I am hoping down the road to get some detailed backgrond on Alan as he was a Chicago artist and did some great stuff in the late sixties thru the seventies. I hope to have Joe Sarno, Jim Engel, Russ Maheras and hopefully possibly hanley family members to talk about the man behind such characters as Good-Guy, , The Mighty Buggers, Captain Thunder and other characters. Her are some remembrances from Russ Maheras!
I knew Hanley very well. I met him at Sarno's house when Joe was still selling comics out of his basement (Joe didn't have a store yet). Hanley is the person who got me interested in publishing fanzines, and I worked with him on a number of occasions, letter a strip of his or two, etc. We even did a TBG cover together, TBG #127, which was actually a five-artist jam by Hanley, me, Jim Engel, Chuck Fiala and Roy Kinnard.
I visited Hanley's apartment when he, his wife and two daughters were still living in Chicago, and I visited his home at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, after they moved out there. Hanley's daughters, Kim and Krista, were about 1 and 3 years old when I joined the Air Force in 1978, so that would make them about 28 and 30 years old now, respectively.
He was a great person and a wonderful artist.
Russ Maheras.
Comic Book Covers
Below are some art and pics of Alan's work as I hope have more later. These are from his series of zines called appropriate enough...Comic Book. I all hope you enjoy.
Here is a cover of Bumbazine #1 that was a collaborated effort between Alan, Jim Engel, Chuck Fiala and Jack Weaver.
Various Art Pieces
1) The first is a panel I found in my copy of Comic Book 3, which after I showed to Joe and Russ this is a piece of Alan's work probably early on in his career, 2) The Bubble Gum Brigade, 3) Some of Alan's favorite Golden Age heroes. How many can you name?? 4) Charley Brown is Captain Marvel!! 5) a word for Peace, 6) Backcover of Best of Comicology, 7) Cover of Steve Keeters' Mantra from Happy Face Publications, 8) I saw this on Steven Thompson's blog, Hanley ran an ad offering caricatures of individuals as super-heroes. You had to send in a recent photo and tell him which hero you wanted to be. Steven Thompson got CAPTAIN AMERICA, 9) original illustration from the back of the envelope in which the previously published CAPTAIN AMERICA caricature painting arrived, 10) Captain Marvel illo, 11) a small illo of the Spirit, 12) an illo from RBCC #77, 13) column of heroes, 14) promo for the next issue of Comics Commentary, 15) one of Hanley's heroes, 16) Gag logo for a column, 17) The Good-Guy Family of course (B&W), 18) Color version
Comics Buyer's Guide Covers
Example of a jam cover with various artists and Hanley. Copyright 2005 by Krause publications and the respective artists,"
Who's Who of American Comic Books, Volume 4
Cover to the great series by Jerry Bails. Jerry actually just sent me this wrap around cover to share with all of you. Thanks Jerry!
Fandom Unlimited #1
Also featured a couple of early Fred Hembeck illos
VARIOUS HANLEY STRIPS
One page strips
Here are three one page strips that Alan did.
Captain America Bunny
I received this from Bill Schelly, thanks Bill for help preserve Alan's legasy.
The strip by Alan Hanley that I published was Capt. America Bunny in SENSE OF WONDER #11. It's a four pager very much in the vein of his other stuff. Make it a part of your tribute to Hanley. I like his work very much.
Greenhorn
The last issues of Bill G. Wilson's The Collector featured a six part story called Greenhorn, which I consider Hanley's opus. I have posted one of the pages and hope to jhave all of it up for your enjoyment,
Hanley Ads
This one was in RBCC# 49 1966 for Comic Book# 2.
Example of an ad I found in The Buyer's Guide # 14 1972.
Hanley ad for Farce of Fandom #4.
Ad for Comic Book #5.
Recently I recieved a communique from Alan's daughter Krista, who is getting some art of her father's together with some other items for me to add to his page. She did have some interesting background information I wanted to share..
I recently received a bound collection of some of Dad's earliest comics from my mother, along with a substantial amount of other works. He actually drew comic strips starting at a very young age (9 or 10) and also did highly-appreciated caricatures. He worked as a part-time actor (community theater, extra in "The Sting", speaking role in "Medium Cool"), so if you would like a copy of his "composite card" with photos, I could email it. I will work on getting some items scanned and sent to you withing the next two weeks
Here are two illos that Krista sent me last week, and hope there will be many more. Here is what Krista wrote!
Here is a cover and also a coloring book/kids menu Dad did for Country Kitchen. More to come.
Hanley Misc. Illos and other art
From time to time I will add more art as it becomes available to me via fanzine purchases I do.
New Hanley finds
Hall of Fame Presentation to Hanley Family
I uploaded the video from IF Jam's Hall of Fame Presentation to Alan James Hanley. This is in 3 parts as Youtube wouldn't let me load the whole thing in one shot.
