#1-3 1961- .
editor :
Jerry G. Bails.
Alter-Ego © 2000 Jerry G. Bails.
Alter-Ego was one of the first fanzines, it's definitely the most well know early fanzine in comic collecting history. The first issue came out in 1961 and it was edited by Jerry Bails with assistance from Roy Thomas. I've only seen some cover scans of the early issue.
So when I wrote to Jerry Bails to ask him a few questions about my fanzine section, I naively asked him if the original run of Alter-Ego had any All-Star/JSA content. He immediately replied with some nice advice and filled in a number of gaps for me. Here's his nice reply about Alter-Ego:
Alter-Ego #1 (with a hyphen in my versions) contained an article and drawing (I copied) about the Wizard's appearances in 3 All-Stars. [ASC#34, 37 & 41 Davo] I wrote this article.
#1 also contains a short piece on Wonder Woman that
mentions Paula's saving
the JSA in All-Star #38. I wrote this as well.
#1 features the first half of a short fictional story in which Roy Thomas (with an assist from me) revived The Spectre. (Part 2 was in A-E #2)
#1 also contained the issue ON THE DRAWING BOARD (later
known as THE COMIC
READER) with news of the upcoming first re-appearance
of Flash of Earth-2. It was in a special code I invented that readers could
order for a SASE.
#1 carried the 1st part of three part comic strip satire
called 'the Bestest League of America' written and penciled by Roy Thomas,
with me as the ''inker'' (the guy who transferred it to a ditto master).
(Parts 2 & 3 were in A-E #2 and 3)
Alter Ego #3 contained a long article I wrote about
the original GL's creators and artists. The cover was again a steal
from 5 or 6 places to show all the main characters in the GL series.
Roy tells me I used about a half-dozen different artists; he looked up
the originals. Who's crazier? Me or him?
#3 was the last dittoed version of Alter-Ego. With #4, I introduced photo-offset."
Thanks for that info Jerry, it's very helpful and informative.
I've bid on a couple of copies of Alter Ego #1 on the internet - I'm usually well and truly outbid by the more wealthy fans (with a stronger currency!).
I have read of a book published in the late 1990s called "Best of Alter Ego" published by Hampster Press. I haven't seen a copy of this book here in Australia - but will be keeping an eye out for it locally and on-line!