The Best of Alter Ego Volume 2 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Flash, Hawkman, & Dr. Fate TM & © DC Comics; other art © Estate of Sam Grainger.

The Best of

VOLUME 2 More Fabulous Features from the Legendary Comics Fanzine of the 1960s-70s

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TwoMorrows.Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. (& LEGO! ) TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

The Best of

™

Volume 2

Edited by

Roy Thomas and

Bill Schelly

From Alter Ego (Vol. 1) #1-11 (1961-1978) Originally Edited by

Jerry Bails, Ronn Foss, Roy Thomas, and Mike Friedrich

TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 website: www.twomorrows.com First Printing: May 2013 • Printed in Canada • ISBN: 978-1-60549-048-9

Pedro Angosto Jean Bails Jerry G. Bails Doc Boucher Al Bradford E. Nelson Bridwell Sol Brodsky Bernie Bubnis Rick Burchett Mal Burns Pete Carlsson Jon B. Cooke Pauline Copeman Al Dellinges Steve Ditko Shel Dorf Jackie Estrada Tom Fagan Danny Fingeroth Shane Foley Ronn Foss Gary Friedrich

Mike Friedrich Dominique Gaillard Paul Gambaccini Steve Gerber Jean Giraud (Moebius) Sam Grainger Irving Glassman Larry Guidry Mark Hanerfeld Ron Harris Hurricane Heeran Robert Hopkins Glen Johnson Douglas Jones Shel Kagan Jay Kinney Joe Kubert Richard Kyle Ed Lahmann Stan Lee Arthur Lortie Russ Maheras

Douglas Marden Raymond Miller Drury Moroz Brian K. Morris Fred Patten Linda Rahm-Crites Trina Robbins Sam Rosen Derrill Rothermich L.L. Simpson Scott Stewart Ken Tesar Albert “Bud” Tindall Dann Thomas Harry Thomas Jean Thomas Mike Tuohey Biljo White Ruthie White Stan Woolston Mike Zeck

—and to Julie Schwartz, Gardner Fox, & Otto Binder… always

Acknowledgments (both to those who are living, and to those who have passed on)

This book is affectionately dedicated to the memory of Jerry G. Bails, Ronn Foss, & Biljo White —colleagues and friends Cover by Sam Grainger, colored by Tom Ziuko (Flash figure adapted by Shane Foley) [Hawkman, Dr. Fate, & Flash TM & © DC Comics]

All DC characters featured on the cover, the distinctive likenesses thereof, and all related elements are the property of DC Comics. Additional Copyright Information: Alter Ego name & logo TM & © Roy & Dann Thomas; Joy Holiday TM & © Estate of Ronn Foss. Characters from DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and others depicted herein are TM & © by their respective companies and/or creators, and are used here strictly for historical purposes. 2

“More of the Best” – Introduction by Bill Schelly ..........................................................................................4 “The SECOND Best of Alter Ego” – Introduction by Roy Thomas ...................................................................... 5 The Jerry Bails Interview ........................................................................................................................6 Jon B. Cooke’s e-conversation with the founder of the first comic book super-hero fanzine. The Naming of Alter-Ego, 1961 ............................................................................................................18 Jerry Bails on how The JLA Subscriber concept became… something else.

Alter-Ego #1-3: The Spirit Duplicator Issues......................................................................................19 How the “Ditto Masters of the Universe” gave birth to “purple” prose… and pictures.

The Comicollector—The Companion to Alter-Ego .................................................................................... 44 The coming of comic fandom’s first adzine—with features intended for A/E!

Alter-Ego #4: Jerry Bails’ Photo-Offset Finale....................................................................................55 Alter Ego #5-6: The Ronn Foss Issues .............................................................................................. 61 Alter Ego #7-9: The Roy Thomas Fan Issues ......................................................................................87 The Alter Ego #10 That Almost Was ..................................................................................................124 Alter Ego #10: The First “Pro” Issue ..............................................................................................138 Alter Ego #11: The Mike Friedrich Issue ........................................................................................154 Afterword by Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly ....................................................................................................159

[Special thanks to Shane Foley for the “Table of Contents” illo above—and for his drawings of Alter & Captain Ego, created by Biljo White. The Captain Ego figure is based on a Major Victory drawing by Biljo in Marvel’s The Invaders #16 (May 1977); the Alter drawing is based on art by Biljo in Alter Ego [Vol. 1] #7. Table of contents art © 2013 Shane Foley; Alter & Captain Ego TM & © 2013 Roy Thomas & Bill Schelly.] 3

“More Of The Best”

Greetings From Co-Editor Bill Schelly

Momentous Musings On This Second Collection From The Original Issues Of Alter Ego, The Classic Fanzine From Fandom’s Golden Age!

When I launched my

publishing imprint Hamster Press with fanzine-format publications such as The Ronn Foss Retrospective (1992), I had no idea that within a few years I would graduate into the wider publishing world. Trade paperbacks such as The Golden Age of Comic Fandom (1995) and Fandom’s Finest Comics (1997) brought my collections of historical writings and Bill Schelly. reprints to thousands of readers, demonstrating that there were a lot of fans who appreciated reminiscences of the early days of what we then called “comicdom.” The fact that these books were breaking even was sufficient encouragement for me to plan more. Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine was the third Hamster Press trade paperback. Roy and I worked on it through most of 1997. It proved to be a harder task than we had anticipated. The cover alone, a collage of the covers of most of the original eleven issues of A/E, was a complicated mosaic that took cover layout artist Nils Osmar many hours to perfect. The Best of Alter Ego (as we only semi-accurately call it for short) was full to the brim with wonderful articles, art, and strips—yet so much more had to be left out! With such an embarrassment of riches, we found ourselves frustrated by the purely subjective process of choosing what to include. While there were admittedly some high-profile items that were inevitabilities (like Howard Keltner’s “MLJ Leads the Way” from #4 and Roy’s “One Man’s Family” from #7, both Alley Award-winners), it soon became clear that virtually anything that had appeared in those original well-constructed issues— for the various editors had always had access to the cream of fandom’s writers and artists—could have been a lead feature in most other amateur publications of that time. What to do? When you’re talking about material by such talents as Tom Fagan, L. L. Simpson, E. Nelson Bridwell, Ed Lahmann, Fred Patten, Biljo White, Grass Green, and Sam Grainger, not to

mention more by editors Bails, Foss, and Thomas, it’s clear that a lot of fine material would not make the cut in the 1997 volume. The solution became a bit easier when I exercised my publisher’s prerogative not to include “The Eclipse,” a 10-page original comic strip (inspired by Dr. Mid-Nite) by Drury Moroz and Ronn Foss from A/E #5, since it had been reprinted earlier that year in Fandom’s Finest Comics. The same was true of the newly discovered, pre-A/E #1, twice-up, inked version of “Bestest League of America,” chapter 1, which otherwise would have been a slam-dunk rarity for the collection. Omitting these two pieces freed up 15 pages. We were limited in another way: we could squeeze in just two of the several items that had been sent to Jerry Bails for A/E but had wound up appearing in his adzine The Comicollector, “The Companion to Alter-Ego,” which was published concurrently. Only Roy’s “Four of a Kind” review of Fantastic Four #1 (and his BLA/Thing cartoon from CC #2) made it into the ’97 book. Similarly, the only special “behind the scenes” feature was the five-page “Alter Ego Story,” which told of the fanzine’s creation. Therefore, we’re thrilled to be able to produce this second Best of Alter Ego volume, which not only reprints considerable additional material from those original eleven issues, but also includes more “phantom Alter Ego features” from the pages of The Comicollector—plus a special section on “The Alter Ego #10 That Almost Was,” highlighting that issue’s projected cover and the partial adaptation by Thomas and Grainger of Gardner Fox’s paperback novel Warrior of Llarn. In addition, we’re presenting Jon B. Cooke’s never-before-published interview with Jerry Bails, the most in-depth interview A/E’s founder ever gave, with numerous previously unseen photos. Mike Tuohey has added his own evocative reminiscences of assisting Jerry on his fanzines way back when. These and other specially-marked “Alter Ego Extra!” pieces give the reader a deeper perspective from which to view both the rest of this book and, indeed, what we can now refer to as Best of, Vol. 1. Considering that the first Best of collection has gone through two successful printings (the second one, by TwoMorrows Publishing, is still in print), I have little doubt there are plenty of potential readers out there for this one, and that they will find this book just as interesting and charming as its predecessor. I do—and I’m just like you: an enthusiastic fan of that erstwhile “Cadillac of fanzines,” which the great Jerry Bails named—Alter Ego!

“The SECOND Best Of Alter Ego” A Bit Of Introductory Housecleaning & Hoop-La by Co-Editor Roy Thomas

The SECOND Best of Alter Ego.

Yep, that’s the self-consciously ironic title I wanted to give this second volume of “more of the best” of the first A/E series that lurched along in fits and starts between 1961 and 1978. But younger and wiser heads prevailed—both co-editor Bill Schelly and publisher John Morrow were cool to that name— and I finally decided, what the hell, maybe they knew something. “The second best” might sound as if we believe the material in this book is automatically inferior to what Bill and I selected for the first volume, a decade and a half ago. Of course, inevitably, some of it is. After all, Bill and I put our best foot forward in 1997, feeling it unlikely we’d ever publish a follow-up volume. Still, as my co-editor says on the preceding page, Ronn Foss’ “Eclipse” origin in #5 was left out only for technical reasons… as were several other features we passed over for one reason or another. So it’s good, lo these many years later, to see what we can squeeze into a second collection. In the case of A/E #1-3, I fear, it’s mostly my stuff you’ll be wading through. That was kind of unavoidable, since founder/publisher/editor Jerry G. Bails and I, his titular co-editor, were darn near the only contributors to those initial issues except for a pair of brief re-tellings of heroes’ origins by others, Ron Haydock’s article on the 1944 Captain America movie serial, a smattering of mail, and a clever satirical letter written by my longtime girlfriend Linda Rahm (later, like Jerry, a college professor). But I’ll confess: I’ve always wanted to see a full reprinting of all 17 pages of my three-chapter “Bestest League of America” yarn, which was spread over those three 1961 issues. Whether they deserve a second look, I leave for the reader to decide. At least we shoehorned them all into a mere eleven pages in this book! From issue #4 onward, the contributors became many and varied, with Jerry in particular far less in evidence as he concentrated on the indexing and data-collection which were his passions, but not mine. Even so, his indomitable spirit permeates the whole. What are the non-JGB/RT features I’m happiest to see reprinted this time around? Well, besides Foss’ “Eclipse,” there’s Mark Hanerfeld’s “Tor Gambit,” which gave fans a close-up look at the black-&-white art of a stillborn Tor comic strip by Joe Kubert, which still has never been seen elsewhere in its entirety and at this size… Fred Patten’s entertaining look at the original-hero comics of mid-1960s Mexico… and E. Nelson Bridwell’s masterful little overview of the literary monsters who preceded the Thing, the Hulk, Eclipso, and their grotesque ilk. It was especially gratifying to give readers at least a fleeting

A/E founder Jerry Bails (with beard) and Roy Thomas in Detroit, spring 2002, in the last of their all-too-few face-toface meetings. Photo by Dann Thomas.

glimpse of “the Alter Ego #10 that almost was”—the wouldhave-been 1965-66 issue whose contents were mostly scattered to the winds when I stumbled into the ranks of comics pros in the former year and wound up doing an entirely different tenth issue several years later. In particular, I rejoice to see my late buddy Sam Grainger’s cover for that intended issue become this book’s cover, nearly half a century after he drew it. I think that, somewhere, Sam is smiling about that… and is more than satisfied with the way Shane Foley transformed his Silver Age Flash into the Golden Age one. A note up front: Bill and I have tried to make it crystal clear precisely what text and art and photos we have added to this edition, both by the use of italics for all our new introductions, sidebars, and captions, plus commencing the latter, when they accompany vintage material, with the not-too-subtle phrase 2013 Editors’ Note. And now, with special thanks to publisher John Morrow for agreeing so readily to put out a collection about which he could so easily have simply proclaimed, “Why should I?”—to Jean Bails for providing many photos of her late husband—to Hurricane Heeran, Douglas Jones (Gaff), Brian K. Morris, and Scott Stewart for re-typing several of the original articles onto Word documents—and to layout man David P. Greenawalt for putting the whole book together out of 1001 little pieces— —let’s take a gander at what the more discriminating comics fan was reading in the 1960s and ’70s, in between poring over the latest exploits of the Justice League or Fantastic Four. Or maybe B’wana Beast and Night Nurse. In the pro comics world, just like in Alter Ego, it takes all kinds.

An Alter Ego Extra!

The Jerry Bails Interview

A Candid Conversation With “The Father Of Comics Fandom” About His Life And Passion

“The Good Doctor”

Introduction by Interviewer Jon B. Cooke

e all have our heroes, whether the four-color, fictional crime-fighting type or the variety of champion composed of real flesh and blood. Me, as I grew into my teenage years, I was inspired less by spandex-attired do-gooders and more by the icons who toiled behind the scenes at drawing boards and on typewriters. I particularly admired those who effectively shared with me stories about hope, redemption, and fortitude in the guise of comic books, or were just plain honest about the world. Will Eisner, Joe Kubert, Harvey Kurtzman, Alan Moore, Gil Kane, Archie Goodwin, R. Crumb, and—especially—Jack Kirby were creators who always seemed authentic in their selfexpression, and they rarely appeared to condescend. I felt respected and was treated to expert and excellent storytelling. To these heroes, I was grateful. My interests as a teen and young adult expanded beyond the comic book universes and (partly due to Kirby’s “Captain America” stories in Tales of Suspense— don’t ask; long story!) I developed an avid interest in history and journalism, two subjects I majored in while attending college. Strange fellow that I was, I nurtured an obsession with bibliographies and indexes and documentation of exhaustive research. Well-sourced tomes with extensively laid-out footnotes and references spoke to me, expressing that the author held a respect for readers, telling us, “Hey, come and find out what I learned! Here’s the route….” It spoke to me of the joy of learning and how joy can be cultivated only if it is shared. By the grace of God (and an association with John Morrow and TwoMorrows Publishing), I was able to meld my passion for funnybooks and their creators with my love of history and journalism into Comic Book Artist magazine, a place I hoped to express my peculiar mania to a wider audience. My goal with the periodical was to focus on the artist and not so much the artifact, with CBA’s tagline boasting, “Price Guide Never Included,” because I loathed the crass money aspect of the hobby. The blessings continued as CBA attracted some attention and I was able to interact with many of my real-life comic book heroes. I recall with vivid appreciation, for instance, sitting down in an exhibit hall with Joe Kubert, who, despite my pestering questions, gave me his full attention and respect, thoughtfully sharing answers and making me, a nobody schlub annoying one of sequential art’s greatest creators, feel like a Somebody. For Joe and most of these guys, my hero worship only grew….

All-Star Light, All-Star Bright, First All-Star I See Tonight…

Jerry Gwin Bails in 2003 (middle)—interviewer Jon B. Cooke (top right)—and E.E. Hibbard’s cover for All-Star Comics #6 (Aug.-Sept. 1941), which Jerry said was the very first issue he ever saw of what became his favorite all-time comic book. By the late 1950s he had amassed a complete collection of the title’s 57 Golden Age issues— including bound volumes containing the 30+ issues authored by Justice Society of America co-creator Gardner F. Fox. All-Star was, of course, the 1940s precursor of Justice League of America, the mag whose debut inspired Jerry to launch the heroic-comics fanzine Alter-Ego in early 1961. Thanks to Jean Bails and Jon B. Cooke, respectively, for the photos; cover image retrieved from the Grand Comics Database. [Cover © 2013 DC Comics.]

Then came the doctor. Now, I never met Jerry Bails in person, but long before we corresponded by e-mail, I felt I knew the man, that we were kindred, that he was one of “my kind.” While I can’t remember when exactly Roy Thomas introduced the doctor to me and an entire generation of comics fans—no doubt there was repeated mention in RT’s legendary letters pages—Jerry’s name captivated me with an almost mythical power. I knew he had started Alter-Ego and helmed the Who’s Who of American Comic Books, and because of those achievements, he had to be a guy who was completely dedicated to the folks behind the stories and not so much the characters they created—a devotion to the artist behind the artifact, if you will.

Soon after launching CBA, I did get in contact with Jerry and—good gravy!—Dr. Bails expressed to me that, after reading my humble rag, he felt that we were kindred spirits! Imagine your hero telling you that! Heavens to Betsy, was that a rush! We always kept in touch, Jerry and I, and he was generous in offering access to his Who’s Who database and always answering my questions. We even planned an exhaustive multi-part interview, to be conducted via e-mail, which would span his entire life in minute detail. I wanted, y’see, to give Jerry back, if but a fraction, the same respect and attention he had given to recognize the achievements of many, many hitherto unknown comics creators. I also yearned to know what made this analytical guy, this scientist, this professor, love the wacky world of comic books so much…. So we started with an intensive discussion of his childhood (which you will find below), and plans were to periodically focus on different aspects of his development and career in fandom. To my great regret, Jerry and I never finished the interview beyond what is here. Somehow the aughts got away from me and I became less and less involved in the study of comics. Somehow real life intruded on my hero worship. Somehow I neglected to be grateful. But—thank you, Bill Schelly and RT!—at least we can read about Dr. Jerry Bails’ youth in his own words, in a proper forum, told to a proper audience. The Good Doctor remains a hero with me, standing shoulder to shoulder with other giants in the field, and I’ll forever be appreciative for our acquaintance. Thanks, Jerry. Kith and kin, you and I….

Subj: Date: From: To:

Part One of interview 2/3/2005 5:18:58 PM Eastern Standard Jerry Bails Jon B. Cooke

Jon, Here are my responses to your first several questions. Perhaps you should see them. You may want to reshape your remaining questions or send me off on a different tack. I can provide some scans as indicated herein. Bestest, Jerry

1) Where are you originally from, Jerry, and can you give us an idea of when you were born?

I’m of the generation of kids that were known as “Depression Babies.” I was born at the height of the Great Depression in 1933. It is interesting to note that the comic book in its “modern” pamphlet format was also a Depression Baby. Comic books and I grew up together. I was there when Superman first became popular. I was wearing a Superman sweatshirt for a family photo taken in 1940. My mom was pregnant that year with the youngest of my two brothers. [Want a photo?] I grew up in the “Heart of America”! That’s what they called my hometown of Kansas City, which is really two cities straddling the Missouri-Kansas state line. I lived on the Missouri side, and we liked to tease about the small hick town only a stone’s throw away. The border there was a hotly contested area in President Truman’s youth, with memories of the Civil War breaking out on that border, but it was pretty tame by my time. As a young driver, I frequently found that my favorite places to dance and park with my girl friend were on the Kansas side of Stateline. That was the name of a street that bore no reminder of the raiding parties that flourished there nearly a hundred years earlier. It was just a nice dark street

Jon B. Cooke Oct. 31, 2011

*****

Super-Exposure?

(Far Left:) A few years ago, following Jerry’s passing, his wife Jean sent Bill Schelly and Roy Thomas CDs containing scans of many of the photos he’d saved over the years. Among them—and the nearest thing we can locate to the “Superman sweatshirt” pic he offered to send to interviewer Cooke in 2005—is this circa-1940 image. According to Jean, it shows Jerry, his younger brother Joe, and a female relative known as Choppy, who “took care of the boys when Jerry’s mom was working a temporary part-time job as bookkeeper for a Unity church and also when Vessie was in the hospital for Jack’s birth…. Jerry said his mom scolded Choppy—gently, though—for having the photo taken of Jerry wearing a shirt with a hole in it…. Either the photo is so overexposed that any ID of the Man of Steel washed out, or as a kid he imagined the super-hero to be dressed in a sweatshirt and the color of it was not important…. Still, he said this was his Superman shirt. I didn’t argue, but I probably did look confused when he said it.”

(Near left:) Like many boys his age, Jerry no doubt pictured himself as looking like this dramatic Joe Shuster pose (inked by Paul Cassidy), as per the cover of Superman #6 (Sept.-Oct. 1940). Thanks to the GCD. [© 2013 DC Comics.]

to park on. It was my suspicion that Kansas, though a dry state, catered to teenagers by keeping their neighborhood streets less well lighted. It worked out that way, anyway. One could drive from Kansas City, Kansas, into Kansas City, Missouri, along main thoroughfares without being aware of such things as the changing speed limit. That was my experience until I got my first speeding ticket at the age of 16. I never got a ticket for parking in Kansas, but then in my day kids didn’t go as far as fast as today’s youth. In the days before K.C., Missouri, began annexing many of the surrounding areas, it was a medium-sized city with lots of hills that made great sledding thrills in mid-winter. We learned to post a traffic spotter at an intersection that cut through one long marvelous hill. If a car was coming, we simply swerved our sleds into the snow bank on the side of the road and terminated our slide. Most of the time, we got to travel two whole blocks at high speed. No one ever got hurt, but mothers probably didn’t enjoy watching us kids taking such risks. Nevertheless, they had to know what we were doing. During the rest of the year, it was fun to speed down those same hills on my bike. I’ll spare you the description of what happens when one’s feet slip off the pedals. Ouch!

Home For The Holidays

A Bails family portrait from Christmas 1945. (Left to right:) Jerry, Joe, Gwin (father), Vessie (mother), Jack, and Gwennie. Thanks to Jean Bails.

2) What was your upbringing like? (Please paint as vivid a picture as you can of the world you lived in as a kid.)

As my previous remarks indicate, I was something of a risktaker as a preteen, and the physical layout of my neighborhood was conducive to lots of running and jumping off of high places and over fences. My parents’ home was built into the side of a hill. The yards were terraced. There was a four-foot stone wall separating our front lawn from the sidewalk. I made a habit of flying off that stone wall to land on the grass parking between the sidewalk and the street. I was also known to jump the banister on my front porch and drop the seven feet to our front lawn. That sure didn’t make it easy for my mom to grow flowers in my landing area. The roofs of garages on the lower side of the hill I lived on were just a few feet above the terrace that supported the backyard of the homes behind us. This encouraged us kids to climb to the roofs of neighbors’ garages and leap off into the yard behind them. As I got older, I became more daring and started jumping off the roof of my own house after cleaning out the gutters. That was a nice 18-foot drop. I’ve got the flat feet and a bad back to thank for it. It probably didn’t help that I had polio in the epidemic of 1943. I wasn’t paralyzed, but I do have some scoliosis (spine curvature). Nevertheless, polio never stopped me from running and jumping, which lasted into my teen years. My youth was filled with lots of activities, but not highly organized by adults. I was a Cub Scout but didn’t pursue it into Scouting. I attended Sunday School faithfully enough to earn a Bible, but soon after that I started visiting various churches with friends. None had any answers for me, but I enjoyed the activities designed for teens. Swimming was also a popular sport for me but I refused to join a team. I played all sorts of street games and organized clubs with my friends, but I wasn’t much for any adult-directed activities. I declined joining Little League after a tryout,

although I loved baseball. The discipline involved in Little League didn’t appeal to me. I wanted my summers free. Here’s a tale that illustrates my attitude as a kid. I got a job at a local grocery store when I was 10, but I quit on my 11th birthday. I thought that no kid should have to work on his birthday. I wasn’t exactly dedicated to schoolwork, either, as a kid. I sat and drew my favorite comics characters in class while the teachers droned on. I almost never remembered what I needed to take to school. My bad study habits cost me a couple of art assignments I wanted in the 5th and 6th grade and the opportunity to be the first boy to sing solo at an assembly, but I just didn’t care that much in grade school. Being a kid was about having fun, and I was good at it. I was so undisciplined as a student that my 7th-grade teacher would cover for me. She didn’t want to make it too obvious that I hadn’t done my math homework. She would let me read the answers because I didn’t have any homework to pass to another student. Nobody else got off that easy. I’m sure she knew I understood the material because I was almost always the first to finish problems at the blackboard and she’d ask me to help others. That was probably where I learned that I could teach. I learned a lot of lessons from that teacher, but the biggest lesson was the respect she showed me during one recess period when she caught me trying to retrieve something of mine that a girl had stolen and put into her purse. The teacher listened to my explanation and then explained to me the ideal behavior she knew I’d want to follow. She could’ve made me feel terrible, but she made me feel special. After that, I wanted to win her respect. I wish every teacher could be as wise as she was. I was very lucky to have such a great lady at that point in my life. But then, I generally had really great teachers. My sloppy study habits changed drastically when I reached the 8th grade, which was held in my high school. We were called sub-freshmen. For the first time in my school career, we started getting letter grades and I became super gradeconscious. I started competing for top honors in school and never let up until I earned my Ph.D. some 14 years later. I guess my unstructured, undisciplined youth didn’t hurt me too much. I loved the opportunity to discover new things on

my own. One time, I decided to make a Batman costume. With my mother’s help, I dyed my old Superman sweatshirt a shade of blue. My cape was cut from my older sister’s ribbed dark blue petticoat. My hood was made from a dyed sugar sack. I wore blue swim trunks over light blue pants with the cuffs tucked into long black stockings (the same ones that Santa delivered fruit in at Christmas time). I dressed my younger brother as Robin, Goin’ To Kansas City… but had to be satisfied with an ensemble that switched Robin’s colors The pool hall purchased and run by Jerry’s father—and their family home, freshly painted. Both 1950s photos sent by Jean Bails. around. He was Robin Greenbreast. We must’ve looked a fright at the younger brothers, and me. During the war, Dad worked for school Halloween party. Fortunately, such things didn’t matter North American Aviation. That’s the company that made the to us kids. It was fun time. WACO glider that was used to land troops and equipment As a kid in the war years, I was also interested in codes. I behind enemy lines in the battle for Europe. We had a photo of liked to solve simple-substitution cryptograms. I had a pen pal that glider in our dining room all through the war years. in the service, my sister’s boyfriend, who was in the Signal My dad’s job ended with the war, and he tried several odd Corps and later the chemical warfare department. I sent him jobs before he decided to buy his favorite pool hall. He really drawings and we talked about codes and chemistry. Our loved to play snooker and Kelly pool. I recall helping him that exchanges were much like e-mail today. I recall only meeting first day at the pool hall. I cleaned up the ice chest from which him once but he served as a real role model for me. I hate we sold pop and candy bars. During my high school years, I thinking what working in chemical warfare did to such a sweet became the youngest pool hall operator in the country, spelling guy. I was broken up when my sister sent him a ‘’Dear John” my dad for dinner and at least one night a week for the hockey letter. He was the older brother I always wanted. games that he and Mom enjoyed. After my dates on a weekAs a kid, when I wasn’t playing with the neighborhood kids end, I went to the pool hall and cleaned the floors, the tables, at one of dozens of street games, I was building with my the John, and the cuspidors. I sometimes had to wait until closErector set or Tinkertoy set, playing with my collection of toy ing at 2 AM. Right then, I guess I decided that I wasn’t cut out to run my own business. I stayed in school. soldiers, or using my wood-burning kit. I used the wood-burning tool to make my own creations. I did a wooden plaque of 4) Were you particularly attached to comics as a child? the Junior JSA emblem, which is still mounted on the inside of How’d that association start? the glass door of my bookcase not six feet from me right now. [I can provide a scan.] I loved the Sunday comics, especially the fantasy technology in Dick Tracy. One of my earliest recollections from that strip 3) What did your parents do? And please describe your was of the submergible tank that Tracy was trapped in. Gould siblings and where you stood in the family line-up. was a master of suspense. I loved his stories. His drawings were crude but effective and I had the feeling, “Hey, I can do My parents grew up in Charleston, a small college town in that.” I almost always started drawing after reading the Sunday central Illinois. They were distantly related. My mom was funnies. from the poor side of the family and actually worked as a It wasn’t long before my mom bought me comic books to domestic for a time in my dad’s home. Being three years older read. She and Dad borrowed hardbacks from the loan library at than my dad, she was able to observe the origin of some of the the local drug store. They loved reading for pleasure and never problems that would plague my dad later. My dad had probgave me any trouble about reading comics. My mom even lems with alcohol, not uncommon for men during the bought me a copy of Crime Does Not Pay when I was quaranDepression who had difficulty finding work, but it was made tined with polio. I was ten. And, you know, I never became a worse by the fact that my dad’s first wife died shortly after juvenile delinquent. giving birth to my half-sister, who was five years older than From the age of 8, I was old enough to have an allowance, me. and I began buying my own comics. I made the rounds on my My dad dropped out of college early on, and my mother finbike of at least a dozen stores that sold comics. My favorite ished high school at night where she learned accounting. My shop was a dry goods store run by two nice little old ladies. dad was also an accountant, although not a CPA. Both had Their place was across the street from the pool hall my dad moved to Kansas City to find work. They rediscovered each later bought. The ladies hung the latest comics from bulldog other there and were married in 1932. clips in their window and always seemed delighted to see me Both my parents had to work during the Depression, but spinning their comics rack. Other retailers were not nearly so when the war started, my dad got a good, steady job, and my nice to us kids. I guess I found my favorite titles there more mother was able to stay at home with my sister, my two often than not. 9

5) Were you an avid reader as a kid? What was your culture like, and what particularly engaged you (i.e., radio, movie serials, comic strips, Big Little Books, etc.)?

days and comics with super-heroes were an extension of our imaginative games. Comics were an involving medium. I could draw my favorite characters, make up my own (as I’m sure all true comics fans do), and in my case, I entertained my two younger brothers with stories of my own. It was a regular feature of my babysitting for them. I’d draw a splash page and tell a story—usually a cliffhanger to keep them asking for more. Unlike radio and movies, one could hold onto comics and reread them. It seems natural that I would come to cherish them. It was the only medium that belonged exclusively to us kids. The condition of comics was not much on our minds. We simply wanted to read every comic we could get our hands on, and I read practically all of them. No easy feat! We traded comics back and forth all the time. Comics were everywhere. We had wagons full of them. One couldn’t go anywhere without seeing comic books. They were as ubiquitous as trees. Trading comics was pretty hard on the comics themselves. A single comic book might pass through a dozen hands. I was 12 before I started to think seriously about preserving my favorites. I loved All-Star Comics, of course, and began in 1945 to look for back issues in every place I could imagine. Comics frequently ended up in basements or attics and I went on many treasure hunts before I discovered my first usedmagazine store. The lady running the used-magazine store would get a little impatient with me because I wanted to look through her entire stock just to find one or two issues I might buy at a nickel each. This may be what prompted her to get rid of a lot of her comics or maybe she just needed the space for higher-priced items. One day, she asked me if I knew any poor kids who would like to have some old comics. I was quick on the trigger. “Sure,” I said, “I know just the kid who would appreciate

All of the above. I attended the movies regularly—a double feature every Friday night, and again on most Sunday afternoons. There were at least six theaters within walking distance of my home and most had serials, cartoons, and newsreels. I wasn’t a big cartoon fan. They were too juvenile for me. The serials were okay, but their production qualities didn’t measure up to radio. Radio I loved. I was a faithful listener to afternoon shows: Terry and the Pirates, Hop Harrigan, Superman, Capt. Midnight, The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, and my favorite, Jack Armstrong. I have recordings of most of these shows from the pre-war period when transcriptions were still delivered to local radio stations. I have the entire year-long adventure of Jack Armstrong from 1940-41. It is a great delight to listen to all the things I learned from that show that year. I learned about autogyros, photoluminescence, the Moros of the Philippines, the China Sea, sailing ships, Pearl Harbor, the potential of U-235 as a source of great energy, Walkie Talkies, and pedometers. The show had a lot to do with my lifelong interest in science and technology. 5) You obviously gained an unusual fascination with comic books, certainly by your young adult years. To what do you attribute such an obsessive tendency (if that’s the right word)?

The concept of dual identity has always fascinated me. At seven, I was just beginning to develop my public persona, but I was still aware of my more authentic self who would like to punch out the school bully, or rescue the girl next door. Costumes and circuses were also great fun for kids in those

A Time For Crime

Jerry’s mother, Vessie Bails, in the 1930s—and the Bails brothers (Joe, Jack, and Jerry) in 1943, the year she bought him an issue of Lev Gleason Publications’ Crime Does Not Pay while he was bedridden with infantile paralysis. Her gift might even have been the Nov. 1943 issue pictured here, as retrieved from the GCD. Cover art signed by Charles Biro. Thanks to Jean for the photos. [CDNP cover © 2013 the respective copyright holders.]

them.” I went home and dressed my younger brother in the oldest clothes I could find and we returned with a little red wagon. I don’t know if we fooled the lady or not. (I suspect she chuckled to herself.) Anyway we went home with a wagon loaded with comics and I found a coverless copy of All-Star #19. It was a splendid day.

ple-color jobs—a big advance in cheap reproduction technology at the time. In my senior year in high school, I was into all sorts of art projects and other activities. I illustrated a booklet for my history teacher, which got me out of his boring 7th–hour class. I made slides for one of the science teachers. I did layouts on the yearbook sitting at the back of a class on musical composition. I was excused from other classes to work on stage sets or do work on the school paper. I also took my final high school math course across the street at the junior college. The class was held only two days a week, so the other 3 days I spent at the drugstore across from school. I was seldom in class, as most students were expected to be. One day, when I was walking the halls during class time, the Vice Principal stopped me. I thought I was in for trouble. Boy, was I surprised when he said, “Let me know if you spot any kids out in the halls where they shouldn’t be.” Huh? I guess I had arrived. Such events may have played a part in my cockiness. I tended to believe I could become anything I wanted to be. I did have one experience that humbled me rather well. I was set designer for the school plays. I also had a part in the play, “Men are like streetcars (...Another will be along in a minute).” It resulted in what was very nearly my most embarrassing moment. I guess I’m old enough now that I can tell it without embarrassment. During the dress rehearsal, I was playing a scene in which I was being confronted by the “other guy” in a love triangle. He

6) What were your aspirations as a kid? What were your parents’ aspirations for you?

My dad wanted me to go into business, and bought me a set of business encyclopedias. That was about as far from my interests as one can get. I preferred microscopes, chemistry sets, and things like casting figures in lead. I melted my broken lead soldiers and poured the lead into a mold that produced a small airplane, along with a man and woman dressed in aviator outfits. Since they were solid lead, I needed lots of lead. I must have melted about 4 or 5 dozen hollow toy soldiers. I can just hear the toy soldier collectors moaning in the background. They were all broken anyway. Aviation was one of my great loves as a kid. It is something of a surprise that I didn’t go into the Air Force as some of my high school buddies did. I took aeronautics in high science. To this day, I can identify most all of the planes used in WW2, and I can do a fairly accurate drawing of many. One of my favorite premiums—and Wheaties had lots of great ones—had to do with aviation. It was the closest thing to a computer game that we had in those days. It was pasteboard model of a Piper Cub mounted in a TV-like console with a joystick and rudder controls that would turn, bank, and adjust the attitude of the plane via attached strings. A full-page ad for this great premium ran in many of the comics at the time. [Want a scan?] In addition to everything else I did as a kid, I always loved to draw. In 1941, I entered a drawing every week in a cartoon contest conducted for kids in the Kansas City Journal. My Minute Man and American flag won first place. [Scan available.] I was to receive two tickets to the best theater downtown. Unfortunately, I never got the tickets. The Journal closed its doors just days after I won. Damn, the Journal had two full pages of great daily comic strips. That was really a blow. Shortly after that I did take an art class at the Nelson Art Gallery, and, of course, I took art in high school. I was art editor of the school paper and layout editor of the yearbook. On a job I had as a teen, I made drawings on stencils in order to help sell the new Rex Rotary silk mimeograph machines. I traveled with my boss all the way to Milwaukee to sell it to the school board there. We got in so late at night that only one hotel room was left—the bridal suite. So, I spent the night with my boss in the bridal suite. And the next day, we sold the Milwaukee schools the new duplicator that did multi-

“I Found A Coverless Copy Of All-Star #19”

Thus, this is probably the first glimpse Jerry had of the comic he found at a used-magazine store circa 1945. He’d long since cut up his own copy of the 1943 comic, as he often did in order to create his own scrapbooks. Scanned from Roy Thomas’ personally-bound volumes. Art by Joe Gallagher. [© 2013 DC Comics.] 11

was supposed to get angry with me. He screwed up his face something fierce, but it only made me break out laughing. He looked like an angry monkey. We tried the scene over and over, but each time, my laughter infected more and more people. There I was on stage causing everyone to laugh violently when my bladder let go. Quick as a flash I pull a pillow off a nearby couch and played out the rest of the scene using the pillow effectively to cover my accident. I quickly exited the stage and hid out in the restroom. No one seemed to have noticed and a few minutes later I heard everyone callPatriots & Paladins ing for me. I was supposed to reenter for a final scene. I stayed hid- (Left:) Jerry’s 1940s Minute-Man-and-flag drawing which won a contest in the Kansas City Journal newspaper. As he freely admitted, it was based on art by “Shelly” (Sheldon Moldoff) in the DC-proden for good reason, and someone duced Minute Man pamphlet/comic that was given out with membership in the early Junior Justice stood in for me. No one seemed to Society of America. have had any idea where or why I (Right:) The Crimefighters were a JSA-like group Jerry created in the early ’40s, featuring the heroes disappeared. Thank heaven! In case Doc Psycho, Scarlet Scorpion, The Clown, The Human Fly, Hermes, and Mr. Victory. You can probably you are wondering, I got through figure out which is which. [© 2013 estate of Jerry G. Bails.] the scene on opening night without any laughter. In 1953, at age 20, I married my high schooI sweetheart. My success in various art endeavors and winning a Gold Except for a short stay in graduate school in physics at the Key in a city-wide contest for a pen and ink mural led me to University of Chicago, I spent all my formative years in believe that I could head for a career in comics. But fate interKansas City. I joined the faculty at UKC in 1958. I directed vened. the educational program of the local astronomy club, particiIn my senior year, I sent some sample drawings to Al pated in Moon Watch (tracking the first artificial satellites), Feldstein and asked for his advice about a career in comics. and had wonderful intellectual friends from all over the world. [Scans available, I think.] He was kind enough to reply. The My closest friend in college was a Nigerian, and his experiupshot was that I’d really have to move to New York City to ences as a black man in America taught me the horrors of pursue that dream. However, I was deeply in love with my racism. He and I helped integrate the public swimming pool in high school sweetheart and preferred to accept a nice scholarSwope Park by throwing swimming parties and encouraging ship that I received to the University of Kansas City. the onlookers to “Come on in; the water’s great!” He and I Art seemed a bit too iffy for me, so I pursued a career in sciwere involved in “a coup d’etat” at UKC in which we helped ence. It was something that I was really good at, and I loved it overthrow an old stodgy administration, and installed one that as much as drawing, if not more. It was probably all for the created new programs, including the one in which I ultimately best. I was not cut out for the rough life of freelancers. I got my Ph.D. admire their ability to survive in a tough world. I myself wantIn 1960, I somewhat reluctantly took a position in Detroit at ed a job that offered more security. My risk-taking days were Wayne State University, where I taught for the next 36 years. over. 8) Oops, this is a little out of sequence… Is there anyone in 7) Were there any effects of the Great Depression you peryour family history who shared a like appreciation for ceived as a child? How did World War II come into your perhaps other aspects of culture… that is, could your world, so to speak? mom have said, “Oh, Jerry’s just like great-uncle so-andso who was into toy trains”? My values were formed in a time of scarcity and sacrifice, and I had siblings with whom I learned to share. It was also a Model railroading was my brother Joe’s hobby. One year I front porch culture. All these factors shaped my values. I was bought lots of accessories for Joe’s railroad, just before he deeply attached to my neighborhood. I spent grades K-7 in one decided to switch gauges. He could tolerate a lot more changes school, 8-12 in another, and earned three degrees from the than I could. He became a contract engineer, and has worked University of Kansas City. I knew the city like the back of my for more companies than I have fingers and toes. hand. I was extremely lucky to have a superb education, good My youngest brother, Jack, began a love affair with fishing friends, and the world’s best mom. My dad came through for at the age of three. He and my other siblings had to spend me, too, although parenting was something he was learning on three weeks at our aunt and uncle’s during the time I was quarthe job. antined with polio. Out of his love of fishing grew his career. 12

Parallel Univers(ities)

He became a lymnologist (fresh water ecology) and a top civil servant in Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources. I may have been the first in my family to finish college but I wasn’t the last. My brothers and I lived in good times, because the things that turned us on as kids became career opportunities. I would wish that could be true for every youngster, but I fear that times are rapidly changing for the worst.

Subj: Date: From: To:

(Left to right:) Jerry at the University of Chicago—and at his Kansas City apartment. Both photos are labeled “1960,” but the former may well have been snapped earlier, since by 1958 he was teaching at the University of Kansas City (Missouri). Thanks to Jean Bails.

Interview with Bails - Part 2 2/5/2005 10:42:45 PM Eastern Standard Time JerryBails Jon B. Cooke

Jon, I notice a couple of typos in the first part. I hope you’ll correct the obvious ones. I meant “Gold Key,’’ not “Good Key.” Please change that. Here’s part 2. I hope you’ll feel free to rearrange material to make a more coherent flow. I’m not a stickler for literal transcriptions of interviews. Jerry

ting might be a useful skill, but I soon learned that the mimeograph was a more appropriate tool for amateur publishing. Being a tightwad, I didn’t figure I could afford a mimeograph machine for many years. I even used a little desk model spirit duplicator to put out the first issues of my comics fanzines in the early 1960s, even though I had by that time a good-paying position on the faculty at Wayne State. I guess I was still thinking like a college student on a tight budget. During the 1950s, I worked two years for the Starlight Theater, an outdoor musical theater in Swope Park. One of the great perks of that job—besides watching the gypsies rehearse during my lunch hour—was to receive 6 free orchestra seats to every one of ten performances each summer. I really got hooked on American musicals. Later, I tried to catch Broadway shows when in New York, and the pre-Broadway openings at Detroit’s Fisher Theater. That was one extravagance I allowed myself. I never played any musical instrument myself, unless you count the triangle I banged in kindergarten and on the radio quiz show that my 5th–grade class participated in. I couldn’t even do that well. I had to be prompted when the time came to hit the triangle. My dad was a piano player, but he couldn’t afford to own a piano until I was in my teens. By then, I had no time in my high school schedule for any music or choir. That’s something I really regretted. When I graduated from high school, I felt I had missed about half of what I wanted out of school. In college, my school and work schedule didn’t leave me with any time or money to pursue music. I would’ve loved to.

9) Did you draw and/or write as a child? Any creative endeavors, particularly art or music or performing?

I’ve already talked about my drawing and storytelling. I also published a few issues of a homemade newspaper using one of those little toy rotary presses. I guess I was inspired by stories of Ben Franklin (still one of my heroes). I thought that typeset-

10) Were you sociable and athletic as a kid? Was sports an important aspect of your youth?

“Happy Youthful Days”

This partial-page from Jerry’s high school yearbook (senior year) shows him to have been very active in extracurricular activities… though not in music or athletics. Thanks to Jean Bails.

I wasn’t into athletics in high school. I remember the first day in gym class in the 8th grade. A lithe fellow who had come from a grade school on the other side of the city suddenly flipped onto his hands and proceeded to walk on his hands the full length of the gym. He had marked his territory. I went

home and started teaching my younger brothers all I learned in gym class. I wanted them to be better prepared than I was for the athletic competition. My youngest brother played basketball. I played no sports in high school. Other than baseball, I have never had any interest in sports. I found football and basketball as spectator sports to be dismally boring. After the 8th grade, I stopped going to high school games. This kept me out of the inner circle in high school.

11) How would you characterize your adolescence? Sociable, girlfriends, extra-curricular activities?

Wife, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness

(Left:) Jerry and his first wife Sondra in early 1963 at the Columbia, Missouri, home of Biljo White, during a visit by the Bailses back to their home state. The next morning, Roy Thomas and his girlfriend, Linda Rahm, would join them for what Roy likes to refer to as an informal “Alter Ego summit”—although at that time Ronn Foss had just become that fanzine’s editor/publisher. Ronn had stopped by Biljo’s place a few days earlier, just missing the arrival of Bails and Thomas. Photo by Ruthie White, Biljo’s first wife. (Right:) Jerry and Jean Bails, Christmas 1967. They were clearly a great match for the last four-plus decades of Jerry’s life. Thanks to Jean for both photos.

My high school buddies and I were sort of the second tier. We were active in various activities, the Spanish Club, the Art Club, Stage Craft Club, and one of the Literary Societies. I came to feel I was lucky not to be part of the “in” crowd. I didn’t much like their values. They seemed to enjoy excluding people, which didn’t much bother me after the 8th grade. The same girls with whom I had played kissing games at parties in the 6th and 7th grades got snooty. Only one or two remained as close friends and they were the cerebral ones. One girl and I were friendly competitors in mathematics. It cut deeply to learn that no girls in my high school class completed college. But that was the ’50s. The pressure on girls was to get an MRS and have kids. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to date girls who attended my high school, I started dating girls from other high schools. I met Sondra, my first wife, after my sophomore year. We dated, with a few interruptions, for four years before marrying. I have never been one to date a lot of women. I was married 13 years to Sondra, and nearly 40 years to Jean.

The question assumes that I would want to give up something I enjoyed. Why would I? As I told Newsweek in an interview in the mid-1960s, “If one enjoys something as a child, why should he have to give it up?” Grown men play at games they learned as children. Enjoying all aspects of comics is no less mature than any other pastime people engage in for fun. The child never leaves us, even if we like to pretend it does. I always had plenty of time for girls, school, and work. Comics were/are a great diversion for short periods of time. More importantly, a hobby of whatever sort gives life balance. When things go badly at work or in one’s personal life, a hobby can work as good as anything to help one cope with the stress. I never underestimated the value of my hobby to keep me healthy. It saw me through a number of rough periods. In fact, I started many of my fan projects during the worst period in my personal life.

12) How was your high school experience? Were you highaptitude academically?

Yeah. That’s where I excelled. I was well known to all the teachers, even those I didn’t have classes with. I was asked by various teachers from music to science to handle scientific, technological, or mathematical items that they weren’t too comfortable with. It surprised me that they didn’t want to learn how to do these things themselves. Maybe they just pretended not to know how in order to give a student a chance. I loved discovering new things to learn. It gave me a real buzz. I never needed alcohol, cigarettes, or other stimulants to get high. Since my dad was alcoholic, I avoided all forms of known addiction, except having a girl friend, of course. My left brain was probably better developed than my right brain, a condition I tried to correct once I started teaching. The right brain is far more important in human communications, despite what logical types think. 13) Okay: Comics. If this is so, please tell me why you didn’t leave comic books behind like so many of your peers?

14) Specifically what comics did you admire most, and what need do you think the medium filled in you… that is, in retrospect, were comics a substitute for something?

I suppose this question is predicated on a common experience of many comics fans. Some collectors have told me that they retreated into comics because they were not successful at some other endeavor. I really can’t say that was my case. Comics were something from my youth that I always enjoyed and never felt any need to cast off. As I said, I might have made a career of comics, but decided not to. So, I continued my interest and expanded the definition of my hobby. I read fewer comics when I was in college, largely because the strips I enjoyed had been terminated. I watched for their possible return and continued to try to follow the artists whose works in the 1940s had turned me on. I was always interested in identifying unsigned art, and began sending off letters to pros.

stories seemed overly written to me, like a long joke with a not-too-surprising punch line. Once I knew the kind of stories they were doing, the ending seldom surprised me. There was never anything left over after an EC story that made me want to pick up the next issue. I guess my penchant was for characters, not irony or plot twists. It says more about me than EC. Obviously, EC appealed to somewhat older readers who had lost their taste for fantasy characters. I never did, and I bugged the pros with whom I corresponded to return to the fantasy heroes, which I thought were perfectly suited to the medium of comics and vice versa. Superman on TV was a pale imitation of the fantasy character we could imagine on radio or the bestdrawn stories in comics. It would be decades before special effects in movies could match what Jack Kirby or Alex Toth could do in comics. For me, comics were about free-flight fantasy and characters that inhabited a world that I could escape to with some dependability. With most of my favorite characters in limbo, my interest in comics became peripheral. That’s was probably a good thing, because I devoted myself to my career.

It was 1953 when I had the good fortune to stumble across Gardner Fox. That led ultimately (6 years later) to my finally completing my collection of All-Star Comics. Gar had been kind enough to share a host of duplicates with me, but I still lacked an issue here and there. I offered him $50 for his two bound volumes of the first 24 issues. He wrote back, “Make it $75 and they’re yours.’’ I jumped at the chance. That was 1959, shortly before Gar put Roy Thomas in touch with me. 15) When did an interest in the people who actually made the funnybooks come into play? What made you realize that there were actual people who did these things?

In the 1940s, few artists signed their efforts. There were those fictitious bylines on strips like Sheena, Batman, and Superman, but I had known since 1940 that the “good artist” who drew some Superman stories was the same artist who later drew the Justice Society and Starman. I just wasn’t sure that Jack Burnley’s name on Starman wasn’t just another of those fictitious names. I set out to record the names 18) In your estimation, how of artists on strips about 1945. I did you assess the comic used those little nickel spiral book scene of the 1950s notebooks that sold in dime at the time? That is, did stores. All-Star Comics was a you see Wertham as a great place to start because so threat? Was their heyday As A Matter Of Fact… many artists were on display and apparently over with the Jerry’s first letter ever printed in a comic book appeared in DC’s I had a good run of this title as Real Fact Comics #9 (July-Aug. 1947), at a time when very few demise of the Golden Age well as many of the sister monthcomics had letters pages—only his name got rendered as “Jerry heroes? Was Kurtzman a ly anthology titles. My hobby Balk” when the editor apparently misread the last two letters of godsend in the dull days expanded into a detective game to “Bails.” It would be half a dozen years more before Jerry estabof Eisenhower? identify unsigned comic art. lished contact for the first time with a comics professional: writer I was almost immediately capti- Gardner Fox, author of the first 32 “Justice Society of America” Wertham was never a particular vated by the art of Joe Kubert, stories. Thanks to Art Lortie. [© 2013 DC Comics.] threat in my community, at least and later Alex Toth and Lee Elias. not that I was especially conscious of. Fans who were addicted I would’ve been terribly intimidated had I known then that Joe to EC, in particular, were most unhappy about the impact of and Alex were only a few years older than I was. My lord, Wertham. Since I wasn’t a horror fan, I never much noticed the they were so obviously talented even in their teens that their loss. Mad continued as a magazine. That was fine with me. work stood out over the work of so many older veterans. The 1950s was a time when I was more into amateur astronomy as a hobby than comics. I helped put on a national con16) Did you ever have an aspiration to be part of making vention for amateur astronomers in K.C., and ran star parties comics? every Friday night for the public. We set up telescopes on the lawn of the museum and invited the public to view the latest [See previous answers.] celestial events. I recall giving a 90-minute lecture on astronomy between two passes of “‘Mutt-nik,” which is what we 17) Were the EC comics particularly influential? What was called the Soviets’ second artificial satellite—the one carrying it about them you found appealing? a dog. It was a cylinder that tumbled in space, alternately reflecting sunlight toward Earthbound viewers from its flat I was never as crazy about EC comics as other EC fans. I ends. I recall joking that Laika, the dog on board, was using have always preferred continuing characters. I thought the art Morse Code to signal that he wanted to go for a walk. on EC Comics was terrific and set a new high mark, but the 15

19) Was music ever an important part of your life?

King Lehrer

In the 1950s, Tom Lehrer (often pronounced “leer”) wrote, played, and sang such ditties as the nuclearholocaust spirutual “We Will All Go Together When We Go” and the venereal disease ditty “I Got It from Agnes.” He has been called “the best musical satirist ever to walk this mortal coil.” In his e-mail interview, Jerry accidentally spelled Lehrer’s last name as “Lear”—but we knew whom he meant, so we’ve corrected it. [Photo © 2013 the respective copyright holders.]

I have already mentioned my attachment to American musicals. I also loved dance music. I enjoyed dancing. I had a high school buddy who took me with him to country music festivals, which didn’t do much for me. Neither did rock ’n’ roll when it came along. Except for some of the marvelous creations of the Beatles, I thought rock was/is highly monotonous. I thought the really great music in the 1950s was being written as themes for motion pictures. I never felt that popular music was much of an effective way for me to express rebellion. I was more concerned about nuclear testing in the atmosphere, the population explosion, racism, and the assault on civil rights in the fifties. But then I wasn’t a ‘’go-along’’ kind of a guy. I never wore a crew cut until that craze was nearly dead, and only wore my hair long when that craze was on the way out. My wife says that buying my clothes at a used clothing store always put me out of phase with the latest fashion, or just ahead of the next one.

20) I’d venture that perhaps in reaction to the mundanity of the 1950s—the blandness of a creeping mass consumer culture, maybe—arose the Beat generation, the civil rights movement, rock ’n’ roll, the Ban the Bomb movement, Lenny Bruce & Mort Sahl, and Harvey Kurtzman’s Mad—all arguably acts of a rebellious nature. Did any of that appeal to you? Did the subversive aspects, however small, inherent in the comic book form appeal or repel you?

The standup comics of the ’50s had great appeal to me. They were able to speak to many of the things that were wrong with American culture in the 1950s. I especially remember Tom Lehrer’s ditties. I was in demonstrations of various kinds all through the 1950s-70s, but I never considered myself “rebellious.’’ I was simply doing what was expected of a Tom Paine fan. I felt then, as I do now, that the greatest enemy we have is inside our culture, not outside. If we don’t conquer our own demons, we cannot survive as a great civilization. The whole Cold War mentality was such a turn-off for me that I decided that I could not become a physicist working to support a war machine. Instead, I would teach about science to non-science students, and about the humanities to science students. As you might guess, I was greatly influenced by C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures. Was that subversive? I guess so, if one believed, as did Admiral Rickover, that we should build a fleet of nuclear-armed nuclearpowered submarines to lurk in all the oceans of the world. That ultimately led to an operational scenario that called for the United States to bring the entire Indian Ocean to a boil in the event of war in order to destroy all of the Soviets’ silentrunning submarines. The recent tsunami would’ve paled by comparison to the worldwide havoc that act of insanity would’ve caused. As a

The Index Finger

In 1962, as he neared the end of his run as editor/pub-

lisher of Alter-Ego, Jerry put together An Authoritative Index to All-Star Comics—followed in 1963 by An Authoritative Index to DC Comics—both printed via spirit duplicator. This is the front cover of the latter, with artwork he traced. [Heroes TM & © 2013 DC 16

Comics.]

physics major, I understood what nuclear weapons meant, and it made me swear off ever contributing to such madness. I decided that we were not in a technological race with the Soviets, but in a human race together, and that we had better change course. Unfortunately, we are still led by old Cold Warriors who are still infected with the old insanity.

the interview that was written up in Newsweek. In both cases, the story was written before they even talked to fans. They simply wanted to get a ‘’hot quote’’ to run in a story that had already been concocted. In the case of the Newsweek article, I had gathered together in my home top representatives of a half-dozen different aspects of Fandom. For two hours, we filled a stringer’s notebook with all sorts of things about the movement that were unknown to the public. As it turned out, Newsweek only used one quote from me and one from Shel Dorf in an article casting aspersions on a hobby in which young men sat around in the dark watching old serials and slapping each other on the knees. That’s almost word-for-word. Cronkite’s producer only came to me because his hook for the piece was to show a professional who still childishly collected comics. When I declined to appear, he set up several restrictions on any suggested leads I might give him as to a proper subject. At first, he told me how he had interviewed a motorcycle gang member just recently and thought to himself, “I could have given myself just the interview I wanted. I’m a quick study.’’ Then he asked me for the name of a professional who collected comics, preferably a doctor, lawyer, or stock broker, but he should live in the New York area. I asked, “Why the New York area?’’ He replied matter-of-factly, ‘“If it isn’t happening in New York, it isn’t happening.’’ At this point, remembering the treatment by Newsweek, I asked, “Is it all right if he is married?’’ I didn’t give him a chance to answer. I hung up. When I was called by the TV show What’s My Line, I referred them to young Billy Placzek in Chicago, who had recently fallen heir to a very fabulous comics collection from a friend of the family. Bill appeared on the show, and I felt a tinge of embarrassment for him when he couldn’t answer one question, “Who was Junior?’’ Imagine a kid from Chicago with a million-dollar comic collection not knowing Dick Tracy’s foster son. But he was a young teen at the time and was really not a longtime comics fan until his good fortune hit. I received hundreds of calls from newspaper and radio shows in the 1960s. Mostly I gave them the quick answer they wanted, but I refused to quote the latest value on Action #1. Eventually, they stopped calling. The last contact I had with TV producers was regarding Bob Newhart’s third TV series, which was about a cartoonist. They called a couple of times, wanting to be sure they were not using any real names of comics people or comic strips. I was invited to watch a taping of the show if I ever came to Hollywood, but that sort of thing had lost its glow long ago. —— Enough for now. —Jerry.

21) What I’m getting at is that you were an adult—obviously an intelligent man—who read comics. Why? Was it a minor act of rebellion?

To me, being an adult means acknowledging my “Child.” One of the deadliest transformations we ask of young men is to pretend to put away their childhood and reject any sign of what passes for feminine traits. The pure joy of discovery that is childhood and the empathetic abilities we acquire at our mother’s breast are too often lost to men. I am astounded daily by the great empathetic insights of a cartoonist like Lynn Johnson (For Better or Worse) and political awareness of Wiley (Non Sequitur) and Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks). There is nothing inherently immature about comics as an art form. In fact, it can help bind generations. It has always given me contacts with the next generation coming along. I prize that. Only a species that doesn’t have to dream could possibly survive without fantasy. It is in our nature and one of the ways we have of reflecting on life and its values. That this form of reflection can come in myriad forms of entertainment is a blessing. I enjoy stories in all media. I’ve never been embarrassed about my love of comics. I declined being on Walter Cronkite’s CBS Evening News in the mid-1960s not because I was embarrassed for myself, but because his producer who talked to me on the phone had no intention of doing an honest piece on Comics Fandom. I had learned my lesson after

The Bestest Years Of Our Lives

JGB circa 1961, the year he launched Alter-Ego to give himself a hobby as a respite from teaching science in college in Detroit—and the cover of A/E [Vol. 1] #1, published at the end of March ‘61. The trail of Lean Arrow’s shaft (headed for Martian Manhandler’s butt) doesn’t show up on many extant copies of that issue, such as the one reproduced above… either because it was rendered only in green with no dark-line art, or perhaps because Jerry neglected to retrace that bit of art when he went “back to press” with #1 a bit later. While the basic cover art is by Roy Thomas, Jerry, in tracing it onto a spirit-duplicator master, added the Comics Code seal and turned Wondrous Woman upside down—both significant improvements, by Roy’s lights. [Bestest League art © 2013 Roy Thomas.] 17

An Alter Ego Extra!

The Naming Of Alter-Ego, 1961 by Jerry G. Bails [reprinted from Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #25 (2003)

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Over the years, from time to time I’ve asked Jerry how and why he came up with the name Alter-Ego when casting about for the title of a full-fledged fanzine, as opposed to the original JLA Subscriber newsletter he had planned. But he’s never had much to say about his thought processes at the time [February 1961]. So I tried again, in earnest, while surreptitiously preparing this issue’s contents, and this time I was rewarded by the following.... —Roy.]

don’t recall considering any options. We had discussed something I think we called a newsletter, but when “alterego” came to me, I thought how well it fit not only our mutual interests but also our dual identities as civilians and fans. It was as if we were donning our costumes and flying out the window. It referred as much to us as fans as it did to our all-consuming interest in costumed heroes and in the people who created them. I suspect that the name itself triggered more possibilities, which you have so clearly realized. I’ve always loved any story that deals with secret or hidden identities, even badly executed movies. There is something deeply primal for me in the notion that I am two people: Clark Kent, the civilian who presents a public persona that meets all the acceptable criteria of civil society, and my secret self that worries not what people think of me, but who is inner-directed and willing to correct injustice when I see it. I think small children have a sense of justice/injustice that they develop but cannot act upon until they have been thoroughly socialized. By then, it is too late. They are “Clark Kent.” I would love to see a psychological study of those of us who have loved costumed heroes for as long as we can remember and those who profess to hate the genre while extolling the virtues of the medium of comics. I suspect that there is something fundamentally different about the two groups. Our group seems to remain in touch with the feeling of the child that knows two selves. The other seems to want to put one of these selves away. It has nothing to do with intellectual ability, level of creativity, ideological orientation, or emotional stability, but there must be something different about our brains that shows up somewhere else. It has to be correlated with some other behavioral characteristics, but damned if I know what they are. I would be disappointed to learn that our lifelong interest was just an accidental circumstance of what happened at certain stages in our lives. That wouldn’t explain to me why we didn’t put away this flight of fancy like other comics readers did. The concept of the avenging hero is as vibrant and vital to me at seventy as it was when I was seven. I wish I understood why.

The Alter-Ego Has Landed!

(Left:) Although no photos exist of Jerry Bails’ visit to the DC offices in February of 1961, he dropped by a second time “circa 1971”—at which time his picture was taken with editor Julius Schwartz (center) and artist Neal Adams (on left).

(Right:) The flip cover of Alter Ego, Vol. 3, #25 (June 2003), heralded a celebration of Jerry Bails’ 70th birthday, a tribute of which he himself knew nothing until he received a copy of the issue by Express Mail. A/E associate editor Bill Schelly drew this portrait of Jerry, while editor Roy Thomas selected (and layout man Chris Day arranged) the framing art montage, which featured every single Golden Age Justice Society member, plus Red Tornado, Sandy the Golden Boy, and Doiby Dickles, all taken from actual 1940s comics. [JSA heroes art © 2013 DC Comics; portrait © 2013 Bill Schelly.]

Oh, and just for the record: The thank-you note that Jerry wrote to editor Julius Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox on Feb. 12, 1961, after spending time with them, surely the first occasion on which the new fanzine’s name was ever written down, was reprinted as part of “The Alter Ego Story” in Best of, Vol. 1… while the letter in which he first mentioned the name to Roy Thomas, a day or three later, was also quoted therein. In both instances, Jerry originally spelled it “Alter-ego,” but “ego” was capitalized by the time the fanzine materialized in March. (It was 1963 A/E editor Ronn Foss who dropped the hyphen from the title.)

An Alter Ego Extra!

Alter-Ego #1-3: The Spirit Duplicator Issues

Jerry G. Bails published and edited the first three issues of

Alter-Ego, with Roy Thomas as contributor and titular “co-editor”—first from 14242 Dale, Detroit 23, Michigan (in those pre-ZIP Code days), then from 1710 Kenwood Drive in suburban Inkster, Michigan, while he was an associate professor of natural science at Wayne State University in Detroit. They were printed using a “spirit duplicator,” also called a “ditto machine,” in which text was typed (or artwork traced) onto a “ditto master” from which could be run off up to 300 copies of purple (not black) linework. This was an instrument favored by high schools and colleges at the time; the device itself was less expensive than a mimeograph machine, which however had the advantage of printing more copies per master—and in black, rather than purple. Ditto masters rendering black and other colors were also available for a spirit duplicator, but had the distinct disadvantage of yielding fewer copies—perhaps 100 or 150 as opposed to 300 before the type or artwork had to be transferred laboriously by hand to a brand new ditto master. (When one considers the trouble involved, the fact that the cover of Alter-Ego #1 contains no less than six

colors—purple, blue, red, yellow, and green, as well as black— is a tribute to the sheer cussed labor that Bails invested in it. Yellow (or, more accurately, “brownish-yellow”) masters were available in South Africa, but how Jerry got hold of one we’ll never know; this was before he was in touch with South African comics fan John Wright. The first three issues were produced on a roughly quarterly schedule. Issue #1 was dated “Spring 1961” and was mailed and postmarked in late March… #2 was for “Summer 1961”… and #3 was dated “Fall 1961.” Seen at left, from top to bottom, are the covers of the first three issues. #1 & #2 were traced (with a bit of editing) onto a ditto master by Jerry Bails from freehand drawings by Roy Thomas, while #3 was rendered entirely by Jerry, utilizing (and probably tracing) various figures of Green Lantern-related art from 1940s comics. The first volume of this Best of Alter Ego series, which is still available from TwoMorrows Publishing at www.twomorrows.com, gave a separate, detailed rundown of each individual issue… as well as reprinting from #1-3 Jerry’s initial editorial and the “On the Drawing Board” news section, his Secret Code Chart, a study of JSA foe The Wizard, Roy’s “The Reincarnation of The Spectre” (part 1), a crossword “puzzle tree,” a smattering of early letters to A/E, articles on the Golden and Silver Age Green Lanterns, Linda Rahm’s parodic letter to a fannish exboyfriend, and a sampling of panels from the three chapters of Roy’s “Bestest League of America” parody—all material produced by Jerry and/or Roy, except for the letter spoof written by Roy’s then-girlfriend. So, this time around, we’re content to offer you the above minimum amount of orientation concerning issues #1-3 and let you plunge ahead, beginning with some of the “best of the rest” of those formative, spirit-duplicator-produced issues....

Ditto Masters Of The Universe

Seen at left is a vintage A.B. Dick spirit duplicator—though probably of the “crank” style rather than the even more primitive type on which Jerry Bails evidently printed Alter-Ego #1-2 and then advertised for sale in issue #1 of his adzine The Comicollector (Sept. 1961—see p. 44). That machine was purchased by Bernie Bubnis, a young fan remembered today for organizing the very first comics convention in July of 1964, in New York City. In 2012 Bernie recalled: “The chance to actually print [the first issue of Comic Heroes Revisited] on the same duplicator that printed Alter-Ego was too enticing to ignore. This printer’s karma would surely rub off on my fanzine. [But] by the time [it] reached me in Farmingdale, Long Island, it appeared that someone neglected to box it and just put a stamp on its metal exterior. Two pieces of cardboard accompanied [it], but they rested next to it on my doorstep…. “This thing sucked. After affixing the master to the drum, you manually ‘pushed’ it along its bed to imprint onto paper. Popeye’s forearm would not have been sufficient. Soon after, I bought my own crank-operated spirit duplicator. Cost me an astounding $130, but it sure helped the rest of my short fanzine-producing career. I attribute most of my later success in life to lessons learned in those early days of fandom. Like for instance: Never buy a spirit duplicator for $25 when an early copy of Captain America is selling for the same price.” 19

From Alter-Ego #1:

“Merciful Minerva”

The Story of Wonder Woman by Jerry Bails

Wonder Woman is the only member of the current Justice

When Wonder Woman first came to the man’s world, she assumed an alter-ego. She posed as Diana Prince, a meek, bespectacled WAC, who served as a secretary to an Army officer, a Col. Darnell, who, unlike Steve Trevor, loved the mildmannered Diana. Of course, neither man knew that both girls were one and the same person. Wonder Woman also served for a brief spell as a nurse on the front lines during the war. It was at that time that she met Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and was asked by Hawkman to serve as secretary to the newly formed Justice Battalion, a group composed of the members of the JSA acting under the direct orders of the War Department. (All-Star Comics #11, June-July, 1942). From this time on, Wonder Woman served as secretary of the JSA. In All-Star Comics #13 (October-November, 1942), the Amazon Princess was rocketed out into space along with other members of the JSA. Her individual rocket landed on Venus, and she helped the winged women of this planet to overthrow the harsh rule of their male masters, and to set up a new society based on love and charity. However, the lovely Amazon had to return to Venus on several later occasions to help keep the Venusian men in their place. After Wonder Woman and the members of the JSA managed to get back to Earth, the male members voted to make Wonder Woman their fifth honorary member, and like Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern before her, she appeared in a magazine all of her own. Wonder Woman #1 was dated Summer, 1942. The Amazon Princess was the fastest rising new star in the D.C. firmament. She was soon to appear in still another D.C. book, a new 15¢ anthology starring Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman— Comic Cavalcade (#1, Winter, 1943). This giant comic starred the same three superheroes until the middle of 1948, when many of the formerly brilliant stars of the comics began

League of America who was a regular, fighting member of the original Justice Society of America. She made her debut in AllStar Comics #8 (December-January, 1941-42) in a bonus, 9page featurette, which followed the regular JSA adventure. This featurette tells of how Steve Trevor, a U.S. Army Intelligence officer, was injured when his plane crash-landed on Paradise Island, the secret home of the legendary Amazons. [ED. NOTE: The current legend has it that no man has ever, or can ever, set foot on Paradise Island or the Amazons would lose their immortality and special powers. This was not so in the old days.] Steve was nursed back to full vigor by the beautiful Princess Diana. Diana, having never seen a man before (except in her mother’s Magic Sphere), naturally falls in love with this exquisite specimen of manhood. She then earns the right to return with him to the man’s world as Wonder Woman—a new champion to do battle against the forces of hate and oppression which, in those early days of World War II, threatened to destroy America—”the last citadel of democracy, and of equal rights for women.” This first story, in narrative form, reveals many of the secrets of the Amazons—a race of Wonder Women from Ancient Greece. So long as Queen Hippolyte retains the Magic Girdle, and the Amazons remain on Paradise Island, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, grants them the power of Eternal Life. With the Magic Sphere, a gift from Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, the Amazons can study the past, the present, and even, at times, forecast the future. All of these gifts become the heritage of the young Princess Diana; however, this first story does not reveal the secret of Diana’s birth on the island of manless Amazons. The secret of Diana’s birth was told in the first issue of Sensation Comics (January, 1942). [ED NOTE: Wonder Woman was the headline feature in Sensation Comics until issue #106.] Here is how this bit of “parthenogenesis” was achieved. It seems that Queen Hippolyte was lonely, quite naturally, and prayed to Aphrodite for comfort. The Goddess of Love, who should have known better, answered the good Queen’s prayer in a wholly unimaginative way—she turned the nearest statue of stone into the vibrant body of I’ve Got A Secret a female child, possessing (potentially, at 2013 Editors’ Note: When this first Alter-Ego hero-history ran in least) the beauty of issue #1 (a few pages after its first villain-history—see next art Aphrodite herself, the spot), there was no accompanying illustration. However, there had wisdom of Athena, the been a drawing showing Wonder Woman earlier in the issue, since Jerry, in conjunction with the first installment of the advance-news strength of Hercules, feature “On the Drawing Board,” had traced an early proof of the and the speed of cover of the Secret Origins special which would be on sale 2½ Mercury. Thus, months later. Thanks to Doc Boucher for the scan of that cover as it Princess Diana was appeared in A/E #1 in 1961.[© 2013 DC Comics.] conceived. 20

their death plunge. If Ever, Oh Ever, A Wiz There Was… However, Wonder 2013 Editors’ Note: In the first volume of this series, we printed a Woman has survived to thrice-removed version of this illustration of the JSA’s (and thus this day. Wonder Woman’s) foe The Wizard—namely, an Al Dellinges pen-andThe Amazon Princess ink tracing of a Jerry Bails tracing onto a spirit-duplicator master of was created by the writer- an Irwin Hasen drawing from All-Star Comics #34 (April-May 1947). psychologist, William Since we had no other illos of the Amazing Amazon from A/E #1 to Moulton Marston, one of display with this article, we decided to reproduce the 1961 the principal developers Hasen/Bails rendition this time, as well as we could, again courtesy of Doc Boucher. [Wizard TM & © 2013 DC Comics.] of the lie detector. Marston, who signed the strip “Charles Moulton,” and the original artist, Harry G. Peter (now deceased), both believed strongly in the equality, if not the superiority, of women. Their early stories often portrayed women in situations which would never pass the Comics Code Authority today. For this reason, you can expect the upcoming story of the Origin of Wonder Woman in D.C.’s new giant book to be the modern, wholesome version probably written by the current editor and writer, Robert Kanigher. By the way, the current artist is Ross Andru. Wonder Woman’s costume has changed very little since the Woman herself, and while bound, she was forced to be the time it was given to her by her mother, Queen Hippolyte. The slave of her captor until she could trick him into releasing his American Eagle, the symbol of Wonder Woman’s adopted end of the lasso. country, has always been emblazoned upon the breast of her The Amazon Princess has also always had a faithful, though strapless halter. She has always worn a golden tiara, which at invisible, robot plane; although originally, it was shaped more one time served as her omni receiver, but which today serves like a goose than a plane. Now, it is more streamlined. Today, as a weapon with which she can cut through stone and steel. however, Wonder Woman seems to have little need for her Since gold is a soft metal, we are left to imagine that the tiara robot plane, for she has mastered the impossible feat of riding must be alloyed with the hardest metal known, Amazonium, air currents. We are even told now that she learned this trick out of which the Amazon’s bracelets are also formed. when she was Wonder Girl. It seems that it would be better if There is an interesting story behind these bracelets, which this bit of fantasy were restricted to the heavy updrafts of hot Wonder Woman uses to ward off the bullets of assassins. By air that surround Paradise Island. the decree of the Goddess Aphrodite, all Amazons must wear In the old days, Wonder Woman used to battle a succession these bracelets to remind them of their former submission to of grotesque male villains, like the Mole Men. Today, she men. In the early days, Wonder Woman could lose her spends her time defeating robots, volcano creatures, sea creaHerculean strength and Mercurial speed if a man succeeded in tures, and the like. chaining her bracelets together; however, she always retained Steve Trevor is still around, and he is still pestering her to the wisdom of Athena, which has gotten her out of many a marry him. He and Lois Lane just never learn. tight spot. There were also some early stories relating how the The Holiday Girls—Etta Candy, Tiny Toy, Lita Little, and Amazon Princess went berserk when her bracelets were Thelma Tall—used to make regular appearances with Wonder removed, but it has been a long time since anything like this Woman. Today, their revivals only make infrequent appearhas happened. ances, while the spotlight goes to a new pair of characters— In the beginning, Wonder Woman wore short culottes of Wonder Girl (Wonder Woman as a teenager) and her adoring star-spangled blue, but she soon switched to the much more boy friend, Mer-boy. flattering skin-tight shorts that she wears to this day. Her One of the most important supporting characters ever to footwear has also changed some over the years. At first, she appear with Wonder Woman (besides her mother, that is) was wore tall, red high-heeled boots. Many years later, she Paula, the only other Amazon to leave Paradise Island. Paula switched to low-heeled sandals, a much more sensible choice was a brilliant scientist. Her greatest inventions were a time for such an athletic girl. Unfortunately, however, like most machine and the Purple Healing Ray. The time machine was women, Wonder Woman does not use good sense when it often used to send Wonder Woman into time, while the Purple comes to the selection of her footwear, and today, we find her Healing Ray performed one of the greatest services in all back in high-heels. comic history—it restored the JSA members to life after they One of Wonder Woman’s most faithful accessories has been had been killed by the greatest villains of all time. (All-Star her magic lasso, but it seems that over the years it has lost its Comics #38, December-January, 1947-48.) From then on, most interesting property. At one time, the Amazon Princess Wonder Woman played a more active role in all could not only use it to bind her enemies, but she could also JSA adventures, teaming up with other members as use it to compel them to do her bidding. Best of all, this she does today in the Justice League of America. unbreakable lariat could even be turned against Wonder 21

From Alter-Ego #1:

BESTEST LEAGUE OF AMERICA – PART ONE

2013 INTRODUCTION: At the time of Jerry Bails’ passing in November 2006, Roy Thomas, the official “co-editor” of the March 1961 Alter-Ego #1, had long since forgotten that, in addition to having on 1-26-61 sent Jerry a synopsis of his proposed “Justice League” parody “Bestest League of America,” he had also, three weeks later, sent Jerry the BLA drawing reproduced below. In early 2007 Roy was startled to discover, among other posthumous papers that Jerry’s wife Jean graciously sent him, an inked-andcolored illo Roy had prepared of the group’s seven regular members.

Until he saw that sketch for the first time in 46 years, he had long wondered if perhaps at some stage he had mailed Jerry the original art of the 5-page BLA chapter he’d completed by early February—not too likely, since the art on those poster-paper pages was 18” by 13”—and yet, one would assume Jerry would’ve wanted to see some visuals related to the story he proposed to begin serializing in the new fanzine’s first issue.

on plain old garden-variety 81⁄2" x 11" typing paper. On receiving them, in addition to everything else he was doing, Jerry traced that quintet of pages (and the cover) onto ditto masters. (The BLA drawing Jerry traced as the [color!] cover of A/E #1 was originally intended simply to be the internal “cover” of the BLA material, and Roy was surprised at his decision to use it to front the entire issue.)

The fact that the reverse side of the poster-paper sketch is dated “2-16-61” indicates it was done right after Jerry returned to Detroit by mid-February from his New York trip and wrote asking Roy to get to work on the first chapter of “BLA” for Alter-Ego #1. If Jerry ever saw the original “twiceup” version of those five pages before they were reprinted in Bill Schelly’s 1997 Hamster Press book Fandom’s Finest Comics, this book’s editors have never found any reference to that fact in the surviving correspondence.

As recounted by Roy in the “Alter Ego Story” he wrote circa early 1965 after perusing various letters exchanged between himself and Jerry, he immediately set to work redrawing “Bestest League of America,” Part One—not on ditto (spirit duplicator) masters, with which he was totally unfamiliar, but

The following five pages re-present both 1961 renditions of “Bestest League,” Part One, in a format which necessitates either turning this book sideways, or else lying on your elbow while reading it. The original “twice-up,” RT-penciled-inkedand-lettered art is printed on the left side of each ensuing page; the JGB-traced (and slightly edited) spirit-duplicator version done for Alter-Ego #1 is printed on the right.