And now, a word from Roy Thomas

A long time ago--back in early 1961, in fact--the dream was born in the mind of the late and dearly missed Dr. Jerry Bails, who was an associate professor of natural history at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

It was called Alter-Ego (yep, with a hyphen) then, and was the first real super-hero comics fanzine, devoted to the secret-identity stalwarts of the past, the then-present, and the now-past future (if you follow my meaning).

It was just a little thing, printed on a spirit duplicator, and I was sort of assistant editor and major contributor. Its 150 or so copies are doubtless mostly turned to dust or ashes now, though I still have my copy, of course.

We reported advance news about DC and other comic companies of the time (including the revival of Marvel Comics). We suggested ways and means of reviving and revamping old heroes like the Spectre. We did parodies like "The Bestest League Meets da Frantic Four" in the time-honored MAD vein. And we managed to get a lot of insightful letters out of people like Gardner Fox and Otto Binder, who have now sadly passed away.

All this may not seem like much now, but it was pretty influential in a lot of ways back in the early 60's.

In 1964, while teaching high school in Missouri, I took over the zine myself and published three issues, which were instrumental in my being offered my first professional position in the New York-based comic book field in 1965. From then till 1980 I was a writer and editor with Stan Lee at Marvel Comics (on Conan, the Avengers, and many another Marvel strip). After 1980 I performed similar tasks for DC Comics (on All-Star Squadron, Infinity, Inc., etc). And in recent years have written freelance for many different companies.

In 1969 I published a tenth issue of Alter-Ego myself, then in 1978 my good friend (and now my comics agent) Mike Friedrich volunteered to publish an eleventh, using materials supplied by both of us.

Along the way, though, the idea of using the name "Alter-Ego" for a hero surfaced from time to time. Biljo White, a sometime contributor to the zine, did his quite differed "Alter and Captain Ego," for instance, in the middle 1960's. And a couple of lady friends of mine dressed up in costume from time to time to pose as the "spirit" of the fanzine.

In the mid-1980's, the concept you're now about to view began to ferment in my brain, and was developed in concert with Mike Friedrich and artist Ron Harris, with a few helpful hints from Mike Gold.

A word about Ron Harris: At the time, Ron was known to readers of Marvel's Epic line of comics as the writer/artist of the Crash Ryan mini-series. From there, Mike Friedrich (as Ron's agent) suggested I use him at DC, and I happily did, mostly on Infinity, Inc. So when Mike mentioned him as a possibility for Alter-Ego, I was ready. Ron and I spent a fun afternoon talking over the combined present and past, real world and comic book world basis of the strip, and it was a blast working with him.

The ALTER EGO comic book (in the end, without the hyphen) was originally published as a four-issue series by First Comics back in 1986. When we were producing this series, Ron and I worked in concert with then-editor Rick Oliver in striving to produce something that would reflect the enthusiasm we all felt, both for the comics of the 1940's and for modern-day innovations that continue to revolutionize the field.

If you think we succeeded (or if you feel we failed, or if you believe the verdict is still out), we'd like to hear from you. Send your email to THE ALTERED EGO, c/o the Heroic Publishing website.