"Identifying Pre-Code Covers of the Unknown"

[bronze johnny]

Given advances in technology, has their ever been an effort to identify Pre-Code covers drawn by "unknown artists?" If not, do you think it might be possible now to identify some of these covers?

 

Thanks for any insight,

 

John

[mrmyst]

I think there's been a lot of research, but unfortunately most of the records are long gone. So many of the artists are long gone too, unfortunately.

[bronze johnny]

Thanks mrmyst. Perhaps computer technology exists that might allow us to compare covers and styles to see whether they might fit a particular artist's method and style/ It would be sad if these covers remain "lost."

[adamstrange]

There are a number of dedicated researchers who continue to identify the creators of comics of all types. GCD and AtlasTales are two important sites where many are able to post their data and compare notes with others.

 

Quite a few additional credits will be added over the coming years as these indexers get around to looking at less popular titles that were drawn by artists that are fairly easy to identify. For example, Schomburg's war covers for TImely and Nedor are credited but his work for post-war Nedor titles is under-recognized.

 

Computers can prove helpful but talented/dedicated humans have made enormous progress.

[bronze johnny]

Thanks adamstrange. Would be great if they manage to identify them all.

[Scrooge]

I thought about posting first something along the lines of AStrange's answer but am glad I held off as his answer ended certainly better than mine would have been.

 

One element I'd like to add is that, unfortunately, being able to correlate some covers with others won't always help unless you have some signed / IDed sample to compare against and for some of these guys, no known such example exists, especially if their career was short-lived. That said, I don't believe there are that many examples of unIDed cover work in the main genres and for the big houses.

[adamstrange]

The major gap likely to persist with pre-code horror is with art created by the Iger shop. It does not appear that their records have survived or are available to researchers and identification is difficult because many people were involved trying to imitate a house style. Iger was the major/primary supplier of art for Ajax and Superior and also did work for Fiction House.

[Sqeggs]

The major gap likely to persist with pre-code horror is with art created by the Iger shop. It does not appear that their records have survived or are available to researchers and identification is difficult because many people were involved trying to imitate a house style. Iger was the major/primary supplier of art for Ajax and Superior and also did work for Fiction House.

 

I think the same thing is true with respect to work the Iger shop did on romance comics. The house style sometimes seems to have been "copy Baker." Hence, the debate over who did the cover to Jo-Jo 25, for instance. There are a number of romance covers that look strongly like Baker to me but apparently are by other artists imitating his style.

 

Too bad during the 1960s and 1970s when most of these folks were still around (but not Baker, unfortunately) fans didn't try to pin down more of these artist attributions.

[adamstrange]

I haven't heard Jo-Jo categorized as a "romance" comic but your point about Iger involvement is correct. Iger was set up as an assembly line so not only was there a house style but they often had multiple pencillers on the same story and even on the same panel if that would speed delivery.

[BB-Gun]

Recognition of different artist's styles is a talent that people can be good at or trained at to the point they can be spot on almost all the time. Unfortunately those guys are disappearing too. Jerry was very good at it and he had a database that he could use, thanks to many years of research. Other people, like Jim Vadeboncoeur have been supplying information to the Digital Comic Museum and GCD for several years now and I think it has helped a lot. Many mistakes are made by listers working for the GCD but I think it should always be thought of as a work in progress.

 

Good luck and my blessing to any young people that are willing to devote the time and effort to improve their skills. There seems to be a lot of work to be done. And freeloaders like myself are happy to take advantage of the tons of data that all those GCD listers and new scholars have and will accumulate.

 

http://www.bpib.com/index.html

[Sqeggs]

I haven't heard Jo-Jo categorized as a "romance" comic but your point about Iger involvement is correct. Iger was set up as an assembly line so not only was there a house style but they often had multiple pencillers on the same story and even on the same panel if that would speed delivery.

 

Good point, although the cover is GGA!

[bronze johnny]

Does anyone know if Overstreet gets notified for newly identified covers/art?

[adamstrange]

Many people contributed in the past but I don't know how much is communicated directly to him vs. people entering data into the non-profit web sites.