Alter Ego #88 August 2009 (magazine review).
The focus of this early ‘Alter Ego’ is Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (1890-1965) and why he is so important to the comic book industry. As his relatives tell the history of their father/grandfather, he started his own comic book company, National Periodicals, and rather than reprinting newspaper strips, he decided to go for new material. Prior to this, he was in the military in World War One, an expert strategist, and later a writer.
The only thing he had a blind spot in was finance, and when eventually he brought in two people for accounts and distribution, Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz, they ultimately eased him out prior to Superman becoming a success in ‘Action Comics.’. These two gents (I use that word cagily) are the same pair that screwed Siegel and Schuster over the copyright of the Man of Steel a few years down the line, so this wasn’t their first time. Wheeler-Nicholson, aware of his defeat, reverted to writing short stories and novels.
Now there’s some irony: the company promoting vigilante crime-fighting was run by a couple of crooks, as near damn it.
Obviously, there is bound to be some repetition between the family members for obvious reasons. I thought I was re-reading the first interview when I started the second, but interviewer Jim Amash had to get them started. It is, however, granddaughter Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson who was her grandfather’s historian, tracking down his published stories because he was prolific under both his own and pen names. The latter isn’t unusual because the most prolific would crowd the pulp magazines out there otherwise. Unlike today, there weren’t people back then analysing writing styles or even suspecting this was going on. Antoinette ‘Toni’ Wheeler-Nicholson continues about her father and points out he was ousted but involved in getting Superman into print.
An intriguing fact is that Ian Wheeler-Nicholson interviewed comic book artist Creig Flessel (1912-2008) shortly before he died and had worked with his father, who drew in the office, to ensure he was paid.
Eddy Zeno interviews the wife of comic book artist Winslow ‘Win’ Mortimer about her husband and the samples of his work across the board. I love his gag panels.
The second part of child psychologist Dr. Lauretta Bender’s anti-Wertham reply back in 1941 makes it valid that violence in children’s books and tales was far worse than anything in comic books. The daggers were out for comic books anyway, so they saw it as a target.
Quite rightly, the Wheeler-Nicholson material squeezes out the rest in this issue, but quite appropriately so. It’s worth reading for the roots of DC Comics and finding out what really happened.
GF Willmetts
February 2025
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 98 page illustrated magazine. Price: varies. ISSN: 1932-6890. Direct from them, you can get it digitally for $ 4.99 (US))
check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=792
