Talents: Roy Thomas, Bill Schelly, Jean-Marc L'officer, Michael T. Gilbert, Marc Swayze, et al.
Publisher: Twomorrows
The Alter-Ego Collection is a handsome, square bound slightly oversized volume that collects the first two issues of Roy Thomas' splendid magazine. Inside you'll find interviews, exclusive black and white artwork expertly reprinted on excellent paper stock and articles about the Silver, Gold and Bronze age of comic books.
The interviews in this collection are for the most part indicative of what would follow in the wonderfully thick and thorough issues of Alter-Ego to come. The interview with Irwin Hansen reveals his history with Wildcat, Green Lantern and Dondi, a comic strip I generally ignored. Never the less found the artist's insights into his last work fascinating.
The interview with Larry Lieber, brother to Stan Lee, gives the reader a keyhole in which he can peer at Stan Lee the professional operated. Lieber also conveys his humility and want to always improve on his work--which I have enjoyed for years in the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip.
Jack Burnley’s interview is another engrossing treat. He gives readers a taste of what it was like to work in the period, how DC intended to have Starman become a top tier super-hero on the level of the trinity and what he believes led to the failure of such a thing occurring.
Whether or not the interviews appeal, the reader can always delight in the artwork accompanying the paragraphs. For the Burnley interview, readers can study commissions of his Batman work and reprints of Starman--uncolored to better appreciate the art. For the Larry Lieber interview, Thomas includes a selection of his Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strips. Irwin Hansen gets a Green Lantern motif.
Art comes in the form of special "written off" works. These are boards that were never published and ordered destroyed but rescued from the flames by fans and unwittingly Sol Harrison who asked kids: "Who wants some original DC art?" These kids created a network of such art, and Roy Thomas examines how Marv Wolfman contributed to the saving of such important works. As a result, readers of Alter-Ego get enjoy the third Flash/Thorn story that never saw print. They find out from whence Grant Morrison's Blue Boy comes.
Art arises in the Alter-Ego Collection through rare finds such as Will Murray's fascinating account of the forgotten hero: Sky Wizard, a JLA gallery by talents such as Dick Dillin and Ramona Fradon. Some of these contributions are the reprinted pencils, and as a consequence, readers will see how George Tuska sans inker could be graceful rather than blocky.
In each issue of Alter-Ego, one can find an FCA section. This stands for Fawcett Collectors of America and focuses on Shazam! In the collection, C.C. Beck shares his thoughts about the Marvel Family. Marc Swayze details how Mary Marvel should be drawn, and John G. Pierce recounts how Captain Marvel met the original Human Torch in a licensed foreign comic book--the translated story is currently being serialized in the current issues of Alter-Ego.
The Alter-Ego Collection does more than reprint out-of-print art from the magazine. It also includes thirty-pages of bonus material such as Roy Thomas' and Jerry Ordway's recollections involving the creation of Infinity Inc. Even the letters pages can be found in this collection, and these also provide readers with the intriguing thoughts from Rob Khaniger--whose description of Shelly Mayer's hatred of Wonder Woman is absolutely hilarious. Thomas also compares and contrasts the Wonder Woman scripts of Dr. William Moulton Marston and Gardner Fox on one story. Dr. Marston, Wonder Woman's creator, had the final say on the Wonder Woman scripts.
The Alter-Ego Collection is an affordably priced, excellent addition to any comic book reader's shelf. Aficionados of the three ages of comic books covered should definitely pick up this fine trade paperback.
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