Jan. 1943: It's no wonder Fawcett was doing so well. If I had to pick the top five covers of this month, four of them would be Fawcett comics. I know I've posted this one by C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza before, but it's just too good not to repost.
Feb. 1943: I'm posting two covers today because I love the coincidence timing of the images. Batman #15 cover by Jack Burnley, and America’s Greatest Comics #6 cover by Beck and Costanza.
Feb. 1943: I'm posting two covers today because I love the coincidence timing of the images. Batman #15 cover by Jack Burnley, and America’s Greatest Comics #6 cover by Beck and Costanza.
I like Captain Marvel's gun better -- it only shoots comic panels.
I'm sure Batman was only shooting the guns out of the Nazis’ hands. Maybe shooting a few chandeliers down from the ceiling to fall on their heads, but that's it.
Mar. 1943: One cover really popped out this month from the page of thumbnails—Superman #21 by Jack Burnley. It's a very simple image but it's very striking, and it really stood apart from the other covers. I've noticed that Superman had a lot of predominately yellow covers in the Golden Age—from what I've seen, it had to be an effective strategy for getting a browser’s attention.
By the way, this cover was reused for Taschen’s ginormous 75 Years of DC Comics book from a few years back.
Mar. 1943: One cover really popped out this month from the page of thumbnails—Superman #21 by Jack Burnley. It's a very simple image but it's very striking, and it really stood apart from the other covers. I've noticed that Superman had a lot of predominately yellow covers in the Golden Age—from what I've seen, it had to be an effective strategy for getting a browser’s attention.
By the way, this cover was reused for Taschen’s ginormous 75 Years of DC Comics book from a few years back.
April 1943: Some nice cartooning from Gill Fox for Feature Comics #67. Fox was not only a cover artist for Quality during this time, but also an editor for them. Fox had started his artistic career as an animator for Max Fleischer, but soon left for comics. After a year or so doing odd jobs for various publishers, Fox began writing the short-lived (three years) Spirit daily strip after Will Eisner was drafted into the Army. Fox himself joined the Army not long after this cover was produced, where he worked on staff for Stars and Stripes.
He freelanced for Quality after the war, and left comics in the mid-’50s (as so many did) to go into advertising, working for the famous Johnstone & Cushing agency. During that time he assisted Dik Browne on the Hi & Lois newspaper strip and ghosted/assisted on many other strips. Towards the end of his career, he went into political cartooning, earning two Pulitzer Prize nominations.
May 1943: I'm kind of surprised I haven't picked a Shelly Moldoff cover before now, but this is the first to make the cut, and this one barely won out. The layout was interesting, but I think the coloring put it over the top. By making the foreground character monochrome, he doesn't immediately draw the eye away from Hawkman. And oddly enough, the miscoloring of Hawkman’s legs (bare instead of green) actually helps the figure to pop out and not blend into the foreground. Also, it doesn't hurt that by this point Moldoff has gotten away from copying Alex Raymond and has found his own voice.
June 1943: Charles Biro has two of the three best covers this month, so I'm going with Boy Comics #10. You know, Crimebuster would be an fairly easy cosplay.
Any relation to the inventor of the ballpoint pen?
Not that I know of, but if they were, it was probably a distant relation. Charles was born in New York in 1911, so his family was in America pretty early on, while the pen Biro was in Hungary in the 1930s when he got his first patent. It would make a nice story though.
One more note on Charles Biro: He’s generally considered one of the best editors of the time period. He and fellow editor Bob Wood are credited with starting the crime genre in comics.
Aug. 1943: I couldn't find a credit on this Captain Midnight cover, but it looks to me like Mac Raboy had a hand in it. Captain Midnight, of course, started out as a radio program. Dell produced a few Captain Midnight stories before Fawcett got the license. It was a fairly popular series for a while, thanks to the radio program and movie serials, but was canceled in 1948, about a year before the radio program ended.
Sept. 1943: While Four Color #29 contains three Carl Barks stories, including the cover-featured “Donald Duck and the Mummy’s Ring,” Barks did not provide the cover for the issue. That duty went to Carl Buettner, who was also an art director at Western Publishing.
Buettner started out in a staff position at Fawcett in 1926, where he did cartoons for Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang and other joke books. There, he was an influence on fellow staffer Norm Saunders among others. During his last few years at Fawcett, he was also producing racy illustrations for the pulp magazines, primarily Saucy Tales (and many of his illos were then turned into cover paintings by the aforementioned Saunders). But in 1937 he went to California and got in to the animation business, first at Disney, and soon after at Harmon & Ising. In 1942 he became an art director at Western, where he worked mainly on the Disney and Warner licensed comics. It was during this time he became a mentor to Walt Kelly.
Buettner may not have much name recognition today, but he was a very good artist, and a big influence on two of the greats.
October 1943: This isn't necessarily the best cover of the month, but it's different, and I like the jack-o’-lanterns for an October issue, not to mention it's one of Al Plastino’s first covers. It would be another three years before he’d get work at DC.
Nov. 1943: Hippos kill more humans in Africa than any other animal. It's a jungle fact!
There's a well known story about this issue’s cover artist, Rafael Astarita, and George Tuska. In the late ’30s, they both worked at Harry Chesler’s shop. Both were big guys, over six feet tall, and fit, muscular guys. Astarita liked to shadow box in the office and fake punch at the other artists. One day Tuska—widely acclaimed as one of the quietest, sweetest guys in the industry—tells Astarita to knock it off. Astarita came over looking for a fight and Tuska rinsed his brush out, stood up, and knocked Astarita over two desks. They became friends later on, but Tuska always felt bad about it, because other artists would always bring up the story, even decades later.
Astarita left comics in the mid-’50s and became an illustrator for the Picture World Encyclopedia.
@WetRats messaged me the other day, and I was surprised (and happy) to hear that this thread and @nweathington are still going strong! I've been away too long...
Sorry if posted before, but this is what I'm reading right now, via the Marvel Masterworks -- I'm working my way through all the Gerber issues from my childhood.
@WetRats messaged me the other day, and I was surprised (and happy) to hear that this thread and @nweathington are still going strong! I've been away too long...
Sorry if posted before, but this is what I'm reading right now, via the Marvel Masterworks -- I'm working my way through all the Gerber issues from my childhood.
This cover is by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson...
My favorite era of the Defenders! With some of my favorite Gil Kane covers!
@WetRats messaged me the other day, and I was surprised (and happy) to hear that this thread and @nweathington are still going strong! I've been away too long...
Sorry if posted before, but this is what I'm reading right now, via the Marvel Masterworks -- I'm working my way through all the Gerber issues from my childhood.
This cover is by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson...
My favorite era of the Defenders! With some of my favorite Gil Kane covers!
Couldn't agree more. One of my favorite story arcs ever was the 4 issue Defenders / Guardians of the Galaxy crossover where they freed 31st century Earth from the Badoon Brotherhood. Here's issue #26 from August 1975, which started if off. Cover by John Romita.
Comments
I like Captain Marvel's gun better -- it only shoots comic panels.
By the way, this cover was reused for Taschen’s ginormous 75 Years of DC Comics book from a few years back.
He freelanced for Quality after the war, and left comics in the mid-’50s (as so many did) to go into advertising, working for the famous Johnstone & Cushing agency. During that time he assisted Dik Browne on the Hi & Lois newspaper strip and ghosted/assisted on many other strips. Towards the end of his career, he went into political cartooning, earning two Pulitzer Prize nominations.
Joe Kubert
Myrtle! Where's my cane?
One more note on Charles Biro: He’s generally considered one of the best editors of the time period. He and fellow editor Bob Wood are credited with starting the crime genre in comics.
I know, I know, BATMAN did it.
As long as you don't need anything on a high shelf.
Gil Kane on Night Rider
Buettner started out in a staff position at Fawcett in 1926, where he did cartoons for Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang and other joke books. There, he was an influence on fellow staffer Norm Saunders among others. During his last few years at Fawcett, he was also producing racy illustrations for the pulp magazines, primarily Saucy Tales (and many of his illos were then turned into cover paintings by the aforementioned Saunders). But in 1937 he went to California and got in to the animation business, first at Disney, and soon after at Harmon & Ising. In 1942 he became an art director at Western, where he worked mainly on the Disney and Warner licensed comics. It was during this time he became a mentor to Walt Kelly.
Buettner may not have much name recognition today, but he was a very good artist, and a big influence on two of the greats.
There's a well known story about this issue’s cover artist, Rafael Astarita, and George Tuska. In the late ’30s, they both worked at Harry Chesler’s shop. Both were big guys, over six feet tall, and fit, muscular guys. Astarita liked to shadow box in the office and fake punch at the other artists. One day Tuska—widely acclaimed as one of the quietest, sweetest guys in the industry—tells Astarita to knock it off. Astarita came over looking for a fight and Tuska rinsed his brush out, stood up, and knocked Astarita over two desks. They became friends later on, but Tuska always felt bad about it, because other artists would always bring up the story, even decades later.
Astarita left comics in the mid-’50s and became an illustrator for the Picture World Encyclopedia.
Sorry if posted before, but this is what I'm reading right now, via the Marvel Masterworks -- I'm working my way through all the Gerber issues from my childhood.
This cover is by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson...