Roy Thomas’’Batty Com ics Fan zine The MARK OF (BOB) KANE! THE SECRET SAGA OF LLEEWW SSAAYYRREE SSCCHHWWAARRTTZZ $$5..955 BATMAN ARTIST 1946-1953! IInn tthhee USSA No. 51 August 2005 --PLUS-- The Golden & Silver Ages of . s c i m o AUSTRALIAN C C D 5 0 SUPER-HEROES! 0 EXTRA: 2 © & M DAVE BERG T n i b o R & n a m t a B ; z t r a PLUS:: w h c S e r y a S w e L 5 0 0 2 © t r A Vol. 3, No. 51 / August 2005 ™ Editor Roy ThomaS Associate Editors Bill Schelly Jim AmaSh Design & Layout ChRiStopheR Day Consulting Editor John MoRRow FCA Editor P.C. HameRlinck Comic Crypt Editor Michael T. GilbeRt Editors Emeritus Contents JeRRy BailS (foundeR) Ronn FoSS, Biljo White, Writer/Editorial: The Mark of (Bob) Kane . 2 Mike FRiedRich Batman, Dr. Strangelove , And Everything In Between . 3 Production Assistant Lew SayRe SchwaRtz tellS Jon B. Cooke (and uS) about hiS multi-media caReeR. ERic Nolen-Weathington Shooting Stars . 31 Cover Artist The life and death of the oRiginal AuStRalian comicS induStRy, by Michael BauldeRStone. Lew SayRe SchwaRtz Cover Colorist “He Left This Planet Too Soon To Go To Artists’ Heaven!” . 53 Tom Ziuko Dave BeRg talkS to Jim AmaSh about hiS dayS at Fawcett, Timely, Quality, and Mad . And Special Thanks to: Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt: Remembering Will (Part Two) . 61 Michael T. GilbeRt haS moRe to Say about the late gReat Will EiSneR. ARthuR AdleR JennifeR Heidi AmaSh HameRlinck Manuel Auad Bob HugheS “The Stuff Of Our Personal Nightmares” . 67 MaSteR aRtiSt Alex Toth’S fuRtheR woRd on night, ShadowS, and mood in comicS. Michael LaRRy Ivie BauldeRStone PeteR JoneS AlbeRto Becattini JeffRey KippeR Ed Furness: “A Witty, Multi-Talented Man” . 69 A bRief tRibute by RobeRt Pincombe to a top aRtiSt of Canada’S Golden Age of ComicS. John Bell HenRy J. Kujawa Dominic Bongo Jon JenSen A Talk With Writer, Educator, And Comics Fanatic Glen Johnson . .71 Roy BottoRff, JR. Glen JohnSon Bill Schelly goeS one-on-one with an All-StaR fRom the Golden Age of Comic Fandom. JeRRy K. Boyd Stan Lee GaRy BRown Stephen LipSon re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . 76 Eddie Campbell CaRol Maund Stan Lee & Michael USlan on that fabled 1961 golf game—and that’S juSt foR StaRteRS! ARthuR BRian K. MoRRiS CheRtowSky Kevin PatRick Bob CheRRy RobeRt Pincombe FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America ) #110 . 83 P.C. HameRlinck pReSentS Jim Engel, MaRc Swayze, Otto BindeR, & C.C. Beck. GRaeme Cliffe DoRothy Jon B. Cooke SchaffenbeRgeR On Our Cover: “Mea culpa!” Yeah, that’s Latin for “I’m guilty!”—and that’s what Ye Editor HowaRd LeRoy Lew SayRe confesses re this issue’s cover. You may have noticed that, both in TwoMorrows titles and in other DaviS SchwaRtz comics-related mags, A/E #51 was advertised with a cover showing Batman and Robin attacked Dwight DeckeR David Studham in a bat-infested cave by (supposed) Native Americans. The source of that art was the splash of CRaig Delich MaRc Swayze “The Origin of the Bat-Cave!” from Detective ComicS #205 (March 1954), which presumably Joe DeSRiS Dann ThomaS showcased the talents of this issue’s major interviewee, Lew Sayre Schwartz . Only thing is, Al DellingeS Steve Tice while the ish was in the final stages of preparation, Roy was suddenly seized by a fear that, since Jim Engel Alex Toth Lew was superceded as Bob Kane’s personal Batman ghost sometime in 1953 by Sheldon Shane Foley Michael USlan Moldoff, the penciling might actually be Shelly’s, instead—as indeed was the case, he soon learned from art expert Craig Delich. Fortunately, a week or two earlier, Lew had mailed Roy a Ron FRantz DR. Michael J. photocopy of a 1993 re-creation he’d done of the “Gorilla Boss” cover of Batman #75 (Feb.- RichaRd FuRneSS VaSSallo March 1953), so Roy and publisher John Morrow decided to bite the bullet and go to the extra HameS WaRe CaRl GaffoRd trouble (and expense—sob!) of making it our cover, instead. You can read more about both Janet GilbeRt MoRRiS WeiSS projected A/E covers on pp. 8 & 18. [ARt ©2005 Lew SchwaRtz; Batman TM & ©2005 DC ComicS.] Tom Gill Paul Wheelahan Don Glut Bill WoRmStedt Above: A Lew Sayre Schwartz panel from p. 7 of our cover-featured story, “The Gorilla Boss of AndReaS Gotham City!” Thanks to Bob Cherry for the scan. Inking by Charles Paris. [©2005 DC ComicS.] GottSchlich Alter Ego TM iS publiShed monthly 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: This issue is dedicated to the memory of $8 ($10 Canada, $11.00 elSewheRe). Twelve-iSSue SubScRiptionS: $60 US, $120 Canada, $132 elSewheRe. All chaRacteRS aRe ©theiR ReSpective companieS. All mateRial ©theiR cReatoRS unleSS otheRwiSe noted. All editoRial matteR ©Roy ThomaS. AlteR Ego iS a TM of Roy Ed Furness & Dann ThomaS. FCA iS a TM of P.C. HameRlinck. PRinted in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. 2 writer /editorial The Mark Of (Bob) Kane hiS iSSue undeRScoReS, about aS cleaRly aS anything could, the big dRaw foR today’S comic fanS oR even to the noStalgically- oR TT ofttimeS fRuStRation of putting out a magazine devoted to the hiStoRically-inclined, becauSe, afteR all, in aRtiStic StatuRe he iSn’t Golden and SilveR AgeS when one iS deteRmined not to SlaviShly geneRally conSideRed to be in the Same league with Will EiSneR and John pandeR month afteR month to fanS of the Same tiny “A-liSt” of BuScema and Jack KiRby and Such. aRtiStS, wRiteRS, companieS, and chaRacteRS whoSe nameS they’ll Recognize. Well, the hell with it. FRom the moment Comic Book Artist editoR Jon B. Cooke offeRed me the oppoRtunity to Run hiS inteRview with Lew Lew SayRe SchwaRtz, thiS iSSue’S majoR inteRviewee, iS haRdly a SchwaRtz in A/E , I waS Sold on the idea. AfteR all, A/E ’S fRanchiSe iS houSehold name—even in thoSe RatheR atypical houSeholdS made up of pRimaRily the heRo-oRiented comicS of the 1940S thRough the mid-1970S. ReadeRS of comic bookS. My miSSion, if you want to call it that, iS to put out a ceRtain kind of magazine, not to tRy to figuRe out how to make that magazine Sell the The ReaSon iS Simple, yet paRadoxical: Although he dRew hundRedS of maximum numbeR of copieS. I alReady did that foR yeaRS, at placeS with pageS of StoRieS StaRRing Batman and Robin between 1946 and 1953, a nameS like MaRvel and DC. Span of Seven key yeaRS in the eaRly life of one of the moSt famouS fictional heRoeS of all time, he would neveR have been allowed to Sign a Lew SchwaRtz—and, yeS, Bob Kane—and, foR that matteR, the pRe- Single StoRy, even if he’d wanted to. InStead, each SplaSh page SpoRted the Mad Dave BeRg and AuStRalian SupeR-heRo comicS of the paSt and Otto name “Bob Kane”—and, while Kane appaRently did contRibute to many BindeR and MaRc Swayze and Canadian aRtiSt Ed FuRneSS—all theSe of theSe taleS, it waS SchwaRtz who waS theiR pRincipal aRtiSt, aS the people and thingS deSeRve youR attention, and mine. FRankly, if and following inteRview will detail. (SchwaRtz went on to do a lot of good when the day comeS that not enough ReadeRS aRe inteReSted in thiS type non -comicS woRk in TV and film and adveRtiSing, but though we’Re of mateRial, then ’twill be time to fold A/E ’S fouR-coloR tentS and move pleaSed to coveR it heRein, that won’t dRaw ReadeRS to Alter Ego #51.) on to otheR endeavoRS. Thankfully, that day iS not yet… and I hope it will neveR come…but I felt I needed to get the above feelingS off my So I hope TwoMoRRowS and I can be foRgiven—by the ReadeRS and cheSt. ThankS foR indulging me. by Lew—foR adding Kane’S name to thiS iSSue’S coveR, Since that name is well-known to comicS ReadeRS and even, to a ceRtain extent, to the And now, enjoy the inteRview with Lew—and all that followS! geneRal public. Yet, anotheR iRony of the Situation iS that, accoRding to ouR publiSheR, John MoRRow, even Kane’S name may not neceSSaRily be a BeSteSt, ™ CCOOMMIINNGG IINN SSEEPPTTEEMMBBEERR #52 A TERRIFIC TRIO: GIELLA, PIKE, & THALL! A Triptych Of Titanically Talented Golden/Silver Age Artists! • Brand-new color cover by JOE GIELLA , done especially for A/E ! • JOE GIELLA —legendary inker of 1960s Flash, Green Lantern, & “New Look” Batman — and artist on the Batman, Phantom, Flash Gordon, & Mary Worth comic strips—talks about the Silver Age at DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, JULIE SCHWARTZ , & lots more good stuff in a great JIM AMASH interview! Featuring rare & lavish art by CARMINE INFANTINO, GIL KANE, MIKE SEKOWSKY, CURT SWAN, DICK DILLIN, SHELLY MOLDOFF, FRANK GIACOIA, DAN & SY BARRY, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, et al.! • Artist JAY SCOTT PIKE on STAN LEE & the Timely/Marvel years ( Jann of the Jungle, Black Rider, Lorna the Jungle Girl, Kid Colt, & Cold War spy comics)—on Dolphin at DC—and on CHARLIE BIRO ’s Crimebuster ! • MARTIN THALL on drawing comics with ROSS ANDRU & MIKE ESPOSITO (Get Lost! ), GEORGE EVANS (Captain Video ), WALLY WOOD, SIMON & KIRBY, AL WILLIAMSON, CHARLES SULTAN, MAURICE WHITMAN, etc.! • FCA with MARC SWAYZE & the Fawcett/Charlton Connection —MICHAEL T.