[Mr. Crime & hoodlum TM & © 2011; C Roy 1 Buck Rogers & Wilma TM & © 2011 The Dille Family Trust; other heroes TM & © 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.] o m 8 2 i 6 T c 5 h s 8 o F 2 m a 7 7 a n 6 s z 3 i ’ n R 5 e e 0 a 1 l G e o r g e P L G U S T S W O : E M A U D N E O O N L S C E A O R I T K T S M E ! G I C L A L S E ? I n $ N J 7 a t 2 o h n 0 . e u . 1 9 9 a 1 U r 9 y 5 S A Vol. 3, No. 99 / January 2011 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 Editorial Honor Roll WITH Jerry G. Bails (founder) NOW Ronn Foss, Biljo White 16 PAGES Mike Friedrich R! Proofreader OF COLO Rob Smentek Cover Artist George Tuska (with various inkers) Cover Colorist Tom Ziuko Contents With Special Thanks to: Heidi Amash Paul Handler Writer/Editorial: Sometimes Nice Guys Finish First . 2 Henry Andrews Heritage Comics Tony Arena Chris Khalaf An Artist for All Seasons . 3 David Armstrong Robin Kirby The late great George Tuska, saluted and celebrated anew by R. Dewey Cassell. Bob Bailey Denis Kitchen Mike W. Barr Tommy Kohlmaier “I Was Contemptuous, Basically, of the Comics” . 37 John Benson Stan Lee But Golden Age artist Bill Bossert feels more kindly toward them now, he tells Jim Amash. Jon Berk Dominique Léonard Alyssen Bills Mark Lewis Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt! Kooky DC Krossovers – Part 2 . 53 Bill Bossert Jim Ludwig Ulla Neigenfind- Bruce Mason Michael T. Gilbert examines the fuzzy line between reality and fiction at DC Comics. Bossert Brian K. Morris Lee Boyette Frankie Odler Comic Fandom Archive: The Rudi Franke Interview . 59 Mike Burkey Barry Pearl Bill Schelly talks with one of fandom’s finest early fan-artists. Brett Canavan Fern Peppe Nick Cardy John G. Pierce Tributes to John Belcastro & Kim Aamodt . 66 R. Dewey Cassell Al Plastino Shaun Clancy John Powell re: [correspondence, comments, & corrections] . 68 Steve Cohen John Schwirian John M. De Mocko Jeff Singh FCA [Fawcett Collectors of America] #158 . 73 Michaël Dewally Steve Skeates A vintage Marc Swayze column… and P.C. Hamerlinck remembers editor Ginny Provisiero. Jay Disbrow Anthony Snyder Stephen Donnelly Aaron Sultan On Our Cover: Since we can’t mix and match Marvel and DC heroes on our covers, who were we Michael Dunne Desha Swayze gonna show with smiling George Tuska up front? Iron Man? Luke Cage? Certainly. Sub-Mariner? Jon R. Evans Marc Swayze Iceman? Daredevil? Ghost Rider? Even Spider-Man? George drew ’em all, at one time or another. But Shane Foley Dann Thomas we couldn’t neglect Mr. Crime (and a generic hoodlum) from the Crime Does Not Pay days… or Rudi Franke Walter Tomashoff Buck Rogers and his ladyfriend from the comic strip George drew for years… so we came up with a Todd Franklin Mark Trost pulsatin’ potpourri on the career of this most modest yet talented of artists—lovingly assembled by Mike Friedrich Dorothy Tuska our layout guru Chris Day! [Marvel art ©2011 Marvel Characters, Inc.; Buck Rogers & Wilma Deering Mike Gartland Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. TM & ©2011 The Dille Family Trust; other art TM & ©2011 estate of George Tuska.] Janet Gilbert Michael Vance David Hajdu Dr. Michael J. Vassallo Above: Contrary to what you might think, though, genial George did draw a few super-heroes back Jennifer Hamerlinck Hames Ware in the Golden Age, long before he wandered into Marvel in the mid-1960s… as witness this sizzling splash panel from Standard’s Black Terror #26 (April 1949). The scripter may be unknown—but This issue is dedicated to the memory of we’re well aware that Jim Ludwig sent us the scan! [Art ©2011 the respective copyright holders.] Alter Ego TM is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. John Belcastro & 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. Kim Aamodt Eight-issue subscriptions: $60 US, $85 Canada, $107 elsewhere. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © Roy Thomas. Alter Ego is a TM of Roy & Dann Thomas. FCA is a TM of P.C. Hamerlinck. Printed in Canada. ISSN: 1932-6890 FIRST PRINTING. 2 write r/editorial Sometimes Nice Guys Finish First! eorge Tuska was one of the nicest guys I ever met. good sense of story and an admirable work ethic and an ultra-professional attitude. He must have realized that he was one of the most valued artists GG At least, he was… to the extent I can judge from my own featured in Charlie Biro’s Crime Does Not Pay in the late 1940s/early contacts with him over the years, first at Marvel in the 1960s and early ’50s… and maybe he even sensed Stan Lee’s glee on the day George ’70s, later over the phone during the ’80s, and during the past couple of informed him that the Buck Rogers newspaper strip had come to an end decades at comic conventions, particularly the Heroes Con in Charlotte, and he was finally available to draw full-time for Marvel Comics. When NC, where he and I often ran into each other after I moved to South he (or rather, Dorothy) phoned me in the 1980s to tell me that he could Carolina. use an assignment, I hope he knew that I was ready, willing, and eager to Of course, it can be claimed that no one ever really “knows” anyone have him draw that Golden Age “Flash” story for the Secret Origins title I fully, especially one who is only encountered in workplace situations, or in co-edited for DC. fairly casual social contacts. And with George, there was that extra barrier I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there was a time in the early to deal with: his deafness. Virtually all those phone calls I alluded to 1970s, in particular, when George and John Romita were the two most above were actually made by or to his charming wife Dorothy, who commercial artists working for Marvel. Everything they did sold. In learned over the years precisely what needed to be asked or said over George’s case, that included a two-issue stint on Sub-Mariner , a lengthy Alexander Graham Bell’s little invention. I know that, for my part, I run on Iron Man, the early issues of Hero for Hire (which, sad to say, was a almost felt that I was talking with George. harder sell than it should have been). Okay, so I guess George could’ve deluded me… and Stan Lee… and Good… and likable… and bankable, to boot. Johnny Romita… and Marie Severin… and just about everybody else he ever met... into thinking he was a nice guy. After all, there is that oft-told Any questions as to why I titled Dewey Cassell’s fine study of George tale about George slugging a fellow artist, basically without warning (so Tuska’s career as I did? what if the guy had been picking on a buddy of his?). Maybe George was really a terrible person, a monster with a friendly pasted-on face, like George was one of the greats… and a man who gave the lie to that old Vincent Price in the 1950s movie House of Wax . Leo Durocher saw, “Nice guys finish last.” But somehow, I don’t think so. We’ll always miss you, George. No, I think with George what you saw was, by and large, what you got. Bestest, In his low-key, unspectacular way, he was a very talented artist with a CCOOMMIINNGG IINN MMAARRCCHH #100 A Double-Size, Triple-Threat 160-PAGE SPECTACULAR ! Celebrating 100 Issues of Alter Ego , Vol. 3— 50 Years (To the Day!) Since Alter-Ego [Vol. 1] #1— And ROY THOMAS At DC Comics In The 1980s! • Special take on All-Star Squadron Preview cover by RICH BUCKLER & JERRY ORDWAY ! • ROY T. talks to JIM AMASH about his (and DANN ’s) turbulent time at DC in the ’80s (Infinity, Inc., America vs. the Justice Society, Young All-Stars, Shazam!, Arak – Son of Thunder, Captain Carrot, et al.), with rare, oft-unpublished art by BUCKLER • ORDWAY • COLAN • MACHLAN • GIORDANO • McFARLANE • COLÓN • KUBERT • ALCALA • GONZALES • RANDALL • DEZUNIGA • BAIR • SHAW! • HOBERG • JONES • NEWTON • GOLDBERG • MANDRAKE • ROSS • KAYANAN • LAY • ANDRU & others! • Rare fandom artifacts such as the entirety of 1961’s Alter-Ego #1—the “lost” Elongated Man story of 1964—the compleat Bestest League of America —tributes to JERRY BAILS, RONN FOSS, & BILJO WHITE —even a few “lost” pages from the 21st-century A/E Vol. 3! • Plus—surprise extra-size 100th-issue celebrations by MICHAEL T. GILBERT —BILL SCHELLY—& P.C. HAMERLINCK ’s FCA —& MORE!! 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