FEARLESS COMICS

San Diego Comic-Con
August 18th, 1973
Interview for the Rutgers Targum October Issue




I placed the tape recorder on the table and test the microphone twice before he arrives. Guy Fitzpatrick, Jr. is the son of the original Assistant editor and if negotiations workout with Corman's people he will be one of the producers of the film adaptation of the Fearless Five.

Mr. Fitzpatrick is tall with his hair and beard close cut. He is wearing a green turtleneck, white pants, black jacket and leather boots. the small square spectacles complete the picture. His smile is worn but friendly.

The table at his booth is one of those portable ones that seems heavier than it needs to be. You know the type, the kind when you have to carry it anywhere it feels like you are going to cut your fingers off. on top of the table is what looks like a brand new white bed sheet. On top of the sheet are the heroes of yesteryear. The Eagle is of course there as well as the Conjuress, Chaser, and the Metal Mage but also there are a few issues of the Bug Golem and Newmark Mysteries and others. Behind the table is a large sign painted on a large piece of whiteboard and it reads "FEARLESS COMICS".

I am here at the Harbor Island Sheraton at the San Diego Comic-Con across from the airport reporting for Rutger's school paper the Targum. The fact that I had to go a cross the continent for a story about comic books printed right down the street from our Newark Campus is a whole other story for another time.

Mr. Fitzpatrick shakes my hand, ask me how things are going at the school and he also asks about some of the professors he knows there. Finally he asks if he can smoke during the interview which I acquiesce to.

TARGUM: Please introduce yourself

FITZPATRICK: Can you believe they have over a thousand people at this event? . . . oh . . . um . . . Guy Fitzpatrick, Jr. son of Fearless Comics assistant editor Guy Fitzpatrick. I also wrote a few episodes of the Fearless Five back up stories as well as doing a lot of inking early on.

TARGUM: Now when we talked on the phone earlier you told me you were actually there when the idea for Fearless Comics originated.

FITZPATRICK: (He laughs) Yeah I was getting coffee for my Dad, Mr. Durham and Ernie Curtis at what used to be Ruppert Stadium. Miss the old Rupe. Black, three sugars, funny what you remember.


TARGUM: Mr. Durham is Alan Durham the original editor, correct?

FITZPATRICK: (He nods) yeah but back then Mr. Durham and my Dad were the only employees. They worked for Mr. and Mrs. Manley printing out all the programs, scorecards, and other promotional items for their team the Newark Eagles.

TARGUM: So what happened?

FITZPATRICK: Well I come back with their coffee and Pop and Mr. Durham are going over the design for an upcoming NAACP night when Mrs. Manley herself walks into the office likes she owns the place. (He then laughs) cause she sorta does. I mean she owns the team but is only renting the office space.

TARGUM: (I laugh politely) Mrs. Effa Louise Manley was a hands on owner.

FITZPATRICK: (He smiles) She sure was and you know what there ain't nothing that any of us would not do if Ms. Effie asked us to do it either. (Mr. Fitzpatrick clears his throat before resuming) She then throws a bunch of comic books down on Mr. Durham's desk. There was Captain America, Green Lantern, Sheena of the Jungle, Bullet man, Daredevil, Wonder Woman and of course Superman. "Gentlemen" (Fitzpatrick's voice changes to mimic Mrs. Manley's) Mrs. Manley said with hands on her hips "What is wrong with these publications?"

TARGUM: What was wrong with them?

FITZPATRICK: Well neither my father or Mr. Durham could find anything wrong with them. Mr. Curtis, being the artist, who along with Mr. Lott, they would contract for most of their promotional work, did give a critique on some of the artworks pros and cons.

TARGUM: Was that what Mrs. Manley was looking for?

FITZPATRICK: Oh no, not at all. Once she had gotten our responses Mrs. Manley told us what was wrong with the comic books in front of us. "Are any of them black?" she asked and I have to admit I had not thought of that. It was embarrassing that none of us had thought of that. She had over twenty different issues in front of us and not a single African American Superhero among them. She then looked at each of us



"Gentlemen what are we going to do about this?"
 
An excellent idea.:cool: I've never heard of Fearless, so I presume they're a fabrication.

Can I presume we see something akin to the Millennium characters? Or do you mean for something more like T'Challa, Cage, & Goliath?
 
A different post here about new superhero universes got me thinking on creating one. I decided to base them in Newark during World War II. I was going to post it in the ASB section.

But then I thought about what if there were an All (or mostly) Negro Comic book universe like there was Negro League Baseball to counter the White one that would not let anyone of color join.

So when I saw that Newark had a Negro League team and its owner was Effie Manley it all sort of fell into place. She was all about civil rights and promotions. So having her think of publishing FEARLESS COMICS was not much of a leap.

So does anybody have any idea for writers and artists? I have a few in mind and some fictional (ahem) I mean unknowns who had not had the light of history shined upon them until now~! (Yeah, that's it!)

What effects does this company and its publishing have on the Comic Book industry? Do they eventually get bought by one of the Big 2? Like Fawcett and Charlton?

I may at some point write up some adventures for the Bold Fool and Newark Eagle, Conjuress, Chaser, and the rest in the ASB section in the future.
 
An excellent idea.:cool: I've never heard of Fearless, so I presume they're a fabrication.

Can I presume we see something akin to the Millennium characters? Or do you mean for something more like T'Challa, Cage, & Goliath?

Hmmmm, I think more along the lines of Millennium but with a 40s mindset.

Yeah Fearless just seemed to fit given what they were going to be doing.
 
So does anybody have any idea for writers and artists? I have a few in mind and some fictional (ahem) I mean unknowns who had not had the light of history shined upon them until now~! (Yeah, that's it!)

There was apparently a single issue of a comic called All-Negro Comics that was published in 1947. Some of the artists and writers from that might work for you.

Presumably you're already aware of the story Judgement Day (published in 1956), which the Comics Code Authority tried to censor for having a Black central character. It would be interesting to see how Fearless Comics affects the creation of the CCA.

Cheers,
Nigel.
 
Thanks for the info, Mr. Evans will have to be hired immediately

Perhaps Ace Harlem and Lion Man will make an earlier debut

The CCA will be making an appearance, and possibly a more dreaded acronym, the HUAC
 
I think you're going to run into serious problems with distribution. Dell found out the hard way with Lobo; they got bundles of 100s returned unopened...:eek: Any thoughts how you overcome that?
 
The Newark Eagles could bring them with them on road games, Split the profits with the other stadium owners, do that until it catches on and there's a demand.

"Hey we will make them and deliver them to you, so, if you sell them we'll split the profits."

The other teams stadiums should have a built in fan bases
 
Corjomc said:
The Newark Eagles could bring them with them on road games, Split the profits with the other stadium owners, do that until it catches on and there's a demand.

"Hey we will make them and deliver them to you, so, if you sell them we'll split the profits."

The other teams stadiums should have a built in fan bases
You'll never keep these books alive that way. You need thousands of retail points to get a profitable book, which needs upwards of 100K sales/month (which means print runs upwards of 200K, assuming return rates are break-even). If you've got a zero return rate (which this captive audience generates), you still need astounding turnover. Do any Negro Leagues teams cycle through enough fans each month to sell that many copies of anything? I really doubt it. (I really doubt even MBL teams could do it.)

That presupposes your cover price is a dime. If it's more, you need a magazine format, which means it's aimed at adults... That makes it possible to make a profit at lower sales (presuming cover price of a quarter); it's still extraordinarily improbable you can do it on point sales. (Imagine trying to sell 40-50K game programs a month at a quarter each, or about 100K/mo at a dime, with no connection to the game.:eek::eek:)

Magazine format would seem to limit your audience more, but maybe not, given you could target immigrants or lower-educated adults. (Think Heavy Metal with less skin.) You'd still need distributors willing to handle mags aimed at a Negro audience. (That's possible, but in this era, it won't be easy.)
 
Fearless Comics Booth
San Diego Comic-Con
August 18th, 1973
Interview for the Rutgers Targum October Issue

TARGUM: So what happened next?

FITZPATRICK: (He laughs) When Mrs. Manley has an idea and tells us to make it a reality, I think they call it leadership.

So anyways, Allen and Ernie and my Dad start shooting ideas back and forth for our first issue. Curtis then asked Durham if he had ever read a comic and Allen had to admit he hadn't. Ernie then turned to my Dad and asked. He told him he had bought one where there was a robot who could burst into flame but looked human enough that he could join the cops. He had bought that issue of the Human Torch for me. My father told our resident artist it didn't make a lot of sense. Curtis laughed saying never let logic get in the way of a good story.

TARGUM: Most people who have heard of Fearless Comics believe that the Newark Eagle was your first superhero but he wasn't?

FITZPATRICK: They brought back my Human Torch guy but he's not the . . umm . . robot he's some snot nosed punk.

TARGUM: It sounds like of the four of you that you are the one who read the most comic books.

FITZPATRICK: Yeah, but they ask me my opinion and then they ignore it. I wanted them to do an actual superhero, like an a robot or an alien, or a wizard or someone hit by mystical lightning but nope not what happened.

TARGUM:
So they went with the Bold Fool?

FITZPATRICK: Yeah, good old Cliff Plongeur, known as the lead in the band, Clever Cliff & the Jazzy Jumpin' Jive Five. He was just a normal guy who used his underworld connections to fight crime. Not really a "Super" hero Just an Ace Harlem in a Domino mask.

TARGUM: How did the name of the comics come about?

FITZPATRICK:
(He Smiles broadly) That was me, They wanted to base it around their first hero and Dad thought of Foolish Comics and Mr. Durham shook his head saying "BOLD COMICS". Curtis objected to that said people would refer to us as "BC Comics". Ernie worried people would think we wrote caveman stories.

TARGUM: and then you suggested Fearless?

FITZPATRICK: Damn straight, and then Ernie points at me and says "From the mouth of Babes!" and there ya go.

TARGUM: So Fearless Comics are born and the Bold Fool goes to print in October, 1941?

FITZPATRICK: Yep, The Fool and his Band take on the Malevolent Dr. Magnets, he had a gun that would shoot and then when it went through its victim his gun had a magnet that pulled the bullet back to the gun. It was a gun that could shoot people twice.

TARGUM: What did the first comic look like?

FITZPATRICK:
Eight pages, colored cover and black and white inside. The cover had Plongeur looking all cool like with his mask and cape and suit.

TARGUM: Neon pink zoot suit with all yellow eyes if I recall.

FITZPATRICK: Yeah, and the Purple feather, the design was all Curtis's but the idea for the Character was Mr. Durham's. My Dad came up with the idea for Newmark City.

TARGUM: Based off of Newark.

FITZPATRICK: Yeah, did I mention I created Fireball, the Flying Flame?

TARGUM: No not yet, So you sold these comics at Newark Eagle games, home and away?

FITZPATRICK: ummm . . . yeah . . . Losing money every time, its a miracle we survived past 1941.

TARGUM: Miracle?

FITZPATRICK: Yep, a miracle name of Joe Levi and of course, you know, World War II.
 
Corjomc said:
Eight pages, colored cover and black and white inside.
They'll be broke in no time. The big companies are selling 52pp & 64pp 4-color books for a dime... (AFAIK, the 36pp book {or 32pp with a slick cover} wasn't standard until the into the '60s.)
 
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