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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Vol. 3, No. 9 / July 2001 ™

Editor Roy Thomas

Associate Editor Bill Schelly

Design & Layout Christopher Day

Consulting Editors John Morrow Jon B. Cooke

John Romita Section

FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck

Comics Crypt Editor Michael T. Gilbert

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

Cover Artists John Romita, Dick Giordano

Cover Color Tom Ziuko

Mailing Crew Russ Garwood, Glen Musial, Ed Stelli, Pat Varker, Loston Wallace

And Special Thanks to: Jim Amash Jorge Iván Argiz Dick Ayers Mike W. Barr Mark Beachum Al Bigley Jerry K. Boyd Mike Burkey Sal Buscema Bart Bush Steven Butler Mike Catron Arnie Charkeno Dave Cockrum Gene Colan Ray A. Cuthbert Al Dellinges Rich Donnelly Shelton Drum Michael Feldman Ramona Fradon Jorge Santamaria Garcia Donald F. Glut Jennifer T. Go Rick Hoberg Alan Holtz Dave Hoover Adam Hughes Rafael Kayanan Robert Knuist Jon B. Knutson Paul Levitz

Scott McCloud Jesus Merino Brian K. Morris Bill Morrison Eric NolenWeathington George Olshevsky Jerry Ordway Ken Quattro Tom Palmer Fred Patten John G. Pierce Bud Plant Bradley C. Rader Ethan Roberts John & Virginia Romita John Romita Jr. Marie Severin Jeff Sharpe Dave Sim Joe Sinnott Tod Smith Joe Staton Robert Strawiery Marc Swayze Maggie Thompson Frank Travellin Herb Trimpe George Tuska James Van Hise Michael J. Vassallo Ed Zeno Mike Zeno

Contents Writer/Editorial: Eight Is Enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Alter Ego goes to eight times a year. Shades of 1960s DC! Fifty Years on the “A” List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Jazzy Johnny Romita, Marvel’s art director supreme, interviewed by Rascally Roy Thomas. The Golden Age of Comic Fandom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Bill Schelly moderates a look back at fandom’s roots in the 1960s and ’70s. Special Section on Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects, FCA, & Comic Crypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us! About Our Cover: John Romita had hoped to finish a brand new piece of art to be the cover of this issue. However, he’s been so busy with projects for Marvel and others—even though he’s officially “retired”—that at the last minute he had to beg off. So we assembled one of our trademark montages: a 1980 self-portrait, amid a frame of many (though far from all) of the Marvel super-heroes he’s drawn at one time or another. The framing art, according to Romita connoisseur Mike Burkey (who provided it) was previously used only as the back cover of a trade paperback in the 1970s. [Self-portrait ©2001 John Romita; Marvel art ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Red Sonja ©2001 Red Sonja Properties, Inc.] Above: This more humorous portrait by John R. of himself with the cast of The Amazing Spider-Man has been printed several times, beginning in Marvel’s own fan-mags. But somehow, we just couldn’t bear to leave it out! [©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.] Alter EgoTM is published 8x a year by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; E-mail: roydann@oburg.net. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues: $5.95 ($7.00 Canada, $9.00 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US, $27 Canada, $37 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

writer/editorial writer/editorial

Eight Is Enough! A

(...And All That Jazz—Including Jazzy Johnny Romita) drum-roll, if you please. Maybe even a toot on a trumpet.

Before we begin our humongous interview with John Romita, I’m proud and happy to announce that, beginning this issue, Alter Ego changes its publication schedule from quarterly to—not six times a year, but eight. Why? Well, mostly it has to do with all this great material that’s been pouring in since A/E became a full-fledged mag again. I’ve had early contributions from Mike Gold, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Fred Patten, and others sitting on the shelf for the past two years— and I didn’t see the situation getting any better. Au contraire, I was getting more and more fine contribs from pros, fans, collectors... not to mention things I’d turn up on my own. Things were backing up. The answer, obviously, was increased frequency.

the employ of Stan Lee and Martin Goodman after an absence of 7-8 years, while I was new to the field. Yet, in a certain sense, I’ve always felt we were roughly complementary to each other, and—more than that— that we represented a kind of sea change in the life of Marvel Comics. Stan, of course, with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko in particular, had been gearing up slowly at Marvel with Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, etc., over the preceding four years. Even after the success of FF, false starts had still been the order of the day: a six-issue run for The Incredible Hulk... the lone Amazing Fantasy #15... AntMan/Giant-Man... a clunkylooking, grey-shelled Iron Man... a lackluster Human Torch series. All the same, John’s and my joining Stan’s parade happily coincided with the period when Marvel was, as he told John by phone, “starting to move.”

But frankly, what finally pushed me toward eight, rather than half a dozen, issues per year was one Jim Amash. Jim, a youngish inker for Archie and other companies who lives in North Carolina (seems a lot of TwoMorrows personnel these days dwell in one Carolina or the other—must be something in the air), has an enthusiasm for Golden Age comics that belies his years, and kept asking me if I’d mind if he interviewed this creator or that. After I saw the stellar job he did on the first one—which will see print next issue—I gave him an unequivocal green light.

In mid-to-late 1965, Stan and the crew were preparing material that represented a growth spurt in both quantity and quality. The “Galactus Trilogy” in FF... the magnificent ThorHercules-Pluto serial in Journey into Mystery... new art and story heights in Spidey... the climax of Wally Wood’s brief run on Daredevil... it was an exciting time, and John and I were fortunate enough to parachute down right into the middle of it: I, to gradually take over the writing of series as Stan relinquished them (Sgt. Fury, The X-Men, The Avengers); and John to draw first the rising star Daredevil and then, most spectacularly, to inherit Spider-Man and help finally push that book over the top to become Marvel’s best-selling comic. Eventually I became editorin-chief under Stan, only the fourth in Marvel’s first third of a century—and John soon assumed the official mantle of art director.

Still, that meant that, with Jim’s output added to that of Bill Schelly, Michael T. Gilbert, and P.C. Hamerlinck, on top of my own, a quarterly A/E was going to become increasingly backlogged. So, when publisher John Morrow agreed the time was ripe, and with Christopher Day aboard (as of V3#8) as layout man, we bit the bullet. This issue is coming out a bit less than three months after #8—and #10 will come out only two months after this one. As for the two extra issues a year, my guess is that we’ll sandwich them in at “peak” times of the year... just like DC used to do with Superman, Batman, Flash, et al., back in the 1960s. See? Even when we make a move in the 21st century, we can’t help tying it in to the Golden and/or Silver Age of Comics. The real star of this issue, of course, is John Romita.

For nearly a decade, John and I were invisibly yoked as Stan’s artistic and writer/editorial prosthetic devices, carrying out The Man’s will and, yes, even whims in our twin areas of endeavor. But while I stepped down as editor-in-chief in 1974, John remained as art director and, later, as art director for special projects, all the way to his (and wife/traffic manager Virginia’s) retirement bash in 1996. This guy not only had talent—he had staying power! More than any artist except Jack Kirby, John Romita is the embodiment of the Marvel artist.

[Left to right:] John Romita at the Orlando MegaCon 2000 with a few friends: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, Munificent Mike Burkey, and Smilin’ Stan Lee—plus some guy in a mask and union suit. Pencil sketch is courtesy of Mike, who says it’s a “cool unpublished Spider-Man/MJ Valentines card art, which John still hopes will eventually be published!” Wait no longer, John—though Alter Ego isn’t necessarily the venue you had in mind for showing off Mary Jane’s new hairstyle. Photo courtesy of (who else?) Mike Burkey. [Art ©2001 John Romita; Spider-Man & MJ ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

I’ll admit I’ve always felt an odd connection with the Jazzy One (as Stan used to call in him in the Bullpen Bulletins). I find something symbolic in the fact that John and I came to work at Marvel in the Summer of 1965 within two weeks of each other. John was returning to

Mike Burkey thinks so, too.

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Over the past decade or so, this avid fan has amassed one of the largest collections of art by a single comics artist—namely, John Romita. Mike currently owns some 3000 pieces of art penciled, inked, or both by John. He generously made that collection available to us. With that added to a few pieces from Jeff Sharpe and Al Bigley, plus art we reproduced from the comics themselves—most notably from John’s splendid 1953-54 run on “Captain America”—we found our cup positively running over. Again and again, painful choices had to be made as to what to use, what to drop. For every piece of art that appears this issue, there were several more—many of them equally beautiful, even equally important—that we simply could not print.

except our letters section and “The All-Star Compendium,” whose additions and corrections to our trade paperback The All-Star Companion will have to wait till next issue to be completed... and recent addition Jerry de Fuccio.

We had also scheduled sidebars with Virginia Romita and John’s son John Jr., both of whom have had notable careers of their own. But at the last minute we realized we couldn’t really do them justice, so we’re holding off their comments for a future issue, when Mike Burkey gives a “guided tour” of more of his Romita art.

P.C. Hamerlinck has put together yet another banner edition of FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), with the usual (but welcome) suspects Marc Swayze and C.C. Beck, and guest-starring George Tuska.

One parting Romita note: You’ll notice that nowhere in this issue, outside of this sentence, does the phrase “John Romita Sr.” appear. That is by design. Since 1953 I’ve been ogling the signature “John Romita” on artwork, and I couldn’t see appending a “Senior” appellation at this late date, whatever others may do. The “Jr.” tag on his son’s name seems to me to be a clear enough differentiation between them. This is certainly not to slight John Jr., who has become one of the best artists in the field... but it represents my own firm conviction that John Romita needs no qualifier of any kind attached to his name. I doubt if John Jr. would disagree. All of which doesn’t leave much room to talk about the rest of the issue. Well, actually, there’s a separate writer/editorial in the flip section about my “dream projects” section—but at least we’ve found room to squeeze in what could be considered A/E’s regular “departments”... all

Michael T. Gilbert presents the first part of a two-issue focus on Wayne Boring, probably the second artist in the world to draw Superman... and one of the most important. Partly to celebrate the anniversary of Alter Ego (forty years old this past March/April!), Bill Schelly recounts his “Golden Age of Comic Fandom” panel from last year’s San Diego Con.

All three of these guys have full-fledged trade paperbacks just out or forthcoming from TwoMorrows, as well, from the Alter Ego launchpad: Michael’s Mr. Monster: His Books of Forbidden Knowledge, Vol. Zero—P.C.’s Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA—and Bill Schelly’s imminent Sense of Wonder, which deals with his personal journey through comics fandom in the 1960s and ’70s. Congrats on the books, guys! But now we’d better get to work on the next issue of A/E! After all, starting here and now, we’re gonna be presenting twice as much amazing artwork and behind-the-scenes info per year as before! You know something? Maybe the Golden Age of Comic Fandom never really ended, at all...! Bestest,

Fifty Years On The “A” List

A Candid Conversation With Marvel Artist/Art Director Supreme

John Romita A 1996 Romita Spider-Man sketch, flanked by Jazzy Johnny hard at work in 1967 amid furniture he made himself (“I must’ve been crazy!” he says). [Photo courtesy of and art ©2001 John Romita; Spider-Man ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

ROY THOMAS: Okay, John, just to get it out of the way—you were born in Brooklyn in 1930, right? JOHN ROMITA: Yeah. Just maybe five years too early—no, too late. Because one of my biggest regrets is that I wasn’t in the first generation of comic artists. While I was in junior high school, Joe Kubert, who’s only a few years older than me, got in on it, doing “Hawkman”! RT: Of course, if you’d had your wish, you’d be a decade older. ROMITA: Yeah, I’d be eighty now. [laughs] I started drawing when I was five. Parents and relatives say, “Ooh” and “Ahh” and how great it is, and you continue drawing because you like to get the pats on the back. I was a street performer when I was about ten. The gang of kids I hung out with used to scrounge bits of plaster from torn-down

Conducted by Roy Thomas Transcribed by Brian K. Morris with special thanks to Mike Burkey buildings, because we couldn’t afford chalk, and I would draw on the streets. Once I did a 100-foot Statue of Liberty, starting at one manhole and finishing at the next. That was the distance between manholes in Brooklyn. RT: “From sewer to shining sewer,” huh? ROMITA: People were coming from other neighborhoods to see it and hoping it wouldn’t rain. I also used to draw Superman, Batman—all the super-heroes that were coming out. [Virginia Romita says something in the background.] Virginia reminds me, as she always does, that I also became the source of little drawings of nude girls for all the boys in the neighborhood. Guys would beg me to do them, and she would say she was disappointed in me for doing those drawings. She was nine when I was eleven. Actually, she caused me to stop doing them.

A Candid Conversation With John Romita

When they did plays at the school auditorium, I was stuck with doing the backgrounds and scenery. Once they taped a huge roll of wrapping paper along the entire school corridor, and I did a mural down both sides of all the heroes I knew of, even Zorro, Flash Gordon, and Tarzan. RT: The comics pros a little older than you had grown up before Superman, so when they started drawing super-heroes, it wasn’t as natural a thing to them. ROMITA: Yeah, but they probably did Washington and Lincoln, like I did. I became a celebrity in school. I used to carve Lincoln heads, Mickey Mouse, things like that, out of cakes of soap. When I was 12-13, my buddies thought we were gonna go into business. They actually broke into the basement of a Turkish bath to get me a boxful of soap, so help me! I can still see this one kid half a block down the street in the tenement section of Brooklyn—you could see for two blocks, no trees, no nothing—there’s a policeman talking to him, and this kid—his name was Louie McDuff and he was a real weasel—was practically in tears. I can see him pointing to my house and telling the cop, “That’s the guy who told me to get the soap.” I never asked him to get the soap—I just stayed there in the cellar. I thought I was going to be arrested for

stealing a box of soap! When I was choosing a high school, somebody told me about the School of Industrial Arts in the city, where you were taught by professional artists. That captured my imagination. My local priest wanted me to go to a Catholic high school and later become a priest, but I wasn’t going to give up girls. But one of my buddies, who was doing full-color posters when I was just doing line-art stuff—truthfully, he was much better than I was—he advised me, “John, you shouldn’t waste your time going to the School of Industrial Arts. You’re not polished enough.” He went to the same school I did, and he never, ever made a living at artwork. [laughs] RT: Some people have talent but never get it together to actually do anything with it. ROMITA: On my 17th birthday I graduated from high school and I got a job right away. This wealthy anesthesiologist at Manhattan General Hospital was creating a new branch of medicine called pneumatology, and he hired me at sixty bucks a week, which was a fortune to me, to do

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel

The Golden Age Of Comic Fandom Panel San Diego Comics Convention - July 22, 2000 Edited and Abridged by Bill Schelly

Transcription by Jon B. Knutson

[INTRODUCTION: With the year 2001 marking the 40th anniversary of Alter Ego, and by my reckoning the 40th anniversary of comics fandom as we know it, it’s only fitting that we showcase this panel discussion of fandom’s early days by a group of its founders and most active participants. It was my great pleasure to moderate, though I hasten to add I was not the one who named it after my own book. That was the doing of Gary Sassaman, director of programming for Comic-Con International: San Diego.—Bill S.]

the person who first assisted on, then took over, the legendary comics advertising fanzine Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector from Gordon Love.

BILL SCHELLY: Welcome to the Golden Age of Comic Fandom panel, where we have the opportunity to explore comicdom’s origins

Michael T. Gilbert, who got involved in fandom in the late 1960s, was first drawn to comics of the 1940s, which were still shrouded in mystery because there was no body of literature to consult about them. I guess it’s logical that he would become best-known for a hero he would develop from an obscure Golden Age comic character by the name of Mr. Monster. Finally we have Paul Levitz, who told me he “kind of sneaked in at the end of fandom’s Golden Age.” He began at the top,

A triptych of photos taken (under less than ideal circumstances) by Mike Catron at the Comic Fandom Panel. From left to right: Bill Schelly, Fred Patten, Maggie Thompson, Roy Thomas, James Van Hise, Michael T. Gilbert, Paul Levitz. [Photos ©2001 Mike Catron.]

beginning in 1961 before there were comic book conventions, or price guides, or really any way for fans to get in touch with other fans. Until then, most fans appreciated comics on their own, and their relatives thought they were nuts. Fandom has been a godsend to all of us; and we should remember that our panelists, and many, many hundreds of other people, did a lot of the work to get it started. I’ll begin by briefly introducing each of our panelists: Fred Patten’s roots go back to science fiction fandom in the late 1950s. He went on to write for many comics fanzines in the 1960s, including Alter Ego. Fred was also central mailer of the first comics amateur press alliance, Capa-Alpha, for several years. Maggie Thompson, a talented cartoonist, was co-editor with her late husband Don of the fanzine Comic Art, and is a long-time columnist and editor of Comics Buyer’s Guide. Roy Thomas was the co-founder of the fanzine Alter Ego, and the first well-known comics fan to graduate to pro comics. James Van Hise is best known as the author of dozens of books about comics and other aspects of popular culture. As a member of fandom beginning in 1963, however, he will always be remembered as

taking over the publishing reins of The Comic Reader, the first and most important fanzine that published news of upcoming pro comics. Today, of course, he serves as vice-president and publisher of DC Comics.

As for myself, I got into fandom in 1964, published a fanzine called Sense of Wonder, and in recent years have been researching fandom’s past. I believe this is the first time a panel has been put together of this caliber on the subject of fandom’s history, with a stellar assemblage from its first decade. It’s a kind of historical event in its own right. Let’s begin with Maggie and Fred—because a big part of the beginning of comics fandom was the stream of fans who came in through the already-existing science-fiction fandom. Maggie, how did you first hear about comics fandom? MAGGIE THOMPSON: Well, we didn’t hear about a comics fandom, because there wasn’t a comics fandom to hear about. There had been publications that dealt at least tangentially with comics for some time in the science-fiction universe. Dave Kyle, for example, had a prototype that involved his enthusiasm about Flash Gordon; so, by some definition, that is a comics fanzine. My parents did a fanzine in the late 1940s called The Cricket, because they had seen comic books in 1947 and 1948 that they thought were cool, and they tried to tell their friends about it, to no avail. EC fandom came and went, but there was no continuing nucleus of people which slowly grew and grew into an

The Golden Age of Fandom Panel

41 of super-hero comics when we were 9-12 years old, and thought it was cool they were coming back. Then we were very impressed when Marvel’s stuff started. Stan Lee had his own very irreverent approach, and he set his stories in New York rather than mythical cities. That appealed to us.

amoebae-like parasite, which took over the universe of the eclectic until much later. BILL: Maybe you could tell us about the 1960 World Con in Pittsburgh, where some people were talking about forming a comics fandom? THOMPSON: Well, the people was us! What happened was, there was a costume competition, followed by a banquet. After the banquet, Don and I were sitting with Hal Lynch and (I believe) Bill Thailing. We looked around the room full of people who shared our enthusiasm about science-fiction and wondered, “Gee, could there be anything like this about comics? Wouldn’t that be great?” We actually conducted a correspondence with Hal Lynch in which we discussed what it would be called. We didn’t think we could call it fandom, because fandom was science-fiction fandom. Hal suggested the word “comdom,” but then said maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. [laughs]

BILL: [Holds up a copy of The Golden Age of Comic Fandom with photos of sf fans dressed as members of the JSA] Would you tell us how these photos came about? I don’t know if we can get Fred to re-enact this pose for us now... [laughter] but there was one time you wore a Flash costume at a World Con.

PATTEN: That was mainly Bruce Pelz’ idea. Bruce, Ted Johnstone, and Jack Harness were three of the most active fanzine publishers in the LASFS. They decided they wanted to make a spectacular showing at the masquerade event at the 1962 World Con in Cleveland, and they The cover of Comic Art #1 (“Spring 1961”). needed other warm bodies to fill the costumes. Alter-Ego #1 (“March 1961”) seems to have hit So I became the Golden Age Flash. Someone the mails slightly earlier, but the Thompsons’ It was comics’ time. At that World Con, else made the costume for me. We borrowed fanzine had been in the work months longer. Dick and Pat Lupoff attended the masquerade [©2001 Maggie Thompson.] someone’s father’s World War I doughboy as Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel. They helmet and spray-painted it silver. In our group were distributing free copies of their fanzine Xero, which had the first we had Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, and a few installment of a series about old comics called “All in Color for a Dime.” more. However, we didn’t see Xero #1 at that convention; somehow we missed BILL: Now that we’ve heard a bit about the ways science-fiction fans it. But, when we got home from the con, Don and I—we were dating, so began to express an interest in comics, let’s go to Roy Thomas for the I was Maggie Curtis then—decided to do a fanzine about comics. We story of how he met Jerry Bails. distributed a one-page flyer called Harbinger, in which we said, “We’re going to do a fanzine; if you’re interested send us a postcard, and we’ll ROY THOMAS: In late 1961 I wrote letters of comment to editor send you the first issue.” That was in October of 1960, and Comic Art Julius Schwartz about issues of Justice League of America, The Flash, came out the following year, primarily to a readership of science-fiction and Green Lantern, the hot new comics at the time. Julie wrote back fans. We didn’t know anything about what Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas that since I mentioned I had been a Justice Society fan as a kid, I might and that other crowd were up to. enjoy writing to the man who had written the JSA—and who was now BILL: Also from the Eisenhower era and science-fiction fandom, we writing JLA. He sent me Gardner Fox’s home address! It’s hard to have Fred Patten. imagine an editor today sending a fan somebody’s home address, but he just did it. I FRED PATTEN: My first personal experience wrote a letter to Gardner, which I’m embarwith fandom was when the World Con came to rassed to say still exists. To my query about Los Angeles, where I lived, in 1958. I met other back issues of All-Star Comics, he said, “I sold fans through that con, and eventually joined the the ones I had a couple of years ago to a guy Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society around 1960, named Jerry Bails, who lives in Detroit.” when I was in college. The LASFS was a sciencefiction club started in Los Angeles in 1934; it had Gardner gave me Jerry’s address and I been meeting weekly since 1939. Forrest J. immediately wrote to him. I got Jerry’s Ackerman was one of its biggest organizers. response a couple of days after my twentieth When I joined, I remember there were whole birthday, in November 1960. He even sent me bunches of fanzines lying around to read, as well complete and quasi-complete issues of All-Star as books and magazines. #4, 5 and 6, with a current street value of maybe $2,000 even in that condition—a gift! BILL: When did you realize the super-heroes were coming back in the comics? BILL: How did Alter Ego get started? PATTEN: We didn’t really become aware of it until about the time Green Lantern and The Atom came along. A lot of us who were sf fans spotted the science-fiction references that [DC editor] Julius Schwartz put into his stories. I think the first issues of Green Lantern and Atom had references. Like The Atom’s secret identity was Ray Palmer [actual name of a famous sf writer and fan], and stuff like that. We responded to that. Some of us remembered we had been fans

Fred Patten in 1962, in the costume he wore at the World Science-Fiction Convention. See Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, as well, in Bill Schelly’s The Golden Age of Comic Fandom.

THOMAS: Like Maggie mentioned, it’s since been documented that Don and others were saying at a World Con that they wanted to start a comics fandom, but we didn’t know anything about that. Jerry was interested in pushing the JLA comic. He wanted to do a publication called The JLA Subscriber, which would be available only to people who could prove they subscribed to JLA. I was skeptical of this, because the last comic I’d subscribed to was

Roy Thomas’ Dream Projects

All Of Roy Thomas “Dream Projects” Had Come True? by Roy Thomas (who else?) In one sense, this long, four-part article was suggested by the readers of Alter Ego and of the comics I’ve written over the years—intrepid souls who, in recent years, have come up to me at comics conventions (or sent me a letter or e-mail) asking me, in so many words: “Why aren’t you writing any stories with the JSA/All-Star Squadron (or The Invaders, The Avengers, or Shazam!) any more? Don’t you want to do any more with those characters?” I haven’t made a survey, but I’d wager that quite a few of my artist and writer contemporaries from the ’60s, ’70s, and even ’80s get asked the same type of questions about their own earlier areas of endeavor—Marv Wolfman about Dracula, Denny O’Neil

about Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Steve Englehart about Captain America, etc. This is my way of answering those questions—illustrating my responses with some great-looking art. What follows are a few of the concepts which I’ve submitted—in vain, as it turned out—to this company or that. I decided to limit myself for the most part to showcasing those unrealized “dream projects” which involve heroes I first encountered during my comics-reading childhood in the latter 1940s: The Justice Society of America (plus my later augmentation of same, the All-Star Squadron); Captain Marvel and

For Collector’s Dream Magazine #5 (1978), Franco Reyes drew this lavish two-page portrait of Ye Writer/Editor and some of the Marvel heroes he’d scripted up to that point. Artful Al Dellinges has obligingly covered over a few of the Marvel stalwarts with adapted renditions of DC stars. (We’ll ignore the fact that Roy is 23 years older now and no longer wears beads around his throat.) Special thanks to CDM’s publisher George Olshevsky; the original art is from RT’s personal collection. [Art ©2001 George Olshevsky & Franco Reyes; Captain America & Bucky, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Thor, Scarlet Witch ©2001 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel ©2001 DC Comics.]

Warts, Schwartz, And All

I no longer have that script, but it was written as All-Star Comics #58 (surprise, surprise), continuing the numbering of my all-time favorite comic, which had been discontinued in 1950. The basic premise and plotline of “The War That Never Happened!” was unabashedly lifted from a story of the same name and general story in Wonder Woman #60 (July-Aug. 1953). In my scenario, the JSA (expanding on Diana’s role in the original) are called in by the scientist Paula. In her “futuray,” which seems basically a souped-up version of Queen Hippolyta’s Magic Sphere, they behold images of an Earth reduced to rubble by World War III, ten years in the future. The All-Stars travel all the way to 1964 or ’65 to fight on America’s side, breaking into teams as per the later SchwartzBroome All-Stars. I took my tale’s climax nakedly from the original comic, with Wonder Woman finding a way to stop the war from ever beginning: She prevents an auto accident which had kept US delegates from getting to a crucial conference in time to vote against going to war. (Hey, don’t blame me! I didn’t write the original story—chances are Bob Kanigher did! But I liked it.) I had fun writing the script, but I doubt I ever showed it to anyone.

B. Jerry Thomas Lives! As it happens, the second unillustrated script I remember writing was actually submitted (unsolicited) to DC—to editor Julius Schwartz, to be precise. The cover and panels from five stories in All Giant Comics #1, done when RT was seven, with Elephant Giant, King O’Mighty, Goliath, Giant Caveman (wearing Flash’s helmet), and Black Giant. [©2001 Roy Thomas; like anybody’s gonna steal it!]

company; and the Timely/Marvel “Big Three” of Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner, whom in 1975 I combined as The Invaders. Besides ideas involving Golden Age heroes, however, there are a few others on my list—pet proposals involving the Justice League, the KreeSkrull War, and one or two additional bits of flotsam and jetsam from my four-color past, as you’ll see.

As a few doddering oldsters may recall, in Jerry G. Bails’ original 1961 Alter-Ego fanzine, at age twenty, I wrote and drew a parody of the JLA called “Bestest League of America.” Later, in Justice League of America #16 (Dec. 1962), Julie and author Gardner Fox paid Jerry and me

But let’s start back in the ’40s and ’50s, when the very idea that I would one day be a professional comic book writer and/or editor would have been an “impossible dream” project, in and of itself...

Part I WARTS, SCHWARTZ, AND ALL A. All-Star Comics #58—Two Decades Early! Though I drew my first crudely-executed comics in 1948 at age seven—a multi-story, 50-page All Giant Comics, one of whose heroes, Goliath, was visually based on the depiction of that Biblical bad-guy in the then-recent All-Star Comics #38—my first attempt to write a script, as opposed to both writing and drawing a story, was made in 1954 or ’55. Ostensibly, the major subject of Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer’s 1954 Comic Book Illustrators Instruction Course, Lesson One (and, as it turned out, Only), was drawing the human head. But it also sported examples of two panels in script form, which I used as my template. (For this and other pages of the Course, see Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection, currently available from TwoMorrows.)

Irwin Hasen drew the cover of Wonder Woman #60. Inside, “The War That Never Happened!”—whose history-altering denouement is shown here—was the work of a tiring H.G. Peter. The 1953 issue was reprinted in 1977—as a premium given away by Pizza Hut! A zillion thanks to collector Bart Bush for gifting Roy with what amounts to a copy of a comic he hadn’t owned or even seen in nearly half a century! [©2001 DC Comics.]

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt

Wayne Boring Superman And Beyond by Michael T. Gilbert tone of Boring’s caricatures is understandable. In the article, the artist had this to say: “I enjoyed working with National Periodicals for years. This was a good company until the original builders started leaving. I worked for years with Jack Schiff, editor. When Kinney took over, I was in a box with Mort Weisinger. I bowed out due to editorial stupidity. My Sunday and daily strips had folded, anyway, which was my main effort.” There may have been more to it than that. Comics expert Michael Feldman recently cited a 1983 interview, conducted by Richard Pachter in Boring’s Fort Lauderdale home. In it, Boring tells of being fired by Superman editor Mort Weisinger. Astonished, Boring muttered, “You mean I’m not working for you anymore?” Weisinger repeated, “You’re fired!” Boring persisted, “Fired? What do you mean? All you’ve got to do is stop sending me scripts!” Wayne Boring at work, as seen in Coronet magazine, June 1954. The original caption read: “Boring’s drawings are from memory.” [©2001 the respective copyright holder.]

Those familiar with Wayne Boring’s comic book work may be surprised to discover his lengthy secondary career as a syndicated cartoonist. Boring’s newspaper connections began early. In fact, he was doing layout work for one paper, The Virginia Pilot, when he spotted a want-ad placed by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman. Boring answered it, and his life was changed forever. By 1938 he was assisting the two on such DC series as “Spy,” “Federal Men,” “Slam Bradley,” and of course “Superman”! Boring is said to have been only the second artist to work on the legendary character. The bulk of his work on the Man of Steel began that year, ending around 1968 when DC changed ownership and fired many of their longtime writers and artists. It was a brutal time for many. In 1973 the Canadian fanzine Now & Then Times published an excellent article on the cartoonist by a young Dave Sim, future creator of Cerebus the Aardvark. Accompanying the piece were two scathing editorial cartoons by Boring, drawn especially for the magazine. Each reflects his lingering ill feelings towards the company for which he had worked for three decades. We’re reprinting both cartoons here as a rare behind-the-scenes look, drawn by a loyal company man, who felt abandoned after a lifetime of service. Seen in that light, the bitter

To which Weisinger replied, “Do you need a kick in the stomach to know when you’re not wanted?” If the story is true, it was a rough way to lose your job after decades of loyal service. Judging by one of the cartoons reprinted here, Boring was well aware of the earlier shabby treatment of his old bosses, Siegel and Shuster. Luckily, Wayne Boring had other options besides comic books. Throughout his career, the artist had a long history of illustrating newspaper strips, working primarily on the Superman strip from 1939-1950, and again from 1959-1967. The day after Boring was sacked by Weisinger, he contacted Hal Foster and became Foster’s first assistant on Prince Valiant. Of Foster, Boring wrote: “Foster was okay, but a perfectionist. I did all those damn castles, snow in the forest and the boats and storms at sea.” Wayne later worked with John Prentice on Rip Kirby, another newspaper strip, and with Sam Leff on Davy Jones. The latter had a strange history, as comics historian Alan Holtz relates in a recent note:

“Wayne Boring had the dubious distinction of putting the venerable Joe Jinks strip into Davy Jones’ locker (literally). Joe’s Car, which began in 1918, switched titles to Joe Jinks in 1928, then to Curly Kayoe in 1945, then to Buttons in 1959. The final title, Davy

Wayne Boring: Superman and Beyond

The main players in the above cartoon appear to be DC co-publisher Jack Liebowitz holding Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in a stranglehold. In the foreground, editor Mort Weisinger talks about “grabbing a Superman synopsis for a Batman yarn”; this is most likely a reference to his reported habit of rejecting a plot from one writer, then handing it to another to script as if it were Weisinger’s idea! The two folks behind Liebowitz, according to retired DC editor (and Mort Weisinger’s longtime friend) Julius Schwartz, are probably editor Jack Schiff and one Herbie Siegel, who had evidently done original DC publisher Harry Donenfeld a great favor in his Spicy pulp days, and afterward had a job at the company for life—though Julie says he had no real function there. [Art ©2001 the estate of Wayne Boring; Superman ©2001 DC Comics.]

Jones, came in 1961, and Boring handled the art from 1968-71. That, mercifully, was the strip’s last gasp (if I may stretch the metaphor).” Whew! On the next two pages we’re reprinting a sample of that strip, and a rare Wayne Boring photo that appeared in the June 1954 issue of Coronet magazine. While we’re at it, we’ll also pull out a sample of The Awful World of Ticker Tynn, an unsold sci-fi strip Boring drew in 1966 at the request of the Toronto Star Syndicate. It would have been a bit of “wink-worthy” irony if he’d snagged the job. When Siegel and Shuster created Superman, they originally named Clark Kent’s newspaper The Daily Star rather than the better-known (but later) Daily Planet. And they may have named it after that very Toronto newspaper! Hmmm... I wonder if Mr. Boring’s wife, Lois (!), would have appreciated the irony! [Michael T. Gilbert, writer/artist of the recent book Mr. Monster: His Books of Forbidden Knowledge, Volume Zero from TwoMorrows, extends a special tip of Mr. Monster’s cowl to Ken Quattro, Dave Sim, Arnie Charkeno, Alan Holtz, Ray A. Cuthbert, and Michael Feldman for contribution art and information regarding this article.] The cartoon at left shows editor Weisinger looming behind (and holding the wrists of) Wayne Boring. The nervous figure crouching behind the drawing board is presumably artist/inker Stan Kaye. Though well drawn, Boring’s depiction of DC in the “good old days” is not a pretty picture! [Art ©2001 the estate of Wayne Boring.]

COMING IN AUGUST:

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• New painted cover by JERRY ORDWAY! • Index of ALL FAWCETT COMICS PUBLISHED from 1940-1953! • Behind-the-scenes looks INSIDE THE FAWCETT OFFICES, showing how their comics were created in the Golden Age! • Interviews and features on C.C. BECK, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, MARC SWAYZE, OTTO BINDER, PETE COSTANZA, ROSCOE FAWCETT, AL ALLARD, WILL LIEBERSON, ROD REED, GINNY PROVISIERO, cast members of the Captain Marvel serial and Shazam! TV show, and others! • Commentary and essays by onetime FCA editor C.C. BECK! • Rare and previously unpublished artwork by BECK, SWAYZE, SCHAFFENBERGER, MAC RABOY, DAVE BERG, ALEX TOTH, BOB OKSNER, GEORGE EVANS, A.J. HANLEY, ALEX ROSS, a Foreword by SWAYZE, and more!

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We Didn’t Know...

The Phantom Eagle... and Wow Comics, the romances... all Fawcett comics... gone! Flyin’ Jenny, too, took off down the runway... up into the clouds... gone! On the other hand, I had married the girl I wanted, had four of the children I wanted, the house I wanted, the hobby I wanted. As I’ve said, comics were good to me. It was still the Golden Age!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: From 1942 to 1953, Marcus D. Swayze was one of Fawcett’s top comic book artists. He was the first artist to bring Mary Marvel to life on the drawing board, but he was hired primarily to illustrate (and write) “Captain Marvel” stories. After returning from military service, he freelanced from his Louisiana home, where he produced art and stories for “The Phantom Eagle” in Wow Comics and for many of Fawcett’s romance comics, in addition to drawing Bell Syndicate’s Flyin’ Jenny newspaper comic strip, which had been created by his mentor and friend, Russell Keaton. Marc’s ongoing professional memoirs have been a vital part of FCA (and our most popular feature) since his first column appeared in issue #54, 1996. This issue, Marc discusses his work for Charlton Comics shortly after Fawcett dropped its comic book department in 1953, and the people he met there—including, briefly, Jack Cole. —P.C. Hamerlinck.]

Toward the end of 1954 I found myself exchanging correspondence with a man I didn’t know, regarding a subject with which I was scarcely familiar, and a company that rang only a faint bell in my memory. The man was Ed Levy, co-owner of Charlton Publications. Quoting from Levy’s letter of December 14, “... we can use a satisfactory artist of comics experience here in Derby...”

When we speak of—and write about—the Golden Age of Comics, it’s easy to agree that it was the fun age, and that it began around 1939 or ’40. Aside from the historians and scholars, however, who may have established something definite, there doesn’t appear to have been a lot of compromise as to its finale. Seems to have been a personal matter in some cases. It was in mine. I’ve associated it with my own career in comics. But I’ve had second thoughts about that. If the Golden Age hadn’t already slipped away by 1955, then at least the gold had begun to tarnish. I could have unpleasant thoughts about the ten years that followed my 1944 retreat to the Southland. But I don’t. Just look at it. Captain Marvel, as we had known him, disappeared. So did Mary Marvel... and

Letter to Swayze from Charlton Comics president Ed Levy, 12/13/54... courtesy of the artist.

Here in Derby. That was interesting. It so happened that I was working with the people at Bell Syndicate, making revisions to a feature for release the following year... my own creation, The Great Pierre. Derby was within a reasonable drive of New York City. I took the Charlton job!

Levy had said that all art was prepared through an independent contractor. That meant their comic books were reprinted from proofs, plates, and/or originals purchased from various publishers. Trouble was, the Comics Code had sprung up in the meantime. My responsibility was to clean up the material to conform to Code Office guidelines... replace nasty words like “cop” and “babe” with “police officer” and “young lady”... and raise necklines, lower skirts, cover midriffs and anything else that needed it.

Alter Ego #9