A year in the life of a publisher

[BOOT]

Here's a splash for a sci-fi story for Planet 73.

 

Benulis did some amazing work!

[tb]

Given RJ's request, I went back to the boxes and pulled out two more Maneely 1954 Western jobs -

 

 

That composition has a cool rotational flow and the framing of the action beneath the logo is clever.

 

As for the Cerebex story, I am relieved that history gave us Angry Birds and Facebook instead of giant blue robots whose electronic brains would run awry, causing destruction and other public discomfort.

[Scrooge]

That composition has a cool rotational flow and the framing of the action beneath the logo is clever.

 

tb, I almost commented on the framing that Maneely did on that cover b/c it's something he has done over and over, using buildings, mirrors, windows, etc ... to do exactly that, re-frame and re-focus the image to fit the composition he had in mind. As you say, very clever of him to know the limitations and therefore also the possibilities imposed by the medium he was working with.

 

Lest we forget, this Maneely guy also did some horror covers ...

 

Like this one, big thanks to Flatrock :hail: -

 

 

[Scrooge]

Went back to the boxes and pulled out two books.

 

First, another issue of Astonishing, the issue preceding the eyeballs of death, # 29 -

 

[Scrooge]

And then I pulled out another Maneely job for RJ -

 

[rjpb]

Great cover! I love how Arrowhead looks as bloodthirsty as any "redskin savage" you'd find on a comic cover, yet he's ( presumably) the hero.

[adamstrange]

The Sinnott stories are the real treat in that Arrowhead 2. (thumbs u When I asked him about that issue he recalled putting in extra effort and being proud of his work at that time.

[Scrooge]

Great cover! I love how Arrowhead looks as bloodthirsty as any "redskin savage" you'd find on a comic cover, yet he's ( presumably) the hero.

 

Yes, he is the hero but only in the sense that he is the protagonist of these stories. First, it's a rare book from Atlas that has some loose continuity in the relationship between the events and characters and Arrowhead showcases both.

 

Second, Arrowhead, a renegade Pawnee, son of a chief and hence proud of his heritage is living at a time when the nations were pressured by the ever increasing white presence and this dictates Arrowhead's attitude.

 

Take these as sample:

 

[Talking to his horse] "It is strange, Eagle, some of the white men are good, some bad ... but all are the enemies of the Indian for they drive him from his land ... and that is the thing I must always fight."

 

then later, "The Blackfeet are my enemies ... but they are red men! The long knives are my enemies ... and they are white! And blood is thicker than water!"

 

Gives you enough insights into his character and motivation. Arrowhead is shown repeatedly killing bad white men; twice in three stories in this one issue.

[Scrooge]

The Sinnott stories are the real treat in that Arrowhead 2. (thumbs u When I asked him about that issue he recalled putting in extra effort and being proud of his work at that time.

 

Couldn't agree more ... though after your recent comment, I can only see his abundant use of profiles in these stories.

 

Wonderful work though :thumbsup:

[Scrooge]

Lovers # 58 -

 

 

As you can see right from Pike's cover, by 1954, the Atlas Romance stories were more kind to the protagonists than their earlier brethren (see a recent post in the Shadow thread). We have four fairy tale endings in this issue and I believe I'll find the same in most if not all other issues from 1954. So, now, the interest lies in what plight each of the girls have to overcome and as I've found out from reading Romance books from this period, there are a lot of stories about women and women working and women in the workforce. A lot of ink was spent in this early '50's period about the changing roles of women in society and how traditional roles were challenged by the trend.

 

Stories in this issue are unmemorable and the art is pedestrian (even Pike's story) but I did enjoy Pike's job the best with the tone of the story and the allusion to the monolithic hierarchy of corporate America and the accompanying societal pressure.

 

QUESTION: Anyone knows if there is any significance to the shoulder patch on the cover?

 

Here are two pages from that story -

 

 

[damonwad]

 

QUESTION: Anyone knows if there is any significance to the shoulder patch on the cover?

 

2nd Infantry Division (U.S. Army).

 

I hope you keep up the commentary on the Atlas books. Great stuff.

[Scrooge]

 

QUESTION: Anyone knows if there is any significance to the shoulder patch on the cover?

 

2nd Infantry Division (U.S. Army).

 

I hope you keep up the commentary on the Atlas books. Great stuff.

 

Thanks. I figured it would be easy for someone to tell me rather than I spent time trying to ferret it out. Thank you.

 

And, yes, I'll try to keep it up so long as there is interest out there. :thumbsup:

[adamstrange]

 

QUESTION: Anyone knows if there is any significance to the shoulder patch on the cover?

 

2nd Infantry Division (U.S. Army).

 

I hope you keep up the commentary on the Atlas books. Great stuff.

 

Thanks. I figured it would be easy for someone to tell me rather than I spent time trying to ferret it out. Thank you.

 

And, yes, I'll try to keep it up so long as there is interest out there. :thumbsup:

There's interest.

 

Pike definitely did not "phone in" the romance story. I like the panel sequencing and variety of scenes that include actual backgrounds. So many of the romance artists seem to do just the people or talking heads. (thumbs u

[Scrooge]

Though I'd like to mix genres in consecutive posts, I grabbed this other Romance book today since it also sports a Pike cover though no interior work by him.

 

 

Instead, we get treated to early Romita, Colletta and Bob Powell.

 

Romita, still developing:

 

In the first story only does the girl not get what she wants, but the scheming gal deserves that. In fact, her daddy seals her doom by promoting and securing the future of the guy she's chasing and allowing him to marry her rival.

 

In Colletta's story, a co-ed falls in love with her teacher ... and all campus is abuzz with the affair until the Dean points out that, were they to be married, there wouldn't be any conflict. Ta da! Before any one makes a snide comment about Colletta, if he had to, he could pay attention to inking the details At the same time, one gets a sense of the limitation of Colletta as a penciler. I can't imagine he could have worked well on action stories given how he handles these pages (not evident with just one page scan).

 

I really like the effect Powell (or assistant(s)) used in that splash page to denote the privacy glass at banks. The scan doesn't quite do it justice. It looks cooler in hand.

 

[jpepx78]

 

scrooge-

i enjoy your posts that discuss and show the interiors of books that i don't normally see. i couldn't find your march 1952 checklist, but i came across this photo that might interest you.

i believe this a march 1952 newsstand pic since there is a march 31, 1952 issue of newsweek with president eisenhower on the cover (top shelf).

notice the comics on the upper right. i can see a real clue crime 75 and a mr district attorney 27 but you might be able to identify a few more.

 

 

[Scrooge]

I'll have a closer look later but thank you in advance!!

 

From Romance to the Range with Black Rider.

 

 

Black Rider is a great series, witness it from this issue with 3 Black Rider stories illustrated by Syd Shores and an Arrowhead story by Sinnott. You can't ask for a better Atlas Western issue.

 

The Black Rider in the tradition of many Western costumed hero is the Black Rider while crime fighting while Doc Masters when in civvies. Even the horse has different names Old Ichabod when in civvies and Satan when crime-fighting. Shores's art has no trouble carrying any -script and Shores's art is generally characterized by action. I always appreciate his ability to depict movement and keep the page interesting all around. When BR is in his Doc Masters duds, I always think he looks like Rip Kirby.

 

Here are the first three pages from the second Black Rider story and one page from the Arrowhead entry -

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BangZoom]

 

Thanks for posting so many scans.

 

It's great fun seeing the variety of genres Atlas was publishing in the 50's.

[Scrooge]

Thank you.

 

That's all the encouragement I needed to post yet another Romance book

 

 

Don't blame me though, all these books I received from Saintly Steve (143ksk) this past week and he had a lot of Romance in there.

 

My Own Romance # 40 starts with yet another Pike job and I really liked his first two pages on this one. In fact, after reading those pages, I was intrigued to know what would happen and that's a rare instance in these Romance books. ( It all turns out nicely as she didn't really like the one guy she forgot and so she is free to love the one who found her). I find that in this story more than in the other I have posted lately, Pike's art resembles his work on Jann on which he worked at the same time.

 

 

 

In an uncharacteristically awkward job by Hartley (the main gal's eyes are way too big throughout the story), you find summarized in that one last page the element of the place of women at this time. In fact, this is a somewhat bizarre twist commentary about the issue since it's not the man asking but the woman realizing that his acting out was in response to her earning power exceeding his (2 to 1 in fact as stated earlier in the story). Then, in an idealized reaction, we are to believe that she will gladly surrender her career and income so as to mollify the jerk?

 

 

Finally, here's one more Romita page. I like the sentiment from the middle tier.

 

We also see a lot of full panel face close-ups. Doesn't that become later a Romita staple?

[BangZoom]

 

After all those happy endings I think should take a look at an ending a little less cheerful.

 

 

Jerry Robinson

 

 

And take a peek at a few characters who look a little rough around the edges, just for some added spice.

 

 

Harry Anderson

 

 

And finally, why aren't there more gorillas in love comics? They always liven things up.

 

 

George Tuska

[adamstrange]

Vrey unusual approach to the inking and cross-hatching in the splash.