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Roy ThomasGerry-mandered Comics Fanzine $ 8.95 In the USA No.131 March 2015 GERRY CONWAY FIRST TIME AROUND AT MARVEL (AND DC )! [Marvel art © Marvel Characters, Inc.; portrait © 2015 Shane Foley.] 1 8 2 6 5 8 2 7 7 6 3 5 0 2

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ALTER EGO #131 (84 full-color pages, $8.95) features an in-depth interview with GERRY CONWAY (star Marvel/DC writer in the early '70s), conducted by RICHARD ARNDT—from House of Mystery and The Phantom Stranger to Daredevil, Black Widow, Thor, Fantastic Four, Werewolf by Night, The Inhumans, Kull the Conqueror, Sub-Mariner, Amazing Spider-Man—to the creation of The Punisher and the death of Gwen Stacy! Art by ROMITA, COLAN, KANE, PLOOG, BUSCEMA, MORROW, TUSKA, ADAMS, SEKOWSKY, the SEVERINS, et al.! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster's Comic Crypt, BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more! Cover by SHANE FOLEY and the Marvel all-star squad! Edited by ROY THOMAS.

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Page 1: Alter Ego #131

Roy Thomas’Gerry-mandered

Comics Fanzine $8.95In the USA

No.131March2015

GERRYCONWAY

FIRST TIME AROUND AT MARVEL (AND DC)!

[Marvel art © Marvel Characters, Inc.;portrait © 2015 Shane Foley.]

1 82658 27763 5

0 2

Page 2: Alter Ego #131

Vol. 3, No. 131 / March 2015EditorRoy ThomasAssociate EditorsBill SchellyJim AmashDesign & LayoutChristopher DayConsulting EditorJohn MorrowFCA EditorPaul C. HamerlinckJ.T. Go (Assoc. Editor)Comic Crypt EditorMichael T. GilbertEditorial Honor RollJerry G. Bails (founder)Ronn Foss, Biljo WhiteMike FriedrichProofreadersRob SmentekWilliam J. DowldingCover ArtistsShane Foley, Gene Colan, Gil Kane, Gray Morrow, John Buscema, & Michael Ploog (plus inkers)Cover ColoristTom Ziuko & original Marvel coloristsWith Special Thanks to:Heidi AmashPedro AngostoRichard J. ArndtMark ArnoldBob BaileyJean BailsMike W. BarrAlberto BecattiniJohn BensonJune Swayze

BlackmanChristopher BoykoMark Staff BrandlMike BrittLarry ByrdNick CaputoDewey CassellShaun ClancyGerry ConwayJon B. CookeChet CoxBrian CreminsVince DavisTina DeZunigaJohn FaheyJustin FairfaxEd FieldsJanet Gilbert

Grand ComicsDatabase

Sean HoweDr. M. Thomas Inge“jgbook2007”Jim KealyDr. Jeffrey J. KripalStan LeeMark LewisJim LudwigRibert MenziesBarry PearlJay PiscopoWarren ReeceGene ReedRandy SargentJim ShooterMarc SvenssonDesha SwayzeJune SwayzeDann ThomasChester ThompsonMike TiefenbacherJiro TomiyamaTed WhiteWho’s Who of

American ComicBooks 1929-1999

Mike ZeckAlter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: [email protected]. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Eight-issue subscriptions: $67 US, $85 Canada, $104 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in China. ISSN: 1932-6890

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www.twomorrows.com

ContentsWriter/Editorial: Should Auld Acquaintance, And All That Good Stuff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Gerry Conway talks to Richard Arndt about his early years at DC, Marvel, & elsewhere.

Dan Barry & Flash Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Part II of Alberto Becattini’s look at the life and career of a controversial comics talent.

Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!: The Mystery Of The Missing Comic! – Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Michael T. Gilbert on Bob Powell’s Man in Black Called Fate (among other things).

Comic Fandom Archive: The 20-Cent Plague . . . . . . . . . . . 61Bill Schelly chats with Jiro Tomiyama, editor of a little-known January 1961 fanzine.

re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . . . . . . . . . 68FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America] #191 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

P.C. Hamerlinck, Otto Binder, Brian Cremins—and Captain Marvel co-creator Bill Parker!On Our Cover: Gerry Conway tells us he’s never been overly fond of the circa-1970 photo (see p. 3) that Iasked Shane Foley to use as the basis of the portrait of GC that he drew for this issue’s cover. Only thingis—it’s the only photo we had of him from that period. (And besides, which of us does like all the pics takenof us at various stages of our lives?) Be that as it may, we hedged our bets by surrounding it with awesomeart by Gil Kane (of The Punisher, Spider-Man, and Gwen Stacy, as inked by John Romita, TonyMortellaro, Frank Giacoia, & Dave Hunt)—Michael Ploog (Werewolf by Night)—John Buscema(Thor, as inked by Vince Colletta)—Gray Morrow (Man-Thing)—and Gene Colan (Daredevil and The Black Widow, as inked by Tom Palmer). Ye Olde Editor suspects that Gerry’ll admit he’s rarely beenin better company! [Marvel art © Marvel Characters, Inc.; portrait art © Shane Foley.]Above: Ye Ed would also be willing to bet a few old comics from his “Go-Go Checks” pile that this panelfrom The Phantom Stranger #11 (Jan.-Feb. 1971) represents one of the first times that mysterious mover-and-shaker ever just out-and-out slugged anybody. The blow was drawn by Jim Aparo—but neo-writer Gerry Conway evidently enjoyed writing that punch so much that he had the haunted herothrow another one on the very next page. Gerry’d go on to script not a few fearsome free-for-alls, for DC,Marvel, and others, over the next few decades. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Michael T. Gilbert for the scan.[© DC Comics.]

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NTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION: Gerry Conway launchedhis writing career in comic books while still a teenager. He beganwriting mystery (i.e. horror) stories for first DC, then Marvel, before

scoring his first ongoing series work on “Ka-Zar” in 1970. Within a yearhe was writing four monthly series and was one of Marvel’s top writers.He was involved in the creation of “Man-Thing,” “Werewolf by Night,”and Marvel’s rendition of Dracula, and followed Stan Lee as the regular

writer of The Amazing Spider-Man. In 1976he was briefly the editor-in-chief of MarvelComics. Over the past 4½ decades, he haswritten almost every major character in the DCand Marvel Universes. This interview tookplace by phone in July 2011, with a follow-upcall in September 2013.

Phantoms From The Past(Left:) The splash page of Gerry’s first story featuring a continuing hero, from DC’s The Phantom Stranger #10 (Nov.-Dec. 1970)—and the final page of his

most famous comics story ever, “The Night Gwen Stacy Died!,” from The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973). The credits for Gerry and artist Jim Aparo on the DC yarn came on its third page; the Marvel issue, whose story title was only announced on its last page, was penciled by Gil Kane and inked by

John Romita & Tony Mortellaro. Thanks to Bob Bailey and Barry Pearl, respectively. [PS page © DC Comics; ASM page © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

Gerry Conway, in an early-1970s

photo from Marvel’sfan-club magazineF.O.O.M. (top), and

a recent pic (directly above).

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity”

GERRY CONWAY On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere

Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Richard J. Arndt

II

3

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“I Just Kept Banging My HeadAgainst That Wall”

RICHARD ARNDT: Can you tell us a little of your background?

GERRY CONWAY: I grew up in New York City, born in Brooklynin 1952. I lived there for ten years, then the family moved toQueens. That’s where I lived and grew up until I was about 18. Myparents were middle-class, lower middle-class. I went to Catholicschool. I got what I consider a fairly good education. I developed,I’m sure, a few personality quirks from [Catholic school]. [chuckles]

RA: What got you interested in comics?

CONWAY: When I was a kid, fairly early on, I fell in love withcomics. Sometime in my early teens I found out that DC had asummer tour program where, every Thursday during the summer,you could go to the DC offices and they would take whoever hadshowed up on a tour of the insides. Once I started doing that on aregular basis, I drew up this ambition to be an artist. But I wasencouraged to become a writer by the editors who saw myartwork. I was a kid. I kept pursuing it because I didn’t know anybetter. [laughs] I just kept banging my head against that wall.

RA: You also wrote a lot of science-fiction short stories and novels inyour early writing career. Did that start at the same time?

CONWAY: I don’t know that I wrote a lot of science-fiction. Thatwas the other area of interest that I had, science-fiction and shortstories, but again that was based on the general notion of what waspossible. I saw that there were these digest magazines that werebuying stories, so I started writing them and sold some to TedWhite at Amazing Science Fiction and Fantastic. Fantastic wasfantasy-oriented. This was actually a few years after I’d startedwriting comics. I may have met White at one of the comic bookhangouts—the comic folk used to have these gatherings Fridays,after work, once a month. It would be at various peoples’ homes inNew York City.

RA: That would be the “First Friday” gatherings?

CONWAY: The gathering would go from people like Roy Thomas

one month to Archie Goodwinto… I think Bernie Wrightsonhosted them at one point. Itwas just whoever’s apartmentwould be available. Peoplewould show up from alldifferent areas of comics. JeffJones was a regular. TedWhite, who edited theSF/fantasy digests Imentioned, came once ortwice. I met Ted at one of theFriday gatherings. I said, “Gee,I’d like to send you somestories.” and he said sure. Sohe knew who I was when hegot the stories. It was verynice. He was very encour-aging. I sold some prosestories to him. He introducedme to Terry Carr. Terryactually bought my first novelfor the Ace Science Fiction line.I wrote another couple ofnovels after that. Still, Ibasically dropped writingscience-fiction sometime in theearly to mid-1970s. I was just too busy writing comics and, later,films.

RA: Your first stories that I’m aware of were at DC. How did you breakin, since you were still a teenager when that happened? The editor wouldprobably have been Dick Giordano.

CONWAY: Yes, it was Giordano. There was this strange period….As I was saying, I was going on these Thursday tours at DC and Ibasically went around [while on the tours] and introduced myselfto a lot of the different editors. At one point, and I would have stillbeen a freshman in high school, maybe even earlier, I asked theguy who was running the tour if there was any kind of free work Icould do there. This was before they had interns, but I was askingif I could do the job that an intern would have today. I didn’t evenknow what an intern was. So, for a couple of weeks that summer, Iworked for free at the DC offices. I was just cutting up old artwork,which is kind of horrible, I guess, but that’s what they had me do.

RA: Would this have been for Sol Harrison?

CONWAY: No, this was for a guy named Walter Hurlachek. Solwas, I think, the guy who was in charge, but Walter was sort of likehis assistant at the time. He led the office tours. He was a very nicegentleman, in his fifties at the time I was doing this. I guess heretired sometime after that. He brought me in to do just the artstuff. So, because I was there, I went around to the different editorsand asked if I could submit stories to them. I just went from oneeditor to another. I started with people like Julie Schwartz becauseI was obviously a huge Julie Schwartz fan, as anybody who readDC Comics was. Julie wasn’t really very encouraging. MortWeisinger actually asked me for some story ideas. He didn’t likeanything I came up with. [laughs] I came up with some spec scriptsfor him. The first person who ever actually asked me to writesomething was Robert Kanigher. He was still an editor at DC at thetime. He asked me to write a Metal Men script because he hadgotten way behind on some assignments or whatever. He rejectedit, though, when I’d finished it. He said it was no good, that hedidn’t like it.

Fantastic ForayThe cover of a 1970 issue of the fantasy

pulp magazine Fantastic, whichheralded one of Conway’s early sales to

editor Ted White. Art by Michael J.Kaluta. Retrieved from the since-renamed Golden Age Comic BookStories website. [© the respective

copyright holders.]

Booked!Two early paperback SF novels by Conway: The Midnight Dancers (1971)

and Mindship (1974). Cover art by Davis Meltzer & Kelly Freas, respectively.Thanks to Gene Reed. [© the respective copyright holders.]

4 Gerry Conway On His First Half Decade-Plus At Marvel, DC, & Elsewhere

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The two “Phantom Stranger” stories that I did for Joe Orlandowere the first recurring character I wrote, outside of thewraparound pages for Abel in House of Secrets. I had been trying toget work from Roy and Marvel since those mystery stories in 1969.There was a sense, though, at Marvel that they didn’t need newwriters. They had Stan and Roy. They had Gary Friedrich as abackup guy, basically. But Marvel had started to expand. Stan wasin the middle of re-negotiating his contract. He wanted to do lesswriting. Roy was being elevated to more and more authority. Withmore titles coming out, somebody had to pick up the slack. I thinkthey realized they needed another fulltime writer on their staff. Iwas in the right place at the right time. “Ka-Zar” was, in a way, mytryout series.

Mind you, I wasn’t the only writer Marvel was trying out. Theyhad a fellow there named Alan Gold… Alan Gold? Is that right?

RA: There was an Allyn Brodsky who wrote some stories for Marvelaround that time.

CONWAY: That may have been Sol’s son or nephew. Just the samelast name. [A/E EDITOR’S NOTE: I basically hired Allyn, and to thebest of my knowledge he was not related to Sol Brodsky.] Mimi Gold!

That was the Gold!Mimi Gold did acouple of stories forthem, too. She was anassistant editor or asecretary orsomething. They were floundering about trying to find someone todo this stuff for them on a regular basis. For whatever reasons, Roythought I had the potential to be that guy. After I’d done a few ofthe stories—the “Ka-Zars”—he asked me to come over and workfor them exclusively. They would give me two books to do if Iwould do that. It wasn’t like they had to argue me into it. I wantedto work for Marvel. At the same time, though, DC had given me allthese chances, so I went back to DC and told them Marvel wantedme to work exclusively for them. At that point, DC offered meBatman. They thought that would trump the Marvel offer, and itwould have done that except Marvel was going to give me twobooks and I really did want to work for them. Also, at that point,Dick Giordano had been removed as an editor. He had been theguy I wanted to work with exclusively there, so I did end uptaking the job at Marvel.

RA: You worked with some of Marvel’s best artists, right off the bat.

Jim Aparo.Thanks to Ed Fields

& Jim Amash.

Stan Lee,1968.

Changing Sabretooths In Mid-StreamGC’s story for The Phantom Stranger #11 (Jan.-Feb. 1971), whose final Aparo-drawn page is seen at left, washis last series work for DC for several years. By the time it saw print, the young New Yorker was already the

scripter of Marvel’s “Ka-Zar” series, beginning with Astonishing Tales #3 (Dec. 1970), in tandem withpenciler Barry Smith & inker Sam Grainger. Thanks to Jim Kealy and Barry Pearl, respectively, for the scans.

[“Phantom Stranger” page © DC Comics; “Ka-Zar” splash © Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity” 13

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been running into Spider-Man, for example. I mean, we did do a“Werewolf by Night/Spider-Man” cross-over eventually, but had[Jack Russell] lived in New York it would have taken the readerout of his world that we were creating, to have him cheek to cheekwith super-heroes.

RA: If you were reading the Marvel comics sequentially, it often broughtup questions of where were The Avengers when Galactus was threat-ening New York? Where were all the heroes? It shouldn’t have been justthe Fantastic Four. As you said, putting all the heroes in New Yorkshould have had them stumbling all over each other.

CONWAY: Right. And besides that aspect, I had taken a trip to LosAngeles in 1971 and fell in love with the West Coast. I eventuallymoved out here. I just wanted to set things in this sort of area, justto have that different environment. Largely because I really likedthat environment.

RA: Besides “Werewolf by Night” and “Man-Thing,” there were anumber of other titles that Roy plotted the first issue to and you wrote thedialogue. Tomb of Dracula and Killraven/War of the Worlds bothstarted this way, also. You didn’t stay for long on any of those titles,however. Why was that?

CONWAY: Because, for the most part, Marvel was expanding.They were trying to reach into other markets—monster books,

more super-hero books, different kinds of anthology books, theblack-&-white magazines—and basically Roy would get an idea.He would write the original story or outline with the notion that hewould write the final script, but then the reality would pop that hewas already doing a lot of work, both editing and writing, and sohe would pass the title on to me, because I was the next in line.But, for the most part, I didn’t necessarily have a personal stake indoing these books, either. They needed to be done and I was theguy who could do that. Roy trusted me to get the book set upfirmly. I would do the title until we found somebody else to takeover the book. I think I liked Werewolf by Night more than some ofthe others because I got to do this personal kind of writing for it,which worked well for me. But there were a lot of cases where I’dstart something and pass it on to the next new writer to arrive atMarvel.

RA: That appeared to be the case when you wrote the first issue of theBeast in Amazing Adventures, then it was passed along to SteveEnglehart as his first series with the second issue.

CONWAY: Also Ms. Marvel. I think it was a comfort level thing[with Roy], that he was comfortable with me. He thought I coulddo these things. It was methodology that worked for us.

RA: It might also have been a marketing tool of sorts. The kid who picked

Wham, Bam…Gerry plotted and scripted the first solo exploits of “The Beast” in Amazing Adventures #11 (March 1972) and Ms. Marvel in her first issue several years later(Jan. 1977), but quickly moved on to other series, leaving these two in the capable hands of Steve Englehart and Chris Claremont, respectively. But Roy hadnothing to do with Ms. Marvel—although he had co-created Carol Danvers (her alter ego) in the second “Captain Marvel” story in 1968. The “Carla Conway”credited in the latter with “aid and abetment” was Gerry’s first wife, aka Carla Joseph. AA art by Tom Sutton; MM art by John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, & Dave

Hunt. Thanks to Barry Pearl. [© Marvel Characters, Inc.]

“We Were Given The Gift Of Serendipity” 25

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DAN BARRY & Flash GordonContinuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

By Alberto Becattini

45

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: Last issue sawthe first part of this artistic biography of DanBarry (1923-1997), who in his day was both aleading comic book illustrator and the long-

running force behind the iconic Flash Gordon newspaper comic stripthat had been created in 1934 by Alex Raymond. The previousinstallment dealt with Barry’s comic book career at DC, Lev Gleason, andelsewhere, his relatively brief stint on the Tarzan comic strip, a side forayinto advertising, and his and King Features’ re-launching of the dailyFlash Gordon comic strip in 1951, after a seven-year hiatus, while hewas still drawing a few comic book stories for Ziff-Davis. This timearound, Alberto Becattini covers the tempestuous

Flashes Of Two WorldsDan Barry at the easel, in the early 1950s, pursuing his interest in painting—a photo flanked by his

“Johnny Quick” splash page from Adventure Comics #145 (Oct. 1949), starring DC’s very own authorized imitation of super-speedster “The Flash”(scripted by Otto Binder)—and the artist’s vision of Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov sailing the seas of the planet Mongo in the Flash Gordon daily stripfor July 21, 1956. The “JQ” scan was sent by Jim Kealy & Michael T. Gilbert; the latter is reproduced from a scan of the original art. Unless otherwise noted, all art

& photos accompanying this article were provided by Alberto Becattini. [Adventure page © DC Comics; Flash Gordon daily © King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

A EA E//

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Flash Gordon years....

Characters Created, Assistants WantedDuring the 39 years Barry worked on Flash Gordon, he came up

with several interesting characters. In 1953 he created the SpaceKids, which included Ray Carson, Percival “Boom Boom” Dunn,Worriless Willie Casey (a simpleton endowed with psychicpowers), and Michael Roberts, better known as “Microbe.” TheSpace Kids were obviously inspired by The Little Wise Guys,whom Barry had drawn for Daredevil Comics back in 1947 (Microbe,in particular, looked very much like Peewee—hairstyle included).Later on, Barry introduced the mad musician Egon Blant (1955); Dr.Zarkov’s long-lost daughter Zara (1956); con-men Kozy and Scurvy(1956); racketeer Eye McFry and sex bomb Vicki (1961); BradMasters, a dolphin-tamer on the Venusian seas (1962); anotherEgon, this one a mild-mannered time traveler from the XXVthcentury (1963); and the Abyssinian prince and Special Servicesagent Kenoma (1972), who was the first black character to co-starin Flash Gordon.

Since 1948 Barry had also been painting—a passion he wouldsuccessfully cultivate until the early 1980s. (He had 81 one-manshows in the U.S., France, Denmark, Germany, and Austria, as wellas over 60 invitational group exhibitions.) Consequently, he alwaysmade large use of assistants on Flash Gordon. Jan Sand lent a handstory-wise for the 1954 “Lost Continent” sequence, which wasmostly drawn by Paul Norris, Carmine Infantino, Fred Kida, andSy Barry. As Sand recalled:

I met Mr. Barry when he had atemporary run at teaching my class atthe Cartoonists and Illustrators School,substituting for Jerry Robinson for a shortperiod. I graduated from the courseshortly afterward and Dan asked me totry out as his assistant. I worked for himfor only a short time, in an office in abuilding, now gone, opposite CooperUnion. I never got into doing muchactual art assistance for him, but he diduse me as an idea man and a writer. TheFlash Gordon strip at the timeconcerned an underwater civilization inthe depths off the southern Atlantic coastof the USA, and my design for a depthmeter for the diving sphere made it intothe strip. I also wrote a Sunday sequence involving anasteroid miner named Pebbles living in a hollowed-outasteroid. Dan was very kind to me, but it was obvious ourrelationship was not very productive. I can only say that Danwas a very generous and kind and hugely talented person.9

In early 1954 Barry had to resign himself to taking over thescripts on the weekly Flash Gordon, too. To speed up things, hewould buy plots from such expert story-men as Bob Kanigher andBill Finger. British-born artist Ralph Mayo regularly assisted on thedailies during 1954-55.

Barry’s Lucky StarrIn 1955, Barry left his apartment at the Hotel des Artistes to set

up a studio with Leonard Starr and John Prentice. The three ofthem worked and lived in a large apartment, located at CentralPark West and 92nd Street. As Starr recalled:

We met when John Prentice and Iwere both in the middle of adivorce. Our wives had practi-cally wiped us out financially, soour working and living space waspretty primitive. We knew aboutDan’s reputation as a difficult guyto get along with, but at our firstmeeting he was very engagingand fun to be with, so Johnnyand I figured what the hell, we’dgive it a shot. I wouldoccasionally help Dan out whenhe was pressed for time for onereason or another. The best it getsin this business is sharing astudio with other cartoonists.With Dan, there was a lot offriction, casting a pall on theplace. Over a fairly short periodof time, the charming facade he

had at the beginning of our relationship crumbled, and hemore than justified the reputation we’d ignored. One day,Johnny and I found another place we shared as a studio. DanBarry was a charismatic, very talented man who, on the basisof our evidence, seemed to seek relationships for the kick ofdestroying them.10

The first sequence Starr contributed to was “Starling” (1955),

The Dan Barry Art Gallery(Left:) Barry with his paintings at the Hotel Des Artistes, circa 1954. (Right:)Dan Barry with Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom creator Lee Falk at

Barry’s 20th Century West Gallery Collection, circa mid-1950s.

The Sand of TimeBorn in Brooklyn, NY,and currently residing

in Helsinki, Finland,writer and poet Jan

Sand was 27 when hehelped Dan Barry on the

Flash Gordon strip.

[Continued on p. 50]

46 Continuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

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which was written by Sid Jacobson, anassistant editor at Harvey Comics at thetime, who would later recall:

I met Dan Barry through John Giunta,who worked for me long years. Iremember the studio was on CentralPark West, somewhere in the lowseventies. I met Dan there either afterwork or during lunchhours. Besides Dan, therewas John Prentice,Leonard Starr, and HowiePost. It seems to me I firstgave Dan a synopsiswhich he would then goover. Then I proceeded to

write it panel by panel, and probably gave it tohim to edit in weekly pieces. I do remember thatthe changes and corrections were enormous andit became tedious for me. The only sequence I didwas the “Starling” story. After I finished it, hewanted me to continue. But I had started to writesongs at that time and didn’t want this distractionto my “blazing career.” Somehow I recall that anephew of John Giunta’s came after me.11

[NOTE: Aldo Giunta, who wrote“Space Circus” (1955) for Barry beforebecoming a playwright. —Alberto.]

More AssistantsAfter the Barry-Prentice-Starr studio

dissolved in mid-1956, Barry got anapartment at a fancy hotel between 57th

and 59th Street. For“Cybernia” (1957), Barryleft the bulk of theartwork to the great WallyWood, who also posed asFlash Gordon for thereference photos Barrytook with his Polaroidcamera. As for the plot, heasked science-fiction writer/editor Larry Shaw forhelp. As Shaw later recalled:

One Saturday morning in 1957 when I was still inbed in my apartment on Greenwich Street, NewYork City, the telephone rang. A cheerful anddisgustingly wide-awake voice announced that thecaller was Dan Barry, the man who drew the Flash

Done And DustedApril 1, 1957, daily strip by Dan Barry and Tom Sawyer; the latter penciled the “Dust Devil” sequence for Barry. Reproduced from the original art. [© King

Features Syndicate, Inc.]

50 Continuing Our Look At A Controversial Comics Talent

Artist Tom Sawyer (nee TomScheuer) was interviewed by

Jim Amash for A/E #77.Photo courtesy of Tom.

Novelist, songwriter, andcomics editor Sid Jacobsonwas 26 when he wrote one

daily sequence for Dan Barryin 1955.

Artist John Prentice; photoby Jim Keefe. Leonard Starr,the other comics creator who

shared an apartment for atime with Dan Barry, was

pictured on p. 48.

Apartment 4-B—Right Next To Apartment 3-G, Right?Flash, Barin, Dale,and Zara on Mongo in the June 16, 1956, strip drawn by Dan Barry and Leonard Starr. Reproduced from original art. [© the respective

copyright holder.]

[Continued from p. 46]

Page 10: Alter Ego #131

55

(Right:) Bob Powell’s rejected intro page forHarvey’s Man In Black. Courtesy of HeritageAuctions, from the Joe Simon collection. [© Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

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The Mystery Of TheMissing Comic! - Part 1

by Michael T. Gilbert

very collector dreams of someday finding a “lost”comic. Who hasn’t fantasized about plunking downa buck for a coverless Action Comics #1 at a fleamarket? Or discovering a forgotten Marvel Comics #1

“ashcan” in Aunt Petunia’s closet? Or maybe evenstumbling on a hitherto unknown issue of a ‘50s comic—one not even listed in Overstreet?

I recently found a “lost” comic myself: the fifth issue ofHarvey Comics’ Man in Black, a series that officially endedwith #4! But before I get into that story, let’s first discussMr. Black’s checkered history.

I was a lad of fourteen when I first stumbled onto “TheMan in Black Called Fate” in the back of Harvey’s GreenHornet #31 (Dec. 1946). The year was 1965, and it was loveat first sight.

Though his origin was never officiallystated, the Man in Black was clearlysomeone to be taken seriously. Draped ina blue-black cloak, his face hidden inshadows, Fate made a most imposingfigure. To my eye, Bob Powell’s babycompletely blew away the lead feature.

Powell had actually drawn a similarcharacter in 1940, when he created TheShadowman as a foil to Mr. Mystic, thesupernatural backup-series hero in WillEisner’s Spirit Section.

Like the Man in Black, TheShadowman was also a reaper of souls.He was also a fairly sympatheticcharacter, performing a necessary butsometimes unpleasant job.

He Gets Around!Powell revisited the concept

in November 1945, when hedrew the premier “Man inBlack” stories for All-NewComics #11 and Front Page #1.From then on, Fate becamePowell’s signature character. Ina letter to Jerry DeFuccio datedJuly 10, 1966 (published in AlterEgo, Vol. 3, #10), Powell talkedabout his dark hero:

“Man in Black was myfavorite, of course, and my babyexclusively (though Harveyowns, natch).” Powell remainedvirtually the only artist to draw

The Shadowman Knows!Powell’s Shadowman was a precursorto the Man in Black. From the Dec. 22,

1940, Spirit Section. [© Will EisnerStudios, Inc.]

One More Ad!This ad’s from Alarming Tales #1 (Sept. 1957). [© 2014 Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

Strange Ad-venture!This early Man in Black ad is from Harvey’s Stuntman #1 (April 1946).

[© Harvey Comics or the respective copyright holders.]

Bob Powell. With thanksto son Seth Powell; sent in

conjunction with thecover article on the artist

in Alter Ego #67, stillavailable from

TwoMorrows Publishing.

56 Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

EE

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Introductiont has long been established that there were fanzines either partiallyor fully dedicated to comic strips and comic books as early as the1930s. At first, most were published by members of science-fictionfandom, and later by those in the EC fandom that arose in 1953 with

the publication of Bhob Stewart’s EC Fan Bulletin #1. After the demiseof EC Comics and Picto-Fiction, some of the EC fanzines continued, mostnotably Ron Parker’s Hoohah.

Then came fanzines that followed the work of the EC artists in otherpublications, or that imitated Mad, or that published a mix of SF andcomics material, such as Larry Ivie’s Concept. In addition, a group offantasy and comics fans inCalifornia united to form theWest Coast Zines (WCZ)group, putting out a number ofpublications devoted tofantastic films and literature.One such fanzine was JiroTomiyama’s Plague (1961), avirtually all-comics fanzinethat only had one issue.Seemingly forgotten, the ComicFandom Archives is dedicatedto giving this obscure amateurmagazine the recognition itdeserves. After all, it camebefore both Alter Ego #1 and

Comic Art #1, and it was a high-quality publication.

When I contacted its editor, Jiro Tomiyama was amendable to aninterview but requested that we do it through e-mail. It was completed inOctober 2013.

BILL SCHELLY: When and where were you born?

JIRO TOMIYAMA: I was born in the Boyle Heights district on theEastside of Los Angeles, several months after the start of WorldWar II. April 3, 1942, to be exact. Not long after, our family wasmoved with others to the relocation camp of Manzanar, California

(now a national monument)till sometime in 1944.

BS: Could you describe howyour interest in cartoons and indoing your own artworkevolved before you got involvedin fandom?

TOMIYAMA: Like a lot ofkids, I liked to draw from avery early age. One of thefirst lickings I ever got frommy father was the time Idrew a mural with crayonson the wall above my bed. Ihad to be six or seven at the

The 20-Cent PlagueA Chat With JIRO TOMIYAMA, Editor Of

A Little-Known Comics Fanzine From January 1961!by Bill Schelly

61Comic Fandom Archive

A Plague On Both Your Houses!Jiro Tomiyama in the late 1950s (left), and in November 2013 (right)—and the cover of Plague #1, printed partly via photo offset and partly (the red areas)

via silk screen. Art by Jiro Tomiyama. [© Jiro Tomiyama.]

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TOMIYAMA: Larry Byrd knew a lithography printer that hehad connections with, and so the cover was done in litho incombination with silk screen (the red border).

BS: One of the notable aspects of Plague was the quality of its dittoprinting, and your expertise in drawing on ditto masters. How didyou acquire that skill? Did you have your own ditto machine?

TOMIYAMA: Nearly all of the fanzines at the time weremimeographed, but Larry had no access to a mimeographmachine. A little research on Larry’s part introduced him tothe ditto process, and then he discovered that his church hadone and that there were different-colored ditto masters onecould use. After that, we figured some things out, and wereoff and running.

BS: When you say “straight from the Hall Syndicate,” am I correctin understanding that the Walt Kelly bio was a reprint from theirpublicity material for Pogo? Were you a big Pogo fan?

TOMIYAMA: You are quite right about that. I just wrote forthe information from their publicity department and theywere happy to send it along to me. I loved Pogo. I liked the

writing, and I liked Walt Kelly’s inking style.

BS: There are several items in Plague that are simply labeled “reviews,”articles on The Flintstones, Mister Magoo, and Dondi. The Dondipiece was written by Stanford Abrahams. Who was he? And who wrotethe other two reviews?

TOMIYAMA: Stanford Abrahams... hmmmmm. I’m sorry to say Idon’t recollect how I came in contact with him. The other material,I believe, was stuff gleaned from the publicity departments of thecompanies that owned the brands.

BS: Who wrote the piece on political cartoons?

TOMIYAMA: That piece was written by the editor of the BelmontHigh School newspaper at the time, who was a work colleague ofmine named Art Yamamoto.

BS: Although the cartoon strip and animation characters (Pogo, Dondi,Mister Magoo, The Flintstones) appeared in comic books, they werebiggest in their original form. The only article in the issue about comicbooks as a medium was “Downfall of Comics” by Mike Deckinger, andthe attached “Comic Art Hall of Fame,” which included 5 or 6 comic-book artists. Were you a fan of comic books, and if so, which ones? Wouldthere have been articles on comic books in future issues of Plague, if ithad continued?

TOMIYAMA: I have to confess that the platform of a fanzinewould have been better served if it had focused on comic art andrelated themes more. So, looking back after all these years, itseems as though, at the time, I was trying to put humor into thething wherever I could, rather than concentrating on what comicfans might want to read about. I didn’t have a clear idea of a targetaudience with regard to providing material. If I’d stayed with it, Ithink I would’ve done better, what with responses from folks whowere interested in comics and comic art. As I’ve indicated before, Iwas a big EC fan (I liked all the titles) and of others, such asTarzan, Captain Marvel, Donald Duck, Plastic Man, etc. I liked todraw and I was hoping to connect with folks who were attractedto the same things.

BS: Just curious, how did you get hold of the Deckinger piece? Did youknow him? Did you request it? Or did another editor send it to you? Ofcourse, he wrote for Xero and was one of the better fan writers of the

Funny, Those Animals!(Above:) Jiro’s artwork accompanying a syndicate-provided bio of Pogo writer-

artist Walt Kelly. [Pogo TM & © Estate of Walt Kelly.]

(Below right:) Although swiped from a Life magazine image, Tomiyama’sFlintstones drawing shows how skilled he was at working on ditto masters. TheFlintstones’ animated prime-time TV series had debuted on Sept. 30, 1960, three

months before Plague #1 was published. [Flintstones TM & © Time-Warner.]

The 20-Cent Plague 63

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time.

TOMIYAMA: I can’t help you there. You know more about MikeDeckinger than I do. I suspect the contact came from Larry Byrd orRon Haydock. If we corresponded, I don’t recall. I never met Mike.And I don’t recall the circumstances on how I was able to acquirethe piece. I’m sorry I can’t give you more infor-mation, but it’s been over 50 years.

BS: Did you have meetings of the WCZ guys? What sortof fannish activities happened apart from fanzinepublishing? Were you big into correspondence withothers?

TOMIYAMA: We had informal meetings. We werean enthusiastic bunch of young guys with ideas andlittle experience. In hindsight, a mentor would’vebeen good. Larry and Ron were more active thanCharlie and I were, and did a lot of schmoozing withother fans and fan groups. We would tag alongsometimes. I met Forrest Ackerman and Jim Harmonthat way. I wasn’t into correspondence with othersbecause I didn’t really know anyone at the time. Iwas a beginner. I did get to know Jim Harmon alittle, because he always seemed to hang out at RonHaydock’s house. Jim was a good and generousman.

BS: Why didn’t Plague continue?

TOMIYAMA: The truth of the matter is, I was 20,and had just got a regular job through the help ofCharlie Scarborough at the Beverly Hills Post Office.I bought a car, and like most guys my age, started tochase women on a serious basis. With that and mystudies in college, the fanzine thing fizzled out.

BS: How many copies of Plague were printed?

TOMIYAMA: Ditto runs weren’t especially long,which you probably know. But mimeograph, theother choice, was a poor medium to draw for. I can’tsay exactly what the number was. My best guesswould be well under one hundred copies.

BS: What kind of feedback did you get onPlague?

TOMIYAMA: Not bad. I sent a copy ofPlague to Harvey Kurtzman at EC, and hisassistant, Chuck Alverson, wrote me a realnice letter, saying how much he enjoyed itand how funny he thought it was. [NOTE:Kurtzman was editing Help! magazine forWarren Publishing at the time. —Bill.] I heardback from some other folks and the tone waspretty positive. I wish I’d saved the letters. Itraded fanzines with Robert Crumb and hisbrother Charles. But don’t ask me anythingmore about that exchange. Robert Crumb Ihave to give a world of credit to. He stayedwith the drawing and then became a

superstar of underground comics. Who would’ve known in thosedays? My guess would be that not even Robert had an inkling.

BS: How would you summarize the experience of publishing Plague?When you think back on it, what did it mean to you?

What, No Alex Raymond?Editor Tomiyama’s self-selected “Comic Art Hall of Fame” for 1961, each caricature drawn in theartist’s style. (Top row:) Frank Frazetta, George Evans, Milton Caniff. (Second row:) Jack Davis,Al Williamson. (Third row:) Hal Foster, Wally Wood, Reed Crandall. All EC alums except Caniff

and Foster. [Art © Jiro Tomiyama.]

Disney Daze(Left:) “The Downfall of Comics” was a screed againstDr. Fredric Wertham (here, “Dr. Frederic Worthless”)by talented fan writer Mike Deckinger. The excellent

illustration is by “Jeets” (Jiro Tomiyama). [CharactersTM & © Walt Disney Studios.]

64 Comic Fandom Archive

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tto Oscar Binder (1911-1974), the prolific science-fiction andcomic book writer renowned for authoring over half of the MarvelFamily saga for Fawcett Publications, wrote Memoirs of a

Nobody in 1948, at the age of 37, during what was arguably the mostimaginative period within the repertoire of Captain Marvel stories.

Aside from intermittent details about himself, Binder’s capriciouschronicle resembles very little in the way of anything that is indeedautobiographical. Unearthed several years ago from Binder’s file materialsat Texas A&M University, Memoirs is self-described by its author as“ramblings through the untracked wilderness of my mind.” Binder’spotpourri of stray philosophical beliefs, pet peeves, theories, andanecdotes were written in freewheeling fashion and devoid of anycharted course—other than allowing his mind to flow with norestricting parameters. The abridged and edited manuscript—serialized here within the pages of FCA—will nonetheless provideglimpses into the idiosyncratic and fanciful mind of Otto O. Binder.

In this 12th excerpt, titled “From the Ridiculous to the Inane,”Otto battles writer’s block and discloses old tricks of the trade.

—Paul C. Hamerlinck.

oday I don’t know what to write.

On a day like this I shouldn’t write at all, to tell the truth.Some books on writing will tell you to write every day,without fail, no matter how much gibberish is written. Justwrite and exercise your brain because it builds up a goodhabit pattern. Just like when you get in the habit of takingdays off, those sage experts tell you, you will find yourselfinventing all sorts of flimsy excuses and get nowhere. So I amfollowing their advice and, with my mind a complete blank,I’m just going to discipline myself and make myself write.

Let’s see. Can’t I think of something to write about?Anything at all. I look outside my window, to see if theweather can furnish inspiration. Gad, it’s raining! I lookaround the room. Gad! I thumb through a magazine. Gad! Ilook at a newspaper. Gad! I look in a mirror. Gad! I look atthis blank sheet of paper. Gad!

You see, there is absolutely nothing that starts off a trainof thought. It’s horrible. Assuming this chapter would be1000 words long, I would have to fill it up with three ormore pages of typewritten material. Gad!

Of course, I can use the old trick of “padding.” This letsyou in on a writer’s secret. Padding is when you stretch outsomething like a rubber band, by the use of superfluous

words, usually adjectives. For instance, take thesentence: “The tree stood lonely in the wind.”

By the use of a few adjectives and interpolativephrases, you can build it up as follows: “Thelonely tree, looking forlorn against the wintry skywith its low scudding clouds, whipped in thebitter gale, all its branches creaking and groaningand twisting like supplicating hands, as though itwere begging the gods of storm to have pity.”

There you have it. Instead of seven simplewords, you expand it to forty-two, six times itsoriginal length. And, at a penny a word, instead ofseven cents you get forty-two cents. Soundbusiness, isn’t it?

Ah, but beware, if you are an aspiring writer.Padding usually displays a paucity of ideas in the

writer’s mind. Instead of moving the story along, he is delaying it.Editors are quite conscious of padding, and it only makes the story“wordy.” You know, one of the main things an amateur writermust learn is not what to put in a story, but what to leave out. Mostembryo writers are far too verbose… their characters are “talky,”all blabbermouths. Their stories need blue-penciling to half or lessof the original length. The true secret of writing is to use boldstrokes, and let the rest to the reader’s imagination.

Art

©20

14 M

ark

Lew

is

Part XIIAbridged & Edited by Paul C. Hamerlinck

OO

74

TT

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ast summer I had the opportunity to visit the NationalArchives in New York City to read through the NationalComics Publications, Inc., v. Fawcett Publications, Inc., case

files. I was not sure what I would find. I’d read short excerpts fromthe trial transcripts in C.C. Beck’s “The World’s Mightiest Waste ofTime and Money” (reprinted in TwoMorrows’ Fawcett Companion:The Best of FCA, pages 14-15). Chip Kidd also includes copies of afew of the court documents in his book Shazam! The Golden Age ofthe World’s Mightiest Mortal (Abrams ComicArt, 2010). But I wascurious to know how many of the trial records still existed. I askedmy dad to act as my research assistant on the trip. He’s a SuperiorCourt judge in Connecticut and worked as a corporate attorney foralmost 30 years before he was appointed to the bench. I knew that

if I had any questions, he’d be able to answer them.

The research is for a chapter about the lawsuit in my upcomingCaptain Marvel book. I suspect that by writing about the legalsquabbles between National and Fawcett, I’m also writing for mydad, who once hoped I’d go to law school. When I was a kid, Iread Frank Miller’s Daredevil and decided that, like Matt Murdock,I might one day study law. I ended up studying comic booksinstead, but my dad, as always, has remained supportive (and isnow helping me edit my lawsuit chapter, even though I suspect helikes Batman more than he likes Captain Marvel).

The National Archives has nine boxes full of paperwork fromthe case, including depositions and courtroom transcripts. I wasonly able to read and copy a small fraction of the material duringour visit in June 2014. I made photocopies of Beck’s depositionfrom 1944 and his testimony from 1948. I also managed to copysections of Bill Parker’s direct testimony, also from the spring of1948. I should mention that my academic research focuses ontheories of memory and nostalgia. Although I devote very little of

“A Leader Of Men”

with notes and commentary by Brian Cremins

Edited by Paul C. Hamerlinck

BILL PARKER On King Arthur & The Origin Of Captain Marvel

Excerpts From Parker’s 1948 Testimony

LL

76

Bill And Billy’s Trials & TriumphsCaptain Marvel writer/co-creator Bill Parker (top left) and DC lawyer LouisNizer (above) surround the first “CM” page from Whiz Comics #2 (real #1;cover-date Feb. 1940) that started it all: the beginning of the red-suited

character’s success… and the start of Fawcett’s tribulations withpublishing competitor DC/National. The Parker portrait, drawn by CM’s

artist/co-creator C.C. Beck, first appeared within a special one-page stripfor Steranko’s History of Comics 2 (1972)—later reprinted by Bill Harper in alate-’80s FCA newsletter. The Nizer cartoon, also by Beck, appeared in theBeck-edited FCA/SOB #8/19 (June/July ’81) to accompany the first part ofthe artist's article on DC's lawsuit against Fawcett, which he entitled “TheWorld’s Mightiest Waste of Time and Money.” [Shazam hero & Billy Batson

TM & © DC Comics; Nizer cartoon © Estate of C.C. Beck.]

Bill Parker

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ALTER EGO #131GERRY CONWAY interviewed about his work as starMarvel/DC writer in the early ‘70s (from the creation of ThePunisher to the death of Gwen Stacy) with art by ROMITA,COLAN, KANE, PLOOG, BUSCEMA, MORROW, TUSKA,ADAMS, SEKOWSKY, the SEVERINS, and others! Plus FCA,MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, BILLSCHELLY on comics fandom history, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95(Digital Edition) $3.95

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1176

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW,CLICK THE LINK TO ORDER THIS

ISSUE IN PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT!