Alter Ego: The Best Of The Legendary Comics Fanzine

Alter Ego Collections

by Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko

In 1961, Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas launched Alter Ego, the first fanzine devoted to comic books and their colorful history. This volume, first published in low distribution in 1997, collects the original 11 issues (published from 1961-78) of Alter Ego, with the creative and artistic contributions of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, John Buscema, Marie Severin, Bill Everett, Russ Manning, Curt Swan, and others -- and important, illustrated interviews with Gil Kane, Bill Everett, and Joe Kubert!

Genres: Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2008

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Joe Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know how at least the more vocal fans of comicdom in the 1960s felt, take a read through this reprint of portions of the top comic fanzine of the time. Jerry Bails, the father of comic book fandom, and Roy Thomas, longtime writer and editor for Marvel and DC, were responsible for the early issues of the zine. It would later go through many hands in the 1960s before taking a decade off before issue 11 was finally published.
This collection of the 'best of' is narrated by a slightly more mature Roy Thomas as he gives insight into each issue and who was the current publisher of the zine and why. Other voices are also heard to round out this history. This gives this project great historical value as do interviews with some of the more important and interesting artists from the early days of comics.
If you are interested in the history of comic fandom or even the history of comics themselves, this is a good read that is well laid out and presented.