I got out of the habit of doing this and I'm now resuming. Lately, I've been unearthing and digitizing old photos from my files, mainly of folks in the comic book field. Here are three great friends who are no longer with us.
The gentleman at left is Don R. Christensen. There have been a couple of Don Christensens in the comic book and cartoon industries. This one, who sometimes signed his work "Don Arr," is best known for writing countless comic books for Dell and Gold Key — mostly funny animal stuff, though he occasionally did an issue of something like Magnus, Robot Fighter. He was a storyman in animation, including a stint in Bob Clampett's unit at Warner Brothers, and he wrote and sometimes drew a lot of great silly comics for publishers like Standard and ACG.
The fellow in the middle is Zeke Zekley, who was best known for his many years assisting 'n' ghosting for George McManus on the newspaper strip, Bringing Up Father, aka "Maggie and Jiggs." McManus wanted Zeke to take over the strip after he died but when that day arrived — in a scandalous tale Zeke only told me about nineteen times — someone else got the gig. Zeke went off to do other strips on his own, including a Dagwood-like one called Dud Dudley. Comic strip bylines were never more colorful than when you could read Dud Dudley by Zeke Zekley. Later, he ran a company that produced "commercial" comics for advertising and educational purposes, and he employed the other two men in this photo.
At right is Alfredo Alcala. That's right: This photo runs the gamut from A.A. to Z.Z. Alfredo was, of course, a star artist of the Filipino comic world who came to America and graced hundreds of our comics, mostly ghost titles or Conan the Barbarian. He just may have been the fastest comic artist who ever lived, especially if you factor in the sheer number of lines he put on a page. I thought he was a brilliant talent, quite apart from his sheer volume, though I don't think the U.S. comic industry ever knew quite what to make of him or where to put him.
This pic was taken — I think by me — in my front hall around (I'm guessing) 1980. The thing on the wall behind Don's head is a painting that C.C. Beck did for me of Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Cap Junior standing at attention before Shazam. I still have the painting. I wish I still had these three people around.