Harry Harrison is one of the few Science Fiction writers I have actually met. I got on an elevator with him and Barry B. Longyear (who I stepped on by accident). Harry had just arrived at V-Con in Vancouver. He wanted to know where the bar was. I remember him as a short, funny man with glasses. That’s all you get in thirty seconds.
I was, of course, pleased to meet the man who had written The Stainless Steel Rat series. I enjoyed his West of Eden series too. Imagine my surprise many years later, when I found out he had actually started in comic books! If only I had asked him about those early years with EC Comics, working with Wally Wood... There is a good chance Harry might not wanted to talk about that. First of all, it was decades ago. And secondly, he was there to promote his writing, not old comic books, which were reprinted, but weren’t put any dollars in his pocket.
1950 was a year of transition for Harrison. He and Wally ended their collaboration. Harry, who wrote as many comics as drew them, tried his hand at fiction. His first story was “Rock Diver” (Worlds Beyond, February 1951) for editor, Damon Knight, another guy who started out drawing then turned to the writing pen. Harry also spent time hanging out with other SF enthusiasts at what became known as “The Hydra Club”.
Now it shouldn’t be too surprising that a guy who drew comics would try his hand at illustrating Science Fiction as well as write it. Harrison spend 1951-1952 as one of the artists on Marvel Science Stories, a 1940s Pulp that was revived by Robert O. Erisman in November 1950. he also did one issue of Galaxy, a magazine Wally Wood would do illos for too.
“Bridge Crossing” by Dave Dryfoos (Galaxy, May 1951)
“Captain Wyxtpthll’s Flying Saucer” by Arthur C. Clarke (Marvel Science Stories, May 1951)
“The Polyoid” by Bryce Walton (Marvel Science Stories, May 1951)
“The Circle” by Milton Lesser (Marvel Science Stories, May 1951)
“This Joe” by A. E. van Vogt (Marvel Science Stories, August 1951)
“At No Extra Cost” by Peter Philips (Marvel Science Stories, August 1951)
“Chowhound” by Mack Reynolds (Marvel Science Stories, November 1951)
“The Most Dangerous Love” by Philip Latham (Marvel Science Stories, November 1951)
“The Hydra Club” by Judith Merril (Marvel Science Stories, November 1951)
“Star Wife” by Morton Klass (Marvel Science Stories, May 1952)
“Brother” by Frank Quattrochi (Marvel Science Stories, May 1952)
After 1952, Harry left the drawing to others. Which isn’t to say he couldn’t doodle something for fun once in a while. He added a robot picture to Bill, the Galactic Hero when it appeared in New Worlds and later this cartoon of a Stainless Steel Rat from Science Fiction Monthly (November 1975).
Harry Harrison left the drawing board for a career as writer, editor of anthologies and magazines such as Amazing Stories and Fantastic, to finish as one of the most loved authors of humorous and adventurous Science Fiction as well as novels that were thought provoking without being dull. (His Make Room!, Make Room! was filmed as Soylent Green in 1973.) He wrote historical fiction as well as non-fiction about the SF genre. In 2000, he published 50 in 50, a collection of fifty stories from fifty years of writing. Not bad for a cartoonist…
loved harry Harrison as a kid … thanks for the memories and will have to check some of your links!