Electricmastro

Cole and his fondness for horses:

Bob Davis (4Most #1, Winter 1942):

John Jordan (Blue Bolt #v4#7, February 1944):

I suspect there were politicians who bothered to take a closer look at EC at all that took more notice of the aforementioned material that seemingly took a stand against the American government itself more than the actual horror, and used Wertham as a sort of scapegoat link, regardless of whatever point he made, in agreeing they want to do something about horror comics so as to get more parents and people agreeing with Wertham in general on their side with the real agenda of taking down publishers they perceive to be discrediting American industry. It goes back to how Harvey Comics was also targeted by the Senate, because of how Senator Capehart accused Sad Sack Goes Home as being Socialist propaganda:

I suppose it didn’t help, as I recall, that EC published quite a number of stories that called out, or at least implied, the government as un-American, or just being bad in general if nothing else, as I don’t think it just simply has to do with EC being more gory, but them also writing their social issues and politics in a way that some may more consciously get the impression that they’re giving out attacks of shame against the government, if not, the American people regardless of the original intent of the writers themselves, and goes beyond simply framing it as dumb adults just being scared of delinquency. It sounds extreme, but as you were saying in regards to paranoia, the Red Scare, as well as the fear of communist spies and the threat of nuclear war during the Cold War, then I suppose it also fits in with the general extremity of the times, whereas publishers such as Ace weren’t targeted as much despite having arguably just as gruesome content otherwise.

United Feature Syndicate: Reg Greenwood (Tip Top Comics #65, September 1941): Paul Berdanier (Tip Top Comics #114, January 1946): Bernard Dibble (Tip Top Comics #141, April 1948):

A lot of people don’t seem that interested in Western comics in the first place, and I said this before, but if there’s only one publisher from the 40s and 50s I can recommend to anyone willing to check out more Westerns, then it would be Avon, if only for Everett Kinstler’s art. He has such a lush and profound way showcasing it, all with a distinct style as well.

Fritzi Ritz #28 (May, 1953):

Actually, is there any compelling reason why they couldn’t have just gone with a rating/label system instead publishers censoring themselves just to keep others quiet and still make more money? At the end of the day, the publishers are the bosses and the parents, Wertham, and priests aren’t, and surely the rest of the public, as well as the Senate, would have understood enough to have a proper ratings system in place seeing as how movie gained ratings systems in the 60s which replaces the Hays Code, right? Fox even took the route of having adults only labels on their publications back in 1948, but seemed to have been later dropped for whatever reason.

I myself like Avon’s Frontier Romances #2, with artists such as Manny Stallman and Howard Larsen. I might consider Stallman to be a newfound favorite of mine in terms of romance art of the time, with how he manages to have a subtle, yet impactful feeling with the art.

Warren Tufts (Sparkler Comics #117, May 1954):

Religious comics, with issues like Tales from the Great Book #3 being a highlight for me:

While not drawing that many, Everett Kinstler’s romance covers for Avon having quite a bit of a subtle, yet impactful feeling to them:

As well perhaps many publishers publishing comics beyond 1955 with less horror and more mystery also focusing more on plot, seeing as how anthology shows like The Twilight Zone from 1959 didn’t need things like scantily clad sex appeal and gore to be interesting, with the sort of more extreme horror being available in traditional magazines from what I understand.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say again in that if Wertham had just simply focused on going against the racial caricatures and general prejudice-related content in comics, on top of how he was helping black kids who were very much in distress and needed help considering how it was the era of Jim Crow, as well as taking more time to analyze positive race-related portrayals in comics, not just Judgment Day, but also comics such as Interfaith’s Challenger and Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson comics, then I’m sure far less comic fans would be making attacks of condemnation against him on the accusation that he ruined comics for all time. Instead, I think he let his emotions control him more as opposed to logic, and was reactionary and concerned for kids to the point of perhaps even self-justifying the fabrication of evidence and piling himself with more and more topics he really wasn’t prepared to professionally talk about, such as the portrayal of women in comics and the idea that horror comics generally traumatize kids, all in the name of the greater good. Even with the understanding that he was otherwise right to go against racist-based portrayals in comics, regardless of the original intent of those portrayals, it’s still a shame that he basically made a fool of himself in spite of whatever genuinely good intentions he had in the beginning, because had he simply gone about it less overly-defensive and more open-minded, then I think that he, and perhaps many of the protective parents listening to him, would have helped result in the comic book industry playing out very differently. I guess we’ll never know though.

Still good fantasy art though. Haha.

Tip Top Comics #76 (August, 1942):

Crime anthology series: Crime Does Not Pay (1942) Real Clue Crime Stories (1947) Wanted Comics (1947) Justice (1947) Justice Traps the Guilty (1947) Official True Crime Cases Comics (1947) Almanac of Crime (1948) Murder Incorporated (1948) Authentic Police Cases (1948) Gangsters Can’t Win (1948) Underworld (1948) Crime Must Pay the Penalty (1948) Public Enemies (1948) Exposed (1948) Crime and Punishment (1948) Law Against Crime (1948) Lawbreakers Always Lose (1948) War Against Crime (1948) Crimefighters (1948) True Crime Comics (1948) Crimes by Women (1948) Famous Crimes (1948) Crime Patrol (1948) Pay-Off (1948) Women Outlaws (1948) Criminals on the Run (1948) Guns Against Gangsters (1948) Crime Detective Comics (1948) The Perfect Crime (1949) Thrilling Crime Cases (1950) Inside Crime (1950) March of Crime (1950) Crime Cases Comics (1950) Crime Incorporated (1950) Crime SuspenStories (1950) Crime Must Lose (1950) Crime Exposed (1950) Crime Fighting Detective (1950) Crime Smashers (1950) Crime and Justice (1951) Lawbreakers (1951) Crime Can’t Win (1951) Men Against Crime (1951) All-Famous Crime (1951) Fight Against Crime (1951) Police Line-Up (1951) Prison Break! (1951) Down with Crime (1951) Gangsters and Gunmolls (1951) Murderous Gangsters (1951) Famous Gangsters (1951) Crime Clinic (1951) All True All Famous Police Cases (1952) Fugitives from Justice (1952) Crime Files (1952) Gang World (1952) Underworld Crime (1952) Crime Mysteries (1952) Racket Squad in Action (1952) Parole Breakers (1952) Sensational Police Cases (1954) Crime Detector (1954) Police Action (1954) Police Trap (1954) Trapped! (1954) Fight Against the Guilty (1954)

Sci-fi anthology series: Planet Comics (1940) Superworld Comics (1940) Amazing Adventures (1950) Weird Science (1950) Out of This World (1950) Strange Adventures (1950) Unknown Worlds (1950) Strange Worlds (1950) Mystery in Space (1951) Space Action (1952) Space Adventures (1952) Fantastic Worlds (1952) Lost Worlds (1952)

Everett Kinstler, Leonard Starr, and Jill Elgin:

Chesler: Henry Kiefer (Star Comics #2, April 1937): Fred Guardineer (Star Ranger #6, September 1937): Charles Sultan (Yankee Comics #3, January 1942): Rafael Astarita (Yankee Comics #4, March 1942): Bob McCay (Punch Comics #11, November 1944): DickRyan (Snap Comics #9, 1944): Paul Gattuso (Punch Comics #14, July 1945): Gus Ricca (Punch Comics #14, July 1945):

Eastern Color Printing: Ben Thompson (Heroic Comics #24, May 1944): Alex Toth (New Heroic Comics #44, September 1947): Ruth Atkinson (Club 16 Comics #3, October 1948): Alfonso Greene (Movie Love #1, February 1950): Fred Guardineer (Movie Love #5, October 1950): Al Williamson (Buster Crabbe #5, July 1952): Harold LeDoux (Movie Love #22, August 1953): Bill Ely (New Heroic Comics #90, April 1954): Jim McArdle (Conquest #1, Spring 1955): John Lehti (Tales from the Great Book #3, September 1955):

Frank Frazetta’s original art compared to the final art from Personal Love #24 (November, 1953): Source: CB+