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Electricmastro

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Posts posted by Electricmastro

  1. 14 hours ago, MusterMark said:

    I had no idea that Bedrock was a space adventurer!  Hey, Mr. B., the secret is out!!!  :baiting:

    (And certainly gives a new meaning to "Houston Astros").  (:

    I later came to conclusion that was also drawn by Lou Ferstadt, based on how a visually similar Rick Evans story from 1944’s Everybody’s Comics had an “F” signature. He was known as a painter who made murals with that surreal quality. His comic work wasn’t always like that, aside from perhaps the occasional burst of inspiration in which he felt like taking the time to draw a panel, such as an underwater or castle scene, in the style of those murals. I also understand Ferstadt ran his own studio, doing work for publishers like Fox and Ace. I suspect panels like these were either done by Ferstadt himself or in the style of him.

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    Four Favorites #12 (November, 1943):

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    Four Favorites #13 (February, 1944):

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    The Bouncer #13 (November, 1944):

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    Book of All-Comics (1945):

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  2. Magazine Enterprises:

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

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    Fred Guardineer (Manhunt #5, February 1948):

    heoAPwh.jpg

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

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

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

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

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    Al Williamson (Jet Powers #4, 1951):

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    DickAyers (Tim Holt #31, August 1952):

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

    S9LSw7Q.jpg

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

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  3. Recently found out that these two Ace covers were apparently done by Bruce Currie, a painter born in 1911, which GCD even agreed with.

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    It’s apparent when looking at the interior to Lightning Comics #v3#1, which shows a signature signed as “B. Currie“. His art that I’ve seen doesn’t seem to have similarities with the B. Currie comic book art, but his signatures appear to be similar, particularly with the capital “B“ and capital “C“. Makes me wonder if he drew any more Ace art unsigned.

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    Source: https://www.auctionzip.com/auction-lot/Bruce-Currie-1911-2011_75049CC8E0/

  4. Ace Comics:

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

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

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

    iLeXcrX.jpg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  5. Browsed through Ace’s horror comics and along with Lou Cameron, there were other artists that stood out to me:

    Jim McLaughlin:

    The Hand of Fate #8 (December, 1951):

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    The Hand of Fate #19 (August, 1953):

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    The Beyond #22 (September, 1953):

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    The Beyond #25 (March, 1954):

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    Lou Cameron:

    Web of Mystery #18 (May, 1953)

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    The Hand of Fate #20 (October, 1953):

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    Baffling Mysteries #18 (November, 1953): 

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    Web of Mystery #24 (May, 1954):

    2cElrpf.jpg

    Sy Grudko:

    The Hand of Fate #18 (June, 1953):

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    Web of Mystery #27 (November, 1954):

    Qhd6TAn.jpg

    Ken Rice:

    Baffling Mysteries #20 (April, 1954):

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    The Hand of Fate #24 (August, 1954):

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    The Beyond #29 (November, 1954):

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  6. Fox Comics:

    DickBriefer (Mystery Men Comics #5, December 1939):

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    Grieg Chapian (Fantastic Comics #1, December 1939):

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    Jack Kirby (Science Comics #4, May 1940):

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    Henry Kiefer (Fantastic Comics #8, July 1940):

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    Rolland Livingstone (Science Comics #6, July 1940):

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    Larry Antonette (The Flame #6, August 1941):

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    Roland Patenaude (Big 3 #7, January 1942):

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    Arnold Hicks (Rocket Kelly, 1944):

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    Lou Ferstadt (Everybody's Comics, 1944):

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    Ellis Chambers (Ribtickler #1, 1945):

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    Elmer Stoner (Blue Beetle #41, March 1946):

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    Ken Battefield (A Feature Presentation #5, April 1950):

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  7. Zoo Funnies didn’t set a particularly high bar to begin with, but I thought its art was at least decent near the beginning by issue 3. By late 1947 though, it had really degenerated into something else.

    Issue 3 (January, 1946):

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    Issue 14 (December, 1947):

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  8. 14 hours ago, fifties said:

    Comic books, like magazines in general, were available to be read by everyone.  Now of course, Dell fare funny animals would have been targeted to the younger set.  I would venture that Classics Illustrated would have been gleaned by teenagers and older, as well as romance titles.  Horror books perhaps by teens and somewhat older.  Crime comics I think would have appealed to the broadest swath of readers.  I've read more than a few times in the letters columns of fare like Crime Does Not Pay, where ppl in their seventies wrote in to compliment the editor, not to mention the many parents that wrote in.  I'm guessing parents of children old enough to read would indeed be in their 30's and 40's.

    Personally, as I've aged, the horror titles seem less interesting, the crime titles more so, and I read comics several evenings a week, all pre-code.  AFA audiences for them, I posted awhile back panels out of a Fox crime book from about 1950 where the heavy discussed dope pushing and prostitution; do you really think that was aimed at the little tykes?  Do you think stories about infidelity and murder, ala EC Comics, would have been understood by a nine year old?

    Remember, post-war entertainment consisted of live stage, movie theaters, radio, precious little TV, and magazines, to include comic books.  Their presence and "importance" as an entertainment medium was far stronger than today.  It was estimated that in the 1952-54 era, no less than 500 different titles were published each month.  ALL of them for the kiddies?  Not hardly.

    Nobody is saying all crime comics were directed to and read by kids, even putting crime comics specifically focusing on gore and prostitution aside. I just found it amusing you said “the target readers for whom they were written changed.  Pre code, adult type fare.  Post code, 10 year old fare.” as if you were implying that post-56 companies like DC and Marvel were specifically excluding 11 year olds, teens and adults,  even though writers from then like Stan Lee welcomed letters being sent to him people like college students and really doesn’t make me feel he wanted to not target them in readership, and I don’t feel the corporation bosses would want to exclude them either if it means making more money from people buying their stuff as much as possible, as the code didn’t change the fact that the publishers still in business still had goals of more money being made after all, as well as how many 1960s comics could be legitimately enjoyed by kids and adults like regardless of the code too.

  9. 23 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

    - Pre-Code New Trend ECs. (Before this classic period, ECs were very run-of-the-mill, after it, the New Direction stories were neutered by the imposition of the Comics Code.)

    Ya know, I’ve seen condemnation made against people like Wertham, the Senate, and the people behind the Comics Code as the ones to blame for as to why the writing for any post-1955 mystery/anthology comics got bad, or neutered as you put it. But now that I think about it, I’ve never really seen anyone take the time to explain in-depth as to how exactly the writing got bad, in light of mystery/anthology shows like The Twilight Zone coming about a little later and winning over many people despite not really using aspects like gore, cheesecake visuals, or delving into the dramatically unpleasant territories of topics like divorce or drug abuse, at least in the way comics did.

  10. I’m actually not as familiar with EC’s horror comics, but the general writing from these horror comics caught my attention:

    Adventures into the Unknown (1948, American Comics Group)

    The Beyond (1950, Ace Comics)

    Baffling Mysteries (1951, Ace Comics)

    Dark Mysteries (1951, Master Comics)

    Eerie (1951, Avon)

    Ghost Comics (1951, Fiction House)

    The Hand of Fate (1951, Ace Comics)

    Web of Mystery (1951, Ace Comics)

    Weird Thrillers (1951, Ziff-Davis)

    Adventures into Darkness (1952, Nedor Comics)

    Beware! Terror Tales (1952, Fawcett Comics)

    Haunted Thrills (1952, Farrell)

    Nightmare (1952, Ziff-Davis)

    Out of the Night (1952, American Comics Group)

    Strange Suspense Stories (1952, Fawcett Comics)

    Tales of Horror (1952, Toby Press)

    The Thing (1952, Charlton Comics)

    Beware (1953, Trojan Magazines)

    Fantastic Fears (1953, Farrell)

    Monster (1953, Fiction House)

    Amazing Ghost Stories (1954, St. John)

    Horror from the Tomb (1954, Premier Magazines)