Comics Interview: Dissected – Issue #17

Welcome to the latest instalment of our Dissected feature here on Nerdly, where one of our comic gurus, Ian Wells, delves into comics history and looks back at Comics Interview, the long-running journal of interviews and criticism from David Anthony Kraft (DAK).

Lord of The Jungle

I am not going to pretend for an instance to know anything about the life and works of Gaylord Dubois. I do think it is a bold move to feature someone from the Golden Age as the main feature interview when comics and especially superhero comics are such a pinnacle. Dubois has written all of the pulp heroes you can think of; Tarzan, Turok and The Lone Ranger. He began writing Lone Ranger in 1936. This seems like a lifetime ago. It’s pre-WWII! But when you think of it in terms of comics it’s not that far away from Fantastic Four #1 in 1963. Really they are closer in years than this period I am dissecting via these interviews to now. His first Lone Ranger work was a novel and the following year he began a career in comics. Starting in 1946 he would go on to write Tarzan for Dell/Gold Key for twenty years! Violence is a subject that has come up repeatedly in CI. It comes up again here when Dubois is asked about whether he has seen the DC or Marvel comics based on Tarzan. He has only seen a few of them and feels they were terrible with violence to the point of bad taste. Back in his time, Tarzan was devoid of violence, due in part to panic caused by campaigners. This is years before the Wertham witch hunt and it led to Tarzan toeing the line in terms of violence. So when the restrictions did come about Tarzan didn’t face the same suffocation as other titles.

Elementary My Dear Willingham

After months of the double page and I believe one-time 4 page spread advert for Elementals the time has come to interview the mastermind behind it. The cover presents the question for this series “Do comics and religion mix?” I do hope the interview doesn’t delve too far into this subject, as I would like the story and the creator to speak to the whole. In today’s climate, I think a lot of reviewers and fans alike can comb over a comic at a microscopic level and say a certain comic represents a certain aspect like religion. I believe religion has been a part of comics since Action Comics #1 and it is as simple as that. It makes me laugh when people say things like religion or politics shouldn’t be part of mainstream comics. They have and will always be there, but for me they are more like a framework rather than the main factor that brings me to a story. Comico inker Rich Rankin is sitting in on the interview and takes up most of the early stages of the interview. Moving onto Willingham there is nearly a full-page biography of jobs he had before getting into comics. It started by showing his portfolio to John Romita at Marvel. He had the misfortune of bumping into someone in the Marvel offices who said his work was good enough to get work, by someone who wasn’t high enough on the ladder to assign work! After this he as he says worked on the periphery of comics before getting an 11-page story at Noble Comics. Among his influences, he name-checks Neal Adams, Jim Aparo and Michael Golden. With my limited artistic eye I would say his style is closest to Adams of the three, but from the art showcased alongside the interview I don’t see a lot of all three perhaps because a lot of the art is extreme close-ups of characters. You see a thick black line more in line with The Hernandez Brothers than superhero comics. Also, there is a great display of zipatones on display. I think it is fair to say Comic is very much the precursor to Image. A belief reinforced when Willingham begins to talk process. “I tend to think visually…Drawing is the first actual step, just from the vaguest outlines.” Willingham gives some really long answers and when it comes to the subject of religion as promised on the cover it is a long one. But it is not related to Elementals of Comics as a whole in any way, it is just his feelings on religion as a whole concept! Interviewer Dan Smeddy tries his best to tie this diatribe to comics but again it brings a long response from Willingham where he constantly uses Dungeons and Dragons as his key example. Really just watch the fourth season of Stranger Things to see how people overreact to the macabre elements of D&D. As you know by now I like to judge these interviews on the strength of whether they want to make me read the comic in the spotlight. In this case there is just not enough talk about Elementals to wet the whistle.

Joe Colquhoun

This is a very timely interview, Colquhoun was the artist on Charley’s War from writer Pat Mills. Mills currently has a Kickstarter running for a sequel of sorts called Ragtime Soldier. The reason for the interview now is that Titan Books are bringing Charley’s War Stateside in graphic novel format, so CI is there for the exclusive. I think it would be fair to say Colquhoun isn’t a well-known name in mainstream comics. Likewise Alex Raymond would be the same to most readers of CI readers at the time. So when Colquhoun name-checks Raymond as an influence on his career it is a big moment for people in the know. Raymond is a name I learnt from Jim Rugg singing his praises on Cartoonist Kayfabe. By usual CI standards this is a rather short interview. Apart from the Raymond part, they don’t go deep on influences, or anything based on his craft from a day-to-day point of view. I feel this is down to CI wanting to strike while the iron was hot by grabbing some time with him as Charley’s War hits stands in the US, perhaps they were a little underprepared and went with stock questions. The interview is also conducted by ‘British comics fan’ Stephen Oldham. He is not one of the CI regulars, so again perhaps he is playing it safe with the questioning.

Sandy Plunkett

Marvel Fanfare is a series that has mythical status. A series that has hidden gems of stories and experimental storytelling and artwork. Plunkett has recently shot to fame after pencilling a Spider-Man story in #6. Before this breakout moment he reveals he has been working for six years previous at DC and Gold Key. Before this Plunkett was one of many comics artists who came up through the advertising route. This was an experience that involved hanging out at Neal Adams’ Continuity Studios. This interview veers further process more than we have seen recently in CI. Even in the intro box it states his favourite tools; Windsor Newton No.2 Brush and a #2 pencil for those wondering. In a rarity for an artist being asked this question he gives Al Williamson as his sole inspiration. Although when asked about Hal Foster and Alex Raymond he does wax lyrical about the latter. Going into depth about how the ink on early Flash Gordon strips absorbed the ink just the right way, to mute bright colours. Despite being quick to point out he has worked six years previous to this famed Marvel Fanfare issue when asked how he works up a page he shows some vulnerability. “I’ve worked every way I know and I haven’t found one which I’m totally happy with.” He is now producing covers for The Defenders, (thus creating another bit of connective tissue between CI and Marvel) and has expressed wanting to do more black-and-white illustration work for horror comics, which he feels are never done well. I looked Plunkett’s bibliography up online and saw he did a four-issue Daredevil story in Marvel Comics Presents so that is probably going to come across my radar soon. In fact the last issue of his story is the first issue of the Weapon X arc so I do already have it, I just don’t remember reading it, sorry Sandy!

Grand Designs

The old-school feel of this issue continues as we get a conversation with a stalwart of both Creepy and Eerie. Described in the introduction by Lou Mougin as “the essence of horror.” As the interview reveals early on Grandenetti is a Will Eisner studio alumni in which he has the following to say about the pioneer of the industry “Will Eisner was like a god to us.” Having trained as an architectural draftsman his first work in the Spirit was on backgrounds. The 50s took him to DC and the theatre of war comics. Being a Navy veteran he felt DC’s war comics strayed from realism, feeling staged and therefore leaving him not able to draw on his own experiences. Grandenetti is not a name I have heard before but he does have some credits at the Big Two on characters everyone knows. Sub-Mariner and Hulk at Marvel and during a second spell at DC The Spectre and The Outsiders. This is a very short but sweet interview. There is no heavy process talk and he isn’t working on a top current book to get an in-depth insight into. It feels very odd Mougin built up his Creepy and Eerie work in his intro but there is no talk about it when the two sit down and talk.

Fabulous Flo

A name in comics everyone should know, if they don’t know it already. Flo Steinberg. Often referred to as ‘Gal Friday’ as she is here. I think the life and soul of the Marvel Bullpen is more fitting and hopefully this interview shines a light on her as more than Stan Lee’s secretary. At the time of the interview, Flo has been out of comics, but still in contact with all her friends. Flo’s story with Marvel starts at the very beginning after coming to NYC from Boston in 1963. As she recalls the atmosphere was ‘low key’ as the comics branch of Magazine Management was a tiny portion, in a tiny office. FF was only just starting out, everything was bi-monthly and mainly monster comics. Her duties went above her secretarial work right from off. Books like Millie the Model were the only ones receiving fan mail, from young girls because of the fashion influence. She would provide captions on the clothing design pages based on ideas from those letters. Off the subject of comics which I thought was a cool moment in history. Flo recalls one of the few times the comics office mixed with others in Magazine Management was the day JFK was assassinated. Once Spider-Man hit the fan mail increased, kids would try and run into the offices and she would resort to tripping them up to stop them! Two people she remembers letting as fans were Marv Wolfman and Len Wein. What Flo reveals next is going to hit original art collectors and fans of the heyday of Marvel very hard. As Jim Salicrup tries to turn the subject to creator’s rights as that is a hot topic in 1984. when asked about whether creators asked for artwork back, she replies “No. We used to throw it out. It would pile up…” The interview treads a path from some well-known moments in Bullpen history; Stan acting out stories by jumping on his desk. Flo follows Wally Wood around Stan’s office with an ashtray and the birth of Merry Marvel Marching Society. After leaving Marvel in 1968 Steinberg would eventually make the move onto the underground comic scene and the interview leans more heavily on this period. Spending time in California made her realise New York needed a larger presence in the underground scene, this led to the creation of Big Apple Comix. Big Apple Comix is a case of being willed into existence by Steinberg, the power of positivity and the result of friends helping friends. Upon reading her answers regarding the time putting the comic together you can feel her pride coming through the words. “…just looking at 20,000 copies of Big Apple was really something!” Now working at Arts Magazine Flo takes a jab at the art industry after a recent exhibition featuring works from Warhol and Lichtenstein alongside work from Dick Tracy and Popeye. She is not backwards in coming forward when it comes to defending comics, which have played such a huge part in her life. She states that the likes of Warhol have done nothing but appropriate comics. She resents the fact that it is seen as fine art now because of this movement, whereas she has been in the trenches with the pioneers of the industry. She ends by saying she would someday like to write her memoir and I along with a lot of fans would loved to have read it.

Ad Space

For a visual medium, Eclipse Comics serve up one of the most awful adverts of all time! A stereotypical-looking ‘nerd’ (a photo by the way not comic art) holding the Wall Street Journal stands next to a paragraph of text explaining how Eclipse aren’t serving up boring recycled stories. There aren’t done there, later in the issue there is another text-heavy advert, extolling why Eclipse are a unique publisher. This time it is accompanied by a cartoon hand pouring one substance into a science beaker of another substance. Dull! Dull! Dull! DC brings their A game with adverts for two new major projects. They have a brilliant centre page spread for the incoming Crisis in Infinite Earths 12 issue series. Then there are not one, but two ads for the DC Whos Who series. One of these is the back cover colour ad.

Legendary Letters

The first letter is from a gentleman called Bill Bead. I recognise the name from a YouTube series I used to watch called Comic Trips. Bill Bead frequently appeared as owner of Frankenstein Comics in New Jersey, a shop famous for its ‘Christmas in July’ event. From the footage it is very much my kind of shop and Bill is an absolute fountain of knowledge. His letter starts as the usual praise for CI, outlining interviews he has liked so far and the interviews he would like to see in the future. One of which would be “…one of those little old ladies who did mechanical separations long ago…” His letter ends on a bombshell; Revealing he works in magazine distribution in Pittsburgh, the place carries a small amount of comics that when unsold have their covers torn off and wasted. Some of these books he says are only two weeks old! We have a letter from comics creator Steve Lafler, who has enclosed a copy of Dog Boy #5. I wonder if he saw a peak in the audience from its mention here? And that is pretty much it from the letters this time out.

NEXT: McCLOUD! KALISH! SUYDAM!