Comics Schlock King: From Plagiarism to Pistol Whippings
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
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Myron Fass had a wild career in comics. He got his start as a horror artist in the years just before the comics code ended all that. Then he transitioned to becoming a publisher. He was known for producing the most lurid, tasteless, and tacky magazines out there. He'd cover UFOs, celebrity tabloid fodder, and some horror comics magazines. He also ruffled the feathers of both DC and Marvel Comics by creating a new Captain Marvel comic. He reused existing art. He fist fought his business partner at the office. This is his story.
"Please let this be about Myron Fass, please let this be about Myron Fass" ... wish granted, thanks!
I am one of the few people in the world who actually bought Fass' Captain Marvel books off the comics rack. They weren't great, but there were far worse super-hero books out there at the time. I was a little too late to have gotten in on the ground floor of DC's silver age heroes or Marvel heroes. Dell's heroes (Frankenstein, Dracula, et al) were abysmal, but here was a comics group I could be with from the very beginning, so I enjoyed it.
.... It's kind of insane how much of a splash Captain Marvel has had for the history comics and pop culture. Like holy Moses, that is kind of crazy that we're still feeling the effects of this crazy stuff.
HA! So THIS is where Captain Marvel with his Split powers came from! Amazing.
It's also really amazing how shitty a publisher DC was in the way they treated Fawcett.
For a foreigner like me I was always fascinated by the existence of these wierd shock magazines, about aliens cloning Elvis and all the bizarre and criminal sexual content, not of them being good or interesting but just the fact that existed , nothing even close to that existed in my country. I remember seeing that for the first time alluded in shows like the Simpsons and Men in Black. So it's not only an interesting show about this quite unique person but also a part of American pop culture of the XX century. Great work Chris!
Walked around the office with a gun, you say? Dwight Schrute approves.
Every one of your topics is so interesting. Always a joy when you upload
So true.
Moores Miracle man, good read. The negative legal ranglings and work arounds are sometimes as interesting as the positive and inspired original works. Thanks again Chris, I'm going to go read some comics.
What? No "Oh hi! You caught me pistol whipping my co-worker"? UNSUBSCRIBE (just kidding. I love you, man! 🙂)
Comic book professionals that are defiantly on serious drugs, Myron was probably using cocaine, drug of choice of sleepy weirdos.
Nothing like a cup of coffee and comic tropes on a Sunday morning ☕️
Love topics like this one. Many thanks for the content
Me, before watching the video: “I love schlock! This will be tons of fun!”
Me, after seeing some of those mag covers: “Eeeeeeah, that’s a little too schlocky for me to handle.”
That thumbnail drawing of himself being attacked by the monsters he draws is pretty darn cool 😎
Woah I really do not like the "why girls get R*PED!" cover. I get it was a different time, but that's still really uncomfortable to see on the cover of a magazine regardless of the time.
Edit: jesus... it got worse as it went on
It’s horrible.
@@ComicTropes it's a really interesting schism; how the comics code authority banned certain character / monster designs and forms of violence, yet magazines could publish covers depicting sexual assault and beastiality. This was a really great vid about an interesting story I wouldn't have known otherwise. Always a pleasure when you upload!
I would conjecture the actual answer to that posed question is that “there are a heck of a lot of r*****s” 🤔🤷♂️
I was a bit stunned by that magazine cover as well! Yikes ! Wouldn’t like to be a female employee in the office we other Fass Man around
What about 13:02? Wow
I remember buying some of those horror mags as kid. They were uber violent and disturbing. There were always eyes, brains and various body parts flying across the pages.
Yeah, one summer in the early '70s my family went camping and I perused a copy of Vampire Tales (or somesuch) at the campground convenience store. There was a panel where some guy named Rubin was being disemboweled and I could not get that image out of my mind for days afterward.
@@reprintranch funny how those things can search into our minds. The one I remember had this cover with a girl in a see through vat of acid . She was alive and intact from chest up but a skeleton below that. See was screaming while these two ghouls watched in delight.
I remember getting the one shown in this video where the loner guy chopped the girl up with an axe. I've wondered for decades what magazine that was from. That was a loooong tiiime ago.
@@ronhudson3115 crazy how these were coming out in a time of strict censorship on comics. I almost think these should have had an age restriction on them . Just seems a little intense for 10-12 yr olds.
@@tonymiles273 Agreed. Very disturbing for a kid that was reading Spider-Man or Superman to pick up one of those.
3:27 yo wtf
Thank you for mentioning my book!
I’ll definitely be reading it, Mike. I need to know more about Fass.
Hey Mike, just an FYI about Myron Fass winding up in Ocala -- I've spent my entire life in Gainesville (about 40 minutes north of Ocala) and I don't remember ever, ever seeing media coverage about Fass being an Ocala resident.
Which is kind of odd to me, because there has been a fair amount of local media attention lavished on other famous folks with Ocala connections (actor John Travolta, drag racer "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, one-hit wonder rock band The Royal Guardsmen, and country singer Mel Tillis).
I can only surmise that Mr. Fass was not eager to be well-known to the citizens of Ocala, which is a fairly conservative town.
@@reprintranch He went by the name "Chief" Marion Riley-Foss down there. At any rate, would he really be a famous folk? A magazine publisher? I don't know... you'd know better than I. But considering the name change, he was laying low.
@@mikehowlett9663 Thanks for the reply! No, Myron Foss wouldn't have had celebrity status on the scale of the Ocala-associated folks I mentioned. But local newspapers and TV stations around here like an oddball story now and then, and I can imagine that if it became known to an assignment editor or reporter that "infamous horror-mag publisher has relocated here to operate gun store," a story might be pursued, assuming that Mr. Foss was agreeable to it. But if Mr. Foss kept quiet about his past while in Ocala it might be that no news media folks ever knew of his prior accomplishments.
Also, for what it's worth, I don't recall noticing the name "Chief" Marion Riley-Foss in local media, either. But I'll take a look around online. The legendary local gun store owner in this area is the now-deceased Harry Beckwith, who survived numerous shoot-outs with would-be robbers and burglars at his store premises.
Fass' Captain Marvel is very T.D.K...
I always learn something new watching this channel!
Thanks, Chris!
Holy hell, four minutes in and I can tell this video's going to get demonetized harder than a hit from the grip of a .45.
Good work on a seriously underreported comics industry story, as always!
The more I learn about the golden age of comics, the more I learn that it's just as much of the wild west as the beginning of any other medium or business
I remember seeing his "Captain Marvel" at the drugstore where I got my comics when I was a kid. I leafed through one issue but it didn't grab me. Sometime later, I saw the horror comics magazines, but again, they didn't appeal to me. I remember reading somewhere that some of his horror comics were reprints of older comics, but I didn't know he'd just "used" them without permission, as well as changing them up.
Fascinating stuff!
Fantastic! I have one of those Captain Marvel versus the Terrible 5 books and, yeah, it's pretty bad! I don't know what it is about comics but it really draws in some extreme personalities, even today!!
The issue with the Bat becoming the Ray is hilarious cuz they didn't catch all the changes they needed to make and at one point the character is called by both names in a single sentence!
My reaction: OH COOL!!! Chris uploaded a new video about another comic creator's career and how he pistol whipped his business partne- WAIT! PISTOL WHIPPING!??
Do we really have to respect his drive for entrepreneurship? I mean, do we?
the bell is working
I got that captain marvel thought it was a funny
Dr Fate looked a lot like Stan Lee
True! Looks like he got back at him.
Your cover images for "Terror Tales" and "Witches Tales" are wrong. You used the 1930s weird menace pulp and the 1950s Harvey horror comic, rather than the Myron Fass titles.
HOLY MALARKY YOU LOST WEIGHT CRISS. Crime fighting again I suppose?
Great video! You’ve really come into your own with these sorts of topics. Thank you for delving into comic books past the super heroes and showcasing the obscure.
If Myron Fass were alive today he could just use neural network DALL·E's text descriptions to image generator to create all that art work! Even the x-rated stuff would not require him to hire an actual woman, just use CGI babes. Looks like Myron Fass was actually a man ahead of his time! Chris talks about Myron packing heat to his work place as if THAT would make him an outlier in today's society. 🤣
4:16 It's like walking along a Badlands Middle of nowhere Gas Station Convenience Store Rack...
It's a real shame DC won that lawsuit and buried Captain Marvel, because the scripts by Otto Binder teamed with artist CC Beck were brilliant, hilarious, and weird. (One great cover features a guy stealing Captain Marvel's costume near a lake, with our naked hero covering himself with a barrel as he gives chase). Those stand out with originality, and Fawcett should have endured.
"Gasm?" Really? Subtle. Surprising he didn't use that one for one of his actual porn mags.
Captain Marvel's "Dr Fate" villain sure looks a lot like Stan Lee.
Why did you only mention Alen Moore when referring to who revived Marvel man when it was a collaborative effort between him and a few others most notably Gary Leach
So informative! Outstanding research, Chris. Always appreciate the respect that you show for your subject especially when they are a bit out there. Well done!
I'm going to read as many Myron Fass comics and magazines as humanly possible in only one weekend, it will be a Fass-bender
That was a truly Myron-ic joke...
wow, that's so weird. If he got into animation, it'd be Ricky Rouse or Monald Muck. Good video.
I would love a comic tropes about the many comic adaptations of the Bible
Generic comment to help gain algorithmic traction. I'm doing my part.
I recognise your contribution and add my own.
Fass was sort of like an Ed Wood of publishing.
That dude seemed cheerful, then both creepy AND eerie. Chris, it would be really interesting if you could one day do a story on the Herbie Popnecker character. I never heard of it till a few years ago, but Alan Moore read it as a kid. The artist was really hilarious, but nobody knows what happened to him (the last I read). Thanks! Enjoying all the richly unpredictable content.
Another awesome video. I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but at 11:58 you can clearly see the gun on his right hip, tucked into the waistband of his pants. Unbelievable.
Oh I noticed XD
@@Shinmsl Yeah, I wasn't sure about that, because Chris starts talking about carrying the gun in a holster at work a minute or so after, and as a video editor my instinct would have been to point the gun out, or at least synch the comment about the gun up with the appearance of the gun. (I'm not criticizing the edit of the video, I love Chris's work!)
If you're not expecting it, a gun in the 'reverse carry position' can be easily missed (which is part of the point of 'reverse carry') -- particularly when the person you're looking at is a Schlock King sitting behind a typewriter!
Wow, all that lead to Miracle Man and Captain Marvel? Strange how many characters involve lawsuits and stuff.
ur the best chris love watching ur show
"Of course I murdered my business partner; my comics feature murder and I must be familiar with the subject matter!"
Has anyone ever told you that you'd make a great podcast? Just a thought!!
Oops. totally didn't realize that your Pros and cons channel has long format streams. Super excited to check it out!
Nice depth on a very interesting industry driver. At times arguably shifty, but definitely had the drive to make publishing *whatever* successful enough to pay the bills and kept things covered - NOT necessarily an easy feat! I presume every industry/business line has some Fass'es*: Feisty, devoted, daring...OK, in publishing the social consequences of a publishing line failing are less than other endeavors/industries: I say he still deserves a pat on the back for keeping entertainment of diverse genres produced and even for challenging other comics publishers' stakes (He helped establish boundaries). *I did not render that correctly, did I?
yeh new ComicTropes ! Coffee set go !
Thanks, Chris, love these episodes.
"NO! NO! You are not real! I only drew you from my imagination. Go away! AAOW-W!!"
Chris from Comic Tropes: "Oh hi! 👋 You've caught me meeting with my creations!" 🧛♂🧟♂👻👹
"Holy plagiarism Batman, it's Mister Lawsuit"!
Fascinating look into a a corner of comics that I'm aware of but not overly familiar with. I'd like to hear more about how the difference between comics and magazines was defined and why one could be regulated but not the other.
And if you ever get the chance to do a crossover episode wih Legal Eagle, comics code violations could be an interesting topic. The longterm lawsuit by DC against the orginal Captain Marvel is reminiscent of the topic of Dicken's novel Bleak House, where a dispute over a will has been going on for over a generation and when one side finally wins there is no money left, because it all went to the lawyers...
Yes, the weirdest entry in the history of "Captain Marvel"!
Hah! I had no idea you would talk about (in passing) about Vampirella when I sent you that tweet.
Chris, have you thought about re-recording some bits of audio as you're editing the video? Not just single words of course (it sounds very weird when people insert those as corrections), but whole phrases.
I've always enjoyed the schlocky energy of Erie Publications, and I actually have one of his Captain Marvel books. Great episode.
This was a cool episode,i remember those horror mags from my young days,lol
3:16 This page from the satire magazine is very true: The comics code wasn't just implemented because of moral outrage, but as a way for the big two publishers to drive the likes of Bill Gaines / EC comics and Charles Biro out of business.
True that, although the fear of some kind of actual outside regulation was also a factor.
The comics code was almost exclusively from congressional hearings on how comics were "scandalous" and "rotting the brains of our youth!" based on bad and misleading "research" by one person. Look it up, it is here on youtube.
The "big two" did indeed lead the move to establish the "comics code", mainly so *all the publishers* could have some guidance and self - regulation. The outcome did effect the smaller comic companies more, as you note.
Is that a plushie of the robot from Santa Claus vs The Martians behind Chris? Man I hope so
What a fascinating character this guy was.
I have a book that talks about obscure superheroes from all the ages of comics. One of them happened to be Captain Marvel by Carl Burgos.
Otro interesante episodio, como siempre
Rocking that teddy fresh me boy
12:35 by that logic my man should’ve had pormstars, aliens, and vampires in the office 😂
What a wild story to wake up to!
i bet the word XAM was meant to be spelt like JAM. how? the x is the short form of CH like in cheese^^. split and jam^^
You mean *pronounced* like jam/cham? If so, I always took it to be pronounced like Shazam but reallyreallyreally fast, which also would come out like "cham!"...
Chris is pumping out the content. Love it!
Not trying to be the grammar police here but "O - Kal - La" is the pronunciation of Ocala Florida, my old granddad lived there. Beautiful city. Thank you for covering this topic, Chris. I have some of those old horror titles in my collection and I'm always in awe at the art and layout skills of publishers of that era. There were no computers making it easy for anyone. It took technique to make the artwork pop off the page back then. I'm a huge fan of those gritty old schlock magazines. Enjoyed the video! 👍
The name Myron just feels like you're in for trouble. Great video!
The Florida man of comics!
Wow, never heard of this guy. Very interesting episode. Must have been a lot of crazy people in comics and magazine publishing back in the day.
Yes there were so real characters back early in comics and magazine publishing history!
Some of that history is covered fairly well on youtube, check this channel. Never knew Myron Fass bought Guitar World, weird stuff.
There are two books about this time in comics history that are absolutely fantastic reads; 'The Weird World of Eerie Publications' which features Myron Fass (as Chris mentions) and 'Empire of Monsters' about James Warren.
Excellent episode. What a fascinating character, those magazines were so lurid!
Another winner, Chris! Your videos are making Sundays my favorite day of the week.
Sounds like a cool boss
I vaguely knew about the guy - but I didn't know he started as an artist. Thank you!
Not a bad artist, a better publisher, but he really excelled at threatening people at gunpoint.
Love the deep dives in these relative unknowns.
I do love Schlock
I was a devoted Official Ufo reader in Melbourne Australia in my tweens. My best friend's father worked at a paper mill where most of the city's unsold magazines ended up for recycling, so i got my copies ( and every issue of Curtis's Planet of the Apes) for free with title banners clipped off. I just recently bought an almost complete run of Official Ufo and it's remarkable for two things; 1) it was almost completely serious in tone and content at its inception (interviews with Allen Hyneck and Phil Klass) but by 1978 was publishing stories about Elvis Presley's alien-produced clone running amok, and 2) the writers and editors (including Myron Fass) became integral characters in lurid stories about men in black, alien mind control and government harassment seeking to stop Official Ufo from exposing the truth.
One thing about Myran Fass you failed to mention; he was a notorious and unrepentant racist, who never missed an opportunity to use the "N" word with an extra hard "r".
I used to have the October 1970 issue of Crime Does Not Pay shown at 12:57. I remember that specific cover very well. I was 14 years old at the time and it made an impression on me. (My teenage imagination knew exactly what that mobster was going to do with that red-hot poker!) It was about this time that I had discovered that sort of true crime magazine and I was fascinated. It was through those that I learned about Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger and all the other gangsters and criminals of the Twenties and Thirties. Happy days.
A real life comic villain.
Wow, I really do learn something new everyday! I've seen Fass's name over the years, but never looked into who he was... So this is nothing short of fascinating. Who doesn't like a gun toting, eccentric publisher of horror, smut tabloids on paper stock so budget you'd have better colour on toilet rolls! This was great. However, it does beg one to ask THE big question... Is the $100,000 reward for Elvis's escaped clone still on offer?
Among the EC knockoff magazines, Eerie publications published one issue of a magazine actually called Tales from the Crypt. Don’t know if it didn’t sell or if they got hit with a cease and desist.
Amd here I thought Ken Penders' lawsuit against Sega and Archie was wild.
I was starting to get worried.. I was just thinking to myself..Where is Comic Tropes? I see nothing but other youtubers ripping off your thumbnail design thinkin it s from you everytime..Hope you doin good, with the world goin to s..t an all..
Fass-inating story. I'm sure I grue up seeing lots of his titles on the magazine stands in the '60s. My mom brought home a sub-Creepy horror magazine with a story that ends with a villain being hugged to death by a giant cactus which gave me nightmares for years. Now I can suspect who to blame (other than mom).
I've never heard about Myron Fass; that guy was out of his head!
Love your channel, keep up the great work!
Please explain to me why I have to restpect entrepenurship that provides and promotes hot garbage. Being agresiving and controling isn't respectable and niether is flooding the market with sub-par products. This is why we can't have nice things.
Ngl...I miss the old theme song. The animation on this one is awesome but I guess I'm used to/nostalgic for the old one.
Edit: oh...the end credits...I forgot about that tune...love it...
YES!!!!!!
Great video! I must say the way Marvel and DC acted was pretty savage. Myron Fass was a wild one too, but i can't say i don't feel a little bit of sympathy for the man.
Doggone it! I am subbed and "smashed the bell" years ago when I 1st learned of this great channel. But the algorithm keeps me from getting alerts of any kind in any of my feeds
Plagiarism? Maybe!
It might be that it is more like copyright infringement. It depends who owned the rights to the art. If it was "work for hire" the publisher probably had the rights and if he bought it from the original publisher, it is probably not an issue.
Really liked that video. Heard a bit about Fass before but not that much detail. Want some of those mags.
And towards the end, he also changed his name... to Myron Sloww.
It may have been done, but I'd love to see an alternate history graphic novel about if the CCA had never existed.
those are the type of comics that unleashed Dr Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent.
....pistol whipping co-workers in the office!....thats respect!
Wow, Shock Tales cover aged better then Foto-Ramas.