ALTER EGO vol.3, no.104
Reviewed by Martin Hand 20-Sep-11
When I was a little lad, reading Mighty World of Marvel in the 1970s, I thought Roy Thomas must be the coolest man alive, Stan Lee’s hep & groovy young assistant & since then, it’s Thomas’s work that has made him one of my fave comics writers, & subsequently, one of my favourite editors.
ITEM! When I was a little lad, reading Mighty World of Marvel in the 1970s, I thought Roy Thomas must be the coolest man alive, Stan Lee’s hep & groovy young assistant – the Human Torch to Lee’s Mister Fantastic if you like (which made Jack Kirby the Thing, I guess ) – & since then, it’s Thomas’s work (specifically on Avengers & Invaders ) that has made him one of my fave comics writers, & subsequently, one of my favourite editors…
ITEM! For any “speciality publication” about comics to reach 104 issues (plus another 20 or so in previous incarnations) is a tremendous achievement – & #104 IS a goodie – but I do have a few reservations about it, & Alter Ego generally…
ITEM! A former regular reader myself, I bought this issue, “celebrating 50 years since Lee & Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1” on impulse – & was v.glad I did – I enjoyed it very much – & it inspired me to go back & pick up a few selected back numbers – but often the subject matter of AE is just too obscure for me – & I’m a reasonably hardcore nerd, I would’ve said.
ITEM! This issue’s main feature = a sort of Stan Lee interview, actually a 40 page transcript of two 2005 recording sessions for a ‘Mighty Marvel Audiobook’ – there’s not much new info but Stan’s well-rehearsed anecdotes are still entertaining – & the behind-the-scenes process (with Roy often having to prompt Stan) was really quite interesting – but it’s not always like this.
ITEM! In these days, when the Dandy is (allegedly) only shifting 3,000 copies per week you’ve gotta wonder how much of a market there is for Alter Ego when it covers the more ‘niche’ areas of comics history – & out of all the people who buy Alter Ego, I do wonder who, if ANYONE, reads the Fawcett Collectors of America bit in the back – to me it = wasted pages every issue.
ITEM! Generally, anything written by Roy is worth a read but sadly this isn’t true of all his contributors – columnist Marc Swayze = particularly bad = I would’ve thought even anyone who was originally interested in his exceptionally tedious memoirs would’ve surely had enuff by now.
ITEM! & it is expensive, eight dollars translates as six quid in the UK – & as well as the FCA section, the interior colour & shiny paper adds little of value for the reader.
ITEM! A good example of Alter Ego’s wilfully obscure content is this issue’s interview with Al Sulman, a 1940s “personal associate of Stan Lee” – the poor chap couldn’t remember anything of note & the editorial team struggled to identify any comics he’d actually worked on – apart from filling up some space, there really was no point to this!
ITEM! I commend Roy Thomas for sticking to his guns & producing a magazine that HE’S interested in – even if only every third of fourth issue will contain enuff of interest to justify me buying it – & even tho I don’t understand how issues focussing on subjects such as Canadian comics, Victor Fox publishing & the career of Whitney Ellsworth can POSSIBLY be a commercial proposition.
ITEM! BTW, I’d be very happy never ever to see another recreation of the cover of FF #1 anywhere ever – despite Joe Sinnott inks it seemed a pretty uninspired effort – & it’s not even the best take on it I’ve seen from penciller Ron Frenz…
BONUS ITEM! Alter Ego #104 also contains a 1966 pic of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby I’d never seen before – from the days before Stan got his wig…!