Alter Ego #111 July 2012 (magazine review).

When I did a page flick of this 2012 edition of ‘Alter Ego’, I saw the long checklist of the Nedor Comics and thought this might actually be a quick read. However, Mitchelle Nolan’s introduction points out that Standard Comics was their owner and had several imprints in the 1930s. Nedor came from the names of its owners, Ned and Doris Pines. I’ve read of some of the characters, but this checklist puts them in the context of how many stories, and they even had a Doc Strange, although not a sorcerer, and there’s a lot of art backing it up.

Nolan’s history of collecting and the previously released checklist must have had an impact because when she bought her collection for less than a dollar each when she could find them have now gone up a hundredfold from what she wrote thirteen years ago, so probably a lot more. I doubt if Nedor comic books ever had a distribution in the UK, so this is probably the best way to learn something. If you want more specifics about the characters, then you need Alter Ego #61, which I’ve reviewed in the past.

The second part of Jim Amash interviewing comic book/comic strip artist Leonard Starr gives a lot of insight into the 1950s comic scene and the people he worked with. All of this and more to come when he moves onto the newspaper strip ‘Annie’.

Probably the most telling point made for me in the 2011 Fanzines Panel was checking with Disney about crediting Carl Barks for his comic book work for them and being told not even to run the article because they wanted the public to believe Walt Disney did everything he was signed to. That became difficult in 1968 when Disney died, but it’s a telling remark for other strips with only their creators’ names against them, creating that illusion which we all know better these days.

Lastly, the Fawcett section has a look at Mary Marvel and the revelation that Judy Garland was seen as the model for her look.

Although this is technically a fast read issue, if you need to know more about the more obscure 1950s comic book companies and need a checklist to track issues down, then issues like this are a need to buy.

GF Willmetts

May 2025

(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page illustrated magazine. Price: $10.95 (US). ISSN: 1932-6890. Direct from them, you can get it for $ 8.95 (US))

check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1030