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The Undead Thread: Pre-Code Horror
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Started by precodekeith,

Favorite Pre-Code Publisher  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. Favorite Pre-Code Publisher

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10,226 posts in this topic

Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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#21 Astonishing 4

 

Wrapping up Day 1 is an early Atlas classic by Bill E.

The drawing and colors on this cover are exceptional! The contrast of the green robe against the hot reds, orange and yellows makes for a dynamic scene. The compostion does a fine job of controlling your eye around the picture frame. You start with the creature on the left with the ax and your eye goes up to the top to the green robe and then diagnol to Marvel Boys outstretched arm to the creep in the lower right corner who is turned back into the picture contianing your eyes in the picture frame. Such a great cover and very different to what we would see later with Atlas Horror book cover design.

 

Marvel Boy is literally being put on the chopping block to make way for the oncoming wave of horror stories that would dominate comic books for the next half a decade.

 

Astonishing4.gif

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Great selections! I look forward to the rest of the list. :popcorn:

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gojira

gojira

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#21 Astonishing 4

 

Wrapping up Day 1 is an early Atlas classic by Bill E.

The drawing and colors on this cover are exceptional! The contrast of the green robe against the hot reds, orange and yellows makes for a dynamic scene. The compostion does a fine job of controlling your eye around the picture frame. You start with the creature on the left with the ax and your eye goes up to the top to the green robe and then diagnol to Marvel Boys outstretched arm to the creep in the lower right corner who is turned back into the picture contianing your eyes in the picture frame. Such a great cover and very different to what we would see later with Atlas Horror book cover design.

 

Marvel Boy is literally being put on the chopping block to make way for the oncoming wave of horror stories that would dominate comic books for the next half a decade.

 

Astonishing4.gif

 

One of my favorite Everett covers! :cloud9:

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Flex Mentallo

Flex Mentallo

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#21 Astonishing 4

 

Wrapping up Day 1 is an early Atlas classic by Bill E.

The drawing and colors on this cover are exceptional! The contrast of the green robe against the hot reds, orange and yellows makes for a dynamic scene. The compostion does a fine job of controlling your eye around the picture frame. You start with the creature on the left with the ax and your eye goes up to the top to the green robe and then diagnol to Marvel Boys outstretched arm to the creep in the lower right corner who is turned back into the picture contianing your eyes in the picture frame. Such a great cover and very different to what we would see later with Atlas Horror book cover design.

 

Marvel Boy is literally being put on the chopping block to make way for the oncoming wave of horror stories that would dominate comic books for the next half a decade.

 

Astonishing4.gif

 

One of my favorite Everett covers! :cloud9:

 

It's one of my feveretts as well.

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Jayman

Jayman

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#23 Chilling Tales 16

 

These four hooded grisly creatures would get along well with the creeps on the cover of Venus 19 and other places Bill E would put them.

 

The Matt Fox Chilling Tales covers seem to get all the love but I always thought this was equally great and actually drawn better in a traditional representational sense. Another poor damsel in distress! How many of them have we seen on these covers?

Great coloring on this issue. Lots of intensity on the characters faces....again, my favorite part of this cover is the actaul black in drawing. Wonderful!

...I also like the guy in the background with that little pitckfork. Makes me think of getting some french fries at Nathans.

 

Chilling-Tales16.gif

 

Great choice! No cover credits on GCD for this book and I remember the question has come up here once or twice. Any guesses? I must be wrong but the artwork reminds me of Graham Ingles. Especially like his early work on Wonder Comics 11 and 12.

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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#20 Haunted Thrills 6

 

Roll the bones my fellow Precoders! No PC list is complete without at least one Ajax Farrell book and today there are two up here. These books have some of my favorite Precode stories in them, mostly created in the Iger Studio. This book screams classic with the dominant skeleton in the middle throwing snake eyes. The design is actually deceptively simple but effectively drawn. The black ink drawing pops against a wild field of colors which might not match too well with each other....but who cares?! These comics are supposed to be crazy.

 

HauntedThrills6.gif

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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#19 Astonishing 8

 

This book took awhile to acquire but here it is. One of my favorite Atlas covers. Russ Heath is awesome here. GREAT sense of depth....Lobsters in the foreground creepers in the background....Love it!

Killer colors against a black background.....and look at the detail and line quality in the hands digging into the ground and the splash of the water. We even have a nice trio of spots previewing stories inside (all of which would make excellent full covers on their own)...my favorite is The Hanging Terror!

 

Astonishing8.gif

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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#18 Strange Stories From Another World 4

 

Ah! The great Norman Saunders everyone! Famous for his Worlds Of Fear eyeball cove, Pulp/magazine painter and artist on the Mars Attacks trading cards.

 

He created all the covers of this short run but this one is my favorite....(The others are VERY close though). I got this copy years ago from fellow boardie Shiverbones.

 

SUPERB painting at a master level...something not often scene on comic covers....this one feels more like a pulp and I enjoy it for that.

 

Look at the way the hands and face are painted..These areas are notoriously difficult for artists ...These are perfect

 

Nothing more to add...the picture says it all....just amazing.

 

SSFAW4.gif

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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#17 Haunted Thrills 9

 

Two words: Clooven foot.

 

Hell yeah.

This cover is Precode Horror at its finest. Lots to look at here. This is another book that is underated in my opinion. Goulish and sick....against a black background, the characters and scene really pop. When it comes to these books, I say the stranger the better.

 

Is that Impossible Mans evil brother helping out over the cauldron?

 

HauntedThrills9.gif

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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#16 Black Magic 29

 

This series stands out from other precode books. Total different vibe going on here. The books in this title had some cliched stuff but overall the stories varied more in subject than any other publisher. Leading the way was the talented classic team of Simon and Kirby.

 

The reason this cover has always stood out to me is the use of yellow type against a blue and pink background. Really cool...The Kirby artwork is also a major draw. The art is part crystal ball as one does not need to look far to see creatures that would appear a few years later in Tales To Astonish, Tales Of Suspense and Amazing Adventures. The man in the middle has a resemblance to Reed Richards and the building in the background could of been designed by the same architect of the Baxter Building. Sorry to get all Silver Age in here, but well...I am glad to finally get one of these Kirbys on this list. (So hard to pick this one....The pink underwater cover was the runner up) :)

 

BlackMagic29.gif

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