I get all the Godzilla comics for my son anyway. Most of them aren't all that good, but I'm looking forward to this mini. The Stokoe mini a couple years back, Half-Century War, was really good too.
I get all the Godzilla comics for my son anyway. Most of them aren't all that good, but I'm looking forward to this mini. The Stokoe mini a couple years back, Half-Century War, was really good too.
I loved Half Century War. It might be the only genuinely great Godzilla comic I ever read.
Not that this wasn't fun too (just read this last week):
January 1940: The new year brought in eight new titles with #1 issues (nine if you count Funny Pages vol. 4, #1, which the following month would have “#35” on its cover)—half of them with covers by Lou Fine. I've got six different covers I could easily go with this month—I'm really torn. There’s the iconic Flash Comics #1 with it's great composition, nice figure drawing, and brilliance in portraying everything you need to know about the featured character. There's the wonderfully graphic and eye-catching Blue Beetle #1. There's the aforementioned cover of Funny Pages and its beautifully composed (and a nice change of pace) perspective shot. And there's one of my favorite Alex Schomburg covers in Daring Mystery Comics #1.
But in the end I've got to go with one of the best drawn covers of the period, Lou Fine’s cover for Jungle Comics #1. Besides the fantastic inking and figure drawing of Käanga and the female would-be-victim, I love the lion’s face—pure menace. And the logo treatment is the icing on the cake.
February 1940: Six more titles launched this month, including Whiz Comics, featuring the first appearance of the Big Red Cheese. There are some nice entries, but for me the clear winner is Fantastic Comics #3 and probably my favorite Lou Fine cover. I just love the evil Rock ’em Sock ’em Robot looking bad guys and the tiny people falling from the train.
The story inside has no killer robots, however. That story comes in issue #4, but the robots are only 20-30 feet tall (depending on the panel) and as drawn by Alex Blum aren't nearly as cool looking.
February 1940: Six more titles launched this month, including Whiz Comics, featuring the first appearance of the Big Red Cheese. There are some nice entries, but for me the clear winner is Fantastic Comics #3 and probably my favorite Lou Fine cover. I just love the evil Rock ’em Sock ’em Robot looking bad guys and the tiny people falling from the train.
The story inside has no killer robots, however. That story comes in issue #4, but the robots are only 20-30 feet tall (depending on the panel) and as drawn by Alex Blum aren't nearly as cool looking.
Famous Funnies #213 Eastern Color, Sept 1954 Frank Frazetta cover artist
These books featured reprints of long-running Buck Rogers newspapers strips. With the addition of a spectacular Frazetta cover, however, new life was breathed into these sci-fi stories.
It's been suggested that it was his series of covers done for Famous Funnies that got him hired by Al Capp to work on the Li'l Abner newspaper comic strip. Frazetta did Li'l Abner strips from 1954 into 1961.
I can't find exact dates, but only one, maybe as many as three of those Buck Rogers covers hit the stands before Frazetta started working for Capp. The one shown above certainly had not come out yet.
Frazetta had done a comic book feature called "Looie Lazybones" in 1948 which was basically a rip-off of Li'l Abner, and which Capp was likely aware of. That and Frazetta's Johnny Comet strip, which was cancelled just before Capp came calling (likely knowing that Frazetta no longer had a strip), were more likely what got Frazetta the job. Capp needed someone who could draw in his big foot style, and as you'll see in the example below, “Looie Lazybones” showed Frazetta could do that.
I love Frazetta's style. Always have. My source for the suggestion his Famous Funnies covers may have gotten him the job doing Lil Abner was the Art Contrarian website who wrote on his blog that "Some sources above attest that these cover illustrations helped Frazetta to get hired by Capp." I had not seen any of these pages of Looie Lazybones before, and they certainly reflect what Capp probably wanted for his strip, so you have an excellent point there. Furthermore, most people agree he began working (uncredited) on Lil Abner in 1953 while his first Famous Funnies cover was published at the end of 1953. Hmmm...
It's very hard to say exactly when he started working for Capp. Neither he nor Capp have ever given a date as far as I know. While it's possible he did some work for him in ’53, he was still doing his Johnny Comet/Ace McCoy strip at least until late 1953 (depending on how many week ahead he was on the schedule). When he started with Capp, he worked at Capp's studio, which would have been difficult for him to do if he was still working on his own strip, but not impossible. He could pencil a week's worth of Li’l Abner dailies in a couple of days—he switched to penciling the Sunday strip later on—so he didn't go in every day.
March 1940: Seven more new titles launched this month, but I'm going with Planet Comics #3, and its cover by Will Eisner. This may have been his best inking on a comic book cover pre-Spirit.
March 1940: Seven more new titles launched this month, but I'm going with Planet Comics #3, and its cover by Will Eisner. This may have been his best inking on a comic book cover pre-Spirit.
There's a reason this was called the Golden Age, by gum!
I remember pretty much all of these covers. 1972.....I was twelve and buying em all when I could find them. There were no comic shops back then so you had to work for it
April 1940: Only three new titles this month, but one of them is Batman #1. That's not the cover I'm going with, though, nor is the first appearance of Robin in Detective Comics #38. I'm going with a different #1: Weird Comics #1. The cover is penciled and inked by George Tuska—only his second comic book cover, drawn at the age of 23. It may not be the best drawn or most recognizable cover this month, but I like the mad scientist in the foreground, and you can't go wrong with a gorilla. Plus, I liked George. He was a very nice man, though it was hard to talk with him by the time I knew him, as he was almost deaf at that point.
Toni Gayle was a fashion model who freelanced as a “mystery solver and crime buster” until she found out that she had to finish high school and changed her last name to Gay and ended her career pursuing criminals. The artwork during her crime fighting days, was provided by Janice Valleau, one of the very few female comics artists during the 1940’s.
Toni was one of the backup features in the Young King Cole and Guns against Gangsters Comics. When those comics folded, Toni found new life in School Days Romance and POPular Teenagers Comics, where she eventually found a boyfriend named Butch Dikeman (let that sink in). Her crime-busting days were soon forgotten.
May 1940: There are a few interesting choices this month, and I was very tempted to go with Edd Ashe’s cover for Top-Notch Comics #5, but I'm going with another Fawcett title, Nickel Comics #1 with its Jack Binder (brother of Otto Binder) cover.
Nickel Comics was a bit of an experiment for the time. First of all it was only a nickel rather than the usual ten cents. That was because it was only 32 pages—half the size of the typical comic of the day. Second, it shipped every two weeks. You still got 64 pages a month, but in smaller bites, and you could spread out the cost. Perfect for kids with little pocket money, right? Unfortunately for Fawcett, the experiment only lasted eight issues—one summer. The features moved on to Master Comics and the new Wow Comics titles.
One last note about the cover. All the Nickel Comics covers featured Bulletman swirling through the air, either with his arms outstretched in front of him, or carrying a recently rescued damsel, usually after having smashed a hole through something—a ship, a dam, etc. This was the best of the short-lived series though.
June 1940: Not a great selection this month. I'm going with Top-Notch Comics #6 with a cover by Edd Ashe Jr. Ashe was a versatile artist who did a lot of work in comics, but also newspaper strips, advertising, book and magazine illustration, and fine art (mostly murals and portraits). His father was also a well known illustrator (late 1800s) and impressionist painter (early 1900s).
July 1940: Another month of expansion with nine #1 issues. There's a really nice Charles Biro cover for Blue Ribbon Comics #5, but I have to go with another of my top 5 Lou Fine covers: Hit Comics #1.
There's no real origin given to Red Bee or his trained bee, Michael (never really thought of Michael as a good name for a bee). Red Bee has no superpowers (other than bee training, which is pretty impressive if you think about it), no “Stinger” gun (despite what you see on the cover), no wings to fly with—he's just a guy with a bee. You've gotta respect that.
August 1940: Kirby has two covers this month. He may have drawn a cover or two before this, but these are the first two he definitely penciled. Between the two, I'm going with Champion Comics #10, inked by Joe Simon.
Champion Comics was the first of four titles published by Worth Carnahan. This was the final issue of the series before Carnahan sold the title to Alfred Harvey, who renamed it Champ Comics and would use it and characters he bought from Brookwood Publications’ Speed Comics as the foundation of Harvey Comics.
August 1940: Kirby has two covers this month. He may have drawn a cover or two before this, but these are the first two he definitely penciled. Between the two, I'm going with Champion Comics #10, inked by Joe Simon.
Champion Comics was the first of four titles published by Worth Carnahan. This was the final issue of the series before Carnahan sold the title to Alfred Harvey, who renamed it Champ Comics and would use it and characters he bought from Brookwood Publications’ Speed Comics as the foundation of Harvey Comics.
September 1940: I'm going with another iconic cover this month, Silver Streak Comics #6, featuring a Jack Cole (of Plastic Man fame) cover of the Claw, a.k.a. the Green Claw, a.k.a. the god of fear. I may be wrong, but I think “The Claw” is the first ongoing feature to star a super-villain. After debuting in Silver Streak #1, the Claw is killed in issue #2, but he returns from the dead in this issue, and goes on to terrorize the world until Daredevil (the one with the boomerang) kills him for good in 1945.
It should also be mentioned that the Claw is from a fictional Asian island, and is arguably the greatest example of the Yellow Peril villains in comics.
I'd never heard of Lee Elias before but apparently he drew and inked many of the early "Witches Tales" covers. Here's one of my favourites, from March 1952. (Just before Wertham)
Comments
Not that this wasn't fun too (just read this last week):
Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia from 1976
But in the end I've got to go with one of the best drawn covers of the period, Lou Fine’s cover for Jungle Comics #1. Besides the fantastic inking and figure drawing of Käanga and the female would-be-victim, I love the lion’s face—pure menace. And the logo treatment is the icing on the cake.
The story inside has no killer robots, however. That story comes in issue #4, but the robots are only 20-30 feet tall (depending on the panel) and as drawn by Alex Blum aren't nearly as cool looking.
Eastern Color, Sept 1954
Frank Frazetta cover artist
These books featured reprints of long-running Buck Rogers newspapers strips. With the addition of a spectacular Frazetta cover, however, new life was breathed into these sci-fi stories.
It's been suggested that it was his series of covers done for Famous Funnies that got him hired by Al Capp to work on the Li'l Abner newspaper comic strip. Frazetta did Li'l Abner strips from 1954 into 1961.
Frazetta had done a comic book feature called "Looie Lazybones" in 1948 which was basically a rip-off of Li'l Abner, and which Capp was likely aware of. That and Frazetta's Johnny Comet strip, which was cancelled just before Capp came calling (likely knowing that Frazetta no longer had a strip), were more likely what got Frazetta the job. Capp needed someone who could draw in his big foot style, and as you'll see in the example below, “Looie Lazybones” showed Frazetta could do that.
July 1951
Cover: L.B. Cole
Toni Gayle was a fashion model who freelanced as a “mystery solver and crime buster” until she found out that she had to finish high school and changed her last name to Gay and ended her career pursuing criminals. The artwork during her crime fighting days, was provided by Janice Valleau, one of the very few female comics artists during the 1940’s.
Toni was one of the backup features in the Young King Cole and Guns against Gangsters Comics. When those comics folded, Toni found new life in School Days Romance and POPular Teenagers Comics, where she eventually found a boyfriend named Butch Dikeman (let that sink in). Her crime-busting days were soon forgotten.
Nickel Comics was a bit of an experiment for the time. First of all it was only a nickel rather than the usual ten cents. That was because it was only 32 pages—half the size of the typical comic of the day. Second, it shipped every two weeks. You still got 64 pages a month, but in smaller bites, and you could spread out the cost. Perfect for kids with little pocket money, right? Unfortunately for Fawcett, the experiment only lasted eight issues—one summer. The features moved on to Master Comics and the new Wow Comics titles.
One last note about the cover. All the Nickel Comics covers featured Bulletman swirling through the air, either with his arms outstretched in front of him, or carrying a recently rescued damsel, usually after having smashed a hole through something—a ship, a dam, etc. This was the best of the short-lived series though.
Whatta rip.
There's no real origin given to Red Bee or his trained bee, Michael (never really thought of Michael as a good name for a bee). Red Bee has no superpowers (other than bee training, which is pretty impressive if you think about it), no “Stinger” gun (despite what you see on the cover), no wings to fly with—he's just a guy with a bee. You've gotta respect that.
From 1973 Kirby and Mike Royer
Champion Comics was the first of four titles published by Worth Carnahan. This was the final issue of the series before Carnahan sold the title to Alfred Harvey, who renamed it Champ Comics and would use it and characters he bought from Brookwood Publications’ Speed Comics as the foundation of Harvey Comics.
It should also be mentioned that the Claw is from a fictional Asian island, and is arguably the greatest example of the Yellow Peril villains in comics.