Planet Terry-fied!

No superhero drawings this time. Promise. Instead, let's hop in the Wayback Machine™ for the story of the images you see here. 

Back when I got out of art school, I really didn't have a "career plan". I just sort of assumed some sort of career opportunity would present itself, and I'd be on my way. That didn't happen, of course. I had to go out and actually search for a paying gig.

What made it harder was that I wanted to draw comic books, and the "funny" style of comics I liked had pretty much dried up. Harvey and Gold key were gone, and I wasn't sure I was a good fit at Archie Comics.  One  place that was publishing the style of comics I liked to draw was Marvel Comics, with their (soon to be short-lived) Star Comics, a line of books "for kids". Apparently, titles like "The Hulk" were considered far too sophisticated for young minds.

I wasn't really crazy about the titles Star was publishing. They seemed watered down versions of the Harvey titles. This was, of course, because the staff of Star Comics was made up of most of the creative team from Harvey, including the great Warren Kremer and editor Sid Jacobson, among others. The art was great, but the stories...? Well, let's just say "Royal Roy" was no "Richie Rich".

Still, Star was publishing stuff I could do, by people I admired, so I set my sights on getting a gig with them. I drew up the samples you see here. The featured character is "Planet Terry", one of the less-derivative books Star was publishing at the time. I put together a portfolio of this and other pages I had done, and made an appointment with editor Sid Jacobson.

It was exciting and terrifying to actually be in the offices of Marvel Comics, a place I had been reading about for years. As I waited for my appointment, though, the thrill wore off. The Marvel Bullpen was far less exciting than it had been described as being. Except for a  few superhero posters, it could have been any office anywhere in the world.

When I was finally escorted to Sid's office, I was pretty confident. I thought my samples were great and I was sure I would walk out with an assignment. (Actually, I still think these pages are pretty good. Especially when you consider that I was  twenty-one  years old! ) Alas, Sid was unimpressed, and thought I wasn't ready. He told me to practice more, but he didn't tell me he'd like to see my progress, or even offer me a glimmer of hope that I might be ready to work there one day. I was devastated, and left the office really P.O.'ed. Sid was I jerk, I felt. He didn't even give me a free tee shirt or anything. I never did work for Star Comics.

The story has a happy ending, though. Eventually, I did break into comics, becoming the household name I am today. I also worked for Sid Jacobson, not on Star Comics, but on various Hanna-Barbera titles he packaged, and on the new line of Harvey Comics he edited. He is a very  dear friend now, and he is still the best boss I ever had. Actually, a few years after we started working together, I told him this story. He had no recollection of the incident, and when I showed him these old pages he said, "I can't believe I didn't hire you! What was I thinking?" I don't know, Sid, but I'm happy we got to work together, and hope we will again some day.

He still has never given me a tee shirt, though! 

(BTW, These characters are  all  still copyright Marvel Comics. Not they they know what to do with them!)

UPDATE: From Sid Jacobson, himself: "I still can't believe I didn't hire you after seeing these pages. They are terrific, for a thirty  or forty year old, let alone a 21- year old. In any case, you'll get that tee shirt one of these days soon".

I'm waiting, Sid!

Happy Warren Kremer Day!

A lot of great cartoonists out there have influenced me, but one of the most important was the late great, Warren Kremer. Today, June, 26th is the anniversary of  his birth. For those of you out of the loop, Warren was THE artist at Harvey Comics. He set the standard there, and what a standard it was! He was a master of character design, layout and storytelling. He was also incredibly prolific. While it's  true that artists like Jack Kirby, Dan DeCarlo and Carl Barks are revered for the thousands of comic pages they produced over the course of their careers, Warren's output surely equally matched or surpassed theirs. My good pal, Sid Jacobson, who was Warren's friend  and editor for many years, told me that at his peak Warren could pencil  an astounding eight pages a day! As fast as he was, his quality never suffered. I've never seen a page drawn by him where he ever gave less than 100%. There aren't many artists you can say that about, myself included.

I was exposed to Warren's work at a very early age, and its impact on my own work was substantial (not that I will ever hold a candle to him!). Even though it was years until I learned his name (Harvey artists never signed their work, perhaps one reason Warren's name is still unknown to most), I always knew his work, and would page through issues of the comics on the stands until I found copies of the books with the "good" artist in them (Actually, Ernie Colon's work was great too, but more on him another day. Ernie won't mind, he is one of Warren's biggest admirers.).

Warren concentrated most of his career on the Harvey children's line, but he was equally adept at drawing "realistic" stories, as you can see here.

It's a shame that he never received the recognition he so richly deserved. Indeed, even a lot of die-hard comic fans don't know his name. His work is rarely collected, and when it is, he is lumped in collections anonymously with the rest of the Harvey cartoonists (not that any of them were slouches!). He still has never gotten a posthumous Eisner or Kirby award, even though many lesser lights in the comic industry have gotten them. Perhaps it's because Harvey Comics are dismissed by most fans as "kiddie" comics. A ridiculous attitude for people to have that consider superhero comics "serious literature" and bemoan how the general public dismisses them as "just for kids". How is Superman less absurd than Casper the Friendly Ghost?!

A stroke in 1989 cut Warren's career short and he never drew a comic book story again. He died in 2003.

Sadly, I never got a chance to meet Mr. Kremer in person, but I did get a chance to speak to him on the phone a couple of times before his death. He seemed surprised that anyone was interested in his work, but he was very gracious in answering all my geeky questions. One of the treasures in my "collection" of comic-related stuff is a Stumbo the Giant page Warren drew, that my pal Gary surprised me with a few years back. It is gorgeous! I really wanted to post it here for you all to see, but the massive page wouldn't fit on my dinky scanner. Sorry. If you're ever in the neighborhood, drop by and I'll show it to you. I hope Warren's bio from the NCS  directory and my silly pic will do.

Someday, perhaps, some enlightened soul with deep pockets and deeper resources will publish a collection of Warren's work. Until then, I'll have to make do with my dog-eared collection of old Harveys. I can live with that.

Happy Birthday Warren, wherever you are. Say "hello" to Casper for me!

UPDATE: Warren's friend and former editor, Sid Jacobson, read today's post and had this  to say: "For so many reasons the Harveys were selfish, but for not allowing anyone but their chosen friends to include their names on their work was a travesty. And for Warren, the worst. What you said is so true.  The people at Marvel recognized his enormous talent immediately, and worshipped him and popularized him from the beginning. I can't tell you how many times I pleaded with Alfred (Harvey) to let people sign their names, it would  make them a more popular and profitable commodity.

No, we were like Disney, he told me.

The signed pages were, if memory serves me right, only Lee Elias, Simon & Kirby, Bob Powell, Al Avison and Howie Post, ONCE!

Happy Warren Kremer Day to you!"

Thanks to Sid, for writing that and letting me post it. Hearing that the Harveys kept their artists anonymous deliberately,  and not out of ignorance, rankles me. It must have been really frustrating for Warren and all the other artists in Harvey's stable.

"Like Disney", indeed!