Issuu

Dedicated to reluctant mentor

“For the Celebration of Comics” SERVING READERS SINCE 1998

Jon B. Cooke EDITOR/CREATOR/DESIGNER

Chris Staros & Brett Warnock Top Shelf Productions PUBLISHERS Tim Barnes SPECIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Barbara Lien-Cooper MANAGING EDITOR George Khoury SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Christopher Irving ASSOCIATE EDITOR/CHIEF CORRESPONDENT Chris Knowles ASSOCIATE EDITOR Steven Tice TRANSCRIBER Greg Preston CBA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

MASTHEAD AND COVER DESIGN Bissel & Titus www.bisseltitus.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS David A. Roach Fred Hembeck Michelle Nolan Joe McCabe TITLE ORIGINATOR/CBA CLASSIC LOGO Arlen Schumer CBA MASCOT Woody J.D. King ISSUE THEME SONG “They Can’t Take That Away” Billie Holiday COVER COLORIST Michelle Madsen COVER ARTIST

Howard Chaykin

Peter Leviten Who taught Ye Ed that life is a veritable treasure-trove of fun, neat things to do!

MACH 2 Gettin’ Up to Speed

Wah-wah-wah! Who needs to hear anymore Ye Ed kvetching about being mopey and late and unproductive and just a ol’ lump on a log, all sensitive about the Red states encroaching on the Blue, and moaning about the current state o’ things? Bah! Taking a page from Karl Rove, the Desaad to Dubya’s Darkseid, yours truly has decided it’s time to take care of one’s own and to shore up my strengths. So, on the comics front, look for a revitalized Cooke in 2005, coming out with a whole batch of new books — Swampmen: Muck-Monsters of the Comics, The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Companion, the third CBA Collection, and (hopefully, if the contracts are inked) the Heavy Metal history I’ve been working on with Jean Depelley for the past few years — as well as a jumpstarted CBA. Now, because of previous delays and the need to establish a realistic schedule, this humble mag won’t return until sometime in the spring, but when it does resurface, rest assured it’ll be a more streamlined operation, increasingly focused on retrospective subjects, and hopefully as fun as it oughta be. Please stick with us and keep ye eyes peeled for those aforementioned tomes!

KUDOS 20 Winning Blankets

CBA’s big daddy, TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS, tell us that one of our finest cartoonists — maybe the best new talent to come along in the last 10 years or so — CRAIG THOMPSON (of Goodbye, Chunky Rice fame) has achieved something never before done in the history of comics: His glorious graphic novel, Blankets, didn’t just sweep the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz Awards on a single category, he did it twice! Craig’s acclaimed book not only snagged the “Best Original Graphic Novel” accolade, but the guy took home all three “Best Cartoonist/ Outstanding Artist” awards, as well. This is a rare feat indeed! If you haven’t read Blankets yet, you’re missing out on a modern masterpiece of sequential storytelling. Craig’s exceptional writing and breathtakingly excellent art help the art form come ever closer to the stature it deserves as bona fide literature. Nice going, Mr. T.!

Barnes Stormin’! TIM BARNES is special contributing editor this ish, and here’s our shout-out to the Brit for all his great help! Tim tells us he discovered Chaykin around Easter 1974, through Sword of Sorcery #3. “It was different, and I enjoyed it, so I looked out for the others. Over the years, HVC’s style has changed and that’s kept me interested. At one point, I figured I had most of his stuff, so I went looking for the rest. It amused me, and I could afford it, and I get a good read (and re-read) out of his work. Thing is, while Howard clearly has his influences, he’s distinctive in comics, and has a classy style.” Anyhow, Tim adds, “It keeps me from mugging grannies!”

WANTED Designers Needed

Casa CBA needs graphic designers to help out the mag and those book projects mentioned above. While the pay ain’t spectacular, you may find a good opportunity to give your skills some relatively wide exposure. If you’re interested in finding out more about the available job, work on a Macintosh computer (or on Mac-translatable programs) and are at least somewhat familiar with comics lore, please snail-mail photocopied samples of your work, plus a résumé, in care of Ye Ed at Comic Book Artist, P.O. Box 204, West Kingston RI 02892-0204.

DEPARTMENTS Ye Ed’s Rant Movin’ and Chaykin 4

Quagmire Queries Can ya help with Swampmen?

Knowles Knows Counter-Culture as Comic Books 6

Khoury’s Corner Wild Girl (& Boy): L. Moore & J. Reppion

A. DaViD’s Watching Spider-Man: Once Upon A Time DVD 10 Incoming! Love letters (with dissent) about the Filipino ish 19 Comic Book Chit-Chat

Rex Steele: The animated short, the comic, the Nazi Smasher! 11 Imp of the Diverse: Dan Raeburn and his new book, Chris Ware 14

High 5ive Rating the best album covers by comic books artists 20 CBA Sketchbook The art of Sonny Liew 23 To Be Continued… What’s coming & Joe McCabe bio 112

FEATURES Howard Chaykin An American Artist 33

From the ’70s to today, the sophisticated, urbane comics of HVC

103

Chaykin Portfolio HVC Art Gallery 103 Comic Book Artist Classic 39

Skywald “Horror-Mood” magazine color cover collection 40

Skywald’s Horror-Mood The Archaic Legacy 41 Christos N. Gage on the 1970s black-&-white horror comics line

Archaic Al Forever! Al Hewetson on Skywald 42 The late, great editor-writer on his Horror-Mood days ON OUR COVER: Howard V. Chaykin’s forthcoming project, City of Tomorrow, features Tucker Foyel and his comely assistant, Ash Wednesday, a robot. HVC tells us the plot involves a love affair between the two! Many thanks to HVC for the beautiful job and to Michelle Madsen for that superb coloring! ©2004 Howard V. Chaykin, Inc. COMIC BOOK ARTIST™ is published as often as possible by Top Shelf Productions, P.O. Box 1282, Marietta, GA 30061-1282 USA. Jon B. Cooke, Editor. Chris Staros & Brett Warnock, Publishers. Editorial Office: P.O. Box 204, 3706 Kingstown Road, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204 USA • 401-783-1669 • Fax: (401) 783-1287. E-mail: JonBCooke@aol.com. Subscriptions are currently unavailable. All characters © their respective copyright holders. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © their respective authors. ©2004 Jon B. Cooke. First Printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.

Comic Book Chit-Chat Imp of the Diverse Daniel K. Raeburn on his new Chris Ware book, The Imp, and the “comixscenti”

14 CBA V.2 #5

Comic Book Artist: Dan, it’s no secret that I’m a great admirer of your efforts and, however effective, CBA has tried to help promote your magazines over the years because, well, you seem to love the weird and wacky shit in comics as much as I. So I’m curious if you had a similar experience during your formative years, being exposed to a lot of strange and eclectic comics material. Can you give us a bit of your background and introduction to comics? Dan Raeburn: Well, like all kids in the ’70s, I was obsessed with Peanuts. I read and re-read those Fawcett paperbacks until they literally fell apart. So that was my earliest experience with comics, and my best. Still is, probably. Schulz is the touchstone. After that came Mad magazine, which I loved, mainly because to a square like me it seemed so hip and with-it. Once Mad started including full-color facsimile editions of the earliest Kurtzman Mads, though, I was spoiled for life. “Starchie” in particular really did it for me. Once I read the old ’50s Mad I realized just how lame the magazine had become, and I was never satisfied with it, or any current comic book, ever again. All I wanted was more Kurtzman and Elder. In the meantime I did read a lot of DC comics, especially Batman and “Sgt. Rock,” but in a sort of meat-&-potatoes way, when I couldn’t get the really sweet stuff I craved, namely the EC books, which were almost impossible to get back then. Then I read Crumb. I was snooping in the University of Iowa bookstore and found a copy of an anthology that had “Whiteman Meets Bigfoot” in it, and I huddled up in the corner guiltily — I was only in fifth or sixth grade — and read the whole thing in utter terror. I was just old enough to get most of the satire in it, but still young enough that the bubbling, belching vagina of the she-Yeti scared the bejeezus out of me. I’m 36 years old now and I still remember vividly that winter day, hunched over that book, terrified that somebody would discover me reading this stuff before I could absorb it all. I also read Swamp Thing, Plop!, and any horror comic I could find. That was stuff I could actually get, so I made do with it. But what I really wanted were the undergrounds. In the sixth grade my best friend and I made our own undergrounds, called Barf Comix and Scum Comix, which were mostly about hippies, drugs, and cops beating people up. So, long story short, for a long time I’ve

been drawn to comics that have some sort of element of perversity to them. Not perverse in terms of sex, but perverse in that they have some sort of highly charged, highly personal weirdness to them. CBA: Where did the idea for your magazine, The Imp come from? What were your original intentions with the ’zine? Dan: I started the magazine because nobody was writing about the comics I liked, in the way that I liked. I was mostly interested in the Fantagraphics/Drawn & Quarterly-type stuff and the only magazine with writing about those kind of books was The Comics Journal, which has always bored the pants off of me.

Aside from Gary’s interviews, which are always great, and a few little things here and there, it’s just not my cup of tea. What I wanted to read was a magazine about comics that was aimed not at comic book collectors or fanatics but at a regular audience of readers, what we might call the “graphic novel” crowd who read Eightball and Hate! but didn’t necessarily collect Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, there was no magazine like this, so I decided I would start one myself. CBA: How long have you been a part of the Chicago comics scene and what’s your insight into this diverse group? Dan: Well, I don’t know if there’s really a scene to be a part of. The thing about comics is that they’re so labor-intensive, it’s like writing novels.

It takes so much lonely work, day in and day out, that cartoonists don’t get out much at all. Especially in such a big, spread-out city like Chicago. The cartoonists I know pretty well, namely Ivan Brunetti and Chris Ware, are dedicated to their work. That’s the best thing overall about Chicago, I guess, and the Midwest in general: a stellar work ethic. It’s been inspiring to me. Chicago isn’t a good place to “make connections,” or “get noticed,” or get in with the popular crowd, but if you know who you are and what you want to do, it’s a good place to work hard and try to create something of lasting value. CBA: Can you talk about your relationships with Chris Ware and Ivan Brunetti? Dan: Sure. During the course of writing my third Imp, Ivan and I became pretty good friends, mainly by working together on his strip about Chris. After the issue was done I continued to hang out with Ivan a lot, and since he and Chris are practically best friends, I eventually became friends with Chris, as well. And this friendship has survived the new book, much to my relief, and my friendship with Ivan has survived my repeated threats to write a book about him as well. CBA: Why was the focus of The Imp #1 on Clowes? Dan: I focused on Eightball because I knew it forwards and backwards, and yet it still baffled me. I mean, throughout the ’90s, I read and re-read those comics so intently, yet it always seemed like there was this secret meaning telegraphing from it, barely beyond my understanding. I loved Hate!, too, but writing about Bagge’s stuff probably would have ruined my own enjoyment of it. Dan’s stuff was more serious, somehow, in a way I couldn’t pin down. I guess I’m saying that I wrote about it because I had the most questions about it. I hadn’t “figured it out.” That’s a great secret in writing: always write about what you don’t know. That’s the way to honestly put yourself on the reader’s level and not come off like a blowhard (which is how most of those TCJ writers sound). CBA: How was the first issue received — i.e., was it successful? Did you perceive Imp as a hobby or perhaps a full-time gig? Dan: It was always a hobby. I mean, I knew that if Dan Clowes and Chris Ware couldn’t make a living from their comics, there was no way I was gonna make a living writing about their comics. I sold 1,000 copies of my first issue, which took about a year and a lot of legwork and trips to the post office, and it eventually sold 3,000 copies. So I broke even on it, financially, and got some good mail from people whose opinions I respected. The

big disadvantage to self-publishing, as you no doubt know, is that you have to sink your life savings into the damn thing with every new issue, so you never get beyond the beans-&-rice stage of living. This is fine when you’re 25 or 30, but now that I’m married with a kid on the way it’s totally untenable. Which is too bad, because I loved it, it was the best thing I ever did. Do it yourself. Everybody who wants to be a writer or an artist should just go out there and do it. CBA: Certainly Clowes is a celebrity of sorts in the indy/alt comics world, as is the subject of your third issue (Ware), but Imp #2 was devoted to the religious comic booklets of Jack T. Chick. What motivated you to examine this zealot’s work and how do you view the results? Dan: Because Chick was totally ignored by all of the historians, critics, and fans of comics. Here’s this guy, easily the most widelyread underground cartoonist of all time, almost on a par with Charles Schulz in terms of readers reached worldwide, and there’s nothing out there about him. Zilch. All the official histories of comics, underground comix, The Comics Journal — barely even a footnote. It didn’t seem fair. Also, Clowes told me an anecdote about reading dozens of Chick tracts in a row, and I printed it, so it made for a nice little link between the first two issues. I want people who read my writing to see that these seemingly disparate artists are actually influenced by each other and part of a larger story. I’m happy with the issue, although there are a few factual errors and what-not that would need updating now, in light of the new research that’s been done by others. CBA: Did Jack ever make any mention of your irreverent study? And is there any virtue, that you can see (in a contemporary point of view, as well, given the influence of religion on politics today) in JTC’s material? Dan: No, I never heard from Jack. Even if he did read it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, I know him well enough to know that he’d have no comment. He

doesn’t care about small fry like me. He’s got his eye on the big issues like Armageddon and the Tribulation, etc. I don’t really see any virtue in Jack Chick’s take on religion — I think he’s incredibly narrow-minded — but I do admire his dedication and drive. I mean, putting out my little ’zine that sings the gospel of comic books, I couldn’t help but feel some kinship with him. We’re both self-publishers, and he has a lot in common with the other, non-Christian, underground cartoonists. He’s a part of a counter-culture, in a way. It’s complicated, because his brand of hellfire Christianity is also pretty mainstream, as you noted. CBA: Can you give us some idea of the distribution and content of the JTC tracts? Dan: The tracts themselves are little 3” x 5” rectangular comic books, each focusing on one sinner who either gets saved in the end or burns in hell. Basically they’re hardcore, fundamentalist propaganda, loaded with conspiracy theories. In a nutshell, Chick thinks the Pope is the AntiChrist who controls everything. All of Chick’s roads lead to Rome. He’s distributed over 500,000,000 of these comics — that’s right, over half-a-billion — in over 100 different languages through a volunteer network of rebel Christian distributors. The comics are meant to be left out in public places for lost souls to find and get saved. CBA: Imp #2 was a clever pastiche, format-wise, a take-off of the actual Chick comics pamphlets. Can you give us your background as a designer? (By the way, what do you exactly do for a day job, anyhow?) Dan: I do freelance graphic design, print production, and writing gigs when I can get them. I’m totally self-taught as a designer, no school whatsoever. I got an English degree from the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, my hometown. Actually, I think that my English classes have been a big help in my writing about comics, because comics are really about storytelling. Even though they’re a visual art, at least on the surface, they’re really a form of writing, namely

THIS PAGE: Starting from top left, The Imp #2 (1998), with cover art by Dan Clowes; The Imp icon from #4; The Imp #1 (1997), with cover art by Clowes; The Imp #4 (2002), with cover painting by Oscar Bazaldú Nava & José Silva; The Imp #3 (1999), with various art by Chris Ware. All courtesy of Dan Raeburn. All art ©2004 the artists.

15 CBA V.2 #5

High 5ive Covered Bands Music execs — and lifelong comics freaks — Gelb & Surratt rate the jackets

20 CBA V.2 #5

BY JEFF GELB WITH HUGH SURRATT Jeff Gelb: First of all, there have been hundreds — and we do mean hundreds — of music albums with cover art by comic book artists. And we’re not even counting the dozens of albums over the decades that are comicsrelated, like Jan & Dean Meet Batman, or all the Power Records releases of comic book stories on vinyl, with accompanying comics and cover art. Nor are we talking about comics-influenced songs (though that’d be a great “High 5ive” for a future issue of CBA). These days, it’s normal — even de riguer — to employ a comic book artist to do some work for a band. Just ask my lifelong buddy Hugh Surratt, a big shot at RCA Records in Metropolis… I mean, New York City, who does it all the time. Hugh, tell the good folks out there about some of the comics people you’ve put to work on RCA artists’ albums and even videos. Hugh Surratt: Hi, folks! Whenever the initial planning of an album (CD) cover steers towards using an illustration, many different ideas/artists are discussed. And, more often than not, a comic artist can be in that mix. For instance, I’ve even entertained with the Dave Matthews Band the idea of getting Alex Ross involved in one of their album packages (not that he’d know it because it never went beyond casual conversation). As you can see below, we don’t limit their work to solely graphics, but three “comic guys” who we’ve worked with come to mind, two young artists who ply their trade in mainstream comics, and one who actually contributes to CBA: RANDY GREEN: Eve 6, a platinum-selling rock band, wanted to do a comic-oriented package for their second album, and Randy delivered the cover illustration and interior illos for their hugely successful 2000 release, “Horrorscope.” The girl on the cover is really quite a striking image. Randy’s comic credits include X-Men, Witchblade, Tomb Raider and Buffy. ADAM POLLINA: Adam is really

a multi-faceted talent, and we actually worked with him as a video director. Adam directed the video for “One Big Holiday,” from our amazing band, My Morning Jacket. Adam has worked on BPRD (Hellboy), X-Force and DC’s Big Daddy Danger, among others. PAUL RIVOCHE: For readers of CBA and Draw!, this renaissance man needs no bio (I was actually introduced to him by the esteemed editor of this fine publication). A few months ago, Paul stepped in, under an intense deadline crunch, and created the character design and storyboards for an animated TV spot for our mega-star, Avril Lavigne. This spot proved so popular that it was used throughout the world to promote the release of her latest album (and Avril loved it, too). Thanks for the intro, Jon! Back to you, Jeff! Jeff: Meanwhile, at other labels, Todd McFarlane jump-started a very successful second career as a director/animator of rock videos for bands like Korn. Hell, even Alex Ross has done an Anthrax cover (man, was he slumming that day!). Dan Clowes and the Los Bros Hernandez have also done a whole bunch of album covers (well, CD covers, actually).

But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to go back a good ways. After all, between the two of us, Hugh and I cover over 100 years of rock ’n’ roll history — and that’s quite an accomplishment when you remember that rock ‘n’ roll itself has only been around for about 50 years! And remember: We’re not grading music here, just picking favorite covers. I think the biggest surprise is that, until very recently, there were no Jack Kirby album covers (someone used an image of his on some obscure jazz release a few years back). Given the number of comic projects Jack worked on simultaneously in his heyday, I guess it’s no great surprise that he was perhaps too busy to do any album cover graphics. But “Just Imagine” a Kirby Hendrix cover. Or a Kirby Pink Floyd cover, or — well, just about anything by Kirby on an album cover would have been exciting (PG&E sported an obvious Kirby clone cover on one of their LPs, but it wasn’t by Kirby himself). But in the late 1960s and ’70s, there were several comic book artists who did get images on album covers. In no particular order, here are our favorite comic cover images on albums:

Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet (1978, Epic) Flirtin’ With Disaster (1979, Epic) Beatin’ the Odds (Epic, 1980) — all Frank Frazetta

Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell (1977, Epic) — Richard Corben Dead Ringer (1981, Epic) — Bernie Wrightson Somebody at Epic Records in the late ’70s and early ‘80s had to be quite the comics fan, and he had great taste: Frazetta, Wrightson, Corben. The Molly Hatchet covers are “pick-up” jobs from earlier Frazetta paintings, and the Corben cover is certainly a classic. But Wrightson’s image on “Dead Ringers” is just gorgeous, so I’ll pick that one. Hugh: I could just never really get

THIS SPREAD: A whole bunch of 1960s-80s record album covers drawn by some of comic books’ kewlest talents, including Rich Corben, Bernie Wrightson, Neal Adams, and Rick Griffin. Immediately above is R. Crumb’s jacket art for a Janis Joplin record. All images courtesy of Gelb & Surratt. ©2004 the respective copyright holders.

into Meat Loaf’s music, but boy, did the big guy have some cool covers, Jeff! Come to think of it, I think Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman also used a Corben cover for his first solo album, as well. I believe Wrightson’s cover is my fave of everything we’re looking at here. For my money, Bernie is one of the all-time greats. (Remember his great illo for DC’s teaser ads for The Shadow comic?)… And, Jeff, remember where you and I saw those original paintings for those Molly Hatchet covers? Jeff: It was probably the oddest thing we ever did together, Hugh, and that’s saying a lot! We braved going to the Los Angeles Scientology center because they were having a display of Frazetta’s paintings. This was back at a time when Fritz was doing some paperback covers for a series of L. Ron Hubbard New Talent Discovery science-fiction book anthologies. Luckily, we managed to drool over the Frazetta originals and still get out of the building without being converted into Scientologists!

Big Brother & the Holding Co. Cheap Thrills (1968, Columbia) — Robert Crumb

Jeff: This is probably number one on my hit parade. First, it’s a great album (not that this is a criteria, natch) and one truly evocative of its era. And it’s got a truly classic comic book image cover, done at the height of Robert Crumb’s underground comix popularity. I can’t tell you how many times I got stoned in college, and stared at this cover while listening to Janis’s amazing voice… I can’t tell you because I’d be arrested if I did. What’s the statute of limitations of smoking pot anyway, Hugh? (He should know!) Hugh: Back to the subject: I got to see Janis play several times in the late ’60s — anybody out there go to the first Atlanta Pop Festival in ’69? [Jeff: I did!] For the record, the Holding Company was not a good live band, but it didn’t matter… Janis was on stage. As for Crumb, I actually booked a show in ’71 or ’72 with his band, The Cheap Suit Serenaders. Alas, the date never

happened. The cool thing: his band supposedly had not one, but two electric saw players. Boing! (And by the way, back then there were no limitations to smoking pot!)

The Mighty Groundhogs Who Will Save the World (1972, United Artists) — Neal Adams Jeff: It’s not one of my top five choices, but how could we not at least mention the only Neal Adams album cover done at the peak of his comics popularity? Do I remember the Groundhogs anymore? Heck, no! But was I thrilled when Adams was “legitimized” by his art showing up on this cover? Heck, yes! Adams also did the back cover for a Grand Funk album called All The Girls in the World Beware, but since that wasn’t easily visible to folks, I won’t count it here. Hugh: Not Neal’s finest hour, but since he’s undoubtedly one of the greatest and (certainly) most influential comic artists in history, he should be here. I’ll take his work on “Deadman” or The X-Men. As an alternative, I might’ve slotted in one of William Stout’s covers.

TOP: While Ye Ed shamefully admits not owning this Neal Adams oddity, he snagged this art of the Mighty Groundhogs album jacket centerspread from the legendary Creem, a rock ’n’ roll magazine that devoted ample space to comic-book matters back in the 1970s. From V.4, #12 (May ’73). All ©’04 the respective copyright holders.

21 CBA V.2 #5

SKYWALD

COVER

GALLERY AS SELECTED BY CHRIS GAGE

This Archaic Legacy A CELEBRATION OF AL HEWETSON AND THE SKYWALD HORROR-MOOD David Lynch. Frank Zappa. Robert Mapplethorpe. Some love their work; some hate it; others scratch their heads in bewilderment and wonder, “What the hell was that?” The one reaction you never hear is “Eh… it’s okay.” The work is too personal, too unique, too distinctive to provoke ambivalence. It’s the unmistakable product of an unleashed creative mind, either transcending or completely free of editorial interference; a powerful voice that demands your attention and stays with you long afterward. There are justly famous comic book writers who fit this mold — Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Harvey Pekar — but one of the most memorable, yet least remembered such talents left us last winter, and aside from his family, friends and a core of die-hard fans, few people realized what the industry had lost. He toiled in a marginalized genre, under a low budget, at a time when most above-ground publishers did what they could to rein in such wild experimentation from their scribes. It’s quite possible you’ve never heard of “Archaic” Al Hewetson, but one thing’s for certain… after reading a few of his stories, you won’t forget him. Nazi Death Rattle. Beware It… Fear It… It Screams. The Diary Of An Absolute Lunatic. Kill, Kill, Kill, and Kill Again. I Am A Proud Monstrosity. The Filthy Little House Of Voodoo. The Slither-Slime Man. I, Slime. I Am Treachery… I Am Horror Incarnate. No one, but no one created story titles like Alan Hewetson. They could be names of exploitation flicks from American International Pictures (where the poster for a film was conceived first, and only then was the script written), and have the same effect — you can’t possibly resist a closer look. Archaic Al’s stories usually lived up to his titles with their bizarre, in-your-face approach. Sure, he could do more traditionally executed tales like those in the Marvel or Warren mags — witness “The 300th Birthday Party,” an EC-style morality play abut a gold-digging adulteress who learns the downside of cryogenic freezing decades before the Ted Williams scandal — but why imitate? Instead, most of Hewetson’s sagas flowed like surreal fever dreams, so much so that he invited readers to send in accounts of their worst nightmares, which were then illustrated by Skywald artists and given a place of honor next to the latest Archaic Al masterpiece… where, of course, they fit perfectly. Hewetson’s yarns could be funny (“The Comics Macabre,” in which two comic book censors resembling Dr. Fredric Wertham and the Comics Code’s Len Darvin murder an editor who looks a lot like Archaic Al, and are slain in turn by Skywald characters come to life) or Kafkaesque (“The Corpse,” whose protagonist is put on trial both before and after he dies,

sentenced first to death, and then to life); relentlessly grim (“Whether Man Or Scarecrow,” about a mannequin who becomes a real person out of love, only to encounter humanity at its absolute worst), and even redemptive (“A Tale of Horror,” set during the fall of Berlin, where Hitler himself gives a German private a last crucial message to deliver — one that would unleash an ancient evil on Earth — and the soldier must decide if his loyalty lies with his Fuhrer or mankind). With any given story, you might love it, hate it, or go “what the hell was that?”… but one thing was guaranteed when you read a Skywald mag: it was going to be an experience unlike anything else.

A Macabre History Lesson Al Hewetson and Skywald go together like sadism and masochism, but the man and the company started on different paths. Hewetson served for a time as an assistant to Stan Lee, where he learned the art of relating to fans at the feet of the master. Answering letters in Stan’s trademark style showed Hewetson the value of creating a persona — “Stan The Man,” or “Archaic Al” — who could enjoy a one-on-one relationship with the reading public. While at Marvel, the intellectual, classically-read Hewetson also refined his writing skills, making his dialogue less formal and tailoring his work to the comics format. He honed those abilities further as a contributor to Jim Warren’s Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, where stories like “The Cool Jazz Ghoul” managed to stay within the traditional Warren structure and format, yet stand out for their unbridled imagination and abject lunacy. Skywald, the company, began as a pretty clear imitation of the aforementioned Warren mags, which had established a reputation for quality EC-style horror yarns that enjoyed a freedom from the censorious Code policing color comics, coupled with excellent black-&-white art. But by the early 1970s, financial troubles had forced Warren to rely on reprints and substandard work, and publisher Israel Waldman saw an opportunity to fill a void. Unfortunately, his first few magazines had the same problems Warren’s did. Hallmarks of the early days of Skywald were a proliferation of 1950s reprints from Waldman’s inventory combined with painful attempts at cashing in on the “relevancy” trend then sweeping the comics industry by telling stories that involved political issues like ecology (“The Pollution Monsters”) or popular culture fads such as motorcycling (the amusingly kitschy Hell-Rider — “RIGHT ON with the

by Christos N. Gage

continued on page 66

ABOVE INSET: Detail from “The Mood-Team Undertakers” illustration by Maelo Cintron, from Nightmare #22 (Dec. ’74). That’s “Archaic Al” Hewetson sticking pins into a voodoo doll that looks suspiciously like Israel Waldman, Al’s boss at Skywald. Courtesy of Richard J. Arndt. ©2004 the respective copyright holder.

Archaic Al Forever! THE BLOOD-CURDLING TRUE STORY BEHIND SKYWALD’S HORROR-MOOD Although I, Ye Ed, had been searching for the legendary editor/writer for five years or so prior, I finally tracked down the elusive “Archaic” Al Hewetson in December of 2003 through the Internet. Lo’ and behold, Al was living in Ontario, Canada, and was editing a weekly newspaper in the town of East Windsor. Plus, a history of his Skywald efforts was being prepared at Britain’s irreverent book publisher, Headpress (a publisher of delightfully strange tomes about various weird aspects of pop culture, as well as one CBA is friendly with), and the time was perfect for Al to return to the world of comics. We immediately made a strong connection (albeit via e-mail) and, very soon after I made a request to interview him for a Skywald “Horror-Mood” section in Comic Book Artist Classic (and for Swampmen, our still-forthcoming book devoted to “Muck-Monsters of the Comics,” about his work on Skywald’s revival of The Heap), the affable scribe seized the initiative and quickly e-mailed the this full-blown article/interview/excerpt. I was delighted with Al’s obvious enthusiasm and startled, to say the least, by his fervid dedication. It was a profound shock to learn of Alan’s untimely death in early January, a mere three weeks after sending this piece. In honor and respect for the Archaic One’s achievements, I’ve decided to run much of the piece as Al wrote it, a decision that might make us now wince at some of his playfully morbid black humor but, well, the guy was entertaining to the end, and please note CBA means no disrespect. For as short a time as I knew him, somehow I am convinced Mr. Hewetson would’ve wanted it this way. (Because the holidays interrupted our correspondence, I never had the chance to ask Al just what specifically was excerpted from the Headpress book as compared to what was composed exclusively for our CBA “interview,” but I suspect it may all be selected from the book (of which you will find ordering info elsewhere in this section). Al had agreed to allow us to run an excerpt, so we’re just running this pretty much“as is,” with an appreciative and respectful nod to our Brit compatriots, and implore readers to pick up the new Headpress book). — Ye Editor.

has turned all-white, though it’s still a'plenty; he’s much heavier than the string-bean, gaunt-bodied image his artists used to caricature in many of his stories; he heartily survived a coronary and stroke a couple of years back and thinks of his life and career as reborn, mainly due to his timely unearthing by British panelologists David Kerekes and Stephen Sennitt. Archaic Al Hewetson lives! Editing and publishing his own community newspaper, Greater Windsor, in a small Southern Ontario city, he labored in relative obscurity until the publication of Ghastly Terrors in 2001, a tome devoted to exploring the timeline of comic horror. Previously reviewed in Comic Book Artist, the book lavishes critical praise upon Hewetson for his Skywald years, unabashedly gushing one compliment after another upon the writer-editor whom they thought long-dead — after all, Skywald was on the newsstands as long ago as 30 years, and for three decades nobody has known of his whereabouts, or even if the Archaic One was still with us. Turns out: “I was dead, just not yet buried,” Hewetson chuckles, recalling the title of one of his satirically-morbid tales. Founded in 1970 by the late Sol Brodsky and Israel Waldman as an obvious competitor to Warren’s Creepy and Eerie, with their black-&-white, magazinesize titles Psycho and Nightmare, along with such other b-&-w titles and full-color comics as Hell Rider, The Heap, Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, Desperados, and Crime Machine, Skywald Publishing made a presentable start then fell flat on its face almost immediately! Brodsky called in Hewetson, with whom he had worked at Marvel in 1969 when Al was Stan Lee’s assistant, and within months cancelled all the color

by Alan Hewetson

He’s older now, of course. The jet black hair which grew in abundance around his head and face

Portrait by Pablo Marcos

Excerpted from the currently-available Headpress book

The Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood OPPOSITE PAGE: Just for this special tribute issue of CBA, longtime Hewetson friend (and artist supreme) Pablo Marcos rendered this lovely portrait of “Archaic Al” joined by many of his Skywald “Horror-Mood” creations. Thank you, P.M. ©2004 Pablo Marcos. ABOVE: Al as depicted by José Gual in Scream #1 (Aug. ’73).

comics, the ready-for-press Science Fiction Odyssey, and passed on the editorial mantle to Hewetson so that he could return to the better-financed Marvel and safer ground to develop the mega-giant’s burgeoning overseas syndication. It’s the years under Hewetson’s editorship which makes this small independent comic book company memorable. Along with introducing a third horror title, Scream, Hewetson developed a writer-artist core bullpen and coined the phrase “the Horror-Mood,” presenting in the pages of Skywald’s three horror titles an astonishing mix of bizarre, often lurid images, and stories unlike anything that had been published since the Al Feldstein days of EC Comics, or before or since, to be accurate. In 1974, writing about the horror market in Writer’s Digest, a young and impressionable Stephen King noted that Psycho, Nightmare and Scream were “the most vital in the field — constantly moving ahead, breaking new ground, using consistently innovative stories — a strong bullpen staff.” Certainly, despite their outward appearance, they were utterly unlike the Warren titles, and comparisons

between the two publishing companies should have ended the day Hewetson took over. The fan critics did not make that distinction and were mostly unkind. Unlike Warren, Hewetson made no attempt to cater to the comic book market, claiming to have developed his own “horror readership” which hungrily ate up the up-to 150,000 print run of his titles for several years through 1975 (plus the international editions which were translated into several languages and distributed in the millions in Europe and South America), when the company closed its doors due to the declining quality of its distribution and the fact there were no fewer than 27 other competing titles on the newsstand. In fact, the entire horror market seemed to collapse along with them. All this is detailed in a handsome new book from Headpress Publishing. Titled The Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood, it is indeed a lavish and handsome 225-page book complete with 21 of the original Skywald stories; plus a detailed insider’s account of life at the company, spanning eight chapters by Alan Hewetson; fresh interviews with and new features by such stalwart Skywald bullpenners as Ed Fedory, Gus

A Message from Alan Hewetson’s Wife I would like everyone to know what great joy it was for my late husband, Alan Hewetson, to work on the Skywald book and to participate in this “Horror-Mood” retrospective in Comic Book Artist. He had great memories of his days as editor and writer for that beloved black-&-white horror comics magazine line, and Alan was also especially thrilled to be in touch with so many of his old fans again, many of whom quickly became new friends. I don’t believe that too many know this but, on the day Alan passed away early last January, he had just finished the Skywald book, a project he relished being involved in and one that was a celebration, really, of his

wonderful experience collaborating with so many talented artists and fellow writers. I know that he was grateful to be able to re-live those fruitful days. After Alan’s untimely passing, I was going through his computer disks and came across one labeled “Skywald Book: Final.” The fateful date listed was January 6, 2004, his last day in this world. Just a little ironic… and somehow fitting, after having completed Alan’s greatest story, the epic about his own life. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness. Your gratitude is very much appreciated and it is a great comfort to recognize just how widely respected and loved Alan was by friends and fans. — M.L.

by Michelle Lemieux

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TOP: Pablo Marcos painted this superb horror scene as a wraparound cover for the just-released Headpress book, The Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood (see page one of this issue for an advertisement), which the author, Alan Hewetson, shared with us before he passed away. Art ©2004 Pablo Marcos.

“Archaic” Al Hewetson: A Remembrance Well, first, I never actually met Al Hewetson in person, but in 2003, I posted a Skywald checklist on the Internet (at <www.enjolrasworld.com>), and Al contacted me to see if I knew how to get in touch with Skywald artist Maelo Cintron. I didn’t, but posted his interest on the Web site, and a couple of weeks later, Maelo e-mailed me his address, and I passed those along to Al. In November 2003, I asked to interview the Archaic One for an issue of the Warren fanzine, Spooky, and he graciously agreed. From that point, right up to the day he passed away, we were pretty much in daily contact, discussing the interview, working on the definitive Skywald checklist for his book, The Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood, and just swapping stories. One of the last tales he told me was of artist Syd Shores. Comics legend Wallace Wood had told Al on many occasions that Wood considered Shores the best penciler he ever knew. Although Syd and Al had been friends for some years, Syd was angered by what he regarded as a vindictive ink job on one of his stories for Skywald and swore he’d never work for Al again. Al told me he spent two years rebuilding bridges with Syd

(whom he greatly admired) and finally got him to agree to work for him again, only to have Syd drop dead of a massive heart attack at the age of 58. Less than a week after telling me the story, Al himself was gone. Al was in the process of re-entering the comic field after 25 years, writing two comics — Labyrinth Street, an anthology series, with art by frequent Hewetson collaborator Pablo Marcos; and Gargoyle Justice, an updating of his Skywald Human Gargoyle series, with original artist Maelo Cintron, as well as writing the history of his Skywald days. I don’t know the fate of these comics but I hope they come out. It’d be great to see how his work had matured. Al’s horror stories were unlike anybody else’s in the field: feverish, garish, and at times, bordering on looney. His tales were sometimes hampered by slapdash artwork, but his writing was always done with a regard and respect for the reader that, sadly, seems rare in modern comics. Archie Goodwin did that sort of thing, too. I miss them both. Take care, Al. — R.J.A.

Funnell, Pablo Marcos and Maelo Cintron (with whom Hewetson created the memorable Human Gargoyles series, a Kafkaesque parody of religion, horror, society, family life and pop culture); artist/writer biographies and photographs; a genuinely fascinating account of the young editor’s meeting and correspondence with an elderly Fredric Wertham; features and critical reviews about Skywald series and characters by David Kerekes, Stephen Sennitt and Peter Normanton; a complete Skywald checklist along with all the covers; and a slew of original and unpublished artwork from the Archaic One’s private vault. The book is admittedly a fond remembrance, but also critically examines the genre of the day and contains insider clues to how manipulative the larger companies operated in the ’70s, controlling the distributors to exclude small independents from playing in the big boys’ ball park. It’s an honest and revealing history of a short-lived little publishing company still remembered long after its unceremonial demise, and gives rise to the suggestion that it might now be time for a credible re-examination of Skywald’s “Horror-Mood.” Alan Hewetson’s own writing style is stylized and sort of a cross between Kafka, Andrew Sartyros, the Lovecraft, Orwell, and Kurtzman; dark and off-spring of the Human humorous, obtuse and in-your face at the Gargoyles, Edward and same time, and intelligent and nihilistically Mina Sartyros, is now all grown-up and a U.S. silly. He’s re-teamed with cohorts Pablo Marshal in Colorado (!). Marcos and Maelo Cintron, respectively, This cover painting by with two new comics: Labyrinth Street, Maelo appears courtesy of with Marcos (an anthology series set in its Archaic Al. ©2004 M. own odd little universe of macabre recurring characters, on a street in New Orleans described as “a corridor between heaven and hell….”), and Gargoyle Justice, with Cintron (the adult adventures of young Andrew Sartyros, the gargoyle-baby from the Human Gargoyles series of 30 years ago, now a U.S. Marshal in Colorado “satirical anxiety in a metaphysical world…”). What follows is edited and excerpted from The Complete Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood, (contact info: <www.headpress.com>), trade distribution in U.S.: Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, call toll-free 1-800-283-3572; e-mail: <rberger@cbsd.com> with questions by Stephen Sennitt and David Kerekes, followed by our own CBA interview with Archaic Alan Hewetson….

The Stories

by Richard J. Arndt

Question: “Paranoiac” Pablo Marcos, “Emotionally-Disturbed” Ed Fedory, “Awkward” Augustine Funnell, and, of course,“Archaic” Al, were some of dozens of the affectionate nicknames you prescribed to the bullpen in the tradition of EC and Marvel. Did anyone object to their names and description? Alan Hewetson: Oh no, at least not to my face. Even Herschel Waldman, whom you would think would not like being called Homicidal, would sign his notes and letters to me as “Homicidal.” The only people associated with the Skywald Horror-Mood who did not get a horror nickname was Israel Waldman, the publisher, which I didn’t think would be appropriate, and my pen names. Calling myself “Archaic” was a only a joke based on the fact I was so young, in my mid-20s. The names were intended to serve a multi-fold purpose, to involve the reader with the bullpen, and for the bullpen to feel that they were part of something joyful and playful and unique. Q: How many pen names did you use and why did you come up with them in the first place? Al: I was just trying to be modest, because for a length of time I was writing a story every day! First, there was Howie Anderson, then Joe Dentyn, Stuart Williams, Henry Bergman, Peter Cappiello, Edward Farthing, Hugh Laskey, Harvey Lazarus, Victor Buckley, and sometimes I gave the artist a credit line for the story I’d scripted. If memory serves correctly, I never mentioned the imaginary writers in the letters pages. And don’t ask me how I came up with the pseudonyms, because they came out of thin air at the spur of the moment. I had an entire imaginary persona made up in my mind for Howie Anderson, who wrote a lot… he was this terribly old guy who’d been a lighthouse keeper since graduating from Lighthouse Keeper School in his early 20s; made redundant in his 70s by technology and was now writing horror stories for Skywald to get revenge on a society who had spurned him. Old Howie was very popular — he used to get his own fan mail!

INSET ABOVE: Alan Hewetson re-teamed with original Human Gargoyles artist, Maelo Cintron, to bring the old Skywald horror serial full-circle, collaborating on Gargoyle Justice in 2003. The fate of that project is unknown to Ye Ed and we’ll try to update readers next time.

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Comic Book Artist (Vol. 2) #5