Thanks for the observations about Klaus Janson. I’ll have to check him out.

Yes the inking for “Fireworks on the Fourth” is pretty unique amoung the Meskin work from the period. Even some other Meskin stories in the same Fighting Yank issue do not share its inking mannerism. I purposely left the question of whether Mort inked it himself vague. I remember Meskin adopting a similar technique during his time of working for Simon and Kirby. If I am right a comparison should suggest if it was Mort’s inking.

Oral testimony is valuable evidence, but that is all it is. People’s memories are subject to failure, especially after so many years. For questions like how long artists collaborated, the proof is in the pudding. That is it is the comic books themselves that provide the best evidence.

Scott,

Klaus Janson? Never occured to me before, but then again I am not very much up on the more modern comic artists.

According to Jerry they shared a studio (and for a time lived together with Bernie Klein) until the mid-50s. I’ve interviewed Jerry and have yet to transcribe, but can confirm the dates when I do. I will ask Jerry about collaborations past the late 40′s specifically, and also during the S&K period, although I am not questioning that Mort did indeed work in their studio. Still, Jerry told me they continued to collaborate throughout, up until Jerry started his comic strip. I am pretty positive Mort and Jack met at Eisner/Iger, but definitely Jerry told me that he sat in between the two at DC in the 40s bullpen.

As for his sudden departure from DC, sadly Mort has hospitalized with emotional problems, and after recovering he went to S & K. I believe the story of being treated poorly by the DC editor was from his second tenure at DC, ending in the 60s.

Are you sure about Meskin sharing a studio while at S&K? Joe Simon has stated a number of times that Mort worked at the S&K studio. There are photographs and other witnesses that give confirmtion.

However how long Jerry and Mort shared a studio is besides the point. So far I have only seen evidence of joint work for a relatively short period of time (a little over a year). They may have shared a studio and influence one another but that is different from working as a team.

Jack was at Eisner for a short time, was Mort there at the same time? As for the DC period, during most of it Joe and Jack worked at their own studio and not at the DC bullpen. It was only when Joe entered the Coast Guard that they gave up the studio and Jack worked for a little while at the DC bullpen before entering the army. But even though Meskin and Kirby had met earlier, it was a different relationship. At S&K it was not just a question of Jack’s talent, more importantly Jack had become Mort’s boss.

I did not say that Mort’s problems with DC had to do with lack of confidence in his own artistic abilties. Mort’s end at DC seems rather sudden. And I seem to remember reading somewhere that Mort had conflicts with one of the editors at DC.

A few things to note: Jerry and Mort shared a studio for almost a decade. I can check the exact dates, but this continued while Mort was at S & K. Even if they didn’t always credit each other, they were at the very least influencing each other right up through the mid 50′s, more than just the Vigilante, Fighting Yank, Black Terror period.

Since Mort worked with Kirby at Eisner/Iger and then with Joe and Jack at DC (along with Jerry) I doubt very much Mort was intimidated by Jack, nor that his presence would cause him any emotional distress. I’m still researching Mort’s emotional problems but I feel fairly certain that they weren’t the result his working at National nor had anything to do with lack of confidence in his artistic abilities.

Best,
Steven