Comic Book Creator #26 by TwoMorrows Publishing

™

A TwoMorrows Publication

Adventureman TM & © Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, Inc. and Terry Dodson.

No. 26, Summer 2021

82658 00435

$9.95 in the USA

Cover art by Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson

S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 • T h e Te r r y D o d s o n I s s u e • N u m b e r 2 6

T WOODY QUINN CBC mascot by J.D. KING

About Our Cover Pencils & Colors: TERRY DODSON Adventureman TM & © Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, Inc. and Terry Dodson.

Inks: RACHEL DODSON

Ye Ed’s Rant: Keepin' nose to the grindstone in this new Covid-19 landscape............... 2 COMICS CHATTER Up Front: The Perplexing Puzzle of ProJunior. Ye Ed’s ridiculously thorough history of onetime fanzine mascot to star of his own underground comix................. 3 Sal Quartuccio’s Portfolio Investment: Part two of CBC’s detailed interview covers the prozine publisher on his prolific comics-related print & portfolio endeavors..... 12 Will Eisner’s Artifacts of Affection: The sequential art great’s Valentines and anniversary cards made for his wife, Ann, who passed away earlier this year....... 19 Once Upon a Long Ago: Steven Thompson on actress/comics writer Merrie Spaeth....23 Incoming: Our letters column returns with talk of P. Craig Russell and Wendy Pini..... 26 The Fabulous Fanzines of the ’70s: Ken Meyer, Jr., looks at great comics ’zines........ 28 Ten Questions: Darrick Patrick gets answers from “Stormbreaker” Peach Momoko... 34 Hembeck’s Dateline: Get into The Spirit with Fred’s Fab Four/Deadman mash-up..... 35 Comics in the Library: R. Arndt tells us what moves (and doesn’t) off the shelves.... 36 THE MAIN EVENT

Above: Featuring pencils and colors by Terry Dodson and inks by Rachel Dodson, our cover features Clair Connelly, star of Terry and writer Matt Fraction’s Image Comics series, Adventureman, as well as the ’40s pulp hero (who shares the same name as the comic title) and Phaedra Phantom. The second story arc is set for release in September.

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“Sheer Chance” and the Art of Terry Dodson Our candid conversation with the superb artist about his pro career, from a start in alternative comics, early work at Malibu, partnership with wife Rachel, breakout with Harley Quinn, and years bouncing between Marvel and DC, with SpiderMan and the Black Cat, spectacular Wonder Woman run, various X-Men titles, and “dream come true” work on Star Wars: Princess Leia. Also included are brief though informative chats with Terry’s live-in creative collaborator, Rachel, and Matt Fraction, co-creator and writer of Terry’s latest hit, series, Adventureman!.......40 BACK MATTER Creators at the Con: Continuing a wistful look at NYCC by Kendall Whitehouse.......... 78 Coming Attractions: CBC #27 celebrates Paul Gulacy and remembers Joe Sinnott...... 79 A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: George Pérez’s Thanagarian constables...... 80 Right: Terry Dodson jettisoned to stardom with his rendition of Harley Quinn in the ’00s. This detail is from Terry’s cover art for 2017’s Harley Quinn by Karl Kesel and Terry Dodson Deluxe Edition Vol. 1.

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Comic Book Artist Vol. 1 & 2 are available as digital downloads from twomorrows.com Harley Quinn TM & © DC Comics.

COMIC BOOK CREATOR is a proud joint production of Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows

Comic Book Creator ™ is published quarterly (more or less) by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Jon B. Cooke, editor. John Morrow, publisher. Comic Book Creator editorial offices: P.O. Box 601, West Kingston, RI 02892 USA. E-mail: jonbcooke@aol.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Four-issue subscriptions: $46 US, $69 International, $18 Digital. All characters are © their respective copyright owners. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter ©2021 Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. Comic Book Creator is a TM of Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows. ISSN 2330-2437. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

This issue is dedicated to the memories of MARTINA BATAN, JOHN PAUL LEON, KEVIN JACKSON, STEVE LIGHTLE, GARY LEIB, FRANK JACOBS, and DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT ™

JON B. COOKE Editor & Designer

JOHN MORROW Publisher & Consulting Editor

MICHAEL AUSHENKER Associate Editor

TERRY & RACHEL DODSON Cover Artists

TERRY DODSON Cover Colors

RICHARD J. ARNDT TOM ZIUKO STEVEN THOMPSON Contributing Editors

STEVEN TICE ROSE RUMMEL-EURY Transcribers

J.D. KING CBC Cartoonist

TOM ZIUKO CBC Colorist Supreme

RONN SUTTON CBC Illustrator

ROB SMENTEK CBC Proofreader

GREG PRESTON CBC Contributing Photographer

MICHAEL AUSHENKER FRED HEMBECK STEVEN THOMPSON TOM ZIUKO CBC Columnists To contact CBC, please email jonbcooke@aol.com or snail-mail Comic Book Creator c /o Jon B. Cooke, P.O. Box 601 West Kingston, RI 02892 2

Hopefully a productive new era lies ahead for all of us

captures an appropriate art deco veneer to all Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever been this aspects of Adventureman. Bravo! busy working this comics-related I’m glad I had a chance to reread the beat I’ve been on full-time for many story and take full notice of the disability years now. Just this year, I’ll be that the main protagonist must deal with, designing and co-authoring (with as deafness and hearing loss is rarely made Colorado kid Greg Biga, whose part of comic book adventures. It’s worth efforts will utterly dominate our next noting, and I’m sorry I didn’t specifically ask issue, with Biga’s Gulacy tribute and Adventureman co-creators Matt Fraction and Sinnott memorial) a wonderful new look Terry about featuring a lead character in at the late, great comics master with that condition. So why not ask ’em now, John Severin: Two-Fisted Comic Book before I send this ish to press, sez I! Artist. This book, the first ever written Terry replied,”From a pure comicabout Marie’s older brother, is the book storytelling angle, I was extremely result of Greg reaching out with the excited about the opportunity [to showcase notion years ago and my 2018 visit the disability]. This concept showed up to John’s daughter, Michelina Van before Matt wrote his Hawkeye series Gemert’s, Centennial, Colorado home, with the famous ‘Pizza Dog’ issue [#11, where Greg and I scanned an unbeAug. 2013]; I had so many things I wanted lievable array of the man’s masterful to play with visually for the loss of sound, work, from childhood work to the art and David Aja and Matt ended up putting that was on his drawing board when a lot of those same ideas into that he passed away in 2012. (So, yeah, issue. Oh well… but there are still a lot this work is authorized by the John of things to play with, and I’m having Severin estate.) As soon as I send a ball with it. Especially drawing all this CBC ish off to the publisher, I’ll those SOUND EFFECTS! be eagerly spending most of my “And we had an overwhelming summer in sweet Severinville! positive response to this from people Throughout this year and next, who are hard-of-hearing or have with co-author Jean Depelley, I’ll be relatives, etc, who are… we heard working hard on a history of illustratTerry Dodson by Ronn Sutton so many stories. It’s amazing what ed adult fantasy mags of the 1970s happens when you go beyond the average and explore and ’80s, Forging Metal. (We might be joined by a third the entire world of possibilities! Again, as a storytelling author on the book, but as we’ve yet to sort everything out, hopefully we’ll make an announcement soon.) This artist, it’s the best, because I get to create so many characters, situations, etc., that I can’t be ‘bored’ with project, in various incarnations, is almost 20 years in the making (thanks for your patience, Jean!) and I hope what I’m doing.” Matt shared, “I don’t recall when exactly making it will stand with The Book of Weirdo to be a definitive Claire hard of hearing came into things. It may have work on the subject of Heavy Metal, Métal Hurlant, predated Hawkeye, even. I suspect parallel developEpic Illustrated, and other international magazines ment is more likely. We’d have to check Terry’s sketchdevoted to the fantastic. books and a zillion old e-mails to find a date. On the homefront, it’s been a trying, many times “There’s clearly something I want to explore and awful time since October. Beth, my beloved wife of utilize in how both comics and sign use of a silent and nearly 34 years, has suffered a serious health concern gestural medium of communication that turns sound that (God willing) is now being overcome. I’m doing my best to be a dutiful husband and, if the spirit moves you, into images and images into complex linguistic and idiomatic aggregates.” please keep Casa Cooke in your thoughts and prayers. Kudos to the two gentlemen for being progressive Before I go, I simply must rave about the first and inclusive by adding this innovative dimension to Adventureman collection—subtitled The End and Claire Connelly, a.k.a. Adventureman. As Ariel Baska Everything After—that compiles the first four issues, of the Comics Bookcase website puts it: “By showing which was only just now received from our cover feaher in this light, Fraction adds Adventureman to the tured artist, Terry Dodson! The oversize hardback is a gorgeous production, the bonus material engaging, and list of disability inclusive titles that give full agency to disabled characters, allowing them to be people, not I must mention Leonardo Olea’s exquisite design work just avatars for altruistic sentimentality.” Amen to that. for the collection (as well as the comic book), which

cbc contributors Ger Apeldoorn Mark Arnold Andrew D. Cooke Robert Crumb

Rachel Dodson Terry Dodson Don Dohler Greg Dohler

Ann Eisner John Fleskes Matt Fraction Justin Green

John Kinhart Denis Kitchen Jay Lynch Ken Meyer, Jr.

— Ye Crusading Editor jonbcooke@aol.com Peach Momoko Leonardo Olea Sal Quartuccio Patrick Rosenkranz

Jim Simon Art Spiegelman Steven Thompson Skip Williamson

#26 • Summer 2021 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

KENDALL WHITEHOUSE CBC Convention Photographer

Gettin’ Busy Again

up front

The Perplexing Puzzle of Don Dohler’s ProJunior Ye Ed cracks the case of the Wild! mascot’s journey from fanzines to hippie comix

Don Dohler’s ProJunior TM & © Denis Kitchen. Cover art © the estate of Jay Lynch. “ProJunior” splash © Robert Crumb. True Crime Comics panel © the respective copyright holder.

by JON B. COOKE I’ll be honest. I never really got it. And maybe it’s no surprise that I still don’t get it. But, boy oh boy, did it ever get me! I’m talking about Don Dohler’s ProJunior, an anthology underground comic book published by Denis Kitchen in 1971. The one-shot, featuring mostly single-pagers by cartoonists of varying talent, was all centered around this oddball character, a young feller totally unknown to most everyone, who sometimes donned a leopard-skin jungle suit (think Elmo Lincoln in his Tarzan movies), though usually in normal-day attire. He sorta-kinda resembled Blondie’s Dagwood Bumstead, replete with cow-licked hair, though there was one glaring difference he had with Chic Young’s suburban dad: instead of whites in the eyes and dark pupils, ProJunior had freaky black eyeballs with white pupils! It was likely 1972 when, as a newly-arrived teenager of 13 years, I got my greasy paws on an “Adults Only” 50¢ copy. Maybe I had already seen R. Crumb’s earlier take on the character, in Bijou Funnies #4 [’70], in a cover-featured five-pager (which also introduced ProJunior’s “faithful teen-age girl companion,” Honeybunch Kaminski). So it could be that my curiosity had already been piqued, but what I clearly recall is being baffled over the origins of this purported icon of underground comix. Had I somehow failed to recognize some ancient beloved comic strip of the distant past for which all hippie cartoonists were now hip? I’d always been afflicted with a nerdish interest in pop culture of yore, so, sure, I recognized the Warner Brothers prison movie vibe of Jay Lynch’s cover art, but—bam!—

turning to the inside cover, with “Bosstown Glob” writer Joe Pilati’s introduction, I was—contextually—utterly lost. What in tarnation was Joe talking about? I didn’t know a Don Dohler Wild! from a Skip Williamson Squire. Any notion of “fanzine” was just beginning to gestate in my nascent noggin, and that was only because of what smidgen or two I’d learned about science fiction fandom. So I reckon I’ve been on a quest ever since. Most anyone I’ve interviewed who may have had even the remotest association with that singular comic book has been peppered with my questions, which can be distilled down to a simple pair of queries: “Who ProJunior?” and “Why ProJunior?” And—spoiler alert— even today, I’ve yet to be given a sufficient answer to either question, even though I’ve spoken with the character’s creator, as well as to ProJunior’s numerous revivalists, his publisher, and a few contributors to that single issue which apparently continues to haunt my dreams. But, like they say, the journey’s the thing, so let’s embark on this ridiculously comprehensive, 15-years-in-the-making “investigative” feature on the lives and times of “America’s Favorite Teen-Age Jungle Lord,” sometime fearless protector of the proletariat, and struggling cartoonist, ProJunior! From the Fanzines They Came Our search for the “who” of ProJunior begins with the guy who bore the name emblazoned Walt Disney-like atop the comic book’s logo: Mr. Don Dohler. Around 2005, through a friendly e-mail exchange, I was in touch with the gent (courtesy of Jay Lynch), who, since birthing the character, went on to some renown as a low-budget sciencefiction/horror filmmaker and founder of influential special effects magazine Cinemagic. But though he readily agreed to an interview about ProJunior and his influential fanzine work, Donald Michael Dohler sadly succumbed to cancer on Dec. 2, 2006. Thankfully, filmmaker John Kinhart, who sub-

Above: Jay Lynch based his ProJunior cover on Jack Cole’s panel in True Crime Comics #2 [May 1948], below. The first printing contained an erroneous contributor count, later fixed on future printings.

Left: R. Crumb’s iconic splash page of his Bijou Funnies #4 [June 1970] ProJunior story, later used in part as an ironon T-shirt transfer sold by the Bijou Publishing Empire. COMIC BOOK CREATOR • Summer 2021 • #26

print & portfolio maven

SQP’s Portfolio Investment

Sal Quartuccio on riding the cresting wave during the comic art print and portfolio craze Interview conducted by JON B. COOKE [In the first part of his interview last issue, Brooklyn-born publisher Sal Quartuccio shared that he had taken his innovative prozine effort, Hot Stuf’, as far as it could go after eight issues, and he began to ease away from the comics publishing game. And, as we learn here, the savvy entrepreneur subsequently not only helped jumpstart an entirely new fad in fandom—the print and portfolio craze—he was the leading portfolio publisher during its 1975–85 heyday (and publisher of Judge Dredd for a spell). This interview, which includes a bit of background on Hot Stuf’ overlooked in the previous discussion, was conducted in late September of last year and then transcribed by Rose Rummel-Eury. Sal provided a final edit. —Y.E.]

Above and inset right: In 1978, Sal Quartuccio ventured into prints and portfolios with two sets of Neal Adams’ “Jungle Man” pieces originally produced for the Ballantine Tarzan paperback series.

we came up with the idea of doing the Neal Adams’ Tarzan portfolio. We knew of a very good printer out in Long Island that specialized in heavy cardstock with heavy lamination— very classy. They mainly do a lot of point-of-purchase displays, fancy postcards, and flyers. We double-checked their press sizes that would give us four prints out of a sheet. We then checked with our envelope supplier for a large-enough envelope that could be printed and the interior cardboard for strength. We pieced it altogether and presented it to Neal. He loved the idea. He let us borrow 11 paintings out of the 12 in the set, and there was a 13th painting that was not complete, which is what we used on the folder. The 12th missing Tarzan painting was in [DC Comics President] Jenette Kahn’s office and she let us borrow it… she was very kind. We shot all the paintings and made beautiful transparencies of them, laid it all out, and we had the first

#26 • Summer 2021 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

Jungle Man TM & © Neal Adams.

Bottom: Photos of longtime SQP partners Sal Quartuccio and Bob Keehan at various times in their decades-long association, from the early years (left), to 2013 (center), and in 1997, flanking George Pérez.

Comic Book Creator: If you ask me, in the midto later ’70s, portfolios were a real craze. There seem to be so many that came out. Can you share the development of the portfolio trend in your memory? How did this all start happening? Sal Quartuccio: There were already portfolios being done by Middle Earth around 1973, Frazetta prints and I remember a set by John and Marie Severin... CBC: Right. They did Kull the Conqueror and all that. Sal: In 1977, [business partner] Bob [Keenan] and I were actually housesitting for Phil Seuling and [partner] Jonni Levas, who were on an overseas trip. We dropped them off at the airport and went back to their home in the Sea Gate community in Brooklyn. We were tossing ideas around and talked about the gorgeous Tarzan paintings Neal Adams was working on at the time. I said, “It would be beautiful if we could print those Tarzan paintings in a larger format than the very small size of the paperbacks [used as covers of the Ballantine paperback series].” We came up with a format based on press-size and paper-size, and the type of paper stock I’d want to use. Then we’d want to make a folder that the prints could all fit into, a larger press and paper size. Then we’d need different sized envelopes that could fit the prints along with cardboard and everything else. So it was at Phil’s that

Batman, Hawkman, Vigilante TM & © DC Comics. Black Terror TM & © the respective copyright holder. Lone Ranger and Tonto TM & © Classic Media, LLC.

set printed and the first set came with the folder, so it was a larger-sized envelope and such. People liked it! I was really, really pleased with the printing. CBC: Do you remember the retail price? Sal: I think it was $10. CBC: Was the profit marginal? It sounds like a very expensive proposition. Sal: It was expensive. We used a very high-quality stock… the packaging… we really stuck our neck out on that. CBC: There has to be an ad somewhere. Sal: It’s a beautiful thing. CBC: Neal got a cut? Sal: Neal got a cut and some samples. (It’s only been three or four decades, Jon!) I’m think Set A was 1978. We did a regular edition and a signed-&-numbered edition. CBC: It was the first of its kind, right? Sal: As far as the color printing and folder and everything else, I’m not sure. Middle Earth was at it a few years before us, and I think Schanes and Schanes started around the same time as us. CBC: You sold them at shows and through the Comic Buyer’s Guide? Sal: Yes, and through [distributors] Bud Plant, Sea Gate, and there were quite a few smaller distributors, and they all took some. The Adams Tarzan portfolio was what I showed to Bernie [Wrightson], Mike [Kaluta], and Jeff ( Jones ), and that’s what got them interested in doing it. They saw the repro was really wonderful. From there, we did color sets with some of the TSR guys: Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, and Fred Fields. Some were like the Tarzan stuff, which were reprints of printed pieces, but the Wrightson, Kaluta, Jones, [Howard] Chaykin, [Jim] Starlin, Jerry Bingham, Joe Linsner—all their stuff was brand- new. All the subsequent Marvel prints I did were brand-new. The Batman stuff by Marshall Rogers was new... CBC: How were the negotiations with DC for the Batman stuff? Sal: Marshall wanted to do it. We talked with Paul Levitz. We weren’t doing a lot of them, just for the comic market. It was no problem. It wasn’t a huge print run. Marshall was very happy with it, even the limited plate that he did. He did a little 8½" X 11" plate that was very nice. It did well, but dealing with DC is kind of tricky. You don’t want to get too involved with licensing—at least I didn’t want to get too involved with the licensing thing after the Marvel thing. I didn’t want to get too dependent on it. About the only licensed jobs I did after Marvel and DC were Conan and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. The two T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents portfolios I did with John Carbonaro, my old friend who owned the rights to the property. We got George Tuska to do a new black-&-white set and Tom Tenney (who works on

the Creepshow TV show) did a set. They didn’t do much at all, but it was nice that we did them. CBC: What was your most successful one? Sal: Almost all of them had the same print run, so nothing really stands out. Jerry Bingham’s set, Malevolent Maidens, Blood Lust by Jim Balent sold quickly. Kim DeMulder, Esteban Maroto, Hector Gomez, Simon Bisley, Craig Hamilton, Rich Corben, Bart Sears, Butch Guice, all were very popular. The Fastner/Larson Flesh and Blood was very popular. They must have done 10 or 15 portfolios for us. CBC: That was the beginning of your cheesecake stuff? Sal: We found that our audience were not interested in the sci-fi type of images. Females in exciting situations, vampires, barbarians, very creative ideas. The masters of

COMIC BOOK CREATOR • Summer 2021 • #26

Above: Marshall Rogers produced a splendid set of color plates for the SQP-published 1981 portfolio.

Below: While not as big a seller as any number of SQP portfolios, Gray Morrow’s six color plate Heroes set from 1975 was beautiful work by an underappreciated comics master.

infectious ’70s fanaticism

50 Years of Fanzines Ken Meyer, Jr., takes a look at the fan scene at 50, the epic playground of the past by KEN MEYER, JR.

Bill Pearson), Infinity, and Graphic Story Magazine (the latter being more a historical mag with highly literate interviews and articles). Some straddled the line between prozine and magazine, or even underground comic, such as Richard Corben’s flagship, Fantagor, or Hot Stuf’. I tend to classify those publications produced by fans as fanzines, regardless of the sheen of professionalism. Alter Ego is widely thought of as one of the best fanzines. It was started in 1961 by “superfan” Jerry Bails (who soon after published The Comicollector, the first comics adzine), and Roy Thomas, who came on board later… and we all know what happened to him! On the opposite end of the spectrum were those labeled with the not too flattering moniker “crudzines.” A favorite of modern fanzine aficionado Aaron Caplan, the crudzines were usually shoddily printed, totally fan populated, had smaller print runs, and substandard art. For some, like Caplan, they were the ones that had the purest fan enthusiasm. Fanzines would cost anywhere from 25¢ to a couple of dollars. I cannot count the times I taped quarters to an index card and sent away for some treasure! But it was easily worth whatever coins we could scrounge together to see amazing art, interesting stories, informative articles, reports on conventions I could never attend, and photos of professionals I would never meet. Fanzines were a meeting place for the like-minded, a place where we could meet new friends, some we would keep for the rest of our lives. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, The

#26 • Summer 2021 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom TM & © Krause Publications. Metamorpho TM & © DC Comics. Alter Ego TM & © Roy and Dann Thomas. CPL TM & © Bob Layton. Toth artwork © the estate of Alex Toth.

Above: The one that started it all, Jerry Bails’ first fanzine, Alter Ego #1 [1961], represented by a sharpened scan here. Inset right: Fred Hembeck’s cover art for The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom #364 [Nov. 7, 1980]. Be sure to check out Fred’s career-spanning interview in The Comic Book Artist Bullpen Collection, coming soon from TwoMorrows! Below: Alex Toth’s extraordinary cover art for CPL #11 [1974].

A 14-year-old boy walked into the library during lunchtime to look at the usual art books, but the librarian (the nice one, not the mean one) called him over before he could reach the stacks. On the table in front of her was a newspaper. But this looked like no newspaper he had ever seen. Across the front and back was a black-&-white drawing of a group of barbarians cresting a hill, swords and spears raised and ready for battle, a misty moon behind them. It was the coolest thing he had seen in a long while. She told him this was a newspaper all about his favorite subject—comic books! His mouth dropped open and remained there as he thumbed through the pages. Ads selling comics! Articles on comics! And advertisements for something totally new, something called… fanzines! His mind was blown and his life had just been changed forever! No doubt you’ve figured out that the youngster was me, and maybe even realized that the paper was The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom, one nexus in 1971 for comics and fandom among very few at that time. I wrote to the publisher, Alan Light, and he was incredibly nice to reply, not only with a subscription to the publication, but several current zines for free, as well! You can blame Alan for my ascent into the world of fanzines. So, what are fanzines, anyway? There have been fanzines for almost every subject for quite a long time. Wikipedia states that “the term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom.” The term was later applied to any number of subjects presented by amateur fans of those subjects; comics, literature, sports, music… the list goes on and on. This article will focus primarily on the comic book centered fanzines of the late 1960s through to the early ’80s, which, coincidentally, was the timespan I was a fanzine maniac! Fanzines had several levels of quality. Many still cannot agree on what constitutes the difference between a fanzine and a “pro-zine.” The latter usually had better design and production, a higher caliber of artists and writers (many already professionals), and a price tag to match. Some of the best include Heritage, Phase, witzend (from Wally Wood, later taken over by

The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom TM & © Krause Publications. RBCC TM & © the respective copyright holder. Blue Beetle TM & © DC Comics.

Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom (TBG), from Alan Light, was one of the few gathering places for comic book and fanzine fans. Remember, this was long before the internet. People got their news either in the comics themselves or through the mail. There was a certain degree of anticipation that would build and build as you waited weeks to get your prized possession. Publisher Light maintained a very steady schedule, eventually coming out weekly while offering free subscriptions (the ads paid the bills). He added more and more editorial content as time went on, including columnists like Don and Maggie Thompson (who would later take over the publication and change the name to Comics Buyers Guide). The covers were occasionally done by established professionals like Dan Adkins, Joe Sinnott, Jack Kirby and Frank Thorne, but the lion’s share were done by fan artists. (You can see Alan’s many comics-related photos by searching his name at www.flickr.com.) One other regular publication (fanzines did not usually last long or hold to a regular schedule) was Rocket’s Blast-Comicollector (RBCC). Formed when two fanzines merged (Rocket’s Blast and The Comicollector), RBCC was edited and published by G.B. Love and later taken over by James Van Hise. Van Hise fairly quickly moved the focus from ads to actual editorial content (TBG’s popularity had a hand in that, as well, attracting more ads) and gave some of the best artists of that time space to shine (those that Love had not already published). Covers were by artists such as Robert Kline (a fan fave who later made his career in animation), Mike Zeck, Don Newton, Bernie Wrightson, Kerry Gammill, and John G. Fantucchio (another fan favorite, who worked primarily a teacher), among many others. Lastly in this category, is The Comic Reader (yet another Jerry Bails publication, started in 1961 as On the Drawing Board before changing its name). Though TCR ran through a slew of editors (most of whom went on to careers in the comic field), it lasted as long as almost any other fanzine. It was, however, was more a news source for those comic fans than a space for creativity. It sported a ton of beautiful covers by the more polished fans and many pros. That

was, by and large, the only non-news material in its pages however (though later issues would contain strips by some of fandom’s most loved creators, including this magazine’s Fred Hembeck, as well as Alan Hanley). Like other genres of fanzines, there were those specializing in very specific topics. E.C. Comics were covered in high-class zines, such as Squa Tront, Spa Fon, and Seraphim. Boasting illustrations by many industry greats, these zines were truly high-water marks. In addition to established pros, soon to be art gods such as Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, and Richard Corben filled the pages. Squa Tront didn’t even need a title or any other text on the cover! Specific authors had their own fanzines as well. Robert E. Howard dominated Amra and Fantasy Crossroads, while Edgar Rice Burroughs readers could indulge in ERB-Zine and The Jasoomian. Specific comic characters or groups had their own crusaders. Batman had Batmania, while The Legion of Super-Heroes had The Legion Outpost. By the late 1970s, the “big two” noticed the groundswell amongst their readers and published their own house fanzines, Marvel with FOOM (the acronym of Friends of Ol’ Marvel) and DC with The Amazing World of DC Comics. I gathered an unofficial list through social media of the “best” fanzines of that

COMIC BOOK CREATOR • Summer 2021 • #26

Above: The Buyer’s Guide for Comic Fandom, #8 [Oct. 1971], with cover art by Dennis Fujitake. This was the issue of TBG that blew the mind of a young Ken Meyer, Jr. Below: Mike Zeck’s striking Blue Beetle cover art graces the cover of Rocket’s Blast Comicollector #135 [Apr. 1977].

No other word comes to mind about the art of Terry Dodson except charm. Okay, in truth there’s lots of descriptive words I can lay on the almost 30-year comics veteran’s stuff, but let’s agree charm is near’bouts top of the list. I first encountered the native Oregonian’s work at a Big Apple Con, sometime in the mid-’00s, where (if memory serves) he and wife Rachel’s table was incongruently set next to the spot occupied by no less than S. Clay Wilson (selling his childhood pirate comics) and Spain Rodriguez, two legendary— and notorious—underground comix artists. Much as I was in the thrall of the work of those ZAP collective members, I was completely captivated by Terry’s wonderful comic book work.

#26 • Summer 2021 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

This spread: Clockwise from above, is Claire, the star of Adventureman; Vera Yelnikov from Red One; Coraline from Terry’s first Songes album; Terry’s portrait from the Star Wars online wiki page; and Phaedra Phantom, from Adventureman. Background is original art pages. All art by Terry with inks by Rachel Dodson.

Comic Book Creator: Where were you born, Terry? Terry Dodson: Oregon, born and raised. Went to college at Portland State and then started working full-time in comics while still in college, so there was never a need for me to go anywhere else. Everyone in comics was either here or moved here. It was a nice place to live and it felt like the industry all came here eventually. CBC: Whereabouts are you today? Terry: I’m on the Oregon coast. I was born and grew up in a small town here. We were in Portland for almost 20 years and, once high-speed internet moved into the rural areas, we were ready to get out of the city and have more free time in the open green part. CBC: Do you come from a big family? Terry: Yes. I have four brothers. CBC: Where do you stand in the mix? Terry: I am the youngest. And by a gap, too, by six years with my next older brother. There are 14 years between the oldest and me. CBC: Were they into comics and the trappings of American youth? Terry: No. I was the only comic-book person. There was that gap in years and I was the only one who got into comics and creating art. I was completely different from my brothers, in that sense. There are no ties in that direction with either comics or creating art with my parents either. I was the last kid with more time and free space, you fill that up. CBC: Did you have close neighbors? Terry: For the most part, yes. The town I grew up in was pretty small, but we were in the “city part” of it. CBC: Was there a group of kids you hung out with? Terry: Yes. There were always kids to play with, play sports with, read comics with… whatever we did. CBC: To what do you attribute your creative streak?

Red One TM & © Xavier Dorison & Terry Dodson. Coraline TM & © D.P. Filipini & Terry Dodson. Photo © the respective copyright holder.

From the moment of that startling discovery on, I was a Dodson fan, immediately recognizing the vital contribution that Rachel’s inks brought to her husband’s pencils, and I found myself scouring the comic racks for wherever the couple’s work appeared as they bounced back and forth between DC and Marvel assignments. As of late, the Dodsons have been toiling in the independent realm, producing with writer Matt Fraction, Adventureman, an utterly (yes, there’s that word again) charming series published by Image that’s all-ages fun steeped in 1940s pulpish lore, supernatural menace, and New York City art deco. The first story arc was released amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic and widespread civil unrest. The second Adventureman arc is due about the time this CBC is out, hopefully a less viral, more healthy time. After Ye Ed promised the Dodsons I’d conduct that interview when first we met, the day finally came via chats with Terry this April.—Ye Ed. Terry: It’s very complicated. My first memory of drawing wasn’t until I was at least eight. I didn’t draw as a kid. There was no drawing in the house. I have no memory of comics in my early years. I know when I first started drawing, because I’d seen Star Wars and I became friends with a kid who was a Star Wars fan and he drew. So, it was from that I started drawing. I had never drawn before that. During our first time together, he showed me how to draw Jawas and T.I.E. fighters. That’s my memory of when I started to draw. CBC: You drew what? Terry: Jawas and T.I.E. fighters. Star Wars stuff. CBC: Sorry, I heard, “Jawas and typewriters.” [chuckles] Terry: He was showing me how to draw them, after he learned from the toys or photos, so, for my first drawing, I drew like my friend drew. And it went from there. I think it took a while for me to do my own. It wasn’t until he left after a couple of years and I was in the fifth grade. I started when I was eight and was 12 or 13, that age, when I was getting into comics and from that age on, in my spare time, I would draw to entertain myself. CBC: You were born in 1969? Terry: Nineteen seventy. CBC: You saw Star Wars when it was first released? Terry: Yes. I would have seen it late 1977 or even in mid-’78—I still haven’t figured that out exactly I was too young to understand the hype, but I remember there being magazines and books about it—I hadn’t even yet seen the trailer for it—and the vision of what

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Above: Due to a newborn fascination with the hit motion picture of that time, young Terry Dodson’s first exposure to fan culture came with Star Wars #14 [Aug. 1978] and Famous Monsters of Filmland #138 [Oct. ’77]. Below: Graduating preschooler Terry Dodson in 1975. Inset is the earliest existing work by Terry, who later described it: “Family Christmas card my mom had me draw in 1975, the year my dad died.”

#26 • Summer 2021 • COMIC BOOK CREATOR

I thought it was came from seeing that stuff in the bookstore, and then going to the theater and being blown away. That weekend after we saw it, I remember going out and getting my first Star Wars comic book, #14 [Aug. ’78]… Famous Monsters of Filmland with the Star Wars cover [#138, Oct. ’77]… and it was all brand-new stuff for me, that kind of pop culture, fan culture. That was completely new. That got me into toys, which got me being with friends who played with the toys, and then I drew. I credit everything to Star Wars. It all channels back to that. CBC: Is that one reason you took on the Princess Leia assignment? Terry: Definitely. At that point, I had fairly burned out doing mainstream monthly work and I was already starting to do some creator-owned stuff and [chuckles] I got that phone call. There is one thing I would do on long-term mainstream project, it would be a Star Wars project. That would be it. When I heard about

Marvel getting the license, I thought, “That’s interesting!” But I was all ready to do creator-owned stuff and then I got that call: “We got the license.” “Oh, okay!” “We want to do something.” “That’s cool. What character?” “Princess Leia.” “Okay! But what era?” “The second after Star Wars ends.” So that appealed to the Star Wars fan in me. CBC: When you take on these assignments, do you confer with Rachel before you say yes or no? Terry: Umm… sort of. [pauses] Anything major, I talk to her about. Her stance on it all is: if I’m excited about it, then it shows in my work so she’s very excited to work on it. She doesn’t really care what we do, but if I’m excited about it, then that insures her knowing it’s something she wants to work on. She has similar tastes in that way. Our respective radar works well together to decide on what we will work on. CBC: I was looking through the checklist of all your work and there are so many covers, especially in the last six or seven years. Can you make a living off just doing covers? Terry: Yes, I could. However, I really enjoy storytelling, drawing pages, and creating worlds, which I can only really do in comics. But, yes, I could just do covers and get by, but I enjoy both. I think I enjoy actually drawing the pages more—doing the storytelling and world-building, and all that stuff—but the covers are fun in that they are the closest I can get to illustration and you get to try out things. “This is good; this is fun,” and then move to something else. CBC: Do you do other gigs? Do you teach at all? Terry: My bread and butter is doing comics, but every year there is stuff that I do that is either commercial jobs or online work or just oddball things, because it’s kind of fun to try other things and take on any kind of new challenge. My entire career, I’ve never been at a point where I had to look for something else. There’s always been an editor’s assignment in front of me. I think I’m in the 28th year now and there’s always been something else available for me to choose from. So there was never a point where I thought, “I need to get out and find something.” Teaching and all that… though there have been offers for that kind of stuff… but I’ve never been in a position to have to do things I hadn’t necessarily plan on doing. If I do something that is non-comics, it’s because it pays really well and it’s a challenge creatively. It’s good to develop a skill set. CBC: Can you give me a description of taking on that annual non-comics job, pre-Covid? Terry: Oh, let me think… I just did a piece for a video game, which hasn’t come out yet. That was a couple of months ago. CBC: So, if you feel right for a job that’s offered, you just go for it? Terry: I’m a creative person, and I like challenges, it’s good to get out of your comfort zone. Because of the internet, people are so easy to get a hold of nowadays. For 20 years now, it’s been easy to get a hold of me from the internet, so I get job offers from all over the place to do design work on something or illustration work for something. So that stuff always comes filtering through. And I’m always kind of busy. My professional schedule is always full, but if something unique comes along, I can push the date to a certain point and if it’s worth my time and fits the schedule for me to do it… like the cereal box for Count Chocula! [chuckles] That was such an goofball assignment! Everybody in the world knows Count Chocula cereal outside of comics, and I have family members far more excited about

that than any of the other stuff I had done. Because everybody’s grown up with that cereal and knows what it is! CBC: Of course! Terry: In the span of my career, though, now everybody knows Star Wars, Spider-Man and the X-Men, and all this stuff. It’s all so mainstream now, so when I tell them I work on a mainstream comic, everybody knows what that stuff is. The pop-culture awareness in society is hilarious. So, me just working on an issue of Spider-Man, “Oh yeah, Spider-Man! We know what that is.” In the beginning, that wasn’t the case. Not that I care, but it’s hilarious how everybody in every age group knows—or is a fan of—Deadpool or Wonder Woman, but that just did not happen when I first started working. CBC: Are your brothers cognizant of your work? Terry: Yes… plus their kids! Their kids, my nieces and nephews, are way more interested in my stuff. That’s a nice way to connect with them. CBC: Do you have kids? Terry: No, but between Rachel and me, we have 25 or 30 nieces and nephews, so we didn’t really feel the need. [laughter] They’re always around. CBC: Lucky you, Terry. You can say, “Goodbye.” Terry: That is kind of a reason. [chuckles] Our oldest nieces and nephews are now in their 30s and they’re having kids and it’s pretty neat to see the family grow. CBC: Were you sociable in junior high and high school? Terry: Actually, I was. I’ve always been a quiet person, but I did sports. I did three sports a year: football, track, and basketball, from seventh grade through my senior year. My dad coached and my brothers coached, so it was normal. I grew up playing sports and my friends played sports. I wasn’t that into sports, outside of me participating. I watch way more sports on TV now than I did as a kid. I didn’t really care about pro sports when I was playing… and winning! [laughs] CBC: Were you collecting comics through junior high and into high school? Terry: Yes. Star Wars got me into comics and through the ads selling all the Marvel stuff, I started buying Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. As soon as I started buying, I was collecting almost simultaneously. I saw the Mile High Comics ads and noticed the price of some back issues, and I thought, “The Star Wars comics I bought are worth that much money?” In my mind, that’s what I was thinking, so I was buying comics to read and as collectibles—as a hobby—from fourth grade on. I subscribed to Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four in fourth or fifth grade for a year and then I realized that if I bought through the comic shop or the newsstand, I’d get them in better condition than the subscription copies. CBC: Were you indulged as a kid? That’s pretty young for getting subscriptions. Terry: They were just so cheap. I was very economically minded. With a subscription, you could get two for the price of one. That’s actually a really good deal. I think my first comic was 60¢ or 75¢, so I got a subscription, but I only did it for a year. I liked to go get the comic book. That was a big deal for me. CBC: Did you have jobs as a kid? Terry: My spending was pretty minimal. The only thing I spent money on as a kid was comics. I don’t know how much I was spending, but it wasn’t much. I didn’t start working until I was a freshman, summer jobs between eighth and ninth grades, and my spending increased then. Sports were cheap and then, for reading, there was the library. I don’t remember going to movies that often. I liked them, but didn’t spend much money on them—maybe once or twice a year. CBC: What did your dad do? Terry: Both my parents were teachers. My dad worked at the high school and my mom taught at the elementary school.

CBC: When you were in elementary school, your mom was also there? Terry: Yes, but what she did was switch the grades she taught, so she never taught my grades. CBC: But she was in the building, so that must have been something! [chuckles] Terry: Yes. It was cool for me. After school, I’d go hang out in her classroom when all the kids were gone and draw or watch movies on the school VCR she had in the classroom. We never had classes that overlapped. She did that on purpose.

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Above: Nine-year-old Terry drew this illo, circa 1980. Below: Eugene Register Guard, Oct. 23, 1986, with “articles that opened my mind to the reality of drawing comics. Gary Martin was an inker living in Eugene, and there’s mention of the launch of Dark Horse Comics in Milwaukie! I studied and studied this paper!”