I just finished reading The Tomb of Dracula TPB, Volume 3, which contained issues #24-31, plus three Giant-Size issues. At one time, I had nearly a complete run of TOD, so it was great to revisit these stories, most of which I'd read.
The Wolfman/Colan/Palmer team was really starting to hit its stride here (though the Giant-Size issues were not done by that team and were somewhat a slog for me). Some fantastic characters -- Rachel van Helsing, Quincy Harker & Saint, Taj, Blade, the private investigator Hannibal King (pictured on the cover below).
However, I really want to read issues #32 to the end, and it looks like they never did further TPB's, the Omnibus, Vol 2 is scarce, and even the Essentials seem incredibly expensive. I wish Marvel would do a Masterwork or Epic collection of these later issues...
Tomb of Dracula #25 (October 1974) Pencils: Gil Kane Inks: Tom Palmer
Feb. 1954: This month we have one of the best known drawings of Basil Wolverton’s career, his cover to Mad #11. After having spent most of his career doing humor comics, Wolverton had shifted mainly to horror at the start of the ’50s. Mad got him back to doing what he did best, though it wouldn’t last long. Wolverton retired from comics in 1955 to focus on magazine illustration and an illustrated version of the Bible (published in six volumes throughout the ’60s, covering Genesis to Samuel—it was most recently reprinted in one volume in 2009), though he would return briefly in the ’70s as part of DC’s Plop!. Despite a fairly short career, his “spaghetti and meatballs” art style was very influential on the underground comix artists, particularly R. Crumb.
April for my custom calendar this year was a very well-read copy of a book featuring a Super-baby story. Hey, I was only about 7 when I received this comic and the idea of a baby being able to help a bear was endlessly fascinating to me....as you can tell by the many signs of multiple re-readings. You can even see along the spine where the tape that held it together many years ago eventually wore out and fell off.
If I recall correctly, when I picked my 10 favorite animal covers for a Comic Buyer's Guide magazine article a few years back, this was one of my picks!
Also, another sign that my love of Nick Cardy as a cover artist started early...
Superboy #192 (December 1972) Pencils & Inks: Nick Cardy
Mar. 1954: This month’s cover is Joe Palooka #83. Joe Palooka was created by Ham Fisher in 1920, though he didn't manage to get the strip syndicated until 1928. Even though Fisher wasn’t a particulary good cartoonist, his strip took off, becoming one of the most popular newspaper strips in the country for many years. It didn't hurt that he brought in talented assistants to draw the strip for him, including Al Capp. (I won't go into the feud between Fisher and Capp after Capp left to create L’il Abner; google it if you don't already know the story.) And the longevity of the comics series (and its two spinoffs)—which ran for 118 issues from Nov. 1945 to Mar. 1961—is just another testament to the strip’s success. For most of its run, the comic simply reprinted the newspaper strips, but later in the run original stories were also produced.
I can’t find verification on who drew this cover, but it certainly wasn’t Fisher, and most likely wasn’t one of his assistants. I'm pretty sure that the artist was Al Avison, who drew many covers for the series, as well as some of the original stories.
Avison began his career at Timely in 1941, co-creating the Whizzer among other assignments, and soon was getting work from Harvey as well. After Kirby and Simon left Timely in late 1941, Avison and Syd Shores took over the art chores for the character, often inking one another. From that point until 1949—except for a couple of years of service during the war—Avison was most closely associated with Captain America and the Green Hornet (for Harvey). By the end of 1948, Avison was working exclusively for Harvey—mostly cover assignments, which soon included Joe Palooka. Avison left the industry sometime in the mid- to late ’50s.
Apr. 1954: By the end of 1953, sales for Two-Fisted Tales were dwindling. The Korean War was coming to a rather unsatisfactory end, and the public’s thirst for war stories—at least contemporary war stories—seemed to be ebbing. Harvey Kurtzman, the editor of the book, was becoming increasingly occupied with Mad magazine, so EC artist John Severin and his friend and writer Colin Dawkins took on the uncredited task of reformatting The New Two-Fisted Tales as a quarterly starting with issue #36. Severin not only co-edited this issue, #38, but he also drew this fantastic cover and every story inside. Unfortunately, the changes couldn’t save the book, and it was cancelled three issues later.
John Severin started his career in 1947 doing advertising and design work out of a studio shared with and acquaintance named Charles Stern and two other future EC stars, Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Elder. When Severin saw the money Kurtzman was bringing in with his “Hey Look!” comic book stories in between his ad work, Severin decided to get in on the action with Elder as his inker. Later that year, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who were running their own publishing house at the time, gave the duo their first comic job. By the end of 1948 he was also getting work from Timely and DC, though the bulk of his work consisted of westerns for Prize Comics.
In late 1950, he co-created with Dawkins the western hero American Eagle (not to be confused with Standard Publishing’s 1941 superhero of the same name, or Marvel’s 1981 Navajo superhero, or DC’s 1982 Zoo Crew member) for Prize Comics Western. Very shortly thereafter, he got his first work with EC in the pages of Two-Fisted Tales. He continued to draw “American Eagle” throughout his time at EC. But when EC cancelled most of their comics line in 1954 and launched the “New Direction” lineup, Severin moved on to become more or less exclusive with Marvel for the next few years. More on that later.
My introduction to this new artist, John Severin, didn't come until Marvel's Semper Fi comic book of the 80s. Loved this comic and always wish it could have found an audience.
@ChrisBeckett Don't think I've seen much of Severin's later work, so thanks for posting. But I sure loved his 70's and earlier stuff. Good to see you here!
@ChrisBeckett Don't think I've seen much of Severin's later work, so thanks for posting. But I sure loved his 70's and earlier stuff. Good to see you here!
Good to see you as well, sir. I remember becoming completely enamored with Severin's work, when this series began. Whenever I find something new (to me) of his, it's always a treat.
Suicide Squad is one of my all-time favorite comic series–-started with issue #1, right off the rack, and stayed with it all the way through.
I didn’t get to read Frank Miller’s classic Daredevil run until long after it was originally published, which didn't dilute its significance--another high point in my collection.
But until now, I never realized the homage for the cover of SS #6, even though I was aware of the classic DD cover, even before I read Miller’s series.
Mike Perkins did this year's 2000AD FCBD cover. Another riff on Days of Future Past I quite like this earlier vesion with old prog covers in the background.
Seen some posts recently slagging on JRJr. And I'm not here to say they're wrong, but being a fan, I felt compelled to offer some karmic balance to the scales . . . or something. I've mentioned elsewhere on these forums that one of my all-time favorite comic runs is the Daredevil run by Ann Nocenti, JRJr, and Al Williamson. So, I thought I'd share a few covers from that run, through the rest of this week. Here's the first:
Seen some posts recently slagging on JRJr. And I'm not here to say they're wrong, but being a fan, I felt compelled to offer some karmic balance to the scales . . . or something. I've mentioned elsewhere on these forums that one of my all-time favorite comic runs is the Daredevil run by Ann Nocenti, JRJr, and Al Williamson. So, I thought I'd share a few covers from that run, through the rest of this week. -chris
This run was the first time JR had a chance to do full, tight pencils on a regular basis, and you can really see him grow and develop with practically every issue. And I think he must have played off of what Williamson was doing with the inks, and that Williamson helped JR see which direction he should be going. Not with words, but by letting JR see the potential of what he was doing, if that makes sense. Just speculation on my part.
This run was the first time JR had a chance to do full, tight pencils on a regular basis, and you can really see him grow and develop with practically every issue. And I think he must have played off of what Williamson was doing with the inks, and that Williamson helped JR see which direction he should be going. Not with words, but by letting JR see the potential of what he was doing, if that makes sense. Just speculation on my part.
Thank you, as always, for your insights, Eric. I really appreciate it and look forward to revisiting this run, soon, with that idea in mind.
Seen some posts recently slagging on JRJr. And I'm not here to say they're wrong, but being a fan, I felt compelled to offer some karmic balance to the scales . . . or something. I've mentioned elsewhere on these forums that one of my all-time favorite comic runs is the Daredevil run by Ann Nocenti, JRJr, and Al Williamson. So, I thought I'd share a few covers from that run, through the rest of this week. -chris
This run was the first time JR had a chance to do full, tight pencils on a regular basis, and you can really see him grow and develop with practically every issue. And I think he must have played off of what Williamson was doing with the inks, and that Williamson helped JR see which direction he should be going. Not with words, but by letting JR see the potential of what he was doing, if that makes sense. Just speculation on my part.
I remeberalmost nothing about these stories. I do, however, remember the art.
Comments
The Wolfman/Colan/Palmer team was really starting to hit its stride here (though the Giant-Size issues were not done by that team and were somewhat a slog for me). Some fantastic characters -- Rachel van Helsing, Quincy Harker & Saint, Taj, Blade, the private investigator Hannibal King (pictured on the cover below).
However, I really want to read issues #32 to the end, and it looks like they never did further TPB's, the Omnibus, Vol 2 is scarce, and even the Essentials seem incredibly expensive. I wish Marvel would do a Masterwork or Epic collection of these later issues...
Tomb of Dracula #25 (October 1974)
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Tom Palmer
-chris
If I recall correctly, when I picked my 10 favorite animal covers for a Comic Buyer's Guide magazine article a few years back, this was one of my picks!
Also, another sign that my love of Nick Cardy as a cover artist started early...
Superboy #192 (December 1972)
Pencils & Inks: Nick Cardy
I don't mean to cheat...
I can’t find verification on who drew this cover, but it certainly wasn’t Fisher, and most likely wasn’t one of his assistants. I'm pretty sure that the artist was Al Avison, who drew many covers for the series, as well as some of the original stories.
Avison began his career at Timely in 1941, co-creating the Whizzer among other assignments, and soon was getting work from Harvey as well. After Kirby and Simon left Timely in late 1941, Avison and Syd Shores took over the art chores for the character, often inking one another. From that point until 1949—except for a couple of years of service during the war—Avison was most closely associated with Captain America and the Green Hornet (for Harvey). By the end of 1948, Avison was working exclusively for Harvey—mostly cover assignments, which soon included Joe Palooka. Avison left the industry sometime in the mid- to late ’50s.
February 2017
Cover by: Ryan Bodenheim
No story on this one. It's just that Valiant gets very little love on this thread, and I thought this cover was splendid.
This is one of my all-time favorite covers.
John Severin started his career in 1947 doing advertising and design work out of a studio shared with and acquaintance named Charles Stern and two other future EC stars, Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Elder. When Severin saw the money Kurtzman was bringing in with his “Hey Look!” comic book stories in between his ad work, Severin decided to get in on the action with Elder as his inker. Later that year, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who were running their own publishing house at the time, gave the duo their first comic job. By the end of 1948 he was also getting work from Timely and DC, though the bulk of his work consisted of westerns for Prize Comics.
In late 1950, he co-created with Dawkins the western hero American Eagle (not to be confused with Standard Publishing’s 1941 superhero of the same name, or Marvel’s 1981 Navajo superhero, or DC’s 1982 Zoo Crew member) for Prize Comics Western. Very shortly thereafter, he got his first work with EC in the pages of Two-Fisted Tales. He continued to draw “American Eagle” throughout his time at EC. But when EC cancelled most of their comics line in 1954 and launched the “New Direction” lineup, Severin moved on to become more or less exclusive with Marvel for the next few years. More on that later.
-chris
I didn’t get to read Frank Miller’s classic Daredevil run until long after it was originally published, which didn't dilute its significance--another high point in my collection.
But until now, I never realized the homage for the cover of SS #6, even though I was aware of the classic DD cover, even before I read Miller’s series.
COMICS!
-chris
Technically not a cover...
I quite like this earlier vesion with old prog covers in the background.
I've mentioned elsewhere on these forums that one of my all-time favorite comic runs is the Daredevil run by Ann Nocenti, JRJr, and Al Williamson. So, I thought I'd share a few covers from that run, through the rest of this week. Here's the first:
-chris