© 2007 Evil Twin Comics

Notes on Sources

>>>>AWESOME: "Crime ... Does It Pay!"

>>>>STAPLE '08 Convention Program: "The Texas Mafia"

>>>>CBC #1: "Funnies Get Famous" • "Amazing Spicy Science Mystery Stories" • "Toon Feud" • "New Action Fun"

>>>>CBC #2: America [HEART] Comics • Our Artists at War • All You Need Is Love • The House of Fear

>>>>CBC #3: Madness • Pop • Fanbase Presents...

"FUNNIES GET FAMOUS"

  • The designation of October 18, 1896 as the date of the tectonic shift in comic art comes from Bill Blackbeard and Martin Williams (eds.) The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press & Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1977. p. 14. This is the strip in question. All events cited on Page One were gleaned at random from the October 19, 1896 New York Times.
  • On-line resources for The Yellow Kid are impressive, including Mary Wood's "Yellow Kid on the Paper Stage" site and the home page of the R. F. Outcault society. See also R. C. Harvey Children of the Yellow Kid: The Evolution of the American Comic Strip. Seattle: Fry Art Museum, 1998. pp. 13, 15, 17, 18, 20.
  • Schon vs. Luther: Craig Yoe. Craig Yoe's Weird But True Toon Factoids. New York: Gramercy Books, 1999. 93.
  • Kant discusses the connection between sequence and time in Section II of "Transcendental Aesthetic", Part First of the Transcendtal Doctrine of Elements in Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Eisner coined the term "sequential art" in Comics & Sequential Art (1985).
  • "Yellow journalism": Harvey 20, Yoe 77.
  • Bud Fisher and his innovations: Yoe 15, Blackbeard 15-16, 58-59, Harvey 23, 26, 33; "...prominent position across the top": Harvey 34
  • Birth of King Features: Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
  • Winsor McCay: Harvey 23, BPIB bio site and John Canemaker's 1976 documentary "Remembering Winsor McCay" on Image Entertainment's excellent DVD collection Winsor McCay: The Master Edition.
  • Watch a sizeable chunk of Gertie the Dinosaur on YouTube. McCay even began work on a sequel! When I curated the exhibit "Toon Town: New York City in Comic and Cartoon Art" for MoCCA in 2004, I was priviledged to hold in my hand an original cel from Gertie generously lent by Bob West, the voice of Barney via Heidi Leigh and Animazing Gallery, and up close I can tell you McCay's linework is so fine it's still astounding almost 100 years since it was drawn.
  • "Max, you're a bright young man": Richard Fleishcer. Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2005. 15.

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"AMAZING SPICY SCIENCE MYSTERY STORIES"

  • "I spotted this magazine...": Greg Theakston, Ed. The Complete Jack Kirby Volume One: 1917-1940. Atlanta, GA: Pure Imagination, 1997. 12.
  • "...story is worth more...": The Pulp.Net.
  • Pulp vital statistics: "The Bloody Pulps" by Jim Steranko (originally printed in Steranko's History of Comics, Vol. 1, 1971).
  • The Hugo Gernsback story: Chapter 11 of Ron Goulart's Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1972). Gerard Jones. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. New York: Basic Books, 2004. 55-56. "The present order of civilization...": (Wonder Stories, Vol. 4, No. 10), reprinted by The (now defunct) Pulp Zone web site.
  • Illustration v. cartooning: Harvey 76, 95; "Golden Age of Adventure Strips": Toonopedia on Tarzan
  • Jack Kirby's childhood: Glenn B. Fleming. "The House That Jack Built." The Collected Jack Kirby Collector. John Morrow, Ed. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing, 1998-2000. 3 vols. Volume Two, Page 15. (References to the Collected Jack Kirby Collector will hereafter be abbreviated to "CJKC" [volume number]:[page number]. Ergo, reference to Fleming, here, would read CJKC 2:15.
  • See also Kirby biography in "Lord of Light" promotional package (reproduced CJKC 2:102-3). Ken Viola, "Jack Kirby: Master of Comic Book Art," CJKC 1:130-1. Jack Kirby. "Street Code." Jon B. Cooke and John Morrow, Eds. Streetwise: Autobiographical Stories by Comic Book Professionals. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2000. 20.
  • Many thanks also to Eric Evans and Gary Groth of The Comics Journal, who kindly provided me with a copy of the raw transcript of Groth's 1989 interview with Jack and Rosalind ("Roz") Kirby. The comprehensive interview covers most of Kirby's life and career and filled in many gaps in the artist's early years.
  • Siegel background: Jones 37-38, 72, 77-79, 82-85. Also Les Daniels. DC: Sixty Years of the World's Greatest Heroes. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1995. 20-21.
  • Siegel's first fanzine was called "Science Wonder Stories" (Jones 37).

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"TOON FEUD"

  • Fleischer/Disney rivalry: Leonard Maltin. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New York: McGraw Hill, 1980. Ch. 3. See also Leslie Cabarga. The Fleischer Story. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. Fleischer comes up with spinach: R. Fleischer 54-5.
  • Fleischer childhood: R. Fleischer 2-3. Disney childhood: Anthony Lane. "Wonderful World." The New Yorker. 12/11/2006: 67-75. Nat Gerbler. Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. 19-22. "You can't eat medals": R. Fleischer 74.
  • Head animator system: Maltin 92-95. "I hated it": Theakston, Kirby Volume One, 17.
  • "The super-strength and action...": Jones 116. For more on the influence of Fleischer Popeye, check out this excellent video essay by Keith Phipps for Slate magazine.
  • 1937 Fleischer Strike: R. Fleischer 90-92. "14 Pickets Seized in Broadway Fight." The New York Times May 8, 1937: 5. "Movie Studio Strike Voted by 100 Workers." NYT May 7, 1937: 9. "I'm Popeye the Union Man": R. Fleischer 91.
  • Making of Snow White: Gabler Ch. 6; rejected dwarf ideas: Gabler 220; casting animators: Gabler 233; rotoscoping Snow: Gabler 262-3; Reaction: Gabler 272-273, R. Fleischer 94.
  • Fliescher moves to Florida: R. Fleischer 95-96. Kirby would claim (CJKC 2:112, for example) to have left Fleischer Studios a few months before the 1937 strike, but also always gives as the primary reason for his leaving (CJKC 2:15, Theakston (1940-1941) p. 8, et al) their transfer to Florida, which happened almost a full year later. Also in CJKC 2:15, however, Kirby says that "it's fortunate I didn't go [to Florida] because soon after [the studio] moved, they all went on strike and men were laid off." I am operating on the assumption that while in later life Kirby mistakenly believed that the strike and the move were coterminous occurrences, events did indeed unfold as we present them in CBC #1.

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"NEW ACTION FUN"

  • The birth of the comic book: Mike Benton. The Comic Book in America: An Illustrated History. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1989. 14-17. Coulton Waugh. The Comics. Brooklyn: Luna Press, 1974. 335-342. Jones 99-101. Gaines' contribution: Frank Jacobs. The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1972. 54-6.
  • Poor ol' Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson: Jones 101-102, Benton 17-18; Daniels, DC, 14-15.
  • Early Siegel and Shuster comics & Superman's Creation: Daniels, DC 16-17, 20-23; Jones 38, 109, 113-116. Many thanks to Comics Should Be Good's Brian Cronin for turning me on to this essay, which discusses on Wylie's influence (or lack thereof) on Siegel and emphasizing the John Carter of Mars connection. Regale to the adventures of "Henri Duval of France, Famed Soldier of Fortune!"
  • Visit Blakeney Manor to learn more about The Scarlet Pimpernel than you could possibly stand. Percy's poem can be found in Chapter 12 of the original novel.
  • Zorro background from the 2000 documentary The Many Faces of Zorro, written by Philip Dye.
  • The Wonderman Debacle: Bob Andelman. Will Eisner: A Spirited Life. Milwaukie, OR: M Press, 2005. 43-45. Eisner thinly fictionalizes the Wonderman story in his autobiographical graphic novel The Dreamer (Kitchen Sink 1986).
  • Kirby Meets Fox, Simon Meets Kirby: Joe Simon with Joe Simon. The Comic Book Makers. Lebanon, NJ: Vanguard Press, 2003. 29-33. "I'm the King of the Comics!": Simon 30 (Simon: "Every artist got the Fox monologue treatment."). "Don't want no Rembrandts!": Pierce Rice, interviewed in The Comics Journal #219, January 2000: 86. Simon Background: Simon 20-28; Theakston, Kirby Volume One, 97-102; Will Eisner. "Shop Talk: Joe Simon." Will Eisnerıs Spirit Magazine. October, 1982: 20-27, 37-39.
  • Kurtzberg Becomes "Kirby": Simon 41; 1940 comic book statistics: Benton 32.

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"AMERICA [heart] COMICS"

  • "Artists sat lumped": Jules Feiffer. The Great Comic Book Heroes. New York: Dial Press, 1966. 50. 51.
  • Comic Shop Stories: Pimp: Gil Kane in The Comics Journal 04/1996: 57; "Well how much do you need?": quoted by Joe Kubert in TCJ 11/1994: 64; "below digging ditches": Ibid 67.
  • Funnies, Inc. and Martin Goodman: Les Daniels. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1993. 17-23. See also Theakston, The Complete Jack Kirby Volume Two: 1940-1941. Atlanta: Pure Imagination, 1997. 11-14. Writing "Roman" backwards: Marvel Comics Vol. 1 No. 1. New York: Marvel, 1990. 39.
  • Simon & Kirby at Timely: Daniels, Marvel, 32-52; Theakston, Kirby Volume Two, 236-245; Simon 42-53. "Started with the villain": CJKC 1:54. "The bastard is alive": Simon 43. "The pressure was trememndous ... needed a superpatriot": Theakston, Kirby Volume Two, 238. Lamppost threat: CJKC 1:181. La Guardia Help: Simon 45. Sentinals of Liberty ad copy: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Captain America: The Classic Years 2. New York: Marvel Comics, 2000. 42.
  • Stan Lee, nee Stanley Lieber: Stan Lee. Excelsior! New York: Simon & Schuser, 2002. Ch. 2; Simon 46.
  • "the spread about Joe and me..." would be "Up, Up and Awa-a-y! The Rise of Superman, Inc." John Kobler. Saturday Evening Post. June 21, 1941. 14, 15, 70-78. All quotations and statistics from this page are from that article.
  • Walt Disney's Comics and Stories: Benton, America, 30, 107-8, 158.
  • S&K defect to DC: Daniels, DC, 64. Simon 53, 58-61. "I'm your man"; "Martin is furious": Simon 53. "I'm gonna kill him": Joe Simon related this story either at the Joe Simon Panel or the Jack Kirby Tribute Panel at the 1999 Comic-Con International, a combined transcript of the both may be found in Jack Kirby Collector #25, "More Than Your Average Joe", downloaded off TwoMorrows web site.

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"OUR ARTISTS AT WAR"


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"CRIME ... DOES IT PAY!"

  • Biro meets voyeur: Simon 56-57; also Mike Benton. The Illustrated History of Crime Comics. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1993. p. 20.
  • Gil Kane tells the Western Union girls' locker room story in his interview with Gary Groth in The Comics Journal 04/1996:48-49. See also Jones 192-193.
  • The Lev Gleason Story: Benton, America 124-135, Crime 19-22; Jones, 192, 235. Everything I know about the Lev Gleason Daredevil comes from Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
  • CDNP letters practices: Benton, Crime, 29
  • Origin of Mr. Crime: Ibid 27-28. Jitter along with the adventures of Mr. Coffee Nerves here.
  • CDNP Sales Figures: Benton, America 125, Crime 35.
  • Titles that magically turned into crime comics once the trend began include Fox super heroes Blue Beetle and Phantom Lady, Marvel's venerable Sub-Mariner (which was re-titled Official All-True Crime Cases) and, under the guidance of Simon & Kirby, Crestwood's Headline Comics. Note the dramatic pre-crime and post-crime difference!
  • Chicago crime comics ban: Greg Theakston, Ed. The Complete Jack Kirby March-May 1947. Atlanta: Pure Imagination, 1988: p. 108.
  • Anti-crime comics legislation and Gleason's reaction: Benton, Crime, 75-76; a Gleason crime comic cover covered (pun intended) in disclaimers may be seen here.
  • Post-Code Fate of CDNP & Its Creators: Benton, Crime 85-97, Jones 281-282, Simon 151-153, Yoe 106.
  • Most NYC papers covered Bob Wood's gruesome murder of his lover, but our account comes specifically from the Daily News, 09/14/1958: 3. See also "Cartoonist Held as Slayer." The New York Times 08/28/1958: 28.
  • See the cover to the last issue of Crime Does Not Pay here-- Note the big ol' Comics Code Authority seal of approval on it!

"ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE"

  • Captain Marvel's circulation woes: Benton 43.
  • The Archie Comics story: Don Markstein's Toonopedia; Benton, America, 34-5, 93-5, 181-3.
  • The best historical survey of romance comics may be found in Chapter Two of Trina Robbins' From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999). For the birth of Young Romance, see Robbins 50-52; Simon 122-125; Benton 141-2; Theakston, Kirby 1940-1941, 88, 119 and Kirby March-May 1947, 7-8; and Robert Greenberger. "Comics Find True Love." Millennium Edition: Young Romance Comics #1. New York: DC Comics. April 2000: inside covers. Also Richard Howell. "Kirby's Romance Women: Tough Enough?" CJKC 5:64-66. Genre statistics: Benton, America, 46.
  • "I hope they put out more"/"borders on pornography": Simon 112.
  • 1947 comic book industry statistics: Waugh 334.

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"THE HOUSE OF FEAR"

  • Early comics criticism: Amy Kiste Nyberg. Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998. Chs. 1-2.
  • Crazy Ole William Moulton Marston: Daniels, DC, 58-61; Jones 205-211; Nick Gillespie. "William Marston's Secret Identity: The strange private life of the creator of Wonder Woman." Reason. May 2001; Marguerite Lamb. "Who Was Wonder Woman 1?" Bostonia. Fall 2001.
  • "blood-curdling masculinity"/"cynical enough"/"willing slaves": Daniels, DC, 58; "When women rule"/"preference in story strips": Olive Richard. (a/k/a Olive Byrne.) "Our Women Are Our Future." Family Circle August 14, 1942. Reprinted at The Wonder Woman Pages web site; "psychological propaganda": Les Daniels. Wonder Woman: The Complete History. New York: Chronicle Books, 2000. 22; "sold more comics": Daniels, DC, 61; enjoy submission: Lamb, web page 3.
  • All-American Comics: Daniels, DC, 48-63; Jacobs Ch. 3; "Where's Bill?": Ibid 56-7
  • E.C.'s New Trend: Jacobs Chs. 4-7; Benton 112-116; "how long it took Moses": Jacobs 59-60; "old man's stockroom boy": Ibid 63; pencil sharpener suggestion: Ibid 78.
  • "Evil twin brother": Dick DeBartolo. Good Days and MAD: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at MAD Magazine. New York: Thunderıs Mouth Press, 1994. 192-3.
  • "Americans are good guys": Greg Sadowski (ed.) The Comics Journal Library Vol. 7: Harvey Kurtzman. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2006. 104. "To the right of the sulpha": Jacobs 82. "If I was going to tell kids anything about war": Sadowski 24; "the average comic-book guy" Ibid 43. Research Tales: Ibid 64. "I wasn't making any money": Ibid 111. Protesting horror comics: Ibid 108.
  • "Important contributing factor": Wertham's Senate testimony, from the transcript in Maurice Horn (ed.) The World Encyclopedia of Comics. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999. 871.

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"MADNESS"

  • "No child should be diagnosed": H. L. Mosse. "The Misuse of the Diagnosis Childhood Schizophrenia." American Journal of Psychiatry. 1958 Mar; 114(9):791-4. Wertham biography: Nyberg Ch. 4.
  • "Easier to sentence a child to life": Nyberg 33. Revenue quote: Benton 48.
  • "Lack of modulation": Richard Warshow. "Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham." Commentary vol. 17 (1954). Reprinted in Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester. Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2004. 69. Warshow's praise of Krazy Kat, "Woofed with Dreams" from The Parisian Review (1946), may be found on pp 63-66.
  • "Distinction between 'bad' and 'good'": Ibid 76.
  • "Irritated pleasure": Ibid 68.
  • "You're a humorist": Jacobs 85.
  • "Indiscriminate anarchy": Heer & Worcester 68.
  • "I was pretty bitter": Sadowski 44.
  • "Desecrated Christmas": David Hajdu. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. 220.
  • "If you open the door": Attributed to Anthony Comstock (1844-1915).
  • "Crime comic book for parents": Heer & Worcester 77.
  • "The group most anxious to destroy comics": William M. Gaines and Jack Davis. "Are You a Red Dupe?" The Haunt of Fear #26. July-August 1954.
  • "Hitler was a beginner": Horn 880.
  • "Good taste": Jacobs 109.
  • "Stupid, stupid, stupid": Hajdu 271.
  • "No Harm in Horror": Peter Kihss. "No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says." The New York Times. April 25, 1954: A1.
  • "It was like the plague": Hajdu 326.
  • "Most severe set of principles": Nyberg 112.
  • "Too violent": Lee, Excelsior, 96.
  • "Comics were a bastard form": Jacobs 117.
  • "Russian beatnik": Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media. 1964. Reprinted in Heer & Worcester 109.
  • "Unsuitable for reproduction": Nyberg 81.
  • "Not the cause": Ibid 83.

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"FANBASE PRESENTS..."

  • The full story on E.C. fandom can be found in Chapter One of Bill Schelly's The Golden Age of Comics Fandom. Seattle: Hamster Press, 1995.
  • R. Crumb's Childhood: The film Crumb, directed by Terry Zwigoff (1994). Chapters 1-2 of R. Crumb and Peter Poplaski. The R. Crumb Handbook. London: MQ Publicatins Ltd., 2005.
  • "Forced me to draw": Peter Poplaski, Ed. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book. Boston: A Kitchen Sink Book for Little, Brown and Company. 1997. 3. See also R. Crumb "Treasure Island Days" (1978), reprinted in Crumb Coffee Table, 20-21.
  • Disneyland (the TV show): Gabler 511-513.
  • "I lived, breathed and ate": Sadowski 14.
  • "The real importance of Foo": Crumb Handbook 100.
  • Science Fiction/Double Feature: Julius Schwartz with Brian M. Thomsen. Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction and Comics. New York: Harper Collins, 2000. Benton, America, 171-174. Michael Uslin, Ed. Mysteries in Space: The Best of D.C. Science Fiction Comics. New York: Fireside, 1980.
  • "A whole new audience": Schwartz 87.
  • "Spread disease": Schelly 23. "Fantastic Coincidence": Ibid. 24.
  • Kirby v. Schiff: Jon B. Cooke. "The Story Behind Sky Masters." CJKC 3:147-151.

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"POP"

  • "A very strong afterimage": Janis Hendrickson. Roy Lichtenstein. Koln, Germany: Taschen, 2006. 10.
  • "More as an observer": Ibid 20.
  • Lichtenstein's process is described in detail in "Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?" Life Magazine. January 31, 1964.
  • Beer cans as art: Klaus Honnef. Pop Art. Koln: Taschen, 2004. 21.
  • "How can you like exploitation?": Hendrickson 39.
  • "A wish dream": Cited by Jules Feiffer. The Great Comic Book Heroes. New York: Fireside Books, 1966. 43.
  • "It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Superman!": Daniels, DC, 146-7.
  • "I thought they were crazy": Joel Eisner. The Official Batman Batbook. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1986. 6.
  • "I loathed the word 'camp'": Adam West with Jeff Rovin. Back to the Batcave. New York: Berkeley Books, 1994. 98-100.

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"THE TEXAS MAFIA"

  • Jack Jackson background: Patrick Rosenkranz. "Jack Jackson's Long Rough Ride Comes to an End." The Comics Journal #278. October 2006. 20-26; Rosenkratz. Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution, 1963-1975. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2002. 16-26. "putting one over on the bigwigs": "Ride" 22.
  • Chet Helms, a/k/a Family Dog: Joel Selvin. "Chet Helms, aka Family Dog, celebrated along with his era." San Francisco Chronicle. October 31, 2005. B-1; also Bio on Janis Joplin Estate site.
  • "Medically unfit": Frank Stack's interview of Gilbert Shelton in The Comics Journal #187.
  • Birth of Rip-Off Press: Patrick Rosenkranz. "Underground Publishers." The Comics Journal #264; Jack Jackson. "Rip-Off Press: The Golden Era." 1988. Reprinted in The Comics Journal #278: October 2006. 29-32. See also Rebel 90-94; 132-4. "...Texas Mafia...": "Ride" 22-3.

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