Did love stop the endless bickering? Certainly not. Just one week after the wedding, while fighting the world’s greatest arch-villain, Dr. Doom (king of Latveria, who has diplomatic immunity when he is in America), Sue disappeared because Reed didn’t notice her new hairdo.

Then she got pregnant! Pregnant! Could that ever happen to Wonder Woman ? Why, you couldn’t even get her bracelets off !

“I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Stan says. “I really don’t know if Sue’s baby is going to have supernatural powers when he gets older. Until the day of the final deadline for the issue, we didn’t know if she was going to have a boy, a girl, or a monster. I think we flipped a coin.”

Marvel comics also have a definite interest in the real world. Recently in “Stan’s Soapbox,” a short monthly feature in which the editor discusses great and small issues with his readers, he asked for a consensus on whether or not Spider-Man should take a stand on Vietnam. After much debate, the majority of responses indicated he should oppose the war, and he is. And now several of the super-heroes are editorializing at the merest whisper of a controversy. Thus, SpiderMan’s involvement in campus demonstrations at Empire State University becomes significant.

When ESU decided to turn Exhibition Hall into a private dorm for rich alumni instead of opening it to poor students (in the Jan. 1969 ish), there was agitation on campus. The Student Committee for a Low Rent Dorm, influenced by black power militants, marched on Ex Hall and occupied it while Peter Parker was viewing a valuable ancient tablet on display there. Parker was trapped inside and sided with his fellow students.

A subplot involved The Kingpin, who looks a bit like Chicago’s Mayor Daley; he wanted that clay tablet. He used the demonstration to cover his nefarious activities, but Spider-Man saw him, tried to stop the robbery, couldn’t, and Kingpin escaped with the tablet. As the book closed, the students were being led to jail for illegal possession and property damage and Spider-Man was leaving on the trail of Kingpin.

“We began taking editorial stands about a year ago,” Stan says, “when we realized from the mail we received that our magazines were very influential with the kids. They don’t seem to want just adventure stories; they want a whole ethos, a philosophy, within the framework of the comic character. They seem desperate for someone to believe in—I guess [1950s Senator Joseph] McCarthy filled the bill for a while.

Now, I have to resist taking myself too seriously. Suddenly, I don’t want to let them down.” (Recently, Stan has become a sought-after lecturer at college campuses, and has spoken at Columbia, Princeton, NYU, Duke, and others. He is afraid some day soon he’ll be awarded an honorary degree, which is pretty wild for a comic king.)

“My problem is that I’m not a fanatic,” Stan admits, “and I sometimes find it very hard to see that the other guy is completely wrong. In

Spider-Man Against The World After Ditko and Romita, the most important penciler in the first decade or so of The Amazing Spider-Man was probably Gil Kane. Above are some (very) rough pencils by Gil—from an issue of Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up, or whatever—with Spidey duking it out with—somebody! Sure looks exciting, though! Thanks to Anthony Snyder. Photo from 1969 FF Annual. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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Would You Want Your Sister To Marry A Spider-Man?

fact, I think one of the most dangerous things in this country is the good guy/bad guy syndrome, where everyone must be cast into one of only two opposing groups. I believe there is a place in this world for a guy who can see both sides and portray that to the world.” He points out that during Spider-Man’s student demonstration neither the police nor the students were portrayed as villains.

Perhaps his most blatant editorial was seen in the July 1968 issue of Thor, a caped, long-haired, blond guy with a magic hammer. (When the gimpy Dr. Donald Blake bangs his cane on the floor, faster than a thought the doctor becomes Thor and the cane becomes Mjolnir, the hammer.)

As the issue began, Thor had problems. The evil Loki might attack at any time and Sif, his lady, was sick. Thor didn’t even know that back in Asgard, the kingdom of his father (Odin), Ulik, the mightiest of the Trolls, had set the horrible Mangog free. Wouldn’t you know that just then Thor would meet some hippies, who liked his hair, but put down his hammer? Now, nobody puts down Mjolnir! Thor showed Mjolnir’s power by creating a little cyclone and a little lightning. He lectured: “The true guru thou seekest doth lie within thyselves! Heed you now these words: “’Tis not not by dropping out, but by plunging into the maelstrom of life itself, that thou shalt find wisdom.... Aye, there be time enow for thee to disavow thy heritage.”

Stan creates his comics in a unique manner. Rather than scripting everything, including what is to be drawn, he writes only a plot outline. The artist is told then how many pages the magazine will have (usually about 20), and it is up to him to draw the action, Lee then writes the specific lines the characters say and indicates where the balloons will go.

The artist sometimes adds events that Lee hadn’t planned for, and the writer must then weave them into a coherent story line. This gives Marvel comics an ad lib, flip quality. But there are guidelines.

“Our stories do not have violence that will disturb children,” Stan says. “It’s usually a case of pitting one super-powered character who doesn’t get hurt against a villain who doesn’t feel pain.

“We have the characters talk all the time during the fights because that also dilutes the violence.”(The magazines, however, do accept advertisements for 132 model Roman soldier sets, BB shooting model

All Agog Over Mangog This unpublished (by Marvel, anyhow) page from a late Kirby-penciled issue of Thor (#158, Nov. 1968) has probably popped up since in TwoMorrows’ own flagship title, The Jack Kirby Collector—but Anthony Snyder sent us a nice photocopy, so here’s Goldilocks battling Mangog. Oh, yeah—and the inking’s by Vince Colletta. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

It’s Not Easy Being Green—In A Weekday Newspaper With penciling by his younger brother, Larry Lieber, Stan wrote a newspaper comic strip version of The Incredible Hulk for a couple of years—though the fact that Ol’ Greenskin wasn’t green six days a week didn’t help his longevity any. Here’s an exciting daily from September 1979—or at least, here’s most of it. The edges of the photocopy we received were trimmed a bit on three sides. Thanks, just the same, to Anthony Snyder. Photo from Marvel Tales Annual #1, 1964. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy)

Putting On A Pair Of Panthers (Above left:) Artist Jack Kirby co-created The Black Panther for Fantastic Four in the mid-1960s, but when T'Challa first got “his own comic,” it was illustrated by others. The cover of Jungle Action #11 (Sept. 1974) is by Gil Kane (p) & Dan Adkins (i).

(Above right:) Jack himself penciled this cover for Jungle Action #18 (November 1975). A couple of years later, he wrote and drew nearly a dozen issues of a Black Panther comic [Black Panther TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Jungle Action covers ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

army combat machine guns, and a missile-firing tank “large enough for two kids inside.” The tank also has a “mighty cannon and rocket launcher, swiveling machine guns, simulated treads and other authentic tank features.”)

The Hulk, a green-skinned monster who hates the world because the world hates him, has, several times, single-handedly defeated the US Air Force. But Hulk is still a near-classic case of paranoid schizophrenia. Somewhere down in his primitive brain is the knowledge that he once was a gentle soul (scientist Dr. Bruce Banner). But the Hulk hates Banner for being weak and normal, and he is obsessed with the fact that he can turn back into Banner at any time.

To begin one Hulk comic, Stan wrote: “Can a green-skinned introvert with antisocial tendencies find happiness and fulfillment in a modern materialistic society?” The answer, of course, is no.

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“When I created Hulk with artist Jack Kirby, we had the feeling that people love a guy who isn’t perfect,” Stan recalls. “As a kid I always loved the Frankenstein monster. All kids know that Frankenstein’s monster really isn’t a bad guy, that he’s friendly to blind violinists, and that he just fell into bad company.” (Hulk was friendly with teenager Rick Jones, but Jones drifted into other comic books and soon may become the sidekick of Captain America.)

In addition to a green-skinned star, Marvel comics feature a number of Negroes, a significant breakthrough for the otherwise waspy superherodom. (It has been suggested that the Bruce Wayne-Batman mansion is in a restricted neighborhood.) In addition to a Negro city editor (in Spider-Man) and assorted police and populace, Marvel has a genuine black super-star in The Black Panther, who is really T’Challa, son of T’Chaka. T’Challa, a prince of the Wakanda tribe and their representative to the United Nations, is one of the world’s richest men and owns an underground scientific city.

“We were going to play him up as the first black super-hero with his own comic book,” Stan says. “But then we became a little gunshy. He was created before the Black Panthers [the African-American organization] got their notoriety, and now I really don’t know what to do with him. The name is an unlucky coincidence, really. If we want to get involved in a civil rights story, we want to do it our way and not stumble into it because the name of one of our characters happens to be the same as that of a militant group. Maybe we’ll let him get involved in Harlem teaching Negro youths who do not suspect that he’s really their hero, Black Panther.”

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Would You Want Your Sister To Marry A Spider-Man?

that might even make it in a contemporary art gallery. [NOTE: Actually, of course, inker Tom Palmer colored most of the early Colan Dr. Stranges. —Roy.] We have not been able to cover Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, who are still fighting World War II; Col. Fury, who is Sgt. Fury all grown and now a top secret agent; The Avengers, a large group of super-heroes formed to quell a Hulk; The X-Men, a group of good mutants who fight evil mutants and who just lost their leader Professor Xavier to Grotesk and a mysterious disease; Surf’s Up! Daredevil, an attorney blinded as a child when hit between One artist who draws a very the eyes by a radioactive canister from a garbage truck; or John Buscema-ish Silver Surfer even Not Brand Echh, a Marvel-sponsored satire of the is Jean-Yves Mitton… who, in competition.

the early 1970s, even produced original stories of Norrin Radd for a French publisher when they ran out of Marvel originals, as seen in The Alter Ego Collection, Vol. 1, and elsewhere. This 2007 illo of the sky-riding sentinel was sent by collector Dominique Léonard. [Silver Surfer TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Speaking of the competition: DC (National) Comics, with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, are still the circulation giants, with 47 titles that sell 75,000,000 a year, compared with Marvel’s 22 titles, selling over 50,000,000 a year. In the last four years, however, Marvel has picked up some 15,000,000 readers, and they are predicting that by the end of 1969, Spider-Man will pass Superman, and not by brawn alone.

Stan’s characters are different; they are agonizingly realistic. Often they seem to stand outside themselves and think that running around in tights fighting super-menaces is a

Marvel even has a quasi-religious character in The Silver Surfer.

That’s right, quasi-religious. Silver Surfer appears on earth as a kind of angel surrogate, and Stan says that his artists believe the Surfer to be “saintly, almost Christ-like, and we try to do this without satire, we try to play him straight. This is the book where I do my most obvious moralizing.”

Silver Surfer, originally Norrin Radd of the planet ZennLa, disobeyed his boss, Galactus (a super-super-superpowered being), just once. For that he was sentenced to life on Earth, as cruel and inhuman a punishment as was ever meted out to anyone within the memory of the universe.

So Silver Surfer skims along on his surfboard, which obeys his mental commands, both hating and loving us. Time and time again he saves the foolish Earthlings, but whenever he surfs down to talk to the folks, they throw things at him, threaten him with arrest, send armies after him, or yell that they don’t want silver-skinned guys for neighbors.

Silver Surfer rescued a young girl, and our army subjected him to a missile attack, but his goodness forced him to say, “We must forgive them [humans]! For in all the universe, only an insane humanity kills in the name of justice!”

Marvel also has a psychedelic comic book, Dr. Strange, “Master of the Mystic Arts,” whose battles occur mainly in the mind, in hell, or in unknown worlds. The draftsmanship, the construction, and coloring, all the work of artist Gene Colan, are surely better than anything published in comics today. There are a half a dozen panels in each book

Strange As It Seems Roy T., as the writer who scripted Gene Colan’s earliest Dr. Strange epics, couldn’t agree more with Norman Mark’s analysis of that classic work.

And Gene’s kept at it—as per this 1999 illustration from As You Like It Publications’ 2000 collectors’ item trade paperback The Gene Colan Annual: Painting with Pencil. Photo from 1969 FF Annual. [Dr. Strange TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The New Super-Hero (Is A Pretty Kinky Guy)

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Mighty Marvel Moments Norman Mark may not have had time to talk with Stan about The Avengers or The X-Men or Daredevil—but we’re sure as heck gonna take some space to show you Marvel’s Main Man (as drawn by Mirthful Marie Severin) admiring a couple of commission sketches done by another 1960s/70s golden boy, Genial George Tuska! For collector Dominique Léonard, Tuska re-created (in symbolic fashion) Captain America’s return in The Avengers #4— and drew both DD and the original X-Men. George, of course, penciled both the former and latter features [along with Iron Man] in the late ’60s. Thanks to Jerry K. Boyd for sending the Sevsketch of Smiley—while the photos of Marie & George are from the 1969 FF Annual.

[Caricature ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Avengers & X-Men TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ridiculous, low-paid profession. (Spider-Man, who had to sell his motorcycle for bread, yearns for a super-hero union to demand a living wage.) They have such psychological complexity that, if they did not dash into alleys to don their super-hero costumes, they would probably be protesting with the New Left or sniffing psychedelic pumpkins.

They even acknowledge that sex exists, which is more than Lois Lane or Superman ever did.

In a world seemingly overloaded with wrongs, there are still a publisher and an editor issuing books that extol freedom and virtue and right, pimples and all. The Marvel comics take ancient tales, outrageous villains, add humor and a message or two, and if in their wildest dreams they hope someday the results might be called art, there are worse things to strive for.

In the general scheme of things, in a world beset with poverty, starvation, population explosions, war, pestilence, plague, power politics, the bomb, traffic jams, strikes, and injustices of every sort, a man who would dedicate his life to uplifting a comic book has got to have some good in him, or be a nut.

[1968 NOTE: Norman Mark is a young cultural writer for Panorama Magazine of the Chicago Daily News. He is also a playwright whose works have been produced on television.]

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Stan Lee, The Marvel Bard An Interview Conducted By Mike Bourne, 1970 [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: This conversation is reprinted from Changes magazine for April 15, 1970… and was likewise located for us by Barry Pearl, FFF. It is reprinted with permission of Mike Bourne.]

M

arvel Comics spring from modest Madison Avenue offices randomly decorated by oversize drawings, copy, and other assorted fanciful diversions.

In several small cubicles, like freaky monks, a staff of artists variously evoke the next month’s adventures in all-brilliant color and style. While in his office, his complete Shakespeare close at hand, editor Stan Lee smiles broadly behind his cigar and beckons me enter his head.

MIKE BOURNE: With which super-hero do you personally most identify?

STAN LEE: Probably Homer the Happy Ghost. You know, I honestly don’t identify with any of them. Or maybe I identify with all of them.

But I’ve never thought of it. I’ve been asked this question before and I never know how to answer it, because I think I identify with whichever one I’m writing at the moment. If I’m writing Thor, I’m a Norse god at that moment. If I’m writing The Hulk, I have green skin and everyone hates me. And when I stop writing them, they’re sort of out of my mind. I’m not identifying with anyone.

MB: You’re like an actor when you write.

LEE: Yeah, I think more than anything. In fact, when I was young I thought I would be an actor, and I did act. And when I write now, my wife always makes fun of me. She says: “Stan, what did you say?” I say: “Nothing, I’m writing.” She says: “Well, you talk to yourself.” And I find very often I’m saying the lines out loud. And I’m acting! You know: “Take that, you rat!”

MB: Asking a writer where he gets his ideas is like asking an actor how he learned all those lines, but Marvel is known as the House of Ideas.

LEE: Only because I originally said we were the House of Ideas.

MB: All right, but obviously you have mythological influences. And Jim Steranko’s “House of Ravenlock” for SHIELD was very much from the Gothic novel. But what are your primary sources, or your favorite sources for material? Just out of your head, or where?

LEE: Mostly. I think it all has to do with things I read and learned and observed when I was young, because I don’t do as much reading or

Changes Are A-Coming—And A-Going!

The front and back covers of the April 15, 1970, issue of Changes tabloid magazine—as preserved by Barry Pearl, FFF. (See, Barry—we promised you we’d refer to you by your old MMMS title—and now we can’t seem to break the habit!) The back cover Hulk drawing was, of course, penciled by Jack Kirby.

[Art ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

movie-going or anything now as I would like.

I’m so busy writing all the time. But I was a voracious reader when I was a teenager.

And actually, I think my biggest influence was Shakespeare, who was my god. I mean, I loved Shakespeare because when he was dramatic; no one was more dramatic than he was. When he was humorous, the humor was so earthy and rich. To me he was the complete writer. I was just telling somebody this morning who was up here to try to do some writing for us to get as close to Shakespeare as possible. Because whatever Shakespeare did, he did it in the extreme. It’s almost like the Yiddish theatre. When they act, they act! Or the old silent movies where everything was exaggerated so the audience would know what the mood was because they couldn’t hear the voices. So, actually, as I say, I used to read Shakespeare. I love the rhythm of words. I’ve always been in love with the way words sound. Sometimes I’ll use words just because of the sound of one playing upon the other. And I know comic book writers aren’t supposed to talk this way. But I like to think I’m really writing when I write a comic, and not just putting a few balloons on a page.

MB: Do you consciously strive to catch the tenor of the times?

You’ve covered campus protest in Spider-Man. But what about other issues? Do you feel that it’s your responsibility as an artist—and I

Stan Lee, The Marvel Bard

Now It Can Be Told!

(Above:) The Marvel “super-hero” with whom Stan Lee most identifies (or at least did, back in 1970) is the title star of Homer the Happy Ghost, whose adventures were being reprinted in 1969-70. Seen here is Dan DeCarlo’s cover for issue #2 (May 1955).

(Top right:) Stan and DeCarlo (photo of Dan above courtesy of Joe Petrilak) also worked together on My Friend Irma, My Girl Pearl, Millie the Model— and the Willie Lumpkin newspaper comic strip, whose hero would one day become the mailman for the Baxter Building in New York City. Note that the postmark at top left bears the date of the Sunday strip: June 12, 1960. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

“Speak; Caesar Is Turned To Hear” Stan cut his eyeteeth writing “Shakespearean” (and related King James Bible/Arthurian) style in the first issue of Black Knight (May 1955), drawn by Joe Maneely—and perfected it in the mid/late 1960s and early 1970s in Thor. All the latter work is currently in print, so here’s a (wordless) drawing of the thunder god’s buddies Hogun, Fandral, and Volstagg, “Warriors Three,” reportedly by John Romita (pencils) and Jim Mooney (inks), done as a cover for a Marvel-UK mag—but Ye Editor isn’t at all certain that the Jazzy One actually penciled it. Thanks to Anthony Snyder. Photo courtesy of Nancy Maneely. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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won’t say “comics” artist here, but obviously we can accept you as an artist with other kinds of artists—is it your duty to take a stand on issues?

LEE: I think it’s your duty to yourself, really, more than to the public. See, this is a very difficult field. For years my hands were tied. We thought we were just writing for kids, and we weren’t supposed to do anything to disturb them or upset their parents, or violate the Comics Code, and so forth. But over the years as I realized more and more adults were reading our books and people of college age (which is tremendously gratifying to me), I felt that now I can finally start saying some of the things I would like to say. And I don’t consciously try to keep up with the tempo or the temper of the times. What I try to do is say the things I’m interested in. I mean, I don’t want to write comics. I would love to be writing about drugs and about crime and about Vietnam and about colleges and about things that mean something. At least I can put a little of that in the stories. As I say, though, I’m really doing it for myself, not the reader. But everybody wants to say what he thinks. And if you’re in the arts, you want to show what you believe. I think that’s pretty natural.

MB: What do you consider your responsibility as a comics artist, then?

LEE: To entertain. I think comic books are basically an entertainment medium, and primarily people read them for escapist enjoyment. And I think the minute they stop being enjoyable they lose all their value. Now hopefully I can make them enjoyable and also beneficial in some way. This is a difficult trick, but I try within the limits of my own talent.

MB: Several years ago, Esquire published a collage of the “28 Who Count” on the Berkeley campus, and included were the Hulk and Spider-Man. What’s this great appeal of Marvel Comics to college students?

LEE: I don’t know. I would think the fact that there’s a sort of serendipity, there is surprise. You don’t expect to find a comic book being written as well as we try to write Marvel. You don’t expect to find a comic book that’s aimed at anyone above twelve years old. And I think a college kid might pick up a Marvel comic just to idly leaf through it and then a big word catches his eye. Or a flowery phrase or an interesting concept.

And before he knows it, not every college kid, but a good many of them are hooked. And I think it’s the fact that here is something which has always been thought .of as a children’s type of diversion. And they realize: “My God! I can enjoy this now!” This is kind of unusual.

MB: It’s like the end of the one Avengers story when you used [Percy Shelley’s poem] “Ozymandias” to reinforce the villain’s downfall.

“Life Is What Happens To You While You’re Making Other Plans” John Lennon said that—and Stan Lee, like everybody else, lives it. For example, Stan wanted to do comics outside the Code Authority, and his first effort, against publisher Martin Goodman’s “better judgment,” was Savage Tales #1 (May 1971). The “Conan,” "Femizons," "Ka-Zar," and "Man-Thing" stories therein have all been reprinted—but not "Black Brother!," the feature that started out as a conversation between Stan and Denny O’Neil over a notion of Smiley’s titled “M’Tumbu the Mighty.” (See A/E #50 for details.) Stan didn’t like the story that emerged—though not because of the art by Gene Colan & Tom Palmer or the quality of the writing—and Denny, unhappy with editorial changes, asked that his byline be changed to his familiar pseudonym “Sergius O’Shaughnessy,” taken from a character in a Norman Mailer novel. “Black Brother!” actually had possibilities as a series that were fated never to be realized, but Stan didn’t feel it was right for Marvel at that time. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

LEE: Wasn’t that great? That was Roy Thomas’ idea, one of the best he’s ever had. Beautiful ending that way.

MB: I’ve always wondered that perhaps the appeal is the catalog of neuroses in the super-heroes. That they’re all into the numbers people are going through now. Human fallibility, altruism, identity crises, these sorts of things. Even your arch-fiends like Dr. Doom and The Mandarin and Galactus are not really all bad. They’ve all been forced to be bad, to be misanthropes, by force of circumstances. But when’s sex going to come into Marvel Comics?

LEE: Unfortunately not until we get rid of the Comics Code, or put out a line strictly for adults (which I’ve been wanting to do). But I just

haven’t been able to convince the powers-that-be that the world is ready for them yet.

MB: Well, obviously you’ve broken some barriers by having heroes married and having children.

LEE: Hopefully, someday we’ll be able to put out a line—not that we want to do dirty books—but something that’s really significant and really on the level of the older reader.

MB: I recall one thing that wigged me in that regard: the beginning of a “Nick Fury” story where it was morning with a subtle hint of the previous night’s activities.

Stan Lee, The Marvel Bard

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The Man In The Iron Mask—Marvel Style Dr. Doom, created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, remains the archetypal Marvel villain… inspired in part by Alexandre Dumas’ 1847 novel The Man in the Iron Mask and influencing George Lucas’ Darth Vader in Star Wars (a movie Ye Editor will neverever refer to as A New Hope). This Kirby illo, inked by Mike Manley, appeared in the Pure Imagination volume Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains. Thanks again to Greg Theakston, as well as Mike Manley and the Kirby Estate. [Dr. Doom TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

LEE: Oh yes, that was Jim Steranko’s. Wasn’t that great? I was very pleased that it got past the Code. Well, actually you had to be smart enough to grasp that. But that’s part of these stories. I think it’s utterly ridiculous to shield our readers from things in comic books which they see all around them.

MB: Where are you going on the race issues? I read, of course, where the Black Panther character pooped out because of the real Black Panthers emerging.

LEE: Yeah, that was very unfortunate. I made up the name Black Panther before I was conscious that there is a militant group called the Black Panthers. And I didn’t want to make it seem that we were espousing any particular cause. And because of that we’re not able to push the Panther as much, although we’re still using him.

MB: Well, also it would have been strange to have a black super-hero

Black Power—Also Marvel Style (Left:) In the late 1960s Stan decided that part of the face of The Black Panther should show, so that’s how Kirby drew him in this display drawing, as inked by none other than Jazzy Johnny Romita for Pure Imagination’s aforementioned tome.

(Above:) From the same source comes this drawing of The Falcon, who co-starred in Captain America for several years and is still a vital part of the Marvel Universe. Pencils by Kirby, inks by Art Thibert. [Black Panther & Falcon TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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who is also the richest man in the world.

LEE: Yeah, so the whole idea was a little bit off. I told Roy Thomas what I’d like to do with him is have Roy write the Panther so he teaches underprivileged children in the ghetto and uses his own knowledge and his own force and leadership to help these kids.

MB: How about The Falcon as a black super-hero?

LEE: Now I think we have a better chance with The Falcon. We’ve used him in three stories, then we dropped him, and I want to wait and see how the mail comes in.

I’m hoping it’ll be good and I’d like to give him his own book. I’d like to just make him a guy from the ghetto who is like Captain America or Daredevil. No great super-power, but athletic and heroic. And let him fight for the cause that will benefit his own people. I would have done this years ago, but again the powers-that-be are very cautious about things and I can’t go leaping.

MB: How serious or how deep is the religious allegory in The Silver Surfer?

LEE: I think pretty unconsciously. I’m really just trying to write something kind of poetic and kind of pretty and kind of mystical sounding. I think you can read a lot into it. In fact, when I discussed the character with John Buscema before he started drawing the book, John said: “Well, how do you want me to think of him? You know, what kind of guy?” And I said: “The closer you come to Jesus Christ, the better.” He has that kind of a personality. He’s almost totally good, unlike most of our heroes, and I’m enjoying doing The Silver Surfer.

MB: But why “Surfer”?

LEE: Actually, we’re stuck with the name, because when he first appeared, he appeared as an incidental character in a Fantastic Four story. Jack Kirby just threw him in— I think the name was Jack’s—and called him The Silver Well, At Least There’s No Sex… Surfer. I thought it sounded good and used him. Had I One of the most notorious latter-day examples of violence in Marvel Comics, of course, is known that we would end up doing with him what we’re the 2007 death of Captain America. Golden Age Timely bullpen artist Allen Bellman did his doing today, I would have taken more pains to get a name own irreverent take on that event, as seen at recent comics conventions—black-&-white, that was more applicable. But actually, nobody else seems with red on the oversize bullet and the villain’s mask. See p. 35 for Allen’s commissions ad. to mind the name. It’s easy to remember and it’s almost a [Captain America TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] put-on. And I haven’t had any complaints about it.

[NOTE: As I’ve written before, Ye Editor, who was in in the jaw really violent as we do it. Even there it isn’t a normal punch the Marvel offices the day Kirby’s pencils for FF #48 came in, is in the jaw. It’s usually one invincible human being hitting an indestrucnearly 100% certain that the name Jack gave the character in his tible creature of some sort. You don’t even get the feeling anyone’s jaw margin notes was simply “The Surfer,” and that it was Stan who is getting broken as it might happen in real life. It’s all so totally fictichristened him “The Silver Surfer.” —Roy.] tious and so totally fanciful that it isn’t what my conception is of violence. I would call it exciting and fast-moving and imaginative. But I MB: My walls and ceiling are papered with Marvel Comics covers, really wouldn’t call it violent. and one cat came in one day and said, “This is the most violent wall I’ve ever seen!” What about violence in Marvel Comics?

MB: How do you feel about the gory publications that exploit violence? Those where you see spikes through young girls and blood LEE: I don’t know. What the hell is violence? I don’t think our books spurting all over? are violent at all. I think our books are the exact opposite of violence. I don’t like to say this because it’s become a cliché by now, but real life is LEE: Well, that’s what killed comics years ago. We don’t do anything violent. I mean crime, Vietnam, poverty, and bigotry are violent. like that. It doesn’t particularly bother me. I think it’s in bad taste.

There’s nothing violent in our books: good guys trying to save the There’s so much to be said and there’s so many ideas to be brought world from bad guys. If somebody punches somebody in a story, we forth that you just don’t need all that gruesome stuff. And you don’t throw it in because the kids wouldn’t buy the book unless we did. need all the dirty stuff. It almost dilutes the message. Nothing wrong Frankly, it’s our concession to the younger readers. There has to be a with good horror stories, but you just don’t need the things that are in fight scene somewhere. Just like you’re not going to get any young kids such bad taste that you don’t even appreciate that maybe the story was to go to a Western movie unless there’s one or two shootings. But good beyond that. compared to the problems of the world today, I don’t consider a punch

Stan Lee, The Marvel Bard

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War On The Home Front Two master artists at work! John Romita’s cover sketch for Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #110 (May 1973)—and John Severin’s finished cover. Thanks to Anthony Snyder for the former. Photo of JS from 1969 FF Annual. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

MB: Do you feel that you romanticize war in Sgt. Fury?

LEE: It is possible. I haven’t written Sgt. Fury for years now. I wrote the first few. And in the beginning I did not try to make war look glamorous at all. I don’t think the people who are writing the book now are trying to make war look glamorous. But, of course, it can always come across that way. It’s not our intention. If it does come across that way, it means we’ve slipped. We are certainly not pro-war, not pro any kind of war. And we try, even in those books, to point out little morals. We try to speak out against bigotry and other things. But any story you do that’s a war story, no matter how carefully you do it, it’s going to seem as if you’re romanticizing war. Maybe if we did nothing but that one book and took the greatest care and spent a whole month creating a plot and making sure we plugged all the loopholes, we could let the book stand as a tremendous indictment. But in order to make the book an indictment against war and to make it as horrible as it would have to be, we wouldn’t be able to get past the Code office.

Because we’d have to show the horrors of war. So we’re kind-of stuck there. We can’t show violent deaths or anything like that. And Sgt. Fury is just something we publish and some people buy it and I don’t

Hero Is As Hero Does Marvel may call them super-heroes—but sometimes it’s hard for the general public to tell if they’re heroes or villains! A major case in point, especially in the early days, was the oft-rampaging Hulk, seen here in a cover sketch by John Romita. For a cover of The Incredible Hulk? The Amazing Spider-Man? Other? Does it really matter? As Jack Kirby used to say: “Don’t ask! Just buy it!” Thanks to Anthony Snyder. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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think it’s really doing any harm.

And I try not to think about it too much.

MB: Another thing I’ve noticed that might explain Marvel’s kind of appeal is all our contemporary fears of annihilation, from one thing or another.

Almost every month your world is about to be destroyed, or at least it’s in peril some way. But we always know it’s going to be saved and thus tension is relieved. Except that we know in real life there’s no super-hero to save us.

LEE: Well, I think we all like to think that there are super-heroes in real life. I think we all wanted to think that John Kennedy was a super-hero. Franklin Roosevelt before him. Maybe Bobby Kennedy. For a short time we hoped that [Senator Joseph] McCarthy would be a super-hero. I think that the human race needs super-heroes, and whether they’re fictional or not—obviously a real live one would be more satisfactory—I think if we don’t have them, we’re almost forced to create them. Because I think we’re all consciously or unconsciously aware that the problems that beset us are just too big and too grave to be solved by ourselves. And we can either throw up our hands and figure that nothing is going to help, or we can figure that somehow somewhere someone knows more than we.

MB: What’s the power of comic books?

LEE: Your guess is as good as mine. That’s the thing, the one thing I’m not an authority about, is anything that happens after the book leaves this office. It’s the power of anything that influences the people who read it. Human beings are influenced by everything they see, hear, touch, taste, smell. We sell about 60,000,000 copies a year. And if millions of kids and adults read these books every year, then they must have some power to influence them, to shape their thoughts a little bit. It’s like saying what’s the power of movies, or what’s the power of anything.

Putting On Ayers One of Marvel’s mid-’60s mainstays—as penciler of “The Human Torch” and Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos—was Darlin’ Dick Ayers (photo from Marvel Tales Annual #1, 1964). He was perhaps even more important as the first guy who inked more than two issues in a row of Fantastic Four, starting with #6. Here’s his own re-creation of The Incredible Hulk and The Thing from the Kirby/Ayers cover of FF #12 (March 1963), done as a commission for collector Arnie Grieves.

[Heroes TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

MB: But you do have this fanciful medium which would be perfect for moralizing.

LEE: I try to moralize as much as possible. I’m always a little nervous and hope I’m not overdoing it and turning people off. But maybe I’m naturally half a preacher at heart. I find I enjoy it. And it’s funny, because it seems that people enjoy it. Like I used one phrase in a Fantastic Four story once: “In all the universe there is only being who is all powerful.” Somebody was talking about this all-powerful character having a great weapon. And I think it was The Watcher answered by saying there is only one who is truly all-powerful and his greatest power is love. I must have gotten 500,000,000 letters about that, saying how great that was and how it brought a tear to their eye and a lump to their throat and why isn’t there more of that stuff in the comics. I may become the Lawrence Welk or, more probably, the Billy Graham of the comic book business.

MB: Can you think of particular elements that mark Marvel comics more than typical escape literature? I suppose it’s all these things we’ve been talking about.

LEE: Well, I hope it is. And if it is, I would think—in music you might call it soul. [When asked about the new wave of undergorund comix:] I know there are reasons why these things are done. But I think what a damn shame it is that all that talent isn’t used on something that doesn’t have to be quite so vulgar, which is the only word for it. I sometimes think, as with the underground newspapers, too, that they very often use vulgarity in place of quality, in place of something meaningful. And I know it is all done for the shock value and there are millions of reasons. But I know that after the first flush of the underground surge is over, then I think these papers and these strips will begin to take their rightful place and really show the talent that’s behind them, which I think is kind-of hard to find in many cases now.

MB: How big a business is Marvel Comics?

LEE: Well, our subscriptions are high, and we lose money on them. It costs too much to process them and mail them out. As far as how big it is, as I say, we sell about 60,000,000 copies a year, and that’s pretty big.

Stan Lee, The Marvel Bard

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“Each Day I Get a New Idea Or Somebody Has A New Suggestion” One early-’70s example of how a new idea might come from anywhere was Brother Voodoo. One day in 1973, at a time when Marvel was expanding rapidly in the area of monster-heroes, once the Comics Code had lifted its ban on vampires, werewolves, and other horror-derived stocks in trade, editor-in-chief Roy Thomas popped his head into publisher Stan Lee’s office to suggest they launch a character called Dr. Voodoo. Roy’d made up a character by that name as a teenager (not knowing there’d once been a Fawcett hero with that monicker). Stan altered it to Brother Voodoo, and the concept was turned over to writer Len Wein and penciler Gene Colan, with a costume designed by John Romita. BV didn’t last all that long in his own series in Strange Tales, but has popped up off and on ever since. At left is the cover art for ST #170 (Sept.

1973, the second Brother Voodoo issue), penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Dick Giordano—repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Anthony Snyder. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Pot Pete. It was great, and it didn’t take itself seriously. It was all tongue-in-cheek. Whoever had a Paste Gun? But the older readers loved it and the little kids—it wasn’t dramatic enough for them. So, we’re still a business. It doesn’t do us any good to put out stuff we like if the books don’t sell. And The Trapster attracted the younger kids, sounded more dramatic. I don’t like it as much. We had a story once in Fantastic Four called “The Impossible Man.” He was a funny little guy from the Planet Poppup, and he could do anything. He could turn himself into a buzz saw, and he gave the FF one of their hardest fights. And I loved him, and he was humorous and really far out, and the older readers were crazy about him. And that was the worstselling Fantastic Four we’ve ever had. Because he was too unusual and too frivolous for the very young kids, and it made me realize, unfortunately, that I can’t get too far out on these stories, or we just don’t sell enough copies.

MB: The second objection was that he accused you of selling out to kids.

LEE: Well, I try not to. But I would gain nothing by not doing the things to reach the kids, because I would lose my job and we’d go out of business.

MB: What age figures are your major consumers?

MB: So where are you now heading?

LEE: Rough guess: about 60% of our readers are under 16 and about 40% are over 16. We have an adult audience of a magnitude that comics have never had before. I’ve lectured at a dozen colleges. And I’ve been invited to over a hundred colleges, but I just didn’t have. the time to go.

And I don’t say that every college is hipped to Marvel. But in every college there is a nucleus of students who are big Marvel buffs, which is great.

LEE: I don’t know where we’re heading. Each day I get a new idea or somebody has a new suggestion. We have trouble just keeping our balance and meeting all our deadlines. It’s a mad scramble. I’m sitting here looking, I imagine, rather relaxed now. But you’ve no idea. It’s just panic all day long. We don’t know from day to day what we’re gonna do tomorrow. It’s just whatever hits us. I would like to think we could come up with a million new ideas. I hate to sit still. And we have been sitting still too long. The only reason we’re putting out these kids’ books and things like that right now is that business has gotten a little soft. There’s a little bit of a slump, and those are a little more inexpensive to put out. So it brings the whole overhead down a little by turning those out and enables us to continue the good stuff.

MB: Before I came, I interviewed a Marvel freak, who had been a Marvel freak at Berkeley. And he’s become very disillusioned with you lately and says that a lot of the Berkeley radicals who first went into Marvel Comics are becoming very disillusioned for several reasons. For one, he thinks you’ve lost the simplicity that you had at one time, that you’ve become so complex you’re taking yourself too seriously. And he mentioned like The Sandman changing from the polo shirt to a more exotic outfit. And Paste-Pot Pete no longer the sort of funny character he was, but now The Trapster. He figures they’ve lost the easy identification.

LEE: Well, it’s a funny thing. We only did that last for one reason. We didn’t sell enough copies when we used Paste-Pot Pete. I made up the name and loved it. I thought: there’s never been a villain called Paste-

MB: I’ve asked you where you’re heading. So, where have you been? What do you feel you have achieved as an artist in your career? The most satisfying aspect?

LEE: I don’t know. I guess maybe the single most satisfying thing may be that I’ve been somewhat responsible for elevating—I hope I’ve been—for elevating comics a little and taking them out of the realm of reading matter that was deemed to be just for little kids. And making comics reach the point where somebody like you would be inter-

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Interview Conducted By Mike Bourne, 1970

viewing me about it. I think that’s a hell of an accomplishment.

Because it wasn’t an easy thing to do. I think there’s probably a lot more I could have done and I hope I’ll live long enough to do a lot more. I don’t think I’ve really done that much. This is like the guy on the moon: it’s a first step.

MB: Obviously you have lifted a popular diversion to not only a major business but also a very widespread influential art form. But what is the legacy of Stan Lee? LEE: I don’t know. The only thing that bothers me about the question is that it makes it sound like the story is over. I have a couple of more years to go. A lot of people think I’ve started a certain style of writing, and when new writers come up here they say, “I think I could write in your style.” I don’t know what the hell my style is. I think I write in a lot of different styles, depending upon what book I’m writing. And, you see, there’s another funny thing: people lose interest very quickly the minute something becomes too successful. People look for something new. And I think we’re entering a phase where we’ve got to start coming up with new things. Because, otherwise, Marvel’s had it. I mean, there was a time that it was very clever and very “in” to discover Marvel. Now everybody knows about Marvel, so now people are looking for something else to discover. I would like to keep moving with that crest, but in a slightly different area for them to keep discovering us.

So I don’t think we can ever stop. I hope we’ll have all kinds of surprises for you in the next year or two, next time you come And just as I packed up my recorder, a plot crisis with Roy Thomas sent Smilin’ Stan once again into the search for our future Marvels.

The WHO’S WHO of American Comic Books (1928-1999) FREE – online searchable database – FREE http://www.bailsprojects.com No password required

Evil-Doers Can't Get Far Enough Away From This "Madding Crowd" This pencil sketch by Jack Kirby has been printed before—though not (if memory serves) in Alter Ego—and we couldn't resist using it here!

For whatever reason it was drawn, it depicts the mightiest heroes of Marvel's first decade, a super-human pyramid with most folks held aloft by (a very unfinished) Sub-Mariner—who in turn is supported by one finger each of the Thing and the Hulk. We kinda wonder if the roughly penciled figure at bottom center wasn't at one time meant to be Stan Lee—though it could almost as easily have been a self-portrait of Jack himself! Thanks to David G. Hamilton. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

A quarter of a million records, covering the careers of people who have contributed to original comic books in the US. Created by Jerry G. Bails Dr. Doom—the ultimate Marvel malefactor—a commission pencil illo by veteran artist Mike Grell.

Thanks to Gerry Acerno.

[Dr. Doom TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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36

Stan Lee: 1974 Re-Presenting A Classic Conversation With Marvel’s Master From Comics Feature Magazine Interview Conducted by Jay Maeder A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: Comics Feature was a professional magazine published for several years by the fabled Schuster brothers, Hal and Jack. Richard Howell and Carole Kalish, among others, cut their eyeteeth doing interviews for it, and even Ye Ed did a series for it for a time, since they’d let him write about anything he wanted to write about. This is one of several neglected Stan Lee interviews located for this issue by collector and archivist Barry Pearl, who contacted interviewer Jay Maeder. It is reprinted by permission—for which we thank Jay profusely. For his part, Barry says that the only thanks he wants for all his work on behalf Alter Ego #74 is to be recognized at last in print as an “FFF”—which stands, in the 1960s lingo of the Merry Marvel Marching Society, for “Fearless Front Facer.” You have now been duly recognized, Barry—please accept our sincerest gratitude for your Herculean efforts. Now on with the interview, in which Jay Maeder’s questions and comments were rendered in italics, with Stan’s responses in Arabic script—like so!….

T

here are probably worse things to be than the wildly celebrated king of the comics. I imagine you rather enjoy being Stan Lee.

And I must say I’m very happy that this has happened. It’s like achieving one of my goals, because I remember I wrote an editorial, it must have been a good fifteen years ago, and I said one of our main objectives would be bringing some additional measure of respect to comics, that I would consider myself and our company successful if we found a way before we were through this vale of tears to elevate comics in the minds of the public. So that if somebody said, I write comics, or I draw for comics, people would say, “Hey, really? Tell us about it.” And not say, “A grown man like you?” You know what I mean? So from that point of view I’m very happy now.

How did you get where you are?

The Uncanny Excelsior!-Man Jazzy Johnny Romita—who else?—painted the cover of Stan’s 2002 autobiography Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee, which was co-written with George Mair for Fireside Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. While Ye Editor (and others) feel the book should’ve been longer, fleshed out with more anecdotes and hard information about the comics, and profusely illustrated with Marvel images, what was presented therein was definitely the closest look ever at Stan the man (small “m”). The book revealed far more about Stanley Martin Lieber’s personal life than had any previous article or interview or unauthorized volume, and included numerous private photos (few of which are reprinted in this issue of A/E)—and that alone would make it a “must” for the bookshelf of anyone interested in the history of comic books.

[Cover ©2007 Stan Lee & George Mair; super-heroes thereon TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

It wasn’t always this way, I must admit.

In the first fifteen years or so that I was the head writer and editor at Timely and Atlas, I remember, my wife and I would go to cocktail parties and somebody would say, “What do you do?” and I’d say, “Oh, I’m a writer.” “Really? What do you write?” And I’d start getting a little nervous and I’d say, “Uh, magazine stories.” “Really? What magazine?” And I knew there was no way of avoiding it, and I’d end up saying, “Comic books,” and suddenly the person’s expression would change… “Oh, isn’t that nice,” and they’d walk away, you know, looking for some television or radio or novelist celebrity. That’s all changed now. I go to places and I’m held up as one of the more interesting celebrities… and people go over to the playwrights, you know, and say “Hey, I want you to meet Stan Lee, he’s the head of Marvel Comics, he made up Spider-Man.”

Sheer accident. I never wanted to be a writer particularly. As a kid I joined the WPA Federal Theatre. I wanted to be an actor. But there wasn’t enough money… and I always loved advertising, and the closest I could get to it was, I found a job writing copy for a news service, and then I started writing obituaries for people who were still alive, and I was writing publicity releases for the National Jewish Tuberculosis Hospital in Denver. All of which was pretty depressing. A million things, you know. I was an office boy for a trousers company, I was an usher at the Rivoli Theatre. Anyway, they had a contest at the Herald-Tribune [newspaper], an essay contest, which I won three weeks running, and whoever the editor was at the time called me and asked me to stop entering the contest.

And he asked me what I intended to be.

I was just out of high school, you know, and I said, well, I don’t know, an advertising man or an actor or a lawyer or something, and he said why don’t you be a writer?

Coincidentally, I learned of a job that was opening up at Timely Comics. They needed a gofer. Timely Comics then had Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and they had just sort-of created Captain America, and they were doing “The Human Torch” and “Sub-Mariner,” and I came in, and before I knew it, they had me writing “Captain America” and

Stan Lee: 1974

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Those Were The Days, My Friend (Left:) When Stan went to work for Timely Comics in 1941, Captain America was just under way and the company’s flagship title was Marvel Mystery Comics, starring “Human Torch” and “Sub-Mariner.” Marvel is currently reprinting the early issues of both mags, as well as Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and other key titles—so we figured we’d toss in a design illustration a few years back by Sal Buscema (penciler) and Tim Townsend (inker) for a Universal theme park sculpture featuring Timely stars Torch, Namor, Cap & Bucky, The Vision, Miss America, The Angel, The Whizzer, and The Destroyer. The latter, incidentally, was the first major hero co-created by young Stan Lee. Repro’d from an image in a 2004 Heritage Comics catalog. Photo of Sal Buscema from 1969 FF Annual.

(Above:) These “Human Torch” panels ran in Marvel Mystery #32 (June 1942)—one of the last stories signed by creator Carl Burgos (photo below courtesy of daughter Susan) before he went into military service for the duration of World War II. Later-’40s “Sub-Mariner” art by Namor’s creator, Bill Everett, can be seen on p. 8. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

they had me doing some editing. Shortly thereafter, Joe and Jack left, and I was like the only guy there and the publisher asked me if I could fill in as editor until he found someone else. And he never found anyone and I’ve been there ever since.

I never thought of it as a permanent job. I never particularly wanted to be in the comic book business and I always figured, hey, this is great, I’ll stay here a year or two or three until I make some money and then I’ll write the Great American Novel. And for years and years I stayed in the job, never thinking of it as my permanent career. For years this went on. And I was too dumb to realize, hey, this is what you’re doing, Stan, this is it. I always had this feeling of temporariness.

And business got bad and we had to fire a lot of people… I was left with a skeleton crew, which consisted mostly of me. And we were living at Timely under the conditions where every few years there was a new trend. We’d be very big in Westerns and suddenly the Western field dried up and we had to find a new trend, and we’d be doing a lot of super-heroes and then there was a lack of interest in super-heroes so we had to find a new trend… and we’d do romances or mysteries or funny animals. Whatever. And there was no… I mean, I’d write one as well, or as badly, as another. It never made a difference to me what type of thing we were doing. The [Comics] Code was no problem to me. We never put out books that I felt were too violent or objectionable. They certainly weren’t sexy. I never had trouble putting out books that would be acceptable to whoever had to accept them. So when this period came around, it was just like another new trend. Okay, we’ve got to drop the so-called horror stories and now we’ve go to find something else to do. And we did. We came out with… I don’t even remember what we came out with, but I assume we found something.

The whole Atlas thing… this was not the greatest period the comics have ever known…

Yeah.

Atlas is into the journey into unknown world thing, you know, you and Kirby and Ditko are doing variations on the Japanese monster film, Fin Fang Foom and all this… and somewhere in here you start dreaming about a whole different approach, and what I’m asking is this: was this an accidental thing or did you guys sit down and very deliberately create a revolution. [NOTE: Actually, Maeder is referring to the post-Atlas period of the late 1950s and very early ’60s. —Roy.] Both. It was accidental and I did it deliberately. What happened was, like I say, I’d been thinking it was a temporary job, you know, I’m waiting till I’ve saved up enough money so I can quit and go do something else. And my wife said to me one day, “Stan, when are you gonna realize this is permanent? And instead of looking to do something sensational in some other field, why don’t you make something sensational about what you’re doing? I mean, you’re writing, you are creating… do something really good.”

Well, of course, up until then I had always done mostly what the publisher wanted. As you mentioned, it was not a glorious period for the comics. Certainly not for our company. And our publisher, who also published other types of books—movie books and crossword puzzle books and so on, the slicks—by this time he had left the comics pretty much in my hands. He didn’t have any tremendous interest.

They weren’t doing all that well and he wasn’t that much concerned, I suspect. And coincidentally my publisher walks in one day and he says, “You know, Stan, I just realized, I was looking at some sales figures, and I see that National Comics’ Justice League seems to be selling pretty good. That’s a bunch of super-heroes, Stan, maybe we ought to form a team of super-heroes. Maybe there’s a market for that now.”

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“Every Few Years There’d Be A New Trend” Stan’s point can be illustrated through the work of one artist—Syd Shores, for years a Timely mainstay, seen at top left in an overexposed photo printed in the early1970s Canadian fanzine The Satirists, surrounded by several decades of his art. (Clockwise from above:) When Simon & Kirby left Timely after doing the first ten issues of Captain America Comics, issue #11 (Feb. 1942) was penciled by Al Avison and inked by Shores—who’d soon become Cap’s major penciler for the rest of the 1940s.

When it was briefly thought super-heroines might save the industry, Syd became the primary artist of Blonde Phantom, as per this panel from #14 (Summer 1947).

Thanks to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.

Syd also acquitted himself well, though rarely, in the burgeoning arena of horror comics, as seen in this splash page from Astonishing #16 (Aug. 1952).

Thanks to Jay Kinney & Frank Motler.

Of course, Shores also did Westerns and other genres during the 1950s— including Crusaderera derring-do in Black Knight #5 (April 1956).

When he returned to Marvel in the late ’60s, Syd Shores again inked Captain America—but he liked best when he could do full art, as per the cover of Gunhawks #2 (Dec. 1972). By this time, though, Stan and Marvel had staked out their claim as the industry leaders based on their super-heroes.

[All art in this montage ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Stan Lee: 1974

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take these super-powered characters and in some way to make them realistic and human. To have them react the way normal men might react if those normal men happened to have super-hero powers.

And then I carried it forth with Spider-Man. So he’s got the proportionate power of a spider, or whatever. Isn’t it still conceivable that he might have halitosis or fallen arches or dandruff or acne? Mightn’t he have problems with money?

Does it follow that just because he’s Spider-Man all the girls are gonna love him?

I tried to figure how many fallible features I could give Spider-Man. Almost all of our characters. Iron Man with his weak heart, and the fact that he’s a munitions maker and a

One Heck Of An Artist Another Marvel mainstay for some years was Dashin’ Don Heck, who was more at home drawing other genres, such as Westerns, than super-heroes— though his early “Iron Man” and Avengers held their own with the work of Kirby and Ditko. Photo from 1969 FF Annual.

(Above:) Splash page of a back-up story drawn by Don Heck and written

by Stan Lee, from Rawhide Kid #21 (April 1961), half a year before FF #1 would send both Stan and the company off into a bold new direction.

Thanks to Don Mangus for black-&-white proofs.

(Above right:) Though the Silver Age Vision came along after Don had stopped drawing The Avengers, he didn’t mind sketching this head of Vizh for a fan (whose name we have, alas, misplaced). [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

So all three things came together: my wife telling me why don’t you do something good, the fact that I was able to do almost anything because the publisher wasn’t that much on top of what we were doing, and the fact that he wanted a super-hero team.

So I figured okay, I’ll do it as I’ve always done it, I will do as he says and give him a super-hero team. Only this time I’m going to make it totally different from anything before. As different as I could make it. I figured, I’m sick of stories where the hero always wins and he’s always 100% good and the villain is 100% bad and all that sort of thing. So I figured, this time I’m going to get a team of characters who don’t hew to the mold. Fighting amongst themselves… the Torch wants to quit because he’s not making enough money. The Thing wants to get out because he’s not getting enough glory and he thinks Reed Richards is hogging all the headlines. Occasionally a crook gets away or beats them up. They’re evicted from their skyscraper because they can’t pay the rent because Reed Richards invests all their reward money in stocks and the market takes a nosedive… I tried to do everything I could to

Blowing Their Cover Compare this version of the cover of The Fantastic Four #2 (Jan. 1962) with the cover as printed, and you’ll find the text is somewhat different. At the last minute, Stan—or more likely publisher Martin Goodman—decided to omit the blurbs naming the four heroes, and to eliminate the word balloons. Thanks to Will Murray for reminding us about this alternate cover, which actually got printed in the Marvel Masterworks hardcover of FF #1-10 in 1987, in place of the real McCover. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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capitalist and people hate him and think he’s a fascist. And Captain America, who felt he was an anachronism because here he is a big patriotic figure at a time when patriotism really isn’t in vogue…

And I suddenly realized I was enjoying what I was doing. I could have been writing movies: I was worrying about characterization, I was worrying about dialogue…

When I wrote Thor I had him speaking in a semi-Shakespearean manner. Everybody told me I was crazy. They told me that no little kid is going to read stories whose characters say thing like “Get thee hence, varlet!” And I said the hell they won’t. Well, Thor became one of our most popular characters, and I used to get letters from college kids who’d say I’ve been reading Thor and I’ve just noticed that you’re actually writing in blank verse, the meter is perfect, it scans, and they started discussing it in class and so forth… and I’d get letters from kids who were doing term papers on the origins of Dr. Strange’s incantations and they’d say, “Well, it’s obvious from my research that you’re basing this on old Druid writings.” Which was nice to know, considering I’d never read old Druid writings… So I felt I was doing things that hadn’t been done before. I was able to get away with it because nobody was really paying very much attention.

“This Would Be Great For Captain America” Stan said in 1974 that he never thinks in the above terms—nor, apparently, had he felt that way about these two panels penciled by John Buscema, which had been deleted from Captain America #115 (June 1969).

Why? No doubt because of a story point—it sure couldn’t be because of the quality of the work! Reportedly, one of the panels which replaced these in that issue is a very early drawing by John’s kid brother Sal, then just starting out as a pro. We think it was collector Rich Donnelly who sent us these photocopies along with that info—but if it wasn’t, then we owe some poor neglected soul a copy of this issue of A/E, along with our abject apologies. Photo of John Buscema from 1969 FF Annual. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

I tried to introduce style. Heretofore, nearly all the stories had been done, ours and the competition’s, in the same style… the caption would say “therefore” or “the next day” or “meanwhile”… that was the extent of the captions. I tried to write captions that said something. I tried to develop an informal, breezy method of communicating with the reader. We inaugurated the Bullpen Bulletins Page, kind of a club page, where we brought the reader into our little circle and made him a friend rather than just a fan or a reader…

Your instincts are in advertising and promotion…

Funny you should say that, I was just thinking about that the other night. Thinking back, the whole thing was treated like an advertising campaign. The catch phrases, like “Make Mine Marvel” and “Face Front” and “Excelsior”… I did it unconsciously, but it all was in the direction as though, I guess, as though I was building a product. I wanted to make Marvel Comics a product that people… would love.

It probably has a lot to do with the general frame of mind of the industry in that doldrums period… because, you know, you’re telling me that your wife is saying to you, well… look, Stan, how come you don’t try to do something good. Because the implication here is that this is something that just never occurred to you.

Well, that’s right. See, I was always thinking that the good things I did would be done outside of comics. Because what the hell good can you do in comics? You know.

So if I’d get an idea for a story, I’d never say this would be great for Captain America, I’d say, hey, wouldn’t this make a great movie, I’m

gonna make a lot on it. Someday when I have a chance I’ll do a screenplay. So finally she said do something good in comics. And that really had not occurred to me.

Luckily and coincidentally, it began to happen at a period of time when a spirit of informality was pervading society…

Yeah, Marvel did to comics, I think, pretty much what the Beatles did to music, and of course we’re talking about approximately the same period of time. It was a pretty creative period in general. You must have felt really swollen with fertility.

Yeah. It’s true. It was a very exciting period. And the best thing about it, it hasn’t ended. I think I have the same feeling of excitement at this moment that I had fifteen years ago.

Just how much have things changed? What are your current readers expecting from Marvel?

They’re expecting us to be in the forefront. If there are innovations they expect Marvel to come up with them. We try not to let them down… I think there’s a feeling of quality. We’ve sort-of become known as the Rolls-Royce of the comic book industry. They expect our artwork to be a little better, our stories to be a little better… I don’t know that we always succeed, but we’re surely always trying.

The change in our position now… the only problem is our own success has made it difficult to continue the way we’re going, because we’re putting out so many books… And a lot of it is a personal

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Who is your market? Who reads Marvel?

Our market is not the same as our competition’s. There are books for younger kids, like the Archie group and the Harvey group… Our closest competition, the DC line, has pretty much our market, but I don’t believe, and they might deny this, I can’t speak for them—I think we have far and away the largest older audience, and by older I mean of college age and in many cases older than college age. I do a lot of lecturing on campuses, probably a minimum of twice a month, and I usually lecture to very large and enthusiastic audiences. In fact, I would say I’m probably one of the most in-demand college lecturers today.

The incredible thing about it is here we are one form of media that not only seems to appeal to older people, but we still have as many younger readers as any other comic book group, if not more. We seem to have luckily found the way to produce a product that can be enthusiastically enjoyed by kids from the age of six to twelve and also enjoyed and appreciated by one of the most sophisticated and hardestto-please groups in the world, which is the high school and college kids. So I’m very proud of that. I would think that’s one of our biggest successes.

Why Should Marvel Fight “Brand Echh”—When It Could Fight Itself?

And the Hulk fought everybody, sooner or later! This recent commission drawing by longtime Incredible Hulk artist Herb Trimpe was done for Dominique Léonard. Photo of HT from 1969 FF Annual. [Hulk & Captain America TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

problem of mine: it’s hard for me to turn down… if we have an idea for a book that I think is good, it’s hard for me to say, well, look, we don’t have the time to do it, we don’t have enough men to do it, let’s forget it. Because I figure, no, it’s a good idea, and the time is right, we’ll find a way to do it, we’ll get another artist… And we have such a tremendous workload now that, unlike other people in other fields, our problems are never knowing what to do. We know the stories to do, we know the artwork we should be using, we know what the reader wants.

We never have the problem of, my God, what if they stop liking our stories, what if we’re doing the wrong things… We think we know the right thing to do, but it’s hard to find the time to do it.

And this is a recurring criticism of the Marvel Group is some segments of the fan press. That it spreads itself too thin.

And they’re right. But for every one that criticizes us for that, there are fifty others who say, why don’t you guys put out more sciencefiction, why don’t you guys give us more… anything, you know. And we always try to satisfy them and we always try to satisfy our own enthusiasm.

What we should do as we add new books is drop old ones, but from a business point of view, even our worst-selling books are making fairly good money. And you simply cannot drop a property that is making money, when other companies are just looking for anything that will show a profit.

Taking Out A Contract On Cap This 1974 interview was obviously conducted near the end of the year, since it was in late summer that Roy Thomas stepped down as Marvel’s editor-in-chief after two-plus tumultuous years, as mentioned on the next page. Among the first things he would do under his new writer/editor contract would be to develop The Invaders, a vehicle for new World War II tales of Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner, with penciling by Frank Robbins and inks first

by Vince Colletta, then by Frank Springer. The first ten of those tales are available in the 2007 trade paperback Invaders Classic, Vol. 1—so here’s a fine 2006 sketch of the ol’ shield-slinger by Fabulous Frank Springer, courtesy of Dominique Léonard. [Captain America TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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going to still be an editor, he’ll still edit the books he’s doing. And he’ll be editor emeritus, so to speak.

Well, I don’t want to sound smug. Sure, I have great feelings of satisfaction, but there’s a lot that I think we’re doing wrong. I’ve been trapped into, as I say, I think I made a mistake somewhere by having so many books, and I don’t know what the answer is to that. It’s frustrating.

I don’t have time to personally supervise every one the way I did years ago. You remember I told you this company published other magazines as well, the slicks—well, I’ve been made publisher of those, too. I don’t have a minute to turn around. And I wish there were more hours in the day, because some things aren’t being handled as meticulous as I would like to do them…

And I felt also, maybe it is better for me to get back into this as much as possible, because Marvel in the beginning had been so much a— well, I don’t want to say a one-man operation, but… I just think maybe it’s easier if I’m a little closer on top of everything.

And I have a feeling I’ve said this wrong and I’m going to hate the way you write it.

Well, corporation politics are interesting… I’m not sure to what extent, though, that…

Which brings us to something that is bound to be a fairly big item in the fan press. A couple of years back you moved out of the editor’s chair, and it was widely believed at the time that Roy Thomas was your heir apparent.

Please don’t make it sound like I’m knocking the corporation.

Yeah, I understand that you’re not. I think we’re going to need to deal bluntly with the circumstances of the resignation. Was it entirely voluntary on his part?

Yeah.

He isn’t in that editor’s chair anymore, and apparently you will be devoting more of your energies to the day-to-day editorial product, more so than you have been in the last couple of years.

Right.

What’s going on up there?

It’s A Thor Point…

Stan mentions that a story in the fan press said he didn’t like a particular issue of Thor that he glanced at—so it behooves Roy, who remembers that incident well, to fill in the details. What happened was this: Stan read the first page or so of an issue scripted by Gerry Conway, his successor on Thor, and felt it was “too quiet.” Not badly written—just unexciting.

Spotting Gerry in the hall, he called him into his office and talked to him about it—with the result that Gerry at once announced to editor-in-chief Roy that he was quitting the mag. Roy talked him out of it, then explained to Stan that, while he might’ve been right about that splash page, it could cause problems when Marvel’s publisher (and major creative force) hadn’t spoken with a writer or artist for months, then abruptly summoned him in to criticize something. Roy suggested that, in the future, such things be handled through himself as buffer—Stan felt that made sense—and that was that. End of story.

I think it was, yes. I mean, Roy and I are very friendly. He’s going to be working exclusively for us.

It’s just… he’ll be able to devote himself purely to the creative end.

He’ll not have to be bothered with all the matters of company policy, you know, at the business level.

Because it’s been common rumor in the fan press for a while that Lee simply hasn’t been very happy with the directions the line had taken. The thing with, you know, there was a story about Stan Lee picking up a copy of Thor after not having seen it for months, and…

Well. Roy… who I think is just one of the most talented guys that… we have been so lucky to have had him all of these years… he’s made it possible for me to go on to Except that, for the life of him, Roy can’t figure out which splash page of Thor that was—almost certainly not the one depicted above, from somewhat other duties and still feel #207 (Jan. 1973). It was chosen here because, in a Halloween parade secure for the comics. But, for one scene penciled by John Buscema, Mirthful Marie Severin had penciled reason or another, Roy felt that he’d I remember [Joe] Brancatelli in caricatures of Marvel writers Steve Englehart (speaking), Gerry (in rather spend more time writing. I writing that. He wrote many things the middle), and Len Wein, plus Len’s then-wife, colorist Glynis Wein. think Roy… I don’t know how that weren’t true… you know, [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] you’re going to write this, and I you’re faced with these things, and don’t know how to word it so it will what can you do? I don’t have time to write refutations. I had picked sound right… as you move higher in the executive level here, it up a magazine, that was one instance out of thousands of instances, I’m involves getting more involved the business area. And there are certain always picking up the magazines, and I was usually always saying, hey decisions made in business that sometimes go against the grain Roy, Jesus, I just looked at the FF, what a great story, you never-told creatively but which have to be lived with. And I’m aware of these me about that plot, it’s sensational… I just picked up this, where did things, and Roy… would fight them. Quite a bit. you get this artist, he’s the best one I’ve seen… One day I picked up a And I just felt there was getting to be almost a political problem.

Not between Roy and me. But just, I felt Roy was spending—I think Roy felt this, too—he was spending so much time having to worry about conflicts between the business end and the creative end. And so forth. We sort-of decided that it might be better if Roy just… he’s

Thor and I said, hey, you know, a few of these words, the sentence structure seems to be a little bit different… I don’t even remember what I disagreed about. I said, “I have the feeling he’s a little off the track here, and I wanted to mention it”… we spoke to the writer and…

I mean, it was an absolutely nothing incident.

[Continued on p. 44]

Stan Lee: 1974

Interlude:

And Then He Said…

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O

ver the years, Stan Lee is probably the most-interviewed person in comics books—and if he isn’t, he’s certainly first runner-up. Here, courtesy of Barry Pearl, FFF, and of Dr. Jeff McLaughlin, editor of Stan Lee Conversations (University Press of Mississippi, 2007), who sent us copies of Lee interviews he hadn’t used in his book (he did print the 1968 Ted White interview, but Ted convinced Ye Editor that the volume’s more academic audience wouldn’t cross over with A/E’s), and of a few items we already had on hand, are some brief comments by Stan from out-ofprint interviews over the years:

“I’ll be lecturing at a college or doing some radio or TV interview and some guy 30 years old will say, ‘Hey, you’re Stan Lee. Jesus Christ, I’ve been reading your stuff since I was….’

And he’ll get me in a corner and ask how come The Hawk did such and such last issue.”

—from Oui magazine, March 1977—and we kinda suspect the character name Stan said was actually “Hulk,” not “Hawk”—not that the skin-mag’s editor noticed. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Stan Lee doing some serious reading. From Comics Interview #5 (July 1983).

Special thanks to David Anthony Kraft.

“I was interviewed once by a guy from Motion Picture Daily for some reason; he was a dull guy and I knew this was going to be the dullest interview in the world, so I tried to liven it up and I told him the story about [Timely’s] publisher asking me [when Joe Simon quit in 1941, when neophyte Stan was still a teenager] if I could stay here at the job until he found somebody else and he never got anybody else, and I told the guy, “But he never told me the job was steady, so as far as I know he’s still looking for somebody else,” you know, a little joke.

But when the article was written in Motion Picture Daily, it was: ‘Mr. Lee has been working at Marvel Comics since he was seventeen and his publisher is looking for another editor.’”—from interview conducted

by Delfina Rattazzi for Andy Warhol’s Interview (March 1973). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

[When asked why European adults read comics but American adults don’t:] “I think Europeans are more sophisticated than Americans, and when people are more sophisticated, they don’t need to prove their sophistication. Your average American adult would be embarrassed to be seen reading a comic book. Americans are very image-conscious, and comics are an image. A European adult isn’t that worried about his image, because he’s more secure. As soon as an American gets any money, he’s got to buy a Cadillac or a Lincoln Continental. In Europe, a wealthy person will still drive a Fiat.”

—from interview conducted by Steve Swires for Genesis (year uncertain). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

[When asked what he read as a kid:] “Actually, I read everything.

I was a voracious reader. I would read while I ate, and my mother used to say, if I didn’t have something to read, I’d be reading the labels on the ketchup bottle. I read Edgar Rice Burroughs, I read H.G. Wells, I read Mark Twain, I even read Shakespeare. I didn’t understand it when I was very young, but I loved the rhythm of the words. Even though I didn’t understand it, it seemed so dramatic and I loved it.

I read Dickens, Zola… I read Bomba the Jungle Boy, Tom Swift, Don Sturdy, The Hardy Boys… everything. Whatever was being published, I read.” —from an interview conducted by Bill Groves, in the 1990s. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

“I’m sitting minding my own business and the receptionist tells me that someone is here to see me, someone named Fellini. I said, ‘Fellini who?’ I figured she is going to say Irving Fellini. ‘Federico,’ she said. I didn’t know what the gag was, but I went along with it. I said, ‘OK, show him in.’ A minute later this guy walks in, black coat over his shoulders—no Italian director would be caught dead putting his arms in the sleeves—a big hat with a big brim, and a big cigarette holder. He had an entourage, a half dozen guys who followed him single file in descending order of height…. I couldn’t imagine why Fellini wanted to see me…. I wanted to talk about him. All he wanted to do, though, was talk about me and Marvel Comics. After a while I was sure he was going to say, ‘All right, I want you to come to Italy and write all my movies. But no, just talk; then he left.” —from the same 1977 Oui interview. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

[When asked which super-hero is his favorite:] “I’d have to say Spider-Man is my favorite, because he is the most successful.

If Joe Blow was the most successful, I’d probably say he is my favorite. Basically, I enjoyed them all when I used to write them.

Whichever one I was writing at the moment was the most fun.”

—from Celebrity Magazine, Dec. 1976. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

[When asked by interviewer and Marvel editor Jim Salicrup for the “secret of success”:] “I don’t know. It’s a funny thing. I really don’t consider myself all that much of a success. It seems that there is always something that I am trying for that eludes me. Right now, I’ve been out here [in Los Angeles] for a couple of years, but we still don’t have a movie on the screen, and so I am a little frustrated about that.

Until we have a few more successes out here, I have a ways to go before I can consider myself another Stephen Spielberg. [laughter]” —from an interview by David Anthony Kraft, Jim Salicrup, and Dan Hagen in Comics Interview #5 (July 1983). [©2007 Fictioneer Books, Ltd.] So, after three Spider-Man movies, three X-Men movies, three Blade movies, two Fantastic Four movies, etc., etc., etc.—how about it, Stan? Ready to consider yourself a success yet?

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A Classic Conversation With Marvel’s Master SPECIAL NOTE: We didn’t put out a call for Stan Lee tributes for this issue—but veteran artist Alan Kupperberg sent this visual one, so we’re happy to run it. [©2007 Alan Kupperberg; Marvel heroes TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

You see, we had so many books it was virtually becoming impossible for Roy to edit them. If you’re producing fifty books a month, how the hell can you edit them if you’re one person? There ain’t even time to read them. After a while an editor becomes almost a traffic manager. I really don’t think that editorially we had gotten off the track. And I’m not saying this politically. Don’t forget, I was always in editorial control, I was always determining what books we would put out and what the style would be. I would oversee the covers. And Roy would discuss with me any major policy changes if the storylines were going to take unusual directions.

But I left the actual editing and art direction to Roy. And I was perfectly happy, the books were absolutely in the direction I wanted them to be. Had they not been, I would have changed them. Because it’s much too important a business, and too personal a business, for me to allow the books not to be the way I feel they should be.

In any case, you’re going to be taking a firmer stance at the helm, and the question is what’s going to happen now at Marvel in ways that the Marvelite will find apparent?

[Continued from p. 42] Would it be fair to say that, inasmuch as you are planning to return to closer control of the day to day product, that there was, to one degree or another, a feeling on your part that things were off the track?

No, I just feel that it needs somebody… it probably needs one person who would be able to have the… correct overview. And I think, at the moment, I’m the logical person.

I don’t think there’s going to be much difference.

We have some very good other editors. We have Mary Wolfman who’ll be devoting himself to the black-&white books mostly. We have Len Wein, who will be devoting himself to the color comics mostly. We have John Romita, who I’m going to be working with closely.

And we still have Roy, who’s going to be writing most of our important books and who’s going to be available to consult with me just about all the time. He’ll be doing Conan, probably the Fantastic Four, Dracula… it will be his choice, whatever books he wants to do.

I’ll give him that option, certainly.

Stan Lee: 1974

45

Will you be doing any writing at all?

I would love to, but at the moment it doesn’t look as though I’m going to have time. The one book I’ve been wanting to bring back, The Silver Surfer… I keep delaying it, because it’s one character I don’t want to bring back unless I can write him myself. And… I don’t know, it looks like I just get busier and busier. There are screenplays I’m supposed to be writing, that I’ve committed myself to, and I keep putting those off because I don’t have time. And I have a feeling we’ll have to do a sequel to the book The Origin of Marvel Comics, and I don’t know when I’m going to write that.

What are Marvel’s top-selling titles today?

Spider-Man is still our biggest character.

And Conan is very big. The so-called vampire, werewolf, that particular field, whatever you call it, that’s doing well. The kung fu has done fantastically well. The beautiful thing is that the difference between our top-selling books and our just regular books isn’t very great. Virtually everything we’re doing is doing well. I have the feeling that Cadence Industries is really totally delighted with the progress of Marvel.

The success you’ve had with the vampire material is interesting in its own right, because it wasn’t so many years ago that you couldn’t produce something like that.

Do you think the Code will loosen up any more?

“To Web Or Not To Web—That Is The Question” When Esquire magazine published its celebrated piece about Marvel Comics’ popularity on college campuses (“O.K., You Passed the 2-S Test—Now You’re Smart Enough for Comic Books”) in its Sept. 1966 issue, Rick Weingroff, earlier a prominent member of organized comics fandom and editor of the fanzine Slam-Bang, was one of several college students on hand to give his assessment of Marvel. This photo-and-art combo is from a two-page montage of similar scenes. All art accompanying the piece is credited to Jack Kirby, though John Romita seems to have done some touching up on all Spidey art. [Esquire material ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Spider-Man TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Not really that much more. You know, we’re still always conscious that we’re producing a lot of books for very young kids.

I don’t see how it can loosen up much more.

But by the same token the Code has to be reasonable. If any little kid six years of age can go to movies and see pictures that are just one bloodbath after another and can watch things of that sort on television hour after hour… apparently it’s the feeling of the Code that it’s very silly not to allow even the mention of the name “vampire”… But I think that, compared to most of the other things that kids are exposed to, our books are still rather tame.

Why did Jack Kirby leave Marvel?

Oh… I don’t even know the real reason. I suspect that Jack just felt maybe like I felt after all those years, I wanted to do something different… that he wanted to do his own thing. The first few years of his career, so many things said “by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby”… I suspect he woke up one morning and said, “Gee, all these years everything has said ‘by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby,’” and he probably wanted to prove how good he is on his own.

I know we never had a fight. We got along beautifully. I have the utmost respect for his ability and I wish he’d come back.

There was talk, at the time the [DC] trilogy folded, that he was

in fact returning to Marvel.

Yes. I’d met Jack once or twice and told him I’d like to have him back and he seemed very interested. But the last time… I don’t know.

Jack is a rather personal person. He keeps things to himself. I don’t know what his plans are at this point.

What’s your competition doing that you enjoy?

I don’t want to sound like the kind of guy who isn’t up on what’s happening in the field, but I simply, in the past six months, haven’t had time to look at their books. I look at the type of books they’re putting out… the 60¢ books and the 20¢ books and so forth, but I haven’t really read anything of theirs.

And I wonder what predictions you might have on what effect the new Goodman [Atlas/Seaboard] line will have on the market.

46

A Classic Conversation With Marvel’s Master

If It Were A Golf Trophy, Stan Could Cry “Fantastic FORE!” (Left:) Stan Lee contemplates the Stan Lee Cup, which is presented each year to the winner of the Marvel-vs.-DC (or is it DC-vs.-Marvel?) softball game. Thanks for the photo go to Jim McLauchlin of Hero Initiative, the non-profit organization that gives financial help to professional comic book people in need (see p. 83).

(Above:) With all his other duties, Stan still keeps his hand in at writing at 85—both in his multi-media endeavors, and on the long-running (three decades and counting!) Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. This Sunday page for Sept. 16, 2007, features The Shocker, J. Jonah Jameson, and his current love interest, Hollywood TV journalist Maria Lopez. Pencils by Alex Saviuk, inks by Joe Sinnott. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Oh, I’d be very surprised if it has much of an effect. I think it’s reached the point where there isn’t much that can happen. We’re by far the biggest-selling company now and have been for quite a while. The only thing that could really hurt us would be ourselves. If we start slackening in our own efforts to produce good material. If we start getting careless. But it would be unlikely that any external source could affect things too much.

The last area I’d like to discuss is the economy. Publishers, like everyone else, are caught up in the inflationary spiral… just how bad are things? What is the outlook? How will Marvel deal with the problems that there are?

I think that we’re really in a pretty good position. The biggest problem, of course, is the increase in the price of paper, the price of printing. When we get a printing raise, in one fell swoop that means a quarter of a million dollars more or somewhere in that neighborhood…. But basically I think we’re in a pretty good spot. We have

our audience, we think we know what our audience wants, we seem to have the staff to provide it, and we hope that we’re bright enough and alert enough to move with the times. We’re always trying to anticipate problems. We try to build cushions into our budgets to provide for them.

I worry a little. I wonder, after a while, if the economy itself goes sour, how long people will be able to afford to spend money on the higher- and higher-priced publications, not only comics but all of them.

However, I must say that so far there seems to be no diminution of sales. And I really don’t expect that the comic book field will change that radically, because I think there’s always going to be a market for color comics. Because they’re still one of the cheapest and apparently most satisfying forms of entertainment. Luckily, even in a recession, people want to be entertained, they want to take their minds off things.

And one of the things that Marvel gives them is entertainment. Just sheer basic entertainment.

And I’m rather hoping that people will always have a quarter or a half dollar or whatever in their pockets for a few hours of entertainment.

47

Marvel Characters Meet Their Maker!

STAN LEE’s Comic Book Cameos— Together Again For The First Time!

I

Written & Compiled by Jerry K. Boyd t’s always one of those movie moments you don’t want to miss: Stan Lee making a cameo in one of the films featuring Marvel super-heroes.

And, though Hollywood filmmakers may be patting themselves on their collective backs for these niceties, the genesis of these fun-filled filmic moments had its roots in the Marvel Age of Comics several decades ago.

Stan, allied in some instances with the likes of Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Carl Burgos, Stan Goldberg, and others, wrote himself (or was included by others) into the exploits of the Fantastic Four, Sgt. Fury and the Howlers, Daredevil, and even Forbush-Man and Millie the Model! Years later, as Stan the publisher relinquished his hands-on editing, writing, and art-directing chores, he still showed up in a few mags as tokens of respect from the new kids of the ’70s.

For this still-far-from-complete compilation, we largely excluded back-up tales about story conferences (even though they were a lot of fun!) and focused on The Man and his Marvel Age characters (whom he either co-created or revamped), so the result would be akin to… scenes you might see in the movies!

Some of them you’ve doubtless seen and savored before—while others may have eluded you. But we thought this 85th-birthday issue (have a good one, Stan!) might be just the place to gather a lot of these magical moments together.

The guided “Hollywood tour” begins here… in roughly chronological order… with those colorful cameos going further back than you might’ve thought…!

Stan And Friends (Above:) As per scanner Jerry Boyd’s notes, this is a photo of “Stan Lee, surrounded by some of the Marvel characters that made the House of Ideas such a wonderful place to visit, on the cover of [the house fanzine] Marvel Age #41 (Aug. 1986).” [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Below:) Jerry couldn’t resist doing his own drawing of Stan with our Marvel-ous “maskots” Alter Ego (in foreground) and Captain Ego (bkgd.), in the company of some of the heroes that you—and Stan—will be encountering on the next few pages. Even ForbushMan found time to show up for Stan’s birthday bash! JKB intended this as a heading for this issue’s letters section, but that got squeezed out this issue, so…. [Marvel heroes TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Alter Ego TM & ©2007 Roy & Dann Thomas; Captain Ego TM & ©2007 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.]

48

Stan Lee’s Comic Book Cameos!

No, It Isn’t Stan Who’s “The Raving Maniac” —It’s The Other Guy! (Left:) This comic book editor in the above-titled story in Suspense #29 (March 1953) may or may not have been intended to be Stan— who apparently never smoked a cigarette except once as a prop on the cover of a 1947 issue of Writer’s Digest—but we’ve slipped it in anyway. Chances are that artist Joe Maneely meant it as a caricature of Stan, who in the final panel is even shown talking at home to his young daughter—at a time when his real daughter Joan Cecilia (see pp. 18-19) was about the same age. This excellent anti-censorship tale was reprinted in the 2005 hardcover Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Irma Gets Firma (Above:) Irma (as in My Friend Irma, popular 1940s-1950s radio & TV show) invades the Timely editorial offices in issue #41 of her own mag (coverdated March 1954) to see what writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Dan DeCarlo are up to in there! [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Millie And Chili Get Silly (Left:) Millie and Chili likewise drop in on Stan and Dan, in Millie the Model #77 (April 1957), where the two creators—who apparently haven’t changed their duds since 1954—are engaged in business as usual… i.e., goofing off. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Marvel Characters Meet Their Maker!

49

The Shadows Know!

(Left:) Stan and artist Steve Ditko were only seen in silhouette in the 27 equal-size panels of this story that followed the splash page in Amazing Adult Fantasy #12 (May 1962)—so does that count? See the whole story in the current omnibus volume of AAF #1-15. Repro’d from a photocopy of the original art. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Chili Con Corny (Left & above:) In Chili #3 (July 1969), Millie and her “red-headed rival” (as the mag’s topline termed her) again crash the Marvel editorial offices and beard Stans Lee and Goldberg (DeCarlo’s successor) in their Madison Avenue lair. Stan fends Chili off with gags left over from My Friend Irma. But was Stan really writing Chili by then? [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.] This eternal fan of Stan’s achievement (namely, me—Jerry K. Boyd!) always believed that the zany antics of Millie the Model at the Hanover Modeling Agency (as realized best by Lee and penciler Stan Goldberg in the late 1960s and early 1970s) would’ve made a great television sitcom. In May of 2005 I got a chance to tell Ol’ Smiley just that. He replied, “Too bad you weren’t head of a network during the years when I tried, unsuccessfully, to sell it for Marvel, Jerry!” (It figures that he was way ahead of me, but I can still hope.)

We Gave At The Office…

(Left:) Fantastic Four was naturally the first place the celebrated Lee and Kirby team made a four-color foray—starting with FF #10 (Jan. 1963). Stan and Jack confront Dr. Doom while waiting for a story conference with Reed Richards—who gets gassed by Victor Von Doom right in front of them. Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

50

Stan Lee’s Comic Book Cameos!

The Torch Is Passed—As The Torch Goes Past (Above:) The Thing and The Human Torch amble past Stan Lee and artist Carl Burgos in this final panel of the lead feature in Strange Tales #123 (Aug. 1964). Burgos, of course, created the original Human Torch for 1939’s Marvel Comics #1, the very first comic book ever published by Martin Goodman. Even Stan didn’t work for the company yet at that stage! [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Members Of The Wedding? Not Quite!

(Above:) One of the most famous comic book cameos ever—as Stan and Jack try to get into Reed and Sue Richards’ wedding reception, only to be rebuffed by the Agents of SHIELD, no less. Art by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta, from Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965). This scene— sadly, minus Jack, who passed away in 1995—was virtually repeated in the second Fantastic Four movie, last summer. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Swingin’ Stan?

(Above:) In Daredevil #29 (July 1967), Stan encounters the Man without Fear as he (DD, not Lee) swings by the Marvel offices. Penciler Gene Colan, of course, drew a more realistic approximation of the Smiling One than most.

Inks by John Tartaglione. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Secrets Behind The Comics, Version 13.0 (Above:) Stan was happy to share cameo glories with his artists—since, after all, they hadda draw the darn things. In fact, sometimes it was doubtless their idea rather than his! In Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #22 (Sept. 1965), a World War II-era Stan and Dick Ayers look on as the Howlers cross an airfield. Sergeant Stan and Corporal Dick actually did rise to those exalted ranks during the Big One—though not in the same branches of the armed services. Here we get a perhaps-fanciful glimpse of how they teamed up on Sgt. Fury in the mid-1960s. Pencils by Ayers, inks by Carl Hubbell. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Marvel Characters Meet Their Maker!

51

And Not A Sprig Of Mistletoe In Sight!

(Above:) As the fabulously successful revival of The X-Men got underway, new creators Chris Claremont (writer) and Dave Cockrum (penciler) honored the original creators Lee and Kirby in this cameo in X-Men #99 (June 1976).

Stan and Jack are walking along and just happen to see Scott Summer and Jean Grey kissing. Jerry says that Marie Severin informed him that she was asked to retouch this art somewhat. Inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Thanks to Mike Wellman for the scan. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Life’s A Beach (Above:) This is one of the most ambitious Bullpen shots ever! On the splash of Sub-Mariner #19 (Sept.1969), quite a few Marvel madmen are gathered around Namor’s unconscious form on a New York beach. This page is reprinted here from Jerry’s own copy of that issue, as personally marked up by penciler Marie Severin, who identified Stan, Bill Everett, Roy Thomas, and herself (as “me”).

But if you have trouble picking out Herb Trimpe, Jack Kirby, John Romita, Don Heck, John Verpoorten, Sol Brodsky, Stu Schwartzberg, Morrie Kuramoto, Larry Lieber, and maybe a couple of others—well, order a back issue of Comic Book Artist (Vol. 1) #7 from TwoMorrows, ’cause Jon B. Cooke ID’d them all therein.

Inks by Johnny Craig. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

When “F.F.F.” Stood For “Frantic Forbush Facer” (Right:) Stan Lee hangs out with Marvel mascot Irv Forbush (a.k.a.

Forbush-Man) in the final panels of the final story in the final issue of the company’s self-spoof title, Not Brand Echh #13 (May 1969). Script by Roy Thomas, art by Tom Sutton. Irv had been shown working in the “Mighty Marble Bullpen” in issue #5, as well, but in that story there was no Stan & Co. in sight—the place was overrun with super-heroes! [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

52

Stan Lee’s Comic Book Cameos!

A Storied Encounter (Left:) Okay, so Jerry K. broke down and included one story-conference situation, in spite of himself, but only because Col. Nick Fury himself stopped in to help Stan, Roy, Gary Friedrich (who wrote the tale), Dick Ayers (who penciled it), and John Severin (who inked it)—in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos Special #6 (1970). [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The First Hundred Issues Are The Hardest (Right:) Sgt. Fury seemed to be a place to find Stan hangin’ out over the years—maybe reminiscing about the days he wrote Army training films during WWII. In issue #100 (July 1972), The Man emcees a special celebration honoring the Howlers. Even Merry Marty Goodman made an appearance— at least from the back! Stan and Col. Fury must’ve kissed and made up after that Fantastic Four wedding fiasco! Recognize anybody else in the audience? Script by Gary Friedrich, art by Dick Ayers (p) & Mike Esposito (i). [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Marvel Characters Meet Their Maker!

53

Impossible—But (Not Even) True!

(Left:) Jack Kirby, penciler George Pérez, writer/editor Roy Thomas, and Stan work their way through a story conference in Fantastic Four #176 (Nov. 1976). See Alter Ego #50 for the story behind this sequence. This faux-Pérez panel featuring that other frantic foursome was done for a UK reprint. Artists unknown. A moment more, of course, and The Impossible Man would pop up from Planet Poppup—for the first time in twelve (real-time) years! For whatever combination of reasons, this story has been reprinted a couple of times in recent years. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“What If The Fantastic Four Were The Original Marvel Bullpen?”

(Above:) Well, they were—at least for the duration of What If? #11 (Oct. 1978), in a story scripted and penciled by Jack Kirby, with inks by Mike Royer & Bill Wray, from a concept by editor Roy Thomas. (Left to right:) Stan (“The Fantastic Man”) Lee, The Sub-Mariner, Jack (“Thing”) Kirby, Fabulously Invisible Flo Steinberg, and Sizzlin’ Sol Brodsky. This tale, too, has been reprinted a couple of times of late, in What If? Classic, Vol. 2, and the hardcover volume Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Live From New York! It’s Saturday Stan!”

(Left:) In Marvel Team-Up #74 (Oct. 1978), Smiley performed the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, while Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson found their seats in the audience. Stan is standing before the Not Ready for Prime Time players (and a few mock-up images of Thor and the Hulk)—with a closeup on the monitor suspended near Pete’s head. The script was by Chris Claremont, the art by Bob Hall & Marie Severin. SNL and the cast’s likenesses were used by permission of NBC, Inc. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The critical and financial success of the Marvel super-heroesbased movies in recent years has somewhat mirrored that of the comics of yore, so, hopefully, we should be seeing a lot more of Stan in cameos (and other Bullpenners, like Chris Claremont in the third X-Men film, wouldn’t hurt, either)! Like a lot of you, I’m looking forward to those celluloid seconds wherein Stan, as one of the gentle Western townsfolk, points to a hard-riding Rawhide Kid as he evades the town posse—or where he’s levitated to safety by Dr. Strange, shares an elevator with Thor, or just yuks it up with Millie and Chili on Project Runway!

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56

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Twice-Told Marvel Heroes!

(Part Two)

by Michael T. Gilbert

L

et’s face it. When you get right down to it, comics don’t have all that many original heroes. Mostly we have spin-offs (Superboy, Mary Marvel, and Kid Flash) or variations on a theme (super-speedsters like The Flash, Quicksilver, Mercury, Lightning, Johnny Quick, and The Whizzer).

Comic book writers often look to popular movies, comic strips, or pulp heroes for inspiration. By dipping from the same creative well, creators from different companies sometimes come up with similar super-heroes without even knowing it.

Which brings us to Stan Lee. In the 1960s, Stan co-created hundreds of heroes and villains for Marvel. Any writer that prolific is bound to re-invent the wheel on occasion. Last issue we discussed the Golden Age Daredevil, created in 1940 by Jack Cole for publisher Lev Gleason.

This time, we’re taking a look at some long-forgotten prototypes of Marvel’s most famous heroes. What better place to begin than Marvel’s first Silver Age super-hero group––The Avengers!

(Left & below:) Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s cover to the first “Iron Man” adventure in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963) looks remarkably similar to the cover to Quality’s Smash Comics #5 (Dec. 1939)! [Iron Man cover ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Bozo art © the respective copyright holders.]

Let’s begin with the Avenger known as…

Iron Man! Long before Stan and his collaborators put Tony Stark in his metallic long-johns, another Iron Man roamed the pages of Quality’s Smash Comics. This “Iron Man” was actually not a man at all—but a robot named Bozo, controlled by his mad-scientist creator, Dr. Von Thorp.

In the origin story, Von Thorp orders his robot to terrorize the city.

Unable to stop the metal monster, the cops call on the one man with the moxie to take on the case—dashing adventurer Hugh Hazzard!

(Left:) And this “Iron Man” logo from Smash #1 (August 1939) reminds us of Marvel’s cover lettering, above. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Twice-Told Marvel Heroes (Part Two)

57

(Left:) In these panels from Smash #7 (February 1940), Hugh Hazzard battles crime while hidden inside his Iron Man! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

(Above:) Tony Stark fights crime too, as depicted by Don Heck in Tales Of Suspense #40 (April 1963). [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

In short order Hugh captures Von Doom, er, Von Thorp, that is, and takes over his “Iron Man,” christening the robot “Bozo.” Hugh toasts his new pal, saying: “Instead of fighting on the side of crime, you’re now going to be its worst enemy—with Hugh Hazzard!” Grinning, Bozo happily quaffs a can of motor oil to mark the occasion.

Bozo first appeared with an August 1939 cover date, in the first issue of Quality’s Smash Comics, decades before Stan’s Iron Man made his debut in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963). By Smash’s second issue, Hugh had added a tiny propeller to his robot’s head, allowing him to fly, though not with the “transistor-powered air jets” used by his Silver Age counterpart. At first, Hugh controlled the robot by remote control, but in issue #6 he actually ran the robot from inside the metal shell, much like a Golden Age Tony Stark.

By Smash #12, the title of the feature had changed to “Bozo the Robot with Hugh Hazzard,” and later, simply “Bozo the Robot.” Quality’s Iron Man roamed the pages of Smash until issue #41 (March 1943).

“Bozo the Robot” was credited to Wayne Reid, who (according to Don Markstein’s Toonopedia website) was actually a pen name for George Brenner, creator of Quality’s masked vigilante, The Clock.

(Above:) No transistors needed for this high-flying Iron Man, as per Smash Comics #8 (March 1940). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

(Above:) Huzzah! Let’s toast the first Iron Man! (From Smash Comics #1). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

(Above:) Timely also had another mechanical man, Steve Dahlman’s “Electro,” referred to here as—Iron Man! This panel is from his origin story in Marvel Mystery Comics #4 (Aug. 1940). This red-and-gold crime-fighting Iron Man was created by Professor Philo Zog, who operated him by remote control. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

58

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

(Above:) Flexo, Timely’s Rubber Man from Mystic #1 (March 1940)—contrasted with Jack Kirby’s cover to the revamped Iron Man for Tales of Suspense #48 (Dec. 1963)—coincidentally with a similar red-and-yellow armor color scheme! (Interestingly, Jack Cole’s name for his own rather different hero around this time was also Rubber Man—but canny Quality publisher “Busy” Arnold renamed that hero Plastic Man! [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Interestingly, seven months after “Bozo the Robot” debuted, Timely cobbled together their own robot crime fighter––made out of rubber! Flexo the Rubber Man flexed his mechanical muscles in the first four issues of Mystic Comics (March to July 1940), courtesy of writer Will Harr and artist Jack Binder. He sported a red and gold body, ironically the very same colors as Marvel’s Iron Man after Stan and Steve Ditko revamped the Golden Avenger’s armor in Tales of Suspense #48 (Dec. 1963).

In case you’re wondering, “Bozo the Robot” hit the comic pages years before Alan W. Livingston created Bozo the Clown in 1946 for a series of books and records.

That Bozo also got his own comic book, in 1950!

Now to a second Avenger co-created by Stan Lee— nothing less than The Mighty Thor! But, though I had prepared my own take on that character, it turned out that fellow comics historian Will Murray had turned in a longer piece on the pre-Marvel comic book Thor a year or two back, so the Comic Crypt presents that piece as a part of our salute to Stan Lee’s 85th birthday, and how he and his artists rejuvenated (to far better effect) concepts that others had previously mined. So we now turn the floor over to our comics-reading colleague. Take it away, Will!

(Left:) Eventually, Bozo the Iron Man became simply Bozo the Robot, as seen in this Wayne Reid page from Smash #17 (Dec. 1940). Not to be confused with Bozo the Clown, who also got his own comic in 1950, in Dell’s Four Color #285.

[Art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Twice-Told Marvel Heroes (Part Two)

59

Who Slew Fox’s Thor?

by Will Murray Poor Victor Fox! He could do no right back in 1939-40, when the selfstyled King of Comics launched his doomed Golden Age comic book line, Fox Features. No sooner had he published the first issue of Wonder Comics, starring Will Eisner’s ill-fated “Wonder Man,” than DC Comics sued him, claiming copyright and trademark infringement on “Superman.” Fox lost that contest. End of “Wonder Man.” Wonder Comics became Wonderworld Comics.

Two months later, Fox’s Green Hornet clone, “The Blue Beetle,” first poked his feelers into the four-color forest in Mystery Men Comics #1 (Aug. 1939).

The next issue, patrolman Dan Garrett traded his trenchcoat and fedora for standard super-hero togs, not doubt avoiding an embarrassing date in court.

It didn’t stop there. When another new Fox hero, “Electro,” appeared in Science Comics #1 early in 1940, it was Timely Comics’ turn to stomp Fox. Their complaint: they had introduced a robot called (Above:) Twin Thors! The origin of Thor, God of Thunder, from Fox’s Weird Comics #1 (April 1940)—and Marvel’s from Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962). The Jack Kirby/Joe Sinnott story inside the latter was plotted by Stan Lee and scripted by Larry Lieber. Kirby, of course, had drawn Thor before—first, a fake one in the Simon & Kirby “Sandman” story in Adventure Comics #75 (May 1942), then in DC’s Tales of the Unexpected #16 (Aug. 1957); these splashes are on display in Roy Thomas’ TwoMorrows trade paperback The All-Star Companion, Vol. 2. [Fox Thor ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Marvel Thor ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Electro in Marvel Mystery Comics #4. Both Electros debuted in issues cover-dated Feb. 1940. Somehow Fox lost that particular horse race, and was forced to rename his hero. “Electro” became “Dynamo,” and soon ran out of power.

DC came back for another piece of Victor Fox when Jim Mooney’s “The Moth” fluttered to life in the April 1940 issue of Mystery Men Comics. Complaining that this was a thinly-disguised steal of “Batman,” DC insisted that “The Moth” cease and desist. Five issues later, he did—although Mooney later parleyed this credit into a longterm Batman gig. Editor Whit Ellsworth remembered “The Moth.”

He’d admired Mooney’s art.

Fox had no better luck with Fantastic Comics. While lead feature “Samson” continued unchallenged, “Flick Falcon” met a (Left:) As seen in Fox’s Weird Comics #1, a dejected Grant Farrel contemplates suicide after being dumped by his gal—right before blond, bearded Thor floats down amidst bolts of lightning to make him an offer he can’t refuse: “The lightning will be your servant. My magic hammer, your weapon!” Sounds a leetle familiar, eh? [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Of course, Marvel’s Dr. Don Blake didn’t do so well with the ladies, either!

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Earth. Appearing to him in a storm cloud punctuated by twin thunderbolts, Thor offers Farrel the opportunity to come to Valhalla for training, saying, “My son, I have work for you to do. You will have undreamed of powers.”

Carrying Farrel off to cloudy Valhalla, Thor adds, “I will teach you how to use my ancient powers. The lightning will be your servant, my magic hammer your weapon!”

There, the previously-ineffectual playboy is transformed into a longhaired duplicate of his patron. The only difference between them is that the Norse Thor is in red, while Farrel-Thor wears a blue version of the thunder god’s scarlet regalia of helmet, cape, boots and trunks.

Super-strong, capable of summoning storms, hurling lightning bolts, and knocking enemy tanks to scrap with his indestructible battle hammer, this Thor looks exactly like what you might imagine a Timely Comics version of a Golden Age Thor would have been. Had there been a Timely Thor, that is.

For Fox’s Thor, like the later Marvel version, sports long blond hair.

The Valhalla Thor’s tresses are colored reddish-blond, which puts him in line with the myth that inspired him. The legendary Norse thunder god was said to be a redhead.

As Thor, Grant Farrel doesn’t swing his mighty hammer around in order to fly. But his approach to the problem of super-heroic flight is equally unique. He rides lightning bolts to his destination. How he aims them is as imponderable as the method by which Marvel’s Thor steered himself. For short distances, the Fox Thor simply flies. Often, he leads with his hammer in such a way that you could almost imagine it was pulling him along, Jack Kirby-style. Said hammer always returns to him after demolishing its objective.

This Thor operated from Valhalla (not Asgard, as in the later Marvel version). [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

fate worse than death. Victor Fox became the first comics publisher to learn how the innocent word “flick” can become a four-letter word. All it took was for the “L” and the “I” to run together…. With Fantastic #4, Flick became Flip Falcon.

Fox’s fumbles were legendary. But the most significant stumble of them all is virtually unknown. And its consequences reverberated clear down to the Silver Age of Marvel Comics, and today.

After becoming the new Thor, Farrel thunderbolts down to Earth and brews up a storm to bring down the kidnappers’ aircraft. Then the hapless Germanic spies find that a god out of their own mythology is very, very unhappy with them. They are summarily vanquished.

At tale’s end, the Thor of Valhalla tells Grant: “You have well earned the right to my name and my magic hammer—they are now yours to keep.”

The author of this feature is unknown. Since early Fox artists often did double duty on strips, it’s quite possible Pierce Rice himself scripted “Thor.” (With this second installment, inker Arturo Cazeneuve was replaced by his brother Louis.) I suspect the inspiration was nothing more significant than the success of Samson over in Fantastic

Weird Comics #1 was released with an April 1940 cover date. By this time, whenever an envelope landed on his desk bearing the name of a law firm, Victor Fox probably started shaking uncontrollably. One would soon be winging his way. The cause? No less than the book’s lead feature, “Thor, God of Thunder.”

That’s correct. “Thor, God of Thunder.” For, back in the Golden Age of Comics, a super-heroic version of the Norse thunder god came and went so fast that few remember him. Or realize his significance.

In a 12-page lead feature signed Wright Lincoln, but evidently the work of artist Pierce Rice (inked by Arturo Cazeneuve), stereotypical playboy Grant Farrel is being berated by his snooty girlfriend Glenda: “Oh Grant, I wish you weren’t so afraid of adventure. Why are you such a stay at home?”

Then Fifth Columnists kidnap Glenda, apparently because she knows the location of defense-critical Andurian mines. For obscure reasons, Farrel is selected by the mythological Thor to be his heir on

“The Mighty Thor”? Now where did we hear that before? [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

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Comics. That character, probably the first myth-inspired super-hero in comics, was a direct descendant of the Biblical strongman of the same name, and possessed his legendary might, as well as his vulnerable locks.

Fox’s “Thor” was a fascinating feature. Primitive as it was, you can see the potential of the character in every panel. In Weird #2, faced by an air armada of Nazi bombers, Thor simply affixes huge chains to his magic hammer and lets fly. Magically, the hammer expands until its almost the size of a Junkers bomber. A spectacular full-page illustration shows the bombers being decimated in a mallet-and-chain storm. The thunder god binds up the mangled planes, tows them via chain, then rains them down onto the unnamed enemy capital. (You can recognize Berlin‘s Brandenburg Gate being pummeled. however.)

(Above:) Steve Ditko drew his own take on the thunder god, as well—in a story titled “The Hammer of Thor!” in Charlton’s Out of This World #1 (Jan. 1959). There must’ve been something in the air—besides thunderbolts! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

(Above & left:) As per the individual panels, both Grant Farrel and Don Blake “got no respect” from the ladies they loved— but then, neither did Clark Kent! But, later (as per right) when Glenda realized Grant might be Thor, it was a whole new ball game! [Fox art ©2007 the respective copyright holders; Marvel art ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Thor’s second adventure weirdly parallels the Mighty Thor’s second exploit in 1962. When Glenda books passage on a liner bound for war-torn Europe, Grant Farrel tags along to protect her from danger. After the liner hits a Nazi mine, Thor whirls into action, clearing safe passage by detonating other mines, then essentially demolishes the Luftwaffe, who are bombing France.

In Journey into Mystery #84, Dr. Don Blake and Nurse Jane Foster are on a hospital mercy ship bound for South America when it’s attacked by MIG jets commanded by The Executioner, the Communist dictator of San Diablo. After Blake transforms into the god of thunder, Mighty Thor makes short work of those aircraft, in a sequence as spectacular as that of his prototypal predecessor.

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“Lightnin’ and The Lone Rider” in Famous Funnies.

In the place of honor was a new lead feature, “The Dart,” a Roman gladiator who was given the power of flight by the Roman gods. He manifests on the modern scene after an ancient curse wears off, and decides to become a yellow-costumed super-hero. Unlike Thor, The Dart was prominently featured on the covers to come. Usually the mad scientist Dr. Mortal or the Sorceress of Zoom dominated the Weird’s covers. Strangely, Thor was never cover-featured. Perhaps Fox thought he was too similar in appearance to his blond-haired Samson. Or maybe he wasn’t weird-looking enough for Weird Comics.

Thor ended his career at Fox in Weird #5, August, 1940. In a slight 8-page tale, the thunder god goes to Shanghai to clobber the evil Dr. Hsin and his man-monster cohort Mako. Instead of the magic hammer, Grant is given Thor’s golden gauntlet, with which he demolishes the monstrous Mako in a muscular fist fight.

With Weird Comics #6, an entirely new hero replaced Thor. Well, not entirely new. He was “Dynamite Thor, the Explosion Man.” In reality wealthy mine owner Peter Thor, who developed a scarlet supersuit which allows him to safely explode sticks of dynamite beneath him, thereby propelling him through the air. Yes, you read that right. Dynamite Thor literally exploded into action. He made it look like flying.

More than the heroic name of Thor was carried over into this weird new feature. The house name Wright Lincoln was, as well, as was Dan Gormley’s art. Peter Thor is often accompanied by girlfriend Glenda as he smashes Fifth Columnists to flinders. She strongly resembles Grant Farrel’s Glenda. In fact, Peter Thor is Farrel’s spitting image, too.

Grant Farrel’s earlier transformation into Thor—the shipboard equivalent of a phone booth. Later, a flash of lightning did the trick. [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

When the ’40s Thor knocks a bunch of battle tanks out of commission in Weird Comics #3, I was reminded of the scene in JIM #93 when the Mighty Thor got rid of a phalanx of Red Chinese tanks by chaining them to his Uru hammer and simply throwing it. The chained tanks obediently follow all in a neat row.

After the Germanic-looking “Gratnian” invaders launch an invasion of the USA from Mexico in Weird #3, Grant joins in the Army and Glenda enlists as a nurse, as Thor once more brings down an armada of warplanes. Growing to giant size, the thunder god sweeps the skies over Houston clear of bombers with a titanic thunderbolt. Thor goes on to save Chicago from Gratnian attack aircraft by emitting a web of lighting from his hands. For some reason, Private Farrel gets all the credit and medals, while Glenda confesses that, now that she knows Grant’s secret, she appreciates him for himself.

Next issue, both reverted to mufti as ordinary civilians.

Thor battled his way through assorted assassins and sundry sinister spies as Weird’s lead super-hero until issue #4, when he was unceremoniously kicked to the back of the book and demoted to eight pages. His costume changes. He loses Thor’s cape, helmet, and long blond locks.

Gone also is Thor’s magic hammer. Trunk and high boots are all that remain, now a dark blue. He became a clone of Fox’s Samson.

I don’t recognize the art style, but a new artist takes over from Pierce Rice with this issue. It smacks of Simon and Kirby’s style. Ron Goulart suggests it’s Dan Gormley, who succeeded Jack Kirby on

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? That this isn’t a new Thor, but the old Thor redrawn and reworked? Could be. If your problem was to salvage legally unusable “Thor” stories, it’s easy to draw a costume over an outfit that’s not much more than trunks and boots. And if your hero gets around by riding thunderbolts and hurling lightning, substituting dynamite blasts might seem to almost makes sense.

In fact, in Dynamite’s debut story, when he needs to get someplace, he does something more appropriate to a heroic squirrel: he runs along power lines. One can easily imagine a corrections man whiting out lightning bolts and replacing them with strung high-tension towers.

Another clue is that Dynamite Thor was conspicuously absent an origin. In his first tale, Peter Thor simply throws off his civvies to reveal his scarlet outfit with yellow explosion chest emblem. Originally, this Thor carries TNT sticks strapped around his waist the way Batman carried bat-gadgets in his utility belt. Subsequently, he takes to flinging nitro capsules about like hand grenades. It seems almost certain that this story was converted from a “Thor” exploit.

So what happened? Most likely, a cease-and-desist letter, if not a lawsuit. And so another fledgling Fox hero bit the dust. It happened so fast that Fox promised a new “Thor” adventure for Weird Comics #6, but when that issue came out thirty days later—there was no sign of the Norse god. He was already under a thundercloud.

Who slew Fox’s Thor?

I don’t know the name of the law firm, but I can take an educated guess who sicked them on beleaguered Victor Fox. You can probably deduce it, too. The Fox Thor did not outwardly resemble any competing super-hero at that time. He wore only blue trunks, boots, a cape and that helmet, which, unlike classic depictions of the Norse thunder god, lacked both horns and wings. Instead, two flat plates resembling manhole covers decorated the clunky thing. Thor was not colored consistently. His trunks and boots were blue in his earliest

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appearances. In Weird #3, they turned red, while his blue cape became green. The helmet might be blue one issue, white or yellow the next.

The magic hammer shifted from yellow to red, but it was usually hammer-colored. Thor’s blond hair (the real Norse god’s was red) could be brown, or even green!

Fox’s Thor should been to have been safe from an injunctive lawsuit. The character was. But not his transformation. Up until Weird #5, when danger threatened Grant Farrel turned into the thunder god by an undepicted method. He simply slips away, and reappears as the god of thunder. How? It’s neither shown nor explained. Presumably it’s a magical transformation. Otherwise how does his hair grow long?

In Weird #4, the Valhalla Thor reappears. He turns Farrel into his duplicate by throwing his hammer at him. Next issue, someone made a fatal error. After Dr. Hsin kidnaps Glenda, Farrel ends up in a hospital.

Besieged by a fever, he hears: “Grant! This is the voice of Thor! I’m calling to you from Valhalla! Go at once! Find Dr. Hsin! Act at once!

For the sake of humanity!”

But our hero is too medicated to respond. So Thor sends down a thunderbolt. Grant transforms to the accompaniment of a thunderclap.

A sizzling lightning bolt denotes the momentous event. Next page, he’s riding a bolt of lightning to the hidden laboratory where Dr. Hsin is about to drain Glenda’s hemoglobin.

Farrel didn’t shout a magic word like “Shazam!” But he might as well have. For I have little doubt that Fawcett instantly demanded Thor stop copying Captain Marvel’s trademarked transformation-bythunderbolt scene. The World’s Mightiest Mortal had debuted in Whiz Comics only months before. Like Thor, Captain Marvel derived his powers from mythological beings, except that the Big Red Cheese favored the Graeco-Roman gods.

Victor Fox may have scrambled to salvage his new super-hero from the start. Whenever Farrel turned into Thor, he just did. One panel he’s Farrel, the next he’s Thor. You would think a mere mortal who could transform into “Thor, Son of Odin, Supreme Ruler of Valhalla” would work up a better way to go than duck behind a building. Possibly the original depictions did, but Fox feared the wrath of Shazam. I suspect someone simply whited out the striking lightning from the panels in a vain effort to placate the publishers of Whiz Comics.

That may not have been enough to satisfy Fawcett. For every time the thunder god rode in on a thunderbolt must have rankled the publishers of Captain Marvel. That solitary thunderbolt transformation must have been the last straw. Thor was soon gone. Dynamite Thor didn’t last much longer. After two Weird appearances, he crossed over to Blue Beetle #6 early in 1941. His adventures shrank from 10 to 6 and finally 5 pages—and then Dynamite Thor was gone in a swirl of TNT-blasted Nazis. Just the way all true Golden Age superheroes should go out.

You have to wonder if Jack Kirby was familiar with the Fox Thor.

It’s certainly possible. For Thor was dominating Weird Comics around the time editor Joe Simon departed Fox, taking Kirby with him. Simon did the covers to Weird #3 and #4, containing Thor’s middle appearances. When Simon & Kirby landed at Timely, one of their new characters, the mythological Mercury, was revamped as “Hurricane, Son of Thor” when he moved from Red Raven to Captain America Comics. The author was a Simon friend, Martin Burnstein, a.k.a.

Martin A. Bursten.

Today we’re so accustomed to the concept of Thor as a super-hero, it’s easy to forget that it’s not an obvious idea. Consider that around the time Thor was fading out of Weird Comics, three separate publishers offered up three different versions of the mythic Greek demi-god, Hercules. A ten-foot-tall modern superman raised in the Arctic à la Genius Jones and named Hercules first appeared in Timely’s Mystic

Got a losing character—or maybe even potential legal hassles? Out with “Thor, God of Thunder”—and in with “Dynamite Thor,” in Weird Comics #6 (Sept. 1940)! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Comics #3, while MLJ offered the literal son of Zeus sent to 20thcentury Earth to fight evil in Blue Ribbon Comics #4. Both were cover-dated June 1940. A month later, a third Hercules, a North Woods strongman named Joe Hercules, appeared in Quality’s Hit Comics #1.

All three worked as circus strongmen in their civilian incarnations.

None were transforming characters.

Two months after the Timely Hercules faded away, the original was back in a Simon & Kirby feature debuting in Daring Mystery Comics #6. Jupiter—the same Roman god who earlier had sent Hurricane to Earth—directs the spirit of the true Herecules to inhabit the infant boy, Martin Burns, who grows up to be Marvel Boy, possessing all of the historical Hercules’ mighty powers. Martin Burns was another Martin Bernstein penname, so he probably scripted Marvel Boy, too.

Despite being cover-featured, Marvel Boy appeared only once.

Perhaps the character’s mythological roots and Marvelous name caused Fawcett to object to him, too!

I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Kirby became acquainted with the forgotten Thor of Fox Features. The way Grant Farrel swung that mighty hammer showed what a powerful concept it could be, and was depicted in such dramatic terms that rivaled anything Jack Kirby was doing in 1940.

I sent Joe Simon a scan of the Thor of 1940. He told me that he

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didn’t remember Thor, but doubted that a Fawcett complaint had anything to do with the character’s demise. But Simon had already departed before that fatal fifth tale was published, so Thor may have been quashed after his editorial tenure.

One thing is certain: had Victor Fox not suppressed the Golden Age Thor, there might never have been a Marvel version in the Silver Age of Comics.

Instead, Grant Farrel could have followed Dan Garrett, Fox’s Blue Beetle, to Holyoke, then to Charlton, and finally to DC Comics, where he might still be swinging his magic hammer even today!

(Thanks go to Joe Simon, Stan Taylor, Jon Berk, Robert Klein, Nigel Cantwell, Ron Goulart, and the late Jerry Bails for helping put together the puzzle of Thor.)

So there you have it—Murray and Gilbert on the first few fourcolor Thors, as well as MTG on the earliest Iron Men (Iron Mans?)!

Next issue: We conclude our Stan Lee birthday bash with TwiceTold Marvel Heroes, Part Two—featuring the Golden Age GiantMan—and a whole swarm of Wasps! Ouch!!

In the meantime, stop by my website for more Golden Age fun.

You’ll find it at: http://mrmonster.com/ A final look at Weird Comics’ original Thor—in this case, a giant figure in the sky, battling a squadron of fighter planes. Flexo the Rubber Man had nothing on Victor Fox’s thunder god! [©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

Till Next time...

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“Once [Stan Lee] Put Me On Staff, I Was Strictly With Timely Comics” Golden Age Timely Artist PETE TUMLINSON Talks About Timely And Others Interview Conducted by Jim Amash

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

P

ete Tumlinson’s comic book career was relatively short, but I liked his work quite a bit in those old Timely comics of the late ’40s to the mid-1950s. Thus, I was always curious about him, and, though Pete’s recollections about those days are not extensive, I‘m just happy to share what I’ve learned about him— and about Timely (later Marvel) under Stan Lee in the postwar years through the coming of the Comics Code. —Jim.

“I Was A Flying Chauffeur For Eisenhower’s Headquarters” JIM AMASH: I’ll start with the basic question: when and where were you born?

PETE TUMLINSON: [laughs] Well, let’s see. That would be 1920 in Glasgow, Montana, June 7th.

JA: What got you interested in being an artist?

TUMLINSON: I don’t know. I’ve always done it from the very first.

JA: Did you copy newspaper strips or illustrations in magazines when you were young?

TUMLINSON: Yeah, but I didn’t stay with that exclusively. I went and dreamed up things of my own, sooner or later. I didn’t do much writing. Over the years, I had several classes in different things from figure drawing to painting.

I went to the University of Chicago one time when I was very young—high school, I think. And at one time I took illustration in Dallas. I can’t think of the name of the place right now. They called me cold on a Saturday morning. [mutual laughter] I got a B.A. in architecture at Texas A&M. JA: What years were you in college?

TUMLINSON: ’39 to ’42. I didn’t finish, though. I went off to the war and then I came back after the war and finished. I was in the Air Force.

I started out in the field artillery. I volunteered. You see, I started out in the ROTC in college, so I just continued. In the meantime, the war started.

I transferred to the Air Corps. It later became the [Army] Air Force[s]. They were enlarging at that time, so they were taking people from other branches. That’s how I got from field artillery to the Air Force. After I got my wings, I—it was a long time ago. I’m trying to

This Is Not Pete Tumlinson Alas, we were unable to obtain a photograph of Pete Tumlinson by presstime. So, to lead off his interview, we’ll showcase a splash page he drew starring one of the most famous features he worked on—“Kid Colt” from Wild Western #20 (Feb. 1952). Incidentally, except where otherwise noted below, all art accompanying this interview was provided by Dr. Michael J. Vassllo. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

get this in the right order. At one point there, I went overseas and I went to SHAEF headquarters. I was a flying chauffeur for

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Eisenhower’s headquarters. [NOTE: General Dwight D. Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 1943-45; SHAEF stood for “Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces.

—Roy.] JA: Did you see any combat?

TUMLINSON: Not on a personal level. I was in the war theatre, all right. I had a buzz bomb go off under me one time. But that was a thousand feet in the air, so it didn’t hurt me. I was used to them by that time, so it didn’t scare me much then, but that was about the closest I came to one.

I was mainly a flying chauffeur. I flew back over from places like London to Paris and then, later on, Berlin. Actually, I didn’t go to Berlin. I went to Frankfurt.

JA: Were you flying dignitaries, men of state, that sort of thing?

TUMLINSON: All kinds, everything from secretaries to generals.

“I Started Off As A Freelancer” JA: When were you discharged?

TUMLINSON: In ’46, after the war. I got my degree and then went off to Dallas and worked for an advertising company for a while. Later on, I went up to New York and drew comic books. I’d always been interested in comics. I drew them in school and in college, so it was just a natural step.

JA: I don’t know if this is accurate, but you’ll tell me. I have you working for a company called “DS Publishing” before you started working for Timely.

TUMLINSON: That would be DC. DC was a comic book publisher.

A Question Of Identity Pete didn’t recall working for DS Publishing or Orbit Publications, possibly because those companies used other names in dealing with freelancers. But the everresearching Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., sent Jim Amash the three above scans with this accompanying note, based on the artist’s own sketchy recollections: “It is certainly possible that Tumlinson didn’t do the story in [DS’s] Gangsters Can’t Win, Vol. 1, #1 (Feb-March 1948)… but take a good look at this sample page [above left]. And I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that he did these ‘Nuggets Nugent’ strips in Orbit’s The Westerner #32 & #34.” And that’s where we’ll have to let it stand, Jim—except to say that the two Orbit issues in question came out in late 1950 through early 1951.

[GCW cover ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Westerner art ©2007 the respective copyright holders.]

JA: Okay, so you did not work for a company called DS, did you?

JA: Did you work for DC Comics?

TUMLINSON: No, I don’t remember anything with an “S” in it. In New York, I worked for Stan Lee at Timely.

TUMLINSON: I may have done one or two freelance jobs, but I didn’t have a steady job there. Most of the time, I was with Stan Lee.

JA: You’re listed as having worked for editor Ray Herman at Orbit.

Did you?

JA: What did you show Stan when you were looking for work? Did you make up some comic book samples?

TUMLINSON: I don’t think so.

TUMLINSON: Well, I already had plenty of samples of different things that I had done, and a lot of them were comic strips. Like I say, I

“Once [Stan Lee] Put Me On Staff...”

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TUMLINSON: Well, of course, I liked the ones with girls in them, but I liked action comics. I did other things outside of the comic book world. I used to do some advertising comics. They really weren’t comics; they were just continued stories.

worked for an advertising company in Dallas, and we did things like that.

In the beginning, I was only a penciler. But later on, I did the complete job. I started off as a freelancer. Later on, he put me on staff.

JA: Do you remember for whom you did them?

JA: I have you as starting there in 1948. Is that correct?

TUMLINSON: One was the A&M Advertising Company in Dallas, and that was no connection to the University. I believe it was the initials of the couple that ran it.

This was before I went to New York.

TUMLINSON: That would be close to it.

JA: You did some [non-Timely] crime fillers in a book called Gangsters Can’t Win. TUMLINSON: I don’t remember that. I did that type of thing, but I don’t remember that particular title.

JA: What did you think of Stan Lee? TUMLINSON: We got along fine.

He had a lot of personality. We got along pretty good, but I can’t remember any incidents, offhand.

JA: Do you remember “The Blonde Phantom”? I have you as just penciling that.

JA: Do you remember how much they paid you?

TUMLINSON: That’s probably right. I remember it, but I don’t remember who wrote it.

JA: Was Stan the only editor that you dealt with?

TUMLINSON: [laughs] No, I wish I did. I probably have a record somewhere, but I don’t know where it is.

TUMLINSON: I did single jobs once in a while for other people.

But once he put me on staff, I was strictly with Timely Comics.

JA: Do you remember drawing “Kid Colt”?

JA: Well, let me throw a few at you again to see if any of these people ring a bell to you. How about Syd Shores?

Gentlemen Prefer Blonde Phantoms When we printed the splash page of this “Blonde Phantom” story from Marvel Mystery Comics #86 (June 1948) back in A/E #57, we mentioned that the artist was uncertain, though Syd Shores often drew her adventures.

Here’s the last page of that same story, “Staged for Murder!,” and it doesn’t seem to be Shores’ work—but various people besides (reportedly) Pete Tumlinson drew that feature. From Ye Ed’s personal collection. Incidentally, the Statement of Ownership on the page facing the splash lists the owner as nothing less than “Marvel Comics, Inc.” [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

TUMLINSON: Yes. He was a good comic book character.

JA: Did you do a lot of research when you did Westerns or war?

TUMLINSON: Well, I did some, but I didn’t have to do much.

There was so much material

TUMLINSON: Details are fuzzy now, but he was a likable fellow and I remember we got along pretty good.

around me that was easy to get.

JA: But generally, when you worked on the staff, did you work in a room with a lot of other people?

JA: When you penciled, did you do full pencils? Were your pencils complete?

TUMLINSON: I did at first. But later on, I worked at home. I don’t remember the names of the people who worked there, though I recall that I got along pretty well with Gene Colan.

TUMLINSON: Well, mostly. But it all depended on what I was doing.

JA: How long did you freelance before you were on staff, do you think?

TUMLINSON: Oh, I don’t know. I was in New York about three or four years, so there’s no telling how long I was there.

JA: Did you go to New York specifically to try to break into comics?

TUMLINSON: Yes. JA: You drew a lot of crime comics, some horror comics, and some Westerns, and romance, and war. Did you have a favorite genre that you liked to draw?

JA: Once you started inking your own work, I wondered if maybe you might have been a little looser in your pencils because you knew you were going to ink them.

TUMLINSON: Yeah, the pencils were a little messier than the ink job.

You know, I’d do some erasing or pencil over something.

“[The People At Timely] Came And Went” JA: Were there any occasions where you got a script you just didn’t like?

TUMLINSON: I can’t think of one. None of them were high-class literature. [laughs]

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Golden Age Timely Artist Pete Tumlinson

“I Liked [Drawing The Comics] With Girls In Them” So says Pete T.—so here are the first pages of a trio of stories he drew for Timely romance comics, two of which date from the period when Martin Goodman’s company seldom used full-size splash panels in that genre. Clockwise from above left: Love Romances #6 (May 1949)… Lovers #25 (Sept. 1949)… and Lovers #29 (July 1950).

According to Doc V., the first two were inked by George Klein. The third may be pure Tumlinson. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Basically, though, you just took what they gave you, right?

TUMLINSON: Right.

JA: So you never really knew what you were going to do next, did you?

TUMLINSON: No. JA: Did you like that aspect of it?

TUMLINSON: Somewhat. I also did comic strips in advertising, you know, which had some lettering.

JA: Did you letter your stories for Timely?

TUMLINSON: Yes. I didn’t always do lettering at Timely. I would do the lettering in pencil.

JA: I noticed—because you signed your stories—that you had one of the cleanest signatures of anybody in comics. That’s why I thought maybe you had done some lettering.

“Once [Stan Lee] Put Me On Staff...”

Baby, It’s “Colt” Inside Another “Kid Colt” splash page by Tumlinson, this one from the multifeature Wild Western #21 (April 1952). [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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TUMLINSON: Well, they weren’t always the same.

They came and went, you know. I do remember Art Simek, but no details come to mind.

JA: You never really had the chance to form any real friendships with any of those people, did you?

TUMLINSON: Well, I was in good relations with all of them while I was there, but I can’t remember any particular ones that I hung out with. I had other acquaintances besides comic books.

“I Do It For Money” JA: Why did you quit doing comic books?

TUMLINSON: Well, I left New York, and although I continued doing some work for them, I began to do illustrations for other kinds of publications in Texas, as I mentioned earlier.

JA: When you did the illustrations for Word Records, what exactly did you do?

TUMLINSON: Well, they had advertising for their records, so I did illustrate some of those. Oh, I also illustrated books. Not for them, but for other publishers.

JA: The only other credit I have for you is I have you illustrating a book on geography in 1962.

TUMLINSON: That’s right.

TUMLINSON: Well, that was probably from my days as an architect.

JA: Did you ink with a brush, mostly, or with a pen?

TUMLINSON: Mostly a pen. I used a brush, some.

JA: How fast a comic book artist were you?

TUMLINSON: I was one of the slowest. [laughs]

“I’ll Drink To That!”

Tumlinsonattributed splash page from Mystic #2 (May 1951). [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

JA: Could you complete a penciled and inked page a day or were you slower than that?

TUMLINSON: Well, usually, I was slower than that, although there were times I could do it. I did other things besides comic books. For instance, I used to do illustrations for Word Records in Waco. You know, like “the Word,” the Bible? This was much later after, I came back to Texas.

JA: I have you as working in comic books up until about 1955. Is that accurate?

TUMLINSON: Yeah, probably is.

JA: How long did you work on staff? Do you remember?

TUMLINSON: No, I remember that, eventually, I did go home and work, but I can’t remember exactly how long I did that.

JA: Did you do any illustrations for their magazine section?

TUMLINSON: No, I did illustrations for magazines and books, but not for them. That was later on in Texas.

JA: So you don’t really remember too much about the people at Timely, do you?

JA: Did you do line drawings? Did you do paintings when you did illustrations?

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Golden Age Timely Artist Pete Tumlinson

JA: I guess you haven’t thought much about comics, really, in all these years, have you?

TUMLINSON: No. I keep copies of old work on hand, but I’ve done very little art.

JA: Do you draw for pleasure or paint?

TUMLINSON: No, I do it for money. [laughs] JA: I didn’t know if you might paint landscapes or anything, just for your own personal enjoyment.

TUMLINSON: I’ve done a few, but very few. No, I didn’t go into landscape painting much. I did a few portraits, but mainly, I was an illustrator.

JA: And I was trying to think if there was anything else to ask you.

TUMLINSON: I think you got a pretty good picture. [laughs] The main reason I left New York was for my health. After four years of breathing that filthy air, I got kind of sick. I couldn’t keep on like that, but I wasn’t unhappy working for Stan Lee. JA: Did you get any of your original art back?

Tales Calculated To Keep You In… This Tumlinson-drawn story, with its rich, moody splash page, led off Suspense #11 (Nov. 1951). The script was by Hank Chapman, considered one of Timely’s best writers during this period. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

TUMLINSON: Well, the covers were in color, and inside some of these books, you’d have two colors: black and some other color. The only full colors I did was of some of the covers.

JA: Did you illustrate textbooks?

TUMLINSON: I believe I did once for the Steck Company in Austin.

I don’t think they’re there any more.

JA: Because you went to New York strictly to break into comic books, did you miss comic books once you left them?

TUMLINSON: Well, not particularly. I like to do illustrations. I started out doing comic books, all right, but I didn’t want to do that exclusively.

JA: In the 1950s, there was a Dr. Wertham who wrote a book called Seduction of the Innocent, and there were some Senate investigations into juvenile delinquency, trying to link comic books to it. Do you remember any of that at all?

TUMLINSON: Not in detail. I just remember the general picture, the general situation.

3D Or Not 3D—That Is The Question JA: When you left comics, did you feel like they weren’t going to last, or did you just want to go back to Texas?

TUMLINSON: Well, I’d always wanted to do illustrations, so I just branched out and illustrated books and advertising.

This splash from Mystery Tales #1, with its black framing borders that go all the way to the edge of the page, strongly resembles tales drawn for the American Comics Group in the 3D-movie-influenced “TrueVision” in 1954.

The only thing is—the cover date of this Timley mag is March 1952! (©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“Once [Stan Lee] Put Me On Staff...”

TUMLINSON: A dozen pages or so. They were old productions, so they didn’t mind letting me have some when I asked.

TUMLINSON: Well, theoretically, it’s not over, but I haven’t done anything lately. [chuckles]

JA: What made you want to have some pages of your work?

JA: Well, that’s why I asked, because you told me you were doing something else now, so I didn’t know if you had retired from doing art or not.

TUMLINSON: I always collected either originals or copies of any kind of artwork then.

JA: So there was never any static about you wanting the original pages back then.

TUMLINSON: Well, I’ve done very little lately. I work at the family ranch right now. My nephew runs the cattle, and I’m one of the owners.

TUMLINSON: Not at that time. I didn’t know they had any restrictions. That must have been after I left there.

JA: I take it you’re nothing like the cattle barons in the movies, then.

JA: How long did your art career last?

TUMLINSON: Not quite. [mutual laughter]

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PETE TUMLINSON Checklist [This Checklist is adapted from information appearing in the online Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999, established by Jerry G. Bails. See p. 34 for information on how to access this invaluable website. Names of features which appeared both in comics of that title and in other comics are generally not italicized. Some data in this Checklist was added by Thomas G. Lammers, Steve Tice, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., and Jim Amash (based upon this interview). Key: (a) = full art; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only.]

Name: Pete Tumlinson Print Media (Non-Comics): Artist: books Geography (1962), Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History (1971) COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Publishers): D.S. Publishing: Gangsters Can’t Win (a) 1948 Marvel (Timely) Comics: Astonishing (a) 1954-55; Battle (a) 1954-55; Blonde Phantom (p) 1948; crime (p)(i) c. 1950-55; horror (p)(i) 1951

[and, clearly, beyond]; Journey into Unknown Worlds (a) 1954; Kid Colt (a) 1950-53; Love Romances (a?) 1949; Lovers (a?) 1949-50; Marvel Tales (a) 1954-55; My Own Romance (p) 1959; Mystery Tales (a) c. 1952-56; Mystic (a) c. 1951-55; Outlaw Fighters (a) 1955; Outlaw Kid (a) 1955 [backup feature]; religious (p)(i) 1954; romance (p)(i) 1949-53; Strange Tales (p)(i) 1952-55; Suspense (a?) 1951; Uncanny Tales (a) 1955; war (p)(i) c. 1950-55; Wild Western (a?) 1952 Orbit Publications: Nuggets Nugent (a) 1951

Astonishing But True These two splashes from different issues of Timely’s Astonishing are the most recent examples of Pete Tumlinson’s comic art that we can present… a mere 53 years old! They hail from #30 (Feb. 1954) and #36 (Dec. ’54). Thanks again to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo for most of the art used with this interview. [©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Frank is now accepting art commissions for covers, splash panels, or pin-up re-creations!

Also, your ideas for NEW art are welcome!

Art can be pencils only, inked or full-color (painted) creation!

Contact Frank directly for details and prices.

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Art ©2007 Frank Brunner; Dr. Strange TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Sandman TM & ©2007 DC Comics

ATTENTION: FRANK BRUNNER ART FANS!

[Captain Marvel by Rubén Procopio. Shazam! characters art TM & ©2007 DC Comics.]

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Oddly, in the title panel atop the first page, in the portraits of Judi and her canine friend Jango, more attention appears to have been paid to the rendering of the dog … than to the girl. It’s an inconsistency that prevails throughout the project. Jango was an opportunity to utilize something I was learning at the time … how to use the flexible ink pen.

By

[Art & logo ©2007 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2007 DC Comics]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a top artist for Fawcett Publications. The very first Mary Marvel character sketches came from Marc’s drawing table, and he illustrated her earliest adventures, including the classic origin story, “Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, Dec. ’42); but he was primarily hired by Fawcett Publications to illustrate Captain Marvel stories and covers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He also wrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while in the military.

After leaving the service in 1944, he made an arrangement with Fawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out of his Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for The Phantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawing the Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip for Bell Syndicate (created by his friend and mentor Russell Keaton). After the cancellation of Wow, Swayze produced artwork for Fawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics, including Sweethearts and Life Story. After the company ceased publishing comics, Marc moved over to Charlton Publications, where he ended his comics career in the mid-’50s. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA since his first column appeared in FCA #54, 1996. Last issue Marc looked back at when he first began to work on Fawcett’s romance comics. In this installment he discusses his very first attempted syndicated comic strip, Judi the Jungle Girl. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

I

t’s difficult to recall just what I was looking for recently when I came upon a mystifying packet of original art panels. It turned out to be Sunday page art that had been cut up and rearranged for tabloid newspaper proportion. Apparently there had been enough syndicate interest at some point to justify the laborious modification.

Whatever … there it was … the first comic strip I ever drew … wrote … attempted. Its title: Judi the Jungle Girl.

I was disappointed with what I saw. Immediate criticism was the scanty renderings of background foliage. For a strip with the word “jungle” in the title, there wasn’t enough “jungle” in the pictures. Not enough, that is, to provide an appropriate mood for the environment intended.

Of most concern, I thought, was the drawing … or lack of drawing … of the principal character. Judi, from head to toe, the figure, the costume, was done in simple, thin lines … with no shading. It left a feeling that a slight breeze from the nearest window might blow her from the page!

It’s possible that I could have been struggling at the time with a fear of shading … of any kind … on the flesh tone. Not until the fourth page, in a mid-panel close-up, does a lightly feathered halftone shadow appear, on the face of one of the bad guys.

I don’t know what prompted me to attempt a jungle girl feature. A detective would have been easier … or a cowboy. The work I held had been so obviously dominated by a mad urgency … a haste to do what I was not yet capable of doing … write and draw a comic strip. It’s doubtful that I was aware in 1939-40 that comic books existed, other than those with reprints of past newspaper strips. I would certainly have not known if a “jungle girl” was in print.

Influenced by Tarzan of the Apes? Of course, but not the movie … or the comic strip … the novel, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It had been read to me as a kid, and I was still impressed by the way the author had made jungle life so plausible.

Hoping to find a favorable aspect or two in the Judi work, I went through it again. Not bad work, considering the professional experience behind it … none. And, in the business just long enough to know it was where I belonged, the impatience that characterized the project can be understood. There was distinction among the characters … and they weren’t afraid to use their hands and arms in expressing emotions.

The writing, particularly the first few pages, might be considered creditable. And, the first page, where the puppy Jingo is being sniffed at by a friendly dweller of the wilderness, leaves me pleased at not having discarded the Judi drawings.

[Following is Marc Swayze’s complete contingent of Judi of the Jungle sample strips prepared nearly 70 years ago. All art & story ©2007 Marc Swayze.]

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“We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!”

Marc Swayze

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“We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!”

Marc Swayze

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“We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!”

Marc Swayze

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“We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!”

Marc Swayze will return next issue with his memoirs of the Golden Age of Comics.

Monthly! The Original First-Person History!

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The Phantom Of The Department Store An Early Captain Marvel Yuletide Yarn

by John G. Pierce

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

aptain Marvel is pitted against a foe he can’t seem to see in “The Phantom of the Department Store,” a Christmas story from Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (Jan. 1943).

calls Mr. Massey. By the time the boss arrives on the scene, the suit is lying on the floor, leaving the clerk to defend himself from Mr. Massey’s charge that “You’ve been sampling spirits! From a bottle!”

The tale begins with Mr. Morris sending Billy and Steamboat (who is preoccupied with a camera he has) to Massey’s Department Store (obviously a thinly-disguised version of the real-life Macy’s) to pick up some items. Billy mentions to Steamboat during their trek down to the store that Massey’s seems to have more business than the city’s other large department store, Dunkel’s (not too close an approximation of the name of Macy’s then-rival Gimbel’s—“Does Macy’s tell Gimbel’s?” was a popular catch phrase of the day).

But elsewhere, as a man is contemplating the purchase of a dress for his wife, with a female clerk’s assurance that “It will animate her,” the dress does indeed suddenly become animated, and even attempts to dance with the customer.

Also taking note of the success of Massey’s are Mr. Dunkel and one of his associates, but the former begins making plans to do something about it. Later, an already-costumed “Santa Claus” appears to apply for Massey’s advertised Santa job, and is summarily hired. “Your duties will be simply to walk up and down the store and add Christmas atmosphere.” “I’ll add plenty of atmosphere, never fear,” responds the newly-hired Kris Kringle.

After finding nothing more than wire and metal, Cap changes back to Billy, who notes that the incident “seems to have scared most everyone out of the store, too, except this store Santa Claus,” who cheerfully wishes Billy a “Merry Christmas.” Customers flee the store, vowing never to come back, while Mr. Massey laments that “Business is being ruined! What is that phantom? How can it be stopped?”

C

A few minutes later, in the clothing department, a clerk is showing a prospective customer a suit and telling him to “just picture yourself in it, walking briskly,” when suddenly the suits starts walking—and talking—by itself. And, not content with simply walking, it starts into a Highland fling! The customer flees in panic, while the clerk hurriedly

A cry of help reaches Billy’s ears, and a quick “Shazam!” brings Captain Marvel onto the scene. He punches the dress, while commenting that it is the “First time I ever fought a wire dummy.”

Meanwhile, Billy continues trying to fill Mr. Morris’s shopping list in the hardware department, while Steamboat spots a dummy display and starts to snap a picture—when the dummy abruptly comes to life.

Steamboat calls out a warning to Billy as the dummy is about to hit him with a hammer, bringing forth another quick “Shazam!” from Billy and the return of Captain Marvel, who wonders aloud that

Well, Cap And Santa Do Wear Similar Color Schemes….

Splash of “Captain Marvel and the Phantom of the Department Store,” from Captain Marvel Adventures #19 (Jan. 1943). Art by the C.C. Beck art staff. [©2007 DC Comics.]

The Phantom Of The Department Store

85

something, sir? Tee, hee!” (Handsome, muscled superheroes can have that effect on women sometimes.)

Unable to find the phantom, Marvel reverts to Billy, loads up Steamboat’s arms with all of Mr. Morris’ items, and they return to the radio station. Billy is due for his broadcast, while Steamboat wants to develop his photos, Nightie-Night, Cap which, as it turns out a few panels “Santa” misdirects Captain Marvel to the lingerie section. [©2007 DC Comics.] later, provide the clue: a shot of a huge magnet. “You caught our phantom!” Billy tells “Somebody’s trying to crack Billy’s skull—but why?” as the hammer Steamboat. This shows how he did all his tricks—with a big magnet! hits Marvel’s head harmlessly, causing the dummy’s arm to crack.

Now I can trap him. Er—I mean, Captain Marvel can! And I have a Mr. Massey comes rushing up, noting that now the invisible wonderful idea—tomorrow, Captain Marvel is going to take a job at phantom is “trying to commit murder.” He pleads with Cap for help, Massey’s Department Store!” but Marvel immediately dismisses the thought of a “phantom.” It is And so, the next day, Captain Marvel, disguised in a business suit, always intriguing to see characters whose background and/or powers applies to Mr. Massey for a job and is hired. Even in disguise, Cap is were of supernatural origin, as was certainly true of Captain Marvel, instantly recognizable to the readers, due to his distinctive features as decline giving serious consideration to the thought that a seemingly created by C.C. Beck, and maintained by the staff artists who followed other-worldly menace might be real … even though, most of the time, his style. Yet, Mr. Massey clearly does not recognize Cap, commenting they were correct and it was just a hoax or trick of some kind. If this was a flaw back then, perhaps it was nonetheless done with good that he looks “rather big and clumsy.” (But, from Superman onward, it intent, and from a story standpoint worked out better. has been a convention of the super-heroes that a simple change of clothes, a pair of glasses, or some other seemingly superficial change is While Cap is contemplating, the phantom strikes again, with an sufficient to disguise them.) anvil dropped on the World’s Mightiest Mortal’s head. Someone offpanel yells out a warning about the falling steel anvil, but as it cracks As the disguised Marvel starts his job, the phantom strikes, using his apart on Captain Marvel’s pate, he simply comments, “What anvil? magnet to set into motion a miniature car with a child in it. The stillDon’t disturb me—I’m thinking. Who in this store is playing the part disguised Cap dashes past the panicking mother and rescues the kid just of the phantom? How? By what tricks?” Although Cap had his times of distraction, this certainly wasn’t one of them. He was the very picture of singularity of focus on this occasion!

Suddenly, he spots someone behind a pillar, but when he tries to give chase, the phantom is gone, with his voice coming from various spots. Marvel continues his pursuits, but all he succeeds in doing is ruining some furniture.

Finally, he spots the store Santa, who continues to be his usual cheerful and unflappable self. Santa sends Cap off in another direction, only to find a female clerk in the ladies department, who asks, “Do you want

Letting Off Steam Steamboat is relieved to be done picking up Mr. Morris’ Christmas gifts. The drawings of Steamboat, as per usual in those days, had a decidedly stereotyped tinge. [©2007 DC Comics.]

Who Was That Unmasked Man? Captain Marvel “disguised” in business suit attire, as a department store salesman. [©2007 DC Comics.]

86

before the car crashes into the wall. Then the ever-jolly Santa appears, while Cap, out of sight, consults the compass he has brought to try to track the phantom’s magnet. However, a section of toy magnets throws him off the scent.

Later, a boy shopping with his dad sees an Indian statue, and requests the tomahawk he is holding—which starts to come down on him, this time with the magnetic lines of force being depicted artistically. But again, the disguised Cap comes to the rescue, and this time his compass leads him to the store’s Santa.

An Early Captain Marvel Yuletide Yarn

money—going bankrupt! I went mad, I guess. I used to be a ventriloquist on the stage. I threw my voice, made things talk. With that—and the magnet—I played the part of the phantom—and hoped to kill business in this store.” (To any reader who had been paying close attention all along, it should have come as no surprise that the “phantom” was in actuality the department store Santa … and probably not a great surprise that Santa was really Dunkel. As mysteries go, this wasn’t a very good one, except for how he was doing what he did.)

As two policemen lead the defeated Dunkel away, Massey “Why—er—what do you comments: “He isn’t too much to mean? I bring delight and joy to blame, poor fellow. I’ll buy his little children!” responds Santa bankrupt store and pay him a …And Billy Bob Thornton Is Nowhere In Sight! upon being accused. good price. When he gets out of Cap slams the bad Santa. [©2007 DC Comics.] jail, he can make a new start in “You mean fright and life,” leading Cap to remark that attempted murder, you rat in “That’s the real Christmas spirit, Mr. Massey!” The story closes with Santa Claus clothing!” accuses Cap as, in Clark Kent fashion, he doffs Billy Batson’s admonition to his radio audience (and to the readers) his outer clothes to stand revealed in his Captain Marvel outfit. that “Christmas comes but once a year – let’s make the most of it!”

Santa flees, but Cap catches up to him easily. Finally Santa is unmasked as Dunkel, Mr. Massey’s rival, who confesses. “I was losing

Edited by ROY THOMAS The greatest ‘zine of the 1960s is back, ALL-NEW, and focusing on GOLDEN AND SILVER AGE comics and creators with ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, UNSEEN ART, P.C. Hamerlinck’s FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America, featuring the archives of C.C. BECK and recollections by Fawcett artist MARCUS SWAYZE), Michael T. Gilbert’s MR. MONSTER, and more!

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ALTER EGO #14

ALTER EGO #15

Focuses on TIMELY COMICS (interviews and features on SYD SHORES, MICKEY SPILLANE, and VINCE FAGO), and MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES (including JOE CERTA, JOHN BELFI, FRANK BOLLE, BOB POWELL, and FRED MEAGHER), MR. MONSTER on JERRY SIEGEL, DON and MAGGIE THOMPSON interview, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and DON NEWTON!

DC and QUALITY COMICS focus! Quality’s GILL FOX interview, never-seen ’40s PAUL REINMAN Green Lantern story, ROY THOMAS talks to LEN WEIN and RICH BUCKLER about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, MR. MONSTER shows what made WALLY WOOD leave MAD, FCA section with BECK & SWAYZE, & ’65 NEWSWEEK ARTICLE on comics! REINMAN and BILL WARD covers!

1974 panel with JOE SIMON, STAN LEE, FRANK ROBBINS, and ROY THOMAS, ROY and JOHN BUSCEMA on Avengers, 1964 STAN LEE interview, tributes to DON HECK, JOHNNY CRAIG, and GRAY MORROW, Timely alums DAVID GANTZ and DANIEL KEYES, and FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and MIKE MANLEY! Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON and JOE SIMON!

A look at the 1970s JSA revival with CONWAY, LEVITZ, ESTRADA, GIFFEN, MILGROM, and STATON, JERRY ORDWAY on All-Star Squadron, tributes to CRAIG CHASE and DAN DeCARLO, “lost” 1945 issue of All-Star, 1970 interview with LEE ELIAS, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, & JAY DISBROW! MIKE NASSER & MICHAEL GILBERT covers!

JOHN BUSCEMA ISSUE! BUSCEMA interview (with UNSEEN ART), reminiscences

by SAL BUSCEMA, STAN LEE, INFANTINO, KUBERT, ORDWAY, FLO STEINBERG, and HERB TRIMPE, ROY THOMAS on 35 years with BIG JOHN, FCA tribute to KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, plus C.C. BECK and MARC SWAYZE, and MR. MONSTER revisits WALLY WOOD! BUSCEMA covers!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP012273

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(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: APR022615

ALTER EGO #16

ALTER EGO #17

ALTER EGO #18

ALTER EGO #19

ALTER EGO #20

MARVEL BULLPEN REUNION (BUSCEMA, COLAN, ROMITA, and SEVERIN), memories of the JOHN BUSCEMA SCHOOL, FCA with ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK, and MARC SWAYZE, tribute to CHAD GROTHKOPF, MR. MONSTER on EC COMICS with art by KURTZMAN, DAVIS, and WOOD, and more! Covers by ALEX ROSS and MARIE SEVERIN & RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlighting LOU FINE (with an overview of his career, and interviews with family members), interview with MURPHY ANDERSON about Fine, ALEX TOTH on Fine, ARNOLD DRAKE interviewed about DEADMAN and DOOM PATROL, MR. MONSTER on the non-EC work of JACK DAVIS and GEORGE EVANS, tributes to DAVE BERG and VINCE FAGO, FCA and more!

STAN GOLDBERG interview, secrets of ’40s Timely, art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, MANEELY, EVERETT, BURGOS, and DeCARLO, spotlight on sci-fi fanzine XERO with the LUPOFFS, OTTO BINDER, DON THOMPSON, ROY THOMAS, BILL SCHELLY, and ROGER EBERT, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD ghosting Flash Gordon! KIRBY and SWAYZE covers!

Spotlight on DICK SPRANG (profile and interview) with unseen art, rare Batman art

by BOB KANE, CHARLES PARIS, SHELLY MOLDOFF, MAX ALLAN COLLINS, JIM MOONEY, CARMINE INFANTINO, and ALEX TOTH, JERRY ROBINSON interviewed about Tomahawk and 1940s cover artist FRED RAY, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD’s Flash Gordon, Part 2!

Timely/Marvel art by SEKOWSKY, SHORES, EVERETT, and BURGOS, secrets behind THE INVADERS with ROY THOMAS, KIRBY, GIL KANE, & ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS interviewed, 1965 NY Comics Con review, panel with FINGER, BINDER, and FOX, MORT WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, RABOY, SCHAFFENBERGER, and more! AL MILGROM cover!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY022386

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ALTER EGO #21

ALTER EGO #22

ALTER EGO #23

ALTER EGO #24

ALTER EGO #25

The IGER “SHOP” examined, with art by EISNER, FINE, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, BAKER, MESKIN, CARDY, EVANS, BOB KANE, and TUSKA, “SHEENA” section with art by DAVE STEVENS & FRANK BRUNNER, ROY THOMAS on the JSA and All-Star Squadron, more UNSEEN 1946 ALL-STAR ART, MR. MONSTER on GARDNER FOX, FCA, and more! STEVENS & HASEN covers!

BILL EVERETT and JOE KUBERT interview

by NEAL ADAMS and GIL KANE in 1970, Timely art by BURGOS, SHORES, NODELL, and SEKOWSKY, RUDY LAPICK, ROY THOMAS on Sub-Mariner, with art by EVERETT, COLAN, ANDRU, BUSCEMAs, SEVERINs, and more, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD at EC, ALEX TOTH, and CAPT. MIDNIGHT! EVERETT & BECK covers!

Unseen art from TWO “LOST” 1940s H.G. PETER WONDER WOMAN STORIES (and analysis of the “CHARLES MOULTON” scripts), BOB FUJITANI and JOHN ROSENBERGER interviewed, VICTOR GORELICK discusses Archie and The Mighty Crusaders, with art by MORROW, BUCKLER, and REINMAN, FCA, and MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD! H.G. PETER cover!

X-MEN interviews with STAN LEE, DAVE COCKRUM, CHRIS CLAREMONT, ARNOLD DRAKE, JIM SHOOTER, ROY THOMAS, and LEN WEIN, MORT MESKIN profiled by his sons and ALEX TOTH, rare art by JERRY ROBINSON, FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and WILLIAM WOOLFOLK, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY on Comics Fandom! MESKIN and COCKRUM covers!

JACK COLE remembered by ALEX TOTH, interview with brother DICK COLE and his PLAYBOY colleagues, CHRIS CLAREMONT on the X-Men (with more never-seen art by DAVE COCKRUM), ROY THOMAS on AllStar Squadron #1 and its ’40s roots (with art

by ORDWAY, BUCKLER, MOLDOFF, and MESKIN), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Cover by TOTH and COLE!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC023029

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ALTER EGO #26

ALTER EGO #27

ALTER EGO #28

ALTER EGO #29

ALTER EGO #30

JOE SINNOTT interview, IRWIN DONENFELD interview by EVANIER & SCHWARTZ, art

by SHUSTER, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, and SWAN, MARK WAID analyzes the first Kryptonite story, JERRY SIEGEL and HARRY DONENFELD, JERRY IGER Shop update, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, and KEN BALD! Covers by SINNOTT and WAYNE BORING!

VIN SULLIVAN interview about the early DC days with art by SHUSTER, MOLDOFF, FLESSEL, GUARDINEER, and BURNLEY, MR. MONSTER’s “Lost” KIRBY HULK covers, 1948 NEW YORK COMIC CON with STAN LEE, SIMON & KIRBY, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, HARVEY KURTZMAN, and ROY THOMAS, ALEX TOTH, FCA, and more! Covers by JACK BURNLEY and JACK KIRBY!

Spotlight on JOE MANEELY, with a career overview, remembrance by his daughter and tons of art, Timely/Atlas/Marvel art by ROMITA, EVERETT, SEVERIN, SHORES, KIRBY, and DITKO, STAN LEE on Maneely, LEE AMES interview, FCA with SWAYZE and STEVE SKEATES, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! Covers by JOE MANEELY and DON NEWTON!

FRANK BRUNNER interview, BILL EVERETT’S Venus examined by TRINA ROBBINS, Classics Illustrated “What ifs”, LEE/KIRBY/ DITKO Marvel prototypes, JOE MANEELY’s monsters, BILL FRACCIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, JOHN BENSON on EC, The Heap by ERNIE SCHROEDER, and FCA! Covers by FRANK BRUNNER and PETE VON SHOLLY!

ALEX ROSS on his love for the JLA, ROY THOMAS on the ’60s JLA (with rare art by SEKOWSKY and DILLIN), the super-doers of 1940s-1980s France (with art by STEVE RUDE, STEVE BISSETTE, LADRÖNN, and NEAL ADAMS), KIM AAMODT & WALTER GEIER on writing for SIMON & KIRBY, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, and FCA! Covers by ALEX ROSS and STEVE RUDE!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY032543

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN032614

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL032570

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG032604

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP032620

ALTER EGO #31

ALTER EGO #32

ALTER EGO #33

ALTER EGO #34

ALTER EGO #35

DICK AYERS on his 1950s and ’60s work (with tons of Marvel Bullpen art), HARLAN ELLISON’s Marvel Age work examined (with art by BUCKLER, SAL BUSCEMA, and TRIMPE), STAN LEE’S Marvel Prototypes (with art by KIRBY and DITKO), Christmas cards from comics greats, MR. MONSTER, & FCA with SWAYZE and SCHAFFENBERGER! Covers by DICK AYERS and FRED RAY!

Timely artists ALLEN BELLMAN and SAM BURLOCKOFF interviewed, MART NODELL on his Timely years, rare art by BURGOS, EVERETT, and SHORES, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age (with art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, and more), FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more!

Covers by DICK GIORDANO and GIL KANE!

Symposium on MIKE SEKOWSKY by MARK EVANIER, SCOTT SHAW!, et al., with art

by ANDERSON, INFANTINO, and others, PAT (MRS. MIKE) SEKOWSKY and inker VALERIE BARCLAY interviewed, FCA, 1950s Captain Marvel parody by ANDRU and ESPOSITO, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by FRENZ/SINNOTT and FRENZ/BUSCEMA!

Quality Comics interviews with ALEX KOTZKY, AL GRENET, CHUCK CUIDERA, & DICK ARNOLD (son of BUSY ARNOLD), art by COLE, EISNER, FINE, WARD, DILLIN, and KANE, MICHELLE NOLAN on Blackhawk’s jump to DC, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on HARVEY KURTZMAN, & ALEX TOTH on REED CRANDALL! Covers by REED CRANDALL & CHARLES NICHOLAS!

Covers by JOHN ROMITA and AL JAFFEE! LEE, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, & THOMAS on the 1953-55 Timely super-hero revival, with rare art by ROMITA, AYERS, BURGOS, HEATH, EVERETT, LAWRENCE, & POWELL, AL JAFFEE on the 1940s Timely Bullpen (and MAD), FCA, ALEX TOTH on comic art, MR. MONSTER on unpublished 1950s covers, and more!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: OCT032843

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(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: FEB042796

ALTER EGO #36

ALTER EGO #37

ALTER EGO #38

ALTER EGO #39

ALTER EGO #40

JOE SIMON on SIMON & KIRBY, CARL BURGOS, and LLOYD JACQUET, JOHN BELL on World War II Canadian heroes, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on Canadian origins of MR. MONSTER, tributes to BOB DESCHAMPS, DON LAWRENCE, & GEORGE WOODBRIDGE, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and ELMER WEXLER interview! Covers by SIMON and GILBERT & RONN SUTTON!

WILL MURRAY on the 1940 Superman “KMetal” story & PHILIP WYLIE’s GLADIATOR (with art by SHUSTER, SWAN, ADAMS, and BORING), FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, and DON NEWTON, SY BARRY interview, art by TOTH, MESKIN, INFANTINO, and ANDERSON, and MICHAEL T. GILBERT interviews AL FELDSTEIN on EC and RAY BRADBURY! Covers by C.C. BECK and WAYNE BORING!

JULIE SCHWARTZ TRIBUTE with HARLAN ELLISON, INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, KUBERT, GIELLA, GIORDANO, CARDY, LEVITZ, STAN LEE, WOLFMAN, EVANIER, & ROY THOMAS, never-seen interviews with Julie, FCA with BECK, SCHAFFENBERGER, NEWTON, COCKRUM, OKSNER, FRADON, SWAYZE, and JACKSON BOSTWICK! Covers by INFANTINO and IRWIN HASEN!

Full-issue spotlight on JERRY ROBINSON, with an interview on being BOB KANE’s Batman “ghost”, creating the JOKER and ROBIN, working on VIGILANTE, GREEN HORNET, and ATOMAN, plus never-seen art by Jerry, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, RAY, KIRBY, SPRANG, DITKO, and PARIS! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER on AL FELDSTEIN Part 2, and more! Two JERRY ROBINSON covers!

RUSS HEATH and GIL KANE interviews (with tons of unseen art), the JULIE SCHWARTZ Memorial Service with ELLISON, MOORE, GAIMAN, HASEN, O’NEIL, and LEVITZ, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, TOTH, NOVICK, DILLIN, SEKOWSKY, KUBERT, GIELLA, ARAGONÉS, FCA, MR. MONSTER and AL FELDSTEIN Part 3, and more! Covers by GIL KANE & RUSS HEATH!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR042972

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(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY043050

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ALTER EGO #41

ALTER EGO #42

ALTER EGO #43

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

Halloween issue! BERNIE WRIGHTSON on his 1970s FRANKENSTEIN, DICK BRIEFER’S monster, the campy 1960s Frankie, art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, BORING, OKSNER, TUSKA, CRANDALL, and SUTTON, FCA #100, EMILIO SQUEGLIO interview, ALEX TOTH, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Covers by WRIGHTSON & MARC SWAYZE!

A celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, rare art by KIRBY, DITKO, and AYERS, Hillman and Ziff-Davis remembered by Heap artist ERNIE SCHROEDER, HERB ROGOFF, and WALTER LITTMAN, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and ALEX TOTH! Covers by FASTNER & LARSON and ERNIE SCHROEDER!

Yuletide art by WOOD, SINNOTT, CARDY, BRUNNER, TOTH, NODELL, and others, interviews with Golden Age artists TOM GILL (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS, exploring 1960s Mexican comics, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and more! Flip covers by GEORGE TUSKA and DAVE STEVENS!

JSA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. special!

Interviews with JOE KUBERT, IRWIN HASEN, MURPHY ANDERSON, JERRY ORDWAY, 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR ADLER, art by TOTH, SEKOWSKY, HASEN, MACHLAN, OKSNER, and INFANTINO, FCA, and MR. MONSTER’S “I Like Ike!” cartoons

by BOB KANE, INFANTINO, OKSNER, and BIRO! Wraparound ORDWAY cover!

Interviews with Sandman artist CREIG FLESSEL and ’40s creator BERT CHRISTMAN, MICHAEL CHABON on researching his Pulitzer-winning novel Kavalier & Clay, art

by EISNER, KANE, KIRBY, and AYERS, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, OTTO BINDER’s “lost” Jon Jarl story, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom, and ALEX TOTH! CREIG FLESSEL cover!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG043186

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP043043

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: OCT043189

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: NOV043080

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC042992

ALTER EGO #46

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

ALTER EGO #49

ALTER EGO #50

The VERY BEST of the 1960s-70s ALTER EGO! 1969 BILL EVERETT interview, art by BURGOS, GUSTAVSON, SIMON & KIRBY, and others, 1960s gems by DITKO, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, JERRY BAILS, and ROY THOMAS, LOU GLANZMAN interview, tributes to IRV NOVICK and CHRIS REEVE, MR. MONSTER, FCA, TOTH, and more!

Cover by EVERETT and MARIE SEVERIN!

Spotlights MATT BAKER, Golden Age cheesecake artist of PHANTOM LADY! Career overview, interviews with BAKER’s half-brother and nephew, art from AL FELDSTEIN, VINCE COLLETTA, ARTHUR PEDDY, JACK KAMEN and others, FCA, BILL SCHELLY talks to comic-book-seller (and fan) BUD PLANT, MR. MONSTER on missing AL WILLIAMSON art, and ALEX TOTH!

WILL EISNER discusses Eisner & Iger’s Shop and BUSY ARNOLD’s ’40s Quality Comics, art by FINE, CRANDALL, COLE, POWELL, and CARDY, EISNER tributes by STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, & others, interviews with ’40s Quality artist VERN HENKEL and CHUCK MAZOUJIAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER on EISNER’s Wonder Man, ALEX TOTH, and more with BUD PLANT! EISNER cover!

Spotlights CARL BURGOS! Interview with daughter SUE BURGOS, art by BURGOS, BILL EVERETT, MIKE SEKOWSKY, ED ASCHE, and DICK AYERS, unused 1941 Timely cover layouts, the 1957 Atlas Implosion examined, MANNY STALLMAN, FCA, MR. MONSTER and more! New cover by MARK SPARACIO, from an unused 1941 layout by CARL BURGOS!

ROY THOMAS covers his 40-YEAR career in comics (AVENGERS, X-MEN, CONAN, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY INC.), with ADAMS, BUSCEMA, COLAN, DITKO, GIL KANE, KIRBY, STAN LEE, ORDWAY, PÉREZ, ROMITA, and many others! Also FCA, & MR. MONSTER on ROY’s letters to GARDNER FOX! Flip-covers by BUSCEMA/ KIRBY/ALCALA and JERRY ORDWAY!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN053133

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: FEB053220

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR053331

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(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY053172

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

ALTER EGO #54

ALTER EGO #55

Golden Age Batman artist/BOB KANE ghost LEW SAYRE SCHWARTZ interviewed, Batman art by JERRY ROBINSON, DICK SPRANG, SHELDON MOLDOFF, WIN MORTIMER, JIM MOONEY, and others, the Golden and Silver Ages of AUSTRALIAN SUPER-HEROES, Mad artist DAVE BERG interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WILL EISNER, BILL SCHELLY, and more!

JOE GIELLA on the Silver Age at DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, and JULIE SCHWARTZ, with rare art by INFANTINO, GIL KANE, SEKOWSKY, SWAN, DILLIN, MOLDOFF, GIACOIA, SCHAFFENBERGER, and others, JAY SCOTT PIKE on STAN LEE and CHARLES BIRO, MARTIN THALL interview, ALEX TOTH, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY, and more! GIELLA cover!

GIORDANO and THOMAS on STOKER’S DRACULA, never-seen DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strip, MIKE ESPOSITO on his work with ROSS ANDRU, art by COLAN, WRIGHTSON, MIGNOLA, BRUNNER, BISSETTE, KALUTA, HEATH, MANEELY, EVERETT, DITKO, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, BILL SCHELLY, ALEX TOTH, and MR. MONSTER! Cover by GIORDANO!

MIKE ESPOSITO on DC and Marvel, ROBERT KANIGHER on the creation of Metal Men and Sgt. Rock (with comments

by JOE KUBERT and BOB HANEY), art by ANDRU, INFANTINO, KIRBY, SEVERIN, WINDSOR-SMITH, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, TRIMPE, GIL KANE, and others, plus FCA, ALEX TOTH, BILL SCHELLY, MR. MONSTER, and more! ESPOSITO cover!

JACK and OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with SWAYZE and EMILIO SQUEGLIO, rare art by BECK, WARD, and SCHAFFENBERGER, Christmas Card Art from CRANDALL, SINNOTT, HEATH, MOONEY, and CARDY, 1943 Pin-Up Calendar (with ’40s movie stars as superheroines), ALEX TOTH, and more! ALEX ROSS cover!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN053345

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL053293

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG053328

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP053301

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: OCT053396

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

ALTER EGO #59

ALTER EGO #60

Interviews with Superman creators SIEGEL & SHUSTER, Golden/Silver Age DC production guru JACK ADLER interviewed, NEAL ADAMS and radio/TV iconoclast (and comics fan) HOWARD STERN on Adler and his amazing career, art by CURT SWAN, WAYNE BORING, and AL PLASTINO, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, and more! NEAL ADAMS cover!

Issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas superhero stories by MICHELLE NOLAN, art by SIMON & KIRBY, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, SHORES, SCHOMBURG, MANEELY, and SEVERIN, GENE COLAN and ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely super-heroes, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and BILL SCHELLY! Cover by JACK KIRBY and PETE VON SHOLLY!

GERRY CONWAY and ROY THOMAS on their ’80s screenplay for “The X-Men Movie That Never Was!”with art by COCKRUM, ADAMS, BUSCEMA, BYRNE, GIL KANE, KIRBY, HECK, and LIEBER, Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA interview, ALLEN BELLMAN on 1940s Timely bullpen, FCA, 1966 panel on 1950s EC Comics, and MR. MONSTER! MARK SPARACIO/GIL KANE cover!

Special issue on Batman and Superman in the Golden and Silver Ages, ARTHUR SUYDAM interview, NEAL ADAMS on 1960s/70s DC, SHELLY MOLDOFF, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA interviewed, the first comic book Thor (not the one you think!), SIEGEL & SHUSTER, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

Celebrates 50 years since SHOWCASE #4!

FLASH interviews with SCHWARTZ, KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, and BROOME, Golden Age artist TONY DiPRETA, 1966 panel with NORDLING, BINDER, and LARRY IVIE, FCA, MR. MONSTER, never-before-published color Flash cover by CARMINE INFANTINO, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC053401

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN063429

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR063545

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(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY063496

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

History of the AMERICAN COMICS GROUP (1946 to 1967)—including its roots in the Golden Age SANGOR ART SHOP and STANDARD/NEDOR comics! Art by MESKIN, ROBINSON, WILLIAMSON, FRAZETTA, SCHAFFENBERGER, & BUSCEMA, ACG writer/editor RICHARD HUGHES, plus AL HARTLEY interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! GIORDANO cover!

HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN ISSUE, featuring: MIKE PLOOG and RUDY PALAIS on their horror-comics work! AL WILLIAMSON on his work for the American Comics Group—plus more on ACG horror comics! Rare DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strips! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, BILL SCHELLY on the 1966 KalerCon, a new PLOOG cover—and more!

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Never-before-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Art by Toth’s influences: CANIFF, SICKLES, COLE, KELLY, BECK, ROBINSON and others! Articles about Toth by TERRY AUSTIN, JIM AMASH, SY BARRY, JOHN WORKMAN, and others!

Plus illustrated Christmas cards by comics pros, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Fawcett Favorites! Issue-by-issue analysis of BINDER & BECK’s 1943-45 “The Monster Society of Evil!” serial, double-size FCA section with MARC SWAYZE, EMILIO SQUEGLIO, C.C. BECK, MAC RABOY, and others! Interview with MARTIN FILCHOCK, Golden Age artist for Centaur Comics! Plus MR. MONSTER, DON NEWTON cover, plus a FREE BACK ISSUE #20 PREVIEW!

NICK CARDY interviewed on his work in the Golden & Silver Ages, with CARDY artwork, plus art by WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, CARMINE INFANTINO, JIM APARO, RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, JOE ORLANDO, BOB HANEY, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and others, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, new CARDY COVER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN063522

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(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: OCT063800

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: NOV063991

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: DEC064009

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

ALTER EGO #68

ALTER EGO #69

ALTER EGO #70

Spotlight on BOB POWELL, the artist who drew Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Sheena, The Avenger, The Hulk, Giant-Man, Green Hornet, and others, plus art by WALLY WOOD, HOWARD NOSTRAND, DICK AYERS, JOE SIMON, JACK KIRBY, CHARLES CUIDERA and others! FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

Interview with BOB OKSNER, artist of Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Angel and the Ape, Leave It to Binky, Jerry Lewis, and more, plus art and artifacts by SHELLY MAYER, IRWIN HASEN, LEE ELIAS, C.C. BECK, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, JULIE SCHWARTZ, and others, FCA with MARC SWAYZE and C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, and more!

Tribute to JERRY BAILS—Father of Comics Fandom and founder of Alter Ego! Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ, plus art by JOE KUBERT, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, DICK DILLIN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JERRY ORDWAY, JOE STATON, JACK KIRBY, and others! Plus STEVE DITKO’s notes to STAN LEE for a 1965 Dr. Strange story! And ROY reveals secrets behind Marvel’s STAR WARS comic!

PAUL NORRIS drew AQUAMAN first, in 1941—and RAMONA FRADON was the hero’s ultimate Golden Age artist. But both drew other things as well, and both are interviewed in this landmark issue—along with a pocket history of Aquaman! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, and more!

Cover painted by JOHN WATSON, from a breathtaking illo by RAMONA FRADON!

Spotlight on ROY THOMAS’ 1970s stint as Marvel’s editor-in-chief and major writer, plus art and reminiscences of GIL KANE, BOTH BUSCEMAS, ADAMS, ROMITA, CHAYKIN, BRUNNER, PLOOG, EVERETT, WRIGHTSON, PÉREZ, ROBBINS, BARRY SMITH, STAN LEE and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, a new GENE COLAN cover, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #5 PREVIEW!

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ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

Represents THE GREAT CANADIAN COMIC BOOKS, the long out-of-print 1970s book

by MICHAEL HIRSH and PATRICK LOUBERT, with rare art of such heroes as Mr. Monster, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, The Penguin, Thunderfist, The Dreamer, The Brain, Johnny Canuck, et al.!

Features a new cover by GEORGE FREEMAN, from a layout by JACK KIRBY!

SCOTT SHAW! and ROY THOMAS on the creation of Captain Carrot, art & artifacts

by RICK HOBERG, STAN GOLDBERG, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JOHN COSTANZA, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CAROL LAY, and others, interview with DICK ROCKWELL, Golden Age artist and 36-year ghost artist on MILTON CANIFF’s Steve Canyon! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 synopsis for the origin of Man-Thing, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL—with an ALEX ROSS cover! Double-size FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with WALT GROGAN and P.C. HAMERLINCK on the many “Captains Marvel” over the years, unseen Shazam! proposal by ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK on “The Death of a Legend!”, MARC SWAYZE, interview with Golden Age artist MARV LEVY, MR. MONSTER, and more!

JOE SIMON SPECIAL! In-depth SIMON interview by JIM AMASH, with neverbefore-revealed secrets behind the creation of Captain America, Fighting American, Stuntman, Adventures of The Fly, Sick magazine and more, art by JACK KIRBY, BOB POWELL, AL WILLIAMSON, JERRY GRANDENETTI, GEORGE TUSKA, and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUN074006

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T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

TM

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments such as “Pro2Pro” (a dialogue between two professionals), “Rough Stuff” (pencil art showcases of top artists), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

Go online for money-saving BUNDLES, including an ULTIMATE BUNDLE with the entire run at HALF-PRICE! “I learned something on darn near every page. It’s a terrific magazine!”

Tony Isabella on BACK ISSUE!

BACK ISSUE #1

BACK ISSUE #2

BACK ISSUE #3

“PRO2PRO” interview between GEORGE PÉREZ & MARV WOLFMAN (with UNSEEN PÉREZ ART), “ROUGH STUFF” featuring JACK KIRBY’s PENCIL ART, “GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD” on the first JLA/AVENGERS, “BEYOND CAPES” on DC and Marvel’s TARZAN (with KUBERT and BUSCEMA ART), “OFF MY CHEST” editorial by INFANTINO, and more! PÉREZ cover!

“PRO2PRO” between ADAM HUGHES and MIKE W. BARR (with UNSEEN HUGHES ART) and MATT WAGNER and DIANA SCHUTZ, “ROUGH STUFF” HUGHES PENCIL ART, STEVE RUDE’s unseen SPACE GHOST/ HERCULOIDS team-up, Bruce Jones’ ALIEN WORLDS and TWISTED TALES, “OFF MY CHEST” by MIKE W. BARR on the DC IMPLOSION, and more!

HUGHES cover!

“PRO2PRO” between KEITH GIFFEN, J.M. DeMATTEIS and KEVIN MAGUIRE on their JLA WORK, “ROUGH STUFF” PENCIL ART by ARAGONÉS, HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, BYRNE, KIRBY, HUGHES, details on two unknown PLASTIC MAN movies, Joker’s history with O’NEIL, ADAMS, ENGLEHART, ROGERS and BOLLAND, editorial by MARK EVANIER, and more!

BOLLAND cover!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP032621

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BACK ISSUE #4

BACK ISSUE #5

BACK ISSUE #6

BACK ISSUE #7

BACK ISSUE #8

“PRO2PRO” between JOHN BYRNE and CHRIS CLAREMONT on their X-MEN WORK and WALT SIMONSON and JOE CASEY on Walter’s THOR, WOLVERINE PENCIL ART by BUSCEMA, LEE, COCKRUM, BYRNE, and GIL KANE, LEN WEIN’S TEEN WOLVERINE, PUNISHER’S 30TH and SECRET WARS’ 20TH ANNIVERSARIES (with UNSEEN ZECK ART), and more! BYRNE cover!

Wonder Woman TV series in-depth, LYNDA CARTER INTERVIEW, WONDER WOMAN TV ART GALLERY, Marvel’s TV Hulk, SpiderMan, Captain America, and Dr. Strange, LOU FERRIGNO INTERVIEW, super-hero cartoons you didn’t see, pencil gallery by JERRY ORDWAY, STAR TREK in comics, and ROMITA SR. editorial on Marvel’s movies!

Covers by ALEX ROSS and ADAM HUGHES!

TOMB OF DRACULA revealed with GENE COLAN and MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN & BERNIE WRIGHTSON on Swamp Thing’s roots, STEVE BISSETTE & RICK VEITCH on their Swamp work, pencil art by BRUNNER, PLOOG, BISSETTE, COLAN, WRIGHTSON, and SMITH, editorial by ROY THOMAS, PREZ, GODZILLA comics (with TRIMPE art), CHARLTON horror, & more! COLAN cover!

History of BRAVE AND BOLD, JIM APARO interview, tribute to BOB HANEY, FANTASTIC FOUR ROUNDTABLE with STAN LEE, MARK WAID, and others, EVANIER and MEUGNIOT on DNAgents, pencil art by ROSS, TOTH, COCKRUM, HECK, ROBBINS, NEWTON, and BYRNE, DENNY O’NEIL editorial, a tour of METROPOLIS, IL, and more! SWAN/ANDERSON cover!

DENNY O’NEIL and Justice League Unlimited voice actor PHIL LaMARR discuss GL JOHN STEWART, NEW X-MEN pencil art by NEAL ADAMS, ARTHUR ADAMS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, ALAN DAVIS, JIM LEE, ADAM HUGHES, STORM’s 30-year history, animated TV’s black heroes (with TOTH art), ISABELLA and TREVOR VON EEDEN on BLACK LIGHTNING, and more! KYLE BAKER cover!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAR042973

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BACK ISSUE #9

BACK ISSUE #10

BACK ISSUE #11

BACK ISSUE #12

BACK ISSUE #14

MIKE BARON and STEVE RUDE on NEXUS past and present, a colossal GIL KANE pencil art gallery, a look at Marvel’s STAR WARS comics, secrets of DC’s unseen CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS SEQUEL, TIM TRUMAN on his GRIMJACK SERIES, MIKE GOLD editorial, THANOS history, TIME WARP revisited, and more! All-new STEVE RUDE COVER!

NEAL ADAMS and DENNY O’NEIL on RA’S AL GHUL’s history (with Adams art), O’Neil and MICHAEL KALUTA on THE SHADOW, MIKE GRELL on JON SABLE FREELANCE, HOWIE CHAYKIN interview, DOC SAVAGE in comics, BATMAN ART GALLERY by PAUL SMITH, SIENKIEWICZ, SIMONSON, BOLLAND, HANNIGAN, MAZZUCCHELLI, and others! New cover by ADAMS!

ROY THOMAS, KURT BUSIEK, and JOE JUSKO on CONAN (with art by JOHN BUSCEMA, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, NEAL ADAMS, JUSKO, and others), SERGIO ARAGONÉS and MARK EVANIER on GROO, DC’s never-published KING ARTHUR, pencil art gallery by KIRBY, PÉREZ, MOEBIUS, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, BOLLAND, and others, and a new BUSCEMA/JUSKO Conan cover!

‘70s and ‘80s character revamps with DAVE GIBBONS, ROY THOMAS and KURT BUSIEK, TOM DeFALCO and RON FRENZ on Spider-Man’s 1980s “black” costume change, DENNY O’NEIL on Superman’s 1970 revamp, JOHN BYRNE’s aborted SHAZAM! series detailed, pencil art gallery with FRANK MILLER, LEE WEEKS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, CHARLES VESS, and more!

DAVE COCKRUM and MIKE GRELL go “Pro2Pro” on the Legion, pencil art gallery

by BUSCEMA, BYRNE, MILLER, STARLIN, McFARLANE, ROMITA JR., SIENKIEWICZ, looks at Hercules Unbound, Hex, Killraven, Kamandi, MARS, Planet of the Apes, art and interviews with GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KIRBY, WILLIAMSON, and more! New MIKE GRELL/BOB McLEOD cover!

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BACK ISSUE #15

BACK ISSUE #16

BACK ISSUE #17

BACK ISSUE #18

BACK ISSUE #19

“Weird Heroes” of the 1970s and ‘80s!

MIKE PLOOG discusses Ghost Rider, MATT WAGNER revisits The Demon, JOE KUBERT dusts off Ragman, GENE COLAN “Rough Stuff” pencil gallery, GARCÍALÓPEZ recalls Deadman, DC’s unpublished Gorilla Grodd series, PERLIN, CONWAY, and MOENCH on Werewolf by Night, and more! New ARTHUR ADAMS cover!

“Toy Stories!” Behind the Scenes of Marvel’s G.I. JOE™ and TRANSFORMERS with PAUL LEVITZ and GEORGE TUSKA, “Rough Stuff” MIKE ZECK pencil gallery, ARTHUR ADAMS on Gumby, HE-MAN, ROM, MICRONAUTS, SUPER POWERS, SUPER-HERO CARS, art by HAMA, SAL BUSCEMA, GUICE, GOLDEN, KIRBY, TRIMPE, and new ZECK sketch cover!

“Super Girls!” Supergirl retrospective with art by STELFREEZE, HAMNER, SpiderWoman, Flare, Tigra, DC’s unused Double Comics with unseen BARRETTO and INFANTINO art, WOLFMAN and JIMENEZ on Donna Troy, female comics pros, art by SEKOWSKY, OKSNER, PÉREZ, HUGHES, GIORDANO, plus a COLOR GALLERY and COVER by BRUCE TIMM!

“Big, Green Issue!” Tour of NEAL ADAMS’ studio (with interview and art gallery), DAVE GIBBONS “Rough Stuff” pencil art spotlight, interviews with MIKE GRELL (Green Arrow), PETER DAVID (Incredible Hulk), a “Pro2Pro” chat between GERRY CONWAY and JOHN ROMITA, SR. (Green Goblin), the unproduced She-Hulk movie, and more. New cover by ADAMS!

“Unsung Heroes!” DON NEWTON spotlight, GERBER and COLAN on Howard the Duck, CARLIN and FINGEROTH on Marvel’s Assistant Editors’ Month, the unrealized Unlimited Powers TV show, TONY ISABELLA’s aborted plans for The Champions, MARK GRUENWALD tribute, art by SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, and more! NEWTON/RUBINSTEIN cover!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN063431

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BACK ISSUE #20

BACK ISSUE #21

BACK ISSUE #22

BACK ISSUE #23

BACK ISSUE #24

“Secret Identities!” Histories of characters with unusual alter egos: Firestorm, Moon Knight, the Question, and the “real-life” Human Fly! STEVE ENGLEHART and SAL BUSCEMA on Captain America, JERRY ORDWAY interview and cover, Superman roundtable with SIENKIEWICZ, NOWLAN, MOENCH, COWAN, MAGGIN, O’NEIL, MILGROM, CONWAY, ROBBINS, SWAN, plus FREE ALTER EGO #64 PREVIEW!

“The Devil You Say!” issue! A look at Daredevil in the 1980s and 1990s with interviews and art by KLAUS JANSON, JOHN ROMITA JR., and FRANK MILLER, MIKE MIGNOLA Hellboy interview, DAN MISHKIN and GARY COHN on Blue Devil, COLLEEN DORAN’s unpublished X-Men spin-off “Fallen Angels”, Son of Satan, Stig’s Inferno, DC’s Plop!, JACK KIRBY’s Devil Dinosaur, and cover by MIKE ZECK!

“Dynamic Duos!’ “Pro2Pro” interviews with Batman’s ALAN GRANT and NORM BREYFOGLE and the Legion’s PAUL LEVITZ and KEITH GIFFEN, a “Backstage Pass” to Dark Horse Comics, Robin’s history, EASTMAN and LAIRD’s Ninja Turtles, histories of duos Robin and Batgirl, Captain America and the Falcon, and Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, “Zot!” interview with SCOTT McCLOUD, and a new BREYFOGLE cover!

“Comics Go Hollywood!” Spider-Man roundtable with STAN LEE, JOHN ROMITA, SR., JIM SHOOTER, ERIK LARSEN, and others, STAR TREK comics writers’ roundtable Part 1, Gladstone’s Disney comics line, behindthe-scenes at TV’s ISIS and THE FLASH (plus an interview with Flash’s JOHN WESLEY SHIPP), TV tie-in comics, bonus 8-page color ADAM HUGHES ART GALLERY and cover, plus a FREE WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW!

“Magic” issue! MICHAEL GOLDEN interview, GENE COLAN, PAUL SMITH, and FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, Mystic Art Gallery with CARL POTTS & KEVIN NOWLAN, BILL WILLINGHAM’s Elementals, Zatanna history, Dr. Fate’s revival, a “Greatest Stories Never Told” look at Peter Pan, tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS, a new GOLDEN cover, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #6 PREVIEW!

(104-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: NOV063993

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JAN073984

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(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY073880

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL073976

BACK ISSUE #25

BACK ISSUE #26

BACK ISSUE #27

BACK ISSUE #28

BACK ISSUE #29

“Men of Steel!’ BOB LAYTON and DAVID MICHELINIE on Iron Man, RICH BUCKLER on Deathlok, MIKE GRELL on Warlord, JOHN BYRNE on ROG 2000, Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Machine Man, the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes comic strip, DC’s Steel, art by KIRBY, HECK, WINDSOR-SMITH, TUSKA, LAYTON cover, and bonus “Men of Steel” art gallery!

Includes a FREE DRAW! #15 PREVIEW!

“Spies and Tough Guys!’ PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCH in an art-packed “Pro2Pro” on Master of Kung Fu and their unrealized Shang-Chi/Nick Fury crossover, Suicide Squad spotlight, Ms. Tree, CHUCK DIXON and TIM TRUMAN’s Airboy, James Bond and Mr. T in comic books, Sgt. Rock’s oddball super-hero team-ups, Nathaniel Dusk, JOE KUBERT’s unpublished The Redeemer, and a new GULACY cover!

“Comic Book Royalty!” The ’70s/’80s careers of Aquaman and the Sub-Mariner explored, BARR and BOLLAND discuss CAMELOT 3000, comics pros tell “Why JACK KIRBY Was King,” “Dr. Doom: Monarch or Menace?” DON McGREGOR’s Black Panther; interview with ALAN WEISS; spotlights on ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS; NIGHT FORCE; KING KONG; and more!

Cover by NICK CARDY!

“Heroes Behaving Badly!” Hulk vs. Thing tirades with RON WILSON, HERB TRIMPE, and JIM SHOOTER; CARY BATES and CARMINE INFANTINO on “Trial of the Flash”; JOHN BYRNE’s heroes who cross the line; Teen Titan Terra, Kid Miracleman, Mark Shaw Manhunter, and others who went bad, featuring LAYTON, MICHELINIE, WOLFMAN, and P REZ, and more! New cover by DARWYN COOKE!

“Mutants” issue! CLAREMONT, BYRNE, SMITH, and ROMITA, JR.’s X-Men work; NOCENTI and ARTHUR ADAMS’ Longshot; McLEOD and SIENKIEWICZ’s New Mutants; the UK’s CAPTAIN BRITAIN series; the Beast’s tenure with the Avengers; the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor (and the revaltion of Nightcrawler’s “original” father), a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: SEP074091

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(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships March 2008

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships May 2008

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships July 2008

UPCOMING BOOKS: MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON, these trade paperbacks are devoted to the BEST OF TODAY’S COMICS ARTISTS! Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more!

Vol. 14: FRANK CHO

Vol. 15: MARK SCHULTZ

Vol. 16: MIKE ALLRED

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905849 Ships October 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074034

(128-page TPB) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905856 Ships December 2007

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905863 Ships February 2008

MORE MODERN MASTERS VOLUMES ARE COMING IN 2008: GAIJIN STUDIOS AND JOHN ROMITA JR.!

SEE OUR JANUARY CATALOG FOR DETAILS!

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KIRBY FIVE-OH! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #50) ALTER EGO: THE BEST OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE

(10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) In 1961, JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS launched ALTER EGO, the first fanzine devoted to comic books and their colorful history. This volume, first published in low distribution in 1997, collects the original 11 issues (published from 1961-78) of A/E, with the creative and artistic contributions of JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, & others—and important, illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! See where a generation first learned about the Golden Age of Comics—while the Silver Age was in full flower—with major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS & BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by the late JULIUS SCHWARTZ.

Picks up where Volume 1 left off, covering the return of the Teen Titans to the top of the sales charts!

Featuring interviews with GEOFF JOHNS, MIKE MCKONE, PETER DAVID, PHIL JIMENEZ, and others, plus an in-depth section on the top-rated Cartoon Network series! Also CHUCK DIXON, MARK WAID, KARL KESEL, and JOHN BYRNE on writing the current generation of Titans! More with MARV WOLFMAN and GEORGE PÉREZ! NEAL ADAMS on redesigning Robin! Artwork by ADAMS, BYRNE, JIMENEZ, MCKONE, PÉREZ and more, with an all-new cover by MIKE MCKONE! Written by GLEN CADIGAN.

(192-page trade paperback) $26 US ISBN: 9781893905887 Ships February 2008

(224-page trade paperback) $31 US ISBN: 97801893905870 Ships March 2008

TITANS COMPANION VOLUME 2

The publication that started the TwoMorrows juggernaut presents KIRBY FIVE-OH!, a book covering the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career in comics! The regular columnists from THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine have formed a distinguished panel of experts to choose and examine: The BEST KIRBY STORY published each year from 1938-1987! The BEST COVERS from each decade! Jack’s 50 BEST UNUSED PIECES OF ART! His 50 BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS! And profiles of, and commentary by, the 50 PEOPLE MOST INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! Plus there’s a 50-PAGE GALLERY of Kirby’s powerful RAW PENCIL ART, and a DELUXE COLOR SECTION of photos and finished art from throughout his entire halfcentury oeuvre. This TABLOID-SIZED TRADE PAPERBACK features a previously unseen Kirby Superman cover inked by “DC: The New Frontier” artist DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER, helping make this the ultimate retrospective on the career of the “King” of comics! (A percentage of profits will be donated to the JACK KIRBY MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER.) (168-page tabloid-size trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905894 Ships January 2008

HOW-TO MAGAZINES

DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation, featuring in-depth interviews and step-by-step demonstrations from top comics professionals. Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

WRITE NOW! features writing tips from pros on both sides of the desk, interviews, sample scripts, reviews, exclusive Nuts & Bolts tutorials, and more! Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

ROUGH STUFF features never-seen pencil pages, sketches, layouts, roughs, and unused inked pages from throughout comics history, plus columns, critiques, and more! Edited by BOB MCLEOD.

DOWNLOAD DIGITAL EDITIONS OF OUR MAGS FOR $2 95!

GO TO WWW.TWOMORROWS.COM FOR DETAILS!

NEW MAGS: T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

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BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, plus rare and unpublished art. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

ALTER EGO focuses on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster & more. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

BACK ISSUE #23

BACK ISSUE #24

BACK ISSUE #25

BACK ISSUE #26

“Comics Go Hollywood!” Spider-Man roundtable with STAN LEE, JOHN ROMITA, SR., JIM SHOOTER, ERIK LARSEN, and others, STAR TREK comics writers’ roundtable Part 1, Gladstone’s Disney comics line, behindthe-scenes at TV’s ISIS and THE FLASH (plus an interview with Flash’s JOHN WESLEY SHIPP), TV tie-in comics, bonus 8-page color ADAM HUGHES ART GALLERY and cover, plus a FREE WRITE NOW #16 PREVIEW!

“Magic” issue! MICHAEL GOLDEN interview, GENE COLAN, PAUL SMITH, and FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, Mystic Art Gallery with CARL POTTS & KEVIN NOWLAN, BILL WILLINGHAM’s Elementals, Zatanna history, Dr. Fate’s revival, a “Greatest Stories Never Told” look at Peter Pan, tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS, a new GOLDEN cover, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #6 PREVIEW!

“Men of Steel”! BOB LAYTON and DAVID MICHELINIE on Iron Man, RICH BUCKLER on Deathlok, MIKE GRELL on Warlord, JOHN BYRNE on ROG 2000, Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman, Machine Man, the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes comic strip, DC’s Steel, art by KIRBY, HECK, WINDSOR-SMITH, TUSKA, LAYTON cover, and bonus “Men of Steel” art gallery!

Includes a FREE DRAW! #15 PREVIEW!

“Spies and Tough Guys”! PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCH in an art-packed “Pro2Pro” on Master of Kung Fu and their unrealized Shang-Chi/Nick Fury crossover, Suicide Squad spotlight, Ms. Tree, CHUCK DIXON and TIM TRUMAN’s Airboy, James Bond and Mr. T in comic books, Sgt. Rock’s oddball super-hero team-ups, Nathaniel Dusk, JOE KUBERT’s unpublished The Redeemer, and a new GULACY cover!

(108-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: MAY073880

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL073976

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships November 2007

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

ALTER EGO #72

ALTER EGO #73

ALTER EGO #74

ALTER EGO #75

ALTER EGO #76

SCOTT SHAW! and ROY THOMAS on the creation of Captain Carrot, art & artifacts

by RICK HOBERG, STAN GOLDBERG, MIKE SEKOWSKY, JOHN COSTANZA, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CAROL LAY, and others, interview with DICK ROCKWELL, Golden Age artist and 36-year ghost artist on MILTON CANIFF’s Steve Canyon! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 synopsis for the origin of Man-Thing, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, MICHAEL W. KALUTA, JEFF JONES, and others FCA, MR. MONSTER, a FREE DRAW! #15! PREVIEW, and more!

STAN LEE SPECIAL in honor of his 85th birthday, with a cover by JACK KIRBY, classic (and virtually unseen) interviews with Stan, tributes, and tons of rare and unseen art by KIRBY, ROMITA, the brothers BUSCEMA, DITKO, COLAN, HECK, AYERS, MANEELY, SHORES, EVERETT, BURGOS, KANE, the SEVERIN siblings—plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

FAWCETT FESTIVAL—with an ALEX ROSS cover! Double-size FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with WALT GROGAN and P.C. HAMERLINCK on the many “Captains Marvel” over the years, unseen Shazam! proposal by ALEX ROSS, C.C. BECK on “The Death of a Legend!”, MARC SWAYZE, interview with Golden Age artist MARV LEVY, MR. MONSTER, and more!

JOE SIMON SPECIAL! In-depth SIMON interview by JIM AMASH, with neverbefore-revealed secrets behind the creation of Captain America, Fighting American, Stuntman, Adventures of The Fly, Sick magazine and more, art by JACK KIRBY, BOB POWELL, AL WILLIAMSON, JERRY GRANDENETTI, GEORGE TUSKA, and others, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: JUL073975

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074112

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships December 2007

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships March 2008

DRAW! #15

WRITE NOW! #17

WRITE NOW! #18

ROUGH STUFF #6

ROUGH STUFF #7

BACK TO SCHOOL ISSUE, covering major schools offering comic art as part of their curriculum, featuring faculty, student, and graduate interviews in an ultimate overview of collegiate-level comic art classes! Plus, a “how-to” demo/interview with B.P.R.D.’S GUY DAVIS, MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP series, a FREE WRITE NOW #17 PREVIEW, and more!

HEROES ISSUE featuring series creator/ writer TIM KRING, writer JEPH LOEB, and others, interviews with DC Comics’ DAN DiDIO and Marvel’s DAN BUCKLEY, PETER DAVID on writing STEPHEN KING’S DARK TOWER COMIC, MICHAEL TEITELBAUM, C.B. CEBULSKI, DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, Nuts & Bolts script and art examples, a FREE BACK ISSUE #24 PREVIEW, and more!

More celebration of STAN LEE’s 85th birthday, including rare examples of comics, TV, and movie scripts from the Stan Lee Archives, tributes by JOHN ROMITA, SR., JOE QUESADA, ROY THOMAS, DENNIS O’NEIL, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, JIM SALICRUP, TODD McFARLANE, LOUISE SIMONSON, MARK EVANIER, and others, plus art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, and more!

Features a new interview and cover by BRIAN STELFREEZE, interview with BUTCH GUICE, extensive art galleries/commentary

by IAN CHURCHILL, DAVE COCKRUM, and COLLEEN DORAN, MIKE GAGNON looks at independent comics, with art and comments by ANDREW BARR, BRANDON GRAHAM, and ASAF HANUKA! Includes a FREE ALTER EGO #73 PREVIEW!

Features an in-depth interview and cover

by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more!

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074131

(80-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074138

(80-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: AUG074137

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008

A NEW MAGAZINE COMING FEBRUARY 2008 FROM TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING: BrickJournal magazine is the ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages!

Edited by JOE MENO, it spotlights all aspects of the LEGO Community, showcasing events, people, and models in every issue, with contributions and howto articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more! Produced with assistance from the LEGO Group. Volume 1, #18 are available NOW as downloadable PDFs for only $3.95 each, and #9 is available FREE so you can try before you buy! Go to www.twomorrows.com to order.

The first print issue ships February 2008—order now!

80 pages, full-color!

SINGLE COPIES: $11 US Postpaid (add $2 US First Class or Canada, $7 Surface, $9 Airmail).

4-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS: $32 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($42 First Class, $50 Canada, $66 Surface, $78 Airmail).

BrickJournal #1 (Volume 2) BrickJournal #1 (Volume 2) features reports on some of the top events worldwide that are held by the LEGO community, including Northwest Brickcon in the US, and events in Denmark and Germany. There's also interviews with LEGO set designers and other adult LEGO builders, including LEGO Certified Professional Nathan Sawaya! Plus there's stepby-step instructions, new set reviews, and other surprises in every issue!

TwoMorrows Publishing

DOWNLOAD A FREE DIGITAL EDITION OF VOL. 1, #9 NOW AT www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 FAX: 919-449-0327 • e-mail: john@twomorrowspubs.com • www.twomorrows.com

MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON, these trade paperbacks and DVDs are devoted to the BEST OF TODAY’S COMICS ARTISTS! Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more! And don’t miss our companion DVDs, showing the artist at work in their studio!

MODERN MASTERS DVDs (120-minute Std. Format DVDs) $35 US EACH

GEORGE PÉREZ

ISBN: 9781893905511 Diamond Order Code: JUN053276

MICHAEL GOLDEN ISBN: 9781893905771 Diamond Order Code: MAY073780

VOL. 1: ALAN DAVIS

V.2: GEORGE PÉREZ

V.3: BRUCE TIMM

V.4: KEVIN NOWLAN

V.5: GARCÍA-LÓPEZ

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905191 Diamond Order Code: STAR18345

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905252 Diamond Order Code: STAR20127

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905306 Diamond Order Code: APR042954

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905382 Diamond Order Code: SEP042971

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905443 Diamond Order Code: APR053191

V.6: ARTHUR ADAMS

V.7: JOHN BYRNE

V.8: WALTER SIMONSON

V.9: MIKE WIERINGO

V.10: KEVIN MAGUIRE

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905542 Diamond Order Code: DEC053309

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905566 Diamond Order Code: FEB063354

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905641 Diamond Order Code: MAY063444

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905658 Diamond Order Code: AUG063626

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905665 Diamond Order Code: OCT063722

V.11: CHARLES VESS

V.12: MICHAEL GOLDEN

V.13: JERRY ORDWAY

V.14: FRANK CHO

V.15: MARK SCHULTZ

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905696 Diamond Order Code: DEC063948

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905740 Diamond Order Code: APR074023

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905795 Diamond Order Code: JUN073926

(120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905849 Diamond Order Code: MAY078046

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905856 Ships December 2007

COMING SOON FROM TWOMORROWS!

ROUGH STUFF #7

DRAW! #15

WRITE NOW! #17

BACK ISSUE #26

BRICKJOURNAL #1 (V2)

Features an in-depth interview and cover

by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more!

BACK TO SCHOOL ISSUE, covering major schools offering comic art as part of their curriculum, featuring faculty, student, and graduate interviews in an ultimate overview of collegiate-level comic art classes! Plus, a “how-to” demo/interview with B.P.R.D.’S GUY DAVIS, MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP series, a FREE WRITE NOW #17 PREVIEW, and more!

HEROES ISSUE featuring series creator/ writer TIM KRING, writer JEPH LOEB, and others, interviews with DC Comics’ DAN DiDIO and Marvel’s DAN BUCKLEY, PETER DAVID on writing STEPHEN KING’S DARK TOWER COMIC, MICHAEL TEITELBAUM, C.B. CEBULSKI, DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, Nuts & Bolts script and art examples, a FREE BACK ISSUE #24 PREVIEW, and more!

The ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages, showcasing events, people, and models! #1 features an interview with set designer and LEGO Certified Professional NATHAN SAWAYA, plus step-by-step building instructions and techniques for all skill levels, new set reviews, on-the-scene reports from LEGO community events, and other surprises! Edited by JOE MENO.

(100-page magazine) $9 US Ships January 2008 Diamond Order Code: NOV073966

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $9 US Ships November 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074131

(80-page magazine) $9 US Ships November 2007 Diamond Order Code: AUG074138

“Spies and Tough Guys!’ PAUL GULACY and DOUG MOENCH in an art-packed “Pro2Pro” on Master of Kung Fu and their unrealized Shang-Chi/Nick Fury crossover, Suicide Squad spotlight, Ms. Tree, CHUCK DIXON and TIM TRUMAN’s Airboy, James Bond and Mr. T in comic books, Sgt. Rock’s oddball super-hero team-ups, Nathaniel Dusk, JOE KUBERT’s unpublished The Redeemer, and a new GULACY cover!

KIRBY FIVE-OH! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #50)

SILVER AGE MEGO 8" SUPERSCI-FI COMPANION HEROES: WORLD’S In the Silver Age of Comics, space was the GREATEST TOYS!TM

The regular columnists from THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine celebrate the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career, spotlighting: The BEST KIRBY STORIES & COVERS from 19381987! Jack’s 50 BEST UNUSED PIECES OF ART! His 50 BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS! Interviews with the 50 PEOPLE MOST INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! A 50PAGE KIRBY PENCIL ART GALLERY and DELUXE COLOR SECTION! Kirby cover inked by DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER, making this the ultimate retrospective on the career of the “King” of comics! Edited by JOHN MORROW. (168-page tabloid-size trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905894 Diamond Order Code: JUL078147 Ships February 2008

place, and this book summarizes, critiques and lovingly recalls the classic sciencefiction series edited by JULIUS SCHWARTZ and written by GARDNER FOX and JOHN BROOME! The pages of DC’s sciencefiction magazines of the 1960s, STRANGE ADVENTURES and MYSTERY IN SPACE, are opened for you, including story-bystory reviews of complete series such as ADAM STRANGE, ATOMIC KNIGHTS, SPACE MUSEUM, STAR ROVERS, STAR HAWKINS and others! Writer/editor MIKE W. BARR tells you which series crossed over with each other, behind-the-scenes secrets, and more, including writer and artist credits for every story! Features rare art by CARMINE INFANTINO, MURPHY ANDERSON, GIL KANE, SID GREENE, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and many others, plus a glorious new cover by ALAN DAVIS and PAUL NEARY!

Go to www.twomorrows.com for FULL-COLOR downloadable PDF versions of our magazines for only $2.95! Subscribers to the print edition get the digital edition FREE, weeks before it hits stores!

(144-page trade paperback) $24 US ISBN: 9781893905818 Diamond Order Code: JUL073885

(100-page magazine) $9 US Diamond Order Code: NOV073948

Lavishly illustrated with thousands of CHARTS, CHECKLISTS and COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS, it’s an obsessive examination of legendary toy company MEGO (pronounced “ME-go”), and the extraordinary line of super-hero action figures that dominated the toy industry throughout the 1970s. Featuring a chronological history of Mego, interviews with former employees and Mego vendors, fascinating discoveries never revealed elsewhere, and thorough coverage of each figure and packaging variant, this FULL-COLOR hardcover is the definitive guide to Mego.

BRAD MELTZER raves, “I’ve waited thirty years for this magical, beautiful book.”

And CHIP KIDD, internationally-recognized graphic designer and author of BATMAN COLLECTED, deemed it “a stunning visual experience.” Written by BENJAMIN HOLCOMB. (256-page COLOR hardcover) $54 US ISBN: 9781893905825 Diamond Order Code: JUL073884

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

US

ALL- STAR COMPANION V. 3 More amazing secrets behind the 194051 ALL-STAR COMICS and the 1941-44 SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY—and illustrated speculation about how other Golden Age super-teams might have been assembled! Also, an issue-by-issue survey of the JLA-JSA TEAM-UPS of 1963-85, the 1970s JSA REVIVAL, and the 1980s series THE YOUNG ALL-STARS and SECRET ORIGINS, with commentary by the artists and writers! Plus rare, often unseen art by KUBERT, INFANTINO, ADAMS, ORDWAY, ANDERSON, TOTH, CARDY, GIL KANE, COLAN, SEKOWSKY, DILLIN, STATON, REINMAN, McLEOD, GRINDBERG, PAUL SMITH, RON HARRIS, MARSHALL ROGERS, WAYNE BORING, GEORGE FREEMAN, DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, TONY DeZUNIGA, H.G. PETER, DON SIMPSON, and many others! Compiled and edited by ROY THOMAS, with a new cover by GEORGE PÉREZ! (224-page trade paperback) $31 US ISBN: 9781893905801 Diamond Order Code: MAY078045 Surface

Airmail

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

$44

1st Class Canada $56

$64

$76

$120

BACK ISSUE! (6 issues)

$40

$54

$66

$90

$108

DRAW!, WRITE NOW!, ROUGH STUFF (4 issues)

$26

$36

$44

$60

$72

ALTER EGO (12 issues) Six-issue subs are half-price!

$78

$108

$132

$180

$216

(80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $11 US Ships February 2008 Look for it in December’s PREVIEWS

MODERN MASTERS VOLUME 14: FRANK CHO Features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from Frank’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art!

By ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON. (120-page TPB with COLOR) $19 US ISBN: 9781893905849 Diamond Order Code: AUG074034

MODERN MASTERS: MICHAEL GOLDEN DVD Shows the artist at work, discussing his art and career!

(120-minute Std. Format DVD) $35 US ISBN: 9781893905771 Diamond Order Code: MAY073780

For the latest news from TwoMorrows Publishing, log on to www.twomorrows.com/tnt

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com