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In the Shadow of the Atomic Age
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Started by adamstrange,

2,391 posts in this topic

selegue

selegue

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Posted

 

That's great! My son would have loved this story when he was young. I used to read him this sort of animal story all the time, and otters were a special favorite. I didn't know there were Shores animal stories hiding out there. If only it could be profitable to collect and market them with kids' books.

 

Jack

 

I was just reading Jungle Lore by Jim Corbett and he makes mention of otters in India. Evidently a pair of otters will occasionally attack and kill crocodiles or constrictors for sport. One otter will be on each side of the reptile and while one makes a fake attempt at the neck the other will make a real attempt at the neck when the croc swings its head around to deal with the fake attack. This process is repeated until the spinal column is practically ripped of flesh and the animal has died.

 

He might have enjoyed that story too -- he always wanted the otters to come out on top.

 

Jack

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tth2

tth2

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Ugh. If this was supposed to make me think more highly of the 1950s Don Heck, it didn't work. Heck channeling Caniff... not a good combination.

 

Nope I didn't have that intention there. In fact, if anything, the blown-up panel made me have visions of Robbins on Invaders, except that Robbins' faces were more distorted. I think the main reason I blew it up is because the inking there is not as scratchy and feathery as Heck's will be later when he is on Avengers and that make for a slicker better product.

I had the same thought, actually, but didn't make any Robbins comparison because I didn't want people to think I was on my anti-Heck/anti-Robbins kick again.

 

I think what these panels show is that Heck definitely had not mastered the Caniff "inkblot" method, something that Robbins actually did pretty well in his heyday. If you look at the clothing in the Heck panels you posted above, it almost looks like he was just dabbing the brush at random.

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tth2

tth2

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Wasn't the answer posted on another thread? I don't want to cheat if it's one and the same.

 

It's not Syd Shores who was mentioned in the other thread ...

 

 

That makes my answer simple -- "I don't know."

 

To follow-up on Syd Shores and his Animal Stories, here's the one from Jann # 8 -

Now Syd Shores I like! His inking on Kirby was really underrated (although I'm sort of going against my principle that inkers shouldn't overpower the pencils), and his pencils were also extremely underrated.

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Scrooge

Scrooge

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:bump:

 

I don't recall if I've ever shown this comparison on the boards.

 

The art is Kinstler and Avon towards the end of the company, circa 1954 / 1955 started to recycle art and stories BUT this being POST Code, some minor adjustments had to be made ... such as the shirt of this heroine: the shirt is mysteriously mended and the neckline on the shirt is so much more modest in the post code version. Another discussion could focus on the coloring choices on the post code version :sick:

 

68629.jpg.f911216b08844fb9411e15fe612c5bbf.jpg

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CAP Freak

CAP Freak

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:bump:

 

I don't recall if I've ever shown this comparison on the boards.

 

The art is Kinstler and Avon towards the end of the company, circa 1954 / 1955 started to recycle art and stories BUT this being POST Code, some minor adjustments had to be made ... such as the shirt of this heroine: the shirt is mysteriously mended and the neckline on the shirt is so much more modest in the post code version. Another discussion could focus on the coloring choices on the post code version :sick:

 

:sick: Kit looks like he's about to cry in the post-code. Plus, there's no arrow in the old man's heart.
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adamstrange

adamstrange

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:bump:

 

I don't recall if I've ever shown this comparison on the boards.

 

The art is Kinstler and Avon towards the end of the company, circa 1954 / 1955 started to recycle art and stories BUT this being POST Code, some minor adjustments had to be made ... such as the shirt of this heroine: the shirt is mysteriously mended and the neckline on the shirt is so much more modest in the post code version. Another discussion could focus on the coloring choices on the post code version :sick:

 

:sick: Kit looks like he's about to cry in the post-code. Plus, there's no arrow in the old man's heart.

 

Could be a trace and then a re-draw. There are lots of little non-essential details that are different.

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Scrooge

Scrooge

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Another one bites the dust. Down to the final 6. I had not added a new book since September! Too bad it's an Ace romance book :P

 

Ace's romance line was wretched, not that its Pre-Code Horror was much better, but their romance books take the cake, plus it's odd for a company to have dabbled in only 2 genres: Horror and Romance, unless the editors were trying to tell us something ...

 

Oh, and the 52 pages for 10¢ is false advertisement here. The middle of the issue consists of 3 extended text stories that make up 18 pages of the 52. There are 4 comic book stories for another 30 pages, so, as the cover states, there are 7 stories, just not all in comic format. The text stories are illustrated though. The inside front, inside back and back covers are the only ad pages, so that's a plus.

 

I wish I could say that I'm done with those Ace romance books but I still need a copy of Love Experiences # 11. Boy, am I looking forward to THAT! :cry:

 

Anyway, thanks to Stephen Ritter to turn this book up for me (thumbs u

 

68671.jpg.69986817ca7f59bfc618f4bbb526f054.jpg

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Ace's romance line was wretched, not that its Pre-Code Horror was much better

 

You need to read more Lou Cameron Ace horror.

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Scrooge

Scrooge

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Ace's romance line was wretched, not that its Pre-Code Horror was much better

 

You need to read more Lou Cameron Ace horror.

 

Take Cameron out of that equation and my comment stands. Ace's Horror books in general pale in front of other publishers' output because either 1) the art isn't top-notch aside from Cameron or 2) the stories aren't gory / violent / psychotic enough. That is, while Atlas' Horror scripts were not noticeable better than Ace one might argue but at least the average Atlas Horror artist was better than Ace's. Or, while some of the art in Media's or Aragon's output wasn't clearly better, at least, the stories were so over-the-top to be distinctive.To a large degree, Ace's Horror output is best matched with Harvey's Horror output even though I'd say that Harvey's books edge Ace's books on both dimensions: a) better artist roll call and b) better scripts. That's just my opinion.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Ace's romance line was wretched, not that its Pre-Code Horror was much better

 

You need to read more Lou Cameron Ace horror.

 

Take Cameron out of that equation and my comment stands. Ace's Horror books in general pale in front of other publishers' output because either 1) the art isn't top-notch aside from Cameron or 2) the stories aren't gory / violent / psychotic enough. That is, while Atlas' Horror scripts were not noticeable better than Ace one might argue but at least the average Atlas Horror artist was better than Ace's. Or, while some of the art in Media's or Aragon's output wasn't clearly better, at least, the stories were so over-the-top to be distinctive.To a large degree, Ace's Horror output is best matched with Harvey's Horror output even though I'd say that Harvey's books edge Ace's books on both dimensions: a) better artist roll call and b) better scripts. That's just my opinion.

 

I don't disagree with your points but I see no need to take Cameron out of the equation because his stories are there. I like Cameron's stories better than all but a couple of the Harvey's and will pick up and re-read my Aces far more frequently than my Harveys (I pretty much only collect Ace issues with Cameron art). To put the Ace horror barely above the dreck of Ace romance doesn't match my experience but tastes differ and it's free country.

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Scrooge

Scrooge

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To put the Ace horror barely above the dreck of Ace romance doesn't match my experience but tastes differ and it's free country.

 

I think we've had this discussion before but, by your own admission, i.e., you only collect Cameron Ace issues, pre-Cameron (if I can call them that) Ace Horror books are IMHO terrible stuff. Given the choice, for reading purposes, I'd rather pick-up a contemporary issue of ACG over any Ace or Harvey.

 

Anyone else's welcome to jump on this discussion.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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To put the Ace horror barely above the dreck of Ace romance doesn't match my experience but tastes differ and it's free country.

 

I think we've had this discussion before but, by your own admission, i.e., you only collect Cameron Ace issues, pre-Cameron (if I can call them that) Ace Horror books are IMHO terrible stuff. Given the choice, for reading purposes, I'd rather pick-up a contemporary issue of ACG over any Ace or Harvey.

 

Anyone else's welcome to jump on this discussion.

 

hm ACG is another company that has more good stories than they are given credit for. OTOH, there can be some good Powell and Palais in those early Harveys. Tough call but both are definitely better than non-Cameron Ace issues.

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tth2

tth2

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Ace's romance line was wretched, not that its Pre-Code Horror was much better, but their romance books take the cake,

The cover's really good, though!

 

plus it's odd for a company to have dabbled in only 2 genres: Horror and Romance, unless the editors were trying to tell us something ...

:signfunny:

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Ace's romance line was wretched, not that its Pre-Code Horror was much better, but their romance books take the cake,

The cover's really good, though!

 

Much better than the Bailey Spectre *spoon*! :baiting:

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Scrooge

Scrooge

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:bump:

 

Here's one of the few Deep Dimension C & P experiments as part of the run. As a bonus, the first story: "Monkey on his Back" is a Heroin story.

 

N.B.: I think the editors at Lev Gleason ran out of room to put any more captions and text boxes on this cover :o

 

71090.jpg.3cb9be1c587b55e0ffa055285ac09c68.jpg

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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As a bonus, the first story: "Monkey on his Back" is a Heroin story.

 

By Alex Toth, if memory serves.

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