Happy birthday to one of my favorite artists of the Golden (or any other) Age: Mort Meskin (1916-95)! Meskin was a huge influence on a number of great comic book artists, including Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. He began his career in the Eisner & Iger Studio just before Iger and Eisner split, drawing “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” stories for Jumbo Comics. He wasn’t there long, though, before he moved to Harry “A” Chesler’s shop where he mostly produced work for Archie/MLJ’s adventure books. But it wasn’t until he moved to National/DC that he had the opportunity to draw covers. He wasn’t the greatest cover artist, but his interior work was dynamic and innovative. I’m not sure if his first published work for DC was the first Vigilante story in Action Comics #42 (Nov. 1941)—a character he co-created with editor Mort Weisinger—or the first Seven Soldiers of Victory story in Leading Comics #1 (Winter 1941-42). Either way, it was fantastic.
Besides drawing the monthly adventures of the Vigilante and segments of the quarterly Seven Soldiers stories, Meskin soon picked up the “Johnny Quick” feature in More Fun Comics. A lot of the super-speed tricks Carmine Infantino would later use in Flash were directly inspired by Meskin’s “Johnny Quick” work. I really wish DC would reprint all of Meskin’s “Vigilante” and “Johnny Quick” stories, either in separate volumes or together in an Archive Edition. It’s better material than the majority of what they’ve already Archived, and it’s a shame that most of those stories have never been reprinted.
From 1944 to 1946, Meskin had a studio with Jerry Robinson, where they produced material for Spark Publications such as Golden Lad.
In 1949 Meskin joined the Simon & Kirby studio, where Kirby would sometimes stop and watch Meskin work. You may have heard this story, as Joe Simon told it on more than one occasion, but while working for Simon & Kirby, Meskin went through an artist’s block where the sight of a blank page paralyzed him—not quite literally, but he just couldn’t draw. He no longer knew where to start. Joe hit upon the idea of drawing a few random pencil marks on a blank page and gave it to Meskin, who then proceeded to draw as quickly as always. From that point on, Joe made sure someone would put a few marks on a page for Meskin each morning to get him started.
Meskin had always been a fast artist. In fact, in 1941 and 1942, he produced more pages than Jack Kirby—and we all know how prolific Kirby was.
After the Simon & Kirby studio ended in 1955, Meskin went back to DC, where he remained until 1965 when he left comics for advertising illustration and storyboarding.
I know DC used to reprint some of the Johnny Quick stories from time to time in the Flash Annuals and 100-Pg Super-Spectaculars, and sometimes in odd places like the back pages of World's Finest. I wish they would do a collection; they were pretty good for the period when they were originally done.
I do remember reading that story about Meskin's freezing in front of a blank page. I bring that up as a prime example whenever I'm in a discussion about creative blocks.
I know DC used to reprint some of the Johnny Quick stories from time to time in the Flash Annuals and 100-Pg Super-Spectaculars, and sometimes in odd places like the back pages of World's Finest. I wish they would do a collection; they were pretty good for the period when they were originally done.
I remember those back ups and I agree with you that they should collect them.
Happy birthday to two of my favorite current artists, the twins from Brazil, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. I love their individual work as well as the work they do together. Moon is a bit more organic, and Bá a bit more graphic-oriented, but they mesh together very well.
My best comic buy of Heroes Con so far is a copy of Adventures of Jerry Lewis #105. The cover is detached, but it only cost me 50 cents for an issue of Bob Oksner goodness. And you know I do love me some Bob Oksner artwork.
On Sunday towards the end of the day, I came across a few boxes of Silver Age comics for 75% off, and I found another Jerry Lewis comic. I wouldn’t have paid the $12 sticker price considering the condition, but for $3 I snagged it, even though Oksner didn’t ink this one himself. Graham Place, whom I know little about, is the inker.
Happy birthday to Dave Berg (1920-2002)! Berg is best known for his Mad magazine work, particularly his “The Lighter Side” feature, but he started out in comics freelancing mostly for Fawcett, Dell, and Timely/Marvel (where he mostly worked on Combat Kelly). Four Favorites #5 (May 1942), which he inked himself as was typical in his case, appears to be his first cover work.
Captain Marvel Adventures #14 (May 1942), pencils and inks by Berg.
Meet Merton #2 (Feb. 1954), pencils and inks by Berg, who did many interior stories for this series as well.
Kit Karter #1 (May-July 1962), pencils and inks by Berg. Berg wrote and drew every story in this one-shot issue.
My Friend God (Oct. 1972), by Berg. In the late ’60s/early ’70s, Berg lectured on religious topics (he was Jewish) at various colleges, and this book came out of that experience. I’m not sure you can call this a graphic novel or not, but it does have sequential art in the form of gags and longer stories. What I’ve seen of it is quite funny.
This was the first of the DC Crisis stories I ever read. Crisis on Earth-Prime. You get the JLA,JSA and ASS all teaming up. Hadn't read these since they came out in the early 80s. Then earlier this month found all five issues for a quarter each at a local indoor flea market.
This was the first of the DC Crisis stories I ever read. Crisis on Earth-Prime. You get the JLA,JSA and ASS all teaming up. Hadn't read these since they came out in the early 80s. Then earlier this month found all five issues for a quarter each at a local indoor flea market.
These covers were probably the pinnacle of the Floating Heads Reacting To The Cover Image Movement.
This was the first of the DC Crisis stories I ever read. Crisis on Earth-Prime. You get the JLA,JSA and ASS all teaming up. Hadn't read these since they came out in the early 80s. Then earlier this month found all five issues for a quarter each at a local indoor flea market.
They also just became available in trade format over the past couple of weeks in the 6th volume of Crisis On Multiple Earths. (For considerably more than a quarter, though.)
This was the first of the DC Crisis stories I ever read. Crisis on Earth-Prime. You get the JLA,JSA and ASS all teaming up. Hadn't read these since they came out in the early 80s. Then earlier this month found all five issues for a quarter each at a local indoor flea market.
These covers were probably the pinnacle of the Floating Heads Reacting To The Cover Image Movement.
This was the second of the crossovers I read. I had the one from the previous year. Of course, I only had parts 2 and 3 of this one for a long time. I think the floating heads were a big part of what drew me to the book. “All these characters are in here? I'll take it!”
This was the first of the DC Crisis stories I ever read. Crisis on Earth-Prime. You get the JLA,JSA and ASS all teaming up. Hadn't read these since they came out in the early 80s. Then earlier this month found all five issues for a quarter each at a local indoor flea market.
These covers were probably the pinnacle of the Floating Heads Reacting To The Cover Image Movement.
This was the second of the crossovers I read. I had the one from the previous year. Of course, I only had parts 2 and 3 of this one for a long time. I think the floating heads were a big part of what drew me to the book. “All these characters are in here? I'll take it!”
Happy 69th birthday to Jordi Bernet! Bernet’s father was actually a comic book artist too. In fact, Jordi’s first professional work was when he took over Doña Urraca from his father when his father passed away in 1960. He was only 15 at the time. In 1965 he drew the “Dan Lacombe” feature in Spirou, which was written by his uncle. But he is best known (worldwide) for his work on 15 albums of Torpedo. Here in the States he’s better known for his work with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray on Jonah Hex.
I highly recommend Torpedo, which is being reprinted by IDW (there are four volumes to date). It’s a bit racist, and a lot misogynistic, but it’s darkly funny and Bernet’s artwork is awesome. (Warning: there is a lot of nudity and crude language.) The best I can describe it is that if Joe Kubert’s art married Alex Toth’s art and they had a baby, it would look like Bernet’s art.
Clara is much racier, more in the “Little Annie Fannie” vein. It's also a lot cartoonier, going back to his early days as an artist.
I missed a bunch of comic artist birthdays yesterday. First up, one of the most influential European artists to come around, Hugo Pratt (1927-95). Though born in Italy, his career didn’t really take off until he moved to Argentina in the late ’40s, where he worked with the great writer Héctor Oesterheld on several features, most notably “Sgt. Kirk.” After moving back to Italy in 1962, he eventually teamed up with Florenzo Ivaldi to produce more Sgt. Kirk in 1967. And it was in the first issue of the new Sgt. Kirk magazine that his most famous creation, Corto Maltese, came to life. There’s a nice collection of the first stories that came out not too long ago.
Comments
Besides drawing the monthly adventures of the Vigilante and segments of the quarterly Seven Soldiers stories, Meskin soon picked up the “Johnny Quick” feature in More Fun Comics. A lot of the super-speed tricks Carmine Infantino would later use in Flash were directly inspired by Meskin’s “Johnny Quick” work. I really wish DC would reprint all of Meskin’s “Vigilante” and “Johnny Quick” stories, either in separate volumes or together in an Archive Edition. It’s better material than the majority of what they’ve already Archived, and it’s a shame that most of those stories have never been reprinted.
From 1944 to 1946, Meskin had a studio with Jerry Robinson, where they produced material for Spark Publications such as Golden Lad.
In 1949 Meskin joined the Simon & Kirby studio, where Kirby would sometimes stop and watch Meskin work. You may have heard this story, as Joe Simon told it on more than one occasion, but while working for Simon & Kirby, Meskin went through an artist’s block where the sight of a blank page paralyzed him—not quite literally, but he just couldn’t draw. He no longer knew where to start. Joe hit upon the idea of drawing a few random pencil marks on a blank page and gave it to Meskin, who then proceeded to draw as quickly as always. From that point on, Joe made sure someone would put a few marks on a page for Meskin each morning to get him started.
Meskin had always been a fast artist. In fact, in 1941 and 1942, he produced more pages than Jack Kirby—and we all know how prolific Kirby was.
After the Simon & Kirby studio ended in 1955, Meskin went back to DC, where he remained until 1965 when he left comics for advertising illustration and storyboarding.
Shining Knight, Green Arrow and Crimson Avenger sure look happy to be tied up, don't they?
I do remember reading that story about Meskin's freezing in front of a blank page. I bring that up as a prime example whenever I'm in a discussion about creative blocks.
Bá.
Bá.
Moon.
Moon.
Bá.
Moon.
Otto Sump!
Captain Marvel Adventures #14 (May 1942), pencils and inks by Berg.
Meet Merton #2 (Feb. 1954), pencils and inks by Berg, who did many interior stories for this series as well.
Kit Karter #1 (May-July 1962), pencils and inks by Berg. Berg wrote and drew every story in this one-shot issue.
My Friend God (Oct. 1972), by Berg. In the late ’60s/early ’70s, Berg lectured on religious topics (he was Jewish) at various colleges, and this book came out of that experience. I’m not sure you can call this a graphic novel or not, but it does have sequential art in the form of gags and longer stories. What I’ve seen of it is quite funny.
George Perez
Joe Kubert
George Perez
Joe Kubert
George Perez
This was the first of the DC Crisis stories I ever read. Crisis on Earth-Prime. You get the JLA,JSA and ASS all teaming up. Hadn't read these since they came out in the early 80s. Then earlier this month found all five issues for a quarter each at a local indoor flea market.
It doesn't show up in this picture that well but the background of the cover is a light green. The cover on ComicbookDB is yellow.
But anyway Ernie Chan and Ron Wilson did this great cover.
This prog also featured Murd the Oppressor!
I highly recommend Torpedo, which is being reprinted by IDW (there are four volumes to date). It’s a bit racist, and a lot misogynistic, but it’s darkly funny and Bernet’s artwork is awesome. (Warning: there is a lot of nudity and crude language.) The best I can describe it is that if Joe Kubert’s art married Alex Toth’s art and they had a baby, it would look like Bernet’s art.
Clara is much racier, more in the “Little Annie Fannie” vein. It's also a lot cartoonier, going back to his early days as an artist.
I've done this one already, haven't I?