@nweathington Barks!! We need a choice higher than "awesome"...
@Webhead I only paid $5 for the Omega TPB; it was definitely a bargain read at that price. (And I said I picked it up at Baltimore -- but it was actually HEROES CON. Obviously, I'm anticipating Baltimore Con...)
Reading something a bit more current right now, and really enjoying so far. Another Heroes Con TPB buy.
Descender, written by Jeff Lemire, artwork by Dustin Nguyen
Mar. 1952: This month I'm going with another western, Black Diamond Western #35, published by Lev Gleason. The comic featured a Lone Ranger type of character named Black Diamond (the guy in the mask on the cover below) and his sidekick, Bumper (the one in the red-and-white striped shirt). The cover was drawn by Dick Rockwell. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Dick (full name, Richard Waring Rockwell) was the nephew of Norman Rockwell. Born Dec. 11, 1920, Dick Rockwell was called to serve in the US Army Air Corps as a pilot during World War II, and he wasn’t able to start his career until after the war. In 1948 he got his first job in comics working for Timely, but he would soon be working for several publishers, including Lev Gleason, Street and Smith, Hillman, Prize, and Fiction House. But he did most of his work for Lev Gleason, and he often was able to sign his name.
By the end of 1953, he was mostly out of comics, though he did a few jobs over the next three or four years. He would come back to do a few jobs in 1964 and again in 1973. He even did some work for DC in the ’80s, working on Blackhawk and the “Wild Dog” feature in Action Comics Weekly.
The reason for his departure was that in 1952, when he applied for membership in the National Cartoonists Society, he met Milt Caniff, who was in charge of reviewing applications. Caniff liked what he saw and immediately hired Rockwell as his assistant on the Steve Canyon strip. Before long Rockwell would be penciling the strips himself, and inking the secondary characters and backgrounds, while Caniff would ink the main figures and touch up Rockwell’s work as he deemed necessary. This continued for the next 35 years until Caniff’s death in 1988, after which Rockwell wrapped up the strip on his own.
Rockwell also worked occasionally as a courtroom artist (from 1957 to 1983), a magazine illustrator (like his uncle), and an editorial cartoonist. He was a versatile, talented artist, as you can see below. This cover isn’t the most dynamic in the world, but look at the body language of the cowboy in the bottom right corner, and of the feeble sheriff being held at gunpoint. Great stuff.
Apr. 1952: This month it’s back to war comics. At this point the Korean War had been going on for about two years, and war comics were slowly coming back into fashion. But after the Chinese New Year’s Offensive just a few months earlier, things kicked into high gear. Unlike the war comics of World War II however, these stories were far more brutal in their depictions of life on the front line. Whereas the war comics of the ’40s read more like adventure stories and caricatured the enemy as hapless cartoons, the war comics of the ’50s pulled no punches. While literal blood and guts weren’t usually on display, it was quite common to show soldiers bayonetting the enemy (and it went both ways), flame throwers burning enemy soldiers, and body-littered battlefields. More interesting was that the North Korean and Chinese soldiers were almost always drawn in a realistic fashion—no bright yellow skin or buck teeth or squinty eyes here.
The overwhelming majority of Americans supported US involvement in the war, but by this time a weariness with the war was starting build. Even US soldiers began speaking out against the war and describing the brutality and horror they witnessed. Also, comics had already begun pushing the envelope of what was considered acceptable in the horror and crime comics. So it’s no wonder that the war comics reflected all of that.
And that brings us to Battle Action #4, cover art by Gene Colan. Atlas published several war comics, and theirs (along with EC’s) were among the best drawn, thanks to Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Bill Everett... and Gene Colan. Colan got his first comic book work with Fiction House, but quickly found work with Timely, which would become his main employer for the next several years (though he worked with just about every publisher around). Starting in 1953, Colan would split most of his time fairly evenly between Marvel and DC, and it would be that way until his Marvel work suddenly dried up at the end of 1963. Colan would spend the next couple of years primarily drawing romance comics for DC, until finally being slowly integrated back into the Marvel fold. But we’ll get to that part of the story another time.
Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman #1 (Dynamite/DC Comics) December 2016 Cover: Alex Ross
Government agents Jamie Sommers and Diana Prince team their respective powers against a threat to national security in this series too big for the small screen! In this action-packed miniseries, the two television titans team up to fight a rogue cabal bent on wreaking havoc and stealing deadly weapons. Can CASTRA be stopped before their real targets are revealed and lives are lost? With super powers, bionic enhancements, surprise villains, and an invisible plane, just about anything is possible!
Wonder Woman ’77 Meets The Bionic Woman #1 written by Andy Mangels and drawn by Judit Tondora, will be out on December 7th.
Another book from my small non-U.S. comic collection -- Tor by Joe Kubert!
This (apparently) Brazillian comic has a story which includes Joe Kubert himself at the beginning and end, as well as two non-superhero back-up shorts. It has a 1976 copyright, and is digest-sized, though not thick like several others I have.
May 1952: This month it’s back to horror and The Beyond #14. The artist is probably Ken Rice, who was drawing most of the covers for the book at that time, but it’s unclear, as it’s much better than his usual drawing. I particularly like the human figure’s face. The bags under his eyes, and the rough beard and tousled hair, make him look like he’s been up for days working on his formula.
The Beyond was Ace Magazines’ first foray into the horror genre. The title started as a romance comic, Love Experiences, but with issue #6 became Challenge of the Unknown. For whatever reason, the name didn’t stick, because with the next issue the title was changed and renumbered to The Beyond #1.
The Beyond was fairly mild for the time, but you can see that they tried to emulate EC in some ways in that some of the stories were rather funny. Also, as you can see on the cover, Ace made use of the Leroy Lettering system. The Leroy system was designed for use on technical drawings, but Max Gaines had employed it in the Wonder Woman comic when he was editor, and he brought it with him when he started EC. I have a couple of Leroy sets I found in thrift stores, and basically it’s a pencil on a moveable arm along with a stencil-like guide. It’s kind of a pain to use, and is slower than working freehand. But Ace used it on many (but not all) of their stories. This issue marks the first time an entire issue of The Beyond was lettered from cover to cover with a Leroy system.
I thought I'd share a few finds from my very brief visit to the Baltimore Comic Con this year....
First up, I picked up a stray issue of Doom Patrol #103 (May 1966; pencils and inks by Bob Brown) for cheap. I was really looking for a Milestone Hardcover Volume 1, but since none were to be found, I bought this issue to try out. Also included the back cover, attached, of models that were out right when the Batman TV show was starting.
June 1952: When last we left L.B. Cole back in April 1950, he was just getting his fledgling publishing house (Star Publications) off the ground. He’d already run through several different titles in a wide variety of genres (pretty much everything except teen humor), but few lasted more than a year. And Cole seemingly drew a cover for nearly every single comic Star published—though sometimes he lifted a splash page drawn by another artist for the interior of the book and signed his own name to it. Still, he had a distinct, high-contrast style that looks to have relied heavily on photo reference, and made all the more distinct by the dramatic coloring used on the covers.
And that brings us to Terrors of the Jungle #18, which was only the second issue with that title. This book started out as one of the titles Star bought from Novelty Press, Dick Cole (no relation). Star picked up the numbering where Novelty had left off with issue #6, and reprinted stories from various Novelty comics. With issue #11, the book was retitled Sports Thrills, but still consisted mostly of various Novelty reprints. With issue #16, the book became Jungle Thrills, which reprinted stories from Fox’s inventory. But jungle books were on the way out, and horror was very much in, so with the very next issue the book became Terrors of the Jungle, again reprinting stories from Fox, including some Matt Baker-drawn stories. Surprisingly, there do appear to be a couple of new stories in the last two issues of the series, which ended with issue #21.
Most of the books published by Star were at least partially filled with reprinted stories from Novelty and/or Fox in order to keep costs down. But they did a fair amount of original material as well. Unfortunately, that original material would lead to their demise. But that’s a story for later.
May 1952: This month it’s back to horror and The Beyond #14. The artist is probably Ken Rice, who was drawing most of the covers for the book at that time, but it’s unclear, as it’s much better than his usual drawing. I particularly like the human figure’s face. The bags under his eyes, and the rough beard and tousled hair, make him look like he’s been up for days working on his formula.
The Beyond was Ace Magazines’ first foray into the horror genre. The title started as a romance comic, Love Experiences, but with issue #6 became Challenge of the Unknown. For whatever reason, the name didn’t stick, because with the next issue the title was changed and renumbered to The Beyond #1.
The Beyond was fairly mild for the time, but you can see that they tried to emulate EC in some ways in that some of the stories were rather funny. Also, as you can see on the cover, Ace made use of the Leroy Lettering system. The Leroy system was designed for use on technical drawings, but Max Gaines had employed it in the Wonder Woman comic when he was editor, and he brought it with him when he started EC. I have a couple of Leroy sets I found in thrift stores, and basically it’s a pencil on a moveable arm along with a stencil-like guide. It’s kind of a pain to use, and is slower than working freehand. But Ace used it on many (but not all) of their stories. This issue marks the first time an entire issue of The Beyond was lettered from cover to cover with a Leroy system.
As someone who has had experience lettering with the Leroy Lettering System... my sympathies go out to the survivors.
I thought I'd share a few finds from my very brief visit to the Baltimore Comic Con this year....
First up, I picked up a stray issue of Doom Patrol #103 (May 1966; pencils and inks by Bob Brown) for cheap. I was really looking for a Milestone Hardcover Volume 1, but since none were to be found, I bought this issue to try out. Also included the back cover, attached, of models that were out right when the Batman TV show was starting.
9-11 - World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories to Remember Vol. 2 February 2002 Cover by Alex Ross
Wow, indeed, Superman!
This is the second of two books that helped raise money for victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, DC on September 11, 2001. All contributors, as well as the suppliers, printers and distributors donated their work on this project. While there were many covers revolving around the tragic events of 9-11, this particular cover that put the emphasis on "first responders," the police, firemen, rescue workers, and everyday people who performed heroically on that day. This defines the true American spirit to rally together in the face of tragedy.
Laff-a-Lympics #1 March 1978 Cover by Mark Evanier
It should be noted that Mark only laid the cover out using existing model sheet art (probably drawn by multiple artists) from Hanna-Barbera’s library. He did not actually do any drawing, but he did letter the cover.
Ha! No doubt, @Tonebone . In fact, here's an advert from inside that very issue of Doom Patrol:
Just finished up another Baltimore Comic-Con find -- actually a mini-run of the issues I was still missing between Ka-Zar #15-#20. I was interested in this little run because it featured the team of Doug Moench and Val Mayerick, and it didn't disappoint...flying sharks, aliens races, dimensional travel and Klaw...some true 70's craziness. Though #20 finished the run, and it ended mid-story, we did later find out where things landed in X-Men #115, years later.
Here's the last cover of the run:
Ka-Zar #20 (February 1977) Pencils: Gil Kane Inks: Dan Adkins
@ChrisMurrin has inspired me with his list in the reread thread...
Doctor Zero #1 from April of 1988. The first couple of issues of the three Shadowline Saga books were on the shelf when I ventured back into a comic shop for the first time after a long hiatus. I immediately fell in love.
Laff-a-Lympics #1 March 1978 Cover by Mark Evanier
How many characters on the cover of this comic are appearing in the new series Future Quest? Or any of the recent Hanna-Barbera reimagined titles?
I'd love to see these guys show up:
Back at my first video game company, the director called a few of us into his office and told us he had just gotten an invite to pitch some game ideas... it seems the publisher wanted games that made use of a racing engine, and wanted to make use of a Hanna Barbera license that was going to expire if not used.
I shouted out "Wacky Races"! - He stared blankly at me and said... "I don't see the connection".
In the same meeting, I proposed "Laff-a-Lympics" as a HB kids sports game, and Scooby Doo Clue when asked for a pairing of a Hasbro property with HB. With each suggestion, he responded with "I don't get it... what's the connection?"
July 1952: I posted a Reed Crandall Blackhawk cover for Military Comics #20, way back for the July 1943 post. Well, Blackhawk was still going strong in 1952, even amidst the huge wave of more “realistic” war comics. And Reed Crandall had gotten even better as an artist. This is one of his best for the series. Little did Crandall know at the time, but he would only be on Blackhawk for the next ten issues before Quality would begin to cut back on the amount of work they gave him. He had become more trouble than he was worth to them. According to people who worked for Quality at the time, when Crandall’s wife left him (presumably because of his heavy drinking) his personality changed, and he began arguing with his editors over every request for changes to the artwork. It must have been bad for them to drop their top artist of their best selling book.
But Crandall managed to land on his feet, finding work at EC. That was unfortunately short-lived though, as EC would be forced to close most of its operations in 1956. Crandall closed out the ’50s doing a variety of jobs for Marvel. In 1960 he began getting fairly steady work for Treasure Chest (which would last into 1972), and a variety of publishers. He did some great work for Warren’s magazines in the mid-’60s, but his drinking soon became more of a problem. He had left New York to care for his mother in Kansas, and had gotten well paying illustration work for new editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels, but by 1973 the alohol abuse was finally taking a toll on his drawing ability. 1974 found him out of the comics industry, working as a janitor and night watchman. He finally got the help he needed and was able to quit alcohol, but his health had dramatically deteriorated, and later that year he had a stroke which forced him into a nursing home at the age of only 57. He spent the remaining eight years of his life there, until he passed away from a heart attack. A tragic ending for a wonderful artist.
Aug. 1952: Less than a year after Russia’s second and third atomic bomb tests, fears of a possible nuclear war were rapidly escalating. Schools had begun running atomic bomb safety drills (years before the first mandated fire safety drills), so it must have seemed the perfect time to cash in on that growing fear, and comics publishers were never ones to miss an opportunity. So here’s Atomic War #1, with an appropriately dramatic cover. The cover artist is unidentified—with no human figures on the page, it’s simply too difficult to determine—but there’s a good chance it was Ken Rice, who did several covers for Ace, and who also penciled and inked stories for all four issues of the series.
Yes, that’s right, the series only lasted four issues. Maybe the idea of a nuclear war was just too scary even during a time when horror ruled. Or maybe kids just preferred to be scared by gruesome monsters instead of a faceless killer from the sky.
But the interesting thing about the series is that all the stories are part of the same continuity. There are three or four stories in each issue, each featuring different characters in different parts of the war, but they are all tied together in the same overarching story. And they aren’t terribly written. Of course, the series doesn’t come to a tidy ending. Issue #4 even tells the reader to not miss the next issue, but each story within the story has its own ending, so you can still get some satisfaction from that.
I may have posted this cover before (as I owned it as a kid), but THIS copy, scanned below, I picked up at Baltimore Comic-Con earlier this month -- both to re-read it after all these years, and as a possible selection for my custom calendar for 2017.
LOVE that Ploog cover, but it doesn't have Ploog interiors (Werner Roth pencils/ Paul Reinman inks.) Had fun re-reading it, though.
Werewolf by Night #8 (August 1973) Pencils & Inks: Mike Ploog
Sept. 1952: I don’t always go for the big, iconic covers, but this time I am: Shock SuspenStories #6 with cover art by Wally Wood. What Frontline Combat did for the realities of war, Shock SuspenStories did for social issues such as police corruption, drug addiction, rape, and of course, racism. These “preachies”—as Bill Gaines and editor Al Feldstein called them amongst themselves—were mixed in among the usual stories of betrayal, greed, and violence, making them all the more shocking when they appeared. In the cover story, appropriately titled “Under Cover!” (also drawn by Wood), a woman is whipped to death by the KKK stand-in “Black Vigilante Society” for “consorting with... that trash element in our town”. There are no black characters in the story, probably to avoid issues with Southern retailers—in fact, most of the preachies are rather simplistic and play it fairly safe, leaning more towards entertainment than morality play—but the message is clear.
Oct. 1952: With 26 war titles released this month (not counting Blackhawk and a couple of war-themed romance comics), I'm going with a horror book instead—Adventures into Horror #7, with a cover by Jack Katz. Best known these days for his graphic novel The First Kingdom, Katz got his start in the industry in 1943 as a 16-year-old with Fawcett, working in C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza’s studio, where he was soon doing full artwork for “Bulletman” stories. The next year found him in the Iger studio doing mostly lettering work, and by 1946 he was out of comics and working as an art assistant for a number of King Features newspaper strips.
He got back into comics in 1951 doing horror and some war stories for Pines/Standard. This cover was his first for them, and the first of his career. In 1953 he moved over to Marvel, where he did a little bit of everything, but he left comics again in 1955 to become a painter and art teacher. I doubt this was entirely voluntary on his part given the state of the industry in 1955, but this time he stayed away for a much longer period. He wouldn’t draw another comic until 1970, this time for Warren-imitator Skywald. He also did a few jobs for Warren, along with DC and Marvel, but most of his work was done for Skywald’s horror mags until 1974 when he began his epic, The First Kingdom, which many consider the first graphic novel (even though it wasn’t finished until 1986).
Nov. 1952: It’s been a while since we caught up with the superheroes, so here’s Marvel Family #79 with cover art by Beck and Costanza, and perhaps a bit of editorializing on Beck’s part about what he thought of the horror trend in comics. Also, there seems to be a definite tip of the hat to Mad in the text treatment above the logo. “MAD” is styled rather similarly to the logo of EC’s popular new comic, the third issue of which was released this same month.
Superheroes were nearing their nadir. In fact, this month’s Master Comics, featuring Captain Marvel Jr., would be the penultimate issue (that one’s for you @Pants) of the series. And The Marvel Family would only stick around for just over a year longer. Not even the power of Zeus could save them.
Comments
@Webhead I only paid $5 for the Omega TPB; it was definitely a bargain read at that price. (And I said I picked it up at Baltimore -- but it was actually HEROES CON. Obviously, I'm anticipating Baltimore Con...)
Reading something a bit more current right now, and really enjoying so far. Another Heroes Con TPB buy.
Descender, written by Jeff Lemire, artwork by Dustin Nguyen
By the end of 1953, he was mostly out of comics, though he did a few jobs over the next three or four years. He would come back to do a few jobs in 1964 and again in 1973. He even did some work for DC in the ’80s, working on Blackhawk and the “Wild Dog” feature in Action Comics Weekly.
The reason for his departure was that in 1952, when he applied for membership in the National Cartoonists Society, he met Milt Caniff, who was in charge of reviewing applications. Caniff liked what he saw and immediately hired Rockwell as his assistant on the Steve Canyon strip. Before long Rockwell would be penciling the strips himself, and inking the secondary characters and backgrounds, while Caniff would ink the main figures and touch up Rockwell’s work as he deemed necessary. This continued for the next 35 years until Caniff’s death in 1988, after which Rockwell wrapped up the strip on his own.
Rockwell also worked occasionally as a courtroom artist (from 1957 to 1983), a magazine illustrator (like his uncle), and an editorial cartoonist. He was a versatile, talented artist, as you can see below. This cover isn’t the most dynamic in the world, but look at the body language of the cowboy in the bottom right corner, and of the feeble sheriff being held at gunpoint. Great stuff.
The overwhelming majority of Americans supported US involvement in the war, but by this time a weariness with the war was starting build. Even US soldiers began speaking out against the war and describing the brutality and horror they witnessed. Also, comics had already begun pushing the envelope of what was considered acceptable in the horror and crime comics. So it’s no wonder that the war comics reflected all of that.
And that brings us to Battle Action #4, cover art by Gene Colan. Atlas published several war comics, and theirs (along with EC’s) were among the best drawn, thanks to Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Bill Everett... and Gene Colan. Colan got his first comic book work with Fiction House, but quickly found work with Timely, which would become his main employer for the next several years (though he worked with just about every publisher around). Starting in 1953, Colan would split most of his time fairly evenly between Marvel and DC, and it would be that way until his Marvel work suddenly dried up at the end of 1963. Colan would spend the next couple of years primarily drawing romance comics for DC, until finally being slowly integrated back into the Marvel fold. But we’ll get to that part of the story another time.
December 2016
Cover: Alex Ross
Government agents Jamie Sommers and Diana Prince team their respective powers against a threat to national security in this series too big for the small screen! In this action-packed miniseries, the two television titans team up to fight a rogue cabal bent on wreaking havoc and stealing deadly weapons. Can CASTRA be stopped before their real targets are revealed and lives are lost? With super powers, bionic enhancements, surprise villains, and an invisible plane, just about anything is possible!
Wonder Woman ’77 Meets The Bionic Woman #1 written by Andy Mangels and drawn by Judit Tondora, will be out on December 7th.
The Beyond was Ace Magazines’ first foray into the horror genre. The title started as a romance comic, Love Experiences, but with issue #6 became Challenge of the Unknown. For whatever reason, the name didn’t stick, because with the next issue the title was changed and renumbered to The Beyond #1.
The Beyond was fairly mild for the time, but you can see that they tried to emulate EC in some ways in that some of the stories were rather funny. Also, as you can see on the cover, Ace made use of the Leroy Lettering system. The Leroy system was designed for use on technical drawings, but Max Gaines had employed it in the Wonder Woman comic when he was editor, and he brought it with him when he started EC. I have a couple of Leroy sets I found in thrift stores, and basically it’s a pencil on a moveable arm along with a stencil-like guide. It’s kind of a pain to use, and is slower than working freehand. But Ace used it on many (but not all) of their stories. This issue marks the first time an entire issue of The Beyond was lettered from cover to cover with a Leroy system.
First up, I picked up a stray issue of Doom Patrol #103 (May 1966; pencils and inks by Bob Brown) for cheap. I was really looking for a Milestone Hardcover Volume 1, but since none were to be found, I bought this issue to try out. Also included the back cover, attached, of models that were out right when the Batman TV show was starting.
And that brings us to Terrors of the Jungle #18, which was only the second issue with that title. This book started out as one of the titles Star bought from Novelty Press, Dick Cole (no relation). Star picked up the numbering where Novelty had left off with issue #6, and reprinted stories from various Novelty comics. With issue #11, the book was retitled Sports Thrills, but still consisted mostly of various Novelty reprints. With issue #16, the book became Jungle Thrills, which reprinted stories from Fox’s inventory. But jungle books were on the way out, and horror was very much in, so with the very next issue the book became Terrors of the Jungle, again reprinting stories from Fox, including some Matt Baker-drawn stories. Surprisingly, there do appear to be a couple of new stories in the last two issues of the series, which ended with issue #21.
Most of the books published by Star were at least partially filled with reprinted stories from Novelty and/or Fox in order to keep costs down. But they did a fair amount of original material as well. Unfortunately, that original material would lead to their demise. But that’s a story for later.
February 2002
Cover by Alex Ross
Wow, indeed, Superman!
This is the second of two books that helped raise money for victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, DC on September 11, 2001. All contributors, as well as the suppliers, printers and distributors donated their work on this project. While there were many covers revolving around the tragic events of 9-11, this particular cover that put the emphasis on "first responders," the police, firemen, rescue workers, and everyday people who performed heroically on that day. This defines the true American spirit to rally together in the face of tragedy.
November 1973
Cover by Creig Flessel
Where are her protective garments?! Romance comic book takes on women's lib. Ahhh, good times :)
Got that back to school feeling?
Clif Robinson and Dylan Teague on colours
March 1978
Cover by Mark Evanier
How many characters on the cover of this comic are appearing in the new series Future Quest? Or any of the recent Hanna-Barbera reimagined titles?
I'd love to see these guys show up:
Laff-a-Lypmics! I love it, @bralinator ! Makes me miss Saturday Morning cartoons (and cereal).... Ha! No doubt, @Tonebone . In fact, here's an advert from inside that very issue of Doom Patrol:
Just finished up another Baltimore Comic-Con find -- actually a mini-run of the issues I was still missing between Ka-Zar #15-#20. I was interested in this little run because it featured the team of Doug Moench and Val Mayerick, and it didn't disappoint...flying sharks, aliens races, dimensional travel and Klaw...some true 70's craziness. Though #20 finished the run, and it ended mid-story, we did later find out where things landed in X-Men #115, years later.
Here's the last cover of the run:
Ka-Zar #20 (February 1977)
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Dan Adkins
Doctor Zero #1 from April of 1988. The first couple of issues of the three Shadowline Saga books were on the shelf when I ventured back into a comic shop for the first time after a long hiatus. I immediately fell in love.
Most of them are actually pretty cool:
Sorry if either of these have been posted before..I'm not going through 190 pages of images to find out.
I shouted out "Wacky Races"! - He stared blankly at me and said... "I don't see the connection".
In the same meeting, I proposed "Laff-a-Lympics" as a HB kids sports game, and Scooby Doo Clue when asked for a pairing of a Hasbro property with HB. With each suggestion, he responded with "I don't get it... what's the connection?"
They are no longer in business.
Sorry you didn't have greater influence there. Would've both been fun games, I'm sure.
But Crandall managed to land on his feet, finding work at EC. That was unfortunately short-lived though, as EC would be forced to close most of its operations in 1956. Crandall closed out the ’50s doing a variety of jobs for Marvel. In 1960 he began getting fairly steady work for Treasure Chest (which would last into 1972), and a variety of publishers. He did some great work for Warren’s magazines in the mid-’60s, but his drinking soon became more of a problem. He had left New York to care for his mother in Kansas, and had gotten well paying illustration work for new editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels, but by 1973 the alohol abuse was finally taking a toll on his drawing ability. 1974 found him out of the comics industry, working as a janitor and night watchman. He finally got the help he needed and was able to quit alcohol, but his health had dramatically deteriorated, and later that year he had a stroke which forced him into a nursing home at the age of only 57. He spent the remaining eight years of his life there, until he passed away from a heart attack. A tragic ending for a wonderful artist.
Yes, that’s right, the series only lasted four issues. Maybe the idea of a nuclear war was just too scary even during a time when horror ruled. Or maybe kids just preferred to be scared by gruesome monsters instead of a faceless killer from the sky.
But the interesting thing about the series is that all the stories are part of the same continuity. There are three or four stories in each issue, each featuring different characters in different parts of the war, but they are all tied together in the same overarching story. And they aren’t terribly written. Of course, the series doesn’t come to a tidy ending. Issue #4 even tells the reader to not miss the next issue, but each story within the story has its own ending, so you can still get some satisfaction from that.
LOVE that Ploog cover, but it doesn't have Ploog interiors (Werner Roth pencils/ Paul Reinman inks.) Had fun re-reading it, though.
Werewolf by Night #8 (August 1973)
Pencils & Inks: Mike Ploog
He got back into comics in 1951 doing horror and some war stories for Pines/Standard. This cover was his first for them, and the first of his career. In 1953 he moved over to Marvel, where he did a little bit of everything, but he left comics again in 1955 to become a painter and art teacher. I doubt this was entirely voluntary on his part given the state of the industry in 1955, but this time he stayed away for a much longer period. He wouldn’t draw another comic until 1970, this time for Warren-imitator Skywald. He also did a few jobs for Warren, along with DC and Marvel, but most of his work was done for Skywald’s horror mags until 1974 when he began his epic, The First Kingdom, which many consider the first graphic novel (even though it wasn’t finished until 1986).
Superheroes were nearing their nadir. In fact, this month’s Master Comics, featuring Captain Marvel Jr., would be the penultimate issue (that one’s for you @Pants) of the series. And The Marvel Family would only stick around for just over a year longer. Not even the power of Zeus could save them.