Alter Ego #86

Roy Thomas’Mad,Mad,Mad

Comics Fanzine

No.86June2008

$6.95In the USA

WHAT HATHKURTZMAN

WROUGHT?Those Frantic Four-Color Mad

Wannabes Of 1953-56

FRANK BOLLE&FRANK BOLLE&PLUS:PLUS:

Kurtzmancaricature©2009HarveyKurtzmanEstate;

otherart©2009therespectivecopyrightholders.

1 82658 27763 5

06

Alter EgoTM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344.Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: 32 Bluebird Trail, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA.Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: [email protected]. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices.Single issues: $9 US ($11.00 Canada, $16 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $88 US, $140 Canada, $210 elsewhere. All charactersare © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego isa TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. ISSN: 1932-6890

FIRST PRINTING.

This issue is dedicated to the memory of

Harvey Kurtzman &Kurt Schaffenberger

ContentsWriter/Editorial: It Was A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Whirl! . . . . . 3What Hath Kurtzman Wrought? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Ger Apeldoorn examines the colorMad wannabes of the mid-1950s.

“I’d Pick Up Anything That Came Along, Since I WasAnxious To Work” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Golden Age talent Frank Bolle talks to Jim Amash about Robotman, the Heap, and Tim Holt!

re: [correspondence, comments, and corrections] . . . . . . . 70Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! “Lost” Kurtzman: The War Years!. . 73Michael T. Gilbert, Ger Apeldoorn, and theMad creator’s military cartoons of the 1940s.

FCA (Fawcett Collectors Of America) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79P.C. Hamerlinck presents Marc Swayze and a special tribute to the great Kurt Schaffenberger.

On Our Cover:We’ll admit it—we’re especially wild about this montage cover, which Ye Editorconceived and layout guru Christopher Day ably executed. After a bit of correspondence between thethree of us, some months back, Ger Apeldoorn sent us scans from various ofMad’s early imitators,including the art of Ross Andru & Mike Esposito (Captain Marble from Nuts! and John Waynefrom Get Lost), Carl Hubbell (Mighty Moose fromWhack), Joe Simon & Jack Kirby (CometFeldmeyer from From Here to Insanity), Carl Burgos (a werewolf from Crazy),William Overgard(Prince Scallion fromWhack), Bill Everett (Drag-ula from Crazy), an unidentified artist (MarilynMonroe and a headless Joe Dimaggio from Nuts!), and L.B. Cole (King Farouk and a mermaid,from Unsane). And, for the perfect self-caricature by the founding genius, Harvey Kurtzman, as thecover’s centerpiece, we thank Denis Kitchen and Mrs. Adelen Kurtzman. Chris put the various piecesall together—and if you like the result half as much as Roy does, you’ve already gotten your money’sworth this issue. (But don’t worry—there’s plenty more to come!) [Kurtzman art ©2009Adele Kurtzman; other art ©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

Above: Alas, as explained on the next page, we could only print the first half of Ger’s study—but thatdidn’t stop us from yanking a panel by Andru & Esposito (and scripter Otto Binder) out of Nuts!#5 (1954) and slapping it onto the top of this page to whet your appetite for Part II! “Captain MarbleFlies Again” was the best super-hero parody to come out of any of theMad clones of the mid-’50s(not that there were many to choose from!)—and was printed in its entirely in Alter Ego #33.[©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

Vol. 3, No. 86 / June 2009EditorRoy Thomas

Associate EditorsBill SchellyJim Amash

Design & LayoutChristopher Day

Consulting EditorJohn Morrow

FCA EditorP.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt EditorMichael T. Gilbert

Editorial Honor RollJerry G. Bails (founder)Ronn Foss, Biljo WhiteMike Friedrich

Circulation DirectorBob Brodsky,Cookiesoup Productions

Cover ArtistsHarvey Kurtzman, Et. Al.

With Special Thanks to:Heidi AmashGer ApeldoornBob BaileyHoward BenderJohn BensonBill BlackFrank BolleChris BrownNick CaputoMichael CatronAnthony DeMariaMichaël DewallyShane FoleyJanet GilbertWalt GroganJennifer HamerlinckMark & StephanieHeike

Jerry HillegasDenis KitchenJay KinneyAdele Kurtzman

Stan & Joan LeeJim LudwigBrian K. MorrisKen NadleDave O’DellStephen OswaldCharles PeltoKen QuattroRobert RivardHerb RogoffDorothySchaffenberger

Ramon SchenkJohn SelegueScott Shaw!Marc SwayzeDann ThomasDr. Michael J. VassalloMark VogerKathy VoglesongMartin Wolfson

3Article Title Topline 3

ell, it finally happened.

My first “computer crash.”

I suppose the main reason I’d never had one before early April of thisyear is that, ever since Gerry Conway pushed me into buying my first PCback in the early ’80s while we were co-writing the first five drafts of thescreenplay for what eventually became the movie Conan the Destroyer,I’ve generally used the things only for e-mail, documents, and a modicumof Internet research. As a result, I’d remained far too careless about suchthings as backup files, despite my wife’s regular admonishments. (Well,Gerry once referred to me as a “technological peasant,” and I in turn haveoften quoted Isaac Asimov’s statement that all he wanted from a PC was“a glorified typewriter.”)

Still, I’m changing my ways—he muttered as he typed out this editorialon Dann’s PC, while awaiting the week-away day when a member of BestBuy’s Geek Squad would set up his new computer and he’d find out if theyactually did manage to retrieve all his document files and e-addressesfrom the shell of his hard drive.

Fortunately, by the time of the cyberspace crash-and-burn, I hadcompleted and sent off to layout man Chris Day the files and scans forthis issue of Alter Ego… all but the text for captions accompanying the artfor the lead article. Those I had to spend a day not just retyping butremembering. I’d look at the circled letters I’d scribbled in the margins ofthe first 39 pages of the edited version of Ger Apeldoorn’s study ofMad’smid-1950s imitators—letters which ran from (A) through (LLLL2), a total

of well over 100 illustrations—and do the best I could, cutting a fewcorners as I went. Several much-appreciated readers helped supply a fewlast-minute bits of art—Chris Day performed even a bit more above-and-beyond than usual—and we eked it through.

For, also fortunately, by then I had realized I’d never be able to fit Ger’sentire study into the issue without severely limiting the number of illos—so I’d decided to cut the piece in two, following his overview and thelistings for St. John’sWhack, Timely/Marvel/Atlas’ Crazy,Wild, and Riot,and Charlton’s Eh! and From Here to Insanity. Part II of the article,covering Get Lost, Flip, Nuts!,Madhouse, Bughouse, and Unsane (as wellas compare-and-contrast examples fromMad and Panic) will have to bepostponed till our January 2010 issue.

But at least that leaves ample room for the first part of Jim Amash’slong-scheduled interview with ace artist Frank Bolle (best known incomics circles for his Western titles done in the ’50s for MagazineEnterprises, and for Dr. Solar), as well as for some of our regular depart-ments. Oh, and the final A/E installment of Bob Rozakis alternate historyof AA Comics will appear next issue, along with a twice-delayed ComicFandom Archive piece on an Oklahoma fandom reunion!

Bestest,

P.S.: Apologies to Samuel F.B. Morse for the title of our lead article!

Edited by ROY THOMASSUBSCRIBE NOW! Twelve Issues in the US: $88 Standard, $120 First Class

(Canada: $140, Elsewhere: $210 Surface, $230 Airmail).NOTE: IF YOU PREFER A SIX-ISSUE SUB, JUST CUT THE PRICE IN HALF!

COMING IN JULYCOMING IN JULY

[Art ©2009 the respective copyright holders; Marvelman TM & ©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

•Miraculous new Marvelman/Miracleman cover art by RICK VEITCH!•How MARVELMAN flew where CAPTAIN MARVEL dared not tread—andemerged as MIRACLEMAN! The startling saga of the 1950s-60s Britishsuper-hero, by DEREK WILSON—plus a never-before-published interviewwith Marvelman creator MICK ANGLO, by ROGER DICKEN! With rare art byDON LAWRENCE, ALEX ROSS, JOHN TOTLEBEN, ALAN DAVIS, & others!

•FRANK BOLLE, Part II of JIM AMASH’s interview—& THE CENTAUR COMICSGROUP, Part II, with art by WILL EISNER, BILL EVERETT, CARL BURGOS, LEWGLANZMAN, MARTIN FILCHOCK, etc.

•Plus FCA with MARC SWAYZE, plus Marvelman at the Rock of Eternity—“Secret History of All-American Comics, Inc.” Part 8, by BOB ROZAKIS—BILL SCHELLY’s Comic Fandom Archive—MICHAEL T. GILBERT on LAURABENDER, one of DC’s Golden Age Advisory Board—& MORE!!

From One MAGIC Word—To One ATOMIC Word!

#87

TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.twomorrows.com

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art &History Of Comics

“From SHAZAM!To KIMOTA!”

It Was AMad, Mad, Mad, Mad Whirl!writer/editorial

WW

UTHOR’s INTRODUCTION: It all started with Les Daniels’1971 book Comix: A History of Comic Books in America.

I had been readingMad magazine since I was 14. I don’tknow what attracted this Dutch boy to so American an institution, but Iimmediately fell in love with Mort Drucker, Don Martin, Jack Davis, andall the other satirical masters from that period. That in turn led to alifelong fascination with American popularculture and tomy virtuallyadoptingEnglish as mysecondlanguage. Anarticle about theearlyMad in theDutch fanzineStripschrift gotme interested incollecting andbrought me toAmsterdam’smost famouscomic store,Lambiek, where Ipicked up severalbooks on comics,including Daniels’excellenthardcover.

Not only didComix give me acrash course in thehistory of my newhobby—it also gave me my first glimpse of full stories, as it reprintedseveral of the best tales in the field to that date (albeit in black-&-white).There was a 1947 “Blackhawk” adventure, a Crime Does Not Paypotboiler drawn by George Tuska, and a Jack Cole “Plastic Man” exploit.I wouldn’t see any other samples of these series for more than ten years.The “Batman” and “Superman” stories were more familiar, having alsobeen published in the Netherlands; there were likewise a couple of yarnsfrom the Warren horror magazines and my first glimpse of undergroundstuff.

And, of course, there was a whole section on EC. FromMad Danielshad chosen a seldom-reprinted story from one of the later color issues:the Wally Wood-drawn “Julius Caesar!” from #17 (Nov. 1954). In it,Wood and writer/editor/layout artist Harvey Kurtzman utilized the recentfilm version of Shakespeare’s tragedy to illustrate how a comic book

AA

“WhatHathKurtzmanWrought?”

An Issue-By-Issue Look At ThoseMid-1950s Mad Comics Imitators

by Ger Apeldoorn

4

Mad About Comic Books(Clockwise from left:) The Mad Peck Studios’ cover of Les Daniels’ 1971

study Comix: A History of Comic Books in America, two decades before itsauthor went on to do definitive histories of Marvel, DC, Superman, Batman,and Wonder Woman—a photo of Mad creator Harvey Kurtzman from Two-Fisted Tales #28 (July-Aug. 1952), as reprinted in the Cochran hardcoveredition—and the splash (actually p. 2) of the Kurtzman/Wood parody

“Julius Caesar!” from Mad #17 (Nov. 1954), as per the Cochran Mad, Vol. 3.Oh—and unless otherwise noted, all art accompanying this article was

provided either by author Ger Apeldoorn or Ye Editor, or is taken from ThePhoto-Journal Guide to Comic Books by Ernst & Mary Gerber. [Comix cover©2009 the respective copyright holders; Kurtzman photo ©2009 William M.

Gaines Agent, Inc.; Mad page ©2009 E.C. Publications, Inc.]

parody should be done. In its full-page prologue (repro’delsewhere on this page), the narrator (i.e., Kurtzman) tellsthe reader he’s going crazy because there are so many“lampoon type comic books” on the newsstands that it’sgetting hard to find new material to lampoon—so thisstory will be a lampoon of lampoon comics. Each of thedozen panels on the page boasts a caption that culminatesin the title (and logo) of one ofMad’s imitators.Kurtzman’s parodies were always based on the real world,andMad itself is one of the twelve titles mentioned, so Inever doubted for a moment that the others were also realtitles of real magazines. Bughouse, Crazy, Eh!, Flip, GetLost,Madhouse, Nuts!, Panic, Riot,Wild, andWhack... in myfeverous brain those eleven names conjured up visions of stacksand stacks of newsstand comics in theMad style and manner.

Once I learnedMad had been a color comic book before itwas a black-&-white magazine, I quickly bought up all thereprint paperbacks containing early material. Jack Davis andWill Elder were and are my favorite artists, though I now feelthat Davis’ later work for Kurtzman’s ownMad “imitation”Humbug is unsurpassed. (It astonishes me to this day that backissues of someMad imitations will cost you more than mostissues of Humbug!) In this piece I won’t be covering in detailMad, or Panic—EC’s ownMad imitator, though edited by AlFeldstein rather than Kurtzman—or Humbug, because theformer two are readily available in the Russ Cochran ECreprint hardcovers, while Fantagraphics has recently reprintedthe latter in a handsome two-volume set. Humbug, in anyevent, was a later black-&-white magazine, and only the mid-’50s color comics fall within the scope of this study.

The imitators mentioned inMad #17 remained out of myreach for a long time. I could pick up most comics I wanted tocollect here in Holland from other collectors, but the imitationsrarely turned up. It seemed I would have to go to America orelse mail-order them from ads, both quite expensive options.When eBay burst onto the scene, it turned out to be just what Iwas looking for. Within a year, I had acquired most of theMadwannabes at reasonable prices. Some pleasantly surprised me,others disappointed. But in almost all cases, accounts of themI’d read in magazine articles and guides was insufficient. Artistsmentioned in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide as beingin a particular issue might have only a one-page story there—

Cheaper By The Dozen?(Right:) The marvelous intro page to the “Julius Caesar!” how-to-

parody tale in Mad #17, by Kurtzman & Wood. Note all thepotential Mad-wannabe titles on the newsstands—including Sick,which would later be a black-&-white magazine from Joe Simon.

[©2009 E.C. Publications, Inc.]

The Hawks Weren’t All That Were Blue!(Left & below:) Harvey Kurtzman must’ve had a copy of MilitaryComics #12 (Oct. 1942) at hand when he wrote and laid out “TheBlack and Blue Hawks!” for Mad #5 (June-July 1953). The scriptfor the former is credited to Dick French, and it sported the first“Blackhawk” art by Reed Crandall, the series’ definitive artist, asreproduced from DC’s hardcover Blackhawk Archives, Vol. 1. Thefinishing artist on the Mad entry, of course, was the wonderfulWally Wood; repro’d from the Cochran hardcover reprint. [Tiers

©2009 DC Comics & E.C. Publications, Inc., respectively.]

What Hath Kurtzman Wrought? 5

[Continued on p. 8]

(On this page:)Heads of Dick Tracy (by creator ChesterGould) and Al Capp’s parody Fearless

Fosdick (by “Lester Gooch”)—and an actual1950s Fearless Fosdick commercial ad shillingfor Wildroot Cream-Oil Hair Tonic, completewith a caricature of Capp at bottom left.

Fosdick, who first appeared in the Li’l Abnernewspaper strip in 1947, is considered bysome to have been an important influence

on Kurtzman’s Mad, as witness theineffectual bullet holes. All repro’d from the

two Fearless Fosdick trade paperbackspublished in 1990 and 1992 by Kitchen SinkPress. [Dick Tracy art ©2009 Tribune MediaServices, Inc.; Fearless Fosdick art ©2009

Capp Enterprises, Inc.]

(On facing page:)The Record Comics one-shot published witha Feb. 1947 cover date, as witness its covertakeoffs on Dick Tracy, Superman, Dagwood,and Daisie Mae Yokum. The mag containedsuch parodies as “Supergoon,” “Terrence[and the Pirates]” by “Milton Catnip,” “MoeBohunka” [a parody of Joe Palooka], as wellas lampoons of strips Smilin’ Jack, Blondie,Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Little OrphanAnnie, Tarzan (“Jocko of the Jungle”),

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, and Li’lAbner (“Li’l Andover,” who manages tograduate from Yale). Its dimensions were8 7/8" by 11 5/8". [Parody art ©2009 the

respective copyright holders.]

The Pogo parody at page center appeared ina 1952 issue of Wampus, the humor

magazine of the University of SouthernCalifornia. Another issue that year containeda takeoff on Milt Caniff’s Steve Canyon.[Pogo TM & ©2009 Estate of Walt Kelly.]

A short time after Mad #1 went on sale, butmonths before its first comic strip parody,Walt Kelly poked fun at Little Orphan Annie,including the characters’ trademark “blankglassy eye balls,” in the Sept. 11, 1952, stripprinted at bottom right, and for the nextweek or two. And was there ever a betterparodic name for Harold Gray’s brainchildthan “Li’l Arf an’ Nonny”? [©2009 Estate

of Walt Kelly.]

6 An Issue-By-Issue Look At Those Mid-1950s Mad Comics Imitators

Before We WentMadLampoons ThatMight Have Influenced

Harvey Kurtzman

INTERLUDE:

Start-Up Data For Mad’sImitators

by John BensonThe sudden influx ofMad imitations was obviously due toMad’s

phenomenal success. But when did that success occur? In the Feb. 1954issue ofWriter’s Digest, EC publisher Bill Gaines reports (in his article“Madman Gaines Pleads for Plots”) that the first four issues ofMad lostmoney. He goes on to say: “[W]hen the sales reports began to come in onMad No. 5, with a bang we had done it! Today the print order onMad is750,000 and on its way to a million.” (Four months later the June 1954Pageant still reported a circulation of 750,000, soMad may never havereached a million as a color comic book—though, of course, it still had ayear to go as a color comic.)

This raises some questions as to how soonMad’s success was noticedby EC’s competitors. First, one has to wonder how dramaticallyMad #5’ssales increased over those of #4, considering that the independent whole-salers were so incensed by #5’s contents that they nearly decided to put ECout of business by refusing to handle its comics. In May 1952, Gaines toldRay Bradbury that EC print runs ranged from 350,000 to 500,000. (This ishigher than the industry average, but possibly he was exaggerating a bit.)An untested new title would have been at the low end, 350,000 or maybeeven 300,000, and wouldn’t have been upped while it was losing money.Which issue was in print at the time theWriter’s Digest article waswritten? PossiblyMad #8, cover-dated Dec. 1953-Jan. 1954, or more likely#9 (Feb.-March 1954). That means that in four (or possibly three) issuesMad more than doubled its circulation. It’s unlikely that the print runincreased significantly with #6, which would have gone to press beforesales returns for #5 were fully in, so the press-run increase must have beensteep on each of the next three issues.

In that same article, Gaines says that “already there are 11 imitationson the newsstand.” He could have been making that number up (he oncesaid that Atlas published 70 horror titles), but it’s an odd number to pickout of the air—and it happens to be correct (discounting the one-issue

late-bloomer Unsane and the mixed-bag Super Funnies). The problem isthat the first issues of two of those imitators had a March 1954 cover date,three others an April 1954 cover date, while that of another was Feb. ’54.Yet theWriter’s Digest had time to produce its article and go to press withits February issue that quotes Gaines as saying that these were all “on thenewsstand.”

One factor at work here is the matter of newsstand display life, roughlycalculated as the length of time from a magazine’s appearance on thestands to the month on the cover. It seems that comics had a much longerdisplay life than magazines. Thus it’s entirely possible that those Marchand April issues appeared on the stands well before the FebruaryWriter’sDigest. Display life also complicates the issue of how fast other publisherscaught on toMad’s success. Data available suggests the display life ofcomic titles could vary from more than 120 days down to 30.Mad cameout about 50 days before the first day of the month on the cover. If someother publishers had a longer display life thanMad, then, in real time,they followedMad even more quickly than it appears.

There’s also the question of how long it would take from the time apublisher decided to bring out a new title to the appearance of that titleon the stands. Roy Thomas, based on his experience in the industry adecade later, has suggested that the absolute minimum would be four tofive months. Given a month or so’s delay for full sales returns to come in,it seems Atlas and Charlton acted with top speed, which suggests that thedata onMad’s sales must have been spectacular. It’s also possible thatpreliminary data and/or anecdotal evidence from wholesalers wasdramatic enough to spur action even before complete returns were in.

But how is it thatWhack beat other publishers by a full two months,apparently hitting the stands only a little over three months afterMad #5?My theory is this: in addition to the sales returns,Mad created a creativebuzz among comics professionals from its very first issue. Kubert andMaurer were able to choose which comics they wished to produce for St.John, and their theory was that comics that interested them would interesttheir readers. Thus, when they sawMad and were turned on by it, theystarted up their own version after seeing only the first three or four issues,considerably before sales reports pointed the way. I recently sent JoeKubert a copy of a draft of this article, and he replied: “Your surmise [is]pretty much on the mark.”

Apartment 3-DCaricatures of (l. to r.) Kubert, ArcherSt. John, and Maurer in the “3-D-T’s”story from Whack #2. Thanks to KenQuattro. [©2009 Joe Kubert & Estate of

Norman Maurer.]


The Three StogesTopline: “America’s Favorite Funny Men”Publisher: St. John Publishing Co., 545 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

#6 (Aug 1954)

“Banned in Boston” wasa common expression atthe time, because thatcity’s censors did preventsome magazines, films,etc., from being seenthere. The Stooges’ lineprobably refers to thefact that EC’s Panic #1(Feb.-March ’54) hadbeen prohibited fromdistribution in the entirestate of Massachusetts,presumably because ofits “indecent” cover andcontents. Apparently, theripples of this were feltnot only within the wallsof EC’s offices.

“Bringin’ Up Mama,Starring Saggie and Figgs.”Art by Norman Maurer(signed “Beo McMaurer” inthe style of George McManus). 5 pp. Comic strip parody of McManus’comic strip Bringing Up Father.

The absolute highpoint of all of Norman Maurer’s parodies is thisstylisticly superb imitation of the newspaper perennial. Here “Jiggs”is thin and “Maggie” is fat, making it a bit more mean-spirited thanthe original. But that’s what parodies are all about.

#7 (Oct. 1954)

“The Crisco Keed.” Art byWilliam Overgard. 9 pp.Comic strip parody of TheCisco Kid.

The Cisco Kid was afilm, radio, TV, comicstrip, and Dell comicbook series based on thefictional Westerncharacter created by O.Henry in his 1907 shortstory “The Caballero’sWay.” Jose Louis Salinasdrew the well-respectednewspaper strip versionfrom 1951 to 1967,which was probably themajor inspiration forthis parody about “O.Hank’s Robin Hood ofthe Old West.”

[©2009 the respective copyright holders.]


The Jiggs Is Up!(Above & below:) Norman Maurer’s bang-up job parodying Bringing UpFather—including a panel set at the opera that tossed in a dig at PrinceValiant for good measure. For Harvey Kurtzman & Bernard Krigstein’salmost creepy lampoon of that once-popular comic strip in Mad #17,see the Cochran volumes of the complete Mad. [©2009 Joe Kubert &

Estate of Norman Maurer.]


Cooking With CiscoAnother fine Overgard effort, from Three Stooges #7. The Cisco Kid radioshow—but not, at least in any episode Ye Editor has been able to viewrecently, on the TV series—utilized, at the outset of each episodes, the

exchange being parodied here: “Ceesko—the sheriff, he is getting closer!”“This way, Pancho—follow!” Crisco was then such a popular cooking

ingredient that its ad tagline “Cooking with Crisco” was often used to referto anybody who was really on the ball. [©2009 Joe Kubert & Estate of

Norman Maurer.]

Ali Babble(Clockwise from above left:) The house ad fromThe Three Stooges #7 for its non-existent next

issue—a piece of unpublished original art probablyfrom that “Ali Baba” takeoff—and a (poorly-reproduced, alas) photo of Carl and Virginia

Hubbell and their son from a 1949 newspaper thatmentioned Hubbell’s upcoming Merrie Chase strip.Thanks to John Benson for the “Ali Bab-O” scans.



CRAZY, WILD, & RIOTThe World On Their Shoulders

Next up is the trio of magazines from Martin Goodman. In 1954 thecomics company that was known to most of its contributors as Timely(but to its readers as Atlas, after its self-owned distribution arm,symbolized by the tiny globe on its covers) was trying to reinvent itself forthe umpteenth time. The horror craze was fading, just as crime andromance had. Westerns were still going strong, but Goodman was on thelook-out for the next big thing. He was even trying to relaunch his threemost successful super-heroes from the 1940s—Captain America, TheHuman Torch, and Sub-Mariner. WhenMad came along, he jumped onthe satire bandwagon as if he had never done anything else.

Stan Lee Or Not Stan Lee—That Is TheQuestion

In my opinion, many of these stories may have been written by editorStan Lee; they have his gag-oriented flavor. Later, when Riot was revivedin 1956, Lee signed a number of the stories, and they read much like the1954 ones. Goodman and Lee launched Crazy with a December ’53 coverdate—Wild joined it with a February ’54 date, and Riot #1 appeared twomonths after that. All were monthlies—and all were gone by August ’54.

Riot stands out among thetrio of Timely four-colorparody titles because, as noted,it had two runs—one in 1954and one (starting with #4) datedFebruary 1956. Interestingly, thesecond run appears to have beenproduced after the three issuesof Atlas’ black-&-whiteMadmagazine imitation Snafu, whichwas published during 1955-56.John Severin, who hadcontributed heavily to Snafu (aswell as the earlyMad), tookHoward Post’s place as Riot’s #2artist after Joe Maneely. RussHeath, and Al Hartley had alsodeparted, but Dan DeCarlo joinedthe group to create a nice roster. Knowing Goodman, the reason forTimely’s abandoning Snafu and going back to the comic book formatmust have been sales- or distribution- related. If they had stuck withSnafu and kept Severin working for them, that magazine might havetaken the place of the later success Cracked. For some reason, the first twoissues of the second run of Riot are among the hardest to find of anyMadwannabes. It took me more than four years to get both #4 and #5; thismay be because #4 has an infinity cover and #5 features Marilyn Monroe,factors which make them of interest to more than one type of collector.

One major question regarding this material is: did Stan Lee write any,many, or all of these stories as well as edit them? While working on aseparate article for A/E, I developed a good feel for Lee’s work in the ’40sand ’50s. Generally, we can say that he signed all the stories he wrotebetween late 1951 and early 1954 and didn’t write any he didn’t sign(except for two, as I explain in an article Roy Thomas promises to run onevery soon). If you total up all the signed stories, you find he wrote aboutten stories a month during those years, after which the number of signedstories drops off sharply. This makes it entirely possible that Lee wrote all(or at least many) of the stories for the parody titles, but decided againstsigning them. [ED. NOTE: And see RT's personal comments on p. 39.]

Or did he? When Riot restarted for its three-issue 1956 run, Lee

suddenly signed half the stories. Since Stan had proudly announced, in anintroduction to Snafu #1 the year before, that he had written all 64 of itspages, perhaps he just didn’t feel like going back to not taking a byline.Which leaves us only with circumstantial evidence. I tried to identifysome textual and contextual qualifiers of Lee’s style, but didn’t come upwith many. I did find a disqualifier: all through his career Stan Lee wrote“thru” instead of “through.” That makes any story that contains the morecommon latter spelling less likely to have been written by him. Lookingthrough these books, I found some stories of each type, as well as somethat didn’t use the word at all.

Finally, there are the so-called “job numbers.” Each Atlas story wasassigned a job number when the script was ordered or paid out, whichoften gives us an insight into the order in which stories were drawn aswell as written. Sometimes they can tell us which were left on the shelf orre-assigned after a title went under. From the job titles for the company’sMad imitations, we can infer several things.

Most of the stories were written close together in time. All the storiesfor Crazy #1-4 andWild #1-3 were written before Riot #1 appears. It maywell be that the contents of Riot #1 were intended for Crazy #5, most of

When Marvel Comics Were A RiotStan Lee, early to mid-1950s, typing standing up on his patio, as

was his wont (presumably during the warmer months only)—and hisand Bill Everett’s splash page for their Lorna the Jungle Girl parody inRiot #6 in 1956. “Loona” is so close to the real thing, at least in termsof art, that some of its panels could virtually have been sneaked intoan actual “Lorna” story without any changes! [Photo ©2009 Stan &

Joan Lee; Riot page ©2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.]


which was scripted later. Lee liked writing inspurts. If you go to the Atlas Tales website andclick on his credits, you’ll see he rarely wrote justone story at a time during this period; he usuallymanaged four to six in a row. Some of the yarnsin these titles fit right into a sequence of signedstories forMillie the Model orMy Friend Irma.So at least some of the parody tales could’ve beenwritten by Lee and left unsigned. Some artistsmay have written their own stories, such as BillEverett, who delivers a satirical horror story formost issues of Crazy, or Howie Post, who seemsto have scripted his entries, since some of hiscontributions are intricately connected.

And A Cast Of DozensBut not only Stan Lee was fired up by this

material. Many of the Timely/Atlas regulars tookthe chance to do something silly with bothhands. Joe Maneely, who had already shown anaptitude for humor in some of his horror stories,filled page after page with Will Elder-style clutter(“chicken fat”), while developing a stylecompletely his own. In Riot #6, he drew a parodyof Dennis the Menace with Lee that worked outso well that Martin Goodman decided theyshould turn it into a regular comic book.Together they produced seven issues ofMelvinthe Monster (or Dexter the Demon, as he wasrechristened in the final issue) in a cross betweenManeely’s style and that of Dennis creator HankKetcham. After that Lee & Maneely launched a newspaper strip calledMrs. Lyon’s Cubs in a similar style. Maneely also did more work in this

vein for some of the 1958Mad magazine imitations, including the earlyissues of Cracked. I believe he might have worked in this style for years,had he not have died tragically in June 1958. Even in his most realisticwork, Maneely had a cartoonist’s sense of design.

The comics were also a chance for all the artists to draw beautifulwomen. This was true for Wallace Wood, Jack Davis, and Will Elder atMad, but also for Joe Maneely and Al Hartley at Timely. Hartley hadstarted out as a gag cartoonist with a good eye for pretty girls. Afterjoining Timely/Atlas, he was mainly given “serious” work. His earliestwork for the war books is so serious, it is hardly recognizable as his.Unlike Russ Heath, who drew good-looking females every chance he got,Hartley adjusted his style to what was needed; but when he got the oppor-tunity, he really cut loose. The first issue of Crazy opens with “Tess Orbit,Lace Cadet” by Hartley, which seems mostly an excuse for the artist todraw a very pretty girl in a lace bodice and a tiger-skin bikini in almostevery panel, reflecting someone’s analysis of the reason forMad’s success.In the same issue is a Dave Berg story that also opens with a gorgeous girlin a bathrobe—I have to say, to much less effect. All in all, Hartley drewnine or ten stories for these books, eight of which feature these beauteousbuxom ladies. Hartley may have wanted to be remembered for thereligious comics he did later in life, but his main claim to fame will alwaysbe the beautiful women he drew for Atlas in the ’50s. The satirical contentallowed for a degree of exaggeration that made them even more desirable.Any of these books with a Hartley story in it is worth owning.

Russ Heath is another regular in these titles. In October 2006 I visitedhim in his home in Los Angeles and showed him a couple of his humorstories for these titles, which he hadn’t seen since they were firstpublished. He was as surprised as I was to see how many visual referencesto Harvey Kurtzman were made in his stories. He knew Kurtzman then,

Wait’ll Mr. Wilson Gets A Load Of This Kid!Joe Maneely’s cover for Mevin the Monster #1 (July 1956). Thanks to Bob Bailey.

[©2009 Marvel Characters, Inc.]


Anybody For A Team-Up With Hopalong Mix?Two pages of layouts by Russ Heath for his “Rodger Autry” spoof . See next page for details.

[©2009 Russ Heath.]

“The Mummy Walks.” Carl Burgos (unsigned). 4 pp. Horror parody. Job#E-319.

Communist spies meet a giant mummy. The story reveals the Reds’plans: (1) Blow up every country in the world. (2) Invade all thosethat are left. (3) Attack all the warmongers in hospitals and kinder-gartens.

“The Men from Mars.” Howie Post (signed). 5 pp. Sci-fi parody. Job #E-414.

In this story about monkeys from Mars, Postproves his style is better suited to cartoonanimals than to cartoon humans.

“Tall in the Saddle.” Mort Drucker (signed). 5 pp.Western parody. Job #E-173.

Not a movie spoof, though here again there’s aGary Cooper caricature. Before landing hiscareer-defining job asMad magazine’s premierTV-and-movie parodist, Drucker worked as anot-so-impressive artist at Marvel and DC. Hisspecialties were hastily drawn war and humorbooks. This story showcases his customarysloppiness, even though it may be categorizedas his first satire work.

“Moe Gumbo.” Howie Post (unsigned). 4 pp.Movie parody. JoB #E-288.

Mogambo was a successful 1953 African safarifilm directed by John Ford, starring ClarkGable and Grace Kelly (a remake of Gable’s1930s hit Red Dust, which had co-starred JeanHarlow). This tale doesn’t make much of an

attempt to parody the movie. The title is the same as the BobPowell-drawn but probably Howard Nostrand-written story inBlack Cat Mystery #50 (June 1954)—probably just the result of atoo-obvious pun. Whether or not Post scripted this one, it’s easilyhis most accomplished contribution to these three series. Whitewitch doctor Moe Gumbo goes to Africa to wipe out an epidemic ofthe jumpin’ gleeps and is almost eaten by the natives. When hereturns to the States, having cured everyone, he is shot dead by hiscolleagues, who believe he himself is infected. For, you see, heglooped when he should have gleeped.

#7 (July 1954)

Cover: Russ Heath (signed with initials on thecowboy’s boots). Western shoot-out.

“Hambo!” Carl Hubbell (signed). 5 pp. Movieparody. Job #E-621.

AfterWhack folded and St. John discon-tinued a number of titles, Carl Hubbellmigrated to Timely/Atlas to draw aknockoff of “The Little Wise Guys,” ajuvenile adventure series he’d drawn forLev Gleason’s Daredevil, which was stillrunning; “Bob Brant” ran for three issuesinMan Comics before the title wasdiscontinued. Hubbell must have pickedup this job not long after that. If acaricature of John Wayne from theparodied film Hondo was intended, I don’trecognize it. Probably another case thewriter taking the name, but not havingseen the movie.

Bring Back Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of—CrazyIn the mag’s 7th and final issue, Stan Lee and Russ Heath teamedup to go Hollywood—while Maneely went robotic. See Alter Ego#40 for a photo-studded interview with Russ Heath—and #28 forDoc V.’s extensive coverage of the life and career of Joe Maneely.




“I Ain’t Mad.” 2-pp. text story. Job #E-600.

Not a story about Stan Lee realizing that Atlas’Mad imitationswon’t stand up to the original, but a yarn about a man trying toprove he isn’t crazy. Again the writer spends a lot of time wonderingabout the origin of weird expressions like “It’s raining cats anddogs” and “kicking the bucket.” Two newunsigned illustrations by Carl Burgos.

“Just Plain Harry’s Other Wife.” Al Hartley(signed). Soap opera parody. Job #E-487.

A parody of the popular radio soaps Just PlainBill and John’s Other Wife. No caricatures, justlots of beautiful buxom ladies. “Editor’s note:we are proud to announce that ‘Just PlainHarry’s Other Wife’ has just gotten an Oscar!!Yessir!! Oscar Klunk has been chosen to playthe role of a lampshade in tomorrow’s episode!”

“Tales from Aesop’s Stables.” Art by Howard Post.Illustrated rhyming horror story. 3 pp. Job #E-640.

“As translated from the original ‘Cretin’ [a punon ‘Latin,’ crossed with ‘Cretan’?] by HowardiusPostus.” This time, the weirdly exaggerateddrawings by Post actually have a function.

“Hollywood Extra.” Script by Stan Lee, art by RussHeath (both signed). 5 pp. Scandal parody. Job#E-565.

Stan Lee starts signing scripts for Crazy.Caspar Keyhole presents the secret storybehind the glamour and the glitter of Hollywood. Caricatures ofMarilyn Monroe, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis (as the comedy duoMarvin & Loose), Gary Cooper, and Clark Gable stride theTinseltown streets. One of Heath’s best, in the style of his “PlasticSam” inMad. I don’t know if this is a parody of a particular TVseries or of a genre of magazines, but it works very well. Keyholewatches Jerry Loose make a print of his face in the wet cement infront of Growler’s Japanese Theatre, tries to interview ParafoxPictures’ new star Marilyn Russell, watches swashbuckling actorError Flynn trying to unbuckle himself, and has an excitingmeeting with Darryl B. Barrel. After that he goes home and watchestelevision.

“Crazy’s Fun Page.” Dan DeCarlo (unsigned). One-page puzzles. Job#E-566.

Will Elder didn’t do a puzzle page parody untilMad #19 in January1955, which means Atlas was first with this concept. The first gagon this page, with the company director chasing his assistantthrough a maze, can only be by DeCarlo. There is also a caricatureof Humphrey Bogart with the question: “Can you name this screenstar?” Answer: “Why should you? He’s already got a name!”

“Robert the Robot!” Joe Maneely (signed on the robot’s behind). 4 pp. Sci-fi parody. Job #E-438.

Maneely’s work just keeps getting better and better. How old wasthis guy when he did this? 27? This story has everything: funnyprofessors, sexy gals, silly gags, a robot with crackling energy, and acharacter taking of her mask to reveal who she really is. There is acrazy quiz at the end: “How many screen stars can you name whoare robots? Here’s a hint: Robot Taylor, Robot Montgomery, andRobot Wagner!”

WildTopline: “Shiver and Shake... Laugh and Quake!!!”Publisher: Interstate Publishing Company, 270 Park Avenue, New York, NY

#1 (Feb. 1954)

Cover: Joe Maneely (signed).

“Charlie Chin Meets Sleek Wiley.” Joe Maneely(signed). 5 pp. Charlie Chan parody. Job #D-653.

Like most Atlas parodies, it is more of ageneral parody than specifically aimed atthe novels, movies, radio-show, or comicsfeaturing Earl Derr Biggers’ famedOriental sleuth. At story’s end, a DickTracy/Fearless Fosdick type of detectivecomes to arrest Chan and puts him in theelectric chair.

“Rip van Stinkle.” Ed Winiarski (signed). 4 pp.Parody of Washington Irving’s classic story. Job#D-106.

Compared to the “Charlie Chin” opener,this one is just dull... but at least there’s astory being told. The story of Rip vanStinkle, a man hated by everyone in hisvillage. He drinks a dwarf ’s brew andsleeps for 200 years. When he returns, stillno one will listen to him. “Ya expectsympathy from me? I got insomnia!”

“Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hide.” Bill Everett (signed). 5 pp. Horror parody. Job#D-685?

One of Everett funnier efforts, full ofMad-style “chicken fat”—background (and foreground) gags all over the place! In this takeoffon Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Dr. Jackal wants to marry his dream girl, Marilyn Moneyrow.She doesn’t want him, so he concocts a secret formula (recipe:onion soup, Limburger cheese, ice cream, formaldehyde, chocolatesauce, gin and bitters, clam juice, stewed worms, and kerosene) toturn himself into Mr. Hide—who’s such a hideous, horrible, ghastly,grisly, gruesome, fiendish fiend that she’ll be happy to marry Jackal!Only problem is—she likes Hide better!

“Don Chaotic.” New Sol Brodsky illustration (unsigned). 2-pp. text story.Job #D-672.

“The Frozen North.” Brodsky (unsigned). 4-pp. Exploration parody. Job#D-689.

In history, Louise Arner Boyd (1887-1972), nicknamed “The IceWoman,” was an American who repeatedly explored andphotographed the Arctic Ocean. In 1928 she led an expedition tofind the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who had disap-peared while on a flying rescue mission to locate Italian explorerUmberto Nobile. Boyd traveled 10,000 miles across the ArcticOcean, exploring from Franz Josef Land to the Greenland Sea;though she found no trace of Amundsen, she was awarded theChevalier Cross of the Order of Saint Olav by the Norwegiangovernment. In 1931 she began a series of annual scientific expedi-tions to the Arctic. Her various expeditions explored Greenland’snortheastern coast and glaciers, including the remote De GeerGlacier (a nearby area was later christened Louise Boyd Land). In



EH!/From Here To Insanity

Out In The BoondocksEh! was publisher Charlton’s entry in theMad imitations sweepstakes.

For its first ten issues (including a title change to From Here to Insanitywith #8), the book was packaged for them from New York City byindustry mainstay Al Fago. He probably also wrote the letters page, wherehis name appears. The first three issues arechockful of Dick Ayers’ always-interesting art; butwith #4, suddenly there is a new artist in town,Fred Ottenheimer, who Jim Amash informs mehad drawn humor for Timely in the 1940s. Thequality of the art takes a huge drop. Though someof the later parodies are more on target thanearlier ones, the later issues of Eh! are still a lotless interesting. Fred Ottenheimer crossed pathswith Harvey Kurtzman, when he did a children’spuzzle book called Playtime Speller for the KunenCompany, at the same time Kurtzman and visitingFrench artist René Goscinny did a couple ofchildren’s story books with puzzle pieces (nottogether, though). Later in his career Ottenheimerreturned to children’s books.

Most issues of Eh! have black-&-white insidecovers with rather uninspired ad parodies. In1997 America’s Comics Group of St-Laurent,Quebec, Canada, reprinted #2 (minus the inside-cover ad parodies) in b&w as “Eh! #1”—thoughutilizing, for some reason, the cover of issue #4.The reprinting was done from the original proofs.For the fan who wants to taste rather than have itall, it is a good place to start.

Because it had a habit of publishing just about anything it could lay itshands on, in order to keep its printing presses running, Charlton would, afew years later, put out the bestMad magazine imitation ever—Humbug.The b&w Humbug was created by Harvey Kurtzman, Al Jaffee, andArnold Roth after the debacle when their slick Playboy-funded full-colorsatire magazine Trump folded. Going with the cheapest publisher at thecheapest size, they produced some of the best-looking and most hard-hitting satire of the ’50s and ’60s, before going under after 12 issues. Theentire run of this wonderful magazine has just been reprinted in a must-have edition by Fantagraphics, with pages 1½ times the size of those inthe original mags, in a slipcase with great new cover art by Al Jaffee andsuperb notes by John Benson and Gary Groth. Go to Amazon.com andorder yours today! Now, on to an issue-by-issue breakdown of thecontents of Eh!:

Eh!Topline: “Dig This Crazy Comic!”Publisher: Charlton Comics, Derby, Connecticut

#1 (Dec. 1953)

Cover: Dick Ayers (signed).

“The Shave of Champions.” Art by Dick Ayers (unsigned). B&w ad parodyon inside front cover.

“Young Dr. Baloney!” Art by Dick Ayers (unsigned). 6 pp. Radio showparody.

The brilliant Dr. Baloney (he removes a patient’s Adam’s apple witha pool cue) has troubles everywhere. He finally resolves them byshooting everyone. At one point he listens to the radio, becauseradio solves everyone’s problems. But there is just one radio soapopera after another. Which is appropriate, because this is a parodyof Young Dr. Malone, a long running radio soap-opera about adoctor, his wife and children, and his associates at the hospital.YDM was sponsored by Proctor and Gamble, and was the lastoriginal soap on radio, finally being cancelled on Nov. 25, 1960.Ayers shows his aptitude for this type of work. I used to think hisstyle was a bit too over the top, but it’s grown on me.

“The House of Whacks!” Art by Lou Morales(signed). 7 pp. Horror parody.

Morales was a weird but capable artist whomainly worked for Charlton in the ’50s,and this is not his best work. Most of theart looks as if drawn with a pen in a kid’sschool agenda.

“Awakening.” 2-pp. text story.

“Eh-h! A Puzzle Page!!!” Art by Dick Ayers(signed). One page. Puzzle page parody.

“Name the singer and the song.” A tallman with a pipe is caricatured in the snowsinging: “Bububa Boo Bububa Boooooo,nothing bothers me... nothing.” Know theanswer yet? Hint: his initials are BingCrosby. We wouldn’t have had to tellanybody that in 1953. Probably the firstpuzzle page in aMad imitation.

“Frontier Scout!” Art by Dick Ayers (signed “doneby Dick”). 8 pp. Mounties parody.

“What Does ‘Eh’ Mean?” Fake letters page.

This page identifies Al Fago as editor. Several contributors write into ask what Eh! means, among them an art dealer, an artist calledMarvin Morales, and a writer: “Where oh where did you get thevarious stories from your first issue? I’m going to frame my advancecopy. Nothing can top it. Don’t ever change your type of humor. It’svery rare nowadays. And whatever you do—don’t imitate othermagazines of the same kind. Enclosed is my dollar for twelve issues.Best of luck. Ted Sturdevans, Bronx, N.Y.” The editor answers:“Don’t worry, Ted. We are not copying ANYONE! Humor isuniversal, but being successful at it ISN’T! EH [sic] comics is goingto be a droll collector’s item.” At least it was to be the longest-running of allMad’s four-color imitators.

“Buck Hodges in the 26th Century!” Art by Dick Giordano (signed). 4 pp.Comic strip parody.

Giordano was a staff artist at Charlton at this point. He has nevermentioned working on Eh! His style looks a bit like that of SolBrodsky, with one or two Wally Wood swipes thrown in. Somereaders may like the science-fiction aspect, especially the splashpanel with Buck flying through the air. But it soon turns into justanother silly science-fiction story. It’s like serious actors trying theirhand at comedy. Too much silliness, not enough restraint.

“That’s How TV Was Born!!” Art by Dick Ayers (signed). 3 pp. Wrestlingparody.



“Stop Smoking!” Art by Dick Ayers (unsigned). Black-&-white ad parodyon inside back cover.

“You can stop tobacco shivers, tobacco bad breath, tobacco quivers,tobacco itch, athlete’s foot, Poisonous Harold Teen and tobaccotobacco. You will lose the desire to smoke in one minute! Mailcoupon now! I will pay the postman nothing for this marvelousoffer: .45 Colt pistol—steelrolled—moisture packed—and mytroubles will be over.” The Mafia crowd that Charlton reputedly hadnothing to do with will have laughed its heads off.

“Sontiac Six.” Art by Dick Ayers (unsigned). Ad parody. Black-&-white,back cover.

“Eh! Look!”The cast of artists in Eh! #1 consisted of Dick Ayers, Dick

Giordano, and Lou Morales. See A/E #31 & 35 forinterviews with (and photos of) Ayers and Giordano,respectively. And we’d print a pic of Lou Morales if wehad one! [©2009 the respective copyright holders.]


#2 (Feb. 1954)

Cover: Dick Ayers (signed “Ayers”)

The inside cover states: “Designed by Al Fago Studios.”

“Paradise Gained!” Art by Dick Ayers (signed Ayers). 7 pp. Horrorparody.

“Little Artie’s Scouts!” Art by Dick Ayers (unsigned). 5 pp. Televisionparody.

A takeoff on Arthur Godfrey’s popular TV talent show. (SeeWhack#2 entry above.)

“Strikes and Eh!-rrors.” Letter page.

Letters from “Ima Nut” from Greenview, NC, and “Just a plainhousewife” from New York.

“The News Must Go On!” Art by Dick Ayers (unsigned). 2 pp. Radioparody.

“The Great Discovery.” 2-pp. text story.

“The Four Mosquitoes!”Art by Dick Ayers (signed“Ayers”). 7 pp. Genreparody.

“Eh!’s Wails!” Art by DickAyers (signed). Puzzlepage.

“Squeeeezerama in 5-D!”Art by Dick Ayers (signed).6 pp. Movie gimmickparody.

In 1954 you were eitherdoing 3-D comics ordoing a parody of them.This one is different,because it doesn’t useany of the 3-D orCinerama effects it’ssupposed to bespoofing.

“The Case of the GorillaCaper!” Art by Dick Ayers(signed). One page. Who-done-it.

“Electro-cuter Fat Reducer.” Artist unknown. Ad parody. Inside backcover, b&w.

“What Made Milwaukee Change Its Mind?” Artist unknown. Ad parody,back cover, b&w.

#3 (April 1954)

Cover: Artist unknown

“Sure Cure for MoneyHeadaches.” Artistunknown. Ad parody.Inside front cover, b&w.

“Mutilated Knee on theBotany!” Art by Dick Ayers(unsigned). 8 pp. Bookparody.

A spoof of the novelmade even more famousby its 1935 movieversion. The maincharacter of Mr. Griston(“Mr. Christian” in theoriginal) is “played” bya Clark Gable type. Onthe letters page they callit a “classics satire.”

“Does Masey’s TellJimbel’s?” Art by DickAyers (signed “Ayers”).7 pp.

The department store wars, taking off on the once-commonexpression “Does Macy’s Tell Gimbel’s?,” based on two famousretailers located near each other in Manhattan. The latter store andits eventual chain, of course, no longer exist.

When Buckles Got SwashedDick Ayers’ splash page for Eh! #2. Thanks to Ramon Schenk.



NOTE: The company symbol has been cut offthe particular cover being repro’d.



NTRODUCTION: One thing for sure: Frank Bolle’s work sureturned up in a lot of places—some expected, some not. A realworkhorse who started off working with Leonard Starr and the

Funnies, Inc. shop, where he did some “Sub-Mariner,” “CaptainAmerica,” and “Human Torch” stories, Frank’s art also appeared atCrown Comics, Camera Comics, Fawcett, DC, Feature, Timely (andMarvel), Dell, and Gold Key (where he drew Dr. Solar, Man of theAtom), among other companies. His best work may have been done forMagazine Enterprises, where he drew the Tim Holt comic and itsRedmask revamp. Frank’s work in newspaper syndication ranges from

Winnie Winkle to OnStage, Gil Thorpe,Encyclopedia Brown,Debbie Deere, Tarzan,Rip Kirby, The Heart ofJuliet Jones, to today’sApartment 3-G. If that’s not enough for you, there’s his Boy’sLife series, advertising work, book illustration, and fine art, much ofwhich you can check out at www.frankbollestudio.com. Of course,Frank’s still at the drawing board on Apartment 3-G, and continues topaint in his spare time. “Spare time”? Hard to believe you have much ofthat, Frank—though you did manage to fit this interview into your busyschedule, for which we all thank you.—Jim.

“I’d Find [Pencils] On The Street”JIM AMASH: I’m going to ask you my standard beginning questions,like when and where were you born, and what got you interested in art?

FRANK BOLLE: I was born June 23rd, 1924, in Brooklyn. As fordrawing, well, I guess it just came just from being alone so much as a kid.I was so poor, I only had one parent, and I couldn’t even afford baby fat.[Jim laughs] My mother went off to work every day, and I was left witheither neighbors or friends, which meant that I was left in some prettycrummy places, and was alone most of the time. And if I found a piece ofpaper and pencils—since I never had toys—I would just draw things that Isaw. It sort-of came naturally, and that’s what kept me busy.

I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil; I guess about four-ish. The good part was that my mother never had to scold me to put mytoys away. I couldn’t put them in a chest because I didn’t have any.[mutual chuckling] But I felt fortunate since I always could find pencils.In my day, you didn’t have fancy ballpoint things. Pencils were alwaysyellow, and I’d find them on the street, in the hallway, in the school.There’d always be a pencil lying around on the floor, so I always had oneto draw with. The art supplies came very easily.

“I’d Pick Up Anything ThatCame Along, Since I WasAnxious To Work”

Part I Of A Colorful Conversation WithGolden Age Artist FRANK BOLLEInterview Conducted by Jim Amash Transcribed by Brian K. Morris

II

Holt That Pose!Frank Bolle (seen above in a 2007 photo), and his dynamic cover for

Magazine Enterprises’ Tim Holt #23 (March 1952), which also sports a photo ofWestern film star Tim Holt—whose father, Jack Holt, was also a mostly-Western actor. Tim’s most celebrated film roles were in Orson Welles’ TheMagnificent Ambersons (1944) and John Huston’s Treasure of the Sierra

Madre (1948)—but his series of RKO cowboy movies in the late ’40s and early’50s were better than the average horse operas. Thanks to Anthony DeMaria &

Michaël Dewally for the photo [©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

60

In elementary school, we had one day a month where kids drewturkeys that we copied for Thanksgiving, or a pumpkin, or a Santa Clausface, or something like that. But when I got into junior high school, wewould have one period a week for an art class. We didn’t do anythingspecial there except copy things, and most of the kids weren’t really inter-ested in art. It was more like “art appreciation.”

The teacher took me aside one time and asked, “When you graduatefrom junior high, what high school are you going to?” I said, “Just thelocal school, Bushwick High, where everybody else goes.” She said, “Youshould go to the High School of Music and Art.” I guess she sawsomething in me. I didn’t even know where the school was. I’d never evenheard of it. She got the application for me. Then, after I filled it out—Iwas what, thirteen, fourteen years old—she got someone to take me there.I took a test and was accepted.

Within the first few months, I met Leonard Starr, and we wound up inthe same art class. We had math and history classes together, too. We werevery similar types of people. We both had a sense of humor, we were thebest in the class, and we didn’t compete against each other. We’d kidaround, and have lunch together in the lunchroom, and took the sametrain home. He got off at 14th Street and Union Square, and I just keptgoing to Brooklyn. We’d ride on the subway together. Some morningsLeonard and a couple of other guys would be on the platform, and they’dcome in and we’d sit together, or mostly stand, because that was the busyhour. And when we were high school seniors, we double-dated.

I drew comics, but only for myself. I wrote and drew science-fictionstories in a sketchbook over the weekend, and on Monday my art buddiesin class would say, “What did you do this weekend?” You know, they werefollowing the story I was making, so I’d have to hand my sketchbookaround.

I think I was first influenced by Milton Caniff ’s Terry and the Pirates.By accident, I saw some neighbor had the New York Journal-American,which had Flash Gordon in it. I couldn’t afford to buy the newspaper, so

they saved the funnies for me every week. I began reading Flash Gordon,Jungle Jim, The Phantom, and Prince Valiant.

After high school, I went to Pratt Institute for about six months, andwas inducted into the Army Air Corps in 1943. The only flying I did wasobservation flying, but I didn’t fly, myself. I was a camouflage technician. Ihid things. [mutual chuckling] I hid the planes, and I hid installations. I’dhave to fly up with the pilot and observe whether the stuff was hiddenwell, or if there were objects left in places that didn’t matter, where theenemy would think there was something there and waste bombs on it.That sort of thing.

“We Went Off The Cliff”JA: Did you do any artwork in the service?

BOLLE: Only for myself. For instance, we’d be on a march or something,and we’d take five and smoke if you have them. I never smoked, so I tookout my little sketchpad and drew the guys. Mostly, I was camouflaginginstallations and things like that. The first few months after my dischargein ’46, I was recuperating because I’d been in the hospital for four months.I was in a terrible accident in Okinawa. The driver and I were on amountain road, and he made a turn, and there was no road there. Wewent off the cliff.

I don’t know how many hours I was unconscious, but I heardsomebody moaning in pain, and that’s what woke me up. And then Irealized it wasme that was moaning. [mutual chuckling]

JA: Did this happen at night? I know sometimes, when they were drivingat night, you weren’t allowed to turn your lights on.

BOLLE: No, it was in daylight, and it was right after a typhoon, so a lot ofroads were in bad condition. I don’t know how long I was there, butluckily, another car came by with some guys from our outfit and they sawme down the cliff. I was all wedged between rocks, and I had a broken jawand my whole right side was covered in blood. And one of the big guysfrom our outfit picked me up like a kid, [chuckles] and carried me up thehill.

They took me to a MASH outfit, where they put me on a stretcher,and laid me on the floor because they had to wait for a doctor to showup. The colonel doctor looked down at me and said, “Gee, I don’t knowwhat I can do with that.” My heart sank because I couldn’t feel anything. Ithought I’d lost part of my jaw because there was no sensation. Evenwhen I felt around with my tongue, I couldn’t feel anything. But thensome doctor—I think it was a dentist—came in and looked at me. Hetapped the inside of my mouth with a tongue depressor. He startedmaking noises where I didn’t have any feelings, so then I realized I didn’tlose my whole jaw. They wired my teeth together, but without X-rays, so Inever had a very straight jaw again. And the rest of the stuff, they hadto—oh, they pumped me with penicillin, which was brand new in thosedays. My whole right side was like raw skin from going down a cliff onrocks and everything. They couldn’t really bandage it, but they keptgiving me penicillin. It was so strong that it was painful; I could feel thepenicillin being pumped in and could taste it in my mouth. They did thatlike every couple of hours, night and day. Once I started healing, theysaid since the war was over, they couldn’t keep me there. There was nomilk—no real milk to have, which I needed because I was on a liquiddiet.

They flew me and a bunch of other guys back to the States. I was up inUtica General Hospital for about four months. When I was finally allbetter, I was shipped down to Fort Dix [New Jersey], where I got mydischarge. For the first couple of months, I didn’t do much of anything,and then I got in touch with Leonard, who was drawing some comics.

No Flash In The PanAs a youth, Frank read Alex Raymond’s influential Flash Gordon comic strip.As an adult, he would draw the hero for King Features’ own line of comicbooks, as per this splash from King Comics’ Flash Gordon #2 (1966). Thanks

to Michaël Dewally. [©2009 King Features Syndicate, Inc.]

“I’d Pick Up Anything That Came Along, Since I Was Anxious To Work” 61

“The Paper Just Reeked Of [Kirby’sCigar Smoke]”

JA: Do you remember ever doing any work for a company called KirbyPublishing? This would have been in the late ’40s, early ’50s. There weretwo editors, and one of them, I know you know. One of them was a guynamed John Augustin, and the other was Tex Blaisdell. Anything aboutthis company come to mind?

BOLLE: I don’t remember Kirby Publishing, but I know I did somethingfor Simon & Kirby, briefly, because it was the only time I quit something.It was because of Kirby’s pages. I went to see Joe Simon, who liked mywork and said, “We need someone to ink this Jack Kirby story,” andhanded it to me. Kirby must have been smoking cigars constantly, and thepaper just reeked of it. Those pages were under my nose while I inking it,and it was making me cranky. It was changing my personality, and I keptsaying, “I can’t work.” So it got to be a big joke when I told people that Iquit. And they said, “You quit? You just quit?” I finished the job, but Iwouldn’t take any more work from them, because I said, “I’m not going towork while I’m inhaling all this smelly paper and it‘s making me crankyand everything.” [Jim laughs] That was the big joke that went around, thatI would quit because I couldn’t stand the smell of the paper. But it wastrue! It was awful. It smelled like the penciler soaked the paper in tobaccosmoke!

Tex Blaisdell made a big joke out of it. He said, “This guy quit inkingJack Kirby because he couldn’t stand the smell of the paper.” You knowthat I never smoked. When I was in the service, I could have gotten all thecigarettes I wanted for free; they were giving them away. It just wassomething that didn’t appeal to me. I’m glad now, because I probablywould have gotten second-hand smoke from working on those pages.[laughter] It just reeked unbelievably. I had to wash my hands after doingone or two stories for them, but then I said, “No, that’s it. I’m not doingany more.”

JA:What was Tex like? I’ve heard a variety of opinions on him.

BOLLE: He was funny. He was very tall. I don’t remember exactly where Imet him, but he was a friend of Leonard’s, and he knew so many peoplethat I knew so I got to know him socially, too. When Leonard was doingOn Stage, I was working with him and Tex. I was penciling. We used Texas a cowboy character in the story for a while, so we took pictures of Texfor reference. I knew his wife and family, too, because he would throw aparty every once in a while.

JA: Leonard described him as being sad towards the end.

BOLLE: Yes, he was. He did a lot of drinking. I never saw him without acigarette or without a drink in his hand.

JA: Around 1949, ’50, I have you as working for St. John Publications,doing adventures and romance.

BOLLE: I remember working for them, but I don’t remember too muchabout it. I did a John Wayne comic book, for Toby Press. I got to knowthe editor, Mel Lazarus, then, and later on when I’d meet him at theNational Cartoonists meetings. I was even at his house one time when Iwas doing some stuff for him when he was living in Sheepshead Bay, Ithink.

JA: In 1954, I have you working for a company called Story Comics. Youwere doing covers for The Masked Ranger. [chuckles] Sounds like aversion of The Lone Ranger, doesn’t he?

“I Drew Tim Holt For The Next Few Years”BOLLE: You don’t have any mention of working for MagazineEnterprises? I thought I started at Magazine Enterprises earlier.

JA: Yes, I’ve got you starting there in ’48.

BOLLE: That sounds right. Ray Krank, the editor, hired me. I brought in

66 A Colorful Conversation With Golden Age Artist Frank Bolle

You’ve Really Got A Holt On MeTim Holt (on the left in photo) in a publicity still done for his popular RKO

Westerns—juxtaposed with a Bolle splash from Tim Holt #31 (Aug.-Sept. 1952),in the days before Holt’s comic book incarnation first donned a crimsonbandanna. The Redmask persona was perhaps an unconscious nod to afellow Magazine Enterprises cowboy-movie licensee, The Durango Kid.

Thanks to James Zanotto for the “Kiowa” scan.

In the films, Tim had a pal named Chito (full name: Chito Jose GonzalesBustamonte Rafferty!), played by Richard Martin, seen on right in photo—andcaricatured with Holt on the “Doom Trail!” splash. Despite his exaggeratedaccent, Chito, who appeared in some of the early comics stories, was less

stereotyped than most Mexican sidekicks of the day. Photo and “Doom Trail!”art are repro’d from comics published by Bill Black’s AC Comics. Many “Tim

Holt/Redmask” and “Durango Kid” stories originally published by VinSullivan’s ME have been reprinted by AC Comics, some in its revival of ME’sBest of the West title. For a list of AC’s many mags still available, check out

its website at accomics.com. [“Doom Trail!” splash ©2009 AC Comics.]

73

II

Harvey Kurtzman, Two-Fisted Tales #22, July 1951.[©2009 William M. Gaines Agent, Inc.]

Kurtzman’s cover drawing for the Guide to Camp Maxey Texas booklet, 1945[©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

Introductionby Michael T. Gilbert

In past issues, the Dutch comics scholar Ger Apeldoorn (see pp.4 ff. in this very issue!) has shared little-seen Harvey Kurtzman artwith us, including Varsity Magazine illustrations unseen since theywere originally published in the late ’40s. Now he has uncoveredsome exceptionally rare cartoons that Kurtzman drew in the military,long before he created Mad. Take it away, Ger…

“Lost” Kurtzman:The War Years!

by Ger Apeldoorn

arvey Kurtzman was a pack rat.

For most of his life he kept the originals, rough sketches, andtear sheets for all of his published pieces. His habit of hoarding everythingproved quite helpful when super-fan Glenn Bray assembled his exhaustiveIllustrated Harvey Kurtzman Index in 1976. Still, even Kurtzman didn’tkeep every scrap of paper, so the guide has inevitable gaps. Mr. Monsterwas kind enough to reprint rare examples of Kurtzman’s earliest satiricalpieces for Varsity Magazine in Alter Ego #33 & #34. This time around,I’ve discovered some Kurtzman pieces so unique they’re not evenmentioned in the Kurtzman index! But first, let’s backtrack a bit….

Harvey Kurtzman’s career in comics started in 1939, when he sold agag to Tip Top Comics #36 for a dollar. By late 1942, the 18-year-oldcartoonist was working as an apprentice to Louis Ferstadt, drawing stripsfor Prize and Ace. “Black Venus,” “Mr. Risk,” and “Lash Lightning” allfeature Kurtzman’s solo art, but most fans consider these early works tobe less important. When we see him next, his style seems fully developed.So where did he learn to draw like that?

HH

74 Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt!

(Left:) “Murphy’s Mess Boy” from Ace Periodicals’ Four Favorites #8(Dec. 1942). Art by Harvey Kurtzman & Louis Ferstadt.

(Above:) Kurtzman’s “Lash Lightning” splash from Four Favorites #9(Feb. 1943) [©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

In all likelihood, it was in the Army. Afterlooking around, I’ve discovered some facts aboutKurtzman’s military career. Exactly when heenlisted is unknown, but in early 1944 he wastransferred to Camp Sutton in Sutton, NorthCarolina, a training camp for Army engineers.Kurtzman, however, stayed for more than therequisite six weeks. We know this because he drewa strip for the camp newspaper, the Camp SuttonCarry-All, titled Pvt. Brown, Knows, as in “brown-nose,” slang for someone who kisses up to the boss!The single-tier strip featured gags about newrecruits not unlike Kurtzman himself. I could onlyfind ten of the seventeen or so strips, copied for mefrom the brittle original papers by a kind locallibrarian. Here he is about halfway into his laterstyle—still funny, but his characters aren’t as livelyas they would become later.

In July 1945, all recruits moved elsewhere whenCamp Sutton became a German Prisoner-of-Warcamp. Kurtzman probably went with them shortlybefore it closed, though I haven’t discovered where.We next see his art in spring 1945 at Camp Maxey,a training camp in Paris, Texas. I tried trackingdown the camp newspaper for that period andfound a bound set in the town’s junior high school.Unfortunately, the librarian claimed it was toofragile to be used for research, so I did mine fromHolland through the Internet instead.

Long-distance research can yield great results,but does have its limits. Thankfully, I found amicrofiche run of the strip, which the TexasHistorical Society mailed me on loan.

Though I originally thought Kurtzman mighthave been the lead illustrator for theMaxey Times,only a few of his illustrations appeared, includingtwo sports cartoons and a full-page “VictorySuggestions from Camp Maxey,” as well as anarticle about the Guide to Camp Maxey. The mainMaxey Times artist turned out to be Lt. FrankInterlandi, brother of cartoonist Phil Interlandi (a

(Above:) “Pvt. Brown, Knows,” drawn by Kurtzmanin 1944 for The Camp Sutton Carry-All.

[©2009 the respective copyright holders.](Right:) “Yankee Ingenuity,” Maxey Times, May 25, 1945.

[©2009 Maxey Times.]

“Lost” Kurtzman: The War Years 75

[Shazam!heroes,Superm

an,&LoisLane

TM&©2009

DCComics;Magicman

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therespective

tradem

ark&copyrightholders;

otherart©2009

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WaltGrogan.]

The Power OfSchaffenberger!

Mark Voger & Howard Bender On One Of Comics’Most Talented Gentlemen

Edited by P.C. Hamerlinck

83

[FCA EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION: A year and a half before hisdeath in 1989, Captain Marvel artist C.C. Beck wrote, during one ofour correspondences: “Kurt Schaffenberger is a very talented artist,and came closer than anyone else to drawing the Marvel Family intheir original forms. Kurt has a great sense of humor, loves to telldialect jokes, and was quite a musician on the ‘squeeze box’(accordion) in the old days when we got together at each other’shouses.”

Here, in the first of our double-feature on “Schaff,” Mark Voger,author of Hero Gets Girl! The Life and Art of Kurt Schaffenbergerexplores some of those Fawcett get-togethers with DorothySchaffenberger, wife of the revered comic book artist, as she takes usback to the couple’s newlywed years.

In the second section, comics artist Howard Bender shares withFCA readers some of his favorite “Kurt Anecdotes” from his time asSchaffenberger’s friend/colleague/liaison.

I was fortunate to meet the genial Schaffenberger on Memorial Day1995 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, where the artist’s retorts to my usualnumerous Fawcett-related questions yielded a polite “I don’t know,Paul—it was just a job!” response. While he passed away in early2002, FCA continues to be home for the memory of the clean story-telling style and the warm, lighthearted, human approach which wasthat of one of comics’ finest and most devoted craftsmen: KurtSchaffenberger.—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

Get-Togethers In FawcettHeaven

by Mark Voger

he way Dorothy Schaffenberger tells it, FCA readers could be inFawcett Heaven by hopping a time machine to the late 1940s innorthern New Jersey.

That’s when, and where, many of the movers and shakers behindCaptain Marvel and company gathered for intimate little get-togethersafter the work week to blow off steam—and to keep thoughts of WorldWar II at a comfortable distance.

Dorothy is the widow of the late, great Kurt Schaffenberger, who illus-

The Invincible Schaffenbergers(Above:) Kurt and Dorothy Schaffenberger tied the knot on March 30, 1946.Their wedding was held at St. Paul’s Chapel in Englewood, NJ. Dorothy’smatron of honor was Ione Binder, wife of prolific Marvel Family writer OttoBinder. Kurt’s old boss, Jack Binder, and fellow Binder Shop artist Ken Bald,

were both part of the wedding party. [Photo courtesy of DorothySchaffenberger; scan courtesy of Mark Voger.]

(Left:) Kurt and Dorothy (or characters greatly resembling them) team upwith Ibis and Taia in the “Ibis the Invincible” story from Whiz Comics #87(July 1947). Schaffenberger occasionally drew likenesses of his wife andhimself into comic book stories for Fawcett and other companies. [Ibis the

Invincible TM & ©2009 DC Comics.]

TT

trated the adventures of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel,Ibis the Invincible, and their colorful cohorts. Kurt died in 2002 at age 81.

Dorothy now lives in Maryland near her daughter, Susan Kelly, whereshe is enjoying her six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.“There’s never a dull moment around here,” Dorothy said with a laugh.

She fondly recalls those days after the war when she and Kurt wouldget together on the weekends with other Fawcett creators and their wives:C.C. and Hilda Beck; Jack and Olga Binder; Otto and Ione Binder; Peteand Agnes Riss; Charlie and Audrey Tomsey.

“Almost every Saturday night,” Dorothy said. “It was wonderful. Newlyafter Kurt and I were married, none of us had too much money. What wewould do is, we’d go bowling and then go back to different houses; we’dtake turns hosting. The guys would play cards—sometimes Hilda Beckwould play with them—and the girls would do hand work.”

Doing that hand work (such as crafts, clothing, even makinglampshades) among friends eased the drudgery for the young women.

“It was the best at Christmastime,” Dorothy said. “Each woman wouldmake one or two batches of cookie dough. We usually met at IoneBinder’s. The boys would be off bowling; it’s a wonder they didn’t get aticket on the way home. We all had assignments. One of us would work

the oven; one would roll out the dough; one would decorate. By the end ofthe evening, we had all of our holiday cookies done.”

Kurt and Dorothy met in 1941, shortly after Kurt entered the comicsfield after graduating from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Kurt had beenworking at the Jack Binder “shop” in Englewood, New Jersey—a studiothat provided artwork to comic book publishers, including FawcettPublications. Kurt and a fellow Pratt alum, Nat Champlin, becameroommates at a boarding house in Englewood.

As Dorothy recalled: “The woman who rented the room, Mrs. Bogert,was my mother’s best friend. Well, Nat wanted to meet some ‘babes.’ Thatwas just male talk in those days—you didn’t call women babes to their

Beck’s Rookin’ New YearCaptain Marvel artist C.C. Beck typed up this program for one of the Fawcett

gang’s New Years’ Eve parties, which included a play written by OttoBinder and featuring Kurt Schaffenberger as “Father Time,” Beck as “the OldYear,” one-time opera singer (later comics writer) Carl Formes as “another

Old Year,” and Dorothy Schaffenberger “as the New Year Babe,”(“supported” by Beck’s wife Hildur). The flipside of the program is a menu,with a “Schaffenburger” as one listed item of cuisine. This relic was dug up

by P.C. Hamerlinck from among his original Beck file material.

Unknown But Known ArtistA “Nemesis” Adventures into the Unknown cover for issue #165 (June-July1966) by Schaffenberger (under his “Lou Wahl” non de plume). Schaff-fans

can now rejoice in the release of Dark Horse’s Nemesis Archives andMagicman Archives. The artist co-created both super-heroes under theauspices of Richard E. Hughes, the American Comics Group editor who

employed Schaffenberger for more than a decade, beginning in 1955. Theintroduction to both volumes designates Pete Costanza—not

Schaffenberger—as the characters’ co-creator with Hughes—a claim forwhich many would be anxious to see the research. Schaffenberger

biographer Mark Voger comments: “While a quibble over creator credit forthese admittedly minor characters may not reach the heights of the Bob

Kane/Bill Finger debate, I will say this about Schaffenberger with supremeconfidence: he was never one to exaggerate his accomplishments.” [©2009

respective copyright owners.]

84 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

My Kurt Anecdotesby Howard Bender

MY FIRST MEETINGThe first time I met Kurt was autumn 1974. It was my first job

interview at DC Comics, at its old Lexington Ave. offices. Jack Alder, DCComics production manager, was showing me around the bullpen andintroduced me to Kurt, who at the time was standing at a table lookingover some pages of art. As I recall, he was a tall, well-groomed man with apencil mustache and a loud green plaid sports jacket, ascot, beret, and along ivory cigarette holder. I swear he looked just like Mr. Tawny fromShazam!—but without the tiger’s head. Years later, as I recalled our firstmeeting, Kurt had this take: “Bender, I may have had the plaid sportsjacket, but never the ascot and beret, and never a tiger’s head.” Hmm, mymistake: it must have been the realMr. Tawny I met that day!

LOIS LANE, NUDE REPORTERKurt penciled or inked two pages of comic book art a day, and his

schedule took him into Manhattan twice a week, on Tuesdays andThursdays. The days in New York City were spent delivering and pickingup work for DC Comics in the morning, and in the afternoons, at his deskat the ACG (American Comics Group) editorial offices. It was therewhere he worked on covers and special Custom Comics comic bookassignments. Around 1972, when the ACG/Custom Comics workedslowed down, Kurt took the extra time to sit in on some life drawingclasses at the Art Students League on West 57th St. and Broadway. Usingnude female models, Kurt masterfully did each beautifully drawn studyon gray paper with black and white conte crayon. Amazingly enough,each bears an uncanny resemblance to Lois Lane.

THE DAVY CROCKETT MYSTERY SOLVEDACG’s Forbidden Worlds #39 gave us “The Davy Crockett Mystery!,”

written by editor Richard E. Hughesand illustrated by KurtSchaffenberger. Talk about youroddball stories! This one has thefrontier hero, almost dead from theBattle of the Alamo, drinking froma fountain of youth that allows himto live on to fight in every majorAmerican war, up to andincluding World War II,where he dies heroically andthen decomposes into aclump of smoldering bones.

This hard-to-come-by comicbook took me the better part oftwo years to find. The funnypart about the whole two-yearjourney was that the artist whodrew this amazingly weirdstory was right there thewhole time, and neither oneof us knew it! At the time,Kurt and I did many comicbook shows appearancestogether, where I’d search forCrockett comics for my collection.

“Could You Hand Me Your Cape, Superman?”In the early ’70s, Schaffenberger took time to sit in on life drawing classes atthe Art Students League on West 57th St. and Broadway in NYC. Each piece heproduced there bore an uncanny resemblance to the Man of Steel’s gal, Lois

Lane. [©2009 Estate of Kurt Schaffenberger.]

Fashion Statement“…a loud green plaid sports jacket …”

Schaffenberger art for the Mr. Tawny entryin Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory ofthe DC Universe #15 (May 1986). [©2009

DC Comics.]

86 FCA [Fawcett Collectors Of America]

King of the Wild FrontierSchaffenberger drew this sketch of coonskin-capped hero Davy Crockett forHoward Bender, who had searched earnestly and eventually located the

“Crockett” story in ACG’s Forbidden Worlds #39 … drawn by none other thanKurt Schaffenberger. [©2009 the respective copyright holders.]

Alter Ego #86

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