Monday, February 2, 2026

Comics: A Few Details About Irving Werstein, a Letterer, Writer and Editor

Irving Boris Werstein was born on May 23, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York according to the New York, New York Birth Index at Ancestry.com and World War II draft card which had his full name. The 1915 New York state census counted Werstein (line 37) and his parents, Jacob and Ray, both immigrants, in Brooklyn at 197 Rutledge Street. His father was an upholsterer.

 
In the 1920 United States Census, the Werstein family (lines 95 to 97) lived in Richmond Hills, Queens at 104-18 Jamaica Avenue.
 
 
The 1925 New York state census said the trio (lines 23 to 25) lived across the street at number 104-23. Werstein’s father was naturalized in 1916. A 1965 book jacket flap said Werstein attended P.S. 90 now known as P.S. 90 Horace Mann.
 
 
Fifteen-year-old Werstein (line 87) was at the same address in 1930. The Fourth Book of Junior Authors & Illustrators (1978) profiled Werstein and said he was on the high school newspaper and wanted to be a writer. 


Werstein graduated Richmond Hill High School on February 4, 1932. The next day his father committed suicide.

During the Great Depression, Werstein enrolled at New York University. Junior Authors & Illustrators said he dropped out, after two years, due to the family’s financial situation. Junior Authors & Illustrators said Werstein
supported himself by a variety of jobs—he was a comedian on the Catskill borscht circuit, a factory worker, a “surgeon” in a doll hospital, a waiter, a salesman, an actor.
In 1938 Werstein earned fifteen dollars when his first story was bought by an adventure magazine.

According to the 1940 census, Werstein (line 1) lived with his mother and step-father, Louis Loshak, in Ridgewood, Queens at 60-83 Myrtle Avenue. His mother had a doll hospital, and step-father was a radio repairman. Werstein was a helper at a building construction company.


On October 16, 1940, Werstein signed his draft card. His address was 48-38 46th Street in Woodside, Queens. He was employed at the Silvray Lighting Company. Werstein’s description was five feet nine inches, 140 pounds, with brown eyes and hair. He enlisted in the Army at Camp Upton, Yaphank, New York on October 1, 1941.


Werstein was a staff member of the military publication, Yank, then The Bayonet. The November 23, 1944 edition said
... The SHIELD, senior publication of, the group, has not missed more than 8 editions in 1 1-2 years of its existence, although it has appeared “in the field” in Mississippi, in Colorado, and during, the grueling winter maneuvers in the Coastal Range of California. Editor “Irv” Werstein (formerly of “Yank” staff) likes to think of the surrender of Italy last year as his biggest “scoop.” For hardly had the first news of the event been received, by short-wave, when a special edition of the SHIELD covering the surrender was on its way to the Colorado mts. where the 5th Inf. Regt. was then engaged in field problems.
Just over a month later, Werstein and comics were subjects in The Bayonet, December 28, 1944.
Author Extols Moral Value of Comic Strips
By Col. Louis D. Rubin, Jr.
Many people believe that the reading by children of the many comic books which flood the newsstands will result in harm being done to their outlook, but Cpl. Irving Werstein, of Fourth Headquarters, Special Troops, Second Army, doesn’t agree.

Irv ought to know since the 31-year-old New Yorker has written nationally famous comic books and has also authored many of the “True Comic” features put out by the Parents Institute of America, and is well acquainted with the business.

“Many people say that comic books, with their super heroes, stress the wrong characteristics among men, and that children are influences by this,” Irv says, “but I think the opposite is true. The comic book super being doesn’t make laws by himself. He always adheres to the existing laws, and supports them. He fosters the ideas of patriotism and loyalty, and he attacks the evil element in sociey [sic]. There’s nothing harmful in this.”

His Brain Children

Werstein in civilian life wrote many famous strips. The “Blue Bolt,” drawn by George Mandel, “Human Torch,” drawn by Carl Burgos, “Sub-Mariner,” drawn by Dick [sic] Everett, “Target and the Targeteers,” drawn by Sid Green[e], “The Cadet,[”] “Daredevil,” “The Angel,” “The Vision,” all were written by Werstein, who drew up the plots and then gave them to the artists to draw. He wrote for “Funnies Incorporated,” which was supervised by Floyd [sic] Jacquet and which produced all those strips and many more.

“I found the work very interesting,” Irv states. “Like all other forms of writing, they take much time, thought, and effort. They are not easy to do. The story has to be interesting, and must be presented in a vivid manner. The pace of action throughout the strip must be very swift. It is a good deal similar to the old movie serial.”

Emphasis in each of the strips, Irving says, centers around a strong hero, a menacing villain, and a series of climaxes throughout the strip. In each adventure, the hero after a series of ups and downs becomes the victor in the struggle by use of special powers.

Superhuman Powers

Werstein’s characters all had superhuman powers, ranging from the “Human Torch” who could upon occasion turn into flame and hurl balls of fire at his foe, to the Blue Bolt, who did practically everything better than anybody else.

“It always amused mr to watch the devious manner in which the writers of comic strips managed to get their heroes into trouble. These super beings could never be attacked from the front, but of course there had to be some way in which they could be knocked unconscious, so in all of the strips the hero is always hit over the head from behind, whenever he is knocked out,” Werstein says.

There were also a series of taboos in the trade, Irv says. The hero never kills anyone. He often causes them to die of their own machinations, but he never kills anybody. Anybody, that is, except Japs and Germans. These may be killed by the hero. Then, there may be a girl in the plot, but the sex angle is always played down. There can be no mention of liquors or narcotics except when used by the villains. Then it’s okay.

Here to Stay

Werstein believes that comic books are hereto stay. “They have a definite future in the fields of visual education and in pictorialization of the world’s great literature. They’ll never replace literature, but rather they’ll supplement and popularize it. I think they can be used to great advantage.”

Werstein has been in the service for 39 months, and before that he wrote comic books and did newspaper work, in New York City. He spent 13 months in Panama.

“I always wondered who read these comic books I wrote,” Irv said, because they had such a large circulation that I knew that not just children could be responsible for their popularity. My answer came in the jungles of Panama, when I happened to see a brigadier general, resting comfortably in a jeep, absorbed in a copy of Superman! Now I know.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 said Werstein wrote for Funnies, Inc., Timely/Marvel, DC, Novelty, Charlton, Feature, EC and others. A checklist is at the Grand Comics Database. He was editor at Ziff-Davis. Who’s Who said Werstein did lettering in Taffy Comics. His style is unknown. The Digital Comic Museum has nine issues of Taffy Comics which were published by Orbit Publications. Ellen Cole lettered Taffy Comics #3; number four is not available. Numbers five through twelve were lettered by Matthew Tweedy. Werstein’s lettering may have appeared in another title.
 
Werstein was credited in Taffy Comics numbers nine, ten and twelve. His credit was probably for writing. He was also credited in Patches Comics numbers ten and eleven.

 #9, September 1947

#10, October-November 1947
 
 #10, October-November 1947
 
#11, December 1947
 
 #12, February 1948
 
On December 8, 1948, Werstein and Goldie Lebofsky obtained marriage license number 38026 in Manhattan. They married in Brooklyn on December 19.


The 1949 Manhattan, New York City directory listed Werstein at 222 East 17th Street. The 1950 census counted the couple (lines 15 and 16) in Manhattan at 9 Stuyvesant Oval. Werstein was a self-employed writer who earned $7,000 in 1949.


Werstein’s letter, in Writer’s Digest, June 1950, objected to an article about finding easy work in comics.

On March 31, 1955, Werstein and his wife were aboard the ship, Queen Mary, bound for Cherbourg, France. The manifest said they planned to be abroad for six months.
 
An obituary appeared in The New York Times, April 9, 1971.
Irving Werstein, Wrote 40 Books
Author Who Depicted Wars Chiefly for Young, Dies
Irving Werstein, an author of some 40 books, chiefly for young persons, died of a heart attack on Wednesday in Doctors Hospital. He was 57 years old and lived at 511 East 20th Street.

Mr. Werstein’s experience as an infantry soldier in the Army in World War II and his work as a correspondent, for Yank Magazine no doubt had a major influence on his writing career.

Many of his books concerned wars and battles of the past. A careful researcher, he read the battle reports and journals of both sides, interviewed soldiers and read their letters and diaries and contemporary publications for background.

“In tackling the problem of writing about a battle,” he once recounted, “I can never forget that the companies, regiments, battalions, divisions and corps on both sides are made up of men and boys. These young warriors are the central figures of my books.”

His books covered such varied conflicts as “Battle of Salerno,” “All the Furious Battles: The Saga of Israel’s Army,” “Seventeen Seventy Six: The Adventures of the American Revolution Told with Pictures,” and “Ten Days in November: The Russian Revolution.”

One of his favorites was “The Long Escape,” a narrative of a World War II episode, the flight of 50 convalescing Belgian children and their nurse from the advancing Germans.

He was, especially interested in Americana and many of his books concerned America’s past.

At various times Mr. Werstein was an actor, a waiter, a comedian, a factory worker and a salesman. Whatever the job, he continued to write. In 1938 he sold a pulp‐magazine story for $15, an event that caused him to decide to take up free‐lance writing as a full-scale career.

Mr. Werstein was born in Brooklyn and attended New York University.

He leaves his wife, the former Goldie Lebofsky, and son, Jack.

A funeral service will be held today at the Universal Chapel, Lexington Avenue at 52d Street, at 10:30 A. M.
Werstein was laid to rest at Long Island National Cemetery.

All the Furious Battles: The Saga of Israel’s Army (1969)
Betrayal: The Munich Pact of 1938 (1969)
Labor’s Defiant Lady: The Story of Mother Jones (1969)
 
 
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(Next post on Monday: J. Albert Cavanagh, Lettering Artist)
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