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GIORDANO • MORISI • APARO • GILL • BOYETTE • FRANZ • GLANZMAN Watchmen badge, Action-Heroes ©2000 DC Comics. Peter Cannon–Thunderbolt ©2000 Peter A. Morisi. Used with permission. THE ACTION HERO LINE COMES ALIVE! THE CHARLTON COMICS STORY $6.95 In The U.S. No. 9 August 2000

Comic Book Artist #9

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REVEALED AT LAST! The CHARLTON COMICS STORY focusing on the Derby, Conn. publisher’s illustrious (and sometimes notorious) history from CAPTAIN ATOM to E-MAN! With a new DICK GIORDANO cover spotlighting his renowned Action Hero Line, this much-anticipated issue spotlights interviews and features on, and rare and unpublished art by GIORDANO, STEVE DITKO, JIM APARO, JOHN BYRNE, DON NEWTON, JOE STATON, NICOLA CUTI, JOE GILL, SAM GLANZMAN, PAT BOYETTE, BOB LAYTON, and much more! PLUS: An examination of ALAN MOORE and DAVE GIBBON’s WATCHMEN connection with the Charlton heroes! From its roots as publisher of Hit Parader magazine to the company’s untimely demise in 1983, this promises to be THE definitive history of Charlton Comics! Don’t miss it!

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Page 1: Comic Book Artist #9

GIORDANO • MORISI • APARO • GILL • BOYETTE • FRANZ • GLANZMAN

Watchmen badge, Action-Heroes ©2000 DC Comics. Peter Cannon–Thunderbolt ©2000 Peter A. Morisi. Used with permission.

THE ACTIONHERO LINE

COMES ALIVE!

THE CHARLTON COMICS STORY

$6.95In The U.S.

No. 9August 2000

Page 2: Comic Book Artist #9

2 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

Editor/DesignerJON B. COOKE

PublisherTWOMORROWS

JOHN & PAM MORROW

Associate EditorsCHRIS KNOWLESDAVID A. ROACH

Contributing EditorsROY THOMAS

JOHN MORROW

ProofreaderJOHN MORROW

Cover ArtDICK GIORDANO

Cover ColorTOM ZIUKO

ProductionJON B. COOKE

GREAT SWAMP GRAPHICS

TranscribersJON B. KNUTSONBRIAN K. MORRIS

Logo Designer/Title Originator

ARLEN SCHUMER

MascotWOODY

by J.D. King

Issue Theme SongBACK ON THE CHAIN GANG

The Pretenders

NUMBER 9 CELEBRATING THE LIVES & WORK OF THE GREAT CARTOONISTS, WRITERS & EDITORS AUGUST 2000

C O N T E N T S

COMIC BOOK ARTIST™ is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. 919-833-8092. Jon B. Cooke, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: P.O. Box 204, WestKingston, RI 02892-0204 USA • 401-783-1669 • Fax: 401-783-1287. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT the editorial office. Single issues: $6.95 ($8.00 Canada, $10.00 elsewhere). Yearly subscriptions:$30 US, $42 Canada, $54 elsewhere. All characters © their respective owners. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © their respective authors. ©2000 Jon B. Cooke/TwoMorrows.Cover acknowledgement: Charlton Action Heroes ©2000 DC Comics except Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt ©2000 Peter A. Morisi. All characters used with permission. First Printing. PRINTED IN CANADA.

22 30 60 70

T H E C H A R L T O N C O M I C S ’ S T O R Y : 1 9 4 5 - 1 9 6 8

DEPARTMENTS:

THE FRONT PAGE: LAST MINUTE BITS ON THE COMMUNITY OF COMIC BOOK ARTISTS, WRITERS & EDITORS

Ye Ed sez he’s sorry (again), Jim Kochalka’s Monkey vs. Robot, and laments on the passing of Fred Himes ........1

EDITOR’S RANT: NICE GUYS CAN FINISH FIRST

The Giordano and Nick Cuti influence on making comics better, and the Saga of S.A.G. ....................................4

CBA COMMUNIQUES: LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

Kyle on CBA’s abuse of Steranko, Groth on Don Simpson and Buckler, Bruzenak on Steranko’s History V.3 ......6

COMICS COMMENTARY: THE QUESTION OF STEVE DITKO

Why there’s so little Ditko in these pages—out of our respect for the artist—and his meaningful work ............10

THE BACK PAGE: GOOD-BYE TO DICK SPRANG AND ALFREDO ALCALA, AND THE BIG APPLE CHARLTON SHOW

Plus an East Coast send-off to Cliff and Tim, The Notorious Huja Bros, on their sojourn west ........................108

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August 2000 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 3

THE CHARLTON COMICS STORY: 1945-1968

FRED HEMBECK’S DATELINE: @!!?*Ye ghads! Has Fred dug up an enormous array of character portraits from Charlton’s Action Hero Line! ..........11

CHARLES SANTANGELO INTERVIEW: THE HALF-DOLLAR MAN

Charlton Co-Founder John Santangelo’s eldest son talks about his father and the company’s roots ..................12

HISTORY LESSON: THE CHARLTON EMPIREYe ed & Christopher Irving dig deep to find the history behind the Derby, Connecticut comics publisher ........14

JOE GILL INTERVIEW: MR. PROLIFICChristopher Irving chats with Charlton’s perennial staff writer, perhaps the most prolific writer in history........22

CHARLTON’S ACTION HERO LINE: A PIECE OF THE ACTIONJust what the heck is this “Action Hero Line,” anyway? Christopher Irving gets the story ................................25

DICK GIORDANO INTERVIEW: THE ACTION HERO MAN

A long conversation with Mr. “Thank You & Good Afternoon” on his legendary Charlton editorship ..............30

STEVE SKEATES INTERVIEW: “WARREN SAVIN” SPEAKSFrom the Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves to Thane of Bagarth, Steve talks about his Charlton days........................52

DENNIS O’NEIL INTERVIEW: SERGIUS O’SHAUGNESSY, SCRIBEThe writer of “Children of Doom” and “Wander”about working for Dick in Derby, Conn. ..............................53

ALTER EGO EXTRA! MAKE MINE CHARLTON!: ROY THOMAS ON SON OF VULCANOur esteemed fellow editor tells us about his short, brief career writing for the Derby publisher......................54

PETE MORISI INTERVIEW: PAM, MAN OF THUNDERBOLT!The creator of Peter Cannon–Thunderbolt talks to Glen Johnson about his 50+ years in comics ......................60

JIM APARO GALLERYSpotlight on the artist of Nightshade, Wander, Tiffany Sinn and Bikini Luv at Charlton ....................................69

PAT BOYETTE INTERVIEW: THE BRILLIANCE OF BOYETTEDon Mangus in a 1997 interview talks to the artist of Peacemaker and “The Children of Doom” ....................73

FRANK MCLAUGHLIN INTERVIEW: THE MCLAUGHLIN REPORTThe artist/writer/creator of Judomaster on his days at Charlton and in Connecticut’s comics art community .. 78

SAM GLANZMAN INTERVIEW: GLANZMAN’S DERBY DAYSOur Man Sam tries to recall his Charlton work, from Hercules to “The Lonely War of Willy Schultz” ..............84

WILL FRANZ INTERVIEW: THE LONELY WAR OF WILLY FRANZWar writer Will Franz on “Willy Schultz,” “The Iron Corporal,” and his departure from comics ......................92

ALAN MOORE INTERVIEW: THE CHARLTON/WATCHMEN CONNECTIONABC writer/mogul tell us who he was watching when planning Watchmen: The Charlton Action Heroes ......100

DEEP BACKGROUND: PROJECT BLOCKBUSTERInsider Robert Greenberger gives us the scoop behind DC’s planned (later aborted) All-Charlton Weekly ......106

Background image previous page: Okay, a few aren’t the Charlton versions of the Action Hero Line, put this penciled panel byMike Collins (from an issue of Justice League Quarterly) features (left to right) Judomaster, Thunderbolt, Nightshade, CaptainAtom, and Blue Beetle. Thanks to the artist for sharing this with us. Art ©2000 Mike Collins. Characters ©2000 DC Comics,Inc.

ContributorsDick Giordano • Joe GillPeter A. Morisi • Pat BoyetteFrank McLaughlin • Will FranzSam Glanzman • Jim AparoCharles Santangelo • Burt LevyEd Konick • Roy Thomas Dennis O’Neil • Steve SkeatesBob Layton • Bill Black • Jim AmashAlan Moore • Dave GibbonsKeith Giffen • Paul ChadwickKen Bruzenak • Robert GreenbergerMickey Spillane • Bhob StewartBill Pearson • Glen D. JohnsonPat Bastienne • David A. RoachArlen Schumer • Mike CarpinelloFred Hembeck • Les DanielsBob Beerbohm • Don MangusChristopher Irving • Rocco NigroFred Himes, Jr. • Mark PacellaMike Collins • Andrew Steven

Special Thanks to:The Derby Historical SocietyDC Comics • Patty JeresPaul Levitz • Neal PoznerScott Dunbier • WildStormAmerica’s Best Comics

Dedicated toDick GiordanoMister Nice Guy

and in loving memory ofAlfredo AlcalaFred HimesDick Sprang

N E X T I S S U E — S I M O N S O N & W O R K M A N / W O M E N I N T H E C O M I C S

78 84 90

104

110

Visit CBA on our Website at: www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/All letters of comment, articles and artwork, please mail to:

Jon B. Cooke, Editor, Comic Book Artist, P.O. Box 204, West Kingston, RI 02892-0204Phone: (401) 783-1669 • Fax: (401) 783-1287 • E-mail: [email protected]

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12 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

by Christopher Irving

Editor’s note: Charlton Comics was partially named forour first interview subject Charles Santangelo, son of the CharltonPublishing-Press and Capital Distribution co-founder John Santangeloand himself a onetime Charlton General Manager. What follows is acandid and personal talk by Charlie who still resides in CentralConnecticut. You want hitherto unknown history? Well, read close!—

JBCChristopher Irving: Is your father still alive?Charles Santangelo: No, he was born in 1899, but he livedup to 80 and died in 1979. Chris: What can you tell me about your father? What made himstart Charlton?Charles: He was a bricklayer and masonry contractor working ona big project about 15 to 20 miles from Derby. He had been in thecountry six or seven years. In the evenings, after work, he went to theSons of Italy with the other fellahs. My mother was a young highschool teenager who lived around the corner. He fell in love with her.He was living in Yonkers at the time, and working in Connecticut.When he met her, he asked her if she needed anything from NewYork. She said, “I’d love the words to the popular songs. I’m trying towrite them down in shorthand from the radio, but I’m missing words.Can you get me a magazine with the words to the songs?”

When he went back to Yonkers, he went to every store he couldget to, but none of them had the words to the songs. He bought hersheet music to a couple of the songs, but she didn’t need the musicnotes. She said, “It’s too bad that nobody’s got it.” My mother typedthe words to a dozen songs on one sheet. He knew another Italianfriend who had a relative who owned a print shop, and said, “What’sit going to cost me to make 30 to 50 copies?”

The guy said, “It’s gonna cost so much to make 20 to 50 thatyou might as well make 1, 000.” The idea hit him, and my father said,“What’s it going to cost to make 1, 000?”

It was something like $20, so he had 1, 000 made with “10¢”printed on the front. It was a single sheet folded. The guy came upwith 1, 000, and my father got my mother and went to the local cigarstore and left 20 or 30 copies. Then they went to another store andleft 15 or 20. They were driving up through Connecticut, leavingcopies. He’d go to the store and say, “Can you just take these; try tosell them. Don’t give me any money, and I’ll be back in a couple ofweeks. Whatever you sell, keep a nickel, and give me the other 5¢.”

The sheets cost him 2¢ each to make. (As a matter of fact, he had asaying many years later, when he’d become wealthy, that “I nevermade a dollar; I always made a half-dollar.”)

When my father went back to the job in the city, seeing mymother once or twice a week, he went back to the first store, wherehe had left 20. The owner said that they sold out in two days, and toleave 40. My father then got the same report from every store—theyeach sold every single copy they had.

He was used to hard labor and, all of a sudden, he’d made acouple hundred bucks, quick. This was around 1934, before I wasborn in ‘35. When there were new songs, my mother typed out thelyrics, and my dad went to the printer and made 2, 000. The samething happened a couple weeks later, and things started booming.That’s how he got started.

The problem was that he was an immigrant and didn’t realize orknow anything about copyright laws. Before you know it, ASCAP wasafter him since he didn’t have the permission of the copyright owners,and didn’t know how to go about getting it. He finally got busted andwent to New Haven County Jail. He got a year and a day in NewHaven County Jail. While he was there, he met another inmate namedEd Levy, an attorney who was the Corporation Counsel for the City ofWaterbury who got involved in a scandal having to do with phonybilling. They met and got to like each other; they were the same age.

Levy was exceptionally sharp, a Yale Law School graduate. Tomake it short, my father said, “If you can get me permission, I’ll get aprinter and we can put out this stuff.” They shook hands, and becamepartners when they came out at the same time. Ed went to the musicpublishers in New York to arrange for permission and pay the royalties.They started a magazine called Hit Parader. (Ed and my father werethe same age, and Ed’s son and myself were the same age. At thattime—when this happened in about 1937—we were about two. )Chris: They got the printing press right after they got out of jail?Charles: Not right after. They continued to print in New York forprobably five years. At that time, in 1945 I was 10, and remembergoing across the street from school, where they had a few littlemachines. They didn’t really get into printing until after World War II,around 1947 or 1948, when they went out to get equipment andprint more. Now they had the presses going, and they were hiring andtraining people, and my father was good at bringing in people. Hefound out who ran the press before he bought it, talked to the guyand offered him a deal.

I was 16 in 1951, and he got his first real binding equipment:Sheridan’s Automatic Six-Pocket Stitcher. Sheridan sent their best manto set up the equipment. When he got there that Summer, dad toldme to go work with this guy Emil Ivan, who’s in his eighties now. Heset up all the equipment, and we had some obsolete stitchers whichdad needed a good man for, so he hired Emil. He talked to Emil, hadhim up for dinner and, the next thing you know, Emil quit Sheridanand came to work for us.

My father did the same thing for a fella named Smitty in NewYork, and got several people that way. It really helped the companygrow. Being in the small town of Derby, there were no printers. Hewas quite a guy who knew how to draft people like a team. He knewthe right guys, got them and gave them incentives, and they workedtheir butt off for him.

So, my dad had been doing this for a few years and had gottenpretty big. He had several people going around in cars and leaving themagazines at places. He was distributing them direct—not throughany distributor or wholesaler. He was a friendly guy who would talk,

“The Half-Dollar Man”Charlton Founder’s Son Reveals the Roots of the Company

CBA Interview

Above: Mid-1960s Charlton adpromoting their song lyric books,the backbone of the company, in

this ad from Newdealer magazine.Courtesy of Bob Beerbohm.

Center background: The CapitalDistributing Company icon, whichgraced the covers of the Charlton

line in the 1950s and ’60s.

Page 5: Comic Book Artist #9

14 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

by Jon B. Cooke & Christopher Irving

The Charlton Publishing Empire’s humble beginnings stretchback to the 1930s, when an Italian immigrant named JohnSantangelo began selling unauthorized printed song lyric sheets inCentral Connecticut. Though clearly involved in copyrightinfringement as the sheets were sold without the consent of

the music industry, Santangelo’sbusiness eventually became prof-itable enough for him to end hisregular job as a New York City

bricklayer. After a fewyears, the entrepre-

neur was pur-sued by orga-nizations suchas ASCAP for

copyrightinfringement, the

law eventually caughtup, and he was sentenced to a

year in the New Haven County Jail. “My old man was an immigrant and he

didn’t know anything about copyright laws,” Santangelo’seldest son, Charles, said. “It certainly wasn’t terrible or intentional,but he did violate the law.”

Former Charlton head staff writer Joe Gill presented a view ofSantangelo that differed from a July, 1958 Newsdealer magazine arti-cle that likened the founder to be “latter-day Horatio Alger.” Gill said,“He was wealthy, a very cunning man, and a friend of mine. But a lotof people didn’t like him.”

While serving out his sentence, Santangelo met fellow inmateEdward Levy, a disbarred attorney incarcerated because of hisinvolvement in a Waterbury political scandal. The two became fastfriends and, with a handshake deal, started a business partnership toestablish a legitimate publishing concern after their release. Levy andSantangelo both had infant sons named Charles, inspiring them toname their newfound business Charlton Publishing.

Making up for lost time, the partners secured licensing rights,and launched their magazine line with the song lyric magazines,evolved versions of Santangelo’s bootleg sheet called Hit Parader andSong Hits—the latter purchased from another company, according toCharlton Business Manager Ed Konick, who started working for thecompany in 1952. “When Charlton started,” Konick explained, “thesong lyric publications didn’t include any features at all. Best Songsand Popular Songs followed, and they started adding features, fillers,and photographs to the magazines in 1945. By 1949, we came outwith Country Song Round-Up. We also branched out later into theblack entertainment field with Rock & Soul, and we also did a popstandard book, Songs That Will Live Forever.”

After years of sending out the printing to New York shops, inthe late ’40s Charlton set up operations in a 150, 000 square-footbuilding in Derby. The partners’ philosophy, unique in the publishingindustry, was that the cheapest and most efficient way to produceperiodicals would be to to establish an “all-in-one” operation; that is,have everything under one roof—editorial, printing, distribution—eliminating any middle-man expenses and maximizing profit. TheCharlton Building housed three sister companies: Charlton Press,Charlton Publications, and Capitol Distribution, with an off-site auxil-

iary concern, The Colonial Paper Company. Charlton first published their song lyric magazines starting in

1935, only adding comics to their line-up by the Autumn of 1945with the release (under the Children Comics Publishing imprint) of thefunny animal title Zoo Funnies #101 (the #101 giving an indication ofthe odd numbering systems Charlton would use up till the mid-’60swith annoying regularity). Between 1945-50, Charlton published fewtitles (Zoo, Tim McCoy, Merry Comics, Cowboy Western, PictorialLove Stories), with the work out-sourced to freelance editor andpackager Al Fago (brother of Timely/Marvel editor Vince Fago), whojobbed-out the assignments from his Long Island home.

Perhaps realizing the set-up of the comics division contradictedhis all-in-one Charlton philosophy, Santangelo created an in-housecomics department by early 1951, eliminating the line’s reliance onfreelancers, hiring staff artists (among them, future Managing EditorDick Giordano), and bringing in Fago as on-site managing editor. Thecompany also beefed-up the comics’ output considerably, and(maybe envious of their rivals’ successes) content delved into moreearthy fare as Charlton debuted Crime & Justice, Racket Squad inAction, Sunset Carson, Space Western, and perhaps the most notori-ous Charlton comic ever published, The Thing!—all between ’51-’52.The Thing!, a series reviled by Dr. Fredric Wertham for its gore andexplicit mayhem (The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide notes issue#5 and up contain “excessive violence, severed heads, injury to eyescommon,” plus lingerie and extreme torture panels, wrapped in“headlight” covers) also is notable for the appearance of the compa-ny’s most important (and longest-staying) artist, Steve Ditko. Thoughstill riding the EC horror coattails with like titles, the publishing outfitalso found rack space for Managing Editor Fago’s forté, the funnyanimal genre, by releasing his Atomic Mouse in 1953, but the follow-ing year saw the elimination of the explicit horror books and the

The Charlton EmpireA Brief History of The Derby, Connecticut Publisher

History Lesson

Above: Cover detail of Al Fago’sAtomic Mouse, from the cover ofAtomic Mouse #1. ©2000 the

respective copyright holder.

Center inset: 1958 aerial shot ofThe Charlton Building from the

July, ’58 issue of Newsdealer. Thecaption states, “This huge publish-ing-printing-distributing organiza-tion occupies a modern 7 1/2-acre

plant in central Connecticut.Courtesy of Bob Beerbohm.

Page 6: Comic Book Artist #9

Conducted by Christopher Irving

Holy smokes! Has Joe Gill produced a lot of comic book sto-ries! The mountain of Gill scripts quite possibly surpasses the outputof the late Paul S. Newman as the most prolific comic book writer ofall time. A regular Joe with quick typing fingers, the writer remainedat Charlton Comics virtually throughout its forty-year existence.While in his eighties and slowed down a bit since his days hitting thetown with best buddy Mickey Spillane, Joe still plays cards now andthen, still soaking in the good life in Central Connecticut. CBA hopesto have a longer chat with Joe in our sequel covering theGentile/Wildman years of 1969-83, due early 2001.

Christopher Irving: When did you work at Charlton?Joe Gill: I’ll tell you how it started: John Santangelo, the publisherof Charlton, was buying packaged comics from a couple of editorialservices in New York, and the main one was Jacquet’s Funnies,Incorporated. I wrote comic books for Charlton, through Jacquet for a

couple of years.Jacquet was a

wonderfulwomanto work

for; she used to call me up in the morning and say, “Can you write abook for me this afternoon?” I’d say yes, go over and use the type-writer in her office, and she’d give me a check for $200 before shewent home. That’s the reason why I wrote as many pages as I did: Ihad no critical editors, and that makes a big difference. Santangelohad his printing press in Derby [Connecticut], and a very good editornamed Al Fago (Fago and his wife ran a comic book department).Santangelo wanted all of the artists and writers, the entire publishingoperation, to be under one roof. He brought up a stable of artists likeDick Giordano, John D’Agostino, Pat Masulli, Charlie Nicholas, DonCampbell, Chic Stone, and they hired some outside people, too. I wasthe principle writer, and I wrote everything. Chris: Frank McLaughlin told me you wrote up to 100 pages aweek at times. How many pages would you say you wrote per week,on average?Joe: In the beginning, for the first couple years, I’d write as many asI could get to write. I always had the capacity to write 30 or 40 pagesa day. In the beginning, Fago needed scripts, and Santangelo didn’twant to pay a lot of money—he was only paying $4 a page; I wasgetting $10 in New York. The difficulty of being a comic writer inNew York, and working for some of the “better” publishers like DCand Marvel, is that you’d have the ego of the editors to pander to.One editor would call me up and say that he needed a romancecomic, and could I come over for a story conference? A romancestory doesn’t warrant a conference! I can knock out a seven- oreight-page story in an hour-and-a-half, without any conference!

When you’re working for a New York publisher, you haveto go and kiss the editor’s ass. I lived in Brooklyn and had totake a subway over. After seeing that publisher, you mighthave to go halfway across town and see someone else. It’dbe a very tiring and expensive day. When you gotthrough, the editor would feel duty-bound to do a criti-cal job of it and change this and change that. I’ve hadan editor at DC call me in Derby to come to New Yorkto change a couple balloons. I had some editors at DCwho were good editors, and they bought my stuff andused it as is, with no compulsion to show what bril-liant editors they were by changing things.

At Charlton, John was underpaying artists andwriters, and practically anything that artists andwriters did was acceptable. There was very littlecriticism. The idea was to get the books out, andnobody at Charlton seemed to give a damnhow good they were! When I say I wrotebetween 100 and 150 pages a week, you’vegot to realize that there was no one I had toplease. If I had to work in the usual editorial

structure, it’d be a lot less than that. Chris: You said before that you hated writingsuper-hero comics.

Joe: That began in 1945 to 1946, when comics werefirst going in that direction. There was a choice as to what

category you could work in. The western category was biggerthan the super-heroes, and I wrote Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, anda million things for Marvel. I was Stan Lee’s favorite boy for ashort while. Comics collapsed with the end of World War II,though it took a while to trickle down. By January or Februaryof ’46, it was getting very difficult to get assignments.

Mickey Spillane was forced out of writing

Joe “Mr. Prolific” GillThe Phenomenally Productive Writer Speaks

CBA Interview

Below: Cover detail by DickGiordano for a Fightin’ Five issue.Joe Gill created and wrote all ofthe quintet’s adventures! ©2000the respective copyright holder.

22 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

Page 7: Comic Book Artist #9

August 2000 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 25

CBA Interview

A Piece of the ActionCharlton’s Action Hero Line and the Folks Responsible

by Christopher Irving

Although considered a product of the 1960s, the CharltonAction Hero line technically had a root set back in the Golden Age ofcomics. The Blue Beetle premiered in Fox Comics’ Mystery Men #1,cover dated August of 1939. Over the next decade, The Blue Beetlewas to shift from Fox to Holyoke Comics (another Golden Age com-pany), and back to Fox, before his initial retirement with Blue Beetle#60, cover dated August, 1950.

Charlton Comics gained the Blue Beetle property four yearslater, in Oct. -Nov. 1954’s Space Adventures #13, which featuredmainly reprints of Fox material, and was perhaps their hope to cash inon the new super-hero craze influenced by the Adventures ofSuperman TV show, as well as their chance to use their new comicbook press. The Blue Beetle was awarded his own series in Februaryof 1955, picking up the numbering from the cancelled The Thing!with #18, lasting only four issues, ending with #21 in August of thesame year. (Notably only the last issue contained new material. )

Super-heroes were once more revitalized by the mid-’60s,thanks in no small part to DC’s revamping of their Golden Age char-acters, as well as Marvel’s introduction of influential books such asFantastic Four. Charlton had decided to hop on the bandwagon, bybringing back their earlier attempts at super-heroes, as well as intro-ducing a new stable of characters.

The editorial structure at Charlton was changed after the depar-ture of General Manager Burt Levey, with the comics’ ManagingEditor, Pat Masulli, promoted to oversee the entire magazine line andhis one-time assistant, artist Dick Giordano, lobbied for the comicseditor position. Getting the nod from management, Giordano took upthe editorial reins on the entire comic book line in 1965, with themandate to create a line of super-heroes. Apparently, Masulli was notknown to interact with the creative people very often, something thatwould change when Giordano took over as comic book editor. As aresult, opinions of Masulli tend to differ from one extreme to another.

“Terrible,” staff writer Joe Gill answered when asked aboutMasulli’s job as editor. “Pat’s dead now, but he was a martinet, not afriendly guy that enjoyed amiable relations with the artists. He ruledit, and he and I co-existed.”

“We tolerated each other,” Charlton Art Director FrankMcLaughlin explained. “He was my boss and I worked hard so hehad no complaints. Because he was not well-liked by others, part ofmy job was as intermediary between production and the engravers,typesetters, artists, press operators and free-lancers.”

“At work, he was a very stern taskmaster, and absolutely per-fect for the other (non-comic) books that he edited,” Giordano said.“His background was mostly as a colorist, but he was a great busi-nessman. He and someone else started a coloring company in NewYork City that continued to work for Charlton after Pat moved out.He was a good business person, and he learned everything about theproduction process when he was running the comics.

“When I took over the comics, and Pat was in charge of every-thing else, we had very little contact. We would go out to lunch reg-ularly, he and I and a couple of other executives but, aside from that,we had no further or social contact after business hours.”

As the new comics editor, it was not only up to Giordano to re-evaluate the comics side of Charlton, but he also had to pick up theloose threads from Masulli.

“The way that Pat Masulli was running the comic departmentwas as an also-ran,” Giordano said. “He didn’t have any choice, and

wasn’t being derelict on his duties, but he had too much to do withthe music department, so they hired me to pay attention to thecomics.

“No one ever told me ‘Your job is to sell comics better,’ therewas no question about it, I understood that. I started on a plan tofind new talent and to come up with new books. At that time, wewere doing Blue Beetle and Son of Vulcan. Those were the only twosuper-heroes there when I started, and a revival of Captain Atom, Ithink, was on the drawing board. It was clear that, if there was any-thing in the field, there was some activity in super-heroes, so wedecided that we had to take that route.”

Above: Among the hundreds of silverlines Dick Giordano sharedwith me, there was this Blue Beetlecover lineart (from an unidentifiedissue—never mind their numberingscheme, the biggest pain in thebutt collecting Charlton comicswas their lack of a number on thecover to begin with!). Blue Beetle©2000 DC Comics.

Page 8: Comic Book Artist #9

Conducted by Jon B. CookeTranscribed by Jon B. Knutson

In the history of Charlton, few loom as significant as DickGiordano, managing editor of the comics group from 1965-68,where he developed the oft-recalled “Action Hero Line,” a memo-rable run of books noted for their sense of fun and especially thecontributions of Steve Ditko, just late of his Marvel heyday. But theartist-editor’s days with the Derby company stretch back to NewYear’s Day 1951, when a young Richi Giordano began freelancing forCharlton Comics, and an association persists as recently Dick andBob Layton “covered” the Action Heroes in the limited series TheL.A.W. Charlton ink must run in Mr. G’s blood! This interview tookplace at Dick’s Connecticut home and a local restaurant on May 6,2000. Dick copyedited the transcript. Special thanks to Pat Bastiennefor her support.

Comic Book Artist: Dick, where were you born?Dick Giordano: Bellevue Hospital, New York City, which isnoted for psychiatric care, but at that time, they also managed to dochild care. We lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In thosedays, it was a decent neighborhood (a lot of it is slums today). WhenI was still a young boy, we moved to Queens, then to the Bronx,where I lived until I was married. CBA: Were you an only child?Dick: Yes. I was born during the Depression. I was also sickly asa child, and that’s how I got into comic books—I had nothingelse to do, so I was reading, because I was in bed all the time. I

had a great many allergies, and sufferedfrom asthma—which I still do, it’s just notas bad as it was when I was a kid. Myfamily really couldn’t afford anotherchild, so I was pretty much it. CBA: What did your father do?Dick: I guess a cab-driver is the eas-iest way to explain it. My fatheralways owned his own cabs, hedidn’t work for a company. Ilearned a lot from him withouthis even realizing it. He wouldtake care of his own cars, espe-cially during World War II, whenyou couldn’t buy another car, and

he’d put on 100 miles a day or more onhis cab. So, some days it’d be both of usdownstairs in the garage, to try to keepthe car running for another week.[laughs] He was a very goodmechanic. As a matter of fact, hehad this very strange Italian firstname, which was Graziano, but hewas called Jack by his friends. Theywere referring to “Jack of AllTrades.” And my father really was:He could do carpentry work, fix upautomobiles, he was a musician,later learned photography (had hisown darkroom), and he shot a cou-ple of weddings… he did a little bit

of everything. That’s why I’ve said the common thing would be tocall him a cab-driver. Later on, he opened up a garage where he fixedcars, because he thought that was better than driving 100 miles aday! [laughter]CBA: Was he a mechanic before the Depression?Dick: Before the Depression, he was driving a cab. My mother wasborn in Italy, and she came here when she was a young girl, about 10years old. My mother and father went to school together. Then mymother’s mother passed away (her father never came here, he stayedin Italy until he passed away), and then my mother and father gotmarried because she couldn’t live alone. They took in her younger sis-ter as well, so there was three of them for a while. My father did alot of other things, but he actually earned his living driving a cab.They got married in ‘31, and went on their honeymoon, and whenhe came back, was when the Depression hit the cab business. He hadto give up their $18 a month apartment and get one for $12. He wasmaking about $6 a week, driving a cab, occasional music gig added abit to that. It was very, very tight… or so I’m told, I wasn’t aware ofit, I just laid in my crib and sucked on my bottle. [laughs]CBA: When did you start becoming interested in comic books?Dick: My father used to read me the Sunday funnies, and the weekbetween was a long wait for me. He happened to find FamousFunnies on the newsstand one day and brought it home. He read methat whole book for the rest of the week, instead of just onSundays—it was the Sunday funnies all wrapped together in 64pages. Yeah, that’s when I got started, and in fact, I started drawingfrom some of those issues. I think The Little King was one of the fea-tures, I don’t know if anybody remembers that. That looked simpleenough, so I started copying the art which was the beginning, and asthey say, the rest is history. Later, when I moved to The Bronx, I wentto an elementary school where I had a great art teacher whoimpressed me. My mother (who was a very good artist when she wasyounger) was delighted that I was able to draw. I think my ability wasinherited. The teacher encouraged me, and when I was ready tograduate, she suggested I try getting into the School of IndustrialArts, which was a vocational high school in New York City available—free—to anybody who could get in. I took the test, passed, and spentfour-and-a-half years there (the extra half-year was because I got sickwith the illness that always plagues me, and lost about a half-year). CBA: What year did you go into SIA?Dick: I got out in January, 1950, so it must’ve been ‘44, ‘45. WhenI went to my graduation, it was snowing. [laughs] My father was dri-ving me down in the cab. Angelo Torres started with me, and TonyTallarico graduated with me. There’s a number of people who are stillactive in the business, one way or another, who were in that schoolthe same time I was. And then, as time went by, a lot of professionalswent there… Neal Adams went to that school, and quite a few peo-ple went there. CBA: Any renowned instructors, teachers?Dick: No. I was influenced greatly by some of the instructors whowere quite good at what they did, but I don’t think there were anynames there you would recognize. There were a number of celebri-ties. Tony Bennett went there to study—you know that Tony Bennettwas an artist, and he graduated a couple of years before me? CBA: Did you meet him?Dick: No, and I wouldn’t have known I was meeting anybody spe-cial if I did. At that time, he was Tony DeGrannidetto (or somesuch),and he was one of the kids in school, and he wasn’t a singer—thatwe knew, anyway. There’s been a few people of some note who’ve

The Action Hero ManThe Great Giordano talks candidly about Charlton

CBA Interview

30 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

Below: Okay, maybe you saw thissame shot in the Neal Adams

interview featured in CBA #5, butDick tells us he has very few pix of“Himself.” This was from a model-

ing session for the fumetti story“The Great American Dream,” in

Crazy #1. Courtesy of Dick. ©2000 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Page 9: Comic Book Artist #9

August 2000 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 31

graduated from there. Most of the teachers were paid profes-sionals, so they weren’t fooling around. Yesterday, I relateda story about one of the instructors by the name ofStanley Rose: He was a little bitty guy, but heworked us hard—incidentally, we had to wear a shirtand tie, and something over the shirt every day.The feeling was, “You’re studying to be pro-fessionals, you’d better start looking itnow.” No jeans, regular clothes with ashirt and tie, and either a sweater or ajacket over the top. If you got caughtwithout any of the necessary apparel, youwere sent home, unless you kept one… Ialways kept extras at the school, just incase. [laughs] Anyway, Stanley Rose usedto allow you to bring in these weeklyassignments, he’d give you an assign-ment, the one in particular I’m thinking ofis “landmarks of New York,” so I decided todo a shot of the Third Avenue “EL” [elevatedtrain]. I spent a whole day working on a drawingof it, but I didn’t finish it. I went to class, andhe called out the name of each student, oneby one, and each would bring up theirassignment, he looked at it, and maybemake a comment, but just piled them onhis desk to grade later. When it was myturn, he said, “Giordano?” And I said,“I’m sorry, Mr. Rose, I didn’t finish yet.” Hesays, “Yes, you did. Look in your portfolio.You wouldn’t dare come to my class and not beprepared.” This was on a Friday, and he said,“Okay, what you’re going to do is give metwo separate assignments by Monday.” Ihad a weekend coming up, planning tospend time with my friends, but I spentthe whole weekend at the drawingboard, finishing up the one I didn’thave on Friday, and coming up witha new idea and sitting down anddrawing that to get it in forMonday’s class. As luck would haveit, his class was the first one of theday, so… [laughs] there was no fooling around. I learned somethingfrom that, that if something’s due on Friday, it’s due on Friday. Youdon’t argue about whether it’s really necessary to get it in on Friday,you just do it. I learned that from him. So that’s how I learned aboutmaking deadlines. [laughter] That’s something that stands with metoday, I have a reputation for making deadlines, no matter howdumb they are—I make them. Sometimes I get help, but I makedeadlines. This situation was the reason why. At SIA, there were awonderful bunch of instructors, and I learned how to be a profession-al from them. CBA: So, what happened after you graduated in 1950?Dick: Well, that’s a funny story. I wanted to be an illustrator—illus-trations and advertising seemed to be the way to go. When we grad-uated they gave us a list of advertising agencies, and I went aroundwith a fellow classmate, Murray Tinkleman, to try and get a job.We’d get tired from knocking on doors all day, trying to break in thefield. One day, we walked into an office that said on the door, “ArtStudio,” or something like that. It turned out the studio had justmoved out, and in the middle of this room, there was just a desk,with a man sitting at it working away on a typewriter. He was acomic book writer. I’d always been interested in comic books(although I didn’t take the comic book course at school because theyadvised us the business wasn’t good, you won’t make any money atit), so I took advertising and illustration courses—instead of comics—but I’ve always been keen on comics. I had some black-&-white stuffin my portfolio, and the writer looked at it and said, “Why don’t yougo down and see Jerry Iger? Maybe he can use somebody like you.”So, we went down, and showed Jerry our portfolios. Initially he said,“Okay, I’ll hire you both, you work two days, and you work three

days.” Then, when it came timeto start, he said, “I’ve changed mymind: I only want one of you now.”So I got the job full-time. They hiredMurray eventually and the two of us werethere together full-time six months later. WillEisner had just split up with Iger when I gotthere, but the outside door still said, “Eisner-Iger.” I was there about nine months and Ilearned a lot. CBA: You worked on Jungle Comics?Dick: Yeah, Jungle, Wings, Planet, all of the things from FictionHouse. Plus work for two or three other smaller companies—SuperiorComics, whose standards weren’t particularly high. The interior workfor the comics was done on staff, and that’s what Murray and I weredoing there. I’d come in the morning, and there’d be a drawing tableabout this high with pages on it that had to be inked, and we’d passthe pages around… somebody inked the heads, somebody inked thefigures—whatever it was—and by the time Murray got them, he’derase and clean up the pages. I was doing that before he came in. Itwas quite a learning curve… we learned a lot. CBA: Just from looking at the art, and…?Dick: Yeah. Ken Battenfeld was a really great penciler working atIger at the time. Johnny Thornton was the one who used to pencil alot for Superior Comics, a Canadian company. Jack Kamen was oneof our most accomplished pencilers. CBA: Were they horror or crime?Dick: Mostly horror at Superior Comics, if memory serves me. Aguy named Bob Webb did something called “The Hawk,” a pirate

Above: Dick Giordano really wentto town with his Fightin’ Five cov-ers! Here’s his work on the coverof an unidentified issue. TheFightin’ Five—America’s SuperSquad—were a sorta knock-off ofMarvel’s Sgt. Fury and HisHowling Commandos, but moreimportantly was an aspect ofDick’s Action Hero approachtouching even war titles. The char-acters are (from left to right)Frenchy the Fox, Hank Hennessy,Irv “The Nerve” Haganah, GraniteGallero, and Tom-Tom. Dick musthave liked these palookas, as heused them as a back-up strip inSecret Agent (Sarge Steel) aftertheir title’s cancellation. You canalso spot them, real tiny, plus aSentinel or two, in the backgroundof Dick’s fantabulous cover for us!Our thanks to the Great Giordanofor giving us one more take on hisbeloved Action Hero Line! ©2000the respective copyright holder.

Page 10: Comic Book Artist #9

by Roy Thomas

Call me crazy, but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart (andmaybe my head) for Charlton comics group—and not just becausethey (it?) bought the first two comic book stories I ever sold.

At least, I think they (it) did. What happened, roughly, was this: In early 1965, Pat Masulli,

Charlton’s executive editor, sent out an open letter to various comicsfanzines which he hoped they would print and publicize. I believecopies of that same letter may have been sent out to a few promi-nent individual fans, as well, but you’d have to ask Tom Fagan andothers about that. In the letter readers were invited to try their handsat writing 20-page scripts for the super-hero comics Charlton thenpublished: Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and Son of Vulcan.

As then editor/publisher ofthe first volume of Alter Ego, I(along with a number of otherfan-eds, as that amateur breedwere often called) had a naturaladvantage, in that I had theopportunity to see the letterbefore the bulk of comics fansdid. Matter of fact, since A/Ewas coming out only two orthree times a year despite itsoptimistic “quarterly” schedule, Iused very little “dated” materialin it, and I never did get aroundto publishing Masulli’s missive.

What I did instead was tosit down almost at once andwrite a story for the mostobscure of the three heroes: Sonof Vulcan.

But why Son of Vulcan?After all, Captain Atom was acharacter I had liked (as I hadSteve Ditko’s artwork) since1960; and Charlton’s first 1950sBlue Beetle was just an updatedversion of a hero I had read onoccasion in the 1940s and ’50s,albeit now he had a far betterbackstory and origin (if evenworse artwork).

I suspect the primary rea-son I dashed off a Son of Vulcan

tale was that I figured others receiving Masulli’s letter would bemore likely to go for C. A. and/or B. B., so I might have a

better chance of success if I wrote a story for ahero who wouldn’t be the first choice of many oth-

ers. Also, despite the decidedly primitive artwork byFraccio and Tallarico (working, as I’d soon learn,

for wages far lower than most other compa-nies paid), I liked Son of Vulcan because he

smacked not only of his most obvioussource, Marvel’s Thor in Journey intoMystery, but also of Captain Marvel, once

the World’s Mightiest Mortal and a childhood

favorite. Maybe reporter Johnny Mann saying “Let me become theSon of Vulcan!” was a few steps down from Billy Batson saying“Shazam!” or Don Blake slamming his wooden cane on the ground,but Son of Vulcan had possibilities, and I wanted to see if I coulddream up anything to do with him.

By then there had been about a half dozen SOV stories; thefeature had begun in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds, then graduat-ed to its own title, and I had purchased them all, as I then collectedmost of the relatively few super-hero comics published (though notmuch Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman). Perusing the backissues quickly for ideas, I immediately decided to do one whichexploited the mythological origins of this hero who was basically theadopted heir of the Roman god Vulcan (who of course was theLatinized form of the Greek blacksmith god Hephaestus).

And, since one of my favorite works of literature is The Iliad, itwas but the work of a moment to come up with the notion of a“Second Trojan War,” as I titled my story. A movie studio would befilming a screen adaptation of Homer’s epic, and Johnny Man/Son ofVulcan would get involved to save them from the villain.

I suspect I chose Dr. Kong, who I believe had already beencalled “the meanest man alive” in a previous issue (written by TomGill?), because he reminded me of Captain Marvel’s old nemesis Dr.Thaddeus Bodog Sivana nearly as much as Son of Vulcan himselfreminded me of Fawcett’s Big Red Cheese.

As an homage to my frequent correspondent Otto Binder, whohad scripted many of the original Captain Marvel’s greatest adven-tures, I gave Dr. Kong a servant: “a robot with perhaps too manytubes, wires, and transistors crowded into one human-sized metallicshell.” The robot’s name was Adam Klink, and of course his/its inspi-ration was Adam Link, the wonderful robot hero Otto had created aquarter of a century earlier for Amazing Stories science-fiction pulpmagazine (and whom I had first encountered in EC’s comics adapta-tions in Weird Science-Fantasy). Homage or no homage, Adam Klinkis, I suppose, the first super-normal character I ever “created” forcomics. I guess I peaked too early.

As I look over Son of Vulcan Vol. 2, No. 50 (Jan. 1966), I’mstruck by a few other things, as well:

First, Pat Masulli really meant to get some mileage out of thefact that a comics fan, as opposed to one of Charlton’s regular writ-ers, had scripted the story. On the cover, a big yellow burst trumpets:“ATTENTION, FANZINE READERS!!! Charlton’s challenge had beenanswered... The story in this issue was written by one of YOU!!!DON’T MISS IT!”

(It is highly unlikely—but I hope someone will correct me if I’mwrong—if the word “fanzine” had ever before appeared on the coverof a comic book. I’m even a bit curious as to whether that word,coined in the early 1940s by science-fiction fans, had ever evenappeared on the cover of an s-f mag. )

Secondly, despite my preceding point, the credit for the scriptwas merely “written by R. Thomas.” After all that fanfare on thecover, Charlton couldn’t be bothered to print my whole name—anentire nine letters! Perhaps it had sometime to do with the fact thatthe pencils were credited only to “R. Fraccio” and the inks to “T.Tallarico,” but that’s begging the question. Well, at least the nameswere written in small open letters, and colored in red... that’s some-thing, anyway.

Third, I see that, less to be true to my background as a Missourihigh school teacher for the past four years than to my sincere philos-ophy that comic books should educate as well as entertain whenever

Make Mine Charlton!(At Least for a Little While!)—Roy Thomas’ Anecdotes

Charlton Chat

54 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

Below: Maybe the first coveracknowledgement by a comicspublisher of the existence offanzines, this issue of Son of

Vulcan (the last) featured Roy’sfirst professional sale. ©2000 the

respective copyright holder.

Page 11: Comic Book Artist #9

Conducted and transcribedby Glen D. Johnson

Pete Morisi is one of the most prolific artists of our time. To the bestof my knowledge, he worked for all the major comics publishingoutfits. I have corresponded with Pete since 1964, whenRonn Foss first made me aware of hiswork. At this time I was editor of thefanzine The Comic Reader, havingtaken over from Jerry Bails. Ronnshowed me a sample of art from anissue of the Fawcett Lash LaRue comicand asked if I could identify the artist. Itrequired only a quick glance to confirmthat the artist was Golden Age greatGeorge Tuska. “Wrong!” Ronn said, andhe proceeded to show me the initials“PM” on the splash page. Ronn told methe artist was Pete Morisi. During ourinterview, Pete proved both very knowl-edgeable about the field of comic art, andhelpful when asked about his own back-ground. —GDJ

Glen D. Johnson: Pete, today it is verycommon to have comics fans break into theprofession of comic book writer or artist.Weren’t you a fan before you became apro?Pete Morisi: I don’t think there were any comicbook fans when I was growing up. I was the only one on myblock who saved some of those early titles. I loved comic books andnewspaper strips. So I guess the answer is, “Yes, I was a fan before Ibecame a pro.”Glen: I’ve noticed that you have a few nice pages of originalcomic book artwork. One is a Silver Streak cover by Jack Cole, andanother is a Simon & Kirby cover featuring The Guardian from Star-Spangled Comics. How do you happen to have such rare pages ofGolden Age artwork?Pete: You got that wrong, kiddo. The Jack Cole original is a Clawvs. Daredevil splash page, done in colored inks, and it is a beauty.Probably done for Silver Streak Comics. I was working part time as adelivery boy in Manhattan, when one of those deliveries was nextdoor to Lev Gleason Publications. After my delivery I knocked on LevGleason’s door and told him I was an art student, and did he haveany old originals he could give me. He said, “Sure, son,” and gaveme the Cole original and a costumed hero strip called “13.” I thinkthat was drawn by Jerry Robinson. As for the Simon & KirbyGuardian cover, I traded a fellow student for it, but don’t rememberany details. All three of those originals are gems. Glen: As a youngster, did you like to draw?Pete: I can’t remember not having a pencil or piece of chalk in myhand. I’d draw on paper bags, the cement ground of alleyways, andsometimes make up my own strips in my school copybooks. Glen: Who were your early influences? Pete: Caniff, Sickles, Robbins (although I didn’t know Sickles wasdoing some of Terry and the Pirates). My family couldn’t afford tobuy the higher-priced Journal-American newspaper, so I never got tosee Prince Valiant or Flash Gordon.

Glen: When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?Pete: Somehow, I guess I always knew it, but the thing thatpushed me over the edge was Superman. I was ten years old in 1938[when Action Comics #1 hit the stands], and the thought that a mancould fly, leap over tall buildings, and have bullets bounce off his

chest fascinated me. I wanted to be a part of a businessthat could capture my imagination like that. I had to bepart of it. Glen: As a young fan interested in comics, whoimpressed you the most?Pete: In one word: Kirby! I liked Blue Bolt, but notthe Simon version. It was the Kirby art that drew my

attention to the strip. I knew, even then, that Iwas seeing something special. I’ve beena fan ever since, although I don’talways agree with some of the stuffhe did. To me, Captain America willalways be Kirby’s most interestingart.

Lou Fine could draw a superb fig-ure, Reed Crandall could draw it withpower, Will Eisner could tell a fantasticstory with art that was his style… but onlyJack Kirby could draw action. Raw, wild,boisterous action that would splash across thepanel borders and make you say, “Wow!”

When I look back at those CaptainAmerica stories, I see a lot of bad art, a lot offaking and bluffing; but the action, the mood, andthe comradeship were there. A new concept incomics had been born. Simon and Kirbywent on top of the world. I also

enjoyed The Guardian [in “TheNewsboy Legion”], “Sandman,” “Manhunter,”Stuntman, and Fighting American… but not asmuch. Also, The Boy Commandos and The BoyExplorers.

I spoke to Simon once and askedhim who inked Kirby years ago. Hesaid that he was involved ineverything… whichmeans I wasn’t going toget a straight answer.And I didn’t. Glen: When you sayyou didn’t agree withsome of the stuffKirby did, what did-n’t you agree with?Pete: I liked thelean, mean, andsleek look thatKirby created forhis costumedheroes. Thatlook wasmeant foraction, andKirby delivered

Pete Morisi, Man of ThunderboltTalking with PAM about his long brilliant career in comics

CBA Interview

August 2000 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 61

Above: Often the only clue as tothe identity of a Morisi-drawnstory was the initials “PAM,” leav-ing many admirers wondering justwho the heck the artist was!

Opposite page: Great T-bolt com-mission piece by the master!©2000 Peter A. Morisi.

Left inset: Couple of issues ofPete’s memorable Charlton series,Peter Cannon–Thunderbolt, acharacter the artist owns the rightsto. ©2000 Peter A. Morisi.

Below: The Staten Island residentstill finds time now and then in hisretirement to knock out some ofhis handsome artwork. Courtesy ofPete Morisi.

Page 12: Comic Book Artist #9

August 2000 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 73

Compiled & conductedby Don Mangus

What follows is part-essay/part-interview with one of the moreunder-appreciated comic book artists of our time, the late PatBoyette, who passed away earlier this year. A renaissance maninvolved in numerous different mediums (film director/screen-writer/producer, radio announcer, TV anchorman are just a fewaccomplishments), Pat was also a participant—by mail from his basein San Antonio—in Charlton Comics’ Action Hero Line with ThePeacemaker, Spookman, The Phantom, and, significantly, “TheChildren of Doom” in Charlton Premiere #1. A comprehensive inter-view with the artist (conducted by Kenneth Smith) appeared in arecent Comics Journal, but no survey of ’60s Charlton would beproper without Pat’s presence, so many thanks to Don Mangus forpulling out his CAPA-APA article from 1997 and allowing us theopportunity to give Don’s talk a wider audience. —JBC

Pat Boyette: I think I am very fortunate. In my lifetime, I havehad the opportunity to do most everything I wanted to do. That isn’tto say I was successful at all of it, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing thethings I was able to. I was born in San Antonio, Texas, but my aware-ness of things that would eventually control my interests began in theyears that I spent in a little town called Junction.

My father had a business that was located right next to theweekly newspaper, which was just down the main street from themovie theater. I was fascinated by that weekly newspaper and themetals and the typesetting and the general feel of that little newspa-per. It excited me more than anything you could imagine, until onenight, because air conditioning was hard to come by in those days, Iwas walking down the main street with my family and I looked upover at the theater and I could see in the window where the projec-

tionist was laboring behind these veryhot arc lamps. He had a fan going

and sweat was pouring off him,rivers of it off this man, andthe atmosphere and the atti-tude of what was happening,this guy projecting motionpictures, was a big thrill tome. I remember trying veryhard to build a projectionbooth in my garage. I builtthis box and cut holes in it forthe projector to shine through.Motion pictures held me intotal fascination. So I had athing for printing, and for motion

pictures and they’re more closelyaligned than you mightthink.

My closestfriend in Junction,at the time, was

also a kid that wantedto be an artist—no, a

cartoonist not an artist—acartoonist. We would spend

hours drawing these cartoons which were

terrible things technically, but God, we loved them. And somewherein the grade school days almost like a revelation, it dawned on methat words could be put together to convey the thoughts that were inmy mind. I became aware that what really fascinated me was motionpictures, comics, and newspapers, and all these things were the basisfor telling stories. So my primary interest really was not in art, nor inmotion pictures, but in telling a story in some way or fashion and thatguided me in all the things I did in the following years, because whenI went into radio and into television, this was still telling a story. Thatwas the key to my life and cartooning came only after my desire towrite. It was merely a matter of being able to say, ”Gosh! Wouldn’t itbe great if l could find graphically a way in which to express thesewords that I’m putting down?“ Then I learned to draw, to illustratethe words.

My grammar school years were taken up with drawing pictures,historical stories, on a long roll of canvas, which simulated a motionpicture screen and it was a scroll that unrolled, you turned it and thisdrawing would pass in front of a little stage that I had built. Therewere two or three guys along with me, working on it, and for twoyears we worked on that bloody thing. Which is fine, except suchimportant subjects as math and English suffered as a result of it!Though I could draw pictures, being able to sign my name was aproblem, but again it goes back to storytelling and that’s what it wasabout. At that time, l started thinking, “Well, if I’m going to be anartist, or a storyteller, or a writer, I should have some education inthat direction.” At that point, there was an opening for a child actoron a radio program that was sponsored by Gebhardt’s Chili. I got thejob, playing the part of a little kid on the commercials. The stationitself started doing dramatic documentaries which required the storyto be told through the eyes or experiences of a youngster and so Igot that job. Well, let me assure you, that once I saw the microphoneand all the lights buzzing on the control panels, and all of these won-derful things, drawing and writing and everything else went out thewindow, and I was determined what I was going to be was a broad-caster.

Looming up ahead was the coming of World War II. We allknew it, and we also knew that we were going to be the high schoolclass that fought it. With the sudden drafting of many of the youngerguys who were announcers and newscasters, openings startedappearing all over the country. WOAI, which was an old home basefor me, was a clear channel station, 50, 000 watts that was heard in36 states and 11 foreign countries. It was a powerful station and wassusceptible to my suggestion that I be given a spot on the news desk.I became a news editor and very quickly after that, decided I wantedto read the news, not just write it. That opportunity presented itselfat another station and so I went there. It was a disaster really, but itgave me a foot in the door. I returned to WOAI within a matter ofjust a few months, and I went back as a news editor, in charge oftheir 10 O’Clock News.

I was still not doing as much announcing as I wanted to do, liv-ing off a deferment, because radio was a vital industry, but I was get-ting antsy about it. I didn’t like the idea of not being in the servicebecause everybody I knew was gone and I finally couldn’t stand itanymore. I took my displeasure at the condition I was in, plus theopportunity to go back to broadcasting the news as a sign to moveto another station. I was living off WOAI’s deferment and knewwhen that deferment was up that Spring, in six months I would begone, so that was my way of volunteering. WOAI asked if theyshould reapply for my deferment, and I said no. Sure enough, I went

The Boyette BrillianceA 1997 Interview with the Late Pat Boyette, Texas Star Artist

CBA Interview

Below: Courtesy of J. DavidSpurlock, here’s a self-portrait by

Pat done in 1998.

Page 13: Comic Book Artist #9

Below: Judomaster utilizing hismartial artistry on this cover detail

from Charlton Bullseye #3, the“Special Kung Fu Issue.” Art byFrank McLaughlin. Courtesy of

Bob Layton & CPL/GangProductions. Judomaster ©2000

DC Comics.

Conducted by Jon B. CookeTranscribed by Jon B. Knutson

Frank McLaughlin inked two million issues of The Flash, a bil-lion-and-a-half Justice Leagues of Americas, and has embellishedGreen Arrow since the Jurassic Age. Seriously, Frank has been in theindustry for forty years but is still probably best renowned for start-ing the first martial arts comic, Judomaster, half a decade before theKung Fu fad hit the States. A master of Judo himself, these daysFrank continues to work in the industry. This telephone interviewwas conducted on March 15, 2000, and the artist copyedited thefinal transcript.

Comic Book Artist: Did you have an early interest incomics?Frank McLaughlin: Sure. I read whatever was available whenI was a kid. That’s going back… early ’40s, you know?CBA: Any particular artists that inspired you?Frank: Actually, I was inspired mostly by the magazine illustratorsof that time: Colby Whitmore, Joe Bowler, Howard Terpning, Joe DeMers, and many more. The earlier illustrators from the art noveauperiod, as well—Gustav Klimt, Alfons Mucha, and others. Later on,strip artists such as Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff. CBA: Did you go to art school?Frank: Yeah, I did. I went to University of Bridgeport, New Haven

State Teachers’ College—we used to call that StrangeCreatures College. [laughs] Most of what I learned aboutcomics came from working with other artists, MauriceWhitman, Dick Giordano, and of course Stan Drake. CBA: Were you assisting Stan Drake?Frank: Yes. Tex Blaisdell was assisting Stan and left

to take on the LittleOrphan Annie strip.Dick Giordanosuggested I dosome samples and

so I did. When Imet Stan

(forthefirsttime), I

felt some-what intimidatedas one might

expect. He hired me on the spot after a quick glance at the samples. Iwas completely shocked and didn’t know what to say! We wound uphitting golf balls the rest of the afternoon at a local driving range. Atthat time, he was a “scratch” golfer and had won a few tourna-ments. We hit it off immediately. CBA: I heard some stories about how tough it would be for him tomake the syndicate deadlines. Frank: Well, Stan workedvery hard on the strip, itwasn’t like Peanuts; every-thing was researched, andhe took pictures for a lot ofstuff, and used a lot of refer-ence. He took great pride inwhat he did. Sure, it tooktime to do a set of dailiesand a Sunday. He was amaz-ing, he could sit down andsay, “I’ll be out of here in anhour,” and he would countup how many heads he hadto do, how many hands andso forth, and he’d say, “20minutes for this, 20 minutesfor that,” and so forth, andson of a gun! Almost precisely, to the minute, he’d be done! I don’tknow how he did that!CBA: Were you doing backgrounds?Frank: I would pencil and ink just about everything that wasn’t amain figure. Quite often we took Polaroid shots of each other. Stanfelt a natural pose that was photographed always worked better thanone that was “just made up.” We would turn a posed photo of Staninto an old woman, for example, and laugh and kid about it later.

There was a time when he was behind deadlines for monthsand months and months, and finally he got caught up, and we decid-ed to celebrate. We finished in the morning, and we were officiallycaught up to deadline, so we decided to play a joke and we did an X-rated Friday strip, and then we did the regular one, and pasted thefake one over it, you know? So, we sent it in to the syndicate, andStan said, “I’ll bet they don’t get the joke.” I said, “We’ll see.” Sureenough, the phone rings, and it’s the editor at King Features, and hesays, “Stan, are you going to be home?” And Stan says, “Sure, I’mgoing to be home. Why?” He said, “We’re going to be in the neigh-borhood”—from 60 miles away—”and we thought we’d stop by andsee you.” [laughs] They thought he’d flipped his wig! [laughter] Stanfinally suggested that he peel the top layer back and he would findthe “real” strip underneath. There was a long pause as he did so andthen he responded, “Uh… okay! Thanks, Stan.” Click. We roared!CBA: No sense of humor. Frank: I’d love to have that strip back, though. It was hysterical.The syndicate guy didn’t get it. So, that was a waste of time, I guess,but we had fun. CBA: Stan was in Westport?Frank: Yeah. It’s about a 20-minute drive from here. CBA: Did you see John Prentice a lot?Frank: Oh, sure! We used to occasionally have lunch together...John, Stan, Bill Yates, Gill Fox, Curt Swan.... CBA: “The Westport Mafia,” right?Frank: “The Westport Mafia,” right. [laughter] Occasionally,

The McLaughlin ReportFrank McLaughlin on Judomaster and Life at Charlton

CBA Interview

Inset right: Cover of the first issueof Judomaster, #93, featuring our

hero and his sidekick, Tiger.©2000 DC Comics.

78 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

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Conducted by Jon B. CookeTranscribed by Jon B. Knutson

Sam J. Glanzman has been in the trenches of the comics indus-try for about 60 years now, starting with Funnies, Inc., where heworked alongside his brother, Louis (later a renowned painter), as anartist. His most memorable work include Kona for Dell; Hercules and“The Lonely War of Willy Schultz” for Charlton; “U.S.S. Stevens”and “The Haunted Tank” for DC; a stint on the “It Happened toMe” for Outdoor Life magazine; and inker for variousJonah Hex mini-series over Tim Truman’s pencils forVertigo. Sam might also be characterized as the father ofmainstream autobiographical comics with his use of theform to express his World War II Naval experiences in the“U.S.S. Stevens” back-up stories, culminating with hisMarvel Graphic Novel, A Sailor’s Life. The artist was inter-viewed by phone on March 17, 2000, and he copyeditedthe transcript.

Comic Book Artist: After you got out of the Navyin ’46, did you try to get back to work in the comics?Sam Glanzman: Not at first, no. CBA: Why was that? Sam: Well, because my first comic strip, “The Fly Man,” Idid before the war, I was getting $7. 50 a page for the wholedamn thing, pencils, inks, story, and coloring. So, when I gotout of the service, I figured, “Hell, that’s not much money.”So I started working in cabinet shops, lumber mills, and boatyards. I kinda bummed around. CBA: Pretty physical labor. Sam: Yeah. Then I got married. CBA: You were installing machine guns?Sam: Yeah, that was in the mid-’50s, I think. I got married, and Istarted work at Republic Aircraft installing .50 caliber guns in theirSabre jets. CBA: Where were you living when you got married?Sam: I was living in Rockaway, later Valley Stream, then we got ahome in Masapequa Park where I started at Republic. Sometime latermy wife saw an ad in The New York Times looking for comic artists,so I scooted into New York with a portfolio. Somewhere along theline, I was also doing some illustrations for hardcover books, becausethat was paying $750 a book, instead of $7. 50 a page. And I onlyhad to draw six or eight illustrations in the book, but I wasn’t gettingenough books to work on. CBA: What kind of books were they, do you recall?Sam: Children’s books. One of them was a pocket book, a thing onscouting, and I did some stuff for Grosset & Dunlap. I did someghosting for my brother, too. CBA: Louis Glanzman?Sam: Yeah. Let’s see... something that’s got my name on it... JetCadet, I think. It was a series of hardcover books. CBA: For kids?Sam: Yeah, for kids. I think I got a byline on that. Anyway, like Isaid, I wasn’t getting enough jobs, so then I went to Republic Aircraftand worked steady, because I was married, and children would comelater. And then, I finally went into comics. My wife saw the ad, and Itook my samples over to Pat Masulli [Charlton’s executive editor] inNew York. CBA: Oh, they had a New York office that you recall?

Sam: Yeah, that’s where I went. There were a bunch of guys out-side with portfolios, and they’d go in and come out with sad looks ontheir faces, something like that, I couldn’t figure it out. Anyway, Iwent in, I found out it was because they were paying very low, but Isaid, “I don’t care, as long as you give me a lot of work.” I figuredI’d learn comics. I didn’t know comics then; still don’t. So Pat gaveme a lot of work, and that was that. CBA: So you were doing war material—Fightin’ Army, Fightin’

Navy, etc. ?Sam: Yeah, all war stuff. ThenI got started doing Hercules,and I had a lot of fun on that. CBA: Who were you work-ing with on that?Sam: Joe Gill was the writer. CBA: Did you get to talk toJoe at all?Sam: Oh, yeah. We playedcards a couple of times. Iplayed cards with PatMasulli... I don’t know ifDick was there or not. Patused to carry a pistol in hisbelt, you know. [laughter]He didn’t have a holster,but carried it tucked inback, beneath his jacket. CBA: [laughs] So, didyou deliver your workonce a week?Sam: I can’t remember

whether I mailed it in, or messengered it, or what. CBA: Do you think you visited Charlton a lot?Sam: Their office in Connecticut? I don’t believe I went there veryoften. Three times, probably, at the most. CBA: Hercules was a fun strip, and you obviously were having aball. Sam: Oh, yeah, and I had a free hand in it. Boy, you guys call itexperimenting, I didn’t call it that, I was just having fun with it. I wassqueezing in thought words, emotional words, around figures. Stufflike that... if you pick up some particular Hercules, you’ll find it. I wasdoing that, and I was having a lot of fun with the splash pages, lay-outs. CBA: So at the same time, you also began to freelance with Dellfor Kona and Classics Illustrated?Sam: I think it was pretty near the same time I was working bothoutfits. My Charlton art was real crummy crap. When I see it now, Icould die. Except for Hercules, which looked fairly decent. I did aTarzan, that wasn’t so hot, either. But everybody seems to like itsomewhat. CBA: Did you ever hear the story that the Edgar Rice Burroughs’people noticed the sales on your unauthorized book, Jungle Tales ofTarzan, were better than the authorized version, and that somehowled to the title going over to DC?Sam: No, I don’t know anything about that, Jon. I lived in a cavethen, and I live in a cave now. Murray Boltinoff used to say I lived inan ivory tower. [laughter] I don’t even know how the damn booksare printed or sent out! All I know is I would do the work and give itto the editor, and I don’t know who he answers to, or what he does,

Glanzman’s Derby DaysOur Man Sam discusses his Charlton work in the ’60s

CBA Interview

Below: The artist in repose.Sam takes a break from all ofhis DC war work in this shotfrom 1976. Courtesy of the

artist.

Right inset: Cover to Joe Gill &Sam Glanzman’s Hercules

book for Charlton. ©2000 therespective copyright holder.

84 COMIC BOOK ARTIST August 2000

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Conducted by Jon B. CookeTranscribed by Jon B. Knutson

Will Franz was a teenager when he first starting writing forCharlton Comics in 1967. By the few who “know,” Will’s Fightin’Army series, “The Lonely War of Captain Willy Schultz,” about aGerman-speaking American officer masquerading as a German sol-dier behind enemy lines, is recalled as one of the finest war serials incomics, putting the reader in the shoes of the “enemy,” a rare occur-rence in America’s usual gung-ho war comics. Working solely as awriter of war stories—mostly for Charlton but some for Joe Kubert’s“Make War No More” titles at DC—Will left the field by 1973. CBAthanks Will’s often artist-partner, Sam Glanzman, for getting us intouch with the writer. Thanks also to Fred Hembeck. This interview,conducted by phone on March 19, 2000 , was copyedited by Will.

Comic Book Artist: Where are you from?Will Franz: I’m from Brooklyn, New York. I met Sam Glanzman...I think I wrote to him sometime in 1965 or ‘66. I used to collect theCombat series that he did for Dell, and I always wanted to be anartist myself, and I did my own drawings. I sent samples of my workto Sam care of Dell, and he sent me a letter back and critiqued mydrawings, and wanted to meet me. So I went and met him, and oneof the first things he wanted to know was, where were my swipefiles, meaning my reference material. He was quite surprised to findmost of my reference material was from his own work! CBA: [laughs] That’s exactly the story he just gave me! [laughter]Will: He’s a character, you know? [laughs] You heard of balls ofbrass? He had iron balls! [laughter] I used to make up my own sto-ries, and he was impressed with some of what hesaw, and he said Dick Giordanoat Charlton was lookingto start up some

series, and forme to write.Sam showed mehow he pre-ferred a scriptexecuted—theformat—and hesaid, “Get thesetogether andsend ’em out toDick Giordano.”I sent them offto Dick and hedidn’t like them,and sent themback. Heexplained why,and that he’dlike to see more. CBA: Whatwere the strips?Will: Theywere short sto-ries, like fourpages each. I have them buried somewhere. Believe me, they werenothing to speak of. They were war stories. I specialized in warfare,and I put together some other thing, a horrendous little Vietnamthing called “The Sniper.” I wasn’t proud of it, but hey, I put ittogether, Dick loved it, and he made it the cover story on some mag-azine called Charlton Premiere, and that was it! From then on, heasked me to work up some series ideas, and I came up with “TheLonely War of Willy Schultz,” “The Iron Corporal,” and then a

thankfully short-lived series called “The Devil’s Brigade,” abouttwo rogue tanks in North Africa. Working with DickGiordano was fun.

CBA: Oh, so were you living in Brooklyn at thetime?

Will: Yeah, I was living in Brooklyn. I was 15 or16. CBA: You were born in 1950?Will: Right. I developed Type 1 Diabetesjust before my 14th birthday, and could-n’t attend regular school. I was reallysick, still serious but under control now.

I guess I was coping with some of theproblems of diabetes by writing and drawing.

CBA: What attracted you to war material?Will: I really don’t know. There are no soldiers in my family.A diabetic counselor said years ago that in a way, dealing withwarfare, I was dealing with my own medical problems. I wenton and became a fencing master years later, and I was veryaggressive and meticulous, and again, they were saying,

“This is your way of coping with the cruelties of your disease,”so to speak.

CBA: Were you into other comic books, too, or was it primarilywar?Will: No, I wanted to be an illustrator. To me, my skill—with the dia-betes—there’d be times when I couldn’t control a pencil or pen prop-erly. My reliability, I felt, wasn’t up to a professional level, and I didn’t

The Lonely War of Will FranzThe Writer on “Willy Schultz” and Charlton Comics

CBA Interview

Below: The writer Will Franzdressed up in his role as Captain(!)

of the Newcastle Infantrie, the16th century military reenactment

unit, “Companie of the Shot.”Phew! For a second we though

this get-up was all the rageamongst New York civil workers!Courtesy of the writer. Photo by

Cynthia Farnell.

Right inset: Cover of the first issueof Fightin’ Army—# 76—to featureWill Franz’s memorable war series,“The Lonely War of Captain Willy

Schultz.” ©2000 RogerBroughton/ACG Comics.

92 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

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Conducted by Jon B. CookeTranscribed by Jon B. Knutson

To admit I felt decidedly out of place calling one of comics’ bestwriters to discuss—ugh! of all topics!—comic book characters is adrastic understatement, but the sheer coolness of having a chat withMr. Alan Moore eased the prospect considerably. The self-professedanarchist is plainly a nice guy and we spent more time talking abouta real-life character—Steve Ditko—than, say, the relationshipbetween Judomaster and Tiger. Alan currently rules the marketplacewith his critically-successful and popular America’s Best Comics line,his and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell collection is flying off bookstoreshelves, and life seems pretty good for the British writer. And, yes,good reader, there really is a connection with the wildly-popularscribe and Charlton Comics. This interview took place via phone onJune 16, 2000. (Special thanks to JBK for the speedy transcription. )

Comic Book Artist: Did you read Charlton comics as a kid?Alan Moore: Yes, I did. It was kind of pecking order situation,with the distribution of all American comics being very spotty inEngland. I believe they were originally brought over as ballast onships, which meant there’d be sometimes a whole month of a partic-ular comic, or even a whole lot of comics that I just missed. So, con-sequently, I’d buy my favorites early in the month, and then a littlelater, I’d probably buy my second favorites [laughter]... and by theend of the month, I’d be down to Casper, the Friendly Ghost just to

keep my comic habit fulfilled. Somewhere along theway there, I’d see the Archie/MLJ/Mighty

super-hero comics, the Tower comics thatwere around at the time....

CBA: Was Charlton at the bottomof the list for you?Alan: They’d vary, it woulddepend. Charlton would be atsome points low on the list, butthen, there was a wonderfulperiod which I later realizedwas when Dick Giordano washaving a great deal of creativesay in the Charlton books,when they became very highon the list. There’s still one ofthe books, Charlton Premiere—sort of a Showcase title—and I

remember in the second or thirdissue of that, there was this wonderfulthing called “Children of Doom” by PatBoyette, who died recently. It was anincredibly sort of progressive piece ofstorytelling. He was obviously, I’d imag-ine, looking at artists like Steranko thatwere coming up and messing around withthe form and sort of experimenting. Patdecided to pitch his own hat into the ring,apparently.

Prior to that golden period whenDick was editor, I very much enjoyed theSteve Ditko stuff—Captain Atom and theCharlton monster books—so the main rea-

son that I liked Charlton would’ve been probably Steve Ditko, origi-nally. Not to say that there weren’t other great artists and writers, butthe ace of it all was, Ditko was the only one that I really noticed, untilthat period when Dick took over.

I remember there was a very short-lived strip that I think wasprobably based on Harlan Ellison’s “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Tick-Tock Man” that was about a kind of futuristic jester character drawnby Jim Aparo. He might’ve even been called the Harlequin or some-thing like that, but I remember it was drawn by Jim Aparo, it lastedfor a couple of episodes, probably written by Steve Skeates or some-body.

There were some very good little strips, and then of course,there was that big Charlton revamp where we got the new BlueBeetle, the new Captain Atom, and so forth, which was a shot in thearm. All of these things contributed in pushing Charlton higher up myleague title of which comics to buy first. They never quite oustedMarvel or DC, but during that golden period, Charlton was up therewith the best of them. CBA: Do you recall The Question?Alan: Yes, I do. That was another very interesting character, and itwas almost a pure Steve Ditko character, in that it was odd-looking.“The Question” didn’t look like any other super-hero on the market,and it also seemed to be a kind of mainstream comics version ofSteve Ditko’s far more radical “Mr. A,” from witzend. I remember atthe time—this would’ve been when I was just starting to get involvedin British comics fandom—there was a British fanzine that was pub-lished over here by a gentleman called Stan Nichols (who has sincegone to write a number of fantasy books). In Stan’s fanzine,Stardock, there was an article called “Propaganda, or Why the BlueBeetle Voted for George Wallace.” [laughter] This was the late-’60s,and British comics fandom had quite a strong hippie element. Despitethe fact that Steve Ditko was obviously a hero to the hippies with hispsychedelic “Dr. Strange” work and for the teen angst of Spider-Man, Ditko’s politics were obviously very different from those fans.His views were apparent through his portrayals of Mr. A and the pro-testers or beatniks that occasionally surfaced in his other work. I thinkthis article was the first to actually point out that, yes, Steve Ditko didhave a very right-wing agenda (which of course, he’s completely enti-tled to), but at the time, it was quite interesting, and that probablyled to me portraying [Watchmen character] Rorschach as an extreme-ly right-wing character. CBA: When you read some of Ditko’s diatribes in “The Question”and in some issues of Blue Beetle, did you read it with bemusementor disgust?Alan: Well...CBA: A mix of both?Alan: Well, no. I can look at Salvador Dali’s work and marvel at it,despite the fact that I believe that Dali was probably a completely dis-gusting human being [laughter] and borderline fascist, but that does-n’t detract from the genius of his artwork. With Steve Ditko, I at leastfelt that though Steve Ditko’s political agenda was very different tomine, Steve Ditko had a political agenda, and that in some ways sethim above most of his contemporaries. During the ’60s, I learnedpretty quickly about the sources of Steve Ditko’s ideas, and I realizedvery early on that he was very fond of the writing of Ayn Rand. CBA: Did you explore her philosophy?Alan: I had to look at The Fountainhead. I have to say I found AynRand’s philosophy laughable. It was a “white supremacist dreams ofthe master race,” burnt in an early-20th century form. Her ideas did-

Below: T-Shirt design by DaveGibbons adapted from DC’s Who’s

Who #5 featuring the cast ofWatchmen. ©2000 DC Comics.

Toasting Absent HeroesAlan Moore discusses the Charlton-Watchmen Connection

CBA Interview

100 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

Page 17: Comic Book Artist #9

106 COMIC BOOK ARTIST 9 August 2000

by Robert Greenberger

Editor’s note: Courtesy of a tip shared by Chris Irving, I firstdiscover evidence that DC once planned a weekly tabloid featuringthe Charlton Action Hero characters when my talk with FrankMcLaughlin reveals he drew a Judomaster story for the companyaround 1985. It was slated for use in something called Blockbuster, aproposed weekly that evidently was abandoned. That same day, Ireceive Ken Bruzenak’s sketchbooks (to illustrate his interview inCBA #8) and, lo! I find logo designs by Ken for the same abortedbook. The mystery widens as Dave Gibbons then e-mails me a coverto the unrealized (and hitherto unknown) Comics Cavalcade Weeklyfeaturing the Charlton characters and Superman—and just what thehell is Comics Cavalcade Weekly?! I’m losing sleep pondering thisconundrum, and I hear that Pete Morisi possesses a T-bolt story stillunpubbed. In desperation, I call Mike Gold (former DC staffer whocontributes a sidebar here on the name “Blockbuster”) but he knowslittle and suggests I call Joey Cavalieri at DC. “Nope, can’t helpya, ”Joey sez, “try Robert Greenberger.” Thank heavens, Robert is anelectronic correspondent and, jackpot! Robert solves for us the mys-tery of Project: Blockbuster. —JBC

Paul Levitz made a gift of the Charlton heroes to then-ExecutiveEditor Dick Giordano in 1983. Dick was told they included CaptainAtom, Blue Beetle, The Question, Sarge Steel, Peacemaker, PeterCannon—Thunderbolt, and Nightshade. None of the other featuressuch as the Fightin’ Five or the one-off characters such as DennyO’Neil’s Wander were included. That December, when I interviewedto join staff, Dick spoke with delight of how he was developing theheroes into something special: America’s first weekly comic book.

Little did I realize that with some time on my hands, as bothCrisis on Infinite Earths and Who’s Who slowly geared up, that Dickwould be asking for my help. Truth be told, the original project filesare long gone and we’re dealing with fuzzy memories at best so thisrecreation is the best I can do.

Dick needed my assistance in keeping this and some of his othereditorial projects (such as The Dark Knight Returns and DCChallenge) moving along. He outlined plans to feature all theCharlton heroes in two- to four-page stories plus some sort ofSuperman tale to identify the book as clearly set at DC. It would be a32-page newsstand comic and hopefully help change people’s read-ing habits.

Along the way, Marv Wolfman asked Dick how the Charltonheroes should be handled in Crisis and it was agreed that they’d beon their own world and wind up on the one remaining DC-Earthwhen all was over. The heroes would be immediately integrated intothe continuity, included in the Who’s Who, etc. Any writer whohoped to guest star them in their own titles were told they were notto be seen until Crisis.

Dick had already made numerous assignments as he started toget a feel for what he wanted the book to be like. Blue Beetle, thelight-hearted crime fighter, was given to Steve Englehart, David Ross,and (oddly) Alex Niño. One of the most interesting elements Steveintroduced was having the Beetle married, his wife supportive of TedKord’s career. (Imagine an updated Elongated Man/Sue Dibny rela-tionship. )

Peacemaker went to Keith Giffen and Gary Martin. Keithwould write for the first time, and pencil the serial. It was Keith whodecided that Christopher Smith heard a voice from the helmet,

adding a psychological twist to the proceedings. Later on, PaulKupperberg played off the notion as the spirit of his father speakingto him in the Tod Smith-drawn mini-series.

Dick’s old pals Pete Morisi and Frank McLaughlin were invitedback and asked to start new serials with their creations, Peter Cannonand Judomaster respectively. Both would do everything: Write, pencil,and ink.

I was left to find talent for Captain Atom, The Question, andSarge Steel. Fortunately, we had a number of freelancers with fondmemories of the heroes so picking people was none too difficult. Ofcourse, I was still meeting people and developing my own editorialtastes, so I was open to everything and everyone.

Such a novice approach may have helped doom the project.After all, Dick had some notion what he wanted the book to be but Idon’t recall getting an in-depth look at that notion. I was pretty muchleft to my own devices, with Dick acting as cheerleader/consultant. Inretrospect, launching something as new and different as a weeklycomic should have been given to an experienced editor—neither menor Dick, to be honest—one who could have devoted a lot more timeto it, much as Karen Berger’s schedule was such that she could focuson New Talent Showcase and developing people for DC’s use.

Mike Barr volunteered to write “The Question,” which gotassigned to New Talent Showcase alumnus Stan Woch to pencil andRick Magyar to ink. Andy Helfer, still a Special Projects editor at thetime, had been talking with Dick about working together on some-thing so they cobbled together the idea of producing Sarge Steel.Dick didn’t have the time to pencil his old feature but knew he couldfit in inking. Trevor VonEeden, just walking off Thriller, got tabbed forthat gig.

“Captain Atom” was a little tougher to figure out. He was asuper-hero, similar to Firestorm but in need of an experienced hand. Iturned to Paul Kupperberg, who clearly knew how to write super-heroes and could try something different. I finally settled on a new-comer named Paul Chadwick to pencil. If I have the chronology right,he had just done some Dazzler work at Marvel.

The “Superman” feature, it was decided, would be reprints ofthe then-current newspaper strip which featured Superman and otherheroes, as produced by Marty Pasko, George Tuska, and VinceColletta. It had not been previously collected except as a single vol-ume from Tor Books, so would be fresh, in color, and hopefully amust-have for comics fans. We formatted it so you would get aweek, complete with Sunday strip, in two pages.

Dick gave everything the green light and we got started. Some,such as Giffen and Morisi, produced in very steady batches so theirchapters started filling the cabinets. Others were tougher to get intothe groove of producing weekly storytelling. We got a few chaptersdone for “Captain Atom” but Paul Chadwick was not fast. In fact,Denys Cowan came in and started penciling the feature before wegot too far. Thankfully, Chadwick still talks to me these days.

Dick kept calling it Blockbuster, a named bandied about forsome time but never used for a comic. Looking further back into DC’shistory, I chose to revive Comics Cavalcade (All-American’s answer toDC’s World’s Finest) so logo designs from Ken Bruzenak evolved fromBlockbuster to the unwieldy Comics Cavalcade Weekly. Had somesaner head spoken up, such as Paul or Bruce Bristow, it would havehad a stronger name. Another tyro error.

I asked Dave Gibbons for the favor of his producing the firstcover but we never really thought beyond that on how the coversshould be handled after that—spotlighting one feature or all of them.

Project: BlockbusterBob Greenberger reveals DC’s Charlton Weekly Project

Deep Background

Background image: Promotionalpainting for DC Comics, heralding

the acquisition of Charlton’sAction Hero Line.

©2000 DC Comics.

COMIC BOOK ARTIST #9 Interviews with Charlton alumni JOE GILL, DICK GIORDANO,STEVE SKEATES, DENNIS O’NEIL, ROY THOMAS, PETE MORISI,JIM APARO, PAT BOYETTE, FRANK MCLAUGHLIN, SAMGLANZMAN, plus ALAN MOORE on the Charlton/ WatchmenConnection, DC’s planned ALL-CHARLTON WEEKLY, and more!DICK GIORDANO cover!

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