Staying with the October theme - 4 days left... one of my recurring favorites. Tomb of Dracula #41 February 1976 Cover by Gene Colan, Tom Palmer & Gaspar Saladino
While Tomb of Dracula lives on the fringes of the Marvel universe and tries to avoid the larger superhero continuity for the sake of horror fans, this issue has a brief cameo by Spider-Man trying to get into Dr. Sun's house to help out. Well, ok, it's not really Spider-Man. It's just a kid trick-or-treating. But the panel layout takes the reader by surprise the way it's laid out.
This cover makes it appear that the trick-or-treaters will be a major part of the plot, but they're just a cute joke and they never actually encounter the Lord of the Vampires.
Staying with the October theme - 4 days left... one of my recurring favorites. Tomb of Dracula #41 February 1976 Cover by Gene Colan, Tom Palmer & Gaspar Saladino
While Tomb of Dracula lives on the fringes of the Marvel universe and tries to avoid the larger superhero continuity for the sake of horror fans, this issue has a brief cameo by Spider-Man trying to get into Dr. Sun's house to help out. Well, ok, it's not really Spider-Man. It's just a kid trick-or-treating. But the panel layout takes the reader by surprise the way it's laid out.
This cover makes it appear that the trick-or-treaters will be a major part of the plot, but they're just a cute joke and they never actually encounter the Lord of the Vampires.
Gene’s work always looks great, but he really threw the perspective out the window here. The door's not even attached to the frame. And Dracula's front lawn shoots up at about a 65% grade. At least those figures look good!
Apr. 1947: When it came to his comic book career, Al Fagaly was best known for his funny animal work, particularly for Super Duck, which he created for MLJ. But he also did quite a bit of superhero and teen books both for MLJ/Archie and for Timely.
He started out as an in-betweener for Disney in 1939, but left animation in ’42 and moved to comics. Humor is where Fagaly exelled, but as you can see, he could also draw very pretty girls. And it was for his humor newspaper strip There Outta Be a Law with Archie writer Harry Shorten that he earned his true claim to fame (though the strip was really just a knockoff of Jimmy Hatlo’s They’ll Do It Every Time strip).
Weird Mystery Tales #6 June/July 1973 Cover by Jack Sparling
Weird Mystery Tales only had a twenty-four-issue run from 1972 to 1975. During that time, this series related a wide variety of ironic and mysterious stories, from far-out fantasy by Jack Kirby to more conventional ghost stories. Ultimately, this series simply got lost in the mass of similar titles being published by DC at the time and was soon forgotten.
Only one day left in October, and this is one of my favorite covers.
Werewolf By Night #12 December 1973 Cover by John Romita Sr.
I consider WBN as one of the all-time greats of horror comics from the 1970’s (Tomb of Dracula being THE best). This title started out with some fantastic creators on it. The names Ploog, Conway, Wolfman, Kane, and others, brought this character to life and gave him a world to play in, and share with other great characters from the Marvel Universe, as well. Around issue #20, I think, a different creative team, Doug Moench and Don Perlin took over the direction and while it was unexpected, it was great fun.
This issue was a battle between the Jack Russell, and The Hangman. Besides this awesome cover by John Romita Sr, you had Marv Wolfman writing, pencils by Gil Kane, ink by Don Perlin, Tom Orzechowski lettering, and Linda Lessmann on colors with Roy Thomas editing (vintage bronze age 70’s Marvel).
After looking at weeks of Master of Kungfu covers and interiors, II 100% know I am buying the omnibuses when they come out. Thanks guys; I have loved these covers.
Another for the Halloween theme...from September 1974, a fun monster cover by Gil Kane with inks by Mike Esposito and/or Frank Giacoia (per GCD). Sort of that Werewolf By Night cover from the other angle...
Another for the Halloween theme...from September 1974, a fun monster cover by Gil Kane with inks by Mike Esposito and/or Frank Giacoia (per GCD). Sort of that Werewolf By Night cover from the other angle...
An excellent companion to the WBN in the backseat cover!
House of Mystery #174 June 1968 Cover by Joe Orlando, George Roussos
This issue is about half reprints and half original stories, and all exceptional! After years of watering down this title with Martian Manhunter stories, and science fiction, on this issue #174, EC Comics veteran Joe Orlando was hired by DC to take over as editor of House of Mystery. The Comics Code Authority was being challenged by both DC and Marvel over content restrictions, and this series finally returned to its overt horror themes.
This first issue under Orlando would be mostly a reprint issue of old horror/suspense stories, as the new direction would truly begin with #175 (July/August 1968). That issue introduced a new figure to the series, Cain, the "able care taker" of the House of Mystery who would introduce nearly all stories that would run in the series before its cancellation. Cain would also host the spin-off humor series Plop! and later become a recurring character in Blue Devil and The Sandman.
Batman entered the house in The Brave and the Bold #93, tripped on a floorboard, and would have been shot had his pursuer's gun not jammed. He never actually met Cain, who instead narrates a story about him occurring in Scotland, which climaxes in a castle he describes as "a house of mystery" rather than "the House of Mystery." Superman teamed with Cain against Mister Mxyzptlk, who was attempting to take over the House, in DC Comics Presents #53. The House of Mystery appears mainly in various Vertigo titles, especially those tied into Neil Gaiman's Sandman; it has appeared briefly in Resurrection Man.
The House reappeared in The New 52 in the pages of Justice League Dark, being used as a base for the team. The House is shown to currently belong to John Constantine, who claims to have won the key to the house in a poker game against Doctor Occult and Father Time.
Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998) was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of Mad and the vice president of DC Comics, where he edited numerous titles and ran DC's Special Projects department. Orlando was also the artist for the fictional Tales of the Black Freighter comic from Watchmen. The Orlando page was the only artwork for the series not by Gibbons.
House of Mystery #174 June 1968 Cover by Joe Orlando, George Roussos
That's a worthy one to end your great run of Halloween covers, @bralinator !
Here's mine...
I read this one when I was about 7 years old, and the freaky Bernie Wrightson creatures on the cover and interior scared the crap out of me...so it seemed appropriate for today...
House of Mystery #174 June 1968 Cover by Joe Orlando, George Roussos
That's a worthy one to end your great run of Halloween covers, @bralinator !
Here's mine...
I read this one when I was about 7 years old, and the freaky Bernie Wrightson creatures on the cover and interior scared the crap out of me...so it seemed appropriate for today...
May 1947: One of my favorite Golden Age Superman covers, Action Comics #108 by Jack Burnley and Stan Kaye. There were tons of “hero swooping in to save the day” covers in the Golden Age, but this one stands out 1) for the coloring and its great contrast which draws the eye directly to Superman, 2) Burnley keeps it simple and focused on Superman, the molten metal, and the rescuees (so many of the WWII-era covers have lots of figures and distracting backgrounds), and 3) the nice figure work of Burnley.
@Caliban Yeah, I had and loved that one, too! I wish I had hung on to more of my Marvel magazines; only have a couple left and they're kind of inaccessible at the moment to boot...
June 1947: Jack Callahan not only drew this cover for Four Color #150, but wrote and drew the entire contents of the issue. Tillie the Toiler, of course, started out as a newspaper strip by Russ Westover, but was popular enough to spawn a novel and two movies. The strip was reprinted in comics for many years, but Jack Callahan, a newspaper strip artist himself, was called on to create new Tillie stories for Four Color every few months from 1945-49.
John Thomas “Jack” Callahan was another older artist, born in 1888. Most of his professional work was for the newspapers. As one of his early assignments, he drew the first crossword puzzle diagram (1913), but he became best known as the creator of Home Sweet Home, which ran from 1935-40. Callahan worked in comics from 1945-50, primarily for Dell and DC. He died from a heart attack in 1954 while playing tennis. As an interesting side note, his wife was a former high dive performer, who would dive into a pool from the rafters of the Hippodrome Theatre in New York—that is until she lost her eyesight from one of her dives.
Here's two Marvel b&w mags I believe I still own (buried under too many boxes at the moment):
A Gray Morrow cover from June 1975...
...and a Bob Larkin cover from January 1976
I read a couple of those old Executioner pulp-like novels as a kid, but I always loved the Punisher more...
I love Gray Morrow; I think he only did amazing work. He even made that awful post crisis spectre series tolerable; he did some really creepy/scary art for that series
@mwhitt80 I agree, based on what (limited) stuff I've seen. I need to look up more of his work!
@nweathington This question may have been raised before, but have you considered collecting your posts into a {TwoMorrows or otherwise} book? That is, large-ish cover reproductions with your commentary? A sort of tour of comic book history via your cover selections.
I know permissions and reproductions might be a nightmare, but, damn, I would buy the heck out of that in hardcover or softcover.
@nweathington can't do that for one reason: He would have problems just picking one or two Nick Cardy covers. A vein in his head would burst from the stress and then we'd just have a vegetable babbling about Bat Lash. That's before his heart explodes trying to sort through Oksner's girls.
@nweathington This question may have been raised before, but have you considered collecting your posts into a {TwoMorrows or otherwise} book? That is, large-ish cover reproductions with your commentary? A sort of tour of comic book history via your cover selections.
I know permissions and reproductions might be a nightmare, but, damn, I would buy the heck out of that in hardcover or softcover.
Hadn’t really thought about it, but that’s an intriguing—and flattering—idea. I'll give it some thought.
@nweathington can't do that for one reason: He would have problems just picking one or two Nick Cardy covers. A vein in his head would burst from the stress and then we'd just have a vegetable babbling about Bat Lash. That's before his heart explodes trying to sort through Oksner's girls.
Ha! Who says I can only pick one or two? I can talk about Cardy and Oksner all day.
By the way, prepare yourself for at least two more Briefer Frankenstein covers.
Comments
The Cat on a cover by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson
And Shock-Wave on a cover by Gil Kane and Al Milgrom
Tomb of Dracula #41
February 1976
Cover by Gene Colan, Tom Palmer & Gaspar Saladino
While Tomb of Dracula lives on the fringes of the Marvel universe and tries to avoid the larger superhero continuity for the sake of horror fans, this issue has a brief cameo by Spider-Man trying to get into Dr. Sun's house to help out. Well, ok, it's not really Spider-Man. It's just a kid trick-or-treating. But the panel layout takes the reader by surprise the way it's laid out.
This cover makes it appear that the trick-or-treaters will be a major part of the plot, but they're just a cute joke and they never actually encounter the Lord of the Vampires.
He started out as an in-betweener for Disney in 1939, but left animation in ’42 and moved to comics. Humor is where Fagaly exelled, but as you can see, he could also draw very pretty girls. And it was for his humor newspaper strip There Outta Be a Law with Archie writer Harry Shorten that he earned his true claim to fame (though the strip was really just a knockoff of Jimmy Hatlo’s They’ll Do It Every Time strip).
June/July 1973
Cover by Jack Sparling
Weird Mystery Tales only had a twenty-four-issue run from 1972 to 1975. During that time, this series related a wide variety of ironic and mysterious stories, from far-out fantasy by Jack Kirby to more conventional ghost stories. Ultimately, this series simply got lost in the mass of similar titles being published by DC at the time and was soon forgotten.
And, as a bonus, I'll join in the Halloween theme with a monster crossover -- after I saw this cover, I HAD to buy it!
From January 1975, with pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Palmer, and alterations by John Romita (per GCD)...
Werewolf By Night #12
December 1973
Cover by John Romita Sr.
I consider WBN as one of the all-time greats of horror comics from the 1970’s (Tomb of Dracula being THE best). This title started out with some fantastic creators on it. The names Ploog, Conway, Wolfman, Kane, and others, brought this character to life and gave him a world to play in, and share with other great characters from the Marvel Universe, as well. Around issue #20, I think, a different creative team, Doug Moench and Don Perlin took over the direction and while it was unexpected, it was great fun.
This issue was a battle between the Jack Russell, and The Hangman. Besides this awesome cover by John Romita Sr, you had Marv Wolfman writing, pencils by Gil Kane, ink by Don Perlin, Tom Orzechowski lettering, and Linda Lessmann on colors with Roy Thomas editing (vintage bronze age 70’s Marvel).
Thanks guys; I have loved these covers.
House of Mystery #174
June 1968
Cover by Joe Orlando, George Roussos
This issue is about half reprints and half original stories, and all exceptional! After years of watering down this title with Martian Manhunter stories, and science fiction, on this issue #174, EC Comics veteran Joe Orlando was hired by DC to take over as editor of House of Mystery. The Comics Code Authority was being challenged by both DC and Marvel over content restrictions, and this series finally returned to its overt horror themes.
This first issue under Orlando would be mostly a reprint issue of old horror/suspense stories, as the new direction would truly begin with #175 (July/August 1968). That issue introduced a new figure to the series, Cain, the "able care taker" of the House of Mystery who would introduce nearly all stories that would run in the series before its cancellation. Cain would also host the spin-off humor series Plop! and later become a recurring character in Blue Devil and The Sandman.
Batman entered the house in The Brave and the Bold #93, tripped on a floorboard, and would have been shot had his pursuer's gun not jammed. He never actually met Cain, who instead narrates a story about him occurring in Scotland, which climaxes in a castle he describes as "a house of mystery" rather than "the House of Mystery." Superman teamed with Cain against Mister Mxyzptlk, who was attempting to take over the House, in DC Comics Presents #53. The House of Mystery appears mainly in various Vertigo titles, especially those tied into Neil Gaiman's Sandman; it has appeared briefly in Resurrection Man.
The House reappeared in The New 52 in the pages of Justice League Dark, being used as a base for the team. The House is shown to currently belong to John Constantine, who claims to have won the key to the house in a poker game against Doctor Occult and Father Time.
Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998) was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of Mad and the vice president of DC Comics, where he edited numerous titles and ran DC's Special Projects department. Orlando was also the artist for the fictional Tales of the Black Freighter comic from Watchmen. The Orlando page was the only artwork for the series not by Gibbons.
If you made it this far, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Here's mine...
I read this one when I was about 7 years old, and the freaky Bernie Wrightson creatures on the cover and interior scared the crap out of me...so it seemed appropriate for today...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone!
Happy Halloween @RobAnderson !
"The Super-Hero Who Betrayed the World".
Cover by Carmine Infantino.
Fab cover
In the 1970's I loved Doc Savage in all formats -- pulps, Marvel black and white magazines, and standard comic book form.
Here was my favorite pulp cover at the time. Kenneth Robeson cover from 1975, I believe:
And, one I had from the magazine line. I was a sucker for anything that appeared to be "Loch Ness Monster"-related...July 1976 by Ken Barr.
always thought Doc Savage should have invested in better quality shirts
A Gray Morrow cover from June 1975...
...and a Bob Larkin cover from January 1976
I read a couple of those old Executioner pulp-like novels as a kid, but I always loved the Punisher more...
John Thomas “Jack” Callahan was another older artist, born in 1888. Most of his professional work was for the newspapers. As one of his early assignments, he drew the first crossword puzzle diagram (1913), but he became best known as the creator of Home Sweet Home, which ran from 1935-40. Callahan worked in comics from 1945-50, primarily for Dell and DC. He died from a heart attack in 1954 while playing tennis. As an interesting side note, his wife was a former high dive performer, who would dive into a pool from the rafters of the Hippodrome Theatre in New York—that is until she lost her eyesight from one of her dives.
@nweathington This question may have been raised before, but have you considered collecting your posts into a {TwoMorrows or otherwise} book? That is, large-ish cover reproductions with your commentary? A sort of tour of comic book history via your cover selections.
I know permissions and reproductions might be a nightmare, but, damn, I would buy the heck out of that in hardcover or softcover.
He would have problems just picking one or two Nick Cardy covers. A vein in his head would burst from the stress and then we'd just have a vegetable babbling about Bat Lash. That's before his heart explodes trying to sort through Oksner's girls.
Ha! Who says I can only pick one or two? I can talk about Cardy and Oksner all day.
By the way, prepare yourself for at least two more Briefer Frankenstein covers.
I just think you should broaden it out a little bit, get a slightly large sample of artists and their work.