Alter Ego #78

Roy Thomas’ Mutated Comics Fanzine

DAVE COCKRUM6.95 $

82658 27763

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USA 78 THE MAN WHO LOVED In theNo. June COMICS (AND MUTANTS!) 2008

PLUS:

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EXTRA: MARION SITTON & HAROLD LeDOUX X-Men ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Vol. 3, No. 78 / June 2008 Editor Roy Thomas

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

Circulation Director Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Productions

Cover Artist Dave Cockrum

Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko

With Special Thanks to: David E. Martin Heidi Amash Miki Annamanthadoo Kevin McConnell Doug McCratic Ger Apeldoorn Clifford Meth Manuel Auad Carrie Morash Bob Bailey Brian K. Morris Alberto Becattini P.D. Prince Glen Cadigan Gene Reed Mike Chen Roland Reedy Paty Cockrum Comics Buyer’s Guide Bob Rozakis Joe Rubinstein Teresa R. Davidson Steven Schend Michaël Dewally Howard Siegel Richard Donnelly Keif Simon Gary Dunaier Marion Sitton Ruben Espinosa Ted Skimmer Mark Evanier Marc Swayze Lance Falk Anthony Taylor Shane Foley Dann Thomas Carl Gafford Jerry Thompson Wendy Gaines Mark Trost Janet Gilbert Jennifer Hamerlinck Jim Van Dore Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Fred Hembeck Mike Vosburg Heritage Comics Alfred M. Walker Archives Stephen V. Walker Richard Howell Hames Ware Tony Isabella Geoff Wilmetts David Karlen Monte Wolverton Jay Kinney John Workman Joseph Kramar Alex Wright Henry Kujawa John Wright Ted Latner Andy Yanchus Harold LeDoux Hass Yusuf Mark Lewis Richard Lieberson

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Dave Cockrum

Contents writer/editorial: Dave’s Not Here—But We Wish He Was!. . . 2 The Man Who Loved Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The life and legacy of Dave Cockrum, explored by Glen Cadigan.

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Golden Age artist Marion Sitton reminisces to Dr. Michael J. Vassallo about his comics career.

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Harold LeDoux talks to Jim Amash about his years in comic books & comic strips.

The Secret History of All-American Comics, Inc.— Book One, Chapter 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 “The Bill Gaines Years,” courtesy of Bob Rozakis & Ted Skimmer.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! – Alfred J. Walker, Part 3 . . . . . 69 Steven V. Walker tells Michael T. Gilbert about his artist-father’s post-WWII career.

re: comments, correspondence, & corrections. . . . . . . . . . . 76 FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) #137 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 P.C. Hamerlinck showcases Marc Swayze and the Fawcett forays of Basil Wolverton.

On Our Cover: This re-creation of the powerful splash page he’d penciled for The X-Men #107 (Oct. 1977) was both penciled and inked by Dave Cockrum circa the early ’90s. Prints of it were sold at various conventions. Thanks to Glen Cadigan and Paty Cockrum. [X-Men TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Above: This Wildfire illo, writes Glen C., “was inked by Joe Rubinstein on blueline from a penciled piece by Dave. It comes from the collection of Roland Reedy, and I wouldn’t hold my breath on anything else like this turning up!” Glen’s comment was in response to Ye Editor’s query concerning the likelihood of finding rare, previously unpublished Cockrum “Legion of Super-Heroes” art for this issue. But—see p. 9! [Wildfire TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

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.

writer/editorial

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Dave’s Not Here—But We Wish He Was!

T

he following is a short piece I wrote in 2007 for another publication soon after the passing of Bronze-Age-and-beyond artist Dave Cockrum. And, though I’m also pleased to be presenting in this issue interviews with Golden Age talents Marion Sitton and Harold LeDoux, as well as other features, these words will hopefully serve as an introduction to Alter Ego #78: I didn’t know Dave Cockrum well. But everything I knew, I liked.

I liked his talent. He loved to draw, and he loved to tell stories… and he was great at both things.

I liked his inventiveness. How many people in the comics field have created as many memorable new characters as he added to the X-Men alone? Storm… Colossus… Nightcrawler… and he seems to have used the name Wolverine before Len Wein and I did, as well. He’d already proved he was the perfect artist for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes… and if some cosmic plague had ever wiped out its multitude of members, Dave could’ve replaced them all with characters of his own, without breaking out in a sweat.

I liked his attitude. When it came to comics, Dave was the embodiment of enthusiasm. You didn’t have to jump-start Dave on something.

You just made a suggestion, and got out of his way. That’s the way it was the day I told him, as Marvel’s editor-in-chief, that I wanted him to draw a revival of the X-Men comic, and that the new X-Men should be a sort of mutant version of the Blackhawks, picking up heroes from this country and that. Dave already had a quiver-full of potential stars in his briefcase… and over the next few years, we would see a number of them go into action, and they would change comics forever.

she and Dave seemed made for each other. Theirs was a marriage that flourished and endured, and which was strengthened by adversity.

And about that adversity: if Dave ever let it get him down—and he wouldn’t have been human if it hadn’t, at least at times—he never let on in public. That wheelchair—those tubes jutting out of his nose—they were minor inconveniences, but he wouldn’t let them be more than that when he was meeting his fans and his friends. He cared about people who cared about his work, who cared about comics. When his drawing got a bit rougher near the end, he would apologize to the person for whom he’d done a sketch. Dave—apologize to them! As if they couldn’t see what a Herculean effort it was for him draw, at that stage of his life— and as if they weren’t grateful beyond words that he put pencil to paper at all!

Dave Cockrum was a human cornucopia, creating heroes and villains and stories and machines and whole worlds… whole universes. Those creations are still with us. They will be with us for a long time.

But we’d trade them all for Dave. In a New York minute.

We’re pleased to present Glen Cadigan’s study of Dave Cockrum, written especially for A/E. And we regret that, for reasons of space, additional material sent by Clifford Meth, Joseph Kramar, Andy Yanchus, Alex Wright, and others could not be included in this issue. But we hope to do another Cockrum-centered A/E within the next couple of years… unless our TwoMorrows sister mag Back Issue decides to exercise its Bronze Age option to publish one, instead.

Best wishes,

I liked his choice in women. Paty was one of the truly great real-life characters in comics—and she was also far more than that. From the first,

COMING IN JULY

#

79

A SUPERMAN 100-PAGE GIANT! A Kandor-Size Bottleful of Features Celebrating The 70th Birthday Of The MAN OF STEEL! • Superlative cover by (and Superman-related interview with) MICHAEL GOLDEN! • Spotlight on Superman creators JERRY SIEGEL & JOE SHUSTER—including a first-ever interview with Joe’s sister JEAN SHUSTER PEAVY—“Superman & the Nazis” by DWIGHT DECKER—The Nembo Kid (Supes in Italy) by ALBERTO BECATTINI—MIKE W. BARR on Superman the detective—and a truly super surprise or two! (We kid you not!)

• Rare Superman art by WAYNE BORING, CURT SWAN, AL PLASTINO, JIM MOONEY, GIL KANE, JERRY ORDWAY, JACK KIRBY, et al.!

• LOU CAMERON, 1950s artist for DC, Timely/Marvel, Classics Illustrated, etc., in an in-depth interview conducted by JIM AMASH! • MICHAEL T. GILBERT on a twice-told tale by WILL EISNER—FCA with MARC SWAYZE & BASIL WOLVERTON, part 2—BILL SCHELLY’s Comic Fandom Archive—BOB ROZAKIS’ “Secret History of All-American Comics, Inc.” looks at those 1940s-50s Green Lantern cartoons, serials, and TV series—& MORE!!

Edited by ROY THOMAS Comics.]

[Superman TM & ©2008 DC

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The Man Who Loved Comics The Life And Legacy Of DAVE COCKRUM

by Glen Cadigan

A/E

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave Cockrum was a talented comic book artist and (a non-identical skill) designer from the early 1970s until his untimely passing in 2006. From both personal and published interviews, as well as from other sources, Glen Cadigan tells us about the artist who gave both The Legion of Super-Heroes and The X-Men some of their very best years… and about the man behind the art. All art and photos not otherwise credited are courtesy of Glen.

Early Years On November 11, 1943, David Emmett Cockrum was born to Emmett Ernst and Fern Council Cockrum in Pendleton, Oregon, a mid-sized town located in the northeastern part of the state. According to his brother Doug, “[Our] dad was in the Army. He was commissioned into the Field Artillery in 1935, but he was in the reserves, so he wasn’t called to active duty until the beginning of World War II. Illinois was his longtime home, which was also my mother’s home. When he was called to active duty, they were assigned to Pendleton, Oregon, for a while. They were also in Madison, Wisconsin, for a while. Anyhow, that’s how Dave came to be born in Pendleton, because of my dad’s military assignment there.”

“X” Marks The Man—And His Legion Of Fans Dave Cockrum, flanked by images from his two signature mainstream series. The cover of The Legion of Super-Heroes #275 (May 1981) is reproduced from a scan of the original art, with thanks to Hass Yusuf.

The X-Men illo appeared on an ad for a personal appearance by autographers Dave and X-Men scribe Chris Claremont some years back at El Dorado Comics in Pennsauken, NJ; it was sent to us by Keif Simon.

Photo courtesy of the April 2007 Comics Buyer’s Guide.

[Legion page ©2008 DC Comics; X-Men TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

Raboy, whose work inspired and thrilled me with its skillful and beautiful line work. Joe Maneely’s work on Atlas’ (later Marvel’s) Black Knight remains a vivid memory of my early comic reading. Later on, the Silver Age work of Joe Kubert, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, Carmine Infantino, and Jack Kirby gave me very strong and positive influences.”2 In 1959, the family moved to Colorado when Lt. Col. Cockrum was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. While in high school there, Cockrum became friends with Jerry Thompson, who works as a graphic designer today. “I met him in the band, actually,” Thompson recalled. “We both played trombone, and [when we were in ‘ancient history’ class together] we started doing cartoons about history. The teacher would take the cartoons that we would make, and hang them up on the wall. He would use them [as] illustrations of pieces of ancient history. It was fun.”

The two artists participated in what Thompson has labeled “cartoon wars.” “We both had a good, mutual friend… George Young, [whose] dad worked on the base. They lived right next to the base, and both Dave and I would go over to his house a lot and just fool around. That’s kinda where we started having our cartoon wars. We’d sit down for hours, just sitting there, drinking Coke, and he’d initiate some kind of a cartoon, and then I would reply to that cartoon, and we’d go back and forth. George was our audience. The three of us would just hang out together. We’d draw up a situation, usually putting one or the other in jeopardy, and then that person would have to reply to that jeopardy. And it would just develop one thing after another, and we’d sometimes incorporate, let’s say, a superhero-type situation, or something like that, but other times we would just draw each other. They would get a little more absurd as we’d keep going, and some of the cartoons toward the end were really, really strange.”

“Over Land, Over Sea, We Fight To Keep Men Free…”

Dave considered Blackhawk his favorite character to draw.

This beautiful, if unsigned sketch by him was supplied by Bob Bailey.

[Blackhawk TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

Eventually the family moved back to Illinois, where, at an early age, Cockrum’s artistic inclinations became apparent. “For as long as I can remember, he sketched and drew,” Doug Cockrum recalled, “and when he was young, my mom and dad thought that that was a good thing, and they enjoyed watching him draw. But they had different things in mind for him, in terms of making a living. I guess when we were very young, the grand plan was that Dave was supposed to go to West Point, and I was supposed to be a doctor. And as things worked out, Dave became a cartoonist and I went to the Air Force Academy. I became the professional military guy, and Dave pursued his own interests.”

Comic books became a fixture in Cockrum’s life early on. In 2001, he told Jay Mckiernan, “I first started reading comics when I was seven or eight years old, back in the early ’50s. My folks were both teachers and they got me reading early. The first comic I remember was an issue of Boy Crimefighter that my dad had confiscated from one of his students. Later, my folks subscribed to Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, figuring it was a useful way to encourage my reading skills. Little did they know what they were starting.”1 [NOTE: By “Boy Crimefighter,” Dave meant Boy Comics, starring “Crimebuster.” —GC.] As Cockrum grew older, his tastes also matured. “I guess Wally Wood was one of my earliest influences, and his work remains some of my favorite to this very day,” he told Mckiernan. “Dick Dillin’s work on Blackhawk stood out as well, kindling in me a lifelong love for the Black Knights. I caught the tail end of the Fawcett era, too, and loved C.C. Beck’s work on Captain Marvel (back when he was allowed to use his name as the title of his book) and Kurt Schaffenberger on Captain Marvel Jr. Much later, I searched out back issues of Junior’s book by Mac

While still in Denver, Cockrum was also a member of his father’s Air Explorer group. [NOTE: Air Explorers were an advanced branch of Scouts. —GC.] Fellow member Tom Hoffman recalled, “He designed a patch for our uniforms, and it was of an osprey... he called it ‘Oscar the Osprey.’ I think his dad had it sent to China, or Taiwan, or someplace, and had it all embroidered. So we had this beautiful color patch that we had on our left shoulder of our uniform which was completely unique. No other group around had anything like that.”

Hoffman also remembered, “I used to see his sketchpad. He’d show these fantastical drawings… and I remember, when he got ready to graduate from high school, he was all distraught because he was going to be leaving the love of his life. I don’t think that she reciprocated, but that’s what he thought, anyway…. I knew that he went off to New York, but I don’t know at what age he probably ever reached New York. I just knew that that was his end goal… to go there and to illustrate.”

Thompson also confirmed Cockrum’s career ambitions: “He always expressed a desire to be a comic book artist... and I thought he was crazy.

And that continued when we both graduated high school. Then he went off to college, and then after about two years, he came back from college, and then he went off to the Navy in early ’64.... We both liked comic books, but he always talked about being a comic book illustrator.”

Cockrum’s brother remembered, “He answered an ad—and I’m thinking this was when he was in high school—one of those ‘Draw Me’ picture ads for an art school, and he won some sort of a prize through [it], and I think that was the first time that my parents really realized that, ‘Well, maybe he really does have a future in art.’ And my dad sat him down and said, ‘Well, okay, but commercial art is the only place where you can make a decent living.’ And so he was dead set that if Dave was gonna go into art, he was gonna be a commercial artist, which, obviously, was not Dave’s interest. One of the highest compliments that he was ever paid, at least in his estimation, was when one of his commercial art instructors told him, ‘Cockrum, one day you’ll make a fantastic comic book artist.’ To him, that was high praise.”

In 1963, Cockrum left college in Illinois and returned home to

The Man Who Loved Comics

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Colorado. “My folks decided I should move to a school closer to home,” he wrote in an article published in 1968.3 After attending Colorado State University for a year, he enlisted in the Navy. Instead of the usual tour of duty, he signed up for six years. “Because of his [three] years of college, they offered him an advanced rate if he would enlist for six years instead of four,” explained Doug Cockrum. “So he only served one enlistment, but it was a long enlistment.”

(Dec. 1965-Jan. 1966), as noted by the artist himself in the letters page of Hawkman #13. He wrote, “I must admit, however, that another reason for my liking the Shrike is the sneaking suspicion that I was in part responsible for the creation of the character. Some months ago I sent you a sketch of a proposed Hawkman foe called the Black Shrike. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it’s fun anyway, seeing that one’s efforts inspire outstanding work like ‘The Shrike Strikes at Night!’”

His new occupation was even noted in the letters page of Fantastic Four #36 (March 1964). Over the years, Cockrum had been a prolific letter-hack to both Marvel and DC, and in response to his new address, Stan Lee wrote, “How about that! We see that Dave Cockrum, one of our most loyal fans, is in the Navy now! Tell you what, Davey boy! As soon as you’re assigned to a permanent ship or base, take a poll among all your fellow gobs as to which is their favorite Marvel title, and the guys in the bullpen will send you a complimentary subscription to that mag! (And it better not be Millie the Model, sailor!)”

Schwartz replied, “As you surmised, the Shrike was inspired by your sketch—and in appreciation, we have sent you Murphy Anderson’s original cover! The same deal applies for any other accepted cover ideas or characters contributed by our readers.” In fact, Cockrum received the original art to both covers inspired by his illustrations.

In 1965, while serving his enlistment, Cockrum was reacquainted with an old friend. “It was about mid-’65 when I got stationed at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego,” recalled Jerry Thompson, “and I knew that Dave was already stationed there, so when I first [got] there, the first thing I did was I tried to find him. I found out what squadron he was with, and what barracks he was in, so I went to his cubicle, and he wasn’t there. I found out from his friends which one was his locker, so I wrote a note on it, and I said, ‘Dave Cockrum is full of ****! Your friend, Jerry.’

And I pasted it on there. Then I saw him the next day, and he said he’d almost torn apart the whole base trying to find me! [laughter] So it was really great.”

About the same time, another seed planted via the US Mail took form.

In 1968, in an article written for the fanzine The Yancy Street Gazette, Cockrum recalled, “It was shortly after I joined the Navy and had reported to Fighter Squadron 124 at Miramar, California, that I received my first of many letters from a girl, a perfect stranger called Andrea Kline, who’d read a letter of mine in FF #36; she suggested we become pen pals.

We wrote for over two years. She had an interest in comics, too, and we seemed to have a lot else in common.”5 Cockrum later told Gary Groth in an interview published in Fantastic Fanzine #10 (1969), “We first met on the first of December, 1966, after a comedy of errors worthy of Laurel and Hardy. She came in on Continental Trailways, and I was waiting for her in the Greyhound Terminal.

Fortunately, when she called my squadron, some of my friends were on duty there, and they’d figured I’d done what I did, so they sent her over to

The two picked up where they had left off. “I remember, one time, I just came back from a tour over in Vietnam, and he asked me if we wanted to go down to the beach, and go to a movie later on. So we went down to Laguna, and both of us fell asleep on the beach, and we burnt like toast. I mean, it was awful, so awful that neither one of us could go to the movie that night. It was bad. And then we’d just hang out. There were a few beer bars that we would frequent down in San Diego, and sometimes we’d double-date, or something like that. But mostly just hanging around.”

The pair also continued drawing together. “Sometimes what I’d do is, I’d go up to his office, at the squadron office that he had... and we would sit at his desk during his free time. We both collaborated on this one cartoon, or comic book illustration, called ‘Galactic Agent.’ We would sit there, and we would dream up different kinds of super-hero characters, and one of them was Galactic Agent, like James Bond, except he would go into outer space and solve crimes. It was kinda cool, because we did a cover together, and I’ve still got it. I [mentioned] it to Dave, and at first he said that he didn’t remember it, but then I e-mailed it to him, and then he remembered it.”

It was also during this period that Cockrum made his first substantial artistic contributions to the field. He had taken to submitting cover illustrations to DC editor Julie Schwartz in the hopes of selling him story ideas, and two were actually used as springboards for comic books. The first of these was Green Lantern #40 (Oct. 1965), which featured the Golden and Silver Age Green Lanterns in conflict on the cover. It followed the trail blazed by The Flash #123’s “Flash of Two Worlds!” (Sept. 1961), which Cockrum had told editor Schwartz in a personal letter, “was the best ‘Flash’ story you’ve ever put out.”4 Obviously inspired by the matchup, the artist made the logical extrapolation of drawing a sketch featuring the two Green Lanterns; and “The Secret Origins of the Guardians!,” the story based upon the cover based in turn on his sketch, would even play an important role in the plotting of Crisis on Infinite Earths twenty years later.

The other cover based upon a Cockrum sketch was Hawkman #11

“Galactic Agent” The splash page on which buddies Dave Cockrum and Jerry Thompson collaborated circa 1965, during their Navy days. [©2008 Jerry Thompson & Estate of Dave Cockrum.]

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

Cockrum continued to draw throughout his tenure in the Navy.

Recalled Thompson, “[While there,] the wish that he had for drawing, or doing comic books, was even stronger.” Kline recalled, “He knew already that he wanted to do comic books. That was his goal. He used to sit in the house and draw.”

Fandom’s Finest “The first time I ever saw a fanzine, I think, was nearly ten years ago,” Cockrum told Groth in 1969. “I got a complimentary copy of some ’zine (I can’t even recall after all this time what the name was, even) because I had a letter printed in a comic mag. The ’zine was in ditto and the art was at best mediocre, but still it caught my imagination. Suddenly I realized that there was an outlet for amateur artists to put their work into print for other people to read and see, and I wanted to join up.

Unfortunately, the ’zine disappeared before I could write to the editor….

Rage Of The Silver Age After that, I heard nothing more about Two of Dave’s early sketches inspired the covers (and the stories written around them) of these classic Julie fanzines for several years and it wasn’t Schwartz-edited issues: Green Lantern #40 (Oct. 1965) and Hawkman #11 (Dec. 1965-Jan. 1966). Art respectively until about three years ago that another

by Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson, and by Murphy alone. Thanks to Bob Bailey. [©2008 DC Comics.] opportunity came along for me to the Greyhound station to look for me. I almost didn’t recognize her from affiliate with one.... I had an LOC [letter of comment] printed in Fantastic her pictures, because she streaked her hair with some silvery gunk— Four and something in it sparked Steve Ziegler of the late YSG to send me something to do during the bus ride—and my first thought was, ‘That a complimentary copy. I sent in a sub and a batch of art, and asked if YSG little old lady looks familiar.’ Anyway, about ten days later, we eloped to could use my stuff. That was sometime in 1967, I think.... I worked almost Vegas.”6 exclusively for YSG right up until it folded.”7 “It’s a little embarrassing,” Kline said years later when remembering the event. “I was very, very young when David and I got married.... We got married at Las Vegas at midnight with just the two of us. It was not like we had a wedding.”

It was shortly after he first discovered fanzines that he was transferred

On December 19, 1967, Cockrum’s son Ivan was born in San Diego.

“As a matter of fact,” Klein laughed, “when I had Ivan, he was out buying comic books. He took me to the hospital, [and] back then, they wouldn’t let you stay with the [mother in the delivery room], so when I was trying to get hold of him after the baby was born, he was out buying comic books.”

In Space, No One Can Hear You “SZZAKK!” Dave’s wraparound cover for Gary Groth’s Fantastic Fanzine Special #2 (Feb. 1972)—and a self-portrait of sorts from Fantastic Fanzine #10. At this point, pro-dom wasn’t very far away….

[Vision & Silver Surfer TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Man Who Loved Comics

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to the Naval duty station in Guam. While there, he continued to contribute to the amateur publications, although he confessed, “The Navy naturally takes up most of my time. I have to scratch for time to do my artwork even in off-duty hours.”

Despite obstacles, Cockrum continued to draw, and his work continued to appear in fanzines back in America. He told Groth, “My base of operations, so to speak, is Ron Kraus’ Enterprise Monthly. Though a fairly new ’zine, it’s one of my favorites….. Besides YSG and FF, I’ve contributed to Comicology, had a sort of portfolio (not my best work) in Star-Studded Comics [#15, May, 1969], and am preparing a strip for StarStudded that may or may not be finished in the near future.”8 That strip would be the seven page “Un-Man” which appeared in Star-Studded’s last issue, #18 (Summer 1972).

About his work in The Yancy Street Gazette, he told Groth, “At the time, I thought it was good... but I don’t any longer. I try to keep my work constantly improving, because I can sit down and show you half a dozen weak points in any piece of art I turn out. I want to get rid of these weak spots. One thing I lack is polish. I just don’t think my stuff looks professional. Maybe that’s because I know who did it, though I’m a lot better than I was in the YSG days, but still have much room for improvement.”

With the death of The Yancy Street Gazette, Cockrum migrated to Groth’s Fantastic Fanzine, where he illustrated page headers and column logos in addition to spot illos and pin-ups. His art would be featured on the cover of the very last issue (Fantastic Fanzine Special #2, Feb. 1972), depicting The Silver Surfer in space, being pursued by The Vision. In the issue’s “Editorial Memos,” Groth wrote, “This issue’s cover is the longawaited Dave Cockrum wraparound piece that has been squeezed off the cover spot twice already! ... Incidentally, this cover was drawn two years ago, but still ranks as one of my favorite pieces of Dave’s work. Thanks for putting up with the delays, Dave.” Years later, inventoried art by Cockrum also appeared on the covers of two early issues of Groth’s newly acquired Nostalgia Journal: #29 (featuring the George Reeves Superman) and #31 (featuring Big Barda).

Near the end of his term of enlistment, Cockrum still had his eye on the prize. “I hope to go pro when I get out of the Navy,” he told Groth.

“That’ll be in September of 1970!! I enjoy drawing comics more than almost anything else I can think of, and if I can break into the field I’m definitely going pro. My work can still be improved, but I have more than a year to go and I’m constantly working on it.”10

Breaking In In June 1970, 26-year-old Dave Cockrum moved to New York City to pursue his dream of becoming a professional comic book artist. “I got out [of the Navy] in 1970 and came straight to New York, just in time for Phil Seuling’s convention in July,” he told Jon B. Cooke in 1999. “I met all kinds of professionals there and then went up to DC first, but their attitude was that I was close to professional quality, but just on the wrong side of it.”11 While at the DC offices, he met with editor Julie Schwartz, to whom he had written for years. “I used to send him sketches of characters when I was just a fan,” Cockrum told Cliff Meth in 2003. “When he hired me years later, he pulled a stack of those drawings from his desk and showed them to me. Gawd, they were awful! After that, every time I’d visit, he’d take them out again, or threaten to. He was always kidding around.”12 When work was not forthcoming from the publisher, Schwartz walked Cockrum around the offices and introduced him to Neal Adams. Adams, then the industry’s biggest star, was aware of Cockrum’s work from fanzines, and upon being introduced, said, “Oh! It’s the famous artist from Fantastic Fanzine!”13 “I knew he was being sarcastic as hell, but it was nice to hear that he

On The Eerie Canal This early Cockrum effort appeared in Eerie #36 (Nov. 1971). The writer was Steve Skeates, who’ll be interviewed in Alter Ego six short issues from now. [©2008 New Comic Company.]

knew who I was,” Cockrum later recalled.14 “And Marvel wasn’t ready for me yet, so Neal Adams sent me over to Warren. So that was where my first professional stuff appeared.”15 The artist later told the present author, “Neal got me those [jobs] by telling me, ‘Okay, go over and tell Jim Warren that I said to give you work.’ And in those days, if Jim Warren heard Neal’s name, he’d go, ‘Salaam!’ So I would get these jobs, and I would bring ‘em in to Neal first and show him, and he’d say, ‘Well, fix this, and fix this, and fix this,’ and I’d fix ‘em and take ’em over to Warren. He would say, ‘Neal Adams is telling you what to fix, isn’t he?’ and I’d say, ‘What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”16 While illustrating stories for Warren Publishing, Cockrum filled the holes in his schedule by working as an assistant to various artists. “I started doing background inking, first for Tony DeZuniga (who was doing a lot of House of Mystery and stuff like that),” he told Jon B. Cooke in 1999. “They weren’t running a stable yet, at that point. He was okay to work for, but his wife Mary was something else. She looked at my stuff and said, ‘Ehhh! Ten years, maybe, you might make it.’”17 About the experience, the artist later told Jay Mckierman, “I don’t recall how I got the work with Tony DeZuniga. It’s been a long time. Probably somebody at DC recommended me.”18 In 1971, Cockrum was also afforded the opportunity to work with one

8

The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

of his boyhood idols. “When I was just breaking into the business, I landed a job for a while, penciling a Western newspaper strip called Shattuck for Wally Wood. He was packaging three strips for Overseas Weekly, a paper for sailors and soldiers overseas.” About the experience, Cockrum later wrote online, “[Woody] himself drew Cannon, a spy/international intrigue strip, and Sally Forth (he had the name first, guys), a silly adventure strip whose star couldn’t keep her clothes on.”19 “Shattuck [was] a wandering good-for-nothing who drew slow but could hit anything he aimed at. He wound up being sheriff of a small town (much against his will), where the object [of the strip] was to get the women out of their clothes as quickly as possible.” He told Jay Mckierman, “l think it was Howie Chaykin who tipped me to the work with Wally Wood; he was giving up penciling the Shattuck strip and suggested I should call Woody about taking over.”20 Cockrum’s admiration for Wood continued throughout his entire career. He once wrote online about the artist, “Woody was absolutely terrific at anything he did. He did a lot of the sci-fi stuff from EC. His ‘silver bullet’ rocket ships epitomized the spirit of ’50s sci-fi. But I think, for me, the high point was his work on THUNDER Agents for Tower Comics. That remains one of my favorite series from the ’60s.”

background, and something he could reminisce and talk about.”

About Cockrum’s artwork, Anderson said, “I just liked that he was trying to draw well. Many of the artists of that period were very [influenced by] Jack Kirby. And Jack Kirby was a marvelous artist and a super draftsman, but his draftsmanship was covered by the way he exaggerated things. It wasn’t that obvious. When he wanted to draw something realistically, he could draw it as well as anyone, but he drew his figures and constructs [with] a foreshortening that couldn’t be done without distorting [the] drawing, and that was a thing that attracted so many fans.

I don’t think that they stopped to think that he was a master draftsman before he started to do these crazy things with the drawing. And David, like almost everybody else, loved Jack Kirby’s work… but many of the people trying to draw like Kirby never realized that they had to build on a good, firm basis, a knowledge of drawing. So when Dave showed up and learned to draw well, and made that [the] primary thing, that’s when I liked what he was wanting to do. I could see that he was on the right path.”

The Legion Of Super-Heroes

While working for Wood, Cockrum had also begun assisting another industry veteran. “Murphy Anderson needed a background inker for the work he was doing on Curt Swan’s Superman and Bob Brown’s Superboy,” 21 he told Jon B. Cooke in ’99. “When I went to work for Murphy full-time, that was probably when I left the Shattuck strip.”22 Anderson recalled, “I met [Dave] up at DC Comics. He corresponded with Julie while he was in the Navy.

Dave and I had something of a common background. We were both in the Navy.... Not that we worked on anything having to do with the Navy, but it’s just a common

It was while working as Anderson’s assistant that Cockrum’s first big opportunity arose. “That’s when the Big Break came along,” he wrote in his introduction to Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 10. “‘The Legion of Super-Heroes’ had been dying a slow death the previous couple of years, floundering as an occasional back-up feature in the Superboy book. It had reached the point where the editorial staff couldn’t even find an artist who wanted it. Murphy let it slip to me that it was available. I was outta there so fast I left skidmarks on the linoleum. The Flash himself couldn’t have gotten to editor Murray Boltinoff ’s office any faster. I arrived drooling on his desktop, and he made me back off and count to one hundred before he’d even talk to me.”23 Cockrum wasn’t unprepared for the day when his big break would come. “I actually had done three sample pages of ‘Legion’ stuff,” he recalled online in 2002. “Three pages was all there ever was. I was simply doing samples in hopes of landing a job—any job. I had also done three pages of a ‘Captain Marvel Jr.” story, two pages of a ‘Haunted Tank’ story, and a whole chapter of an ‘Adam Strange’ story. I still have the ‘Cap. Jr.’ and ‘Haunted Tank’ pages; I sold the ‘Legion’ pages some time ago, and I have no idea whatever became of the ‘Adam Strange’ stuff.”

Despite his enthusiasm and a lack of viable options, it wasn’t a given that Boltinoff would entrust the feature to the eager young artist.

“Boltinoff was a pretty good editor in all ways, save for the discovery of Fresh Talent,” Mark Evanier wrote in The Uncanny Dave Cockrum... a Tribute in 2004. “ He went through the motions of looking at and critiquing submissions, and he never actually said, ‘Sorry, I never hire a kid when there’s a veteran around who needs work.’ Still, that’s how it worked out. Murray was simply more comfortable dealing with experienced writers and artists, and he also felt the company had a moral obligation to keep the old-timers employed before giving work to newtimers. This is not an ignoble philosophy, but he may have taken it a step too far.”

Getting Wood A Cockrum sketch for Shattuck, the Western comic strip created by Wally Wood. In Dave’s own words: “That drawing…was a character sketch for a villain for Shattuck, named Clay Quartermain, if memory serves. He led a gang which took over the town of Sundown and he made himself sheriff. The hero, Merle Shattuck, generally would prefer to slink out of town in such a situation, but occasionally his conscience would get the better of him and he’d do what was necessary to save the day. He organized the town against Quartermain, whom he killed, and he wound up—much to his disgust—being appointed sheriff himself. Woody wrote the stuff and Jack Abel inked over my pencils. It was fun.” Thanks to Ted Latner for the scan. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

The Man Who Loved Comics

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enthusiastic and I put as much of myself into the strip as I possibly could.

I loved creating worlds with rich detail, I loved drawing exotic people, hardware, and spaceships, and I had a ball with the Legion.”

One point of confusion regarding the early work of Cockrum on the series centers around the credits. “Oddly enough, Murray Boltinoff had listed Murphy first in the credits, because he feared Murphy might take offense at being listed second to such a young upstart,” Cockrum wrote in the Legion Archives. “Murphy was too much a professional and too much a gentleman to have been that petty. Consequently, to this day there are people who believe that Murphy penciled that first story and I inked it.”25 With subsequent installments of “Legion,” the credits would read, “Art by Dave Cockrum and Murphy Anderson,” until Anderson left the series.

Due to the irregular schedule of “Legion,” “[i]t took a while to start building a volume of work and get some feedback from the fans,” Cockrum wrote in 2000. “I think those early strips were probably regarded as competent but not very exciting. The best thing I had going for me in those days was an enthusiasm for the job, and a science-fictiony design sense that started early and thoroughly permeated the strip by the time I left. It’s evident in the costuming, the sculpted consoles, the weird machinery, and the Star Trek-influenced spaceships, including the big Legion cruisers, which I loved to draw.”26 Of all of the changes which Cockrum brought to the series, he is best remembered for his upgrading of the Legion’s costumes. “Let’s face it: the guys’ costumes were all bad imitations of Superboy’s costume, except for Matter-Eater Lad’s, which was like out of a comic opera or something,” he told the present author in 2002. “The fact is, I kind of liked Matter-Eater Lad’s. So, yeah, I wanted to do something with them. Make them more

I Am Legion The splash page of the first “Legion” story penciled by Dave, for Superboy #184 (April 1972). Inker Murphy Anderson was given top billing by editor Murray Boltinoff, leading to confusion ever since as to who did what on the story. The original Cockrum run on “Legion” is currently on view in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 10. [©2008 DC Comics.]

“As I was a rank newcomer, Murray wasn’t entirely convinced I was up to the job,” Cockrum recalled in his Legion Archives introduction. He later told the present writer, “I got it on the premise that since I worked for Murphy, he would oversee it and make sure that I didn’t do any crummy work. So Murphy was kinda like quality control for the strip.”24 Anderson remembered, “On ‘The Legion of Super-Heroes,’ some of the pages, he laid them out, [and] very roughly indicated where the figures should go, and the action they should be taking and so forth, but not actually articulating them to the point where he could ink them. And we’d go over the work, the layouts like that, and I would make suggestions.

Then maybe he’d go ahead and tighten them up and I’d tell him, ‘Well, let’s fix this, and let’s fix that,’ and so forth, but that’s about the extent of it. In other words, the editor expected me to turn in my usual job. He wasn’t expecting me to experiment and come in with newer and different things.”

In 2002, Cockrum recalled, “When I landed the ‘Legion’ assignment, I ran around like an idiot gushing to all my friends about getting a superhero strip, and some of them—Bernie Wrightson, for instance—took a sort of ‘Yeah? So?’ attitude, super-heroes not being Bernie’s area of interest. Looking back, I’m a little embarrassed for myself.” He also wrote online, “‘The Legion’ was my very first series assignment. I was young and

Just Follow The Bouncing Boy! A sketch of Bouncing Boy, done by Dave for collector Steven Schend.

[Bouncing Boy TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

10

The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

also get a peek at a ‘new’ Legionnaire in an up-and-coming story, ‘The One-Shot Hero,’” he told the Outpost in 1972. “The reason for the quotes around ‘new’ is that he’ll have to be voted in posthumously, darn it. When I brought the character in, I called him Starfire and intended for him to be a permanent addition to the Legion. The finished product had him called ERG-1 (for Energy Release Generator—Starfire has been used on two other DC characters), and apparently killed him off in the end. I’m demanding a rematch. Cary Bates and I have figured out how to bring him back; the problem is convincing Murray Boltinoff. If he returns, it’ll be with a better name, like Thunderbolt, Spitfire, Nova, or some other equally destructive-sounding name (you’ll have to read the story to find out why).”28 While the character did make his reappearance in the final panel of Superboy #200, it wasn’t until issue #202 that “Wildfire” was born. “I had him writing his name backwards in fire on that splash page,” Cockrum recalled. “I showed the pencils of that to Mark Hanerfeld, and he said, ‘Wildfirf? What’s Wildfirf?’ I said, “What!” I grabbed it and looked at it, and sure enough: W-I-L-D-F-I-R-F. I changed it real fast. I’ve always wondered how far it would’ve gone if he hadn’t spotted it.”29 Cockrum also saw the “Legion” as an opportunity to introduce a character he had been carrying around for years. “It’s common knowledge, of course, that Nightcrawler was a proposed Legionnaire,” he once wrote online. “When I was doing ‘The Legion of Super-Heroes’ for DC, I offered him as a prospective Legionnaire, an alien coming from a savage, other dimension. But Legion editor Murray Boltinoff was so conservative that he was afraid Nightcrawler would offend the readers.”

He later elaborated, “His name was Balshazaar. He was from an alien dimension whose denizens spawned the legends of demons and vampires and such. Although he was working with the Legion, he wasn’t a very nice guy…. He had a nasty sense of humor, and found pain funny, as long as it wasn’t his.”

The Fortune 300 Dave’s splash page—pencils and inks—for a chapter in The Legion of SuperHeroes #300 (June 1983). As Glen C. says: “They got just about everybody to come back and do a chapter of that one.” Plot by Keith Giffen & Paul Levitz; script by Levitz. Thanks to Miki Annamanthadoo. [©2008 DC Comics.]

interesting. I also wanted to change the names of some of them; get rid of the ‘Lads’ and ‘Boys’ and that stuff, and no chance on that.”27 Cockrum’s enthusiasm for the series would be tempered by his editor’s reticence to change the feature substantially. “Murray approved every costume I presented him,” the artist wrote in 2003. “What he did do, however, was tell me to stop introducing new ones because he felt that too much tampering with the strip would jinx it. I still had several others I wanted to introduce, including Lightning Lad’s—which was my favorite male costume—so I snuck around him by drawing in the new costumes and seeing that the colorist had the proper color reference. If he noticed, he never mentioned it.”

In The Legion Outpost fanzine #3, Cockrum wrote, “I don’t want you to think these are changes just for the sake of change; I really believe they’ll enhance the strip. Not all the Legionnaires will get new costumes, though probably most of them will. I’ve decided it’s best not to change a costume until a particular character is a main character in a story (I didn’t adhere to that in the first story, ‘War between the Nights and the Days,’ but will from now on), to avoid confusion. As you can see, it could take as much as a year to complete the changeover. By that time I’ll be tarred and feathered thrice-over, no doubt.”

The artist didn’t limit his creativity to existing characters, either. “You’ll

In 1973, an incident at the DC offices led to the artist’s departure from the series. “At the time, DC was not giving art back,” he told this writer in 2002. “Marvel was. I asked for the wedding scene [between Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel] back. I never asked for any of the rest of it back, just the wedding scene. When I came in—I don’t know how much truth there is to this—Murray Boltinoff said, ‘I was gonna give it to you. I had it laying on my desk, and Carmine [Infantino] came in and said, ‘What’s this?’ and I told him, and he said, ‘You can’t give him that back.’ And that was the end of it. I said, ‘If I can’t have it back, I’m quitting.’ And that’s the way it went.”30 In 2002, he would confess, “I wish I hadn’t left it when I did…. It’s possible I might still be on it today, in which case there would be no X-Men—at least, not As We Know It.”

Side Projects While working on “Legion,” Cockrum also provided illustrations for the science-fiction magazines Amazing Stories and Fantastic Stories.

According to editor Ted White, “I would have artists that I knew well

Doesn’t Look Much Like Walking To Us This illustration by Dave accompanied the James Tiptree, Jr., science-fiction tale “The Man Who Walked Home” in either Fantastic Stories or Amazing Stories pulp mag in the early 1970s. This is probably very much what the artist’s “Adam Strange” sample pages looked like! Thanks to David E. Martin. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

The Man Who Loved Comics

11

enough that I could assign a story to them and I wouldn’t see the artwork until it was actually published in the magazine, ‘cause they’d turn it directly into the publisher. But they were consistent enough and good enough that I didn’t have to worry about that, and Dave was in that group.”

The artist also got involved with designing model kits during this period, notably for Aurora. In an interview with Anthony Taylor, he remembered, “A friend of mine was a good friend of Andy Yanchus, who was a project manager at Aurora. The three of us all turned up at one of Phil Seuling’s big comic cons in New York in 1972 when I was penciling ‘The Legion of Super-Heroes’ for DC. Andy had a table selling old Aurora kits (for scandalously low prices), and my friend introduced us. He liked my work and we started talking, and after a while he asked if I would be interested in designing model kits. I was, as I had built models all my life.

He invited me to come out to Long Island and meet with the people at Aurora.”

From there, Cockrum was quick to impress the company brass. “They had just decided to add a Tyrannosaurus Rex to their ‘Prehistoric Scenes,’ so I went home and did a three-view drawing of a T-Rex. They looked at it; they bought it.”31 In 1972, while “Legion” was still a back-up feature in Superboy, Cockrum inked three consecutive issues of The Avengers, beginning with #106 (Dec. 1972). It was his first work for Marvel.

Also in 1972, Cockrum initially conceived of a group of characters that would not debut until 1977 in the pages of The X-Men. As originally designed, The Starjammers consisted of Bloodstar, Phaedra, Ch’od, and Raza, and were a resistance group that had formed to combat the evil Dark Empire. In his original plans for the team, the artist wrote, “Phaedra is a warrior princess of the planetary republic of Shandilarr; she is also a Genjaak Sorceress and member of the Bright Council of Llangobar.

Driven from her homeworld when it was destroyed by the Dark Empire, Phaedra, with her chief warlord Bloodstar, formed a resistance group to combat the Dark Empire. They called themselves The Starjammers....”32 “When I finally got to make use of the ’Jammers at Marvel Comics,” he wrote in 1994, “I dropped Phaedra in favor of Hepzibah and Bloodstar for Corsair, whom we turned into the father of Cyclops, leader of The XMen.”33 He explained that Phaedra was replaced by Hepzibah because she “was a much more interesting visual,” while “Ch’od and Raza, who had been part of my original group, made it all the way into the final version.”

As for the Dark Empire itself: “The enemy became the Shi’ar Empire.”

In 1973, Cockrum produced his first full art assignment for Marvel, a “Gullivar Jones” story which he both penciled and inked. It was published in Monsters Unleashed # 4 (Feb. 1974). That same year, he was able to fulfill a lifelong dream and illustrate an adventure of “Captain Marvel, Jr.” The feature was supposed to appear “about every three issues” [of Shazam!], but Cockrum only had the opportunity to draw a single episode before he had his falling-out with DC over the original artwork to the wedding scene between Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, as mentioned on the preceding page. “I then went over to Marvel and got some work, and asked Julie [Schwartz] and Roy Thomas, ‘Do you guys mind if I keep doing ‘Captain Marvel, Jr.’? Because I really tried hard to get that. ‘ Both of them said fine, but Carmine said, ‘No, he can’t.’ So I made a clean cut with DC.”34 In 1974, news of Cockrum’s departure had not yet spread to all of Legion fandom. In a letter to The Legion Outpost, the artist wrote, “A word about my current status. Yes, it’s true that I’ve quit National. There were a lot of factors involved, and I regret having to drop the Legion— which I’m very fond of—but I think the switch will turn out for the best.

At Marvel I’m doing The Avengers and Manphibian. I see the confused look on your face—well, it’s like this. I came up with Manphibian independently of my National work; I showed it to Cary and more or less

’Jammers Session Cockrum’s concept sketch of two of the original Starjammers, Bloodstar and Phaedra. Glen C. writes: “Action Hobbies actually made a model of Phaedra in the mid-’90s. You ran the model sheets of Ch’od and Raza in A/E 24; maybe it’s time to run them again?” Alas, not when it would mean not running other rare art, Glen. Interested readers can pick up the X-Men-centric Alter Ego #24 through TwoMorrows Publishing’s ad bloc at the end of this issue. Thanks to Richard Donnelly. [Characters TM & ©2008 Estate of Dave Cockrum.]

jokingly said something about putting it into the Legion. Without checking with me, Cary wrote up a ‘Manphibian-Legion’ script; Murray loved it. Meanwhile, I was busy developing a ‘Manphibian’ series idea and presenting it to Marvel. When I got the [Bates] script I immediately changed the name throughout to ‘Devil-Fish’ and Murray OK’d it—so in Legion #202 the story title is ‘Wrath of the Devil-Fish.’ Visuals were changed, too, of course; if there is any similarity of appearance, it’s because both creatures owe their existence to the Creature from the Black Lagoon.”35 The Manphibian would eventually appear in The Legion of Monsters #1 (Sept. 1975).

As mentioned in his letter, Cockrum had begun a short stint on The Avengers as an inker; this quickly evolved to his being assigned to pencil two Giant-Size Avengers issues. That storyline, now known as “The Celestial Madonna,” featured the first appearance of Mantis, a character which, though not designed by Cockrum himself, he wrote about in 2003: “I never liked Mantis. Most of the Marvel staff at the time hated Mantis’ guts. I think it was mostly that ‘this one’ crap. The one thing I did like about her was the ‘skirt’ of her costume. In the Giant-Size Avengers I drew her leaping about, and occasionally showed just a glimpse of her ass.... Mantis, however, didn’t wear underwear.”

1974 was also the year in which Cockrum merged two of his longtime loves: model kits and comic books. “Some friends and I had formed a company called Graphic Features, and we were producing all the art for the [Aurora] Comic Scenes kits,” he told Anthony Taylor in 1995. “[It] turned out to be all re-issues, although I had concepted several new

12

The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

A.k.a. “Blacky” Lagoon Dave loved the Universal monster who starred in three 1950s movies, starting with the 3-D Creature from the Black Lagoon. (Above:) A 1974 Cockrum sketch of same, done for an Aurora model kit, sent by Anthony Taylor. (Right:) “Manphibian” splash from Marvel’s black-&-white mag The Legion of Monsters #1 (Sept. 1975). Dave conceived and named the character, whose concept sketch was seen in A/E #24—and, more recently, with other Cockrum art in Bob McLeod & TwoMorrows’ Rough Stuff #6. [Creature art ©2008 Universal Pictures; Manphibian art ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

figures. I did a Phantom kit... and Dick Giordano designed a Flash Gordon and Ming kit.... I did the box art for the Superboy model, and instructions for five or six of the kits. In a way, I was involved in all of the kits.”36

About the venture, the artist told Taylor, “We hired Dick Giordano, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, and others to illustrate the boxes and instructions. Unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on projects and the company folded.”

The instructions mentioned by the artist consisted of two pages at the back of a comic book which was unique to each kit.

The comic book itself featured a story based upon the design of the model to be built, and when completed, the model was supposed to be displayed in front of the center spread of the comic book, which featured a scene that did not include the character featured in the model kit itself.

The end result of placing the model in front of the comic book was supposed to produce “an outstanding 3-D effect!”

Before the demise of the venture, a lasting impression was made upon at least one model recipient. “I remember a Christmas present that he gave me one year,” recalled Ivan Cockrum in 2007. “I would’ve been five or six, I suppose. He used to design model kits for the Aurora model company, and he did a Superboy kit, and for Christmas one year he gave me one that he had built already and painted.... [He] just left [it] unwrapped under the Christmas tree. I still think of that fondly.”

Smallville, Schmallville!

Enter The X-Men

Superboy and Krypto in space never looked better than in this Cockrum art done for an Aurora model kit from the mid-1970s. From a scan of the original art in the Heritage Comics Archives, trolled for us by Glen Cadigan. [©2008 DC Comics.]

In 1974, Cockrum became involved with a project which proved to have longlasting effects on both his own career and on the entire comic book industry. It was during a meeting of Marvel Comics editor-

13

mean, nobody seriously thought the Soviet Union would be importing Marvel Comics any time soon, and Kenya seemed unlikely, too (and besides, Ororo was really a displaced American citizen). Germany (Nightcrawler) and Ireland (Banshee) might have bought the book—and maybe Japan, if we hadn’t sent Sunfire packing—but on the whole, the international export idea was a total bust.

It’s just as well, don’t you think?”

In 2004, Wein wrote in The Uncanny Dave Cockrum... a Tribute: “All these long years later, I no longer really recall how Dave and I came to be assigned to the title, but when it came time to put the team together, we were already well ahead of the game. I knew exactly what sort of mix of powers and personalities I was looking for to create a well-rounded group with an inner dynamic that could generate stories for

X = The Unknown (Above:) As he’s oft related, Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas came up with the “mutant Blackhawks” notion in the same mid1974 meeting with publisher Stan Lee and president Al Landau that he suggested an X-Men revival, utilizing several new foreign-born heroes to appeal to non-American markets. Since the cover of Giant-Size X-Men #1 by Dave Cockrum & Gil Kane has been reprinted a zillion times, here’s Dave’s original art for XMen Special Edition, which reprinted that landmark issue.

Thanks to Glen Cadigan for the scan.

(Right:) As Glen writes: “This is an unbelievable find! Giant-Size X-Men #2 was scrapped in favor of X-Men #94-95… [so] Chris [Claremont] and Dave had to sit down and restructure Len [Wein]’s plot to fit it over two issues, plus add some extra pages.

Dave had gotten as far as the page which you see here, but as part of the rescripting, this page was dropped and expanded instead of cramming it all on one page. I don’t think that anyone knows that it exists outside of a handful of people. Plus, we get to read Dave’s margin notes!” Well, people sure know about it now, Glen—thanks to you and to Richard Donnelly, who provided a scan of the pencils. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

in-chief Roy Thomas, publisher Stan Lee, and president Al Landau, who represented Cadence Industries, which then owned Marvel, that the idea to bring back The X-Men began.

According to Cockrum, “Basically, some bright wit in Management decided Marvel needed an export book. It was decided that X-Men would be a great export title, if recast with international stars. The idea was that the book could be sold internationally to the countries represented by the group.

“When I got involved, along with writer Mike Friedrich, editor Roy Thomas had come up with a ‘Mutant Blackhawks’ concept, an international group operating from a secret island base somewhere. By the time things actually got down to the planning stage, Mike had gone on to another assignment and Len Wein replaced him.

“We worked up an international group, all right, but with no thought of reaching an international market. I

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

years to come. And Dave had that blessed sketchbook.”

The sketchbook to which Wein referred was one of many which Cockrum had used throughout the years to store characters of his own creation. In 1999, the artist told Jon B. Cooke, “It’s a story that Len Wein loves to tell about the creation of the New X-Men; I had this huge sketchbook filled with characters I had come up with.

Len keeps remembering that I took the X-Men drawings out of that book, but that’s not actually true. I made them up separately, but I did have that book of characters. That’s one of the things I loved to do: invent characters.”37

A Trio Of “Mutant Blackhawks” (Above:) Wolverine by Cockrum, 1983. As Roy T. has often stated, he could’ve easily wound up being called The Badger, instead!

(Right:) A pencil sketch of Phoenix and Storm. The 1975 model sheet of Storm’s predecessor, Black Cat, was seen in A/E #24. Both these sketches were retrieved by Glen C. from the Heritage Comics Archives. [Wolverine, Phoenix, & Storm TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

With the creative team in place, the next step was for the pair to select the individual members of the group. While the exact order in which members of The X-Men were chosen is unknown, Cockrum did tell J.R. Riley in 1982, “Cyclops was the first choice, then Wolverine was number two.”38 As the artist of the new X-Men series, Cockrum “resented [Wolverine’s] existence for a long time, because I had come up with a Wolverine and shown it to Roy before this Wolverine.”39 In 2003, the artist wrote online, “Len Wein created Wolvie at Roy’s suggestion.

Roy freely admits he had the idea for a Canadian character named Wolverine after seeing my group of proposed Legion villains [The [Devastators] which included a brother and sister team, Wolverine and Belladonna.”

In 2004’s The Uncanny Dave Cockrum... a Tribute, Thomas wrote about the matter, “I accept [as] fact that he probably once showed me a design for a character called Wolverine—and he takes my word for it that I have no conscious memory of that, and that in any event it was a virtual toss-up in 1974 as to whether that new

Buckling A Few Swashes (Left:) Dave liked drawing Kurt Wagner in pirate/swordsman garb, as per his 1985-86 Nightcrawler limited series. We used one such illo back in A/E #24— and here’s another commission drawing, done for collector Lance Falk. Also, see p. 21. [Nightcrawler TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Right:) A self-sketch by Dave, courtesy of P.D. Prince, with special thanks to Mark Trost. [©2008 Estate of Dave Cockrum.]

The Man Who Loved Comics

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By The Time I Get To Phoenix Dave’s original drawing of what’s been called Marvel Girl’s “go-go costume,” which even suggested her name be changed, was seen in A/E #24. This later sketch of that outfit was done for a fan; with thanks to Richard Donnelly.

[Marvel Girl TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Canadian guy who was going to battle the Hulk would be called Wolverine or Badger.” Visually, Marvel’s Wolverine had little in common with Dave’s earlier concept.

Another X-Men character in whose creation Thomas played a role was the African weather ‘goddess,’ Storm. Originally, Cockrum had intended for her to be a shape-shifter called The Black Cat, who “could transform into a humanoid cat, a cougar or similar large cat, or a tabby housecat.”

Unfortunately, “[b]efore we could use her, two or three other female ‘cat’ characters popped up,” and a change in strategy was necessary.

The decision to give her weather powers actually came from Thomas, via an off-hand comment which changed the character substantially.

Originally, Wein and Cockrum had intended to use one of the artist’s preexisting creations, Typhoon, who was originally intended for “The Legion of Super-Heroes,” in the X-Men grouping. Thomas suggested, “Why don’t you make the Typhoon guy the girl?”40—and thus Storm was born.

The X-Men also gave the artist an opportunity to finally publish a character he had carried with him since his days in the Navy. “I first thought up Nightcrawler while stationed on Guam,” he wrote online in 2006. “My notion then was that he was a demon who had screwed up on a mission from Hell, and rather than go back and face punishment, he hung around on the mortal plane as a sidekick to a guy I called ‘The Intruder.’

When Jack Kirby first created his Demon [in 1972], I decided to drop the demon origin—but I still pictured him as very animalistic, running up and down buildings on all fours, howling at the moon, etc..” About his favorite character, he wrote in 2006, “When I got the opportunity to work on X-Men, I brought Nightcrawler with me. Writer Len Wein gave him the German persona, and there you have it.”

Another X-Man that dated back to Cockrum’s pre-professional days was the Russian mutant Colossus. “Colossus was loosely based on a character I had come up with in college, named ‘Mr. Steel,’” he told his online fans in 2003. In 2002, he said about the hero, “I think we just tended to think ‘Strong Guy.’ And that’s what he was. I started wanting to know more about him when I did a back-up story in one of the endless reprints of Giant-Size X-Men #1... When it came to Peter’s [room], I suddenly realized I didn’t know enough about him to furnish [it]. I thought about it for a long while... then it hit me how incongruously appropriate it might be if Peter had the soul of an artist and poet. And I added the easel with an unfinished painting, and the art supplies and all.

After that, I think Chris did begin to see more in Peter than just ‘Strong Guy,’ and he did do more development.”

Thunderbird is another X-Man that dated back to Cockrum’s pre-pro days, potentially as far back as 1966. In 2002, the artist rediscovered a sketchbook with two fully colored pictures of the character, although, he stated, “This isn’t John Proudstar, but the costume is pretty close to the one Marvel rejected.” With the X-Men revival underway, Cockrum returned to the Thunderbird design which he had drawn almost a decade earlier and modified it slightly. It was ultimately rejected, and about it, he wrote in 2002, “The first Thunderbird design went for a sort of Kirbyesque look, but the editorial people felt that the metal helmet I had him wearing was too ‘Steve Canyon.’ I redesigned him to the version we used.”

In 2006, the artist would write, “I do agree it was a bad move to kill Thunderbird off—he was a great-looking character with a lot of potential

The First Hundred Covers Are The Hardest Glen Cadigan sent the scan of original, signed art at left with a note identifying it as “The X-Men (Vol. 2) #100 variant cover (unused—sorta. Marvel had someone else lightbox and reink it. Dave’s penciled and inked version was never published).”

Retrieved from the Heritage Comics Archives. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

Rough And Ready (Clockwise from top left:) Cockrum cover roughs for The X-Men (Vol. 2) #102—for two different versions of #112—and for #119.

Thanks to Geoff Wilmetts for #102 & #112, and to Richard Donnelly for #119. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Man Who Loved Comics

if only we’d researched his Amerind origins. We simply took the easy way out and killed him for the shock value.”

Another pre-existing character that originally was considered for the group was Jean Grey, a.k.a. Marvel Girl. When the artist first began to compose designs for the new X-Men team, he drew a new costume for the character and went so far as to write, “How ’bout a new name?” on the same sheet. As he recalled in 2002, “The rejected Jean Grey design was referred to by editorial as the ‘go-go’ costume. We used her old costume until the opportunity came to change her into Phoenix, which is one of my very favorite X-costumes.” In fact, the artist drew several different costume designs for Phoenix, all variations on a common theme, before settling on the one which was eventually used.

Other contributions to the X-Men universe created by Cockrum during his first run on the series include the Imperial Guard (based on The Legion of Super-Heroes), Lilandra (and by extension, the entire Sh’iar Empire), and The Starjammers, which finally debuted in print in 1977 after having originally been created in 1973. Two other characters, Deathbird and Mystique, were also designed by the artist, but were introduced in the pages of Ms. Marvel during Chris Claremont’s tenure as author.

As for why Cockrum left The X-Men when he did, he told J.R. Riley in 1982, “I couldn’t take it anymore. I was running later and later, and every issue seemed to have more and more people. There’s 54 individual characters in #107, I believe. It was my own fault. I’d thought: ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be great to do The Legion of Super-Heroes [in The X-Men]?’

But it wasn’t fun, it was work. I needed a rest bad by the time that was finished. I don’t think I could’ve managed to put out another issue.”41

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Cockrum would remain as cover artist of the series until #126.

Two’s Company It was while working on the X-Men revival at Marvel that Cockrum’s marriage of nine years fell apart. In order to pay the rent, the artist took on a roommate in the form of Jim Shooter, who informed Diamond’s Scoop newsletter in December 2006, “When I first moved to New York City in 1976, as it happened, Dave had a room to rent and I needed a place to live. We didn’t know each other at all, but it worked out fine for the eight months or so I stayed there.”

In 2002, Cockrum recalled, “We lived together for a year, and actually got along pretty good together, most of the time.”42 The artist met another individual in 1976 who would play a significant role in his future. “[I met Dave] in the summer of ’76,” Paty Cockrum recalled in 2007. “I knew [his] work before I ever met him, from fanzines and things like that.’”

The two started dating in October of that same year. According to the future Mrs. Cockrum, “Marv Wolfman was throwing a Halloween party, and everybody was invited.... I was going in a Scarlet Witch-type costume... [and] Dave wanted to go as Zorro.... [H]e had foils and rapiers and all kinds of stuff... but he didn’t have a cape... I said, ‘Well, I have a cape at home,’ and he says, ‘Can I borrow it?’ I said, ‘Y-e-a-h, if you give it back in good condition...’ and he was like... ‘I will! I will! I will!’

“So anyway, he went as Zorro, and I went as The Scarlet Witch, and we all had a wonderful time. He brought his former wife, Andrea, and when the party was just about over... he took Andrea home, came back, got me, and went home with me... That’s sort of how we got started.”

From there, romance blossomed. “He kept coming back and forth to my apartment, which was in upper Manhattan... and I kept saying, ‘Why can’t I come out to your place?’ Finally, at one time I bearded the lion in his den and said, ‘Now, wait a minute. I’ve got to bring out some things for you from editorial, and there’s no reason why you have to come into the office.

Where do you live?’ I couldn’t figure out why in the world he didn’t want me to come to his apartment.

“Even An Android Can Be A Peeping Tom” Paty (above right) and Dave Cockrum (bottom right)—eye a humorous convention sketch of The Vision dropping in on The Scarlet Witch, who isn’t quite dressed yet for their date.

Bob Bailey says Dave did this drawing for him back around 1977-1980, while he was a student at the Kubert School. The photos are from the 1975 Mighty Marvel Comic Convention program book. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“I said, ‘C’mon! ’Fess up, Godammit, or I’m not going to have anything more to do with you.’ And he was like, ‘Well... I have... lizards.’ And I said, ‘Lizards?’ and he says, ‘Yeah. Lizards’” I said, ‘Cool! What kind?’ ‘You like lizards?’ And I said, ‘Yeah!’ You could see the light bulb going on over his head. I said, ‘What was the problem?’ and he said, ‘Well, every time I took a girl to my house and she saw my lizards, I never saw her again!’”

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

The X-Men AD & BC—After Dave & Brought-Back Cockrum

With common interests in comic books and pets, the two grew closer together, “We would go back and forth from my place to his place. Finally we said, ‘You know, this doesn’t work. We really should live together, because we’re really compatible.’”

The next step was inevitable. “I moved in with Dave in January of ’77, and I was there for a while. Shooter was in the other bedroom with his girlfriend, and finally I told Shooter, ‘Shooter, get out!’ He said, ‘I saw this coming,’” laughed Paty. “It was Dave’s apartment... so Shooter moved out.”

Later Work From 1977 to 1979, Cockrum worked on staff at Marvel, where he did art corrections and designed covers for both himself and other artists to draw. He resigned from the position due to the management style of his former roommate, whom he described in 2002 as “something of a tyrant at the office, and though that never really affected me directly, he came down hard on a lot of my friends—and often unfairly, in my opinion.”

In 1979, the artist was given the opportunity to illustrate a longtime love in the form of Star Trek. Having first been introduced to the series when it debuted in 1967, he drew the adaptation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture for Marvel, then followed up the assignment by becoming the regular artist of Marvel’s ongoing Star Trek series. About the experience, he told J.R. Riley in 1982, “I’d asked for it and I was expecting to stay on it for years and years.... But... they’d put Klaus Janson on the inking. I like Klaus’ inking on some people, but on me it just doesn’t work. When they finally did give me other inkers, they were less

(Left:) When Cockrum departed The X-Men, John Byrne was piped aboard as artist, as reflected by this cover Dave himself drew for the news-zine The Comic Reader #145 (July 1977). Thanks to Jim Van Dore. [X-Men TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] (Right:) And, when Byrne departed several years later, Dave was right there to pick up the reins anew. Here, Wolverine battles The Brood in the rechristened Uncanny X-Men #162 (Oct. 1982). Glen C. writes: “Everything on that page was designed by Dave Cockrum. While John Romita gave Wolverine his original costume, it was Dave who designed Logan, the man beneath the clothes. As you can see in the picture, there isn’t much of a costume left (and anyway, by that point, [the costume] was John Byrne’s), plus Dave designed The Brood, too—so visually, it’s all Cockrum.” Well, the inking was by Bob Wiacek. Story by Chris Claremont. Repro’d from a scan of the original art, with thanks to GC & the Heritage Comics Archives. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

competent than Klaus and it was like a downhill ride. And I just gave up after the ninth issue.”43 In 1980, Cockrum fulfilled another lifelong dream when he got the opportunity to draw the Blackhawks in The Brave and the Bold #167 (Oct. 1980). About the assignment, he wrote in 2002, “When I did the Batman/Blackhawks crossover… I requested that [Wally Wood] ink it.

Unfortunately, he was suffering from ill health and had already returned a Wonder Woman book unfinished. Editorial gave it to Dan Adkins, who had been Woody’s assistant at one point... but it wasn’t the same.”

In 1981, the artist returned to the title which he had helped resurrect in 1975. The following year, he told Michael Wolf, “I had been doing an ‘X-Men’ story for [Marvel] Fanfare and came to the realization that I was having a great time working with it. I had called up Chris and said, ‘Look, if Byrne ever gets off the book, I want it back.’ The very next Monday, Byrne went off the book.”44

The Man Who Loved Comics

19

During his second run on the series, Cockrum was responsible for adding another long-lasting contribution to the X-Men mythos in the form of The Brood. “The first Brood warrior was just thrown in as one of Deathbird’s henchmen,” he recalled online in 2002. “But we liked it so much we started thinking in terms of a race of those horrors. I saw The Brood as a cross between Alien, a Chasmosaurus (one of the frilled dinosaurs, a relative of Triceratops), and a wasp. The wasp part was the scariest aspect, and governed where my designs went…. I loved the double stingers. I thought that was really frightening. I like to say I’m the proud papa of a race so evil that, if Phoenix had eaten their world, she’d have been given a medal and the keys to the galaxy.”

While illustrating The X-Men this time around, the artist was also offered the opportunity to become the regular penciller of the newly revived Blackhawk series at DC, but turned it down. “Marvel was paying me $30 a page more than DC was willing to pay,” he wrote online in 2002, “and it simply wasn’t economically feasible.” Cockrum did illustrate six covers for the series, as well as two back-up “Detached Service Diary” stories. In 2000, he referred to Blackhawk as “my best beloved book of all time.”45 In 1982, Cockrum left The X-Men to work on a book of his own creation, The Futurians. In 1999, he told Comic Book Artist’s Jon B. Cooke, “I had previously put in a proposal for The Futurians. It sat on Jim Shooter’s desk for about a year, and he finally said, ‘Yeah, you can do

We Have Seen The Futurians The cover of The Futurians by Dave Cockrum #1 (Oct. 1985), published by Lodestone. Repro’d from an ad for the book, with thanks to Glen C. See more of The Futurians on pp. 27 & 76. [©2008 Estate of Dave Cockrum.]

this if you want.’ I was in some doubt whether I should quit The X-Men and do that, but I really wanted to do it. Chris and Louise Simonson, the editor, talked me into giving up The X-Men because they thought I was more enthused about The Futurians.”46 After a successful graphic novel, Cockrum took the series to “a shortlived company called, variously, Lodestone, Deluxe, and whatever else they wanted to call it from week to week. I went with them because they offered me pie-in-the-sky Big Money, and Marvel was unwilling to match their offer. I did four issues for them—one full story arc—but they folded before the fourth issue was published. Later on, the four complete stories were published by Eternity Comics as a second graphic novel. I only allowed them one printing, so the book is very hard to come by.” About the series, he told his online fans in 2003, “I’m prouder of The Futurians than of just about anything else I did professionally.”

Target Audience Dave Cockrum’s cover for Blackhawk #254 (Jan. 1983). Repro’d from a scan of the original art, as retrieved from the Heritage Comics Archives

by Glen Cadigan. [©2008 DC Comics.]

Before working on The Futurians for Lodestone, Cockrum was also given the chance to illustrate another favorite comic book series of his for the publisher’s Deluxe branch: Wally Wood’s THUNDER Agents. About the experience, he later wrote online, “I’ll agree that [David] Singer published the Deluxe Wally Wood’s THUNDER Agents illegally— something I was unaware of at the time—but I enjoyed working on the book, and I think we put out some pretty good stories.”

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

THUNDER And Lightning Cockrum and Anderson—together again! Splash from a story in Wally Wood’s THUNDER Agents #2 (Jan. 1985), from the five-issue series published by David Singer. Paty was the colorist. Thanks to Miki Annamanthadoo for the scan of the original art, autographed by Murphy. [THUNDER Agents TM & ©2008 John Carbonaro.]

In 1984, an inventoried story which the artist had illustrated as far back as 1977 finally saw print in Marvel Fanfare #16 (Sept. 1984). “Marv Wolfman and I decided to do a two-part tribute to an old favorite strip of ours, Blackhawk, and [it ran] in Marvel Fanfare,” the artist wrote on eBay. “The title was ‘Skywolf,’ and it featured four two-fisted hotshot pilots operating from a submarine slung underneath a rustbucket fishing trawler (YES!). They flew modified Chance Vought F5U-1 ‘Flying Flapjacks.’ We equipped our Flapjacks with jet engines, which the originals didn’t have.” The first part of the story had been slated to appear in Marvel Premiere #41 (April 1978), but “Seeker 3000” ran there instead.

The second part was actually drawn by Cockrum in the 1980s, and was published in Marvel Fanfare #17 (Nov. 1984).

1985 saw the artist return to his favorite creation, Nightcrawler, in a four-issue mini-series for Marvel. “Chris and I were going to do a ‘Nightcrawler’ story together at one point a few years back,” he told Dwight Jon Zimmerman in 1985. “He came up with a plot I didn’t like, and I didn’t want to do it.... Then one day Louise Simonson, when she was the editor of The X-Men, called me up and asked me if I’d like to do one myself. And I leaped at the chance.”47 The mini-series featured a comedic take on the character, owing to Cockrum’s own humorous leanings. “Fun comics were always my favorites,” he wrote online in 2006. “I always tried to put a sense of fun in my own comics.”

After Nightcrawler, regular work eluded Cockrum for ten years.

Sporadic assignments for Marvel, DC, Valiant, Defiant, and even Broadway Comics occupied the artist’s time for over a decade. It wasn’t until 1996, when he became the regular artist on Soulsearchers and Company for Claypool Comics, that he returned to a book on a regular schedule. About his time on that series, he wrote online in 2006, “I loved those characters, and I could’ve gone on forever doing the book if editor Richard Howell would’ve let me do some stories that fitted my own tastes, but he preferred soap opera stuff.” According to Paty, “[When he quit the book,] he was really happy, ‘cause he felt so free, and I said, ‘Okay. Well, now what are we going to do for a roof over our heads and food in our mouths?’ and he said, ‘We’ll figure out something.’”

Cry Wolf, Skywolf Dave’s 1975 concept illos for Skywolf, his team, and their aircraft. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The Man Who Loved Comics

Kurt Wagner Crawls By Night!

A page from Nightcrawler #1 (Nov. 1985). Repro’d from a scan of the original art culled by Glen C. from the Heritage Comics Archives. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Final Years By the mid-’90s, Cockrum’s health had become a serious issue. After having been diagnosed with diabetes a decade before, the artist began to fall off his strict diet. According to Paty Cockrum, “His diabetes had progressed and he had gone to the local doctors. He was still on oral medication and diet control when his father urged him to go to the VA and get some medical benefits, which he was entitled to…. They got him in and they took tests and things like that, and said, ‘Your diabetes is out of control, so we’re gonna put you on insulin,’ and they taught him how to do that.”

In subsequent years, the artist’s life was regularly interrupted with constant hospital trips. “What happened was his health was declining and declining, possibly from the fact that the VA does not take good care of you,” remembered Paty. “It really doesn’t. Whenever he would get a massive infection, the infection would build up, and then he’d have to go into the hospital and they would dose him with massive doses of very strong antibiotics.”

Cockrum’s problems were compounded by a foot injury which he had sustained at home. Paty recalled: “He was walking around the house and cut his foot, because he couldn’t feel his feet, and he got osteomyelitis,

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Searching Their Souls The splash for Soulsearchers & Company #33 (Nov. 1998), with thanks to Richard Howell. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

which is a bone infection, and they had to go in and scrape bone.” A familiar sight in later years would be that of the artist in a wheelchair, partially due to his foot injuries.

“In the meantime,” explained Paty, “David’s health just seemed to go downhill…. He would sleep all day, and what we found out was that he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. His oxygen levels were about 75 instead of being 98. He was actually operating on the same level [as] a person with emphysema.”

At the end of 2003, the artist’s medical problems came to a head. “He went out one day and caught bacterial pneumonia,” said Paty. “It was rampant in the Hudson Valley at the time. It was the same thing that killed Jim Henson. Bacterial pneumonia can incubate in three days. You could be dead before you know what you’ve got... and he survived it, possibly because he had been so sick before that his body had actually built in some back-up that healthier people didn’t have.”

Due to Cockrum’s failing health, as well as harsh winter conditions where the couple lived, they had made a decision to move to South Carolina, and were in the midst of packing for the trip when he took ill.

“Virtually the day before we moved, we were packing madly,” Paty recalled. “The truck was to come and pick up our belongings. It was December 31st, and the truck was supposed to come on January 2, and he

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

Cover Me! Dave’s cover sketches for Marvel Team-Up Annual #1 (1976) & Ms. Marvel #17 (May 1978), juxtaposed with the finished cover of the latter, as inked by Terry Austin. Thanks to Geoff Wilmetts for the layout scans, and to Bob Bailey for a scan of the printed cover. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

was so bad that I [told my sister] ‘Barbara, you’ve gotta take him over to the VA. I’ll keep packing.’ So she drove him over to the hospital and came back, and said, ‘Well, they admitted him, and he’s staying there,’ and I said, ‘Okay.’

“That night at four in the morning I got a call, and... a call at four in the morning is not a good thing when you just put your husband in the hospital. It was a doctor there who was very good, and she said, ‘We cannot treat him here. He needs treatment that we don’t have. He needs to be intubated, and with your permission we will ship him to Vassar, just up the road.’ I said, ‘Absolutely. Do it.’ “[The next day] we stopped packing and went over for a couple of hours, and I don’t think he even knew us at that point. He was intubated, [and] he was sedated to keep the intubation down. He would blink at us, but that’s about it. At one point, he was on intubation for nine days, and they didn’t know whether he was going to live or die. I would call every day and say, ‘How’s he doing?’ ‘No change.’ They said, ‘The only way we know we’re doing something right is he hasn’t died.’”

News of Cockrum’s condition eventually spread throughout the comics community. Before he was moved to the Bronx VA for further treatment, a movement was started by family friend Cliff Meth to encourage Marvel Comics to initiate financial compensation to the Cockrums for the artist’s role in the re-creation of The X-Men. Remembered Meth, “I had already started the movement toward getting him money and getting him rights and getting him health benefits before he was even conscious. As soon as Paty called me, I would say within 24 hours I already had a number of things in motion.”

Meth elaborated, “I asked for her to give me power of attorney so I could negotiate with Marvel…. I asked Neal [Adams] to be my advisor on negotiating with Marvel, ’cause he had been so successful with the Siegel & Shuster thing earlier with DC. I stayed in constant touch with the people that I thought could advise me on how to best help Dave, but we kept Dave sheltered from a lot of what was going on.”

The benefit in question was a tribute book and subsequent art auction to raise funds to cover the Cockrums’ immediate financial needs.

In the years since he had worked regularly in the industry, the artist had fallen on hard financial times. In 2002, he had written online, “A few years ago we were very hard up for money and I sold off my collection of Green Lantern, Flash, JLA (these were all nearly full runs from the beginning), FF, Thor, Spider-Man, and some others. I’ve regretted it ever since.” In 2007, in reference to the Green Lantern and Hawkman covers which he had been awarded by Julie Schwartz years before, Paty remembered, “At one point we were so hard up for money, he actually sold [them], which was unfortunate. I told him not to, but he did, and then he wished he hadn’t.”

The Man Who Loved Comics

Tributes Made And Tribulations Met A 21st-century helping of art by and about Dave Cockrum.

(Clockwise from top right:) Comics legend Neal Adams drew this upbeat illo of wheelchair-bound Dave greeted by several of the X-Men he’d co-created. It was printed larger in the 2004 book The Uncanny Dave Cockrum… a Tribute, edited by Clifford Meth and issued by Aardwolf Publishing. It was a gorgeous hardcover, filled with appreciations of Dave and with Cockrum-homage artwork by some of the biggest names in comics. See ad on p. 27.

[X-Men TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.; other art ©2008 Neal Adams.]

Sometime Cockrum inker (and fine artist in his own right) Bob McLeod contributed this frontispiece to the Tribute book. [X-Men TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Dave drew this Nightcrawler sketch for collector Arnie Grieves at the June 2006 Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. It was inked at the comicon by Dexter Vines.

[Nightcrawler TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] And here’s the sketch of Wolverine and Colossus—the last Dave drew in any public appearance—which the artist said was “like pulling teeth” (see p. 24).

Thanks to Doug McCratic, for whom it was drawn at the Greenville (NC) Comic Con, Oct. 28, 2006—and who wouldn’t part with it for the world. [Wolverine & Colossus TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

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The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

Carolina. About the experience, he wrote online, “I attended a local show a couple weeks ago, and did [a] sketch for a guy. It took me most of the day and it was like pulling teeth. In the old days I’d’ve thrown it away, but the guy seemed happy enough with it.” (See previous page.)

As to why the artist attended cons in the first place, he told the present author in 2002, “Frankly, the main reason that I go to shows is that I get some feedback. I think that knowing that somebody out there likes my stuff is part of the reason why I do it. I’m doing it also to please me, but it tickles the hell out of me when it pleases other people, and to hear it from them, that’s great.”48

Legacy

A Legend And His Legacy Dave at a 21st-century comicon, surrounded by well-wishers. Sent by David Phelps, with our added thanks to Tony Isabella. As Glen Cadigan wrote to Roy T. soon after the artist’s passing: “I don’t know if pros from your generation really appreciate what Dave meant to my generation (that’d be the generation that grew up reading books made by your generation), but Dave was our Jack Kirby, and The X-Men was our Fantastic Four. The fact that his designs went on to be so successful even when he wasn’t drawing them is a true testament to the talent that he possessed.” Amen to that, Glen!

In time, Cockrum’s condition improved, and so did his spirits. “[People] poured out love and thanks to him that truly, in my opinion, helped him to recover,” Paty wrote online in October 2006. “It really did!

Knowing that so many of his peers, and even people he didn’t know, liked his work and loved him as a person and artist... was what kept him alive and fighting. He had thought he was over the hill and forgotten, and it had sent him into a tailspin that had allowed disease to just eat him up.

You gotta have the will to live to fight off bad stuff... and he had lost it.

But everyone coming out of the woodwork and lauding him and wishing him to get well did the trick.”

While Dave was still hospitalized in the Bronx, Marvel Comics and the Cockrums came to terms on a deal, the specifics of which have not been disclosed. According to Meth, “It could’ve been better, but I’m satisfied.

[People] speculated on the amount of money that Dave got, or what he didn’t get, etc. They just make this **** up. I have never disclosed the amount of the settlement. Neither has Dave or Paty. We would be in violation of the contract if we did that.”

In spring of 2004, the artist arrived at his new home in South Carolina, where he settled into long-term medical care. In spring of ’05, he began dialysis, which involved over three hours of blood cleaning three times a week. According to Paty, “The VA did not diagnose a lot of things with him, like the fact that he only had one operative kidney, for whatever reason. They should’ve picked that up; they didn’t. It wasn’t until he got on Medicare... and we could take him to a real doctor here in Anderson… that they found out that he was only operating on one kidney to begin with.”

With his mobility limited, Cockrum returned to an avenue where he had communicated with his fans before taking ill: the Internet. When asked if his online activity provided him with a lifeline, Paty replied, “Yes. Absolutely.” In 2002, Cockrum himself said, “It’s something I enjoy.”

The artist also continued to meet his fans face-to-face at comic conventions after his discharge from the hospital, although, “[t]hanks to many problems—finance, the need to carry oxygen supplies, and the need for dialysis three times a week—I can’t go to any show more than two or three hours’ drive from Belton,” he wrote just weeks before his death.

Cockrum attended his last con on October 28, 2006, in Greenville, South

On Sunday, November 26, 2006, Dave Cockrum passed away due to complications from diabetes. He was 63 years old. Initially, the news was posted online at the artist’s message board by Cliff Meth. Later that day, it broke at the Mid-Ohio Con, where it spread as rumor before it was confirmed as fact.

“I got up late that morning at ten o’clock… sometimes we do sleep in late on Saturdays or Sundays,” Paty explained, “and I went in and said, ‘Okay, come on, get up. It’s time to take your medicines,’ and he was gone…. I had been expecting that very scenario for the past five years. He had been that sick all along.”

Two weeks prior, on the artist’s own birthday, his father had passed away at the age of 94. According to Paty, “I think Dave actually, for the past several years, had been hanging on for his father. Daddy had already lost two of his four children, and he knew David was very sick. We all did.

Even David knew he was very sick, and Daddy was scared to death that Dave would die and he’d have to bury another one of his children. Dave’s biggest fear was that he would die first, and his father would have to bury another one of his children, and I think he held on and held on by the skin of his teeth until his father started failing about a couple of months before Dave died.”

She remembered, “We went to visit him in September, and basically Dave and his father said their good-byes that day. When we were ready to leave and come home, they were both sitting there in wheelchairs, and Dave asked his father, ‘Dad, can you stand up?’ and his father says, ‘Well, yeah.’ And he said, ‘Okay, stand up.’ And Dave stood up and walked over, and hugged him. He and his father hugged, and basically I think they both knew that one or the other or both of them wouldn’t make it through the winter, and this was their good-bye.”

Reaction from the comic book community was immediate. Obituaries appeared on news sites and blogs, and notice of his death was also mentioned in the mainstream media. An Associated Press obituary was published in multiple newspapers, and The New York Times also ran a notice of his passing. “He would have been absolutely amazed at the outpouring of love and respect that just flooded the airwaves, the ’net… the newspapers—everywhere!—when he died,” said Paty. “He would never have believed it.”

His first wife, Andrea, commented, “I was really glad that there was that much recognition. Of course, it didn’t help him, but I felt like he got the recognition that he deserved so much.”

In 2007, Ivan Cockrum said, “Something that happened after he died that was really wonderful to me was that I got to see all the outpouring of support from his fans. All his fans online, on all of these forums and bulletin boards, told stories about what a great artist he was, but not just what a great artist he was, but how wonderful he was to them. How well he treated them, how friendly and respectful he was, and it was really lovely to see all of these other people with their positive images of him, and to be able to see that myself through their experiences. So that’s something I’ve thought about a lot since he passed.”

The Man Who Loved Comics

25

own childhood was made more livable and enjoyable by guys such as Wally Wood, Joe Kubert, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, Jack Kirby and many others, and it gives me a thrill to know I’ve been able to do the same for younger generations.”

“Dave has to be remembered for the fact that his whole life was comics,” commented Paty. “The storytelling, the fans, the fun of it. He thought that a lot of the fun had been lost lately, and that saddened him, because comics should be fun. Super-heroes should be fun! Dave was someone who just loved the fun of comics.”

According to Ivan Cockrum, “Whether [people] think that he was a good artist or not, I think the thing that really impresses me and makes me happy is that they think that he was a good guy. That he treated people well and with respect. I think that’s how I’d like to think of him as being remembered.” Ivan’s mother, Andrea, remembered him as “somebody who was a true creative spirit, and who did live his dream.”

As per his wishes, Cockrum was cremated while wearing his Green Lantern shirt, with his ashes to be buried on his property in South Carolina. While much ado may have been made over the fact that he passed away while wearing his Superman pajamas, in 2002 the artist wrote online, in reference to his many hospital stays, “I wear super-hero shirts (Shazam, Superman, Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Flash) and my notorious Spidey and Supes pants. I refuse to be just another guy in green pajamas.”

In all aspects of his life, Cockrum embraced comic books, and was unashamed (some might even say unapologetic) about his connection to the medium. In his later years, when he felt that the industry to which he had given so much had turned its back on him, he continued to frequent online message boards and communicate with his many fans about any and all topics, but especially those of comics. In 2002, he wrote, “Being a comics fan myself, as well as a creator, I’ve always enjoyed shooting the bull with other fans,” and in 2003 he commented, “I have never not had time for fans. I’ve done my best my whole career to be a good representative of my industry, even when I felt that industry was treating me shabbily.”

“To Be Hulkinued” Remember that phrase from the late ’60s? Here’s an unpublished Cockrum cover done for The Incredible Hulk #208 (Feb. 1977). Ted Latner owns the original. The published cover, which was very similar to this drawing, is credited to Marie Severin (pencils) and Frank Giacoia (inks). [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

About his legacy, the artist told Patrick Walsh in 2000, “Artistically, it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to know that my imagination has left a lasting mark on the industry.”49 He later elaborated on the subject: “My

Footnotes 1 Jay Mckiernan, “Dave Cockrum Interview,” (http://x-worldcomics.com/x/column/cockrum.html, 2001).

2 Ibid.

3 Dave Cockrum, “The Trials and Tribulations of Being a Comicollector,” Yancy Street Gazette (Sept. 1968).

4 Dave Cockrum, The Uncanny Dave Cockrum... a Tribute (Aardwolf Publishing, 2004), pg. 80.

5 Cockrum, “The Trials and Tribulations of Being a Comicollector,” op. cit.

6 Gary Groth, “An Interview with Dave Cockrum!” Fantastic Fanzine #10 (1969).

7 ibid.

8 ibid.

9 ibid.

Paty Cockrum summed up his life best: “He was about the fun and the adventure and the heroism of comics, and that’s how he should be remembered, because that’s what he was.”

NOTE: For the foregoing biography, Glen Cadigan supplied some of the scans originally made by Anthony Taylor, David E. Martin, Fred Hembeck, Gary Dunaier, Geoff Wilmetts, Hass Yusuf, Jerry Thompson, Kevin McConnell, Miki Annamanthadoo, Richard Donnelly, Richard Howell, Ruben Espinosa, and Ted Latner.

10 ibid.

11 Jon B. Cooke, “Dave ‘Blackhawk’ Cockrum,” Comic Book Artist #6 (TwoMorrows Publishing, Fall 1999).

12 Clifford Meth, “Remembering Julius Schwartz,” Meth Addict (www.comicsbulletin.com, Feb. 10, 2004).

13 Clifford Meth, “Dave Cockrum,” Meth Addict (www.comicsbulletin.com, Jan. 28, 2004).

14 ibid.

15 Cooke, op. cit.

16 Glen Cadigan, “Dave Cockrum,” The Legion Companion (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003).

17 Cooke, op. cit.

18 Mckiernan, op. cit.

19 Dave Cockrum, (www.comicsfun.com/comicart/cockrum/CockrumShattuck).

26

The Life And Legacy Of Dave Cockrum

20 Mckiernan, op. cit.

21 Cooke, op. cit.

22 Jon B. Cooke, “Dave Cockrum,” The THUNDER Agents Companion (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2005).

23 Dave Cockrum, “Introduction,” The Legion Archives, Vol. 10 (DC Comics, 2000).

24 Cadigan, op. cit.

25 Cockrum, op. cit.

26 Cockrum, op. cit.

27 Cadigan, op. cit.

28 Dave Cockrum, “Ack! How Dare You Tamper with The Legion!”

The Legion Outpost #3 (Jan.-Feb. 1973).

29 Cadigan, op. cit. That illo can be seen in The Legion Companion.

30 ibid.

31 Anthony Taylor, “Building a Better Monster: Dave Cockrum’s Model Kit Designs,” (www.comicbookresources.com, Jan. 15, 2007).

32 Dave Cockrum, “Phaedra of Shandilarr,” Certificate of Authority (Action Hobbies, 1994).

33 ibid.

34 Jon B. Cooke, “Dave ‘Blackhawk’ Cockrum,” op. cit.

35 Dave Cockrum, LOC, The Legion Outpost #6 (Winter, 1974).

36 Taylor, op. cit.

37 Cooke, op. cit.

38 J.R. Riley, Keith Wilson, Michael Wolf, “Things That Go Bamf in the Night,” Comics Informer 5 (June-July 1982).

39 Peter Sanderson, “Dave Cockrum,” The X-Men Companion, Vol. I (Fantagraphics Books, Inc., 1982).

40 Craig Shutt, Brian K. Morris, “The X-Men: ‘A Cool Concept,’” Alter Ego #24 (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003).

41 Riley, op. cit.

42 Cadigan, op. cit.

43 Riley, op. cit.

44 Wolf, op. cit.

45 Patrick Walsh, “A Candid Conversation With Dave Cockrum,” (www.comiXtreme.com, 2001).

46 Cooke, op. cit.

47 Dwight Jon Zimmerman, “Dave Cockrum,” David Anthony Kraft’s Comic Interview #20 (Fictioneer Books, Ltd., Feb. 1985).

48 Cadigan, op. cit.

49 Walsh, op. cit.

Creature Featured This 1972 cover-style drawing by Dave, done for a hoped-for DC comic featuring Universal’s Creature from the Black Lagoon, was preserved by the late Mark Hanerfeld, who wrote: “Sadly, this is taken from an old photocopy.” The original art, along with several other pieces from Mark’s collection that were on loan to the Museum of Cartoon Art at Boca Raton, Florida, was stolen; so far as we know, it has never resurfaced, and anyone knowing of its whereabouts should inform Clifford Meth or Paty Cockrum. But we think Dave would approve of its being repro’d here. [Art ©2008 Estate of Dave Cockrum; the Creature is a trademark of Universal Pictures.]

DAVE COCKRUM Checklist The following Checklist is adapted from information that appears in the online Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1929-1999), established by Jerry G. Bails. See the ad on the next page to learn how to access this invaluable website. Names of features which appeared in both magazines with that title and in other magazines, as well, are generally not italicized below. Key: (w) = writer; (a) = full art; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only; (d) = daily newspaper comic strip; (S) = Sunday newspaper comic strip.

Name: David E. (Dave) Cockrum (1943-2006) (artist & writer) Family in Arts: Paty Cockrum (wife) Print Media (Non-Comics): Contributor, 1992 X-Men Poster Magazine Comics in Other Media, Fanzines, Alternate Comics: Amazing World of DC Comics (a) cover 1975; Charlton Bullseye (a) 1976; Collector (a) 1971; Comic Crusader (a) 1972-73; Comics Journal #78 (contributor) 1982; Fantastic Fanzine (a) 1968-70; Elvira (p) 1993 in Elvira (from Claypool Comics); H-Series (w)(a) 1976 in Comic Crusader; Shattuck (p) Overseas Weekly; portfolio (a) 1974; Soulsearchers and

Company (p) 1995-99; Star-Studded Comics (w)(a) mid-1960s; Superboy (a) 1974 for Aurora model kit Studio Personnel: Crusty Bunkers (inkers, informal grouping) (unconfirmed—years uncertain) COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Publishers): Acclaim Comics: Solar, Man of the Atom (p) 1994; Turok (p) 1994 Dark Horse Comics: Creepy: The Limited Series (a) 1992

The Man Who Loved Comics

DC Comics: Batman (p) 1987-88; Batman & Blackhawk (p) 1980: Blackhawk Detached Service Diary (a) 1983; Booster Gold (p) 1992; Cascade (p) 1997; covers (p)(i) 1973, 1981-83, 1987-92; Fabulous World of Krypton (a) 1972-73; Green Lantern (i) 1993; Green Lantern (p) 1980; Green Lantern Corps (p) 1992; Justice League of America (p) 1992; Legion of Super-Heroes (p)(i) 1972-74, 1983, 1988; Secret Origin: Teen Titans (p) 1989; Shazam! (Captain Marvel Jr.) (a) 1974; Star Trek (plot)(a) 1985; Superboy (a) 1972-73; Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (a) 1972-74; Superman and Batman (i) 1973; Teen Titans (i) 1972; The Vigilante (p) 1987; The War That Time Forgot (p) 1981; Weird War Tales (p) 1981; Who’s Who in the DC Universe (p) 1985-87 entries Defiant Comics: Michael Alexander (i) 1994; Warriors of Plasm (p) 1993; Warriors of Plasm Graphic Novel (p) 1993

Destroyer (1992); Dr. Doom (w)(p) 1991; Epic Illustrated (a) 1983; Falcon (p) 1989; Freedom Force (p) 1990; Futurians (w)(a) 1983; G.I. Joe (p) 1989; Gullivar Jones (a) 1974; Howard the Duck (p) 1977; illustration (a) 1977; John Carter of Mars (i) 1977; John Carter of Mars (p) 1978; Machine Man (i) 1989; Manphibian (p) 1975; Marvel Christmas Special (a) 1992; Marvel Preview (a) 1975-76; Marvel Universe (p) 1983-88; Master of Kung Fu (i) 1988; Ms. Marvel (p) 1978; Nightcrawler (p) 1981; Nightcrawler (w)(a) 1985-86; Power Pack (i) 1990; Punisher (p) 1991; Silver Surfer (i) 1988-89; Sky-Wolf (p) 1984; Star Trek (p) 1980 movie adaptation; Starfox (p) 1989; Starjammers (p) 1990; Sub-Mariner (p) 1980; Sunfire (i) 1989; support (assistant art director/production) 1977-79 & colorist 1985-86; Woodgod (a) 1991; X-Men (p) 1975-79, 1981-82, 1988, 1990; X-Men and Ka-Zar (p) 1982

Harris Publications: back-up feature (a) 1992 in Vampirella

Warren Publications: Creepy (w)(a) 1971; Eerie (a) 197172; Vampirella back-up feature (a) 1971

Malibu Comics: Prime (p) 1995 (for imprint Ultraverse)

Western Publishing: Believe It or Not (a) 1974

Marvel Comics: Avengers (i) 1972-73; Avengers (p) 1974-75; Black Knight (a) 1991; Captain America (p) 1977; Captain Marvel (i) 1973; Captain Marvel (p) 1978; covers (p)(i) 1976-90; Defenders (p) 1977-78;

Own Dave Cockrum’s Personal Comics Collection The Dave Cockrum Estate has many comics from Dave's collection available for sale.

These books are certified as part of Dave's personal collection and file copies. For more info, write Clifford Meth at cliffmeth@aol.com

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

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 The Futurians—a drawing done by creator Dave Cockrum for his personal memo stationery. [©2008 Estate of Dave Cockrum.]

27

Announcing: The Dave & Paty Cockrum Scholarship Clifford Meth has announced that this newly established scholarship will be given each year to a student at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon Graphic Art, Inc. It will be funded by the sale of Dave's personal comics collection. Application deadline will be April 30 of each year; the recipient will be announced at HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC, in June. For more information, contact Mike Chen at mchen@kubertsworld.com.

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29

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely” Golden Age Artist MARION SITTON Reminisces About His Comic Book Career Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo

“M

INTRODUCTION

arion Who?” you may ask. Why, Marion Sitton, of course. Aficionados of Timely’s early-1950s crime books will immediately recognize the last name “Sitton,” if only because it was one of the relatively rare signatures seen in the earliest period of Timely freelancing, following the closing of the bullpen in early 1950.

The story behind how I found Marion after all these years is another reason why I cherish all my friends in fandom. For years, I’d seen the

Time And Punishment Marion Sitton in a recent photo, with two examples of his art. In the photo is a duck painting done with crayons—the artist’s medium of choice, as you’ll see on pp. 48—while at left is his 1999 re-creation of a splash page originally done for Timely’s Crime Exposed #4 (June 1951). Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, who sent virtually all art and photos that accompany this interview (some provided to him by Marion, of course), owns the original of this version, which was photographed at a slight angle. [Art ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

tiny signature “Sitton” on a score of Timely crime stories. The artwork was very identifiable—clean, and lending itself readily to depicting the gritty crime dramas of the pre-Comic Code period. I always wondered exactly who this artist was, but for years I came up with no other information. I failed even to come up with a first name for this artist who had seemingly vanished for good from the comic book scene around 1953, and I pretty much chalked the Sitton case up to one of many still unsolvable mysteries of the 1940s and ’50s comic book industry, and a person probably lost to the field’s history.

Then, one day in 1996, my pal Don Mangus rang me up. Don is a well-known collector, writer, and enthusiast in comic fandom circles.

Completely out of the blue, he asked me if I’d ever heard of a Timely artist who went by the name of “Marion Sitton.” I almost fell out of my seat! Not only did he mention an artist I didn’t think anyone but a handful of people were even aware of—he actually gave me a first name!

I told him I knew a “Sitton” who drew for Timely but had never had a first name for the artist. Well, it turns out that an older gentleman had recently walked into a Dallas comics store looking for copies of his old comic book work. His business card bore the name Marion Sitton. The fellow said he had worked for Timely; but, for obvious reasons, no one there had ever heard of him and passed over the info to Don, who then contacted me about it.

30

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

Now I had a name and a telephone number. Excitedly, I called Marion up, identifying myself as a Timely historian who’d been searching for him for ten years. He laughed and told me that if he’d known I was searching that long, he’d have contacted me sooner!

I’ve become close friends with Marion over the last 8 years, learning all about his history in the comic book business and in the art world, and I recently decided to make his tale a formal one for others to read.

Marion has a wonderful story to tell about his Timely staff years of 1947-1950 and about his years as a freelancer up through 1953, at which time he got out of the business and picked up his art career. The story was a revelation, as it allowed me to assign a name to Timely romance stories he penciled, stories that might have gone forever unidentified.

Following his years as a comic book artist, Marion went on to do syndicated and commercial work, as well as becoming “the world’s greatest crayon artist,” whose portraits in crayon adorn the mantelpieces of many a celebrity. While many comic book artists went on to other artistic venues, never looking back with nostalgia on their days of toiling, often in obscurity, Marion reflects on his time at Timely with much fondness, recalling it as one of the happiest times of his life.

—Michael.

“Former Newsboy Now In New York” MICHAEL VASSALLO: Let’s start at the very beginning. When and where were you born?

MARION SITTON: I was born near Hale Center, Texas, in a farmhouse.

The date was April 1, 1920.

MV: April Fool’s Day! SITTON: Yes, sir. I think my parents were expecting something unusual! [laughs] I have two brothers. I was the youngest boy in the family. My father was a farmer by trade. He had lived in another part of Texas before he moved to what they call the Panhandle. He was a dyed-in-the-wool farmer and did well at it. Like all farmers, it was a family affair. It was very hard work. We were reasonably poor, but we never thought so or even realized it, because all you did was work! It was also fun in many ways, as I think back on it. I went to a small brick country school. Not a log cabin like Lincoln may have gone to, but a brick one. We had to walk about two miles to get there.

MV: Barefooted in the snow?

SITTON: No, we at least had shoes! [mutual laughter] MV: What was the earliest inclination you had towards art?

SITTON: I recall that I was very interested in art because I would watch my two older brothers draw cars, horses, etc. That fascinated me a great deal. I wanted to be able to do that also. We had a living room with a wood- and coal-burning fireplace in the middle of the room. We would sit around on the floor and draw and read. I recall drawing right there on the floor. I would take my little tablet and drew everything I could see. The mailman would bring newspapers, and I remember the comic strips: Maggie and Jiggs [i.e., Bringing Up Father], Wash Tubbs [and Captain Easy], Moon Mullins, all the early ones. I also remember a very early Milton Caniff panel strip for NEA Services. They were securing newspapers then for features. The feature was called Mr. Horsefeathers.

MV: I’m not familiar with that feature.

SITTON: I haven’t heard about it since then, either, nor do I have a clue where he came up with that name. But it was funny and comical, and I’ve never read about it in any references I’ve seen about Milton Caniff. This is the late 1920s, early 1930s. It was the favorite part of the newspaper!

Horsefeathers, Gilfeather… What’s The Difference?

Marion mentions an early Milt Caniff feature called “Mr. Horsefeathers.”

Actually, its title was Mr. Gilfeather. Begun by a young, pre-Li’l Abner Al Capp, the daily panel was inherited by an even younger Caniff, as of the above gag for Sept. 12, 1932. Caniff soon left the feature. For the full life story of the creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon, read Robert C. Harvey’s Meanwhile: A Biography of Milton Caniff (2007) from Fantagraphics Books. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

MV: It certainly was. As a youngster, did you read the fantastic literature of the time, for example, in pulps like Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, or the mystery pulps?

SITTON: Oh, yes. My parents would buy some of those pulp magazines. I remember the detective magazines, True Detective and similar titles. Back then we didn’t even have a radio in the house. Sometimes we would go to a neighbor’s house to listen to the radio on the weekends. That rather dates me! [laughs] You tried to entertain yourself with anything you could get your hands on. But back to comic strips—I loved them from the very beginning. I remember reading them in 1927, 1928, and 1929 when I was 7, 8, and 9 years old. I was already drawing and admiring those strips and looking forward to seeing any new edition of whatever came out.

Later we moved from near Plainview to Longview, Texas. That’s where I started junior high school. I was already drawing and was very adept in biology class drawing frogs, etc. I could draw the human heart better than anyone else in the class. I prided myself in that. We moved from what was the “country” into what was the “city.” It was a step up. I remember being apprehensive in a new school, but was surprised I could draw better than all the others. This encouraged me to keep at it. Next I remember I got a part-time job as a paperboy. I began drawing some things for a local newspaper, the Longview Morning News, and entering county fair art contests. After high school, junior college, being in the service, and going on to New York and finally getting syndicated, my little Nature Was First! series that I was penciling and inking in New York came out in the Longview News. I remember the paper had an article that said “Former newsboy now in New York.” [laughs]

“‘Superman’ Was Very Different” MV: You told me that you did something for the post office in Longview….

SITTON: In 1940 they had built a new post office. On the inaugural day

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

James Farley, the Postmaster General, came down for the dedication. On that day, they had a stamp—they called it a “cache” or something—which they used on mail that one day only. I was able to design and draw it. I was the youngest artist at that time to do that. It showed a little building in a circle, and James Farley is in an oval in the center. Later I was awarded the first art scholarship to Kilgore Junior College. It was a new college, and my attendance there was my first “formal” art training. I had a real nice Hungarian artist as a teacher, named Gustav Ivan.

I was there two years. I became his assistant because I was the only one who drew well enough to satisfy his needs in a helper. We laid out murals in the new college’s library, using scaffolds up there. We did a painting called “The Landing of the Pilgrims” that I laid out and sketched on the wall, with the rest of the class painting it in. I believe it eventually went by the wayside. But it was a great experience.

After that, we moved to Houston and I got my first actual art job at the Parker Uniform Company, helping draw and design catalogs. We actually mimeographed the pages and filled in the color by hand and with airbrushes. We’d cut a little template and color in the uniform. It was a crude operation, done that way to save money, but the result was nice.

They only put out about 30 catalogs, for the salesmen to take out on the road to sell uniforms to doctors, nurses, waiters, waitresses, and carhops around the country. I also lettered ice cream store windows. There was a chain of ice cream stores in Houston called the Phoenix Dairy, and I worked re-lettering new flavors, specials, etc. I worked for printers, also.

This is me up to about 19 or 20 years old.

MV: That brings us up to 1939-40. By this time “Superman” was a huge hit, and comic books featuring super-heroes were flooding the newsstands. At age 20 you were older than the average comic book reader of 1940. Were you aware of these new-fangled types of publications called comic books?

SITTON: Oh yes! In fact, I was following very closely whatever was being written about comic books and the artists who were involved with them. I was following the newspaper comic strips, also, and always had it in my mind that that was where I might try my luck one day.

31

especially my brother Bill, who was fascinated by how I could draw. I had two brothers—William Barney Sitton and Robert Simpson Sitton. Bill was 10 years older than I was. Robert was only two years older. I was the youngest, and I think that helped. As we all know, the youngest always gets all the attention! [laughs] Back then we got hand-me-down clothes from relatives in town, and I was always glad none of them were girls. [laughs]

“Private Gooch” MV: World War II had a large effect on comic book sales, and companies did their patriotic (and fiscal) duty in pushing patriotic heroes and pitting them against Axis villains. What were you doing at this time?

SITTON: I was working at the Phoenix Dairy, doing illustrated comic cartoons for their newsletter. I was doing signs, also. I remember walking that Sunday morning into the office, and the radio was on. The report of the attack [on Pearl Harbor] came over the radio. I just put down everything and went out to the local bar with friends. We were pretty much dumbfounded and knew we were going to get into the war now.

My brother and I volunteered together in early 1942. He was two years older and was accepted, while I wasn’t. Later on I got accepted into the [Army] Air Force as a “limited service” because I had very flat feet. Once there I worked out at Ellington Field, which wasn’t too far from Houston.

Everyone was trying to join up. There was a lot of patriotism. I worked at the Houston shipyard before leaving to make a little more money. I also did a monthly feature in Our Army magazine. This magazine was in the day room and PXs and was a well-known and established publication.

There was a local newspaper for the base, and there was an artist who was already pretty well established there. I followed after him, getting his crumbs.

I had an idea for an Army character called “Private Gooch.” I thought the name was unique, and later I found out other people did have that name. He was a character always with a beautiful girl. She had the caption and he never spoke. It was a different approach. I had a lot of fun doing that for a year and a half. At first I had a full page in the magazine, then they cut it down to a quarter page. I’m not sure when or why I stopped doing it, but it just faded out. I remember that I also got requests from people in the officers’ club and such, requests to do originals for them, so I occasionally did those. I guess he became pretty popular during the time I did it. Sadly, I don’t have any copies of it. It was one of the things I lost in a fire along with all my comic books. Maybe the Library of Congress has old copies on file, I don’t know. If you find any, please send me copies.

I’d love to see them again.

MV: Do you remember when “Superman” first appeared in 1938? Before “Superman,” comic books were mostly compilations of newspaper strip reprints. There was some new material, but it was more in the adventure and detective vein.

SITTON: “Superman” was very different! It was unbelievable! To kids of the 1930s, who could have thought that a man could fly? It was radical and revolutionary. Also important to me at that time was the fact that my oldest brother had bought a newsstand in Longview. He sold used and new magazines, so I was able to look at tons of pulp magazines and see all the black-&-white illustrations inside. We had all the pulp Westerns, detective, and fantasy like Weird Tales. It was unbelievable. I was fascinated by that art. Some of the pulp artists I saw later became illustrators in the better-class magazines, and of course many also did comic books.

MV: I’ll find them for you. [NOTE FROM DOC V.: A year after this interview was conducted, I turned up two installments of Private Gooch in Our Army Magazine from 1944 and sent them to Marion. They are printed accompanying this interview. Marion had not seen them in more than fifty years.]

MV: Yes, they often did this concurrently in the 1940s. By this time, I assume art would be your career in one way or the other, correct?

Smile For The Pencil!

SITTON: Yes, but I had felt that from the time I was in the first grade. My family encouraged this,

A teenage Marion Sitton on an outdoor sketching assignment while at Kilgore Junior College, 1938.

MV: What else were you doing at this time?

SITTON: I released a collection of service cartoons called At Ease. I was working with a printer in Houston, and there was also a general

32

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

See Here, Private Gooch!

Two Private Gooch gag panels by Marion, which were tracked down by Doc V.—from the April and July 1944 issues of Our Army magazine. Actually, our irrepressible interviewer turned up a third one, as well… but we couldn’t show that one in a family magazine. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

commercial artist there. He was trying to sell cartoons of that nature. I had the idea to put out a little book with nothing but cartoons in it about people in the service. At the same time we published it, the war ended. It was distributed, but only that one time. It was one of those things that you put out back then, with no date, and, depending on what it was, it could stay on the newsstands for months. They had more laxity in the way they handled things then as compared to now. It was about the size of Reader’s Digest. We certainly had a lot of fun doing it. But I don’t know of any existing copies.

MV: Were you sent overseas at all?

SITTON: No. I spent my entire service in Texas. I was also over at Randolph Field in Shrevesport [Louisiana]. The Houston Museum of Fine Arts had an art show for men in the service. They called it the “8th Service Command,” down on the Gulf Coast. This included the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, etc. I entered two paintings. One was titled “On God’s Side.” I had this soldier in a foxhole with a rifle sticking up above his shoulder; it had a bayonet on it and there was a glint of moonlight off it.

He was praying. Another one showed a Russian [sic—but probably meant to say “German”] tank in a snowstorm. American soldiers surrounded the tank and blew it up. He was surrendering and the title was “Comrades.” I won first prize with “On God’s Side” and received a $100 War Bond.

MV: The most famous of the war-period cartoonists was Bill Maudlin, who drew for [the US Army magazine] Stars and Stripes. Were you aware of him?

SITTON: Oh, very much so. He drew the dog-faced soldiers. I remember he blossomed overnight and was able to depict the regular soldier better than anyone else. He was very well-loved and popular among us. It was encouraging to me to see how great he was and how successful. I tried to study everything he did. He went on to become a political cartoonist in Arizona, I believe.

“I Headed To New York” MV: Yes, he had a long career as a political cartoonist. Following the end of the war, what was your next move?

SITTON: I headed to New York. I was told that in New York you didn’t need a car, and at that time I had a Pontiac convertible. My wife and I decided to travel light and head north. Helen and I had got married while I was in the service, and we didn’t have any children. She was anxious to go, since she had never been out of Texas. We really were looking forward to this, as we were waiting for the war to be over so we could get on with our lives.

MV: Was the idea to get into the comic book business at the very start?

SITTON: Well, comics or cartooning. I knew all that was based in New York, and I knew that I had to give it a shot. Working long distance was not an option. I wanted to talk to the syndicates and know all about the syndicate business. King Features, United Features, etc, were all in New York City. I think the Des Moines Register and Tribune had a pretty goodsized syndicate, but that was the exception.

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

33

MV: Was the McGraw-Hill Company your very first stop?

SITTON: Yes. I went over there and got on their trade magazines. If you knew one end of the pencil from the other, they’d put you on. It worked out real well.

We were doing simple layouts, paste-ups, and some Sitton And Fabell Were First retouching. I Marion Sitton (on our left) with writer Walter Fabell in New York, circa 1948, Also pictured is a Sunday specimen of their strip Nature Was had some First! We’ve also found a reference to a collection of the feature published by David McKay Co., Inc., in 1952. [Art ©2008 Marion Sitton.] airbrush experience, so MV: You were thinking syndicated newspaper strips over comic books at that helped me also. There was a lot of black-&-white retouching on the time? photos. In the art world you were kind of a jack-of-all-trades, doing this one day and something else the next day.

SITTON: Yes, primarily because I didn’t know very much about the workings and chances to land work in the comic book business. I learned more about that after I got to New York. I carried copies of everything I’d ever done; most of it was commercial art. I had lettering samples, also. I was mostly interested in getting a foothold and a job. In the service I had met a fellow that had worked in New York, and he told me about the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. At the time they put out a lot of different types of publications and used a lot of artwork. That’s where I planned on heading when I arrived.

We took a bus to New York. It took two days and three nights. There were organizations for servicemen that helped you find a place to stay, things like that. We had the name of a Jewish organization, and they helped us find a room for the first week, and later an apartment. It was a little walk-up down on 21st street between 7th and 8th Avenues… around $80-$90 a month. The apartment was built like a shotgun. You walked in the front door and could see the back window.

My wife had bookkeeping experience and clerical talents that women back then usually possessed. She got on with the Reynolds Tobacco people. I think they put out Old Gold cigarettes. So we had two incomes and could pay our way pretty well. After a while I used the GI Bill to go to school. Also, I’d met an artist friend at McGraw-Hill who knew someone who was looking for an artist to work on a feature for a newspaper. I was very interested. The writer was Walter Fabell. We decided to work together. After a while we came up with a feature called Nature Was First! that we tried to sell as a Sunday feature. We showed what “man” did and then switched it to show how nature had done it first. You know, like how airplanes fly in a “V” formation—but geese did it first! We had a million of them! Believe it or not, we finally got syndicated with a very small syndicate, the George Matthew Adams Syndicate. You don’t ever really hear about them. I drew it for a year and a half and finally gave it up when I began school. As soon as we got it going, I knew I couldn’t make a living off it. It just wasn’t a big enough feature. At its best, it ran in only about 39 papers.

MV: Did it run in any New York papers?

SITTON: I don’t think so. It ran in Des Moines, Iowa, it ran in some papers in Texas, and I forget the rest. I had a scrapbook with all of the strips, but they burned with the rest of my stuff years ago. I was very excited when we started, but as I say, I knew I needed more, so I enrolled in the Cartoonists and Illustrators School on the GI Bill around 1947. Burne Hogarth was one of the teachers and one of the owners.

MV: We can backtrack. The war ended; you came to New York in 1946.

“In New York City At Last!”

That’s how Marion titled this photo. That’s him on the far right, his wife Helen on the far left, celebrating with a couple of unidentified (probably non-comics) friends.

SITTON: Yes and it was another year before I entered the school. So I began my studies and was still drawing Nature Was First! At that time I signed a contract as the artist, I was told I was the youngest male artist drawing a syndicated feature. There was a girl doing a panel who was younger

34

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

read the title and mispronounced it calling it “taranttula.” I thought, “Well, I’m doomed now, because nobody here in New York knows what a tarantula is!” [laughs] MV: That’s because there are no tarantulas in New York! [laughs] SITTON: I really thought, “Well, you blew it there, fellow!” But anyway, she took it with her and went behind the door somewhere. When she finally came back out, she said that Stan would see me, and she ushered me into his office. After a while he came in from somewhere, although I didn’t see him enter. He was very friendly, smiled, and talked to me. He was very nice.

He asked me just normal questions about what I had done, where I was presently, etc. I told him I was from Texas, thinking it might impress him! [laughs] I told him I had been an artist all my life and that I was interested in getting into the comic book field, and that was Tom Gill Had Class! the reason I had been going to the Cartoonist and Veteran comic strip/comic book artist Tom Gill and his class at the Cartoonist and Illustrators Illustration School. I told him I was working on a little School in New York City, in the latter 1940s. Marion Sitton is the guy on the very far left—and syndicated feature, but it wasn’t proving to be very Tom Gill is probably the guy wearing the darker bowtie. Any other future stars there we successful. I think he was a little bit impressed by that, should’ve recognized? Jim Amash thinks he spotted Martin Thall... as well as a very young or at least I hoped he was. He looked over my samples Ross Andru and Mike Esposito—already in tandem! The late Tom Gill was interviewed in depth in Alter Ego #43. and he asked a question or two, like why I did this or that. I thought he was very interested and he was very than I was. I wanted to move up, and while in school I began to hear relaxed with me. I remember being a little surprised that he actually about the comic book business. Everyone was talking about it, and I was looked younger than I did! But he was very friendly and made me feel excited to try to get into that part of the comic art business. I don’t recall welcome. their names, but the school had teachers that specialized in teaching MV: He wasn’t an overbearing type of boss who intimidated the comic book writing. I remember Tom Gill was one of the teachers, and he interview candidates? was doing some work in the business. We all looked up to him as, “Hey, you’re one of those that know more than we do!” It was quite interesting, SITTON: No, he was friendly and warm. I felt very good about that but everyone every day was talking about the comic book business, so I interview. Stan said, “Well, I see you can draw hands and feet. We have began working on comic book samples. We began to hear rumors about people coming up here with samples that can’t do that. You’d be amazed at who was doing what and who was hiring who and things like that. Then I the people that try to get into this business and can’t draw.” I felt really heard that Timely might be interested in new artists, so that excited me a good about myself after he said that. He then told me he’d give me a try, great deal. and I couldn’t believe it. I think I went for two or three days where I didn’t breathe, I was so taken back by getting offered a chance.

“The Tarantula Of Tombstone”

MV: Timely started their staff in the early 1940s, after originally getting all their material packaged from comic shops, primarily Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies, Inc. Timely’s owner, Martin Goodman, realized it would be better to produce much of the work in-house and began building a staff.

Do you remember how you heard about Timely’s interest? Allen Bellman told me he answered an ad for a background artist for Captain America in The New York Times.

SITTON: It was word of mouth. Timely was in the Empire State Building.

I went to work on a sample, and I was told that you had to do something original, not copy anyone else’s work and not copy a page out of some other book. They wanted you to do something they could look at and ask you questions about. I decided to pencil and ink the whole page. I think it was called “The Tarantula of Tombstone.” A “splash page,” they called it, and I think you could get by doing a splash page for them to judge what you could do. And that’s how I auditioned at Timely.

MV: Describe the scene to me. Who was there? Who greeted you? Think back now, as I want to imagine this scene.

SITTON: Well, I was told to see Stan Lee. So I went over there and I said I wanted to see Stan. The girl told me I would have to wait and took my name and all that. She also took what I had, and I showed her the cover I had done over the splash page sample, trying to be neat and clean. She

MV: What did that exactly entail? Did he say you were hired right there on the spot?

SITTON: Yeah. He said, “Well, we’re going to try you out. I’ll take you back and show you where you can sit. We’ll just let you work and see how you can get used to this type of work we’re doing.” He then introduced me to Syd Shores and told me Syd would help me with anything I needed and with any questions I had. Syd gave me a script to start on. You read the instructions and the dialogue. It was all spelled out back then, pretty much, so I basically just got started working.

MV: Did you come back a different day to start, or did you start right then and there?

SITTON: I actually came back the next day to start. They had a vacant desk seat in the back, and I was about an arm’s length from where Syd Shores sat. He was slightly behind me and over on the next aisle, where he had a window behind him.

MV: How was the room set up?

SITTON: We had two rows of desks of artists. You could walk between the two rows. I was next to the wall. There was a window there, but you couldn’t see out of it.

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

35

“More Veteran Artists” MV: Did Syd Shores have a supervisory position there? I know he was working as an artist, also, but I get the impression he was above the grunts.

SITTON: Yes, he did. He helped out younger artists and sort-of unofficially seemed to be of a higher position than the other artists.

He was very calm and sort-of cool. He would just sit back there and draw away. He was a really fine artist and very nice. If you asked him questions, which I frequently did, he was very helpful, but very brief.

In fact, at one time, Stan had Syd draw up a sample page of men in action and women in action and different poses and had copies made and distributed to all the artists. He was trying to get some of us to see how Syd did it and wanted us to copy his dynamics. They were sort of model sheets for generic characters. I still have it, and I’ll send you a copy.

MV: I’d love to see that! Wow! It’s a real relic from Timely history. [NOTE: See next page.]

“And For Only One Dollar Stan Lee PERSONALLY Will Inspect Your Work… “…and will personally write you a detailed letter, telling you how good it is, or

SITTON: I bet I’m the only one that still how bad it is!” The foregoing sentence is a direct quote from Stan’s 1947 mail-order kept my copy all these years. That’s almost classic Secrets behind the Comics—but Marion Sitton didn’t even have to pay the 60 years ago! Even then, I was just buck, and he got a job out of the interview besides! This caricature of Stan at left,

by Ken Bald, appeared in the book. [©2008 Stan Lee.] amazed. I’d look at that copy and see all these figures and different poses and Above, Marion and Helen (standing at left) and several unidentified but clearly fun-loving friends celebrate his landing a job at Timely. Party on! different actions. I was enthralled with it.

Syd was so good. I noticed that one of the SITTON: I don’t know. Dan DeCarlo was there. He would come in from illustrators in the latest issue of Alter Ego the other room, where the humor artists worked. He would tell us how in an interview says some illustration many pages he did a day on those “Millie the Model” books and I found it there was by Syd Shores, and I looked at the legs and the action of the hard to believe. figure and said, “Yes, that’s Syd Shores.” [laughs] You can always recognize his work.

I remember one guy had glasses and sat up near the front door and MV: I’m going to back up a minute. What year are we pinpointing this?

SITTON: It would be 1948. I believe I started penciling in March of ’48. I became a penciler there on staff. I didn’t get to do any of the inking.

MV: Why was that? Did they feel you were good enough to pencil instead of breaking you in as an inker?

SITTON: Probably. My penciling was fairly tight, and they figured that anyone could ink my work. [laughs] You turned in the best you could do, and the inkers took it from there. I recall that they had some inkers on my work that I didn’t particularly like.

MV: March of 1948 would mean that your first work would have started appearing in late ’48, appearing in late ’48, with cover dates of late that year or early ’49, as there was a several-month difference between cover month and real time.

SITTON: Yes, that was true. I recall that Vince Alascia sat right in front of me and was turning out work by the ton.

talked constantly. I don’t recall his name. I read that Al Bellman referred to himself as a joker at that time, but I don’t think this was Bellman. This talkative guy was not one of the better artists or inkers, but he was there and he did a lot of talking. He kept us entertained because we had to listen to him. He just rambled on and on.

MV: Allen Bellman is a good friend of mine. He’s told me stories about pranks by the likes of Mike Sekowsky, Al Jaffee, and others. Many of these fellows went to elaborate extremes to pull pranks in the office. Jim Amash’s interview with Jaffee [in A/E #35] goes into more detail.

SITTON: I heard the stories about some of those pranks! I remember Al Jaffee’s name but can’t seem to place his face. He worked over with the funny artists, I believe.

MV: Yes. He was the main “Patsy Walker” artist during the time you were at Timely. He later went on to a long and wonderful career at Mad magazine. He created and did the “Mad Fold-In” for over 40 years!

SITTON: Right. I know that feature well. I remember him now very well.

MV: Vince was on staff since the early 1940s. He was a staff inker and a main inker of Syd Shores’ pencils.

“My Heart Was A Football For Too Many Men!”

SITTON: That’s right. They conversed back and forth, and I would listen to everything they said, because I was trying to learn. I wanted to pick up any tips I could from more veteran artists.

MV: Let’s return to your debut at a penciler on the Timely staff. Do you recall what some of your very first features were? Thanks to you, I’ve tracked down some of this earliest Timely work you did, and just about all of it was in the romance comics.

MV: What other artists from 1948 do you remember?

SITTON: There was a fellow named Bill, I remember.

MV: That wasn’t Bill Everett, was it?

SITTON: Yes. You were right on in identifying it, although I’m astonished you could. For some reason, I did pencil mostly romance comics in the beginning. We called it “love stuff,” with titles like “My Heart Was a Football for Too Many Men!” I’ve remembered that story title for 54 years! I didn’t think I’d ever actually see that story again, but you found it

36

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

On The Shores Of Your Imagination Here’s a real find! Since 1948, Marion’s held on to these three pages of model sheets depicting selected poses of men and woman—two of them inked, the third only penciled—which Stan Lee had the legendary Syd Shores, one of Timely’s most important and skilled staffers, draw as a guide to other artists. The caricature of Syd above was done by Dave Berg for Secrets behind the Comics. [Model sheets ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Shores caricature ©2008 Stan Lee.]

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

for me. I remember that story as if I drew it yesterday.

MV: As soon as you told me the title, I immediately remembered coming across it as I made my way through indexing the Timely romance line.

Then, once I found it, I instantly saw your pencils under whoever inked it. Your work had a particular style and flair. I’ve become very familiar with it by looking at stories where you inked yourself. That Sitton trademark style still shows through under the inks by other hands, particularly in the faces. I would guess you were used primarily on romance stories because Timely, in early 1949, had just flooded the market with romance titles, though many only lasted one or two issues before being canceled. The fad soon passed, and most titles were gone.

Let’s talk about some Timely staff contemporaries. Do you remember Mike Sekowsky?

SITTON: Oh sure. Mike was a bit of a character. None of the newer artists, like I was, wanted to go near him. I always wanted to look at his work on his desk and marveled at his pencils. They were fantastic. He was so fast and so fluid. Nobody there could turn it out like he could. Not even Syd Shores, who was a fabulous artist. Mike was in a league of his own.

MV: What about Gene Colan? He was there about a year before you were.

SITTON: When I started, Gene Colan was there, and John Buscema, also.

I spoke to Gene the first day or two I started working. He told me that he had talked with Stan Lee about working for him and they didn’t quite get together and had a “little misunderstanding.” He ended up going to DC and was working over there until Stan asked him to come back. Gene Colan had been in the business about 7 or 8 months before I got in, and he was back when I arrived.

MV: Colan and Buscema started at about the same time in 1948. Colan’s work from the very beginning was beautiful. His figure work was very

37

strong, and this showed no matter who ended up inking him, and he was saddled with some poor inkers in these days. Buscema’s penciling in those days wasn’t as strong as Colan’s.

SITTON: Well, many of the inkers were not as good artists as the pencilers. There were exceptions like Vince Alascia and George Klein.

MV: Yes. Many inkers did nothing but ink.

SITTON: That’s because they weren’t very good! [laughs] Not everyone matures at the same rate as an artist. John Buscema became an incredible artist. I always thought he was pretty good even back then, though. He was a young, good-looking kid, who kept about 6 or 7 pencils in his hand all the time, [laughs] and the girls just loved to talk to him, I remember. A nice, friendly fellow.

Gene was just as friendly and could clown around. He was always smiling and always had something funny to say. And he could draw like a demon! [laughs] But you are correct in saying that Buscema’s work at this time wasn’t the caliber of Colan’s. In this business, first of all you’d be interested in is getting in and getting a paying job. After that, you’d want to get to a point where they’d let you do some penciling or signing your name. I think they kept me penciling for at least 8 or 9 months.

MV: At that time nobody was signing their work at Timely. I think maybe this was because they weren’t doing the complete job themselves.

You’d have more of a tendency to sign your name if you penciled and inked it.

SITTON: That’s true, but some guys did get to sign, I recall.

MV: I’ve seen Carl Burgos crime stories in 1948 signed by both Lee and Burgos. There were signatures occasionally in the humor books, also.

SITTON: I don’t remember Burgos being on staff, but he certainly had some kind of seniority there, so I could see him signing his work. He drew “The Human Torch,” didn’t he? I remember the Torch, but by the time I got there those hero books were just about gone.

MV: Who else sticks out in your memory?

SITTON: I remember two letterers, Artie Simek and Mario Acquaviva.

MV: I believe they were Timely’s main letterers at that time.

SITTON: I remember George Klein.

MV: He was primarily an inker but did pencil, also.

SITTON: He was a bit of an exception. Most guys did one or the other.

MV: Both Klein and Christopher Rule did both. Do you recall an inker named Violet Barclay?

SITTON: Yeah. She was Mike Sekowsky’s girlfriend. She was very goodlooking.

MV: That’s what everyone says! A real knockout. I met her in person a few years ago, and she’s still very attractive. She didn’t really want to talk about her work at Timely, preferring to gossip about the artists instead!

But she was very nice and gave me another take on the Timely bullpen.

SITTON: I’m sure she did. I also recall names like Dick Ayers, John Romita, and Tom Gill. Gill I knew from school, as I mentioned. The others I may be confusing as later freelancers.

“My Heart Was A Football For Too Many Men!” You gotta love that title! From Love Romances #9 (Dec. 1949). Pencils

by Marion Sitton; inker unknown. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

MV: Romita and Ayers were later freelancers. Gill did freelance work, also. Joe Sinnott’s earliest work was working for Tom Gill on stories Gill was freelancing for Timely. What about Christopher Rule?

SITTON: I remember that he worked in the same room as I did. He kinda looked like Santa Claus.

38

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

You Can’t Love ’Em All But, at times in 1949, it must’ve seemed as if Marion Sitton could at least pencil a goodly percentage of Timely’s romance comics—in a day when editor Stan Lee and/or publisher Martin Goodman didn’t believe is taking up room with a big splash panel! (Lef to right, above:) Actual Romances #1 (Oct. ’49)… Romance Tales #7 (Oct. ’49)… Love Secrets #2 (Jan. 1950). Inkers unknown. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

The (Gun-Toting) Ghosts Of Christmas Past The photo above was taken at Christmas-time during the period when the artist was drawing for Timely Comics. In 1952 that consisted mostly of full-art chores on crime comics… like the period piece (left) for Justice Comics #27 (May 1952), or the great “line-up” splash for a story in All-True Crime #49 (March 1952). We wish we had space to show you examples of what the other artists Marion and Doc V. discuss were doing during this era—or even their mug shots— but for that, you’ll have to latch onto various back issues of Alter Ego, as seen in the TwoMorrows ad bloc at the end of this mag! [Pages ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

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MV: That’s what everyone says! He was older than most of the artists there, having been a fashion artist with the Hearst newspapers and a children’s book illustrator since the late 1920s.

him and always extremely busy inking. He worked very hard with his head down, always intently concentrating on the work. He was definitely one of Timely’s busiest inkers. I’ll bet he was Timely’s busiest inker.

SITTON: I never knew that. When you were as young as I was back then, you didn’t pay much attention to the history of the other fellows, especially the older gentlemen.

Speaking of inkers, I remember one inker who inked with a white glove. I can’t remember his name. I’d never seen that before and I remember thinking that perhaps that was the mark of a real professional! [laughs] What did I know? The white-glove fellow was an inkerletterer.

MV: Pierce Rice?

SITTON: I don’t recall the name. He may have been a freelancer.

MV: What about Joe Maneely? I’m guessing you wouldn’t have known him, as he began freelancing in 1949 but really didn’t blossom at Timely until 1950 and beyond.

MV: I’ve never heard anyone mention such a characteristic. Now, Bill Everett was a freelancer for Timely throughout the earlier 1940s.

He came back after the war in late 1948/early 1949. Did you know him, and/or do you have any recollections of him around the Timely offices in 1949?

SITTON: I missed him as far as being associated with him. I do remember the long piece you wrote about him [in A/E #28], which printed a lot of SITTON: I don’t have a specific recolhis artwork. I do remember that style, lection of him, but then again I was and that he was in an awfully lot of way in the back of the room. I didn’t those Timely books in 1950 and 1951. really ever see what went on in the Artists like him were paid attention to offices or in the hallways. But I’ll tell by the other artists. Anyone who was you who I do remember. I saw a “good” and “fast” was valued more by And Sears Is Waitin’ At The OK Corral To Back Him Up! picture of Al Bellman in the issue of management. Mike Sekowsky was like Sitton splash from a back-up story in Kid Colt Outlaw #15 (1951).

Alter Ego where you interviewed him, that. Good and very fast. I also [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.] and I remember him clear as a bell. remember that any artists Stan Lee He was up front and very friendly. A spent a lot of time with were better happy-go-lucky kind of guy.

He’ d sit down and work hard and kid around artists. Sekowsky and Syd Shores I remember. Stan rarely even said “good with John Buscema during lunch. Probably kidding him about all the girls morning” to us. [laughs] around him. [laughs] Things like that we used to break up the monotony.

MV: Another name from that period that I’m sure was a staffer was Pete Tumlinson. He drew romance stories and was all over the Western books “Rumors Were Rampant” like Kid Colt.

MV: Did the artists socialize outside the workplace?

SITTON: Oh, I knew Pete Tumlinson very well. Pete was from Texas like SITTON: The only person I ever really socialized with outside the me. When I started, I was under Syd Shores’ watch, and Stan told me to workplace, as I remember, was Pete Tumlinson. I was quite taken with check with Pete Tumlinson if I ever needed any help. Pete was a good Gene Colan’s work and got to know him well, also. Either he was engaged artist and we became good acquaintances. He would come over to me at the time or newly married, I can’t remember. My wife and I went out while I was working and see how I was doing. He was a small fellow and, with them for dinner on one occasion. I recall he told me that his father if I remember correctly, he was there throughout the bullpen break-up. I didn’t want him to get into the comic book business and predicted he heard he eventually went back to Texas to work on his family’s ranch. wouldn’t make it. I read in an interview where Gene said he started up in That’s the last I ever heard about him.

1946 with John Buscema, but I remember Gene telling me when I got MV: He did freelance for quite a while up through 1955, mostly on there in 1948 that both he and John Buscema were newcomers and both horror stories, and then he vanishes. Not many stories, though. were recently there before me. I think Gene had worked for Stan Lee first on a freelance basis, then left and returned. He and Stan were playing a SITTON: He possibly freelanced long-distance after he moved back game of chicken to see who was going to pay enough to keep him there. home. From a curiosity standpoint, I tried to look him up here in Texas He ended up staying at Timely. years later but never had any luck. There were a lot of Tomlinsons but no Tumlinsons.

MV: Vince Alascia?

SITTON: I sat right behind him! He worked very steadily and had very little to say. I remember he had a dry sense of humor, though. He seemed withdrawn and upset most of the time, because he was so quiet, but every now and then he would make a small, dry crack, and then we knew he was still alive. [laughs] He did talk quite a bit with Syd Shores, sitting near

MV: I’ve spoken to Gene about when he started and, based on the evidence of the actual books themselves, early 1948 is where I placed him.

SITTON: Gene might not remember that, but I do, very clearly. I was very attentive when people spoke, and my memory is still sharp.

MV: Once, when we spoke before, you mentioned that you lived outside Manhattan while on staff.

40

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

CRIMINALS, SPIES, & COWBOYS A pulsating poupourri of Sitton splash pages done in 1950-51. According to Doc V.’s analysis, Marion both penciled and inked them all.

(Clockwise from top left, concluding with the one in the center:) Amazing Detective Cases #5 (March 1951)… Spy Cases #4 (April ’51)… Arizona Kid #3 (May ’51)… Crime Must Lose #10 (Dec. ’51)… Crime Can’t Win #9 (Feb. 1952). The latter two, in particular, capture much of the feel of the lurid stories Charles Biro & Bob Wood were then editing for Lev Gleason Publications’ trend-setting Crime Does Not Pay. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

SITTON: After we got settled in and after the bullpen closed, I moved out to Sheepshead Bay [in Brooklyn]. A small two-story house built against all the others in a row.

MV: Those types of homes are throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. But your mention of the closure of the bullpen now leads to my asking what you actually remember about that event. What were the circumstances leading up to the decision to close the Timely bullpen as you remember it? Were staffers let go all at once or a little at a time?

SITTON: To start, the rumors were rampant for a while before it actually happened. We got wind of what was going on. Some of us got nervous, wondering what was going to happen. Sales were slowing up, and the staff was turning out more artwork than they could actually print.

Managements was overloaded and wanted to reel it back in. I remember we were wondering who would go first. I don’t remember the details, but Al Bellman was correct in that someone would be called up to the front and the next day he wouldn’t be there.

What I began to do when I first heard the rumor, but before anyone was let go, was to scout around in my time off and seek other places looking for work. I was able to pick up one or two jobs before the very end. And what the end entailed was simply that you stopped working at the office and began to work at home instead, on a freelance basis. My work never really stopped for Timely. They were changing some of their titles, some were canceled, others were added, and you did a job not knowing where it would appear, and usually it would be printed in a magazine different from where you expected it to appear. That was confusing to me, because I didn’t know why they were doing that.

MV: So Stan tempered the firing by mentioning the offer of continued work on a freelance basis?

SITTON: Yes. It was supposed to be a thinning-out. Let a bunch go and even the boat out a bit. But it turned out to be much more. They didn’t let everyone go. They needed a production staff to make corrections, pasteups, etc. The thought was that things would eventually settle down and we’d possibly be re-hired. They made us think it was temporary and only a few would go. But it wasn’t so. The business of producing comic books was still ongoing, and from an artist’s point of view Timely always had freelancers in addition to the staff, so it didn’t necessarily seem like that big a deal at first. But we didn’t have our finger on the actual pulse of the industry; at least I didn’t. Many of us were ignorant of the financial aspect of the industry.

But we did seek out new accounts from other companies. Older guys who knew better would tell us to stay away from Fox because he [publisher Victor Fox] wouldn’t always pay! [laughs] That story got around to everyone! It makes me wonder how Fox got anyone to work for him! Believe it or not, I did end up doing some work for Fox. MV: Did you get paid?

SITTON: Yes. He beat others out of money sometimes, but I got paid.

MV: Well, there was a mini-implosion of the line-up of titles in 1949.

Timely had flooded the market with comics, especially romance titles, causing a glut, and in a short time they were nearly all canceled. There was a lot of flux, with more artwork than could be used amid declining sales. It was a real transitional period in the company’s history. And in the middle of it all came the firing of the staff. Can you pinpoint exactly when you were let go? Were you one of the earlier casualties?

SITTON: I wasn’t let go early on. It was probably right in the middle. This was in early 1950. I remember, when it began to happen, we all asked Syd Shores what was going on. He was the eyes and ears to the world to us.

We figured that if there was any information to get, we would most likely get it from him. Though, if I remember correctly, he would tell us almost nothing. I’m sure he was told to keep quiet. It was a nervous time, but I weathered it okay. I got outside work and still continued to pick up freelance stories from Timely.

MV: Was Martin Goodman around the offices much? Did the artists ever see him?

SITTON: I remember seeing him twice. That’s it, in about a year and a half on staff, and it was at a distance.

He was rarely seen. Stan Lee was always going in to see him. He didn’t come to see Stan. I always knew who he was but rarely saw him.

MV: What about your recollection of you being let go?

SITTON: Stan just told me as I was turning in a story. It was kind-of like, “Oh, by the way, Sitton…” [laughs] It wasn’t “Clear right out and leave your pencil,” but more like, “Don’t worry, we’ll still have work for you. Stay in touch. I’ll call you next week.” That kind of stuff.

41

He’s Got A Train To Catch—Or Vice Versa!

Marion, on left in photo, with a (probably non-comics) buddy during the Timely era. Doc V. tells us the story above, from Crime Cases #12 (July 1952), was scripted by Carl Wessler, who also wrote for EC, et al. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

42

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

George Klein, even John Tartaglione and Al Hartley. You’d have fit in at least as well as they did, if not better.

SITTON: Thank you for saying that, but I never thought about the fact that I wasn’t drawing horror stories. I must have been better in the realistic stories rather than in the supernatural.

MV: One of your earliest freelance stories for Timely was a sports story in Sports Action, drawn in late 1950.

After that, it was all crime in titles like All-True Crime, Amazing Detective Cases, Crime Can’t Win, Crime Cases Comics, Crime Getting In “Dutch” Exposed, Crime Must Lose, Spy Marion remembers doing this story about a real-life gangster for Avon Periodicals’ Famous Gangsters #1 (April 1951)…

Cases, and Justice and, also for Avon, he drew this back-up Western story in the first, though unnumbered, issue of Kit Carson in 1950. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Comics. You also did quite a few Western stories, and I think you excelled in them.

They were extremely realistic.

“I Liked Crime Stories Better Than The Westerns” Did you like the Westerns? They certainly were popular in the movies of the time, and you’re from out West yourself.

MV: Outside of Timely, who else did you work for?

SITTON: I worked for Avon, Fox, Quality, Hillman, and Fawcett, also.

MV: One of the most famous books where one of your stories appeared in was in Avon’s Famous Gangsters #1 in early 1951.

SITTON: I did the “‘Dutch’ Schultz” story in that issue.

MV: How long did it take for you to return to Stan Lee as a freelancer?

Was there a gap between Timely, the work you did at Avon, Fawcett, etc, and your return? Or were you juggling all the different accounts at once?

SITTON: It actually was only a few weeks that I was gone from Timely.

Stan told me to stay in touch, and almost immediately I had a freelance story from him. So I really did all this work concurrently. I was learning to hustle and getting much more confident in my ability. I was doing the pencils and inks now, while at Timely I only penciled.

MV: Looking over the freelance work you did for Stan, it becomes obvious that your forte was crime stories. You did more of that type than any other. Yet Timely was publishing more horror-type books than any other type, and you are nowhere to be found in them. Why didn’t you draw any horror stories for Stan Lee? Were you just pegged as a crime artist?

SITTON: That may be the reason. I really don’t know. I never tried horror stories. Maybe they saw I was best suited for crime stories.

MV: But there were so many horror titles with stories drawn by artists I would never associate with horror stories—artists like Chris Rule,

SITTON: In all honesty, I liked crime stories better than the Westerns. I suppose I should have liked the Westerns better, because I grew up with horses and farms, but they just didn’t appeal to me as much. I tried real hard to do the crime stories as realistic as possible. Stan must have liked them and kept me on crime stories over anything else. Looking back, I put a lot of effort into those crime stories.

MV: You did Western titles like Arizona Kid, The Gunhawk, and Western Outlaws and Sheriffs, but one real nice story you did was a “Ringo Kid” story. It actually predated every other “Ringo Kid” story and was a different take on the character, actually a villain who dies at the end. The [hero] “Ringo Kid” was later the domain of Joe Maneely, John Severin, and Syd Shores. Do you remember anything about this story?

SITTON: Not really. It was just luck I was handed the script, I’m certain.

With all the “Kids” Stan Lee used, I’m not surprised they’d re-use the name after this villain died at the end. It’s a great name for a Western character, so why let it go to waste? [NOTE: See p. 44.]

MV: It’s a neat little story and you did a wonderful job with it. You had a natural flair for Western settings, but didn’t do too many for Stan Lee, for some reason.

SITTON: I did do others for Quality in Range Romances and Avon in Kit Carson; some were even Western romance stories, I recall. I think I did more Westerns away from Timely. But yes, the “Ringo Kid” story was a nice job and I’m proud of it.

MV: The scripter on many of your crime stories for Timely was a prolific

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

43

“The Comic Book Business Was A Bit Shaky” MV: What made you stop working for Stan Lee and comics in general?

SITTON: My wife and I had been in New York for about five years, and we had been back to visit Texas a few times. For my wife, it was getting harder to keep returning to New York. The feeling was that the comic book business was a bit shaky, and I decided that, with my wife wanting to move back to Texas to be near her mother and father, maybe I could do it from down here. I’d heard about other freelancers from outside New York sending their work in, and I thought I could possibly do that also. I asked Stan, and he said, “Sure, you could do that.” So I was very happy about that, and my wife and I went back home to Texas. I’m not sure how long I did it, sending in story art from scripts mailed out to me. I remember Stan would send me a script, I’d pencil it and air-mail it back to him.

They’d check it, letter it, and air-mail it back to me. I’d then clean it up, ink it, and air-mail it back with a bill. This seemed to be a somewhat inefficient system, so when the scripts petered out I knew that Stan preferred to use freelancers in the New York area, and I looked around for other opportunities here in Dallas.

I went down to the local newspapers. At that time there were two large newspapers in Dallas, and I went to see the art director at one of them.

We discussed what I’d been doing the last few years, working and drawing

Welcome To Freelancer-Land!

Sitton likewise did the full art job on this story for Fawcett’s Romantic Secrets #6 (May 1950). His freelance work for Avon and Fawcett was done after the Timely bullpen closed down. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

writer named Carl Wessler. Do you have any recollections of him? He would have been freelancing scripts while you were freelancing art.

SITTON: I remember his name, but I don’t have any real recollections.

The only writer I really remember was named Chapman, and of course Stan Lee. MV: Besides Stan Lee, Hank Chapman was about the only writer to sign his name to his stories. He was primarily a war scripter for all the Timely war titles, but did write horror and others, also.

SITTON: I met Hank Chapman coming out of the Timely offices after he had been in to see Stan Lee. He was bringing in a story and there was a deadline. He wanted to speak to the artist in person, because there was something he wanted done a certain way. This must have been towards the end of my staff days, because Stan allowed him to come back and talk to me at my desk. Most of the time an artist can handle the written descriptions in a script and interpret it any way we’d like. On this particular script Chapman wanted something done a certain way, as I remember it, and I did it the way he wanted, his interpretation.

MV: I wonder what story that was. Chapman always signed his stories that appeared in 1951-53. None of your freelanced stories were signed by him and therefore not seemingly written by him. This might mean his freelance writing extends back into the Timely bullpen days. What did a script look like?

SITTON: They were typed with descriptive matter and dialogue written out. I could decide if I wanted to do a close-up in a panel. There was a lot of leeway if I thought it would best illustrate the story.

A Real Sport After its bullpen was disbanded in 1949, Doc Vassallo says that one of the first stories Marion drew for Timely as a freelancer was this tale from Sports Action #6 (March 1951). Allegedly a true story—but apparently all Warren Gunn's records have been swept into the dustbin of basketball history. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

44

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

against comic books by the media and a psychiatrist named Frederic Wertham.

SITTON: Yes, I heard about him and saw what was happening.

MV: A lot of companies that published the more lurid crime and horror books went out of business. But Timely responded by toning down the content and actually increasing their publishing line, flooding the newsstands with redundant product. They employed and continued to employ more freelancers than anyone in the business.

SITTON: Well, that was how Goodman operated throughout my tenure at Timely.

“We Did Anything And Everything” MV: After you got out of comics, what did you do throughout the rest of the 1950s?

SITTON: I took a job at the Whaley Art Studio. It was the largest commercial art studio south of Chicago… the biggest thing in the Southwest. They had a stable of about 8 or 10 artists. Everybody could do almost everything or anything. A lot of small advertising agencies at that time depended on outside art services, so we did artwork for everybody… printers, engraving plants, and advertising agencies. I went from there to forming my own little art studio in an existing engraving plant. It was

So Where’s John, Paul, and George?

Despite the outfit that shows up dark on the photocopy from which this image is taken, this Ringo Kid—from Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #73 (June 1954)—isn’t the well-remembered later Timely hero, but a one-shot villain. Of course, the name “Ringo Kid” originated in John Ford’s Stagecoach, the 1939 film that made an A-list star out of B-movie leadingman John Wayne. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

comics. My background in commercial art made me a good choice to handle anything they could offer: layouts, airbrush, etc. So I asked him about a salary, and he told me he could start me out at $60 a week. I was a bit taken back and told him that I didn’t mean to be insulting, but I could make that in a day drawing comics!

MV: What did he say?

SITTON: He told me to stay with comics! [laughs] Anyhow, so I was feeling out the market at that time. Later on, when I finally quit comic books, I took a job at a commercial art studio in Dallas. There were 5 or 6 artists, all doing work for different clients… printers, advertising agents, and so forth.

MV: So by the end of 1952, early 1953, you were pretty much out of the comic book business?

SITTON: Yes. It began to get longer and longer between scripts. I would send in a bill when I returned the art to Stan Lee and put a note in for another script. It finally petered out. The handwriting was on the wall. I accepted it, because it was my own fault for leaving New York. You had to really be there if you wanted the next script. There was a lot of competition, and obviously the New York-based artists would get top priority unless they were running over with scripts. I understood and accepted that.

MV: This time period 1952-53 corresponds with the outside attacks

This “Police Action” Isn’t From A Crime Comic!

Marion also drew an occasional war story for Timely, as per this splash page from Battle #11 (Aug. 1952), during the height—or rather depths—of the Korean War. [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

45

about the first female secretary who worked in an office. They used to call them “type writers.” This was about 1955. The name on the strip with mine, Bill Fitzgerald, was a friend of mine who had gone to school with me in New York at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School. He didn’t get into the comic book business and wasn’t really good enough to do a strip by himself. He was single, and his parents talked him into coming back to Texas. Then, years later when I came back, he was working in Forth Worth as a commercial artist and we got back together and tried to put out a comic strip. I worked it up, did about a month of continuity, and made photostatic copies of them, mailing the originals to The Los Angeles Sun’s syndicate in California. I called after a while and they admitted receiving the strips and the proposal. In fact, the person admitting receiving them was the son of the owner or the editor, I forget which.

After that, they lost them. Flat-out lost all the strips—and then wouldn’t admit ever even seeing them! They had to change their story. I was very disgusted, and after that I felt it wasn’t worth it.

The second strip I did—in the late 1960s, I believe, I decided to go a different route. It was called Nully Fy, and it was a modern-type humor strip with much simpler artwork, about the Space Age. It centered around a professor that taught in a university, Brane University or “Brane U.” [laughs]. His name was Nully Fy, and the other characters were his wife Mummy Fy, daughter Misty Fy, son Terry Fy, and Misty’s boyfriend Cy Clone. Then there were colleagues of Nully Fy at the Brane University like Dr. Koz Mose, Doc Trin, Dr. Mike Krobe, and some real cuties, Dr. Anna List and professor Molly Kule.

I couldn’t get the idea of a syndicated comic strip out of my system. I met up with a guy in Dallas who’d had a few features syndicated with Winford Company Features. He was turning them out himself and was a political-minded person and a good idea man. I think he had 2 or 3 different syndicated features going, one about cars and one about puzzles.

He worked out of his house and even had a printing press there, which was against the law. I talked to a woman down at The Dallas Morning News, a comics editor, and she said to get in touch with him.

They Wound Up On The Wrong Side Of The Tracks

So I met him and got details together, and he liked it and was going to put it out. He printed up a promotional booklet to promote the feature for the syndicate, mailed out flyers to the newspapers, and everything looked

Another fine all-Sitton splash, from another script by Carl Wessler, this one for Justice Comics #36 (April 1953). [©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

called Sitton Art Service, and it ran for about 3 or 4 years.

We did everything and anything. We did letterheads, photo retouching, anything at all. Someone would bring in a photo of a building and there’d be a telephone line running across the brickwork in front.

We’d have to get rid of it! [laughs] We’d cut overlays for photographs.

Everything is now done with computers, but back then it was all done by hand. I even got into, of all things, designing milk cartons! We had a big business doing that. There were one or two big milk carton plants here in Dallas that produced milk cartons for the entire American Southwest.

MV: Did you and your wife have any children?

SITTON: No, my first wife and I adopted a son, and I built a home out near Cedar Hill, Texas, which is outside of Dallas. It was a nice place, about 5 acres, and we enjoyed the country life. I worked in Dallas, and it was pretty good for a while. Later she got ill and things were tougher. But I pressed on.

Cry Me A Weaver MV: In addition to your syndicated feature Nature Was First, you worked up a bunch of syndicated strips that never went very far, correct?

SITTON: Yes. One was called Dolly O’Day. I thought it was a really good feature. It was

One of Sitton’s Charley Weaver cartoons, done starring the character created on TV in the 1970s by Cliff Arquette. (We sometime see the first name spelled “Charlie,” but “Charley” seems to be more common.)

[Art ©2008 Marion Sitton.]

46

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

Hello, Dolly!

The first three dailies for Sitton’s proposed newspaper comic strip Dolly O’Day, which he says is about “the first female secretary who worked in an office”— though it sure looks to us like she’s trying out for a job as a reporter! Marion did some excellent work on the 24 completed dailies—and one of these days we hope that we (or someone else) can print and preserve them all, the more so since the syndicate lost the original art! The co-artist was Bill Fitzgerald.

[Art ©2008 Marion Sitton.]

Nully Fy This!

Marion went in a quite different direction on his Nully Fy strip. Seen here is a drawing of the title character from the “press kit” sent to the syndicates, plus the first of the sample dailies. Again, we wish we had room to print more, but at least we can give you a taste. [©2008 Marion Sitton.]

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

47

remember there was a syndicate magazine sent to newspapers that listed all the syndicated features and who was drawing or doing what. When you are in the business, you know all the outlets. I’m long out of the loop.

But anyone with commercial where-with-all can contact me. I’d still, at this late date, want to follow this up. I have tons of ideas and concepts.

MV: What was the Charley Weaver strip about?

SITTON: Someone had put me onto the fact that [TV character] “Charley Weaver” was interested in branching out and getting into syndication. I whipped up some single panels, and also a strip. On the strip I used a realistic approach. On the panel, I kept it cartoony. I sent them to him and we exchanged letters. He told me he was interested in what I proposed and also that he collected miniature army soldiers and the like. He was like a big kid. But as I was working it up more definitively, he had a heart attack and died. So that was very unfortunate. I was really hoping I’d be able to work with him on that project. The panels I worked up had the writer’s name as Cliff Arquette, which was “Charley Weaver’s” real name. I have film negatives of many of the strips, but the originals were sent to Cliff. Unfortunately, I no longer have the correspondence with him. He was very funny and quite popular [as a mainstay of Hollywood Squares] and also with Jack Paar on The Tonight Show.

Sagebrush Sermons

And there was one additional syndicated attempt. I worked up a feature called Sam Sage Says. I used a realistic style; it was a panel feature and had a philosophical saying written in rhyme. But that didn’t go anywhere, either, unfortunately.

A sample of Marion Sitton’s cowboy-philosopher daily panel Sam Sage Says. [©2008 Marion Sitton.]

“The World’s Greatest Crayon Artist”

like it was a go, but then he had some financial reverses in his family. He was sued about something, and the strip collapsed. I tried to continue pushing it in my spare time, but eventually I gave up on it. It was a shame, because it was a fine feature with artwork that predated the simplistic art seen in today’s comic strips. I analyzed what was out there and came up with something that was unique for its time. I used thick outlines on these characters, what you call “bigfoot” drawing. The art was very clean, simple, and only 2 or 3 steps above stick figures. I still believe it has a lot of potential.

MV: Let’s talk now about your career as “The World’s Greatest Crayon Artist.” How did that come about?

SITTON: I was playing bridge one night in a bridge club I belonged to, and I was bragging about art. They were asking me questions and I told them that, hell, I could draw with anything. What I meant was that I could turn out something serious like a painting using anything at all. My second wife went and got a box of Crayolas and pitched them at me,

MV: From the samples you showed me, I liked both of them a great deal. Dolly O’Day was an interesting historical strip with clean, crisp, realistic artwork. And Nully Fy had great stylized art.

SITTON: What I needed was a good push. I also needed to not have been so involved in other projects at the same time. I also needed a good agent! I felt that if you threw it out there and no one grabbed it, you put it back up on the shelf and forgot it.

But that’s not the way you do it. You have to push, something I never did.

I still have the originals of Nully Fy here. I’d still be interested in pursuing it on any basis. I just feel it was a good strip and worthy of syndication. If someone had the business mind to push, it could still be done. I used to do that when I lived in New York, send to newspapers and such. I even

Painting With Crayons The cover and a page from Marion’s never-published The New Crayon Art Book, which instructs people on how to “paint with crayons.” The artist himself, as can be seen here, has achieved some stunning effects in that unusual medium. One of his best—partly obscured here by instructional drawings—is his “Sunflower and Hummingbird,” the original of which is owned by one Michael J. Vassallo. [©2008 Marion Sitton.]

48

Golden Age Artist Marion Sitton Reminisces About His Comic Book Career

Those Promoters Are Lucky They’re Not telling me to do something Singing “Jailhouse Rock”! with them. So I did, and it The sleeve for the 45 rpm disc that was to be turned out just like a painting. released belatedly, claiming it was Elvis Presley’s Later on, I developed the idea “first professional recording.” But it apparently and the technique about how turned out to be a fake—and the King’s 1954 Sun to do it. In fact, as you know, Records rockabilly single of Arthur Crudup’s blues I’ve written a book on the song “That’s All Right (Mama),” backed by a subject, a completed rockabilly rendering of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass manuscript that I haven’t classic “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” retains its richly deserved landmark status in rock’n’roll history. gotten published. I’ve gotten [©2008 the respective copyright holders.] many write-ups, such as in the Southeast Airlines magazine, and the Morning News wrote about me in their supplement.

I also put out my own Christmas cards, with pictures I painted of outdoor scenes. I worked with a printer and sold them wholesale to people. I painted geese, deer, pheasants, and wood ducks, all in full color.

I made some money on that but didn’t want to repeat it the next year, due to being too busy. At that time I was living in Cedar Hill and working as my own art studio. Then I went to the advertising agencies and worked for four different ones here in Dallas. I was an art director, as well as doing production, creative and idea work. I won some awards there.

As for the crayon portraits, I’ve done many of them over the years. I did one of Marty Ingels’ wife, the actress Shirley Jones. They had a summer musical that came through here, and I did her portrait and carried it out to the show and went backstage. Marty and Shirley loved it, but I wanted to add additional backgrounds, and they offered to fly me out to Los Angeles when it was done. I took them up on it, and they insisted on paying me $500 for it. I have many pictures of the portrait; and one time I was at home watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and they did a segment on Shirley Jones and Marty Ingels. As they were panning the walls showing her photos and awards, what do you think was on the wall? Right in the middle was my crayon portrait of her!

also done outdoor scenes like Kato Lake, where it’s swampy with cypress trees, Spanish moss, and water lilies. I’ve also done a nice sunflower with a hummingbird. Many, many others. It’s a great medium, and if I can find a publisher for this book it would show people what can be done artistically with crayons. Such a book would be a natural for schools and children. I think it would sell very well to the right audience.

MV: I agree and I wish you luck with it. Now, I want you to tell me your brush with Elvis history.

SITTON: [laughs] A friend of mine told me a wild story about an early Elvis recording that had been discovered. The details were unbelievable— and, as we later found out, not believable! I was asked to do the artwork MV: Wow! You must have been shocked and proud. on the little .45 record jacket and help on promotion and advertising. I was offered a financial interest in the venture, but I refused. It was finally SITTON: I certainly was. Over the years I’ve done many celebrity released, and the press and the public couldn’t believe it! And neither did portraits… Barbara Streisand, John Denver, and Johnny Carson, also. I’ve RCA in New York. They swept down on Dallas, Texas, with two record officials and four lawyers. I The New Partridge Family? had to testify at the trial that I didn’t really know At left, Marion’s color portrait of whether it was Elvis on the record, and apparently it popular movie/TV star and singer wasn’t! They shut it down and it was over. I can say Shirley Jones. She and husband now that I did the original art on the only genuine Marty Ingels loved it so much Elvis fake record ever made! that they wrote him later “just to let you know it sits, framed and proud, over our dinner table.”

And they sent him a photo to prove it! Below, Marion poses between the couple in Hollywood. He also utilized the portrait in his New Crayon Art Book. [Art ©2008 Marion Sitton.]

MV: What other kinds of projects were you working on?

SITTON: Outside of art and comics, I invented a Texas rocking chair for children. I made and painted a score of them in ten years, but it was hard to massproduce. Later I came up with a new version made up of only five pieces that fit and locked together without nails or screws.

“I Thoroughly Enjoyed My Days At Timely”

“A Generation That Never Knew My Work!”

MV: I’d like to talk about the photos you sent me. One is of a group of artists. Where did that take place?

SITTON: That’s taken at The Cartoonist and Illustrators School. Tom Gill is in that picture, right in the middle. Burnie Hogarth was there, also. He was impressed that I was the only other artist there [who was] syndicated.

He [Gill] would help me sometimes, and I would ask him questions about layouts, the best way to present something, etc. He was very helpful.

MV: I’ve also seen a letter Stan Lee sent you. What prompted you to write him in 1971?

SITTON: Well, even after almost 20 years out of the comic book business, I couldn’t stop wondering whether I could get back in. It never left my mind, so I finally decided to write my old boss. I wasn’t financially destitute or anything like that, I was working and busy, but I decided to see what was going on in comics, especially since I had told people that I knew Stan Lee and that he originally had hired me. Now I had to prove I knew him! [laughs] So I drew up some samples and I had some photostatic copies made of splash pages I’d done in the past and wrote Stan a letter. I basically reminded him of my work for Timely and that I was wondering if I could get back in.

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ation that never knew my work! [laughs]. Well, I wasn’t there long, compared to other fellows like Gene Colan, John Buscema, and Syd Shores.

MV: But you were important to the line during the years you were there.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

SITTON: Only that I thoroughly enjoyed my days at Timely. Perhaps I pulled out and went home too soon, perhaps not, but I appreciated the camaraderie and learned a great deal. I thank Stan Lee for the opportunity to work there. Taking it back further, I’d like to thank my late brother Bill.

Bill was my mentor and was the one who encouraged me the most. My mother started it all for me by giving me birth. Since then, I’ve been to a lot of places and experienced many adventures with the best of friends.

We wouldn’t even be doing this interview today if not for you. Your persistence and insistence found me and my comic book work, that even I had lost. I’ll borrow a word from a person that we all know that describes your passion for getting the facts straight about Timely: “Excelsior!”

He was nice enough to write me back, but told me the business was as bad as it was in the old days, and that there weren’t enough assignments to keep all the artists busy. He said he’d give my samples to his production man, John Verpoorten, to hold.

MV: It would have been interesting to see what kind of work you could have done in the 1970s. Marvel at that time was trying a lot of new directions. Most of their output was super-hero fare, but they began to release a lot of horror and adventure material. I could see you picking up a freelance assignment or two in the horror magazines. They were occasionally using artists like Sam Kweskin and Jack Katz, fine artists both, who had done most of their work in the 1950s.

They also began to reprint a lot of the old Timely/Atlas horror material. Unfortunately, a great deal of your work was in the Timely crime books, which were never reprinted.

SITTON: That figures. A gener-

They May Be Sitton—But They’re Keeping Mobile Marion and Helen Sitton and their son David posed, probably during the 1960s, for this photo used in an advertising campaign for Mobile Scout homes—juxtaposed here with Marion’s splash for a story in Black Rider #14 (May 1951) which depicts the way he may now see himself, relaxing in retirement… but still ready for action! [Ad shot ©2008 the respective copyright holders; comic art ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

MARION SITTON Checklist [The following Checklist is primarily adapted from information that appears in the online Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1928-1999). See p. 26 for additional info. Listings are doubtless incomplete; some information provided by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. Key: (a) = full art; (w) = writer; (p) = pencils only; (i) = inks only; (d) = daily newspaper comic strip; (S) = Sunday newspaper comic strip.]

Fawcett Publications: Romantic Secrets (a) 1950

1952; Black Rider back-up (a) 1951; crime (a) 1951-53; Crime Can’t Win (a) 1951-52; Crime Cases Comics (a) 1951-52; Crime Exposed (a) 195152; Crime Must Lose (a) 1951; Gunhawk back-up (a) 1951; Justice Comics (a) 1952-53; Kid Colt Outlaw (a) 1951; Loveland (p) 1949; Love Romances (p) 1949; Love Secrets (p) 1950; Love Tales (p) 1949; Miss America (p) 1950; My Own Romance (p) 1949; Our Love (p) 1949; romance (p) 1949 (some published 1950); Romance Tales (p) 1949; Spy Cases (a) 1951; Western (a) 1951-52; Western Outlaws and Sheriffs (a) 1952

Marvel/Timely Comics: All-True Crime (a) 1951-52; Amazing Detective Cases (a) 1951-52; Arizona Kid back-up (a) 1951; Battle (a)

Quality Comics: Range Romances (p) 1951; romance (p); Western (p)(i) 1950

Name & Vital Stats: Marion Sitton (artist) Syndication: Nature Was First! (w)(a) circa 1946 COMIC BOOK CREDITS (Mainstream US Publishers): Avon Comics: horror (a) c. 1951-54; Famous Gangsters (a) 1951; Lame Johnny (a) in Kit Carson 1950; Reform School Girl (a) 1951

50

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars” Golden Age Artist HAROLD LeDOUX On His Life In Comic Books And Strips

H

Interview Conducted by Jim Amash

arold LeDoux spent 52 years as the artist on the Judge Parker newspaper strip. His work was meticulously detailed, and as clean as any whistle I ever saw. His use of black, white and gray areas was graphically potent,and he never let the art overwhelm the stories. Before all of that, though, Harold spent a few years drawing comic book stories for Famous Funnies and its editor, Steve Douglas.

Harold’s recounting of his time in comics is crucial in the sense that he’s given us the fullest picture to date in regard to Douglas, who was one of the early, important comic book editors.

And while he was at it, Harold told us about a few artistic stalwarts like Morris Weiss, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Alex Toth, and Harry G. Peter, too. Harold retired from Judge Parker shortly after we did this interview and is happily enjoying retirement. It’s a much deserved retirement, but Harold, I sure miss seeing your work everyday! By the way, special thanks to Dave Karlen for the contact info. Please visit Dave’s website if you’re interested in purchasing original art by Harold LeDoux as well as Dan Spiegle, Butch Guice, Sparky Moore, and others, at www.davekarlenoriginalart.com.

—Jim.

Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

LeDoux Times Two Harold LeDoux—and examples of his comic book and comic strip art. Thanks to Harold for the photo, taken by his daughter with her cell phone in 2006 and sent to us via Jim Amash & Teresa R. Davidson.

(Left:) A page he drew for the adaptation of the swashbuckling film Prince of Pirates for Famous Funnies’ Movie Love #19 (1953). Thanks to Harold for the page—and to the Grand Comic-Book Database for having all the covers of this series on file so we could track down the other above information. Ray Bottorff, Jr., and his hardworking “staff” of volunteers deserve the plaudits of comics fans for their work on the GCD; see ad on p. 78.

(Below:) The Judge Parker strip for Sunday, Nov. 28, 1968. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [Movie Love page ©2008 the respective copyright holders; Judge Parker strip ©2008 Publishers Newspaper Syndicate or successors in interest.]

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars”

“I Drew In [My Schoolbooks]” JIM AMASH: This will be the hardest question that anyone’s ever asked you in your whole life: when and where were you born?

HAROLD LeDOUX: Oh, in a city, believe it or not, of about 70,000, and it’s where the oil business began for all of you bozos around the world.

[Jim laughs] You’ve heard of Spindletop? That’s where the entire petroleum business began. Spindletop is between Port Arthur and Bouma, Texas, and really, it was the first major deep well discovery of oil. Port Arthur, Texas, was built to refine the oil found. It’s since gone down the skids for various reasons. The whole damn downtown has been sold for the bricks. Ten-story hotels are gone, but there I go. I’m reminiscing about my home town because I just celebrated, a month or two ago, the 60th anniversary of our high school graduating class. So boy, you set it off. [mutual laughter] JA: So when were you born?

LeDOUX: November the 7th, 1926. I’m a Scorpio. Everybody thinks we’re secretive and mysterious. I walked into a room at a party one time and there was an old woman. I’d never seen her before. She took one look at

51

me—I hadn’t said a thing, I’d just walked in the room—she said, “You’re a Scorpio.” I thought, “Oh, hell! Does it show?” I mean, am I going to engineer a plot or something? [mutual laughter] JA: It takes one to know one. So what got you interested in being an artist?

LeDOUX: I think, when I was still in my mother’s womb, I was being influenced, and I’m dead serious. I’ve been joking, but I’m dead serious now. My mother told me that when she was pregnant with me... she was a new bride and Daddy would work, of course... he worked at the refinery, and she had all day to do nothing but clean house and make sure that her husband would have a nice dinner when he came home, so she had time in the afternoon. She’d go to the movies and her favorite thing— something I saw a little bit of later on when I was born—was a picture of how a cartoonist works. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen those very, very old things, but it would show a cartoonist, and then it would flash onto his hand. And of course, he had already penciled something with a blue pencil, but he was going to ink and his hand would just flash across the screen, and he’d draw these interesting characters. My mother said, “Harold, I thought that was the most interesting thing in the world. I just loved it.” It sounds silly when you say it, but I have some kind of memory... I think I was in there watching with her. I don’t know how I saw out, [mutual chuckling] but I’ve got a memory of it, and I just started drawing as soon as I could.

She sent me to the local Catholic school, and I never thought about it, but she saved all my books. You had to buy your books back then, and you could resell them if you kept them in good condition to the next class that came along. The first thing they did was to teach us was how to make book covers, to preserve them. But that didn’t do any good because I screwed mine up. I drew in them, so Mother had my books, and for a long time afterwards, I could look at what I’d drawn when I was five, six, seven years old and I didn’t know why I was drawing it. And then one day, I found out. She said, “Harold, you know your daddy’s an old man.” He was like 14 years older than her, so for her, he was an old man. She said, “And he works in a refinery, but he’s not an executive. He won’t be able to give you a job.” This was during the Great Depression. “You’re going to have to learn a trade because your daddy won’t be able to give you a job, and we can’t send you to college.” I read a report one time that, back then, only one out of seven Americans went to college, so I knew I wasn’t going to college. I just knew it. Mother told me and Mother never lied. [mutual laughter] I thought, “I’ve got to find a trade, and I wish my daddy was a plumber or something, so he could teach me a trade, but he couldn’t. How do you teach a guy to get up and go to work in a refinery?” That’s not a trade, so I began drawing. I thought, “Well, a pencil doesn’t cost much and paper is pretty cheap,” and I never did stop drawing. I think that kind-of pushed me into it: the fear of not having a trade. Then World War II came along, and I joined the Merchant Marines, and I saved enough money to go to art school, too. I went straight from the Merchant Marines to art school in Chicago and from there, to New York and comic books and Judge Parker.

“I Wanted To Be A Strip Cartoonist” JA: You were in the service for what years?

That’s My Artwork!

Harold talks about his own father—and, as it happens, one of the comic book samples he sent us was the 1951 adaptation he illustrated of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis’ first solo flick, That’s My Boy, in which Jerry’s character had problems with his own father, played by Eddie Mayehoff.

It appeared in Movie Love #12. Thanks to HL for the art photocopy. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

LeDOUX: I graduated in the Spring of 1944. The war was pretty well determined by then, but I joined the Merchant Marines before I graduated. They didn’t call me until after I graduated, but I joined them when I was 17½. I stayed in until the end of 1948. That way, I managed to save money and see the world at the same time. I even got a tattoo! But I was kind-of a coward. I got it up on my shoulder. You can’t see it if I don’t take my shirt off.

Anyway, I went to the library to find info on an art school where they’d teach cartooning. Most of them taught only commercial art. Well, this one

52

Golden Age Artist Harold LeDoux On Comic Books And Comic Strips

appearing years later in The New Yorker, but he’s worked with an associate of Dr. Seuss. He’s really a great cartoonist, and it’d be worth your while to talk to him if you like living legends.

JA: How did you get started in the business?

LeDOUX: Well, when I was taking—ignoring—commercial art, [laughs] I couldn’t make a living at that if I tried today, because everything’s changed. But the instructor was Richard Fletcher, who did a strip for the Chicago Tribune called Jed Cooper. I started out wanting to draw comic stuff… humor. I had read one time: “Draw and write what you know about.” Well, I didn’t know much about anything, but I came from a Louisiana French background. People call us all “Cajuns,” so I’m not going to sit around and argue about it. But anyway, I come from the Cajuns, the Quebecers, and the people run out of France, or else they would have been killed during the Revolution. I thought I could write about some Cajuns, and I thought it was funny, this comic strip about Antoine of the Bayou Country. At first, I called it Antoine of Creole Louisiana, but everybody wanted to know what a “Creole” was, and if you explained it, no one understood. So I’m the only one, and maybe ten others in Louisiana, who knows what it means. Anyway, it simply means someone born here. There are Creole Blacks, Creole Frenchmen, Creole Spaniards, and Creoles mixed of all of them, you understand? But “mulatto” is out of date. [chuckles] You can’t say that, so I didn’t say it.

Anyway, I was drawing this strip, and gradually my style changed. I kept trying to make it look better and better and better. Instead of just drawing circles for eyes and all that, I was actually trying to draw people.

One day, my instructor came to me and said, “Yeah, you’re developing into an illustrative cartoonist.” It wasn’t something I tried; it was just happening. As you go to Life drawing class and draw more, you begin to get more realistic, and so one day he offered me a job. Dick Fletcher had been a comic book cartoonist, I think during World War II. He had drawn something called Jim Ellis. I’ve never seen it.

The Merchant Of Menace The LeDoux-drawn story “Keen Judgement” (spelling sic), which dealt with the Merchant Marine, in which Harold had served during World War II, was published in an issue of Famous Funnies’ Heroic Comics—but we’ll be darned if we know which one! Thanks to HL. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

taught commercial art and fashion design; things like that. But along with it, there were three, six, nine hours a week where in three-hour periods, you could study strip cartooning, or gag cartooning, or political cartooning. For political cartooning, which I wasn’t interested in, they actually had one of the top political cartoonists from the Chicago Tribune teaching. They also had Martin Gerrity, who was the greatest guy on God’s green Earth—a Chicago Irishman and just so helpful; he wanted us to succeed. He taught us gag cartooning. Again, I wasn’t interested in it, but I took all three classes just to sit and draw strips. I wanted to be a strip cartoonist.

JA: Who was the political cartoonist?

LeDOUX: He was a Mr. Holland. A man named McCutcheon was the dean of them all, but he had just retired; and then a second guy whose name will come to me as soon as I hang up the phone; [Jim chuckles] and then Mr. Holland, who was the current teacher there.

JA: You’re talking about going to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, right?

LeDOUX: Yes. Hey, and I was a roommate with somebody who became a famous New Yorker cartoonist who seems to specialize in weird people and ugly dogs and cats. His name is George Booth. He still has stuff

Fletch was drawing a strip called Jed Cooper, but he also wanted to establish a workshop—a sweatshop, really—and he said, “Why don’t you join our group?” He had assembled two or three guys. One of them he was paying to draw his work, Jed Cooper. Fletcher didn’t want to work, really. He wanted to be some kind of artistic engineer. [For more on Richard Fletcher, check out Paul Leiffer’s website on comic strip artists: http://hometown.aol.com/comicsproj2/tempindex.html —Jim.] When I got there, he had gotten the contract for something that could have worked, but didn’t take off. Paperbacks were called “pocket books” back then, and they sold for 25¢. He just got a contract for a new concept in pocket books from Dellacorte Publishers, and it was going to be like a comic book: an entire story illustrated with drawings, called Murdock, who was a crime photographer. The project never took off, but he had that one book that we all pitched in on. We drew it and didn’t make any money, because that job fell through. In the meantime, I had drawn a few samples. It was St. Patrick’s Day, 1950, and I flew, man. I was now a successful cartoonist. Yeah, I didn’t have my name signed, but I had drawn some stuff, and I put on my suit, got on a plane, paid $25, and I went to New York City.

“The Oldest Comic Book Publisher, Famous Funnies” JA: The Antoine strip, was that published?

LeDOUX: No, but it damn near cost me my job on Judge Parker later on.

I stayed in New York, and I worked for Steve Douglas. He was with the oldest comic book publisher, Famous Funnies. He was very proud of it, and Steve was a great nurturing kind of guy. He, more or less, in kind of a tough New York way, had New York in his blood, [laughs] and he knew how to be tough. But underneath it, he really was a sweet guy who took

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars”

53

didn’t need the work, but it was one of the places he had worked for before he became really famous—was Frank Frazetta.

Al Williamson and I even did a job together. We were friends. He and his mother invited me over for Christmas dinner. And I didn’t know, until I read a book about Al a few years ago, why he asked me to work with him. According to the book, he worked with Frank Frazetta, and I think he would pencil and Frank Frazetta would bring it all together and ink it, because when Al asked me to work with him on this job, he’d pencil and say, “Would you ink this?” Well, my inking is pretty damn—how how would you say?—definite. It’s not going without an outline. It’s not loose, it’s definite.

JA: You have a tight, clean style.

LeDOUX: That’s a good description. His penciling was so hard to determine where you ought to ink, you know what I mean? He was a great, great, great admirer and student of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, as you know probably better than me. I only worked that one job with

An Heroic Effort LeDoux splash for his three-page story for Heroic Comics #71 (March 1952).

With thanks to Michaël Dewally. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

me under his wing and nurtured me along and gave me these little $25-a-page jobs. I managed to keep body and soul together that way because I could live on $15 a week back then, and that included rent. I didn’t live well, but I lived. That’s the way it started.

JA: The one-pagers you did—I have you listed as doing work in two of Famous Funnies’ titles. One was called Heroic Comics.

LeDOUX: That’s correct. That’s how he started me off.

JA: The $25, was that for pencils and inks?

LeDOUX: Yeah. The writer got $3. [mutual chuckling] JA: Did you have to submit your pencils before you inked them?

LeDOUX: No, he just said, “Here’s a script.” There was a guy, another New Yorker, who was his lettering man and did odd jobs there. His name was Steve, too. He was an Italian fellow, very nice. And guess who used to come in all the time.

JA: No idea, unless it was the “Wonder Woman” artist, Harry G. Peter.

LeDOUX: Well, I did give Harry Peter a ride home one time. But the guy who’d come in once in a while—I really don’t know why he came in; he

Out Of The Vault The story which Harold mentions that he inked over pencils by Al Williamson (seen in photo), and which Al signed “Harold Williams,” is almost certainly this one from Out of the Night #1 (Feb.-March 1952). The script was probably written by American Comic Group’s Richard Hughes, whom Al has called his favorite editor. This art is often attributed to Williamson alone; this clears up the mystery of the pseudonymous byline. With thanks to Gene Reed, Jay Kinney, and a guy who gave his name only as “Mike,” all three of whom helpfully sent us this scan almost simultaneously when we sent out a request. Alter Ego—and the cause of comics history—owe a lot to selfless collectors like these guys! The photo of Al W. is from EC’s Crime SuspenStories #17 (July-July 1953). [ACG page ©2008 the respective copyright holders; photo ©2008 William M. Gaines Agent.]

54

Golden Age Artist Harold LeDoux On Comic Books And Comic Strips

Morris—And A Mystery Artist Morris Weiss, during his 1950s days of freelancing for Timely Comics, et al.

Photo courtesy of MW. (One of these fine days we hope to run across a photo of Steve Douglas, who, as editor of the original Famous Funnies, was one of the most important figures in early comic book history.)

him, and sure enough, we were wondering how we were going to sign it, so he signed it “Harold Williams.” I’ve got that book somewhere here in the house. Anyway, I met him and Frazetta through Steve Douglas, and what happened was he started me on those one-, two-, and three-pagers in Heroic Comics, and then he fed me a few of the Personal Love Stories fillers… 3- or 4-page stories. And from there, he was looking for someone to draw Movie Love. He had a really great guy, a great artist, named Morris Weiss.

JA: Morris is a good friend of mine.

lettering, and stuff like that.

Douglas said, “I want you to try your hand at this, drawing this stuff in the same book that Morris Weiss does.” I didn’t know it, he was auditioning me to take Morris’ place, and that’s what happened. That’s why I said Morris probably doesn’t like me anymore, I don’t know. He went down to Florida and worked with Lank Leonard and eventually, he inherited that strip [Mickey Finn].

“Frank Frazetta Was The Star… At Famous Funnies” JA: Morris is not a vindictive man at all. [NOTE: Later, when I related this story to Morris, he responded, “Tell Harold I never thought a thing about it, and certainly hold no grudge.” Okay, Morris, he knows now! —Jim] LeDOUX: I’m glad to hear he’s not a vindictive guy. Well, I remember him very kindly, and when you talk to him again, tell him I’ve never forgotten that nice evening he and his wife Blanche showed me in New York City. What’s he been doing all these years, do you know?

JA: When he retired from Mickey Finn, he got into art dealing. You know, illustration art and paintings and stuff, but he retired from that.

He’s just been enjoying retirement. So is there anything else about Al Williamson that you remember?

LeDOUX: You do know him? Well, he probably hates me and I don’t want him to—because I took his place. I met him one time. I was up there at Steve’s and he was negotiating with Steve, [chuckles] out in the open. He didn’t mince words; he said, “Steve, I need more than thirty-five a page.”

And Steve said, “Morris, I can‘t pay more than that. I don’t determine that.

They’ve given me a budget and I have to stay within it.” He said, “Well, Steve, I really believe it’s worth more—“ buh-bah, buh-bah, buh-bah, all this went on. Here I was standing there, watching the star of the show, Morris. He was really the guy there at Famous Funnies, and he had other work, too. And he says, “Hey, Harold. What’re you doing tonight?” Morris was just one of these lively guys, friendly, and that was kind-of unusual for me in New York. Most people are harder to get to know there, but he was friendly and open. I said, “Well, I’m not doing anything.” He says, “Come with me. I’ll take you home with me to New Jersey, and we’ll have a drink, and maybe we’ll eat dinner and have a movie.” I said, “Great!”

So he took me to his home, and one of his friends was there, and I’d just been given a check by Steve. His friend cashed the check for me, no charge. He and his wife took me out, and we went to a movie. And after the movie, he said, “Let’s go to Lindy’s “ Here I am from Port Arthur, Texas, and I thought I’d traveled around the world, seen everything, and I’m sitting there in these booths that look like 1938 diner booths. I looked over to my left and sitting there, his feet couldn’t even touch the floor, was little Billy Rose. You remember him? And seated with him was another little shorty whose feet didn’t touch the floor: Oscar Levant! I thought, “God, I can hardly wait to hear him say something acerbic.” Oscar Levant had a humor that was acerbic, but funny. So he’s getting ready to pay his bill, and he’s walking out there at the cashier’s counter, in walks another little guy—his feet reached the floor because he’s standing on it—it’s Milton Berle! He goes to sit with Billy Rose and I thought, “I’ve seen three celebrities tonight, and I’ve been in New York for a year or two, and had never seen one before.”

And then one day, when I came in to Steve—I’d been drawing this Personal Love and Heroic Comics stuff—and Steve said, “Harold, I’d like for you to try your hand at something.” I just sensed something good was going to happen to me. He said, “We’ll give you a whole bunch of movie stills, and we’ll give you a script. Now you have to go out and buy yourself a light table. I want you to work with a light table.” Believe it or not, I got a $16 light table for $12, and I still have it. My daughter uses it to paste up

This Time It’s Personal A Harold LeDoux page from Famous Funnies’ Personal Love #14 (April 1952).

Thanks to Michaël Dewally. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars”

55

LeDOUX: Well, not really. I do remember one thing, but it’s not pleasant.

He and Frazetta had a falling out, and then they made up. I think it was all a misunderstanding. One day, times were tough and I was working with Steve, getting this $25 stuff, but it wasn’t really very much. So I read an ad in the paper where Gustav Schroeder, who was illustrating a book for Classic Comics, was looking for someone to do some inking and drawing of backgrounds. So I interviewed him, and his question was, when he looked at my originals, European and very strict, “Is this your inking?” I said, “Yes, sir, it is.” He says, [shouts gruffly] “Because the last guy I employed—” he had this Austrian accent and he says, “It vus not his inking!” [mutual chuckling] I said, “No, that’s my inking,” and I worked with him on a whole job, Nicholas Nickelby, or something like that. And every day at 12 o’clock, he’d say, “Go eat your lunch.” During the day, his wife might provide us with a cup of coffee and a cookie, but we had to buy our own lunch, of course.

So I went down to the corner, and I was sitting there eating my lunch, and there is Al going past the front window of the restaurant. He had a brochure under his arm. Earlier, I had met him by chance, while showing my work around town. So I knew who Al was, and I called to him. We had some coffee together, and he showed me this beautiful painting he had done of Buster Crabbe. He said, “I’m on my way now to his studio.” I think he was going to either the radio or television studio. I think Buster Crabbe had a small show; I’m not really sure about that. But he was going to present it to Buster Crabbe, all right. I don’t remember if he told me that Frazetta had helped him on it; I don’t want to mess up the story. Later on, I was talking to Steve Douglas, and he told me that Frazetta was real mad at Al—“because,” he said, “Al took all the credit for that beautiful painting that he gave to Buster Crabbe.” Later on, Al confided in me, “Boy, was he ever mad! Frank came up to me and said, ‘What do you think I am, a dumb dago?’” I knew that they had been really mad at one another.

JA: Well, they’d been mad at each other more than once, and made up.

LeDOUX: Well, you know, Al is part Latin himself. His daddy is from Colombia [South America], and his mother was an American. Al was a handsome Spanish/Latin type. We got along pretty well. Let’s see, Al must be about five years younger than me. He was such a perfectionist.

Whatever he did had to be done just right, he and Frazetta both. Frazetta also at that time, way back in the ’50s, was drawing [the comic strip Johnny Comet]. He was the star, if he had wanted to be, at Famous Funnies. In Steve’s and everyone else’s eyes, Frazetta was the guy, and Al was the guy coming up. They both had it.

They had a storage room at Funnies next to Steve’s office, and one day I walked into the storage room, just to look around. And there was Frank, thumbing through books, and he gave me his philosophy. I didn’t ask for it, but he gave it to me. He said, “Harold, I see you’re doing this Movie Love. You know what you ought to do? You ought to take a chance, just dump it and get out there and do your own thing.” I thought, “I’ve worked years just to get a little of security, and this nut is telling me to be myself!

I thought I was being myself!” Well, I understand better now what he was talking about. He meant that what I was doing was okay, but why not create a new challenge to upgrade myself? That’s what he meant, but I was too young to understand it. I just thought, “Ooh, does he want my job?” [mutual chuckling] He was giving me advice that a real perfectionist would—that’s how they think. They like a challenge, they want to be the best there is, so they’d bite off the real hard stuff to chew.

JA: What do remember about Harry G. Peter?

LeDOUX: He was one of Steve Douglas’ friends. Steve’s idea of high society was going to the monthly National Cartoonists’ gatherings. I went with Ed Moore because he was like me, a cartoonist, and Steve was there in his own element. He was an editor, but he always made me feel welcome there. Harry was at one of these meetings. Harry lived in Staten

Crabbe Cakes Harold LeDoux’s splash page for a story from Buster Crabbe #3 (March 1952). Thanks to Michaël Dewally. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Island, and I had a brand-new 1951 Mercury. This was 1952, and Steve came over to say, “Harold, Harry’s getting kind-of old. I don’t want him to ride the subway down to the Battery. Would you take him to the Battery so he can get his ferry to get back home?” And I did so.

I had a little ride with the creator of Wonder Woman, and the sad thing about it at the time was, Steve confided in me, “Harry’s wife is dying. She is a Christian Scientist. He wants to call in a doctor, and she won’t let him. She told him, ‘I‘ve got a pill in that night table. The minute I see a doctor walk in here, I’m taking it.’” So Harry had to sit there and watch her die. And he was old, old, old, and also was doing an occasional job. Steve was a kind man, and would feed work to Harry. Harry, I guess, wasn’t capable any longer of doing Wonder Woman. I’m not even sure if it was in the books at that time.

JA: Yes, he was still doing some Wonder Woman work into the late ’50s, but he had a lot of people helping him because he was having troubles. I know he had a drinking problem, too. I don’t know a ton about Steve Douglas, but the thing I usually hear is that he, too, had a drinking problem. Were you aware of that?

LeDOUX: Well, Steve loved to drink. He was an Irishman, and it never affected his work, as far as I know. He had what for him was a dream job.

He was in—what was it? Was it 350 or 500 Fifth Avenue? I’ve forgotten the street, but his office was across the street from the great big Public

56

Golden Age Artist Harold LeDoux On Comic Books And Comic Strips

living, but somehow, he got that idea. I don’t know how!

So here I was at Kennedy Airport, and I’m sitting there with George Booth and Eddie Dahlin, and a couple of my old art school buddies. All of a sudden, I’m paged. I thought, “Who in the hell knows I’m here?” And boy, I was all juiced up. I’d been drinking two or three whiskeys, and it was Steve Douglas on the phone! He said, “Harold, I’ve been trying to get you. When are you coming over?” I don’t know, maybe he did a drinking problem, [chuckles] and imagined I said that I was going to visit with him. I felt so bad that the guy who had done so much for me could be disappointed by my not going to visit, but I never said I was going to visit.

Oh, Lord.

JA: What else can you tell me about Steve Douglas?

LeDOUX: Famous Funnies went out of business. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I came to work on Judge Parker was because the work had petered out. I saw the future was not bright there, and Heilman was after me to work on Judge Parker, so I left. All I know is that Steve tried to go into the publishing business himself. It wasn’t very original. It was the way Famous Funnies started. They would take old newspaper strips and reprint them. Well, he wanted to do the same thing. He wanted to reprint strips, too, and one way or another, he got the rights to publish a Judge Parker comic book. He did send me the first issue, but that was all. I only saw that one issue. I wish I still had it. I think it mostly reprinted the beginning of Judge Parker. And Steve went broke. It just didn’t work, because he didn’t have any distribution. Distribution is the whole thing.

JA: There were two issues. February 1956 was the date of the first issue.

The publisher was Argo. That was Douglas’ own company.

LeDOUX: I never knew the name of it, but as far as I know, he lost his shirt.

JA: Is there anything else about Douglas that you remember?

Hey, We Always Thought There Were Three Of ’Em! A LeDoux-illustrated page from Movie Love #13 (Feb. 1952), which adapted the new Martin & Lewis film The Stooge. Harold really captured the essence of both Dean and Jerry in this comic. Thanks to Michaël Dewally. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Library. He was up there on the 10th, or so, floor. I saw the [General Douglas] MacArthur Parade from there when I was there.

Steve just loved his job. His wife had died and he remarried. He married Alice, who was a pain in the ass, but he was the greatest guy in the world. His biggest thing was that every now and then he’d say, “Harold, let’s have a ball.” Well, what he meant was “Let’s go across the street and have a drink!” Having a drink a couple of times a day, going to the Cartoonists’ meetings once a month, and being with people like Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, all of these guys... this was a dream world for him. The saddest thing that happened between me and Steve that I can remember—it’s the only sad thing—was that when I got married, I left New York, and went to work on for Dan Heilman on Judge Parker.

Oh, God, it was a sad thing. Just before I did Judge Parker, I got married here in Dallas to a girl from France, and we decided to go overseas and visit her family. I told Steve I was going to do that, and he said, “Oh, whatever you do, go to the Louvre and see the exhibit they have on comics, but watch out for So-and-so and So-and-so.” [mutual chuckling] He was warning me against a couple of guys he considered sharpies. He said, “Watch out for them.” Anyway, he knew I was going to fly from Dallas to New York, and from New York to Paris. I did not ever tell him that I was going to see him over in New Jersey where he was

LeDOUX: It’s kind of a New York thing, and it’s social and political. They talk about this country being at war with itself: Democrats and Republicans. It’s nothing like it was back then, here. I was born and raised in Texas of a Louisiana Southern French family. I mean south Southern Louisiana French family, and there were differences between Texas and Louisiana, but the real differences were still between the North and the South. The Civil Rights stuff was just starting up, and the further East you moved, the more accented that difference became. In the Midwest, there was a difference between North and South, but I always thought Midwesterners are Texans, and don’t know it because they don’t have our accent. [mutual laughter] They think like Texans and they’re good, honest people, and I love them. But in the East, it’s much, much different.

They’re not like Midwesterners. They are Northeasterners, and back then you did not go around shouting that you were from the South. Not that everybody would have disliked you, but certainly somebody would have, and you’d certainly get lectured on Civil Rights, so you kind-of blended in, in order to avoid trouble.

But Steve always treated me fairly. He was from a New York City background, and very proud of being Irish and Catholic. I was Catholic, so we got along just fine. And one day—this is just to show you how things were up there—he confided in me. He did not say it in front of witnesses. He said, “Harold, you know my grandfather was from Georgia, and he was in the Confederate Army.” Oh, my God! I mean that was a cardinal sin. But the difference between venial and cardinal sin. By God, that was the worst kind of sin! “He was in the Confederate Army.” Then Bill Walton, who was a good old Northern guy, after he knew me well enough—he did stuff for Steve, too—he said, “You know, my grandfather was governor of Georgia.” [Jim chuckles] Boy, he was awfully quiet about it. I’d be bragging, but not at that time in New York City. That’s just a little aside. Children of my own generation would not even understand the humor behind all that. It’s all over now, I guess.

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars”

57

Here Come De Judge!

Half of the Jan. 10, 1954, daily of Judge Parker by original artist Dan Heilman. It was material from this period (or even earlier) that Steve Douglas reprinted the feature in comic book form in his doomed 1956 publishing venture. The comic strip debuted in November of 1952 and is still running. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [©2008 Publishers Newspaper Syndicate or successors in interest.]

JA: How often were you in the offices?

JA: How did you find out that such a thing was being done?

LeDOUX: At Steve’s? Well, every time I brought a job in or whenever I was looking for work. You didn’t have to call. You just walk in, that’s just the way Steve was. We used to socialize up there.

LeDOUX: People told me! Others told me, “Steve’s a good guy. He won’t ask you for a kickback.” The only time he ever asked me for anything was to go have a drink with him. One time, he had a chair they weren’t going to use anymore. He said, “You want it, Harold?” It was a real nice chair that swiveled around; all artists used them. “I sure would, Steve.” He said, “Great, then I’ll give it to you.” All it needed was maybe five bucks worth of repairs, which they had done. And he said, “Harold, would you give me five bucks for the chair?” See, he wouldn’t have paid that much either, but he never once asked me for a kickback, and I kept that chair with me, and it ended up here in Dallas and I used it for years and years and years.

JA: I can see that. That’s why I’m interested in the people that worked there that you knew, because Bill Walton I know a little about. I know he used to be a staff artist at Timely in the ’40s.

LeDOUX: He had a lot of talent, but he was having a rough go of it. Bill’s thing was to go to one of these theatres that showed old films, like films from the 1930s. One day, he told me, “Hey, you want to go to a movie?” I went to that theatre with him, and it was enjoyable. You were taken back to another time, another era. I watch them on television now, but New York had the theatres that specialized in it, and that was Bill’s thing.

I was about 24, and he was several years older than I was. At that time, he had just gotten a divorce and was down in the dumps emotionally. His marriage had failed, and I found out about that later on, myself. I’ve been there. But at the time, I could tell he was down in the dumps, and he confided in me that he’d just gotten a divorce.

“I Was An Innocent” JA: Tell me about meeting Jerry Siegel.

LeDOUX: I heard about a new comic book company starting up [ZiffDavis, who had been publishing magazines, too], and that Jerry Siegel was the editor. Their offices were down the street from where Steve Douglas was, and I met this little short guy. I didn’t know it was Jerry Siegel—I just asked for the editor. He stood up and he was shorter than I was, and so polite and so nice. I didn’t get any work, but he was a gentleman. I’ve just never forgotten that, because I said, “I’m Harold LeDoux.” And he said, “I’m Jerry Siegel.” I thought, “God!” I didn’t know what to say. So it’s a good memory.

There were some comic samples lying around, and they were not well done. I asked Steve who drew these samples—this was 1953 or so—and he said, “Oh, that’s Joe Shuster.” Poor Joe was out of work. He and Jerry had brought suit against DC—they got fired—and Joe was just looking for work. And even Steve, as much as he liked Joe, didn’t give him any work.

Siegel and Shuster built the whole comic book business. And DC treated them miserably for so many years, before finally giving them a pension.

JA: Some of those publishers were monsters. Not everybody was a nice guy like Steve Douglas.

LeDOUX: That’s true. I found out later about this business of kickbacks.

Steve never took a kickback. I didn’t know it. I was an innocent.

Does the name Phil Berube mean anything to you? In some of these older books where they have one-page spreads about movie stars, and how they did this or that—that was the kind of stuff he did. He drew a few cartoons for Douglas. Frank Fogarty was another one I met up there. He was a good friend of Steve’s. He would draw special pages for him with grease pencils. He had drawn a strip called Clarence, and it was kind-of sad because he was old and didn’t have any work, but he was a nice fellow.

Ed Moore was the one I knew the best. He sent me to Famous Funnies.

I met him through Martin Garrity, my cartooning instructor at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. When Marty knew I was getting ready to go to New York, he took me aside and, boy, he really helped me. He said, “Harold, I’m going to give you a little information here that’ll help you when you get to New York City.” Marty was the kind of guy who took students under his wing; he just wanted them to succeed, so he gave me the name of this guy named Ed Moore. He imitated him and said, [lowers voice and speaks with a Southern accent] “He’s got this deep Southern voice, like this.” [mutual laughter] And sure enough, that’s the way he was. I looked him up, and he gave me all the addresses of the different publishers, and he directed me to go to Steve. He said, “You know, this is probably a place where you might get some work. It’s the most likely place for you to get work, because he has these 1-, 2-, and 3-page jobs to hand out.” Sure enough, it turned out to be true, and it turned out that my whole career was right there at that one place because that’s where Ed sent me.

JA: What do you remember about the Famous Funnies offices?

LeDOUX: They were in a building at the corner at Fifth and 42nd Street.

I don’t know if it was the 10th or 12th floor or what, but you’d just go straight up there, and go down the hall. On my first visit, I went to where the secretaries were and I identified myself. “I’d like to show Mr. Douglas some samples.” “Wait here please,” and they’d say, “Mr. Douglas said to go right in.” After that, I never even bothered with the secretaries except to take one out on a date one time. I walked right in. Steve was very informal. He was a cartoonist’s cartoonist/editor. I mean he was a benefactor.

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Golden Age Artist Harold LeDoux On Comic Books And Comic Strips

JA: I know he was well liked.

There was a Detroit paper for black people, and they had comics for black people. These were comics you wouldn’t see if you were white, because they went to a certain special market. Black people throughout the United States had their own selections.

LeDOUX: He had just bought a house for $25,000 in White Stone, Long Island, New York, and he needed help retouching the paint. So me and Jerry Fasano—who also did some work for Steve—went out there one weekend, and we painted for Steve. Later on, Steve—oh, he was so proud of being Irish—he had to have an Irish Terrier. He bought this kindof a Red Wheaten, was what the dog’s coat was described as. They’d tell you the color of the dog when it’s registered with the American Kennel Club. So he bought a registered purebred and named him “Sarge.”

The name was much longer than that, but he shortened it to “Sarge.”

Steve didn’t know how to take care of a dog. He had a back yard and he put a collar on the dog’s neck, and he put a long chain on the collar, then he chained the other end of the chain to a clothes line. The dog ended up wrapping himself around the post, so Steve thought, “Well, there’s nobody to take care of him.” His old Irish mother-in-law was there, but she couldn’t do it, and his wife worked, so he decided to get rid of the dog. He said, “Harold, you want a dog?” I knew better than to say “no” [chuckles] because he was my editor.

“Oh, Steve, I’ve always wanted a dog.”

I was exaggerating, but I was glad to get him.

JA: Did Steve have an assistant editor, or did he handle everything himself?

LeDOUX: No, he did it all himself.

Steve had a huge, huge collection of originals on the wall. He had all kinds of old stuff going back to the turn of the century. He had drawn a strip, you know.

JA: What was the name of that strip?

Mutiny Gives A Bounty—Eventually Harold’s splash for Movie Love #19 (Feb. 1953). Mark Stevens’ co-star went on to bigger and better things on TV. Thanks to HL. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

I went over there, and the poor little thing couldn’t even move. He had wrapped himself so tightly around the post that he could hardly breathe. I took him home with me; he was just a few months old. I took him with me when I went to work on Judge Parker in Toledo, Ohio. Then I moved from there to a suburb of Chicago when Heilman moved. Finally, I sent him home to my parents, and they were really upset at first, but then they fell in love with the little bastard. [Jim laughs] My daddy spent the rest of his life walking that dog around until he got so old, if he crawled into a ditch, he couldn’t get out, [mutual chuckling] and he died.

Mother wouldn’t tell me about it until well after he died, and that dog lived to be 15 years old. That was Steve’s legacy for me.

JA: Let me get back to the offices. Did they have a big layout or was it small?

LeDOUX: They had the reception room where the secretaries were. Then you went down the hall, and on the right was Steve’s office. Directly across the hall from it was a storeroom for all the back issues. Then the office— the inner sanctum—for the officials of Eastern Printing. They were the grand commanders. I never saw them.

LeDOUX: I used to know it. It was about a sailor, I believe. He drew it for the old Brooklyn Eagle, and that was his desire. He even had a room at the house that he bought—the $25,000 home—which was an enormous amount of money to pay for a house back then. He even had a room with a neat little drawing board right in the middle of it. He never did a bit of work, as far as I know. [mutual chuckling] And the house itself: the halls and his room were dedicated to cartoons. He had spent a life collecting originals.

JA: Speaking of originals—did you ever get any of your original art back?

LeDOUX: I got a little of it back. I didn’t think much about it back then, and I did sell my originals of the adaptation of the first movie Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis ever made: That’s My Boy. I sold some of those originals to some animator in California through Dave Karlen. What I have are old comic books. I still have some, like Heroic Comics, Movie Love—here’s a movie with Ronald Reagan in it, and illustrated by H.C. Kiefer. Do you remember him? I met him at Steve’s one night. Steve had a little get-together, and here was this theatrical-looking person. Steve explained to me later on, “Well, he was an actor, but the jobs got scarce so he took up drawing.”

And I’ve got a comic book here—on the cover are Angela Lansbury and Patrick Knowles, Mark Stevens, and Gene Evans, but you know Angela Lansbury. Here, she was probably 18 years old. The movie was called Mutiny. I’ve got one here with a picture of John Derek on the cover, and it’s Prince of Pirates. I drew this whole book, and I’m amazed at what I did. It would kill me to draw that much on one page today. And I had all of these stills, and oh, I just delighted in it.

JA: Did they have any artists’ tables there? Did any artists work on staff?

JA: When you did these movie books, who provided the stills? Did you have to seek them out yourself?

LeDOUX: They had the Italian Steve at a table because he did lettering and things like that. If retouching was needed, he did that. Eastern Color Printing printed comics all over the country. You could go to Steve’s office and see things that you never saw in our comics. Like at that time, there were no black faces in comics unless it was an exception of some sort.

LeDOUX: No, they made a deal with the movie companies, and they would provide the stills and the movie script. Then the writer working for Steve would break the script down into panels, and get three bucks a page for that.

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars”

59

JA: Do you remember the names of any of the writers?

JA: That’s right.

LeDOUX: Ira Zweifach! I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I told that name to a guy who told me he spoke German. He said, “‘Zweifach’ means ‘two-faced.” [laughs] He was a nice guy, but I had to pester him and damn near raise my voice to get him to send me the stuff. He’d send me two pages at a time, and I think, “I’m in this to make money and he’s holding me up!”

LeDOUX: I wonder if he didn’t do it on purpose. Maybe that was his way of quitting, to make sure nobody could take his place.

JA: How fast an artist were you back then?

LeDOUX: Well, working with those photographs and then also, on top of it, having a light table to trace them... you had to do a little bit of editorializing on it; but still, it went fast. But I’m leafing through a comic here and I don’t know who drew this, but I can see Dr. Zarkov in a ballerina class. Can you imagine that? Remember Flash Gordon’s father-in-law?

Well, this is him. Then I see a lift of a face from Rex Morgan. Whoever this artist was, he was stealing everything he could get his hands on. [more mutual laughter] I was being paid to do it. I look at it and every picture says, “I am going to fill up this space. I will not leave any blank areas.” Everything, everything is filled in.

JA: What do you remember about Jerry Fasano?

LeDOUX: Not much, except that he was an artist. He was a nice fellow, but I don’t think he had whatever it took. He tried his best, but… well, you remember Alex Toth? I did not know him, but one day I walked into Steve’s office and there was Alex, a living legend even back then in the 1950s. He wanted some work from Steve. He did some and damn, I mean $35 a page, and he did it. I thought, “What is he doing that for when he can get $50, $60 a page somewhere else.” Later on, I found out that he told Steve that he was mad at DC. He was going to show them he didn’t need them. I remember him telling Steve he was getting sixty bucks for pencils per page, which was a lot of money back then.

After he left, Steve told me a little about him. “Harold,” he said, “I remember when that guy was 15 years old. That’s when he came to see me the first time. He’d sit at that table and he’d draw things, and it would just amaze me! He just had it when he was fifteen years old.” He’s one of these artists that when he inked, he would leave certain lines out, and it just gave a BANG! to everything. He was so damn good.

“In Regard To Judge Parker…”

JA: He might have. He was that type, I hear. As far as the original art, did you ask Douglas if you could have your work back? Or do you think they would have given it back to you if you wanted it?

LeDOUX: Oh, sure. I did take some, but not a lot. I’ve always had, especially in my younger days, an inferior regard for my own work, because I’m always shooting to be better than I am. But at 77, you start coasting. You don’t take the easy way, but you’re not out to set the world on fire, because whatever you’ve done is what your life is. That’s it. But back then, I was always shooting for the stars, and comparing myself with people like Warren Tufts and Alex Toth—people who were immeasurably better than me. So I never considered my work worth collecting or saving.

I thought, “I don’t want to save my work until it’s better than this.”

In regard to Judge Parker, they wanted to give me a “screen test.” I was Heilman’s assistant for 12½ years, and I was in Chicago visiting Marvin Bradley, who drew Rex Morgan. He lived in Barrington, a suburb of Chicago, and I took a chance while I was there to go downtown to see Harold Anderson and Phil Steitz. Phil Steitz [pronounced “Steetz”], if you don’t know, was Harold Anderson’s right-hand man. He could put in a good word for me, so I went to see Phil because Anderson was out of town. I don’t know if he told me Anderson wanted this, but I know Steitz wanted me to take a screen test. Anderson had already told me Heilman had tried to fire me 752 times before. [Jim laughs] He was an ass. He was a psycho. He couldn’t help himself, he just was that way. Underneath it all, somewhere, there was a nice guy. Once in a while, he straightened out, and he’d be fun to sit and have a drink with, and we’d laugh and tell cartoon stories. But his demons would take over, and he’d be a son of a bitch.

So they knew what Heilman was like. He was down in Florida, and he would send me one-half of a Sunday page—I was living in Dallas—and he’d leave the characters unfinished or not penciled, and I had to finish it.

It was just hell on Earth, and Andy knew what was going on. Andy had

Oh, and another time, things were getting slow. I went over to United Features, and I wanted to see if I could get into the syndicated business.

This guy took an interest in me and asked me if I’d consider going out to California. They wanted to replace Warren Tufts on Casey Ruggles. Later on, I took a job on Judge Parker, and I told him I was going to work on Judge Parker. He said, “Well, stay in touch. I’ll send you some stuff. We’ll see.” I thought, “I could never take Warren Tufts’ place. He’s too good.”

I went to work on Judge Parker, and one day, a package arrived with a bunch of Casey Ruggles originals. He asked me to send him some samples of my work, and I was so intimidated. I sent him a letter back, thanking him for the compliment he paid for even considering me. I sent him all the originals back, and said I couldn’t do it. Later on, I found out that they sent Alex Toth out there to replace him, and Toth met a girl and got married. That’s all I know of the story. I don’t know if he replaced him or not or what, but he went out to California, fell in love, and got married.

That’s what somebody told me. It is true?

JA: To some extent. Alex only worked on Casey Ruggles for a couple of months or so. He wasn’t supposed to replace Tufts; he was just there to be his ghost or to help him meet his deadlines.

LeDOUX: Warren Tufts screwed up. I didn’t follow the strip, but I knew how he screwed up. He had this woman that Casey Ruggles was searching for and when he finally found her, he found out she was his sister. How could he write something like that? I mean that’s incest! Didn’t they drop the strip?

Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?

Alas, Harold LeDoux didn’t tell us when or where this photo was taken, or who the woman might be—so we’ll hazard a guess. From the style of the myriad drawings hanging on the wall (which perhaps we could see in the scan slightly better than you can here), we’d bet it’s the office of Publishers Newspaper Syndicate, during the latter 1950s or 1960s when Harold was working on Judge Parker… and the lady is either an editor or a secretary.

Anybody got any real information? Photo courtesy of HL.

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Golden Age Artist Harold LeDoux On Comic Books And Comic Strips

Judge Not… This half of a Judge Parker Sunday strip for Sept. 6, 1964, is signed by Dan Heilman, but comes from the period when Harold LeDeux was doing much of the artwork. Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [©2008 Publishers Newspaper Syndicate or successors in interest.]

wanted to fire him. Harold Anderson, that is.

JA: You called him “Andy.”

LeDOUX: You better call him “Andy.”

JA: Okay, I didn’t know. [chuckles] LeDOUX: Because I called him “sir,” and he corrected me. You know, I was Southern, and I’d say “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir,” and “Yes, ma’am,” “No, ma’am,” or my mother would have whupped me. So here I am in the big city, in Chicago, and I’d say, “Mr. Anderson.” He’d say, “Andy.” I got the drift. I can talk like a Yankee. I’ll say, “Andy.” It mattered back then. I was taught to be polite. Anyway, they corrupted me and I called him “Andy.” [mutual laughter] I knew they were going to have to do something about Heilman someday. He was talented, but had lost all the yen to draw the stuff. He didn’t care anymore, and he was trying to destroy the strip. The syndicate had a lot of money and time invested in Rex Morgan, Judge Parker, Apartment 3-G, all three story strips, and Dr. Nick Dallis was writing all of them. So Steitz told me they wanted me to take a screen test. He says, “Here, I’m going to get Alex Kotzky on the phone.” I thought, “Hey, this is great. If there’s anyone whose work I admired, it’s Alex Kotzky.” Alex was just a prince; very cooperative. He asked, “Do you have an Art-O-Graph?”

I said, “No.” He says, “Well, you get one, and I’ll tell you how you can get one at cost. You’re a professional. They sell them at 30% off to professionals in New York City.”

He told me what kind of pen points to use. Heilman had me using these Hunts 102s points. They’re stiff as a board. I know guys use them today, and they do good work, but the points are stiff. I don’t like them.

He said, “You use a Gillotte 1290. That’s 1290, Harold, not 290, one-twonine-oh.” I said, “Great.“ I wrote it down, I got them. But they’re not any good any more. Whoever’s manufacturing them doesn’t do a good job.

Back then, it was like a brush made of steel; just as flexible. Alex told me how he worked, and I followed his lead. I called up the place in New York, they sent me an Art-O-Graph, and I’ve been using it ever since. I didn’t do it with the same feeling that Alex did. I’m not trying to get a photographic look, but nevertheless, it really has made my work easier, productionwise.

What I’m looking at right now is Heroic Comics. Right after I got the job on Judge Parker, Steve Douglas sent me a couple of pages to do where I was not using an Art-O-Graph, and I’m amazed! I had more talent back then than I thought I had. I was apologetic about my work, and this stuff—even the water is better than what I draw now. [Jim laughs] I spent three years in the Merchant Marines, and this is all about Coast Guard, and seamen and waves, and ships sinking.

But anyway, that’s how I got into Judge Parker. Phil wrote the screen test. Phil Steitz and I went back to Dallas. I lived in an apartment building where there were all kinds of young people, and I got these good-looking girls and boys to pose for me. I snapped their pictures and put them on

the Art-O-Graph, and sent in my samples. It’s what got me the final job when, finally, they couldn’t put up with Heilman anymore.

Even after I sent the stuff in, I was in Andy’s office, and he said, “Harold, I won’t let the guy fire you.” The story finally got out about how every two weeks he was trying to fire me. He said, “In my contract with Heilman, it says I have to approve of any help he hires, and I simply won’t approve of anyone. Now don’t let this influence your attitude. You keep on doing the work.” But what he meant was, don’t turn into a smartass about it, and try to intimidate Heilman. I didn’t. I bided my time and the day finally came. I was doing it all, but I couldn’t sign it. I’ve got one on the wall right now that I did in 1965, and it wasn’t Heilman’s style, except for the Judge. I used his work, put it on the Art-O-Graph, and I actually inked in the way he did Judge Parker’s head. But the rest of it I swiped from Alex Kotzky.

JA: Well, swipe from the best. [chuckles] LeDOUX: Well, you’re damn right. And I’m going to tell you a secret.

One day, Andy called me up, it was like 9:00 at night, and he said, “Harold, I’m talking to you from my home. There may be a spy in the office; I don’t want to take a chance.” I said, “Sure, what is it?” He said, “Don’t use Alex‘s work anymore.” In other words, I was cribbing from Alex [Kotzky]. I promised him I wouldn’t, and I never have. I don’t know when it was, it was probably about 1968, 1970, something like that. Alex caught it, [chuckles again] documented it, and sent it in to Andy. Andy said, “Don’t do that. Naughty, naughty.” I never did it again. And here I am, looking at stuff I did long before, or right when I came to work on Judge Parker, where everything I did was freehand and damn, it was better than I thought. So now you know all of my sins.

When I officially became the artist on the strip, they immediately went out and either got new papers or raised the rates, because all of a sudden, I was getting $100 a week more than I had before, which was a lot of money back then.

JA: How many papers are you in now?

LeDOUX: Well, they claim something like 250, I think. I don’t know.

“I Do Everything Myself” JA: I’m amazed. You’re 77 and you still do such detailed work and such a clean line. You do everything yourself.

LeDOUX: I do everything myself. My daughter is a commercial artist, and she teaches Art at an international school here, and she’s busy being a mom. Otherwise, she’d be a full-time artist. But to fill in the time, she does the lettering for the strip on a computer. My lettering used to be done by Don Jones, a commercial artist. He started to suffer from Alzheimer’s, and I saw what was happening so I found a place that would take your lettering and make a font out of it. I had Don do his lettering on a piece of paper that they sent me, and used that for the font. It is not quite as good as his normal lettering because he was developing

“I Was Always Shooting For The Stars”

Alzheimer’s, but it’s still good enough. My daughter letters for me on the computer, and will paste it on the boards, and cleans up the work. But all of the art is my own.

Hey, I’ve got to tell you, there’s a new cartoon editor here in Dallas at The Dallas Morning News. You know, most of these papers get a guy who’s the rewrite man or a reporter, whatever, and they say, “Hey, you’re going to be in charge of cartoons.” He’s kind of unique in that, I’m not sure, but I think he buys the comics and he just had a survey, and his way of rewarding the top ten is to print them in color in the dailies, which looks like crap, because they’re not drawn to be printed in color. It takes away from the psychological thrill I get opening up the Sunday paper, and seeing things in color. I think it’s a mistake, but I haven’t said anything.

He’s interviewed me over the phone and I didn’t know I was being interviewed. I could have said anything. But I gave Abbey a new hairdo, oh, six months ago. He called up and we were talking about it. He had written an article that someone had called up the cartoon editor and said, “Who’s drawing Judge Parker?” He said, “As far as I know, the same guy.” They said, “Oh, no. Look at Abbey. That’s not the Abbey that we’ve known.” I just decided to change her hair and sure enough, somebody was sure that I’d died or retired, and somebody else was drawing it just because her hairdo was different.

I don’t know... retirement’s beginning to seem like a good idea. [Jim laughs] It is! I’m half serious and half joking. Seventy-seven, man—there are glorious watercolor workshops in Europe. I do speak French, so you can travel through countries like France and Italy, eat good food, and do watercolor sketches of old ruins or whatever. And Philip Levine has been sending me all of this e-mail about organizing tours. I’ve been over there and I like it. I don’t get into politics with them, but they do have a good way of living if you have the money to pay for it. They’re artistic people over there. Italians, Frenchmen, and even the English. When I was in London, I remember we were somewhere around Piccadilly, this guy was setting out pictures he had painted or photographs he had taken. They’re very artistic too. I don’t think of the English that way, but I was wrong.

Very, very, very nice.

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JA: Do you see retirement coming up any time, do you think?

LeDOUX: Not soon, but the idea is germinating. It hasn’t really come to fruition, as they say, but it’s a little bug in my mind telling me, “Okay, Harold, you’ll be 78 and you’re in real, real good shape, and people tell you that you look 20 years younger than you are, and you walk with a natural stride, you don’t shuffle around, and you lost about 37½ pounds, you’re in good shape. [sighs] But dammit, retire while you can enjoy it!”

My daughter is constantly reminding me, “ Daddy, it’s what I’ve been telling you. You really should enjoy it. Go on those watercolor workshops, go visit people and whatever.”

But I’ve been working since I was 14 years old, and I worked so hard to get this job. I would peter out if I didn’t find something to do. I was reading the paper last Sunday, and they quoted Andy Rooney. They said, “Andy, why don’t you retire?” He said, “I noticed that guys seem to peter out when they retire.“ I think that’s true. I don’t want to do it. If I could think of something that would occupy me—I used to watercolor a lot. My house is full of watercolors I did 20 years ago. I started selling them, but I was working seven days a week, and I got to the point where—the first one I only got about 65 bucks for, then I got 90, then I got a hundred, and after a while, I did a full sheet and I got $1000 for it. Then someone said, “Do that again. I’ve got a client who would buy something like it.” So I started redoing one over again that I had sold for a lot of money. That was 1987. The stock market fell in one day and I lost that sale, and I said, “This is a crock! I will not subject myself to that.” I quit painting, and I haven’t painted since. [mutual chuckling] But it’s in me, I’d like to get back to painting, and if I do retire, that’s probably what I’d do—take some watercolor workshops, go over to like England, go to Brittany, go anywhere where there’s an older civilization. Those things do something to me.

A/E Editor’s Note: Harold LeDoux is an artist who somehow slipped through Jerry Bails’ nimble fingers over the years, and thus there is no entry for him in The Who’s Who of American Comic Books (1929-1999) at this time. But this interview could serve as the starting point for one in the future….

Just A Shy, Retiring Artist When this interview was conducted by Jim Amash a few years back, Harold LeDoux was still drawing Judge Parker. On March 15, 2006, he sent Jim a note, which said, among other things: “Speaking of work, I’m not going to. I have retired. I have only one week to mail in to the syndicate. All I have to do now is color the Sunday page to wind up 52½ years of work on Judge Parker!!!” That may or may not quite be a record—but it’s mighty impressive!

Nowadays, when that late night call comes from the syndicate, Harold can go right on sleeping—like the Judge himself in this panel from Sunday, June 13, 1965!

Thanks to Ger Apeldoorn. [©2008 Publishers Newspaper Syndicate or successors in interest.]

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W

hat if… instead of selling his share of All-American Publications to Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz in 1945, Max Charles Gaines had purchased National/DC Comics from them? That’s the premise of this fantasy series begun in A/E #76 and set on an “Earth-22” where things in the comics industry happened rather differently from the way they did in the world we know.

The author, Bob Rozakis, was a longtime writer, editor, and production director for DC… and, unless noted, all comics images on the next six pages are copyright ©2008 DC Comics.

Just imagine… a comic book industry in which Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman are the premier heroes, stars of comic books, radios, movies, and television, rather than Superman and Batman?

Not a dream, not a hoax… just an imaginary story of an alternate universe and…

The Secret History of All-American Comics, Inc. Book One - Chapter 2 : The Bill Gaines Years

by Bob Rozakis

Weird Fantasies Theodore Paul (“Ted”) Skimmer worked in the editorial and production departments of All-American Comics from 1944 through 1997. During his 53-year career, he had a front-row seat for the history of the company, a history he has agreed to share with me… and you.

BOB ROZAKIS: Let’s talk a bit about Bill Gaines.

TED SKIMMER: Well, Billy, of course, was Charlie’s son. But, unlike his father, Billy was not interested in the publishing business. In fact, after serving during World War II, Billy went to college, New York University, and majored in chemistry. He graduated in 1948 and got a job as a science teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School in New York City.

But Charlie always wanted to get Billy involved in the business. He was in his mid-50s by then and wanted to make sure that the company would continue long past his ability to run it.

They had a few arguments about it, and one of the loudest took place in the fall of Bill’s senior year. I don’t know all the details, but there had been some kind of boating accident upstate when they were on vacation. I remember Charlie yelling at Billy, “You know, if I had drowned, you would have had to take over!” And Billy yelled right back at him, “Yeah, but you didn’t and so I don’t!”

BR: Did everybody call him Billy?

SKIMMER: Not everybody. Charlie did, of course, and a couple of the editors. I guess I picked it up from them. It’s funny, Billy always used to call me “the Old Man,” especially in the days after he took over. He’d be

Dramatis Personae – Our Stars Three of the featured players in this issue’s tale. (Left:) Ted Skimmer with one of his nieces, circa 1948. Photo courtesy of Ted Skimmer & Bob Rozakis.

(Center:) M.C. “Charlie” Gaines in 1940. (Right:) Bill Gaines as a young comic book editor; photo courtesy of his daughter Wendy.

The Bill Gaines Years

Action Is As Action Does With Action Comics #123 (Aug. 1948), Superman was suddenly relegated to a small circle in the upper left corner of the covers—and new star Johnny Thunder became the mag’s main feature, as drawn by Alex Toth. Ignominiously, just three issues later, the Man of Tomorrow was dropped entirely (though surviving for a bit longer in his solo title)—and the name of the comic was changed to Action Western. This experiment was not a long-term success, however, and it soon became a bimonthly. With the Aug.-Sept. 1952 issue, it metamorphosed yet again—this time into Action Men of War, with an Andru & Esposito cover.

Special thanks to our ever-lovin’ layout guru Chris Day for these scans.

telling somebody, “Go talk to the Old Man.” BR: But you were younger than he was….

SKIMMER: Yes, and whenever I would point that out to him, he’d say, “You got here before me, so you’re older!”

Anyway, it wasn’t long after that argument that Charlie struck a deal with Billy that had him coming to work at AA during the summers and school vacations. Billy got some title like “consulting editor,” and he would spend his time with the editorial staff, coming up with ideas to pump new life into the business. Keep in mind that, by the summer of ’49, the superheroes era was pretty much over.

The “Superman” and “Batman” books were cancelled. The competition from SSK with Man of Steel and Gotham Guardian had put the nails in their coffins pretty quickly. Action Comics was revamped into Action Western and later into Action Men of War. Detective Comics had a brief run with spies and Mickey Spillane-type tough-guy private eyes and then was cancelled.

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64

The Secret History Of All-American Comics, Inc.—Book One, Chapter 2

But Billy wasn’t having any. He looked at comic books as mindless entertainment and did not want them invading his school year life.

So, despite his father’s urging, he came up with something that first summer that he knew would never make it inside a classroom—the horror comic book. And, just to irk Charlie a little more, what was the first title he came up with?

Weird Science, of course.

Even though the opportunity was there to A Defective Detective produce a lot of Batman met the same fate as Superman. In Detective Comics #144 (Feb. 1949) the Caped Crusader was swinging around the skies of the schlock—and now-never-named Gotham City—and, next issue, he’d been replaced by hard-boiled plainclothes types and spies—before the mag was there turned cancelled outright. The latter cover (artist uncertain) is repro’d from a photocopy of the original art, courtesy of Shane Foley. out to be other publishers who Even “Green Lantern” and “Flash” were having it rough, but they hung jumped onto that bandwagon—Billy couldn’t bring himself to do it. Blood on. There was the Green Lantern movie serial that kept interest in the and guts splattered across the pages was easy, but Billy was a college character, and they were doing some product tie-ins, too. Did you know graduate and wanted something more. He looked at classic horror stories there is still a box of Green Lantern Bubble Gum sitting in a display case like Poe’s stuff and Frankenstein and Dracula, along with more recent at the AA offices? It’s got to be about sixty years old by now. stuff like H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. He wanted to do “tasteful” Anyway, Billy spent that first summer looking at the books AA was material. publishing, along with what the remains of their competition was doing.

Part of the problem, though, was that Billy needed a partner, a fullMLJ had a hit in the teen market with “Archie,” and we had a couple of time editor who could shepherd the books through a monthly schedule. books like that that Mort Weisinger edited. Fawcett was still managing to He looked at his father’s staff: Shelly Mayer ran the show and was not hang on with “Captain Marvel,” but they were making their money in focused on individual titles. Bob Kanigher had his niche handling the paperback books by then, and it was pretty certain they would pull the “Wonder Woman” books and also some romance titles. Jack Schiff and plug on the comic book line the minute it stopped earning its keep.

Murray Boltinoff shared the remnants of the old DC line, most of which Timely was putting out a hodgepodge of books, changing direction every had morphed into funny animal and Western titles. Julie Schwartz was time they saw the market going somewhere else. handling “Flash” and “Green Lantern.” That left Mort Weisinger, who had Charlie had always wanted to put out a line of educational comic the “Archie”-clones and was ostensibly working with Schiff and Boltinoff, books. He’d experimented with Picture Stories from the Bible a few of but had been jockeying for a more prominent, independent role. years earlier, and sales had been okay. He thought a line of comic books Talk about oil and water—Billy and Mort did not get along at all. focused on events in American and world history was a natural. And he Murray Boltinoff, who shared the office with Mort, loved to tell the story knew that Classic Comics were making money. about the first time the two of them sat down to discuss the books Billy Remember, Charlie was a businessman and was always looking for new wanted to publish. “There was no doubt this was all Billy’s idea,” Murray ways to make money. Even if he wasn’t happy that Billy had gotten a job told me. “He sat with Mort and laid out the plans for a science-fiction title as a teacher instead of joining the company, he saw an opportunity. With and a horror book, even had the names for them, Weird Science and Tales Billy in the New York City school system, Charlie figured he had an inside from the Crypt. Billy wanted to do short stories, but ones with a twist track to getting comic books into the classroom. He even had Julie ending that more literate readers would appreciate.”

Schwartz working on a prototype called Science Fact and Fiction that he As Murray told it—but he may have misremebered it—a couple of days was certain Billy could use in his science classes. later, they were sitting in an editorial meeting, and Weisinger started to

The Bill Gaines Years

65

the rest of the staff was informed of the changes in assignments. Julie was going to be editor of Weird Science, Tales from the Crypt, and at least two more books in the same genre. Billy would work with Julie as the consulting editor as his teaching schedule allowed. To accommodate this, Julie would give up the super-hero titles.

Flash Comics, All-Flash, and Comic Cavalcade were going to the team of Schiff and Boltinoff. Green Lantern and All-American were being assigned to Weisinger. There was some additional shuffling of the remaining books. Adventure Comics, which Schiff and Boltinoff had turned into an anthology title starring “Congo Bill” along with everything from cowboys to soldiers to cavemen, became part of Julie’s line, retitled Strange Adventures. There were a couple of other books that got canceled but “officially” got new titles too.

BR: Part of that game Charlie Gaines played with the Post Office to avoid having to pay registration fees….

Dramatic Personae – Our Planets AA editors Mort Weisinger (left) and Julius Schwartz—in photos taken in the latter 1930s, when both were involved with science-fiction rather than comic books.

talk about “his” new idea. “You could see that Billy was fuming because Mort was taking full credit for everything Billy had laid out.” Well, Julie was sitting opposite Billy, and as he’s listening to Mort, he looks at Billy’s face and realizes what’s going on.

As you may have heard, the boyhood friendship between Mort and Julie was quite strained by that time, and they did not miss an opportunity to take jabs at one another. So Julie starts asking Mort pointed questions about his plans, even coming out and asking if Billy had had any input. Mort started to bluster as only Mort could, and after a couple of minutes it was pretty obvious to everyone who had really come up with this idea.

SKIMMER: Exactly. I think they had Girls’ Love Stories turn into Girls Love a Mystery and then into Mystery in Space. Anything to save a few bucks.

Anyway, you know Julie had been a writers’ agent before being hired as an editor at AA by Shelly Mayer in 1944. Among Julie’s clients were Alfred Bester, Robert Bloch, H.P. Lovecraft, and his wunderkind discovery, Ray Bradbury. Julie had gotten Bester to do some comic book writing for him. It was Bester who had come up with Green Lantern’s famous oath.

There were a couple of smaller meetings later that afternoon.

Charlie, Shelly, and Billy spent more than an hour behind closed doors. Then they called Julie in. There was some shouting in that one, but when the door finally opened and Julie came out, he was smiling.

Then Weisinger was called in and, much to everyone’s surprise, he, too, was smiling when he walked out ten minutes later.

Another editorial meeting was held, and

A New Trend In Comics?

Neophyte Bill Gaines saw his two brainchildren Weird Science and Tales from the Crypt become All-American comics—but with Julie Schwartz as the main editor rather than himself, and with perhaps milder contents and even title logos than Bill might have wished.

One wonders how much different those mags might’ve been if he had been running the company! With thanks to Shane Foley for photocopies of the original art, by unidentified artists.

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The Secret History Of All-American Comics, Inc.—Book One, Chapter 2

Early in their discussions of the direction Billy saw for the new books, he mentioned that he really liked the stories

by Bradbury and suggested that perhaps they could “adapt” some of them. Julie read between the lines of Billy’s comment, realizing that he meant “steal” the plots. Julie slipped back into agent mode and said that he could probably work a rights deal with his former client Bradbury and get the author to write a few new ones, as well… which he did.

The other thing that Billy wanted was a distinctive look for the books, artwise. Julie had his regular stable, coming talents like Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Alex Toth, and Joe Kubert. Billy said they would be okay as part of the team, but he had found a few others in competitors’ books who had styles that were different. Graham Ingels, Al Feldstein, and Wally Wood were a few of the names he mentioned.

The team of Gaines and Schwartz proved to be quite successful.

Where Julie was a very hands-on editor, working with his writers to come up with interesting and entertaining stories, Billy was very much hands-off, content to allow the creative people to do their best work without his interference. He’d throw out an idea and let them run with it.

Well, you certainly know what it was like to write for Julie.

BR: Yup. Julie had a way of getting his writers to come up with interesting twists. You would start with a “narrative hook,” something that would draw the reader in and make him want to know how or why something had happened. The best examples were the “Stretch” stories in the back of Flash Comics: something would happen that would get Ralph’s nose twitching. Ralph’s nose was the equivalent of the reader’s interest. Julie would tell us to throw away the first five solutions we came up with, because those were the ones the readers would think of.

The sixth one—that would be the one that would surprise everyone.

And it couldn’t be something out of left field. There could be no deus ex machina in a story. Whatever the solution was, you had to play fair with the reader so he could say afterwards, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Julie took on the nickname “B.O. Schwartz.” The uninitiated might have thought it had to do with poor grooming habits, but actually it was for demanding that his writers “Be Original!”

SKIMMER: There was only one thing that Julie and Billy did not see eyeto-eye on, and that was how graphic to make the stories. Even if he didn’t want to show lots of gore, Billy thought that the occasional amputated limb or decapitation was important. Julie preferred such things to be “offcamera” and insisted that the reader’s own imagination would come up with something much more horrible than anything the artists could draw.

BR: What about the censorship issue that came up in the early 1950s?

How did that affect the books?

Girls Just Want To Have Sales Some publishers would do anything to avoid paying an extra few bucks to register a new magazine with the Post Office! Girls’ Love, one of the multitude of romance comics that sprouted in the late 1940s, overnight became the cross-genre Girls Love a Mystery (what’s an apostrophe between friends?). When that proved a decided non-hit, it was transformed into Mystery in Space—and the females on the covers went from being active Nancy Drew types to being passive victims (again). Issue numbers and artists uncertain— though that third cover sure looks like Carmine Infantino pencils to us!

Thanks to Shane Foley.

The Bill Gaines Years

SIDEBAR:

SCHWARTZ & KANIGHER Fellow AA editor Robert Kanigher shared an office with Julie Schwartz for many years and spoke in an interview about the art on the horror books.

“They would go back and forth on this all the Robert Kanigher. time,” recounted Kanigher. “Ingels in particular would push the envelope by drawing a dismembered body or lots of spurting blood into a story. When Julie would tell him to redraw it, he would usually acquiesce. But if Billy happened to be around, Ingels would say, ‘Let’s get Bill’s opinion.’ Invariably, Billy would take the artist’s side and tell Julie to leave it.

“But then Julie would have the colorist bury it in dark blues and browns. So it was there, even if the average reader couldn’t make it out.

Ingels went right on doing it, and Julie went right on covering it up with color.

67

blood, more severed limbs, whatever.

There was talk of a Congressional investigation, based on Wertham’s claims, but Congress was too busy tracking down Commies to worry about juvenile delinquents. And some of the publishers wanted to write a set of rules and start some kind of self-governing board to review all the comic books, but Charlie wasn’t interested in having someone tell him what he could or couldn’t publish. Same with Dell and a couple of the others.

And, by then, the craze had passed and the fly-by-nights were gone anyway.

BR: So what happened after the horror books craze passed?

SKIMMER: I guess it was the war books that got popular next. Kanigher was the master when we started doing them.

And then Green Lantern started getting hot again once the TV series went on the air. Mort was doing Kid Lantern and Doiby Dickles by then.

We were doing all sorts of books through the early ’50s, And then came Showcase #4…

To Be Continued Next Issue

“Well, one day years later, must have been in 1960, Billy walks into our office and says to Julie, ‘You know, maybe you’re right.’ Then he turns around and walks out and Julie starts to laugh.

“When I asked Julie what was so funny, he says, ‘Bill just went to see Psycho.’ So, ten years later, they’re settling the Ingels issue because of that shower scene.”

SKIMMER: Oh, you mean the Wertham thing? That psychiatrist who tried to blame comic books for juvenile delinquency?

Let me tell you a really funny story about Wertham: you know he made a big to-do about Batman and Robin being in a homosexual relationship. Well, he got invited to speak at some publishing dinner and started going on about how “those comic books” were “immorally influencing an entire generation of young boys.”

So Charlie is sitting there at a table, and he lets Wertham pontificate for a few minutes. Then he stands up and says, “Doctor, no one has published a Batman comic book in five years. I guess that means the problem is solved!”

Everybody started to laugh. Some people think that one comment was what derailed Wertham’s entire campaign.

BR: And that was it?

SKIMMER: Oh, there was a lot of hoopla at first, but at the end of the day, not much happened.

It was the schlock publishers who went out of business as a result, the ones who were doing the really gory crime and horror books. When Billy and Julie started doing their books, they sold really well. And just like with the super-hero books—and then the Westerns and the romance books—as soon as somebody had a winner, a flood of books popped up overnight to cash in. And they’d try to outdo one another with more

For What It’s Wertham Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham casts a suspicious eye at Batman and Robin— who had closed up the Batcave and doubtless moved to San Francisco by the time the Doc made his accusations against them. [Wertham sketch ©2008 William Auerbach-Levy or successors in interest.]

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69

[©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Four Poses With Four Roses “Al Walker stars in these gag photos attached to Xmas bottle of whiskey for his brother Daniel, circa 1954,” says Steve Walker.

“P.S.: My dad was a caretaker of a ‘Taylor’s’ estate.”

70

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Introduction

by Michael T. Gilbert I first discovered Al Walker’s art over thirty years ago in Movie Comics, a short-lived Fiction House title from the late ’40s. Hidden inside was “Flicker Funnies,” a funny-animal feature boasting some of the most amazingly detailed art I’d ever seen. The artist had signed the splash inside with a tiny crest below the logo. “Al Walker”? Who was this guy?

I saw the name again a few years later, inside an old issue of Wings Comics. A striking “Greasemonkey Griffin” splash page featured a pair of eerie eyes peering from a Frankenstein-like face.

The logo, forged from chains and smoke, resembled a Will Eisner Spirit splash, while the interior art was crammed with puns and sight gags. This, too, was signed “Al Walker.” Who was this guy?

I looked in all the standard comic reference books, but no one seemed to know. And that’s how things stood for decades until February 2007, when I posted some of Al’s work on my new website.

Days later, to my great delight, I received separate e-mails from Alfred M. Walker and Stephen V. Walker, respectively the artist’s son and nephew. So began a lively exchange that led eventually to this three-part article, the very first biography of this remarkable cartoonist. Installments in the two preceding issues of Alter Ego focused on Al Walker’s childhood, his Fiction House work, and his war experiences.

This time we conclude our biography with Alfred John Walker’s post-comics career. Take it away, Steve!

The Biography Of Alfred J. Walker

by Stephen V. Walker (with—oh, yes—Michael T. Gilbert)

Part 3: Back Home!

After World War II ended, Al returned to Fiction House. His old company was happy to have him back, but many of the strips he’d drawn in the early ’40s had vanished by 1945. “Norge Benson”had rocketed away to parts unknown, having flown his last mission in Planet Comics #32 (Sept. 1944). I wouldn’t be surprised if his pals Frosting the Polar Bear and Slug the Penguin were stowaways on that final trip!

A Grease(monkey)d Pole Slug the Penguin from Planet Comics poses for Al, while Hatrack the Reindeer and Frosting the Polar Bear look on. This illustration, drawn in the 1960s for a feature on Al appearing in Chemical Bank’s in-house magazine, shows how Slug became the 66th Pursuit Squadron’s mascot during World War II. Steve added the Greasemonkey Griffin sketch in 1999 (taking it from Al’s hand-drawn postcards seen on the opposite page) for a show at the Oyster Bay Historical Society. [Characters TM & ©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

“Elmer Pippin” was gone, too, having taken a furlough from Rangers Comics in August 1944 with #18. Poor ol’ “Jeep Milarkey” went AWOL even earlier, disappearing from Rangers Comics after issue #4 (April 1942). “Simba, King of the Beasts” still roamed through Jungle Comics, but Al had left the strip in the early ’40s, never to return. His last “Simba” appeared in issue #35 (Nov. 1942).

Luckily, good ol’ “Greasemonkey Griffin” was waiting in the wings for his favorite artist’s return. With Al back at the helm, the high-flying goofball flew to even greater heights.

Al Walker was flying high, too.

Earlier in 1945, his brother Dan had married Mary Moore of Millbrook, New York. Then Al met Katherine Moore, Mary’s sister—and it was love at first sight! They were married on January 25, 1947, and soon began raising three sons—Alfred, Perry, and Paul—at their home in Huntington Station, NY.

Shielding Art From Commerce

Alfred And His Art Alfred J. Walker, November 1956.

“Al Walker set up his own art studio business in the 1950s, but never made much money at it,” says Steve of this 1956 pic. “He wasn’t much of a businessman, and gave so much beautiful artwork to friends and civic groups for free.” I love Al’s coat of arms, Steve! [©2008 Estate of Alfred J. Walker.]

Alfred J. Walker—Part 3

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My cousin Al and I own another edition, however—one that Fiction House researcher Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., believes is one of only a handful that were produced, possibly for office use. It has the same cover as issue #1, but collects all three Toyland Comics in a single 152-page comic book. This edition features six Al Walker stories— more than he’d ever drawn for a single comic! The triple-sized issue includes three “Wizard of the Moon” tales, plus three stories featuring “Buddy Bruin and (oh, yes) Stu Rabbit!”

A special “Buddy Bruin” story in the issue even had a secret message. Al had married Katherine Moore in January 1947, the same month Toyland #1 came out. In the issue, Buddy and Stu climb a stack of children’s blocks that spell out the words “Al and Kack,” his new bride’s nickname.

Quite a wedding surprise!

Al left comics to work as a commercial artist for New York Trust Bank, which later merged with Chemical Bank. He enjoyed his job, staying until his retirement in 1972.

In his spare time, Al also used his talents to help the Oyster Bay community.

Greasemonkey Congrats Steve writes: “Another treasured family gem is this postcard that Al sent to his new sister-in-law (soon to become his double sister-in-law!) in May 1946, when my brother Dan was born. My mother Mary’s nickname was ‘Tumpy.’

Al, Perry, and Paul always called her Aunt Tumpy.” [Greasemonkey Griffin TM & ©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Al Walker finally left Fiction House in 1948. His last comic book story appeared in Wings Comics #96 that August. Al’s production level was never that high, due to his highly-detailed style. Now that he had a family, he needed a more secure income than comics could provide. But before he said good-bye to the funny pages, Al produced some of his finest work.

“Flicker Funnies” in Fiction House’s Movie Comics was a charming series featuring animal actors and directors. Al told these stories in a unique style, using up-and-down panels that resembled strips of film.

The comic lasted only four issues, but each six-page story was packed with detail—even for Al! The series ran from December 1946 to August 1947.

Al’s art for Toyland Comics was equally impressive. This shortlived series aimed at young children lasted three issues, from January to July 1947. Each book included two stories by Al.

“My father often talked about Fiction House and how he enjoyed working there,” says Al’s son. “I never heard anything negative about the company. He always saw the glass as half full, as opposed to half empty.” Al’s positive attitude shines through in this December 1946 “Flicker Funnies” page from Movie Comics #1! [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

“Katherine the Great And King Alfred On Their Wedding Day, January 25, 1947, In Going Away Garb” So reads the inscription on the back of this photo. “My father always had a smile and twinkle, and loved to read stories to children,” recalls son Alfred.

In 1953, he designed a commemorative program for the town’s 300th anniversary. This coincided with the opening of Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s former home and a newly designated historic site.

At the museum’s request, Al designed a 1902-style calendar for Sagamore’s kitchen, where it hung for many years. In 1958, he created floats for a centennial parade marking Roosevelt’s birth.

In August 1956 Al designed an official Oyster Bay seal for highway superintendent Thomas Pynchon, father of the famous writer. The simple design depicts a seagull soaring over the number 1653, the date Oyster Bay was founded. In the 1960s, Al illustrated an “Historic Oyster Bay” pamphlet with minutely-detailed historic sketches for the Chamber of Commerce.

When his three sons attended Walt Whitman High School in the 1960s, Al combined his love of art and basketball by creating (for free!) elaborate twenty-foot banners with brightly colored cartoon characters for the school’s basketball games. In a typically selfless gesture, he designed banners for both sides of the Suffolk County championship games, even when Walt Whitman didn’t manage to make the finals.

(Above:) A lovely “Wizard of the Moon” page from Toyland Comics #2 (March 1947). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

While Al generously donated his talents in his community, he employed his skills elsewhere, too.

In 1964, the Pan American Society asked him to design a commemorative plaque in memory of John F. Kennedy. Al received a personal thank-you for this from Robert Kennedy. In 1970, the Air Force Association commissioned him to design a plaque in honor of the Grumman Corporation workers, who built the lunar module that safely brought home the imperiled Apollo 13 astronauts.

A Couple Of Blockheads!

(Left:) Buddy Bruin and Stu Rabbit from Toyland Comics #1 (Jan. 1947). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Toys Ahoy!

(Right:) This Al Walker poster for a Christmas toy drive would have fit nicely in Toyland Comics! [©2008 Estate of Alfred J. Walker.]

Alfred J. Walker—Part 3

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Dabba-Dabba-Do! (Above:) An Al Walker Christmas card with Mom and kids—and and Al as Fred Flintstone! [Fred Flintstone TM & ©2008 the respective copyright holders; other art ©2008 Estate of Alfred J. Walker.]

Millbrook, NY, April 1963 (Left to right:) Al, Katherine, Alfred, Perry, and Paul Walker.

Al Walker loved to laugh, to draw, and to make others happy. I fondly remember all of the funny cartoon birthday cards he made for me. He also drew pictures to show me how to play Theodore Roosevelt for my fourth-grade play. Then there was the beautiful Kansas backdrop he did for my school’s production of The Wizard of Oz. Most especially, I remember the time Uncle Al drew a hand-drawn graduation portrait of my sweetheart, Gail, attended by Pinocchio, Thumper, and Snow White’s friend Happy!

Al accepted another unusual assignment the same year, when Ethel Derby, Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter, had him hand-letter (on parchment, no less!) a tribute to her beloved father. The following year he designed a commemorative painting of the Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club for its centennial.

On December 4, 1972, a heart condition ended Alfred J. Walker’s life much too soon. Uncle Al was only 64 at the time.

I remember these memories and more, all etched with the infectious laugh of an artist who loved life!

If It’s A Town Seal, Why Does It Show A Sea Gull?

(Above:) Town seal designed by Al Walker. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Banking On Al Walker (Right:) This handsome Chemical Bank brochure from the 1960s demonstrates Al’s clever integration of art and display lettering. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Alfred John Walker And Tippy The Commuter Dog (Above:) “Only God knows why none of Al’s clever submissions to The Saturday Evening Post, et al., were never published,” says Steve. “This beauty is from 1960, extremely touching in its composition. The subject matter springs from real life, for his dog Tippy would walk Al to the station every morning, and trotted back there in the evening when he heard the train whistle.” [©2008 Estate of Alfred J. Walker.]

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Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

Santa’s Going To The Slammer!

Another goofy Christmas card by you-know-who. [©2008 Estate of Alfred J. Walker.]

Thanks, Steve, for sharing those great memories! Thanks, too, to Al’s son, Alfred Moore Walker, for his assistance, and to Janet Gilbert for her editing expertise. And, in case you were wondering about the rest of the Walker family...

Steve Walker, 55, teaches seventh and eighth grade music at Oyster Bay High School in Oyster Bay, NY, and is one of his uncle’s greatest fans.

Magnifying Al’s Virtues (Above:) Al’s Buddy Bruin and (oh, yes) Stu Rabbit from Toyland Comics #1 (Jan. 1947). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Alfred J. Walker left behind three sons: Alfred M. Walker, 60, a patent attorney in New York; Perry Walker, 57, a varsity baseball coach and English teacher at Adlai Stevenson High School in Bronx, NY; and Paul Walker, an accomplished actor and director. Paul, who died of AIDS in 1993 at age 41, was also a professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

The Walkers, 1971 Al and Katherine Walker, about a year before his death.

Katherine Moore Walker (known affectionately as “Kack”) died on September 10, 1982, at age 70, ten years after her husband. She was a beloved elementary school librarian who loved to read to children. Her sister Mary Walker (affectionately known as “Tumpy”) is Steve’s mother, and Al’s brother Daniel was his father.

For more Al Walker art, check out my website, where we feature rare examples every “Greasemonkey Monday” at: http://www.michaeltgilbert.com/journal Till next time...

Keeping Up With The Joneses—Alfred J. Style!

(Above:) In his later years, Al enjoyed painting. According to his son Alfred M. Walker, “Salt Water and Crumpets” tells the story of Newton Jones from the Isle of Wight, who once made an unexpected visit to his grandfather (yet another Al Walker!). They were childhood friends who hadn’t seen each other since his grandfather left England at age nineteen. [©2008 Estate of Alfred J. Walker.”]

P.S.: By the way, my special section devoted to the work of Bob Powell (who was covered in detail in Alter Ego #66-67) saw print in the May issue of The Comics Journal—an overview of his career, plus 40 pages of peak Powell horror stories. Give it a look!

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others, Alex became annoyed with me over something and ended our relationship. Thanks to Darrel McNeal, Alex softened his position in time and we exchanged a few notes before his death.

R

oy here. Since this issue deals in part with the life and career of Dave Cockrum, we thought it only proper to lead off with an illo by the man himself—a drawing of Blackmane, one of the Cockrum-created Futurians, reading his fan mail. This is from Dave’s own personal memo-pad stationery. (Another drawing from the same sheet appears on p. 26.) [©2008 Estate of Dave Cockrum.]

This letters section focuses, much too late for our tastes, on Alter Ego #63, which came out at the end of 2006 (!) and was mostly a tribute to another departed giant, Alex Toth. We were pleased at the outpouring of comments on that issue, a few samples of which follow.

Carrie Morash, who refers to herself as Alex Toth’s “Daughter No. 2,” sent us the following very welcome epistle: Dear Roy, I love the magazine and your amazing tribute to my father. This is all new to me—to be a part of his work in a way that I never was before. I miss him dearly and am slowly reading every page and viewing every piece of artwork. I treasure what you have put together.

It’s comforting to recognize so many names from conversations I’ve had with my father over the past 40+ years. Starting at a very early age, sitting at his knee and listening to him talk “shop” without knowing any of these people in person. Now, I get to see faces and see words that ring so true about my father. He was a wonderful, honest, strong man with a big heart and a huge impact on the world that he lived in… I just never knew how much. It’s all been a bit overwhelming.

I had worked with him on the animated series Bionic Six, for which we both did character designs. His pages were always an education. The scariest task I’d ever have was when the art director would hand me one of Alex’s drawings and say: Fix this. What was to fix? Fortunately, Alex never saw the few amendments I had to make.

Oddly enough, like Terry Austin, I hated Alex’s work as a kid. To my naïve eye his line seemed scratchy and the overall work sloppy. And what really annoyed me was that his rendition of Weena in [the adaptation of the film] The Time Machine looked nothing like my teenage fantasy, Yvette Mimieux. He was greatly influenced by Noel Sickles at this stage of his career and it was simply too sophisticated for the average comic fan.

As a professional, I not only came to appreciate Alex’s work; he became the benchmark of what I wanted to achieve in comics, probably to the detriment of my career.

While Alex had a true affinity for drawing stories that were set in the 1930s and ’40s, he never seemed to have a real understanding of that era.

His work never reflected the complexities of life in those times. Despite the visual brilliance and masterful storytelling, Alex always saw evil as an external force to be mastered. He didn’t seem to be at all aware of Chandler and Hammett, who both understood it was the demon within that needed to be feared.

What Alex did love was the movies of that era, and for the most part his work was an homage to those films. Alex always did stories about the way he wanted the world to be. But he introduced me to the movies of Preston Sturges, via The Palm Beach Story, and for that alone I’d be eternally grateful to the man. He also made me better as an artist, partly by personal intimidation, but mostly through his own lifelong dedication to the art of picturemaking.

So please do not think you did anything wrong—it is beautiful, touching, and a true treasure. Thank you.

Mike Vosburg

Veteran comics artist Mike Vosburg, who knew Toth personally, sent these words:

An oddity occurred in A/E #63. John Workman, who as editor of Heavy Metal in the late ’70s gave his account of why Alex Toth didn’t draw the graphic novel adaptation of Stephen Spielberg’s 1979 film 1941, was as surprised as Ye Editor to read, in Michael Vance’s introduction to his own late-’70s Toth interview (also in #63), that the artist seemed to blame that interview for his doing no work for HM. I asked John what he thought about that, and he replied:

Hey Roy—

Hi, Roy—

The A/E issue on Alex Toth was an absolute gem. It really gave an insight into the enigma of the man. The continual pattern of close friendship and then eventual rejection was a sad commentary on this immensely talented and deeply troubled man. God bless Jim Amash and Rubén Procopio.

Yep. That’s really strange. I don’t recall any submission of an interview with Toth. It could have gone through someone else, even Lou Stathis. After Ted [White] was out as editor (a move that I was against), Lou took over the Dossier section and went toward the shorter prose pieces… reviews and such… that Len Mogel wanted. Interviews then were pretty short.

Carrie Morash Your words mean more to us that we can say, Corrie. Thanks to both you and Eric for your support and understanding, and our sincere condolences for your loss.

When I was younger, I often wondered why Alex was always so angry; now that I’m older, I think that the man often showed remarkable restraint. But Alex did mellow a bit in later years. As it was with so many

I don’t see why Toth’s views on less-than-subtle violence in the media would have kept an interview with him out of Heavy Metal. Staff

comments, correspondence, & corrections

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and he finally threw them out. No copies were ever made.

My recollection is of being up at his home shortly after he’d gotten back and seeing them. They were quite wonderful, and I asked Alex if I could borrow them and get a set of stats made. He refused. I offered to buy the originals from him. No specific price was mentioned, and Alex said he didn’t want to sell the pages. He was about ready to just rip them into confetti. I asked him not to do that… said I’d call him in a day or two with a cash offer. “At least wait ’til you hear that before you decide to destroy them.”

I called a couple of friends. My idea was to pool our extra funds and make him a large offer, something he couldn’t refuse. We’d buy the art, split it up among the buyers, and either all agree not to sell it, or we’d also kick in for some high quality stats. The idea was to keep the story available for publication in the future if and when DC changed its mind (I had a hunch they would) or we found some way to alter the script to the point where it would be Kosher to print it outside DC. I mean, if they were taking the position that what he’d drawn wasn’t “Enemy Ace,” maybe we could print it somewhere else.

Anyway, I called Alex a few days later with a pretty nice cash offer.

He told me it was too late, he’d destroyed the art… and that was the end of it. You can speculate a couple of different ways how this dovetails with the version where he left the story in his trunk to rot. Maybe he fibbed to me about destroying it then, just to close off my efforts to salvage a job he never wanted to see again… maybe I’m misremembering and I saw the story before he sent it in… maybe… who knows? But I recall seeing it after it had bounced back and I recall him refusing my offer.

The Killer Skies—Toth Style Since Mike Vosburg reminds us above that Alex Toth revered the work of Scorchy Smith artist Noel Sickles (and also, as we know, that of Sickles’ colleague Milton Caniff, of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon fame)— and since Mark Evanier recounts the aftermath of the flap over a Tothdrawn “Enemy Ace” story—it seemed appropriate to illuminate this section with a piece of Alex’s art that depicts a Caniff/Sickles-style aerial combat.

This 1987 jewel appeared in Manuel Auad’s 1999 book Toth Black & White. [©2008 Estate of Alex Toth.]

members used to argue about such things when we were running the serialized “Ranxerox” stories. The author of those had a Sam Peckinpahlike feeling for violence that reflected his own inner demons. The artist (Liberatore) told me that he was often bothered by stuff that he was required to illustrate and that he sometimes toned down the material.

John Workman The above may be a bit vague for some readers of A/E, John, but since it involved two people who had their say in ish #63 about their experiences with Toth, I wanted to include your missive.

Also in A/E #63, Alex’s fellow legend (and longtime associate) Joe Kubert related how he’d rejected an “Enemy Ace” story drawn by Toth because, when the art was handed in, “the whole story had been changed,” something that, as editor, Joe had specifically directed the artist not to do. Mark Evanier, veteran writer of comics, TV, et al., subsequently recounted on The Comics Journal Message Board that Toth felt the script changes he made were minor. Naturally, there’s no way to sort that kind of thing out at this late stage. However, Mark adds an interesting and detailed “footnote” to the story….

Now, we have two other different memories….

Alex later told several folks that he was so disgusted with the whole incident that he left the story in the trunk of his car for the next year or two. The trunk leaked when it rained and the pages rotted and mildewed

The script that DC had sent to Toth was rapidly drawn by Neal Adams and Joe Kubert and it appeared in the issue where the Toth version would have appeared. I thought it was an okay script, no better or worse than any of the ones for that strip. In fact, I always thought the main problem with the “Enemy Ace” feature was that it was the same story every issue.

So that’s what I remember. I don’t think I ever told it any other way, but if I did, I probably muddled the details somehow. That has been known to happen.

Mark Evanier In other words, Rashomon is alive and well, eh, Mark? No surprise there. But thanks for sharing your reminiscences of the aftermath of the “Toth Enemy Ace Incident” with us.

A few additional comments, excerpted from correspondence re that issue’s Toth coverage: Longtime pro colorist Carl Gafford says he was “personally surprised to see my name listed as colorist for the Superman Annual #9 (at least, on a repro of the original art). A check… shows that Tom Ziuko colored that ish…. The only time I colored Alex’s work was on the “Challengers of the Unknown” origin series he drew for Adventure Comics Digest, which I edited. Rank has its privileges.”

Hames Ware informs us that “the fellow at Dell that [Sparky Moore] kept referring to as Tallender…was actually R.C. Callendar, whose position at Dell I’m uncertain of, but his name was always attached to the copyright on Dell’s earliest original features… and apparently he hung on till the Toth era.” Alberto Becattini chimed in a bit later, giving Callendar’s first name as “Robert,” and saying he was “head of Western Publishing’s West Coast division.”

Henry Kujawa thought it was a terrific issue, even if “the overall recurring theme and tone of virtually every interview or commentary… unfortunately, is that Toth had problems, was hard to work with, and was to some degree self-destructive. This pretty much puts him in the same ballpark with Wally Wood—tragic for both of them.” The only thing Henry objected to “was Sparky Moore’s uncalled-for comments about Doug Wildey—who one of my heroes! No need to denigrate one guy to raise up another. The

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re:

idea that Toth could do anything right while Wildey needed reference has no bearing on the art.”

And Mark Lewis writes that there’s “a rare and refreshing honesty to these remembrances…. This unvarnished honesty makes for (I think) a more interesting and accurate portrait. In a way, I think Toth himself would’ve respected this. He had little tolerance for anything less than what he perceived to be the truth.”

Also, on a non-Toth front: In A/E #75, we listed Alberto Becattini’s corrections to the list of Sangor Art Shop personnel which had appeared in Forbidden Adventures, Michael Vance’s book on the American Comic Group, as reprinted in issue #62 (after the rest of the book was re-presented in #61). Our Italian colleague sent in one more update later: the “Harry Fish” listed in that index was “evidently Harry T. Fisk.” Better late (or even later) than never, right, Alberto?

Send those plaudits and other ponderings to: Roy Thomas 32 Bluebird Trail St. Matthews, SC 29135

e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com fax: (803) 826-6501

And remember—don’t miss next month’s Super-issue!

Talk About Super-Egos!

We never let an issue go by without showcasing a drawing of one or the other (or both) of this mag’s magnificent “maskots”—and our man in Australia, Shane Foley, contributed this splendid homage to Dave Cockrum’s cover for FOOM Magazine #10 back in the 1970s. They’re on their way to get you, if you miss an issue of Alter Ego! You have been warned! [Captain Ego TM & ©2008 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly; Alter Ego TM & ©2008 Roy & Dann Thomas.]

[Captain Marvel art by C.C. Beck ©2008 DC Comics; Wolverton art ©2008 the respective copyright holder.]

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By [Art & logo ©2008 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2008 DC Comics]

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From Hey Kids! Win $1500!

1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was a “When I finally found a copy of Captain Marvel top artist for Fawcett Publications.

Adventures #15,” Marc writes, “it was recognized as The very first Mary Marvel one of my own. I was pleased to see the message character sketches came from across the bottom that addressed the readers as ‘Hey Marc’s drawing table, and he illusKids!’ I believe all of us at Fawcett considered our trated her earliest adventures, comic book readers as youngsters.” This cover was including the classic origin story, scanned from P.C. Hamerlinck’s collection—“a copy,” “Captain Marvel Introduces Mary the FCA editor says, which is “even more tattered than Marc Swayze’s,” and signed by the artist (“Paul—May Marvel (Captain Marvel you win all your races!” in reference to P.C.’s Adventures #18, Dec. ’42); but he marathon running. [©2008 DC Comics.] 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 stories 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 remembered his fellow Fawcett friends Mac Raboy and Rod Reed. In this installment he analyzes two of his classic Fawcett stories. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

T

he La Fourche Swamp is remembered as a place near here where my cousin and I once got lost on a hunting trip … and came out in swamp water up to our chins. It was remembered also in 1946, as the locale for a story I wrote and drew: “The Horror of the Swamp” (Wow Comics #64, March 1948).

The story begins at “Lafoosheville,” and Mickey Malone, the Phantom Eagle, has fun with it. By page 4 he has already had a run-in with an old enemy, the Black Flamingo, and in six short pages he rescues a trio of adventurers and solves the mystery of …the “Horror.”

I’ve never liked that story. Too much was tried and said in too few pages.

The “monster” of course was a fraud, a secret shared more or less with the reader from the start. But the solution … all about a pirates’ map, and stuff like that … would have been better accorded several pages … rather than crowded into one brief panel late in the story.

And the “horror” wasn’t all that terrifying, either. But I never had a doubt, in those days, that our comic book readers were young people. I believe everyone at Fawcett felt that way. Our objective, as we understood it,

Swamp Fling Marc says of this splash page from 1948’s Wow Comics #64: “The Swamp Horror was about as mean as I could make a monster look. But we all knew he was solid wood!” Art & script by Marc Swayze—who was credited in the comic itself! [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

“We Didn’t Know... It Was The Golden Age!”

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Klang, Klang, Klang Went The Volley (Left:) An art job 65 years in the making? The Cap figure in this splash is Marc’s 2007 addition to a page originally drawn in 1942… “just to show old Klang up.” (Below:) “Leggy Miss Jill Jeffrey… joins those on stage, providing whatever kind of interest you want to call that,” in a panel from CMA #15.

[Captain Marvel TM & ©2008 DC Comics.]

was to entertain them … not leave them cringing in fear. I went looking for a story I thought of as an example, begun back in ’41 or ’42 ... “Klang the Killer.”

Finding tattered old Captain Marvel Adventures #15 was a pleasant surprise … the cover from my drawing board featuring Captain Marvel … with familiar characteristics from ’way-back-when. Of added interest was the message across the bottom that addressed the readers with: “Hey Kids!”

The Klang story, a 12-pager, starts out with Mr. Bram, a scientist, seeking the aid of Billy Batson with a small gadget he has invented. Billy finds the device so intricate he calls on “the wisest as well as the strongest of mortals” … you guessed it … Captain Marvel.

Klang’s For The Memory (Above:) Marc Swayze again: “At Fawcett, we liked to leave everybody happy!” Klang the Killer and Captain Marvel end up as pals in the finale from CMA #15. [©2008 DC Comics.]

Then the story goes on with the small gadget growing to a size appropriate for a Captain Marvel adversary … the two scuffling wildly on and off for several pages … Klang ending up somehow chained to a sizeable tree. Unable to break the chains, he simply pulls the tree up by the roots and carries it to a convenient railroad track where a train is conveniently approaching, conveniently severing the chains!

During all this, leggy Miss Jill Jeffrey, owner of a chain of munitions plants, joins those on stage, providing whatever kind of interest you want to call that.

And in the finale … Captain Marvel and Klang end up good buddies.

I’m telling you … in the Golden Age we tried to give ’em their money’s worth!

COMICS’ GOLDEN AGE LIVES AGAIN! SPY SMASHER BLACK TERROR • AVENGER PHANTOM LADY • CAT-MAN DAREDEVIL • CRIMEBUSTER CAPTAIN FLASH MR. SCARLET • MINUTE MAN SKYMAN • STUNTMAN THE OWL • BULLETMAN COMMANDO YANK PYROMAN • GREEN LAMA THE EAGLE • IBIS

Heroes TM & ©2008 DC Comics.

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83

How To Crack Open A Soft-Boiled Egg – Part I Basil Wolverton’s Son Monte Talks About His Father’s Fawcett “Culture Corner”

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Interview Conducted by P.C. Hamerlinck

ave you ever wondered how to eat beans without soiling your jeans … or how to grope for bathtub soap … or how to crack open a soft-boiled egg? Cartoonist Basil Wolverton (1909-78) knew the answers to these and other of life’s mysteries presented in “The Culture Corner,” his groundbreaking, laugh-inducing, and highly idiosyncratic half-page humor filler strip produced for Fawcett Publications from 1945-52 and innocently sandwiched in between Captain Marvel and the other stalwart heroes of Whiz Comics. I recently caught up with Basil’s son, Monte Wolverton, for an inside glimpse behind his father’s Fawcett filler features (which also included the Ibis the Invincible parody “Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot”), as well as other fantastic facets behind the ingenuity and madness of Basil Wolverton … a man who cared enough to show us how to eat spaghetti without getting wetty. —P.C. Hamerlinck.

Basil Wolverton Was One Smart Egg! Basil Wolverton working on a “Culture Corner” strip for Fawcett’s Whiz Comics in the mid-1940s— juxtaposed with his “Culture Corner” installment, from Marvel Family #39 (Sept. 1949). Photo courtesy of Monte Wolverton. [Art ©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

P.C. Hamerlinck: How did your father obtain his comic book assignments from Fawcett Publications?

Monte Wolverton: Will Lieberson was my father’s editor at Fawcett beginning in 1944, although he worked primarily with [editor] Virginia Provisiero from 1945 through the early ’50s. I have quite a bit of the correspondence from those years. In early 1944 my dad sent them a query letter and samples of his work. Lieberson replied that, because of the paper shortage, they weren’t accepting any new features. After a couple more inquiries from my dad, Lieberson decided to commission him to do some work, the paper shortage notwithstanding.

PCH: Your father’s longest-running feature for Fawcett was “The Culture Corner,” appearing in 64 installments from May 1945 to June 1952 in Whiz Comics, with a one-time appearance in Marvel Family. What do you know about the development of the feature?

MW: My dad submitted “Culture Corner” roughs to Lieberson, perhaps with his initial query letter. So the concept seems to have been developed by my dad as a half-page feature—and was pretty much the way it was finally published. Lieberson agreed to pay him $20 per strip—twice their standard half-page rate of $10. Lieberson preferred the strip’s host [name as] “Croucher K. Conk” to my dad’s alternative “Crawler Q. Collar.” My father would send him roughs and Lieberson would send them back— approved or rejected. The roughs still exist—and my dad seemed to put a

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How To Crack Open A Soft-Boiled Egg—Part I

How Culture Got Cornered (Left:) Will Lieberson, Fawcett’s executive comics editor—and the Nov. 8, 1944, letter he sent Basil Wolverton re the artist’s expressed interest in working for the company. Lieberson’s letter doesn’t make it clear whether Wolverton made up both names suggested for the “conductor” whose image hosted each installment; probably he sent in two monickers for Lieberson to choose between?

Photo courtesy of Richard Lieberson, who was interviewed about his own father in Alter Ego #21.

At His Wits’ End—And Beginning A real find, courtesy of Monte Wolverton! (Right:) Basil’s pencil roughs for a “Culture Corner” episode—and (below) the finished product as it appeared in Whiz Comics #104 (Nov. 1946)! That strip is one of son Monte’s favorites. [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

lot more detail into these roughs than the roughs for most of his other comic features. (His “Powerhouse Pepper” roughs, by contrast, were either summaries or empty panels with dialog.) “The Culture Corner” roughs are great comic art all by themselves—with an energy and spontaneity not always conveyed in the finals. This is not to say that they were better or worse than the final art—just different.

PCH: As you mentioned, “The Culture Corner” was conducted by a character named Croucher K. Conk, Q.O.C. (Queer Old Coot), who hosted every single installment of the feature. Was he based on any real person(s)? Did your father ever extract from real life or people and then exaggerate them in his own unique way into “Culture Corner” or any of his other comic creations?

MW: I doubt if my dad had anyone specific in mind—but he liked to poke fun at the erudite and scholarly—people with letters after their names—so Croucher is probably a composite of such people.

My dad was constantly amused by real people; I

Basil Wolverton’s “Culture Corner”

85

think more than a few of my mother’s relatives may have appeared as his characters.

PCH: Did “The Culture Corner” reflect your father’s own humor and personality?

MW: My dad was constantly cracking jokes … making up little verses … entertaining me, my friends, my mom, the dog—whoever happened to be around. I think he became so accustomed to working at coming up with funny stuff all the time that it sort of overflowed into his personality. He was generally fun to be around. He could also be deadly serious about some issues, such as the neighborhood kids being out of control or neighborhood dogs peeing on flower beds or vegetable gardens. And he was serious about his faith. In his capacity as a minister, he would spend hours talking to people, helping them with their problems.

PCH: Did your father always have a penchant for word-play, rhymes, and puns? Was his talent for funny word manipulation and tongue-twisters nurtured long before his work in comics?

MW: Hard to say which came first; he was an aspiring performer, cartoonist, and writer as he was growing up, so his rhymes/puns/word-play may have grown out of all those things. Or, maybe all these things grew out of his personality. In any case, his first jobs after high school were in vaudeville on the Pacific Northwest circuit, and as a movie critic, humor writer, and general cartoonist for The Portland News, which meant that he had to produce the rhymes/puns/word-play professionally.

After that it just kept happening.

PCH: Did you ever watch your father draw “The Culture Corner”? Do you know if he enjoyed doing the feature for Fawcett?

MW: I came on the scene in 1948, so as a toddler I probably witnessed him drawing several “Culture Corner” strips in his basement studio in the very late ’40s and early ’50s. The basement was kind of spooky, as I recall—him at his drawing board, side cabinet, and lamp amidst the shadowy, dank corners at the bottom of the stairs—working away on bizarre and grotesque faces.

That was before we moved to a newer home in the So Why Wasn’t This Guy One Of The Avengers? country and he used one of the bedrooms for a much As Monte states, “Powerhouse Pepper,” the feature he created for Timely/Marvel in the 1940s, brighter and far more cheerful studio. But I digress. was Basil W.’s most popular character, and had his own comic book at one time. This story was “Culture Corner” was providing steady income at a time printed in black-&-white in the 1994 Fantagraphics volume Basil Wolverton’s Powerhouse when other sources were shaky. Fawcett work was Pepper. It’s well known (as well as obvious) that Wolverton’s work had a powerful influence on steady, while Marvel/Timely was on and off over the underground cartoonist R. Crumb. [©2008 The Wolverton Estate.] years (even though his biggest feature—“Powerhouse Pepper”—was for Marvel). I think he liked “Culture PCH: Reproduced in the impressive new book The Original Art of Basil Corner” because it involved a simple idea with which he could be clever Wolverton. featuring pieces from the BW collection of Glen Bray, is a and inventive with no big story or plot that had to be worked out.

“Culture Corner” thumbnail strip from 1948 (“How to Heat Frigid Feet”) which appears to have been re-developed into a 1-page “Culture PCH: How do you think “The Culture Corner” stands amongst your Quickie” strip—conducted by a Clyde K.K. (Kennel Keeper)—which is father’s other comic book work? Do you have an all-time favorite “CC” also reproduced in the book. Why do you think your father re-developed strip? it, and was a “Culture Quickie” feature ever published? In addition, the MW: I have always liked “Culture Corner.” I would rate it on a par with book reproduces two “Bedtime Banter” strips from 1950, obviously re“Powerhouse Pepper.” “The Culture Corner” is all of Basil Wolverton’s developed from two (also-reproduced in the book) “Culture Corner” unique comic abilities concentrated into a half-page. I believe, because of thumbnail sketches (“How to Brace a Weak Beak” and “How To Trim the creative freedom he had with this feature, he was able to pack more Your Eyebrows”). Do you know the story behind these strips? We’re they detail into it. And there was nothing else like it being published at the attempts to pitch different-named strips with the “Culture Corner” time. It’s hard for me decide on a favorite “Culture Corner” strip, but I like concept to other publishers?

“How to Sharpen Your Wits” from Whiz Comics #104 (Oct. 1948) a lot.

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How To Crack Open A Soft-Boiled Egg—Part I

The Birth Of A Notion The genesis of a concept. (Clockwise from top left:) (a) Editor Virginia Provisiero’s letter of Aug. 9, 1945, suggesting that Wolverton try “a magic or mystic character that could be used as a four page feature.” (b) Virginia (“Ginny”) Provisiero in April 1953, at her “Fawcett 10-year anniversary party.” Miss Provisiero provided (and annotated) a virtual scrapbook of Fawcett photos in A/E (Vol. 3) #3, which is still in print—see TwoMorrows ad bloc at the end of this issue. (c) Provisiero’s 8-30-45 letter suggesting that Basil work on “a weird magician who had hokus pokus powers” rather than a “lamp and genie.” Seen on the Fawcett stationery are Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, Capt. Marvel Bunny, Captain Midnight, Don Winslow, Spy Smasher, Mr. Scarlet, and Commando Yank. (d) A truly rare find, courtesy of Monte Wolverton! His father’s original proposal for the “Mystic Moot” strip. The altered lettering on the name of the feature was probably added by Will Lieberson. (e) Executive editor Lieberson’s response to Wolverton re his proposal, suggesting that “Mystic Mose and His Magic Nose” become “Mystic Moot and His Magic Snoot”— which if anything is even funnier. Well, who ever said editors were totally useless? [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

Basil Wolverton’s “Culture Corner”

87

Between A Rock And A Hard Space Two of Basil Wolverton’s science-fiction hero strips. (Left:) “Rockman, Underground Secret Agent” was a half-sf, half-super-hero feature that appeared in the first two issues of Timely/Marvel’s U.S.A. Comics. This splash page is from #2 (Nov. 1941), as reprinted in the 2007 hardcover Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age U.S.A. Comics, Vol. 1. (Right:) A “Spacehawk” page from a 1940 issue of Novelty’s Target Comics, as reprinted in Ron Goulart’s 1986 The Great Comic Book Artists. [“Spacehawk” art ©2008 the respective copyright holders; “Rockman” ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

MW: Not knowing, I would hesitate to say, except that he often repurposed stuff to sell in other venues. There were a bunch of “Culture Corner” roughs that were rejected [by Fawcett]—over 30 of them; “How to Heat Frigid Feet,” “How to Brace a Weak Beak” and “ How to Trim Your Eyebrows” were among them. I think he liked them and thought they might sell elsewhere if he developed them. Other rejects included “How to Swill a Bitter Pill,” “How to Trim Your Toenails,” and “How to Tell Twins Apart.”

PCH: Your father’s other feature for Fawcett was “Mystic Moot And His Magic Snoot,” appearing in the final four issues of Ibis the Invincible (introduced in Ibis #3 [Winter 1945] and lasting through Ibis #6 [Spring 1949]) and then moving over to Comic Comics #2 (May 1946) to that title’s last issue (#10, Feb. ’47). Mystic Moot was basically a parody of Ibis, but instead of utilizing an “Ibis-stick” to summon magic powers, Mystic Moot simply used his nose. Can you reveal any background information behind the development of this strip?

MW: When I was pretty young—even before I had actually seen a printed copy of the feature—I remember my dad saying that Mystic Moot was his favorite feature … or the one that he thought had the most potential.

“Mystic Moot” started when Fawcett needed a feature about a magical guy. My father’s first offering was “Champ Van Kamp and his Magic Lamp.” Fawcett rejected it, as they already had a feature about a guy with a magic lamp. So he came up with “Mystic Mose and His Magic Nose,” but Lieberson thought “Moot” and “Snoot” were better. I didn’t realize this until about three years ago, when I discovered this fact amongst my father’s correspondence with Lieberson.

An interesting distinctive about “Mystic Moot” is that, in contrast to his other characters, Moot was more of a pacifist—in his character as an Eastern mystic, and not prone to violence (albeit with a just cause) like his “Spacehawk” or “Powerhouse Pepper” strips. It’s possible that my dad, as a result of his association with evangelist Herbert Armstrong (who taught a form of pacifism), was thinking it would be good to create a less violent character.

PCH: Did your father ever make mention of the other features in Whiz Comics? Do you know if there were any strips or cartoonists that he admired during that time period?

MW: I don’t recall my dad ever saying anything about other features in Whiz one way or the other. I remember reading a lot of the “Captain

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How To Crack Open A Soft-Boiled Egg—Part I

Snoot Yourself!

Basil Wolverton (seen above in a late-1940s photo) and his splash panel for the “Mystic Moot and His Magic Snoot” tale in Ibis the Invincible #6 (Spring 1948). [©2008 the respective copyright holders.]

publications over the years. Would he have been proud of the high praise and recognition?

Marvel” episodes—but he made no comment. The cartoonists he really liked were in the newspaper—especially Alex Raymond and Hal Foster— he kept stacks of their strips for figure reference. Others he liked were John Prentice (one of my American Rat Terriers is named Rip Kirby, after Raymond and Prentice’s strip), Zack Mosley [Smilin’ Jack] , Chester Gould [Dick Tracy], and, interestingly, [gag panel artist] Virgil Partch.

There were others, of course, prior to my birth, who contributed to his style—notably, Sidney Smith (Old Dock Yak) in the funnies and [illustrator] Virgil Finlay in the science-fiction pulps.

MW: Very much. My dad was humble to the extent of being self-effacing.

He knew his output had not been as prodigious as some artists because he chose to live in the Pacific Northwest (that he loved) instead of being in the New York rat race. But he had still put a ton of effort into his work, and he was aware that he had contributed something truly original. So he would have been extremely pleased with the recognition.

PCH: As the market demanded more humor fillers and strips like “Powerhouse Pepper,” did your father ever express regret that he missed creating earlier science-fiction/adventure features such as “Spacehawk”?

Did he have a personal interest in outer space and science-fiction?

This interview with Monte Wolverton concerning his father’s landmark work will be continued in FCA in the next issue of Alter Ego… with more incredible images from Fawcett and other comics.

MW: I don’t believe he missed the adventure and science-fiction features too much, because he was partial to doing humor and would have happily continued with “Powerhouse Pepper” or other humor strips, had there been a market for them. I believe his best comic work overall, however, was his late horror and science-fiction stories—mostly for Marvel—in the early ’50s. He loved science and science-fiction. He had always been interested in aviation in general; he could identify military and civilian aircraft and liked to drive to the airport just to watch the planes take off and land.

He kept up with the space race and was interested in astronomy. I remember him pointing out to me the various stars, constellations, and planets in the night sky when I was young. And I remember his excitement when he would spot a satellite passing overhead. When we landed on the moon in 1969, I was in college—but I’m sure he was glued to the tube.

PCH: Your father was posthumously inducted into The Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991, and his work has been recognized in various books and

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Focuses on TIMELY/MARVEL (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!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY012450

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL012309

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: SEP012273

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV012568

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN022737

ALTER EGO #17 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, FINE and LUIS DOMINGUEZ COVERS, FCA and more!

ALTER EGO #14

ALTER EGO #15

ALTER EGO #16

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! Two BUSCEMA covers!

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!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB022730

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: APR022615

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY022386

ALTER EGO #18

ALTER EGO #19

ALTER EGO #20

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, FOX and WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, FCA with SWAYZE, BECK, RABOY, SCHAFFENBERGER, and more! MILGROM and SCHELLY covers!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG022420

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: OCT022884

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV022845

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL022370

ALTER EGO #21 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! DAVE STEVENS and IRWIN HASEN covers!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC023029

ALTER EGO #22

ALTER EGO #23

ALTER EGO #24

ALTER EGO #25

ALTER EGO #26

BILL EVERETT and JOE KUBERT interviewed

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 “CHARLES MOULTON” scripts), BOB FUJITANI and JOHN ROSENBERGER, 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 and BOB FUJITANI covers!

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 All-Star Squadron #1 and its ’40s roots (with art by ORDWAY, BUCKLER, MESKIN and MOLDOFF), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! Covers by TOTH and SCHELLY!

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!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN032492

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB032260

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ALTER EGO #27

ALTER EGO #28

ALTER EGO #29

ALTER EGO #30

ALTER EGO #31

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, ISIS, 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, BLACKHAWK/JLA artist DICK DILLIN, the super-heroes 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!

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!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUN032614

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL032570

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG032604

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: SEP032620

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: OCT032843

ALTER EGO #32

ALTER EGO #33

ALTER EGO #34

ALTER EGO #35

ALTER EGO #36

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!

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!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV032695

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC032833

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN042879

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB042796

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR042972

ALTER EGO #37

ALTER EGO #38

ALTER EGO #39

ALTER EGO #40

ALTER EGO #41

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!

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!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: APR043055

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY043050

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUN042972

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL043386

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG043186

ALTER EGO #42

ALTER EGO #43

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

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 KUBERT, HASEN, ANDERSON, ORDWAY, BUCKLER, THOMAS, 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!

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!

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: SEP043043

(108-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: OCT043189

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV043080

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC042992

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN053133

ALTER EGO #47

ALTER EGO #48

ALTER EGO #49

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!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB053220

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR053331

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: APR053287

ALTER EGO #50 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) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY053172

ALTER EGO #54 ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

ALTER EGO #53

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!

(100-page magazine) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUN053345

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL053293

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG053328

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!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: SEP053301

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

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!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC053401

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN063429

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR063545

ALTER EGO #55 JACK and OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with SWAYZE and EMILIO SQUEGLIO, rare art by BECK, WARD, & 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 and ALEX WRIGHT covers!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: OCT053396

ALTER EGO #59 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 and VIC CARRABOTTA interviewed, SIEGEL & SHUSTER, RUSS MANNING, FCA, MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: APR063474

ALTER EGO #60

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

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!

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!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY063496

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: JUN063522

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG063690

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ALTER EGO #63

ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

ALTER EGO #66

ALTER EGO #67

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Never-before-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Articles about Toth by TERRY AUSTIN, JIM AMASH, SY BARRY, JOE KUBERT, LOU SAYRE SCHWARTZ, IRWIN HASEN, 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 1943 MARVEL CALENDAR!

NICK CARDY interviewed on his Golden & Silver Age work (with CARDY art), plus art

by WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, CARMINE INFANTINO, JIM APARO, RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and others, tributes to ERNIE SCHROEDER and DAVE COCKRUM, FCA with MARC SWAYZE, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. MONSTER, new CARDY COVER, and more!

Spotlight on BOB POWELL, the artist who drew Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Sheena, The Avenger, The Hulk, Giant-Man, and others, plus art by WALLY WOOD, HOWARD NOSTRAND, DICK AYERS, SIMON & KIRBY, MARTIN GOODMAN’s Magazine Management, 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, Shazam!, and more, plus art and artifacts by SHELLY MAYER, IRWIN HASEN, LEE ELIAS, C.C. BECK, CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, JULIE SCHWARTZ, etc., FCA with MARC SWAYZE & C.C. BECK, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on BOB POWELL Part II, and more!

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ALTER EGO #69

ALTER EGO #70

ALTER EGO #71

ALTER EGO #72

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 an homage to artist LILY RENÉE!

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, Thunderfist, and others, plus new INVADERS art by JOHN BYRNE, MIKE GRELL, RON LIM, and more, plus 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!

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ALTER EGO #76

FRANK BRUNNER on drawing Dr. Strange, interviews with CHARLES BIRO and his daughters, interview with publisher ROBERT GERSON about his 1970s horror comic Reality, art by BERNIE WRIGHTSON, GRAHAM INGELS, HOWARD CHAYKIN, 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 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!

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ALTER EGO #74 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!

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ALTER EGO #78 ALTER EGO #77 ST. JOHN ISSUE! Golden Age Tor cover by JOE KUBERT, KEN QUATTRO relates the full legend of St. John Publishing, art by KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, MATT BAKER, LILY RENEE, BOB LUBBERS, RUBEN MOREIRA, RALPH MAYO, AL FAGO, special reminiscences of ARNOLD DRAKE, Golden Age artist TOM SAWYER interviewed, and more!

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DAVE COCKRUM TRIBUTE! Great rare XMen cover, Cockrum tributes from contemporaries and colleagues, and an interview with PATY COCKRUM on Dave’s life and legacy on The Legion of Super-Heroes, The X-Men, Star-Jammers, & more! Plus an interview with 1950s Timely/Marvel artist MARION SITTON on his own incredible career and his Golden Age contemporaries!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Ships June 2008

ALTER EGO #79

ALTER EGO #80

SUPERMAN & HIS CREATORS! New cover

by MICHAEL GOLDEN, exclusive and revealing interview with JOE SHUSTER’s sister, JEAN SHUSTER PEAVEY—MIKE W. BARR on Superman the detective— DWIGHT DECKER on the Man of Steel & Hitler’s Third Reich—plus the NEMBO KID (Italian for “Superman”), art by BORING, SWAN, ADAMS, KANE, and others!

SWORD-AND-SORCERY COMICS! Learn about Crom the Barbarian, Viking Prince, Nightmaster, Kull, Red Sonja, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, Beowulf, Warlord, Dagar the Invincible, and more, with art by FRAZETTA, SMITH, BUSCEMA, KANE, WRIGHTSON, PLOOG, THORNE, BRUNNER, and more!

New cover by RAFAEL KAYANAN!

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12-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS: $78 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($108 First Class, $132 Canada, $180 Surface, $216 Airmail).

For a 6-issue sub, cut the price in half!

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

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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 an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE! 6-ISSUE SUBS: $40 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($54 First Class, $66 Canada, $90 Surface, $108 Airmail).

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!

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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!

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BACK ISSUE #9

BACK ISSUE #10

BACK ISSUE #11

BACK ISSUE #12

BACK ISSUE #13

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!

CARDY interview, ENGLEHART and MOENCH on kung-fu comics, “Pro2Pro” with STATON and CUTI on Charlton’s E-Man, pencil art gallery featuring MILLER, KUBERT, GIORDANO, SWAN, GIL KANE, COLAN, COCKRUM, and others, EISNER’s A Contract with God; “The Death of Romance (Comics)” (with art by ROMITA, SR. and TOTH), and more!

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BACK ISSUE #14

BACK ISSUE #15

BACK ISSUE #16

BACK ISSUE #17

BACK ISSUE #18

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!

“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 (on Green Arrow), PETER DAVID (on Incredible Hulk), a “Pro2Pro” chat between GERRY CONWAY and JOHN ROMITA, SR. (on the Green Goblin), and more. New cover

by NEAL ADAMS!

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BACK ISSUE #20

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BACK ISSUE #23

“Unsung Heroes!” DON NEWTON spotlight, STEVE GERBER and GENE COLAN on Howard the Duck, MIKE CARLIN and DANNY 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!

“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!

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BACK ISSUE #28

“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!

“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; an exclusive ALAN WEISS art gallery; spotlights on ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS; NIGHT FORCE; and more! New 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 PÉREZ, and more! New cover by DARWYN COOKE!

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(100-page magazine) $6.95 Ships May 2008

NEW STUFF FROM TWOMORROWS!

BACK ISSUE #29

ROUGH STUFF #9

WRITE NOW! #18

DRAW! #16

BRICKJOURNAL #2

“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; lost Angel stories; Beast’s tenure with the Avengers; the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor; the revelation of Nightcrawler’s “original” father; a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

Editor and pro inker BOB McLEOD features four interviews this issue: ROB HAYNES (interviewed by fellow professional TIM TOWNSEND), JOE JUSKO, MEL RUBI, and SCOTT WILLIAMS, with a new painted cover by JUSKO, and an article by McLEOD examining "Inkers: Who needs ’em?" along with other features, including a Rough Critique of RUDY VASQUEZ!

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 an in-depth interview and coverage of the creative process of HOWARD CHAYKIN, plus behind the drawing board and animation desk with JAY STEPHENS, more COMIC ART BOOTCAMP, this time focusing on HOW TO USE REFERENCE, and WORKING FROM PHOTOS by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, plus reviews, resources and more!

The ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages spotlights blockbuster summer movies, LEGO style! Go behind the scenes for new sets for BATMAN and INDIANA JONES, and see new models, including an SR-71 SPYPLANE and a LEGO CITY, plus MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATIONS, BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS, tour the ONLINE LEGO FACTORY, and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Ships July 2008 Diamond Order Code: MAY084263

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SILVER AGE SCI-FI COMPANION

BEST OF WRITE NOW!

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 3

Features highlights from the acclaimed magazine about writing for comics, including interviews from top talents, like: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, WILL EISNER, JEPH LOEB, STAN LEE, J. M. STRACZYNSKI, MARK WAID, GEOFF JOHNS, TODD McFARLANE, PAUL LEVITZ, AXEL ALONSO, and others! Plus “NUTS & BOLTS” tutorials feature scripts from landmark comics and the pencil art that was drawn from them, including: CIVIL WAR #1 (MILLAR & McNIVEN), BATMAN: HUSH #1 (LOEB & LEE), ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #47 (BENDIS & BAGLEY), AMAZING SPIDERMAN #539 (STRACZYNSKI & GARNEY), SPAWN #52 (McFARLANE & CAPULO), GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #1 (JOHNS & VAN SCRIVER), and more! Also: How-to articles by the best comics writers and editors around, professional secrets of top comics pros, and an introduction by STAN LEE! Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

Compiles more of the best tutorials and interviews from DRAW! #5-7, including: Penciling by MIKE WIERINGO! Illustration

by DAN BRERETON! Design by PAUL RIVOCHE! Drawing Hands, Lighting the Figure, and Sketching by BRET BLEVINS! Cartooning by BILL WRAY! Inking by MIKE MANLEY! Comics & Animation by STEPHEN DeSTEFANO! Digital Illustration

by CELIA CALLE and ALBERTO RUIZ! Caricature by ZACH TRENHOLM, and much more! Cover by DAN BRERETON!

(168-page tabloid-size trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905894 Diamond Order Code: JUL078147

In the Silver Age of Comics, space was the place, and this book summarizes, critiques and lovingly recalls the classic science-fiction series edited by JULIUS SCHWARTZ and written by GARDNER FOX and JOHN BROOME! The pages of DC’s science-fiction 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!

MODERN MASTERS VOLUME 16: MIKE ALLRED

LIMITED HARDCOVER EDITION (500 copies, ONLY available online) $34.95

(144-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905818 Diamond Order Code: JUL073885

(160-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905924 Diamond Order Code: FEB084082

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY084246

KIRBY FIVE-OH! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #50) 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.

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!

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

US

(256-page trade paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781893905917 Diamond Order Code: JAN083936

For the latest news from TwoMorrows Publishing, log on to www.twomorrows.com/tnt 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

BRICKJOURNAL (4 issues)

$32

$42

$50

$66

$78

Features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from Mike’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art!

By ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON. (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905863 Diamond Order Code: JAN083937

COMICS GO HOLLYWOOD Unveils secrets behind your FAVORITE ONSCREEN HEROES, and how a character goes from the comics page to the big screen! It includes: Storyboards from DC’s animated hit “THE NEW FRONTIER”, JEPH LOEB on writing for Marvel Comics and the Heroes TV show, details on the UNSEEN X-MEN MOVIE, a history of the JOKER from the 1940s to the upcoming Dark Knight film, and a look at Marvel Universe co-creator JACK KIRBY’s Hollywood career, with extensive Kirby art!

(32-page comic) FREE! at your local comics retailer on FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, May 3, 2008!

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