Volume 28, Number 10

Vol. 28, No. 10
October 2017
whole number 334

2017 pages 073-080

A look at some of the things Robin Snyder picked up in his time working for DC editorial in the early 1980s, some stuff he worked on and some earlier unfinished work from others.

The cover is an intro page intended for Ghosts #112, the final issue of the long-running series, featuring Squire Shade, the host for the last run of the book, written by Snyder and drawn by Howard Bender and Larry Mahlstedt. 

An uninked Green Lantern page by Don Heck and Snyder (with the hint that there are other unpublished GL stories by Giffen and Ditko).

 

From E. Nelson Bridwell is a layout for the first page of a Snow White parody, possibly intended for Plop.

A script for the first page of Savage World #3, an unrealized 1970s project from Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, this issue featuring dinosaurs (attn Stephen Bissette).

A layout for the final page from "Letter From A Corpse", a western story by Sheldon Mayer, which I believe was an "Ace Coffin" story, a prototype from the development stage of what became Bat Lash.

Volume 23, Number 1 - Extra Tags

 Vol. 23, No. 1

Extra tags

See full index

Volume 20, Number 4

Vol. 20, No. 4
April 2009
whole number 232
2009 pages 025-032

Stephen R. Bissette leads off the issue, with the long first part of his 3-part autobiographical essay "Moving Day", originally published on his blog in 2005 and a Center For Cartoon Studies commencement speech in 2008. It's about his journey to becoming part of the first class of the Joe Kubert School in 1976, and thus dedicated to Muriel Kubert. This chapter covers Bissette's background and how his time at Johnson State College led him to take a leap of faith on this fledgling new school opening up in Dover, New Jersey:

"In 1976, the thought of anyone, much less a hick from Duxbury and Waterbury, making a career in comics was a reckless, delusional undertaking -- I mean, comics weren't a profession, they were a hobby." -- S. R. Bissette

(said fledgling school is still around, now fully accredited, and having trained many professionals since the first class Bissette attended)

The on-going task of listing "The Works Of Carl Wessler" (later titled "Upon Reflection") hits part 24, and is only up to 1952, when he was writing a lot of comics for Timely, all over their crime, romance and horror lines. Also some work for Lev Gleason, including one amusingly titled "The End of Johnny Morrow", presumably no relation to the publisher John Morrow...

Long "Under The Gun" letter column, with Joe Frank, Mark Fuller, Matt Murphy, D. Fenton, Sandeep Atwal, Gavin Callaghan and Stan Goldberg.

Volume 12, Number 9

Vol. 12, No. 9
September 2001
whole number 141

2001 pages 067-074

Longtime Archie Comics artist Joe Edwards covers this issue with a nice pencil sketch of the company's title character along with the Edwards creation Li'l Jinx.  

Edwards provides a short letter about the early days at Archie as part of a long Under The Gun column.

The heart of this issue is a look at Kanigher's "Savage World" concept with editor Joe Kubert from the 1970s, an unpublished series about two naturalists who roam the world, framing stories about the various creatures they encounter (or encounter evidence of). 

Doug Wildey drew at least two issues, and this newsletter presents the Kanigher scripts for two pages of a story about elephants, along with Wildey's almost finished pages. Great stuff.

Additional letters by John Wells, Carol Newman, Marc McMurray, Daniel Tesmoingt, Jim Amash

Volume 5, Number 10

Vol. 5, No. 10
October 1994
whole number 58

1994 pages 099-108

This issue opens up with an exchange of letters between Robin Snyder and Robert Kanigher regarding the then-recently published BIG FIVE book about the DC war comics, for which Kanigher wrote a foreword and Snyder wrote an introduction. Apparently there was some editing of the material which Snyder didn't like, so this issue presents them as written.

Kanigher's piece is an epic bit of writing boldly titled "All Men Are Brothers - Starting with Cain and Abel". He gets into all sorts of details and anecdotes on the long history of the DC war line that he was the essential part of from beginning (1952) to end (1988). A wide-ranging memoir that touches on the major characters and artists, the themes and creative process and some of the old grudges.

At the end is a short obituary by Kanigher for then recently passed editor Murray Boltinoff.

Snyder's piece, titled "The Glory Boys" (named for the 1971 Kanigher/Toth short story), is a too-brief profile of the three most important editors of the DC war line: Robert Kanigher, Joe Kubert and Murray Boltinoff.

We also get a larger than normal look at Creig Flessel's logo.

Below, Russ Heath's cover to BIG FIVE (a recreation of a 1962 cover)

Volume 1, Number 13

Vol. 1, No. 13
December 1990
whole number 13
1990 pages 095-102 (8 pages)

The first year of the newsletter ended up with 13 issues, before settling down to consistently monthly (with one issue missed in Vol. 3).

Steve Ditko's "Identity, Identification" opens the issue, continuing his thoughts on comics and the definition of art. This is reprinted in AVENGING WORLD [2002].

A discussion on the creation of the Flash (the Barry Allen version), including comments from Joe Kubert and Carmine Infantino, with an Infantino sketch.

Ernie Colon has a long memorial post about Jim Miele, a long-time contributor to Harvey Comics and creator of Wendy the Good Little Witch.

A lot of letters in Under the Gun, including Mark Heike, Joe Simon, Tim Truman, Frank Doyle, Bob Haney, Nick Caputo, Bob Palin, Jerry Nagel, Pete Morisi, Rich Morrissey, Murray Boltinoff and John L. Goldwater (including corrections he sent in to an article about Archie Comics in the New York Times).

Volume 1, Number 10

Vol. 1, No. 10
September 10, 1990
whole number 10
1990 pages 000-xxx

In the Beginning Was the Word… A Salute to Robert Kanigher by Robin Sndyer

This would coincide with RK's appearance at the UKCAC

Features include

An Introduction by Mrs. Robert Kanigher

The Kanigher Way, Robert Loren Fleming

Best wishes and Congratulations, Bill Woggon

Robert Kanigher-Provocateur Outrageouso, Irwin Hasen, an illustrated anecdote from their days at the Kubert School

What Joe Kubert?, an appreciation of Kubert

I Have Never Met Bob Kanigher, Pat Boyette, an appreciation in comics story and art format

Bob Kanigher, Sam Glanzman

To Kanigher, Murray Boltinoff

Once upon a time RK developed a back-up feature for Vampirella. Here is the splash page for the newer published introduction of Pythia old the Land Beyond the Mist, illustrated by Vicatan

The Rock by Snyder

An Extract from Secret Origin of a Comics Editor, RK. This contains his review of a comics convention appearance at The New York Comics Convention 1, 2 and 3 June 1990

Himself n Moi, Alex Toth, who remembers the magic time of illustrating Kanigher

Best wishes to Bob Kanigher from The cast of The Brave and the Bold and Jim Aparo, a beautiful drawing of Batman and The Thorn

-- Indexer: Robin Snyder

Volume 1, Number 1

Vol. 1, No. 1
January 1990
whole number 1
1990 pages 001-006 (6 pages)

Robin Snyder opens up the issue with "In the Matter of Honoring the Pioneers of Comics", on his intentions for his new publication:

"Going to the source for the background and origins of the titles, strips, characters, companies and trends which have shaped today's comic books." -- R. Snyder

The next feature asks "Who created Rock?", about the origin of the DC character Sgt. Rock, with some recent comments in print from Will Murray and Mike Gold (who weren't there) quoted, followed by statements from Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher (who were).

Joe Gill writes an editorial about the working life at Charlton comics in the early days:

"For me, that meant $2 a page. I had to write 150 pages a week to pay the rent." -- J. Gill

For the first bibliography there's a look at Robert Kanigher's 1955 output for DC, ahead of the more comprehensive bibliography of Kanigher that has been a regular staple of the newsletter.

Steve Ditko looks at the nature of the terms "create, creator, creation" in his essay "At Some Point":

"What is missing or needed in comics are standards to measure any effort to see if it is a valid, true creation and at what level." -- S. Ditko

(essay later reprinted in Avenging World [2002], The Comics v26 #1 [2015])