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Post By An Interested Historian Sun Jan 08, 2006 at 08:56:37 pm EST |
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Parody Comics: A Brief History - Part Five | |
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The Silver Age The Superhero Renaissance and Parody’s Slide While many point to the early 1960’s as the revival of the comic-book industry and the ascendancy of the superhero genre, the seeds were laid in the last years of the previous decade: At National, Lois Lane and the Challengers of the Unknown would both receive their own titles, Jack Kirby would revamp Green Arrow, and a host of characters, such as Bizarro, Braniac, Suicide Squad, Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern, the Legion of Superheroes and Supergirl would all make their silver-age debut. At Atlas (the company’s name would change in 1961 to Marvel), Stan Lee would finish reprinting the leftover inventory stories from Atlas’ implosion (detailed last time) and begin hiring freelancers, all of whom would become integral to the company’s extraordinary success over the next few years. Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense were first published in 1959. The Revolving Door… Since its inception, Parody Comics’ artists had been vital, long-standing members of the company, but with the revitalisation of National and the stunning debut of Marvel, the company found it hard to compete. “I’d been telling Mr Feinberg that I felt I could be of more help if I just inked,” explains Murphy Anderson, artist for Defective Comics since its first issue. “I found it difficult to adapt my style to the more naturalistic side of things that had become popular. But as things were slowing down at Parody, Marty was budget conscious and needed artists who inked their own work. I’d been with the company for 19 years, but when National offered me the chance to ink over Curt [Swan] for Superman, and at a better flat rate than Parody, I had to except. It was the hardest professional choice I ever made.” Mart Bailey – who found himself temporarily unemployed after the cancellation of Tales of the Hat - became the new artist. But his fortune was to take a turn for the worse when, in 1961, Bailey was leaving work for home when he was mugged and thrown to the ground; he suffered a severe head injury that would leave him partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. He never drew again. “Mart was a great guy,” observes Ian Watson. “When we heard about what had happened, Mr Feinberg suspended publication of Legion for two months until he knew for sure that Mart was never coming back.” National would also hire another Parody artist: Acting Comics’ Nick Cardy. “It was difficult, because Marty was such a great boss. But I’d just gotten married and National paid almost double the page rate.” Cardy also found it hard keeping up with the monthly schedule. “I just knew that I compromised my work every time and that damaged the book.” Cardy would bounce around minor National projects before settling as their premiere cover artist. Marty Feinberg was furious and saw the defections as personal betrayals to himself. “I remember that he threw lots of things around the room when Murphy and Nick left,” remembers John Buscema. “He was like this little, hunched-up ball of anger…It was almost funny.” The split between the three of them lasted for decades. “He referred to them as ‘traitors’,” admits Babs Bennett. “But it was the way he said it, it was like he was spitting out a wad of tobacco.” Feinberg would call on two old friends who had never worked for Parody – one of whom had left the comic book industry altogether – to take over. Alex Schomburg had moved from his native Puerto Rico in the early 20’s as a teenager. Beginning in advertising, he quickly discovered comic-books and became massively prolific in the illustration of covers (a rough estimate is 500 comic-book covers in the decade between the 1930 and 1940) for Timely, producing some of the most memorable and exciting covers for ‘Captain America’, ‘Human Torch’ and ‘Sub Mariner’. In the early 50’s, Schomburg had left the industry to form a successful advertising company with his three brothers. “I’d been pals with Marty for years, he even asked me to take on Tales of the Hat when he first wanted to publish it, but at that time I was trying to get out of comics. I explained to him that I hadn’t drawn so much as a circle in 9 years, but that didn’t faze him. The chance to work at Parody - which I really loved - was too good and so I told him I’d only come back if it was Amazing Guy.” Revitalized after his years out of the industry and keen to make an impression, Schomburg brought a new dynamism to the book. “Everything suddenly became…big,” explains Ian Watson. “Big guns, big bombs, big women…It was what the book needed.” Schomburg also brought a new dynamic to the Parody Bullpen. “Alex was certifiably crazy,” observes Watson, with a laugh. “He was a few years younger than Mr Feinberg, maybe fifty, but had enough energy to power Manhattan!” Watson remembers a particularly unusual encounter with the fiery Puerto Rican. “I had been sitting at my desk trying to figure out a plot-hole in one of my Defective tales, when I hear him swearing behind me. I turned around to find that he’d lit his table on fire! [Laughs] I grabbed a bucket of sand that we had and dumped it on the fire, which put it out. Then Alex grabs me by my collar and holds me against the wall. He leans in real close and asks real quiet like, ‘Why did you put the fire out?’ and I tell him that it burnt up all of his work, only for him to say ‘The work was shit! It deserved to be on fire!’ [Laughs]” Jack Binder was a legend in the comic book business, even in the 50’s. After attending fine arts courses at the Chicago institute, Binder joined the Harry “A” Chesler comic shop in 1937 as the group’s art director. There he would produce some of the finest work of the Golden Age with titles like ‘Star Comics’, ‘Star Ranger’, ‘Dynamic Comics’, ‘Punch Comics’ and ‘Yankee Comics’. In 1940, he left to form his own studio with CC Beck, the artist who had designed Captain Marvel. The pair worked on various titles – including the Marvel family books - until 1954, when, due to flagging sales and National’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Captain Marvel, the studio closed. Binder had freelanced on various comic titles since then – including Parody’s anthology, Tales to Infuriate – until Feinberg asked him to take over the art on Defective Comics. There was another advantage to Binder joining Parody. “He was fast,” observes Buscema. “And I know the public thinks that there wasn’t as much detail in the artwork back then, but he averaged 4 pages of finished pencils a day. He took over most of the work on [Tales to] Infuriate.” Buscema was struck by the contrast between Binder & Schomburg. “They were both in their fifties, but you couldn’t get two more different people. Alex was a total nut-job, while Jack would just sit in the corner and get on with it, usually humming to himself with this little smile of contentment on his face.” Marvel Amazing Fantasy started it all. Steve Ditko and Stan Lee’s Spider-Man would transform Marvel almost overnight into America’s leading publisher of comic-books. Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Avengers, Journey into Mystery (Starring Thor), Hulk, Daredevil and many others were created by the Marvel bullpen in the space of a few short years. Marty Feinberg, who had known Stan Lee since the 40’s, was equally impressed and dismayed. “I think he respected what Stan and Jack and all those other guys had done at Marvel,” explains Ian Watson. “But he also kind of looked at as, ‘Why the hell didn’t I think of those guys?’. After Marvel debuted their new characters, I think there was a collective groan around the industry. We knew it would be tough afterwards.” As Marvel’s sales began to soar, Parody’s audience waned. While most of their output remained relatively successful, Tales of the Hat would finish with its 146th issue in 1960. Jim Walker – married with a newborn son - would retire to the easier life of an architect in San Francisco. “Marty wanted to let Hatman have an ending,” explains Babs Bennett. “The character was special to him, and he didn’t want to see the character relegated to a supporting member in the Lair Legion comic…so he let him go. I think Marty knew that we needed to update some of our characters and that Hatman didn’t really connect to kids anymore.” Lair Legion, Defective and Acting’s sales weakened but were still financially successful, though Epitome would suffer erratic success over the next few years, before solidifying its fan base. Kirk Boxleitner The letters first started appearing in the early 50’s. “I remember exactly the first letter we received from Kirk,” recalls Babs Bennett. “It came in this big, thick envelope and when I opened it, there must’ve been 20 pages of carefully hand-written questions on it. Some of the questions really made you think about the characters…others made you think about the little boy who’d written them.” The top-sheet letter, which is kept in Marty Feinberg’s personal office reads: “Dear Mr Feinberg, my name is Kirk Boxleitner and I am 9 years old. I have read all of your comics and think they are the best. Better than Superman and Batman and the Flash and Wonder Woman. I have some questions that will make me like all of your heroes more.” “And Marty answered them all!” laughs Ian Watson. “In the spaces Kirk had left for him, between each question, Marty had written a response.” “I’m not sure,” ponders the now adult Kirk Boxleitner. “But when I received Marty’s reply, I think I had my first orgasm.” Boxleitner, who in 1962 was aged 21, appeared on the doorstep of Parody Comics’ offices with Marty’s old letter in his hand and the profile of a comic character he’d created…“And then everything changed,” smiles Boxleitner. Next: The Silver Age of Parody Comics is over, The Psychedelic Age begins… |
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