Comic & Crypt 5: November 1971
Editors and publishers: Mark Sigal, David Rubin, Paul Hock
Comic & Crypt was one of many fanzines I unfortunately missed out on when they were a going concern. Too bad for a young me, because this zine not only has great content, as you will see soon, but it is nicely designed (thanks to Ron Kasman and Ronn Sutton). You can see a later issue profiled here. Above, you can see a ghoulish beginning for issue 5, supplied by Craig Russell and Dan Adkins. When researching this installment, I asked Craig on Facebook if this was indeed him, or another prevalent artist by the same last name, one Dave Russell. Craig responded with surprise…
Oh holy shit. Haven’t seen this in decades. Don’t even have a copy and I have a copy of everything. Almost. This is one of the first things I did with Dan. Maybe even before I officially started working in his studio. It’s a swipe of a Williamson panel if I recall correctly that he had me draw for him to ink. I have no idea what became of the original. [Ron Kasman elaborated, saying it “was from Al Williamson story in Creepy or Eerie about a comic artist named Baldo who relied on “ghosts” to do his work.” -Ken]
I started working in his studio in the spring of ’72. None of us were ever his assistants (well, hardly ever). He always made that clear. We were working under his guidance to produce work for Marvel.
He told me this had to have been done within weeks of meeting Dan for the first time! Dan Adkins was a rarity among comic professionals at the time. He responded to mail from fans and did work for fanzines at a reduced price. Below you can see one of two Kirby pieces (on the back cover) Dan provided for C&C.
This issue revolves around two big subjects. First, an interview in the DC offices with not only Jack Kirby, but Carmine Infantino! Can you imagine what a score that was at the time??? This was in the beginning of Kirby’s tenure at DC, creating the New Gods, among other things! More on that later. Secondly, there are several articles covering various aspects of Dracula. On to the first subject!
After an editorial, an opinion page by Jim Vlcko (who, ironically, did not seem to be that impressed by Kirby’s work at that time), and a bit of a set up (On a Clear Day You can See Third Avenue), we dive into an informal but lengthy piece on the two giants of the comic industry. This covers a myriad of subjects and comes with a plethora of candid photos as well. Unfortunately, due to the nature of possibly both the photographers and the print capabilities, the photos are pretty dark, but keep in mind, fans did not see this sort of thing very often! The interview is enriched by a few illustrations by Ronn Sutton, both of Kirby and Infantino, as well as Adam Strange. Additional illustrations are provided by Ron Jamieson and Mike Heltz.
Up next is an article expounding on the New Gods saga by Bruce Kalnins called Kirby’s Kozmic Kapers. More illustrations by Jamieson, Sutton follow, as well as fandom stalwart, Alan Hanley (seen at left)…and the Kirby/Adkins piece above, of course! You will see all this and much more when you check out the pdf of the whole issue here, including a full page Joe Sinnott rendition of the Thing!
Strangely, the Vince Marchesano piece below appears within the Kirby article as well, though it does preview the issues other big subject, Dracula.
Several articles follow chronicling primarily the Hammer version of the vampire, that being Christopher Lee. The articles (Hammer Films Count Dracula, The Legend Controversy, The Horror of Dracula, and The Loneliness of Evil) are enhanced by stills from various Dracula films. Remember, this was long before the internet, when images like this could be conjured in seconds by a few keystrokes. Back then, in 1971, you had to buy actual stills from a dealer if you wanted images from these now classic films.
As stated earlier, both Ronn Sutton and Ron Kasman handled the visual look of the fanzine. Kasman went on to work for Caliber the same time as I did, both of us showing off in titles like Negative Burn. When I asked Kasman about this issue of Comic & Crypt in particular, he had several points he wanted to bring up.
Here is the most important thing, and we are going back close to fifty years. Mark Sigal went to New York from Toronto to interview Jim Warren. When he got there Jim Warren became belligerent when Mark said to Billy Graham, one of the only African-Americans working in comics at the time, “What are you doing here?” Really, that is all he said, “here” being the Warren offices. Jim Warren decided that Mark had made a racist comment which was ridiculous. Luckily though, Mark was able to land an interview with Kirby and Infantino. I heard the tape. At one point Kirby is asked who his favorite artists are. Kirby did not want to answer and I can imagine the reasons were both political and personal, but I can’t read his mind. He said something like, “Anyone who contributes positively to the industry is my favourite artist”. Sigal responded with something very close to, “Do you like Ditko, Adams, Steranko?” Kirby reiterated, “I like anyone who makes a positive contribution”. This was changed in the article to, “I like Ditko, Adams and Steranko,” or words very close to that. I don’t have the issue here and I actually don’t think I have it at all anymore. But whatever is written at that point is a creation of the editorial staff and is false. Also, the false words have been quoted a few times over the years. Please forgive us all. We were in our mid to late teens.
Ron goes on to reveal actually how young they all were, and more…
I was probably 17. Mark was 15 or 16. The others involved were closer to Mark’s age than my own. Around that time Mark was getting a load of art sent to him from all over North America. My own drawings weren’t that good. Mark kept me on as a writer and I maintained that association with the magazine.
Mark would be finishing high school soon and did not intend to go to university though he was a very clever young man. His fanzine years were coming to an end. His last issue of Crypt consisted of an old Frazetta comic, White Indian (I just checked on ebay). He made enough money on that to balance the loss from all the previous issues.
I haven’t talked to Mark since I was maybe 25. My understanding is that he moved to Vancouver, changed his last name to an amalgam of his own last name and his wife’s last name, and runs a small business.
Ron is best known for his graphic novel, The Tower of the Comic Book Freaks and you can read a review of it here. His second graphic novel, The Geek of the Gods, should be in the comic book stores in May, if there are comic book stores to put it in.
Ronn Sutton also did an impressive amount of work in the comics business after his stint in fandom, most notably a 46 issue run on Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. You can find out much more on his website here. I also saw a recent post on Facebook announcing a great new project, Carson of Venus!
I am extremely proud to announce that, beginning today, my second Edgar Rice Burroughs projects appears. I am now drawing the weekly online adventures of “CARSON OF VENUS.” It’s a project I have wanted for many decades and its now a reality. This is one of the sample strips I created. I will also be drawing “The Man-Eater” up to its conclusion.
Check this link out for more info. Below is an illustration from C&C 5, followed by a few thoughts from the man himself.
What to tell you? My nearly 50 year old copy of C&C 5 has coffee cup ring stains on the cover. This tells me it must have been very significant to me because, apparently, it sat by my drawing table for a very long time.
This was the second issue (of 3), I think, that I did page layouts for. And maybe the third issue I contributed artwork to. I did the front cover for #3, I don’t recall offhand if I contributed as early as #2 or not. This was the first issue that had wraparound printing. The previous ones were all loose 8.5 x 11″ pages stapled together.
That article about a post-convention visit to DC included me, back in the days when fans could get casual visits, tours and appointments at comic book companies. We also got to visit MAD magazine offices and talk to Bill Gaines during an unscheduled visit. Boy, those were the days. I’d gone with some friends to Phil Seuling’s New York Comic Art Con and had even managed to get invited up to Frank Frazetta’s hotel room where he had his paintings on private display. Still have his autograph to me framed in my own studio.
I met Dave Russell in 1970 at the first convention I ever went to (1970 Detroit Triple Fan Fair). I’d gone specifically to befriend guest Berni Wrightson. Mission accomplished.
I always feel bad about Mike Heltz who drew The Angel art on page 10. I use to publish a little mimeo & ditto fanzine called Whirlwind and then decided to do a photo-offset ‘zine called Interesting Fanzine (could I have come up with a worse name?). Mike sent me a bunch of nice art, but IF was never published so I passed the art on to C&C so it would get used. I don’t know if they even sent him a copy. I’ve never heard from him again.
That drawing by me on page 30 is inked by Bill Payne. He’s an interesting case. I realized in 1969 that the daily history newspaper comic strip The Giants was syndicated by the Toronto Telegram and got them to connect me with Bill, who was writing, drawing & lettering the strip. We ended up becoming very good friends for a number of years. He hadn’t looked at a comic book since he was a little kid (he was a newspaper strip guy), so I turned him on to the best of comic books. Eventually he started submitting things and drew a number of short horror strips for House of Mystery, Witching Hour, The Unexpected, etc. (Amusingly he was soundly rejected by someone at Charlton, who told him to go to art school! He kept that letter proudly hung over his drawing table. HA!). Bill drifted around a bit…a job as a designer on the same newspaper, late night jazz & blues radio dee-jay, ad agency man, then went into animation. All the while doing the occasional DC short story. Last time I saw him was around 1990, we were both working freelance at a small Toronto animation studio. Any attempts to locate Bill in recent years have gotten me nowhere. I hope he’s ok, I liked him tremendously.
Likewise I haven’t seen C&C publisher/editor Mark Sigal since about then. I hadn’t seen Mark in more than a decade when I walked along Yonge Street (busiest street in Canada) and there he was, on the side of the road, next to a broken down automobile and waiting for tow truck. We both broke into laughter and set up a dinner get-together, which I don’t remember as well as that street meeting. I haven’t seen him in decades. Another good guy, though.
The letters column follows, and then an inside back cover illustration by the great Bill Nelson, long before he became famous for his incredible colored pencil work I knew him for. You can peruse his amazing work here. For the illustration in this issue, see below.
The Kirby/Adkins piece near the top ends the issue with an other worldly snarl as this issue of Comic & Crypt comes to an end. I hope you enjoyed another journey through the past (cue Neil Young) here in Ink Stains. Again, don’t forget to see the pdf of the whole issue here! Thanks this time go out to both Ron Kasman and Ronn Sutton.
Next month most likely you will be treated to a mammoth mimeo maelstrom in the name of Fandom Presents, assisted by Manny Maris! Manny has since clued me in that it was he who arranged the Kirby/Infantino interview, saying he …
… hung out at DC after school several times a week for a couple for years. Sol Harrison wanted to throw me out, but Carmine said ‘the kid stays’. I would watch artists draw and ink in the bullpen, and sit in the library reading bound volumes of golden age comics. I, along with Mark Sigal primarily, and Marc Bilgrey were all questioners in the interview.
John Shike [misspelled in the issue] took the pictures, and has probably since lost the negatives.
Thanks, Manny!
Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com
