Welcome back to 20th Century Refugee, the official newsletter of Glen Cadigan. It's been hot, hot, hot this summer, but August is here and things have started to cool off where I live. Hopefully it's cooler where you live, too. If it gets any hotter we'll all have to develop the ability to project cold, much like the citizens of Tharr do at some point in the future. Then we can all wear cool little fur-lined headgear to not only look cool, but to keep cool!
One Year Later
It was about a year ago that The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum was released. It didn't set any sales records and it didn't win any awards, but people who matter liked it and sometimes that's enough. If Dave's friends, family, and fans were happy with it, that should be a clue to an author that he did a good job.
I still think that the story of how the co-creator of the All-New, All-Different X-Men ended up almost broke and almost dead while the X-Men was making Marvel millions of dollars is not only an important one, but a significant story to tell, especially these days when all of Hollywood is on strike because people aren't making enough money on the back end to pay their bills.
I know that this is a topic that I keep bringing up, but I do it because it's something that never should've happened in the first place. If it was a disgrace for Siegel and Shuster to be in hard financial shape as the creators of Superman, think about how important the X-Men were to Marvel before it became a movie company, then remember that Siegel and Shuster had already happened, with the proviso that this sort of thing should never happen again. Then add in that Dave was selling off his original art and comic book collection in a post S&S world to make ends meet, and there was a point there while he was in the hospital when his own doctors didn't know if he was going to live or going to die. And then he did die, two years later, as the cumulative total of various health issues (that maybe wouldn't have been as bad if he'd had better health care) took their toll. And Dave Cockrum wouldn't've had any health care at all if he hadn't been in the Navy, which was why he ended up in a V.A. hospital when he took ill. A military background isn't that common in the arts, so it's not something that most people can fall back on.
But still, the comics world tends to think of Dave as that guy who drew the X-Men before John Byrne got there, which is a gross oversimplification of his career. And even if it was the only thing he ever did, if not for Dave Cockrum, John Byrne would've been drawing a very different team since all of the new characters originated with his predecessor. It was also Dave who gave Wolverine his civilian look as Logan; now ask yourself how often we see Wolverine with his mask on versus without. In the movies, it’s always the latter.
So when big corporations with big bucks force the people who make their products to show up like Oliver Twist going, "Please, sir, can we have some more?" as they drive for Lyft and Uber on the side, think about Dave, or his widow, Paty, who is pushing eighty, legally blind, and wouldn't be able to pay her bills if not for the stipend that she gets from Marvel, a stipend that will run out when she does. Being able to live in dignity doesn’t sound like too much to ask for, does it?
Summer Reruns
Comic-Con was last month, and with it, Jerry Bails was inducted into their Hall of Fame. Jerry was the Johnny Appleseed of comics' fandom as he originated the first fanzine, newszine, adzine, APA, and was co-author of a Who's Who of creators which was essential in gathering up information that would've been forever lost if he and Hames Ware hadn't rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work.
As fate would have it, that APA, CAPA-alpha, celebrated its 700th issue earlier this year and I wrote a piece for it as a guest contributor. Up until now, only members and people who were in the anniversary issue have seen it. But that's about to change! Here, for your reading pleasure, is a little thing I like to call...
Let's tackle the second part first. I'm here because it's the 700th mailing of CAPA-alpha, the original Amateur Press Association devoted exclusively to comics. It was started in 1964 by Jerry Bails, who also founded the first fanzine devoted exclusively to comics (Alter Ego), as well as the first newszine about comics (On The Drawing Board, which ultimately changed its name to The Comic Reader), and the first adzine (The Comicollector). The original Alter Ego went through multiple hands before it ceased publication in 1978, totaling 11 issues in all, with nine years between the tenth and eleventh issues and four years between the ninth and the tenth. The Comic Reader also had multiple editors and also eventually ceased publication, although it lasted for 219 issues and made it all the way into 1984. The Comicollector merged with The Rocket’s Blast in 1964 to become TRB/CC, but it fizzled out in 1983, largely due to competition.
And yet, here we are in 2023 with CAPA-alpha still going strong. 700 issues! That’s umpteen Central Mailers (CMs), a gazillion contibutors (you might want to check the math on that one) all sending in their 'zines, mailing after mailing, for 59 years (so far).
K-a has outlasted all of the other 'zines founded by Jerry Bails (on a technicality, since AE has been back since 1999, but it's Volume 3) and you have to wonder why. It was the least commercial of all of them – you couldn't buy it, you had to make it yourself (which one would've thought might've made it the first to fall) – and it wasn't available in stores (or through mail order). You could get it in the mail, if you made it yourself, and its circulation was limited to what, fifty people? Even by today's declining sales standards, that's small. So you couldn't find it anywhere, you couldn't buy it if you did, and its print run (let's call it that) was half a hundred people. And, oh yeah, you had to make it yourself. (Well, not all of it, but if you wanted other people to show you theirs, you had to show them yours first.) And there was a waiting list of people to do this!
Clearly, Jerry Bails was a magician. He wove a spell and others followed him like the Pied Piper of yore. Sometimes they gave him money; other times, they gave him their labor. And his spells were so strong that his publications went on without him, and in the case of K-a and Alter Ego, even outlived him. That's powerful stuff. He even inspired people to make their own APAs and their own fanzines, some of which were more successful than others, but the end result is still the same: they got the idea, either directly or indirectly, from him.
And now I'm here, under the same spell, making it myself, because it's the 700th issue and I couldn't pass up a chance to be a part of history. The rules have been loosened and I don't even have to be a member to get in the door of this party. For the 700th issue, guest contributors are welcome, so here I am, guest contributing. I've been in Alter Ego (V3) before, and will be again, but The Comic Reader and TRB/CC are gone, so that just leaves CAPA-alpha to complete the Bails challenge. And K-a has even outlived paper, now that it's digital-only. That means I don't even have to print this submission up and mail it off, so my excuses are limited. It's pretty easy to do a one-shot; I can do that, and what's more, it reminds me of all those great anniversary comics that DC put out during the '80s with guest contributors in them: Detective Comics # 500, Superman # 400, Batman # 400, World's Finest # 300, Action Comics # 544, Superboy # 50... my God, there was even an anniversary logo which I've gleefully stolen for my own purposes! All of the aforementioned comics had guest contributors who normally wouldn't be associated with the title on a regular basis, and here I am now, doing the exact same thing.
So who am I? If you don't recognize my name, for the past twenty years I've attached it to books and articles published by TwoMorrows Publishing. My first was The Legion Companion, all the way back in 2003, followed by The Best of The Legion Outpost, The Titans Companion, The Titans Companion Volume 2, and – most recently – 2022's The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum. Next year my article about Edmond Hamilton, entitled, "Writer of Two Worlds," will be in Alter Ego # 187 (which is edited by Roy Thomas, which is as close to Jerry Bails as I'll ever get), and that's a K-a exclusive! I've conducted dozens of interviews with comic book writers, artists, and even editors, including someone currently on the roster of K-a, not once, but twice (hi, Bob Rozakis!). So I've done a lot of writing about comic books in my time, and my time isn't over yet.
This was fun, but it's one-and-done. If you liked what you read here, I have a monthly (for now) newsletter at glencadigan.substack.com called 20th Century Refugee, a.k.a. "Is This Thing On?". I've mostly migrated from Twitter and Facebook to Substack, although any DMs sent to me via those outlets will still get through. I also have a webpage at www.glencadigan.com because where else would it be? It's updated often enough, and it includes everything I've ever done, basically, including fiction. There are links to articles that people can read, plus ones hosted directly on the site itself.
So that's who I am, and that's why I'm here. It isn't every day that a 59 year old APA publishes its 700th mailing, so here I am, making it myself, just so you can read it. And I get to be part of an anniversary issue, plus I get to say that I was in K-a at least once, so everybody wins!
As you can see, I had to introduce myself to a largely unknown audience. (And also that this newsletter used to be on a monthly basis. It’s more of a “whenever” schedule now.) I was extended an invitation to stay, but politely declined. Anything I want to write about I can do so here, for the whole world to potentially see. Limiting my words to a couple dozen people isn't really pragmatic. Besides, if they want to find me, they know where I am.
See you in the fall!
‘Til then,
Glen
Fascinating to read, Glen, and thank you. So glad to hear CAPA-Alpha is still going strong, and to remember with pleasure my friendship with Jerry Bails.