Cover of “The Best of Xero” by Larry Ivie.
By James H. Burns: I just read in an email, and then had it confirmed by Roy Thomas, that writer/artist/editor/publisher Larry Ivie passed away a few months ago.
Ivie was one of the key figures in the early issues of Calvin T. Beck’s Castle of Frankenstein, was a part of — for a short while, anyway — that Wally Wood-Bhob Stewart sphere, and later published and edited his own newsstand magazine, Monsters and Heroes (a mix of articles and art which seemed to happily convey a whole spectrum of genre fandoms, and featured his own super hero creation, Altron Boy).
I don’t know much more about Larry, but I think he also worked for some of the comic companies, and I suspect he did some illustrations for a few of the science fiction digests.
For a certain generation, Ivie’s was one of those “magic names” that appeared on many happy mastheads.
I had heard that in recent years he moved to Oakland, California to be near/live with relatives, but that may not be accurate.
Hopefully, one of the File 770 faithful can fill in some details.
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Larry had art published in one 1960 issue of ASTOUNDING/ANALOG. Campbell never used him again. He did work on some comics, assisting Al Williamson in post-EC times on some of Joe Simon’s titles.
Larry and I put together what was supposed to be JOURNAL OF FRANKENSTEIN #2 and became CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN #1, working in editor/publisher Calvin Beck’s basement over a nearly 24-hour period. I wrote it up for VOID. I don’t think Larry worked on any subsequent issues.
Larry made “home movies” (8 or Super8 mm) featuring Rocketman and Flash Gordon, for which he made the costumes. My first wife Sylvia and I acted in some of them, shot in Central Park, a half block from Larry’s apartment. The police stopped us.
Larry was an expert on comic artists, owned rare original art, and was very helpful to new artists fresh in New York City — like Jeff Jones, who stayed with Larry until he got an apartment for himself and his family.
Larry was a gentle soul, who had no enemies. I first met him through EC fandom and Ron Parker’s HOO-HAH, and we became good friends when I moved to NYC. I’m really sorry to hear of his death, especially since it loosely coincides with my old friend Bhob Stewart’s death. They were also good friends.
–Ted White
Those films, I believe, are mentioned ib the documentary, THE SCI FI BOYS! I should have remembered, off the top of my head, Larry’s stories for THE T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and Warren Publications’ CREEPY and EERUE (he’s included in revent archive editions…) What’s interesting about your Jeff Jones’ story, Ted… I learned about Larry’s passing this morning in a volley of emails talking about Sunday’s tribute to Bhob Stewart… When it was suddenly mentioned that Larry had passed, Ralph Reece went out of his way to tell a similar tale of Ivie’s kindness to him, wheb he first arruved in Manhattan. J’d love to see those FLASH GORDON movies! (I believe Ivie also appeared in/helped work on an amateur film or two with Don Glut and, at the very least, is mentioned in Glut’s DVD set of his 1960s efforts…)