Dec. 1949: I didn't pick my favorite of Louise Altson’s covers three months back, but here's my close second: Junior Miss #37. Louise Altson was born in Belgium in 1910 and grew up there, studying art from the age of 12 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp under Léon Brunin (look him up), among others. When she got older, she studied in London at the Poytechnic School of Art, specializing in portraiture, and she won many awards and was even put on exhibit at the Royal Academy. In 1939 she and her family moved to New York and she chose a career in commercial arts rather than fine arts. Her first jobs were illustrating children’s books (covers and interiors), including several Little Golden Books.
More importantly to our discussion, in 1942 she began doing illustration work for Timely magazines, starting with Miss America magazine #2, a magazine that featured some comics (including the first Patsy Walker story) mixed in among the illustrated stories. And from 1949-50, she painted eight comic book covers for Timely’s books: three for Junior Miss, 1 for Cindy Smith, and four for Patsy Walker. They are all quite lovely, but this is one of the three true standouts. What I've seen of her interior illustration work often surpasses her comic book covers.
But all the while she was working for Timely, she had other (presumably better paying) clients as well, including Kellog’s, and from 1948 on, Portraits, Inc. And it was for her portraits that she would become best known. Some of her commissions included portraits of the DuPonts, the Woolworths, and the family of President George W. Bush.
Right now I'm reading Volume 1 of the Man-Thing "Steve Gerber Collection" (though there's some work by other writers). I read many of the later Man-Thing issues off the stands, but not most of the stuff in this collection, so it's been a lot of fun.
Just finished up issue #16 of (Adventure Into) Fear #16, with cover art by Frank Brunner...
Right now I'm reading Volume 1 of the Man-Thing "Steve Gerber Collection" (though there's some work by other writers).
I was wondering about that myself, as I have the same tpb and noticed many of the first stories were NOT by Gerber so the titling of this volume is quite curios. And to be honest, by my sensibilities today, I didn't see an improvement when Mr. Gerber took over. His stories were much more fantastical.
One of my very first comics that I owned was Adventure into Fear #10 which is when that title began featuring the Man-Thing, continuing from his introduction in the black-and-white comics-magazines. Always loved the cover, and it matched (somewhat closely) to the haunting story inside which also re-capped Man-Thing's origin.
Adventure into Fear #10 October 1972 Cover: Gray Morrow
@bralinator Great cover for one of your "first comics."
Yeah, at first, I was annoyed, but when I realized they're really offering every main Man-Thing story (from the magazine appearance you mentioned on), I was satisfied. Kind of cool to read all those things -- even the Marvel Two-in-One #1 appearance (January 1974, cover by Gil Kane and John Romita Sr.), as you've seen, I'm sure.
I was a HUGE Gerber fan as a kid (and still am), so it's been fun re-reading his old Defenders stories in Masterworks. After the Man-Thing TPB, I have the latest Defenders Gerber Masterworks and the first volume of the Howard the Duck TPB ready to go.
I remember the later issues of Man-Thing (presumably in Volume 2, which I plan to pick up) being really interesting, but haven't read them since childhood, so I'll see how they hold up for me. These early stories in the TPB seem pretty raw to me -- both the Gerber story and the Val Mayerick art (and I'm a long-time fan of both), so I trust they're going to keep progressing!
Jan. 1950: Remember when I posted about Fred Ray’s iconic Superman #14 cover for Jan. 1942, and I talked about his association with “Tomahawk”? Well, it's eight years later and here’s Ray’s cover (pencils and inks) for Star Spangled Comics #100, and it’s a beaut. Robin had been the cover feature of the title starting with issue #65, but with superheroes on the decline and western heroes at their height, Tomahawk stole the spotlight beginning with issue #96. (Okay, technically “Tomahawk” was not a western, but he still operated in the American frontier.)
(Adventure into) Fear #17, by Frank Brunner, recently read in that aforementioned Man-Thing/Steve Gerber TPB.
This one I DID read off the stands back in the day. Wundarr was a fun character. Essentially, he's Superman if Ma and Pa Kent decided not to go looking for that spaceship. (Ma: "Paw, you stay right here! It could be Martians--or Communists!")
So Wundarr emerges from the ship with all Superman's powers, in a full-grown body, and the maturity of a newborn. I feel like this is before Gerber really started to let loose creatively, but still a hint of the zaniness coming later in his career...
Feb. 1950: Being that this is a February cover and it's also Valentine’s Day today, it's perfect timing for the cover of First Romance #4. I couldn’t find confirmation on the credit, but I'm sure this is Lee Elias, who did several jobs for Harvey’s romance titles in the early ’50s.
Romance titles had made an immediate impact on the comic industry since the 1947 debut of Young Romance #1, but 1949 to about 1954 was the peak of the genre. In this month alone there were 38 romance titles released, but there were actually about 150 (!) in publication at this time, as many were bi-monthly or quarterly.
This paricular cover went against the trend of showing either lovers embracing with a scorned paramour (usually another woman, but sometimes a man) jealously or brokenheartedly looking on in the background, or simply a pretty girl’s face. But this was too lovely to pass up, and I'm sure we’ll get to something more typical before long.
Chamber of Chills (Harvey) #21 January 1954 Cover by Lee Elias
Classic pre-code horror from Lee Elias, a UK native, who moved to the US when he was very young. He made his debut in the comics scene at Fiction House in '43, collaborating on series like 'Captain Wings', 'Suicide Smith', 'Firehair', 'Reff Ryan' and 'Space Rangers'. When he went to work for Harvey, he worked on 'Black Cat', and 'Terry and the Pirates' and occasionally worked on comics like 'Black Canary', 'Green Lantern' and 'Hawkman' for National Periodical Publications (later DC).
He made his debut in the comics scene at Fiction House in '43, collaborating on series like 'Captain Wings', 'Suicide Smith', 'Firehair', 'Reff Ryan' and 'Space Rangers'.
Actually, he did one job for Dell before joining Fiction House—a four-page war story. And he was six years old when his family moved to the States, though he moved back to England in 1965 and spent several years there.
Because he'd had rheumatic fever, he was not called to service during the war. He quickly became one of the best artists available, getting the top page rate wherever he worked. He didn't do much work for Marvel though, because in 1945, Stan hired him to redesign Namor and do a Sub-Mariner story. But it turned out he only hired Elias for that one job so that Frank Giacoia (who was making a much lower page rate) would have a model he could go by as he drew the feature from the next issue on—Giacoia basically drew the strip as much like Elias had done as he could manage. When Elias figured out what happened, he vowed never to work for Marvel again.
He made his debut in the comics scene at Fiction House in '43, collaborating on series like 'Captain Wings', 'Suicide Smith', 'Firehair', 'Reff Ryan' and 'Space Rangers'.
Actually, he did one job for Dell before joining Fiction House—a four-page war story. And he was six years old when his family moved to the States, though he moved back to England in 1965 and spent several years there.
Because he'd had rheumatic fever, he was not called to service during the war. He quickly became one of the best artists available, getting the top page rate wherever he worked. He didn't do much work for Marvel though, because in 1945, Stan hired him to redesign Namor and do a Sub-Mariner story. But it turned out he only hired Elias for that one job so that Frank Giacoia (who was making a much lower page rate) would have a model he could go by as he drew the feature from the next issue on—Giacoia basically drew the strip as much like Elias had done as he could manage. When Elias figured out what happened, he vowed never to work for Marvel again.
He made his debut in the comics scene at Fiction House in '43, collaborating on series like 'Captain Wings', 'Suicide Smith', 'Firehair', 'Reff Ryan' and 'Space Rangers'.
Actually, he did one job for Dell before joining Fiction House—a four-page war story. And he was six years old when his family moved to the States, though he moved back to England in 1965 and spent several years there.
Because he'd had rheumatic fever, he was not called to service during the war. He quickly became one of the best artists available, getting the top page rate wherever he worked. He didn't do much work for Marvel though, because in 1945, Stan hired him to redesign Namor and do a Sub-Mariner story. But it turned out he only hired Elias for that one job so that Frank Giacoia (who was making a much lower page rate) would have a model he could go by as he drew the feature from the next issue on—Giacoia basically drew the strip as much like Elias had done as he could manage. When Elias figured out what happened, he vowed never to work for Marvel again.
Interesting. What Sub-Mariner issue did Elias do?
The story was printed in Sub-Mariner #22. This was a story Elias told in a 1970 interview, but I'm not sure if it's completely true because I don't think Giacoia ever drew anything for Sub-Mariner. Giacoia did several jobs for Marvel at that time though, including Young Allies, so maybe Stan was trying Giacoia out for the book and changed his mind. Or maybe Elias remembered the wrong artist.
The story was printed in Sub-Mariner #22. This was a story Elias told in a 1970 interview, but I'm not sure if it's completely true because I don't think Giacoia ever drew anything for Sub-Mariner. Giacoia did several jobs for Marvel at that time though, including Young Allies though, so maybe Stan was trying Giacoia out for the book and changed his mind. Or maybe Elias remembered the wrong artist.
Hmm. Maybe he was talking about Bill Everett? For my tastes, none of the guys in the first 40's Sub-Mariner series could match Marie Severin's later work in the 70's on Namor's book.
The story was printed in Sub-Mariner #22. This was a story Elias told in a 1970 interview, but I'm not sure if it's completely true because I don't think Giacoia ever drew anything for Sub-Mariner. Giacoia did several jobs for Marvel at that time though, including Young Allies though, so maybe Stan was trying Giacoia out for the book and changed his mind. Or maybe Elias remembered the wrong artist.
Hmm. Maybe he was talking about Bill Everett? For my tastes, none of the guys in the first 40's Sub-Mariner series could match Marie Severin's later work in the 70's on Namor's book.
I don't think he was talking about Everett. Stan wouldn't have needed to give Everett a guide. I think Stan must have been trying to find a better artist than Allen Simon, and Everett's return from the war saved him for searching further, whoever it was that Elias was providing “inspiration” for. Or it could well be that Giacoia was the mystery artist doing the “Sub-Mariner” stories for All-Winners Squad during that period.
Finished up the Man-Thing/Steve Gerber, Volume 1 TPB. Enjoyed it overall, but enjoyed it more as it went on. I'm a fan generally of Val Mayerik's art, but the later stories were WAY stronger, once Jack Abel was doing the inks (versus Sal Trapani on the earlier issues).
Then of course. Mike Ploog comes on and the issues sing, especially the "dead clown" story, in issue 05 -- cover by Mike Ploog below (w/GCD noting Romita Sr. alterations) from (May 1974).
I read this issue "back in the day" only as a Power Record. So, when I came to the end of the print issue in the TPB, I was shocked that the story had a second part! I clearly remembered it being done-in-one in the Power Record.
I found the Power Record comic & audio here (great site!) and went through it, and, wow, they actually had TURNED it into a done-in-one by altering the dialogue in the last panel! (Among other alterations -- many places they cut back on the caption boxes).
Anyway, here's the comparison. Still thought the story was great -- although I can't believe they got away with selling this for little kids -- a clown committing suicide is just how it starts out, and then goes from there!
I was fine with it as a kid, though I do think it scared me!
I still have the Power Record, which remains the only Man-Thing "comic" I've ever owned for whatever reason. The two-parter was also Mike Ploog’s favorite story.
Mar. 1950: With Captain America’s Weird Tales, the last of their superhero titles, being cancelled the previous month, Timely was a company in transition in both content and name. In fact you’ll notice the Marvel Comic logo on the cover below—a logo that had been slowly making its way onto Timely’s titles for several months. And in the indicia of this comic, the publisher is listed as Marvel Comics, Inc. By the end of the following year, however, all of Marvel’s comics would sport an Atlas logo on the cover, referring to Marvel’s parent company, Atlas Publishing.
Marvel Tales was a precursor of sorts to the coming Atlas Era of Marvel. It began in August 1949, picking up the numbering from where Timely’s first series, Marvel Mystery Comics, left off. While most of Marvel’s line at this time was dedicated to westerns, romance, and humor, Marvel Tales ran sci-fi/horror stories for which the Atlas Era would become best known for. But you won't find Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, or Don Heck in these pages yet (though you will find a young Gene Colan). In fact, the artist of this issue is unknown. It might be Gene Colan, but I'm thinking it's more likely Al Gabrielle. Regardless, giant monsters would soon become a common sight on the covers of this and many other Marvel comics.
Apr. 1950: Science fiction comics had been around for years by the time Blue Bolt #105 and its cover by L.B. Cole hit the stands, but they’d always been a relatively small section of the comics market. In fact, for most of its 101-issue run at Novelty Press, the sci-fi titular hero wasn't even featured on the covers, which tended towards more war (during WWII), adventure, and sports themes. During Blue Bolt’s nine issues at Star Publications, however, it was all sci-fi, all the time, and this was the best of those covers.
Cole not only drew the covers for Blue Bolt at Star, he was also the co-publisher. In 1949 Cole and a lawyer by the name of Gerhard Kramer bought all the Novelty Press properties and set themselves up as publishers under the Star Publications banner. In 1951 they would relaunch the title as Blue Bolt’s Weird Tales of Terror, which would feature many of the covers for which Cole would become best remembered, but we'll get to that—and to more on L.B. Cole (whom I've discussed before)—later.
I still have the Power Record, which remains the only Man-Thing "comic" I've ever owned for whatever reason. The two-parter was also Mike Ploog’s favorite story.
GREATLY enjoyed your (with Roger Ash) Modern Masters volume on Mike Ploog. Highly recommended for anyone else reading this who is a Ploog fan...
I still have the Power Record, which remains the only Man-Thing "comic" I've ever owned for whatever reason. The two-parter was also Mike Ploog’s favorite story.
GREATLY enjoyed your (with Roger Ash) Modern Masters volume on Mike Ploog. Highly recommended for anyone else reading this who is a Ploog fan...
Wow, @nweathington , that Cole one is quite striking!
The Green Sorceress figure is very Jack Kamen-like, and the Blue Bolt figure is really nice. The monster has something of a Hieronymus Bosch feel to it, which I love (Basil Wolverton’s space monsters give me the same vibe). The composition is great, but the coloring is what really makes the cover sing.
May 1950: This month was huge for publisher EC. It marked the debuts of Haunt of Fear, Weird Fantasy, and Weird Science (each taking over the numbering from other titles). But rather than pick one of those covers, which aren't as good as the ones to come, I'm going with Pirates Comics #2 from Hillman—though at first glance it could almost pass for an EC title.
The cover is by Mike Suchorsky, an excellent illustrator but not a well known artist. In fact, he is best known for not being known. But I'll get to that in a minute.
Suchowsky started out in comics in 1940 drawing a variety of adventure stories and the occasional superhero feature, such as “Green Lama” and “Black Terror.” His first cover assignments didn’t come until 1948, and not with an adventure book, but with Ace’s teen humor books. He wasn't bad at humor (at least not with teen humor), but he was better suited to more illustrative jobs, and this cover is his first example of that.
Like so many other comic book artists, Suchowsky’s comics career ended in late 1955/early 1956—but not because he couldn’t find work. Suchowsky was killed in a boating accident (I don't know the exact date). Because even then he wasn't very well known, many in the comics industry thought it had been Mike Sekowsky who had been killed. It was a shame, because like Joe Maneely who died at a fairly young age, Suchowsky had the potential to go on to bigger and better things. And though it can't really be verified, I believe he must have been doing some other art jobs outside of comics, perhaps some illustration work, while he was doing comics, because there were long gaps where his work doesn't appear. And he was too good to have not been able to get work.
After finishing up the Gerber Man-Thing TPB, I've moved on to Marvel Masterworks Defenders, Volume 5 for more Gerber.
This run of Defenders is one of my favorite childhood storylines. The crazy "Head men". The elf with a gun. Nebulon's return and his Celestial Mind Control cult. Body/brain/soul-switching with Nighthawk. Valkyrie in prison. It all just blew my mind at the time, and I'm enjoying this volume immensely on a re-read.
Here's two covers from the run.
Defenders #33 (March 1976), one I owned from off the stands, with pencils by Gil Kane and an uncertain GCD suggesting "Frank Giacoia ?; Mike Esposito ?" on inks.
Then, just for fun, here's the original art to Defenders #35 (May 1976) by Gil Kane and Mike Esposito.
Defenders #33 (March 1976), one I owned from off the stands, with pencils by Gil Kane and an uncertain GCD suggesting "Frank Giacoia ?; Mike Esposito ?" on inks.
Looks like Esposito to me. Esposito tended to soften Kane’s pencils somewhat, while Giacoia tended to be truer to Kane’s pencils and their chiseled look.
June 1950: Westerns were still going strong, as was DC’s Western Comics. The cover this month was by Howard Sherman, the co-creator, and penciler/inker of the “Wyoming Kid” feature. He drew practically every “Wyoming Kid” story not just through the entire 85-issue run of Western Comics, but also in World’s Finest from issue #42-64. Sherman averaged about two days for one page of art, pencils and inks, but each book shipped bi-monthly, so he had time to keep on schedule and still do other jobs, including the majority of the first 42 issues of Western—after which Pow-Wow Smith became the regular cover feature, followed by Matt Savage, Trail Boss.
Sherman, born in 1909, started out as an illustrator in the 1930s for pulp magazines Real Western and Real Detective, and by 1935 he was not only doing illustrations for a variety of pulps, but also painted covers. His first comic book work was a feature he created (and did completely on his own—script, pencils, inks, letters, and colors) called “Three Comrades” which appeared in Thrilling Comics #2–5.
Then he was given a script for the first “Dr. Fate” story, the character he is most closely associated with today. He would draw the feature from its debut in More Fun Comics #55 through issue #93, as well as a handful of Dr. Fate chapters for All-Star Comics. Concurrently, he also drew the “Slam Bradley” feature for Detective Comics from #40 (released one month after the release of More Fun #55) through #81. His runs ended when he enlisted in the Air Force, serving for three years during World War II. But even while he was in the service, he was able to return to “Slam Bradley,” turning in seven-page stories every month from #91-107. When he returned from the war, he did a few random jobs here and there for DC before getting the “Wyoming Kid” job.
There was a short period where Sherman was given some Batman work, but he wasn't able to match the “Bob Kane” style well enough to continue with it. Sherman also co-created a humor strip for DC in 1947 called “Doc and Fatty,” which ran for a couple of years in All Funny Comics and World’s Finest before being dropped.
During the last few years of drawing “The Wyoming Kid,” which was still bi-monthly, Sherman had no regular second feature to keep him busy, and DC’s editors shuffled him around from title to title doing “Congo Bill,” “Tomahawk,” or mystery stories or whatever else needed doing that month. After Western Comics was cancelled in 1961, Howard was never able to get another regular assignment, though he appeared fairly steadily in House of Mystery. In 1963, he'd had enough, and he left comics to work as a package designer for Remco Toys and Hanco Novelty Co.
July 1950: Though superheroes no longer made up the majority of DC’s output, they still published a few superhero titles focused on a small group of heroes—Superman (Action, Superman, and World’s Finest), Batman (Batman, Detective, and World’s Finest), Wonder Woman (Sensation and Wonder Woman), Superboy (Adventure and Superboy), and the Justice Society (All-Star). Superman was still a strong seller for DC (hence being cover-featured on five titles counting Superboy), and what would sell more than one Superman? How about four Supermen?
Yes, Superman #65 marked the first appearance (though certainly not the last) of other Kryptonians in a Superman comic—though they are referred to as Kryptonites in this story, despite the green rocks of the same name being used four months earlier. The three Kryptonites are basically forerunners of General Zod and company, in that they were put in suspended animation after trying to overthrow the Ruling Council of Krypton.
The otherwise-unnotable cover is by Al Plastino, who had been working on the character’s stories for nearly two years by this point, but was just starting to be allowed to draw Superman in something a little closer to his own style rather than having to slavishly imitate Wayne Boring. Never the top Superman artist, he still played a significant role in the character's history, co-creating the original trio of the Legion of Super-Heroes and Supergirl, as well as drawing the first Braniac and Parasite stories. And of course, for notoriously having to redraw Jack Kirby’s Superman heads in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen.
Comments
More importantly to our discussion, in 1942 she began doing illustration work for Timely magazines, starting with Miss America magazine #2, a magazine that featured some comics (including the first Patsy Walker story) mixed in among the illustrated stories. And from 1949-50, she painted eight comic book covers for Timely’s books: three for Junior Miss, 1 for Cindy Smith, and four for Patsy Walker. They are all quite lovely, but this is one of the three true standouts. What I've seen of her interior illustration work often surpasses her comic book covers.
But all the while she was working for Timely, she had other (presumably better paying) clients as well, including Kellog’s, and from 1948 on, Portraits, Inc. And it was for her portraits that she would become best known. Some of her commissions included portraits of the DuPonts, the Woolworths, and the family of President George W. Bush.
Just finished up issue #16 of (Adventure Into) Fear #16, with cover art by Frank Brunner...
One of my very first comics that I owned was Adventure into Fear #10 which is when that title began featuring the Man-Thing, continuing from his introduction in the black-and-white comics-magazines. Always loved the cover, and it matched (somewhat closely) to the haunting story inside which also re-capped Man-Thing's origin.
Adventure into Fear #10
October 1972
Cover: Gray Morrow
Yeah, at first, I was annoyed, but when I realized they're really offering every main Man-Thing story (from the magazine appearance you mentioned on), I was satisfied. Kind of cool to read all those things -- even the Marvel Two-in-One #1 appearance (January 1974, cover by Gil Kane and John Romita Sr.), as you've seen, I'm sure.
I was a HUGE Gerber fan as a kid (and still am), so it's been fun re-reading his old Defenders stories in Masterworks. After the Man-Thing TPB, I have the latest Defenders Gerber Masterworks and the first volume of the Howard the Duck TPB ready to go.
I remember the later issues of Man-Thing (presumably in Volume 2, which I plan to pick up) being really interesting, but haven't read them since childhood, so I'll see how they hold up for me. These early stories in the TPB seem pretty raw to me -- both the Gerber story and the Val Mayerick art (and I'm a long-time fan of both), so I trust they're going to keep progressing!
Here's that Two-in-One cover for everyone else...
This one I DID read off the stands back in the day. Wundarr was a fun character. Essentially, he's Superman if Ma and Pa Kent decided not to go looking for that spaceship. (Ma: "Paw, you stay right here! It could be Martians--or Communists!")
So Wundarr emerges from the ship with all Superman's powers, in a full-grown body, and the maturity of a newborn. I feel like this is before Gerber really started to let loose creatively, but still a hint of the zaniness coming later in his career...
Romance titles had made an immediate impact on the comic industry since the 1947 debut of Young Romance #1, but 1949 to about 1954 was the peak of the genre. In this month alone there were 38 romance titles released, but there were actually about 150 (!) in publication at this time, as many were bi-monthly or quarterly.
This paricular cover went against the trend of showing either lovers embracing with a scorned paramour (usually another woman, but sometimes a man) jealously or brokenheartedly looking on in the background, or simply a pretty girl’s face. But this was too lovely to pass up, and I'm sure we’ll get to something more typical before long.
January 1954
Cover by Lee Elias
Classic pre-code horror from Lee Elias, a UK native, who moved to the US when he was very young. He made his debut in the comics scene at Fiction House in '43, collaborating on series like 'Captain Wings', 'Suicide Smith', 'Firehair', 'Reff Ryan' and 'Space Rangers'. When he went to work for Harvey, he worked on 'Black Cat', and 'Terry and the Pirates' and occasionally worked on comics like 'Black Canary', 'Green Lantern' and 'Hawkman' for National Periodical Publications (later DC).
Because he'd had rheumatic fever, he was not called to service during the war. He quickly became one of the best artists available, getting the top page rate wherever he worked. He didn't do much work for Marvel though, because in 1945, Stan hired him to redesign Namor and do a Sub-Mariner story. But it turned out he only hired Elias for that one job so that Frank Giacoia (who was making a much lower page rate) would have a model he could go by as he drew the feature from the next issue on—Giacoia basically drew the strip as much like Elias had done as he could manage. When Elias figured out what happened, he vowed never to work for Marvel again.
Then of course. Mike Ploog comes on and the issues sing, especially the "dead clown" story, in issue 05 -- cover by Mike Ploog below (w/GCD noting Romita Sr. alterations) from (May 1974).
I read this issue "back in the day" only as a Power Record. So, when I came to the end of the print issue in the TPB, I was shocked that the story had a second part! I clearly remembered it being done-in-one in the Power Record.
I found the Power Record comic & audio here (great site!) and went through it, and, wow, they actually had TURNED it into a done-in-one by altering the dialogue in the last panel! (Among other alterations -- many places they cut back on the caption boxes).
Anyway, here's the comparison. Still thought the story was great -- although I can't believe they got away with selling this for little kids -- a clown committing suicide is just how it starts out, and then goes from there!
I was fine with it as a kid, though I do think it scared me!
Marvel Tales was a precursor of sorts to the coming Atlas Era of Marvel. It began in August 1949, picking up the numbering from where Timely’s first series, Marvel Mystery Comics, left off. While most of Marvel’s line at this time was dedicated to westerns, romance, and humor, Marvel Tales ran sci-fi/horror stories for which the Atlas Era would become best known for. But you won't find Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, or Don Heck in these pages yet (though you will find a young Gene Colan). In fact, the artist of this issue is unknown. It might be Gene Colan, but I'm thinking it's more likely Al Gabrielle. Regardless, giant monsters would soon become a common sight on the covers of this and many other Marvel comics.
Cole not only drew the covers for Blue Bolt at Star, he was also the co-publisher. In 1949 Cole and a lawyer by the name of Gerhard Kramer bought all the Novelty Press properties and set themselves up as publishers under the Star Publications banner. In 1951 they would relaunch the title as Blue Bolt’s Weird Tales of Terror, which would feature many of the covers for which Cole would become best remembered, but we'll get to that—and to more on L.B. Cole (whom I've discussed before)—later.
The cover is by Mike Suchorsky, an excellent illustrator but not a well known artist. In fact, he is best known for not being known. But I'll get to that in a minute.
Suchowsky started out in comics in 1940 drawing a variety of adventure stories and the occasional superhero feature, such as “Green Lama” and “Black Terror.” His first cover assignments didn’t come until 1948, and not with an adventure book, but with Ace’s teen humor books. He wasn't bad at humor (at least not with teen humor), but he was better suited to more illustrative jobs, and this cover is his first example of that.
Like so many other comic book artists, Suchowsky’s comics career ended in late 1955/early 1956—but not because he couldn’t find work. Suchowsky was killed in a boating accident (I don't know the exact date). Because even then he wasn't very well known, many in the comics industry thought it had been Mike Sekowsky who had been killed. It was a shame, because like Joe Maneely who died at a fairly young age, Suchowsky had the potential to go on to bigger and better things. And though it can't really be verified, I believe he must have been doing some other art jobs outside of comics, perhaps some illustration work, while he was doing comics, because there were long gaps where his work doesn't appear. And he was too good to have not been able to get work.
Justice League of America (Vol 1) #143
June 1977
Cover by Dick Dillin
I believe this is the 5th issue of Steve Englehart's debut run as a writer on this title.
SPOILER: Wonder Woman is being mind-controlled in this scene.
This run of Defenders is one of my favorite childhood storylines. The crazy "Head men". The elf with a gun. Nebulon's return and his Celestial Mind Control cult. Body/brain/soul-switching with Nighthawk. Valkyrie in prison. It all just blew my mind at the time, and I'm enjoying this volume immensely on a re-read.
Here's two covers from the run.
Defenders #33 (March 1976), one I owned from off the stands, with pencils by Gil Kane and an uncertain GCD suggesting "Frank Giacoia ?; Mike Esposito ?" on inks.
Then, just for fun, here's the original art to Defenders #35 (May 1976) by Gil Kane and Mike Esposito.
Sherman, born in 1909, started out as an illustrator in the 1930s for pulp magazines Real Western and Real Detective, and by 1935 he was not only doing illustrations for a variety of pulps, but also painted covers. His first comic book work was a feature he created (and did completely on his own—script, pencils, inks, letters, and colors) called “Three Comrades” which appeared in Thrilling Comics #2–5.
Then he was given a script for the first “Dr. Fate” story, the character he is most closely associated with today. He would draw the feature from its debut in More Fun Comics #55 through issue #93, as well as a handful of Dr. Fate chapters for All-Star Comics. Concurrently, he also drew the “Slam Bradley” feature for Detective Comics from #40 (released one month after the release of More Fun #55) through #81. His runs ended when he enlisted in the Air Force, serving for three years during World War II. But even while he was in the service, he was able to return to “Slam Bradley,” turning in seven-page stories every month from #91-107. When he returned from the war, he did a few random jobs here and there for DC before getting the “Wyoming Kid” job.
There was a short period where Sherman was given some Batman work, but he wasn't able to match the “Bob Kane” style well enough to continue with it. Sherman also co-created a humor strip for DC in 1947 called “Doc and Fatty,” which ran for a couple of years in All Funny Comics and World’s Finest before being dropped.
During the last few years of drawing “The Wyoming Kid,” which was still bi-monthly, Sherman had no regular second feature to keep him busy, and DC’s editors shuffled him around from title to title doing “Congo Bill,” “Tomahawk,” or mystery stories or whatever else needed doing that month. After Western Comics was cancelled in 1961, Howard was never able to get another regular assignment, though he appeared fairly steadily in House of Mystery. In 1963, he'd had enough, and he left comics to work as a package designer for Remco Toys and Hanco Novelty Co.
G.I. Joe #85
April 1989
Bonus:
He was also the Phantom artist for over a decade.
Yes, Superman #65 marked the first appearance (though certainly not the last) of other Kryptonians in a Superman comic—though they are referred to as Kryptonites in this story, despite the green rocks of the same name being used four months earlier. The three Kryptonites are basically forerunners of General Zod and company, in that they were put in suspended animation after trying to overthrow the Ruling Council of Krypton.
The otherwise-unnotable cover is by Al Plastino, who had been working on the character’s stories for nearly two years by this point, but was just starting to be allowed to draw Superman in something a little closer to his own style rather than having to slavishly imitate Wayne Boring. Never the top Superman artist, he still played a significant role in the character's history, co-creating the original trio of the Legion of Super-Heroes and Supergirl, as well as drawing the first Braniac and Parasite stories. And of course, for notoriously having to redraw Jack Kirby’s Superman heads in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen.