This is 20th Century Refugee, the official mouthpiece of author Glen Cadigan. "Who?" you say. I know, it's been a while since the last one, but rather than spam you just to maintain an artificial schedule, I've decided to put these out only when I have something to say. Or announce, as the case may be.
Coming Soon
This is a healthy reminder that Alter Ego # 187 ships on April 17th, and while that may seem like a long way away, in comic book time, it’s just around the corner! Also, TwoMorrows cuts its print runs close to the bone, so if you're thinking of purchasing it, it falls into the "now or never" category. There's no guarantee that copies will still be available months (let alone years) after publication, so if you want it, don't be passive and figure you'll get around to it someday because it most likely still won't be available then. There's even a preview of it online at
https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1770
where you can see a handful of pages from the main article itself. This is an unusual issue of Alter Ego in that, with the exception of its regular features, the entire issue is my article on Edmond Hamilton. That doesn't happen a lot, so if you think it's mostly bloat and your money won't go as far as it should, think again!
This is as close to a biography of Edmond Hamilton as the author is ever likely to receive, given how he's mostly forgotten today. If it wasn't for Legion of Super-Heroes fans, you might as well say he's completely forgotten since the science-fiction community doesn't seem to care about him anymore. So let's help keep the memory of arguably the most successful writer of the Golden Age of Science-Fiction alive, okay?
Stop The Presses!
Every so often something like this happens, so allow me to peel back the curtain and reveal the inner machinations of the world of publishing. Nobody died and worlds were not changed forever, but it's interesting if you're into that sort of thing.
Long after the aforementioned issue of Alter Ego was finished and submitted to the publisher, I discovered something I hadn't known before, namely that there was a prototype Martian Manhunter story published in Batman # 78 in 1953, and that story was written by Edmond Hamilton.
Prototype stories are basically ones where an idea, concept, or character are later recycled for one reason or another. There's the prototype Supergirl story (Superman # 123, Aug. '58), the prototype Mon-El story (Superman # 80, Feb. '53), but little did I know that there was a prototype Martian Manhunter story (entitled, appropriately enough, "The Manhunter From Mars!") that appeared in Batman # 78. The splash page appears below:
In it, Batman teams up with a Martian policeman who comes to Earth to catch a Martian criminal. This has Edmond Hamilton's fingerprints all over it -- it was his fascination with Mars that led to his love of science-fiction in the first place!
Clearly, it struck a chord in the Batman office, so much so that two years later (probably allowing for sales figures to come in) the idea of a Martian police officer on Earth reappeared in Detective Comics # 225 (Nov. '55) in the form of J'onn J'onzz. This answers (for me, at least) a long-standing question: why was the Martian Manhunter in Detective Comics? You'd think he'd be in a sci-fi title since he's more suited for the role. (Yes, I know, technically he's a detective, but he's also an alien, shape-shifting detective (among other things), so that's stretching it.)
I wasn't there, so I don't know what went on behind the scenes, but I'm not willing to bet on it being a coincidence. And given that the Martian Manhunter is considered, in some circles, to be the first super-hero of the Silver Age, it's important enough to note. So I fired off an email to both Roy Thomas and John Morrow on the off-chance that there was still time to add it to the article, despite the fact that it had been weeks since the issue had been turned in.
Roy responded first, saying that it was probably at the printer in China by that point. He also pointed out that this fact was covered in the issue, complete with a picture of the original splash page from Batman # 78! I don't know if Roy already knew about it or if it was pointed out to him by one of his contributors (who scanned a lot of the pictures you'll see in the issue, if you buy it), but it's nice to play on a team sometimes.
Still, did he put it in the article, or was it only mentioned in the caption under the artwork? These things matter since not everyone reads the captions, so I wrote a couple of lines to be added to the relevant paragraph and asked John Morrow to check to see if Roy put it in, and if not, to please do so.
This is one of the advantages of being with a smaller publisher. I don't know how this story would've ended if it was at Marvel or DC, but instead of calling in the designer of the issue in question, then waiting for him to do it, the publisher of TwoMorrows is a designer himself (as well as the person who uploads the files to the printer, giving them the once-over before he does so), so John Morrow checked at what must've been the fourteenth hour, put in the lines, then adjusted the artwork on the page to fit. Those sort of last second modifications are less likely the more people there are involved since it takes time for someone to get the message, drop everything, etc.. If it had to go to the editor, then the designer, then back to the editor, then the publisher... you get the picture. But for one person to check, do it himself, and have the authority to sign off on it all at once sure as hell saved a lot of time when time was non-existent.
Young Poet Society
This is something you won't see in Alter Ego # 187, but it should be of interest to anyone who's intrigued by its contents. Way back in 1932, a seventeen year old Mortimer Weisinger (297 Lexington Ave., Passaic, N.J.) wrote a poem extoling the virtues of Edmond Hamilton, and it was published in the November issue of Astounding Stories. It appeared, not as a feature, but in its letters page. (The same letters page contained a missive from a slightly younger Forest J. Ackerman (sixteen) about a new fanzine that was being published called The Time Traveller, of which he was the movie editor. Mort, not coincidentially, was its co-founder and co-editor, along with yet another young buck, Julius Schwartz, who was also seventeen years young at the time. Here's a scan:
If you find it hard to read, then try this:
Dear Editor: Eulogy to Mr. Hamilton Oh, Mr. Hamilton -- When the earth is plagued by insects, When our globe is plunged into fire, When this world is whirled by comets -- Send for Edmond Hamilton, Esquire. When our world seems doomed by monster men, Or when the reds menace our nation, When plights and blights our fair world threaten -- Shout for Hamilton, by all in holy creation! When the war-god Mars descends from the stars, When gnome-men burst from the bowels of the earth, When this planet of ours is rocked by jars -- It will give Mr. Hamilton a chance to prove his worth. When atomic energy is set free, When glaciers great divine our fate, When scientists mad loose the power they had -- Send for Hamilton, he will save us, he! When diabolic rays disturb our ways, When the sun goes out, as it will, no doubt, When the world gets a shave, and no one us can save -- Yell for Edmond -- you and you, for he most certainly will us rescue. If Venus us battles, and the death-knell rattles, If deluges this realm ever overwhelm, If afflictions strange do us derange -- Leave it to Eddy to gain our liberty. World-Saver, Inc., life-saver, and how! Mr. Hamilton, take your bow! Your talents deep you must safely keep, Or our fair race will never sleep!
That's Mort Weisinger, just out of high school (I think), before he became Edmond Hamilton's agent, pulp editor, and then comic book editor. At that point, neither one knew what the future held in its grasp!
[Young Mort Weisinger is on the right; Allen Glasser (another editor of The Time Traveller) is on the left. Photo taken by Forry Ackerman, yet another Time Traveller editor. Once, they were all teenagers, just sharing pretzels together.]
Keep in mind, comic books weren’t even a thing back in 1932. The aspirations of Mort & Julie were to work in science-fiction, not comics. Superman wouldn’t even appear for another six years. They both backed into comics when the market for science-fiction pulp magazines threatened to vanish in the 1940s; both stayed there until retirement, Mort first in 1970, then Julie Schwartz in 1986.
That's it for this newsletter. More news as it appears!
'Til then,
Glen