Tecs 1-26 In Grade -- The Quest Is Finally Over

[Bronty]

Now let's compare to the faces from O'Mealia's Action covers. Notice the finer, less masculine features on the male faces. Notice also the lesser contrast (generally) between light and dark, etc. Just stylistically different all around; its not close IMO

[Bronty]

Excellent "Detective" work Bronty!

 

thanks!

[goldust40]

Kudos on an entertaining and thoroughly informative thread. And a unique collection.

[lb jefferies]

O'Mealia is my all-time favorite golden age cover artist. It's a crime there are only 8 covers. Can't wait to see the Tec 20!

 

 

[Bronty]

O'Mealia is my all-time favorite golden age cover artist. It's a crime there are only 8 covers. Can't wait to see the Tec 20!

 

 

agreed! I love that action 2-6 run. Flessel was pretty great too though.

[RareHighGrade]

O'Mealia is my all-time favorite golden age cover artist. It's a crime there are only 8 covers. Can't wait to see the Tec 20!

 

Then let's bid adieu to Flessel and move on to O'Mealia. Tec #20 is notable not only for the "striking" O'Mealia cover, but also for introducing DC's second costumed hero, the Crimson Avenger.

 

Here is the Church copy:

[Bronty]

awesome!

[MrBedrock]

Look at all of those teeth flying around

[lb jefferies]

O'Mealia is my all-time favorite golden age cover artist. It's a crime there are only 8 covers. Can't wait to see the Tec 20!

 

Then let's bid adieu to Flessel and move on to O'Mealia. Tec #20 is notable not only for the "striking" O'Mealia cover, but also for introducing DC's second costumed hero, the Crimson Avenger.

 

Here is the Church copy:

 

I was hoping it would be the Church copy. Unbelievable.

[G.A.tor]

20 has always intrigued me!

[RareHighGrade]

Does anyone know why the noted artists of the pre-superhero covers never seemed to do any superhero covers? Did they think it was beneath them? Or had they all moved on to more lucrative work in other fields by then?

You are probably over-estimating the number of artists. Flessel accounted for almost 2/3 of the covers from his start in Apr '37 through Dec '38 and he later drew the Sandman covers.

 

The others during that time were almost all by 3 artists: Vin Sullivan, who became the editor for Columbia Comics and then founding editor of Magazine Enterprises, Leo O'Meala, who left to go back to being a newspaper artist which he had started doing in 1907, and John Richard Flanagan, who only drew a few covers and then left, though I'm not sure for what. During this time I believe Wheeler-Nicholson had considerable difficulty paying the artists so it didn't necessarily take much to lure them away.

Yes, I was thinking of Flessel, O`Mealia and Flanagan.

 

I forgot when I made my post that Flessel did the Sandman covers, although if you think about it, he was a hero who didn`t wear tights.

Flessel also drew the Crimson Avenger cover on Detective #34.

[tth2]

more faces - again the shading has a unique treatment to it.

The shading is very Steranko-esque.

 

Or perhaps we should start saying that Jim Steranko`s work was Flessel-esque.

[bronzejunkie]

This thread is simply amazing!

 

[Bronty]

more faces - again the shading has a unique treatment to it.

The shading is very Steranko-esque.

 

Or perhaps we should start saying that Jim Steranko`s work was Flessel-esque.

 

you know, I'll be honest, its not the first thing that comes to mind for me, but in looking at some of steranko's covers for 30 seconds to reply to your comment, what struck me was not a similarity between the linework/shading of flessel and steranko, but between some steranko work and zeck. Take this cover out of the 60s and put it into the 80s and it could almost be by Zeck:

 

[Bronty]

for comparison (unfortunate that the strong light source of the boiling liquid throws off the comparison a bit, but still, we can compare the treatment of the same character) :

 

[MasterChief]

More Flessel trivia: Because of the confusion over who drew the cover of #18, along with the fact that many collectors believed that the last cover signed by Flessel was #17, there was uncertainty regarding the artist on #19. Early CGC labels did not attribute the #19 cover to Flessel. In fact, however, Flessel did initial the cover (with a "cf" similar to his initials on Tec #3), but the initials were cut off on most of the printed copies. The initials can be seen on a very few copies. For example, you can just make out half of the initials in the lower right corner of the Church copy.

Interesting stuff! (thumbs u

 

Yes it is!

 

Here's an illustrative comparison of the Flessel monogram.

 

First the full initials from DC#3, then the half-cut DC#19 Church example, and finally to an almost fully intact monogram from an uncertified copy.

 

 

 

 

[buttock]

more faces - again the shading has a unique treatment to it.

The shading is very Steranko-esque.

 

Or perhaps we should start saying that Jim Steranko`s work was Flessel-esque.

 

you know, I'll be honest, its not the first thing that comes to mind for me, but in looking at some of steranko's covers for 30 seconds to reply to your comment, what struck me was not a similarity between the linework/shading of flessel and steranko, but between some steranko work and zeck. Take this cover out of the 60s and put it into the 80s and it could almost be by Zeck:

 

 

I would have never made this comparison, but you're right!

[RareHighGrade]

More Flessel trivia: Because of the confusion over who drew the cover of #18, along with the fact that many collectors believed that the last cover signed by Flessel was #17, there was uncertainty regarding the artist on #19. Early CGC labels did not attribute the #19 cover to Flessel. In fact, however, Flessel did initial the cover (with a "cf" similar to his initials on Tec #3), but the initials were cut off on most of the printed copies. The initials can be seen on a very few copies. For example, you can just make out half of the initials in the lower right corner of the Church copy.

Interesting stuff! (thumbs u

 

Yes it is!

 

Here's an illustrative comparison of the Flessel monogram.

 

First the full initials from DC#3, then the half-cut DC#19 Church example, and finally to an almost fully intact monogram from an uncertified copy.

 

 

 

Thanks for posting these examples MasterChief. They illustrate the point perfectly.

[RareHighGrade]

For some reason, Tec #21 is almost impossible to find in grade. My copy requires an asterisk because it is a qualified 9.0 as a result of a 7-inch spine split, which already existed when Chuck found the collection. It is an otherwise gorgeous copy.

 

Here is the Church Tec #21:

[Bronty]

more faces - again the shading has a unique treatment to it.

The shading is very Steranko-esque.

 

Or perhaps we should start saying that Jim Steranko`s work was Flessel-esque.

 

you know, I'll be honest, its not the first thing that comes to mind for me, but in looking at some of steranko's covers for 30 seconds to reply to your comment, what struck me was not a similarity between the linework/shading of flessel and steranko, but between some steranko work and zeck. Take this cover out of the 60s and put it into the 80s and it could almost be by Zeck:

 

 

I would have never made this comparison, but you're right!

 

I would have never thought to compare the two before either!