Alter Ego # 199 May 2026 (magazine review)
This edition of ‘Alter Ego’, as you can tell from the cover, focuses on Shazam! or rather the original Captain Marvel and his family when they were brought to DC Comics, years after they sued and won against Fawcett Comics in the 1950s. However, the transition wasn’t sweet, as writer P.C. Hamerlinck, goes over the history. Editor Julius Swartz take over the Superman titles when Mort Weisinger retired and so was handed the Captain Marvel titles when they were bought. He didn’t want them, nor did he like the fact that CC Beck who drew the Big Red Cheese originally, telling him what was wrong with the scripts and changed them so they weren’t in-line with the legend. If you were too young to remember, DC Comics editors did have a habit of micromanaging everything, hence the clashes between them. I do think it would have been interesting had Swartz made Beck a sub-editor and just let him get on with it but that wasn’t going to happen. To be fair to Beck, he did have a point. He didn’t want the Shazam! title to look like any of DC Comics stable of super-heroes and keep its identity. Whether it would have found its own readership again, we’ll never know.
Writer Shawn Clancy has a look at the two testimonies by Fawcett editor Bill Parker when DC Comics were suing them over Captain Marvel and we get insight into his creation. Rather amusingly, on the outset, Fawcett originally didn’t want a team book because it would be hard for the reader to keep track of characters. That didn’t last. This really is an interesting read and worth your attention, especially as Cary Grant was the original choice for the good Captain’s looks.
Michael T. Gilbert’s Mr. Monster has a look at letterer Ken Bruzenak and how he lettered…er…Mr. Monster or rather the comicbook of the same name. In many respects, it does give an argument that human letterers should still be used from time to time.
The last section of the book is devoted to Spartan Printing or rather World Press who printed most comicbook companies and any other contracts they could get, especially as they brought out other printing companies. Richard J. Amdt interviews Pam Lowry and her son, Robert, about her time there. Both are relatives of comicbook writer Gary Friedrich An unusual choice but fascinating interviews. You do have to wonder if World Press had ever heard of air conditioning. Then again, the way Lowry describes cutting papercuts on her arms, it also sounded liked conditional torture.
Lots to read, as usual, but some new insights as well.
GF Willmetts
June 2026
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page illustrated magazine. Price: $10.95 (US). ISSN: 1932-6890. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US))
check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1833
