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I was just looking through a 1977 DC issue, and they had a DC profiles page for "Barry Jameson".
Which I know from prior experience is a pseudonym for the early work of writer David Michelinie.
![[Linked Image from docs.comics.org]](https://docs.comics.org/images/e/e5/DC_Profiles_27.jpg)
https://viewcomiconline.com/our-fighting-forces-issue-177/I love the part about:
"Barry Jameson was created to write. He almost has no other life besides his typewriter."And especially:
" 'My greatest personal pleasure', Barry told DC Profiles, 'came when I met my favorite writers: Virgil North, Sergius O'Shaugnessy, Wesson Smith, and Bart Regan.' " Names that back in that time only a few insiders would know, are all pseudonyms for pro comics writers, and not actual names !
"Virgil North" = Mary Skrenes
"Sergius O'Shaugnessy" = Dennis O'Neil
"Bart Regan" = Robert Kanigher
And the last, "Wesson Smith" kind of threw me and I didn't have any knowledge of, but is clearly a pseudonym as well, a play on Smith & Wesson firearms.
I did several searches online for that last one.
No listings on Comics.org
And I kept initially just pulling up listings for guns, when searching for Wesson Smith.
Finally, I tried going to IMDB, where a search for "Wesson Smith" showed as the screenwriter for 3 movies, "The Hot Oven" (1975), "Rollerbabies" (1976), and "Double Your Pleasure" (1978)
https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-hot-ovenhttps://mubi.com/en/us/films/rollerbabieshttps://mubi.com/en/us/films/double-your-pleasure-1978All three directed by someone named Carter Stevens. From the titles alone, they appeared to either be comedies, porn, or some combination of the two.
And looking up Carter Stevens confirms this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_StevensSo I'm guessing "Wesson Smith" is Dave Michelinie's porn screenwriter pseudonym for a few of his early years.
In a text page interview, probably on a DC editorial page, I recall Barry Jameson in 1977-1978 interview saying he was a "huge fan of David Michelinie."
Great stuff !
Many writers and artists use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons.
Some to later distance themselves from early work, to kind of separate it from their later more developed professional work.
Others, particularly in the 1960's era, used pseudonyms at Marvel or DC, because they were exclusively contracted to work for one company, and used a pseudonym to hide when they were picking up extra work at other companies.
Female writers, in comics, SF and other genres of fiction, use a male-sounding pseudonym, because they feel, at least until established, that readers and professionals will respect their work more if they think it is written by a man. D.C. Fontana (a k a Dorothy Fontana), writing and script-editing for the Star Trek TV series, used initials to hide her gender, to get started in writing, for just that reason.
Some just use other names for fun. French artist Jean Gireaud, a k a "Moebius", described it as one of many names he used, drawing under a different style with each new name, until he finally liked one style the best, and settled on the Moebius name and visual style.
Apparently Dave Michelinie (who began his career at DC in 1975, taking over SWAMP THING from Len Wein, and also doing stories in HOUSE OF SECRETS and other DC mystery titles, and on later titles and new creations) used the name for stories he maybe wasn't so proud to be writing, such as KARATE KID. Because he was simultaneously doing work under his real name for DC, he was clearly proud enough to display his name at the same time on other work, so maybe compartmentalizing other work that he felt wasn't either his forte, or maybe was work he reluctantly did at an editor's request for just a paycheck.
Michelinie jumped ship at DC because of the DC implosion in late 1978, along with Al Milgrom, Bob Layton, Jerry Bingham, Bob Wiacek, Pat Broderick, Bob Mcleod, Terry Austin, Michael Golden and many others, who suddenly found a complete absence of available freelance work at DC, and ended up revitalizing Marvel on the titles they became regulars on. And by that time, the ones who'd been using pseudonyms felt accomplished enough to drop using them.
Michelinie's best for me will always be his work on IRON MAN 115-156, AVENGERS 181-191, and his later AMAZING SPIDERMAN 298-328 run with Todd McFarlane. Leaving his porn days far behind.
https://viewcomiconline.com/iron-man-1968-issue-115/https://viewcomiconline.com/avengers-v1-181/https://viewcomiconline.com/the-amazing-spider-man-1963-issue-298/
