Electricmastro

6 hours ago, Yorick said:

I like to look at those gams!!!  Look at your edited face-set of eight.  All the eyes and lips are his "style" as well.

When we're dealing with other hands on the artwork, it is the proportions of the figures that give me something to work with in identifying underlying Baker pencils.

I also think it's different for different artists.  If you see a hallmark with the ears, great!

Baker very much drew mouths, at least on the women, as a rounded square with no teeth lines, and doesn’t heavily shade hair if it’s long and wavy. He also draws noses as two dots, unless they’re looked at from certain angles.

This all in mind, and just having looked at Jerry Bails’ Who’s Who which now makes it known to me that Baker did indeed draw covers for Fiction House from around 1947-1951, I’m willing to suggest that Baker at least drew Sheena’s face on these Jumbo covers I’ve just looked at for starters:

6 hours ago, Yorick said:

I think this is not ENTIRELY Baker.  Definitely the woman's face, but other elements might be Doolin.   All these collaborative efforts by Baker are what makes the debate!!

Joe Doolin would also be a likely candidate in regards to the majority of the cover. To differentiate him from Baker, I’ve noticed that Doolin tended to draw shaded faces with wide-eyed/bulging eyes and ears having a black circle in the middle with a line curving around it in the shape of a “C”. He also went as so far as to draw the iris in the eye, whereas Baker basically tended to have a black circle with a white dot in the middle to represent the eye.

7 hours ago, woowoo said:

Found this picture Great books NYC 1941

At least 20 different publishers that were selling comics here in 1941 and 1942:

Marvel Comics: Young Allies, Marvel Mystery Comics, Captain America Comics, Human Torch Comics, Sub-Mariner Comics, Daring Mystery Comics, All-Winners Comics, Mystic Comics

DC Comics: World’s Finest Comics, Flash Comics, Superman, Star-Spangled Comics, More Fun Comics, Sensation Comics, Action Comics, All-American Comics, Leading Comics, Batman

Archie Comics: Shield-Wizard Comics, Pep Comics, Jackpot Comics, Top Notch Comics

Harvey Comics: Champ Comics

Dell Comics: Super Comics, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, War Comics, Popular Comics

Fawcett Comics: Whiz Comics, Bulletman

Quality Comics: Hit Comics, Military Comics, National Comics, Crack Comics

Nedor Comics: Startling Comics, Exciting Comics, Real Life Comics, Thrilling Comics

Fiction House: Jumbo Comics, Rangers of Freedom Comics, Wings Comics, Fight Comics, Planet Comics

Lev Gleason Publications: Daredevil Comics

Ace Comics: Lightning Comics, Our Flag Comics, Four Favorites

Fox Comics: The Flame, The Eagle, Wonderworld Comics, V...-Comics

Novelty Press/Star Publications: Target Comics

United Feature Syndicate: Sparkler Comics

David McKay: King Comics, Magic Comics

Eastern Color Printing: Buck Rogers, Dickie Dare, Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics

Hillman Periodicals: Victory Comics

Parents' Magazine Press: True Comics

Street and Smith: Shadow Comics, Doc Savage Comics

Centaur Comics: Amazing Man Comics

Columbia Comics: Big Shot Comics

Chesler: Scoop Comics, Dynamic Comics, Yankee Comics

Great Comics: Great Comics

5 hours ago, Yorick said:

I think this is not ENTIRELY Baker.  Definitely the woman's face, but other elements might be Doolin.   All these collaborative efforts by Baker are what makes the debate!!

It was pointed out to me that a helpful way to identify uncredited Golden Age comic art is by looking at the ears, because the ear is a relatively detailed part of the body that’s usually visible, assuming the character isn’t wearing anything like a hat or doesn’t have long hair covering it. I’ve found that many artists had their own way of drawing the ear, specifically the antihelix, which is often distinct like a sort of signature in of itself, and while even the same artist doesn’t draw the ear in exactly the same way every time, it’s usually consistent enough to provide a reasonably and confidently-made identification.

Matt Baker’s signed covers from 1946-1949:

Going by these, Baker seems to approach drawing the ears in a sort of “?” shaped pattern without the period, which at times also resembles a little more like an “S” or “7”, depending on how far away the ear is and what angle it’s being viewed from:

In comparing the images to Jumbo Comics #85 (1946), I am now seeing more of a resemblance that’s consistent, along with how the entire faces of the women are drawn in general:

So upon further examination, Baker may have done far more covers than I previously realized, if only in part.

22 minutes ago, Yorick said:

"Apparently"?  Some of those Jumbos look like his work.  I don't collect Fiction House (except Planet), so I can't really say...  BUT, I think you are mistaken.  Just a brief glance on GCD's gallery of Jumbo I see #85....

It’s weird, because a lot of Fiction House’s covers end up looking the same, or at least very similar, to me. That being said, and now that you brought it to my attention, I’m definitely willing to believe this is a Matt Baker cover:

Favorite interior art from Lev Gleason:

Jack Cole (Silver Streak Comics #7, January 1941):

Jerry Robinson (Daredevil Comics #2, August 1941):

Don Rico (Capt. Battle Comics #2, Fall 1941):

Jack Binder (Capt. Battle Comics #2, Fall 1941):

Bill Everett (Silver Streak Comics #20, April 1942):

Charles Biro (Daredevil Comics #10, May 1942):

Bob Montana (Daredevil Comics #11, June 1942):

Alan Mandel (Crime Does Not Pay #27, May 1943):

Rudy Palais (Crime Does Not Pay #43, January 1946):

Jack Alderman (Crime Does Not Pay #49, January 1947):

Norman Maurer (Boy Comics #80, August 1952):

Alex Toth (Crime and Punishment #66, March 1954):

Super-Magician covers which I haven’t seen listed as Charles Coll covers despite his signature being present:

Palais’ interior art I’ve favorited in recent times:

Jungle Comics #30 (June, 1942):

Contact Comics #5 (March, 1945):

Captain Aero Comics #24 (November, 1945):

Crime Does Not Pay #43 (January, 1946):

Four Favorites #21 (January, 1946):

Horrific #7 (September, 1953):

Powell was also pretty prolific in terms of the publishers he worked for back in the day:

Marvel

Harvey

Dell

Charlton

Fawcett

Quality

St. John

Fiction House

Lev Gleason

Magazine Enterprises

Fox

Hillman

Parents' Magazine Press

Street and Smith

Toby Press

Ziff-Davis

Holyoke

And various smaller comic book publishers as well.

7 minutes ago, KCOComics said:

Not specific to Powell, but does Shadow comics feel under appreciated to people? I've always felt their covers were extremely diverse. From detective covers, to GGA and PCH. I never understood why they are so "affordable" compared to others of the same genres. 

The original Shadow Comics definitely felt it had various ways of making an interesting cover compared to something like Alex Schomburg’s covers and Fiction House covers, which I think are quite a bit more liable of being accused of having covers that are too similar despite how well-drawn they are otherwise. Street and Smith’s comics in general seem to fall in that middle category between comics that are very well-known and comics that are so obscure that people feel they need to point them out more, despite how relatively well-known the Shadow was and is today. It probably doesn’t help that Street and Smith’s comics are believed to not be in public domain, so they aren’t shared around as much for people to browse through.

33 minutes ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Great lineup! Thanks for posting so many great examples; my favorites above. I wonder if the page rates at Street and Smith were higher than other publishers.

Individual stories in Street and Smith comics would get as high as about 25 pages long throughout their time publishing comics, with an occasional page count as high as about 40 early on, so I presume that one penciler who was assigned with one such story would get paid quite a bit.

12 minutes ago, Pat Calhoun said:

Rudy Palais came to my mind too, Mastro. Maybe you could please start or resurrect a thread on him, thanks and cheers, Pat

Yep, right here: 

23 minutes ago, buttock said:

Quite possibly the single most underrated artist of the golden age.  I think it would come down to him or Jack Cole.  I think he's just brilliant.  

Of the many pieces of art I’ve looked at from Golden Age publishers that are small and not-as-small, I’ve come to think that Rudy Palais is perhaps the most underappreciated comic book artist of his time, with how distinct and impactful his art was regardless of the genre. Bob Powell definitely deserves more appreciation though.

First took notice of Powell for his Red Hawk art from Straight Arrow, which I quite liked:

On 11/5/2020 at 12:07 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Nice group of Shadows Brian! I recently picked up my first one and it is really quite a nicely done series.

Nice art too:

Elmer Stoner (Shadow Comics #v1#1, January 1940):

Jack Farr (Shadow Comics #v1#7, November 1940):

Bob McCay (Shadow Comics #v2#4, May 1942):

Jack Binder (Super-Magician Comics #v1#5, May 1942):

Vernon Greene (Shadow Comics #v2#4, May 1942):

August Froehlich (Shadow Comics #v3#4, July 1943):

Al Bare (Shadow Comics #v3#7, October 1943):

James Hammon (Super-Magician Comics #v2#6, October 1943):

Charles Coll (Shadow Comics #v3#8, November 1943):

John Meditz (Super-Magician Comics #v2#9, January 1944):

Harry Hoffman (Shadow Comics #v8#7, October 1948):

Bob Powell (Shadow Comics #v9#4, July 1949):

Paris, France (circa 1949):

Mexico City, Mexico (circa 1952):

Western art by horse enthusiast Sam Savitt:

Fiction House (Rangers Comics, 1942):

From Shadow Comics #67 (October, 1946):

Al Bare (Shadow Comics #41, August 1944):

2 hours ago, mwotka said:

Great work from Electricmastro putting all these together!  What a pleasure to look over.  So much great talent hiding in these old pages...

Yeah, quite a bit of buried treasure I found in my browsings done out of curiosity. I’ve definitely grown to appreciate some artists more over time like Rudy Palais, Harry Anderson, and John Giunta. Palais in particular deserving far more recognition than simply having been DC’s Dr. Mid-Nite artist for a brief time.

Lev Gleason Publications:

Jack Cole (Silver Streak Comics #7, January 1941):

Jerry Robinson (Daredevil Comics #2, August 1941):

Don Rico (Capt. Battle Comics #2, Fall 1941):

Jack Binder (Capt. Battle Comics #2, Fall 1941):

Bill Everett (Silver Streak Comics #20, April 1942):

Charles Biro (Daredevil Comics #10, May 1942):

Bob Montana (Daredevil Comics #11, June 1942):

Alan Mandel (Crime Does Not Pay #27, May 1943):

Rudy Palais (Crime Does Not Pay #43, January 1946):

Jack Alderman (Crime Does Not Pay #49, January 1947):

Norman Maurer (Boy Comics #80, August 1952):

Alex Toth (Crime and Punishment #66, March 1954):

Magazine Enterprises:

Charles Quinlan (The American Air Forces #1, 1944):

Fred Guardineer (Manhunt #5, February 1948):

Paul Parker (Trail Colt #2, December 1949):

Frank Bolle (Tim Holt #22, February 1951):

Fred Meagher (Straight Arrow #13, May 1951):

Joe Certa (Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid #13, October 1951):

Al Williamson (Jet Powers #4, 1951):

DickAyers (Tim Holt #31, August 1952):

Frank Frazetta (Thun'da, King of the Congo #1, 1952):

Bob Powell (Straight Arrow #36, May 1954):

Ace Comics:

Art Saaf (Our Flag Comics #1, August 1941):

Bruce Currie (Our Flag Comics #2, October 1941):

Lou Ferstadt (Four Favorites #12, November 1943):

Warren Kremer (Super-Mystery Comics #v5#3, December 1945):

Rudy Palais (Four Favorites #21, January 1946):

King Ward (Western Adventures #2, December 1948):

Ken Rice (World War III #1, March 1952):

Jim McLaughlin (The Beyond #22, September 1953):

Lou Cameron (Web of Mystery #24, May 1954):

Sy Grudko (Web of Mystery #27, November 1954):