August 1941: Following the success of Captain America, Timely tasked Simon (as editor) and Kirby (as art director) to create another patriotic hero, and quickly followed with USA Comics #1, naturally with a cover by Kirby and Simon ...
Can't see that image for some reason, @nweathington (or your avatar for that matter). Says "Click and discover Imageshack" but there's nothing to click.
Found another scan, though not as nice as the original.
September 1941: This month features one of my favorite Jack Burnley covers. I love the lighting on the Starman (a character Burnley co-created with Gardner Fox) figure.
Burnley started out as a sports cartoonist—at the time (1929) he was the youngest ever artist to have a syndicated cartoon. And his first work to appear in comics (1938) were reprints of his “Sports Features” one-page cartoons. In 1940 he became the first artist not named Joe Shuster to draw Superman for publication. During his time with DC he worked primarily as a ghost artist for the various Superman and Batman titles, and also the Superman and Batman newspaper strips. He left comics in 1947 and went back to sports cartooning, which he did until he retired in 1976. A great artist.
September 1941: This month features one of my favorite Jack Burnley covers. I love the lighting on the Starman (a character Burnley co-created with Gardner Fox) figure.
Burnley started out as a sports cartoonist—at the time (1929) he was the youngest ever artist to have a syndicated cartoon. And his first work to appear in comics (1938) were reprints of his “Sports Features” one-page cartoons. In 1940 he became the first artist not named Joe Shuster to draw Superman for publication. During his time with DC he worked primarily as a ghost artist for the various Superman and Batman titles, and also the Superman and Batman newspaper strips. He left comics in 1947 and went back to sports cartooning, which he did until he retired in 1976. A great artist.
I loved Burnley's work, both as a ghost and as himself; he was certainly one of the best of the Bob Kane ghost artists, and I thought his work on Starman was superior to a lot of the other artists working at DC during that early Golden Age era. I'm sorry he didn't stay on for DC's Silver Age.
October 1941: A lot of interesting covers this month, but none are more visually striking than Green Lantern #1 by Howard Purcell. The black background really makes the cover pop.
Purcell did a lot of work for DC over the years, including co-creating a few minor characters: Sargon the Sorcerer, the Gay Ghost, and the Enchantress. Not the greatest artist, but a good, solid artist who occasionally produced exceptional work.
November 1941: Not a particularly strong batch this month, so I'm going to mix it up with Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories vol. 2, #2, with a cover by Al Taliaferro. Taliaferro spent a couple of months in Disney’s animation department in 1931 before switching over to their comic strip department. In 1938 he began drawing the Donald Duck newspaper daily strip, which he continued until his death in 1969. This cover (as well as most of the interior stories) was reprinted from his comic strip work, but he did do a few pieces of original comic book work over the years.
November 1941: Not a particularly strong batch this month, so I'm going to mix it up with Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories vol. 2, #2, with a cover by Al Taliaferro. Taliaferro spent a couple of months in Disney’s animation department in 1931 before switching over to their comic strip department. In 1938 he began drawing the Donald Duck newspaper daily strip, which he continued until his death in 1969. This cover (as well as most of the interior stories) was reprinted from his comic strip work, but he did do a few pieces of original comic book work over the years.
We tend to talk so much about how great the Carl Barks stories were, we forget that the other guys were pretty damn good as well.
November 1941: Not a particularly strong batch this month, so I'm going to mix it up with Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories vol. 2, #2, with a cover by Al Taliaferro. Taliaferro spent a couple of months in Disney’s animation department in 1931 before switching over to their comic strip department. In 1938 he began drawing the Donald Duck newspaper daily strip, which he continued until his death in 1969. This cover (as well as most of the interior stories) was reprinted from his comic strip work, but he did do a few pieces of original comic book work over the years.
We tend to talk so much about how great the Carl Barks stories were, we forget that the other guys were pretty damn good as well.
I should have mentioned that Taliaferro was also the co-creator of Huey, Dewey, and Louie among other supporting characters.
December 1941: A much better selection this month. There are several interesting choices, but I'll close out the year with Master Comics #21 with Mac Raboy's cover featuring the debut of Captain Nazi. I like the silhouetted action of the war while the superpowered titans stand aloof above the fray.
Jan. 1942: Outside of Action Comics #1, perhaps the most iconic Superman cover is Fred Ray’s cover for Superman #14. Ray started out at DC in 1940 doing illustrations for the short text pieces, but quickly became primarily a cover artist for them, and during the war he drew the majority of the covers for both Action and Superman.
But the character he's most closely associated with is Tomahawk, whose feature he penciled and inked starting with the character's fifth appearance (as a backup in Star-Spangled Comics in 1947) and continued into the Tomahawk solo title until the end of 1968. During that time he became an expert on Revolutionary War uniforms, to the degree that he served as a consultant to the Smithsonian Institute. Who says comics aren't educational?
Feb. 1942: Despite a very nice Raboy cover for Master Comics, I'm going to go with U.S.A. is Ready #1, a one-shot title with a cover by Harry Anderson. Anderson is not to be confused with the illustrator and painter Harry Anderson, who was born two years before the comic artist Harry Anderson. No, our Anderson wasn't quite as talented as his senior namesake, but he was a solid artist who did some very nice work in the ’40s, and some not so great work in the ’50s. He left the field in 1954 and moved from New York to California and never worked in comics again.
One fun fact about Anderson: Wally Wood’s first professional work was done for Anderson in 1949. It was a political comic strip done as part of an election campaign, called Chief Ob-Stacle—the Woeful Indian, and it is as dreadful as it sounds (though nice to look at). But it was effective, as the candidate won his election. It’s not exactly clear what Anderson’s role in the strip was, but it appears as if he took on the job and for whatever reason hired Wood to draw it for him. It wasn't a ghost job; Wood got to sign his name. Anderson appeared to be acting more as a go-between, and he may have made some small corrections/changes to Wood’s artwork.
March 1942: A lot of good covers this month, but I'm going to go with Captain Marvel Adventures #8, with a cover by C.C. Beck probably inked by Pete Costanza. The Golden Age had a lot of covers with characters marching towards the reader, but this is one of the best. Great composition, great drawing.
March 1942: A lot of good covers this month, but I'm going to go with Captain Marvel Adventures #8, with a cover by C.C. Beck probably inked by Pete Costanza. The Golden Age had a lot of covers with characters marching towards the reader, but this is one of the best. Great composition, great drawing.
March 1942: A lot of good covers this month, but I'm going to go with Captain Marvel Adventures #8, with a cover by C.C. Beck probably inked by Pete Costanza. The Golden Age had a lot of covers with characters marching towards the reader, but this is one of the best. Great composition, great drawing.
Every time I see an image with those soup bowl helmets, I am retro-horrified at how insanely unprepared the US was for WWII, and retro-amazed at the speed and intensity with which that unpreparedness was addressed.
April 1942: This month is a no-brainer. Adventure Comics #73 with its cover by Kirby and Simon is one of their best. And as the cover implies, this issue also marks the Kirby/Simon team taking over the “Manhunter” feature. Kirby was already writing and penciling (with Simon inking) the “Sandman” feature in Adventure, so he now was writing and penciling two features (ten pages each) for the title, plus co-writing and penciling the “Newsboy Legion” feature (13 pages and the cover) for Star Spangled Comics.
April 1942: This month is a no-brainer. Adventure Comics #73 with its cover by Kirby and Simon is one of their best. And as the cover implies, this issue also marks the Kirby/Simon team taking over the “Manhunter” feature. Kirby was already writing and penciling (with Simon inking) the “Sandman” feature in Adventure, so he now was writing and penciling two features (ten pages each) for the title, plus co-writing and penciling the “Newsboy Legion” feature (13 pages and the cover) for Star Spangled Comics.
One of my all-time favorites.
I particularly like the way Manhunter's head and shoulder plus the top of the building invade the logo space. It subtly creates an extra sense of height. Masterful.
Just as an aside, also published with an April 1942 cover date was Camp Comics #3 from Dell. This was not the typical fare from the usually kid friendly Dell. Camp Comics was targeted at U.S. soldiers at home and abroad, and was filled with action strips, double entendres, and pretty girls. It was a failed experiment, though, and this issue was the last of the series. It is notable, however, in that it had an ongoing feature called “Seaman Sy Wheeler” written and illustrated by the great Walt Kelly. I've never seen pages from it, but I'd love to.
May 1942: As with March, there are a lot of ways I could go this month. There's another Kirby/Simon Adventure Comics cover, this time featuring Sandman; there's a great cover for Four Heroes by Dave Berg—one of his best—but I've posted that one before a few dozen pages back; there's another great Raboy cover for Master Comics... But for a change of pace and because he passed away not long ago, I'm going with All-American Comics #38 and its beautiful cover by Irwin Hasen.
This cover shows a bit of Hasen’s versatility. Hasen's spotting of blacks makes a nice, powerful triangle that (especially when combined with the color contrast between the foreground and background, and the different inking style applied to the background) immediately focuses the eye on the two opposing figures. The large area of red that is Green Lantern’s shirt leads the eye to first focus on GL. Then the eye follows the swoop of his cape down to GL's feet, which point to the villain. The eye trails up the villain's body, through the gun barrel, which points right back to GL's torso. Great design. And I love the texture of the snow-covered road. Wonderful inking.
June 1942: Some interesting covers this month, but I have to go with one of Mac Raboy’s most iconic covers: Master Comics #27. It's simple, but very effective, and so well drawn.
July 1942: Today I'm going with Hangman Comics #3, with a cover by the great Harry Lucey. Lucey is better known for his humor work for Archie than for his superhero work for Archie, but he was good at both. Dan DeCarlo may have drawn prettier faces for the Archie girls, but I like Lucey’s work better overall. His faces were more expressive, but the biggest difference for me was how he used body language in his figure drawing.
August 1942: A lot of good covers this month, but not real standouts, so I'll mix it up and go with the gag cover for Feature Comics #59, featuring Mickey Finn. Mickey Finn was a popular newspaper strip created by Lank Leonard, who wrote and drew the strip from 1936 to 1976. The strip was first reprinted in Famous Funnies before moving to Feature, but the cover is an original piece, though it's hard to say if it was drawn by Leonard or one of his assistants. Leonard probably had some hand in it, but even if he didn't, it's a nice cover.
Nov. 1942: This isn't the best cover of the month—not even close—but after this week’s review of Airboy, I felt it was too much of a coincidence to pass up. You see, Air Fighters Comics #2 featured the first appearance of Airboy. Charles Biro created Airboy and drew the cover, though he only co-wrote the interior story. In fact, Biro would have little involvement with the character after his first half-dozen stories. But Airboy proved to be a fairly popular character, and within two years, the book was renamed Airboy Comics, which carried on until the publisher (Hillman) left the comics business in 1953.
One of the cool things about Airboy was that he aged as the series went along. In his first appearance, he was only ten years old, but he was in his early 20s by the time the series ended. Also, his plane “Birdie” (seen on the cover) had wings that flapped like a bird’s.
Dec. 1942: Another of the better heroes-in-a-line-running-towards-the-reader covers, All-Star Comics #14 by Joe Gallagher. Gallagher was only in the comics industry through a good portion of the ’40s, and did most of his work for DC. He was a solid artist with a rather minimal style, and this is one of his best covers.
Comments
Burnley started out as a sports cartoonist—at the time (1929) he was the youngest ever artist to have a syndicated cartoon. And his first work to appear in comics (1938) were reprints of his “Sports Features” one-page cartoons. In 1940 he became the first artist not named Joe Shuster to draw Superman for publication. During his time with DC he worked primarily as a ghost artist for the various Superman and Batman titles, and also the Superman and Batman newspaper strips. He left comics in 1947 and went back to sports cartooning, which he did until he retired in 1976. A great artist.
Michael Kaluta
Purcell did a lot of work for DC over the years, including co-creating a few minor characters: Sargon the Sorcerer, the Gay Ghost, and the Enchantress. Not the greatest artist, but a good, solid artist who occasionally produced exceptional work.
But the character he's most closely associated with is Tomahawk, whose feature he penciled and inked starting with the character's fifth appearance (as a backup in Star-Spangled Comics in 1947) and continued into the Tomahawk solo title until the end of 1968. During that time he became an expert on Revolutionary War uniforms, to the degree that he served as a consultant to the Smithsonian Institute. Who says comics aren't educational?
One fun fact about Anderson: Wally Wood’s first professional work was done for Anderson in 1949. It was a political comic strip done as part of an election campaign, called Chief Ob-Stacle—the Woeful Indian, and it is as dreadful as it sounds (though nice to look at). But it was effective, as the candidate won his election. It’s not exactly clear what Anderson’s role in the strip was, but it appears as if he took on the job and for whatever reason hired Wood to draw it for him. It wasn't a ghost job; Wood got to sign his name. Anderson appeared to be acting more as a go-between, and he may have made some small corrections/changes to Wood’s artwork.
I particularly like the way Manhunter's head and shoulder plus the top of the building invade the logo space. It subtly creates an extra sense of height. Masterful.
This cover shows a bit of Hasen’s versatility. Hasen's spotting of blacks makes a nice, powerful triangle that (especially when combined with the color contrast between the foreground and background, and the different inking style applied to the background) immediately focuses the eye on the two opposing figures. The large area of red that is Green Lantern’s shirt leads the eye to first focus on GL. Then the eye follows the swoop of his cape down to GL's feet, which point to the villain. The eye trails up the villain's body, through the gun barrel, which points right back to GL's torso. Great design. And I love the texture of the snow-covered road. Wonderful inking.
July 1975 and we don't see many Atlas comics on this thread
Pablo Marcos cover artist
One of the cool things about Airboy was that he aged as the series went along. In his first appearance, he was only ten years old, but he was in his early 20s by the time the series ended. Also, his plane “Birdie” (seen on the cover) had wings that flapped like a bird’s.
August 1975 ASM # 147
cover John Romita and Gaspar Saladino