Showing posts with label Writer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writer. Show all posts

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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Monday, June 16, 2025

Comics: Jill Elgin, Artist and Writer

 

Kathleen Josephine “Jill” Elgin was born on January 13, 1923 in Trenton, New Jersey according to the New Jersey Birth Index at Ancestry.com. The same birth information was in Who Was Who in America (2006). Some bios said her birthplace was Princeton which is about 12 miles [19 kilometers] north of Trenton. Elgin’s Social Security application said her birthplace was Princeton Meadows. 
 
Elgin’s parents were Charles Porter Elgin and Mary L. Poore who married on August 30, 1919 in Franklin County, Ohio. In 1915, Charles Elgin was a freshman at Princeton University. The Princeton Alumni Weekly, July 4, 1967, said
... Mary Poore and Chick were married in August, 1919. They joined other married undergraduate couples in Princeton in the fall of 1920. He received his C.E. degree in June, 1921, and the Graduate E.E. degree in June 1922. He worked for the New York Telephone Company, then the Ohio Bell Telephone organization, returning to his home town of Columbus, Ohio in 1923. ...
According to the 1920 United States Census, Elgin’s parents lived with her maternal grandparents, George and Belle Poore, in Columbus at 232 South Monroe Avenue. Elgin’s parents were at the same address in the 1924 city directory. The 1927 directory listed her parents at 247 North Remington Road in Bexley, a suburb of Columbus.

The 1930 census counted Elgin (line 92), her parents and sisters, Susanne and Charlene, at the same Bexley address. Her father was an electrical engineer.


The Columbus Dispatch, October 29, 1932, mentioned Elgin as a student at Cassingham Avenue School. The Dispatch, August 2, 1931, said Elgin was a Camp Fire Girl.

By the mid-1930s, Elgin (line 80) and her family were residents of Xenia, Ohio at 241 North King Street, according to the 1940 census.


The Dispatch, August 25, 1940, listed Elgin’s state fair awards:
Special Students Classification
Any Subject—Any Medium—First, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia; ...
Sculpture—First, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia; ...
Unclassified—Fourth, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia; ...
Design—First, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia;...
The Dispatch, August 23, 1941, said Elgin won three state fair ceramics awards.
Kathleen Elgin, Xenia, three firsts for “St. Catherine,” in stained glass, tile tableware and a pottery punch bowl
Elgin’s father signed his World War II draft card on February 16, 1942. His address was 241 North King Street in Xenia, Ohio. Sometime later, the address was updated to R.R. 8, Shakertown Pike, Dayton, Ohio. The Princeton Alumni Weekly said
... He served as a Major in the Air Force in World War II. Chick was an Engineer for Lindly and Company of Mineola, N.Y. from the end of the war until his retirement in 1964. All Engineering pursuits held a keen interest for him, and he was at his best when engineering problems were involved. The Elgins built a lovely home in Hampton Bays, N.Y. after retirement, where Mary and Chick were very happy. ...
Some of the books by Elgin included a brief biography. Science Fiction & Readers Guide (1953) said
Jill Elgin enjoys people, books, and dogs. She was brought up in Baltimore [sic] and studied at the Maryland Institute of Art [sic] and at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. She has done a number of portraits and has illustrated several children’s books. She likes to travel throughout the United States, especially in the West.
The bio in The First Book of Norse Legends (1956) said
Kathleen Elgin began to draw when she was five years old, and she has never stopped since then. She studied at the Dayton, Ohio, Art Institute for two years, then went to work in a stained glass studio. During World War II she illustrated technical manuals for the U.S. Air Force. After the war she moved to New York City, where she studied at the American School of Design.

Today Miss Elgin divides her career between advertising and book illustrating. She illustrated The First Book of Japan, The First Book of Poetry, and The Science Book of the Human Body. She both wrote and illustrated The First Book of Mythology.
Another bio, in Billions of Years of You (1967), said
Kathleen Elgin, who has illustrated over thirty-five books is also an author. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, she studied at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio and the School of General Studies, Columbia University. A wintertime resident of New York City, Miss Elgin makes her home on New York’s Fire Island during the summer months.
Illustrators of Children’s Books, 1957–1966 (1968) said
After graduating from high school in Xenia, Ohio, Kathleen Elgin attended the Dayton Art Institute for two years, studying in Decorative Arts, her interest developing in stained glass. Later she worked in a glass studio for two years on the commission of a History of Medicine window for the Mayo Clinic. During the Second World War she executed technical manuals for the Air Force. She came to New York in 1945 and began free lancing in advertising, turning after six years to the field of book illustration. Since then, she has written as well as illustrated several books. Miss Elgin, who works primarily in black and white, describes her work as representational and decorative. She notes that in the last ten years her style has changed from pure line to half tone, and that she has perfected her dry brush technique. In 1962, she had a one-man show of her dry brush drawings. Miss Elgin lives on Fire Island, New York.
According to the bio in The Human Body: The Skeleton (1973), Elgin came to New York in 1944.

Before Elgin began work for a living, she needed a Social Security number. In Ohio, Elgin filed an application in August 1942. She moved to New York and quickly found an assignment. Elgin’s first book, Gay Legends of the Saints, was published in November 1942 by Sheed and Ward. 
 
Science Fiction & Readers Guide and A.D., Summer 1951 said Elgin studied at Grand Central Art School which closed in 1944. A.D. said she also attended Art Career School in the Flatiron Building.
 
American Artist, February 1943
 
Elgin’s comic book work was not mentioned in the bios. Elgin’s Grand Comics Database credits, including questionable ones, place her in New York as early as 1941. The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History (2015) claimed Pat Parker, War Nurse was created by Elgin. Secondary Superheroes of Golden Age Comics (2020) questioned Elgin’s involvement with Pat Parker. The character debuted in Speed Comics #13, May 1941. In 1941, Elgin still lived with her parents in Xenia.
 
Elgin is credited with many stories from 1943 to 1946. Elgin signed the splash page on five stories published in 1945.

Green Hornet Comics #22, January 1945, Blonde Bomber


Speed Comics #36, March 1945, Girl Commandos (Original art is here.)


Speed Comics #37, May 1945, Girl Commandos (Original art is here. The cover of War Sirens and Liberty Belles #1, 1991, used part of the splash page and reprinted four of her Girl Commandos stories.)


Speed Comics #39, September 1945, Girl Commandos


Speed Comics #40, November 1945, Girl Commandos (Original art is here.)


Elgin’s work on Girl Commandos and the Black Cat was mentioned in Women and the Comics (1985); The Encyclopedia of American Comics (1990), here and here; A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993); The Comic Book Reader’s Companion: An A-to-Z Guide to Everyone’s Favorite Art Form (1993); The Great Women Cartoonists (2001); 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes (2002); Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004); The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes (2004); The Ten-Cent Plague (2008); Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 1: Overviews (2009); Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics (2013); Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896–2010 (2013); Comics Through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas, Volume 1: 1800–1960 (2014); and Babes in Arms: Women in the Comics During the Second World War (2017).

Elgin’s Girl Commandos art was included in the exhibition, “Wonder Women, on Page and Off”, which opened at the Women’s Museum of California. The exhibit was curated by Trina Robbins from her personal collection and other artists. The show ran from June 7, 2013 to September 1, 2013. In 2014 the exhibit traveled to Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum. The Associated Press article is here. 
 
When the war ended, Elgin pursued book illustration at various publishers. For the Catechetical Guild, Elgin illustrated the books, Wopsy, The Adventures of a Guardian Angel (1946) and Wopsy Again (1947).

The 1950 census counted Elgin (line 25) as a Manhattan, New York City resident in the Ansonia Hotel at 2109 Broadway. She was a freelance book illustrator. Her roommate was Bernice Shepard. The Dispatch, March 6, 1955, said Elgin was Shepard’s maid of honor. Elgin’s parents and sister, Charlene, resided in Northport, New York at 168 Bayview.


Elgin’s books were credited to either Jill Elgin or Kathleen Elgin. In the early 1950s, some of her books include
 
1950: Lollipop Farm; The Size of It; Ups and Downs; The Wanderings of Wopsy; Wopsy and the Witch Doctor 
 
1951: Let’s Start Cooking 
 
1952: All Ready for Winter; Climb a Lofty Ladder; The News Is Good; Passage to Texas; and Speckles Goes to School

For a brief time, Elgin was art editor of A.D. magazine. The Summer 1951 issue said
As this issue goes to press the editorial staff welcomes a new member. Miss Jill Elgin, one of New York’s better commercial artists, becomes our Art Editor. You have seen her work in our previous issues. “Now,” she says, “I intend to introduce the best art talent I can find to the readers of A. D.” She tells us she will welcome correspondence with young artists. Miss Elgin graduated from the Grand [Central] Art School and the Art Career School, specializing in illustration and portrait painting.
Elgin illustrated the articles, “A Sense of Belonging” and “Jean Cocteau, The Frivolous Prince”. 


Elgin was a contributor to Story Parade magazine. Her art appeared in issues dated May 1952 and October 1952.

In 1952 Elgin visited Europe. She was aboard the ship Nieuw Amsterdam when it departed Havre, France on May 28. One week later, she arrived in New York on June 4.

In the 1950s, Elgin lived on the southeast corner of Ocean Parkway and Superior Street in Ocean Bay Park, New York. Some Manhattan, New York City telephone directories are available at Ancestry.com. Elgin was listed in directories, from 1957 to 1960, at Midway Walk, Ocean Bay Park.

Elgin’s books from 1953 to 1959 include

1953: The Hungriest Robin; It Was All Very Strange; The Mysterious Treasure of Cloud Rock; The Real Book About Bugs, Insects and Such; and Stories of Today

1954: A Dangerous Day for Mrs. Doodlepunk; The First Book of Poetry; Land of Gray Gold: Lead Mining in Wisconsin; and Mixups and Fixups

1955: 365 Bedtime Stories; Best Friends; Dinah Shore Coloring Book; Finding Answers; A Crown for Carly; The First Book of Mythology; Little Men; Little Women; and The Science Book of the Human Body; and Ten-in-One Coloring Book

1956: All Ready for Summer; Away I, Go; The First Book of Norse Legends; Guess and Color Coloring Book ; We Live on a Farm; and A Wish for Billy

1957: All Ready for School; Speckles Goes to School; and Toys to Color

1958: Five-in-One Coloring Book; Little Schoolhouse

1959: Plants That Heal

Elgin’s career overview at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 includes unconfirmed employment at the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in the 1950s.
 
Elgin’s books from 1960 to 1969 include

1960: ABC 1-2-3 Dot-to-Dot Coloring Book; Fairy Tales to Read Aloud; Farm Fun Coloring Book; Getting to Know India; Getting to Know Israel; How to Grow House Plants; and The Story of Archaeology in the Americas

1961: ABC 1-2-3, Color and Follow the Dots; ABC Science Series 3; The Adventures of Silly Billy; All Ready for Summer; From This to That; and Underwater Zoos

1962: Attorneys’ Dictionary of Medicine; Farmyard Friends to Color; Grandpa’s Wonderful Glass; James Whitcomb Riley, Hoosier Boy; The Language of Animals; Living in Places Near and Far; My Circus Coloring Book; and The Story of Life: Plants and Animals Through the Ages

1963: Bible Pictures to Color; Ham the Astrochimp; How Animals Live Together; and See This Little Line?

1964: Nun: A Gallery of Sisters; and The Secret Story of Pueblo Bonito

1965: Keeping Your Friends

1966: The Beginnings of the Church; English This Way Book 7; and In the Steps of the Great American Zoologist: William Temple Hornaday

1967: Billions of Years of You; The Human Body: The Brain; Human Body: The Ear; and Human Body: The Eye

1968: Alphabets to Color; The Great Reaching Out: How Living Beings Communicate; The Human Body: The Hand; More Reading 2; and The Quakers: The Religious Society of Friends

1969: Ballet Coloring Book; The Female Reproductive System; The Male Reproductive System; and The Mormons, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

In 1966 Elgin was president of the Ocean Bay Property Owners Association. The Long Island Advance, July 14, 1966, said she presented a petition to the Brookhaven Town Board seeking action to “protect the residents of the beach area from excessive noises and rowdyism during the weekend.”

Elgin’s father passed away on April 21, 1967. An obituary appeared in The Long-Islander, April 27, 1967.

Elgin’s books from 1970 to the early 1980s include

1970: The Episcopalians: The Protestant Episcopal Church; The Human Body: The Respiratory System; Santa’s Paint with Water; and Simple Objects to Color

1971: The Human Body: The Glands; The Human Body: The Skin; and The Unitarians: The Unitarian Universalist Association

1972: The Ups and Downs of Drugs

1973: African Treehouse; The Human Body: The Skeleton; The Human Body: The Digestive System; and Twenty-Eight Days

1974: The Fall Down, Break a Bone, Skin Your Knee, Book; and The Human Body: The Muscles

1979: Baby Mouse Learns His ABC’s

1981: Baby Mouse Goes Shopping

1982: Baby Mouse Goes Searching
 
On August 28, 1979, Elgin’s mother passed away.

Elgin retired in Florida. Her illustration, “Wreck Ashore!”, was reproduced in The Florida Keys Volume 3: The Wreckers (2001). 
 
Elgin passed away on January 25, 2005. The Social Security Death Index said her last residence was Key West, Florida.
 
 
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