$5.95In the USA

No.34March2004

Dol

l Man

TM

& ©

2004

DC

Com

ics.

CRANDALL • ARNOLD • CUIDERACOLE • EISNER • FINE

NORDLING • GUSTAVSONPOWELL • DILLIN • FOX • WARD

TOTH • AMASH • NOLANKURTZMAN • GILBERT & MORE!

Awesome Art & Artifacts By:

QUALITYTIME! 11994--2004

Alter EgoTM is published monthly by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues:$8 ($10 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $120 Canada, $132 elsewhere. All characters are © theirrespective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM ofRoy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada.

FIRST PRINTING.

™

QUALITYTIME(Side One)

ContentsWriter/Editorial: I Love Theme Issues! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Men of Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Dick Arnold, son of company founder Busy Arnold, talks to Jim Amash about Quality Comics(with a sidebar by George Hagenauer on Arnold’s “men’s sweat” mags).

“I Created Blackhawk!”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Chuck Cuidera voices his opinions (and how!) on just about everything!

Better Read Than Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Michelle Nolan tells about Blackhawk’s 1950s transition from Quality to DC.

“Another Fine Talent Lost”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36One Golden Age great re another: Alex Toth about Reed Crandall.

Comic Crypt: The Unknown Kurtzman (Part Two) . . . . . . . . 39Michael T. Gilbert (and Ger Apeldoorn) on Harvey Kurtzman’s work for Varsity.

Quality Time (Side Two). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us!About Our Cover: Because it’s one of the relatively few examples of Golden Age work by thefabulous Reed Crandall still in existence, this gorgeously horrific cover art done for Doll Man#42 (Oct. 1952) has been reprinted several times—including by Michael T. Gilbert in Alter Ego#30, from Gary Arlington’s early-’70s Nickel Library. We decided it was high time it saw printas a cover again—if not on an actual comic book, then on this magazine about comic books.[Doll Man TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

Above: Without a doubt, another of the most talented artists ever to work in the comic bookfield was Lou Fine. The Flame, Doll Man, Black Condor, The Ray, covers—he excelled at allof them. But when publisher Greg Theakston put together his Lou Fine Comics Treasury in1991, he chose Fine art featuring the Quality Comics version of Uncle Sam as his cover (see p. 10)—and he reprinted, with restored art, the lead tale from National Comics #12 (June 1941)as the book’s example of Fine’s work on that editorial-cartoon-cum-super-hero. Though thebyline on the splash art reprinted above read “by Will Eisner,” and Eisner probably did overseeits production in his studio, this art looks like pure Fine to most aficionados. [Uncle Sam TM &©2004 DC Comics; retouched art ©2004 Pure Imagination.]

Vol. 3, No. 34 / March 2004Editor Roy Thomas

Associate EditorsBill SchellyJim Amash

Design & LayoutChristopher Day

Consulting EditorJohn Morrow

FCA EditorP.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt EditorMichael T. Gilbert

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

Production AssistantEric Nolen-Weathington

Cover ArtistsReed CrandallCharles Nicholas (?)

Cover ColoristTom Ziuko

And Special Thanks to:Ger ApeldoornDick ArnoldBob BaileyMike W. BarrMichael

BaulderstoneJack BenderBill BlackJerry K. BoydLee BoyettSam BurlockoffGary CarlsonRay A. CuthbertTeresa R. DavidsonAl DellingesRoger Dicken &

Wendy HuntJay DisbrowShel DorfChris EckerWill EisnerMichael FeldmanElliot FineGill FoxBill FugateRon Frantz

Carl GaffordJanet GilbertAl & Belle GrenetGeorge HagenauerJennifer HamerlinckPeter HansenRon HarrisMark & Stephanie

HeikeTom HorvitzDave HuntBrian KotzkyAdele KurtzmanMark LewisScotty MooreMichelle NolanLarry RipeeEthan RobertsMarc SwayzeGreg TheakstonDann ThomasMort ToddAlex TothJim VadeboncoeurHames WareJohn Yon

[INTRODUCTION: Everett(Busy) Arnold was more than justthe owner and publisher of QualityComics, one of the best comic bookcompanies of the Golden Age,which gave us Plastic Man,Blackhawk, Doll Man, and manyothers. He also hired the artists andthe writers, proofread scripts, andlooked over the finished art. By allaccounts, he fostered an atmosphereof creativity for his employees thatallowed them to do their best work,and was exceedingly generous with his staff and freelancers to adegree that few before or since have matched. In order to helpcomplete the picture of Busy Arnold, I have spoken to many peoplewho knew him. Now, for perhaps the most intimate look of all, let’stalk to Dick Arnold—who has the unique circumstance of havingbeen both a loyal employee—and a loving son. —Jim.]

“As a Little Kid, He Was Always Doing Something”JIM AMASH: When was your father born?

DICK ARNOLD: May 20, 1899, in Providence, Rhode Island. Hisfather’s name was Earl and his mother’s name was Ada. He was an onlychild. The family was pretty well off. My father’s grandfather was awealthy man who had all sorts of businesses, like a textile mill, andowned real estate all around Providence. My grandfather was a juniorPhi Beta Kappa and was the chairman of the math department at BrownUniversity, though that doesn’t mean he was a real good businessman.During his lifetime he managed to lose a great deal of what his familyhad. He died of influenza during the plague while my father was incollege, in 1919.

JA: What can you tell me about your father’s childhood?

ARNOLD: The principal thing I can say was that his nickname was“Busy.” He got that nickname as a little kid because he was always doingsomething. He never sat still. He was a world-class long distance runnerin college and ran against the best in the world. I don’t remember thename of the world’s champion at the time, but he wasn’t an American.My father beat him in a race. My father played ice hockey in school andwas a goalie. In college he was a history major. I was a history major atBrown, as was my son.

JA: So it runs in the family. Then you can appreciate why I’m sointerested in history.

ARNOLD: In that regard, the interesting thing is that we are related toBenedict Arnold. When Benedict Arnold’s nephew, at the end of theAmerican Revolution, tried to go to West Point, he was treated veryshabbily. He couldn’t take that, so he got on his horse and went back toProvidence. On his way back, he stopped at New Haven, Connecticut,and enrolled at Yale, but everyone in the next generation on down wentto Brown.

My father finished college in 1921, and left Providence for New York.He met my mother, Claire, soon after he got to New York and theywere married in 1923. She was a model of some sort... she modeledgloves or something.

My father got a job in the printing press business, with Goss PrintingCompany, and became a very successful printing press salesman. When Iwas very young, we moved out to Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and myfather commuted to work.

People would come to him for advice on how to start up printingplants. He told them what equipment they should buy. He’d go and helppeople, just as a pal, so to speak. He was that kind of guy. He left thatbusiness in the early 1930s and went to work for a guy named Walter

Men of QualityDICK ARNOLD Talks about Himself, His Father BUSY ARNOLD,

and the Other Talented Men (and a Few Women) of Quality Comics

3Quality Time-- part one

[Above left:] Quality founder/publisher Everett “Busy” Arnold, seen atright in photo, with Gill and Helen Fox. Dick Arnold couldn’t provide

photos of himself or his father, so we’re all the more grateful that Qualityartist/editor Gill Fox sent us this one of Arnold, Sr., for Alter Ego #12,

which featured a blockbuster interview with Gill. Check it out!

[Above:] According to The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books, Gill drew the covers of Police Comics #1-12 in 1941-42—including this one for #5 (Jan. ’42). This was the first issue wherein Plastic Man usurped the

feature spot from the original cover boy, Firebrand. See DC’s Plastic ManArchives, Vol. 1... although that fine collection lists the cover artists of

Police #2-16 as “Unknown.” [Heroes TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

Koessler, who printed the comics sections ofthe Sunday newspapers.

The company was The Greater BuffaloPress, and there was only one newspapereast of the Mississippi River that they didn’tdo the Sunday comics section for. ThenKoessler started cutting my father’spaycheck and he didn’t like that very much.Koessler had all the business he could getand didn’t need my father to bring in anynew accounts. My father left and started acomic book called Feature Funnies [laterretitled Feature Comics].

JA: What gave your father the idea ofstarting his own comic book?

ARNOLD: He probably saw it was thecoming thing. DC Comics was publishingcomics with new material, and others werestarting up. My father started off imitatingFamous Funnies, which was reprinting thenewspaper strips. He knew all the people inthe business, so it was easy for him to lineup features like Joe Palooka and MickeyFinn. This was in 1937. He would bringhome the comics when they were printed,and he also brought home the comicsproduced by the competition.

JA: Your father also helped a couple ofmen named Bill Cook and John Mahonstart up a comic book company, but theydidn’t last long. I think that’s when yourfather decided to get into the business.

ARNOLD: That could well be. My father was always helping people.He must have thought he had a chance to do better.

“That Was Him Being ‘Busy’”JA: The first editor your father hired was a cartoonist named JohnnyDevlin. He was replaced by Ed Cronin. Do you remember either ofthem?

ARNOLD: I vaguely remember Ed Cronin, but not the other one.

JA: Then Ed Cronin hired Gill Fox to be his assistant, and Gillbecame the editor when Cronin left.

ARNOLD: I wasn’t aware that was how it worked. I don’t know muchabout how things worked in the early days. When I worked at Qualityyears later, my father read all the scripts and was hands-on with every-thing. That was him being “Busy,” I guess.

JA: Is it fair to say that your father was a very detail-oriented man?

ARNOLD: Yes. He took great pride in the fact that he thought theartwork in his magazines was much better than anyone else’s. I think itwas, but whether it really was or not, he thought it was.

JA: I’ll say this to you: he had four of the greatest artists who everworked in comics. Will Eisner, Jack Cole, Lou Fine, and ReedCrandall.

ARNOLD: Absolutely. I consider Eisner the greatest genius who everworked in comics, along with Jack Cole.

JA: Quality Comics sure lived up to its name. There are a lot of

collectors who think so. When I ran acomic shop, I never had trouble selling theold Quality comics. They are still verydesirable and valuable magazines.

ARNOLD: When I was moving one time, Ihad in the attic all the bound volumes ofwhat my father published. I got tired ofmoving them and had the garbage man haulthem away. Later on, I was blowing mybrains out because I threw away a lot ofmoney.

JA: Ouch! When you were young, did youspend much time at the offices?

ARNOLD: It wasn’t too long after myfather went into this business that he movedthe offices from New York to Stamford,Connecticut. I remember, before I’d go tosee a movie, going to the offices to get acouple of nickels so I could buy a couple ofcandy bars to eat while I was at the movies.I saw people working on comics up therethen.

JA: Did your father have a businesspartner?

ARNOLD: When he first started, he gotthe people who owned Look magazine[Mike and John Cowles of the Des MoinesRegister and Tribune Syndicate] aspartners. I think they originally put up themoney to get things started, and my fatherran the company. Henry Martin was the

liaison with the company that owned half the business with my father.

JA: Did this business partnership last until Quality stoppedpublishing?

ARNOLD: No. That’s where the Des Moines Register and Tribune[Syndicate] was smarter than my father. Around 1950, they told myfather that they ought to get out of the comic book business. They said,“We’ve seen its best days.” So my father bought them out and he ownedthe whole thing. I don’t think he paid them much.

JA: Jim Steranko’s History of the Comics says the amount was$140,000. So your father didn’t get hurt that much, after all.

ARNOLD: In that sense, no. But the business didn’t make nearly asmuch after that. My father did well, but not like he had done during thepeak war years. He published more magazines per month after the war,but the profit per magazine was pretty small.

“[The Spirit] Took Off like Gang Busters”JA: Did Will Eisner have any part of the business?

ARNOLD: At one time, Eisner and Jerry Iger were partners, and myfather hired them to do most of the work for the magazines. He’d tellthem to fill up the pages of Military Comics, so they did. Originally, myfather didn’t pick out the stories or the artists that did the magazines,though that soon changed. And Eisner split from Iger, whom my fatherdidn’t like, when The Spirit started.

My father got the idea to do a Sunday comics supplement. The Spirit,“Lady Luck,” and “Mr. Mystic” were the features. It took off like GangBusters and ended up in many newspapers all across the country. For a

The cover of Busy Arnold’s first comic book, FeatureFunnies #1 (Oct. 1937) spotlighted Ham Fisher’s ultra-

popular Joe Palooka, although the cover art is credited inGerber to another famous comic strip artist, Rube

Goldberg. Arnold and Harry “A” Chesler were most likelypartners at this time. [Art & characters TM & ©2004 the

trademark and copyright holders.]

4 Dick Arnold

period of time, this was much more important to my father than thecomic book end was. This was where the real money came from. Eisnerpackaged the work for my father.

The interesting thing was that, when Eisner went into the service, myfather decided to put the best artists on The Spirit, like Lou Fine. I don’tremember who did the writing. But without Eisner, the feature wentdown in quality. Eisner was basically a cartoonist: a Gill Fox type ofartist rather than a Lou Fine type of artist. The newspapers werecomplaining, telling us to get rid of these awful artists and get the oldartist back. But Eisner was in the service. It wasn’t really Lou Fine’sfault, but Eisner had a way of characterizing scenes and a look that noone else could match. It didn’t have the same flair.

JA: Jack Cole also did some work on The Spirit.

ARNOLD: Theyprobably did thatwhen they realizedthe thing wassinking. Jack Colecould have writtenthe stories, becausehe could do thesame kind ofcreative thinking thatEisner did. I nevergot to know Jackvery well. He didn’tlive near the officeswhen I was workingat Quality. He sentthe work in throughthe mail, so I didn’tsee much of him.

JA: What artistswould you say yourfather held in thehighest regard?

ARNOLD: Thepeople you mentioned:Eisner, Cole, Fine, andCrandall. Crandall wasthe master craftsman.Reed was such a metic-ulous worker that he

wasn’t able to turn out that much work. He’d do a lead story inBlackhawk, and someone else would draw the other stories. That’s oneof the reasons Chuck Cuidera inked a lot of his stories.

JA: That’s interesting, because Chuck Cuidera created “Blackhawk,”right?

ARNOLD: Right, but “Blackhawk” may have originally been an Eisneridea. Chuck had worked for Eisner when the feature was created. Chuckdefinitely worked on the first stories, but who originally came up withthe names for the characters is something I don’t know. I loved Chuckdearly.

JA: Eisner has said that your father owned The Spirit until it ceasedpublication, and that’s when the copyrights were transferred over tohim.

ARNOLD: That could well be. I think Eisner’s Spirit was as well-doneas anything ever done in comics. There’s a story that I rememberhearing: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster brought “Superman” to my father,who said, “Nobody would read this stupid thing.” [laughs]

6 Dick Arnold

Arnold & Eisner’s The Spirit “weekly comic book” providedSunday newspapers with the adventures of The Spirit, Lady

Luck, and Mr. Mystic. The splashes of Eisner’s “Spirit” story forNov. 23, 1947, and a 1946 “Lady Luck” 4-pager drawn by Klaus

Nordling were reprinted in Kitchen Sink’s black-&-white TheSpirit #19 (Oct. 1978), with “wash” tones added to the former.

The far earlier “Mr. Mystic” splash page by Bob Powell seems tobe from July 14, 1940. [©2004 Will Eisner.]

Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash[INTERVIEWER’S INTRO: Charles (Chuck) Cuidera, whopassed away in 2001, only two days after this interview wascompleted, was an interesting character: feisty, opinionated, andtalented. He was instrumental in the creation and developmentof Quality Comics’ best-selling character (and later title),Blackhawk. After a stint in the military during World War II,he returned to Quality, primarily as an inker on “Blackhawk”and other features. When DC Comics bought out the Qualityline in 1956, Chuck went along as Dick Dillin’s inker on theBlackhawk title; the pair remained a team on the comic untilit was canceled in 1968.Afterward, Dillin and Cuideradrew a few issues of Hawkmanbefore Chuck retired fromcomics.

[It must be noted that some ofthe statements Chuck has madebelow (and elsewhere) aboutBlackhawk, The Blue Beetle,and his art director status atQuality have been questionedby others. In fairness to Chuck’smemory, we have decided topresent his side of the storypretty much as he related it,with appropriate editorial comments. —Jim.]

“I Had Nothing to Lose”JIM AMASH: We’ll start by playing To Tell the Truth. Tell me whenand where you were born.

CHUCK CUIDERA: I was born in Newark, New Jersey, September23, 1915. I have my mother to thank for my artistic talent. She was theone who was artistic in the family, and one of the nice things about thatwas that we were the best-dressed kids on our street. [laughs]

I started drawing comics in grammar school. My mother heard aboutthe Northpine Art School on High Street, and she got me up onSaturday mornings to attend. We drew from sculptures, and most of theinstructors were from Germany.

My mother had thirteen children, but I only remember six of them.It’s harder to remember the oldest ones. My mom was quite a woman,and she kept a barber strap on the knob of the kitchen door. When wedidn’t follow orders, she’d swing at us, and of course she’d start crying.Pop never touched that strap. He’d lecture to us, but he never hit us.

Those were the days of the Great Depression. My father camefrom Sicily, and he had one cousin who was a doctor and taught myfather the English language. Pop also learned how to speak Spanish andFrench. Most of the poor unfortunates who lived in the neighborhoodhad no money but could always find some money to make wine. They’dpay my father off in five-gallon jugs of wine. My father was politicallyconnected to a couple of Italian lawyers who looked to Pop to sendthem applicants to their office. Those poor unfortunates were trying toget their citizenship papers.

JA: What were your favorite newspaper strips?

CUIDERA: Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, and Milton Caniff were myfavorite artists. As a kid, I used to love The Katzenjammer Kids and allthe funny strips.

JA: After Northpine, you went to Pratt Institute, didn’t you?

CUIDERA: Yes. I had a scholarship there. I got that while I was atEastside High School. One of my art teachers was a lovely woman whodid watercolors, and I tried to emulate her work. She took a real biginterest in me and was responsible for me getting into Northpine ArtSchool. I started at Pratt in 1936 and graduated in 1939. Pratt was an

“I CreatedBlackhawk!”A Controversial Interview with the Late

Artist CHUCK CUIDERA

16Quality Time-- part two

Chuck Cuidera (left) and fellow pro inker Dave Hunt, in a photo taken severalyears back—juxtaposed with the cover of Blackhawk #40 (May 1951), repro’dfrom a photocopy of the art which Stephanie Heike of AC!Comics restored forCuidera from the partly-destroyed original art a few years ago. This cover isusually credited to Reed Crandall, but Chuck swore he had done the entire

thing—which was why he had the original artwork! Thanks, Mark &!StephanieHeike—and Dave—for this pair of artifacts! [BlackhawK TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

architectural and engineering school. For the women, it was a dress-making school. I expected to paint after I graduated, and I wanted to bea pictorial illustrator.

JA: How did you break into comic books?

CUIDERA: After I got out of Pratt, I went to all the publishingcompanies in New York and struck out. I saw an ad in the paper thatFox Features was looking for artists. I had nothing to lose, so I wentthere. The art director, Joe Simon, hired me on the spot, so I was making35 bucks a week, between the staff pay and freelancing.

“Old Man Fox Always Had a Wench Around”JA: Had you read comic books before you went to Fox?

CUIDERA: I don’t think I did. Comic books were just really startingout, and they became big and fat. Now, Joe Simon was an artist. He andJack Kirby became partners and were working together even at Fox.Kirby was the artist and Joe was the writer, although Joe could draw,too. Joe was easy to work for. I worked in the office. Al Harvey wasthere, too. The office was small.

JA: What was Jack Kirby like in those days?

CUIDERA: Jack came from a poor family. He was supporting hisfamily. The funny part was that, when I started working for Joe Simon,

Kirby was nothing but acleaner boy. He erasedpages, made art corrections,paste-ups, and anything elsethat needed to be done.

JA: Did you meet VictorFox?

CUIDERA: And how! Hewas a big clip artist. When Iwas working for Fox, heasked me to do him a favor.He had this big box ofliquor and wanted me tobring it up to his apartment,which was in the samebuilding his office was. I gotup there and this prettylittle wench, wearing only aslip, invited me in for a cupof coffee. I said, “No, thankyou.” I couldn’t wait to get

out of there. [laughs]. Old man Fox always had a wench around him.

Fox was an older man than the rest of us. He was short, had a fullhead of hair, and smoked a cigar, and had a tremendously loud voice.Very impressive, and he scared everybody. He wasn’t fat and he alwaysliked women.

JA: I heard he was a crook and cheated people out of money.

CUIDERA: Oh, boy! He stuck Simon and Kirby for a lot of dough.Most of the other publishers paid a good wage per page, but not Fox.He only paid $5 a page, if you could get it from him.

JA: What did he do, hide out on payday?

CUIDERA: Yes, something like that. Since I was on staff, I was prettysure I’d get my week’s salary and all the freelance work I could handle.

JA: Lou Fine worked there, too, didn’t he?

CUIDERA: Yes, he did. And he was my boy. He was real good. At thattime, I thought nobody drew anatomical figures better than Lou Fine.He was the first to draw “The Flame.” We all admired him, especiallywhen he drew the covers. He was a very nice man. We used to go tolunch together and sometimes went bowling. He had a game leg becausehe had suffered from polio when he was a kid. Sometimes he’d grab myarm when we went to lunch. I remember when he had a fight with WillEisner, who was working behind the scenes at Quality Comics. I wantedto knock Eisner on his butt like you wouldn’t believe. Lou was a quiet,even-balanced guy, and after he left Eisner and went to work directly forBusy Arnold [Quality’s publisher], we stopped seeing each other.

JA: Do you remember what features you did for Fox?

CUIDERA: Yes. I did “The Flame,” but “The Blue Beetle” was where Istarted. I took over “The Flame” when Lou Fine left Fox.

JA: You’ve said you created “The Blue Beetle”...

CUIDERA: Yes, I did. Then there was a Polish fellow, CharlesWojtokowski, who followed me on the feature, using my name.

JA: Your full name is Charles Nicholas Cuidera. Why did you use thename Charles Nicholas instead of using your last name? Were youasked to do that?

CUIDERA: No. I just used Charles Nicholas because I thought it was abetter name to use. No one told me to use a pen name. Everyone used

“Lou Fine… was my boy,” said Chuck Cuidera of his artistic colleague andfriend. Above are a Fine page from the origin of The Flame in Wonderworld

Comics #8 (Dec. 1939), and a panel of the searing super-hero in costumefrom #6 (Oct. 1939), courtesy of Greg Theakston from his 1991 Lou Fine

Comics Treasury. [Restored art ©2004 Pure Imagination.]

“I Created Blackhawk!” 17

my name on that feature, including Jack Kirby. And I designed the BlueBeetle costume.

JA: Do you recall who wrote the first “Blue Beetle” stories?

CUIDERA: No. I wrote some of the stories, and I think Joe Simon did,too. I’ll probably stand corrected, but there were quite a few writersthere. Bill Woolfolk was one of them; he later wrote “Blackhawk.”There was another top guy, but I can’t think of his name now.

JA: Could it have been Bob Powell?

CUIDERA: No. But Bob Powell and I graduated from Pratt together.Bob was responsible for me leaving Joe Simon and working for QualityComics. He called me up one day and said, “There’s an editor at Qualitywho’ll double what you’re making at Fox’s.” I said, “You got a deal.” Iwent over to see him, and who was running the show for Busy Arnoldbut Will Eisner! I never got double my salary from Eisner. I wanted towhack him, and I was just the sort of a guy who could do it. I camefrom a rough neighborhood and could take care of myself. [laughs] BobPowell and Will Eisner were good friends. When Eisner started workingfor Quality, he brought Bob Powell with him. Powell was the one whocalled me, because Eisner must have liked my work. [NOTE: Eisnerwas actually running the Eisner & Iger studio, not Quality per se. —Jim.]

Bob Powell was an easy-going guy. I didn’t think he was going to bevery successful once we got out of school, but he surprised me. Ithought he was a better writer than an artist, but he did “Mr. Mystic” forEisner. He made a pretty good buck in comics up until he died.

JA: Was the other writer you were thinking of Joe Millard?

In his later years, Cuidera found himself in the eye of two storms of controversy regarding his career. The firstinvolved his oft-repeated statement that he created The Blue Beetle, one of the earliest (and, in various

incarnations, longest-lived) super-heroes, using his first and middle names, “Charles Nicholas”—while othersfeel strongly that was merely the pseudonym of artist Charles Wojtokowski. Comics historian Hames Ware saysthat although, to the best of his knowledge, “Charles Nicholas Wojtokowski is the only artist who consistentlyused that nom de plum over a nearly 30-year period… it is still possible that Chuck Cuidera, in an incredible

coincidental fashion, may have also drawn ‘Blue Beetle’ at Fox and done so under the ‘Charles Nicholas’byline. (Jerry Iger was noted for maintaining shop-created bylines regardless of whether the originating artist

remained on a strip or not. ‘Charles Nicholas’ is a case in point, with several different artists in addition toWojtokowski working with that same shop name stuck up there by Iger on the strip. Al Carreno would be one

example of that happening, I believe.)”

Be that as it may, “Blue Beetle” debuted in Fox’s Mystery Men Comics #1 (Aug. 1939); his earliest coverappearance was on Blue Beetle #1 (Winter 1939-40), seen at left. As is well-known, Jack Kirby briefly drew theshort-lived Blue Beetle newspaper comic strip, as per the above daily for 1-25-40, under the Nicholas byline.Later, in Blue Beetle #28 (March 1944), seen below, someone—certainly neither Cuidera nor Kirby—had clearly

been looking at Simon & Kirby comics! [Blue Beetle TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

18 Chuck Cuidera

[Art

©20

04 A

lex

Toth

.]

“Another Fine Talent Lost”Artist ALEX TOTH on Artist REED CRANDALL

[ED. NOTE: Thanks to Jim Amash for providing a copy of this 1992 mini-essay by Alex Toth. —Roy.]

“How do I love thee? Let me count the planes!” Alex says Reed Crandallwas “too good to ‘cheat out’ ‘Hawks’ to save work” and gave all the

aerial scenes “their full complement of aircraft.” This page from MilitaryComics #14 (Dec. 1942) is most definitely a case in point. Check it out in

color in The Blackhawk Archives, Vol. 1. [©2004 DC Comics.]

36Quality Time-- part four

39

All strips ©2004 by the Harvey Kurtzman Estate.

Other material ©2004 the respective copyright holders.

Introduction!by Michael T. Gilbert

Few cartoonists have been as influentialas Harvey Kurtzman—or as thoroughlyresearched!

Fans have explored his groundbreakingearly-’50s work for such EC titles as Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, WeirdScience, and Tales from the Crypt, andvolumes have been devoted to Kurtzman’smost enduring creation, Mad. Harvey’ssubsequent forays into humor, Trump,Humbug, and Help, have also beenexhaustively examined, as has his “LittleAnnie Fanny” series for Playboy.

To a lesser extent, even Kurtzman’smost minor early work has beendocumented! Comics scholars have notedthat he began his professional career in1943, working on “Magno and Davy,”“Mr. Risk,” “Lash Lightning,” and otherlong-forgotten heroes. Also well-documented are his early humor work onfeatures like “Flatfoot Burns” for Quality, “Hey Look!” for Timely, and“Potshot Pete” for Toby Press.

In 1976, researcher Glenn Bray collected all this data into aremarkably comprehensive 120-page checklist. Still the definitive wordon the subject, Bray’s Illustrated Harvey Kurtzman Index lists everypiece of Kurtzman art known to exist up to that date—even sketches andsuch esoteric items as his rare Silver Linings strip for the New YorkHerald-Tribune. Bray also cataloged every known magazine articlefeaturing or discussing Kurtzman and his work, including rare appear-ances in Esquire and TV Guide. No matter how obscure, everymagazine was listed. Every magazine except one:

Varsity.

Between 1949 until 1951 Kurtzman wrote and drew a series ofsatirical articles and comic strips for the college magazine Varsity. Thefollowing year, he made comic book history with Mad magazine—but itwas in Varsity that Kurtzman honed his unique approach to humor.

Last issue we reprinted Kurtzman’s Varsity comic strips. This issuewe conclude our two-part article on “The Unknown Kurtzman” withHarvey’s equally impressive pin-ups and illustrations for the samemagazine. Together they encompass every known cartoon drawn byKurtzman for Varsity.

We’re delighted to share these exceptionally rare items by a manconsidered by many to be the most important American satirist of the20th century. We’re even more delighted (and surprised!) to discoverhow sophisticated and funny these early strips are. Oddly enough, thisimportant part of Kurtzman’s career was lost for almost sixty years—until a determined Kurtzman fan from Holland named Ger Apeldoornrediscovered it. I’ll let Ger fill you in on Varsity’s history, and how hediscovered these lost cartoons.

Take it away, Ger…

The Unknown Kurtzmanby Ger Apeldoorn

The Hunt Begins!Two years ago, while researching a “Little

Annie Fanny” article, I dug out an old set ofHarvey Kurtzman stats given to me 15 yearsearlier by the editor of the Dutch strip-fanzineStriprofiel. I’d been a Kurtzman fan since theage of 14, when I first discovered the paper-backs reprinting the early years of Mad. Butgetting a collection of Kurtzman material waspretty tough from Holland.

I was lucky enough to buy a complete setof Humbugs from another collector early on,and about fifteen years ago I managed to trackdown a set of Helps. But once I discoveredeBay, my Kurtzman-collecting really took off!

I found two issues of the U.S. Armymagazine Yank my first week—both featuringKurtzman cartoons listed but not shown inGlen Bray’s Illustrated Harvey Kurtzman

Index! I also spotted a TV Guide with Kurtzman’s three-page colorvisit to Perry Como and a 1957 issue of Pageant with a ten-pageKurtzman/Elder space story. I bought the first two for a couple of bucksbut passed on the third and didn’t get a copy until much, much later.Soon, I’d amassed a near-complete collection of Kurtzman’s elegantmagazine work from the ’50s.

Then, while shuffling through my set of stats, I saw something Ihadn’t noticed earlier: a pair of two-page spreads not listed in Bray’sbook. One was a two-page illustration of students on a campus. Thesecond was an article about different types of girls, similar toKurtzman’s Mad work. Both had Varsity written on the back. I immedi-ately went on eBay to check out this title.

The great hunt had begun!

VarsityVarsity, “The Young Man’s

Magazine,” first appeared onthe stands in June 1947,courtesy of The Parents’Institute, a Christian-orientedpublisher. The same folks alsoproduced comic books likeCalling All Girls, Calling AllBoys, and True Comics. True-But-Dull Comics might bea better description!

That first Varsityincluded no editorialstatement, but the titleand contents speak forthemselves. Thistabloid-sized magazine

Varsity, Vol. 1, #1 (June 1947). [Cover art ©2004 therespective copyright holders.]

On previous page: the cover of Varsity, Vol. 2, #5 (March-April 1949).[©2004 the respective copyright holders.] [Continued on p. 44.]

40 Comic Crypt

$5.95In the USA

$5.95In the USA

No.34March2004

PLUS:PLUS:

Plastic Man,Woozy WinksTM & ©2004DC Comics.

QUALITYTIME!

KOTZKY (Father & Son)GRENET • COLE • FINE • EISNER

GUSTAVSON • CRANDALLNICHOLAS • CUIDERA • AMASH

KANE • SCHELLY • SWAYZE& MANY, MANY MORE!!

Amazing Art & Artifacts By:

11994--2004

Alter EgoTM is published monthly by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Roy Thomas, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Alter Ego Editorial Offices: Rt. 3, Box 468, St. Matthews, SC 29135, USA. Fax: (803) 826-6501; e-mail: roydann@ntinet.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Single issues:$8 ($10 Canada, $11.00 elsewhere). Twelve-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $120 Canada, $132 elsewhere. All characters are © theirrespective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM ofRoy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada.

FIRST PRINTING.

™

QUALITYTIME(Side Two)

ContentsWriter/Editorial: Clenched Fists, Clenched Teeth . . . . . . . . . . . . 2“When Anything Happened, I Was Working on a Comic!” . . . 3A 1992 interview with Quality (and Apartment 3-G) artist Alex Kotzky, by Jim Amash.

“I Didn’t Want to Do Apartment 3-G!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16The son also rises! Brian Kotzky on his father’s career—and his own.

The Last Quality Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Al Grenet, Busy Arnold’s final head honcho, talks about his two decades in the field—and the fabulous talents he encountered.

The Alley Tally Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Bill Schelly reminds us it’s the 40th anniversary of one of fandom’s first conclaves! Where does the time go?

FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) #93 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43P.C. Hamerlinck points a finger at Marc Swayze and Big Bang Comics. Well, maybe that’d take two fingers.

Quality Time (Side One) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flip Us!About Our Cover & Above: Our cover art was first seen as the lead splash in Plastic Man #47(July 1954)… and seemed an appropriate lead-in to this side’s interview with Quality’s finaleditor, Al Grenet. The artist(s) can’t be pinned down with certainty, but researcher HamesWare is putting his money on Charles Nicholas (née Charles Wojtokowski), the same guy who,Charles Nicholas Cuidera insists on p. 17 of our flip side, did not create Blue Beetle. See theblack-&-white splash-page version of our cover on p. 30 of the Grenet piece. Still, ain’t it weirdhow A/E has sported two Plas covers—Alex Toth on #25, plus this one—but none yet with theprimary art by creator Jack Cole? The reason: we can’t be sure that any of the art of which wehave b&w copies, not even the one with Needles Noggle above from Police Comics #99 (April 1950), is actually by Cole! It may be by Cole—or Alex Kotzky—or John Spranger—or Klaus Nordling—or maybe even somebody else—and that doesn’t even count possibleinkers! Thanks to Roger Dicken & Wendy Hunt and Michael Feldman for the photocopies.[Plastic Man TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

Vol. 3, No. 34 / March 2004Editor Roy Thomas

Associate EditorsBill SchellyJim Amash

Design & LayoutChristopher Day

Consulting EditorJohn Morrow

FCA EditorP.C. Hamerlinck

Comic Crypt EditorMichael T. Gilbert

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

Production AssistantEric Nolen-Weathington

Cover ArtistsCharles Nicholas (?)Reed Crandall

Cover ColoristTom Ziuko

And Special Thanks to:Ger ApeldoornDick ArnoldBob BaileyMike W. BarrMichael

BaulderstoneJack BenderBill BlackJerry K. BoydLee BoyettSam BurlockoffGary CarlsonRay A. CuthbertTeresa R. DavidsonAl DellingesRoger Dicken &

Wendy HuntJay DisbrowShel DorfChris EckerWill EisnerMichael FeldmanElliot FineGill FoxBill FugateRon Frantz

Carl GaffordJanet GilbertAl & Belle GrenetGeorge HagenauerJennifer HamerlinckPeter HansenRon HarrisMark & Stephanie

HeikeTom HorvitzDave HuntBrian KotzkyAdele KurtzmanMark LewisScotty MooreMichelle NolanLarry RipeeEthan RobertsMarc SwayzeGreg TheakstonDann ThomasMort ToddAlex TothJim VadeboncoeurHames WareJohn Yon

“When AnythingHappened, I Was

Working On A Comic!”

Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash[INTRODUCTION: Alex Kotzky (1923-1996) was a hard-working artist,devoted to his craft, a fact whichonce prompted his wife to say tofellow artist Gill Fox: “He hasn’tleft the attic for 35 years.” Hismajor claim to fame was one of thebetter soap-opera comic strips,Apartment 3-G, which he drewfrom its debut until his death. Ioriginally interviewed Kotzkybecause I wanted to learn moreabout Lou Fine and Jack Cole, aswell as about his own work. On June27, 1992, Kotzky, busy as could be,gave me two hours of his time whichhe didn’t really have... mainly becausehe felt that Lou Fine, in particular,hadn’t been remembered as fullyas he deserved. Alex reallydidn’t want to talk about himselfmuch, but I managed to get himto, in spite of himself. And his owncareer is definitely worth all thecoverage we can give it! Thisinterview was previously printed in the limited-circulationapa-zize CFA-APA (#29, Jan. 1993). It has been re-editedfor Alter Ego by —Jim.]

“I Answered an Ad in the New York Times”

JIM AMASH: Newspaper strips were yourfirst exposure to comics?

ALEX KOTZKY: Yes. I was still in publicschool when the first comic books came

on the stands. I thought it was likesomething from heaven. I was alwaysinterested in comics like Flash Gordonand Milton Caniff. I didn’t necessarilywant to be a comic book artist. But Ihad to make a living when I got out ofhigh school. I was 16, but I had a couple

of art scholarships and I couldn’t evenafford to take them.

JA: So if you could have gotten a job doingillustration, you would have never gotteninto comics?

KOTZKY: Well, I never really penciledbefore I did comics. I went to Music and

Art High School. I think I did my bestwork when I painted, so comics weresomething I had to learn immediately.

My son is an illustrator and he’s doingfairly well. He does paperback covers andis represented by an agent. He’s doing thetype of thing I would have enjoyed doing.He worked very hard to get where he is.

JA: So you gave up painting?

KOTZKY: Yes. Immediately. I never wentback to painting.

JA: How did you start in comics?

KOTZKY: I got out of high school in 1940and couldn’t find a job. I answered an ad inthe New York Times to do penciling for acomic artist. It was Chad Grothkopf at DCComics, and I began penciling for him. It

(Center:) Alex Kotzky’s “Manhunter” in a panel from Police Comics#10 (June 1942)—flanked by photos of the artist. (Top left:) This

1960s Polaroid snapshot, says his son Brian, is “one of thousands ofreference photos taken for Apartment 3-G.” (Right:) Alex holdinghis granddaughter Kim in 1992—the year Jim Amash interviewed

him. Photos courtesy of Brian Kotzky. Kotzky and writer Tex Blaisdellcreated Quality’s “Manhunter”; this art has been retouched, and

grey tones added, for AC Comics’ new 150-page volume Golden-AgeGreats Spotlight, Vol. 2. See ad on p. 8. [Retouched art ©2004

AC Comics; Manhunter TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

“When AnythingHappened, I Was

Working On A Comic!”Golden Age Artist ALEX KOTZKY Talks about Quality,

Apartment 3-G, and All the “Characters” in the Comics World

3Quality Time-- part five

just evolved from there. “Cliff Crosby” was the first comic [book] stripI worked on. We also did “The Destroyer” for Martin Goodman atTimely. I was with Chad a year or so before I began working for WillEisner. He was the standard type of guy you run into in comics. I wasonly 16 at the time. It was much like a junior-to-senior relationship.

JA: Where were you when Pearl Harbor happened?

KOTZKY: I was working on a comic. Most of my life has been spentworking on comics. When anything happened, I was working on acomic!

“[Eisner] Was a Dynamo”JA: How did you get your job with Will Eisner?

KOTZKY: In 1941 a friend of mine, Al Jaffee, who later worked forMad, offered to take my stuff up to Eisner. He wanted to try and sellhim some of his artwork, too. Eisner said, “Okay, he’s hired.” And at thesame time Al got a job for himself. I started out doing backgrounds onThe Spirit.

There were six or seven people working for Eisner. We worked intwos or threes. Right above the East River on 42nd Street. I remembercoming out one evening when we quit work and there was a big light inthe sky towards the Hudson River. And that’s where the Normandiewas burning. [NOTE: The Normandie, a French ocean liner, wasbeing refitted for conversion into a U.S. aircraft carrier when itcaught fire in New York Harbor in February 1942. —Jim.]

Tex Blaisdell was also working on the backgrounds for The Spirit.He had three or four guys working there on the Spirit supplement. BobPowell did “Mr. Mystic” and Nick Viscardi [later Cardy] did “LadyLuck.” Chuck Cuidera was working on “Blackhawk.” He worked in thestudio, too.

Eisner did the penciling and the inking... all the figure work. He wasa whiz at production. He worked fast and he was excellent. And hewrote his own stories. Tex Blaisdell was drafted in early 1942, and sowas Eisner. That’s when I went up to Stamford, Connecticut, with Lou

Fine. I was too young to be drafted.

JA: When Eisner got drafted, you and Fine took over the bulk of thedrawing for The Spirit?

KOTZKY: Yes. I was still doing backgrounds. A couple of months later,I started inking figures. I began doing my own comic stories in theevening, on my own time. Then I started doing covers for differentQuality comics. I did five covers a week, one a day. They wantedsomeone to do covers so they’d have a backlog. I was drafted in 1943.

Eisner still sent in scripts for The Spirit while he was in the service,and did breakdowns for us. Not always... just when he had the time. Hewas a warrant officer in Ordinance in Maryland. He did those Joe Dopeposters. They were very popular. Later he did P.S. magazine [for themilitary]. In fact, I did some illustrations for P.S. I worked for Eisner’scompany on commercial comics from 1949 to about ’52 or ’53.

JA: What was Eisner like to work for?

KOTZKY: He was a dynamo. He didn’t have much time to fool around;he had to get the work done. In order to do that, he couldn’t baby youin any way. If you couldn’t do the work, you were out.

JA: Did you like the supporting characters in The Spirit?

KOTZKY: Yes. All of them. Considering the humorous approach to thecharacters, the strip would work well on television today. You could doit the way Batman was done in the 1960s—with humor.

In regards to Eisner’s current work, I’m surprised that his work nowis very moody, introspective, and not at all the light type of writing hehad done with The Spirit. I imagine that his early environment has takenover and is coming out on the page now, whereas before he repressed it.We both came from the same area. I lived up in the Bronx and he livedup a little higher, northern Bronx, but I didn’t know him then. l under-stand the background he came from. The work I’ve seen him do latelyreminds me of Arthur Miller... if Arthur Miller was doing comic bookpages.

JA: Eisner has said that he’s had trouble relating to the concept of thesuper-hero.

KOTZKY: I can understand that. Being a very intelligent guy, his mindjust went beyond that. He wouldn’t allow himself to stay in that vein.Even when he was doing The Spirit, he was avant-garde. There wasn’tanything like it.

(Left:) Alex Kotzky in uniform during World War II. (Below:) Until he was drafted in1943, Kotzky helped Lou Fine and others keep The Spirit going. While it’s difficult ifnot impossible to be certain, this daily Spirit strip from Jan. 10, 1943, might be one

on which Kotzky did backgrounds, or even inked figures. [©2004 Will Eisner.]

4 Alex Kotzky

“What a Good Artist/Illustrator Lou Fine Was”JA: What was Lou Fine like? I’ve never heard a bad word about him.

KOTZKY: Well, there wasn’t. Consider that Lou Fine was a big name inthe business at that time. He never once treated me as if I was in asubordinate position. I was always an associate with him, and he wasextremely nice. Although I ruined the penciling that he did many times,he never complained. He offered some suggestions, but it was never inthe form of criticism.

You run into guys with temperament in this business, but Lou didn’thave any temperament at all. He didn’t have any ego. He was just LouFine and he was working there the same as the rest of us. He was veryquiet. Lou and his wife Mary led a quiet life and they enjoyed each othervery much.

JA: Did you socialize with himvery often?

KOTZKY: We had a group upthere: Lou Fine, Gill Fox, JackCole, and Zully Szenics (helettered). We used to go outbowling in the evenings—friendlygames, no competition.

Lou was the opposite of JackCole. Cole was a completelyextroverted type of guy. Alwayshad a gag. Lou was certainly intel-ligent. He probably would havedone well in anything heattempted. You know he had a

game leg. He had polio when he was younger and he limped. I think, tosome extent, that made him a little more introverted.

Lou Fine was really a painter and an illustrator. He really didn’tbelong in comics. He was wasting his time. In his later years, before hedied, I think he spent almost all his time doing paintings. Gill Fox and Iwent out to his house when he died to see his wife, and he had all hispaintings on the wall. With a little more effort and training, he couldhave been a successful illustrator. I know he liked the work of SaulTepper very much, an illustrator from the 1930s who was an excellentartist and painter.

JA: Why do you think Fine abandoned that beautiful sweeping brushline, so organic and decorative, and switched styles when he went towork for the advertising agencies?

KOTZKY: It was less work and a better-quality work. At that time,comic books didn’t have the reputation that they have now. They’vemade new inroads in fine art. I guess it was the later influence of the

(Above left:) Lou Fine’s son Elliot sent us this photo of Lou sitting in hisstudio, and we printed it in our Fine issue, A/E #17—but none of us knew theidentity of the guy pretending to hit Fine with a hammer. We now know: ‘tis

none other than Alex Kotzky, clowning around! (Above:) “Black Condor”splash page from Hit Comics #6 (Nov. 1940), drawn by Fine under his

“Kenneth Lewis” pseudonym. This story, with restored art, was reprinted inGreg Theakston’s Lou Fine Comics Treasury. [Retouched art ©2004 Pure

Imagination; Black Condor TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

(Left:) A spectacularly spooky “Ray” page by Fine from Quality’s Crack Comics#20 (March 1941), repro’d from Alan Light’s 1970s Special Edition Series #2.

[The Ray TM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

“When Anything Happened, I Was Working On A Comic!” 5

[INTRODUCTION:Brian Kotzky is morethan the son of a greatcomic artist. An artistin his own right,Brian’s paintingsgraced many apaperback cover overthe years. He alsobecame his father’sassistant onApartment 3-G,taking over the artchores upon AlexKotzky’s death. Nowa teacher, Brian looksback at his father inan honest portrayal ofa man totally dedicated to his craft. —Jim.]

“I Was Seven Years Old When He Got the Strip”JIM AMASH: Tell me about your father’s beginnings.

BRIAN KOTZKY: He was born in the Bronx on September 11, 1923.He was one of four kids. He had an older half-brother Milton, also asister and a brother. His father was a widower when he met my grand-mother. My grandfather died right after my father graduated from theHigh School of Music and Art, so, though I understand he had a chanceto go to college, that changed his plans, as he had to support the familyto a large extent. Then, there was a rupture in the family dynamic, so hewasn’t close to his family. I know he took classes at the Art StudentsLeague, probably on the weekends.

JA: How many children did your parents have?

KOTZKY: Two—me and my brother Bruce. I was born in 1954, Brucein ’58. Bruce lives out in Las Vegas. He did inherit some artistic talent,and while in college it appeared he was going into a career in theatre setdesign. But he changed his mind and now does retail work.

JA: Your firstmemories of yourfather’s work wouldbe Apartment 3-G,wouldn’t it?

KOTZKY: Yes. I wasabout seven years oldwhen he got the strip. Ihave very vaguememories of himworking in an upstairsstudio before then. Welived in a couple ofdifferent houses, andhe converted anupstairs bedroom intoa home studio. In thelate ’50s—before 3-

G—I remember he did other kinds of work, like comic strip advertise-ments such as Duke Handy.

I was proud of the fact that my father was doing something that hewas good at. I was interested in art, so I could identify with what he did.He wasn’t like other kids’ fathers: they left home to go to work,and myfather didn’t. That made me feel a little self-conscious. He was anextreme example of a workaholic. That’s not a healthy thing. Working athome allowed him to develop a lifestyle where all he did was eat, sleep,and work. He had no hobbies. He allowed the comic strip to fill up allhis available time. He was always upstairs working on Apartment 3-G.In terms of being a parent and doing things with the family—like father-and-son activities—there was virtually none of that. I can remembermaybe one or two occasions when he took time out and we threw theball around.

I do believe that, when I was two to five years old, he was able to bemore of a family man. We have home movies of family outings from thattime period. But later he worked all the time. We’d call him down forsupper, which was the one time of the day when the four of us weretogether. Other than that, he was home around the clock, but he wasupstairs.

“I Didn’t Want to Do Apartment 3-G!”Interview with BRIAN KOTZKY, son of Alex Kotzky

Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash

16Quality Time-- part five-a

(Left:) Alex Kotzky and young son Brian at the drawingboard, 1958. (Below:) Margo and Tommy—two of the

three “G’s” in Apartment 3-G—in strips drawn by AlexKotzky, probably with the assistance of son Brian, forOct. 31 and Nov. 1, 1989. (Right:) Brian with daughter

Kim, 2001. Unless noted, all art and photosaccompanying this interview were supplied by Brian

Kotzky. [Art ©2004 North America Syndicate, Inc.]

“He Was a Real Perfectionist”JA: When I interviewed your father, he said he worked all the timebecause he was a very slow artist. Do you think he was that slow?

KOTZKY: If you mean that he was slower than other cartoonists... well,I don’t know if he was slow in that way. What was so time-consuming isthat he spent a huge amount of his work week preparing to do thefinished art. He had enormous reference files he collected frommagazines and newspapers, and spent a lot of time looking over thatmaterial before he started to draw. He was a real perfectionist. If he wasdissatisfied with the results, he’d keep erasing and reworking the pencilsuntil he got it right. That will make you slower. His studio was filledwith filing cabinets full of reference material, which I inherited when Itook over 3-G. There was just enough space for his drafting table and asecond drafting table, where I worked.

I tried to duplicate his working methods at first, but it was extremelyfrustrating. For instance, let’s say I had to draw an ambulance. I’d find afolder that was labeled “vehicles,” which was the size of a couple ofphone books. I’d have to flip through hundreds of pictures to find whatI needed. Maybe I’d get lucky and find one in ten minutes, but it couldtake 45 minutes to find a shot of an ambulance. If you wanted to drawthat vehicle from a particular point of view, but don’t have the necessaryreference, what do you do? Keep looking, hoping you’ll find the shotyou need? Or use the information from the shot you have and invent thedetail needed to make it look the way you envisioned it? You have tocome up with a strategy.

JA: Since he didn’t have spare time for hobbies, I take it that hewasn’t much of a reader.

KOTZKY: The only time I remember him taking time to read anythingwas in 1978, when his kidneys failed and he was hospitalized for severalmonths. Other than that, he would read the newspaper and Timemagazine each week, and that was it.

But he watched TV or listened to the radio around the clock. Hedidn’t start working until late morning or early afternoon. For most ofthe time while I was growing up, he worked until around 3 a.m., andthen went to sleep. He’d listen to the radio for a few hours, mostly toclassic songs from the ’40s and ’50s and scores from Broadway plays. Heloved to listen to Frank Sinatra. By late afternoon, he’d turn on thetelevision to catch the news and segue into theevening sitcoms or dramatic shows. If there was agood movie on, he’d make a point of watching it.

I’d come over a few nights a week and work fora few hours in mid-evening, like 8 to 10 o’clock.Sometimes, he’d tell me about a movie he saw... butthat movie wouldn’t come on until one a.m.sometimes. [laughter] If he mentioned it, it wasusually because he was observing the camera anglesor the visuals, like in an old John Ford western. Hemade a point of watching baseball games on TV.Most of the time he was concentrating on what hewas drawing, but if something caught his attention,he’d look up and watch a little, then go back towork.

My dad did get out of the house once a week,because he was a religious man. He’d walk to churchand attend on Sunday mornings.

JA: But people would come over to see him. GillFox told me he used to do that on occasion.

KOTZKY: Gill lived several hours away, and they’dtalk on the phone from time to time. Maybe Gill saw

more of Dad in the early years? I’ve talked to cartoonists who knew himin the ’40s and ’50s. In the 1950s he was a freelance advertising artist andcartoonist. He was out getting jobs and spent a lot of time in Manhattandealing with art directors. So he was out of the house and led an activelife until he started doing Apartment 3-G, which dramatically changedthe pattern of his life. The guys who remember seeing my father in theflesh are those who knew him before 3-G.

JA: Sam Burlockoff said he loved listening to radio talk shows.

KOTZKY: Yes. There used to be a mid-day show on New York Cityradio with a very opinionated guy named Jack O’Brien, who had a lot ofcelebrity guests.

JA: Was your father interested in politics?

KOTZKY: He wasn’t politically active, but had conservative politicalopinions. With me being a teenager in the 1960s, there was the classicgeneration gap between the parent and the rebellious kid of the ’60s.Frankly, he was exaggerating the degree to which I was rebelling. Myhair was a little long, but that was about the extent of it.

I think he felt threatened by the change in society that the 1960sbrought. I think he felt he was part of President Nixon’s “silentmajority.” He did not vote that I remember, largely because, in NewYork, the jury duty notices were taken from the voter registration lists.He couldn’t chance being called for jury duty.

My father never drove. He depended on my mother to do that. Thatcontributed to his reclusiveness. When he did get out, he’d immediatelygo to his studio when he returned home.

“He Had No Time”JA: Did he employ any assistants before his kidney problems in 1978?

KOTZKY: Yes. Ben Oda was his letterer from the beginning. He wasJapanese; a very gracious guy. He’d stop by once a week to pick up thestrips and scripts, and return a few days later. I think it may have beenan Asian custom, but at Christmas time he gave both my brother and mepresents. He was the letterer for a number of cartoonists, so he musthave had quite a budget for buying presents for all the kids of the guyshe was working for!

After Alex Kotzky’s death in 1996, Brian Kotzky drew Apartment 3-G for three years. These dailies are from Oct. 28-29, 1998. On the syndicate proofs, the typeset credit is “By Brian Kotzky and Lisa

Trusiani.” [©2004 North America Syndicate, Inc.]

“I Didn’t Want to Do Apartment 3-G !” 17

[INTRODUCTION: Over the years ofQuality Comics’ existence from 1939-1956,publisher Everett “Busy” Arnold hired variouspeople to edit his company’s books, beginningwith cartoonist Johnny Devlin, and including EdCronin, Gill Fox, George Brenner, Harry Stein,and John Beardsley, among others. The lasteditor hired by Arnold was Al Grenet, who guided the books throughuntil the end. Grenet oversaw the new trends that Quality followedamid the stormy seas of the 1950s, as Dr. Fredric Wertham’s attack oncomics helped exact a final toll. But Grenet’s career is about more thanjust Quality Comics, though that is our primary focus here. In fact, heplayed an interesting part in Quality’s early days—and even in itsnigh-posthumous life—though I won’t spoil the surprises for you inadvance. I’ll let Al tell you about them. And about himself. —Jim.]

“I Got It Down to a System”JIM AMASH: Here’s a tough question for you: where and when wereyou born?

AL GRENET: Budapest, Hungary, February 28, 1915. If I’d been born aday later, I’d be four years younger for every year I’ve aged. I came toAmerica in 1920. My family were refugees because of the First WorldWar. We settled down in New York, where I lived until 1978. Then Imoved to Florida.

I started out at seventeen as an errand boy in a drugstore. I gotpromoted to cashier and was in charge of the errand boys. I saw an ad inthe newspaper—Walt Disney was looking for artists. I went up and took

the test, but they didn’t like what I did, so I didother jobs until 1938, when I saw another ad inthe paper for an artist. It was Eisner & Iger. Theygave me a week’s trial and I stayed there for fiveyears, until I went into the Army.

JA: Who hired you? Eisner or Iger?

GRENET: It was both of them. It was very informal. I showed themsome artwork and they started me off as an apprentice at the large sumof $5 a week. I erased pages and whited out mistakes for the first year Iworked there. Then they saw I had some talent, and I started letteringfor them.

I also did backgrounds. Eisner & Iger had a system. An artist wasgiven a script and he drew the whole thing. Later on, I got to be theshop manager for Iger when he and Eisner split up. We had a room fullof artists, who generally did the pencils and inks on their individualassignments.

I changed that. I broke things down to where an artist penciled thestory and then we checked it over. After that, I lettered the story and putin the backgrounds before handing it to an inker to finish. I got so fast atlettering that I was doing 16 to 20 pages a day, without guidelines. I gotit down to a system. It was like handwriting to me.

JA: That’s impressive. What was it like to work for Eisner & Iger?

GRENET: It was very rough. Jerry Iger was a little fellow who didn’tdo much in the way of artwork, but was a very strict boss. This was inthe days of the Depression when we worried about our jobs. He’d comein Monday about 10:00, look around and see that some of the guys were

The Last Quality EditorAL GRENET Talks about His Two Decades in the Comics Field—and Beyond!

Interview Conducted & Transcribed by Jim Amash

21Quality Time-- part six

Al and Belle Grenet in a 1998 photo, flankedby a pair of Quality covers—one (at left)

which Al edited, and one he also penciled andinked (at right). Plastic Man #43 (Nov. 1953)reflected the growing horror trend, and mayor not be by the same artist(s) who drew the

#47 splash used as this issue’s Plas cover.Marmaduke Mouse was a late Quality hit,

running 65 issues between 1946-56; issue #53was from 1955. Photo & Marmaduke colorproof courtesy of Al Grenet; thanks to Bob

Bailey for the scan of the Plas cover. [PlasticMan TM & ©2004 DC Comics; Marmaduke art

©2004 the respective copyright holders.]

talking and some wereworking. Iger spoke with alisp. He’d say [imitatingIger], “Jesus Christ! This isMonday, tomorrow’sTuesday, and Wednesday’scoming. Half the week’sshot to hell and nothing’sdone!” That’s the way heused to talk. People used tomake fun of him. He wastyrannical in that sense.

When he put me incharge, he gave me the dirtywork of firing people. He’dhire them on Monday andfire them on Friday. I feltvery badly about doing that.I remember one womanwho really needed the job.We hired her on Monday.Iger told me to fire her onFriday. What he used to dowas hire people when he got a load of work in, and then fire them onceit was done. There was no security with him. It wasn’t a happy time inmy life.

JA: That was after Eisner and Iger split up in 1939-40, of course. Butearlier, what was Eisner doing while Iger was watching people?

GRENET: He was a very good artist and did a lot of the work himself.He rarely bossed anyone around. He was a little bit egotistical. He wasmuch younger than me and used big words all the time.

“There Were a Few Guys Who Wanted to Beat [Iger] Up”JA: Was Lou Fine there?

GRENET: The fellow with the limp? Oh, yes. He was an excellent artistand a good-natured person. He sat there and quietly did his work. MortLeav was there, too. Somebody’d open the window and he’d say, “Ismell fresh air. Close the window.” [laughs]

JA: Did the workers socialize after hours?

GRENET: A few of them did, but I don’t remember who. I rememberone time when Iger invited all of us to his house—Aldo Rubano, me,and some others. Iger had a servant working for him named Rufus, whoalso worked in the office. Iger figured he wasn’t home during the day, soRufus went to the office with him.

We sat down for dinner and Rufus served us the soup. Iger asked

Rufus,“Where’s the crackers?”Rufus said there weren’tany more, and Iger said,“What do you mean therearen’t any more? You ateall the crackers?” We wereembarrassed because Igerwas yelling at poor Rufus,but Iger used to yell ateverybody. He was luckythat he never got beaten up,because there were a fewguys who wanted to beathim up. I remember oneguy threatened to beat himup, and Iger was such alittle guy, he was shaking inhis pants.

JA: When you startedlettering for Eisner & Iger, how much were you paid?

GRENET: I was on salary and I think I got $24 a week. I also didoutside lettering for Harry Chesler; he paid $2 a page. I also lettered allthe cover titles for Eisner & Iger. I created the logos, like forBlackhawk, Smash, Crack, Doll Man, Plastic Man, and the rest. Andlater, all the logos for the romance comics and other comics we did whileI was at Quality. I also colored the covers for Quality after World WarII. When Eisner split from Iger, Busy Arnold took control of the comics.Eisner was no longer packaging complete stories for him, because he wastoo busy doing the Spirit section.

JA: Was “Doll Man” an Eisner creation?

GRENET: Yes.

JA: I’d like to ask you about some of the people at Eisner & Iger. Doyou remember Alex Blum?

GRENET: Yes. He was in his forties and we were all in our twenties, sowe looked at him like he was an aged man. He was a fairly good artistbut didn’t mix with the rest of us.

JA: Was Raphael Astarita there?

GRENET: Yes. We used to call him the “Esther-eater.” [laughs] I don’tremember that much about him, though he worked at Iger’s, too. Lateron, I was working for Arnold when Astarita came in looking for work. Iknew his work, of course, and told Arnold, “This fellow wants a job.”Arnold wanted to see samples of his work, so I asked Astarita if he had

Eisner & Iger—together again for the firsttime! Will Eisner (on left) and Jerry Iger(on right) two or three decades back—

flanking the sequence from Eisner’s 1986graphic roman à clef titled The Dreamer in

which his and Iger’s transparentdoppelgängers form their late-’30s

partnership. Photos courtesy of Will Eisnerand Jay Disbrow. [Graphic novel art ©2004

Will Eisner.]

22 Al Grenet

brought anything with him.

He said, “No, I got rid of all that stuff that I did for Iger.” So I askedhim to do a splash page so I’d have something to show Arnold, and hesaid, “What do you mean? I got to do a sample?” I explained thatArnold didn’t know him and had to see an example of his work. He gotmad and left. He felt he was a good artist and didn’t have to do that. Iknew he was a good artist, but I had to show his work to the boss. Ishould have hired him anyway.

JA: Getting back to Eisner & Iger, were Jack Kirby and Al Bryantthere?

GRENET: Kirby had already left, but Al Bryant worked there. Yearslater, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was at Pilgrim’s StateHospital on Long Island. He had a lot of problems with his wife andwas a little eccentric. One day, he invited Aldo and me over to his house.We came over, and Bryant was hiding behind the curtains... we saw him.We knocked on the door, but he never answered, so I knew somethingwas up.

One day, Bryant escaped from the hospital and came over toArnold’s. He was all messed-up and dirty-looking. He must have hitch-hiked over. Arnold gave him $20. Bryant asked for a job, so Arnold gavehim a corner to work in, but Bryant started drawing things that made nosense. I said to Arnold, “Maybe he escaped? Maybe he wasn’t released?”Arnold called the police, and sure enough, that’s what had happened.The police were there in five minutes and took him away. We never sawhim again.

Bob Powell was at Eisner & Iger, too. He was an okay fellow.

Artie Saaf was at Iger’s, and he was a pain. He thought certain thingswere funny, and since I was the “straw boss,” he didn’t like me. I wentout one day and he put thumbtacks in my seat. I sat on those tacks andit hurt. Saaf thought it was funny, so I figured he was the one who did it.I went over to him and put a choke lock on him; I was going to kill him.I was very angry and he never did it again.

JA: Were you the only letterer at Iger’s?

GRENET: No. There was another man there named Milton Cohen.

“[Eisner and Iger] Were Never on Friendly Terms”JA: Do you remember Charles Sultan?

GRENET: Charlie? Oh, yeah. He was a good fellow and a good artist.He was a freelance artist; he didn’t work in the shop. He was one ofmy friends. He didn’t talk that much. George Tuska was also a niceguy. Charles Wojtokowski worked in the studio, too. He drew “TheBlue Beetle.”

JA: Right. Do you happen to know who created “The BlueBeetle”?

GRENET: I thought he [Wojtokowski] did.

JA: I always thought so, too. He worked under the name “CharlesNicholas.” But Chuck Cuidera told me that he created The BlueBeetle and that he used his first two names, “Charles Nicholas,”for a pen name. Cuidera said that Wojtokowski kept that penname when he started drawing “Blue Beetle.”

GRENET: I don’t think Chuck Cuidera did “The Blue Beetle.” At least,not while I was there. I remember Chuck was mainly an inker; that’s allhe did for me later on.

JA: Cuidera did do the complete art on the early “Blackhawk”stories, so he could pencil.

GRENET: Maybe so. I wasn’t there when “Blackhawk” was created. Ialways thought Charles Wojtokowski created “The Blue Beetle.” Youknow, there were a lot of people working at those shops, and it’s hard toremember them all. I didn’t socialize with too many of them, so I didn’tget to know them personally.

JA: Did Cuidera create “Blackhawk”?

GRENET: He may have helped create “Blackhawk.” I can’t say for sure.Chuck was a nice guy, but he liked to enlarge his repertoire. He mayhave drawn the early stories, and Eisner could have created“Blackhawk.”

JA: Do you know who created “The Ray” and “The Black Condor”?

GRENET: I don’t remember “The Ray,” but “Black Condor” wascreated by Eisner.

JA: Do you remember any of the writers at the Eisner-Iger shop?

GRENET: Not really. I know Harry Stein was there. Writers weren’tprominent in those days.

JA: You were there when Eisner and Iger split up. Did they part onfriendly terms?

GRENET: They were never on friendly terms. Iger had all these sayingsand he’d insult Eisner with them. Like, “You’re as popular as a hat-

The Last Quality Editor 23

It’s always hard to reconcile the sad end Al Bryant came to with the manygreat covers he drew showcasing Doll Man (among others). This art from the

cover of Feature Comics #100 (July 1946), as restored by Bill Black and his AC Comics cohorts, appears in AC’s new collection of Quality masterworks,Golden-Age Greats Spotlight, Vol. 2. See their special ad on our flip side.

[Doll Man TM & ©2004 DC Comics; restored art ©2004 AC Comics.]

by Bill SchellyA Time for Celebration

Is it really possible?

Can it be that forty years has passed since the Alley Tally Party washeld at Jerry Bails’ house in Detroit?

Can it truly be four full decades since the seeds of the first comiconwere planted?

The answer, O my fellow old farts, is YES! And, though it may bringintimations of our own mortality to cast our minds back to that first dayof spring 1964 when the first sizable gathering of comics fans gottogether, it’s an opportunity to celebrate a true milestone in our historyas a separate and distinct fandom—a fandom where no one needapologize for loving comic books. And that’s something worthcelebrating with every fiber in our fannish beings!

What’s an Alley Tally Party?With its very name, the Alley Tally’s purpose is proclaimed: a

gathering for the purpose of counting the ballots cast in the 1963 AlleyAwards, the original “Oscars” forcomics fandom—or “comicdom,”as it was sometimes grandioselycalled in that era. They had origi-nated from a suggestion by futurecomics pro Roy Thomas in a letterwritten to Alter Ego’s foundingeditor/publisher, Jerry Bails, onOctober 25, 1961: “Your self-appointed #1 idea man was justthinking that Alter-Ego [stillhyphenated at this stage] … shouldadd a new feature: The Alter-EgoAward.” Roy’s suggested name forthe award was the “Alley”… whichreferred as much to the first twoletters of the fanzine’s name as itdid to Alley Oop, the comic strip

hero who (Roy reasoned), being a caveman, could arguably be called the“first super-hero.” The Academy of Comic Book Fans and Collectorswas formed to nominate the candidates and to supervise the voting ofwhat were never referred to as anything other than the Alley Awards...or the “Alleys.”

The first Alley Awards were given out for comics published in 1961,and Roy easily counted the votes solo because of a fairly small numberof ballots. But by 1963 fandom had grown, as had the number ofcategories on the ballot, making the tallying a job of not-insignificantproportions. Estimates are that there were about 250 ballots in that thirdyear of the awards... and twenty categories.

Even this early, Marvel Comics had made substantial in-roads intowhat during 1961-62 had been virtually a DC preserve. Stan Lee won“Best Writer” and “Best Editor,” and Amazing Spider-Man was voted“Best Comic Book,” with Fantastic Four right behind. In fact, Marvelwon ten of the fifteen pro categories. (See full list of pro comics winnersat end of article.)

It was Maggie Thompson, noweditor-in-chief of The ComicsBuyer’s Guide, who dubbed thegathering the “Alley Tally,” aname that ever since has beenassociated with one of the mostimportant events in the history offandom.

Still, I’ve always believed thatJerry’s clarion call for help wasreally just the ready excuse togather together the firstsubstantial group of comic bookfans from a multi-state area. Fansin population centers likeChicago and New York City hadprobably assembled before,

It’s the 40th Anniversary of the

Alley TallyParty!

On March 21 & 22, 1964, Exactly Four Months after theAssassination of JFK, Nearly a Score of Comics Fans

Gathered for the First “Pre-Comicon”!JOIN US FOR A PHOTOGRAPHIC REMEMBRANCE OF

THAT SEMINAL EVENT—WITH SOME RARE ANDNEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED IMAGES!

In this issue we’ve tried to avoid printing most Alley Tally photos which canbe seen in Bill’s still-available book The Golden Age of Comic Fandom. Oneoft-published photo from the 1964 event shows eight of the participantsaround a lamppost in front of Jerry Bails’ home, with Jerry crouching tosquint at fan Alex Almaraz, who’s pointing at the camera. Well, here’s a

different, never-before-published photo—of nine fans—gathered around saidlamppost. [Standing, l. to r.:] Don Glut, Jim Rossow, Bob Butts, Dick

Anderson, Mike Tuohey, Grass Green. [Crouching, l. to r.]: Jerry Bails, AlexAlmaraz, Ronn Foss. Chuck Moss, who appeared in the other photo, was

probably taking this one.

When Ronn Foss and Grass Green picked up the South Bend Crew to drive themto Detroit, Keith Greene snapped this previously-unpublished photo of (l. to r.)

Bob Butts, Jim Rossow, and Ronn outside Jim’s house.

38 Comic Fandom Archive

No. 93March 2004

starring: CARLSON • LEWISFUGATE • ROSSBEATTYMOLDOFFSWANANDERSONBENDERVAN BRIESENACERNO

Marc Swayze’sPlus:

“We Didn’t Know...It Was the Golden Age!”

Thunder Girl vs. Mr. Atom.Art ©2004 Bill Fugate (penciler) &P.C. Hamerlinck (inker); ThunderGirl TM & ©2004 Gary Carlson & Chris Ecker; Mr. Atom TM & ©2004 DC Comics.

CAPTAIN GARY’S

[FCA EDITORS NOTE: From 1941-53, Marcus D. Swayze was atop artist for Fawcett Comics. The very first Mary Marvel charactersketches came from Marc’s drawing table, he illustrated her earliestadventures, and he wrote and drew her classic origin story, “CaptainMarvel Introduces Mary Marvel (CMA #18, Dec. ’42); but he wasprimarily hired by Fawcett to illustrate Captain Marvel stories andcovers for Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. He alsowrote many Captain Marvel scripts, and continued to do so while inthe military. After leaving the service, he made an arrangement withFawcett to produce art and stories for them on a freelance basis out ofhis Louisiana home. There he created both art and story for ThePhantom Eagle in Wow Comics, in addition to drawingthe Flyin’ Jenny newspaper strip for BellSyndicate (created by his friend and mentorRussell Keaton). After the cancellation ofWow, Swayze produced artwork forFawcett’s top-selling line of romance comics.After the company ceased publishing comics,Marc moved over to CharltonPublications, where heended his comics career inthe mid-1950s. Marc’songoing professionalmemoirs have been FCA’smost popular feature since his firstcolumn appeared in FCA #54, 1996.Last issue, Marc looked back to when hewas first assigned a Phantom Eagle story.This time, he examines the daring youngaviator’s use of his fists.

—P.C. Hamerlinck.]

The writers obviously were notexpected to provide much aid to theartist when it came to thoseGolden Age fight scenes. A paneldescription in the story scriptwas not likely to say, “The hero,countering neatly with his left,delivers a professionally maneu-vered right cross to the head of hisopponent, the foremost knuckle onhis right hand on a direct line withhis straight wrist and high elbow, formaximum power….”

Nothing like that. More like: “Continue fight.”

It was up to the artist. Woe to those who knew little or nil about theart of self-defense… or offense. Woe, also, to the “hero.”

I wasn’t on the Phantom Eagle long before it becameobvious that this comic book character differed distinctlyfrom most of those with which I had become accustomed.The kid had no magic super-power. Captain Marvel was asuper super-hero; he could fly, lift autos and trains, anddo just about anything imaginable. And there wereothers… Prince Ibis, for example, who had his magic“Ibistick.” But our boy had to bring most of his adven-tures to a close by his only available means … his fists!

Okay, for an issue or two… but as a permanent regularassignment? It conjured up visions of the rubber stampcomplex… scene after similar scene of the hero flailingaway wildly. It was not a pleasant thought… not for thePhantom Eagle nor for me. If fight he must, then he

should go about it properly… skillfully… blow by blow… as though heknew how to fight!

It took me back…way back, to when I was a kid… in the alleybehind our house… in a fight.

I had nothing against Ferguson. I hardly knew him. I don’t knowwhy we were fighting and probably didn’t know then. A couple of olderboys had brought him from up the street where he lived to our block,

presumably, from the way they were cheering for him, to beat me up.

So there we were, slugging it out… for their enter-tainment.

Between blows, some issued, some taken, I glimpsed aface… at the top of our high board back fence. Someone

was quietly watching from the yard. My brother!

I have never known why… but I began to cry. Mypals, O.H. and T-Bone, insisted I was ahead, but it

was too late… the fight was over. And I didn’teven have a bloody nose. Ferguson had abloody nose. But I was crying.

My brother, the world’s greatest guy…except for Papa… was mad. Not at the otherkids… mad at me! And disgusted! Kept

calling me a snotty-nosed crybaby all the way tothe house.

On payday, though, he brought home a set ofboxing gloves, a punching bag, and some books on self-

defense… and boxing. I heard him saying to Mama,“He may grow up to have cauliflower ears, but

he’s not going to grow up to be a sissy!”

That opened up a new worldfor me… and the neighborhoodkids fell right in with it. Woodensix-guns and stick horses were laidaside, perhaps for good, andpugilism moved in… workouts,jogging, sparring. Weight divisions

were determined among us, a ringerected, bouts arranged, and, almost asthough planned to coincide, the moviesbegan a series titled “The Leather

Pushers,” starring actor Reginald Denny. Jack Dempsey, according tothe newsreels, was on his way to the heavyweight championship of theworld, and before long you could hear the big fights on the radio… ifyou knew anybody who had one.

It was good. Good for the kids, good for the adults they were tobecome. In the first place, when word got around the schoolyard that

[Art & logo ©2004 Marc Swayze; Captain Marvel © & TM 2004 DC Comics]

By

This 1940s pencil drawing by Marc Swayze was published for the firsttime in P.C. Hamerlinck’s Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA—still

available from TwoMorrows. [Art ©2004 Marc Swayze; Phantom EagleTM & ©2004 DC Comics.]

44 Marc Swayze

Part I: GARY CARLSONOver a decade ago, Gary

Carlson’s long-time collaboratorChris Ecker showed up one daybemoaning his frustration at failingto find any comic book pencilingwork, and always being told bypublishers and editors that you“draw like an old guy.” His simplesolution: to draw some old-timecomics! The duo had workedtogether on Carlson’s Megatoncomic during the 1980s, in which anolder generation of heroes were tobe replaced by Megaton and hisfriends. Ten years later, Carlson andEcker decided to tell some of theback stories of those oldercharacters, and a whole mythology–to be published under the banner ofBig Bang Comics—seemingly beganto write itself.

Many people perceive Big Bangas merely a retro comic or parodybook, but a closer look revealssomething more unique. Heartfelttributes are paid to the sourcematerial, rather than satirization orinjecting an “isn’t this stupid?”attitude into the stories.

Also, BB does not retell or donew versions of classic old stories.“We try to write and draw ‘new oldcomics,’ in the styles of the creatorswho created the original, classiciconic characters,” says chief BigBang writer and editor GaryCarlson. “For someone who hasread all the old stories of theirfavorite character, it‘s like finding anissue that they’ve never read before.”

Carlson has even used veteranartists for BB covers wheneverpossible. Shelly Moldoff and MartyNodell each drew a cover, and CurtSwan and Murphy Anderson teamedup for another (signing it“Swanderson”). At one time KurtSchaffenberger—and more recentlyNick Cardy—were set to do covers,but had to withdraw for healthreasons. Even modern masters suchas Alex Ross, Rich Buckler, andTerry Beatty have rendered BigBang covers.

Alan Moore describes Big BangComics as “a loving pastiche ofeverything good about comics.”Indeed, Big Bang brings home thelove for old comic books, neatlywrapped with new characters withGolden and Silver Ages all their

Captain Gary’sBig Bang

An Homage to Ages Golden and Silverby P.C. Hamerlinck

Just for a zane, we’ve stuck the title of this article on this cover art for the Big Bang Comics 2003 Summer Special #1,with art by Mark Lewis and veteran artist Karl Kesel. Kinda reminds one of an old early-1940s All-Star Comics cover

by E.E. Hibbard, nicht wahr? [©2004 Gary Carlson & Chris Ecker.]

Captain Gary’s Big Bang 47

Carlson and Ecker have managed to get some stellar guest-star artists to illustrate material. (Clockwise:) current super-star Alex Ross’ version of Thunder Girl forthe front cover of Big Bang Comics #0, 1995... Golden Age great Shelly Moldoff’s back cover for that same mag... #4’s cover by Terry Beatty... and a house ad

featuring the cover to Big Bang #6 by Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson. [©2004 Gary Carlson & Chris Ecker.]

48 “An Homage to Ages Golden and Silver”