[kusunoki]

I thought I might start a thread about the great art that people have found in these books. I'm no kind of expert, but at this early point in my reading I'm blown away by Reed Crandall's work on Firebrand and Paul Gustavson's on the Human Bomb in the early Police Comics. Trumping even these beautiful pieces is the Fawcett work of Mac Raboy in Whiz and Master Comics. Every panel is stunning.

I'm pretty new to the artists of the 40s, so I'm hoping that statements of love by others will steer me in the direction of early greats that I may not have heard of.

[eusephus]

So many great artists to choose from!  Visiting this site is like being a kid in candy store with a pocket full of hundred dollar bills!

I love everything by Lou Fine, Jack Cole, Reed Crandall.  All of the Quality stuff is EXCELLENT.

It's also very satisfying to finally be able to see the early work of Graham Ingles, George Evans, & Murphy Anderson in Planet Comics.

I'll post more once I peruse my latest batch of downloads.

[Aratak]

I  fell in love with Reed Crandall's work when he was working for Jim Warren's CREEPY and EERIE magazines. His fine black and white linework looked more like a turn-of-the-century etching than anything else. As a child of the Silver Age, I followed him when he worked on Tower's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, as well.

One of the genuine thrills of the Golden Age scanning revolution has been to see the Golden Age Crandall work on Blackhawk, Dollman, and other Quality titles. I heard Gene Colan on a podcast talking about Crandall's art, about how beautiful the originals were and how he was mesmerized by them on a visit to the Quality offices. He became very emotional when he spoke of Crandall's later years, when he could only find work as a janitor. This was in the 70's, I think - I remember that he did some later work for Warren and you could see that his famous line had deteriorated somewhat, and his foreshortening was wrong. A sad thing.

But what a gift he gave the comics world.

[Palooka slim]

Man i had never read that about Reed Crandall ,how could that happen to such a talent?

[phabox]

Sadly there's not a great deal of his work here being a 'boarderline' Golden Age Artist but one of my all time fav's has to be the late Great Wally Wood.

I guess he first really made his mark working for EC especialy with his SF and MAD stuff but of course we can't host any of that work here.

I believe we have a little of his artwork here, Avon's "Mask of Fu Manchu" alone is worth checking out just to see an early example of his classic stye.

-Nigel

[OtherEric]

It will come as no surprise to anybody that my favorite artists posted here are Sheldon Mayer and Walt Kelly.

I love Jack Cole's work, and Wally Wood on a good day probably has my vote as the best artwork ever to grace a comic book.  Sadly, Wood had a lot of bad days, too.

Matt Baker's stuff is wonderful.

Seeing the early Steve Ditko Charlton books has been a real treat.

[Palooka slim]

Speaking of jack cole ive read that he left several suicide notes. one to will eisner one to hugh hefner and one to his wife.has anyone ever read what his reasons were for commiting suicide? (dont mean to be morbid just curious.)

[phabox]

This is a mystery that i've been studying for a couple of decades now and i'm still learning more as time goes on, for instance I was unaware of that third suicide note to Eisner.

Over the years I have come to my own conclusions on the matter which I am willing to share here, but hasten to add that I could well be wrong.

I suspect the key to it was problems with his marrage of 22 years, his wife did not want the contents of the note made public and remarried very soon afterwards, some sources say within a year.

Also it was reported that Cole's Family would have nothing to do with her after her husbands death.

50 Years on almost to the VERY DAY of Jack Cole's passing its unlikely now that the truth will ever come out unless Hugh Hefner choses to reveal what he knows.

I suspect that Dorothy Cole is dead by now and if not I doubt that in her 90's she would wish speak on a subject that she had stayed silent on for half a century.

-Nigel

[phabox]

Wally Wood on a good day probably has my vote as the best Sadly, Wood had a lot of bad days, too.

I Think that most of Wally's 'bad days' often followed a long night ( or two) on the bottle, it was no secret that he had a serious drink problem.

I Doubt that he was the first comics pro to go 'down the tubes' that way nor I suspect will he be the last! 

-Nigel

[darkmark]

A lot of it was simply the stress of the job, I think.  There was no organized fandom until the Sixties and no really good remuneration of artists / writers until the 80's.  Booze was the downfall of more than a few artists in comics, including Wally, possibly Bill Everett, and an ACG artist whose name escapes me.  (I think of the AIRBOY / MR. MONSTER crossover in which a Golden Age artist is shown taking to drink just to get thru the day's art tasks.)  But one thing has to be said:  like John Belushi, they did it to themselves.  Alcohol and drug addiction are both self-inflicted diseases.

[phabox]

Ogden Whitney best remembered for his Skyman, Hooded Horseman, Herbie, as well as Silver Age Two Gun Kid and Thunder Agents work was also known to 'hit the bottle' and I suspect it might be him that you have in mind DM.

Another great talent wasted 

-Nigel

[Palooka slim]

Regarding will eisner, i just re-read his forward to plastic man archives and he simply states "jack left a note saying he didnt want to be trouble to anyone". I just assumed that eisner had received a note. Thanks for the response phabox.

[Electricmastro]

I suppose Ill go ahead and start with 15 lesser-known favorites:

Dick Ryan (Star Comics #4, June 1937):



Munson Paddock (Speed Comics #9, June 1940):



Fred Meagher (Tom Mix Comics #5, January 1941):



Al Walker (Planet Comics #14, September 1941):



Jim Tyer (Ha Ha Comics #2, November 1943):



John Giunta (Air Fighters Comics #v2#2, November 1943):



Jack Alderman (Cat-Man Comics #22, December 1943):



Harold Delay (Blue Circle Comics #1, June 1944):



Charles Quinlan (The American Air Forces #1, 1944):



George Appel (Contact Comics #5, March 1945):



Paul Berdanier (Tip Top Comics #114, January 1946):



Rudy Palais (Four Favorites #21, January 1946):



Harry Anderson (Picture News #10, January 1947):



Gene Fawcette (Wonder Comics #16, February 1948):



Everett Kinstler (Geronimo #3, November 1951):

[The Australian Panther]

Nice Post. Good selection. Thanks for continuing a (relevant) old thread.

Cheers!