Flex Mentallo

This is a great tribute to a master who died far too young. He's always been top shelf for me.

On 3/4/2023 at 7:15 PM, adamstrange said:

As a young'n, Murphy was a huge fan of sci-fi. 

From Buck Rogers to Lars of Mars to Captain Comet and Adam Strange! Since we are already a trillion miles off topic now, I'd love to know what Murph had to say about C.C. and A.S!

On 3/4/2023 at 7:15 PM, adamstrange said:

As a young'n, Murphy was a huge fan of sci-fi.  That's why his early art was in Planet comics, from which he was able to get the assignment for the "Buck Rogers" syndicated strip.  This was a dream job as he had grown up reading this strip, the first nationally syndicated sci-fi serial.  Unfortunately, it did not pay well and there were "complications" with the syndicate that led to him quit the strip and movie from Chicago back to North Carolina where he worked at his father's cab company. 

Jerry Siegel recruited him for Z-D and he got enough money to move to NYC.  Together they created "Lars of Mars", which was just a variation of Buck Rogers (even the costume is very similar).  It was from Murphy that I first learned of Allan Anderson, painter of both Lars' covers.  He is no relation of Murphy's.

Murphy inked the first issue himself (the art is gorgeous) but needed help with the second, where he was assisted by John Guinta.  I asked whether he thought there was some loss of quality from the Giunta's inks, but he refused to offer even the slightest criticism, just indicating that it was "different" than his style.  While the Z-D assignments eventually petered out, Murphy was in NYC long enough to establish connections with Standard and eventually DC, providing him sufficient work to support himself and, later, a family.  At DC he was later responsible for the creation of another Buck Rogers knock-off that is near and dear to my heart.

My interest in Lars was sparked by the cover image of #11 in the Gerber Guide.  The very first pedigree I ever owned was the Cosmic Aero copy of Lars 11, purchased from an Ernie Gerber auction.  There was a slight paint stain on the cover and the requisite checkmarks throughout but, after being used for the PhotoJournal, it had to be sold as they were so expensive to print.  That copy went in trade to MrBedrock, part of the notorious Houston Airport Affair.

Shown below is my first upgrade from the Cosmic Aero and a shot of the interior of issue #10.

I thought MINE was the notorious Houston Airport Affair. They must be a regular occurrence!

On 3/4/2023 at 5:05 PM, Randall Dowling said:

I have a dozen or so.  I'm in the middle of a massive inventory on all of my books.  I'll scan the ones I have and post them over the next week.

I'll be fascinated!

On 3/4/2023 at 5:12 PM, Randall Dowling said:

This is an exceptionally scarce book.  They only ever published 2 issues (this is the second) and the first has a classic "dog threatening woman" cover.  I've only seen each for sale one time, many years ago.

Thanks for posting this, Flex!  

I had no idea there was another issue!

On 3/4/2023 at 4:52 PM, adamstrange said:

Ziff Davis was originally a pulp publisher but, as that market was waning, decided on a late entry into the field of comics.  To distinguish their offering on the newsstand, they decided to use paintings.

Their first editor was Jerry Siegel, who had expectations of great success and paid high rates to attract talent. It was due to him that Murphy Anderson left his father's cab company and got back into comics.  Unfortunately, sales did not pan out, Siegel was canned, and their only long-running title was GI Joe.

Source:  Conversation with Murphy Anderson about his work in Lars of Mars, which is another story in and of itself.

What's the story on Lars of Mars? It was only two issues I think?

On 3/3/2023 at 11:54 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Napa copies...

Most of the good stuff must have been plundered by the time I stumbled across them, but I feel lucky to have some. Does anyone else here have copies from the collection? [Don't see many out in the wild the days.]

It bookends with this one for me.

On 3/3/2023 at 12:38 AM, Randall Dowling said:

Although I like many of the covers from this run of Real, I think this one is my favorite (Pretty sure this is Shannon Stirnweis art on the cover, but I'm not certain).  Nice simple composition with a strong hierarchy between the subjects and a stunning blue background. 

One of my favorites as well. When the Napa copy popped up I couldn't resist it, even though I already had a decent copy!

On 3/1/2023 at 10:35 PM, lbcolefan said:

Here’s another LB Cole cover. 

Those sharks look like they failed the audition for Finding Nemo!

On 3/1/2023 at 10:40 PM, lbcolefan said:

I finally found a nice copy of this classic bullet in the head cover. 
The Horrific 3 of men’s adventure mags!

 

Great copy of 'that's the smallest pistol I've ever s-'! [There's a moral in there somewhere!]

...but even Allen Anderson has to give way to Maurice Whitman when it comes to 'strong women in space' covers! From Saunders via Anderson to Whitman is a tight little orbit!

On 3/2/2023 at 1:38 PM, comicjack said:

To bad they didn't use this on a comic 

Yes, Jack - it does beg the question - why did Ziff Davis use painted covers on their comics but Fiction House did not? Perhaps our learned friend @adamstrangemight have an inkling?

On 3/1/2023 at 6:05 PM, Paul © ® ™⚽️💙 said:

I thought this was a thread 'bout somethin else.....  

 

Mother!

This is a tremendous cover I think!

Some Anderson covers from the book....

Anderson's controlled style was perfect for Planet Stories. The Illustrated Press did a great monograph on him as well, also by David Saunders.

The man himself - he and his wife modeled for many of his covers!