 Alter Ego #99 (January 2011) | |
| Editor | Roy Thomas |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Bimonthly |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Company | TwoMorrows Publishing |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Raleigh, NC |
| Language | English |
Alter Ego is an American magazine devoted tocomic books and comic-book creators of the 1930s to late-1960s periods comprising what fans and historians call theGolden Age andSilver Age of Comic Books.
It was founded as afanzine byJerry Bails in 1961,[1] and later taken over byRoy Thomas. 10 issues were released through 1969, with issue #11 following nine years later. In 1999, following a five-issue run the previous years as a flip-book withComic Book Artist,Alter Ego began regular bimonthly publication as a formal magazine with glossy covers.TwoMorrows Publishing is the owner of the magazine and it is headquartered inRaleigh, NC.[2]
Alter-Ego supported the superhero revivals of the era thatJerry Bails dubbed "The Second Heroic Age of Comics", popularly known as theSilver Age of Comic Books.DC Comics editorJulius Schwartz encouraged Bails and collaboratorRoy Thomas, who would eventually becomeMarvel Comics editor-in-chief.
Bails contacted readers whose letters had appeared in DC'sThe Brave and the Bold #35, the first comic book to print readers' full mailing addresses in itsletter column.[3] Some of those readers were active in other fandoms, and helped spread word-of-mouth aboutAlter Ego. Schwartz loaned Bails his copies of the comics and science fiction fanzineXero, and Bails wrote to everyone in their letter column as well. Soon, Bails was receiving two or three responses daily from people interested in subscribing.[4]
The first issue ofAlter Ego appeared in March 1961. Bails' wife Sondra typed out the contents, and the lettering was done with plastic lettering guides.[4] The 22-page issue featured threeJSA-related articles, two columns, and an amateur comic strip:
Alter Ego also sponsored theAlley Awards, a series of comic book awards that lasted until the end of the 1960s. By the awards' third year, the number of ballots received had become so overwhelming that Bails called for a fan get-together at which votes could be tabulated by group effort. This gathering of Midwestern fans, held in March 1964 at Bails'Detroit,Michigan-area home of Bails, was dubbed the "Alley Tally", and its success provided inspiration for the organizing ofcomic book conventions that began soon afterward.[4]
The original run ofAlter Ego lasted 11 issues, spread over 17 years. 10 issues were released between 1961 and 1969, with issue #11 following nine years later, in 1978. Bails edited and published the first four issues before turning it over to fan-artistRonn Foss (and, initially, Foss' wife Myra and his friendGrass Green) who edited issues #5-6. Thomas edited a further four issues, and issue #11 almost a decade later in collaboration withMike Friedrich.[5]
Some material from the originalAlter-Ego was collected intotrade paperback byBill Schelly asAlter Ego Best Of Legendary Comics Fanzine (Hamster Press 1997)ISBN 0-9645669-2-3.
In 1997, at a reunion of comics fans,Roy Thomas and comics historianBill Schelly met withTwoMorrows Publishing and agreed to bring backAlter Ego as a component of TwoMorrow'sComic Book Artist magazine. Thomas reprised his role as editor, with Schelly becoming associate editor.[6] In spring 1998,Alter Ego volume 2 debuted as a flip-book withComic Book Artist. This arrangement lasted for five issues, which have subsequently been collected into a book:Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2006)ISBN 978-1-893905-59-7.
Alter Ego became its own magazine again in 1999, again with Thomas as editor, and formatted as aglossy magazine. It is published byTwoMorrows Publishing.FCA, theFawcett Collectors of America fanzine, is published as part ofAlter Ego. Schelly has contributed a series ofComic Fandom Archive articles to nearly every issue, as well as a column that usually focuses on notable fans of the 1960s and 1970s.
In 2007,Alter Ego was nominated for anEagle Award for Favourite Magazine About Comics, and won theEisner Award for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Publication.