Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1950's. (1954) 4 4

[Bird]

On 6/2/2022 at 9:45 AM, Prince Namor said:

Bill Everett, especially his pre-code cover work, was awesome.

I have minimal knowledge of this era, but this is my man right here!

[Prince Namor]

Joe Maneely did one cover actually, for the month, Mystic #29

[Prince Namor]

Of the 26 pages of Interior art he'd do for the month, most of it was uncharacteristically focused on the 'zany' humor mags that Atlas was trying to mimic from Mad. Here's a sample of Maneely's 'Gentlemen Prefer Bonds' from Crazy #5, 'The Texas Stranglers' from Riot #1 and 'Rodeo Scheme' from Wild #3.

None of it was geared towards the Superhero revival being attempted. Not even the covers, of which was considered his forte, and what Atlas used as a lead to almost every new series with Maneely doing the cover. 

[Prince Namor]

Al Hartley, without the use of 'headlights' gives us a nice, sexually charged cover to Love Romances #38. Inside (2nd story), is Maneely's (signed) 'To Love Again', a love story in a month of humor - again, not necessarily his forte - but you can see just how versatile an artist he was. He seems completely at ease in the genre, even while concentrating mostly oh humor for the month...

 

[Prince Namor]

One last look at Atlas for January 1954 - kind of an interesting book, Speed Carter: Spaceman, or just 'Spaceman'. It started out as a Joe Maneely book for the first three issues and then just began to meander. Here in the second to last issue, Hank Chapman is still writing most of these stories, but out of the blue, George Tuska is given most of the book to do! 

This series is kind of an anomaly, considering how much Goodman disliked Sci-Fi (it never sold for him, even in the pulps) and you wouldn't see much more of it until Kirby returned to working there.

Cover by Mort Lawrence.

(If you get a chance, check out #4 - Mike Sekowsky's art makes you almost think you're reading a DC comic...)

[Prince Namor]

Here's some of what DC Comics was up to for the month! Squeaky clean...

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 6/2/2022 at 10:31 AM, Prince Namor said:

Joe Maneely did one cover actually, for the month, Mystic #29

That's ing gross. I love it.

[Prince Namor]

And EC...

Wertham may call me a juvenile delinquent, but I like these!

In exactly one year, all of these except Mad, would be finished.

One year after that, EC Comics would be no more, and Gaines would get the last laugh as the most successful humor magazine publisher of his time. 

[Prince Namor]

And a few from other publishers:

[jsilverjanet]

On 6/2/2022 at 9:47 AM, Prince Namor said:

Al Hartley, without the use of 'headlights' gives us a nice, sexually charged cover to Love Romances #38. Inside (2nd story), is Maneely's (signed) 'To Love Again', a love story in a month of humor - again, not necessarily his forte - but you can see just how versatile an artist he was. He seems completely at ease in the genre, even while concentrating mostly oh humor for the month...

 

what a wonderful cover

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

The following month Jack Kirby's output is again limited, this time to one story and two covers (a normal full month for some people). He does a cover for Young Romance #68 and Black Magic #30.

Young Romance was a title put together by Simon & Kirby for Crestwood Publications (Prize Comics) in 1947 that began the Romance genre in Comics. Hugely successful (selling over 2 million copies at its start), it was still going strong 7 years later! The Simon & Kirby studio would add both 'Young Brides' and 'Young Love' to their stable of titles.

Because of their success in the Romance genre for Crestwood (Prize), they put together 'Black Magic' as a 'non-gory' Horror title, to act as an alternative to what they felt was the uncomfortable content of their competition. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Prince Namor

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

Here's Kirby's 'The Head of the Family' from Black Magic #30, the only full story he did for the month. To me, these stories read like Silver Age Jack Kirby Marvel work, as they flow from beginning to end. Kirby historians pretty much see this as something Jack wrote and drew, as it reads almost identical to the type of material he'd do his entire life. 

It may say 'Produced by Simon & Kirby', but for anyone who's read Jack's complete library of work, this isn't any different structurally the what he did, regardless if he worked with a writer or not. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

Stan Lee's output for the month again consisted of two books (out of 34 comics that Atlas/Marvel would publish for February), Millie the Model #54 and My Friend Irma #43, both with Dan DeCarlo. The similarities between the two are pretty apparent, and even though Atlas/Marvel would begin to glut the Code-enforced market here in another year, My Friend Irma wouldn't last. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

Again many consider this a Stan Lee written story from Riot #2 (despite him not signing it), because Roy Thomas swiped it for a retelling 14 years later in Not Brand Ecch #11 (adding Irony Man as Ivanshmoe). The original DOES remind me of that Not Brand Ecch storytelling style, but really it's kind of a copy of Mad magazine's style in the first place so who knows? It's still fun to read and compare!

Art by Hy Rosen in the original and Tom Sutton in the updated.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Prince Namor

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

The Wertham nonsense had been going on for over 5 years, and if the publisher's were worried about the Senate hearing coming up, they certainly didn't act like it... here's Marvel/Atlas' Strange Tales 28 by Harry Anderson (an awesome cover!!) and George Evans cover for EC's Crime SuspenStories #23 (an equally awesome cover!!) both on newsstands that month!

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

EC's Mad also featured this classic Basil Wolverton cover for the month:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

Over at Charlton, Ditko only did one comic for the month, but it was the entire comic: 'The Thing #13. There are no writers listed, and some assume Ditko did his own writing here, and... well, this first story 'Library of Horror', reminds me of early Doctor Strange (or even the Terrible Tinkerer) in its tone and atmosphere... and on the last page... shades of the Green Goblin!

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

If Ditko DID do the writing, then we have to question this second story which bears an uncanny resemblance to 'House of Horror' from EC's first issue of 'Haunt of Fear #15 (1950). Here's Ditko's version:

[Prince Namor]

And here's the original (Harvey Kurtzman art):

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Prince Namor

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1954

DC was doing there thing for the month and not scaring any children OR parents, though this Wonder Woman story always kind of cracked me up... from Wonder Woman #65, cover  by Irwin Hansen. Interior written by Robert Kanigher (under house name Charles Moulton) with art by the unfortunately named Harry Peter. Man, I wish I still had my copy of this - these Wonder Woman's from this time are a bit tough...

Also included is Graham Place's cover for 'A Date with Judy' #40, DC's version of Romance/Humor at the time. I'll take Lee/DeCarlo's Millie any day.