Zatanna Day!

Gardner Fox was born on this date in 1911. Fox was a very important writer for DC and others in the Golden Age. He was a mainstay at DC in the Silver Age as well until he and other longtime veterans were summarily cast adrift. He wrote copious paperback novels of various kinds including sword and sorcery and sexually explicit. The first writer on both the Justice Society and the Justice League it is difficult to measure his impact on the form. 

Once upon a time comic books were isolated islands in a vast ocean. Once in a great while the hero of this comic would cross over into the the title of another and even create teams, but for the most part the heroes battled their own villains in worlds remarkably similar but rarely connected. Marvel changed all that when they created the singular "Marvel Universe" in which the sum was far grander than the sum of its parts. DC trying to catch a sniff of that struggled mightily to find a way forward. "Zatanna's Search" is one such experiment.

Zatanna is the daughter of Zatara the Magician, one of DC's most venerable heroes from the heady Golden Age and the pages of Action Comics. Modeled on Lee Falk's Mandrake the Magician (as were dozens of others) Zatara had  the advantage of the sleek artwork of  creatorFred Guardineer to set him above his occult peers. But by the end of the Golden Age Zatara had vanished for the most part, as had nearly all the Mandrake dopplegangers.

In the early 60's DC was reviving its glorious past with hits like The Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League of America and more. And it came time eventually to dust off the stylish tuxedo of Zatara they went a different way indeed. They did it by giving him a daughter, the gorgeous Zatanna and further they made his current whereabouts a mystery his daughter was trying to solve. She had a quest and that search would take her across the landscape of Silver Age DC.

The story begins in the pages of Hawkman in a story titled "The Girl Who Split in Two!" by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson.

Though not rating a cover appearance, there was no doubt that Zatanna with her backwards incantations and fish-netted gams was the centerpiece of this singular issue of Hawkman. As rendered by Murphy Anderson she's totally pretty, if not quite as thoroughly sexy as she will come to be. In this story we meet Zatanna for the first time as she uses some surprise museum pieces to lure Hawkman and Hawkwoman to her aide and to help her find her lost father Zatara.

The story weaves into the pages of Detective Comics as Batman fights a witch. To be honest this installment of the quest by "Bob Kane" is pretty limited and has all the earmarks of a retro-continuity patch in order to wedge the highly popular Batman into the finale adventure. Zatanna, as such does not actually appear in this story.

Her search continues some months later in The Atom by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane and inker Sid Greene. She convinces The Atom to help invade a sub-atomic world inside a book where she suspects her father might be. Instead the duo find an old enemy named The Druid.

This time Gil Kane and Sid Greene get a gorgeous go at drawing the beautiful magician in her stylish fishnets and his version becomes rather the standard for some years, at least in my mind.

Because it was Kane and Greene who also drew her in Green Lantern as her quest continued months later still in another story by Gardner Fox.

 The pattern is now established. In this story Zatanna and Green Lantern go to another dimension and confronted the scarlet-hued Warlock of Ys.

By now it was normal that very few months Zatanna would surface in some comic and we'd learn a tiny mote more about the ultimate location of the missing Zatara.

It's not in the headliner Batman story when Zatanna  makes her return to Detective Comics.

But rather in the back-up feature starring Elongated Man by Fox and artist Carmine Infantino. Ralph Didny helps the magic girl find some more magic objects which aide her search for her father.

Her saga while continuous has a weird, nearly stealth quality to it. Fans of any one comic miss out on the total yarn which spins across several titles, often unannounced.

Finally the search is concluded in the pages of the Justice League of America by Fox and artists Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene, and the heroes who have aided her along the way join forces to finally reveal the secret which has eluded them for nearly two years. Batman gets a starring role because he always did during these "Batmania" years.

The elments of the story which have been building are brought together and finally at long last.

The quest is ended as Zatanna and the assembled Leaguers plus Elongated Man (not then a League member) finally penetrate another dimension called Kharma to combat a sorceress named Allura and release the long-lost Zatanna.

DC was kind enough to collect these rare gems together in a delicious trade over a decade ago. I heartily recommend it to any and all fans of the Silver Age of comics. You will rarely find a package which offers a heartier glimpse of the style of stories told at DC during those glorious years. The cover is outstanding (see below) with great Boland artwork and a vintage JLA logo and even those memorable DC checks. 

The editors included also a later for both Zatara and Zatanna which were produced new for one of those highly entertaining digests DC offered up in the Bronze Age. This one is in actuality a secret origin of sorts by Gerry Conway with art by Romeo Tanghal and Vinnie Colletta, which over decade later reveals how Zatanna first learned of her father's disappearance and how she began her quest. Again alas, it seems DC was always working overtime to make sure that Zatanna's story reached as limited an audience as possible.

And just because it's so lovely here's a better glimpse at Brian Bolland's evocative cover art for the trade. Not everyone can make this costume work, but Bolland has cracked the code with gusto and panache.

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Captain Action Classic Collection!

Well they've finally doing it! They're collecting the classic 1968 Captain Action series from DC Comics. It won't be out until late in the Spring of 2022 but if things hold up, I hope to be holding a copy of his lovely tome in my mitts early in the summer if not sooner. Captain Action as everyone here well knows was a clever attempt to market a doll to boys who had been convinced since birth that dolls were for girls. G.I. Joe landed on the beach and Major Matt Mason took it to the depths of space, but it was Captain Action who bonded the comic strips and comic books with "action figures" once and for all. He could be anyone -- Batman, Superman, Captain America, The Phantom, Flash Gordon -- anyone. But of course that wouldn't work for a series handled exclusively by DC Comics. 

The debut was written by boy scribe Jim Shooter and drawn by veteran Wally Wood with Irv Novick knocking out a dynamic cover that put Captain Action squarely in the universe that Superman made. 

By the second issue Gil Kane had joined the team as penciler of both the cover and the comic with Woody handling the inks and Shooter still the wordsmith. 

But under this dynamic cover by Kane and Dick Giordano changes were underway. Gil Kane took over the writing chores and he was still knocking out the art with the capable assist of Wally Wood on inks. This comic book looked luscious! 

Then Woody moved on and Captain Action became a one-man show with Kane handling all the creative chores aside from the very handsome lettering. 

Woody was back for the fifth and final issue to add luster to Kane's pencils which illustrated his own script. Julie Schwartz as the editorial force on this one really packed in the talent but apparently the marketplace was not ready for so much goodness and Captain Action left the newsstands for several decades until Moonstone got the rights over a decade ago. All that time I've wondered why we didn't see these great comics collected and just assumed it was like TV's Green Horner, just overcome with too much red tape and possessed by too many diverse hands to make a release profitable. But like the Green Hornet I dreamed we'd see this and now maybe we will early next year. Now how about the Hornet!

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Alter-Ego - The Legendary Fanzine!

We live in interesting times when it comes to being a fan of anything. If you fancy a particular style of storytelling or a particular kind of music or a particular brand of films it's not only easy to get access to avalanches of information about your chosen interest, but it is in fact difficult to get out of the way of tsunamis of data that wash over you before you know it. Getting spoiled about some upcoming project is so easy it requires real dedication and focused effort to keep from it. It's a far different world than existed in the early 1960's when comic books and in particular superhero comic books began to regain some of the footing and success of a few decades past during WWII. It was a time when comic books were seen as much as plague as an investment and few and far between were the dedicated fans who harbored an abiding affection for the masked marvels of an earlier age. It was a time ripe for a fanzine called Alter Ego. 

Alter Ego was the invention of  Dr. Jerry Bails, a professor of science and a comics fan from Missouri with a passion for collecting and collating data, especially data about his favorite superhero team the Justice Society of America. He exchanged letters with Julius Schwartz, editor at DC Comics who was in the process of reviving the old Golden Age masked men and reshaping them for a modern post-nuclear American audience of kids and others eager to read about heroes again. These letters both informed and provoked both men and they became friends of a sort and eventually it occurred to Bails that he might like to discover and communicate with likeminded fans and how best to do that but get some addresses of same and begin a little newsletter about the subject. That turned into Alter Ego, a humble mimeographed publication which used both erudite understanding and humor to find a ready audience. The humor came from an unsettled Missouri teacher of English named Roy Thomas who had in his spare time concocted a zany parody of the shiny new Justice League of America called "The Bestest League of America". They graced the cover of the first issue of Alter Ego and were included in the first three issues in a continuing story. 

The first three Alter Ego issues, the one produced on spirit duplicating machines all appear in 1961 and their make up was pretty standard for fanzines that wanted to motivate fan interaction and also advertise and promote new publications from the likes of DC mostly but eventually Marvel as well. The Golden Age focus of Jerry Bails is evident in these seminal issues as he writes about a vintage JSA villain the Wizard as well as the Golden Age Green Lantern. Roy Thomas offers up his trio of "Bestest League of America" spoofs which rip on the burgeoning Silver Age revival at DC as well as writing new fiction starring The Spectre. Creating buzz for heroes they wanted to see revived such as the Spectre and the Atom feels a mainstay focus of the early Alter Egos. There are letters from the likes of Steve Gerber, Ted White, Don Thomposon and others. To read the "Bestest League of America" trilogy check out this odd link. 

It is almost a year later in 1962 when the fourth and final Jerry Bails issue of Alter Ego, this done on photo-offset, hits the grubby hands of the subscribers. And in it Bails announces his departure and that a team called "The Triad" will be taking over. (More on them in a moment.) This issue also features the first Alley Awards, a selection of the best that comic books had to offer the superhero fans and as one might expect in this early era, DC mopped up the competition. Bails offers up a detailed look at the MLJ heroes and Roy Thomas describes the elaborate electoral process for the Alleys (which were actual fragile figurines of the famous comic strip cave man no less). Paul Reinman contributes a piece talking about his process and his studio and there's art from Jack "King" Kirby. The fanzines have been noticed and some pros see value in helping this fledgling group along their way. 

The fifth and sixth issues of Alter Ego take a tremendous leap forward in their visual quality when they finally arrive in 1963 and 1964 respectively. "The Triad" had been fan artist Ronn Foss, his wife Myra and artist Richard "Grass' Green. Sadly the latter two fell away after great hopes and Foss fended pretty much alone as publisher but with much help from Green as an artist and Biljo White another fine fan artist. Foss brought his creation "The Eclipse" to the pages of Alter Ego and these are delightful superhero yarns in a slick style which was almost professional about a hero who was an updated Dr.Mid-Nite (Foss couldn't get DC to let actually do Mid-Nite) who can walk through walls in shadow. There are professional contributions in theses issues by Carmine Infantino, Curt Swan, Russ Manning, and Steve Ditko as well as an interview with artwork with Joe Kubert. Articles range from how to build a worthwhile collection (of mostly Golden Age stuff) and about the movie serials by Ron Haydock (a rockabilly singer and partime actor as well -- Rat Pfink anyone?). More Alley Award results finally come in and the Fantastic Four are starting to point the way to the future. The Bestest League returns but this time drawn by "Grass" Green and the team meets the "Frantic Four". 

Roy Thomas takes up the reins after Foss has to move on and Roy gets together three issues in late 1964 and through 1965. These are mature fanzines with good artwork and even a titular superhero yarn titled "Alter and Captain Ego" by Biljo White. This is a Captain Marvel variant and the first issue of the three focuses like a laser on the Fawcett Marvel Family with articles by Roy and some tremendous contributions from Captain Marvel writer Otto Binder. The next issue takes a gander at the Blackhawks as well as a long two-part article on Mexican comics and some of the original superheroes from below the border. Ron Foss is back with more Eclipse and there is even some promise of an adaptation of Gardner Fox's Warrior of Llarn, though that doesn't actually make print until Bill Schelly rescued it decades later. some of the gems are actual pages from Otto Binder about unpublished Captain Marvel stories and some comic strips by him and C.C. Beck starring the talking tiger "Mr.Tawny". More pro contributions by Steve Ditko help make these remarkable zines of the time. After these three issues though Alter Ego goes dark for some time and for a simple reason. Roy Thomas becomes a professional writer, first at Charlton and then briefly at DC before landing at Marvel where he becomes a major architect alongside Stan and the rest of the Bullpen. He wants to do more Alter Ego issues but it doesn't happen until 1969 and by then its a prozine through and through. 

Alter Ego ten is an issue I remember being advertised in the comics of the day. With support from professionals like Roy Thomas, Sol Brodsky, and Marie Severin (she did the portrait), it 's no wonder this is a fondly remembered magazine. It features perhaps the finest piece Alter Ego ever produced in its nascent incarnation, and that's an amazing interview with sometimes maverick artist Gil "Sugar Lips" Kane. Kane was a mainstay at DC and then he turns up at Marvel and was making an impression there, but like Jack Kirby and others wanted to take comics into new formats. He was in the process of making his magazine Kane...His Name is Savage when he did the interview that both enlightens fans and fired up a few pros. It's insightful and provocative and if you haven't been convinced you need this reprint collection before now, then this interview is almost worth the price alone. There is also material from Joe Kubert, unseen Tor pages and Tor even makes the back cover. One of the funniest articles in the issue (or any) is delightful piece by Roy Thomas in which he attempts to explain the Trina Robbins theory that Jim Steranko died after SHIELD #3 and that a doppleganger was responsible for the work thereafter, a doppleganger by the name of Paul McCartney. 

And that's it for Alter Ego until almost a decade later in 1978 when finally Mike Friedrich, at the time publisher of Star*Reach, a groundbreaking independent comic, sought and got permission to publish the elements that were to have been the eleventh issue which focused on artist Bill Everett and had a lengthy interview done by Roy Thomas as well as a remembrance of the artist who died too young in the early 70's. This issue also features an interview the Moebius and at that time he was among the most avant garde of artists in the field. 

And that's that for Alter Ego until decades later in the later 1990's still Roy Thomas dusts off the title and brings it to Twomorrows Publications where it finds a home it has enjoyed ever since. I've rarely missed an issue and never because I wanted to. I don't get through all of them but I enjoy almost all that I do get around to. The magazine has done a fine job of documenting a generation of talents who have all but left this world and left comics and comics history to younger hands.  For an amazing issue by issue breakdown of the contents of the Alter Ego issues check out this link. 

Next week --more Alter Ego. 

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My Favorite League 72-74!

All the focus this month on the Justice League of America has gotten me nostalgic about my all-time favorite period of the team -- the issues beginning with the epic one hundred and running until one hundred and fourteen some two years later thanks to the book slipping to a bi-monthly schedule. The mainstay artist of this period was Dick Dillin, the same guy who had been on the book for many years before when taking over for original artist Mike Sekowsky. Dillin was the kind of artist I've always admired, a workhorse who didn't take time off for accolades but stayed in the trenches and cranked out pages of wonderful artwork hardwired with brisk storytelling and handsome figures. He had many inkers during his tenure, beginning with Sid Greene, who soon retired and was replaced by Joe Giella. Giella was the man when my favorite era began but it was the arrival of Dick Giordano on inks which locks this period down for me. He gave a depth and drama to Dillin's work it had not heretofore seen and the two of them were mightier by far than the sum of their parts.

But this favorite era of mine is marked by one name for the most part - Len Wein. Wein was part of the Sixties generation of Baby Boomers who came to the comics field ripe with notions of how their favorite heroes could be reshaped for a modern audience. Relevance and politics were the order of the day and Wein and his longtime friend and partner Marv Wolfman were part of the vanguard who ushered it in. Sadly DC saw this influx of young cheap talent as an apt opportunity to cut loose some of the pros who had been toiling for them for decades. It's a bitter pill to swallow that I know the comics I most treasure were produced on the betrayed bodies of vets like Gardner Fox and Arnold Drake, talents who laid the foundation for the stories I hold dear.

Len Wein took the reins of the book over from Mike Friedrich who had inherited it from Denny O'Neil who had likewise taken over for Gardner Fox. So very few men had been at the helm of this title in its long history. A history was celebrated in Wein's debut with the beginning of an epic three-part tale (unusual at DC to say the least) that not only brought the League together with its summertime partners the Justice Society of America from Earth-2 but also revived the nigh forgotten Seven Soldiers of Victory.

The story is properly held in high esteem and began a trend with these annual events that vintage teams fro m years gone by and companies long defunct might get a new lease on life.

Len took the team once again to Rutland, Vermont (a town where the Fourth Wall is frequently called into question) to celebrate Halloween.

And he revived long forgotten villains like the totally strange Shaggy Man.

At long long last the Elongated Man joined the League in a move which surprised no one and pleased most everyone. Ralph Dibney belonged.

Not so obviously the Red Tornado was revived yet again and this android became a longstanding member of the team. His time on Earth-2 over and his career on Earth-1 just begun.

No one seemed to get the JLA-JSA crossovers like Wein and the two-part tale which re-introduced the Freedom Fighters (the heroes of Quality Comics) back into the comics world are among the best the annual event ever produced.

They battled nearly fogotten villains like Eclipso.

The team celebrated the Yuletide and  solved the murder of a Christmas icon...almost. 

They battled their evil counterparts the Injustice Gang of the World who were commanded in this issue by the mysterious Libra.

Veteran villains were dusted off and refreshed to go toe-to-toe with the team such as Amazo the One-Man Justice League.

Some say the one-issue story of Sandman's secret about his long unseen partner Sandy might well be the single finest yarn the annual JLA-JSA crossover ever produced. It's certainly one of the most emotional.

Even Snapper Carr makes his return in a bristling story which sadly marked the finale of Len Wein's run on the title. The art team of Dillin and Giordano would hang out a bit longer but eventually Frank McLaughlin would take over the inking gig and he and Dillin would rule the comic for the rest of the decade.

You'll also note that these issues (save for one by Dick Giordano) all sport lush and outstanding Nick Cardy covers, some of the best he ever knocked out. Cardy was the mainstay cover artist for much of the superhero line at the time producing these and other great covers for a host of comics.

Many of the later installments were 100-pagers, comics which cost more (the now ludicrously cheap sounding sixty cents) but were filled not only with a great new story but loads of tasty back up features along with vintage JLA tales. 

These issues, spanning two years because of the bi-monthly schedule are among the best in the long run of the series. So much happened in such little time that it's difficult to hold it all. The fact the book went bi-monthly inspired some real creativity and compression in the storytelling that blended the best of the Bronze Age with the best of the Silver Age. And the writer perfectly poised to do it at the time was Len Wein.

I'd dabbled in JLA stories off and on for years, but by the end of this run I was a confirmed JLA fan and hung with the series through thick and thin right up until the Crisis brought it all crashing down. These stories are available in the fifth and sixth Showcase volumes of the run (the JLA-JSA stories are available in color in the Crisis trades) but I know that this is one fan who would love to have all the Wein-Dillin-Giordano stories in a single tasty trade. I'd buy it in a heartbeat and I might buy two if it would help convince the powers to do such a thing.

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